Binder1234567890987654321 monday, december 15, 2014

A media partner of

SATURDAY

Sanctity Of Truth

NIGERIA’S MOST AUTHORITATIVE NEWSPAPER IN POLITICS AND BUSINESS /newtelegraph

Vol. 1 No. 300

Monday, December 15, 2014

@newtelegraph1 www.newtelegraphonline.com

Special report on 100 TOP companies in NIgeria

N150

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New Telegraph is Nigeria's best investigative newspaper

...Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism lMD/Editor-in-Chief commends winner, says best yet to come

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ew Telegraph's entry in this year's edition for the best

investigative report, organised by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative

EDITORIAL }19

Journalism for Nigeria's media industry, has been adjudged the best, con-

BUSINESS }21

firming the newspaper's position as a foremost inCONTINUED ON PAGE 5

Ms Francis receiving her award the Board Chairman, Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCJ), Prof. Ropo Sekoni

Travel Advisory Guide to local and international flights }4

Get ready to quit lOshiomhole to PDP, Jonathan lBuhari is Tinubu's

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surrogate, says ruling party lHe'll pick his running mate -APC

L-R: Group Managing Director, Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Peter Amangbo; Executive Director, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu and Amangbo's wife, Chichi, during the bank's xmas parade in Lagos‌yesterday.

52 senators lose bid to return at primaries lWe've not dropped impeachment against president -Reps

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News

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

FG defies oil price slide, presents budget this week lInflation eases to 7.9% Ayodele Aminu, Godson Ikoro and Abdulwahab Isa

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espite threats the continuous fall in crude oil prices have continued to pose to the 2015 budget, the Federal Government has concluded arrangements to present the 2015 budget to the National Assembly “early this week.”

A top official of the Ministry of Finance con-

fided in New Telegraph last night that top officers of both the ministry and the Budget Office have been working round the clock to ensure the budget is ready for presentation “early this week.”

In response to the dwindling oil prices, which reached a four-year low of $63 per barrel last Friday, the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), the framework for 2015 budget had been withdrawn and re-sent to

the National Assembly with the proposed budgeted oil price fixed at $65 per barrel.

That was the second cut in one-and-a-half months, signalling that about 80 per cent of government revenue, which is derived from oil, is set to plunge further.

Given these developments, the expectation was that the Federal Government would further slash the oil benchmark.

Just this weekend,

frontline analyst, Bismarck Rewane, in his monthly bulletin, said further decline in oil prices might spur a total overhauling of the budget assumptions for 2015 because the 2015 budget benchmark oil price of $65 per barrel was above the current market oil price of $60-$64 and might suggest a downward review of the benchmark figure.

But the source said the Federal Government would not reduce the oil

benchmark and would still present the 2015 budget “early this week.”

According to the source, the decision to press along with the budget presentation is premised on the fact that the government needs money to run the economy and that both local and international experts are of the view that the prices of oil will eventually settle around $70 per barrel next year.

“You can’t be changing the benchmark now and

then, remember that it’s the 2015 and the government needs money to run the economy.

“Well, what you need to understand is that whether oil price crashes or not, the 2015 budget is going on and we are targeting early this week for presentation,” he stated The source recalled that when the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, came in about four years ago, she repeatedly tried to reduce the oil benchmark but the National Assembly resisted the move.

Besides, he noted that the minister had also been advocating the need for Nigeria to build enough buffers through the Excess Crude Account (ECA), which had up to $22 billion between 2008 and 2009 but now drawn down to $4 billion, so as to be able to withstand any oil shock.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said inflation rate has eased down in November to 7.9 per cent from 8.1 per cent it attained in October.

Disclosing this in its monthly inflation report released yesterday, it said the dip was in response to the slower rise in food prices as well as other divisions that yield the headline index According to NBS, while the majority of groups that contribute to the food index declined, price increases were observed in the vegetables and coffee, tea and cocoa groups. Similarly, meat increased at roughly the same pace relative to October.

The bureau also put the country's total imports in the third quarter of 2014 at N1, 820.3 billion.

This it said represented a decrease of N157.0 billion or 7.9 per cent over the N1, 977.2 recorded in the previous quarter.

Earlier before the NBS released its inflation figure, Rewane had predicted that it was expected to ease for the third consecutive month to 7.9 per cent.

Rewane attributed the anticipated decline in inflation to the minor decline in money supply, slight increase in agricultural and the continuous fall in global commodity prices.

He also that the hawkish stance of the CBN was not expected to change.

This, he explained in his monthly bullet, is partly due to the contractionary monetary policy of the CBN and low global commodity prices.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

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Travel Advisory

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

International Flight Schedule

Local FLIGHT SCHEDULE FIRST NATION AIRWAYS LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 06.50; 09:30; 11:45; 16:00 (SAT) 06:50; 11:45 (SUN) 11:45; 16:00 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 09:00; 11:30; 13:40;18:30 (SAT) 09:00; 13:40 (SUN) 13:40; 18:30 LAGOS-PORT-HARCOURT (MON-FRI) 14:45 (SAT) 16:15 (SUN) 14:45 PORT-HARCOURT-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 16:50 (SAT) 18:20 (SUN) 16:50 AEROCONTRACTORS LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 06:50; 13:30; 16:30; 19:45 (SAT/SUN) 12:30; 16:45 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 07:30; 13:00; 19:00 (SAT) 12:30 (SUN) 15:30 MEDVIEW AIRLINES LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 07:00; 08:50; 12:00; 15:30 (SAT) 10:00; 15:00 (SUN) 17:30; 18:30 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 09:00; 14:00, 15:00; 18:30 OVERLAND AIRWAYS LAGOS-ILORIN (MON-FRI) 07:15 LAGOS-IBADAN (MON-FRI) 7:00 IBADAN-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 08:00 IBADAN-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 16:30 ILORIN –ABUJA (MON-FRI) 08:30 ILORIN –LAGOS (MON-FRI) 17:00 ABUJA-ASABA (MON-FRI) 10:00 ASABA-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 14:15 ASABA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 11:30 LAGOS-ASABA (MON-FRI) 13:00 ABUJA-ILORIN 16:00 ABUJA-IBADAN 15:00 ARIK AIR LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 07:00; 08:00; 09:00; 11:00 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 (SAT) 07:00; 09:00; 11:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 (SUN) 11:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 07:00; 09:00; 11:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00; 20:00 (SAT) 07:00; 09:00; 11:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 (SUN) 09:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 LAGOS-PORT-HARCOURT (MON-FRI)07:00; 09:30; 11:00; 13:30; 15:00; 17:30 (SAT) 07:00; 11:00; 15:00 (SUN) 09:30; 11:00; 13:30; 15:00; 17:30 PORT-HARCOURT-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 07:30; 09:00; 11:30; 13:00; 15:30; 17:00 (SAT) 07:30; 11:30; 09:00; 13:00; 17:00 (SUN) 11:30; 13:00; 15:30; 17:00 ABUJA-PORT-HARCOURT (MON-FRI) 06:45; 10:10; 13:30; 16:50 (SAT/SUN) 06:45; 10:10; 13:30 PORT-HARCOURT-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 08:30; 11:50; 15:10; 18:30 (SAT/SUN) 08:30; 11:50; 15:10 AZMAN FLIGHT SCHEDULE WEEKLY SCHEDULE Kano-Lagos 8:00am Lagos-Abuja 10:30am Abuja-Lagos 12:40pm Lagos-Abuja/Kano 4:00pm Abuja-Kano 5:45pm Kaduna-Lagos 8:00am Lagos-Kan 10:10am Kano-Abuja/Lagos 12:40pm Abuja-Lagos 1:00pm Abuja-Lagos 2:40pm Lagos-Kaduna 5:00pm WEEKEND SCHEDULE SATURDAY Kano-Lagos 8:00am Lagos-Abuja 10:30am Abuja-Lagos 1:00pm Lagos-Kano 4:00pm Kaduna-Lagos 8:00am Lagos-Kano 4:00pm Sunday Kano-Lagos 8:00am Lagos-Kano 10:30am Kano-Abuja/Lagos 1:20pm Abuja-Lagos 2:40pm Lagos-Kaduna 5:00pm

Air France

Destination Abuja- Paris Paris-Lagos Paris-PHC PHC-Paris Paris –Abuja Lagos –Paris

Flight No. AF 513 AF 3822 AF514 AF513 AF514 AF3849

Departure 23.55hrs 10.55hrs 11:hrs 21:20hrs 11:00hrs 23:55hrs

Arrival 6:05hrs 17:15hrs 19:15hrs 6:05hrs 17:00hrs 6:20hrs

Amsterdam-Lagos Lagos-Amsterdam

KL587 KL588

13:15hrs 23:05hrs

20:00hrs 05:50hrs

Lagos-New York New York-Lagos Lagos-Abuja-Dubai Dubai-Abuja-Lagos Johannesburg-Lagos Lagos-Johannesburg Lagos-London London-Lagos

W3 107 W3 108 W3 105 W3 106 W3 738 W3 737 W3 344 W3 345

23:35hrs 12:00hrs 9:40pm 12:10pm 09:35hrs 01:00 hrs 12:45hrs 21:30hrs

05:30hrs 16:00hrs 5.40:hrs 17:10pm 14:44hrs 08:05hrs 18:30hrs 05:15hrs

London-Lagos Lagos-London Abuja-London Abuja-London

BA075 BA074 BA 082 BA 083

17:55hrs 00:00hrs 09:00hrs 22:40hrs

11:55hrs 5:50hrs 14:35hrs 06:00hrs

Lebanon-Lagos Lagos-Lebanon

MEA 571 MEA 572

3:00hrs 14:00hrs

8:00hrs 19:00hrs

KLM

ARIK AIRLINES

BRITISH AIRWAYS

Middle East Airlines (Two flights weekly (Tues & Friday) to Lagos) EMIRATES AIRLINES

Lagos-Dubai (Sun-Sat) Lagos-Dubai Dubai-Lagos Dubai-Lagos Abuja-Dubai

QATAR AIRWAYS

EK 7821 EK 7822 EK 7831 EK 7811 EK 761

21:30hrs 14:40hrs 07:35hrs 14:20hrs 23:55hrs

07:40hrs 01:05hrs 12:50hrs 19:45hrs 10:30hrs

Lagos-Doha Flight (daily) Doha-Lagos Flight

QR 1414 QR 1415

14:55hrs 07:20hrs

23:45hrs 13:35hrs

Lagos-Atlanta Atlanta-Lagos

DL053 DL 054

22:15hrs 5:15hrs

05:32hrs 16:15hrs

DELTA AIRLINES

UNITED AIRLINES

Lagos-Houston Houston-Lagos

KENYA AIRWAYS

Lagos-Nairobi Nairobi-Lagos

UA 143 UA 142 KQ 533 KQ 534

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES

Lagos to Addis Ababa Addis Ababa to Lagos Abuja to Addis Ababa Addis Ababa to Abuja Enugu to Addis Ababa Addis Ababa to Enugu Kano to Addis Ababa Addis Ababa to Kano

air maroc

Lagos-Casablanca Casablanca-Lagos

VIRGIN ATLANTIC

ET900 ET901 ET910 ET911 ET930 ET931 ET930 ET931 AT738 AT 737

10:10hrs 19:10hrs 12:30hrs 18:00hrs 13:15hrs 09:00hrs 13:40hrs 09:40hrs 12:00hrs 09:20hrs 14:05hrs 09:20hrs 06:25hrs 02:15hrs

6:05hrs 15.15hrs 19:35hrs 23:45hrs 20:25hrs 12:15hr 20:10hrs 12:20hrs 20:50hrs 11:15hrs 20:50hrs 13:20hrs 09:55hrs 6:00hrs

Lagos-London London-Lagos

VS 652 VS 651

11:00hrs 22:40hrs

17:00hrs 4:40hrs

Lagos- Abu Dhabi

EY 0672 (Sunday) (Monday) (Saturday) EY 955

20.45hrs

07:00hrs

09:50hrs 09.20 hrs 06:30hrs

20:05hrs 20:10hrs 11:45hrs

ETIHAD AIRWAYS

Abu Dhabi-Lagos

EGYPT AIR

Lagos-Cairo Cairo-Lagos

MS 876 MS 875

14:25hrs 08:30hrs

22:20hrs 13:30hrs

Ethiopian Airways international travel tips The price of a ticket includes the transportation of a certain amount of baggage in the cargo hold of the aircraft. This allowance differs depending on the booking class and the destination.

Free baggage allowance on all other international routes and within Ethiopia On Ethiopian free baggage allowance is set by the weight or piece concept whichever is applicable to the sector.

Local restrictions on baggage weight Please note that the maximum weight limit per single baggage is 32 kg for business class and 23 kg for economy class on all flights across the Atlantic (outbound and return, as well as transfers). Baggage exceeding this weight limit will not be accepted for check- in.

This regulation does not change the maximum weight limit for the free baggage allowance.

Baggage Allowance & Fees for flight to/from the USA For Ethiopian-ticketed passengers on Ethiopian-operated flights (ET) the first and second checked bag in Cloud Nine and Economy is free. For ShebaMiles Gold, ShebaMiles Silver and Star Gold passengers, the first checked bag above the complimentary (free) checked bag allowance shown above is also free of charge. (23 kg (50 lbs)/158 cm (62 inches) max. each in Economy; 32 kg (70 lbs)/158 cm (62 inches) max. each in Cloud Nine).

In Cloud Nine and Economy, including ShebaMiles Gold, ShebaMiles Silver and Star Gold passengers, the fee for any additional checked bags beyond the complementary specified above is $150/bag each way between the USA and Addis Ababa, Bujumbura, Dar es salaam, Entebbe, Djibouti, Kilimanjaro, Juba, Harare, Kigali, Khartoum, MIDDLE EAST, ASIA, and EUROPE, and for other African points that are not mentioned here the fee is USD200.00/bag each way. Please review Ethiopian Carry-On for Carryon bag size and weight information clicking the link below:

Cabin Carry-On Luggage Additional baggage fees may apply in the event of a stopover on an international itinerary.

Europe Weather Athens

50oC

Belgrade

52oC

Berlin

41oC

Bucharest

32oC

Budapest

39oC

Dnipropetrovsk

33oC

Donetsk

32oC

Dublin

43oC

Kharkiv

36oC

Kyiv

34oC

London

48oC

Madrid

45oC

Minsk

33oC

Paris

34oC

Prague

44oC

rOME

57oC

Sofia

30oC

Stockholm

37oC

Vienna

36oC

Warsaw

39oC

Partially Cloudy Clear

Mostly cloudy Dense fog Light fog

Dense fog

Mostly clear Cloudy

Cloudy Clear

Partially Cloudy Mostly cloudy Mostly cloudy Dense fog Cloudy

Mostly cloudy Dense fog Partially Cloudy Foggy

Light rain

News

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

5

Oshiomhole to PDP, Jonathan: Get ready to quit Ayodele Ojo, Cajetan Mmuta, Onyekachi Eze and Temitope Ogunbanke

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do State Governor and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, at the weekend served the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and President Goodluck Jonathan a quit notice.

According to him, the time is ripe for the party and its candidate in the 2015 presidential election to quit governance in Nigeria because the ruling party has failed the nation since its 15 years of “incompetent leadership.”

He told newsmen shortly after the 22nd convocation of the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi that it was time for the PDP to do some soul-searching on its performance in government.

However, the PDP, in its

attack on APC, criticised its presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, whom it described as a surrogate to a national leader of the party, Senator Bola Tinubu.

Giving reasons why the PDP and Jonathan should not be returned in the 2015 presidential election, the governor said Nigeria, under the ruling party, was worse off.

“They (PDP and its leaders) have not fixed power; they have not fixed education; they have not fixed the health sector; they have not fixed the roads; they have dashed the expectation of the youth and they have polluted the political atmosphere and they have weakened the foundation of our national unity, they have re-partitioned the country along religious divide, along ethnic divide.

“They have played brothers against brothers, sisters against sisters, they are buffeting us with primordial sentiments in

place of issues of development and the country is weaker today than it was before. We need people who fought to keep Nigeria together to come back and re-fix what PDP has broken and it is all about all of us today,” Oshiomhole added.

The governor urged Nigerians to vote for change in 2015 by voting APC and its candidates.

“Even PDP needs change. You can see the internal contradictions within the PDP; it is like a weak fabric, the more you patch it, the more it gets torn and after 15 years, even PDP will agree that they haven’t delivered on the promises of democracy," he stated.

He also frowned on the poor performance index of the private sector and other vital segments of the polity because of mismanagement and misdirection.

“The private sector is dead and you are not going to be able to create

jobs if you don’t revive the private sector. As you can see, even though between 1999 and now, the oil sector has performed better than it was in the previous 10 years, the economy is in a bad shape.

“Remember that during the regimes of Abacha and Abdulsalami, oil price dropped to $10, so Nigeria has never had it so good since democracy. It picked up to $140 around 2006 and even now that we are complaining, it is about $60 to $65, so relative to the past.

“It is still a good price but like they say no nation has enough to satisfy the need of greedy leaders; but if we manage what we have well, we have enough to meet the basic needs of our people. There is no question that our people are living in denial, in the midst of plenty. I am even more worried about the deliberate efforts to weaken unity in order to create all kinds of divide,” he said.

Oshiomhole further

carpeted the Federal Government’s efforts in dealing with the security challenges facing the country and wondered why the Nigerian Army that performed well in peacekeeping abroad could not defend the nation's territorial integrity being breached serially by Boko Haram.

The PDP also attacked the APC on the day Oshiomhole asked the ruling party and Jonathan to prepare to quit.

The party, faulted the reported decision by Buhari to allow Tinubu to choose his running mate for him.

The party in a statement yesterday in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, described the report as an indication that Buhari is only a front for Tinubu.

According to the ruling party, by surrendering his power and first official assignment of choosing a running mate to Tinubu showed that Buhari is not in charge, but only a sur-

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo flanked by Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio (right) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the state, Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, at the inauguration of His Eminence Mbang's Methodist Church Nigeria in Eket...at the weekend.

New Telegraph is Nigeria's best investigative newspaper vestigative medium with a robust foray in politics and business reporting.

The winning entry, a three-part expose on how the Police Special AntiRobbery Squad (SARS) kill suspected robbers extra-judicially, was written by Ms Juliana Francis, Crime Editor, who was adjudged the print Investigative Journalist of the Year, as well as the overall winner of the industry's most important investigative journalism prize.

Speaking on the award, an elated Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of New Telegraph, Mr. Eric Osagie, assured teeming

readers of the newspaper, on behalf of management and Board of Editors, that the quality of reporting that led to one of its reporters being adjudged overall winner of this year’s Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Journalism will not only be sustained, but further improved upon in the coming years.

Mr. Osagie noted that this award was won by New Telegraph less than a year after the newspaper hit the newsstands, adding that this is a testament to the high standards being adhered to by the newspaper.

"It is a testimony to re-

silience, hard work and doggedness. The best is yet to come. New Telegraph has not only come to stay, but has come to take its rightful place in the media industry, and that place is at the topmost rung," he said.

According to him, the award also reinforces the uniqueness of the newspaper’s offering which made it to successfully secure the partnership of the highly reputable New York Times, in a deal that is first of its kind in Africa.

The deal, which was activated on October 6, entails the New Telegraph publishing a 12-page insert

of the International New York Times, produced by Chief Correspondents and Editors of NYT, every Monday for the next three years.

Osagie commended the award winner for her diligence and professionalism, saying that the honour didn’t come as a surprise, given that she had always committed herself to hard work and excellence, right from The Sun Publishing Company Limited, where she cut her journalism teeth and at the Nigerian Compass and Daily Newswatch, where she also practised.

Ms Francis studied

English at the University of Ilorin, and graduated in the year 2000. She started her work career as a classroom teacher during her Youth Service in Jigawa State, and later joined The Sun Publishing Company Limited where she was a Staff Writer between year 2002 and 2008. She later moved to the Nigerian Compass where she was Deputy Editor (Crime) between 2008 and 2012.

From there, she moved to the Daily Newswatch newspaper, before joining New Telegraph in 2013 as Crime Editor.

•See winning story on page 8.

rogate “This development clearly confirms that General Buhari is not in charge, may have been compromised and willing to be appropriated. In fact, patriotic Nigerians from across the six geopolitical zones are now embarrassed that General Buhari is playing a godson to Alhaji Tinubu.

“In surrendering his prerogative of choosing his running mate, General Buhari has confirmed that he is being appropriated and compromised to serve a personal and narrow group interest of a cabal on whose ticket he emerged as the presidential candidate.

“Therefore, a vote for General Buhari in the forthcoming presidential election is clearly a vote for Tinubu, his political and economic interests," the party added.

But Buhari faulted the PDP's criticism, saying it was based on ignorance.

Director, Media, Publicity and ICT of Buhari Support Organisation, Dr, Chidia Maduekwe, said the PDP as a political party was afraid of Buhari and had resorted to calling him all sorts of names.

The PDP launched the attack on the process of picking Buhari's running mate on the same day the APC dispelled report that a running mate would be chosen for its presidential candidate.

The party said contrary to reports, Buhari would have the final say in deciding who to be his running mate.

APC is to pick Buhari’s running mate either today or tomorrow to meet the Thursday deadline set by the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC).

National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, told New Telegraph that the party would meet the deadline.

“There are two deadlines; one is the legal one, which gives us 60 days to the election. And we know we have to make up our minds quick, and it has to be within this week,” he said.

However, he said in deciding on the matter, Buhari would have the final say on who to be his running mate.

“The presidential candidate has the final say on his running mate. We will collectively decide on the choice, but the final approval is with Buhari,” he added.

The national leadership of the party is meeting in Abuja today to deliberate on the choice of the runCONTINUED ON PAGE 7

News

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

52 senators lost re-election bids at party primaries Chukwu David and Philip Nyam Abuja

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t least 52 senators will not return to the Senate after the 2015 elections, according to investigations by New Telegraph.

It was gathered that the figure could be higher as those found not to be returning comprised senators who lost at their parties' primaries to get return tickets.

Some of the senators, cutting across all parties with membership in the Senate, who had got the tickets, may also lose out in the senatorial election, to jack up the number of first-term senators who will be joining in legislative duties in the New Year.

Some of the returning senators lost their tickets to their opponents in the recent senatorial primary elections of the various political parties while others went for gubernatorial contest.

New Telegraph checks revealed that going by the official results of the senatorial elections across the 109 senatorial districts conducted by different parties, about 49 of the serving

TODAY’S WEATHER FORECAST LAGOS

32oC

26oC

Partially Cloudy

ABUJA

38oC

21oC

Mostly Sunny

PORT HARCOURT

28oC

18oC

Partially Cloudy

KANO

32oC

14oC

Sunny

ENUGU

36oC

23oC

Partially Cloudy

IBADAN

34oC

24oC

Mostly Sunny

CALABAR

33oC

23oC

Partially Cloudy

MAIDUGURI

ONITSHA

32oC 15oC Sunny

36oC

24oC

Partially Cloudy

senators would not return to the National Assembly next year.

This is aside many more that may also lose in the February 14, 2015 election. The high turnover of senators has been a recurring trend at every election year since 2003.

With the current development, the Senate is again going to witness serious depletion in the number of its experienced members, thereby reducing the forthcoming 8th Senate largely to assembly of inexperienced legislators in 2015.

From the analysis carried out by New Telegraph a few days after the party primaries, the three serving senators from Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Kebbi and others were defeated by new contenders.

However, some of them were simply schemed out of the race through serious political horse trading and manipulations engineered and supervised by powerful forces in their respective states, especially the governors.

Some of the senators affected by this political tsunami include the Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP, Cross River Central); the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Solomon Ita Enang ( PDP, Akwa Ibom North), and Bello Mohammed Tukur (PDP, Adamawa Central).

Also, in states like Abia, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Kogi and Plateau, two out of the three serving senators lost their bids to return to in 2015.

Similarly, Senators

Uche Chukwumerije (PDP, Abia North), Emmanuel Aguariavwodo (PDP, Delta Central), Igwe Paulinus Nwagu (PDP, Ebonyi Central) and Nenadi Esther Usman (PDP, Kaduna South) are among those not returning.

Furthermore, other senators caught in the web of the impending mass turnover in the Senate in 2015 are Margery Okadigbo (PDP, Anambra North), Nurudeen Abatemi Usman (PDP, Kogi Central), Boluwaji Kunlere (PDP Ondo South), Mudashiru Hussein (APC, Osun West), amongst others.

Meanwhile, out of the 52 senators who are not going to return to the legislative chamber next year, some of them did not lose election at the primaries; instead they went for governorship election of their respective states.

Those in this category are Senators Aisha Jummai Alhassan (APC, Taraba North), Simeon Ajibola (PDP Kwara South), Benedict Ayade (PDP, Cross River North), Ifeanyi Okowa (PDP Delta North), Ayogu Eze (PDP Enugu North), Gyang Pwajok (PDP Plateau North), Umaru Dahiru Tambuwal (APC

Sokoto South), Bagudu Abubakar Atiku (APC Kebbi Central), and Paulinus Igwe Nwagu, (PDP, Ebonyi Central).

Ndoma-Egba, who lost the primaries for Cross River Central, has already appealed against the outcome of the election, alleging irregularities in the exercise.

Ndoma-Egba lamented that not up to 30 out of the 109 senators elected at different times from the 4th Senate in 1999 to the current 7th Senate were reelected.

Meanwhile, as the House of Representatives

reconvenes tomorrow, APC members have intensified efforts at impeaching President Goodluck Jonathan.

The impeachment drive is being boosted by 18 aggrieved lawmakers, including those from PDP who may defect to the APC today.

One of the coordinators of the impeachment project that spoke to New Telegraph at the weekend confirmed that the idea is not "dead" as being insinuated in certain quarters.

But the impeachment CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

L-R: All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, during the latter's visit to the residence of the former vice-president in Abuja...yesterday.

Cost of governance: How FG bungled Oronsaye Report Onwuka Nzeshi ABUJA

P

olitical expediency and lack of commitment to the idea of pruning down the cost of governance have been identified as major factors responsible for Federal Government's seeming reluctance to implement the recommendations of the Oronsaye Presidential Committee Report on adjusting the structure of government in Nigeria.

A civil society group, Centre for Social Justice ( CSJ), which conducted a critical assessment of the famous report and what became of it after the Federal Government released its White Paper on it, said what the government did was anti-climax to its publicly acclaimed commitment to reducing the cost of governance.

President Goodluck Jonathan had on August

18, 2011 set up a sevenmember committee to review the structure of government bureaucracy and advice the Federal Government on ways of restructuring its agencies, parastatals and commissions to eliminate duplication of functions and wastage of public resources.

Under its terms of reference, the committee, headed by a former Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, was empowered to examine critically the mandate of existing federal agencies, parastatals and commissions to identify areas of duplication and name appropriate recommendations to either restructure, merge or scrap some of these agencies.

The committee made far-reaching recommendation which could reduce the cost of governance if properly implemented but the Federal Government subsequently reversed a

good number of these recommendations after the White Paper Drafting Committee headed by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke reviewed the report.

The Adoke Committee had what could be described as a star studded team of cabinet ministers and senior presidential aides but paradoxically, the outcome of their assignment was rather an undoing of the Oronsaye's report.

An independent report published by the CSJ on the two government reports said the White Paper "employed extraordinary caution and at the end of the day, watered down" some of the far-reaching recommendations of the Oronsaye report.

The CSJ report cited an instance where the Oronsaye report recommended the scrapping of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) and that an amend-

ment of the constitution be carried out to reflect the abolition of the agency.

The Federal Government rejected this recommendation and instead directed that the commission be strengthened to perform its constitutional functions.

According to the CSJ report, the Commission though entrenched in Section 153 of the 1999 Constitution, was not indispensable and should have been abolished as it currently adds no specific value to governance.

Similarly, the Oronsaye Report recommended that the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) currently domicicles in the Presidency be relocated to the Ministry of Trade and Investments and merged with the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) for management and utilisation of resources. However, government did not endorse

this recommendation in spite of the sound reasoning behind it.

The CSJ also disclosed that whereas the Oronsaye Report recommended that the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) be abolished; its enabling law repealed and that budgetary allocation to the Commission should cease with effect from 2013 fiscal year, the Federal Government rejected all the three recommendations.

According to the CSJ, government should have accepted this recommendation because the PCC, which was established in 1975 as an administrative ombudsman, was no longer relevant to governance.

The CSJ observed that the idea of having an administrative ombudsman that merely investigates complaints with a view to making recommendations to appropriate agencies smacked of duplication and wastage.

News

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

7

MD seeks amendment to NDIC’s Act Abdulwahab Isa Abuja

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he pending amendments being sought by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Act if granted will liberate the corporation from legal barriers hindering payment to the depositors of liquidated banks.

Managing Director of the corporation, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim gave this

assurance at the weekend in Abuja.

He lamented that directors and stakeholders of failed bank often resort to court in their attempt to frustrate the corporation from paying depositors of failed banks their statutory insured deposit.

Ibrahim, who spoke at the 25th anniversary dinner of the NDIC in Abuja, explained that a practice whereby aggrieved

shareholders and management of liquidated banks go to court to stop the corporation from exercising its mandate, was affecting the payment of insured depositors of failed banks.

His words: "There are very many amendments we are seeking to the Act from the National Assembly.

"One of them is the one that has to do with the removal of legal ob-

We've not dropped impeachment against president -Reps CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

notice may not be tabled before the House yet as the group has not got the required two-thirds.

The lawmaker said so far, 168 members of the House had appended their signatures to the impeachment notice.

"It is uncharitable for anyone to insinuate that the impeachment plot is over. We are serious and for your information, the president has committed impeachable offences.

Right now, 168 members have signed the paper.

"We told you he is incompetent and nothing has changed; there is impunity and you saw what he used the police to do here at the National Assembly. There is no going back", he added.

According to the source, the impeachment process is being boosted by the recruitment of more PDP members particularly those who lost out in the just completed party primaries.

On the planned defection by some lawmakers, the source identified the

would-be defectors to include Chairman of the House Committee on Capital Market, Hon. Herman Hembe, who abandoned the PDP and picked the APC ticket for Kwande/ Ushongu Federal Constituency of Benue State.

Also, Deputy Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Victor Ogene, of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) will declare for APC as he has already picked the party's ticket for Ogbaru Federal Constituency of Anambra State.

stacles that has to do with depositors. Aggrieved shareholders or erstwhile management tend to place many obstacles and hurdles that tend to move against our efforts to pay depositors in case of liquidation by going to court to forestall that.

"And all we are saying is that as much as they may want to exercise

whatever rights they may think they have, they should not do anything that will unnecessarily jeopardise the interests of depositors.

"So we are seeking for an amendment whereby regardless of any subsisting court issue, we should be able to go ahead and pay insured depositors who are lan-

guishing.”

Speaking at the event, which attracted financial experts and past top officers of the corporation, Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, reflected on persistent drop in global oil prices and concluded the impact was taking toll on the country's economy.

Buhari is Tinubu's surrogate, says PDP CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

ning mate.

Three serving governors – Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Babatunde Fashola (Lagos) and Adams Oshiomhole (Edo) are among those being considered, it was gathered.

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and a former Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Yemi Osibajo, are also said to be in the race.

On the reports over the choice of the running mate, Oyegun told New Telegraph: “I’m entertained by the press. I read and I laugh. It’s very entertaining; the speculations and speculative reporting.”

On the criteria to adopt on the choice of the running mate, the APC national chairman said: “Somebody who can add to the ticket, either pre or post; post in terms of being valuable in government and pre in terms of votes that his presence on the ticket will attract. Those are the two obvious criteria. The person should be able to pull votes to the party, one way or another.”

He also dispelled insinuation that the governors are insisting on producing one of them as running mate, saying: “I am totally unaware of that, of anybody insisting.”

Odigie-Oyegun denied reports that the running mate slot has been conceded to Tinubu to nominate

his choice.

“That is what the press is saying. Those are some of the things that make me laugh; it is total speculation. I don’t know where they get that from, but as far as I’m concerned, it is definitely not true. The decision will be collective.

No, the decision can never be taken by one single person,” he said.

Meanwhile, the APC has described the reports that a running as unnecessarily sensational, downright speculative and totally misleading.

APC in a statement in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the party was yet to even meet, not to talk of picking a running mate.

FEDERAL MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT PUBLIC NOTICE PUBLIC DISPLAY EXERCISE ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL MANAGEMENT PLAN (ESMP) AND ABBEREVEATED RESSETTLEMENT ACTION PLAN (ARAP) FOR THE PROPOSED NIGERIA EROSION AND WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PROJECT (NEWMAP) ON GULLY RAPID ACTION AND SLOPE STABILIZATION (GRASS) PROJECTS In accordance with the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Act No. 86 of 1992, which makes it mandatory for proponents of all new major development activities to carry out Environmental Impact Assessment on their proposed projects, the Federal Ministry of Environment hereby announces a twenty-one (21) working days Public Notice for information and comments on the draft ESMP and ARAP report submitted by the Ebonyi State NEWMAP Office.

Project Description The proposed Gully Rapid Action and Slope Stabilization (GRASS) projects are expected to provide palliatives and partial intervention to critical communities and watershed management where houses and carriageways are slumping and shearing atNguzu-Edda Community, Afikpo LGA of Ebonyi State The Display Centers are: l Headquarter, Afikpo LGA of Ebonyi State l Ebonyi State Ministry of Environment, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State l Federal Ministry of Environment, Abakaliki Field office, Ebonyi State l Environment House (Brown Building), Independence Way, CBD, Abuja-FCT; l Federal Ministry of Environment, Plot 444 AguiyiIronsi, Maitama, Abuja. l www.ea-environment.org Duration of Display Date: 3rd -31st December 2014 Time: 8:00 am – 4 .00 pm Daily ALL COMMENTS SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE HONOURABLE MINISTER, FEDERAL MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT ON OR BEFORE 2ND JANUARY 2015. FOR ENQUIRY CONTACT info@ea-environment.org SIGNED

PERMANENT SECRETARY

FOR: HONOURABLE MINISTER.

8

News

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

NATIONAL

Shettima advocates foundation for fallen editors' families

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orno State Governor, Kashim Shettima has made a strong appeal to the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, to set up an endowment fund to provide financial and other support to families of deceased editors. He announced a donation of N10m towards the takeoff of the fund.

Shettima made the appeal at the weekend in Lagos, when he had an interactive session with editors of Newspapers

l Donates N10m as seed grant and senior broadcast journalists.

The governor was in Lagos for the APC National Convention which held towards last weekend.

Shettima suggestion to the editors was based on a story he took time to narrate regarding his experience with the family of a late editor, whom he said, happened to be his friend years before he (Shettima) assumed the office of Governor in 2011.

He said: "Before I go into this interactive session, there is something that has been troubling my mind for a very long time. I don't know if this is the right moment to say my mind but I crave your indulgence to tolerate me so I pour out my mind.

“I had a friend that died years ago. He was an editor of a Newspaper in this country. We were close while I was in banking sector. He worked

with extraordinary devotion to duties. He was always passionate about work. He took his Newspaper like an only child, very protective and very competitive and promotional before he retired and died. In one of my visits to his family some years ago while I was a commissioner before I became a Governor, I was shocked to see that some of his children had dropped out of school be-

cause his widowed wife couldn't afford the private secondary schools the children were attending. She had to sacrifice the future of two of the kids for their elders. So, the younger ones had to drop out of school for the two seniors to remain in school. That friend of mine was the bread winner of his extended family. He lived in a rented house somewhere in Nigeria. His Newspaper paid his entitlements as it should, but we all know

that such couldn't have gone anywhere given what we all know about the salary structure of the Nigerian Media Industry and even the civil service generally except for some government corporate establishments. So, I became very disturbed when I learnt that my friend’s children were out of school. Funny enough, I was a Commissioner for Education.

So, we adopted the education of the children, paying the fees."

Fight against corruption is continuous , says Obasanjo ormer President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that his eight-year tenure as president was used to fight corruption in the country, saying that corruption is not a one-day affair but a continuous effort.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Radio France International (RFI), Obasanjo said the insinuation that he was critical of President Goodluck Jonathan in his autobiography was not true, saying that his writing about the president in the book are part of statements he had made in the public.

“Oh yes, we took an inspector general of police to court. We took the presi-

dent of the Senate to court.

We took my minister for secondary schools and my minister of internal affairs to court. We took a few permanent secretaries to court. And we took a few governors to court. And then of course, we recovered well over $1.25 billion from the Abacha family.

“Well what I was proud of is when I came in [as president] many people thought that I would be the last president of Nigeria, because after me, Nigeria will be no more. I was proud that I was not the last president of Nigeria because after me, there have been two presidents and there will always be presidents of Nigeria and Nigeria will continue to exist.

trudged on, like an unwary soldier, to get the story done.

She said: “Some of my police friends begged me to drop the story. They were worried about its effect and consequences from their colleagues.

“After completing the story, my editor then refused to publish it. His reasons were good. He said I should think of my life and the lives of my children.”

Despite the challenges, Francis said given the opportunity, she would conduct more daring investigations.

She said: “Media houses should begin to fund investigations of their reporters. They should also emulate other media organisations by rewarding reporters who won awards. Some reporters in some media houses are always winning awards, bringing glory to their organisations because they were adequately motivated.”

Will there be an end to extrajudicial killing?

Francis said she did not know.

But, according to her, it was a sign of failure of leadership.

“The simple reason extrajudicial killings continue is because our leaders have failed the people.

If the government overhauls the police force, by training policemen to embrace scientific investigation and bring in modern equipment, such killings will stop.

“Scientific policing/ investigation will check torture to elicit confession from suspects. It will reduce cases of innocent suspect going to jail. Many suspects confess to crime they did not commit to stop being tortured.

“This is also part of the reasons our policemen excel in other countries; those countries have most of the tools needed to carry out police work in a more convenient manner.

The police in Nigeria are supposed and expected to perform their job without equipment. Hence, they do the work whatever way they could,” she said.

Francis urged government to overhaul the police and train officers and men in scientific investigation.

“Bring in scientific equipment, honour policemen who die in the line of duty as heroes.

Wale Elegbede

F

L-R: Executive Director, Sales CIS, Middle East, Africa at Volkswagen, Dr. Jan Utermarck; Director, Strategy/new Projects Group Manufacturing overseas, Lutz Englisch; Chairman, Stallion Group, Sunil Vaswani and International Logistics, Volkswagen, Andreas Spindler, at the signing of an agreement to build Volkswagen vehicles in Nigeria in Lagos...at the weekend.

Wole Soyinka award: New Telegraph’s winning entry Juliana Francis’ entry, Extrajudicial killing: The story of SARS and robbery suspects, wins this year’s edition of Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting because it captures the agonies of hopeless, hapless and sometimes innocent suspects in police detentions, writes ABIODUN BELLO

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ravelling may mean different things to different people. But to men of the Special AntiRobbery Squad (SARS), an arm of the Nigeria Police Force, ‘to travel’ means to kill a suspect in detention.

That was the synopsis of the investigation conducted by Juliana Francis, the Crime Editor of New Telegraph newspaper, which won the ninth Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting.

The story entitled; “Extrajudicial killing: The story of SARS and robbery suspects,” won the Print

category and the overall best entry.

In the course of conducting the investigation, Francis traversed five states – Lagos, Rivers, Abia, Imo and Anambra – for a period of two years.

She said beyond what was published in the New Telegraph editions on February 24, March 3 and 10, 2014, what she discovered in several police detentions visited was horrible.

According to her story, hundreds of robbery suspects, if not thousands, who were arrested and taken to SARS, were summarily executed, without recourse to the courts.

“Most times, some are not even robbery suspects, but suspects arrested for other crimes.

Many (both the innocent and presumed guilty) die through torture; others are shot point blank because they were deemed as ‘confirmed robbers.’

“The stories differ from station to station and case to case,” she wrote.

Unfortunately, some members of the families of some of those killed in police detention still live in false hope that the dead would return home one

day.

“The family members are busy visiting prayer houses, native doctors, diviners and spiritualists without any knowledge that the subject has crossed over to the other side of the world,” she wrote.

On her reaction to the award held at Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos on Tuesday night, Francis said she was surprised when she won in the print category.

But she was stunned and overwhelmed when she was announced the overall winner in the about 200 entries. She also emerged the first female to win the overall.

Asked why she thought her entry won, in her down to earth attitude, Francis said she did not know.

She said: “I was not part of the panel of judges. But I want to believe that the story captures the agony of those who are supposed to protect us put us through. It is a story everyone and anybody can relate to.”

But despite her boldness and the ‘heaven may fall’ disposition, Francis said she was moved to tears by “the tears of a couple who was searching

for their 19-year-old-son”.

According to her, unknown to the family, the son had been killed in police detention in Lagos.

“I discovered this in the course of my investigation, but I could not tell the family. The mother, who had been going from one spiritualist to the other, still believes her son would soon return home,” she said.

But conducting the investigation posed some challenges in itself.

“I had a lot of challenges. I started the story when I was with Compass newspaper, but dropped it owing to lack of funds to pursue it.

“I picked up the story again after I joined Newswatch newspaper. Getting family members of victims was tough. They were suspicious and treated me like I was the ‘bad guy.’

Some I went to see were working in other states and wanted me to wait till weekend.

“Accommodation was also an issue. I ran out of money to return to Lagos,” Francis added.

But it did not end there.

There were threats to her life, but undaunted, she

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

News

NATIONAL

Naira devaluation: Workers seek pay rise NEW YEAR GIFT Workers' union takes proactive measure against naira devaluation Sunday Ojeme

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igerian workers will demand wage increase for in the New Year following the devaluation of the naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has said.

Its national president,

Bobboi Kaigama, said this at the end of the Congress’ National Executive Council Meeting on Saturday in Lagos.

He said the wage hike had become imperative because the current devaluation had started impacting negatively on Nigerian workers.

The fall in global oil prices had prompting apex bank to devalue the naira by 8.3 per cent or N13, from N155 per dollar to N168, for the first time in three years.

Among other measures, the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) on private sector deposits was

raised to 20 percent from 15 percent previously, while the CRR on public sector was unchanged at 75 per cent.

It also raised interest rates by 100 basis points, the first change in two years.

On sensing that the crash in oil price may not abate on time as envisaged, government had last month (November) announced some measures aimed at protecting the economy from the looming shocks.

The TUC, which also deliberated on the state of the nation and other challenges confronting

the labour movement, called on the Federal Government to moderate the continued devaluation of the national currency, especially as its impact is already telling negatively on the real sector and all other facets of the Nigerian economy.

“The issue of wage is a dynamic thing. In stabilised economies, wages are directly proportional to the inflation trend of that country.

“So, it is expected that following the devaluation of the naira and its resultant rise in inflation, salaries of workers should automatically be

increased too.

“But in this country, even after devaluation of the currency, there will not be any increase in workers’ salary and that is bad.

“The moment devaluation is put in place the prices of goods and services surge, there should be a proportional increase in the workers’ pay, ” He, therefore, said “if the issue on devaluation persist, the Congress will have no option but to enter the New Year with a demand for increase in workers’ pay,’’ Kaigama said in a communiqué.

L-R: Members of staff of Britoil Offshore Services Pte Limited, Mr. Refeezal A; Mr. Alex K; Captain Derek Latter; Ms. Jeanie L; Mr. Steven Hill; Mr. David Hill; Group Managing Director, Slok Group, Mr. Firas Abboud; Ms. Gigi Q of Britoil and Managing Director, Norfin Offshore Pte Limited, Mr. Charles Udonwa, after a business dinner in Singapore…recently.

Obanikoro eyes SDP Wale Elegbede

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xcept the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) swiftly intervenes in the crisis currently rocking its Lagos chapter, the party might suffer an implosion ahead of the 2015 election. One of its gubernatorial aspirants, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro is set to defect to the newly resuscitated Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Obanikoro contested the PDP’s gubernatorial primaries in the state but came second in the race after polling 348 votes to Jimi Agbaje’s 432 votes.

However, the erstwhile Minister of State for Defence protested the outcome of the poll, citing irregularities, discrepancy and manipulation in the number of accredited voters and the eventual number of votes in the ballot box.

According to a source within the Obanikoro camp, the former envoy

felt cheated and deceived by the whole process, especially when it was clear that he had the majority of delegates backing his aspiration. He stated further that Obanikoro’s defection is still being kept under wraps till later in the week when the party is expected to respond to his petition.

He said: “I can authoritatively inform you that the newly resuscitated Segun Osoba’s SDP is in serious talks with Sen. Obanikoro and his supporters. They want him to cross over and become the party’s governorship flag bearer in Lagos."

“Although, he hasn’t taken the offer from SDP, but I can tell you that this may eventually happen if the PDP refused to give his appeal against the primary a fair hearing because it’s so surprising how PDP in Abuja has been silent since last week the former Minister submitted his protest to cancel the election.”

Jonathan can end Boko Haram if, by Ndume Yekeen Nurudeen ABUJA

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s the nation counts down to the 2015 general elections amidst insecurity challenges and growing fears of postponement of the elections, the Senator representing Borno South Senatorial District , Senator Moham-

med Ali Ndume has said that President Goodluck Jonathan can end the Boko Haram insurgents within reasonable time if he shows more seriousness and commitment to the anti-terrorism war.

The Senator, who was charged with allegations of having links with Boko Haram in 2011, in an interview with New

Telegraph, lamented that the Federal Government has been arrogant to admit that the Boko Haram insurgency has gone out of its control.

He said the forthcoming elections could hold without skirmishes if the government was serious and sincere about its fight against the terrorist group.

9

IATA chiefs seek liberalisation for airlines Wole Shadare

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he International Air Transport Association (IATA), the clearing house for over 280 airlines across the globe, has described Africa as the next emerging growth story for aviation.

Regional Head, Member and External Relations (Africa and the Middle East), Adefunke Adeyemi, said this in Lagos at the weekend.

Adeyemi, who disclosed this in her presentation at IATA forum on “Transforming Intra-Africa Air Connectivity,” said the aviation sector contributed $80 billion to the continent’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), created 6.9 million jobs as well as ferried 69.8 million passengers.

She, however, noted that this pales into insignificance compared what interconnectivity helps Europe and the Asian aviation sector develop.

Adeyemi noted: “Connectivity is the key condition for industry’s success. Building connectivity is a must for sustainability. Building connectivity within the continent is fundamental”.

She said that connectivity in Europe among European carriers led to profit of $860 billion, while in Asia Pacific they made revenue of $515 billion; Latin America and Caribbean $153 billion, while Middle East added $116 billion to their continents’ GDP. Africa is regarded as the second most populous continent with over 1.1 billion people, but inter- connectivity remains one of the major issues, despite the liberalisation of air transport in the region.

But analysts are of the opinion that connectivity could be improved in most of Africa, particularly within the continent.

Group faults Buhari’s candidacy, CBN governor to launch N100 says he represents old order memorial banknote Wale Elegbede

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n Abuja based proJonathan group, the Forward Nigeria Team, has faulted last Thursday’s emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari (retired) as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying that the former head of state represents an old order that would take Nigeria

back than acknowledge how far the country has come.

In a statement signed yesterday on its behalf

by Bukola Ojobe, the group said Buhari, as a symbol of Nigeria’s troubled past, cannot lay claim to Nigeria’s future, adding that the General does not appreciate the enormity of the challenges in any of the critical sectors.

Abdulwahab Isa ABUJA

T

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it would, on Friday, December 19, 2014, officially issue into circulation N100 commemorative banknote unveiled recently by the President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

The apex bank, in a statement, said the cer-

emony billed for Abuja branch of the banking watchdog, will be performed by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele while its issuance across branches of bank will take place simultaneously.

The commemorative note, is embedded with features to assist the visually impaired recognise genuine notes.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

10

Metro

Nine injured as fire razes houses, shops Babatope Okeowo Akure

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t least nine people were critically injured while property worth millions of naira were destroyed in an inferno which occurred on Arakale Road in Akure, Ondo State.

The incident at the weekend, according to witnesses, started around 7.30pm at a gas outlet beside Saint Thomas’ Anglican church.

One of them said that she started smelling the odour of leaking gas about 7.20pm and heard the sound of explosion about 10 minutes later.

She said immediately she heard the sound of explosion, people started to run helter-skelter, thinking it was a bomb explosion.

The woman, who refused to give her name, said it was when people saw fire that they trooped out to help evacuate some of the wares in the shops around the scene.

However, it took a few hours before men of the Federal Fire Service attached to Akure Airport arrived to put out the fire.

An angry mob almost lynched the fire officers thinking they were from the State Fire Service who did not show

Adesina Wahab Ado-Ekiti

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espite the availability of four major water dams in Ekiti State, 51 per cent of the people (about 1.5 million) still lack access to drinkable water, while about 68.4 per cent are still involved in open defecation.

A water and sanitation expert, Mr Kole Adegbite, said this in Ado-Ekiti at the weekend during a “Vote4WASH sensitisation meeting with journalists in Ekiti State.”

Adegbite regretted that government had put the issue of water, sanitation and hygiene in the back burner.

He said lack of access to drinkable water, poor sanitation and hygiene also accounted for about 100,000 deaths among children under five years in the country annually.

up when the fire started.

Officials of the State Fire Service said they did not have fuel.

It took the combined efforts of policemen, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and men of the 323 Artillery Brigade to prevent miscreants from looting the burning shops.

Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) led by Mr Saheed Akiode, who spoke with our correspondent, said the fire was caused by gas explosion in one of the shops.

Akiode, who is NEMA’s Head of Operation for Ekiti, Ondo and Osun states, said there was no casualty.

According to him, a few people who were injured were treated and the only person who was severely burnt was taken to the hospital for medical attention.

He said: “There is gasoline reservoir here. It burst into flames and since then we have moved to bring the situation under control. Although no life was lost, about 42 shops were burnt, while some houses were partially damaged.

“No life was lost, but people who have minor and first degree burns were treated; we have just finished the

According to him, Nigeria loses about N45 billion annually owing to inadequate sanitation.

The amount, he added, was about 1.3 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The expert called on opinion and community leaders to make the elected office holders give water, sanitation and hygiene issues priority.

He said: “We have designed a form that we will give to community leaders and which politicians seeking elective offices will commit themselves in writing to giving priority attention to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) issues.

“This is because if this is

FEATURES Editor

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Wole Ogodo, said Governor Olusegun Mimiko had visited the scene alongside the Commissioner of Police, Mr Isaac Eke, to access the level of damage.

He said there was no life lost but some houses and shops were damaged.

tackled, most of the preventable diseases knocking down our people needlessly will be properly handled.”

Speaking in a similar tone, Rev Fr Ralphael Aborisade, said Nigerians should begin to ask their political leaders pertinent questions to make them accountable for their actions and inactions.

He asked journalists to play the role of taking WASH and other messages to the people.

Journalists drawn from print and electronic media, who were present, pledged to support WASH and other initiatives meant to better the lives of Nigerians, especially those in the rural areas.

Ekiti State, Gov. Ayo Fayose

NSCDC arrests two for illegal dredging M

abiodun. bello@newtelegraphonline.com

treatment of some people.

Although the crowd is much, there is security presence to curtail the crowd.”

Akiode added that they were conducting baseline investigation to know the extent of damage to property.

Also, the state Police Public

‘1.5m lack access to potable water in Ekiti’

Taiwo Jimoh

ABIODUN BELLO

Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko (left) and Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Bade Omoloja (right), during a visit to the gas explosion site, yesterday

en of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have arrested two men for illegal dredging at Okesokori-Ikereku-Idan Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The suspects, identified as Shakiru, 58 and Dauda Adeyinka, 58, were arrested by men of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit of the NSCDC. NSCDC recovered a tipper

marked: XC396AAB loaded with sand, mobile phones and shovels from them.

The state NSCDC Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Kareem Olanrewaju, said that the two men were dredging Ogun River around Okesokori-Ikereku-Idan area where there were pipelines of the Ogun State Water Corporation.

Olanrewaju explained that the dredging was not only illegal, but had already affected

the foundation of buildings in the area.

He said: “The dredging has affected the foundation of the houses. The houses have weakened due to erosion caused by the incessant dredging activities of these illegal miners.”

Olanrewaju added that the residents of the affected areas had petitioned the state NSCDC Command, complaining of illegal dredging activities affecting their houses.

Gunmen kill community head in Edo Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

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unmen at the weekend murdered a 66-year-old community head, Mr John Asemota, at Ugbowo in Benin, Edo State.

Until the incident on Saturday night, Asemota was the Odionwere (clan head) of Power-Line community at Ugbowo.

The assailants, about seven, were said to have swooped on their victim about 9:30pm at his home and shot him in the head and the back.

Narrating the incident to journalists, the son of the deceased, Mr Osemudiamen Asemota, disclosed that three of his father’s tenants were also shot.

He said his father died on the spot while the tenants were rushed to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) for treatment.

Osemudiamen alleged that his father was killed over unspecified community issue.

He added that the incident had been reported at the Ogbowo Divisional Police headquarters in Benin.

Osemudiamen said that the police came shortly after his father was shot.

He said: “It was the police that took my father’s body to the mortuary while they also rushed those shot to hospital for medical attention.”

Policemen at the Ogbowo Divisional Police headquarters confirmed the incident but could not give further details on the issue.

Metro 11

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

I was lured into robbery, says suspect Shola Adefuwa

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22-year-old suspect, Manu Hassan, whose gang used rob motorists on the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, has claimed that one of his friends deceived him to embrace robbery.

Hassan was arrested with Muhammad Umaru, 28, alias GG Dogo by team of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) led by SP Abba Kyari. The police also recovered three guns from the gang.

Hassan said Umaru introduced him to robbery.

He said: “I did not know he was a robber. Umaru informed me that he got a job for me. He said I would be working on the LagosIbadan Expressway. I went with him and Peter. When we got there, they gave me a gun, which I initially refused to touch. But they said that if I did not collect the gun, they would shoot me.”

On the fateful day the gang met its waterloo, the suspects were trying to rob a motorist, unaware that the car behind their prey was occupied by policemen.

“I did not have any choice than to surrender

my weapon. I did not know where to run to and I was arrested,” Hassan said.

Investigators explained that Hassan was a member of a five-man-gang, but only two of them were arrested.

According to the police, the suspects are part of those robbing traders at Berger and Kara Market.

Three of the robbers were said to have disappeared into the bush immediately they sighted the SARS men.

Hassan was arrested about 5:45pm on November 4.

“The gang has its base in Abattoir and Abule-Egba.

Those places are where most of the Fulani and Niger indigenes are living. The gang is part of those that had been terrorising Kara market.

“When we got to Abattoir, Umaru sighted us from afar and started running.

Hassan told us that Umaru is the team leader. We later arrested him on November 27,” a police source said.

But on his part, Umaru explained that aside from robbing on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, he also used to steal cows from Kara Market.

He said: “I usually steal

Adeolu Adeyemo Osogbo

F

The suspects

cows at night when the owners are asleep. I have a way of speaking to cows which makes it easy for me to steal them. I also go to Eruwa in Oyo State to steal.

“I have sold about 12 cows. I sold most of them to Alhaji Dan Ma at Abat-

toir, Agege. I sold six cows at the rate of 350,000 instead of 500,000.

“My last operation was when we went to rob on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. One of our gang members was arrested then. Our new member made police to arrest us.”

Cult members kill vigilante leader, dumps body in canal

The late Akasoro

Taiwo Jimoh

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uspected members of the Eiye Confraternity have stabbed to death a security guard attached to Aladelola Street Ketu, in Ikosi Isheri Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State.

After killing the 53-yearold security guard, identified as Chief Idowu Akasoro, the cult members also

dumped his body in a canal.

When his body was retrieved from the canal, his two hands were tied behind his back. He had knife inflicted stabs on his neck.

Akasoro and his subordinate, Wasiu Oyesanya, 20 were killed on Saturday.

Akasoro was the leader of all the vigilance groups in the Ikosi Isheri LCDA. The son of Akasoro, Idowu Musa, said they were still sleeping when one of his father’s ‘boys’ came to tell they that Wasiu had been killed by a cult group.

He said: “Everybody rushed out. When we were searching for Wasiu’s body, somebody came and

said my Dad had also been killed. We went with the person who brought the news to Maskara Street, while my father’s body was later found inside a canal.

“We were shocked to see that his two hands were tied behind his back before he was stabbed on the neck.”

Musa added that the matter was reported at ‘Area H’ Police Command, Ogudu. The two bodies were deposited at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).

“I’m appealing to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police to release the two bodies for us to bury because they were Mus-

lims,” Musa added.

It was also gathered that one of the cult members, identified as Drogba, was nabbed when he was about to escape from area. He was handed over to the police.

When our correspondent visited the area, about seven vehicles were parked on the road. The vehicles’ windscreen had been damaged by youths protesting the murder of the two men.

A resident, who refused to give his name, said: “We are saddened over the death of the security guards. We employed them to provide security for us when we were faced with the threat of armed robbers and cult members.

Four-year-old girl needs N4m to remove cancer Sobowale Temitope

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four-year-old girl, Blessing Chinaka, battling with cancer of the nose, urgently needs N4 million for surgery in India.

She is a primary 1 pupil of Star Foundation School, Abule-Ado, Lagos. Her parents said Blessing was born with a growth in her nose.

According to them, they have been moving from one hospital to the other.

Her mother said the doctors at the hospital where the girl was born could not determine the cause of the growth.

She said: “When we left

Luma Private Hospital, my husband and I were worried.

When she was six months’ old, we decided to take her to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for treatment. When we got there, they said she will have to undergo surgery to remove the growth.”

Mrs. Esther Chinaka added that she was so happy when she heard that her daughter could be cured, but was later surprised that two weeks after the surgery, the growth started growing again.

“When the growth started growing again, the doctor informed us that she will have

Fire guts sex workers’ building

to undergo the second surgery. We had faith and told them to go on with the second surgery which resulted in the same condition,” she said.

To add to Blessing’s predicament, her mother said she noticed that after the second surgery, the girl started emaciating and looking unhealthy, with a swollen head.

Blessing’s father, Mr Onyeka Chinaka, also said it was difficult raising money for another surgery in India: He said: “It has not been easy for my family since my daughter was born, because we have been spending a lot of money on hospital bills.

“I am a contractor work-

Blessing

ing under someone, while my wife is a full housewife.

I spent roughly N785,000 during the three month my daughter spent at LUTH.” The girl’s parents can be reached on 08093757692.

ire has razed a popular abode of sex workers known as “Angle 90” in Osogbo, Osun State capital and rendered the occupants homeless.

The fire, which occurred at the weekend, began in the early hours of the day.

The occupants, who are mostly prostitutes, rushed out of the building tying towel.

Although no life was lost, the fire destroyed a larger section of the building.

It was gathered that the fire was caused by a spark in one of the rooms as a result of high voltage.

The inferno then spread from one room to the other.

Sources said that

men of fire fighters from the Osun State Fire Service and men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) stopped the fire from spreading to other houses.

An official of the NSCDC in Olorunda Local Government, Rauf Olayiwola, said his men reacted promptly to the incident.

He said: “The incident must have been caused by an electric spark in one of the rooms which later spread to the other rooms.”

The officer in charge of training and operation in the State Fire Service, Adekunle Ibrahim, told journalists that his men arrived the scene promptly with equipment.

Tension in Ile-Oluji over delay in poly’s take-off Babatope Okeowo Akure

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here is disquiet in Ile-Oluji in IleOluji/Okeigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State over the delay in the take-off of the polytechnic approved for the town by the Federal Government.

Two persons died during a protest in February while the whole community was shut down for days when youths turned against the elite and the leadership following a rumour that the institution had been relocated by some leaders.

During the mayhem, which disrupted social and economic activities, a section of the palace of the the Jegun, Oba Suulade Adejugbe, was torched.

The monarch escaped death by a whisker as he was ferried to safety by some senior chiefs.

Consequently, the Federal Government approved the establishment of two polytechnics, one in Akwa-Ibom State and the other in Ondo State.

The government also announced the provision of N1 billion as take-off grant for each of the institutions with the commencement of academic activities

slated for the last quarter of the year.

The location of the institutions in the two states, according to the Federal Ministry of Education, was to bring the two states to the status of others in the federation, all of which have at least a federal polytechnic.

But two weeks to the end of the year, with the enthusiasm and preparations, including the provision of logistics by the community, nothing has been done on the large expanse of land already acquired for the project.

This led to the fear that the project may have either been abandoned or a change of location has been influenced by some powerful political forces in the state.

The establishment of a medical university in Ondo town

by Mimiko last week is also heightening tension as text messages are being sent to prominent indigenes by some youths threatening a repeat of the February mayhem.

When our correspondent visited the community yesterday, many of the leaders, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, expressed apprehension over the security situation.

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News

COMMUNIQUE

Union laments oil workers' plan to embark on industrial action Sunday Ojeme

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he National Executive Council (NEC) of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has condemned Federal Government's deliberate act in frustrating meetings meant to resolve oil workers' grievances in

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

NATIONAL

TUC blames government as oil workers begin strike today the past few weeks.

In a communiqué issued at the end of its meeting in Lagos on Saturday, the NEC-insession also condemned the recent devaluation of the naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), saying it was "too hasty and deliberate."

While lamenting NUPENGASSAN's decision to embark on industrial

action with effect from today, the Congress faulted the attitude and response of the concerned management and government agencies to burning national issues, oil and gas policy and institutional issues as well as cases of unfair labour practices.

According to the communiqué, the NEC noted that NUPENGASSAN made efforts to internally

resolve the grievances at the instance of the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Allison-Madueke and other intervening agencies, which the concerned managements severally frustrated.

The body called on the government to attend to all the reported issues as a matter of urgent national importance, to

avoid the backlash on the Nigerian public.

It also deliberated on the state of the nation and other challenges confronting the labour movement, and called on the Federal Government to moderate the continued devaluation of the national currency, especially as its impact is already telling negatively on the real sector and all other facets

L-R: Minister of Youth Development, Boni Haruna; co-founder, Cleanacwa, Ghana and Winner 'Young Person of the Year' Award endowed by UBA, Sangu Delle; Divisional Head, e-Banking, UBA Plc, Dr. Yinka Adedeji and co-founder of The Future Awards Africa, Adebola Williams, at the Future Awards in Lagos…recently

of the Nigerian economy.

The fall in global oil prices had prompted monetary policy makers to devalue the naira by 8.3 per cent or N13, from N155 per dollar to N168, for the first time in three years.

Among other measures, the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) on private sector deposits was raised to 20 per cent from 15 per cent previously, while the CRR on public sector was unchanged at 75 per cent.

It also raised interest rates by 100 basis points, the first change in two years.

On sensing that the crash in oil price may not abate on time as envisaged, government had last month (November) announced some measures aimed at protecting the economy from the looming shocks.

On the pump price of refined petroleum products, the Congress demanded a downward review, saying that the prices of refined petroleum products has remained unchanged despite the significant fall of crude oil prices.

It, therefore, called on the government to direct the appropriate agency to respond by adjusting the pump price of petroleum products, which will tone down the impact on the purchasing power by the devaluation of the naira.

Shema dragged to NHRC over Stallion Groups brings Volkswagen Agric ministry claims crashes of fish prices of fish con- Titus species is being back to Nigeria alleged inciting statement Millions sumers are heaving sold in the market for Tunde Oyesina ABUJA

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he Governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema has been dragged before the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, over statements ascribed to him wherein he urged his supporters to attack his political opponents and crush them as cockroaches.

Two human rights groups, "Say No Campaign" and "Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement" (YIAGA) had petitioned the Chairman of the Commission, accusing Shema of inciting hate and violence ahead of the general elections in 2015.

The petition was signed by the Convener Say No Campaign, Samson Itodo.

The petition reads in part: "We write to bring to your notice, a hate speech attributed to the Governor of Kastina State, Ibrahim

Shema, capable of inciting hate and being a possible trigger for electoral violence.

"Governor Ibrahim Shema, while addressing a crowd in what seemed like a political rally, urged his supporters to attack his political opponents and crush them like "cockroaches". We recall with a heavy hearts the unfortunate post-electoral violence of 2011 general elections which claimed innocent lives and led to the destruction of properties".

The petition further stated that "the post election violence was triggered by amongst other factors, the wide spread of hate speech. Similar calls have in the past triggered violence in other countries including the East African country, Rwanda, where the majority Hutus description of the minority Tustis as "cockroaches" helped fire a 100-day murderous campaign that saw over 800,000 Tutsis killed.

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lobal automobile manufacturer Volkswagen Group and regional conglomerate, Stallion Group, have signed an agreement to establish a vehicle assembly plant in Nigeria.

This will mark a historic return of the German car maker after more than 20 years of their departure, following the collapse of their joint venture with the Federal Government, leading the closure of their manufacturing facility in Lagos and the subsequent sale of government shares to the Stallion Group.

In line with the new Auto Policy announced by the Federal Government in October 2013, the collaboration between the Volkswagen Group and Stallion will result in local assembly of prime Volkswagen brands in Nigeria.

The Volkswagen Group, with its headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, is one of the world’s

leading automobile manufacturers and the largest carmaker in Europe.

The group operates 107 production plants in 19 European countries and a further eight countries in the Americas, Asia and Africa. The Volkswagen Group sells its vehicles in 153 countries.

Stallion Group is already the exclusive distributor for several brands of the Volkswagen Group including Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, and Porsche.

Commenting on the partnership, Stallion’s Chairman, Sunil Vaswani, said “This is a proud moment for Stallion in partnering with a world-leading global brand like Volkswagen.

He said further that “Stallion is fully committed to achieving its objectives in establishing assembly operations in Nigeria, and expanding into other aspects of the automotive industry value chain”.

a sigh of relief as fresh import quotas for fish issued by the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) recently help to reduce prices across the country.

For instance, Herring prices have come down from N7,600 to N4,000 per carton. In the case of Horse Mackerel, the price came down to N5,800 from more than N9,500 per carton. The

N6,800, down from a level of N10,200 per carton.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) figures, Nigeria currently has a shortage of 2.6 million tons of fish. While the global average of fish consumption is 18.7 kilogrammes per person, Nigerian per capita consumption of fish is only 11.2 kilogrammes.

“Youths are Africa ’s future” says UBA CEO

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he future progress of Africa, as a continent, is in the hands of its youthful population, Phillips Oduoza, Group Managing Director and CEO of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has said.

He said this during the Future Awards and summit, where hundreds of youths gathered in Lagos to celebrate youths excelling in different aspects of life.

Oduoza, represented by the Divisional, Head, e-Banking UBA Plc, Dr. Yinka Adedeji, said “Over 50 per cent of Africans are youths. As a pan-African bank with operations in 19 African countries, UBA aligns its vision to the aspirations of the continent’s youthful population by developing tailor made products that aligns with the aspirations and ambitions of the African youth.”

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

National Assembly

2015

Presidency

Ndoma-Egba, Enang, Ugbesia, Maaji, 48 senators lose return bids

Delta: Demystification of Uduaghan

Appraising Jonathan’s leadership character

14, 15

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Politics An intriguing political game is playing out in the All Progressives Congress (APC) over who emerges its vice presidential ticket, writes Felix Nwaneri and Etaghene Edirin

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he battle for the vice presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) appears to be taking the shine off the party’s convention that produced former Head of State, Major General Muhammadu Buhari as presidential candidate for the 2015 general election.

The opposition party had what most political analysts and observers have described as a model in party primaries last Thursday in Lagos, given the transparency of the exercise which in turn led to acceptance of its outcome by the five aspirants involved in the contest.

The APC’s convention was preceded by high level politicking that saw most of the party’s leaders and governors backing Buhari.

But in what seemed a precedence, the losers – former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Governors Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Rochas Okorocha (Imo), were on the podium alongside other chieftains to congratulate the winner, pledging to work for his victory in the main election.

However, hardly had the party’s leaders left the Teslim Balogun venue of the convention than another round of intrigues ensued. This time, it was over who emerges as Buhari’s running mate. Several meetings have been held since then with a number of names mentioned as possible vice presidential candidate of the party.

One of the meetings over the issue was held behind closed doors at the Lagos House, Marina.

Those who attended the meeting were Governors Chibuike Amechi (Rivers), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo) and Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), who played host. Others were

AYODELE OJO

DEPUTY Editor, POLITICS ayodele.ojo@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Oshiomhole

Amaechi

Fashola

Hot race for APC vice presidential ticket Senators Bukola Saraki and Chris Ngige, as well as former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and APC governorship candidate in Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai.

Another of such meeting was said to have been held at the instance of former Lagos State governor and a national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who is being speculated to have gotten the nod from Buhari to choose his running mate.

At the end of the various meetings, some names were pencilled down but they have been reduced to five. They are Amaechi, Oshiomhole and Fashola; as well as former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and former Attorney-General of Lagos State, Prof. Yemi Osibajo (SAN).

Arriving at these choices, the APC leaders argued that with the emergence of Buhari, who hails from the North, it is natural that the party zones its presidential ticket to the South to ensure power balancing between both divides.

The South is comprised of three geo-political zones; South-East, South-South and South-West. But taking a look at the strength of the party in the three zones, the vice presidential ticket was narrowed down to the South-West and SouthSouth. The former is unarguably the party’s stronghold, while the

We appreciate the nationwide interest that the choice of our presidential candidate and his running mate has generated...

We assure that we will not disappoint our compatriots

latter is President Goodluck Jonathan’s home-zone.

The South-East was knocked out despite APC’s control of a state in the zone (Imo). The calculation of the party’s strategists in picking the South-South ahead of the South-East is that a vice presidential candidate of the party from the oil-rich region will deplete the president’s support from his kinsmen.

While sources within the APC are sure that Buhari’s running mate will emerge from among the shortlisted five, the party’s leaders, however, are handling the issue with utmost care to avoid the banana peels that rocked the alliance between the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Congress for Progressive Change (all defunct) in the 2011presidential election.

Chieftains of the ACN had insisted then that Buhari’s running mate in that election, Pastor Tunde Bakare, must sign an undertaking that he will step down for their candidate for them to support the former head of state, but Buhari and Bakare’s refusal of the condition led to the collapse of the alliance on the eve of the election. Consequently, ACN tacitly supported President Jonathan, explaining PDP’s victory in the party’s controlled South-West states except Osun.

Religious sentiment Also, APC leaders are wary of sentiments that may be evoked

by religion over the choice of its presidential candidate. Many have insisted that any attempt by the party to opt for a Muslim/Muslim ticket will cost it victory at the poll.

Buhari is a Muslim, so the argument is that his running mate should be a Christian. The last time Nigeria had two personalities of the same faith as presidential and vice presidential candidates was in 1993, when late Chief Moshood Abiola and Babagana Kingibe contested the presidency on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP).

These factors may have informed the party’s clarification, yesterday, that the choice of its presidential running mate will be made within the context of the best democratic ideals, just like that of its presidential candidate.

National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who spoke on the issue, urged Nigerians to ignore widespread and misleading reports in the traditional and social media about the choice of the APC presidential running mate, saying the party is yet to even meet, not to talk of picking a running mate.

Noting that the choice of a vice presidential candidate is not just for the party, but for all of Nigeria. Mohammed, however, said all those who have been speculated as a running mate to Buhari are unquestionably competent to be a vice president or even president.

“We are glad with the feedback we have received from Nigerians on the transparent and rancourfree manner in which our presidential primaries was organised.

We are assuring Nigerians that the choice of our presidential running mate will also be guided by best democratic ideals.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

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Politics

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Ndoma-Egba, Enang, Ugbesia, Maaji, 48 senators lose return bids Ndoma-Egba, Ayade, Otu out in C’River The power play in Cross River has put paid to the fourth term ambition of Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba. He lost his return ticket for the Cross River Central to the chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriation, Hon. John Owan Enoh. He lost due to his problem with Governor Liyel Imoke.

In Cross River South, Senator Bassey Otu also lost out to Chief Gershom Bassey, who shelved his governorship ambition as a result of the zoning policy of the party which favours Cross River North.

Member representing Ogoja/Yala federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Dr. Rose Oko, will be replacing Senator Ben Ayade who has picked the governorship ticket.

Ekweremadu, Nnaji get tickets Two of the senators secured return tickets in Enugu State. Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, Senator Ayogu Eze, opted out of the race for the governorship seat, which he has lost. With the withdrawal of Governor Sullivan Chime from the Enugu West senatorial race, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu retained the PDP ticket.

In Enugu East, Gil Nnaji emerged as the PDP senatorial candidate.

Gemade opts for APC ticket All three senators in Benue have secured return tickets. Senate President David Mark was the consensus candidate for Benue South while former governor of the state and Senate Minority Leader, Senator George Akume, emerged as a consensus candidate for the Zone B. It took a courageous move by the former national chairman of the PDP, Senator Barnabas Gemade, to secure a return ticket. With an imminent defeat on his way from Governor Gabriel Suswam, Gemade withdrew from the PDP senatorial race and pitched tent with the APC where he was handed the Benue North-East ticket. He has only postponed the date of the battle with Suswam as the duo will confront each other on February 14, 2014 election.

Season of parallel primaries In Anambra State, Dr. Chris Ngige of the APC is the only serving senator that has definitively secured re-election ticket of his party. The former governor picked the APC ticket for Anambra Central senatorial district.

Two brothers – Senator Andy Uba and his younger brother, Chris Uba, are laying claim to the senatorial ticket for Anambra South District as they held parallel primaries of the PDP. Also, in Anambra North Senatorial District, Senator Margery Okadigbo has lost out as former Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, declared herself as the winner. Okadigbo also held parallel primaries.

Tinubu, Ashafa stay In Lagos, Senators Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central) and Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East) secured the APC return tickets. Senate Minority Whip, Senator Ganiyu Solomon (La-

With the conclusion of primaries of the two major political parties – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), no fewer than 52 senators out of 109 are not returning to the Senate in 2015. Some of the senators have lost their seats on account of their governorship pursuit, while some lost out at the primaries. AYODELE OJO looks at the senators who have either lost or retained their return tickets for the February 14, 2015 election Usman Bayero Nafada.

Dariye survives on the Plateau In Plateau State, only Senator Joshua Dariye representing the Central Zone is returning to the Senate.

Senators Victor Lar (Plateau South) and Gyang Pwajok (Plateau North) opted for the governorship position in 2015. Pwajok is now the governorship candidate of the PDP. Governor Jonah Jang is replacing Pwajok while former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Gen. Jeremiah Useni is taking over Lar’s seat.

gos West) would not be returning to the Senate having lost out in his bid to govern Lagos State. A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Solomon Adeola is replacing him.

Kaka, Obadara, Odunsi pitch tent with SDP With a roadblock in the APC, the three senators representing Ogun State dumped the APC to secure return tickets in the newly registered Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Senators Gbenga Obadara, Adegbenga Kaka and Akin Odunsi, representing Ogun Central, East and West senatorial districts respectively have picked return tickets on SDP platform.

Maccido, Gobir in In Sokoto, Senators Ahmad Muhammad Maccido (Sokoto Central – PDP) and Ibrahim Abdullahi Gobir (Sokoto East – APC) secured their party’s ticket while the third senator, Umar Dahiru Tambuwal representing Sokoto South opted for the governorship ticket which he lost to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal.

Governor Aliyu Wamakko has picked the APC ticket for the Sokoto Central to challenge Maccido.

Esuene, Enang, Etok out of equation In Akwa Ibom, all three senators would not return to the Red Chamber in 2015. On her part, Senator Helen Esuene representing Eket Senatorial District opted to contest the governorship seat, which she lost. The former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Emmanuel Udom, won the governorship ticket.

Chief Nelson Effiong has secured the PDP ticket for the Eket Senatorial seat.

Senators Ita Enang (Uyo District) was defeated by former Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Bassey Albert.

In Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, Governor Godswill Akpabio punctured the third term ambition of Senator Aloysius Etok. At the congress ground, Etok withdrew for Akpabio in the face of imminent defeat.

Ugbesia, Obende out In Edo State, Senator Domingo Obende (APC) representing Edo North and Senator Odion Ugbesia (PDP) representing Edo Central lost their return bid. Obende lost the APC ticket to Francis Alimekhena while Ugbesia, a former minister, lost to a businessman, Clifford Ordia. Ugbesia’s failure to heed the counsel of the chairman of the PDP’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, cost him his third term ambition.

Anenih had opposed his return.

Senator Ehigie Uzamere (Edo South) retains the PDP ticket.

Goje, Lidani in; Alkali out In Gombe, former governor of the state, Senator Danjuma Goje won the APC return ticket for Gombe Central while a onetime deputy governor of the state, Senator Joshua Lidani secured his return ticket for Gombe South on the platform of the PDP. In Gombe North, Senator Saidu Alkali dropped out of the race. In the face of defeat, he defected from the PDP to APC. Also in APC, he stepped down for former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon.

Ake, Abe, Sekibo fly APC, PDP flags Senators Wilson Ake, Magnus Abe and Thompson Sekibo. The three were elected senators on the platform of the PDP in 2011, but they will be contesting the 2015 election on different platforms.

Ake will contest Rivers West Senatorial District on APC platform just as Abe for the Rivers South East Senatorial District. Only Ake Sekibo is contesting on the PDP platform for the Rivers East Senatorial District.

Anyanwu, Nwagwu out in Imo In Imo, only Senator Hope Uzodinma representing Imo West (Orlu zone) won the PDP ticket. Senator Chris Anyanwu (Imo East) opted for the governorship which she lost to the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha.

Senator Matthew Nwagwu (Imo North) lost the PDP ticket to Chief Athan Achonu.

Oyo Senators retain tickets In Oyo, two senators were elected on the platform of APC while PDP produced one. As a result of cross carpeting, PDP has given two senators return ticket while Accord Party has handed over the Oyo South senatorial ticket to Senator Femi Lanlehin.

Senator Ayoade Adeseun, who defected from APC to PDP, got the ticket for Oyo Central while Senator Hosea Agboola retained PDP ticket for Oyo North.

Makarfi survives, Usman falls Two senators fell at both the APC and PDP primaries in Kaduna State.

Only the former governor of the state, Senator Ahmed Makarfi rep-

Ndoma-Egba

Ayade

Anyanwu

Ojudu

Eze

Usman

Politics

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

resenting the northern senatorial district won his PDP return ticket.

Former Minister of Finance, Senator Nenadi Usman, lost the Southern Kaduna senatorial seat to a retired Assistant Director at the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Mr. Danjuma Lar. Usman lost because of her die-hard support for Governor Muktar Yero, at a time when her people are agitating for power shift.

In APC, Senator Sani Sale was defeated by a human rights activist, Comrade Shehu Sani, for the Kaduna Central seat. Sale lost largely because he was seen as a tight fisted politician.

Chukwumerije, Nwaogu out in Abia Two senators – Uche Chikwumerije (Abia North) and Nkechi Nwaogu (Abia Central) are not returning to the Senate. While Chukwumerije lost his re-election bid to a former House of Representatives member for Arochukwu/Ohafia federal constituency, Chief Mao Ohuabunwa, Nwaogu opted for the governorship seat which she lost.

Governor Theodore Orji will be replacing him in the 2015 election.

Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South), who sacrificed his governorship ambition, secured the senatorial ticket.

Okowa picks guber ticket In Delta, only Senator James Manager is returning to the Senate. His securing the PDP ticket for the Delta South was made possible through the withdrawal of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan from the race.

In Delta Central, Senator Emmanuel Aguariavwodo lost his re-election bid to Chief Ighoyota Amori, Political Adviser to Uduaghan, while Senator Ifeanyi Okowa opted out of the Delta North senatorial race to clinch the PDP governorship ticket.

Speaker replaces Tarabu Two senators retained their seats in Jigawa State as a result of the arrangement by stakeholders in the state chapter of the PDP. Senators

Esuene

Chikwumereije

Solomon

Ugbesia

Danladi Sankara (Jigawa North West) and Abdulmummini Zareko (Jigawa North Central) picked the PDP tickets having been endorsed by the stakeholders. Senator AbdulAziz Tarabu (Jigawa North East) has been replaced by the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Adamu Ahmed.

Ex-govs return As expected, former governors Bukola Saraki (Kwara Central) and Shaba Lafiagi (Kwara North) picked their return tickets on APC platform in Kwara State. Only Senator Simon Ajibola (Kwara South) has opted out of the senatorial contest. He has emerged as the PDP governorship candidate.

Bwacha retains ticket Senator Umar Abubakar Tutare (Taraba Central) lost his return ticket to former Special Adviser on Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs in the state, Bashir Abba Marafa.

Senator Emmanuel Bwacha got the senatorial ticket for the Taraba South.

Senator Aisha Jummai Alhassan (Taraba North) secured the APC governorship ticket.

Factions knock out Kunlere in Ondo In Ondo PDP, two factions have produced senatorial candidates.

But none of the factions is returning Senator Boluwaji Kunlere for the Ondo South senatorial seat. The new PDP produced Yele Omogunwa as his replacement while Agboola Ajayi emerged as the candidate in the old PDP. Although he purchase the form, he lost to zoning in the party.

A faction of the PDP has endorsed Dr. Ayo Akinyelure (Ondo Central) with a return ticket. Senator Ajayi Boroffice picked the APC ticket for the Ondo North.

Egwu displaces incumbent In Ebonyi, two senators are not returning to the Senate in 2015. Gov-

Al-Hassan

Usman

ernor Martin Elechi failed to secure a ticket to contest for the Senate. But his predecessor, Dr. Sam Egwu, has picked the PDP ticket for Ebonyi North after he defeated Senator Chris Nwankwo.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Paulinus Igwe Nwagu, lost out as a result of his pursuit of governorship ticket which he lost. Chief Obinna Ogba replaces Nwagu for the Ebonyi Central.

Senator Sunny Ogbuorji (Ebonyi South) is the only PDP senator that picked a return ticket in Ebonyi.

Ojudu drops out For fear of the unknown, Senator Babafemi Ojudu (Ekiti Central) has dropped out of the race. Probably, the emergence of Governor Ayodele Fayose didn’t encourage him to pick a return ticket. He comes from the same senatorial district with the governor. Ambassador Gbenga Olofin has replaced him on the APC ticket.

Only Senator Olubunmi Adetumbi (Ekiti North) has secured a return ticket while the inconclusiveness of the primaries still puts Tony Adeniyi’s hope in the balance for the Ekiti South senatorial seat.

The three senators from Ekiti were elected on APC platform.

Age, health fail Maaji Senator Maina Maaji representing Borno North is not returning to the Senate on account of age and healthrelated issues. But two other senators - Ahmed Zannah (Borno Central) and Mohammed Ali Ndume (Borno South) have secured the APC tickets.

Senators opt for governorship In Bauchi, only the Deputy Majority Leader, Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) picked the PDP ticket. The two other senators – Adamu Ibrahim Gumba (Bauchi South) and Babayo Garba (Bauchi North) – lost their governorship bid. Governor Isa Yuguda replaces Garba while Hon. Farouk Mustapha is replacing Gumba.

Two out in Niger In Niger State, only Senator Zainab Abdulkadir Kure (Niger South) is returning to the Senate. She has secured the PDP ticket.

Senator Ibrahim Musa (Niger North) of the APC abandoned the senatorial seat for the governorship contest, which he lost to Abubakar Sani Bello.

The recently elected senator representing Niger East, Dr. Shem Nuhu Zagbayi, did not contest, paving the way for Governor Babangida Aliyu. Zagbayi, elected in 2014, was to complete the tenure of late Awaisu Kuta.

Ikisikpo, Lokpobiri lost out In Bayelsa, only Senator Emmanuel Paulker (Bayelsa Central) will be returning to the Senate. Senator Clever Ikisikpo (Bayelsa East) lost to Ben Murray Bruce while Foster Ogolua displaced Senator Heinekeen Lokpobiri for the Bayelsa West for the PDP ticket.

Governor Seriake Dickson worked against the return of the two senators.

Adamu, Adokwe on course In Nasarawa, only Senator Solomon Ewuga (Nasarawa North) who opted for the governorship ticket, did not secure a return ticket. He lost the PDP governorship ticket. He had defected from the APC with the hope of clinching the PDP ticket.

Former governor of the state, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, picked the APC ticket for Nasarawa West

15

having defeated General Ahmed Abokie, former General Officer Commanding (GOC) of One Division, Kaduna. Senator Suleiman Adokwe got the PDP ticket for Nasarawa South after thrashing Zakari Bala in the primaries.

Kebbi senators out In Kebbi, the three senators abandoned their return tickets for governorship seat.

Senators Isa Galaudi (Kebbi North) and Major General Muhammad Magoro (Kebbi South) contested for the gubernatorial seat on the PDP platform.

In Kebbi Central, former Governor Adamu Aliero picked the PDP ticket. This forced Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu to defect to the APC where he has been handed the governorship ticket.

Governor Saidu Dakingari has picked the Kebbi North ticket to replace Galaudi.

Kano senators return In Kano, all the three senators secured their return tickets. Former governor of the state, Senator Kabiru Gaya picked the APC ticket for Kano South while Senate Whip, Senator Bello Gwarzo, secured the Kano North ticket on PDP platform.

Senator Bashir Lado (Kano Central), who initially opted for the PDP governorship seat, was given the senatorial slot.

Adeleke snatches Mudashiru’s seat In the battle for the senatorial seat, only Senators Babajide Omoworare (Osun East) and Sola Adeyeye (Osun Central) survived in Osun State. Senator Hussein Mudashiru (Osun West) fell to former governor of the state, Senator Isiaka Adeleke.

Return tickets in Yobe, Zamfara In Yobe and Zamfara, all the six senators were given automatic tickets.

In Yobe, Senators Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Alkali Jafere and Ahmed Lawan are returning to the Senate on the APC platform.

Senator Rufa’i Ahmed Sani (Zamfara West) and Kabiru Garba Marafa (Zamfara Central) picked the APC tickets while Senator Sahabi Ya’u picked the PDP ticket for Zamfara North.

Adeyemi survives in Kogi In Kogi, only Senator Smart Adeyemi (Kogi West) got a PDP return ticket. Senator Attai Ali (Kogi East) and Nurudeen Usman Abatemi (Kogi Central) lost their return bids.

In Kogi East, Ali lost to Air Marshal Isaac Alfa while Abatemi’s return bid was punctured by Ahmed Ogembe.

Power play in Adamawa The power play in Adamawa State chapter of the PDP cost Senators Ahmed Barata and Bello Tukur their return tickets. Senator Bindawa Jibrilla secured the APC ticket.

Senator Jonathan Zwingina is the candidate for Adamawa South while a former Minister of State for Health, Dr. Aliyu Idi Hong, won the Adamawa Central ticket at National Assembly primaries held in Abuja as directed by the national secretariat of the PDP. Ibrahim, Sirika in In Katsina, only Senators Abu Ibrahim (Katsina South) and Hadi Sirika (Katsina North) are returning to the Senate. Senator Abubakar Sadiq Yar’Adua (Katsina Central) opted for the governorship seat, which he lost.

16 Politics

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Amaechi, Oshiomhole, Fashola in race to be Buhari’s running mate C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 3

An erudite scholar and motivational speaker, Osibajo is a pastor at the popular Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), which qualifies him nicely for the vice presidential ticket as a Christian, aside being a very brilliant legal practitioner whose expertise has been called to play in many legal battles where he made good showings of himself.

It is speculated that Osibajo’s name is being suggested by Tinubu as a replacement for him, since the Muslim/Muslim ticket may be a hard sell to Nigerians.

The snag, or opposition an Osibajo candidature as vice president might face, will come from the camp of the APC governors, who are reported to be more favourably inclined to having one of their own as the vice president. Another minus is that he is a technocrat, as against being a thorough-bred politician.

“We appreciate the nationwide interest that the choice of our presidential candidate and his running mate has generated. It is a mark of the confidence that Nigerians repose in us. We assure that we will not disappoint our compatriots who have seen our party as the agent of the change they so much crave,” he said.

Amaechi: Depleting Jonathan’s support base Born on May 27 1965, Amaechi is the current Governor of Rivers State. He has been in office since 2007 and would be bowing out on May 29 next year. He was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but defected to the APC in November last year.

A holder a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Studies and Literature from the University of Port Harcourt in 1987, Amaechi cut his early teeth in politics as secretary of the now defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State. Between 1992 and 1994, he was Special Assistant to the then Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili.

In 1999, he contested and won a seat to become a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly. He was subsequently elected as the Speaker of the House and held the position for eight years. He is a former chairman of Nigeria’s Conference of Speakers of State Assemblies, and the current chairman of a faction of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

The Rivers governor is among top contenders for the APC vice presidential ticket for several reasons. He is popular in the South-South, and is expected to swing his state’s over two million votes to the opposition party. He also has financial resources to support the party presidential campaign. He is outspoken, and will no doubt give President Jonathan a good run in the zone.

Those rooting for Amaechi say his candidature will deplete the president’s votes in his South-South stronghold. He is fearless and will take the APC campaign to the doorsteps of most of his kinsmen, who believe that President Jonathan deserves the support of all in the zone. In terms of religious balancing, he is also favoured, being a Christian.

Oshiomhole: A fearless fighter Edo State governor, Comrade Oshiomhole, is one man who has come a long way in life. A former labour leader, he stormed the political space, when he won the governorship seat of his state in 2007.

His re-election was a landslide victory.

Born on April 4, 1952 at Iyanmoh, near Auchi in Edo State, Oshiomhole was born a Muslim but was led to Christianity by his late wife, Clara. He is Catholic and his Christian name is Eric. After his secondary education, he secured a job with the Arewa Textiles Company, where he was elected union secretary.

He became a full-time trade union organiser in 1975. He then studied at Ruskin College, Oxford, United Kingdom, where he majored in Economics and Industrial Relations. He also attended the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru.

Oshiomhole is being tipped because of his popularity and acceptability across the country. He is also pro-people, and also from the South-South like President Jonathan. Early in the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, he

Buhari

Oshibajo

negotiated a 25 per cent wage increase for public sector workers.

Fearless and outspoken, he has already advised the president to look elsewhere for votes in 2015, as Edo people would not be influenced by ethnic sentiments.

The former Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president is equally a dogged fighter, so the opposition party’s bid to upstage the ruling party would not be a new battle to him. The country’s past military leaders will attest to his struggles against anti-people policies, especially strikes and demonstrations against increases in the prices of petroleum products.

He has also to his credit, a rich pedigree of performance given what he has achieved in his state within the last six years.

Fashola: Fit for the job but…

Governor Fashola (SAN) of Lagos State is considered by many political watchers as a very good choice for the post of vice president, given his performance as helmsman of Lagos. But he would be struck off the list by virtue of his religious leaning as a Muslim. It is the same thing that made many rule out the choice of his predecessor, Tinubu, when his name was initially peddled as a running mate to Buhari.

The 51-year-old politician studied Law at the University of Benin, graduating

Fayemi

in 1987. He was called to the Nigerian Bar as a solicitor and advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1988. He cut his legal teeth in the law firm of Sofunde, Osakwe, Ogundipe and Belgore, as a litigator over such wide-ranging areas of specialization. He was the Chief of Staff to Tinubu, while he was governor.

Given the level of political awareness, and the importance Nigerians attach to religion as a major consideration in the choice of candidates to vote for during elections, it is obvious the political scene in the country may not be ripe for a Muslim/Muslim ticket for the presidency. This becomes more obvious with the call by sections of people in certain states like Lagos, where there have been agitations for governors of particular religion.

Although many point to the success of the Abiola/Kingibe partnership in the 1993 under the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as a prove that Nigerians had overcome the religious sentiment in the choice of who gets their votes, proponents of this argument are of the view that Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for the Abiola/Kingibe ticket back then because they wanted the military out of governance, and cared less what religion the candidates belonged to.

One factor that may work in the favour of Fashola is the fact that Lagos State, his primary constituency boasts of the highest number of registered voters in the country. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has put the current total number of registered voters in Lagos at 5.4 million. A Fashola candidature could guarantee a great percentage of these votes, plus more from the South-West zone.

But opponents are of the view that Fashola, who of recent has been very critical of the Jonathan administration, may not necessarily command the SouthWest votes. They insist that any vote for the APC would be on the strength of the party, and not for the individual.

Osibajo: Tinubu’s protege Yemi Osibajo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) is a professor of Public Law, and former Solicitor General and Attorney-General of Lagos State under the administration of Tinubu, a position he held for eight years. He obtained a Bachelor of Law from the University of Lagos, and a Master of Law from the London School of Economics.

Fayemi: May be a joker Former Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, is also considered by many as a very good choice as far as the vice presidential ticket of the APC is concerned.

Born February 1965, he is expected to add value to an APC presidency as he is reputed to possess a brilliant mind.

He is well exposed, and a Christian, which is a plus for him. The governors may also give him their support being one of theirs.

Fayemi has degrees in History, Politics and International Relations from the University of Lagos and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in Nigeria and his doctorate in War Studies from the prestigious King’s College, University of London, England, specialising in civil-military relations.

He is a former Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development, a research and training institution dedicated to the study and promotion of democratic development, peace-building and human security in Africa. He has worked as a lecturer, journalist, researcher and strategy development adviser in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

As a prominent member of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) he was responsible for the founding and management of the military opposition radios – Radio Freedom, Radio Democracy International and Radio Kudirat and played a central role in the opposition’s diplomatic engagements in exile.

Fayemi contested the Ekiti State governorship in the 2007 elections on the platform of the Action Congress (AC).

But Olusegun Oni of the PDP was declared winner. He became governor on the strength of a ruling of an Appeal Court sitting in Kwara State which declared him the duly elected governor of Ekiti State, marking the end of Oni’s administration as the then governor of the state Fayemi, however, lost his re-election bid to another former governor, Ayodele Fayose. This loss may not count in his favour, as he will be taunted as not being able to garner the much-needed votes from his part of the country, let alone other parts.

He was the chairman of the APC Convention Planning Committee, which has increased his profile. But his relationship with Tinubu, which became strained in the build up to the June 21, 2014 Ekiti State governorship election, may also count against him.

Politics 17

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

Uduaghan

Okowa

Obuh

Delta: Demystification of Uduaghan Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has lost out in Delta politics. He became the major casualty in the recent governorship and senatorial primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where he failed to produce a successor and also lost in his senatorial bid.

DOMINIC ADEWOLE reports

T

he political calculations of Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, hit the rocks shortly after he double-clicked on Tony Obuh, who is from Delta North Senatorial District and Chief David Edevbie, from Delta Central, as his choice for the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The governor’s last minute withdrawal of support for Obuh, a leading aspirant among 22 others, was not only a shocker that created an upset, but it triggered negative reactions from major stakeholders in the politics of the state.

As much as people of the state and the numerous aspirants in the race to succeed the governor were taken aback by the governor’s actions, Udaughan became a major casualty.

The governor, who was initially basking in the euphoria of his victory over other aspirants in the race, including the winner of the governorship primary election, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, having mustered support for Obuh, New Telegraph gathered, was perplexed when results started trickling in that both the man he dumped (Obuh) and his new found love (Edevbie) will lose out to Okowa.

Okowa, popularly referred to as Ekwueme of Delta North politics,

hails from Ika North-East Local Government Area of the state, and against all odds, pulled 406 votes, to beat his closest rival, Edevbie, who scored 299 and Obuh who got only five votes.

Prior to the contest, Okowa had been labelled the greatest loser across the state, especially if he failed to secure the ticket. First, he lost his chance of having a shot at the governorship position in 2007 when he stepped down for Governor Uduaghan, and would have lost the chance to return to the Senate if he had lost out at the governorship primaries.

His opponents across political divides in the state were already making mockery of him, describing him as “a greedy and unpredictable man”, wondering why he was not contented with the Senate seat.

Secondly, he had only spent one term in the Senate, hence he had a good chance of returning like his predecessor, Senator Patrick Osakwe from Ndokwa West Local Government Area, who spent 12 years. By picking the governorship form, he had automatically lost the Senate seat.

Moreover, those he disappointed in 2007 when he unilaterally made a U-turn in the race would have made him their laughing stock. But, he soon created an upset by defeating the governor’s last minute candidate, Edevbie.

Immediately the governor’s plot backfired, he became the greatest loser. First, he lost his bid to clinch the party’s ticket to contest the senatorial seat for Delta South to the incumbent, James Manager, having bowed to pressure by stepping down because the militant axis of Ijaw ethnic nationality were threatening fire and brimstone should their son, Senator Manager, fail to get the party’s return ticket.

The governor again could not produce his successor. The man he tipped to succeed him was schemed out. “He chased two rats at a go and killed none,” one of the delegates told New Telegraph, maintaining that “he would have been the winner if he had stayed

by Obuh. But his politics failed him barely 48 hours to the exercise after meeting with members of

the Urhobo Political Union (UPU) that foisted Edevbie on him.”

He actually withdrew his support for Obuh, who he earlier asked to resign his appointment as the Permanent Secretary (PS), Government House, Asaba, having put up 32 years in the service of the state. A source told New Telegraph that immediately the governor succumbed to the UPU demand, his deputy, Prof. Amos Utuama (SAN), a staunch member of the union and Obuh’s fellow contender, keyed into the new arrangement by stepping down from the race to enable Edevbie get the desired support. But the support was ineffective because many of the delegates had vowed to give their votes to a candidate from Delta North.

Although, there were speculations shortly after Okowa emerged that Uduaghan had it in mind from the onset to deliver an Urhobo man as his successor, but played up Obuh to dissuade stakeholders in the race. It could not be ascertained whether he actually supported Okowa as was also speculated in some quarters.

The intrigues as well as the shocker that accompanied the exercise brought to mind the words of Hon. Doris Uboh, a Delta North Senatorial aspirant, who represented Ika Federal Constituency of the state between 2007 and 2011.

She said: “You should know that our people are becoming politically conscious of their environment especially in terms of politics. The terrain I found myself in 2006, for example, is no longer the same today. I noticed this since I swung into consultation about six week ago in pursuit of my senatorial ambition. What am I saying?

“Our people have become critically aware and politically conscious of where they are going, what they want and how they want it done. They now know that their votes must count and should not be counted for those who did not win but who they cast it for.

They now know that their representatives must deliver on their electoral promises and account for every koko they receive in the

…The governor again could not produce his successor.

The man he tipped to succeed him was schemed out

name of their constituency. They now know that a representative that fails to deliver should be voted out. I am happy for the new development.”

Interestingly, Governor Uduaghan, who has since taken solace in the words of Winston Churchill who postulated that “success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm,” has accepted defeat and congratulated Okowa.

The governor in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Sunny Ogefere, described the victory of Okowa over Obuh and Edebvie as “well deserving,” charging Okowa to demonstrate the spirit of sportsmanship by quickly extending a hand of fellowship to other contestants.

He also called on the other aspirants to note that the exercise was a family contest where there was “no winner no loser”, urging them to join hands with Okowa in positioning the party for victory at the general election.

He said: “Let all faithful members of our great party be reminded that now that a candidate has emerged, it is incumbent on us all to close ranks and work assiduously towards ensuring victory for the PDP in the general election,” even as he hailed the peaceful disposition displayed by all aspirants before, during and after the primaries.

With a loss of senatorial ticket and failure to produce a successor, Uduaghan’s political future now hangs in the balance. His era in Delta politics will come to an end on May 29, 2015. His involvement in governance now depends on Abuja. If his party retains the presidency in 2015, he may be considered for federal appointment either as a minister or board appointment. He may also get ambassadorial posting.

Unlike his cousin and predecessor, James Ibori, who produced his successor and those in elective and appointive positions, Uduaghan could not muster such strength.

Literarily, he has been demystified in the politics of Delta State.

Appraising Jonathan’s leadership character –page 20

18

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Opinion Politicians, voodoo and power “Man supposes that he directs his life and governs his actions, when his existence is irretrievably under the control of destiny” GOETHE (1749-1832)

Bobson Gbinije

T

he ruthless apotheosization of money, wealth, success, fame, greatness and power etc has stimulated the cacoethes and passion for multidimensional strategies for achieving them.

The deification of money and power has ascended the dangerous crescendo where human spare parts, diabolical rivalry, spiritual poisoning, family feud, voodooistic proclivities and cultic magic have become the major ritualistic paraphernalia and in their wake leaving many people mad, dead, poor, deformed and some as mobile corpses.

The voodooistic ritualist and ritualism have continued to maintain a banal presence in the Nigerian Society.

Within the context of usage, a ritualist is anybody who performs the rites, mystery, ceremony and liturgy of life, using demonic mediums like sexual defilement of women lunatics, child virgins, human spare parts, incestuous orgies and adulterous escapades.

But the concern of this writer in this submission is the rampageous prevalence of sexual assault on women lunatics in Nigeria. The ritualists say making love with or having carnal knowledge of women lunatics remains the most potent antidote to most problems. What a shame!

We know why most ritualists and their patronizers are never tried in Nigeria. It is because they are the partners in crime with those at the helm of affairs, politicians and the rich.

On the 5th November 2014, this writer was driving from Warri Club at about 10:15pm when four men alighted from a Prado Jeep and a Mercedes Benz 230 V-Boot. They pounced on a popular woman lunatic that used to loiter around Enerhen junction and took her into Igbudu Primary School and sexually abused her. I slowed down to

observe part of this show of shame.

On the 19th of February 2014 this writer was also driving into Warri from Sapele at about 10:30pm when three men accosted a woman lunatic at the Effurun/Warri Roundabout and took her into the Naval open field and made love to her in turns. I drove to Ekpan junction and told the police what was going on, they simply laughed and said, “Mind your business”. I have seen this same scenario being played out in Port Harcourt, Lagos, Jos, Abuja and Benin City. What a shame!

Some of our societal and traditional values are so disparagingly skewed against our women that when things happen to them they are sheepishly waved away. Why will a so-called normal human descend to the desperately depredatory level of making love to a woman lunatic? It is also an unquestionable truism that beliefs, practices and customs in Nigeria are fundamentally redolent in religious archetypal and paradigms. The prevalence of gender prejudices allows for female genital mutilations (FGM), sexual harassments, rape, inheritance taboos and widow torture against our women.

The woman is seen as an infrading and bovine dunderheaded noodle notwithstanding her education and status in society. Hence ritualists have also come to see the woman as the most active ingredient in their pot-pourri of demonic concoction. It is also a basic fact that some women are part of this luciferous syndicate that are out to completely and eternally debase womanhood by their shameless involvement in women, child and girls trafficking and human rituals. If green leaves should burn, what will dry leaves do?

We call on the National Assembly to enact a law that will checkmate the impurity of ritualists in our society.

We call on state Commissioners of Women Affairs to immediately fine-tune logistics and orchestrate actions that will forestall the loitering of women lunatics on our streets, because it exposes them to ritualists and sexual harassments. We call on the families of women lunatics to show some remorse by attending to their

own by taking them to Lunatic Psychiatric Centers or Mental Homes and we beseech all Nigerians,that we all belong to a common humanity and hence must learn to be our brother’s keepers. When one lunatic patient is maltreated it is our responsibility to rise to salvage him or her.

We sometimes come across pregnant lunatics undergoing the trauma of childbirth and members of the society walk past and go about their business without any qualms of conscience. Sometimes we also see mad women carrying their own babies on the streets. This, no doubt, exposes the baby and the mother to ritualists and other miscreants. We call on the local Government Authorities, State Governments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and other statutory bodies to please rise to save our women lunatics and their children.

As the 2015 elections approaches, politicians and their ilk are preparing to acquire power by all means. They are much more prone to getting to their hierarchical echelon by voodooistic acrobatics and diabolical manipulations.

Politicians are adviced in their own political and spiritual interest to steer clear of humans and blood shedding. The essayist John Webster (1580-1625) said in his book ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ that “Heaven-gates are not so highly arch’d as princes palaces,. They that enter there must go upon their knees”.

Finally, our world is drifting towards the taratoid epicenter of horrific promiscuity and awesome materialism, where money, fame and power have become our God. We now pharisaically and hypocritically call the name of the true “GOD ALMIGHTY” in deceit. Hence, William Somerville said “Let all the learned say what they can, it is ready money that makes the man”. But money and power are transient. Let us seek integrity, instead of voodooistic ascension to power, wealth and fame. Politicians must fear God, before, during and after the 2015 elections for Nigeria to move forward.

• Gbinije, wrote in from Warri (08023250378)

AMAC and the race for ALGON Presidency Abdul Opeyemi

T

he presidential election of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, is around the corner and all hands are on deck to ensure that Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, for once in the history of the Association clinches the presidency. Already three candidates from Adamawa, Kogi and FCT are in the race, but findings show that the AMAC candidate, who incidentally is also the FCT ALGON chairman, has an edge over and above the others.

The three are imminently qualified for this exalted position but only one must have it and if feelers on the scene are anything to go by, AMAC stands shoulders high above the others. Talks are on going to have the Adamawa candidate allow for once the AMAC candidate to have it this time. It is the first time that AMAC is indicating interest in this exalted position and hopefully when the elections come to play out AMAC and nay Abuja will have reason to smile.

What is upper most on the burners for now is the issue of autonomy for the 774 councils in the country. The National Assembly has given its nod for freedom to the councils but many governors are already expressing the fears that it would amount to going back to slavery, where the councils would go back begging for funds to pay salaries.

But many believe that this freedom should not be traded for anything as it will put an end to joint accounts, where governors dictate what is meant for

councils and also dictate what projects to be executed in the various councils across the country.

And AMAC chairman, Micah Jiba, has insisted that local government autonomy is the best for the system and invariably many councils are against having the governors supervising the councils purses but that the councils need a breather to allow them execute projects that are beneficial to the masses whom they have direct contact with and know their problems and challenges.

They also believe that as the last and closest tier of government, the councils know the pains and needs of the masses and are in a better position to address them than allowing the states to dictate the pace of development in the councils.

What is on the burner for now is that governors decide which projects the councils are to embark upon. But council chairmen said they know better than the governors and are closer to the rural people than those at the state level.

Also many are of the view that the needs of the people at the area councils can never be met by those at the state level but those closest to them, who incidentally are the local government people.

Everyone is prayerfully expecting the state assemblies to give consent to this local government autonomy, which hopefully will change the tide of developments at the grassroots level.

But then who is Micah Jiba, he is the chairman of AMAC and incidentally the chairman of the FCT ALGON. He is in his second term in office and has done

so much for the council that many are expecting him to have an easy sail at the ALGON polls.

There is no way one can effectively talk about challenges facing development in Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, that could be discussed in isolation from other local government areas in the country, but the manner of approaching these challenges has put the administration of the Micah Jiba, the unassuming chairman of AMAC, on a different pedestal.

Since his administration started in May, 2010, Jiba has displayed an uncommon passion to execute projects that touch on the lives of rural dwellers within the Area council.

Out of the six area councils that makeup the FCT, AMAC is the largest. Largest indeed in every material possible as in its revenue drive, it gathers more than other sister area councils. Indeed, it is the host area council that houses the seat of power of not only the Federal Capital Territory Administration but the nation, where President Goodluck Jonathan directs affairs.

In spite of the fact that it is just a local government area, its population can conveniently rub shoulders with some states. It is arguably the most visited local government in the country, as thousands of people troop into AMAC daily for one thing or the other; mostly though to come and settle down in the city, thereby stretching the provision of social amenities in the urbane area council. Surprisingly, this does not in any way tally with its revenue from the

federation account, which in some states is not up to a quarter of some governor’s security votes.

In terms of development index, the council is believed to rank above other local government councils in the country.

One of the major challenges in AMAC is the issue of financial limitations, which is hindering the dream to transform Abuja into becoming one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

This has however driven Jiba into undertaking tours of prominent cities in South Africa, Malaysia and Kenya, where he was able to understudy what it takes to run a big city.

“My honest prayer is that AMAC will be like any of these city councils or even much better,” Jiba said after the tour.

In the area of development and project execution, Jiba told the people on assumption of office that having received their mandate, there would be no excuse for non-performance saying: “I have assured the people that I will never be a political speculator or a ‘JJC’ in office.

My two-point agenda is education and empowerment.”

During an assessment tour, a lot of on-going and completed projects were seen dotting the various communities in AMAC. Education has received a big boost as the Chairman reeled out long list of interventions in the sector. For example, he said the council has been able to establish over 10 new primary schools, paid scholarships to over 800 students valued at over N27 million.

• Opeyemi, a public affair analyst,writes from Abuja.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

19

EDITORIAL

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Nigeria’s most authoritative newspaper in politics and business

No love lost over state finances

he federal and state governments are on a collision course over the former’s directive asking banks to always get approval from the Federal Ministry of Finance before granting loans to any state government. The directive is already making it difficult for states to get loans from banks for developmental purposes. The order was part of the Federal Government’s moves to check the abuse of the money market by some state governments.

The Chairman, Finance Commissioners’ Forum of the Federation Account Allocation Committee, Mr. Timothy Odaah, who is also the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Finance, argued that being an arm of government, it was wrong for the Federal Government to ask one of its agencies to approve state loans from the money market.

He said while it was acceptable for the Federal Government to approve external borrowings by states in order to check the national debt profile, it was wrong for such approval to be sought for money market loans. Odaah said, “The issue was presented before us at FAAC by the Lagos State (commissioner) and he was able to show us the letter from the DMO to that effect. But all the commissioners at FAAC condemned the directive from the finance ministry

asking for their approval before any state can borrow money from commercial banks. We condemned it in strong terms because whatever reason the Federal Government has for doing that is not acceptable to us”.

This has brought to the fore once again the fact that most states in the country are not economically viable, may were created for purely political reasons and to settle different interests. Only a few states can stand on their own financially without waiting for the monthly subvention from the federal government.

Although the point must be made that in Nigeria, we are practicing a lopsided and dysfunctional federal system of government. The funds that are shared by federal government amongst the three tiers of government ought to be retained by the state and it would then make contributions to the centre, not the other way round.

Furthermore, some of the avenues through which states can generate revenue are on the exclusive legislative list, a very good example of this is solid mineral development, hence, the states have to look at creative and imaginative ways of raising funds to cater for divergent developmental needs. And, one of such ways is to take loans from banks to finance projects, thereby bringing the dividends of democracy to the doorsteps of the people.

Nigeria is a federation, comprising 36 federating state economies plus the federal capital territory.

With an average population of 4.5 million per state, it is evident that on the basis of population, each state in Nigeria is bigger than almost half of African countries.

The national economy is largely the aggregation of the state economies. In terms of expenditure, the states and local governments constitute almost 50 per cent of the consolidated government spending but depend on oil rents from the Federation Account for about 90 per cent of their revenues. In terms of structure, the state economies are not significantly different from 1985, largely primary commodity based, with government at all levels tied to the apron strings of the highly volatile and exhaustible oil revenue.

It is important to note that, it would not have been out of place for the state governments to get clearance from the Federal Ministry of Finance before taking loans from the bank, but under genuine federal structure it would be most inappropriate, as there would be in-built mechanisms to check the excesses of the states, and also, the states would give account of their stewardship from time to time.

It is equally germane to observe that, the federal government has demonstrated prudency in its dealings, it is wasteful and also guilty of the same thing it is accusing the

state governments of. However, in order to resolve the logjam, it will be necessary for the state government to approach the law court for judicial interpretation of relevant sections of the constitution on the subject matter.

But going forward, there should be a national summit on how states can raise funds without waiting for the monthly “handouts” from the federal government. It is either the states are merged geo-politically into a strong and viable economic unit or the country reverts to regionalism.

On the other hand, there must be concerted efforts to urgently diversify the economic base of the national economy, to this end, the states must be able to play pivotal role in the management and restructuring of the economy.

In the past regions were variously productive and rich, with: palm oil and palm kernel in the East; natural rubber in the Midwest; cocoa in the West; groundnut and beanie seed in the North; and crude oil in the South. With the exception of crude oil, all the other primary products have been neglected and abandoned to extinction.

It is critical that all grey areas between the state and federal governments are ironed out swiftly, and states made more sustainable economically, with the ultimate aim of catering for the overall needs of the populace.

Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief n Eric Osagie Deputy Managing Directors n Gabriel Akinadewo

Felix Oguejiofor Abugu

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Editor, Daily n Yemi Ajayi

Editor, Saturday n Laurence Ani

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Head, Admin. n Robinson Ezeh

20

Politics

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Hamisu Abubakar

I

n assessing a political leader, the primary qualities to consider include the theoretical ideals of vision, commitment and political will. Then, of course, we take stock of the leader’s capacity to deliver in terms of concrete achievements. A leader is adjudged to be a success, if his contributions are visibly evident, but a failure if there are little or no achievements to show for the period he was in office. Rarely, do we take into consideration the impossible state of affairs – that is, an imagination of

Appraising Jonathan’s leadership character the extent to which things would have been worse without the services of the leader.

It follows, therefore, that a meaningful assessment of any leader must always take into consideration the special circumstances into which fate has thrust him and how much efforts and energy he has invested to make a change. This is where history will be kind to President Goodluck Jonathan.

When Jonathan assumed office after the 2011 general election, he inherited acute develop-

ment challenges. More than ever, the country was politically polarised along ethnic and religious lines; the results of the elections were greeted with violent protests in some Northern states, followed by the Boko Haram insurgency particularly in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states; the decay in infrastructure was at its peak; power generation hovered around 20003000 megawatts; most roads across the country were impassable; petrol queues in the filling stations were commonplace;

unemployment was at its highest while only a few women occupied political appointments or were promoted to key positions in the public service.

Today, after only three and a half years in office, President Jonathan has already recorded remarkable progress in all the sectors of the Nigerian public life, through his Transformation Agenda.

His major stride in the privatisation of the power sector is a unique achievement, second only to that of the telecommunication sector of the Obasanjo ad-

ministration.

In other areas of social services, health, education, unemployment, women, youth, the physically challenged and other vulnerable, Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda is already having positive impact. Developments in the agriculture sector are the diversifications needed to move the Nigerian economy away from its current dependence on oil. It is, therefore, not surprising that the Nigerian economy is growing

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at an average rate of 6.5 per cent.

Jonathan has been able to attain these unparalleled achievements despite the enormous security challenges posed by the Boko Haram insurgency. But, there was no miracle involved! A little familiarity with the character and personality of Jonathan shows clearly that he was, from the beginning, well cut out for the job. From his humble upbringing as an indigent student at the University of Port Harcourt, Jonathan started his political career as a Deputy Governor in Bayelsa State. The rest, as they say, is history.

For those who may not have an idea, the secret of Jonathan’s success is his humility. He is an unassuming personality, who is humane, respectful and, maybe, on the shy side. Naturally, a person of such social mien is easily taken for granted. And that, precisely, is Jonathan’s source of strength.

More importantly, his charming personality was nourished by the traditional Ijaw culture of respect for elders, so much so that when the other day former President Olusegun Obasanjo was reported to have made certain negative remarks about him, he was reported to have remarked: “Baba is right and I will continue to learn from him.”

In leadership, education, wisdom and humility are difficult to separate. A great deal of the policies and decisions undertaken by President Jonathan have been a product of deep reflections. He has come to be known as the man who is never in a rush to do things, unless he is satisfied with his own assessment of the situation. Of course, those who lack this quality, especially the uneducated, describe him as “slow” or even “clueless.” Should that really bother Jonathan?

Maturity is the hallmark of education and it is what makes a good leader. When last year, Jonathan was to declare a state of emergency in the Northern states of Borno, Adamwa and Yobe, some of his political associates wanted him to make it total by removing all the democratic structures, that is, the governors and State Assemblies. But, the President thought about it and arrived at the mature decision to leave the democratic structures intact.

It is obvious that given our circumstances, Nigeria could not have had a better leader than Jonathan.

•Abubakar sent this piece from Abuja

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

21

Money Line

CBN floats US500m fund for agriculture

35

Business $20bn Trans-Sahara project: What's news

Eight vessels to deliver N4.47bn fish at port Eight vessels have been positioned at the Lagos Port Complex in Apapa, to discharge 23,264 metric tons of fish valued at N4.47 billion ($27,916,800).

p.22

Market operators disagree over Collective Investment Scheme Some market operators in the nation’s capital market have expressed divergent views on the benefits of Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) to retail investors.

p.22

The Business Desk Ayodele Aminu

Deputy Editor (Business)

Bayo Akomolafe

Asst. Editor (Maritime)

Sunday Ojeme

Asst. Editor (Insurance)

Godson Ikoro

Asst. Editor (Money Market)

Dele Alao

Industry & Agric Editor

Dayo Ayeyemi Property Editor

Adeola Yusuf Energy Editor

Wole Shadare Aviation Editor

Chris Ugwu

Capital Market Editor

Promoters shut out IOCs DEFERMENT Nigeria, Algeria shift project’s delivery deadline to 2018

Augment CAPEX by $7bn

source said.

On IOCs investments in the project, he said: “The Algerian Energy Minister, Youcef

Yousfi, has confirmed that only partners that can bring something to the project, not just money, should be there.”

Energy ministers of Algeria and Nigeria have, according to him, said: “If things go well, there will be no need to bring international oil companies CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Adeola Yusuf

I

nternational oil companies (IOCs) will not be allowed to invest in the $20 billion Trans Sahara gas pipeline project “if things go right,” New Telegraph has learnt.

This information emerged as the 2015 date set for the project’s delivery has been shifted to 2018, while the initial capital expenditure has also been augmented by $7 billion “because of disparity in foreign exchange between 2002 and 2014.”

Royal Dutch Shell, France’s Total S.A., Italy’s Eni SpA and Indian company, GAIL, have expressed interest in participating in the project, a promoter of the project told this newspaper at the weekend.

The source said that Russian gas company, Gazprom, which also expressed interest, has negotiated with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) about its possible participation in the project.

The pipeline was expected to be operational by 2015, while the investment for the project was pegged at around $10 billion and $3 billion for gas gathering centres, further checks by this newspaper showed.

“Now, the estimated Capital expenditure for the whole project is $20 billion while the date of commissioning has been moved to 2018,” the

Managing Director/CEO, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa, presenting a copy of BOI IMPACT Magazine to the Chairman, Flour Mills Group, Mr. John George Coumantaros, during a courtesy call to the Bank’s Head Office in Lagos.

Inactive lines: Telcos lose N50.5bn potential revenue monthly Kunle Azeez

T

elecoms operators in Nigeria may have been losing an estimated N50.5 billion potential revenue monthly due to the rate of inactive telephone lines on their networks, New Telegraph has learnt.

Telecoms companies, including the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and fixed line operators have recorded increase in the number of dormant lines on their networks month-on-month, resulting in loss of revenue.

All telecoms companies in

Nigeria currently have a combined 49.6 million inactive telephone lines, according to latest industry data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

According to the Commission, while the total connected mobile lines in the country CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Abdulwahab Isa Finance Editor

Kunle Azeez

Senior Correspondent

Chuks Onuanyin Energy

Nnamdi Amadi Reporter

Johnson Adebayo

Asst Production Editor

Rates Dashboard INFLATION RATE October 2014............................8.1% September 2014.....................8.3% August 2014............................8.5%

LENDING RATE InterBank Rate....................12.57% Prime Lending Rate...........17.93% Maximum Lending Rate...26.83%

EXCHANGE RATE

(Parellel As at Dec. 12)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N189 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N293 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N232

l Foreign Reserves – $35.74bn as at 12/12/2014

Source: CBN

EXCHANGE RATE (Official As at Dec. 12)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N169 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N264.50 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N210.31

22

Business | News

BOOM Global fishery production and price rise as exports hit $136 billion Bayo Akomolafe

E

ight vessels have been positioned at the Lagos Port Complex in Apapa, to discharge 23,264 metric tons of fish valued at N4.47 billion ($27,916,800).

All the vessels will berth at the terminal C and D, which were concessioned to ENL Consortium.

Already, MV Green Ocean has been moored to discharge 1,034 metric tons (mt), while MV Frio Shinano arrived at the weekend with 5,800 mt.

Also expected this week are MV Antila with 2,850 mt, Green Friesta,

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Eight vessels to deliver N4.47bn fish at port this week 2,960; MV Green Brasil, 2,480 mt; MV Green Karmoy, 2,500 mt; MV Atlantic Progress, 2,850 and MV Tama Hope, 2,950.

According to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nigeria’s domestic fish market is estimated at $1.75 billion.

The ministry said that the country needs about 2.66 million metric tons of fish annually to satisfy domestic consumption.

Similarly, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)’s sub-Committee on Fish Trade report revealed that global fishery production from wild capture fisheries and aquaculture in 2013 was 160 million tons, up from 157 million tons the

previous year, while exports rose to $136 billion.

Meanwhile, FAO had predicted that world fishery production would be 17 per cent higher by 2023.

It said that the growth would be primarily driven by gains in aqua-

culture output, which is projected to reach 49 per cent of total fishery production in 2023.

However, it noted that fish and fishery products would continue to be highly traded, adding that overall trade was projected to increase at a

slightly slower pace than in the past due to higher transportation cost, slower output growth and weaker demand in selected importing countries.

Last week, New Telegraph reported that the Nigerian port would take

delivery of fish worth $900 million before December 31, 2014.

But the two weeks strike in Nigerian ports early last month compelled several reefer containers to be trapped in storage in the Netherlands, Bremerhaven and Germany.

A Customs agent who does not want his name mentioned, alleged that Maersk had some 400 unclaimed reefer containers at its terminal in Apapa.

Trans-Sahara project: Promoters shut out IOCs CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

into the project” and “if the need for partnership in the project arises, not every partner will be welcome on board the project.”

New Telegraph gathered that the pipeline is to be built and operated through the partnership between the NNPC and Sonatrach.

The company would include also the Republic of Niger. Initially, NNPC and Sonatrach would hold a total 90 per cent

of shares, while Niger would hold the remaining 10 per cent.

The gas pipeline (also known as NIGAL pipeline and Trans-African gas pipeline), is a planned natural gas pipeline from Nigeria to Algeria. It is seen as an opportunity to diversify the European Union’s gas supplies.

When completed, the project will transport about 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Warri through Niger Republic to Algeria, Spain and Europe.

Telcos lose N50.5bn revenue monthly CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

stood at 184.1 million at the end of September 2014, the actual active lines were 134.5 million, leaving a whopping 49.6 million inactive.

However, New Telegraph findings show that the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) in Nigeria was $6 or N170 monthly.

ARPU is a financial performance benchmark in the telecoms industry that measures the average monthly revenue spent by each telecom consumer.

It also corresponds to the amount generated by the operators.

However, with a total of 49.6 million inactive lines on the telecoms networks and an ARPU of N170, mobile networks lose potential revenue conservatively valued at N50.5 billion.

New Telegraph thus estimates that the figure represents the potential revenue that telecoms firms could be making

assuming the 49.6 million telephone lines are active on their networks.

Speaking on the development, President of the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS), Mr Deolu Ogunbanjo, said that if a telecoms operator sells a SIM to a customer and gets him connected on its network, the intention is to start generating revenue from the subscriber anytime the subscriber loads airtime to access telecoms services.

“However, in a situation where the subscriber, for one reason of the other, does not load the line for a long time, thereby rendering the telephone line redundant, the network is definitely losing potential revenues,” he said.

Also, the President of the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr Lanre Ajayi, also told New Telegraph that “no operator wants to lose its subscriber to competitors.”

L-R: Acting Director, Retail Sales, Etisalat Nigeria, Lou Odunuga; Etisalat Customer, Keshinro Omotanwa Keji; Nigerian musical sensation, Dammy Krane; Head, Retail High Value Cluster, Lagos, Etisalat Nigeria, Eno Umoh and Head Retail Operations, Roll Out and Strategy, Etisalat Nigeria, Anthony Iloh, during a media tour of the Etisalat Flagship Centre in Marina, Lagos.

PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

Market operators disagree over Collective Investment Scheme RISING Total mutual funds in Nigeria currently stand at $1 billion, while the world’s CIS is about $30 trillion Chris Ugwu

S

ome market operators in the nation’s capital market have expressed divergent views on the benefits of Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) to retail investors.

While some described the initiative as a move to alienate retail investors from the market, others believe that the scheme would enable retail investors who don’t have adequate education on investment get access to prudent investment decisions.

Shareholders under the aegis of Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN) said that the CIS scheme was unacceptable to the association, as it is viewed to be capable of shutting aver-

age Nigerians out of the stock market.

ISAN’s General Secretary, Mr Adebayo Adeleke, explained why the scheme has not been successful since it was introduced.

He said: “Collective Investment Scheme is not only an accidental vehicle, but a vehicle that has been written off.

The CIS is just a way to alienate an average Nigerian in the market. That is unacceptable; it is a method being employed by capitalists to shut retail investors out of the market.”

Group Chief Executive Officer of UBA Capital, Mrs Oluwatosin Sanni, however, said that the move to encourage CIS in the country was not to disenfranchise individuals or retail investors, but to create better enabling environment for more people to take investment decisions.

“There are many people who cannot enter the market except through CIS. We need an institution that can reach the majority of Nigerians.

CIS makes it possible for people with five thousand naira to invest in the stock market,” she explained.

CIS in Nigeria currently stands at $1 billion, Louise Eni-Umukoro, Director, CIS, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said recently at the 2014 SEC Journalists Academy in Abuja.

Eni-Umukoro, in her lecture entitled “Regulation of Collective Investment Scheme,” noted that current value of the world’s CIS stands at about $30 trillion; while that of Nigeria is $1 billion, which, according to her, was very low compared with the global record.

She disclosed that as at 2002, there were only 14 funds; but currently there are about 55 funds in Nigeria compared with thousands in the developed world; especially the United States (US).

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Stanbic Asset Management Limited, Mrs Olumide Oyetan, in his presentation titled “Collective Investment Schemes - Prospects and Challenges: India and Nigeria as case studies’’ affirmed that global assets in mutual fund increased from $4.0 trillion in 1993 to $28.9 trillion in September 2013.

INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

In collaboration with

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 Copyright © 2014 The New York Times

Sanctity of Truth

Farmers Resort To Data To Thrive

By QUENTIN HARDY

LEESBURG, Indiana — Kip Tom, a seventh-generation family farmer, harvests the staples of modern agriculture: seed corn, feed corn, soybeans and data.

“I’m hooked on a drug of information and productivity,” he said, sitting in an office filled with computer screens and a whiteboard covered with plans for his farm’s computer network.

Mr. Tom, 59, is as much a chief technology officer as he is a farmer. Where his great-great-grandfather hitched a mule, “we’ve

Technology offers some farms a way to stay competitive.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY KUNI TAKAHASHI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

got sensors on the combine, GPS data from satellites, cellular modems on self-driving tractors, apps for irrigation on iPhones,” he said.

The demise of the small family farm has been a long time coming. But for farmers like Mr. Tom, technology offers a lifeline, a way to navigate the boom-and-bust cycles of making a living from the land. It is also helping some of them compete with giant agribusinesses.

Mr. Tom’s farm is expanding, to 8,100 hectares today from 280 hectares in the 1970s. But some of

Con­­tin­­ued on Page 26

MICHAEL KIRBY SMITH FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Kip Tom has expanded his family farm from 280 hectares to 8,100. His father, Everett, still tends the cows.

A mother nursing her newborn in Haryana, where nearly every baby born in a hospital has been injected with antibiotics.

‘Superbugs’ Spread Globally Babies Die by the Thousands as India Battles Drug-Resistant Bacteria Mothers and babies shared a bed at a hospital in Haryana. The overcrowding is spreading untreatable infections.

By GARDINER HARRIS

AMRAVATI, India — A deadly epidemic that could have global implications is sweeping India, killing tens of thousands of infants who are born with bacterial infections that are resistant to most known antibiotics. More than 58,000 died last year.

India’s resistant infections have already begun to migrate elsewhere. Researchers have found “superbugs” carrying a genetic code first identified in India — NDM1 (or New Delhi metallo-beta lactamase 1) — around the world, including in France, Japan, Oman and the United States.

Health officials have warned for decades that overuse of antibiotics would eventually lead bacteria to evolve in a way that made the drugs useless.

India and other developing nations are not the only offenders.

Overuse of the drugs in livestock

farms in the United States has led to the rise of resistant strains there, and research has shown that as much as half of antibiotic prescriptions in the United States are unnecessary.

In the United States, two million people are sickened by resistant bacteria every year and 23,000 die as a result. In the Eu-

ropean Union, the death toll is similar, 25,000 a year.

But efforts to crack down on inappropriate antibiotic use in the United States and much of Europe have been successful, with prescriptions dropping between 2000 and 2010. That drop was more than offset, however, by growing use in

the developing world.

Global sales of antibiotics for human consumption rose 36 percent from 2000 to 2010, with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa accounting for 76 percent of that increase. In India, much of that growth has been driven by private doctors who deliver about 90 percent of care here and are often poorly trained. Much of these doctors’ income comes from drug sales.

A growing chorus of researchers say the evidence is now overwhelming that a significant share of the bacteria present in India — in its water, sewage,

Con­­tin­­ued on Page 26

INTELLIGENCE

WORLD TRENDS

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

ARTS & DESIGN

Japan and China lower the tension. PAGE 24

Elements batter olive trees in Italy. PAGE 28

The virus detectives take on Ebola. PAGE 31

Club scene thrives in Berlin’s ruins. PAGE 34

24

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

O P I N I O N & C O M M E N TA RY

EDITO RI A L OF THE TI ME S

Slavery Thriving Global slavery has become a growth industry generating an estimated $150 billion a year in illicit profits. Modern-day slaves include construction workers in the Persian Gulf, girls from Nepal trafficked into prostitution, shrimp fishermen on Thai ships, children in India working in brick kilns and garment workers in Bangladesh. Slavery is also present in prostitution rings, and even in private homes that employ domestic workers in the United States and Europe.

The United Nations estimates that 21 million people are trapped in forced labor, while the Walk Free Foundation puts the number of people around the world used, bought, sold or transferred for exploitation at nearly 36 million.

Despite laws that make the practice illegal, slavery is increasing.

Women and girls account for 70 percent of those trafficked.

Just five countries account for 61 percent of the world’s slaves.

India has, by far, the most enslaved people — more than 14 million. Three million are enslaved in China; two million in Pakistan; 1.2 million in Uzbekistan and one million in Russia. In Mauritania, which made slavery illegal decades ago but remains prey to an entrenched tradition of slavery, 4 percent of the population is enslaved. Poverty, conflict, gender inequality and pressure to reduce labor costs provide fertile ground for slavery.

The United States made human trafficking illegal 14 years ago, and the United Nations adopted the Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking. Much more needs to be done. The House of Lords is considering a Modern Slavery Bill aimed at meting out tougher sentences in Britain to traffickers. The new British anti-slavery commissioner, Kevin Hyland, is threatening to expose companies that fail to eliminate slavery from their suppliers’ labor. This may be an effective tactic.

There also needs to be more transparency and accountability in how millions of dollars for combating trafficking are spent. Precious little reaches the victims, according to the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women. It also does no good to have laws on the books against forced labor and child labor, as India does, if these are not vigorously enforced.

INTELLIGENCE/AKIO TAKAHARA

Détente for China And Japan Beijing That empty expression President Xi Jinping of China made when he shook hands with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan was his blandest face of the entire Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit last month. It was their first meeting, and it lasted only 25 minutes.

And yet it was a turning point in relations between China and Japan, especially after renewed tensions over the East China Sea islands that both states claim as their own. The Chinese government had expressed such an outcry over that disagreement recently that it would need a good excuse to justify to the Chinese public having any direct contact with Japan’s prime minister. Hence the lopsided conditions Mr. Xi set before meeting with Mr. Abe: Japan would have to formally acknowledge there was a territorial dispute between the two countries, and Mr. Abe would have to promise to no longer visit the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors war criminals among Japan’s war dead.

But just before the summit the two sides reached a cleverly Send comments to intelligence@nytimes.com.

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crafted agreement open to multiple interpretations. It stated that China and Japan hold different views about their recent tensions in the East China Sea — allowing the Chinese side to claim to its people that Japan had formally acknowledged the existence of a dispute, as Mr. Xi required, while allowing the Japanese government to tell its own audience back home this wasn’t so. (Yasukuni was not mentioned.)

Mr. Abe and Mr. Xi deserve credit for this constructive vagueness. By sharing in it, they took a step toward calming tensions in East Asia. Mr. Abe, in particular, seems to have calculated that while he would lose points with some supporters, he could bear such a burden more readily than Mr. Xi, who is struggling to bridge divisions between hawks and doves in China’s military and foreign policy establishment.

This could not have been easy for Mr. Abe. China has frequently sent patrol boats into the waters around the islands, and the Japanese public generally supports taking a tough stance on security matters having to do with China. According to a joint survey conducted this summer by the Japanese nongovernmen-

ship Committee, for which I serve as KIM KYUNG-HOON/REUTERS secretary general on the Japanese side, is a panel tal group Genron NPO and the of nonpoliticians that acts as China Daily, 93 percent of the an advisory body for the prime Japanese do not have a good ministers of the two countries. impression of China. But many Now Mr. Abe and Mr. Xi must Japanese also understand that show the Japanese and Chinese China is an important neighbor peoples the benefits of such coand essential to their own peace and prosperity. operation. That starts by letting Yet it is also a general printhem know the promising facts.

For example, China and Japan ciple of Chinese politics that a have already been cooperating leader without a solid power on economic and nontraditional base cannot improve ties with security issues, such as enerJapan. Mr. Xi is not yet secure enough to actively promote the gy conservation and pollution Chinese-Japanese relationship. control. The Japan Maritime But the meeting has opened Self-Defense Force protects Chithe way for improvement. Alnese-operated merchant ships in international anti-piracy opthough this was not reported in China, Mr. Abe told Mr. Xi that erations off the coast of Somalia. The Japanese government he thought Japan and China provides significant technical could cooperate over four issues — to foster greater cooperation assistance and grants to schools in the East China Sea; deepand local NGOs in China. A record number of Chinese tourists er economic relations; a more have been visiting Japan. stable security environment in East Asia; and greater mutuMore than anything else, greater understanding between al understanding. The Abe-Xi the Japanese and Chinese peohandshake has already revived talks that had stalled, like the ples can help Mr. Abe and Mr. Policy Dialogue on the Mekong Xi overcome pressure from the Region and the New Japan-Chinationalistic forces in the establishment camps of Japan and na Friendship Committee for China. the 21st Century. The Friend-

THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

How ISIS Drives Muslims From Islam The Islamic State has visibly attracted young Muslims from all over the world to its violent movement to build a caliphate in Iraq and Syria. But here’s what’s less visible — the online backlash against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, by young Muslims declaring their opposition to rule by Islamic law, or Shariah, and even proudly avowing their atheism.

Nadia Oweidat, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, who tracks how Arab youths use the Internet, says the phenomenon “is mushrooming — the brutality of the Islamic State is exacerbating the issue and even pushing some young Muslims away from Islam.”

On November 24, BBC.com published a piece on what was trending on Twitter. It began: A growing social media conversation in Arabic is calling for the

INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY NANCY LEE Executive editor TOM BRADY Editor ALAN MATTINGLY Managing editor

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, far left, and President Xi Jinping of China have moved toward bilateral cooperation.

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implementation of Shariah, or Islamic law, to be abandoned.

Discussing religious law is a sensitive topic in many Muslim countries. But on Twitter, a hashtag which translates as “why we reject implementing Shariah” has been used 5,000 times in 24 hours. The conversation is mainly taking place in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The debate is about whether religious law is suitable for the needs of Arab countries and modern legal systems. Dr. Alyaa Gad, an Egyptian doctor living in Switzerland, started the hashtag. “I have nothing against religion,” she tells BBC Trending, but says she is against “using it as a political system.”

The BBC added that “many others joined in the conversation, using the hashtag, listing reasons why Arabs and Muslims should abandon Shariah.

‘Because there’s not a single positive example of it bringing justice and equality,’ one man tweeted. ... A Saudi woman commented: ‘By adhering to Shariah we are adhering to inhumane laws. Saudi Arabia is saturated with the blood of those executed

by Sharia.’ ” Ismail Mohamed, an Egyptian on a mission to create free-

dom of conscience, started a program called “Black Ducks” to offer a space where agnostic and atheist Arabs can speak freely about their right to choose what they believe and resist coercion and misogyny from religious authorities. He is part of a growing Arab Atheists Network.

Another voice getting attention is Brother Rachid, a Moroccan who created his own YouTube network to deliver his message of tolerance and to expose examples of intolerance within his former Muslim faith community. (He told me he’s converted to Christianity, preferring its “God of love.”) In this recent segment on YouTube, which has been viewed 500,000 times, Brother Rachid addressed President Obama: “Dear Mr. President, I must tell you that you are wrong about ISIL. You said ISIL speaks for no religion. I am a former Muslim. My dad is an imam. I have spent more than 20 years studying Islam. ... I can tell you with confidence that ISIL speaks for Islam. ... ISIL’s 10,000 members are all Muslims. ... They come from different countries and have one common denominator: Islam. They are following Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in

every detail. ... They have called for a caliphate, which is a central doctrine in Sunni Islam.”

He continued: “I ask you, Mr. President, to stop being politically correct — to call things by their names. ISIL, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al Shabab in Somalia, the Taliban, and their sister brand names, are all made in Islam. Unless the Muslim world deals with Islam and separates religion from state, we will never end this cycle.”

ISIS, by claiming to speak for all Muslims — and by promoting a puritanical form of Islam — has blown the lid off some long simmering frustrations in the Arab Muslim world.

Clearly, there is a significant group of Muslims who feel that their government-backed preachers and religious hierarchies have handed them a brand of Islam that does not speak to them. These same authorities have also denied them the critical thinking tools and religious space to imagine new interpretations. Now that the Internet has created free, safe, alternative spaces and platforms to discuss these issues, outside the mosques and government-owned media, this war of ideas is on.

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25

WORLD TRENDS

As Ebola Rages, Poor Planning Thwarts Aid Efforts

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

KERRY TOWN, Sierra Leone — On a freshly cleared hillside outside the capital, the new Ebola treatment center seems to have everything. There are racks of scrubs and latex boots, clean bathrooms, a pharmacy tent, even a hut to relax in.

But one piece is missing: staff.

The facility opened recently with a skeleton crew. Now, in an area where people are dying because they cannot get into an Ebola clinic, 60 of the 80 beds at the clinic are not being used.

Aid officials in Sierra Leone say poor coordination among aid groups, government mismanagement and some glaring inefficiencies are costing countless lives.

Ambulances, for example, are being used to ferry blood samples, sometimes just one test tube at a time, while patients die at home waiting days for an ambulance to come. Half of the patients in some clinics do not even have Ebola, but their testing takes so long that they end up lingering for days, taking beds and increasing their own chances of catching the virus. Even after patients recover, many centers delay releasing them until there are enough survivors to hold a goodbye ceremony. “I just wanted to get home and see my wife,” said Suliman Wafta, a recent Ebola survivor. “But I had to wait eight extra days.”

Recently, Sierra Leone reported almost 100 new cases in a single day — and those are only the confirmed cases, which health Jaime Yaya Berry, Eric Schmitt and Helene Cooper contributed reporting.

DANIEL BEREHULAK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Testing delays are putting patients at risk of contracting Ebola. A technician with samples. experts say may be a third of the total. At this rate, the gravely ill will outstrip even the most optimistic projections for new hospital beds.

The criticism is mounting, especially against Britain, which is taking the lead here. “Why are the British here? To end Ebola, or party?” read a headline in a local newspaper. It added, “While their American counterparts are working hard to end Ebola in Liberia, our so-called colonial masters are busy living the life of Riley.”

British officials say that is not true, and that the 800 or so soldiers deployed here, who are

building new treatment centers and training medics, are not allowed even a beer.

A big question people here are beginning to ask is whether the American military, which has sent 2,400 troops to Liberia, has any desire to come to Sierra Leone. Many aid officials say the American role in building treatment centers, establishing mobile blood labs and ferrying Ebola supplies around Liberia has helped slow the epidemic there.

An Obama administration official in Washington said that no decision had been made to shift American troops from Liberia to Sierra Leone, but that “nothing is

off the table.”

Like others, the official kept citing the “Brits’ primacy” in Sierra Leone — a reference to how, several months ago, Western powers divided Ebola responsibilities in West Africa along historical lines, with the United States helping Liberia, a nation founded by freed American slaves in 1822; France helping a former colony, Guinea; and Britain helping its former colony, Sierra Leone.

Many aid officials in Sierra Leone said they crave a more effective command structure. Usually, in big emergencies where many people are in desperate need, the United Nations Office for the

Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs plays a huge role, dividing services into clusters and then coordinating the work of private aid groups within each cluster.

One United Nations official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said O.C.H.A. defined the Ebola crisis as a “systemic medical issue.” “Corporately, this is not a humanitarian emergency,” she said, but conceded that most aid agencies viewed it as one.

There are also growing questions about corruption, with the government announcing recently that it had found 6,000 “ghost medical workers” on its payroll, even as real Ebola burial teams and front-line health officers say they have not been paid in weeks.

Nothing, though, has shocked people more than the new Kerry Town Ebola clinic, without enough trained nurses or hygienists to operate safely at capacity.

Several aid officials said that the government had been in a rush to open the clinic, but that the aid group put in charge, Save the Children International, had never run a critical-care field hospital. The rows of empty beds have led to the casting of blame.

Save the Children officials said the government had “begged” them to run the clinic. The government said Britain had made the decision. And the Britons said no one else wanted the task.

The Save the Children officials said recently that they had asked for eight more Ebola patients per day but were receiving only one.

“That place is like a boat without a captain,” a senior international aid official said. “Everybody’s rowing in different directions, and the boat doesn’t move.”

Under Fire From ISIS, Love Conquers

By BEN HUBBARD

DHULUIYA, Iraq — When Ekhlas Mohammed became engaged to a soft-spoken Iraqi soldier from the other side of town in Dhuluiya, she dreamed of the day she would wear a white dress and celebrate with friends, family, music and food.

But it would not be so simple.

Extremist fighters from the Islamic State seized the area. Her fiancé and his tribe took up arms to push them out, while her neighbors joined the jihadists, facing off across a deadly front line that cut through the town and separated the young pair.

Despite death threats and suicide attacks, they married anyway, thanks to a daring plot by the groom and Ms. Mohammed’s mother to smuggle the bride out of town by boat along the Tigris.

“Our story was like a romantic tragedy movie,” Ms. Mohammed, 21, said. “Being threatened by bad guys and escaping with the man who is fighting them to this moment.”

Clashes erupt daily in Dhuluiya, a riverside town 80 kilometers north of Baghdad, and one of many Iraqi communities torn apart this year by the invasion of the Islamic State, also known as

ISIS or ISIL. Many of the town’s lush groves of date palms and orange trees are dangerous because of the militants’ sniper and mortar fire.

And although part of the town chased out the jihadists, its residents remain nearly surrounded, with no access to the commercial center, government buildings or even a graveyard to bury their dead.

Their only link to the outside

Crossing enemy lines in a daring plot to marry. world is a fleet of shaky boats that ply the Tigris between their Sunni community and a nearby Shiite town, Balad. The boats bring in food, fuel, ammunition and fighters. They also serve as ambulances, ferrying the wounded because the jihadists control the hospital.

Dhuluiya was still whole when Ali Amer, a 23-year-old soldier in the Iraqi Army, decided to marry. A relative who knew Ms.

Mohammed suggested that he meet her. They met at her home in May. He thought she was pretty and had “good morals.” She considered him a gentleman and appreciated that he agreed to let her finish her studies. They announced their engagement a few days later, and then Mr. Amer returned to his army base. They spoke frequently by phone and began discussing when the wedding would be.

But in June, the Islamic State and other armed Sunni groups took over Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. Much of the Iraqi Army fled, and the extremists pushed south into Dhuluiya.

The jihadists threatened Ms. Mohammed, telling her to break the engagement off or be killed.

Her phone calls grew more anxious. “She would say, ‘Hurry up and get me out of here!’ ” Mr. Amer said.

The jihadists eventually threatened to kill her family, too, so her mother and Mr. Amer made a plan to get Ms. Mohammed out. But before they did, the jihadists sent a suicide bomber in a Humvee to strike a commercial street, killing 20 people, including Mr. Amer’s cousin and best friend, Salah Mijbil.

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

Young lovers crossed the Tigris to realize their dream to marry.

After a long detour to circumvent the front lines, Ms. Mohammed and her mother boarded a boat to cross the river to the southern side of Dhuluiya, where Mr. Amer was waiting on the bank.

“When I saw Ali from a distance,” Ms. Mohammed said, “I realized that my dream was coming true.”

On September 22, Ms. Mohammed put on a white dress and crossed the river, meeting Mr. Amer in Balad. They had pictures taken, and then took a boat home for a meal with his

family. Most of her family did not attend because of the difficulty of crossing the battle lines, and there was no music because Mr. Amer was still grieving for his cousin.

Ms. Mohammed was still pleased. “It was the most beautiful day of my life,” she said, “and I’m very happy to have Ali beside me.”

But Mr. Amer, who returned to the fight just four days after their wedding, was almost morose.

“There was no honeymoon,” he said. “It was a month of sadness, a month of bullets.”

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Sanctity of Truth

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

WORLD TRENDS

‘Superbugs’ Spread Around the Globe Con­­tin­­ued from Page 23 animals, soil and even its mothers — is immune to nearly all antibiotics.

And it is not only newborns who are affected. Uppalapu Shrinivas, one of India’s most famous musicians, died September 19 at age 45 because of an infection that doctors could not cure.

“India’s dreadful sanitation, uncontrolled use of antibiotics and overcrowding coupled with a complete lack of monitoring the problem has created a tsunami of antibiotic resistance that is reaching just about every country in the world,” said Dr. Timothy R. Walsh, a professor of microbiology at Cardiff University in Wales.

Indian pediatricians say that the rising toll of resistant infections could soon swamp efforts to improve India’s abysmal infant death rate. Nearly a third of the world’s newborn deaths occur in India. In visits to neonatal intensive care wards in five Indian states, doctors reported being overwhelmed.

“Five years ago, we almost never saw these kinds of infections,” said Dr. Neelam Kler, chairwoman of the department of neonatology at New Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, one of India’s most prestigious

Using antibiotics to try to counter a sanitation disaster. private hospitals. “Now, close to 100 percent of the babies referred to us have multidrug resistant infections. It’s scary.”

Newborns are particularly vulnerable because their immune systems are fragile, leaving little time for doctors to find a drug that works.

Anju Thakur’s daughter, born prematurely a year ago, was one of the epidemic’s victims in Amravati, a city in central India. Doctors assured Ms. Thakur that her daughter, despite weighing just 1.8 kilograms, would be fine.

Three days later, Ms. Thakur knew something was wrong.

Her daughter’s stomach swelled, her limbs stiffened and her skin thickened — classic signs of a blood infection. As a precaution, doctors had given the baby two powerful antibiotics soon after birth. Doctors switched to other antibiotics and switched again. Nothing worked. The baby died, just seven days old.

A test later revealed that the infection was immune to almost every antibiotic. The child’s rapid death meant the bacteria probably came from her mother, doctors said.

Bacteria spread easily in India, experts say, because half of Indians defecate outdoors, and much of the sewage generated by those who do use toilets is

untreated. As a result, Indians have among the highest rates of bacterial infections in the world and collectively take the most antibiotics, which are sold over the counter here.

“In the absence of better sanitation and hygiene, we are forced to rely heavily on antibiotics to reduce infections,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, vice president for research and policy at the Public Health Foundation of India. “The result is that we are losing these drugs, and our newborns are already facing the consequences.”

Some health experts and officials here say that these killer bugs are largely confined to hospitals. But India’s top neonatologists suspect the large number of resistant infections in newborns in their first days of life demonstrates that these dangerous bacteria are thriving in communities and even pregnant women’s bodies.

In a continuing study in Delhi at several government-run hospitals, about 70 percent of 12,000 babies’ infections were found to be immune to multiple powerful antibiotics.

Although resistant bugs are everywhere here, hospitals have become factories for untreatable “superbugs.”

A government program that pays women to have babies in hospitals has in 10 years more than doubled the share of hospital-born babies to 82 percent, but the government did little to increase hospital capacity to deal with the crush. Maternity wards often have two and three women in each bed, allowing infections to spread rapidly.

Besides being crowded, many hospitals are unhygienic, allowing the bugs to flourish.

Almost every baby born in hospitals in recent years was injected with antibiotics whether they showed signs of illness or not, said Dr. Suresh Dalpat, deputy director of child health in the state of Haryana. “Now, with proper training, we are bringing that down.”

All those drugs create resistant bacteria that find their way into sewage, which is mostly dumped untreated into rivers, canals and pits in the surrounding community where pregnant women can become infected. Just as worrisome has been the rapid growth of India’s industrialized animal husbandry, where antibiotics are widespread. Most large chicken farms here use feed laced with antibiotics banned for use in animals in the United States. A New Delhi science group recently found antibiotic residues in 40 percent of chicken samples tested.

After her baby’s death a year ago, Ms. Thakur, 21, was soon pregnant again. She gave birth on September 21 to a baby girl.

On a visit shortly after the baby’s birth, Ms. Thakur was shivering from a severe infection while staying in a home with no toilet or running water.

Nearly two months later, she reported that she and the baby were fine.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL KIRBY SMITH FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

A business model based on technology has helped Tom Farms thrive and expand.

Farmers Work Data to Compete Con­­tin­­ued from Page 23 his neighbors’ farms are fading away.

Such costly technology is beyond the means of the smallest farmers. Equipment makers have covered their planters, tractors and harvesters with sensors, computers and communications equipment. A combine equipped to harvest a few crops cost perhaps $65,000 in 2000; now it goes for as much as $500,000 because of the added information technology.

“We’ve seen a big uptick in the productivity of larger farms,” said David Schimmelpfennig, an economist at the United States Department of Agriculture. “It’s not that smaller farms are less productive, but the big ones can afford these technology investments.”

And there is another risk: the incentive to grow single crops to maximize the effectiveness of technology by growing them at the largest possible scale. Technology encourages farmers to move toward easy-to-grow and easy-to-sell crops that are more easily measured by instruments.

And single crops go against efforts to keep some diversity in the fields — an age-old hedge against bad weather and pests, said Ann Thrupp of the Berkeley Food Institute, a research institute at the University of California, Berkeley.

That is the fear. But there is also the promise that technology can make farming far easier.

At a large family farm in Texas, Brian Braswell uses satellite-connected tractors to plow fields with accuracy of 2.5 centimeters between furrows. His soil was tested with electrical charges, then mapped so that fertilizer is applied in exact doses from computer-controlled machines. He uses drones to survey flood irrigation. Brent Schipper takes data readings from his combine every three seconds at his 2,400-hectare farm near Conrad, Iowa. In the storm season, he checks the weather app on his smartphone every 30 minutes.

He and other farmers who used to spend winters resting and repairing machines will be adding new sensors, and poring over last season’s data, hoping to get an

Sensors relay information to devices showing real-time data about moisture and yields on Tom Farms in Indiana.

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A video ride on a combine and an early morning with the cows: nytimes.com Search Tom Farms edge on the next season.

And at Iowa State University in Ames, a professor, Lie Tang, hopes to have his prototype weeding robot in fields by next spring. The robot may use infrared data to help identify weeds it then plucks.

In the past, Mr. Tom said, a farmer with 400 hectares could make a good living. He added, “I’m not sure that’s going to last.”

Tom Farms has genetically modified crops, cloud-computing systems and possibly soon drones, if Mr. Tom does not go with lasers on low-orbit satellites. All of these items will be sending their data for analysis on cloud-computing systems.

“Farmers still think tech means physical augmentation — more horsepower, more fertilizer,” Mr. Tom said. “They don’t see that technology now is about multiplying information.” With corn prices down, he said, “my growth is going to come from farmers who don’t embrace technology.”

Tom Farms has 25 employees year-round and at various times can have up to 600 temporary workers. “Farms of this size can gross more than $50 million in a good year,” Mr. Tom said.

He will not disclose profitability, but he notes that margins are

generally lower in farming than in most industries. He makes money now, but still remembers begging for loans at 21 percent interest during the 1980s.

He credits his survival and growth to using technology, and figures it is how he will prosper now that corn is at $4 a bushel, about half the level it was two years ago. Looking at last year, he said, better uses of data analysis have raised his return on investment to 21.2 percent, from 14 percent. Other technology, like variable rates of irrigation, he said, accounted for another 4 percent of the total.

Kassandra Rowland, one of Mr. Tom’s five children, manages personnel and partnerships with other farms and companies, and also the farm’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest accounts. Her 9-year-old daughter is in the local elementary school’s robotics club.

“That’s another big change,” said Marie E. Tom, 84, Mr. Tom’s mother. “Our daughters go to farming meetings, and they speak. They’re respected. It wasn’t like that when I kept the books, and farming was all about what you did on the field.”

“Too many people don’t think farming is a business,” Ms. Tom added. “When we were first married, I told my husband, ‘You don’t ever go to town dirty; that’s what those people think farmers are.’ We’re a business, and if you don’t keep up, you get left behind for good.”

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

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27

WORLD TRENDS

As Foxes Invade London Streets, Snipers Respond

By KATRIN BENNHOLD

LONDON — The sniper arrived at sunset with infrared binoculars and a silencer in his tennis bag. He set up his .22-caliber rifle in the back of a Victorian townhouse and pointed the barrel toward the far corner of the garden. Then he waited.

It took less than an hour. A shadow crept out of the dark. A crack, and the target collapsed into a lifeless heap of ginger-colored fur.

“Baby scores again,” the sniper said, patting his rifle. He turned to his client, a 37-year-old mother of two: “Do you have a bin bag?”

Britain has the world’s highest known density of urban foxes, the result of their self-colonization in cities here since the 1930s. There are now more foxes in London than double-decker buses: an estimated 10,000 roam streets and gardens.

Foxes dig up flower bulbs, rifle through trash and occasionally attack pets or people. They have been vilified for killing penguins and flamingo chicks in the London Zoo, and, once, for biting off a baby’s finger.

“They may appear cuddly and romantic, but foxes are also a pest and a menace, particularly in our cities,” Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, said. When his own cat appeared to have been mauled by a fox, Mr. Johnson got so angry, he said he wanted to “go out with my .22 and blaze away.”

The subject rouses great passions in a country that invented modern fox hunting in the 18th century, but also has the world’s longest tradition of animal rights. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was founded in 1824, nine years before the British Em-

‘They may appear cuddly’ but foxes ‘are also a pest.’

PHOTOGRAPHS BY TOM JAMIESON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Phil, a London plumber, charges 75 pounds to kill a fox; Terry Woods and Sandra Reddy care for injured foxes.

pire abolished slavery. A donkey sanctuary in Devon gets more donations per year than the three most prominent British charities dealing with violence against women combined.

Clare, a lawyer with three children who also had the foxes in her garden shot, did not want her last

name published, saying “there are probably more people who want to shoot people who shoot foxes, than people who want to shoot foxes.”

That is why Phil also asked that his last name not be published. “I don’t want anyone to do my tires or firebomb my house,” he said.

Shooting foxes is legal here.

Phil, 63, a plumber, first considered it three decades ago, after a fox ripped off the head of his daughter’s guinea pig. Then a friend’s two dachshunds were attacked, and he “cracked” a couple of foxes in her garden.

“From there, it just snowballed,”

he said.

His clients include tennis clubs, schools, urban farms and families, typically with small children or pets. He charges 75 pounds, about $120, for the first fox and about 50 pounds for each additional fox.

Some Londoners feed them.

Others place cameras in gardens to stream videos online.

Facebook pages like Urban Fox Defenders (“for those who are sick of the reckless and mindless demonization of our town foxes”) have thousands of likes.

When 9-month-old twins Lola and Isabella Koupparis were hospitalized with face and arm inju-

ries after a fox had entered their North London bedroom in 2010, their mother received so many online threats that she was provided police protection.

Stephen Harris of the University of Bristol blames the tabloids for making people believe that urban foxes are now “as big as Alsatians” and their numbers are “out of control.”

As far back as 1973, a British newspaper warned that eventually a fox would kill a baby, he wrote in The Guardian. “It hasn’t happened.” Indeed, fox numbers are believed to be roughly what they were in the 1980s, he said.

On the same day that Phil was aiming his rifle down the garden, Sandra Reddy and Terry Woods were nursing three injured foxes at a sanctuary outside of London. Charlotte, Carl and Beau, all presumed victims of dogs, cars or mites, were recuperating on a diet of dog food and homeopathic anti-mange pills. “Killing animals is cruel; I wouldn’t do it to Terry any more than I would do it to a fox,” said Ms. Reddy, 53. “It’s also pointless,” she said. “For every fox you kill, another one will move in.”

The evidence suggests she is right: Research by Mr. Harris shows it takes an average of four days until a new fox takes over vacated territory. He said, “To reduce fox numbers significantly, you would have to kill 70 percent of them every year.”

Shifting Lines in Drug War A casualty of the war on drugs has been the study of banned substances for therapeutic uses.

Sentiment is now shifting, and drugs like marijuana and psychoactive LENS mushrooms are getting a serious look after a long exile in the scientific wilderness.

Psilocybin mushrooms, which the United States criminalized in 1968, are being re-examined for medical applications. A recent study at King’s College London found that brains on psilocybin had different connectivity patterns between cortical regions, which are believed to play a role in consciousness, Eugenia Bone reported in The Times. Researchers suspect these connections cause the hearing of colors, or seeing of sounds, described by those who “trip” when they eat For comments, write to nytweekly@nytimes.com.

Finding therapeutic uses for substances that were banned. the magic mushrooms.

The study’s leader, Paul Expert, told Ms. Bone that these temporary changes in brain function and new patterns offer hope for new treatment. “When suffering depression, people get stuck in a spiral of negative thoughts and cannot get out of it,” Dr. Expert told The Times.

“One can imagine that breaking any pattern that prevents a ‘proper’ functioning of the brain can be helpful.”

The movement to legalize marijuana in states across America began under the guise of its medical uses, to treat stress, glaucoma, nausea from chemotherapy and a variety of other ills.

A strain of marijuana that has very little of the psychoactive ingredient is gaining currency

as a treatment for epilepsy and seizure disorders, The Times reported. In recent years, hundreds of families with epileptic children have moved to Colorado to try oil made from a plant cultivated by five brothers named Stanley. The national Epilepsy Foundation has called for “Charlotte’s Web” — named for a girl whose seizures it has helped control — to be available to all patients. Federal law still prohibits its trade across state lines, though a bill introduced in early November aims to change that.

“We are hoping the enforcement agencies have bigger fish to fry and don’t want to take a bunch of medicine away from sick kids,” Jared Stanley, 27, told The Times. “But if they are going to do it, we’re all in. If you are going to be locked up, it’s a thing worth getting locked up for.”

When it comes to illegal drugs in the athletic arena, the rules are murky too.

Doping — the word supposedly derived from “dop,” a stimulant drink consumed by the native peoples of South Africa

Many families with epileptic children have moved to Colorado to try ‘‘Charlotte’s Web,’’ an oil made from a marijuana strain.

MATTHEW STAVER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

— is as old as sport itself, Alex Hutchinson reported in The Times. Ancient Greek athletes ate magic mushrooms; the Tarahumara, the running tribe of northern Mexico, used peyote to boost their endurance.

The case of the South African cyclist Daryl Impey — the first African rider to wear the leader’s jersey at the Tour de France — who tested positive for a banned substance used to mask other drugs, is remarkable only because he was later exonerated, Mr. Hutchinson wrote. Mr. Impey’s pharmacist had sold him empty capsules

contaminated with the banned substance, which he then filled with his preferred stimulant, sodium bicarbonate, and rode to victory.

Yet his drug of choice was permitted.

“The spirit of sport says that we play by the rules,” Mr. Hutchinson wrote. “Thus we formulate a list of banned drugs so that athletes can compete without endangering their health.

While we accept that the list will be somewhat arbitrary and subject to debate, we punish dopers because they cheated.”

TOM BRADY

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THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

WORLD TRENDS

As Russia Nears Recession, Putin Faces ‘New Reality’

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR and ANDREW E. KRAMER

MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin grew wildly popular by making Russians richer every year and by vowing to restore their country’s great power status. But now, with the government predicting that the battered economy will fall into recession next year, that formula is in jeopardy.

Every day brings a barrage of woeful economic news. World oil prices just hit a five-year low. The Russian ruble is down 40 percent against the dollar so far in 2014.

Inflation is due to rise 9 percent this year and to continue climbing. Capital flight is expected to reach $128 billion.

The Kremlin suffered the collapse of the Soviet state and a government default during previous extended declines in oil prices, so the changing fortunes potentially pose extreme challenges. Experts underscore, however, that the country is far more resilient now than in the 1980s or in 1998, the previous times of cri-

sis, particularly its stout private sector.

M r.

Putin has a lready shelved planned me g a p r oj e c t s , like the South Vladimir Strea m pipe V. Putin line to ship gas to southern Europe, and a high-speed railway from Moscow to Kazan, a city east of the capital.

Some analysts say the changes may be felt in the policy area, where Mr. Putin may feel compelled to tone down his aggressive, anti-Western stance. But others worry that he may do just the opposite, saying that his need to divert attention from economic problems might inspire further nationalistic adventures abroad, akin to the annexation of Crimea.

“It is a completely new reality for him,” Sergei M. Guriev, a prominent economist who fled into exile last year, said of Mr. Putin. “Whenever Russia wanted the oil price to go up, it has gone

up. He has always been lucky, and this time he is not lucky.”

Russia is heavily dependent on oil, which constitutes some 60 percent of its exports. With the collapse in prices coinciding with severe economic turbulence caused by Western sanctions over destabilizing Ukraine, Mr. Putin risks losing the engine that was supposed to power Russia back onto the world stage.

Financial experts say Russia’s most pressing problem is the financing crisis. Nearly $700 billion is owed to Western banks, much of it by the giant state-run companies that constitute the heart of the Russian economy.

But sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and adventurism in southeastern Ukraine have blocked access to Western financing.

The debt threatens to drain the Kremlin of its $400 billion in foreign currency reserves.

Mr. Putin has addressed concerns about oil by saying that prices had been high enough in

the first part of 2014 to finance much of the Russian budget, and that the country would just have to “wait and see” about next year.

He also tried to portray the large drop in value of the ruble as useful. “We used to sell by the dollar and get 32 or 35 rubles in return, but if you look at today’s exchange rate, we get 45, 47 or 48 rubles for every dollar’s worth of what we sell,” he said, and the ruble has reached 54 to the dollar since Mr. Putin spoke. “In that sense, budget revenue has even increased.”

Anton Siluanov, the finance minister, called the report predicting a recession a “preliminary assessment” not yet approved by the entire cabinet.

The setbacks have slowed or eliminated goals to achieve higher wages, better health care and cheaper housing, ambitions laid out in a series of populist decrees Mr. Putin signed on his first day in office for a third term, in 2012.

The effects of the economic crisis are just starting. Once constituents like pensioners realize

the ruble is losing its purchasing power, they can be expected to demand raises so they can buy as much as before. But state companies will be first in line.

“The problem is that he cannot deliver on his economic promises, so he has to deliver on post-imperial nostalgia,” Mr. Guriev said of Mr. Putin. “He will say that we are not rich anymore, but we are at least feared.”

But the propaganda on state television has shifted from triumphalism to a determination that Russians are ready to make any kind of sacrifice to win a showdown with the United States.

A billboard on the main Sadova ring road around Moscow recently proclaimed, “There are more important things in life than the financial market,” and made references to Russian history.

“They are moving from greatness to suffering hardship, because we are fighting American domination,” said Vladimir Milov, an opposition politician. “It is a totally different definition of the mission.”

In France, Video Game Causes a New Revolt

By DAN BILEFSKY

PARIS — Perhaps only in France could a video game provoke an earnest philosophical debate over the decadence of the monarchy, the moral costs of democracy, the rise of the far right and the meaning of the state.

The French are fulminating over the historical inaccuracy and political slant of the game, Assassin’s Creed Unity. Critics on the left say the game undercuts a cherished narrative of the French Revolution — the miserable masses rising up against an indulged nobility.

Set in a meticulously rendered three-dimensional Paris

Fuming that King Louis XVI is not shown as a traitor. during the French Revolution in 1789, the game is part of a popular series whose previous versions have been set during events like the Crusades and the American Revolution. The series, made by the French company Ubisoft, has sold nearly 80 million copies since it was introduced in 2007.

In the game’s latest incarnation, the hooded hero is Arno Victor Dorian. A young Frenchman whose father was assassinated at Versailles, he takes no small measure of glee as he jumps across the rooftops of Paris, including the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, mercilessly killing members of the nobility and other rivals with his “phantom blade” or pistol.

Critics of the game, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the firebrand left-wing politician, have lambasted it as dangerous “propaganda” that portrays the French masses as bloodthirsty murderers, while the high-living Queen Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI are shown sympathetically.

At a time of economic and political doldrums, when the far right National Front is on the ascent and the Socialist president, François Hollande, is unpopular, Mr. Mélenchon warned on France Info radio that the game threatened to fan “hatred of the Republic.”

Mr. Mélenchon fumed that the game did not repudiate Louis, a “traitor.” He said “that cretin” Marie Antoinette, who was queen of France from 1774 to 1792 before meeting her end at the guillotine, was erroneously represented as a “poor little rich girl” even though, he said, she tried to conspire to have France invaded.

Mr. Mélenchon also told France Info radio that the game’s denigration of Robespierre as a “monster” did not consider his role as a “liberator” and the leader of a movement that gave Jews the right to vote and tried to do the same for women.

On a blog hosted by Mediapart, a news website, Jean-Clément Martin, a historian who advised Ubisoft on the game, wrote that Assassin’s Creed Unity was not intended as French-bashing or historical revisionism, but rather was meant to create a “fantasy.”

“Let adolescents, young and old, play,” he wrote. “Perhaps they will get the idea to go read a manual or a history book, and everyone will have won.”

Federico Dufour among olive trees stricken by fruit flies that have ravaged his crop.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY GIANNI CIPRIANO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Annus Horribilis for Italian Olives

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

CALENZANO, Italy — Strolling through the olive grove that abuts his family villa last month, Federico Dufour picked up a few purplish lumps. “I am ashamed to call them olives,” he said.

He displayed the withered fruits on his palm. “Look, here’s a hole,” he said, then described the brief but devastating life cycle of an olive fruit fly that had ravaged his crop. In its lifetime, each fly can deposit hundreds of eggs in as many olives, wiping out entire olive groves “in no time,” he said.

“It’s an infinite drama.”

This year, that drama played out in hundreds of olive oil producing farms in Italy, helping make 2014 Italian olive oil’s annus horribilis. Aside from the fly, severe hailstorms and flooding, and a devastating bacteria in parts of Puglia, cut olive production by about 35 percent.

The devastation has already translated into rising prices in Italy for a family staple, and will soon be felt by consumers worldwide. The commodity price for Italian extra virgin olive oil has doubled since last year, and the outlook is also very bad for Spain, the world’s biggest olive oil producer.

The looming scarcity of olive

oil has fueled concerns about fraud and adulteration that could blight the reputation of a business worth about $2.5 billion for Italy. Then there are the nagging worries for farmers and others about how to plan for what they fear are permanent changes to the climate.

Gerardo Gondi, another Tuscan olive oil producer, said that more than 18,000 trees had not yielded a single usable olive this year. His olive press, a traditional stone mill also used by local farmers, fared little better. In 2013, the mill processed 20,000 kilograms of olives a day for two months, he said. “This year, we’ve reached maybe 20,000 kilos for the entire season.”

Here in Calenzano, about 20 kilometers north of Florence, production was down about 80 percent. Some farmers did not even bother trying to harvest; it was not worth the cost. Many farms are organic and did not use pesticides to stave off the fly.

Biological methods were ineffective because the persistent rains made mass trapping more difficult and required nearly constant reapplications of various sprays, like fruit fly bait and kaolin clay.

While some Tuscan towns opted to call off their annual olive

celebrations, Calenzano’s administrators felt it was important for its festival — now in its 19th year — to go on.

Mr. Gondi joined other local producers over two November weekends. But all he could offer at this stand was the last bottle of the 2013 harvest. “It was an ethical choice to not produce” what would have been substandard oil, he said.

Few of the local producers at the festival had any of their own olive oil to sell. Some were peddling secondary products — wines, biological spelt, legumes, honey — that might get them to next year. Others were selling Sicilian or Greek olive oil. The fear is that the weather has become permanently unpredictable, and that the crisis of 2014 foreshadows future bad harvests.

Farmers throughout Italy are hoping that the temperatures will drop below freezing this winter, killing the flies, but so far warm temperatures have prevailed. If that continues, more aggressive steps must be taken to combat the blight.

“It shouldn’t even cost much,” said Niccolò Taiti, the head of Calenzano’s tourist bureau. “But it has to be done, otherwise trouble is assured.”

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

29

MONEY & BUSINESS

Investors Put a Price On Innovative Art

By JAMES B. STEWART

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAMES HILL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

A Financial Ghost Town Seeks Tenants

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

MOSCOW — In the coveted corner office, a bearded man in sweatpants scrambled eggs at a kitchenette, taking in the beauty of the city lights twinkling far below. Two other men played video games on an Xbox. In place of cubicles, there are bunk beds.

High Level Hostel, one of the newest tenants in the financial district here known as Moscow City, sits on prime real estate on the 43rd floor of a multimillion-dollar tower.

“We thought, ‘why not open a hostel in a skyscraper?’ ” said Roman Drozdenko, the 25-yearold owner.

Moscow’s skyscraper district, formally the Moscow International Business Center, reflects the broader problems in the Russian economy, which is predicted to be in recession in 2015. The country, facing financial sanctions and dominated by state-run companies, has no need for vast office spaces for stock traders and bankers.

The entire $12 billion site, some 60 hectares that now includes the tallest building in Europe, Mercury City Tower, had a vacancy rate of 32 percent at the end of October, according to Cushman & Wakefield, the real estate consultancy. The rate is projected to rise above 50 percent next year when new buildings open.

“Russians have a great tradition of building things they don’t need,” said Sergei Petrov, an office worker in one of the towers.

Moscow City was envisioned as a hub of emerging market finance, a testament to Russia’s growing international influence.

For a time, the idea was not improbable: From 2000 to 2007, the Russian economy grew on average 7 percent a year.

One tower, called Evolution, twists in a DNA-evoking double helix. The spires of Federation Towers resemble billowing sails, evoking Russia sailing into a capitalist future. Federation Tower East will rise 95 stories to a height of 373 meters, surpassing its still mostly empty neighbor Mercury City Tower as the tallest building in Europe.

Eight skyscrapers are fin-

Some skyscrapers in Moscow’s business hub are mostly empty. High Level Hostel rents space there. ished. Eight others are under construction, and two more are planned.

Western sanctions have taken aim at Russia’s largest state financial institutions, Sberbank and VTB, which both own towers or space in Moscow City. The banks now have a limited ability to issue debt on global markets, limiting their growth options.

The sanctions are expected to trim about 1 percentage point of growth from Russia’s gross domestic product this year.

Even without sanctions, prob-

Vast spaces meant to service a robust economy are empty. lems have been stacking up. Rising inflation, falling oil prices, and a tumbling ruble have left Russia near recession.

The government also accounts for an outsize proportion of the economy, leaving scant jobs for the bankers, lawyers and traders for whom Moscow City was built. In Russia, 81 percent of the shares of the top 10 companies are owned by the same entity, the state, compared with 11 in Germany, according to the Organi-

ONLINE: VACANCIES HIGH UP

A visible sign of Russia’s economic troubles: nytimes.com Search High Level Hostel

zation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Moscow City is shifting tactics to fill the space. Various nonfinancial ventures are renting space. One company sells Cambodian citizenship to Russians wanting a second passport. A culinary school is opening. Many multinationals have rented space. IBM, General Electric, KPMG, General Motors, Hyundai, Energizer and Japan Tobacco International are all tenants.

Prices, too, are falling. Mr. Drozdenko, the hostel owner, said a real estate agent offered him the space for about $8,000 a month for 148 square meters.

Empire Tower, the skyscraper where High Level Hostel sits, is still largely empty two years after opening. High Level Hostel opened in September, with prices starting at $25.50 in a six-person room, including a breakfast of toast, porridge or muesli.

The hostel manager, Leonid L. Fedotov, 19, recalled backpacking guests from Holland named Ron and Eve. “It was really cool because Ron and I played guitar in the evening,” he said, as they gazed out at the sea of lights of Moscow below.

If there were still any doubts that “making money is art,” as Andy Warhol pronounced, they were surely vanquished last month when his silk-screen print “Triple Elvis (Ferus Type),” an image taken from a Hollywood studio publicity shot, sold for nearly $82 million.

In just two weeks in New York, auction houses sold over $2 billion in art, a record for major New York fall auctions.

The billionaire investor Steven A. Cohen paid over $100 million for a Giacometti sculpture. A Manet sold for $65 million, two Mark Rothkos for $45 million and nearly $40 million, a Georgia O’Keeffe for $44 million and a small Jasper Johns American flag for $36 million.

The lofty sums stunned even longtime art market watchers.

“It’s phenomenal,” said Michael Moses, a founder of the Mei Moses Fine Art Index, a widely followed measure of art prices. “At the Christie’s postmodern and contemporary sale, the average compound return was 20 percent annualized. That’s amazing.”

For better or worse, financial terms like “compounded rates of return” have elbowed their way into the traditional vocabulary of art connoisseurship.

The record sales left some dealers and collectors talking about irrational exuberance and a bubble, especially in the soaring contemporary-art market. But Evan Beard, who leads Deloitte’s art and finance practice in the United States, said he didn’t agree. “If you were seeing second-rate works selling for huge values, then you’d say there’s dumb money out there,” he said. “But the works selling for these high multiples are important works that art historians have deemed innovative and have had influence. People want to own original works of genius.”

In a recent survey of art professionals by Deloitte, 76 percent said collectors viewed art, at least in part, as an investment — up from 53 percent two years ago.

Bankers are treating art like any other asset class, which, in turn, is helping drive up prices. More banks are lending against art as collateral.

John Arena at U.S. Trust said the bank had billions outstanding in loans guaranteed by art. “Contemporary and postwar art is the driving force,” he said. In contemporary art, “you’re dealing with a younger generation of collectors, who are comfortable with the economic aspects of their art. ” The soaring prices are being driven by market forces rather than aesthetics, said David Galenson, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago.

What does matter, he said, is innovation by the artist. “It’s really incredibly simple,” he said. “Valuable paintings are innovative. Valuable artists are innovators. Cézanne did

Bankers who treat Warhols like any other assets. his most influential work at the very end of his career, Picasso at the very beginning, when he invented Cubism. Nineteen sixty-two is when Warhol started using mechanical reproductions and photography and reinvented modern art. His works from the 1960s are the very most expensive.”

Mr. Beard agreed. “That you saw the ‘Triple Elvis’ sell for so much has nothing to do with its aesthetic value or coolness or hipness and everything to do with the fact that historians agree that Warhol with this work influenced art history,” he said.

The Japanese artist Kazuo Shiraga, who died in 2008, is hardly a household name. But his “BB56” sold for $4.9 million,

CHRISTIE’S

Kazuo Shiraga’s ‘‘BB56.’’

The artist is obscure, but his work is seen as innovative. which represents the single best compounded rate of return — 53 percent — of any work sold last month.

The work’s description in Christie’s catalog hits all of Professor Galenson’s benchmarks. It’s innovative: “Painted directly with the artist’s feet as he suspended himself above the canvas from a rope hanging from the ceiling, the painting represents a unity of the central tenets of postwar abstraction with performance art.”

And it’s from the most influential period of the artist’s work: “Painted in 1961, ‘BB56’ dates from a highly significant time for the artist,” the catalog description says, adding that 1962 “was the year in which Shiraga was given his first solo show outside Japan, at the Galerie Stadler in Paris, where this painting was exhibited.”

That it may look, to some, like a child’s finger painting is irrelevant. “A lot of contemporary art is aggressively ugly,” Professor Galenson said. “That doesn’t matter in terms of its value.”

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Sanctity of Truth

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

MONEY & BUSINESS

Tech Toys That Go Beyond the Screen

By FARHAD MANJOO

When we talk about children’s access to digital technology, we often focus on “screen time,” but across the industry, the Internet is escaping the screen.

Today thermostats, bathroom scales and automobiles can be controlled through an online connection. Tomorrow, our toys will have similar powers, too. And that connection may forever alter how we think about play.

“We want to draw kids out of a two-dimensional screen, to blend a hands-on physical experience with an app, and make something new come to life,” said Vikas Gupta, a co-founder and the chief executive of Wonder Workshop, a start-up that makes Dash and Dot, two programmable toy robots that will begin shipping to early backers this holiday season.

Dash and Dot are controlled by a mobile app, but they can also be taught to understand and react to events that happen

When apps control robots, our idea of play changes. in the real world — to play a real tune on a xylophone, say, or to bark in response to a child’s clap.

The Internet is infiltrating just about everything your child plays with, from balls to dolls to sticks to bricks, promising to make physical toys much more fun and emotionally resonant.

Because connected toys can acquire new capabilities over time, the Internet might even make toys less disposable. As soon as your child becomes bored with a toy, it might be able to do something new.

Some manufacturers, including Mr. Gupta, say digital toys could also revolutionize education. While disguised as playthings, toys like the Dash robot are teaching children the basics of computer programming.

But most important, the Internetification of toys might finally break the spell of the screen.

When a generic toy like a ball or a car is sprinkled with digital pixie dust, it becomes

something like a real-life video game. But because these are physical gadgets that move in the real world, they often make for a far more powerful experience than a game rendered only in pixels on a two-dimensional tablet.

The convergence between physical and digital toys is a powerful force, and it is already being felt by large manufacturers. One of the world’s most popular series of action figures is an add-on for a video game, Skylanders: Trap Team, which is published by Activision. In the game, physical action figures can be added to the onscreen action, each taking on a different role in game play.

Besides the Dash and Dot robots, which sell for $228 as a pair, or $169 for the larger Dash, the latest connected toys include Anki Drive, a robotic, artificially intelligent slot-car track, whose starter pack costs $149.99; and Sphero 2.0 and Ollie, an app-controlled ball and a rolling robot, which go for $99 each.

The Dash robot comes with four different apps, each meant for a slightly different age. The simplest apps work like remote controls, allowing any child who can draw on the screen to move the Dash along a path or to command the robot to change colors or make animal sounds. The more advanced apps offer capabilities that approach a full-functioning programming language. Older children will be able to get the robot to interpret its sensor data as it traverses a room and to perform different actions based on that data.

The Anki Drive racing car set uses software to give each car on the track a different personality and set of powers, similar to the characters you would see in an on-screen video game.

There are evil cars, canny cars, cars with weapons and cars that prefer to go on the defense.

“There used to be this growing gap between the toy side and the video game side,” said Boris Sofman of Anki.

Mr. Sofman says apps allow toymakers to create physical toys with their own personalities that aren’t necessarily borrowed from other media.

“You can start thinking about this as Pixar in 3-D,” he said. “You have this blank slate where you can build whatever you like, because you have software controlling it.”

STUART GOLDENBERG

PHIL BRAY FOR NETFLIX

Netflix’s new series “Marco Polo” is about the traveler’s adventures in Kublai Khan’s court.

Netflix Is Inspired for Expansion

By EMILY STEEL

In the first episode of “Marco Polo,” Netflix’s new original series, the Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan sits on a throne in his gilded palace and plots the future conquests of his growing empire.

One adviser questions whether the ruler desires to be emperor of Mongolia or emperor of China. Khan rises from his throne, draws his sword and roars: “Emperor of China? Emperor of Mongolia? I want to be emperor of the world!”

Such a declaration could have been written for Netflix itself as it pursues global expansion. The streaming company has pushed aggressively into over 50 countries and counts more than 50 million total global subscribers.

“It is no secret that we want Netflix to be a global product,” said Ted Sarandos, its chief content officer.

As was the case with Kublai Khan’s 13th-century empire building, Netflix’s 21st-century mission will involve a series of battles as the company encounters vast cultural differences, fierce rivals and high costs, among other challenges.

Infrastructure issues like establishing payment systems for customers proved difficult in Latin America. And about a fifth of the company’s market value has evaporated since mid-October, after it disappointed investors with slower-than-expected subscriber growth. Some analysts have raised concerns that rapidly rising obligations tied to paying for content could leave it in a precarious financial position.

Analysts predict that Netflix will face threats as more companies start streaming services of their own. It must also outmaneuver competitors like HBO, which already has a robust international business and announced a streaming deal last month in China. Netflix is doubling down on its international bet, preparing to enter markets like Australia and New Zealand next March,

and snapping up global rights for original film and television programs.

But perhaps its biggest content wager is “Marco Polo,” its series about the traveler’s adventures in the court of Kublai Khan. Netflix owns the international rights for the show, which is produced by the Weinstein Company and is available for streaming on all of Netflix’s global outposts. At about $90 million for the first season’s 10 episodes, according to industry executives, only HBO’s “Game of Thrones” is said to have a bigger budget.

Executives and producers said they hoped that “Marco Polo” — filmed in Italy, Kazakhstan and Malaysia with an international cast of hundreds and filled with gory battles, sexual allure, adventure, martial arts and political intrigue — would resonate

Looking for business in new lands, just like Marco Polo. with viewers around the world.

“At the heart of it is a universal story,” said John Fusco, the creator and an executive producer.

“The journey of Marco Polo is the hero’s journey, one that all cultures across the globe can relate to.”

While shooting “Forbidden Kingdom” in 2007, he and his son crossed Central Mongolia on horseback. Along the way, Mr. Fusco said they encountered story after story about Kublai Khan and Marco Polo. “That always fascinated me because so few people make the connection between the two,” he said. “Marco Polo has been kind of buried under this cloud of rather banal historical dust when the true story is so much more exciting.”

After pitching the idea around Hollywood, Mr. Fusco eventually heard from Harvey Weinstein.

ONLINE: EXPLORING AN EMPIRE

John Fusco, creator of “Marco Polo,” narrates a scene: nytimes.com Search Marco scene

The Weinstein Company and the multimedia studio Electus announced in 2012 that they had found a home for the series on Starz, the premium cable network. Production soon hit roadblocks. Seeking a bigger budget, producers took the idea to Netflix. Mr. Sarandos picked up Mr. Fusco’s scripts, couldn’t put them down and signed on to the project.

The resulting production is much larger than the series planned at Starz. The construction crew included 400 people, with an additional 160 in the art department. For battle scenes, hundreds of extras appeared costumed and on horseback.

Producers had looked at more than 100 actors, but still hadn’t found their Marco Polo. Mr. Fusco’s wife, an acting coach, stayed up one night, went through the audition tapes and found a little-known Italian actor named Lorenzo Richelmy.

Mr. Richelmy, 24, flew to Malaysia and landed the role. He started an intensive training program that included four hours in the gym, martial arts and horseback- riding lessons each day.

Producers brought on a team of cultural advisers and historians to ensure that the narrative would be authentic enough to hold up to viewers worldwide.

The buzz around the show will serve as a promotional tool for Netflix as it enters new markets, Mr. Sarandos said. Although it doesn’t currently operate in Asia, it hasn’t ruled out the possibility.

Mr. Sarandos likened Netflix’s global expansion to Marco Polo himself. “At some point or another we have all been a stranger in a strange land,” he said. “Netflix is that stranger in a strange land.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

Sanctity of Truth

31

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Pardis Sabeti, far right, leads the Broad Institute’s work on the Ebola and Lassa viruses. A machine used to prepare samples.

Searching Genes For Clues to Ebola

By GINA KOLATA

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — An old brick building, formerly a distribution center for Budweiser beer, is now the world’s most powerful factory for analyzing genes from people and viruses.

At any given time, 10,000 test tubes holding gene-containing fluid are being processed by technicians, working 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The machines spit out sequence data onto a computer screen in the form of a long list, in order, of the letters that make up genetic material.

That is three billion letters if the genes are from a person.

It is all in service of researchers who work for the Broad Institute, a lavishly endowed genetics center a few blocks away. The sequencing center has worked on human DNA from an international effort, the 1,000 Genomes Project, that looks at the genes of people from around the world. It has gotten sequences of microbes like malaria. It has gotten sequences from animals like chimpanzees. And it is to here that scientists studying Ebola and a similar disease, Lassa, send their samples.

The Ebola and Lassa group, led by Pardis Sabeti, wants to know what the viruses look like.

Do they mutate while they are infecting people? Are some strains more deadly than others? Are some people more resistant to these viruses? The aim is to get a detailed picture of disease epidemiology, as the disease is happening. Armed with that, doctors may be able to stop epidemics.

In one of their first investigations, the group traced the start of the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone from a single funeral in

In pursuit of reasons why some get ill while others don’t.

May that ended up infecting 14 women. Sierra Leone’s department of health and safety sent epidemiologists to the remote village to trace the disease, asking who had been at the funeral and whom they had contacted. They found 14 ill with Ebola and an additional 35 people who tested negative for Ebola but had been exposed and had some symptoms.

The blood from those people was sent to the Broad Institute, where any viral genetic material in it

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAMON WINTER/THE NEW YORK TIMES

was sequenced. Those 35 were not infected. But the test found the virus in the 14 who had the disease.

For their continuing work on why some who are exposed to Ebola become sick and die while others escape infection or become sick and recover, the investigators need to study the genes of the patients themselves. In Sierra Leone, Dr. Sabeti said, people do not want them studying cells of people who died. “So for now, we will be studying survivors,” she said.

While Dr. Sabeti and others work on Ebola, they also are working on Lassa and asking the same questions. Lassa is much more common than Ebola, and has many of the same symptoms: fever, vomiting, bleeding in some cases. Only 16 percent of those admitted to hospitals in Sierra Leone with it survive.

Lassa, unlike Ebola, infects the brain, so survivors often end up with permanent neurological damage.

Dr. Sabeti’s interest in Lassa was piqued seven years ago, before there was an Ebola epidemic, and before sequencing

reached today’s low price and fast speed. She had decided to look at already-determined DNA sequences from people around the world with a simple question: Are there new gene mutations that might protect against disease?

The idea was that if a disease entered a population and was deadly, those who carried a protective mutation would survive and reproduce and soon that good mutation would become common.

She saw one such mutation in Nigeria — it was a slight change in a gene and so common that 34 percent of the population has it.

The gene, called LARGE, is 10 times to 50 times bigger than other genes.

It turned out that the role of the LARGE gene was well known. It modifies a protein on the surface of cells that the Lassa virus uses as an entryway.

Lassa had been in Nigeria for about 1,000 years. Dr. Sabeti looked at DNA sequences from Sierra Leone, where Lassa entered about 150 years ago. Ten percent had the mutation. Elsewhere, it was unheard-of. To

confirm her suspicion that the mutation was protective, she had to get cells from people who were exposed to Lassa and fell ill and those with similar exposure who resisted the virus. So far, based on a small set of data, the mutation in LARGE does appear to be protective.

“Everyone is so myopically focused on Ebola,” she said, that they are not testing for Lassa and other infectious diseases in many places. The challenge with Lassa and Ebola was to follow the spread of the viruses in real time. And that meant finding a quick and accurate way to get the genetic sequences of Lassa and Ebola viruses from samples of blood.

It took the Broad group five years to develop such a viral blood test. Now the group is starting to study how variations in the genetic sequences of the viruses affect the course of infection.

“There are hundreds of mutations evolving in individuals,” Dr. Sabeti said. “We can see the new mutations emerging, and it helps us understand transmission.”

Captivated by Mysteries of the Early Universe

By CLAUDIA DREIFUS

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — Among astrophysicists, Abraham Loeb is known for his creative and prolific attempts to understand the early universe.

Dr. Loeb, 52, known as Avi, specializes in 400,000 years to one billion years after the Big Bang.

The chairman of the astronomy department at Harvard University, he has published more than 400 papers on the nature of early stars, galaxies, planets and black holes.

“Avi is very good at picking problems to work on that have testable results,” said Robert Wilson, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering cosmic microwave background radiation. Here is an edited version of an interview with him.

Q. Why

did you choose the early universe as your area of study?

A. Because I like to work where there’s no crowd. One of the great pleasures of astrophysics is try-

ing figure out something about the universe that nobody else has.

Over the years, I’ve helped develop tools to image and map what happened. I’ve developed a technique to image the universe in three dimensions that relates to the times when galaxies were formed. I also developed a test which will hopefully permit us to see the expansion of the universe in real time. It will be loaded onto the James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to be launched in 2018. This should produce new insights. So this once lonely field has gotten crowded.

Q. Last year you published an as-

tonishing paper suggesting that some type of life might have been possible in the early universe, billions of years before it appeared on earth. Where did this come from?

A. On Thanksgiving morning, I had this realization: that at the time the first stars and gal-

axies were formed, the cosmic microwave background — the radiation left over from the earliest time — was roughly at room temperature. So the universe, at roughly 15 million years after the Big Bang, was at a comfortable enough temperature for the chemistry of life to have incubated. I realized this while in the shower — as often happens.

We had guests coming in the afternoon. So I asked my wife if instead of helping her with the meal, I could take care of the dishes after dinner. That gave me a few free hours to think this out.

What it came down to was that if there had been planets that early, they could have been warmed by the cosmic microwave background. They didn’t need to be warmed by a star. And so the chemistry of life could have started that early.

Q. You once published a paper suggesting that if we’re serious

about looking for extraterrestrial life, we might seek out markers of industrialization, like smog.

Smog?

A. Yes, smog might serve as a fingerprint of an industrial civilization. It’s always been thought that the way to detect life elsewhere was to look for signs of oxygen. But intelligent life could produce unnatural molecules.

They might do that intentionally if their planet was too cold for life.

Unnatural molecules might even show signs of a civilization that may not exist anymore because unnatural molecules can survive long after a civilization.

Q. How

do you handle the vast quantities of time and space that you must navigate to do your work? Do you ever feel lost in the stars?

A. Personally, I do not feel lost in the stars, but rather at home with all of them. When I look at the stars of the Milky Way on a clear night, they appear to me

JARED LEEDS

Abraham Loeb studies the nature of the earliest stars. like the lights of a giant spaceship streaming through the universe.

Are there any passengers around the other lights in this spaceship?

It would be fun to know and, perhaps, share experiences with them.

32

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Insects Race the Rats For Crumbs in the City

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Every city dweller has seen it — a rat nosing through a potato chip bag on the subway tracks, a pigeon dodging traffic while pecking at a pizza crust, a squirrel diffidently approaching the remains of a turkey sandwich abandoned on a park bench. But it turns out that these enthusiastic garbage collectors are not the only animals cleaning up the mess we make.

A recent study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, has found that millions of tiny insects are also picking up after us in cities, potentially consuming the equivalent of 60,000 frankfurters a year — and that just on a stretch of 150 blocks of median strips in Manhattan.

During the summer of 2013, researchers working in parks and

Picking up behind us, the tiniest garbage collectors. on street medians in Manhattan measured temperature and humidity and sampled the population of arthropods — ants, millipedes, mites, spiders and others.

To establish the diversity of species at each site, they sifted through the leaf litter and sucked ants into an aspirator by hand.

They extracted 16,294 bugs, including representatives of 32 species of ants.

The scientists placed a supply of junk food at each site: Ruffles potato chips, Nabisco Nilla Wafers and Oscar Mayer Extra Lean Franks.

They put some of the food in a cage that allowed insects in but kept out rats, squirrels and other vertebrates. The rest was placed where any animal could eat it. After about 24 hours, they returned to each site to see what

had been consumed.

On a third of the street medians, insects ate 100 percent of the caged food. Where all animals had access, about twice as much food was removed, suggesting that vertebrates and insects have more or less the same diet.

Potato chips and cookies were universally preferred; hot dogs were generally leftovers.

“The environment in a city is performing a function. In this case, it turns out that arthropods are removing refuse,” said Christopher M. Swan, an associate professor of geography and environmental systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who was not involved in the study.

Urban ecology has not been widely researched, often neglected in favor of studying protected natural areas, said the lead author, Elsa Youngsteadt, a research associate at North Carolina State University. “But,” she added, “more than half the world’s population lives in cities, and we have to decide how the organisms that live around us provide services or disservices to us.”

The researchers estimate that in a single, blocklong median strip, over an active period of five months to eight months, insects could remove about four to six kilograms of garbage. In 150 blocks of street medians, that adds up to 590 to 950 kilograms of dry weight a year.

Dr. Youngsteadt says insects are helping city residents by competing for food with rats.

“You may not like ants,” she said, “but you probably like rats even less.”

The city had another take on the results. The study, said a spokesman, Levi Fishman, “confirms that street litter, particularly discarded food, is a major source of food for rats and other pests, which is why we encourage the public to dispose of garbage in one of the many trash receptacles throughout the city.”

DAVID PLUNKERT

In 150 blocks of street medians, bugs are thought to remove up to 950 kilograms of edible trash a year.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY RINA CASTELNUOVO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Recycling ‘‘was part of human evolution,’’ said Ran Barkai, at work at Qesem Cave.

Cave Reveals Recycling Culture

By ISABEL KERSHNER

ROSH HAAYIN, Israel — For years, archaeologists have been digging their way through prehistoric layers of time, unearthing the secrets of Qesem Cave.

Located 12 kilometers outside Tel Aviv and discovered by accident during a road project in 2000, the cave most recently offered up insights into life hundreds of thousands of years ago that provide a counterpoint to at least one aspect of modern life. It seems early inhabitants cared about recycling.

“Recycling was a way of life,” said Ran Barkai of Tel Aviv University. “It was part of human evolution and human nature.”

Archaeologists have found thousands of recycled tools in the cave, including bone hammers and reworked flint stones.

With aged, glossy surfaces broken by newer, rougher razor edges, the flint tools were part of a vast collection of knives apparently used for butchering, cleaning animal hides and cutting vegetables. Some of the blades are as sharp as a scalpel and as small as a thumbnail.

At the cave site, there is evidence that prehistoric humans were not always so thrifty, but that the behavior evolved. Life in the region dates back at least 1.5 million years, but Professor Barkai said that a dramatic change had occurred here 400,000 years ago. He said that for some unknown reason the elephants that had served as a main food source apparently disappeared, prompting a change of menu and lifestyle.

In the quest for survival, Israeli archaeologists say, the cave dwellers here began hunting fallow deer instead of elephants. At the same time, they discovered the delights of a hot, home-cooked meal — and apparently invented the barbecue.

These early humans had the intelligence to squeeze the maximum out of every product.

After cooking the meat, then smashing the bones to extract the marrow, Professor Barkai said, “they used the bone fragments to create tools with which

stretched across the territory that now includes Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

T he hu nters needed to become more discerning, agile and efficient.

On average, 80 deer were needed to make up the fo o d prov ide d Evidence of re-used tools is common. by one elephant.

An older surface is carved into an edge. The cave dwellers gathered fruit and nuts and collected wood for fires. The area to butcher the next deer.” had natural springs and flint in The cave was exposed by abundance. chance when road builders They began crafting their widening the highway to the sharp tools from flint, racing West Bank settlement of Ariel ahead of their time and their hublasted a hillside, collapsing the cave’s ceiling. Another arman contemporaries in Europe and Africa. chaeologist who happened to be “This was the high technolonearby, guarding his own cave, spotted chunks of rock packed gy of the ancient man,” Profeswith bones and flint and immesor Barkai said.

In a patch that once served as diately realized that the site was a hearth, layers of hardened ash prehistoric. date back 300,000 years. Here The cave caused a bit of a stir the earth is packed with bone in 2010, when it was reported fragments, including a horse’s that several teeth found there jaw. had provided evidence for the Though sporadic use of fire existed much earlier, Qesem Cave has been established as the site with the earliest evidence of the systematic use of fire for roasting meat on a daily, domestic basis — “like when we turn on the gas stove,” as Professor Barkai put it. The cave dwellers’ ancestors probably ate their elephants raw. existence of Homo sapiens, or The cave was organized like modern humans, 200,000 years a house, he said, with different earlier than in Africa. areas serving as a kitchen, a By now, 13 early human teeth workshop and an area where have been found, and Profeschildren appeared to have pracsor Barkai said the inhabitants ticed making flint tools of their might have been a kind of missown.

Professor Barkai said that eving link — more advanced than Homo erectus and precursors of idence of some of the same beHomo sapiens and the Neanderhavior, technologies and meththals. The Stone Age innovators ods had been found as far away lived here on and off from about as Syria and that there must 400,000 to 200,000 years ago. have been some kind of comThe early humans had to munication between the early adapt to their changing envihumans in the region.

“I don’t know how,” the proronment. They developed an independent, local culture, fessor says. “There was no WiProfessor Barkai said, that Fi, but they knew each other.”

A civilization ahead of its time, living in a cave in Israel.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

33

STYLES

Islamic Fashion Tries to Imbue Modesty With Style

By VANESSA FRIEDMAN

A fashion event took place last month that seemed — well, not like the others: the Islamic Fashion Festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“Islamic fashion festival? Just doesn’t make sense,” one Muslim girl tweeted.

But that, it turned out, was precisely the point.

Founded nine years ago by Dato’ Raja Rezza Shah partly to combat stereotypes about Islam, the festival is part of a wider movement within a slice of the Muslim world — most often Muslims living in minority contexts, or non-Arab Muslim majority countries — that has seized on fashion as a means to reshape the cultural narrative. Or at least how it is seen.

As Reina Lewis, a professor at the London College of Fashion and the author of “Muslim Fashion: Contemporary Style Cultures,” to be published in 2015, said: “Every time there is a moral panic in the West about Muslims as a civilizational Other, whether it is about the jihadization of young men or whatever, it is illustrated with a picture of women wearing the hijab or abaya, shrouded in black.”

The designer and blogger Dian Pelangi, who specializes in rainbow-tinted tie-dyed chiffons and silks combined with African detailing that also cover the head and body, told The Jakarta Post: “I think that if Islamic fashion can gain traction in America, it will change people’s perceptions of Islam and Islamic fashion.”

The festival, which began in 2006 and is now held three times a year, most recently was a showcase for 26 designers from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Pakistan. The festival has an official goal to build “an updated visual and cultural reference from which Islam can be related to the

Clothing design as a tool to change the Muslim story.

VINCENT THIAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS, ABOVE AND TOP

Islamic designs by Calvin Thoo and, far left, Dian Pelangi.

ONLINE: RESHAPING A LOOK

A video on traditional fashions updated: nytimes.com Search Dan Pelangi

BEAWIHARTA/REUTERS

modern world through the creative arena of fashion divorced from political, economic and social strife.”

But it is also a lucrative market.

The Muslim clothing and foot-

wear market was estimated by Thomson Reuters at $224 billion globally in 2012 — 10.6 percent of total global expenditure in the sector, and the second biggest market in the world after the United States ($494 billion in 2012). The news agency projects it to grow to $322 billion by 2018.

Malaysia is competing with Dubai and Indonesia for the position of “capital of Islamic fashion,” Dr. Lewis said. “It’s part of

national branding strategy and development.”

Calvin Thoo, one of the designers who has been participating in the event since it began, said, “There is this crisis where Islam has probably been given a bad name by extremists, and I want to show modest dress does not have to mean somber, or boring or so complicated.” His recent collection featured not just long sleeves and skirts and high necks, but also peplums, chiffon halters, beading on shoulders and arms and lace cutaways, all

in jewel tones.

Most of the clothes on display were marked by saturated colors, from jade to rose, sapphire, crimson and white, as well as elaborate draping and headpieces. They were modest in coverage, but not aesthetic ambition.

Where the festival may differ most from the competing fashion weeks of Dubai (founded in 2005) and Jakarta (founded in 2008)is that it has traveled to London, New York, Monaco, Singapore and other cities.

The festival is a part of a growing awareness in a diverse array of cultures and countries that fashion may be a useful communications tool. Colombia’s InexModa has been part of an effort to change the national story from one of drug-running to one of design. And Zambia’s fashion week was conceived to move the conversation from poverty to creativity and pride.

Festival organizers are positive about its potential. “I believe I.F.F. has managed to bring the message that Islam does not equal to terrorism; an easy example is we are still invited around the world,” Dato’ Rezza wrote in an email message.

Dr. Lewis was more measured.

“I don’t want to suggest this approach will end global friction or war,” she said. “But alongside the depiction of Islam as a religion of peace and universal values, the depiction of Islam as part of contemporary consumer culture is an effective way to convey the message they live in the same world as everyone else.”

For a Dating App, How You Look Says It All

By NICK BILTON

WEST HOLLYWOOD, California — In the two years since Tinder was released, the smartphone app has exploded, processing more than a billion swipes left and right daily (right means you “like” someone, left means you don’t) and matching more than 12 million people, the company said.

Scientists and relationship specialists who study online dating suggest it isn’t what Tinder is doing correctly that has made it so popular, but rather what earlier dating sites have done wrong.

Services like eHarmony, OKCupid and Match.com have proclaimed that their proprietary algorithms could calculate true love, or that math equations could somehow pluck two strangers to live happily ever after. That appears to be more fiction than fact.

All that really matters, according to scientific researchers from Northwestern University and Illinois State University, at least in the beginning of a relationship, is

Screen swipes get beyond the surface of potential mates. how someone looks.

On Tinder, you simply log in through Facebook, pick a few photos that best describe “you” and start swiping. It may seem that what happens next is predictable (the best-looking people draw the most likes), and all that swiping has given Tinder the nickname “the hookup app.” But relationship experts for Tinder say there is something different going on.

“Research shows when people are evaluating photos of others, they are trying to access compatibility on not just a physical level, but a social level,” said Jessica Carbino, Tinder’s dating and relationship expert.

“They are trying to understand, ‘Do I have things in common

with this person?’ ” Ms. Carbino is looking into what kind of visual cues could cause a person to swipe “like” or “nope.” She has discovered that Tinder users decoded an array of subtle and not-so-subtle traits before deciding which way to swipe. The style of clothing, the pucker of the lips and even the posture, Ms. Carbino said, tell us a lot about their social circle, if they like to party and their level of confidence.

In one Tinder survey, women were asked to swipe through a series of photos of handsome male models. In almost every instance, the women dismissed the men with chiseled faces. “Men with softer jaw lines indicate that they have more compassion,” Ms. Carbino said.

Men also judge attractiveness on factors beyond just anatomy, though in general, men are nearly three times as likely to swipe “like” (in 46 percent of cases) as women (14 percent).

“There is this idea that attraction stems from a very superfi-

cia l outlook on people, which is false,” said Sean Rad, co-founder and chief executive of Tinder. “Everyone is able to pick up thousands of signals in these photos. A photo of a guy at a bar with friends around him sends a very different message than a photo of a guy with a dog on the beach.”

Paul W. Eastwick, an assistant professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, and Lucy L. Hunt, a graduate student, have published a paper noting that a person’s looks are what is most important when trying to find a mate.

“There isn’t a consensus about who is attractive and who isn’t,” Mr. Eastwick said. “Someone that you think is especially attractive might not be to me.

ELLEN WEINSTEIN

That’s true with photos, too.”

Tinder’s data team echoed this, noting that there isn’t a cliquey, high school mentality on the site.

“When was the last time you walked into a bar and someone said, ‘Excuse me, can you fill out this form and we’ll match you up with people here?’ ” Mr. Rad said, referring to the questionnaires on other dating sites.

“That’s not how we think about meeting new people in real life.”

34

Sanctity of Truth

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

ARTS & DESIGN

Berlin Partying Goes On In Ruins

Berlin’s techno emerged after the reunification of Germany.

Fiese Remise, a club near the Spree River.

By JON PARELES

Sunrise on a Sunday morning is barely noticeable in Berghain, the club that has been the citadel of techno music in Berlin for a decade. Its main dance floor is a perpetually dark place illuminated, infrequently, by flashing lights overhead and packed, hour after hour, with increasingly sweaty dancers. Its D.J.s play marathon sets that run nonstop, night and day, through weekends and into Monday afternoons, sustaining the metronomic mayhem of untrammeled Berlin techno: giant, booming drumbeats and bass lines bearing down and building up again.

Berghain’s main room was once the turbine hall of an East Berlin power plant; it has starkly functional steel stairs, concrete walls and a towering 18-meter ceiling. The crowd is dressed for dancing, not display: women in little black dresses or tank tops and shorts, men in hoodies and jeans, or shirtless, or wearing leather harnesses and little else. People sway, jitter, hop around, bob their heads, jerk their shoulders, shake their hips, grind in couples. Off the dance floor are shadowy alcoves where private encounters occur.

The atmosphere is charged with an ominous euphoria.

Last month Berlin celebrated the 25th anniversary of the

DANIEL ETTER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

1989 opening of the Berlin Wall.

The anarchic energies set free by its fall have defined the city for a generation, despite recent tendencies toward the international clichés of gentrification.

The scars of division are still visible in places like the East Side Gallery, an undemolished 1.6-kilometer-long section of the wall along the Spree River now decorated with mural paintings.

One aspect of reunification that no one would have predicted — the emergence of techno and a tenacious, do-it-yourself club scene — has turned out to be a cornerstone of the city’s identity. Even as mainstream electronic dance music moves toward the glamour and celebrity of pop, Berlin’s tradition is still to party in the ruins: dark, unglamorous, driven.

“This culture is part of the DNA of the city,” said Sven von Thülen, a journalist and D.J. “The anarchy days — years — gave the subculture time to root itself into the culture of the city.”

Berlin is no longer solely ruled by techno. House music, the style that dominates clubs internationally, also booms over many dance floors in the city.

But the kind of big-room house music that looks toward pop — the music of globe-hopping arena D.J.s — still hasn’t conquered Berlin. “Berlin has the vibe of, ‘We do it by ourselves,’ ” said Ellen Allien, a D.J. “The sound is more rough here than other places, more underground.”

The techno that emerged during Berlin’s reunification was a product of unique circumstances: new music, available spaces and emerging drugs like Ecstasy.

“Gorbachev is guilty for techno,” said Dimitri Hegemann, who started the pioneering club Tresor. “Because he opened the wall, he finally gave the green light. There was optimism, euphoria. Everything was creative, everything was possible, we could do what we wanted to do. All these kids from East and West went to Berlin to see what’s going on, and then there were no authorities for awhile to chase after illegal clubs.”

Where the wall had carved a perimeter for its infamous death strip, there were abandoned buildings awaiting party-givers.

Techno took hold in Berlin as an import. This was the

techno of Detroit producers like Juan Atkins and Derrick May. Detroit’s techno refracted some of the robotic electronic sounds and beats introduced in the 1970s by German bands like Kraftwerk through American house music and hip-hop.

Another major factor shaped Berlin club culture: no more curfews. That helped create the late-night-and-into-the-nextday habits. Few partygoers bother to show up before 1 a.m.

Berlin still favors music over bling. Its clubs have arbitrary doormen. There are stories of women being turned away from a club because they were wearing high-heels and clearly not planning to dance much.

Through the years, illicit, ephemeral clubs have given way to places with permits, safety checks and public schedules.

And inevitably, stark Berlin techno faces competition from styles that are popular elsewhere. Someday, perhaps, the clubs’ prime riverside locations will become corporate offices or apartments with a view. But not for the moment. A generation after the techno takeover, Berlin is still dancing in the dark.

A Child-God Stars in an All-Action Bible Movie

By MICHAEL CIEPLY and BROOKS BARNES

LOS ANGELES — Ridley Scott’s 3-D “Exodus: Gods and Kings” has computer-generated plagues, waves and tornadoes. It has boat-chomping crocodiles, 400,000 digitally rendered Hebrew slaves and a sword-wielding Christian Bale as a “Gladiator”-like Moses.

But God may still steal the show. “Exodus,” which goes into worldwide release this month, preserves the severity of the Old Testament God, but does it all within the persona of a willful child. Mr. Scott uses an 11-yearold British actor, Isaac Andrews, to give voice and visage to his Almighty, rather than concealing the deity behind a pillar of fire, as Cecil B. DeMille chose to do in his “Ten Commandments.”

And it is Mr. Andrews — stern-eyed, impatient, at times vaguely angelic and at times terrifying — who is already beginning to trouble those who take their Bible seriously.

“It would be difficult for anyone who has any relationship with God and the Scripture to say this is O.K.,” said Chris Stone, a marketing consultant.

His company, Faith Driven Consumer, helps to connect products, including movies, with observant Christians. The company was rebuffed, Mr. Stone said by way of disclosure, when it sought to become an adviser to the film, which he has not seen.

There was early evidence of a backlash against the movie in October, when Mr. Bale, speaking at a screening of “Exodus” footage for reporters, used the word “mercurial” to describe the Old Testament God and inadvertently created a problem for 20th Century Fox, which is releasing the film, on Christian and tabloid websites.

Gary A. Rendsburg, a professor of Jewish studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said that he could immediately think of only one Old Testament reference that might support the notion of God as a young innocent.

That is a very brief reference in the first Book of Kings, Chapter 19, in which God speaks to Elijah in what is described as a “still small voice.”

In the Book of Exodus, Mr. Rendsburg said, God is neither man nor spirit, but rather “a character” who still has man-

Mining Exodus for an effects extravaganza. like traits by which much older generations understood him.

“He’s very conversational, and you can still have a one-on-one with him,” said Mr. Rendsburg — though he noted, per Exodus, Chapter 33, that to look upon God would kill a human.

In mid-November, the Hollywood Reporter published a report identifying Mr. Andrews as the avatar for God in “Exodus.”

Mr. Scott said he trusted his “gut” in deciding to have God speak through what he imagines might be a shepherd boy.

Fox noted that at least one early viewer among the faithful, the Reverend Floyd Flake of New York’s Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral, had a positive reaction to “Exodus” after a private screening. “I believe it will get a good response,” Mr. Flake said.

Many Christians, he added, will probably find the notion of

a child God consistent with accounts of Christ’s birth in the New Testament.

For Mr. Andrews, “Exodus” has clearly delivered the role of a lifetime. “I need a general,” Mr. Andrews snaps at Moses at one point, setting off a war of liberation in Egypt. The resulting action film elements, which pit Mr. Bale against Joel Edgerton, as the pharaoh Ramses, turn Mr. Scott’s 3-D movie into an experience considerably more kinetic than DeMille’s “Ten Commandments,” from 1956.

Fox and Chernin Entertainment decided early on to sell their film not as a religious story, but as an action extravaganza, in the mold of Mr. Scott’s “Gladiator,” according to people briefed on the studio’s strategy.

Bill T. Arnold, a professor at the Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, at first laughed when told of Mr. Andrews’s portrayal. But then he said he was intrigued.

“There’s some sense of God as a boy that I like,” Mr. Arnold said.

“I don’t know what my impression will be when I see it,” he added. “But I want to give them the benefit of the doubt.”

The Book, Without The Pages

By ALEXANDRA ALTER

Print has been good to Jeffery Deaver. Over the last 26 years, Mr. Deaver, a lawyer-turned-thriller writer, has published 35 novels and sold 40 million copies of them globally.

But his latest work, “The Starling Project,” a globe-spanning mystery about a war crimes investigator, isn’t available in bookstores. It won’t be printed at all. The story was conceived, written and produced as an original audio drama for Audible, the audiobook producer and retailer.

If Mr. Deaver’s readers want the story, they’ll have to listen to it.

“The Starling Project,” which came out in mid-November, will test the appetite for an emerging art form that blends the immersive charm of old-time radio drama with digital technology.

It’s also the latest sign that audiobooks are coming into their own as a creative medium.

Audible has produced around 30 original works, as varied as a serialized thriller about a conspiracy that drives India and Pakistan to the brink of nuclear war, and original short stories set in the world of Charlaine Harris’s vampire novels.

“You have this massive opportunity when you don’t have to fight for people’s eyes,” said Donald Katz, chief executive of Audible. “It’s time for us to move from sourcing content that can produce fantastic audio, on to imagining what the aesthetic of this new medium should be from the ground up.”

It’s no surprise that authors are eager to make their mark in the medium. In the first eight months of this year, sales of digital audiobooks were up 28 percent over the same period last year, far outstripping the growth of e-books, which rose 6 percent, according to the Association of American Publishers. Meanwhile, hardcover print sales for adult fiction and nonfiction fell by nearly 2 percent.

Mr. Deaver said that when Audible approached him about writing an original story for them, he was a bit daunted. “It was like a nonvisual play,” he said.

First, he charted a plot about a retired army intelligence officer, Harold Middleton, who is recruited to stop a shadowy mass-murder plot called “The Starling Project.” The action takes place in Mexico, Washington, London, Marseille and central Africa. Mr. Deaver quickly ran into problems, though, finding it was tricky to establish geographic locations through dialogue (he opted for a flight attendant’s announcement in one scene).

Mr. Deaver said he was hoping the project would help him build a new audience of listeners.

“There are so many time-wasting alternatives to reading out there, and authors are up against formidable competition with things like Assassin’s Creed, Minecraft, Angry Birds,” he said.

“This is an easier way for people to get access to good storytelling.”

Business | Money Line

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

35

CBN floats US500m fund for agriculture VALUE CHAIN NIRSAL is to generate an additional $3 billion of bank lending within 10 years

Godson Ikoro

T

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) plans to invest the sum of USD 500 million to boost both the agricultural value chain and lending to the value

chain, in order to make agriculture under the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) scheme.

Explaining the rationale behind the investment, the apex bank said the agricultural sector is central to Nigeria’s economy, accounting for 40 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and providing over 60 percent of employment.

However, the sector represents only 1 percent of exports and over the last decade, agricultural growth has slowed down

and today, it is underperforming despite enormous potential.

Also, the apex bank noted that funding level in the agricultural sector stands at about 2 percent of the total lending of banks as against 6 percent in a country like Kenya.

Addressing these issues require an innovative approach, hence the introduction of the NIRSAL. In order to reverse the trend and tackle some of its major challenges in agriculture such as low productivity, poor technology and cultural practices, low research

and development, and under-financing of the agricultural value chain, the apex bank is investing USD500 million.

A breakdown of the figure showed that the sum of USD300million will be for risk-sharing facility to address banks’ perception of high-risks in the sector by sharing losses on agricultural loans; (USD30 million) Insurance Facility to expand insurance products for agricultural lending from the current coverage to new products, such as weather index insurance, new variants of pest and

Interbank lending rates hit 43.5%

N

igeria’s interbank lending rates rose to 42.5 percent last Friday, from 30 percent last week, following a large Central Bank OF Nigeria (CBN) withdrawal to meet banks’ cash reserves requirement (CRR).

The apex bank last month hiked the CRR on private sector deposits with commercial lenders to 20 percent, from 15 percent, to support the local currency. It also raised interest rates by 100 basis

points to 13 percent.

The banking watchdog according to Reuters News, has mopped up N868 billion naira from the banking system over the last two weeks to meet the CRR. Over night rates spiked to 70 percent last Tuesday as banks scrambled for cash to cover their positions but eased

by Thursday after N150 billion of treasury bills matured.

As the apex bank has been forced to tighten

monetary policy to defend the currency, it also risks hurting Africa’s biggest economy, as high interbank rates will constrain credit growth and could create bad loan problems for lenders.

The balance that lenders hold with the CBN closed at a debit of over N100 billion, compared with N45 billion penultimate week.

The secured Open Buy back (OBB) traded at 40 percent last Friday, compared with 30 percent

penultimate week, while overnight lending closed at 45 percent, against 30 percent last week.

The OBB was 27 percentage points higher than the CBN’s benchmark rate of 13 percent.

“Lending rates should ease next (this week) week to below 20 percent on average because there will be treasury bill maturities and possible cash flows from budget allocations to government agencies for November,” one dealer said.

Economic Indicators As at M2* CPS* INF IBR MPR 91-day NTB DPR PLR Bonny Light Ext Res**

N14,737,618.7m N16,509,472.5m 8 0.0000 12 10.899 7.96 17.01 US$109.9 US$42,604,781,796.6

Description

TTM

4.00% 23-Apr-2015 13.05% 16-Aug-2016 15.10% 27-Apr-2017 16.00% 29-Jun-2019 16.39% 27-Jan-2022 10.00% 23-Jul-2030

1.21 2.53 3.22 5.39 7.98 16.47

Tenor (Days) Call 7 30 60 90 180 365

Rate (%) 11.9167 12.3333 12.6667 12.9167 13.2167 13.5000 13.7500

NIBOR

Dec, 2013 Dec, 2013 Dec, 2013 2/5/2014 1/20/2014 11/6/2013 Dec, 2013 Dec, 2013 1/20/2014 2/5/2014 Source:CBN

FGN Bonds Bid Price 90.20 99.25 104.10 109.35 114.15 76.60

Offer Yield 13.01 13.40 13.47 13.49 13.44 13.59

Price 90.35 99.40 104.40 109.65 114.45 76.90

Tenor (Months) 1 2 3 6 9 12

Rate (%) 12.1827 12.2737 12.3744 12.8521 12.8535 13.8443

Treasury Bills Maturity Date 08-May-14 07-Aug-14 22-Jan-15

Bid 12.10 12.10 12.05

FX

Bid Spot ($/N) 163.28 THE FIXINGS –NIBOR,NITTY and NIFEX of February 6,2014

NITTY

Yield 12.86 13.33 13.35 13.42 13.38 13.53

Money Market Offer 11.85 11.85 11.80 Offer 163.38

Open-Buy-Back (OBB) Overnight (O/N)

Rate (%) 11.33 11.63

NIFEX Spot ($/N)

Bid 163.4000

Offer 163.5000 Source: FMDQ

disease insurance and (USD 60 million) for technical assistance facility to equip banks to lend sustainably to agriculture, for producers to borrow and use loans more effectively and increase output of better quality agricultural products.

Others are the USD 10 million holistic bank rating mechanism a mechanism, which rates banks based on two factors, the effectiveness of their agricultural lending and the social impact and makes them available for the public and USD 100 million Bank Incentives Mechanism, which offers mechanism offers winning banks in Pillar four, additional incentives to build their long-term capabilities to lend to agriculture.

NIRSAL is a dynamic, holistic approach that tackles both the agricultural value chain and the agricultural financing value chain.

“NIRSAL does two things at once; fixes the agricultural value chain,

so that banks can lend with confidence to the sector and, encourages banks to lend to the agricultural value chain by offering them strong incentives and technical assistance,” the regulator said.

Furthermore, the apex bank said that NIRSAL unlike previous schemes, which encouraged banks to lend without clear strategy to the entire spectrum of the agricultural value chain, emphasises lending to the value chain and to all sizes of producers.

In order to actualise the objectives, six pilot crop value chains have been identified based on existing crop production levels and potential in six high-potential breadbasket areas; namely, tomatoes, cotton, maize, soya beans, rice and cassava.

The target of NIRSAL is to generate an additional USD 3 billion of bank lending within 10 years to increase agricultural lending from the current 1.4 to 7 percent of total bank lending.

Sterling Bank targets 700 ATMs, 5, 000 POS terminals

T

o ensure ease of transaction by its customers in the coming year and also cushion the effect of the perceived reintroduction of the ATM charge of N65 on Remote-on-Us Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transactions on its customers, Sterling Bank said it has concluded plans to increase its ATM points to 700 by year end. The lender’s ATM points currently stand at 585.

Besides, the bank in a statement, said that it would start the 2015 financial year with 5,000 Point of Sales (POS) terminals.

In response to the request of its customers nationwide, Sterling Bank said that additional ATMs galleries would be put in place in strategic locations nationwide while a robust infrastructure to support the expansion has also been put in place.

Remote-on-Us transaction occurs when a cardholder goes to the ATM of a bank other than his or her own bank to make a withdrawal. The cardholder will be charged N65 after making three withdrawals from such ATMs within a given month. The bank where his or her account is domiciled will be responsible for the payment of the charge of N65 for the first

three withdrawals from another bank’s ATM. Sterling Bank’s Group Head, Strategy & Communications, Mr. Shina Atilola said that Sterling Bank has commenced aggressive roll out of ATMs nationwide. His words: “We have almost doubled our ATM count between December last year and September 2014. We started the year with 300 ATMs but aim to close the year with about 700.

This would involve additional deployments at existing locations, partner locations and ATM galleries” He noted that beyond cash withdrawals, customers could confirm their account balances, do transfers (inter and intra bank), pay bills such as electricity and DSTV and buy airtime at the Bank’s ATMs “As a financial institution poised to enrich lives, Sterling Bank will continue to maintain high quality ATM services by supporting the inter-operability of the payment system in the country. We will continue to deploy more ATMs to promote the cashless policy of the CBN and ensure that our customers are provided with enough platforms to transact their financial transactions,” he stressed.

36

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

SATURDAY

SPECIAL REPORT

New Telegraph’s 2014 Top 100 Companies in Nigeria In line with our well-publicised intention to recognize and celebrate the private sector companies contributing the most to the stability and growth of the nation’s economy, we are happy to unveil today, in no particular order, those we adjudge to be Nigeria’s Top 100 companies.

These companies are the ones that ranked the highest, by our assessment, using the criteria of market capitalization, profitability/bottomline, brand awareness, attraction of skilled workforce, and corporate social responsibility. We present to you the profiles of Nigeria’s Top 100 Companies in 2014. We intend to make this recognition and celebration an annual event. Enjoy!

Project Team (Editorial): Biodun Durojaiye (Head of Projects); Ayodele Aminu (Deputy Editor, Business); Bayo Akomolafe (Asst. Editor, Maritime); Sunday Ojeme (Asst. Editor, Insurance); Godson Ikoro (Asst. Editor, Money Market); Dele Alao (Industry & Agric Editor); Dayo Ayeyemi (Property Editor); Adeola Yusuf (Energy Editor); Wole Shadare (Aviation Editor); Chris Ugwu (Capital Market Editor); Kunle Azeez (Senior Correspondent); Nnadozie Azubike. Business Development: Taiwo Ahmed (Business Dev. Manager); Dipo Ariyo (Asst. Business Dev. Mgr); Kayode Oyesile (Asst. Business Dev. Mgr); Nelly Nwabudike (Business Dev. Exec.); Tayo Ajayi (Business Dev. Exec.); Anne Okafor. Editorial Production: Johnson Adebayo (Asst. Production Editor); Timothy Akinleye (Head, Graphics); Nnakwe Ugochukwu (Head, Creatives & Arts).

Special Report 37

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

Nigerian Breweries Plc, incorporated in 1946, is the pioneer and largest brewing Vervelde company in Nigeria. Its first bottle of beer, Star lager, rolled off the bottling lines of its Lagos brewery in June 1949. Other breweries were subsequently commissioned by the company, including Aba Brewery in 1957, Kaduna Brewery in 1963, and Ibadan Brewery in 1982.

Other brands from the stable of the brewery giant, with Nico Vervelde as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, include: Maltina, Gulder, Amstel Malta, Fayrouz, and Heineken.

Nigerian Breweries now has eight operational breweries from which its products are distributed to all parts of Nigeria, in addition to malting plants in Aba and Kaduna.

The company has won several awards as a mark of its good performance in various spheres. These include the prestigious Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) President’s Merit award for several years. For three consecutive years (2001, 2002 and 2003) Nigerian Breweries Plc won the NSE Quoted Company of the year award. It has also won the Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) awards for its various products.

Its unaudited results for the six months period ended 30th June, 2014 show an increase of 14.4 per cent and 15.5 per cent respectively in Profit Before Tax and Profit After Tax over the corresponding period of 2013.

Market capitalisation stood at N1.2 10 trillion as at last month (November), while profit after tax was N43.08 billion as at December 2013.

PZ Cussons, formerly PZ Industries, is a well-diversified comGiannopoulos pany with high brand awareness. It operates across a number of industries including manufacturing and sale of consumer products, electronic appliances and the wholesale distribution of general merchandise. Its consumer products line includes soaps, detergents, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and confectioneries. The company’s electronic products include refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and plastic containers.

In the last century, the company has developed a deep understanding of the Nigerian markets, its consumers and general landscape which enables it to develop and market leading brands that touch the life of consumers.

Its Chief Executive Officer, Mr Christos Giannopoulos, a Greek, joined the Group in July 1988. He had worked in several managerial roles in the UK, Australia, Kenya and Indonesia before joining the Nigerian subsidiary in 2002. The company now has no fewer than 4,961 staff.

PZ Cussons’ market capitalisation as at last month stood at N88.144bn while it recorded a profit after tax of N5.082bn as at May 2014.

Unilever Nigeria Plc, was incorporated as Lever Brothers (West Africa) Ltd on Nsarkoh April 11, 1923 by Lord Leverhulme. But the company’s antecedents have to be traced back to Leverhulme’s trading interests in Nigeria and West Africa generally, and to the fact that he had since the 19th century been greatly involved with the soap business in Britain. Unilever Nigeria Plc started as a soap

manufacturing company, and is today one of the oldest surviving manufacturing outfits in the country.

After series of mergers/acquisitions, the company diversified into manufacturing and marketing of foods, non-soapy detergents and personal care products. These mergers/acquisitions brought in Lipton Nigeria Ltd in 1985, Cheesebrough Ponds Industries Ltd in 1988. The company changed its name to Unilever Nigeria Plc in 2001.

Unilever Nigeria Plc, which has Mr.Yaw Nsarkoh, as Managing Director, is a public liability company quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange since 1973 with Nigerians currently having 49 per cent of equity holdings.

Notable brands on the stable of the company include: OMO, Pears, Knorr, Sunlight, Lipton, Vaseline and Lux. The company’s market capitalisation stood at N124.848bn as at last month and profit after tax stood at N4.806bn as at December 2013.

Nestle Nigeria Plc is engaged in the manufacturing, marketing Gordhan and distribution of food products including purified water throughout the country and West Africa.

The company, which has Mr. Dharmesh Gordhan, as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, operates in two business segments: food and beverages.

Its food segment includes the production and sale of Maggi, Cerelac, Nutrend, NAN, Lactogen and Golden Morn. Its beverages segment includes the production and sale of Milo, Milo Ready to Drink, Chocomilo, Nido, Nescafe and Nestle Pure Life.

The company explores the use of local raw materials in its production processes and has introduced the use of locally produced items, such as soya bean, maize, cocoa, palm olein and sorghum in a number of its products. It substituted imported corn starch with locally produced cassava starch as a recent development. The company’s products are distributed through various distributors spread across the whole country.

The company’s market capitilisation as at November 2014 was N681.692 billion while N22.258 billion was recorded as Profit After Tax as at Dec. 2013 financial year.

GlaxoSmithKline is one of the world’s leading research-based Dayanand pharmaceutical and healthcare companies.

The company, which has T.S. Dayanand, as its General Manager in Nigeria, says its mission is to improve the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. With headquarters in Industrial Avenue, Ilupeju, Lagos State, the company has a manufacturing plant at Km 32 Igbesa Road, Agbara Industrial Estate, Agbara, Ogun State.

In Nigeria, GlaxoSmithKline has been a dominant and leading force in the healthcare industry, having a strong presence in the country in the past 40 years.

GlaxoSmithKline operates globally with business units focused on pharmaceuticals, vaccines and consumer healthcare products.

GlaxoSmithKline Nigeria has shown commitment to putting value back into the communities in which it operates. Over the years, it has been investing in various community partnership projects aimed at not only increasing community access to healthcare, but also at empowering communities at the grassroots level. All GSK projects are developed in partnership with not only the authorities and appropriateNonGovernmental Organisation (NGOs) concerned, but especially the communities to which such projects belong.

DHL is the global market leader in the logistics industry Buday and prides itself as “The Logistics company for the world”. DHL commits its expertise in international express, air and ocean freight, road and rail transportation, contract logistics and international mail services to its customers. DHL Express the world’s leading international express services provider has been operating in Nigeria since 1979 and its Lagos operation functions as the regional hub for its West Africa operations. .

It has Randy Buday as the managing director in the country.

DHL Express recently launched a new, dedicated Boeing 737-400 for Nigeria, strengthening its intraAfrica air network and improving connectivity between the country’s major cities.

One of DHL’s retail products catering to the shipping needs of all Nigerians is Express Easy.

DHL Express has been actively expanding its retail footprint across Nigeria through thirrd party retail partnerships. To date, over 200 outlets offer DHL Express services across Nigeria.

Dangote Group, established in May 1981 as a trading business with an iniDangote tial focus on cement, under Aliko Dangote, President/Chief Executuve Officer, diversified over time into a conglomerate trading cement, sugar, flour, salt and fish. By the early 1990s, the Group had grown into one of the largest trading conglomerates operating in the country.

In 1999, following the transition to civilian rule and after an inspirational visit to Brazil to study the emerging manufacturing sector, the Group made a strategic decision to transit from a trading based business into a fully fledged manufacturing operation. In a country where imports constitute the vast majority of consumed goods, a clear gap existed for a manufacturing operation that could meet the ‘basic needs’ of a vast and fast growing population.

The Group embarked on an ambitious construction programme, initially focused on the construction of flour mills, a sugar refinery and a pasta factory. In 2000 the Group acquired the Benue Cement Company Plc from the Nigerian government and in 2003 commissioned the Obajana Cement Plant; the largest cement plant in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Group is now one of the largest manufacturing conglomerates in sub-Saharan Africa and is pursuing further backward integration alongside an expansion programme in existing and new sectors.

The Dangote Group is one of the most diversified business conglomerates in Africa with a hardearned reputation for excellent business practices and products’ quality. It has its operational headquarters in Lagos.

Since inception, the Group has experienced phenomenal growth on account of quality of its goods and services, its focus on cost leadership and efficiency of its human capital.

Today, Dangote Group is a multi-billion naira company poised to reach new heights, in every endeavour competing with itself to better the past.

The Group’s core business focus is to provide local, value added products and services that meet the ‘basic needs’ of the populace. Through the construction and operation of large scale manufacturing facilities in Nigeria and across Africa, the Group is focused on building local manufacturing capacity to generate employment and provide goods for the people.

38 Special Report

The emergence of and momentum being witnessed Hodara Poignonnec in the Nigeria’s e-commerce space today can be traced to the coming onboard of an e-commerce platform such as Jumia.com.ng in 2012.

As an African online shopping site, where people can browse through and purchase a wide range of electronics, fashion, home appliances, and kid’s items among others, the business was founded by Chief Executive Officers, Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec. With funding from Rocket Internet, Jumia had initial offices in Nigeria and Egypt.

Started as an e-commerce startup with an aim to mimic Amazon’s success by delivering a wide range of items across Africa, Jumia soon extended operations to Morocco, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire.

In 2013, the business received $35 million in Series B funding from Millicom, an investment firm, to contribute towards its expansion in its domestic market and the move into a new 90,000 square foot warehouse located in Lagos. Jumia finished a great year in 2013 by winning the title of the Best New Retail Launch.

Over the years, the Nigeria’s leading electronic commerce platform has increased its post-money valuation from about $265 million to over $554 million (about N94.1 billion), following its raising of about $150 million additional funding from its existing shareholders.

With the advent of Jumia as a key player in Nigeria, the e-commerce sector has grown significantly with greater growth prospect with official figures indicating that Nigeria’s e-commerce is set to reach $10 billion value in the next few years.

Though, there are other players on the e-commerce space of the Nigerian economy, Jumia has continued to gain impressive growth and visibility based on its seamless and effective delivery system and flexible payment terms, which has also built public confidence in online purchase in a country where cases of cybercriminals is rampant. This year, Jumia extended its services to Uganda.

Omatek Ventures Plc. is one of the leading indigenous InforSeriki mation Technology firms in Nigeria, which has today grown into a group of companies with Omatek Ventures Plc as the holding company.

Omatek Ventures Plc’s subsidiaries are Omatek Computers Ltd (Nigeria), Omatek Computers Ltd (Ghana), Omatek Ventures Distribution Ltd (Nigeria), Omatek Ventures Distribution Ltd (Ghana) and Omatek Engineering Services Limited. The company with N1.470 billion capitalisation has N225 million Profit After Tax (PAT) as at December, 2012.

The story of Omatek started December 1996, when Mrs. Florence Seriki, the Group Managing Director of the company, saw an apparent need to champion the use and application of ICT in the day-to-day living by starting one-on-one executive training for business executives in the private and public sectors.

In 1988, the executives entrusted her with corporate staff training and also relied on her expertise to source for their personal computers. She then proceeded to become a premium partner for the foremost foreign brands in the likes of Compaq, HP, IBM and Apple and Datamini. The transformation continued and in 1990 Omatek Ventures Limited as the company became a vendor of some of the world- class computers.

After posting over $1million in revenue from sales of these brands, Omatek commenced the assembly of Omatek brand of computers from Semi Knocked-Down (SKD) parts purchased from key brand manufacturers in Asia. The high quality of these computers made its sales in the financial and key corporate sectors highly successful.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Omatek brand soon gained grounds as it could hardly meet up with the supply of products due to high demand for its products. Hence, By 2002, the need to have its own factory was only necessary but the company decided to establish the First Completely Knocked Down (CKD) factory in Africa to produce Omatek brands casings, speakers, computers, notebooks and this gave birth to a new company called Omatek Computers Limited – the factory.

As a result of the high demand for the brand and the increased capital outlay required to purchase raw materials, the company went into a joint venture with two of the major banks in Nigeria, under the Small Medium Enterprise Scheme (SMEIS) in 2003, which the company exited successfully in 2008. So, in the course of time, Omatek metamorphosed from being a computer training outfit to a selling firm and ultimately to become a computer manufacturer.

It is on record that Omatek is one of the few companies with accelerated entrant into the stock market, considering the short period between its private placement and the actual listing. It was another memorable day in history of the company when it got listed on the Nigerian Stock Market on June 18, 2008 shortly after it exited the SME scheme. The shares of the company were oversubscribed by a whopping N5 billion.

Starting off as a privately owned business in 1985, Chams Plc has Aladekomo successfully migrated from the business of computer maintenance to the business of developing enterprise technology solutions in identity management, transactional card-based services, e-commerce and mobile payment system.

Chams Plc, whose management is spear-headed by Sir Ademola Aladekomo, remains the leading provider of Information Technology solutions in Nigeria, providing intelligent solutions to a wide range of public and private sector initiatives.

Chams Plc is reputed as the first home-grown company to be listed in Guinness Book of World Records, for setting up the ChamsCity Mega Digital Mall and also the first Computer Technology Company listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. As at December 2013, Chams Plc’s capitalisation was N2.348 billion while Profit After Tax stood at N188.5 million.

These notable achievements have been attained by constantly reviewing and actualising the mission of Chams Plc “Advancement of Information Technology through the provision of high standard Professional Information Technology Services competitively and profitably” and the business concern “provision of infrastructure to drive e-payment, transaction and identity management”, thus, the subsidiaries and business units of the company were positioned to deliver these over the past 28 years.

Today, the company has three strategic business units including ChamsCity, Identity Management and Naira.com while its subsidiaries include ChamsMobile, ChamsAccess, PayMaster, Card Centre and Chams Consortium. Chams Plc, which is currently providing the backend support for the implementation of the ongoing Banking Verification Numbers (BVN) exercise in the financial services industry, has directed its corporate social responsibility (CSR) at two major areas.

The first is Chams Employee Volunteer Scheme in partnership with Volunteer Corps; a non-profit establishment committed to delivering educational and social service support to pupils in public secondary schools; while the second, tagged Chams Theatre Series, is focused on promoting culture and innovation.

Founded in 1991 by John Obaro, who is also the Chief Executive OfObaro ficer of the company, SystemSpecs has since emerged as a leading provider of e-Payment, Financial,

and Human Capital Software solutions for the Nigerian and African environment.

SystemSpecs is a software house with a focus on providing the most qualitative human capital management and financial software solutions for the Nigerian and African market. SystemSpecs offers applications that focus on the core aspects of your business.

With corporate headquarters in Lagos, SystemSpecs has a vision to be the Software Institution of reference in Africa and a mission to be the leading provider of qualitative e-payment, financial and human resource management software solutions to discerning clients in the Nigerian and larger African market. SystemSpecs today has a number of solutions which, altogether, is driving electronic payment revolution in the country.

Leading the pack of the company’s innovative solutions and its flagship is Remita, which is a world class electronic courier service that rides on secured e-Payment Highways to deliver funds to bank accounts and associated schedules to relevant bodies in their pre-specified formats. It is a one-stop solution that enables you to meet payment obligations to your employees, pensioners, vendors, contractors and other 3rd parties from the comfort of your office or mobile devices.

Today, the volume of transaction through the Remita platform has exceeded N500 billion monthly.

Remita comes in three modules designed to deliver specific functionalities to organisations. They are Remita e-Payment Module, Remita e-Collection Module and Remita Payroll & Biometrics Module.

Others are HumanManager, which is a comprehensive, innovatively-designed and easy to use Human Capital Management software solution that has become Africa’s leading HR and Payroll solution and Infor FMS SunSystems is a flexible and proven financial, business and performance management software solution used by organisations globally, with over 18,000 implementations in about 190 countries. Infor FMS SunSystems delivers value irrespective of the nature of your business or the changing business environment in which an organisation operates.

SystemSpecs solutions also include Infor Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) which gives large, asset-intensive businesses the tools to monitor and manage the deployment, performance, and maintenance of company assets, helping to prevent operational surprises and uncover hidden profits; and Infor Performance Management (PM) is a cost-effective solution tailored to the business requirements of organisations.

Samsung Electronics, operating in Nigeria under Samsung Electronics West AfKim rica (SEWA), is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Suwon, South Korea with SEWA operation headed by Mr Brovo Kim as Managing Director.

It is the flagship subsidiary of the Samsung Group, amounting to 70 per cent of the group’s revenue in 2012 and has been the world’s largest information technology company by revenues since 2009. Samsung Electronics has assembly plants and sales networks in 80 countries and employs around 370,000 people.

Samsung has long been a major manufacturer of electronic components such as lithium-ion batteries, semiconductors, chips, flash memory and hard drive devices for clients such as Apple, Sony, HTC and Nokia.

In recent years, the company has diversified into consumer electronics. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile phones and smartphones fuelled by the popularity of its Samsung Galaxy line of devices. The company is also a major vendor of tablet computers, particularly its Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Tab collection, and is generally regarded as pioneering the phablet market through the Samsung Galaxy Note family of devices.

In the first quarter of 2012, the company became the highest-selling mobile phone company when it overtook Nokia, selling 93.5 million units compared to Nokia’s 82.7 million units. Samsung also became the largest smartphone vendor as a result of strong sales of its Galaxy SII and Galaxy Note devices.

In May 2013, Samsung announced that it had finally managed to test speed-enhanced fifth generation (5G) technology successfully.

Special Report 39

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

Due to smartphone sales - especially sales of lowerpriced handsets in markets such as India and China Samsung achieved record earnings in the third quarter of 2013. The operating profit for this period rose to about 10.1 trillion won ($9.4 billion), a figure that was boosted by memory chip sales to customers such as Apple, Inc. In Nigeria, the Corporate Social Responsibility of Samsung has been focused on capacity building for Nigerian students in the area of engineering scheme through Samsung Academy

As a key player in the Nigeria’s telecommunications space, Ezeigbo Slot System Limited has become a household name for affordable and durable mobile phones for all levels/classes of people.

As an indigenous company, Slot doesn’t just sell phones, it provides first class after sales support. Over the years, Slot has been the first to announce new phones, new functions, features, and upgrades in Nigeria.

Incorporated in 1998, Slot started importation of computer accessories the same year. Slot Systems made a priceless contribution in providing personal computer (PCs) in virtually every house and office in the late 90s.

Due to the ingenuity of its dynamic leadership in 2001, Slot switched over to mobile telecommunication services and since then it has been the flagship in this sub-sector.

The Managing Director is Mr. Nnamdi Ezeigbo.

The Nigerian Aviation Handling Company PLC (NAHCO Aviance) is a diversiYahyah fied Nigerian enterprise with interests in aviation cargo, aircraft handling, crew and passenger transportation, and power distribution.

The company currently serves more than 30 airlines at seven airports across Nigeria, with plans to expand operations to other African countries. It handles about 70 per cent of domestic and foreign airlines operating in Nigeria.

NAHCO Aviance was incorporated on December 6, 1979 as an aviation servicing company but started operations in April 1979 with the commissioning of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. The Federal Government of Nigeria, through Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), initially held 60 per cent equity interest in the company while four foreign airlines - Air France, British Airways, Sabena and Lufthansa - sharing the remaining 40 per cent in various ratios.

In 2005, NAHCO Aviance was privatised and subsequently listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2006.

The company is now owned by over 70,000 shareholders, including three international airlines, Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa; as well as a local investor, Rosehill Group Nigeria Limited.

Since its privatisation, the company has embarked on business diversification programme that cuts across industries and geography, as a result of which it has developed strategic global alliances through its membership of Aviance, the global alliance of 10 reputable airport service providers operating from 112 stations in 17 countries, and The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA), which exists to promote the air cargo industry and world trade.

In 2010, nahco aviance was awarded the ISAGO certification, the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations, becoming the first and only ground handling company in West Africa to receive one of the aviation industry’s highest honours for safety and service quality. NAHCO Aviance is rated Aa- by Augusto and A- by GCR. In 2010, it incorporated NAHCO Energy & Power Limited a joint venture of NAHCO Aviance, Rosehill Group and Empower of Finland, which is a technical partner.

The company also incorporated NAHCO FTZ Limited to drive the initiative into the power sector and enhance

operational efficiency and competitiveness.

NAHCO Aviance employs more than 1,600 Nigerian and expatriate staff and in 2011 generated N7.14 billion in revenue.

Alhaji Suleiman Yahyah is the chairman of the company.

Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL) Owolabi is 100 per cent owned by the Sifax Group and incorporated as an Aviation Ground Handling Service Provider under the Nigerian Company & Allied Matters Act of 1990.

SAHCOL, which was formerly known as Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited, before it was privatised and handed over to the Sifax Group on December 23, 2009, was carved out of the liquidated Nigeria Airways Limited as part of the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Aviation’s reform of 1996.

Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited, with its new private sector management composition and orientation has kicked off the development of business models geared towards ushering in efficient service delivery.

SAHCOL has invested in personnel development, state-of-the-art fleet replacement and massive infrastructure development, to ensure efficient and speedy service delivery totalling over N5 billion.

SAHCOL’s duties involve all the actions that take place from the time an aircraft touches down on the tarmac to the time it is airborne. It also ensures that the right assignment is carried out in an efficient, speedy and safe manner, deploying the right tools.

SAHCOL is significantly present in all the commercially operated airports in Nigeria, where excellent and speedy services are offered in the following areas: Ramp handling, Passenger handling and Cargo handling.

Mr Oluropo Owolabi is the Managing Director of the company.

Arik Air was founded in 2002 as the vision Ikhide of Sir Arumemi Ikhide, a leading and wellrespected Nigerian businessman who understood that if business was to succeed, there needed to be efficiency and quality of service.

He had spent many years travelling throughout Nigeria without the satisfaction of knowing that he could depend on the existing choice of air transport services available to him. He also recognised the importance of healthy market competition in achieving efficiency. A plan for change was soon set in motion.

In 2002, with the national airline in liquidation, Sir Arumemi-Ikhide bought a Hawker jet aircraft for his personal use, safety and convenience. Word spreads and before long his business contacts in the oil and gas industry were using his aircraft to travel throughout Nigeria too. He bought a second Hawker jet. He is the owner of a corporate jet business.

In 2004, Arik Air was incorporated with the goal of becoming an airline that ‘Nigeria and the rest of the world would be proud to fly’ according to Arumemi-Ikhide.

Desirous of proving one of the biggest airlines in the country, the firm in 2005, brought together an experienced airline start-up team and sourced the best aircraft to launch an airline that will set new standards and change the face of the aviation industry in Nigeria.

Following the completion of successful ‘proving’ flights, Arik Air welcomed in April 30, 2006 passengers on board brand new Bombardier CRJ 900 aircraft, the first new commercial aircraft to operate in Nigeria for over 20 years.

Years back, the airline invested $ 3.7 billion on new medium and long haul aircraft. Shortly after, the airline commenced its first African regional service, to Accra in Ghana.

The airline began commercial operations in December 2008 on the airline’s first international long haul route with a daily non-stop service between Lagos and London Heathrow (UK). The route is served by Arik’s flagship new A340-500 aircraft, operated by partner Hi Fly Transportes Aeros S.A. of Portugal.

On June 2009, it commenced operations to its second long haul destination - Johannesburg, South Africa - as well as flights to several destinations in the West African region; linking Lagos to Freetown (Sierra Leone), Dakar (Senegal), Banjul (Gambia) as well as Cotonou (Benin).

In November 2009, it launched third long-haul destination - New York, operating non-stop flights three times a week, between New York JFK (USA) and Lagos.

In addition, Arik launches non-stop services between the capital cities of London and Abuja from its new home at the renovated London Heathrow Terminal 4 just as in September 2012, it carried 10 millionth passenger under six years of operation.

Eko Hotel & Suites is the most preferred Kioupouroglou hotel in West Africa. Located in the heart of the beautiful Victoria Island, and shielded from the hustle and bustle of the Lagos metropolis. The hotel is spread over three buildings with spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean and the Kuramo Lagoon.

Beautiful gardens and magnificent African landscaping surround the 600-room hotel. Eko Hotels offers the corporate clients and walk in guests a perfect blend of relaxation, activities, and African tradition the highest international standards. The hotel has taken important steps to live up to West Africa’s future model in the hospitality sector.

With the best conference and banqueting facilities; tastefully furnished to a 7000-seater capacity; a worldclass swimming pool ; 654 excellently furnished rooms with a choice of city and sea views, the Eko Suites for a more private stay; a 170 luxury rooms in its EKO SIGNATURE and seven different restaurants and bars among other facilities.

In line with its commitment to quality and innovation, the Eko Hotel and Suites went through a major refurbishment programme by Chagoury Group companies, including the addition of a new 5 star roof top restaurant.

The hotel is equipped with a standard Health and fitness Center comprising of a state-of the-art gym, a tennis court, a volley ball court, a sauna, a massage room and a medical clinic. Our newly renovated swimming pool is the best of its kind.

Overseeing the hotel as General Manager is a Greek professional, Danny Kioupouroglou.

China Civil Engineering Construction Li Corporation (CCECC) was established in 1979 according to the approval of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China.

It performs international contracting and economic cooperation, CCECC has been developed from the earlier Foreign Aid Department of the Ministry of Railways (with the experience of executing the biggest foreign-aid project of China, the TAZARA) into a large-scale stateowned enterprise for project contracting.

Its business scope expands from international contracting for railway construction to civil engineering design & consultancy, real estate development, trading, industrial investment and hotel management as well.

The business activities of CCECC have expanded to over 40 countries and regions where more than 20 overseas offices or subsidiaries have been established. With its excellent performance and high quality in services, CCECC has been listed among the world’s top 255 international contractors for many years and ranked consecutively among the first 70 in recent years by the Engineering News Record “ENR”.

40 Special Report China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation was founded on June 1, 1979 upon the approval by the State Council of China.

After approval by the State Economic and Trade Commission and the Ministry of Railways, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation was reformed into Group on December 26, 1996, With the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation as the core enterprise, and simultaneously changed its name into Group (here is after called CCECC).

CCECC is currently handling some major projects in Nigeria for both the federal and some state governments.

The President of the construction giant is Mr. Yuan Li

Main One, which has Ms Funke Opeke as its Chief Executive Officer, is a communicaOpeke tions services company providing open access wholesale international connectivity and broadband capacity to countries in West Africa with headquarters in Nigeria.

The cable is privately owned by Main Street Technologies, international investors such as the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the Pan-African Infrastructure Development Fund (PAIDF) and a couple of Nigerian banks.

The cable system spans 14,000 km and provides additional capacity for international and Internet connectivity to countries between Portugal and South Africa on the west coast of Africa. The submarine cable project was designed in two phases, both of which were scheduled for completion in May 2010.

Since its launch in 2010, MainOne has developed a reputation for highly reliable services to become the preferred provider of wholesale Internet services to major telecom operators, ISPs, government agencies, large enterprise, and educational institutions in West Africa.

The Main One Cable system provides open access to regional telecom operators and Internet service providers at rates that are less than 20 per cent of current international bandwidth prices in the region available via SAT3 or satellite service providers.

With key products including Global Internet Access, Global IP Transit, Global Video Connect, IPLC, Indefeasible Right of Use, Collocation and Interconnection, Main One offers a range of top-of-the-line products and services that are ideal to help move businesses forward, backed by its 1.92 terabytes fiber-optic submarine cable, a growing terrestrial fiber network and partnerships with global Tier-1 providers and state-of-the-art data centers.

Resourcery Plc is one of the leading Information Technology (IT) companies in West Fafunwa Africa with its head office in Lagos, Nigeria.

Managed by Mr. Tani Fafunwa, the company is pursuing its vision of becoming Africa’s foremost global IT Company by empowering her customers through technology. The firm is taking advantage of the abundant market opportunities in Africa to challenge global players by dispelling the myth that “Africa has little to contribute to the advancement of the global digital economy.”

Resourcery, which commenced operations in 1985 as an ICT firm, providing PC, printer accessories and training services, has moved from one level to another and today stands as an integrated ICT firm with focus on security, data management with interest in driving cloud technology services and big data.

From complex local area networks to enterprise hardware and software solutions, Resourcery provides innovative business solutions for its numerous customers who are largely blue chip organisations in the finance, telecoms, energy, manufacturing and services industries.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Today, Resourcery has the highest level of partnerships with leading global IT firms such as Cisco (Gold), Microsoft (Gold), Oracle (Gold), CommScope, Checkpoint (Gold), amongst others.

Resourcery’s backup and recovery solutions provide companies with the assessment, design and implementation framework for a company-wide backup and recovery infrastructure.

Interswitch is a Pan-African integrated payment and transaction processing comElegbe pany that provides technology integration, advisory services and payment infrastructure to government, banks and corporate organisations.

Managed by Michelle Elegbe, Interswitch processes transactions from various channels namely: Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), mobile, Point of Sales PoS) terminals, online (web) and Interactive voice response (IVR) technology.

Interswitch, which is one of the key players in the Nigeria’s electronic payments sector has led various initiatives most especially the introduction of its Verve brand of ATM cards into the country with EMV standards.

Interswitch thus focuses on revenue collection, fund disbursement, retail payment, Internet payment, fraud management solutions and loyalty solution with capabilities in technology integration, advisory services, transactions process and payment infrastructure provision for industry players.

The company also provides solutions in various sectors of the economy such as oil and gas, government, education, telecommunication, airline, transportation, retail, health and financial services.

CAP Plc is a fully owned Nigerian company operating in Elemide coatings business.

The history of the company dates back to 1957 when it evolved from the world-renowned British multinational Imperial Chemical Industries Plc. In 1962, ICI Paints was also incorporated to manufacture Dulux paints. In 1965, ICI Exports Limited changed its name to ICI Nigeria Limited and in 1968 it subsumed the paints company.

Following the promulgation of the first and second Indigenisation Decrees in 1972 and 1977, ICI Nigeria Limited at first sold 40 per cent but later 60 per cent of its share capital to the Nigerian public, and went further to change its name by a special resolution of the shareholders to Chemical and Allied Products Limited (CAPL) in the spirit of indigenisation. In 1991, the ‘Limited’ appellation was dropped for ‘Plc’ in compliance with the provision of the Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990.

In 1992, ICI Nigeria Limited finally disposed of its minority 40 per cent share holding in CAP plc when it sold 35.7per cent of the equity to UAC of Nigeria Plc and the rest to the Nigerian public on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Mrs. Omolara Elemide has been the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of the company since May 4, 2009, and as member of its Board of Directors since March 2005. Before joining the Board, she had worked in various capacities as Internal Check Manager, Financial Accountant, Management Accountant and Divisional Commercial Director within the UACN Group.

A winner of the Nigerian Stock Exchange merit award in 2006, CAP Plc has retained the Pearl Award for sector leadership in Chemical and Paints from 2004 to date.

The company has a balance sheet of N3.04 billion and profit after tax of N2.09 billion as at December 2013.

Managed by Deji Alli, who is also the founder, ARM Asset Management builds long-term Alli personal relationships with clients and offers a wide range of optimum investment opportunities.

The primary objective of ARM is to manage clients’ real and financial assets, with a vision to realising their investment objectives, by seeking optimum wealth creation opportunities for those who entrust it with their assets.

The strength of its unrivalled service delivery lies in a balanced combination of research-based investment approach, competitive investment performance, access to a wide breadth of financial and ancillary services and flexible portfolio management services.

ARM’s investment philosophy is value oriented driven by extensive research and employs the top-down, bottomup approach, which has consistently helped the company to build a robust business with increasing value.

Its asset management services include: private wealth management, institutional asset management and retail asset management.

Managed by Fayez Khalaf, Setraco Nigeria Limited is one of the leading engineerKhalaf ing companies in Nigeria with over 35 years working experience in delivering value-added civil and infrastructural projects.

Established in 1977, Setraco, which started by constructing township and district roads in what was then Bendel State, has over the years rapidly grown to become one of the largest construction companies in Nigeria that specialised in roads and bridges. With a presence in over 15 states, Setraco has played a key role in developing Nigeria’s infrastructure.

The company ensures that all projects are successfully completed to specification and in line with its sense of responsibility towards its clients and host communities.

Setraco’s vision is to build on its professional reputation and continue executing projects across Nigeria; in the hope of being able to touch the lives of all Nigerians positively by completing much needed infrastructure development in their region.

From the very beginning, Stallion’s approach to business Vaswani was highly consumer oriented – delivering the best quality product at the most economic pricing.

Sensing the growing demand for quality products, Stallion invested heavily in infrastructure comprising warehousing, cold storages, factories, office buildings, showrooms, workshops, logistics equipment, transportation etc.

Stallion established a stable infrastructure that supported optimal distribution of products at the most economic terms to its customers.

The company also employed several thousand local staff and invested in their development through education, training and experience across industries.

Today, Stallion is one of the best managed conglomerates in West Africa handling key products such as rice, fertilisers, edible oil, sugar, building materials and others.

The group also manages an exclusive brand portfolio of automobiles including Honda, Hyundai, Porsche,

Special Report 41

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Mahindra and Ashok Leyland.

On the industrial front, Stallion has stabilised operations in rice milling, plastics, packaging, steel, vehicle assembly and other products.

Stallion’s service sector covers shipping, vehicle leasing, home automation, office technologies, transportation and sustainability.

The Chairman of the Stallion Group is Mr. Suni Vaswani

In 1989, Nigeria was the launchpad for Olam’s global business Verghese endeavours, and since then it has featured prominently in the country’s economy. With an initial focus on the procurement of primary commodities such as cashews, cocoa and sheanut, the company gradually refined its operational scope and expanded operations into three major business streams, namely exports, imports, and branded packaged food products under Caraway Foods.

Today, the firm has approximately 1,380 staff spread throughout the country, engaged in helping it to manage its value chain activities of origination, processing, marketing and distribution.

The company, which has Sunny Verghese as its Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, also continues to reinforce its operations through both organic and inorganic expansion, expecting to shortly commence production in the company’s mechanical cashew processing facility at Ilorin in Kwara. It recently acquired both the Crown Flour Mills and the De Rica brand of tomato paste.

The company’s efforts in Nigeria have been recognised with several prestigious awards, including the 2011 Africa Business Award for Corporate Social Responsibility to recognise its highly acclaimed extension programme for rice farmers in Benue and Kwara, and the 2010 award for Overall Best Exporter of the Year.

South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO) Trachsel is an indigenous Nigerian oil and gas exploration and production company, focused on creating value in the pursuit of rewarding exploration, development and production opportunities in Africa. The company has a balanced portfolio of assets, which provide a strong platform for growth.

SAPETRO has a portfolio of six assets in five countries spanning the full cycle exploration and production value chain. The company’s net acreage position is in excess of 74, 890 km², including production and exploration in deep-water offshore Nigeria and other interests in Benin, the Central African Republic (CAR), the French Territory in the Mozambique Channel (TAAF) and Madagascar.

In Nigeria, SAPETRO is an interest holder in deepwater OML 130 and OPL 246, where production from Akpo field is at +170,000 bpd while adjacent Egina field is scheduled to come on stream in 2017 with 200,000 b/d peak production via a floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) with a storage capacity of 2.3 million barrels.

Also in West Africa, the firm has a 100 per cent operating interest in the Sèmè oilfield, offshore the Republic of Benin. Sèmè field is a brownfield and has a long and proven production history stretching back 30 years.

In East Africa, the company has majority operating interests in two contiguous deep-water blocks in the Mozambique Channel; the Juan de Nova permit area located in a French overseas territory, (TAAF) and Belo Profond in Madagascar.

Recently, SAPETRO appointed Martin Trachsel as its new Managing Director. Trachsel brings on board 31 years international experience with Shell in the Exploration and Production, Natural Gas and Trading sectors.

SLOK Group is a wholly owned Nigerian Kalu consortium of companies that is involved in a wide array of operations, with strong presence in West Africa.

The group operates in all sectors of the economy, with focus on oil and gas, banking and finance, media and publishing, real estate, trading, manufacturing, insurance and tourism.

The group is the owner of SLOK Nigeria Ltd., one of the leading indigenous players in the upstream sector of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. Also, the corporation operates in marine transport services, involving offshore support and deep sea transportation within the Nigerian coastal and inland waterways.

It is the largest indigenous company in Nigeria that owns, operates, and manages its own fleet. The company is compliant with the Nigerian Cabotage Law and is registered with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). Headed by Mr. Joseph Nassif, who is its group managing director and chief operations officer, some of the companies under the group are: Ojialex Furniture Company, SLOK Nigeria Limited, SLOK United Kingdom Limited, Adamawa Publishers Limited, SLOK Vegetable Oil, Aba and SLOK Paper Factory, Aba. Others are SLOK United States Incorporated, SLOK Ghana, Togo, Cotonou, Guinea, South Africa, Liberia, Botswana, SLOK Korea, Supreme Oil Limited, SLOK Airlines, Sun Publishing Limited, and First International Bank Limited.

Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu is the Chairman of SLOK group.

Founded and incorporated by High Chief Lulu-Briggs (Dr.) O.B. Lulu-Briggs, in 1992 in response to the Federal Government’s initiative to stimulate indigenous participation in the nation’s oil and gas industry, Moni Pulo Limited (MPL) is a private indigenous oil and gas exploration and production company.

It has its head office in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and branch offices in Lagos and London.

The company, which is a trailblazer in local content, has developed its operational efficiency to international standards as sole operator of its OML 114 asset. Its other assets are the OPLs 231, 234 and 239.

The company’s integrity is demonstrated by its ability to readily partner with globally respected financial institutions.

The company, which is being run by Mr. Abiona Usikalu as the chief operating officer, operates on the core values of excellence, integrity, team spirit and social responsibility.

Microsoft Mobile is a multinational mobile phone and mobile comUmunnakwe puting device manufacturing company headquartered in Espoo, Finland, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft.

Its principal activity is the design, development, manufacture and distribution of mobile phones, smartphones, tablet computers and related accessories.

Microsoft Mobile was established following the acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services division by Microsoft, which was completed in April 2014.

While Microsoft retains a limited license to use the

Nokia name and logo on feature phones such as the Series 40 and Asha lines, the company was only granted a transitionary licence to the Nokia name. In October 2014, it was announced that future Lumia devices would carry the Microsoft name and logo instead of Nokia.

Microsoft Mobile has the right to sell mobile phones under the Nokia brand name as part of a 10-year licensing agreement as long as those phones are based on the S30 and S40 series, which comprises “dumbphones” and Asha phones.

Nokia Devices acquired last year by Microsoft Corporation, a worldwide leader in software services devices and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential was founded in 1975.

Today, Microsoft Devices Group, which is part of Microsoft Corporation, includes award-winning hardware used by over a billion people around the world, including Lumia smartphones and tablets, Nokia mobile phones, Xbox hardware, Surface, Perceptive Pixel products and accessories.

Mr Joseph Umunnakwe is the General Manager of Microsoft Mobile Devices and Services, West Africa and under him, the company continues to churn out series of mobile devices and tabs.

UAC of Nigeria Plc has a rich and varied history of successful enterprise that preEttah dates the geographical entity called Nigeria.

The rumps of the company’s early days can be traced to the activities of European traders and commercial activities.

In 1879, the United African company was found following the merger of four companies trading up the River Niger: Alexander Miller Brother & Company, Central African Trading Company Limited; West African Company Limited and James Pinnock.

One of the most significant developments in the company’s history was the setting up of the Royal Niger Company, which was chartered between 1672 and 1750 to administer the territory that would later become Nigeria.

Today, UAC of Nigeria Plc (UAC) is a leading diversified company, operating in the food and beverages, real estate, paint and logistics sectors of the economy. The company has been active on the Nigerian economic landscape since 1879. UAC’s brand portfolio includes leading brands such as Gala Sausage Roll, Mr Biggs, Village Kitchen, Snaps, Funtime Coconut Chips, among others.

Overseeing affairs at the corporation is Mr. Larry Ettah as the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer. He was appointed on January 1, 2007.

Honeywell Flour Mills Plc. (HFMP) is a major flour milling company in Nigeria and Jaiyeola was initially registered as Gateway Honeywell Flour Mills Limited in 1985. In June 1995, a change in the company’s ownership structure led to a change of name to Honeywell Flour Mills Limited (HFML).

The entry of the company into the flour milling industry in Nigeria redefined industry standards as its high quality compelled an improvement in the quality of flour products by other players in the industry.

Over the years, HFMP has positioned itself as a market leader in milling, processing and packaging of flour and other wheat-based products.

After its initial public offer (IPO) in 2008, the company, which is currently ran by Mr. Olanrewaju Jaiyeola as the Managing Director / CEO, had a market capitalisation of N24.980 billion as at last month. It became a public liability company and was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in 2009.

Honeywell Flour Mills Plc. is part of the Honeywell

42 Special Report Group, a foremost indigenous Nigerian conglomerate engaged in select businesses in key sectors of the Nigerian economy, namely: foods & agro allied; energy; real estate; services and; infrastructure.

Honeywell Flour Mills plc recorded a 21 per cent growth in its turnover of N55.08 billion for its fiscal year, April 1, 2013, to March 31, 2014, up from N46 billion in the last fiscal year. This result was indicated in its end of year report recently presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Profit after tax (PAT) also climbed 18 per cent from N2.8 billion to N3.5 billion, which translated to an 18 per cent increase in Earnings Per Share (EPS) from 35.86 kobo to 42.26 kobo.

Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp) is a diNnorom versified conglomerate with strategic investments and core interests in the hospitality, agribusiness and energy sectors.

It is a publicly quoted conglomerate with a diversified shareholders base of about 290,000 investors, and has Heirs Holdings Limited, a pan-African proprietary investment company, as its most prominent investor,.

Some of its notable assets include Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja; Transcorp Hotels, Calabar; Teragro Commodities Limited, operator of Benfruit processing plant; Transcorp Ughelli Power Limited and Transcorp Energy Limited, operator of OPL281.

Transcorp was incorporated on November 16, 2004 and listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It has continued on an impressive growth trajectory following the announcement of its 2014 Group Profit Before Tax (“PBT”) of N9.7bn for the nine months ended September 30, 2014, an 89 per cent year on year (yoy) increase from September 2013.

Transcorp was founded by 14 Nigerian corporate gladiators including Dr. (Mrs.) Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, Bernard Ojeifo Longe, Nicholas Okoye, Festus Odimegwu, Ahaji Aliko Dangote, Jim Ovia, Femi Otedola, Tony Elumelu, Alhaji Sayyu Dantata and a host of others Overseeing affairs at the conglomerate with a market capitalisation of N132.813 billion is Mr. Emmanuel Nwabuikwu Nnorom, FCA, who had served as Group Chief Risk Officer and Executive Director of Risk Management at United Bank for Africa Plc among others.

Founded on the 9th of January, 1969, Berger Paints Nigeria Plc is a leader in the manufacNygard turing, development, distribution and sale of paints and coatings to professional, Industrial, commercial and retail customers in Nigeria.

It operates in five business segments, namely: Decorative, Industrial coatings, Marine and Protection coatings, Automotive/Vehicle refinishes and Wood Preservers and finishes. Its portfolio includes well-known brands such as Luxol,Texcote and Superstar.

With 18 depots, Colour World Centres and a countrywide distribution network of dealers/distributors in strategic locations spread throughout the country, Berger Paints remains at the forefront of the paint and allied industry in Nigeria. Its commitment to manufacturing and supplying quality products earned it ISO 9001.2008 Quality Management System Certification.

In 2012, Berger Paints entered into a partnership arrangement with the biggest paint company in South Korea, KCC to jointly serve the Nigerian paint and coating market. The partnership affords its customers the quality and durability that Marine and protective market have found synonymous with the KCC brands.

The company which is being led by Mr. Tor Nygard as its Managing Director with current market capitalisation of N2.608 billion recorded profit after tax of N251.346 million during the full year ended December 2013 from N192.008 during the comparable period of 2012, accounting for 23.6 per cent growth.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Nicknamed The One You Only Trust Always (TOYOTA), the Toyota Ade-Ojo brand was first introduced to Nigeria in 1965

by R. T. Briscoe, then its exclusive distributor. In 1976, the Federal Government of Nigeria cancelled exclusive distributorship and appointed four additional distributors in Nigeria; Baloni Nigeria Limited, Bao Motors, Elizade Nigeria Limited, and Nelphinco Nigeria Limited.

Ten years later, Toyota Motor Corporation Japan appointed SCOA Motors and Westex Motors as additional distributors. By 1995, R. T. Briscoe, Elizade, SCOA Motors and Westex Motors were the only surviving distributors for Toyota Motors Corporation, Japan. A year later (1996), Toyota Motors Corporation decided to revert to sole distributorship option, owing to rivalry and aggressive competition between the four distributors. Thereafter, SCOA Motors and Westex Motors ceased to be distributors for Toyota.

In 1996 Toyota (Nigeria) Limited (TNL) started operations as the exclusive distributor for Toyota Motor Corporation in Nigeria with the following ownership formula: R.T Briscoe holding 51 per cent shares, Elizade Nigeria Limited holding 40 per cent and EAC holding nine per cent. EAC (majority shareholder in R.T Briscoe Plc) divested its operations in Africa (Nigeria Inclusive), which resulted in a revised ownership structure that gave Elizade Nigeria Limited (ENL) 100 per cent share ownership. Toyota Motor Corporation Japan upon request to Elizade Nigeria Limited, allowed Sumitomo Corporation of Japan to invest in Toyota’s business in Nigeria to the level of 26 per cent equity holding.

A Board of Directors comprising seasoned managers and business leaders, led by business mogul, Chief Michael Ade-Ojo as Chairman, conducts corporate governance at TNL.

In the early hours of May 10, 2000, the domestic terminal of the MurBabalakin tala Muhammed Airport went up in flames and all efforts by fire fighters to save the airport from the unprecedented and wide-scale destruction proved abortive.

Thankfully, no life was lost in the incident. The domestic terminal had been built in the pre-independence era, and before the construction of the international terminal, to cater for both international and regional flights.

Following the inferno, the Federal Government made a decision to redevelop the airport using private sector investment under a Public-Private Partnership Scheme. The plan completely transferred all development and operating risks to the private sector, specifically on a Build-OperateTransfer (BOT) arrangement.

There was a competitive bid by several companies for the project and at the end, Royal Sanderton emerged the preferred bidder, while Bi-Courtney Limited was the reserved bidder. But when government realised that the preferred bidder did not have the capacity to deliver on the project, the lot naturally fell on Bi-Courtney to take up the mantle.

Subsequently, Bi-Courtney Limited was in 2003 awarded the concession by the Federal Government of Nigeria to design, build and operate the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos Domestic Terminal and ancillary facilities on a land area of 20,000m2.

The project comprises an Airport Terminal Building, a multi-storey car park and an apron. Bi-Courtney Limited set out to work promptly with the goal of building a world class airport terminal that will be the pride of Nigerians and promote Lagos as a major hub in Africa.

However, the journey to realising MMA2 as an ultramodern airport facility was not without its challenges primarily in the area of financing, given the fact that BOT financing for such a huge project with a long term repayment plan was not very fashionable in Nigeria.

Despite the initial difficulty in raising the required finance, Bi-Courtney remained undeterred. The company

proceeded with the project and interestingly expanded its scope to build a Terminal that eventually exceeded the expectations of the Federal Government.

At the time the company concluded the development of MMA2, it sourced the professional advice of Knight Frank and Rutley, the leading property partners. The company valued the terminal as at then at over N30 billion.

The project was funded from two sources: Equity of the owners/proprietor and the loans from the banks. The loan was syndicated from six banks to the tune of over N20 billion.

Since it started operations on May 7, 2007, MMA2 has been facing several problems, including a recent failed takeover bid by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON); and continuing refusal of some airlines to operate from MMA2, contrary to agreement between Bi-Courtney and the Federal Government that all domestic airlines should operate from there.

Despite all these challenges and the attendant loss of revenue, recent media reports showed that the company, in the last two years, had spent nearly N2 billion on upgrading the facilities at the airport.

The Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, last week, announced that a survey commissioned by his ministry rated MMA2 as the best run and number one airport terminal in the country.

At present, MMA2 is the first BOT project of its magnitude in the area of infrastructure development which was completed successfully by a Nigerian company.

The company has as its Chairman Dr. Wale Babalakin.

Skye Bank is a large financial services provider in Nigeria, West Oguntayo Africa and Central Africa. With headquarters in Nigeria, the bank maintains subsidiaries in Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Republic of Guinea, Liberia, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. In 2014, it acquired Mainstreet Bank Limited, one of the nation’s bridged banks.

As at December 31, 2013, the bank had a market capitalisation of N34.5billion and a profit after tax of N16.02billion.

The origins of Skye Bank date back to 1989 when Prudent Bank Plc, was incorporated as a limited liability company. In 1990, the lender was issued a license as (merchant bank). That same year, it rebranded as Prudent Merchant Bank Limited. In 2006, Prudent Merchant Bank Limited merged with four other banks, EIB International Bank Plc; Bond Bank Limited; Reliance Bank Limited and Co-operative Bank Plc, to form Skye Bank Plc. Mr. Timothy Oguntayo manages the bank.

Lekki Gardens is an initiative developed

by GTRich Investment Nyong Limited to change the face of the real estate market in Nigeria through creating rare opportunities for people to own luxury homes in high-brow areas at very affordable prices.

GTRich Investment Limited started off as a consultancy firm (GTRich Consulting Limited) that teaches people how to invest creatively in real estate. Between 2009 and 2011, GTRich Consulting Limited held a series of 2-Day courses in Lagos, Port-Harcourt and Abuja tagged from “ZERO TO BILLIONS” which had in attendance hundreds of participants seeking to glean from the wealth of real estate experience of the consultants.

In expanding its operations, GTRich Consulting Limited under its new name GTRich Investment Limited, moved into property development in 2010 with the introduction of Lekki Gardens.

Now operating as Lekki Gardens Estate Limited, the company develops projects as residential estate schemes in Nigeria with very strong business presence in the Lekki/Ajah corridors of Lagos State.

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NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

Lekki Garden’s serviced plots and houses are targeted at the average income earners, and the company offers them easy opportunity to maximize future value of their property investment budget as well as a great place to live with recreational facilities, estate management and security benefits.

With 14 real estate projects and over 2,000 units of houses delivered in less than 3 years, the company has dedicated itself to a single purpose: giving everyone a fantastic opportunity to own a home of their own.

Its premier project, Lekki Gardens was birthed in 2012 and has since become a household name. Under the Lekki Gardens Brand name, there are the Phase 1, 2, 3 and 4 projects. There is also the Lekki Gardens PortHarcourt project which consists of flats, terraces and semi-detached houses. It was launched in November 2013.

The company’s Chief Executive Officer is Richard Nyong.

Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, which now has Paul Gbededo, as Gbedebo Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer), was incorporated in September 1960 as a private limited liability company, and commenced operations in 1962 with an installed capacity of 600 metric tons per day.

The company was converted to a public limited liability company in 1978, and its shares were subsequently listed on The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The company’s flagship brand, Golden Penny, remains one of the best known and the preferred brands amongst bakers, confectioneries and consumers in Nigeria. Flour Mills says it has invested over N25billion in milling infrastructure over the last seven years, to maintain its competitive advantage. Today, Flour Mills has a rated milling capacity of over 8,000 metric tons per day, making it one of the largest single site mills in the world.

The company’s flagship mill located in Apapa, Lagos comprises 10 integrated mills.

The Apapa Mill also boasts of modern silos with a storage capacity to 191,000 metric tons.

Flour Mills has also made significant investments in power generation. The company has 11 General Electric (GE) Jenbacher gas generators at its Apapa Mills, with a combined capacity of 30 megawatts. This has enabled the company to reduce the occurrence of production stoppages. In addition, the company has a 30megawatt diesel plant at the same site to act as a backup in the event of any shortage of feedstock to the gas generators.

As part of its diversification strategy, Flour Mills also engages in the importation and distribution of bulk cement (under the Burham name) and operates a cement joint venture (UNICEM) with Holcim of Switzerland and Lafarge France at Mfamosing, Cross Rivers State.

The Company also engages in the importation and distribution of high grade fertilizer. Additionally, in a bid to decrease their packaging cost while providing a valuable product to the Nigerian market as a whole, FMN has taken a 70 percent stake in BAGCO, one of the largest suppliers of industrial sacks to many industrial and agroallied companies in Nigeria.

Market capitalisation of the company as at November stood at N108.932 billion, while the company recorded N5.367 billion (March 2014FY) profit after tax.

Reynolds Construction Company (Nigeria) Limited is Nakhla a subsidiary of SBI International Holdings AG (SBI), whose headquarters is in Switzerland. SBI is a transnational construction and development group, with subsidiaries in several countries of the world.

The Group’s projects span the globe with concentration of activities in Africa, Central America and Europe.

SBI’s first foray into Nigeria was in 1956 when it established a construction company called Nigersol Con-

struction Company Limited together with some Nigerian investors.

Among the projects executed by the company is the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife (formerly University of Ife), which the company designed and constructed.

SBI then established business relationship with the defunct Western Region Government in the late 50s. This relationship led to the incorporation of Nigerian Water Resources Development Limited (NWRD) as a joint venture company in 1959.

This specialist company executed majority of the water projects in Southern Nigeria, particularly in the defunct Western and Mid-Western regions.

In November 1969, SBI established a fully-owned subsidiary in Nigeria called SolelBoneh Overseas and Harbour Works Company Limited (later renamed SolelBoneh (Nigeria) Limited).

Within a very short time, the company carved a niche for herself and became a household name in Nigeria, especially in the Western part of the country where majority of her numerous road and building projects are located.

Prior to the incorporation of SolelBoneh (Nigeria) Limited, another subsidiary of SBI based in New York, USA called Reynolds Construction Company –New York (as part of an international consortium, called Reynolds Brezina & Brown or simply RBB) participated in and won an international bid in 1968 to construct a $32 million Calabar – Ikom Road, financed by USAID in the then Eastern Nigeria. Being an off-shore company, Reynolds Construction Company-New York, applied for and secured a Special Approval of the Nigerian Government on 18 November 1968 to operate in Nigeria as a Foreign Company for the purpose of the Project.

As a result of flurry of business enquiries received and interest shown in her works, Reynolds Construction Company (Nigeria) Limited was incorporated as a local company in September 1969. It took off with projects in Eastern part of the Company and later expanded all over the country.

Moussa Nakhla is Managing Director of the company.

The Sheraton Lagos Hotel & Towers is an oasis of luxurious comCurran fort, located close to the airport and within the Ikeja Industrial area in Lagos State.

Its 332 newly refurbished guest rooms create a relaxing haven.

Additional facilities include a complete business centre, a ballroom, four meeting rooms, a night club/ discotheque, fitness centre, outdoor pool, and four fine restaurants. The general Manager of the hotel is Mr Barry Curran. Sheraton Lagos Hotel is a subsidiary of Ikeja Hotel Plc, which was founded in 1972 as Properties Development Limited but changed its name to Ikeja Hotel Limited in 1980.

Later, it changed its name to Ikeja Hotel Plc in 1991.

The history of Intercontinental Distillers Limited dates back to Anegbe 1749 when two Italians, Justerini and Brooks came together to form a wine and spirit business, which they called J&B (derived from their initial names).

J&B went through series of acquisition and ownership changes until it became what was known as International Distillers & Vintners (IDV). IDV itself was the spirit division of the then Grand Metropolitan Plc of the United Kingdom Grand Metropolitan Plc’s strategy to refocus her business, with the view to capturing the International market gave rise to the incorporation of International Distillers Nigeria Limited (IDNL) in1983.

International Distillers Nigeria Limited (IDNL) as it then was, commenced production in 1984 with Eagle

Aromatic Schnapps on a manual line. The staff strength then was 53, of which three were expatriates.

To complement Eagle Schnapps, the company imported and marketed such tested brands as Smirnoff, Bailey’s, Irish Cream and Gilbeys, London Dry Gin. IDNL subsequently commenced a series of expansion, which saw it through its first decade of operation with increased popularity, market acceptance and preference for her products such as Chelsea London Dry Gin, which was introduced in 1987.

In 1997, International Distillers Nigeria Limited metamorphosed into Intercontinental Distillers Limited (IDL).

Today, IDL produces and markets such leading products as Chelsea London Dry Gin, Squadron, Dark Rum, Eagle Aromatic Schnapps, Commodore Aromatic Schnapps, Finlays Tonic Wine and Bull Dark Rum. Others are Bull London Dry Gin, Samba Coconut Liqueur, Veleta Sparkling Fruit Drink (Peach, Red and White variants), Teezers (Exotic, Ginger and Lime), Derok Café Liqueur and Action Bitters.

The company has Engr. Patrick Anegbe, as managing director and chief executive officer.

Located in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, Nigeria, Indorama Eleme Lohia Petrochemical Ltd (IEPL), a member of Indorama Corporation, is a poly-olefins producer of a range of poly-ethylene and poly-propylene products.

IEPL was a 100 per cent subsidiary of Nigerian government-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with the name Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited (EPCL).

When the erstwhile EPCL was privatised, under the Privatisation Programme, the Indorama Group emerged as the core investor and acquired the unit in August 2006.

Over these five years, IEPL has recorded several achievements of smooth and stable operations, enhanced production capacities, winning of several global awards and certifications and has become a successful model of the Nigeria’s Privatisation Programme.

IEPL is strategically positioned to cater to the demands of the growing plastic processing downstream industries not only in Africa but in other parts of the world also. The company’s total production is over 335KT per annum.

Over the years 2010 and 2011, the company has positioned itself as one of the leading suppliers of poly-olefins in African continent and in US, Europe and Asia as well.

Intels Nigeria Limited provides comprehensive integrated loVolpi gistics services for the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry. The firm, which has over 30 years of experience in port management and support services in shore bases across Nigeria, manages Onne Port Complex, the largest oil and gas free zone in the world since 1982.

With the vision to develop an integrated logistics solution offering a complete package of facilities and services to the Oil & Gas industry in Nigeria, Intels works in conjunction with Intels West Africa (Intels) as a leading supplier of oil and gas logistic support services throughout West Africa and particularly Nigeria. The company pioneered the concept of the integrated ‘one-stop-shop’ oil service center, bringing together terminal operations, logistics plus transit and supply services.

Intels, which is headed by Mr. Simeon Volpi, the managing director, also provides dedicated manpower, equipment hire, secure residential housing and commercial office areas.

The company manages client operations, including pipe rack, stacking areas, warehousing, dedicated enclosed areas, jetties, offices, water tank, fuel storage, generator, compressor and a variety of other services and facilities as required.

44 Special Report

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

2013 was N16.001 billion.

Founded by Otunba Subomi Micheal Balogun, the current key persons are Jonathan Long, Chairman; and Ladi Balogun, Chief Executive Officer

Standard Chartered PLC is a British multinational banking and financial services Adesola company headquartered in London. It operates a network of over 1,700 branches and outlets (including subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures) across over 70 countries and employs around 87,000 people.

The name Standard Chartered comes from the names of the two banks from which it was formed by merger in 1969: The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, and Standard Bank of British South Africa. Despite its UK base, it does not conduct retail banking in the UK, and around 90 per cent of its profits come from Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Standard Chartered has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalisation of approximately £33 billion as of December 23, 2011, the 13th-largest of any company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange. It has secondary listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India. Its largest shareholder is the Government of Singapore-owned Temasek Holdings.

The Chartered Bank began when Queen Victoria granted a Royal Charter to Scotsman James Wilson in 1853. Chartered opened its first branches in Mumbai, Kolkata and Shanghai in 1858, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore in 1859. The Bank started issuing banknotes of the Hong Kong dollar in 1862.

On August 9, 2006, Standard Chartered announced it had acquired an 81 per cent shareholding in the Union Bank of Pakistan in a deal ultimately worth $511 million.

This deal represented the first acquisition by a foreign firm of a Pakistani bank and the merged bank, Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan), is now Pakistan’s sixth largest bank.

Key people are Sir John Peace (Chairman), Peter Sands (Group Chief Executive) and Bola Adesola and Managing Director

First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited is a full service Balogun banking group, headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, with the vision ‘to be the premier financial services group of African origin.’

It is a large financial services provider offering retail banking, corporate banking and investment banking services to large corporations, small and medium enterprises, as well as individuals. As of December 2011, the bank’s total assets were valued at N593.3 billion ($$3.65 billion), with shareholders’ equity of approximately N117.4 billion ($772.2 million).

The entity from which the bank was founded, City Securities Limited, was established in 1977. First City Monument Bank Limited was incorporated as a private limited liability company on April 20, 1982 and granted a banking licence on August 11, 1983. It was the first bank to be established in Nigeria without government or foreign support. On July 15, 2004, FCMB changed its status from a private limited liability company to a public limited liability company and was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by introduction on December 21, 2004.

In November 2010, both FinBank and FCMB announced that FCMB had expressed interest in acquiring shareholding and become the strategic investor in FinBank. In February 2012, following regulatory approval, FCMB acquired 100 per cent shareholding and began integration of Finbank in its existing operations.

FCMB has many active non-bank subsidiaries, which together with the bank, form the First City Group. Its total assets stood at N614.2 billion ($3.7 billion) as at 2012 with staff strength of over 2,000 as at 2013. The market capitalisation was N66.5 billion as at November 27, 2014 while profit after tax at the end of business in December

Unity Bank (Nigeria) Plc is a commercial bank in Nigeria and a Semenitari large financial services provider.

As of December 2012, the bank’s total assets were valued at about N396 billion ($2.45 billion), with shareholders’ equity of approximately N51.5 billion ($322 million).

Unity Bank emerged in January 2006, following the merger of nine financial institutions with expertise in corporate banking, retail banking, as well as investment banking, to form the bank, now with staff strength of 2,072.

The bank is the flagship institution of the Unity Bank Group. Other members of the financial services group include: Unity Capital & Trust Limited, Caranda Management Services Limited, Unity Registrars Limited, Northlink Insurance Brokers Limited, Newdevco Investments & Securities Limited, UnityKapital Assurance Plc, Pelican Prints Limited, Unity Bank BDC and Hexali Properties Limited.

Unity Bank Plc is listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The market capitalisation as at November 27, 2014 stood at N58.4 billion while profit after tax was N22.58 billion as at December 2013.

The key people in charge of the bank are Lamis Shehu Dikko, Chairman; and Henry James Semenitari, Managing Director.

Wema Bank Plc was established on May 2, 1945, as a private limOloketuyi ited liability company. It was granted a commercial banking license and commenced banking activities during the same year. Wema Bank converted to a public limited liability company in 1987. In 1990, the bank was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It was granted a Universal Banking License in February 2001.

Wema Bank is a large financial services provider that has been in the banking business continuously for the past 65 years. It is the oldest indigenous commercial bank in Nigeria.

It is a publicly traded limited liability company and listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The shareholding in the bank is as follows; SW8 Investment Ltd, 24.29 per cent; Odu’a Investment Company Limited, 10 per cent and Private Investors & Wema Bank Staff 65.71 per cent.

It has total assets of 245.70 billion as at 2012 with staff strength of 1,317. The market capitalisation as at November 27, 2014 was N39.4 billion and profit after tax stood at N1.6 billion at the end of business in December 2013.

The key people are Mr. Adeyinka Asekun, Chairman; and Segun Oloketuyi, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer..

Created in 1833, Lafarge Group, headquartered in France, is the world’s leader in Hudson building materials business, with top-ranking positions in production of cement, aggregates & con-

crete, and gypsum.

Located in 62 countries with 64,000 employees, Lafarge ranked amongst the top 10 of 500 companies evaluated by the “Carbon Disclosure Project” in recognition of their strategy and actions against global warming.

Larfage operations started with cement in 2001 with the acquisition of Blue Circle. Today, it has 8.5 MMT production capacity in Nigeria, with 4.5 MMT in WAPCO (Ogun State), 1 MMT in Ashaka (Gombe State), 2.5 MMT in Unicem (Cross Rivers State) and 0.5 MMT in Atlas (Rivers State).

In 2013, Lafarge’s market capitalisation was to the tune of N234.124 billion with N28.267 billion profit after tax by last year December.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Lafarge Cement, is Mr. Joe Hudson.

BUA Group started business in 1988 as a Private Limited Liability Rabiu Company specialising in the importation and marketing of iron and steel, as well as agricultural and industrial chemicals.

Since then, it has rapidly developed into a diversified business. Today, the company’s areas of business interests span from manufacturing to port concessions, real estate development, oil & gas, and shipping.

Its acquisitions and business interests include the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), Edo Cement, BUA Cement Port Harcourt , BUA Flour Mills, BUA Oil Mills, BUA Ports & Terminals and real estate businesses.

The Chairman and CEO, BUA group, Abdulsamad Rabiu (CON) has also expanded into the manufacturing of refined sugar with the establishment of BUA Sugar Refinery and the acquisition of Lafiagi Sugar Company.

BUA Group has operational offices across Nigeria.

Its headquarters is situated at 64 Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos and 22B Creek Road, Apapa Lagos.

Nigerite Limited was incorporated in Nigeria on the 29th of Bris April, 1959 as a joint venture between Etex Group of Belgium and Odua Investment Corporation Limited of Nigeria.

At over 50 years, the company consummated as a fibre cement roofing and ceiling company is today the largest organisation in West Africa engaged in manufacturing, marketing and installation of NT fibre cement roofing and ceiling sheets, compressed sandcrete roofing tiles and vinyl floor tiles.

The new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerite Limited is Mr. Frank LE Bris.

Nigerite Limited, being a building component solution company, providing gainful employment for over 700 Nigerians. The company’s roofing and flooring brands are also exported to the ECOWAS countries such as Ghana, Republic of Benin,Togo and Liberia.

Nigerite NT fibre cement products are made from Portland cement, Cellulose and Polyvinyl fibre (a derivation of crude oil). The compressed sandcrete roofing tiles are made from coarse and soft aggregates mixed with Portland cement and iron oxide pigments. It is pertinent to state that over 90 per cent of these raw materials are sourced locally in Nigeria.

Nigerite Limited keeps a close watch on the environment. It is on record that it is the only company to have won the annual award of the best kept industrial premises over ten times from 1993 to date. Also, all raw materials input in its production processes are environmentally friendly, a reason why perhaps it has been certified with NIS ISO 9001: 2008, NIS ISO 14001:2004 AND NIS BS 18001:2007 awards. to be Co ntinu ed to mo rrow

Photo | News

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

L-R: Representative of the Minister of Information, Mrs. Folashade Esan; Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr. Stephen Oru and Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Fatima Bamidele, at the ministry’s ‘Ministerial Platform’ in Abuja.

L-R: Managing Director /CEO, Direct -To-Retail Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Tahir Mohammed; National Coordinator, National Malaria Elimination Programme, Ministry of Health, Dr Nnenna Ezeigwe; Brand Manager, Reckitt Benckiser Nigeria Limited, Ms. Ejiro Iku and Trade Marketing Manager, Mr. Victor Balogun, during the inauguration of new Mortein automatic insect control system in Abuja.

L-R: Public Relations Manager, Dufil Prima Plc, Mr. Tope Asiwaju; Head Boy, Surulere Senior Secondary School, Master Shamsondeen Giwa; Project Manager of Lagos State Empowerment Resource Network [LEARN], Mrs. Bisi Awoyomi and Principal of the School, Mrs. Asanat Olatunbosun, during the presentation of science equipment to Surulere Senior Secondary School by Dufil Prima Plc, in Surulere, Lagos.

PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

L-R: President, Police Community Relation committee PCRC, Ilupeju District, Lagos, Primate Michael Aniyikaiye; Chairman, Project Committee, Wireless Close Circuit Television( WCCTV), Mr. Sanya Takuro; first Lagos State Executive Governor, Alhaji Lateef Jakande; Managing Director, Dangote Port Operation, Apapa, Capt. Joshua Oyewumi; Chairman, Area ‘’F’’ Command PCRC, Archbishop George Amu and Coordinator, Community Policing Partnership Association, Lagos state chapter, Deacon Sunday Solanke, during a luncheon and fund raising dinner in Lagos.

PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

45

L-R: Marketing Manager, Kasapreko Company Nigeria Limited, Mr. Peter Adegor; Deputy Chairman, Institute for Government Research Leadership Technology, Prof. John Ndanusa Akanya; Managing Director, Kasapreko Company Nigeria Limited, Mr. Kojo Nunoo and Sales Director, Mr. Sam Osafo, during the Institute’s presentation of award in Abuja.

L-R: Honorary Consultant Cardiologist, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH), Dr. Dike Ojji; Prof. Oladiran Famurewa of the Department of Microbiology, Ekiti State University, receiving the AsraZeneca Research Grant award; Cosultant Gastroenthologist and Hepatologist, Dr. Funmilayo Lesi and Medical Liaison Officer, AstraZeneca Nigeria, Dr. Seun Jewoola, at the award ceremony in Lagos.

PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

Chairman, Governing Council of the Federal Polytechnic Bida, Col Theophilus Bamigboye [rtd], presentation a gift to the Niger State Governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, during the closing of 18th edition of Nigerian Polytechnic Games Association, in Bida…at the weekend

All Progressives Congress (APC) Chieftain, Alhaji Kabir Yahaya; President, Women Arise, Mrs. Joe Okei-Odumakin and Deputy Manager, Bharat Electronics Limited, Mr. Satish Kumar, during the presentation of electronic voting machines by Bharat Electronic Limited in Lagos…at the weekend.

46

News

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

SOUTH-WEST

Amosun: Buhari will end insurgency Kunle Olayeni and Temitope Ogunbanke

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he Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has said that the emergence of the All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate, General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd), as the president of Nigeria at the 2015 general elec-

34%

tion, would end insurgency in the country. He said it would also restore the country’s lost glory, investors’ confidence in the country’s economy.

Amosun, in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mrs Olufunmilayo Wakama, while congratulating Buhari on his emergence as the APC presidential

The percentage of the population of American Samoa under 15 years in 2012.

Source: Un.org

flag bearer, said it came through a free, fair and credible presidential primary, which was acceptable to all contestants.

“With his experience and track record, I strongly believe that when elected, come 2015, Muhammadu Buhari would tackle the spate of insurgency head long and restore investor confidence in our economy

673m

The number of fixed-telephone subscriptions of developing countries in 2005.

Source: Itu.int

and indeed the nation.

“I also commend the statesmanship of the other aspirants and the maturity displayed by all at the primary election.

Other contestants congratulated the winner and that is very worthy of emulation,” the governor said.

Amosun, enjoined all party faithful and well meaning Nigerians to

15,417

The number of refugees in Sierra Leone at the beginning of 2010.

Source: Blatantworld.com

vote massively for the APC and its candidates at all levels, pointing out that the quantum of development across the APC governed states and the peaceful conduct of the presidential primary were clear demonstration that the party was not only committed to democratic ideals but also passionate about fulfilling its electoral promises.

130,000

The projected number of Americans above 65 years with Alzheimer’s in Indiana State by 2025.

Source: Who.int

L-R: Osun State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori; Governor Rauf Aregbesola; Head of Service, Mr. Olayinka Owoeye; former Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Ajibola Basiru and National President, Nigerian Association of Auctioneers (NAA), Alhaji Aliyu Kiliya, at the governor’s investiture as NAA patron in Osogbo…yesterday

Sola Adeyemo Ibadan

V

ice-President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Abiodun Ogunyemi, has urged Nigerians to use their votes to elect selfless leaders in the 2015 general election.

Ogunyemi, said the greatest challenge facing Nigeria in this millennium was lack of good leadership, arguing that

Ogunyemi calls for selfless leaders Nigeria’s search for a virile society would remain elusive until and unless the people take a critical look at how our desired society would evolve. “This must begin with the social studies education”, he stressed.

Speaking on the theme “The Search for Good Citizens and The Curriculum as Compass” at the 69th inaugural lecture of the Olabisi Onabanjo

University, Ogunyemi said, “The conduct of our honourable men and women in the National Assembly, whom we expect to moderate our values through personal examples and lifestyles equally speaks volume.

“We are all human compasses that others read in their construction of the good citizen.

Our ruling class must show the way or we force

Ladoja condemns destruction of party billboards Sola Adeyemo Ibadan

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ational leader and governorship candidate of the Accord Party in Oyo State, Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, has raised the alarm on the massive destruction of his billboards in the state by some people.

Ladoja, a former governor of Oyo State, condemned the act through a release issued by his

media team, signed by Toyese Oladejo, describing the act as barbaric and a clear manifestation of the acceptability and popularity of the party.

The former Senator stated that the ignoble act could be traced to opposition parties which have lost relevance in the face of the electorate.

He charged the state police command to rise up to the occasion in order to curtail the prevail-

ing situation, which he said was not healthy for democracy.

Ladoja, averred that Accord as a peaceful party, would not engage in any act of brigandage capable of causing panic in the state. He also condemned last Saturday’s violence in the Ayeye and Agbeni areas of the city, alleging that the state government was only paying lip service to the issue of security of lives and property.

them to do so through our vote and other legitimate means. Nigerian elites should be models of change but this is only possible within a paradigm that rejects neo-liberalism and transcends westernisation. We need global knowledge but African spirit”.

The professor of Social studies and Citizenship Education noted that Nigerians must not allow

sentiments to preclude their resolve to elect good citizens who have sense of responsibility towards others, conscious about the welfare of others and wider community, tolerant of diverse views and values, posseses critical thinking, patriotism or love for Nigeria, obedience to laws and knowledge of political issues and operations of Government”.

Ondo PDP raises the alarm over secret court injunction

T

he Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has raised the alarm over plans by some elements within its fold allegedly working in concert with the opposition, to scuttle the success recorded so far in reconciling various interests in the party through frivolous court injunctions.

The party said the moles, represented by a prominent business man had boasted that it had secured the understanding of some judicial officers to secure crippling Ex Parte orders against PDP leadership in the state this week and its contestants in the coming elections, in respect of Ondo state politics.

The party said while such statements may indeed be empty boasts, it added however that “there is need to raise the alarm in the interest of our democracy and those bent on destroying the integrity the judiciary has built over the years”.

In a statement issued in Akure yesterday by the Publicity Secretary, Hon. Banji Okunomo, the party stressed that the moles within have reached an agreement with some judges who have also agreed to grant injunctions aimed at crippling activities of the executives and ultimately disrupt plans by the PDP to ensure success for President Goodluck Jonathan at the presidential elections due to take place in February next year.

The party had encountered initial problems in the process of integrating members of the old Labour party and the old PDP to form the New PDP, especially in the area of sharing offices in the state executive of the party and choosing candidates to fly its flag at the coming state and national Assemblies election.

Fayose bans sand excavation in hometown Adesina Wahab Ado-Ekiti

E

kiti State Governor, Mr Ayo Fayose, has banned sand excavation in his hometown, AfaoEkiti, to halt environmental degradation and erosion the exercise is causing in the town.

Speaking on Saturday during the Afao Unity Celebrations 2014 and fund raising events, he lamented that the town

had been neglected by successive governments.

“God has placed me in a position of authority to better the lot of my people. I have directed the police to prosecute anyone caught packing sand in Afao.

“I enjoin all of you including those making money from packing sand in this town to look in another direction.

Afao roads are worse today as result of the activ-

ities of sand excavators.

“They should look for somewhere else to pack sand. We cannot allow environmental degradation in our town because of the interest of the few. Those offended should consider the overriding public interest,” he said.

Fayose, also said the reign of the traditional ruler of the town, the Alafao, Oba J. A. Ademilua, had been peaceful and blissful.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

Cleric harps on exports Steve Uzoechi OWERRI

I

mo State Coordinator of the Sabbath Keepers Evangelical Fellowship of Nigeria, Rev. Chigozie Samuel Nwaka, yesterday decried the country’s increasing dependence on the importation of products and services from foreign economies, saying Nigeria should be exporting such to other countries.

He said while Nigeria is championing the socio-economic resurgence of Africa, it is still largely dependent on seemingly smaller nations for goods and services, being a consumer economy.

Nwaka made these assertions in a press statement to mark the centenary celebration of the Sabbath Church in Nigeria.

Celebrating 100 years of the Sabbath Church, Nwaka said: “We believe it is no coincidence that the Sabbath Church and Nigeria as a nation are celebrating their centenary the same year. We see the uniqueness of the Nigerian nation in the commonwealth of nations, especially in Africa.

“We therefore challenge our leaders to look inwards for the solutions to our myriad of problems. Our democracy, economy, technology, education and indeed development should be home-grown,” he said.

Onwuka Nzeshi ABUJA

T

he South East caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday took a swipe at Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, over his recent statement that he contested the APC presidential ticket to prove that the president can come from any part of the country.

In a recent encounter with journalists, Okorocha was quoted to have said: “By participating in the contest, I have been able to prove that the president can come from any part of the country.

“It is the understanding of the APC that the president can only come from the north. I know

ABUJA

F

ormer Deputy Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon. Chuka Utazi, has denied the existence of a division in the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) despite parallel primaries held by some aspirants recently.

Utazi, who spoke on the controversy surrounding his emergence as PDP senatorial candidate for Enugu North, said people should be able to differentiate between natural rancour and political gimmicks. “We are not enemies, we are brothers,” he said.

The former National Chairman of the party, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, was also declared winner in another parallel primary for the same Enugu North senatorial district.

But Utazi, who is the immediate former Com-

APC ticket: ‘Okorocha went on wild goose chase’ about that, but I don’t like those facts, so I have come to distort those facts, which are not the truth.”

But the APC in the South East took exception to this utterance and demanded an apology from the governor for allegedly going on a wild goose chase and destroying the chances of the region to clinch other positions in the party.

Spokesman of the APC in the South East, Comrade Osita Okechukwu, said Okorocha’s gamble with the presidential ticket has made Ndigbo to lose the national chairmanship of the

party, thereby placing the region in a weak position to vie even for the vice-presidency slot. Okechukwu accused Okorocha of placing his personal interest above the collective interest of the South East with regards to the zoning of positions within the party.

“For the avoidance of doubt, in a South East caucus meeting at Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu’s residence in Abuja in July 2014, some of us agreed that he is eminently qualified to vie for the presidency, but given the prevailing understanding that the presidency is

going to the north, we should vie for chairmanship and the vice-president slots, waiting for the next eight years when it is coming to the south. He refused and boasted that he is going to win the presidential primaries.

“I personally told him that zoning, like every convention, has its moral weight, the north having patriotically zoned the presidency to the south.

“I further persuaded him to go back to Imo State and conclude the good works he is doing so as to present a good legacy, when

the rotation comes to the south, the South-West and South-South having occupied the coveted presidency slot respectively since our return to civil rule in 1999.

That Onu should be supported for chairmanship, he backed out.”

“One therefore challenges Governor Okorocha to openly apologise to Ndigbo for throwing away the golden opportunity we had to produce either the chairman or the vice-president if he had listened to reason; rather than rationalising irrational disposition of his,” Okechukwu said.

L-R: Unit Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ihiala, Mr. Daniel Asanya; Deputy State Coordinator, Special Marshal and Partnership (SMP), Anambra State, Mr. Festus Ilo and SMP Coordinator, Mr. Ben Osaka, during a thanksgiving service for Anambra FRSC Special Marshals in Onitsha …yesterday

Utazi: There’s no division in Enugu PDP Onyekachi Ez

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SOUTH-EAST

missioner for Transport in Enugu State, claimed that Nwodo was absent at the primaries.

“I was expecting a keenly contested election; unfortunately, Dr. Nwodo did not show up at the poll. I did not know why he would not show up at the poll,” he told journalists yesterday in Abuja.

Utazi said the support that characterised his victory at the primary election for Enugu North, is evidence his antecedents as a public servant he would be on a rescue mission to salvage the senatorial district if elected in 2015.

“The people have spoken, and my election was an overwhelming one and what I have to do in return is to pay back by fighting for them, it is a promise,” he said.

He called for cooperation among party members, stressing that peace is imperative ahead of the 2015 general election.

Imo governor blasts Udenwa Peter varsity, panacea to Nigeria’s Steve Uzoechi OWERRI

I

mo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, has described former governor Achike Udenwa as a blackmailer, who has laboured in vain to discredit his administration.

This followed a recent statement credited to Udenwa, inferring gross maladministration on the part of the Okorocha administration.

Speaking through Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Okorocha accused Udenwa of distorting facts and being ‘grossly

economical with the truth for petty political reasons.’

According a statement signed by Onwuemeodo and made available to New Telegraph, Okorocha said: “Throughout the eight years of Udenwa, no school was renovated in the state, but today most of the old schools have been transformed.

“At least 305 school buildings have been built in the 305 wards of the state. The subvention to Imo State University under Udenwa was less than N50 million, but today the government has given the university N257 million as subvention.

education woes, says Bishop Tony Okafor Awka

T

he Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, His Lordship, Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor, yesterday said the proposed Peter University Project at Achina, Aguata Local Government in Anambra State would correct the anomalies in the Nigeria education system if given the necessary support.

Ezeokafor, who spoke at St. Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral, Awka, while interacting with newsmen, said the diocese,

after serious consultations and empirical research, decided to float a university, where there would be no cutting of corners in other to pass examinations.

“Peter University will be affordable, ecumenical in nature, accessible and accommodating. The Peter University Project is a collective responsibility; it is for both clergy and laity. Catholics and non-Catholics should support this noble initiative, because at the end of it all, we will all enjoy the dividends therefrom.

Monarch: Buhari’ll need to convince Nigerians to win in 2015 Tony Okafor Awka

T

he presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015 general election, General Muhammadu Buhari, will need to do more to convince the people

of this country before he would be accepted by the generality of the people.

This was the assertion of the traditional ruler of Umunri and Nawfia, Igwe Chijioke Nwankwo, in Anambra state.

The monarch spoke yesterday in an interview

with New Telegraph in his palace. He said the intemperate comment of Buhari in 2011 that he would make the country ungovernable was like a fulfilled prophecy.

He said after that statement, thousands of innocent Nigerians lost their lives in the hands of insurgents,

who are bent on making this country ungovernable.

Nwankwo, who acknowledged that Buhari is a good presidential candidate, said it would be morally wrong for Buhari to assume the leadership of this country without appeasing the gods and the people.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

Tunde Oyesina Abuja

A

Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has been asked to stop the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from presenting one Christian Abah as its candidate for election into the House of Representatives for the Ado, Okpokwu and Ogbadibo federal constituency of Benue State.

The plaintiff in the suit, Hassan Saleh, through his counsel, Emeribe Mathias, alleged that Abah forged

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Court asked to stop PDP from presenting Benue candidate the National Diploma (ND) certificate he submitted to the PDP upon which he was cleared to participate in the primaries to select the party’s candidate for election.

Abah won the highest votes at the party’s primaries held on December 6, 2014 to select PDP’s candidate for election

into the constituency.

However, Saleh, who came second in the primaries, is alleging that the certificate presented

by Abah was a forgery.

Saleh is asking the court to declare that the National Diploma certificate in Accountancy purportedly obtained in August, 1986 by Abah from

the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi in Adamawa State, which was presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was forged.

He also asked the court to hold that Abah was not qualified to present himself for the primaries of the PDP by virtue of the fact that the

document he presented to INEC was forged.

The plaintiff asked the court to declare that the clearance given to Abah by PDP was null and void and of no effect in as much as it failed to comply with the party’s electoral guidelines and the 1999 Constitution as amended.

A cross section of dignitaries at the Convocation of Shehu Shagari College of Education Sokoto …at the weekend

Akume battles to retain senatorial ticket Cephas Iorhemen Makurdi

A

s the crisis rocking the Benue State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) rages unabated, Senate Minority Leader, Senator George Akume, is not resting on his oars to retain his seat in the red chamber of the National Assembly.

The party has not known peace since the state primaries, which was conducted to produce its governorship candidate, was held.

Controversies ensued following the entry of former Minister of State, Trade, Industries and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom, who was frustrated

by Governor Gabriel Sus-

wam, from securing the governorship ticket of the PDP, having polled 111 votes to place third, re-joined the race on APC’s ticket.

Ortom was groomed

by Akume, whose relationship with Suswam remains a cat and dog one and the governor felt that Ortom may turn to bite the finger that fed him, if he had allowed him (Or-

tom) to fly the flag.

But determined to achieve his dreams of governing the state, the former minister dumped the PDP and picked the APC governorship form, where five other aspirants were already in the race, including Mr. Akange Audu, Mike Iordye, Emmanuel Jime, Prof. Steve Ugba and Senator JKN Waku.

NULGE seeks autonomy from states Sokoto primaries: Shagari urges Buhari Bello Jos

T

he Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has described those against local government autonomy as enemies of progress even as it seeks autonomy from state governments in the country.

NULGE at a press conference in Jos, Plateau State, said state governments have been feeding fat on local government finances and that local government administration in the country can only be free if given autonomy from the states,

which will revive development at that level of administration.

Comrade Samson Mafuyai, state President of the union, accused state governments of using local government funds to finance elections, among other sundry finances, to the detriment of development of the councils.

According to him, rejecting autonomy for local government is suspect and callous, adding that the various Houses of Assembly must endorse the bill as their refusal may be viewed as connivance to deny the grassroots of its rights.

supporters to remain calm Umar Danladi Ado Sokoto

S

okoto State Deputy Governor, Mukhtar Shagari, has appealed to his supporters not to take the law into their hands, as the issue pertaining to the governorship primary election, which he lost, would soon be addressed.

Shagari contested the governorship primary election in the state, protested its outcome and the alleged election of one of his opponents.

He described the election as a sham and illegal.

While urging his sup-

porters to remain calm, he assured them that justice would be done in earnest by the PDP national headquarters.

Addressing his supporters in Sokoto yesterday, Shagari said the PDP national leadership was making efforts to address the matter regarding the primary election.

He said: “The PDP national headquarter is looking into the matter and I have confidence that the problems will be addressed.

“So, you should remain calm and do not take the law into your hands,” he added.

‘Abubakar’ll win 70% votes in Bauchi’ Yuzarsif Alhassan Bauchi

A

former youth leader in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bauchi Central, Hon. Sule Wada, yesterday said that the APC will record at least 70 percent in the 2015 governorship election in Bauchi State.

Wada said APC has a clear edge over the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the senatorial district, judging by the number of registered voters the party parades across the state.

Wada: “Our candidate, in person of Muhammad Abubakar, is a genuine candidate, and will win the state governorship election come 2015, because we have at the ward, state and national levels, and the required number that can vote for Abubakar.

“You can see that there is transparency in our primaries; so, our representatives, who have about 75 to 80 per cent assurance, will emerge as winners,” Wada said.

He, however, assured the people that the 2015 general election will surprise the people as the APC will perform well to win the election.

ACF counsels INEC over distribution of PVCs Ibraheem Musa Kaduna

T

he Arewa Consultative Forum(ACF) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) to seriously re-examine its strategy of distributing Permanent Voter Cards(PVCs) and registration of new voters to ensure that no eligible Nigerian is disenfranchised in this democratic process.

In a statement signed

by Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim, ACF’s National Publicity Secretary, the forum frowned at the way and manner the exercise is being conducted, adding that ‘’time is running out and there are reports nationwide that the PVC distribution exercise has a lot of hiccups .’’

The forum warned that if the performance of INEC in the distribution of PVCs was not immediately checked and corrected, it ‘’may result in many eligible registered voters being

disenfranchised and this could seriously affect the 2015 election process which may result into unpleasant consequences.’’

ACF pointed out that the 2015 general election was critical to the democratic survival of the nation because ‘’Nigerians expect credible conduct of elections where transparency, justice and fairness shall be the hallmark of the election process, and this must start with transparent distribution of the PVCs.’’ The statement, which picked holes in the exercise in Kaduna State, noted that the distribution of PVCs started poorly last Monday after several postponements, and was supposed to have lasted for three days. The exercise witnessed poor logistic arrangement as most of the polling units were empty with no INEC personnel to attend to the large number of registered voters, who turned out to collect their PVCs, the forum added.

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

SOUTH - SOUTH

Warships: Warri groups attack Tompolo PROBE

CENTREP calls on National Assembly to investigate exWarlord Joe Obende WARRI

T

he National Assembly has been charged to investigate the activities of former militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo). That is following allegations of acquisition of seven decommissioned Norwegian battleships of the class of fast-speed Hulk-class guided missile boats with sophisticated arms and ammunition.

Tompolo is in charge of multi-billion naira Niger Delta waterways surveillance contracts through one of his companies.

But Tompolo, in a statement yesterday said he did not buy any warship. He attributed the rumour as a product of ignorance.

A Norwegian newspaper, Dagbladet, recently reported that Tompolo’s company, Global West Vessel Service, acquired six decommissioned Norwegian battleships from a British firm, ostensibly for his company to deploy for coastline surveillance.

The newspaper added that the ex-militant leader had rearmed the ships with new weaponry, without being categorical on what class of weapons.

Expressing grave concern over the development, especially as it borders on national security, two groups in Warri, Delta State, Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged (CENTREP) and Warri Study Group (WSG) have called for a thorough investigation of the purported purchase.

Speaking for CENTREP, its Executive Director, Oghenejabor Ikimi, in a statement issued in

l I did not buy any warship, says ex-warlord Warri yesterday, said his organisation took particular exception to the rearmament part of the story, which he described as "a criminal step".

“While we concede that the fast moving decommissioned and deactivated battleships may have been sold as patrol boats to CAS Global before selling same to Tompolo and his firm to check

0.5%

The annual population growth rate of Eastern Asia in 2010-2015.

Source: Un.org

piracy as warships are not sold to individuals in the international market, we, however, take very serious exceptions to the re-arming claims of the said patrol boats and we call on the National Assembly to immediately carry out an inquest into the said claim in the interest of national security and peace.

“We are aware of al-

211

The number of pending asylum seekers of Sierra Leone at the beginning of 2010.

Source: Blatantworld.com

PORT HARCOURT

R

ivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi's aide and a former Council Caretaker committee Chairman, Dr. Lawrence Chukwu and immediate past chairman of Obio/Akpor council

Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole (left) and Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, at the 50th anniversary and 22nd convocation of the Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State…at the weekend

area of Rivers State, Hon. Timothy Nsirim, who is an aide of former Minister of Education, Barr.

Nyesom Wike are engaged in a bitter feud over issue of the yearly CARNIRIV festival.

Nsirim, whose suspension by the House of Assembly triggered the Obio/Akpor crisis, has

Ogboru, Emerhor battle for UPU candidacy Dominic Adewole ASABA

T

wo prominent gladiators in Delta State political landscape, Chiefs Great Ogboru and O’tega Emerhor, are locked in a battle of wits for the endorsement the of the Urhobo Political Union (UPU), the apex decision making body in Urhobo land in the forth-coming governorship election.

The body which is said to be against the Ibo speaking axis of the

1%

The annual population growth rate of Asia in 2010-2015.

Source: Un.org

Amaechi, Wike’s aides bicker over Carniriv Emmanuel Masha

legations by some Nigerians that Tompolo himself is engaged in business within the Nigerian coastlines and most recently he was accused of master minding the abduction of 14 senior journalists in Delta State in the course of their duties. Tompolo has, however, refuted the above claims in the press as a web of lies.

state (Delta North) succeeding Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in 2015, is said to have commenced moves to forge a common front for the emergence of an Urhobo man, irrespective of his political affiliation.

This position is said to have stemmed from the poor performance of Chief David Edevbie, Governor Uduaghan’s anointed candidate at the recent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary election.

alleged that Amaechi had ordered the state's caretaker chairmen to take loans to fund the weeklong CARNIRIV, which begins today and share the remaining among their supporters as "stomach infrastructure."

Nsirim, who spoke to reporters, said it was "unacceptable" for Amaechi

to give such directive to unelected officials, and urged banks not to grant such loan.

"Governor Amaechi has ordered caretaker chairmen to take banks loans to fund the yearly CARNIRIV... and to spend the rest on their supporters for stomach infrastructure," Nsirim said.

Delta: I withdrew on principle, not fear, says Utuama Gabriel Choba UGHELLI

D

elta State Deputy Governor, Prof Amos Agbe Utuama, has said that he withdrew from the State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)gubernatorial race on his own volition as against the position that he withdrew from the race, due to pressure from some quarters.

Utuama, stated this while congratulating the

winner of the election, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, on his victory at the governorship primaries in the state, describing it as well deserved, stating through a statement by his Press Secretary, Augustine Avwode, that his withdrawal from the race attributed to fears in some quarters, was a complete falsehood, lacking any iota of truth.

He insisted that his withdrawal was on the ground of principle of respect for majority decision.

WSG, speaking through its Chairman, Edward Ekpoko, said: "​President Jonathan, Tompolo and the DG of NIMASA are all of Ijaw extraction and we therefore see a script being acted out. Nigeria is the only country in the world where an individual – a rehabilitated militant for that matter – is awarded a contract to oversee the security of the coastline of a nation and with powers to import warships and sophisticated arms.”

Yesterday, Tompolo raised an alarm that politicians were out to tarnish his image over the 2015 elections even though he is not a politician.

Tompolo, who spoke through his spokesman, Comrade Paul Bebenimibo, not only exonerated himself but insisted that the latest onslaught was masterminded by some Niger Delta ethnic chauvinists.

"I am not surprised that this blackmail is coming at this crucial time that Nigeria is facing serious security challenges even as the most decisive moment for the nation, which is the 2015 election closes in.

"On the issue relating to the alleged purchase of war boats, it smacks of ignorance on the part of those who have taken an ignoble delight to embark on this despicable path; it is pertinent for the ignorance of those behind this blackmail to be exposed," he said.

Violence mars Delta LP Assembly primaries Gabriel Choba UGHELLI

T

he Delta State chapter of Labour Party’s state Assembly primary election for the Ethiope East local government area was marred by violence, which saw the Returning Officer for the exercise Mr. Harry Uzor, calling for the cancellation of the process.

The exercise which commenced at about 10:30 in the morning was marred by protest by delegates and ward chairmen over an alleged plot by the returning Officer to deliver to tilt the scale in favour of one of the aspirants.

Three aspirants of the party who contested for the primaries were Hon. Oghenenyore Akpobi, Hon. Evans Iwurie and Hon. Brume Lewis Anighoro.

At a briefing jointly addressed by about seven ward Chairmen, amongst whom were ward 4, Mr. Westsmall-land Otite,

Ward 4, Mr. Anibor Ukavwe, Ward 5, Mr. Peter Erakpowheri, Ward 6, Okiemute Owin, Ward 8, Mr. Ese Oyinbia, Ward 9, and Mr. Couple Okotie, Ward 10 among others -all confirmed that there was no election.

Similarly, two agents to the aspirants, Dr. Festus Arunayi and Mr. Collins Enabe, confirmed the disruption of the exercise which started shortly after the accreditation of delegates, as they alleged that the attempt by the returning officer to announce the victory of a certain aspirant had irked everybody at the venue of the election.

The two agents had alleged that the returning officer was said to have plotted to favour one of the aspirants but that pressure and protest from delegates did not allow that plot to see the light of the day, forcing the option of the cancellation of the party primary.

50 News

WORLD | News

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Nigeria’s economic pain may Turkish police raid media houses not decide election • Election spending funds had already been stockpiled

Jonathan

N

igeria is suffering from a plummeting currency, steep budget cuts, corruption scandals and diving oil prices; yet all this is unlikely to decide a tight race for the presidency.

In many other democracies, such turmoil would probably propel the incumbent from office. A likely rise in inflation in Africa’s biggest economy is unwelcome for President Goodluck Jonathan, who is seeking re-election on Feb. 14 next year.

But many Nigerians appear willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, while others will vote according to regional, sectarian or ethnic loyalties in the most closely fought election since the end of military rule in 1999.

Jonathan faces main opposition contender, exmilitary leader Muhammadu Buhari, with the naira devalued 8 percent in the past month and a budget slashed by around 10 percent, both due to a near halving of world oil prices since June.

Yet any undecided voters appear unlikely to be swayed by economic hardship whose immediate cause lies in global markets.

“We are really suffering from the high dollar, but you can’t blame President Jonathan for that. He can’t control the dollar,” said Daniel Ibere, whose sales of electronic goods in Lagos’s overcrowded Eko Idumota market dropped when he raised prices.

Buhari is likely to benefit from a perception that Nigeria was ill prepared for the energy price shock because so much revenue from oil, its dominant export earner, has been lost to corruption under Jonathan’s administration. He is regarded as a rare example of a graft fighter when president in 1983-85.

Crying and complaining When the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) devalued

Buhari

the naira last month to save foreign reserves, the impact was felt instantly on the streets. Nigeria imports 80 percent of what it consumes.

“Everyone is crying and complaining,” said Ifeanyi Onuchukwu, a clothes wholesaler in Abuja. Onuchukwu tried to raise his prices 10 percent, but the traders wouldn’t buy his wares so he suffered losses.

Economist Bismarck Rewane thinks inflation will hit double digits for the first time in two years

by January. “That’s a difficult situation for Jonathan.

You really don’t need this two months before an election,” he said.

But a bigger headache comes from allegations that billions of dollars of revenue have “leaked” at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) according to ex-CBN governor Lamido Sanusi, among others. Jonathan removed Sanusi in February after he made the allegations.

Critics argue this is one reason why Nigeria failed to build up a savings cushion when oil prices were high.

Buhari’s campaign has focused on the economy and alleged corruption.

“The lives of the poor are bled dry while those of the powerful soak in excessive abundance,” he said last Thursday after winning the opposition ticket.

This, however, may not be enough to sway an electorate divided along lines that for the most part have little to do with policy.

Nigeria has been dogged by regional rivalries since independence from Britain in 1960. It suffered a catastrophic civil war in the late 1960s and even today, many Nigerians vote for candidates from their own area or an allied ethnic group.

Those who can widen their geographical appeal gain a distinct advantage.

“Policy has never been a great part of politics ...

If you look at the last election, Buhari lost because he

didn’t win as many votes outside his area as Jonathan did outside his,” said Anthony Goldman of Nigeria-focused PM Consulting.

Colour of your money The other factor is money. Vast patronage is often needed to get communities to vote for a candidate, so the incumbent who controls the oil wealth enjoys an advantage.

This time money is running extremely low, and Nigeria’s fiscal position always weakens around election time.

However, a parliamentary source said the funds needed to pay for campaigns on both sides had mostly already been stockpiled before the oil price crash, so the impact may be minimal.

While Nigeria faces a more austere budget, its debt remains low, certainly when compared with the developed world.

“Nigeria with its low debt ratios and fairly liquid markets has more capacity than most to increase borrowing ... to see it through a short-term price shock,” says Razia Khan, Standard Chartered’s Head of Africa Research.

And since suitcases of dollars are the preferred means of delivering patronage - carrying funds in naira bills would require trucks - election spending is likely to increase the supply of US currency in the short term. That bodes well for the naira, which has steadied in a week of electoral primaries.

“Huge dollar spending by politicians on both the (ruling) PDP and (opposition) APC primaries saw the Lagos bureau de change markets awash with dollars,” a national daily splashed on its front page last Friday. “This may have contributed significantly to the appreciation of the naira.”

• Culled from Reuters

T

urkish police raided media outlets close to a U S based Muslim cleric yesterday and detained 24 people including top executives and ex-police chiefs in operations against what President Tayyip Erdogan calls a terrorist network conspiring to topple him.

The raids on Zaman daily and Samanyolu television marked an escalation of Erdogan’s battle with ex-ally Fetullah Gulen, with whom he has been in open conflict since a graft investigation targeting Erdogan’s inner circle emerged a year ago.

In scenes broadcast live on Turkish TV channels, top-selling

Zaman’s editor-in-chief Ekrem Dumanli smiled and studied police documents before being led through the newspaper’s headquarters to applause from staff crowded onto balconies, “Let those who have committed a crime be scared,” he said before police struggled to escort him through the crowds to a waiting car.

“We are not scared.”

Several hundred people chanted “The free press cannot be silenced” and “Turkey is proud of you”. Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Hadi Salihoglu said in a statement arrest warrants had been issued for 31 people on charges of “establishing a terrorist group”, forgery and

slander.

In raids across EUcandidate Turkey, 24 people have been detained, including two former police chiefs, state broadcaster TRT Haber said. Also detained were Samanyolu’s chairman and the staff of two Samanyolu drama series, one about an anti-terrorism squad and the other set in a southeast hit by Kurdish rebellion. “This is a shameful sight for Turkey,” chairman Hidayet Karaca said before his arrest.

“Sadly in 21st Century Turkey this is the treatment they dish out to a media group with tens of television and radio stations, internet media and magazines.”

People gather in support outside Zaman newspaper in Istanbul,Turkey yesterday.

Mauritius gets new PM

M

auritius’ president yesterday named veteran politician Sir Anerood Jugnauth as prime minister, after the 84-year old won a landslide victory taking nearly threequarters of seats in parliament.

Jugnauth, a former president and prime minister, was a statement from the Jugnauth’s centre-right Alliance Le-

pep swept up 47 out of 62 seats in the Indian Ocean nation’s parliament, after voters on Wednesday rejected the ruling party’s bid to boost presidential powers.

The coalition of the outgoing ruling Labour Party (PTR) and the former opposition Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) of ex-prime minister Paul Berenger, took just 13 seats. Two other

lawmakers from local parties on the small island of Rodrigues, some 560 kilometres (350 miles) to the east, usually support the government.

Debate over constitutional reform notably over a divisive proposal to strengthen presidential powers made Wednesday’s poll one of the most crucial since the islands gained independence from Britain in 1968.

Abe’s coalition sweeps Japan’s polls

J

apanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition cruised to a big election win yesterday, but record low turnout could weaken his claim of a mandate for reflationary policies to revive the economy.

Media projections showed Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner, the Komeito party, on track to win more than 317 seats in the 475-member lower house, enough to maintain its “supermajority” that smoothes parliamentary business. “I

believe the public approved of two years of our ‘Abenomics’ policies,” Abe said in a televised interview.

“But that doesn’t mean we can be complacent.”

Many voters, doubtful of both the premier’s “Abenomics” strategy to end deflation and generate growth and the opposition’s ability to do any better, stayed at home.

Final turnout will be a record low of 52.4 percent, media estimated, below 59.3 percent in a 2012 poll that returned Abe to power for a rare second term on

pledges to reboot an economy plagued by deflation and an aging, shrinking population.

Market analysts said the outcome would be positive for shares and negative for the yen in the near term given expectations Abe will stick to a “Three Arrows” strategy of hyper-easy monetary policy, government spending and reforms. But hopes for Abenomics where hit when the economy slipped into recession in the third quarter following an April sales tax rise.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

51

International Sport

Sports News

Manu calls up Iheanacho for AYC

Pacquiao accepts Mayweather’s challenge

52

53

Sport

Did you know?

That it is widely believed that Osama bin Laden was a massive Arsenal fan. But there’s really no confirmation on that one anymore!

Quadri targets top 10, cries out for help

Adekunle Salami

A

frican Table Tennis Champion, Aruna Quadri, has expressed his readiness to make the Top 10 rankings of the International Table Tennis Federation very soon.

Quadri told our correspondent on

the telephone that he had what it takes to do better in the game if given the required support.

He said the magic of moving up was to play regularly in the circuits but that doing so involved a huge financial commitment.

“I can make it because I know how I got to where I am today. I

have been spending my money to attend major international competitions. It is not easy, “ he said.

Quadri called on the National Sports Commission and corporate sponsors to come to his aid in his quest to rise in the world rankings.

“I have been making efforts to reach the NSC but to no avail. Let me

use this opportunity to also seek the assistance of corporate Nigeria. I have three competitions in January alone,” he stressed.

Quadri is one of the four table tennis players gunning for the ITTF athlete of the year award. He amazingly moved from 237th to 30th between February and November.

Tough raising another Dream Team –Siasia Siasia

Ifeanyi Ibeh

2008 football teams is going to be very difficult.

Siasia was in charge of the country’s team last time they made it to the Olympic Games football event at the Beijing

H

ead Coach of Nigeria’s U-23 national team, Samson Siasia, has stated that he will be doing his best to ensure he gives Nigerians a team they would be proud of at next year’s All Africa Games and the 2016 Olympics, even though he believes the task of raising a team capable of matching the exploits of Atlanta 1996 or Beijing

The Sport Team Adekunle Salami Deputy Editor, Sports

Emmanuel Tobi Assistant Editor, Sports

Ifeanyi Ibeh Sports Correspondent

Ajibade Olusesan Sports Correspondent

Charles Ogundiya Sports Correspondent

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

U-23 invitee, Emem Uduok (left), celebrating a goal with Osas Ighodaro

2008 Olympics where they finished with a silver medal following a lone goal defeat at the hands of Argentina in the final.

Expectations are thus high from football fans in the country that the former

Quadri

Nigeria international will not only be able to secure a qualification ticket to the Olympics, but also replicate or better his feat of six years ago at Rio 2016.

Nigeria won the Olympic Games football gold back in 1996 and Rio 2016 would mark the 20th year since Johannes Bonfrere led a crop of talented footballers, who came to be known as the Dream Team, to victory over Argentina in the gold medal match.

Siasia was not part of that team, which, in his opinion, would be difficult for any coach to recreate in the foreseeable future, but he insists he will be doing all he can to raise a team capable of putting smiles on the faces of his countrymen and women.

“How do you recreate a team made up of fantastic players, some of who have gone on to become legends in this great country of ours,” asked Siasia.

“That team took a lot of time and resources to get to that level.

“And some of the guys in that team were already household names in the country and approaching their peak, so it is going to be very difficult to get a team like that in this time and age as I don’t think a lot of clubs in Europe would be ready to even release some of our players within the required age bracket for our matches as there are no obligations for them to do so,” said Siasia.

“We had problems getting some of our best players released for the 2008 Olympics which is why we are doing all we can to get good players based in Nigeria from the screening exercise.

But we will do our best to raise a team we would all be proud of.

“We’ve been there before and know it’s not going to be easy because we don’t actually have a team; we are trying to build a new team. So what we are going to be doing between now and February when we’ll be having our first competitive match is to get a number of good players and start working on them.

“So, we are going to be working very hard between now and February to make sure that we have a team capable of winning our first game, and then we take it from there,” added the former Nantes of France star, who was capped 46 times for Nigeria between 1984 and 1998, scoring 13 goals.

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Manu calls up Iheanacho for AYC lFlying Eagles know opponents Dec 21 Ifeanyi Ibeh

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lying Eagles coach, Manu Garba, has called up the Most Valuable Player of the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup, Kelechi Iheanacho, ahead of next year’s African Youth Championship in Senegal.

Iheancho is one of world football’s highly rated youngsters, and is currently on the books of English Premier League side, Manchester City, who are reportedly keen on securing a work permit for the 18-year-old prodigy.

Manu, who was in charge of the Golden Eaglets as they

won the 2013 U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, also handed call-ups to eight other overseas-based players, including Iheanacho’s Manchester City club mate, Chidiebere Nwakali Isaac Success, Taiwo Awoniyi and Musa Muhammed, who were also members of that victorious Nigerian side in the UAE are also on the list.

Others are highly rated Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, Musa Yahaya, Daddy Moses and Kingsley Madu of Slovakian side, AS Trencin.

According to the Flying Eagles handler, all the invited overseas based players are expected to join up with the team when

the training camp reopens in Kaduna on December 27.

He also said, in a statement made available to New Telegraph by the team’s media officer, Samm Audu, that he has received assurances for the release of the players from their respective clubs.

Meanwhile, the draw for the AYC, which gets underway on March 8 in Dakar, Senegal, will be conducted on December 21, at the Cairo, Egypt headquarters of CAF. Eight teams will head into the draw. They are hosts Senegal, Nigeria, Congo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, South Africa and Iheanacho Zambia.

COPA Lagos: Cote d’Ivoire dethrone Nigeria

MFM wins Church World Cup in India Emmanuel Tobi

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MFM FC’s road to making history at the Church World Cup in India started with a 3-0 win over Colombia, next to fall was Egypt who lost 2-0 while Uzbekistan was hammered 7-0 and the host, India conceded a goal in the semi -final which catapulted the Olukoya Boys to the final of the competition. The participating teams were host India, Co-

he Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries Football Club of Lagos has emerged Church World Cup champions after defeating the United Church of Colombia 7-0 in the final of the maiden edition of the competition in Goa, India, on Sunday MFM FC which plays in the Nigeria National Division One League dominated the encounter from the outset in what would turn out to be a miss match.

It was also a clean sweep for MFM FC in the individual award as striker, Adekunle Adegboyega, won the top scorer award with eight goals and diminutive midfielder, Onuwa Emmanuel, was voted the Most Valuable Player of the competition. MFM team celebrating their victory

lombia, Egypt, Brazil, Nigeria, Ghana, Uzbekistan and Portugal.

An elated MFM General Overseer, Dr Daniel Olukoya said, “The boys have made Nigeria and Africa very proud. I’m really happy that this feat was achieved by footballers who are ambassadors from MFM, they’ve made us proud in faraway India.”

Charles Ogundiya

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irst timer, Cote d’Ivoire Beach soccer team dethroned Nigeria Beach team at the just concluded COPA Lagos Beach Soccer Championship.

Nigeria came into the competition having won all the editions since inception four years ago, but a second day 5-4 loss to Cote d’Ivoire who was making their debut at the competition brought to an end Nigeria’s dominance in the annual event.

Cote d’Ivoire defeated African champions, Senegal 6-2 in their first game before beating Nigeria 5-4 in the second game on Satur-

Viju Championship: Powerlifting boss rates athletes highly IfeanyiIbeh

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resident of the Nigeria Powerlifting Federation, Abdulaziz Alli, has spoken highly of the participants at the recently concluded All Nigeria Powerlifting Championship, organised by his federation in conjunction with Viju Milk.

Speaking at the end of the threeday championship, which came to an end on Saturday, the PFN president described the tourney as a huge success, adding that the performance of competitors at the event went far beyond the initial expectations of the federation.

He said: “Judging from what I

GABROS prepares for Glo League with Euro tour

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s part of preparations for the new season, newly promoted Nigeria Premier League side, Gabros International of Nnewi, are currently on a European tour and are billed to play against clubs in Greece, Italy and Switzerland.

According to the team coordinator and leader of delegation, Olisa Onuchukwu, who arranged the trip, the team, made up of 16 players and four officials are billed to stay in Europe for one month with a a training camp in Elatochori-Pieria, Greece, 70 kilometers from the city of Thessaloniki.

They will engage six top Greek sides including regular UEFA Champions league Campaigners PAOK Salonika during their stay in Greece.

The team is expected to visit Italy where

they will clash with two Serie A teams and move across the border for a match in Switzerland.

New Telegraph gathered that the trip was single handedly bankrolled by f Anambra State politician and TAN Ambassador, Chief Ifeanyi Ubah.

The multi-billionaire oil magnet who is the CEO of Capital Oil and Gas shelled out over N25 million for the trip and has vowed to transform the team into one of the best in Africa having already mandated the club management to shop for a top European coach and 10 national team players from other African countries to fortify the team for 2014/2015 Nigeria Premier League. Other lucrative packages are also on the pipeline.

ormer NFF President Sani Lulu Abdullahi has revealed that the dream of FOSLA Academy has started evolving, and that the task ahead is still enormous.

Lulu who spoke at the weekend, while formally receiving the 2014 FCT SWAN Academy of the Year won by his Academy, said that the project of FOSLA Academy was a ‘work in progress’ which was tailored towards ensuring that the country had a pool of talented players of various age limit that could be readily available

for the country at every point in time.

Lulu said: “Let me first and foremost thank the FCT Chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria for recognising the FOSLA Academy as one of the best in the FCT, and even in the country. The idea behind the academy started before 2010, when we decided to pool resources to ensure that talented young players with verifiable ages were given the opportunity to pursue careers in football and also get the highest level of education.

FOSLA Academy work in progress, says Lulu F

day. The team made it three out of three after thrashing Ghana 9-4 in their last game of the competition.

The coach Adamu Ejor-led Nigeria beach soccer team came second with six points followed

by Senegal with three points and Ghana with no point.

Meanwhile the team has attributed the loss to lack of preparation. According to the players, Nigeria’s fire brigade approach has finally come to haunt them.

“We had five days of preparation against a team that had been preparing for long. It would have been a whitewash especially against Cote d’Ivoire if not for our experience,” he said.

saw throughout the competition, I will rate the athletes very high. Sincerely, I think they are ready to go, as you can see.

“It was very competitive as they all came out to give their best and that’s what we were looking for during and after the three-day tournament,” stressed Alli, who has set his sights on organising a “bigger and better competition” in April 2015.

The final day of competition, last Saturday, witnessed near total domination by Delta state athletes as they carted home three gold medals courtesy of the trio of Tanimowo Rasaq, Oredugba Akinwale and Jubril Abubakar.

Lagos sports forum holds Dec 16

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n readiness for the Lagos State Secondary Schools Sports Festival (Ibile Games 2015), a one-day sports forum with the theme “School Sports: The Way Forward” will hold on December 16, at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos. At 8 am.

Over 600 games masters from public and private schools in Lagos as well as chairmen and technical directors of 36 sports associations in the state, including the six permanent secretaries/ tutors general from the six education districts in the state, representatives from the Ministry of Education and six district sports officers from the state education districts in Lagos State are expected at the sports forum.

According to Director of Sports, Lagos State Sports Council, Dr. Kweku Tandoh, the forum is aimed at fasttracking sports development at the grassroots level as well as to sensitise participants on the Ibile Games.

Director, Grassroots Sports of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Alhassan Yakmut, will deliver the keynote address while three papers are expected to be presented by Mrs. Gloria Obajimi (School Sports and Sports Facilities), Prince ‘Wale Oladunjoye (Grassroots Sports and Development: The Lagos Experience) and Chief Segun Odegbami (Sports and Education).

The Secondary Schools Sports Festival is slated to hold from January 26 to February 6, 2015.

International Sport 53

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

Pacquiao accepts Mayweather’s challenge Will it happen?

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anny Pacquiao has vowed to chase Floyd M ay w e a t h e r into ring submission after the undefeated American offered to fight him next year.

Mayweather issued a May 2 challenge to the Filipino star on Friday and Pacquiao appears ready to agree to a first showdown between the two long-time rivals for the title of “best pound-for-pound” boxer of their generation “He (Mayweather) has reached a dead end. He has nowhere to run but to fight me,” said Pacquiao.

“I will try my best to make this a thrilling and entertaining fight. But I doubt if he’s gonna engage me in a slugfest.

“You all know his fighting style. Most of his previous fights, if not all, induced us to sleep.”

Should the fight happen, Pacquiao, who turns 36 on Wednesday, said he will do to Mayweather, 37, what he did to another previously undefeated American, Chris Algieri, who lost to the WBO welterweight champion in Macau last month.

“I know what I have to do. I will chase him wherever he goes just in case he

Xavi rues missed chances after Getafe draw

Pacquiao and Mayweather

RVP hails De Gea in Liverpool rout B

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obin van Persie has credited David de Gea and Michael Carrick for the roles that they played in Manchester United’s 3-0 victory over Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Goalkeeper De Gea kept out all eight of the away side’s shots on target, while midfielder Carrick slotted in as part of a three-man defensive unit.

Speaking after the match, Van Persie, who scored United’s third goal, was full of praise for the duo.

“Again, David was outstanding. He was brilliant. It’s not often a team wins 3-0 and the goalkeeper is man of the match,” he told Sky Sports News. “I also think Michael Carrick made the difference today (Sunday), he is so confident on the ball. All of the defenders were calm.”

The win has kept the Red Devils third in the Premier League table.

Wayne Rooney slides in to join his fellow goalscorers Juan Mata and Robin van Persie

arcelona captain Xavi rued his side’s missed chances as they were held to a goalless draw against Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez, with the veteran playmaker describing the result as “a step backwards”.

The result means Real are guaranteed to be top of the table at Christmas, and Xavi told www.fcbarcelona.com: “The most important thing is to win, more than the system, and we weren’t able to do that. “(It was) a step backwards. We tried it all in the kind of game we’re used to facing, but if you can’t break the deadlock things get difficult.”

The 34-year-old former Spain midfielder added:

RESULTS European Premier League Man United 3 – 0 Liverpool Burnley 1 – 0 Southampton Chelsea 2 – 0 Hull C/Palace 1 – 1 Stoke Leicester 0 – 1 Man City Sunderland 1 – 1 West Ham West Brom 1 – 0 Aston Villa Arsenal 4 – 1 Newcastle Swansea 1 – 2 Tottenham

Serie A Juventus 1 – 1 Sampdoria Genoa 0 – 1 Roma Parma 0 – 0 Cagliari Udinese 1 – 2 Verona Xavi(right) and Messi

“We had three or four really good chances, especially the Lionel Messi free-kick onto the bar, but the ball didn’t want to go in.

“We have to get back to the good way things were going until now.”

Palermo 2 – 1 Sassuolo Lazio 3 – 0 Atalanta

La Liga Almeria 1 – 4 Real Madrid Espanyol 2 – 1 Granada Getafe 0 – 0 Barcelona Valencia 3 – 0 Vallecano Cordoba 0 – 0 Levante

Dala Tennis: Enosoregbe, Adegoke emerge champions

Malaga 1 – 0 Celta Vigo

Bundesliga

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lifford Enosoregbe and Sarah Adegoke were crowned champions in the men and women’s singles of the Dala Hard Court at the weekend in Kano.

Nigeria’s no1 ranked player, Enosoregbe captured his second national title in as many weeks after his triumph in the NPA Open in Abuja the previous weekend by beating Thomas Otu 6-3, 6-3 while Adegoke also bagged a straight 6-4, 6-3 win over Aanu Aiyegbusi.

Enosoregbe, who was part of Nigeria’s Davis Cup Euro-Africa team to Egypt in September, is now sure to finish the year as the top ranked player. He got N800, 000 for his effort.

The interesting final which was watched by a large crowd at the Kano Club, including Sadiq Abdullahi, a USbased former Nigeria star, Alhaji Bashar Gumel, the pioneer MOC chairman of the tournament and NTF President, Engr.

Sani Ndanusa saw Enosoregbe displaying some of the skills that make him the undisputed top Nigerian player at the moment.

On her part, 16-year-old Adegoke reclaimed her top ranking having been toppled by Christy Agugbom, the 2014 CBN Open queen, who also claimed the top prize at the NPA Open.

Adegoke, who pocketed N500, 000, started the year as joint-top with Blessing Samuel (now no 4), and will hold on to the summit of the ranking should she reach the semifinal of the inaugural Ikoyi Club 1938 Masters which serves off on Tuesday in Lagos.

decides to run around the ring. We will devise a good fight plan against him,” Pacquiao added.

Pacquiao also insists the division of the purse - the fight is expected to be the richest in boxing history is not an issue for him.

“Mayweather can get the amount he wants. As early as January this year, I challenged him to a charity fight. Until now, he has not agreed to it. So, money is not the issue in our fight,” he said.

“This fight is about legacy, this is about making the fans happy and, above all, this is for the good of boxing.”

Leverkusen 1 – 1 Gladbach Augsburg 0 – 4 Bayern Bremen 3 – 3 Hannover Freiburg 0 – 0 Hamburg Hertha 1 – 0 Dortmund Schalke 1 – 2 Cologne Mainz 1 – 1 Stuttgart Hoffenheim 3 – 2 Frankfurt

Ujah

Ujah, Nwofor hit target, Mikel, Akpala shine scored with his first attempt at goal just lLawal sees red four minutes after coming on.

Ajibade Olusesan

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igeria striker, Anthony Ujah, continued his scoring form as he hit the target in Cologne’s 2-1 win over Schalke 04 in a German Bundesliga game just as Uche Nwofor rescued a point for his Belgian club Lierse in their 3-3 draw with Westerlo.

Ujah scored in the 47th minute to give Cologne the lead on the road to earn their first win at Schalke since 1993. The strike was his sixth of the season.

Lierse were trailing Westerlo 3-2 when Nwofor was introduced with 10 minutes left to play and the Nigerian

Mikel Obi followed up his impressive performance midweek with another inspiring showing in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Sone Aluko’s Hull City.

Mikel who scored his first ever Champions League goal last Wednesday against Sporting Lisbon, secured his second league start for the Blues and he played for 82 minutes before making way for Ramires. Aluko was on the pitch for 64 minutes but could not do anything to help his team avoid defeat.

Brown Ideye got his first start in West Brom’s line up since September when the Baggies secured a 1-0 win over Aston Villa. He played for 90 minutes.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE Team P GD 1 Chelsea 16 23 2 Man City 16 19 3 Man United 16 12 4 West Ham 16 8 5 Southampton 16 12 6 Arsenal 16 9

Pts 39 36 31 28 26 26

7 Tottenham 8 Newcastle 9 Swansea 10 Liverpool 11 Stoke City 12 Aston Villa 13 Everton 14 West Brom 15 Sunderland 16 C/Palace 17 Burnley 18 QPR 19 Hull City 20 Leicester

24 23 22 21 19 19 18 17 16 15 15 14 13 10

16 16 16 16 16 16 15 16 16 16 16 15 16 16

-2 -4 2 -3 -3 -10 1 -5 -10 -5 -13

-11 -8 -12

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54

Leisure Arcade NUTS

By Kaycee

MAMA LASISI

By Aliu Eroje

MOYIN & FRIENDS

By Ayo Oyerinde

SUDOKU - Answer to No 12 9

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NTJokes WOMEN WAHALA

How to play

SUDOKU

ALIU EROJE

CHIEF CARTOONIST aliu.eroje@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

NTPuzzle

The objective is to fill a 9x9 grid so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3x3 boxes (also called blocks or regions) contains the digits from 1 to 9.

A cell is the smallest block in the game. A row , column and region consists of 9 cells and the whole game consists of 81 cells. A region has thicker lines surrounding it. This simply makes it easier to play the game.

One day, a woman asked her son to call her husband to ask him what he wanted her to cook for dinner. After the sixth time the boy complained to his mother that a female voice was what he heard every time he called and the lady would not let him speak to his dad. By the time the man got home that evening, his wife was fuming seriously.

She was so angry that she met him at his car and grabbed his shirt right there in the front yard.

“How dare you cheat on me?” she shouted, attracting the neighbors instantly. “How could you? After all we have been through?”

The confused man stared at her - he could not fathom why she was so mad at him. The neighbors tried to calm her down but she refused, and when someone asked for evidence, she recounted the phone call episode and called on Junior to repeat everything the lady on the phone said.

“The number you are calling is not reachable at the moment. Please try again later,” Junior said.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

55

Sanctity of Truth

On Marble

World Record

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.

– Winston Churchill

Leisure & Puzzle }54

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Tim Berners-Lee: Creator of the World Wide Web (1989)

NIGERIA’S MOST AUTHORITATIVE NEWSPAPER IN POLITICS AND BUSINESS

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

N150

Questions Buhari must answer

ajor General Muhammadu Buhari has emerged as the APC flagbearer for the 2015 Presidential election and President Goodluck Jonathan has emerged for the PDP. The battle for the soul and future of our nation now begins.

Let us consider Buhari. On 22nd July 2014 he told The Nation Newspaper that “our country has gone through several rough patches, but never before have I seen a Nigerian President declare war on his own country as we are seeing now. Never before have I seen a Nigerian President deploy federal institutions in the service of partisanship as we are witnessing now.

Never before have I seen a Nigerian President utilize the common wealth to subvert the system and punish the opposition, all in the name of politics. Our nation has suffered serious consequences in the past for egregious acts that are not even close to what we are seeing now. It is time to pull the brakes’’.

One may have been prepared to accept the general’s words as being those of a genuinely concerned and committed patriot who simply wanted our President and his Government to do a better job and who was worried about the unfolding situation in our country if he had not consistently exposed his true colours and his obvious soft spot for Boko Haram.

Permit me to share just one example of the expression of that soft spot in this contribution. On 3rd June 2013, Thisday Newspaper led with the following headline: ‘’The military offensive against Boko Haram is anti-north- General Muhammadu Buhari’’.

The headline was followed by these words: ‘’Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, has criticised the declaration of state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States and the subsequent military offensive against the Boko Haram Islamic sect. Buhari, who featured on the “Guest of the Week,” a Hausa programme of the Kaduna-based Liberty Radio, yesterday said the federal government’s action was a gross injustice against the north. According to him, unlike the special treatment the federal government gave to the Niger Delta militants, the Boko Haram members were being killed and their houses demolished.

He said he was not in support of the declaration of state of emergency in the three north-eastern states because President Goodluck Jonathan had failed from the outset in addressing the security situation in the country’’.

The implications of these shameful and indefensible comments, coming from a former Head of State, are obvious and self-evident. If the truth be told Buhari’s peculiar affinity with the terrorists and his fawning about their safety and welfare is as unbearable as it is nauseating.

Yet that same General Buhari who said these unacceptable things one year ago is now busy pontificating about his concerns for our nation. Many would argue that that is pretty rich coming from him given his past comments about a ruthless group of terrorists who, more than any other, merit the award for the greatest ‘’troublers of our nation’’. Given this I regard Buhari’s comments to the Nation Newspaper on the 22 July 2014 as nothing but self-serving and belated clap trap.

Yet this clap trap is worthy of a little at-

Crossfire FEMI FANI-KAYODE

ffk2011@aol.com

Buhari

tention. Of particular interest to me were the following words: ‘’never before have I seen a Nigerian President declare war on his own country as we are seeing now’’. Really? Correct me if I am wrong but I thought that the war that President Jonathan had declared was against terrorism and Boko Haram and not against the Nigerian people.

Does General Buhari find it difficult to make a distinction between the jihadists and the Nigerian people? Does he see them as being one and the same? Does he actually equate members of Jama’at ahl as-sunnah li-d-da’wa wa-l-jihad with the Nigerian people? Does he regard the military offensive against Boko Haram as being an offensive against OUR people? Does he honestly believe that anytime that a Boko Haram terrorist is killed by our Armed Forces and security agencies or that his house is blown up that it is an attack on the Nigerian people or an assault on the north? Are those people that Boko Haram are slaughtering, terrorising, abducting, pillaging, robbing and raping on a daily basis all over our country not the real Nigerians?

Does he honestly believe that Boko Haram is representative of the thinking of our people or even the majority of the people in the muslim north? Has this man not lost touch with reality? Does he really belong to the 21st century or is he nothing more than an old relic from the distant past who secretly craves for a return to the norms, ways and values of 6th century Saudi Arabia? Is such a man really fit to be President of our country?

Is he still insisting on having another muslim as his running mate in order to establish his strange dream of a muslim/ muslim President and Vice President for our country or has he shelved that idea due to political pressure from President Oluse-

gun Obasanjo, public resentment and bitter outrage?

Has he beat a tactical retreat from the muslim/muslim adventure and finally opted for Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Professor Yemi Osibajo, Governor Kayode Fayemi or some other yoruba christian to be his running mate as my sources are suggesting?

I must confess that all three of these individuals are profoundly good men and are eminently qualified for the job but does this latest concession come from the heart or is it just a ruse and an attempt to appease the christian community? Is it an attempt to lure them in and make them drop their guard? Does Buhari have any respect for Christians?

Does he have any empathy with the christian community in northern Nigeria for the immense suffering, degradation, humiliation,contempt, shame, indignity, persecution and mass murder that they have been subjected to in the north for the last 54 years and particularly in the last few years?

Does he regard christians as being human beings? Does he accept the fact that Boko Haram are nothing but beasts? Does he recognise the fact that no-one has the right to take the life of another human being in the name of religion? Does he know that compulsion has no place in any civilised religion and that each human being has the right to exercise his or her free will to determine which religious faith he or she wishes to espouse?

Does Buhari understand the meaning of the words ‘’secular state’’ or the concept of the secularity of the state? Can he possibly accept the virtues and comprehend the wisdom of such an equitable and reasonable constitutional arrangement which guarantees the rights of all faiths and which does not allow one faith to laud it over another anywhere in our country?

Does he recognise the fact that Nigeria is in actual fact a secular state in which the rights and dignity of the members of every faith, including the christian faith, are guaranteed by the constitution? Does he accept the fact that in this day and age it is a heinous crime against humanity and particularly the girl-child and that it is a complete violation of the laws of our land for little girls of the age of 5, 6, 9 13 and even up to 16 to be married off and subjected to rape in the name of religion and marriage?

Does the General support paedophiles, sexual predators, sociopaths, sadistic perverts and the criminally-insane like the Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau who are sexually attracted to innocent and defenceless little girls and who believe that they can be ‘’sold in the market’’ and ‘’forced into marriage and slavery?’’ Does he honestly believe that Boko Haram are

human beings? Does this man that wants to be President of our country not recognise a heartless and callous beast when he sees one?

Does the wanton and relentless shedding of rivers of innocent blood, including the blood of children, not move his heart?

Does the open abduction of almost 300 little girls, each of whom is young enough to be his grandaughter, from the sanctity of their school dormitory in the dead of the night not evoke pity in him and not stir him to rage?

Does he have any compassion and does he feel no pain for the suffering of the victims of Boko Haram? Does he know that Boko Haram has killed as many muslims as they have christians in their insane attempt to establish an islamic fundamentalist state in our country?

Is his inability to make a distinction between Boko Haram and the Nigerian people informed by the fact that he is a closet Haramite whose stated desire is to ‘’spread sharia throughout the whole of the country’’ as he said in 2001? Does Buhari still believe that ‘’muslims should only vote for muslims’’ or ‘’for those that will protect their interest’’ as he said in 2001?

Does he still believe that ‘’christians should not worry when muslims chop off their own arms and hands in the name of sharia because it is none of their business’’ as he said in 2001? Does he still believe that Boko Haram members should be forgiven, granted amnesty, pampered, sent abroad to learn and given monthly allowances ‘’like the Niger Delta militants’’ as he suggested in 2013?

Does he still believe that , if he is not elected as President in 2015, ‘’the dog and the baboon shall both be soaked in blood’’?

Never before have I seen a former Nigerian Head of State openly express sympathy and covertly support a murderous and bestial terrorist organisation that has killed well over 30,000 innocent Nigerians in cold blood, that has abducted and raped our little girls and that has slit the throats and drained the blood of our young boys.

Never before have I seen a former Nigerian Head of State openly defend a bunch of cowardly, uncouth and barbaric jihadists that have bombed and burnt alive the weak, the vulnerable and the elderly in our country and that have slaughtered our soldiers, policemen and intelligence agents at will and with such callousness and glee.

Never before have I seen a former Nigerian Head of State openly canvass restraint and mercy for a bunch of bloodthirsty, coldblooded mass murderers and criminals that have turned our country into a pariah nation, that has made the north the home of the most callous, ruthless, hateful, vile and evil terrorist organisation in the world and that has transformed our nation into a horrendous haven for ruthless islamic fundamentalists and bloodthirsty islamist militias.

If the truth must be told the only thing that is worse than Boko Haram are those in the Nigerian political class that secretly support and covertly assist them.

A Buhari Presidency would be a disaster for our country, a danger to the Christian community and clear evidence of the final victory and triumph of Boko Haram and the jihadists over the Nigerian state.

It would also represent the end of Nigeria as one nation.

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