Tuesday, july 30, 2013binder1

Umaru Dikko heads PDP disciplinary committee

Confusion in UK over £3000 visa bond

‘Restraining order on party convention stays’

OBIORA IFOH AND EMMANUEL ONANI

Vol. 31 N0. 675 115

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econd Republic Minister of Transport, Dr. Umaru Dikko, has been dragged out of retire-

ment to help restore discipline in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as he CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

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Cameron

Tuesday, Tuesday,June July 7, 30,2011 2013

30 feared killed in Kano explosions

Church, fun spots burnt, scores injured Army parades 42 Boko Haram suspects in Lagos

N150 N150 ISE-OLUWA IGE, AUGSTINE MADU-WEST AND FELIX NWANERI

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hree major explosions rocked Kano yesterday night when suspected members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect hit the Sabon-Gari area of the metropolis.

Casualty figures of the multiple bomb attacks could not be ascertained as at press time, but unconfirmed reports put the number of those feared dead at 30.

A Pentecostal church CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

Jega

INEC has no power to deregister parties –Court Al-Mustapha: Lagos must appeal, activists insist

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Suspected Boko Haram members paraded by 81 Division, Nigerian Army in Lagos yesterday.

Nigeria loses N1.7trn to oil theft –Report ...NNPC, PPPRA fail to remit N8.1bn

2015: Akpabio sacks SSG, Umana

DAY 21

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Terrorism, not part of Islam, says cleric P.51

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Nigeria loses N1.7trn to oil theft –Report CHIDI UGWU ABUJA

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he Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, yesterday disclosed that Nigeria lost over 136 million barrels of oil with an estimated value of $10.9bn (N1.7trn) to theft and sabotage between 2009 and 2011.

NEITI Chairman, Mr. Ledum Mittee, disclosed this at the public presentation of an audit report for the oil and gas sector for 2009-2011 and the solid mineral sector audit for 2007-2010 in Abuja.

He said that the losses represented 7.7 per cent of the nation’s total revenue within the period under review.

“This was in addition to a loss of about 10 million barrels valued at $894m (N143bn) as a result of pipeline vandalism in downstream operations,” Mitee said.

The report said that the nation recorded over 2.5 billion barrels of crude oil production, amounting to total revenue of $143.5bn (22.9trn) from equity crude sales, royalty, signature bonuses and taxes within the period under review.

The breakdown of the crude oil production given by the report indicated that 780.9 million barrels were recorded in 2009.

It said that 894.5 million barrels were recorded in 2010, while the number of barrels recorded in 2011 declined slightly to 866.2 million barrels due to activities of vandals.

The report also indicted the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, for non-remittance of oil receipts, overpayment of fuel subsidies and failure to tidy up agreements with oil multinationals that resulted in losses totalling N280bn.

The report also noted that the Federal Government paid N3trn as subsidy payments to marketers of refined petroleum products during the period.

It said that the NNPC accounted for N1.4trn of the subsidy claims, while other marketers claimed the remaining N1.6trn.

“From the findings of the report, the subsidy payments made through NNPC increased from N198bn in 2009 to N416bn in 2010 and nearly doubled in 2011 to

N786bn.

“During the same period, subsidy paid through PPPRA increased from N208bn in 2009 to N278bn in 2010 and rose astronomically to N1.12trn in 2011,” Mitee said.

The report also uncovered a disparity of N175.9bn between the subsidy claims paid from the federation account and the one made by the PPPRA “The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation reported to NEITI auditors a total subsidy payment of N2.825trn, while the PPPRA disbursed N3trn to marketers during the same period.

“Some marketers disagreed with the amount ascribed to them by the PPPRA, especially in 2010 where a marketer claimed N2.56bn as fuel subsidy.

The reports said that findings made by the new audit also indicated that N8.173bn being over-recovery collected from some marketers was yet to be remitted to the federation account by the NNPC and two other companies.

There was also a revenue loss by the Federal Government of over $1.7bn (N272bn) following nonrenewal of Memorandum of Understanding between Joint Venture companies, JVs, and NNPC, which made the JVs to transact business under terms that had expired since 2008.

Mittee said NEITI also discovered a lingering worrisome situation where there was no agreed pricing methodology between NNPC and the companies for the determination of fiscal values for royalty and PPT computations.

According to the report, all refineries were operating below their name plate capacities resulting in a situation where 80 per cent of crude oil allocated to local refineries are exported for off-shore processing, crude oil and product exchange.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, expressed happiness over the audit report saying it would afford government the opportunity to recover the much-needed funds for development.

She said the agencies would have to sit down and agree on the report and work together towards re-

covering the funds.

“We are happy because we are looking for any additional money that the ministry can collect. It is not just the ministry, we need all the agencies involved.

“You can see that it is the oil and gas sector, we will be glad to sit down with our colleagues in NNPC, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the oil sector, multinationals,

the mines and steel ministry, everybody is involved.

You have to sit people down so that they agree the audit is good. And the analysis is yielding good information and then we all work on it together,” she said.

NNPC Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu, said the oil corporation would take time to look at the audit report, especially

the issues of joint venture operations, stressing that some issues did not fall under the corporation’s jurisdiction.

He said: “You have to be careful because there are some issues that are not within our jurisdiction.

Like I said, we will look at the report, the issues that within our jurisdiction we will look at them.

“Various companies are in joint venture partnership with us we will look at them, we have joint operation agreement, we have contractual documents and obligations between the parties. We will strictly adhere to the rules of engagement as contained in those documents. If there are other documents we will review them and look at them.”

L-R: Senator Abdulahi Adamu, Chief Judge, Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta; Vice-President Namadi Sambo and Nasarawa State Governor Tanko Al-Makura at the inauguration of the new Federal High Court complex in Lafia, Nasarawa State, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Umaru Dikko heads PDP disciplinary committee CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

heads the party’s National Disciplinary Committee.

Other members of the committee are King A.J. Turner (Deputy Chairman), Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun, Hajiya Nana Ayishat Kadiri, Mr. Hussaini Diraki and Senator Emmanuel Agboti ,who will serve as secretary.

In a statement by its Acting National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Tony Okeke, the party said: “Pursuant to the provisions of Articles 57 (1), (2), (3) of the Constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the leadership of the party has approved the composition of the PDP National Disciplinary Committee.

“The committee shall be inaugurated by the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, at a date to be announced later.”

The party in a separate statement also recognised Ken Emeakayi as its substantive Chairman in Anambra State.

The statement reads: “Following comprehensive consultations with major stakeholders of our great party in Anambra State, coupled with the desire to have a strong and united

party to effectively reposition it as the November 16, 2013 governorship election approaches, the PDP leadership hereby announces the decision to recognise Emeakayi as the substantive Chairman of the party in Anambra State.

“All members of our party in Anambra State are hereby directed to work with Mr. Emeakayi towards achieving victory at the forthcoming governorship election in the state.”

Meanwhile, the planned PDP national convention may remain a pipe dream for now as an Abuja High Court yesterday refused an oral application by the ruling party for the court to vacate an earlier order restraining the party from holding the convention.

Justice Suleiman Belgore, who on July 25, had made an order restraining PDP or its agents from holding its August 31 special convention pending the determination of an originating summons, refused the prayer by the counsel to the party, Chief Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), urging him to lift the devastating order.

The implication is that the national convention remains in abeyance till September 23 when the court

will sit after its annual vacation, which will commence on August 5.

In refusing the move, Justice Belgore stated: “It will be inequitable to discharge the restraining order based on numerous applications before this court.”

PDP’s oral application followed the confusion that attended the legal representation of the plaintiffs, whose suit formed the basis of the order.

Though Mr. Jibrin Okutepa (SAN) had been appearing for the plaintiffs (Abba Yale, Alhaji Yahaya Sule and Bashir Maigudu), a mild-drama, however, ensued yesterday when one Mr. F.N Nwosu also announced his representation for the same aggrieved card-carrying members of the 1st defendant.

Interestingly, it was the same Nwosu, whose appearance before Justice Peter Affen in the legal battle over the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, election, stalled proceedings at a time.

While Okutepa maintained that he was yet to be “debriefed” by his clients, citing relevant rules of court which he said required compliance before such was contemplated,

Nwosu also stuck to his guns, claiming to have been briefed at the weekend.

This crisis of appearance forced the court to “stand down” the matter for 30 minutes for the counsels to sort themselves out.

Upon resumption, the warring lawyers addressed the court on their inability to agree on the thorny issue, a development which forced the court to rise for another 30 minutes to enable the judge to deliver a considered ruling on the embarrassing outing.

In his ruling, Justice Belgore expressed “sadness” over the development, adding that: “It is certainly a trying moment for the legal profession.”

According to Justice Belgore; “This thing that has happened would certainly reverberate outside the walls of the court.

“I’m very sad at this, the legal profession is at a crossroads and my advice to you is that we should leave politicians to play their politics.”

Specifically, the judge said he was forced to adjourn to September 23 in view of the validity of Nwosu’s appearance by the third plaintiff, who declared CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

L-R: Enugu State Governor, Mr. Sullivan Chime; Vice-Chancellor, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and his wife, Prof. & Mrs. Bartho Okolo and Chief Judge of Anambra State, Justice Peter Umeadi, during a dinner in honour of members of the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus Faculty of Law Class 1976-1980, Enugu, yesterday.

L-R: Managing Director, Platinum Mortgage Bank, Mr. Emmanuel Mbaka; his wife, Ngozi; Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, Cardinal John Onaiyenkan and Archbishop of Kafanchan Diocese, Archbishop Joseph Bagobiri, during the commissioning of the Platinum Mega Mall in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

L-R: Group Managing Director/CEO, UBA Plc, Mr. Phillips Oduoza; Deputy Director, Banking Supervision, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Kelvin Ibedu and Deputy Managing Director, UBA Plc, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, cutting the tape to commission UBA Security Operation Centre in Lagos, yesterday.

L-R: Editor-in-Chief, BusinessDay, Prof Onwuchekwa Jemie; Brand Manager, Malta Guinness, Wole Adedeji and Chief Executive Officer, HDI Youth Maketeers Limited, Joko Okupe at the BusinessDay Generation Next Survey Awards in Lagos, recently.

NationalNews

INEC lacks power to deregister political parties –Court Flays deregistration of Fresh Democratic Party

ISE-OLUWA IGE ABUJA

A

Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday nullified Section 78(7)(ii) of the Electoral Act 2011 which empowers the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to de-register any political party that fails to win either National Assembly or State House of Assembly seat.

Justice Gabriel Kolawole, who nullified the

provision of the Electoral Act 2011, held that the powers conferred on INEC by the Act was inconsistent with the provisions of Sections 14, 15(2) and (3) and 17 of the 1999 Constitution.

The judgment was in a suit instituted by the Fresh Democratic Party (FDP) challenging its de-registration by INEC last year.

Although Justice Kolawole agreed that the National Assembly which enacted the INEC Act 2011 had the powers to make

laws for the good governance of the country, he, however, held that any law made by the National Assembly conflicting with any provision of the 1999 Constitution is null and void.

The judge consequently voided the decision taken last year by INEC to deregister FDP. Specifically, Justice Gabriel Kolawole held that INEC acted unconstitutionally as it exercised its powers to deregister FDP party without affording

the party fair hearing as provided by the Constitution.

He held that the powers to deregister parties granted to INEC in Section 78(7)(ii) of the Electoral Act assumed quasi-judicial nature as it affected deregistering parties, and “must not be exercised without giving the party to be deregistered a fair hearing.”

He said INEC, as established under Section 153 of the Constitution, could not deregister parties without recourse to sections 221-229 of the Constitution.

Scammers hack Army’s electronic mail OMEIZA AJAYI ABUJA

T

he Directorate of Public Relations in the Nigerian Army has said that its official electronic mail address had been hacked, urging Nigerians to disregard mails purported emanating from it and soliciting for financial assistance.

The Army, which warned the scammers to desist or risk severe sanctions upon arrest, asked Nigerians to always verify the authenticity of such mails rather than accede to the request of the senders.

Chief of Staff in the Directorate of Army Public Relations, Colonel John Agim, stated this in a statement made available

to National Mirror yesterday in Abuja.

“It has come to the notice of this Directorate that some fraudsters are using our official e-mail address to circulate messages seeking for financial assistance from the general public.

“This Directorate wishes to disassociate itself from such embarrassing messages and appeal to

members of the public particularly the media to clarify all information from this headquarters when in doubt”, the statement added.

Most websites and email addresses of some government agencies have in recent time been hacked. The development has led to the swindling of some unsuspecting job seekers by fraudsters.

“The first plaintiff (FDP) was entitled to be heard by the first defendant (INEC) before taking the decision to deregister it,” the judge held.

Justice Kolawole faulted INEC for its failure to provide evidence to prove that it accorded the party fair hearing before proceeding to deregister it.

He described the provision, as enacted by the National Assembly, as “a legislative mischief that must be addressed.”

The judge held that the country’s electoral process had not matured to the level where it could guarantee free and fair election.

Justice Kolawole noted that the concern of all should be how to create a credible electoral process.

He granted nine of the plaintiffs’ 10 prayers, which include that INEC breached sections 14, 15(2) and (3) and 17 of the Constitution in exercising its powers to deregister parties.

But the court refused to grant the FDP’s request for N10million cost.

He asked them to see

their effort as a contribution to the growth of the nation’s democratic process.

FDP was among 28 others proscribed by the electoral body late last year.

But INEC’s lawyer, Ibrahim Bawa, said the commission was aggrieved by the judgement.

He said the decision could not be final on the constitutional issue.

Bawa hinted that INEC would appeal the judgement.

He argued that there were existing judgements of the Federal High Court on the issue which contradicted Justice Kolawole’s verdict.

One of such judgements was delivered by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on a similar suit by the National Conscience Party (NCP).

Justice Abang had upheld INEC’s powers to deregister parties.

He also did not see anything wrong in the provision of Section 78(7)(ii) of the Electoral Act.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

30 feared killed in Kano explosions CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

on 38/39, 40/41 along New Road was burnt by the terrorists.

The explosion occurred around New Road by Igbo Road and Enugu Road where unspecified number of people were seriously injured after being hit by shrapnel of the bombs.

Unconfirmed reports said some lives were lost when the attackers hit some fun spots with bombs.

It was gathered that explosives were planted in the fun spots by the terrorists who detonated them via remote control.

The dastardly act occurred at about 9:30p.m.

and caused stampede as residents scampered for safety.

Joint Task Force, JTF, spokesman, Ikedichi Iweha, confirmed the incident, but said details were lacking as at press time.

Iweha said the affected areas had been condoned off by the JTF in search of the suspects.

National Mirror learnt that the hotel on Eitken road was also hit while unspecified number of buildings in the affected area were destroyed.

However, National Mirror could not confirm report that the Gwagwawa police station in Brigade quarters was torched in the

confrontation.

The ever-busy SabonGari was immediately deserted following the attacks with only men of the JTF and police patrolling the area.

As at the time of filing this report, rescue workers were busy conveying injured victims to hospitals in the city for medical attention.

Meanwhile, no fewer than 42 suspected Boko Haram members arrested in various locations in Lagos and Ogun states between July 12 and 23 were yesterday paraded at the headquarters of the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army in

Lagos.

The suspects, who were apprehended after raids conducted at Ibafo and Ileke new trailer parks in Ogun State; Aviation Quarters at Mafoluku, Oshodi; Ketu/ Mile 12 motor park; Orile trailer park; Lekki New Extension and Bar Beach, all in Lagos, were said to have fled the ongoing military onslaught against the sect in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

The General Officer Commanding, GOC, 81 Division, Nigerian Army, Gen. Obi Umahi, who paraded the suspects before journalists, said the raids were done in conjunction

L-R: Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. Samuel Ukura; Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed; Chairman of the board, Mr. Ledum Mitee; Minister of Mines and Solid Minerals Development, Mr. Mohammed Sada and Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, at the public presentation of NEITI comprehensive audit report in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Umaru Dikko heads PDP disciplinary committee CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

in open court that Nwosu was his new counsel.

The visibly embarrassed judge wondered why the suit was being made more complicated with interlocutory applications, including those filed by Tukur.

The national chairman, whose application for joinder was granted on July 25, curiously filed a preliminary objection, seeking to challenge the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the substantive suit.

He also filed, through his counsel, R. K Oluyede, a counter-motion in opposition to the motion by the plaintiffs to amend their originating summons.

It will be recalled that the court had made an order stopping the PDP from holding its scheduled convention.

The subsisting order was consequent upon a motion on notice filed by the trio.

Justice Belgore had held that the action of the ruling party (defendant) to hold its forthcoming convention was intended to foist a “fait accompli” on the court, as demonstrated in the setting up of some sub-committees for the convention.

While describing PDP’s decision to hold its convention as “recklessness of the highest degree”, the judge warned that no “judex” (judge) will allow a party or parties in a suit to ridicule him or bring the sanctity of the court to disrepute or odium.

Consequently, Justice Belgore granted “an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the defendant (PDP) and all its agents, including its national chairman and any group of persons acting on its behalf from convoking, convening or holding any special or ordinary convention, for purposes of electing its na-

tional officers, pending the hearing and determination of the suit before the court.”

He, however, refused the plaintiffs’ prayer to set aside or nullify all steps and processes that led to the appointment of the latter as national officers of the party, as well as the one that sought to restrain Tukur “from performing any functions or duties assigned to the National Working Committee of the defendant, following the resignation and removal of all members of the National Working Committee of the defendant set out in article 29 (1) (b)-(1) of the constitution pending the hearing and determination of this case.”

In a fresh twist, however, Nwosu filed papers yesterday withdrawing the matter for the PDP National Reconciliation Committee, chaired by Governor Seriake Dickson of Bay-

elsa State, to address the grievance of the plaintiffs.

The counsel told the court that since his clients had applied for the discontinuance of the matter, the most logical thing to do was to strike out the suit to save the PDP from unnecessary delay in the conduct of its primary.

The plaintiffs, also in a press statement, pledged to support and cooperate with the Dickson-led committee and other agencies of the party in order to have a hitch-free national convention.

It was learnt that the Dickson committee had intervened in the matter and this informed the decision to withdraw the suit against the party.

Lawyer to the plaintiffs, Nwosu, filed papers yesterday withdrawing the matter for the Dickson’s committee to amicably address their grievance.

with intelligence operatives, following a tip-off that the sect planned to unleash terror in some parts of the South-West, including the 81 Division’s areas of operation.

Though Umahi did not disclose whether weapons were recovered during the raids, he said the first few to be arrested, on interrogation, gave useful information that led to the clamp down on others.

He said: “In response to intelligence report on the influx of Boko Haram terrorist elements into Lagos and Ogun states, 81 Division headquarters organised and conducted raids with intelligence operatives in these states between July 12 and 23.

“The Boko Haram trickling influx is adduced to their plan to unleash terror in some parts of the South-West. During interrogation, they confessed to have participated in various major terrorist attacks in the North, especially Maiduguri, Borno State, where the majority of them fled from.”

The GOC reiterated the determination of the Army to rid the country of terrorists. “We are bent on ensuring that Lagos and its environs remain safe for Nigerians and will not hesitate to fish out criminals,” he said, adding that the suspects would be handed over to the relevant security agencies for prosecution.

Though some of the suspects denied being terrorists, claiming that they had been in Lagos for many years, one of them, Ibrahim Abubakar Bori, who spoke with newsmen, confessed that they took part in several major operations of the Boko Haram sect in Borno State.

He said: “We were involved in several major operations in Maiduguri where several security agents and civilians were killed. I and some others here were recruited by Mallam Hassan Ibrahim.”

Ibrahim, 22, who did not deny the claim, admitted that he recruited some of the suspects. He also confessed that he travelled with Ibrahim Ismaili and Alhaji Black to Maiduguri and killed a soldier and one Buka.

“We rode in a tricycle and it was Alhaji Black that pulled the trigger. I met both Ismaili and Alhaji

5

Black in Lagos, while I was riding Okada (commercial motorcycle). We all went to Maiduguri where we carried out some operations,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government yesterday told a Federal High Court in Abuja that the three Lebanese being held over alleged involvement in terrorism activities had engaged in unlawful importation of prohibited firearms for 20 years in Kano.

The Lebanese - Mustapha Fawaz (49), Abdallah Thahini (48) and Talal Ahmad Roda (51) - were charged with their companies - Amigo Supermarket and Wonderland Amusement Park Resort.

The government made the fresh disclosure yesterday at the resumed hearing of the case.

This is even as the Federal Government rearraigned the suspected terrorists on an amended 16-count charge preferred against them.

They were accused to have committed the alleged crime of unlawful importation of prohibited firearms between 1988 and 2008 in Kano.

Although the suspects denied the fresh allegation, the Federal Government yesterday called three witnesses, who were mainly officials of the Department of State Security Service, DSS, to testify against them.

The prosecution witnesses, who were masked for security purposes, told the court how they investigated the case and recovered arms and ammunition on the accused persons’ premises.

The first witness, identified as DSS1, told the court that he coordinated the investigation and that the accused made voluntary statements where they admitted being members of the international terrorist group, Hezbollah.

The second witness, identified as DSS2, said he led the team that conducted searches at the Wonderland Park and Amigo Supermarket, where they recovered arms and ammunition.

He, however, stunned the court when, on being asked to read the inventory of about 45 items recovered in the two premises, most of the items, except three, were not related to arms and ammunition.

6

News

GEORGE OJI ABUJA

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he Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women and Youths, Senator Helen Esuene, has promised that the National Assembly would soon revisit the child marriage issue.

She said: “On our own side here, we are still looking at the laws and we will still revisit it in good time. I want to assure my sisters out there that we are doing everything within our ability to protect womanhood, the integrity of womanhood and the welfare of womanhood.

“We are one of them. We wear the shoes; we know where it pinches. Anything we can do to protect the women, the mothers of tomorrow, we will do it and we will continue to do it. They should not lose faith; they should just bear with us.”

Esuene’s assurance, intended to douse the tension generated by the controversy, came after a similar pledge by the Senate President, David Mark, when he met with representatives of the Gender and Constitution Reform Network, GECORN, last week at the National Assembly.

Esuene, who is representing Akwa Ibom South in the Upper Chamber, said in an interview with our correspondent that the issue was

PAUL ARHEWE

WITH AGENCY REPORTS

B

ritain’s Home Office was yesterday at the centre of confusing statements on the proposed £3,000 visa bond for visitors from six “high-risk” countries, including Nigeria.

While some reports indicated that a pilot scheme involving a refundable £3,000 cash bond for visitor visa applications from the six AfroAsian countries originally shortlisted would go ahead as planned, a Home Office spokesperson said, “we are not confirming the list of countries at this stage and our original statement on the issue stands”.

But Britain’s Home Office yesterday confirmed it would go ahead with the controversial 3,000 pounds ($4,630) visa policy.

Britain said in a statement that it would go ahead with the pilot scheme despite the outrage, charges of discrimination and warnings of retaliation.

The statement sent by email to the Associated Press did not say when the pilot

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

not decided yet Senate will revisit child Jonathan on 2015 –Abati marriage –Lawmaker ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

grossly misunderstood by Nigerians.

The lawmaker said the Senate did not vote on the issue of early marriage but renunciation of citizenship.

She said: “That issue is most unfortunate; it is a very sad issue. It is a simple issue that has been misunderstood and blown completely out of proportion.

“The Senate has been taken to the cleaners over a week

now in the social media, on the internet, individuals have been thoroughly abused and I feel that the facts have not been properly understood.”

According to her, the offending Section 29(4)(b) of the constitution, which the Senate tried to expunge, merely deals with renunciation of Nigerian citizenship.

The said Section 29(4)(b) reads that: “Any woman who is married shall be deemed to

be of full age to be able to renounce her citizenship.”

“At the committee level, we, the women, thought that this is discriminatory of our gender and said, that should be expunged; it is either you leave it as any married person, it should not be specific to woman,” Esuene said.

She added: “So, the committee in its wisdom, decided to expunge it and just leave it as Section 29 4(a).

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan is yet to decide whether to contest the 2015 presidential election and has not told anyone about his intention to do so.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, who disclosed this yesterday, said Jonathan was focused on good governance and delivery of dividends of democracy instead of issues

L-R: Special Adviser to the President (Special Duties), Sen. Isaiah Balat; wife of Prof. Jerry Gana, Lucy; Prof. Jerry Gana and President Goodluck Jonathan during G-20 delegation’s visit to the President in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: STATE HOUSE

Different signals on £3000 UK visa bond programme would start. But it said the British Government could apply the scheme in the future for all visas and any country.

It reads in part: “The pilot will apply to visitor visas, but if the scheme is successful we’d like to be able to apply it on an intelligence-led basis on any visa route and any country.”

For now, the targeted countries are Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Government data shows citizens of those countries applied for more than half a million visas to Britain last year.

Khaled Mahmud, owner of a Bangladeshi travel agency in Dhaka that deals with British student visas, charged the scheme was racist.

“It smacks of a deep-rooted racial attitude,” he told the Associated Press yesterday.

In the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, computer businessman, Syed Shahid Ali, said the “painful and unbearable” new policy would

have a negative impact on British tourism and business.

Also yesterday, the British government defended a controversial campaign featuring lorries with billboards urging illegal immigrants to “go home or face arrest”, after criticism from a senior minister.

Two trucks, each displaying a huge poster with a number for migrants to text if they wish to return to their country of origin, were driven around six London boroughs for a week in a pilot scheme by the interior ministry.

Posters, leaflets and advertisements in local news-

papers will run for a further month.

Business Secretary, Vince Cable, a member of the centrist Liberal Democrat party, which is the junior partner in the coalition government with Prime Minister David Cameron’s centre-right Conservatives, said the campaign was “stupid and offensive”.

Cable also lashed out at “misleading” government

were: Bayo Adegbe (Modela); Adetokunbo Modupe of TPT; Tina Akinola-Junaid (chairperson, Miss Ireland), Nollywood’s Ebube Nwagbo and Tese Onokala of Needlekraft Couture.

The first runner up, Miss Victoria Antai, hails from Akwa Ibom State and holds a degree in International Relations from Lead City University; while the Delta-Stateborn second runner up, Miss Winifred Mavoro, studied Linguistics at the University of Abuja.

Udoka would be joined by Antai and Mavoro for some official duties which include her pet project related to child abuse with special bias on

the controversial ‘Girl-Child Marriage’.

Earlier on July 25, the 18 finalists paid a courtesy visit to the National Mirror head office to show appreciation for the newspaper’s support and partnership in organising the pageant.

Dressed in traditional attires, the ‘queens’ were received by management and staff of the newspaper.

The contestants present were: Winifred Orji, Princess Akan, Victoria Samuel, Josephine Onuabuguchi, Sholape Olateju, Feyisayo Ajimati, Temitope Olowoniyan, Giwa Atinuke, Tejere Ejiroghene, Valerie Solomon, Oluwabusayo Abiri, Bunmi Akinseye,

regarding 2015 election.

Speaking on private radio programme, “Fact file,” Abati said the President did not, at any time, declare his position on 2015 presidential election.

He said: “To the best of my knowledge, the President has never at any time discussed 2015. He has never at any time say this is his position on 2015. His position has been consistent and straight forward and that has been the President saying, ‘look let’s focus on governance’.

“If the Nigerian people have given you an assignment, it is your assignment to deliver and move the country forward, that is what we want to focus on and that was the statement about the midterm report that was publicly presented.

“Two years down the line, the President presented to the Nigerian people scorecard of what they have been able to do. He said ‘I took over and now two years down the line I have moved the country forward, this is the evidence’.

Nobody has been able to dispute the evidence.

“So we must be able to make a distinction between politicking, the fact and reality.” migration targets.

But Cameron’s spokesman defended the lorries, saying it was “clear that this is already working” and that getting illegal immigrants to leave voluntarily was the most cost-effective solution.

The interior ministry had already received a “great deal of interest” as a result of the campaign, the spokesman added.

Onyeneke, Mavoro Michelle Udoka becomes Miss Global Nigeria 2013 Urenna Winifred, Victoria Antai,

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n Abia State indigene, Miss Michelle Udoka, has won the coveted Miss Global Nigeria beauty pageant held on July 28, after a keenly-contested grand finale.

The new queen, who is a graduate of Aviation Management, will be representing the country at the Face of the World beauty pageant billed to hold in France later in the year.

The star-studded pageant was anchored by Nollywood actresses Funke Akindele and Mercy Aigbe-Gentry as well as PR Executive, Funke Kuti.

Judges who selected the best out of the 18 finalists

Odusole Adepeju, Oluwatola Ayayi and Michelle Udoka.

Addressing the gathering, Editor, National Mirror, Mr. Seyi Fasugba, urged the contestants to make the best of their opportunities in life; even after the pageant.

Addressing their host, Miss Global Nigeria Project Manager/Chaperon, Ms. Faith Irabor, thanked the newspaper for its support.

She also lauded the visionary leadership of National Mirror’s publisher, Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, OFR, in making the newspaper one of the fastest growing in the country, which informed the pageant organisers’ decision to partner with the newspaper.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

7

NDLEA arrests Nigerian, foreigner over cocaine importation OLUSEGUN KOIKI

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he National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, yesterday announced the arrest of a 35-year-old female national of Cape Verde and a 36-yearold Nigerian male over the importation of cocaine into the country.

The body said the suspects were apprehended at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos, as they attempted to import into the country two kilogramme of cocaine hidden in female handbags.

An online statement signed by the Head, Public Affairs, NDLEA, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, said the drug was detected during the inward screening of Emirate passengers at the arrival hall of the MMIA. He gave the names of the suspects as Rosangela Gomes Gonealves Correia and Olua Uguru Christopher, adding that both suspects are currently explaining their roles in the illicit import.

Speaking on the arrests, NDLEA Lagos Airport Commander, Mr. Hamza Umar,

said the Cape Verde national, whose statement was obtained in Portuguese, has provided useful information to the anti-narcotic investigators.

Umar said both suspects are calm and cooperating with the authority over the ongoing investigation into the act.

He said the Nigerian, Olua Uguru Christopher, left the shores of the country to Paris, France, in search of employment opportunities in 2001 and that he is married with two children and hails from Abia State.

While Olua said he sells shoes and shirts, Rosangela Gomes claimed to have a restaurant in her country.

Olua allegedly confessed that; “I was enticed by the financial incentives. France is a very difficult place to live now, because of unemployment problem. If I had succeeded in bringing the drug into the country, I would have invested my share of the profit in business.”

Besides, NDLEA Chief Executive, Ahmadu Giade, assured that drug traffickers would continue to encounter difficulties in smuggling drugs into the country.

Ekiti 2014: 16 aspirants back Fayose’s suspension ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

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ixteen governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ekiti State, have supported the indefinite suspension, last week, of former Governor Ayodele Fayose, from the party by the Makanjuola Ogundipe-led State Working Committee, SWC. The aspirants also urged the national leadership of the party to commence, as a matter of necessity, the process of affirming the suspension of the former governor, who is a governorship contender.

It will be recalled that Ogundipe announced the suspension of Fayose and three SWC members last week, following the attack on the party’s secretariat a fortnight ago over the 11-man consensus committee constituted by the state party chairman.

The 16 aspirants, in a communiqué at the end of their inaugural meeting in Ado Ekiti, also expressed support for the consensus option to select the party’s candidate for the 2014 governorship

election, saying the arrangement would produce “a quality and marketable candidate with wide acceptability.”

The aspirants are Chief Abiodun Aluko; Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade (rtd); Senator Bode Olowoporoku; Senator Ayo Arise; Prince Dayo Adeyeye; Hon. Aribisala Adewale; Otunba Olayinka Akerele; Prof. Adesegun Ojo; and Ambassador Dare Bejide.

Others are Hon. Femi Bamisile; Hon. Odeyemi Tunji; Mr. Bodunde Adeyanju; Chief Obafemi Peters; Hon. Ropo Ogunbolude; Bimbo Owolabi; and Dr. Kunle Afolayan.

But Fayose chided the aspirants saying: “They are just 16 in number. I want them to be more than that.

Let them recruit more members or better still should jointly present one aspirant to face me and I will defeat him to a distant second. It is very obvious that they are afraid of me.”

The former governor said in a statement yesterday by his media aide, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, that “the party’s constitution protects me.

L-R: Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Resident Representative, African Development Bank (AfDB), Nigeria Field Office, Dr. Ousmane Dore and Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, at a high level policy dialogue on AfDB Infrastructure and Structural Transformation Plan for Nigeria, in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Jonathan urges leaders to boost intra-African trade ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

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resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday called on African leaders to take more concrete steps towards fulfilling their often declared commitment to improving trade and economic relations amongst African countries.

The President’s call came even as Nigerian projects in Ghana hits the $200 million mark in one year.

Jonathan, who spoke when receiving the outgoing Namibian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mrs. Selma Ashipala-Musavyi, in Abuja, said there was an urgent need for African leaders to move beyond

declarations of support for greater intra-African trade and act in unison to overcome obstacles which currently hinder economic relations between the nations and people of the continent.

He said with the right political will and commitment, African leaders could speedily overcome all obstacles to intra-African trade such as poor transportation links and achieve a significant boost in continental economic interaction for the benefit of their countries and peoples.

The President assured that Nigeria would continue to spearhead and support efforts aimed at promoting regional and continental economic integration, saying that exist-

ing cordial political relations between most African countries will be further enhanced by greater trade and economic relations among them.

Jonathan commended Mrs. Ashipala-Musavyi for working diligently to boost bilateral relations between Nigeria and Namibia during her tenure as high commissioner in the country and wished her success at her new post in the Namibian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Also yesterday, Jonathan received Ghana’s outgoing High Commissioner to Nigeria, Alhaji Baba Kamara, saying that bilateral relations between Nigeria and Ghana have been further strengthened in several ar-

eas during Alhaji Kamara’s four-year tenure.

President Jonathan expressed the hope that the outgoing high commissioner’s successor will continue his good work.

“We must continue to build and strengthen the cordial relations between us. We are the same people and colonial boundaries must not be allowed to keep us apart,” President Jonathan told Kamara.

According to the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, of the over 200 projects registered by it last year, Nigeria had 42 projects with a value of almost $200 million. Only China accounted for more registered projects in Ghana during the period with 56 projects.

Police slam six-count charge against Lloyd

•Gowon, Kaunda, Ghali, traditional rulers to mediate in peace talk OMEIZA AJAYI AND ROTIMI FADEYI

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he Nigerian Police Force has concluded its interrogation of the Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Chidi Lloyd, consequently filing a six-count charge against the lawmaker yesterday at a Port Harcourt, High Court.

The charges are, “conspiracy, attempted murder, causing grievous bodily harm, engaging in acts intended to cause grievous harm, malicious damage and assault occasioning harm.”

Confirming the development in a telephone chat with our Correspondent in Abuja, Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba said the police has done its first part of the job

and was awaiting the Chief Judge of Rivers State to assign the case to a judge in the state.

Mba, who said the Force would not allow itself to be drawn into partisan politics, said the police will only work according to the law in ensuring that justice is manifestly done in any case before it.

“The police has today (yesterday) filed a six-count charge against Hon. Lloyd at a Port Harcourt High Court, but the usual thing is that the Chief Judge of the state will now assign the case to a particular judge, who will now determine the date of hearing,” Mba said.

On the purported torturing of the lawmaker by police interrogators, Mba said police detectives from the office of the Inspector General of Police who handled his interrogation while in Abuja, to the best of my

knowledge, exhibited the highest level of professionalism.

He said: “They were civil, polite and they related with him respectfully. As a matter of fact, in order to eliminate all chances of allegations of this nature coming up, his interrogation was actually recorded; it was captured on video just to ensure we do not have such allegations.

“As a matter of fact, he was also a very cooperative suspect, while with us here.”

He said the lawmaker was never at any time conveyed in a Black Maria from the Port Harcourt Airport to the State Police Command.

According to him, Mr. Lloyd, was conveyed in a modern Armoured Personnel Carrier for his own safety.

He said detectives envis-

aged that his opponents may want to attack him, hence the need to accord the lawmaker maximum security.

Meanwhile, Prominent past leaders, including former Head of State, Dr. Yakubu Gowon and former Zambian President, Kenneth Kaunda are among those that have been invited to a meeting to find lasting solution to the political crisis in the state.

Former United Nations Secretary General , Dr. Boutrous Boutrous Ghali, President Goodluck Jonathan, Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and traditional rulers are also to attend the peace talk summoned at the instance of Her Royal Majesty Queen Akasoba Duke-Abiola, the Akasoba of Kalabari and Chair, Akasoba Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ACPCR).

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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Lagos must appeal Al-Mustapha’s acquittal –Activists TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE

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uman rights activists and civil society groups yesterday called on Lagos State government to approach the Supreme Court to appeal Major Hamza Al-Mustapha’s acquittal.

The Court of Appeal recently discharged and acquitted Al-Mustapha, who was the Chief Security Officer, CSO, to late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, of the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, wife of the winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election, Bashorun MKO Abiola.

The activists made the call yesterday in Lagos at the media presentation of a book entitled: “A Travesty of Justice – the acquittal of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha over the murder of Kudirat Abiola,” written by foremost journalist and human rights activist, Mr. Richard Akinnola, They asked the Lagos State government to speed up actions and appeal the ruling.

In his address, Akionla said Al-Mustapha’s acquittal was political, considering various events which had taken place since his release, especially the comments of some notable Nigerians, which pointed to the fact that the Presidency had a hand in his freedom.

He said: “Irrespective of what has happened at the Court of Appeal, let the mat-

ter go to the Supreme Court.

Let it be on record that this is what the Supreme Court said on the matter. So, I believe that the matter should be taken to the Supreme Court for final decision.”

Kudirat’s son, Mr. Abdulmumini Abiola, also condemned the Court of Appeal verdict, which he said had shown that ‘justice delay is justice denied”.

Abdulmumini also disclosed that the Abiola family would appeal the ruling at the Supreme Court.

He said: “Before the judgement I have thought this was going to happen because of the duration of the proceedings and how long it took before the judgement was delivered. I think there is a saying that; ‘Justice delayed is justice denied.’ We will still appeal the judgement at the Supreme Court.

“The matter is not about whether somebody has spent 15 years in detention or not, justice needs to be done.

“Even if the man is convicted and they want to hang him, between me and my family members, we could have probably come together and said there is no reason for more bloodshed, let this case just go on as a lesson to be learnt and we should not repeat that step.”

Also speaking, the National Secretary of the National Conscience Party, NCP, Comrade Ayodele Akele, said people must ensure that the case was taken to the Supreme Court.

Lagos Finance Commissioner, Abiru resigns

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overnor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State yesterday accepted the resignation of his Commissioner for Finance, Mr Tokunboh Abiru, commending him for rendering meritorious service to the state.

Speaking at the State Executive Council meeting after the presentation of the outgoing Commissioner’s letter of resignation from the council, Governor Fashola noted that the Commissioner who is leaving to take up appointment as Executive Director of First Bank of Nigeria Plc and a Board member of FBN Holdings Plc, gave commendable service to the state within his short but impactful stay in office.

The governor wished him well in his new challenge as the Executive Director of one of the leading banks in the country and expressed confidence that the out-going Commissioner would prove his mettle as a seasoned banker while continuing to bear aloft the flag of the

State.

Tokunbo Abiru, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and professional banker joined the State’s public service from the First Bank of Nigeria Plc where he has had over two decades of a successful career, serving variously as Group Head Corporate Banking and Business Development Manager among others.

In his letter of resignation to the Governor, dated June 8, Mr Abiru expressed his gratitude to the Governor for the life changing opportunity to serve the good people of Lagos and affirmed that he had indeed benefitted from the art of good leadership and governance.

He promised to remain a committed and good ambassador of the values and custom of the State Governor’s admirable leadership.

The letter of appointment from First Bank Plc dated June 19, 2013 said the appointment of Mr Tokunbo Abiru as an Executive Director will take effect from August 1, 2013.

L-R: Security Adviser to Lagos State governor, Maj. Tunde Panos (rtd); Commander, 9 Brigade, Brig.-Gen. Adeniyi Oyebade and representative of Assistant Commandant-General, Zone A, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Mrs. Fatimah Ekajeh, at a stakeholders' forum on critical infrastructure in Lagos, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Pregnant woman, seven others die in auto crash ADEOLU ADEYEMO OSOGBO

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ight persons, among them a pregnant woman, lost their lives in an accident yesterday in Owode on Gbongan Ibadan Road in Osun State.

A witness said three vehicles, a blue Golf car with registration number: AG 19 EDE, an ash Kia car with registration number: KUJ 74 AJ and a white Toyota Hiace bus with registration num-

ber: XR 930 ABC, were involved in the accident which occurred about 6.40am.

Many of the victims were traders going to trade in Owode market from Ede. “The Golf which was coming from the direction of Ede somersaulted and landed on the Kia car while the Toyota bus ran into the two vehicles,” the witness said.

Broken human in parts littered the scene of the crash before the arrival of the state government res-

cue team.

However, the victims’ bodies were evacuated and deposited at the morgue of the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, LAUTECH, Osogbo.

Meanwhile, activities in the market were paralysed as traders vacated the market to sympathise with the families of the victims.

Speaking on the accident, the state Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission,

FRSC, Mr. Imoh Etuk, warned drivers against over-speeding.

According to him, many of the drivers do not “observe all precautionary measures while on the road”.

He said: “Identities of the victims involved in it are yet to be ascertained but officials of the FRSC are making efforts to contact relatives of the victims through the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW.”

N59bn Sango-Ijoko-Agbado road construction begins September –Amosun FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

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overnor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State has promised that construction work on the six-lane Sango - Ijoko Agbado Road would begin in September.

Amosun gave the assurance yesterday while discussing with journalists during the breaking of Ramadan fast at the Government House at IsaleIgbein, Abeokuta, the state

capital.

The governor, who commended the perseverance of the residents of that axis, particularly motorists plying the road, explained that his administration would have completed the road but for lack of funds.

Reiterating the determination of his administration to leave lasting legacy just like that of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in the SouthWest, Amosun said the

34-kilometre road would be adorned with necessary infrastructure.

He said the N59 billion road contract would have street light, drainage and pedestrian sidewalks as well as six pedestrian bridges.

While assuring the residents of the state of his administration’s commitment to raise the standard of living of the people, the governor reminded journalists of the ethics of their profession as re-

gards objectivity.

He said: “I am not asking you to tell the people lies about my government, rather, be truthful and factual in all that my administration stands for. If I do five things, don’t say it is 15 or 10 but tell the people it is five.”

Amosun said the state would have been transformed by the time all the developmental projects going on across the three senatorial districts of the state were completed.

Cholera: Ex-Minister solicits WHO’s assistance for Ogun FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

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ormer Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Alhaji Sarafadeen Isola, yesterday called on the World Health Organisation, WHO, and other international health organisations to assist Ogun State curtail the cholera outbreak.

This was as the state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association,

NMA, distributed drugs to keep victims alive and check the spread of the epidemic.

In a statement issued in Abeokuta yesterday, Isola also called on Governor Ibikunle Amosun to declare a state of emergency in the health sector to ensure that the epidemic does not claim more lives.

The former minister, who is also an indigene of the state, warned that government must not

play politics with issues bordering on the health and lives of its citizens.

Isola, however, called on other health institutions to come to the aid of the state to tackle the epidemic.

He said: “We also call on the Federal Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation and other health agencies and institutions to come to the aid of the citizens of the state in combating this epidemic which portends a

looming disaster in the state healthcare sector.

“We salute the rare courage and express a deep sense of appreciation to the NMA in Ogun State for their patriotic spirit by calling the attention of the public to the threat and danger posed to the health of the people by the epidemic despite the attempt by the Ogun State government to play down on this and dismiss the challenge as a no-case.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

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Nigeria can’t develop without true federalism –Alaafin KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN

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he Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, has urged Nigeria to adopt true federal system of government.

Oba Adeyemi, who spoke at his palace while breaking fast with members of the Oyo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) led by its chairman, Mr. Gbenga Opadotun, urged President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to save the country from collapse.

According to the mon-

arch, with too much power at the centre and the states going cap in hand every month to beg for money would not facilitate meaningful development of the country.

He said: “If states are allowed to control their resources, they will grow at their own pace while it will ease the tension of politicians scrambling to take over power at the federal level.”

Oba Adeyemi, however, flayed those kicking against giving roles to traditional rulers especially in decision making.

Alaafin said opposing ad-

visory roles for traditional rulers amounts to postponing the evil day for the nation's corporate and peaceful co-existence.

He said: "There is no where in the world where an important and vital segment of a society would be excluded from the administration and that administration will survive. We are just wasting our time. The Clifford Constitution of 1922 tried to find a role for the traditional rulers in the Legis-

lative Council. The British, in their wisdom, included the Obas although purely on advisory capacity, it worked.

Remember that what we have today is federal system of government. The essence of federalism is that we are different people, different nation, customs, religion, administration, history, culture, language.

"When you have diversity of culture, diversity of religion, way of life, the best form of contribution would

be federal system. If you don't take into cognisance all these and you are running away from essence and the social element of that diversity, you must formulate a policy that would go in line and unison to what people want.

"Remember also that USSR and Yugoslavia collapsed. There is no reason for that than the fact that they were holding them together at that time by force.

“In Yorubaland, we are the first to practice democ-

racy, separation of power.

An American, Townsend, came to Africa and he said, ‘that the highest essence about the best form of government among the Whites lies in the separation of power to prevent the abuse of power".

"The West African people; the Yorubas have not only studied it, but have put it into practice long before the Americans and before the Baron started using it in Great Britain.”

Alleged plagiarism: Lecturer files N22m suit against FUNAAB WALE IGBINTADE

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lecturer in the Chemistry Department of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State, Dr. Mojisola Olubunmi Nkiko, who was recently demoted from lecturer II to assistant lecturer for alleged plagiarism, has instituted a suit against the university before the National Industrial Court (NIC).

The claimant is demanding N20 million as general damages and additional N2 million as cost of initiating and prosecuting the suit.

The university had, in its bulletin, reference FUNAAB/VC/PRD.08/42 and dated May 10, 2013, demoted the claimant while others were sacked for alleged plagiarism.

But the claimant in the suit filed by her lawyer, Emeka Okpoko, is praying for an order setting aside the purported demotion and restoring her to the position of lecturer II with all rights and privileges attached.

She is seeking a declaration that the constitution, composition, procedure and the subsequent findings and decisions/ recommendation of the disciplinary

committee were fundamentally flawed and constitute a breach of the terms of the condition of service and a gross violation of her right to fair hearing.

The claimant is also asking the court to declare that her purported demotion was wrongful, illegal, oppressive and null and void.

She contended that her demotion from the position of lecturer II to assistant lecturer was tantamount to a tacit termination or forced termination.

The claimant said there is no provision in the university’s Senior Staff Rules and Regulations for demotion of staff from a senior rank to a lower rank.

She said that she had 21 years of unbroken and unblemished academic trajectory without the slightest malfeasance or fraud.

The claimant averred that the research works in question was published in a reputable journal which enjoys global visibility considering its online version.

She claimed that the alleged plagiarism emanated from an anonymous letter from the Chemistry Department in furtherance of vendetta targeted at another lecture, Dr. Bamigbose, and anybody who associated with her.

Students of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, protesting non-availability of power and water in their hostels, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

FESTAC 77 not meant for idol worshipping –Gowon OJO OYEWAMIDE AKURE

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hirty six years after Nigeria hosted the Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture popularly called FESTAC 77, former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, has said the event was not meant for idol worshipping.

He said the objective of the festival was to showcase the rich cultural heritage of Nigeria and other Africa countries.

Gowon spoke at the weekend during the first session of the 11th Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Owo held at Saint Andrew's Anglican Church Uso in Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State.

The former Head of State

said he had planned to begin the festival with prayers from Christian and Muslim clerics, but his regime was overthrown before the event was celebrated in 1977, adding that it was originally slated for 1975.

Gowon said: “In the search for scapegoat to bear the blame of the multitude of challenges that confront the country, many have opted to zero in on the hosting of the Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) that took place in 1977.

“FESTAC 77 was neither to showcase idols nor promote idol worshiping in the country and should not be an excuse for the nation's malaise. It was to showcase the rich cultural potentials in the country and the entire black race.

“The programme was planned to be declared open with prayers by both Christian and Muslim clerics, but before the commencement of the festival, my administration had been toppled and I was in exile when the event was held.”

He said whenever a nation approaches her Jubilee, all hell would seem to be let loose, adding that “the devil will orchestrate events and issues that will create confusion, uncertainty, fear and unrest.”

Gowon said it was not late to re-define and re-order the country and that the challenges confronting the nation called for sober reflections.

He said: "What is happening in our country today calls for sober reflections, as

we entreat God on behalf of our nation.

“I want to believe that in-spite of the gloomy situation made manifest by the escalating security and political challenges in our nation, the church in Nigeria, given its spiritual and human resources, occupies a strategic position to trigger process aimed at re-making and enforcing and reinforcing the blessings of Jubilee.

It is not late to re-define and re-order Nigeria."

Gowon, who is the Chairman of the Christian Society of Nigeria, however, said hope was not lost for the nation, saying, "Nigeria Praise" programme, which he initiated in 1996, was to offer continuous prayers for unity, peace and progress of the country.

Victims of Osun’s urban renewal programme get N600m compensation ADEOLU ADEYEMO OSOGBO

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he Osun State Government has paid N600 million compensation to those who lost their houses and other property to the on-going urban renewal programme in the state.

The Commissioner of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Dr. Wale Bolorunduro, told journalists yesterday in Osogbo, the state capital, that the government paid compensation to people with genuine documents.

Bolorunduro said: “The on-going urban renewal

programme embarked by the state government was aimed at giving the proposed nine cities identity like Sigapore, China and New York, among others.”

He, however, urged residents to cooperate with Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration to develop the state.

Reacting to a statement that the state government has been pulling down properties of innocent people because of its plan to plant trees and flowers on the roads’ setbacks, the commissioner said: “The exercise was aimed at giving the state identity as an impetus for socio-economic development."

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APGA crisis: Obi, Umeh reconcile CHARLES OKEKE AWKA

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he feuding leaders of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State and the party’s National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, yesterday met and resolved crisis tearing the party apart.

Speaking after the closed-door meeting at the Government House, Awka, Obi said the crisis which they had fully re-

solved would never come up again.

He said: “The crisis would never come up again. Anambra State is an APGA state and it would remain so, we will defend it with everything, we would go out with everything during the coming election and win.”

The governor assured party faithful that the end of the crisis signalled greater things and victories for APGA, adding that they would reconcile everybody and make sure that all were

brought back on track.

While addressing journalists and other dignitaries, the national chairman of the party said: “I have come to crystallise the various meetings we have had in the recent time and to declare to the whole world that the APGA crisis has come to an end.”

Describing the resolution of the crisis as a new dawn, Umeh said APGA was an indivisible party which would remain very strong and united.

The APGA national

chairman, who commended Obi for his developmental programmes, said he would continue to work harmoniously with the governor to reposition the party.

He said: “Like brothers, we would continue to resolve all outstanding differences, I am sure that (the late Chief Chukwuemeka) Ojukwu will be very happy today, he is in heaven, and I know that what he had left in our hands will remain safe and strong, we have conquered the devil.”

L-R: Anambra State Governor Peter Obi and the National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, during their reconciliatory meeting at the Government House, Awka, yesterday.

Govs must check flood, abduction, road crashes –Ola Makinde ALIUNA GODWIN EBONYI

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he Prelate of Methodist Church Nigeria, Dr. Sunday Ola Makinde, has urged governors to assist President Goodluck Jonathan to check flood, incessant road crashes and kidnapping.

Makinde made the call in a goodwill message delivered by the Diocesan Youth President, Abakaliki Diocese, Mr. Okoroezi Ikechukwu, during the National Youths’ Day celebration in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.

He said it was regrettable that the havoc wreaked on the country by floods, abduction of eminent Nigerians and foreigners as well as unemployment had continued to negatively affect the Jonathan administration.

According to him, Nigeria has continued to witness setback as result of the calamities brought on the country by Boko Haram through bombing and destruction of lives and property of innocent Nigerians.

He said: “The calamines

created in the many bombings by the Islamic sect, Boko Harm, coupled with floods in almost every state of the federation, have affected the economic growth of the nation.”

The prelate enjoined governors to improve on the construction and rehabilitation of state and federal roads to reduce accidents on the road.

He said: “The high rate of accidents on Nigerian roads, the kidnapping of

some eminent Nigerians and foreigners, high rate of unemployment, decay in academic and poor infrastructural facilities, armed robbery, rape and suicide among other crimes have affected the nation.”

Makinde said the country could only improve when there was peace and cooperation of those in power.

He said: “I charge those in authority to remain committed to everything that will enhance the growth of

peace and corporate existence of Nigeria as a strong and indivisible nation.”

The prelate called on politicians to always assist the youths by providing them jobs that would keep them busy rather than use them as thugs during in an election.

He said: “Help one another and talk to the right people who can assist our unemployed youths. I am worried about the plight of our unemployed youths.”

Poor roads hindering economic activities –Aba residents

T

he residents of Aba yesterday called on the Abia State government to urgently rehabilitate and reconstruct roads in the city to forestall imminent flooding.

Respondents told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, that the heavy rains witnessed in the city had posed a serious threat to the residents, especially businessmen.

They said the bad roads in the city were driving businesses away as many of them were moving to

neighbouring states like Akwa Ibom and Enugu that had improved infrastructure.

One of the residents and a businessman, Mr. Okey Nwagbara, said businesses had collapsed owing to poor infrastructure in the town.

He said: “There is no business going on in Aba anymore. Businesses have collapsed. All those people who used to come to Aba to do business have diverted to other places due to lack of access to the city.

“Businessmen are now

relocating to neighbouring states like Akwa Ibom and Enugu because the governors have provided enabling environment for them.

“What pains me most is that these roads were commissioned a few months ago.”

Another resident, Mr. Christian Nwokedi, who has lived in Aba for 30 years, said the town had been neglected by past governments.

Nwokedi, who produces leather dyes, said products made in Aba could hardly be moved to the markets.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Okorocha joined APC to save Igbo –APGA Chair CHRIS NJOKU OWERRI

I

mo State Governor Rochas Okorocha joined the All Progressives Congress, APC, because of the current political reality in the country which does not favour the Igbo.

The state Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Marshall Okafor Anyanwu, said this in Owerri, the state capital.

Anyanwu explained that the decision to join other progressives to form APC was taken in the best interest of the people of the South-East zone.

The chairman argued that the decision did not mean that APGA would cease to exist.

He said: “This doesn’t mean that APGA has stopped to exist as a political party, it will remain an identity of the Igbo.”

Anyanwu added that there was need to consult wide and seek collaboration of Nigerians sympathetic to the cause of our Igbo.

According to him, APGA’s acceptance and strength in the zone are still not enough to secure a front role in the affairs of the country as one of the tripods on which the country stands.

He said: “The governor took a plunge to save Ndigbo from political encapsulation. We cannot achieve our political ambitions under APGA. We need to

Okorocha

take urgent and drastic measures to save our people from further marginalisation and our governor has taken the lead and should be supported.

“APC is a place where the Igbo aspiration will be realised.

“It is absurd to notice that the South-East has no place in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, because after voting for President Goodluck Jonathan the zone has nothing to show for it and you expect us to still remain in that party.

It is unrealistic.

“We have a population of about 30 million people and still playing second fiddle. Today no Igbo man occupies any frontline position. We don’t have the position of the Senate president, Speaker, Chief Judge, Vice-President and National Chairman of the ruling party.

“The era of selfish politics is gone. With the arithmetic of the setting in APC the possibility of an Igbo man becoming the President, the Senate president or occupying any other exalted position is quite possible.”

NJC recommends Abia CJ’s compulsory retirement

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he National Judicial Council, NJC, yesterday recommended the compulsory retirement of the Acting Chief Judge, CJ, of Abia State, Justice Shadrach Nwanosike.

The recommendation is contained in a statement signed by the Acting Director of Information of the Supreme Court, Mr. Soji Oye, in Abuja.

The statement said the recommendation was sequel to the findings of the NJC that Nwanosike falsified his date of birth which invariably affected his retirement age.

It added that the NJC also considered and deliberated on the report of

its Committee on Performance Evaluation of Judicial Officers of the Superior Courts of Record in the country.

The NJC also recommended the appointment of judicial officers as Chief Judges of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Rivers, Jigawa and Katsina states.

It stated that the name of a Chief Judge for the FCT High Court had been recommended to President Goodluck Jonathan for appointment.

The NJC is under the chairmanship of the Chief the Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Aloma Mukhtar.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South South

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

11

Akwa Ibom SSG, Umana Okon Umana, resigns S ecretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government, SSG, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, has resigned on the orders of the governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio.

Information gathered

by National Mirror indicates that Umana’s office has been sealed by heavily armed policemen as people are not allowed to either enter or leave the office.

National Mirror also gathered from an insider in government that Umana, yesterday dared the governor; saying that if

Governor Akpabio disallows him succeed him (Akpabio) in 2015, he (Umana) will spill the beans for both of them to crash.

Earlier last week, according to our source, Governor Akpabio had a rough time in the hands of Umana, who allegedly verbally assaulted him and labeled him a betrayer before some citizens of the state.

An astonished Akpabio was said to have reminded Umana that he had given him a free hand to operate in the last six years, including the latest offer of becom-

ing the managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, which is Akwa Ibom State’s turn to fill, but which Umana turned down.

The source also said Umana told the governor to go away with his NNDC job which was a ploy to exclude him from contesting the 2015 governorship race in the state.

He was said to have furiously reminded the governor that if he fails to fulfill the promise made to him earlier to succeed him, he will grab the coveted office

without the support of the governor or rock the boat, a statement which our sources said angered the governor who demanded his immediate resignation.

A serving commissioner in Akpabio’s cabinet, who did not want his name in print, told National Mirror that a new SSG will be announced tomorrow by the governor.

It was also gathered that the SSG turned down the governor’s nomination for NDDC managing director’s position in preference for his governorship

ambition in 2015, because his supporters urged him to distance himself from the position, a development which forced the governor to nominate Francis Uduyork, and two others for the plum position.

When National Mirror visited Government House, Uyo yesterday, there was heavy security presence in the premises, preventing people and from going towards his office.

The state Commissioner of Information, Mr. Aniekan Umanah, declined comments on the grounds that he was not aware of the development. The Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Anietie Ukpe, would also not respond to his numerous calls from journalists.

Earlier, at a meeting with stakeholders of the eight oil producing areas of the state in Eket, Governor Akpabio said he has no intention of going against the wishes of the people on the 2015 elections; hence it is false that

he has a successor in mind.

He said his intention was to commence a town hall meeting with the people through the 10 federal constituencies in the state, to be acquainted with the wishes of the state.

The governor said he would start ‘the meet the people tour’ after the anniversary of the state on September 23, this year, and called on the PDP to fashion out a programme in that direction.

He also assured Eket people that his government will immediately commence a comprehensive modernisation of the area as soon as the dry season sets in, adding that he had to start the beautification programme in Uyo, because of its significance as the reference point of the state.

At another forum in Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area, Governor Akpabio said only God would determine his successor at the Hilltop Mansion.

JTF arrests 608 suspected oil thieves, seizes 24 vessels

T L-R: Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada; Cross River State Governor, Liyel Imoke and National Security Adviser, Col. Mohammed Dasuki (rtd), at the opening of the first Gulf of Guinea Regional Maritime Security Conference in Calabar, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Senator under pressure over vote on underage marriage SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN BENIN

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he senator representing Edo Central senatorial district in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, Senator Odion Ugbesia, has been under pressure since he voted for underage marriage in the senate penultimate week.

The embattled senator spent the whole of yesterday meeting with people in different interactive sessions in his home state, Edo, trying hard to convince his people on why he voted the way he did.

It was gathered at the weekend that a civil society organisation, the EdoCIAO, whose membership comprises of foremost Edo professionals and Nigerians in Diaspora, became the first group to turn the heat on the lawmaker with a widely circulated petition directing the lawmaker to immedi-

ately withdraw his vote or prepare to face a recall from the Senate.

According to the initiator of the petition, Ms. Joan Oviawe and its promoter, Esohe Aghatise, Ugbesia’s support for the bill is capable of fueling trafficking in persons, prostitution and child labour in Edo State, the three hydra-headed, antisocial vices that the Federal Government has been unable to deal with even with all of its resources.

Oviawe said; “The National Assembly decided in its dubious wisdom to pass a bill which removes the age limit for legal marriage of Nigerian children, thus permitting the marriage of underage children, even children as young as five years or even less in contradiction of several international legal instruments signed and ratified by Nigeria.

“This bill is clearly an attempt to legalise the

criminal actions of the promoter, Senator Sani Ahmed Yerima, who married a 13-year-old girl years back, and prevent him from facing the wrath of the law.

“It is with anger and shame that we realise that one of the signatories and supporters of this shameful and repugnant bill is Senator Odion Ugbesia from Edo Central Senatorial District.

“We find such adhesion on the part of our representative completely unacceptable and against what should be the position of our beloved state on such issues, seeing the huge problem of human and sexual trafficking bedeviling our state.

“We would thus want him to know our feelings and to immediately withdraw his support for this terrible denial of basic human rights to our children.”

But defending himself

yesterday, Ugbesia described the public outcry over his vote as mischievous and an act of misinformation by the media.

The two-term lawmaker insisted that what was brought before the upper chamber for consideration was a bill to alter the provisions of the constitution on citizenship status.

He said; “What was brought to the Senate for consideration was an act to further alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999 and for other matters connected therewith 2013.

“I voted for the retention of an innocuous clause in the constitution.

It does not hurt anybody to remove it and if you don’t remove it, it does not hurt anybody. I will not vote for child marriage.

I have two daughters. I will not subject any of my grandchildren for underage marriage,” he said.

he Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta, code-named ‘Operation Pulo Shield,’ yesterday said it has arrested 608 suspected oil thieves in 594 raids carried out between January and June this year.

JTF spokesman, Lt.Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa, that oil theft was consequently on the decline.

“So far we have carried out 594 illegal oil bunkering patrols, and several arrests have been made.

“In the two quarters we are talking about, we’ve scuttled about 748 illegal refineries within the region and we have impounded 24 sea-going vessels; we equally have arrested 133 barges involved in oil theft.

“And 861 giant open wooden boats, popularly referred to as ‘Cotonou boats’ have been scuttled over this period.

“About 910 large surface tanks which oil thieves used in illegal refineries to reserve the crude have been scuttled.

“We’ve taken into custody about 608 suspects who are involved in oil theft and oil theft-related

cases.”

On the rate of oil theft which reportedly led to a combined shut-in of 190,000 barrels per day production in Bayelsa, Nwachukwu said the JTF was making a positive impact.

The spokesman said: “Of course we stepped up our operational activities and I assure you that oil theft is now going down.

“Two major pipelines were shut down and before these pipelines were shut down, our patrol troops had reported breaches on these pipelines.

“And if the oil companies had reacted in time to these reports, the breaches would have been arrested, and it would not have resulted in this entire shut down of the pipelines.

“So, I would say if you take fly over the entire area, you will find that most of the illegal refineries that were in operation, that were alive in those days, have been shut down, completely scuttled.”

Nwachukwu said the JTF was making progress in its campaign against oil theft because of the support of residents and community leaders in the oil-bearing communities.

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North

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Man nabbed for allegedly kidnapping six girls in Ilorin WOLE ADEDEJI ILORIN

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middle-aged man, Bashiru Ishola, was yesterday arrested for allegedly kidnapping three girls by men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Ilorin, Kwara State capital.

The suspect, a drummer with a local music band, confessed to have committed the crime on Friday, July 26, 2013 at Oke Kere community in the metropolis and blamed his act on the devil.

National Mirror was told that the kidnapped girls were of the same parents.

Addressing journalists while parading the suspect in Ilorin, NSCDC Commandant, Mr. Yerima Gana, said the children were abducted on Sheikh Kamaldeem Street, Oke Kere, Ilorin, on their way to partake in the break of

Ramadan fast.

An Islamic cleric had prepared pap and invited children to join him in breaking the fast.

Gana said the suspect enticed the kids with soya beans cake popularly called beske, and a loaf of bread before he took them to Flower Garden area, a about 20 kilometers away from where the kids had gone for the free pap.

He said that some charms, wrapped with black and white thread, were found on the suspect.

Gana, however, advised parents to pay closer attention to their wards.

He particularly asked the parents to ensure that their children do not stray too far from them.

When interviewed by journalists, the suspect confessed to the crime and begged for leniency, adding that it was the work of the devil.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Four die in Fulani, Agatu clash HENRY IYORKASE MAKURDI

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he Benue State Police Command yesterday confirmed that four persons died in a crisis between Fulani and the Agatu ethnic group in

the state at the weekend.

The disclosure is contrary to earlier report that nine persons were killed in the violence.

Speaking to National Mirror on the development, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO),

Mr. Daniel Ezeala, said that four persons lost their lives in the crisis.

He, however, said the situation was brought under control following prompt intervention of the police.

According to him, the

police would provide adequate security in the 23 local government areas of in the state.

The PPRP said efforts were being intensified to ensure that cases of Fulani attacks on innocent citizens are tackled.

L-R: Vice-Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof. Vincent Terebe; his wife, Rabi and Director, Centre for Educational Technology and Entrepreneurial Development, NOUN, Dr. Saratu Audu, at a news conference on the activities of the institution in Kaduna, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Alleged forgery: Leadership journalists lose bid to stop trial ISE-OLUWA IGE ABUJA

A

n Abuja High Court sitting in Kubwa yesterday threw out an application

by Leadership journalists to stay proceedings in a criminal trial instituted against them by the Federal Government pending when President Goodluck Jonathan will complete his tenure and be available to testify as their witness.

The high court judge, Justice Usman Musale, had held that: “The matter before the court is a criminal trial and the burden is on the prosecution to prove its case.

Consequently, the application to adjourn the case sina die is hereby refused.”

The judge consequently adjourned the matter till October 24, 2013 for trial and also extended the bail of the accused journalists.

But lead counsel to the journalists, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), disagreed with the ruling and vowed to contest it at the Abuja Court of Appeal.

The Federal Government had, on June 27,

2013, re-arraigned two Leadership journalists namely: News Editor, Mr. Tony Amokeodo and senior correspondent, Mr. Chibuzo Ukaibe, on an 11-count criminal charge alleging forgery of presidential directive published in Leadership newspaper of April 3, 2013.

But Falana asked for an order of the court to suspend further proceedings in the matter indefinitely to await the expiration President

Jonathan’s tenure to enable him testify as a witness for the accused persons/applicants.

Falana insisted that the fundamental right of the accused persons to fair hearing could not be observed by the court because by virtue of Section 308 of the 1999 Constituted as amended, the court lacked the vires to issue and cause to be served a subpoena ad testificandum on president Jonathan to testify as a witness for the accused

persons in this case.

The Lagos lawyer stressed that accused persons are inhibited from obtaining the attendance of president Jonathan to testify as a witness for the accused persons in this case.

He said: “By the virtue of Section 308, the accused persons/applicants are constitutionally disabled to summon Jonathan to give evidence in this case and he cannot do that until he leaves office.

“There is a conflict between sections 36 and 308 of the constitution.

Therefore, the rights of the accused applicants enshrined in section 36 cannot be sacrificed at the altar of section 308.”

The trial judge had also set aside a subpoena he issued against the President to appear and testify as a witness for the journalists.

“I agree with the defence counsel that the subpoena was applied for in error and issued in er-

Onaiyekan flays govt over 17 million housing deficit OLUFEMI ADEOSUN ABUJA

C

atholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese John Cardinal Onaiyekan yesterday berated the Federal Government over its failure to bridge the nation’s 17 million housing deficit.

He also flayed the government for its failure to evolve realisable housing policies which could take care of the lower echelon of the society.

Onaiyekan spoke in Abuja during the commissioning of the 500 units ultra modern business and

office mall estimated at N1billion.

The complex, built by Platinum Mortgage Bank Limited, is expected to take care of the fast fading middle class in the country.

Onaiyekan said: “We are worried at the inequality as far as housing is concerned in our country.

Those who are rich are living in beautiful mansions, while those who have no money are living like rat and cockroaches. There must be a bridge across this huge gap.

“I hope that people like Engineer Mbaka, the

Managing Director, Platinum Mortgage Bank, can help government design policies that will ensure decent housing for the people who are not super rich.”

In his address, Mbaka said the complex was built to cater for the interest of middle class.

He said: “Our objective, as a Mortgage Bank, is to ensure a vibrant middle class in Nigeria. This complex yet provides another unique opportunity to sustain this class, which is rapidly going into extinction. We give you the opportunity to retire from

government office to your own personal office.”

Mbaka added that the bank had set a target to build 10,000 housing units within the next five years across the country as part of its contributions to the government’s efforts at bridging housing deficit gap.

On efforts to ensure the realisation of the target, Mbaka said: “We have already started 5,000 in Abia State. We were there two weeks ago where the state governor flagged off the construction the housing estate.

“Construction is on-

ror. This is because section 308 of the CFRN 1999 as amended prohibited that such application should be made in the first instance and that even if it is applied for, it should not be granted.

Therefore, the subpoena is hereby set aside,” the judge said.

The judge, who relied on Section 308(1), held that by the term “notwithstanding”, means that Section 308 subsumed Section 36 of the Constitution. going now. We also have project in Badagry, Lagos State.”

He added that the bank would continue to pursue its dream to ensure better housing for the people, especially the low income earners.

Onaiyekan

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

SUPER TUESDAY

Politics

House of Reps: Tortuous path towards making a new constitution

There’s no basis to endorse Jonathan for 2015 election –Ali

14,15

Since the formation of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 1998, the party has passed through tumultuous times and in so doing, has also set up various reconciliation committees in efforts to achieving a peaceful party. OBIORA IFOH takes a look at some of the reconciliation committees and what have been their impacts so far.

13

42, 43

PDP crisis: Reconciliation committees without solution

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n his assumption of office as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur unveiled his mission through a well articulated programmes tagged the 3Rs agenda of reconciliation, rebuilding and reforming the party. The agenda was purely meant for the purpose of bringing back aggrieved members of the party, who either defected to other political parties or took a dignified distance from Wadata Plaza, the party’s national secretariat.

Tukur has since then seized every opportunity to pontificate on the need for the party to return to its original goals. But the more he preaches his sermon, the more it is welcomed with mixed feelings by party faithful. Their cynicisms towards Tukur’s mission was not misplaced, as there was the reconciliation committee led by former vice-president, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, whose report submitted to the Prince Vincent Ogbulafor-led PDP National Working Committee, NWC, was consigned to the dust bin, the latest of the committees is the Seriake Dickson-led 30-man reconciliation committees inaugurated by Tukur last week.

Most party faithful are of the opinion that what the party needs more is the will power to act on reports of earlier reconciliation committees particularly, that of the former vice president rather than churning out new ones which may likely go the way of the rest.

The Ekwueme Committee The party from inception till 2007 witnessed what pundits call teething problems that are associated with an organisation that has massive public appeal. During this period, the leadership of the party hardly allowed for internal democracy to reign within the PDP. It was an era of arbitrariness and imposition of candidates, a period when members were either expelled without just cause or deliberately frustrated out of the party. That was how many founding fathers of the PDP were estranged from the party and forced to go to other parties.

Unfortunately, there were no serious and genuine efforts at reconciliation during that period. However, intrusive party leaders following the concern of late President Umaru Yar’Adua to bring back aggrieved members into the party, the Ogbulafor-led NWC constituted an 11- man reconciliation committee, with Ekwueme as chairman.

Anenih

TOP STORY

Tukur

Ekwueme

A LARGE PLATFORM LIKE THE PDP CANNOT BE DEVOID OF

Other members of the Committee were Mallam Adamu Ciroma; former deputy national chairman, Bode George; Shuaib Oyedokun, Fidelis Tapgun, Ime Udum, Abubakar Magaji and Jerry Gana.

In spite of the comprehensive report submitted by the Ekwueme Committee, nothing concrete was done to implement the report and so the situation did not improve markedly before the demise of Yar’Adua and subsequent election of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.

Part of the recommendations in the Ekwueme report was that the appellation of ‘leader’ accorded certain chieftains of the party be discarded, as there was no provision for it in the PDP constitution.

The committee noted that the position was intrusive, as it allowed party chieftains designated as such to compete with state and zonal chairmen of the party, statutorily recognised by the party constitution. It also frowned at the situation where excessive powers were deposited in the pockets of the governors and the party machinery tied unto their aprons, reason why internal democracy took flight as the governors now dispense powers at their whims.

Tukur only recently lamented that lack of internal democracy in the party was a threat to its existence and to address the problem, he inaugurated a 50-member panel led by Ekwueme to advise the party’s leadership on the way forward.

Tukur noted that the party lacks openness, inclusivity and fairness as well as proper balance between the principles of

SEVERAL TENDENCIES, CONFLICT OF INTERESTS AND ALL MANNER OF CRISIS.

BUT AS DEMOCRATS, WE MUST EVOLVE WAYS OF APPRECIATING THEM AND RESOLVING CRISIS WITHIN THE PARTY WITHOUT SNIFFING PEOPLE fusion and separation of powers, challenges, he said constitute stumbling blocks to the party.

The chairman reiterated his resolve to turn around the party using his approach of reconciliation and rebuilding, stressing that PDP would use the outcome of the committee’s exercise “to address identified issues and problems that will assist the party take the correct, realistic, reasonable decisions, which would be necessary to sustain the primacy of our party.”

That committee refused to function as it believed that the solution to the problem of lack of internal democracy are already with the party leadership as contained in

the Ekwueme famous report.

Ekwueme lamented that the party, for several years, departed from the dream of its founding fathers and commended Tukur for embarking on the rebuilding process.

The Tukur-led NWC Committee The recent reconciliation attempt embarked upon by the NWC of the PDP at the six geopolitical zones clearly exposed that all is not well with the party. Reconciliation became a top priority of the party after its national caucus identified the need for immediate reconciliation, especially ahead of the 2015 general elections.

Following the advice of the national caucus, the NWC held an emergency meeting to commence a national reconciliation tour of the six geo-political zones of the country.

The tour which was poorly attended clearly exposed the varying degrees of crisis among the stakeholders.

The South-West zone complained about marginalisation and absence of internal democracy in the affairs of the PDP and that the zone has been sidelined in the affairs of the party at the national level following the sacking of the National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola. They also asked for the organisation of congresses that would restore the South-West zonal executive of PDP, which is currently held by a caretaker committee.

In the South-East, complaints of imposition of candidates by some self-acclaimed godfathers during elections rented the air.

Party elders and members also decried the increasing popularity of the opposition merger, All Progressives Congress, APC, in the zone. The stakeholders concluded that CONTINUED ON PAGE 41

14

Politics

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

There’s no basis to endorse Second Republic Senator, Alhaji Abba Ali, 73, is several things put together: a businessman, educator, and politician. He was a headmaster before dabbling into politics several decades ago, and was a former member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, before pitching his tent with the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC. In this interview with JAMES DANJUMA in Katsina, he speaks on Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s 2015 presidential ambition, the ongoing constitutional amendment by the National Assembly among other issues. Excerpts: Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has contested for the presidency three times and there are expectations he might contest again in 2015. Do you see this as being possible and will he win if he contests?

I want to draw the attention of General Buhari’s supporters and followers that they are trying to put the cart before the horse. I’m sure if Buhari is going to contest, he’s going to contest under the new party, the All Progressives Congress, APC. This new party is being formed by about four or five parties. So, I think it’s premature for now to talk about the presidency of a party that is not even registered yet.

What I’m trying to say is that, I am not objecting Buhari’s presidency but that there would be so many people from various parties; if we are operating a political system, an open one, then we should allow whoever wants to contest to do so, including Buhari as he is a member of the party.

If the new party’s constitution allows everyone that feels that he can contest an office, then there should be sort of an elective procedure, whether it is nomination, primary election or whatever it is; that should be followed and everybody given a chance to contest. But we are trying to put the cart before the horse; let’s wait a little and see first the party we are forming and see those who would be members of the party, before we start talking about the presidency in 2015.

But Buhari’s calling supporters are calling on him to contest the 2015 presidency?

That is the view of some people, as you have said. But as far as I’m concerned, we are now in an era of forming a new party. My opinion is that we should not start thinking of elective positions for now until we form the party and see the type of people that would register as members.

There are thousands of people in Nigeria who are capable of holding that office, so we shouldn’t limit our scope. Of course I am not opposing him (Buhari); he’s my friend; he’s my classmate; but I just want to be objective. Let’s form a party first. We are trying to solve the problem we are facing with the PDP which often nominate people legally and illegally, and even snatch away political seats contested by some people.

If we are to progress on a clean-slate political system, we should allow the party to be formed to be supreme and above any single person. Once we have

supremacy of the party with its constitution being followed strictly; the procedure or whatever is laid down by the party is followed strictly; I’m sure we are going to succeed. But I don’t want us to begin to think of positions now.

The North is insisting on a president of Northern extraction come 2015 even as President Goodluck Jonathan’s body language is suggesting he wants to re-contest. How do you assess this contrast?

Nigeria does not have only one party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as there are others. If we have the PDP among others, then each party has the right to field its own candidate. This contrast arose or started during the President Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure in 1999. It was agreed then that PDP members have good understanding and acceptance of each other, and the PDP decided that we should have rotational presidency between the South and the North. When the then president completed two terms, the seat should be shifted to the North for similar two terms.

Unfortunately, as time went on after the demise of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, President Jonathan then contested, despite the rotational agreement. In my opinion, Jonathan shouldn’t have contested; he should have allowed a northerner to complete the terms and then when it comes to 2015, he could then contest. But this is the problem of the PDP. I don’t think other parties would create such problem again.

I believe that in a political system, the best way is to treat the whole country as

IN ISLAM, A GIRL DOESN’T HAVE TO BE 18 BEFORE SHE GETS MARRIED. PUBERTY IS NOT DETERMINED WHEN A GIRL REACHES

18 YEARS.

SHE COULD REACH

PUBERTY WHEN SHE IS ABOUT

12 OR 13

Unongo

Ali

one and the best candidate that people think should be given the presidency, should be given it.

The Arewa Consultative Forum and the Northern Elders Forum have reiterated that they would not support Jonathan should he decide to contest in 2015. As a northern stakeholder, are you in support of their views?

We are just going back to the problem that PDP created. Jonathan shouldn’t have contested in the first place and that’s why they have probably taken the stand that they would not vote for him, and I think it is their right. If we had followed strictly the procedure laid down by the PDP, perhaps such issue would not have arisen.

What of Jonathan’s endorsements by some Nigerians that he should contest for the presidency in 2015?

Endorsement is not politics. What has

he done that they endorsed him? You only endorse someone when you know he has done something that people appreciate.

But his tenure as the president; what has he done to worth the endorsements?

What then is your general assessment of President Jonathan’s administration in terms of socio-economic development?

I don’t see any improvement; every day we are deteriorating. There is no electricity in this country; people are becoming poorer by the day, so many accidents and so on. People cannot survive due to lack of electricity supply; they cannot do menial jobs and thus get something to eat. The educational system is going down, there are no drugs in the hospitals; everyday our national income is increasing but the services are decreasing.

Go to the hospitals; do you think of getting free medication in any of our hospitals now?

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

15

Jonathan for 2015 election –Ali ENDORSEMENT IS NOT POLITICS. WHAT HAS HE DONE THAT

THEY ENDORSED HIM?

YOU ONLY ENDORSE

SOMEONE WHEN YOU KNOW HE HAS DONE SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE APPRECIATE but what is there on the ground? Do I have running water from my tap for 24 hours? Do children get free education at the primary, secondary or tertiary levels?

In our hospitals, are there medications that are given for free? If you are unlucky and you have to be operated on, a lot of money would be demanded from you and if you don’t have it nobody cares.

If the PDP as you say is not performing to expectation, what is the hope that opposition parties would do better if they come to power?

If the coalition party is serious, there are several things it can pick up and perform better because there are so many things that have not been done. Have you travelled by road to Lagos? Have you seen the condition of the roads? Any opposition party, if it takes over, can do much better because our national revenue has been on the increase and never on the decrease. Our own type of oil is over $105 on the international marker, but what do we see on the ground? The money being earned is nowhere. There is no electricity or running water in most parts of this country.

Let’s take an example of my own state, Katsina. I’m sorry to deviate but it’s something everybody should know. This state gets more than N4 billion monthly,

What is your assessment of the security issue in the country especially as regards to the challenge posed by Boko Haram and efforts by the government to address same?

I don’t think we have security in this country. We have security agencies and so on but I don’t think the government is particularly concerned about security of this nation. A lot of money is being spent on security; if we are serious about security, more should have been done. On the issue of Boko Haram; I don’t know who they are even though the Federal Government at one time said they know who they are. We would appreciate it if government can identify them and address their problems. But what I believe is that the issue boils down to the condition we find ourselves in this country in which people are not sure of having two or three square meals per day.

We have graduates coming out of the universities and I understand that this year 1.7 million people qualified for university entrance but only about half a million would be absolved while the rest are dropped. And I’m sure that next year it would be more than 1.7 million people. If the government is wise enough, it would increase power supply so that many artisans would stand to benefit. It is not necessary that everyone must have white collar jobs. But unfortunately this has not been given serious attention by government.

What are your views on the ongoing constitution amendment particularly as regards the removal of immunity for the president and state governors?

I support the decision of the House of Representatives for the removal of immunity for the president and state governors. Immunity should be removed so that we have an open system in this country. This should be seriously considered if we want to progress as a nation.

If people know that they can be exposed of their wrongdoings, they wouldn’t even start thinking about wrongdoing.

There is no wisdom in giving immunity to the president or governors or any other person. We are in a political system; let’s play the game in a clean way. If you are clean, come and play it. If you are not clean, you should not even attempt to involve yourself. If they know that there is no immunity to protect them, I’m sure almost all the wrongdoings by public office holders would not be there.

What of local government autonomy?

Coming to the autonomy of local governments, if we go back to history, we will discover that the purpose of having local governments in this country is to ensure even development. When we were running the regional governments, development was not being evenly spread across all the regions. Because of that, we increased the number of states so that development can reach all nooks and crannies of the country. Nigeria being a great country now has 36 states, but still the state governments are not fully covering their states.

Then if you remember, the Murtala/ Obasanjo regime decided to set up a committee under Ibrahim Dasuki to come up with a blueprint for the third tier of government so that development can come closer to the people. As the states have been given autonomy, the intention was to also give same to the local governments. We have to accept the fact that we are serving the people and not the people serving us. If we are serving the people

then we should look for the best way to do so. If there are loopholes under the local government system, then it should be the system that should be looked into with all loopholes blocked so that whoever comes into office should work towards the progress of that office.

What about the controversy surrounding the ammendment of Section 29(4) which bordered on the girl child?

This is an issue which has a religious angle. In Islam, a girl doesn’t have to be 18 before she gets married. Puberty is not determined when a girl reaches 18 years. She could reach puberty when she is about 12 or 13. I don’t support making any legislation on this issue because it is going to become controversial and Muslims would not accept it.

I believe that there are simple issues we should ignore if we want peace to reign in this country. These are the sort of things which we bring into the system which divides us. We should concern ourselves with things that lead to improvement of this country and not child marriage or something like that.

What is your take on the political crisis in Rivers State?

The crisis in Rivers State is a PDP issue; it is a problem that the PDP created. I think the party should look into the issue, do something about it and bring peace to Rivers State and the country in general.

16

Politics

ASO ROCK FILE with

Rotimi FADEYI

Jonathan warns ministers over contract variation

T

he believe of many Nigerians is that the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting is the forum for the award and sharing of contracts while other matters of national importance are pushed to the back burners.

Though government’s position remains that issues that are of paramount importance are discussed at the meeting and key decisions are taken in the interest of Nigerians, the contracts awarded at the meetings are for the provision of basic infrastructural amenities that are of great benefit to the people.

In order to bring sanity and discipline to the award of contracts at the FEC meetings, President Goodluck Jonathan last week warned ministers not to bring augmentation or variation that is beyond 15 per cent of the original cost of projects to the Council.

The President was not particularly happy with a situation where variations of contracts would end up being higher

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

than the original contracts awarded, thereby putting unnecessary additional financial burden on the nation.

The President was of the opinion that if ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, do their jobs through proper planning and cost evaluation before awarding contracts, the incidence of half valuation of contracts would be avoided.

Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, who conveyed the decision of the President to journalists at a press briefing, said Jonathan gave a directive that henceforth any MDA that has any variation on a contract that goes beyond 15 per cent should not be presented to Council unless that variation has his (President) personal approval.

The President also directed the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, not to entertain any application for valuation of contracts that exceeded 15 per cent of the original cost.

First Lady and the loss of a mother in a million T his is certainly not the best of time for First Lady and wife of the President, Dame Patience Jonathan as she is still mourning the loss of her foster mother, Mrs. Charity Nwari-Oba who died in an auto crash along Elele/Owerri Expressway on her way to neighbouring Bayelsa State.

The First Lady, who was in Geneva when the incident occurred, had to cut short her trip and quickly returned to the country as she was sad, shocked and devastated when the news of the death of Mrs. Oba also known as Mama Sisi was broken to her.

On her return to the country last Wednesday night, sympathisers including former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, governors, ministers and other top government functionaries besieged the Presidential Villa to condole the First Lady and President Goodluck Jonathan.

Jonathan had also on his 55th birthday on November 20 last year lost his younger brother, Chief Meni Innocent Jonathan, who died at the National Hospital, Abuja after a brief illness. Meni was the President’s half brother and had acted as the head of Otuoke Council of Chiefs before his death.

As sympathisers condoled the First Lady urging her to take heart, Dame Patience paid glowing tribute to her late mother, describing her as a mother in a million.

She said the late Mrs. Charity Oba, who was the younger sister of her biological mother, had raised her from a tender age and made her the person that she is.

For President Jonathan, his late mother in-law was a woman with rare attri-

butes and was willing to share the little she had with everybody.

The President, who said the family has been deeply pained since the news of her death was broken to them, said his mother in-law was dear to them and was responsible in bringing the First Lady up.

“Our mother that died is quite dear to us not just today that we are playing politics. The First Lady stayed with her till she grew up. This lady never complained and even for me as an in-law I was free with her, she shares what she had. She used her savings from trade to support us.

It is very difficult to have somebody with such rare attribute.

“That is why when we heard about the death, we were very pained. So, that is the trauma we have been passing through and even though she is gone we have friends to comfort us to enable us bear this loss. You will be duly informed about the burial plans. We crave for your continuous prayers to enable us bear the loss,” the President said.

Presidential Villa’s visitors 1.

Former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar

2.

Chairman, Board of Trustess of PDP, Chief Tony Anenih

3.

Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Sa'ad Ibrahim

4.

Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Azubuike Ihejirika

5.

Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Alex Badeh

6.

Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba

7.

Ambassador of Nigeria to Spain, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu

8.

Saudi Arabia Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Fuad Bin Adul-Aziz Rajih

Pate quits cabinet for US university

U L-R: The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan being consoled by President Goodluck Jonathan’s mother over the death of her mother last week.

Great honours after 13 years of Sydney 2000 Olympics

T

hough Sunday Bada, one of the six member Nigerian team in the 4x400 metres men relay race in the 2000 Sydney Olympics is dead, he would surely be happy in his grave as the nation gave him a posthumous honour along with his team mates 13 years after the competition in Australia.

Bada’s wife, Adesumbo, who represented him at the ceremony held shortly before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting last Wednesday started sobbing at the mention of her late husband’s name.

The honour for the six-member team is coming 13 years after the Olympics because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently upgraded the silver medal earlier won by the team to a gold medal position after the United States team was stripped of the medal over dop-

ing charges.

President Goodluck Jonathan who presided over the award where the six member relay team were decorated with their gold medals, also announced a cash gift of N5 million for each of them while their two trainers, Innocent Egbunike and Solomon Abari were also rewarded with N7 million each.

The six Olympic gold medalists who got the N5 million reward each and presented with their medals by Jonathan were Clement Chukwu; Nduka Awaize, Enefiok Obong, Jude Monye, Fidelis Tafida Gadzama, and late Sunday Bada who was represented by his wife, Adesumbo.

In addition to the cash reward, Jonathan said each of the medalists and their trainers would be awarded the National Honours at a later date.

ntil Wednesday last week, Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate who hails from Bauchi State was the Minister of State for Health with Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu as the Minister of Heath.

The voluntary resignation of Pate last week is coming two years into the four-year term of Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and barely one year after former Minister of Power, Prof.

Barth Nnaji also resigned his appointment citing conflict of interest as reason for his decision to quit the cabinet on August 28, 2012.

But Pate’s reason to leave the cabinet was not for any conflict of interest. In his resignation letter dated Monday, July 22 and addressed to Jonathan, the minister said he was leaving the cabinet to take up the position of a professor at the Duke University’s Global Health Institute in the United States of America (USA).

He said in that new capacity, he would participate in a university-wide Africa initiative and would also serve as senior adviser to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation based in Washington DC. Pate, however, said he would continue to offer his service to the nation on part-time basis as the Chairman of the

Presidential Task Force on Polio Eradication and the public-private coalition for Saving One Million Lives Initiative.

“As we have discussed, I wish to offer the continuation of my service on part-time basis as chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Polio Eradication and the public-private coalition for Saving One Million Lives Initiative, if you agree, in fulfilment of my previous commitments to see to conclusion of these important national priorities.

This may entail an honorary advisory role reporting directly to you progress at least on quarterly basis,” he wrote.

While speaking on the resignation of Pate from the cabinet, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said that in accepting the minister’s resignation, Jonathan was highly elated that his star-studded cabinet was attracting required global attention.

Abati said Jonathan commended Pate for the integrity and competence he brought on board while carrying out his duties first as the Chief Executive of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency and later as a minister.

MORE POLITICS STORIES ON PAGES 41-43

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

17

Another section of speaking truth to power AS EXPECTED, JONATHAN HAS

JK RANDLE Continued from last week

QUICKLY INAUGURATED

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he President was warmly applauded for his generosity of spirit and sagacity. However, the sparks started flying when the United States of America’s former Ambassador to Nigeria and author of “Nigeria On The Brink”, John Campbell, volunteered to some remarks: “I must warn about the serious implications of complacency of political leaders and the elite over the seeming alienation of the core North. The future of the country depends on the handling of the current socio-political condition of the area, which is amongst the most volatile and vulnerable in the country. Leaders at all levels in Nigeria should pre-occupy themselves with serious discussions on how to address exclusion of the North from economic activities in the country. Nigerian leaders should address the highly sensitive and awesome challenges in the Niger Delta, Middle Belt and the core North now lest the 2015 elections would face serious political dangers.”

President Goodluck Jonathan was quick to rise to the occasion by directing that Nigerian Ambassador to the United States of America, Professor Ade Adefuye, should exercise the right of reply but before then, Ambassador John Campbell should be allowed additional time. Wow! The audience went wild with a standing ovation for Mr. President. He won more kudos when he declared that from the commencement of his tenure first as acting president and

THE COMMISSION AND DEEPENED SUSPICION OF HIS MOTIVES IN

APPOINTING OKIRO later full president, the Rule of Law and Freedom of Speech (and of the Press) were his anchor sheet and guiding principles.

Before, he had even finished, The Nation of June 24, 2013 delivered the following editorial, headlined: SLEAZE INCORPORATED? Here are excerpts: “Nigerians are no doubt familiar with the dysfunction in their government, the paralysis of its institutions and the criminal impunity that is commonplace; what continues to be confounding is the sheer novelty of every act. That is the context in which to view the latest heist allegedly perpetrated by banks and their agents in the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), said to cost the nation a fortune in unremitted revenue.

“A memo from the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala alerted the nation to the humongous heist. The memo accused some unnamed revenue-generating agencies of the Federal Government of colluding with some banks to withhold monies which ought to have been remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), contrary to

what the law prescribes. The minister puts the amount involved as N58 billion…

“We consider the development unfortunate: a case of impunity writ large. To us, the pertinent issue is whether the infractions could have taken place had the relevant institutions done their work as they ought to. No less worrisome is the suggestion that the infractions somehow escaped the eyes of the examiners – the auditors.

We dare to ask: what is the role of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation in all of these? Did the affected agencies obtain the mandate of the Accountant-General of the Federation before the accounts were opened? And the banks, were the rules of account opening for public institution adhered to scrupulously?”

As if determined not to be left out, The Punch came out with its own editorial headlined, Okiro, PSC and our flippant Senate, on the same June 24, 2013, and it. Here some excerpts: “Presented with another opportunity to raise the standard of public service, the Senate as usual, opted for mediocrity. By rubber-stamping the nomination of Mike Okiro as chairman of Police Service Commission, the upper legislative chamber reminded Nigerians that they are paying so much for unbelievably poor services by their parliamentarians…”

Okiro’s nomination by President Jonathan had been greeted with protests. Allegations ranging from running businesses while still in active service, to corruption and presiding over a police force that brazenly engaged in extra-judicial killings, were leveled against him. Even while he was the IG, the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation had

accused a company linked to him of taking a sum of N166 million from the defunct Lead Bank and thereafter refusing to pay.

According to the Network on Police Reform in Nigeria, a coalition of civil society groups, the controversy of the N1.6 billion allegedly paid to a consultant out of the money generated from the N2, 000 each paid by applicants for recruitment to the force under Okiro’s watch has not been resolved. This is unequivocally awful.

A Lagos-based lawyer, Femi Falana, believes that the former IG’s membership (and active participation in the activities) of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party disqualified him from membership of the PSC. Citing Section 156 of the 1999 Constitution, that says a member of certain bodies, including the PSC, “shall not be required to belong to a political party,” Falana raised the issue of possible bias by Okiro in his new role as PSC chairman. Jonathan lays himself open to accusations of having a hidden agenda by nominating a man who sought the PDP senatorial ticket for the FCT; one who has been chairman of the PDP convention security committee and who was, until recently, security adviser to the PDP national chairman.

The Senate has, once again, proved itself spineless. As expected, Jonathan has quickly inaugurated the commission and deepened suspicion of his motives in appointing Okiro.

Concluded Bashorun Randle (OFR, FCA), jkrandleintuk@gmail.com, is chairman & CEO, JK Randle Professional Services, Lagos

Water provision and the MDGs: Osun example BOLANLE OKE

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan recently lamented that the country was very far off from achieving the United Nations’ rather minimal Millennium Development Goals (MDGS). This is very unfortunate and unfair on Nigerians. After all, billions of ‘unearned’ petro-naira revenue continues to flow into the national coffer every day. The rather minimalist MDGs actually offer a way out of the poverty trap. It is also an opportunity, at least, to provide something in the way of dividend of democracy to the hard- pressed Nigerian people.

One way of tackling the deficiency is to lay emphasis on a core area and then use it as a trajectory. In this way, the linkages with an overall development thrust will be induced. To a discerning observer, this will appear to be the chosen route in a place like the State of Osun, where Engineer Rauf Aregbesola administration is using the provision as a battering ram against the scourge of poverty, disease and squalor.

It is well known fact that Osun is very low in the allocation of federal largesse.

And of course, there are a myriad of competing interests, such as infrastructure, education, etc. Nevertheless, defying the odds, the Aregbesola government has used tight fiscal discipline to re-organise its budget allocation priorities in favour of meeting the MDGs. A clear indication of this careful

husbandry of resources is releasing more than N4 billion to upgrade the state’s water supply scheme to meet statewide demand.

A vast rehabilitation project of the main waterworks system has already commenced. The rehabilitation (it’s hard to find a better term) is akin to rebuilding.

The state’s vastly experienced special adviser to the governor on water resources, Engineer (Mrs). Tawa Williams disclosed that the rehabilitation work is going to be ”wide- ranging and ( will) ultimately revamp the water-works and transform it into what it was originally.”

The completion of the rehabilitation project will be very much transformative.

The MDGs will definitely receive a fillip with the completion of the project. The extension of the availability of clean, safe water will, for example, boost the health sector. For as the late Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti never stopped reminding all and sundry, there is an intrinsic link between overall well-being and the provision of safe water for all.

In fact, the provision of clean pipe-borne water is crucial to the health sector. The health system everywhere is both overloaded and distorted because of patients coming in with clearly preventable water-borne afflictions. Knock this debilitation out and the health sector can now concentrate on its core mandate. In Osun, this is vital. For with very tight budget restrictions across all spectrums, the budget for the health sector will never be enough. Here once again,

THE AREGBESOLA GOVERNMENT HAS USED TIGHT FISCAL DISCIPLINE TO RE-ORGANISE ITS

BUDGET ALLOCATION PRIORITIES IN FAVOUR OF MEETING THE

MDGS

we can see the very important linkage between the provision of safe water and the issue of meeting the MDGs. As it is with the much acclaimed Opon Imo (tablet of knowledge) innovation, Osun is a case study of how innovative solutions in the social sector and the investments entailed can be commercially exploited to both recoup the investments and to increase the revenue base. So it’s not just about spending. With regard to the Opon Imo, a manufacturing plant is being established to commercialise the educational tool revolution. The same strategy goes for water resources.

The linkage here is brilliant. Engineer Mrs. Tawa Williams has stated that arrangements are being perfected for the Iraqi government to complement the rehabilitation process with the ultimate plan of exporting badly needed treated bottled water to Iraq. This is another example of what happens when you put on your thinking cap. It shows that a synergy can and indeed

should be achieved between the provision of social services and an increase in the government’s revenue base. It’s certainly not a cliché to say that seen from this perspective; it’s a win, win situation.

A key area which the government must tackle in the long- term is of course, the critical issue of sustainability. This is crucial because of the government’s tight fiscal position. The issue of pricing and payment must therefore, come up to the fore.

The government is already aware of this, and is committed to sustainability through pricing; but it must now bring it up more urgently.

For this reason, a vigorous public enlightenment must now take place. It will not be difficult to persuade people since they know that government is demonstrably on their side. Nevertheless, the groundbreaking work of persuasion and enlightenment has to start immediately.

If they are lamenting the MDG’s elsewhere, at least in the state of Osun, they are walking the talk. They are also doing so with the induced synergy always in mind.

Oke, a social commentator, wrote from Lagos Send your views by mail or sms to PMB 10001, Ikoyi, or our Email: mail@ nationalmirroronline.net mirrorlagos@ yahoo.com or 08164966858 (SMS only). The Editor reserves the right to edit and reject views or photographs.

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

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Senate and child-marriage controversy

irl–child marriage came under contentious focus in the public domain following last week’s vote by the Senate on some portions of the country’s 1999 Constitution (as amended) that needed to be tinkered with. The volatile item is in Section 29 of the said Constitution. Whereas Section 29 (1) says: Any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation, Section 29 (4) (1) through (a) and (b) says: “For the purpose of Subsection (1) of this Section, ‘full age’ means the age of 18 years and above; any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age”. Explanations coming from the upper legislature are that while Section 29 (4) (1) (a) which defines full age as 18 years is neutral, Section 29 (4) (1) (b) that says any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age is discriminatory against women and offends some relevant portions of the Constitution and other extant laws that forbid all forms of discrimina-

tion.

It was in the process of voting to expunge the ‘discriminatory’ clause from the Constitution that the Senate burned its fingers. As Senate President, David Mark; and Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Enyinnaya Abaribe, among others claimed, senators had earlier voted successfully with 75 votes (which met the 2/3 membership requirement for the amendment) to delete the offensive subsection from the Constitution, until the objection raised by Senator Ahmad Sani Yerima that the controversial subsection offended Islamic and Customary laws, contrary to constitutional provisions, which forced the Senate to again call for a fresh vote on the matter. But this time, however, it could only muster 60 votes, far below the requirement to scale through.

Though that portion of the Constitution has always been there since 1999, perhaps beyond, the wrath of many Nigerians on the recent failure of the Senate to expunge the subsection appeared to be stoked

A DEMOCRACY THAT ELEVATES DEPRAVITY AS A VIRTUE IS ITSELF DEPRAVED by the brazen show of support for premature girl-child marriage by the chief proponent of the retention of the subsection and his supporters.

Yerima’s argument against the removal of Clause 4 (b) of Section 29 of the Constitution was because it was in line with Islamic law and removing it would amount to gross injustice to Muslims in Nigeria who know that marriage age for women in their religion is not pegged at 18 years.

Another senator, Abubakar Bagudu, reportedly said: “In many places around the world, marriage below the age of 18 years for girls is allowed by parental consent... The Holy Bible, Koran, Torah, etc., all view full age for women from the age of puberty”. It is thus obvious that Yerima and his supporters had their way on religious grounds.

This being so, it does not detract from the fact that the

said Section 29 (4) (1) (b) remains discriminatory against women. It is a dangerous section of the Constitution that can be exploited not just on religious grounds; deviants can also latch on it to dehumanise and wreak maximum havoc against the Nigerian girl-child.

Agreed, the Senate has been buffeted by castigations after the last week vote slipped, but it is doubtful that the issue would have come up at all had it not been slated by the lawmakers for removal from the Constitution. The beauty of democracy what transpired in the Senate last week would seem, but a democracy that elevates depravity as a virtue is itself depraved. Nigeria, being a signatory to several international conventions and statutes that protect the rights of the girl-child, should not close its eyes and watch its women being violated in their prime in the name of marriage. The Senate, according to its President, would revisit the matter. It should better do. The Child Rights Act of 2003 should protect all Nigerian children, male and female alike.

ON THIS DAY July 30, 2012 A power grid failure left seven states in northern India without power, affecting 620 million people. The blackout was the largest power outage in the country’s history, occurring as two separate events on July 30 and 31, respectively. The outage affected over 620 million people, about 9% of the world population, or half of India’s population, spread across 22 states in Northern, Eastern, and Northeast India.

July 30, 2006 Lebanon War: At least 28 civilians, including 16 children, were killed by the Israeli Air Force in what Lebanese called the Second Qana massacre; and what Israel considered to be an attempt to stop rockets’ being fired from Lebanon at Israeli civilian targets. The air strike was carried out by the Israel Air Force (IAF) on a three-story building in the small community of al-Khuraybah near the South Lebanese village of Qana.

July 30, 2003 In Mexico, a federal constitutional republic in North America, the last ‘old style’ Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the assembly line. The Volkswagen Beetle, officially called the Volkswagen Type 1 (or informally the Volkswagen Bug), is an economy car produced by the German auto maker, Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until 2003.

The Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured car.

Experts disagree over Oduah’s performance

NISTF has disbursed N200m under ECS, says MD 37

SUPER TUESDAY

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Telecoms: Infrastructure deficit threatens quality of service delivery

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ith the liberalisation of Nigeria’s telecoms sector in 2001 supported by the enactment of the Nigerian Communication Act 2003, which has been described as a piece of legislation that has helped in revolutionising the sector through its implementation by the Nigerian Communication Commission as the telecoms industry umpire, Nigeria is, today, regarded as one of the fastest growing telecoms markets in the world.

From less than $500,000 telecoms investment at the point of sector liberalisation 12 years ago, the industry has attracted about $25 billion local and Foreign Direct Investments by mid-2012, according to the telecoms regulator and this has resulted in some impressive statistics in the industry.

In terms of growth, the industry has increased significantly in all the indices such as the voice subscriber base, data usage profile, contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP and its overall impact on other sectors of the economy.

From a paltry 400, 000 telephone lines in 2001, Nigeria has grown its telecoms subscriber base to over 119 million active telephone lines as at the end April, 2013 while teledensity, which is below 0.73 per cent has grown proportionately to 85.23 per cent during the same period. The industry’s contribution to GDP has also surpassed seven per cent, according to latest official data.

Data services have also witnessed strong growth over the

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In spite of the current state of telecommunications development in Nigeria, industry stakeholders have come to terms that the existing infrastructure deployed by telecoms operators are still inadequate to offer satisfactory voice and data services to their growing consumers. KUNLE AZEEZ examines the state of infrastructure deployment, factors impeding rollout and prospects of improving quality of service in the sector.

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IRS Telecoms mast

past 12 years as Internet users, as a percentage of the population has grown 0.3 per cent in 2002 to 36 per cent currently.

Indeed, the increase in the number of internet usage s being driven largely by decline in the cost of service. For instance, National Mirror gathered that the cost subscription to 3Gb of broadband package per year has fallen from the hitherto N93,000 in 2011 to N60,000 with a further projected reduction to N36,000 by 2015. Similarly, the speed of the internet in the cities which was put at 1.0G in 2011 has increased to 2.4 with a projection to reach 5.0G by 2015.

Industry experts maintain that despite the still strong growth recorded by telecoms in-

Unclear financial stalling sale of bridged banks 21

dustry, a slight decline in year-onyear growth in the past two three years, declining Average Revenue Per User, ARPUs and a decrease in Minutes of Usage, MoU, indicate that telephony market in Nigeria is fast approaching maturity.

It is noteworthy that the increase in the level of connectivity either through voice and Internet service is a function of the volume of infrastructure deployment by operators to ensure that they widen their coverage while extending access to more Nigerians.

Whilst the number of mobile subscribers is increasing, fixed line subscriber growth has stagnated while fixed wireless has seen a decline in a country where connectivity is concentrated in the commercially viable urban

centres with approximately 40 per cent of rural area with no mobile coverage.

It is instructive that telecoms firms have, over the years, increased their fibre optic transmission expansion, having laid hundreds of thousands of kilometres of fibre optics across the country with the number of BTS deployed now standing at 27, 000 both in the urban and rural communities.

For one, factors such as the increasing Internet demand by youths to access social networking sites, growth of e-commerce via the mobile money initiatives of the financial services industry and the increasing accessibility and affordability of smart phones

Lagos-Abuja 7.30 8.30 7.45 8.45 09.30 10.30 10.30 11.30 12.30 13.30 14.30 15.30 16.30 17.30 Lagos-Kano 08.00 09.15 10.30 11.45 14.30 15.40 18.15 19.30 Los-Maid&Yola (Mon-Thur) 09.30 11.30 Fri- Sun 10.30 12.30 Kano-Lagos 07.30 08.45 14.00 15.15 17.30 18.45 Kano-Abj 10.45 11.30 Abj-Lagos 09.00 10.30 11.00 12.00 12.00 13.00

CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

Trade unions must be seen as partners in national development 23

Lead poisoning clean-up: Experts caution on freah outbreak

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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Telecoms: Infrastructure deficit threatens quality of service delivery CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20 continue to point to the need for significant investments in the domestic fibre optic backbone, deployment of more base transceiver stations and in local broadband distribution networks.

In 2013 alone, a number of telecoms operators are billed to spend at least $6 billion on additional infrastructure deployment, just as it has always been the case every year, in their attempt to meet the increasing demand for services by the subscribers.

However, industry stakeholders have come to terms of late that there is still acute shortfall in general infrastructure deployment by the operators to provide satisfactory services to telecoms consumers.

Pointing out this at a recent industry stakeholder’s forum in Lagos, the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson stated that though the number of base stations, which a critical equipment to telecoms services, has increased exponentially since the inception of GSM providers.

The minister said, “From 116 in 2001, the total deployment increased to about 21, 000 by 2010 and currently the figure is nearing 3, 000” lamenting, however, that “the pace f growth has slowed even as some existing base stations have been decommissioned as a result of terror attacks, theft and vandalism.”

According to Johnson, of the total base stations in the country, which are considered grossly inadequate, about 150 were los by the various operators to bombings in 2012.

She contended that significantly more base stations still need to be deployed to the tune of 60, 000 to meet the national target of a five-fold increased in infrastructure penetration by 2018. “What we need to do is to increase spread and scope of communications infrastructure across Nigeria and prioritise roll-out to un-served and underserved areas.”

The minister’s view was also corroborated by the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah during a recent courtesy visit to the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.

With specific reference to Lagos, Juwah said the quality of services in Lagos, and indeed, other parts of the country, is still below the desired levels.

Noting that inadequate infrastructure is one of the reasons for the situation, Juwah said one of the challenges stems from ignorance, even at decision making level, as many people do not understand that telecommunications can only be better with more infrastructures.

Justifying this, he said: “Nigeria is yet to achieve 30,000 base station installations across its huge land mass, yet many feel that we already have enough and are defacing the environment. In a place like Lagos with very huge population, we have fewer base stations than required compared to the United Kingdom where there are more than 65,000 base stations for telecommunications services, in a land mass far less than Nigeria’s.”

He further buttresses his view with a outcome of a study carried out by the Commission in 2009, that identified a total of 6, 196 masts and towers in Lagos State. About 48 per cent of this figure belonged to corporate bodies and individuals while those belonging to the telecom companies were

Chairman, ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo

Johnson

NIGERIA IS YET TO ACHIEVE 30,000 BASE STATION INSTALLATIONS ACROSS ITS HUGE LAND MASS, YET MANY FEEL THAT WE ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH AND ARE DEFACING THE ENVIRONMENT only 25 per cent of this figure.

“Those belonging to the banks constituted about 18 per cent while those belonging to unidentified owners were 8 per cent. The broadcast stations had two per cent of this figure. Even if the number of base stations owned by operators, which is 2, 975 then, had increase by 100 per cent, it would still fall short of what is needed to serve Lagos subscribers.”

Noting that Lagos was not blessed with many high rise buildings that would have served for location of base stations without a lot of people seeing them, the NCC boss lamented: “Our people are also very resistant to the idea of having more base stations near their offices for reasons that could only be traced to ignorance or misinformation.”

Sadly, the infrastructure shortfall plaguing improved quality of service delivery to Nigerian telecoms consumers is further exacerbated by the failure of the Universal Service Provision Fund, USPF, to meet its targets.

Established by the NCA 2003, USPF was established primarily to promote widespread availability and usage of network services and application services throughout Nigeria by encouraging the installation of network facilities and the provision for network services and application services to institutions and in un-served, underserved areas of for underserved groups within the community.

Following its establishment, the board of USPF developed a five-year Strategic Management Plan (SMP) in 2007 to guide the activities of the USP secretariat for the next five years.

It is instructive that the SMP 2007-2011, which was developed in consultation with industry stakeholders, specified five goals for providing universal access to voice and internet services across Nigeria.

However, the auspicious eight-point projects under the SMP 2007 were woefully implemented by the USPF. The key projects include the Community Communication centres, CCCs; the Acceler-

ated Mobile Phone Expansion- Base Transceiver Station, AMPE-BTS; Accelerated Mobile Phone Expansion- Co-location Infrastructure Project, AMPE-CIP; Rural Backbone Initiative, RUBI; Backbone Infrastructure project, BTRAIN; the School Access Project, SAP Tertiary Institution Access Project, TiAP; and The E-Library Project.

For the ECCs, designed to provide shared access to telephone and Internet services in rural areas, the targets was to build 291 CCCs across the six geo-political zone, but USPF achieved only 224. Also, while 490 BTS was targeted under AMPE-BTS, only 74 BTS were awarded and yet, only 62 of them are said to have been implemented.

Under AMPE-CIP, while 150 CIPs were targeted, only 104 were achieved. A similar trend was witnessed under RUBI, where 109 RUBI initiatives were planned across senatorial zones in the country but were only rolled out in only 18 local government areas in the country.

BTRAIN also suffered a similar trend as only 500 kilometre of fibre were deployed, when 1000kilometre of fibre backbone infrastructure was the stated targets while on the SAP, where 1,858 schools were targeted, the SAP scheme has only been rolled out in 766 government schools representing 41 per cent achievement of set targets.

On the TiAP initiative, where 374 tertiary institutions were targeted to be beneficiaries of the programme, only 193 tertiary institutions across the country are said to have benefited so far while the E-Library scheme has been deployed to 74 libraries across the country.

Already, the USPF Secretary, Mr. Abdullahi Maikano, has admitted the failure of the earlier SMP at a recent forum held in Lagos to discuss a new operating model for the key area of project implementation from connectivity and access viewpoints and to ensure sustainability of such projects.

He told National Mirror that, “For three days, at a retreat, we were looking at the number of things which we achieved in our

Juwah

first SMP and we were not happy about our performance but in the new plan, we would work with the operators to achieve all the goals.”

Maikano, however, disclosed that He said the USPF would begin work soon to facilitate the building of 5, 000 new telecoms base transceiver stations (BTS) in rural communities to provide service to undeserved and un-served areas of the country.

This, he said, is in line with the new Strategic Management Plan (SMP) 20132017, where 1,000 BTS are to be built every year, beginning from this year over a period of five years.

Other key targets include the plan to support the deployment of 15, 000 kilometres of fibre optic cables, laying an average of 3,000km every year; and the deployment of Internet Point of Presence (PoPs) in 25 clusters over five years, with an average of five per year under the Fund’s RUBI scheme.

Maikano noted that the new SMP had been re-designed, following the review of the earlier SMP 2007-2011, which was fraught with a number of obstacles An industry analyst, Mr. Ken Nnamani, says, “If all the afore-mentioned projects are implemented to the letter, it would go a long way n complementing the efforts of telecoms operators in fast-tracking more infrastructure deployment to feel the current deficit that is affecting quality of service delivery.”

To a telecoms engineer, Mr. Akin Akinbo, the growth in base stti deployment is function of how well the government is able to assist the operators in addressing factors slowing down deployment.

These factors, he listed, include higher set-up and operating costs due to multiple taxation feeds and levies, lack sustainable power supply, vandalism and theft of equipment; delay in granting right of way, RoW, approvals to the operators, due to bureaucratic tendencies in government circle as well as security challenges, where telecoms equipment is not yet regarded as critical national infrastructures.

National Mirror notes that the impediments to highlighted by Akinbo have always been cited by the operating firms as critical area desirous of concerted efforts by all stakeholders to address for faster growth f the industry.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business & Finance

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

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Unclear financials stalling sale of bridged banks UDO ONYEKA

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ontrary to belief by many stakeholders that several investors especially those from outside the shores of Nigeria are seeking to purchase the bridged banks, it has been revealed that no investor has approached the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON with intention of buying any of the banks.

Investigations reveal that investors refused to look the direction of the bridge banks simply because they were not able to get reliable financial reports about the banks.

According to a source familiar with the situation, efforts by agents of some foreign investors to gather information on the banks were thwarted, as they were presented with differential reports on each of the banks.

The source alleged that at a stage, the reports from AMCON and those of the banks were different making it difficult for any investor to actually know what the true picture of things.

Corroborating the no investor has

L-R: General Manager, Customer Relations, MTN Nigeria, Mrs. Fehintola Mustapha; GM, Consumer Marketing, Mr. Kola Oyeyemi; Chief Marketing Officer, Mr. Larry Annetts and General Manager, Product and Innovation, Ms. Ugonna Nwoye, at the launch of MTN App Developer Challenge in Lagos recently.

officially approached AMCON, Managing Director of the corporation, Mr. Mustapha Chike-Obi had said recently that there were “no official discussion with potential buyers yet. AMCON has not been discussing with any investor officially, given the fact that such negotiations could only start after the report of the financial advisers to the bank is submitted.”

National Mirror gathered that since investors would believe reports from reputable financial consulting firms, AMCON‘s move

FG berated over 17million housing deficit OLUFEMI ADEOSUN

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atholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese John Cardinal Onaiyekan yesterday berated Federal Government over the increasing homelessness in the country.

He also took a swipe at the government for its failure to evolve realisable housing policies which would take care of the lower echelon of the society.

It is unfortunate that as housing estates continue to spring up in the nation’s major cities, the housing deficit gap of 17million units has not been bridged as most of the houses are beyond the reach of the low income group.

Onaiyekan spoke in Abuja during the commissioning of the 500 units ultra modern business and office mall, estimated at N1billion.

The complex is which is built by one the leading mortgage finance institutions, Platinum Mortgage Bank, Limited, is expected to take care of the fast fading middle class in the country.

He said,” We in the church are worried at the inequality as far housing is concerned in our country. Those who are rich are living in beautiful mansions, while those who have no money are living like rat and cockroaches. There must be a bridge across this huge gap.

“I hope that people like Engineer Mbaka, the Managing Direc-

tor, Platinum Mortgage Bank, can help government design policies that will ensure decent housing for the people who are not super rich.

In his address, the CEO of the bank, Engineer Emanuel Mbaka said the complex was built to cater for the interest of middle class in the country.

He said, “Our objective as a Mortgage Bank is to ensure a vibrant middle class in Nigeria.

This complex yet provides another unique opportunity to sustain this class which is rapidly going into extinction. We give you the opportunity to retire from government office to your own personal office.

He added that the bank had set a target to build 10,000 housing units within the next five years across the country as part of its contributions to government efforts at bridging housing deficit gap in the country.

On efforts made so far to ensure the realization of the target, Mbaka states,”We have already started 5,000 in Abia state alone.

We were there two weeks ago where the Abia State governor flagged off the construction the housing estate which is the first housing project, east of the Nigeria. The construction is on-going now. We also have project in Badagry, Lagos state. The buildings will be assessable through the National Housing Fund Scheme of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria.

last week to appoint financial advisers to sale Enterprise Bank was a welcome development.

In a statement to National Mirror and signed by Head, Corporate Communications, AMCON, Kayode Lambo, the corporation said it choose Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Vetiva Capital management Limited as financial advisers painstakingly.

“After a thorough review of the responses received in respect of

its Requests for Proposals (RFP), the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) is pleased to announce the selection of its financial and legal advisers in respect of the divestment of its shareholding in Enterprise Bank Limited, as Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Vetiva Capital Management Limited- Financial Advisers to the transactions”, the statement said.

Even though Chike-Obi has said

that t Enterprise Bank would be the first to be sold among the bridge banks, adding that it was picked because it is the smallest of the three affected banks.

“Enterprise Bank is the smallest and the cleanest of the three banks and anything learnt from the process of its sale can be applied in subsequent efforts. There is nothing magical about it,” he said.

Chairman of Enterprise Bank Limited, Mr. Emeka Onwuka, attributed the achievement of the bank to the sustained growth in quality risk asset creation, which equally engendered growth in interest income.

The chairman stated that in addition to “improvements in our other banking income items such as commissions, fees, electronic banking income, significant improvements in traderelated transactions, facilitated through our strategic focus on Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) helped in boosting our fees and commission income.”

Bi-Courtney to sue FAAN over libelous statements OLUSEGUN KOIKI

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he ongoing tussle between Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, BASL, operators of the Murtala Mohammed Airport Two, MMA2, Lagos and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, is far from over as the former has threatened to commence legal proceedings against the agency.

BASL, however, said that it would only discontinue the charges against FAAN if it is willing to pay the sum of N500m as damages against its name.

BASL also ordered FAAN to render public apology to it in the same medium (Channels TV) within seven days of the receipt of this letter.

Confirming the letter, the

spokesman for BASL, Mr. Steve Omolale-Ajulo said that the company would no longer tolerate the continuous damaging of its activities and operations by FAAN or any organisation in the industry.

In a letter titled, “Libelous Statements Made Against BiCourtney Aviation Services Limited on Channels TV on 26th June 2013”, and dated July 24, 2013, BASL claimed that the agency through its General Manager, Corporate Communications, Mr. Yakubu Dati made libelous statements against the firm during the 30 minutes interview he granted the television station in Lagos.

The letter made available to aviation correspondents in Lagos by the Legal Department, FAAN, alleged that Dati made “several false and maliciously deprecating statements of and concerning our

client, and in the way of its business and reputation as follows, ‘I’m talking about a company whose stock in trade is manipulating court processes.’

BASL also accused Dati of saying that ‘(BASL) Going round the back to secure all kinds of court judgements which they misinterpret even to the public.’

The letter conveying the accusations against Dati also reads in part, “It is because they (BASL) have decided to bend the rules to shortchange the Nigerian people;’... “They were cooking papers up, every time you call them, they bring old judgments of (three) or 4 (four) years ago that has been taken over by events. People who have manipulated the judiciary process over the years to their advantage and to the detriment of the aviation industry.”

CBN re-assures market women of financial inclusion TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

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he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again taken its financial literacy campaigns down further the grassroots, assuring market women and men in the country of its readiness to protect their interests on their financial transactions with any bank in furtherance of the overall goal of achieving financial inclusion of people in the grassroots.

Giving the assurance at the occasion of the first edition of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Health and

Wealth series in Abuja, a senior official of the apex bank’s Consumer Protection Department, Hadjia Khadijat Kasim, said the CBN was fully in support of the SEC’s initiative aimed at pulling market men and women into the savings and investments net of the financial services sector for their socio-economic empowerment.

While pointing out that the agenda of financial literacy is not apex bank’s responsibility alone but all stakeholders’ in the financial sector, Kasim, who addressed the market women on behalf of her Departmental Head, who was also

at the forum, Mrs. Umma Dutse, urged the market women and men to embrace financial services and also feel confident that the apex bank would stand by them to protect their rights.

The financial literacy expert, who spoke to the over 300 market men and women at the event in pidgin English to arouse their interest in financial inclusion, said “we want to have everybody to get a bank account, you need to get some form of confidence and approach a financial institution for a bank account because this will help you in making adequate savings just in case you decide to expand your business.

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Corruption at seaports: ICPC reads the riot act FRANCIS EZEM

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he Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) has said it will hence forth commence strict enforcement of anti-corruption measures in Nigeria’s port industry.

There is the general belief that Nigeria’s port industry as presently constituted is a safe haven for all manner of corrupt practices ranging from importduty related fraud, bribery, extortion and stealing, among several others.

The commission had told port industry stakeholders at a recent enlightenment workshop on the proposed conduct of Corruption Risk Assessment (CRA) of the seaports in Nigeria, that the project had become necessary owing to the critical role of the port industry in enhancing the growth and development of the nation as well as the security of the nation.

Chairman of the commission, Mr. Ekpo Nta, dropped the hint when he addressed stakeholders at the weekend in Lagos during the validation meeting on the report of the corruption risk assessment in Nigerian seaports.

He also warned that the anti-graft agency would not shy away from its enforcement duty, noting that it has modernised its operations to pay due attention on the prevention mandate which empowers it to review corruption-prone systems and procedures aimed at reducing the incidence of corruption.

According to him, the commission has also been empowered to seize any ill gotten property of operators in the industry.

Under the new anti-graft initiative, the chairman disclosed that such property would be seized by simply issuing a gazette notice asking the owner of such property to come and explain how he acquired it.

“Any aggrieved owner of

such property can go to court if he or she is not pleased with the seizure and after one year, if there is no concrete explanation, the ICPC would seek the forfeiture of the property to the government through the court”, he said.

Nta had also told the stakeholders that it has become an offence for anybody seeking employment to offer bribe to secure a job, warning that the anti-graft agency would treat such matter the same it would handle a robbery case.

He also reaffirmed that the commission is currently studying the seaport environment professionally and offer solution to corruption prone process in the environment.

He said: “Our primary objective for this exercise is to professionally study the seaport environment and offer solution to corruption prone process. We are not here to carve a niche or compete for space with other agencies.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

UBA commissions security operations centre UDO ONYEKA

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nited Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has taken a major step to secure all electronic banking transactions in the bank and protect its customers against cyber crimes and other forms of e-banking threats. To this end the bank has commissioned a state-of-theart Security Operations Centre (SOC) & Forensic Lab that provides all round security monitoring for all electronic banking transactions; the first of its kind for a bank in Nigeria and subSaharan Africa.

In a statement the bank said the SOC empowers the bank to securely deliver electronic banking services to its esteemed customers, effectively manage all form of information security threats and provide a robust protection to its systems, network and electronic banking channels.

FG insists aviation contracts follow due process OLUSEGUN KOIKI

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L-R: Director, National Environmental Standard and Regulatory Enforcement Agency, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo; Vice Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Prince Oba Okojie; Executive Director, Operations, Bank of Industry, Alhaji Mohammed Alkali and Chairperson, MAN Centre Committee, Princess Layo Okeowo, at a dinner organised for managing directors and chief executives in Lagos at the weekend.

FG seeks ICT experts’ collaboration on e-wallet scheme TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

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he Federal Government has solicited the support of professionals in the nation’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, particularly computer experts, on the ongoing e-wallet scheme, a major driver of Growth Enhancement Support (GES) of the Agriculture Transformation Agenda (ATA) as a strategic option of leveraging the achievements recorded so far in its implementation.

Making the call in a paper titled ‘Opportunities for Investment in Nigeria’s Agriculture’ which she delivered at the breakfast meeting of the College of Fellows of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) in Iloko-Ijesha, Osun State, Permanent Secretary in the ministry,

Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, attributed the modest achievements recorded on the e-wallet scheme in distribution of fertilizers and other farm inputs to farmers to the application of appropriate technologies.

Odusote said there were many areas the Society could collaborate with the government in the ATA, pointing out that so far, “the major successes recorded in the sector came as a result of application of information technology which boosted farmers’ database and smoothen the distribution of inputs effortlessly.

She told the Fellows that the President had been supportive in institutionalizing ‘the democracy of the stomach’, adding that the recent approval of N10 Billion Cassava Bread Fund is to further boost the current productive activities in the agricultural sector.

She harped on the need for the NCS to key into the activities of the ministry noting that “our partnership with NCS will enable us to achieve a better and faster result, that will enable us eliminate corruption in our system and empower a whole new generation of farmers who are now seduced into farming”.

Specifically, she identified digital management of the new Silos already built all nationwide as one of the areas the application of digital technology could help in the ATA drive since the sector would be able to measure content, quantity and output of grains contained in each Silo to enable the ministry efficiently manage and deploy the content.

“We need to continuously update the data and it is Information Technology that can help us to update and manage the data”, Odusote added.

Speaking at the commissioning of the centre in Lagos , the Deputy Director, Banking Supervision, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Ibedu Onyebuchi commended UBA for the initiative and stated that the centre is an important milestone in the industry that must be emulated by other banks because of the global threats to electronic banking.

“UBA has taken a bold step in securing its customers, knowing that banking cannot be practiced without adequate control and sound risk management systems” he enthused.

Group Managing Director/ CEO, UBA Plc, Mr. Phillips Oduoza said UBA, being a leading bank in the deployment of electronic banking channels, made a deliberate decision to invest in a robust information security infrastructure, processes and skilled personnel as an effective way to manage information security threats.

he Federal Government through the Ministry of Aviation has insisted that all the contracts awarded in the ongoing remodelling of 22 airports and other contracted awarded in the sector followed due process.

Just as the ministry said that it adopted the Selective Tendering option because it met aviation infrastructure, especially the terminals in a terrible state of dilapidation, which required a State of Emergency of sorts with regard to rehabilitating the derelict and decrepit.

An online statement signed on behalf of the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah by her Special Assistant, Media, Mr. Joe Obi, dismissed the notion that the

ministry did not follow due process, saying that all contracts in the ministry for the remodelling of the airports and other critical infrastructure followed all due processes as prescribed by the Public Procurement Act 2007.

The statement reads in part, “It would be misleading to insinuate that contracts awarded through a Selective Tendering Process, as is the case with some contract awards in the aviation ministry did not necessarily follow due process. It has to be noted that Selective Tendering is a lawful procurement procedure as enunciated in the Act. “The question as to why the Ministry opted for the Selective Tendering option is obvious. The present administration met aviation infrastructure, especially the terminals in a terrible state of dilapidation.

NCS elects new president, others KUNLE AZEEZ

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he Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has elected Prof. David Adewumi, Dean, College of Information and Communications Technology at Bells University, Ota, Ogun State as the computer body’s president as well as other executive members of the society.

As a result of winning a keenly contested and peaceful election, he takes over from Sir Demola Aladekomo, the Immediate Past President.

The new National Executive Council (NEC) of the NCS emerged in closely contested elections at the NCS Annual General Meeting on Friday July 26, 2013 at the Royal Park Hotel, Iloko-Ijesa, State of Osun.

NCS is the umbrella organization of all Information Technolo-

gy Professionals, Interest Groups and Stakeholders in Nigeria.

Held after the NCS 11th International Conference, NCS Osun 2013, the Annual General Meeting featured elections into various offices of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the NCS for the period 2013-2015.

NCS is the voice of Nigeria’s IT community is premier advocate for the deployment and advancement of IT for growth in all spheres of life in Nigeria.

A world class academic and researcher, Adewumi has stated his commitment to building on the standards set by his predecessor.

He assured the gathering of high performance from NCS and readiness to meeting the needs of members, as well as advancing the interests of the IT profession and industry.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Jobs & Career

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

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‘Trade unions must be seen as partners in national development’ National Industrial Relations Officer of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) and Chairman of Rivers State Council of Trade Union Congress(TUC), Mr. Chika Onuegbu, tells MESHACK IDEHEN, in this interview that incessant crisis bedevilling Nigeria’s industrial sector should compel stakeholders to find lasting solutions as well as articulate plans to harness trade unions potential for national development.

How would you describe the role of trade unions in the quest for national development?

Trade unions are major stakeholders in the production process, national development and transformation. Unions are key agents of social change and are still playing active roles as representatives of not just the workers but of the ordinary people, in nation-building and transformation of nations.

The importance of trade unions partnership with nationalists like Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo in bringing about Nigeria’s independence cannot be overemphasised. Without the trade unions involvement, the independence struggles of most African countries would have ended as a disaster.

Trade unions also partner with civil society groups and provide a platform for the resistance to military dictatorships, and for the emergence of democratic rule in Nigeria.

Since May 29, 1999, trade unions have continued to provide a voice for the ordinary people and ‘shocking’ the government into shape whenever the need arose.

Therefore, these antecedents of trade unions have broadened their roles from that of traditional collective bargaining agents to more developmental and transformational roles. It has also demonstrated that trade unions have great potentials that can be harnessed for national development and transformation by government at all levels.

However, these potentials can only be harnessed through a genuine partnership that is built on mutual trust and mutual respect.

How would you respond to insinuations by people that trade unions are not development partners, but function as opposition to government of the day?

Trade unions, particularly the TUC has repeatedly said unions in the country are not opposition to the government in power or alternative government but partners for national development.

Trade unions are representatives of the employees of government and other employers, and as employees and representatives of the employees; unions are expected to work together with their employers (government and other employers) for the betterment of the employing organisations.

Unions by their calling and nature would continue to be vanguards of the Nigerian people. They are essentially key non-state actors and agents of social change. Unions’ basic interest remains the protection of workers’ rights and privileges, improvement in the welfare of workers and the advancement of the socio-economic and political interest of workers and ordinary citizens generally.

However, trade unions in Nigeria and Africa generally, since colonial times, have done more than being mere medium for bargaining for the improvement of the welfare of their members. They have, whenever the need arose provided a platform for workers and ordinary citizens to resist oppression and obnoxious policies of government.

That role was foisted on the union by the people because of their genuine belief in the capacity of the trade union movement as true agents of social change.

Moreso, the weakness of institutions of governance in the post independence Nigeria has meant that trade unions will continue to be vanguards of the Nigerian people. Unfortunately, these secondary roles have placed trade unions

Onuegbu

TRADE UNIONS ARE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE

EMPLOYEES OF GOVERNMENT, AND OTHER EMPLOYERS,

AND AS EMPLOYEES AND REPRESENTATIVES OF THE EMPLOYEES; UNIONS ARE

EXPECTED TO WORK TOGETHER WITH THEIR EMPLOYERS

(GOVERNMENT AND OTHER EMPLOYERS) FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE EMPLOYING ORGANISATIONS in the difficult position where people sometimes inadvertently see them as active opposition to the government in power.

What benefits or advantages would you say unions have been able to bring to bear in the course of trying to develop the country?

Government, employers and workers have realised mutual gains over the years as a result of constructive tripartite relations, the labour movement’s participation in national development, and a proactive approach to labourmanagement relations.

Externally driven challenges will continue to provide strong impetus for cooperation among the tripartite partners and the wider community. As a partner in national development, the role and contribution of the labour movement will continue to widen, beyond economic and employment policy.

What differences are there when you make reference to trade unions and trade unionism?

Trade unionism is the principles, theory, ideals and philosophy of trade unions. Trade unionism therefore is essentially the ideological consciousness and construct built around the needs, expectations and expressions of workers both for themselves, their unions and for the larger society.

It is the basic underlying assumptions of trade unions and consists of the unconscious, taken for granted beliefs and deeply held values shared by members of a trade union.

It is upon these ideals, consciousness, philosophy, deeply held values and principles that trade unions emerge. It is the spiritual or motive force that gave impulse to the emer-

gence of trade unions in and around the globe.

On the other hand, trade unions are basically the organisations of workers for the furtherance of their collective interest. However, it is always better to have us share thoughts on how to harness the potentials of these organisations of workers (i.e. trade unions) for national development rather than their philosophy, ideologies and theories.

Nevertheless, let me also quickly point out that it is always difficult to separate the two (trade unionism and trade unions) as what ought to be is often seen from the prism of what is. The unseen often made manifest in the things that are seen.

How can trade unions potential be harnessed for national development?

Trade unions are stakeholders and partners for national development and their support or otherwise of the programmes, activities and policies of government and other employers will to a large extent, determine the success or otherwise of those programmes, activities and policies. This more than anything else underscores the need for genuine partnership between the government, other employers and the trade unions.

Moreover, partnership (between trade unions and government) can provide a framework within which a more positive working relationship can develop. It will also improve communication and co-operative relationship between the government, employers and trade unions thereby enhancing mutual trust and perceptions of fairness.

Partnership is viewed as representing a positive-sum game where both parties win. Underlying the notion of partnership is the idea of social partnership. Social partnership reflects the stakeholder ethos which underpins certain models of employee relations where employer and employee groups and government are considered social partners charged with considering the needs of all parties in determining social and economic policies thereby leading to industrial harmony.

How can genuine partnership be achieved when trade unions believe more in aggressive and confrontational approach to issues of disagreement?

One thing that many agree on is that the shift from adversarial labour-government/management relationship, to genuine partnership-driven labour-government/management relationship is more beneficial to both labour, government, management and by extension, the national economy.

It is however important to point out that empirical evidence has shown that the philosophy of the union, its history, and membership pressure, management’s/government’s pattern of dealing with the union, the leadership characteristics and political objectives of the union leadership could determine the strategy employed by the unions in the pursuit of its goals and objectives. These could also support or hinder the adoption of the partnership approach. Nevertheless, it is important to approach any study of unions based on the ideological perspectives as an organisation formed by workers to protect their interests and improve their working conditions.

Yet, with the changes that have occurred in the socioeconomic and political structure in Nigeria and the transformation of Nigerian trade unions, especially the labour unions are steadily emerging as active and powerful non state actors with the capacity to truncate or propel any transformation effort. It is therefore expected that policy makers should begin to undertake studies on how these potentials can be harnessed for the overall good of the nation.

Such studies should not be limited to the traditional roles of labour unions but must be creative and innovative, taking due cognizance of the changing role of labour unions.

This is because an innovative approach would build on the achievements of traditional conflict theory and industrial relations traditions, yet extend beyond these confines by exploring less adversarial strategies while also investigating the relationship between organised labour, the informal sector and the civil society organisations.

Recent studies are exposing the potential for greater cooperation between workers, employers and government.

For instance, in Britain, the TUC on behalf of trade union movement embraced the concept of partnership.

24

Jobs & Career

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Job interviews: Ways to beat competition

M

aking an impression in a job interview can be a nerve wracking challenge for some professionals.

While there are skills shortages for some professionals, others will have to approach an interview ready to impress. Here are a few tips to help in that regards.

Research the company - It is essential to prepare thoroughly for your interview. A key element of this means researching your chosen employer whether you work in mining and metals, oil and gas, or renewable energy.

Investigate the company to gain understanding of the issues the employer may be facing there. Review the company website, press releases and their social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ for insights on company culture. Create a custom news feed that will pick up on all published items that mention the company’s name. Finally, talk to anyone you know who works (or worked) there for an inside scoop.

Arrive on time - Plan your arrival in advance and allow extra time for unexpected delays. Turning up late sends out loud and clear messages to hiring managers who are paying attention like “unreliable”, “does not respect my time”, “disorganized” and “not

invested in the opportunity”. We know hiring managers who won’t even interview a candidate that shows up 1 minute late.With the global nature of opportunities for professional disciplines across emerging and specialized sectors and industry lines an increasing number of video interviews are being carried out but the same rules apply as for a face-to-face interview. Check your equipment well in advance and always be logged into your account ahead of your scheduled interview time.

State your goals clearly -Where do you see your career heading in the next year, two years, five years? The best companies in the industries have clearly defined business goals. The successful candidate’s goals and long term vision for his/her career will reflect those of the company, as will his or her core values. For example a company might value teamwork, low employee turnover rates, and a results oriented mentality. The successful candidate should reflect values that compliment the company’s core values.

Maintain a positive attitude - A positive attitude can make the difference between a job offer and a rejection. Employers often look for candidates who demonstrate a positive attitude and energy. Peo-

ple want to be around those who make them feel better about themselves. Employees with positive attitudes tend to be more productive employees because they always see the accompanying opportunity with every challenge.

Prepare questions - Posing carefully thought out questions will reinforce your interest in the vacancy and create a positive impression in the hiring manager’s mind. More importantly, it is your chance to assess if the company is the right fit for you. Ask about the strengths of the team, the history of the position, and inquire about growth in the role. This is your opportunity to interview your prospective employer.

Understand your strengths - During your interview preparation, take the time to read through the job description itself to gain a comprehensive understanding of the requirements of the role. Go through relevant work history and highlight key outcomes you were responsible for that demonstrate the desired outcomes in of the role.

Often employers are more interested in your successes (and failures) on a performance level than they are in your skills or accreditation.

Source: http://info.cowaninternational.com

A job interview

Guinness Nigeria announces new appointments MESHACK IDEHEN

G

uinness Nigeria Plc said new director level appointments has been made in its organisation as part of strategies to provide Nigerians with the most iconic and admired consumer products in the Nigerian market.

According to the company, the new appointments include movement within the team as well as new comers, with the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Seni Adetu, confirming that a new Regional Sales Director, Mr. Afeez Ajibowu, and Sales Director – West and North West, Chizoba Ojielo appointed.

Other appointments are those of Regional Sales Director – East

and North East, Mr. Innocent Nwaononiwu appointed as Sales Services Director, while Routeto-Consumer Director, Patrick Awotwi will also join the team.

Customer Marketing Director, Eyitemi Taire,is also appointed.

According to Adetu, the company aims to be the most iconic and admired consumer goods company in Nigeria and realises that a major enabler for this lies in the opportunity to transform our Route-to-Consumer as well as expanding the capability and capacity of our sales organisation, saying these appointments will give depth to our overall operations and will ensure that we are better able to serve every Nigerian across the country.

New appointee, Ajibowu re-

sumed at Guinness Nigeria from his former post as Head of Sales at British American Tobacco Nigeria, and (BATN). He is a seasoned sales and marketing professional with rich track record at conceptualizing and deploying, vision and strategies. He holds a BSc in Biochemistry from Lagos State University (LASU), Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Marketing and MSc in Business Information Systems from University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom.

Ojielo before his elevation was distributor development director and worked with the company’s entire sales force to expand the company’s distribution footprint across the country. He has also acted as field sales director also within Guinness Nigeria.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Job vacancies Africa focused NGO seeks advisers

A

frica Governance Initiative, which is a Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative said it is working for a future in which Africa’s development is led by Africans, with governments that are capable of setting and achieving priorities that reflect the rising aspirations and expectations of their citizens.

The advisors, according to AGI, work with senior government leaders in a range of areas, from private office and communications, strategy and policy development and crossgovernment coordination to project planning, performance management, and implementation.

Outstanding individuals with a proven track record of leadership and delivery in the public and/or private sector. AGI team members generally have 5-15 years relevant professional experience, high levels of enthusiasm, resilience, and a can-do attitude. (www.findjibafrica.com).

Also on offer from (www. findjobafrica.com) is the position of a QHSE Manager (F/M) that is expected to be based in Port Harcourt.

The company which provides a complete range of services to some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies through its network of offices in 25 countries across Africa, the Middle-East and Asia-Pacific said part of the job description is to ensure that safety standards are maintained and continually seek ways to improve safety standards, establish and ensure implantation of best safety practices, advise management on all matters pertaining to safety and health including compliance with Nigeria Legislation’s on safety and health and ensure that all personnel have received appropriate safety and health training as stipulated in HSE manual.

Other responsibilities are to plan and implement safety and health programmes and promotional activities (e.g. inspections, campaigns and competitions) that will improve safety and health awareness, establish and maintain a system incident reporting, investigation and analysis as stipulated in the HSE manual and conduct safety department review at least once every quarter to review the achievements of the Safety and Health Objectives and improvements to the HSE manual.

Qualifications are an RSO certification with MOM and possess good knowledge in WSH Act and OSHA regulations. Minimum 8 to 10 years relevant experience

in HSE managerial roles must be independent, resourceful, and good team player. Good initiative, interpersonal and communication skills amongst others.

From (www.jobberman. com), is the post of a Principal Electrical Engineers expected to be based in Lagos.

Job summary for the post is team providing timely and high quality planning, scheduling and project control support to company project to enable delivery of the project in accordance with approved procedures, guidelines and execution plans. Providing the entire project with planning expertise in support of all aspects of the project, through subsurface development, front-end engineering, project approval and the execution phase.

Qualifications are a degree plus a minimum of 15 years’ experience in oil and gas industry of which at least 10 years must have been with a major operator.

Must have previous experience of working in a similar role on a major project from concept through to commissioning. Proficient in the use of computerized planning tools such as Primavera, Artemis, Microsoft Project. Knowledge of computerized project management (planning, scheduling, monitoring and control) in a multi-project environment is a pre-requisite. Strong project management, technical, communication and leadership skills. Should be self -motivated and a proven achiever.

Still from (www.jobberman. com) are openings for Risk Analysts to be based in Lagos.

The recruiting company which said it is a very strong, viable and financially sound microfinance bank with focus at the retail end of the market and Head Office in Lagos said responsibilities for the positions are risk identification, analysis, mitigation and monitoring.

The incoming are also to be responsible for maintaining and implementing the bank’s risk management activities, ensuring that the bank operates within the ambit of all supervisory and regulatory guidelines, to be responsible for the bank’s credit analysis and monitoring and ensuring prompt repayment of all outstanding credit facility.

Qualifications and requirements are a B.Sc. in any social science, finance or any other related course with a minimum of second class lower with 2-3 years relevant experience. Prior banking or financial institutions experience is an advantage, especially in credit analysis and risk management framework.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

25

Real Estate & Environment

Lead poisoning clean-up: Experts caution on fresh outbreak The Federal Government last week announced the successful completion of the remediation programme in the lead poisoning infected communities of Zamfara State. However, in this report, experts who spoke with OLUFEMI ADEOSUN, say the danger of acid batteries still looms in some parts of the country.

T

he 2010 Zamfara lead poisoning incidence presents a classic case of the vulnerability of children in any event of the negative impact of environmental despoliation. As at last count at least revealed that 4,309 patients were enrolled for treatment according to Medecines Sans Frontieres, a private non-profit international humanitarian organisation dedicated to providing medical assistance for populations in crisis and which has been working with the Federal Government since the outbreak of the lead poisoning incidents.

According to MSF country representative in Nigeria, Michelle Chouinard, apart from its spill-over effects on seven other neighbouring villages in the state, 102 children also died from various complications arising from lead poisoning. She also added out of the total figure, 2,304 children from all the affected villages are currently receiving treatment and follow-up in Bagega alone, Michelle confirmed that while 1,010 patients had been screened since April 2013, 957 had also been enrolled for treatment and subsequent follow-up. Specifically, she puts the number of deaths from lead poisoning due to high blood lead levels at eleven.

The high scale of criticisms that trailed the alleged nonchalant attitude of the Federal Government to the plight of the suffering children in the human induced environmental disaster had prompted President Goodluck Jonathan to release N800m intervention fund in January 2013 to clean up the eight impacted communities.

Thus, it was good news last week when the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Hadiza Mailafia received a certificate from the Director of Field Operations of Terragraphics International Foundation, Mr. Simba Tirima, to confirm the successful completion of the remediation exercise as well as to certify the affected communities free of lead poisoning pollution.

The clean-up, which was initiated by the Federal Government in collaboration with Zamfara State Government, was undertaken under the technical supervision of Terragraphics International Foundation.

TIF is a United States- based non-profit organisation that provides technical assistance to nations affected by lead poisoning with a view to giving direction on how to address it in line with international standards and best practices.

Mailafia expressed happiness at the completion of the remediation, particular-

Mailafia

One of the mining sites in Northern Nigeria

IN ORDER TO FORESTALL FUTURE RE-OCCURRENCE HE ADVOCATED INITIATION OF GOOD MINING POLICY THAT CATERS FOR THE INTEREST OF THE LEAST MINER IN THE COUNTRY AND CONTINUOUS EDUCATION ENABLE THEM PRACTICE THEIR TRADE IN A COORDINATED SUSTAINABLE MANNER ly at the progress report, which documented the progressive treatment of the children affected by the lead dust. She said,” I am glad that today, we have kept our promise. In January 2013 when the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria agreed to release funds for us, I made the promise that we are going to deliver, that I would as a person take it as a personal task, that we will be committed to seeing that the cleanup project will be done in good time before the start of the rain. Today, I am glad to celebrate that we have maintained and we have achieved.”

The minister, who identified a huge lacuna in terms of education regarding the negative impact of unhealthy mining practices in the country, called on state governments to sensitise its people to the health implications of lead poisoning to

prevent similar episodes as experienced in Zamfara.

Speaking on the negative effects of lead poisoning, she stated: “You will live behind generation of impaired children and generation of potential criminals. I don’t know whether we have so much money in this country that we can use to breed criminals. What are we saying? We are saying because of the negative effect of lead poisoning, there is the tendency that children would have cognitive impairment and exhibit behaviours that are not in tandem with societal norms and values.

The minster added that having completed the clean up exercise, it is now the responsibility of the Federal Mines and Steel to evolve safer mining techniques.

However, the TIF Field Operations Director, Terima sounded a note of warning,

stressing that although the clean up might have been successfully completed, the dangers arising from acid pollution still hover the country. According to him, the nation’s policy makers still need to investigate cases of lead poisoning across the Nigerian states.

He said,” Let me say this, the battle against lead pollution is not over. This is tip of the iceberg. We know in this part of Africa and indeed in many parts of the world, that lead acid batteries are being used to recover lead from them. In-fact Telligraphic oversaw a project in Senegal.

The problem was caused by breaking of those acid batteries. So be prepared to launch projects around the country and investigate to see that this is happening.

“I am aware that lead acid batteries are being recovered in certain part of Nigeria.

It is very hard to find out sometimes when these things are happening because if one is breaking batteries in his house, who will know?

In order to forestall future re-occurrence he advocated initiation of good mining policy that caters for the interest of the least miner in the country and continuous education enable them practice their trade in a coordinated sustainable manner.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 31

26

Real Estate & Environment

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FHA delivered 37,000 housing units in 40 years, minister admits OLUFEMI ADEOSUN

I

Emeka Anyakou Housing Estate, Lagos.

Use pension fund to develop housing schemes – Fashola DAYO AYEYEMI

T

o bridge the nation’s housing deficit of 17 million, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has called the Federal Government to use contributions to the Pension Fund for the development of housing schemes across Nigeria.

Speaking while playing host to the Senate Committee on Land, Housing and Urban Development, which paid him a courtesy visit last weekend, Fashola pointed out that the huge pension fund now trapped and tied down by legislation should be invested in the housing industry for the benefits of the citizens.

He said, “One understands the initiative at the time to lock it down by legislation and limit the areas where investments can be made. It is true that some countries have led housing reforms for their people but they are not federations, they are just republics. South Africa I know, the United Kingdom I know, Singapore I know, but they are not federations.

“We must understand the limitations our federal arrangement imposes upon us and within those limitations try to find ways in which to really achieve our aim”.

The Committee was led by its Chairman and first Governor of Yobe State, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim.

Besides, Governor Fashola tasked the Federal Government to deepen the mortgage culture in the country and to also concentrate on research and development as well as education to improve building methods.

He explained that deepening the mortgage culture would en-

able Nigerians obtain loan they could pay within the productive period of their life at a less cumbersome interest rate.

He said, “In my own humble view, what the Federal Government needs to do is to assist in solving the housing problem is first to deepen the mortgage culture. Nigerians know how to build houses. What is really the problem is that they can’t afford to buy it.

“So how people can get a loan that is tied to their productive period of life at interest rate that will not kill them is what the Federal Government should concentrate on.”

The governor decried many abandoned Federal housing schemes across the country, noting that they were initiated during military regimes and governors then were appointed hence they could never say no to any directives from their bosses.

“Today, disaggregated in Lagos alone, we have identified close to 100 hectares of abandoned Federal Government land; lands that were given for various housing schemes. They build a little and they leave the rest; so it has created so many slums in our state.

And there are several places if you go there you are either met with soldiers and they say you cannot regulate”, he said.

He advised the Federal Government to leave the states to develop their housing policies, disclosing that Lagos State Government has already embarked on developing its housing policy to provide houses for Lagosians through its Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (Lagos HOMS).

He explained further, “What we are doing now is to develop on our own speed a housing policy

called Lagos HOMS. It is for first home buyers alone. We are building blocks of flats across. I think by the first quarter of next year we would have completed about 5.000 units of houses. We are trying to start another 5 – 7, 000 units this year that we will complete late next year”.

“The whole idea here is to use taxpayers’ fund to create a basket to finance the scheme because no bank will lend you money at the rate that we take. We are pegging the maximum interest rate below 10 per cent and you would have a minimum of 10 years to repay. We see that it has worked with markets where people pay at their own pace. So it is easy for them to acquire”, the governor said.

Governor Fashola commended the Senate for making its proceedings open to the public , saying such innovations were some of the things that Nigerians look forward to in the emergence of a democracy.

He added, “Whatever rough edges that still remain can only get better”.

In his opening remarks, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, explained that the visit of the Committee to Lagos was part of their oversight functions that would take them to all states of the Federation to assess the implementation of the 2013 Budget as it concerns Housing, expressing regrets that budget implementation at the Federal level has been abysmally low over the years.

The Chairman commended the Governor for the vast infrastructure development that has taken place in Lagos in the last six years and the exemplary good governance being demonstrated

by Fashola.

n its 40 years of existence, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has only been able to deliver 37,000 housing units, the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Amal Pepple has revealed.

Against this background, Pepple regrettably maintained that the agency had failed the nation in its core mandate of provision of mass housing.

The minister disclosed this in Abuja last week during the inaugural meeting of the steering committee on the restructuring and commercialisation of the FHA. She said, “Since inception about 40 years ago, the FHA has been able to build only 37,000 housing across the country. This is an average of less than 1,000 houses per annum, currently; the housing deficit in Nigeria is estimated at 17 million units.

Pepple however added the seeming helplessness of the agency was rooted in the myriad challenges which her ministry had come up with strategic actions to address.

Some of the constraints, according to her include historical operating losses, huge legacy debts, poor internally generated revenue base, and poor corporate governance.

Other constraints, she noted, included high cost of housing units (dependence on government funding) and lack of government policy cohesion The minister stated that it was in a bid to confront these challenges militating against proper effectiveness of the agency headon that the Federal Government constituted a committee in May 2012 to examine its current structural operations.

Pepple

She explained that the strategy was part of the efforts aimed at re-positioning and strengthening the agency for effective service delivery.

“The committee submitted its report in August making far reaching recommendations for the structural overhaul and commercialisation of the FHA, “The recommendations of the committee were approved by Mr President in December 2012 and a technical board was inaugurated to oversee the affairs of the authority during the restructuring period, “she said.

She noted that the steering committee inaugurated would work with the technical board and the interim management team to ensure the full commercialisation of the FHA in accordance with the Public enterprises Act 1999.

She explained, “Members of the committee and its terms of reference were approved by the National Council on Privatisation chaired by Vice President Nnamadi Sambo recently.

She said the commercialisation of the agency was aimed at boosting the housing sector with a view to addressing the lingering housing challenges of the people.

Pepple further explained that the decision taken by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) would still address the huge housing deficit in the country, adding that the process would curb inability to effectively function without government funding and borrowing from other institutions as a means of survival.

Other issues that the re-packaged agency would address, according to the minister, include poor financial management and corporate reporting practise, poor information technology, infrastructure, corporate affairs framework and political interference and meddling.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Moscow 2013: Athletes groan over funding 30

Goal rates Mba 24th best in the world

S

uper Eagles’ midfielder, Sunday Mba, has been named in the Goal 50, a list of the world’s best footballers for the 2012/13 season. He is rated 24th.

Twenty-five-year-old Mba becomes the first Nigerian to grace the elite list. He made the cut on the strength of his immense contribution to Nigeria’s victory at the Africa Cup of Nations, creating an immense legacy for the country’s home-based players.

Lionel Messi has won the Goal 50 award for the world’s best footballer after another record-breaking season.

The Argentine forward claims the trophy from digital football brand, Goal.com, for the third time.

The Goal 50 title is in recognition of an incredible campaign during which he beat Gerd Muller’s

40-year-old record of 85 goals scored in a calendar year.

Messi scored 91 goals in 2012 and increased his total as Barcelona’s all-time top scorer to 313 goals in all competitions by the end of the season.

Messi struck in his 19th consecutive La Liga game in March 2013, becoming the first footballer in history to score in consecutive matches against every team in a major professional league.

After receiving the trophy from Goal.com’s Barcelona correspondent Pilar Suarez at the club’s training ground, Messi said, “I’m very excited about this. As players, we work the entire year to win honours for the team, we don’t look for the individual awards, but when they come it’s an incentive and gives us strength to continue on the same path.”

27

Sport

There is no alternative to ensuring efficient organisation of the local league. We must do things right –Former Nigeria international, Pascal Patrick 2013 Goal 50

Mba

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

1

Lionel Messi

Barcelona

2

Franck Ribery

Bayern Munich

3

Cristiano Ronaldo

Real Madrid

4

Thomas Muller

Bayern Munich

5

Arjen Robben

Bayern Munich

6

Gareth Bale

Tottenham

7

Philipp Lahm

Bayern Munich

8

Thiago Silva

PSG

9

Arturo Vidal

Juventus

10

Robin Van Persie

Manchester United

11

BastianSchweinsteiger

Bayern

12

Paulinho

Tottenham

13

Fred

Fluminense

14

Neymar

Barcelona

15

Robert Lewandowski

Bayern Munich

16

Edinson Cavani

Paris Saint-Germain

17

Radamel Falcao

AS Monaco

18

Dante

Bayern Munich

19

Andres Iniesta

Barcelona

20

Burak Yilmaz

Galatasaray

21

Ignacio Scocco

Internacional

22

Mario Mandzukic

Bayern Munich

23

Javi Martinez

Bayern Munich

24

Sunday Mba

Enugu Rangers

25

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

PSG

26

Mario Gotze

Bayern Munich

27

Manuel Neuer

Bayern Munich

28

Thibaut Courtois

Atlético Madrid

29

Mohamed Aboutrika

Al Ahly SC

30

Igor Akinfeev

CSKA Moscow

31

Luis Suarez

Liverpool

32

Juan Mata

Chelsea

33

Jackson Martinez

FC Porto

34

Paolo Guerrero

Corinthians

35

Ilkay Gundogan

B. Dortmund

36

Isco

Real Madrid

37

Raphael Varane

Real Madrid

38

Willian

Anzhi Makhachkala

39

Omar Abdul Rahman Al-Ain Al Amoodi

40

James Rodriguez

AS Monaco

41

Roman Weidenfeller

B. Dortmund

42

Andrea Pirlo

Juventus

43

Henrik Mkhitaryan

Borussia Dortmund

44

Victor Wanyama

Southampton

45

Itumeleng Khune

Kaizer Chiefs

46

Fernandinho

Manchester City

47

Hisato Sato

S a n f r e c c e Hiroshima

48

Robbie Keane

LA Galaxy

49

Lee Keun-Ho

Sangju Sangmu

50

Frank Lampard

Chelsea

Fed Cup: Akwa Utd unleash Ezekiel against Heartland

S

uper Eagles’ striker, Ezekiel Mba has been named in the Akwa United’s squad to tackle Cup holders, Heartland, in the Federation Cup quarter-finals clash tomorrow at the Kaduna Township Stadium.

Mba arrived in Lagos on Sunday evening from Abidjan where the home-based Eagles fought gallantly to edge the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire for a place in the 2014 African Nations Championship (CHAN) in South Africa.

Akwa United coach, Justin Tenger, said his dependable striker upon arrival in Lagos on Sunday immediately contacted him where he told him instantly that he will be party to the killer squad to challenge Heartland for a spot in the last four of the annual football fiesta.

“Of course, Ezekiel Mba will be featured against Heartland on Wednesday, we’ve been in constant communication since his arrival on Sun-

day and he is excited to contribute his own quota in the side battle for glory in the Federation Cup,” Tenger told supersports. com.

He added, “Oh yes, his presence is a big plus and great relief to some of my attacking headaches.

The entire team is happy having him in their midst for the crucial knockout game against Heartland.

“The camp is alive once again, the mood and spirit among the players very high. It’s a joy for one to have his best tool on special assignment.”

Akwa United are already settled in Kaduna for the grudge game to determine who progress to the semi-finals.

The Uyo-based side defeated Enugu Rangers 2-1 in the round of 16 matches decided at the Dan Anyiam Stadium in Owerri while the Cup holders were made to sweat heavily by Sharks before winning 4-3 on penalties in Calabar.

The Fed Cup Fixtures Kaduna:

Heartland

vs Akwa United

Ilorin:

Warri Wolves

vs Kano Pillars

Abeokuta:

Nasarawa United

vs Enyimba

Enugu:

Akwa Starlets

vs Lobi Stars

AFCON 2013: SA makes N58m profit

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he Local Organising Committee (LOC) has declared a profit of R3.6million (about N58million) from the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) held earlier in the year in South Africa.

The LOC announced the figure at the South Africa Football Association (SAFA) House yesterday, while presenting the financial results of the tournament.

A net profit of R3,639,890 against a budgeted amount of R535,139, meant the LOC produced a yield nearly seven times that required to make the

tournament a financial success.

Sponsorships, the LOC divulged, amounted to 150 percent more than their initial target, while the broadcasting rights from SABC exceeded their budget by 20 percent.

Though crowd attendance was poor at some games, the overall number of 753,169 fans exceeded the target of 500,000.

Minister of Sports, Fikile Mbalula, said the report was welcomed by government.

“The work of the LOC speaks for itself. I think it was a job well done,” Mbalula said.

28

Sport

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Tit bits...

Chelsea Manager, Jose Mourinho, has reiterated that Juan Mata is in his plans, hinting at a new role for the Spain international this season.

“Of course Juan fits into my plans. I have my idea about him, about where he produces better and where he has more difficulty,” Mourinho said.

“We will try to help him perform better in those situations. I’ve always liked a right-sided player to be left-footed.

B

e l e a guered To t t e n ham Hotspur midfielder, Gareth Bale, arrived in London yesterday with the rest of the squad, amid widespread reports still linking him with a move to Real Madrid.

The 23-yearold missed their the he eir Asia A As ia Cup friendfrien en ndlies in Hong Ho ong ng Kong due to o a strain muscle strai ain but that has not stopped him beiing in g the centre of attention off the pitch. in Reports

Suarez Arsenal Manager, Arsene Wenger, has revealed he is prepared to wait for his transfer target Luis Suarez as he claims the Gunners can win the Premier League title with or without new signings.

The Emirates side has already put in a £40,000,00+1 bid for the Liverpool striker but Wenger is relaxed about the lack of progress on the deal ahead of the Emirates Cup this week.

Henry

New York Red Bulls striker, Thierry Henry, has labelled Real Salt Lake as the best team in Major League Soccer.

“It’s the best team and I have said it for a very long time,” Henry said last week as Bulls prepared to face Salt Lake.

“For me they have been the best team since I’ve arrived here and are very difficult to beat,” the Arsenal legend added.

Tottenham Hotspur is preparing a bid for PSG midfielder Javier Pastore, with reports claiming Spurs sees the player as a replacement for Real Madrid target Gareth Bale.

Pastore cost Paris St Germain £36m from Palermo two years ago and he would rip a hole in the cash Spurs are demanding for Bale.

Spurs Director of Football, Franco Baldini, has already made enquiries about Pastore’s availability.

S

the Spanish press yesterday claimed had all but joined Madrid after the club’s President, Florentino Perez, approved £80m to get him.

But Spurs had refused to comment on the speculation, although Manager Andre Villas Boas revealed Bo oas reveale ed Friday on the Frida d y club that the c lub and agent an nd Bale’s Ba ale’s a gent were we re e in “ongoing “ “o ng goiing talks” about a new contract.

Isco

Pastore

Sessegnon lov Black Cats

Bale lands in London, Madrid rumour spreads

Mata

Real Madrid new recruit, Isco, is delighted with his first weeks at the club after he featured in the victory over PSG. “I’m happy with the work we are doing. It’s early, but we have a great team with great players and a very good attitude. We are on the right track,” the former Malaga midfielder said.

“I still need to build understanding with teammates but I am doing that in every training session.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Magpies shut out Gomis

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ewcastle has withdrawn from negotiations with Lyon for striker Bafetimbi Gomis, according to reports.

The Magpies were understood to have u increased their offer ffor the 27-year-old France international to £6.9million internatio last week. But the Ligue 1 side has been reportedly holding out for a bigger offer.

Toon Manager, Alan Pardew, Manag has been eager eage to increase his attacking options and set his opt sights on Gomis, Gom who scored 18 goals for Lyon last season.

L It is now likely he will turn his attention to bringing in QPR b forward Loic Remy, for who wh has been linked with a season-long wi loan lo deal.

Shola Ameobi and Papiss Cisse a are a the club’s only recognised strikers. re

Honda se sets CSKA, Milan on collision Besiktas eyes Adebayor

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ant-away Tottenham Hotspur striker, Emmanuel Adebayor, is still a target for Turkish club Besiktas who believes it can land him if it escapes a ban for alleged match-fixing.

Spurs is willing to listen to offers for the 29-year-old Togo international after he scored just five League goals in 25 appearances last season.

Besiktas is ready to stump up the £6.6million asking price but know they have no chance of attracting him if they are not in the Europa League.

“We are interested in Ade-

bayor and a transfer can always be done,” Besiktas President, Fikret Orman, said yesterday.

“Once the UEFA case is settled, I am going to London to sort out the transfer.”

Besiktas has been granted entry into the preliminary stages of the Europa League until a final decision is made on August 30.

Adebayor has two years left on his Tottenham contract after moving to White Hart Lane on a permanent basis last year.

C

S K A Mosc o w y e s terday criticised AC Mil a n ’ s tactics in negotiations for Japanese international Keisuke Honda.

Milan wants to sign Honda this summer, despite his contract having less than six months to run.

“We’ve had bet-

ter offers for Honda compared to the Milan com one. Certainly more interesting and economiteres cally viable,” CSKA President, Yevgeny Pres Giner, said.

Gine “The issue regards “T both the sum payable CSKA and the playto C er’s wages. Milan is important club and an im Adriano Galliani is an Adri excellent director. exce “However, they “H have to understand in Italy that they can’t treat us like losers, nor will we let ourselves conditioned by the be c newspapers. new “Honda has not lost “H any motivation. He is a CSKA player and has a CSK contract with CSKA.” cont

underland midfielder, ne Sessegno, has insist content with life at the played down recent reports o sible move.

Stories emerged earlier this that the Black Cats might be pr listen to offers for the 29-year-o international, who only signe contract in August last year.

But with no formal app Sessegnon seems keen to be manager Paolo Di Canio’s plan “The speculation is okay, I problem with that. But I’m Sunderland,” he said yesterday “We have worked well in pr and hopefully we can continue My mind is for Sunderland now Sessegnon arrived at the Sta Light in a £6m switch from Par main in January 2011 and has spurts huge potential for such a ment.

Asian trip excites Gerrard L

iverpool captain, Stev rard, has heaped praise cities that hosted the R ing their pre-season tour.

The Anfield side finished i Asia and Australia with a 3over Thailand on Sunday and was over excited to play in fron than 200,000 people in Jaka bourne and Bangkok.

“We couldn’t ask for more. It a really good trip,” he said yest “It’s been very successful fr ously a financial point of view fitness reasons and also team s only have to look at the level of we have everywhere we go.

“It just goes to show how big ball club is and how privilege are to be a part of the first team

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

ves

Not many people can justifiably lay claim to being a legend while they are still active, but Fabio Capello is one of them. The revered coach who has won trophies at AC Milan, Real Madrid and Roma, as well as lately steering Russia into a strong position in its bid to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, spoke to FIFA.com

s summer repared to old Benin ed a new

p

ven Geres on the Reds dur-

Mourinho (left) with Drogba

‘Drogba is Chelsea’s future’

C

helsea Manager, Jose Mourinho, has predicted that Didier Drogba will return to the club but not in a playing capacity.

Drogba, who was voted Chelsea’s best ever player, formed a special relationship while playing under Mourinho during their time together at Stamford Bridge.

“Didier is a player and he is a winner and he enjoys his game and I almost had a heart attack because of him,” Mourinho said.

“Let him enjoy a good couple of years of football but,

after that, he is loved in this club by everyone and that’s very, very normal. I think one day he will have a Chelsea future.”

Asked if Drogba could return as a coach, the Chelsea manager said: “It’s more a global question than a specific question to the manager.

“I am nobody, I am just the manager. Is he a very important player in Chelsea’s history? Yes. Will Didier be always in the memory of Chelsea fans, Chelsea board, Chelsea owner, Chelsea fellow players, Chelsea kids growing up? Yes.”

Reina riles at Reds

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apoli goalkeeper, Jose Reina, yesterday launched a scathing attack on Liverpool after accusing the club of forcing him to join the Serie A club on loan.

The 30-year-old, who started his season-long loan to the Italian side yesterday following several months of speculation over his future, was reported to be a target for Barcelona at the end of last season but a deal with the Spanish champions never materialised.

The Spain international said he was disappointed to have been left with little choice about his future.

“If I have one regret, it is the way that I am leaving,” Reina said.

its trip to 0 victory d Gerrard nt of more arta, Mel-

t has been terday. rom obviw but for pirit. You f support

g this footed we all m.”

29

Why Brazil is hard to beat–Capello

Stephated he is club and of a pos-

proaches, e part of ns.

I have no happy at y. re-season e like this. w.” adium of ris St Gershown in an invest-

Sport

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Reina

Guardiola unfazed by defeat

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ayern Munich Coach, Pep Guardiola, said the European champion was unconcerned despite its 4-2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the German Super Cup on Saturday.

Bayern was without key midfielders Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger and, with the Bundedesliga set to restart onAugust 9, Guardiola said the errors would be fixed.

“Overall, I am happy with the performance,” the 42-year-old ex-Barcelona coach, who suffered his first defeat in ten pre-season games since taking charge last month, said.

“We played well and what happened came down to individual situations. Even though we lost, I didn’t get the feeling that Dortmund were better than us. We still have ten days to get ready for the Bundesliga restart.”

What did you make of the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 final?

The big question was how Brazil were going to take on a Spain side that everyone knows very well but have found difficult to stop. My feeling was that Luiz Felipe Scolari’s team were the favourites because they were at home, but to back up that status they had to beat a team that’s won the lot. The most interesting thing was the way in which the Brazilians won the ball back in midfield and prevented the Spanish from getting their usual 65 per cent possession.

Do you think we’ve seen the blueprint for beating the Spaniards?

I think Italy also showed the way in the semi-finals.

They played with three defenders and that unsettled the Spanish, mainly because they closed down the space in midfield, fought hard for possession and avoided playing long balls. That’s why Spain suffered and it allowed other coaches to see how they might be beaten. Scolari likes to do his homework and I’m sure he took good note of that.

Do you really think Spain has lost that aura of being unbeatable?

Spain have their own style, from youth level up. You also have to remember that they had one day’s less rest and had to play extra time against Italy in very hot conditions. When it gets as hot as that I think it would be a good idea to have a minute’s break in each half so the players can have a drink. I think it would make a big difference.

What’s your view of this current Brazil side?

Brazil have some dangerous players with the ability to put together some fantastic moves. Even in midfield they’ve got players who are very comfortable on the ball, though it is true that they don’t have many who you’d call creative. They’ve got Neymar, and Oscar more or less fits the description. It’s a team that’s more muscular than the fans here would like. They’re pining for the teams of 1970 and 1982, but all the same they’re a very hard side to beat.

Their pressing pattern looks like the one you exhibited at Milan…

It was an innovation back then, when the custom was for forwards not to do any pressing. Obviously things have changed a lot and everyone does it now.

In the modern game it’s virtually impossible to win if you don’t. I also think it’s a little absurd that people still talk about 4-3-3, 4-4-2 and all that. To my mind the modern formation is 9-1. These days you have to be compact, with everyone in a maximum of 20 or 30 metres.

Capello

But were reported at Madrid to say attacking football isn’t modern…

I never said that. There are a lot of things on the internet that are false. In my first season at Madrid we played with Raul, Davor Suker and Pedrag Mijatovic, with Victor on the right and Fernando Redondo and Clarence Seedorf in the middle. That was not a defensive team to you, was it? I remember one time when I played Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ronaldo up front together. But we lost three games out of five and let Barcelona open up a nine-point gap. In the end we won the title with a lot fewer attacking players.

So the famous Galáctico system wasn’t so effective, after all?

We had David Beckham on the right and Ronaldo and Van Nistelrooy up front with Raul but we didn’t win! There was an awful lot of talent but we couldn’t put all of them on the pitch at the same time.

Is there still room for innovation?

There have been three revolutions in recent football history. In the 1970s there was Ajax with their high offside line and pressing game. Then in the 1980s and 90s there was Milan, and now there’s Barcelona, who’ve shown how to keep the ball and how to win it back aggressively when they lose it. As we’ve seen, when people study these innovations and get a command of them, then you start to see new developments taking place.

What will football be like in the future?

That’s not an easy question to answer. You get these revolutions every 15 years more or less. The Barcelona one happened not so long ago so I think we’ll have to wait a little longer to see how things turn out.

Oba Cup: Organisers extend registration

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agos State Football Association (LSFA) has extended the registration date deadline for the 2013 Oba Cup to August 8, even as the competition is scheduled to kick off on August 15.

Chairman of the FA, Seyi Akinwunmi, said the extension was granted after appeals from the divisions for time to get more teams involved in the competition.

“The draws will hold on Au-

gust 8 and arrangement has been concluded in that regard,” Akinwunmi said yesterday.

A member of the FA’s Technical Committee, Gafar Liameed, noted that the championship was in honor of the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akinolu.

“This has made it necessary for us to allow as many teams as possible to participate in the championship,” Liameed said.

About 80 clubs have registered for the championship.

Fashola

30

Sport

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

On the track with

YEMI OLUS danyella172003@yahoo.com

Uruemu lauds Eko Grand Prix

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Flashback…Glory Alozie (in green trunk) was at Seville 1999 World Championship where Nigeria last won a medal.

Moscow 2013: Athletes groan over funding

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ack of funds has stalled the country’s preparation for the World Championships set to commence on August 10, in Moscow, Russia as athletes have been left to prepare on their own.

One of them, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said it would be futile for Nigerians to expect much from the athletes whereas little or nothing has gone into preparation for the championships: “The World Championships is barely 10 days away but we

have not been called to camp neither have we been informed of any development. No plan has been put in place yet people expect us to bring medals from Moscow,” the athlete said.

“We will just go and do our best as usual but we can’t promise much because it is only to who much is given that much is expected.”

An official of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) stated that the federation had plans to camp the athletes in the build-up of the championships but suspended the programme

when the funds stalled.

“We are still waiting for funds but we hope to go with a compact team because it is not the size that really matters but the impact we can make,” an official said yesterday.

Nigeria last made the podium at the World Championships in 1999 in Seville, Spain where the duo of Francis Obikwelu and Glory Alozie won bronze and silver medal in the men’s 200m and 100m hurdles. Both athletes later competed for Portugal and Spain respectively.

…AFN makes funds plea

T

Nesiama

echnical Director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Navy Commodore Omatseye Nesiama, has called on corporate organisations to leverage on the latest success recorded by sprinter Blessing Okagbare by supporting the country’s athletes to the World Championships in Moscow, Russia next month.

Okagbare has been in blazing form in the build up to the quadrennial championships scheduled for August 10 to 17, erasing Glory Alozie’s 14-year-old African Record of 10.90secs in the women’s 100m, at the London Anniversary Games at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford last weekend.

She returned in 10.86secs in the heats and further lowered her time in the final to produce a scintillating feat of completing

the sprint in 10.79secs. She had earlier attained the 7mm mark in the long jump at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco.

“The time has come for some corporate bodies to take sponsorship of the team to the World Championships,” Nesiama said yesterday, “The provision would get the athletes psychologically ready to fight for medals so that the spirit of winning will remain in the team,” the AFN official added.

“Sponsorship should not be about government or individuals alone. Our team almost missed out on the World Youth Championships due to lack of funds and we learnt some lessons from the experience. Therefore, we need as much support as we can get this time.”

agos State Athletics Association (LSSA) Coach, Adu Uruemu, says he is excited about athletes’ turnout at the maiden Lagos Open Championship/Eko Grand Prix last weekend.

The two-day open championship which, featured athletes of all ages, took place at the Sports Complex of the University of Lagos.

“A lot of athletes turned up for the championship and this shows that the post-National Trials has been effective unlike what obtained in the past,” Uruemu said.

The athletes showed willingness to compete and some of them could use this meet to improve on their time even if they are not competing at the World

Championships.

“For instance an athlete who had a mark of 10.4secs in the men’s 100m prior to this meeting, could eventually lower his time to say, 10.2secs and that would be a good development.

Such a person would be encouraged because he would end the season on a high note.”

Uruemu also expressed delight that fresh talent were discovered at the Grand Prix which is slated to be in the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) calendar from next year.

Despite the hype that surrounded the championship, some top athletes who attended the competition criticised its poor organisation which they described as below international standards.

Bolt accepts Farah’s challenge Farah (l) with Bolt

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lympic sprint champion, Usain Bolt, has accepted a challenge from Britain’s Olympic middle distance champion Mo Farah to race for charity, saying he would be prepared to meet the Somalia-born British over 600 metres.

Farah, who won gold at the 5,000 and 10,000 metres at the London Olympics last year was the star of the Games along with Jamaican sprinter Bolt, who won the 100 and 200 metres.

“It would be great to do a distance where people vote in, proper athletics fans, on what distance they think is most suitable,” Farah said after his Olympic Anniversary race last weekend.

He then turned to the camera and said, “Are you up for that?

Come on, you’ve got to do it.”

In a separate interview, Bolt was shown the footage and replied he would be prepared to take on the challenge.

“That sounds fun. It’s going to be hard but it’s charity so it’s all about fun and enjoyment. I’m up for anything, for anything’s possible,” the Jamaican said.

Bolt, who holds the world records at 100m and 200m, said running 1,500m would be out of the question.

“It’s way too far. 600m for sure I can try because I’ve done 600m in training, but not 1,500m” he added.

Farah laid down the challenge to the Jamaican sprinter after running a personal best of 7: 36.85secs in the 3000m at the London Anniversary Games at the weekend.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Real Estate & Environment

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

31

Lead poisoning clean-up: Experts caution on fresh outbreak CONTINUED FROM 25

How Ibadan flyover eases traffic snarl at Mokola – Residents Mokola Flyover Bridge, Ibadan, Oyo State.

In this report, KEMI OLAITAN, says the newly built N2.13bn Mokola flyover in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, has put an end to the harrowing experiences of residents and motorists who, before now spent better part of their work hours in traffic jam.

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or residents of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, especially motorists passing through the Mokola area of the city, has changed from the harrowing experience of the past, no thanks to the commissioning of a flyover built by the present administration of Senator Abiola Ajimobi, to decongest traffic in the area.

Indeed, the hardship faced by residents before the commissioning was brought to the fore by a commercial motorist, Mr. Ibrahim Olatunji, while speaking on his experience on the roundabout, saying he always prayed in the morning not to get trapped in bottlenecks so as not to waste precious time and fuel in the process.

He said, “Mokola Roundabout is a problem to an average motorist in this city, and we often found out that the bottleneck is caused by impatience on the part of the road users. On my part I always tried everything to avoid the place so that at the end of the day I would not waste my money burning fuel unnecessarily.”

While speaking on his experience on the flyover, a commercial cab operator, Mr. Rahman Asaolu, said Mokola Roundabout has become one of the most lucrative areas for members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the state. According to him, today no commercial driver has any excuse of not plying the area as it is now a smooth ride to the place from any part of the city, such that the number of vehicles going to the area has increased.

He said, “There is no doubt that the commissioning of the flyover has brought a great relief to motorists, on our part the commercial motorists, it is now with pleasure that members of the NURTW in the state ply the Mokola round about with no encumbrance of traffic hold-up. To us the best place to ply now in terms of the volume of traffic with no problem is the area.”

Also speaking, a student in one of the schools in the area, Segun Akanbi, said he gets to school on time compared to his past experience.

He said before the commissioning of the bridge, he always leave his home at Oke Bola area before 7.00am but would get to the school after 8.00am as a result of the intractable traffic bottleneck faced by the vehicles he often board.

He said, “I am one of those the commissioning of the flyover has brought relief to as it has made it easier for me to get to the school on time instead of getting stranded in traffic hold-up every morning despite getting up early to beat the hold-up With the commissioning of the flyover, motorists have been having easy ride passing through the Mokola area of the

OUR GOVERNOR INDEED HAS ETCHED HIS NAME IN THE HEART OF MANY PEOPLE WITH THE COMPLETION OF THIS PROJECT AND WE

COULD NOT, BUT BE GRATEFUL FOR THE PROVISION OF THE FLYOVER

Ajimobi

city with many of them full of praises to Ajimobi for not only fulfilling a promise to deliver on the project but also changing the landscape of the entire area making it one of the beautiful areas in the city of Ibadan.

A resident, Mrs. Mojisola Babalola, said, “Our governor indeed has etched his name in the heart of many people with the completion of this project and we could not, but be grateful for the provision of the flyover.”

When Senator Ajimobi in December 2011, at the flagging-off of the flyover awarded to Messrs CCECC Nigeria Limited at the sum of N2.13 billion, gave an assurance of the determination of his administration to make life better for the people of the state, many residents could not but heave a sigh of relief that an end will soon come to the usual vehicular bottleneck that motorists encountered in the area. Indeed, for an average motorist, Mokola Roundabout was a no go area most especially during peak hours with a journey from Dugbe to Ojoo that should not take 20 minutes taking not less than two hours. Now that is all history.

Nonetheless, the environment scientist described the remediation carried out in Zamfara as a major milestone in the annals of the country, explaining that it would remain a reference point not only within the Africa continent, but also to the entire world.

“When the issue of lead poisoning started in Zamfara in May 2010, many people did not know how to start to deal with the problem because it was such a complex and unique problem. I can assure that what has happened in Bagega in terms of remediation is an unprecedented, unique project that has saved many lives and continue to provide environment in which children can thrive.

“Lead poisoning is not something we take lightly; it has the potential to destroy growing brains. As a matter of fact, several studies have confirmed that there is a direct link between criminal behaviour and early child growth exposure. At a very early age of 5 and below, children are sensitive to lead poisoning so much as the level we saw in Bagega and other villages.

Some of them did not make it; they died.

But help came from President Goodluck Jonathan by providing to undertake the work in Bagega.

“What we are here to today is to celebrate life, to celebrate something that has been accomplished that has international implication. I can assure, honourable minister that the work that has been done Zamfara, I am not sure it has been done anywhere else in Africa. And people around Africa and all parts of the world would be looking up to you to provide guidance as to how to tackle such issue.

“I am also here to celebrate the fact that we have built capacity of 16 personnel of the Federal Ministry of Environment on remediation techniques and aspects.

What this means is that, long after Terrigraghics is gone (we cannot be here forever), you have capacity. In Zamfara as well, we have trained over 28 people in remediation work. Again, what this means is that it can be sustained,” he added.

Also reacting, the President Miners Association of Nigeria Comrade Sanni Shehu, commended government for the timely completion of the clean-up progarmme, adding that it was what his association had advocated. He said the best way to prevent the re-occurrence of the unpalatable occurrence is for the critical stakeholders in the industry to be carried along by the relevant authority.

He said,” the best way to avoid the occurrence of lead poisoning and other undesirables is to involve all critical stakeholders, especially the Nigerian miners in all the processes and plans of government.

On how the association could help government to check the menace of illegal mining in the country, he also stated,” We have been collaborating with the Federal Government in the last few years. We have been active in forming artisan miners into cooperatives society. In some case, it is our association that pays the N5, 000 compulsory registration fees for them. We have been sensitizing them in view of the fact that they work on the mining lease of our members.

32

Real Estate & Environment

Pop ceiling, according to experts at www.homedecorreport. com, complements the beauty of a living room or bedroom room, depending on the design options.

N

owadays, ceiling can be decorated in many ways and styles.

It has many designs options for the purpose of what homeowners want to achieve. Some people prioritise on style while other people on functionality.

No matter the priority, to get the best design of pop ceiling, you have to consider room dimension. Also, ceiling geometry, planning and the budget have to be considered.

First important step to create the best design of pop ceiling is by making good planning.

add wood rood to decorate ceiling.

White ceiling and glossy brown wood are combination between contemporary and rustic style. Also think about this fact, ceiling can change overall room look. So, prepare first good planning before starting.

Select the right ceiling geometry for room: Few good ceiling geometry ideas include vaulted shape ceiling, cathedral shape ceiling, circle and rectangle shape ceiling.

You must know the room style you want to create. If you want something more formal like in office, simple molding is good to make decorative ceiling. For formal situation, paint ceiling with plain colour is okay. If you want to use ceiling to make bigger impression for room, paint it lighter than the wall. To make something more stylish, create mural, ceiling accent and choose interesting ceiling shapes.

Create accent on ceiling. This concept is similar with wall accent, where there is wall part that is painted with bold colour to make it look more focus. Ceiling decoration can be done with similar way. Centre part colour is darker or lighter than around it if you use the same colour. We can also combine two colours, for example, centre part is painted with white and around it with yellow. Other idea is painting it in the same colour, but we give other colour as trim to focus it centre part.

Chose ceiling style. For modern style ceiling, we can put LED lamp on hidden place. When this lamp is turned on, it seems there is light line around ceiling. If you want to get rustic style,

Calculate your budget: Planning several ideas and designs. Evaluate and calculate how many budget you will spend and the planning that will meet your finance.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Real Estate & Environment

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

33

Lagos accelerates delivery of infrastructure projects DAYO AYEYEMI

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imited fund, legal tussles by owners of properties on right of way, relocation of services by Power Holding Company Limited and other service providers have been adduced among challenges confronting the delivery of infrastructural projects in Lagos State.

Disclosing these to journalists during the tour of ongoing roads and other infrastructure projects at the weekend, Commissioner for Works in Lagos State, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, said in as much as government is willing to deliver more of these projects before time; the aforementioned challenges have caused delay.

Commenting on the various challenges that confront project delivery, the commissioner said, “State’s resources are finite, and as such, we must make choices and set priorities.”

He explained that there were challenges relating to relocation of services which invariably constrain the time frame envisaged for project delivery.

He added that though interacting with some of agencies of government could be challenging, “there is an understanding being developed to ensure prompt action.”

Fourteen project sites within Ikeja, Etiosa and Lekki areas of the state were visited.

Some of the projects include

...Works commissioner lists challenges the Multi – Agency Office Complex, Alausa, Magistrate Court, Ikeja, on-going reconstruction of Yaya Abatan/College Road, Surulere Industrial Road, off Acme Road, Simbiat Abiola Road, Kodesho Road, St. Gregory’s Way, Obalende, Unity/1st Avenue/ Ivory Road, Osapa and Orile Ilasan Awe road.

Also inspected was the Obalende Transformation Initiative project The works’ commissioner, which was accompanied by his counterpart in the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba; and Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Mr Hakeem Bello, expressed satisfaction over the level of works done by contractors.

Some of the contractors promised to deliver the project before October.

Hamzat, while commending contractors also alluded to the significant encumbrances encountered in establishing the Right of Way for roads, noting that only public buy-in or ownership would ensure that tax payers’ fund for projects becomes beneficial and not a waste.

The commissioner described the road construction and provision of facilities efforts of the Fashola Administration as a direct response to the megacity status and the need to prepare for future growth.

He pointed out that the commitment to redevelopment of inner road networks in the state is sacrosanct.

In his words, “we are now a megacity by virtue of our population. By virtue of the UN position for us to comply with best practices, we must expand the size of our roads, introduce walkways and in some instances provide bicycle lanes among others. We must also directly respond to the challenges of waste generation and the ensuing prosperity of people.”

The commissioner said roads being developed were chosen on the basis of their carrying capacity, population and presence of

Ongoing expansion and rehabilitation of Kodesoh Street, Ikeja

BCPG identifies defective buildings on Lagos Mainland DAYO AYEYEMI

P

erturbed by the frequent collapse of building in the last two weeks in Lagos, members of Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG) in Mainland cell have continued to intensify their efforts at identifying defective buildings in the Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State.

The local government is known to harbour substandard building construction works of the local developers, especially in Ebute

Metta area, where a three - storey building collapsed recently, killing some of the occupants.

Led by the Mainland Coordinator, Mrs. Nike Lanre-Ladenegan, the guild carried out inspection on buildings under construction and the existing ones around Oyingbo and other parts of Ebute Metta last week.

The BCPG team on the Ebute Metta site inspection comprised of various professionals in the built environment. Other members of the team included Messrs Friday Chukwu, Adeleke Sonibare, Akin Oyelowo, Olukayode Ogunji and

L-R: President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Mr. Musa Balarabe Shehu; newly inducted fellow, Engr. Olatunde Jaiyesimi; and President of the Nigerian Institute of Building, Mr. Chucks Omeife, during the Quarterly Dinner and Fellowship Conferment ceremony of the society recently.

outfall.

At Obalende, where the state government is undertaking the regeneration of the area, the commissioner said the project “is to generally renew the bus park and introduce Transport Information System where commuters can identify the buses and take off time as well as ensure the general beautification and lighting of the place.”

Explaining the slow pace confronting Isheri-Osun road project, the commissioner said the project required detailed attention and safety, and not timeframe.

According to him, aside from the two bridges anchored on 1,022

piles which are 34 metre deep being constructed, government has awarded the accompanying 7.8-kilometre road. The bridge, he said must be done right, assuring that the government is committed to prompt delivery.

Hamzat explained that choice of projects in Lagos State is informed by the traffic bearing capacity of the road, the population and the availability of water outfalls that drains the road.

He explained that all Lagos roads have been built to internationally accepted standard and specifications with such new features as an expanded carriage, street lightings, pedestrian walks and service ducts and designed to last 15-20 years.

Bayo Owojori, a legal practitioner Findings by the team revealed a dilapidated three- storey building being renovated without any structural drawings at No. 20, Abeokuta Street in Ebute Metta..

It was observed that some columns (pillars) in the building were being removed to create space in a conversion for a proposed school.

The BCPG team noted that no construction professional was supervising the activities.

According to a statement by BCPG, when a member of the guild talked to the owner of the building on phone, he denied knowledge of the renovation work.

“Yet, it was the residents in the area that alerted BCPG over this shoddy construction work,” the statement read.

In another compound on Abeokuta Street, BCPG noted that excavation of the building foundation had commenced without approved building plan.

However, the guild said the developer promised to suspend work and wait for the drawing to be approved by the state Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development.

NEMA assists 19 countries in emergency situations OLUFEMI ADEOSUN ABUJA

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he Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammad Sani Sidi, has announced that Nigeria has provided humanitarian assistance to 19 countries faced with emergency situations.

According to a release from the agency, Sidi disclosed this at the 2013 Humanitarian Affair Segment of United Nation Economic and Social Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

He explained that the assistance which were rendered with the country’s concentric foreign policy and its avowed commitment to spirit of South-South cooperation, were donated severally in the form of cash and relief items.

The director-general added that the humanitarian gesture had engendered closer cooperation of Nigeria with other countries in respect to disaster management.

According to him, Nigeria has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Gambia on sharing of information, assets and manpower for effective disaster management and humanitarian

service delivery.

He also noted that as a result of the MoU, two technical personnel of NEMA are presently in Gambia to support National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) of Gambia NDMA to develop institutional framework and capacity building.

He also noted that Nigeria had also received some humanitarian relief donation through NEMA from the international community in the aid of people that were affected by identified disasters.

Some of the donors, according to him, include UNFPA , JICA ,KOICA, ECOWAS , Islamic Development Bank, Chad Basin Commission among others.

Beside the donations, he said Nigeria had also benefited from the supports of other international humanitarian actors who had contributed to disaster management in the country which included the joint partnership in the coordinated disaster preparedness and capacity development such as Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) conducted after the 2012 flood, Satellite Imageries from the International Charter, Space and Major Disasters of 3 of the State flooded in 2012 and others.

34

Real Estate & Environment

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Worse floods ahead as climate warms – Scientists DAYO AYEYEMI

WITH AGENCY REPORTS

H

eavy and prolonged rainfall will cause both more frequent and more severe flooding across the United Kingdom and the rest of north-west Europe as the atmosphere continues to warm, say British and American scientists.

According to Climate News Network, a study in IOP Publishing’s Environmental Research Letters of what are known as atmospheric rivers blamed manmade climate change for the increasing flood risk, saying the same problem would afflict other parts of the planet.

In Nigeria for example, the Di-

rector General of NIMET, Dr. Anthony Anuforom, had disclosed early this year that 2013 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction, SRP, showed that rainfall pattern in most parts of Nigeria was likely to be similar to that of 2012.

Anuforom said that in some parts of the North West, which also fall within the catchment area of River Niger, the total rainfall predicted for 2013 may exceed that of 2012.

“We have just released the rainfall prediction for 2013. The summary is that based on the conditions that were prevalent at the time of making the prediction, we are predicting that the amount of rainfall for the North West areas of Sokoto, Kebbi, Ni-

ger, Kwara and environs is likely to be above normal in comparison to 2012,”he had stated.

Nigeria, in 2012, recorded unprecedented floods that affected 27 states resulting in loss of over 300 lives and displacement of over two million people from their homes. The floods destroyed farmlands, livestock and other means of livelihood for millions of rural dwellers.

However, researchers at the University of Reading near London, and the US University of Iowa, described how atmospheric rivers carry vast amounts of water vapour around the Earth, delivering heavy and prolonged rainfall, particularly to mountainous areas. They were respon-

One of the 2012 flood scenes in Bayelsa State

UN prepares blueprints for nine Osun cities DAYO AYEYEMI

N

ine cities in Osun State, namely, Osogbo, Ikirun, Ila Orangun, Ilesha, Ile Ife, Ede, Iwo, Ejgbo and Ikire are to benefit from a N100 million Structure Plans Project funded by the state government in partnership with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

According to a report from Environews, the Osun Structure Plans Project, which kicked off in July last year, was to develop and adopt Structure Plans that will guide the growth, development and management of the participating cities over the next 20 years.

The Structure Plans project comprises three phases, namely: Phase 1 – a rapid appraisal of current issues and policies to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to policy on slums and shelter, governance, gender and HIV/AIDS and the urban environment; Phase 2 – building on priorities determined in the previous phase to develop and expand capacity for national and local institutions to improve their performance in the urban sector; and, Phase 3 – implementation of programmes and projects identified in earlier phases.

The participating cities are grouped into three clusters of three cities each: Osogbo, Ikirun, Ila Orangun (Cluster 1), Ilesha, Ile Ife, Ede (Cluster 2) and Iwo, Ejgbo

and Ikire (Cluster 3).

Structure Plans are planning instruments that will guiding the growth of these towns for the next 20 years and specifically make significant contributions towards achieving the goals of the state’s six-point Integral Action Plan, the various Local Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (LEEDS), the HABITAT Agenda and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The project involves use of the Rapid Urban Sector Profiling for Sustainability (RUSPS) methodology, which establishes a sustainable, participatory, long-term framework for the orderly physical, economic and social development of the city.

The RUSPS methodology, which is based on ‘Guidelines for Sustainable Urban Development’ designed by the European Commission and UN-Habitat, seeks to reduce urban poverty through policy development and assessment of needs and responses for urban institutions.

Speaking at the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement in Osogbo, Director, Projects Office, Dr. Alioune Badiane said, “One of the major challenges facing urban centres is a lack of information and accurate statistics that could be used when planning development. This is one of the issues we want to address. The successful implementation of the process would help town planners prioritize their needs and put their resources into the places they ought to be.”

sible for the protracted winter and summer floods in the UK in 2012, which caused an estimated $1.6 billion in damage.

In a warming world the atmosphere can carry more water and the research showed that the rivers, typically running a kilometre above the earth, 300 kilometres wide and thousands of kilometres long, would become larger and capable of delivering even bigger quantities of prolonged rainfall.

An example of their potential danger is the atmospheric river that caused the severe flooding on 19 November 2009 over northwest Britain. As it approached the coast it was transporting a moisture volume 4,500 times the average gauged flow of the river Thames through London.

In California, where atmospheric rivers (ARs) have already been assessed, the climate models predict that the number of years with these features will increase. To discover what could happen in Europe the models were tested against the known flooding events between 1980 and 2005, and the researchers found that they could accurately simulate what actually happened.

This gave them confidence to test what would happen in the future. All the models showed that with more greenhouse gases emitted by humans there would be a doubling of the number of atmospheric rivers later this cen-

tury compared with the 1980 to 2005 period. Most of these events occur in the winter, but in a warmer world the danger period is extended.

Because of the way the warmer atmosphere is able to carry more water and deliver much higher rainfall totals, the potential for far worse floods from each of these rainfall events is much increased.

The Head of the Research, Dr David Lavers, from the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, said, “ARs could become stronger in terms of their moisture transport. In a warming world, atmospheric water vapour content is expected to rise due to an increase in saturation water vapour pressure with air temperature. This is likely to result in increased water vapour transport.

“The link between ARs and flooding is already well established, so an increase in AR frequency is likely to lead to an increased number of heavy winter rainfall events and floods. More intense ARs are likely to lead to higher rainfall totals, and thus larger flood events.”

The paper points out that while the scientists were specifically looking at the atmospheric rivers that caused heavy rainfall in Europe, these storms affect many temperate regions of the planet.

As the atmosphere warms, it is likely that they will increase the risk of flooding elsewhere

LAWMA bemoans spreading of clothes in front of houses

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he Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), has condemned the act of indiscriminate spreading of washed clothes and other personal effects on the frontispieces of houses on the major highways across the state.

According to the statement made available to National Mirror, the authority said the act of display of used clothes in front of houses on major highways has become an eyesore and major nuisance to both residents and visitors to the state.

The statement read, “LAWMA frowns at the act of reckless abandon by those that should be supportive of government’s efforts by protecting the environment from all forms of decadence.”

According to the authority, apart from defacing the environment, the spread of such wares in front of houses is sending the wrong signals to those having initial contact with the state as a place where there is no orderliness and respect for the environment.

The authority also considered the displayed materials and clothings as dirt which should be evacuated.

The authority therefore appealed to all residents in the state, especially those living in houses along the major highways, to utilize the back section of their various houses for the purpose of spreading their washed clothes and other wares.

Oresanya

It would be recalled that LAWMA and the Ministry of Environment, in a bid to uplift the aesthetic nature of the state, have embarked on various beautification projects across major routes in the state which involves the planting of gardens, trees and round-the-clock evacuation of wastes in such places.

In addition, the statement revealed that appropriate awareness and sensitization campaigns have been carried out via the media and other channels to educate the populace on the essence of improving the environment through tree planting and periodic sanitation of their residential and business premises.

The authority promised to continue to upgrade its services to accommodate the increasing waste management needs of all Lagosians using modern and effective means.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Aviation

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

35

Experts disagree over Oduah’s performance Stakeholders and professionals in the Nigerian aviation industry have given different assessments of the performance so far of the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah.

While some commended her for what she’s been able to achieve within the spate of two years in office, others say her activities are bring the sector backwards. OLUSEGUN KOIKI writes.

T

he entrance of Princess Stella Oduah into the Nigerian aviation industry was greeted with protests spearheaded by the labour unions and associations, which almost crippled the entire sector. Before her appointment by President Goodluck Jonathan in July 2011, professionals and stakeholders in the sector had craved for the appointment of an aviation sector professional as the minister which was see a critical to turning around the fortunes and restoring confidence in the sector.

The unions led by the Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria, ATSSSAN, National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, and the National Association of Aircraft Engineers and Pilots, NAAPE, had threatened to ground the industry if a professional was not appointed by Mr. President.

But, despite these threats, President Jonathan still went ahead to appoint a former junior minister (she was before then the Minister of State for Transport) as the Minister of Aviation.

Immediately her appointment was announced, unions expressed disappointment in Jonathan for appointing a nonaviation professional as a minister once again in the sector and argued that her appointment would further take the sector backward, but within the last two years of her appointment, Oduah has embarked on several projects, which have received both commendations and condemnations from players in the sector.

For instance, as part of the steps taken to protect consumers, the ministry has engaged with some foreign airlines on unfair regional disparity in ticket pricing, the ministry has also advanced the process for the floating of a new national carrier that will be fully owned by the public. The carrier according to Oduah is expected to commence full operations in September this year.

Oduah argued that this would enable Nigeria to reciprocate obligations under Bilateral Air Service Agreements, BASAs. There has also the plan to float Independent Power Projects, IPPs, for designated airports.

Besides, as part of her master plan, Oduah has embarked on the remodelling of the nation’s airports, although with doubt about the quality of materials used.

This remodeling project is the biggest terminal construction project undertaken by any aviation minister in recent times. Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Enu-

Aligbe

Nick Fadugba

TWO YEARS AGO, WE WOULD NEVER HAVE THOUGHT THAT IF AN AIRCRAFT FALLS OFF THE SKY, WE WOULD BE POINTING FINGERS AT THE WRONG DIRECTION.

FOR TWO YEARS, I WILL SUMMARISE THAT WE’VE ONLY HAD CONFUSION gu airports have so far benefited from this remodelling exercise.

Speaking on the perfornamce of the minister in an interview with National Mirror, the Executive Director, Centre for Aviation Safety and Research, CAS-R, Engr. Sheri Kyari enumerated her achievements to include introduction of aviation roadmap, reviewing of the aviation policy, approval of the Passengers Bill of Right, which is to take effect by the end of this month, ongoing remodelling of 22 airports in the first and second phase of the project and the improvement on the navigational aids spearheaded by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA. Kyari, however, urged her to take a critical look at the abuse of the expatriate quota in the industry by airline operators, review the BASA with most countries, stop multiple designations for foreign airlines flying into Nigeria and encourage maintenance hangar facilities for local airlines.

He submitted that maintenance of checks in foreign countries serves as a drainpipe for most of the carriers.

He said, “The issue of multiple designations to foreign carriers, that to my mind is a minus to her because that has clipped the wings of the domestic carriers; they cannot be feeders to these international carriers since the international carriers can move straight into the hinterland to carry passengers.

“There is a need for the government to take a second look at the BASA agreement for us to reap the benefit of a vibrant aviation industry. I will also like her to look at the issue of maintenance facilities and if we are not interested in having a maintenance facility, let’s see how we can support the Akwa Ibom Maintenance Repair and Overhaul, MRO, facilities so that they can make available their facilities for this country because that is one contributory factors to airlines dying as they are having to do maintenance at great cost outside this

country.”

Besides, the former Chief Executive Officer, Belujane Konsult, Mr. Chris Aligbe, recalled that Oduah came into the sector as a dark horse, which prompted stakeholders and professionals to doubt her capability, but noted that within 24 months of her being in charge, she has surprised many with her performances in office.

Like Kyari, Aligbe itemised some of her achievements to include remodeling of airports, roadmap for the sector and planned construction of cargo terminals for movement of agricultural produce, but appealed to her to carry stakeholders and professionals along in her programmes.

He said, “For over 10 years, there was no sector specific reform, now we manage to put in place one. These are issues that people can look at and whatever you think, she has improved the sector than the way she met it.

“But you see, she’s not infallible as a human being. There are some who are making constructive criticisms of her activities and there are those who are ready a tear down, we must separate them, but personally, I want to think that she’s running very fast and faster than people around her. I think as she’s running. Let her remember that people who believe in her are following her and at some moment, she may not be able to pull all these people. She needs to close the gap between her and those who will execute the plans.”

Another aviation stakeholder, Mr. Nick Fadugba declared that the minister has performed well in the area of infrastructure, refurbishment and modernisation in the last two years, but noted that stakeholders and professionals are yet to know what her plans are on the ordering of new aircraft for the commencement of the planned national carrier.

He however emphasised that the planned national carrier should not be established to muzzle out the existing indigenous carri-

ers and emphasised that the re-launch of a national carrier would further strengthen the airline sub-sector in the country.

“You know, this is difficult, there are so many challenges that need addressing and I think what she has done is to prioritise them and address those that needed urgent addresses. For instance, even if we have good airlines in Nigeria and there is no good airport infrastructure, then, the airlines will have nowhere to fly into and so, we won’t be able to utilise the aircraft efficiently.

“One thing is sure to everybody, Nigeria needs minimum of two to three strong airlines; well capitalised and well equipped with modern aircraft, good network, competent management, government support in terms of regulatory environment, but at the same time, the planned re-establishment of a national carrier should not be created to push the existing airlines out of business,” he said.

But the President, Aviation Round Table, ART, Capt. Dele Ore,said that the activities of the minister had returned the industry to 1964 era.

Ore argued that, two years ago, no player in the sector envisaged that some of the domestic airlines would close shop. The unceremonious removal of the DirectorGeneral of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren and the creation of another directorate in NCAA without resort to the Civil Aviation Act are actions Ore believes have not helped the sector He insisted that the new National Civil Aviation Policy has created more confusion in the sector while the ministry wants to wrestle the regulatory and economic regulations of the industry from NCAA by all means, adding that virtually all the concessions in the sector have litigation issues, which he said does not augur well for the future of the industry.

“Two years ago, we would never have thought that if an aircraft falls off the sky, we would be pointing fingers at the wrong direction. For two years, I will summarise that we’ve only had confusion, but in the middle of the confusion, some people are clapping and praising the minister because people are not objective to what we are talking about. Painting of airport does not bring development to it when you don’t have passengers who are flying or aircraft to fly into them.

“We have sent the industry back to the era of 1964. If we make an attempt to tamper with the Civil Aviation Act, we are definitely retrogressing. All we want is to wrestle power from NCAA as far as the regulatory and economic regulation is concerned. The ministry wants to take it back from them and it is not done and if we succeed in doing that, we are retrogressing and not making any improvement.

“Look at the New National Civil Aviation Policy for instance, the end return is that people will take their money and go somewhere else. The industry has been so tribalised. Look at the number of people that have come into the sector in the last two years, they are from where? Some people don’t want to talk because they want to be seen to be good boys, I don’t want to be a good boy, I want to stay on the side of the truth.

36

Aviation

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Senator, NAAPE differ on expatriate quota abuses in Nigeria STORIES: OLUSEGUN KOIKI

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he Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzodinma has said that expatriates still dominate the Nigerian aviation industry as a result of lack of capable and efficient technical personnel among Nigerians.

He said that this will continue for a long time to come until the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, NCAT, Zaria, Kaduna State is repositioned to cater for the manpower needs of the sector.

But the National Association of Aircraft Pilot and Engineers, NAAPE, faulted the submission of the senator, saying that several young Nigerian graduates from various aviation colleges around the world are at present roaming the streets without any means of livelihood.

However, NAAPE warned the airlines that if they don’t change their attitude towards Nigerian professionals, the association in collaboration with other leading unions in the sector would not hesitate to ground their operations.

Speaking with National Mirror after presenting his speech at a two-day seminar organised

by NAAPE in Abuja last week, Uzodinma noted that Nigerian aviation industry still had a long way to go before its nationals could take over the mantle of leadership in the industry most especially in the airline sub-sector.

He declared that there are wide gaps between Nigerian professionals and expatriates, arguing that Nigeria does not have enough capacity and technical personnel to

Engr. Balami

take full charge in the airline subsector.

He however challenged aviation players to embrace the transformation agenda of the Federal Government for the sector to propel forward.

He said, “I think the whole thing boils down to the issue of developing efficient capacity and until that is done, we will continue to pay the price of getting these kinds of challenges. I think in my view, government should be supported with the transformation agenda so that sufficient capacity would be developed, legal framework will be in place so that on the long run, we would have an efficient aviation sector where airlines would be taking off and landing as scheduled, not minding the natural and unavoidable challenges.

“But let me say it here that both government and operators in the industry all have a role to play for the development of the sector and on the long run, the aviation and airline business is something

Dana Air slashes fares to N7,200

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n a bid to allow more passengers embrace the Nigerian aviation industry, Dana Air last week announced a massive reduction in its airfares from N17, 000 to N7, 200 for passengers who book online.

The promotion tagged, ‘One Million Seats Mega Sale’ afford all clients of the airline the opportunity to fly to any destination of their choice for the little amount of money.

Dana aircraft

The airline said the offer would run from now till December 2013, but encouraged its guests to book and pay online ahead of their planned trip.

Speaking on the new promo, the Head of Commercial, Dana Air, Mr. Obi Mbanuzuo said, “From now till December 2013 our guests will get the best fares starting from as low as N7,200 only if the book and pay for their tickets in advance at http://www.flydananair.com/.

that goes with a very marginal profit that will from time to time requires government incentives for operators to be at par with each other.”

But NAAPE in a presentation by its President, Engr. Isaac Balami insisted that Nigeria has enough technical personnel to take over the management of airlines and aircraft in the industry.

Balami wondered why some airline operators in the country prefer expatriates to indigenous professionals when both have the same qualification and experience, maintaining that the association would no longer tolerate the relegation of its members by their employers.

He noted that no fewer than 400 Nigerians recently graduated from aviation colleges around the world without a job, stressing that if the operators give Nigerian professionals equal opportunities as their foreign counterparts, they would perform creditably well.

“What is more, we observe a large resort to the use of expensive expatriates and foreign maintenance organisations. That is why there is no basis whatsoever for investors to use Nigeria’s money to support the economics of other countries through bogey expatriate deals.

“Abuse in expatriate quota regime means that there are Nigerian pilots and engineers roaming the streets because foreigners have taken the jobs they are qualified to do. There are huge disparities between salaries paid to Nigerians and that paid to foreigners, which makes Nigerian pilots and engineers second class in their own country.”

“As many as one million seats on all our routes have been opened for sale at these low fares. So, if you are travelling to Abuja, Lagos or Port Harcourt anytime soon, the best time to book your tickets is now; in order to be able to access our lowest fares. Very soon too, we will open seats to Uyo and Calabar for sale.”

Mbanuzuo stated further that the new campaign would encourage its clients to plan their trips in advance and would also offer more Nigerians the opportunity to experience its services at the convenient fares.

Dana Air currently operates 12 flights daily on the Lagos-Abuja-Lagos route, four flights daily on the Lagos-Port Harcourt-Lagos route and two flights daily on the AbujaPort Harcourt-Abuja route. The airline is reputed for its efficient customer services, world-class in-flight services, on-time departures and arrivals, innovative e-airline products and high quality standards.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Airside shegzzy4live2000@yahoo.co.uk 08186007273

Boeing 787 Dreamliner, another disaster looming? ny, but two incidents in the last

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n the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s first year of service, at least four aircraft suffered from electrical system problems stemming from its lithium-ion batteries, which forced the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, of the United States of America, USA to ground operations of the aircraft.

With the grounding of the entire aircraft by FAA and its return to service in June, many aviation stakeholders including Airside heaved a sigh of relieve as many thought the problems associated with B787 were addressed by the Boeing Aircraft Manufacturing Compa-

two weeks once again brought safety doubt about the giant bird.

Earlier in the month, a B787 aircraft belonging to Ethiopian Airlines caught fire at London’s Heathrow airport, forcing the closure of both runways for more than an hour. However, as at the time of the incident, there were no passengers on board the plane, which was parked away from terminal buildings.

Less than a week later, Japan Airlines 787 Dreamliner was diverted back to Boston, USA due to a possible problem with the fuel pump on the aircraft. The plane had left for Tokyo just before 1 p.m. for a flight of nearly 14 hours. It returned shortly after 6 p.m.

Local airlines’ disdain for unionism

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t the moment, there are no fewer than eight indigenous airlines operating in the Nigerian aviation industry, but of these numbers, only Aero Airlines allows its workers to participate in union activities while the others sternly warn their staff to stay off unionism.

Ironically, all the foreign carriers operating into Nigeria ranging from Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and Air France among others encourage their staff to participate fully in activities.

However, leading aviation unions and association are perturbed with this arrangement and are currently perfecting plans to picket the airlines that prevent their members from joining the unions.

Airside feels the Nigerian

Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, and the supervising ministry should make membership of the unions compulsory for the local airlines as this will further improve safety in the sector.

For instance, a number of indigenous operators at the moment owe their staff several months salaries, but the unions are handicapped as those owed are members of the unions or professional association in the sector.

In a bid to further improve and sustain safety in the sector, it is pertinent for technical personnel in the industry to be part of union activities. If the operators don’t have anything to hide, they don’t lose anything by allowing their staff to participate in unionism. The time for NCAA and ministry to act is now.

Vertis Aviation adds Global 6000 jet to African market

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witzerland-based Vertis Aviation last week announced that a Bombardier Global 6000 will be added to its growing portfolio of marketed aircraft from August 1, 2013.

The aircraft company said the ultra-long range aircraft will be positioned primarily in Johannesburg, South Africa, in a move designed to satisfy the growing demand for business jet travel in and around the African continent.

The Global 6000 will be the company’s first jet actively marketed from an African location and further underpins Vertis’ strategy of creating an international network.

Operated by a local corpo-

rate flight department Vertis anticipates that it will fulfill missions both inter- and intracontinentally to satisfy the expanding, discerning African client base seeking prestigious ultra – long range aircraft.

“We are very excited about the possibilities that this immaculate Global 6000 offers for our international charter clients. With its ultra-long range and short-field capabilities it is ideal for work on the African continent, which requires aircraft that can cover vast distances. This addition marks the beginning of our expansion strategy in Africa, which we believe offers great potential for further development.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Insurance

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

NSITF disburses N200m under ECS, says MD MESHACK IDEHEN

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he Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) said it has disbursed over N200m to Nigerian workers who sustained injuries in the course of their work under the Employees Compensation Scheme, ECS, which was established in 2001, The Managing Director of the NSITF, Mr. Abubakar Munir, said this recently during the inauguration of the Independent Investment Committee of the Fund, adding over 500,000 workers have been registered by more than 35,000 employers under the scheme.

He said the Federal Government has been making its contributions to the scheme regularly while some states have also joined the scheme.

According to him, the NSITF has paid over N200 million to injured workers from various sectors who sustained all kinds of work place injuries since the scheme began. We paid this sum out of about N500million claims we received. It was after vetting and going through the processes that we paid N200million out of the sum.

Munir said also that the work of this committee will serve as an assurance to stakeholders that the funds collected and put in a pool would be invested rightly, explaining representatives from the CBN, chambers of commerce and industry as well as the National Pension Commission, which is the su-

pervisory body of contributory pension scheme in Nigeria believes that the committee is one of the most important committees to help the fund drive the implementation of the scheme.

He noted that the committee would carry out its studies to determine which sectors of the Nigerian economy should be invested in, he said, and recalled that the defunct scheme for employees also under the NSITF invested heavily in the Nigerian Stock Exchange and real estate.

“We must recognize the fact that the economy vagaries are

steadily changing in reflection of the current happenings,” he stated.

The Chairman of NSITF Board, Mrs. Ngozi Olejeme, who inaugurated the committee, disclosed that the delay in setting up the body was due to the lack of take off grants and the dissolution of the board by the Federal Government in 2011, while assuring all stakeholders that the NSITF would ensure transparency in the administration of the pooled funds.

The eight man Committee is headed by the Director General

of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Dr. Olusegun Oshinowo. Its members are Mr. Ibrahim Muazu (Central Bank of Nigeria); Mr. Amos Sakaba, (Nigeria Investment Promotion Council); Mr. Garba Ibrahim Gusau (National President, Nigeria Association of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises); Mr. Babatunde Liadi and Mrs. Lucy Offiong (Nigeria Labour Congress) and Mrs. Mary-Awhotu Iyasere (Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry Mines and Agriculture).

L-R: Deputy President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Alhaji Remi Bello; President, Mr. Goodie Ibru and Vice President, Mrs. Nike Akande, at the Chamber’s quarterly press briefing on the economy, at the weekend.

Nigerian workers not insured for 2013 – Report

I

n spite of the demise of several Federal Government workers in 2013, Insuranceadvicenigeria.com can authoritatively reveal that Nigerian workers are yet to be insured for the 2013 insurance period. In effect, the dependants of deceased government workers who die in active service to their fatherland might not be eligible to compensation.

The Federal Government introduced Pension reforms in 2004, a package that includes the mandatory group life cover for workers at the instance of their respective employers. Section 9 (3) of the Pension Reform Act, 2004 states that every employer must “maintain life insurance policy in favour of the employee for a minimum of three times the annual total emolument of the employee”.

The Federal Government led by example by instituting a Group Life Assurance Scheme for all its workers. This was being coordinated by the office of the Head of Service of the Federation. However, the scheme ran into hitches in the last three years due to funding challenges.

There had been delays in premium payment to insurance providers resulting in delayed compensation In 2012, the scheme was renewed almost nine months into the insurance period and only 41 per cent out of the total premium of N3billion has been paid so far. Yet, several claims had been reported for the year with insurance companies finding it difficult to pay. Unfortunately, NAICOM Guideline of “No Premium No Cover” for 2013 will not allow a repeat of the event

of 2012 since cover can only commence on the date of full payment of the premium due.

The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) recently lamented that the failure of government to honour its financial obligation was impacting negatively on the insurance industry as well as the well being of its workers.

DG, PENCOM, Chinelo Anohu

37

Entries open for 2013 Nigerian Risk Awards MESHACK IDEHEN

T

he inaugural Nigerian Risk Awards which aims to recognise individuals and organisations that are pioneering best practice in the field of enterprise risk management across a variety of industry sectors has opened for entries.

A statement by Conrad Clark Limited, organiser of the awards, said submissions and nominations are being collected in various categories including for those of risk manager of the year, banking and financial services risk award, insurance and pension services risk award, telecoms and media services risk award, manufacturing and industry risk award and oil and gas services risk award.

Chief Executive Officer of Conrad Clark Nigeria, Mr. Joachim Adenusi, said the award is meant to place the insurance industry on a sounder footing.

He noted that in recent years, that companies in Nigeria have gone the extra mile in the management of risk and many of them have employed innovative and practical strategies to embed risk management to drive cultural change and influence decision-making.

Adenusi said the Nigerian risk awards will be independently judged by a panel of international leaders in the field of risk, corporate governance and leadership, including Dr David Hillson (UK), an esteemed risk consultant and Managing Director of CRC Credit Bureau Limited, Mr. Ahmed Babatunde Popoola.

According to Adenusi, In addition to the prestigious accolade, the successful risk manager of the year will receive an all-expenses paid trip to attend one of the leading international risk management conferences in the United Kingdom or United States of America in 2014.

UK insurers pay out £6.7m a day on protection policies

L

atest figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) show that every day in 2011 insurers paid out £6.7 million to individuals and families who had made claims on life, critical illness and income protection policies.

According to the ABI the average pay-out on a life insurance policy was £46,000, two and a

half times the average annual take-home salary, and 97 per cent of life insurance claims were paid.

“The average pay-out on a critical illness policy was £59,000 with 92 per cent of claims being paid, up from 80 per cent in 2005.

“The average claim in 2011 on income protection (IP) policies was for £14,000 an-

nually, paying out on average for 260 weeks (five years) to help those unable to work.

The ABI adds that to increase the number of people who successfully make a claim on their IP policies, it is undertaking a review of best practice to ensure that products are as simple as possible and explained very clearly to customers.

38

Insurance

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Insurance sector contributed below 1% of GDP in 2012

I

n spite of the positive changes recorded by the Nigerian insurance industry, its contribution to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) of the country last year was still less than 1 per cent of the total figure.

The Chairman of the Nigerian Insurers’ Association (NIA), Mr. Remi Olowude, confirmed this in his statement at the 2013 Annual General Meeting of the umbrella body of licensed insurance and reinsurance companies in the country, which held in Lagos recently. Presenting the scorecard of the industry for last year, Olowude, who was represented by the Vice Chairman of the association, Mr. Godwin Wiggle, said: “The industry’s contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product remains at less than 1 per cent in 2012.”

Total premium income raked in by members of the association, according to him, hovered around N240 billion, which translates to a 10.24 per cent improvement on the N217.7 billion recorded in the previous year.

The association’s boss also observed that the amount of claims paid out by members of the association went down last year even as they met their respective financial obligations in the form of prompt claims payment to policyholders in the period under review. Olowude noted that the industry had continued to grapple with inadequate infrastructure and unstable weather, which exposed insured assets to natural disasters such as floods in the year under review.

“The current performance of the industry has not been sufficient for it to reach the critical mass necessary to make the desired impact on the economy,” he added. Olowude also stated that members of the association have resolved to revive the Nigerian Oil

Olowude

and Energy Insurance Pool to help improve the industry’s oil and energy underwriting capacity.

The association also organised 14 training programmes for its members in 2012 in addition to ongoing collaboration with the GIZ of Germany for the purpose of building underwriting and technical capacities on micro-insurance.

He also stated that the association has successfully completed the first phase of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) motor insurance module.

Meanwhile, the Director General of the association, Mr. Olorundare Thomas, said the association was working with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) on the anti money laundering and fight against terrorism financing programmes.

He said the NIA has advised its members to take all the necessary steps to preserve the integrity of the country’s insurance market.

NAICOM enters strategic partnership with NAIC

T

he National Insurance Commission of Nigeria, (NAICOM) and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) of the United States, recognising the increasing international activity in insurance markets and the corresponding need for mutual cooperation between the relevant supervisory authorities, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a formal basis for co-operation and technical assistance.

The purpose of the Memorandum is to help maintain efficient, safe, fair and stable insurance markets in Nigeria and the United States for the benefit and protection of policyholders,

by providing a framework for co-operation, increased mutual understanding, the exchange of information and technical assistance to the extent permitted by respective laws, regulations and requirements.

Both NAICOM and the NAIC believe such cooperation will enable them to more effectively regulate the industry and entrench international best practices.

Commissioner for Insurance, Fola Daniel and the president of NAIC/Commissioner, Louisiana Department of Insurance, James J. Donelon signed the MOU on behalf of both parties at a well-attended ceremony held at the Willard InterContinental Hotel, Washington, DC in the

United States of America recently. Under the agreement, the authorities will provide mutual assistance periodically through training held in the host country; participation in internships with specific educational focus; educational seminars held in the host country, provision of training manuals/materials and any other issues of common interest.

Similarly, both NAICOM and the NAIC have reiterated the importance of complying with the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) Core Principles for effective insurance supervision and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations on Anti-Money Laundering.

Reliance Life eyes insurance tie-ups with smaller banks

R

eliance Life Insurance Company is exploring bancassurance partnerships with multiple tiny banks since bigger entities are not available for tie-ups and the regulator is sitting on proposals to allow banks to sell products of multiple life insurers. Partnership with banks is a new strategy for the private life insurance firm which has so far used a pure agency-based model and built the second largest fleet of agents in the country after LIC. “I am fundamentally optimistic about the agency model. But there will always be potential

disadvantages to non-bank promoted companies,” Reliance Life CEO Anup Rau told ET. “So, we are going for tie-ups with smaller banks.” Rau said the company is even open to stake-sale for up to 5% to a bank for strategic bancassurance tie up. Many leading private life insures like SBI Life Insurance or ICICI Prudential Life Insurance are promoted by banks and leverage the vast branch network of their parent company. Others are also relying heavily on partnerships with banks to grow business. LIC has tied up with several banks in the public sector, pri-

vate sector as well as cooperative banking space.

“Bancassurance is a big distribution opportunity for life insurance industry and partnerships with banks, we feel, are necessary for increasing the insurance penetration in our country,” the Rau said.

Debates on allowing banks to sell products of more than one company each in the life or nonlife segment has been going on for several years. The Life Insurance Council, an industry association, had suggested that a bank should be allowed to sell products of five different insurers.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Understand your options When buying insurance, whether its home, life, auto, rental or other: Find out whether your state insurance department offers any information concerning insurance companies and rates. This is a good way to get a feeling for the range of prices and the lowest-cost providers in your area.

Check several sources for the best deal. Try getting quotes from an insurance focused website, but be aware that many online services may provide prices for just a few companies. An independent insurance agent that works with several insurers in your local area might be able to get you a better deal.

Make sure the insurance company is licensed and covered by the state’s guaranty fund. The fund pays claims in case the company defaults.

Your state insurance department can provide this information.

Check the financial sta-

bility and soundness of the insurance company. Ratings from A.M. Best, Standard and Poor’s, and Moody’s Investors Services are available online and at most public libraries.

Research the complaint record of the company. Contact your state insurance department or visit the website of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which has a database of complaints filed with state regulators.

Find out what others think about the company’s customer service. Consumers can rate homeowner insurance companies at J.D. Power’s website.

Once you pay your first insurance premium, make sure you receive a written policy. This tells you the agent forwarded your premium to the insurance company. If you don’t receive a policy within 60 days, contact your agent and the insurance company.

Insurance tips for young drivers Step 1: Follow the DOs & DON’Ts DO ensure you always minimise your risk Chosen insurer, plus level of cover, plus your risk level DON’T assume third party’s cheaper than comprehensive DO try adding a second responsible driver to your policy DON’T put someone else as first driver if it’s your car DO tell your insurer about changes and special circumstances DON’T pimp your car DO work out how much you’d really claim for DON’T be tempted to lie Tell them the truth!

DO try multi-car policies if you live with parents DON’T forget that car type impacts on insurance cost DO SEE IF YOU CAN SAVE If you’re a man - EVEN IF NOT AT RENEWAL There’s another quick tip to lower your costs: tweaking your job description could save you cash. Insurers decide prices depending on historic risk assessments, and your occupation plays an important part in this. To help, we’ve built a fun Car Insurance Job Picker tool to show the riskiest jobs and see if small tweaks to your job description

could save you cash.

You may also save on insurance if you’re in a more stable relationship, ie, if you’re living with a partner rather than listed as single.

Step 2. Correctly combine comparison sites Comparison sites zip your details to hosts of insurers’ and brokers’ websites, scraping their data off the screens to report back the cheapest.

So be aware they often feed your personal details to insurers.

They don’t all compare the same sites, so the best strategy’s to combine them. We’ve analysed the comparison sites, using a large range of monthly data, primarily focused on which ones produce the cheapest results. For drivers aged 25 or over, see our Cheap Insurance Guide.

On top of the price data, we’ve conducted separate research to see if quotes from comparisons match up to the prices on insurers’ own websites, how consumer-friendly the quote process is, and the speed at which the comparison delivers results. See How the order is picked for more information on how we rated these ‘soft features’.

Source: insure.com

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Capital Market

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

39

Equities regain vigour on corporate actions DAMILOLA AJAYI

T

he benchmark index of equities turned green on the Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday, as some investors took position on stocks with good earnings.

Specifically, the All Share index rose 1.12 per cent to close at 37,562.50 points, as against the decline of 0.38 per cent recorded on Friday to close at 37,145.65 points.

Market capitalisation appreciated by N132bn to close at N11.89trn, in contrast to the dip of N45bn

recorded on Friday when it closed at N11.763trn.

All the sectorial indices gained substantial points except the Oil and Gas index which lost 2.49 per cent to close at 203.34 points and the Alternative Securities Market which remained flat The Banking index increased by 1.49 per cent to close at 404.38 points, while the Industry Goods index added 1.29 per cent to close at 2,286.69 points.

The NSE 30- index appreciated by 0.96 per cent to close at 1,758.92 points, while the Lotus Islamic index rose by 0.87 per cent to close at 2,633.78 points.

Consumer Goods index increased by 0.68 per cent to close at 1,053.72 points.

The Insurance Index increased by 0.41 per cent to close at 140.62 points Champion Plc led the gainers’ table with N1.10 or ten per cent to close at N12.10 per share, followed

by Wema Bank Plc with ten kobo or 9.35 per cent to close at N1.17 per share.

7-Up Plc gained N6.40 or 9.21 per cent to close at N75.90 per share, while DN Meyer Plc appreciated by ten kobo or 6.76 per cent to close at N1.58 per share.

Courtville Plc rose by four kobo or 6.06 per cent to

close at 70 kobo per share.

On the flip side, Forte Oil Plc lost N4.38 or ten per cent to close at N39.44 per share, while IHS Plc shed 30 kobo or 9.84 per cent to close at N2.75 per share.

Pharma-Deko Plc declined by 20 kobo or 9.76 per cent to close at N1.85 per share, while AG Leventis Plc dipped by 15 kobo or 9.49 per cent to close at N1.43 per share. Royal Exchange Plc fell by three kobo or 5.45 per cent to close at 52 kobo per share.

A total of 197.7 million shares valued at N1.71bn were exchanged in 5,466 deals.

Source: NSE

Thomson Reuters to offer Tier 2 state bond pricing data

G

lobal business intelligence provider, Thomson Reuters, yesterday announced that it is now providing financial professionals with access to pricing data on Nigerian state bonds via its flagship desktop Thomson Reuters Eikon.

This makes the company the first financial data provider to offer tier two state bond pricing data, making it easier for financial professionals to buy and sell tier two state bonds whilst also increasing transparency, liquidity and raising the profile of Nigeria’s debt market globally.

At around $25bn per annum Nigeria’s sovereign debt market is the secondbiggest and most liquid in Sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa, Thomson Reuters said in a statement yesterday.

Tier two Nigerian state bonds are high-yield securities that have not enjoyed the same exposure as Nigerian federal government

bonds as they have historically existed in an illiquid and opaque market.

The addition of pricing data to Thomson Reuters Eikon has the potential to raise the profile of Nigeria’s debt market globally, attracting foreign investors interested in the significant premium that Nigerian yields offer to established sovereign lenders.

Commenting on the development, Managing Director, Africa for Thomson Reuters, Mr. Keith Nichols, said Thomson Reuters is always actively looking for ways in which to support and develop the markets in which our customers operate.

“Developments in the retail bond market initiated by the Nigerian Stock Exchange benefit and complement the wholesale OTC market”.

“Nigerian tier two bond data will appeal to highyield emerging-market funds in Europe and the United States as well as

pan-African portfolio managers, asset managers, pension funds and hedge funds.

With enhanced liquidity we anticipate seeing more corporate and municipal bond issuances”, he stated.

The statement added that Thomson Reuters global fixed income content can be accessed via Thomson Reuters desktop and mobile applications such as Thomson Reuters Eikon or via enterprise feeds.

The company offers a range of trade and risk management solutions to help financial market professionals manage order flow, make trade decisions and control risk.

Thomson Reuters helps investors increase the operational efficiency of their trading infrastructure, monitor enterprise-wide and desk-level risk and P&L exposure in real time and help them maximise investment returns.

Thomson Reuters Eikon is designed to provide a powerful and intuitive next-

generation solution for consuming real-time and historical data, connecting with the financial markets community and executing financial markets transactions across asset classes such as foreign exchange fixed income, commodities, equities and derivatives.

It realises Thomson Reuters vision for a financial markets desktop that is intelligent, simple and social.

Driven by powerful search engine technology, Eikon carries real-time data, news, charts, insightful commentary, analytics and trade execution tools through views that can be customised to individual user preferences and workflow.

To encourage collaboration and transparency, Thomson Reuters Eikon Messenger is available both within the Eikon interface and as a standalone tool, enabling financial institutions to use it across their organisations without requiring Eikon licenses for all staff.

Ecobank says profit almost doubles after Nigeria, Ghana growth

E

cobank Transnational Inc. (ETI), the lender that operates in more African countries than any other, said firsthalf profit almost doubled after growth in its biggest markets.

Profit after tax rose to $169.2m from $86.9m a year earlier, the Lome, Togobased company said in a statement posted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange website yesterday. Net revenue climbed 24 per cent to $946.9m, while loan-loss expenses increased 65 per

cent to $72m.

Ecobank, founded in 1985, has expanded to 34 African countries and France, with representative offices in Beijing, Dubai, Johannesburg and London. The bank said Nigeria and Ghana grew “strongly” and contributed more than half of the lender’s pretax profit.

The economy of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with more than 160m people, is expected to grow by 7.2 per cent this year, while Ghana will expand at a rate of 6.9 per

cent, according to the International Monetary Fund.

“We look forward to further progress in the second half of the year, which is traditionally a seasonally stronger period,” Ecobank’s executive director for finance and risk ,Laurence do Rego, said in the statement.

Ecobank gained 0.2 per cent to N14.03 yesterday in trading in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. The stock has increased 24 per cent this year, compared with an 18 per cent gain in

the 10-member Nigerian Stock Exchange Banking 10 Index.

“This positive performance was driven partly by higher-than-expected noninterest revenue growth and slightly better-than-expected cost management,” Muyiwa Oni and Rele Adesina, analysts at Lagosbased SBG Securities Ltd with a hold recommendation on Ecobank, wrote in an e-mailed note yesterday.

“However, we saw a deterioration in loan-loss expenses.

Source: Afrinvest

Market indicators All-Share Index 37,562.50 points Market capitalisation 11.89 trillion

Stock Updates GAINERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

CHANGE

% CHANGE

CHAMPION

11.00

12.10

1.10

10.00

WEMABANK

1.07

1.17

0.10

9.35

7UP

69.50

75.90

6.40

9.21

DNMEYER

1.48

1.58

0.10

6.76

COURTVILLE

0.66

0.70

0.04

6.06

IPWA

1.09

1.15

0.06

5.50

LIVESTOCK

4.67

4.90

0.23

4.93

GUINNESS

230.00

241.00

11.00

4.78

ETERNA

3.15

3.28

0.13

4.13

ETI

14.00

14.46

0.46

3.29

LOSERS COMPANY

OPENING

CHANGE

% CHANGE

FO

43.82

CLOSING 39.44

4.38

-10.00

IHS

3.05

2.75

0.30

-9.84

PHARMDEKO

2.05

1.85

0.20

-9.76

AGLEVENT

1.58

1.43

0.15

-9.49

ROYALEX

0.55

0.52

0.03

-5.45

TOTAL

159.00

153.08

5.92

-3.72

WAPIC

0.90

0.87

0.03

-3.33

UNITYBNK

0.61

0.59

0.02

-3.28

FCMB

4.90

4.76

0.14

-2.86

DIAMONDBNK

6.80

6.61

0.19

-2.79

Primary Market Auction TENOR

AMOUNT (N’mn)

RATE (%)

DATE

91-Days

24,888.90

10.35

29-July-13

182-Days

30,000.00

11.00

29-July-13

364-Days

60,000.00

14.97

29-July-13

Open Market Operations TENOR

AMOUNT (N’mn)

RATE (%)

DATE

161-Days

210,570.93

10.33

1-Aug-13

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Wholesale Dutch Auction System AMOUNT OFFERED

MARKET DEMAND

AMOUNT SOLD

DATE

$300m

N/A

$300m

29-Jul-13

$300m

N/A

$300m

24-Jul-13

40

Capital Market

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Stock exchange daily equities summary Equities as at July 29, 2013 1st Tier Securities

1st Tier Securities Sector

Company name

No Of Deals

Quotation(N)

Quantity Traded

Value of Shares(N)

Sector

Company name

No Of Deals

Quotation(N)

Quantity Traded

Value of Shares(N)

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Politics

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 the only way to check the popularity of APC is to ensure fairness and justice for all and avoid unnecessary godfatherism.

In Port Harcourt, the venue of the SouthSouth meeting, the seeming petty envy among the PDP governors manifested. Two governors from the zone, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, reportedly, walked out of the meeting that was supposed to work out modalities for peace.

The northern leg of the reconciliation started in Bauchi, for the North-East states.

One noticeable feature of the peace tour was the absence of the PDP governors from the zone. Apart from the host governor, Isa Yuguda, other governors either sent their deputies or did not send any representation. The situation was so worrisome that Tukur threatened that in future, no minister would be appointed into the Federal Executive Council without being a member of the party.

The situation was almost the same in Makurdi, venue of the North-Central meeting, and even worse in the North-West, where three governors of the zone did not attend. In the North-Central, the Niger State governor, Babangida Aliyu, and others did not attend the reconciliatory meeting while many issues were swept under the carpet. There are wide speculations that the absence of the governors from the reconciliation rallies was the consequence of unresolved grievances within the party.

To make matters worse, the grand finale of the reconciliatory tours was a near disaster, as the PDP governors from the zones did not attend. Only two governors – Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and Idris Wada of Kogi State – attended out of 23 PDP governors. Also, President Goodluck Jonathan, despite being in town, was absent. Senate President David Mark and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, were equally absent.

Their absence elicited various interpretations. One person whose absence was very noticeable was the chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, BoT, Chief Tony Anenih. Secretary of the board, Senator Walid Jibrin, represented Anenih whom he said was on a reconciliatory tour in the northern states.

The zonal tour was largely unsuccessful as the party NWC could not state remarkable achievement of the whole exercise. Attempt to start state tour by the NWC could not get desirable approval by the Presidency, who immediately commissioned Anenih to reconcile aggrieved party members, particularly the governors.

Anenih-led BoT reconciliation committee The cardinal assignment of the Board of Trustees was a mediatory role. The party was in a bad shape and the tour embarked

by Tukur was not achieving much and that was exactly the situation inherited by Chief Anenih when he was elected Chairman of the party’s BoT, on February 25, 2013.

As soon as Anenih assumed office, he pledged that his primary goal was to reconcile members of the party, especially the aggrieved ones who still remain, but only grudgingly, in the party, and to woo back those who have been frustrated out of it.

For this purpose, members of the BoT, such as Senator Barnabas Gemade, Col. Ahmadu Ali (rtd), Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, Prof. Jerry Gana, Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, Senator Jim Nwobodo and Alhaji Walid Jibrin, among others, immediately embarked on a reconciliation tour

41

PDP crisis: Reconciliation committees without solution

willing to return but being impeded by state or zonal executives to lodge formal complaints at the party national secretariat. But how far can he go and what are the encumbrances?

Dickson reconciliation committee

Obasanjo

Dickson

Amaechi

Aliyu

which took them to Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Kogi, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa Niger, Sokoto, Rivers and Benue states. And in one of the trips, the team met with former President Obasanjo who incidentally was the last chairman of the BoT. The difference between the Anenih efforts and that of the Tukur was that unlike the National Chairman’s efforts, most stakeholders including Governors Rabiu Kwankwaso and Sule Lamido of Kano and Jigawa states respectively actually came out to meet with him and actually poured out their grievances.

It was gathered that with the fast approaching election period, President Goodluck Jonathan had mandated Anenih to embark on the reconciliatory mission to assuage any bitter feelings among the NorthWest governors who feel marginalised in the affairs of the party.

Months after the tour, the gains of the tour are yet to be felt, as at least, six northern governors have continued to work at cross purpose with the party and the Presidency over their conviction that the leadership of the party is yet to come clean with its plans to sanitise the party and open up the party for a free and fair contest in the 2015 general elections. It is therefore not safe to conclude that the Anenih reconciliation committee had gone the way of the rest committees.

store amity in the party. While inaugurating an eight-man committee, led by Chief Graham Douglas, to reconcile members of the party in Kano State, the PDP national chairman warned that if members of the party failed to resolve their differences in the state chapters across the country, it would lose to onslaught of the opposition parties in 2015. He noted that the party lost the governorship election in Edo State because of the division within its ranks. “It is necessary to reconcile individual members of the party and factions, for us to have a united party, and reduce disagreement.

“Not only in Kano, in every state in the country, you find people who felt aggrieved and left our party. So, reconciliation is paramount and that’s why we want to use elders, who will look at issues, dispassionately. We want to continue winning and we can only do that, if we build understanding. We have set up this committee to talk to our people and identify cause(s) of the crises,” Tukur had said.

The crisis in Kano PDP still persists.

Graham Douglas Committee Tukur at various party gatherings had raised the alarm that the PDP would continue to experience depletion in its ranks unless something urgent was done to re-

Shuaib Oyedokun committee Similar to the task given the Graham Douglas-led Committee for Kano State, former national vice-chairman (South-West) of the party, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun was saddled with the responsibility of appeasing party members in Benue State. The committee has since submitted its report.

Tukur after receiving the report of the committee directed former party chieftains who left PDP but willing to return to do so, within 30 days.

He also advised enthusiastic members

Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson, led a 30-member Reconciliation Committee inaugurated last week by the National Chairman with direct brief to resolve problems in non-PDP controlled states.

Such states include the six South-West states of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti. There is also two South-East states of Anambra and Imo states as well as Edo State which was taken over by Action Congress of Nigeria. Other states in the North include Nasarawa, Borno, Zamfara and Yobe states.

Governor Dickson was very optimistic about the success of the assignment as he declared that there was nothing untoward in a big political party like the PDP facing series of crisis. He, however, noted that while his committee has a daunting assignment, ongoing reconciliation by Anenih as well as efforts of past committees like that of Ekwueme should be implemented.

“A large platform like the PDP cannot be devoid of several tendencies, conflict of interests and all manner of crisis. But as democrats, we must evolve ways of appreciating them and resolving crisis within the party without sniffing people. I think this is what you have done by setting up the reconciliation committee.

“But all players in the political and nonpolitical field must play by the rules of the game. We must play the game within the ambit of national interest and not denigrate or destroy our institutions whether it is the office of the President, judiciary, legislature, military and security services, professional bodies, media, traditional and religious instructions,” said the governor.

It remains to be seen what will be the outcome of the Dickson-led committee. Will it go the way of other committees before it?

Does the committee have more capacity than that of Ekwueme, Anenih and Tukur committees which have failed to resolve the crisis in the PDP? Time will tell.

Way forward If the story going round that the Presidency is pondering with the idea of implementing Ekwueme report on the party to save it from possible disintegration and electoral flop in the coming elections, is to go by, then the party may as well begin to celebrate.

A source said that the Presidency is concerned with the slow pace of peace process in the party, having in mind that the elections is fast approaching, hence the need to put the party in a healthy state so that it can face the opposition.

“The Ekwueme report is presently being studied by the relevant personnel at the Villa and I believe that the President may act on the report as it seems that it is the only panacea to peace in the party. The President has nothing to lose. Tukur has nothing to lose. Only the party will benefit in the long run,” a source said.

The question then is, if the party had all along knew that the implementation of the Ekwueme report was the panacea to peace in the party, why did it take the previous leadership of the party all these years to do the right thing? Is anybody benefiting from the near dismemberment of the party?

42

Politics

THE

PARLIAMENT On Wednesday July 24, the House of Representatives set records by voting till 11p.m. on all 87 proposals to amend the 1999 Constitution. Another mind-blowing record was that the Green Chamber removed the contentious immunity clause for President and governors; gave local governments financial and administrative autonomy, settled the settler/indigene problem among several others, reports TORDUE SALEM.

T

o achieve a people’s constitution, the House of Representatives on Wednesday last week adopted 85 clauses in line with the wishes of 360 constituencies in Nigeria.

The first Constitution Nigeria operated was the Littleton Constitution of 1922, which was crafted for the country by Britain, the Colonial power at the time.

Several other constitutions followed up until the 1959 Constitution that ushered Nigeria to independence in 1960.

After the 1966 and the military interregna that followed, the country resumed to its grope in the dark, until 1979, when the regime of Olusegun Obasanjo summoned a Constitutional Conference of statesmen and bequeathed the 1979 Constitution to a new civilian government headed by Shehu Shagari.

But before the country settled to a constitutional democracy again, the military struck once more suspending the constitution, which was characteristically replaced with decrees.

In 1999, after 20 years of military rule, the government of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar relinquished power to a civilian President Obasanjo with the 1999 Constitution and then the clamour from the media and the civil society to craft a people’s constitution resumed.

To produce an organic document different from earlier constitutions that the literati and the civil society would believe in, the process had to come from the people themselves.

But the National Assembly went ahead in 1999, 2005 and 2010 to amend the document with little input from constituents making up Nigeria, as they insisted that the constitution allows in Section 9 for the parliament to take sole responsibility in the process.

But in 2011 when Aminu Tambuwal and his deputy, Emeka Ihedioha were chosen to lead the House in Seventh Assembly in the most unusual, but democratic circumstances, the Green Chamber adopted a different tact in the constitution amendment.

In November 2012, the Chairman of the ad hoc Committee on the Review of 1999 Constitution, Ihedioha, announced that the House would adopt a people’s ap-

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

House of Reps: Tortuous path proach in producing a new constitution.

He kept his word and conducted public hearings in all constituencies in the country. But the milestones recorded by the House are worth mention. For example, unlike the past assemblies that showed timidity in considering aspects of the constitution, the House left no stone unturned.

It removed the immunity clause, gave local governments autonomy and recommended a simpler process of creating states among several important clauses, an approach that could not have seen the light of the day in past assemblies.

Notwithstanding the hitches that attended the electronic voting and subsequent resort to manual voting, the process went on tediously, but ended successfully.

After the long vote, the Clerk of the House, Mr. Mohammed Sani-Omolori, began the announcement of the results at 10:15p.m.

According to Sani-Omolori, 339 out of 360 members were accredited to vote and for the first item, which was local government autonomy, 293 lawmakers voted in support, 39 people abstained and seven voted against.

The lawmakers, however, voted against immunity from prosecution for president, his vice, governors and their deputies. From the process, 292 members voted against immunity while 22 voted for and 21 abstained.

The House also voted for the simplification of the process of the creation of states with 305 voted in support as against 22 people who opposed it and 12 lawmakers abstaining.

Jonathan

WITH THIS LEVEL OF UNANIMITY, IT WAS NOT DIFFICULT FOR THE

COMMITTEE

TO ADOPT THE CURRENT FOUR YEAR RENEWABLE TENURE AND TO REJECT THE SINGLE TERM PROPOSAL OF EITHER

5, 6 OR 7 YEARS

How Nigerians voted Interestingly, an earlier decision by Nigerians in the 360 federal constituencies did not differ from the decision of the House, except for a few differences in the vote ratio.

For example, on the issue of autonomy for local governments, 276 federal constituencies voted for local government autonomy while 78 voted against it and only six abstained from the vote.

Nigerians also voted for the local government to be accorded the status of a third tier of government with its legislative list of responsibilities.

Two hundred and ninety-one federal constituencies voted in the affirmative, while 66 rejected the idea and only three abstained.

Nigerians also voted that caretaker or unelected councillors and chairmen should be denied allocation from state coffers. The process indicated that 277 federal constituencies agreed, while 70 federal constituencies disagreed with 13 abstentions.

On whether section 197 (1) (b) be amended to abolish the State Independent Electoral Commissions, SIECs, in order that all elections be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission; SIECs. In the voting, 261 federal constituencies supported the abolition of SIECs while only 95 federal constituencies rejected it with four abstentions.

Commenting on the decision of Ni-

Tambuwal

gerians to vote along those lines, the Deputy Speaker of the House (Ihedioha) at a meeting with Civil Society Organ-

GEORGE OJI ABUJA

L

ike the House of Representatives, the Senate had on July 16 overwhelmingly voted to reject the proposed six year single tenure for elected presidents and governors.

The single tenure proposal was shut down with a vote of 86 to 14, and one abstinence, at a day the Senate recorded the highest number of attendance in recent times with a total of 101 members in attendance.

For any of the new proposals in the draft constitutional bill to scale through, the Constitution requires a two-thirds majority, which translates to 73, in a Senate that has a 109 membership.

Unlike the House, the red chamber voted against the proposal to make the local government council autonomous through the abolition of the joint states/ local government account. It voted 59 in support and 38 against while two abstained to kill the proposal.

The lawmakers, however, voted in support of financial autonomy for the states Houses of Assembly, the States Independent Electoral Commissions, SIECs, the states auditor generals and the states judiciaries by approving first

isations in Abuja, said the House had no choice, but to adopt the choice of the people.

“Fellow Nigerians, if you are in our position with such an overwhelming and decisive position taken by Nigerians in a credible and well-conducted exercise, what would you do?” Ihedioha asked rhetorically.

He said the House had no choice, but to “reflect the manifest wishes and mandate of Nigerians on these issues.”

According to him, “No doubt, beneficiaries of the current system may think otherwise. As a matter of fact, local government autonomy may be decidedly against federalist principles. But Nigerians have chosen the type of federalism they want, guided by their experiences.”

He added that “it is for Nigerians to defend their choice and make sure their voices count. We have done our duty.”

Senate votes line charges for them, whereby they derive their funds from the states’ consolidated revenue funds.

However, the proposal to separate the office of the attorney generals of the federation and those of the states from the minister and commissioners for justice respectively and accord financial autonomy to the attorney generals failed to scale through.

The quest for a mayoral status for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) suffered a setback with the senators opposing the proposal with a 57 yes votes to the 39 no votes, with two senators abstaining from voting.

The Senate also took a new step towards strengthening its legislative powers of ensuring timely passage of laws by passing the clause that makes bills sent to the president to become automatic law at the expiration of 30 days if the president neither assents to the bill nor returns it to the National Assembly.

According to this new proposal, “Where the president neither signifies that he assents or that he withholds assent, the bill shall at the expiration of 30

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Politics

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

43

towards making a new constitution THE

PARLIAMENT the retention of the current police structure and system as in the constitution by 292 to 62 federal constituencies with six abstentions.

As a result of this vote, the committee did not recommend the establishment of state police.

Tenure of office

Ihedioha

On the removal of the immunity clause for president, governors and their deputies, 225 federal constituencies voted to remove criminal immunity while retaining civil immunity for governors, deputy governors, president and vice president. One hundred and thirty-two (132) federal constituencies rejected this position with three abstentions.

The constituencies, however, rejected the establishment of State Police in Nigeria. In the process, 307 federal constituencies voted against it, 53 for and 70 abstentions.

They sought to amend section 214 (1) to enable the establishment of a state police.

The constituencies also voted against the idea that state Commissioners of Police should be answerable to governors with 237 against, 53 in support and 70 abstentions.

Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for

This is one other area where the committee relied on the results obtained from the People’s Public Sessions. Indeed, item 25 asked the question: “Should Section 135 and 180 (2) be amended to create a single tenure of five, six or seven years for the office of president and governor respectively?”

The results of the committee’s findings show that 245 federal constituencies rejected the question of a single tenure for chief executives while 110 supported same with five abstentions.

The committee did not stop here. It posed a direct question: “Should the four years two term tenure provision for the office of the president or office of governor be retained in the constitution?”

To this question, 263 federal constituencies voted ‘Yes’ and only 95 voted ‘No’ with two abstentions.

According to Ihedioha, “With this level of unanimity, it was not difficult for the Committee to adopt the current four year renewable tenure and to reject the single term proposal of either 5, 6 or 7 years. This is the clear position of Nigerians on this issue.”

According to results collated by the

committee, Nigerians adopted the presidential system rather than parliamentary system by 326 to 29 with five abstentions.

The federal constituencies also rejected resource control by 236 to 123 votes with five abstentions, and rejected increase of derivation component of Revenue Allocation Formula to 20 per cent by 224 votes to 125 votes and 11 abstentions.

The constituents at public hearings held across the country, also rejected rotation of the office of the president between the North and South and among six geo-political zones by an overwhelming majority. They preferred the use of merit.

They also did not support the removal of certain items from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List. They also rejected inclusion of the six geo-political zones in the constitution and to make them tiers of government by an overwhelming 330 to 27 votes with three abstentions.

Nigerians supported the creation of a role for traditional rulers in the Council of State and a role for them at the state level. And so the committee made recommendations to accommodate them.

The constituencies also supported autonomy for State Houses of Assembly and the justiciability of certain provisions of Chapter 2 of 1999 Constitution, a bill sponsored by Hon. Emmanuel Jime (PDP-Benue).

The committee report has recommended the inclusion of right to “free basic education” “right to free primary and maternal health care”, “right to basic housing”, and “right to a healthy environment” as fundamental human rights in Chapter 4 and consequently enforceable.

These are major recommendations which one had expected robust discus-

against LG autonomy, single tenure Approves life pension for principal officers

days become law.”

The Senate in addition tried to resolve the lingering issue of whether or not presidential assent is required before a new constitution comes into effect by voting against a presidential assent, when the lawmaker okayed the proposal, which says that, “For the purpose of altering the provisions of this constitution, the assent of the president shall not be required.”

The proposal to remove the National Youths Service Corps, Public Complaints Commission, National Security Agency Act and the Land Use Act from the constitution to enable their easy amendment failed as the lawmakers voted overwhelmingly against the recommendation.

This was also as a proposal to legislate the marriageable age at 18 years failed to scale through.

Attempt to rename the Nigerian Police Force to the Nigerian Police Service was frustrated with 63 senators supporting the proposal against 33 others who opposed the change.

The proposal on the remuneration of

past presiding officers of the National Assembly, including the Senate President and his Deputy as well as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and his

Deputy expectedly pulled through.

The proposal scaled through with a yes vote of 86 to 13.

On the issue of devolution of powers, the Senate approved the proposal for the contraction of the exclusive legislative

Mark

Ekweremadu

sions especially on the way and manner of funding.

Messy electronic voting Though the House kept faith with its promise last year to make a constitution in the interest of the people, it failed to keep faith with its promise to use the electronic process in voting on the document which could have been faster.

The officials of the Nigerian Communications Satellite (NigComSat) led by its Director General, Engr. Ahmed Rufai, who were to facilitate the exercise could not fix the voting devices installed in the chamber two weeks ago.

After several failed attempts to set up the devices provided by the experts to conduct the exercise electronically, the House resorted to manual voting by the 327 members present, a process that was cumbersome, compelling the chamber to sit for several hours.

Visitors including members of the civil society groups who packed the gallery in the morning to observe the process sat and waited patiently throughout the duration of the session presided by Speaker Tambuwal.

But they later left in disappointment when as at 5:30p.m., the results of the voting exercise was still being collated by parliamentary officials under the supervision of the Clerk of the House, Sani-Omolori.

Besides a few hitches in the mix, the House has kept its promise of recommending to the states a true constitution of the people. The Senate, a more conservative part of the National Assembly, on the other hand, has towed a different line, but it is hoped that at the end of it all, the Senate, state Houses of Assembly and local councils will see reason and harmonise with the House for a stronger democracy. list and expansion of the concurrent legislative list by removing a number of items from the exclusive list and transferring same to the concurrent list.

In addition to the existing items on the concurrent legislative list, the following items has been added to the list: arbitration, environment, healthcare, agriculture, public complaints, railways, road safety, stamp duties, wages, youths and pension.

However, the proposal to remove aviation and prison from the exclusive list and transfer same to concurrent list could not scale through.

Regarding electoral matters, the Senate voted in support of the proposal that every pre-election matter must be filled not later than seven days from the date of occurrence of the event and that every court adjudicating on such matters must deliver judgement in writing within 180 days from the date of filing of the suit.

Also, the Senate also okayed the proposal that an appeal from a decision in a pre-election matter shall be filed within 14 days from the date of delivery of the judgment appealed against, while such an appeal must be heard and disposed of within 60 days from the date of the filing the appeal.

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Ahead of the 2015 presidential election, Hamza Mailafiya Ibrahim, a public affairs analyst in Kaduna, writes on what has made the Peoples Democratic Party’s ticket look like a one-horse race.

T

he opinion, entitled “2015 Presidency: Atiku’s Narrowing Options” in The Nation newspaper of July 21, 2013 is a very interesting political analysis. The picture of the politics and intrigues in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is, however, bigger than it appears. In fact, the main concern should be whether the PDP can sustain its relevance and influence in 2015 if it continues on the path of destroying every component of democratic principles – freedom of choice inclusive. The author asked a very pertinent question, which in itself is an indictment of the ruling PDP. “But even if a primary is conducted, can Atiku defeat Jonathan with the party structures firmly in the latter’s (President Jonathan’s) hands?” he queried.

The question, however, should be the other way round: “Can Atiku defeat Jonathan in a free and fair primary in which delegates are independent to elect any aspirant seeking the party’s presidential ticket in 2015?” We can only know the extent of Atiku’s popularity if the contest is open to democratic process or when the President is not allowed to hijack the party.

Any arrangement where a sitting president uses intimidation and blackmail to take over the party structure should not be a proper gauge to determine the chances of Atiku or anyone else. President Goodluck Jonathan is systematically committed to pocketing the ruling party to preclude free and fair elections. He pays lip service in his commitment to democracy because every step he has taken so far is

2015: PDP, Jonathan and one-horse race

designed to make free contest impossible.

There is a wide disconnect between a man’s commitment to democratic values and what he does in practice. In fact, the moment his ambition becomes more important than anything else, he doesn’t mind going for broke. According to one wise man, “Ambition is pitiless. Any merit it cannot use, it finds despicable.” The PDP is founded on specific and general democratic principles. For that reason, the single-minded determination of the President to fly against these principles is the root of the present dilemma.

Winning fairly is the greatest psychological satisfaction for any competitor. In the case of the PDP, however, President Jonathan’s desperation respects no rules of fairness. He has the right to contest just like any other party member. But why does he need to hijack the PDP structures and put them in his pocket? Why is he allergic to free and fair contest? If a man is sure of his popularity, why does he need to put obstacles on the path of democratic competition? These are the issues that should dominate any analysis of the realities within the PDP rather than dismissing Atiku out of hand.

A one-horse race destroys the credibility of the PDP. In fact, why should anybody make any pretence about commitment to democracy? President Jonathan has gone for broke and, therefore, his ambition appears more important to him than anything else. The PDP is deeply divided on account of his ambition to contest in 2015. Which leader takes pleasure in leading a divided family? Let us not make Atiku the issue.

Our focus of analysis should be on a President that rose to power on victimhood and not so much because the PDP has no other good materials to contest against him.

Many Nigerians have frequently wondered why former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar should be criticizing the Presi-

Atiku

THE SUGGESTION THAT ATIKU DOESN’T HAVE A DOG’S CHANCE IS DIVERSIONARY dent or the party. This is a legitimate question. But which founding father of the party would be happy with any situation where the party leadership is not independent of the President? Can the President combine the role of being the leader of the country and the leader of the party? If a party has an elected chairman, should he be allowed to function as such?

Can the PDP talk of reforms and return to the path of democratic practices when the ambition of one man is standing in the way of this reformation? Currently, the Jerry Gana Convention Committee is having problems with the party chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, on account of the President’s desire to bend every rule and bend every party leader to his will.

The suggestion that Atiku doesn’t have a dog’s chance is diversionary. We should bother about the trend in the PDP where everyone is reduced to a yes man against

Omoyeni rolls out development plan for Ekiti FELIX NWANERI

A

former deputy governor in Ekiti State and aspirant for the 2014 governorship election in the state, Adebisi Omoyeni has said that he is in the race to take the state to a level it has not attained since its creation 17 years ago.

Omoyeni, who said he yielded to pressures “by lovers of genuine development of Ekiti” to run for the governorship, said he has a vision of putting the state on the world map of industrialised states and make it selfsufficient and economically viable.

His words: “I realised that our people have been suffering from acquired poverty in the midst of plenty. God has endowed us with stupendous natural resources which if harnessed can empower us to eradicate poverty in the state. Infrastructure and

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basic amenities like pipeborne water, good roads, and electricity among others, are painfully in short supply.

This shouldn’t be allowed to go on.”

He linked the situation to unemployment among youths, saying: “Any rightthinking person will be touched by the level of unemployment among Ekiti youths today. I am personally touched. I have therefore developed a programme that would aggressively create jobs for our youths and unemployed graduates. I will create 4,000 job opportunities annually during my tenure. I did it in Wema Bank and will do it in Ekiti State.”

He also pledged to provide the enabling environment that will encourage entrepreneurs, both local and international, to invest in Ekiti under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

“My experience in the

private sector and connections will be brought to bear in this regard. Industrialisation will be an avenue to create jobs. Our youths will be adequately trained to work in these industries,” Omoyeni explained, saying that peace and security will also be accorded top priority if voted into power.

The aspirant further said his administration will appraise the mineral resources available in the state and ensure they are exploited for the benefit of the people.

On education, the banker turned politician pledged to make education free at the primary and junior secondary levels, while bursary

their conviction of what is just or fair. The Nigerian Governors’ Forum, a once united body of elected leaders, is today torn apart on account of the President’s ambition to foreclose free and fair competition. Any man desperate to this extent wouldn’t bother changing the PDP constitution to make himself an imperial President. The crises facing the party would have been avoided if the President had demonstrated a sincere commitment to fair play.

It is easier to dismiss Atiku than humbly acknowledge the charade going on in the party. The reconciliation and reformation process recommended by Dr. Ekwueme’s and Gen. Ike Nwachukwu’s committees is being undermined by the President’s manoeuvres.

The biggest issue is the President himself and not Atiku. The former Vice President is not the architect of these problems.

We should be upfront about this issue.

There is no way the idea of power shift can make any sense where all the rules of fair play are broken. Both the North and the South-East should forget about power shift in 2015. President Jonathan is more consumed by his ambition more than anything else. In this regard, his agenda is his ambition. He is not bothered about the polarisation his ambition has caused. And that is not the hallmark of statesmanship. Any fair analysis should try to focus on the question why everyone has to be forced out of the way for Jonathan to run.

How do you determine someone’s political strength or weaknesses when you refuse to give him the chance to prove his popularity through transparent primaries?

Manipulating events in advance is a form of rigging in disguise. Our President has made a commitment to promote democracy and, therefore, our analysts should hold him to this commitment rather than dodging the issue.

and scholarships would be awarded to students in tertiary institutions.

Omoyeni also promised to revitalise other sectors such as agriculture and health as well to improve on the welfare of the state’s workforce and called for support for his bid.

“Building a new Ekiti State cannot be done by one

man alone. The labour, civil servants, teachers, artisans, students, academics, farmers and professionals have roles to play. My government will motivate everybody, including Ekiti sons and daughters in the Diaspora, to partake in a new dawn for prosperity, peace and progress,” he said.

Deportation of Igbos from Lagos: Kalu threatens court action FELIX NWANERI

F

ormer Abia State governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, yesterday condemned the recent deportation of some Igbo indigenes by the Lagos State government, describing the action as an affront against the collective will of Ndigbo or any other race in Nigeria to live and do business in any part of the country.

Kalu, in a statement made available to National Mirror, also described as the worst insult, the claim by the La-

gos State government that the affected persons were deported to reunite them with their families, threatening court action against the Lagos State government if it fails to apologise within seven days .

No fewer than 70 persons were reported to have been deported by the Lagos State government to the commercial city of Onitsha, Anambra State, last week.

They were said to have been brought in a trailer and escorted by a police patrol van with heavily armed policemen which, after discharg-

ing them at the popular Upper Iweka flyover at about 3.20a.m., made a U–turn and headed back to Lagos.

But Kalu, who averred that the action is a gross infraction to the rights of the deportees to dwell in any part of Nigeria without discrimination, said: “With this wicked, crude and primitive deportation, I just wonder why a component unit of Nigeria, under the authority and supremacy of a constitution, would choose to be lawless in such an unconstitutional conduct. Not even under the military would

such an action have happened.

“Even if a criminal offence was committed, the place to take them to is the court, not for them to be deported. The action of the Lagos State government is lawless as it is vexatious and I condemn it in strong terms because it threatens the existence of our country. All patriotic Nigerians should say no to this xenophobic action of Lagos State government because it usurps the powers of the Federal Government and disregards our constitution.

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45

Community Mirror State creation will bring more development and progress nearer to the people.

Crisis brews over chieftaincy tussle in Akure

46

SENATE PRESIDENT; DAVID MARK

Man dies after drinking locally brewed gin KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN

T

ragedy struck in ApataGanga area of Ibadan as a 32-year-old man, Saidi Taiwo slumped and died shortly after consuming a locally made gin popularly called ‘Paraga’.

Community Mirror gathered that the incident occurred at a popular drinking joint at AgoIgbira in Adifase area of ApataGanga last Saturday.

It was gathered that the deceased, whose wife was recently delivered of a baby boy, had abandoned her and the newly born with his parents at Omi-Adio and was staying with a friend at Apata-Ganga.

Sources close to the deceased said that Saidi, a commercial bus driver, abdicated his family responsibilities to stay with a friend, simply identified as Wasiu.

Both were said to be drinking from one bar to the other to cel-

ebrate the birth of the new born baby.

The sources informed that Saidi’s untimely death might not be unconnected with his habit of excessive consumption of alcoholic drinks.

The death was reported at the Apata Divisional Police Headquarters before the family of the deceased took the corpse away for burial.

Pastor drowns in river while bathing FRANCIS SUBERU

T

he unexpected happened penultimate Saturday, when a pastor of CCC Passover Parish, Evangelist Olanrewaju drowned in Adiyan River, Ogun State, whilecarrying out spiritual cleansing for a police officer.

The 38-year-old evangelist had reportedly gone with the police officer said to be attached to Agodo Police Division, Adiyan, for spiritual bath at the river but got drowned in the process.

It was gathered from church members that the pastor had initially completed the spiritual

cleansing process but remarked that some water from the officer’s clothes had touched him.

Hence, the deceased said he also needed to be cleansed to ward off attacks from evil spirits.

He reportedly went into the river to a place where miners had just dredged some sand.

In the process, he slipped and drowned, even as the police officer called for help which arrived late. Some of the divers who arrived at the scene had tried to rescue him but reportedly claimed they found the corpse in a kneeling position at bottom of the river hence never ventured to bring it out.

The following day, another set of divers found the corpse in a prostrating position which led to abandonment of the search.

Two days later, the corpse was found floating on the river, even as the family was not allowed to take it away due to what some people claimed were the spiritual implications surrounding the death. He was rather buried by the river bank alongside some of his property.

Meanwhile, the affected police officer who was arrested after the incident was later allowed to go after interrogation.

It was learnt that the deceased left behind aged parents, wife and two kids.

Lawmaker commissions water project MURITALA AYINLA

A

lawmaker representing Lagos East Senatorial District, Senator Gbenga Ashafa has commission an ultramodern motorized borehole at Ilara in Eredo Local Council Development Area.

Prior to the commissioning, Community Mirror learnt that residents of the rustic community had been facing challenges of potable water.

Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, Ashafa assured of more developmental projects, saying that the federal and the state governments are considering Epe Division for many world class projects that will not only boost the economy of the riverine areas but also improve their living standard.

He described the project as tip of the iceberg in comparison to what to expect in the communities,as he urged the residents to eschew violence in order to accelerate development.

Cultural dancers performing at the graduation of Zion Pilgrims Christ’s School in Bauchi on Saturday.

PHOTO:NAN

Traditional ruler, others attacked by hoodlums FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

T

he traditional ruler of Ehin-Ogbe in Ogijo, Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State, Oba Akeem Elupepe and some residents have been assaulted, as hoodlums invaded the community.

The hoodlums, wielding guns, machetes and other dangerous weapons, descended on Oba Elupepe and beat him to a state of coma.

An eye witness said the

monarch, who was installed by Igode-in-Council and four others sustained injuries following the attack.

Oba Elupepe was however, said to have been rushed to a hospital where he was later revived.

Narrating his ordeal from his hide-out, the monarch accused his rival, one Moshood Okeowo of being the brain behind the attack.

The monarch also alleged that his rival had prior knowledge ofthe attack, as he used the police from Lagos to torment

him over an alleged rape incident.

He said the police from Ijede Divisional headquarters in Lagos had summoned and detained him and four others over the petition written by Moshood Okeowo, Taiwo Okeowo and Bashiru Okeowo.

“After we were released by Inspector Bassey, we were escorted by the police to our village. As the police left us at entrance ofthe village, we heard gun shots and we pleaded that they accompany us to our respective homes”.

“As we entered the village and alighted from our car, the land speculators numbering more than 100 attacked us, I was beaten to unconsciousness and later taken to hospital where I was revived”.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Muyiwa Adejobi said the Command was yet to be briefed on the incident.

He however, promised to comment as soon as the Divisional Police Officer,DPO, briefs the command.

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Crisis brews over chieftaincy tussle in Akure HAKEEM GBADAMOSI AKURE

C

risis is now brewing in Akure over the installation of lesser chiefs in the kingdom, as residents of Isikan in Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State have also accused the Deji of Akure, Oba Adebiyi Adesida of intrusion in their land.

They accused the Deji of engaging in acts capable of causing chaos in the community by installing lesser chiefs, even as the elders have been handling the situation with maturity. In a letter to the government, and signed by elders that include, the Iralepo of Isikan, Oba Olu Ojo, the Asaaju of Isikan, J. A. Fatoyinbo and four others, it urged the authorities to call the Deji to order as not to endanger the peace in Akure kingdom.

The leaders said the protest became necessary to let the government know and mediate in the crisis, saying the position of Deji is becoming unbearable to the community.

They explained that though Isikan is in Akure kingdom, the community has its own people, history, culture and land that are well distinguished from the others.

They also stated that it has become a regular assignment for the Deji to install lesser chiefs without regard to the rights and interest of Isikan community.

The letter reads “the Deji has made it a regular assignment of installing Olus in Isikan without due regard to the rights and interest of the people. Of recent, the Olu of Iladun installed by the Deji sent thugs to Aforo, a portion of Lisa land to assault some family members on the instruc-

tion of the Deji’s agents.”

They also accused the Deji of provoking the people to endanger the peace of the community saying, “The Deji for no just cause and without provocation came with some thugs to block the entrance to the palace of the Iralepo of Isinkan, but the people treated the act with maturity.

They also accused the monarch of writing frivolous petition against the Asaaju of Isikan and when the State Security Service,SSS, invited the latter, it discovered it to be a ruse, saying the monarch embarked on this act to smear the image and person of the high chief.

The elders said, all attempts by some indigenes of Akure to wade into the matter have been rebuffed by the Deji saying “prominent and well respectable people came together to resolve the dispute

An accident scene at NICON juction on Nnamdi Azikiwe expressway in Abuja Saturday.

between the Deji and Isikan community headed by Bishop Olatunji Fagun and others such as Justice Aguda, Prof.

Ojo, Chief Adewole Atandeyi and retired provost Olusoga.

“After a formal review of the disputes, the committee came out with terms of settlement that was duly prepared and signed but the Deji rejected them.

“The fact remains that if the Isikan people are conquered slaves under the Deji or his late father, by now we ought to be allowed to be free”, the elders said.

But speaking through his Chief of Staff, Bayo Aderinto, the Deji of Akure, Oba Adesida said, there is no constituted authority in Isikan, as the title of Iralepo is not known to law.

He pointed out that the community is under the Akure kingdom and there is no authority in the community to be

PHOTO:NAN

Leisure park to provide 5,000 jobs

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he Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel has said that the state leisure and theme park at Oleri in Udu Local Government Area, will provide employment opportunities for more than 5,000 unemployed citizens when completed.

Dr. Uduaghan who stated this when he was conducted round the site by the project supervisor, Princess Abiodun Oyefusi said on completion, the park would provide direct

employment to persons in the state.

The governor, who said that he was impressed with the progress and pace of work so far, reiterated his commitment to completion of the project, saying “I am very happy that the firm carrying out the construction work started earlier than expected; I am impressed and we will continue to give them the needed support.”

Uduaghan added: “I am praying that this project comes to

fruition as it is expected to employ about 5,000 persons directly on completion, aside others who will make money from its operations indirectly.”

Governor Uduaghan, who was also at the Nigerian Gas Company Ltd, NGC, explained that the park would get it power from gas.

Project Supervisor of Sarner PFM, the firm executing the project, Princess Abiodun Oyefusi told the governor that land reclamation has been

completed and the first phase of construction work will start in September 2013.

While saying that the first stage of infrastructure would gulp $290 million, including the Wild Life Park at Ogwashi-Uku, she assured of speedy execution of the project.

“We are commencing the first phase of construction in September that will include the construction of catering villa, three star hotels and the electric fence,” she said.

undermined,as he said more light will be shed on the matter soon.

The Isikan community however called on the state government to wade into the crisis before it gets out of hand, by urging Oba Adesida to maintain the peace being enjoyed by people of the kingdom.

Enugu purchases new fire engines DENNIS AGBO ENUGU

G

overnor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State has donated new fire engines to the state fire service to make it more efficient.

The governor has also concluded plans to provide state of the art equipment for rescue operations in the events of disaster or mishaps.

The Commissioner for Rural Development, Dr. Eric Oluedo made the disclosure at a workshop organised for Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs as well as other establishments to enable them fight fire outbreaks at any point in time.

He said the government intended to procure fire-proof dresses for the fire service to ensure their operations meet with international standard.

According to Dr. Oluedo, the governor, has also approved recruitment of 40 fire fighters into the State Fire Service.

He explained that the state fire service was highly rated and called on wealthy indigenes, residents of the city and public spirited individuals to compliment government efforts in supporting the fire outfit.

He explained that his ministry now works with the Ministry of Capital Development, adding that apart from ensuring that fire gadgets were installed at appropriate places, they intend to cooperate in the area of welfare to protect the people.

The commissioner said that the Ministry of Rural Development organised the workshop for MDGs and other ministries to prepare them in the event of fire outbreak, as the city was rapidly expanding as a notable centre in the world.

Also, the Chief Fire Officer, Mr. Onodugo Cosmas, represented by Mr. Obinna Omebi said the fire service has been repositioned by Governor Chime.

He noted that the problem of water and vehicles were now a thing of the past, pointing out that there is a dam to ensure storage of water to meet challenges in the event of emergencies.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Cocktail

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

FOR YOUR SUCCESS

WITH DR. DEJI FOLUTILE

Today's Tonic (187)

“Before anything you want to happen can occur, you must desire that it happen. You must believe that it can happen. And you must expect it to happen.”

–Burt Goldman * * * MAKERS OF DESTINY I am told repeatedly by my spiritual mentor that what you don’t desire, you don’t deserve. He also drilled it into me that what you believe is what you will become. And that expectation is the mother of manifestation. I will be forever grateful for his lessons of power.

Desire, Belief and Expectation are the three fold cord that is not easily broken. I am committed to the daily practice of Positive desire, unrepentant belief in possibilities and earnest expectation that the future is bright!

Please join me in this potent daily practice!

TEL 08104942999 E-MAIL deji.folutile@gmail.com Follow me @TwitterOWOTIDE

47

Oddities

Turkey releases bird suspected of spying for Israel

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urkish authorities released a kestrel they suspected was spying for Israel after determining it carried no surveillance equipment, officials said.

Villagers in Altinayva caught the small falcon and discovered it had a metal ring on its foot with the inscription of “24311 Tel Avivunia Israel,” the Milliyet newspaper said.

The villagers handed

the bird over to local authorities.

Suspecting the bird had been sent by Israel’s intelligence agency the Mossad, the bird underwent x-rays at a hospital which

determined it was not carrying microchips, bugging devices or other surveillance equipment, the Turkish daily said.

It was later set free.

In May last year, the BBC reported a dead

bee-eater bird found

by Turkish villagers in Gaziantep with a metal ring stamped Israel, also raised suspicions of spying and it was taken by authorities for inspection.

Police P li seize i tons t off Eiff Eiffell TTower miniatures

F

rench police said a crackdown on illegal street peddling in Paris led to the seizure of 66 tons of miniature Eiffel Tower figurines in a suburban warehouse.

Investigators said the investigation this week led to the seizure of the figurines from a Bourget warehouse, which

allegedly supplied the items to about 100 illegal street vendors in Paris, The Local.fr reported Friday.

Police estimated the seized merchandise to be worth $233,000.

The raid also resulted in officers seizing about $206,900 in cash and about $26,500 worth of coins.

Police said a 41-yearold Chinese woman and her 40-year-old brother are suspected of being the ringleaders of the illegal street vending network and were arrested Tuesday.

The pair supplied the illegal street vendors with merchandise via their shop in Paris’ 3rd Arrondissement.

People holding three small falcon birds.

PHOTO: QUERENCIA

48

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

World News “What are the alternatives that they want after dissolving the government? There is nothing but violence and destruction. We need to stay united to pass this phase and end terrorism.”

–Tunisian Prime Minister, Ali Larayedh

France lauds Mali’s election as Keita leads

WORLD BULLETIN

Mandela court case delayed after Ayob withdraws

F

rance has hailed Mali’s presidential election, the first since a coup and an Islamist-led insurgency which it helped repel, a “great success”.

Ex-Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubakar Keita’s supporters celebrated in the capital, Bamako, as they predicted an outright win for him in Sunday’s vote.

The state broadcaster said Mr Keita was in the lead, as votes are counted.

He had pledged to restore Mali’s honour after it was forced to rely on France to fight the Islamists.

France sent more than 4,000 troops in January to regain control of northern towns and cities from al-Qaeda-linked militants.

The Islamists had captured territory with the backing of Tuareg separatists in 2012, but their alliance quickly crumbled.

They had taken advantage of a coup in Bamako after the army accused the civilian government of not doing enough to repel their offensive.

A UN peacekeeping force was deployed to Mali earlier this month to pave the way for elections, as France began to withdraw its troops from its former colony.

The elections are intended to reunite the north and south.

Observers said voter turnout was high in Bamako, but lower in the north.

L-R: EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Egypt’s interim President Adli Mansour meeting at El-Thadiya presidential palace in Cairo, yesterday.

Photo: AP

EU urges Egyptian rulers to end stand-off with Brotherhood • 12 vendors killed during clash over space PAUL ARHEWE

WITH AGENCY REPORTS

E

urope’s top diplomat pressed Egypt’s rulers yesterday to step back from a growing confrontation with the Muslim Brotherhood of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, two days after 80 of his supporters were gunned down in Cairo.

Raising the prospect of more bloodshed, the Brotherhood said it would march again on Monday evening towards a military intelligence headquarters.

Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, became the first overseas envoy to visit the Egypt since Saturday’s carnage, the second mass killing of Morsi support-

ers by security forces since he was overthrown by the army on July 3.

The bloodshed has triggered global anxiety that the army may move to crush the Muslim Brotherhood, which emerged from decades in the shadows to win power in the wake of Egypt’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising against Hosni Mubarak.

Meanwhile, at least 12 people have been killed in a fight in central Cairo involving street vendors.

Egyptian state media reported that the brawl took place in the al-Moski area of the capital.

The fight was reportedly caused by a dispute between street vendors over spaces.

Most of the victims died after a shop they took refuge in was

set on fire, according to a report by the AFP news agency.

There is so far no suggestion that the fight is linked to the political crisis in Egypt.

Ashton, on her second trip to Egypt since Morsi’s fall, met General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the head of the army and the man behind the overthrow of Egypt’s first freely elected president. She also held talks with deputy interim president and prominent liberal politician Mohamed ElBaradei and interim Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy.

There were no immediate details on the talks. Earlier, Ashton said she would press for a “fully inclusive transition process, taking in all political groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood”.

Zimbabwe’s poll: Tsvangirai vows to send Mugabe to retirement

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imbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai vowed to pack entrenched President Robert Mugabe off into retirement at a thunderous final campaign rally yesterday, capping a high-spirited election race that has gone down to the wire.

With no reliable opinion polls, it is hard to say whether 61-yearold Tsvangirai will succeed on Wednesday in his third attempt to unseat his 89-year-old rival, who has run the southern African nation since independence from Britain in 1980.

To judge by the vociferous sup-

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe (L) and his wife Grace arrive to address the final rally of his ZANU (PF) party in Harare, on Sunday.

port for Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Mugabe’s joking references to his

own chances of success in Harare, the veteran president’s ZANU-PF party is a long shot to take the capi-

tal in the vote.

The result hinges on whether Mugabe’s control of the state media and security forces, the loyalty of independence war veterans and rural voters, and alleged irregularities with the voters’ register, are enough to secure Africa’s oldest leader another five years in power.

Speaking to 50,000 red-clad supporters in a Harare parade ground, Tsvangirai struck a conciliatory note towards Mugabe, saying he was not after revenge or prosecution, despite the death of 200 MDC supporters in disputed polls in 2008.

A court case aimed at ousting ex-South African president Nelson Mandela’s aides from two companies he set up has been delayed, a law firm has said.

A judge took the decision after lawyer Ismail Ayob, acting for Mandela’s daughters, withdrew from the case.

The women were trying to gain control of the companies, said to be worth about $1.7m (£1.1m).

Mandela’s grandson Mandla accused them of trying to “loot” the 95-year-old ex-president’s wealth.

Mandela has been seriously ill in hospital since 8 June.

He spent 27 years in prison for fighting white supremacist rule in South Africa and became its first democratically elected president in 1994.

He stepped down from office five years later.

In April, two of his daughters, Makaziwe and Zenani, brought court action to oust prominent human rights lawyer George Bizos, ex-Housing Minister Tokyo Sexwale and lawyer Bally Chuene as directors of two of Mr Mandela’s firms, Harmonieux Investment Holdings and Magnifique Investment Holdings.

The three had never been appointed to serve on the board of the companies, and had rejected requests to resign, Makaziwe and Zenani said.

The case was due to be heard on Monday, but was stuck off from the court roll because of Mr Ayob’s withdrawal, said a spokeswoman for Norton Rose Fulbright, the legal firm representing the defendants.

Value of stolen diamond jewellery in France hiked to $136 million A state prosecutor says the organizer of a diamond exhibit and sale has more than doubled the estimated value of diamond jewellery stolen in a brazen weekend heist at a luxury hotel on the French Riviera — to some $136 million.

Police had previously said Sunday’s theft at the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel had netted €40 million ($53 million) in loot — even at that level, one of biggest jewellery heists in recent years.

Assistant prosecutor Philippe Vique said the Dubai-based organizer of the diamond show has raised the value based on a more complete inventory.

Police said the theft at the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel is one of the biggest jewellery heists in recent years.

Vique said authorities are looking for a lone suspect who broke in through French doors at the hotel that opens out onto Cannes’ famed Croisette. The suspect then fled on foot.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

World News

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

FBI rescues 105 teenagers from U.S. sex traffickers

WORLD BULLETIN

Who am I to judge gay people –Pope

1

05 missing teens were rescued last weekend from sex trafficking, the FBI announced yesterday.

The FBI said it has rescued 105 children — the youngest of which was 13 — who were forced into prostitution in the United States and arrested 150 people it described as pimps and others in a series of raids in 76 American cities.

The campaign, known as “Operation Cross Country,” was the largest of its type and conducted under the FBI’s “Innocence Lost” initiative. The assistant director of the FBI’s criminal investigative division, Ron Hosko, said that child prostitution remains what he called a “persistent threat” to children across America.

Hosko said he hoped it would focus attention on sex trafficking, “this threat that robs us of our children.”

Authorities said the fiends preyed on children from broken homes and had used the online classified site Backpage to sell the teens for sex, according to NBC News.

“The pitches tend to be: Girls are enticed with compliments or offers, do they want to make some money,” Hosko said. “Then they are trapped into this cycle that involves drugs, that involves physical abuse.

It may involve torture.”

49

More than 500 soldiers were deployed to help with the rescue efforts in Italy.

Photo: Getty Images

39 killed in Italy crash, 40 injured in Swiss trains collision

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hirty-nine people were killed and around 10 injured when a bus plunged off a viaduct in southern Italy in what Prime Minister Enrico Letta described yesterday as a huge tragedy.

Initial reports suggested that the coach was travelling at speed and had hit four or five cars before crashing over the roadside barriers on a stretch of road near Monteforte Irpino, east of Naples, on Sunday night. There were around 50 people on board, including many children.

It was one of the worst road accidents in Italy’s history, and the second transport disaster to hit southern Europe in the space of five days.

Seventy-nine people were killed when a high-speed train derailed in the Spanish pilgrimage town of Santiago de Compostela on Wednesday.

Letta, on an official visit to Athens, cancelled a private visit to the historic Acropolis before meetings with his Greek counterpart Antonis Samaras.

“It is a very sad day for Italy, what happened last night. There are no words for it,” he told reporters. “It is a huge tragedy.”

... Mass held for Spain’s train victims Also, at least 40 people were injured, four of them seriously, in a collision between two trains in western Switzerland, yesterday.

The crash happened in Granges-pres-Marnand, about 50km (30 miles) south-west of the capital, Bern.

Reports say the regional trains collided head-on in the early evening.

Public TV station SRF quoted Vaud canton police spokesman Pierre-Olivier Gaudard as saying that one person was yet to be recovered from the wreckage.

Meanwhile, a large Mass was held yesterday in north-western Spain for the 79 people who died in a train crash.

The service was held in the Galician city of Santiago de Compostela, a Catholic pilgrimage site where the train derailed last week.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who comes from the city, and members of the royal family were expected to attend.

Train driver Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, who faces charges of reck-

less homicide, was released from custody on Sunday.

Santiago officials had been preparing for the religious feast of St James of Compostela - Spain’s patron saint - but cancelled it after the crash on Wednesday.

At the city’s cathedral gates, pilgrims have left flowers and candles to commemorate victims of the crash.

Officials say 70 people remain in hospital, 22 of them in a critical condition.

A statement from motorway operator Autostrade per l’Italia said the coach appeared to have been travelling fast in the vicinity of slower-moving traffic, even though the lower speed had been clearly indicated.

“You would think that the barriers on the viaducts and bridges should prevent this type of accident but evidently it seems the impact was so strong that even the barrier gave way,” said Alessio Barbarulo, head of the local fire brigade division that coordinated the rescue effort.

Wave of car bombings target Iraqi Shi’ites, killing 60

C

ar bombs ripped through busy streets and markets in Iraq yesterday, killing at least 60 people in predominantly Shi’ite areas in some of the deadliest violence since Sunni insurgents stepped up attacks this year.

The 17 blasts, which appeared to be coordinated, were concentrated on towns and cities in Iraq’s mainly Shi’ite south, and districts of the capital where Shi’ites live.

Militant groups including al Qaeda have increased attacks in recent months in an insurgency against the Shi’ite-led government as a civil war in neighbouring Syria heightens sectarian tensions.

The violence has raised fears

Street cleaners removing debris on the road at the site of a car bomb attack in Basra, southeast of Baghdad, yesterday.

Photo: Reuters

of a return to full-blown intercommunal conflict in a country where ethnic Kurds, majority Shi’ites and Sunni Muslims have yet to find a stable way of sharing power.

In Baghdad’s Shi’ite stronghold of Sadr city, police and witnesses said a minivan drew up to a group of men waiting by the side of the road for day work, and the driver told them to get in be-

fore detonating an explosive device in the vehicle.

“The driver asked labourers to get into the van, then he disappeared and minutes later the truck exploded, flinging the labourers’ bodies back,” said Yahya Ali, a worker who was standing nearby.

“Somebody tell me please why poor labourers are targeted? They want only to take food to their families!”

Monday’s attacks underscore deteriorating security in Iraq, where nearly 4,000 people have been killed since the start of the year, said violence monitoring group Iraq Body Count. In July, more than 810 people were killed in militant attacks.

Pope Francis has said gay people should not be marginalised but integrated into society, BBC has reported.

Speaking to reporters on a flight back from Brazil, he reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church’s position that homosexual acts were sinful, but homosexual orientation was not.

He was responding to questions about whether there was a “gay lobby” in the Vatican.

“If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge them?”

He also said he wanted a greater role for women in the Church, but insisted they could not be priests.

The Pope arrived back in Rome on Monday after a week-long tour of Brazil - his first trip abroad as pontiff - which climaxed with a huge gathering on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach for a world Catholic youth festival.

Cambodian opposition rejects PM’s election win Cambodia’s opposition yesterday rejected the claim of victory by the ruling party of strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen in weekend elections, alleging widespread irregularities.

“The Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) cannot accept the results of the fifth parliamentary election ... because the CNRP has found a lot of serious irregularities,” the party said in a statement.

It called for a committee representing the two main political parties, the National Election Committee, civil organisations and the United Nations to “be urgently established” to investigate complaints.

Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) announced late on Sunday it had taken an estimated 68 out of the 123 seats in the lower house.

“We can say we’ve won this election,” CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith told AFP. The CPP had 90 seats in the previous parliament, so if confirmed the result would mark the loss of more than 20 seats, despite the exclusion of the opposition leader who was barred from running.

China orders audit of government debt China has ordered a nationwide audit of all government debt, underlining fears that the recent slowdown in its economy may impact the financial sector.

Local governments in China borrowed heavily after the global financial crisis to try to sustain growth rates.

The last audit, published in 2011, showed they had debt of 10.7tn yuan ($1.7tn; £1.1tn) by the end of 2010.

Debt may threaten China’s growth, and there are growing fears that local governments may not be able repay.

“In line with a request of the State Council, the National Audit Office (NAO) will organize auditing agencies across the country to carry out an audit of government debt,” the national auditor said in a statement on its website.

50

Emergency Update

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

NEMA evolves proactive strategies against disaster T he National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has explained that it changed its strategy from reactionary management to proactive management of emergency because of numerous deaths and countless loss of property to disasters in the country.

Speaking during the inauguration of the agency’s Grassroots Emergency Vanguards in Maiduguri, the North-East zonal coordinator of NEMA, Alhaji Muhammed Kanar lamented that in recent times the nation had witnessed occurrence of series of disasters which seriously affected the communities resulting in deaths and loss of property worth millions of naira.

He said this had made the “emergency managers to refocus attention on pre-

vention of disasters and disaster risk reduction to proactive rather than reactive approach to disasters.”

Kanar said: “It is in line with the paradigm shift that the agency trains youths at the grassroots to serve as disaster management vanguards during emergencies”.

He also disclosed that before the decision was taken, the agency considered “the fact that people at the grassroots are living in the real theatres of disasters, they stand in constant need for capacity building to help them anticipate and cope with emergencies in their communities”.

He said during emergencies “it is expected that the grassroots will be the first to respond, hence their role as first responders cannot be overemphasized to enable them discharge this

responsibility effectively.”

During the training, the youth were educated on the basics of disaster management, the basics of first aid and their role as first aiders.

The training, which was kick started in Borno and to be extended to Yobe and Adamawa states, was undertaken by the Red Cross, the Federal Road Safety Commission and the Borno State Fire Brigade Service.

On the other hand the North West Zone OF NEMA has so far trained 3,200 volunteers on how to respond to situations of emergency and disaster management in their communities.

Zonal Coordinator, NEMA, North West Zone, Musa Ilallah stated this at a one-day programme in Birnin Kebbi to train and inaugurate volunteers to get involved in all phases of

disaster management such as preparedness, response, prevention, recovery and rehabilitation.

Illallah, said the volunteers would serve as first responders in situations of emergencies and disasters in their respective communities. He noted that good Samaritans often stretched out their helping hands to rescue victims of emergencies and disaster, but lack the competence and skill to do so.

This, according to him, has prompted NEMA to embark on training of volunteers on the basics of search and rescue efforts in the zone. He called on the state governments to enhance the capacity of the volunteers at the grassroots level by making annual budgetary provisions for each local government to train 1000 volunteers.

L-R: Executive Secretary, Plateau State Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Al-Hassan Barde; Acting Zonal Coordinator, North Central, NEMA, Mr. Abdulsalam Muhammed, and Guest Speaker, Prof. Ter-Rumun Avav, at a two-day workshop in Jos, yesterday.

The scene of a collapsed building which claimed about five persons at No. 34, Ishaga Road, Surulere area of Lagos, recently.

The agency has intensified its anti-flood campaign by embarking on an awareness campaign to prepare Nigerians for flood. The sensitisation campaign is being organized for various local government officials, civil society organizations, community and faith based organisations, volunteers and citizens to educate them on risk reduction and

prevention.

Flooding has been known to have a damaging effect on farmlands which will always lead to increase in food prices. Nigerians are therefore being urged to obey warnings on the impending flood by the Nigerian Meteorological Department, noting that it will go a long way in reducing the impact of the flood.

The import of civilian JTF in war against terrorism ALIYU ABDULHAMEED

I

n May 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan declared a State of Emergency (SoE) in northeastern Nigeria. The States including Borno, Bauchi and Yobe with the aim of using the military to eliminate Boko Haram safe havens and disrupt their intent for attacks.

The operation, to some extent is very successful even though with some discomfort to the civilians, whose movement have been restricted and the cut off of mobile phones. The military operation is under the ‘Joint Task Force’ (JTF) which comprised the military, police and other security agencies with the main objective of defeating the cruel Islamist insurgency.

Since the beginning of the operation, the JTF have succeeded in chasing the insurgents out of their strongholds including Sambisa forest and in Marte and other parts of northern Borno State.

Large number of insurgents were either killed or arrested by the Special Forces who bombed their camps. Some top Boko Haram fighters as well as their commanders were captured. Those who escape take refuge in neighboring countries, while others are said to have hidden in their family homes.

Realising the difficulties of identifying the Boko Haram members from the populace, local vigilante and youths have mobilized themselves to identify with the smooth operation by establishing what is now known as the ‘Civilian JTF’.

The Civilian-JTF is comprised of mostly Muslim

youths including women, street thugs, card vendors and Okada riders who fed up with the criminalities of Boko Haram members.

The story so far is the recognition and acknowledgement of the Civilian-JTF by the security officers in the affected areas. The local group has assisted the authorities to uproot the bloody sect from the capital by moving round the city wards, capturing the escaped sect members, apprehending them and handing them over to the military-led JTF. The Civilian JTF’s restless effort is receiving more attention as they are now referred to as a “new National Heroes” by those in government.

Even among their people, their actions are well preferred, because unlike the Military JTF that has been accused of Human Rights Violations, the Civilian JTF’s actions were justified as they are seen as integral part of the society.

While there have been some reservation on the activities of the civilianJTF who are untrained and largely uneducated on basic security drill, their emergence is a welcome development.

In view of their desire to contribute to security of their communities, the authority should provide all necessary assistance for their training and funding so that they become active volunteers in the supports of military intervention to eliminate militants in their communities. The Government should not dismantle them, but rather encourage the youths to observe the human right ethics.

Aliyu AbdulHameed University of Ilorin Kwara State

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Ramadan Special

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

51

Ramadan 21st, 1434 AH

Terrorism not part of Islam –Cleric

A

n Islamic scholar, Sheikh Muhydeen Salman, the Chief Imam of Offa, said that Islam had nothing to do with terrorism.

He said this at a special Ramadan lecture entitled: “Terrorism: Islamic Point of View” organised by the Muslim Community of Ring Road (MUCREEN) in Ibadan-OyoState on Monday.

The Islamic cleric said that there was no similarity between Islam and act of terrorism, adding that those engaged in terrorism using the name of Islam are instruments of Shaytan (devil) adding that those set

of people merely spread false doctrines so as to create confusion in the society.

Salman noted that there was no portion of the Holy Qur’an where Allah ordered His Prophet to kill anybody who did not share the same faith with him.

He explained that the Holy Prophet, who was the standard for all morality, exhibited no form of terrorism, and as such, there was no basis for anybody to do so under the guise of Islam. He added that those who knew nothing about the Islamic legal system (Sharia) had succeeded in indoctrinating falsehood into the minds of

some Muslim youths.

“Almighty Allah is more interested in the minds than the body, because He is the judge of all intentions. Allah forbids anyone from taking the life of a fellow human, let alone those who claimed to believe in the oneness of Allah,” Salman said.

He said that Nigeria, as a multi-religious country, Muslims must live with the people of other religions as explained by the Holy Qur’an, adding that those who engaged in acts of terrorism had selfish and evil interests.

Salman called on parents to closely monitor the kinds

of friends kept by their children and implored Muslims to carefully choose where their children would acquire Islamic knowledge.

Earlier, Mr. Wasi’u Olatunbosun, the Special Guest of Honour, who is also the Caretaker Chairman of Ibadan North-West Local Government, encouraged Muslims to remain steadfast and fear Allah in all ramifications.

Olatunbosun, who was represented by Mr. Daud Fasasi, urged the Muslim community to continue to pray for peaceful co-existence among Nigerians, especially during the month of Ramadan and after.

Don urges leaders to shun corruption

A

University Don, Prof. Salisu Shehu of Bayero University, Kano has urged Muslim leaders to have the fear of Allah and shun corruption.

Shehu made the call recently at a Ramadan lecture organised by the Muslim Students Association (MSA), Nigerian Muslim Women Association (NMWA), Young Muslim Association (YMA) and the Bauchi Radio Corporation (BRC) in Bauchi.

According to him, bribery, corruption and disrespect for the true teachings of Islam were factors gaining ground among some Nigerians and their leaders.

“Leaders must change their attitudes and follow the teachings of Islam before any meaningful change can be achieved in our society.” Shehu, a former Special Adviser to Gov.

Isa Yuguda on Education, urged Muslims generally to unite in practising the good and acceptable deeds as taught by Islam.

Also speaking, the Grand Khadi of Bauchi State, Alhaji Abdullahi Marafa, called on leaders to be careful in dealing with peoples’ rights. On his part, the state representative from the Shari’a Commission, Alhaji Mustapha Hassan, urged Muslim organisations to increase the number of similar lectures in order to educate people, especially Muslims on things that affect their lives.

Earlier, the chairman of the occasion, Malam Yunusa Ado, said the lecture was organised to assist leaders to know their responsibilities and how to behave in according with the teachings of Islam.

Cleric urges politicians to assist the poor

T Field Officer of Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation, Yakubu Lukman Gawatta (3rd left); beside him is Alhaji AbdulRahman MuhammadulAwwal, Coordinator, Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation, Ajeromi/Ifelodun local government, at an Iftar Saaim (Feeding of fasting Muslims) programme for Ulamas recently.

2013 Hajj: NAHCON announces fares

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he National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has announced the approved fares for the 2013 pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

In a statement issued by Alhaji Uba Mana, the Public Relations Officer of NAHCON, in Abuja, the commission said pilgrims would be flown from the northern and southern departure zones.

Pilgrims travelling from the northern and southern zones in the maximum fare category of N750, 996.52 and N758, 369.52 respectively would travel with Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) of 1,500 dollars, the statement said.

It said those on the medium fare category travelling from the North would pay N672, 996.52, while those from the South would pay N680, 369.52. The commission said the medium category travellers would get 1,000

dollars.

The minimum fare for pilgrims departing from the Northern zone is N636, 496.52, while those departing from the Southern zone would pay N643, 869.52. The group of travellers will get 750 dollars BTA. The statement adds that minimum fares for pilgrims departing from the Northern and Southern zones without BTA are N526, 996.52 and 534,369.52 respectively.

The statement also said that the Federal Government had approved Kabo Air, Med-view, Max Air, Meridian Airlines and Skypower Express Airways for the transportation of pilgrims from each airline’s operating base. NAS Air charter, a Saudi Arabia-based Airline, and Trade craft Nigeria Ltd have been approved as carriers for the international pilgrims through tour operators.

Kwara Pilgrims Board airlifts 508 for Umrah

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total of 508 intending pilgrims have been airlifted by the Kwara Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board to Saudi Arabia for the 2013 Umrah (lesser Hajj).

The Board’s Chairman, Alhaji Usman Olosun, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin that the pilgrims took off from the IIorin International Airport at about 8.30 p.m. on Saturday.

According to him, the 508 pilgrims constitute the only batch from Kwara comprising sponsored pilgrims by the state government as well as local councils in the state.

“There will not be any other batch from Kwara for this year’s lesser Hajj; all pilgrims from the state including officials have been airlifted,’’ Olosun said. On why the number of pilgrims was less than previous years; the chairman attributed the development to non-issuance of enough visas

by the Saudi authorities.

He also said reports from Saudi Arabia indicated that all the 508 pilgrims had arrived Medina safely. Olosun further told NAN that the pilgrims would move to Makkah in the next few days for the completion of the Ummrah rites.

he Chief Imam, Islamic University, Katsina, Malam Abubakar Maikano, commended Katsina State government for donating grains to Muslims.

Maikano urged the state government to do more because many people were in hardships. He said that what the government did was worthy of commendation, adding, that it is however, inadequate, hence the need for more to reduce the present economic predicament of the people in the state.

“We are appealing to government to do more in

assisting the poor and to alleviate their sufferings during this Holy month of Ramadan and thereafter.”

The state government had recently donated 70,000 bags of grains to Muslim faithful as Ramadan gift across the 34 local government areas of the state.

Katsina Gov. Shema

Lawmaker secure freedom for 24 prison inmates A ZA MSUE KADUNA

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ouse of Representatives member representing Igabi Federal constituency, in Kaduna State, Ibrahim Bello Rigachikun has paid fine options and secured the release of 24 prison inmates at Kaduna prison.

Addressing the released inmates at the Prison yard, Kaduna, Rigachukun said those helped were people from his constituency.

Rigachukun said after he discovered that some people from his constituency were languishing in jail, he decided to embark on the exercise. While charging them to be good ambassadors of his constituency, he called on wealthy individuals to pay inmates fines for their freedom.

“I engaged about 3 lawyers to look atthose with fine options so that we can come to their aid.

Now that I have secured their release, if they go

back and engage in what brought them here, I will personally order for their arrest and get them prosecuted accordingly. I will engage freed inmates with skill acquisition training and after which I will empower them with funds,” he said.

Some of the freed inmates who spoke to journalists expressed their appreciation to the lawmaker and promised to live a better life henceforth.

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FG takes over Nasarawa hydro-power project IGBAWASE UKUMBA LAFIA

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he Federal Government has taken over the abandoned Farin Ruwa hydro-power project conceived 10 years ago by the Nasarawa State government.

The Federal Government said it was taking over to complete the project, promising also to provide free textbooks to Ta’al Model Schools in the state.

President Goodluck Jonathan disclosed this yesterday during the inauguration of the Federal High Court Complex and the commissioning of Ta’al Model School in Lafia, the state capital.

Represented by the VicePresident, Namadi Sambo, President Jonathan said the hydro-power project has also been included for completion by the Federal Government, adding that plans have been concluded to dualise the road from Abuja across the state to Benue State.

He said: “I would like to inform Governor Umaru

Tanko Al-Makura that the 330KV electricity substation is on the drawing board and is included for implementation. The new bridge across River Benue would be completed on schedule and the rehabilitation of the railway is in progress and very soon, we will deliver it cutting across Nasarawa State.”

According to the President; “The transformation

MINNA

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ork on the N1.4billion road project being executed by the Niger State government is to be completed in three weeks, the state Commissioner for Works, Alhaji Muazu Bawa, disclosed this yesterday in Minna, the state capital.

The project is being executed by the Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu administration.

Speaking while conducting journalists round the project; Alhaji Bawa said the road from Bahago Round About to Maitunbi, will open up the state capital.

According to the commissioner, the ministry is also installing streets lights on the 3.4-kilometre road project. He said the road was being upgraded from a single lane to a dual carriageway with sidewalks, adding that it has asphalt over laid with crushed stone base.

The commissioner also conducted journalists round the Eastern By-

istration’s transformation agenda saying; “The over 30 others that are nearing completion across the state will contribute towards the achievement of this administration’s transformation agenda.”

He assured that the Federal Government will continue to partner with Nasarawa State government under the Universal Basic Education, UBE, by provid-

ing the state with its counterpart funding towards the achievement of the state’s educational dream.

Earlier, Governor AlMakura had shared the joy of yet another achievement

by Mr. President in line with the transformation agenda of his administration. “There is no doubt that the feat has become possible through a focused and disciplined adherence to stra-

Lamido of Adamawa, Alhaji Barkindo Mustapha (middle), with members of the Adamawa State Rapid Response Committee on Flood, during an advocacy visit to the Lamido, yesterday.

N1.4bn road project to be completed in three weeks PRISCILLA DENNIS

agenda of this administration is on course. We are resolved to ensuring that we fulfill promises, especially in all areas of infrastructural development, job and wealth creation, economic stability, transparency, good governance and national security.”

While commissioning the Ta’al Model School, Johnathan said the project is in line with his admin-

Pass road from Maitunbi to Maikunkele town, a project that is costing the state government N2.58 billion.

He said the project has a 24-month completion period, adding that the delay in its completion was as a result of the permission sought from the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC, which lasted for six months before approval could be secured.

The 14-kilometre road project will reduce the period motorists take from Minna to Maikunkele.

In the mean time, the Niger State government is assisting the Nigerian Air force Base, Minna, in the construction of a bridge and access road to its barracks.

The project, which will cost N18 million, according to Bawa, is being handled by the Niger Road Maintenance Agency.

He said the project is serving the twin objectives of providing jobs for unemployed youths and giving the state-owned organisation the opportunity to handle government projects under its competitive bidding policy.

tegic planning anchored on service coordination and linkage across disciplines and levels of government.”

He said the government and people of Nasarawa State appreciate the President’s leadership of the country and his personal commitment to the development of Nasarawa State.

“In this connection, we thank Your Excellency immensely for the establishment of an Army Barracks in Doma; the 58-Mobile Squadron in Lafia; a Helipad in Lafia to serve the North Central geo-political zone and, indeed, the Federal University.”

Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, the Hon. Justice Ibrahim Ndahi Auta, used the opportunity to appeal to the National Assembly to reconsider the continuous cut in the budget of the judiciary as according to him; “This has impacted negatively on the judiciary’s infrastructural and institutional development, especially with the increase in the number of judges and the establishment of more judicial divisions.”

APC will dislodge PDP in 2015, says CPC chieftain WALE IBRAHIM LOKOJA

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stalwart of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and the Vice-Chairman of the North Central Zone of the party, Alhaji Abu Onaji, has expressed confidence that the yet to be registered All Progressives Congress, APC, will dislodge the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from power in the next political dispensation.

While speaking with

journalists in Lokoja yesterday, the CPC chieftain said Nigerians have made up their minds to end the reign of the PDP due to their inept leadership since 1999.

He said it was in realisation of this that the opposition parties decided to come together to rescue the nation, describing the newly formed APC as a child of necessity.

He added that the failure of the PDP to meet the aspiration of Nigerians who desired good governance, employment op-

portunities for the teeming youths, qualitative education, adequate power supply, among others, compelled them to crave for an alternative.

Onaji, who was the former managing director of the Kogi State Broadcasting Corporation, added that contrary to the rumour making the rounds, the electoral umpire would register the new party; more so that they have met all the requirements needed to enable them operate as a political party.

He said the fear of losing power has brought about internal squabbles in the ruling PDP, insisting that under the PDP-led government, corruption has been institutionalised, thereby retarding the progress of the nation.

The veteran journalist said the APC was poised to speedily develop the country through purposeful leadership, assuring that if given the mandate, the new party would turn around the fortunes of the country through transparency and accountability.

Let state electoral bodies be independent –BSIEC boss HENRY IYORKASE MAKURDI

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he Chairman of the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission, BSIEC, Prof.

Philips Ahire, has advocated for autonomy for state electoral bodies with a view to avoiding undue interference from government.

Ahire in a chat with National Mirror in Makurdi yesterday, said if elections are to be free and fair, the National Assembly should make legislations that will make states’ electoral bod-

ies self-sufficient in all their activities.

The BSIEC chairman further argued that the move being made by members of the House of Representatives to scrap the state electoral bodies nationwide is ill-motivated.

He said they should rather look inward and enact laws to enhance the workability of the system.

“It is only in Nigeria that a programme is always being ditched instead of ensuring sustainability of such projects, stressing that what about the fate of

the workforce should the organisation be scraped.”

He reasoned that as a matter of priority, consideration should be given to the workforce under this umbrella before any action is taken, so that you don’t throw people with families into the labour market, especially at this period of economic crunch.

He observed that a better solution can be found rather than an outright scraping and urged the lawmakers to put behind them the idea of doing away with state electoral

bodies; urging them to enhance it for optimal results in future elections in the country.

The BSIEC chairman further expressed displeasure at the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration of handling the issue of youth unemployment in the country.

He said the government should find ways of curbing the menace of unemployment in the country, especially among youths, who have become restive due to lack of meaningful source of livelihood.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Fatai Rolling Dollar: When fame belies material success The popularity of late music legend, Fatai Rolling Dollar, FDR, was never in doubt, even among the younger generation. Incidentally, material wealth has been the yardstick for measuring success in the music industry. OKAY OSUJI writes that in spite of his stunning comeback to the music stage, Rolling Dollar was not among the financial greats as the sorry state of his uncompleted building revealed.

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ast week the family of late traditional music maverick, Fatai Rolling Dollar, FDR, held a 41-day Fida’u ceremony to commemorate the occasion. The body of legendary highlife artiste was buried in the grounds of his uncompleted house at the Millennium Estate, Maya Village Ikorodu, Lagos.

National Mirror later learnt that Muslim Imams had been to the house earlier to offer prayers for the departed and surviving family members. The Executive members of the Estate Residents’ Association were also part of the programme to remember FDR more than a month after his passing.

Explaining the late coming of guests for the 41-day event, one of his wives, Zainab said the persistent rain and Ramadan fast season could be a reason. She said further: “Anyway, we are going to distribute the beans cakes to friends, family and estate members”.

However, circumstances surrounding the June 12, 2013 demise of the 86-year-old music icon, born Fatai Olayiwola Olagunju left the nation and music industry in disbelief and shock.

A week before his death, news broke that Fatai Rolling Dollar needed a paltry sum of N21, 000 to offset his hospital bills at Ahmaddiyya Hospital along Abeokuta Expressway, Lagos. Our reporter, who visited the octogenarian at the hospital, said he had detailed his financial woes and travails during an overseas performance tour in March. Unfortunately, the tour was cancelled due to ill-health, which forced him to return to Nigeria. A few days after his return, he was readmitted at the Maritol Medical Centre, Surulere-Lagos, where he died from lung cancer.

On formal announcement of the music legend’s passing, the outpouring of encomiums, adulations and commendations from top government functionaries, musicians, institutions and fans was profuse.

But, his impressive stage craft and multiple award winning discographies are not exactly commensurate with the financial legacy Pa. Rolling Dollar left behind.

Although FDR’s remains were interred in his uncompleted property at Ikorodu, the neglected bungalow built on half of a plot betrays the near penury he was in before death.

The deceased was said to have struggled to make ends meet, but got a new lease of life after the French Cultural Centre brought him back into public consciousness. He later got a higher lift through former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Additionally, Zanaib, mother to three of the music icon’s youngest children who lived with her husband in their two-bedroom flat in Millennium Estate, had cried out immediately after FDR’s death about how to pay for her children’s education.

Kunle Tejuosho, whose label, Jazzhole Records, released Rolling Dollar’s popular hit track, ‘Won Kere si Number Wa’ among other albums, said the deceased came back from America some weeks back where he

Late Rolling Dollars had gone for shows for about three weeks, “Baba was a great musician. He lived a life of music. He was happy whenever it was time to perform. He would be missed because he brought the past alive to the present.

His last performance in Nigeria was on March, 14 2013 at the Nigerian Idol Season 3, where he performed one of his all-time classic’s ‘Won Kere si Number Wa’. He was later joined on stage by a group of contestants. After his performance, Fatai Rolling Dollar said, “I love what the young artistes are doing. They have a good message for the young crowd out there, and I absolutely love it”.

During his life time, the late Rolling Dollar was an enigma in the Nigeria music industry, most especially in the juju highlife genre, having staged an incredible comeback about a decade ago, after a lull in his music career, which dates back to the early ‘60s.

Born on July 22, 1926 in Lagos to the royal family of Olayiwola Olagunju, young Fatai learnt to play the highlife musical instrument called Agidigbo from the Ilajes.

After he lost his job at the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC, things became so tough that he had to depend on his Agidigbo and exciting lyrics to survive.

He started his musical career in 1953 and mentored a number of musicians including Ebenezer Obey and the late Orlando Owoh, among others and he was known for his dexterity at playing the guitar.

In 1957, he formed an eight-piece band called Fatai Rolling Dollar and his African Rhythm Band, and they recorded numerous seven-inch singles for Phillips West Africa Records. Rolling Dollar had three wives and 16 children. Many of his popular songs included Sisi Jaiye Jaiye, Won Bumi, Eko Akete, Saworo, and particularly his come-back song, Won Kere si Number Wa. It was gathered that despite his love for his hometown Ede in Osun State, and his wish to be buried there, his inability to build a house in his place of origin contributed in no small measure to reason

His uncompleted building

ALTHOUGH FDR’S REMAINS WERE INTERRED IN HIS UNCOMPLETED

PROPERTY AT IKORODU, THE NEGLECTED BUNGALOW BUILT ON HALF OF A PLOT BETRAYS THE NEAR PENURY HE WAS IN BEFORE DEATH why his children decided to bury him in Lagos. Fatai Rolling Dollar was not a rich man as at the time he passed on but he found fame through his dexterity at the guitar and captivating lyrics.

For more than 20 years, he remained in abject poverty and depression, eventually finding a job as security man at the National Stadium, Surulere. But after years of struggles and perseverance to make ends meet, Fatai Rolling Dollar bounced back and became a phenomenon.

In an interview two years ago, he declared that he had 15 children. This was before he was said to have married a new wife and sired a daughter. Unconfirmed reports have it that he had a wife in Ger-

His remains being conveyed to burial site

many, a fan turned lover who went on to sire a baby for him.

King Sunny Ade described him as a gentleman, great artiste and father. He noted that indeed he was a Rolling Dollar. “He is a Rolling Dollar! I have been having great times with him but one was very special.

About a year ago, he was a special guest on our show; me and Ebenezer Obey called Oleku show”.

Governor Aregbesola of Ekiti State said, “The ace musician’s ultimate comeback is a testimony that no time is late in the life of a human being.

“Pa Fatai Rolling Dollar’s story of a meteoric rise to fame is a confirmation that success can come at any time in a man’s life.

“Rolling Dollar was a force to reckon with in high life music and he would stand tall in the nation’s music hall of fame and counted among musical genius like Cardinal Rex Lawson, Bobby Benson, Adeolu Akinsanya among others.

“The nation’s music and entertainment industry as well as his fans and Nigerians generally will miss the great musician and his exit will create a big vacuum in high life music.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Features

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Some artistes performing at the ceremony

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Ekiti: Making frantic push for rural development

Representatives of the various communities

The purpose of any government is to bring development nearer to the citizens and thereby empower them to fend for themselves.

FRANCIS SUBERU writes that many communities in Ekiti State recently received grants-in aid to enable them develop their areas.

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ccording to the 2006 national census in Nigeria, Ekiti State has a population of more than two million people residing in 16 local council areas. However, a survey by the National Population Commission, (NPC) reveals that 75 percent of the people live in rural communities.

Hence, it has been a matter of priority for any government to take cognisance of the plights of the rural dwellers to truly impact on their lives.

It was this fact that informed, the Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi to convene a meeting of chairmen and secretaries of Community Development Associations (CDA’ s) in the state on last December to assure of his resolve to develop and transform the state.

The meeting in Isan-Ekiti, was aimed at empowering local communities, to ensure development at the grassroots, and change their lives for the better. It was also to ensure that no community was left out, in the developmental process.

Following the resolutions at the stakeholders meeting and the Ministry of Rural Development and Community Empowerment, the government earmarked the sum of N300million to be distributed to 82 communities as grants -in-aid to help them complete various self help projects.

Recently, distribution of the cheques took place at the playground of St. Augustine’s Comprehensive High School, OyeEkiti.

People sang and danced as top government functionaries led by Dr. Kayode Fayemi, traditional rulers, community leaders, politicians, and residents across the 16 local government areas came to collect their cheques.

Among the people-initiated projects are the construction, completion and renovation of classroom blocks, provision of science laboratory equipment, renovation of town halls and palaces of monarchs, provision of boreholes, purchase and installation of electricity transformers and perimeter fencing of public institutions.

The grants-in- aid was also for the building of Information Communication

Technology (ICT) centres, construction of police stations, drainages, market stalls as well as health centres to align with the eight-point agenda of the administration, especially with regards the development of rural communities.

Speaking at the occasion, the governor said the cheques to the communities demonstrated the administration’s commitment to transparency and accountability in addition of the resolve to enhance bottomup, participatory governance and empowerment of people at the grassroots. ‘‘I always made the point that our government will only do development with the people and not for them. This was borne out of our belief that development is more enduring when the people take full ownership of what is done by not only suggesting what they consider most valuable to them, but also participate actively in its implementation and monitoring”, he said.

He added that unlike the previous regimes, his administration has also ensured the involvement of all stakeholders in the preparation of this year’s budget, noting that ‘‘we have adopted the zero budgeting method as is being practised all over the world”.

He said the cheques were in tandem with the needs of the communities based on what they submitted as their priority self-help projects, even as he reiterated that every community, no matter the population, benefited from the first phase of the grants-in aid. He also assured that many of the communities will have benefitted from the programme before the end of this year.

The governor revealed that as preparatory steps to ensuring the success of the initiative, the Ministry of Rural Development and Community Empowerment in May held a two-day capacity building workshop for stakeholders in the 16 local councils and executive of Ekiti State Community Development Council, on project management to ensure efficient management and sustainability of the projects.

Fayemi announced the extension of free health mission to the traditional rulers, saying that over 400,000 residents have

Ekiti State dancers

so far benefitted from the initiative. Others include, provision of basic infrastructure in every community with a view to stemming rural – urban drift among the youth. ‘‘It should interest everyone that apart from the grants-in aids programme, the government is undertaking several other rural development and community empowerment projects to the tune of N3.2billion spanning rural access roads to farm settlements in the 16 local governments”, he declared.

He told the people that government was revamping cooperative development by entering into partnership with the Bank of Agriculture(BoA) to facilitate a N300 million grant for rural agricultural projects in addition to another N300 million from the government for the same purpose.

Among the beneficiary communities were Ikere-Ekiti Development Association which received N5million for the completion of a town hall in Isao Quarters; Iroko-Ekiti Development Association got N8 million for the construction of a civic centre; Odo Oro Development Association, N5 million for the completion of a town hall and Osan-Ekiti Development Association, N4 million for community hall renovation. Iwaji Development Association (town hall construction ); Afao-Ekiti Development Association (town hall renovation); Iye-Ekiti Development Association (palace renovation); Ise-Ekiti Development Association (purchase and installation of transformer); and IlupejuEkiti Development Association (construction of police station ) received N5 million each, while Kajola Ado-Ekiti Development Association got N2 million for the completion of a block of four classrooms.

Responding on behalf of Ikere-Ekiti Development Association, Chairman, Ikere

WE HAVE ADOPTED THE ZERO BUDGETING METHOD AS IS BEING PRACTISED ALL OVER THE WORLD

Local Government, Hon. Soji Bamidele, commended the government for people-oriented programmes. ‘‘A governor who publicly gave out his telephone number shows he came to serve the people’’, he added. A representative of the Osi-Ekiti Development Association, Mr. Peter Agbelusi applauded the initiative as first of its kind, noting that it has enabled the communities to prioritise their projects and eliminated the era of long wait for money to be released for projects.

Another community leader, Chief Aragberi Ayeni from Itawure, Efon Local Government thanked the governor for the gesture.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Rural Development, Mr. Folorunso Olabode, said the grants-in aid was part of initiatives by the government to ensure even development and growth across the state, pointing out that lack of basic amenities was militating against development in many communities. He added that the programme was a further demonstration and determination to bring rapid socio-economic and political empowerment to people at the grassroots.

One of the side attractions of the event was a drama sketch by prominent members of the Association of Nigerian Theatre Practitioners (ANTP) such as Chief Jimoh Aliu, Chief Lere Paimo, Elesho and Ronke Peller among others. In the presentation, the artistes told the story of the ongoing transformation in all the communities such as roads, health, and education, industrial and rural development. They also commended the governor for his foresightedness.

Present at the event were the Deputy Governor, Prof. Modupe Adelabu; Speaker, state House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adewale Omirin; members of the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Ganiyu Owolabi; First Lady, Erelu Bisi Fayemi; National Chairman, Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN), Chief Bisi Akande; former Governor of the state, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Senators and Members of the House of Representatives from the state and their counterparts in the state House of Assembly.

WORLD RECORD

Largest donation of pet food in one week Vol. 03 No. 675

N150

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

The most pet food donated in seven days weighed 5,901.8 kg (13,011 lb 3 oz) and was collected between 1-7 September 2006 at the Pick ‘n’ Pay Supermarket in Boksburg, South Africa, before being donated to the Boksburg SPCA. The event was organised by Foto Fanatique Fuji Film.

Handling outbreak of cholera

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he recent alarm raised over the outbreak of cholera in Ogun State which had so far claimed some lives brings to the fore the attention given to the health of the majority of the people in spite of other competing issues of state. As at the last count, the outbreak had claimed about five lives that were officially accounted for.

Closely related to that was the reported cases coronavirus too in Lagos, though the existence of that deadly disease was denied by the state government, the report, which is yet to be verified, has caused some concerns also.

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he Ghana Football Association is looking for a new opponent for next month’s FIFA international free date after Iran pulled out of a planned friendly.

Iran was scheduled to play the Black Stars in Lisbon where the Persian Gulf nation had planned to hold a training camp.

But the team’s preparations have

TALKINGPOINT Seyi Fasugba

seyifasugba@yahoo.com 08053069514 (sms only)

Quite unfortunate that this is happening at a time the country should be adjudged as enjoying the best of benefits in terms of health among the comity of nations.

One thing to measure the well being of any nation among others remains the healthy access of the people to quality and affordable health facilities and assistance. The reason for this is not farfetched. A nation that can boast of healthy individuals may have surmounted a major obstacle to a profitable and reliable labour particularly among the youths.

At a time the country is faced with mounting security challenges in which many innocent souls are killed by religious zealots for a crime for which they know not, the emergence of another potent silent killer in the form of cholera raises a fresh anxiety among those who had thought at this stage of our national development, we ought to have grown beyond shortcomings of this nature in the country’s health care delivery.

Surely with the number officially reported after the outbreak of the epidemics was discovered, many more could have died of the deadly cholera before appreciable help could reach them or even before the government officials were able to provide the needed assistance for their rescue.

ISSUES OF HEALTH CHALLENGES SUCH AS WITNESSED IN THESE STATES ARE CLEAR INDICATIONS THAT ALL OTHER THINGS MAY BOTHER OUR POLITICIANS BUT CERTAINLY NOT THE HEALTH OF THE PEOPLE Based on information so far released on the development, initial cause of the disease from official sources has blamed the outbreak on the poor hygiene of the rural people in the Abeokuta South local government area of the state. This is not new given the age long neglect of the rural dwellers in the scheme of things both at the state and local government levels. If the local government councils are well funded, provision of basic health facilities to enhance the healthy lifestyles of the people could have been promoted through efficient funding of reliable sources of drinking water in order to prevent diseases related to this.

The last may have not been heard of this scourge just as the unending crises with the battle against polio eradication. Among the issues to confront had been the religious belief of the people coupled with unenlightened doctrines which had painted the vaccines as against the religious belief of the people just to score cheap points which cannot be justified in any civilized society. Not in this era of modernity should a country be harassed by the scourge of cholera but what has happened is a pointer to the fact that neglect of the welfare of the people has continued without any of those in government bothering what becomes of them.

How I wish that the cholera outbreak and the general insecurity in terms of health confronting the electorate now would be an issue of campaign in 2015 such that the representatives would be held accountable for their stewardship to the people who elected them.

Provided the people will not sell their conscience and their vote once again when the politicians will come calling to solicit for support after which their welfare will no longer matter to them in the race to secure another term.

These are basic issues that should engage the thoughts of the voters now.

A time to call to question the relevance of the constituency projects of our lawmakers both at the state and the federal.

Projects that have failed to benefit the people cannot in any way inspire them to return such non-performing representatives back to office. In spite of the denials and official explanations emanating from government quarters, issues of health challenges such as witnessed in these states are clear indications that all other things may bother our politicians but certainly not the health of the people they promised to serve.

Sport Extra

World Cup 2014: Black Stars seek tune-up for Chipolopolo been altered due to a lack of fund, as Head Coach Carlos Queiro has expressed concern.

“We intend to advance to the next round in the 2014 World Cup but it

will not happen without adequate resources,” the Portuguese gaffer said yesterday.

Queiroz, however, rubbished speculations that he is not interest-

ed in playing with the big teams.

“We have to learn from friendly games, even if it means playing against teams such as Brazil,” he added.

Ghana needs a test match next month to prepare for their crucial Brazil 2014 final World Cup qualifier against Zambia on home soil on September 6.

GFA boss, Nyantakyi

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