Thursday, September 20, 2012

INEC berates politicians over false alarm ONDO GUBER POLL COUNTDOWN TO

October 20, 2012

30

HAKEEM GBADAMOSI AKURE

T

he Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, in Ondo State yesterday condemned po-

DAYS TO GO

Vol. 2 N0. 452

litical parties in the state for heating up the polity with misinformation and raising false alarms just a few weeks to the October 20 governorship election.

The key contenders in

N5,000 note:

OBIORA IFOH AND TORDUE SALEM

T

he Federal Govyesterernment day fired back at the National Assembly, saying that it would not stop the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi from the planned CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

the election are the Action Congress, ACN, candidate, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN); the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, flag bearer, Chief Olusola Oke and CONTINUED ON PAGE 6>>

FIRST LADY’S LA ADY’S DAY 26 HEALTH HEALTH:: ‘Dame Patience may not accompany Jonathan to UN summit’ P.5

Thursday, September 20, 2012

N150

FG fires back

...says N’Assembly’s stand not binding on govt

Yuguda

Victims of Sunday’s attack buried in Bauchi P.53

•Havoc wrecked by flood in Lokoja, Kogi State yesterday.

New appointments at Newswatch

Jolayemi

P.4

Folayan

Traffic law:

Task force arrests soldier, 60 miscreants Jonathan sends terrorism, money laundering bills to Senate

Ige

Abimboye

Gunmen kill two policemen in Port Harcourt

P.9,54 P.7

2

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

3

PAGE

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Good Health

TATTOO

Deadly fashion to watch TOBORE OVUORIE

A

re you considering tattooing so you could be like a glamorous movie star? If your answer to this question is yes, then this piece will be of interest to you: Scientists have found out that today’s tattoos could be hazardous to health.

This is because these tattoos contain unknown mixtures of metallic salts such as oxides, sulphides, selenides, organic dyes or plastics suspended in a carrier solution for consistency of application, many of which were originally intended for use in writing and printer inks, as well as automobile paints. These inks are injected deep enough into the skin thus, posing a grave danger to health.

It has been discovered that ingredients of tattoos are never fully disclosed, hence, the carrier solution itself might contain harmful substances such as denatured alcohols, methanol, rubbing alcohol, antifreeze, detergents, or formaldehyde and other highly toxic aldehydes.

Studies have however shown that the oldest pigments came from using ground up minerals and carbon black. But Wikipedia. org, recently revealed that a wide range of dyes and pigments are now used in tattoos from inorganic materials like titanium dioxide and iron oxides to carbon black, azo dyes, and acridine, quinoline, phthalocyanine and naphthol derivates, dyes made from ash, and other mixtures. Currently popular is Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS plastic), used in Intenze, Millenium

and other ABS pigmented brands.5 Recent investigations by dermatologists revealed that most tattoos are toxic and even possibly radioactive. They say plasticbased inks (e.g., glow-in-the-dark ink) have led to polymerization under the skin, where the tattoo pigment particles converged into one solid piece under the skin.

According to these experts, some of these inks were found to have high levels of lead, some contained lithium, and the blue inks were full of copper.

They further noted that when alcohol is used as part of the carrier base in tattoo ink or to disinfect the skin before application of the tattoo, it increases the skin’s permeability, helping to transport more chemicals into the bloodstream. Alcohol also works synergistically with mutagens, teratogens, and carcinogens to make them even more harmful, increasing the chance that they may cause mutation or disease, both at the

YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW

Childhood sexual abuse linked to later heart attacks in men

M

en who experienced childhood sexual abuse are three times more likely to have a heart attack than men who were not sexually abused as children, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Toronto.

The researchers found no association between childhood sexual abuse and heart attacks among women.

In a paper published online this week in the journal Child Abuse &

Neglect, investigators examined gender-specific differences in a representative sample of 5095 men

and 7768 women aged 18 and over, drawn from the Center for Disease Control’s 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. A total of 57 men and 154 women reported being sexually abused by someone close to them before they turned 18 and 377 men and 285 women said that a doctor, nurse or other health professional had diagnosed them with a heart attack or myocardial infarction.

–Science Daily

TATTOO: A body burden?

site of the tattoo and systemically.

In addition to allergic reactions and the unknown long-term health effects from the metal salts and carrier solutions that make up tattoo inks, there are other health risks involved. Skin infections, psoriasis, dermatitis and other chronic skin conditions, and tumors (both benign and malignant) have all been associated with tattoos. Due to the use of needles in tattoo application, there is also the risk of contracting infectious diseases such as tetanus, herpes simplex virus, staph, HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis B and C, and even Syphilis. And those with tattoos might not be able to get a life-saving MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) test if they need one—some hospitals and testing locations will refuse to do an MRI on people with body tattoos due to the metal particles in the tattoo, which may cause a burning pain during the test.

If you plan on having your tattoo removed, please be aware that some of the pigments

used (especially Yellow #7) are phototoxic and may break down into toxic chemicals in the body when removed with UV light or laser; common techniques used in tattoo removal. The toxic end-products eventually wind up in the kidneys and liver, adding to your total body burden.

In an ideal world, the ‘trade secrets’ clause that allows companies to put profit over public health would be disallowed for all products used topically, transversally, or ingested into our bodies. However, in the absence of federal regulation to protect the consumer from unqualified tattoo artists, unhygienic tools and application methods, and highly toxic inks, the best advice for you today is abstinence from tattoos.

Bottom line: don’t trust tattoo ink manufacturers, or tattoo artists to give you accurate and complete information on the toxicity of the pigments and dyes being used—at least not just yet.

Employees at ‘green’ companies are significantly more productive –Study

B

ucking the idea that environmentalism hurts economic performance, a new UCLA-led study has found that companies that voluntarily adopt international “green” practices and standards have employees who are 16 percent more productive than the average.

Professor Magali Delmas, an environmental economist at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and the UCLA Anderson School of Management, and Sanja Pekovic

from France’s University Paris-Dauphine are the first to study how a firm’s environmental commitment affects its productivity.

Their findings, forthcoming this week, will be published online in the Journal of Organizational Behavior.

“Adopting green practices isn’t just good for the environment,” Delmas said.

“It’s good for your employees and it’s good for your bottom line. Employees in such green firms are more motivated, receive more training, and benefit from

better interpersonal relationships. The employees at green companies are therefore more productive than employees in more conventional firms.”

For their study, “Environmental Standards and Labor Productivity: Understanding the Mechanisms That Sustain Sustainability,” Delmas and Pekovic collected data from a survey of employees at 5,220 French companies, randomly selecting two employees from each company for a pool of more than 10,000 people.

4

PhotoNews

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio (left) giving a souvenir to the Chief Executive Officer, Bank of Industry, Mrs. Evelyn Oputu, after the signing of a memorandum of understanding for an industrial intervention in Akwa Ibom State, yesterday.

L-R: Secretary, National Union of Pensions, Electricity Sector, Comrade Olukayode Ogunbiyi; President, Chief Temple Ubani and Managing Director, Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Ltd; Dr. Sam Agbogun, during a briefing on Electricity Workers Pension/Liability Management in Nigeria: Matters Arising, in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

L-R: Director, Planning Research and Statistics, Ministry of Women Affairs, Ms. Ibukun Lapite; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mr. George Ossi and Director of Women Affairs, Mrs. Esther Adeyemi, at the Mid-Term Review Meeting of the 14th Regular National Council in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

L-R: Director General, Security and Exchange Commission, Ms. Aruma Oteh; Rivers State Commissioner of Finance, Mr. Chamberlain Peterside and Executive Director, Financial Markets, Access Bank Plc; Mr. Ebenezer Olufowose, at the just concluded Nigeria Banking and Capital Markets Conference in Lagos, yesterday.

National News

New appointments at Newswatch FELIX NWANERI AND YEMI OLUS

T

he Publisher and Executive Chairman of Newswatch Communications Limited, Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim, OFR, has announced new appointments as part of the ongoing restructuring of the premier news magazine, Newswatch and its new publication, Newswatch Daily Newspapers.

In the new appointments announced yesterday, Dr. Bolu John Folayan becomes the new Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer of Newswatch Magazine while Mr. Femi Ige, former Chief Operating Officer of the magazine becomes Executive Director of the Newspapers.

Mrs. Lara Alabi currently the Head of Administration of National Mirror moves to the position of General Manager, Operations of Newswatch Newspapers while Mrs. Bimbo Ogunlesi will head the Procurement department.

Mr. Demola Abimboye

is the new General Manager, Editorial and Editor of Newswatch Magazine while Mr. Bankole Makinde retains his position as the General Manager, Operations of Newswatch Magazine. Miss Abosede Fadayomi is the Head of Procurement of the magazine.

Dr. Ibrahim also confirmed the appointment of Mr. Moses Jolayemi as the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch Newspapers.

Jolayemi cut his first tooth in journalism over 21 years ago as a reporter, features writer at the state-owned Herald Newspapers, Ilorin, Kwara State in 1990. He has worked with The Guardian Newspapers, The News Magazine and ThisDay. Folayan, 47, obtained BSc, MSc and PhD degrees in Mass Communication in 1987, 1991 and 2009 respectively from the University of Lagos.

He began his journalism career as a reporter with Radio Lagos in 1987 and joined Champion Newspapers as a pioneer

staff reporter in 1988, from where he rose to become a senior reporter, political correspondent and assistant editor (Arewa) before resigning to become the pioneer editor of Aviation Quarterly (1994-1999).

In December 1999, he established a public relations and publishing company, Third World Media Ltd, of which he was the CEO until 2006 when he joined NICON Group of Companies as General Manager (Corporate Affairs). He left NICON Group in 2008 to complete his PhD whilst also teaching journalism and public

relations at the University of Lagos. In February 2010 he joined Osun State University as Head of its Communication Unit and was there until January 2012 when he was appointed Executive Director, Newswatch Newspapers.

Mr. Femi Ige, who is the new Executive Director of the Newswatch newspapers, graduated from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife with a BA in English Language Studies in 1989.

He started his journalism career with The Guardian in 1989 and worked with several newspapers thereafter. He was

Editor, Monitor on Sunday from 2002 to 2004 and also served as the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of National Mail Newspaper between 2004 and 2007.

He joined National Mirror as General Eeditor in 2011 from where he was moved to Newswatch Magazine as Chief Operating Officer before his new appointment.

Abimboye, who was appointed as the new General Manager, Editorial and Editor of Newswatch Magazine, is a former editor of The News magazine.

He was until the appointment a Principal Associate Editor of the

magazine. He brings to the new position his varied 25 year experience in journalism garnered in notable media organisations in the country.

Alabi, the new General Manager, Operations, Newswatch Newspapers, is a 1986 graduate of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) where she bagged her first degree in English Language and also has a Masters degree in Administration. She has attended series of trainings in Personnel Management at the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM).

FG health workers’ strike paralyses hospital services

E

ssential services were partially paralysed yesterday in some Federal Government-owned hospitals and health institutions in Lagos following a nationwide strike by some health workers.

Members of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, MHWUN, on September 18

commenced an indefinite strike.

The workers embarked on the strike over the non-payment of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure, CONHESS, to medical and health workers in Federal Government hospitals and health institutions.

A NAN check at Neuro Psychiatric Hospital,

Yaba, showed that other health workers were not on duty but the nurses, who came did not attend to in-patients.

NAN reports that the main gates of the hospital were barricaded by the aggrieved workers, while patients and visitors were not allowed entry into the hospital. The workers, however, allowed the doc-

tors and nurses to enter.

A Consultant Psychiatrist, who does not want his name in print, told NAN that services would be light because the workers were on strike.

She said, “Doctors will still be working but work will be slow and the number of admissions will reduce while some patients will be discharged.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News

Thursday, September 20, 2012

5

‘Dame Patience may not accompany Jonathan to UN summit’ O LAJIDE O MOJOLOMOJU

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan may embark on his next official engagement to this year’s session of the United Nations General Assembly without the First Lady, Dame Patience, who is still recu-

perating from an hospital in Germany.

This is because a team of doctors attending to the ailing First Lady in Germany, where she is presently being treated for undisclosed ailment are said to have warned of dire consequences on her health should she embark on any long trip.

Copyright war: MCSN advised to sue NCC NGOZI EMEDOLIBE

I

n the aftermath of the raid on the Lagos office of the Musical Society of Nigeria, MCSN, carried out on Tuesday by the National Copyright Commission, NCC, lawyer and activist, Mr. Fred Agbaje has advised the aggrieved collecting society, to seek legal redress from a competent court.

Agbaje in a telephone interview with National Mirror yesterday, carpeted the police and NCC for violating the rights of the members of staff of MCSN, saying it smacks of lawlessness for such to be happening in this age when the Commission can still use judicial means

to enforce its decision instead of resorting to ‘selfhelp’.

He said: “The police have no right to detain someone in perpetuity. Worse is even denying them access to lawyers because it shows that the police have proclaimed the suspects guilty without trial. I will advise the MCSN to sue the police and NCC and claim damages for this.

“That is clearly wrong.

You cannot do that under the Nigerian law. Everyone is entitled to private life, family, property and association. You cannot invade my private life like that; not even when the parties are in court. Why don’t you allow the court proceedings to CONTINUED ON PAGE 6>>

National Mirror gathered from a competent presidency source that President Jonathan and his wife had planned to use the trip to New York to silence critics and quell speculations about the health of the president’s wife, which had become a subject of speculation in recent times.

The source said that Dame Jonathan went

through two episodes during the week and this necessitated her being put under intensive care at the German hospital.

The source told National Mirror: “The plan was to take her on the trip to the United Nations in order to silence critics and reporters that revealed that madam was not on vacation but in a precarious medical state.

“The doctors in Germany have informed us that she cannot – and should not – go on a long trip at this time.”

Since the news of the First lady’s indisposition was broken a few weeks ago, Presidency has kept mum on the situation, which National Mirror reliably gathered was precarious, culminating in surgery after being treated for infec-

tions arising from a procedure the First Lady undertook in Dubai.

Meanwhile, President Jonathan, who is expected to arrive in New York on Monday, would be accompanied next week by no fewer than about 11 ministers and the governors of Bauchi, Delta and Akwa Ibom states Isa Yuguda, Emmanuel Uduaghan and Godswill Akpabio respectively.

L-R: Ministers: Labour, Chief Emeka Wogu; Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi; Interior, Alhaji Abba Moro; State for Works; Amb. Bashiru Yuguda; Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke and State for Power, Mr. Darius Ishaku, at the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: STATE HOUSE

N5,000 note: FG fires back , says N’Assembly's stand not binding on govt CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

introduction of N5,000 note into the Nigerian economy.

The two chambers of the National Assembly had on Tuesday passed resolutions, urging President Goodluck Jonathan and Lamido to suspend actions on the issuance of new N5,000 note, pending when investigation by the lawmakers were concluded on the new monetary policy.

Responding to the questions at the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, Peoples Forum on Tuesday, the minister noted that the resolutions of the National Assembly did not carry weight of law as they were merely advisory and not Act of Parliament.

Maku said that the heated debate and opinions being expressed about the introduction of N5,000 note were unnecessary as the CBN was entrusted by law to manage the country monetary policies.

“I believe we should allow CBN to have leadership on this issue. This is not an opinion poll debate but a technical matter and the heated debate will not help in the management of our economy,” he said.

The minister added that the Federal Government had not foreclosed avenues for dialogue with the federal lawmakers.

It, however, said that the meassure should not be misconstrued that the resolution of the two chambers was totally binding on the Federal Government.

“The National Assembly has oversight functions and the executive takes resolutions of the National Assembly seriously but resolutions are not Act of parliament.

“We can discuss, debate resolutions, take them seriously and factor them but they are not Act of National Assembly.”

On the clamour for Federal Government to return

to the International Court of Justice, ICJ, over Bakassi penninsula, which was ceded to Cameroun by the court, Maku gave indication that the Federal Government had put the issue behind it.

He said that the Federal Government did not have a new position on the ICJ ruling and called on Nigerians to be diplomatic in making demands on the Bakassi question as Nigeria and Cameroun will forever remain neighbours.

“Nigeria does not have a new position. Nigeria’s position is in conformity with the judgement of the International Court of Justice,” he said.

Maku, who used the NUJ Peoples’ Forum to throw light on the proposed tour of project sites nationwide by select journalists tagged National Good Governance Tour, said it is too early to judge the performance of the administration of President Jonathan less than two

years into his four years tenure.

He, however, declared that substantial success has been recorded in some sectors like power supply where the megawatts produced has tripled even before the completion of the 10 new power stations.

He also noted that gas flaring in the country has since been brought down to around 18 percent and very soon gas flaring will be a thing of the past in the country.

Maku also explained that most of the gas that was previously flared is now saved for power plants in the country and for domestic and industrial use.

He gave assurance that the nationwide tour will not be a jamboree like the 2001 media tour, adding that all states across partisan party divide are involved in the tour through the Nigerian Governors Forum and the National Economic Council that had earlier given their

blessings to the tour.

Maku further declared that projects executed by the federal, state government and local government will be assessed by the media team to correct the erroneous impression that the government in the three tiers are underperforming.

“A lot of projects are going on today but they are highly under reported by the media. Rather, personality clashes take dominance on front pages”.

Meanwhile, the Senate and the House of Representatives have moved into extra-plenary group to pressure President Goodluck Jonathan to dump the idea of the N5,000.

A prominent member of the House, informed reporters about the development yesterday.

According to him, the House in a two-hour executive session, “agreed that the policy is unnecessary”, adding that “we and the Senate are talking directly

to the President to suspend the policy.”

During Tuesday’s plenary session, the lawmakers including Femi Gbajabiamila, Minority Leader; Patrick Ikhariale, chairman House Committee on Power, Hon. Jones Onyereri, chairman House Committee on Banking and Currency expressed displeasure over the currency issue.

During the debate on the N5,000 notes, some of the lawmakers who spoke against the move, stressed the need for the intervention of the House to stop the CBN. After a tensed debate on the motion titled “planned restructuring of the Nigerian currency by the CBN - a cash policy somersault”, the House mandated its Committee on Banking and Currency to conduct an investigative public hearing on the subject matter, and report back to the House within four weeks.

News

6

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

INEC berates politicians over false alarm CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

the incumbent governor of the state, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, who is seeking reelection on the platform of Labour Party.

The Resident Electoral

Commissioner, REC, in the state, Mr. Akin Orebiyi, who spoke during a stakeholders’ meeting explained the rationale behind the transfer of some registered voters to the state.

Orebiyi denied the allegation levelled against the commission that over 10,000 voters were transferred to the state, saying that only 55 applications were received for such transfers.

According to him, only 30 applications for transfer of registration from outside the state were received, while 25 people applied to transfer their cards within the state.

L-R: Group Managing Director, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, Mr. Akin Ogunbiyi; Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama; Managing Partner, Arit Consult, Mr. Mohammed Kari and Vice-Chairman, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, Mr. Akin Opeodu, at a conference on Developing Islamic Financial Institutions in Nigeria, in Abuja recently.

FG moves to overhaul varsity system ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

T

he Federal Government yesterday said it was determined to overhaul the university system even as it planned a 10-year sugar master plan aimed achieving self-sufficiency in sugar production in the country.

Information Minister, Mr. Labaran Maku, while addressing State House correspondents after yesterday’s Federal Executive Council meeting, explained that government had initiated an intervention process to re-position the university system The minister said that the council took the decision to overhaul the university systems, following the report on the state of university system to review the state of the Nigerian university system ordered by the President after the

•Unveils 10-year sugar master plan last Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASSU) strike which brought together stakeholders in the tertiary educational system.

Maku said that the committee examined the state of development of the universities and all the issues that had led to friction and lower standards in the university system.

He explained that the committee went through the entire federal and state universities and took a look at the various issues particularly issues relating to infrastructure, state of facilities, administration as well as issues relating to availability of lecturers and student ration and the entire scope of the development of the university system The minister disclosed

that the report would be presented to the National Economic Council, NEC, with the participation of the 36 State Governors in order to come up with a comprehensive policy.

He noted that some of the issues that were discovered by the committee were more complicated at the level of state universities.

The universities deserve the necessary attention because they represent the future of the country and whatever happens in the university today will define the future of our nation.

Also at the briefing, Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga disclosed that FEC approved the Nigerian Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) and a regime of fiscal and investment incentives.

He explained that the decision was in order to reverse the decline in the sub-sector, stressing that the NSMP has spelt out the sugar and ethanol projections required to achieve self-sufficiency.

Aganga stated that the country would derive a lot of benefit if it could achieve the level of local production envisioned in the NSMP including $65.8 million savings in forex on fuel imports and $350 million saving in forex on sugar imports annually.

Aganga also said that the sugar production would create 37,378 permanent jobs as well as the annual production of 1,797,000 tonnes of sugar, 161.2 million litres of ethanol, 400 MegaWatts of electricity annually and 1.6 million tonnes of animal feeds.

Copyright war: MCSN advised to sue NCC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

run out and if you are still aggrieved, why don’t you ask your lawyer to go back before the court instead of taking the laws into your hands?

“What they have done is what is called self-help which is not recognised un-

der the Nigerian jurisprudence. If there is any dispute, what the law expects the person to do is to go to court to resolve it,” he said.

Panic had set in within MCSN camp over detained members of staff arrested during the exercise.

National Mirror learnt that the five senior officials

namely; Halim Mohammed, Communications Manager; Banjo Omolara Biliqis, Membership Officer; Yusuf Adoji, Account Officer; Olukayode Ajayi, Account Manager and Njoku Gladys, Human Resources Manager and Assistant to the CEO, were held incommunicado at a detention facility owned by

the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA before they were granted bail yesterday evening.

Earlier, the Director General of the MCSN, Mayo Ayilaran, expressed anxiety while speaking with National Mirror that the detained staff members had been denied access to lawyers.

He said that despite all efforts made by INEC to explain the situation to politicians, political parties were still going about spreading unfounded information.

According to him, the commission was planning to make the forthcoming election a model and has been doing all within its capacity to improve on its past performance.

He stated that since the credibility of the voters register determines the credibility of the election, the commission had made efforts to ensure that the register is error free.

He said: “We have done our homework to give a level playing ground to the political parties, this election will be different.

The ICT team of INEC has visited Akure three times to correct the lapses in the register.

“But I want to assure everybody that INEC is prepared to hold the best election in the country with the Ondo governorship election, however the parties should help us because in spite of the of allegations of illegal voters registration, nobody has come forward with evidence”.

The REC however said adequate security would be provided in order to ensure a free and fair election, saying that the commission had made necessary security arrangements that would make the election hitch free from the point of distribution of materials to the announcement of the result.

Meanwhile, the Akeredolu Campaign organization (ACO) has described the statement credited to the Mimiko Campaign Organisation that leadership of the ACN has met with officials of the INEC on how to rig the forthcoming elections in Ondo State as not only baseless and untrue but as a product of hallucination.

“Is it the same Bola Tinubu who joined hands with Mimiko to successfully prosecute the legal battle for retrieving his stolen mandate from the PDP in 2007 that Mimiko is now accusing of trying to win election in Ondo State through rigging?

Bola Tinubu, who is a democrat and a veteran in the struggle against antidemocratic forces in Ni-

geria, with international repute, would not turn around like Mimiko to work against his avowed principles,” the Akeredolu campaign office said.

It added: “Indeed, it is very clear that Mimiko and his amorphous Labour Party has been rejected by the people of Ondo State; this explains why they have been spreading lies, cheap propaganda and promoting violent attacks against the opposition in a desperate move to hold on to power.

“We in the ACN do not need to meet with INEC officials to win elections in Ondo State. The question Mimiko should answer is whether we met with INEC officials before we won in Oyo, Ogun and Edo. We will win the October 20 election because the people of Ondo State have been able to see through the charade and cosmetic projects that Mimiko has been parading as his achievement for the past three and half years.

“This is Mimiko who is powering a fountain with generator in Akure where there is no pipe borne water, who have a litany of abandoned projects everywhere like the N1.5bn doom-dome, Akure township stadium, N273m IleOluji township stadium, Ondo-Akure road, OwoAkure road amongst others.

“For us in ACO, we have called the National Chairman of INEC on several occasions to investigate the activities of Mimiko as regards INEC in Ondo State. We have blew the whistle on his so called biometric registration scam which was actually intended to compromise the INEC database, now that it is clear that they cannot carry out their nefarious activity, they are now trying to taint the ACN, it’s a case of the kettle calling the pot black.

“Once again we call on the security agents and INEC not to allow themselves to be hoodwinked by the LP which is trying desperately to create a decoy. For us in the ACN we are prepared for a free and fair election which we are very sure that we will win because the drowning LP has lost favour with the good people of Ondo State.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Gunmen kill two policemen in Port Harcourt CHINEDUM EMEANA PORT HARCOURT

A

rmed men yesterday shot and killed two policemen in front of Mile One market, beside the Mile 1 Police Station on Ikwerre Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The shooting caused panic among passers-by and market women, who fled in different directions.

Witnesses said the gunmen coming from the Education bus stop, fired warning shots near a branch of Diamond Bank before heading for the policemen.

7

Thursday, September 20, 2012

After the shooting, the armed men examined the policemen to confirm they were dead.

Thereafter, the gunmen headed for the police station, but the policemen hurriedly shut the gate to their station, while the hoodlums, who were shooting sporadically, made a turn in front of the gate.

The policemen, who locked themselves up in the station while their colleagues were being killed, only came out when passers-by shouted that the gunmen had left.

Thereafter, they removed the bodies of their

fallen colleagues.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ben Ugwuegbulam, who confirmed the incident, said the bodies of the policemen had been taken to the morgue.

He added that investigation into the incident had started.

Defending the police, who shut their gate, Ugwuegbulam said it was wrong for the public to expect policemen to confront the hoodlums in a gun battle in such a public place.

Recently, gunmen shot and killed policemen at the Mile Three area.

2013 budget: Mark promises early passage GEORGE OJI AND EMMANUEL ONANI

S

enate President, Senator David Mark, has promised that the National Assembly would pass the 2013 budget before the end of the year.

He, however, said this would be done if the executive arm of government kept to its promise of sending the document to the parliament before the end of September.

Mark said when eventually passed into law, the National Assembly would ensure full implementation of the budget by deploying its weapon of oversight to meticulously monitor it.

The Senate president made the pledge in a speech to mark the resumption of the Senate from its 2012 annual vacation.

He said: “We return to plenary, primed to commence a scrupulous consideration of the 2013 budget estimates, once it is presented.

“It is therefore important that the executive presents the budget early to afford us sufficient time to consider and debate it exhaustively before we can pass it. And our goal would be to pass it before the end of the year. When passed and signed into law, we will insist on full implementation.”

Mark also pledged that the Senate would, with deep patriotism and a keen sense of responsibility, al-

ways live up to its constitutional obligation to serve as a check on the other levels of government.

He noted that in a constitutional democracy, the principle of checks and balances was the greatest bulwark against the exercise of arbitrary power.

The Senate president said in response to the yearnings of Nigerians, the Senate would continue to foster a constructive discourse of the national question, adding that this could only be done within the ambit of the 1999 Constitution.

He also appealed to all those who are disenchanted with the Nigerian condition to join the ongoing national discourse that will lead to the eventual amendment of the constitution.

Fuel scarcity bites harder in Abuja he recurrent acute fuel shortage has continued to make life difficult for the residents of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.

A trip round the city yesterday showed that many fuel stations within the metropolis did not have product to sell.

At the Conoil filling station opposite the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, headquarters in the Central Business District, CBD, area, long queues of vehicles extended to about four kilometres.

The Conoil Station Manager, Abubakar Sadiq, who described the situation as very challenging, said unconfirmed reports attributed the cause of the scarcity to a vandalised loading bay at Apapa area of Lagos.

He said: “I do not know how true it is but they said a loading bay at Apapa was vandalised, disrupting the distribution channels.”

A taxi driver, Mr. Isaac Shajuyigbe, said he drove about town for hours looking for fuel to no avail.

According to Shajuyigbe, the fuel scarcity is biting hard, forcing people to trek long distances instead of paying the extra costs charged by taxi drivers.

He called on the Federal Government to urgently do something to arrest the situation before things get out of hand.

“It is very hard. You can see gentlemen trekking long distances in suit under the scorching sun. They want to trek halfway to their destination before they take taxi because of the increased costs,” he said.

A civil servant, Mr. Michael Durojaiye, said that offices were becoming scanty because workers had to go out during working hours to look for fuel to drive their vehicles home after work.

He added that many civil servants who did not have cars found it difficult to pay the exorbitant transport fares charged by commercial drivers.

between the country and another sovereign state to have a force of law, such must be ratified by the two houses of the National Assembly.

The interactive meeting briefly took an emotional dimension, when victims of the excesses of the Camerounian gendarmes took turn to narrate their ordeals, including rape, assault

and illegal seizure of fishing boats, among others, at the Peninsula.

The House of Representatives had, before it closed for recess, passed a motion calling on the Federal Government to urgently seek review of the ICJ judgement that ceded the oil rich Bakassi to Cameroun, before the 10year appeal window elapsed.

CHIDI UGWU ABUJA

T

L-R: Manager, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), Ifeanyi Mbanefo; former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd); Managing Director, NLNG, Mr. Babs Omotowa and Chairman, Board of Directors, Dr. Osobonye Longjohn, during Gowon’s visit to the company, yesterday.

BA, Virgin must refund Nigerian passengers –Senate committee GEORGE OJI AND EMMANUEL ONANI

T

he Senate yesterday began the consideration of the report of its Committee on Aviation which investigated air fares’ disparity between local and international airlines.

One of the recommendations of the committee, which the Senate may adopt, is the one which urged the

Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to begin to publish weekly available fares in the market for all classes of air travels to educate Nigerians on cheaper and non-exploitative fares.

The committee also recommended that the NCCA, through the Ministry of Justice, should search the relevant provisions of regulations 261/2004 of the European Parliament and Council and engage the right

legal services to compel the British Airways, BA, and Virgin Atlantic to refund Nigerian passengers the way the two airlines refunded their United Kingdom and United States counterparts.

This was as the committee, in one of its findings, accused the British Airways and Virgin Atlantic of unethical practices in their operations.

The Senate, which is yet to consider the recommenda-

tions of the committee, however, directed the committee to further summarise the recommendations for easy understanding and re-present it to the Senate.

The committee curiously recommended that Arik Airline should be considered for the status of a national flag carrier with the attendant privileges, responsibilities and adaptations.

Group calls for removal of Bakassi LG from constitution TORDUE SALEM ABUJA

A

group under the auspices of the Society for International Relations Awareness, SIRA, has called for the removal of Bakassi Local Government from the 1999 Constitution.

The group advised that rather than waste time on the review of the 2002 ruling of the International Court of Justice, ICJ, ceding Bakassi to Cameroun, the House of Representatives should ensure the implementation of the judgement.

The group, led by Profes-

sor Bolade Eyinla made the request yesterday at a meeting of the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Justice.

It argued that the ICJ judgement and the Green Tree Agreement between Nigeria and Cameroun

were not treaties that required the ratification of the National Assembly before they could be implemented, as being canvassed in some quarters.

Section 12(1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended), however, requires that for any treaty

8

South West

Lagos AG condemns unjust imprisonment WALE IGBINTADE

T

he Lagos State Attorney-General (AG) and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, has condemned the habit of charging suspects to court without solid evidence to back up the trial.

The AG stated this yesterday at a stakeholders’ summit on the 2012 Civil Procedure Rules of High Court of Lagos State and the Family Court organised by the state judiciary as part of the weeklong event marking the commencement of the 2012/2013 legal year.

According to Ipaye, it is barbaric for suspects to be kept in prison while evidence to prove the allegation against them was being sourced, adding that such a trend must stop immediately.

Ipaye also defended the decision of the state Chief Judge (CJ), Justice Ayo Philips, to free 233 inmates of Kirikiri prison as part of activities marking the new legal year.

He said the action of the chief judge would send a signal about the excellence Lagos State is known for and that it would also serve as a boost to the state’s prison decongestion process.

Ipaye, who noted that the CJ’s action was significant in that the number of inmates freed was the highest in the history of Nigeria, stressing that the CJ ought to be commended for taking that bold step.

Hs words: “I know that there will be hues and cries over that because some people are already saying that criminals are being freed, but we all know that a man is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

“My view is that it is barbaric to keep people in prison and start looking for evidence to nail them. The best thing to do is to get all the evidences before you can even have the courage to charge suspects to court.”

In her remark, Justice Phillips pledged her commitment to speedy justice delivery in the state.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

ACN flays Folarin over criticism of Oyo govt KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN

F

ormer Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin, yesterday came under knocks from the Oyo State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), describing him as a good example of what a public official must not be.

The party, in a release issued in Ibadan by its Publicity Secretary, Hon. Dauda Kolawole, in a reaction to a radio interview granted Folarin during the week, said it was the inglorious memories of his kind of Oyo State that the ACN-led government

was trying to erase.

It will be recalled that Folarin had attacked the state government for what he called its lack of human face in the sack of civil servants and demolition of structures in the state.

The ACN said the likes of Folarin and the politics of compromise that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), foisted on the state for eight years cannot be continued by any sane administration that had in mind the transformation of the state.

“There is no way Folarin would not see anything wrong in the ongoing

reform in the state civil service and the aesthetics that the state is beginning to have.

“Until he parted ways with Adebayo Alao-Akala, they were both co-travellers in the rot boat of Oyo State, in consonance with the late self-styled strongman of Ibadan politics, Chief Lamidi Adedibu.

“Both literally and metaphorically have dirtied our state; they can never be happy with anyone who is fumigating their smelly past,” the ACN said.

The party wondered why any rational person would be against a reform system that seeks to purge

its ranks of those that had dragged down the hands of the state’s clock for decades, with the aim of replacing them with young vibrant graduates who roam the streets jobless.

The party continued: “We demand that Senator Folarin show the whole world his academic credentials. Only forgers of certificates, those who profit from a system of forgery and those who live a life of misdemeanor would advocate that persons who defrauded the system should be kept a minute longer in the service.

“We are ashamed that a former senator could be a

L-R: World Bank Representative, Dr. (Mrs.) Ayo Akala; Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun and Commissioner for Health, Dr. Olaokun Soyinka, during a visit of the World Bank-NACA-ENR Coordinating Mission to the Governor’s Office in Abeokuta, yesterday.

Group tackles Ekiti varsity over slain lecturer’s burial ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

A

n Ado Ekiti-based socio-political organisation, Progressive Thinkers, has condemned the management of the Ekiti State University (EKSU) for allegedly abandoning the immediate family of its law lecturer, Mallam Mohammed Sani, who was

killed in Maiduguri, Borno State by gunmen about two weeks ago.

A statement by the group yesterday frowned at the university’s management for its inability to make a representation during the burial of the late lecturer.

Chairman and Secretary of the organisation, Messers Bunmi Ajayi and James Ojo respectively,

said: “We are of the view that having put in as much as 17 years in the service of the university, the late Mallam Sani, deserved a better treatment by the management of the university.

“We want to believe that Prof. Oladapo Aina’s visit to the wife of late lecturer was merely cosmetic and artificial. How would he defend his inability to send a single soul to rep-

MAPOLY expels 14 students, bans students’ union FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

A

uthority of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) yesterday expelled 14 students of the institution over the role they played in the aborted Students’ Union election which the management described as an “act of gross misconduct.”

The suspended students, whose studentship cuts across all the departments

of the five schools in the institution were said to have been “caught in the act” following the violence that marred the election.

The development also forced the authority of the institution to cancel the election and consequently proscribed the students’ union movement in the school.

Speaking with journalists yesterday in his office, the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Sulaiman Adebiyi, said the development became imperative

following the disruption of the SUG election in which some students took the law into their hands and destroyed properties whose value could not be ascertained as at the time of filing this report.

National Mirror gathered that there had been sporadic gunshots at the premises of the institution as some students were said to be protesting the disqualification of their candidates at the said election.

resent the university during the burial of a man who had put in his best to the service of the university?” the group queried.

The late Sani was, until his death, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law of the university and he was in the employment of the institution for 17 years.

But, the institution’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Olubunmi Ajibade, debunked the claim, saying that the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oladipo Aina, paid a condolence visit to the wife of the deceased in Ado Ekiti shortly after the demise of the lecturer.

Ajibade said the ViceChancellor pledged to assist the family during his visit to the family.

The university spokesman urged members of the group not to tarnish the image of the university by creating the impression that it is comprised of irresponsible people.

campaigner for the retention of the horrible system of the past.”

The ACN said “in a sane system,” having gone through a barren eightyear stint at the National Assembly, a period it said Senator Folarin did not benefit any of his constituents; the former senate leader would be too ashamed to contribute to any developmental issues in society.

“Folarin’s eight years in the Senate as leader was the quintessential years of the locusts. You will recall that Senator Abubakar Olusola Saraki, occupied same post in the Senate between 1979 and 1983.

“He was not known to have held any other elective national office but his leadership of the Senate, due to his robust contributions to his Kwara constituency, turned him into a folk hero till today.

“Folarin, whose major credential for being sent to the Senate was that he was in-law to Chief Adedibu, performed so woefully in eight years that he cannot pinpoint a single development project he brought to Oyo Central senatorial district, not to talk of Oyo State.”

‘Over-exploitation of resources worsens climate change’ MURTALA AYINLA

L

agos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, yesterday said that over-exploitation of resources in coastal states contributed to the woes and the climate change experienced across the country in recent times.

Speaking during a twoday workshop on climate change in coastal states in Nigeria, organised by the state government in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, Bello called for special attention to coastal states in order to mitigate negative effect of climate change.

The commissioner, who made reference to Agenda 21, adopted during the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development, said the agenda called for the protection of the marine environment from land-based activities in the context of sustainable development.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South West

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Traffic law: Task force arrests soldier, 60 miscreants MURITALA AYINLA

T

he Lagos State Task Force on Environment and Special Offences said it had arrested a Lance Corporal for ‘escorting’ a truck to drive against traffic on the Third Mainland Bridge.

The Chairman of the task force, Superintendent of Police Bayo Sulaiman, who disclosed this while briefing journalists on the enforcement of the Lagos traffic law, also said that no fewer than 60 miscreants otherwise called “Agberos” were arrested this week.

He said more miscreants would still be arrested and prosecuted before weekend.

Suleiman disclosed that the truck would be forfeited while the offenders would be prosecuted.

The new Lagos traffic law stipulates that: “Any driver, who drives against oncoming vehicle or fails to conform to the direction or

indication given by traffic sign, shall be liable to conviction for first offender one year imprisonment and forfeiture of the vehicle.”

Sulaiman said the erring soldier, Umar Usman, and the driver, Abubakar Sagir, had been handed over to the relevant authorities.

According to him, the

truck with registration number XB 323 FKA conveying bags of sugar, rice and cement was arrested while driving on the Third Mainland Bridge about 1pm which is not expected of any motorist since the closure of the bridge for repair.

Sulaiman said the

OSOGBO

O

sun State House of Assembly has suspended the Executive Secretary of Ifedayo Local Government, Hon. Kunle Ayantoye.

This is contained in a statement issued by the Assembly and announced on the state radio yesterday.

His suspension came barely 48 hours after the management committees of the state local governments were reconstituted.

Ayantoye, who is the

chairman of the state chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, was one of the executive secretaries sworn in by the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, on Monday.

According to the statement, Ayantoye was suspended indefinitely for allegedly flouting the orders of the House.

The chairman, it was learnt, stepped on the toes of the lawmakers when he allegedly jettisoned the list of people they approved as members of

Groups celebrate womanhood

S

unshine Foundation and the Committee for Concerned Women, two Non-Governmental Organisations, NGOs, based in Lagos, are collaborating to celebrate womanhood on October 1, to commemorate the United Nations International Day for Older Persons.

The Sunshine Foundation spokesman, Eppi Fanio, disclosed this in a statement.

According to the spokesman, the celebration coincides with the country’s Independence Day anniversary.

“Statistics indicates that more women fall to the vulnerable group of indigent aged. This addresses the need to highlight the importance

traffic.

On the clampdown of the miscreants, Suleiman said 34 of them were arrested last week.

He said: “We have moved to Orile, Mile 2, Abule-Egba, Ogudu towards Oshodi, Cele bus stop. Tomorrow, we are going to other locations.”

Ansarudeen Nursery/Primary School, Ganmo, Kwara State, operating inside a bakery shut by the Quality Assurance Bureau of the state Ministry of Education, yesterday.

Osun Assembly removes LG chair two days after inauguration WALE FOLARIN

truck would be auctioned after two months in accordance with the traffic law.

When asked if the state would release the truck if the owner pays a stipulated fine, he said the law did not give room for the release of impounded vehicle for driving against

of the endowment given to women as a special specie, to enable them explore that potential for the all round uplift of the society.

“To this end, a seminar: ‘Woman! Recognise your strength and how to use it to uplift yourself and the society,’ is being organised to take place at 2nd Avenue, 208 Road, C. Close, House 3 in Festac town, Lagos,” Fanio said.

Last year, the Sunshine Foundation, an organisation focusing on the welfare of the senior citizens, partnered with the Lagos State Government to celebrate the aged under the auspices of the Ministry of Health.

the council management committee and sworn into office another set of people.

Consequently, the House directed that Ayantoye should go on an indefinite suspension to serve as a deterrent to others.

The legislature has directed the Deputy Executive Secretary, DES, of the council to take over the affairs of the council with immediate effect.

The DES was also directed to swear in members of the council management committee approved by the House.

O

‘Let’s develop BHS, Iwo’

P

resident of the Old Students’ Association of Baptist High School, Iwo, King Aremu, has called on his colleagues to join the social network – facebook – and chart the way forward for the development of their alma mater.

Aremu gave the recommendation while delivering an acceptance speech as the new president of the association.

Noting that the school would be 60 years in 2015, the president said, “then we will be talking about diamond jubilee. The celebration of that is a vision the new executives shall conceive immediately; the task of reaching out to thousands of old students, some I have been seen on facebook.

“After now, I will post the new development to them.

I’m therefore calling on all of you to come on facebook and join the task of giving back to the school.”

Civil service reform: Oyo trains 8,040 workers KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN

G

overnor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State said his administration had trained about 8,040 civil servants in the last 16 months.

The governor, who made the disclosure in a statement issued in Ibadan, yesterday by his Special Adviser on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo, said this was unprecedented in the history of the state civil service.

He said the trainings, both local and foreign, included seminars, workshops, con-

ferences, adding that they cut across all categories of workers in the public service.

Ajimobi said the training cost his government N498,343,130, a feat he said had never been achieved by any administration in the state.

He said for instance, 127 permanent secretaries, directors and accounts staff recently underwent a six-week course in Basic and Advanced Computer Programmes.

Besides, he said that about 250 other personnel, including heads of departments, senior executive officers, auditors, engineers, architects and surveyors were trained

Ogun releases N783.1m for Ibara Bridge construction

gun State Government has said that it had spent N783.1m on the construction of flyover at Ibara roundabout in Abeokuta, the state capital.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works, Mr. Kayode Ademolake, disclosed this yesterday during an oversight visit to the ministry by the House of Assembly Committee on Housing and Infrastructure.

Ademolake, who put the total cost of the project at N1.5bn, said that the administration of Governor Ibikunle Amosun had released

9

N783.1m.

He said the construction of the bridge in Amolaso in Abeokuta South Local Government Area was 60 per cent completed, adding that the government had released N60.5m out of the N89.5m cost of the project.

“I also want you to know that the cost of the construction of Quarry - Surulere, Ita-Eko Road was N59.1m.

“The construction of Ibara, Ita-Eko, Sokori, Totoro Road, which is ongoing, will cost N1.3bn,” Ademolake said.

He, however, said that most of the projects were executed through direct labour.

The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Joseph Adegbesan, commended the ministry for the good job.

He said: “I don’t doubt the capability of Nigerians in the Ministry of Works, we have capable hands, we have fellows that are members of the Nigeria Society of Engineers.”

Adegbesan urged the government to release fund on time so that more roads could be constructed in the state.

in areas related to their careers.

Ajimobi also explained that aside the periodic workshops and seminars, 93 workers were sponsored for National Diploma, ND, programmes in Public Administration, Business Administration and Accountancy between May 2011 and February 2012, to ensure their career progression in the civil service.

He said the trainings were part of the comprehensive civil service reform programme being carried out by his administration to ensure efficient and effective civil service that would serve as a catalyst for the realisation of his restoration, transformation and repositioning agenda.

The governor said the decision to carry out the reform followed the bastardisation of the civil service by past administrations; a situation which he noted had put the state civil service, which used to be the toast of other states in the country, at the precipice.

He said his administration would not relent in its efforts to enthrone a civil service that would change the face of the state, warning that the era of indolence and lackadaisical attitude to service delivery was gone for good in the state.

10

South-East

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Army seeks Nigerians’ support against insecurity SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN

T

L-R: Delta State Commissioner for Special Duties, Queen Victoria Ikechukwu; Deputy Governor, Prof. Amos Utuama and President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Prof. Ignatius Onimawo, during the 42nd AGM/ Scientific Conference of Nutrition Society of Nigeria held in Asaba, yesterday.

Imo LG chairmen petition Presidency over N57.3bn fund CHRIS NJOKU OWERRI

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan may stop the statutory allocations to Imo State local government areas if the petition by the council chairmen to the Presidency is heeded.

The 27 local government chairmen have jointly petitioned the Presidency to stop further statutory allocation to the state government until Governor Rochas Okorocha explained how he had disbursed the over N57.3bn councils’

allocations in the last one year.

Addressing journalists yesterday in Owerri, the Imo State Secretary of the All Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) and Chairman of Ngor-Okpala Local Government Area, Hon Enyinna Onuegbu, said that the 27 chairmen petitioned the Presidency to investigate how the state government spent the councils’ allocations between May 2011 and June 2011.

He said that despite the huge allocation accrued to the local government areas within

the period, there were no projects to justify the amount collected.

Onuegbu said: “The amount of money collected in the last one year by the state government cannot be accounted for and the Federal Government should stop further release of local government allocations until the state government explains how the money was disbursed”.

Onue gbu said it is ille gal to disburse local gover nment allocations without the Joint Allocation Account Committee (JAAC)

meeting, adding that since they were reinstated by the Court of Appeal three months ago, there was never any JAAC meeting held in the state.

He said: “It is illegal and amounts to stealing, when local government allocation is disbursed without JAAC meeting which decides how the money is distributed according to the allocation formula.

“Activities in the local governments have been grounded since we came in because the governor refused to hold JAAC meetings”.

Stop further attack on us, MASSOB tells Army NWABUEZE OKONKWO ONITSHA

T

he Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) yesterday asked the soldiers attached to the 302 Artillery Regiment in Onitsha to stop attacking its members.

The group threatened to sue the soldiers if they did not stop the alleged brutality.

A d d r e s s i n g journalists in Onitsha, MASSOB chieftains, Chima Agu and Linus Madunago, said the group decided to “sound

this note of warning to deter the soldiers from engaging in incessant and unwarranted brutality against MASSOB members in the city.”

MASSOB recalled how soldiers from the Onitsha military cantonment stormed a hospital where its Regional Administrator, Chief Arinze Igbani, was receiving treatment after an auto accident, beat him up and whisked him away to their base and later handed him over to the police for prosecution.

MASSOB said: “We are raising this

alarm and sounding this last warning to the soldiers who stormed the hospital where our Regional Administrator, Chief Arinze Igbani, was receiving treatment after the auto accident that broke his leg and confided him in a place for more than five months now and whisked him away after beating him up and breaking the already healed leg to stop further attack on our members.

“We wish to say that the attack was against God and humanity since there was no reason for

such.”

The group, however, called on the Nigeria Army to take full responsibility of Igbani’s treatment abroad, adding: “They broke the leg that had already healed and now, the leg is fast decaying, and the Army should sponsor the treatment of Chief Igbani abroad to receive proper medical care.

“The soldiers, after arresting and forcibly taking Igbani away from the hospital, subjected him to severe torture and broke his leg. Now, the poor Igbani’s leg is fast decaying.”

he Nigerian Army yesterday pledged to defend the country’s democracy and her institutions, just as it called on the citizens to unite against insecurity.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, spoke in Benin, the Edo State capital, when he, in company of Governor Adams Oshiomhole, commissioned some infrastructure, including roads and schools built by the state government for the 4th Brigade, Kenwan Barracks and the Nigerian Army School of Supply and Transport.

Lt-Gen. Ihejirika described the Army as the strongest defender of democracy and urged Nigerians to support the Armed Forces to rid the country of insecurity.

He said there was the need for political office holders to include military facilities in their domains as part of plans to strengthen military-civilian relationship.

Lt-Gen. Ihejirika said: “We are encouraged by the fact that this development is not limited to the Nigerian Army, but it has extended to other security services,

such as the Air Force and the police. All this goes a long way to enhance civilmilitary relations and to encourage those in uniform to give their best to the service of their fatherland. I want to assure all that the Nigerian Army will continue to remain loyal to His Excellency, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, President and Commander-in Chief of the Armed Forces and we will continue to remain the defender of democratic institutions and all its structure.

“I want to ensure that all hands must be on deck irrespective of your calling, irrespective of your party, irrespective of your religion, we must all join hands to rid Nigeria of insecurity.

“I am happy that what you are enjoying today is an extension of what the good people of Benin in particular and Edo State in general are enjoying. I am happy that His Excellency has not discriminated against us in the provision of infrastructure. Passing through Benin before also used to be a nightmare, so the barracks were not different then from situation in the areas. Because we have had occasions to be bogged down even with sirens, but all those are now history.”

FG to create jobs from the grassroots IJEOMA EZEIKE ABUJA

T

he Federal Government has said that plans are underway to generate millions of jobs from the 774 local governments, as well as to educate the councils’ leaders on security measures.

This is even as it said that machineries had been put in place to sustain continuous development of the grassroots.

Addressing journalists yesterday in Abuja on the forthcoming National Workshop on Culture in the Transformation Agenda, which is to be organised by the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) for local government chairmen, NICO Executive Secretary, Dr Barclays Ayakoroma, said that most of the problems confronting Nigeria was tied to joblessness resulting from the underdevelopment of the grassroots.

Ayakoroma noted that lo-

cal government administration, which is essentially the management of the political, economic and social development of the people at community and grassroots level has, been neglected over the years.

The NICO boss regretted that the cultural dimensions to the socio-economic development of the local government system had not been effectively explored.

He said: “Nigeria’s rich culture can offer genuine and lasting solutions to the country’s pressing problems and provide her with respect, sense of purpose, direction, fulfillment, pride as well as the dynamics to the local government administration with transformation in the economic, political and social environment of the modern world.

“Apart from infrastructural developments, culture stands as a sure way of addressing the current peace and security challenges in the country.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South South

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Uduaghan backs lawmakers’ action on DESOPADEC board SOLA ADEBAYO WARRI

T

he controversy over the legality of the dissolution of the board of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) by the state’s House of Assembly may have finally been laid to rest following the endorsement of the action by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan.

But National Mirror gathered that Uduaghan would re-appoint former helmsmen of the agency saddled

with the responsibility of managing 50 per cent of the derivation funds accruing to the state from the Federation Account.

The Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Ovuzourie Macaulay, said in a statement that the governor supported the Assembly’s action for sacking the board for alleged non-performance and incompetence. The board was sacked last week Wednesday.

The SSG said the decision “follows the Delta State House of Assembly’s Resolution at its sitting of Wednesday, 12th September, 2012, calling on

Ibaka Deep Sea Port to accommodate big cargoes –Minister

M

inister of Transport Idris Umar has said that the Federal Government is partnering the Akwa Ibom State Government and private investors to develop Ibaka Deep Sea Port to accommodate high volume of cargoes.

The minister stated this at the inauguration of the Project Development and Steering Committee of the port on Tuesday in Abuja.

Umar said the Ibaka port would be developed under Public Private Partnership (PPP) to accommodate cargoes generated through international maritime trade.

He said the port’s location, which is an integral part of Ibom Industrial City and an important milestone in the development of Akwa Ibom, offered investors unparalleled opportunities for maritime and oil and gasrelated productions.

According to him, the site will also accommodate dry docking facilities for super tanker vessels and offer low cost access to off shore Oil/ Gas fields.

The minister said: “Mr. President attaches great

importance to this project which is indeed part of his transformation agenda. We are committed to the completion of the project by the year 2015.’’

Umar said President Goodluck Jonathan convened a Maritime Sector Retreat on July 3, 2012 to articulate concrete Action Plans to harness the potential of the maritime sector for sustainable national economic development.

“We are taking an important step in the actualisation of one of the key outcomes of that presidential initiative,” he added.

The minister said the sector was central to the nation’s economy as a veritable medium of transportation, global commerce, resource exploitation and recreation.

He said the government created enabling environment to maximise the potentials of the sector and encourage PPP, particularly in the development of sea ports to facilitate international trade.

“It is not in doubt that the nation’s existing six ports are over-stretched.

the governor to dissolve the commission in line with the powers conferred on him by the law establishing it.”

He directed the chairman and members of the commission to hand over all government property, including vehicles in their possession to the Secretary of the commission.

The embattled former members of the board had repudiated the action of the House, saying that the lawmakers had no power to sack them. They insisted that only Uduaghan, who appointed them, could relieve them of the jobs.

A member, who represented the Itsekiri Ethnic Nationality, Mr. Michael Diden, said the resolution of the House was not binding on the board, adding that only the governor could hire and fire the board.

Diden, who remained in office, performing his routine schedules, told the National Mirror that the board was yet to get an order from Uduaghan terminating the

UYO

G

overnor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State has reiterated his administration’s commitment to build a befitting high curt complex in Uyo, the state capital.

Represented by his deputy, Mr. Nsima Ekere, at the opening of the 2012/2013 Legal Year of the Federal High Court at St. Michael’s

African Church, Four Towns, Uyo, the governor promised that the complex would be comparable to the newly-commissioned Federal High Court complex in Uyo. He said the judiciary, like all segments of the society, was already a key beneficiary of his administration’s transformation.

Chief Akpabio listed such transformation to

Our meeting with President successful –MOSOP CHINEDUM EMEANA PORT HARCOURT

T

he Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), not the Goodluck Diigbo faction, has described as successful the recent meeting of the Ogoni people with President Goodluck Jonathan to discuss the implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report.

MOSOP Provisional Council Chairman, Prof.

Ben Naanen, spoke yesterday at a meeting held in Bori in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The meeting was held to adopt the presentation made to the President as a working document for the Ogoni people.

The Ogonis had on September 3, 2012, led by King Godwin Gininwa, President, Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers and Senator Magnus Abe,

met with President Jonathan to present demands of the people as well as publicly declare support for the unity of Nigeria.

Naanen dismissed a claim that the Ogoni delegation that met with Jonathan did not act in the best interest of the people.

“Our meeting with Jonathan was very successful, it is our prayer that the Federal Government speed-up the implementation of the document presented. “If implemented it will alleviate the sufferings of the Ogoni people,” he said.

Naanen said the demands presented to Jonathan include implementation of the UNEP report, compensation for damages in the area and the creation of Bori State.

Others, he said, were oil exploration in the area, youth empowerment, infrastructural and social development as well as provision of potable drinking water.

Former Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Edo State, Mr. Kaduna Eboigbodin (left) and Rev. David Ugolor, during the celebration of Ugolor’s freedom from prison over his alleged murder of late Olaitan Oyerinde in Benin, yesterday.

A’Ibom plans befitting high court complex TONY ANICHEBE

appointment of its members.

However, National Mirror gathered that the meeting of the feuding groups hosted by Uduaghan in Abuja on Sunday night agreed on a political solution to the imbroglio.

The 29 lawmakers and 10 members of the embattled board agreed to sheathe their swords at the end of the meeting.

In a compromise struck by Uduaghan, the former DESOPADEC helmsmen were prevailed upon to accept the dissolution of the board in good faith while the House was also asked to accept the presentation of the former board members for re-appointment.

Consequently, Uduaghan told the lawmakers that the former members namely: Oritsua Kpogho, (Chairman), Henry Ofa, Joseph Ogeh, Michael Diden, Johnson Boro, Chukwudi Eke, Benedicta Nzuegbu – Osakunih, Peter Egedegbe and Kingley Otuaro, would be re-presented to the House for re-appointment.

11

include the construction of an additional court hall at the judiciary headquarters, provision of different brands of vehicles to the judiciary, presentation of brand new vehicles to judges of the High Court and magistrates, introduction of the multi-door court, regular training of judicial officers and attractive welfare packages to the judiciary.

Delta spends N1bn on MDGs projects annually

T

he Delta State Government has been committing N1bn to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) projects annually since 2008, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan said.

Uduaghan, who was represented by his deputy, Prof.

Amos Utuama (SAN), spoke yesterday when he opened the Nutrition Society of Nigeria Scientific Conference held in Asaba, the state capital.

He said: “We have completed 53 micro-water projects of high standard and specifications in several rural communities dotted across the length and breadth of the state.

“Since 2008, this administration has consistently set aside the sum of N1bn annually as our contribution to the execution of MDGs projects.”

The governor said the MDGs projects were achiev-

able, adding that the state government had gone further to institute free maternal healthcare programme that afforded expectant mothers unprecedented access to quality maternal care.

Uduaghan said: “I feel satisfied that there is now a renewed assurance of producing healthy Delta children whose future would not be marred by the misery of avoidable congenial conditions.

12

North

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Crisis: PDP almost lost Benue –Committee OBIORA IFOH ABUJA

T

he Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Reconciliation Committee sent to Benue State said that the party was at the edge of losing the state to the opposition through exodus of its members.

Its Chairman, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, who dis-

closed this yesterday while submitting the report of the committee, added that its intervention in reconciling all the factions thrown up by conflict of interest among its members saved the situation.

Also, the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who received the report, said the party could not win elections when members were split into

factions across the country.

He promised that the party would reconcile all factions before the next circle of elections.

Tukur acknowledged the fact that there would always be problems arising from disagreements and conflict of interests, but stressed that the leadership at all levels must be prepared to listen to the grievances of aggrieved members with a

view to settling them before they got out of hand.

He said: “We will continue to reconcile warring factions within the party nationwide because we need to be united before we can win elections and deliver the goods to the electorate.

“There will be problems but we need to listen to the grievances of aggrieved members for us to build a strong party. We need to

L-R: Chairman, National Executive Council, Arewa Consultative Forum, Alhaji Aliko Muhammed; former Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie and Secretary-General, Col. Musa Shehu (rtd), at the council’s meeting in Kaduna, yesterday.

My focus not on 2015 poll yet –Aliyu PRISCILLA DENNIS MINNA

G

overnor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State has described as unfounded the accusation that he is scheming to edge out the incumbent Senator representing Niger East Senatorial District, Dahiru Awaisu Kuta, at the end his second term as governor.

Kuta had yesterday told the Hausa Service of the Voice of America, VOA, that Aliyu was working in concert with the Peoples

Democratic Party, PDP, leadership in his zone to scheme him out of the 2015 contest.

He said he still desired to continue after 2015, when he would have spent eight years in the Senate.

However, in a swift reaction, Aliyu’s chief press secretary said in a statement that the allegation amounted to shooting the breeze and a ploy to cause disaffection in the party.

The statement reads in part: “Governor Aliyu has said time and again that he considers it preposterous that just a year after elec-

tions, people are beginning to talk about 2015 elections.

Any serious-minded person should know that there is time for election and time to deliver on promises made on the soapbox.

“This is the time for us to deliver on the promises we made to the electorate and not to begin to open discussion on what will happen in 2015. It will be unfair for any politician or indeed anyone to begin to discuss 2015 now.”

Aliyu said he believed that God is the ultimate decider of who becomes what, and therefore cau-

tioned politicians on remarks capable of overheating the polity and giving the impression that a crack existed within the PDP in the state.

He added that he was still committed to his present assignment and would not be distracted by any unsubstantiated allegation in the media.

The governor reiterated his commitment to the ongoing efforts at reengineering the state to attain its vision of becoming one of the top three most developed state economies by 2020.

Hajj: Sambo seeks mobile court to try erring pilgrims AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST KANO

V

ice-President Namadi Sambo has called for the setting up of a mobile court to try erring Nigerian pilgrims performing this year’s hajj.

Addressing about 1,000 intending pilgrims at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport on the eve of their departure to

Medina, yesterday, Sambo also urged them to pray for the peace and unity of the country.

The vice-president, who spoke through the Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, charged the pilgrims to be good ambassadors of the country by abstaining from corrupt practices and shady deals, capable of tarnishing Nigeria’s image.

Sambo said this year’s

pilgrimage was historic, pointing out that this was the first time Nigerian pilgrims were being flown directly to Mecca.

Flying Nigerian pilgrims directly to Medina, instead of Jeddah, followed a collaborative arrangement between Nigeria and the Saudi Government through their Consul in Kano.

Speaking at the event, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji

Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, who is the National Amirul Hajj, urged the pilgrims to be law-abiding and be punctual in their engagements.

In his speech, the Executive Chairman, National Hajj Commission, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, disclosed that the commission had made a solid arrangement to ensure the success of this year’s hajj operations.

be united to build a strong government and to build a strong nation.”

Earlier, Oyedokun regretted that there were five failed attempts to conduct party congresses in some local governments in Benue State in the past, as a result of disagreements.

He attributed the cause of disagreements in the state chapter to attempts by certain local leaders to exclude perceived enemies from the party.

Oyedokun said but for the timely intervention of his committee in the Benue State crisis, there would have been massive exodus of members in the last few days and urged party leaders to allow interested persons to join the party without restrictions.

Other members of the peace committee are Chief Don Etiebet, Alhaji Dauda Birma, Mrs. Bola Doherty, Senator Jonathan Zwingina and Dr. Mohammed Shata.

Plateau byelection: Pwajok emerges PDP candidate JAMES ABRAHAM JOS

F

ormer Chief of Staff to Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, Mr. Gyang Pwajok, yesterday emerged the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for the Plateau North Senatorial election slated for October 6.

At the party congress held at the Treasure Inn Hotel in Jos, Pwajok defeated former Deputy Senate president John Wash Pam to become the winner.

The election, which held amid tight security, was witnessed by Jang and his deputy, Ignatius Longjan, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, officials, and national officials of the party.

Pwajok polled 302 votes out of the 305 delegates that voted during the election, while Pam got two votes.

Al-Makura boosts security with 33 patrol vehicles IGBAWASE UKUMBA LAFIA

N

“Let me take liberty of this auspicious occasion to reiterate my candid position and that of the people of Nasarawa State on the burning issue of the desirability or non-desirability of operating state police in our country, Nigeria. It is illogical, ill-conceived and illtimed to even contemplate the establishment of state police at this critical stage in our history and sociopolitical development.”

Recalling the sad events of the First Republic and the attendant political persecution visited on perceived political foes with state police, Al-Makura said Nigeria should never tread that path again.

He, therefore, warned against channelling energy to the state police issue to the detriment of other developmental challenges staring the country in the face.

asarwa State Government yesterday donated 33 Hilux vehicles to the police to enhance security surveillance in the state.

The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, inaugurated the vehicles in Lafia, the state capital.

He showered praises on Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura for proving the vehicles to security agents and called on the people to partner the police in combating crime in the state.

Abubakar also warned that any officer caught misusing the vehicles would be dismissed.

At the ceremony, AlMakura said he considered the issue of state police illogical, ill-conceived and ill-timed.

He said: “Contemplating the establishment of state police at this critical stage in our history and socio-political development is susceptible to abuse and could be used as a tool for coercion of the citizenry by governments at the state level whose divine responsibility Al-Makura is to protect the people.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

2015: E-voting as INEC’s game-changer

14

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

13

Politics

Why we are instituting Awo leadership prize – Awolowo-Dosunmu

16

PDP blasts Fayemi over ‘Governor of the Year’ award OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU

T

he Governor of the Year award given to the Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, by the Leadership newspapers has been described by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West as “celebration of nothing and a show of emptiness by a failed governor.”

While urging media organisations in the country

to always do a thorough and unbiased investigation before giving awards to public office holders in order not to lose their credibility, the PDP, said; “picking Fayemi as Governor of the Year among the 36 governors in Nigeria by any media organisation is to say the least, insulting.”

The party said this in a press statement signed by its zonal Publicity Secretary, Kayode Babade, insisting that: “Even a five-year-

old child in Ekiti knows that Fayemi cannot be chosen as Governor of the Year among his fellow Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governors in the SouthWest states, not to talk of among the 36 governors in the country.

“In Ekiti State today, cholera is killing people everywhere; taps are no longer running; local government workers are on strike (meaning that all primary health care institutions in

the state are grounded); judiciary workers are warming up to begin their own strike, having handed the government a seven-day ultimatum; teachers cannot resume work; doctors are leaving the state-owned University Teaching Hospital (UTH), Ado-Ekiti; the state borrowed N30 billion to lay asphalt on already asphalted roads and build new Government House; yet, Fayemi is adjudged the “Governor of the Year”.

The PDP said that it understood the purpose of the jamboree, which it said is to create an impression that Fayemi is popular in Ekiti, because of the impending Supreme Court matter, “even when Fayemi has not been able to file his defence.”

In his reaction, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Olayinka Oyebode, said: “The likes of Babade, apparently out of ignorance and mischief can neither comprehend nor appreciate the good governance, transformational and impactful leadership that has been the hallmark of the Fayemi-led administration which formed the

basis for the award.

“It is a known fact that the only thing you can identify PDP with in the state, zonal and national levels is violence and brigandage.

The Fayemi-led government has scored a number of firsts. The first state to domesticate the FOI law; the first state to put in place social security scheme for the elderly citizens; the first to put a laptop computer on the desk of every student in the state’s public secondary schools. If Babade does not see anything good in these policies, it is either he is just being mischiveous or simply ignorant and there is no point dignifying him with a response.”

ACN asks NJC to intervene on Adamawa poll petition FELIX NWANERI

T L-R: Senator Bassy Ewa; Hon. Yakubu Balogun and the chairman House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hon. Elenu Ukeje Nnena at the interaction with the people of Bakassi in Abuja yesterday.

Killing of driver: Party calls for scrapping of LASTMA OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU

F

ollowing the alleged beating to death of a commercial driver in Lagos on Tuesday, the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded the immediate disbandment of the Lagos State Traffic management Agency (LASTMA), as a result of what it called the “increasing misconduct” of the men and officers of the traffic management agency.

The PDP also called for the sack of the General Manager of LASTMA, Babatunde Edu. This is even as Edu had claimed that the police and not LASTMA were responsible for the death of the commercial driver, Monday

Jacob, who died around Ilupeju area of Lagos around 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

Speaking through its Publicity Secretary, Taofeek Gani, the PDP said: “We demand the disbandment of LASTMA and or sack of the LASTMA general manager. The outfit is obviously not fit and proper to manage traffic. We reiterate that LASTMA, as presently constituted is political and has revenue target and thus cannot discharge the responsibility of traffic management without being unprofessional and thereby causing avoidable accidents.

“LASTMA is for revenue and not sincerely to manage traffic in Lagos State.

It is a creation of the aggressive revenue drive of the Action Congress of

Nigeria (ACN)-led state government, prompted by the continuous retainership of Alpha Beta, the tax consultant firm believed to be owned by the national leader of the ACN and immediate past Governor of

Lagos State.”

The PDP lamented the number of deaths so far recorded by the activities of the agency as well as records of illegal arrests of innocent road users by LASTMA.

he Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has called on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to prevail on the Court of Appeal to immediately constitute a panel and fix a date for the hearing of its appeal on the Adamawa State governorship election before the expiration of the 60 days allowed by the law.

The party, which made the call yesterday in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, expressed concern over what it described as a deliberate ploy

Ondo: PDP suspends leaders for anti-party activities HAKEEM GBADAMOSI AKURE

S

ome leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in EseOdo Local Government Area of Ondo State have been suspended for antiparty activities.

The leaders were suspended over their decision to dump the PDP candidate in the forthcoming election to adopt the incumbent governor, Olusegun Mimiko.

The affected party mem-

bers include, Chief Pere Gamfo, Chief F.O. Ajama, Mr. Ajemigi Bekewei and Mr. Sunday Tundigha.

The PDP leaders were suspended by the executive of the party at the ward level.

The letter of suspension read in part: “The persons concerned publicly declared support for an opposition party (Labour Party) and its candidate in the forthcoming governorship election at a meeting with other persons held on

Sunday, September 9, after receiving gifts of a jeep and the sum of N4 million each to betray their political party.”

However, reacting to the suspension, Gamfo said it was a welcome development as it would allow the people to work for the community.

He said the decision to back Mimiko was that of the community, saying the suspension would give them freedom to work for Mimiko.

to deny it right to justice and frustrate its right of appeal by the appellate court.

ACN also described as curious and worrisome the fact that three days before the appeal becomes statute barred, the court has neither constituted a panel nor fixed a date for its hearing.

It said: “In the opinion of the party, the only logical conclusion for this bizarre conduct of the Court of Appeal in this matter is that it deliberately wants to deny it and its candidate the right to be heard, as it is the law now that once an election petition appeal even without any fault of the petitioner/appellant cannot be heard and determined within 60 days from the date of the delivery of the tribunal’s judgement – in this case by September 22 – such a petition has ceased to exist and by implication becomes statute barred.”

The ACN therefore cautioned the appellate court not to use the excuse of the expiration of 60 days to deny it and its candidate the right to justice as this will be an invitation to chaos and further erosion of the confidence of the people in the judiciary.

14

Politics

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

2015: E-voting as INEC’s game-changer FELIX NWANERI writes on plans by the Independent National electoral Commission (INEC) to adopt the electronic voting system, believed to be capable of building the confidence of voters in the electoral process if properly implemented.

T

he quest by Nigerians for an improvement on the appreciable progress achieved by the Independent National electoral Commission (INEC) in the 2011 general elections could still be feasible, if the plan by the electoral body to adopt the electronic voting system in the 2015 polls gets the approval of the National Assembly in the ongoing constitutional amendment.

The INEC chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, who hinted on the plan recently at the 2012 annual national conference of the Institute of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said the commission is ready to adopt modern technology in the conduct of future elections as long as it is in line with the provisions of the constitution.

His words: “INEC is a law-abiding commission and will not do anything that is not recognised by the constitution. The commission will sensitise the citizens on its (e-voting) usage as soon as it has been included in the constitution.”

Section 52 (1) (b) of the Electoral Act 2010, makes it an offence for INEC to use e-voting, but the electoral body in a bid to have its way on the issue ahead of the next elections, presented a paper in its regard at the recent Senate retreat on constitution amendment in Asaba, Delta State.

National Mirror also gathered that the electoral umpire will soon submit a memorandum to the National Assembly.

The INEC boss’ spokesman, Kayode Idowu said: “There are procedures; they (National Assembly) have just called for memoranda, we presented a paper at their retreat, and we are preparing a formal document.”

Electronic voting also known as e-voting is a term encompassing different types of voting. It embraces both electronic means of casting votes and counting them, which includes punched cards, optical scan voting systems and specialised voting kiosks (self-contained Direct-Recording Electronic voting systems -DRE) or transmission of ballots and votes via telephones, private computer networks, or the Internet.

Specifically, two main types of e-voting can be identified: e-voting which is physically supervised by representatives of government or independent electoral authorities (electronic voting machines located at polling stations) and remote e-voting where voting is performed within the voter’s sole influence and is not physically supervised (voting from one’s personal computer, mobile phone, television or the Internet).

Findings by National Mirror showed that the system has been in use since the 1960s when punched card systems debuted.

The first widespread use was in the United States (U.S.) where seven counties switched to it for the 1964 presidential election.

Jega

However, the new optical scan voting system allows a computer to count a voter’s mark on a ballot. The DRE voting machines which collect and tabulate votes in a single machine are used by all voters in all elections in Brazil and India, and also on a large scale in Venezuela and the U.S. They have also been used on a large scale in the Netherlands but have been decommissioned after public concerns.

The internet voting system on the other hand, has gained popularity and has been used for elections and referendums in the United Kingdom, Estonia and Switzerland as well as municipal elections in Canada and party primary elections in the U.S. and France.

However, while many believe that deploying biometrics to achieve accuracy will help curb electoral frauds such as multiple voting and ballot stuffing, which among others, have remained the bane of Nigeria’s electoral process, some stakeholders, particularly the opposition political parties have described the idea as a recipe to give the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) an undue advantage in the forthcoming polls.

They argued that e-voting would be hard to realise given the high level of illiteracy in the country as well as the deficiency of relevant infrastructural requirements to drive it. Some political analysts even cited an example with the U.S, where it has been contended that electronic voting, especially DRE voting, facilitates electoral fraud.

But those in support of the system insist that it is high time Nigeria embraced it, owing to the several challeges of conducting elections in the country with a population of about 150 million people, out of which about 70 million are registered voters, spread across 120,000 polling centres.

This, they noted, is in an addition to the towering number of political parties which makes difficult, the sourcing and procuring of balloting instruments, recruitment and training of personnel, transportation and movement of men and thousands of tonnes of election materials across varied and often difficult terrains over a relatively short time.

The analysts were quick to refer to the introduction of the Direct Data Capturing Machines (DDC) in the last voters’ registra-

tion exercise and concluded that they assisted a great deal in drastically reducing multiple registrations.

But the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), which faulted the e-voting system, through its Lagos State chapter spokesman, Gabriel Omoruyi, said: “We are in support of the system we are used to which is the open-secret ballot system. Maybe in future, when majority of Nigerians understand how to use the electronic voting system, it could be introduced.”

In the same vein, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), through its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said his party has no confidence in the INEC on the issue. He said the inability of the Jega-led INEC to produce a functional electronic register after billions of naira was spent on the project was an indication that the commission may not be able to manage an e-voting system.

The parties’ position was backed by other major stakeholders, including some members of the National Assembly.

Whereas the lawmakers who cut across party divides agreed that e-voting could reduce electoral malpractices, they reasoned that Nigeria is not ripe for it. They equally hinged their position on the dearth of infrastructure.

The Secretary General of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Chief Willy Ezugwu, told National Mirror that: “Electronic voting as a form of voting is a good thing. However, we must look at

TOWARDS A MORE TRANSPARENT, FREE, FAIR AND LEGITIMATE ELECTIONS IN

2015,

WE NEED TO CONSIDER USING E-VOTING... TO

BUILD CONFIDENCE IN THE PEOPLE AND LAY A GOOD FOUNDATION FOR ITS SUCCESS

its implications in the Nigerian context.”

But allaying their fears, Engr. Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive of Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), which is in partnership with INEC on the e-voting project assured that the platform will provide a more secured and reliable system in which electorate’s votes count.

He said: “Every quarter of a decade the country prepares for yet another election to determine who takes over the helm of affairs. The lack of enthusiasm displayed by the electorate is due to the fact that previous elections have been marred by gross irregularities and lacked credibility. Consequently, NigComSat’s Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and Microelectronics Centre of the Research and Development Department embarked on a mission to mitigate the aforementioned issues.

“The result was an electronic solution which will provide a more secure and reliable system in which electorate’s votes count. The electronic nature of the system moderates the level of human interaction with it, thus diminishing its disposition to election malpractices and errors. The foolproof and adaptable technology can instantaneously give collated results if communication links are provided to all polling units from the local, state to national level.”

Ahmed-Rufai further noted that because the system is biometric based, there is no possibility of multiple voting and impersonation, adding that invalid votes as a result of ink smear in the traditional voting system is also eliminated, while real-time online view of results of votes cast makes it more transparent.

“The benefits are numerous. Bulk paper work is eliminated by the e-voting system. It can be programmed for voters to vote from any part of the country for the candidate of their choice, thus eliminating the risk, cost and stress of traveling from one place to the other to either register or to vote. Nigerians in diaspora can also vote irrespective of their geographic location. The network is a highly secured one; rigging through ballot stuffing, ballot box snatching and hijacking is not applicable,” he added.

On possible demerits, he said: “The only thing we can readily think of is the fear of hacking when the machines are networked.

Again, lack of adequate infrastructural amenities such as power and inadequate ICT access in some geographic regions of the country and the literacy level of the electorate is also a concern, but we can only get better if we decide to get things right.”

Executive Director of Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), Comrade Mashood Erubami, who shared similar view, said: “Towards a more transparent, free, fair and legitimate elections in 2015, we need to consider using e-voting. Serious planning should however commence by INEC, working with stakeholders to build confidence in the people and lay a good foundation for its success.”

While the nation is undecided yet on the voting system for the 2015 elections, it is believed that the need to revolutionalise the country’s electoral process for its results to be less controvertible will guide the National Assembly, as it embarks on the amendment of the electoral laws in the current costitution amendment.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Politics

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Local government workers in Ekiti State last week began an indefinite strike over nonimplementation of the new minimum wage, but the state government said the workers would only be paid after completion of the staff audit at the councils. ABIODUN NEJO writes on this and other altercations

Ekiti, LG workers lock horns over minimum wage

A

t the heat of hues and cries across the nation for wage increase and implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage for civil servants, Ekiti State, Governor Kayode Fayemi, was of the opinion that the amount was even too meagre for workers in the face of the economic realities in the nation.

When he was to fix the minimum wage for workers in his state, it was put at N19,300, an amount higher than the demand of the workers. Doubting Thomases among the workers were proved wrong in December last year when payment of the wage for categories between grade levels one and seven in the state civil service began.

In May, payment of the N19,300 minimum wage began for all categories at the state level. But their counterparts at the local government level were told to wait until proper staff auditing had been completed at the third tier.

This, in the thinking of the state government, was to plug the conduit pipe through which a chunk of the state resources is going down the drains in the name of payment of salaries to local government workers, where there is a preponderance of ghost workers and those with fraudulent papers, among others.

But as the government continued with the verification exercise, local government workers appear to be impatient, especially as it is taking too long and their seeming lack of trust that the administration would pay the arrears of the new wage.

As such, the workers, under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) began to pressurise the state government to pay the new minimum wage and as well effect payment of CONMESS and CONHESS to medical and health workers in their fold.

The NULGE issued various ultimatums to the state government to pay the new minimum wage to council workers and address other sundry issues affecting them.

This move, the NULGE State Secretary, Comrade Victor Ade Adebayo, said “is to further appeal to the state government to respond to the just demands of the Ekiti State Local Government staffers.”

While the agitation was ongoing, NULGE alleged in a newspaper publication last month that Fayemi was deducting N1 billion monthly from the allocations to the 16 local government unions in the state.

But Fayemi was quick to respond to the allegation, saying it was unfounded, a blackmail and an attempt to smear his image and reputation. He thus gave NULGE seven days within which to retract the publication or hear from his lawyers.

A week later, September 4, specifically, Fayemi, through his lawyer, Mr Rafiu Balogun, demanded a retraction of the publication, saying it portrayed him as a fraudulent governor who siphons public funds

15

Fayemi

to the detriment of the local government councils in the state and the well-being of workers.

Apart from a retraction, the governor is also demanding a public apology and withdrawal of the allegation which must be pasted in conspicuous notice boards in all the local government councils in the state.

He also demanded that NULGE must advertise the retraction and apology in at least three major national newspapers and as well convey the retraction and apology through a broadcast jingle to be run on Radio Nigeria, Progress FM, Ado-Ekiti; Ekiti FM, Ado-Ekiti; NTA Ado-Ekiti; and EKTV for seven days.

The governor maintained that unless NULGE complied with the demands within seven days of receipt of the letter, he would not hesitate to drag the union to court to compel it to pay aggravated damages running into several billions of naira.

But NULGE, had shunned the legal threats, saying the governor was only personalising an allegation it levelled against the state government and not the person of Fayemi.

However, on Wednesday, a few hours after the expiration of the seven days notice served by Fayemi’s lawyer, local government workers from the 16 council areas of the state converged on the NULGE secretariat in the state capital, Ado-Ekiti, to agitate for what they called “our rights to good life.”

The placard-carrying protesting workers marched through the streets and had since last Wednesday embarked on an indefinite strike to compel the government to accede to their request.

The Ekiti State NULGE President, Comrade Dele Ajayi said: “We want our rights.

We demand the minimum wage, which is being paid other categories of civil servants in the state in the past five months.

Our health and medical workers deserve CONMESS and CONHESS payable to their counterparts at the state level.”

Ajayi said the indefinite strike became necessary following the refusal of the state government to accede to the council work-

Omar

WE WANT OUR RIGHTS. WE DEMAND THE MINIMUM WAGE, WHICH IS BEING PAID OTHER CATEGORIES OF CIVIL SERVANTS IN THE STATE IN THE PAST FIVE MONTHS ers’ request for their proper welfare, saying: “We have followed due labour dispute requirements of giving notices for 21 days, 14 days, seven days and three days.”

The NULGE boss, whose agitation for the workers’ rights, was echoed by the union’s National Officer, Chief Oluyemi Esan and Ekiti State Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Chairman, Comrade Ayodeji Aluko, said the workers would not renege until their demands were met.

But the state government regretted that despite the agreement reached with NULGE on the payment of minimum wage to council workers, a section of them went ahead to stage a protest.

The state Labour and Productivity Commissioner, Mr. Apalara Wole-Adewumi, in a statement, expressed dismay that a section of NULGE members succumbed to cheap blackmail by allowing themselves to be used by some disgruntled politicians to disturb the existing peace in the state.

He cautioned NULGE’s leadership to stop any further protest as “government cannot be intimidated through any acts that could lead to the breach of public peace.

The commissioner stated: “It is on record that government had agreed to pay N19,000 minimum wage to local government employees and the agreement was about to be signed when a false accusation emanating from NULGE’s letter against the governor was published to the effect that a sum of N1 billion was being deducted illegally from

the local government funds.

“In spite of this unfortunate development, the government is still ready to accede to the legitimate requests of NULGE but the union should make itself available for further negotiations.”

However, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which said it was compelled by the situation at the councils and the N1 billion allegation, called on Governor Fayemi to resign from office following his “inability to perform his roles and abdicating his responsibilities.”

Ekiti State PDP chairman, Makanjuola Ogundipe, lamented that workers in the state were going through unnecessary hardship following the governor’s refusal to pay them their dues as and when due.

He said: “Rather than pay salaries and embark on life-transforming projects, Fayemi gets and utilises monthly allocations on non-tangible things. We cannot fold our arms and watch our funds expended on globe-trotting.”

Earlier in the week, the PDP had called on the state House of Assembly to institute a public hearing into the N1 billion allegation so that the public would know the truth of the matter.

Ogundipe had threatened that he would not hesitate to drag the Assembly and the governor to court if the public hearing was not instituted as part of the responsibilities of the House.

Meanwhile, a solidarity rally by a coalition of youths and various interest groups in the state was held in support of the Fayemi administration in office in the last 22 months.

The groups made up of youths associations, okada riders, drivers’ unions, market men and women and politicians, said they were protesting Wednesday’s rally of the local government workers, which they described as the handiwork of some politicians, who are hell-bent on disrupting the existing peace in the state.

Chairman of Ekiti State Market Women, Mrs. Waye Oso, who appealed to the council workers to embrace dialogue rather than confrontation, said the rally was meant to gear the governor up and spur him to do more development programmes.

The Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) chairman, Rotimi Olabiwonu and his National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) counterpart, Oso Farotimi, said the people should resist attempts by some individuals and groups to destabilise the state and plunge the government into unwarranted crisis.

Fayemi, who was caught in the traffic snarl occasioned by the rally on his way to the Standing Committee meeting of the Church of Nigeria hosted in the state, however, stopped to address the rally.

While describing the local government workers’ rally as political and misguided, he said no amount of threat from the workers or series of protests would make him back-down on his resolve to complete the ongoing biometric exercise before commencing the payment.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

16

Politics

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Why we are instituting Awo leadership prize – Awolowo-Dosunmu Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, the Executive Director of Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, is the daughter of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The occupational health physician and former Nigerian ambassador to The Netherlands, tells LEONARD OKACHIE, why the foundation is instituting the Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize.

Excerpts: The Obafemi Awolowo Foundation is 20 years old. How would you assess its performance?

I think we have made a significant impact on the public policy landscape of Nigeria since 1992 when the foundation was founded. Until I left in 1999 to be ambassador of Nigeria in The Netherlands, we were able to hold annual conferences which we call dialogues and they almost became part of the national calendar. They were very well attended; always looked forward to and participation is always robust. At the end of each of those dialogues, we produced a publication of the proceedings. We produced other publications also. We also used to have annual memorial lectures. We have had eminent people within and outside Nigeria deliver those lectures. People attended in large numbers and have always looked forward to it.

But then, I left to be ambassador and unfortunately we had to slow down, until Papa’s centenary in 2009, which I organised from abroad practically and it was a year-long series of activities including lectures by Prof. Wole Soyinka and Koffi Annan. We had two conferences - one on the Awo legacy and the youth, which was held at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, actually in collaboration and another one to celebrate 55 years of free education in Nigeria. We had other activities also within that year. We had a book lunch in collaboration with the International African Institute at the Edinburgh University Press. It was a book written by a lady scholar on Papa. That was launched at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. I was invited as guest speaker.

So, since I have been back, we have tried to restart activities. We held a dialogue last July and this year we have had the lecture as well, which was very well attended. The foundation has been proactive in taking part and trying to take the lead in the discussions of the great issues of the day. Having been away for so long, it takes time, but it hasn’t taken that much time.

What informed the Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize?

last year when it became obvious that it was an idea whose time had come. We decided to move on it this time and I put together what we now call a technical committee of experts made up of eminent scholars, professors and vice chancellors. They started meetings last year. They have had a series of meetings and they have developed the concept further to what you have been seeing in the papers.

What we did was to extract what we thought were the characteristics of Awolowo’s leadership.

Why is the prize slated for every two years?

I think it is just to give ourselves time. To organise it involves a lot, it takes a whole year. The announcement went live in June and we are not doing the award until March 2013. May be with time, we can decide to do it more frequently. The maiden edition is coming up on March 6, 2013.

Right now, the nominations have closed on August 31.The technical committee has met twice since then to sort out the nominations and organise them in readiness for the actual selection committee which is made up of eminent Nigerians. They will meet in few weeks; I don’t know how many meetings they will have before the announcement in December.

We chose March 6, which is Papa’s birthday to do it but it will be just a little after in deference to Mama really because she celebrates birthday. So, we are likely to defer to her on that one and let her have that day.

Awolowo-Dosunmu

Leading on from the dialogue last year that we had in Ikenne in July, themed, “Transformational Leadership and Good Governance: Lessons from the Awolowo Example,” it was held right about the time when the elected governments were beginning to settle into business and we felt that it was the best time to intervene in the whole process and try and remind both elected and appointed government functionaries of what happened in the Awolowo era. It is to serve as a guide and then to assist them to chart their way forward.

At the end of that dialogue, the communiqué contained a recommendation. One of the major recommendations is that the Awolowo Foundation should start instituting a leadership prize and encourage and foster excellence in leadership in Nigeria. At that conference, speaker after speaker observed that one of the problems in Africa is the dearth of good leaders. Actually before that in 1994, when the foundation hosted a dialogue with the theme: “Nigeria in Search of Leadership,” that was also the recommendation that the foundation should institute a leadership prize. Unfortunately, it got lost in so many other activities that we were doing at the time.

So, we didn’t do anything about it until that dialogue

Ekiti, LG workers lock horns over minimum wage

CONTINUED FROM 15 He said he had asked the workers to wait for the outcome of the staff auditing in all the councils before implementing the payment, maintaining that “nothing will make me pay the money until the system is sanitised and ensure that ghost workers and those living in Lagos and Sokoto and are receiving salaries from the council areas are fished out.”

The governor added: “I can’t because of 22,000 workers at the local government level abandon about 2.5 million people in Ekiti. I won’t join them in their politics because this is not time for politics, but when the time of politics comes, they will see pepper.”

He, however, assured the workers

that all the arrears would be paid as soon as the state government knew all the authentic workers, adding: “If you noticed the programmes I am executing, you will see that I have not been sectional or political, so I can’t be so wicked to the extent that I will deprive a section of workers certain benefits.

“Before we started the payment at the state level, we conducted data capturing system popularly called biometric data to ascertain the workforce and that we are doing at the local government areas now.

“So, before we start paying, we will ensure that sanity is restored and ghost workers and those frittering Ekiti money are stopped.”

Although the state NULGE de-

clined comments, saying the public would be briefed after its meeting, it was gathered that the ongoing biometric data capturing exercise had shown that no fewer than 5,000 of the 22,000 council workers had no business drawing salaries from the state coffers.

Sources said the discoveries so far had revealed the existence of ghost workers, who could not come physically for verification, some individuals on the payroll living and working in other parts of the country, who came but lacked simple information about the councils and some clerical officers without additional qualifications in higher grade levels and those drawing salaries from more than one point.

Is the prize only for political leaders?

Not at all; it is for any individual that is considered to have made significant impact in their community - be it an academic community, be it a social community. So, it is certainly not for politicians. As far as you demonstrated in large measure the kind of characteristics that made it happen for Awolowo, then it is for you.

What leadership quality of your father do you think is lacking in today’s leaders?

For the simple reason that we have had quite a number of nominations, it means that those people have been adjudged to have emulated Chief Awolowo. So, it’s not as if there is nobody, there are, at least in the eyes of the people who nominated them. This is why this award is unique compared to the lots of awards that are being given out in Nigeria today.

This is almost like a citizen assessment of people in leadership position because nobody can nominate himself. You have to be nominated by other people. In other words, people have to believe in you enough to put your name forward. It is not only the nominator, there has to be other supporting documentations among other criteria.

So, I believe there are leaders and I am sure everybody in leadership position is trying their best. All we have to do is to point them to a direction of doing even better until they get to the level where they can be considered excellent.

What does it mean to be Obafemi Awolowo’s daughter?

There are lots of challenges and expectations in being Awolowo’s daughter. All you have to do is to be honest with yourself and then you have to remember the lessons that you were taught by Chief Awolowo or the lessons that you imbibed generally just by being around him, being brought up by him, because that is what people expect.

People expect a certain standard of behaviour from you.

But at the same time, you have to be honest enough with yourself and with other people to let them know that Papa was Papa and I am me. I am certainly not Papa; I cannot be him. People should be charitable enough to leave room for your feelings. It is very challenging but is also a fantastic privilege. The name opens doors. People feel that they belong to the family as well. So, we have a huge family out there, people who are interested in us, people who want to see us succeed, people who feel that Papa belongs to them just as much as he belongs to us. It is a wonderful feeling and I cannot complain at all.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Views

Thursday, September 20, 2012

17

On the quest for Igbo presidency FOR MOST DISCERNING NIGERIANS, THE

EXISTENTIAL HUMANISM

GREATEST ANXIETY DURING ELECTION

FRY

PERIOD IS CENTERED

NDUBUISI

ON WHERE THE

fryndubuisi@nationalmirroronline.net (08023016709 SMS only)

T

he 2015 presidential race has commenced despite the fact that we have seen less than two years of the current term. There have been visible movements all over the federation to that effect.

President Goodluck Jonathan has tried as much as possible to distance himself from the ongoing scheming, maintaining that he is pre-occupied with how to improve the lot of the citizenry. But hard as he had tried to do this, it has been difficult for Nigerians to believe that he is not covertly doing something about his interest in the race. Earlier, Mr. President had sternly warned his ministers to steer clear of 2015 politics or risk being sacked. But the truth remains that there have been subterranean moves by different interests on how to capture power at the centre, come 2015.

A former head of state recently presented a serving governor as the ‘hope’ of the North in 2015. As a matter of fact, the North has let it be known to all and sundry that the 2015 Presidency is not negotiable. And quite recently, Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu

L

PRESIDENT WILL COME FROM of Niger State stated that the criticisms that have stridently been trailing his government were due to his alleged interest in the 2015 presidential race.

The South South leaders are also not leaving anything to chances. They have stated without equivocation that their son, the incumbent President, must be given the opportunity to serve two terms as allowed by the 1999 Constitution. Early this month at Efurun, Delta State, the South South Peoples Assembly at its confab, unanimously affirmed support for a second term for Jonathan. All the speakers at the forum insisted that he was free to seek re-election in 2015.

Before now, Ohaneze Ndigbo had been unequivocal about the Igbo presidency project, saying it is now their turn to be the chief tenant of Aso Rock in 2015. And this had got the support of many Igbo leaders. The logic in the Igbo project is based on the need to ensure equity and fairness.

The Nigerian political history has recorded General J.T.U.Aguiyi-Ironsi as the only Igbo to have led Nigeria. And his reign lasted only six months. The North has ruled the country for about 37 years and the Yoruba for about 11 years. As a very active nationality that contributes both men and material resources to the sustenance of the Nigerian project, the Igbo deserve to produce the nation’s president, come 2015.They have long been marginalized on the issue of leadership.

It is unfortunate that we have become adept at parochial and particularistic politics. For most discerning Nigerians, the greatest anxiety during election period is centered on where the president will come from and not if he has the competence for the job. That is the brute fact about Nigerian politics.

Before we agonize over this, we must first of all re-visit Chapter two of the 1999 Constitution, which institutionalizes federal character and quota principles. In consonant with the spirit and letter of the Constitution, some political parties have made zoning a fundamental issue in their constitutions. That arrangement in our kind of environment may not really be a bad idea, considering the level of our political maturity and given our multi ethnic dimension. It might not be an ideal arrangement in well matured democracies, but it is a pragmatic one in our own environment.

It is politically expedient. Most tensions in the country are a fall out from the drive for

power equalization.

The sudden death of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and the unwillingness of some members of his kitchen cabinet to concede power to the Vice President put this issue in context. Politically we have not matured yet to accept whoever emerges as the nation’s president. The attention any zone gets in infrastructural facilities and juicy appointments in government controlled institutions depends on how close the president is to such zone.

The Igbo deserve the 2015 Presidency.

They have in honesty contributed like all other ethnic nationalities in building the nation. Beyond everything else, the success of this gambit will give them a psychological relief and a sense of belonging. Besides, the level of neglect the region has suffered in the anal of Nigerian history is phenomenal.

That explains the migration of Igbo to other parts of the country. Thus the project is not only rational, it is achievable. However, it requires a united and undivided loyalty of all Ndigbo, especially among the leadership of Ohanaze and other Igbo cultural groups.

It must be clearly stated that the cacophonous voices being noted among our people, with some for and many others pursuing different agenda, will hurt this ambition.

Prof. Ndubuisi, an attorney at Law, is of the Dept of Philosophy, UNILAG

Beautification law: A legislative-haywire?

agos State blazed forth another rounds of controversies with its recent enactment of a beautification law tagged “Lagos State Parks and Garden law, 2012”. The controversies over the Road Traffic Law, (which among other things forbids making phone calls, eating, counting money while driving and prescribing three years imprisonment for one-way offender) had hardly died down when the new law was rolled out.

Under the said law, spitting, urinating or defecating in any area of the parks or gardens or opens spaces; loitering or soliciting, littering, polluting or dumping litter or refuse in any park or garden in Lagos State, constitute offences with severe penal consequences.

But while the foregoing may be understandable, there is the ontroversial provision in the law that says the all landlords and tenement occupiers must beautify their houses specifically by landscaping and planting flowers in the perimeters of their houses or else they would go to jail after defaulting to pay exorbitant fine!

In his explanation of this provision, the Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, said “A violation of this would attract N250, 000 or the amount the state would incur if it decides to carry out the beautification, or six months imprisonment or other noncustodian sentences” The law is no doubt aimed at lifting the aesthetic profile of Lagos as a part of the larger megacity metamorphosis dream.

But the law is one of those initiatives with potentialities to create more problems

than whatever advantages its proponents envisioned.

It will be recalled that the state only last year also featured another highly controversial provision, in its Lagos State Criminal Law, 2011. Section 276 of that law prescribes a term of imprisonment for anybody who impregnated a lady and abandoned her.

What all these boil down to is that the state is gradually becoming totalitarian.

A totalitarian state is that in which rulers control all or most aspects of peoples’ lives under whatever guise. Responsible adults (men and women) are told what they should eat and drink, the way they should dress and even what and how to think! That forms of government is antithetical to all ideals of liberal democracy.

During the Taliban government in Afghanistan, adult men must grow beard or go to jail. Now with the new Lagos Parks and Garden Law, you either beautify your house or go to jail, who says there are no similarities in these two laws!

Pray, is it everything that is desirable that you enforce by law? For example, laughter is good for your health, should we then pass a law that every adult must laugh every day? At the rate at which the state is going, it might not take long before a law is passed mandating Lagosians to laugh three times a day or go to jail.

To stretch this satire a little, the state government should recruit “laughter enforcement policemen” to monitor and assess the would-be flouters of this proposed law. These policemen must ascertain not only the quantity of the laughter but also

NOW WITH THE NEW LAGOS PARKS AND GARDEN LAW, YOU EITHER BEAUTIFY

KAYODE

KETEFE

YOUR HOUSE OR GO TO JAIL the quality because of some hardened law breakers who might engage in empty, mirthless grin!

Furthermore, there are many species of flowers that constitute lovable habitats to poisonous animals like snakes, not to talk of flowers which are poisonous in their own right. Species like Philodendrons may appear beautiful but does contain as much as 0.7% of oxalates in the form of calcium oxalate, which is poisonous and carry the risk of death if mistakenly ingested. Another beautiful and ornamental flower like Datura stramonium may be fatally toxic if ingested in large dose.

Now, has the state government put in place solid educative programme for the house owners on harmless and dangerous species of flowers before seeking to drive them into emergency flowers grower?

On a more serious note, one should have thought what needed to be criminalised is maintenance of dirty, unhygienic environment which can constitute real nuisance to individuals and public health and not beautification laxity.

The seemingly increasing appetite of Lagos lawmakers for excessive legislation

kketefe@nationalmirroronline.net 08032147720 (SMS only)

should be critically addressed. Legislating on every conceivable issue would not always foster effective social engineering.

Nobody begrudges the lawmakers of their powers to make law for the welfare and good governance of Lagos State as this is a constitutional right, but nothing in Chapter 4 (6) of the Constitution empowers a State House of Assembly to go “legislative haywire” There are many areas on which lawmaking may be employed as tool for development. Let us have law that reserves certain quota of public offices to deprived citizens like the physically/visually challenged; let us have laws that foster gender mainstreaming on public policy, let us have laws that promotes equitable redistribution of income.

Send your views by mail or sms to PMB 10001, Ikoyi, or our Email: mail@ nationalmirroronline.netmirrorlagos@ 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.

18

Editorial

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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

Q

STEVE AYORINDE

MD/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

YELE AKINROLABU

ED OPERATIONS

SEYI FASUGBA

DAILY EDITOR

BOLAJI TUNJI

SUNDAY EDITOR

GBEMI OLUJOBI

SATURDAY EDITOR

LANRE OYETADE

GENERAL EDITOR

DOZIE OKEBALAMA

COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD

ADESOYE ADEKOYA

CONTROLLER, PRODUCTION

CALLISTUS OKE

EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

ISE-OLUWA IGE

ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

KAYODE BALOGUN JNR

SM, STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT

FRANK OBOH

HEAD, GRAPHICS

Falling quality of law graduates

uite disappointing was the report at the Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) held in Abuja last month, of the increase in examination malpractices and falling standards in law education by the Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, Mr. Tahir Mamman. Mamman disclosed that a newly qualified lawyer was jailed six months with no option of fine and was serving the jail term in Kuje Prisons for cheating during the school’s bar examination. He said two others were awaiting judgment while another four had just been arraigned.

The Law School helmsman not only lamented the trend as capable of tarnishing the image of the profession, but tonguelashed some senior lawyers whom he accused of encouraging the fraudsters by using their positions to hinder the prosecution of the cases in court. “A senior member of the bar came to me recently to plead on behalf of some defaulters to say that any form of prosecution would destroy their careers.

This we find very reprehensible,” Mamman stated. He blamed the poor performance of law students on their lack of interest in the legal profession, corruption in the admission system of some universities and parents who goad their hardly prepared children to study

law by hook or crook.

The quality of the products of the nation’s tertiary institutions has generally been very worrisome for many decades. It is now a common refrain, for instance, to hear education managers, including President Goodluck Jonathan, complain about the poor quality of fresh graduates and how the problem compounds the challenges of youth unemployment in the country.

Experts have, however, traced the rot to a compromised admission process that allows unqualified candidates to study in the universities. Reports say such candidates are often drawn from requests originating from highly placed public officers, including top officials of the universities.

The introduction of the post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) has brought no respite. Nor is the performance at the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) anything better.

With credit pass in five subjects, including English and Mathematics as the benchmark, reports said the level of success ridiculously ranged from less than two percent to a maximum of 25 percent, including those who cheated to make their papers. Identified as major setbacks, in addition, are decline in the quality and dedica-

THE FATE OF JUSTICE WHEN CROOKS THAT EMERGED AS LAWYERS AND JUDGES THROUGH EXAM FRAUDS AND DUBIOUS CERTIFICATES ARE IN THE SADDLE, CAN ONLY BE IMAGINED tion of teachers, hectic classroom conditions and poorly kitted laboratories, as well as the nonavailability of requisite teaching materials. Others are incessant strikes that disrupt academic activities, manipulation of grades and sundry academic frauds by teachers and students alike.

Worsening the trend has been the failure of technical core education managers and regulatory agencies to insist on standards; leading to some students graduating with glittering grades they hardly deserve or can defend.

Considering the specialized knowledge the study of law requires, as well as the strategic roles lawyers and judges play in the dispensation of justice, the future of the country’s justice system faces a grave risk if examination frauds and the crumbling

quality of law graduates are not quickly and resolutely addressed.

With the current level of graft and dishonesty dogging justice delivery in the country, which seems irresistible even to some judges and lawyers of seeming flattering integrity, the fate of justice when crooks that emerged as lawyers and judges through exam frauds and dubious certificates are in the saddle, can only be imagined.

While Mamman deserves commendation for his firm resolve to ensure that exam cheats faced the wrath of the law to protect the integrity of the legal profession, and by implication, the nation’s judiciary, too, the Law School D-G owes Nigerians the patriotic duty of exposing the senior members of the bar behind attempts to scuttle the prosecution of the Law School exam fraudsters; and we insist that such immoral legal luminaries be recommended to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee of the Body of Benchers for appropriate sanctions. The nation may not register any meaningful progress in tackling the chronic problem of examination frauds and poor quality graduates except all those involved – teachers, students, parents etc., who conspire to perpetrate the evil are apprehended and punished; and the required learning environment and facilities put in place.

ON THIS DAY September 20, 2011 The United States ended its “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, allowinggaymenandwomentoserveopenlyforthefirsttime.The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service in the United States, because their presence “would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline and unit cohesion.

September 20, 2007 Between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters marched on Jena, Louisiana, United States in support of six black youths convicted for assaulting a white classmate. The Jena Six were six black teenagers found guilty of beating Justin Barker, a white student at Jena High School on December 4, 2006. Barker was injured in the assault by the members of the Jena Six, and received treatment for his injuries at an emergency room. While the case was pending, it was often cited as an example of racial injustice.

September 20, 2001 In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, United States president, George W. Bush declared “war on terror”. The War on Terror (also known as the Global War on Terror or the War on Terrorism) is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the US and the United Kingdom with the support of other NATO as well as non-NATO countries. Originally, the campaign was waged against al-Qaeda and other militant organizations.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

19

Education Today Nigerian appointed first black VC in A America 24

Photographer’s daughter capped best graduand at FCE, Akoka Having spent more than three years in pursuit of SSCE result, Jacob Rebecca had almost given up before she was encouraged to enroll for preliminary NCE programme at the Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka.

She had hoped to jettison the programme for a university degree one day, but soon, the love of teaching absorbed her. Last Thursday, during the college’s 35th convocation ceremony, Rebecca was announced the best out of 3,082 graduands. MOJEED ALABI reports her feelings and aspirations:

I reluctantly enrolled here, but now fulfilled, says Rebecca

C

oiled up in the corner of her world, Jacob Pedetin Rebecca almost saw no hope again. It was back then in 2007 when all efforts to make good grades in her senior secondary school certificate examinations yielded no gain.

Rebecca had finished from Community Senior Grammar School, Surulere, Lagos, in 2004, but her results could not take her anywhere. She registered for the examinations again and again, despite the economic challenges facing the family.

It was at that edge of losing hope that some of her friends encouraged her to obtain the Pre-NCE form of the Federal College of Education, (Technical), Akoka.

She had hoped to study Business Administration at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka. This dream had lived with her for a long time. And that, according to her must have been developed from her contact with her mother’s petty trading business.

“My mother sells petty items like sachet water while my father is an itinerant photographer. I was attracted by the buying and selling that takes place in my mother’s kiosk and I think that triggered my desire to study Business Administration,” Rebecca said.

“Because I am the first child, my parents really tried to make things work for me.

Maybe, because they also saw the potential in me, they were not tired. But in 2007, I almost gave up before an uncle and some friends advised me to obtain the pre-NCE form for this college,” Rebecca explained.

Rebecca

She eventually resumed to the college in 2007, hoping to make her papers soon so that she could write another Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to join her secondary school mates in the university.

After the preliminary programme in 2007, Rebecca was, in 2008, admitted to the Department of Secretarial Study to study Business Education as a Part I, full-time student.

“Gradually, I became interested in the course and I found out that most of the things I used to see in my mother’s shop were what they were teaching us. From there, I saw a new path to greatness and I never saw myself as inferior to my friends in the university again,” she further explained.

Surprisingly, when Rebecca finished her study in 2011, she was the best graduating student with a cumulative gradient point of 4.52 out of the available 5 points. She had led a total of 3,081 others in the combined 2008/2009, 2009/2010 and 20/2011 sets.

The 22-year-old was on top of the world when, last Thursday, she was invited to the podium to address the audience. Her com-

MY MOTHER SELLS PETTY ITEMS LIKE SACHET WATER WHILE MY FATHER IS AN ITINERANT PHOTOGRAPHER posure and the simple manner she read her incisive speech aroused the attention of the gathering, which included the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’I and the Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education, Prof. Muhammed Junaid, among others.

Asked how she was able to achieve such a seemingly difficult feat, Rebecca, beaming, said; “It could only be God and nothing more. I think God enabled me to see the strength in me and I remained dedicated against all odds.”

What were these odds? She was quick to open up; “Things were rough as a student, particularly as my parents are only aver-

agely buoyant. There were times funding my education became difficult, but thanks to their commitment and dedication. I also thank my uncle, Mr. Adisa Kwuhede, who always supported me financially.”

As a student of the college, Rebecca said only two things occupied her mind; to study hard and worship God. “I was always from classroom to fellowship even before I became the president of the Anglican Students’ Fellowship on the campus.”

The church assignment, rather than affecting her studies negatively, she said, became the major lubricant oiling her wheels. “As a fellowship leader, I needed to be a good example, so I became more prayerful and studious. The leadership tasks also prepared me for the challenges as I became responsible for my members’ welfare and spiritual guidance.”

How did her parents feel when she resumed into a college of education? She said they never felt bad, rather, “they prayed for me to be guided to the right paths. But as you know, an average parent would always want his or her child to study courses like Medicine, Engineering and so on. But since I chose to become a teacher, they are contented and believe I will achieve greatness, and this is the beginning.”

When UNILAG resumes for the new session in the next few weeks, Rebecca will hopefully be one of the new students in its Business Administration Department at the Faculty of Education, where she wishes to earn her degree certificate.

But would she like to practice teaching as a profession? “I am fulfilled being a teacher and I am already into it. I currently teach at a nursery and primary school in Surulere where I daily derive joy for being in the midst of children,” she sharply responded.

She said though teaching may not be materially profitable, she believes that there can be no profession as noble as teaching “because it is the root of all other fields. Without teachers, there can be no learning.”

Rebecca, who hails from Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State, said teaching will, one day, regain its lost glory in Nigeria “when people will value dignity in labour.”

To her parents; Mr. Kwuhede Dosu Jacob and Mrs. Hannah Taiwo Jacob, the beginning of success is in the spirit of not giving up. The duo would want their daughter to remain focused and be a light wherever there is darkness.

20

Education Today

Sir, as the Chairman of the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Nigerian universities one will like to know the thinking of your colleagues in the committee. Are you comfortable with the situation of education in the country?

First, let me remark that – and I say this with all sense of responsibility – that the crop of Pro-chancellors of Nigerian Universities is dedicated to the furtherance of the university education. This country should commend them for their efforts especially in the face of their challenges. We meet quarterly and if there’s need to meet earlier we do meet to debate education, to share ideas and to assist each other and the commitment and quality of debate at this level is one of the highest I’ve seen nationwide. I do not think there’s any pro-chancellor who thinks the state of the university system today is acceptable. We all believe there’s great room for improving the system. Speaking for myself, I believe the university system is at a crossroads. I believe very strongly that the system is incapable of supporting Nigeria’s development. I believe that there’s a direct correlation between the quality of education in a country and the welfare of the people and that today Nigeria’s welfare is very poor because the quality of education is also very poor. However, I’m not disillusioned. I think and I believe President Goodluck Jonathan is keen on education improvement and he has demonstrated this. I’ll give you some examples. One is the tenure of the university council. Once he was told that the university council tenure was statutory he reversed the decision dissolving the university council stating clearly that they must complete their tenure. You need this level of stability. If you do not know the tenure of the administration, how can you plan? Two. Although the university amendment bill which gave autonomy to the university councils on the appointment of university administrators was signed in 2003 it did not begin operation until 2007. In 2007 the government of Yar’Adua and now Jonathan has not tried to interfere in the appointment of the university administrators. I think in this area, the university system has achieved close to 90 percent success within the first five years of the operation. Three. So soon after the president was elected, he held an education seminar where the roadmap was presented and is now waiting for implementation. These are epoch achievements. The ball is now back in our court as administrators to take advantage of the presidential encouragement in refashioning the education

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Our university system is at crossroads – Wale Babalakin

Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN, OFR) is the Chairman, Committee of Pro-chancellors of Nigerian Universities and Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Maiduguri. In a chat with select education editors including National Mirror’s Assistant Editor (Health/Education), SAM EFERARO last week, he traced the current state of the nation’s economy to the neglect of the education system over the year. Excepts. system in Nigeria. I’m a firm believer in the fact that waiting for the Federal government, state government or the local government to champion the cause of education alone will not create any monumental progress.

There seems to be a relative peace in our universities these days. Does it mean we are getting it right?

One of the things that is slowing down Nigeria is that we have a cavalier attitude to agreements.

In our culture, agreements are only to be obeyed if they are favourable to us. This is a wrong attitude. It’s an attitude that shows or reflects the level of our development. As the Chairman of implementation Committee 2009 agreement between the Federal Government and ASUU and also between the Federal Government and the non-academic union, I can say categorically that it has been a relatively good outing.

We’ve had more months of peace in the universities than the previous years. But we’ve also had two or three industrial strikes that are inconsistent with the agreement and totally unacceptable. The first one was the sympathy strike by ASUU in support of the universities in the south east when they had problems with their proprietors. There is no provision in the agreement for sympathy strikes. It was unfair on the Federal Government and the funders of the federal institutions to see their money and their resources being used for sympathy strikes and I did make a statement at the university of Maiduguri convocation condemning this act. The second strike which occurred because of the slow implementation of the 2009 agreement in the area of retirement age of scholars.

That strike, though avoidable, was caused by the inefficiency of the Federal Government and I want to put it on record by saying it was promptly resolved by Mr. President under the leadership of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Minister of Education and other committed players in the sector. Strike as a weapon of conflict should not be used lightly. It should be used when there is a demonstrable

Babalakin

infraction or a clear violation of agreement on stated position and I hope that my brothers in all the unions will adopt this position and let us explore the mechanisms provided for dialogue under the various agreements before embarking on strikes.

You say there’s a direct correlation between the quality of education in the country and the welfare of the people. Could you please expatiate on this?

Nigeria is a country in need of ingenuity, original thinkers and those who can say I will do it though it has never been done before. An educational system that will support this sort of nation must be very rigorous intellectually, must be skewed towards original thinking and must be merit-driven. Today, we have fallen short in every area. Before the mid-70s one of the most sought after profession was those who were intellectually gifted. If you were an outstanding scholar, where you find yourself invariably was in teaching. But it was so attractive that those in the private sector and in government looked up to it. It’s still within memory that in 1974, a university don turned down the offer to succeed Obafemi Awolowo as Commissioner for Finance in the Federal Government because he

said then that it was more prestigious to be a professor of economics in the university than to be the minister of finance. Can you believe that this happened?

Can you tell a young man today that a situation like this ever occurred? As recent as my generation at the University of Lagos, the most gifted men returned to the university for Youth Service and invariably had a full path towards the academia. Societal distraction fuelled by lack of merit has created a situation where the academia does not enjoy a pride of place in Nigeria any more. Once we improve it up there, it trickles down.

There’s no magic, the failure of Nigeria today is the failure of the education system.

Once again, primary and secondary school teachers have announced that they will soon be embarking on a strike. Is there something we can do to prevent this now and in future?

I believe that centrally controlled primary or secondary education will not work. What do I mean by this? Secondary education should be administered at the local government level where supervision is very direct.

Parameters should be created for a minimum baseline nationwide. Below minimum will be unacceptable. Each local govern-

ment should be able to define its target. First they must know every student of school age in the Local government, how many of the students will make it to secondary school, what calibre of secondary school will they go to and how many of them want scholarship. That is something that should be done at the local government level and it should be done in a manner that the local governments will compete with each other. Salaries and remunerations too must be related to the environment. I mean if you pay a man 50 naira in Lagos for a job and you pay the same 50 Naira for the same job outside Lagos that is not the same a wage. The man on 50 Naira in Lagos will barely survive while the man with the same amount of money outside Lagos will have some comfort. If there’s going to be strikes in primary schools it will be localised if you adopt my approach. You may strike within your local government you will find that the strike will reduce but when you control primary education nationwide I’m not sure of how much supervision you can give from the centre. So I’m not sure you can control strikes from the centre.

Still talking about strike, don’t you think we are where we are today as a result of incessant strikes?

You have a point. But there’s no point starting from the manifestation.

What caused the strike? What created the environment for the strikes? I was in Cambridge University for four and half years and there was no strike. I remember at the end of our third year I went to the college and I saw a notice board by the university curator who is like the conscience of the university.

He put an advert on the board saying he was disappointed with the students that there had been no strike for three years and that students are not showing any interest in the larger society which is why they are not striking.

Coming from Nigeria I wanted to collapse. I studied that notice board for over 20 minutes, I went to pick my camera and took a photograph of it. The university is so well organised, moving like a machine that the conscience of the university says ‘demonstrate a bit.’ You know their own definition (of strike) is different. They are not breaking anything or injuring anybody.

They chose the break time to carry placards. If the curator CONTINUED ON PAGE 23

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Education Today

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Katsina shuts three schools for illegal practice JAMES DANJUMA KATSINA

T

he Katsina State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has ordered the closure of a private primary school, the Unity Science Primary, Kofar Kaura, for allegedly operating in defiance to guidelines for private schools in the state.

The closure brings to

three, the number of private primary schools so far shut down in the state within a month for similar offence.

The Chairman of SUBEB, Dikko Suleman, who ordered the closure while on an inspection visit, said the decision became necessary because the school was operating in a non conducive environment.

He said the proprietor

of the school had failed to comply with “the clearly spelt out procedures and guidelines necessary for private schools to operate,” insisting that there was no place for such schools in the state.

Suleiman noted that the era of establishing mushroom schools was over, and that stringent measures would be taken to ensure quality delivery in private and govern-

ment primary schools.

He added that it was expected that every school must adhere strictly to the guidelines before it could be allowed to operate.

Meanwhile, as a way of checking the proliferation of private schools, the government has banned the use of residential or commercial buildings as private schools in the state.

Suleiman, who dis-

closed this to newsmen recently, said anybody wishing to establish a private school must get the approval of the board and meet necessary conditions.

According to him, any temporary site that intending school owners would acquire to start a school must have complete set of classrooms, and should not be a residential area.

Christ’s school alumni association seeks unity among members ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

T

he new President of Christ’s School, AdoEkiti, Alumni Association, Mrs. Fadeke Alabi, has cautioned members not to allow their political inclinations and interest to divide the association.

Alabi said in Ado Ekiti recently that such unity was necessary to keep up the spirit of oneness which the association had been known for.

She said the unity has enabled the association to contribute immensely to the infrastructural development of the institution and the state at large.

The former school administrator and first female president of the association promised to initiate programmes that would further boost the standard and popularity of the 79year old institution.

Alabi, who was elected unopposed, was before her emergence, the vice-president of Ibadan, Oyo State branch of the association.

She took over from Dr. Kayode Obembe, who was in the saddle between 2009- 2012.

Christ’s School, Ado Ekiti, the first secondary school in Ekiti State, was established in 1933 by Christ Missionary Society (CMS), now Anglican Communion.

Other members of the executive elected to pilot the affairs of the Association for another three years include: Dr Kola Sonaisi, Vice President Worldwide; Chief Dele Fagbemigun, Secretary General; Mr. Idowu Ogunlade, Treasurer; and Mr. Jadesola Babatola, Publicity Secretary. Mr. Oso Tosin emerged Financial Secretary.

L-R: Provost, Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Dr. Sijibomi Olusanya; Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education, Prof. Muhammed Junaid; Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai’ and the Director of Tertiary Education, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. Jelilat Suara at the 35th convocation of the college last Thursday.

ActionAid advocates improved funding for adult education TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

A

ctionAid Nigeria has urged governments in the country to improve yearly budgets for adult education in order to close funding gap in youth and adult literacy The anti-poverty agency said if the federal government’s vision of getting 40 million adults literate by 2015 would be actualised, the Federal Ministry of Education must take a lead in getting all

tiers of government, the private sector and other stakeholders to prioritise, fund and manage literacy programme, particularly, adult and youth literacy.

Giving the advice in Abuja recently, ActionAid Education Programme Manager, Andrew Mamedu, said; “This year’s World Literacy Day theme ‘Literacy and Peace’ is apt for Nigeria, particularly now that the country is battling with the cases of armed insurgency in parts of the country, in-

crease in crime and other crises threatening the peace of the Country.”

Noting that Nigeria, with a literacy level of 57.9 per cent based on 2010 statistics by the National Bureau of Statistics noted that the country has millions of illiterate youths and adults who should be educated so that they can contribute to the improvement of their lives and the economy in general.

Mamedu further stated that “there are strong links between literacy and eco-

nomic performance and also between economic performance and peace; the Federal Government should lead the process of creating a sustainable funding mechanism that will close the huge funding gap in youth and adult literacy sub-sector in Nigeria.”

He also suggested that at least 5 per cent of UBE statutory fund to adult literacy programme even as the states and local government areas must stop seeing adult literacy, as an already missed opportunity.

Dragnet to establish career clubs in tertiary institutions MOJEED ALABI

N

igeria’s leading computer-based testing company, Dragnet Solutions, is planning to establish career clubs in tertiary institutions across the country.

This was recently disclosed by the company’s Managing Director, Mr. Robert Ikazoboh. He said such clubs would help in addressing some of the challenges that undergraduates face in plan-

ning for a future career, after school.

These challenges, according to Ikazoboh, include negative and pessimistic views about their future and that of the nation; dependency syndrome inherent in our youth; and lack of information and knowledge of the possibilities and opportunities that exist.

“Others include lack of a structured job search system, distant and inaccessible employers, highly competitive nature of the job

market, nepotism in the employment process and the youths’ lack of faith, hope and belief in self and in the future,” he added.

The director assured that once the idea of the career club is accepted by the various higher institutions in the country, the fortunes of thousands of Nigerian students, who graduate annually, without any inkling of their career direction, would have been significantly helped.

“The career club idea is an initiative which will

inspire, assist and propel undergraduates of our tertiary institutions to accomplish their career dreams.

The club will aid them in overcoming the challenges standing as obstacles to realizing their job dreams. It will work to bridge the gap between the employers and students, the education environment and the economy at large.

“This club is truly about empowering students to take charge of their future in a proactive manner.

21

N5,000 note will aid corruption –Dons HENRY IYORKASE MAKURDI

U

niversity lecturers have lent their voices to the ongoing debate on the planned introduction of N5,000 note denomination as being suggested by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

A Professor of Economics and lecturer at the Department of Economics, Benue State University (BSU), Makurdi, Apiah Okoroafor, and the department’s head, Dr. Andzande Gbakor, made their opinions known to National Mirror recently in separate interviews.

They condemned the introduction of the N5,000 naira denomination, saying the country is not ripe for such denomination and ascribed the moves as retrogressive aimed at encouraging corruption.

Okoroafor said Nigeria, being a non productive economy and with the raging global financial crisis, does not require any new formula of currency denomination “which will further increase the devaluation of our currency.”

He observed with dismay that Nigerian leaders are in the habit of leading the country astray because they lack the necessary leadership qualities and academic requirements.

“The economy in Nigeria cannot accommodate such elitist policy because larger percentage of the country’s population lives in the rural areas. This will only increase the corruption rate and further push the commoners to the wall because as a nonproductive nation it will be hard to manage.”

Similarly, Dr. Gbakor also told National Mirror that if the policy is allowed to stay, bigwigs and politicians in the society will abuse it through massive looting.

He further noted that even the British that colonized Nigeria has never raised its currency above 50 pounds and wondered what the rationale behind the idea is.

22

Education Today

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Ogun assures TASCE of good welfare package

T

he Ogun State Government has assured various trade unions in Tai Solarin College of Education, Ijagun, Ogun State, that all their demands for improved welfare packages would be met.

The Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr. Segun Odubela stated this while fielding questions from newsmen after meeting with the leaders of major trade unions of the college who were agitating for increase in welfare package.

According to him, most of the demands by the unions were the ones left by the immediate past administration, adding that the present government has been paying subvention to the institution and other higher institutions in the state since inception last year.

He therefore called on the staff of the college to maintain peace while the state government finds lasting solution to the problem.

“No solution can be provided in a rancorous environment,” Odubela stressed.

The Non-Academic

Staff Union and Allied Institution of the college in a four-point demand signed by Osoba Olatunji and Osho Debowale, Chairman and General Secretary respectively, is, among others, demanding the immediate implementation of the new minimum wage; immediate payment of 10 months’ unpaid salaries and the constitution of the college’s governing council.

Meanwhile, the Ogun State Government has reiterated its call on wealthy individuals and groups to partner it in its avowed commitment towards improving the standard of education in the state.

Odubela made the plea at the handing over of an ultra-modern library donated to Anglican High School, Abeokuta, by Pastor John Baiyewu.

Amosun

L-R Winner Senior Category, Cowbell National Secondary School Mathematics Competition (NASSMAC) 2012, Uwa Benjamin; Sales and Marketing Director, Promasidor Ghana, Mr. Festus Tete and the competition’s Junior Category Winner, Akintokun Samuel, at Promasidor’s head office in Accra, Ghana recently.

FUOYE matriculates 512 pioneer students ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

T

he Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, at the weekend matriculated its pioneer students, urging them to be of good conduct towards the realisation of the institution’s goal to make them compete favourably with their peers around the globe.

The Education Minister, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, urged the students to take their studies seriously, saying education was the only way to empower them

to be relevant in a very competitive world.

She, however, restated the Federal Government’s determination to adequately fund the sector, saying the establishment of nine new universities by the Federal Government was to give youths in the country more access to tertiary education.

According to her, the President approved the take-off grants of N1.5 billion each to the nine new universities to enable them put in place critical infrastructural facilities and as well break the syndrome

Lagos urges illiterate adults to enroll in school FAMUYIBO BANKOLE

T

he Lagos State Government has urged residents in the state who could neither read nor write to enroll in any adult literacy centre close to them.

Giving the advice at this

year’s World Literacy Day progamme organised by the state government to commemorate the annual event in Lagos, the Special Adviser to the state governor on Education, Otunba Fatal Olukoga, said the exercise was at no cost to learners. This year’s event was themed: ‘Literacy for Peace.’

According to Olukoga, there is no excuse for any resident in the state, irrespective of age, to remain illiterate when there are free adult lessons around them to attend.

While disclosing that the state had recorded 87 per cent literacy rate as at last survey by the office of the State’s Ministry of

Economic Planning and Budget in 2010, Olukoga said the figure was the highest ever recorded by any state in the country.

He noted that out of the total 20, 546, 999 population of Lagos State, only about 2,671,110 of them are illiterates with females taking a larger percentage.

Bakassi: UNILAG Law Faculty advises FG to consult scholars MOJEED ALABI

T

he Law Faculty of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, has advised the Federal Government to always carry along experts and scholars whenever it is taking decisions on critical issues like that of Bakassi.

The faculty’s lecturers stated this recently during a public roundtable discourse on the contentious issues of Bakassi and the Ogoni’s declaration of independence. They considered the legal and moral

implications for Nigeria.

In his opening remark, the immediate past Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Oyelowo Oyewo, said the discourse became more relevant, putting into consideration the physical and emotional pains the Bakassi inhabitants have been subjected to via Nigeria’s decision to cede the control of the area to Cameroun.

Both Drs. Dayo Ayoade and Yemi Oke of the faculty spoke on; Retrospectivity and Confusion as International Law on Bakassi, and socio-economic Perspectives of Ogoni secession bid, respectively. The

Chairman of the university’s chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and lecturer at the Department of Philosophy, Dr. Karo Ogbinaka, considered; Bakassi Imbroglio and the Human Angle.

The contributors condemned Nigeria’s indifference to the plight of the people of the region and urged the Federal Government to look deep within and review the judgement of the International Court of Justice on the matter.

Ogbinaka, who described himself as a street scholar, said the people of the region

should be encouraged to continue to stage protests to attract the world’s attention to their plight.

On Ogoni’s Independence declaration, the scholars said in the face of law, there is no justification for it, saying they need to consult experts on constitutional law to seek through interpretation of certain clauses that they may think to support their course.

The current Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Imran Smith, said the faculty will continue to make contributions to public issues that require input from experts.

of new institutions taking off without adequate budgetary provisions.

Speaking earlier, the institution’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said the university would inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation in the students as a way of giving them the edge in the labour market.

Nebo, who described the occasion as a dream realised, said ability to develop the infrastructural facilities within six months was a herculean feat achieved by the management.

“When we said we will be ready to take off from our permanent sites, nobody gave us a chance.

People felt it would be impossible, but thank God, the management team worked assiduously and here we are today.

“It is the first among the nine new universities that is taking off from the permanent site and we have two sites ready for use,” he added.

The students, who are 512 in number, also pledged their commitment to abide by the rules and regulation of the university.

Union hands over N3.7m worth renovated schools to Ogun State FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

T

he free education policy of the Ibikunle Amosun-led administration in Ogun state recently received a boost as the state chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS) handed over three blocks of seven classrooms it renovated to the state government.

The handing over also featured the donation of 280 twin students’ desks and chairs as part of the preparation for the re-opening of the schools which were among the 13 schools closed down by the military administration in 1985.

They had been shut on the ground that they were “no longer viable.”

Two of them, ImodiIjasi and Ikangba Comprehensive High Schools are located in Odogbolu local government area while the third, Moraika Comprehensive High School, was

located in Ijebu-Ode. They were all renovated at the cost of N3.7 million, according to the association.

In his address, ASUSS state chairman, Comrade Tunde Folarin called on the state government, through the Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), to fast track the process of appointing teaching staff to the schools in order to give pupils from the areas the needed educational development.

Speaking on behalf of the state government, the Chairperson of TESCOM, Mrs. Bukola Onabanjo described ASUSS as a progressive union that is committed to uplifting the standard of education in the state.

Onabanjo promised that her commission would meet the state governor to ensure that teachers are drafted to the schools in order to meet the educational aspiration of ASUSS, as well as that of the community.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Education Today

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Gains, prospects of ICPC’s antigraft searchlight on campuses The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) recently partnered the National Universities Commission (NUC) to sanitise the nation’s university system of corruption. On the pilot scheme are; University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye and Salem University, Lokoja. In this report, TOLA AKINMUTIMI reviews the initiative.

F

or a nation whose citizens are seen as prime suspects and easy targets of security operatives for criminal acts in almost all countries and transborder points globally, the recent efforts by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission to take its anti-graft war to tertiary institutions could best be likened to treating a leprous ailment from its dermatological roots.

Indeed, the new initiative which has continued to elicit reactions from stakeholders in the nation’s education sector symbolises a proactive strategy in the war against corruption, a national malaise that has cost so much for the country in terms of its negative socio-economic and reputational implications for Nigerians and the polity over the past decades.

Even when it is generally understood that the menace of graft and other anti-social vices are not peculiar to any culture or country, the pervasive dimensions in which corruption manifests across the broad strata of the Nigerian society, particularly with the colouration the James Iboris and the likes have added to it, suggest some kind of peculiarity of the Nigerian situation that only unpatriotic citizens could wish should be allowed to continue.

It is therefore within the context of the above worrisome development that the move by the ICPC to explore from the frontiers of education sector to broaden the scope of its antigraft war is seen by observers as a timely and desirable intervention in a case that calls for urgent remedial attention.

As many analysts have observed, the anti corruption agency’s initiative is symbolically a bold move to tackle the problems of corruption at the roots in view of the fact that character building, in addition to the grounds availed by par-

Mr. Ekpo Nta

Okogie

NTA DISCLOSED THAT SOME OF THE TARGETED OUTCOMES OF THE EXERCISE ARE, IMPROVEMENT IN THE DELIVERY OF QUALITY UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN

NIGERIA; IMPROVED CLIMATE FOR

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM ents and guardians at home, is better nurtured at schools where youths take on most of the character traits they exhibit at future times to shape their own and nation’s destinies.

Just as an Islamic or Christian or other religious seminaries or monasteries serve as fertile grounds for planting and nurturing spiritual and moral seeds in the youths and try to make them develop good characters required to make them behave responsibly in the larger society, so can schools, particularly given the recent developments in Information and Communications Technologies field, serve as fertile grounds for imbibing in youths a culture of moral uprightness in

CONTINUED FROM 20 thought was a sort of war as our own students embark on when they are annoyed , you think he will encourage strike? Education system will only take its place in the world of education when universities become autonomous again, when as pro-chancellor in Maiduguri I know that I must find money to run it, I must pay salaries, I must encourage research, I must ensure the university is well developed so that I can attract scholars, I must ensure that the scholars are

efforts to nib their negative character traits in the bud.

As the Acting Chairman of the ICPC, Barrister Ekpo Nta, made it clear during the media briefings organised in collaboration with the National Universities Commission (NUC) to flag-off the comprehensive Systems Study and Review of the Nigerian University system based on a protocol and cooperation established between the Commission, the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) and other stakeholders in three universities recently, taking the battle to the very ground where the seed of social vices could be nurtured represents a proactive approach to addressing a social

malaise of cancerous implications for the body politic.

While justifying why the agency is beaming its anti-graft searchlight on the education sector, the Chairman said the intervention was a direct response to various petitions from students, staff, unions, and other stakeholders alleging all manner of corrupt practices and abuses in most of our tertiary institutions.

He said that the ICPC was acting in line with its statutory powers as provided for in Section 6 (b)-(d) to undertake a comprehensive Systems Study and Review of the Nigerian University system with the principal aim of identifying and correcting corruption-prone processes.

Barrister Nta disclosed that some of the targeted outcomes of the exercise are, improvement in the delivery of quality university education in Nigeria; improved climate for transparency and accountability in the university system and a system that would be better structured with policy and procedures that discourage corruption, mal-

‘Our university system is at crossroads’ productive so that from their production I can get a good image and from their image I can get some result. For as long as the university education system is such that we are all waiting for subvention from surplus to spend without any guilt or responsibility then we will have some difficulties.

Listening to your take on education You seem to have a creative approach on the

funding of education. Can we say here comes a possible concept towards social reformation, social engineering we need in education? Are we looking at a concept that can make education functional?

Sir, you are actually articulating me more than I’ve done. That’s where I’m going. You see, if you revive university education properly to the extent that everybody leaving the university becomes

23

practices and fraud at all levels of operations, while also improving on the quality of their service delivery.

While expatiating on the key benefits for the youths during a parley with the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and the National Association of Polytechnic Students, the ICPC boss said anti-graft agencies will not fail the youths, adding that “we have a moral and ethical right to give back to your generation what we enjoyed in the past. It is a sacrilege, if we do not give you the same moral and ethical orientation.

“We will not let you down in the fight against corruption. Our generation has had it good. We had a medical system that was working, we had good education system, we had wellstocked libraries and we had bright futures. But we have seen a steady decline in all these aspects because of corruption.

We are determined to fight the scourge for the sake of your generation”, Nta assured.

For instance, while reacting to the bold and daring moves by the anti-graft agency, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Secretary-General, Miss Garos Daylop said the study body was aware that with the level of commitment and sincerity of the agency, it would be faced with daunting challenges, especially by corrupt persons, but gave assurance that NANS would give all it takes to make the exercise succeed.

“We encourage you to discountenance their antics. We are with you and the Nigerians will support every effort to rid the country of corruption. We call for a strong and effective collaboration between NANS and ICPC in taking this campaign to the various campuses across the country as a veritable means of stamping the anti-corruption ideology in the minds of young Nigerians”, Daylop said.

For the youths who will invariably take over the mantle of leadership and salvage the nation’s ship from the moral craze into which some past and present leaders have plunged it, they should also know, as Anne Frank has pointed out that “parents can only give children good advice or put them on the right paths, but the forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.”

a vanguard for the values of the society you will be amazed at how quickly the society will transform. What you have today is that even those going to the university only see it as a phase towards joining the society. They don’t know the basic fact that a corrupt society is a failed society because at the end of the day nobody benefits. The corrupt man with all their wealth live in danger of those they have deprived of their wealth who are will to revolt against them.

24

Education Today

Tunisia beat SA, Nigeria to win Mathematics competition

T

unisia has won the gold medal of the 21st Pan-African Mathematics Olympics (PAMO), after achieving the highest score in team rankings, ahead of South Africa and Nigeria.

Twenty-eight candidates from South Africa, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Gambia, Nigeria, Tanzania and Tunisia, took part in these championships, held in Tunis on September 8-15, 2012.

In the individual standings, 14 medals were awarded at the end of the games described as “exceptional” by the African Mathematics Union, given the quality of the tests and the achieved scores.

As to the Tunisian team, the four official candidates won one gold medal each.

The medal - awarding ceremony, which was held on Saturday afternoon at the National Centre for Pedagogical Innovation and Educational Research, was co-chaired by Education Minister, Abdellatif Abid and PAMO Chief, Soma Traoré.

These championships were the second held in Tunisia, after those of 2004 while the next one is billed to hold in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, in 2013.

Culled from AllAfrica.com

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Nigerian appointed first black VC in America

A

ties.

Nigerian and forBorn in Ondo State, Nimer Head of the geria, Prof. Adesida is a Department of Electrical Engineering, Nigerian engineer whose Tafawa Balewa University, outstanding work in the NanotechnolBauchi, Prof. Ilesanmi Ad- field of esida has been appointed ogy has received much the Vice-Chancellor (Aca- acclaim in the scientific demic Affairs), University community.

He obtained his Bachof Illinois, Urbana Chamelor’s, Master’s and Docpaign, United States of toral degrees in EngineerAmerica.

Adesida, whose ap- ing from the University of pointment ranks him as California, Berkeley and the first black to head the subsequently went on to respected university, said develop a body of work he was glad to be appoint- in the processing of semied and pledged his dedica- conductors and other mation and commitment to terials at the nanometerhis official responsibili- scale level.

After his studies, he worked in various capacities at what is now known as the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility and the School of Electrical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

He was also the head of the Electrical Engineering Department at Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria.

Commenting on his recently appointed role, Adesida said; “I’m honored and humbled to be selected as provost of this great campus. This is something I take very seri-

UNESCO earmarks $5.5m to fight illiteracy in South Sudan

T

he United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has earmarked a huge sum of $500,000 to boost efforts

by South Sudan government to fight the high illiteracy rates in the country.

This was revealed by the organisation’s head of office in South Sudan, Salah Khaled.

South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, suffered over two decades of a bloody civil war, which massively destroyed its existing infrastructures, including schools, tertiary and technical institutions.

The country, according to its 2009 Household Survey report, has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world, with only 27 per cent of those aged 15 and above said to be literate.

Also, the vast majority of South Sudanese, the National Bureau of Statistics figures show, are unable to read and write.

“Literacy should involve all stakeholders in the country, regardless of status in society,” Mr. Khaled said at a conference, organized to mark literacy week in South Sudan.

UNESCO, Khaled told attendees at the two-day conference, will closely work with the education ministry in the implementation of the five-year (2012-2015) General Education Strategic Plan.

South Sudan, recently, officially launched a nationwide campaign seeking to reduce, by 50 per cent, illiteracy rates among its adult population by 2015. The campaign is part of its much-

hyped “Education for All” (EFA) programme.

South Sudan’s Minister for General Education and Instruction, Joseph Ukel Abango, reiterated government’s commitment to reduce illiteracy in the country, citing the recent passing of the General Education Bill as a milestone in the education sector.

“Illiteracy can easily be overcome through political and social campaigns involving all stakeholders in the country as stipulated in South Sudan’s Transitional Constitution,” he said. “We still have serious challenges to tackle,” he acknowledged, but said the five-year General Education Strategic Plan, provides an opportunity and platform for addressing the setbacks in the country’s education systems.

Adesida

ously. I know how to work very hard and I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get the job done.”

Adesida is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Association for the

T

University of Texas evacuation.

opment prompted immediate evacuation of all buildings as officials warned students to “get as far away as possible.”

However, by mid-morning, no bomb had been found.

The university received a call about 8.35am from a man claiming to be with al-Qaida, who said he had placed bombs all over the 50,000-student Austin campus, according to University of Texas spokes-

woman, Rhonda Weldon.

“He claimed the bombs would go off in 90 minutes and all buildings were evacuated at 9.50am as a precaution,” Weldon said.

North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND, also ordered a campus evacuation after a morning bomb threat, but it was unclear whether the two threats were related. NDSU issued a statement shortly before 10 am telling all employees and students to leave 14,000-student campus within half-hour.

In Texas, police blocked off roads heading into the UT campus as lines of cars sat in gridlock, trying to get out. As a text-message alert went out, sirens blared for between five and 10 minutes. Students said

Culled from CP-Africa

Teachers’ union continues strike in Chicago

T

he Chicago Teachers’ Union extended its strike into a second week on Sunday, after significant divisions emerged among union delegates over a deal that only a day before had been described by the union’s leader as “a good contract.”

The announcement came after nearly 800 union representatives, the House of Delegates, convened for several hours to decide whether to end a strike that has drawn national attention in the debate over teacher evaluations, job security and

US varsities evacuated after ‘al-Qaida’ bomb threat

here was pandemonium recently at the University of Texas and North Dakota State University, both in the United States of America, after phoned-in bomb threats. The devel-

Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Vacuum Society, and the Optical Society of America. He is also the pastpresident of IEEE Electron Devices Society.

they were directed off campus by university staff.

“One of them said to me, ‘Get off this campus as soon as possible,’” said Elizabeth Gerberich, an 18-year-old freshman from New Jersey.

The university issued another advisory by 10.30 am, saying buildings were still being checked and no decision had been made about whether the campus would reopen for afternoon classes.

Ashley Moran, a freshman from Houston, said she was waiting to get into class when word began spreading among students to leave immediately. She described the evacuation as “orderly, but tense”.

Culled from New York Times

the length of a school day.

The decision forced 350,000 students in the nation’s third-largest school system to begin another week without classes and with no strong indication of when they might resume.

Many Chicagoans had assumed school would start again on Monday, after union leaders and city officials reached the outlines of a deal on Friday, ending what had been days of long and sometimes contentious talks.

But inside the closeddoor meeting of the union’s House of Delegates on Sunday, opinion was split. Some delegates wanted to accept the deal and return to school immediately, while others said they needed time to digest its details, which they had not known until Sunday’s meeting. Still, others objected to the new terms of the contract entirely, suggesting that a resolution of this entire chapter may yet be far from reach.

“I think everybody wants to be back in the classroom, but I think everyone is nervous about a bad contract,” Kevin Hough, one of the delegates, said as he left the meeting on this city’s South Side, where delegates had decided in a “standing vote” to continue their strike.

A clear majority, those present said, wanted to wait. “In the end I think it’s wise for members to have a day to review the contract,” Mr. Hough said.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

with Mojeed Alabi mojeedalabi2@yahoo.co.uk or mail@mirroronline.net

KEMI BUSARI

300L POL. SCIENCE OAU

S

tudents of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, in Osun State have accused that the newly instituted security task force in the state of publicly humiliating and harassing them and other inhabitants of the state.

In his effort to ensure safety of lives and properties in the state, Governor Rauf Aregbesola recently

constituted a security outfit called Swift Action Squad(SAS); a combination of soldiers, policemen and the local sheriffs.

The outfit, which is said to be fashioned after the LAPD in the US or the local Sheriff in UK, is also reportedly tasked to maintain discipline and decency in the modes of dressing and public appearances of the people of the state.

This is reportedly said to be in pursuit of the state’s concept of “Omoluabi.”

Land constraint hinders our potentials –Provost tells FG MOJEED ALABI

T

he Provost, Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Lagos, Dr. Sijibomi Olusanya, has expressed his regret over the limited land space on his campus; the circumstance, he said, is hampering the research potential of the institution.

The provost, who stated this recently during the college’s 35th convocation ceremony, urged the Federal Government to enhance the West African premier technical college of education with more facilities to meet the society’s needs.

“One of the challenges facing the college is inadequate land space for development of required infrastructure. This problem is making it increasingly difficult for us to adequately fulfill our mandate of providing

25

Thursday, September 20, 2012

technical, vocational and science education to those seeking to acquire knowledge in those areas,” Olusanya complained.

Meanwhile, as part of the Federal Government’s commitment to improve the funding of tertiary education, the college’s new multipurpose hall and a central library, equipped with modern facilities, have been commissioned by the Education Minister, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i.

The two structures are, according to the provost, part of the newly built facilities on the campus, which he boasts have drastically transformed the institution.

The college graduated a total number of 3082 students of three combined sets. The 2008/2009 set produced 801 graduands; 851 for 2009/2010; 769 for the 2010/2011 while its sandwich programme produces 661.

OAU students accuse state security force of harassment

•It is untrue –Information Commissioner However, the students have accused the security men of taking the war beyond their “supposed boundary,” saying they constantly subject people found to indecently dress to molestation and harassment.

One of the students, who prefers anonymity, said students or anybody found to sag his or her pair of jeans, leave their hair uncut, were maltreated

during the first semester break on the campus.

“The most humiliating allegation was the open molestation of a student who was said to have dressed in a way that left her cleavage open. The commercial motorcyclist carrying her was said to have been ordered to undress her openly and abuse her,” she said.

The state government has, howevere, denied the

deligations. The state’s Commissioner for Information, Mr. Sunday Akere, was reported to have called on any victim of such harassment to come and report such cases.

On the position of the students, the Chairman of the Students’ Security Committee on the campus, Samuel Adeolu said the students are not opposed to the security measure to curb crimi-

nal activities, but would not tolerate what he described as excessive use of power.

He said there is no constitutional provision that recommends haircut style or any dressing code.

Therefore, he said while students would not want to encourage any form of indecent dressing, he would also want the governor to investigate the allegation and call members of the security task force to order.

LAUTECH students’ union rolls out honours

Adigun being presented with the plaque by the students.

SIKIRU AKINOLA

300L POL. SCIENCE OAU

I

n its way of showing gratitude to individuals and organisations that contributed to the peaceful resolutions of the crises that engulfed the university for many months, the students’ union of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH),

Ogbomoso, recently honoured some deserving members of the public including politicians.

The ceremony, which had in attendance many dignitaries including the Senator representing Oyo Central Senatorial District, Ayoade Adeseun, was another opportunity for members of the university community to interact with politicians representing

them in government.

The awardees included the Chief Whip of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Abiodun Adigun, Osun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Sunday Akere, Senator Adeseun and a former president of the students’ union, Afees Omobolaji, among others.

The union said the decision to reward the

individuals was far from being influenced by material values, but their “choice was a product of intensive deliberation among stakeholders in the union considering their past and present contributions to the students’ welfare and education issues in general.”

The students commended Adigun for the building of a set of classrooms for the Community Grammar School, Sasa; I.D.C Primary School, Alaka, and H.L.A Primary School, Ojoo.

In his acceptance speech, Adigun thanked the students, but lamented the rot in the education sector. He said the new initiative of AComputer-per-Teacher in Oyo State will help in no small measure to address the decadence.

The Osun State Information Commissioner delivered a paper on the irrelevance of Information Technology to resolving the socio-economic crisis facing the country.

EKSU promises modern postgraduate school building CAROLINE CHUKWUKA

T Staff of National Mirror Newspaper receiving souvenir from staff of Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State during the former’s visit recently.

he authorities of the Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti, have disclosed that a befitting school of postgraduate studies complex would soon be completed by the end of the year.

The university’s ViceChancellor, Prof. Oladipo Aina announced this recently during the matriculation ceremony for fresh

postgraduate students on the campus.

According to the VC, the building will contain the offices of the principal officers of the school, as well as modern and state-of-the-art facilities like conference halls and boardrooms, thesis rooms, library and offices for different categories of staff.

He also pointed out that the school would rank among the best postgraduate colleges in Nigeria.

The Vice-Chancellor, at the occasion, admonished the matriculating students to take their studies seriously saying, “it is sad to observe the high rate of withdrawal from programmes by students and the slow pace of completion of courses at the Master’s and Doctoral levels in universities in Nigeria.”

He stressed that this has constituted a great source of worry to universities running postgraduate programmes.

26

N

ATIONAL MIRROR Back Page of September 13 welcomes us this week. “But few (a few) weeks ago, some disgruntled staffers went to the streets and faced the press to complain of four months (months’) delay in salary.” Minor things that matter in bringing back the glory of Newswatch….

“As part of efforts to ensure that its new cash withdrawal policy succeeds, the CBN said it is (was)….” (THISDAY, July 6) “LBS alumni hosts Amaechi, Okorocha” (Vanguard Headline, July 6) My alumni association hosts or our alumni host Amaechi, Okorocha. No mix-up.

“A peasant farmer in Ogbomoso…has founded two police AK-47 rifles hidden in green leaves on (at) his farm.” (THE NATION NEWS, July 5) These juvenile blunders were found (not founded, please o!) by an anonymous reader via cell phone number 08033154530.

More contributions from other readers are welcome.

A commuter to a bus driver on Victoria Island: “Can I drop” (before the bus-stop)? Driver: “No! Vicious LASTMA officials are lurking (about)!” You alight (not drop) from a vehicle. But, you can be dropped (off).

Overheard: “I don’t want to be insultive….” (The Beat 99 FM, Lagos, September 17, 2012, Morning Belt) Rudeness is an insulting (not insultive) behaviour!

“14 new commissioners sworn-in” (Nigerian Compass Headline, July 3) What is the challenge in complying with a basic and simple grammatical rule: phrasal verbs do not accept hyphenation? Shall we

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Historical perspectives on Newswatch keep drumming this into subeditors’ heads? Headline casters, or whoever is assigned the responsibility, should avoid this recurring embarrassment.

“Bombing out beer parlours” (NATIONAL MIRROR, July 1) A public drinking-place is called a pub. There are other variants where alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks may be bought and drunk among other utilities: inn, tavern, saloon bar, lounge and public bar. There is nothing known as “beer parlour” outside Nigerian shores! You can call it our own Native English in its parlous condition.

“Beware, gift items could be ladened (sic) with bombs— Army chief ” (Vanguard Headline, June 30) Even at first sight, thoughtlessly, something points out this etymological buffoonery! Newspapers and magazines these days are pitiably laden with inexcusable lexical and structural lapses.

“EFCC arrests director over land deal” (DAILY SUN Headline, June 29) Once more, ‘arrest’ takes ‘for’—never the much-abused ‘over’.

“FRSC begins special patrol to reduce road crashes” (BUSINESSDAY Headline, June 29) Except in a state of war or social infrastructural decay, roads do not crash. The special patrol is to reduce accidental/ vehicular crashes. No lexical commotion, please.

“Armed bandits kill two cops in Yola, pick 2 AK-47 rifles” (DAILY INDEPENDENT Headline, June 29) News: Who’s a bandit?

PHRASAL VERBS DO NOT ACCEPT HYPHENATION? SHALL WE KEEP DRUMMING THIS INTO SUB-EDITORS’ HEADS? Or: can there be banditry without arms? A bandit, according to OXFORD Advanced Learner’s DICTIONARY, is a member of an ARMED (emphasis mine) gang that robs people. Therefore, there can’t be banditry without arms.

Let us be circumspect in collocation and do away with sterile applications and reference books.

As a testimony to this assertive advisory, THE NEW LEXICON WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, astonishingly, declares that a “bandit is a robber, especially one of a group roving in uninhabited districts.” This, obviously, contradicts language currency, emotional and environmental factors associated with word usage. It is imperative to nurture a critical mind in communication to foreclose simulation and travesty.

“For the inauguration (inaugural) art exhibition, there was no man know man connection” (National Mirror, June 29) This is sheer illiteracy! What is ‘man know man connection’? Do you mean god-father, stooge, or crony connection? Certainly, not the excerpt!

“Nigeria’s economy may overtake South Africa by 2025” (National Mirror, June 29) Business & Finance: either South Africa’s (preferably) or South Africa’s economy (verbosity).

“Panasonic brace-up for market challenges” (THISDAY Banner, June 29) Again, phrasal verbs do not admit hyphenation, which is even wrongly used here. The right word is just ‘brace’. So, Panasonic braces for… “…our eating and living habits can predispose our systems for (to) such diseases as....”

“2 vigilante men roasted” First: vigilance men; second: the men were burnt, not roasted! For the sake of humanity, we are talking of human beings– not consumables or objects!

“During his visit to the troubled spots.....” The shades of violence: trouble spots, but troubled waters. That is the beauty of the English language. “…that is a prerequisite for development in (on) the continent.”

“Nigeria was re-admitted into (to) the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), according to the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC).”

“This is tragic and a degradation of human specie (species).”

“Staff of the Federal Ministry of Education and its parastatals (agencies) in Lagos has (have) been told they have till next weekend to present their papers.”

“As he spoke to the admira-

tion of the labour leaders and journalists at (on) the occasion….”

“The stories, in the opinion of the trial judge, was (why this recurring discord?) considered embarrassing to the government.”

“Journalism schools should include courses on shedding crocodile tears to (in) their curricula.”

“The police has an image problem, too.” Bound to correction: The police have....

“I have persistently advocated, without much success, the need to align policy making to (with) crime control….”

“But if the House Ethics Committee fails to sanitise affairs, then we would be setting a dangerous precedence contrary to the Dimeji Bankole example.”

Not yet: a dangerous precedent.

“Additionally, signals suggest that a lot of work still need (needs) to be done to get us on the democratic superhighway.”

“The purchasing power in the hands of consumers have (has) been going down; it means that demand for goods and services are (is) reducing.” “…the executive cannot acquiesce to a patently wrong situation in demur in a similar situation.” The legislature we deserve: acquiesce in (not to).

“It was later gathered that the mayhem was as a result of conflict (a conflict or conflicts) between two cult groups.” My (personal) viewpoint: delete ‘two’ (which is implied) to avoid headaches.

Don suggests solution to education decadence AYO ESAN

T

he Dean, School of Engineering, Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke has traced the poor performance of students in their studies nowadays to prevalent distractions in the society.

He, therefore, recommended stringent disciplinary measures for the students to make them succeed.

Olagoke, who made this known in a chat with National Mirror, also said tertiary education is nothing to write home about in the country because “we are not respecting the purported UNESCO recommendations that at least 26 per cent of the budget be invested in education for any nation.”

He also recommends the employ-

ment of guidance and counselors in all tertiary and secondary schools in the country, saying they have a great role to play to ward off the distractions that are confronting the students almost on daily basis.

On why there is low enrolment in science and engineering courses in tertiary institutions, Olagoke said science requires basic pre-requisites which are not possessed by most of our youths.

He also said most tertiary institutions, especially the private ones, are not offering courses in Engineering because Engineering courses are capital intensive, saying that is why courses like Mechanical and Civil Engineering courses are not in the curriculum of most private polytechnics and universities in the country.

“When you look at the pyramid in

engineering, it is from the craftsman to technician, technologist, and then to engineers. What the world body recommends in Engineering education is that for a nation to succeed, graduates production from these schools must be on ratio1:5:480. That is where you are producing one engineer, you must be able to produce 480 craftsmen or technicians but what we are producing in Nigeria is the inverse. We are producing 3000 engineers while the technical schools are even going into extinction.

“Governments have killed the morale of pupils going into technical schools because they now say only the dropouts go there. They are supposed to market it in such a way that it will be attractive because it is at this technical level that the so called vocational trainings are more relevant,” he said.

Prof. Ariyo

Thursday, September 20, 2012

U-18 FIBA Africa: Nigeria, CIV pull out

Rangers to release 19 players

N

igeria Premier League (NPL) 2011/2012 title runner-up Rangers FC of Enugu is set to off-load 19 players from last season’s squad ahead of the forthcoming campaign, officials have disclosed.

A very close club source told MTNFootball.com that the management had reached agreement with the coaches to place the players on transfer since they have become “surplus to requirement.”

Among the affected players would be lanky forward, Osita Henry, who joined Rangers from Wikki Tourists, goalkeeper Pius Ibrahim and Ajibade Omolade.

“From what I have so far gathered Osita, Pius

and Ajibade are most likely to be asked to go based on their very little contributions to the team last season,” said the source.

It was also learnt that several players from other clubs have been coming to Rangers Office to seek new contracts with the Flying Antelopes.

The latest arrivals include former Olympic team goalkeeper, Dele Ajiboye and Razaq Adegbite, who is seeking to return to the team after dumping them for Enyimba mid-way last season.

Former Enyimba Goalkeepers’ trainer, Suleiman Shaibu, is also on the wanted list of Rangers as a possible replacement for former Team Manager, Victor Oko.

‘We’ll pay Keshi with Glo money’

T

he Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will soon offset the outstanding salaries of the various national team coaches, officials said.

This follows Tuesday’s receipt of N350million sponsorship fee for the year from telecommunications firm, Globacom.

Coaches Stephen Keshi, Kadiri Ikhana and John Sam Obuh and their assistants are owed at least two months’ salaries by the federation.

“We will make use of

the money to pay up some of our debts including coaches’ outstanding salaries,” disclosed Shehu Adamu, NFF finance subcommittee chairman.

“We are very happy and I must confess the money is coming at the right time.

We will ensure that the money is judiciously used to solve our financial challenges.”

Adamu also stated that the money would cater for all the 11 national teams, from the Super Eagles to the U-15s.

L-R: Director of Mike Adenuga Group, Mr. Niyi Adewunmi; Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) 2nd Vice President, Chief Mike Umeh; NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari and Marketing Consultant to the NFF, Mr. Mike Itemuagbor, at the presentation of N350million National Teams Sponsorship cheque for 2012/2013 football season to NFF by Globacom in Abuja on Tuesday.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

27

Sport

I think there is no reason for Nigerians to panic over the AFCON 2013 ticket. We will overcome Liberia - Former Nigeria international, Garba Lawal

30

Manchester United’s defender, Patrice Evra (l) and Liverpool’s striker, Luis Suarez, in gritty struggle during their match in February this year

EPL: Suarez, Evra to shake hands at Anfield L iverpool and Manchester United are confident Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra will shake hands before Sunday’s Premier League match at Anfield.

Officials from both clubs have been in talks as they finalise plans to mark the release of the Hillsborough report.

But any fears of a possible flashpoint regarding Evra and Suarez, who was banned for eight matches for racially abusing the United defender last season, appear to have been allayed, with both clubs stressing the need for all players to respect the occasion.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has already said his club will support Liverpool in “every way” they can.

There will be a number of tributes on Sunday. Captains Steven Gerrard and Nemanja Vidic will release 96 balloons shortly before kick-off in memory of those who died in the 1989 tragedy.

“It is going to be a very emotional day. We will support them in every way we can. We are supportive of Liverpool,” Ferguson told BBC Sport.

United have already criticised a section of their supporters who took part in anti-Liverpool taunts during last Saturday’s fixture against Wigan.

The chants at Old Trafford, which included the words “it’s never your

fault, always the victims”, were first sung in the immediate aftermath of the Suarez-Evra racism incident.

The Manchester United Supporters’ Trust has since rejected suggestions the chants were referencing Hillsborough.

But Ferguson said United chief executive David Gill had been upset by the incident.

“I didn’t hear it on Saturday, but others did, particularly in the directors’ box. David Gill was disappointed,” said the Scot.

The recent Hillsborough report cleared Liverpool fans of blame for the deaths of 96 supporters during an FA Cup semi-final tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in April 1989.

Learn from Paralympians –Okotie

F

resh Party of Nigeria (FPN) chairman and Pastor of Household of God Church, Rev Chris Okotie, has commended Nigeria’s contingent to the recently concluded Paralympics in London, for doing the nation proud.

In a press statement the PastorPolitician said, “On behalf of our great party, FRESH, I salute our indefatigable Paralympic athletes who did us proud in the just-concluded Paralympics in London.

“Coming on the heels of our disgraceful showing at the Olympics – London 2012 - the physically-challenged athletes who put Nigeria in the 22nd position on the final medals table with six gold, five silver and two bronze medals have virtually redeemed our battered image in the global sports arena.

“The fact that the Paralympics ambassadors put us ahead of great sporting nations like Japan, Mexico, Sweden, Egypt, Austria, Switzerland and Norway shows how important their feat is.

“We came third in Africa on the overall medal table, behind Tunisia and South Africa. Our athletes braved all odds like poor facilities, inadequate funding and corruption in the sports sector to post such impressive performance, whereas our London 2012 representatives who are products of the same environment failed woefully.

“This is a message for our government: no excuses for poor performance. The Paralympics champions are saying loud and clear that we can still excel in Africa in all spheres of human endeavour.”

28

Sport

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Toure laments Bernabeu loss

Europa...

M

anchester City midfielder, Yaya Toure, is ruing the victory that got away from his team at the Bernabeu after Cristiano Ronaldo sealed the win late on.

Following City’s 3-2 loss to the Galacticos, Toure lamented that his side could not seal the deal after going 2-1 up for a short time in the game.

A late goal each from Karim Benzema and Ronaldo afforded Jose Mourinho’s men a 90 minute win in which the Portuguese tactician celebrated by sliding on his knees.

“It was a pity, because we had the victory very close and we lost it with two goals in the last two minutes. Let’s see what we can do next game, which will be very important for us,” the Ivory Coast international said yesterday.

“Real Madrid is always Real Madrid.

They really wanted to win, with the support of their fans.

“They have a great team, with a great coach.”

Calm restored us–Arteta

A

rsenal midfielder, Mikel Arteta, believes the Gunners’ refusal to panic under pressure was the key to their Champions League victory at Montpellier.

The French champion took an early lead through Younes Belhanda’s penalty, before goals from Lukas Podolski and Gervinho swung the Group B opener in Arsenal’s favour.

However, Arsene Wenger’s team had to withstand an intense period of late pressure before returning back across the Channel with maximum points.

Remy Cabella watched his deft chip bounce back off the crossbar, while Belhanda spurned a great chance by firing straight at Vito Mannone from close range.

“We knew it was going to be tough, they were champions in France last year and that is no coincidence,” Arteta said yesterday.

“They work really hard with some talented players and scored the first one at home, which means it is always difficult to get back into the game.

Papiss Cisse

Toon Army misses Cisse

N

ewcastle striker, Papiss Cisse, has been ruled out of the club’s Europa League opener against Maritimo tonight.

The Senegal international withdrew from the squad due to illness and did not travel to Madeira.

Cisse, who bagged 13 goals from 13 Premier League starts for the Magpies last season, has yet to hit the target this campaign.

His place has been taken by 17-year-old Adam Campbell while strike partner Demba Ba was also missing from the party which flew out from Tyneside.

Reasons for Ba’s absence, two days after his double rescued a point at Everton and following his agent’s suggestion that he did not understand his current role at the

club, were less clear.

However, Shola Ameobi and his brother Sammy were on the plane after the young midfielder confirmed his return to fitness by playing in the U21s’ 2-2 draw with Sunderland.

R

Why I

There is no 33, and a v Brazil, Forla FIFA World Adidas Gol

What does you mean, career-w It’s a differe country. That’s years in Europ right time to ch ence in Italy an and England, I reer had come t

Alex Ferguson Yaya Toure

Modric revels in role

eal Madrid midfielder, Luka Modric, is pleased with his role in the club’s victory over Manchester City at the Bernabeu on Tuesday.

Real struck twice late on to win 3-2 in their Champions League opener.

“I came to Real Madrid to play these games,” Modric yesterday.

“It was very exciting, almost like a final. It was a great game against a club

Diego Forlan

with great players and I am very happy to have achieved victory at the end,” the Croatia international added.

Modric

Fergie faces transfer crunch

M

anchester United Manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, may be forced to sell to buy in January.

Reports yesterday said Ferguson was left to count the cost of failing to get out of the group stages of the Champions League last season as club’s Executive Vice Chairman Ed Woodward reiterated he has nothing left in the transfer pot for January.

The club announced a post-tax profit of £23m but that included a £28m tax credit.

“The net player capital expenditure for the current quarter will be around £29m,” Woodward said yesterday.

That means Ferguson has to find £4m in sales to fulfil a £25m-a-year net spend promise to shareholders when the company was floated on the New York Stock Exchange.

Were there no Europe?

I don’t see it ing years there downside, like Inter Milan. I h but then I got big side in a v a three-year co enough, it also family and frien spired for me to

Do you see you Europe?

To be honest ing about Euro 33 and I want sible, but I don in when I’m 36.

Did you thin guay?

No. The fact

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sport

Thursday, September 20, 2012

29

Doregos hails Jonathan’s largesse AFOLABI GAMBARI

F

rontline sports philanthropist and educationist, Mrs. Clementina Doregos, has commended President Goodluck Jonathan for rewarding the athletes to the London 2012 Paralympics and Falconets after the representatives did Nigeria proud in their recent endeavours.

Doregos, who spoke with National Mirror yesterday in Lagos, said the government’s decision on the reward would encourage other athletes to excel for the country.

“I think the gesture would speed up sports development in the country as more youths will show keen interest in sports, which will in turn help to minimize civil unrest that threatens us often in recent times,” Doregos said.

“As a mother, I felt really touched by the turn of event and I want the government to continue in that respect,” she added.

The philanthropist, who sponsors the annual Doregos Interschools Basketball Championship and the Abesan Football Championship, however urged the government to create an enabling environment that would ensure that the country’s athletes compete with their counterparts from other parts of the world.

“Government should also provide the athletes with scholarships to enable them with the platform on which to lean after their active service to the nation,” she advised.

Doregos

Lagos set for football festival YEMI OLUS

I switched to Brazilian league –Forlan F

ot much that has not already been said about Uruguayan striker, Diego Forlan. Now veteran of 17 seasons of top-flight football in Argentina, England, Spain, Italy and now an, who knows all about life in the spotlight, especially after his exploits at the 2010 Cup in South Africa, where he capped his side’s run to fourth place by winning the lden Ball, spoke to FIFA.com

ur return to South America wise? ent situation in a different s what it means. After ten pe it seemed to me to be the hange, and after my experind having played in Spain I felt that phase of my cato an end. challenges left for you in

t like that. I had ten amaze, even if there was the odd not playing that much at had offers to carry on there this chance to come to a very competitive league on ontract. As if that weren’t meant I’d be close to home, nds again. Everything cono make this return.

urself going back to

t, right now I’m not thinkope or anywhere else. I’m to play for as long as posn’t know what shape I’ll be . nk about playing in Uru-

t is, nobody knew I was go-

ing back to South America because the Inter offer was pretty much kept secret until the deal was done, which meant there was no time for any Uruguayan team even to think about me.

Do you feel like you have unfinished business there?

Not at all. And in any case, it wouldn’t be easy and I don’t want to give anyone false hopes. I’m happy with the decision I made. Inter is a big club.

What attracted you to the Brazilian league?

The fact that it’s always been a tough league, with six or seven teams fighting for the top four places, and which in the last few years has gone right down to the wire. The quality of football’s good, and you’ve got big teams and great derbies. It’s a fantastic challenge.

How different is it to European football?

The thing that stands out most is the size of the pitches. They’re bigger here and the space is harder to fill, but generally speaking the football is pretty dynamic here. The other differences are all relative and depend on the teams, the coaches and the players you have. Let’s face it, little teams sit back everywhere.

After winning the adidas Golden Ball

at South Africa 2010, lifting the 2011 Copa America and becoming your country’s highest goalscorer of all time, what next?

Without a doubt, but I’m not someone who needs to set objectives all the time to be motivated. I like to train, play and make a living from this job. As long as I’m as enthusiastic as I am now, the challenges will keep on coming.

What’s the best and worst thing about your career as a footballer?

I chose to make a living from football and it’s fantastic. It gives you the chance to travel, to visit different countries, discover other cultures and have colleagues all over the world. You also sacrifice other things that you’ll never get back, like the time you’ve spent away from your family.

There are sacrifices in every profession, though.

You’ve said that you intend to carry on playing for a long time yet. Are you scared of retiring?

Absolutely not. I know it’s going to happen sooner or later, but right now I’m just trying to enjoy all this. My idea is to stay in football later on and there are lots of ways of doing that, though I still don’t know in what capacity. One thing I am sure of is that now is not the time to stop and think about it.

ootball fans in Lagos are set to experience the game in a new dimension as the Eko Football Festival 2012 gets underway next week.

Chairman of the Lagos Football Association, Seyi Akinwunmi, told National Mirror yesterday in Lagos that the concept was developed in response to the low turnout of fans at stadia.

“We studied the trend over time and evolved this initiative which we are convinced will attract crowds to the game,” Akinwunmi said.

“People sit at home to watch football on the television but we want to create a new buzz about it after discovering that the youth are also interested in the entertainment aspect,” the FA boss added, stressing, “It will be grad-

ual, but we are sure that we will get to our target soon.”

National Mirror learnt that top musicians like Naeto C, Wizkid, Tosin Martins and Wande Coal would thrill the audience at the festival scheduled to hold from September 27 to 30 at the Eko Football Arena Oniru Estate, Lekki while Europe-based duo of Eniola Aluko and Sam Sodje would make special appearance at the event that would also feature U-13 and U-17 teams.

According to the FA boss, Portsmouth Football Club Academy from the UK has been invited to play alongside Pepsi Academy, Babatunde Raji Fashola Academy and three others.

“Media All-Stars will also play against Nollywood All-Stars while the musicians will play against the comedians,” he disclosed.

L-R: Captain of the winning team of the MTN Lagos Street Soccer 2012, Junadu Yussuf of Koilo Street, Lagos Island, receiving the trophy from Acting Senior Manager, Youth Segment, MTN, Saidat Lawal-Mohammed, Manager, Master Brand MTN, Innocent Oboh and Lagos State Commissioner for Sports, Enitan Oshodi, at Campos Mini Stadium, Lagos last Sunday.

30

Sport

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

SLAMMING AND E-mail: folashayoezekiel@yahoo.com Phone: 08027536696

DUNKING

With SAYO OGUNDEJI

ACCMW qualifier: Akashili targets top spot

A

fter helping her team to qualify for the final round of the 2012 Africa Champions Cup Zone-III qualifier scheduled for Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire between October 19 and 29, Deepwater’s Nkechi Akashili has said that her team will strive to come top at the tournament.

The Nigerian team finished best club in the zone that also comprise Liberia, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin Republic, Niger Republic, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

Akashili, who played a vital role in the team’s Cinderella run at the tournament, emerging the league’s most valuable player, said

her team was in high spirit heading into the final leg of the competition.

“We have learnt many lessons from the just-ended qualifier in Liberia and our intention is to build on that success by correcting some of the lapses discovered and do our best to maintain our form,” Akashili added.

“This is a very difficult stage in the qualifying series which means we must be at our best throughout the tournament. But I am counting on the experience of my colleagues and the coaches who have been around for some time to come away from this tourney with good points.”

Lnyx gets White House honour

P

resident Barack Obama welcomed the WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx to the White House yesterday, celebrating their amazing comeback and lauding them as role models to young women everywhere.

Two years ago, the Lynx had the worst record in the WNBA. “But they didn’t let it get them down- they got to work,” Obama said.

After drafting some new star players, the team went on to defeat the Atlanta Dream to win the championship.

“They made their home games the hottest ticket in town.

Then, just in case anyone doubted their dominance, they marched through the playoffs, losing only one game and sweep-

ing their final two series.

That is one heck of a turnaround,” Obama told the crowd gathered in the East Room of the White House.

The president praised the players’ contributions to their local community and philanthropy, including raising money for breast cancer research through their “Cat Walk For A Cure” fashion show.

“So this team does it all and they do it in style,” Obama quipped.

As the “husband of a tall, good-looking woman and as the father of two tall, fabulous girls,” the president thanked the women for being “wonderful” role models.

“I have a feeling that we might end up seeing them back here before too long,” Obama said.

Nigerian ladies in the last FIBA Africa event in Cairo, Egypt in 2010

U-18 FIBA Africa: Nigeria, CIV pull out

A

s the 12th edition of the Afrobasket Women U-18 championship gets underway today in Dakar, Senegal, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire will not be part of the tournament as the duo pulled out due to financial difficulties.

The Nigerian team, coached

by Adewumi Aderemi and Peter Ahmedu, lost the final of the last edition to the host Egypt and the failure by the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) to get funding for the team has denied the West African nation the opportunity to participate in the bi-annual tournament.

With the ouster of the Ivorians, the competition, which involves 12 countries, risks losing more teams as the participation of RD Congo and Guinea Conakry remained uncertain at press time yesterday.

NBBF President, Tijani Umar, who expressed dismay at the turn of event, stated that the Sports Ministry should ensure availability of funds for the various national teams to enable them to compete alongside their counterparts from Africa and the rest of the world.

“It is obvious that the game of basketball has what it takes to bring glory to this country going by the recent happenings with our national teams but proper funding has been our problem and if not President Barack Obama (in blue suit) posing with members of 2011 tactically managed, could affect WNBA champion, Minnesota Lynx, at the White House yesterday

our developmental programmes,” Umar said.

“Our non-participation in major tournaments due to lack of financial support is obviously detrimental to the growth of the game in the country and I pray the appropriate authorities do their best to give the players the avenue to develop.”

Umar observed that basketball’s reputation has increased in recent times after the men’s senior national team won gold at the last All African Games in Maputo, Mozambique and qualified for the London 2012 Olympics.

Meanwhile, Coach Birahim

Samba Gaye has declared his team’s readiness to dethrone the current champions, Egypt, adding that his side would not underrate any opponent. ‘’We were far from the podium in 2010 but this year we play at home and our objective is to be champions of Africa because we believe we have the potential to achieve it,” Gaye said.

“The girls are all in good shape having just ended their local championship and the addition of some of the foreign-based players will give us more options as we hope to beat all the teams to the title.”

Morrison joins Blazers

F

ormer Gonzaga star Adam Morrison has signed a oneyear deal for the league minimum with the Portland Trail Blazers, according to his agent.

The forward played in Turkey last season, averaging 11.8 points in just 22 minutes per game.

Drafted third overall by Charlotte in 2006, Morrison spent 2½ seasons with the Bobcats before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers midway through the 200809 season.

Morrison was on the Lakers’ roster for two championships after being dealt to L.A. with Shannon Brown for Vladimir Radmanovic, but the 27-year-old has not

been a rotation player since suffering a serious knee injury that cost him the entire 2007-08 season.

Morrison

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

31

Business & Finance The huge budget deficits financed mainly by borrowings from the banking system has continued to negatively impact on cost of funds in the economy

Mr. President has set the transformational economic agenda for our country and our role is critical to the success of that agenda. We must ensure that we play our own part in delivering sustained economic growth and jobs.

President, Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria, Doyin Owolabi

MINISTER OF TRADE AND INVESTMENT, OLUSEGUN AGANGA

Phone calls expenditure to hit N106bn monthly – Investigation KUNLE A ZEEZ

E

xpenditure by Nigeria’s telecoms subscribers on phone calls is set to hit a whopping N106.1bn monthly by the end of December, 2012, according to National Mirror investigation.

The expenditure forecast is a conservative calculation based on the current industry Average Revenue Per User and the projection by experts in the industry that active telecoms subscribers would have grown higher than what the telecoms companies currently have on their respective networks.

The former Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communication Commission, Mr. Ernest Ndukwe, predicted that active telephone subscriptions in the country would surpass 105 million by in the next three months into December 2012.

However, there are about 103 million telecoms subscribers currently on all the telecoms networks in the country, according to the latest statistics for month of July, 2012, released by the Nigerian Communications Commission, telecoms industry regulator.

It was gathered that with industry ARPU in Nigeria estimat-

ed at around N1, 011, according to the Business Monitor International Limited (BMI), and the subscriber base of 103 million in the month of July, the outgoings by Nigerian subscribers in July was conservatively valued at N104billion monthly.

ARPU is the financial benchmark used globally by telecoms companies to measure the average monthly or yearly revenue generated from an average subscriber.

The expenditure increased

from N100billion in January 2012 when active industry subscriber base was estimated at 99 million by the NCC, to reach N104bn in seven months after into the month of July when subscriber base hit 103 million.

National Mirror investigation, however, revealed that with industry projection by Ndukwe on the industry recording 105 million active telecoms subscribers by the end of December, 2012 and with industry ARPU of N1011, Nigerian subscribers are billed to

WITH AGENCY REPORT

N

aira firmed slightly against the United States dollar yesterday, a day after the Central Bank of Nigeria left interest rates on hold and

ADVERT HOTLINES: For advert bookings and information, please contact the following:

LAGOS: 01-8446073, 08094331171, 08023133084, 08034019884 ABUJA: 08033020395, 08036321014

Arik Air Los-Abj: 07:15, 09:15, 10:20, 15:20, 16:20, 16:50, 18:45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) Abj-Los: 07:15, 09:40, 10:20, 12:15, 15:15, 16:15, 17:10, (Mon-Fri/Sat); 12:15, 15:15, 16:15 (Sun) Los-PH: 07:15, 11:40, 14:00, 16:10, 17:15, (Mon-Fri) 07:30, 11:40, 15:50 (Sat) 11:50, 3:50, 17:05 (Sun) Abj-PH: 07:15, 11:20, 15:30 (Mon-Fri) 07:15, 16:00 (Sat) 13:10, 16:00, (Sun) PH-Abj: 08:45, 12:50, 17:00 (Mon-Fri) 08:45, 17:30 (Sat) 14:40, 17:30 (Sun) Abj-Ben: 08:00, 12:10 (Mon-Fri/Sat) 08:55, 12:10 (Sun) Ben-Abj: 09:55, 13:30 (Mon-Fri/Sat) 10:50, 13:30 (Sun)

Aero Contractors

L-R: Executive Director, Academy of Digital Arts, South Africa, Mr. Marcus Van Derwesthuizen; Principal Partner, Forum Inspire, Ms. Mobolaji Lanre-Badmus; Managing Partner, Mr. Michael Oseji and General Manager, Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Mr. Alexander Gassauer, at a press briefing on Nigeria’s First Digital Media Summit in Lagos on Tuesday.

Naira firms after CBN’s interest rate decision JOHNSON OKANLAWON

spend an average of N106billion monthly.

The projected expenditure is also equivalent to the average monthly revenue from phone calls, which will accrue to the telecoms firms, including the Global System for Mobile Communications networks such as MTN, Globacom, Airtel, Etisalat; the Code Division Multiple Access operators of Visafone, Starcomms, Multi-Links and the dormant Zoom Mobile, as well as to the fixed line operators.

FLIGHT SCHEDULE

said it would keep monetary conditions tight.

The CBN kept rates on hold for the sixth time in a row at 12 per cent on Tuesday, welcoming improved growth and a slight fall in headline inflation. But it said monetary measures will remain hawkish for the foreseeable future.

Financial markets in the country were closed when the rate decision was made on Tuesday.

PZ Wilmar to invest N100bn in oil palm plantation in Nigeria

34

The naira opened for trade at N157.50 to the US dollar on Wednesday, higher than Tuesday’s close of N157.75.

Dealers said the naira was partly driven by inflows from foreign investors buying bonds at an auction on Wednesday and oil companies selling the greenback to banks.

“Chevron sold around $113m to some banks, NLNG sold an undisclosed amount and (there

were) inflows from investors buying bonds,” one dealer told Reuters.

Nigeria plans to sell N60bn in bonds on Wednesday with maturities of five and seven years.

The CBN said $1.4bn of foreign investment flowed into debt in August.

A bond dealer at Standard Chartered Bank, Mr. Olayemi Agbe-Davies, said debt markets had anticipated the hold decision on rates and already factored it into bond pricing, so yields were largely steady on Wednesday.

Creating special funding for IT entrepreneurs

35

Los-Abj: 06:50, 13:30, 16:30, 19:45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) 12:30 (Sun) 16:45 (Sat).

Abj-Los: 07:30, 13:00, 19:00 (Mon-Fri/ Sat) 10:30, 14:30, 19:30 (Sun) 18.30 (Sat) Los-Ben: 07:45, 11:00, 15:30, (Mon-Fri/Sat/ Sun) 12:30 (Sun) 15:30 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) Ben-Los: 09:15, 12:30, 17:00 (Mon-Fri/ Sat/Sun) 17:00 (Sat), 14:00 (Sun)

EXCHANGE RATES WAUA

234.6271

USD

155.84

CHF

159.2642

SDR

235.0535

CFA

0.2924

GBP

244.1701

EURO

191.3715

OIL / GAS FUTURES ICE BRENT

$123.39

-0.78

NYMEX

$108.45

-0.11

OPEC BASKET

$122.86

+1.16

NATURAL GAS

$2.83

-0.03

Breaking market barriers through TV reality shows

37

32

Business & Finance

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

OPS urges FG to recapitalise BOI STANLEY IHEDIGBO

S

takeholders in the Organised Private Sector (OPS) have urged the Federal Government to recapitalise the Bank of Industry in order to provide a long term funding needs for the manufacturing sector.

Speaking at the presentation of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) blueprint to the media, President of the association, Chief Kola Jamodu, said there is need for government to recapitalize the Bank of Industry in order to provide for long term funding needs in the real sector of the economy.

According to him, MAN’s projections for the sector contribution to GDP could rise to 15 per cent and 18 per cent in the next three years if funds are made available in low interest

rate in the country.

In the same vein, the Director General of the National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Dr. John Isemede, said that the availability of long term loans with low interest will established improve the manufacturing sector that suffered neglect by the various government which resulted in many of the companies closing shop and some relocating to neighbouring countries.

He explained that if funds are provided for the people in low interest rate and long term, Nigeria will be a best place to do business.

The BOI which was in 2001 out of the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) was incorporated in 1964 and took off with an authorized share capital of £2million.

With a mandate to “providing financial assistance for the estab-

NPA assures foreign shipping lines of cooperation FRANCIS EZEM

T

he Nigerian Ports Authority has said that it would continuously carry along foreign shipping lines operating in Nigeria under the aegis of Shipping Association of Nigeria in the administration of the port system in the country.

Meanwhile, stakeholders have blamed these foreign shipping lines for many of the challenges and hiccups faced by port users such as arbitrary charges, delays in cargo clearance, lack of stacking areas for empty containers and the attendant congestion on the roads and the terminals, among several others, which help to worsen the traffic situation in the port areas.

Managing director of NPA Mallam Habib Abdullahi, made the pledge when the leadership of the association paid him a courtesy visit at the Marina, Lagos headquarters of the authority.

The association was represented its chairman, Mr. Val Usifoh, managing directors of Maersk Nigeria, Mr. Peter Bleasdale and CMA CGM Delmas, Mr. Ascanio Russo while the NPA management team led by the managing director comprised of executive directors in charge of finance and Administration, Mr. Olumide Oduntan and marine and operations Mr. David Omonibeke.

According to him, as major stakeholders in the industry, the authority cannot afford not to take into confidence in the running of the maritime industry.

He had assured that the new management of the authority is composed of young, experienced and dynamic professionals, who have brought fresh ideas designed

to take the industry to the next level.

‘The new management would be receptive to all constructive suggestions to better the operational capacity of the ports as it affects members of the association’, he pledged further.

Chairman of the association, Mr. Val Usifoh, who congratulated the managing director on his recent appointment, had promising that the association will support and cooperate with the new management team so as to increase the tempo of shipping activities in the country.

He, however, requested that the association would appreciate regular meetings between the management of the authority and the association in order to foster ties.

Port users have accused the shipping companies of deliberately failing to automate the distribution of their shipping manifest as a ploy to waste time so that they would impose additional rent and demurrage charges.

Many of them have also been accused of deliberately withholding importers’ container deposit fee several months after the empty container has been returned, deduction of container cleaning charges not expressly stated in the shipping contract and non provision of holding bays for empty containers.

It is believed that the failure of these firms to provide holding bays for the empty container compel the truck drivers to queue on the road for several days for the empty to be received after which they pick loaded containers.

This development had led to the congestion experienced on most port access roads with the attendant gridlocks that constitute a nightmare to motorists.

L-R: Chairman, Beer Sectoral Group of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria, Mr. Nicolas Vervelde; Chairman, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, Mr. Lola Akinwunmi and Managing Director, World Federation of Advertisers, Mr. Stephan Loerke, at a summit on Alcohol Marketing and Communication in Lagos, yesterday.

lishment of large, medium and small projects as well as provide the enabling environment for the expansion, diversification and modernization of existing industries; and rehabilitation of ailing

ones”.

National Mirror gathered that the Federal Government’s promises to raise the capital to N250billion, has not been fulfilled as only N36billion has so far been

injected since 2007, resulting in a shortfall of N214billion. This it was gathered has made the capacity of the institution to meet the growing demands in the sector is obviously limited.

FG, Elemelu Foundation sign MoU on agric sector devt TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

T

he Federal Government on Tuesday in Abuja, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tony Elumelu Foundation as part of current drives to create the needed capacity for leveraging the recent achievements of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda of the government.

Under the terms of the MoU, the Foundation will deploy a senior advisor to the ministry who would provide on sustainable basis professional financial advisory services that would help in attracting private investments and building a strong manpower and other financial management skills for efficient deployment of such investments to all the value chain links of the ATA. Speaking at the MoU signing ceremony, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, explained that the partnership had become imperative in view of the increasing interest of foreign and domestic investors in the nation’s agriculture sector and the necessity to offer professional advice and services that would ensure security of and guaranteed returns on investments.

According to him, in addition to the support the Foundation is providing for the ATA, the ministry had also made presentations to the relevant authorities in government to create a department of Agro-business and investments that would help in deepening the internal skills and other capacities needed to facilitate the current agenda for private sector-led investments at all levels of the ATA value chain.

He explained: “This is the first time in the history of the country that the ministry of Agriculture is doing this, taking agricul-

ture as a business. The ministry was not set up for that. It was all government and government and government. Now what we are doing is for government to support and facilitate the private sector to unlock the financing needed to grow the sector. Remember, I keep saying grow the sector.

“We are going to grow that sector, that is the thing for which we need capacity building efforts.

This Senior Advisor will help us within the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to build to build that internal capacity to engage investors. Now, we within the ministry have already made representation to Head of Service to actually create a whole department of Agro business and investments because at the end of the day we have to make sure that whatever we do is institutionalised and that there is a framework to support the initiatives.”

First Bank targets 10,000 mobile money agents before December JOHNSON OKANLAWON

T

o enhance financial inclusion in the country, First Bank of Nigeria has said that it is targeting 10, 000 mobile money service providers for local money transfer services this year and 10 million subscribers in the next one year.

Speaking at the launching of FirstMonie in Lagos yesterday, the group Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Bisi Onasanya, said the bank’s customers with a mobile phone can enjoy financial services, using their mobile phones to send money, pay bills, top up their phone airtime, do

shopping, deposit and withdraw cash, without the need to visit a bank branch.

He said that the bank is currently recruiting agents across the country to ensure that the vast majority of the unbanked and the under banked Nigerians enjoy superior financial services.

Onasanya added that the cashless initiative, introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which commenced in Lagos in January 2012, is a significant step towards reducing cash-based transactions and driving the provision and adoption of electronic financial services.

“However, it is important to

point out that even before the new CBN policy came on stream, we had taken some proactive measures by rolling out various e-transaction services and products of our own.

“For instance, our online-real time banking services have been in place for almost two decades, in addition to massive deployment of alternative delivery channels, such as Points of Sale, Authomated Teller Machine and internet banking. We were able to recognize on time that in the increasingly dynamic and sophisticated business environment, the future of banking will be e-driven,” Onasanya said.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Thursday, September 20, 2012

33

34

Business & Finance

Thursday, September 20, 2012

PZ Wilmar to invest N100bn in oil palm plantation in Nigeria TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

P

Z Wilmar, a new joint venture of PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc and Singapore’s Wilmar, is set to invest about N100 billion in oil palm plantations in the country as part of its investment strategies to reposition the country as a leading producer of palm oil and other associated produce in the world.

Speaking on the new investment plans when the company’s delegation visited the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman in Abuja, the group’s Chief Executive, Mr Christos Giannopoulos, said the investments over the next five to seven years would be tied to oil palm plantations that will feed the N9 billion refinery based in Lagos.

According to him, already the company has already acquired 30,000 hectares on land in Cross

River State to pursue the investment drive in the country.

Giannopoulos, who expressed serious concern over Nigeria’s lost status as the biggest producer of palm oil in the world promised that his company would work assiduously towards helping the country regain its old glory in the palm oil and associated produce in the global market.

“Nigeria used to be the biggest producer of palm oil. Now it is behind Malaysia and Indonesia, two nations that took their first palm oilseeds from Cross River State in Nigeria,” he said.

He added that palm oil plantation and refinery is the conglomerate’s new business line, adding that it has already acquired 30,000 hectares of palm oil plantation in Cross River State to boost its palm produce business in the country.

In his remarks, Usman commended PZ Cussons Nigeria for

investing heavily in palm oil production; a development which, he said, was in line with the government’s agricultural transformation agenda.

The minister also encouraged the company to liaise with the appropriate ministries and agencies, particularly the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to explore opportunities from the ongoing support government is now providing investors and other operators that could add value to productivity and efficiency of the entire agricultural value chain and the GDP growth rate in the years ahead.

He explained: “Your expansion into agriculture and huge investment in oil palm shows that you are here for the long haul, not for short term gain. The story needs to be told that you are actually rising to the development challenge that the government has given to the private sector.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

UBA gets ISO 27001 certification for Internet banking, data centre

U

nited Bank for Africa has achieved the distinguished mark of ISO 27001 Certification for its Internet Banking application and Data Centre operations.

The security of the bank’s systems and information is essential to its safety and soundness, and to the privacy of customer financial information.

As a result, UBA has put in place and maintains truly effective information security as it continuously integrates processes, people, and technology to mitigate risk in accordance with risk assessment and acceptable risk tolerance levels, a company statement said yesterday.

The nature of today’s banking environment is such that any breach to information systems can cause major disruptions and loss. Considering the increasing

Two winners emerge in Unity Bank’s aim & win promo ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI

T

L-R: Chief Executive Officer, Optima Media Group, Mr. Femi Pedro; Marketing Manager, Key Accounts, Pepsi, Mrs. Patricia Ordia-Iletogun and Chief Commercial Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Wael Ammar, during the Nigerian Idol Season 3 press conference in Lagos, yesterday.

PHOTO: YINKA ADEPARUSI

Global advertiser’s group tasks APCON on industry research ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI

T

he World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), has advised the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), to work with stakeholders in the advertising and marketing industry and set up an industry research organization that will provide statistics and reports about the Nigeria’s advertising trend.

The group’s Managing Director, Mr. Stephan Loerke, said this yesterday during a meeting with Nigeria’s advertising stakeholders at a summit organized by APCON, on Management of the Potential Impact of Alcoholic Beverage Marketing and Marketing Communications on the society.

Stephan whose group has more than 500 global fortune companies as members said as a result of dearth of local data agencies which are expected to provide market research, trends and variables in the advertising and marketing communication industry were unable to do so. He said WFA is ready to help Nigeria get global research consultants who will help designed guidelines in institution and research organizations.

He said the market information platform would make decision making be based on credible reports about the market trends, quality among others.

The APCON Registrar, Alhaji Garba Bello-Kakanrofi, however, told the WFA boss that APCON have actually approached

some world renowned research agencies to help Nigeria designed guidelines on how Nigeria can achieve the task of setting up credible research firms.

He said for such firm to be credible industry stakeholders must joint efforts and be able to give information to avoid disenchantment on research reports ratings which might make the public question the process.

Also, Mr. Ade Akinde, chairman of Nigeria’s Advertising Standards Panel said there are ongoing discussions between APCON and some foreign consultants to help Nigeria design a template for marketing research.

Stephan, however, appraised the effort of APCON, saying, Nigeria’s advertising regulation is one of the best in the world.

dependence and pervasive use of information and supporting information systems, the Internet Banking and Data Centre operations were identified as critical to the bank.

“As a leader in the e-banking landscape on the continent, we are committed to providing safe and secure electronic banking experience for our teeming customers. Consequently we have made significant investment in Information security and fraud detection solutions, enhanced our internal processes and training for our personnel.

This certification is an important benchmark in our quest to ensuring that we are always up-to-date in managing information Security and electronic banking risks” said Mr. Emmanuel Nnorom, Executive Director, Risk Management, UBA.

wo customers have emerged winners in the ongoing Unity Bank Aim, Save and Win promo going home with the star prizes of Hyundai Vena cars.

The two winners, Mrs. Iruafemi Mary from Afuze with account number 0013672960 from Benin branch in Edo State and Mallam Abubakar Usman with account number 0017336990 from Madibo branch in Jigawa State emerged as lucky customers of the bank to win the cars at the second national draw of the promo held in Lagos at the weekend.

Other 11 customers across the nation won valuable items such as refrigerators Generat-

ing Sets to bring the total number of winners in the second national draw to 13.

The bank’s Executive Director, IT & Ops, Mr. Ahmed Yussuf reiterated the bank commitment to give back to its loyal customers, adding that the bank put the promo in place not as a lottery but as a reward to it numerous customers across the country.

Yussuf also said that the promo is to inculcate financial discipline among Nigerians as well as “We are trying to ensure that the unbanked populace in Nigerian is captured, the promo is the bank’s demonstration of her gratitude to its highly esteemed customers, More so, the bank also wishes to use this promo to encourage the culture of saving”, he said.

Samsung introduces ultra low-cost smart phones in Nigeria KUNLE A ZEEZ

S

amsung Electronics West Africa has introduced its new Chief Hero E 1500 dual-SIM phone, an ultra-low cost solution designed to cater for the needs of cost-conscious mobile phone users, into the Nigerian market.

The company said consumers seeking mobile devices from which they can derive optimum value would find the devices useful for their personal and business communication needs.

The Samsung Chief Hero E 1500 supports GPRS dual band technology and has a 1000mAh battery that provides users with

11 hours of talk time and 550 hours of standby time. The JAVA-enabled device also features a 1.8” TFT screen, MP3, and FM radio, to deliver the ultimate communication experience to users.

Speaking at the launch of the device at the Samsung Experience Store in Ikeja on Wednesday, the Head of Marketing, Hand Held Products for Samsung Electronics West Africa, Mr. Abiodun Odejayi, reiterated the company’s commitment to providing mobile phones that suit the unique needs and resources of individuals in Nigeria and indeed, the whole of Africa.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Info Tech

Thursday, September 20, 2012

35

Local content:

Creating special funding for IT entrepreneurs

W

ith the astronomical growth recorded in the teleTo further accelerate the growth of Information and Communication Technology in coms sector and the Information and Communications Technology industry as whole, which has Nigeria, stakeholders have called for the need to create special funding aimed at remarkably impacted other sectors of the economy, a spe- resuscitating IT entrepreneurs to drive local content development through appropriate cial funding for local IT entrepreneurs has been advocated funding, reports KUNLE AZEEZ. towards driving local content development in the nation’s ICT industry.

Most local IT firms have always found it difficult to secure loan at lower interest rates to pursue their always-capital intensive IT business activities. The funding challenge cuts across the major sub-sectors of the nation’s ICT industry including software and services, device production, card manufacturing, ICT infrastructure input and skills development.

This situation, however, became worse for the local IT entrepreneurs as a result of non-existence of a special facility for them to access with the objective of embarking on building critical ICT infrastructures for their business operations, which, in turn, can also produce greater multiplier effect in term of value to the economy as whole.

Industry analysts have argued that ICT industry has had significant impact on all other sectors of the economy ranging from financial services, transport, education, agriculture and so on, even as they argue that creating a special pool of funds to support local IT firm, engaging in worthy Johnson Seriki joint ventures, has become critical to an IT-driven economy.

HE MINISTRY IS AWARE Maintaining that entrepreneurship involves opportunity recognition, idea generation with specific mindset, THAT THE LOCAL SOFTWARE inculcated over time, the analysts noted that in view of the important role of ICT in all aspects of people’s personal INDUSTRY HAS TREMENDOUS and business lives, the IT entrepreneurs is critical to develPOTENTIAL FOR LOCAL opment.

Speaking during an investment forum between some InCONTENT DEVELOPMENT dian firms and IT companies in Nigeria during the week, President, Information Technology Association of NigeTHUS WE ARE BEGINNING ria, Mrs. Florence Seriki, said the local ICT companies deTO PURSUE POLICIES serve a lot of private and public sector support in terms of increasing their demand for goods and services supplied, AND PROGRAMMES THAT and engendering adequate partnership to promote local content.

ENCOURAGE A CULTURE She said: “We want to go into partnership with Indian OF PATRONAGE AND firms and go into localising some of the technologies foreign IT firms are producing and bringing into Nigeria and CONSUMPTION OF LOCALLY to leverage this in creating jobs and value to the economy, we require funding at relatively fair interest rates.”

Oputu DEVEOPMED SOFTWARE In the same vein, the Director-General of the National Earlier, the government had institutionalised local card Office for Technology Promotion and Development, NO- knowledge economy.

Reeling out the government’s commitment to local con- production and consumption through its insistence on loTAP, Dr. Umar Bindir, said even though importation of foreign ICT technology is not restricted in Nigeria as long as tent development in ICT, Johnson said FG’s local content cal manufacturing of recharge cards, which over the years, due process in terms of technology transfer agreement is agenda is premised on a national imperative to ensure has been successfully implemented, resulting in jobs and ascertained by NOTAP, proper localisation and domestica- that Nigerian companies and Nigerians participate more value creation in the country.

Therefore, the minister said her ministry was working meaningfully in one of the fastest growing sectors of the tion of technology should be pursued in Nigeria. on enabling ICT infrastructure and environment for ICT inAccording to him, foreign IT firms come to Nigeria with economy.

Johnson said: “The ministry is aware that the local soft- novation to blossom while creating and supporting opporfunding, technology and technical know-how to help leapfrog the country’s economy, it is noteworthy that proper ware industry has tremendous potential for local content tunities for local skills development.

Auspiciously, the aspiration of local IT entrepreneurs, domestication of the technology and know-how must be development thus, we are beginning to pursue policies and programmes that encourage a culture of patronage and who were craving for funding for them to properly drive lopursued, while taping into the local talent. cal content development in the nation’s ICT industry, may In his submission, the President, Institute of Software consumption of locally-deveopmed software.

“Government through its IT development agency, the have received the approval of the Bank of Industry, at least Practitioners of Nigeria, (ISPON) Dr. Chris Uwaje, called on the National Information Technology Development National Information Technology Development Agency, in principle.

The Managing Director of Bank of Industry, BOI, Mrs. Agency, (NITDA) and NOTAP to ensure that ICT ecosystem is promoting the establishment of ICT incubation centres in Nigeria is not further suffocated by unbalanced relation- that operate in a private sector/ entrepreneurial setting at Evelyn Oputu, said at the ICT investment forum, that the ships and activities in the ICT domain, which, as he said, Tinapa and Lagos to provide the required support for soft- bank would support worthy ICT transactions’ by creating ware entrepreneurs to thrive and be commercially success- a special desk to address funding of ICT projects that are leads to unemployment and capital flight. adjudged to have greater value on the economy.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Communication Technology, ful.”

She said: “On our part, we take seriously, any part of She said included in the FG’s local content initiative is Mrs. Omobola Johnson, who spoke during an ICT investment forum between Indian IT companies and Nigerian ICT the promotion of a venture capital fund to provide alterna- the industry that has impact on the economy in terms of players in Lagos during the week said, “By local content, we tive and more appropriate means of funding for software technical know-how. We would support any joint venture mean placing priority on the development of our local entre- and other ICT entrepreneurs, especially in their start-up between local IT firms in Nigeria and foreign firms.

“IT entrepreneurs who are above-board with deserving preneurs by leveling the playing field or even making it more phases and providing avenues for the commissioning of transactions should be rest assured that we would support bespoke software by the business community. advantageous for Nigerians to do business with Nigerias.”

Meanwhile, National Mirror gathered that the govern- them, maybe not at a single-digit interest rate but someAccording to her, IT entrepreneurs investment in local thing close. Also, we would not hesitate to set up an ICTcontent development will bring earning of income into the ment had recently directed that computers and laptops of national economy and more importantly help to alleviate a certain configuration purchased through appropriated specific desk to handle ICT transactions and lending as the poverty. She said such investment can make Nigerian be- funds must be locally-assembled pr manufactured in Nige- volume of such requests increase, though we do not have such desk for now.” come producers and creators in the high value areas of the ria.

T

-

36

Info Tech

Thursday, September 20, 2012

NIRA reviews 250,000 domain names target KUNLE A ZEEZ

F

ollowing the review of its earlier set target of 250, 000 uptake for the Nigeria’s country code Top Level Domain names, .ng, by 2015, the management of the Nigerian Internet Registration Association said it has set a lower target of 150,000 domains for the same period.

This was disclosed by the Chief Operating Officer of NIRA, Mr. Ope Odusan, in a chat with National Mirror during the week.

NIRA manages the Nigeria’s identity on cyberspace and its associated sub-level domain names and ensures cost-effective administration of the .ng Top Level Domain, ccTLD. Though NIRA had earlier projected to record 250,000 .ng domain names by 2015, Odusan, however, stated that the target had been ‘realistically reviewed’,

having noticed that some domain names already registered were not renewed by their owners, making them inactive.

“Before now, we had recorded about 40, 000 .ng domain names but we have also discovered that active ones among them are about 35, 000 due to the fact that some domain registrants have now done their annual renewal,” he said.

He also disclosed that NIRA had been engaging in both local and international events with a view to further championing the relevance of using the .ng domain names.

NIRA, he said, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding, with the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria, (IXPN), with a view to improving the ease of access to, and availability of the .ng Registry.

According to him, “Using .ng has a lot of advantages. It is very secure and it is very fast in terms of content locating on the

Universal Resource Locator.

“Our services run 24 hours every day and users don’t need to be afraid of any down time because we have scaled up our infrastructures as we now have up to five redundancies for our domain. And in terms of security, .ng is as secured as any other domain in the world. It does not have bad image. It is the kind of business that you do and the email messages that can create bad image.

Meanwhile, Odusan stated that NIRA would soon organised a national workshop to train webmasters and other key professionals in the businesses of web designing and development.

According to him, the workshop coming up later in the year would focus on teaching web content developers on the business advantages, inherent security and need to promote Nigerian contents on the web by leveraging .ng domain platform for their clients.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tech Box Cisco security solutions

Designed to support data centres in Nigeria

G

lobal Information and Communication Technology giant, Cisco, has introduced a set of security solutions designed to protect data centers in Nigeria against threats they face in moving towards more consolidated and virtualised environments, while also enabling businesses to take advantage of new cloud-based models.

Collectively, the new offerings extend data center and security professionals’ power to enforce end-to-end security for high-capacity data centers and mobile workforces.

The offerings which include new highly scalable software for the world’s most widely deployed firewall, the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) line; virtualised ASA for multi-tenant environments; data center-grade intrusion prevention system (IPS); as well as new improvements to the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client to meet the stringent requirements of a more mobile and productive workforce.

The virtualisation and cloud mega trend is forcing profound shifts within data centers, affecting everything from IT services to business models to architectures. According to a recent Cisco reports, nearly 3000 per cent increase in application traffic and network connections per second by 2015, more than 50 per cent of workloads in the data center will be virtualized by 2013 and an average of 3 X mobile devices are used on enterprise networks by employees.

Acting General Manager for Cisco Nigeria, Said Rechchad, said, “For enterprises to confidently seize the business benefits offered by data center virtualisation and the cloud, security must be seen as the art of the possible, not as a hindrance.”

HP Envy Spectre XT

Sleek, speedy Ultrabook

T L-R: Public Relations Manager, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Funso Aina; relative of Master Taiwo Lawal, the toddler who was hit by armed robber’s bullet, Miss Marian Lawal; and General Manager, Corporate Affairs, MTN Nigeria, Mrs. Funmi Omogbenigun during the presentation of a cheque of N500,000 to the Lawals recently.

Fidelity adjudged best telecoms financing bank JOHNSON OKANLAWON

F

idelity Bank Plc, has been adjudged by the Board of Assessors of the Nigerian Telecoms Awards as the ‘Best Telecoms Financing Bank’ in the country.

A statement from the bank said the bank emerged tops among three banks that were nominated for the award at the 8th Annual Nigerian Telecom Awards, which took place in Lagos at the weekend.

Other banks nominated, according to the statement, were Access Bank Plc and First Bank Plc. Both financial institutions emerged first and second runners-up respectively in the Banking and Financial Services category.

It said: “The organisers said that Fidelity Bank was recog-

nised for its overall contribution to total loans and advances to Information and Communication Technology and telecommunications sectors. In their assessment, the portion of the banks support to ICT within the period under review clearly surpassed those of its competitors.”

Receiving the award on behalf of Fidelity Bank, its Executive Director, Corporate Banking, Mr. John Obi, commended the organisers of the event, Logica Media Group for the recognition.

“We are committed to the development of the industry and the economy at large,” he said while dedicating the feat to the staff of the bank for their hard work and commitment.

It would be recalled that Fidelity Bank had last year won the Euromoney Project Finance Telecommunications Deal Award.

Speaking, the Secretary General of the Nigerian telecom Awards, Otunba Abiodun Ajiboye, said the selection of the winners for each of the various categories in award went through a systematic and painstaking, and rigorous process handled by a competent board of assessors.

“The ward has become dominant in the industry and I can tell you that there is no single company in Nigeria that has not had one of two things to do with the award. It has impacted on the industry most positively. All the time, we ensure we justify why a company is best for an award.

“So, Nigerian Telecoms Award has become the mainstay of the industry in terms of evaluation of performance by the players in the sector, as it now has a wide spectrum of interest,” he said.

he new Envy Spectre XT, a 13.3-inch Ivy Bridgepowered Ultrabook unveiled last week by Hewlett Packard, HP, a global Information technology giant, has a thinner, lighter profile than earlier version fo the Spectre range from HP. The Spectre XT has the trappings of a higher-end Ultrabook, including an all-metal design with a brushed silver finish on the lid and keyboard deck. HP carried over some familiar elements from its fullerbodied Envy 14 Spectre, which weighs 3.97 pounds, compared to 3.07 for the XT. The Envy Spectre XT feels quite good in the hand. The rounded corners are eminently grippable and the soft-touch bottom is delightfully smooth,

but not too slippery. The whole package feels sturdy, too, though the screen is a bit wobbly.

The machine tapers slightly, from 0.69 inches to 0.57 inches thick, which manages to give it a sleek feel even though its silhouette isn’t as pointed as the MacBook Air (0.86 to 0.11 inches thick) or as skinny as the 0.3-inch ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A or 0.5-inch Samsung Series 9.

HP outfitted the XT with a no-surprises selection of ports: two USB 3.0 connections, an SD card slot, combination headphone-out / microphonein jack, Ethernet and HDMI. There’s no DisplayPort as on the Envy 14 Spectre, and you can naturally forget about an optical drive.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

T

he desperate quest by brand builders to fight for market share through TV reality and game Shows in the highly competitive products and services market is becoming more intense by the day. Since 2004 when the Guilder Ultimate Search (GUS) was launched, the huge followership the show enjoyed ahead of other TV contents has cut the attention of advertisers. Like a wild fire, advertisers are fast introducing one reality show or the other while independent producers, TV stations are as well creating such platforms to woo spot advertisers.

But six years after GUS blazed the trail, streams of reality shows have been introduced, taking control of primetimes belts on TV and in some cases, radio stations. Dueto the popularity, it has become a weapon in the hands of advertisers to launch bait at their target markets by building the show around their brands.

According to a senior lecturer, marketing, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Lagos, Dr. Peter Iyiegbuniwe, “That is a new trend in the marketing communication industry in Nigeria. It is fast becoming a platform to engage consumers because of its entertaining features.

It can be used to stimulate the desire of their target market.”

Nigeria which a brand analyst, Mr. Tomi Ogunlesi, said is a late adopter of reality and games show, have got to wait after eight decades after an American, Allen Flunt had popularised the concept. According to National Mirror finding, Flunt launched the first reality show on radio as Candid Microphone in 1947 before he later shot it as theatrical films in 1948 and named it Candid Camera. Allen’s trail blazing concept was later recreated over the years giving birth to legion of world biggest TV reality shows in America and Europe which most Nigerian brands have either bought its patents, localised or adopted in its original form to promote their brands as a result of the success it has recorded abroad.

According to Ogunlesi, “It seems we’ve been late adopters, however, over the past decade in Nigeria, the association of brand names with popular television shows has become a trend on the ascendancy, particularly by companies and brands in a quest to increase their market share. Flipping past channels on both terrestrial and cable TV channels these days, the sheer avalanche of reality shows that is aired assails one. Contemporary television programming has clearly become incomplete without them, or so it seems!”

Among the world biggest series of reality shows after Flunt’s

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Brands & Marketing

37

Breaking market barriers through TV reality shows

TV reality and game shows are relatively not Nigerian traditional ways of promoting brands but Nigeria’s interface with the global millennium buzz and global village ideas has made the trend veritable tools for penetrating markets. How much does this trend impact on brands penetration? Writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

ice breaking effort, are Big Brother, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Dancing with the Stars, Fear Factor, Got Talent, Iron Chef, Just the Two of Us, Pop Idols, Project Runway, Reality Circus, Single Moms, Star Academy, The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, The Bar, The Biggest Loser, The Farm, The Surreal Life, The Voice, The X Factor, Top Model.

But the common trend in Nigeria is the adoption of this world renowned shows as more of the local ones both independently or corporately produced bear semblance of those originated from developed countries. And it is very hard to differentiate those claimed to have been created locally from the foreign ones which attests to an expert saying that “think global, act locally.” STARGAME by Nigerian Breweries, Maltina Dance All bore credence to this.

Last week, Airtel Nigeria Limited introduced a Nigeria version of Got Talents tagged Nigeria’s Got Talent, NGT, Joining the growing list of the localised global ones such as MTN Project FAME, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Nigerian and West African Idols, The Apprentice Africa chaired by Nigeria’s Czar of Advertising, Mr. Biodun Sobanjo, and Malta Guinness Street Dance.

With the open intention to promote youths, cultural value among others, the hidden desire to promote brands have been obvious in most of the shows especially those shows that are branded by sole spon-

sors . Maltina Dance All is one way among many that NB Plc is restating its brand values,” Senior Brand Manager Maltina Mrs. Ngozi Nkwoji said. Also, Airtel Nigeria Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Deepak Srivastava said the company remains focused in adding value to the lives of Nigerians, reiterating that the Got Talent platform provided yet another great opportunity to empower and entertain Nigerians.

With its styled unplanned, reality life scenario produced for potential consumers who are defined by youth market segment, the show has received tremendous support just as most brands also employ movie stars as judges, moderators as a form of celebrity endorsement which is also a marketing tool to bond consumers with the product, hence the selection of ace radio personality, Dan Foster and Nollywood A-list actress, Kate Henshaw, along with Port Harcourtbased ace-comedian, Yibo Koko, as the three judges to steer the first ever Nigeria’s Got Talent reality TV show sponsored by Airtel Nigeria.

TV reality shows although explore various human endeavours with the hope of either entertaining, encourage social interaction, educating, training as well as informing, but it is however, surprising that each reality show has it own niche which are all connected. For instance, The Intern was created for business community and sponsored by former Bank

THE DESIRE TO PROMOTE BRANDS IS OBVIOUS IN MOST OF THE SHOWS ESPECIALLY THOSE THAT ARE BRANDED

BY SOLE SPONSORS PHB now Keystone Bank, Big Brother Africa came with the need to show values of social interaction in the modern African setting.

According to a brand expert, Mr. Ayodele Ayopo, the main target of reality TV shows is the youth market that has become powerful due to an adventurous and trend setting lifestyle. This explains why companies create TV reality shows to connect directly with the youth segment.

It is indeed a welcome development to engage the youth in order to put their potential and endowment into profitable use.”

His view best explains why Amstel Malta Box Office (AMBO) was created with the need to promote and discover movie actors while the Next Movie Star also an independent producer supported by multiple advertisers was produced to discover movie talents. The Idols West Africa sponsored by various brands was also meant to discover and promote local musical talents just like the Nokia First Chance, MTN Project Fame West Africa.

The increasing number of football lovers led to the creation and the need to connect with the prospect on that platform led to MTN Nig /Ghana soccer academy while Football

with Fash, Football with Okocha, also enjoy sponsors as a result of the name of the soccer heroes involved.

Ayopo stated further that, “to gain relevance and acceptability, companies adopt reality TV shows as part of their strategic marketing plans to reach out to the youth. Though I must confess that I am not really a television person, I select programmes I watch and my main focus is news. However, I have taken more interest in some reality TV shows over the years especially those with direct bearing on the youth” Also, a Missouri Western State College researcher, Dr. Erika S. Pontius stated that “Television’s effect on viewers is a subject that has been extensively studied in the last 20 years and whose impact extends farther than most people realize. However, the researcher said recently that a new fad in television has surfaced and it appears to be taking over.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Iyiegbuniwe said for any brand sponsored reality show to make the desired impact on consumers, “it must be localised. It must reflect the culture and values of the people. It must not be offensive and must be of quality standard in production.”

38

Brands & Marketing

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Ladipo remains CEO as STB McCann opens new office STORIES: ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI

T

he immediate past President of the Association of Advertising Agency of Nigeria (AAAN), Mr. Rufai Ladipo is still the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of STB McCann, National Mirror finding reveals.

It had been reported by an online media that Ladipo was asked to resign as a result of his inability to run the agency well, hence, his failure to re-contest as President of AAAN in line with the association’s constitution.

A close source to the advertising executive confirmed to National Mirror that

he remains the managing director of the second advertising agency founded by the trio of Sir Steve Omojafor, Chairman of Zenith Bank, Tunde Adelaja and Akin Odunsi.

“Rufai Ladipo remains my boss whom I still report to as the CEO/MD,” said the source.

The agency according to reports has suffered some financial problems such as owing of salaries among others in recent past as a result of its inability to compete for juicy accounts and the challenges facing the advertising industry.

National Mirror, however, gathered that the agency decided to sell its sky-

scrapper office at Yaba to buy a cosier and more spacious office opposite its competitor, SO & U Advertising Group at Oyetola Street, off Ajanaku Street, Opebi to join streams of other agencies at Ikeja.

National Mirror recently sighted Ladipo with the chairman of the agency, Sir Omojafor feteing some top notch in advertising agencies such as Mr. Yomi Badejo, CMC Connect CEO; Mr. Kola Ayanwale, founder, Centerspread FCB among others.

It was learnt that the relocation of the agency was part of plans to reposition the agency founded by the Rosabel Advertising Group.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Eva, 5Alive wear new looks In order to entrench the Coca-Cola global DNA in its product, Coca Cola Nigeria, repackaged Eva table water and 5Alive fruit juice.

At a media launch, the Senior Brand Manager, Still Beverages, Mr. Otome Oyo, said the new look was occasioned by the need to make the brands fall in line with the Coca-Cola global DNA. “Because the two brands belong to the Coca-Cola, it must meet up with the global standard. Whatever happens to Coca Cola brands here will be felt in Atlanta, USA. That is why we work hard to ensure that Nigerians are offered great quality brands from Coca Cola staple,” he said.

As the market leaders in their market, he said 5Alive are produced from pure natural fruits while Eva table quality water in a new bottle is made for the convenience of the consumers.

Eva tabke water and 5Alive have enjoyed much patronage as a result of the quality associated with the brands.

The new look, according to Oyo, is expected to further push the brands to the beverage and juice market.

Final winners emerge in the Nokia Danfo reloaded Two players, Obi Olivia Ebelechukwu a 300 level Biochemistry student of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and Obi Tobechukwu Christian, an applicant have emerged winners in the last draw of Nokia Danfo Reloaded competition.

At the prize presentation, which took place recently at Nokia office in Lagos, Manager, Retail Marketing, Nokia West Africa, and Mr. Olajide Adeyemi thanked everyone who had participated in the competition.

He said that giving out cash prizes to winners was something the organization was very proud of doing as the money given has been able to help most winners take care of some personal bills.

L-R: Chief Executive Officer, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Mr. Martin Woolnough; Managing Director, FSG Incorporation, Mr. Mark Kramer and Director, Etisalat “Nokia is using this means to encourage Corporate/Social Responsibility Centre, Mr. Chris Ogbechie, at the close of Nestle Central and West Africa Creating Shared Value forum in Lagos, innovation amongst youths in Nigeria. We yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN want to encourage youths to channel their energy to thinking creatively so as to develop apps that fit into the Nigerian context which definitely would help people in so tarTimes in fulfillment of its earli- won 32” LCD, CRTV, Mobile TV, highlights through NTA Sports24 many ways than one can imagine” he said. car TV while regional prize after having acquired the free-toer promise has given away N2mil- GPS lion and other prizes to winners winners received N100, 000 cash. air rights for the 2012/13 season.

According to StarTimes, “It is im- Babaeko’s X3M Ideas In a statement, it was stated that of the promo which began on July 16. portant to mention that over 900,000 According to StarTimes, the promo “StarTimes has, for sure, made itself Advertising opens for business was initiated to commemorate the appreciated and loved by Nigerians and StarTimes subscribers can view these second year anniversary of the the has promised greater experience of its matches live on NTA Sports 24, either 3M “Extreme” Ideas a new advertising sole licensed DTT operator in Nigeria. product and service for Nigerians.” through the StarTimes decoder or the cum marketing communications agency Meanwhile, the pay TV has ex- newly introduced StarTimes Mobile TV under the leadership Steve Babaeko However, Mr. Olasehinde Mayowa received N2million grand prize pressed readiness to exclusively show or GPS Car TV with or without payment has recently opened its office in Lagos on Thursday, while other winners the UEFA and EUROPA matches and of their monthly subscription fees.” to join the league of advertising agency with a promise to ignite a creative revolution in the industry.

As at press conference, Babaeko, who recently left 141 Worldwide is the CEO/Chief Creativity Officer of the new he registrar of Advertising ernment drive for foreign investment ria. As you can see top advertising agency.

Practitioners Council of Nigemanagers, even owners of agencies are policy.

However, it was gathered that the new ria, Alhaji Garba Bello-KakanThe registrar said about 15 foreign- here taking the exams because some agency has already filed application for rofi has hailed the level of compliance ers participated in this year’s exam of them have been practicing for more membership with the Association of Adby foreigners who are practising Adas against seven recorded last year. than ten years but they did not study vertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN). vertising and its other aspects in NiBabaeko has over 17 years experience About 200 local players are said to advertising, marketing and other allied geria. coursed related to the practice which in the industry. He has worked at the have taken the exams also. now defunct MC & A Saatchi & Saatchi, When National Mirror visited the are prerequisite to being inducted as Kakanrofi said this at the recently Prima Garnet Ogilvy, 141 Worldwide. concluded APCON executive diploma venue of the exam, held inside the an associate and full membership. But He worked on many brands like DSTV exams conducted for practitioners News Agency of Nigeria hall, top ad- because of their years of experience in Multichoice, BAT, First Bank, Etisalat, who are top advertising executives vertising managers as well as some ex- the industry, going through the normal and other brands among other brands. certificate to diploma makes it difficult patriates were seen taking the exams. but are yet to be registered because of Sources revealed that X3M Ideas has “Today is one of the happiest days for them to comply. But this executive hit the ground running with a first major their background in non-allied field of study as well as foreigners who in my life because of the level of com- business diploma was designed to take pitch victory. The new agency emerged want to practice and establish agency pliance to some of our policies and care of such highly experienced practi- one of the top two agencies which finally shared the Inbisco – FMCG business. in Nigeria under the new federal gov- code of advertising practice in Nige- tioners,” said Kakaronfi.

StarTimes pays promo winners, to show UEFA champions league

S

APCON registrar hails foreigners participation in executive diploma exams

T

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Brands & Marketing

Thursday, September 20, 2012

SO & U boss explains decision to wind up Quest Publicis ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI

T

he Group CEO, SO & U Advertising group Mr. Ufot Udeme, has said the decision to wind up Quest Publicis last week Thursday was part of efforts to relocate the agency team as a cost-cutting strategy in the face of tough operating environment.

“It is not closed down. Just scaled down and the team relocated as a cost-cutting strategy. It has been a tough operating environment and the business needs to scale down cost significantly,” Udeme told National Mirror.

Quest Publicis, an SO&U Advertising group’s second line agency has faced incessant loss of business in recent time without new one coming into the agency’s kitty, National Mirror gathered.

An online brandcrunch had reported that the management has been on a running battle with the top echelon of the company lead by Funke Nwankwo with a mandate to improve the agency’s precarious situation but all to no avail.

As gathered, in view of the “consistently disappointing business performance by Quest Publicis Advertising” which culminated in the loss of major clients and businesses like Nestle, Union Bank and Visafone, the board was left with no option than to take the painful business decision.

In a winding down memo, the Group CEO had announced to staffers in part, “Following consultations with the board, I am constrained to come to the very painful decision to wind down Quest Advertising.”

According to him, this is to halt further drain of financial and human resources as the short to me-

dium term outlook for the business is not encouraging.

Udeme had foresaw that from indications, there appears that Quest Publicis would continue to lose even larger amounts of money which the group’s management believe would not amount to a good business sense to allow the agency afloat, hence, the decision to wind down the operation.

As a result, Chief Operation Officer and pioneer Managing Director, Quest Advertising, Funke Nwankwo, it was gathered had stepped down while a few of the staffers have the chance of being absorbed into the mother company- SO&U Saatchi & Saatchi but a greater number will have to be made redundant.

Reports have it that the group decided to move two other companies in the group- Lucid, the group’s media production company and Maxi Media, its media

L-R: Mr. Nseobong Akpabio of the FRSC, Jimi Awosika, MD, Insight Communications; Nicholas Vervelde, Chairman, BSG, MAN; Lolu Akinwunmi, Chairman, APCON; Mr. Stephen Leorke, MD World Federation of Advertisers (WFA); other guests and Mr. Udeme Ufot (right) at APCON summit on Tuesday.

Brand promotional campaigns: What impact on the consumers?

I

t is indeed a season of promotional campaigns. Several years back, you could never think of a bank promoting its products and services. The current trend is now for banks to champion such promos to deepen brand equity. Banks are not the only ones in this as telecom companies also strive to win consumers heart with series of promotional campaigns. The MTN ultimate wonder promo is now on yahoo and I imagine the cost of the promotional campaign.

I do not have any issues with companies leveraging on promotional campaigns to deepen brand equity and build loyalty amongst consumers. The kernel of my viewpoint is the overall impact on the average consumers. Most companies commence promotional campaign without taking cognizance of the needs of consumers. I have always stated

it that some of our communication campaigns are not research driven to identify the exact needs of consumers.

Promotional campaigns should have influence on consumer behavior. It is the insights generated that will drive the success of the promo in the minds of the consumers. There is the basic imperative to establish consumers’ buying behavior that will lead to strong promotional campaigns.

The truth is that the promo that is not hinged on consumers’ behavioral pattern only meets the short term needs of consumers.

Today consumers are becoming sophisticated and very discerning. They know the brands that meet their expectations and they do all they can to maintain the attachment to such brands.

Regardless of any promotional activity, the consumers will remain loyal to their preferred

ad VA NT AG E icon I DON’T REST IN THE SENSE THAT EVEN WHEN

I

DON’T ENGAGE IN PHYSICAL

WORK, MY BRAIN WORKS

Ikpe

D

r Ken Onyeali Ikpe, the MD/CEO of Mediacom Nigeria, is one of the leading media planning and strategist in Nigeria. Described as a leader with good knowledge of Marketing Communications, Ikpe has been in the business for over 13 years.

A Ph.D holder in Development Economics, he is the head of the Pioneer Media Independent Company in Nigeria and a Director at the Troyka Group which holds equity in Carat Media Perspective, Quardrant, Halogeen, and Insights Communication among others.

An intellectual, Ikpe has benefited from high profile training and courses in Nigeria and abroad in the areas of Marketing Communica-

Brand X-Ray with Ayodeji Ayopo Tel: 08023448199 E-mail: mayomipo@yahoo.com brands. Promotional activity will come and go. But what should brands do to remain etched on the minds of consumers’.

Some of the brands do not even understand the personal characteristics of the targeted consumer target consumer market segment. Consumers form attachments to specific products as a result of companies effort to create personal link between their brands and consumers.

The probability that a consumer chooses a brand depends largely on the capacity of satisfaction they derive from such brands.

Consumers also perceive the promotion based on their own actions and not necessarily that the promotional activity have

39

any tangible effect on them. Consumer sales promotion cannot change the perception of consumers but qualitative service deliver that leaves an enduring impact.

Companies should endeavor to build sustainable forms of loyalty between their brands and consumers. Rather than focus solely on a promotional activity, a reward scheme should be instituted to create touch points for the consumers. A consumer reward done when Airtel was still Zain network. The promo was based on accumulated points scored by subscribers for a specific period of time. The points accumulated came as a result of the regular recharge by consum-

tions, Branding and Perception Engineering amongst others.

He is a Fellow, Nigeria Institute of Marketing. The Imo State native and lover of sports, is an alumnus of the prestigious Lagos Business School where he lectures on part-time basis. His passion for academics earned him at the Academy of Sciences, School of African Studies, Moscow a PhD in Developmental Economics, between 1988 and 1991 after earning an Msc in Economics at Donetsk State University between 1983 and 1988.

Ikpe, generally described as a deep and highly cerebral individual, got his tutelage at the renowned advertisng “academy,” Insight Communications, where he got on board as an Account Manager in 1995 said, “I don’t rest in the sense that even when I don’t engage in physical work, my brain works. My preoccupation is 70 percent brain work and 30 percent physical.

I am a man driven by strategy.

So, even when I am resting, I am thinking about tomorrow.

For me life is all about planning and strategising.” ers. Subscribers were given identification codes to collect their prizes from zain outlets. I was a beneficiary of that promo and I was pleasantly surprised at the unique method of building brand loyalty. I refer to it as a yardstick because that is a concrete way to leave impact on consumers and not necessarily through some fraudulent means to exploit consumers.

The impact of any promo should translate to customer satisfaction and quality service delivery. MTN is doing ultimate wonder promo while the network offers poor service delivery. Several people have used the social media to condemn the poor service they obtain. What impact will the ultimate wonder achieve for consumers?

Brands should maintain loyal consumers and focus on incentives to drive brand loyalty.

Brand promos should also not be skewed towards short term goals only but enduring touch points for the consumers.

40

Global Business

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Steakhouse sales fluctuate as diners digest economic news A

relentless news cycle of economic ups-and-downs is giving would-be diners at United States steakhouses indigestion.

Revenue at these restaurants has been “more erratic” in 2012 than last year as eating out has become an “emotional” decision, even for affluent consumers and corporate customers, said Malcolm Knapp, a New York-based consultant who created the Knapp-Track Index of monthly restaurant sales and guest counts. “It’s a very uneven market” for these establishments.

There could be additional weakness ahead in the fourth quarter as news about the economy dominates headlines leading up to the November presidential election.

“Waves of fear” about the health of the U.S. expansion have taken a toll on corporate spending, a key component of steakhouse sales, and further fears could have “a pretty sizable impact” on this industry, said Mike Englund, chief economist at Boulder, Colorado-based forecaster Action Economics LLC. “It’s easy to go to a fancy restaurant if you’re spending somebody else’s money, but if your expense account is cut by 20 percent, you’ll go somewhere that costs

Obama

less,” Englund said, adding that expense accounts are one of the first expenditures business owners will target if they become more cautious about the economic outlook.

This year “definitely has been more bumpy,” for the more than 100 fine-dining establishments owned by Landry’s Inc.,

which took Morton’s Restaurant Group Inc. private in February and also owns Vic & Anthony’s and Brenner’s steakhouses. While same-store sales are positive, they’re not “near the growth of last year,” Chief Executive Officer Tilman J. Fertitta said in an interview without detailing 2011 performance.

A “pervasive news cycle” is largely to blame, as would-be diners have been influenced by external events including Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis and risks associated with the looming U.S. fiscal cliff, said Knapp, who has monitored the industry since 1970 and frequently speaks with steakhouse operators. As a result, sales lack a “true rhythm.”

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has promised to do “whatever it takes” to save the 17-nation euro, and the U.S. faces higher taxes and reductions in spending on government programs that will take effect at year-end unless Congress acts.

Sales at U.S. steakhouses, where the average check is more than $50 a person, have “bounced around” -- up 4.1 percent in August, compared with a year earlier, following a 1 percent gain in July.

China can meet growth target on positive signs, Wen says

C

hinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the country is capable of meeting this year’s growth target as positive signs emerge, even as “downward pressure” remains on the world’s second-largest economy.

“We have the conditions and capabilities to fulfill this year’s economic and social development target,” Wen said during a two-day inspection tour to eastern Zhejiang province, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

China National Radio cited Wen as saying economic downward pressure remained “relatively large” and that difficulties may continue for some time, while China Central Television reported him saying that rising prices continue to ease and that there’s “growing room for monetary policy operation.”

Wen’s comments come after the country’s export growth and new yuan loans

trailed estimates in July. Zhejiang, an export base, is among the hardest hit by the economic slowdown, with its gross domestic product growth trailing only southern Guangdong province.

“Policymakers have made it clear in recent weeks that supporting economic growth is their central concern,” Qinwei Wang, an economist at Capital Economics Ltd., said in an e-mail. “We continue to think that more policy support will be announced soon, including a further cut to the required reserve ratio, and that more infrastructure projects proposed by local governments will be given the go-ahead.”

The reports didn’t specify the 7.5 percent GDP expansion target. Policy makers had lowered it from the 8 percent goal in place since 2005, Wen said he is trying to reduce China’s reliance on exports and boost consumption as he hands power to a younger generation of leaders this year.

Wen

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Australians’ confidence wanes, wages gain in conundrum

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens

A

ustralian consumer confidence fell by the most in five months even as wages climbed, sending mixed signals on the economy as the central bank weighs whether to hold interest rates at a developed-world high.

The sentiment index dropped 2.5 percent to 96.6, according to a Westpac Banking Corporation and Melbourne Institute August 6-10 survey of 1,200 consumers released in Sydney yesterday. A government report showed the wage-price index, which measures hourly pay rates excluding bonuses, rose 3.7 percent in the second quarter from 12 months earlier as mine workers’ pay surged.

The acceleration in wage gains was “a material surprise, and raises the uncomfortable prospect that wage pressures may have troughed,” said Alvin Pontoh, an Asia-Pacific strategist at TD Securities Inc. in Singapore. “The surprise fall in consumer confidence in the face of a generally positive backdrop casts doubt on the sustainability of the pickup in consumer spending we have seen of late.”

The Reserve Bank of Australia, which lowered interest rates by 1.25 percentage point to 3.5 percent and paused at the past two meetings, has indicated wages need to remain contained and productivity improve to ensure inflation stays within its target of 2 percent to 3 percent. Traders are pricing in a 67 percent chance the RBA will keep the benchmark on hold when it meets next month.

Powering growth is Australia’s biggest mining boom since a gold rush in the 1850s. The latest bonanza -- for iron ore, coal and natural gas -- is bringing investment projects the government estimates to be worth A$500 billion ($524 billion).

BOE drops reference to rate cut as it considers policy options

B

King

ank of England policy makers dropped a reference to interestrate cuts this month as they voted to keep their bond-purchase target unchanged and said they will assess the need for other stimulus measures.

The Monetary Policy Committee voted 9-0 to hold the target at 375 billion pounds ($587 billion), according to the minutes of the August 1-2 meeting, published in London yesterday. It also voted 9-0 to keep the benchmark interest rate at a record-low 0.5 percent.

“Over the coming months, the committee could take stock of the impact of

the Funding for Lending Scheme and the implications this had for other potential policy options,” it said, without mentioning rates. While for some members this month’s decision was “relatively straightforward,” others saw a “good case” for more asset purchases, it said.

The central bank said last month it may review the merits of a reduction in borrowing costs once it assessed the impact of the FLS, which is aimed at boosting credit to companies and households.

Investors increased bets on a cut after the comments before Governor Mervyn King lowered expectations, saying on August

8 that it may do more harm than good at present because of damage to some banks’ margins.

“Interestingly, there was no discussion of an interest- rate cut that some analysts have called for,” said James Knightley, an economist at ING Bank in London. “We have long doubted that such action would happen given the” central bank’s concern “about what it would mean for interest margins and bank lending.”

Sonia forward contracts show that a rate cut isn’t priced in through July next year, according to data from Tullett Prebon Plc.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Thursday, September 20, 2012

41

42

Capital Market

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Trading volume rises 3.23% in equities JOHNSON OKANLAWON

A

s the operation of market makers on the Nigerian Stock Exchange entered the second day on Wednesday, trading volume in equities rose further.

A market maker is a brokerage firm or bank that maintains a firm bid and ask price in a given security by standing ready, willing, and able to buy or sell at publicly quoted prices.

The volume increased by 3.25 per cent, as investors staked 904.2 million shares valued at N5.45bn in 5,340 deals, compared to the increase by 43 per cent recorded the preceding day.

The All Share index appreciated by 0.73 per cent to close at 25, 642.39 points, in contrast to the increase by 0.32 per cent recorded the preceding day to close at 25,456.01 points.

Market capitalisation increased by N56bn to close at N8.16trn, higher than the increase by N26bn recorded the preceding day to close at N8.10trn.

The NSE 30-index led sectorial indices by 0.58 per cent to close at 1,203.13 points, followed by the oil and gas index with 0.55 per cent increase to close at 167.28 points.

The consumer goods index rose by 0.48 per cent to close at 2,217.79 points, while the bank-

ing index gained 0.45 per cent to close at 399.22 points.

Lotus Islamic index appreciated by 0.46 per cent to close at 1,520.23 points, while the insurance index added 0.008 per cent to close at 129.68 points.

DN Meyer Plc led the gainers table with seven kobo or 9.46 per cent to close at 81 kobo per share, followed by Fidson Healthcare Plc with 11 kobo or 9.32 per cent to close at N1.29 per share.

International Breweries Plc gained 99 kobo or 6.31 per cent to close at N16.69 per share, while Meimeth Pharmaceutical Plc rose by four kobo or five per cent to close at 84 per share. Union Bank

of Nigeria Plc closed at N8.29 per share, up by 39 kobo or 4.94 per cent.

On the flip side, Morison Plc lost 28 kobo or 4.88 per cent to close at N5.46 per share, while Diamond Bank Plc shed 16 kobo or 4.34 per cent to close at N3.53 per share.

NAHCO Plc declined by 10 kobo or 1.64 per cent to close at N6.00 per share, while Mansard Plc depreciated by seven kobo or 3.74 per cent to close at N1.80 per share.

United Bank for Africa Plc fell seven kobo or 1.52 per cent to close at N4.53 per share.

The Exchange had on Monday increased the daily price limit for the selected stocks’ movement from the usual five per cent to 10 per cent.

Honeywell posts N475m profit in H1 JOHNSON OKANLAWON

H

oneywell Plc has declared a profit after tax of N475m for the financial period ended June 30, 2012, an increase by 932 per cent when compared to N46m recorded in the same period of 2011.

The company’s revenue increased by 15.3 per cent to N10.7bn in 2012, from N9.31bn recorded in 2011 half year.

According to the result presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday, the company’s cost of sales rose by 5.5 per cent to N8.82bn in the review period, from N8.36bn in the corresponding period

of 2011, while taxation stood at N221m in 2012, fom N53m in 2011 half year.

Further analysis of the company result showed net assets of N18.3bn in 2012, from N17.85bn in 2011 half year, while the value of stocks appreciated by 4.1 per cent, from N4.96bn in 2011 half year to N5.16bn in 2012.

The chairman of the company, Mr. Dave Cole had in August said that growing appeal of Honeywell Noodles and Pasta products was evident in the enhanced contribution to sales revenue from its vertically integrated subsidiary.

He explained that the popular ‘Bam Bam La

La’ advert is an example of recent investments in marketing to drive sales of Honeywell Noodles and this has begun to yield progress in customer pull and the company expects more of this to be reflected in 2013 financial year.

In terms of assets, the company achieved high double digit growth rates in 2011 financial year as total assets grew 54 per cent to N45bn via the acquisition of several strategic assets, including a state-of-the-art fully automated warehousing and inventory control system.

“In the year reported, Honeywell Flour Mills forged stronger relationships with its distributors

and strategic partners through several businessto-business engagement forums and initiatives aimed at improving its distribution network ahead of planned capacity increase”, he said Cole pointed out that the company anticipates more impressive results and appreciable growth in the 2013 financial year, when additional capacity from its 1,000MT/day twin mill facility, which is close to completion, finally comes on stream.

“This capacity increase of 62 per cent, will take total milling capacity to 2,610MT/day and will be reflected in increased sales and profit,” he added.

US stocks rise on Japan stimulus, American home data

U

nited States stocks rose yesterday, snapping a twoday decline in the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index, as the Bank of Japan increased its asset-purchase target and sales of existing American homes rose more than forecast.

Bank of America Corporation and Alcoa Incorporation added at least 1.3 per cent to pace advances in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

An S&P index of homebuilders soared 3.6 per cent as PulteGroup Incorporation rallied 6.1 per cent, while Corning

Incorporation gained 2.7 per cent after Goldman Sachs Group Incorporation advised investors to buy the stock. Energy shares sank the most among 10 groups in the S&P 500 as crude prices tumbled.

The S&P 500 added 0.3 per cent to 1,463.77 points, while the Dow advanced 44.75 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 13,609.39 points.

Trading in S&P 500 companies was 8.4 per cent above the 30-day average.

“Markets are relying a lot on the support of central banks to stay alive here,” Michael Farr,

President and Founder of Farr, Miller and Washington LLC which manages $825m, said in a phone interview. “The US economy is behaving in a constructive way, not fabulous but resilient.”

The S&P 500 rallied 15 per cent from its mostrecent low on June 1 through September 14, when it reached its highest level since December 2007. The index is trading at 14.1 times the estimated earnings of its constituent members, close to the highest price multiple since the end of 2010, data compiled by

Bloomberg show.

Equities climbed as sales of existing homes rose in August to a twoyear high, an additional sign the US housing market is gaining traction in the second half of the year.

Purchases of previously owned houses increased 7.8 per cent to a 4.82 million annual rate, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed. The median forecast of 78 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for sales to increase to a 4.56 million pace.

Source: NSE

NIBOR QUOTES 18 SEPTEMBER & 19 SEPTEMBER 2012

25.00 24.00 23.00 22.00 21.00 20.00 19.00 18.00 17.00 16.00 15.00 14.00 13.00 12.00 11.00 10.00

18-Sep-12

19-Sep-12

Source: FMDA

Market indicators All-Share Index 23,105.05 points Market capitalisation 7,354 trillion

Stock Updates GAINERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

CHANGE

% CHANGE

STERLNBANK

1.20

1.26

0.06

5.00

UBA

4.20

4.41

0.21

5.00

WAPCO

46.02

48.32

2.30

5.00

UBN

6.21

6.52

0.31

4.99

ROADS

8.42

8.84

0.42

4.99

INTBREW

11.77

12.35

0.58

4.93

ASHAKACEM

11.17

11.72

0.55

4.92

DANGSUGAR

4.52

4.74

0.22

4.87

UPL

4.37

4.58

0.21

4.81

NASCON

4.95

5.18

0.23

4.65

CHANGE

% CHANGE

LOSERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

ETERNA

2.26

2.15

0.11

-4.87

NEIMETH

0.78

0.75

0.03

-3.85

UTC

0.55

0.53

0.02

-3.64

CUSTODYINS

1.12

1.08

0.04

-3.57

JBERGER

29.95

29.00

0.95

-3.17

7UP

40.00

39.00

1.00

-2.50

GOLDINSURE

0.51

0.50

0.01

-1.96

JAPAULOIL

0.60

0.59

0.01

-1.67

CONTINSURE

0.65

0.64

0.01

-1.54

FCMB

3.00

2.99

0.01

-0.33

Primary Market Auction TENOR

AMOUNT (N’mn)

RATE (%)

DATE

91-Day

37,489.76

14.05

20-Sep-12

182-Day

63,730.99

16.21

19-Sep-12

364 -Day

-

-

-

Open Market Operations TENOR

AMOUNT (N’mn)

RATE (%)

DATE

-

-

-

-

139-Day

63,730.99

16.21

19-Sep-12

Wholesale Dutch Auction System AMOUNT OFFERED

MARKET DEMAND

AMOUNT SOLD

DATE

$200m

N/A

$200m

12-Sep-12

$180m

N/A

$180m

10-Sep-12

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Capital Market

Thursday, September 20, 2012

43

Stock exchange daily equities summary Equities as at September 19, 2012 1st Tier Securities Sector

Company name

1st Tier Securities No Of Deals

Quotation(N)

Quantity Traded

Value of Shares(N)

Sector

Company name

No Of Deals

Quotation(N)

Quantity Traded

Value of Shares(N)

44

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Lagos trains students on vocational skills M URITALA AYINLA

A

total of 20,000 students have been trained by the Lagos State Government in the past five years under the summer programme initiated by wife of the Governor, Dame Abimbola Fashola.

Addressing hundreds of participants at the closing ceremony of the 2012 edition, the Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola charged the students to make adequate use of the skills and other values learned in the training.

He said: "It is store of value. Keep it very well, guide it jealously. It will serve you in very many ways as you progress in the journey of life. I have friends who can't change the button of their shirts when they are broken, I have those who can't mend their slippers, they can't even connect electrical appliances.

These are life saving skills that will be to your benefit as you get on in life.

We must restore value in our society”.

Commending the contributions of those that supported the initiative, Fashola remarked that their efforts have touched the lives of young children who would lead the nation to fulfill its goals.

On her part, Dame Abimbola Fashola, explained that the 2012 programme started on August 6th with students in the seven centres in the state which include Agidingbi, Ketu, Ibeju Lekki, Mushin, Surulere, Eg-

beda and Ojo. The Lagos First Lady School Summer Programme, organised annually by the Lagos Empowerment and Resource Network, is geared towards engaging students during the long summer vocation, to make them responsible and also keep them off the streets during the holiday period.

Mrs. Fashola noted that one major highlight of the programme was the introduction of entrepreneurial studies and transport and safety education among the subjects taught.

She added: “The inclusion of these subjects was informed by the current economic disposition in our nation which requires a change of mindset among the youths from being job seekers to job creators, as well as the need to imbibe a new culture of general security and safety on our roads.”

She said the beautiful display and presentation of the skills learned at the training attest to the fact that it has been a worthy venture, assuring that each students that made presentation on behalf of their centres will receive skill and vocational kits in addition to N5, 000 to be deposited in an account in the name of each of the beneficiary.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (middle), his wife, Dame Abimbola Fashola (4th right), Project Manager, LEARN, Mrs Bisi Awoyomi (3rd left), and students during the 2012 summer school closing ceremony at Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.

Cross section of the Lagos Empowerment and Resource Network (LEARN) students during the 2012 summer school closing ceremony at Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.

“Also four of those who would make presentation in non skilled areas, will receive the sum of N10, 000 which will be deposited in an account on their behalf.”

Mrs. Fashola added that the students were coached in core subjects such as English, Mathematics, Civil Education, entrepreneurial studies,

leadership, transport and safety education, sexuality education and computer studies.

She listed other vocational training studies in the programme to include, barbing, hairdressing, tailoring and make up, catering, bead making, photography, hat making and event decoration.

YDx, Soundcity, Beat FM set for Inception 2012 STORIES: LEONARD OKACHIE

A

ll is set for the ultimate summer party in Nigeria as YDx, a youth marketing company and its partners SoundCity, Beat FM and Naija FM organise, a summer beach party tagged “Inception 2012.”

The party is billed to attract over 6,000 people across the country, ranging from university students to young business professionals into the city of Lagos. It will take place at the popular Elegushi Private Beach in the heart of Lekki on September 29, 2012.

It is the second edition of an interactive initiative designed with the goal of making Lagos State the preferred summer break destination for African students because of its legendary nightlife and fantastic beach-line. It will also create opportunities annually, where students from all over the continent can enjoy discounts in luxury hotels, holiday par-

ties and exotic moments with beach excursions in the centre of excellence.

According to the Chief Operating Officer, YDx, Tunde Alabi, the Inception 2012 is a novel concept in this part of the world and it is geared towards bringing out the creativity and true artistic nature in the younger generation. The Summer Beach Party will also serve as a support platform for the tourism industry which is growing at a very fast pace. It avails the youths a chance to mix and interact with top music stars, fashion icons Nollywood celebrities and entertainment moguls like Ice Prince, Vector, Black Magic, SDC, Phenom, Jimmie and DJ Caise of Beat FM, QPA’s and SoundCity VJ’s among others.

Alabi added that for the summer beach party which kicks off by mid-day; there will be several competitions which vary from beach activities like beach soccer to beach volleyball, paintball and a beach

pageant. The fun-filled afternoon will culminate into a UV party later in the evening with glow-in-d-dark body paint, cups and lots of fun on the beach. To be a part of these most sought after event of 2012; interested students and fun lovers can visit and get more details on the company’s facebook fan page at www.facebook. com/ydxNigeria.

YDx is Africa’s leading youth marketing company which specialises in providing relevant and innovative marketing solutions to clients, specifically targeting the youth market from 0-34 years, as well as the family market. The company provides various services which include school campaigns, character marketing, road shows, events, competitions, shopping centre promotions, in-store promotions, trade exchanges and partnerships while working closely with clients to ensure all elements are 100% aligned to brand and target market.

Face of Lagos pageant debuts Dec. OSEYIZA OOGBODO

L

agos, the commercial capital of Nigeria,has been on the rise in the past few years. Since the present administration of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN came into office, Eko, as the state is fondly called, has been wearing a new look (African model mega city).

It is against the backdrop of this rejuvenation and

zest that has enveloped Lagos that a group, Reel Production Global is introducing an innovative beauty pageant entitled: “FACE OF LAGOS,” to promote Lagos as an African model mega city.

FACE OF LAGOS beauty pageant is designed to assist the government by choosing a worthy female ambassador that is young, beautiful and brainy within the age of 18 -30yrs. It is a willing tool that will act as a bridge between the government and its teeming young and female population.

According to the CEO of Reel Production Global, Mr. Charles Danson, the event which is targeted for December 2012, will be competitions among the LGs and LCDAs. The group is also soliciting for government and organisations’ support.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Young & Next Generation

Thursday, September 20, 2012

45

Indiafrica rewards enterprising youths ONUKWUBE OFOELUE

I

ndiafrica, a youth empowerment project that includes Africans and Indians is holding the finals of its first Indiafrica Business Venture Competition and Awards Ceremony at City Hall, Lagos on Tuesday, September 25.

According to a statement by Ms Riva Ganguly Das, Joint Secretary, Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, “This publicprivate partnership in bringing the youth of Africa and India closer to each other has been successful. We had 153 qualified entries from some of the best institutions from 20 countries, with Nigeria accounting for the highest number of entries from Africa.”

Amit Shahi, CEO & Co-founder, theIdeaWorks, the firm organizing the programme added, “The idea was to provide a platform to Indian and African youth to compete, collaborate and co-create at multiple levels.

September 25 is going to be a celebration of the spirit of enterprise amongst our youth. We thank the Lagos Business School and Indian School of Business for their support.”

The finals will feature presentations by

nine teams from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and India, before a nine -member Grand Jury that includes Jahman Anikulapo, Editor of The Guardian on Sunday; Enase Okonedo, Dean, Lagos Business School; Ini Onuk, Sustainability Expert and CEO, Thistlepraxis Consulting; Vivian Ani, Advisor, Enterprise Development Centre, Pan African University; Niyi Yusuf, Country Managing Director, Accenture Nigeria; Ozim Obasi, Senior Counsel & Compliance Leader, GE SubSaharan Africa; and, a team of three from India, led by Prof Aruna Reddy of Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

During the Awards Ceremony, Chude Jideonwo, founder Ynaija & The Future Awards and Toyosi Akerele, CEO of Rise Networks will speak on “Collaboration in the Age of Competition” and “Creating a Brand New Future: a Personal Perspective” respectively. Quantum Vibes, runnerup at Star Quest 2011 will perform live.

Indiafrica: A Shared Future was launched in Nigeria in August 2011 at Lagos Business School. The competitions were flagged off last April with a day-long session at the University of Lagos, which was followed up with campus outreach activities across 19 Nigerian cities by Indiafrica brand ambassadors appointed by AIESEC Nigeria.

Computer trainees at passing out ceremony in Oyo

Company empowers students with computer skills KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN

A

community leader, Chief Joseph Opatola, has expressed the need for corporate organizations in the country to give back to the society, especially where they are located.

Opatola, who is a member of the board of Amo Byng, stated this in Awe, Afijio Local Government Area of Oyo State, at the graduation ceremony of 21 students trained by the company in computer studies.

He said the organisation, conscious of its role in the host community, has put it upon itself to give back to the society so that the people in the area will have a sense of belonging.

He said the graduation, which is the third by the company, was part of the Social Corporate Responsibility (CSR) to the people of the community, maintaining that it has never hesitated to come to aid of the Awe community whenever its called upon to do so.

The community leader who represented the Managing Director of the organization, Dr. Ayo Oduntan, at the ceremony, said apart from training the students free of charge for five months, the company

also helped farmers in the community with the provision of high yielding soya beans seedlings free of charge, explaining that the company went into all the schools not only in its host community, but throughout the state to encourage the students to register for the training, knowing fully that the computer technology is the vogue now in the world.

“We did all this with the aim of teaching our young ones theory and application of computer so that with the training at the end of the day, those of them that feel they can be on their own would not hesitate to do so . Also for this graduation, we decided to celebrate the best three of the students with a set of computer each to further enhance their skills and to encourage the rest to always put in their best, ” Opatola stated.

He urged the graduands, among whom was a Vice Principal, to endeavor to be role models for not only the company, their parents but also the community, saying that their contributions to the development of the society would go a long way in justifying the essence of the programme.

Opatola, while soliciting the support of the community in the area of land acquisition, said the company and the community need each other for development, assuring that the doors of the company are always open for the people of the community.

The ceremony was attended by top officials of the company, community leaders, friends and relatives of the graduands.

SCIENCE FOR KIDS

Why is ice cream bad for you?

Feelings

Lyn

Orange Carnival gets king and queen

S

ensational singer and producer, Feelings has been named alongside frontline gospel act Lyn, as the Orange Carnival King and Queen. This was made known in a press statement by Nelson NseAbasi, the Orange Carnival Progenitor and Chairman of the 2012 Carnival Committee.

The artistes were selected based on merit and their talent and creativity that have stood them out from the crowd of the many artistes that recorded the special Silver Jubilee song.

Feelings’ Jubilate is termed the best Silver Jubilee song, and he already has the video on rotation on TV stations in Lagos, Abuja and Akwa Ibom State. The song features budding rapper, Indigenous Maliq and AK Smooth.

On the other hand, Lyn had met ace

producer, Sunny Basedas early in the year to wax a thanksgiving song titled Sosongo Akwa Abasi Ibom, thanking God for the progress of the state so far, especially the experience of fulfillment the present administration has offered.

Lyn flew in Akin Alabi to shoot a world class video which shows historic and tourists’ sites in Akwa Ibom State.

The choice of Feelings was not an easy one to come by, but after sampling opinions and reactions, the duo made it on top of the list, and they will be riding horses and leading other entertainers and bands on the float of Orange Carnival 2012.

Orange Carnival 2012 is to celebrate the silver jubilee anniversary of Akwa Ibom State. It comes up on the 21st in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.

I

ce cream is probably loved by millions of people around the globe.

A great percentage of people have what they call a “sweet tooth,” and when it comes to desserts and sweets, many would definitely put ice cream as one of their favourites. But despite the joy and happiness one might get out of eating ice cream, people also know that it may also be bad for one’s health.

For one reason, ice cream is loaded with lots of sugar and may become addictive. Sugary food items like ice cream are usually associated with happy moments and comfort. People even crave ice cream just to comfort themselves from stress and other problems at home, school, or work. And when these types of emotions are involved with eating ice cream, people may become dependent on this temporary sugar rush and the relief they feel and may eventually get hooked. In the long run, too much of this product may cause some serious health problems.

Nutritionists also point out that ice cream contains too many calories which could lead to obesity concerns.

A healthy and balanced diet involves calories from different food groups.

But if most of the calories come from sweets like ice cream, one may have problems in terms of maintaining an ideal weight.

In fact, many people who eat too many carbohydrate-rich foods like ice cream are prone to have more body fat which could also be a great health risk.

Another health concern for ice cream is diabetes. This condition develops if there is too much sugar in a person’s bloodstream. Ice cream has lots of sugar in it and is addictive for some people, and so it may be a bad food choice for those who want to control their weight and avoid diseases like diabetes. With all of these health concerns, ice cream is often considered bad for people.

Source: knowswhy.com

46

Media

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Elechi to lecture at book launch TERH AGBEDEH

E

bonyi State Governor, Martins Elechi, is billed to deliver a lecture on the topic: ‘Re-addressing the Role of Youths in Nation-building’ at the formal launch of the book; Served: Memoir of a Youth Corps Member, written by Joe Agbro Jr., a reporter with The Nation newspaper.

Also to grace the occasion is the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig. Gen. Nnamdi Okore-Affia.

The event comes up on Wednesday, September 26, at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja, Lagos.

The book is a collection of Agbro’s memoirs in Ebonyi State, while participating in the NYSC in 2004 and 2005. In the book, he details his journey through ‘Sharon’, the NYSC camp in Ebonyi, to working as a teacher in semirustic Ezzaland, his place of primary assignment.

Praising the book, Chairman, Editorial Board of The Nation, Sam Omatseye, described it as “a tour-de-force in trans-ethnic experience in Nigeria,” while Abimbola Adunni Adelakun, a columnist with The Punch newspaper said, “Joe brings a recollection of that one year in Nigerian lives that has come to mean different things to us as a diverse and troubled nation.”

Lekan Otufodunrin, online editor at The Nation also said; “At a time when there is a huge debate on the future of the NYSC, ‘Served’ underscores the essence of the programme which is to expose young graduates to life in other parts of the country.”

Agbro, 36, said the idea of the book was conceived on the eve of his departure for camping by promptings from his dad. On the message he hopes to pass across in his NYSC memoir, he said, “I hope Nigerians will realise how similar we are, rather than focus on our differences. It seems a lot of people are engaged in stereotyping, mainly out of ignorance.”

A 2004 graduate of Economics from Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, Agbro began his journalism career at The Nation in July 2007.

The NYSC scheme was established in 1973 during the regime of Gen. Yakubu Gowon to foster national integration in the aftermath of the Nigerian civil war which was fought between 1967 and 1970. Since inception, the scheme has come under intense scrutiny over its continued relevance.

Mrs. Yinka Ogunde (2nd left) with other women at the media conference in Lagos recently.

Ogunde frowns at degrading images of women

LEONARD OKACHIE

C

hairman, Women in Advertising and Group Managing Director, Goals &Ideas, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde, has called for a change in the continued projection of negative and degrading images of women in media communication, print, visual and audio, as it does not provide a balanced picture of their diverse lives and contributions to society in a changing world.

She said this recently in Lagos at the 2012 Women in Media (WIM) Conference and Awards, organised by Clout Media Limited, while delivering a keynote address on the theme: “ Women in the media : An exceptional brand.”

Mrs. Ogunde, regretted that women are underrepresented in the executive positions in media companies globally, adding that it is even more acute in Nigeria where very few are on the management board.

Conducting an in-house survey of the major newspapers in Nigeria, she pointed that there is none that has a woman as the Editor, except Thisday, where a woman took up the position recently.

She said: “In the Marketing Communication industry (which I belong), I am not sure we have fared better. Of the top 20 agencies, only one is being led by a woman, and it was recently that we had the second female president emerging from the fold of AAAN. “Our sisters in the broadcasting industry have not fared much better. I am sure less than 15 per cent of television and radio stations in the country have women in key management positions.”

She mentioned lack of gender responsive policies, lack of skills and high professional standards, lack of effective networking by women, cultural factors and prejudice as some of the traditional reasons why women are not ascending the corporate ladder in the media as fast as their male counter-

parts.

She, however, urged women to be skilful and more professional, adding that a large number of women, who got to the top in the industry, did have it by simply letting it fall on their laps.

“It was achieved by dint of hard work, consistent self-improvement, vision and focused determination. It is quite different from a lot of sectors where the tag of Mrs. Chairman would naturally lift you to prominence. What you have in your brain makes all the difference. Your ability to observe, analyse and proffer solutions to issues is what stands you out. Being able to see beyond what others can see, predict trends and cry out when injustice is being perpetrated, are some of the things that set the women in the media apart,” Mrs. Ogunde further stated.

Earlier, the Chairperson, Mrs. Taiwo Adisa, commended organisers of the ceremony for recognising the efforts of women and remarked that in Nigeria, they have been playing significant roles in nation building since the colonial era, notable among who are the likes of Mrs. Margaret Ekpo, Mrs. Fumilayo Ransome Kuti and Hajia Gambo Sawaba.

Mrs. Adisa, who is the District Chairman, International Inner wheel D911 Nigeria, maintained that the Nigerian woman has come on board and must sustain and improve on the challenges of contributing their quota to national development.

She said the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, like past regimes of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and late Umaru Yar’Adua, must be commended for appointing more women into key government positions.

“I implore our men to allow more participation for women as instances had shown that they are better administrators, “she stressed.

The Project Director, Women In Media,

Daisy Madu-Chikwendu, said it is a forum organised by Clout Media Ltd, for addressing issues of common interest relating to the workplace, where women share experiences and ideas that would facilitate career development.

Mrs. Madu-Chikwendu said: “We continue to emphasise that our aim is to support and strengthen women in media. We strive to promote and enshrine professionalism, ethics and social responsibility without ignoring the acknowledgment and celebration of achievements in the media. Consequently, this edition of WIM Conference is also a celebration of the woman and her achievements”.

There were also two panel discussions on “Brand Strategy: Dominating the Market Place Using Social Media” and “Re-engineering Women in Media-Importance of Branding.”

Cross section of Youth Corps members at the seminar in Lagos. Inset: Biodun

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Akpabio bags excellence award MOJEED A LABI

Akpabio

fortunes of local governments while settling huge outstanding salary arrears owed the staff of local governments.

Oladipupo, highlighted other achievements to include scholarship grants to indigent students, establishing microcredit scheme to assist widows, catering for the health needs of the people and the introduction of free and compulsory education from primary to secondary school.

“It is not just free education, compliance is ensured by an agency solely charged with monitoring the scheme.

The students are also provided with free text books, as well as uniforms. He introduced the payment of subvention to ensure that education is completely free. Akpabio’s contribution to infrastructural development has turned around the fortunes of his state as he constructed an e-library widely described as the first of its kind in West Africa with over 300,000 books,” he concluded

47

Media Abroad

Gambia censors publications amid execution controversy

S

G

overnor Godswill Akpabio has been presented with award for excellence in good governance at the University of Ibadan. The award, organised by the Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ), is for his role in transforming Akwa Ibom into an enviable state in the federation.

The ‘Famous Five Awards’ was conceptualized to honour persons who have distinguished themselves in different field of endeavours and have contributed to the socioeconomic and human development of the nation.

This year, the union honoured people in five major categories including Politics, Education, Law, Journalism and Communication Arts. Other awardees are Prof. Phillip Oyelaran, Prof. Festus Adesanoye, Prince Austyn Ogannah, and Barr. Bamidele Aturu The governor was represented by his media assistant, Mr. Jackson Udom who affirmed the commitment of the administration to good governance.

Speaking at the occasion, president of the Union of Campus Journalists, Mr. Abraham Oladipupo, said Governor Akpabio has distinguished himself as a disciplined, hardworking and humble person deserving of recognition.

He stated that the governor has worked assiduously to bring peace to warring villages as more than 500 cases of disputes in the states have been amicably settled, even as he has turned around the

Media

Thursday, September 20, 2012

tate security agents in the Gambia have ordered two independent newspapers to cease publication immediately, but provided no explanation, according to local journalists and news reports.

Agents from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) in the capital, Banjul, visited the offices of The Standard and Daily News, which publishes three times a week, and told them that the president had ordered they be shut down immediately. The agents told the staff they could seek an explanation from the president's office, which oversees the operations of the NIA, the reports said. The officials did not specify how long the suspension would last.

Both The Standard and Daily News have covered the controversy surrounding President Yahya Jammeh's announcement last month,

to execute every prisoner on death row, resuming a practice not carried out since1985.

The execution of nine inmates last month drew international condemnation as human rights groups contended that many on death row were convicted on politically-motivated charges or unfair trials. Following international appeals, Jammeh agreed to temporarily suspend the executions of 38 other inmates.

The Standard covered both sides of the controversy, including publishing interviews, letters from readers, and public statements opposing and supporting the executions. The Daily News has extensively covered opposition to the executions.

Sheriff Bojang, publisher of The Standard, told CPJ that he believed his paper was being targeted for its coverage of the executions and that it had suspended publication

King Abdullah endorses controversial media law

J

ordan's King Abdullah of has endorsed a new media law which critics say will stifle freedom of expression online.

The legislation requires "electronic publications" in Jordan to get a licence from the government.

It also gives the authorities the power to block and censor websites, whose owners will be held responsible for comments posted on them.

Human Rights Watch ac-

cused the government of using such legislation to "go after opponents and critics".

Media professionals and ordinary citizens regularly found themselves charged with and convicted of criminal offences related to speech, it said.

In April, the State Security Court military prosecutor detained the editor of the Gerasa News website for trying to "undermine the system of government" after it published an article about the king's alleged

Yahya Jammeh

until further notice.

The Daily News issued a press release condemning the presidential directive as "unacceptable and unconstitutional," saying the newspaper would cease operations for a week and then resume publishing "regardless of whether the alleged presidential directive stands." intervention in a corruption investigation.

Human Rights Watch said the dangers of the amendments to the Press and Publications Law endorsed on Monday arose from its vague definition of the "electronic publications" which would be affected, the new executive power to block websites, and the unreasonable restrictions on online content, including comments posted by website users.

The legislation's definition of electronic publication is "an electronic site on the internet with a fixed address that offers publication services".

Creating jobs through freelance writing MOJEED ALABI

T

he ‘Corps Member’ promotes job creation through freelance writing, while tackling unemployment in line with the new n policy of the National Youth Service Corps tto boost skill acquisition and entrepreneurship.

It was established by Biodun, a medical doctor and graduate of Obafem Awolowo University who is currently serving at Odi Olowo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State. He was General Secretary and Deputy Editor-inChief of IFEMED Journal Club. His passion for writing drove him to explore online free lance writing opportunities.

He is keen on exposing more young people to the opportunities in freelance writing through which they can earn income. With more than five years experience, Biodun is ready to take his mission to every young person interested in

writing for value and money. Through his "Penpreneurs" initiative, he has trained over 2,000 students and many of these proteges are doing well, earning millions of naira.

He says 'unemployment is a big issue in Nigeria. "The President acknowledged that in his 2012 budget speech. The National Bureau of Statistics says there are 16 million unemployed youths in Nigeria in 2011 and that is 16 times the population of the Gambia! This statistics is deeply disturbing. I cannot just sit down and see so many unemployed young people walk on the streets when they can explore freelance writing opportunities to make money", he said.

He added that government alone cannot solve the problem of unemployment. "I have read the plans of various ministries to create jobs, particularly the Federal Ministries of Agriculture, Trade and Commerce, Youth Development and Finance. YOU WiN initiative will provide 110,000 jobs in four years. Some

forward governors are recruiting massively and promoting entrepreneurship. Osun State recruited 10, 000 young people. Can all these efforts tackle the huge unemployment in Nigeria? The answer is no.The private sector and individuals must step in before the unemployment bomb explodes on us all. That is why I created Penpreneurs to contribute to tackling this challenge." According to him, many unemployed youths are currently searching for jobs in contemporary companies with limited opportunities. He says 'They do not understand that the world of work is changing; companies are outsourcing to freelancers and hyper specialists. In the United States, there are over 140,000 freelance writers and authors but less than5, 000 in Nigeria. We need to create, build and structure the freelance writing industry so that it can create thousands of jobs for young people, through resume writing, business plan and proposal design.

Cocktail

48

Thursday, September 20, 2012

FOR YOUR SUCCESS

WITH DR. DEJI FOLUTILE

Today's Tonic (6)

“The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.” **Factoid * * * The Tongue Is A Success Machine!

Is it not amazing that the tongue is the strongest muscle in the body? The tongue wield the power that make us succeed or fail.

The tongue can make or break homes. The tongue can sharpen the life of a child or destroy it. He who is committed to daily positive use of his or her tongue will live a life of peace, joy and exploits.

King David in the Bible once wrote that anyone who wants to see good and live long should keep his or her tongue away from speaking evil. The tongue is a small part of the body, but it can speak big things.

The tongue is a fire. It can poison the whole body and it can heal the whole body. I have read about people who drove cancer from their bodies by using their tongues consistently to confess the Scriptures. We are told that that prayer is the mightiest force on the earth and it is the tongue that we use to pray!

Here is it: nurture your tongue and use it to live a victorious life on the earth!

TEL 08104942999 E-MAIL deji.folutile@gmail.com Follow me @TwitterOWOTIDE

Reporter makes kid cry on live TV

R

eporter Dan Daru had an awkward moment on live television in the Denver area last week.

The KDVR Fox 31 field reporter was doing a live shot from the Fall Harvest Festival in Platteville, Colo., and went to point out a cute toddler in a stroller.

“Drew the Farm Kid” suddenly looks like he’s

seen a ghost as Daru and the camera swoop in on the little boy. The scared look is priceless, and Daru makes an Albert Einstein reference, apparently to the boy’s hair and face.

Then in the middle of Daru’s report the blondhaired Drew starts to cry.

“This is terrible,” Daru says to the camera. “I love that kid.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Oddities

Woman jailed for refusing to delete Facebook account

A

Kentucky woman who was issued a DUI after she caused a car accident with four teenagers is being sent back to jail after a judge ordered her to delete her Facebook page.

Local NBC affiliate WAVE3 reports that Paula Asher wrote a dismissive status update to her Facebook page after the accident, stating, “My dumb (expletive) got a dui and I hit a car…lol.”

Asher was allegedly under the influence at the time of the accident and fled the scene before police arrived.

The parents of the four teensinjuredinthecrashasked District Judge Mary Jane Phelps to have the offending Facebook page removed and the judge complied.

However, while Asher has apologized to the judge and the families for her offensive post, she has not deleted her

Facebook account. And as a result, Judge Phelps has sentenced Asher to a two-day jail sentence for contempt of court.

“I really wasn’t trying to make fun of (the crash),” Asher said.

However, as SecurityNewsDaily notes, it’s not clear if the judge actually had the

authority to order Asher to delete her Facebook page. No specific law was cited in the order, and Asher certainly could make a claim that posting her thoughts about the accident, no matter how crude or offensive, is protected under her First Amendment rights.

“I apologize to

Paula Asher in court over her Facebook page

everybody,” she said. “I apologize to the judge.

I didn’t mean to hurt anybody,” Asher said. “I didn’t think ‘lol’ would put me in jail.”

I had to go pull my time in,” said Asher.

“I did and they said I’m not allowed to have Facebook,”Asher told Lex18.com.

PHOTO: WAVE3.COM

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

49

Community Mirror Businessman docked for visa fraud

“I am convinced that the national honours award is a very important part of the symbols of the country’s values.”

PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN

50

Hotelier held for armed robbery He was arrested on June 27, 2012 for armed robbery and car theft. Police officers, who spoke to Community Mirror on condition of anonymity, said Saheed is the leader of a three-man armed robbery gang specializing in snatching vehicles at gunpoint along Ikorodu-Sagamu axis.

He was arrested together with

FRANCIS SUBERU

O

wner of Love Garden Hotel, Maya, Ikorodu, Saheed Quardri alias ‘Otunba’, has been arrested by police detectives attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, of the Lagos State Police Command.

two other suspects, Taiwo Ojedokun alias ‘Tejisco’ and Jelili Ojedokun alias ‘Jeje’. The two siblings were arrested for being receivers of stolen vehicles.

According to a highly placed police source, Saheed and his gang had, on June 27, 2012, attacked one Mrs. Onome Emojefe, on Owutu-Ikorodu Road and

L-R: Suspects, Jelili, Saheed and Taiwo.

Kogi to construct NRC partners security agencies river jetties F S RANCIS UBERU AND ONUKWUBE OFOELUE

ADEMU IDAKWO LOKOJA

I

n an effort to reduce pressure on roads in the state brought about by heavy traffic, the Kogi State Government is planning to construct three jetties on the River Niger, to enhance the movement of people living in the hinterland.

The Commissioner for Works, Mallam Ibrahim Abdullahi, who stated this while in Lokoja, said the jetties will be built in Chitanku, Ibaji and Itobe to ease transport problem, as well as reduce heavy vehicular movements on the roads.

Abdullahi said the state government is determined to ensure that the people, especially those living on the coastal plain will be able to move unhindered from the rurual areas to the urban centres for business transactions.

W

ith the countdown to resumption of Lagos – Kano passenger train services, the public have been assured of adequate security on all train routes.

The assurance was given by the Lagos State Director of State Security Service (SSS), Mr. Ben Achu Olayi, while receiving the management team of Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), led by the Director of Adminstration and Human Resources, Mr. Aminu Gusau in his office.

Mr. Olayi said the strategic importance of train services require a robust security system, adding that the NRC will continue to remain a symbol of our nation hood.

He expressed happiness with the on-going rehabilitation of the railways which, according to him, must be secure. He said, there is no better way to move people and

goods over long distances than the train, adding that the movement of petroleum products by rail will engender product availability and reduce frequent tanker accidents on the roads.

Mr. Olayi said train stations across the country are part of the national security system being closely monitored and assured the NRC management of continuous collaboration to secure its rail corridors.

Earlier in his remark, Mr. Aminu Gusau said the purpose of the visit, was to seek advice from stakeholders and experts in key areas of safety operation of train services. He said Nigerians are looking up to resumption of long distance train services, especially those plying the Lagos – Kano route.

Mallam Gusau said there is the urgent need to streamline avenues of collaboration, adding that the huge investment in the transport industry needed to be secured along with the travelling public.

snatched her Honda Accord with registration number, EW 795 SMK gold colour. Her two BlackBerry phones were equally snatched.

When the incident was reported to the police, detectives tracked the BlackBerry Pin Number, leading to the arrest of an engineer who had already bought the phone from one Usman, an acolyte of Saheed. But Saheed claimed that Usman stole the phone from his Honda car and sold it without his knowledge.

The source said: “Saheed and his gang have been terrorising Ikorodu and environs for long.

He used to be a member of another notorious gang that was recently smashed by the police but he always escaped arrest.

Saheed’s arrest led to the apprehending of the other suspects, even as eight vehicles were recovered from him and two others.

The recovered exhibits include: one locally made double barrel gun cut to size, one Toyota Camry with registration number MUS 02 AT, one Toyota Camry with registration number TB 860 KJA, one Sienna Space Bus with registration number MUS 517 AJ, one Honda Baby Boy (unregistered,) one Honda Accord End of Discussion, with registration number LSR 03 AQ, one Ford Pick-Up Van, (unregistered,) one Quest Space Bus with

registration number CX 807 JJJ. In an interview with Community Mirror, Saheed claimed he used his hotel business as cover even as he confessed to being a robber.

“My wife and other members of my family were not aware I am a thief. Everybody believes I am into business because I run a beer drinking parlour and hotel at Agric, in Maya area. I also sell goats and rams.

“I started robbery a year ago.

No one in my area knows of this because they always see me as a businessman. We are a threeman gang and I have two other assistants, Usman and Ay. They are still at large.

We carry out operations between Ikorodu and Agric with locally made guns, and operate on motorbikes. When we identify a target vehicle, we move towards it while pointing a gun at the driver, asking him or her to come down,” Saheed said.

The two other suspects, Taiwo and Jelili, also confessed to being receivers of stolen vehicles. They said, the cars are usually driven to Abuja for sale, even as they confessed that they had links to two other gangs before their arrest.

Confirming the matter, the Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Ngozi Braide, said the suspects will soon be charged to court.

Commission to pay outstanding allowances JAMES DANJUMA KATSINA

T

he Katsina State Local Government Service Commission (KSLGSC), says it would soon begin payment of accrued course allowances amounting to N13 million to staff who undertook academic courses from 2008 to 2011.

The chairman, Abdulkareem Abubakar, disclosed this when he led members of the commission on a courtesy visit to Governor Ibrahim Shema at the Government House recently.

Abubakar said the inherited debt of N69 million by the commission on buildings have been reduced to N30 million, due to offsetting by the present management.

He noted that the commis-

sion’s members have been working as a team and charting a course to move it to greater heights, even as he requested for new vehicles as the current ones have either been grounded or completely beyond repairs.

Abubakar, however assured that the commission would do its best to adhere to the rules and regulations governing its operations in the state.

Responding, Governor Shema promised that the commission’s request for vehicles would be included in the 2013 budget, to further reposition it for better service delivery.

Shema, who expressed satisfaction with efforts being made by the members to settle inherited debts, also promised to support the commission whenever the need arises.

50

Community Mirror

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Businessman docked for visa fraud CAROLINE CHUKWUKA

A

33 year old businessman, Odunbaku Gbolahan Hamed, has been arraigned before the Tinubu Magistrate’s Court for allegedly forging documents to procure visa for travel to the United Kingdom.

The offence was said to have been committed in

October 2007.

According to police prosecutor, Inspector Orji Augustine, the accused travelled to the UK, came back and wanted to travel again, but was nabbed.

Orji Augustine argued that the offence is punishable under section 363 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011.

When the charge was read to the accused, he pleaded not guilty and was

granted bail by Magistrate Owumi Martins in the sum of N50, 000 with two sureties.

The sureties must have three years tax clearance. The case has been adjourned till October 15, 2012.

Meanwhile, three men Andrew Adeyan, 20, Tosin Samuel 22 and Ibraheem Azeez, 23, have been arraigned before a Lagos State Chief Magistrate’s

Court sitting in Ikeja, for allegedly having carnal knowledge of a 21-year-old girl, Muyidat (surname withheld).

The trio was arraigned on a two count charge of rape by the police.

According to the police prosecutor, ASP Barth Nwaokoye, the defendants, on August 21, 2012 at Ketu, Lagos, conspired to commit felony to wit, rape under section 409 of the Criminal Law of

Lagos State of Nigeria 2011.

Nwaokoye, further alleged that the defendants and others at large forcefully had carnal knowledge of Muyidat without her consent.

He stated that the offence is contrary to section 258 of the criminal Law Vol. 44 No 11 Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011.

After the charges were read, Andrew Adeyan, the first defendant, pleaded

guilty to only the first count charge, while the second and third defendant pleaded guilty to the two count charges.

Chief Magistrate, E.O. Ogunkanmi, granted them bail in the sum of N100, 000 each with two sureties in the like sum. Each of the defendants was also ordered to deposit N50, 000 with the court, while the matter was adjourned to October 8, 2012 for trial.

Church prays for nation’s good fortune FRANCIS SUBERU

T

he Lagos West Baptist Conference, LWBC has declared that the Lord is ready to turn around the fortunes of the country from hopelessness to hopefulness.

The prophetic declaration was made at a press conference organized by the Lagos West Baptist Conference as prelude to the 4th Session of Lifeway International Conference, scheduled for Friday, September 21 to Sunday, 23, 2012.

LWBC, a division of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, at the conference, said the church was aware that people whose hopes have been shattered are numerous in the society.

“Many are hopeless because of the situations they are grappling with.

Lots of married people are hopeless because they have no children. Several students are hopeless because of failure in their educational performances; a lot of brilliant graduates are hopeless because they are jobless; a lot of business people are hopeless because their businesses have gone down.

Poverty has brought lots of people to state of hopelessness.

The Lord will intervene in people’s matters and cause awesome change to take place. He will give food to the hungry, job to the jobless, and success to those who fail in their endeavors. God, will also show the way to those who are confused or ignorant as to how to have eternal life in God”.

NATURE CALLS: Two artisans taking a nap in their workshop in Lagos.

Farmers asked to embrace new techniques JAMES ABRAHAM JOS

F

armers in Plateau State have been urged to embrace the Community Seed Multiplication Programme (CSMP) of Fadama II, as it has the potential of bringing high returns on investment.

The technical team of Plateau Agricultural Development Programme (PADP), and Fadama II, made the call at an inspection tour of some selected field crop farms earmarked for seeds multiplication in the state.

Mr. Luka Kefas, who led the inspection team, said the aim of the CSMP was to make improved and high yielding varieties available and affordable to farmers in the state.

Kefas, who is the Director, Technical Services of

the PADP, said the CSMP was necessary to solve the problems facing farmers in procuring seeds.

“Seed a is critical factor in agricultural production as such; its availability is very crucial to agricultural transformation. I call on you to embrace seed production as a commercial enterprise and you will record huge returns on investment”, he said.

He explained that the farmers, drawn from 10 local government areas of the state, were carefully selected and trained on the protocols of seed production.

In his remark, Mr. Thomas Muopshin, the Environmental Officer of Fadama II, said the CSMP has bought into the Agricultural Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government.

He added that the Fadama II CSMP was in collaboration with PADP and the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), even as he explained that the seeds being produced in selected communities, have high yield potentials, resistant to diseases and can mature early.

“This programme which is community based, has been designed in such a way that farmers can procure the variety of seeds they require within their environment at the right time and at affordable price”, he said.

Some of the farmers participating in the CSMP appreciated Fadama II for the laudable initiation,as they stated that it is already touching their lives positively, especially given the performance of their crops this year.

PHOTO: ADEMOLA AKINLABI

House of Assembly urged to pass bill FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

A

n appeal has gone to the Ogun State House of Assembly, to expedite action on a bill seeking to reposition community development associations and cooperative societies in the state.

Commissioner for Community Development and Cooperatives, Chief Samuel Aiyedogbon, made the appeal when members of the House Committee on Community Development and Cooperatives, visited the ministry in continuation of their oversight and monitoring function.

Chief Aiyedogbon, said when passed into a law, it will guide against unscrupulous activities of executives of community development associations and cooperatives who mismanage or misappropriate their funds.

He pointed out that it will also encourage more self-help developmental projects that will have direct impact on the socio economic development of the state.

“To achieve grassroot mobilization and economic empowerment, democratic culture and good governance should be entrenched through the frame work of CDAs, cooperative societies and trade associations”, the commissioner stated.

He said so far, the ministry had among other landmarks, embarked on the renovation of the Co-operative College, disbursed loans and grants to deserving CDAs and cooperative societies in the three senatorial districts of the state.

Responding, Chairman of the committee, Hon. Oludotun Fasanya, promised that the house will take necessary steps to accelerate passage of the bill.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

51

World News

Obama rebukes Romney over remarks

52

PAUL ARHEWE

WITH AGENCY REPORTS

A

Nigerian minicab driver who claimed he was earning just £700 a month but was living a luxury of life in his Lekki mansion in Lagos, has been ordered to pay almost £1.2million, UK Daily Mail has reported.

Ovo Mayomi and his wife, Juliet Ubiribo were convicted of fraud in 2010 after using an identity and immigration scam to falsely claim £43,000 in benefits.

Mayomi, 44, claimed he was earning £700 a month and was living in Croydon, south London, while his wife, 32, claimed benefits after telling benefit bosses she was a single mother and a victim of domestic violence.

But British fraud investigators found Mayomi and his wife were actually living in a large luxurious house in Lekki in Lagos worth more than £1 million, complete with chandeliers and £89,000 worth of sound equipment. He also had a £25,000 watch. His wife wore a Rolex watch and drove a Mercedes Sport Coupi.

Now a UK judge has ordered Mayomi to pay £1,197,743.54 in a confiscation order under the Proceeds Of Crime Act, or go to prison for six years.

As well as two money-transferring businesses and bank accounts, investigators also discovered Mayomi owned a fish farm in the country.

The couple’s benefit scam unravelled when a visa application

by Mayomi showed they had married a year earlier and that Ubiribo had a job in order to support him. Ubiribo also asked the council to rehouse her because she was

“Our foremost task is to seek how to rebuild thee country’s administration for nuclear safety andd regain the public trust that has been completely lost”” – Japan’s Ex- Atomic Energy Commission vicee chairman, Shunichi Tanakaa

Nigerian millionaire jailed for benefits scam in UK • Ordered to refund 1.2 million pounds

UK fraud investigators found Mayomi (pictured) owned a large luxurious house in Lekki, Lagos.

the victim of domestic violence.

However, the telephone number she gave revealed the man she named as her landlord - Ayiomike Neburagho - was, in fact, her husband Mayomi using a false identity. At a police interview, Mayomi admitted that while living in Nigeria he had bought the identity of Ayiomike Matthew Neburagho and had entered the UK as him.

Mayomi was also shown a wedding photograph of himself, using the Neburagho identity, marrying a Nigerian woman in the UK. He admitted he was the groom

in the wedding photo but he said he was ‘just standing in for someone’.

Ubiribo and Mayomi pleaded guilty to all charges.

Mayomi was jailed for 30 months two years ago and his wife was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years.

She was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service and be under curfew for four months from 9pm to 6am.

Court orders were signed freezing their assets in the UK and abroad in 2010, and an investiga-

PHOTO: CASECADE NEWS

tion was launched to find out how much the Nigerian-born couple had gained from their criminal lifestyle and what the extent of their assets was.

Mayomi, of Ashburton, disputed the results of the assets investigation, and a subsequent four-day confiscation hearing took place at Croydon Crown Court.

On Friday, Judge Nicholas Ainley ruled that Mayomi must pay £1,197,743.54 by 14 March next year. It is one of the largest confiscation orders carried out by a council.

Senegal abolishes Senate to pay for floods

S

enegalese lawmakers have voted to abolish the senate as part of moves to help the victims of recent deadly floods, BBC has reported.

President Macky Sall has said the money reserved for the upper house - about $15m (£9.5m) - will also go towards preventing further flooding.

But critics say the aim is to weaken the opposition as most of the senators were supporters of the ex-president.

The 100 senators had fought to be retained, but lost the vote in the joint session of parliament.

The Congress also abolished the post of vice-president - al-

though no-one has held the position since it was created in 2009 by then-President Abdoulaye Wade.

Low-lying suburbs of Senegal’s capital, Dakar, flood during most rainy seasons, but this year has seen exceptionally high rainfall across West Africa.

Thirteen people died in Senegal and it is estimated that thousands of people have been left homeless.

Before President Sall announced his intention last month to abolish the Senate, residents took to the streets of the capital to denounce the government for failing to act faster and were dispersed with tear gas.

WORLD BULLETIN Deal for striking workers stirs more South Africa conflict South African police fired tear gas and rubber bullets yesterday to disperse protesters near a mine run by the world’s biggest platinum producer Anglo American Platinum, as unrest spread after strikers at rival Lonmin won big pay rises.

Within hours of Lonmin agreeing pay rises of up to 22 percent, workers at nearby mines called for similar raises, spelling more trouble after six weeks of industrial action that claimed more than 40 lives and rocked South Africa’s economy.

The death toll from the unrest rose to 46 when a woman struck by a rubber bullet when police had dispersed mine protesters at the weekend died in hospital on Wednesday, Central Methodist Church Bishop Paul Verryn, who has been counselling striking miners, told Reuters.

Right of peaceful assembly not excuse for violence –UN Expert An independent United Nations human rights expert yesterday condemned the violence that has been taking place in numerous cities across the world in response to an anti-Islamic film, and warned that protest demonstrations and rallies must be peaceful in order to be protected by international human rights law.

“Expressing views or discontent is necessary, while safeguarding full respect for the right of peaceful assembly,” he added. “In this context the killing of innocent people and the violent destruction of property are totally unacceptable.”

Various cities across the Middle East have experienced violent protests over the past week in response to a film made in the United States seen as insulting to Islam.

Sudan refugees flee intensified bombing

A flooded street in Senegal

PHOTO: SOS

Newly arrived refugees at a camp along the volatile South Sudan-Sudan border say renewed fighting between rebels and Sudan’s military is likely to send thousands more people to an expanding camp here filled with refugees of war and hunger.

Two teenagers — Abdul Karim Mustafa and his neighbour Zeinab Abdallah Kuwa — are looking forward to beginning school in October at the Yida camp.

The two say classes will help them forget the violence they left behind.

The two travelled to Yida from the town of Tuna, in South Kordofan state in Sudan.

52

World News

WORLD BULLETIN Bahrain agrees to UN rights recommendations The tiny oil-rich kingdom of Bahrain pledged yesterday to improve its treatment of political activists, crack down on torture and prevent violence against ethnic and religious communities while accepting the vast majority of the U.N.’s recommendations regarding human rights.

Bahrain is now the first country to be subjected to the 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council’s reviews of all nations’ records in 2008 and this year. Each time, Bahrain has been subjected to a bright, somewhat harsh spotlight.

This time around, the council had issued 176 recommendations for Bahrain. Some of these focused on the government’s response to the unrest that has hit Bahrain since early 2011, calling for fair trials in the wake of arrests and prosecutions of demonstrators and guarantees against the use of torture.

Syrian rebels seize control of border crossing Rebels seized control of a border crossing on the frontier with Turkey yesterday, pulling down the Syrian flag and briefly allowing people some jubilant, some wounded - to crawl under a barbed wire barrier between the countries.

Turkish authorities quickly closed the area and police prevented the crowd from trying to storm the border and cross into Syria.

“I am a free Syrian!” shouted Zisha Bargash, throwing his hands in the air, as he watched the takeover from the Turkish side. “This is the beginning of the end Assad. Game over.”

A crowd of about a dozen people who managed to cross from Turkey to Syria hoisted a rebel flag to replace the national flag, sparking loud cheers and applause.

Syria’s rebels have captured several other border crossings into Turkey, as well as one into Iraq, but yesterday’s seizure of the Tal Abyad post is believed to be the first time they have overrun a frontier post in the northern province of Raqqa.

Saudi blocks YouTube to stop anti-Islam film Saudi Arabia’s state-owned press agency reports that King Abdullah has ordered the blocking of all websites with access to an anti-Islam film that has sparked protests across the Muslim world.

An Associated Press reporter in Saudi Arabia reported that the online video sharing site YouTube was inaccessible Tuesday evening.

This comes after the Saudi Press Agency reported the kingdom sent a request to Google Inc., YouTube’s owner, to “veil” all links containing the video, which was produced in the United States and which ridicules the Prophet Muhammad.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google has blocked access to the video in Libya and Egypt following violence there, and in Indonesia and India because it says the video broke laws in those countries.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Obama rebukes Romney over remarks

P

resident Barack Obama has criticised Mitt Romney for “writing off a big chunk of the country” after a secretly made video showed the Republican presidential nominee dismissing “47 per cent” of Obama’s supporters as victims who are dependent on the government, Al Jazeera has reported yesterday.

“One of the things I’ve learned as president is you represent the entire country,” Obama said on CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman. “My expectation is if you want to be president, you’ve got to work for everybody, not just for some,” he said to applause from the studio audience.

Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts and private equity executive, was secretly filmed making the remarks at a $50,000-per-plate fundraiser in Florida in May. The left-leaning magazine, Mother Jones acquired the video and published it on its website on Monday, prompting a quick response from Romney, who said he could have been more “elegant”.

“There are 47 per cent of the people who will vote for the pres-

ident [Obama] no matter what ... there are 47 per cent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it,” Romney said at the fundraiser.

Obama, though he made a somewhat similar gaffe four

years ago, saying small-town Americans without jobs tend to cling to “guns and religion”, he tried to reach out to people who did not support him after his victory in 2008.

“When I won in 2008, 47 per cent of people who voted, voted for John McCain. They didn’t vote for me,” Obama said. “And what I said on election night was, even though you didn’t vote

L-R: Romney, Obama

Scandal: Ex-Chinese police chief sought US asylum

H

ours after she poisoned a British businessman, Gu Kailai reached out to a trusted ally: Wang Lijun. Gu was the wife of Bo Xilai, the Communist Party boss in the inland Chinese megalopolis of Chongqing; Wang was Bo’s chief of police and long-time collaborator.

According to an account released yesterday by the government’s Xinhua News Agency, when a panicked Gu turned to Wang for assistance following the murder, Wang helped her cover up the crime.

Within weeks, his relations with Gu became strained. He approached “the Chongqing party committee’s main responsible person at the time” — an appar-

Wang Lijun

ent reference to Bo himself — to tell him about the murder. For that, Wang “received an angry rebuke and was boxed in the ears,” Xinhua said.

Only then, according to the account, did Wang flee to the U.S. Consulate in nearby Chengdu and request asylum from American diplomats.

Wang’s flight in February set off the seamiest political scandal China has seen in decades.

The fallout included an end to Bo’s career as a rising star in party politics, his wife’s conviction for murder, and serious complications for an insular Chinese leadership attempting to transfer power to a new generation this fall.

Xinhua’s account is a sanitized version of Wang’s trial that ended Tuesday on charges of bribery, abuse of power and defection, but is the fullest explanation by the government of how the scandal unfolded in its early days. It also conflicts with statements by U.S. officials and diplomats that Wang, a potential source on China’s opaque high-level politics, never sought asylum before he voluntarily left the consulate into the custody of Chinese authorities.

The account is the latest sign that after seven months of debate, Bo’s fellow leaders are nearing a resolution on his fate — whether merely to expel him from the party or prosecute him on criminal charges.

A flamboyant, telegenic son of a revolutionary leader, Bo was a rare politician with a popular national profile and deep connections in the top rungs of the party, government and military. Since being suspended from the leadership in April, his name had not been mentioned in previous statements about the scandal — not even obliquely.

Advert space for sale

for me, I hear your voices and I’m going to work as hard as I can to be your president.”

In another part of the video published by Mother Jones, Romney said that Palestinians “have no interest whatsoever” in peace with Israel, seemingly dismissing the two-state solution, a peace and border plan long supported by the US and other negotiators.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News

Thursday, September 20, 2012

53

Victims of Sunday’s attack buried in Bauchi EZEKIEL TITUS BAUCHI

I

t was a sombre mood among Christian faithful and relatives of the nine victims of Sunday’s attack in Bauchi State as they were buried by the state branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) yesterday.

The burial took place amidst tight security at the Church of Christ in all

Nigeria (COCIN) and attracted many sympathisers from all walks of life.

CAN Chairman in the state, Rev. Lawi Pokti, speaking at the ceremony, urged Christians in the state to support the association in its efforts at ensuring the security of lives and property of its members.

Pokti expressed dissatisfaction with the lukewarm attitude of the gov-

ernment to the incessant attack on its members, especially in TafawaBalewa, Bogoro and other areas dominated by Christians in the state.

Though, the CAN boss urged his members to be law abiding and adhere to government’s directives and instructions, he said the recent attack was a rude shock to the entire Christian community in the state.

Pokti charged the state governor, Isa Yuguda, to explore all means to ensure that lives and property are protected as a demonstration and commitment of his administration towards peace and unity in the state.

Also speaking, the National President of the Za’ar Development Association (ZDA), Dr. James Luka, blamed Governor Yuguda for handling secu-

rity challenges in the state with levity, regretting that no government officials visited families of the victims of the attack.

He lamented that the governor was aware of the recurrent road attacks on Sayawa ethnic nationality by Fulani herdsmen, yet government has failed to address the problem, pointing out that the attacks are nothing, but eth-

Hundreds displaced by flood in Lokoja

Resuscitation of Ajaokuta Steel in progress, says FG ADEMU IDAKWO

ADEMU IDAKWO

LOKOJA

LOKOJA

M

inister of Mines and Steel, Alhaji Sada Mohammed, yesterday said that the template for the resuscitation and take off of the Ajaokuta Steel Company has been worked out.

The minister stated this yesterday at the ground breaking of a 300, 000 metric tonnes cement company at Alu in Ofu Local Government Area of the state.

He assured that the Federal Government will ensure early completion of the cement factory as well as the ailing steel company.

Earlier in his address, the Managing Director of CINAFINDEV, the foreign partner in the project, Mr. Pun Tone, said the cement factory will be completed within 18 months as all the machinery and equipment needed have arrived in the state.

He added that the factory, when completed will offer employment to the teeming youths in the state as well as improve its economy.

The Sole Administrator of Kogi Investment Limited, Mr. Ado Ikino, who also spoke at the occasion, said UNTL, the parent company of CINAFINDEV has 65 per cent equity in the cement company while Capital Investment and Kogi State has 20 per cent and 15 per cent shares respectively.

Sada

nic cleansing.

According to Luka, government has not done anything to stop the recurrent killing, a development, he said, has resulted in people not sleeping with their two eyes closed for fear of attack.

He charged Christians to remain law abiding while asking Governor Yuguda to fish out the perpetrators of the dastardly act and bring them to justice.

H Wives of the nine men killed by gunmen in Zongo, during the funeral service for their husbands in Bauchi, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

NAFDAC tests fake drugs’ detecting machine DANJUMA WILLIAMS GOMBE

T

he National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) yesterday said its newly acquired fake drug detecting machine has helped in tracking a lot of fake drugs in circulation across the country.

The agency’s Deputy Director in charge of Ports Inspection, Mrs. Comfort Makanjuola, stated this in Gombe after a mop up exercise of some patent medicine and pharmaceutical stores in

parts of the state.

She said the equipment has helped in no small measure in curtailing the activities of fake drugs manufacturers and importers whom she described as the merchants of death.

She added that such drugs manufacturers and importers have been sending many people to their untimely graves through their wicked and greedy activities.

According to her, the machine, which is a new technology, helps in identifying the contents of products, especially their active ingredients

as the agency in turn tracks manufacturers and importers of such fake drugs.

She revealed also that the exercise which was carried out in all the 36 states of the federation with the exception of Borno and Yobe States, afforded the agency the opportunity to identify anti-malaria, anti-diabetes and anti-hypertensive drugs as the most faked drugs across the country.

She then encouraged sellers of drugs to ensure they buy drugs from genuine and registered sources, adding

that some manufacturers of drugs have already devised means of ensuring that their customers report to them whether the drugs they bought are genuine or not through text messages by scratching and sending code numbers to the manufacturers.

The exercise also discovered some drugs in circulation that have been banned for as long as 10 years, but are still on sale and informed that the exercise would soon be conducted in private and public hospitals, including medical stores.

Katsina to spend N560m on Hajj, airlifts 530 pilgrims JAMES DANJUMA KATSINA

T

he Katsina State government yesterday said it will spend N560 million to ensure a successful 2012 Hajj exercise with 530 intending pilgrims expected to be airlifted from the state.

State governor, Ibrahim Shema, disclosed this yesterday while bidding farewell to the first batch of intending pilgrims at the state hajj camp.

Shema said government will spend N230

million to improve accommodation, N171 million for the medical team along with 117 Islamic preachers and N156 million for other logistics at the holy land.

He charged the pilgrims to avoid carrying excess luggages, while the desk officers and sanitation officials should ensure the maintenance of a clean environment, especially during their stay at the holy land.

The governor also appealed to the pilgrims to abide by the rules and

regulations of the Saudi authorities and enjoined them to pray for peace and stability of Nigeria.

Shema, also urged the air carrier to abide by its flight schedules to ensure a hitch free exercise.

Earlier, the state Amirul Hajj and former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, called for cooperation, patience and perseverance from all stakeholders to achieve success in the exercise.

In his remark, Executive Director of the

Shema

Board, Aminu Danbaba, said 6, 065 pilgrims from the state would be performing this year’s hajj, while they are also to be airlifted within 10 days.

undreds of people were yesterday displaced by flood in Lokoja township even as reports said the flood has taken over the LokojaAyangba Road, which is the major link to the southeastern part of the country.

Many houses in the affected area have been submerged, forcing many residents to flee their homes.

State Commissioner for Works, Mallam Abdullahi Ibrahim, who visited the place yesterday appealed to motorists to look for another route so as to avoid any unforeseen calamity.

He said the state government was making efforts to see that people are relocated to another part of the town.

In a related development, the Kogi State Water Board may shut down the Lokoja water station following the continued threat posed to the facilities by flood as a result of the over flowing of the River Niger.

State Commissioner for Water Resources, Mrs. Hadiza Onotu, stated this yesterday when she paid a visit to the water station.

The Station Manager of the water station, Yu Keem, who conducted the commissioner round the water installation, said the flood is already threatening the pumping machine panel and the bridge, stressing that if not shutdown, the pressure of the flood may cause a greater damage to the whole station.

The commissioner expressed fear over possible epidemic out break should the station be closed down as people may be force to fetch water from untreated sources in the town.

National News 54

News

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Again, Okada riders protest new Lagos traffic law FRANCIS SUBERU

F

or over two hours yesterday, hundreds of commercial motorcyclists, otherwise known as Okada riders, took to the streets, all the way from Mainland to Island, protesting the Lagos State Government’s new Road Traffic Law. The protest, which started at about 11am,

ended around 2pm when security team, including the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), the police, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and men of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) came to restore normalcy.

The protest led to traffic gridlock at Iddo and Idumota areas where the demonstration was very effective. No arrest was

made and there were no casualties.

The protesting commercial motorcyclists were venting their anger over what they referred to as constant harassment by policemen and LASTMA officials, empowered by the new Lagos State Traffic Law which restricts their operations on major roads across the state. They said several bikes shuttling in different parts of the me-

tropolis were consistently being seized by law enforcement agents.

It was alleged that Okada riders in Lagos lose about 30 motorcycles daily to police and LASTMA officials.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Ngozi Braide, could not confirm the incident as several calls to her cell phone did not go through.

Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Olajumoke Akinjide immunising a child at the Gwarinpa General Hospital Life Camp during the flag-off of the FCT Immunisation Days in Abuja, yesterday.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Our strategy to check malpractices in 2015 –INEC OMEIZA AJAYI

C

hairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof.

Attahiru Jega, has identified the inability of the commission to authenticate holders of voters’ cards used in the 2011 general election as one weakness that was exploited by some politicians to frustrate the process.

Jega said the commission had introduced a card reader that would be deployed in identifying the real holders of the cards and ascertain them in every polling unit before allowing such persons to cast their votes.

He said the aim would be to arrest issues of malpractice.

Chief Press Secretary to INEC boss, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said that Prof.

Jega disclosed the plan to prevent malpractices when he received participants of International Training Seminar on National Security.

Idowu said INEC had taken delivery of 40 million card readers and assured that the rest would be received before the end of 2013.

Jega admitted again that the 2011 general elections failed short of people’s expectation, but said compared to other previous elections in Nigeria’s political history, the elections, to some extent were satisfactory.

“I know that some people out there were not satisfied with the outcome of the last general election, but looking at the various parametres, when you compare the elections we conducted in 2011 to the various elections in the past, from 2003, you will know that the 2011 elections were far better,” he said.

He said the commission was working on engaging the best technology as regards the conduct of any successful election.

Jega said the next general elections would be a departure from the past, adding that various interest groups and agencies reputed for the purpose had been brought on board.

He said in recognition of some faulty areas noted in the conduct of the previous elections, the commission had begun organising seminars for stakeholders with a view to making the 2015 general elections successful.

Jonathan sends Terrorism, Money Laundering bills to Senate How Lagos-Ore auto crash occurred –Police G O EORGE JI AND EMMANUEL ONANI

S

enators yesterday received two amended bills from President Goodluck Jonathan for consideration and passage into law.

The executive bills are: Terrorism (Prevention) (Amended) 2012 and a Bill for an Act to Amend the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 and for other Related Matters.

In a correspondence addressed to Senate President David Mark, Jonathan said: “While I hope that the bills will receive the usual expeditious attention of the distinguished members of the Senate, please accept as always, Distinguished Senate President, the assurances of my highest consideration.”

In a related development, the Senate received

names of two nominees for confirmation and appointment as members of the National Population Commission (NPC).

The NPC is one of the Federal Executive bodies established under Sec-

tion 153(1) (J) of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

The nominees are Alhaji Ya’u Usman Jama’a (Kaduna) and Mr Aliyu Datti (Niger).

While Jama’a’s ap-

pointment is consequent upon the resignation of Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha in March 2012, Datti’s nomination is to fill the state’s vacuum, which had been left vacant since 2011.

Bill seeking review of National Honours Act passes second reading

T

he House of Representatives yesterday took a Bill seeking to restrict the number of people that can receive National Awards through second reading.

This year alone, over 60 Nigerians from different walks of life have received the awards.

Not only have eminent Nigerians across the country criticised the quality of recipients, but many have also queried the sheer number of the beneficiaries.

But the House of Representatives, through a bill

legislation sponsored by Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (ACN/Lagos), seeks to limit the number of recipients of the awards and insist that the beneficiaries must be men and women of high moral standing and general quality.

The Bill is entitled: “A Bill for an Act to Amend the Honours Warrant of the Subsidiary Legislation of the National Honours Act. The lawmakers said that the Bill, which is an amendment to a 2004 Honours Act, seeks to “provide the limit to the numbers of

House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal

persons appointed to the different ranks of the Order in any Calendar year”.

The Bill was first introduced in the quarter of the year and is expected to be slated for further consideration today.

FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

T

he Ogun State Police Command has explained how Tuesday’s crash in which about 50 were killed at the Ijebu-Ode axis of the Lagos-Ore-Benin Expressway occurred.

The command denied the allegation that its men were responsible for the accident.

It was, however, learnt that the accident occurred when a truck loaded with flour rammed into a passenger bus which was on its way to Lagos from Ondo and thereafter rammed into other people, especially road side traders.

The police spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi, told journalists yesterday in Abeokuta, the state capital, that the truck driver, who was

allegedly responsible for the accident, had been arrested.

Adejobi, who gave the name of the lorry driver as Adeboye Adebayo, said that the driver, who was on his way from the Ikorodu axis of the road, was on top speed and in a bid to beat a bullion van, which was also on top speed, rammed into oncoming vehicles.

He said: “Putting the record straight, it was the bullion van (painted blue) and not the police team that caused the accident.’’

Meanwhile, investigations revealed that seven bodies were deposited at the Ijebu Ode mortuary, while several other dismembered bodies were said to have been packed up somewhere in the morgue department.

Those injured were also said to be responding to treatments.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

55

Thursday, September 20, 2012

ABR Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the United Nations

African Business Roundtable Table Ronde des Hommes d’Affaires d’Afrique

Presents:

3rd Nigeria Investment Summit New York

Nigeria: AFRICA’S FRONTIER IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

A High Level Investment Roundtable with the Government of Nigeria

Tony Blair Former Prime Minister, United Kingdom

Condoleeza Rice 66th Secretary of State, USA

Dr. Goodluck Jonathn GCFR President/Commander-in-Chief, Nigeria

As Heads of State and Government from across the globe gather in New York for the 67th United Nations General Assembly, join world leaders and the international investment community as the African Business RoundTable in concert with the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations host a High Level Roundtable on the Nigerian Economy.

DATE: September 25-26, 2012

VENUE: New York Palace Hotel, New York.

HIGHLIGHTS Breakfast with Mr. President Presentation from Ministers and top Policy Makers Panel Discussions State Governments Investment RoundTables Business-to-Business Meetings

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Networking Events-Lunch, Dinner and Receptions Export Credit Agencies Bilateral meetings Structuring of Innovative Financing Mechanisms Sectorial Breakout Session

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Photo Opportunities Presentations by Development Partners Product Exhibition Meeting with Project financiers Investment Climate Facility

For participation and sponsorship details please contact:

+234 8127230731, +234 8033959118, +234 8065795772 Or visit:

www.abrnetwork.org, www.nigeriainvestmentsummit.com Email: abrwestafrica@abrnetwork.org, abrwestafrica@yahoo.com

advertisingDesigns

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

WORLD RECORD

Internet2 land speed record

Vol. 02 No. 452

Thursday, September 20, 2012

N150

On 31 December (New Year’s Eve) 2006, a team of researchers from the University of Tokyo, Japan, led by professor of computing science Dr Kei Hiraki, the WIDE Project and NTT Communications transmitted 585 gigabytes of data across 32,372 km (20,115 miles) of network in approximately 30 minutes - an average rate of 9.08 gigabits per second.

Lagos new traffic law: Seven vital things to know Continued from last week

O

wners will be liable for un-roadworthy commercial vehicles even if it was taken without the owner’s permission or knowledge. This is the most unfair provision of the entire law, in my opinion. So if your wayward cousin takes your taxi car on a joyride without your consent or knowledge, you will still be criminally liable if your car is found to be un-roadworthy, if you were aware it was in that state before it was taken without your consent, according to Sections 31 to 34 of the new law.

So if you park your un-roadworthy commercial vehicle in your private garage, there is no law broken. But if someone takes the car unto the public highway without your knowledge, you are criminally liable for your car being unroadworthy on a public road. This is madness. It is looking like Fashola has

B

ritain’s David Haye yesterday accused Ukraine’s WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko of hiding behind the political process to avoid meeting him in the ring.

“Vitali shouldn’t use parliament as an excuse to run

Guest Columnist

Charles

Omole

invented a strict liability crime here.

Owners should have been indemnified if they can prove they were not aware or give consent to their vehicle to be taken, regardless of the state of the vehicle.

There is potential for unfair convictions on this ground and the state should look at amending these sections of the law. It seems the only way out of liability is to make sure your commercial vehicles are always in roadworthy conditions, even if it is not in use and on your private land.

6. The Commissioner for Transport has too many secondary powers of enforcement and can single-handedly change many traffic enforcement provisions. In addition to the noted provisions of the new law, the Commissioner is empowered by Section 38 to make vast changes and introduce new crime and enforcement instrument without recourse to the House of Assembly. This is called secondary legislation powers. For instance, Section 38 (1) (q) gives the Commissioner the power to change the speed limit in any area of Lagos State and criminalise those that exceed it. So the worry here is that these powers should be closely monitored to avoid abuse. You could be committing a crime driving at 40 km per hour on a Lagos road because the Commissioner changed the speed limit the previous day to 30 km per hour. Any exercise of the secondary powers must be fully publicized to inform the public of developments, and time must be given

THERE ARE AREAS TO WORRY ABOUT IN THE NEW LAW AND THERE ARE AREAS TO COMMEND THE GOVERNMENT FOR before changes take effect. The saving grace on this provision is that its use can be subject to judicial review as it is an executive order rather than the primary Act of the Legislature. So, jobs for the lawyers there.

7. State government officials can be dismissed if they are proven to demand or receive any personal gratification in cash or kind according to Section 37 (1) and (2). This is a provision I want all Lagosians to exploit to the maximum by making sure all encounters with LASTMA or any state officials on the road is secretly recorded by video or audio. You must get your evidence and let us get the bad eggs out of uniform on our roads.

So an official is liable to dismissal if he demands for bribe or accepts it when offered by the motorist. This is a good provision of the law that motorists can use to help sanitise the LASTMA bandits terrorizing honest Lagosians on a daily basis. As LASTMA management are known for backing their staff regardless of public accusations, watertight evidence will

be needed to put pressure of them to act according to the provisions of the law by dismissing all officers that are found to be taking or demanding bride.

As you can see from the foregoing, there are areas to worry about in the new law and there are areas to commend the government for. So, I will seriously admonish the government to review the entire law in practice in six months time to amend sections that are not working or too vague (of which there are a few) and make the law more precise and clearer to all concerned. I trust you have found this article useful.

Accordingly, the mantra in Lagos State governmental institutions at the moment should be people friendly implementation. In the 1990s when Tony Blair became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, he was asked what would be the focus of his new administration. His response was, Education, Education and Education, thus emphasising the focus on educational transformation in English schools. Governor Fashola should learn from that and make his own focus now to be, Implementation, Implementation and Implementation. Let us get right the laws that are already on the books, implement fully, study their effects and consequences; make adjustments as necessary, before more legislation is piled on an already recalcitrant, over reaching and perhaps overworked government machinery.

We all support the drive for a new Lagos and ultimately a new Nigeria, but we should take care that we do not try to get there at a cost to the health, wellbeing and morale of the people. Nigerians already have enough to cope with; please don’t add any more aggravation Mr. Governor.

Concluded Omole, Charles@prodelinternational.com, a strategic consultant and businessman, operates from Lagos, the UK and USA

Sport Extra

Boxing: Hatton braces for ring return from the biggest and best boxing match,” Haye said in apparent reference to the parliamentary elections scheduled in the eastern European nation on October 28 when the elder of the Klitschko is

standing in contest.

Vitali, who is head of the opposition UDAR party, is currently on the campaign trail after successfully defending his WBC title against Germany’s Manuel Charr on

September 8 in Moscow.

But Klitschko’s manager, Bernd Boente, appeared to dash Haye’s dream yesterday when ruled his client out of fighting after winning the election.

Champions League Results

David Haye

Barca

3-2

Spartak Moscow

Man Utd

1-0

Galatasaray

Chelsea

2-2

Juventus

Bayern

2-1

Valencia

Shakhtar

2-0

Nordsjaelland

Lille

1-3

BATE

Braga

0-2

CFR Napoca

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, Email: mail@nationalmirroronline.net. Editor: SEYI FASUGBA. All correspondence to PMB 10001, Marina, Lagos.