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Power projects' contractors hurry back to site Adeola Yusuf

ontractors for some power projects covering the first and second

phases of the National Integrated Power Plant (NIPP) programme and the distribution projects that have abandoned their projects nationwide have returned to sites follow-

ing the reform postures of the President-elect, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, New Telegraph has learnt. The outgoing Jonathan administration has been

battling to get the contractors to fulfill their obligations to no avail. The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) has issued several threats of blacklisting

the contractors, but this did little to persuade them to go back to sites. Vice-President Namadi Sambo, who is the chairman of NDPHC and the Managing Director of

NDPHC, Mr. James Olotu had, on several occasions, threatened to withdraw the contracts and compel the contractors to refund the mobilisation fees they CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

$20bn oil money: Case not closed, says Buhari

lPresident-elect vows to reopen Sanusi's allegations }5

Quick Read

Editorial

Keshi’s return and the way forward }19

Senate passes 2015 budget tomorrow }7

An elderly man casting his vote during the re-run election in Kwami East State Assembly Constituency in Gombe State…at the weekend

Oyegun, Onu, Baba Ahmed jostle for SGF lNorth positions Kingibe as Chief of Staff

News

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Oyegun, Onu, Baba Ahmed jostle for SGF Ayodele Ojo, Donald Ojogo and Johnchuks Onuanyim

he All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and former National Chairman of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, have emerged as favourites for the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). Also in the race is a retired permanent secretary and former Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed. New Telegraph learnt at the weekend that the party leadership was in a fix whether to zone the position to either the SouthEast or the South-South. But some Northern party bigwigs are rooting for one of their kinsmen as the SGF. A source told New Telegraph that Odigie-Oyegun had indicated interest in the office and had enlisted the support of party leaders to get the post. “The national chairman feels that the South-

South deserves the position of the SGF and he considers himself as the right person for the job, having served as permanent secretary in the Buhari military regime. I can tell you that Oyegun has been lobbying party leadership for the job,” the source said. It was, however, learnt that Onu has so far enjoyed the backing of some party leaders who were pushing his candidacy in order to ensure equity in the distribution of positions in the party. According to sources, the choice of Onu was arrived at by the party leadership, given his steadfastness and contribution to the party growth. "You know there were three legacy parties that fused to become the APC. Already, the Congress for Progressive Congress (CPC) produced General Muhammadu Buhari as president while the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has produced the vice-president in Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. So, only the ANPP has been left out of sharing of sensitive offices. That is why we are supporting Onu for the office," a member of the APC Board of Trustees

(BoT) told New Telegraph. It was, however, learnt that some forces in the party are kicking against the choice of Odigie-Oyegun as the SGF on the strength of age. He is 75 years old and the president-elect is 72 years old. "We will be sending a wrong signal out of running a gerontocracy. Buhari is 72 and you want to pick an SGF who is 75? The office of SGF is demanding and needs a young man. Some of us have drawn the attention of the party leadership to this age issue. Don't forget that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made issue out of Buhari's age in the course of electioneering," a source said. Some vested interests in the party are, however, pushing for the former Governor of Anambra State, Senator Chris Ngige, who lost his re-election on April 11. The names of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers and the incumbent Secretary to the Borno State Government (SSG), Ambassador Ahmed Jidda, had initially featured as possible SGF were also mentioned. The candidature of

Amaechi, who served as Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, was stepped down because of what a party source described as “his temperamental nature whereas the office of the SGF demands a high level of maturity and level-headedness." Jidda was dropped because of "political exigency" and that the NorthEast, where he is from, is being considered for another top position. A source said Amaechi is being considered for a ministerial appointment and he may either head the Petroleum Resources Ministry or the Niger Delta Ministry. A party source told New Telegraph that the inability of the South-South and South-East to produce a ranking National Assembly member to occupy the leadership of one of the legislative chambers was one of the reasons that informed the decision to zone the SGF to either of the zones. He stated that Buhari was confused over who to pick as SGF between Onu and Ahmed. According to him, Buhari has much respect and regard for Onu, but there

is pressure on him to consider Ahmed since Jonathan had someone from the South-East as SGF. He said so many people from the North believe that somebody from the North should be appointed as the SGF now. The source also said a former SGF, Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, was being considered to be Buhari's chief of staff to checkmate strong elements in the Buhari administration. Kingibe, with a background in intelligence gathering, was appointed SGF by the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and was later sacked by the administration on the grounds of inordinate ambitions. According to the source, the inclusion of Kingibe as a member of the 13-member APC transition committee was strategic. He said: "Kingibe is a seasoned administrator, a technocrat, a politician and an intelligent expert. "Buhari would rely much on his wealth of experience to do most of the work he has to do and his opinion would be highly respected in the circle of government functionaries. "As a Chief of Staff to Buhari, the president

would be rest assured that his office would command the desired respect." The source stated that former President Olusegun Obasanjo chose as his chief of staff someone with security background and Yar'Adua inherited that. He stated that one of the undoings of President Goodluck Jonathan was the first choice of his Chief of Staff, Mike Ogiadomhe, a former deputy governor of Edo State. Meanwhile, the battle for the presidency of the Eighth Senate has entered its deciding stage as National Assembly members, both old and new, participate at a three-day induction ahead of the inauguration of the National Assembly in June. The induction programme, organised by the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS), will take place at two venues - the International Conference Centre for members of the House of Representatives as well as Transcorp Hilton Hotel for the senators. One of the newly elected senators said three ranking senators had approached him while a colCONTINUED ON PAGE 6

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

Travel Advisory

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

International Flight Schedule 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 11:00hrs 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

KLM

ARIK AIRLINES

Lagos-London London-Lagos Lagos-New York

W3 101 W3 102 W3 107 (Mon, Wed , Fri) New York-Lagos W3 108 (Tues,Thurs, Fri) Lagos-Johannesburg W3 103 Johannesburg-Lagos W3 104 Lagos-Douala - (Tues, Wed ,Thur) Douala-Lagos - (Tues, Wed, Thur) Lagos-Accra Accra-Lagos

Abuja-Accra Accra-Abuja Lagos-Freetown Freetown-Lagos Lagos-Banjul Banjul-Lagos Lagos-Dakar Dakar-Lagos

-(Tue, Thur, Sat, Sun) -(Mon, Wed, Fri) -(Daily) - (Wed, Fri, Sun) -(Wed, Fri, Sun) -(Wed, Fri, Sun) -(Wed, Fri, Sun) -(Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri,Sat) -(Tue,Wed, Fri,Sat,Sun)

BRITISH AIRWAYS

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

07:00hrs 20:05hrs 20:10hrs 11:45hrs

Lagos-Cairo Cairo-Lagos

MS 876 MS 875

14:25hrs 08:30hrs

22:20hrs 13:30hrs

EGYPT AIR

KENYA AIRWAYS

16:00hrs

Lagos-Kigali

11:15hrs

16:45hrs

10:45hrs 09:35hrs 11:10hrs 13:25hrs 07:20hrs 17:00hrs 08:05hrs 13:35hrs 18:00hrs

hrs 14:44hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs

AWB 201 (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) AWB 202 (Tue, Thur, Sat, Sun)

14:00hrs

17:30hrs

22:35hrs 15:10hrs

06:00hrs 21:20hrs

17:00hrs 06:00hrs 08:00hrs 17:00hrs 08:00hrs 15:20hrs 21:00hrs

hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs

01:00hrs

hrs

3:00hrs 14:00hrs

8:00hrs 19:00hrs

EK 7821 (Sun-Sat) 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 Doha-Lagos Flight

QR 1414 (daily) 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

Lagos-Houston Houston-Lagos

UA 143 UA 142

10:10hrs 19:10hrs

6:05hrs 15.15hrs

Lagos - Addis Ababa ET900 Addis Ababa - Lagos ET901 Abuja - Addis Ababa ET910 Addis Ababa - Abuja ET911 Enugu - Addis Ababa ET930 Addis Ababa - Enugu ET931 Kano - Addis Ababa ET930 Addis Ababa - Kano ET931

13:15hrs 09:00hrs 13:40hrs 09:40hrs 12:00hrs 09:20hrs 14:05hrs 09:20hrs

20:25hrs 12:15hr 20:10hrs 12:20hrs 20:50hrs 11:15hrs 20:50hrs 13:20hrs

Lagos-Madrid Madrid-Lagos

IB 3337 IB 3336

22:55hrs 16:00hrs

5:25+1hrs 20:20hrs

Lagos-Casablanca Casablanca-Lagos

AT738 AT 737

06:25hrs 02:15hrs

09:55hrs 6:00hrs

air maroc

20.45hrs 09:50hrs 09.20 hrs 06:30hrs

12:30hrs

Lagos-Dubai Lagos-Dubai Dubai-Lagos Dubai-Lagos Abuja-Dubai

IBERIA

Abu Dhabi-Lagos

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

19:35hrs 23:45hrs

MEA 571 MEA 572

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES

Lagos- Abu Dhabi

ETIHAD AIRWAYS

12:30hrs 18:00hrs

to Lagos)

UNITED AIRLINES

17:00hrs 4:40hrs

KQ 533 KQ 534

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

DELTA AIRLINES

11:00hrs 22:40hrs

Lagos-Nairobi Nairobi-Lagos

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

QATAR AIRWAYS

VS 652 VS 651

18:30hrs 05:15hrs 05:30hrs

BA075 BA074 BA 082 BA 083

EMIRATES AIRLINES

Lagos-London London-Lagos

12:00hrs 21:30hrs 23:50hrs

Middle East Airlines (Two flights weekly (Tues & Friday)

Lebanon-Lagos Lagos-Lebanon

VIRGIN ATLANTIC

RwandAir

Kigali-Lagos

Turkish Airlines

Lagos-Istanbul Nairobi-Lagos

332 333

Air Côte d'Ivoire Lagos to Abidjan Abidjan to Lagos

HF 851 (Tues, Thurs, Fri, Sun) HF 852 (Mon,Wed, Thurs, Sat)

ASKY AIRLINES

Destination Lome to Abuja Abuja-Lome- Kinshasa Kinshasa-Abuja Abuja-Lome Lome-Lagos Lagos-Libreville Libreville-Kinshasa Kinshasa-Libreville Libreville-Lagos Lagos-Lome Lome-Lagos Lagos-Libreville Libreville-Brazaville Brazaville-Libreville Brazzaville-Lagos Lagos-Lome

10:10hrs

10:50hrs

19:20hrs

21.50hrs

Flight No. KP 032 (Tue-Fri) KP 032 ( Tue-Fri)

Departure Arrival 14:00hrs 15:55hrs 16:30hrs 18:15hrs

KP 033 (Wed-Sat) KP O33 (Wed-Sat) KP O40 (Sun-Sat) KP 040 (Sun-Sat) KP 040 (Sun-Sat) KP041 (Tue-Sat) KP 041 (Tue-Sat) KP 041 (Tue-Sat) KP O44 (Tue-Fri) KP 044 (Tue-Fri) KP 044 (Tue-Fri) KP O45 (Wed-Sat) KP 045 (Wed-Sat) KP 045 (Wed-Sat)

8:20hrs 10:35hrs 13:00hr 14:40hrs 17:00hrs 7:15hrs 9:35hrs 11:55hrs 13:10hrs 14:50hrs 17:10hrs 07:00hrs 09:20hrs 11:40hrs

10:00hrs 12:20hrs 14:00hrs 16:30hrs 18:45hrs 08:55hrs 11:25hrs 12:45hrs 14:10hrs 16:40hrs 18:50hrs 08:40hrs 11:10hrs 12:30hrs

Local FLIGHT SCHEDULE 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

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

News

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

$20bn oil money: Case not closed, says Buhari Johnchuks Onuanyim Abuja

he PresidentElect, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday pledged to revisit the allegation that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) could not account for $20 billion of oil revenue. He told a delegation of the Adamawa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that visited him in Abuja that the way the issue was handled was not to the best standard practice as gov-

ernment only resorted to sacking the whistle blower. "Somebody raised the alarm that the money was missing and the only thing that government could do was to sack the person as governor of Central Bank; but he was made the Emir of Kano later. This issue would be revisited for us to know what happened," he stated. Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was suspended by President Goodluck Jonathan last year after he alleged that the NNPC had not turned over about $20 billion of oil revenue to the

government, which earns two-thirds of its revenue from the commodity. The controversial allegation was investigated by the National Assembly and later the Federal Government commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to carry out forensic audit into the NNPC accounts. According to the highlights of the report released last February by the Auditor General of the Federation, PwC said there was no missing $20 billion, but recommended that NNPC should refund $1.48 billion to the Federation Account.

Sanusi, now the Emir of Kano, said last month that the audit report did not sufficiently address the issue. Last week, APC Policy Director, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, told Bloomberg in an interview in Lagos that the corporation lied on the $1.48 billion, which it said the report recommended for it to refund. Besides, he said the Buhari administration would release the full PwC report after its inauguration on May 29. “I have a figure that’s more than $1.5 billion that’s being talked about. We’ve seen credible information that what PwC

says is more than that. We will release the report. We’ll make it available to Nigerians as soon as we have full information on this,” Fayemi stated. Buhari also told the Adamawa APC delegation that he had information that looted funds had been returned to the treasury since his election. The President-elect, who spoke in Hausa, said: "I have heard that some funds have been returned to the nation's treasury, but l can only confirm this when l see the treasury." According to him, the best way to reposition Nigeria is to fight corruption,

L-R: Managing Director, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr. Phillips Oduoza; Chairman, Mr. Tony Elumelu and Company Secretary, Mr. Bili Odum, at the 53rd Annual General Meeting of the bank in Lagos...at the weekend.

insecurity and unemployment. He said if these issues were tackled, the nation's economy would be strong. Buhari restated the commitment of his incoming administration to urgently address the issue of unemployment, as the population of unemployed youths is dangerous to the nation. Commenting on Boko Haram, the Presidentelect said he prayed that God would give him the strength to fight terrorism. Expressing appreciation to the armed forces over the feat so far recorded against Boko Haram, he wondered what must have gone wrong with the military known for its exploits in peacekeeping operations in countries such as Burma, Liberia, Sierra Leone that it took it long to rise to the challenge of fighting insurgency. He assured the delegation that he would fix the infrastructural decay in the country and create the enabling environment for the people of Adamawa State, like other states of the federation, to exploit the natural resources that abound in the state. Adamawa State Governor-elect, Senator Bindow Jibrilla, who led the delegation, congratulated the President-elect for his electoral victory and urged him to help redress the problem of infrastructure, insecurity and youth unemployment plaguing the state.

Taraba APC candidate rejects results S'Africa chides Nigeria over envoys' recall

lINEC declares PDP’s Ishaku winner Sabiu Mustapha Jalingo

he All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the just-concluded governorship election in Taraba, Senator Aisha Alhassan, has rejected the results of the poll as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Former Minister of State for Niger Delta and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Arc. Darius Ishaku, was declared winner of the poll yesterday after a supplementary election was held in the state on Saturday. Addressing a press conference in Jalingo, the state capital, shortly after the announcement of the results, Alhassan described the entire election process as a “daylight robbery” and said the party would challenge the results at the

election petitions tribunal. "The combined governorship elections in Taraba were characterised by violence, massive rigging, ballot snatching and abuse of the card readers in substantial parts of the state by the PDP and their allies. “Our agents, supporters, and other well-meaning voters were attacked, intimidated and chased away from voting centres, while voting and collation took place in residences of PDP stakeholders and government functionaries. “I will be heading to the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to seek redress and reclaim the mandate entrusted on me by the good people of Taraba State. The mandate is sacred and I shall not relent in seeking to reclaim it," she said. She contended that results ascribed to Wukari, Donga, Takum, Sardauna, Zing, Yorro, Kurmi and some parts of Ussa, KarimLamido, Bali, Ardo-Kola and Lau local government

areas were not acceptable as they did not reflect the true results of the election in Taraba. Alhassan said all the complaints on the irregularities and abuse of the election guidelines were promptly reported to INEC, but that no action was taken. The INEC Returning Officer for Taraba, Prof. Kyari Mohammed, who declared the results yesterday in Jalingo, said Ishaku scored 369,318 votes to emerge victorious. Mohammed, the Vice Chancellor, Moddibo Adama University of Technology, Yola, said Alhassan came second with 275,984 votes, while Chief David Kente of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), polled 29, 966 votes. Ishaku has described his triumph as a victory for all Tarabans and promised to bring a lasting solution to the lingering crises facing some parts of the state within his 100 days in office.

outh Africa has condemned Nigeria's decision to recall its ambassador over a spate of attacks against foreigners. It called the step "unfortunate and regrettable" and said it "would be curious for a sisterly country to want to exploit such a painful episode." At least seven people have died over a month of attacks on foreigners and foreign-owned property in South Africa. Nigeria has summoned Acting High Commissioner Martin Cobham along with Deputy High Commissioner Uche AjuluOkeke "for consultation" over the "ongoing xenophobia," Minister of Foreign Affairs Aminu Wali said in a statement issued on Saturday. But spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), Mr. Clayson Monyela, said South Africa has done enough to quell the violence in the country. Monyela said South

Africa would raise its concerns through diplomatic channels with the new Nigerian administration which will assume office next month. The statement insists that the South African government and citizens have been "decisive and unequivocal in condemning and rejecting the attacks on foreign nationals." Monyela said: “The South African Government, as well as all political parties, religious organisations, non-governmental organisations, business, sports fraternities, including artists, musicians and ordinary people of South Africa, have been decisive and unequivocal in condemning and rejecting the attacks on foreign nationals. “Through our interventions, relative calm and order has been restored. We are encouraged by the solidarity our country continues to receive from other African countries and the international community. We shall also continue to support and not blame

the Nigerian Government as it battles to deal with Boko Haram that continues to kill many innocent civilians. We hope that the more than 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram will someday be reunited with their families.” The statement said South Africa has not blamed Nigeria "for the deaths… of our fallen compatriots" in Nigeria. "It is for this reason that when 84 of our citizens perished on Nigerian soil, we did not blame the Nigerian government for the deaths and more than nine months delay in the repatriation of the bodies of our fallen compatriots, or for the fact that when these bodies eventually returned, they were in a state that they could not be touched or viewed as required by our burial practice," said Monyela. The 84 people were part of a group of 116 that were killed when a guest house of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, headed by TB Joshua, collapsed in September last year.

News

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Banks reject 556, 370 cheques over fraud Kunle Azeez

o fewer than 556,370 cheques issued for bank clearance were found to be fraud-related in 2014, New Telegraph has learnt. The number of cheques, collectively valued at N377.4 billion, represents

3.59 per cent of the entire 15.5 million cheques issued by the bank customers. Data exclusively obtained from the Nigeria Interbank Settlement Systems (NIBSS) also revealed that the value of the 15.5 million cheques was put at N7.3 trillion. The development explains how circumspect

players in the value chain of electronic transactions have become in being wary of and able to track fraudrelated transactions in the country. Also, of the total 1,420 banking customers suspected to be attempting to carry out fraudulent transactions last year, only 41 individuals were appre-

Niger army fights Boko Haram for Lake Chad

iger's army is fighting to recapture an island in Lake Chad after it was seized by hundreds of Boko Haram militants aboard motorized canoes, army sources said yesterday. Boko Haram attacked the island of Karamga at dawn on Saturday, their second attempt to capture it since February, army and government sources said. Lake Chad's islands, which lie in dense swampland, are an ideal base for mounting surprise attacks on the countries bordering the lake: Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria. "There were many (Niger soldiers) dead on Saturday, considerably more than in the first attack," one of the army sources told Reuters, referring to

a battle in February in which seven Niger soldiers died. A second army source said a counter-attack to clear the island of militants was ongoing. Since February, Nigerian forces, backed by neighbours Chad, Niger and Cameroon, have won back vast swathes of territory from Boko Haram. The militants, who have killed thousands of people in their six-year insurgency, are thought to be largely hemmed in within north Nigeria's vast Sambisa Forest where the Nigeria military says it is advanc-

ing. Meanwhile, Boko Haram terrorists have attacked Marte and Kirenoa towns of Marte Local Government Area of Borno State. Our correspondent learnt that several people mostly elderly and children were killed in the process. The terrorists also set ablaze dozens of houses, shops, schools and vehicles in the towns. A local source confirmed the attack to our correspondent in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

hended by the banks in collaboration with NIBSS and security operatives. The Chief Executive Officer, NIBSS, Mr. Adebisi Shonubi, told New Telegraph that “in 2014, a number of suspects and criminals were apprehended after fraud had been reported.” He, however, noted that the weak legal framework against electronic fraud activities in the country had not allowed the operators in the financial services sector to effectively track and legally apprehend the fraud perpetrators. He said: “The figures show that more work needs to be done to improve apprehension rate. However, the low number is due to some constraints like the law/legal context that isn’t clearly defined when it comes to financial and cyber-crimes carried out using electronic platforms. A major issue is the collaboration of the law enforcement agents and the financial industry.” Further analysis of the fraud data obtained from

the electronic platform, NIBSS, showed that the percentage of actual loss value as against attempted fraud value increased by up to 77 per cent from 3 per to 80 per cent within one calendar year. “This helps to emphasise the need for more security measures in handling payment cards as individuals, and improved security practices as corporate bodies to help minimise fraud rates,” he added. According to Deloitte’s Nigeria Cyber Security Outlook 2015, more heartrending and high-scale frauds might be experienced in the payment sector if adequate attention is not paid to the security of online transactions. The report said phishing and insider threat would most likely be on the rise as the fuel and crude oil prices continue to deteriorate. “We would most likely experience a rise in the number of disgruntled employees and also from outside of the job market.

Hence, an increase in the number of targeted phishing attacks to acquire sensitive data. “Socially and politically motivated cyber-attacks are expected. Unhappy citizens and other groups might use this as a medium to target websites and IT infrastructure of government bodies and agencies as a means to make their voices heard,” the report adds. However, NIBSS said a number of initiatives have been embarked upon to mitigate the severity and level of fraud perpetration in the system. According to Shonubi, there is the introduction of the biometrics project, which is also known as Bank Verification Number (BVN). BVN is a number used for proper customer identification, and can be used as verification at the point of banking operations. It refers to identification of an individual based on physiological attributesfingerprint and facial features.

TODAY’S WEATHER FORECAST LAGOS

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PORT HARCOURT

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35o C 24oC Isolated Storms

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L-R: Wife of the Deputy Senate President, Mrs. Nwanneka Ekweremadu; her husband, Ike with friends and family at the convocation of Ebonyi State University, where Mrs. Ekweremadu bagged Ph.D in Management Sciences, in Abakaliki...at the weekend.

North positions Kingibe as Chief of Staff CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

league of his, also a new member, had discussed the leadership issue with him. The lawmaker, who asked not to be named, said what was going on at the registration venue for the induction was beyond 'mere registration'. ''This is beyond mere registration my brother, as soon as we got here, we met some serving senators, three of them, all welcoming us with their versions of how the next leadership of the National Assembly should look like. I won't mention names, but I tell you that emissaries of

the three main contenders for the Senate presidency have reached me for informal discussions. ''Surprisingly, as soon as I finished my registration formalities, I got an sms welcoming me and inviting me to a brief meeting tonight (yesterday). About four of my colleagues also received such sms. ''This is really intriguing because as soon as I got here, even before registration, a new senator-elect had approached me that his leader asked him to reach out to his colleagues from other zones on the need to back a particular

candidate for the Senate presidency. ''He did not end there, he disclosed that some of his leaders were already pushing for a South-South man as Speaker and that any support from my zone for his man means a lot for a prospective speaker from the South-South." An outgoing member of the House of Representatives also said the SouthSouth was pushing for the speakership. ''Our zone is very critical; the party has to ensure something is given to the region, that is why we are bent on this lobby, at least

it can start from a point," he said. The race to succeed Senate President David Mark has been laced with intrigues and uncertainty just as the APC has been unable to come out with a definitive statement, two weeks after a select committee of the party evolved a zoning formula with reference to the leadership positions in the National Assembly. Under the zoning formula, which has not been ratified by the NEC of the party, the Senate presidency goes to the NorthEast while the South-West

gets the speakership of the House of Representatives. Senators Bukola Saraki and George Akume are the frontline contenders from the North-Central, but the entry into the race by Senator Ahmad Lawan from Yobe State, North-East, has put the leadership of the APC in a fix just as power brokers within the party are said to be weighing various options. For the speakership, New Telegraph gathered that the South-South is pushing for Hon. Pally Iriase, a ranking member from Edo State for the position.

News

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

APC may lose Senate presidency to PDP - Investigation lWhy Mark visited Buhari Onwuka Nzeshi ABUJA

he All Progressives Congress (APC) may lose the Presidency of the Senate to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 8th National Assembly if the leadership of the APC fails to reach a consensus on the zoning formula through which it intends to produce the next leadership of the federal legislature. Although the APC won majority of the seats in the upper chamber of the parliament during the last election, there are strong indications that the incumbent President of the Senate and Chairman of the National Assembly, Senator David Mark may retain his position in the next dispensation going by the seeming inability of the majority party to put its house in order. The race for the Senate Presidency has thrown up prominent APC senators-elect such as Bukola Saraki (North Central), George Akume (North Central) and Ahmad Lawan (North East) with each of these candidates displaying the capacity to go the whole hog. The APC has, so far, been unable to state categorically which zone should produce the Senate President because of divided opinions. National Leader of

the party and former Governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, has shown preference for Akume; the Director General of the Presidential Campaign Council, Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State is backing the candidature of Saraki while northern elements in the party want Lawan to occupy the seat. New Telegraph learnt that while the contest for the hot seat raged, the President- elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, had begun moves to get a neutral person that would do the job. He was said to have made preliminary overtures to Senator David Mark, the present occupant of the seat in order to use his wealth of experience to provide stability at the parliament. Last Thursday, the President of the Senate paid a courtesy visit on Buhari at the latter's Abuja residence. New Telegraph learnt that the visit was on the invitation of Buhari and both men held discussions on "national issues" behind closed doors for about 30 minutes. Journalists were not allowed into the meeting and no statements were issued at the end of the parley. The visit has, however, triggered speculations that Mark might be scheming to use his clout to secure the confidence

Senate passes 2015 budget tomorrow Chukwu David Abuja

he Senate will, tomorrow, consider and approve the report of the 2015 Appropriation Bill, which was laid before the Chamber last week Wednesday by the Deputy Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji. Ogbuoji told New Telegraph that the budget would be passed this week, but declined to comment on whether or not the Senate made any adjustment on the estimate. Also, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, emphatically told New Telegraph that the Upper Chamber would pass the budget tomorrow. Enang, however, re-

fused to comment on whether or not the Senate made some adjustments on the original figures submitted by the executive, saying "when we sit to consider it, you will know whether there are any adjustments on the budget or not." The House of Representatives had, on Thursday, April 23, passed the sum of N4.493 trillion as the total budget figure for the 2015 fiscal year, which is N134.5 billion higher than the N4.357 trillion President Goodluck Jonathan sent to the National Assembly in the last quarter of 2014. The House made no provision in the approved 2015 Appropriation Act for fuel subsidy while the sum of N21 billion was provided for the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).

of the leadership of the APC ahead of the election of principal officers in the forthcoming session of the National Assembly. "By holding talks with Mark, the President-elect was inviting him to the race. Buhari intends to break the deadlock in the APC and exploiting the esprit de corps of the military to get a reliable hand to man the legislature in the next dispensation," a source told New

Telegraph. Mark, a retired brigadier general of the Nigeria Army, has been in the National Assembly since the rebirth of democracy in Nigeria 16 years ago. A staunch member of the PDP, Mark will be returning to the Senate for the fifth time, but the poor performance of his party makes it unlikely that he would retain his position as the Senate president because the APC will form the majority in the

upper legislative chamber. However, it was learnt that there were moves by some APC leaders to woo Mark over to their party as a pre-condition to supporting him to retain his seat at the parliament. New Telegraph gathered that whereas Mark had rejected the option of defection to APC, he has shown willingness to exploit the goodwill and wide acceptance in the parliament as well as the

liberal provisions of the Constitution to plot his return to the coveted seat. Section 50 of the 1999 Constitution states that: There shall be:- (a) a President and a Deputy President of the Senate, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves. The provision did not specify that only members of the majority party are allowed to become presiding officers of the National Assembly.

L-R: House of Representatives member-elect for Okigwe South, Mr. Chike Okafor; Imo State Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha; his wife, Nkechi with others at a thanksgiving service to mark the governor's re-election in Owerri...yesterday.

Power projects' contractors hurry back to site CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

collected. "These threats have been futile based on the enormous power that some of these contractors wield in the corridor of power – especially in the ruling party – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)," a source at the presidency, who is close to some of the deals, said at the weekend. For instance, Sambo at a meeting with stakeholders and contractors handling Federal Government power transmission projects last year, expressed government's dissatisfaction with the inability of contractors to connect and energise completed 33KVA feeders to inject substations of Enugu, Jos and Port Harcourt DISCOS. “Any contractor who fails to deliver the project at the end of two months will have their names blacklisted from holding any contract in Nigeria any longer. And this information will be sent to the Bureau of Public Procurement in order to have them in their data bank so that any time they see those

names as potential contractor in the future, they will not be considered”, Sambo, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Dr. Godknows Igali, had said. Olotu also stated that the NDPHC was carrying out through the NIPP, about 297 distribution projects nationwide and only 57 had been completed while the rest, about 60 per cent, are at various stages of completion. He said the government was ready to punish the contractors at the end of the 60 days if they failed to deliver on the projects. “By June, 2014, all the projects must be delivered. I use this medium to appeal to all distribution companies in Nigeria to ensure that they deliver these projects immediately,” he had said. But the source at the presidency said the contractors, who appeared not to have taken the warnings serious, are now returning to sites having heard some of the comments made on the power sector by the President-elect.

He said: "To the surprise of many of us, some of these contractors who had for about two years abandoned their projects are returning to site. "You can see a palpable fear of the President-elect gripping everybody - both the contractors and those who awarded the contracts to them. We are all avoiding a situation where anyone will be found wanting after a possible probe." While the Federal Government approved the second phase of the NIPP, which included the development of more hydro power stations and increase in the electricity transmission grid, the source said some contracts awarded during the first phase were yet to be delivered. "Even some contractors whose projects were delayed based on non-release of funds are also mobilising resources to make their presence felt on site," the source added. Meanwhile, a document of the NDPHC seen at the weekend listed the challenges on power sup-

ply to include non-availability of 33 KVA bays at the 132/33KV substations, inadequate transmission capacity at the TCN substations of Abuja, Ikeja and Port Harcourt DISCOS. Others are insecurity in the North-East, connection of weak existing 33 KV source to new completed injection substations at Kaduna and Ibadan and refusal of new DISCOS owners to connect completed project in Jos and Port Harcourt. Besides, it noted that the harvest of project delivery started briefly in 2012 with Olorunsogo Power Plant built by Serco III and Transmission Projects of the likes of Katampe (Abuja), Mando (Kaduna), CBD Abuja and Kumbutso (Kano) Sub stations of Chanel/AK-AY blazing. The trail, according to the document, continued in 2013 with numerous others such as Enter built by GE, Omotosho (CMEC), Geregu (Siemens), Ogorode (Marubeni), Ihovbor (Marubeni), Alaoji (RE) for power plant delivery in full or significant part.

News

monday, april 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

national

APC warns against last-minute looting, recruitment Temitope Ogunbanke

he All Progressives Congress (APC) has decried the alleged last-minute looting of the nation's resources, hurried recruitment into the public service and rushed privatization of key financial institutions by the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. The party warned that such egregious actions will have serious repercussions, adding that any action by the outgoing

administration after the announcement of the March 28 presidential election may come under the searchlight by the incoming administration. APC in a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said apart from the instances of such cases that have been reported by the local media, it has been inundated with calls and messages by concerned Nigerians, alerting it to the unscrupulous actions of some officials of

the government. It said while the Jonathan administration remains in office till midnight of May 28 and governance in the country will not stop because a new President has been elected, it was incumbent upon the outgoing administration not to create any more problems for the incoming government than it had already done, or to tie the new government's hands through some suspicious actions. APC said while it is true that the incoming

General Muhammadu Buhari-led administration will not get itself bogged down by an endless probe of the activities of the Jonathan administration, all actions taken since the result of the May 28 presidential election was announced may come under the searchlight. The party stated that: “The National Council on Privatization, which is headed by the Vice President, has just approved the financial bid opening for transaction advisers for the privatization of

the three Development Finance Institutions in the country - the Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industry and Nigeria Commodity Exchange. The question is: What is the rationale for rushing this exercise with just weeks left for this administration? “Also, there have been reports, yet unrefuted, of

a planned hurried recruitment into the Nigeria Immigration Service, after a previous attempt ended in a national tragedy and the fleecing of innocent job seekers by mindless Federal Government officials. Apart from the fact that this last-minute recruitment is suspect, it is irregular.

Nigeria hosts largest customs' forum in Africa Abdulwahab Isa Abuja

igeria is set for the hosting of the conference of Directors-General of Customs in West and Central Africa under the auspices of World Customs Organization (WCO). A statement issued yesterday by customs spokesperson , Wale Adeniyi said the conference will kick off on April 29

and end on May 1, 2015 in Abuja. The 20th in the series, the conference is being hosted by the Nigeria Customs Service following the mandate it received at the last edition hosted by Cameroun. The Customs' largest gathering brings together, 23 Customs Administrations in the West and Central Africa and will discuss issues of collective interest to the region.

Promasidor delighted with entries for 2015 Quill awards L-R: Chairman, Forte Oil Plc, Femi Otedola; President, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; founder, Christopher Kolade Foundation, Dr. Christopher Kolade; President, Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede; Managing Director, Bank of America, Yvonne Fasinro and Chairman, Zenith Bank Plc, Jim Ovia, at the Christopher Kolade Foundation musical excellence awards ceremony in Lagos…at the weekend. PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

Tension at SEC over staff training Abdulwahab Isa Abuja

cting DirectorGeneral, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo, may experience his first wave of staff unrest soon. That is if he ignores the directive of staff union leadership urging him to drop the proposed foreign/local training being packaged for Staff at a course fee of N740,000 per staff. Manir, according to a

reliable New Telegraph source, had drawn up foreign/ local training schedule at a course fees of N740, 000 per staff without consultation or inputs of the union. A dependable source within the Commission told New Telegraph over the weekend that, the Acting DG appointed barely four months ago, may lose his popularity base and staff support should he press ahead with his plan for staff training at such a fees union insist is outrageous and a waste of

scarce resources. In a strong worded memo addressed to Manir, signed by the union leadership of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service And Recreational Services Employees, Chairman, Mohammed Salihu and Secretary-General, John Briggs respectively, a copy obtained by New Telegraph, the union declared that: " Be informed that SEC union in its last congress meeting held on March 26, 2015 reviewed the cost associated with

Pension increment: NSITF denies owing pensioners Yekeen Nurudeen Abuja

he Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has blamed its inability to pay its inhouse pensioners the 33 per cent increment on the regulations guiding the operations of the National Pension Commission (Pencom). The NSITF pensioners are demanding payment of 57 months pension ar-

rears resulting from the July 2012 pronouncement of Federal Government of 53.37 per cent increment. They alleged that NSITF had failed to comply with the Federal Government’s directive and that the provision of the Constitution that states that pension must be increased whenever workers’ salaries are increased should be complied with. But in a reaction, NSITF said it did not owe its ex-workers, explaining

that NSITF did not have the powers to pay pension and Trustfund can only pay pension with Pencom’s approval. The Deputy General Manager, Corporate Affairs of NSITF, Aliu Zubairu, who spoke for the Fund in Abuja at the weekend, said the pronouncement of a 53.37per cent increment by the Federal Government in July 2012 fuelled agitation for pension increment by pensioners.

foreign/ local training program proposed by the management and resolved as follows; that the course fees of N740,000 per staff is not only outrageous but not holistic with the economic reality; and that apart from the outrageous course fees, SEC will also pay for all the logistics related to the training including the venue, refreshments while the training failed in compliance with the Public Procurement Act contract award limit of N50 million above.”

Kayode Olanrewaju

romasidor Nigeria Limited, makers of Cowbell, Loya brands of milk and promoters of the Quill Awards for the media in the country, has expressed delight over the number and quality of entries received so far for this year’s edition of the awards. The company’s Head of Legal and Public Relations, Mr. Andrew Enahoro, in an interview, disclosed that with barely a week for the entries for the awards to close, journalists are still rushing in on a daily basis to submit their entries. According to him, the trend of the entries received and uploaded so far since January 29, when the submission of entries

was flagged off, has shown that journalists have taken keen interest in the seven award categories. Meanwhile, the seven award categories, which he listed as Brand Advocate of the year include CSR/Industry Report of the year; Best Photo story of the year; Best Report on Nutrition; Best Report on Children; Education Reporter of the year; and Future Writer of the year. Enahoro said: “For each of the categories, a winner will emerge. Winners from each of the categories with the exception of the winner of the Best Photo Story of the Year, will be given high-end laptops, while the winner of the Best Photo Story of the Year will receive a high-end camera.

Host communities disassociate selves from rejection of NECO registrar Dan Atori MINNA

ost communities of the National Examination Council (NECO) have disassociated themselves from the purported rejection of the appointment of Professor Monday Tommy Joshua as the Registrar/Chief Executive of the Council. The spokesman for the Minna community,

Alhaji Danladi Maikaza, who led a delegation of the community on a solidarity visit to the new Registrar, said they were not averse to the appointment of a non indigenous person as the Registrar of NECO. Maikaza stated that they were more concerned with being given a fair share in appointments than bickering over who heads the council, bearing in mind that NECO is a National

Institution. "We pledge our unalloyed support to the new NECO helmsman and wish him God’s Guidance in the discharge of his duties", he added. Similarly, Mallam Ahmed Adamu, spokesperson for another delegation which was also on a solidarity visit to the new Registrar, averred that Gidan Mangoro community has nothing against the new Registrar.

NEW TELEGRAPH monday, april 27, 2015

News

national

Jonathan still working for Nigeria, says Abati Anule Emmanuel and Mojeed Alabi

resident Goodluck Jonathan has assured that he was still working in the interest of Nigerians and the country despite his defeat at the March 28 presidential election by General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC. The President said this through his Special Adviser on Media and

Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abatin, while reacting to reports that the present administration may have abandoned some of its ongoing projects around the country as a result of the defeat. Abati, on his Facebook page, yesterday, said there was no truth in the reports. He said contrary to the reports, President Jonathan was still busy working for Nigerians as their President. The presidential aide

said evidence that Jonathan was still working abound at the site of the Second Niger Bridge, which is currently under construction, ongoing work on the LagosIbadan Expressway as well as the Abuja-Kaduna Railways, among others. While thanking Nigerians for allowing Jonathan to serve them, he expressed the hope that the transformation being witnessed under the current administration

would continue under Buhari’s leadership from May 29. According to Abati, President Jonathan remains committed to service and sacrifices for Nigeria in whatever capacity he finds himself. The presidential aide attached a video of the ongoing work on the second Niger Bridge, wrote, “A short video from the site of the second Niger Bridge which is currently under construction according to project

schedule. “Our projects have not been deserted as some reports give. “From Lagos-Ibadan Road to Abuja-Kaduna Railways and Kashimbilla Dam, which are set for commissioning, we are still working for you. “President Jonathan prays for the incoming administration led by General Buhari to achieve even as we hope that this transformation continues. “We thank you for let-

L-R: Product Manager, Access Bank Plc, Mr. Tosin Adeyemi; founder, SPAN, Mrs. Sarah Boulos; Salsa winners, Miss. Korede Oyerogba and Miss. Nneka Obiora; Brand Manager, Pepsi, Mr. Segun Ogunleye and President, International Dance Organisation Nigeria, Mr. Ice Nweke, during the cheque presentation to winners of IDO Salsa Competition in Lagos… PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

Temitope Ogunbanke

he All Progressives Congress (APC) has promised that it would keep faith with all promises it had made “to guarantee security of lives and properties; transform Nigerian domestic economy and ensure robust political stability in all parts of the country.” The party, in a statement issued yesterday by its National Vice-Chairman

APC won’t let Nigeria down, says chieftain (South-West), Chief Pius Akinyelure, urged Nigerians not to listen to some people that were saying the APC “has nothing to offer.” Akinyelure, who was appointed to serve on the APC Inauguration Committee, also faulted reports from some quarters that South-West will not benefit from the Buhari administration, adding that the reports were mere products

Fear of election crisis affected Kaduna trade fair, says Jibrin Ibraheem Musa Kaduna

he Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) Board of Trustees, Senator Walid Jibrin, has attributed the low turnout of investors at the ongoing Kaduna International Trade Fair, to political tension that is still pervasive in the country. Jibrin, who made this known at the weekend, pointed out that political gladiators, as well as electorates envisaged election crises; that was why they

didn’t make plans for the trade fair in the first place. According to him, their fears were, however, misplaced because the elections were conducted peacefully and the aftermath was also peaceful, adding that it was a victory for the Nigerian people. In his goodwill message, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga, said that the Federal Government was reforming the Nigerian investment climate and improving the country's ‘doingbusiness’ ranking.

of ethnic sentiment. “APC government will add value to all Nigerians, irrespective of their geo-political zones, political parties and religious inclination. Like other zones, the people of South-West will not be left out in the gains of positive change the APC will bring about,” he said. He assured the people that under the leadership of the President-elect, the

APC would replicate the good works it had done in the states it controlled at the federal level, assuring that the party “is committed to the welfare and wellbeing of all Nigerians. We are committed to rehabilitating Nigeria’s dilapidated social fabrics.” He added: “APC is committed to rebuilding national consciousness in every citizen of Nigeria

with a view to promoting social harmony and political stability. We are committed to reforming the education sector and enhancing the country’s human capital for strategic national development. We are committed to devolving more power to federating units in order to promote the principle of equity and fairness in our federal system.

ting us serve you. “President Jonathan maintains that service and necessary sacrifices will be his lifelong commitment to Nigeria in whatever capacity.”

Kogi governorship: Group urges Audu to contest Temitope Ogunbanke

upporters of All Progressives Congress (APC) under the aegis of SAS Frontiers in Kogi State, has asked a former governor f the state, Prince Abubakar Audu, to declare his interest for the forthcoming governorship election. The group, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Abubakar Kaka Ede, said only Audu can confront the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) structure in the state, adding that many Kogites also believe strongly that it was time for the ex-governor to lead the state and rekindle hope again. Ede said Audu’s administration between 1999 and2003 was credited with massive infrastructure development, ranging from education, health care, roads and housing in the state. His words: “The state is in dire need of a decisive, strong, disciplined and influential leader that can attract massive developments to the state especially now that Nigeria has a strong, honest and respected president. “It is only Prince Audu candidature that can wrestle power from PDP. This will bring lots of commitments and support to the APC and thousands of Kogites who are apolitical will throw their weights behind APC because of their trust and confidence in the person of Prince”

Nigeria gets N895m grant from Japan Imo governorship poll, a sham — Ihedioha Amadi Nnamdi Abuja

igeria will receive a non-project grant for the provision of Japanese Disaster reduction equipment to the tune of N895 million ($4.5 million) from the Government of Japan. This disclosure was made by the Minister of National Planning and Deputy Chairman of the National planning Commission, Dr Abubakar Suleiman, when he hosted the Charge D’Affairs of Japan, Mr Masaya Otsuka, at the signing cer-

emony of the Exchange of note in Abuja at the weekend. The grant will be utilized for the procurement of national disaster reduction equipment of high quality made by the Japanese enterprise and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) will utilize the equipment to make Nigeria more resilient country in the field of disaster reduction. Otsuka stated: “It is of utmost importance to mainstream the disaster risk reduction in the post-2015 Development Agenda.

Steve Uzoechi OWERRI

he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Imo State, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, has dismissed the gubernatorial results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as a sham and unacceptable to the party. Ihedioha, who is the Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives, in a message he read to the people of the state, yesterday, said that in spite of identified electoral frauds includ-

ing the arrest of over 25 INEC staff that conspired with the opposition to manipulate and change results of the elections declared in favour of the PDP, the electoral body went ahead to declare the APC candidate the winner of the election. He said: “In spite of the public confession of an INEC Returning Officer, who was forced under gunpoint to declare false results in favour of the APC in the gubernatorial election and several arrests of fully armed men impersonating police officers and recorded inducement of INEC staff at Government House

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Metro

Woman kills husband for sleeping with her sister

Camillus Nnaji

35-year-old Nigerian woman, Temitope Adebamiro, has been arrested by the New Castle Police in Delaware, United States, for stabbing her 37-yearold Nigerian husband and father of her two children, Adeyinka Adebamiro, to death over allegations of abuse and cheating. The woman accused her husband of constant abuse and claimed he cheated on her with several women including her sister and their nanny’s daughter. According to Delaware Online publication, neighbours alerted the police after screams and shouting were heard emanating from the couple’s home in the 1300 block of Healy Courton in New Sastle on April 23. When the police got to their home, they found Adeyinka in the pool of his blood with a 4 inch single stab wound just below his neck which severed his carotid artery and jugular vein. When interrogated, Temitope told the police during interrogation that she and her late husband had been married for 10 years with two children and he had been abusing her for most

Adebamiro

part of their marriage. The real trouble between them started when she found out her husband was sleeping with her own sister as well as

the daughter of their nanny who had lived with them for two years and other women. Temitope also told investigators her husband had sent her to

Ondo bans consumption of Ogogoro Babatope Okeowo Akure

ndo State Government has banned production, sales and consumption of locally brewed gin popularly called “Ogogoro.” The ban, according to the Commissioner for Health, Dr Dayo Adeyanju, is prevent the spread of the dreaded disease which killed some people in Ode-Irele in Irele Local Government Area of the state.

ABIODUN BELLO FEATURES Editor

abiodun.bello@newtelegraphonline.com

Adeyanju

Adeyanju, who made the announcement yesterday, said the toxicology report about the strange disease that killed some people in Ode Irele confirmed that the death was caused by ethanol poison and not any viral infection. The commissioner attributed the ban of the product to the outbreak of an unknown disease in Ode-Irele two weeks ago. He said: “Our clinical analy-

sis reveals the fact that there were no known viruses, while toxicology reports have confirmed our prime suspicion of methanol poisoning.” According to him, heavy concentration of ethanol of about 16.3 per cent was found in the system of the affected victims. Adeyanju disclosed that the death toll had risen to 23 with 10 survivors while two of the victims had regained their sights. The commissioner, however, said his ministry with other stakeholders and associations would join hands to stop the production, sales and consumption of the locally brew gin in the state. According to him, the particular batch of ethanol has been circulated across the area. He added: “We have reviewed our strategies and embarked on sensitisation to let people know that locally-made gin is prohibited.”

Nigeria for several months and after returning in December, she had to stay in a hotel near the Philadelphia airport for four days because her husband refused to let her into their Red Lion home. He then paid for her to fly back to Nigeria for a few more months, according to documents. About this time, she learned that her husband had spent Christmas with the nanny’s daughter. The husband later flew out to Nigeria and flew back with her to Philadelphia. As he showed her the cameras inside their home over his cell phone, Temitope saw the nanny’s daughter inside the home. Again, Temitope saw several texts and images in her husband’s phone of the pictures of her sister and the nanny’s daughter. According to the publication, police learned the couple had been talking and watching television on the couch about 9p.m on Wednesday. Temitope and her husband began arguing after he discovered the photos she had taken on her cell phone and he began erasing them. Temitope told police there was a power outage when she

went to the kitchen until power returned, but investigators checked with Delmarva Power, which indicated no such power outage occurred at that time. Apparently trying to frame up that Adeyinka killed himself, Temitope told the police that when the power returned, she found her husband in the first-floor bedroom lying in the bed. As she got closer to him, she saw a knife on the ground with blood stains which she picked up and took to the kitchen. While not admitting to the killing, Temitope suggested to the police that her husband had killed himself. The autopsy conducted by the police, according to the publication, said the homicide was a single stab wound just below the victim’s neck, about 2 inches off the centre line. When police told Temitope that this was not a suicide, the woman “began nodding her head in agreement,” and was charged with a first degree murder. Temitope was arraigned and committed to the Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution where she is being held without bail.

Malaysia nabs Nigerian drug kingpins

hree drug kingpins, who used foreigners as drug mules, were among nine Nigerian men arrested in a major drug bust, resulting in RM2.5mil (S$933,000) worth of syabu seized. Police conducted multiple raids in Seri Kembangan, Cyberjaya, Bandar Sri Damansara and Shah Alam, said Bukit Aman Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department deputy director, Deputy Comm Datuk Haris Wong Abdullah. Also confiscated were two cars worth more than RM150,000. Police discovered that the three kingpins ran separate syndicates which received their drug supplies via courier from China. “The Nigerians are no longer depending on smuggled drugs from their home country. They are now getting their supply from China. “It is definitely a worrying trend as their source of supply is closer now,” DCP Haris said at a press conference in Bukit

Aman. He revealed that the syndicates also used foreigners as drug mules. “They were using Caucasians from South Africa and Australia. “They assumed the police would be less suspicious of Caucasians as drug mules compared to Asians,” he said, adding that the syndicates previously used Asians, including Malaysians and Vietnamese, as drug mules. Haris said the syndicates, which had been operating in the country for more than two years, supplied drugs to neighbouring countries. He said: “However, we discovered that they recently smuggled drugs to Australia and even Israel. “They are becoming more brazen and were planning to expand their operations but we managed to put a stop to that.” Haris said police seized 6kg of high-grade syabu in the raids, with a street value easily surpassing RM2.5mil.

METRO 11

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

Autopsy report indicts police in orphan’s death

The late Etim

Clement James Calabar

acts at the weekend emerged in Calabar, Cross River State on how a 23-year-old man, Stanley Etim, died in police custody. Etim, an orphan, was

arrested by police officers attached to D5 of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Diamond Hill, Calabar, was beaten to death by the police. New Telegraph had earlier reported the death of the young man while in police custody. An autopsy report released at the weekend indicates that

Etim died of extensive “blunt head and limb (lower/upper limb) injuries”. The report, which was signed by one Dr Irabor Godstime Isi, a pathologist with the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) and witnessed by one Omoruyi Kenneth of the Department of Histopathology of the same university, states as follows: “Extensive blunt head and limb (lower/upper limb) injuries,” with a footnote: “This does not mean the mode of dying e.g. heart failure, asthma, etc. It means the disease, injury or complication which caused the death.” The certificate was issued on April 22 and registered as No. 2700. However, one of the consultants at the hospital, Prof. Imaobon Ekanem, who spoke with journalists after the autopsy was released, said she did not know whether Etim would get justice as she was only a physician. She said: “I am only a physician and not a lawyer. I am only a doctor charged with the responsibility of doing my part and allowing others to do theirs. “Pathologists tell you what they find; they would not cook up anything. We only present

what is available to us. They tell you what they find that is why the experts must be given opportunity to do their work and I think what they had done is a good thing.” But counsel to the victim’s family, Mr Okpara and Mr James Ibor, said the body of the deceased had haemorrhaged, with internal bleeding below the skin. “As they were opening the body, they were explaining everything. We saw dark spots beneath the skin, it was very obvious from the layman’s idea that he was severely beaten,” Ibor, who was inside the mortuary with the pathologists, said. He added: “The body was torn open before us; there was no evidence of gunshot as alleged by some persons. But there were brushes on his legs, thighs and his head when the experts opened the outer layer. There was no bleeding in the inner layer of the skull. “The hand had severe injuries because the only cause of dead could have been the aggregate of the beatings which perhaps traumatised the deceased. All other organs were in perfect condition before his death as revealed by the medical death certificate.”

Soldier’s dogs brutalise bus driver Taiwo Jimoh

or the quick intervention of residents and passers-by, a 45-yearold commercial driver, Saturday Akpomose, would have been bitten to death by dogs which pounced on him in Ajah area of Lagos. Akpomose, who hailed from Akwa Ibom State, had gone to the area with his wife to visit his in-law, Mr Christian Peter, when seven dogs pounced on him. The incident occurred about 8am on April 22. The dogs, said to be owned by a captain serving in the United States Marine, were reportedly being taken out of the compound at the time. It was gathered that when the dogs saw Akpomose, they pounced on him and torn his clothes to rags. He was rescued by the residents and passersby. The people later reported the matter at the Ogombo Police Division, from where Akpomose was taken to Akodo General Hospital, Ajah. When our correspondent visited the hospital on Saturday, Akpomose was seen with bloodstains and bruises he sustained from the attack. He said: “My wife and I went to visit my in-law On Sunday. He lived on Okun

Akpomose at the hospital

Ajah Road in Eti Osa East Local Government Development Area. We also stay in Ajah area. Later, on Tuesday morning, I just strolled out of the compound and I came across the dogs. “As I stepped out, I saw a security man coming out with several dogs. They were very huge Australian dogs. I was terrified when I saw them. As I tried to withdraw into the compound, they overpowered the man holding them.

“As I bent down to pick a stone and scare them away, they pounced on me and that was all I knew. As I tried to wriggle myself free, they continued biting me. They bit me in almost all parts of my body, including my head. “As I screamed, some residents came out and tried to chase the dogs away with sticks. My screams even woke up my in-law. At a time, I became weak and unconscious, and it was the people who

rushed me to the hospital.” The in-law, who led the residents to take Akpomose to the hospital, said: “It was the screams that woke me up. When I rushed outside, I saw people and I asked Akpomose’s wife, who explained to me what had happened.” When our correspondent visited the house of the owner of the dogs, the Chief Security Officer, who identified himself simply as Victor, said “the following day, the in-law of the victim came to our house with the picture of Akpomose and I promised to show it to my boss. “We have admitted that our dogs attacked him, we are human beings who have blood flowing in our veins, and it can happen to anybody, we accepted that it was negligence on our side.” Victor said when he visited the victim at the hospital, he was not happy with Akpomose’s condition. He added: “Immediately I got back home, I explained the condition I met him to my boss who directed me to see his family and take a decision on how to take Akpomose to his own private hospital for proper medical attention. “We have bought all the drugs they asked us to buy from the hospital. We are showing you these receipts to let you know that we care about the victim.”

City Briefs 60 held over Ilorin crisis Biodun Oyeleye Ilorin

bout 60 persons have been arrested in connection with Saturday’s crisis in Ilorin, Kwara State, which left three persons dead and property worth millions of naira burnt. The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Okasanmi Ajayi, confirmed the arrest. It was gathered that the police had launched a manhunt for the alleged mastermind of the crisis which started at Agbarere quarters. According to investigation, the mastermind of the crisis was said to have led his gang on a reprisal attack on the family compound of two operatives of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) who were part of the team that busted a hemp-smoking joint at Idi-Ape-Baruba area of Ilorin last Friday.

15 arrested over Baptist Church burning

olice have arrested 15 persons in connection with the recent burning of Baptist Church at Gidan Maso village in Rogo Local Government Area of Kano State. During the incident about 7:30 pm on April 1, the residence of the pastor, Rev Habila Garba, was burnt by irate youths, while one of his daughters died of suffocation. The attack on the Baptist Church came barely one week after a similar incident on a branch of Living Faith Church popularly called Winners Chapel in Giwa, headquarters of Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State by two unidentified arsonists. The President of “Tarayyar Masihiyawan Nijeria” (Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri Christians), General Ishaku Ahmed Dikko (rtd), gave the situation report of the incident yesterday in Abuja. He said although the Kano State Government sent one Alhaji Is’haq to assess the situation, the Christian community was disturbed by his statement in Hausa language which means that “such an insignificant issue and destruction (where a life was lost) does not call for any mention at all, yet we went about publicising it to the whole world”.

Anxiety in A’Ibom over toxic ‘meat’ Tony Anichebe Uyo

ear of outbreak of cancer, liver cirrhosis and other dangerous diseases has gripped the residents of Akwa Ibom State. This follows the discovery that poisonous hide and skin popularly called “Ikpa Ebola” is being sold and consumed in the state. The ‘meat,’ which has been on sale for the past four months in the state, is being imported into the country from Europe through an intermediary whose identity was still unknown to officers and men of the Department of State Service (DSS). Thousands of those who patronise the meat, it was gathered, are likely to be exposed to serious health conditions such as diarrhoea, hypertension, cancer and liver problem and abnormal growth in the body. The meat, which is five times thicker than ordinary skin, is injected with a toxic substance called formalin used for its preservation.

12 News

monday, april 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

national

Ghana’s civil aviation lauds Nigeria’s radar system Wole Shadare

visiting top-level technical team of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) yesterday expressed delight in the capacity and performance of the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) equipment in guaranteeing safety of air navigation in the country. The Director General of GCAA, Abdulahi Alhassan, who led the Ghanaian delegation to the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), made the declaration after a facility tour of some of the agency’s installations at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, including the TRACON site and Control Tower. “We are highly impressed with what we have seen here, both in terms of technical infrastructure and human capacity to effectively man these facilities and guar-

antee safety of air travel in the country,” Alhassan said. Earlier in a reception at the NAMA headquarters complex in Lagos, the GCAA director-general had told officials of NAMA that their mission to Nigeria was to seek the country’s support in the co-management of the Accra airspace, which includes Togo and Benin, as against ASECNA’s plan to sectorise the airspace. According to Alhassan, “It is our belief that ASECNA has not followed due process in its bid to sectorise the Accra airspace. It is a matter that the three bodies (ASECNA, GCAA and NAMA) should discuss on a round table, because of its regional safety and security implications and the position of Ghana is that we co-manage the airspace rather than sectorise it.” In his remarks, the Managing Director of NAMA, Ibrahim Abdul-

salam, said that as neighbours, Nigeria is in the middle of the whole issue, which makes it imperative for a quick resolution to be sought. He assured his guests that Nigeria was disposed to a peaceful and amicable resolution of the issues, stressing that “we are committed to cooperating with both Ghana and ASECNA, in our determination to ensure

safety of the African sky.” Abdulsalam also promised to open a line of communication with ASECNA on the possibility of the three organisations meeting at the WACAF office in Dakar and amicably resolving the issue. Meanwhile, NAMA has successfully rounded off the calibration of navigational aids across the country. The operation, which lasted for 10 days,

was handled by a technical team from ASECNA in collaboration with NAMA engineers. Speaking with correspondents at the NAMA headquarters complex in Lagos, leader of the ASECNA calibration team, Nganan Jorim, expressed delight over what he referred to as “the most successful calibration exercise in recent time.”

He recalled that his team had no challenges whatsoever in the entire operation, because of the preparedness of the NAMA team prior to their arrival from Senegal. On the status of the navigational aids calibrated, Jorim said: “The report of the calibration indicated that the navigational aids are in a very perfect condition for safe flight operations.”

Chime, Assembly feud: Board calls for probe of ENSUBEB activities Uwakwe Abugu Enugu

he embattled management of the Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board (ENSUBEB), whose bank accounts were ordered frozen by the state House of Assembly, following the current feud between the lawmakers and Governor Sullivan Chime, has appealed to the assembly to exercise restraint in taking drastic actions against the board without thoroughly investigating allegations against it. The board reacted at the weekend in a statement by its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Eb-

erechukwu Nnaji, who said that the management felt it would have been better if the House exhausted all investigative procedures, following the petition against it (ENSUBEB) by two members of its board since other members were not a party to the petition. Last week, the state assembly during its plenary presided over by the Speaker, Hon. Eugene Odo, did not only ordered that the ENSUBEB accounts in two commercial banks be frozen, but also called on the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to come in and probe the accounts of the board.

PDP accuses Amaechi’s aides of looting Emmanuel Masha Port Harcourt

he Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused some aides of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, of looting the state and selling its property ahead of the May 29 handover date. The party Chairman, Felix Obuah, who made this known in a statement, alleged that such property were being sold to friends and family members of the

governor. He also accused the government of carrying out unlawful employment, citing the “illegal employment in Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori, where about 500 people have been secretly employed without due process,” as an example. Obua said the state’s Civil Service Commission, under Mr. Ngo Martins-Yellow and the 23 local government caretaker committee chairmen were behind the employment of thousands of persons.

L-R: President-elect Muhammadu Buhari; Chairman, Board of Directors, Jaiz Bank Plc, Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab; Managing Director, Jaiz Bank Plc, Muhammad Nurul Islam and member, Board of Directors, Dr. Umaru Kwairanga, during their visit to Buhari in Abuja…yesterday. PHOTO: TIMOTHY IMUOMENISAN

Okorocha’s victory excites South-East APC Uwakwe Abugu Enugu

he All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South-East zone yesterday expressed excitement over the reelection of Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State at the weekend and saluted the electorate over the outcome of the election concluded on Saturday.

In a statement yesterday, spokesman for the APC in the zone, Chief Osita Okechukwu, noted that “their votes for Okorocha are a worthy reward, which demonstrated the maxim that election is a referendum on the performance of the incumbent. “For us the re-election of Rochas Okorocha as governor of Imo State has enlisted the SouthEast in the hall of fame

Buhari tasked on anticorruption court Dominic Adewole, ASABA

he President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, was yesterday tasked on the establishment of a court to checkmate the spate of corruption in the country. A Delta State-based consultant, Mr. Victor Bosah, called on him to fight corruption as he vowed, if he must meet the expectations of Nigerians. He categorically said the cankerworm of corruption has become the bane of socio-economic and political advance-

ment of the country for decades. Bosah, who maintained that corruption has eaten very deep into the fabric of the country, said unless a drastic measure is taken by the in-coming administration, the country will soon top the list of underdeveloped nations of the world. He stressed the need for the present courts to be enlarged to accommodate anti-corruption courts that would, according to him, “be specifically dedicated to dealing with corruption-related cases.”

of Progressive Governors’ Forum. We had appealed to the good people of Imo State to re-elect Governor Rochas Okorocha, the candidate of our great party, which they graciously heeded,” Okechukwu stated. According to him, “We urge the good people of Imo State to complete the good work they have started, for a vote for Rochas Okorocha is a golden vote to retain

the only egg Ndigbo has in the basket of the new Nigeria General Muhammadu Buhari is constructing. “South-East with those golden votes is now guaranteed a place in the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) for it could have been a poor outing as all the geo-political zones even the South-South has a member governor in the PGF,” he enthused.

Borno children get N325m EU grant Amadi Nnamdi Abuja

hildren and adolescents of Borno State origin will soon benefit from a community-based psychosocial support and protection grant from the European Union (EU). The development was the outcome of a meeting between the Federal Government and officials of the European Union in the country. The Federal Government and the European Union, over the weekend, signed a financing agreement for the grant of N325

million for a communitybased psychosocial support and protection of children and adolescents in Borno State. The Minister of National Planning, Abubakar Sulaiman and Head of the European Union delegation to Nigeria and the ECOWAS Commission, Michel Arrion, performed the signing of the financing agreement The programme, which is under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), would be implemented by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the Borno State government.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

Presidency

Sonaiya: I knew I wasn’t going to win presidential election

16, 17

Politics Sun sets on Ondo deputy governor The tenure of Alhaji Ali Olanusi as Deputy Governor of Ondo State which began on February 24, 2009 may come to an abrupt end today or at most tomorrow as the State House of Assembly sits to deliberate on the report of the seven-man panel constituted by the Chief Judge of the state to investigate impeachable offences against the Deputy Governor. Babatope Okeowo reports

arring last minute hitches, the sun may likely set on the tenure of Alhaji Ali Olanusi, Deputy Governor of Ondo State as the House of Assembly may today uphold the recommendations of the sevenman panel set up by the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Olaseinde Kumuyi, sacking the Deputy Governor for alleged offences ranging from corruption to absenteeism and gross misconduct. Accused snubbed panel Indication to this end emerged at the weekend when the sevenman panel set up by the Chief Judge wrapped up its sitting without the Deputy Governor or any of his representative coming to defend the allegations levelled against him by the House of Assembly. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees fair hearing to any accused person. And once the of-

AYODELE OJO

DEPUTY Editor, POLITICS ayodele.ojo@newtelegraphonline.com

fence team did not file any paper neither did they present evidence to contradict the position of the prosecution. He said if the deputy governor has any defence to the allegations, he should have been enthusiastic to come and defend himself against them. Angered by the ruling of the chairman of the panel, Enikuomehin stormed out of the panel sitting and addressed a press conference where he accused the panel of working against the interest of his client.

Olanusi

fender fails to avail himself of such opportunity, he is deemed to have waved such right. So, since Olanusi did not defend the allegations against him, it is either he has accepted the guilty verdict or has slept on his right to fair hearing. Consequently, the panel would have no choice than to pass guilty verdict on him since he did not show up to defend the allegations against him. Legal fireworks At the sitting of the panel on Friday, counsel to the House of Assembly, Mr. Dayo Akinlaja (SAN) and that of the deputy governor, Dr. Benson Enikuomehin argued over the proper service of the motion to hear the allegations against Olanusi. While Enikuomehin said he appeared on protest as his client was not properly served the notice of hearing by the panel, Akinlaja said the fact that Enikuomehin appeared for his client showed that he was aware of the allegations against him and the best thing to do was to defend his client. Enikuomehin told the panel headed by Mr. Olatunji Stanley Adeniyan that the deputy governor was not properly served the motion to appear before the panel. He therefore argued that the panel cannot continue sitting. He cited Section 36 subsections 1, 2, 3 of the

He provided evidence against his boss in relation to absenteeism, truancy, corruption and breach of peace

constitution to buttress his argument. According to him, it was Olanusi’s son who instructed him to appear for his father who was out of the country on a routine medical check-up and has already written the governor to that effect. He then demanded that Olanusi be properly served by the panel before the proceeding could continue. But in his reply, Akinlaja said that the fact that Enikuomehin appeared for Olanusi testified to the fact that his client was well served the notice of impeachment. He equally presented a copy of a letter signed by the deputy governor informing the governor of his intention to travel last Monday to prove that the deputy governor was indeed in the country. The House’s counsel prayed the panel to discountenance Enikuomehin’s claims, stressing that the numerous evidence on ground attested to the fact that Olanusi is in the country and was well and properly served the summons as well as the notice of impeachment. In his ruling after a brief break, the chairman of the panel, Adeniyan, said sufficient evidence on ground showed that the deputy governor was properly served the summon, even as he excused the panel on the ground that he had nothing else to work on. The major reason for this was that the de-

Govt official, Mimiko’s aide nailed Olanusi Despite Enikuomehin’s action, the panel continued with its sitting and called evidences from the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Deputy Governor, Mr. Kehinde Temikotan and the Chief of Staff to the governor, Dr. Kola Ademujimi. Both gave evidences to substantiate the allegations against the deputy governor. Temikotan, who was led in evidence by Akinlaja, provided both oral and documentary evidence to substantiate allegations that his boss abused his office by condoning his younger brother and Special Assistant who committed forgery. He also alleged that the deputy governor pocketed about N40 million for medical check-up and offered no evidence that the medical bills were paid as no receipt was retired. Besides, he provided evidence against his boss in relation to absenteeism, truancy, corruption and breach of peace among cabinet members and the state at large. Akinlaja also led Ademujimi in evidence as he said all the seven allegations levelled against the deputy governor were true. Sun sets on deputy governor Since there was no contrary evidence to the ones given by the Permanent Secretary and the Chief of Staff, the Chairman of the panel said it has concluded its sitting and would turn in its report to the House of Assembly as soon as possible. If the report is ready, definitely, it would be presented to the House of Assembly, which will act on it today. But if it is delayed, the deputy governor would still have 24 hours as the number two citizen of the Sunshine State. Whichever way it goes, the deputy governor would be impeached today or Tuesday. If the panel submits its report CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

Politics

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Panel nails Olanusi for gross misconduct C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 3

governorship candidate, Chief Olusola Oke, was pencilled to serve as the deputy governor. Oke defected from the PDP to the APC after the presidential election. The APC which was emboldened by the results of the Presidential and National Assembly elections, moved to control the State Assembly and impeach the governor and replace him with one of their own. Indication to this emerged when Oke defected to the APC from PDP after the presidential election. The State Chairman of the APC, Hon. Duerimini Isaac Kekemeke, told a cheering crowd including the deputy governor that the APC would control the state earlier than expected. Kekemeke said the plan of the APC was to take over the rein of government in 2017 but that plan would come earlier than expected. Olanusi, who was at the event, was also referred to as the incoming governor of the state.

to the Assembly today as being speculated, it means the process of impeachment lasted only seven days. But if it submitted tomorrow, it would be an eight-day impeachment process as the Assembly last week Tuesday directed the Clerk of the House to serve impeachment notice on the deputy governor. Impeachment notice The impeachment notice signed by 20 out of 25 members of the Assembly accused the deputy governor of gross misconduct, corruption and truancy contrary to the law of the land. The charge read by the Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Ifedayo Akinsoyinu, said their action was based on section 188 (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The motion seconded by Hon. Banso Adeyinka stated that “Alhaji Ali Olanusi, being the holder of the office of the Deputy Governor, permitted and condoned the perpetration of fraudulent activities in the office of the Deputy Governor in that Alhaji Bola Idris Olanusi, the younger brother and Special Assistant in the office of the Deputy Governor procured false LPO’s with the knowledge of Alhaji Ali Olanusi and obtained EHISO Resources International Limited two trucks of AGO with forged documents and for personal benefits, thereby putting the office of the Deputy Governor into disrepute.” Also, the Assembly accused the deputy governor of disparaging the office of the governor by alleging that the governor carted away ballot boxes, instigated the killing of people of the state, and disrespected the judiciary, worked against the interest of the president and a person who bribed the electorate. Besides, the deputy governor was accused of engaging in absenteeism and truancy by regularly absenting himself from office, place of work and other official engagements without lawful excuse or authorisation but generally acting in a manner inconsistent with the dictates and expectations of the high office of the Deputy Governor of a state, thus, undermining the governance process, an act which amount to gross misconduct under the constitution. The deputy governor was accused of allowing his security aides to shoot indiscriminately at peaceful protesters along Fiwasaye/Oba Adesida road in Akure thus creating panic, breakdown of law and order, and general sense of insecurity within the state under the pretext that the said protesters disrupted his convoy, an act unbecoming of the holder of the office of the deputy governor. Olanusi was also accused of collecting various sums of money including N8 million, N8.9 million, N10.8 million and N11.3 million for the purpose of travelling for medical purposes and refused to use the fund for the purpose meant for. The charge added that the deputy governor engaged in political misconduct by working at cross purposes with the governor and thereby want to destabilise the government by openly canvassing the impeachment of the governor.

Olanusi and Mimiko... when the going was good.

The impeachment notice which was ratified by members at the sitting presided over by the Speaker, Princess Jumoke Akindele, was to be served on the deputy governor through his official residence, office or through the media. Deputy Governor taunts Assembly But the deputy governor said he was yet to be informed about the development, saying the Assembly was famous at making resolutions without proper documentation. Olanusi in his reaction said: “the Ondo State House of Assembly is noted and familiar with making laws and passing resolutions without sitting and recording. There are many repetitive events in this regard. A case in hand was the passage of the OSOPADEC budget last year. You will get my full reaction and if and whenever I am officially informed.” The All Progressives Congress (APC) in defence of the deputy governor who recently defected from the PDP to the opposition party accused the Assembly of serving the deputy governor the notice of impeachment in absentia. APC’s Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Adesanya, in a statement, said: “We are aware of the purported impeachment notice served on the deputy governor, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, by the Ondo State House of Assembly. The deputy governor had written to the governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko on Friday April 17, 2015, with Ref. No. OBG/A/136/67 that he will be going on routine medical checkup outside the country. Baba had since travelled out on Saturday April 18. So, it is laughable for the rubber-stamp House of Assembly to have claimed it has served the deputy governor an impeachment notice. Knowing full well that, the law does not permits to serve impeachment notice in absentia. The notice is nullity.” Setting up of panel But barely 24 hours after the Assembly directed the service of the impeachment notice on the deputy governor, it also directed the Chief Judge to set up a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations

against the deputy governor. The Chief Judge did not waste time as he also set up the committee within 24 hours after the Assembly’s directive. The committee has Mr. Olatunji Stanley Adeniyan, a retired magistrate as chairman.

20 out of 25 members of the Assembly accused the deputy governor of gross misconduct, corruption and truancy

How Mimiko, Olanusi parted ways The questions agitating the minds of the people of the state are when and how did the relationship between Governor Olusegun Mimiko and his deputy went sore? This was a relationship that many thought was made in heaven as there was no evidence of a frosty relationship between the duo. Many people had thought that Olanusi would be dropped before the second term or shortly after. But he remained in office despite the agitations of some people both in the cabinet and the House of Assembly. But to close watchers of the state politics, Olanusi’s sack from Mimiko’s cabinet was long overdue as the two had fallen apart less than a year after the governor began his second term. A top government source claimed that Olanusi had always worked against the interest of his boss and confirmed this in an interview the deputy governor granted a national daily recently when he said that he had perfected his move to the PDP from the Labour Party well before the governor defected. Shortly after his defection to the APC few hours to the March 28 presidential election, which he said was to align his supporters with the thinking in the SouthWest geo-political zone, the deputy governor was said to have perfected moves with some people in his new party to impeach the governor. In the permutation, the House of Assembly election would follow the pattern of the presidential election where the PDP recorded a not too impressive performance. The deputy governor, believing his new party would have the majority in the Assembly, had perfected the move to impeach Governor Mimiko and allegedly went ahead to pick names of those who may likely form the new cabinet with him as governor. The source said former PDP

Failed coup Like in any coup, the conspirators either succeed or face the consequence. As the case turned out to be the hunter being hunted in the state, 20 members of the state House signed the impeachment notice with the member representing Ondo West Constituency II, Ifedayo Akinsoyinu moving the motion, while Yinka Banso from Akoko North West I seconded it. According to a source, what would have been the right thing for the embattled deputy governor was to have resigned from the position immediately the ‘coup’ failed instead of being made to face the rigour of impeachment. Likely replacement The way it is, the deputy governor would be impeached and another person from Ondo North Senatorial District would be selected to replace him and since the impeachment saga began, some names have been coming up as likely replacement of Olanusi. Some of the names included the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Dare Francis Emiola. Interestingly, Emiola and the deputy governor are from the same Akoko South-West Local Government. Another name is a top civil servant, Mr. B.J Lawani from Supare Akoko like Olanusi. Others included Chief Femi Adekanmbi from Owo local government, Dr. Bode Olajumoke from Ose Local government, Dr. Olu Agunloye, Mr. Saka Lawal and Mr. Akin Daramola. Another question is what is the next political move of the deputy governor? Would the impeachment eclipse his political carrier which came to limelight in 1992 when he was elected as a member of the House of Representatives? Already, the APC leadership has contacted Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN) to fight the legal battle of the deputy governor. But the way justice mill grind slowly in Nigeria, the court may not decide the case until after the tenure of the present administration would have lapsed in February 2017. As a member of the APC, which would soon control the Federal Government, Olanusi might be compensated with a federal appointment but age is not on his side. He is 73 years old.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

SPECIAL REPORT on

The 8th Senate’s Fresh Generation Godswill Akpabio

Aliyu Wamakko

Jonah David Jang

Stella Adaeze Oduah

Samuel Egwu

Theodore Orji

Mao Ohuabunwa

Uche Lilian Ekwunife

Buruji Kashamu

Jerimiah Useni

Abubakar Kyari

Ben Murrey Bruce

Peter Nwabushi

Biodun Olujimi

Dino Melaye

Monsurat Sunmonu

Bayero Usman Nafada

Bala ibn Na’Allah

Isiaka A. Adeleke

Abubakar Danladi

Adeola Olamilekan

Binta Masi Garba

Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim

Mustapha Bukar

Duro Samuel Faseyi

Fatimat O. Raji-Rasaki

Shehu Sani

Mustapha Bukar

Philip Aruwa I Gyunka

Buhari Abdulfatai

Suleiman O. Hunkuyi

Osinakachukwu Ideozu

Danjuma La’ah

Bassey Albert Akpan

Olanrewaju Tejuoso

Mohammed A. Ohiare

Nelson Asuquo Effiong

Achonu A. Nneji

Sabo Mohammed

David Umaru

Umaru Ibrahim Kurfi

Barau I Jibrin

Nnaemeka Anyanwu

Clifford A. Ordia

John Enoh Owan

Mathew A. Urhoghide

Utazi Godfrey Chukwuka

Rilwan Adesoji Akanbi

Gbolahan Dada

Abdul-Aziz M. Nyako

Francis A. Alimikhena

Olaka Johnson Nwogu

Ogba Joseph Obinna

Tijjani Yahaya Kaura

Donald Alasoadura

Rose Okoji Oko

Yele Omogunwa

Ogola Foster

Gershom H. Bassey

Suleiman M. Nazif

Malam Ali Wakili

Abdullahi A. Gumel

Muhammad Ubali Shitu

Yahaya Abdullahi

Abdulrahman Abubakar

Salihu Hussain Egye

Mohammed Garba

Isah Hamma Misau

Ahmadu Abubakar

Mohammed Hasan

Marafa Bashir Abba

Ibrahim Abdullahi

Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi

On June 4, 2015, the eighth Senate of the National Assembly will be inaugurated. Of the 96 Senators who will be taking their seats, 73, representing 76 per cent (or three out of every four) will be fresh in the upper chamber. Who are these fresh Senators? What are their backgrounds and antecedents? What quality of debate and contributions are we likely to see from them? These and more will be the kernel of a special report by New Telegraph on that day. The report presents a unique opportunity for family, friends and associates of these fresh Senators to felicitate with them. For enquiries and participation: Call Biodun: 0802-301-5582, Taiwo: 0803-304-2915, Onwuka: 0803-733-9843, David: 0810-759-1663

16 Politics

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Sonaiya

Sonaiya: I knew I wasn’t going to win presidential election Why did you join politics? I got involved in politics because I felt that we are just abandoning our lives in the hands of people, who are not taking good care of us. Somebody like me could get involved and seek to make a contribution. So, I looked for a party to join. I joined KOWA party, which was registered in 2009. I became the Public Relations Officer of the party at the convention that was held in 2010 and I have been in the party since then. We decided that we needed to compete in the elections and running for the position of president. I was hoping that a candidate will emerge and I will support; that I will be very enthusiastic about. When it was said that Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah was one of the aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC), I thought that would be nice. I just wanted a totally different and complete change from anything we had known before. So, when it now became clear that for the APC, it was going to be a choice between former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar,

Prof. Oluremi Sonaiya, 60, took the political Nigerian stage by storm when she ran for the 2015 presidency on the platform of KOWA Party. The only female in the race, the Professor of French and Applied Linguistics was judged as cerebral and eloquent. But Sonaiya thinks that by running alone, she has made a point, since she was not satisfied with the old order. In this interview with OLUWATOSIN OMONIYI, she gives an insight into her thinking and certainly, it was clear that President Goodluck Jonathan was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, I found myself in a dilemma because I did not support or want any of them. I didn’t want anything that we had before. I felt Nigeria needed to start afresh. So, it was then that I got talking with my husband. He said KOWA party has been there since 2009 and nobody knew about it and yet we competed at some levels in 2011. We won a seat in Bayelsa State House of Assembly. That was why we were not deregistered along with the others but still nobody knew KOWA party. So, he said look, you know, a party does not get known if it does not compete for office. So, that was why we got talking and finally, I said am

It would have been crazy to actually believe that I could win

going to run for presidency. I am from Oyo State, but I have lived since 1972 in Osun State, when I came into the University of Ife as an undergraduate and I have never left. I could not compete in Osun State. Nobody would vote me. I had not even represented Osun. Also, I could not compete in Oyo State because I felt I had gone for too long, I would need a godfather or somebody to come and say ‘she is our own.’ I hated the idea of having to go through somebody because to them, it would be like you are not competing on your own strength and recognition. It would always be that somebody brought her and I could not stand that. You had no experience in politics; couldn’t you have started as a legislator, instead of contesting for

presidency? After all these reasons, the only level I felt I could compete was at the national – the presidency. It means, no senator, no House of Assembly because that will need a state level and I did not see which state I could fit in or that would accept me. So, that was how I came about it and people were like aren’t you afraid? But what is there to be afraid of ? By the constitution and electoral law, I figured I was qualified. I felt that was an important step to take and I’m glad I took it. Do you mean you can divorce politics from godfatherism? We can and that is part of what I have done, to prove that you do not need a godfather. Did you really think that you were

Politics 17

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

going to win that election in the first place? To be honest with you, it would have been crazy to actually believe that I could win except there was going to be a massive miracle. One of my brother’s friends said, “there was no way your sister could have won.” Why did people believe you couldn’t have won? Who knew me for goodness sake? Because I was unknown, it would have also required a transformation, a complete transformation of the people, and majority of Nigerians for me to win. That is, they will be willing to vote a woman, they will be willing to vote someone like you said, without experience. These are some of the questions people were asking me. But look at our current situation under somebody who had experience, deputy governor, governor, vice president, president. I mean how much or how far did it go? Experience, you need and see where we are now. Not just everybody but many people are really fed up with the administration. So, were you surprised at your performance? To be honest with you, I was not concerned at all about the result and I’m being very frank with you. It was glaring to me and friends that I wasn’t going to win. Didn’t you had the support of your party? It did not matter to me at all. Anybody who said they were my agents went there on their own accord without my consent. I did not contact anybody to be my agent at any polling booth. Why didn’t you have agents? Because the media had told us that the presidential contest was going to be between Buhari and Jonathan. And I figured as they were counting, it is not the KOWA party’s vote they were likely to steal anyway; it wasn’t my vote they were going to be stealing. How many votes did I hope to get at the time that they were voting? I still knew that they were millions of people that had not heard about KOWA party. So, I will be kidding myself to think that I don’t want anybody to steal my vote. I know in my mind I have done my duty.

in their state, but saw me on television. They heard me on radio; they interacted with me in call-in programmes. They also interacted with me on the social media. We had a vibrant Facebook, Twitter accounts and my websites drew quite some traffic. But you alleged that the Nigerian journalists were not friendly with you; for you had to be discovered by international media before the local media. Why was it like that? I don’t know. I really do not know. I was surprised it was like that. I must tell you that it took the Nigerian media several weeks to contact me. It took them almost two months into the campaign to contact me. By that time, I felt many people have heard about me. My point is that my name came out in the news, published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that here are the candidates for the presidency after the parties held their primaries. The French Radio called me almost immediately my name was out. They were on my case and the very first interview I did was by them. So when the media limited the flash light on APC and PDP, what were you thinking that time? The same thing. You are shortchanging us. You are not helping to contribute to our development. If I had the opportunity to address the media on this election, there are several things I would have loved to say to them; that you have short-changed Nigerians by not really presenting all the options that we had as credible. Look at the person like Engr. Martin Onovo. He is as sharp as a razor blade. How much coverage did Onovo get? We didn’t present him to Nigerians. That was one of the choices you guys have and then also other places, the fact that somebody has the money to buy one hour of advertorial does not mean they are going to allow the person to do it. In many places, they limit how much of advertising you can do and you cannot do more than two minutes, whether you have the money or not for hours or not. They did not allow it because it unduly favours you

And you felt satisfied? Absolutely. I was the happiest and most fulfilled person. I felt with almost no resources how do I cope with election. At the beginning, my husband said, what does the law says? The law says nobody can give more than N1 million for the elections because it limits your total spending to N1 billion. So, he said ‘that means you must at least put down N1 million, so that nobody gives you more than what you are putting down.’ So, he wrote a cheque of N1 million for me. Another friend and his wife who believed so much in my running did same. They are not rich but he and his wife so believed in what I was doing. It was glaring to them that I was not winning but they put down N1 million. What role did the media play in your campaign? Without the media, I would not have been known. So many people got to know about me, most of them didn’t see me physically

over the other candidates. What was wrong in the Nigeria media saying as our own contribution on maybe as public social responsibility, we will give 30 seconds to every contestant free to present their message to the public?

I did not contact anybody to be my agent at any polling booth

Did you seek support of women groups? I did not seek any support. I did not go out seeking support but I responded to a lot of phone calls. People on their own accord invited me; people heard about my candidature. And that is really one of the most gratifying or encouraging aspects of the whole journey for me. Let me tell you one of such touching things that happened. There is a group of retired media practitioners in Osogbo. I tell you, I did not contact them for anything but do you know that these people organised an event, contacted me and said “Ma, we are organising an event for you. We want you to come, we are going to invite women groups, we are going to invite the general public, a lot of media houses. We just want to create a platform for you to come here, address people and then the media will carry it and spread it.” They didn’t ask for a penny from me. They did that of their own freewill and you know, several other women organisations, women groups and things like that got in touch with me that way. You thought that was okay? Was that really the reason you didn’t want to go out to seek for support in particular or because you were already decided on the outcome of the election? No. I would also just say that our possibilities were limited, okay? My group was basically a team of four active people that ran my campaigns. We didn’t want to stretch ourselves so much. We had difficulties meeting up with the volume of invitations that we received. Lagos traffic is another factor and where I live –Ile-Ife – was a bit far. That was part of the reason we did not actually pursue more support. In fact, people wanted me to come to more places but we could not accommodate such. Were you surprised that Buhari won

the election? Surprised? Not really. From people’s interactions with me, I felt that people really wanted change. Nigerians in general believed that enough was enough. I felt that most of the people were really longing for change. Things are pretty bad, in particular scandals and people are not being held accountable for things like that. Do you think the Nigerian political system is ripe for a female president? That is not a question of gender. Leadership is a question of ability; gender comes because of cultural value, norms and things like that. It is rather the question of men willing to work with a woman and things like that but one thing that President Jonathan did for women was to increase the number of women in the cabinet. As you can see, we have women heading ministries. So, I am saying that leadership is about ability, it is not a gender issue, not even every man can be a leader and not every woman can be a leader either. So, it is the person who has the right skills, competence and things like that. Those are the pertinent issues. It is true that culture do play a part in it because of perception. Maybe, women are perceived as weak. I don’t know what the perceptions are but like I said, women have demonstrated and still demonstrating their abilities in several areas. So, why they should be shut out of political leadership is something I do not understand and I definitely don’t know. When do you think the Nigerian political system would really be right for a female president or governor? I think we are ripe. You see, like I said, I don’t believe Nigerians are different human beings. It is a fundamental issue with me. We are human beings like any other. The thing is, everybody seeks to explore things to their own advantage. Let women just try their dreams. If Barrack Obama of America had not presented himself and won the American election, we won’t know that they were ready for a black president at that time. So, let the women just go ahead and present themselves. There is no particular time that is ripe for a female president in the country. I don’t think we can say this is the time when we will be ripe. So, when it happens, then we will know that we are ready for it. Do you see us getting there someday? Absolutely. That was why I was so passionate about the Taraba woman’s case because if she does get there, that will be a big step forward for the women folk. If by some miracle, I got there, I do not think I would be a bad leader at all because I have been dealing with issues and I have been dealing with them for a long time. I have written three books on Nigeria and Africa and her situation. These are matters I’m thinking about. My thinking really about leadership is not just a personal thing; it is about finding the right people to do the job that is needed for the country. I am looking forward to the team that General Buhari is going to assemble. Are we going to have just party stalwarts or are we

Sonaiya

CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Opinion Reward for irresponsibility Dominik Umosen

urray! The largest black nation has broken a jinx: the first successful transition from a democratically-elected administration is set to blast off after elections were successfully held in the country. The inauguration of the administration of Gen Muhammadu Buhari on May 29 seals the deal and effectively ushers the country into the prestigious league of truly democratic nations. The implication is that the various structures of governance, including the highest represented by the Federal Government at the centre, are veritable products of the people’s choice as demanded by democracy. Although nostalgia for the swinging and intoxicating days as ruling party may prevent some folks from seeing the bright side of this development, fact is that providence made President Jonathan the greatest beneficiary in the sense that only divine wisdom could have inspired him to concede defeat without hesitation, thus elevating him far above the uncomplimentary paradigms posted by his contemporaries in the continent. By promptly conceding victory to his opponent in the 2015 presidential elections, President Goodluck Jonathan eloquently demonstrated the quality of his person as miles apart from some

incumbents who would whine bitterly why they did not deserve to lose election. Examples abound of incumbents whose reluctance to relinquish power invariably triggered crises in their countries. President Jonathan, for reasons that most Nigerians may never know for now, resisted the overwhelming urge to ape continental precedence. And in the process, gained universal recognition as the next Mandela who may never be defiled by xenophobia, despite a socalled malicious gang-up to unseat him from power. Nudging President Jonathan’s profile beyond even his wildest imagination is a fact that, I am sure, not even his most virulent critics ever conceived. The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega lent credence to this when he told civil society stakeholders that accepting the outcome of the presidential election was an act of exemplary courage and statesmanship because doing otherwise would have precipitated crisis in the country. From the foregoing therefore, we can say confidently say that the structures of government at every stratum across the country represent the wishes of the majority of Nigerians in fulfillment of the principles of democracy. For the purpose of this discussion however, we can also add that because Nigerians

were more interested in the persona of Buhari as a man famous for personal integrity than his allegedly wobbly intellectual credentials, efforts by his political opponents to disparage him on this score before the people went largely unsuccessful. But there is an interesting dimension to the argument about what has become accepted as the maturity of democracy in the country. A cardinal grouse the opposition consistently levelled against President Jonathan was that his administration was lackadaisical and uncoordinated in efforts geared towards rescuing the over 200 female students of Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State who marked one year in Boko Haram captivity recently. From when the girls were kidnapped till when their abduction by insurgents subsequently went viral on the internet, the brunt of responsibility for their abduction has always been disingenuously pushed on the president by the opposition, as if he was the one that engineered the mess. In the intoxicating heat of this conspiracy, the designer and conceptualizer of the original irresponsibility of summoning innocent pupils for examinations in a remote and unsecure location, Alhaji Kassim Shettima has been rewarded for this substantive irresponsibility with reelection.

If the result of the gubernatorial elections in the country, particularly in Borno State, must be believed as truly reflective of the people’s wish, then Shettima who set the stage for the abduction, deserved commendation, hence his subsequent reward (re-election as governor), for that notorious act of irresponsibility. While the governor was rewarded for this transparent irresponsibility, some wags want me to swallow the crap that some one who knew nothing and had no hand in its concoction, deserved punishment in the form of electoral rejection for something he knew absolutely nothing about. This is a curious piece of logic that is possible only in Nigeria- reward for irresponsibility! Any one who is remotely familiar with Borno State automatically knows that Chibok constitutes one of the fringes occupied by ethnic minorities, endangered species and traditional candidates for persecution in that part of the country like the former boss of the Prisons service who was roasted in his house. Their passion for western education merely worsened their predicament as testified to by Boko Haram which gave this justification for the abduction. So how could the same people have rewarded Shettima with re-election for the substantive irresponsibility of consolidating their predicament?

Untold secret of Nigeria’s economic rise (1) Chamberlain S. Peterside Against All Odds In the euphoria of recently concluded general elections, there are more winners than loosers. The courage by President Goodluck Jonathan to concede defeat early is quite salutary and saved Nigeria from several dooms-day predictions by pundits. The winners at the end of the day are not only the electorate that voted for Muhammadu Buhari, but also the generality of the populace who would ultimately benefit from an economic surge and perceived social justice that can be engendered in this new era. It is obvious that General Buhari is a man that never gives up, until he gets what he wants. This is reflected in his persistent contest of presidential elections for the fourth time now, until he succeeded in edging out his opponent. Some of us would want to see this same doggedness expressed also in his pursuit of radical economic reform never seen before in Nigeria. If his antecedent is anything to judge by, then there is reason to hope that he would try many unconventional approaches and take tough decisions in trying to pull Nigeria from the doldrums and its perennial under-performer status in the global economic sphere.

…Skewed Public Finance Architecture My experience as Finance Commissioner in Rivers State and attending the ritual monthly Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meetings where revenue is shared has opened my eyes to Nigeria’s fiscal framework. But most times my front-row observations leave me bewildered and pondering how anyone expects Nigeria to perform better, given its current public finance architecture and economic structure. It will only take some anointing or relentless prayers to achieve anything better. Unfortunately, economic progress demands smart policies and timely actions and not prayers. For starters, let’s ask ourselves the following salient questions – How can a modern economy be so reliant on a singular export commodity like crude oil, that accounts for 80 per cent of budget revenue? How can you achieve job creation for teeming youths and alleviate poverty with such dismal electricity supply and wobbly infrastructure? How in the world do you hope to continuously provide enough affordable commodities for a huge consumerist society without local manufacturing base? How can you have the financial capacity to invest in and expand infrastructure if you spend over 75per cent of your budget on recurrent expenditures? This and

many other common sense questions should keep President Buhari and his team awake over the next 4 years. I personally prefer to take an unorthodox view to our problems and seek new solutions. Even with a nearcomatose manufacturing sector and failing infrastructure, Nigeria has managed to log in 5 - 7 per cent GDP growth rate over the last decade. No thanks to our direct effort, but via rebasing, the country now boasts of the largest economy on the continent; moving from the 39th to the 29th position amongst the largest economies in the world. Five years away from 2020, there’s still a fair chance that Nigeria may at least become a leading top-20 economy by the turn of this decade. …Mr President Buhari – Tear Down This Wall

Just to borrow a famous phrase from President Ronald Reagan when he visited West Berlin at the heat of the cold war in the late 1980s, where he said - Mr Gorbatchev, “tear down this wall” To our President-elect I want to say - “tear down this oil veil”. To make serious progress I would call on President-elect Buhari on assumption of office to tear-down this disjointed and dysfunctional oil based economy, then rebuild it from the bottom-up. How you may ask? The feats and efforts that brought Nigeria

this far from the 1960s to 1980s would hardly take it to the next level. It is quite characteristic that backward, third-world economies are typically mono-product, import-oriented, agrarian and undiversified. However that is not the case for emerging economies of the 21st century, such as the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russian, Indian, China and South Africa) where you have a well-diversified, export-oriented, robust domestic manufacturing base. A cursory look at Singapore, India, China, Malaysia and even South Africa can explain that better. The bedrock of Nigeria’s economy, the oil/gas sector is so opaque and overdue for radical revamping no question about that. But overhaul in what direction is another issue. To my mind beyond enacting the PIB (Petroleum Industry Bill) to dismantle the NNPC and delineate the regulatory and commercial functions of that behemoth in the industry, Nigeria should consider beginning to curtail crude oil exports over the next 2 – 4 years, down to 30 – 50per cent of production as a matter of national emergency and deliberate policy. If leaving the OPEC is what it takes so be it, afterall no emerging market country belongs to OPEC. Peterside wrote in from Port Harcourt

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

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Keshi’s return and the way forward

fter so much drama, suspense, intense politicking and power play, Stephen Keshi on Tuesday in Abuja signed a twoyear contract with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to continue as the Head Coach of the senior national team, the Super Eagles. It took the coach and the NFF over 300 days to agree. The negotiations spanned the Aminu Maigari regime and the Amaju Pinnick era. Keshi’s problem started during the FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil when he had disagreement with the officials of the NFF. He also had issues with some of his players and this led to a crisis of sort in the team. Sadly, the team never recovered from the crisis even after the Mundial. This led to Nigeria’s shock failure to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations held in Equatorial Guinea in January. We condemn the delay in naming a coach for the national team. No doubt the delay is part of the reasons the Eagles have been playing without direction in the past few months. The players have not performed well in the last four friendly games and this is because there is no substantive coach giving out ideas on how

to move the team forward. The team generally lacks cohesion and technique. It is also absurd that the game was allowed to be politicised heavily as some politicians had to interfere in the employment saga of the Super Eagles coach. After his failure to qualify Nigeria for the 2015 AFCON, Keshi ordinarily was supposed to get the sack just like his predecessor, Samson Siasia, who was sent parking for not qualifying Nigeria for the 2012 AFCON. The “Big Boss” used his influence in the corridors of power to hold on to the job. We found it ridiculous that while the NFF was still in search of a coach there were no options. It was Keshi, Keshi and Keshi. The federation demonstrated so much reluctance to engage the former international but apparently, Keshi’s powers reigned supreme and today, he is back as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles. One would have expected the Pinnick board to tell Nigerians why the Eagles had to be without a coach for such a long period. The body should have also taken a decision earlier than now especially because the entire team is in disarray at the moment. In keeping quiet for so long, the NFF also boxed itself into a corner such

that only a coach with knowledge of the players will be able to cope with the Eagles at this time. This is because competitive games for the team will start in June. Going forward, it is important to stress that the NFF and Keshi must forget the past grievances and move on. Since both parties have decided to work together, it must be done with sincerity such that Nigerians will see the outcome in the Super Eagles. Millions of football-loving Nigerians are not ready to experience another failure in the senior national team. The world at a point was waiting for the NFF to cry out that some powerful people were trying to impose Keshi on the federation. Since Pinnick and his board were not brave enough to do that, the body should be ready to swim or sink with Keshi. Nigeria has been drawn to play in Group G of the 2017 AFCON qualifiers along with Egypt, Tanzania and Chad. Only one team will qualify from this group for the Nations Cup finals and the series starts in June. This is the immediate hurdle before Keshi and his boys. After the time wasted, the NFF should provide all the expected support for the Eagles to excel in the qualifiers and other competitions.

It is generally believed Keshi is arrogant. This time, we expect the coach should have learnt his lessons. He should respect other people’s views and should also embrace constructive criticisms. His colleagues who are exinternationals should be seen as friends that could boost his job and not enemies. The coach should also allow fair play in the discharge of his duties on and off the pitch. Sentiments have no place in sports as merit should be the yardstick for anyone aspiring to be in the national team. Young players in the age grade national teams should be given a chance to gradually earn a place in the Super Eagles. Daniel Amokachi played for the senior team at the age of 17 while Henry Nwosu and Keshi himself were in the senior team before attaining 20 years. The NFF should also be firm in its dealings with the football teams. Now that Keshi had to sign a code of conduct as the coach, it is only normal for the players to also do the same so that we have a template for the team and the country saved from the usual bonus crisis in camp. No doubt, the Eagles can rise again but the NFF and Keshi must be on the same page.

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Politics

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Buhari must get the right people – Sonaiya CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

strated it?

going to have people who are qualified and skilled, who will be able to deliver for us on the various sectors of governance? That is why I would expect that when he is nominating his ministers and sending their names to the National Assembly, he should nominate them through portfolio so that they can look at the resume and say is this person able to deliver in that area? Do they have the experience, ability; have they demon-

If Buhari offers you an appointment, will you accept? This issue has been coming up for some time now. In fact, some people are predicting that he will offer me. I don’t like speculation. What I have told myself is something that I am sure I want to do and should be able to do. I will like to build up KOWA party; Nigeria needs a good political party. What we have seen with the political parties, the well-known political par-

ties so far, have not been the best. People have been talking of lack of ideology, which has made it easy for people to run back and forth between the two parties. So, people are saying basically, it is the same. There is no ideological difference and internal democracy in the party system. Nigeria deserves an exemplary political party. Don’t you think accepting an appointment would deter you from building your party?

That is it. There would have to be very clear terms. Would I have to join the ruling party? I have been reluctant because I am not looking for appointment under any other political party. Will I allow being assertive against the party that I am a member of the cabinet? I guard jealousy about what I think should be done right in the nation. At the same time, people said if I don’t accept, it means I am not willing to help in nation building with my

abilities, competence and skills. Really, one has to weigh it. So, what kind of party is KOWA party? KOWA party has never been involved in any violence but it is a party that still needs to be built up. We too have members who think that politics is about what you can get for yourself. We do have some of those we need to either root out or at least, they won’t be the ones to represent us. We will win them over, we have that

work to do. I’m looking at building a party with serious-minded people, decent people, who want things properly done. The kind of party that will be willing to work, you see lot of people walking out of politics. It is because of the violence and all the things associated with politics, night time meetings and things like that, distribution, carrying money about in “Ghana must go bags”, rigging of elections, assassination and things like that. That is not what political parties are supposed to be doing. If I thought Nigeria will forever remain the way things are, I will not be running for anything. We cannot believe that we are stuck in this mess for good. It’s not possible, and we must change? So, I am working towards that change; things have to change. The same to the people. Those countries that you qualified as idealist, if you read their own history too, they were not always like this. They work to make the change for themselves. Hence, we must do same for ourselves. So, will you still contest again in 2019? Hmmmm. That is a long time away now. I don’t know really. What I am saying is that I’m not retiring from politics and from public life. In fact, maybe now, I’m hoping that my public life really has just begun. What lessons have you learnt so far from this political journey? I have learnt a lot of lessons. First and foremost, is that you should not discourage yourself. If there is an idea that seems to loom larger than your ability, you should not be discouraged. Just pursue your dream. What message do you have for fellow women out there? The message is, dream big. It doesn’t have to be a big dream. Get interested in your environment, see what contribution you can make and dare to carry it out. Do what you believe. It takes discipline and confidence. It’s a way of life that I have cultivated. Some women are saying you should go back to the classroom and the kitchen. What will you say to that? Let them come and push me there and let me see. Have I not spend 30 years in the classroom? Have I not tried inside the kitchen and who told them that I still don’t go to my kitchen?

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

CBN gives banks 3-month deadline to publish bad debtors’ list

Stock Watch

Forte Oil: Increase in financial costs stifles earnings

Insurance

Sound regulation necessary for stable sector, says NAICOM

Nigeria’s economic crisis ruined the environment –NITP boss

42-43

Money Line

Interview

Business What's news

Export council groans over N220bn trapped in CBN The Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) is grumbling over non-release of N220 billion export development fund in the custody of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

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Labour dispute: Workers, SAHCOL disagree over firm's closure Workers under the aegis of Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) have concluded plans to disrupt activities of Skypower Aviation Handling Limited (SAHCOL) over labour related matters by tomorrow (Tuesday) if workers’ welfare is not tackled.

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The Business Desk Ayodele Aminu

Deputy Editor (Business)

Bayo Akomolafe

Asst. Editor (Maritime)

Sunday Ojeme

Asst. Editor (Insurance)

Tony Chukwunyem

L-R: Group Head, Strategy and Communications, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Shina Atitola; Head, Health, Safety and Environment, Mr. Benjamin Ighomereho; Group Head, Customer Experience Service Group, Mrs. Titi Ogundipe and Chairman, Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON), Commander Timothy Nwaogu, during a press conference on 2015 World Day for Safety and Health at work organised by the bank in Lagos. PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

Bank biometrics project to reduce frauds by 60% he introduction of biometrics project in the banking sector is projected to reduce the level of bank frauds in the country by 60 per cent, New Telegraph has learnt. The project, tagged Bank

Verification Number (BVN) exercise, started on February 14, 2014 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in collaboration with the commercial banks in Nigeria. “We believe that once the BVN is made mandatory, epayment and bank frauds would reduce by about 60 per cent,” Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Interbank Settlement Systems (NIBSS), Mr Adebisi Shonubi, said. “It is being hoped that the BVN would be made mandatory before the end of 2015.” According to Shonubi, who

INFLATION RATE March 2015.............................8.5% February 2015.........................8.4% January 2015...........................8.2%

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

IDENTITY Scheme will solve age-long problem of proper identity in the banking sector

Asst. Editor (Money Market)

Dele Alao

Industry & Agric Editor

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stated this in the NIBSS 2014 Fraud Report obtained by the New Telegraph, BVN is a number used for proper customer identification and can be used as verification at the point of banking operations. “It refers to identification of an individual based on physi-

556,370 Being the number of fraudulent cheques rejected by banks in 2014

ological attributesfingerprint and facial features. This centralised biometric system was launched by CBN in collaboration with all Nigerian banks. It is expected to solve the age-long problem of proper identity in the banking sector,” he said. From 2014, the Federal Government of Nigeria, CBN and major players in the financial industry had been taking steps to better improve security measures in the country. He said that apart from the efforts being made to ensure CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Rates Dashboard EXCHANGE RATE (BDC as at Apr. 24)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N219 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N320 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N238

l Foreign Reserves – $29.505bn as at 23/04/2015

Source: CBN

EXCHANGE RATE (Interbank as at Apr. 24)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N199 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N301 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N214

Business | News

CHALLENGE Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) operators face financial problems producing finished products Bayo Akomolafe

he Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) is grumbling over non-release of N220 billion export development fund in the custody of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The fund was created by the Federal Government to promote the development of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs). As part of its developmental role, CBN established the Small and Medium Enterprises Credit Guarantee Scheme (SMECGS), to promote access to credit by SMEs in the country and to fast-track the development of the manufacturing SME sector. It was learnt that 60 per cent of the fund was earmark for women entrepreneurs. But the CBN, which had since its inception been instrumental to the promotion and development of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, has not released the fund to the entrepreneurs. It was revealed that advances to the SMEs as a percentage of total loans rose from 1.8 per cent in 1980 to 9.3, 22.9, 40.0, 26.8, 6.6 and 8.6 per cent in 1986,

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Export council groans over N220bn trapped in CBN 1990, 1992, 1996, 2001 and 2002, respectively. Just recently, the Chief Executive Officer of NEPC, Mr. Segun Awolowo, said in Lagos that non-release of the fund had affected SMEs operators. He explained that the new trend would create more jobs, generate more revenue and ensure food security in the country.

that the Cybersecurity Bill, which had been pending in the National Assembly, is passed into law to create a legal framework that serves as deterrent to fraudsters, CBN had also passed a mandate for all financial institutions to adopt a worldwide acceptable standard to improve information security with the likes of ISO 27001 and COBIT 5. “Also, they mandated all card processing and handling companies to adopt Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Going forward, this would help reduce fraud in the payment card industry,” he said. He explained that as 2015 continues to unfold, the Nigerian financial industry had gone a step ahead to introduce an industry-wide, central an-

are handicapped because pre-shipment procedures cost a lot. The fund would make post-shipment procedure easier for SMEs to operate in.” He appealed to CBN to release the fund, saying that most SME operators were no longer willing to export raw materials but finished products to Europe. Awolowo stressed that the council would con-

tinue to train a new crop of exporters on the rudiments of non-oil export business. For example, in many of the newly industrialised nations, over 98 per cent of all industrial enterprises belong to the SMEs sector and account for the bulk of the labour force. SMEs enjoy a competitive advantage over large enterprises in

servicing dispersed local markets. Successive governments in Nigeria have, in the last three decades, shown much interest in ensuring adequate financing for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), by establishing various schemes and specialized financial institutions to provide appropriate financing to the sub-sector.

Group Director, AFRIGLOBAL MEDICARE, Mr. Maneesh Garg (right) and Managing Director, Dr. Martins Momoh, during a business forum and the official commissioning of company in Lagos. PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

Bank biometrics project to reduce frauds by 60% CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

The NEPC boss explained that many operators had processed such products like cassava, sesame seeds, hibiscus and soya beans, among others, into finished products, but required export grant to facilitate the trade. Awolowo declared: “We have so many new SMEs showing interest in export business, especially in non-oil export. But they

ti-fraud solution, Heimdall, to further combat the fraud rates that have been ever growing. “Heimdall will tackle the currently rising inter-bank fraud rate in the system as it will monitor inter-bank transactions real-time round-theclock, help in the report of fraud as it occurs, thus curbing the viral spread of fraudulent transaction in the days ahead. “Going forward, we might also witness a rise in the prosecution of cyber related crimes and more accountability on senior level executives of institutions when security breaches occur,” he added. Shonubi added that a more sustained and targeted bank-users' education would be required this year to ensure that bank customers are not defrauded through social engineering methods.

BOOST Seven Energy confirms gas supply increase to NIPP Adeola Yusuf

he National grid has received a boost of 560 Mega Watts (MW) power generation as gas supply to the National Integrated Power Plant (NIPP) in Calabar commenced. Seven Energy International Limited, the indigenous Nigerian integrated gas company, which confirmed this in a statement on Thursday, noted that it had commercial delivery of gas to Calabar NIPP commenced in March, 2015, and is being executed through Accugas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seven Energy. When operating at full capacity, Calabar NIPP will even increase national power generation by over 10 per cent. “Gas is being supplied to the power plant from Seven Energy’s Uquo Gas Processing Facility in Akwa Ibom State through the Seven Energy pipeline network,” Seven Energy said. It added: “The gas supply will enable the power plant to complete commissioning and start

Calabar NIPP adds 560MW to national grid delivering electricity into the national grid.” Chief Executive Officer, Seven Energy, Phillip Ihenacho, said “Delivering a cost effective and reliable gas supply is critical to providing sustainable power supply into the national grid to meet government’s reform objectives and to facilitate industrial development. I am delighted that our ability to deliver an indigenous gas solution, from end to end, is now being recognised by a broad range of industrial and power sector customers. “Not only will the gas we supply drive enhanced power generation, but when combined with improvements in transmission and distribution, it will also facilitate industrial and commercial developments, which will have a far reaching impact throughout the community, stimulating industry and generating employment as a result.” Steve Tierney, Managing Director, Accugas said: “The Calabar NIPP is a major power plant in Calabar and a further endorsement of the quality and

reliability of our services. “Our strong capability across the region with ownership of gas reserves and pipeline infrastructure has enabled us to commercialise our gas assets, delivering a solution that the market has been demanding for many years. “We are ready and look forward to adding more customers to our network across the South East of Nigeria, bringing affordable and reliable gas to a wider audience.” Seven Energy has continued to champion an industrial gas revolution through the development and production of natural gas and critically, its commercialisation through investment in processing and distribution infrastructure, where the Company has invested over $1 billion in the south east region of the Niger Delta in the last 5 years. With significant capacity built into its distribution infrastructure, the Company is capable of providing a long-term supply of gas to additional off takers for power generation and for local industry.

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Sanctity of Truth

Sale of U.S. Arms Fuels Wars of Arab States By MARK MAZZETTI and HELENE COOPER

WASHINGTON — To wage war in Yemen, Saudi Arabia used F-15 fighter jets bought from Boeing. Pilots from the United Arab Emirates are flying Lockheed Martin’s F-16 to bomb both Yemen and Syria. Soon, the Emirates are expected to complete a deal with General Atomics for a fleet of Predator drones to run spying missions in their neighborhood. As the Middle East descends into proxy wars, sectarian conflicts and battles against terrorists, countries in the region that have stockpiled American military hardware are now actually using it and wanting more. The result is a boom for American de-

fense contractors looking for foreign business in an era of shrinking budgets at home — but also the prospect of a dangerous new arms race in a region where the map of alliances has been sharply redrawn. Defense industry officials recently told Congress that they were expecting a request from Arab allies fighting the Islamic State — Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt — to buy thousands of American-made missiles, bombs and other weapons, replenishing an arsenal that has been depleted over the past year. The United States has long put restrictions on the types of weapons that American defense firms can sell to Arab nations, meant

Qatar wants to replace its French Mirage jets with Boeing F-15s. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

to ensure that Israel keeps a military advantage against its traditional adversaries in the region. But because Israel and the Arab states are now in a de facto alliance against Iran, the Obama administration has been far more willing to allow the sale of ad-

vanced weapons in the Persian Gulf, with few public objections from Israel. “When you look at it, Israel’s strategic calculation is a simple one,” said Anthony H. Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The

gulf countries “do not represent a meaningful threat” to Israel, he said. “They do represent a meaningful counterbalance to Iran.” Industry analysts and Middle East experts say that the region’s turmoil, and the determination of the wealthy Sunni nations to battle Shiite Iran for regional supremacy, will lead to a surge in new orders for the defense industry’s latest, most high-tech hardware. The militaries of gulf nations have been “a combination of something between symbols of deterrence and national flying clubs,” said Richard L. Aboulafia, a defense analyst at the Teal Group. “Now they’re suddenly

Continued on Page 27

Selling Cultural Treasures As Subsidies Decline, Money Found Hanging on Museums’ Walls By DOREEN CARVAJAL

MÜNSTER, Germany — The director of the art museum here dreads the idea of losing some of his town’s cultural attractions. He worries about a Henry Moore sculpture that has been on exhibition for almost 40 years, knowing it could vanish along with Renaissance panels and Eduardo Chillida benches in a sale to settle government debts. “There’s an expression in German: ‘Don’t sell your family silver,’ ” said the director, Hermann Arnhold of the Westphalian State Museum for Art and Cultural History. “If you sell important artworks, that means selling a part of your history.” Yet what once seemed unthinkable is suddenly palatable in Europe: The continent’s art treasures are losing sacred status as an inheritance belonging to the people. With government subsidies to public institutions being cut back, museums in Britain, the Netherlands France and Germany need the income from art sales to close budget gaps, make repairs or finance expansions. That has led to fears that masterpieces will disappear from public view to adorn the walls of a

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An abandoned resort haunts Italy. PAGE 24

China’s Tibetan mastiff fad fades. PAGE 28

JOANNA NOTTEBROCK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES; LEFT, LEON NEAL/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

Hermann Arnhold worries about losing art on display at the Westphalian State Museum. Left, an Egyptian statue sold for $27 million. Saudi prince or hedge-fund billionaire. “If you want to safeguard cultural identity, you cannot sell the best pieces of your collection,” said Marilena Vecco, an assistant professor of cultural economics at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. The cutbacks in cultural subsidies in France prompted lawmakers to raise the notion of selling works in the nation’s vast art reserves to pay for acquisitions. Some museums in Britain have already shed important works, including a 4,500-year-old Egyptian statue, or are arranging to sell objects to create an endowment to help offset government

MONEY & BUSINESS

Hush falls on Chicago’s trading pits. PAGE 30

cutbacks. In Devon, the Torquay Museum lost $114,000 from its subsidy, a 43 percent drop. To create an endowment, it wants to auction items, including a letter by Jane Austen, that Christie’s has estimated could sell for $300,000. In Germany, a sale last year of silk screens of Elvis Presley and Marlon Brando by Andy Warhol for $152 million is, in part, financing a new stateowned casino. And the works now at the Münster museum may be sold to settle the debts of a failed state bank. Demand for art is high, driven by the deep pockets of the ultrarich, and the

Continued on Page 27

ARTS & DESIGN

Early days of the magic of movies. PAGE 34

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MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

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

ED I T O R I A L S O F T H E T I M ES

An ugly vein of soccer fan excess — the chanting of anti-Semitic slurs — recently disgraced a Dutch soccer game, prompting officials of the home team, Utrecht, to apologize for shocking outcries from the stands like “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas” and “Jews burn the best!” Anyone who has been to a European match knows how badly things can get out of hand when pushed by brutish fans. But the Utrecht outrage in a game against Ajax Amsterdam laid bare what soccer supporters say is an epidemic of anti-Semitic outbursts. The problem is getting worse, according to Kick It Out, a British

Anti-Semitism in Soccer watchdog organization, which said in March that there were more than 30 instances of anti-Semitic slurs reported in the first half of the season, surpassing last year, with chants of “Yids” and “Kill the Jews” heard at games. It is absurd to claim, as some soccer apologists do, that this is no more than the usual rough give-and-take of pumped-up, and sometimes liquored-up,

spectators. The history of anti-Semitism in Europe is too deep and too raw not to see the problem for the hate-mongering it is. Even neo-Nazi salutes have been brandished at games by fans and an occasional player. In the 1980s, anti-Semitism in the stadium was mainly stirred by neo-Nazis, but lately there appears to be a combination of factors, according to officials at the

Simon Wiesenthal Center, a human rights organization. “It’s a new alliance between neo-Nazis and jihadists,” Shimon Samuels, the center’s international relations director, told The Washington Post. European clubs that campaigned for years to rein in racism claim some progress. Officials must be no less aggressive in stopping the anti-Jewish slurs

from being heard around the playing field. As alarming as the rise in complaints has been, it might also show greater awareness of the problem, said Roisin Wood, director of Kick It Out. The increase “suggests people are more willing and confident to come forward” to report hate speech, she wrote in The Guardian. But she emphasized that the game has a stubborn element of discrimination involving abusive and biased attitudes, and it can bring out deep and even noxious passions among its fans. That, unfortunately, seems to be the case as anti-Semitism mars the cheering.

INTELLIGENCE/BEPPE SEVERGNINI

ROGER COHEN

Rusting in Sardinia

Muslims and Jews

Palau, Italy The huge, futuristic resort sits nestled in La Maddalena National Park, one of the most ravishingly beautiful corners of the Mediterranean, where topaz-tinted waves wash the juniper-studded granite of a scattering of tiny islands off Sardinia’s northeast coast. The resort’s cost: 470 million euros, or about $506 million. Handover from the developer to the Italian government: 2009. Intended purpose: hosting the Group of 8 summit meeting of leading industrial nations. Actual use: None. Nearly six years on, the glass and metal buildings are rusting quietly in the mistral, a cold, gusting wind that comes down from France. Not that those responsible feel any need to offer any explanation. There is a conviction, in Italy as elsewhere, that major events leave a heritage of waste and cathedrals in the desert. That was what happened after the 2004 Athens Olympics, where sky-high costs helped to sink Greece’s public finances. Up to a point, the same scene unfolded after the 2010 soccer World Cup in South Africa. It’s happening after the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, a mirror held up to Vladimir V. Putin’s dreams of grandeur. The Maddalena fiasco isn’t as spectacular, or as expensive, as any of these, but it is more bizarre. Olympic games actually took place in Athens and Sochi. South Africa saw genuine soccer matches. But the Maddalena archipelago — where Napoleon suffered his first defeat and Giuseppe Garibaldi lived for a time, a father of modern Italy an exile in his homeland Beppe Severgnini is a columnist at Corriere della Sera and the author of “La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind.”

— is haunted only by the shadows of a summit meeting that never took place: At the last minute, Italy shifted it to the mainland. Sardinia, the Mediterranean’s second-largest island, suffers a youth unemployment rate of more than 50 percent. It is economically and geographically isolated, and its petrochemical and metallurgical industries, the twin engines of the local economy, have been shutting down. Sardinia could have done much with the frittered millions. According to the island government’s 2015 spending, €470 million would have covered its education, employment, tourism, arts and sports budgets. The Maddalena fiasco began in the early 2000s, when the American military began sending signals it would close its base on

Costing hundreds of millions, a resort stands empty. Santo Stefano, a part of the Maddalena archipelago. The base was opened after a 1972 agreement between Italy and the United States. When it finally was shut down, in 2008, the NATO munitions facility there vanished, and with it an American nuclear submarine facility. In an area with few sources of income except summer vacationers, the American armed forces were a lifeline. Facing the looming closure, in 2006 Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s government found a spectacular solution to La Maddalena’s ills: holding the Group of 8 meeting on the site of

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the former naval base. By 2008, however, Silvio Berlusconi was in power and blowing distinctly cool on the project. Work went ahead anyway. What took shape was a luxury resort that, at least in theory, would give post-Group of 8 tourism in Sardinia a shot in the arm. Then on April 6, 2009, an earthquake struck Italy’s Abruzzo region, devastating the regional capital, L’Aquila. Mr. Berlusconi stepped in to make a spectacular gesture of his own, at nearly the last minute transferring the Group of 8 summit meeting to the tremor-ravaged central Italian city. A questionable decision, albeit one that yielded plenty of photo opportunities for Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and other world leaders. That was over five years ago. Aside from the summit meeting, nothing much has happened in L’Aquila. Today, most of its historic center is still unsafe. Meanwhile, La Maddalena’s glass and steel citadel gazes out to sea unused. Both sites have been devastated by neglect, poor planning, corruption and courtroom squabbles. But the scene at La Maddalena is more depressing. Taking cover behind the excuse of urgency, the government allowed costs to balloon. Mita Resort, the structure’s management company, complains that the sea has not been cleaned up and La Maddalena is not attracting wealthy tourists. Neither is it clear who has overall responsibility for the complex. The regional authority has no money, the national government has no time, and private investors have no ideas. Italy is now set to host Expo 2015, which opens May 1 in Milan. The theme is feeding the planet. Some 6,000 workers are toiling round the clock to get things finished. The construction involved more than 250,000 cubic meters of concrete. Authorities expect 20 million visitors. The expo will have pavilions from 145 countries. It is a magnificent project that Italy will surely carry through. But let’s not forget La Maddalena. Fiascos contain lessons, if you look for them.

Paris The five million Muslims of France and the 500,000 Jews of France eye each other with unease. Muslims complain that questioning the Holocaust is forbidden by law but insulting the Prophet Muhammad is not. Two weights, two measures, they say. Sephardic Jews in suburbs of hostile Muslims feel they are back in the North Africa their forebears fled. Muslims, often encountering daily prejudice, are susceptible to old libels about Jewish wealth, influence and power. Four Jews are shot dead in a kosher supermarket by a jihadi fanatic and Paris, to some Jews, looks like the center of a war between Islam and the West. Mosques are defaced. Synagogues are protected by soldiers. Muslims are ghettoized in drab projects, asked to pray in disused barracks. Jewish descendants of Holocaust survivors hear cries of “Death to the Jews” in Paris, chanted by so-called anti-Zionists. Muslims speak of the need for 2,000 more mosques. Some Jews vote by leaving. This is enough to make anyone wonder: What would happen if there were another terrible incident, say the kidnapping and beheading of a prominent Jew? It could happen. Immigration worked for a long time. Ask generations of Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese and Poles. It has not worked of late, in part because many North African Muslims, particularly Algerians, arrived in a country they detested for the crimes of France in the Algerian War. The focal point of French integration, the classroom, failed. Humiliation was political, social and cultural. Identity could not be Gallic. It was found through Islam, in some cases the violent Islam that has taken more than 1,500 French Muslim youths to Iraq and Syria. What, people wonder, will these people do on their return? This is not a time of niceties in France. The Charlie Hebdo and kosher supermarket slaughter

buried political correctness. Jews see a fanatical Islamist ideology that, as demonstrated in Paris, targets Western freedoms and Jews equally. Many Muslims are sick of the monopoly on victimhood they argue Jews have established since the Holocaust. I spoke, separately, to Dalil Boubakeur, the president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, and to Roger Cukierman, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France. Their moderation is shared. Their Frances part company. Mr. Boubakeur: “You can’t have jokes here about the Shoah, but freedom to insult Islam is complete. French laïcité is a passport to repress the rights of Muslims. Islamophobia is on the rise, we’ve had more incidents of hate and racism this year than ever before. Muslims are forced to pray in the streets for lack of mosques. The Muslim reaction is to be more fundamentalist, more extremist when it comes to identity. Muslims don’t want to dilute themselves in this false assimilation and integration.” The killers of January were deranged terrorists, he said, criminals with no claim to represent Islam. Mr. Cukierman: “We are in a war. A united Europe emerged from millions of dead, and now it’s hard to convince Europeans there is a real danger to Western democracy. Surveys show strong anti-Semitism in the Muslim community, stronger among the more religious. I have police in front of my apartment. I travel in a bulletproof car, with an escort car behind. Today, despite their patriotism, and even under police and army protection, French Jews fear for their safety, their integrity, their dignity and their future.” It’s easy and facile to see all Muslims as the enemy. Some Jews in France now do. This is a path to ruin. Just as in the Holy Land, Jew and Muslim must not imagine the other will go away.

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Syrian Crisis Tests Refugee Systems

LECCE JOURNAL

History Beneath A Toilet By JIM YARDLEY

LECCE, Italy — All Luciano Faggiano wanted when he purchased the building at 56 Via Ascanio Grandi was to open a trattoria. The only problem was the toilet. Sewage kept backing up. So Mr. Faggiano enlisted his older sons to help him dig a trench and investigate. He predicted the job would take about a week. If only. “We found underground corridors and other rooms, so we kept digging,” said Mr. Faggiano, 60. His search for a sewage pipe in 2000 became one family’s tale of obsession and discovery. He found a subterranean world tracing back before the birth of Jesus: a Messapian tomb, a Roman granary, a Franciscan chapel and even etchings from the Knights Templar. His trattoria instead became a museum, where relics still turn up. Lecce was once a critical crossroads in the Mediterranean, coveted by invaders from Greeks to Romans to Ottomans to Normans to Lombards. Severo Martini, a member of the City Council, said archaeological relics turn up on a regular basis — and can present a headache for urban planning. “Whenever you dig a hole,” he said, “centuries of history come out.” Ask the Faggiano family. Mr. Faggiano planned to run the trattoria on the ground floor and live upstairs. His oldest son,

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A family found millenniums-old relics while digging under their house to repair a backed-up toilet in Lecce, Italy. Marco, was studying film in Rome. His second son, Andrea, had left home to attend college. Both interrupted their studies to work with their father. The building was seemingly modernized, with clean white walls and a new heating system. But one week quickly passed, as father and sons discovered a false floor that led to another floor of medieval stone, which led to a tomb of the Messapians, who lived in the region centuries before the birth of Jesus. Soon, the family discovered a chamber used to store grain by the ancient Romans and the basement of a Franciscan convent where nuns prepared the bodies of the dead. Mr. Faggiano did not initially tell his wife about the extent of the work, possibly because he was tying a rope around the chest of his youngest son, Davide, then 12, and lowering him to dig in small, darkened openings. Investigators shut down the excavations. A year passed. Finally, Mr. Faggiano was allowed to resume his pursuit of the sewage pipe as long as

heritage officials observed the work. The family uncovered ancient vases, Roman devotional bottles, an ancient ring with Christian symbols, medieval artifacts, hidden frescoes and more. “The Faggiano house has layers that are representative of almost all of the city’s history, from the Messapians to the Romans, from the medieval to the Byzantine time,” said Giovanni Giangreco, a retired cultural heritage official. Mr. Faggiano still dreamed of a trattoria, even if the project had become his white whale. Years passed. His sons managed to escape. City archaeologists pushed Mr. Faggiano to keep going. He admits he also became obsessed. Today, the building is Museum Faggiano. But he has not forgotten about the trattoria. A few years into his excavation, he found his sewage pipe. It was, indeed, broken. He has since bought another building and is again planning for a trattoria. “I still want it,” he said of the trattoria. “I’m very stubborn.”

600 Wedding Guests, and a Big Bill By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN

K ABUL, Afghanistan — When Shafiqullah walked into his wedding celebration, he was surprised to find 600 extra people in the room, none of whom he recognized. Still, he knew his obligations. “If I didn’t serve them, it would have caused me dishonor and taken away all happiness from my wedding day,” said Shafiqullah, a 31-year-old car salesman. So he told the caterers to double the food order, bringing the cost of his wedding to nearly $30,000. It is a familiar tale in Afghanistan, where weddings are demonstrations of commitment to hospitality and devotion to family and community. But the strain of having to host a party the size of a small village is proving ruinous for many young Afghan men. Enter the Afghan Parliament, which took aim at Kabul’s wedding-industrial complex. Lawmakers passed a bill to cap the number of wedding guests at gigantic wedding halls to 500 people. It is awaiting final approval. In many countries, young

couples might struggle to find 500 guests to celebrate with them. Afghans have no such problem. Consider Shafiqullah’s original guest list of 700. Besides the guests on his bride’s side, Shafiqullah invited “my cousins; my cousin’s cousins; my neighbors; also people who live in the surrounding areas; and, of course, people from my village, the one I came from before Kabul; and 100 to 150 colleagues, other car salesmen.” But he strained to pick them out from all the strangers. “I didn’t recognize more than half of the guests in the male section,” he said. The crowds that stream into Kabul’s wedding halls each night have given rise to a subculture of “toi paal” — wedding crashers. They are uninvited men who hang around the stretch of airport road that has been nicknamed “Las Vegas,” for the neon lights and mirrored glass of the wedding halls. Because weddings are segregated by gender, the draw is not the opportunity to meet women so

much as it is the banquet fare. Most young men in Kabul seem to know the expression, “With a wedding every night, there is no need to go hungry.” Young men are among the bill’s most ardent supporters. “I demand that the president sign this law,” said Jawed, 24. “I beg him to sign this law as soon as possible so people like me can get married soon.” The high cost of weddings has delayed marriages for years. Ahmad Walid Sultani, who owns a stationery store, said he hopes someday to print invitations for his wedding. He has been engaged for seven years. Grooms must also buy gold jewelry for the bride. And they must pay a “bride price,” a sum the groom gives to the bride or her family so that she has some property of her own to control. One manager said the new law would cripple the wedding hall business. “What will they do if they lose their jobs?” said the manager, Sayed Yaqoot, referring to waiters and wedding hall workers. “Go join the Taliban?”

By SOMINI SENGUPTA may sneak in with the refugees. But Simon Henshaw, principal UNITED NATIONS — With deputy assistant secretary at Syria’s neighbors increasingly the United States’ State Departshutting their borders to refugees and thousands trying to ment, said: “Accepting refugees cross the Mediterranean Sea in is an American tradition with search of safety, the war in Syria bipartisan support in Congress. is creating the worst global refuThe question is not whether we take them in, but ensuring that gee crisis in decades, putting new we admit refugees in a way that pressure on the United States is safe and consistent with our and other Western countries to national security interests.” open their doors. Mr. Henshaw said the United The pressure rose after one of States is admitting fewer than the worst disasters involving mi2,000 this year is “to make sure grants attempting the perilous we’ve got the process right.” crossing to Europe from Africa “We have a really deliberative occurred off the coast of Libya on process for Syrians,” he added. the night of April 18, when a ship In 2014, roughly 150,000 Syrijammed with migrants sank, resulting in more than 800 deaths. ans filed asylum claims abroad, Carlotta Sami, a spokeswoman citing their fear of persecution at for the United Nations refugee home. They were the single largagency, was quoted by Agence est group of asylum seekers last France-Presse as saying that the year, according to the United Nadisaster could turn out to be “the tions refugee agency. worst massacre ever seen in the Most of them sought asylum Mediterranean.” in Europe. Depending on where The overall crisis is testing the they land, some of them are deinternational system for dealing tained in immigration centers with people fleeing war that was until their cases are adjudicated. set up at the end of World War II. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat “It’s not providing safety for of Malta called the April 18 sinkrefugees,” said Kathleen Newing a “game-changer,” and said land of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington. “It’s not providing security for the countries involved. It’s been a huge boon to the smuggling industry. It’s creating deaths at sea.” “The Syrian crisis places the entire humanitarian system at a crossroads,” said Alexander Betts, an associate professor of refugee studies at the University of Oxford. The United Nations has stepped up calls for BULENT KILIC/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES industrialized counNearly four million Syrians have fled tries, including the United States, to shelter into neighboring countries. 130,000 Syrian refugees over the next two years. Governments around the that if Europe did not come toworld have promised to take in gether to avert future tragedies, just under two-thirds of that. “history will judge it very badly.” Syria’s neighbors, who are alDoctors Without Borders said that as many as 100 people arrive ready coping with four million in Greece’s Dodecanese islands refugees, have begun to impose by boat each day, most of them restrictions on Syrians. Turkey Syrians. On one island, it said, was the latest. Jordan and Lebmore than 200 people, including anon have for months clamped children and pregnant women, down on Syrian refugees. spent a week “crammed into a In the West, Germany has police station,” with some sleeppledged to resettle the largest batch of Syrian refugees — about ing in a courtyard. 30,000 — while Canada has said Just two days after the cait would let in just over 11,000, actastrophe off the Libyan coast, rescuers scrambled to reach two cording to the United Nations. migrant-laden boats in distress The United States is scheduled in the Mediterranean. to take in its largest group of SyrThree people drowned after ian refugees to date — up to 2,000 one boat carrying tens of miby the fall of this year, compared with about 700 since the civil war grants crashed into rocks off the in Syria began four years ago, acGreek island of Rhodes, a coast guard official said. cording to the State Department. Martin Schulz, the president of “This is an unprecedented the European Parliament, criticrisis,” said Anna Greene of the International Rescue Commitcized European apathy. “How many more people will tee. “If the United States doesn’t have to drown until we finally act lead, other countries aren’t going in Europe?” he asked in a stateto either.” The plan is meeting with rement. “How many times more do we want to express our dismay, sistance from some Republican only to then move on to our daily lawmakers in the United States routine?” Congress, who say terrorists

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For Better or Worse, Preserving Town’s Past To the people who belong there, the identity of a town is important. Its history. Its culture. Its place. All the pieces that make one town different from all the rest. LENS Imagine starting each day by walking outside and seeing a reminder that this town — your town — is the town of Adolf Hitler. The residents of Braunau am Inn, Austria, have been stuck with just such a reminder: the house where Hitler was born. It is a piece of their local history that many would prefer to forget. One resident, Hans Schwarzmayr, told The Times that when traveling abroad and asked where he was from, he would always say “downriver from Salzburg,” or “about 120 kilometers east of Munich” — to avoid the stigma. Hitler’s birth house is still

Historic buildings, and an umlaut, hold deeper meanings.

cosmopolitan, Julie Turkewitz wrote in The Times. Still, those in Cheyenne don’t all agree on how much history should be maintained. The owners of three late-19th-century houses that sit behind the historic governor’s mansion want to replace the buildings with something else — anything else. Maybe townhouses, maybe a parking lot. But preservationists have blocked a permit to demolish them. In turn, the owners have tried a different strategy: offering the houses for free to anyone who would move them somewhere else. They have yet to find any takers, perhaps put off by the $200,000 cost to move and renovate the buildings. Such disputes between property owners and preservationists are common in the United States. But in Cheyenne the disagreement is personal, even for those without a personal stake. “This is the real West right here,” said Don Threewitt, a member of the preservation board. “Everybody looks at it and says it’s just one house, or it’s just three houses. But once you add them up, we start losing enough of that historic fabric to where we really don’t have the identity anymore.” When it comes to their identity, cities can find symbolism less significant than a Nazi LAETITIA VANCON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES shrine, far smaller than a cluster of houses. Hitler’s birth house still stands in Identity can be found Braunau am Inn, Austria, but some in something as tiny as want it torn down. the two dots in Lindström. standing only because Allied Lindström is a small town troops prevented Nazi loyalists in Minnesota that was settled from destroying it when the city by Swedish immigrants in surrendered. The building has the 1850s, and it is proud of its been a museum, a school and a liheritage. One thing the settlers brought was the umlaut, a diabrary. It is currently vacant and in disrepair, and the Austrian critical mark that has no place in government, which leases it, is American English. trying to find a use for it. Some After a road project in 2012, people want it torn down. the state replaced the road signs Andreas Maislinger, a historiwelcoming visitors, but it did not replace the umlauts. The rules an from Innsbruck, wants an instated that signs must contain ternational memorial and peace only standard letters. project in the house. “Braunau is The people of what was now a symbol,” he said. “It is where Lindstrom were not happy. As evil entered the world.” The Times reported recently, The past doesn’t weigh so the matter was brought to the heavily on Cheyenne, Wyoming, attention of the governor, Mark a frontier town proud of what it Dayton, who overruled his road has held on to. department. “The city has long billed itself “Even if I have to drive to as the last great icon of the West, Lindström and paint the uma counterpoint to places like Denver” that have become more lauts on the city limit signs myself,” he said in a statement, “I’ll do it.” For comments, write to ALAN MATTINGLY nytweekly@nytimes.com.

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About 650 runners from 30 countries participated in the recent Pyongyang Marathon.

A Race In Korea Not About Arms PYONGYANG, North Korea — By 8:30 a.m. on a recent Sunday, the 50,000 seats in Kim Il-sung Stadium were nearly filled with men in Mao suits and coats and ties, women in dresses and heels, and soldiers in olive-drab hats ESSAY with crowns as wide as a discus. In the hazy chill, I stood on the track with about 650 runners from about 30 countries who had come to challenge their preconceptions as well as their endurance. We awaited the start of the Pyongyang Marathon, a brief opening into one of the world’s most closed and enigmatic countries. For the second year, foreign amateur runners were allowed to participate in a 10-kilometer race, a half-marathon or a full marathon in Pyongyang, the capital. The races were a part of the April 15 birthday celebration of Kim Il-sung, the former leader of North Korea and father of his successors: Kim Jong-il, a son, and Kim Jong-un, a grandson. The mood in the Kim Il-sung Stadium was one of throbbing, if rehearsed, enthusiasm. Almost everyone seemed to take photographs of the crowd. A tone sounded, and race officials in red hats and white suits marshaled us for the start. Their garb suggested some sort of athletic and social experiment. In February, the races had been abruptly closed to foreigners as North Korea cited continuing concerns about Ebola. Then, in March, with little explanation, the door had opened again. Tour operators and Korean guides offered possible explanations: North Korea desperately needed hard currency from tourism. It was trying to generate mass interest in recreation. It was using sport to try to rehabilitate an “axis of evil” image of nuclear antagonism and widespread human rights abuse that, according to a 2013 United Nations report, included secret prison camps, torture and forced starvation. “Many people see our country as military development and poor people,” said O Ryong-jong, an official in the North Korean sports ministry who was a guide on my tour

JERÉ LONGMAN

bus. “We want them to come and see for themselves.” In 2013, Kim ordered that North Korea increase its yearly total of foreign tourists to a million from 200,000 within three years, Andrei Lankov, a North Korea expert at Kookmin University in Seoul, South Korea, wrote in “The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia.” North Korea is building a new airport terminal, inviting foreigners to Pyongyang’s marathon and international film festival and trying to entice jet-setters with a ski resort, perhaps a reflection of Kim Jong-un’s school years in Switzerland. “It appears,” Mr. Lankov wrote, that Kim “hopes to make his realm into an East Asian Switzerland, where crowds of rich Westerners will rush with pockets full of cash. This dream is highly unrealistic, especially given the sorry state of tourist infrastructure.” At the race, North Korean

Interpreting a wink or a high five in the Hermit Kingdom. runners mixed briefly with foreigners before the races. Some posed for photographs while others shyly looked away. The international runners started first, dressed in our casual fluorescence, while the North Koreans followed an hour later, the fastest of them in singlets and racing flats, some of the women and girls with white ribbons around their waists. As many as 800 would run the race, according to a generous estimate by state-run news media. Another guide on my tour bus, Pak Un-gyong, had carefully examined each of our running outfits. It was forbidden to depict flags of the United States, South Korea or Japan. And the logos of the apparel companies had to be muted. We headed out of the stadium and past the 60-meter Arch of Triumph, a symbol of resistance to the Japanese occupation of the Korean Pen-

insula from 1910 to 1945. An early uphill stretch carried us past modest crowds along a wide street of apricot blossoms. A soldier high-fived a few runners. A woman waved from a window. Other women in red jackets poured water into cups at small hydration tables. The 10-kilometer loop brought us back and forth across the Taedong River via bridge and tunnel, the roads decorated with North Korean flags. Portable toilets were absent. Discreet signs directed runners to bathrooms near the course. One was on the second floor of a building, another through a sundry shop, a restaurant and a karaoke bar. “Last year, we had a guy who went to all the bathrooms because he couldn’t get into the buildings otherwise,” said Tori Cook, a guide with Koryo Tours, a British-run company in Beijing that brought 270 foreign runners to the race. Cameras were officially off limits to runners on the course, but the rule essentially seemed unenforced. For stretches, the only sounds came from bells on passing bicycles, martial music or a helicopter dropping parachutists to entertain the spectators in Kim Il-sung Stadium. Children along the course seemed to grow bolder. Dressed in tracksuit jackets, or the red scarves and blue uniforms of young pioneers, they slapped hands with passing runners and often called out in English: “Nice to meet you.” “Welcome to Korea.” During his half-marathon, Hank Mannen, 36, of the Netherlands, was startled to see a young woman blow him a kiss. He said he reciprocated, then thought for a moment, “She’s in big trouble now.” After finishing third in the half-marathon for international amateurs, Filippo Nicosia, a diplomat at the Italian Embassy in Beijing, spoke in Korean to a group of female students. “This is just a slight opening up, not a structural change,” said Mr. Nicosia, 39, who was formerly based in Seoul. “Like when the New York Philharmonic came in 2008. A small drop in an ocean. It doesn’t really change anything, but it gives curiosity a chance to turn into warmth.”

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U.S. Arms Sales Fuel Gulf Conflicts Continued from Page 23 being used.” Saudi Arabia spent more than $80 billion on weaponry last year — the most ever, and more than either France or Britain — and has become the world’s fourth-largest defense market, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The Emirates spent nearly $23 billion last year, more than three times what they spent in 2006. In an $11 billion deal with the United States last year, Qatar agreed to buy Apache attack helicopters and Patriot and Javelin air-defense systems. It hopes to make a large purchase of Boeing

Using stockpiles of American weapons, and wanting more. F-15 fighters to replace its aging fleet of French Mirage jets. American defense firms are following the money. Boeing opened an office in Doha, Qatar, in 2011, and Lockheed Martin set up an office there this year. Lockheed created a division in 2013 devoted solely to foreign military sales, and the company’s chief executive, Marillyn Hewson, has said that Lockheed needs to increase foreign business — with a goal of global arms sales becoming 25 percent to 30 percent

of its revenue — in part to offset the shrinking American military budget after the post-September 11 boom. American intelligence agencies believe that the proxy wars in the Middle East could last for years, which will make countries in the region even more eager for the F-35 fighter jet, considered to be the jewel of America’s future arsenal of weapons. The plane, the world’s most expensive weapons project, has stealth capabilities and has been marketed heavily to European and Asian allies. It has not yet been sold to Arab allies because of concerns about preserving Israel’s military edge. But with the balance of power in the Middle East in flux, several defense analysts said that could change. Russia is a major arms supplier to Iran, and a decision by President Vladimir V. Putin to sell an advanced air defense system to Iran could increase demand for the F-35, which is likely to have the ability to penetrate Russian-made defenses. “This could be the precipitating event: the emerging Sunni-Shia civil war coupled with the sale of advanced Russian air defense systems to Iran,” Mr. Aboulafia said. At the same time, giving the gulf states the ability to strike Iran at a time of their choosing might be the last thing the United States wants. There are already questions about how judicious Washington’s allies are in using American weaponry. “A good number of the American arms that have been used in

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The Emirates are expected to complete a deal soon with General Atomics for a fleet of drones. Yemen by the Saudis have been used against civilian populations,” said Daryl Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Association, an assertion that Saudi Arabia denies. Mr. Kimball said he viewed the increase in arms sales to the region “with a great deal of trepidation, as it is leading to an escalation in the type and number and sophistication in the weaponry in these countries.” Congress enacted a law in 2008 requiring that arms sales allow Israel to maintain a “qualitative military edge” in the region. All sales to the Middle East are evaluated based on how they will affect Israeli military superiority. But the Obama administration has also viewed improving the

militaries of select Arab nations — those that see Iran as a threat in the region — as critical to Israeli security. There is an unquestionably sectarian character to the current conflicts in the Middle East, nowhere more so than in the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen. The Saudis have assembled a group of Sunni nations to attack Houthi militia fighters who have taken over Yemen’s capital, Sana, and ousted a government backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States. Saudi officials have said that the Houthis, a Shiite group, are being covertly backed by Iran. Other nations that have joined the coalition against the Houthis, like Morocco, have characterized their

participation in blunt sectarian terms. “It’s a question of protecting the Sunnis,” said Mbarka Bouaida, Morocco’s deputy foreign minister. But Sunni nations have also shown a new determination to use military force against radical Sunni groups like the Islamic State. A number of Arab countries are using an air base in Jordan to launch attacks against Islamic State fighters in Syria. And the Emirates and Egypt have carried out airstrikes in Libya against Sunni militias there. If the Predator sale to the Emirates goes through, it will be the first time that the drones will go to an American ally outside of NATO.

With Cuts in Art Subsidies, Cultural Treasures Are Being Sold Off Continued from Page 23 sale of a single treasure can bring in millions. The scribe Sekhemka, the Egyptian statue sold in Britain, drew $27 million from an anonymous buyer, an amount shared by the Northampton Museum in England and a descendant of the donor. Museum trade associations complain that local politicians are increasingly pressuring museum managers to turn over lists of high-value artworks that they can include in their budgets as assets. “They treat it like some gold reserve,” said Eckart Köhne of the German Museum Association, a trade group for more than 800 museums. The opportunity for large paydays has tempted governments and institutions in the United States. The Delaware Art Museum last year sold a painting to help settle $19.8 million in debts, but not without repercussions. The Association of Art Museum Directors urged its members not to lend works to the institution. Susan Taylor, the association president and director of the New Orleans Museum of Art, said the penalty was part of a broader

JOANNA NOTTEBROCK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Authorities in Münster, Germany, are trying to avoid selling a failed bank’s art, including benches by Eduardo Chillida. effort “to deter institutions from selling works of art to support operations.” Such action, she said, “fundamentally compromises a museum and does not effectively address the underlying causes of financial distress.” In Britain, the Northampton Museum was stripped of its accreditation and became ineligible for national government grants after the sale of the Egyp-

tian statue to finance a museum remodeling. The sale drew the ire of the British Museums Association and other groups because it was not clear to them the money would actually be used for a construction project. Since then, the British culture minister imposed a temporary ban on the sale. Last month the Museums Association and others announced they would shun museums whose

sales ignored ethical guidelines, calling them “a breach of trust with the public.” That would affect grants and ban loans of art to a discredited museum. Supporters of the sales argue that there is a role for them because museums typically can display only about 10 percent of their art, and storing works is costly. Some French lawmakers, for example, are raising the prospect of selling some of the 500,000 objects in storage at the Louvre, using an American model that would limit museums to shedding duplicate works that are not part of a core collection and using the proceeds to pay for future acquisitions. “French museums have so many pieces in their collection that they are not able to exhibit it,” said Guillaume Cerutti, chief executive of Sotheby’s in France. “Museum subsidies have dried up and the first victim is art acquisitions.” In the Netherlands, a private foundation was created in 2012 to sell objects — what it calls “disinherited works” — online and from a storage center. These are paintings and watercolors from the reserves of institutions and a collec-

tion of antique typewriters, quills and inkwells from the Scryption, a museum in Tilburg devoted to the history of writing, which lost its municipal funding and closed. In Münster, local authorities and art experts are struggling to come up with a way to avert the proposed sale of about 400 works from the collection of a govern-

Parting with Warhols to pay for a casino in Germany. ment-owned bank, West LB. It has to sell all of its assets, including its art, to repay loans from the European Union. Meanwhile, visitors are flocking to the Westphalia State Museum to see the works, perhaps one last time. “People are saying they are trying to sell our art collection,” said Mr. Arnhold, the director. “So they came over to see our stars, and, well, to touch the Henry Moore sculpture.”

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Mastiffs on Meat Trucks As Latest Dog Fad Fades By ANDREW JACOBS

BEIJING — There was a time, during the frenzied heights of China’s Tibetan mastiff craze, when a droopy-eyed slobbering giant like Nibble might have fetched $200,000 and ended up roaming the grounds of some coal tycoon’s suburban villa. Instead, earlier this year Nibble and 20 more mastiffs found themselves stuffed into chicken crates and packed onto a truck with 150 other dogs. If not for Beijing animal rights activists who literally threw themselves in front of the truck, the dogs would have ended up at a slaughterhouse in northeast China where, at roughly $5 a head, they would have been rendered into hot pot ingredients, imitation leather and the lining for winter gloves. China’s boom-to-bust luxury landscape is strewn with devalued commodities like black Audis, Omega watches, top-shelf

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In a video, mastiff breeders tell of their dogs, and their struggles: nytimes.com Search Tibetan dog

Now, buyers have largely disappeared, and prices have fallen to a small fraction of their peak. The average asking price for desirable dogs, those with lionlike manes and thick limbs, is around $2,000, though desperate breeders are willing to go far lower. “If I had other opportunities, I’d quit this business,” said Gombo, a veteran breeder in China’s northwestern province of Qinghai. He said keeping one of his 70-kilogram carnivores properly fed cost $50 to $60 a day. “The pressure we’re under is huge,” he said. Since 2013, about half the 95 breeders in Tibet have quit. In some ways, the cooling passion for the dogs reflects the fickleness of a consuming class. Famed for their ferocity and associated with free-spirited Tibetan nomads, mastiffs offered their ethnic Han Chinese owners a dose of Himalayan credibility, according to Liz Flora, editor in chief of Jing Daily, a marketing research firm in Beijing. The rescuers who saved Nibble and the others said the condiED JONES/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES tions of the transport A Tibetan mastiff in China in 2013, were appalling. Several when the dogs could fetch tens of of the mastiffs had broken limbs, and they had thousands of dollars. not been given food or water for three days. By the time the dogs were released sorghum liquor and high-rise from their cages — the volunapartments in third-tier cities. Some are the victims of a slowing teers eventually paid the driver economy, while others are casufor their freedom — more than a third of them were dead. alties of an official austerity camMary Peng, the chief executive paign that has made ostentatious of the International Center for consumption a warning sign for Veterinary Services, a Beijing anticorruption investigators. animal hospital, said that in her Then there is the Tibetan mas25 years in China she has seen tiff, a lumbering shepherding successive waves of dog fads, dog native to the Himalayan which invariably begin with highlands that was once the speculative breeding and end in must-have accouterment for stamass abandonment. tus-conscious Chinese. “Ten years ago, it was German Four years ago, a purebred shepherds, then golden retrievnamed Big Splash sold for $1.6 million, according to news reers, then Dalmatians and then huskies,” she said. “But given the ports, though some said the price crazy prices we were seeing a few was probably exaggerated for years ago, I never thought I’d see marketing purposes. Experts a Tibetan mastiff on the back of a said $250,000 for a premium specmeat truck.” imen was not unheard of.

GILLES SABRIE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Nibble, a Tibetan mastiff, was checked by veterinarians after being saved from the slaughterhouse by activists.

DANIEL BEREHULAK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

The Shabab has lost fighters, arms and income. Ethiopian forces join the fight in Somalia.

A Resilient Shabab Sows Terror By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

NAIROBI, Kenya — They have lost their leader, their ports, their checkpoints and their territory. They have lost thousands of men and much of their money. They have no fleet of armored personnel carriers like Boko Haram’s. Or poppy fields like the Taliban’s. Or oil fields like the Islamic State’s. Among the world’s leading terrorist groups, the Shabab militants, based in Somalia, operate on a slender budget. But as the recent attack on a Kenyan university showed, they have become proficient in mass murder on the cheap. In the past two years, Shabab gunmen have struck across Kenya, at a mall, on buses, at a quarry and at a university, where four militants with assault rifles killed 142 students. They have slaughtered hundreds and shaken Kenya, an economic powerhouse and cornerstone of stability in this part of Africa, with just a few men and a handful of light weapons. “I call it the dumbing down of terrorism,” said Matt Bryden, a researcher in Nairobi. Despite a major international military effort in recent years to retake Somalia and push the Shabab out of their strongholds, Shabab fighters are proving resilient. As they have shown, it is not all about territory. All the theories about how to stop them do not seem to be working. In conventional military terms, the Shabab are losing. They have been routed from many areas, and are no longer able to make millions of dollars by shipping out mountains of charcoal or importing cars, as they did a few years ago. Even in the small towns in Somalia they still control, Shabab fighters are not safe. They are relentlessly hunted. Their revered leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed last year in an American airstrike, and other Shabab agents have been killed by drones. The American government

has helped pay for an African Union stabilization force in Somalia, investing nearly $1 billion. But Shabab attacks continue to grow in scope and ambition, raising the question: How exactly can they be stopped? “It’s not an easy game,” said Stig Jarle Hansen, a Norwegian professor who has written a book about the Shabab. “You have to bring security to the villages in Somalia and stop corruption within the Kenyan security services.” Shabab fighters once aspired to rule Somalia. They fed off the bitterness that many Somalis felt toward an Ethiopian force that was occupying their country. From 2007-10, the Shabab tightened their grip on Somalia, at one point controlling more territory than any other Al Qaeda franchise. Mr. Hansen calls this period

A force bent on killing, without a lot of material support. “the Shabab’s golden age.” But Shabab commanders made the mistake of hubris, thinking they could defeat a much larger, better-armed African Union force in conventional warfare. They lost hundreds of fighters in street battles in Mogadishu, the capital, in 2010. Many more defected. Analysts estimate that their army has dwindled to 3,000 fighters from about 7,000. The Shabab lost their major port, Kismayo, and then minor ones like Brava. The group’s leaders are now believed to be in Jilib, near the southern Somali coast. As their territory has changed, so have their tactics. The Shabab used to detonate huge car bombs in Mogadishu that killed hundreds of people,

mostly Muslims. But car bombs are expensive. Now their fighters sort their victims at gunpoint. They let Muslims go and shoot Christians. At the Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya, they asked shoppers questions about Islam to separate Muslims from non-Muslims. They did it again in the attacks at the Mandera quarry, shooting many Christian workers in the back of the head, at close range. And the Shabab spared Muslim students — most of the students at Garissa University College, where they struck, were from other parts of Kenya, the majority Christian. The fighters at the school also seemed tactically proficient, managing to kill six security officers. Bronwyn Bruton, deputy director of the Africa Center of the Atlantic Council, a research institute in Washington, said she suspected the Shabab were “beginning to play with class distinctions.” “Westgate and, to a lesser extent, Garissa University College are both enclaves of privilege in a country where youths, especially Muslim youths, are frustrated by the lack of economic opportunity,” she said. “Eventually, Shabab is going to have to find a way to connect with non-Somali Muslims.” And they pick their targets carefully. In Nairobi, Shabab fighters did not attack just any mall; they attacked the mall, that was the glitziest, most expensive and most symbolic of Kenya’s prosperity and dreams. Garissa University College, now closed, had one of the largest concentrations of non-Muslims in that part of Kenya. It was lightly guarded. And it lies relatively close to the Somali border. Mr. Bryden, like several other analysts, does not believe firepower can destroy the group. “There has to be a political vision across this region to tackle the Shabab,” he said. “Right now, that doesn’t exist.”

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MONEY & BUSINESS

Under U.S. Pressure, Andorra Acts Against Bank By RAPHAEL MINDER

ANDORRA — In the clubby world of banking here in this tiny Pyrenees principality, where money comes and goes under only the partial purview of European regulators, there had long been whispers: Was there something fishy about one of Andorra’s five privately held banks, Banca Privada d’Andorra? Andorran judiciary officials had also raised questions. Whether for lack of expertise or energy, their investigations went nowhere. It took the long arm of American law to finally crack down. Criminal investigators for the Treasury Department last month published a report accusing B.P.A., as the bank is known, of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of some of the world’s most powerful criminal gangs. Andorran authorities are now taking action against B.P.A., including the arrest of Joan Pau Miquel Prats, its chief executive. “Building up a legal case over money laundering has its difficulties,” Gilbert Saboya Sunyé, Andorra’s foreign minister, said. “You have to understand that such investigations are often very dependent on information that the investigating country doesn’t have.” Local depositors whose B.P.A. accounts are now semifrozen are exasperated with the seemingly free rein given to the bank’s management and two brothers, Higini and Ramon Cierco, who were chairmen of the bank and whose

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A bank is accused of laundering millions of dollars.

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Authorities did not make an arrest until after United States investigators got involved. family controlled it. The B.P.A. scandal is the latest evidence that under the Obama administration, “the U.S. has increasingly taken it upon itself to go after white-collar crime, even where the actors are all overseas,” said Patrick O’Donnell, a partner at Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis, a Washington law firm. “I think it also reflects a U.S. government perspective that

overseas regulators aren’t doing quite enough.” Whether any B.P.A. bank officials go to trial, the American claims have forced Andorra’s government to act. After setting up an emergency credit line of up to 100 million euros, or about $108 million, for B.P.A.’s corporate clients, the Andorran authorities are now hoping to sell B.P.A.’s legitimate

assets — split from whatever illicit money it is accused of handling for corrupt Venezuelan government officials, Russian and Chinese criminal rings, and the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel. B.P.A.’s controlling family, the Ciercos, also owns gas stations, hotels and other real estate inside and outside Andorra. The brothers have been ousted, alongside the other members of

B.P.A.’s board, by the Andorran government. But they have not been charged, and the American report did not name any B.P.A. executives as part of its claims of criminal wrongdoing. Andorra’s government recently hired consultants from PricewaterhouseCoopers to comb through B.P.A.’s balance sheet. But Andorra’s plan to then sell at least part of B.P.A. could still be derailed by the United States Justice Department and a possible American fine, especially since B.P.A. is accused of processing hundreds of millions of dollars through four correspondent banks in the United States. Mr. O’Donnell, the Washington lawyer, said, “I would be very surprised if the Department of Justice went away anytime soon.”

Chinese Investor Has Midas Touch By ALEXANDRA STEVENSON

HONG KONG — With an $18 billion war chest, he is one of China’s richest investors. Yet on a recent trip to San Francisco, Zhang Lei and his entourage crammed into a three-bedroom house rented through Airbnb. He ordered water from Instacart, the on-demand grocery delivery service. Days later in New York, he bought food through Google Express. Of course, it is not as if he could not afford luxury hotels and restaurants. It was research. Mr. Zhang wanted to get to know some of the businesses he might one day invest in. Starting 10 years ago with $20 million from Yale University’s endowment, Mr. Zhang was an early backer of companies like Tencent and JD.com, businesses that have shaken up traditional industries across China. Now he thinks these companies could stir things up globally. “China could be one of the engines to this whole global innovation revolution,” he said in an interview at the Hong Kong office of his firm, Hillhouse Capital Group. In Silicon Valley, Mr. Zhang represents China’s new entrepreneurial class. He has consulted with the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, and visited with start-ups like Airbnb.

Good research and investing for the long haul pay off. To outsiders, Hillhouse is a mysterious firm led by a man who struck gold early on. To his investors, he seems incapable of making a bad bet. But as China’s economy hits a series of economic road bumps, his next set of investments could define his legacy. The firm says little about its investing record, emphasizing only that it holds on to investments for long stretches. One investor said that Hillhouse had returned a yearly average of 39 percent since it was founded in 2005. With bulging coffers, Mr. Zhang is looking to the United States for more opportunities. Recently Hillhouse teamed up with the Mayo Clinic to bring one of America’s best-known health care institutions to China. He hopes to upend China’s rickety state health care system. But challenges await him. Corruption in China’s health care sector abounds. Mr. Zhang says he is up to the task. He has an unusual background. He was born in 1972 at

the height of the Cultural Revolution, when China was purging itself of all things capitalistic. He came of age just as his country was embracing capitalist reforms. At 7, Mr. Zhang started his first business. He rented his comic books to passengers waiting for trains. Not long after securing a scholarship to the Yale School of Management in 1999, Mr. Zhang started applying for Wall Street jobs. No one asked him back. His break came when Yale’s endowment took him on as an intern. “Almost immediately, Lei was exceptional in that he had really great insights,” said Dean Takahashi, senior director at the Yale endowment, adding that Mr. Zhang was able to identify what was going to be a great business. He was also an inveterate networker, introducing successful Chinese entrepreneurs through the Hillhouse Club, which he founded on Yale’s campus. “It was like, why in the world does this kid from China have these insights?” Mr. Takahashi said. Mr. Zhang was sent to research industries like timber and would return weeks later with thick reports. This tradition has carried on at his firm. Analysts spent years researching before Hillhouse struck the deal with the Mayo Clinic.

JASON HENRY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Zhang Lei, one of China’s richest investors, was an early backer of companies like Tencent and JD.com, in China. After his first year at Yale, Mr. Zhang took time off to research China’s expanding private sector, knocking on the doors of entrepreneurs like Jack Ma of Alibaba, Robin Li of Baidu and Pony Ma of Tencent. He returned to the United States in 2001. Four years later, with an M.B.A. in hand, he persuaded Yale to give him $20 million to invest in new companies in China. For Yale, it was a relatively small wager on a young man who showed potential. One of Mr. Zhang’s first bets was on Tencent; he bought the stock in 2005, when the company was worth

less than $2 billion. Today, Tencent is worth nearly $180 billion. Hillhouse has made similar bets on companies like Gree, now a leading maker of air-conditioners globally, and Midea, a manufacturer of electric appliances. “I’m seeing an uprising of Chinese entrepreneurs who are able to upgrade themselves versus the relatively slow-moving multinational companies,” Mr. Zhang said. Investing in China is “not for the faint of heart,” he said. But the opportunities are vast, “if you are open-minded and you focus on the future of China.”

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MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

MONEY & BUSINESS

Equity Company Bets on Property

SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES; BELOW, TAYLOR GLASCOCK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Raucous Trading Pits Going Silent By WILLIAM ALDEN

CHICAGO — The pits where generations of sweating traders in colorful jackets once bellowed out orders for wheat, corn and cattle contracts, using hand signals and sheer force of personality, are almost empty. The smattering of traders who hung around them on a recent day appeared listless, some glancing at tablet screens, others staring blankly into space. Open-outcry futures trading, a profession that took root here in the mid-19th century, becoming part of the city’s identity and influencing trading systems around the world, is going extinct. Most of the futures pits inside the Chicago Board of Trade building are scheduled to close by July after being choked by a decade of technological advancement that has made face-to-face trading largely obsolete. “It’s a computer product now,” said Anthony Crudele, a 37-yearold trader who started as a clerk in Chicago in the 1990s and was an early adopter of new trading technology. He said the planned closing was inevitable. “As far as we’re concerned,” he said, “it’s been closed for many years.” But the official end of the commodity futures pits — including those in New York, where metals and energy contracts are traded — will nevertheless amount to a loss. Gone will be the feverish habitat where a lexicon of hand gestures survived for decades and only rarely devolved into fisticuffs. Gone, too, will be dozens of jobs. The CME Group, which runs the pits in Chicago and New York, said that about 50 of its employees who help operate the trading floors would be laid off. Perhaps even more significant for Chicago is the disappearance of a career path that for over 150 years, since the Chicago Board of Trade was set up in 1848, allowed scrappy teenagers and former high school athletes to hustle their way to wealth, or at least excitement. “It’s no longer a way for a working-class guy with street smarts and a huge native intelligence to make a lot of money,” said Caitlin

The futures trading pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, top, is being replaced by computers. Less than 1 percent of futures trades are made verbally these days; about 50 employees in New York and Chicago will lose their jobs. Zaloom, a cultural anthropologist at New York University who has studied futures pits. “It’s now the domain of the kinds of technical specialists who are really winners in other parts of the economy as well.” Futures contracts — agreements to buy or sell something at a certain price in the future — were invented to protect farmers against price movements for grain. In the pit, traders shouted offers to buy and sell while keep-

Technology makes 150 years of yelling out deals obsolete. ing their eyes and ears open for other offers to jump on before making eye contact with the counterparty and then writing down the trade on a card. “If you could have magically teleported a floor trader from the 1890s” to the 1990s, said Scott H. Irwin, a professor of agricultural marketing at the University of Illinois, “I suggest it would have taken them all of five minutes to get up to speed.” These days, according to CME,

open-outcry trading accounts for just 1 percent of the total trading volume in futures. Mr. Crudele, using a new system for electronically trading S.&P. 500 futures, started working in the early 2000s with Vince D’Agostino, a trader who worked in the pit, to help each other find better prices. (The two of them now run an online trading room, E-Mini Exchange.) But while Mr. Crudele, who had struggled to find his footing in the pit, embraced the new technology, Mr. D’Agostino, 1.9 meters tall with an athletic build, was cast in the classic mold. Now 43, Mr. D’Agostino remembers how, as a child, he played at trading with the cards his two uncles, both options traders, brought home from work. “You got multimillionaires and kids that just got out of high school rubbing elbows,” Mr. D’Agostino recalled. “They’d say the guys in the pit knew you better than your wife.” Some traders keep coming to the floor because it is effectively cheap office rent. And sometimes customers still send orders there. “You go back for the people. And you go back to see if there’s something in the pit,” Mr. Crudele said. “You go back, more or less, because it’s been our home for so long.”

By LANDON THOMAS Jr. The 45-year-old Mr. Gray is everything that his boss, As Blackstone’s top execuStephen A. Schwarzman, who tives fan out across the globe, co-founded Blackstone in 1985, promoting their services at is not: He is inclined to deflect elite gatherings of investors, praise as opposed to they invariably tell absorbing it. the crowd: Hope you Last year, Mr. Gray guys like this hotel, took home about because we own it. $126 million in cash, When it comes to compared with $690 real estate, Blackmillion for the Blackstone owns a lot more as well. The private stone chairman. At equity firm, while the firm, he is now better known for its the second-largest Stephen huge buyouts in the shareholder with a 4 Schwarzman percent stake. In middeal boom before the financial crisis, is the March, senior G.E. largest private sector executives contacted landlord in the United States. Mr. Gray and told him that they And that was the case even were going to put up for sale $23 before General Electric anbillion in real estate assets in Australia, Mexico, Europe and nounced recently that it would the United States. sell a $14 billion chunk of its real Generally, a deal of this size estate assets to Blackstone’s would require a club of banks fast-growing property division teaming up or would be done as part of the conglomerate’s in a piecemeal manner. But retreat from finance. because G.E. wanted to move G.E. is selling off most of its fast, the company offered Mr. finance arm over the next two Gray and Blackstone an excluyears to hasten a return to its roots as one of the mightiest sive opportunity to examine industrial companies in the their holdings. “We told him, ‘If world. you can hit this bid on an excluBlackstone’s bold bet on real sive basis, it’s yours,’ ” Keith S. estate is worldwide: skyscrapSherin, the head of GE Capital, recalled. ers in New York and Chicago, As luck would have it, Blacksprawling malls and luxury hotels in Europe, Asia and the stone had just raised $14.5 bilMiddle East and, recently, close to 50,000 rental homes across the United States. Its deal with G.E. signifies how power on Wall Street has shifted from risk-averse investment banks to asset managers, which have been inundated with cash from investors desperate for higher returns amid super-low interest rates. The G.E. deal also crystallizlion for a new real estate fund. Having worked with G.E. in es what many market analysts the past and being familiar have come to accept as fact: with the assets (at home and Blackstone may have started abroad) being offered, it was in out doing mergers and acquisia position to move quickly. tions in the 1980s and moved on Blackstone would end up to record-setting private equity buying $14 billion of assets, deals in later decades, but these split among three funds and its days the really big money is bereal estate investment vehicle, ing made in real estate. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, For Blackstone at least, the which as a result doubled its asrichest of these returns have been found in real estate. set base to about $8 billion. Of the $272 billion that BlackWells Fargo in California bought $9 billion in real estate stone now oversees, $81 billoans. Other parties brought lion is related to real estate, the total of G.E. real estate asfollowed by private equity, high-yielding debt and hedge sets to be sold to $26.5 billion. funds. Over the last two years, More than four years after 50 percent of the firm’s $7.8 bilreal estate prices bottomed in the United States, this deal lion in core profits have come may come to be seen as a sign from what it has made from of another top, especially with buying properties, sprucing higher interest rates foreseen them up and reselling them. in the years ahead. “This deal points to a further Mr. Gray has said that real diversification of the firm’s estate has indeed had a good business model,” said Bulent run. But he has also pointed out Ozcan, an analyst at RBC Capithat he has seen no evidence of tal Markets. too much capital and too many It was no surprise when the cranes — the sign for him that chief executive of G.E.’s finance markets are overheating. unit said that when the compa“It’s incredible what these ny was contemplating how it guys have done,” said Glenn might unload its globe-spanSchorr, an analyst with the inning bundle of office buildings, shopping centers and homes in vestment firm Evercore. “They one fell swoop, only one person remind me of Goldman Sachs in came to mind: Blackstone’s the 1990s — every time you see real estate chief, Jonathan D. a new business that is growing, Gray. that is where they are.”

Firm’s focus shifts from banking to real estate.

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Natural Burial Movement Tries Composting Corpses By CATRIN EINHORN

CULLOWHEE, North Carolina — The body of the tiny 78-year-old woman was brought to a hillside at Western Carolina University still clad in a blue hospital gown and chartreuse socks. She was laid on a bed of wood chips, and then more were heaped atop her. If all goes as hoped, the body will turn into compost. It is a next step in the natural burial movement. Even as more people opt for interment in simple shrouds or biodegradable caskets, urban cemeteries continue to fill up. For the environmentally conscious, cremation is a problem, as it releases greenhouse gases. Katrina Spade, a 37-year-old Seattle resident, has proposed an alternative: a facility for human composting. The woman laid to rest in wood chips is a first step in testing how it would work. “Composting makes people think of banana peels and coffee grounds,” Ms. Spade said. But “our bodies have nutrients. What if we could grow new life after we’ve died?” Scientists agree human beings can be composted. Already countless farms across the country compost the bodies of dead livestock. Some transportation departments compost roadkill. “I’m absolutely sure that it can work,” said Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, a soil scientist at Washington State University who serves on the advisory board of the Urban Death Project, a nonprofit that Ms. Spade founded. The process is simple: Place nitrogen-rich material, like dead animals, inside a mound of carbon-rich material, like wood chips and sawdust, adding moisture or extra nitrogen. Microbial activity will start the pile cooking. Bacteria release enzymes that break down tissue into compo-

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MIKE BELLEME FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Katrina Spade of the Urban Death Project checked the temperature of a corpsecomposting mound. A skeleton in the forensic anthropology lab at Western Carolina University.

nent parts like amino acids, and eventually, the nitrogen-rich molecules bind with the carbon-rich ones, creating a soil-like substance. Temperatures reach around 60 degrees Celsius, often higher, and the heat kills common pathogens. There should be no smell. Bones also compost, but take longer than tissue. Ms. Spade, who has a degree

in architecture, has designed a building for human composting that marries the efficiency of this process with the ritual and symbolism that mourners crave. Each Urban Death facility would feature a three-story vault that she calls “the core.” Loved ones would carry their deceased, wrapped in a shroud, up a circular ramp to the top. There

Tracing Feral Roots of Island’s Chickens By KENNETH CHANG

Everyone agrees that the island of Kauai, Hawaii, is overrun with feral chickens. What is harder to determine is exactly what these chickens are and where they came from. “They’re absolutely everywhere,” said Eben J. Gering, an evolutionary biologist at Michigan State University. Dr. Gering and other scientists are trying to solve the mystery by untangling the genetic history of the birds. The consensus is that modern breeds of chickens are descended from the red junglefowl, a Southeast Asian bird related to pheasants. In a paper published in the journal Molecular Ecology, Dr. Gering and his colleagues built on previous research that includes the identification of the red junglefowl’s genome by American scientists in 2004 and on a 2010 study that sequenced the genomes of eight breeds of domesticated chickens. That study, led by Leif Andersson of Uppsala

University in Sweden, sought to answer the question, “Which are the most striking changes that have taken place during chicken domestication?” One discovery was that the domesticated chicken breeds have the same mutated form of a gene that is the blueprint for a

More similarities to Polynesian ancestors than farm birds. hormone receptor in the thyroid gland. Later research, examining DNA from chicken bones dating back 2,000 years, found that the mutation was not always ubiquitous. Chicken researchers say the uncertainties arise in part because of limited knowledge of the wild red junglefowl. Also, the

wild birds today may be different from those originally domesticated. Chickens and red junglefowl interbreed, and the wild birds may have become more chickenlike over time. The Kauai chickens provide a new perspective — domestication in reverse. Local lore is that many Kauai chickens are descendants of birds that escaped when Hurricane Iwa in 1982 and Hurricane Iniki in 1992 blew open coops. Annual bird counts by the Audubon Society support that notion. But the genealogy of chickens on Hawaii stretches back further. Polynesians arrived at Hawaii about 800 years ago — with their chickens, which were much like the ancestral red junglefowl. Fossils of chickens dating to the Polynesian era have been dug up on Kauai. From them, scientists have extracted mitochondrial DNA, part of the data they used to reconstruct the paths of Polynesian expansion. The mitochondrial DNA of a few of the chickens matched that

mourners would place the body inside the core, which could hold perhaps 30 corpses at a time. Over several weeks, each body would move down the core until the first stage of composting was complete. In a second stage, material would be screened, along with any remaining bones, and the compost would be cured. Ms. Spade estimates that each body, combined with the necessary materials such as wood chips and sawdust, would yield enough compost to fill a one-meter cube. Death rites can go from repugnant to normal in a surprisingly short time, said James Olson, a funeral director in Wisconsin and chairman of the green burial

work group of the National Funeral Directors Association. “If I had told you 50 years ago that we were going to burn your loved one,” he said, “and pulverize their skeleton in a machine and give you back the crushed bone, you would have said, ‘Eww.’ ” He called Ms. Spade’s concept “wonderful.” But many others find the idea of composting human bodies repulsive. One critic on the Urban Death website commented: “This MUST be a joke. If not, there’s only one word which could possibly describe your activities: SICK.” Questions also remain about how human compost should be used. Certain pathogens, like the prions related to mad cow disease, can survive composting, and livestock that have died from certain diseases are banned from composting. Some experts recommend that livestock compost not be spread on fields where fruits and vegetables are grown for human consumption. And, as with cremation, heavy metal contamination could be a concern; dental fillings might have to be removed from bodies. Ms. Spade said survivors could collect some of the compost to use in their garden or to plant a tree. She foresees the rest going to nearby parks or conservation lands. Each human composting would cost about $2,500, a fraction of the price of conventional burial, she estimates. She hopes to build the first facility in Seattle, then to develop a template other communities can use for locally designed facilities. “Like libraries,” she said. Beyond the environmental benefits to composting humans, she believes there is a spiritual one: connecting death to the cycle of nature will help people face their own mortality and bring comfort to the bereaved.

walked off the farm, but others, with orange and black plumage for the males, look like red junglefowl from the forests of India or Vietnam. Dominic Wright, a biology professor at Linköping University in Sweden, noted that many of the roosters sounded more like red junglefowl. He also notes the floppy red combs on the chickens’ heads. Domestic hens have a large comb. The feral hens on Kauai have reverted to a HOB OSTERLUND FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES more ancestral body shape — smaller in size Kauai’s feral chickens have the small and smaller combs. body and comb of the red junglefowl. Dr. Gering speculated that until recent of the Polynesian chicken bones, decades, the Kauai chickens but more had the DNA of recent were largely like the ones that the European breeds. Not all of the Polynesians. Then they began feral chickens had the mutated mating with the escaped farm thyroid hormone receptor of chickens or their descendants. modern domesticated chickens. “We think that’s why we’re The birds’ appearances indiseeing them now at Walmart and all over the place,” Dr. Gering cate that ancient traits persist. said. Some look as if they have just

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

The Muscle That Allowed Us to Evolve By CARL ZIMMER

Some muscles get all the glory. But deep inside of us, a sheet of muscle does heroic work in obscurity. The diaphragm delivers oxygen to us a dozen times or more each minute, a half-billion times during an 80-year life. “We are completely dependent on the diaphragm,” said Gabrielle Kardon, a biologist at the University of Utah. All mammals, from platypuses to elephants, have a diaphragm. But no other animal has one. Before the evolution of a diaphragm,

Examining how hernias develop in the diaphragm. our reptilelike ancestors probably breathed the way many reptiles do today. They used a jacket of muscles to squeeze the rib cage. Once the diaphragm evolved, breathing changed drastically. Mammals gained a more efficient means to draw in a steady supply of oxygen. The evolution of a diaphragm may have made it possible for mammals to then evolve a warm-blooded metabolism. Without a diaphragm, humans might not have been able to

evolve giant — but oxygen-hungry — brains. Scientists suspect that the diaphragm evolved through a change in the way mammal embryos develop: Mutations caused certain embryonic cells to grow into a new muscle. Dr. Kardon and other researchers are trying to understand that shift and why the muscle sometimes fails to develop, with catastrophic consequences. One in every 2,500 babies is born with a hole in its diaphragm. The baby’s liver, intestines and other abdominal organs can push up through this opening against the lungs, stunting their growth and restricting breathing. About a third of babies born with congenital diaphragmatic hernias die. Scientists have found that mutations in certain genes can increase the risk of developing hernias. But they have struggled to figure out exactly how these genes build the diaphragm. Dr. Kardon and her colleagues developed new tools to get a closer look. They published the research in Nature Genetics. The scientists engineered mice so that certain types of cells would glow inside mouse embryos. Then they tracked the cells as they multiplied and migrated. The diaphragm begins as a pair of folds flanking the esophagus, they found. These folds then expand in two waves. “It’s

SHANNON MAY

beautiful, aesthetically,” said Dr. Kardon. In the first, the cells become connective tissue, forming a thin membrane across the top of the liver. In the second wave, muscle-generating cells form a second sheet sandwiched inside the membrane. “The muscle cells are kind of dumb, and they’re just following the connective tissue,” said Dr. Kardon. The researchers then examined GATA4, a gene linked to diaphragmatic hernias. They engineered mouse embryos so

they could shut down GATA4 in certain types of cells at certain points in development. In one trial, the scientists turned off GATA4 in the muscle cells in the diaphragm. In these cases, the mice formed diaphragms. When they shut down GATA4 in the connective tissue, the mice developed hernias. Connective tissue cells must be using GATA4 to lay down a chemical trail for muscle cells, Dr. Kardon concluded. Each time the connective tissue cells divide, there is a chance that a working copy of GATA4

may mutate, too. If that happens, the mutant cell and its descendants can’t lay down a trail, resulting in a gap in the sheet of muscle. As the liver pushes against the diaphragm, the pressure creates intense stress in the gap, causing the diaphragm to rupture. Clifford J. Tabin, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School, said that the new study offers a molecular explanation for how congenital diaphragmatic hernias occur. “I think it is a beautiful study and terribly important,” he said.

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Days of Lawlessness Bypass Older Convicts as They Sit in Prisons By DANA GOLDSTEIN

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is facing the death penalty or life in prison for the Boston Marathon bombing. But what if, instead, the maximum prison sentence were just 21 years? That was the sentence that Anders Behring Breivik received in 2012 after killing 77 people in Norway. It was the harshest sentence available, but judges will be able to sentence him to an unlimited number of five-year extensions if he is still deemed a risk to the public in 2033. The idea of a 21-year sentence for mass murder and terrorism may seem radically lenient in the United States. Yet in testimony recently to a congressional task force, Marc Mauer, the director of the Sentencing Project, an advocacy group, made the case for a 20-year cap on federal prison terms with an option to add time. This proposal has little chance of becoming law. But a compelling case can be made for it nonetheless. Research by American social scientists shows that all but the most exceptional criminals, even violent ones, mature out of lawbreaking before middle age, meaning that long sentences do little to prevent crime. Homicide and drug-arrest rates peak at age 19, according to

ANDREW BURTON/GETTY IMAGES

Since 1990, the prison population older than 55 has increased by 550 percent, to 144,500 inmates. Anthony Alvarez at the California Men’s Colony in 2013. the Bureau of Justice Statistics, while arrest rates for forcible rape peak at 18. Some crimes, such as vandalism, crest even earlier, at age 16 . For most of the crimes the F.B.I. tracks, more than half of all offenders will be arrested by the time they are 30. And criminal careers do not last long. Research by the criminologist Alfred Blumstein of Carnegie Mellon and colleagues has found that for the serious crimes closely tracked by the

F.B.I., five to 10 years is the typical duration that adults commit these crimes. Property criminals, like burglars and car thieves, tend to stop in their 20s, while violent criminals are more likely to continue into their early 30s. Drugcrime careers can be lengthier, yet long sentences have had little effect on the drug trade. “When you lock up a rapist, you take his rapes off the street. When you lock up a drug seller, you recruit

a replacement,” Professor Blumstein said. Neuroscience suggests that the parts of the brain that govern risk and reward are not fully developed until age 25, after which lawbreaking drops off. Young people are more likely to be poor than older people, and poorer people are more likely to commit crimes. Single and childless people break the law more often than married people or parents. Some crimes are too physically taxing for an older person to commit. Over 10 percent of federal and state inmates, about 160,000 people, are serving life sentences, 10,000 for nonviolent offenses. Incarceration also produces crime. Inmates learn new ways to break the law from fellow offenders. Prison also hurts their physical and mental health in ways that make them less productive when they are released. In short, a sentence that outlasts an offender’s desire or ability to break the law is a drain on taxpayers, with little upside in protecting public safety or improving an inmate’s chances for success after release. Of course, for many Americans the prison system is not only about preventing crime but also about punishment. Some who support sentencing reform

say Mr. Mauer’s proposal goes too far. Mr. Mauer responds that given the scale and cost of incarceration, “modest reforms” would be insufficient. “How much punishment is enough?” he asked. Yet looking at the social science, one wonders if Mr. Mauer’s idea goes far enough. After all, 47 percent of federal inmates are serving sentences of more than 10 years — longer than the typical duration of a criminal ca-

Americans debate the usefulness of life sentences. reer. Some of them should never be released, either because of the horror of their crimes; their impact on the community’s sense of safety; or because they were never rehabilitated. But a body of research suggests such a group is small. “Lots of people, as they age, they are no longer a risk,” said Professor Blumstein. “We are keeping people in prison who are physically unable to represent a threat to anybody.”

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

ONLINE

Next for Selfie Set: Streams By MIKE ISAAC and VINDU GOEL

Tyra Banks chatted with a captive audience, showing off her new pixie haircut. She later flipped a blond-streaked auburn lock at the crowd, asking in a half-mocking tone, “How do you like me now?” Ms. Banks was not on the set of her daytime television show or on a runway. She was staring into her smartphone camera while using a test version of Periscope, a live-streaming video app that Twitter has introduced, one among a surge of such apps with names like Meerkat and Camio that are taking the social media world by storm. Their premise is simple: Capture video of yourself doing anything from exploring a new city to playing with your dog. The apps notify others that you are streaming live video, and you can share it with friends and followers. The concept is hardly novel and has resulted in numerous start-up flops in the past. For years, entrepreneurs have tried to make live-streaming video catch on, with companies like YouNow, Justin.tv and Livestream offering their own takes on personal broadcasting. But recently there has been a renaissance of live-streaming apps. And companies and venture capitalists are spending millions on what they bet will be the next big thing to catch on with consumers. “The world is way more ready for this than it was a year ago,” said Kayvon Beykpour of Periscope. “We have the benefit of entering this market when people are more sold on the idea of live broadcasting.” Driving the shift are technological advances and the ubiquity of smartphones. “All of a sudden, the world’s pockets are full of good cameras and good screens with good data plans and good social platforms to let everyone know you’re broadcasting,” said Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital. Yet the live-streaming apps face a history of failures. Viddy, a video-capture start-up that was a Facebook darling in 2012 and raised tens of millions of dollars, experienced early spikes in activity and at one point was seen as the “Instagram of video.” Socialcam, a competitor, was looked at much the same way. Both apps fizzled or were acquired after consumer interest waned over the course of a summer. That isn’t preventing Twitter from betting big on the technology. It spent close to $100 million to acquire Periscope months ago, before the app had even been introduced, according to two people familiar with the matter. Mr. Beykpour said one advantage of Periscope was the short lag time between the stream and the ability to send text responses to the person streaming, essentially letting people communicate with the broadcaster in near real time. Periscope also takes advantage of a user’s Twitter followers to build a potential audience.

STUART GOLDENBERG

NEWS ANALYSIS

Facebook Skeptics See App Ads as New Peril By FARHAD MANJOO

JASON HENRY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES; TOP, RACHEL MILLER

Periscope co-founders Kayvon Beykpour and Joe Bernstein. Top, a screen shot from a Periscope stream. Although Periscope operates independently, it has access to Twitter’s money and technical support. But it has competition, including Camio and Meerkat, which have gained traction. Days after Meerkat was introduced, it soared to become the 177th most downloaded app in the United States and the 22nd most popular social networking app, according to App Annie, a mobile analytics firm. Periscope was under development for a year, but Twitter failed to quickly introduce and market the product after it bought the company in January, the people close to Twitter said. That let Meerkat swoop in to take the spotlight. Now investors are eager to

fund Meerkat. The company said it has raised $14 million from the venture capital firm Greylock Partners and other investors. “Think of the selfie culture these days,” said Ben Rubin, Meerkat’s founder. “Culturally, we’ve reached the point where cameras are more familiar and people have started to feel comfortable with video.” Live-streaming video has many applications, including for real-time news. During a recent fire at an apartment building in Manhattan, many Twitter users live-streamed the event with Periscope and Meerkat. For some users, live video streaming has now become almost a daily event. Jeff Needles has recently hosted 24-hour “Meerathons,” in which he streams himself on Meerkat around the clock. Live-streaming video also poses challenges. Some people do not wish to be recorded without their permission, something difficult to prohibit when everyone with a smartphone can freely stream video using the app. And live-streaming video’s appeal to operators of sex cams is obvious. Some of the apps offer settings, such as private broadcasting, that could promote the practice. Mr. Beykpour, Periscope’s cofounder, said that pornography violated the app’s terms of service and anyone watching a video could report it. “Our focus now is to keep it a safe place,” he said.

To techies who laud Apple for its hardware and software design or Google for its data prowess, Facebook has long looked a little frivolous. The company’s genius is in bringing people together and persuading them to stick around. But despite various potential threats to its dominance — the rise of alternative social Facebook networks, a shift from desktop computers to mobile phones and the perpetual technological fickleness of young people — Facebook has managed to reap substantial profits from its operations, beating analysts’ expectations every quarter for the past two years. Its market valuation recently surpassed $230 billion. Yet the skepticism persists. Now another theory arguing that Facebook’s success may be illusory concerns the rapid sales growth in Facebook’s ads in its smartphone app. Many of these ads are by startups hawking apps. For some observers, Facebook’s reliance on money from other app companies looks unsustainable. “Facebook and a little bit of Twitter’s revenues are now coming heavily from mobile downloads,” said Bill Gurley, a venture capitalist. “These are ads for, like, Game of War with Kate Upton. Those ads are now an increasing percentage of their revenue, and they’re being spent by these excessive venture dollars.” In the last tech boom and bust, advertising revenue run-ups at huge web portals turned out to be funded mainly by venture capital investments. In 2001, revenue at Yahoo — the largest portal — plummeted by almost $400 million when start-ups stopped spending during the bust. Yahoo has never recovered its former glory. Could Facebook face the same fate? On closer inspection, the theory that Facebook’s growth depends on unsustainable venture capital is exaggerated. It’s a story that misses important facts about Facebook’s advertising business. For one thing, ads from app companies make up a small percentage of the company’s overall business. Most of the social network’s revenue comes from video ads and ads for large brands. The theory misses two other

points. Not all these ads are coming from unproved startups. And the ads may be adopted more widely because they work. According to observers, the ads are tremendously effective at leading paying customers to new apps. It’s the effort to reach these paying customers — and not venture funding — that is often the reason for all the money pouring into ads for apps. App-pushing ads are known in the industry as app-install ads. They appear in your Facebook News Feed or Twitter stream and encourage you to download apps from companies that make mobile games and e-commerce and travel services; they also come from big brands like Target and Chase bank. According to Cathy Boyle, an analyst at eMarketer, app companies spent $1.67 billion on install ads in 2014. She expects that number to grow 80 percent this year, to about $3 billion. One reason spending on these ads is growing is that app stores

Despite pessimists, profitable quarters pile up at Facebook. are crowded, and it is increasingly difficult for new apps to find an audience. Apps for ads on social networks show people something that they might click on and pay for. Skeptics remain. One tech investor who has been critical of these ads pointed out that startups are often very bad at calculating the long-term value of new customers. This miscalculation often causes them to overspend on marketing. Several recent venture-funded flops, including Groupon and Fab.com, were tripped up by huge marketing spending that did not lead to lucrative long-term customers. Andrew Bosworth, the company’s vice president for advertising, said the company wasn’t counting on app ads for its long-term survival in any case. “I think this will be a stable ongoing market,” he said. “I think it will plateau at some point in terms of share, as smartphone growth plateaus. I don’t think it will shrink dramatically.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

ARTS & DESIGN

Frescoes by Diego Rivera and, right, an image of his wife Frida Kahlo in an exhibit of their works in Detroit.

Made in Detroit, But Not From There DETROIT — “Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Detroit” is the story of two artists, two countries and one city. Filling several galleries at the Detroit Institute of Arts, it is also a celebration of this exemplary museum’s hard-won independence after ART REVIEW facing down bankruptcy in a city that has struggled. The show’s opening follows the conclusion of a tense 20 months during which the city, which owned the museum’s art collection and was facing bankruptcy, explored selling valuable masterpieces. A deal in which the museum pledged $100 million over 20 years to the city’s pension costs transferred the collection’s ownership from the city to the museum. The Rivera-Kahlo exhibition revisits the creation of a masterpiece made in Detroit, for Detroit. “Detroit Industry” is an

ROBERTA SMITH

idealized ode to the city in 27 frescoes. These formed the project that brought Diego Rivera, best known of the Mexican muralists, to Detroit in April 1932, accompanied by his much younger wife, Frida Kahlo, also an artist. Over the next 11 months, Rivera painted the frescoes that cover the four vaulting walls of the museum’s courtyard, now known as the Rivera Court. It features heroic scenes of muscular workers and even more idealized earth mothers grasping sheaths of wheat or armloads of fruit. The frescoes form an unusually explicit, site-specific expression of the reciprocal bond between an art museum and its urban setting, and Rivera considered them one of the pinnacles of his career. Kahlo’s time in Detroit was perhaps even more important, even though she did not enjoy her stay. When she arrived, she was well along in synthesizing the influences of Mexican folk art and Surrealism into a ma-

PHOTOGRAPHS BY FABRIZIO COSTANTINI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

ture vision. But in many ways, the miscarriage she suffered while in Detroit spurred the searing form of self-representation that is her contribution to art history. This miscarriage was the second physical trauma of her fraught, intensely creative life, the first being a near-fatal traffic accident in Mexico City in 1925, which caused her pain for the remainder of her life. The show is studded with key loans, rarely seen works and surprises. It contains four of the immense actual-size charcoal drawings that Rivera made for individual fresco panels. Also on hand: four of the five paintings Kahlo made while in the city, starting with “Henry Ford Hospital” (1932), her reprise of the miscarriage, which shows her lying naked on a bloody bed set in an arid landscape with Ford’s River Rouge plant shimmering in the distance. And there are

three superb little exquisite corpse drawings that Kahlo made when she escaped Detroit for a visit to New York City. The frescoes depicted Ford Motor Company blast furnaces and assembly lines; research scientists in their laboratories at Parke-Davis (later Pfizer) and workers trudging to and from factories. Nature is conjured not only by the robust female nudes but also in geological strata showing iron-ore formation and, in one of the best small panels, as black chunks of disease destroying crepuscular living cells. Rivera renders a tanker carrying South American rubber as if it were a bronze relief. Perhaps the most arresting expressions of Rivera’s subversive instinct are the narrow panels in the courtyard. Each features two large figures; the four represent what Rivera saw as the world’s four races. Rising

between each pair is a jagged mound of deep red earth from which protrude sturdy hands of various colors. Many hold clumps of dirt or rocks, suggesting an angry mob working its way to the surface. Kahlo’s development is a small vivid sidebar of more than equal weight. Her work is everything Rivera’s art is not: small in size and suffused with personal emotion and existential torment. If Rivera’s frescoes are a kind of cathedral, Kahlo’s small paintings are portable altarpieces for private devotion and a high point of Surrealism that speaks to us still. No surprise, among the ephemera reproduced here is an article about Kahlo that appeared in The Detroit News. In it she said of her husband, “Of course, he does pretty well for a little boy, but it is I who am the big artist.”

Scenes From the Advent of Cinema, Now Showing in Paris By RACHEL DONADIO

PARIS — Long before the obsessive documentation and online sharing of every moment of our waking lives, there were two brothers from Lyon whose innovations opened the door to the future. A new exhibition at the Grand Palais here celebrates the Lumière brothers, Louis and Auguste, whose last name means light and who helped invent cinema as we know it — as well as color photography and 3-D technology. The show coincides with the 120th anniversary of the first screening for a paying audience, a grainy black and white film showing workers leaving the Lumière factory, which manufactured photographic equipment. The exhibition “Lumière! Inventing Cinema” showcases early films by the brothers, restored by the Institut Lumière in Lyon; along with examples of early cinema technology — kinetoscopes, zoetropes — and documentation about the rapid spread of the medium at the turn of the 20th centu-

ry. It runs through June 14. The show captures a time of optimism when viewers first had access to footage from around the world, before the carnage of World War I. It also seeks to put the Lumière brothers in context. Many innovators, including Thomas Edison in the United States, were experimenting with images. But it was Louis Lumière who in 1894 invented the cinematograph, a device that captured 17-meter films (each about 50 seconds long) on 35-millimeter strips and projected them. He patented it in 1895. “He’s the last of the inventors but he’s the first of the filmmakers,” said Thierry Frémaux, director of the Institut Lumière. “Lumière was a great filmmaker,” Mr. Frémaux added. “There’s something extremely cinematographic in the films that Louis Lumière and his cameramen made.” Both brothers were inventors, but Auguste focused more on the science, while Louis enjoyed filmmaking. As soon as the technology took hold, they dispatched

INSTITUT LUMIÈRE

The Lumière brothers patented a device in 1895 called the cinematograph. Lumière factory workers at the time. a team of novice filmmakers across the globe to document the known world — street scenes in Japan and Budapest, oil drilling in Azerbaijan, opium smokers in Indochina, peasants in Mexico. Gabriel Veyre, a young pharmacist, became one of the most industrious and widely traveled of the Lumière cameramen. In 1896, he shot and screened the

first projections in Mexico. “Everyone was exclaiming: Muy bonito! How beautiful, how beautiful!” Veyre wrote from Mexico City to his mother in France in a letter quoted in the exhibition. The show also includes letters home by Constant Girel, another cameraman, who shot the first films in Polynesia and Japan, and Marius Chapuis, who left for Rus-

sia at age 18 in 1896 and screened the first film in Odessa that year. The 1,500 films made by the Lumières and their filmmakers include fiction films as well as reportage, such as “Pierrot and the Fly,” filmed by Louis Lumière in 1896. In the exhibition, all 1,500 films are being shown on a huge wall-size screen. The story of the Lumières is also a story of canny entrepreneurs. The brothers’ father, Antoine, was a sign painter turned portrait photographer. In 1881, at age 17, Louis discovered a way to capture images on dry plates with gelatin silver bromide. Antoine went into business to manufacture the product. The exhibition also has a model of the Salon Indien inside the elegant Hotel Scribe in Paris, where 10 Lumière films were on the program of the first public screening in 1895. “Lumière invented the movie theater,” Mr. Frémaux said. “Of course, you can watch films on watches, on iPhones, great. But the movie theater is incomparable.”

Business | Money Line

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

CBN gives banks 3-month deadline to publish bad debtors’

Exposed From May 1st banks will publish list of bad debtors Tony Chukwunyem

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed banks and discount houses in the country to give their delinquent debtors three months of grace with effect from May 1, 2015, to turn their accounts from non-performing to performing status. It also directed that at the expiration of the grace period, the financial institutions should publish the list of delinquent debtors that remain non-performing in at least three national daily newspapers quarterly. The apex bank stated this in a letter posted on its website entitled: “Recovery of Delinquent Credit Facilities” which was signed by the Director of Banking Supervision, Mrs. Tokunbo Martins. It further said: “The Central Bank of Nigeria has observed the rising trend of non-performing loans (NPL) in the industry. In order to ensure that the industry NPL ratio does not exceed the prudential limit of five per cent and to improve the credit culture in the bank-

ing industry, banks and discount houses are directed to observe prudent credit underwriting and monitoring standards. “Furthermore, banks and discount houses are required with effect from May 1, 2015, to: Give the delinquent debtors three months of grace to turn their accounts from non-performing to performing status; publish the list of

delinquent debtors that remain non-performing in at least three national daily newspapers quarterly (the delinquent debtors are those whose accounts have been classified lost and include the persons, entities, directors, subsidiaries and other related parties). The list must be sent to the CBN as soon as the publication is made.” In addition, the regulator stated that it will

blacklist such delinquent debtors and ban them from participating in the foreign exchange market as well as from participating in the Nigerian Government Securities market. Martins had first hinted at these measures at the end of the Bankers’ Committee meeting in Lagos ‘earlier this month. According to her, they were aimed at preventing

FRC boss restates need for national corporate governance code Tony Chukwunyem

he Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, Financial Reporting Council (FRC), Mr. Jim Obazee, has reiterated the importance of a national code of corporate governance for the country. Speaking at the unveiling of the national corporate governance code in Lagos recently, the FRC boss contended that with rising competition for foreign direct investment and with investors citing

an effective corporate governance code as a key criteria for making investment decisions, it was imperative that the nation had such a code. He pointed out that the country currently has six different codes issued by six different regulators to meet the need of the entities they regulate. According to him, the codes were issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation(NDIC), the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), the

National Pension Commission (PENCOM), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). He said: “However, modern society believes that the era of very weak and persuasive corporate governance codes is long gone due to stiff competing environment for foreign direct investment; of which binding regulation is a major factor being considered by investors and stakeholders.”

Economic Indicators As at M2* CPS* INF IBR MPR 91-day NTB DPR PLR Bonny Light Ext Res**

N16,833,244.57 N16,509,472.5m 8.2 0.0000 13 10.899 7.96 17.01 US$61.39 US$29,505,863,448

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, 2014 Dec, 2013 Feb, 2015 2/5/2014 24/2/2015 11/6/2013 Dec, 2013 Dec, 2013 24/2/2015 23/4/2015 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

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

another banking crisis. Briefing journalists at the end of the meeting, she said: “The CBN has managed to keep the banking industry safe and sound in collaboration with all members of the Bankers’ Committee. But some data shows that it is increasingly becoming difficult for some debtors to pay up their loans. So, it was decided that going forward, one thing He noted that it was in order to ensure that the nation had a strong corporate governance code that provisions were made for the development and enforcement of a national code of corporate governance in the FRC.

that we may do is to stop them from getting access to foreign exchange. Another thing that we also considered going forward is to publish the names of the borrowers that refuse to pay up. This is to ensure the continuous safety and soundness of the banking industry. It is not all debtors, it is the bad and chronic debtors, those ones that have deliberately refused to pay, those are the ones we are talking about.” Putting the current banking industry’s NPLs at 3.3 per cent, she maintained that the central bank wanted to ensure that the figure did not exceed the five per cent limit.

Skye Bank partners IFC to boost SMEs

kye Bank Plc has entered into a consultancy partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to evolve an effective lending framework for Medium, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). In a that statement, the bank said the objective of the partnership was to produce a new lending framework for SMEs that de-emphasises reliability on collateral by focusing primarily on evaluating business viability. “Based on this new framework, when a business passes the viability test, the bank can consider non-traditional collateral options outside Real Estate to reduce the difficulty faced by business

owners in their bid to secure credit facilities from banks,” the bank said. It also said that it had concluded plans to stop charging commission on turnover (COT) on all retail current accounts well ahead of the deadline given by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The statement quoted the bank’s Head of Retail Banking Group, Nkolika Okoli, as saying that the bank’s new Retail strategy has necessitated a shift from its previous product and led to a more segment -led approach. The business focus would henceforth concentrate more on customers and less on products, using unique value propositions built around the needs of each customer segment.

Stanbic IBTC reports N131bn gross earnings

tanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, a member of Standard Bank Group, has announced its audited results for the year ended 31 December, 2014, with gross earnings growing by 17 per cent to N130.6 billion. The figure stood at N111.2 billion in the corresponding period of 2013. Profit after tax grew by 54 per cent to N32.1 billion, as against the prior year’s N20.8 billion. Similarly, profit before tax recorded an increase of 63 per cent to N40.1 billion in the 2014 financial year, up from N24.6 billion recorded in 2013. The Group also made other significant gains

during the period under review. Total assets increased to N944.5 billion last year, a 24 per cent increase compared to the N763 billion recorded in December 2013. The growth in the balance sheet size was driven by significant increases in loans and advances to customers and other financial investments. Gross loans and advances grew by 36 per cent to N413.4 billion, compared to N303.3 billion recorded in December 2013, while customer deposits rose to N494.9 billion from N416.4 billion in the corresponding period of 2013, representing an increase of 19 per cent.

Business | News

FACE-OFF Management pleaded for wage freeze that was consented to Wole Shadare

orkers under the aegis of Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) have concluded plans to disrupt activities of Skypower Aviation Handling Limited (SAHCOL) over labour related matters by tomorrow (Tuesday) if workers’ welfare is not tackled. The union, in a statement at the weekend, said: “We are constrained by overriding circumstances to inform and warn the general public, aviation stakeholders, operators, agencies and supervising government institutions that one of the two aviation handling firms in the industry, the Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL), may inadvertently compromise the security of lives, properties, operations and businesses in the industry by its hostile posture to staff welfare and flagrant disregard for the union's rights to organise and for collective bargaining.” They lamented that despite the enormous sacrifices of their members since the organisation was privatised in 2009, there has not been any review of staff welfare even while the Federal Government had undertaken more than two reviews of the national minimum wage. They pointed out that the monthly take home of 65 per cent of SAHCOL staff has remained perpetually at N30,000. Meanwhile, the management of SAHCOL said that it placed so much value on the welfare of its staff since the privatisation of the firm in 2009. Spokesman for the aviation ground handling firm, Mr. Basil Agboarumi, in a statement at the weekend, said that management had ensured that salaries were paid as at when due, while every staff is aware of the move by the Board to carry out a review of staff incentives after the completion of the new warehouse project. Agboarumi, however, said: “We have issues involving some of our staff with regard to gross misconduct, acts which can lead to loss of revenue to the company, publication of inciting/derogatory material on the

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Labour dispute: Workers, SAHCOL disagree over firm's closure

company’s notice board, discrediting the office of the managing director/ CEO with the intent to incite the workforce against management. “These individuals were invited for a meeting with the management through a memo dated April 13, 2015 and they failed, neglected and refused to attend the meeting, which amounted to gross insubordination and willful disobedience

to constituted authority as enshrined in SAHCOL’s Condition of Service. “In addition, they were invited to appear before a disciplinary panel through a memo dated April 22, 2015 and they also refused to attend. SAHCOL considers these issues extensively and, therefore, submit that the behaviour of the officers amounted to gross misconduct as the relevant sections of our conditions

of service indicate.” He stated that as a law abiding and responsive corporate organisation, they would resist this move within the ambit of the law while they would continue to do their very best to ensure that SAHCOL remains a stafffriendly organisation. President of ATSSSAN, Benjamin Okewu, stated that curiously, management pleaded for wage freeze, which was con-

sented to and allowed the organisation to build its new ultra-modern terminal at the cost of N4 billion that is internally generated from the labour of staff. His words: “It is, however, cruel that this same management that cannot pay 13th month gross emolument, paying a mere N12,000 for Christmas bonus to staff, can afford to donate outlandish N100 million to a political party during the last gen-

eral elections. “We are disturbed that the management of SAHCOL is determined to frustrate the aspirations of its employees to be paid its outstanding five years terminal benefits from the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), blatantly refused to enter into negotiation for the review of the conditions of service, which has been due since June last year."

Business |Stock Watch

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

Chairman of the company, Mr. Femi Otedola, addressing shareholders at the company’s 36th Annual General Meeting, said that the 7.94 per cent drop in the group’s profit before tax was largely attributable to the 10 per cent devaluation of the naira in November 2014 and increased finance costs caused by huge subsidy receivables from the Federal Government of Nigeria. Otedola noted that these receivables were outstanding for an average of 270 days compared to the 45 days provided for in the PSF scheme. “Also in 2013, we had non-recurring income of N2.11 billion from sale of property and interest received from PPPRA relating to late payment of subsidies in 2010 and 2011. “We believe that the business is resilient, stronger, sustainable and better positioned for the challenges ahead,” he said.

HARSH MILIEU Falling crude prices, delay in reimbursement of fuel subsidies negatively impact on the company’s operations. Chris Ugwu

he fall in the price of crude oil in the international market sent economic and political shocks around the world. The hardest hit has been countries like Nigeria whose economies depend largely on oil for appreciable percentage of their foreign exchange earnings. This has made the operating environment very challenging with enormous economic issues bordering on the strength of the local currency in the period of falling crude prices and tight liquidity in the Nigerian money market. Also, the reduced revenue accruing to the Federal Government of Nigeria affected the reimbursement of oil subsidy. Coupled with the challenges of erratic supply of public electricity, weak logistics, insecurity and other high costs of operations, poor infrastructure also contributed in making the business operating environment difficult in 2014. Forte Oil Nigeria Plc, just like any other company operating in Nigeria, was not insulated. Though its share price movements have been fairly stable, it remains susceptible to the challenges facing businesses in the country. The company’s bottom-line had soared during the full year ended 2013, first, second and third quarters of 2014, but began to dwindle during the full year ended December 31, 2014, to what market watchers attributed to 10 per cent devaluation of the naira and increased finance costs caused by subsidy receivables from the Federal Government. However, market sentiments for the shares of the company have remained firm on the back of improved product rebranding and aggressive growth and expansion of its industrial/commercial customer base, which led to a strong performance from Geregu Power Plant, despite operational challenges Stockbrokers attributed investors’ sustained confidence in the stock to continued sales, marketing and distribution efforts, as well as its strong presence across Nigeria. The share price, which closed at N213.88 per share on May 30, 2014, has recorded a decrease in growth that when the closing bell rang last Friday, the company’s share price stood at N197.60, a decrease of N16.28 or 8.23 per cent year to date. Financials The company’s result had, during the financial year ended 2013, showed a significant leap in key profitability indices with a revenue growth of 41 per cent to N128 billion compared to N91 billion recorded same period in 2012, while profit before income tax increased 467 per cent to N6.52 billion, compared to N1.15 billion

Akinfemiwa

Forte Oil: Increase in financial costs stifles earnings recorded in 2012. Also, profit after income tax increased 397 per cent to N5.00 billion from N1.01 billion it recorded in 2012, while Earnings Per Share (EPS) grew 365 per cent to N4.32 compared to N0.93 during the comparable period. Operationally, the company achieved a 1164.55 per cent share price growth to emerge the best performing investment stock on the NSE in 2013. Forte Oil, one of Nigeria’s foremost energy groups, began the 2014 financial year with good numbers, growing its unaudited earnings for the three months period ended March 31, 2014, with 108 per cent in net earnings. The unaudited results of the company during the period showed that the profit after income tax rose by 108 per cent to N1.1 billion compared to N530 million same periods in 2013. Revenue grew 31 per cent to N34.8 billion as against N26.6 billion recorded in the comparable period of 2013, while gross margin increased by 72 per cent to N4.6 billion, compared to N2.7 billion in the same period in 2013. On operational highlights, the company achieved a year to date growth of 37.67per cent in share price from N92.87 to N148.99. The company also reported 152 per cent growth in pre-tax profit during the half year ended June 2014. Its profit before income tax increased 152 per cent to N4.19 billion compared to N1.66 billion recorded as at Q2, 2013. Revenue grew 33 per cent to N79.61 billion compared to N59.96 billion recorded in the same period in 2013.

Share price movement of Forte Oil 2014 May 30

N213.88

Jun 30

N206.30

Jul 31

N211.00

Aug 31

N225.80

Sept 30

N215.00

Oct 31

N215.00

Nov 30

N222.90

Dec 31

N227.00

2015 Jan 31

N230.00

Feb 28

N213.40

Mar 13

N215.00

Apr 2

N197.60

The company achieved a year to date growth of 37.67per cent in share price

The profit trend continued in the third quarter with 61.6 per cent growth in pre-tax profit during the nine months ended September 30, 2014. The company’s profit before income tax grew by 61.6 per cent to N5.20 billion compared to N3.219 billion recorded in Q3 2013. Revenue grew 33.06 per cent to N122.580 billion compared to N92.125 billion recorded in the same period in 2013. However, signs of dwindling fortune for Forte Oil started during the fourth quarter as it reported 7.94 per cent decline in pre-tax profit during the full year ended December 31, 2014. Its profit before income tax dipped to N6.006 billion compared to N6.524 billion recorded in the comparable period of 2013, accounting for a decline of 7.94 per cent. However, its revenue rose 32.8 per cent to N170.127 billion during the year as against N128.027 billion posted in 2013. The red light continued to beam on the company’s bottomline in the first quarter of 2015 as it reported 33 per cent decline in profit before tax for the three months ended March 31, 2015. According to a notice from the Nigerian stock market, the petroleum marketing company said that its pre-tax profit declined to N842.34 million in the first three months of the year from N1.26 billion a year ago. Its revenue equally fell N33.06 billion in 2014 from N34.78 billion reported a year ago, accounting for a drop of 5.19 per cent. Profit deflators

Looking ahead The Group Chief Executive Officer, Forte Oil, Mr. Akin Akinfemiwa, said that the company, having successfully completed its record-breaking threeyear business transformation in December, 2014, was set to consolidate the achievements as it grows market to maximise value for the esteemed shareholders. He said that the group had built a sustainable business model and that it contributed to its N6 billion profit despite the slowing economy, increased insecurity – which led to revenue loss in the North Eastern market, political uncertainty, weaker petroleum products demand and a volatile exchange rate, among other issues. Akinfemiwa promised that the group would continue to navigate through an ever-challenging business environment and industry in its quest to actualise the vision of being Africa’s foremost integrated energy solutions provider. “We shall continue to innovate with respect to products and service offerings and diversify our revenue base, maximise our non-fuel revenue opportunities, as a part of our strong resolve to building a long-term successful company,” he said. Akinfemiwa said that the company was confident that it was on the right path in its pursuit to becoming Nigeria’s foremost integrated energy solution provider as it unveiled a five-year growth and consolidation strategy for all its strategic business units. “Our goals to dominate the downstream petroleum sector in Nigeria and, by extension, Africa, remains a key aspect of our consolidation strategy. We are currently pursuing opportunities for merger and acquisition in a bid to drive volume, revenues and ultimately maximise profits for our shareholders. The organic growth of our downstream business through the acquisition of strategically positioned outlets to create an optimised network and drive revenues and profits remains on course. “Expanding our retail presence supports our drive to boost our non-fuel revenue income through strategic alliances that will sustain superior customer experience,” Akinfemiwa said.

SUPERVISION Policyholders, underwriters to benefit from fair supervision Sunday Ojeme

he National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has reiterated its resolve to ensure a sound regulatory and supervisory system for the insurance sector. The commission said such regulation would ensure the maintenance of a fair, safe and stable sector for the benefit and or protection of the interest of stakeholders as well as promote stability of the financial system. Speaking at a one day seminar on the Introduction of Risk Based Supervision (RBS) in the insurance industry hosted by Munich Re of Africa, the Deputy Commissioner for Insurance (Technical), Mohammed Kari, said the Commission was saddled with the responsibilities of ensuring effective administration, supervision, regulation and control of insurance business in Nigeria as provided in Part II, Sec-

Insurance

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Sound regulation necessary for stable sector, says NAICOM tion 6 of National Insurance Commission Act of 1997. In his words, “Just as the financial system has evolved, so too has the supervisory framework. We believe that a sound regulatory and supervisory system is necessary for maintaining a fair, safe and stable insurance sector for the benefit and or protection of the interests of stakeholders, as well as promote stability of the financial system. “In its earlier forms, supervisory approaches tended to be ‘compliancebased’, aimed mainly at ensuring compliance with the rules laid down for financial soundness and the conduct of business. The risks associated with compliance-based approaches are that they may lead to excessive focus on observed noncompliance and to insufficient understanding of key business drivers and flaws in risk management practices of insurers. “However an element

of compliance monitoring is necessary in any supervisory approach to ensure that essential minimum standards are met and that the overall regulatory and supervisory regime has credibility.” He observed that over the years the provision of insurance service had developed to sophistica-

tion level beyond the imagination of the early practitioners. According to him, coupled with other external risks and incidences, the profession has had to evolve as fast to continue to survive and be relevant. Uninformed observers have created an impression that too many changes

are coming to the profession too frequently. However, individual company and market experiences would confirm that survival have been the biggest driver for these changes. Where operators lacked the vision to see impending crisis, regulators have come in to save the day. Kari pointed out that

in various jurisdictions, especially the developing economies with weak operators, the regulator, performing his statutory function has been tagged as overbearing and a spoil sport by these uninformed observers for constantly introducing checks and balances in the management of insurance institutions.

Accounts: NICON, Unic to pay N.7m fine

he failure of NICON Insurance Plc and Unic Insurance Plc to submit their 2013 financial account between July 2014 and April 2015 as stipulated by the Insurance Act will attract a sum of N791,000 as penalty. Section 8 of the Insurance Act empowers the commission to revoke the licence of any operator that fails to make his account available to the regulator within a period of time. At the end of 2014, eight underwriters defaulted in this regard. They include Alliance & General Insurance, Alliance & General Life Assurance, Goldlink Insurance Plc, Industrial & General Insurance Plc, Investment & Allied Insurance Plc, NICON Insurance Ltd, Spring Life Assurance Plc and UNIC Insurance Plc. Section 26(1) of the Insurance Act 2003 stipulates that every insurer shall not later than June 30 of every year submit to NAICOM, a balance sheet duly audited showing the

financial position of the insurer and its subsidiaries at the close of the preceding year together with a copy of the relevant profit and loss account which the insurer is to present to its shareholders at its annual general meeting. The failure of the insurers is not unconnected with their inability to adjust to newly introduced International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by NAICOM. A source at NAICOM told New Telegraph that failure to render accounts constituted grounds to withdraw any defaulter’s licence. In 2013, Alliance & General Insurance Company Limited, Alliance & General Insurance Life Assurance, Goldlink Insurance Plc, Industrial & General Insurance Plc, Investment & Allied Assurance Company, International Energy Insurance Plc, NICON Insurance Ltd and Spring Life Assurance Plc also failed to forward their details as at when due.

L-R: Managing Director, SCIB Nigeria, Mr. Sola Tinubu; representative, NCA Re, Abidjan, Miss Awa Harouna, Managing Director, STACO Insurance Plc, Mr. Sakiru Oyefeso; and Mr. Demola Bukola, NCA Re, during a meeting in Lagos recently

A.M. Best unveils ratings for Nigerian underwriters STRENGTH Rating indicates strength of insurance company

.M. Best Company, the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating agency, has unveiled the latest Financial Strength Rating (FSR) and Issuer Credit Rating (ICR) of five Nigerian based insurance outfits rated by the organisation. In its April edition of A.M. Best Non-US Ratings Monitor, the organisation assigned to African Reinsurance Corporation A- Positive (FSR) a- Positive (ICR), Continental Reinsurance Plc got B+ Stable (FSR) bbbStable (ICR), Custodian and Allied Insurance Plc got B Stable

(FSR) bb Stable (ICR), Mansard Insurance Plc was assigned Bu Stable (FSR) bb+u Stable (ICR) and Wapic Insurance Plc got BStable(FSR) bb- Stable (ICR). Associate Director, Market Development and Communications, A.M. Best –Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Dr. Edem Kuenyehia, says the FSR indicates an insurer’s financial strength and ability to meet its ongoing insurance policy and contract obligations, while the ICR specifies an insurer’s financial strength and ability to meet its ongoing senior financial obligations. The rating agency explained that the FSR of African Reinsurance was A- Positive, meaning that the company has an excellent ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations. Continental Reinsurance’s

B+ (Stable) means the firm has a good ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations. Custodian and Allied’s B (Stable) means the organisation has a fair ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations but its financial strength is vulnerable to adverse changes in underwriting and economic conditions. Mansard’s B u (Developing) indicates the rating is under review and while there is uncertainty as to the final rating outcome, there is a reasonable likelihood the company’s rating will change as a result of A.M. Best’s analysis of a recent event. Wapic’s B- (Stable) means the company has a fair ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations but its financial strength is vulnerable to adverse changes in underwriting and economic conditions.

Business | Insurance

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

PRODUCTS Underwriters should design products that enhance standard of living Sunday Ojeme

with agency reports

hanaian President, John Dramani Mahama, has called on underwriters practicing in West Africa to provide appropriate legal and regulatory environment for products to address the challenges of the poor. He advised them to work diligently to ensure that the financial sector in general and the insurance industry in particular regained the confidence of the public by meeting obligations when called upon to pay claims. Mahama, in his speech at the 37th Annual General Meeting and Education Conference of the West Africa Insurance Companies Association (WAICA) in Accra, said access to appropriate insurance products and schemes contributed to reducing vulnerability and providing the living standards of the marginalised populations, and in turn engenders inclusive growth and sustainable development. He said, “Another important area you should address your minds to as industry, is the agri-

Mahama tasks W'African insurers on environmental challenges cultural sector and the effects of climate change, since the sub-region is prone to adverse weather conditions.” The conference with the theme: “Africa Rising, Taking the Insurance Industry in West Africa to the Next Level of Our Development,” brought together industry play-

ers from Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the Gambia. The three-day conference would examine the role of the Insurance Supervisory Authority in a changing socio-economic and political environment, and micro-insurance, as one of the tools to raising standards of

living, after the Ebola Epidemic on the continent. Malama noted that priority areas include the review of the current legislation to address various limitations and to better support product development for critical sectors. “In this regard, government will continue to promote the micro in-

surance and agriculture insurance development,” he said, and called on the industry to also complement government’s efforts in social security and social interventions programmes to provide relief for the vulnerable segment of the population and the most affected in society.

L-R: Student, Nigerian Navy Secondary School, Ojo Ubaneche Tochukwu; student, New Estate Baptist School, Surulere, Daniyan Omowale; General Manager, Cisco, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Mr. Dare Ogunlade; student, Queens College, Yaba, Ozowe Precious and student, Federal Science and Technology College, Yab, John Naomi, during the celebration of “Girls in ICT Day”, in Lagos … on Thursday. PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

NCRIB gains global recognition with LIMRA

he Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) has been admitted as a member of LIMRA, a world acclaimed financial services research consultancy. Conveying the NCRIB admission during the 2015 International Business trip of the Council’s delegates to Malta, Europe, the Operation Head of LIMRA Europe, Middle East and Africa, Carla Baldivia, said with the admission, NCRIB would now have access to the database of the association and be able to access yearly global financial reports by the body. “As a LIMRA member, your Council will now have access to all the research, webinars and market facts in addition to the information centre that gathers resources from more than 128 periodicals” Baldivia noted. Responding to the award, the President of the NCRIB, Ayodapo Shoderu who led the Council’s delegation noted that the NCRIB has a vision of exploring all avenues to place the Council and its members on the global plane. He said, coming on the heels of similar admission by the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA), Shoderu opined that the challenges before NCRIB members was now higher in a bid to match up with its growing global

reputation. Also, during a lecture on Customer Service, Brokers were told to imbibe multiple integrated channels of customer service in order to meet the yearning needs of today’s clients. According to Senior Regional Executive of LIMRA, ManolisKyriacou, current and future customers have high expectations for service quality through all channels they could utilize to connect with the provider. “Insurance intermediaries that successfully deliver their services competently will most often improve relationship and outcomes with their policy holders” As the world’s leading insurance and financial services trade association, LIMRA’s purpose is to be the Trusted Source of Industry Knowledge. It currently provides Research, Learning and Development programs to more than 850 financial services companies throughout the world. Serving its members for nearly 100 years, these financial services firms turn to LIMRA first for Research, serving as a catalyst for new ideas, to better understand the industry, and plan for the future, learning and development programs, to assess, train, and increase distribution productivity, as well as develop the next gen-

eration of corporate leaders and connections with industry leaders and peers through study groups, committees, and conferences. The tour was rounded off with visits to leading insurance companies and brokerage companies such as Middle Sea and Assikura Insurance Brokers where delegates had robust insights into operation of insurance business in Malta. Meanwhile, the Director, Human Resources and Administration, NCRIB, Mr. Lukeman Adeleye, has been elected as a member of the Governing council of Chattered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPMN). Adeleye, who was elected for the second term joined NCRIB in 2013. An alumnus of the University of Ibadan, Adeleye obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geography and later a Masters’ Degree in industrial and Labour Relations, also from same University. He is a Fellow of the Chattered Institute of Personnel Management and one time Chairman of the professional body in Oyo State, a former treasurer of Owu (Abeokuta) Development Union, Ibadan branch, Justice of Peace, Oyo State and member of many other social groups contributing to the development of the society.

Mahama challenged them to strengthen their technical, financial and distribution capacity to make their products and services accessible and affordable to the poor, vulnerable and the large number of the people operating in the informal sector of the economies. The Commissioner for Insurance, Ghana, Ms Lydia Lariba Bawa, said capital inadequacy in the West African Insurance Industry results in low premium retentions and high demand for overseas reinsurances leading to excessive premium flights running into millions of dollars every year. “Taking the West African insurance to the next level of our development also requires that insurance companies implement sound Corporate Governance and Risk Management systems in line with international best practice to deal with the cultural and behavioural challenges that inhibit the growth of the sector,” she said. She noted that until a suitable and innovative ways of reaching out to the informal sector is developed, it would be extremely difficult for them to take insurance to the next level of development.

SA Insurance to merge with SA Life

he boards of both SA Insurance Plc and SA Life Assurance Limited have approved the merger of both companies to become a single insurance company offering all classes of insurance business. A statement from the company said that the boards’ corporate decision of combining the existing strengths of both companies was spurred by their desire to “create a bigger and financially strong composite insurance company with stronger capacity to serve its various clients and play a more dominant role in the insurance sector.” The statement added that in order to give the merger plan the necessary regulatory backing, “the management has applied for and secured “no objection consent” from the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM.”

In line with market procedures and pursuant to Rule 228 (ii) of the Investment and Securities Act 1999, the management has also notified the Nigerian Stock Exchange of the development. According to the statement, the companies are engaging the services of appropriate financial and merger experts to drive the transactions. “It is our plan to complete the process before the end of the third quarter of this year,” the statement added. SA Insurance Plc, which became quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2003, currently has a shareholders’ funds of N4.7 billion and asset base of N8.8 billion while its affiliate company, SA Life Assurance Limited, has a shareholders’ fund of N2.1 billion and a total asset base of N6.9 billion.

Business | Financial Market News

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

24-Apr-15

The DQL contains data relating to, amongst other things, market and model prices, rates of foreign exchange products, fixed income securities and instruments in the financial market (the “Information”). The Information does not constitute professional, financial or investment advice. We attempt to ensure the Information is accurate; however, the Information is provided “AS IS” and on an “AS AVAILABLE” basis and may not be accurate or up to date. We do not guarantee the accuracy, timeliness, completeness, performance or fitness for a particular purpose of any of the Information, neither do we accept liability for the results of any action taken on the basis of the Information.

Bonds FGN Bonds

Price

Rating/Agency

Issuer

Description ^13.05 16-AUG-2016 ^15.10 27-APR-2017 9.85 27-JUL-2017 9.35 31-AUG-2017 10.70 30-MAY-2018 ^16.00 29-JUN-2019 7.00 23-OCT-2019 15.54 13-FEB-2020 ^16.39 27-JAN-2022 ^14.20 14-MAR-2024 15.00 28-NOV-2028 12.49 22-MAY-2029 8.50 20-NOV-2029 ^10.00 23-JUL-2030 ^12.1493 18-JUL-2034

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

16-Aug-13 27-Apr-12 27-Jul-07 31-Aug-07 30-May-08 29-Jun-12 23-Oct-09 13-Feb-15 27-Jan-12 14-Mar-14 28-Nov-08 22-May-09 20-Nov-09 23-Jul-10 18-Jul-14

13.05 15.10 9.85 9.35 10.70 16.00 7.00 15.54 16.39 14.20 15.00 12.49 8.50 10.00 12.1493

581.39 476.80 20.00 100.00 300.00 351.30 233.90 98.31 600.00 524.68 75.00 150.00 200.00 591.57 279.50

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

4,582.44

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

4,254.26

Rating/Agency

Issuer

Description

Bid Yield (%)

Offer Yield (%)

Bid Price

Offer Price

1.31 2.01 2.26 2.35 3.10 4.18 4.50 4.81 6.76 8.89 13.60 14.08 14.58 15.25 19.23

13.56 13.63 13.66 13.67 13.76 13.85 13.90 13.91 13.91 13.96 16.83 17.26 17.75 15.47 13.94

13.44 13.54 13.58 13.59 13.63 13.75 13.79 13.82 13.84 13.90 16.77 17.19 17.65 15.40 13.89

99.35 102.51 92.76 91.52 92.46 106.61 77.49 105.53 110.59 101.16 90.27 75.01 52.24 68.25 88.08

99.50 102.66 92.91 91.67 92.76 106.91 77.79 105.83 110.89 101.46 90.57 75.31 52.54 68.55 88.38

Maturity Date

TTM (Yrs)

16-Aug-16 27-Apr-17 27-Jul-17 31-Aug-17 30-May-18 29-Jun-19 23-Oct-19 13-Feb-20 27-Jan-22 14-Mar-24 28-Nov-28 22-May-29 20-Nov-29 23-Jul-30 18-Jul-34

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

Maturity Date

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

Risk Premium (%)

Valuation Yield (%)

Indicative Price

24-May-12 03-Apr-12 09-Dec-11 20-Apr-12 06-Jul-12

0.00 17.25 0.00/16.00 0.00/16.50 0.00/16.50

24.56 2.40 112.22 116.70 66.49

24-May-15 03-Apr-17 08-Dec-16 19-Apr-17 06-Jul-17

0.08 1.07 1.63 1.99 2.20

2.63 2.27 2.00 2.69 2.85

14.42 15.95 15.60 16.32 16.50

98.77 101.28 100.50 100.51 96.85

Agency Bonds FMBN ***LCRM

0.00 FMB 24-MAY-2015 17.25 FMB II 03-APR-2017 0.00/16.00 LCRM 08-DEC-2016 0.00/16.50 LCRM II 19-APR-2017 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

322.38

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

321.17

Sub-National Bonds A/Agusto

KADUNA

12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015

31-Aug-10

12.50

8.50

31-Aug-15

0.35

4.44

16.04

98.73

A-/Agusto

*EBONYI

13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015

30-Sep-10

13.00

2.16

30-Sep-15

0.44

3.23

15.74

98.84

BBB+/Agusto

*BENUE

14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-11

14.00

4.86

30-Jun-16

0.71

4.46

17.87

97.51

‡ /Agusto

*IMO

15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-09

15.50

5.73

30-Jun-16

0.71

3.48

16.89

99.04

A+/Agusto; ‡ /GCR

LAGOS

10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017

19-Apr-10

10.00

57.00

19-Apr-17

1.99

1.31

14.94

91.76

‡ /Agusto

*BAYELSA

13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017

30-Jun-10

13.75

25.73

30-Jun-17

1.25

1.00

14.64

98.98

‡ /Agusto

EDO

14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017

30-Dec-10

14.00

25.00

31-Dec-17

2.69

1.79

15.50

96.74

‡ /Agusto; A+/GCR

*DELTA

14.00 DELTA 30-SEP-2018

30-Sep-11

14.00

30.81

30-Sep-18

2.07

1.80

15.44

97.58

‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR

NIGER

14.00 NIGER II 4-OCT-2018

04-Oct-11

14.00

9.00

04-Oct-18

2.08

1.00

14.64

98.87

‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR†

*EKITI

14.50 EKITI 09-DEC-2018

09-Dec-11

14.50

13.73

09-Dec-18

2.06

1.00

14.64

99.72

‡ /Agusto

*NIGER

14.00 NIGER III 12-DEC-2018

12-Dec-13

14.00

10.20

12-Dec-18

2.06

4.78

18.42

92.97

‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR

*ONDO

15.50 ONDO 14-FEB-2019

14-Feb-12

15.50

27.00

14-Feb-19

2.25

1.00

14.66

101.44

BBB+/Agusto; A-/GCR Aa-/Agusto; ‡ /GCR

*GOMBE LAGOS

15.50 GOMBE 02-OCT-2019 14.50 LAGOS 22-NOV-2019

BBB-/Agusto; BBB+/GCR

*OSUN

14.75 OSUN 12-DEC-2019

02-Oct-12 22-Nov-12 12-Dec-12

15.50 14.50 14.75

15.09 80.00 25.70

02-Oct-19 22-Nov-19 12-Dec-19

2.69 4.58 2.65

1.00 1.00 1.00

14.71 14.90 14.71

101.59 98.67 100.07 99.94

BBB-/Agusto

*OSUN

14.75 OSUN II 10-OCT-2020

10-Oct-13

14.75

10.78

10-Oct-20

3.20

1.00

14.77

Aa-/Agusto; ‡ /GCR

LAGOS

13.50 LAGOS 27-NOV-2020

27-Nov-13

13.50

87.50

27-Nov-20

5.59

1.00

14.93

94.68

A-/Agusto; BBB+/DataPro

KOGI

15.00 KOGI 31-DEC-2020

31-Dec-13

15.00

5.00

31-Dec-20

5.69

1.00

14.93

100.21

‡ /Agusto A-/GCR

*EKITI *NASARAWA

14.50 EKITI II 31-DEC-2020 15.00 NASARAWA 06-JAN-2021

31-Dec-13

14.50

4.55

31-Dec-20

3.35

1.44

15.23

98.17

06-Jan-14

15.00

4.56

06-Jan-21

3.38

1.00

14.79

100.45

99.29

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

452.88 440.08

Corporate Bonds ‡ /Agusto BBB-/Agusto

*UPDC

10.00 UPDC 17-AUG-2015

17-Aug-10

10.00

2.50

17-Aug-15

0.32

1.00

12.22

*FLOURMILLS

12.00 FLOURMILLS 9-DEC-2015

09-Dec-10

12.00

18.75

09-Dec-15

0.38

1.00

12.86

99.66

BB/GCR

*CHELLARAMS

14.00 CHELLARAMS 06-JAN-2016

06-Jan-11

14.00

0.42

06-Jan-16

0.46

2.63

15.39

99.41

A+/Agusto; A-/GCR

NAHCO

13.00 NAHCO 29-SEP-2016

29-Sep-11

13.00

15.00

29-Sep-16

1.43

1.00

14.60

97.97

A-/Agusto

FSDH

14.25 FSDH 25-OCT-2016

25-Oct-13

14.25

5.53

25-Oct-16

1.50

1.34

14.92

99.12

A/GCR

UBA

13.00 UBA 30-SEP-2017

30-Sep-10

13.00

20.00

30-Sep-17

2.44

1.00

14.68

96.63

BBB-/GCR

18.00 C&I LEASING 30-NOV-2017

30-Nov-12

18.00

0.64

30-Nov-17

1.46

1.88

15.47

103.86

Nil

*C & I LEASING *DANA#{r}

MPR+7.00 DANA 9-APR-2018

09-Apr-11

16.00

5.40

09-Apr-18

1.71

1.00

14.60

101.99

A-/DataPro†; B+/GCR

*TOWER#

MPR+7.00 TOWER 9-SEP-2018

09-Sep-11

18.00

2.54

09-Sep-18

1.88

1.00

14.62

105.15

1.88

1.00

14.62

102.08

AAA/DataPro†; A/GCR

*TOWER

MPR+5.25 TOWER 9-SEP-2018

09-Sep-11

16.00

0.70

09-Sep-18

A/Agusto; A/GCR

UBA

14.00 UBA II 22-SEP-2018

22-Sep-11

14.00

35.00

22-Sep-18

3.41

3.00

16.80

92.92

Bbb+/Agusto; BBB+/GCR

15.75 LA CASERA 18-OCT-2018

18-Oct-13

15.75

2.10

18-Oct-18

1.98

2.29

15.92

99.70

BBB-/DataPro†; BB/GCR

*LA CASERA *CHELLARAMS#

MPR+5.00 CHELLARAMS II 17-FEB-2019

17-Feb-12

18.00

0.36

17-Feb-19

2.07

6.11

19.75

97.25

Nil

*DANA#{r}

16.00 DANA II 1-APR-2019

01-Apr-14

16.00

4.50

01-Apr-19

2.69

2.16

15.87

100.24

A+/Agusto; A-/GCR

NAHCO

A/GCR

15.25 NAHCO II 14-NOV-2020

14-Nov-13

15.25

2.05

14-Nov-20

5.56

2.76

16.68

94.90

UBA

16.45 UBA I 30-DEC-2021

30-Dec-14

16.45

30.50

30-Dec-21

6.69

1.13

15.09

105.55

A/GCR

STANBIC IBTC

182D T.bills+1.20 STANBIC IA 30-SEP-2024

30-Sep-14

11.93

0.10

30-Sep-24

9.44

1.00

15.28

83.48

A/GCR

STANBIC IBTC

13.25 STANBIC IB 30-SEP-2024

30-Sep-14

13.25

15.44

30-Sep-24

9.44

1.00

15.28

89.98

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

161.53

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

158.24

Supranational Bond AAA/S&P

IFC

10.20 IFC 11-FEB-2018

11-Feb-13

10.20

12.00

11-Feb-18

2.80

1.00

14.72

89.87

Aaa/Moody's; AAA/S&P

AfDB

11.25 AFDB 1-FEB-2021

10-Jul-14

11.25

12.95

01-Feb-21

4.75

1.00

14.90

86.14

Bid Price

Offer Price

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

24.95 21.94

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION Rating/Agency

Issuer

Description

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value ($mm)

Maturity Date

Bid Yield (%)

Offer Yield (%)

6.75 JAN 28, 2021

07-Oct-11

6.75

500.00

28-Jan-21

5.52

5.31

105.96

107.07

5.13 JUL 12, 2018

12-Jul-13

5.13

500.00

12-Jul-18

4.62

4.32

101.49

102.39

6.38 JUL 12, 2023

12-Jul-13

6.38

500.00

12-Jul-23

5.78

5.63

103.80

104.84

FGN Eurobonds

Prices & Yields

BB-/Fitch; B+/S&P BB-/Fitch; BB-/S&P

FGN

BB-/Fitch; BB-/S&P

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

1,500.00

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

1,556.29

Corporate Eurobonds B/Fitch; B-/S&P

AFREN PLC I

11.50 FEB 01, 2016

01-Feb-11

11.50

450.00

01-Feb-16

162.79

43.00

B+/Fitch; B+/S&P

GTBANK PLC I

7.50 MAY 19, 2016

19-May-11

7.50

500.00

19-May-16

6.49

4.19

101.01

103.38

B+/S&P

ACCESS BANK PLC

7.25 JUL 25, 2017

25-Jul-12

7.25

350.00

25-Jul-17

11.38

92.00

B/Fitch; B/S&P

FIDELITY BANK PLC

6.88 MAY 09, 2018

09-May-13

6.88

300.00

02-May-18

11.09

10.28

89.40

91.33

B+/Fitch; B+/S&P

GTBANK PLC

6.00 NOV 08, 2018

08-Nov-13

6.00

400.00

08-Nov-18

7.44

6.78

95.59

97.60

B/Fitch

AFREN PLC II

10.25 APR 08, 2019

08-Apr-12

10.25

300.00

08-Apr-19

41.78

42.00

B+/Fitch; BB-/S&P

ZENITH BANK PLC

6.25 APR 22, 2019

22-Apr-14

6.25

500.00

22-Apr-19

7.35

96.25

B/Fitch; B/S&P

DIAMOND BANK PLC

8.75 May 21, 2019

21-May-14

8.75

200.00

21-May-19

11.04

10.24

92.65

95.14

B-/Fitch; B/S&P

FIRST BANK PLC

8.25 AUG 07, 2020

07-Aug-13

8.25

300.00

07-Aug-20

8.58

97.79

B-/Fitch; B/S&P B-/Fitch; B/S&P B-/Fitch; B/S&P

AFREN PLC III ACCESS BANK PLC II FIRST BANK LTD

6.63 DEC 09, 2020 9.25/6M USD LIBOR+7.677 JUN 24, 2021 8.00/2Y USD SWAP+6.488 JUL 23 2021

09-Dec-13 24-Jun-14 23-Jul-14

6.63 9.25 8.00

360.00 400.00 450.00

09-Dec-20 24-Jun-21 23-Jul-21

26.21 11.15 8.72

26.21 10.70 8.72

44.00 91.60 95.67

44.00 93.48 95.67

B-/S&P

ECOBANK NIG. LTD

8.75 AUG 14, 2021

14-Aug-14

8.75

250.00

14-Aug-21

10.81

10.46

89.88

91.38

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

4,760.00

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

3,936.95

**Treasury Bills^ DTM 13 20 27 41 48 62 69 76 83

FIXINGS Maturity 7-May-15 14-May-15 21-May-15 4-Jun-15 11-Jun-15 25-Jun-15 2-Jul-15 9-Jul-15 16-Jul-15

Bid Discount (%) 7.08 11.32 11.47 11.15 11.15 11.36 11.42 10.25 11.50

Offer Discount (%) 6.83 11.07 11.22 10.90 10.90 11.11 11.17 10.00 11.25

Bid Yield (%) 7.10 11.39 11.56 11.30 11.31 11.59 11.67 10.47 11.80

Money Market Tenor

NIBOR Tenor O/N 1M 3M 6M

Rate (%) 9.8825 14.1761 15.1957 15.8345

Rate (%)

OBB

9.25

O/N

10.00

Tenor Call 1M 3M

REPO

Rate (%) 23.50 23.75 24.00

Foreign Exchange (Spot & Forwards) Tenor

Bid ($/N)

Offer ($/N)

Spot 7D 14D 1M 2M 3M 6M

199.11 201.81 202.13 202.87 204.24 205.60 206.28

199.21 201.93 202.28 203.37 205.31 207.21 213.47

^10.00 23-JUL-2030 ^12.1493 18-JUL-2034

23-Jul-10 18-Jul-14

10.00 12.1493

591.57 279.50

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

4,582.44

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

4,254.26

Rating/Agency

Description

Issuer

23-Jul-30 18-Jul-34

15.25 19.23

15.47 13.94

15.40 13.89

68.25 88.08

68.55 88.38

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

Maturity Date

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

Risk Premium (%)

Valuation Yield (%)

Indicative Price

24-May-12 03-Apr-12 09-Dec-11 20-Apr-12 06-Jul-12

0.00 17.25 0.00/16.00 0.00/16.50 0.00/16.50

24.56 2.40 112.22 116.70 66.49

24-May-15 03-Apr-17 08-Dec-16 19-Apr-17 06-Jul-17

0.08 1.07 1.63 1.99 2.20

2.63 2.27 2.00 2.69 2.85

14.42 15.95 15.60 16.32 16.50

98.77 101.28 100.50 100.51 96.85

Agency Bonds FMBN

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 ***LCRM

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

Domestic transactions up 61%

POSITIVE

Domestic investors’ KADUNA *EBONYI confidence increases BBB+/Agusto *BENUEin ‡ /Agusto *IMO Nigerian A+/Agusto; ‡ /GCRstock market LAGOS A/Agusto

A-/Agusto

‡ /Agusto

*BAYELSA

‡ /Agusto

EDO

12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015

31-Aug-10

12.50

8.50

31-Aug-15

0.35

4.44

16.04

98.73

13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015

30-Sep-10

13.00

2.16

30-Sep-15

0.44

3.23

15.74

98.84

14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-11

14.00

4.86

30-Jun-16

0.71

4.46

17.87

97.51

30-Jun-09

15.50

5.73

30-Jun-16

0.71

3.48

16.89

4.55

31-Dec-20

3.35

4.56

06-Jan-21

3.38

decreased from 72.61 per cent to 10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017 55.73 per cent, while domestic 13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017 14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017 transactions increased from 14.00 DELTA 30-SEP-2018 27.39 per cent to 44.27 per cent 14.00 NIGER II 4-OCT-2018 over the period. 14.50same EKITI 09-DEC-2018 NIGER III 12-DEC-2018 In 14.00 comparison to the same ONDO 14-FEB-2019 period15.50 in 2014, total FPI trans15.50 GOMBE 02-OCT-2019 14.50 LAGOS 22-NOV-2019 actions decreased by 21.44 per OSUN 12-DEC-2019 cent, 14.75 while the total domestic 14.75 OSUN II 10-OCT-2020 transactions increased 13.50 LAGOS 27-NOV-2020 by 124.47 15.00 KOGI 31-DEC-2020 per cent. 14.50 EKITI II 31-DEC-2020 FPI15.00 outflows outpaced inNASARAWA 06-JAN-2021 flows, which was consistent with the same period in 2014. Overall, there was a 10.30 per cent increase in total transac10.00 UPDC 17-AUG-2015 12.00 FLOURMILLS 9-DEC-2015 tions in comparison to the same 14.00 CHELLARAMS 06-JAN-2016 period13.00 inNAHCO 2014.29-SEP-2016

On a monthly basis, the Ni19-Apr-10 10.00 gerian 30-Jun-10 Stock Exchange 13.75 polls trading30-Dec-10 figures from14.00major 30-Sep-11 14.00 custodians and market opera04-Oct-11 14.00 tors on 09-Dec-11 their foreign portfolio 14.50 12-Dec-13 14.00 investments (FPI). 14-Feb-12 15.50 According to reports, high02-Oct-12 15.50 lights of22-Nov-12 the domestic14.50 compo12-Dec-12 sition of transactions14.75 on the 10-Oct-13 14.75 Exchange between January 27-Nov-13 13.50 31-Dec-13 15.00 that and March, 2015, showed 31-Dec-13 14.50 total domestic transactions de06-Jan-14 15.00 creased by 10.10 per cent from January to March 2015. The institutional composition of the domestic market, which 17-Aug-10 10.00 09-Dec-10 12.00 was about 33.69 per cent at the end 06-Jan-11 14.00 of January , increased to13.00 49.34 per 29-Sep-11

15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016

*DELTA

NIGER Stories by Chris Ugwu

‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR

*EKITI

*NIGER omestic transactions *ONDO at the nation’s bourse, BBB+/Agusto; A-/GCR *GOMBE Aa-/Agusto; ‡ /GCR which was LAGOS N50.54 bilBBB-/Agusto; BBB+/GCR *OSUN lion at the end of FebBBB-/Agusto *OSUN ruary , 2015, increased to N81.46 Aa-/Agusto; ‡ /GCR LAGOS A-/Agusto; billionBBB+/DataPro (about $0.41 KOGI billion) at ‡ /Agusto *EKITI the end of March 2015, up 61.18 A-/GCR *NASARAWA per cent from February, 2015. TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE In aMARKET reportCAPITALISATION obtained from the TOTAL NSE website, Corporate Bonds domestic investors conceded about*UPDC 11.46 per ‡ /Agusto BBB-/Agusto *FLOURMILLS cent of trading to foreign inBB/GCR *CHELLARAMS vestors as foreign transactions A+/Agusto; A-/GCR NAHCO ‡ /Agusto

‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR

A-/Agusto

FSDH

14.25 FSDH 25-OCT-2016

A/GCR

UBA

BBB-/GCR

*C & I LEASING *DANA#{r}

25-Oct-13

14.25

13.00 UBA 30-SEP-2017

30-Sep-10

13.00

18.00 C&I LEASING 30-NOV-2017

30-Nov-12

18.00

MPR+7.00 DANA 9-APR-2018

09-Apr-11

16.00

MPR+7.00 TOWER 9-SEP-2018

09-Sep-11

18.00

Shareholders approve UBA N3.6bn dividend

Nil

A-/DataPro†; B+/GCR

*TOWER

Approve Elumelu as chairman

#{r}

8.75 AUG 14, 2021

ECOBANK NIG. LTD

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

14-Aug-14

cent at the end of March, while 57.00 19-Apr-17 1.99 the retail composition decreased 25.73 30-Jun-17 1.25 25.00 66.31 per31-Dec-17 from cent to 50.66 2.69 per 30.81 30-Sep-18 2.07 cent in the same period. 9.00 04-Oct-18 2.08 Total FPI 09-Dec-18 transactions2.06of 13.73 10.20 billion, which 12-Dec-18 accounted 2.06 N616 27.00 14-Feb-19 2.25 for 14.8 per cent of total trans15.09 02-Oct-19 2.69 80.00 22-Nov-19 4.58 actions in 2007, increased over 25.70 2.65 the years to12-Dec-19 N1,539 billion, 10.78 10-Oct-20 3.20 representing 57.5 per cent of 87.50 27-Nov-20 5.59 5.00 transactions 31-Dec-20in 2014 5.69 total (an

8.75

The DQL contains **Treasury Bills^

1.44

15.23

98.17

1.00

14.79

100.45

FBN Holdings Q1 pre-tax profit rises 9% 2.50

17-Aug-15

18.75

09-Dec-15

0.38

1.00

12.86

99.66

0.42

06-Jan-16

0.46

2.63

15.39

99.41

15.00

29-Sep-16

1.43

1.00

14.60

97.97

14-Aug-21

10.81

10.46

89.88

91.38

0.32

irst Bank Holdings 1.50 Plc 25-Oct-16 20.00 has reported 30-Sep-17 an 8.7 2.44 per 0.64 30-Nov-17 1.46 cent growth in its first 5.40 09-Apr-18 1.71 quarter ended March 31, 2015. 2.54 09-Sep-18 1.88 0.70 09-Sep-18 1.88 According to a notice from 35.00 22-Sep-18 3.41 the Nigerian 18-Oct-18 Stock Exchange 2.10 1.98 0.36 2.07 (NSE), the 17-Feb-19 group’s pre-tax 4.50 2.69 profit during 01-Apr-19 the period under 2.05 14-Nov-20 5.56 review grew 30-Dec-21 to N26.94 billion 30.50 6.69 0.10 N24.8 billion 30-Sep-24 9.44 from posted a year 15.44 30-Sep-24 9.44 earlier. 161.53 Its gross earnings grew to 158.24 N126.8 billion, up 23.5 per cent year-on-year from N102.6 billion 12.00 2.80 posted in 2014.11-Feb-18 12.95 01-Feb-21 4.75 Commenting on the results, 24.95 the Group CEO, Mr. Bello Mac21.94 cido, said: “The Group has susOutstanding Value tained its leading position in(%) Maturity Date Bid Yield ($mm) the financial services industry, posting a 23.5 per cent growth in 500.00 5.52 gross earnings28-Jan-21 at N126.8 billion. “In spite of12-Jul-18 the volatile4.62 po500.00 litical and macroeconomic 500.00 12-Jul-23 5.78 environment that has char1,500.00 acterised the first quarter, we 1,556.29 returned a profit before tax of N26.9 billion, a nine per cent increase over01-Feb-16 the same period 450.00 162.79 6.49 in500.00 2014. Given19-May-16 this, we are cau350.00 25-Jul-17 tiously optimistic about the11.38 rest of300.00 the year as02-May-18 the country 11.09 and 400.00 08-Nov-18 7.44 economy benefit from improv300.00 08-Apr-19 41.78 500.00 22-Apr-19 ing confidence and remain7.35fo200.00 21-May-19 11.04 cused on managing effectively 300.00 07-Aug-20 8.58 the macroeconomic challenges. 360.00 09-Dec-20 26.21 “We expect24-Jun-21 improved trac400.00 11.15 450.00 23-Jul-21 8.72 tion from investments commit250.00

1.00

12.22

99.29

ted 1.34 in the prior year to diversify 14.92 99.12 1.00 14.68 and enhance 96.63 revenue streams 1.88 15.47 103.86 profitability . We will continue 1.00 14.60 101.99 building a resilient business 1.00 14.62 105.15 1.00 14.62 102.08 and drive efficiency towards 3.00 16.80 92.92 delivering sustainable returns 2.29 15.92 99.70 6.11 esteemed 19.75shareholders.” 97.25 to our 2.16 15.87 100.24 FBN Holdings had released 2.76 16.68 94.90 its 1.13 2014FY audited results, 15.09 105.55 re1.00 15.28cent growth 83.48 cording a 17 per in 1.00 15.28 89.98 profit after tax for the financial year ended December 31, 2014. The company’s profit after tax firmed up to N82.839 billion 1.00 14.72 89.87 as against N70.631 billion re1.00 14.90 86.14 corded during the comparable period of 2013, indicating a growth of 17.3 per cent. bank’s gross earnings OfferThe Yield (%) Bid Price Offer Price grew by 21.5 per cent from Prices & Yields N395.455 billion in 2013 to 5.31 105.96 N480.618 billion in 2014.107.07 The had reported 4.32 bank 101.49 102.39a 21 per cent decline in profit before 5.63 103.80 104.84 tax (PBT) during its first quarter ended March 31, 2014. The Q1 financial report submitted to the Nigerian Stock Exchange that the compa162.79 showed 43.00 43.00 101.01 tax (PBT) 103.38 fell ny’s4.19profit before 11.38 92.00 from N31.409 92.00 to N24.779 billion 10.28 89.40 91.33 billion in the same period of 6.78 95.59 97.60 2013. 41.78 42.00 42.00 7.35 96.25 tax Similarly , 96.25 profit after 10.24 92.65 95.14 (PAT) declined 13 per cent to 8.58 97.79 97.79 N21.555 billion in the Q1 of 2014 26.21 44.00 44.00 from billion in the 10.70N24.691 91.60 93.48 cor8.72 95.67 95.67 responding period of 2013.

4,760.00

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

99.04over increase of 42.7 per cent 1.31 14.94 91.76 the1.00 seven-year period). 14.64 98.98 1.79 15.50transactions, 96.74 Domestic 1.80 15.44 97.58 on 1.00 the other 14.64 hand, started at 98.87 N3,556 representing 1.00 billion,14.64 99.72 85.2 18.42 but decreased 92.97 per4.78 cent in 2007, 1.00 14.66 101.44 significantly to N1,137 billion, 1.00 14.71 101.59 1.00 14.90 per cent 98.67 representing 42.5 of to1.00 14.71 100.07 tal transactions in 2014 (a sharp 1.00 14.77 99.94 decline of 42.7 per cent94.68 in the 1.00 14.93 1.00 14.93 100.21 seven-year period).

452.88 440.08

5.53

MPR+5.25 TOWER 9-SEP-2018 09-Sep-11 16.00 hareholders of *TOWER United 14.00 UBA II 22-SEP-2018 22-Sep-11 14.00 UBA Bank for Africa (UBA) 15.75 LA CASERA 18-OCT-2018 Bbb+/Agusto; BBB+/GCR 18-Oct-13 15.75 *LA CASERA MPR+5.00 CHELLARAMS II 17-FEB-2019 17-Feb-12 18.00 BBB-/DataPro†; BB/GCR Plc, at the bank’s 53rd *CHELLARAMS DANA II 1-APR-2019 01-Apr-14 Nil *DANA Annual General Meeting at much of16.00 its earnings for bank’s commitment to 16.00 15.25 NAHCO II 14-NOV-2020 A+/Agusto; A-/GCR 14-Nov-13 15.25 NAHCO the weekend, endorsed the the benefit of growing strict adherence to the 16.45 UBA I 30-DEC-2021 A/GCR 30-Dec-14 16.45 UBA 182D T.bills+1.20 STANBIC IA 30-SEP-2024 A/GCR 30-Sep-14 11.93 company’s N3.627 STANBIC billion best practice in corporate its business in the years IBTC 13.25 STANBIC IB 30-SEP-2024 A/GCR 30-Sep-14 STANBIC IBTC dividend, amounting to ahead. They expressed opti- governance, Elumelu ex- 13.25 TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE 10 kobo per every 50 kobo mism over the ability of the plained that the bank’s divTOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION share, for the 2014 finan- bank to deliver sustainably idend policy in the current Supranational Bond as the bank cial year, even high returns to them over financial year was guided 10.20 IFC 11-FEB-2018 AAA/S&P assured of steady IFC growth the medium to long term. by the need to11-Feb-13 be prudent. 10.20 11.25 AFDB 1-FEB-2021 Aaa/Moody's; AAA/S&P AfDB 10-Jul-14 11.25 A shareholder, Mukhtar in profitability and expan“Though UBA is adTOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE sion. Mukhtar said: “I commend equately capitalised with TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION The shareholders also the appointment of Tony capital adequacy ratios in ratified the appointmentIssuerElumelu as chairman. He excess of regulatory reDescription Rating/Agency Issue Date Coupon (%) of Mr. Tony Elumelu, the is a proven business lead- quirement, we proactively FGN Eurobonds former Managing Director er. I am also happy with raised additional capital 6.75 JAN 28, 2021 BB-/Fitch; B+/S&P 07-Oct-11 of the bank as a non-Exec- the bank’s performance, I during the year to further 6.75 BB-/Fitch; utive Director/ Chairman. will FGNhave no doubt that 5.13it JUL 12, 2018 boost our capital 12-Jul-13base and 5.13 BB-/S&P Shareholders were par- continue to improve with it would not have been pruBB-/Fitch; 6.38 JUL 12, 2023 12-Jul-13 6.38 BB-/S&P ticularly excited at the Elumelu as chairman." dent to pay so much diviTOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE increasing penetration Another shareholder, dend after raising capital TOTAL of theMARKET bankCAPITALISATION in other Afri- Alhaji Kabiru Tambari, from the market. Sharecan countries, commended the manage- holders should, however, Corporate Eurobondslauding the 01, 2016 expect higher emergence of UBAAFREN as the ment for focusing11.50 onFEB both dividend in 11.50 B/Fitch; B-/S&P PLC I 01-Feb-11 7.50 MAY 19, 2016 future,” Elumelu B+/Fitch; B+/S&P in Cameroun GTBANK PLC I 19-May-11 7.50 best bank and the short and long term said. 7.25 JUL 25, 2017 B+/S&P ACCESS BANK PLC Speaking 25-Jul-12 on the bank’s 7.25 Senegal for the fourth and growth of the bank, saying 6.88 MAY 09, 2018 B/Fitch; B/S&P FIDELITY BANK PLC 09-May-13 third consecutive year re- that shareholders were not financial performance, Elu- 6.88 6.00 NOV 08, 2018 B+/Fitch; B+/S&P GTBANK PLC 08-Nov-13 6.00 spectively. only interested in the recorded a 10.25 10.25 profit APR 08, 2019 melu said: “We B/Fitch AFREN PLC II 08-Apr-12 6.25year APR 22, a 2019 gross earnings B+/Fitch; BB-/S&Phowever, ZENITH BANK PLCthe bank makes this 22-Apr-14of They, agreed N290 6.25 8.75 May 21, 2019 B/Fitch; B/S&P BANK PLC 21-May-14 with the board’s DIAMOND recomyear, an ap- 8.75 but also in its ability to sus- billion in the 8.25 AUG 07, 2020 B-/Fitch; B/S&P FIRST BANK PLC 07-Aug-13 8.25 mendation of N0.10 divi- tain its leadership 6.63 position preciable growth of 10 per 6.63 DEC 09, 2020 B-/Fitch; B/S&P AFREN PLC III 09-Dec-13 9.25/6M USD LIBOR+7.677 JUNcent 24, 2021over our24-Jun-14 performance 9.25 dendB/S&P per share, ACCESS which over the long term. B-/Fitch; BANK PLC II 8.00/2Y USD SWAP+6.488 JUL 23 2021 B-/Fitch; B/S&P BANK LTD 23-Jul-14 8.00 allows the bank toFIRST retain While affirming the in 2013. AAA/DataPro†; A/GCR

A/Agusto; A/GCR

B-/S&P

321.17

Sub-National Bonds

‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR†

Business | Financial Market News

322.38

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

‡ /Agusto; A+/GCR

0.00 FMB 24-MAY-2015 17.25 FMB II 03-APR-2017 0.00/16.00 LCRM 08-DEC-2016 0.00/16.50 LCRM II 19-APR-2017 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017

24-Apr-15

3,936.95

data relating to, amongst other things, market and model prices, rates of foreign exchange products, fixed income securities and instruments in the financial market (the “Information”). The Information does not constitute FIXINGS Money Market Foreign Exchange (Spot & Forwards) professional,DTM financial or investment advice. We attempt to ensure the Information isOffer accurate; theBid Information basis and mayRate not (%) be accurate or up to date. We do not guarantee Maturity Bid Discount (%) Discounthowever, (%) Yield (%) is provided “AS IS” and on an “AS AVAILABLE”Tenor NIBOR 7-May-15 7.10neither do we accept liability for the results of any action taken on the basis of the Information. the accuracy,13timeliness, completeness, performance or fitness for7.08 a particular purpose of6.83 any of the Information, OBB 9.25 Tenor Bid ($/N) Offer ($/N)

FGN

20 27 41 Bonds 48 62 69 76 Rating/Agency 83 90 97 104 111 125 132 139 153 160 174 NA 223 237 258 272 286 300 314 328 335 349

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

14-May-15 21-May-15 4-Jun-15 11-Jun-15 25-Jun-15 2-Jul-15 9-Jul-15 Issuer 16-Jul-15 23-Jul-15 30-Jul-15 6-Aug-15 13-Aug-15 27-Aug-15 3-Sep-15 10-Sep-15 24-Sep-15 1-Oct-15 15-Oct-15 NA 3-Dec-15 17-Dec-15 7-Jan-16 21-Jan-16 4-Feb-16 18-Feb-16 3-Mar-16 17-Mar-16 24-Mar-16 7-Apr-16

11.32 11.47 11.15 11.15 11.36 11.42 10.25 Description 11.50 10.06 ^13.05 16-AUG-2016 11.37 ^15.10 27-APR-2017 11.27 11.87 9.85 27-JUL-2017 12.46 9.35 31-AUG-2017 11.61 10.70 30-MAY-2018 12.06 ^16.00 29-JUN-2019 12.56 11.61 7.00 23-OCT-2019 12.38 15.54 13-FEB-2020 12.31 ^16.39 27-JAN-2022 12.20 ^14.20 14-MAR-2024 12.40 15.00 28-NOV-2028 12.63 12.40 12.49 22-MAY-2029 12.50 8.50 20-NOV-2029 12.32 ^10.00 23-JUL-2030 12.65 ^12.1493 18-JUL-2034 12.65 12.46

11.07 11.22 10.90 10.90 11.11 11.17 10.00 Issue Date 11.25 9.81 16-Aug-13 11.12 27-Apr-12 11.02 11.62 27-Jul-07 12.21 31-Aug-07 11.36 30-May-08 11.81 29-Jun-12 12.31 11.36 23-Oct-09 12.13 13-Feb-15 12.06 27-Jan-12 11.95 14-Mar-14 12.15 28-Nov-08 12.38 12.15 22-May-09 12.25 20-Nov-09 12.07 23-Jul-10 12.40 18-Jul-14 12.40 12.21

11.39 11.56 11.30 11.31 11.59 11.67 10.47 (%) Coupon 11.80 10.32 13.05 11.72 15.10 11.65 12.31 9.85 13.02 9.35 12.11 10.70 12.64 16.00 13.25 12.23 7.00 13.16 15.54 13.31 16.39 13.25 14.20 13.59 15.00 13.94 13.74 12.49 13.93 8.50 13.78 10.00 14.27 12.1493 14.31 14.15

Bonds

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

Tenor O/N 1M 3M 6M

Rate (%) 9.8825 14.1761 15.1957 15.8345

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

O/N

10.00

Tenor Call

1M(Yrs) TTM

Maturity Date

NITTY

581.39 16-Aug-16 Tenor Rate (%) 476.80 27-Apr-17 1M 11.7033 2M 11.8829 20.00 27-Jul-17 3M 11.8959 100.00 31-Aug-17 6M 12.3307 300.00 30-May-18 9M 13.5543 351.30 29-Jun-19 12M 13.9240 233.90 23-Oct-19 98.31 13-Feb-20 NIFEX 600.00 27-Jan-22 524.68 14-Mar-24 Current Price ($/N) 28-Nov-28 BID($/N) 75.00 199.0250 OFFER ($/N) 199.1250 150.00 22-May-29 200.00 20-Nov-29 591.57 23-Jul-30 279.50 18-Jul-34

REPO

3M 6M

Rate (%) 23.50

Bid23.75 Yield (%) 24.00 24.25

1.31 13.56 13.44 2.01 13.63 13.54 NOTE: 2.26 13.66 13.58 :Benchmarks 2.35 13.67 13.59 * :Amortising Bond 3.10 Bond 13.76 13.63 µ :Convertible 4.18 Management Corporation 13.85 13.75 AMCON: Asset of Nigeria FGN: Federal 4.50Government of Nigeria 13.90 13.79 FMBN: Federal of Nigeria 4.81 Mortgage Bank13.91 13.82 IFC: International Finance Corporation 6.76 13.91 13.84 LCRM: Local Contractors Receivables Management 8.89 Aviation Handling 13.96 Company 13.90 NAHCO: Nigerian O/N: Overnight 13.60 16.83 16.77 UPDC: UAC Property Development 14.08 17.26 Company 17.19 WAPCO:West Africa Portland Cement Company 14.58 17.75 17.65 15.25 15.47 15.40 19.23 13.94 13.89

Issuer

Description

Issue Date

Agency Bonds FMBN Modified Duration Buckets

***LCRM <3

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

3<5

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

>5 Market

99.35 99.50 102.51 102.66 92.76 92.91 NA :Not Applicable 91.52 91.67 ^ : Market Prices 92.46 92.76 # : Floating Rate Bond 106.61coupon bonds 106.91 ***: Deferred 77.49 77.79 ‡ : Bond rating under review 105.53 105.83 †: Bond rating expired 110.59 110.89 N/A :Not Available 101.16 {r} :Issuer in receivership101.46 90.27 90.57 NGC: Nigeria-German Company 75.01 75.31 UBA: United Bank for Africa 52.24 52.54 68.25 68.55 88.08 88.38

4,254.26

*for the Amortising bonds, the average life is calculated and not the duration

Rating/Agency

199.11 199.21 201.81 201.93 202.13 Price 202.28 202.87 203.37 204.24 205.31 205.60 207.21 Bid Price Offer Price 206.28 213.47 220.29 226.27

4,582.44

Risk Premium is a combination of credit risk and liquidity risk premiums **Exclusive of non-trading t.bills

Spot 7D 14D 1M 2M Offer 3M Yield (%) 6M 1Y

0.00 FMB 24-MAY-2015 17.25 FMB II 03-APR-2017 0.00/16.00 LCRM 08-DEC-2016 Total Outstanding Porfolio Market Value(Bn) 0.00/16.50 LCRM II 19-APR-2017 Volume(Bn) 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017

Coupon (%)

BOND 24-May-12FMDQ FGN0.00 03-Apr-12 17.25 Weighting by Weighting by Mkt 09-Dec-11 0.00/16.00 Outstanding Value 20-Apr-12Vol 0.00/16.50 06-Jul-12 0.00/16.50

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

INDEX24.56

2.40 112.22 Bucket Weighting 116.70 66.49

1,440.88

1,409.48

42.01

44.50

1,169.04

1,099.68

32.78

36.11

322.380.33

0.42

627.91

846.07

25.22

19.39

3,237.83

3,355.23

100.00

321.170.25 1.00

Maturity Date

24-May-15 03-Apr-17 % Exposure_ 08-Dec-16 Mod_Duration 19-Apr-17 06-Jul-17

19.62

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

0.08 1.07 1.63 Implied Yield 1.99 2.20

13.70

# Risk Premium (%)

2.63 2.27 Implied 2.00 Portfolio Price 2.69 2.85 106.9409

Valuation Yield (%)

14.42 15.95 15.60 INDEX 16.32 16.50

1,198.16

Indicative Price

98.77 101.28 YTD 100.50 Return (%) 100.51 96.85

8.1519

38.59

13.93

109.3868

1,091.47

41.79

14.89

76.9506

1,081.55

7.7921 7.4011

100.00

14.29

100.1801

1,132.03

7.2824

Sub-National Bonds A/Agusto

KADUNA

12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015

31-Aug-10

12.50

8.50

31-Aug-15

0.35

4.44

16.04

98.73

A-/Agusto

*EBONYI

13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015

30-Sep-10

13.00

2.16

30-Sep-15

0.44

3.23

15.74

98.84

BBB+/Agusto

*BENUE

14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-11

14.00

4.86

30-Jun-16

0.71

4.46

17.87

97.51

‡ /Agusto

*IMO

15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-09

15.50

5.73

30-Jun-16

0.71

3.48

16.89

99.04

A+/Agusto; ‡ /GCR

LAGOS

10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017

19-Apr-10

10.00

57.00

19-Apr-17

1.99

1.31

14.94

91.76

‡ /Agusto

*BAYELSA

13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017

30-Jun-10

13.75

25.73

30-Jun-17

1.25

1.00

14.64

98.98

‡ /Agusto

EDO

14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017

30-Dec-10

14.00

25.00

31-Dec-17

2.69

1.79

15.50

96.74

Business | Interview

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economic crisis ruined Dr. Femi Olomola, Fellow and Managing Partner, Femi Olomola & Co, is the current President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP). In this interview with DAYO AYEYEMI, he speaks on the need to accompany all applications for building planning approval, application for Certificate of Occupancy, opening of bank account and registration of business with Corporate Affair Commission. He also sheds light on the dwindling economic resources and its impact on environment. How is the current economic downturn such as devaluation of naira and plunge in oil revenue affecting the urban planning profession? The effect is great. You see, when we have situation where there is declining income in the federation account, this snowballs into low allocation to states and automatically low allocation to local governments. It is so funny. This has translated to further bastardisation of the environment. Look at somebody, whose wife is working and he too is working; they are okay at that time, but the moment the economy is going down, you see the wife selling something in front of the house. In the evening, she will begin to hawk something by converting their frontage to shop. You see, that 60 by 120-feet plot is like a drop in the environment and bastardisation comes in immediately. This affects the next building as well. Everybody breaks their fence for shops and before you know it, the whole street has plummeted and this snowballed to the next street, all because the economy is bad. One of the major effects of this economic crisis is the degradation of the environment from one plot to the other and it suddenly becomes a monster. Even the socalled middle class estates have been degraded. It leads to development of slums in the long term. Cities are engine of growth, are Nigerian cities playing this role? We are the fastest growing economy in Africa. Our growth rate jumped, our GDP is more than that of South Africa and this is happening under our urban setting. So, there is growth. In Lagos and because of the massive population, if you have anything that can attract two per cent of the population of Lagos, you are already in money. But the growth ought to have taken place in a planned and habitable environment and not in hostile environment where there is no drainage, heavy pollution, no water supply, no sewage treatment and half of the population is without soak-away. So, there is growth, at least money changes hands, but not in the best and ideal environment.

Olomola

Recently, you muted the idea of Land Use Planning report as a document that must accompany applications for building plan approval, issuance of Certificate of Occupancy and bank account opening, among others. What informed this idea? The issue of Land Use Planning report is one of the cardinal points of my administration. What is Land Use Planning report? What use will it be? Let me state clearly at the beginning that the need for that report which we called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;original indigenousâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; report is due to the peculiarity of the physical development and management of our environment. It is not anything you can find in any textbook; it is not taught in any university; it is a planning report peculiar to the Nigerian environment. Go to

Everybody breaks their fence for shops and before you know it, the whole street has plummeted

town planning offices in the ministry and look at the infrastructure they have to control development. I refer to infrastructure here as the operating tools for them to do their jobs, they are not available. In Nigeria, if we have a situation whereby 100 residential building developments are going on, town planning authority will be faced with 100 planning applications and these applications are located in 100 different areas. For the town planning authority too, to issue approval, it must visit 100 locations, get 100 reports before it can decide whether to approve or not. We may now ask: How many vehicles do the authority has to visit these sites? Even if it has, are the vehicles adequately fuelled? When they break down, are they maintained? This explains why in many cases the emerging outskirt of our cities are just slum from

the very beginning, because the authorities that are supposed to monitor from the beginning do not have the equipment to do it. How do you know that planning authorities lack working tools? I worked in government office before, so, I know what I am talking about. Since I left, I have not seen any significant change. The workload is heavy on planning authority in the face of inadequate facility to work with. So, we now come up with this Land Use Planning report. What is this report all about? One, it is a report prepared by registered town planners that identify the various land uses in the immediate environment of the proposed development. Let me explain better. You can imagine a particular plot of land,

Business | Interview

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

the environment –NITP boss B I O D ATA Education: - Ordinary National Diploma (OND), Town Planning, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State (1976); - B. A (Hons) Town & Country Planning, The University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK (1982); - Ph. D., Town & Country Planning, The University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK (1987) Previous positions: -1st Vice President, Nigerian Institute of Town Planners -Past president, Association of Town Planners Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON) -Past Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Lagos chapter.

imaging it in Lekki, Ayobo or Ikorodu or anywhere in Nigeria, the standard plot is 60 by 120 feet, imagine it located at a point. You now imaging from that particular point and draw a radius, 100 metres radius - draw a circle round that particular plot. Once you do that in the proposed report, the town planner goes on the field and does land use survey. The survey will find out the number of plots within the radius, what they are being used for, the use of the particular building, next building to the plot or building and analysis of the area covered within that radius. He will tell you that 80 per cent is being used for residential, 25 per cent for commercial, 14 per cent for road and two per cent for recreational. If it is twins duplex, he will be able to give you the status of the land. If the plot of land is in government acquisition, the report will reveal government’s current town planning policy and the zoning regulations affecting the area. You will now find out if the proposed development is compatible with the prevailing land uses in that area. The town planner will give his own professional opinion on the use of that piece of land for the proposed use and will write his recommendations. In doing so, you would have known the owner of the land or the building, the title, road setback and network. Town planner has to prepare a detailed sketch so that anybody should be able to take that sketch, locate the site and identify all the benchmarks. One of the areas we think the report will be useful is that town planning officers can decide whether or not to allow development to go ahead by way of approval, without going to sites as they can rely on the professional land use reports prepared, stamped and sealed by their colleague. It is to fast-track building approval process. It is meant to accompany application for building planning. Secondly, we see it as something that will help banks in what I will call ‘knowing their customer more.’ When someone wants to start operating a company or

If you want to insure a particular property and the next building to it is where people are bottling Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), cooking gas, you’d better be careful

Olomola

corporate account, as at now, all that the bank know is that he has filled the form with No 4, Karimu Street, off Kolawole Ajala Street address and that is all. There are cases after someone has opened an account and discovered that the address filled is a fake. With land use planning report, there is no way that will happen, because the address he gave has been conceptualised in the report. The owner of the building is identified and it will be useful to the bank as it will help the bank to know their customers more and this will have a multiplier effect of reducing fraud. Are you sure it is going to curb bank fraud? The moment you are sure they know everything about you, it makes it difficult for you to want to run away. So, we see that it will be very useful to banks, even to Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). As at now, you want to register a company at CAC, what do you do? You get a form, fill it and state your place of operation as No 4, Alao Street, Ikeja. As far as I know, CAC does not go about locating the office address. We have seen cases of fraudsters who have used that to achieve their goal. We believe if the land use planning report is made an integral part of the documents to be submitted before registration of company, CAC will have a robust information base before granting companies’ registration.

Another area where we think it will be very useful is in the issuance of Certificate of Occupancy. In many states, when you want to apply for C of O and you fill their form, you submit the form with survey plan. The survey plan will only give you the geographical coordinates of that particular plot, but in our own report, you are conceptualising it. It is not impossible for someone to apply for C of O for residential use in an area that will never be considered for such because the issuing authority has limited information. But with land use report, the authority will have a data base to rely on for decision. We are looking at insurance companies too because if you want to insure a building, it is in the interest of the insurance company to insure the property in the context of very robust information. If you want to insure a particular property and the next building to it is where people are bottling Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), cooking gas, you’d better be careful. If you have that kind of plant located next to a building and you are asked to insure it, if you have the land use report telling you that the next place to the building is an LPG plant, you know the risk you are taking is high. God forbid, because with tiniest error with the particular LPG plant, the whole community is in flame. So, the report helps your decision process whether to increase your premium because of the risk factor involved.

How do you sell the idea to those concerned? I have sold the idea to our council and they bought into it. We are trying to come up with a model. We set up a committee in Lagos headed by Mr. Hakeem Badejo; we took the report to the management and we now decided to expand the model to meet criteria for all the geo-political zones in Nigeria. There could be variation, and we now decided to make it the central team of our Mandatory Continuing Profession Development Programme (MCPD) for the year. We are having it in three zones. We will be discussing the model in the programme starting in May. By the end of June, we would have produced an acceptable model report acceptable throughout the country. We will take the report to the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria to sell to him. We will make a presentation to the Corporate Affairs Commission, the Nigeria Insurance Commission and to the executive secretaries of Land Use Allocation Committee of various states. And you are positive they will buy the idea? Not that they will immediately say yes, but we know that before the end of the year, two or three bodies would have seen the sense in what we have done and hopefully endorse it.

Business | Capital Market

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH Daily Summary as of 24/04/2015 Printed 24/04/2015 16:25:43.043

Daily Summary as of 24/04/2015

The Nigerian Stock Market Exchange as at April 24, 2015

Printed 24/04/2015 16:25:43.043

Daily Summary (Equities)

Daily Summary (Bonds) Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Activity Summary on Board DEBT Federal

Bond Name 13.05% FGN AUG 2016 15.10% FGN APR 2017 16.00% FGN JUN 2019 16.39% FGN JAN 2022 Federal Totals

Symbol FG102016S1 FG9B2017S2 FG9B2019S3 FG9B2022S1

DEBT Board Totals

No. of Deals 2 1 2 1 6

Current Price 102.60 107.00 111.50 115.50

Bond Activity Totals

Quantity Traded 800 300 2,500 1,550 5150

FINANCIAL SERVICES Other Financial Institutions FBN HOLDINGS PLC FCMB GROUP PLC. ROYAL EXCHANGE PLC. STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC UBA CAPITAL PLC Other Financial Institutions Totals

Value Traded 831,676.24 321,124.07 2,919,368.14 1,854,115.24 5,926,283.69

5,150

5,926,283.69

5150

5,926,283.69

HEALTHCARE Pharmaceuticals EVANS MEDICAL PLC. FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER NIG. PLC. MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PLC Pharmaceuticals Totals

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Livestock/Animal Specialties LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. Livestock/Animal Specialties Totals

Symbol FTNCOCOA OKOMUOIL PRESCO Symbol

No. of Deals 3 41 13 57

Current Price 0.50 27.30 26.00

No. of Deals 51 51

Current Price 2.31

Daily Summary (Equities) LIVESTOCK

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Infrastructure/Heavy Construction JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. Infrastructure/Heavy Daily Summary as of 24/04/2015Construction Totals

Printed 24/04/2015 16:25:43.043 Real Estate Development UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT CO. LIMITED Real Estate Development Totals Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) UPDC REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) Totals

Symbol AGLEVENT JOHNHOLT TRANSCORP UACN

No. of Deals 4 1 175 68 248

Beverages--Brewers/Distillers CHAMPION BREW. PLC. GUINNESS NIG PLC INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. Beverages--Brewers/Distillers Totals Beverages--Non-Alcoholic 7-UP BOTTLING COMP. PLC. Daily Summary as of 24/04/2015 Beverages--Non-Alcoholic Totals Printed 24/04/2015 16:25:43.043 Food Products DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC

Current Price 1.55 0.94 3.20 40.00

248

Quantity Traded 203,280 100 13,551,832 14,654,636 28,409,848

Value Traded 315,114.00 90.00 43,339,334.06 586,184,722.88 629,839,260.94

28,409,848

629,839,260.94

Current Price 0.84

Quantity Traded 422,595 422,595

Value Traded 362,049.05 362,049.05

Symbol JBERGER

No. of Deals 5 5

Current Price 51.70

Quantity Traded 49,675 49,675

Value Traded 2,521,861.25 2,521,861.25

Symbol UAC-PROP

No. of Deals 24 24

Current Price 11.75

Quantity Traded 1,132,737 1,132,737

Value Traded 13,091,192.94 13,091,192.94

Current Price 10.00

Quantity Traded 110,000

Value Traded 1,100,000.00

Daily Summary (Equities) Symbol UPDCREIT

No. of Deals 2

Page Symbol

No. of Deals 2

Current Price

Quantity Traded 110,000

Value Traded 1,100,000.00

1,715,007

17,075,103.24

Symbol DUNLOP

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 21,000 21,000

Value Traded 10,500.00 10,500.00

Symbol CHAMPION GUINNESS INTBREW NB

No. of Deals 24 34 8 131 197

Current Price 7.54 168.00 21.70 151.00

Quantity Traded 859,346 50,733 5,960 3,114,328 4,030,367

Value Traded 6,482,586.64 8,203,718.95 129,815.70 470,529,265.37 485,345,386.66

Symbol 7UP

No. of Deals 32 32

Current Price 178.00

Quantity Traded 57,713 57,713

Value Traded 10,019,008.50 10,019,008.50

No. of Deals 71 116 (Equities) 106 23

Current Price 4.85 7.23 36.99 3.40

Quantity Traded 2,242,510 3,807,477 2,027,051 356,113

Value Traded 10,908,085.77 27,646,704.27 74,091,603.49 1,202,372.98

No. of Deals 71 387

Current Price 8.60

Quantity Traded 1,664,500 10,097,651

Value Traded 14,493,250.32 128,342,016.83

Symbol DANGFLOUR DANGSUGAR FLOURMILL Daily Summary HONYFLOUR

Page Symbol NASCON

Food Products--Diversified CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. Food Products--Diversified Totals

Symbol CADBURY NESTLE

No. of Deals 24 58 82

Current Price 40.00 948.00

Quantity Traded 202,490 99,786 302,276

Value Traded 8,237,044.00 94,405,761.97 102,642,805.97

Household Durables VITAFOAM NIG PLC. VONO PRODUCTS PLC. Household Durables Totals

Symbol VITAFOAM VONO

No. of Deals 39 1 40

Current Price 4.40 1.08

Quantity Traded 1,784,134 20,234 1,804,368

Value Traded 7,627,429.02 20,841.02 7,648,270.04

Personal/Household Products P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. Personal/Household Products Totals

Symbol PZ UNILEVER

No. of Deals 41 49 90

Current Price 31.23 40.00

Quantity Traded 327,885 751,705 1,079,590

Value Traded 9,982,223.77 29,435,862.91 39,418,086.68

17,392,965

773,426,074.68 Value Traded 66,527,145.52 97,891,669.39 242,835,773.25

Daily Summary as of 24/04/2015 CONSUMER GOODS Totals Printed 24/04/2015 16:25:43.043

FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ACCESS BANK PLC. DIAMOND BANK PLC ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED

ICT Computer Based Systems COURTEVILLE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS PLC Computer Based Systems Totals Activity Summary on Board EQTY

829

CHAMS PLC Processing Systems Totals

INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials AFRICAN PAINTS (NIGERIA) PLC. ASHAKA CEM PLC BERGER PAINTS PLC CAP PLC CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC DANGOTE CEMENT PLC DN MEYER PLC. PORTLAND PAINTS & PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC LAFARGE AFRICA PLC. Daily Summary as of 24/04/2015 Building Materials Totals

Printed 24/04/2015 16:25:43.043

Electronic and Electrical Products CUTIX PLC. Electronic and Electrical Products Totals

Packaging/Containers BETA GLASS CO PLC. Packaging/Containers Totals Activity Summary on Board EQTY

OIL AND GAS Activity Summary on and Board EQTY Energy Equipment Services

OIL AND GAS Energy Equipment and Services JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC Energy Equipment and Services Totals Integrated Oil and Gas Services OANDO PLC Integrated Oil and Gas Services Totals Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors CONOIL PLC ETERNA PLC. FORTE OIL PLC. MOBIL OIL NIG PLC. TOTAL NIGERIA Published by The Nigerian StockPLC. Exchange © Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors Totals

No. of Deals

Current Price

Quantity Traded

Value Traded

Symbol AFRINSURE AIICO CONTINSURE GNI INTENEGINS LINKASSURE MANSARD MBENEFIT NEM STACO STDINSURE WAPIC

No. of Deals 1 66 33 1 10 21 4 1 10 1 2 66 216

Current Price 0.50 1.14 0.88 0.50 0.50 0.50 3.19 0.50 0.69 0.50 0.50 0.55

Quantity Traded 200 5,886,111 10,527,802 1,000 55,477,741 1,502,554 8,600 1,000 376,000 11,500 43,200 Page 11,385,522

Value Traded 100.00 6,400,702.26 9,284,541.12 500.00 27,738,870.50 751,277.00 26,750.00 500.00 258,890.00 5,750.00 21,600.00 5 6,176,617.35 of 13

Micro-Finance Banks NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC Micro-Finance Banks Totals

Symbol NPFMCRFBK

No. of Deals 89 89

Current Price 1.39

Quantity Traded 7,280,189 7,280,189

Value Traded 10,119,427.71 10,119,427.71

Mortgage Carriers, Brokers and Services ASO SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC Mortgage Carriers, Brokers and Services Totals

Symbol ASOSAVINGS

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 280 280

Value Traded 140.00 140.00

Other Financial Institutions AFRICA PRUDENTIAL REGISTRARS PLC CUSTODIAN AND ALLIED PLC

Symbol AFRIPRUD CUSTODYINS

No. of Deals 36 12

Current Price 2.74 3.95

Quantity Traded 311,503 1,331,192

Value Traded 857,973.04 5,323,893.60

FINANCIAL SERVICES Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services AFRICAN ALLIANCE INSURANCE COMPANY PLC AIICO INSURANCE PLC. CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC GREAT NIGERIAN INSURANCE PLC INTERNATIONAL ENERGY INSURANCE COMPANY PLC LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC MANSARD INSURANCE PLC MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. N.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. STANDARD TRUST ASSURANCE PLC STANDARD ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC. WAPIC INSURANCE PLC © Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services Totals

85,221,230

Page

2,282,943,364.94

Quantity Traded 40,000 171,600 148,231 352,825 177,028 889,684

Value Traded 76,000.00 556,811.00 7,629,958.95 647,435.43 206,276.82 9,116,482.20

889,684

9,116,482.20

Quantity Traded 11,111 11,111

Value Traded 5,555.50 5,555.50

No. of Deals 4 4

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded Page 9,671,542 9,671,542

Symbol AFRPAINTS ASHAKACEM BERGER CAP CCNN DANGCEM DNMEYER PORTPAINT WAPCO

9,682,653

4,841,326.50

No. of Deals 1 15 22 13 7 13 1 6 34 112

Current Price 2.72 20.57 9.99 35.66 11.59 175.00 0.83 3.84 93.00

Quantity Traded 200 111,627 452,855 19,819 10,534 37,908 1,000 66,710 466,503 1,167,156

Value Traded 518.00 2,198,280.47 4,512,991.51 752,522.00 116,247.81 6,627,514.25 850.00 267,320.10 43,263,069.24 57,739,313.38

Symbol CUTIX

No. of Deals 9 9

Current Price 1.74

Quantity Traded 39,953 39,953

Value Traded 70,061.69 70,061.69

Current Price 28.70

Quantity Traded 200 200

Value Traded 5,760.00 5,760.00

Daily Summary (Equities) Symbol No. of Deals BETAGLAS

1 1

Page

122 Symbol BOCGAS

No. of Deals 3 3

Daily Summary (Equities)

Current Price 5.21

Traded13 7 Value of 4,835,771.00 4,835,771.00

1,207,309

57,815,135.07

Quantity Traded 13,000 13,000

Value Traded 63,342.00 63,342.00

13,000

63,342.00

Symbol

No. of Deals

Current Price

Quantity Traded

Value Traded

Symbol JAPAULOIL

No. of Deals 6 6

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 72,100 72,100

Value Traded 36,050.00 36,050.00

Symbol OANDO

No. of Deals 368 368

Current Price 19.60

Quantity Traded 9,116,870 9,116,870

Value Traded 179,927,083.22 179,927,083.22

Symbol CONOIL ETERNA FO MOBIL TOTAL

No. of Deals 20 13 33 15 12 93

Current Price 36.21 2.90 197.60 152.05 162.45

Quantity Traded 202,088 193,944 136,252 27,224 Page 102,170 661,678

Value Traded 7,345,000.63 564,037.60 26,964,358.16 4,244,083.25 916,602,165.94 of 13 55,719,645.58

Symbol SEPLAT

No. of Deals 12 12

Current Price 398.00

Quantity Traded 103,205 103,205

Value Traded 41,046,968.00 41,046,968.00

9,953,853

276,729,746.80 Value Traded 141,141.03 141,141.03

479

Quantity Traded 140,597 140,597

Symbol REDSTAREX TRANSEXPR

No. of Deals 4 21 25

Current Price 3.60 1.17

Quantity Traded 15,151 822,600 837,751

Employment Solutions C & I LEASING PLC. Employment Solutions Totals

Symbol CILEASING

No. of Deals 6 6

Current Price 0.52

Quantity Traded 293,646 293,646

Value Traded 152,507.92 152,507.92

Hotels/Lodging IKEJA HOTEL PLC TRANSCORP HOTELS PLC Hotels/Lodging Totals

Symbol IKEJAHOTEL TRANSCOHOT

No. of Deals 5 6 11

Current Price 3.78 9.63

Quantity Traded 138,500 6,900 145,400

Value Traded 527,010.00 65,022.00 592,032.00

Media/Entertainment DAAR COMMUNICATIONS PLC Media/Entertainment Totals

Symbol DAARCOMM

No. of Deals 3 3

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 150,000 150,000

Value Traded 75,000.00 75,000.00

Printing/Publishing LEARN AFRICA PLC

Symbol LEARNAFRCA UPL

No. of Deals 1 1 2

Current Price 1.50 4.70

Quantity Traded 1,000 10 1,010

Value Traded 1,480.00 48.90 1,528.90

Symbol No. of Deals Daily Summary (Equities) ABCTRANS 8 8

Current Price 0.58

Quantity Traded 261,660 261,660

Value Traded 151,762.80 151,762.80

Printing/Publishing Totals

Road Transportation ASSOCIATED BUS COMPANY PLC Road Transportation Totals

Daily Summary (Equities)

Page

Transport-Related Services AIRLINE SERVICES AND LOGISTICS PLC NIGERIAN AVIATION HANDLING COMPANY PLC Transport-Related Services Totals

Symbol AIRSERVICE NAHCO

No. of Deals 2 36 38

Current Price 2.20 6.50

Quantity Traded 5,000 645,452 650,452

Support and Logistics CAVERTON OFFSHORE SUPPORT GRP PLC Support and Logistics Totals

Symbol CAVERTON

No. of Deals 7 7

Current Price 3.00

Quantity Traded 1,032,646 1,032,646

SERVICES Totals

EQTY Board Totals Equity Activity Totals

Value Traded 57,270.78 932,595.00 989,865.78

Value Traded 10,450.00 4,086,317.26 4,096,767.26

Value Traded 3,095,317.40 3,095,317.40

106

3,513,162

9,295,923.09

4,691

429,103,127

4,145,855,977.14

4,691

429,103,127

4,145,855,977.14

Daily Summary (ETP) Exchange Traded Fund

Name LOTUS HALAL EQUITY ETF NEWGOLD EXCHANGE TRADED FUND (ETF) STANBIC IBTC ETF 30 VETIVA GRIFFIN 30 ETF Daily Summary as of 24/04/2015 Exchange Traded Fund Totals

Symbol LOTUSHAL15 NEWGOLD STANBICETF30 VETGRIF30

Printed 24/04/2015 16:25:43.043

No. of Deals 1 2 2 8 13

Current Price 10.63 2,321.00 107.95 15.82

Quantity Traded 20 121 20,000 17,488 37,629

Page

Value Traded 212.60 280,022.00 2,159,000.00 276,355.26 2,715,589.86

Daily Summary (ETP)

Current Price 1.01

Daily Summary as of 24/04/2015 UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC. Printed 24/04/2015 16:25:43.043

50,666,098.23

351,644,104

No. of Deals 6 6

SERVICES Courier/Freight/Delivery RED STAR EXPRESS PLC TRANS-NATIONWIDE EXPRESS PLC. Courier/Freight/Delivery Totals

Symbol

Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Daily Summary

Value Traded 318,833,328.87 56,113,048.13 382,320.00 14,718,037.62 11,472,478.85 407,701,080.11

Symbol RTBRISCOE

Value Traded 21,972,835.81 560,024,461.25 9,926,167.34 63,790,172.12 428,476,337.16 6,967,561.57 57,967.07 315,986,528.41 1,814,456,618.89

Current Price 0.50

Symbol CHAMS

Daily Summary as of 24/04/2015 Printed 24/04/2015 16:25:43.043

SERVICES Automobile/Auto Part Retailers R T BRISCOE PLC. Automobile/Auto Part Retailers Totals Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Quantity Traded 11,407,768 19,928,564 3,753,220 26,734,987 80,015,544 624,132 61,118 14,368,245 200,808,144

Exploration and Production SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD Exploration and Production Totals

Current Price 1.99 3.35 53.45 1.80 1.13

Symbol No. of Deals Daily Summary (Equities) COURTVILLE 1 1

OIL AND GAS Totals

Current Price 1.90 28.11 2.68 2.36 5.32 11.02 0.96 22.00

Page

Chemicals B.O.C. GASES PLC. Chemicals Totals

NATURAL RESOURCES Totals

No. of Deals 100 242 92 67 392 47 12 212 (Equities) 1,455

Symbol FIDELITYBK GUARANTY SKYEBANK STERLNBANK UBA UBN WEMABANK ZENITHBANK

Daily Summary as of 24/04/2015 NATURAL RESOURCES Printed 24/04/2015 16:25:43.043

Quantity Traded 30,883,594 16,974,649 687,000 520,355 7,625,968 58,334,261

INDUSTRIAL GOODS Totals

Quantity Traded 10,455,582 21,491,046 11,967,938

Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking FIDELITY BANK PLC GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. SKYE BANK PLC STERLING BANK PLC. Daily Summary as of 24/04/2015 UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC Printed 24/04/2015 16:25:43.043 UNION BANK NIG.PLC. WEMA BANK PLC. ZENITH INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC Banking Totals

No. of Deals 5 11 42 15 15 88

Current Price 6.31 4.69 20.50

Daily Summary (Equities)

Symbol EVANSMED FIDSON GLAXOSMITH MAYBAKER NEIMETH

ICT Totals

No. of Deals 178 60 53

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Symbol ACCESS DIAMONDBNK ETI

Current Price 10.50 3.37 0.55 28.65 1.48

2,657

Daily Summary as of 24/04/2015 PrintedHEALTHCARE 24/04/2015 16:25:43.043 Totals

1 84,710,217.68 of 13

No. of Deals 15 15

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Value Traded 4,054,133.02 4,054,133.02

Symbol COSTAIN

CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Totals CONSUMER GOODS Automobiles/Auto Parts DN TYRE & RUBBER PLC Automobiles/Auto Parts Totals

Quantity Traded 1,663,052 1,663,052

Page 4,681,542

108

CONGLOMERATES Totals CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Building Structure/Completion/Other COSTAIN (W A) PLC. Building Structure/Completion/Other Totals

Value Traded 27,500.00 78,584,886.06 2,043,698.60 80,656,084.66

ICT

AGRICULTURE PublishedAGRICULTURE by The Nigerian Totals Stock Exchange © CONGLOMERATES Diversified Industries A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. JOHN HOLT PLC. TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC U A C N PLC. Diversified Industries Totals

Quantity Traded 55,000 2,887,670 75,820 3,018,490

No. of Deals 537 158 5 35 113 896

FINANCIAL SERVICES Totals

Daily Summary (Equities)

AGRICULTURE Crop Production FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC Daily Summary as of 24/04/2015 OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. Printed 24/04/2015 16:25:43.043 PRESCO PLC Crop Production Totals

Symbol FBNH FCMB ROYALEX STANBIC UBCAP

ETF Board Totals

37,629

2,715,589.86

ETP Activity Totals

37,629

2,715,589.86

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

The ‘Milk Maids’, symbols of Kaduna International Trade Fair, on parade at the opening ceremony of the 36th Kaduna International Trade Fair in Kaduna.

L-R: Winner in the Lightning Category, Josh Pokluda; National Commercial Director, Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Limited, Matthieu Seguin; Winner in the Lightning Category, Nolan Oneal; Director, Human Resources, NBC, Grace Omo-Lamai and Winner in the Lightning Category, Dan Cox, at the company’s 2015 Coca-Cola Cup in Lagos.

Photo | News

L-R: Senior Alumni Officer, Development and Alumni, Babcock University, Mr Umahi Joshua; Recruitment Associate, JUMIA, Miss Fehintola Sotomi; Human Resources Director, Mr Dele Awolala and Vice President, Development and Strategy, Babcock University, Elder Olukunle Iyanda, during a courtesy visit by JUMIA officials to the department of the Development and Strategy, Babcock University, IlishanRemo, Ogun State.

L-R: President, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria, Alhaji Abdulhamid Oyewo; Registrar/CEO, Alhaji Mohammed Aliyu and fellow of the Institute, Chief Michael Ugbana, during the Institute’s 2015 Group A induction of new members in Lagos. PHOTO: GODWIN IREKHE

L-R: Former Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Natural Mineral Resources, Prince Tunde Ajilore; Managing Director, Wolid International Services Limited, Engr. Ayanbamiji Oluwole Idowu and Oluwoye of Iwoyeland, Oba Alhaji RasheedAdemola Oyeweso, during the inauguration of Wolid Quarry Complex at Iwoye, Egbedore Local Government Area, Osun State

L-R: Chief Executive, Fred Okonta and Co. Chattered Accountants, Chief Fredrick Okonta; Mother Faith (Ezinne Okwukwe), Catholic Women Organisation, Asaba, Delta State, Mrs Florence Okonta and Parish Priest, St. Joseph Pro-Cathedral Catholic Church, Msgr. Stephen Uzomah, during the Conferment of Mrs. Okonta, in Asaba, Delta State

An elderly man casting his vote during the re-run election of Kwami East State Assembly Constituency in Gombe State.

L-R: Nigerian Idol finalists, Okemiri Uloma Margret (Uloma); Ogunmoyero Modoluwamu (Dow); Adigwe Brenda Ada (Brenda) and Esther Monday (Stner), during the unveiling of Nigerian Idol Season 5 top 12 contestants, in Lagos.

News

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

SOUTH-WEST

Accord, APC bicker over Oyo guber poll results Sola Adeyemo Ibadan

ollowing his loss in the April 11 gover norship elections in Oyo State, former governor of the state and the gubernatorial candidate of the Accord Party, Senator Rashidi Ladoja and the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have been engaging in war of words, as

the former governor has vowed to reclaim his victory at the election tribunal. To this end, the recent statement credited to the Accord Party’s candidate that Oyo State people had been in mournful mood since the incumbent, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, was declared winner of the gubernatorial election, has drawn the ire of the APC in the state. The Independent National Electoral Com-

mission (INEC), declared Ajimobi winner of the election, having polled 327,310 votes to beat the former governor to a second position with 254,520 votes. Ladoja, has, however, vowed to challenge the result of the election at the election tribunal, alleging irregularities and electoral malpractices in the results announced by the INEC. According to him, the results negated those collated from the polling

centres, suggesting that it was doctored. He said that many people in the state had been wearing mournful look since the April 11 election because the results did not represent their wish. Reacting to Ladoja’s comment, the state APC, in a statement issued by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, said that it was disturbing to note that the former governor would not accept the result of

an election described as one of the fairest in the history of elections in the state. “It is apparent that those witchdoctors who fooled Ladoja that they saw him sitting on Ajimobi’s seat at the Agodi Government House are the ones who make him arrogant and disdainful of the people and the wishes of the people. He should wake up from the world of the spirit and see the reality that Ajimobi

has effectively retired him from the politics of Oyo State, “said the statement. The ruling party noted, “Ladoja has again exhibited his disdain for the larger society due to his avaricious nature. For the avoidance of doubt, his Accord Party was roundly defeated in all the six political zones in the state, including Ibadan less city where he enjoys the highest degree of sympathy from the people.’’

We will not dump PDP for APC- Senator-elect Adesina Wahab Ado-Ekiti

L-R: Registrar and Secretary to Council, University of Lagos, UNILAG, Dr. Taiwo Ipaye; Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Rahamon Ade Bello; Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Management Services, Prof. Duro Oni and Provost, College of Medicine, Prof. Folashade Ogunsola, during a press briefing ahead of the 2013/2014 convocation of the Institution in Lagos…at the weekend

OPC affirms Fasehun’s leadership Wale Elegbede

he Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) has passed a vote-ofconfidence on its founder and president, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, dismissing the claim that crisis was rocking the Yoruba sociocultural organisation. In a statement signed by its publicity secretary, Sylvester Eweka, the OPC distanced itself from Fasehun’s purported expulsion by a group, stating that the organization has not appointed any new leadership to run its affairs.

Dismissing Fasehun’s recently reported removal as “a joke taken too far,” Eweka said plans at denigrating Fasehun was a concoction of troublemakers who were bent on treading the path of perdition. Eweka recalled that the group had, last year expelled leaders of the renegade group, including Comrade Dare Adesope (former Secretary), Alhaji Taofiq Adeyemi (Organising Secretary) and Comrade Olusola Ajayi Edward (Publicity Secretary). “These are people who should have shown signs

of remorse in order to be readmitted into the organisation. But it is a pity that they have gone beyond the bounds of decency and they have no place in any congregation of sane and decent people. “Dr. Fasehun has, in his usual modest character, severally offered to step down and confer the mantle on younger elements in OPC, but we his followers have always turned down such a prospect. It is the organisation that decided that it is in its own corporate interest to retain this elder statesman and

You are political gold diggers, Ondo APC tells defectors Babatope Okeowo Akure

ndo State chapter of the All Progressive sCongress (APC) has described defectors to the party from the ruling party on the eve of the recently concluded elections as political gold diggers who want to reap where they did not sow. The party also chided the new members of the party for attribut-

ing the party’s success at the last Presidential and National Assembly elections to their activities since they joined the party some few weeks ago. The Publicity Secretary of the party, Abayomi Adesanya, said the APC would have won the elections with or without the new members who joined the party on the eve of the elections as the party was poised for victory before the

gale of defections. One of the defectors, Mr Femi Agagu, had said in an interview that the APC was not an organised party in the state, stating that the party would not have won the elections if not for the efforts of the defectors. But the APC in a statement described Agagu and other defectors from PDP to APC as political epiphytes and gold diggers who want to reap where they did not sow.

eminent Nigerian in the driving seat. “Even then, he has put succession machinery in motion. But these renegades have no role in the future of OPC or its leadership. Warning the public to steer clear of any dealing with the rebel group, OPC said anyone who transacted OPC business with them would be taking an avoidable risk. “Unfortunately, these rebels have become willing tools in the hands of those afraid of a united, focused and formidable OPC,” the organisation said.

he Senator-elect in Ekiti north senatorial district, Duro Faseyi, has said none of the newlyelected members of the National Assembly from Ekiti State would quit the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC), rather, he said they would join hands with Governor Ayo Fayose to re-position the party for better performance in future elections. Speaking in an interview with reporters in Iludun-Ekiti at the weekend, he described those defecting to the APC as commercial politicians. Faseyi said it was unfortunate that some politi-

cians had turned politics to commercial activities where they hoped to gain certain privileges instead of what they would do for the progress of the country. He described those dumping the PDP for the APC as fair weather politicians who were only interested in what they would gain. He said, “It is unfortunate that people are moving, It is not healthy for our democracy, those doing that are commercial politicians looking for what to eat. I have remained a faithful party member since I joined politics and I will remain so. So I see no reason why people should dump the PDP because the APC won at the centre.”

Lagos set to tackle Malaria Appolonia Adeyemi

agos State Government has said it is utilising a multi-pronged strategy which include vector control interventions, preventive therapies, diagnostic testing, treatment with quality-assured Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs), and strong malaria surveillance to control and eliminate malaria, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, has said.

According to a statement by the Assistant Director, Press and Public Relations in the state Ministry of Health, Tunbosun Ogunbanwo, Idris, said at the weekend during a community sensitisation campaign to commemorate this year’s World Malaria Day at the Amu Market in Mushin Local Government Area, that various integrated preventive measures that have been put in place by the state government were geared towards combating malaria.

Osun NSCD warns fuel marketers against adulteration AdeoluAdeyemo Osogbo

he Osun State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCD), Mr. Ayobami Tajudeen Balogun, at the weekend threatened to apply the full wrath of the law on major independent fuel marketers who get involved in the adulteration and diversion of petroleum products in the state. The NSCD commandant,

who gave the warning in Osogbo, the state capital while fielding questions from journalists, however warned those who engaged in the act, to desist from it as the command would not hesitate to apply the law against them. He said “anybody caught adulterating or diverting petroleum products in the state would be made to face the wrath of law.” “Those who are involved in the adulteration and diversion of petroleum products are economic saboteurs and

the corps has the mandate to arrest and prosecute them. More than ever before, we are stepping up action in this regard, as we have zero tolerance for economic saboteurs”. “I, therefore, charge drivers of trucks conveying petroleum products to ensure that they have necessary documents on the products whenever they are on the road and they should as well cooperate with the corps whenever they are stopped for routine check”.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

News 47

SOUTH-EAST

Otti rejects Abia governorship election results Igbeaku Orji Umuahia

he factional governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Dr Alex Otti, has rejected the results of the Abia governorship elections in which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) gave victory to

the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, as he said he would stop at nothing at ensuring that he recovers the mandate of the people given to him at the election tribunal. Addressing journalists in his campaign office yesterday, Otti said, “I will stop at nothing to ensure that the mandate the people of Abia State gave to me not just as a

person, but as a change agent, is not stolen.” Otti also condemned the manner in which INEC conducted the election, saying that as at Friday evening, the venues for the elections were not known to the party. He accused the commission of aiding the ruling PDP in rigging the elections. He said, “I have never seen an organization that performs its duties as dis-

jointed as INEC did. He also alleged that the commission cancelled the rerun in Umunneochi without recourse to the party. The APGA candidate also wondered why INEC stood on the cancellation and reversal of the result from three local government areas, which the Returning Officer said was based on incontrovertible evidence of irregularities, saying “I know that INEC has a lot

of questions to answer.” He expressed confidence at getting justice at the tribunal “and because we are standing on the part of justice, we must get justice.” Otti said that the election has opened his eyes to the evil and rot in the state, noting, “What we have is criminals in power and we must do something to stop it, I am committed to eradicating the rot in this state.” Otti described as a rape of democracy the barging of the governor into the collation center with PDP big wigs on March 29, saying no one could explain the pressure the returning officer must have been put through to force him to reverse the cancellation of some results.

Earlier, the national chairman of the party, Chief Victor Umeh decried what happened in the South East during the election, describing it as disheartening. According to him, “it is only in the South East that ad hoc staff were appointed by politicians/candidates to conduct elections. We reject the result as announced, we cannot lose election where the process is transparent.” Umeh said the party would challenge the outcome at the tribunal, because according to him the mandate was stolen through the infraction of INEC. He said that with the process already preset by INEC everyone knew what the final outcome would be.

Ekweremadu tasks Buhari’s govt on unemployment Uchenna Inya ABAKALIKI

N Governor Rochas Okorocha; his wife, Nkechi, during a praise and worship session after his victory in Imo State…at the weekend.

Kukah: Nigerians will ‘crucify’ Buhari like Jonathan, Obasanjo lAPC has no track record, says Catholic bishop

Uchenna Inya ABAKALIKI

he Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese , Mattew Hassan kukah, has said that Nigerians should not expect Buhari’s government to perform ‘wonders’ as widely expected, stating that the huge expectations of the people on the newly elected president to transform the country overnight would lead to condemnation of his government as the previous administrations. Kukah who stated this

Uchenna Inya ABAKALIKI

ife of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Mrs. Nwanneka Ekweremadu, bagged the PhD degree in Law from the Ebonyi State University during the convocation of the institution held at the weekend. Senator Ekweremadu who was accompanied to the event by Enugu State Governor-elect, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, noted

at the weekened, while delivering a convocation lecture at the Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, insisted that Nigerians were eagerly looking for a transformer which may not come in the mode of the Buhari’s government, adding that Nigerians have a unique way of despising any government in power. “The same Nigerians yearning for change in government which they now have would certainly change their tune like when Jonathan was the President. “Right from military to

civilian regimes, Nigerians have been known for despising any President in power, but same Nigerians turned around to like the person when he leaves office.” “They did it to Obasanjo, they have done it to Jonathan. So, Buhari would not be an exception. ‘’ Now, hopes and expectations are very high on Buhari and he has said after his declaration as winner of the polls that he is not a magician and I think that is a warning’’, Kukah stated. He stressed that the All Progressives Congress, APC, which produced

Gen. Buhari, does not have a track record. ‘’The APC does not have a track record. It is a gathering of takers and there is no reason why it could not end up like the PDP from where it has drawn most of its leaders today’’, the Bishop said. He urged the Presidentelect to move away from the stronghold of all religions so as to free both religion and the state to fulfill their role in the attainment of social welfare and justice and wondered why the federal, state and local governments continue to spend money on pilgrimages, the building of places of worship and so on.

Ekweremadu’s wife bags PhD that he avoided contact with either the faculty or the department of his wife so that they will not be influenced, describing the staff of the university as very responsible. He promised to partner with the institution to explore the potential within it for the development of the state, as he donated an 18 seater bus to the university. The Deputy Senate

President expressed joy that his wife finally graduated, stating,‘’Im fulfilled when I realized the enormous burdern on her as a housewife and wife of a politician. ‘’She has been well focused, she is a very hardworking woman and she tries as much as possible to pursue her ambition and interest. “Even as a local gov-

ernment Chairman, she kept her work as a teacher and when I was Secretary to a state government and Chief of Staff, she also continued her work.” “She eventually completed the programme leading to her acceptance as a chartered accountant and now she has two Masters Degrees; an MBA and MSc and accomplished her life dream of having a PhD.”

igeria’s President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, was at the weekend called upon to ensure the provision of employment for the nation’s youths Making the call at the 4th-6th convocation of the Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu called on the incoming government at all levels to make conscious effort and provide employment for the nation’s teaming youths. He noted that opportunities in the civil service were limited, but said that is where critical planning and thinking come in. ‘’Government needs to partner with the private sector to establish indus-

tries and factories that can help check this army of unemployed youths. ‘’We are aware that government is not a good manager of industry, but that is where partnership comes in and I believe that conscious effort will be able to provide employment for our young men and women so that they will add value to the society. According to him, every day, I get a number of text messages and request of people seeking employment and my heart bleeds at such occasions. He called on the newly elected leaders across the country to see the issue of youths unemployment as a major concern saying ‘’as responsible leaders, this should be our concern in the next four years how to provide jobs for our people.’’

Ihedioha to challenge Okorocha’s victory Steve Uzoechi OWERRI

he Imo state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has vowed to contest the victory of Governor Rochas Okorocha of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who was declared the winner of the state governorship election at the election tribunal. The decision followed the rejection of the results of the election by the PDP complaints, accusations and counter accusations over allegations that the election was frought with irregularities. The agent of the PDP staged a walk out at the Independent National

Electoral Commission (INEC) in Owerri collation centre as the elections results were being announced, declining to sign the results sheet. Addressing his supporters in the Government House Chapel, Okorocha said he was extending the olive branch to all the contestants in the election, urging them to bury their hatchet and join hands with him in building a greater Imo State. He also declared that he should not be seen as an APC governor, but the governor of Imo State, explaining that all citizens and residents of the state have full stake in his government.

News

SOUTH-SOUTH

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Oshiomhole carpets varsities over honorary awards Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

do State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday kicked against the practice by some universities that are in the habit of awarding honourary degrees to personalities with questionable characters in the society, warning of the danger in such practice to the nation’s education sector. He also raised the alarm that such awards usually go to rich individuals because of the huge sums they dish out, adding that such trend is capable of bringing untold ruins to the ivory towers and lowers the value of education in the country. Oshiomhole spoke at the 19th convocation ceremony of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, which was held at the weekend. Also at the event, three prominent Nigerians; Esogban of Benin Kingdom, Chief David Edebiri, a philanthropist and business magnate, Dr. Lee Ikpea and Pastor Chris Oyakkhilome of Believers’ Love World, were honoured by the university. The governor expressed

dissatisfaction that the various institutions of higher learning in the country, seemed to have given up on standards by which people and even students attain their degrees and awards. According to him, “One of the problems that confront us today as a nation is that even the ivory tower

seems to have given up and many are now in a hurry to award honourary degrees even to people of clearly questionable characters.” He cautioned; “That a man is rich does not mean he is successful, what defines a successful man is the overall totality of his lifestyle and so when we see

Port Harcourt

unmen yesterday killed a riot policeman attached to a medical doctor in Rivers State, after kidnapping the doctor, who is also a traditional ruler in a community in Etche Local Government area of the state. The motive for the kidnap remains unknown, but the riot policeman was killed while trying to prevent the hoodlums from fleeing with the doctor, Dr. Samuel Amaechi, who runs Nobsams Clinic in Oginigba area of Port Harcourt. The incident took place

at Mile 4 area of the city around 7.40pm. Amaechi was returning from work when the gunmen abducted him and since then, nothing has been heard from his abductors, according to a family source. The source said the doctor was just about two houses away from his own house when the gunmen stopped his car before he was abducted. The source also added that the gunmen quickly opened the car and dragged him out while shooting into the air to scare away people, noting that the riot police orderly was shot while trying to rescue the doctor. He added that the gun-

men were about four in number. The Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Ahmad Mohammad, who confirmed the incident, said the police had launched a manhunt for him, noting that the police was committed to ensuring that he is released unconditionally. “The manhunt of rescuing him safely is still on-going. Our men are on the lookout of where he is being kept and I can assure you that we anticipate a breakthrough.” For some time now, medical doctors in the state have been targeted by gunmen who kidnap and demand ransom.

LP candidate takes deputy governor to rights’ commission Chris Ejim Yenagoa

he Labour Party (LP) candidate in the justconcluded House of Assembly election in Bayelsa State, Hon. Joseph Ogbe, has dragged the Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, John Jonah Gboribiogha, to the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) over the violence and rigging that characterised the election in Nembe Constituency 1.

of industry and hard work, then I think it is very sad for the country,” he said. Oshiomhole harped on the need for a new national policy on education that would provide equal opportunity to both the rich and poor. According to him, “We must revisit the question

Director, Africare Malaria Programme, Dr Patrick Adah (left), presenting insecticide-treated mosquito nets to a nursing mother during the 2015 World Malaria Day celebration at Upenekang, Ibeno Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom …at the weekend

Gunmen kill police orderly, abduct doctor in Rivers Emmanuel Masha

universities giving honours to those who can dole out, it becomes award for the highest bidder and of course it disturbs the values of our younger ones. “So when universities give honour to people just because they are rich and even when the source of such wealth is not as a result

In two separate petitions, Ogbe, who was threatened at gun point by thugs and was rescued by the Department of State Services (DSS) operatives during the election, urged the IG and the Human Rights Commission to investigate Gboribiogha for allegedly ordering the violence in the area. He said the deputy governor sponsored a candidate he wanted to win at all cost and that he (Ogbe) had been accused of fighting the deputy governor by insisting to contest the election under

the LP. In the petition made available to our reporter, Ogbe alleged that the violence was aimed at disenfranchising the people of the area and that the plan worked very well as voters ran for dear lives, while those who insisted on carrying out their civic duties were seriously brutalised. Ogbe, a civil engineer in private practice, in the petition directed to the IG, alleged that he has received death threats since the election ended, urging the police boss to urgently investigate the matter.

of appropriate national education policy, so that it must be possible for the child of the poor to have quality education, no child should be denied access to the best schools. “Even Oxford has had to reverse its policies that are notorious for providing spaces for only the children of the elite; they now have quota to ensure that a worker with requisite knowledge can go to Oxford University and the state provides subsidy to make that possible.” The governor expressed the believe that the nation would definitely recover from her present woes in order to get it right one day with the right leadership and therefore urged the citizens not to give up on the country. “Every nation has its challenges, Nigeria has its own fair share, whether these are security challenges, challenges of unemployment, of poverty and all of that, but I ask that we must never give up on our country.” The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. (Mrs.) Cordelia Agbebaku in her address, thanked the governor and his administration for the support to the institution.

Xenophobic attacks: African Bar may file case before Security Council Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

he leadership of the African Bar Association (AFBA) has lauded the President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Augustine Alegeh, over his efforts at repositioning the association to play its role as the conscience of the society. AFBA President, Mr. Hannibal Uwaifo, who made the commendation while speaking with newsmen at the weekend, said Alegeh has, since assumption of office, embarked on quiet and diplomatic

engagement of the judiciary such that it is now willing to cooperate with NBA towards the transformation of legal practice in the country. This was also as the AFBA kicked against the xenophobic attacks against Africans in South Africa, threatening that it was assessing the situation in South Africa and, if need be, would constitute a team of lawyers to file its findings to the United Nations Security Council. Uwaifo observed with satisfaction the high level of transparency in transactions involving the bar association and good record keeping of

the body’s presidency and “the prompt manner in which disciplinary actions are taken against erring lawyers is a sign that the Nigeria Bar was committed towards ensuring that the legal practice in the country was elevated to serve the purpose of social engineering.” According to him, the recent launch of the stamp and seal for lawyers in Nigeria and the organisation of quality seminars, workshops and sessions of various legal practice, have laid the foundation of ensuring that the quality of law practice and lawyers is maintained.

Shell empowers 60 Niger Delta youths

o fewer than 60 young artists from the Niger Delta have been enrolled at the Professor Bruce Onobrakpeya Training Centre in Agbarha-Otor, Delta State, for training in arts and crafts. The two-week training is a partnership between the Shell Petroleum Development Company Joint Venture and the Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation and will focus on metal construction, ceramics (pottery) and leather crafts after which the participants will

be provided entrepreneurial opportunities and mentoring under Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya, a renowned Nigerian printmaker, painter and sculptor. In his message to the participants, SPDC’s Sustainable Development and Community Relations Manager, Mr. Igo Weli said: “Through the training tagged ‘Arts of the Delta,’ our commitment to achieving sustainable development through youth empowerment in the Niger Delta is being realised.”

Weli, who was represented by SPDC’s Senior Partnership Advisor, Mr. Michael Adande, called on the participants to give their full attention to the programme, describing it as “an opportunity to acquire success nuggets from the iconic Onobrakpeya Foundation.” The participants, made up of academically-trained and non-academicallytrained artists, were drawn from Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Imo and Rivers States.

NEW TELEGRAPH monday, april 27, 2015

News 49

NORTH

Gunmen kill 21 in Benue, Nasarawa

Nasir advises Buhari on corruption

Ibraheem Musa

Cephas Iorhemen and Cheke Emmanuel

unmen suspected to be Fulani insurgents at the weekend, invaded Benue and Nasarawa States, killing no fewer than 21 people. In Guma Local Government area of Benue State, where the Governor-elect, Dr. Samuel Ortom hails from, the gunmen killed no fewer than 10 people while others were seriously injured in the attack. But in Uoosu village in Keana Local Government area of Nasarawa State, at least 11 people were feared killed yesterday during attacks on the

villagers by suspected Fulani herdsmen. Beside those killed in the village, the herdsmen reportedly set the village ablaze and several others, who also laid siege on Keana-Korta road, were said to be shooting people at sight. The attack in Benue, New Telegraph gathered, was as a result of the alleged killing of two Fulani herdsmen in Mbadwem District by some youths, which left inhabitants of Tse-Uosu, Gbudu and Umenger villages homeless. According to an eyewitness, Mr. James Gbudu, the herdmen sacked the villagers and in the process killed 10 people

while several others were wounded. The Benue State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Austin Ezeani, confirmed the incident, but said that he was yet to receive adequate briefing on the number of deaths recorded as well as the destruction of property. According to him, “It was as a result of two Fulani herdsmen killed the day before yesterday. “The two Fulani men were just going on their own and after robbing and dispossessing them of their personal belongings; they killed them and abandoned their corpses. “So, the Fulani informed their brothers in

Nasarawa and they came and carried out a kind of reprisal attack,” Ezeani maintained. The police spokesman, who regretted the incident, advised youths in the area against taking laws into their hands to perpetrate evil in order to prevent any negative consequences on their communities. “These are the kind of things we tell this people, they should desist from fomenting problem. The bad elements in those areas are the one causing all these problems. They resort to all kinds of criminalities and after all that, they run away and leave the innocent ones that are not aware

to be the victims,” Ezeani lamented. He tasked the community to fish out the bad boys in the area and hand them over to the police for necessary action. Meanwhile, it was gathered that tension is mounting high in some border communities of Keana and Awe, following sporadic shootings by suspected herdsmen within and around the villages, forcing the locals to flee for safety. The Nasarawa State Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Ismaila Numan, confirmed the incident in a telephone interview, he, however, said only three people were killed.

L-R: Representative of the National President, Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Prince Billy Gillis-Harry; Kaduna State Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Aliyu Samaila; Galadima Zazzau, Alhaji Nuhu Aliyu; representative of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Ezenwanne Benjamin and President, Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Dr. Abdul-Alimi Bello, at the opening ceremony of the 36th Kaduna International Trade Fair in Kaduna …at the weekend

Bauchi emirs’ council bids Yuguda farewell Mohammed Kawu Bauchi

he Chairman, Bauchi State Council of Emirs, Dr. Rilwanu Suleman Adamu, yesterday said that the peace prevailing in the state is the most significant legacy the Isa Yuguda administration is bequeathing to the state. Adamu, who is also the Emir of Bauchi, made the observation, when he led members of the council on a farewell visit to the governor. He said Governor Yuguda has, throughout his tenure, maintained relative peace in the state despite the insurgents’ activities in the North-East, of which Bauchi is part. The emir said: “Bauchi, which is part of the North-East, is ad-

judged and still remains the most peaceful state among states in the country; you must be commended for that.” Adamu described peace making and security of the people as the most laudable of Yuguda’s achievements, where he exhibited exceptional courage and passion to ensure that peace is sustained in the state despite constant threats from within and outside the state. The monarch also adjudged as the most impressive aspect of Yuguda’s administration, the good relationship he maintained with the Council of Emirs and his recognition of their role, especially in the area of peace making and the peaceful coexistence among their communities.

Gadi: APC administration’ll have zero-tolerance for corruption Mohammed Kawu Bauchi

he Chairman of the national committee on the merger of the three defunct political parties, the ANPP, ACN and the CPC, Garba Mohammed Gadi, has said that the in-coming APC administration in Bauchi State will have zero-tolerance for corruption, mismanagement and theft. Gadi, formerly the deputy governor of the state before his impeachment by the Yuguda administration, said the APC government in the state will not abdicate its responsibility in seeing that justice is done wherever anybody is found wanting. The former deputy governor, who was responding as chairman of Bauchi State APC Technical Transition Committee on its inauguration, said how-

ever that the APC government in the state has not conceived the intention of probing anybody. “In line with the statement of our mentor, General Muhammadu Buhari, APC is not going to probe anybody, but at the same time, APC has a zero-tolerance for corruption, mismanagement and theft,” he said. The merger committee chairman, therefore, called on members of the state APC main and technical committees to live up to their responsibilities, saying that they should not betray the confidence reposed in them. It will be recalled that the Bauchi State Governorelect, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, appointed two committees, main and technical, to facilitate factual and smooth transition from the Yuguda administration to the Abubakar administration in the state.

Kaduna

former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Mamman Nasir, yesterday called on the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari and other elected officials to do everything within the ambit of the law to fight corruption to a standstill in order to fulfil their campaign promises. Nasir, who is also the Chairman, Advisory Council of Sir Ahmadu Bello Foundation, gave this advice while addressing newsmen at the headquarters of the foundation over the weekend in Kaduna. According to him, “We expect Mr. President-elect to get immediately down to work, especially on economic rejuvenation, security and fighting corruption. Our laws must make corruption difficult to perpetuate, but easy to logically prosecute. Persons accused of corruption should have the onus to prove otherwise.” The retired Appeal Court president suggested that an overseeing should be established to check out on anti-corruption agencies as well. He also said that all public officers should swear an oath of allegiance against corrupt practices, with stiff penalties for defaulters and their fronts. Justice Nasir also called on Buhari to tackle insecurity with all sense of emergency.

Ortom may abrogate Suswam’s chieftaincy law Cephas Iorhemen Makurdi

here were indications at the weekend that the chieftaincy law recently sponsored and signed into law by the outgoing governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, may be repealed by the in-coming All Progressives Congress (APC) administration of Dr. Samuel Ortom. The law, which seeks to give first class chiefs in the state enormous powers more than the Tor Tiv in deciding the pace of governance with democratic governments, also aims at ensuring that such “lucky monarchs” are heavily paid by public funds. The decision of the governor-elect to stall the controversial law, New Telegraph gathered, is connected with the dwindling financial status of the state,

which Ortom feels would increase the workforce and pose a huge challenge to his administration even as the state is battling with non-payment of salaries of workers and pensions. Already, Ortom has held talks with Governor Suswam on the propensity to put the appointment of first class and other chiefs on hold until the current salaries and pension allowances being owed civil servants are cleared. Suswam had expeditiously assented to the bill amid wide criticisms by political analysts, as well as the state House of Assembly apparently, with the intention to favour his elder brother, Terkura Suswam, who is one of the contenders for the first class stool in the Sankera axis of the state before handing over to the in-coming administration.

World |News

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

2,500 confirmed dead in Nepal earthquake

he official number of dead from Saturday’s Himalayan earthquake has topped 2,500 and may continue to rise as remote areas near the epicenter are searched. Nepal authorities said yesterday that at least 2,430 people in that country had died in Nepal alone, not including

the 18 people that the Nepal Mountaineering Association says died in an earthquake-triggered avalanche on Mount Everest. Another 61 people died from the quake in India and a few in other neighboring countries. With search and rescue efforts far from over, it was unclear how much the death toll would rise.

Protests after Burundi leader is nominated for a third term

undreds of people in Burundi protested in the capital yesterday after the country’s ruling party nominated President Pierre Nkurunziza to run for a third term. There were clashes between protesters and armed police in Bujumbura, the nation’s capital. Police fired tear gas to break up crowds and also blocked access to some parts of the city. Watchdog groups and observers had warned of possible unrest if Nkurunziza decided to again. Thousands of Burundians have already fled the country ahead of presidential elections on June 26. Burundi’s constitution stipulates that a president can only serve for two terms, but Nkurunziza’s party says he is eligible for another term as popularly elected president because for his first term he was elected by lawmakers. Critics say this is not a proper interpretation of the law and that he should not get a third term. The US government has criticized the ruling party’s decision. “With this decision, Burundi is losing an historic opportunity to strengthen its democracy by establishing a tradition of peaceful democratic transition,” the State Department said in a statement.

More than 10,000 Burundians have fled to neighboring Rwanda citing fears of election violence. Many of those in Rwanda say they left because of growing pressure to support Nkurunziza’s party, which is known by its initials CNDD-FDD. Others alleged violence by the ruling party’s youth wing, known as Imbonerakure, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

Rescue workers remove debris as they search for victims of earthquake in Bhaktapur near Kathmandu Nepal yesterday

Indonesia defiant as UN leads condemnation of looming executions

he Indonesia government yesterday signaled it was determined to push ahead with the execution of eight foreign drug convicts, despite a growing wave of global condemnation led by United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon. Authorities, Saturday gave formal notice to the eight, from Australia, Brazil, Nigeria and the Philippines, that they would be executed by firing squad imminently, along with an Indonesian prisoner. However, a Frenchman also on death row for drug-related crimes was granted a temporary reprieve after Paris stepped up pressure on Jakarta. The group has been moved to the high-security prison island of Nusakambangan, where Indonesia puts condemned prisoners to death, and Jakarta says the executions could be as early as Tuesday although no official date has been set. Attorney Gen-

eral Muhammad Prasetyo told Indonesian news channel MetroTV that preparations for the executions were “100 percent” complete. The convicts recently lost appeals for mercy to President Joko Widodo, who has taken a hard line against drug traffickers and refused to back down on the executions despite mounting international criticism. UN chief Ban added his voice to appeals for the convicts to be spared. “The secretary general urges President Joko Widodo to urgently consider declaring a moratorium on capital punishment in Indonesia, with a view toward abolition,” a spokesman for Ban said. Australia, which has mounted a sustained diplomatic campaign to save its two citizens in the group, also renewed appeals following Saturday’s news.” Nothing can be gained and

much will be lost if these two young Australians are executed,” said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. “I again respectfully call on the president of Indonesia to reconsider his refusal to grant clemency. It is not too late for a change of heart.” Widodo refused to comment yesterday. France has stepped up pressure on Jakarta in recent days, with President Francois Hollande warning of “consequences” if its citizen, Serge Atlaoui, is put to death. The warning came shortly before it was announced that Atlaoui had won a temporary reprieve to allow him to pursue a further legal appeal. Brazil vowed to press Indonesia not to execute its national Rodrigo Gularte for humanitarian reasons, saying he suffers from schizophrenia. Despite the appeals, Indonesia has shown little sign it is willing to back down and the foreign ministry indicat-

ed Sunday that Ban’s statement would not change their plans. “We note the statement by the UN but we also note that there was no similar statement made when recently two Indonesians were executed,” ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir told AFP, referring to the execution this month of Indonesian domestic workers in Saudi Arabia. He added that it was “not the intention of Indonesia” to damage ties with other countries. The executions have been delayed for weeks, with Indonesia coming close to carrying them out in February, but then agreeing to let final legal appeals be resolved following an international outcry. However Saturday’s announcement signals they are finally going ahead. While Jakarta has not announced a date, lawyers for two of the convicts, the Filipina and one of the Nigerians -- said they had been informed it would be tomorrow.

Yemen minister rejects peace talks call Benin votes in key test for Yayi emeni Foreign Min- acceptable after all the has not ended,” said Yasenin went to the polls presidential mandates so been scheduled to start at Y ister Riyadh Yaseen destruction Ali Abdul- een, referring to the Sau- Byesterday in legislative Boni Yayi can run again in 0600 GMT but polling stayesterday rejected a call lah Saleh has caused. di-led campaign. “There elections seen as a key test 2016. “I am not a candidate tions in several districts in for peace talks issued by for mer president Ali Abdullah Saleh and said a Saudi-led military campaign against Iran-allied Houthi fighters opposed to his government had not ended. Saleh, whose loyalists have been fighting alongside Houthi rebels who forced the central gover nment into exile, on Friday called on all Yemenis to return to political dialogue to find a way to end the country’s spiraling conflict. “These calls are un-

There can be no place for Saleh in any future political talks,” Yaseen told a London news conference. Saudi Arabia said last week it was ending a month-long campaign of air strikes against the Houthis, who seized large areas of Yemen, and that it would back a political solution to bring peace to its war-ravaged neighbor. But coalition forces continued to bomb targets inside Yemen after the announcement. “Operation Decisive Storm

will be no deal with the Houthis whatsoever until they withdraw from areas under their control,” such as the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. Yaseen was speaking after air raids, naval shelling and ground fighting shook Yemen in some of the most widespread combat since the Saudi-led alliance intervened last month. Yaseen said there would be no need for the coalition to deploy ground troops in Yemen because 70 percent of Yemen was not under Houthi or Saleh’s control.

for President Thomas Boni Yayi, whom the opposition accuses of planning to try to cling to power after his second term ends next year. About 4.4 million voters are eligible to cast their ballots to pick 83 lawmakers. Boni Yayi, who has led the small west African nation since 2006, has announced plans for constitutional reforms aimed at cracking down on corruption by strengthening the justice system. But the opposition insists the real motive of his constitutional amendment is to scrap a two-term limit on

in this election and I am no longer a candidate for anything,” Boni Yayi told reporters after casting his ballot in Benin’s commercial capital Cotonou. The battle over the proposed reforms has shaped yesterday’s election in the nation of 10 million. “The challenge for the ruling party is to have a large majority in the national assembly, which would allow the president to realise constitutional reforms and probably authorised (his) third term,” said Gilles Yabi, a west Africa specialist based in Senegal’s capital Dakar. Nine hours of voting had

Cotonou were still closed at mid-morning because of delays in the distribution of election materials. The African Union envoy for the election, Mali’s former interim president Dioncounda Traore, said he had seen “large crowds”, but numerous delays in the polling stations he visited. The run-up to the election also saw delays in the distribution of voter cards. Political analyst Rock Sosthene Nepo said the near total focus on the president’s purported third-term ambitions had pushed the big issues to the back burner.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

News

International Sport

Eagles Round-Up

Tennis

New DG urged to pay attention to other sports

Enyeama sees hell in France, Osaze, Onazi return

Arsenal delay Chelsea’s party

Sport

ITTF Championships: Nigerian in good start in China

Did you know? That Mesut Ozil’s had the most touches (107) and created the most chances (four) in Arsenal’s 0-0 draw against Chelsea on Sunday

Keshi must learn from T mistakes –Chukwu Âjibade Olusesan

ormer Super Eagles coach, Christian Chukwu, has advised the Head Coach of the team, Stephen Keshi, to learn from his past mistakes that led to problems in the senior side. He urged the Big Boss to be tolerant in his relationship with his players and employers in order to succeed in his second spell. Keshi had a frosty relationship with the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation and he also fell out with some of his players. This ugly development led to failure towards the end of his first stint, and Chukwu said the coach must avoid recurrence of such episode. The former national team captain said that crisis in the dressing room could spell doom for any coach and he urged the 53-year-old to avoid the unnecessary distraction incessant attercations with players could generate. He says that Keshi must be tolerant of his players’ misdemeanor because as a manager

he is expected to aggregate divergent behaviours of his wards for optimum productivity. Chukwu said: “I congratulate Keshi for signing a new contract. But he must know that expectations are high now and he must settle down quickly because there is no time again for the AFCON qualifiers begin. However, the him must respect his employers just as I expect the NFF to give the coach all the support he requires to succeed in his assignment. “He must avoid fighting with

Radcliffe: London Marathon amazing

his players. Keshi should know that these players are not the same, their behaviours are different and he has to bring his experience to bear in managing these players. He is like a father to all of them and he should find a way to handle them.” The former Enugu Rangers coach also advised Keshi to give more young players opportunity in his team. “He should look at the Flying Eagles and the U-23 side and get players who could be useful to him. He needs these young players to rebuild the national team,” he said.

The Sport Team Adekunle Salami Group Sport Editor

Emmanuel Tobi Assistant Editor, Sport

Ifeanyi Ibeh Sport Correspondent

Ajibade Olusesan Sport Correspondent

Charles Ogundiya Sport Correspondent

Nigeria’s Emmanuel Emenike vying for the ball with late South African goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa

Chukwu

hree-time winner Paula Radcliffe said the “magic of the London Marathon” helped her finish as she ran the race for the last time competitively. Radcliffe, 41, ran the 26.2mile course in two hours 36 minutes 55 seconds, less than three years after she had surgery on a serious foot injury. “It was just amazing the whole way round,” world record holder Radcliffe told the BBC. “I went off way too fast but from then on it got more and more emotional.” Radcliffe won the London Marathon in 2002, 2003 and 2005 and her 2003 winning time of 2:15:25 remains the world record. A foot injury in 2012 ruled her out of the London Olympics and she feared she would never run again after surgery in August of that year. Her participation in this year’s race was in doubt when she injured an Achilles in training, but, cheered on by thousands of fans, she finished the course. “I came into this race unprepared and hoped the magic of the London Marathon would help me and I’m sure it did,” she said. “Down the last mile I thought ‘I don’t care about the time’, I just wanted to thank as many people as I could. “You can’t come to the London Marathon and not give an honest effort. “There was a big sign at Embankment saying ‘We will miss you’ but it won’t be as much as I will miss you.” Radcliffe said the support she received was so loud “my ears were ringing”. The women’s race was won by Ethiopia’s Tigist Tufa, who sprinted clear to finish in 2:23:22, 18 seconds in front of Kenya’s twotime London winner Mary Keitany. There was a Kenyan onetwo-three in the men’s race as Eliud Kipchoge beat Wilson Kipsang, the 2012 and 2014 winner, with world record holder Dennis Kimetto third.

52 Sport

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

New DG urged to pay attention to other sports Charles Ogundiya

he newly appointed Acting Director General of the National Sports Commission, Al Hassan Yakmut, has been urged by federations’ officials and athletes to pay more attention to other sports federations in the country. Some of them who spoke to New Telegraph on condition of anonymity said other sports had suffered enough neglect and that much needed to be done to change the fortune of sports in the country. “I am happy that we now have a technocrat as the DG of NSC,” a top shot in the Athletic Federation of Nigeria said. “If you look at most of these federations, it has

been a case of no funds because the people in charge of sports have not been sincere to us (other sports). “In AFN, we have been struggling to sponsor our athletes for competitions since the beginning of the year and to me that is very bad.” An official of the Gymnastic Federation of Nigeria said, “Some of them are pure politicians and they are more interested in their pockets rather than the development of sports in the country. “I am just excited that the new man has shown that he is capable of turning sports around, I just hope he will not lose focus.” Similarly, some athletes said the DG must

pay equal attention to all sports especially athletics, table tennis, basketball and others. “Other sports have been neglected apart from football. Football is a one medal sport while we have some sports that can fetch us 10 medals and more in an event. “Half of what is allocated to football to win a medal will be enough for some of these federations to prepare their athletes for a major championship and come back with 15 gold medals,” said a sprinter who also asked not to be named. President Goodluck Jonathan last week approved the appointment of Mr. Al-Hassan Yakmut as Acting DG of the NSC to replace Gbenga Elegbeleye.

Flying Eagles duo of Taiwo Awoniyi (Left) and captain Musa Mohammed celebrating after scoring at goal

Flying Eagles depart for Germany on Thursday

NNPC-Shell Cup: Zonal preliminaries start

• Organisers celebrate Uzoenyi, Akinjide

he Flying Eagles will depart for Germany on Thursday, April 30, for final preparation ahead of the FIFA U20 World Cup in New Zealand. Mohammed Sanusi, General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation, confirmed on Friday that a team of 30 players and 10 officials will depart for Germany aboard a flight from Abuja on Wednesday. “The boys will arrive in Germany on Thursday, April 30 and be able to train for 22 days, before flying to New Zealand on May 23,” he told thenff.com.

he zonal preliminaries of the 17th edition of the NNPC-Shell Cup for Nigerian secondary schools sponsored by the Shell Petroleum Development Company Joint Venture starts on Monday (today). A total of 27 schools that emerged as champions from the state finals are expected to compete for honours in nine zones across the nation. According to the Nigerian School Sports Federation, organisers of the event, the zonal preliminaries take place between April 27 and May 1. The quarterfinals are scheduled to hold from May 8 while the semifinal and the final matches are slated for May 22 and 24 respectively at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos. The NNPC-Shell Cup tournament has created a platform for the discovery of new football talents some of whom have subsequently played for the Nigerian na-

Uzoenyi

tional team at all levels. “Every new edition comes with new excitement to help our young talents blend their academic pursuit with their passion,” said SPDC’s Sustainable Development and Community Relations Manager, Mr. Igo Weli. He added that the international exposure of team coaches and the players to foreign technical crew from the renowned Feyenoord Football Academy

of the Netherlands was meant to raise the tournament’s standard. According to Weli, Super Eagles player Ejike Uzoenyi who was the most valuable player at the 2013 CHAN and Idowu Akinjide who was a member of the victorious Golden Eaglets that won the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates are both products of the NNPCShell Cup tournament.

“The present NFF administration is fully committed to providing the best of preparation for any of our national teams ahead of major international matches or championships.” The African champions are expected to arrive at their base in New Plymouth, New Zealand on May 25, ahead of their first match of the tournament against Brazil June 1. Nigeria, silver winners in 1989 and 2005, will also play North Korea and Hungary in Group E of the three-week, 24-nation tournament.

Mcloud, Edwards shine at CBN Junior Tennis Ajibade Olusesan

ngel Mcloud, on Saturday defeated Mary-love Edwards in the final of the Girls 16 of the CBN Junior Championship but Edwards ran away with an individual title of her own after picking the U-14 trophy. Edwards was in outstanding form when she dispatched Timipre Maxwell 9-0 in the final of the Girls 14s but he could not cope with the fire power of Mcloud in the U-16 category.

Maxwell who moved to the U-12 this year picked the gold in that category when she defeated Iye Onoja 9-3 while Onoja became the champion in the lower cadre. She defeated Serena Teluwo in the Girls 10. In the boys event, Martin Abamu defeated Chris Bulus 9-1 in the U-18 while Austen Stephen from Lagos upset Chris Itodo from Kaduna in the Boys 16s final to win his first junior title. Gabriel Friday from Kaduna pulled one back for his team by overcoming

a hard fighting Mathew Abamu in the Boys 14. Kodian Tennis Foundation of Kaduna got their second title through David Dawariye who beat Usman Kushimo from Abeokuta in the Boys 12 category. The Boys 10 title was won by Daniel Adeleye from Ekiti who beat Fortune Joseph from Lagos. Meanwhile, Bulus and Maxwell won the most outstanding player’s awards for the boys and girls categories respectively in the 2015 CBN Junior Tennis Championship.

Zenith Bank WBL: First Bank, Dolphins in great start Ifeanyi Ibeh

F L-R: Josh Pokluda, Winner in the Lightning Category, Matthieu Seguin, National Commercial Director, Nigerian Bottling Company Limited; Nolan Oneal, Winner in the Lightning Category; Grace OmoLamai, Director, Human Resources, NBC; and Dan Cox, Winner in the Lightning Category at the NBC 2015 Coca-Cola Cup held at the Lagos Yacht Club on Saturday.

our time most valuable player of the Zenith Bank Women Basketball League, Nkechi Akashili, showed her credentials as she helped First Bank basketball club start their title defence in style, scoring 27 points in the Elephant Girls emphatic

defeat of Plateau Peaks 91-36 at the weekend. The former First Deepwater star shot an impressive 100% from the 3 points range (5/5) adding 5 of 8 shots from the field in the win. While Atosu Upe and Chidinma Nwakama joined Akashili as the only First Bank players to score double figures adding 13 points

and 10 points respectively. Last season’s runner up Dolphin Basketball Club also gave a top class performance in an interesting opening day, as sharp shooting guard Juliet Currency knocked down 35 points and adding 10 rebounds as Dolphins drubbed the Inspector General of Police Queens 89-47 to emerge leaders in Group B.

International Sport 53

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

Everton thrash Man United

Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas (centre) vying with Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla (left) and Olivier Giroud... Sunday

verton scored three goals without conceding at Goodison Park as Manchester United suffered a second defeat in succession. United, who lost 1-0 at Chelsea last weekend, went into the match in fourth place and looking to move back ahead of local rivals Manchester City in the race for an automatic Champions League qualification spot. However, Everton were ahead inside the opening five minutes, with James McCarthy bursting through the United defence before firing a shot past David De Gea. Both sides then had chances during an open first half but, while United dominated possession, Everton were the more incisive, and they doubled their advantage on 35 minutes when John Stones rose to head home a Leighton Baines corner. Louis van Gaal reacted by replacing Marouane Fellaini, who had been booked, with Radamel Falcao after the break, and Angel Di Maria came on for Juan Mata on 63 minutes. However, it was Everton substitute Kevin Mirallas who made an impact, catching the United defence cold as he latched onto Ross Barkley’s through ball to slot past De Gea.

Arsenal delay Chelsea’s party A rsenal’s faint title hopes were all but ended after they were kept at bay by Chelsea, but the home side did enough to suggest they can push the champions-elect close next season. There were four penalty appeals turned down in the first

half, from the persuasive - Oscar’s clattering by David Ospina - to the not-so-convincing - the tumble that earned Cesc Fabregas a yellow card on his return to Emirates Stadium. The impressive Hector Bellerin saved a certain goal with a clearing header from Oscar’s effort, Alexis

sanchez and Mesut Ozil went close at the other end and Santi Cazorla’s effort hit Gary Cahill’s outstretched arm inside the box. The tempo dropped a touch after the break but Arsenal, for all their endeavour, couldn’t find a way through. Per Mertesacker had their best chance

but dragged his shot wide. So just a point for Arsenal, but Manchester United’s heavy defeat at Everton means the Gunners are still well-placed for a top-two finish. They sit third, two points clear of United and behind Manchester City on goal difference, having played a game less.

adding a South-American flavour to the lineup. Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane joins Costa in attack following a stellar campaign in front of goal for the youngster. But there is no room for Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas -- the player with more Premier League assists than any other this season -- or Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero, who has netted 21 league goals for the defending Premier League champions.

prevented from clinching a fourth consecutive Serie A title as Torino claimed a 2-1 upset win. After Andrea Pirlo put Juventus ahead with a free kick 35 minutes into the game, fellow Italy international Matteo Darmian equalised for the hosts just before halftime and former Juve forward Fabio Quagliarella scored the winner in the 57th minute. Juventus needed a win and a Lazio loss to clinch, and Lazio were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Chievo Verona. Juventus are 14 points ahead of Lazio with six matches remaining.

Southampton 2 – 2 Tottenham Burnley 0 – 1 Leicester City C’Palace 0 – 2 Hull City Newcastle 2 – 3 Swansea City QPR 0 – 0 West Ham Stoke City 1 – 1 Sunderland West Brom 0 – 0 Liverpool Man City 3 – 2 Aston Villa LA LIGA Malaga 1 – 1 Deportivo Espanyol 0 – 2 Barcelona Atletico 3 – 0 Elche Getafe 0 – 1 Levante Sociedad 0 – 0 Villarreal Cordoba 0 – 1 Bilbao SERIE A Atalanta 2 – 2 Empoli Genoa 3 – 1 Cesena Hellas Verona 3 – 2 Sassuolo Lazio 1 – 1 Chievo Parma 1 – 0 Palermo Torino 2 – 1 Juventus Udinese 2 – 1 AC Milan Inter 2 – 1 Roma LIGUE 1 Etienne 1 – 0 Montpellier Lens 0 – 2 Monaco... PSG 6 – 1 Lille Bordeaux 1 – 1 Metz Caen 0 – 2 Guingamp

Marseille 3 – 5 Lorient BUNDESLIGA Paderborn 2 – 2 Bremen Dortmund 2 – 0 Frankfurt Cologne 1 – 1 Leverkusen Hamburger 3 – 2 Augsburg

PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE

strong for Pacquiao

Everton 3 – 0 Man United

Toulouse 1 – 1 Nantes

PFA’s Premier League Team of the Year 2015 (4-4-2) Goalkeeper: David De Gea (Manchester united) Defenders: Ryan Bertrand (Southampton), John Terry (Chelsea), Gary Cahill (Chelsea) and Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea) Midfielders: Nemanja Matic (Chelsea), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool), Eden Hazard (Chelsea) and Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) Strikers: Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) and Diego Hazard Costa (Chelsea)

loyd Mayweather Jr has backed himself to “deliver” when he meets Manny Pacquiao in their highly-anticipated Las Vegas bout next week. Mayweather clashes with Pacman at the MGM Grand in a fight that has the potential to set a new pay-per-view record for the sport, and the unbeaten Grand Rapids fighter thinks that he will be too strong for the Filipino on May 2. The Mirror quotes Mayweather as saying: “All I know how to do is win.

Arsenal 0 – 0 Chelsea

Rennes 2 – 1 Nice

Torino beat Juventus after fan violence Mayweather: I’ll be too

ans were injured after flares exploded inside Turin’s Stadio Olimpico during the Torino-Juventus derby. The Gazzetta dello Sport reports that 10 fans were injured, two of them seriously, after Juventus supporters threw the fireworks toward Torino fans. The paper says the injured fans were treated in the stadium and then transported to a local hospital. Before the match, Torino fans assaulted the bus carrying Juve’s players as it approached the stadium, breaking a window. On the pitch, Juventus were

PREMIER LEAGUE

Evian 1 – 2 Bastia

Chelsea players dominate PFA Team of the Year

den Hazard and Diego Costa are among six Chelsea players to have been included in the PFA’s Premier League Team of the Year. Defenders John Terry, Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic have also made the cut, while Nemanja Matic completes the sextet of Blues players. Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea and Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand find themselves in the XI, with Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez and Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho

RESULTS

I’ve no doubts the fight will deliver. “The buzz around this fight is at an all time high, and I’m prepared to step in the ring and do what I do best on May 2. I’m going to continue living my life and supporting my family and those around me the way I’m comfortable doing. “Boxing is a business and people don’t know what it takes to be good at this, but I feel great. Training camp is going well and I’ll be ready to fight on the night.”

TEAM

Pts

1 Chelsea

33 39

2 Man City

34 34

3 Arsenal

4 Man United

34 25

5 Liverpool

33 11

6 Tottenham

34 6

7 S’hampton

34 21

8 Swansea

34 -3

9 Stoke City

34 -3

10 Everton

34 1

11West Ham

34 0

12 C’ Palace

34 -5

13 West Brom

34 -14

14 Newcastle

34 -21

15 Aston Villa

34 -22

16 Hull City

33 -14

17 Leicester

33 -16

18 Sunderland

33 -23

19 QPR

-21

20 Burnley

34 -26

Sport

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

EAGLES ROUND-UP

Enyeama sees hell in France

Osaze, Onazi return

genyi Onazi made Lazio starting line up for the first time since October last year as the club drew 1-1 with Verona. The Nigerian had not started a match for the capital city club since their 3-2 win over Sassuolo on October 5, last year and was on the pitch for 86 minutes. He also bagged a yellow card in the 56th minute of the game. Also, Osaze Odemwingie made an emotional return for Stoke City in their 1-1 draw with Sunderland. The Nigerian striker was out injured for about eight months and he was welcomed with a rousing ovation when coach Mark Hughes introduced him in the 80th minute. Ike Uche did not see action in Villarreal goalless draw at Real Sociedad, the same fate Ramon Azeez suffered in Almeria’s 2-0 win against Eibar. In Turkey, Emmanuel Emenike and Raheem Lawal clashed in the Super Lig while the latter saw action for 90 minutes the former was only introduced in the 84th minute of the 1-1 draw.

Ajibade Olusesan

incent Enyeama suffered his heaviest defeat since he joined Lille as the club was mauled 6-0 by PSG last Saturday. Enyeama was in action for 90 minutes but he could not do anything to prevent the damaging result. Nigeria’s first choice goalie had such a terrible evening and by the end of first half alone, he had picked four balls from his net. The former Maccabi Haifa goal tender has kept 14 clean sheets this season and has made 90 saves in 34 matches. In England, Brown Ideye could not supplant Victor Anichebe from West Brom’s starting lineup as he was introduced in the 75th minute of their goalless draw with Liverpool. Sone Aluko started for Hull City as they defeated Crystal Palace 2-0 away. He was on the pitch for 85 before making way for Alex Bruce. Odion Ighalo will surely be relishing Watford’s promotion to the English Premier League after their 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday. Ighalo who started the match did not score but his 20 championship goals have made him one of the heroes of the campaign. Kenneth Omeruo was not listed as Middlesbrough lost 4-3 at Fulham.

Enyeama makes a savefor Lille

Ofere, Kehinde hit targets

nverness striker, Edward Ofere, followed up his sterling showing in the Scottish Cup penultimate weekend with another goal in his club’s 2-1 home loss to Aberdeen last Saturday. The former Lecce of Italy star who scored in the 3-2 win against Celtic two Saturdays ago, opened scoring against Aberdeen in the 46th but the visitors still won the match 2-1. In Israel, Olanrewaju Kehinde maintained his scoring form as

he bagged a hat trick in his club’s 4-2 win over Maccabi Yavne in the second division on Friday. Kehinde has scored 16 goals during the regular season. He has now scored 19 goals in the league thus far. In England, former Nigeria international Kayode Odejayi netted his fifth goal of the season in the 89th minute for Tranmere Rovers in their 3 - 2 loss to Plymouth Argyle in a League Two tie.

Osaze

NIGERIA PREMIER LEAGUE round up Udoh’s brace lifts Enyimba Giwa, Gabros continue impressive form

Stories by Charles Ogundiya

he two privately owned clubs in the Nigeria Professional Football League, Giwa FC of Jos and Gabros International of Nnewi, continued their impressive form in the league after securing away wins in a week six league match. Giwa, currently top of the premier league table got a 1-1 draw inside the Aper Aku Stadium, Markurdi, against home team, Lobi Stars. Ibrahim Shuaibu gave the visitors the lead in the 40th minute before Barnabas Imenger restores parity in the 74th minute to end the game 1-1 and a point for Lobi Stars. With the result, Giwa remain on top of the table with 11 points from six matches ahead of Enyimba on goals difference.

Actions between Giwa FC of Jos and Rangers of Enugu in a recent league match

Gabros moved to the third position on the log with a hard fought 0-0 draw against Bay-

elsa United. The Ifeanyi Ubah boys have 10 points from six games.

igeria Professional Football League record top scorer, Mfon Udoh, got a brace in Enyimba’s 3-2 win against Sharks of Port Harcourt on Sunday. Udoh got his first goal from the penalty spot in the 23 minute of the game after an infringement to give his team a two goal lead after Chinonso Okonkwo had given the Aba side the lead in the 14th minute of the game. Jackson Daniel, who also recorded a brace in the game, gave the visitors hope in the 58th minute with his first goal. Udoh’s second goal in the 68th minute however restored Enyimba’s two goal lead. Jackson completed his brace in the 85th minute to end the game 3-2 with Enyimba playing out the game without conceding another goal to se-

cure the three points at home. Speaking on the telephone with our correspondent, Enyimba’s skipper, Chinedu Udoji, said it was a hard fought victory for his team while commending Sharks for giving his side a fight in the game.

Udoh

Heartland demand probe of players’ transfers

eartland FC of Owerri have asked the Nigeria Football Federation to probe the purported release of three of their players, Orji Kalu, Osas Okoro and Bobby Clement to, Rangers International of Enugu by the Arbi-

tration Committee. A statement issued in Owerri on Sunday by the Media Officer of the team, Cajetan Nkwopara, said Heartland had forwarded a protest to both the NFF and the LMC over the illegal release of the three play-

ers, demanding an investigation into the matter. All the three played for Heartland last season and were registered with the club for the current season before they were purportedly given one year provisional clearance

each to feature for Rangers International by the Arbitration Committee. Nkwopara said the claim by the players that they were being owed salaries by Heartland was completely false as the club was up to date with

players’ wages on January 16, when the three players last reported for duty. The club’s spokesman said the committee never invited Heartland to explain their own side of the story before passing judgement on the case.

Interview/Features 55

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

New Zealand 2015

Iheanacho’s too good to be ignored

ith only 33 days to the FIFA U-20 World Cup concerns are rising over the fitness of one of the country’s brightest talents, Kelechi Iheanacho. What has happened to him? Did he fail the MRI TEST, or has his career stalled like many other cases. The Manchester City midfielder has failed to properly shake off a knee injury suffered in February in the UEFA Youth league clash with Schalke 04’s youth team, and reports it that he has only played three competitive games all year due to injury and work permit issues. This more than raises concerns over his chances of participation, as the injury was his third of the season. Coach Although Manu Garba has carved a niche for himself as a manager who builds a team that thrives even in the absence of the star names; See how the Golden Eaglets scored for fun in the absence of Isaac Success (the lad who was supposed to spearhead the attack) and how the Flying Eagles dominated Africa without Musa Yahaya or Kelechi Iheanacho. Nonetheless, their return to the team is eagerly anticipated for the sheer quality they possess and their exposure to European football. Whether Kelechi will make it to camp early isn’t a major concern now, instead it’s if his undoubted gifts will get him a spot on the final 21-man list despite

Iheanacho (left)

Imo wins Etisalat U-15 School Cup

overnment Secondary School, Imo, emerged winners of the second edition of the Etisalat U-15 School Cup after beating Government Model School, Bida, Niger, 4-2 to cart home the trophy in a thrilling final played at the Campos Square Mini-Stadium, Lagos Island last weekend. For its feat, the winning school also took home the star prize of N2 million educational award and N50,000 for each player of the team, while the firstrunner up Government Model School, Bida, Niger,

went home with N1 million and N30,000 for each player of the team. The second runner-up, Winners College Akure, Ondo State, who defeated Washington Memorial Grammer School, Anambra through the ‘sudden death’ penalty shootouts after both schools played regulation and extra time received the sum of N750,000 with each player talking home N20,000. Chief Marketing Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Francesco Angelone expressed satisfaction with the level of the competition as well

as the passion displayed by the teams. “The Etisalat U-15 School Cup is our own way of providing a platform for young footballers to express their passion for the game and be rewarded for it,” he said. In his remarks, President, Nigerian School Sports Federation, Mallam Ibrahim Mohammad said, “We are proud to partner with Etisalat in this rewarding initiative. The idea is to combine football with education and we believe that all the participants have benefited positively from the initiative.”

Gosar, Police RFC win at South-West Rugby league

osar Rugby Football club and Police Machine Rugby Football club secured wins as the second phase of the South Western league sponsored by CMB Building and Maintenance Company and organised by ‘Friends of Rugby’resumes on Saturday at the National Stadium, Lagos. Gosar RFC team, which defeated Eco II RFC 26-7, started the game on a cautious note but Felix Salami scored their 1st try of the second phase in the 21st minute after teammate, Gbenga Hammed, missed the conversion kick as they took a 15-0 advantage over their local rival from Ajegunle, Eco II RFC

into the 1st half break. Gosar RFC extended their lead with the commencement of hostility in the second half with Gbenga Hammed scoring another penalty conversion in the 62nd minute to record 18 points. Busari Kazeem of Eco II redeemed his team with a dramatic try in 71st minute before stepping up again to convert the resulting kick. Felix salami of Gosar RFC took the game before Eco II as he scored another good try in the 81st minute of the encounter as the game ended in favour of Gosar. Police RFC defeated Royal

Stallions RFC of Ilorin 26-0 while Lagos RFC were walked over with 14 points by Racing Rugby Football of Lagos after they failed to show up for their match. Also, Cowrie Rugby FC were awarded the match against Hawkster Athletics RFC of Lagos after the technical committee of the league awarded a technical walkover in favour of Cowrie RFC due to the existing suspension of Hawkster Athletics. After match day 8, Cowrie RFC leads the league table with 39 points while Police RFC and Racing RFC are tied on 29 points with Police having a superior points difference.

lacking match sharpness. Real Madrid’s Sami Khedira is the most recent example of such triumphant comeback story. Having barely settled in the side following stiff competition for places, he tore his anterior cruciate ligament and was sidelined for six months. He returned in April and made Germany’s final World Cup squad, chalking up 375 minutes over five games and had such a scintilating performance as Germany annihilated Brazil in the semi-final. Little wonder why Kelechi cannot share a similar story. Talent If Nigeria must emerge victorious in New Zealand then the best legs (and minds) must partake in the tournament. One of Kelechi’s strength is his ability to carve out a chance and score the odd goals just when they are needed, now how key can that be? Of the past five winners, only Argentina in 2005 won the tournament by scoring less than 15 goals (they got 12) also, in three of these five editions, the winners have scored the most goals. Although it may be argued that the team may not need loads of goals to win the tournament. Infact, Greece and Spain did demonstrate that in 2004 and 2010 respectively but no U-20 team has managed that before and should that be the case Kelechi’s knack for arriving late in the box, or just being around the box when needed most can be vital. Culled from thenff.com

ITTF Championships: Nigerians in good start in China Emmanuel Tobi

igerian players began their campaign in the singles events at the 2015 ITTF World Championships in China on a bright note despite being neglected by the Sports Ministries. The presence of the President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, Wahid Oshodi, in Suzhou may have spurred the trio of Segun Toriola, Kazeem Makanjuola and Olufunke Oshonaike to give their best against their opponents in the group matches of the tournament which has over 100 countries competing in five events at the global competition. It was Makanjuola who opened the doors for others as he wasted no time in dismissing Maldives’ Moosa Ahmed 11-2, 11-9, 15-13, 11-8 in the first

Makanjuola

group match. Toriola, who is still a delight to watch for all at the Suzhou International Expo Centre took a cue from Makanjuola when he ran riot over Algeria’s Aissa Belkadi with 11-7, 11-5, 11-3, 11-7 win. Oshonaike also proved that experience is still relevant as she beat Costa Rica’s Cynthia Martinez 4-0 as well as pummeling Mexico’s Madrid Mercedes with same margin to put herself in position to make it to the main draw. On Monday, Makanjuola will have a date with Argentina’s Tabachnik Pablo as Toriola battles Qatar’s Abdulhussein Mohammed for the sole spot in the group Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri who is the second seeded African player in the main draw will begin his campaign on Tuesday April 28.

Sanctity of Truth

On Marble If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. – Nelson Mandela

World Record

Kimberly Mink (USA) spun a loop around her, fed to a length of 23.21 m (76 ft 2 in), measured from the end of the extended hondo (the eye of the rope) to her marked hand position, at Jerome High School, Jerome, Idaho, USA on 25 January 2003.

NIGERIA’S MOST AUTHORITATIVE NEWSPAPER IN POLITICS AND BUSINESS

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

N150

Buhari and the challenges ahead Adewale Kupoluyi

he general elections would remain a watershed in the annals of the nation. The takingover of leadership mantle by the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the incumbent President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) brings to an end, an uninterrupted rule by the PDP since the current civilian dispensation began in 1999. The election was also memorable in that for the first time in the country’s history, an incumbent president was defeated at the polls. What this simply means is that Nigerians have demonstrated that they can legitimately bring down any ruling president, leader or administration through a legitimate electoral process in which accountability to the people is placed on the agenda. What this civic message is saying is that the power of the electorate could be the decisive turning point in bringing about positive change while consolidating our hard-earned democracy. Despite all odds, the emergence of a virile political opposition, APC, has made it possible to challenge and defeat the PDP after sixteen years of virtually oneparty rule at the federal level such that the party got so arrogant about and boasted that it would rule for the next 60 years! No doubt, Nigeria’s problems are multi-faceted, numerous and complex but intractable, ranging from corruption to insecurity, poor economy, absence of true federalism, unemployment, power failure and impunity. To begin with, Buhari should rescue our Chibok schoolgirls from the den of the terrorist sect, Boko Haram, abducted over a year ago without any clue whatsoever. While other nations across the world often deploy their best military and strategic arsenals to safeguard their citizens, our military seems to be incapable of rescuing the innocent girls. Buhari should ensure that these girls’ rescue become a top priority of his administration. The incoming government should ensure that the military and other security agencies are properly equipped with modern hardware and intelligence gathering equipment while the entire armed forces should be overhauled for better performance. For instance, it is widely believed that a major factor why Boko Haram remains undefeated and very difficult to curtail so far is because there are alleged moles within the nation’s security apparatus including the military. These ‘moles’ should be identified and fished out at all cost if the fight against the sect is to be ever won. As a former general in the Nigeria army, the President-elect should be passionate about restructuring the armed forces, police and other security agencies that have sadly been accused of being partisan and ineffective over the

Guest Columnist

BUHARI

years. We should realise that without adequate security in place, the desired changed may still be a mirage because a poorly-secured territory remains unattractive to business and development. With a populated economy of approximately 170 million people and reputed as Africa’s largest with $510 billion Gross Domestic Product, Nigeria is said to be the third largest recipient of foreign direct investment in Africa with an expected 5 per cent growth in 2015. Sadly, the nation is structurally deficient with precarious reliance on monolithic oil revenues for its survival while official corruption has been tagged as the greatest setback to the country’s development agenda going by the International Monetary Fund’s expose that over $400 billion had allegedly been looted from the country in the last 40 years. This new government should urgently embark on national economic rejuvenation. The President-elect’s promise to fill his cabinet with technocrats with the right pegs in the right holes is in order to meet the expectations of Nigerians with a caveat that whoever is to serve in his government should publicly declare his/her assets before taking the job and while leaving office. This is part of moves to curb the endemic corruption, which I feel is laudable. Above all, the people Buhari chooses for his cabinet will certainly determine whether he will succeed or not. Therefore, he has to be very careful not to pick the wrong persons, who are very good at lobbying any government in power, to

Cross-carpeting after losing an election is not an option in entrenching high democratic tenets

OSINBAJO

have their share of the national cake. The stance by the President-elect not to appoint defecting politicians into his cabinet when he takes over is also heart-warming and decisive. It is an indication that he is opposed to the ugly gale of defections, which the country is presently witnessing. Cross-carpeting after losing an election is not an option in entrenching high democratic tenets. Great nations are built by politicians with diverse and sound political ideologies whose thrust is to collectively ensure that the country grows economically, politically, socially and technologically. Rather than jumping from one party to another, one would have expected the defectors to come together after the elections as a viable opposition, reflect on the party’s performance and then re-strategize for the next elections rather than struggling to join the ruling party. Buhari should look beyond the APC while picking his cabinet members and get people who are passionate about Nigeria and could assist him in bringing the country to the Promised Land. He should constitute a special think-tank that would fish-out hardworking, resourceful, focused, patriotic, principled, reliable and credible men and women that can make a big difference in governance. An effective policy should be devised to reduce the cost of governance at all levels. A country like Nigeria, whose national budgets basically allot over 70 per cent of public expenditure to the Federal Government alone should rather cut the cost of governance by shunning unnecessary expenses on unproductive expenditure such as the service-wide vote, recurring votes on ‘welfare’, kitchen ware and entertainment at state houses. This fiscal discipline can be achieved through a reduction in the number of presidential fleets, unviable public agencies, bloated civil service and increasing local and external debt portfolios. Beyond these,

there is the need to revisit our moribund state-owned railways, petroleum refineries, steel and power companies. It is embarrassing that an oil-producing nation like ours continue to experience perennial fuel scarcity as power outage has become a normal feature of our daily living. If the incoming administration is really sincere in transforming the economy, it should embark on a well-orchestrated privatization of all state-owned commercial interests. All over the world, it is a known fact that governments are not reputed to be good business managers. At best, strategic concerns - that cannot be left to private hands - could be controlled by the government while other social and municipal services can be administered through public-private partnership. Finally, Buhari should not renege on his promises to Nigerians, as encapsulated in the document, “My Covenant With Nigerians”. These commitments by the President-elect include the implementation of audit recommendations by Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), working with the National Assembly towards the immediate enactment of a Whistle Blower Act and making the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) an autonomous and operational agency, encouraging proactive disclosure of information by government institutions under the Freedom of Information Act, ensuring access to justice and respect for fundamental human rights, prison reforms, delivery of a Marshal Plan on insurgency, terrorism, ethnic and religious violence, kidnapping and rural banditry. Others include the review of our foreign policy, sustenance and streamlining of the human capital development in the Niger Delta, implementing the National Gender Policy including 35 percent of appointive positions for women, facilitating the passage of the National Disability Act and the Equal Opportunities Bill, unveiling of a health sector review policy to ensure efficient and effective management of our health systems such that no Nigerian would have any reason to go outside the country for medical treatment, improving the competitiveness of our universities and polytechnics by positioning them at the heart of the national productivity, innovation and enterprise and enforce non-discrimination between them, revamping key agriculture research institutions through effective network of extension services as well as strengthening of the regulatory framework to protect and preserve our culture and creative industry from the scourge of piracy, among others. With such high expectations, Buhari cannot afford to fail Nigerians. Time will definitely tell! Kupoluyi writes from Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), adewalekupoluyi@yahoo. co.uk,@AdewaleKupoluyi, adewalekupoluyi.blogspot. com

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