Tuesday, june 28, 2016 binder1

Economic woes: 288,000 subscribers dump DStv

lMore Nigerians shun subscription renewals Kunle Azeez

D

Stv is currently grappling with falling pay-tv subscrip-

tion numbers in Nigeria and other countries in the sub-Saharan Africa, with over 288,000 subscribers dumping the satellite tele-

vision platform in the last one year, New Telegraph has learnt.

It was gathered that the subscribers’ decision

stemmed from the annual service hike, which has made service unaffordable to many, coupled with the lowering purchasing pow-

er of African majority.

However, Naspers, the parent company of Multichoice, owners of DStv, has attributed the poor subscriber number to substantial price increases in

order to offset the impact of currency declines and weaker consumer sentiment in the region.

The company has vowed to minimise further CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

Sanctity Of Truth

NIGERIA’S MOST AUTHORITATIVE NEWSPAPER IN POLITICS AND BUSINESS

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

N20m admission proceeds' scam rocks JAMB }5

/newtelegraph /newtelegraph

Vol. 3 No. 860

Campaign funds: EFCC arrests Fayose's associate }44

$4m fraud: UK court jails Nigerian pastor }8

@newtelegraph1 www.newtelegraphonline.com @newtelegraph1 www.newtelegraphonline.com

Militants attack deputy gov's convoy }40

N150

Forgery: I’m ready to go to jail –Saraki Ojerinde

Fayose

Samuel

Onanuga

...says cabal has taken over Buhari's government lPresidency: Your claim is ridiculous, preposterous lEkweremadu, others escape detention, perfect bail

}10 &12

L-R: Chairman, Forte Oil, Mr. Femi Otedola; Executive Vice-Chairman, Famfa Oil Limited, Mrs. Folorunso Alakija; President Muhammadu Buhari; Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Mr. Tony Elumelu; President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Chairman, Zenith Bank, Mr. Jim Ovia; a businessman and CEO, Oando Plc., Mr. Wale Tinubu, when the president hosted the business community in Abuja... yesterday.

PHOTO: Timothy Ikuomenisan

Court sacks Abia gov over tax evasion

…orders INEC to return Ogah lIkpeazu: I’ll appeal judgement

Consumption of sport drinks increases health risk in children –Study }39

}4

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NEWS

4

TUESday, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Court sacks Abia gov over tax evasion Tunde Oyesina and Igbeaku Orji

T

he Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday sacked the Governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and ordered him to vacate office immediately.

The court also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately issue a certificate of return to Uche Ogah, the runner up in the 2015 primaries of the PDP. The judgement of the

court was sequel to a suit filed by Ogah challenging the party's primary election that brought in Ikpeazu.

Ogah polled second highest votes in the primary election.

The plaintiff had, among others, alleged that Ikpeazu evaded tax prior to his election and also gave false information to the party before participating in the primary elections held in December 2014.

In his judgement, the trial judge, Justice Okon Abang, held that Ikpeazu was guilty of tax evasion and, therefore, not qualified to have participated

in the primary elections of the party, let alone contest in governorship election in the state.

Justice Abang held that the court relied on the Supreme Court decisions in the case of Obi vs INEC and Ameachi vs INEC to make the consequential order.

He added that Ogah, who was also a PDP gubernatorial aspirant in the 2015 election in Abia, was entitled to the certificate of return in the election held in April 2015.

"It is hereby ordered that INEC, the third defendant, should immediately issue certificate of return to Dr.

Samson Ogah as Governor of Abia State in the election held in 2015 and restore to him all the entitlements as the elected governor of Abia.

"Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu is hereby ordered to vacate office as governor of Abia State immediately, relying on the decision of the Supreme Court in INEC vs Obi," he held.

The court held that the tax clearance certificate and income tax receipts submitted by Ikpeazu were unknown to the law and made him ineligible to contest the poll.

He further held that the

2011 tax clearance certificate and income tax receipt submitted to INEC before the 2014 PDP primaries contained false information.

The court opined that Ikpeazu’s appointment letter as General Manager, Abia Passenger Integrated Scheme on July 18, 2011 spelt out his salary and entitlements.

"Going by the appointment letter, Ikpeazu would have worked for Abia Passenger Integrated Scheme for five months, 12 days.

"The earnings of the second defendant, based on the letter of appointment by single calculation

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in 2011 for five months, 12 days is N493,000 or N546, 669 if not assigned government vehicle.

"The tax payment submitted by the second defendant didn't reflect this figure," the court noted.

Abang further held that the tax certificate indicated the gross earnings of Ikpeazu for 2011 to be N1.14 million and the income tax was assessed on this figure.

He also held that the date on the tax receipt filed by the governor was on a Saturday, adding that Saturday, even in Abia, was a public holiday.

The court held that Ikpeazu did not file his tax clearance in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and that all payments he made preceding the 2014 primaries were made in one day and not as and when due.

He further held that Ikpeazu perjured when he said that he had fulfilled all the requirements to contest the 2015 elections.

This, he said, was because he had failed to provide a tax clearance certificate that was known to the law.

The court further noted that the governor was not qualified to be the candidate of the PDP in the primaries of 2014 and was also not qualified to be fielded as the candidate for the 2015 election.

He, however, held that Ogah was the qualified candidate to contest as the candidate of the PDP for the 2015 election and his name ought to have been forwarded to INEC as the PDP candidate.

Justice Abang also held that Ikpeazu did not win the PDP primaries, as he was not eligible or qualified to contest the poll.

He, however, awarded N100, 000 cost in favour of Ogah.

In a suit marked FHC/ ABJ/ CS/1086/2014, dated Decem­ ber 22, 2014, the plaintiff accused Ikpeazu of failing to pay per­sonal income tax promptly as and when due for 2010 and 2011 in line with Section 24(f) of the 1999 Constitution.

He, however, asked the court to compel the PDP and INEC to disqualify Ikpeazu from contesting the governorship election.

Plaintiff's counsel, Alex Izinyon (SAN) contended that by the provisions of Article 14(a) of Part IV of the PDP Electoral Guidelines for Primary Elections and Section 87(4) (B) of the Electoral Act, 2010, Ikpeazu was not qualified to contest the December 8, 2014 governorship primary poll in the state.

But defence counsels, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) and Val Offia, asked CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

NEWS

TUESday, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

N20m admission proceeds' NATIONAL OBSTETRIC FISTULA scam rocks JAMB CENTRE ABAKALIKI lManagement suspends seven officials over fraud Yekeen Nurudeen Abuja

A

t least seven officials of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) are currently serving an indefinite suspension following a fraud of N20 million discovered to have been perpetrated by them.

New Telegraph reliably gathered that the N20 million is an admission proceeds from six different universities, which was ought to be paid to the Board's account, but was diverted by the officials involved into their private accounts.

A source within JAMB revealed to our correspondent that the management of the Board has already invited operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate those indicted.

According to him, the Board receives from all tertiary institutions certain amount of money from candidates given admission by those institutions through its matriculation examinations and such money is paid into its account through its various officers designated for that

purpose.

But a staff of Quality Assurance Department of the Board whose name was simply given as Tunde, the source revealed, issued receipts in collaboration with some staff of the Board's Department Store to a certain university's Admission Officer who had come to make payment on behalf of his school.

"He gave the admission officer about N1 million and issued receipt, but didn't remit the money into JAMB's account. But you know that the Board has the record of all candidates given admission every year by all the institutions and also knows the expected revenue from each institution that admitted candidates through its examination.

“But he went to the Store with the help of other staff, got the receipt, but did not record it. And as you are aware, the university that made the payment has been issued receipt as evidence of payment. His name is Tunde in Quality Assurance Department; he is also called Panel Secretary.

“He and about six other staff involved have been suspended when management discovered the fraud.

A probe panel has been set up while EFCC has also been invited," the source said.

This is coming less than a month after six zonal coordinators of JAMB were penalised for their involvement in various irregularities that marred the conduct of 2016 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME).

About six top officials of the Board were demoted for their role in some examination malpractices that greeted the last UTME. When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, said he was not aware of such incident within the Board even as he did not deny that tertiary institutions make payments per student on admission to JAMB. He, however, pleaded for some hours to investigate and asked our correspondent to call back.

But when he was called back after about two hours, the JAMB spokesman, who did not pick calls to his telephone, replied through an SMS, that he was in a meeting but couldn't confirm the N20 million scam.

"In a meeting. Asked but nobody could confirm that," his SMS reads.

Police to get new Management Team

...As IGP meets senior officers, restates ban on roadblocks ...Appoints new FPRO Emmanuel Onani Abuja

T

he Police Service Commission (PSC) is set to promote some Assistant Inspectors-General (AIGs) of Police to the rank of Deputy InspectorsGeneral (DIGs) of Police.

The anticipated promotion, according to New Telegraph's investigation, will pave the way for the constitution of a Police Management Team (PMT).

This is as the Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ibrahim Idris, yesterday, held a maiden conference with senior police officers, at the Force Headquarters, Abuja.

The PMT has the IGP as chairman, with a minimum of six DIGs as members.

A source, who spoke in confidence with New Telegraph yesterday, said since all the DIGs had retired with the former IGP, Mr. Solomon Arase, there was now the compelling need to promote some AIGs to the DIG rank, to enable him have a team to work with.

“You will find that the

Acting IG has not got a Management Team yet, since the DIGs we had, all left the Force owing to IGP Arase's retirement.

“I understand the Police Service Commission (PSC) is in the process of promoting some AIGs to DIGs, as there cannot be such vacuum.

“You know in doing that, the commission has to consider largely, seniority and vacancy, because DIGs mostly reflect the six geo-political zones,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Acting IGP has reinstated the ban on roadblocks across the country, even as he vowed to withdraw mobile policemen attached to individuals.

“The ban on roadblocks is still on. No command Commissioner of Police should allow any roadblock in his area. You don’t allow any roadblock to operate in your area.

“It is the directive of the Federal Government and we must abide by it.

Of course you know that the x-squad are going to be re-enforced and anyone found to introduce road-

blocks will find himself to blame,” the new police chief said.

On policemen attached to individuals, Idris said: “We are going to withdraw police officers from private individuals, especially the mobile police force and the counter terrorism units. I assure you, we will do that.

“You don’t deploy officers who are to serve as crime respond unit and to address riots to make them serve as bodyguards. They are going back to various units. I make a solemn vow here and I am going to withdraw them from individuals.”

In a related development, the new Police Chief has appointed a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Mr. Don Awuna, as the new Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO).

Until his new appointment, Awunah, who takes over from Mrs. Olabisi Kolawole, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), was the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Homicide Section of Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID) Abuja.

5

INVITATION TO TENDER FOR THE EXECUTION OF 2016 CAPITAL PROJECTS

The National Obstetric Fistula Centre, Abakaliki proposes to undertake the procurement of various Goods and works under the 2016 Capital Budget.

In compliance with the Public Procurement Act 2007, the Hospital therefore invites interested, competent and reputable Contractors with relevant experience and good track record to submit documents necessary for consideration for the execution of these projects.

1.

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECTS A. PROCUREMENT OF MEDICAL EQUIPMENT: Lot 1: SUPPLY/ INSTALLATION OF ACCESSORIES FOR RADIOLOGY EQUIPMENT Lot 2: SUPPLY/INSTALLATION OF LABORATORY EQUIPMENT Lot 3: SUPPLY/ INSTALLATION OF EQUIPMENT FOR NEW THEATRE B. PROCUREMENT OF OFFICE EQUIPMENT, FURNITURE AND FITTINGS Lot 4: SUPPLY/INSTALLATION OF OFFICE EQUIPMENT Lot 5: SUPPLY/INSTALLATION OF OFFICE FURNITURE AND FITTINGS C. WORKS Lot 6: PROVISION/ INSTALLATION OF WATER FACILITIES

2. MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS WITHOUT WHICH A BIDDER SHALL BE DISQUALIFIED:

Prospective bidders are required to submit the following documents: i. Certificate of Incorporation/ Evidence of registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission. ii. Evidence of Compliance/Evidence of remittance of contributory deductions from/to PENCOM in accordance with the Pension Reform Act 2004. iii. Evidence of Tax Clearance Certificate for the immediate past three years corresponding to declared turnover. iv. Evidence of VAT Registration with TIN No and past remittances for the last 3 years; v. Evidence of Contribution/Remittance of 1% of Annual Total Emolument accrued to members of staff of the company payable to ITF. vi Evidence of registration on the National Database of Federal Contractors, Consultants and Service providers, under the platform of Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP).

OTHER REQUIREMENTS: vii Manufacturer’s authorization from the approved Manufacturers listed in the Policy for Procurement (for medical equipment) where applicable viii Company Audited Accounts for the past three years showing annual turnover, prepared by a reputable Accounting firm ix. Evidence of Technical Capability and list of registered professionals where applicable. x. Verifiable list of similar jobs successfully executed in the last three years including letters of award of contracts or job completion certificates (please provide contact addresses of the Clients who may be contacted for reference) xi. Evidence of Financial Capability to execute the Projects (Bank Guarantees from reputable banks will form part of the evaluation criteria)

3. COLLECTION OF TENDER DOCUMENTS

Tender documents are obtainable from the Office of the Secretary of the Tenders Board Room 04 on presentation of a copy and original receipt of non- refundable Tender fee of N20,000.00 (Twenty Thousand Naira) paid into National Obstetric Fistula Centre Abakaliki (Remita Account) for each lot.

4. SUBMISSION OF TENDER DOCUMENTS i. Completed Technical and Financial proposals (three sets of hard copy and 1 soft copy) shall be submitted in two different sealed tamper proof envelopes and labeled “Technical Proposal” and “Financial Proposal” respectively, and both placed in a third envelope. All the 3nos. envelopes should bear the “Project Name” and Lot No. at the Top Right Hand Corner of the Envelope and addressed to:

Medical Director.

National Obstetric Fistula Centre Abakaliki,

86 Abakaliki-Enugu Expressway, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. ii. The documents should be deposited in the Tender Box at the Admin Complex of National Obstetric Fistula Centre Abakaliki. Company name should also be written at the reverse side of the envelopes.

5. CLOSING DATE FOR SUBMISSION OF TENDER DOCUMENTS Closing date/time for all submissions shall be on 8th August 2016 (six weeks from the date of this publication) at 12.00 noon prompt. Late submissions shall not be entertained.

6. OPENING OF BID DOCUMENTS:

Technical Bid Documents shall be opened in public immediately following the deadline stipulated for the submission of bids at the Admin Complex of National Obstetric Fistula Centre, 86Abakaliki-Enugu Expressway, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, while the Financial bids of the companies that were successful in the technical bid evaluation shall be opened the same day. All Bidders and/or their Representatives are invited to witness the public opening exercise accordingly.

For more information, please contact the Secretary Parastals Tenders Board.

Signed: Management National Obstetric Fistula Centre, Abakaliki

6

TUESday, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

TUESday, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

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TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

METRO

ABIODUN BELLO abiodun.bello@newtelegraphonline.com 08023938212

...CRIME, CITY WATCH, COURTS

£4.1m fraud: UK court jails Nigerian pastor

Juliana Francis

A

United Kingdom (UK) court, Woodwich Crown Court, has sentenced a 59-year-old Nigerian pastor, Kayode Samuel, to nine years imprisonment for stealing £4.1 million (equivalent of about N1.6 billion) from the accounts of some state schools.

Samuel, an accountant, was arrested in October 2012. His conviction on Friday came after almost one year of trial.

Samuel, a part-time pastor, was told by the court to pay £4.1 million back to the Haberdashers’ Aske’s chain of academies more than a year ago. He, however, failed to do so.

The fraud had been kept secret, for almost two years. It was described as Britain’s biggest ever education fraud.

During the hearing, it was revealed that Samuel spent the stolen loot on women; his late wife, a second wife and two mistresses.

He was also believed to have transferred some of the stolen money to Nigeria.

Samuel was said to have acquired expensive cars such as Mercedes, Audi TT sports car and Infinity, £500 Gucci shoes and Louis Vuitton briefcase for himself and his women.

During the hearing, Samuel denied complicity in the fraud, insisting that his late wife, Grace, and an office junior set him up and transferred the money to their joint account just to punish him for his extramarital affairs.

The court heard how Samuel spent seven years carrying out the fraud and steadily picking accounts of Haberdashers’ Aske’s

state schools in south London, now an academy chain acclaimed by the government.

Samuel spent tons of money on his real wife Grace’s private healthcare – until her death, aged 53, in 2013.

It was also revealed that he signed documents showing he was making investments with Miss Halima, and renting flats in Kent for ‘partners,’ Toyin Lawal and Yetunde Turtak. Samuel went to work at Hatcham in 1997 and rose to become accounts manager for the whole chain.

According to Dailymail, Samuel was paid £57,000 a year, and told colleagues of his work as a pastor in the Christ Apostolic Church, South London, peppering his conversations with ‘praise the Lord’.

In October 2012, it emerged that a large sum of money was missing from the academies’ funds.

Dailymail reported: “Kayode’s assets and those of his wife, Grace, who died aged 53 last year, were then frozen. It appeared that huge sums of school money had been paid into a bank account in Nigeria and a company called Samak, which is said to be run in Nigeria by Kayode’s second wife, Yoni, although he denies any wedding has taken place.

“The trust launched a High Court case to reclaim the missing cash but the accountant denied wrongdoing and claimed ‘all transactions had been authorised by the finance director.’ However, the judge found in the trust’s favour last July and ordered Kayode and the estate of his late wife to pay back more than £4 million plus interest.”

Samuel

City Briefs

Minister, others back NDLEA’s drug war Camillus Nnaji

M

inister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, and Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, among other stakeholders, have called for concerted efforts in the fight against drug trafficking.

The minster made the call in Lagos yesterday at this year’s United Nations Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking organised by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Dalung said globally, governments had committed billions of dollars in the fight against drug abuse.

According to him, investing in social programmes that will discourage young people from going into drugs will yield fruitful results in the long run.

The minister promised that the Youth and Sports Ministry would collaborate with the NDLEA in checkmating the abuse of drugs and other substances especially among the youth.

On his part, Akiolu called for improved

funding of NDLEA and provision of logistics for enhanced performance.

The monarch urged the public to readily provide the agency with useful information on drug trafficking cabal in their neighbourhood.

He said: “I want government to improve the funding of the NDLEA. Drug control cannot be fought without logistic support.

Members of the public also have a responsibility to report the illegal activities of drug traffickers in their neighbourhood to law enforcement agents.”

Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Col. Muhammad Abdallah (rtd), said that Nigeria remained committed to the dislodgement of criminal drug syndicate targeting the country and West African subregion as a hub for illicit drug production, trafficking and abuse.

June 26 every year has been set aside as International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking by resolution 42/112 of the United Nations General Assembly on the 7th of December 1987.

Abdallah, who was represented by the Director General of the agency, Mrs. Roli Bode-George, stressed that the country had maintained a rising drug control profile through capacity building and unwavering sense of obligation. He promised to work with stakeholders in ensuring a healthy and drug-free society.

He said: “Nigeria will continue to dislodge criminal drug syndicate seeking to turn our country and West Africa sub-region to a hub for illicit drug production, trafficking and abuse. We have maintained a rising drug control profile through capacity building and unwavering sense of obligation.

“As we mark this important day, stakeholders must review drug control strategies aimed at ensuring a safer environment.

Moving forward, we must determine the effectiveness of existing measures. The adequacy of allocated resources to drug control, effectiveness of public enlightenment on dangers of drugs and what areas should be given priority attention in terms of policy change and reinforcement.”

Robbers snatch New Telegraph correspondent’s car, valuables

A

rmed robbers in the early hours of yesterday attacked the Benue State correspondent of New Telegraph, Mr. Cephas Iorhemen.

The robbers stole car and other valuables.

The attack took place in front of First Bank in Makurdi, the state capital.

Iorhemen parked his car outside and went inside the banking hall for transaction.

But when he came out of the bank, the robbers swooped on him, took his car, I-pad, tape recorders, jotters, identification card and electrical appliances.

Iorhemen appealed to anyone with useful information that could lead to the recovery of the missing car and items to report to the nearest police station.

METRO

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Singer, Daukaka, disappears after new song

Ibrahim Abdul Yola

A

popular singer in Adamawa State, Ado Daukaka, has reportedly disappeared a few hours after releasing a scintillating song condemning corruption and incompetence.

The singer, who became prominent during former Governor Murtala Nyako’s first regime, because of his popular song “Baba mai mangoro ndottijon arziki,” was last seen on Saturday after he left for Subhi prayer.

Daukaka resides at Lumo Koppi at Nasarawa Jimeta.

His wives said some strangers came to ask for him while he was in the mosque.

“After he left for the early morning prayers, some strangers came asking of him. We told them that Daukaka had left for mosque. From then up till now nobody knows his

whereabouts.

“We searched at police stations but all to no avail,’’ said one of the wives, who pleaded anonymity.

Sadly enough one of the singer’s wives was delivered of a baby last week but the naming ceremony was held in Daukaka’s absentia.

Already, people are associating his disappearance with his latest song entitled: “Gyara kayanka,” where he alluded that some elected politicians on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are just deceiving people.

“It’s not a secret because he compared and contrasted between present and past elected members of Adamawa State house of Assembly.

“The way things are happening in the state will not augur well.

They just want to intimidate those who are criticising the charade being displayed in the state.

“One of his wives was delivered

of a baby last week, but the father of the new baby is nowhere to be found, what a world we are into?’’ a resident, Atiku Ribadu, said.

Also reacting, the state Chairman of Adamawa Concerned Citizens, a pressure group, Hussaini Bello, his association condemned the disappearance of the famous singer.

He said: “We are investigating the matter and whoever has hand in it must be exposed.

“In our society, singers use their God-given talents to capture the mood of the society. The songs sometimes don’t go down well with those in power; except if the singer praises them. That is why a campaign has now been launched tagged. #letssearhfordaukaka.”

When contacted, the stat Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Abubakar Othman, said it had not been reported at the state Police Command Headquarters.

Daukaka

Lagos raises task force on land grabbers lStops payments to Omo onile

Gov. Ambode

Muritala Ayinla

L

agos State government yesterday inaugurated a special task force to check the violent activities of land grabbers otherwise called “Omo onile.”

Government also warned

residents, particularly intending landlords, to stop paying illegal fees such as “foundation and roofing” money to the land grabbers.

The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, told our correspondent after

the inauguration of the task force the people should desist from paying hoodlums while taking building materials to site.

According to him, henceforth, anybody who uses threat of arms or physical threat to dispossess people of their legitimate property will be treated as criminals in accordance with sections 52, 53 and 281 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.

He said: “Anybody that comes while you are building your property and the person is not a state government official and asks you for money and prevents you from developing your property, such a person has committed an illegal offence. These people fall into the category of those who have been criminalised. We

expect people to report them because they are using intimidation.”

Kazeem said stopping property owners from taking building materials to site had also been criminalised.

The commissioner urged prospective property owners to report such acts to government.

Asked if people should stop paying “foundation money” to Omo onile, the Attorney General said: “Usually, these kinds of people come with threat. But if you are assured that there is a body or a government that is responsive and these people cannot intimidate you, certainly you shouldn’t pay them. That is the answer to that.”

The commissioner said that the administration

of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was determined to apply the full weight of the law to permanently address the issue.

According to him, the unrest being caused by land grabbers is no longer acceptable.

Kazeem said Section 281 of the Criminal Law included land as things capable of being stolen, while sections 52 and 53 of the law prescribed a jail term of two years for any person “who forcibly enters or takes possession of land in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace against a person entitled by law to the possession of the land”.

He said: “In recent years, land grabbers have caused havoc and unrest in different parts of the state by dispos-

Eight killed as herdsmen attack Adamawa community Ibrahim Abdul Yola

A

t least eight persons were killed while several others were injured in a clash between Koh community and the Fulani herdsmen in Girei Local Government Area of Adamawa State.

Witnesses said the clash started on Saturday afternoon when a Fulani herdsman trespassed into a farm belonging to a member of the Koh community. The owner of the farm raised the alarm which attracted other community members.

One of the witnesses said other members of the community, who came out in their hundreds, chased the herdsman with his cattle.

File: Herdsmen

But, according to him, the herdsman went to reinforce and launched an attack on members of Koh community.

The witness claimed that eight persons were killed while seven, who were injured, were rushed to the Specialist Hospital

and Zinth Hospital in Yola, the state capital for treatment.

According to him, two of the injured are in critical condition.

Earlier this year, the herdsmen had attacked four villages including Koh community, resulting in the killing of over

9

40 persons. Those who were displaced fled to neighboring towns.

A politician in the state, Mr. P. P. Elisha, also confirmed the attack.

He said two of his relatives were killed in the clash as well as a policeman who was on leave.

Elisha disclosed that the policeman was hit by a stray bullet when he was trying to run into safety.

However, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Abubakar Othman, said only one person was killed in the clash.

He said among the five persons who were injured, two were in critical condition.

Othman said the situation was under control as the command had deployed policemen in the area.

sessing legitimate land-owners of their property thereby stifling commercial activities in the state.”

“It is therefore important that the state government not only identifies the effects of the problems being perpetrated by these unscrupulous elements on commercial activities and peace of the citizenry but also finds lasting solutions to the menace. That is the reasoning behind this task force.

“Furthermore, the need to protect investors and maintain law and order also led to the setting up of the committee. This, by implication, will encourage the verification of legal claims through litigation rather than resorting to violence.”

The task force, according to Kazeem, can be reached on 09096667123 and 09020085005 and on email address viaomoonileTF@lagosstate.gov. ng.

Kazeem also disclosed that the State House of Assembly was in the process of passing a law that would exclusively deal with the activities of land grabbers by prescribing appropriate stiff punishment for offenders.

The terms of reference of the task force include: “To reduce to the barest minimum the activities of persons or corporate entities who use force and intimidation to dispossess or prevent any person or entity from acquiring legitimate interest and possession of property acquired through state government or private transactions; to co-ordinate the efforts of the various agencies of government charged with enforcing the state government rights over land in Lagos; and to work with all security agencies to ensure enforcement of state government and private property rights in Lagos State.”

10 NEWS

TUESday, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Forgery: I’m ready to go to jail –Saraki …says presidency behind plot Nigeria’s democracy on trial –Ekweremadu

Chukwu David Abuja

T

he President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, yesterday said that he would prefer to go to jail than surrender his mandate.

He described his travails both with the latest forgery charge and trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for alleged false declaration of assets as persecution by the Presidency.

"This is a cross I am prepared to carry. If yielding to the nefarious agenda of a few individuals who are bent in undermining our democracy and destabilising the Federal Government to satisfy their selfish interests is the alternative to losing my personal freedom, let the doors of jails be thrown open and I shall be a happy guest," the Senate President declared.

Saraki, who stated this in a statement he personally signed in Abuja after his arraignment alongside his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu and two others, declared that members of the Senate leadership charged for forgery of the Senate Standing

Orders 2015 (as amended), were innocent of the charges prevailed against them.

His words: "Let it be abundantly clear, both as a citizen and as a foremost legislator, I will continue to rise above all the persecution and distraction that have been visited on me.

"I will remain true and committed to the responsibilities that my citizenship and my office impose on me. Without doubt, the highest of those responsibilities is the steadfast refusal to surrender to the subversion of our democracy and the desecration of the Senate.”

He also said that the charges filed against them at the Abuja High Court by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), was a violation of the principle of the Separation of Powers between the Executive and the Legislature as enshrined in the constitution.

Saraki said that it was a farce to allege that a criminal act occurred during Senate procedural actions, stating that it was a demonstration of a desperate overreach by the office of

the Attorney General to execute a premeditated plot against his office.

The President of the Senate expressed concern that what the executive arm was doing against the leadership of the Eighth Senate was not in the interest of the public, and vowed not to relinquish his position for any cause.

The statement reads: "Today (yesterday), we the leaders of the Nigerian Senate reiterate our innocence against the charges filed by the Attorney General of the Federal Government of Nigeria at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on the allegations of forgery of the Senate Standing Rules document.

"In our view, the charges filed by the Attorney General represent a violation of the principle of the Separation of Powers between the executive branch and the Legislative Branch as enshrined in our constitution.

"Furthermore, it is farcical to allege that a criminal act occurred during Senate’s procedural actions and the mere suggestion demonstrates a desperate overreach by the office

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All Money Market Dealers should submit bids through the CBN S4 WEB INTERFACE between 9.00 a.m. and 11.00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 06, 2016.

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GOVERNMENT SECURITIES OFFICE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA ABUJA.

of the Attorney General.

These trumped up charges are only another phase in the relentless persecution of the leadership of the Senate.

"This misguided action by the Attorney General begs the question, how does this promote the public interest and benefit the nation? At a time when the whole of government should be working together to meet Nigeria’s many challenges, we are once again distracted by the executive branch’s inability to move beyond a leadership election among Senate peers. It was not an election of Senate peers and executive branch participants.”

He further lamented that instead of all the arms of government to cooperate and find solution to the nation's many challenges, the executive was rather distracting and destabilising the parliament.

"Over the past year, the Senate has worked to foster good relations with the executive branch. It is in all of our collective interests to put aside divisions and get on with the nation’s business.

"We risk alienating and losing the support of the very people who have entrusted their national leaders to seek new and creative ways to promote a secure and prosperous Nigeria. As leaders and patriots, it is time to rise above partisanship and to move forward together.

"However, what has become clear is that there is now a government within the government of Presi-

dent Muhammadu Buhari who has seized the apparatus of executive powers to pursue their nefarious agenda.

"This latest onslaught on the legislature represents a clear and present danger to the democracy Nigerians fought hard to win and preserve.

"The suit filed on behalf of the Federal Government suggests that perhaps some forces in the Federal Republic have not fully embraced the fact that the Senate’s rules and procedures govern how the legislative body adjudicates and resolves its own disputes,” Saraki stated.

Meanwhile, Ekweremadu has described the forgery allegation as a mark of anarchy in the country.

In a statement he personally signed which was obtained by New Telegraph, Ekweremadu said that he had to appear in court as a law abiding citizen and pleaded not guilty because he never committed the offence.

He expressed worries that some highly placed Nigerians were taking advantage of their positions to oppress some other innocent citizens because of their selfish ambitions.

He also lamented that the executive arm was trying to strangulate the parliament by witch-hunting the members of the legislative institution, regretting that instruments of power had become apparatuses for oppression of the innocent and voices of opposition.

His words: "This gro-

tesque display of vindictiveness, arrogance, and mindless targeting of innocent citizens should find no sanctuary in our democracy. Using the machinery of justice to create disorder is a dangerous and invidious scheme that ultimately will lead Nigeria down the road to perdition. It is Senators Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu today, who knows whose turn it will be next?

"However, I put my trust in God, the court, and the overwhelming solidarity of the good people of Nigeria. When the dust settles, Nigerians will see clearly that this charge is nothing but meretricious thrash.

"Let us make no mistake about this: it is not Senator Ike Ekweremadu or Senator Bukola Saraki or the other accused persons that are on trial; rather the hallowed democratic principles of separation of powers, rule of law, the legislature itself, and indeed democracy are on a ridiculous trial.

"Mere anarchy is unleashed upon the land, but our courage must not fall apart. No condition is permanent and nothing lasts forever.”

166

The density (population/surface area) of Micronesia in 2012.

Source: Un.org

83.5%

The percentage of the urban population of Korea of Republic in 2012.

Source: Un.org

Presidency attacks Senate President over cabal's claim Anule Emmanuel Abuja

T

he presidency has challenged the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to name those acclaimed to have been forming a government within the government of President Buhari.

Saraki had in a statement alleged that some few persons have currently seized the apparatus of Executive powers to pursue a nefarious agenda A statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, described comments by the Senate President that there is “now a government within the government of President Buhari” as a mere fiction.

Adesina said: "The claim

by Senator Saraki would have been more worth the while, if it had been backed with more information. If he had proceeded to iden-

tify those who constitute the “government within the government,” it would have taken the issue beyond the realm of fiction and mere conjecture.

“But as it stands, the allegation is not even worth the paper on which it was written, as anybody can wake from a troubled sleep, and say anything.

"The Attorney-General of the Federation is the Chief Law Officer of the state. It is within his con-

stitutional powers to determine who has infringed upon the law, and who has not.

"Pretending to carry an imaginary cross is mere obfuscation, if, indeed, a criminal act has been committed. But we leave the courts to judge.

"To claim that President Buhari is anybody’s stooge is not only ridiculous, but also preposterous. It is not in the character of our president."

No plan to sack 30 AIGs – PSC Emmanuel Onani Abuja

T

he Police Service Commission (PSC) has described as untrue reports that some 30 Assistant InspectorsGeneral of Police (AIGs) will be retired.

Speaking with New Telegraph last night, the commissioner in charge of

public affairs, Dame Comfort Obi, said there was nothing of such at the PSC. This is even as the Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ibrahim Idris, had earlier said the report was speculative.

"It is not true. It is the Police Service Commission that retires, and if the names are not with us, then it is not true," Obi said.

11

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Prostration New face of Benue politics

Politics There is mounting opposition to the Grazing Reserves Bill before the National Assembly in Plateau State, following the recent listing of the state among those that have agreed to contribute land for the establishment of grazing reserves for herdsmen.

MUSA PAM reports

13

Rumble on the Plateau

T

he proposed establishment of grazing reserves and ranches for herdsmen across the country by the Federal Government has caused a sharp division between the Plateau State government and most stakeholders in the state.

While the state government led by Governor Simon Lalong, believes that the proposed bill is a welcome idea, which the state stands to benefit from, most indigenes of the state, including the immediate governor of the state, Senator Jonah Jang, lawmakers, youths and Christian leaders have rejected the move by the state to support the bill.

They are of the view that the Federal Government’s proposal is one that will disrupt the relative peace in the state and as a result, there is no need for them to support it.

Governor Lalong, had in his submission said the proposal for establishment of grazing reserves and ranches is a blessing that the state cannot afford to miss.

His words: “On the issue of the national grazing reserve, to me, it is something that is very good. Because when we are talking of agriculture, when we are talking of huge sums of money that are lying there in the banks, when we are talking of opportunities for people to access loans at very low interest rates for the purpose of agriculture, if we take our eyes away from it, others will take advantage of it and by the time we realize it, we will say oh, if we had known, we would have gone into it.”

The governor added that the

FELIX NWANERI

GROUP PoLITICAL EDITOR nwanerif@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Protesters against grazing reserves in Plateau State.

state has benefitted from similar packages in the past and was billed to benefit from the Lake Chad Basin Fund among others, which was enough reason to expect the best from the grazing reserve.

But Lalong’s position was countered by his predecessor, Jang, who is now the senator representing Plateau North in the National Assembly. The former governor condemned the move by the Lalong-led administration to implement grazing reserves policy in the state.

Jang averred that he does not and will not support any grazing reserve either on the floor of the Senate or any forum where the issue is discussed. According to him, “the issue has generated a lot of controversy amongst Plateau people because government has decided to play politics with issues that affect the very fabric which defines the heritage of our people, their culture and their land.”

He added: “Why would a government which claims that its greatest achievement in the last one year has been in the area of peace on the one hand be courting a policy that has the capacity to reverse all that gain, if any at all. It is unfortunate that Plateau people have to bear the hardship meted out on them by the present government but we call on them not to despair as there is always light at the end of the tunnel. It is

Plateau State government must be careful not to take a decision that would mortgage our future

but a matter of time before true change and rescue will come; what we see today is degeneration from where we were and had hoped to be by now.

“Those who wish to further emasculate the people in spite of the untold hardship that currently pervades the land, by introducing policies and programmes that create more tension should continue to do so but Senator Jang and people of like mind are on the side of the masses. The clear message Plateau people want to send to those within and outside the state is Plateau people say no to grazing reserves."

In another reaction, a group operating under the aegis of Plateau G-17 Youths for Peace and Progress Forum also kicked against the Grazing Reserve Bill presently in the National Assembly, calling on the state government to rethink and retrace it’s steps on its earlier decision and delist Plateau from the states that have agreed to contribute lands for the purpose of grazing reserves.

The youths, during a recent protest, kicked against the Grazing Reserve Bill and establishment of ranches and therefore called on the state government to rescind its earlier decision and delist Plateau from the states that have agreed to contribute land for the purpose of the grazing reserves.

The convener of the group,

Hon. Dachung Musa Bagos, who spoke with journalists during the protest, said: “The Plateau State government must be careful not to take a decision that would mortgage our future and that of generation yet unborn with the likely consequences of further throwing the state into a state of chaos as the policy has been rejected by majority of the people of the state.

“We wish to state unequivocally that we stand in protest against any form of land grabbing and exclusive privileges to any group, under the guise of a government sponsored grazing reserve policy.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbe, came out with a list of 11 states, including the Federal Capital Territory that have agreed to contribute land for the purpose of the establishment of grazing reserves for cattle herders and Plateau State was listed as one of them.

"It is in response to this that we are gathered to peacefully protest the unilateral inclusion of Plateau State as well as demand that the state government under Barr. Simon Lalong, to rescind its decision on this obnoxious policy and follow the path of honour by removing Plateau from the list of states that have agreed to provide 55,000 hectares of land, owing to the huge disadvantages the policy CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

12 NEWS

TUESday, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Alleged forgery: Saraki, Ekweremadu, others escape detention Tunde Oyesina ABUJA

T

he Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu and two others yesterday escaped being detained in Kuje Prison over alleged forgery of Senate Standing Rules as they all perfected the bail conditions given to them by the court.

The Federal Government had arraigned Saraki, Ekweremadu, former Clerk of the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa and the Clerk of the Senate, Benedict Efeturi, before an Abuja High Court on a twocount charge of conspiracy and forgery.

In the charge, Maikasuwa was listed as the first defendant, while Efeturi, Saraki and Ekweremadu are second to fourth defendants respectively.

The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to them.

Having pleaded not guilty, counsel to all the defendants moved their applications respectively.

Ikechukwu Ezechukwu

had argued for Maikasuwa, Mahmud Magaji (SAN) for Efeturi, Paul Erokoro (SAN) for Saraki and J.B Daudu (SAN) for Ekweremadu.

Prosecution counsel, Mohammed Diri, had opposed the bail applications of Maikasuwa, Efetiri and Ekweremadu.

He, however, did not oppose the bail application of

Saraki.

Ruling on the application, the trial judge, Justice Yusuf Halilu admitted all of the defendants to bail with two sureties each who must be Nigerians, male or female and who must have landed properties either in Maitama, Asokoro, Wuse or Garki to be able to qualify to stand as sureties in the matter.

The judge, in his ruling, held that Sections 35 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution as amended presumed the defendants innocent of the charges against them and that it is normal and natural for them to be allowed on bail so as to prepare for their defence.

Justice Halilu further held that the essence of bail was for the defendants, who

Senate President Bukola Saraki (left) with Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, during their arraignment at the FCT High Court on allegations of forgery and conspiracy, in Abuja …yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Economic woes: 288,000 subscribers dump DStv CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

price increases for consumers in order to reinvigorate growth by focusing on managing and absorbing costs where possible going forward.

Naspers has revealed that the loss of 288,000 direct-to-home (DTH) pay-tv subscribers in sub-Saharan Africa has prompted the company to reposition its business in order to deflect any potential negative impacts.

Chief Financial Officer at Naspers, Mr. Basil Sgourdos, said the company would increase its focus on its Internet businesses in a bid to recover from the weakening subscriber number, according to results for the year ended 31 March 2016.

"The loss of DTH subscribers and the effects of weakening currencies in sub-Saharan Africa will have a significant downward impact on earnings and cash flows in the year ahead,” Sgourdos told ITWEB. While noting that in the year ahead, the focus will be on continuing to deliver top-line growth while scaling the more established e-commerce businesses, Sgourdos said the company would invest further in long-term growth opportunities such as ShowMax, letgo and ibibo, targeting video- entertainment revenue.

He noted: “It could take some time before the plans

to reposition this business will have a positive impact.

“Our new subscription video-on-demand service, ShowMax, had a good start in South Africa with a deeper and more customised content offering than competitors and a focus on service delivery,” the company detailed in its results announcement, which reported 21 per cent growth in earnings for its business overall to $1.2 billion.

Though, DStv has about 10 million subscribers in the Sub-Sahara Africa, the loss of 288,000 subscribers signals a distress in the business, forcing the company to leverage other business platforms to up its revenue.

However, the company, which usually spends half a billion dollars a year on acquisitions, is “on the lookout” for more deals, said Chief Executive Officer, Bob Van Dijk.

“We have also lost a lot of subscribers in the last year in sub-Saharan Africa, people have just not been able to afford it. We bill in local currencies, but our costs are in dollars. It is quite painful when the currencies are running in the wrong direction,” Van Dijk said.

The development is coming even as more Nigerians currently shun repeated phone calls by DStv customer agents to renew subscriptions for their bouquet, citing current economic situations in the

country and high cost of subscriptions.

Nigerians have, in recent past, complained bitterly about the annual service price in the pay-tv market that has become more competitive with DStv leading the pack in the price increase.

“As a DStv subscriber, I can tell you that it is over a year that I subscribed and I can tell you that every now and then, I get calls from DStv urging me to renew my subscriptions. The economic situation is not helping matters, as subscribing to DStv service, whose price they increase annually, is not on my priority,” said Adebayo Balogun.

Another subscriber, Mrs. Titi Idera harped on the need for a pay-as-youwatch billing system, as it is the case in the telecoms industry.

“There is, no doubt, that we are being ripped off by DStv, which has continued to increase service cost annually and yet our leaders are not doing anything about it. I just abandoned my subscription because we now have richer TV contents on our local television stations in Nigeria now,” she said.

“My brother, renewing my subscription is not on my scale of preference for now. There are other pressing issues to spend money on. Yes, I have also been receiving several calls from DStv but practically, I can say I have dumped

subscription in the last 12 months,” Chucks Chima, a businessman at Ikeja, Lagos said.

Other subscribers, who spoke with our correspondent at different locations within Lagos metropolis, maintained that they have had to migrate from premium service to a bouquet with lower price as they grappled with the economic recession in Nigeria.

A DStv customer attendant at the Ogba Customer Centre of the pay-tv company, who spoke with New Telegraph on the condition of anonymity, confirmed to our correspondent on phone that the centre has been witnessing low turnout of customers who often come for subscriptions on a daily basis.

“I won’t lie to you, people are no longer coming to renew their subscriptions the way they used to do before.

They often cite economic situations and our service price increases, at times, as reason for their apathy,” he said.

“The truth is that the situation also affects other customer centres around.”

Asked if the low turnout at service centre is not associated to the uptake of existing e-payment channels already created for customers to make renew subscription, the customer attendant said: “Well, I want to believe that a similar thing is happening both for physical subscriptions and on epayment channels.”

are presumed innocent by law, to ensure their attendance in court throughout the trial and that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 also lends support for bail for any Nigerian accused of bailable offences as in the instant case.

The judge, however, held that in the event that any of the defendants is unable to meet up with the bail conditions, they should be remanded in Kuje Prison pending the time they will meet up with the bail.

The court later adjourned till July 13 for trial.

Earlier, at the argument stage, Diri had told the court that he had no opposition to the bail of Saraki on the ground that he is the President of the Senate and also so as not to cripple the activities of the Senate.

He, however, opposed the bail of Ekweremadu, Maikasuwa and Efeturi on the ground that they are likely to evade trial, having allegedly evaded the service of the charge.

He further argued that if convicted, the three defendants are likely to be jailed for 14 years and that because of the gravity of the punishment, the court should be cautious in granting them bail.

However, Erokor, while moving the bail application for Saraki, told the court that apart from the charge, Saraki’s name was never mentioned, either in the proof of evidence or in the police report.

He further submitted that Saraki had not, in any way, been linked with the alleged offence of conspiracy and forgery.

He however prayed the court to grant Saraki bail on self-recognition or liberal terms because as the Senate President, he is too big to run away to anywhere for trial.

However, counsel to Ekweremadu, Daudu urged the court to discountenance the prosecution counsel's objection to the other three defendants on the ground that they were charged with the same offence with Saraki.

Daudu further urged the court to dismiss the insinuation by the prosecution that the three other defendants evaded service of charge, adding that there was no affidavit of evidence to that effect before the court and that the insinuation should be regarded as mere speculation.

Counsel to Maikasuwa and Efeturi aligned with the submissions of Daudu and also prayed the court to admit their clients to bail.

39.27%

The percentage of international football players in Spain in 2013-2014 season.

Source: Football-observatory.com

8.13m

The number of fixed-telephone subscriptions of Argentina in 2001.

Source: Itu.int

Ikpeazu: I’ll appeal the judgement CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

the court to dismiss the suit for want of course of action.

Meanwhile, Ikpeazu has called on Abians not to panic, but to remain calm over the judgement.

The governor, in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Enyinnaya Appolos, said he would appeal the ruling.

Ikpeazu, who said he had faith in the judiciary and rule of law, stated that he has instructed his lawyers to file an appeal immediately against the judgement.

The governor noted that as an appointee of the Abia State Government from 2011 to 2014, when he served as the General Manager, Abia State Passengers Integrated Manifest and Safety Scheme (ASPIMSS), and first Deputy General Manager, Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) Aba and environs respectively, before his resignation in October 2014 to contest the governorship election in the state, his taxes were deducted at source.

The governor said that

when he had need of his tax clearance in 2014, he applied to the Abia State Board of Internal Revenue and was duly issued with his tax receipts for the period in question.

With this judgement, the Uche Ogah Campaign Organisation on Umuwaya road in Umuahia, the state capital, has come alive.

Ogah’s supporters immediately converged at the office on getting news of the judgement. They were singing praises to God for answering their prayer.

One of the supporters at the campaign office, Uche Obi, said they were jubilating because justice has been done and that the candidate has reclaimed the mandate given to him

by God and the people of Abia State.

Some Keke riders in Umuahia were also jubilating as they rode the streets of the capital city with Uche Ogah’s posters.

Also, the Media Officer of Ogah’s Campaign Organisation, Sir Joshua Ogbonna, said on phone: “We are watching events unfold.

As Abians, we accept what God ordains.”

POLITICS

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

13

Governor Ortom prostrating flat on the ground. With him are Gemade ( 2nd right), Akume (3rd right) and others at the event.

CEPHAS IORHEMEN reports on prostration by Benue politicians, which started in 2007 as mere political gimmick but is fast gaining ground as a more acceptable approach to political issues

H

istory repeated itself in Benue State recently as the state governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom, followed the footsteps of former Military Administrator of Katsina State and a former senator for Benue North West Senatorial District, Senator Col. Joseph Akaagerger (rtd), when he prostrated publicly at event aimed to seek divine intervention to the myriads of problems the state is facing.

Senator Akaagerger had prostrated for former National Chairman of the party, Chief Barnabas Gemade during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial rally in Tse-Agberagba in Konshisha Local Government Area of the state in 2007 and pleaded for forgiveness from him (Gemade) over their hot senatorial contest in which he (Akaagerger) defeated Gemade.

The two politicians hail from the same local government area -Konshisha, and the same district, Gaav. However, while Akagerger is from Mbavaa ward, Gemade is from Iwarev. Senator Akaagerger, like many other contestants left the PDP after he lost at the PDP primaries and joined the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to regain his mandate to represent his people for another four years at the Senate.

It is on record that what made Akaagerger to have an edge against Senator Gemade then

Prostration: New face of Benue politics was that he no doubt touched the lives of his constituents just as Gemade, when he was the first indigenous Managing Director of Benue Cement Company (BCC), Secretary of Works during the General Sani Abacha era as well as the National Chairman of the PDP. Whether Senator Akaagerger and Chief Gemade had quarrels before engaging each other in the 'boxing ring' remains a million naira question on the lips of the people, but the truth of the matter is that it was Akaagerger's burning desire to return to the Senate that compelled him to prostrate before Gemade.

Gemade had in a swift reaction to Akaagerger’s action at a thanksgiving service at Asukunya in honour of the then PDP Youth Leader, Hon. Ade Nguhar, who is now a close aide to former Senate President, David Mark, said he did not force the erstwhile military administrator to prostrate for him. According to him, Akaagerger did that out of his own volition.

Gemade further said that if he knew that the former military administrator would stage such a drama before over 5,000 people, including his wife and children, he would have stopped him from doing so.

“I am not God and I cannot play God. So, I am always ready to forgive, but I know, there is a time for everything on earth but let me tell you that Col. Akaagerger did that show on his own and I have no hand in it,” Gemade said.

Exactly nine years after Senator Akaagerger staged that political drama, the incumbent governor of the state, Dr. Samuel Ortom, did the same as he prostrated openly at a crowded event

Ortom... lay flat on the ground to offer prayers to God for Benue State's redemption

on the floor in a show of humility before God. The event was the dedication of the state to God organised by the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) at the Ibrahim Babangida Square in Makurdi, the state capital over the numerous challenges confronting the present administration in the state, including the inability of the state government to pay workers salaries due to dwindling allocation to the state from the federation account.

Ortom who had ordered a 14 day prayer for the state before the event, lay flat on the ground to offer prayers to God for the Benue States redemption.

The governor who climbed the podium to address Benue people, listed the problems of armed robbery, kidnapping, raping, maiming, destruction of property and killings by herdsmen, political differences, drunkenness, unemployment, adultery, cultism, among others as the challenges facing the state and asked God to forgive the people their sins.

The governor also pleaded with God to restore Benue's wealth and glory which evil forces have destroyed in the past four years. He also asked God for forgiveness, stressing that past administrations in the state and his’ have equally sinned against God. As the governor prostrated to pray, most of those who attended the event began to weep profusely for Benue. Among dignitaries at the event were the governor’s wife, Eunice; the deputy governor, Mr. Benson Abounu, former Benue State governor, Senators George Akume and Gemade; the state chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Abba Yaro; Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon.

Terkimbi Ikyange and other top government functionaries.

Before the governor prostrated to pray, he had spoken on his modest achievements in the past one year and called for the people's understanding and cooperation.

He said that apart from clearing arrears of salaries owed state and local government staff with the N28 billion bailout with a balance of over N2 billion remaining on both sides, his administration has embarked on the construction and completion of two roads and 11 other ones started by the previous administration.

He said a N10 billion infrastructure loan was obtained from the Federal Government and noted that he has been able to effectively utilize the facility in the three senatorial districts.

Earlier, in their words of exaltation, Brother Gbile Akanni and Senior Pastor Paul Enenche of Peace House, Gboko and Dunamis International, respectively, said Governor Ortom should purge his administration of bad eggs and keep doing God's will because only God would preside over a land so dedicated.

While many have described the action of the governor as mere gimmick to score a political cheap point, some are of the view that there is a lot to learn from his humility. To the latter group, humility is the key to any successful adventure.

They also opined that while Senator Akaagerger humbled himself before his elder brother, Gemade, to make his political ambition sail through, Governor Ortom, deserves commendation for humbling himself in a similar publicly to seek God's intervention to move the state forward.

14

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Opinion Obasanjo: Ideas and the love for country Tunji Olaopa

L

et me restate the objective of my unending search for the core of the heroism in the Nigerian narrative and my painstaking effort to celebrate and not to denigrate those who have impacted the Nigerian socio-political unfolding, no matter how unpopular they might be in popular imagination. Odia Ofeimun says my search is in "the spirit of an almost occult pursuit of Nigeria The Beautiful". At the risk of a boring repetition, I took the challenge for this series from Claude Ake who in the foreword to my 1997 biography of Prof. Ojetunji Aboyade said that "the country has no heroes, acknowledges none, and it devalues and derails those who could be".

As is to be expected, I have received tons of comments on this series on Chief Olusegu Obasanjo, with some saying, in a manner of speaking, that the only way I would have retained my reputation as an objective and seminal public intellectual in this particular series would have been for me to take the position that affirms their 'hatred' for OBJ. I certainly won't say 'I don't give a damn to such suggestion'. Rather, I would say that I belong to the core of those who see deep meaning that is worth unearthing and interrogating in what OBJ stands for even in all its complexity, and that is what I have utilized my being entitled to my opinion to give expression to in this three-part serial.

That said, permit me to proceed by saying that, since independence in 1960, the Nigerian state has been implicitly searching for a leader, civilian or military, with the right proportion of heroism, steely character and patriotic commitment to direct the ship of state outside of the confines of colonial limitations. All plural states, and especially those that had the unfortunate experience of colonialism, are saddled with this leader-

ship imperative. Singapore found Lee Kwan Yew. South Africa found Nelson Mandela. India found Mahatma Gandhi. These states share with Nigeria a profound pluralism founded around a cramped national space housing different religions, ethnicities, cultures, nations and languages. Since plural states are combustible, it becomes imperative for them to have a leader with enough charisma and sufficient national perspicacity to hold the country together and lead it to development.

Nigeria has not been that lucky in the art of patriotic (re)engineering. The leadership redemption keeps getting mangled within the fissures of geo-national manoeuvrings. Clearly and indisputably, it was such manoeuvrings that frustrated the patriotic yearnings of the likes of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, often regrettably but unarguably referred to as “the best president Nigeria never had.”

Awolowo had all the attributes of Lee Kwan Yew; a transformation disposition, charismatic aura and, most importantly, a framework for change founded on ideas, ideals, dynamics, strategies and processes. Awolowo understood governance and its politics. Yet it was that political configuration he aimed to refine for progress that constrained his presidential aspiration, among many other variables that have been documented in numerous narratives that bears no repeating. He died, as a wasted Nigerian asset of inestimable value, a tragic hero.

It is this same geo-national question of nationhood and integration that threw up Chief Obasanjo.

The emergence of OBJ into the Nigerian political firmament gives a new twist to the political saying that every state deserves its leaders. Nigeria deserves Obasanjo essentially because her political configuration throws up leaders who must, through the perceptive lens of political realism, explore and exploit all possible political means, negative and positive, to foist a vision of progress on the state.

That is what Machiavelli counselled. It is in this sense that OBJ deserves the Machiavellian label.

I made the essential point in the earlier parts of

Call OBJ whatever you might; he was only responding to the demands of realpolitik in the Nigerian state

this series that no one who understands Nigeria can ever doubt the patriotic zeal of Obasanjo.

But patriotism, most time, makes a monster of those who get caught in its complexities. Call OBJ whatever you might; he was only responding to the demands of realpolitik in the Nigerian state.

Take the third term agenda issue as an instance.

There are so many things hidden on this issue that ordinary Nigerians may not know. I confess that I am also not privy to the confusing complex of political gamesmanship that made the issue a spectacle of the public sphere. But I can speculate. The third term agenda smacks of political messianic complex at first reading. This complex derives either from an acute awareness of one’s worth as a political leader or a delusion of grandeur, if you will.

There is actually nothing wrong with patriotism transforming into a messianic complex, except that the constitution subverts it as a dangerous and anti-democratic tendency. Robert Mugabe always looms large in this regard. Yet, it was such kind of messianic ethos that Lee Kwan Yew latched onto; and it got Singapore out of the third world! It would constitute a good point of political revelation to know what OBJ thinks of LKY. There is one fact that faults the third term agenda: Those who conceive it ought to have grasped the limit of patriotism. A third term agenda does not say much about a patriotic respect for the constitution. In this instance, we would be wise to think more of Mugabe than Lee Kwan Yew. But what if the third term agenda had succeeded? With this question, I am calling attention to something more fundamental than the conceited succession plan. Behind the whole drama of the third term agenda, I see the disturbing dynamics of how the national question in Nigeria can corrupt the social question.

•Dr. Olaopa (tolaopa2003@yahoo.com) is the Executive Vice Chairman Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP), Ibadan.

As pensioners groan in Imo Modestus Nwamkpa

L

ast week Wednesday, as early as 6:15 am my phone rang and the caller on the other side first inquired if he was speaking with me as he mentioned my names and my response was in the affirmative. The caller introduced himself as Elder Micheal Obianuju from Aboh Mbaise, a Pensioner of 14 years standing as he said he retired from service in 2002 and from the tone of his voice I could feel the disillusionment and frustration as he informed me of their planned protest that day. Pa Micheal narrated their horrifying and traumatizing ordeal in the hands of the Imo State government.

This senior citizen who, like thousands of his other colleagues across the state told me that they were being owed over 30 months of pension arrears depending on the class and MDAs that one retired from as he made me to understand that there were some pensioners who are being owed above 30 months.

After patiently listening to the over fifteen minutes phone discussion with Pa Micheal who was talking in a faint and taciturn voice, I couldn’t but pity the beleaguered Imo Pensioners. In fact, I started thinking of so many things inside

my subconscious mind. I asked him: Do you mean for 30 Months you were not paid?

First, I was wondering how these pensioners are surviving even though I know that many of them had died as a result of frustration and helplessness due mainly to the non-payment of their pension and gratuity. Apparently, many of them died because they could not get money to buy drugs or pay for hospital bills while others kicked the bucket perhaps because of hunger and pressure arising from lack of money. I was asking myself if being a pensioner is now a crime or a regrettable situation in Imo State.

What will be the fate of those who will soon retire from the service of Imo state government? By the way, what was the offence of these senior citizens to deserve this highest level of insensitivity from government other than that they put in their 30-35 years of their active and valuable years in the service of their fatherland? So many of them served with the highest degree of dedication and sincerity and retired unsung while there were some who lost their hitherto sound health or sustained one form of injury or the other to the extent that some of them are today visually impaired or disabled and sadly all the state could do to appreciate and motivate them is to owe them their pension which is their only consolation for their

long thankless service. Of course, there is no other way of fast tracking their death other than this.

Consequently, as early as 7:30am, I drove towards the Government House Roundabout but unfortunately I couldn’t access the place because the visibly angry and hungry Pensioners numbering over 200 had blocked the entire Road in protest. So I had to park a little farer from there. I saw Imo state aged Pensioners in their large number, some of whom are in their 80s and 90s standing, sitting, walking and lying along the road while some gathered in small groups discussing their plight and complaining to whoever cared to listen.

They were all wearing strong faces depicting their level of frustration and bitterness.

I managed to speak with a handful of them including their state Chairman Chief Gideon Ezeji and Pa Micheal whom I called as I was approaching the place. In all, they begged me to write about their plight as it seems they had nobody to complain to again. They are now helpless and hapless. For Hours, nobody came to talk to them from the government except later one Commissioner came but they insisted to hear from the Oga on top- Governor Rochas Okorocha who never came after all.

The Imo state Commissioner of Police CP Lakanu who came to the scene though not against their protest but

who only just to plead with them to vacate the road had a rough day with the angry Pensioners.

Honestly, I weep as I write this because I know the devastating impact of owing a pensioner for one or two months let alone this number of months. I say this because I am a product of pension. I was trained by a Retiree and with Retiree pension. My late father retired from active service in the year 2000 and incidentally that was the very year I secured admission at the University.

I remember with nostalgia amidst tears in my eyes as I write how my father struggled literally squeezing water out of stone to train me and my elder brother in the higher institution in spite of his meager pension but the only hope then was that his pension was regular and his gratuity was paid shortly after his retirement otherwise alarm could have blown. If it is now, maybe my undying dream of acquiring University education could have hit the rock.

Although, he was supported by my mother who was still in service then but who is today a Pensioner also. That is why I will pour my venom on anybody who tries to play with Pensioners or owe them what is due to them because their pension is not a favour but their legitimate right. They worked for it for 30-35 years of their life.

•Nwamkpa (morest4u@yahoo.com) wrote in from Owerri, Imo State.

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

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Snatching Ikorodu, Arepo from vandals

“A

fter my husband had ushered the children in, he stepped out to urinate. What I heard next were loud sounds of gunshots. He fell down and died on the spot. I shouted, calling for help. My son ran to tell me that bullets had hit my daughter in the leg.

“The gunmen left me a widow.

My husband died, leaving four kids for me to carter for. We are scared that the militants may come back. The only security people we have in the community are members of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC). But even the OPC men ran out of the community.”

That was the lamentation of a widow, Mrs. Ramota Buhari, whose husband, Waheed Buhari, was among about 15 people armed men believed to be militants turned oil pipeline vandals shot dead on Friday (June 17) when they invaded Elepete, Imagbon, Ikajola and Ereko among other villages of Imushin community at Ogijo in Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State.

According to report, Buhari’s 13-year-old daughter also died later in the hospital where she was rushed to. The gunmen, according to the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), were about 100.

As if that was not enough, on Monday, three days after the initial onslaught, the gunmen returned to the villages and reportedly killed at least 13 people. The villages are sandwiched between Lagos and Ogun states.

The invasion was despite the presence of policemen and soldiers deployed in Ikorodu.

The hoodlums had a field day while the hapless residents ran

helter-skelter.

It was reported that the gunmen invaded a school in the area, but allowed the children to go, warning them not to return to school again.

Another deadly attack followed on Friday June 24 as another band of militants descended on Igbolomu and Ishawo killing over 30 residents. Brandishing sophisticated weapons they spared neither children nor adults.

At the end of the deadly onslaught bodies littered both communities even as those who were lucky to escape annihiliation have vowed not return in a hurry.

The Ikorodu, Sagamu, Arepo and Ibafo axis, which cuts across Lagos and Ogun states, has always been in the news for the wrong reasons.

In September

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Managing Editor, Business & Strategy n Yemi Ajayi

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The police boss said militants were apparently finding it difficult to operate in the Niger Delta

2012, gunmen suspected to be oil pipeline vandals shot dead three engineers deployed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to repair breached pipelines.

On May 24, 2014, the armed vandals also murdered nine policemen at Arepo after breaking oil pipelines.

Also in September 2015, nine personnel of the Department of State Services (DSS) were reportedly murdered by vandals at Konu, a border community between Lagos and Ogun states while scores of persons were declared missing during an attack.

Many residents of communi-

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ties in that axis have relocated because of constant attacks allegedly by former militants from the Niger Delta region, who now see vandalism of oil pipeline or kidnapping for ransom as a lucrative business.

Those who are unable to leave the area are too petrified to sleep at night while social and economic activities have been grounded.

In recognition of this, the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Abdulmajid Ali, recently raised the alarm on the nefarious activities of pipeline vandals in the axis.

Ali called for concerted efforts in warding off the emerging security threat posed to the state by the daredevil vandals.

The police boss said the

vandals were now colluding with suspected militants to unleash mayhem on innocent residents of Arepo in particular.

Ali also recalled that many lives, including those of officers of the NNPC and DSS have been lost in some of the attacks in the area.

The commissioner admitted that if adequate measures were not taken, vandalism in Arepo axis might snowball into insurgency.

He, however, expressed the determination of the police to work with other security agencies towards reducing crime to the barest minimum in the area and the

generality of the state.

A few days later, Ali also raised the alarm when he said suspected militants from the Niger Delta region were now desperately looking for a safe haven in the state.

Ali, who spoke against the backdrop of June 17 invasion of Imushin community in Ogijo area of the state by suspected militants, warned that the development must not be treated with levity.

The police boss said militants were apparently finding it difficult to operate in the Niger Delta region following increased military deployment to check their nefarious activities.

As a result, according to him, the militants are now breaking new grounds in order to continue to perpetrate oil theft, pipeline vandalism and illegal bunkering.

He said the coastal areas of the Ogun State had become attractive to the militants, who, according to him, carry out attacks from the creeks and rush back.

The police chief also admitted that the same militants had been behind the recent spate of pipeline vandalism and economic sabotage in the Arepo axis.

The commissioner said he had already reported the emerging security threat to the “highest authorities”.

But it is yet to be seen what the police hierarchy had done to ward off these needless attacks and loss of valuable lives.

Urgent drastic measures must be put in place so that the axis is not turned to a hot bed of violence.

The militants may take the advantage in the change of guard at the Force Headquarters to strike in that area soon. So the security agencies must not be caught napping again.

16

POLITICS

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Plateau govt, stakeholders on warpath C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 1

will have on the vast majority of the peace loving Plateau people, who are predominantly farmers.”

He said that Plateau has over the years, witnessed incessant attacks and killings by groups known in official cycles as “unknown herdsmen” and should not be plunged into more bloodshed due to the insensitivity of government in embracing a policy that has heightened suspicion and tension across the state.

A cultural group in the state operating under the aegis of Yendel O Tarok also kicked against the proposed grazing reserve bill saying no inch of Tarok land in Langtang Local Government Area would be given for the purported grazing reserve.

Addressing journalist in Jos, the spokesperson of the group, Miss Tabitha Goselle, said: “We reject the bill in its entirety for the purpose of peace, unity and progress. We have consulted members of the Plateau State House of Assembly, leaders, stakeholders and custodians of the land in Langtang North and Langtang South and by extension, Plateau State but they were shocked at the listing of Plateau State as one of the 11 states mentioned by the Minister of Agriculture.”

Calling on well-meaning Nigerians to reject in totality the National Grazing Reserve Commission Bill, the group added: “We the Tarok youths and people are behind our leaders in the state, who are against the grazing reserve and will do everything possible to stop it and Plateau youths would be mobilised en masse for an anti-grazing sit out until the policy is reversed.”

The member representing Barkin Ladi/Riyom Federal Constituency, Hon. Istifanus Gyang, as well as the Berom Educational and Cultural Organisation (BECO) equally faulted Governor Lalong’s support for the Grazing Reserve Bill.

The lawmaker cautioned Lalong against taking actions that can plunge the state into crisis. According to him, the contention over the policy decision of the state government on the issue is ominous given the devastation and violent attacks, which host communities have suffered from herdsmen leading to displacement from their ancestral habitat.

He further said: “The Federal Government being aware that it has no constitutional powers to administer land matters, has resorted to the powers vested on governors under Section 2 of the Land Use Act embedded in Section 315 (5) (d) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) by seeking the consent and approval of willing governors to allocate land within their states for the implementation of the Grazing Reserves Policy.

“My take on this matter as it relates to Plateau State especially the Barkin Ladi/Riyom Federal Constituency, which I represent; a constituency that is fast recovering from over a decade of violent attacks and a people whose lands are still under forceful occupation by herdsmen, is that the constituency or any part thereof, should not, ought not and cannot be with-

Lalong

in the contemplation of housing a Grazing Reserve.”

On the Grazing Reserve Bill before the National Assembly, he said: “One need not re-state the fact that the bill clearly contradicts and violates the Land Use Act as embedded in section 315 (5)(d) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and is therefore doomed by reason of its inconsistency. Having been recycled for the third time in the 8th Assembly, it should suffer the same fate of being thrown out as was the case in the 6th and 7th Assemblies, more so that it affects a matter that is constitutionally under the purview of state governments.”

The federal lawmaker maintained that the grazing reserve option either by way of a legislative bill or policy decision of the executive arm of government is neither suitable nor feasible given the fact that it will worsen the problem it is intended to solve.

He advise government to accept and adopt the option and facilitate access for herdsmen to loanable funds, will enable them establish and own private ranches the same way it has facilitated loans for rice and wheat farmers.

Gyang further suggested that government, instead of pushing for the creation of grazing reserves, should adopt and implement the option of animal husbandry and cattle ranching as a viable alternative economic activity for herdsmen.

“It is theglobally tested and accepted best practice. Cattle owners and herdsmen being introduced to ranching may seek the prior and mutual consent of their host communities as against the seeming outright and unilateral imposition of the grazing reserves policy by government.

If the security and wellbeing of citizens is the primary constitutional responsibility of government as enshrined in section 14 (2,b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the same government cannot be seen adopting policies that set citizens and communities against one another in hostility, acrimony and violent conflict.”

On its part, BECO in statement cautioned the Plateau State government against resurrecting a

Jang

We reject the bill in its entirety for the purpose of peace, unity and progress

policy that will generate another round of violent conflict. According to the group, the idea of grazing reserves is aimed at carving out territories and domains at the expenses of the natives for the interest of the Fulani.

“BECO wishes to clearly and firmly state that Berom do not and shall never support the creation of grazing reserves on our land, no matter how defined. Berom Land has had its own share of troubles from Tin mining, rapid forces of urbanization and Jihadist campaigns of terror, and shall not yield to deceitful devices of land grabbing and territorial expansion for the benefit of 'special Nigerians' we will however lend encouragement to any individual or group that is predisposed to the idea of ranching on his ancestral or acquired land,” the group said.

Christian groups in the state and their leaders are not left out of the debate. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Plateau State chapter, through its chairman, Rev. Soja Bewarang, also called for wisdom in the pursuit of the bill in order not to further complicate issues in the country.

Another Christian body, Berom Ministers Forum (BEMFO), on its part, organised a fasting and prayer session for God’s intervention on the matter.

President Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) Rev. Dachollom Datiri, had earlier during a church service to mark Lalong’s one year in office at the Rayfield Government House chapel, condemned in strong terms and also opposed the National Grazing Reserve Bill, calling on the National Assembly to uphold the trust and responsibility bestowed on it by avoiding the colonisation it intends to give herdsmen over other citizens.

Meanwhile, following the recent protest by women groups in the state, the State House of Assembly had summoned the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr. Nazif Ahmed and that of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mrs. Lynda Barau, to explain government's position on the Grazing Reserve/Ranches Bill that had generated heated debates and protests in the state.

A large number of women, who wore black dresses, had stormed the Assembly complex, calling on the state lawmakers to reject the bill. The invitation of the two commissioners followed a motion of public importance by the member representing Mikang State Constituency, Hon. Daniel Na’anlong, whose constituency is among those earmarked for the said grazing reserves and ranches.

Na’anlong stated that the people of his constituency were not consulted on the issues only for them to hear that the local government was among those earmarked by the government for the project.

“Mr. Speaker, it is not an issue of All Progressives Congress (APC) or Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or either tribal issue, but we must as lawmakers look at it very clearly so as to avert any crisis that this confusion may bring to the state,” he said.

The Speaker, Hon. Peter Azi, in his response, said the House has not been properly briefed on the issues by the governor and they are also blind on the grazing policy in the state.

Plateau State PDP chairman and former Minister of Sports, Hon. Damishi Sango, also cautioned Governor Lalong not to rush the people of the state into accepting the grazing policy of the Federal Government of President Muhammadu Buhari without due consultation with the stakeholders .

Sango described the grazing policy of the Federal Government as a time bomb on the Plateau that should be carefully studied to bring out the gains and pains of such policy on the people of the state.

According to him, Governor Lalong must hold consultations with the traditional rulers, state and National Assembly lawmakers from the state as well elder statesmen from Plateau on what he described as a sensitive matter such as the issue of grazing bill or policy before Plateau State could be said to be one of the states that accepted that policy or not.

Lending his voice, the member representing Pankshin, Kanke and Kanam Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Hon. Timothy Golu, also advised the Federal Government against the establishment of grazing reserves or ranches in Plateau State, saying implementing such will further compound the crisis between farmers and herdsmen as well as make nonsense of the fragile peace being experienced presently in the state.

According to him, it is selective when government dabbles into a particular economic activity to empower some people at the expense of others. He therefore advised the Federal Government to give loans to people who are into agric business.

While the Federal Government had initiated the Grazing Reserve bill to end the frequent clashes between farmers and herdsmen across the country, there is no doubt that the people of Plateau State believe otherwise, but it is left to be seen whether they will sustain the steam as the debate on the matter heats up.

17

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Industry Breakthroughs at Abuja Technology Village

Inside Abuja

News FCTA demolishes illegal buildings in Asokoro

18 20

Caleb Onwe Abuja

T

he desire and efforts of the Nigerian government to make the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, one of the most beautiful government’s seat of power in the world, is not only threatened by certain oddities found in infrastructural development in some segments of the city; but has been beclouded by an unprecedented shadow of doubt.

When critical evaluation of government’s abandoned projects for infrastructural development in FCT is carried out, one will not stop to wonder if that dream of making Abuja to compete favourably with cities like New York, Paris and other mega cities in terms of well-articulated and strategic public infrastructural development is not a lofty dream, or rather a ‘daydream’ meant to distract people.

Utako Motor Park is supposed to be a central ultra-modern transport terminal, since it is located at the heart of the city, in the Jabi District of Abuja, so that it will enhance the status of the city, at least by adding to its tourism value.

However, this expectation is another daydream that only eternity knows when those at the helms of affairs in FCTA will wake from.

Apart from couple of bus terminals owned and operated by some private transport companies within the Abuja metropolis, Utako park is the only general park, where all transporters are free to operate from.

The Motor Park has not only turned into a refuge camp for some homeless urchins, but also a debased colony for those seeking for cheap sex market. From the entrance of the park, a visitor begins to get a soured taste of disjointed activities of all manner, akin to that only found in the stone-age animal farm, where anarchy hold sway.

Structurally, the buildings there, either used as shops, restaurants, bars, offices and mini chalets, are defaced, constituting environmental hazard.

To state the obvious, the park is not only unfit to be left to exist in the Federal Capital Territory, but an indictment to those in authority, who concentrate more efforts

An eyesore in FCT and government’s resources in developing places where their political dynasty is expected to make more profit from.

Stakeholders who are worried by the pathetic conditions in the park are of the opinion that the elites and the ruling class in Nigeria are not interested in projects that will enhance the welfare of the greater majority, but only concerned with how to protect their own selfish interest.

Nothing explains better, why the condition of the major motor park in the city of Abuja is left to deteriorate, than the egocentric inclination of the political class.

Contract for transforming the park The contract for the upgrading of the Utako Park to an ultramodern transport terminal was

Onwuka NzeshI

ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF nzeshi@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

No work has started and the park remains an eyesore to visitors

actually awarded in 2014, during the regime of the immediate past administration of FCTA. The contract for the project, awarded at the tune $135,000, the equivalent of N22.2 billion, was supposed to be constructed on Private Public Partnership (PPP) between the FCTA , Intercity Transport Terminal Limited (ITTL) and Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and expected to be completed within four years.

According to the original design for the project, stakeholders at the Utako Park were looking forward to getting a park with all the modern facilities that can be found in other cities of equal status in the world. These include, maintenance area, service area, water storage, power station, waste management, extra 200-

room four-star hotel, terminal building and inter-modal bus terminal and shopping mall.

Almost three years after the contract agreement was signed by the consenting parties, for the transformation of the park, no work has started and the park remains an eyesore to visitors, especially foreign tourists who often come to Abuja to catch a glimpse of a city reputed to also be as expensive as Paris in France.

Hub of all manner of trades There is no trade known to man that cannot be found inside the Utako Motor park. Inside Abuja took out time to tour round the park and observed that, beside the motor spare parts sellers, electronics and other consumables dealers struggle for space inside the park.

Our correspondents who also visited the park in the late hour of the day to get a frenzy of night life there, observes that there were numerous sex workers prowling around. While some of them pretend to be selling something, some out rightly solicit patronage from interested patrons.

The efforts of the Federal Road Safety Corps to sanitise the motor parks, and sensitizing drivers on how to reduce road carnage by discouraging the sale of liquor in the parks, are seriously undermined by the number of both men and women who operate small stalls where liquor of assorted types are displayed for sale.

Security concern in the park Another situation that breeds

Inside the Utako Park

CONTINUED ON PAGE 21

18

Inside ABUJA | SLUMS

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

In spite of the general lamentation over the technological backwardness of Nigeria, a lot of advancement in fabrication of goods seems to be happening unnoticed.

AMADI NNAMDI takes you on a trip into a "Technology Village" in Abuja where aluminium materials are creatively fabricated into household and industrial appliances

I

n an era where there is a wild craze for foreign goods and services, the locally made versions are left lying fallow due to lack of patronage. Despite huge annual budgets for science and technology, successive governments have merely paid lip service to the avowed drive for capacity development in technology and local manufacturing of goods. Nigerians have practically been left on their own.

As it is today, there is no gainsaying that the country has a lot of catching up to do with other fast developing and industrialised countries. With the price of crude oil falling daily, and revenue declining rapidly, there is an urgent need to diversify the Nigerian economy and create millions of jobs in the country. There is also the need to increase productivity and create wealth through the manufacturing of goods locally to reduce importation and capital flight.

But when the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonaya Onu, announced recently that Nigeria was bracing up to start producing pencils locally by the year 2018, not many Nigerians were impressed. A lot of people saw such a projection as too little compared to what has already been achieved by Nigerian engineers, technicians and technologists over the years.

Onu projected that when the production of pencils begins, Nigerians will be amazed at the multiplier effects as it will create a minimum of 400,000 jobs.

The announcement triggered mixed reactions as many criticized successive governments for not placing the country on the right pedestal for industrial and technological advancement Unknown to the minister, many young and innovative Nigerians are no longer banking on the promises of the government which are seldom fulfilled. They have also stopped waiting for the so-called technology transfer from foreign technical partners but have taken their destinies in their own hands.

Technology Village For many who are despaired about the level of the technical know-how of Nigerian engineers and technicians, a visit to the "Jabi Aluminium Technology Village" will surely clear your doubt and pessimism.

One of the artisans displaying the finished products

Breakthroughs at Abuja Technology Village

It is located at an obscure part of the ever busy Jabi Motor park and a first time visitor might mistake it for a junk yard. The first sign that an industrial activity of that magnitude is going on there is the loud resonating metallicclanging sounds emanating from the hammer strikes of various artisans beating aluminium materials and irons into beautiful shapes.

As you look closely to know the direction from where the sounds are coming, you will see young men in groups hammering and clanging away under the scorching sun simultaneously, producing a rhythm that is almost jamming like jazz music.

On an average sunny day, the environment around the chains of workshops is always resplendent and hot courtesy the reflection from the aluminium materi-

Their products include galvanised aluminium ice block machines, ovens, chimneys

Some of the locally-made ovens and refrigerators at the Technology Village

als scattered all over the place.

Their products range from galvanised aluminium ice block machines, ovens, chimneys, animal cages, coolers, pots, cake pans, bread trays, livestock feed containers, stoves, well buckets and charcoal stoves to doors, industrial burners, metal gates, kitchen heat extractor and a host of many other household and industrial appliances.

With ctter and hammer as their primary tools they cut and beat aluminium materials into various shapes and sizes to the admiration of customers who regularly come to pick the finished products.

The artisans, who were formerly plying their trade at the site of the demolished Wuse New market, said their products are affordable and of good standard.

According to one of them

who simply identified himself as Awolu, an indigene of Kano State, they buy their raw materials which is basically aluminium and irons from Dei-Dei Market, another economic hub in Abuja.

These raw materials are then transported to their workshop in Jabi where they are fabricated into various items for commercial purposes.

Affordable products An ice block making machine with capacity to produce about 200 ice blocks at once, can be purchased at the site for about N250,000 whereas the conventional ones of same capacity displayed in big departmental stores and electronic shops goes for about N450,000. Similarly, a big size bread oven with a capacity for 200 family size loaves, can be purchased from them between a price range of N200,000 and N300, 000.

For the Chimneys, one can easily purchase them for as low as N70,000 or N80,000. Another artisan, Ibrahim, said the price of their items basically depends on the size and customer specification.

Attesting to the quality of the work at the site, one Mrs. Rolle Ajayi who our correspondent met in one of the workshops waiting to pick up an item she ordered for, said the artisans produce quality and affordable products whose standards can equally compete with its contemporaries anywhere.

She advocated that government should intervene in the area and exploit the economic potential inherent at the site, as CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Inside ABUJA

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

19

Tyre deflation becoming rampant in NASS Since the advent of Boko Haram and the accompanying threats of terrorists attacks, the management of the National Assembly has stepped up security in many ways, including reducing the number of vehicles entering the complex. CHUKWU DAVID reports on the recent clamp down on indiscriminate parking in the premises of the parliament

T

he National Assembly environmental task force is currently on rampage within the nation's apex legislative complex, deflating tyres of vehicles belonging to staff and visitors who park at unauthorized places within the premises. This happens on daily basis.

Currently, there are six main parks, designated for both the civil servants and the members of the two chambers – Senate and House of Representatives.

The parks designated for the junior and intermediate staff are also the ones where the ad hoc and auxiliary staff such as journalists and visitors park their cars.

However, as a result of the ever increasing number of visitors and the large size of staff of the institution who are car owners, these parking lots are not enough anymore to accommodate all the vehicles that come into the national legislative complex on a daily basis.

Consequently, the situation has compelled people to look for alternative vacant places within and around the complex to park their vehicles. Initially, the Na-

Deflated tyres at the NASS

tional Assembly authorities turned blind eye to this development, and people conveniently parked their vehicles wherever they could find vacant spaces, irrespective of the appropriateness of such places or not.

But it appears that visitors and staff started abusing this liberty consciously or unconsciously granted by the National Assembly Sergeant-at-Arms, which is the official internal security department of the legislative institution.

Sometimes, people carelessly park in such a manner that their vehicles obstruct the major drive ways within the premises of the legislative complex.

This obstruction and careless parking of vehicles in a fashion that defaced the aesthetics outlay of the area, suddenly attracted the attention of the Sergeantat-Arms, who now decided not to tolerate the seeming indiscipline and disorderliness in the Assembly.

The first thing that started happening was the clamping of wheels of vehicles wrongly parked, in the judgement of the officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), posted to the National Assembly to maintain order in vehicular movement at the gate and the car parks.

Offenders were usually made to suffer some sanctions by the men of the FRSC, who clamped their cars. In some cases, such cars were made to sleep at the point of the offence, when the owners came out late only to discover that the officers who clamped their vehicles were nowhere to be found.

Inside Abuja has tried to find out if the FRSC personnel used to collect fine from the offenders but all inquiries pointed to the fact that they never imposed monetary sanction on the defaulters.

As the clamping of vehicles without fine appeared not to be scaring defaulters enough to take correction, the National Assembly security decided to take more stringent measure to fight those who would defy the move by the authorities to maintain decency inside and around the complex.

People take advantage of the National Assembly to exploit other people

Accordingly, the acting Sergeant-at-Arms to the National Assembly, Mr. Ibrahim Ndako, recently formed a National Assembly Joint Task Force to parade the premises of the legislative complex and ensure that people do not park at unauthorised places.

The Joint Task Force is made up of men of the Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Road Safety and the National Assembly Sergeantat-Arms.

Inside Abuja learnt that Ndako instructed the Task Force to patrol the National Assembly premises throughout the work period to ensure that vehicles do not park at unauthorised locations.

The new sanction now is no longer clamping of the vehicles but compulsory deflation of two tyres of defaulting vehicles, to ensure that the owners of such cars suffer some pains which would serve as a warning to victims not to repeat the offence.

The essence of deflating two tyres at a time, Inside Abuja learnt, is to make sure that the owner does not easily replace one tyre and walk away because it is obvious that car owners move about with only one spare tyre. Therefore, in deflating two tyres, the victim is compelled to look for a vulcanizer to gauge the tyres.

However, it is quite interesting and also ridiculous to observe that there is a vulcanizer, who takes advantage of the development to make quick money from the victims of this on-going exercise in the legislative complex.

The vulcanizer stations at the old Annex wing of the National Assembly but anything from 1p.m., when he suspects that those whose tyres have been deflated would be ready to go, he moves his vulcanizing machine close to the illegal parking lots to service the usually embittered, helpless and desperate victims of the deflation rampage.

It is also curious to note that rather than charge N100 to gauge two tyres (at the common rate of N50 per tyre), the man charges N1000 for the two tyres. This has aroused the suspicion of victims

Deflated tyres taken for gauge

and even other public within the National Assembly, that it might be the Task Force that arranged the vulcanizer, and is now using the opportunity to exploit those who fall prey to their net.

One of the victims, who was lamenting and confused on how to get his tyres fixed since he didn't want to pay N1000 to the vulcanizer, said that people were taking advantage of the institution of the National Assembly to make quick money from others.

He said: "People take advantage of the National Assembly to exploit other people; they believe that there is so much money in the place and look for every opportunity to cut their own portion of the "national cake".

"How can somebody come and deflate your two tyres at once and somebody is asking you to pay N1000 just to gauge the tyres.

This shows that there is a connivance between the so-called task force and the vulcanizer. It has become a business venture for them and I believe that they have a spelt out sharing formula for their proceeds at the end of the day," he lamented.

Other victims said that their concern was that the authorities or task force did not place sign posts in any of the illegal parking lots to indicate to visitors coming to the assembly complex for the first time that such places were out of bounds.

When our correspondent accosted an official of the FRSC on who exactly was responsible for the deflation order, he said that it was not the Commission but the National Assembly security department, that is the Sergeantat-Arms.

"It is not our men that are deflating people's tyres; it is the National Assembly security. Our work here is to direct the vehicles to the park and also ensure that people don't park at lots designated for others like the management staff," he explained.

Till the time of filing this report, efforts to get the views of the head of the National Assembly Sergeant-at-Arms proved abortive but a staff of the department, who pleaded not to be quoted, said that Ndako was actually the brain behind this new drive.

20

INSIDE ABUJA \ NEWS

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

FCTA demolishes illegal buildings in Asokoro Yekeen Nurudeen Abuja

T

he Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Department of Development Control has finally commenced its planned demolition of illegal structures in the nation's capital as no fewer than five ‘unapproved’ assorted buildings at various stages of construction in Asokoro Extension, near indigenous settlement in Kuruduma 1 (Kpaduma Village) area of Abuja, were mowed down by bulldozers from the department for allegedly contravening the land use of the FCT. During the exercise, officials of the Department accompanied by armed security personnel stormed the site with their bulldozer, and chased away construction workers on site, and ransacked the structures at advanced

level of construction before the actual demolition.

It was gathered that the affected buildings had no valid title document and building approvals, thereby trespassing and contravening the FCT land use ACT. Also, the team cleared shanties on the road corridors of a busy expressway near the Apo Roundabout.

Meanwhile, most of the owners of the affected buildings, who engaged with the Development Control officials, claimed that the former FCT Minster, Bala Mohammed, gave them the approval to build on the land, even though they failed to present proof of ministerial approval.

Speaking during the exercise, the leader of the Team, Gabriel Ameh, Senior Town Planning Officer, Asokoro District of Abuja, said the demolished buildings were on plot 260, Asokoro, but the illegal developers were using Kuruduma layout,

which was issued by Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), therefore, it was a case of trespass.

According to him, necessary abatement notices were duly served on the affected buildings, when they were still at DPC and lintel levels, which the de-

velopers ignored and continued development.

“On May 18, we issued the ‘Stop Work’ notice, and by May 23, served them with reminder notice while demolition notice was issued a day after (May 24th) whereas the Final Demolition notice was

Abuja

D

espite reservations among residents of the nation’s capital about his slow approach to handling issues in the city, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has given assurance that he would leave Abuja as changed city at the end of his tenure.

Addressing journalists during a breaking of Ramadan fast at his Life Camp official residence, the minister acknowledged that the task of governing Abuja was a daunting one.

His words: “Running a city like Abuja requires joint effort. It is a complex city. But it can be done. I can assure you by the time I'm done with my assignment, Abuja is going to be a changed city."

... promises to build 1,200 housing units for staff There have been growing concerns among stakeholders in the city about the state of facilities such as street and traffic lights, roads as well as environmental situation in the city.

But the minister said no stone would be left unturned to address all the concerns being raised about the state of facilities in the city.

It would be recalled that he recently sacked the management of Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) over poor performance and the filthy condition of the city.

He also constituted a task force team to recover about N9 billion owed the board by various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in Abuja in addition to asking the team to rid the city of beggars and hawkers.

Bello also disclosed that his administration would provide a total of 1,200 housing units for FCTA staff to address the problem of affordable houses confronting majority of them.

The minister said that the housing scheme for the middle cadre staff has been captured in the FCTA 2016 budget.

He lamented that many middle cadre staff of FCT Administration live outside the city centre due to the absence of mass housing scheme that can cater for them, noting that only a few who benefitted from the 2001 monetisation policy are those living within the city centre.

Bello stated that the scheme would provide 400 units of houses for the middle cadre staff at affordable price in the first year and repeat same

annually.

"When I came to the office I realised that middle cadre FCTA staff don't own houses. They never had the opportunity of benefiting from owneroccupier policy during the monetisation era.

“From this year, we are starting a housing scheme for FCTA staff and it will complement what the Federal Government plans to do" Bello said.

The minister also threatened to revoke plots of land allocated to Federal Government agencies for the purpose of mass housing but yet to be developed.

He said such land would be allocated to take care of the proposed Federal Integrated Housing Scheme (FIHS) which the Head of Service had come to him to solicit for land allocation for.

Abuja resident doctors decry FG’s sack threat Yekeen Nurudeen Abuja

A

ssociation of Resident Doctors (ARD) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has said the purported sack of resident doctors by the Federal Government has painted a bad image of the nation to the outside world.

President of the Association, Dr. Isaac Olubanjo Akerele, who stated this during his campaign for election as the Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA)

in Abuja, further said the implications would be given to the rest of the world that President Muhammadu Buhari is intolerant.

According to him, Nigerian doctors shouldn't be treated in such a gesture as they only appeal to the Federal Government to pay them what rightfully belongs to them.

“We are family men and women, we never took to arms; we never took to blackmail or anything against the continuity of this government. We only demanded for our unpaid

notice to remove their properties along the road before the demolition day.

When the Department of Development Control team reached many road corridors where they were operating, it was observed that they had vacated the area.

Former VicePresident Atiku Abubakar (right), with the National President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, during a visit on Abubakar in Abuja…at the weekend.

I'll leave Abuja a changed city, says FCT Minister Yekeen Nurudeen

issued on June 3rd.

“So, they were rushed development, in order to whip up sentiment among the public,” Ameh stressed.

This was as many artisans operating in Asokoro District were seeing to have complied with the earlier

arrears.

“The purported sack by the Federal Government is unfortunate and must be condemned by all. We are appealing to Mr. President to meet our demands and call that the purported sack ordered by the Minister of Health, be reversed.

"We only resorted to peaceful means of addressing our grievances," he stressed.

The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, had directed the Chief Medical Directors and Medical Directors of federal tertiary hospitals to fill the vacan-

cies created by resident doctors who have “abandoned” their training programme by refusing to report for work.

The directive was contained in a circular signed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Amina Shamaki, and sent to medical directors of hospitals.

On his campaign as Chairman NMA in FCT, Akerele explained that he is coming up with formidable people and teaming up with others to contribute to developing the association and leading NMA to a greater height.

Food production: Water Resources signs MoU with NSIA Caleb Onwe Abuja

T

he Federal Ministry of Water Resources has signed a memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) to explore the investment opportunities especially in commercialised agriculture to boost food production in the country.

The Minister of Water Resources, Engr.

Suleiman Adamu, at the signing ceremony between Federal Government and NSIA in Abuja, said that the MoU is a positive milestone as it is in line with government objectives and determination of investing in agriculture for food security.

He said: “30 years from now, the population of Nigeria would outgrow food production, so we need to start to address the issue to avoid conflict of food shortage in the future.”

He therefore called on investors to look inward in exploring the many opportunities in the sector and develop the potential to the fullest.

Also, Adamu reiterated the commitment and confidence of the Steering Committee on the partial commercialisation of the River Basins for optimal performance.

He stated that the signing of the MoU with NSIA is in line with the objectives of the Steering Committee’s man-

date. He therefore said that they should not be seen as working at cross purposes.

He added that apart from commercialised agriculture in the sector, there are other opportunities in the sector especially the development of small hydro power schemes for power generation by using the available dams.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, Mr. Uche Orji, in his remarks at the occasion said that water and agriculture is pivotal to the food security agenda of the present administration.

He said that the organisation has access to capital and would do it best in the commercialisation of the capital projects of the ministry for optimal benefit of the country.

The NSIA is an establishment which manages the Nigeria Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) into which the surplus income produced from excess oil reserves is deposited. This fund was founded for the purpose of managing and investing on behalf of the government of Nigeria.

Present at the signing ceremony were the management staff of the ministry, the MD/CEO and his management team and the Acting Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Dr. Vincent Akpotaire, and management staff of the Bureau.

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Emmanuel Onani

A

standing ovation greeted Mr. Solomon Arase, the 18th indigenous Inspector-General of Police (IGP) on Wednesday, June 22, when he officially transferred the instrument of authority to his successor.

The solemn handover/takeover ceremony, which held at the IGP Conference Room at the Force Headquarters, heralded the retirement of Arase from the Nigeria Police Force, after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 60 years on June 21.

It will be safe to say that the man, Arase, largely shifted the paradigm of policing in Nigeria, since his appointment on April 21, 2015, by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Being an intelligence officer and lawyer, the former IGP identified intelligence and restorative justice as some of the planks upon which the Force under his leadership will be driven.

Based on this conceptual framework, and with piercing policing eyes focused on the ball, he infused blood into the moribund Police Intelligence College in Enugu.

Through improved intelligence, coupled with the establishment of the IGP's Intelligence Response Team (IRT), some Fulani herdsmen suspected to have carried out the April massacre in Nimbo community of Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area, Enugu State, were apprehended with evidence showing the mindless killings.

The same team had apprehended abductors and killers of a serving Colonel in Kaduna State, among other successful outings.

In a deliberate move aimed at ending torture and other dark areas that have continued to project and mirror the Nigeria Police as an institution bugged down by internal strife, Arase organised a conference, to proffer solution to “custodial violence” by some officers and men.

In attempting to tame the cankerworm of corruption literally sojourning in the Force, the 18th IGP issued an express order for the

INSIDE ABUJA

Arase bows out of service amid ovation

21

L-R, Outgone Inspector-General of Police, Mr.Solomon Arase, and the Acting IG, Idris Ibrahim at the presidential villa, Abuja.

dismantling of roadblocks across the country. He had replaced the policy with what he called Safer Highways.

He also awarded scholarships to hundreds of children and wards of serving and deceased police officers, to help cushion their welfare needs.

In his valedictory speech, which was punctuated by intermittent ovation, Arase had journeyed through his 14 months' leadership of the Police, and concluded that a lot had been gained.

Hear him: “One year, two months away from this assertion and clarion call, I can proudly note two significant developments.

First is that I feel professionally satisfied that I enjoyed very high level of diligence, loyalty, sacrifice and professionalism from all cadres of the Force.

“This manifested in the great

C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 7

worry in the minds of both transporters and commuters who use the park, is that of security. Our correspondent observed that scavengers were allowed free access to the park, especially the section that has automatically been turned into a scrap market.

Joseph Eriba, a driver with one of the transport companies that use the park, confided in our correspondent that each time the Police comes for a routine raid in the park, so many suspects are usually arrested.

According to him, some of them who can bail themselves to get off the police hook, usually returns to the park to continue their activities.

“Staying in this park for anything is completely at one’s own risk. A lot of things happen here. In fact, you don’t know who is who. We are still coming here to load our motor because we cannot afford a better place for now,” Eriba said.

A male passenger who was obviously waiting to board a night bus to the East when our correspondent ran into him, said that each time he is coming to Utako Park, he remains prayerful in the spirit. The passenger who does not want his name in print also told our cor-

Arase had journeyed through his 14 months' leadership of the Police, and concluded that a lot had been gained

strides we collectively attained in our common march towards restoring the lost primacy of the Nigeria Police and bequeathing a Police Force of citizens’ expectations to Nigerians.

“Secondly, I am fulfilled that a widely experienced, knowledgeable and passionate officer of the calibre of Ag. IGP Ibrahim Idris has been appointed by the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation to march the Force forward. I am convinced of the capacity of Ag. IGP Idris to provide the requisite leadership for the Force at this crucial time in the history of not just the Nigeria Police Force, but of our nation. In this regard, I can assure him of my support, even in retirement, as well as my constant prayers.

“Let me at this juncture, encourage the Nigeria Police family to extend the trademark loyalty,

diligence, and professionalism which I enjoyed from them, to the new Force leadership.”

Exuding a rather deserved air of measured accomplishment, the former Police chief had noted: “In driving this valedictory speech to a close, permit me to deeply appreciate the support of all personnel of the Nigeria Police. The journey might have been tortuous, but looking back, we should all be proud that today, through an inclusive leadership strategy which I adopted, the Nigeria Police has acquired very strong intelligence, investigative and operational capability which can and have of late been deployed to crack any crime at any location within our national geographical space.

“The dignity of an average Nigeria Police officer has been restored. Public confidence in our competency has been enlivened.”

Utako Motor Park: An eyesore in FCT

respondent that government has not put enough security measures in the park to prevent any terrorist attack.

Another strange thing that Inside Abuja observed in Utako Park, was the level of acrimony that exist between the

The eyesore called Utako Park

multiple transport unions that operate in the park there.

There is no proper organisation of the activities of these unions, our correspondent sighted different sign posts of National Union of Road Transporters

Worker (NURTW), National Transport Owners, (NATO), and Self-Employed Drivers Association and many others.

Interestingly, all these unions have their loyalists and agents who are seen engaging in struggle meant to solicit patronage for their pay masters.

One of the union leaders, who simply identified himself as Alhaji Abass, told Inside Abuja that the unions are collaborating with security agents to maintain law and order in the park.

Abass, however, accused the government for paying lip service to the welfare of its citizenry. He also alleged that the purported contract for the transformation of the park to a modern one was actually a big ploy by those in authority to steal public funds.

On the issue of the contract and other allied matters surrounding the park, the FCTA transport secretariat declined comment to the questions put to its Public Relations Officer by our correspondent.

“I cannot give you any update on Utako Park contract, go to AMAC and get whatever information you want,” the PRO said.

22

INSIDE ABUJA

A former Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the Federal Capital Territory, Comrade Chuks Ehirim, passed on last week amidst tears from his professional colleagues and friends. JOHNCHUKS ONUANYIM writes on the passage of the vibrant journalist and union leader

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Adieu, Chuks Ehirin

O

n June 16, the world of journalism in Abuja stood still as the news of the death of the former chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Council, Comrade Chuks Ehirim, filtered into the air. His death, which, occurred in the wee hours of that day, went virile on the social media at daybreak. Journalists made frantic calls to friends, colleagues and family members for confirmation.

Coincidentally, it was his birthday and many had wanted to call or send him a text that day to wish him a happy 50th birthday, but were shocked to read of his death. He died on the day he ought to be celebrating.

According to the doctors at the Garki Hospital in Abuja, he died as a result of acute pneumonia after a few hours of his admission at the hospital. Before this day, he had been on admission at the Kuje General Hospital for the same sickness. He spent a few days there and received routine medical attention before the doctors embarked on a strike action.

His poor health condition became manifest after the last trip he made with the Federal Government committee responsible for the distribution of food items to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) all over the country.

Chuks, who was a member of the committee, representing NUJ, was part of the team that visited Yobe State.

On their return from the trip, he complained of having pneumonia and feeling cold. One day, at the All Progressives Congress (APC) media centre, he told colleagues that he needed to go to the hospital and he was encouraged to do a check up on his health.

At the close of the day's work, we all departed and the following day we also gathered together at the centre but Chuks was visibly absent. When calls were made to him, Chuks told his colleagues that he went to the hospital for medical attention and was having a bed rest. He was on that medical vacation and never returned to the media centre again until that fateful day he passed on.

Since his death, it has been one story or the other from colleagues, friends and relatives.

Some have blamed his death on poverty and inability to seek proper medical care while others have said it was his lack of

Ehirin

openness to colleagues about his health condition which prevented him from receiving the help he desperately needed. Yet others have blamed it on the doctors’ strike which paralysed operations in public hospitals.

A sick person who left his home around 8a.m. and went to two different hospitals but could not have medical attention due the resident doctors' strike, until around 6p.m. must have lost good chances of survival. Some have attributed the death of Chuks to the inability of the government

Chuks was a family man. He talked about his children and wife very often

to fulfil its obligations to health workers which paved the way for the strike and abandonment of patients at different hospitals.

For those claiming that he died as a result of poverty, I will like to say that was far from it. Chuks was not one of the rich journalists in town, but he was not one of the poorest in whatever measure.

Chuks was a thorough breed journalist that studied Mass Communication at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. All he did throughout his journalism career was probing every nook

and cranny for stories that could expose the ills of our society.

As a trained journalist he had passion for his profession, which was one of the reasons he participated in the activities of the NUJ in all the places he worked and lived. He was an active member of the union while he worked in Enugu State before his transfer to Abuja. In Abuja, he played active roles in the activities of the union before he was elected the chairman of the FCT Chapter in 2013.

He worked with The News, Newswatch, Daily Independent and Daily Times before finally pitching his tent The Niche on Sunday, which is a weekly newspaper. In most of these years, he reported politics and was part of the media struggle that returned Nigeria back to democratic governance in 1999.

He covered the State House during the era of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as President and also covered the National Assembly and the major political parties in Nigeria.

As a political reporter, he was a conscientious believer in the programmes of opposition political parties and an unrepentant supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari during his years of aspiration to get to Aso Rock. It was his support for Buhari that brought him very close to the former National Secretary of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Buba Galadima.

He believed so much in opposition politics that he defended the APC at every forum before the party came to power.

As the chairman of the NUJ, FCT he left lasting legacies.

Chuks was more concerned about the growth of the union than his personal welfare. During his tenure, his administration initiated the construction of a befitting secretariat for the Council. The structure is under construction and hopefully will be completed in due course.

Chuks was a family man. He talked about his children and the wife very often. He made a home for himself in Pegi Village, Kuje where he was also involved in farming as a hobby.

Like many persons have said in their tributes, Chuks fought for a good and better Nigeria. Can this good and better Nigeria be extended to his family?

Breakthroughs at Abuja Technology Village C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 8

it has the capability to create jobs and reduce the unemployment rate currently bedevilling the country.

The challenges One of the artisans, Ibrahim Abubakar, said the workshop has skilful and experienced artisans, who specialised in various aluminium products production but lack some necessary support from the government that can help them prosper and create more jobs.

He lamented that they are currently suffering from hike in price of the raw materials they use and in effect it also influences the selling price of

their finished products.

He also pointed out the need for FCT administration to allocate a spacious permanent site to them where they can stay and carry out their productive activities.

Abubakar said the artisans are also open to loan arrangement and other incentives from the government that can make them expand their business and employ more hands on the job. According to him, regular power supply remains very important to them if they must keep delivering finished quality products on time.

Lending his voice to various calls for government intervention in the area, Alhaji Sumaila Mohammed Kangi-

wa, the Chairman of Secondhand, Fairly-used Building Material Traders Association of Nigeria, said the major problem his members have within the area is inadequate power supply as well as the challenge of inadequate water supply to the area. He also hinted that the traders in the market are very law abiding as they always thrive to carry out periodic sanitation exercises.

Bottom line For an environment like this with huge economic and job creation potential, with a group of people who are not asking to be further trained nor asking for too much, one would rather expect the gov-

ernment of the day to hasten up to encourage them to do more for themselves and the country.

Considering the level of creativity and ingenuity associated with the kind of work they have chosen as a career, one would expect that the government would pay attention to what is going on at the technology centre. It is also expected that in due course, they would be relocated to a more conducive environment suitable for an industrial cluster or layout where their full potential could be effectively harnessed, their products standardized and properly packaged for export to other countries.

23

TUESDAY, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Homes&Property

Business What's new Cocoa export proceeds to drop N223.6bn in 2016 p.24

Engineers seek speedy passage of road sector bill

Aviation How local content’ll aid airport privatisation

27 29

Rates Dashboard INFLATION RATE May 2016 ................................. 15.6% April 2016...................................13.7% March 2016...............................12.8%

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

EXCHANGE RATE

EXCHANGE RATE

(Parallel Market as at June 24 )

(Interbank as at June 24)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N333 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N470 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N365

l Foreign Reserves – $26.424 bn as at 23/6/2016

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N282 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N400 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N314

Source: CBN

FG mulls fresh oil blocks’ bid round Asks IOCs for decommissioned, available oil wells’ list

NCC: Destructive techs’ll boost ICT inputs to GDP p.24

L-R: Chief Executive Officer, One Finance, Chijioke Dozie; Group Head, E-business, First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Limited, Chuma Ezirim; Chairman, FBN, Ibukun Awosika; Founder/CEO Nairabet, Akin Alabi; General Manager, Uber, Ebi Atawodi and Deputy Managing Director, FBN, Gbenga Shobo, at the FirstBank Tech startup conference in Lagos.

The Business Desk Ayodele Aminu

Deputy Editor (Business)

Bayo Akomolafe

Asst. Editor (Maritime)

Sunday Ojeme

Asst. Editor (Insurance)

Tony Chukwunyem

Asst. Editor (Money Market)

Dayo Ayeyemi Property Editor

Adeola Yusuf Energy Editor

Wole Shadare Aviation Editor

Chris Ugwu

Capital Market Editor

Abdulwahab Isa Finance Editor

Taiwo Hassan

Industry, Agric & Brands Editor

Kunle Azeez

Senior Correspondent

Chuks Onuanyin Energy

Nnamdi Amadi Reporter

Johnson Adebayo

Asst Production Editor

INSURGENCY PRICE Renewed unrest in the Niger Delta may push divested assets above $6 billion Adeola Yusuf

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he Federal Government has begun preparations for a fresh oil blocks bid round, New Telegraph has learnt.

Already, the ministry of petroleum resources has sent correspondence to some international oil companies (IOCs) for a list of their idle oil blocks and decommissioned oil wells in their onshore and swamp acreages.

The new bid round, which is coming over 15 years after the last successful one was held, according to a top official of the petroleum ministry, will be in addition to a total of 31 fields put on offer earlier. Sixteen of these fields are located onshore, while the remaining 15 are in the conti-

nental shelf.

This new effort, according to the source, was in preparation for a process, which will climax with a bid round to be announced in 2018.

“The minister has, through the DPR (Department of Petroleum Resources), taken seriously the request he made to know from the IOCs (international oil companies), the list of oil licenses and abandoned oil wells.

“This is a process that will first lead to encouraging them to divest more assets and later lead to a fresh bid round, which will come up in or before 2018,” he said.

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), however, denied knowledge of any plan for bid round for now.

Spokesperson for DPR, Dorothy Bassey, could not be accessed through her phone for comment. She neither picked calls nor responded to a text message sent to her.

But an insider source at the DPR who denied knowledge of any bid round plan at the moment said that requesting for list of abandoned wells and idle leases are routine request made by DPR to IOCs. “Yes, the Department has made requests for data of oil wells and leases from the IOCs. This is a routine process, which I am aware of.

$2.7 billion Being the total amount paid

by Aiteo Group for acquiring Oil Mining License, OPL 29, from Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in 2015

“When this (oil bid round) will be done, it will be advertised everywhere, including our website.

That is what the law says and that is what we will do,” he said.

The Federal Government had, in 2013, flagged off the second oil marginal fields licensing round, which later failed to take place.

A total of 31 fields were on offer with 16 of them located onshore, while the others were in the continental shelf.

Of the 24 fields that were allocated to 31 indigenous oil companies in the last marginal fields bid round, which held in 2001, eight were already producing while the others are at various stages of development.

Meanwhile, the unrest at the Niger Delta is pushing IOCs to divest more assets, in a process that would raise their revenues from divested assets to $6 billion.

The IOCs, including Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Total and Agip, are facing security challenges at their onshore and shallow water assets. This has contributed to the spree of divestment of some of these assets by the firms.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

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BUSINESS |news

DEFICIT Three countries in West Africa are to experience shortfall in cocoa production as global price move up by $3374.96 per tons Bayo Akomolafe

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here are indications that Nigeria’s proceeds from cocoa export may drop this year to 223.6 billion ($793.1 million) due to deficit in production.

A report by the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) said that the projected production of 350,000 metric tons may drop to 235,000 metric tons, leaving a deficit of 115,000 metric tons valued at N109.4 billion (388 million).

The country had projected in 2015 that it would realise N333billion ($1.18 billion) in 2016 from the commodity.

Nigeria produced only 248,000 metric tons last year, but now it has recorded shortfall.

Similarly, two top cocoa producers, Ivory Coast and Ghana, are to experience shortfall in production.

While Ivory Coast’s production is expected to drop from 1.69 million metric tons to 1.65 million tons of cocoa this year, the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) estimated that Ghana’s production would drop from 840,000 metric tons to 800,000 metric tons.

Nigeria is world’s fourth largest producer of the commodity after Ivory Coast, Indonesia and Ghana and third

TUESDAY, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Cocoa export proceeds to drop N223.6bn in 2016

largest exporter after Ivory Coast and Ghana.

According to ICCO, Nigerian farmers have been experiencing poor harvest since the beginning of the year due to dry weather, fungal diseases and aged cocoa trees.

It was also estimated that 40 per cent of the country’s trees were unproductive because they have passed their peak production age of 10 to 20 years.

The ICCO report explained that due to short supply and high demand for chocolate

candi, the price of cocoa has risen to $3374.96 per metric ton.

Globally, the retail market for chocolate candy is valued at an estimated $107 billion and is expected to grow to $143 billion by 2017.

According to ICCO, cocoa prices in the international market had risen, but supply was a major challenge for producers to high demand.

In its latest quarterly study, the organisation explained that demand would outstrip supply this season, as global

Regulator embarking on initiatives to maximise destructive tech benefits via effective regulation Kunle Azeez

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estructive technologies in the Information and Communication Technology industry will help in boosting Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said.

Director, Public Affairs of NCC, Mr Tony Ojobo, disclosed this to New Telegraph after delivering a paper on the side-line of the maiden Nigeria Information Technology Conference (NITEC) held in Lagos.

A destructive technology is one that displaces an established technology and shakes up the industry or a groundbreaking product that creates a completely new industry.

According to Ojobo, who was represented at the forum by the Head, Online Media and Special Publications, Mr. Okoh Aihie, in communication industry where

Meanwhile, a professor at the University of Sydney’s Department of Plant and Food Sciences, David Guest, has predicted a worldwide shortage of cocoa by 2020, saying that chocolate prices would double as world runs out of cocoa.

Also, Swiss-based chocolate giant, Barry Callebaut, said that the demand would likely outstrip production by one million metric tons by 2020, noting that people were consuming more cocoa than farmers were producing.

L-R: Executive Director, Micro Enterprises, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mrs. Toyin Adeniji; Acting Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Waheed Olagunju and Executive Director, Corporate Services, Mr. Jonathan Tobin, during a press briefing on Olagunju’s invitation by EFCC, at the bank’s head office, in Lagos.

NCC: Destructive techs’ll boost ICT inputs to GDP REGULATION

industry deficit forecast was estimated at 308,000 from its earlier forecast of 113,000 tons in its previous report last February.

The organisation said that the world-wide cocoa production would hit 4.039 million tons in the 2015-2016 production seasons, a 4.6 per cent drop from 2015.

The two largest global consumers of cocoa and chocolate products are Europe with 49 per cent and the United States with 22 per cent of the market.

the traditional operators have enjoyed gilded opportunities, technological advancement in the sector has intruded in ‘that esoteric state of being.’

Consequently, he told our correspondent that destructive technologies have been transformed into a beautiful bride whose qualities are being considered strong and positive enough to transform the GDP of the continent.

Already, a new report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) noted that the telecommunications industry is contributing 8.6 per cent to the country’s GDP. In Nigeria, investment in telecommunications infrastructure, which is deepening broadband accessibility and emergence of new technology platforms are leading to deeper Internet access and growth of Over the Top (OTT) applications.

Ojobo added that while telecoms industry has, till date, attracted $38 billion, it is expected that more investors are targeting the industry, adding that the regulator is constantly creating an enabling environment for the players to grow.

He said: “The current

leadership at NCC is keener in fully leveraging the telecoms sector for unleashing economic potential in the country through facilitating broadband penetration, improving quality of service, optimising usage and benefits of spectrum, promoting ICT innovation and investment opportunities, facilitating strategic collaboration and partnerships, among others,” he said.

He noted that the NCC has unveiled an eight-point agenda, which has been clearly thought out and followed with vision and strategy to help push the industry to new heights in an era of very fair, firm, and forthright regulations.

“Broadband occupies a central peg in the agenda.

The current executive vice chairman of the NCC is very excited by the opportunity given to drive the growth of broadband in Nigeria and has already thrown his hat in the ring in full readiness for action.

“The Commission is embarking on activities to aggressively drive the deployment of broadband, which it described as the real game changer,” he said.

FG mulls fresh oil blocks bid round CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23

As part of its strategy to position itself for greater participation in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, Aiteo Group in 2015 acquired Oil Mining License, OPL 29, from Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

The oil lease, considered one of the most endowed acreages, was acquired along with Nembe Creek Trunk line, an associated crude oil pipeline, after the Group’s $2.7 billion bid was approved by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

An officer at the communications department of the Aiteo Group, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, revealed then that the actual cost of the acquisition of the oil block and Nembe pipeline was $2.562 billion.

She said that the balance were additional funds earmarked as working capital for their take-off.

The SPDC had divested from OML 29 reputed to be endowed with oil reserves in excess of about 2.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), with additional capacity from its hydrocarbon fields to deliver about 160,000 barrels of oil per day and 300 million stan-

dard cubic feet (MMSCF/D) of natural gas at peak production.

Aiteo, Oluwatuyi said, holds the controlling equity stake holding of 85 per cent shares in the consortium that also includes five other companies.

“Of the about 2.7 billion units of shares held by the consortium, Aiteo Energy Resources Limited holds 2.294 billion shares; Tempo, which holds 10 per cent equity, controls about 270 million shares; and Taleveras holds 135 million shares,” she said.

The Nembe Creek Trunk line is one of Nigeria’s major crude oil transportation channel used to convey oil produced from the Niger Delta to the Atlantic coast for export.

The trunk pipeline is also an invaluable asset to operators in the oil industry, as it serves as vessel available for hire by other oil exploration and production companies in country to convey their crude oil to the export terminal for onward transfer to the international markets “The acquisition of these assets has deepened Nigeria’s indigenous participation in oil and gas exploration,” Oluwatuyi had said.

TUESDAY, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Energy

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A road-side marketer of engine oil in Lagos

Caging the booming fake lube oil market How illicit trade of adulterated lube oil worsens tough economic situation for vehicles and engine owners Two big factories manufacturing adulterated and substandard engine oil for Nigeria’s market were recently uncovered in Lagos. ADEOLA YUSUF reports the havoc these cartels wreck on Nigeria’s economy

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efore last Wednesday’s discovery of two illegal factories manufacturing sub-standard and adulterated engine oil in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, the illicit trade had been booming while vehicles and engine owners in the state with biggest engine oil consumption rate in Nigeria were subjected to quiet economic persecution.

Lubricants producers, marketers and their allied stakeholders have, in fact, vowed to deal with the escalating scourge of adulterated engine oil by those they called unscrupulous elements in the society.

Clampdown These stakeholders called on the DPR and their long-term prayers appeared to have been answered last Wednesday when the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) revealed that the two illegal engine oil manufacturing factories were uncovered at Ikugbayi Street, Marine Bridge and Raji Rasak Estate, FESTAC Town in Lagos.

They were not branded but their modus operandi had been to secure the branded plastic packs of known brands, which are be-

ing refilled with their substandard product for unsuspecting engine users.

The DPR team, led by Mrs Sholabi Olanrewaju, Manager, Engineering and Standards Unit under Operation told newsmen that they discovered the factory during a routine inspection and monitoring in the state.

“We visited these places with NCSDC and met some men actually dispensing the base oil. From our investigation, they are actually retailing ordinary base oil without addictive into a container of a well known brand like Total.

“This is an illegal operation, the environment is unsafe and they are licensed to brand base oil,” she said.

Olarenwaju said that the department would ensure that they get at those illegal lubricants in Lagos metropolis.

She explained that before anybody could engage in petroleum product business in Nigeria, such person must be licensed by the DPR. Manager, Retail Outlet and Marketing Department, DPR, Mr. Okechukwu Okoro, told newsmen after the exercise that the clamp down was as a result of series of complaints from the public.

He said that the department discovered that there was high adulteration of diesel in the market.

“So, we have come to see if it is true and we have found out this to be real.

“Many people who supply diesel at home gave them adulterated diesel, which is not from real source.

“People should be wary of where they get their product from, they should ensure that they get from right source because these people mix other products in the name of diesel”.

Security Corps’ connection The leader of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) officials on the DPR team,

FG should up its antics against producers of sub-standard engine oil

Ajayi Olaleye added that six workers from the first factory at Marine Bridge were arrested, while no arrest was made in FASTAC Town.

One of the arrested workers, Kehinde Atande, said that he brought oil with water to filter when he was arrested.

He said that he did not know that what they were doing there was illegal.

Producers of lubricants had earlier raised the alarm over the proliferation of adulterated and fake lubricant products in the Nigerian market, warning that the development portends danger to users and the nation’s economy and could cripple the local industry if urgent steps are not taken to arrest the disturbing trend.

The lubricant producers, who spoke at the Oil Trading Logistics (OTL) conference in Lagos, expressed concern over threat to the lubricant industry by indiscriminate importation of substandard lubricants and adulteration of member’s products.

The situation, they said, has led to economic loss to consumers of such unwholesome products, which most often result in breakdown of machineries, environmental pollution as well as undue competition for local producers, as they come very cheap to unsuspecting customers.

Major producers’ pains Managing Director of Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc, Tunji Oyetunji, said that Nigeria’s lubricant industry remained the only vibrant subsector of the oil and gas industry, which is still attracting investment despite the challenges facing the downstream sector.

According to him, despite the huge investment in the sector, activities of adulterators of lubricant and base oil may cripple the lubricant’s efforts if not checked by the Federal Government.

He said that in spite of the sub-

sector’s contribution and potential to the nation’s economy, Nigerian lubes market is also a dumping ground for substandard and offspecifications imported lubes of questionable quality.

Stakeholders at a forum with the theme “Combating Engine Oil Adulteration in Nigeria” held under the aegis of the Consumer Rights Awareness Advancement and Advocacy Initiatives (CRAAI) in conjunction with the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), unanimously agreed that a halt to what they described as embarrassing at this time of the nation’s history has become imperative.

Corroborating Oyebanji’s view, the CRAAI Chairman Mr. Moses Igbrude, noted that CRAAI’s desire in organizing the event is to provide a voice and platform for the consumers to express their views, interact and engage the producers, manufacturers of goods and services as well as relate with various governmental regulatory authorities in Nigeria.

“One of our aims is to help the ordinary consumers by providing answers on how to indentify genuine lubricant from adulterated one, what makes a base oil different from a lubricant, how does an adulterated oil affect our machines, what are the cost implications on the consumers, producers and the Nigeria economy and what are the way forward,” Igbrude said.

He bemoaned the negative impacts of engine oil adulteration in the automotive industry and the threat to the consumers as well as the Nigeria economy.

Igbbrude stressed that the involvement of all stakeholders in a continuous enlightenment, education and awareness creation is the sure way of addressing issues of substandard, fake and adulteration in the Nigeria economy.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

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BUSINESS | Energy

TUESDAY, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Improved power supply: TCN eyes three key projects Abdulwahab Isa Abuja

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he management of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has identified three quick win projects to be executed in the next six months that are capable of improving power supply and TCN’s wheeling charges of over N700 million.

The three projects were identified at a one day management retreat organised with a view to brainstorming and

strategize on the way forward for the company.

The theme for the retreat was “The Way Forward”, which extensively discussed the company’s operations, and how to ensure that it achieves specific short term goals.

A copy of a communiqué on resolutions from TCN management obtained by our correspondent identified the quick win projects include the installation of a 60MVA and 330/132/33kV power transformer at the Ife transmission Substation. The installation of this key project, is be com-

pleted within three months to add 48MW to the nation’s transmission capacity.

Also, under the six months plan, TCN management resolved to repair and install a 60 No defective 33kV circuit breakers, which would be completed and on completion, it is expected to enhance the grid wheeling capacity with about 28,800MWH (megawatt hour).

Also, within a period of six months, critical and international 330kV lines are to be maintained to ensure system stability and revenue earnings. These projects when

completed, will increase TCN wheeling charges by over N700million.

Another important decision of the meeting was the urgent need to empower the regions, increase their autonomy and set Key Performance Indicators (KPI) through, which they can be monitored and held accountable.

The retreat, the communiqué added, “critically analysed the company’s strengths, weaknesses and areas to be improved upon as well as opportunities available for improved service delivery, sus-

tained capacity development and stability in the nation’s transmission network”..

The communiqué noted that although the company has the capacity to wheel maximum generation from Gencos to Discos, it would continue to work assiduously, to further expand its grid capacity so as to ensure that it continues to surpass the generation curve.

Although the grid stability is presently impaired, due to lack of adequate generation, TCN would continue to work at averting the collapse of the system.

NNPC re-assesses NIPCO’s 1.8 bn litres fuel storage, supply intermediary contracts Adeola Yusuf

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he Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) at the weekend reassessed the 1.8 billion litres thruput programme- provision of intermediary storage and loading of refined petroleum product on behalf of the NNPC, of Nipco plc, stating that the firm could reach 2 billion litres distribution figure for the corporation soon.

This, the Group Executive Director/COO (Downstream), NNPC, Mr Henry ikem Obih said during a visit to the corporate headquarters of the company in Lagos at the weekend, in view of NIPCO’s enhanced storage capacity and effective loading system.

He said that the firm has occupied key position in the sector with its seamless operation in the storage and distribution of petroleum products.

“With what I have seen your operations is excellent coupled with good housekeeping and safety culture,” he said.

The contributions of the company especially during the last fuel crisis, he added, was splendid with high sense of commitment to government desire to end the fuel queues then.

According to him, Nipco was

Power sub-station

able to perform this feat even in the face of shortage of forex to import petroleum products adding that this singular act is well noted and will continue to attract commendations by the

corporation.

“We appreciate your contributions at all times and to say that you are very key in our operations is stating the obvious just as we look forward to consolidating the relationship,” he

Caging the booming fake lube oil market CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

Consumer protection council Director-General of Consumer Protection Council Mrs. Dupe Atoki is not left out from throwing hard words at the manufacturers of counterfeit lube oil.

She expressed fear about the crippling effect of adulterated oil on all strata of the society.

Besides, she noted the infinite wide spectrum of its use that cuts across the domestic use for generators sets, cars, ships and boats in the marine sector, trains and even aeroplanes.

As a body saddled with the responsibility of protecting the consumers through the elimination of sub –standard and hazardous goods and services from the market place, she said that the body can also carry out thorough investigation, arrest and prosecution of such manu-

facturers and purveyors of these product and the sellers.

Speaking further, Emere said substandard and adulterated lubricants cause substantive damage to engines and equipment and subsequent failure of equipment and that the attendant consequences of adulterated lubricants are loss of man hours and machine time, loss of job, inefficiencies, environmental pollution, health hazards and loss of business and destruction of the source of livelihood of genuine practitioners in the industry.

The representative of Total Nigeria Plc Mr. Emmanuel Emere observed that the Nigeria lubricant market is enormous but stressed that effective realization will depend on the ability of the authorities to provide the enabling environments.

He noted that there was need to fully equip the monitoring

body that will ensure that lubricant standards are upheld by all manufacturers and/or marketers, curbing the activities of adulterators and counterfeiters, better public infrastructures and policies to ensure healthy competition(proliferation and influx of imported low quality finished leading to under-utilization of available local capacity).

“Genuine lubricants can be differentiated from adulterated and/or counterfeit ones through several means like the packaging, the content, price and source,” Emere noted.

Conclusion The Federal Government should up its antics against producers of sub-standard engine oil given the economic sabotage it does to the country’s industrial and motoring industries including the economy.

noted.

Group General Manager [GGL], Marine, NNPC, Makama Dalhatu who was part of the entourage added that the aim of the parley was to assess the company.

“This has made us to assert the corporation pleasure with NIPCO’s operations,” he said.

Earlier in his remarks, the Managing Director, Nipco, Mr Venkataraman Venkatapathy said that the company has a good working relationship with the corporation and that the esteemed visit of the GED and his entourage is an affirmation of the existing mutual relationship of the duo.

He commended the diligent leadership of the management team of the NNPC which has manifested in several facets of the nation’s oil and gas resources in recent times.

Venkatapathy stated that under thru-put arrangement with the NNPC in which Nipco stores and distributes white products to independent and major oil marketers who have bulk purchase agreement with the Pipeline & Prod-

ucts Marketing Company ] PPMC] Ltd,” she has done 1.8billion litres .

The thru-put arrangement came on board during General Obasanjo administration in 2007 as panacea to the persistent pipeline vandalism which made NNPC to appoint some private terminal operators to store products on their behalf and distributes such to marketers with PPMC loading tickets.

The Nipco MD pointed out that the company looks forward to the 2 billion litres target mark soonest as our own contribution to assisting government to store and distribute petroleum products across the nooks and crannies of the nation.

According to him, Nipco has the wherewithal to fuel the nation either on a thru-put basis with PPMC or directly to her esteemed customers under a 24 hours basis for six days in a week.

The GED and his entourage also inspected the three reception jetties as well as the PPMC LPG plant in Apapa as part of efforts to avail the team of their operations.

TUESDAY, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Homes&Property

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One of the dilapidated roads in Lagos

Engineers seek speedy passage of road sector bill The sorry state of the nation’s roads has become a major burden to road users and highway experts who have urged the National Assembly to expedite action on the Road Sector Reform Bill.

DAYO AYEYEMI reports

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the bill would give room to the creation of Road Board, Road Fund and Federal Highway Authority in order to nip in the bud the current problems ranging from lack of fund to poor road planning, design and construction confronting the nation in the management of highways.

He pointed out that the reform agenda in the road sector was aimed to deliver better, wellmanaged and safer roads to citizens, noting that New Zealand had the best road reform working for its citizens.

On his part, the Chairman of Lagos branch of NSE, Mr. Oludayo Oluyemi, said it was appalling to note that countries such as Ghana that borrowed the idea of road sector reform from Nigeria had gone far to implement all it entails for effective construction, funding and management of their highways.

According to him, the only way to come out of the woods is by embracing the road reform sector agenda, noting that past governments lacked the political will to implement it.

Nigeria remains the only country in Africa among those that started road reform process in 1971that is yet to reform the sector.

Experts are now calling for timely, efficient and sustainable progress in road sector development through the establishment of the Federal Road Authority (FRA), Road Fund (RF), Road Board (RB) and State Road Authority (SRA).

orried by the nation’s poor highway infrastructure and government’s failure to expedite action on them, the Nigerian Institution of Highway and Transportation Engineers (NIHTE) has called for the speedy passage of the Road Sector Reform Bill currently before the National Assembly.

Drumming support for road sector reform at the General Meeting of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Lagos branch, the engineers bemoaned the deplorable state of roads in the country, which they said lead to several avoidable deaths through accidents.

Speaking on “Highway Management and Challenges in Urban Areas in Nigeria, Past, Present and Future,” Guest Speaker at the forum, Mr. Adenuga Opanuga, an engineer, called on legislators in the National Assembly not to further delay the passage Current road infrastructure of the bill.

Roads are probably the most Opanuga, who is the Managing Director of Delran Nigeria valuable public assets in NigeCompany, stated that passage of rian economy. They are not only

With an estimated average of national road network at 194, 200 km, 34,120 km are federal roads, while 30,500km represents roads owned by states

big business but extremely essential for economic development.

The current state of the roads could be attributed to lack of appropriate institutional and legal frameworks, unpredictable and inadequate funding and a dire lack of maintenance culture.

According to statistics, Nigeria, with about 200,000 kilometres of road network, has the largest road network in West Africa and the second largest, south of the Sahara, but only about 65,000 km of this number is paved in bitumen with half of it in a deplorable state.

With an estimated average of national road network at 194, 200 km, 34,120 km are federal roads, while 30,500km represents roads owned by states, of which 129, 580 km belong to the local governments.

It is also on record that about 95 per cent of both passenger and freight movements in Nigeria are by road and the federal roads account for about 54 per cent of the total bituminous national road network. It also accounts for over 80 per cent of the national vehicular and freight traffic.

However, when the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, announced the possibility of returning tolls on federal roads, the Nigeria Society of Highway Engineers called on the National Assembly to pass the laws for the road reform package.

This, the body said, would be the realisation of the 45-year long journey to set up a Federal Roads Authority, adding that the delay in setting up this agency had been the main cause of inadequate funding for roads in Nigeria.

“Everyday, without the agency,

results to the loss of millions of naira that could flow into the National Road Fund. In the provisions of the draft bill, the National Road Fund will be distributed in agreed proportions to the Federal Government, state and local governments for their respective road networks,” the engineering body said.

Benefits According to Opanuga , the passage and implementation of the bill will stimulate private sector financing of road infrastructure across the country.

Besides, he said it would enable sustainability in the delivering of good road infrastructure, which will bring all highway roads under regular maintenance.

With about 68.3 per cent of the country’s roads in terrible condition, experts stated that the bill, when passed into law, would be the pathway, whereby huge private funds can be attracted to invest in the road sector to fill the funding gaps while a framework of sustainable contractual arraignment would be created.

Principal, Pearl Consultants in Port Harcourt, Dr. Mayne DavidWest (Snr), a highway engineer, had said that the passage of the bill would usher in a new way with opportunities for engineering professionals and job creation.

He added that it would guarantee sustainable funding and management for road sector, besides the annual budget.

He said: “The bill would create a semi-autonomous road agency that will be responsible for the efficient construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of federal roads, as well as providing CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

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Business | Homes & Property

TUESDAY, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Housing units: Lagos adopts mortgage, outright sale DEFICIT 187,500 new homes needed within five years to bridge deficit Stories Dayo Ayeyemi

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fforts at reducing housing deficit in Lagos State are yielding fruits, as the state government has released 108 housing units to the public on mortgage and outright purchase.

The release of the dwelling units at Oko Oba, Agege is part of commitment by Governor Akinwumi Ambode to ensure continued access to decent and affordable housing for home seekers in the state.

Confirming the release of the housing units, General Manager, Lagos State Mortgage Board, Mr. Dehinde Tunwashe, said that 54 dwelling units would be on a 10-year mortgage at 9.5 per cent interest rate, while the remaining 54 units would be on outright sale.

He said: “Oko Oba scheme, which was recently commissioned, has spacious two and three bedrooms in a beautiful gated community. It is a way of alleviating the housing problems being faced by Lagosians and meeting up with the resident’s demand for decent and

affordable housing in the state.”

Before now, many home seekers had expressed worries over what they described as “long abandonment” of the housing programme initiated by a former governor in the state, under the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (LAGHOMs).

Some of the housing schemes include Ilubirin Foreshore Housing Estate, Omole, Abiola Garden, Anthony Enahoro Housing Estate in Ogba , Ilupeju, Mushin and Egan Igando Millennium Housing among others.

Concer ned residents noted that no new landlord had emerged through the scheme due to change in government

in the last one year.

Tunwashe stated that government had not relented in its efforts at reducing housing deficit in the state, as it would continue to give housing the priority it deserved.

Aside from completed Oko-Oba scheme, the general manager said that construction works had been ongoing at different sites across the state.

He gave assurance that as soon as the housing units were completed, they would be put up for sale, adding that home seekers in the state would have access to them.

Tunwashe stated further that applications were now open to interested members of the public who are firsttime home owners in the

the overall framework and advice for coordinating and technical specification of national roads, including states and local government roads.”

Concerns Opanuga expressed concern with the manners in which urban roads were constructed without any maintenance plan, saying that engineers were ready to promote professionalism among members to support government in planning, design, construction and maintenance of roads.

He called for a regular parley and review of government policies with all managerial personnel irrespective of the political party in power in the best

Gbolahan Lawal, stated that the Rent to Own policy would soon be implemented, having been approved by Lagos State Executive Council.

The policy, he said, was aimed at making housing more accessible and affordable particularly to low and medium income earners in both formal and informal sectors.

According to survey conducted recently, Lagos has a housing deficit of 2. 55 million and about 187,500 new homes are required over the next five years to reduce the deficit.

Gbolahan stated that high population density, high cost of building materials, non-deployment of new technology and proliferation of slums had become major prob-

lems confronting mass housing delivery in Lagos.

“Others are lack of access to finance, shortage of skilled labour and artisans, and problems caused by unscrupulous estate agents, landlords, developers and omo oniles (land grabbers),” he said.

To reduce the deficit, the commissioner said the current policy was to undertake construction of mass housing directly and through the PublicPrivate-Partnership programme.

Lawal added that the state government planned massive construction of 50 housing units in each of the 57 councils in the state in a bid to tackle housing deficit.

Housing units built

by Lagos State government

Engineers seek speedy passage of road sector bill CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

state.

He stressed that the Oko Oba scheme, which is about 15-minute drive from Ikeja, the heartbeat of the state, boasts of modern amenities such as water treatment plant, external gas cylinder cage, electricity pre-paid meters, laundromat, utility generator, adequate parking space, community hall, estate management office, street lights and security post.

It would be recalled that Governor Ambode, on assuming office, disclosed plan to introduce Rent to Own housing initiative to ease the process of accessing housing units under LAGHOMs. While briefing journalists recently, the Commissioner for Housing, Mr.

interest of Nigerians.

Besides, he canvassed for funding option from private investors for the construction and maintenance of highway in Nigeria, noting that government’s budget could no longer cope with the huge financial requirement for road construction.

Consequently, he called on the government to create an enabling environment in terms of policies and continuity in order to attract investors outside government to road construction and maintenance.

He listed high population growth, bad road construction and maintenance, lack of highway planning, design specification and maintenance agency among factors affecting highway man-

agement in urban area of the country.

He noted that urban roads were badly constructed and not maintained, leading to constant state of disrepair.

He said: “The location, design and construction of a highway have direct bearing on its maintenance cost and condition.

It is technically essential to know the possibility of eliminating various defects during design and construction stage.”

Conclusion Without much ado, legislators in the National Assembly should consider various advantages the nation and its citizens stand to gain at the end of the day and quickly pass the bill into law for a vibrant road sector.

SON scours market of substandard iron rods

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tandards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has commenced raiding and confiscation of inferior iron rods as part of efforts to sanitise the building materials’ market.

The current move is aimed at checking the incessant collapse of buildings in the country, especially the recent failed structure in Enugu, Enugu State.

Recent investigations by materials testing laboratories have revealed that many of the iron rods in the construction industry were of low quality.

Prepared to put an end to the ugly situation, SON’s State Coordinator in Enugu,

Adamu Ahmed Saleh, with his team, have embarked on raiding of shops trading in 16 millimeters (mm) iron rods suspected to be of sub-standard.

According to findings, these rods are yet to be subjected to any laboratory test.

Justifying the raid, Saleh told journalists that SON would not fold its arms and watch sub-standard building materials that have led to buildings collapse in Nigeria to be sold in the market.

He said: “The raiding on iron rods and steel shops used in building and construction will continue to ascertain conformity to the building standard specification in Nigeria.

“Additionally, physical conformity tests are currently being conducted on the iron rods. The test will consist of measuring the diameter of each size of the iron rod and its length as well as identifying the manufacturer’s symbol mark.”

Meanwhile, recent investigations by the Lagos State Materials Testing Laboratory Services (LSMTLS) have shown that more than 46 per cent of iron rods used for building construction failed integrity test in one year.

The implication is that homes built with substandard iron rods by developers bear the risk of collapse unless something urgent is done to salvage the situation.

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AVIATION

29

MMA2, the first ever private sector initiative for airport development in Nigeria

How local content’ll aid airport privatisation As government finalises plans to privatise four airports, stakeholders call for due diligence and injection of local content to midwife the process. WOLE SHADARE writes

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he twin-problems of mismanagement and corruption encountered by the state-owned corporations constitute the impetus for talk about plan to privatise some Nigerian airports.

For the government to demonstrate to investors that it is serious and committed to the privatisation programme, the first step is to make the process very transparent by throwing the bid open to would-be investors.

The scepticism Many believe that scepticisms have always trailed the process because of the underhand scheming that usually throw such jobs to people who are very close to people midwifing the process.

To make the process transparent, local investors have been asked to be involved, especially companies that have track record or experience of airport management.

As the Federal Government gears up to make good its plans to privatise the Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port-Harcourt airports, the

coming months would be very crucial. The way it goes about it would determine its seriousness for change, to do things differently from how projects are carried out without recourse to law or principles that guide investments.

The planned concession/ privatisation is welcomed by majority of stakeholders in the sector who have given up on the inefficiency that characterised the management of aerodromes across the country. One can to some extent excuse the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) for the seemingly inefficiency. The expertise to manage these airports is simply not there as far as the agency is still run like a civil service organisation that it is.

Nations make U-turn Save for some nations, many countries have realised this short coming and have taken the best option to concession their airports to generate more money, block all the leakages, provide efficiency and give value to travelers and others using the facilities.

The Ministry of Aviation has considered all options for ensuring sustainable infrastructural development and operational efficiency of the nation’s airports and made unanimous decision: privatise or concession the four major airports (Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano).

The government acknowledged at a recent interactive forum in the nation’s capital, Abuja, that aviation is critical to the economic transformation of any nation. To them, Aviation is pivotal to growth of key economic

The country’s airports could be turned around in 30 months if the right approach and attitude were adopted

sectors, certainly not limited to travel and tourism, agricultural production and distribution, rural development, trade and commerce, manufacturing, oil and other non-oil sectors. Aviation is that critical tool necessary for economic transformation of any nation. Indeed, the value chain creation by aviation is enormous.

In previous months, a number of important stakeholders and professionals in the industry have been canvassing the privatisation or concession of airports in the country, especially in the wake of a recent report that rated the international airports in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt among the 10 worst in the Africa.

Meanwhile, FAAN had swiftly debunked the rating, saying some of the aerodromes were still undergoing remodeling when the survey rated Nigeria’s airports as amongst the worst in the world.

Economic prosperity Stakeholders believe privatisation of airports is directly tied to the economic prosperity of the country especially in increasing their operational efficiency and profitability, but most importantly in stimulating growth in the non-oil sector of the economy. Some also believe it is the most efficient way of curtailing corruption in the management of airports.

Not a few believe that the country has not managed its airports efficiently as they remain a national embarrassment and the resources to do so are no longer readily available.

An aviation consultant, who

preferred anonymity, said she is of the view that privatisation is an efficient way of managing infrastructure assets, noting that transparency of the exercise would liberate the government from appropriating money annually for airport operations.

A striking example of how privatisation can benefit the country is curbing the unnecessary government expenditure of N63.5 billion being expended on the second runway under construction at the Abuja airport, as traffic utilisation estimates in no way justifies that expenditure. If the airports had been privately managed, the Federal Government would have been able to save this fund and deploy it to other critical social needs.

Experts’ views Also, respected aviation expert, Captain Daniel Omale recently said, “It is needless to reemphasise the economic role of airports in a country. The huge issue about airport development, improvement and management is: who should bear the burden of continued operation of the airports? While the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has been saddled with operating and managing the 22 airports in the country, the most efficiently operated and managed airport in Nigeria still remains the MMA2, which is part of the concession agreement with Bi-Courtney Limited (BCL).

“However, in recent times, the issue that has agitated the minds of stakeholders the most is government’s failure to articulate CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

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BUSINESS | AVIATION

ECONOMICAL MRO facilities in Africa would definitely bring down cost

Wole Shadare

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igeria’s flag carrier airline, Arik Air is reaffirming its partnership with Lufthansa Technik, the maintenance, repair and overhaul subsidiary of Lufthansa German Airline. The company is providing technical/ maintenance support to the Nigerian carrier.

Director, Line Maintenance Network and Technical Operations Management, Lufthansa Technik, Jurgen Hupe, at the end of a visit to the airline’s facilities in Lagos, said the firm majorly handles maintenance for Arik Air’s B737NG fleet.

He added that the duo are in partnership, noting that it was their wish to continue handling maintenance work of the airline for many years to come.

His words, “We are happy to work for Arik and would like to see Arik thrive and play a more important role in the market in the region as well as in the international market. We will do our best to be a good partner to help Arik in achieving this.”

Deputy Managing Director and Senior Vice President Operations, Arik Air, Capt. Ado Sanusi, said Arik Air is committed to its partnership with the company, stressing that they are satisfied with the partnership with Lufthansa.

“They are the most experienced MRO in the world and we look out for the best. There was a bid, which

TUESDAY, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Arik Air reaffirms upkeep deal with Lufthansa Technik

Lufthansa Technik won at that time. We are very satisfied with their level of partnership. We are looking forward for a deeper partnership.”

He called for viable Maintenance Repair Overhaul (MRO) in Africa, saying it would bring down the cost of operations.

“There is no viable aviation industry in anywhere in the world where there is no MRO facility. Yes, of course, it is very good to have a maintenance facility in the region. It would

definitely bring down the cost.

But again, like I have said, it is nothing like you just turn on the switch and you have an MRO,” he said.

“It is something you have to actually plan, something you have to strategise and develop.

It takes years. People have to be trained, people have to gain the experience and customers must have confidence in that kind of MRO. It is not something that we rush into; it is something that has to be studied, developed right from

the grass-root all the way up.”

Long gone are the days when Lufthansa Technik’s expertise advantage stemmed solely from its support of Lufthansa´s flight operation. The company now serves about 800 customers all over the world: airlines large and small, charter carriers, operators of VIP aircraft, airlines whose aircraft have to fly under extreme climatic conditions, or whose aircraft are subject to the strain of short-haul traffic with frequent takeoffs and

An Arik Air’s B737700 aircraft in flight

How local content’ll aid airport privatisation CONTINUED FROM PAG E 29

any clear cut roadmap for implementing the concession, as well as the non-engagement of identified key stakeholders in the concession process.

This development has already created doubt in the minds of some industry players about the sincerity of the government and the credibility of the process it would eventually adopt.

Aviation security consultant, Grp. Capt. John Ojikutu (rtd) queried the government’s failure to engage with Bi-Courtney Limited, which has the track record of dealing with various agencies of government over the years as the operator of the only existing model for airport concession in the country, the Murtala Muhammed Airport Two (MMA2), Lagos.

He also cited the critical insights the government could glean from such an engagement to find solution to the gray areas affecting concession of an aviation establishment.

Former Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, alluded to the same fact in his address at the recent Aviation Day

landings.

More and more airlines are outsourcing some or all of their fleet maintenance and overhaul to external specialists with strong technical know-how.

They seek a partner with a wide range of skills that can assist them in every aspect of service and provide them with true added value – with everything they need coming from a single source, including engineering and logistics.

event organised by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Abuja, when he averred that the engagement of Bi-Courtney Limited by the government is critical for the success of the planned airport concession.

Demuren reportedly stated: “There is need for PPP in aviation in Nigeria as it is obvious that government cannot do it all. But with the experience of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Two, MMA2, Lagos, the government has not shown good faith. Such crisis in the MMA2 PPP must be resolved immediately, or else investors would not invest their resources in the sector.”

Chief Executive of Belujane Konsult, Chris Aligbe said the government must put administrative and legal frameworks in place before embarking on another concession exercise.

Aligbe also acknowledged the important role of Bi-Courtney Limited in the concession process, stating: “Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited has shown an example about how airport terminal could be effectively run with MMA2 even under unfair and uncertain politi-

cal atmosphere and lack of regulatory laws to govern its concession. The terminal has epitomised just a little of what the private sector can infuse if given the chance to participate in airport infrastructure development and management.”

Speaking in the same vein, Chairman, Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, Dr. Wale Babalakin at a forum recently highlighted the important role it may have to play in the development of the aviation industry. He affirmed that the country’s airports could be turned around in 30 months if the right approach and attitude were adopted.

Babalakin, in his address as the lead speaker at the quarterly business breakfast meeting of the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ART), a highly regarded aviation industry think-tank, held in Lagos, submitted that “only private capital possessed the potential to drive initiatives”.

He advised the government to divide the nation’s airports into four zones, comprising Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt before offering them to interested concessionaires, add-

ing that each zone should then be made responsible for the growth of all airports within its jurisdiction.

He had further stated: “I heard some people say that only Lagos airport is viable.

I don’t agree. If you want to challenge it, my position is give us (Bi-Courtney Limited) Abuja. If you think it is not viable, we will take it.

I want to assure you that to make them viable requires somebody sitting down and thinking of how to make them viable. I don’t expect the airport from day one to be viable. I expect that whoever takes them over would realise that you must create activities around the airport that would attract those who want to fly to and from the airport.

“You see, the days are gone and gone for good where governance is about ability to spread the resources. In Nigeria of the future, gover nance must be about ability to create resources. If your capacity is how to spread resources, even honestly, without corruption, without anything going by the side, you will still be a grade C economy.

Growing up, my father used to tell me that the world is

tired of those who can do well when the circumstances are right, what the world needs now are those who can do well when the circumstances are not right,” Babalakin added.

Spokesman for Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), Remi Ladigbolu explained that all over the world, airports are being privatised outright, or given out as concessions to private operators.

“If Britain can concession Gatwick Airport terminal to a Nigerian, Adebayo Ogunlesi, what more do we have to say?

What the industry needs desperately is a thorough liberalisation and overhaul of the regulatory agencies to make them m o re e f f i c i e n t a n d more professional so as to be able to stamp out corruption.”

Conclusion Aviation is a precise science; highly regulated by law and expensive to maintain with profit margins very low. To many, it is totally unacceptable for investors in this high-risk sector to invest in uncertainty, as huge losses will occur. Unfortunately, evidences of all of that are blatantly visible in Nigeria’s aviation sector over the years, thus, there is lack of critical, safe and efficient infrastructure needed to drive the economic recovery agenda of this government.

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TUESDAY, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Entrepreneurship Nassarawa Varsity, NEF harp on entrepreneurial education

Education

Salami

Drug abuse NDLEA raises concern over rising cases of drug abuse

Adamu, Minister

33 35

Oyewole

OAU, FUNAAB in the throes of violence crisis

These are not the best of times for the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB). The workers’ unions are at loggerheads with the management of the institutions over poor staff welfare, illegal appointment of vice-chancellor and alleged misappropriation of resources Mojeed Alabi

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he frosty relationships between the management and the non-academic staff, led by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the NonAcademic Staff Union (NASU) at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, and the Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAAB), Abeokuta, Ogun State, last week, degenerated into full scale violence, leading to the abrupt closure of OAU, and eventual truncation of its academic calendar.

kayode olanrewaju Editor, education

kayode olanrewaju@ newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Though FUNAAB was not shut down, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof.

Olusola Oyewole and other members of the management team, were chased away from the institution with charms and other dangerous weapons by the aggrieved workers.

The workers under the Joint Action Committee (JAC), who were at the loggerheads with the management accused the vice-chancellor and its management of alleged misappropriation of the university’s resources, non-payment of outstanding allowances, promotion of staff with additional qualifications, appointment of substantive directors to all non-academic teaching staff units and provision of enabling working conditions, among others.

The crisis assumed a new dimension on Tuesday, last week, when members of the non-academic staff unions relocated to the institution’s Senate Building and chased the management away, condemning some of the university’s policies.

The committee, led by the Chairman of the university’s chapter of NASU, Comrade Ishaq Odunjo, had vowed never to return to their duty posts until the management acceded to their demands.

He said their grouse with the vice-chancellor and the Governing Council, led by its Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe include nonpayment of their outstanding allowances, promotion of staff with additional qualifications, appointment of substantive directors to all non-academic teaching staff units and provision of enabling working conditions, alleging misappropriation of the university’s finances, among others.

According to one of the union leaders, who craved anonymity,

It was a mass reaction against a draconian administration

the situation leading to the last week protest, had been allowed to fester by the vice-chancellor, due to what he described as financial recklessness of the management, which it alleged misappropriated the university’s resources.

The source said: “When workers were crying over unpaid allowances, the vice-chancellor decided to purchase new official cars to the tune of N150 million, while he also spent about N50 million on trip allowances and Estacodes, among others.

“In fact, the Chairman of the Governing Council, Senator Ogunlewe, was also chased out of the campus on Tuesday while throughout the week; the vice-chancellor could neither access his office nor his official residence on the campus. It was a mass reaction against a draconian administration.”

But, respite came on the way of the institution over the weekend.

Unlike Obafermi Awolowo University, where there seemed to be no respite in sight, normalcy yesterday returned to FUNAAB, after intervention from various key stakeholders within the system including community leaders and pastors.

According to one of the protesting workers, based on the several interventions that led to signing of various Memoranda of Understanding (MoU), the university was said to have commenced paying of part of the allowances owed the workers as part of moves to resolve the crisis.

“There is temporary solution with the intervention of the stakeholders. I can tell you that on Friday, I received alert for payment of part of the allowances I am being owed, and ditto other workers. But does that mean the university had money and the vice-chancellor refused or could not pay until we re-

sorted to protest? That is not good for this system,” the source noted.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the university, Mrs. Emi Alawode, who spoke on phone said the crisis had already been resolved following several meetings between the management and the workers’ unions, where the dialogued extensively and resolved the imbroglio in order to collectively move the university forward.

“The crisis has been resolved and the university has been returned to the stream. They aggrieved workers have reached an accord with the management and all contending issues are on the verge of being resolved,” she said.

According to her, several meeting had been held since the crisis began and the meeting is still continuing for the all the contending issues to be resolves once and for all for the system to move ahead.

She, however, added that there was a meeting on Friday, where the crisis was resolved and respite brought to the campus.

But, the Obafemi Awolowo University was not that lucky as the institution was shut indefinitely last week, and the students, who were just returning for the new academic session, were ordered to vacate the campus immediately.

Meanwhile, at the centre of the protest were the leadership of the institution’s chapters of the NonAcademic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and the Senior Academic Staff Union of Universities (SSANU).

The over two-week-long protest, which took a dangerous dimension last Thursday, when the unions locked up all the gates leading to the ivory tower.

The workers’ unions are challenging the appointment of Prof.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 36

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education

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Babalola

Afe Babalola kicks against arbitrary sack of VCs, councils

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ounder and Proprietor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), has kicked against arbitrary sack of Vice-Chancellors and Governing Councils by the government, the Visitors and proprietors of the universities.

This was as the legal icon said governors and the President, who are the Visitors to public universities, have no constitutional powers to sack a vice-chancellor without referring the case to the governing council of such university.

Babalola, who flayed the appointment of governing council chairmen based on political inclination, insisted that it was not proper to appoint the chairmen on political basis.

He spoke at the 21st convocation lecture of the state university, which took place at the main auditorium of the institution.

Babalola, in his 54-page lecture, entitled: “University Administration: The Role of Stakeholders,” reminded the Visitors to the universities that the process of appointing vice-chancellors rests on the Governing Councils of the respective universities and that the government should allow the councils to deal and handle the discipline or otherwise of vicechancellors.

“The procedures for the appointment and removal of vice-chancellors as vested in the governing councils should be in accordance with the University Acts,” the legal icon and former Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council of the University of Lagos said, even as he wondered how some Visitors to Nigerian universities usurped the powers and bypassed the governing council to sack vice-chancellors.

Babalola, therefore, urged stakeholders in the university education sector to make sure that such retrogressive attitude and actions were discouraged and stopped from flourishing if the university system is to ascertain the much orchestrated autonomy.

Thus, the guest lecturer recommended that pro-chancellors and chairmen of councils should not be appointed on political basis or through political parties, and that pro-chancellors should not see universities as an avenue for acquiring personal wealth, but to make positive contributions to the development of that university and the education sector in particular.

University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) don and the Director of the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, Dr. Mahfouz Adedimeji, has counseled the students of the institution to contribute meaningfully to the university after their graduation.

Adedimeji, who is also the National General Secretary of the University of Ilorin Alumni Association, made this appeal during the fourth edition of the Leadership Summit of the institution’s student union.

The theme of the summit, which took place at the university auditorium, is: “My Alma Mater, My Responsibilities.”

Describing the theme as apt, the don in his lecture, said the original meaning of “alma mater” suggests that the relationship between a student and his or her university is supposed to be like the one between a responsible child and a good parent.

According to Adedimeji, universities in developed countries such as the United States of America and United Kingdom are great today due to

UNILORIN don counsels students to give back to institution the support they receive from their alumni and alumnae.

He noted that Harvard University’s endowment in 2015 was $37.6 billion, which is larger than the individual economies of 96 countries and more than Nigeria’s 2016 budget.

“The Ivy League universities depend mainly on their former students for small and large contributions,” he stressed, while adding that in 2011/2012 academic year, 213,238 individuals contributed £774 million to UK universities.

On the role of alumni, the guest lecturer insisted that alumni roles could be coded with 10 Ps, which are to personify (the excellence of the alma mater), preserve (the dignity and integrity of the alma mater), project (the good image of the university), promote (the cause that will bring glory to

the university), provide (financial, material and technical assistance), produce (students and products that will glorify the university), protect (the university from harm and defend it), proceed (to learn more and do greater things that will bring glory home; do not be stagnant), propel (students to greatness through mentoring) and power (the university through sponsorships of events and activities).

In his remarks, the ViceChancellor, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, represented by the Director of Academic Planning, Prof. Olubunmi Omotesho, congratulated the students’ union on its achievements, saying that the university was proud of the student body.

This was even as he encouraged the students to continue to make the university proud in their conduct and comportment.

Enugu DISCO, foundation boost education in South-East L-R: Deputy ViceChancellor (Academics) of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Prof.

Charles Esimonye; Obi; Dickerman; Dr. Okonkwo and the Chief Service Officer of EEDC, Tope Borishade at the event.

Charles Onyekwere ENUGU

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ome 15 tertiary institutions and 30 secondary schools in the South Eastern states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States have benefitted from books and computers worth millions of US Dollars donated to them.

The materials were donated to the institutions and schools by the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) in partnership with Sir Emeka Offor Foundation (SEOF), a non-governmental organization, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative in its operating communities.

No fewer than three tertiary institutions and six secondary schools from each of the five states, which were nominated by their respective state governments, benefitted from the gesture.

In his welcome address during the presentation cer-

emony, which took place at Oraifite in Anambra State, the Coordinator of the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation, Mr. Tony Obi, lauded the efforts of the electricity company EEDC for partnering the Foundation to drive its objective towards the development of the education sector.

The Foundation, according to Obi, has been involving in similar donations to schools across the country over the years.

Obi, who described the EEDC’s gesture as worthwhile venture towards the development of education, the society and for posterity, stressed that the books and other educational materials should be used judiciously for the purpose they were meant for, even as he urged the beneficiaries to ensure that their libraries are made functional, as their monitoring team would be paying unscheduled visit to the schools to monitor and ascertain how well the books are being used.

The Managing Director/

Chief Executive Officer of EEDC, Mr. Robert Dickerman, while addressing guests at the event, said that the gesture was in line with the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy of the company towards contributing to the development of its operating communities.

“We know the importance of education, and we have an obligation and responsibility to our communities, our business is not just to provide electricity, but to help and support the communities which we are a part of,” he said.

His words: “education is part of the core of the development of any society. We are very honoured to be part of this initiative and we are committed to take active role in the education development of the five states in which we are a community member.”

Dickerman added that besides lighting up homes, companies and industries, we can also light up minds, saying this is what the company is doing through partnership with Sir Emeka Offor Foundation.

Also speaking at the event, the Dean of Students’ Affairs, Prof. T. A. Talabi, who was represented by the Sub-Dean, Dr. A. Yusuf recalled that the university had maintained 16 years of uninterrupted academic calendar because of the high level of discipline of the students.

He, therefore, urged them to sustain the tempo of the institution’s academic stability and their dignity, saying that the students are appreciated better in other universities.

The President of the union, Alao Idris, while welcoming guests to the summit, explained that the summit was organised to lay a solid foundation for the new generation of young African leaders and to accord due recognition to some personalities, who have demonstrated exemplary leadership qualities in their various endeavour.

Maimako takes over as UNIJOS

Musa Pam Jos

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new Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sebastian Maimako, has assumed office at the University of Jos (UNIKOS), Plateau State.

He took over the mantle of leadership of the institution from Prof. Hayward Babale Mafuyai, whose five-year tenure expired last week.

The outgoing vice-chancellor, while inaugurating and handing over the baton of leadership of the ivory tower to the incoming vicechancellor at the Senate Chamber of the 41-year-old university, Mafuyai urged Maimako to be focused and steadfast in the discharge of his duties without fear or favour.

He said that the institution had just mounted 23 new academic programmes, even as he encouraged the new vice-chancellor to continue from where his administration stopped, so as to take the university to its loftier heights in line with the dream and aspirations of its founding fathers.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor incharge of Academics, Prof. Nelson Ochekpe pledged his allegiance and that of the entire university community to Maimako, who was named the substantive vicechancellor of the university in April.

While responding during the handing over ceremony, Maimako, who took over from Prof. Mafuyai as the ninth vice-chancellor, however, thanked God Almighty for the opportunity given him to serve the university and the country in that capacity.

TUESDAY, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Clem Khena-Ogbena Abuja

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he authorities of Nasarawa State University (NSUK), Keffi and the Nigeria Entrepreneurs Forum (NEF) have expressed commitment towards disorientating and discouraging the students from relying on whitecollar jobs for their employment after graduation.

This was as they insisted that it was imperative at this stage to harvest and develop the next generation of Nigerian entrepreneurs.

The President of the Forum,

NCCE restates teachers’ roles in SDGs’ attainment

education

Nassarawa Varsity, NEF harp on entrepreneurial education

Dr. Sidney Inegbedion, said entrepreneurship training and capacity building for students of tertiary institutions across the country was critical to their selfdevelopment and actualisation.

Inegbedion dsiclosed this during the Entrepreneurship Awareness Forum, organised by the Nasarawa State University Entrepreneurship Development Centre, where he delivered a paper on: “Overview of the Nigerian Economy and Prospects for Youth Entrepreneurship Devel-

opment.”

In fact, he noted in his paper that the country, with its huge human and natural resources, had every reason to build a prosperous economy, insisting that introduction of entrepreneurship education in higher institutions would go long way in dissuading the students from seeking endlessly for white collar jobs, which in actual fact, no longer existed.

“We perceive the programme to be able to get students trained differently from what they

learnt as school courses; give them new orientation and to dissuade them from waiting for white collar jobs, but to empower them with necessary tools,” Inegbedion stressed.

However, he pointed out that the country was rather confronted with serious challenges of dealing with the ever rising problems of unemployment, underutilised talents, youth restiveness and anti-social behaviours; rural-urban migration, especially among the youths,

Yekeen Nurudeen Abuja

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he Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Prof. Monday Joshua, has said that teachers in the country, particularly those in basic and secondary school levels have critical roles to play in the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He spoke at the second annual National Conference of Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), organised by the FCT College of Education chapter, where he pledged that the Commission would assist the teachers in the challenges of preparing the children for the greater future.

Joshua, whose paper dwelt on: “Teachers’ Education: Implications for Achieving SDGs in Nigeria by 2030,” said: “The future, as we work towards the SDGs is full of promise and opportunities, and teachers have a critical role to play and we can help them rise up to this.

He added: “We owe our children to effectively prepare and support teachers as they provide qualitative education to the children. If we neglect this, we betray our children.

It is hoped that NCCE and the Colleges of Education across the country would have significantly achieved the SDGs by the institutionalisation of the ‘Inclusive and Equitable Quality Teacher Education’ as well as promotion of life-long learning opportunities for all by 2030.”

According to him, the NCCE, in response to the widespread criticism that the existing Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) programmes were not producing the required manpower for basic education, had revised and updated the existing NCE Minimum Standards documents.

While adding that new programmes would address the existing teachers’ needs at the basic education level, Joshua added that the new programmes were being currently focused towards the attainment of Education for All (EFA) goals and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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L-R: Members, Class of 86, Federal Government Girls College (FGGC) Sagamu, Mrs Biodun Akede: Princess Debo Odutola; President, Mrs Bisi Olopade; scholarship winner, Ibukunoluwa Ogunbanjo; member, FGGC Sagamu, Mrs. Kunbi Agboola and Engr. Adelana Odutola, during the 30th Anniversary celebration in Sagamu.

UNN don seeks policies for rural development

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University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) lecturer and Professor of Rural Geography, Ignatius Ani Madu, has called for the formulation of a coherent rural development policy that will take into cognisance specific needs of different rural communities in the country.

Madu made the call while delivering the 110th inaugural lecture of the university, which took place at the Princess Alexandra Auditorium of the institution.

The theme of the lecture was: “Geographic Perspective: The Missing Link in Nigeria’s Quest for Rural Development.”

In his lecture, the inaugural lecturer lamented that successive administrations in the country had since independence made spirited efforts towards developing rural communities through implementation of various policies, which fell short of the development aspirations of individual rural communities.

“The missing link had remained the adoption of onesize-fits-all approach, and this to a large extent, has been responsible wholly for the poor and fragmented rural development in the country,” the don said Madu, who insisted that understanding of distinctive characteristics of each rural community was imperative in formulating policies that would address development challenges in rural areas, said that the location of these communities should be considered while ini-

tiating development policies.

While stating that “what is good for a rural community in one state, might not be applicable to rural communities in other states,” the lecturers further added that the approach to rural development should be holistic; cutting across provision of amenities, social and political development of citizenry.

“If you provide social amenities to a rural community and the indigenes remain politically naïve; you have not developed the community,” Madu said, insisting that there was need for a paradigm shift from the prevalent sectoral rural development policy to a territorial approach that would examine and harness the diverse potentials of each rural community According to him, the territorial policy approach would promote joint action among rural agents and enhance effective coordination among different

Madu delivering the lecture

administrative levels of government towards engendering comprehensive rural development.

Further, Madu explained that the new policy should be multisectoral; focusing not only on agriculture, but also in harnessing tourism, manufacturing and Information Communication Technology (ICT) potentials of the rural areas.

He advocated that the current practice of using government subsidies as main tools for driving rural development should be replaced with direct government investments to facilitate rural-urban linkages.

The don, therefore, advised that the responsibility of rural development should not be abdicated to the Federal Government alone, but should involve the local and state government, the private sector, international donors, rural communities and the non-governmental organisations.

as well as insecurity, inadequate infrastructure and institutional support, resulting to weak ethics and value system.

In his remarks, the Director of Nasarawa State University Entrepreneurship Development Centre, Dr. Sam Adamu Tende urged the students to look inward and identify what they could do, using the country’s available resources.

While assuring the students of the centre’s support and assistance, Tende noted: “Think of starting a business, which you must start with a business plan. You come up with an idea and if our committee finds your idea good enough, we will collaborate with you up to the stage of actualising your ideas into products. It is not merely actualising your idea into products, but also getting your products to the market place.”

Also, the Deputy Director of the Centre, Dr. Hauwa Lamino Abubakar, in her presentation, explained the modalities for registering prospective student-entrepreneurs for special training on entrepreneurship and financial assistance from famous organisations such as the Tony Elumelu Foundation (NEF), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (MEDAN).

FCT introduces entrepreneurship in school curriculum Yekeen Nurudeen Abuja

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s part of efforts to change the mindset of Nigerian children towards vocational education, the Federal Capital Territory Administration has introduced the teaching of entrepreneurial skills to students in all secondary schools in the Territory.

According to FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, who disclosed this when he visited the Government Girls’ Secondary School, inculcating entrepreneurial skills into the students would not only make them to be independent job creators, but also employers of labour.

The Minister, who was represented at the occasion by the FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye, stressed that the entrepreneurship study in the long run would improve the economic status of the people, as well as stimulates economic growth in general.

“We are moving away from an era where people rely solely on white collar jobs to a point where people will set up their businesses and employ others,” he said.

The minister explained further that lack of diversification is one of the major reasons for economic challenges the country is currently facing.

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education | public discourse

TUESDAY, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Complaints of irregularities in Unity Colleges’ admission

Danjuma: NAPTAN doesn’t joke with such allegations Alhaji Haliru Danjuma is the National President of the National Association of Parent Teachers’ Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN)

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t is our tradition that we instruct our members nationwide to participate in the monitoring of such examinations, but up till now, we are yet to receive the report of any manipulation. At the same time we cannot doubt this claim because examination malpractice is also a major challenge facing the examination bodies in the country.

This is not by about the National Examinations Council (NECO), which handles the conduct of common entrance examinations into the Unity Schools, but also the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the

Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), among others.

Specifically, the schools are not immune from the practice, but on the part of our body we have continued to raise these issues with stakeholders for prompt remedies.

Some years ago, when the NECO Senior School Certificate Examination was rife with cases of irregularities, NAPTAN held a meeting with the governing board of NECO and the pressure from our end was the involvement of security operatives in the conduct of the examinations.

We cannot continue to fold our arms to such serious cases and the best we could do at this moment is to

carry out proper investigation by seeking report from parents, pupils and even the examination body because the future of this nation is at stake. We will reach out to NECO to consider whatever reports submitted by its observers and if any centre is indicted, it will be right to cancel the examination of such centres.

If we cannot get things right by conducting credible examinations, then we would need to be worried about the future of this country. But as key stakeholders, we would not fold our arms, we shall continue to advocate for sanity in the nation’s education sector because without it, we can never develop as a nation.

Oladejo: Manipulations not impossible Mr. Abiodun Oladejo is the Chairman of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Queen’s College, Lagos chapter

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here have always been complaints of corruption in the conduct of common entrance examination into the 104 Unity Colleges nationwide. As stakeholders, we have not always taken such complaints lightly. You could remember that in the past, the examination was usually conducted at zonal levels, but to ensure uniformity, the National Examinations Council (NECO) took over the conduct of the examination. The concern of stakeholders over the matter informed the introduction of the sec-

ond test by individual colleges after the first test conducted by NECO, but soon enough the second test was returned to NECO. So, if people are still complaining of irregularities I cannot dispute that.

About three years ago, we saw a candidate, who scored almost 100 per cent in an entrance examination and when teachers looked through the questions, there were even some without answers, so how did such happen? I can tell you that at Queen’s College here, most of the pupils who come in with

best results are usually not found among the best five when they resume to class. So, this new claim is a wake-up call to stakeholders to stand up for what is right because this is the foundation to the nation’s future.

Our association will continue to partner stakeholders towards finding a lasting solution to such development.

Agboola: Reports untrue in most cases Mr. Rafiu Agboola is a Mathematics teacher at the Federal Government College, Ikirun, Osun State and the Secretary of the school’s chapter of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN)

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ost times these stories of irregularities, bribery and impersonation in the entrance examinations into the Unity Schools are cooked up by parents, whose kids performed poorly in the examination. But at the same time, the general distrust in the integrity of many examination bodies in the country has further complicated the situation.

However, in Osun State for instance, there were two centres for the second test this year, which Ilesha

was one, and I can tell you categorically that there was no manipulation of any sort. If it happened in other parts of the country I may not know, but I can assure you that the examinations went well here.

What most parents also complain of is the introduction of various charges by different schools and this can only be addressed through adequate funding of these colleges.

I will be happy to plead with the Federal Ministry of Education to ensure ade-

quate budgetary allocation to the schools and stop the idea of asking them to generate revenues internally.

Apart from affecting their focus, such development also put pressure on the parents. But I can assure you that in our school, whatever has been generated internally can be accounted for and that is evidenced by the massive infrastructural projects already completed by the school.

interviews by mojeed alabi

Deji-Folutile with parents

My success, a dream of many years –Deji-Folutile, CU’s best grad Mojeed Alabi

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ith thunderous ovation that rented the University Chapel- venue of the event, Winner Eso-Oluwa Deji-Folutile was elated, as he walked to the podium to receive his scroll as the best graduating student of the Covenant University, Ota, in Ogun State.

It was at the 11th convocation ceremony of the faith-based private university, owned by the Living Faith Church Worldwide.

The success story of the 21-year-old student, the first child of a family of three, is full of many coincidences, which confirm the power behind a name, vision and spirituality.

Like the Chancellor of the university and Founder of the Church, Dr. David Oyedepo, an architect, who Deji-Folutile claimed to be his role model, the student also studied Architecture.

Also in the manner of the Bishop, who is regarded by many not only as a man of God, but also as a symbol of sound and qualitative leadership, Deji-Folutile has also graduated not only as the best students’ union leader in the history of the 14-year-old institution, but also as the overall best graduating student with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.97 points.

Presenting the 21-year-old to the audience, comprising top government functionaries, captains of industry, principal officers of the university, clerics and parents, for the Chancellor’s handshake, the former Registrar of the university, who is also an alumnus, Dr. Olumuyiwa Oludayo, described Deji-Folutile as a winner, an achiever and a trailblazer.

“To you the Chancellor Sir, it is gratifying to inform you that our overall best student this year is not only the best in academics, but also the best Chairman of the Students’ Council,” Oludayo said.

According to Deji-Folutile, the journey to stardom did not start on the campus, but right from his secondary school days at the Faith Academy, also owned by Oyedepo.

He said: “Well, right from when I was in SS2, I could picture this day coming. Every day, I was writing it somewhere in my book that I wanted to be the Covenant University’s best student and the best Council Chairman. So, I had dreamt it and I worked for it both spiritually and academically.”

Speaking on his dream, Deji-Fo-

lutile, whose father is a veterinary medical practitioner and his mother a journalist, noted that the spirit had directed him.

“The first thing is that God is my strength, but I was determined too.”

But how was he able to cope with the burden of union leadership and academic workload, Deji-Folutile said: “God gave me the grace and gave me the lecturers, who were understanding and cooperative. They used to call me to order whenever they felt I was going astray.”

He said though he had a good social life on campus, there was no room for love affair with students of opposite sex.

According to Deji-Folutile’s mother, the Saturday Editor of The Punch newspapers, Mrs. Olabisi Deji-Folutile, the circumstance of the birth of her son had informed the choice of his name, being a product of parents’ perseverance and strong belief in God, having been childless for some years after marriage.

She explained: “So, once I was confirmed to be pregnant, we decided to name him ‘Winner’ even before we began to attend the Winner’s Chapel church. And, since then, it has been one victory story or another. He had the best results in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in his school, and was the third best candidate with NECO result in Ogun State in 2012. So, once he told us his ambition to achieve the feats, we made it our prayer points.”

Deji Folutile, who hails from Ilejemeje Local Government Area of Ekiti State, described his success as overwhelming and thanked God for His grace in his life, even as the best graduating student commended Bishop Oyedepo for his investment in education.

“Covenant University is a moulding ground where spirituality is key,” he stressed, saying, “Everything we were taught and the core values instilled in us have really impacted us.

This degree is just a class that can go at any time, but the experience is what I really cherish.”

Speaking about his career choice, he said he had loved Technical Drawing, Mathematics and Fine Art right from his secondary school days.

His words: “As far back as when I was in JSS 3, I had wanted to study Architecture. And so after my Masters programme, I hope to work as an architect at an architectural and interior design firm. I hope to wow the world with unique creative designs.”

TUESDAY, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

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campus

Poly set to establish Dept of Fisheries NDLEA raises concern over P rising cases of drug abuse Oladele Oge UNN

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arents, guidance and teachers at all levels of the society have been admonished to join hands with the government in its quest to secure brighter future for the younger one through efforts at tackling social vices, especially involvement in illicit drugs among the youths.

The advice was given by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), which expressed concern over increasing rate of drug abuse among the youths in the country.

Enugu State Commander of the Agency, Mr. Anthony Ohanyere made this plea at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) during the one-day mandatory training session, organised for corps members undertaking their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), higher institution students, secondary students, members of medical community and youths across Enugu State by the NDLEA as part of activities lined up to commemorate the United Nations 2016 Drug Abuse Day on June 26 every year.

This was even as the agency warned youths to be the vanguard of change, by shunning drug abuse and other drug-related crimes in the society.

Ohanyere, who expressed

concern over the youth, who are increasingly becoming vulnerable to drug abuse in the country, challenged the students, corps members and other concerned groups participating in the training to desist from the act in order to achieve a brighter future for themselves.

The NDLEA boss said since January this year, the agency had seized or confiscated over 400kg of substance of illicit drugs in the state.

According to him, in 2014 NDLEA arrested 171 drug offenders and seized over 1,089.8kg of drugs in Enugu State alone.

He said: “Since January 2016 the agency has seized over 400kg of illicit drug, more people are becoming vulnerable to the use of illicit drugs. The NDLEA is doing its best to make sure that the people are aware and understand the danger of engaging in illicit drugs to their health and life as investigations have shown that those who are more valuable to abuse of drug are people between the age of 13 and 35 years.”

Ohanyere, therefore, urged parents to always know the type of life their children live as well as the friends they keep in order to save from involving in drug abuse.

“What it means is that many parents do not know the kind of life their children are living, and that is why it is important for parents to always monitor

their children at home and in the school.

“It has been revealed also that it is drug abuse that leads to armed robbery, kidnapping, raping and other violent crimes rampant in the society today,” he said.

The NDLEA boss commended Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for his administration’s determination to partner the agency in the state in order to ensure that the level of drug abuse was reduced.

Also, in his lecture, entitled: “First Listen to Children and Youths as the First Step in Helping them to Avoid Drug,” the Dean of Students’ Affairs of the university Prof. Peter Akah, listed some drugs that are being abused to include marijuana, cocaine, heroin, alcohol and drugs prescribed over the counter for medication, as well as cigarette and coffee.

However, he urged the youth to stay-away from drug as it was capable of rendering them useless as well as ruining their career.

His words: “Youths and students should avoid bad group both in school and at home, as bad groups lure them into engaging in illicit drugs that could truncate their future. It is undisputable that youths are leaders of tomorrow, but imagine what would be the result if youths become drug addicts and drug abusers.”

lans have reached an advanced stage by the management of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti (Ado Poly) to establish the Department of Fisheries.

The polytechnic, which reiterated its readiness to mount the programme as soon as possible, however, noted that the move is to deepen the academic scope of the polytechnic and provide ample opportunities for the students to harness their potential in all fields of academic development.

The Rector, Dr. Taiwo Akande, who unfolded the plans while receiving the Vice President of Fisheries Society of Nigeria (FISON) for South-West Zone, Dr. Adegoke Agbabiaka and some officials of the society in her office, lauded the team for the visit, which she noted would go a long way in boosting the rela-

L-R: Okoli and Olugbodi presenting the computers to Hajara.

Corps members at the event

Rotary Club lifts Abuja school Dayo Ojerinde AAUA

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UNIBEN medical students elect officers Eddy Uwoghiren UNIBEN

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igher school students under their umbrella association, the University of Benin Medical Students Association (UBEMSA) have elected officers to pilot the affairs of the association for the 2016/2017 Academic session.

The new officers were elected during the association’s election, which took place last week at the Medical Students Hostel of the university.

At the end of the election,

tionship between the institution and the society.

Akande described the meeting as a follow up to an earlier interaction with FISON at a forum in Abuja, where the need to work out a partnership between FISON and the polytechnic was considered expedient.

She, however, expressed the institution’s readiness to embark on a large scale commercial fish production and as well mount academic programmes in Fisheries and Aquaculture at the shortest possible time.

Speaking at the event, Agbabiaka said the society was ready to work with the polytechnic in the areas of providing technical support for commercial fish production, which he said, would shore up the internally generated revenue of the polytechnic.

Oghi Oghenefejiro emerged as the President; while the duo of Oghiri Oghenekovie and Edigberhi Emmanuel were elected as Vice President and Secretary General of the association respectively.

Other elected officers are Aziken Michael (Chairman, Committee on Medical Outreaches and Public Health (COMPOH); David Obele (Assistant Secretary General); Marvis Omoregie (Director of Finance); Samuel Olatigbe (Public Relations Officer); Aliu Kamilu (Director of Socials); Imana Eragbai (Director of

Welfare); Tobechukwu AlvinOrakwe (Director of Sports) and Ojumah Fidelis, who was elected as Editor-In-Chief, in charge of the association’s journal.

Meanwhile, Iyekekpolor Aiyevbosa emerged as the new Speaker of the UBEMSA Congress.

While inaugurating the new executive at the Banquet Hall of the university, the Dean, School of Medicine, Prof. Moses Mommoh commended the students for what he described as free and fair election, as well as their display of maturity during the elections.

n this age, leaning goes beyond what is learnt in the four walls of a classroom.

Therefore, e-learning should be taken serious in Nigerian schools as it is done in other developed nations of the world. Nigeria cannot afford to lag behind in this Information Technology (IT) age and that is why at Rotary Club, we are trying our best to ensure that our children in primary and secondary schools move rapidly with their colleagues around the world in terms of e-learning.”

With these words, the President of the Rotary Club of Abuja New Dawn D9125, Rotarian Christiana Oliko, presented three desktop computers, toys and other learning materials to the Early Childhood Education at LEA Primary School, Kado Estate, Abuja, a gesture which is aimed at promoting the education of the children.

While receiving the items

on behalf of the school, the Head-Teacher, Hajia Hajara, expressed delight over the facilities and pledged that they will be judiciously used for the purpose they were meant for.

The donation, which is a joint project of the Rotary Club of Abuja New Dawn D9125 and Rotary e-club of the Southwest USA D5510, was carried out to kick start e-learning project of the Local Education Authority of Abuja Municipal Area Council.

On his part, Rotarian Olaoluwa Olugbodi, a representative of the Rotary e-Club of South West USA, said: “The idea of e-learning is not something new, but not all schools have embraced it in Nigeria.

If pupils from primary school are taught how to operate computers, this knowledge will go a long way in increasing their opportunity to learn it at secondary school level.

By the time they get to university, operating a system will not be a difficult thing to them and by so doing they will be able to adjust to the global practice of e-learning.”

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education

TUESDAY, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

EDUPEACE

with Mahfouz A. Adedimeji (08066372516, sms only)  Dr Adedimeji is a Senior Lecturer and Director, Centre

for Peace and Strategic Studies, Unilorin

Needless hubbub over hijab

Sen. Ogunlewe

Prof. Rowland Ndoma-Egba, OAU Council CHair

O Omole

Varsity workers on rampage C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 3 1

Ayobami Salami, the former Deputy Vice-chancellor, whom they accused, was appointed through a wobbled process.

The workers’ action, according to the Chairman of NASU, Comrade Wole Odewunmi, was to bar the university’s Governing Council members and other stakeholders from gaining entrance into the campus to swear in a new Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ayobami Salami, who he said, was illegally imposed on the university community.

The university’s immediate past Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Bamitale Omole, whose tenure officially ended last Thursday, had been sacked from office by the protesting workers more than a week into the expiration of his term of office.

His alleged offences, according to the workers and the students’ leaders, include what they described as gross abuse of office, misappropriation of the university’s resources and poor staff and students’ welfare.

The last straw that broke Omole’s camel’s back was the alleged manipulation of

the selection and appointment processes of a new vice-chancellor, in which the unions insisted that the outgoing vice-chancellors’ successor, Salami, would not be allowed to resume office except a fresh process which is free and fair was completed.

According to a source on the campus, who craved anonymity, normalcy may not return to the university except the Federal Government, the proprietor of the university intervenes, with a strong commitment from the new vice-chancellor to address all the pending issues.

L-R: Vice Chairman, Winigroup, Mr. Tim Akano; Director-General, National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism, (NIHOTOUR), Mrs. Chika Balogun and Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof Dibu Ojerinde, during a courtesy call by NIHOTOUR and WiniGroup to the JAMB Registrar... recently.

Mojeed Alabi

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iven the socio-economic challenges facing the country, a Professor of African Economic History and Development at the Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), Osun State, Noah Attah, has said that adequate deployment of the nation’s fossil fuel endowment is the best solution.

This was as he explained that the fossil fuel is a natural type such as coal or gas, which is formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms.

According to Attah, this has become necessary because the country currently lacked the capacity to secure the production of designated fuel crops that are of great significance for the nation’s teeming population and domestic food industry.

He disclosed this while delivering the university’s fifth inaugural lecture, where he also attributed the inability of the country to adequately

FG should harness nation’s fossil fuel potential, says JABU don produce food for the survival of the people to the unabated incessant cases of land grabbing, which he noted has put Nigerian farmers at the mercy of foreign collaborators.

“While land is locked in an embrace with foreign capital, the resort to production of food for foreign countries to feed machines thus becomes a false route to the solution of food security in the country,” the don stressed.

The inaugural lecturer added that despite government rhetorics, there are sufficient facts to show that where the land grabbers exist, people now go hungry because their land is being used to feed the world machines and not them.

Attah, who insisted that government’s recognition of opportunity in the critical sectors of the nation’s economy led to their collu-

sion with foreign capitalists for their gain, saying something needed to be done to correct the abnormality.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof.

Sola Fajana, however, lauded the lecturer for identifying part of the major problems ravaging the country in recent times, urging the Federal Government to make a paradigm shift by addressing the issue of land-grabbing which has become ‘lifegrabbing’ as asserted by the lecturer.

The vice-chancellor said: “Desperate times call for desperate measures. It is time to look inward and nip in the bud the problems of the nation by placing a top-notch priority on the production of sustainable measures that would holistically cater for the nation’s economy since the country has the capacity to do so.”

n Friday, June 3, 2016, a High Court sitting in Osogbo delivered a judgement in favour of a case instituted by the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria along with the Osun State Muslim Community three years ago (February 2013).

The students, in exercise of their fundamental rights as enshrined in the Constitution, had sued the State Government to challenge the ban it imposed against the use of hijab in schools.

In his 51-page judgement, Justice Jide Falola observed that using hijab is part of the freedom of religion, thought and conscience the Constitution guarantees everyone. He also ruled that hijabwearing students should not be molested in public schools in the state. As expected, the judgement was well received by the Muslim students.

However, in a shocking display of needless belligerence and religious intolerance, the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) went over-drive over the judgement. Rather than appeal it, which would be the civil and reasonable step to take, the religious body directed pupils to disobey constituted authority by wearing unapproved gowns to school, thereby creating palpable tension.

Sections of the Nigerian media waded in to support illegality.

The media that should have stood in support of truth and rule of law resorted to deliberate distortion and dangerous propaganda.

Apart from attacking the judgement, the State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who has a distinct religious identity, is being viciously shellacked by hagiographers and fifth columnists.

Goaded by the unfair media and bigoted analysts, Nigerians started throwing tantrums in support and against what a competent court of law had ruled over and the blogosphere was flooded with hatred and hubris - all because of allowing willing school girls to wear scarves in schools owned or acquired by Government 40 years ago. It is another sad reality of how religion is used by extremists to cause confusion in Nigeria.

Those who are hell-bent on stoking religious fire in Nigeria should tread carefully. It would be recalled that it was in the same Osun State that an unsuccessful attempt was made at igniting a religious war two years ago. Precisely, on Sunday, May 18, 2014, the pastor of a church in Osun State who was/is also the Chairman of CAN in Ola Oluwa Local Government connived with three members of his church, who wore turban and covered their faces, to unleash terror and mayhem.

They stormed their own church around noon during Sunday service and threw firearms to attack and scare people. Many people were injured during the stampede as they scampered to safety.

It was when the three assail-

This is where the highly respected new President of CAN has a role to play

ants wanted to escape on motor cycles that the youth of the community gallantly chased and apprehended them. They were severely beaten before the arrival of the police and they confessed it was the planned work of their pastor. Details are contained in “Osun Defender” newspaper of May 22, 2014. If that ungodly agenda had succeeded, it would have been widely reported that Boko Haram had occupied Osun State and put the Governor and people of the state on the spot, negatively.

This is where the highly respected new President of the Christian Association of Nigeria has a role to play. As I once heard the venerable John Cardinal Onaiyekan say, there are no two countries like Nigeria in the world where Muslims and Christians are almost equal in number.

In many countries of the world, the difference is often clear.

Based on the given premise, stoking religious fire will certainly spell doom for the country. War is not mathematics and countries that are in conflict would not have known that what started as ripples would end up creating humanitarian disaster in which everyone is affected.

This unhealthy presumption that a group’s gain is another group’s loss is inimical to peace and progress. We can all be who we want to be without resorting to illegality. We need to be more tolerant and law-abiding, as demonstrated when a similar case by Muslim students was lost in Lagos.

Yorubaland has been historically known to be a haven of religious cooperation and tolerance. This tradition should be sustained and the bigots should be called to order by all men of good conscience. It is the denial of rights that actually drives people overboard. Nigeria certainly has enough problems at hand that for people under whatever guise to be aiding and abetting illegality.

One can understand the frustration of Ogbeni Aregbesola who has not always been treated fairly by a section of our media.

In his book, “Muslims and the Threats of the Media”, journalist Rasheed Abubakar advocates a regime that would make the media adhere strictly to professional ethics arguing that “if freedom is uncontrollable, it leads to destruction.”

BUSINESS |Money Line

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

35 states apply for FG’s bailout

Reprieve Monthly disbursements will be conditional on compliance with FSP milestones Tony Chukwunyem

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hirty-five states of the Federation have applied for the Federal Government’s bailout, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has said.

Speaking on Channels TV Sunrise programme, she said that the 35 states, which have applied for the facility are in the process of submitting the required documentation for the facility.

The minister said: “The Facility size is not N90billion; rather N50billion per month first three months, and N40billion per month for following nine months. Monthly disbursements to each State will be conditional on compliance with preagreed Financial Sustainability Plan (F SP) milestones. 35 States have applied and are in the process of submitting the required documentation, which are being reviewed – There have been erroneous claims in some papers that “only seven or five states have met FG’s conditions”, this is factually wrong. FSP reforms will take 18 months to fully implement.”

She further stated that FSP reforms will take 18 months to fully implement, but there are key milestones within the period to measure compliance.

Adeosun said: “The objec-

there. We have saved N 6.6billion on a monthly basis. This is all about good housekeeping. The Efficiency units have already had success with travel; food, sitting allowance and they will now look at adverts. We are all aware of the efforts on plugging leakages and recoveries.”

Asked about her Ministry’s decision not to reinstate special bonus and overtime pay-

tive is to ensure that States are set on a path towards fiscal sustainability with a clear link between Federal Government funding and necessary reform. Monthly disbursements to each State will be conditional on compliance with pre-agreed FSP milestones. FSP reforms will take 18 months to fully implement, but there are key milestones within the period to measure compliance. The States have agreed and endorsed this approach.

It is also a path to supporting and increasing productivity and diversification of States economies, such as in agriculture, increasing food security and opportunities for exports.

“FSP is a reform about transparency, accountability and sustainability. State governments have agreed to these 22 points. It is their (the States) plan, after consultation and discussions between the states and the Ministry of Finance.

“The government’s Economic Plan is strong on fiscal discipline, because people know we need to get our country working. And to do that we need to do three things: get the country’s spending in check with firm financial controls, raise money for targeted investment in much needed infrastructure; and see us diversify the economy from a damaging dependence on oil.

“Fiscal discipline is a destination; we will continue to improve discipline on an ongoing basis. FG have commenced similar reforms at the federal level, with success; ghost workers, which we prefer to call payroll clean-up has been very successful and the continuous audit unit at the FG level will continue to monitor and improve our efforts

Tony Chukwunyem

T

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday asked for bid-offer quotes from currency traders, as it continued with its dollar sales on the interbank market to boost liquidity, Reuters reported traders as saying.

According to the news agency, the naira ended at N282 to the dollar after the banking watchdog’s intervention, slightly weaker than Friday’s close of N281.

It further stated that the apex bank sold an undisclosed amount of dollars, adding that the interbank market traded a total volume of $32 million just before the market closed, which traders attributed to CBN’s intervention.

Reuters quoted a trader as saying, “Liquidity is still relatively thin,” adding that clients were waiting to see

As at N19,142,526.05m N18,579,219.49m 15.6 12 10.77 US$48.9 US$26,415,265,912

Mar, 2015 Mar, 2015 May, 2016 23/03/2016 Mar 2015 27/6/2016 27/6/2016

Tenor (Days) Call 30 90 180

FGN Bonds

TTM

Price 104.54 114.58 111.91 120.62 109.79 100.32 83.54 97.16

1.06 3.23 3.86 5.81 7.94 9.80 14.30 18.29

NIBOR

Rate (%) 4.2500 8.2420 10.1127 11.7162

Bid Yield 10.45 10.54 11.61 11.43 12.23 12.43 12.49 12.54

Change (%) -0.21 ▼ -0.87 ▼ -0.90 ▼ -0.66 ▼

Change (%) 0.07 ▲ -0.01 ▼ 0.01 ▲ -0.01 ▼ -0.04 ▼ 0.04 ▲ 0.05 ▲ 0.06 ▲

Price 104.69 114.88 112.21 120.92 110.09 100.62 83.84 97.46

Tenor (Months)

Offer Yield 10.30 10.44 11.52 11.36 12.18 12.38 12.44 12.50

Change (%) 0.07 ▲ -0.01 ▼ 0.01 ▲ -0.01 ▼ -0.04 ▼ 0.04 ▲ 0.05 ▲ 0.06 ▲

NITTY

Rate (%) 5.1731 6.4137 7.3300 8.8857 9.6247 10.5416

1 2 3 6 9 12

Treasury Bills

Spot($/N)

FX

Offer 199.24

Change (%) -1.82 ▼ -0.82 ▼ -0.75 ▼ -0.32 ▼ 0.04 ▲ 0.04 ▲

Money Market

Change (%) 0.00 ↔

NIFEX

Spot($/N)

Bid 199.0000

CBN Clearing Rates of January 7, 2016 Spot($/N)

196.00

197.00

where the naira settles eventually before they start to participate in the market.

The CBN has been selling dollars to boost liquidity and trading on the interbank market after it abandoned a 16-month old exchange rate peg to ease currency restrictions, which led to the naira plunging 30 per cent last Monday.

The regulator ditched the peg on the naira to allow the currency to trade freely on the interbank market but thin liquidity has hampered activity, traders say, leaving the CBN as the main supplier of hard currency.

Currency traders said they had tightened the differential between bids and offers to 0.5 naira from one naira set when the currency was floated last week, to try to boost trading and attract liquidity.

Prior to old exchange rate peg, the currency market traded on 0.5 naira spreads, they said.

The interbank market has now traded for six days after the CBN’s forex reforms. Traders said they are expecting substantial currency flows from oil companies and exporters to start to trickle in from this week.

CBN to banks: Submit returns on Nigerian offshore investments

T

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday directed authorised dealers to submit returns on all foreign investments by Nigerian entities from 2006 to date.

The apex, bank which gave the directive in a circular posted on its website, said the dealers had until yesterday to submit the returns.

There are speculations that the directive could be in con-

Chris Ugwu

Maturity Date Discount Bid Yield Change (%) Discount Offer Yield Change (%) Rate (%) 7.34 7.47 -0.35 ▼ Open-Buy-Back (OBB) 3.75 30-Jun-16 7.59 7.73 -0.35 ▼ 6-Oct-16 8.37 8.12 8.47 -0.24 ▼ Overnight (O/N) 4.25 8.74 -0.24 ▼ 16-Mar-17 9.40 10.32 0.04 ▲ 9.15 10.02 0.04 ▲ Bid 199.14

ply aren’t any provisions to pay out the N 1.2billion. We need to return fiscal discipline not just to the Ministry of Finance, but to every arm of government.

“Any delayed legitimate overtime payments will be paid. The Director of Finance Administration will address these and ensure that they are paid. Staff will get what they are legally entitled to.”

nection with the new forex policy, which came into effect last Monday.

A forex dealer told New Telegraph that the apex bank was probably trying to ascertain the extent of Nigerian firms’ off shore exposure.

It will be recalled that on the first day of trading under the new system, the CBN cleared all the backlog of $4 billion pent-up demand for foreign exchange.

Emefiele: Naira-settled OTC FX Futures market’ll boost inflows

Source:CBN

Description 15.10 27-APR-2017 16.00 29-JUN-2019 15.54 13-FEB-2020 16.39 27-JAN-2022 14.20 14-MAR-2024 12.50 22-JAN-2026 10.00 23-JUL-2030 12.1493 18-JUL-2034

ments paid to civil servants in 2013/2014, the Minister said: “This is part of the same clear goal: ensuring fiscal discipline.

We recognise the value of our staff and have made sure salaries are paid and we’ve worked hard to avoid redundancies. Although I understand the disappointment some staff may have, any special payments wouldn’t be appropriate and there sim-

Naira weakens as apex bank continues dollar sales

Economic Indicators M2* CPS* INF MPR 91-day NTB Bonny Light Ext Res**

37

0.00 ↔

Offer 199.1000

Change (%) -0.08 ▼ -0.08 ▼

Change (%) 0.00 ↔

T

he launch of the Nairasettled OTC FX Futures market would offer foreign investors the opportunity to channel their foreign exchange in flow into the country to enhance liquidity, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said.

The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, stated this yesterday at the unveiling of the product at the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange (FMDQ) in Lagos.

He explained that the product would offer Nigerians and investors the opportunity to rebuild the volatility witnessed in the FX market in the past.

The unveiling of the product comes exactly one week after the two-way quote trading commenced in the Nigerian FX market on the back of the recent release of the revised CBN Guidelines for the operation of the Nigerian Inter-Bank FX Market (the Guidelines), essentially transitioning the market from a pegged FX rate regime to a floating one.

The Naira-settled OTC FX Futures market kicked off yesterday with the CBN selling OTC FX Futures contracts of non-standardised amounts for different tenors from one month through to 12, which will settle on bespoke maturity dates, providing liquidity in the product that will enable corporate treasurers effectively and efficiently manage their FX risk.

Emefiele, who was represented by the Special Adviser to the CBN Governor on financial markets, Mr. Emmanuel Ukeje, said that manufactures should take advantage of the product to plan their business through Future FX instead of rushing to the spot FX market to maximise cost.

“The CBN remains steadfast in its purpose to position the Nigerian FX market to be competitive, transparent, liquid and diversified, thereby ensuring requisite fundamentals that make for a thriving economy.

The launching of the first Naira-settled OTC FX Futures contracts demonstrates this intent in a significant way.”

38

NEWS | national

tuesday, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Shettima: NGOs exploiting displaced persons to make money Onwuka Nzeshi Abuja

G

overnor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, yesterday, accused some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of taking undue advantage of the plight of internally displaced persons in Borno State to defraud foreign philanthropists and donor agencies under the guise of raising funds to help the victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria.

Shettima, who made the accusation in Abuja at a high level emergency roundtable on the humanitarian crisis in Borno State, alleged that some NGOs have been scouting for victims of the crisis, taking their photographs and sharing same to the world with a view to getting unsuspecting philanthropists to part with funds for the purpose of helping these victims while the fund end up in

private pockets.

The meeting which was convened by Dr. Ayoade Olatunbosun-Alakija, CEO of AOA Global, a humanitarian outfit working with the Borno State Government, had in attendance Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole; heads of various organs of the United Nations (UN) and donor

agencies including the European Union (EU), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the British Department for International Development (DFID) and other actors.

"I need to open up here by saying that in the midst of credible organisations trying to help us in Borno, we have seen occasional

instances of some 'business groups' masquerading as NGOs smiling to the bank on the agony of our people. I do not mean to disrespect any sincere NGO but there are those I have seen, whose only interest is to go round thousands of IDPs and figure out sick and skinny looking infants, pose for the cameras with them

Nigeria is broke, Buhari laments

Anule Emmanuel Abuja

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, disclosed that the country was currently broke.

The President said what was happening at the moment was that Nigeria is paying dearly for incompetence in managing high revenue that accrued from oil.

President Buhari stated this yesterday while receiving the Chief Global

CEO of Unilever, Mr Paul Polman, at the presidential villa, Abuja.

The President's remark came few weeks after the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had confirmed that the country was broke.

He lamented that over the past decade in particular, leaders have allowed the decay of critical infrastructure.

President Buhari said his administration was working very hard to change the structure of the Nigerian economy

battered by several years of mismanagement. ''We refused to save for the rainy day. Now the rain is beating us. No money, no savings, nothing. And we are thoroughly wet from the rains," he said.

President Buhari said Nigeria was paying the price for turning herself into a mono economy but assured that the country would soon be able to feed herself and even export, with the current emphasis placed on agriculture.

and upload on the social media mainly to attract funding from concerned philanthropists abroad.

I have seen one example where someone I wouldn't mention simply sent out horrible pictures of malnourished infants with a caption, DONATE. "I think these children, bad as their situation might be, deserve to be respected no matter how much we want to help. We must respect the dignity of post-conflict victims as much we desire to be respected as humans," Shettima said.

The governor also spoke on a statement recently issued by the Médecins Sans Frontières otherwise known as Doctors Without Borders, who said there was acute malnutrition at the IDP camp in Bama resulting in deaths of hundreds

I'm aware of security lapses in Kuje prison –Dambazua Johnchuks Onuanyim Abuja

T

L-R: Pro- Chancellor, Baze University, Abuja, Sen. Datti Baba-Ahmed; former Chief Justice of the Federation/council member of Baze University, Justice Alfa Belgore and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during a courtesy call by the Board of Trustee of Baze University in Abuja …yesterday. PHOTO: TIMOTHY IKUOMENISAN

Police confirm botched suicide attack on mosque in Borno

T

he Borno Police Command yesterday confirmed two suspected suicide bombers killed themselves when they were intercepted on their way to attack a mosque in Sulemanti ward in Maiduguri.

Mr Victor Isuku, the spokesman of the command, told newsmen in Maiduguri that the bombers had targeted worshipers observing night prayers at the mosque for their attack before they were intercepted by vigilantes, called Civilian JTF. “The two suspects were strapped with Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) targeting worshipers at the mosque."

N3.5bn debt: Court strikes out Ecobank's petition to wind up Honeywell Akeem Nafiu

A

suit filed by Ecobank Nigeria Plc. to wind-up Honeywell Plc. and its sister company, Anchorage Leisures Limited, was yesterday struck out by Justice Jude Dagat of the Federal High Court in Lagos.

The judge described it as abuse of court process.

Already, there are two pending applications before the court. They are FHC/L/CS/1571/15 which involves Ecobank and Honeywell Group Limited and the second one marked FHC/L/ CS/1570/15, involves Ecobank and Anchorage Leisures Limited.

Both suits were petitions for winding–up filed

by Ecobank against Hon-

eywell and Anchorage Leisures on the October 16, 2015, over alleged debt of N3.5billion.

However, Honeywell in its defence said it had made payments to the tune of N3.5 billion as full and final payment pursuant to the agreement of July 22, 2014 by the parties.

Justice Dagat, in his ruling over the applications, noted that a court faced with winding up application, must first determine if the petition was brought in good faith.

According to the judge, Ecobank knew that Honeywell was challenging the alleged debt and had instituted a matter before Justice Mohammed Idris of the same court, who had earlier ruled that parties maintain status quo.

Despite the orders, the

court said Ecobank started its "forum shopping by filing winding up petitions instead of recovery of the alleged debt.”

Justice Dagat stated that since the matter pending before Justice Idris was premised on the same facts as the petition, there was an established abuse of the orders of Justice Idris regarding maintenance of status quo.

Justice Dagat further held that the matter before Justice Idris was first in time and the subsequent petition by Ecobank constituted an abuse of court process.

The court also held that Ecobank’s petition was aimed at overreaching the powers of the Federal High Court in the suit before Justice Idris.

mostly of children.

According to Shettima, the group failed to put their statement in a proper context, a situation he said, did not take into cognizance the efforts being made by the Borno State government and other institutions in aid of the IDPs. "Yes, the situation is almost overwhelming, the challenges frightening, but we are doing our best to confront them. It is common knowledge to this audience that the operation and management of IDP camps are historically replete with a litany of problems. Even camps located in advanced countries like the Calais Jungle in France or more professionally managed ones like the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya are not without their bouquet of challenges.

he Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulraham Dambazua, rtd, yesterday attributed the last week’s incident at Medium prison in Kuje that led to the escape of two inmates to security lapses which he once noticed when he visited the place.

Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, shortly after he was taken round the facility and briefed on how the prisoners escaped, Dambazua said investigation into the matter would be taken to a logical conclusion.

He, however, stated that the fate of the officials on duty would be known after the probe panel's investigation.

Asked about his find-

ings after the tour of the facilities, the minister said: " The last time I was here, I noticed some security gap in the prison.

I made my observation then with the former CG with the present controller of prison and I noticed the security gap and I told them precisely what to do but unfortunately this has occurred.

"Two prisoners escaped and especially these are prisoners who are awaiting trial for murder. So, this is a very serious issue that I cannot be happy about. I think those lapses were the ones that made it possible for the escape."

He assured that the government would do everything possible to ensure that Nigeria Prisons become a better place for inmates who pass through the prisons.

Buratai: Property report, attempt to distract, says Defence minister inister of Defence, The minister said M Brig.-Gen. Mansur that the present adDan-Ali (rtd), has said ministration would not that media reports about Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai’s ownership of property in Dubai was calculated to distract the military from its war against insurgency.

The minister’s reaction was contained in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by his Principal General Staff Officer, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Ahmed.

He said that the report was not only malicious, but targeted at derailing the military’s effort to end the reign of terror in the North-East and urged Nigerians to disregard it in its entirety.

harbour persons with dubious character and as such, urged the media to exhibit a higher sense of professionalism in discharging their duties.

According to him, there has been a series of concerted but futile efforts in the past by the same medium and its cohorts to tarnish the image of the Chief of Army Staff, Buratai.

He said that previous attempts to distract and ridicule the personality of the army chief did not yield result, hence the resort to the property ownership saga.

News|National

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Buhari: I don’t believe in devaluation of Naira Anule Emmanuel Abuja

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari has again insisted that he did not believe in the devaluation of the Naira.

The President’s remark came few days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) commenced the implementation of the flexible exchange rate policy

which has systematically devalued the nation’s currency.

Speaking yesterday when he hosted members of the private sector to a breaking of the Ramadan fast at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, President Buhari said he was yet to see any benefit that the country can derive from devaluation of the naira.

Buhari had in March, while meeting within Nigerians in Kenya, explained that he was

not prepared to kill the Naira with a devaluation policy. This is the third time the President is speaking against devaluation policy.

He first said this in Egypt at the opening of the Business for Africa forum in February this year.

At yesterday’s event, the President said that “how much benefit have we derived from naira devaluation in the past?”

He noted that “I don’t

Consumption of sport drinks increases health risk in children –Study Appolonia Adeyemi

A

new study published in the ‘British Dental Journal’ has confirmed that children who consume sports drinks regularly run high risk and danger to their health. The study advised that henceforth children should desist from doing so. It also said that the regular consumption of sport drinks by school children is harmful to their health.

The Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine (FSEM) in the United Kingdom (UK) had com-

mented that regular consumption of sport drinks by children, for social reasons, could be having a detrimental effect on their health.

To this end, the FSEM called for tighter regulation around the price, availability and marketing of sport drinks to children, especially surrounding the school area, to safeguard general and dental health.

Sports drink are beverages whose stated purpose was to help athletes replace water, electrolytes, and energy after training or competition, though their ef-

ficacy for that purpose has been questioned, particularly after exercise.

According to an online report published on DENTISTRY.co.uk, the new research had found that 89 per cent of school children in South Wales were consuming sport drinks, with 68 per cent drinking them regularly (between once and seven times per week).

The survey showed that a high proportion of 68 per cent of 12 to 14-year-olds were regularly consuming high sugar, sport drinks unnecessarily.

Buhari’s wife Seeks end to inhuman treatment of widows Muritala Ayinla

W

ife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, yesterday said that widows in the country must not be subjected to any form of discrimination or sexual abuse, even as she called for cultural transformation and end to wicked and inhuman treatment of widows.

Mrs. Buhari, who spoke through the wife of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode, made the call in Lagos at the celebration of the Widow’s Day organized by the United

Nations Information Centre and Hope for Life Foundation.

She lamented the lifethreatening widowhood rituals to which Nigerian women were subjected, adding that such must stop in the overall interest of the advancement of the society.

Mrs. Buhari, equally advised widows to seek economic empowerment to live above temptation.

Delivering the UN Secretary-General’s address, Director of United Nations Information Centre in Nigeria, Mr. Ronald Kayanja, commended the Lagos

State Government for providing the model to follow regarding the welfare of women and children.

Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, the Chief Missioner, NASFAT society of Nigeria, Shelk Abdullahi Akinbode thanked Mrs. Buhari for her kindness and for staying connected with people at the grassroots from far-away Aso Rock.

He assured that the beneficiaries would use the fasting period to re-connect properly with Allah and carry the principles of the holy month beyond the period of fasting.

300,000 Nigerians currently living in US – Envoy

O

utgoing Deputy ConsulGeneral of the United States in Lagos, Ms Dehab Ghebreab, yesterday said that about 300,000 Nigerians were currently living in different parts of the United States.

Ghebreab, who told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the number of Nigerians in America was increasing, also said that about 30,000 Americans were living in Nigeria.

“It has been estimated that there are currently about 300,000 Nigerians working, studying or doing business in different states of America.

“We also have about 30,000 Americans living in different parts of Nigeria today. ‘’There is a growing increase in the people-to-people relationship between Nigeria and the United States today,’’ she said.

Ghebreab noted that after decades of mutual partner-

ship between Nigeria and the U.S., their relationship had grown favourably within the last five years.

According to her, both countries would continue to have closer ties in the near future.

Ghebreab said that the U.S. Government would continue to promote people-to-people relationships between Nigerians and the Americans, to further enhance areas of partnerships between the two countries.

like the returns I get from the CBN because that coupled with the demand that let us devalue the Naria. In August 1985, the Naria was N1.3 to a dollar. Now, you need N300 or N350 to a dollar.

“What do we derive from that? How much benefit can we derive from this ruthless devaluation of the naira?

I’m not an economist, neither a businessman.

I fail to appreciate what is the economic explanation.”

President Buhari lamented that what has happened to the country unfortunately is that it was manoeuvred into becoming a mono economy with heavy dependency on oil revenue.

“What has happened to us now is that we have manoeuvred ourselves into mono economy which means which led to the collapse we are seeing now.”

39

Tariff hike: NERC loses bid to stall judgement Akeem Nafiu

T

he Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday lost its bid to stall a judgement delivered by Justice Mohammed Idris, of a Federal High Court in Lagos, in a suit instituted by a lawyer and rights activist, Toluwani Yemi Adebiyi, over hike in electricity tariff.

This was sequel to the inability of the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, to hear an appeal lodged by the commission against the ruling of the lower court, which barred it from implementing any upward review of the electricity tariff, pending the hearing and

PUBLIC NOTICE

THE FOUNTAIN OF ZOE AND MIRACLE MINISTRY

The general Public is hereby notified that the above named ministry has applied for registration to Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja under part "C" of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

The Trustees are: 1. Pastor Ben A. David –President 2. Miss Precious Chioma Uchegbu –Secretary 3. Mrs. Nneoma Kingsley –Treasurer 4. Mr. Kingsley Achugbu –Member 5. Mr. Okechukwu Eze –Member AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To glorify God through total obedience to His word and to fulfill the great commission as given by Jesus Christ in Matthew 2 Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED: MISS PRECIOUS CHIOMA UCHEGBU (SECRETARY)

PUBLIC NOTICE

ILUPEJU SECONDARY SCHOOL OLD STUDENTS ASSOCIATION

The general Public is hereby notified that the above named ASSOCIATION has applied for registration to Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja under part "C" of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

The Trustees are: 1. Adeniji Oluremi Benjamin - Chairman 2. Depiver Oladimeji Akintayo - Secretary 3. Okunmu Kazeem Olamide 4. Lawal Adeshina Olanrewaju 5. Oyebanjo Idowu Adegboyega 6. Ogundiya Abiola Rafih AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To promote unity and harmony among members Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED: TRUSTEES

PUBLIC NOTICE

POWER HOUSE INTERDENOMINATIONAL WORSHIP CENTRE The general public is hereby notified that the above named association has applied to Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Degree No 1 of 1990.

The Trustees are: 1. Evang. Amb. Emphraim Ononye, AFP, JP-General Superintendent 2. Hon. Sir Jonas Amuta-Member 3. Lady Uju Ofojebe-Member 4. Mr. Joseph Mecha-Secretary AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To promote and enhance the spread of the Gospel of Our Lord, Jesus Chris.

2. To bring people closer to God through praises and prayers to our maker.

3. To promote and foster peace, progress and welfare of members through the teaching of and abiding in the tenets of the Holy Bible Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED: Mr. Joseph Mecha (08082497748)

final determination of Adebiyi’s suit.

Judgement in the suit had already been fixed for July 7, by Justice Idris.

At yesterday’s proceedings at the Appeal Court, the Presiding judge, Justice Amina Augie, noted that NERC’s record of appeal had not been properly entered because there were irregularities in its numbering.

Hearing of the appeal was subsequently adjourned to November 22.

CONFIRMATION/ change OF NAME

Thomas

I, formerly known as Solomon Abadike now wish to be known and addressed as Vincent Thomas. All former documents remain valid. First bank Plc and the general public should please take note.

Olaoluwa

I, formerly known as Miss Afolabi Ajibola Rachael now wish to be known as Mrs. Olaoluwa Ajibola Rachael Afolabi. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Ajala

I, formerly known as David Kayode Adetola now wish to be known as Ajala Kayode David. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Ebiagbe

This is to confirm that Miss Ebiagbe Patricia Ebimene is the same person as Mrs. Okolo Patricia Ebimene with which I use in my voters’ card, National ID card & BVN registration. Henceforth, I wish to be known and addressed as Miss Ebiagbe Patricia Ebimene. All former documents remain valid.

First bank Plc and the general public note.

Mbam

I, formerly known as Mba Theresa Nwankwuda Chinyere now wish to be known and addressed as Mbam Theresa Chinyere. All former documents remain valid. First bank Plc and the general public should please take note.

Kudukudu

This is to confirm that Augustine Kudukudu and Jalai Augustine refer to one and the same person.

Henceforth, I wish to be known and addressed as Augustine Kudukudu.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

Adebanwo

I, formerly known as Miss Olowoporoku Olusayo Adekunbi now wish to be known as Mrs. Adebanwo Olusayo Adekunbi. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

Nwahiri-Hiris

This is to confirm that Richard Nwahiri and Richard Nwahiri-Hiris refers to the same person. Henceforth wish to be known and addressed as Richard Nwahiri-Hiris. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Mbonu

I, formerly known as Miss Igwe Chisimdi Linda now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Mbonu Chisimdi Linda. All former documents remain valid. GTB Plc, other banks and the general public should please take note.

Idam

I, formerly known as Miss Ogbu Florence Ebere now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Idam Florence Ebere. All former documents remain valid. Zenith bank Plc and the general public should please take note.

40

NEWS | south-west

Anti-graft war: Let Ekiti be, youths tell FG

Sulaiman Salawudeen Ado-Ekiti

H

undreds of youths across tertiary institutions in Ekiti State yesterday protested in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, against what they described as the excesses of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on opposition figures in the country, especially Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, in its ongoing war against graft in the nation.

The protesting youths, comprising the leadership of the Students' Unions across all the tertiary institutions in the state and a horde of their colleagues in their hundreds, said President Muhammadu Buhari must as well spread the war on corruption to members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who they claimed were being currently left out.

According to them, only such balancing could prove that the current administration meant well for the country in the antigraft war.

Students from Ekiti State University, Federal Polyphonic, Ado-Ekiti, College of Education, Ikere and College of Health Technology, Ijero-Ekiti, among others, carried placards with inscriptions, including “Nigerians are suffering under

Buhari's govt;” “Enough of political harassment in the name of fighting corruption;” “Buhari, obey court orders and respect human rights, we are in a democracy” and “Enough of selective anti-corruption fight

by EFCC/ICPC;” among others.

They marched from Fajuyi Park, where they had gathered as early as 7am and marched through Okesa and Ojumose before settling at Okeyinmi Junction, to address an intimidating crowd that had gathered.

Leaders of the various students, who included Ibrahim Oladimeji EKSU, Ayegbusi Paul, (POLYADO), Oyebade Adeyemi (IJERO), Onilearo Gbenga (Ikere), supported Governor Fayose, noting that President Buhari must relax the anti-graft war to enable Fayose concentrate on governing the state.

Oladimeji Ibrahim Adebayo, who represented EKSU students said: "We are here to express our solidarity and support for the Government of Ekiti State. We want to tell the President that enough is enough! His corruption fight must be across the board. It must not be witch-hunting as it is now. Governor Ayodele Fayose cannot be silenced.

Fayose remains the voice of the voiceless as far as Nigeria is concerned.

tuesday, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Amosun's deputy’s security team, militants in gun-battle •Gunmen open fire on deputy gov’s team •Govt, monarchs want JTF deployed to curb violence

Kunle Olayeni Abeokuta

S

uspected militants yesterday engaged the security team of the Ogun State Deputy Governor, Chief (Mrs.) Yetunde Onanuga, in gun battle in Ibafo area of the state as the crisis in parts of the state assumed a dangerous dimension.

The deputy governor had embarked on an inspection visit to some borderline communities between Ogun and Lagos States, which were sacked by militants when the incident happened.

Accompanied by the service chiefs in the state, Onanuga reassured residents of the communities of the commitment of the Governor Ibikunle Amosun administration towards providing adequate security for their lives and property.

But the situation changed at Akoka Ebute area of Ibafo, in ObafemiOwode Local Government Area, when suspected militants operating from the creeks opened fire on the security operatives that accompanied the deputy governor.

No casualty was, however, recorded during the

gunfight, which lasted for 20 minutes.

Scores of people have lost their lives since suspected Niger Delta militants launched attacks on some communities in the state penultimate Friday.

The affected communities include Imushin, Elepete, Imuti, Kajola, Imagbon, Ajegunle, Ereko and Igbo-Olomu, most of which have been deserted by residents.

Worried by the militants’ attacks, traditional rulers from the communities went on a ‘Save Our Souls’ mission yesterday and held a meeting with the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Taiwo Adeoluwa, in Abeokuta.

After the meeting, a state delegation by the deputy governor visited the affected communities.

On Onanuga's train were the SSG, the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, Bello Makwashi; Commandant, 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala, Abeokuta, Brigadier-General Mohammed Danwalis; Director of State Services (DSS), Mohammed Kabir and several government functionaries.

As an advance security team led by the service chiefs was approaching

Ibafo creek, where the suspected militants were believed to be hiding, a barrage of gunfire ensued, forcing the law enforcement agents to take cover.

New Telegraph gathered that the security operatives, comprising soldiers and policemen, responded swiftly and repelled the suspected militants, who later retreated deeper into the creek and escaped in the process.

The state delegation later made a detour from the troubled area after the deputy governor had assured the residents of commitment of their safety.

Reacting to attack, the SSG expressed concern over the deteriorating security situation in the affected communities and called for urgent Federal Government's assistance.

He said the exchange of gunfire between the security operatives and the daredevil criminals in broad daylight, was regrettable.

Adeoluwa, who said Amosun had already notified President Muhammadu Buhari and other relevant authorities about the emerging threat, stressed the need to deploy joint military task

force to fortify security in the affected communities.

Speaking with our correspondent, the Baale of Akoka Ebute, Ibafo, Chief Folorunso Balogun, said the community had been deserted.

Balogun, who said a couple was abducted by the suspected militants yesterday, appealed to the Federal Government to deploy more troops to the area.

The chief said he and his family had relocated from the community to avoid being attacked by the militants, whom he pointed out, had engaged in ‘mindless looting’ of the area.

Earlier, traditional rulers from Sagamu Local Government Area had told the SSG that 27 communities were under the siege of the suspected Niger Delta militants.

The Odofin Soyindo, Sagamu, Oba Muyibi Gisanrin and Olu of Imushin, Taiwo Bamgbose, who spoke on behalf of the monarchs, said scores of people had died as a result of the violence.

They appealed to the government and security agencies to step up measures towards flushing out criminals from the borderline communities.

N63.85bn

The total amount of Imports from United Kingdom for the 2014 Q4.

Source: National Bureau of Statistics

L-R: Alhaja Aisha Shamaki; Alhaja Halima Zakariyahu; wife of Lagos State Governor/ representative of Hajiya Aisha Buhari, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode and Mrs, Mujibat Kemi Durosinmi-Etti, during the presentation of Ramadan gifts to the Hausa Community at the Agege Stadium, Lagos …yesterday.

Ekiti NULGE pulls out of NLC Sulaiman Salawudeen Ado-Ekiti

E

kiti State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) yesterday suspended its membership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

NULGE, which also called it quits with all programmes and activities of the NLC, equally directed its members in Efon Alaye Local Government not to resume work.

Organised labour in the state had embarked on indefinite strike four weeks ago over the state government’s refusal to pay workers their five months' salary arrears.

The body, however, suspended the strike on Friday, following a memorandum signed with the state government, upon which the NLC directed its members to resume work.

NULGE in a communi-

qué by its President, Mr. Bunmi Ajimoko and Secretary, Muyiwa Cole, expressed disappointment regarding the resumption announced by Labour, noting that labour's move went against the resolution of the affiliate unions in the NLC, NULGE inclusive.

It maintained that two of the five months’ salary arrears and the 2014 leave bonus being owed should be paid before resumption.

The communiqué reads in part; "NULGE observed that government has jettisoned the implementation of the agreement it signed on the deployment of local government workers in primary and secondary schools.

"Government is hereby advised to abide with the implementation of the agreement it willingly entered into in order to sustain industrial harmony."

Leadership crisis rocks Ondo OPC Babatope Okeowo Akure

A

major dispute has broken out among the Dr. Fredrick Faseun’s faction of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) over the appointment of a leader of the group in the state.

While the OPC founder had appointed Michael Oladun, as the new leader of the state chapter of the pan-Yoruba organisation, the former leader, Mr. Olutayo Alao, still lays claim to the position.

Alao, who is still parading himself as the leader of the group, said his tenure as the leader of the organisation in the state has not expired contrary to the claim of his opponents.

Oladun, a legal practitioner according to members of the organization, replaced Alao whose tenure expired since last year. Despite this, they said the former leader has refused to and over the instrument of office and was still acting in that capacity.

Artisans get 7-day ultimatum to vacate schools' setbacks Muritala Ayinla

L

agos State government yesterday directed traders and artisans occupying the state's public primary schools' setbacks across the state to vacate such locations within seven days or face the wrath of the law.

Executive Chairman of the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB), Dr. Ganiyu Oluremi Sopeyin, who gave

the warning in Lagos yesterday, said stiffer penalties await anyone found on such setbacks.

He added that the board may be forced to invite the state environmental task force team to evict them, describing the action as nothing but environmental nuisance and a breach of public order.

Speaking during an inspection tour with other board members and management staff of some primary schools in the state.

News|SOUTH-EAST

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

IPOB lauds UK’s planned exit from EU lMASSOB flays Norway for victimisation of Biafran citizens

Charles Onyekwere

the British people know their rights.

T

“This proves that the people know the right things to do at the right time,” the group noted, adding it was happy that other EU members took their decision in good fate.

It reads: “We also congratulate the 29 member of the EU for accepting the wish of the people of the British people for opting out from the union without any single attack on the people and government.

“With this we in IPOB

ENUGU

he Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has commended the United Kingdom (UK) over the peaceful and successful referendum held on Jun 24 to decide the exit of the country from the European union EU, a move popularly referred to as BREXIT. A statement from the organisation signed by their spokesman, Emma Powerful, noted that the conduct of a hitch free referendum showed that

worldwide are calling on the people of Britain to presurize their government to ask the Nigerian Government and Buhari to conduct the same referendum in Nigeria to pave the way for the people of Biafra to decide whether they want to leave or without any bloodshed.

“The people of Biafra want to exercise their rights through plebiscite to show the world how determined and resolute, ‘ we are towards the restoration of the nation of Biafra.”

“We want to remind the UK people that the

fusing of different people into the Nigerian nation forceful by the masters to create new country had caused the intractable problems of mutual distrust among various indigenous people resulting in ethinic violence and incessant bloodshed as the people find themselves incompatible in the lifestyles, customs, traditions, cultures and philosophies’’.

The group frowned at the amalgamation of 1914 saying that it had brought different trou bles like religious violence and ethnic bigotry

L-R: Catholic Bishop of Oyo Diocese, Most Rev. Emmanuel Badejo; Rev. Fr. Christopher Bologo; Mrs. Ifunanya Kalu; Catholic Bishop of Abuja Diocese, John Cardinal Onaiyekan; Olivia Kalu; former Abia State Governor, Dr. Orji Kalu; Nicole Kalu; Neya Kalu and Zina Kalu, at a thanksgiving mass at the chapel in Kalu’s Abuja residence …on Sunday

Uchenna Inya ABAKALIKI

F

ormer Ebonyi State Governor, Chief Martin Elechi, has rejected a Toyota Sport Utility Vehicle gift given to him by his successor, Governor Dave Umahi.

The state government had acquired four SUVs for Elechi, and other prominent politicians including a former governor of the state and Senator representing Ebonyi North in the National Assembly, Dr.

Elechi rejects N29m car gift Sam Egwu, Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, worth N29 million each in recognition of their meritorious services to the state.

But Elechi in his response rejected the vehicle, stating that he didn’t count himself worthy to be honoured with such gift.

He also argued that his contribution to the promotion and sustenance of democracy in the state was the opposite of what was being practiced in the state today under the Umahi administration.

The former governor also wondered why the same government which had refused to pay his entitlements and severance package would cough out enough money to purchase such car for him.

Reps task security operatives over Ebonyi, Cross River boundary crisis Uchenna Inya ABAKALIKI

T

he Member Representing Ikwo/Ezza South Federal Constituency in the House of Representative, Hon Lazarus Ogbe,yesterday condemned the crisis which the boundary dispute between the people of Ochenyim Amagu community in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State and the Adadama community in Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State has generated.

Eight persons were killed last Thursday in the

lingering crisis between the neighbouring communities.

Speaking yesterday, Ogbe described the killings as unwarranted, calling for security to be beefed up within the disputed area.

While urging the State Commissioner of Police and the Commander Nkwagu Military Cantonment to send more personal to the disputed area, the lawmaker regretted that in the last one month, more than 10 members of his constituency had been killed and properties worth millions destroyed in the crisis.

He noted that in collabo-

ration with his colleagues from Cross River State and those from Ebonyi State, they would soon move a motion on the floor of the House to urge the National Boundary Commission and other relevant agencies to urgently visit the disputed area for immediate demarcation.

Ogbe noted that the former Ebonyi State Government had done all within its powers to ensure a lasting peace in the area, adding that a series of meetings were held between the then deputy governor and his Cross River State counterpart on how best to resolve the lingering dispute.

11,795

The total number of subscribers of Globacom Limited (fixed/ fixed wireless) as at March 2015.

Source: Ncc.gov.ng

69

The number of fatalities in terrorists’ violence involving security force personnel in 2010.

Source: Satp.org

1.17%

The capital importation percentage share of Construction of Nigeria in 2008.

Source: National Bureau of Statistics

in Nigeria.

In a related development, the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, (MASSOB), has raised the alarm over a plot by the Norwegian Government to use its diplomatic partnership with Nigeria against a pro-Biafran, Lotachukwu Okolie who it was planning to deport to Nigeria tomorrow.

The leader of MASSOB, Uchenna Madu, who disclosed this in a statement said that the case had portrayed Norway as a violator of well known International Conventions and Laws especially with regards to human rights and protection of life from potential threat and danger.

Okolie, the statement said is a Biafra restoration frontline activist well known in the struggle for the actualisation of Biafra who had been marked for elimination by the Nigeria Government like many other pro-Biafra activists as enemies of Nigeria.

41

2019: PPA’ll take over Ebonyi – Party chair Uchenna Inya ABAKALIKI

T

he Ebonyi State Chairman of the Progressives People’s Alliance (PPA) Hon.Vincent Ezeali, yesterday boasted that the party would take over governance in the state in 2019.

Speaking to reporters in Abakaliki, Ezeali who described PPA as only viable opposition party in the state, said the party had begun mobilizing for its victory in the 2019 polls.

“We don’t compromise our principles and believe for a better society. God’s willing we are taking over the state in 2019. We are mobilizing and sensitizing people of Ebonyi both in the town and in the village. Our recent congress was one our efforts to reposition the party in the state,’’ he said.

He dismissed the reports in some quarters that he was not the state chairman of the party.

Ugwuanyi enjoins students to fight drug abuse

G

overnor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State yesterday enjoined students to join the fight against drug abuse and trafficking, saying it was imperative to secure their future which would determine Nigeria’s future national growth and development.

He warned that the present level of drug trafficking was already a huge threat to the society. He said: “There is no gainsaying that drug trafficking which was once largely viewed as a social problem has transformed in recent years into a major threat to the security, health and stability of people and regions”.

The governor who interacted with students in commemoration of the International Day against drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking organized by the Enugu State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at St. Mulumba Catholic Church, New Haven, solicited the support of the students for the fight against the vice to successful.

The state Commander of NDLEA, Mr. Anthony Ohanyere, also commended the governor for identifying with the agency’s efforts to rid the state of illicit drug trafficking and abuse.

UNICEF, backs child right bill as Assembly begins hearing

M

ajor stakeholders including religious leaders, government agencies, United Nations Children Fund UNICEF, civil society organizations and university dons yesterday expressed support for the passage of Child Rights Bill into law by the Enugu State House of Assembly.

The groundswell of support came during a public hearing organized by the Assembly to get the inputs of people of the state as well as organizations before the passage of the bill before the House.

Speaking at the public hearing, the Chief

of UNICEF Field Office, Enugu, Mr. Charles Nzuki while expressing support for the passage of the bill noted that the world body had been working with the federal and state governments across the country with respect to the domestication of the bill that had already been passed into law by the National Assembly several years ago.

According to Nzuki, 22 states in Nigeria had already passed the bill into law, and the passage of the bill in Enugu state was overdue.

He said that the bill was about all forms of

violation of the right of the child such as sexual exploitation, child labour and domestic violence among others, noting that the bill when passed into law would help to protect the child against such violations.

In his view, the Arch Bishop of Enugu Ecclesiastical Province and Bishop of Enugu Diocese of Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma stated that religious bodies in the state were behind the bill, even as he blamed ignorance for misunderstanding of the bill by a few individuals who had opposed it.

42 News|south-South

Delta, development partners sign MoU on commercial city Dominic Adewole ASABA

D

elta State Government yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with development partners to kick-start the construction of the Delta Commercial City Project in Asaba.

Messrs. Moise Nassogui of D’Arcano Group and Olawole Rhodes-Vivour, Al HUDA Nigeria Limited, who signed on behalf of the development partners, was assured of the state government’s commitment to boost its infrastructural development.

Speaking during the ceremony, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, who said the people of the state were desirous of development, maintained that government would provide the enabling environment for them to thrive.

Represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Ovie Agas, who signed the MoU on behalf of his boss, supported other members of the state’s executive council, said the Delta Commercial City would not only provide employment for the people of the state, but also bring development to the state.

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Ijaw youths blame failed leadership for militancy in Niger Delta Chris Ejim Yenagoa

N

iger Delta youths have attributed the resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta to the failure of the Federal Government to implement some of the sustainable developmental agenda of the late President Umar Yar’Adua’s administration in 2009.

The youths argued that the insecurity of lives and property caused by the rapid militarisation of the area and the failure of apprehending and charging to court herdsmen involved in the deliberate killings of

indigenous landowners in the southern part of the country and elsewhere, is not healthy for a country canvassing true federalism.

In a statement issued by the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and the Niger Delta Peace Initiatives in collaboration with Niger Delta Youth Association at the end of their meeting in Kemp House, London and made available to our correspondent in Yenagoa via an e-mail, the youths also observed that the continuous existence of obnoxious laws that deprived people the right to their own property and livelihood was causing more division in the country.

According to the leaders of the group, Udengs Eradiri, President, Ijaw Youth Council (World Wide), Annah Tonbara Buseri, President, Niger Delta Peace Initiative and Victor James, President, Niger Delta Youth Association, said there was a direct link between the security forces, oil bunkering and insecurity in the Niger Delta.

The statement reads in part; “The extreme presence of security forces is exacerbating insecurity and criminal activity in the Niger Delta as people connected officially to NNPC, oil companies and private business concerns through the protection given to them

€41.7m

The estimated transfer value of Felipe Anderson of Lazio in 2016.

Source: 101greatgoals.com

L-R: Secretary, Committee on the Edo State Gubernatorial Primaries, Alhaji Abubakar Dankande; member, Alhaji Rufia Monguno; Chairman, Mazi Omife I. Omife; National Chairman, Independent Democrats, Hon. Edozie Madu and Committee member, Alhaji Babajo Ibrahim, during the inauguration of the Coordinating Committee on the Edo State Gubernatorial Primaries in Abuja… yesterday.

270

The number of fatalities in terrorists’ violence involving terrorists in 2010.

Source: Satp.org

A’Ibom begins fresh BVN screening for civil servants Tony Anichebe Uyo

N

o fewer than 500 additional names of civil servants and pensioners with BVN-related cases are to appear before the BVN Verification Committee in the second batch of a screening exercise in Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Finance, Akan Okon made this known in Uyo yesterday while receiving the report of the first batch of the BVN screening exercise as presented by the chairman of the standing BVN verification committee.

The commissioner said the deployment of the BVN as a yardstick for payment of salaries and pensions in the state became necessary to effectively deal with high level of irregularities in the payroll system.

He said the verification exercise would be a continuous one “to safeguard the payroll system in such a way that it is not open to sharp practices and ensure funds are paid to genuine workers.”

Okon expressed the appreciation of the state government to the chairman and members of the BVN verification committee for working tirelessly to deliver the assignment, he said.

by the same security forces are responsible for the large percentage of oil theft in the Niger Delta. It is in their interest that insecurity reigns in the Niger Delta, as it affords them the necessary cover to continue their stealing.

“Again, the targeting of former agitators who were peaceful and doing their private businesses, is a form of political persecution and state sponsored vendetta.

There is a return to overt marginalisation and continuous underdevelopment of the Niger Delta area by the Federal Government and its agencies despite the fact that the Niger Delta still contributes the bulk of its abundance natural resources and revenues to finance the same government and its agencies, even at the state and local government levels,” the Ijaw youths said.

PHOTO: TIMOTHY IKUOMENISAN

Anger in Delta over power outage, crazy bills Dominic Adewole ASABA

R

esidents of Asaba, Okpanam and Agbor in Delta State are spoiled for a showdown with the management of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) for serving them crazy bills after one month of power outage.

It will be recalled that for more than 30 days now, hundreds of towns and villages across the Delta North senatorial district have been in total darkness.

Owners of business concerns, who could not afford to buy petrol to run their generating sets, have since

shut down, even as commercial activities in the capital city, have slowed down.

The plea by BEDC’s Head of Public Relations, Mrs. Esther Okolie, in a statement that the drop in power generation coupled with a fault in Asaba 330/132kv Transmission Stepdown, was responsible for the outage, has fallen on deaf ears.

Okolie had explained that the current ‘crazy’ billing was to ensure that energy delivered to BEDC from the transmission station is duly accounted for.

But the people of Okpanam, Agbor and their environs and residents of Asaba, who have perfected plans on mass disconnection from the

public power supply, decried the insensitive posture of the company to their plights.

They wondered why the company was only interested in defrauding unsuspecting residents of the state without supplying light to the consumers.

Their anger assumed a dangerous dimension in Asaba yesterday, when the company rolled out high tariff bills of over N10, 000 and above for those occupying a room self-contained, N15, 000 for those in one-room and parlour and over N25,000 for those living in two and three bed-room apartments for May/June respectively and embarked on disconnection exercise thereafter.

Bayelsa community gets new monarch Pauline Onyibe Yenagoa

E

kpetiama Kingdom in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State now has a new king in the person of King Bubaraye Dakolo, Agada 4, the Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama Kingdom.

His coronation, which took place at the weekend at Gbarantoru Town Hall drew people from far and near.

Speaking at the coronation, the King of Opokuma, His Royal Majesty, OKpoitari Diongoli, advised the new king to operate an open-door policy, adding that it was his time to build Ekpetiama

kingdom.

The king told the community members to confront the new king whenever there was an issue instead of taking the matter to the market place.

Also speaking, Secretary of Ekpetiama Council of Chiefs, Chief Bubaraye Gekuo, pledged support, loyalty, collaboration and service to the benefit of all.

Okowa fires contractor over shoddy job Ola James Warri

D

elta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, yesterday fired a contractor handling the Uduophori road project in Patani council area of the state.

The contractor, Levant Construction Company, was queried alongside the engineer from the state Ministry of Works who was in charge of monitoring the project during the inspection of the project by the governor.

Levant Construction Company and the engineer were fired during a mild drama between the Permanent Secretary, Delta State Ministry of Works, Mr. Donald Umukoro and the Vice-Chairman of Uduophori community, Jude Mamowho, over the shoddy state of the ongoing works on the 4.85 kilometre road project.

The Permanent Secretary, who had earlier briefed the governor on the challenges faced by the contractor, said the community stopped the contractor from using some of their machines in the

construction of the road, hence the poor work the company had.

The vice-chairman of the community, who was furious at the comment of the permanent secretary, said he was not saying truth, he appealed to the governor to visit other sections of the road to access the poor state of works by the contractor.

To confirm things for himself, the governor and his entourage drove to the said sections of the road where he lamented the shoddy state of works done by the contractor.

Addressing the engineer in charge of monitoring of the project, he said: “I am happy that the person who was supervising the project from the Ministry of Works has been queried, but I want that to be visited on the civil service and the head of service.

According to the governor, “That engineer is not fit to be working for the Ministry of Works and I want to use this opportunity to assure the people of the affected communities that they have every right to question the state of the project.”

Lalong: I wasn’t duped N5bn in Dubai Musa Pam Jos

P

lateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, has dismissed an online media publication alleging that he was recently duped of N5 billion in Dubai in an attempt to buy property there.

Lalong, while reacting to the allegation through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Mark Longyen in a press statement, described the allegation as a "mere piece of thrash and sheer

balderdash that should at best be pooh-poohed with a wave of the hand and consigned to the dustbin of oblivion or simply ignored by reasonable people."

According to the media aide, ordinarily the governor would have ignored such gargantuan and malicious falsehood which, if read between

the lines, was clearly the handwork of his detractors and opposition political elements desperate to paint him black, but has chosen to respond to it in order not to give traction and credibility to such brazen falsehood and to clear the air for the sake of some gullible members of the public, who might in-

nocently swallow this bait hook, line and sinker.

Longyen warned that running an obscure online media outfit was not a cover or outright licence for the medium and opposition political elements to hide under it and conspire to attack and malign the reputation of a governor.

He added that such

Nasarawa Assembly okays N14.160bn loans for govt Cheke Emmanuel LAFIA

T

he Nasarawa State House of Assembly yesterday passed a resolution to allow the state government assess N14.160 billion loans to address the critical needs of the state.

The approval was coming on the heels of a letter forwarded to the House by the Executive, requesting the approval of the House of Assembly to assess N14.160 billion for Physical Project Implementation Support Plan of the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

While debating on the request on the floor of the House, the Minority Leader and member representing Lafia East Constituency in the Assembly, Hon. Mohammed Alkali, who argued in support of the request, described the request as timely in view of the dwindling financial challenges facing the state.

Nasarawa State Deputy Governor, Silas Ali Agara, with the Vice Chancellor, University of Jos, Prof.

Sabastine Maimako, at the 2016 National Delegates Conference of the Uni-Jos Alumni in Jos…recently

MINNA

N

iger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, has reiterated his administration’s continued commitment to open door policy, transparency, accountability and acceptance of meaningful suggestions at all times, anchored on inclusive governance.

This was as the governor assured the people of the state of his administration’s determination to enhance

defamatory and libelous stories and information carry legal consequences, which the culprits may soon face.

The governor, however, denied the report in its entirety and challenged the authors of the story to produce and publish documentary evidence, if any, from the records of their investigation and show proof as to when and where the N5 billion Dubai property transaction took place, which bank was used, as well as all the parties involved, failing which they will face the music as relevant security agencies will be called in to investigate the source of the story.

Longyen noted: “The online platform's allegation that the governor lost a whopping N5 billion of public funds to fraudsters, "according to the information being discussed openly in public centres, and the said amount was intended for the procurement of choice property for the governor in Dubai," was most ridiculous and laughable and indeed the worst kind of armchair journalism, lacking in credibility, objectivity, balance and fairness, which are the basic ethical tenets or requirements for what could be passed as a story.”

Labour unions in Kogi asked not to sabotage govt Zacchaeus Ozovehe Lokoja

K

ogi State's chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Council (TUC) have been called by the state government to desist from direct sabotaging the present administration.

Addressing journalists yesterday at the NUJ Press Centre, the Commissioner for Information and Culture, Mr. Awal Mohammed, said the planned strike by the union was

We’re committed to all-inclusive govt, says Bello Dan Atori

43 NDLEA arrests 203 suspects, seizes 2,770kg of drugs

north | news

tuesday, june 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

the welfare of the people as well as improve infrastructure base of the state.

He disclosed this yesterday while receiving a delegation from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Minna, the state capital.

Represented by his Deputy, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Ketso, the governor said his decision to run an open door administration was in keeping faith with his electoral campaign promise to run an all-inclusive administration.

deliberately aimed at frustrating the efforts of Governor Yahaya Bello's administration to sanitise the state's civil service.

"We received with utmost shock the news of the planned labour action by the organised labour in the state. It is an act of sabotage on the part of the organised labour that the effort of this administration to route out ghost workers from the system is not appreciated," he lamented.

On payment of workers’ salaries, the commissioner stressed that about

39 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) had been paid, while 14 of the 21 Local Government Areas of the state had so far been paid.

Mohammed, however, added that some discrepancies were discovered in the remaining seven LGAs, saying as soon as the anomalies were rectified, payment of salary would continue immediately.

"So far, 39 MDAs have been paid out of 60 in the state. We are waiting for the remaining to submit their data so that they

could get their payment right away," the commissioner noted.

On his part, the Special Adviser on Media and Strategies to the Governor, Mallam Abdulmalik Abdulkareem, who lauded the cordial relationship existing between the government and the organised labour since inception of the Bello-led administration urged the union leaders to realise that the administration had been struggling to clear the backlog of salary arrears inherited from the immediate past administration.

UNICEF laments child-killer diseases in Northern states Nankpah Bwakan BAUCHI

T

he Chief of Field Officer of the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) in Bauchi, Dr. Abdulai KaiKai yesterday said that the international organisation is partnering the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) towards the survival, development and protection of the Children's Rights.

Speaking at the Zonal Dissemination of the findings of the National Nutrition and Health Survey (NBS) in Bauchi,

KaiKai expressed regret that immunization rate and efforts in the North East and North West geopolitical zones of the federation were the lowest in the country.

He was worried that more than half of children eligible for immunisation were not vaccinated, regretting that the country was still far from achieving the universal mosquito net coverage as advised by the National Malaria Control Strategic Plan (NMCSP) on the development.

According to him, the NNHS 2015 data indicated that Jigawa has

the highest prevalence of severe underweight of 13 per cent among all states, while the situation is particularly critical in Bauchi, the state capital, where over half of the children under five years have stunted growth.

He said: “Diarrhea prevalence is still very high among children between six and 24 months, thus indicating that complementary feeding introduction is a very delicate at that transition period while continued breastfeeding until the age of two is highly recommended.”

Dan Atori MINNA

T

he National Drug and Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has said that the agency had in the last six months arrested 203 suspects and seized a total of 2,770.451 kilograms of various banned drugs.

The Niger State Commandant of NDLEA, Joseph Iweajunwa, who disclosed this yesterday as part of activities marking the United Nations Day Against Drug Abuse and Trafficking in Minna, the state capital.

According to him, "there is no doubt that the efforts of the NDLEA in arresting the challenges of cannabis sativa had achieved some positive results as the availability of cannabis on the streets had been greatly reduced, to the extent, that the criminals are now importing them from other countries such as Ghana and Benin Republic.

1,287.67

The total number of NSE 30 Index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange as at Q4 2015.

Source: Nigerian Stock Exchange

Bauchi gets 16 new Permanent Secretaries Nankpah Bwakan BAUCHI

T

he Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abduallahi Abubakar, yesterday approved and ratified the appointment of no fewer than 16 new Permanent Secretaries for the state’s civil service.

The appointment of Permanent Secretaries was contained in a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Bello Ilelah, and which was made available to journalists in Bauchi, the state capital.

The government, in the statement disclosed that the appointment of the Permanent Secretaries was in continuation of the ongoing reforms in the state civil service, which aimed at re-invigorating the service for better service delivery.

According to the statement, their appointments were based on their track records of hard work, dedication to duty, honesty, loyalty and wealth of experience.

44

NEWS

WORLD \ NEWS

Campaign funds: EFCC arrests Fayose’s associate, Agbele Temitope Ogunbanke

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biodun Agbele, an associate of the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. It was gathered that he was arrested in Lagos over allegations that he collected a large chunk of the N4.9 billion allegedly paid to Fayose by the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA for the governorship election in Ekiti in 2014.

Agbele was said to be detained at the Lagos office of the EFCC.

In a statement yesterday, Fayose to the EFCC to carry out its investigations without politics. Fayose, in a statement issued by its Special Adviser (Public Communications and New Media), Mr. Lere Olayinka, warned EFCC against media trial and challenged the anti-corruption agency to be civil and allow transparent trial in competent court of law.

Olayinka also declared that his principal will remain resolute in making his opinions known on national issues without being intimidated. The statement reads in part: “It must be pointed out

that at no time was Mr Abiodun Agbele invited by the EFCC, and if he had been invited, he would have honoured the invitation. Therefore, there is nothing to celebrate in his arrest if it is not political.

“As already pointed out, Governor Ayodele Fayose does not have anything to do with any fund from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

He has stated how his election was funded and Zenith Bank that he said funded his election has not denied doing so. “Also, the person said to have been arrested is an adult and will defend himself when the time comes.

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

EU leaders reject informal talks with UK

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he European Union will not hold informal talks with the UK until it triggers Article 50 to leave, Germany, France and Italy have insisted. German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted talks with French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Berlin.

The leaders called for a "new impulse" to strengthen the EU. Last Thursday, British citizens voted 52-48 in favour of leaving the EU in a historic referendum. UK

financial markets remain volatile in the wake of the vote, with sterling plunging to a 31-year low against the dollar, and some share trading temporarily halted.

Together with the UK, Germany, France and Italy have the largest economies in the EU. "We are in agreement that Article 50 of the European treaties is very clear; a member state that wishes to leave the European Union has to notify the European Council," Mrs. Merkel told a joint news conference at the German chancellery. "There can't be any further steps until that has happened. Only

then will the European Council issue guidelines under which an exit will be negotiated.

"That means that, and we agree on this point, there will be neither informal nor formal talks on a British exit until the European Council has received the [UK's] request for an exit from the European Union."

President Hollande and Prime Minister Renzi emphasised the need to process the UK's exit as quickly as possible and focus on the challenges facing the remaining 27 states.

Boko Haram now disguise as vigilantes, hunters –DHQ Emmanuel Onani Abuja

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he Defence Headquarters (DHQ), has alerted the public to the discovery, that Boko Haram members now disguise as vigilantes and hunters, to continue with their bloodletting campaign.

The disclosure was made in a statement by the Acting Director of Defence Information (DDI), Brig-Gen. Rabe Abubakar.

"Following the coordi-

nated military offensive against the remnants of Boko Haram Terrorists in Sambisa forest, the fleeing terrorists now disguise as vigilantes or hunters to evade easy detection.

"The terrorists, after been smoked out of Sambisa forest, in their desperation to wreak havoc on innocent Nigerians and to remain relevant, devised a new tactics of dressing like vigilantes or hunters to deceive unsuspecting members of the public of their true identity.

The case of Kuda-Kaya village in Madadali community of Adamawa State where a group of Boko Haram terrorists, dressed like vigilantes, opened fire on elated people during a ceremony readily come to mind.

"The general public is hereby advised to be wary of unsubscribed services or presence of vigilantes or hunters in their neighbourhood in order not to ignorantly harbour killer gang in their midst," the statement reads in part.

Synagogues’ engineers tackle Lagos over collapsed building’s CCTV John Chikezie

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n Ikeja division of the Lagos High Court will today continue with the trial of two engineers indicted over a collapsed building on the premises of the Syanagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) which claimed over 100 worshipers about 18 months ago.

The matter was adjourned yesterday following an objection raised by their lawyers over the admissibility of a Compact Disc (CD)

video recording of the collapsed building. The defence, led by Chief E.L Akpofure, (SAN) objected to the admissibility of the CD during continuation of the testimony of Mr Olutoyin Ayinde, a former Lagos State Commissioner of Physical Planning and Urban Development at the court presided over by Justice Lateef-lawal Akapo. The CD allegedly contained a Close Circuit Television (CCTV) recording of an aircraft hovering above the building moments before its collapse. Akpo-

fure said: “I am objecting My Lord in the first place to the admissibility of document sought to be tendered by the prosecution because it has been labelled by the witness as being computer generated. According to the testimony of the witness, 'I will be in a better position to ascertain whether this is the exact video I am referring to in my evidence until I watch it.’

Hence, this witness is not in a position to tender this evidence until he sees the content and identifies same.

Nigeria's oil production rises to 1.9m bpd Adeola Yusuf

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il production in Nigeria has risen to 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd), from 1.6 million bpd it was few days ago. This came as the minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, took the hunt for $50 billion oil and gas investment to China. Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs of the Nigerian National Petroleum

Corporation (NNPC), Garba Deen Muhammad, who revealed this, maintained that the minister was in China for a roadshow, which began on Sunday, aimed at raising around $50 billion of investment for Nigeria's oil industry.

The oil production in Nigeria, Muhammad added, gained about 300, 000 barrels per day production between last week and this week. "Oil production," he said, "had risen to around 1.9

million bdp since last week." Production has increased because, according to him, the corporation was making repairs to damaged pipelines and installations.

"And we have not had any major attacks in recent times," he said. Militants, who say they want a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth to go to the impoverished Delta region have carried out a spate of attacks on pipelines in the last few months.

Demonstrators celebrating at the Supreme Court after the court struck down a Texas law imposing strict regulations on abortion doctors and facilities

Supreme Court strikes down restrictive Texas abortion law

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he US Supreme Court yesterday handed a victory to abortion rights advocates, striking down a Texas law imposing strict regulations on abortion doctors and facilities that its critics contended were specifically designed to shut down clinics.

The 5-3 ruling held that the Republicanbacked 2013 law placed an undue burden on women exercising their constitutional right to end a pregnancy established in the landmark 1973 Roe v.

Wade decision. The normally nine-justice court was one member short after the Feb. 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who consistently opposed abortion in past rulings.

Conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy joined liberal members of the court in ruling that both key provisions of the law violate a woman's constitutional right to obtain an abortion.

Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the court, said that the

appeals court that upheld the law was wrong in its approach, noting that courts are required to "consider the burdens a law imposes on abortion access together with the benefits that those laws confer."

Deferring to state legislatures over "questions of medical uncertainty is also inconsistent with this court's case law," Breyer added. Three conservative justices - Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito - dissented.

South African Treasury: Zuma must refund $510,000 for upgrade of private residence

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outh Africa's President Jacob Zuma should pay 7.8 million rand ($510,074) for non-security upgrades to his private Nkandla home, the National Treasury said yesterday.

In a stinging rebuke that hit the scandalplagued leader financially and politically, the top court in Africa's most industrialized country in March ordered Zuma to pay back some of the $16 million of state money spent upgrading

his private home. Record unemployment and a looming recession have exacerbated discontent with Zuma's leadership, ahead of local elections in August.

Zuma has managed to hold on to his post with backing from the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which has been in power since the end of white-minority rule in 1994.

The court gave the Treasury 60 days to work out a "reasonable cost".

Zuma has said he would

pay back some of the money used to refurbish the Nkandla residence, which is in KwaZulu-Natal province.

Yesterday Zuma's office said it would comment on the Treasury report after studying it. In 2014, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, whose office is a constitutionally mandated anticorruption watchdog, identified a swimming pool, cattle enclosure, chicken run, amphitheatre and visitor center as non-security items that Zuma must pay for.

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TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Sport

That Novak Djokovic’s first set win over James Ward was first time in Open Era that defending Wimbledon men’s champion has returned to win first set 6-0.

NFF splits over choice of coach ...Stefanovic, Le Guen tear board, Technical Committee apart

Ajibade Olusesan

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igeria Football Federation might not endorse the recommendations of its Technical Committee on the appointment of a substantive coach for the Super Eagles as the ad-hoc team is pushing for a coach different from the one of NFF chiefs are routing for.

It was learnt that some members of the board wanted Serb Goran Stefanovic while the committee members had gotten carried away by Frenchaman Paul Le Guen’s proposal.

Stefanovic is the preferred choice of president of the NFF Amaju Pinnick, who is keen on the Serb’s abilities due to his wealth of experience especially in Africa and affordability in comparism to other coaches who will certainly demand

more in terms of salary.

However, members of the Technical Committee of the NFF are convinced that Le Guen is the most qualified candidate for the job based on his pedigree and heroics with Cameroon in the run up to the 2010 World Cup where he qualified them from an almost impossible situation after taking over the job midway through the qualifiers.

Members of the technical committee believe that Le Guen has the pedigree that will naturally command respect from players of the Super Eagles which will help bring the much needed sanity and discipline the football house is trying to instil in the senior national team.

But the Frenchman’s wage demand is standing

Sport News

Did you know?

46

Rio: Arsenal stop Iwobi

International Messi sensationally quits Argentina team

47

Le Guen

Super Eagles captain, John Obi Mikel

Stefanovic

Salisu

against him as he is not ready to accept NFF’s $30,000 salary.

Nevertheless, the committee is believed to be hell-bent on recommending the tactician ahead of other competitors and leave the decision to hire him for the NFF board to take.

Joshua wants world title fight in Nigeria Emmanuel Tobi

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The Sport Team Adekunle Salami Group Sport Editor

Emmanuel Tobi Assistant Sport Editor

Ajibade Olusesan Sport Correspondent

Charles Ogundiya Sport Correspondent

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Joshua

igerian-born British heavyweight boxer and reigning IBF champion, Anthony Joshua, has expressed his desire to have one of his title fights in Nigeria saying he wants to emulate his number-one hero Muhammed Ali. Back in the glory days of the heavyweight division, the 1970s, heavyweight kings Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman fought in faraway places such as Jamaica, Zaire, Kuala Lumpur and The Philippines which boosted their fame, popularity and earning power.

“Definitely,” Joshua said of his desire to fight

in Africa just as the great Ali did. “It’s been done before. It made massive news and was historic.

I think that would be massive. I’d like it to be in Nigeria or Ghana. Either one is good for me. It would be class, the whole history of it.”

Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn also likes the idea of having his star box all over the globe stating that the 26-year-old could make his U.S debut early next year.

“It’s not just about America, we want to do deals in every market, whether it‘s France, Japan, Germany, Australia. We’ve had approaches from Africa, UAE, China to bring him there and

have fights. That’s something we’d like to do. I’d like him to fight potentially in China, certainly in America, Dubai. It would be groundbreaking,” Hearn added.

Called ‘Femi’ by his friends and former teachers, due to his middle name ‘Oluwafemi’, Joshua was born in Watford to Nigerianborn parents and grew up for some of his early years in Nigeria and returned to the UK halfway through Year Seven to join Kings Langley Secondary School.

He also excelled in football and athletics and broke the nine-year 100m record with a time of 11.6 seconds

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SPORT NEWS

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Celtic halt Ambrose’s Olympics dream Emmanuel Tobi

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he hope of Super Eagles defender, Efe Ambrose, to represent Nigeria at the 2016 Rio Olympics was dashed by his Scottish club Celtic as new coach Brendan Rodgers unilaterally refused to release the defender for the competition.

U-23 Eagles coach Samson Siasia wanted Ambrose for the team’s American training camp as one of his over-age players but Rodger is wrestling with injury problems in central defence, with Croatian Jozo

Simunovic and Dedryck Boyata likely to miss the start of the Scottish Premiership season.

Nigeria will play Japan on August 4 - just 48 hours before Celtic begin their

Ambrose

league campaign against Hearts at Tynecastle.

With no FIFA regulations forcing clubs to release players for the Olympics, Celtic have told the 27-year-old he was needed at home for the opening weeks of the new campaign. Ambrose flew to Slovenia with the squad on Monday for a 10-day pre-season camp.

The defender’s longterm Parkhead future is less clear. Rodgers is already assessing defensive reinforcements, with Liverpool’s Andre Wisdom and veteran defender Kolo Toure linked.

Taribo backs NFF over foreign coach Adekunle Salami Iwobi (right)

Rio: Arsenal stop Iwobi

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rsenal have reportedly blocked Alex Iwobi from representing Nigeria at the Olympic Games.

The 20-year-old has been named in U-23 coach Samson Siasia’s provisional 35-man list and it was previously suggested the Gunners would allow him to represent his country.

But AfricanFootball.com reports the club has changed its mind and ruled him out of the competition.

A source close to Iwobi told the website: “Arsenal have taken a decision on Alex, he will not be going to the Olympics with Nigeria.

“The boy himself is very disap-

pointed because he wanted to be in Rio but Arsenal have the final say on this matter because the competition is not on the FIFA calendar.

“They want him to start the new season with them.”

Siasia was frustrated by Arsenal’s attitude and bemoaned the EPL giants last week.

“The chances of Iwobi going to the Olympics depends how well his father is able to make Arsene Wenger have a change of mind,” he said.

“Alex is a young man who will benefit much from playing against big stars like Neymar.

“He would be a great asset for us at the games.”

Government not fair to sports – Anibaba Ajibade Olusesan

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ormer vice chairman of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, Musliu Anibaba, has chided government for insensitivity to sports development in the country.

The 85-year-old who was also a former secretary of the NTTF said government at all levels had continued to pay lip service to sports.

“It is unfortunate that Nigeria has never had government that gives sports what it deserves,” the retired administrator said. “Government generally has not been fair to sports and what it has been doing is to cater for politicians in terms of what they will benefit from sports.

“They don’t make arrangement for sports.

What they only do is to celebrate success. Look at what China is doing with sports. There is mass participation and they are reaping the results now. If government gives sport the

needed attention, there will be few criminals.

In China there are not many young criminals because they are in sports and they are not available for vices,” he said.

“I think Toriola deserves an honour having sustained interest in the sport up till now and at several occasions has put Nigeria on the world map and he is

going to do that in Rio Olympics as the first African to attend seven Olympics. Players like Toriola and Anibaba also clamoured for a national honour for Africa’s most decorated table tennis star, Segun Toriola, who will be making history at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as the first African to feature in seven Olympic Games.”

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former Super Eagles international, Taribo West, has supported the Nigeria Football Federation’s decision to hire a foreign coach for the senior national team.

The NFF has narrowed its search to a Serbian, Goran Stefanovic, as the Super Eagles coach but this is yet to be confirmed as talks are still on with the sponsors of the would-be tactician.

Taribo who was in the historic Olympic gold medal winning team at Atlanta 96 stressed that the outcome of the draw conducted on Friday in Cairo, Egypt was enough to make the NFF get serious by appointing a very competent coach.

Nigeria was drawn to compete for a Russia 2018 ticket in group B of the African qualifying series along with Algeria, Zambia and Cameroon.

Taribo said the interim coach, Salisu Yusuf, was not good enough for the challenges ahead of the Super Eagles.

He argued that the tough Group B fixtures of Nigeria required the services of an expatriate coach who will approach the games with all the technical inputs expected of modern football. ” I have watched with keen interest the issue of whether Salisu should be retained or not and my take is that he is not ripe to handle the Super Eagles in very serious competitive games especially at this time when we are under pressure after missing two con-

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Arendse

at, Keagan Dolly and Wayne Arendse are fired up for Wednesday’s CAF Champions League clash with Nigeria’s Enyimba at Lucas Moripe Stadium.

Sundowns are looking for their first points in Group B after their 2-0 win at ES Setif was chalked off following the Algerian club’s disqualification for crowd trouble.

“We are well motivated, and we are all

Taribo

Nigerian Army seeks NSF Support

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he Nigerian Army have appealed to the Ministry of Youth and Sports for support as they prepare for the Nige-

Sundown players play down Enyimba’s threat amelodi Sundowns tri o Khama Billi-

secutive Africa Cup of Nations.

“Our failure to qualify was down to marginal tactical errors on the part of our coaches against technically superior managers of our opponents, we can’t afford to make such mistakes again.

“This is the World Cup qualifiers and if we want to qualify from a group that has Cameroon, Algeria and Zambia, we need a better coach than Salisu”.

Another former international and coach of the U-20 team, Emmanuel Amunike, charged the NFF to go all out for a substantive coach urgently. ”There is no doubt, this is a tough group and I’m not even talking about the calibre of the teams grouped along with the Super Eagles. The NFF must urgently address the issue of who to manage the affairs of the team and that would go in a long way to prepare the team for the task ahead,” said Amunike

buzzing with confidence ahead of our encounter with Enyimba,” PSL Footballer of the Season Billiat is quoted as saying by Downs.

“I’m looking forward to showcasing to Africa and the world that we are a world-class team,” added fellow midfielder Dolly.

“We are expecting a physical game and we are up for the challenge come Wednesday,” said defender Arendse.

rian Army Sports Festival in September.

The Chairman of the Central OrganizingPlanning Committee for the games, Major- General Hassan Umaru, made the appeal when a 6-man delegation from the Nigerian Army visited the Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung in Abuja.

Umaru solicited the use of the National stadium in Abuja for the opening and closing ceremonies as well as technical assistance from various sports federations whose sports will be featured at the festival.

“You have been seeing us wielding weapons at check points but this time around, we want to put down those weapons and mingle with our society. The festival in-

volves a lot of technical issues and that is why we are here to discuss with you and seek your assistance before we go ahead with the preparations,” Umaru said.

Dalung commended the Nigerian Army for its patriotic and selfless contribution in defending the territorial integrity of the country “We are proud of the Armed Forces for the role they have played in trying to contain insurgency in the country. We also commend the Army for their role in the development of sports in Nigeria,” he said.

The armed forces and para military services have produced athletes who have made the country proud by winning medals through sports.”

INTERNATIONAL SPORT

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

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Messi sensationally quits Argentina team A

heartbroken Lionel Messi has declared he is retiring from international football, sending the national team into

disarray.

The forward missed a penalty in the Copa America Centenario final shoot-out against Chile as his team lost their third

final in three years.

Messi, who was in tears after the match, spoke after the game to Argentine television and explained his decision.

Messi (centre) is fouled

by Chile pair Jean Beausejour (left) and Vidal during the COPA America match

‘That’s it. It’s over for me with the national team,’ he explained.

‘It’s not for me. That’s four finals. The decision has been made, I think so.

[Winning] is what I wanted most. It didn’t come. I think that’s it. That’s how I feel now, what I think. It’s a great sadness. It hurts not to be a champion.’

Messi may yet change his mind, but for now the constant disappointment with his national side and his long-term discontent with the AFA (Argentine Football Association) have led to this reaction.

Sergio Aguero revealed that other players could be considering their futures with the side too, and Sportsmail has learned Javier Mascherano could be one of the stars who may quit.

‘Messi probably won’t be the only player to leave

Euro 2016: Italy bundle out Spain

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raziano Pelle sealed Italy’s place in the Euro 2016 quarter-finals with a stoppage-time strike to sink reigning champions Spain at the Stade de France.

Leading and largely dominant after Giorgio Chiellini’s first-half opener, the Italians had survived a scare

moments earlier when Gianluigi Buffon saved superbly to deny Gerard Pique an equaliser.

But Pelle’s brilliant finish at the other end completed a richly deserved 2-0 win for Antonio Conte’s side, who were only denied a bigger winning margin by the brilliance of Spain goalkeeper David De

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enyan authorities are investigating if pupils who set fire to their school dormitories did so after being told they could not watch a Euro 2016 match on television.

The trouble happened on Saturday night at a school in the west of the country, local media reports.

It began with a few students throwing stones and shouting “our rights”, school principal Andrew Otara said.

It is the latest in a spate of arson incidents at Kenyan schools.

The pupils at Itierio Boys Secondary School in Kisii were not allowed to stay up to watch the Euro 2016 match between Croatia and Portugal which kicked off at 22:00 local time (19:00 GMT), KTN television news reports.

There were also complaints that

the school had introduced new stricter discipline rules but the school has denied this.

Students set fire to seven of the school dormitories and tried to damage property at the neighbouring girls school.

Kisii County Governor James Ongwae wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday that “efforts by the disaster response teams and police to reach the place have been hampered by the unruly students”.

He later said that the students caused “millions and millions and millions” of Kenyan shillings-worth of damage, adding that the ringleaders would be punished.

There has been fire damage at 20 schools in the area around Kisii in the last six months, Kenya’s Standard newspaper reports.

…Several players may follow him, says Aguero

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rgentina star Lionel Messi may not be the only player to decide on international retirement after their Copa America heartbreak, according to compatriot and ace striker Sergio Aguero.

Argentina drew 0-0 with Chile in the final on Sunday before a missed penalty from Messi contributed to a 2-4 defeat in the shoot-out, after which the Barcelona star brought down the curtains on his international career. Aguero, who shared with Messi

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Mane

Kenyan pupils burn dormitories ‘over Euro match ban’

worst I’ve seen the dressing room. Worse than after the other two finals [the 2014 World Cup and 2015 Copa America].’

the pain of consecutive defeats in Copa America finals to Chile and the loss of the 2014 World Cup final to Germany, confirmed that the devastation of another near miss had many contemplating a similar move.

“There are several players who are evaluating not continuing with the national team. This is the worst dressingroom I’ve ever been in, worse than the final in the World Cup in Brazil and the other Copa America,” Aguero told reporters.

Mane makes £30m switch to Liverpool

Gea. De Gea pulled off a string of fine saves to deny the likes of Pelle, Emanuele Giaccherini and Eder but Italian class told in the end as they underlined their emergence as genuine contenders to seize the vacated crown.

Italy players celebrating after scoring

the national team,’ said Aguero.

‘There are various players who are considering quitting. This is the

ormer French Open champion Ana Ivanovic was knocked out of Wimbledon in the first round on Monday, losing 6-2, 7-5 to Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova, the world 223.

Ivanovic, the 2008 Roland Garros champion and a semifinalist at the All England Club in 2007, suffered just her second opening round loss at Wimbledon in 12 visits.

Alexandrova is making her Grand Slam debut and had won just one match on the main tour in her entire career before Monday’s shock win over the 23rd seed.

Meranwhile, Venus Williams has started her bid for a sixth Wimbledon title with a hard-fought win over Donna Vekic.

There was a 17-year age

adio Mane was all smiles as he emerged from his medical at Liverpool ahead of a £30million switch from Southampton.

The Senegalese forward gave a thumbsup to the camera after undergoing the routine tests at Liverpool Hospital on Monday and his representatives will now discuss personal terms with the Anfield hierarchy before the transfer is completed.

As reported by Sportsmail earlier this

month, the 24-year-old is set to make Southampton a huge profit, having joined the south coast club from Red Bull Salzburg for £11.8m in 2014.

His arrival is the first major piece of business to have been done by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp this summer and he becomes the club’s third most expensive signing ever.

Klopp believes Mane has the pace, energy and aggression to give Liverpool’s attack a different dimension.

Wimbledon

Ivanovic crashes, Venus survives scare

Ivanovic (left) congratulates Ekaterina Alexandrova after the qualifier’s shock Wimbledon first round win

gap between the two players but it was the experienced Williams who prevailed by a 7-6 6-4 scoreline on Court One. Vekic had plenty of success on the Wil-

liams’s second serve during an opening set that lasted 63 minutes but after two breaks apiece, Williams kept her composure in a tiebreak.

PSG fire Laurent Blanc

L Blanc

aurent Blanc has left his position as manager of Paris St-Germain after three years at the French league champions.

Blanc, who signed a new twoyear deal in February, led PSG to the Ligue 1 title in each of his three seasons in charge, but

lost in the Champions League quarter-finals each year.

Sevilla boss Umai Emery has been linked with the vacant post.

Emery, 44, won the Europa League with the La Liga side in each of his three full seasons in charge.

On Marble “Men occasionally stumble over

the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”

World Record

Sanctity of Truth

Junko Tabei, born September 22, 1939) is a Japanese mountain-climber who, on May 16, 1975, became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

NIGERIA’S MOST AUTHORITATIVE NEWSPAPER IN POLITICS AND BUSINESS

–Winston S. Churchill

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016

N150

Public arena T he column you write

Pleasant tale from the Coal City Laurence Ani

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or one with a near two-decade journalism experience, this is a rather humbling submission: as journalists, we do not always have a sufficient grasp of the socio-political landscape outside our immediate metropolitan space that validates the sort of daily pronouncements we make in the press. The realization, sadly, often becomes apparent when the journalist takes a break from active practice - or becomes a part of the establishment that usually bears the brunt of the media's cynicism - as I've done lately.

This flaw is mostly the reason journalism teems with so much assumptions which almost always take on a magisterial hue in public discourse and, also, why journalists treat regions outside the mainstream media's capital as an afterthought or with a hint of condescension. The conceit bred by this mindset obscures even reports of trend-breaking accomplishments from the "far-flung" states.

It has been a refreshing discovery since I left Lagos for Enugu to work as an aide to the self-effacing and hardworking governor of the state, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. I have seen projects here that are just as remarkably grand as those for which some governors have earned several plaudits and receive perennial media spotlight. They may not find ample space in the media, but their value is by no means diminished; they remain enduring touchstones of development and strongly demonstrate that "Enugu State is open for business," as he had declared during the Oganiru Enugu State Investment Summit held recently.

Despite the impressive scorecard recorded in just a little over one year since his inauguration, the governor betrays no obsession for the limelight. For him, fixing roads, constructing bridges, establishing new schools and hospitals and expanding their capacities are just a part of the raison d'etre for governments anywhere they exist. So he would rather not gloat about these. Yet, we should never be indignant at those who would rather be ecstatic about their implementation, particularly with regard to locals whose lives they impact. As a Mass Communications student of the Institute of Management Technology (I left before the first semester rounded off when offered an admission at the University of Calabar), it was always a nightmare each time I had to commute to the campus in Enugu from my country home. Such trip often entailed a change of dress before lectures as I would by then be daubed in the red dust that swirled around as vehicles meandered through the unpaved

Ugwuanyi

Cecilia Ezeilo, Enugu State Deputy Governor

roads (now don't start imagining that grim state of the road was partly the reason I quit IMT).

It's an entirely different tale today as the roughly 30-kilometre stretch which could back then take two hours to traverse has witnessed an impressive revamp. In addition, communities long rendered inaccessible due to absence of roads have been opened up, with bridges built in several cases to link neighbouring villages whose residents visited each other in the past only via a circuitous journey that sometimes involved driving through the state capital.

What Governor Ugwuanyi seeks to enthrone is a vision that is enduring, one that ushers in a new work ethic.

The concrete structures are essentially not an end; they are mostly conceived as growth catalysts as evident in this statement: "As we had pointed out during the Summit, Enugu State is endowed with such potential as could easily make it the choice destination for investment in Nigeria.

Apart from the abundance of human and material resources, we can also boast the presence of factors that provide very conducive atmosphere for investments to thrive. These include security, necessary social and physical infrastructure, essential services and most importantly, a hospitable, vibrant and enthusiastic populace.

"All these and more had, of course, contributed to Enugu’s elevation to the coveted list of 100 most resilient cities in the world. As we also said, we have on offer for privatization and commercialization 14 potentially viable companies and ventures covering different areas of industry and production."

Resilience is indeed the word that best describes the positive socio-economic indices seen in Enugu State in the last one year which has been a particularly challenging one for Nigerian states. With the country's economy severely buffeted by steep decline in oil price, revenue accruing to states from the federal purse has been anything but cheering. It's instructive the projects cited earlier were carried out under such trying circumstances and, even more so, the fact that the drop in statutory allocation did not result in the failure to meet obligations such as payment of workers' salaries and pensions - a familiar refrain in many states. That's credit to the governor's creative deployment of resources and his ability to inspire a new thinking to bolster the state's revenue base.

It wasn't merely the realization of just how presumptuous journalism tends to make its practitioners that

What Governor Ugwuanyi seeks to enthrone is a vision that is enduring

my relocating to Enugu has fostered; I've since discovered (that is a long known fact, actually) how swiftly one's mobile line could return to the speed dial list on phones that stopped calling it years ago. Among the countless text messages I received after the news of my appointment was published was a humorously telling one that prayed for my phone to "never stop ringing", an apparent reference to the equally humorous piece alluding to man's fickle nature written by Reuben Abati, the former spokesman of ex-president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, after a new administration was inaugurated: "The Phones Have Stopped Ringing."

But there is no sense of indignation in all this; I'm having an indulgent laugh at the sardonic humour my "long lost friends" would discern each time they dialled my phone and listened to the ring tone - William Onyeabor's When the Going is Good. I'm indulging myself also in little luxuries which residents of the Coal City take for granted such as jogging without worrying I could be harassed off the sidewalk by a commercial bike, and enjoying a smooth journey to work and back, neither experiencing a perennial gridlock nor the shakes you get driving on a potholed road.

Each day as I experience these and more I can't help conceding, as Governor Ugwuanyi often says, that Enugu State is indeed in the hands of God. •Ani is Senior Special Assistant on Research and Communications to the Enugu State governor.

Solution to puzzle 18

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Eminence Craps Flap Pause Gracious Menance Forecast Affine

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