Wednesday, january 21, 2015 binder1

A media partner of Sanctity Of Truth

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

Vol. 1 No. 336

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

@newtelegraph1 www.newtelegraphonline.com

N150

Inspector-General of Police moves Mbu to Lagos

Fuel marketers demand N250bn subsidy

Adeola Yusuf

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arely three days after the Federal Government slashed pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to N87 per litre, marketers yester-

day renewed demand for payment of their N250 billion outstanding subsidy.

Rising under the auspices of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), the marketers who said that

N95 billion of the debt is on accumulated Foreign Exchange (FOREX) differentials plus interest, demanded for an increase in N4.60 fuel distribution margin accruable to them on each litre of fuel.

Executive Secretary, MOMAN, Mr. Thomas Olawore, who said this at a press briefing in Lagos added that for the first time in the history of fuel price change in Nigeria, the government did not carry

marketers along with its Sunday night announcement of reduction in the price.

This came as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani AlisonCONTINUED ON PAGE 5

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24 days to go...

Nigeria votes

2015

ria Nige

s vote

2015

}14 & 15

Army to Buhari: Your certificate not with us

lDon't drag military into politics, APC warns

‘

In trying to destroy Gen. Buhari, the PDP and the Jonathan administration will end up destroying the Army as an institution – APC

‘

‘

Neither the original copy, certified true copy (CTC) nor statement of result of Buhari’s WASC result is in his personal file – Army

‘

Buhari

Travel Advisory Your guide to local and international flights 4

PDP, APC, others condemn Fayose's ‘offensive' advert lGovernor: I have no regrets, apologies

Onyekachi Eze, Johnchuks Onuanyim, Adesina Wahab and Temitope Ogunbanke

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E

kiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, yesterday came under attack from the Peoples

Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and

Buhari Support Organisations (BSO) over his hate advert on the APC presiCONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Quick Read

Editorial

The Obi/Obiano rapprochement

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IMF cuts Nigeria’s growth }2 to 4.8%

2

News

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Army to Buhari: Your certificate not with us Emmanuel Onani and Johnchuks Onuanyim Abuja

T

he controversy over the eligibility or otherwise of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, to contest the February 14 presidential poll deepened yesterday with the Nigeria Army saying it is not in possession of his secondary school certificate result.

DThe controversy over the eligibility or otherwise of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, to contest the February 14 presidential poll deepened yesterday with the Nigeria Army saying it is not in possession of his secondary school certificate result.

Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Olajide Olaleye, told reporters in Abuja that there were no proofs in the former head of state's service record to indicate that he possessed the West African School Certificate (WASC) before he was commissioned into the officers' cadre.

Rather, what was in the file was the application Buhari submitted for enlistment.

But APC, in a swift reaction, warned that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was trying to destroy the army by dragging it into politics.

Buhari is billed to address a press conference today in Kano on the certificate crisis.

Olaleye added that the information was necessary to laid to rest speculations over whether or not the army was in possession of Buhari's certificate as he had claimed in his nomination form submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) makes it mandatory for candidates vying for the office of the president, to possess a minimum of West African School Certificate (WASC) or its equivalent.

But Buhari, in an affidavit attached to his nomination form, averred that his certificate was with the military.

According to Olaleye, the Army does not have the original copy, Certified True Copy (CTC) or the statement of result of Buhari in his personal file.

He said: "Records available indicate that Major General M. Buhari applied to join the military

as a Form Six student of the Provincial Secondary School, Katsina on 18 Oct 61.

"His application was duly endorsed by the principal of the school, who also wrote a report on him and recommended him to be suitable for military commission."

He added that while it

is a standard practice and a time-honoured tradition that before the Army shortlists prospective candidates for commissioning into its officers' cadre, there is nothing in its records to show that the process was followed in the 1960s.

But he said the documentation in Buhari's

entry form (NA Form 199A), after he was commissioned, showed that he obtained WASC in 1961.

This claim, the Nigerian Army said, was not backed by any original copy, CTC or statement of result, for purposes of authentication.

"It is a practice in the NA that before candidates

are shortlisted for commissioning into the officers' cadre of the service, the Selection Board verifies the original copies of credentials that are presented.

"However, there is no available record to show that this process was followed in the 1960s.

Laleye said that the entry made on the Nigerian

Army Form 199A at the point of documentation after Buhari was commissioned as an officer, indicated that the former Head of State obtained the West African School Certificate (WASC) in 1961 “With credits in relevant subjects: English Language, Geography, HisCONTINUED ON PAGE 5

President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo (right), during a presidential rally in Katsina…yesterday.

IMF cuts Nigeria’s growth to 4.8%

lCBN to confront JP Morgan index team lDismisses devaluation rumour

Ayodele Aminu and Abdulwahab Isa

T

he International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slashed Nigeria’s economic growth forecast for this year to 4.8 per cent as against 7.3 per cent last October.

The Fund, in its World Economic Outlook update released yesterday in Beijing, also cut its 2015 economic growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa by almost 1 percentage point as falling oil prices curb output in the region’s biggest economy.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy is forecast by the IMF to expand at 4.9 per cent this year, down from a previous projection of 5.8 per cent, and grow 5.2 per cent in 2016.

Oil prices have plunged by more than half since June, curbing revenue and investment plans in Nigeria and Angola, both of which rely on crude proceeds for about 75 per cent of government revenue.

Nigeria’s currency, the naira, has slumped 14 per cent against the dollar in the past six months to a

record low of N188.53 as at the close of business yesterday.

Foreign reserves, which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) uses to defend the naira, have also slumped to $34.46 billion as at the last Monday.

“Oil exporters, for which oil receipts typically contribute a sizable share of fiscal revenues, are experiencing larger shocks in proportion to their economies,” the IMF said in a statement.

Going by the 2015 budget, Nigeria's economy is projected to grow at 5.5 per cent, down from an earlier projection of 6.4 per cent, due to lower oil revenues.

Nigeria's economy had grown by 6.21 per cent in the first quarter of 2014, up from 4.45 per cent in the same period last year.

This was however; lower than 6.77 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Last year, at the 2014 World Bank/IMF meetings, the World Bank had also forecast that African economies, including Nigeria’s, would strengthen to 5.2 per cent yearly be-

tween 2015 and 2016 from 4.6 per cent in 2014.

Meanwhile, manager of the Africa sovereign ratings team at Moody’s Investors Service, has told Bloomberg News that lower crude prices risk undermining economic growth in Nigeria and are weighing on the country’s credit rating.

This came barely five days after JP Morgan bank, which runs the most commonly used emerging debt indexes, threatened to carry out an assessment of Nigeria’s suitability to remain in a key emerging currency bond index because of a lack of liquidity in the country’s forex and bond markets.

But the CBN yesterday vowed to do everything within its powers to remain in the index.

The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, yesterday told newsmen at the end of the Monetary Policy Committees (MPC) meeting in Abuja that the removal of Nigeria could have serious adverse consequence on its economy.

“We disagree with the assertion that the market

is not liquid. It is important to note that the initial stage of reducing the open position from one to zero, does not mean there was no trading. There was intra-traded trading during that period; what we only insisted was the banks must close their net positions to zero because of the volatility that we saw in the market during that period of exchange rate.

"And we thought we could not allow that to continue because we also discovered certain uncomfortable tendencies in the market, which portends that there was some speculative attack on the currency. That was the reason we took that decision; and when took that decision, we were very clear when we said the net open position will still remain zero at that time in the interim; and that we will be monitoring the market when business resumed this month. After some review of what happened in the market between December 17th and January 12th when net open position was zero, the committee of governors met and decided

that, we should review net open position upward to 0 .1 %,” Emefiele said.

However, the CBN governor added the decision to leave the open market position on zero is not an ultimate decision but one that is subject to a review.

He said the CBN would not shirk in its core mandate of defending the foreign exchange market and external reserves.

He also ruled out the possibility of devaluing the naira as being speculated in public discourse.

He said the naira was appropriately priced as at now and as such there was no need to carry out another round of devaluation.

Satisfied with its Novembers’ MPC meeting position, all the 11 members voted to retain the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 13 per cent; Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) on private sector deposits at 20 per cent; CRR on public sector deposits at 75 per cent; and the liquidity ratio at 30 per cent.

A member however, voted for an asymmetric corridor around the MPR.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

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Travel Advisory

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

International Flight Schedule Air France

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

Flight No. AF 513 AF 3822 AF514 AF513 AF514 AF3849

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

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

Amsterdam-Lagos Lagos-Amsterdam

KL587 KL588

13:15hrs 23:05hrs

20:00hrs 05:50hrs

KLM

ARIK AIRLINES

Lagos-London London-Lagos Lagos-New York

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

VIRGIN ATLANTIC

Lagos-London London-Lagos

VS 652 VS 651

11:00hrs 22:40hrs

17:00hrs 4:40hrs

Lagos- Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi-Lagos

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

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

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

Lagos-Cairo Cairo-Lagos

MS 876 MS 875

14:25hrs 08:30hrs

22:20hrs 13:30hrs

ETIHAD AIRWAYS

EGYPT AIR

KENYA AIRWAYS

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

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

Lagos-Nairobi Nairobi-Lagos

KQ 533 KQ 534

12:30hrs 18:00hrs

19:35hrs 23:45hrs

12:30hrs

16:00hrs

Lagos-Kigali

11:15hrs

16:45hrs

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

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

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

14:00hrs

17:30hrs

22:35hrs 15:10hrs

06:00hrs 21:20hrs

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

hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs

01:00hrs

hrs

BA075 BA074 BA 082 BA 083

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

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

Lebanon-Lagos Lagos-Lebanon

MEA 571 MEA 572

3:00hrs 14:00hrs

8:00hrs 19:00hrs

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

EK 7821 (Sun-Sat) EK 7822 EK 7831 EK 7811 EK 761

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

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

Lagos-Doha Flight Doha-Lagos Flight

QR 1414 (daily) QR 1415

14:55hrs 07:20hrs

23:45hrs 13:35hrs

Lagos-Atlanta Atlanta-Lagos

DL053 DL 054

22:15hrs 5:15hrs

05:32hrs 16:15hrs

Accra-Lagos

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

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

BRITISH AIRWAYS

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

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

EMIRATES AIRLINES

QATAR AIRWAYS DELTA AIRLINES

UNITED AIRLINES

Lagos-Houston Houston-Lagos

UA 143 UA 142

10:10hrs 19:10hrs

6:05hrs 15.15hrs

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

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

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

Lagos-Madrid Madrid-Lagos

IB 3337 IB 3336

22:55hrs 16:00hrs

5:25+1hrs 20:20hrs

Lagos-Casablanca Casablanca-Lagos

AT738 AT 737

06:25hrs 02:15hrs

09:55hrs 6:00hrs

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES

IBERIA

air maroc

RwandAir

Kigali-Lagos

Turkish Airlines

Lagos-Istanbul Nairobi-Lagos

332 333

Air Côte d'Ivoire Lagos to Abidjan Abidjan to Lagos

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

ASKY AIRLINES

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

10:10hrs

10:50hrs

19:20hrs

21.50hrs

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

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

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

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

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

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

(SAT) 16:15 (SUN) 14:45 PORT-HARCOURT-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 16:50 (SAT) 18:20 (SUN) 16:50 AEROCONTRACTORS LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 06:50; 13:30; 16:30; 19:45 (SAT/SUN) 12:30; 16:45 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 07:30; 13:00; 19:00 (SAT) 12:30 (SUN) 15:30

MEDVIEW AIRLINES LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 07:00; 08:50; 12:00; 15:30 (SAT) 10:00; 15:00 (SUN) 17:30; 18:30 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 09:00; 14:00, 15:00; 18:30 OVERLAND AIRWAYS LAGOS-ILORIN (MON-FRI) 07:15 LAGOS-IBADAN (MON-FRI) 7:00

IBADAN-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 08:00 IBADAN-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 16:30 ILORIN –ABUJA (MON-FRI) 08:30 ILORIN –LAGOS (MON-FRI) 17:00 ABUJA-ASABA (MON-FRI) 10:00 ASABA-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 14:15 ASABA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 11:30 LAGOS-ASABA (MON-FRI) 13:00 ABUJA-ILORIN 16:00 ABUJA-IBADAN 15:00

News

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

5

Don't drag military into politics, APC warns CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

tory, Health Science, Hausa and a pass in English Literature.

“Neither the original copy, certified true copy (CTC) nor statement of result of Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s WASC result is in his personal file.”

He, however, assured Buhari that the Nigerian Army holds him in high esteem and will not be a party to any controversy surrounding his eligibility for any political office.

"The media hype on retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari's credentials as well as the numerous requests made by individuals and corporate bodies to the Nigerian Army on this issue, have necessitated that we provide the facts as contained

in the retired senior officer's service record," he stated.

Buhari's records, which contained his application and other information he had supplied for documentation, were shown to journalists for sighting and none includes the WASC, the CTC and the statement of result.

When asked if it were possible that the documents could have been misplaced, Olaleye said he was not in the Army as at the time Buhari was commissioned.

He, however, stated that the records available were what he had presented to the public, adding: "we have not added or subtracted anything."

But the APC expressed doubt over the motive of the Army, warning that

dragging the military into the Buhari's certificate controversy will destroy the armed forces.

In a statement in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party warned that the PDP and the Jonathan administration are playing a dangerous game by trying to compromise the military in order to satisfy selfish political objectives.

It urged the military, as a symbol of national unity, to beware of those who may be seeking to use it to achieve selfish and divisive end.

According to the party, Olaleye's statement that the Army is not in possession of Buhari's certificates conflicted with what he said on January 4 on the same issue.

''In an interview with the Punch on January 4, 2015, Brig.-Gen. Olaleye said: 'Every serving and retired Army officer has at least a copy of his certificates and credentials kept in the Nigerian Army while that same serving and retired officer has copies of those same certificates and credentials'. ''Is Brig.-Gen. Olaleye now saying that he did not make that statement? If he did, what has happened between then and now to make him to recant?

It will be interesting to know what has transpired between then and now,'' APC said.

The party said it was more worrisome that there was no evidence that the certificates of all those who joined the army in

the early 1960s were verified by the selection board. ''Is he now saying that all those who were commissioned into the officer cadre in the 1960s did not have their certificates verified? Does this not confirm what we said that in trying to destroy Gen. Buhari, the PDP and the Jonathan administration will end up destroying the Army as an institution? Or is it only Gen. Buhari that was commissioned into the army in the 1960s?'' it said.

Nonetheless, APC said even if the Army said it did not have certificates of Buhari, he is still qualified to run for the presidency as stipulated by the 1999 Constitution.

The party quoted Section 131 (d) of the Constitution: ''A person shall be

A crowd of supporters during the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential rally in Kano State…yesterday.

Fuel marketers renew demand for N250bn subsidy CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Madueke, who set up a committee to review this demand for distribution margin hike, ordered the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to heighten monitoring of marketers' level of compliance to the new price.

"It is true that MOMAN has placed this demand before the government and I can tell you that the minister is already looking at the demand. A committee will be set up on this and while this is going on, she has given a standing order to the DPR to ensure total compliance to the new price by marketers nationwide," a staff of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources who craved anonymity because she is not authorised to speak to the press, told New Telegraph.

Though Olawore did not mention the volume of increase his association is demanding for on their margin, New Telegraph gathered that the hike is to about 25 per cent.

He said: "Marketers are saying one thing that the provision for subsidy in the 2015, which is N200 billion is not enough to even foot the N250 billion outstanding subsidy of 2014.

"The agreement we signed with the PPPRA must be honoured. Part of the agreement is that payment of our outstanding subsidy should be made after 45 days according to the agreement; interest and foreign exchange fluctuation must also be respected and honoured.

"Because we have not been paid the differentials and because of this some banks have specifically

told some of us that they will no longer pay credit line.

"Our demand to government is pay us what you owe us in 2014 and we want them to offset everything they owe us on interest and foreign exchange."

The MOMAN scribe added that the government has to pay more subsidy to marketers with the new price slash.

"Over recovery has reduced with this new price and the government will now have to pay us," he declared, arguing that the fall in crude price at the international market "does not necessarily translate to automatic reduction in fuel price."

Stating that the new fuel price reduction came to the association as a surprise, Olawore said: "On Sunday just as we were

about to sleep we heard the news of the decrease in price. There was no detail given until we were called for a meeting on Monday.

"The Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulating Agency (PPPRA), who called the meeting told us that it is the right of the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources (HMOPR) to announce decrease or increase of price of PMS. He quoted the Petroleum Act to back up this position.

"All the distribution margins; marketers margin, transport margin, marine margin were not affected by the price reduction. Effectively it was the ex-depot price that was changed.

"Are we happy about that? Not really because

for the past eight years (July 2007) we have been clamouring for increase in distribution margins.

The margins are no longer adequate."

Olawore continued: "We have been in touch with the PPPRA and the minister has directed that a committee should be set up to review this margin.

"We do not object to N87 and we will comply.

But the time of compliance generally is affected by the way the announcement was made. Before any announcement we are supposed to be informed but this one was kept as a secret until that Sunday."

He was accompanied to the conference by Executive Secretary of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN), Mr. Olufemi Adewole.

qualified for election to the office of President if he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent'' to support its case on Buhari's eligibility.

APC said the meaning and interpretation of ''School Certificate level or its equivalent could be found in the Constitution under part IV, Section 318.

In that Section, a ''School Certificate or its equivalent'' is defined quite succinctly thus: (a) A Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent, Grade II Teacher's Certificate, the City and Guilds Certificate; or (b) Education up to Secondary School Certificate Level; or (c) Primary Six School Leaving Certificate or its equivalent.

The party said since Olaleye had confirmed that Buhari indeed applied to join the Army from Form Six, that the principal of the school he attended even attested to his suitability and that the form he filled contained his Secondary School Certificate results, there is no scintilla of doubt about his qualification to run for presidency as stipulated by the constitution.

On the contradictions in the statements credited to the Army spokesman, the party said: “It is true that our once globally-respected military has now been made comatose by the PDP-led Federal Government, but we believe things have not reached the level where the same military will be engaging in actions that amount to self-destruction, just to satisfy some political interests.

“We believe things have not reached a level where we, as a nation, will now be giving the impression that a man who rose to become a Major-General in the Nigerian Army does not have requisite qualifications?

“What really is happening in our country if some politicians have now decided to engage in an action that will amount to dragging the military into politics, dividing an institution that is a symbol of national unity, trivializing the service of those who fought to keep Nigeria one and ridiculing the same country it is supposed to be ruling?

“We have said it before and will like to repeat: Enough is enough about this distraction orchestrated by the PDP and the Jonathan administration whose electioneering campaign for next month's polls has suffered a train wreck.”

News

6

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

IGP moves Mbu to Lagos, redeploys 27 others lPolice Commission promotes AIG Emmanuel Onani Abuja

T

he Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Suleiman Abba, has ordered, with immediate effect, the re-deployment of 28 Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs) to various zonal commands, departments and formations.

According to a statement signed yesterday by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Emmanuel Ojukwu, an Acting Commissioner of Police, AIG Mbu Joseph Mbu, now heads Zone 2, Lagos.

Mbu, who moves from zone 7, Abuja, will replace AIG Umaru Manko, who will resume as Director of Study Group, Nigeria Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, near Jos. Mbu’s tenure as Commissioner for Police in Rivers State was laced with controversies. He was at loggerheads with the state governor, Rotimi Amaechi, over political activities in the state.

Mbu was accused of working in tandem with

the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the then Minister of State for Education and governorship candidate in Rivers, Nyesom Wike.

He was later redeployed to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as CP. After his elevation as AIG, Mbu described himself as Lion that tamed the

Leopard in Port Harcourt, referring to Governor Amaechi.

While AIG Tambari Mohammed remains in zone 1 Kano, AIG Adenrele Shinaba moves to head zone 4, Makurdi.

AIG Johnson Ogunsakin takes charge of zone 6, Calabar; AIG Musa Daura remains at zone 5,

Benin; AIG Patrick Dokumor moves from NIPSS to zone 7, Abuja. Commissioner of Police Ikemefuna Okoye will leave Ogun State to Zone 11, Osogbo, Osun State as AIG. Ojukwu noted that the redeployment was part of ongoing reorganisation in the Nigeria Police, coupled with recent pro-

motion of senior officers and existing vacancies.

While charging the Senior Officers to bring their experience to bear on their new postings and be more service-oriented in the discharge of their constitutional responsibilities, the IGP urges the public to partner closely with the force in its deter-

mination to ensure improved safety and security of our country.

Meanwhile, the Police Service Commission (PSC) yesterday approved the promotion of a Commissioner of Police, Adenike Fehintola, to the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG).

L-R: Deputy Director, Planning and Research, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Umesi Emenike; Director, Disaster and Risk Reduction, Alhaji Alhassan Nuhu and Director, Planning, Research and Forecasting, Dr. Zanna Mohammed, at a national humanitarian coordinating forum in Abuja…yesterday.

PHOTO: ELIJAH OLALUYI

TODAY’S WEATHER FORECAST

PDP, APC, others condemn Fayose's ‘offensive' advert

LAGOS

dential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).

The advert, published in three national dailies on Monday in which Fayose was mobilising support for President Goodluck Jonathan's candidacy, warned against the election of Buhari because given his age at 72, he could die in office.

Besides, Fayose said the possibility of Buhari dying in office could not be ruled out because apart from his age, he comes from the North-West, a geopolitical zone that has produced three leaders who died in office.

The governor listed the three deceased leaders from the North-West as former Head of State, General Murtala Muhammed, who was assassinated in a coup in 1975; General Sani Abacha and former President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

But Fayose’s party, the PDP, dissociated itself from the hate advert.

Director, Media and Publicity of PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi FaniKayode, told reporters in Abuja that the governor's position was not that of the party.

Fani-Kayode said Jonathan and PDP believed in the sanctity of life, adding

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that age is not an indication of longevity.

"It (advert) does not represent our opinion.

This is the position of the presidential campaign organisation of President Jonathan.

"We must continue to show immense respect for General Buhari as a person. We do not wish him ill; we do not wish him dead, we wish him well.

We believe it is important to always raise question about facts, you know what these questions are and we will continue to raise them," he said.

Also, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the PDP had violated the violence-free accord with the advert.

He said: "But for our party's ceaseless enlightenment of our members and supporters to shun violence of any kind even when provoked, and the peaceful disposition of the APC as a party, one can only imagine what could have happened in the wake of this demonic advert, laced with ethnic put-down and a morallyrepugnant death wish for a fellow being. ''We are therefore calling on all those who witnessed the signing of the pact, especially former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former

Commonwealth Secretary General Emeka Anyaoku, to take note of this very serious breach of the agreement and urgently call President Goodluck Jonathan and his party to order.

“We are also calling on all Nigerians, as well as security agencies, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) to take note of the political desperation of the PDP and its supporters, while warning that we will hold President Jonathan and his party responsible if anything untoward should happen to the APC presidential candidate."

The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room) described the advert as being in extreme bad taste and falls within the category of hate speech prohibited under the Electoral Act and other known international laws that forbid the publication of hate speech.

According to the Situation Room, the advertisement negates the Abuja Accord recently signed by the presidential candidates.

The Situation Room is made up of CSOs working in support of credible and transparent elections in Nigeria.

They include Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), CLEEN Foundation, Action Aid Nigeria, Centre for Democracy and Development, Enough is Enough Nigeria, Wangonet, CISLAC and several other CSOs. The group expressed disappointment that such a publication could emanate from a highly-placed political office holder.

But an adamant Fayose dismissed the criticisms, saying he has no apology over the advertorial.

Fayose, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, said the truth would never be covered indefinitely.

He reiterated his claim that the APC presidential candidate is too old and sick to be the president.

The governor said the advertorial was his personal opinion as a citizen of and not the opinion of PDP. However, the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) has dismissed the rebuttal by the PDP. A statement from the Directorate of Media and Publicity of the APC presidential campaign yesterday said the denial by Fani-Kayode was “merely a case of a master dissoci-

ating himself from the errand boy after the message had backfired.”

Director of Media and Publicity of the APCPCO, Mallam Garba Shehu, said the response of the ruling party was "too casual and off-handed to impress anyone."

"It doesn't sound convincing. The PDP needs to take this issue more seriously to underscore its commitment to the sustenance of Nigeria's democracy and the non-violence pact entered into by the party and its presidential candidate.

“It is very irresponsible for the PDP to want to distance itself from the death threat to General Buhari, made by not only a sitting governor of the PDP, but also a high-ranking member of the PDP Presidential Campaign Committee.

“Just in case the PDP had forgotten, what was Fani-Kayode thinking in his mind when he challenged General Buhari to make a jog round a field?

Was it to put him through a body fitness workout or to plant a sniper somewhere around the field?

“Whatever the intention of the PDP was, about the health status of General Buhari, we in the APC Campaign believe in the exclusivity of the divine role in the matters of life and death,” Shehu said.

7

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

PLATEAU STATE UNIVERSITY, BOKKOS OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR

INVITATION FOR PRE-QUALIFICATION OF CONTRACTORS/SUPPLIERS FOR THE 2013 TETFUND SPECIAL INTERVENTION The Plateau State University, Bokkos, invites Contractors/Suppliers for the Procurement of a 52-Seater Mercedes Benz Bus In compliance with the Public Procurement Act, 2007, the University is therefore, inviting reputable Contractors with proven competence and experience for pre-qualification. Interested Contractors are requested to submit pre-qualification documents which MUST be arranged in the following order.

MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS 1) Evidence of Registration/Incorporation by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

2) Company’s tax clearance certificate for the preceding three (3) years i.e. 2011, 2012 and 2013.

3) Company’s audited accounts for the last three (3) years i.e. 2011, 2012 and 2013 including annual turnover.

4) Evidence of payment of Industrial Training Fund (ITF) employers’ contribution.

5) Evidence of compliance with Pension Reform Act 2014.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS i) Evidence of financial capability to execute the projects, Bank reference and a commitment to provide loan facility for the execution of the contract, if won. ii) List of similar verifiable and successfully completed or on-going projects. Enclose copies of letters of award, interim payment certificates and practical completion certificates, in the last five (5) years (i.e.

2009 to-date only). iii) Have fulfilled all its obligations to pay taxes, Company Income Tax, Education Tax, Pensions, and Social Security Contribution as contained in Section 16, Subsection 6 (d) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007. iv) List of key managerial, technical and administrative staff of the company. This should include names, qualifications, curriculum vitae and copies of certificates and professional certificates of registration. v) VAT registration with evidence of remittances in the three (3) years (i.e. 2011, 2012 and 2013). vi) List of equipment owned or to be leased by the company for the execution of the project showing evidence of ownership. vii) A sworn affidavit indicating that all documents submitted are genuine, verifiable and that, no officer of the University has a pecuniary interest or is a former, present director or shareholder in the company. viii) Evidence of community social responsibility, if any. ix) Non-compliance with the instructions will lead to disqualification.

Please come along with original copies of all submitted documents for sighting on the day of opening of the pre-qualification documents. All claims are subject to verification. Please note that any false claims shall be ground for disqualification.

COLLECTION OF PRE-QUALIFICATION DOCUMENTS The pre-qualification document is to be collected in the Office of the Registrar, Plateau State University, Bokkos upon payment of a non refundable processing fee of Twenty Thousand Naira only (N20,000.00) for each of the LOT in account number 1006463695 of the University with United Bank for Africa Plc and obtain a receipt at the Bursary Department of the University within three (3) weeks from the date of this publication.

SUBMISSION OF PRE-QUALIFICATION DOCUMENTS The Pre-qualification documents should be spiral bound, packaged and envelope indicating the LOT at the top left hand corner of the envelope. The name, address of the company and telephone number shall also be clearly written on the reverse side of the envelope. All documents are to be addressed to the Registrar, Plateau State University, Bokkos and submitted in the Tender box provided in the Registrar's Office, not later than 10:30am three (3) weeks from the date of this publication.

OPENING OF PRE-QUALIFICATION DOCUMENTS The Pre-qualification documents will be opened three (3) weeks from the date of this publication at 10:30am in the Senate Chambers, Plateau State University, Bokkos.

Contractors are to attend the meeting for the opening of the pre-qualification documents. Only pre-qualified contractors shall be invited to tender for the projects accordingly. The list of successful pre-qualified companies will be displayed on the University Notice Board at the front of the Administrative Building.

PLEASE NOTE 1) A submission of the pre-qualification documents to the Plateau State University, Bokkos is neither a commitment nor an obligation to award contract to any contractor or his agent.

2) All claims are subject to verification. Take notice that any false claim shall be a ground for disqualification.

3) The Plateau State University, Bokkos reserves the right to reject any or all documents submitted at any time prior to tendering or acceptance.

4) The Plateau State University, Bokkos reserves the right to cancel the procurement proceedings at any stage in the public interest without incurring any liability to any firm.

5) Please come along with all originals of your submitted documents on the date of pre-qualification documents/box opening for sighting.

6) Arrange your pre-qualification documents for submission as it appears on the advert.

7) Failure to comply with any of the above mentioned instructions (especially numbers 5 and 6) will lead to outright disqualification.

Daniel D. Kim

Registrar/Secretary to Council Monday 19th January, 2015

PLATEAU STATE UNIVERSITY, BOKKOS OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR

INVITATION FOR PRE-QUALIFICATION FOR YEAR 2013 TETFUND SPECIAL INTERVENTION The Plateau State University, Bokkos, intends to execute the following projects: LOT 1: Proposed Construction of 3-Storey Office/Lecture Room for Faculty of Social Sciences LOT 2: Proposed Construction of Lecture Theatre for Faculty of Social Sciences LOT 3: Proposed External work for both Offices/Lecture Rooms and Lecture Theatre for Faculty of Social Sciences LOT 4: Procurement and Installation of Offices Furniture for Faculty of Social Sciences LOT 5: Procurement and Installation of Lecture Rooms Furniture for Faculty of Social Sciences LOT 6: Procurement and Installation of Lecture Theatre Seats for Faculty of Social Sciences LOT 7: Procurement of 2 Nos. of Toyota Hilux Pick-up Vans LOT 8: Procurement of 2 Nos. of 30-seater Toyota Coaster Buses In compliance with the Public Procurement Act, 2007, the University is therefore, inviting reputable Contractors with proven competence and experience for pre-qualification. Interested Contractors are requested to submit pre-qualification documents which MUST be arranged in the following order.

MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS 1) Evidence of Registration/Incorporation by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

2) Company’s tax clearance certificate for the preceding three (3) years i.e. 2011, 2012 and 2013.

3) Company’s audited accounts for the last three (3) years i.e. 2011, 2012 and 2013 including annual turnover.

4) Evidence of payment of Industrial Training Fund (ITF) employers’ contribution.

5) Evidence of compliance with Pension Reform Act 2014.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS i) Evidence of financial capability to execute the projects, Bank reference and a commitment to provide loan facility for the execution of the contract, if won. ii) List of similar verifiable and successfully completed or on-going projects. Enclose copies of letters of award, interim payment certificates and practical completion certificates, in the last five (5) years (i.e.

2009 to-date only). iii) Have fulfilled all its obligations to pay taxes, Company Income Tax, Education Tax, Pensions, and Social Security Contribution as contained in Section 16, Subsection 6 (d) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007. iv) List of key managerial, technical and administrative staff of the company. This should include names, qualifications, curriculum vitae and copies of certificates and professional certificates of registration. v) VAT registration with evidence of remittances in the three (3) years (i.e. 2011, 2012 and 2013). vi) List of equipment owned or to be leased by the company for the execution of the project showing evidence of ownership. vii) A sworn affidavit indicating that all documents submitted are genuine, verifiable and that, no officer of the University has a pecuniary interest or is a former, present director or shareholder in the company. viii) Evidence of community social responsibility, if any. ix) Non-compliance with the instructions will lead to disqualification.

Please come along with original copies of all submitted documents for sighting on the day of opening of the pre-qualification documents. All claims are subject to verification. Please note that any false claims shall be ground for disqualification.

COLLECTION OF PRE-QUALIFICATION DOCUMENTS The pre-qualification document is to be collected in the Office of the Registrar, Plateau State University, Bokkos upon payment of a non refundable processing fee of Twenty Thousand Naira only (N20,000.00) for each of the LOT in account number 1006463695 of the University with United Bank for Africa Plc and obtain a receipt at the Bursary Department of the University within three (3) weeks from the date of this publication.

SUBMISSION OF PRE-QUALIFICATION DOCUMENTS The Pre-qualification documents should be spiral bound, packaged and envelope indicating the LOT at the top left hand corner of the envelope. The name, address of the company and telephone number shall also be clearly written on the reverse side of the envelope. All documents are to be addressed to the Registrar, Plateau State University, Bokkos and submitted in the Tender box provided in the Registrar's Office, not later than 10:30am three (3) weeks from the date of this publication.

OPENING OF PRE-QUALIFICATION DOCUMENTS The Pre-qualification documents will be opened three (3) weeks from the date of this publication at 10:30am in the Senate Chambers, Plateau State University, Bokkos.

Contractors are to attend the meeting for the opening of the pre-qualification documents. Only pre-qualified contractors shall be invited to tender for the projects accordingly. The list of successful pre-qualified companies will be displayed on the University Notice Board at the front of the Administrative Building.

PLEASE NOTE 1) A submission of the pre-qualification documents to the Plateau State University, Bokkos is neither a commitment nor an obligation to award contract to any contractor or his agent.

2) All claims are subject to verification. Take notice that any false claim shall be a ground for disqualification.

3) The Plateau State University, Bokkos reserves the right to reject any or all documents submitted at any time prior to tendering or acceptance.

4) The Plateau State University, Bokkos reserves the right to cancel the procurement proceedings at any stage in the public interest without incurring any liability to any firm.

5) Please come along with all originals of your submitted documents on the date of pre-qualification documents/box opening for sighting.

6) Arrange your pre-qualification documents for submission as it appears on the advert.

7) Failure to comply with any of the above mentioned instructions (especially numbers 5 and 6) will lead to outright disqualification.

Daniel D. Kim

Registrar/Secretary to Council Friday 16th January, 2015

8

News

NIRP attracts $59 Amadi Nnamdi ABUJA.

T

he Minister of Trade, Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr.Olusegun Aganga has disclosed that Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) has attracted over $59 billion worth of investment into the country.

Aganga made this disclosure yesterday during the launch of National Cotton, Textile and Garment Policy (NCTG Policy) under the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP).

According to Aganga: “The total pipeline investments into NIRP subsectors and the enablers are estimated to have exceeded $59 billion and this includes about $14 billion going into petroleum products, petrochemicals, fertilizers and methanol.”

The Minister, while advocating for massive industrialization in Nigeria, said the success stories of advanced economies began with sound industrial processes helped by sound micro-economic policies, adding that the primary objective of the NIRP is to diversify Nigeria's economy and the sources of revenue through commodities based industrialisation.

Why Buhari is travelling to United States

C

ontrary to speculations that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari( rtd) would soon be travelling to the United States for an urgent medical check up, indications emerged yesterday that his trip was rather to deliver a lecture on the invitation of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) based in Washington DC. A local online media platform, PREMIUM TIMES, yesterday said it obtained a letter signed by the Director, African Programme of CSIS, Jennifer Cooke, inviting Buhari to the organisation’s headquarters in Washington DC “to give a major public address on Nigeria’s future as it stands on the edge of a pivotal national elections.”

According to the online platform, Buhari was given the liberty to choose a convenient date for the proposed lecture.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

NATIONAL

UN wants Boko Haram to release Chibok girls Mojeed Alabi

F

or the umpteenth time, the United Nations, UN, has appealed to the Boko Haram insurgents to as a matter of urgency release the over 200 abducted pupils of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, and other kidnapped individuals.

The global body, which made the appeal yesterday through its Security

Council, also decried the increasing spate of violence in Nigeria, especially in the troubled North Eastern part, while also reaffirming its decision to place Boko Haram on the Al-Qaeda sanctions list.

In a press statement released yesterday by the National Information Officer, United Nations Information Centre in Lagos, Oluseyi Soremekun, the body also frowned at

the increasing attacks in the Lake Chad Basin region along Nigeria’s borders with Chad and Cameroon and in the northern provinces of Cameroon.

It said the escalation of violence involving the conscription of children to act as suicide bombers was condemnable.

The Council, according to the statement, reaffirmed that “terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is criminal and

unjustifiable, regardless of its motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.”

It insisted that terrorism cannot and should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group.

The statement reads in part: “The Security Council expresses its deep sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and expresses

L-R: Managing Director, Nigeria Railway Corporation, Adeseyi Sijuade; Deputy Chairman, House of Reps Committee on Land Transportation, Dr. Davis Sekonte and Director General, Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology, Alhaji Aminu Yusuf, during a conference on rail transport system in Abuja…yesterday.

PHOTO: ELIJAH OLALUYI

FREED

Army court frees soldier charged with offences against service rules Emmanuel Onani

A

General Court Martial (GCM) that sat at the Army Headquarters (AHQ) Garrison in Abuja yesterday discharged and acquitted one Lieutenant Colonel SS Tilawan.

The Brigadier General Musa Yusuf-led GCM discharged and acquitted Tilawan on offences bordering on alleged wrong channel of communica-

Mutiny: Court-martial discharges Colonel, winds up tion on his command of a battalion against the Boko Haram sect.

The accused officer was charged alongside 96 other officers and soldiers, for various offences against service rules: mutiny, attempt to commit mutiny, Absence Without Official Leave (AWOL) among others.

He was freed on account of a No Case Submission application made by his counsel, Colonel Godwin Anyalemechi of the Defence Headquarters (DHQ).

According to a highlyplaced military source,

the nine-member GCM upheld the submission of the defence counsel to the effect that, the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses presented by the Nigerian Army, failed to provide evidence that will indict the accused officer.

The defence counsel was said to have argued that even if it was established that the accused officer made offensive publication through wrong channels, the Nigerian Army did not suffer any prejudice or damage in its command and control.

IBB applauds launch of I.D. Card Dan Atori MINNA

F

ormer Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida on Monday applauded the launch of the national identity card, saying he was grateful to God to have been issued a card while alive.

He said at his Hilltop

home when the Director General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) led a management team to hand him his I.D. Card that: "I am proud I have this one while I am still alive, please keep it up. And for those who have not succeeded in enrolling, try to make sure you do it fast.

"I think if there is

something one should be very proud of, it is being a citizen. If there is something that confirms you as a citizen, that is something to be proud of.”

While charging Nigerians to ensure they get registered and be given their I.D. Cards, IBB commended the NIMC for their efforts saying, "you will eventually get there".

its sympathy to all those injured in these attacks, and to the people and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as well as the people and Governments of other affected countries.

“The Security Council strongly condemns and deplores all abuses of human rights and where applicable, violations of international humanitarian law by the terrorist group Boko Haram, since 2009, including those involving violence against civilian populations, notably women and children, kidnappings, killings, hostage-taking, pillaging, rape, sexual slavery and other sexual violence, recruitment of children and destruction of civilian property.

“The Security Council expresses serious concerns over the reported violations and abuses of human rights and largescale displacements of civilian population, including into Nigeria’s neighbouring countries.

The Council recalls its decision to place Boko Haram on the A1-Qaida sanctions list.

“The Security Council demands that Boko Haram immediately and unequivocally cease all hostilities and all abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law and disarm and demobilise."

Legislative Institute partners open varsity Chukwu David ABUJA

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he Nigerian Institute of Legislative Studies (NILS), which serves as the intellectual capacity building arm of the National Assembly, has entered into agreement with the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) to establish a special study centre at the National Assembly for the purpose of training the lawmakers and their staff.

The two training institutions entered into the

agreement at an event signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Abuja on Monday on the proposed partnership Programme.

In his remarks during the event, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Vincent Tenebe, explained that the uniqueness of the special study centre was that it would enable the lawmakers, their staff, members of their families and their immediate communities the opportunity to study at the institution.

JOHESU protests non implementation of agreement with FG Appolonia Adeyemi

H

ealth workers, under the aegis of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi- Araba, yesterday protested against the delay in the implementation of their agreement with the Federal Government .

The aggrieved workers, who were mostly nurses, pharmacists, record officers and labora-

tory scientists, accused the Federal Government of not prioritising their needs due to the upcoming February elections in the country.

Chairman of the National Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Chapter, Adefemi Adegoke, said that the Federal Government has not met with JOHESU this year for a dialogue.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

9

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

10

Metro

Boy witnesses mom’s murder, watches over body HEART-RENDING A boy, made to watch his mother’s killing, clings to her body

Taiwo Jimoh

T

he residents of Idowu Taylor Street, Victoria Island, Lagos were shocked on Monday morning to discover a fiveyear-old boy watching over the body of his mother.

The boy’s mother, said to be a prostitute, was allegedly killed by some yet-to-beidentified assailants who also dumped her body near the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry. She had been stabbed under her left hand armpit and her back.

A witness said that people cried when they woke up and saw the boy watching over his mother’s body. It is believed that the boy might have witnessed his mother’s killing.

According to the witness, the boy had apparently tried to shake awake his mother, identified simply as Joy, but when there was no response, sat beside her.

The residents’ efforts to get information from the boy were abortive.

When policemen from Bar Beach Police Station came to remove the body, the boy hung onto his mother, crying until he was allowed to go with the corpse in the police van.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Kenneth

Idowu Taylor Street

Nwosu, who confirmed the murder, said he would later contact our correspondent on the boy’s whereabouts. But at press time, he was yet to do so.

He said: “We are investigating the cause of her death. We are also conducting autopsy on her because when our men visited the scene, blood was coming out of her ear and nose.”

A witness said: “We saw the boy sitting beside her, watch-

ing helplessly. He was with her until the police came. He went with the police and his mother’s body.”

Another witness said: “Some mobile policemen guarding the Commerce House were the first to see the body and the boy. They informed the management of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry which invited the police. The Divisional Police Officer in

charge of Bar Beach Station led a police team to the scene.

The woman’s body was later evacuated from the area.”

A resident, who gave his name simply as John, said the woman was an easy going person.

He said: “I saw her last on Sunday. She came to my saloon with her little boy to give him haircut. I was shocked to hear of her death this morning (Mon-

day). I heard that unknown assailants killed her in the night.

People said she was a prostitute, but I do not know if that was true. I only know that she used to come out only at night.”

Mrs. Hannah Kanu, a trader in area, said the deceased was a mother of two.

“She had no job. She used to come out at night, to hang around. I was surprised to hear of her death.”

Ado Poly shut as students protest workers’ strike Adesina Wahab Ado-Ekiti

T

he Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti (Ado Poly) was shut yesterday following a protest by the students.

The new wave of protest arose from the decision of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), the NonAcademic Staff Union (NASU) and Senior Staff Association

ABIODUN BELLO FEATURES Editor

abiodun.bello@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP) to continue their industrial action.

ASUP, for instance, held a congress on Monday during which members resolved to continue their industrial action.

The Rector, Dr Taiwo Akande, yesterday ordered the closure of the school.

Early in the morning, the students gathered at the main gate of the institution to protest that the incessant faceoff between the management and the unions was having a negative impact on their studies and urged the two sides to resolve the issue.

The protest was led by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) South-West Coordinator, Sunday Ashefon.

Ashefon said three students were arrested by the police and that within seven days, Akande must reopen the school or other students

would be mobilised to disrupt the burial ceremony of the rector’s mother.

The students also claimed that their school fees were outrageous and complained that the polytechnic lacked facilities like electricity, water, etc.

They added that their hostels and lecture rooms were in bad conditions.

The students alleged that the polytechnic authorities owed the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) electricity bills to the tune of N2.5 million which had thrown the hostels into darkness.

However, the situation degenerated when armed policemen came to disperse the students with tear gas. The protesters had to run into safety.

Speaking with reporters before the students were dispersed, the Vice-Chairman of NANS in Ekiti State, Oluwapelumi Ogunmekun, said indus-

trial actions at the polytechnic had disrupted academic activities in the last one year.

He accused the management and the unions of playing games with the destiny of the students.

Ogunmekun was angry that the lecturers, at their Monday meeting, voted in favour of continuation of their strike.

He alleged that the Students’ Union Government (SUG) of the polytechnic had been compromised by the management, hence the invitation to NANS to “fight on behalf of the students”.

But the SUG President, Oladapo Ajibola, denied being compromised by the management, saying he was also part of the protest to ensure the resolution of industrial action embarked upon by the unions.

Ajibola explained that the students had been on the campus since January 4 without

any academic activity going on.

He added that the students’ union would hold another meeting with the management to find a way out of the crisis.

The Deputy Rector (Academics), Afolabi Bamidele, explained that the management was working hard to resolve the crisis.

He said that the management had met with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) officials in Abuja in a bid to resolve the crisis.

Bamidele, however, argued that the students had to leave the school for all issues to be resolved.

He said: “We are making headway with the unions but one of the unions had a congress on Monday and voted that the strike should continue. We now feel that the students should go home so that they won’t be staying in the school doing nothing.”

Metro 11

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

FRSC trains naval personnel on defensive driving Clement James Calabar

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ederal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has trained officers and ratings of the Eastern Naval Command of the Nigerian Navy on the rudiments of defensive driving.

The training was held in Calabar yesterday.

The Deputy Route Commander of the Corps (Calabar office), Mr Daniel Itsoga, said that it was important for personnel of the Navy to be educated on the use of road information signs.

According to Itsoga, most road crashes occur as a result of non-compliance to road information signs and over speeding.

He said: “As a driver, it is important for you to obey road information signs. These information signs are useful because they direct and lead a visitor to his destination.”

According to him, the importance of the road information signs is to help a visitor to locate his direction if he or she is entering a particular city for the first time.

He said that road traffic crash did not recognise immunity, uniform or personality, hence the need to obey simple road rules and regulations.

Itsoga, therefore, urged naval personnel to always have fire extinguishers in their vehicles as well as having the knowledge of using it.

He added: “The offence of a driver not having a fire extinguisher is N5,000 in the FRSC offence sheet. You must possess all these safety requirements and it is important for you to be cautious when driving.’’

One of the vandalised vechicles

Policemen at the scene of the clash

Area boys kill two, destroy 80 vehicles Camillus Nnaji and Alex Nwanokwai

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wo persons were killed yesterday while more than 80 vehicles were vandalised when two factions of street urchins, otherwise known as area boys, clashed at Oshodi in Lagos State.

The clash started on Monday and continued yesterday.

The warring factions inflicted machete cuts, not just on one another, but also on the residents, traders and commuters in the area.

The police said that five persons had been arrested in connection with the violent clash.

There was panic as gunshots rent the air, forcing people to scamper for safety. Windows of houses were also damaged.

A commuter, who was heading to her office, but caught in the fray, said she was terrified when the violence broke out suddenly about 9am.

The woman, who appeared and sounded still shaken,

said: “They were armed with machetes and axes. They were many. They were so young.

Their appearance on the Oshodi Expressway forced many vehicles to stop, including ours.

“Their appearances were menacing. We all started jumping down from our bus.

Some of us even jumped through the window.

“They held a young man going with a LAWMA truck and inflicted machete cut on his head. He ran to where we were hiding, bleeding profusely.”

The factions are identified as Orile Street and Sadiku Street boys.

The residents said that the leader of the Orile faction, identified as Kamoru, was killed yesterday, while another yet-to-be-identified youngster from Sadiku faction was killed on Monday. Yesterday’s clash was a reprisal attack and a spill-over from Monday.

A visit to different streets at Mafoluku, Oshodi area showed that over 80 vehicles

Unemployment: One-man protester slumps Steve Uzoechi OWERRI

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one-man protester, who is also the National President of Youth Mountain of Hope Development Centre, Chikezie Erege, yesterday collapsed at the Government House roundabout

by Wetheral Road, Owerri, Imo State.

Erege had been protesting alone around the country in the last couple of months, saying his intention was to attract government’s attention to the plight of Nigerian youths.

He subsequently declared a hunger strike late last year to protest the current unemployment situation ravaging Nigeria and its effects on the youth.

The activist collapsed after demonstrating round Owerri, the state capital, while sustaining his hunger strike.

Earlier, Erege had told journalists that he had demonstrated for 498

Erege

days touring all states of the federation, protesting against the unemployment of youths and inadequate infrastructure.

He had explained that he embarked on the oneman non-violent demonstration to demand better condition for the youth and good governance from various state governments.

According to him, the news of 16,400 Nigerians serving in UK prisons and

more than 1,000 languishing in the Chinese prisons as well the about 350 Nigerians roasting in different prisons in Germany drove him to embark on the daily demonstration.

He said: “I have been demonstrating peacefully for close to 500 days, asking government at all levels to do their best to engage our youths and restore the lost glory of Nigeria. Nobody had paid me any attention.

As a result, I declared a hunger strike.”

Erege refused to accept any sustenance from journalists and passers-by who tried to assist him, insisting that his situation was a little price to pay for the future of the Nigerian youth.

Lamenting his experience in the course of his protest across the country, Erege said he had been humiliated and beaten by law enforcement agents in most of the states he had demonstrated in.

were smashed.

Several buildings on Sadiku, Femi Akinsola, Jubril, Agbole Afariogun and Orile streets were vandalised while some residents were robbed of their valuables.

A witness, who gave his name as Tunde, said that a party on Sadiku Street turned violent.

He said: “The fight started over unknown reason leading to the death of one of the boys.

They started smashing cars, buses and trucks parked on the streets. They entered homes of people, smashed windows, doors and gates. About 8am today (yesterday), another faction armed with guns and dangerous weapons started moving from street to street, vandalising people’s property and causing breach of the peace.”

Another resident said his shop was vandalised yesterday while a lawyer who lives in one of the vandalised houses, was robbed of his phones and laptop.

The streets soon became deserted as the residents hid in

Muritala Ayinla

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ll farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN) and the Lagos State Council of Trades Men and Artisans (LASCOTA) yesterday called on the lawmaker representing the Lagos East, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, to provide them more farming inputs.

Speaking at a meeting held at Ikosi Ketu, the state AFAN Chairman, Otunba Femi Oke, who made the demand, said provision of the inputs would boost food production in the state.

Oke recalled that farmers were the first to benefit from Ashafa’s empowerment programme.

According to him, the lawmaker provided them with farming tools such as hooks, fishing nets, knapsack sprayers, fertilisers, hoes, cutlasses and other farming implements.

Oke called on other elected office holders

their houses. Broken bottles littered the streets.

Around 11am, over 50 policemen from Area ‘F’ Police Command, Shogunle Police Station, Rapid Respond Squad (RRS) and Operation Mesa took over the entire area. The police cordoned off Orile Street down to Kamoru’s house.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Kenneth Nwosu, who confirmed the incident, said that a fight broke out between two groups of area boys on Orile and Sadiku area of Oshodi.

He said: “This occurred during a naming ceremony of one Jimoh Odekunle on Okeleye Street, Aforiogun on Monday. The rival groups destroyed cars parked around the area. One Kamoru Hassan was seriously wounded and died early this morning.

Orile Oshodi boys embarked on reprisal attack this morning. They suspected that the killer of Kamoru is one Sunday Anajonu.

Farmers, artisans ask Ashafa for more assistance in the state to consider farmers and other artisans in their empowerment programmes.

He said: “Senator Ashafa has always been carrying us along. I remember we have benefited from his first empowerment programme which he did mostly for farmers. This was why our association gave him the title of ‘Olu-omo-agbe of Lagos State’. With what he has done for this asso-

ciation, we are ready to support his second term bid.”

Also speaking, the president of the Kosofe zone of LASCOTA, Comrade Abiola Ayinla, lauded the achievements of the lawmaker.

According to him, many artisans have been empowered with several tools such as vulcanizing machines, sewing machines, grinding machines, and motorcycles among others.

Farmers and artisans at the meeting

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News

SOUTH - WEST

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Soun, Alao-Akala, among 430,285 awaiting PVCs in Oyo Sola Adeyemo IBADAN

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wenty-Four days to the general election, many of the eligible voters in Oyo State, among them the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi Ajagungbade. III; former Governor of Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, and a legal luminary, Chief Adeniiyi Akintola (SAN) have not got their Permanent Voter Cards as at yesterday.

The identified personalities are among the 430,285 eligible voters in the state, who are still looking up to the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) for them be able to exercise their franchise next month.

This development was discovered yesterday during a stakeholders' election forum organised by the Ambassador Rufus Akeju-led INEC in the state, where he REC said the INEC office in the state had received a total of 1,985,370 PVCs from the commission's head office.

Akeju disclosed that 1,175,232 cards had been collected as against the background of the earlier declaration by the INEC headquarters in Abuja that the state has a total of 2,415,655 registered voters, who are eligible to exercise their franchise.

The Soun of Ogbo-

moso, Oba Oyewumi, had said on Monday while playing host to the REC at his palace in Ogbomoso that INEC said the ward where he registered prior to the 2011 general elections had issues, and that he re-registered during the continuous voters' registration exercise last year but still waiting for the PVC. In the same vein, AlaoAkala, governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP), said he registered at Sabo Taara Ward 10 in Ogbomoso North Local Government Area,

ADO-EKITI

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kiti State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to caution the State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, against inciting statements that could disrupt the peace of the state.

The party also said the governor's action may jeopardise the recent peace pact signed by the presidential candidates of political parties in Abuja.

The State Publicity Secretary, Mr Taiwo Ola-

IBADAN

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esidents of some communities in Oyo State, including Ologunero and Akanran areas of Ibadan, have been promised dividends of democracy regarding provisions of access roads

of 1,985,370 permanent voter cards (PVCs) while 1,175,232 cards, representing 59.19 per cent have been collected. The disturbing level of collection informed the decision of the commission to move the distribution from our local government offices to the Registration Area (ward) level.

"The PVCs from the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) conducted in September last year are still being produced. The consignment will be delivered and distributed before the elections", he said.

Akeju did not agrre with some people on their call for the use of temporary voter card in the next election, in case they were unable to get the permanent card, saying it would lead to electoral disaster of high magnitude.

"The freshly published voter register contain names with permanent cards only. Voters that engaged in double or multiple registration and those with incomplete biometrics do not have their names on the register, though they all hold the temporary voter cards," Akeju said.

Babatope Okeowo AKURE

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L-R: Ondo State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Alli Olanusi; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Jumoke Akindele; Governor Olusegun Mimiko and Deputy Speaker, House of Assembly, Hon. Dare Emiola, after the presentation of the 2015 budget to the Assembly in Akure…yesterday

tubosun, who briefed the press in Ado-Ekiti yesterday on some developments in the state, accused the governor, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the factional Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Dele Olugbemi, of spinning trouble in the state.

In his reaction, the Special Assistant, Information to the Governor, Mr Lanre Ogunsuyi, said nobody was being victimised.

He said some of the billboards and posters were never paid for and that some were placed in a manner that constituted environmental nuisance.

Osun PDP condemns vulgar language Adeolu Adeyemo OSOGBO

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andidate of the Osun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) contesting for the House of Representatives seat in the Ifelodun/ Boripe/ Odo Otin federal constituency in the state, Mr. Kayode Oduoye, yesterday cautioned politicians against the use of vulgar language, which he described as capable of having negative impact on the nation’s democracy.

The PDP candidate, at a press conference in Osogbo, described the act

Ladoja promises extension of Oyo roads Sola Adeyemo

voters be disenfranchised in the February elections.

Appearing at the INEC office yesterday, apparently to sort the issue out also, Akintola told newsmen that he registered at a unit in Agodi GRA prior to the 2011 elections, but he was still waiting for his PVC. He said he came to the commission's office to lodge his complaints on the PVC. However, the REC, Ambassador Akeju, at the stakeholders' election forum , disclosed that, "As at today, this office had received a total

Monitor students during election, says Osemawe

APC to Jonathan: Call Fayose to order Adesina Wahab

but that, “As I am talking to you now, I haven’t got my permanent voter card (PVC). But I am still with my temporary one. For a governorship candidate not to have collected a permanent card till now, then we should know something is fundamentally wrong”, he said.

Son of the Olubadan of Ibadan and Commissioner for Information also raised the alarm on Monday that he had not been able to get his PVC, while urging the INEC in Abuja to fast-track the process, lest many eligible

by the gover norship candidate of the Accord Party in Oyo state, Senator Rasidi Ladoja, who said yesterday that he would dualise major roads within the towns, in his first year in office if elected, in next month's poll.

T he for mer gover nor, who made the promise at a campaign

rally in Oja'gbo area of Ibadan North East L o c a l G ove r n m e n t area of the state, deplored the wastefulness of the incumbent gover nment on some existing roads, which construction needed not to have gulped the billions of naira purportedly spent on them.

as undemocratic, denigrating and uncalled for, charging politicians to dispose themselves honourably, in their choice of words as politics is not a terrain of misdemeanor.

He recommended that every politician vying for any political office should always tackle issues and stop running themselves down.

Oduoye stated that if politicians employ the use of refined language in the pursuit of their electoral ambitions during electioneerings, the country’s politics would have been an interesting one.

On his ambition, he noted, "My ambition is

borne out of abysmal neglect of our people within this constituency. Over the past three and half to four years, I have noticed with keen interest that our people lack the right and qualitative representation in Abuja." " That is the reason we have not had any meaningful presence of federal government in our constituency. I believe I can offer a better and functional representation for our people in the House of Representatives. The only way this can be done is by ensuring that the Federal Government's consciousness is galvanised towards our constituency," he added.

head of next month's election, the Osemawe of Ondo kingdom, Oba Victor Adesimbo Kiladejo, has advised the management of Adeyemi College of Education (ACE) Ondo State, to ensure that the students of the institution are not used by desperate politicians as hoodlums.

Oba Kiladejo gave the advice yesterday when he received the Provost of the College, Prof. Olukoya Ogen in his palace.

Ogen was accompanied by a visiting Professor of History from the United States of American (USA), Insa Nolte.

The monarch, who is the Chairman of the State's Council of Traditional Rulers, said the advice had become necessary, in order to prevent desperate politicians from using students of the college as their foot soldiers to hound opponents.

While reiterating his commitment to the development of the institution, the traditional ruler assured its management that the people of Ondo community would continue to identify with the college in its developmental process.

Mimiko presents N130bn budget to Assembly Babatope Okeowo AKURE

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overnor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, yesterday presented an estimated N130 billion fiscal budget for the year 2015, to the State House of Assembly for approval.

The appropriation bill, which is N8 billion less

than the previous year’s N38 billion, is attributed to the decline in revenue from the federation account as a result of the decline in the earning from oil revenue.

The reduction represents 23 percent as against that of last year’s.

Aside the economic sector, which takes N16 billion, the government would be spending the chunk of

the year's budget on the servicing of debt. A sum of N13.7billion has been devoted to debt servicing.

Other sectors that would take major share of the budget include environment and regional development-N11 billion, administration-N2.6 billion, social service-N9 billion and law and justice N350 million.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

Presdency

Elections

Contest

Parliament 40

Odds favour Jonathan, says Brookings Institution

Soldiers intercept INEC ballot boxes in Ogun

Imo North: Old divisions battle for senatorial seat

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13

Mark’s sermon to senators

Politics Last week, the presidential candidates of 14 political parties taking part in the forthcoming general election signed an accord to ensure the polls would hold under a peaceful atmosphere. In this piece, ONWUKA NZESHI recaptures the event

Working for peace INDEP ELECT ENDENT NAT ORAL C IO OMMIS NAL SION

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ince January last year when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rolled out its timetable for the 2015 general election, many Nigerians had looked forward to the crucial polls with palpable fear. The generality of the people harbour in their subconscious a morbid apprehension about elections and have come to associate this essential democratic process of leadership change with violence.

Nigeria has had a history of violent elections since independence. The crisis that trailed the 1965 elections in the defunct Western Region did not only snowball into widespread violence, it paved the way for the military coup that toppled the First Republic in 1966 and also gave vent to the bloody civil war that raged on for 30 months.

The most recent experience of electoral violence in Nigeria was in 2011. In that year, the elections were adjudged free and fair, yet a wave of violence erupted as the results were being released. The violence swept through Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi and a few other cities in the northern region of the country. An angry mob, apparently dissatisfied with the result of the presidential election won

by President Goodluck Jonathan, went on a burning and killing spree that left on its trail blood, tears and sorrow. The mob suspected to be supporters of General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), a former Head of State and presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) at that time were protesting his loss at the poll. Hundreds of people including 10 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) serving in Bauchi State were murdered in cold blood while properties worth millions of naira were destroyed.

In the build up to the 2015 polls, one

AYODELE OJO

DEPUTY EDITOR, PoLITICS ayodele.ojo@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

economy in Africa. It plays a major role on the international stage, especially at this time, when it holds a seat at the Security Council. Nigeria is one of the largest contributors of UN peacekeepers.

“It is for this urgent reason that you must stand as one against Boko Haram.

We must reject their evil ideology. We are in the same boat. Boko Haram’s vicious and brutal tactics have no place in the civilized world.

“No cause – I repeat no cause – can justify such brutality, murder, kidnapping of innocent children, women and men.

“I also urge politicians and their supporters to be careful with their language, for words can inflame, incite and provoke. But they can also calm, soothe and reconcile. Nigerians should remember that their destiny is a common one, whether you are Muslim or Christian, Northerner or Southerner, for the Peoples Democratic Party or the All Progressives Congress.”

Buhari and Jonathan at the 2015 general election sensitisation workshop on non-violence held at Sheraton Hotels, Abuja last Wednesday.

can understand the fears of the populace. The forthcoming elections appear to be a return match in several respects.

The two political gladiators of the 2011 polls, Jonathan and Buhari are back in the ring. Their political parties and teeming supporters are as usual gearing up for war with their provocative utterances. Unknown assailants have begun to attack party offices and bomb campaign headquarters while campaign vehicles are going up in flames. These are ominous signs that the political elite had neither learnt anything from history nor forgotten any of their old tricks that often lead them to destruction.

It was in this tense atmosphere that the offices of the National Security Adviser and the Special Adviser to the President on Inter-party Affairs mobilized some eminent Nigerians and the international community to convene a sensitization workshop on the need for the political parties and their candidates to work towards violence-free elections. In order to give the workshop an international clout, it’s organisers invited a former Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Anan and a former Secretary General of the Com-

monwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, as resource persons.

Anan’s counsel Anan, who is presently the Chairman of the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security, seized the opportunity to caution politicians over inciting statements capable of overheating the polity. He told the leaders of the various political parties to avoid acts that could cause violence before, during and after the general election holding next month. Anan observed that every election in Nigeria since 1999 has been fraught with tension and marred by violence. He warned that the insecurity in Nigeria created by the activities of the Boko Haram sect would be compounded if the political actors fail to close ranks and promote peace.

His words: “Many people I have spoken to worry that violence might once again disfigure and undermine the electoral process. So I entreat all Nigerians, and especially the political actors, not to put the amazing progress Nigeria has made in jeopardy. Nigeria has the largest population of black in any country on the continent and has the biggest

The sermons It was a workshop that had the principal actors in the forthcoming elections. President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP; Major General Muhammadu Buhari of the APC as well as the presidential candidates of 12 other political parties. Curiously, they all seemed to understand the challenge of electoral violence and how to surmount it.

Jonathan who cut short his campaigns to attend the workshop, blamed electoral violence on the winner takes it all syndrome associated with the presidential system of government being practiced in Nigeria. He made a case for proportional representation of political parties in the government after every election. He noted that the participation of the different political parties in governance would put an end to desperation for power, adding that bringing other major parties on board would be the panacea to electoral violence in the country.

According to him, when all parties are represented in the government based on their performance in the elections, the polity would be under less pressure as every interest group would have been accommodated.

The president admonished politicians CONTINUED ON PAGE 42

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Politics

Etaghene Edirin

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he Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think-tank in the United States of America (USA), has said that the odds in the February 14 presidential election favour President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The institution, regarded as the most influential, most quoted and most trusted think-tank in the US, said in an article published under the Africa Growth Initiative, that Jonathan’s PDP is more likely to win the February election.

The paper, which dwells on several aspects of the Nigerian election in the article titled “The 2015 Presidential Elections in Nigeria: The Issues and Challenges,” said that “though the election is expected to be very competitive, the odds still favour President Jonathan.”

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Odds favour Jonathan, says Brookings Institution While highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the two main political parties, the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC), the institution said the APC will be unable to unseat the PDP in the February elections.

The paper said: “After suffering a wave of defections to the APC last year, including five of its governors, the PDP seems to have rebounded strongly.

In the battleground South-West for instance, the party won the recent governorship election in Ekiti State and got the governor of Ondo State to defect from the Labour Party to the PDP”.

“The party is especially strong in the South-South

(where Jonathan comes from), the South-East and among Christians in the North. Again, while the PDP remains weak in the Muslim North, it has gained new influential members who decamped from the APC including the former governors of Kano and Borno states.

And, of course, the PDP has power of incumbency.”

The report added that: “APC gets much of its strength from tapping into Jonathan sentiments in the Muslim North and grievances among the Yoruba who feel that the

INDEP ELECT ENDENT NAT ORAL C IO OMMIS NAL SION

Jonathan administration has ignored them in key political appointments.

Allegations of corruption against top officials will be powerful ammunition in the hands of APC, especially with the choice of Buhari, widely seen as

not corrupt, as the party’s presidential candidate.

“The party is, however, a fragile one that seems united only in its quest to wrest the presidency from Jonathan or to have power “returned” to the North. Though the election is expected to be very competitive, the odds still favour President Jonathan.”

The think-thank said one of the challenges that could arise is if the election becomes stalemated, adding however that the country needed to develop robust and effective strategies for dealing with

crises.

The report identified the strongholds of the two contending parties.

While it gave the APC victory in the North-West and North-East as well as Niger State, it gave PDP victory in all the Southern states except Osun.

It also gave the PDP victory in the North Central states except Niger as well as North Eastern states of Taraba and Adamawa and the Federal Capital Territory.

The report gives PDP victory in 24 states and predicted victory for the APC in 12.

Ekwueme, Clark, Gbonigi, others endorse Jonathan Uwakwe Abugu Enugu

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eaders of the Southern Nigeria People’s Assembly (SNPA) yesterday in Enugu endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan for the February 14 presidential election.

In a communique issued at the end of the meeting, the Southern leaders urged Nigerians to vote massively for the president.

SNPA stated: “The Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly do hereby unanimously endorse President Goodluck Jonathan’s quest for reelection as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the February14 presidential election.

“We, therefore, call on all discerning Nigerians to vote massively for President Jonathan as that would ensure equity, fairness, and justice.

“That the decision to endorse President Jonathan is based on thorough​assessment of his manifest strides and achievements in the past three and half ​years as the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the​Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The communique was signed by former VicePresident Alex Ekwueme, Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark and leader of the South-West delegation to the assembly, Archbishop, Emmanuel Gbonigi.

It warned that the South would vehemently resist any attempt by

INEC to put to any use the controversial 30,000 new polling booths it created recently which gave more advantage to the North.

On the alleged Northern hostility against Jonathan, Clark said: “I have often said that it is not because President Jonathan has not been performing well that some unrepentant Northern irredentists want him out of office.

“The simple reason is that as a minority, he is seen as an intruder to what rightly and exclusively remains a preserve of the Hausa/Fulani hegemony.”

Those in attendance include President-General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Gary Enwo-Igariwwey, two former presidents-general of Ohanaeze, Justice Eze Ozobu and Dr. Dozie Ikedife, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, Senator Roland Owie, Senator Ewa Henshaw, Senator Femi Okurunmu, former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro and Mrs. Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele among many other prominent leaders.

L-R: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode; Lagos State APC Chairman, Chief Henry Ajomale and member, APC Fund Raising Committee, Mr. Bola Oyebode, at the GMB/PYO Campaign drive and Fund-Raising Exercise, in Lagos…yesterday

FG shuts APC website, Fashola alleges Muritala Ayinla

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agos State Governor and Chairman, All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Fund Raising Committee, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) yesterday alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government has shut down the party’s official website.

The governor, who described the move as an attempt to prevent the party from reaching out to millions of Nigerians who are desirous

of change, also unveiled fund raising platforms where every Nigerian can donate to the Buhari/Osinbajo campaign fund.

Speaking while unveiling several platforms at the Lagos House, Marina, Fashola said the party decided to democratise the fund raising to enable the poor and the rich participate in the change movement.

Fashola added that Nigerians could pay as low as N100 to the fund, assuring that he would personally appreciate the donation through text

messages and letters.

New Telegraph learnt that with the platforms, any interested Nigerian could contribute to the campaign fund through text messages, ring tones, or by purchasing recharge cards and paying into the dedicated banks through customised teller or via online.

Fashola said: “It is important to emphasise the intolerant disposition of the ruling party to the opposition by informing the public that our party’s domain name, www.apc.com.ng, which incidentally promotes

the party have been shut down by the Nigerian government because they do not want us to use the internet to communicate.

“Regrettably but necessarily, we were compelled to register a new name which they will have little control over.

And that was www. APCGMBPYO.org. It will be the internet platform for this fund raising and other activities.”

Fashola said the proceeds from the fund would not be spent on building of the party secretariat.

EU deploys Election Observation Mission in Nigeria Onwuka Nzeshi Abuja

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he European Union (EU) yesterday formally deployed an Election Observation Mission for the presidential, National Assembly, governorship and state Houses of Assembly

elections scheduled for February 14 and 28.

The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) is led

by Santiago Fisas Ayxela, member of the European Parliament, from Spain.

A delegation from the European Parliament and EU diplomats in Nigeria

will also join the mission on election days.

The Observation Mission is on invitation of the Federal Government of Nigeria and will be assessing the elections based on national laws and international principles for elections contained in regional and international

law and standards.

The European Union has also signed a Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs covering the activities of the mission.

According to the mis-

sion, nine analysts of the core team arrived in Abuja in the first week of January while another team of long-term observers arrived last week to complement an earlier advanced team that was deployed during the party primaries last November and December.

Politics

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

Soldiers intercept INEC ballot boxes in Ogun Kunle Olayeni Abeokuta

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en of the Nigerian Army yesterday intercepted a truck-load of ballot boxes belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.

The soldiers, who were attached to the 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala, Abeokuta were on “stop and search” mission when they intercepted the vehicle.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Muyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the incident in an interview, said 3,600 ballot boxes were recovered.

Adejobi, a Deputy Su-

perintendent of Police, said the driver of the vehicle had been arrested by the police, adding that the soldiers handed the recovered items to the Ijebu-Ode Area Command, Igbeba.

He, however stated that the police command was yet to determine the authenticity of the consignment, stressing that it was too early to make conclusions.

The PPRO said investigation had been launched into the incident.

Adejobi said: “This morning around 8a.m., a team of soldiers attached to the 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala, Abeokuta who were on stop-and-search “OP-MESA” around the Odogbolu area of the Sagamu-Ijebu Ode-Benin expressway intercepted a

vehicle containing about 3,600 ballot boxes.

“Upon interception, when they could not ascertain the authenticity of the ballot boxes, they handed them over to the police at Ijebu-Ode Area Command. Police thereafter commenced investigation into the matter.

“As I speak with you, we have the 3,600 ballot boxes belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Information we have about the consignment is that some INEC officials and some officials from Wharf have called to confirm that the consignment belongs to INEC and that the ballot boxes are meant to be delivered at INEC office in Akwa Ibom State.

“Without mincing words for now, we can-

INDEP ELECT ENDENT NAT ORAL C IO OMMIS NAL SION

not call the ballot boxes fake or illegal ones. The INEC official that spoke with the police said the contractor who is to deliver the items will come to the police to deliver the relevant documents to clarify this.

“So, the items are still with us at the command; we are waiting for the necessary documents to ascertain the claims of INEC or the so-called agent.”

Printers disappointed over low patronage T

he Association of Professional Printers of Nigeria yesterday in Lagos, expressed disappointment over the low patronage of their services in the 2015 campaigns.

The printers told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the trend was very poor when compared with that of the 2011 electioneering.

The Vice Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the association, Mr. Olu Adefowope, told NAN that the trend had kept most printers guessing, with just a few weeks to the end of campaigns.

“We thought the electioneering period will be good for business but the reverse is the case.

Most of us are yet to be patronised and we are wondering why.

“We see flyers, hand-

Owerri

A

Kano stands still for Buhari

lJonathan woos Zamfara voters with airport Muhammad Kabir and Anule Emmanuel

K

ano, the commercial nerve centre of Northern Nigeria, stood still yesterday as crowds of supporters thronged the streets to welcome All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari who was in the town to solicit for votes.

Buhari, who arrived in Kano at noon, could not enter the city centre till about 2.30p.m. because of the heavy crowd of supporters who literally blocked his way chanting, ‘Nigeria, sai Buhari.’

Even at the Kano Emirate Council where he had gone to pay homage to the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Mu-

hammad Sanusi II, before the presidential rally, Buhari had a difficult time alighting from the bus that took him along with other party chieftains such as the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal; Kano State Governor, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso; his Sokoto State counterpart, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko and former Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, to the palace.

Supporters who had thronged the palace ahead of their arrival blocked his way.

The emir and Buhari only exchanged pleasantries, through the windows of the bus, while Ti-

nubu managed to briefly talk to Lamido before he also quickly joined others for onward movement to the Sani Abacha Indoor Stadium, the venue of the rally.

Buhari told the gathering to ensure that they voted for APC at all levels.

He told them that his campaign is anchored on job provision, security and fighting graft.

He said: ‘Nigerians should open their minds and reject ethnic and religious jingoists who are hell bent on using every detrimental methods to achieve their myopic tendencies.”

However, he urged them to obtain the permanent voters’ cards, which would give him chance to perform their civic re-

sponsibility.

President Goodluck Jonathan also took his campaign to Zamfara State, where he promised the people a new airport if re-elected.

The president, at a rally in Gusau, said since all states surrounding Zamfara have airports, the state cannot be an exception.

He explained that he had always considered Zamfara State as his home state, Bayelsa because they have many things in common.

“These two states have similar challenges of infrastructure, youth unemployment and improving agriculture and fishery.

That is why whenever I come to Zamfara State, I feel at home,” he stated.

bills and posters flood Lagos and other states in the country but we don’t know where the jobs are being done,” Adefowope said.

According to him, it seems some politicians have their printing presses or go to their associates who have unlicensed printing presses.

He said: “In fact, we have been fighting against this act of patronising unlicensed printers.

“It is stipulated in the Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria that no individual, partnership or group should practice printing without being licensed.

“Most of these people are violating this law because we are yet to put the right machinery in place,” he said.

PDP to Okorocha: We’ll vote you out Steve Uzoechi

L-R: Chairman, Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega; Chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on INEC, Hon. Jerry Manwe and Adamawa State Governor, James Bala Ngilari, at a one-day workshop on Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) and 2015 General Elections in Abuja…yesterday.

PHOTO: ELIJAH OLALUYI

15

head of the February elections, the Imo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has advised members of the party to commence aggressive grassroots mobilisation and sensitisation in order to ensure the exit of Governor Rochas Okorocha from the Government House State chairman of the party, Chief Nnamdi Anyaehie, urged party loyalists to also ensure that their commitment and passion, in executing their campaign programmes clearly

conveys to Okorocha that his quit notice have been served.

Anyaehie stated this while addressing members of a group within the party, Mass Movement Initiative (MMI), at a meeting in Owerri.

He noted that the clamour for change in the governance of the state would not come to fruition without the collective effort of party chieftains, supporters and loyalists.

He explained that MMI was set up to recover members of the party who had defected to rival political parties to guarantee victory at the polls next month.

UPN promises free health, education, social security Kunle Olayeni Abeokuta

T

he Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) governorship candidate in Ogun State, Prince Rotimi Paseda, has promised to implement free healthcare programme and social security for senior citizens if elected on February 28.

He also assured that his administration would provide free education at all levels in the state.

The UPN standard bearer spoke at the flagoff of his campaign at the party’s state secretariat in Onikolobo,

Abeokuta.

Speaking after being handed the party’s flag by the UPN acting national chairman, Dr. Manzo Abubakar, Paseda said he would give special attention to the welfare of the aged people by paying monthly allowances to them.

He vowed to re-enact the feat made in governance by the former Premier of old Western Region, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

“We have a manifesto to follow. This is UPN, the same party that our late father and leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, used to break many grounds,” he stated.

16 Politics The pleasure of governing must be certainly exquisite, judging from the vast numbers who are eager to be involved with it.

That is what is playing out in Imo North Senatorial District of Imo State given the array of personalities contesting the February 14 poll. FELIX NWANERI reports

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Imo North: Old divisions battle for senatorial seat

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n a battle like no other since the return to civil rule in 1999, three political heavyweights are in the race for who represents Imo North Senatorial District also known as Okigwe Zone.

They are the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Hon. Benjamin Uwajumogu of the All Progressives Congress (APC); businessman and philanthropist, Chief Athan Achonu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and another businessman and philanthropist, Mazi Clem Owunna of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Many had envisaged a two-horse race between the APC and the PDP for the seat presently occupied by Senator Matthew Nwagwu (PDP) until Owunna’s defection to APGA late last year. Both the PDP and APC boast of entrenched structures in the zone, but as it stands; the three parties and their candidates are going into the contest almost on equal strength.

The reasons are not far-fetched. The trio – Uwajumogu, Achonu and Owunna are first time contenders for the senatorial position; their respective platforms have strong structures in the zone; each also has the financial muscle, and most importantly, they would be banking on the support of their respective strongholds comprising of two local government areas each, for victory at the poll.

Imo North is made up of two federal constituencies (Okigwe North and Okigwe South) comprising of six local government areas – Okigwe, Onuimo, Isiala Mbano, Ehime Mbano, Ihitte/Uboma and Obowo. A distribution of the council puts Okigwe, Onuimo and Isiala Mbano in Okigwe North, while Ehime Mbano, Ihitte/Uboma and Obowo in Okigwe South. Of these councils, Okigwe and Onuimo belong to the old Okigwe Division; Isiala Mbano and Ehime Mbano belong to the old Mbano Division while Ihitte/Uboma and Obowo belong to the old Etiti Division.

Against this backdrop, it is expected that the three candidates will enjoy some sort of balance of support during the election. Uwajumogu who hails from Ihitte/Uboma would be banking on the old Etiti Division; Achonu from Ehime Mbano on old Mbano Division, and Owunna from Okigwe on old Okigwe Division. But this seeming balance of support, notwithstanding, there is the issue of zoning, which has dominated discussions on the senatorial seat.

Those championing zoning are insisting on a “mutual understanding” between the two federal constituencies of the district (Okigwe North and Okigwe South) to rotate the senatorial seat among themselves. This understanding, they argued, informed the shift from Okigwe North’s Senator Ifeanyi Ararume from Isiala Mbano (1999 and 2007) to Okigwe South’s Senator Sylvester Anyanwu from Obowo (2007-2011) and Senator Nwagwu, also from Obowo (2011 to date).

It is on this premise they argued that it is the turn of Okigwe North to produce the next senator for Imo North, adding that it should go to either Onuimo or Okigwe that is yet to occupy the position, as Ararume has taken the turn of

Uwajumogu

Isiala Mbano.

However, another political school is of the opinion that merit should not be sacrificed for zoning. To members of this school, the people of Imo North cannot afford to send their best to the Senate as legislative representation is so unique and elevated that experience is always the key that unlocks the doors of opportunities in that arm of government.

They further posited that even if zoning is to be the determining factor, Okigwe South has more claim to the senatorial seat than their northern brothers. Their position was premised on the fact that Okigwe South first occupied the seat through late Senator Emeka Echeruo from Ehime Mbano (1979-1983) before Araraume, who served two terms, making it three consecutive outings for Okigwe North, while Anyanwu did one term before handing over to his kinsman, Nwagwu; each serving one term.

According to this group, if zoning must decide which area produces the next senator, Okigwe South still has one more term in order to meet up with the north.

Against the backdrop of these arguments, New Telegraph takes a look at the three leading contenders, their strengths and weaknesses.

Uwajumogu Uwajumogu is the Speaker, Imo State House of Assembly. He is flying the flag of the APC, and believes that he is the best man for the job, given the wealth of experience he had garnered in the last three and half years he had presided over the state’s legislature.

Going into the senatorial contest, the Umuihi, Ihittte/Uboma-born politician is banking on his achievements so far as the state’s number three man, and the zone’s most senior ranking person in the Rochas Okorocha-led administration. He is also counting on the support of the old Etiti Division, where he hails from.

Uwajumogu has been linked to several empowerment programmes, particularly for youths of the zone.

So far, many groups have endorsed his ambition insisting that he stands shoulder high above the other contenders. They also argued that he stands a chance of clinching a key position in the Senate if elected, pointing out that the upper legislative chamber accords priority to ranking members in the distribution of key and committee chairmanship

Achonu

Owunna

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positions, which Uwajumogu falls into as legislative business is the same across the three tiers of government.

On paper, Uwajumogu is as good as winning the poll given his pedigree, but politics is a game of the possible, so it is not going to be a smooth sail for him. The issue of zoning between the two federal constituencies still subsists. There is also the issue of his platform – APC. He has a lot to do in convincing some people in the zone who believe that the party has nothing for the people of the South-East.

Achonu Chief Achonu, a businessman and philanthropist is equally a candidate to beat in the election. Popularly called “Onehand General,” he is flying the PDP’s flag.

He emerged the party’s candidate after defeating notable aspirants including the incumbent, Senator Nwagwu.

The Umunumo, Ehime Mbano-born politician has before now remained at the background, playing the role of a godfather but that has changed with his decision to mount the stage as a senator in the next dispensation.

Achonu says structural defects in the polity informed his decision to represent his people, assuring that he would bring his experience to bear in making laws that will ameliorate their sufferings.

However, some people in the zone are of the view that he should have maintained his position as a leader of the PDP. His support base is his old Mbano Division even as his kinsmen (Ehime Mbano) insist that it is payback time for their support for other parts of the zone, which have occupied the governorship, deputy governorship, senatorial and speakership positions since 1999. According to them, fairness demands that they produce the next senator, as they have not occupied any of the positions.

Besides the argument, Achonu has what it takes to clinch the senatorial seat

like the other contenders. He is said to have a deep pocket, and would be banking on his party’s structure across the wards in the zone. It is on record that the PDP has consistently won elections for the Imo North senatorial seat since 1999.

But, like others, he equally has a lot to do in convincing his people that he is the best man for the job. Also, the votes of his kinsmen in Isiala Mbano will not come that easy, as Ohakim and Araraume who hail from the council are presently having issues with the PDP’s leadership over the governorship primaries. Achonu’s senatorial ambition would be dealt a big blow if any of the two moves to the APC as being speculated, as they have large followership in the zone.

Owunna Mazi Owunna is another businessman and philanthropist in the race. He hails from Okigwe Local Government Area, and is a vastly experienced leader with a great commitment to service. He is the chairman of several companies spanning manufacturing, insurance and real estate.

The APGA candidate says his vision is to effectively represent Imo North, and help bring real change in sectors such as agriculture, industry, health and education.

The Umulolo-Okigwe-born industrialist anchors this vision on what he termed “Okigwe Integrated Development Initiative (OIDI),” which according to him is a complete and pragmatic initiative akin to the Nnewi model of industrial cluster development in Anambra State.

Owunna’s support base is his old Okigwe Division, which is insisting on the senatorial seat on the basis of the said zoning arrangement. He appears to be the beacon of hope for the realisation of a senator of the division’s extraction.

He has a strong financial muscle to match the other two contenders. But politics is beyond bright ideas and financial war chest.

It was argued that he should have remained in APC to learn the ropes before launching himself for a political office.

No doubt, the three candidates can match each other strength to strength, but to most indigenes of the zone, personality and antecedent, not party structure or financial strength will determine who wins the election, as the zone has suffered inefficient representation for long.

Politics 17

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

PETER OBI, former governor of Anambra State and the Deputy Director General (South) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council, takes on Governor Babatunde Fashola over his position on the Goodluck Jonathan administration

The presidential declarations

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overnor Babatunde Fashola’s piece entitled: “Presidential Declarations: My Take Away,” which appeared on the back page of New Telegraph last Monday raised critical issues in the on-going electioneering and my decision to respond is predicated on the fact that the writer is one of the few contemporary Nigerian leaders whom I believe approaches public service and issues with seriousness. He is also one public office holder I can appropriately address as ‘His Excellency’, not because of his achievements in physical infrastructure but because of his character and conduct, especially in public. I have always maintained, that character and values, when cherished by leaders, are far more important than their contributions in other areas of public service. It is also for the above reasons that I have chosen to engage him here today.

While I agree with Fashola that President Goodluck Jonathan should base his campaign on what he has done so far and also that core issues should occupy the front burner in this election campaign, I must invite his attention to the fact that President Jonathan actually told Nigerians what he had so far done in office. Close attention to the campaign of Mr. President shows that he discussed all the issues Fashola raised; and even more.

On corruption, for instance, he emphasised the strengthening of institutions like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), in addition to his resolve to follow due process of the law at all times; rather than arbitrarily arresting and jailing of people for countless number of years.

The president explained that his government has prosecuted more persons for corruption than any government before, but that the best way to fight corruption is to build institutions that will make it difficult for people to steal. Fertilizer distribution and the pension reforms were respectively cited as examples of where institutional measures eliminated the old, corrupt practices associated with pensions and fertilizer distribution, respectively.

The president also spoke on how his government drastically reduced, if not stopped, militancy in the Niger Delta and kidnapping in the East, while dealing with the international terrorism scourge in the North-East. He educated Nigerians on the global dimension of the phenomenon and further

Jonathan at his declaration

pointed out that previous government had not equipped the nation’s armed forces for decades. The claim by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that it would stop insurgency, if elected, raises two major issues.

The first is whether genuine patriots would wait until they are in office to proffer solutions to serious national problems. The second concerns the endorsement of the APC candidate by Boko Haram and the fact that the party and its candidate see nothing wrong with this endorsement.

Governor Fashola used France as an example of how, within hours of a terror attack, it was possible to bring things under control. But my brother knows that this is not a fair comparison, as he did not mention how everybody in France, including the opposition, came out with one voice and how on Sunday President Francois Hollande held hands with the opposition in condemnation of the evil.

When last did such happen in Nigeria? Instead of doing so, the opposition was recently quoted to be encouraging mutiny and perhaps even celebrating terrorism in their fatherland. His Excellency is most likely aware that Boko Haram has the same flag as ISIS and Alshaba, which are renowned international terrorist organisations.

I agree with Fashola that all matters relating to the forensic audit should be properly investigated, but I must also draw His Excellency’s kind attention to the fact that no money has been misappropriated; as the office of the Auditor General, which instituted the audit has confirmed to me that the audit is still on-going. The SURE-P monies have also not been used for politics, as we all know that the state and local governments received their own shares of the SURE-P money. The Federal Government component of the money has been used to finance the N50 billion Lagos-Ibadan dual carriage road, the first and second sections of the Apapa-Oshodi dual carriage road and the Abuja/Kaduna rail line, among other federal projects.

The president showed that the sound economic policies of his government have brought about mac-

INDEP ELECT ENDENT NAT ORAL C IO OMMIS NAL SION

It is worthy of note that an article that was supposed to celebrate the APC did not mention its presidential candidate, but rather celebrated the speech by their vice presidential candidate

ro-economic stability. This has been acknowledged by the renowned economist and former chairman of the Asset Management Division of Goldman Sachs Group, Dr. Jim O’Neill, who coined BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India and China and South Africa) and MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey) countries as the world’s fastest growing economies. He said: “The deliberate efforts by the Goodluck Jonathan administration to encourage entrepreneurs would go a long way in supporting the country’s growth.”

O’Neill added: “I think the government’s efforts to allow more entrepreneurialism has been good and the government’s macroeconomic policies have been encouraging.”

To show how highly Nigeria is rated under Jonathan, he continues: “I think, like I said before, Nigeria should be included in the G-20.

South Africa is in the G-20, whereas Nigeria is bigger.”

I agree entirely with his position and state that the highest growth among quoted companies was recorded between 2011 and 2013. The values and profits of many companies within the same period doubled. The country also witnessed resuscitation of auto companies, such as Peugeot Assembly of Nigeria (PAN) and ANNAMCO. New ones also came up such as INNOSON Motor manufacturing Company, Nnewi and NISSAN and they are doing very well. These created many jobs for our people. Multi billion dollars petrochemical industries are also being set up. While Dangote group are building their own ($9 billion) at OK-LNG Free Trade Zone, between Ogun and Ondo states, President Jonathan on August 14, 2014 performed the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of $1.5 billion methanol plant in Ibeano, Akwa Ibom State, by Quantum Petrochemical Company Ltd, established by Mr. Jim Ovia. Many such projects are ongoing in the country.

Let us note that the creation of Mortgage Refinancing Institution; to make long term funds available and increase liquidity by funding primary mortgage institutions is a job creation initiative of the Jona-

than government. The boom in the housing sector, with an estimated six direct jobs and four indirect jobs for every house built, has done a lot so far. Many of the 2,400 businesses under YouWin 1 and 2 have created about 22,000 jobs, translating into nine jobs per winner.

The turnaround in the agricultural sector has reduced our import bill by 50 per cent and the effects of the recent collapse in oil prices and devaluation of our currency would have been worse, but for the diversification achieved through agriculture and other sectors. Due to the reforms in the sugar industry sector, investment in that sector has moved from $100 million in 2011 to $3.2 billion.

In aviation, all of us can see the upswing in bilateral agreements, improved services and the on-going renovation and remodelling of our airports. There is also what I consider audacious building of five new terminals simultaneously in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and Enugu. This is in response to the perceived needs of the travelling public and businesses. On completion, they will change the face of our airports, improve commerce and tourism. So, will the roads some of which I mentioned before, like the Lagos-Ibadan, Apapa-Oshodi are at various stages of completion, while some like the Benin-Ore road have been completed.

It is not correct to say that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caused chaos during its campaign in Lagos. The party conducted its flag-off in a most responsible manner. Traffic control was near excellent, because the president insisted that no citizen should suffer because he was in town. Instead, the APC’s primaries was an exemplary display of disorder, in terms of traffic control and coordination of activities connected with the event.

I should perhaps not say much on power, than just point out that the president has taken the most critical decision in that sector, by unbundling the generation and distribution of power in the country. We should all calmly watch out what will follow, going forward; as the revolution Nigeria witnessed when telephones were privatised will be replicated in the power sector.

It is worthy of note that an article that was supposed to celebrate the APC did not mention its presidential candidate, but rather celebrated the speech by their vice presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. This supports the widely held and evidence-based perception that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari will be a mere figure head while the running of the government will be in the hands of Osinbajo, if elected.

All things considered, we can see the compelling reasons for re-electing President Jonathan, as he is in a better position to deal with all the issues of genuine and sustainable national development. Considering the experience he has garnered over the years, it is better that we cannot have our democratic vehicle manned by an inexperienced, or one with analogue credentials.

MORE STORIES ON pageS 40-43

18

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Opinion The political economy of change (1) Jide Ayobolu

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t is an incontestable fact of history that change is a constant phenomenon in human existence. No situation in life is permanent, but change occurs when it is least expected, changes happen because of the nature of mankind that always insatiable and crave for improvement in all facets of human endeavour. Change can also be as a result of apparent failures which require correction for better development.

When the socio-economic cum political wellbeing of the people are satisfactory and generally acceptable, the tendency for change can be very slim, but change can still occur, however the way and manner it would take could be pacifist and negotiated. In the other way round, when there is widespread discontentment and ubiquitous dissatisfaction, change becomes inevitable and a national emergency. When change has appreciable impact on people it is positive, conversely, when it has deleterious consequences and outcomes, it is negative.

Since 1999 when the present democratic dispensation commenced, democracy is always said to be a learning process, but politicians especially at the centre have failed to learn from history, and those who fail to learn from history are sooner than later consigned to the dustbin of history, as relics of history that people learn from. By now in the annals of the country, democracy should have meaning in the lives of the people, it should not be about experimentation but indeed the systematic transformation of the plight of the generality of the people to a more abundant and rewarding life.

It is however appalling that this is not the case in the country as we speak today. A blow by blow sectorial analysis vividly and evidently indicates that democracy has been more of a curse than blessing to the people.

For instance, Nigeria has been described as one of the

worst places to grow old, this is according to an index of the quality of later life in 96 countries. Help Age International’s Global Age Watch Index measures the social and economic welfare of those over 60 in its latest report released recently. Help Age International is an organisation committed to helping older people to claim their rights, challenge discrimination and overcome poverty, so they can lead dignified, secure, active and healthy lives. The report published on the United Nations International Day of Older Persons, ranks Nigeria at 85th position out of 96 countries.

Furthermore, the National Population Commission (NPC), has said that the rate of unemployment in Nigeria rose from 21.1 per cent in 2010 to 23.9 per cent in 2011. NPC said the figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) clearly illustrated the deep challenges in Nigeria’s labour market, where the nation’s rapid economic growth has not translated into effective job creation.

The NBS equally pointed out that 54 per cent of Nigerian youths were unemployed in 2012, of this figure, females stood at 51.9 per cent and male 48.1 per cent.

In a related development, the former chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment Employment Programme (Surep), Dr. Christopher Kolade bemoaned the rising rate of unemployment in the country, saying that no fewer than 40 million Nigerians are without jobs.

Only recently the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating minister of the economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala also admitted that the spate of unemployment was really alarming. Quoting the NBS, the minister declared that 1.8 million young Nigerians enter into the labour market; hence more needs to be done to ensure the economy provides job for them. It is very instructive to note that, Nigeria was ranked 153 out of 186 countries in the 2013 United Nation’s Human Development Index.

Similarly, the Statistician General of the Federation

and the Chief Executive Officer of NBS, Dr. Yemi Kale said, unemployment was highest amongst youths aged 15-24 and 25-44, adding that the problem was more pronounced in the rural area. More and more people do not have purchasing power, less consumption has led to lower production and economic growth has been hindered. As a matter of fact, unemployment is as a result of ineffective government development programmes as well as lack of institutional capacity to provide jobs, as the institutions created for this are either extinct or moribund as a result of under-funding.

To make matters worse, many states of the federation have insisted that they cannot pay the minimum wage of N18,000 per month, however without mincing words, it is a case of sheer unwillingness to pay, instead of the claim of non-availability of funds. The decrease in real wages in Nigeria has been so deep that economists wonder how a typical Nigerian worker is surviving. If an ordinary senator in Nigeria receives N20 million monthly (about $133,000, one-third of their quarterly allowance), it would take a worker on N18,000 (about $120) monthly salary 93 years to earn that same amount. According to the United Nations, any man anywhere who spends less than $10 a day is living below poverty level.

As if the catalogue of woes are not enough, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), has expressed concern over the high rate of deaths through autoaccidents on Nigerian roads. Between 1960 and 2012, some 1,060,507 crashes were recorded in Nigeria, with 322,427 deaths and 1,016,299 injuries. In 2012 alone, there was a report of a total of 4,260 deaths on Nigerian roads; an average of 12 persons died daily and with 20,752 injured.

Hence, on the average, 69 persons were either injured or killed on our roads daily; 48,114 persons were involved in 6,269 documented cases.

Sustaining Shekarau’s effort in education Sule Ya’u Sule

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an the authorities and school administrators sustain the visible gains made in education in the past few years? The year 2015 will be decisive for the sector which had suffered neglect and disruptions in the past, not just because it is an election year but more so because of the new wave of optimism ruling the country’s education sector. Many educationists who have reviewed the progress made in implementing the Federal Government’s twin policy objectives of increasing access and improving quality are going beyond commending Government’s commitment to suggest ways the progress can be sustained in 2015.

There were no strikes in the universities in 2014, thanks partly to the N200billion intervention funds released by the Federal Government. Education Minister, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, the former classroom teacher, school principal and worker-friendly former twotime governor of Kano state, has pledged that there would be no strikes under his watch. The minister demonstrated his seriousness with the no-strike resolve by personally intervening to end the protracted industrial action embarked upon on October 4, 2013, by teachers in polytechnics and colleges of education, within 48 hours of his being sworn in.

Can Shekarau bring his standing as a negotiator to calm the turbulence and help Nigeria avoid strikes in 2015?

At a recent education forum in Abuja, many speakers agreed that negotiating an end to the Polytechnics strike was a

clear indication that the Hon minister understood his mission. Should 2015 end without a strike by teachers or workers at any level of the country’s educational system, Malam Shekarau, who gained national reputation during his time as state governor by discharging Kano’s accumulated pension and gratuity liabilities and who never faulted in paying the salary and benefits of his workers, would have set the stage for the restoration of the lost glory of Nigeria’s education.

“The minister doesn’t need to do more than keep his promise, keep the communication line open, and should not despair in dialoguing with the unions.

The prospect of no-strike is a welcome development and must be supported by all stakeholders. Strikes, more than underfunding, damage the stability and credibility of the nation’s education sector”, according to Mr. Godswill Nkanga, a school administrator, based in Mararaba, near Abuja.

Indeed, most of the issues which led the polytechnic teachers to abandon the classroom are broad and wide-ranging.

While some have lingered for decades, others require action by the National Assembly. Take for instance the long standing agitation to end the dichotomy between university and polytechnic graduates, as a legitimate demand which has curricular, legal and labour implications, but which requires an enabling legislation by the National Assembly. Other outstanding issues like the establishment of a National Polytechnic Commission, release of White Paper of the visitations to Federal Polytechnics, inadequate funding and the appointment of unqualified

persons as rectors, are matter that can be resolved through dialogue, which should not trigger industrial action by teachers.

The minister spoke of his determination to nip in the bud the cancer of incessant strike actions by unions whose ulterior motives many are now questioning.

“On assuming office, we started engaging ourselves, my office and stakeholders, we agreed there are problems, and that these problems are carryover problems, but let us sit down and see how we can solve them.

“We can keep boxing ourselves to a corner over the challenges but let teaching and learning continue. If we stop teaching for one minute, we would have failed. We are now making progress “, the minister said at an interactive session with journalists.

Mr. Nkanga, argued that the no-strike regime might be the beginning of a new lease of life for the nation’s education sector. He had posers for the unions and those who glorify strikes as a weapon of industrial negotiation. “Can issues ever be resolved in our school system without the unions resorting to industrial action? There is a growing suspicion that there are radical elements inside ASUU, ASUP and others who consider and embrace strikes as a punitive instrument of blackmail and through which they consolidate their own power base. But it is time for stakeholders to checkmate these radicals and reclaim our educational system. Strikes inflict untold hardship on students, parents, the community and the system and destabilize the very institutions the strikers claim to be fighting for. We have tried the strike option and

seen the consequences. Time to try the dialogue approach”.

While analysts contend that the issues bedeviling the sector are gargantuan, dating back to years of official neglect and insider negligence with no quick-fix, there is a new wave of vibrant, positive developments sweeping through the sector which can no longer be ignored by any serious commentator. Whether this bounce of optimism can be sustained through the coming year will provide talking points in the weeks and months to come. the news that bold and decisive policy approaches by a determined Federal Government is beginning to impact, especially in the tertiary institutions, must be unsettling for a few, in a sector where cynicism and disdain for official activism have become a way of life. But for the majority of Nigerians who have longed for better funding and committed response to correcting the ills retarding the nation’s quest for quality education, the visible efforts of the present administration portend good news from any angle you see it.

According to the minister, the Goodluck Jonathan administration placed premium on two policy fronts – increasing access and improving quality of education, policies it has pursued and implemented with unmatched passion, with results to show. Against the backdrop of inadequate opportunities in the tertiary institutions for students who successfully completed their secondary and vocational education, the administration established 12 new federal universities.

• Ya’u Sule can be reached on suleysule@yahoo.com

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

19

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The Obi/Obiano rapprochement

ne of the highlights of President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign tour of Anambra state last week ,was the peace brokered between Governor Willie Obiano and his predecessor Chief Peter Obi ,at the palace of the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe.

Coming a few weeks to elections nationwide, the move will definitely help douse the tension occasioned by personal clashes between two erstwhile friends. It also sends a clear signal that progress can only multiply when all good heads are put together for the benefit of the people.

A year ago ,it would have been hard for anyone to believe that Obiano and Obi would go their separate ways so soon ,after working together to solidify the All Progressives Grand Alliance [APGA].

Difficult because while Obi ran Anambra , Obiano was busy as an Executive Director in Fidelity Bank where Obi has major interest. During the last lap of his stay in Awka, he ignored all the politicians around him ,choosing the banker as his successor.

It sounded perfect , everything went on fine and victory was achieved. However, victory

seemed to have brought with it a huge line of differences which snowballed into personal attacks. Things grew worse when Obi left for the Peoples Democratic Party[PDP].

All that is over now as Dr. Jonathan brought the two together before the Agbogidi, to make peace as he seeks another chance to rule the country. And it is remarkable because Obiano and Obi belong to different parties.

While we salute the president’s fence mending in Anambra, it is hoped that the gesture will go beyond two men from two different parties who are working for Dr. Jonathan’s re-election. The reconciliatory moves should move to other states too, irrespective of party affiliation.

This is a crucial year in the annals of our existence as a sovereign nation. With the ugly face of insurgency poking expensive threat at everyone, no effort should be spared in ensuring that peace prevails in all parts of the federation.

The peace moves should go round. In Ekiti state for instance, there is no love lost between Governor Ayo Fayose and his predecessor Dr. Kayode Fayemi. It does not really matter if both are not working towards the same presidential

objective. Bringing them together to embrace peace before the Ewi of Ado Ekiti will also send a message to their supporters that politics is for the living.

Kano state governor Musa Kwankwaso and Education minister Ibrahim Shekarau have a lot in common. From Government House Kano, they moved to Abuja as ministers.

They have so much to offer, if they come together holding an olive branch. A touch of Presidential pat on the back while they chart their separate ways peacefully will go a long way.

It does not help the polity when politicians who should be aiming for the honourable status of statesmen dance naked before the citizenry. To whom much is given, much is also expected. What the nation needs at this time are men of dignity, leaders who can push things to lofty heights.

Dr. Jonathan’s peace moves should also be replicated in a state like Abia. The Obi/ Obiano skirmish is a far cry from the war being waged by Governor Theodore Orji against his predecessor Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu.

While Obiano sat in corporate boardroom far from power before his foray into politics, Gov. Orji was Kalu’s right hand man as Chief –of-staff.

And the ride to Government House, Umuahia though tough and rough, was spearheaded by the man who gave Ochendo his first ever political appointment.

Today, Gov. Orji is still making truce difficult even when Kalu’s shuttle politics has yielded the PDP a lot of numerical dividend. It took party chairman Dr. Adamu Muazu’s admonition to let the world know that Abia would gain more if Kalu was accorded the respect due a strong backer.

What the country needs now is more of issue based campaigns, not propaganda, as we see in other climes. And when candidates dwell on facts and plans, the environment smells sweeter. There will be no need for clashes among supporters.

The Abuja peace accord which not only produced a pact but also splashed the photograph of President Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in an uncommon, cheery ,warm embrace across global media, did more than anything else to animate the political space.

President Jonathan has shown that peace is possible.

This nation needs that essential ingredient now more than ever before. And we know that if the will is there, sanity will prevail.

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20

Arts

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Book Review

Another Voice interrogates socio-political issues in Nigeria Title: Another Voice Meta-Critical Essays in Drama, Theatre and Politics Author: Saint Gbilekaa Year of publication: 2013 Publisher: Ahamadu Bello University Press Limited, Zaria Pages: 254 Reviewer: Nwagbo Obi (obinwagbopat@yahoo.com)

S

aint Gbilekaa’s Another Voice: Meta-Critical Essays in Drama, Theatre and Politics is a juxtaposition of theatre and politics to interrogate mediate and investigate the socio-political crises and failures in Nigeria using revolutionary standpoint.

The 254-page book, which assesses Nigerian democratic culture through the standpoint of theatre practice and scholarship, evaluates the place of theatre in Nigerian politics and politics in the Nigerian theatre.

Also, with focus on Nigerian and even entire African theatre education, the book with 19 chapters, gives emphasis on how Nigerian traditional and literary theatre types deploy cultural aesthetics and performance to construct superlative society and deconstruct social disorder.

In his forward to the book, renowned Nigerian theatre scholar and Director of Research, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Plateau State, Professor Olu Obafemi, states: “The book treats literature as a weapon of social transformation. Gbilekaa critiques the artists’ burden of constantly struggling with form as a vehicle of enlightenment and illumination; a confrontation of stagecraft with predatory forces in society... As a scholar and politician, he moves into folktale tradition and the embedding heroic mono-myth; The hero in Tiv folktale is replicated in many parts of Africa, including the Tortoise tricksterist personage in Yoruba folktales and the Ananse in Akan’s Anansegoro which late Efua Sutherland built a theatre in Ghana. Then of course the Swange phenomenon - the sensuous dance drama of the Tiv, which is an inevitable menu in the annual national carnivalesque outing in Nigeria today. Saint Gbilekaa must be

TONY OKUYEME tony.okuyeme@ newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

commended for the courage and enduring aspiration to remain a rigorous and enduring scholar; and engaging researcher into theatrical performance traditions of Nigeria.”

Chapter one titled, Theatre Criticism in Nigeria Today, offers a definition of criticism, literary criticism, and theatre criticism.

It uses review of relevant literatures where the views of scholars and authorities like M.H. Abrahams, Abiola Irele, T.S Elliot, Matthew Arnold etc. on criticism were reflected. The summation of all the meanings is that the aim of criticism is to make reasoned judgments upon literary works based on definite criteria.

This is why literary criticism is concerned with interpretation and adjudication of works of literature.

It is pointed out that the chosen criteria for critical analysis may be based on objectivity or prejudice, bearing in mind the cultural history or period of that work of art. This chapter views theatre criticism from the point of view of the development of literary criticism, attributing its dominant thrust to the tradition of English literary criticism inherited at the University of Ibadan, which is pervasive. This same model obtained in the University of Nigeria Nsukka and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. However, it is noted that this observation may not be accurate in capturing the Nigerian literary criticism’s historical development, because most practitioners then were foreigners who saw African literature as an offshoot or imitation of the European world view. In contrast to this early analysis of Nigerian literary theatre with foreign critical cannons, a reaction arose in the 1960s with the desire to create an indigenous critical tradition that will be independent of foreign paradigms.

This Africanisation of African literature and criticism saw African writers including Nigerians, capture African background in their works.

In Chapter two, A dia-

The book treats literature as a weapon of social transformation

lectical interpretation of Nigerian Theatre, looks at concert’s theatrical practice of the colonial theatre days to post-independence literary drama. This state of theatre under colonialism captures how colonial and Christian hegemony produced doctrinal literatures. It captures the introduction of the Europeans forms of entertainments and the capitalist mode of production by the missionaries and the imperialists respectively, in Nigeria.

Chapter three titled The Development of the Theatre of Radical Poetics in Nigeria draws the attention of the reader on how the coercive machinery, which the colonial powers set up, propelled a protest tradition in the Nigerian theatre. This protest habit subsequently led to the development of radical theatre practice. What also followed this was sharpened awareness of Nigerian intellectuals and dramatists of the left and it resulted in socialist tendencies in the plays that were written. The attempts to link the radical drama to socio-political and economic development are other issues captured in this chapter. How the radicalism and commitment of the drama of 1940s, 1950s and 1960s were used to harp on the revolutionary

potential of the proletariat received attention. “Hubert Ogunde pioneered the battle towards a more relevant committed popular theatre.

Ogunde launched attack on the colonial government for her ill-treatment of the Nigerian proletariat. Even after independence Ogunde theatre still manifested political commitment. This could be seen in his play Yoruba Ronu produced in 1964.” (p. 39-40).

Other dramatists like Wole Soyinka, J.P. Clark etc were also committed theatrically.

Theatre and Political Change since Independence, which Chapter four is about emphasised on theatre and political change, where the new national consciousness theatre idiom has been underscoring is stressed pointing out that: “the growing sense of political commitment manifest itself in the Wole Soyinka’s satirical sketches and revues in a collection titled Before the Blackout and later a full length play, Kongi’s Harvest. Both the revues and Kongi’s Harvest were attack on power arrogance, megalomania and corruption, the handicap or lack of progressive political vision that characterized the politics of the first republic. J.P.Clark’s The Raft is also regarded as the political metaphor of Nigeria

drifting in those tumultuous times (p. 56). A methodological approach is adopted in chapter five to demonstrate how Radical Theatre as a potent tool for community development in Nigeria is being harnessed. The chapter started by defining the core concepts like radical, drama, popular theatre, in addition to explicating how the drama of the radical poetics in Nigeria share affinity with Community Theatre for Development. The contributions of theatre scholars, practitioners and theatre groups that made impact in the trend and development of community theatre, Theatre for Development, Revolutionary Alternative Theatre etc were acknowledged.

Such theatre icons are Paulo Freire, August Boal, then such Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Ibadan, Makerere University Traveling Theatre, The Chikwakwa Travelling Theatre, Zambia, Botswana Theatre etc.

Chapter six treats drama and national politics, using Ola Rotimi’s drama as paradigm with the mention of, A Tragedy of the Ruled, Hope of the Living Dead, The Gods Are Not To Blame, Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again, noting that: “Rotimi has explored Nigeria’s continuous culture of intolerance of one another, selfishness and tribal disunity to make fundamental dramatic statements on the present and the future state of the nation.” (84). In Chapter seven, a comparative analysis of Soyinka’s The Strong Breed and Femi Osofisan’s No More the Wasted Breed is carried out to explain how a new course in Nigerian dramaturgy is being charted, while chapter eight deals with culture and the democratic experience in Nigeria. In examining the tragic and honour, chapter nine uses Wole Soyinka’s Death and The King’s Horseman as example, just as chapter ten explores theatre and society.

Chapters eleven and twelve look at the artist and his credo through an aesthetic evaluation of Iyorwuese Hagher’s plays and Hagher’s life in arts and politics respectively. Chapter ten captures the biographical notes of Hagher and his works, where it is noted that his artistic credo is shaped by his Tiv background. Chapter twelve gives details of his educational, civil service and academic career in addition to his religious and political accomplishments.

In chapter thirteen, the position of the director in indigenous African theatre is spelt out.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

21

Hope dims on Abuja-Keffi road expansion

Money

Maritime

Banks resort to sales promos

The Investor

Assessing Oteh’s controversial tenure at SEC

Nigeria, others face dearth of seamen

23

24

33

34

FCT Watch

Business What's news

Customs generate N15bn from excise duties in Osun, Oyo The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Oyo/Osun Area Command, generated a total of N15,205,286,408.63, between January and December 2014.

Top 10 brokers transact N35.6bn shares in four days DOMINANCE Big players dictate the tune at the local bourse

Chris Ugwu

p.22

GSK swaps $20bn assets with Novartis GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) is considering divesting some of its smaller units through further partial public share offerings in an effort to maximise profits.

p.22

The Business Desk Ayodele Aminu

Deputy Editor (Business)

Bayo Akomolafe

Asst. Editor (Maritime)

Sunday Ojeme

Asst. Editor (Insurance)

Godson Ikoro

Asst. Editor (Money Market)

Dele Alao

Industry & Agric Editor

Dayo Ayeyemi Property Editor

Adeola Yusuf Energy Editor

Wole Shadare Aviation Editor

Chris Ugwu

Capital Market Editor

Abdulwahab Isa

T

en leading stockbroking firms in the Nigerian stock market exchanged 2.850 billion shares worth N35.596 billion at the first four trading days in 2015.

Investigation by New Telegraph showed that the N35.596 billion was responsible for 76.61 per cent of the total value between January 5 and 9, 2015.

Also, the 2.850 billion shares accounted for 70.82 per cent of the total volume during the period under review.

An analysis of the data showed that Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Limited led with N10.658 billion, accounting for 22.94 per cent, exchanged in 500.874 million shares.

RenCap Securities (Nigeria) Limited followed with N9.268 billion or 19.95 per cent, which was staked on 506.482 billion shares.

CSL Stockbrokers Limited accounted for N5.410 billion or 11.64 per cent invested in 658.8 million shares.

African Alliance Stockbrokers Limited recorded N2.865 billion or 6.17 per cent in 182.031 million shares, while FBN Securities Limited accounted for N2.522 billion or 5.43 per cent in 458.548 million shares.

Chapel Hill Denham Management Limited exchanged 119.927million shares worth N1.406 billion or 3.03 per cent.

Cardinal Stone Securities traded N972.915 million or 2.09 per cent in120.678 billion

Finance Editor

Chuks Onuanyin Energy

Nnamdi Amadi Reporter

Johnson Adebayo

Asst Production Editor

1.73 per cent.

In an effort to stimulate demand and engender competition in the stock broking community, the management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) had, in September 2011, introduced ranking of the brokers by transaction value and

volume.

The Exchange disclosed recently that among 307 licenced dealing members, only 235 are active.

It noted that there was a disproportionate amount of broCONTINUED ON PAGE 22

L-R: Head, Strategy, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Yuonne Emordi; Chief Risk Officer, Tunji Kazeem and Head, Human Resources, Pai Gamde, at the Exchange’s press conference on its yearly review outlook in Lagos.

PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

Abuja, five others top emerging investment hotspots in Africa Dayo Ayeyemi

C

onsidering its market trends, infrastructure developments and attractive commercial, residential and industrial real estate opportunities, Abuja has been listed as one of the top six

emerging hotspots for investment in Africa.

The rating was based on report compiled by Lamudi, a global property portal, which compiled the list of emerging investment hotspots across the continent.

Others are Naivasha, Ke-

nya; Casablanca, Morocco; Jardins deCarthage, Tunisia; Ndola, Zambia and Algiers, Algeria.

The report noted that Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, has continued to attract real CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Rates Dashboard

Kunle Azeez

Senior Correspondent

shares, while Partnership Securities Limited staked shares worth N878.011 million or 1.89 per cent.

Primera Africa Securities Limited traded N812.363 million or 1.75 per cent, while SMADAC Securities Limited recorded N803.177 million or

INFLATION RATE December 2014.........................8% November 2014........................7.9% October 2014............................8.1%

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

EXCHANGE RATE (Parallel as at Jan. 16)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N192 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N293 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N223

l Foreign Reserves – $34.505bn as at 15/01/2015

Source: CBN

EXCHANGE RATE (Official as at Jan. 16)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N169 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N256.22 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N198.48

22

Business | News

SMUGGLING Two states are stronghold of smugglers in Southwest

Bayo Akomolafe

T

he Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Oyo/ Osun Area Command, generated a total of N15,205,286,408.63, between January and December 2014.

This amount was generated from excise duties and duty from imported fairly used vehicles.

Customs Area Controller (CAC), Richard Oteri, who disclosed these, explained that ex-

Customs generate N15bn from excise duties in Osun, Oyo

cise collection amounted to N14,561,262,542.43, while N644,023,866.20 was realised from the fairly used vehicles.

He said that the revenue achievement showed a 10 per cent increase above the revenue generated in 2013, which was N12,139,122,324.50.

Oteri added that the command’s anti-smuggling units recorded 453 seizures; confiscated 30,000 rounds of live cartridges concealed with yam and dry cassava flour; 14,636 bags of 50kilogrammes rice, 23 bags of the 25 kilogrammes

Top 10 brokers transact N35.6bn shares CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

ker per dollar amount of capitalisation in Nigeria.

This, according to the Exchange, has made the market become unattractive to big players, as well as limited the size of the market.

Meanwhile, the present situation might not be unconnected with SEC’s drive to complete market operators’ recapitalisation by the end of last year.

However, the board of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), at its meeting of December 22, 2014, reviewed the status report on the level of compli-

estate investors who are interested in benefiting from its array of well-developed architecture and strong infrastructure.

Besides, Abuja is a seat of power with good security and favourable climate for business.

The report noted that the city’s business zone is home to an array of multinational companies expanding their offices into the emerging market.

It stated: “As Nigeria emerges as an attractive investment hotspot, the outskirts of Lagos are also increasing in popularity. Areas including Epe, Ota, Agbara, and Ajah have witnessed a growth in industrial parks and boast affordable rates whilst in close proximity to the city of Lagos.

The report also cited Naivasha, saying it is

and 20 bags of the 10 kilogramme bags of rice.

The command similarly impounded 125 bags of Indian hemp, 60 wraps of hemp, in addition to 28,343 cartons of imported frozen poultry products, particularly turkey.

Oteri noted: “Comparatively, the seizure figure recorded for 2014 represents 25 per cent increase over that of 2013 during which 270 seizures were recorded.”

He explained that the command’s anti-smuggling activities in 2014 actually accommodated various general merchandise, which included

used tyres, vegetable oil and textiles.

“The Oyo/Osun Area Command is poised in her resolve to continue building and improving on the achievements so far made both in the areas of revenue generation and antismuggling feats.

“This is expedient especially now that the current management under the leadership of Abdullahi Dikko Inde, has made the service a place of pride and a force to reckon with, in modern day Customs world.”

Early this month, the command said it impounded 30,000 rounds

of live cartridges concealed with yam and dry cassava flour.

Oteri, while giving the command’s report for the period between January and December 2014, in Ibadan, noted that 125 bags and 60 wraps of Cannabis were hid in various bags of rice.

He added that 28,343 cartons of imported frozen poultry products were impounded.

Also, Oteri said that some smugglers who came into the country through an illegal route in Agbaja, off Igbeti area of Olorunsogo Local Government Area of

Oyo State were arrested last September with 2,000 bags of rice.

He said: “The command’s combined antismuggling teams intercepted 40 vehicles loaded with smuggled imported rice after a week of effective surveillance and monitoring.

“In the face of the comptroller general of customs’ zero tolerance for rice smuggling through the borders, the service has continued to intensify efforts at border policing to keep the recalcitrant, unpatriotic Nigerians off this unwholesome business.

ance by capital market operators, with the new minimum capital requirement, which has a compliance deadline of December 31, 2014.

The board expressed satisfaction with the efforts made by all operators, particularly those who have complied with the new requirements.

It, however, took cognisance of the effect of the global economic situation and approved an extension of the deadline for compliance with the new minimum capital requirements by nine months, to September 30, 2015.

Abuja, five others top emerging investment hotspots CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

located 90 kilometers northwest of Nairobi and has attracted many developers into the region. It stated that tourist attractions in and around Naivasha, such as the Lake Naivasha, Hell’s Gate, Aberdare Hills and Longonot National Park, have led to the town’s development as a preferred getaway location, increasing demand for holiday homes in the area.

Casablanca, which is Morocco’s industrial and business centre, the report said, is home to numerous Moroccan and international companies, taking advantage of its close proximity to Europe and international trade routes.

The dynamic city is increasingly attractive to Morocco’s young population, looking to settle down in a modern area with an abundance of employment opportunities.

L-R: Group Head, Technical/Chairman, Awards Committee, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, Gbolaya Adeyanju; Branch Manager, Port Harcourt, Tope Ilesanmi and Group Head, Corporate Services, Dotun Adeogun, at the company’s annual Tertiary Institutions Essay Competition in Lagos.

ACQUISITION

Two firms in joint venture to enhance profitability Bayo Akomolafe

G

laxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) is considering divesting some of its smaller units through further partial public share offerings in an effort to maximise profits.

Also, it was learnt that the company has concluded $20 billion (£13 billion) asset swap with Novartis.

The drug giant added that the policy of ending individual sales targets would now be rolled out globally, noting that it planned to implement the new compensation system in all countries by early 2015.

Its Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Andrew Witty, explained that the company’s large consumer health division would be more flexible as a standalone operation following the conclusion of the

GSK swaps $20bn assets with Novartis asset swap.

He said: “Post-Novartis, particularly if we did more transactions in the consumer space, the idea of the consumer company being a standalone consumer powerhouse, is much more tenable.”

Last month, the company announced that shareholders had approved the deal with ‘an overwhelming majority,’ which will see the two giants form a joint venture and swap certain assets.

The three-part inter-conditional transaction is expected to be completed during the first half of the year, which will see the FTSE 100 drug maker acquire the Swiss company’s global Vaccines business, excluding Novartis’ influenza vaccines, for an initial cash consideration of $5.25 billion with subsequent

potential milestone payments of up to $1.8 billion and ongoing royalties.

Novartis has agreed to acquire GSK’s oncology products for up to $16 billion.

Witty added that nothing was planned for the near term; there were considerable options for the restructuring of the group.

According to the chief executive, the company was not looking for any deal with a huge price tag after going through a rough year, including a $500 million fine for bribing Chinese authorities, although smaller acquisitions are not out of the question.

“Future M&A in the consumer space could get quite interesting again,” he suggested. GSK employs over 97,000 employees in over 100 countries worldwide.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

23

FCT Business Watch

Hope dims on Abuja-Keffi road expansion Yusuf Shaibu Abuja

lZero budget allocation, erection of structures stall project

F

or thousands of civil servants residents along N ya n aya / M a r a r ab a satellite axis of Abuja metropolis, traffic gridlock is a monstrous headache to contend with on daily basis.

Aside Saturdays and Sundays, the working days are tedious routine for the civil servants shuttling between their residences and offices in the city centre. A journey of less than 20 minutes’ drive could last between two and three hours in traffic congestion.

The Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Works, has said that the redesigning of Abuja-Keffi road was in progress in order to ease the incessant traffic gridlocks on the road, which have been generating much concern among residents of Nyanya-Mararaba axis.

In September last year, Minister of works Mike Onolememen, while playing host to high ranking officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), led by the Corps Marshal, Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, said that the Abuja-Keffi road was one issue that had generated a lot of concern because of the large number of Abuja workers residing on that corridor.

Onolememen noted that the traffic the road handles is far in excess of the maximum designed traffic for it, saying that the ministry was in the process of finalising the design for its expansion and dissipation of the traffic.

“We believe that the Abacha Barracks end should not and cannot be the only entry point into the city. So, we are going to do a kind of an arc diversion through which we will have a number entry point into the city. We believe that is the design solution for that particular problem.

“It is a problem; like the FRSC Corp Marshal pointed out, there is not much they can do in terms of traffic control on that road, because the problem is a very fundamental one and it requires an engineering design solution,” the minister said.

Onolememen had promised that it will be done in 2015 considering huge population and vehicular traffic from Mararaba and Nyanya axis of Abuja residents that daily commute on the road.

Zero budget Hope was high among residents of Nyanay/Mararbaba axis that works will commence on the road this year going by commitment of the Minister of works, Architect Mike Onolememen.

But, the Abuja-Keffi road, it has been discovered, is not captured in the 2015 budget recently presented to the National Assembly.

A heavy duty trucks parked on the roadside

Business activities on the roadside

Besides its non-inclusion in this year’s budget, New Telegraph’s findings revealed, new unauthorised structures like shopping plaza, filling stations and stores have taken over both sides of the road, making it difficult for any meaningful expansion to take place.

Lamenting his frustration over the daily congestion on the road, a civil servant who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is a civil servant and not authorised to speak to media, said: “The road is a federal road and government may want to expand it and free the traffic, but take a look at structures, shopping malls and filling stations that have encroached unto the road. Most of the owners are friends of government who may have contributed to funding election campaign.

“It is annoying to know that men and officers at Development Control Department of FCDA saddled with the responsibility of disallowing erection of unauthorised structures allowed these mess to go on. They chose to look the other way after stipends are offered to them.”

A businessman, Mr Innocent Musa, who claims to ply the road daily, advised government to relocate the El-Rufai Motor Park to

A filling station under construction by the roadside

Men and officers at Development Control Department of FCDA saddled with the responsibility of disallowing erection of unauthorised structures allowed these mess to go on

its original place where the first bombing occurred. The relocation, he said, will ease the traffic on the road, stressing that it will be of no use keeping the park without using it.

According to Musa, “most of the new structures springing up are owned by the major stakeholders in Abuja and Nasarawa State and these are people who are supposed to help talk to the powers that be so that something can be done quickly on that road.

It is so bad to know that these same people are the very ones building petrol stations and plazas on both sides of the road.”

Some of the road users, who spoke with New Telegraph, identified economic activities taking place on the Nyanya-Mararaba road as a major cause of the incessant traffic gridlocks on the road.

A resident, Monday John, said: “Sometimes one will wonder how on earth people will go as far as selling sharp sand and stone on the road, not to talk of those that sell other wears.

“As at last year, we gathered that the Nasarawa State government was making moves to relocate all those selling by the road side to the new Mararaba International Market and also relocate those selling by the road side, but till now, nothing

has been done in that respect. It is annoying and stressful to see workers spending two to three hours on the road while going and coming from work on a daily basis,” he added.

According to the concerned citizen, “instead of the Nasarawa State government to move the market and road side traders to the Mararaba International Market in order to ease the daily congestion, the state is busy giving the market a face-lift and at the end of the day, people will be told that government spent billions of naira for just that.”

Economic potential A dualised Abuja-Keffi road will, no doubt, quicken the economic pace of states that share boarder link with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The road has a direct link to Makurdi, Jos, Kaduna, AkwIbom, Cross River and some states in the eastern part of the country.

There is no gain saying that the Abuja-Keffi, Nyanya-Mararaba road is strategic for economic activities following its link to the North Central and the Southern regions, but funding has led to the sudden stoppage of work on the road, worsening the daily traffic bottleneck.

24

Business | Money

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Banks resort to sales promos Godson Ikoro

B

anks are renewing focus on how to invigorate their growth this year by floating deposit-building promos. As they trudge along, troubled on all sides, yet not distressed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed, many lenders have challenged their strategic units to seriously consider and float deposit-driving promos that will help reduce the impacts regulatory headwinds foisted on them by the plummeting crude oil price shocks at the international market.

Other regulatory headwinds they have had to contend with include high Cash Reserve Requirements (CRR) of both public sector and private sector funds as well as devaluation of the naira. With the continued low interest rates and tougher capital requirements of incoming Basel 111 rules starting to bite, the lenders need to face a new reality that they are into a new phase of thinner margins and lower growth, hence their renewed focus on risk management and cost against the backdrop of CBN regulations.

The lenders Lenders that have embarked on such promos are Fidelity Bank Plc, Ecobank Nigeria Plc, Sterling Bank Plc and Diamond Bank. Fidelity Bank Plc on its part, maintained that it would replace its ongoing promos or reload the existing ones if their customer survey supports the move at the lender’s fifth draw in Lagos recently. Executive Director, Lagos and South West, Mr. IK Mbagwu, said the bank has doubled its deposits since it started its Save4Scholarship Savings Promo. He said that the purpose of the promo was twofold: to contribute to customers’ children education and to boost the bank’s savings. Fidelity Bank reported increase in customer deposits from N716billion in 2012 to N806billion in 2013. In December 2014, the bank forecast that its deposits may have risen to N1.612 trillion in 2014, thanks to Save4 Scholarship Savings Promo. He told Journalists that when the promo runs full course in February, the bank was likely to replace it with another promo or reload theSave4 Scholarship Savings promo.

It would be recalled that Fidelity Bank has been consistent with driving its customer deposit base and deposits with savings promo. Hitherto, it had done Save and Smile Promo, Cars and Cash Splash, and the ongoing Save4Scholarship Savings Promo, indicating that the bank has recorded tremendous deposits.

Similarly, Diamond Bank’s salary for Life Promo is still running and is likely to be reloaded.

Customers with savings extra accounts, who emerge winners are rewarded with a N100, 000 monthly payment for the next 20 years. Going by the dynamics of the promo, draws are held on a weekly and monthly basis and a

MD/CEO, Fidelity Bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo

customer could win a salary for life on a monthly basis. The bank rewards at least one customer to win N2million while10 others would win also N1million in each month. The weekly prize shows that five customers will win N500, 000 cash, while 15 customers will win N250, 000 each. The promo encourages people to save more money in their accounts, earn competitive savings interest rate on it and at least have a chance to win in the weekly and monthly draws. The highest prize to be won in the Diamond for Life is N100,000 salary for 20 years.

Regulations Apart from the main prize, there are other prizes too. Diamond Bank had in July last year announced its plans to boost customers deposits to specifically offset the impact of the CRR, which was hiked from 12 per cent to 50 per cent and later to 75 per cent for private sector fund and 50 per cent to 100 per cent of public sector. More specifically, the CBN had in July 2013 increased the ratio on public sector deposits from 12 per cent to 50 per cent, a development that led to its withdrawal of an estimated N1 trillion from the system and a spike in interbank rates of approximately 800 basis points.

In January this year, the banking watchdog increased the CRR on public sector deposits from 50 per cent to 75 per cent again in the process withdrawing about N1 trillion from the banking system. Indeed, speculations are rife that the CBN could raise the same ratio on public sector deposits to 100 per cent if it still thinks that the threat to the naira remains strong.

And in early November, the apex bank devalued the naira by eight per cent and set a new exchange rate band of N168-174 per dollar. That the banks are responding to these hikes by

MD/CEO, Sterling Bank, Yemi Adeola

Every promo begins with an idea, and it goes through the banks processes before being unveiled. Banks like other service organisations have a variety of sources of innovative ideas from which to generate new promo campaigns for deposits

stepping up their deposit mobilisation drives as evident in some of the ongoing promos and from some of their 2013 annual reports is not in doubt.

Also, Ecobank is running its giant Give Away Promo for classic and advantage customers. The primary purpose is to drive customer deposits. But the Product Manager, Liability Products, Ecobank Nigeria, Mrs. Mofoluwaso Osinuga, said the promo was introduced to appreciate customers and attract new ones. She said that the draws were in two categories, Classic and Advantage customers, who are being rewarded with prizes including Inverters, IPAD, Samsung Smart Phones; air conditioners, generating sets, LED televisions, washing machines respectively. Sterling Bank Plc’s promo is to select customers who are sports fans for Arsenal matches from last year up to January. The winners of the promo will be taken to the United Kingdom to watch any of the Arsenal matches with all-expense paid by the bank. Feelers from the bank indicate that it will extend the promo.

Indeed, promos are consistent drivers of deposits. However, if it is not properly planned, it may lose the “act now force. ”Every promo begins with an idea, and it goes through the banks processes before being invested. Banks like other service organisations have a variety of sources of innovative ideas from which to generate new promo campaigns for deposits. The issue is to capture these ideas and feed them into a process for review and possible development. First, source of such information is usually the bank staff especially the frontline employees who have direct market contact, they work the service, the process and are often able to identify ways to streamline delivery and also recognise

opportunities for completely new services by listening to customers, responding to complaints or request and analysis of customer requirements. Service personnel interact with customers with distribution channel partners; initiate service quality reforms to imitate improvements and staff submit ideas to core assessment product assessment group.

Another prominent source of ideas is the customer resolve and increasingly service organisations which rely on a steady stream of innovative products. In other words, to fully explore the requirements associated with an innovation and obtain the necessary buy in from those who will intimately have to provide new service, the idea must be concept tested. This will involve full specification of what is involved and the likely impact the promo will have after unveiling. This also involves assessing the viability of the promo whether it is strategically attractive or not. During the conceptualization stage, deployment of capital outlay to fund the promo, recovery period of the expected deposits as income are put into consideration.

The third source of new ideas is copying an already deployed promo innovation from another lender. Imitation in the service sector is common but often the imitator could apply new knowledge and their own specific assets and capabilities to improve on the original ideas. However, there are some problems associated with imitation, such as reducing perceived differentiation by customers and accelerating conformity within a sector, but it has to be recognised as a common idea generation technique.

Commercialisation after the commercialisation, the bank will then undertake an objective business analysis of the concept, ensure the idea is ratified and strategically and financially viable over a sufficiently long period of time to recoup its investment.

Advantages of promos The advantages of promos include getting more sales forces support for savings and getting to open up new savings account, advertising and build branding, build customer relationship, cash refunds and patronage rewards, decide the size of incentives.

Larger incentive will attract more sales response conditions for participation.

Incentives must be offered to everyone in the group and the shorter the length of the promo, the better. When iti s too long, it loses the ‘act now’ force.

Conclusion Clouding that positive agenda, however, will be the continued need for banks to reinvent their reputations given the passing of so many regulations over the past 12 months. Higher total assets may not necessarily lead to higher profits.. The lenders are poised to manage liquidity and profitability trade-off while diversifying their assets in a way to remain profitable and sustainable.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

25

The Mega City ...EXCLUSIVE LAGOS MAGAZINE

MY CITY, MY WORLD

LIFE IN THE CITY

Lagos is a changing city

Racing through red light

Living on the dumpsite

Scavengers on the seach for waste at the Olusosun dumpsite, Ojota, Lagos

To some, it is a dumpsite. To others, it is a factory, where their daily bread comes from. EZEKIEL ADESAWE and RUTH OKOCHA look at some Nigerians whose livelihood depend on the waste generated by others

B

olaji Amusan (pseudonym) lives her three bedroom flat every morning, dressed up in her sleek suit to the popular Olusosun Ojota dump site.

When she gets there, she gets ready for the day’s job by changing from her sleek suit dress to a tattered and disheveled

OLUWATOSIN OMONIYI CO-ORDINATOR

tosin.omoniyi@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

clothe, which she uses for scavenging.

Amusan is a scavenger at the dumpsite but lives a cozy and comfortable life with the job.

All she does is to turn people’s waste to her own wealth.

Like other hundreds of scavengers at the dumpsite, Amusan believes nothing is a waste. Therefore, she waits for refuse trucks to troop in to offload refuse and waste at the platform section of the dumpsite and by 9am, she starts picking. Interestingly, Bolaji doesn’t just go to the platform- the actual dumpsite to pick anything she finds, her specialisation is in picking cartons and papers. She does this as every truck comes in to offload refuse.

After picking for some minutes, she withdraws from the platform to her temporary base, not just to relax with her close accomplice in the business

of scavenging, but to carefully separate and select the fairly good ones from the bad ones that could pass on for a good price. After carefully selecting what she wants, she packs them in disjointed big sack and closes it up for the agent to come and buy. The agent is the middle man between the pickers that pick from the platform and the buyers who buy from the agents and then sell to recycling companies. She makes sure she gets enough waste, so that she can get enough money to take home for the day.

Amusan is just one of the hundreds of scavengers at the dumpsite that scavenge for survival; other scavengers have their own different stories from

Amusan’s.

Musa Ahmadu is another scavenger at the Ojota dumpsite.

He has been eking out a living from the scavenging business for more than two years. According to him, the work is very lucrative. He picks scraps and junks that have metal content and sells to the agent, who then resells to the buyer. Musa is one of the young Nigerians in search of a green pasture who believes that his suffering will come to an end someday.

He started the scavenging job two years ago when his friend introduced him to it, and since then: “I have no cause to regret it. I’ve been able to feed myself CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

26

Life | In The City

They move as the kings of the road. They drive and park their trucks anywhere, unperturbed.

LAWMA/ PSP trucks appear to be above the law made to govern and regulate the activities of the citizens. They are extremely careless with the way they go about their job as observed by EZURIKE UGOCHUKWU

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Kings of the road

“Y

ou know well to ask me why I have parked this truck here. If we don’t come to carry this dirt here, you will be somewhere in your house talking nonsense,” bemoaned a truck driver.

“You people behave as if the road belongs to you alone; as if you are the kings of the road. If any person questions your excesses, you start abusing the person just as you have demonstrated,” retorted Mr. James Ukaegbu, a resident of Egbeda Lagos.

“Oga, wait there make we carry dirty finish. If you like go and call Fashola, we must finish packing this dirt before we move out of this road,” one of the assistants to the truck driver interjected.

The above illustrated the encountered experience of one Mr. James Ukaegbu, a business man with a LAWMA/PSP driver and the driver’s assistants on the Olugbede road of Egbeda, as he was obstructed from meeting up to a seminar he was to anchor; which he was already behind the scheduled time on a Friday afternoon.

He perceived the Lagos West Management Agency, LAWMA and its franchised organ- Public Sector Participation (PSP) refuse lifting trucks are notorious for their reckless driving and uncontrolled parking on the roads and streets of Lagos.

Many Lagosians have expressed their displeasure over the uncouth behaviour of the drivers and their assistants- unguided and lawless parking and uncontrollable blowing of horn that could cause the heart to jump out to the mouth, over speeding regardless of the bulkiness of their trucks.

All these according to many Lagosians, have made their excesses unbearable to them.

In the opinion of Mr. Lateef Salaudeen, a mini truck driver, who believes that all agencies of government in this country behave as if they have been issued the licence to lawlessness, “they are under Lagos State government. As such, they could park their trucks any place that pleases them. They could cause traffic jam at will and nobody will raise eye brows at them. Lagos government collects so much tax from them.” Mr. Salaudeen said. He added that, “lack of space on the streets could be part of the reasons for their reckless and unguided parking.”

Mr. M. Mayaki, a Lagos resident recounted his ordeals in the hands of the LAWMA/PSP drivers. He

A refuse bin truck obstructing traffic flow at Igando

was told unambiguously by the driver to take his complain to any quarter he wishes to take it to, that he cares less about that. Mayaki is bitter at the rate which they blow horn without moderation inside the streets of Lagos, where he said many aged and hypertensive people are housed. A situation he believes could bring shock to them and trigger some health complications in them.

“They are reckless. I have tried severally to call the attention of a particular driver of the PSP to reason with me, but to no avail. They keep on doing what they feel to do regardless of whose Ox is gored.

What they fail to understand is that when the mind is stressed, it could increase stress in the heart.

There are still the good ones among them.” He emphasised.

The recklessness of the PSP drivers is better imagined than experienced. According to Mr. Lateef Yinusa, secretary of Odo Branch of the National union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), “some of the PSP drivers, the way they blow their horn, a dying person may die twice before the real death. Your heart must jump into your mouth. They don’t have regard for other road users. The filth they carry in their trucks many at times, fly off and litter the whole road causing air pollution. These things do not move them; as they hardly stop to pack it back in such situations.” Mr Lateef expressed further that, “if they come to bus stops, they park their trucks as they like, the FRSC and LATSMA see them and close their eyes, making them stand out

They park their trucks as they like, the FRSC and LATSMA see them and close their eyes, making them stand out as untouchable

as untouchable.”

Mr.Yomi Olakunle, bore a diverse opinion. The drivers have no choice than to park on the centre of the road whenever they want to carry refuse. He emphasised that the size of their vehicle is another militating factor. “I can’t say they are getting it right, neither can I say they are wrong. Many at times, you will see people trying to throw in dirt inside the trucks after which they have closed their truck and are on motion. Such translates to the environment being littered with flying dirt.”

Some of the PSP drivers that spoke to New Telegrph are of the inclination that they block traffic most often, as a result of narrow roads caused by double parking on so many parts of Lagos roads and impatience on the side of Lagosians. Though some of the truck drivers claim they have the favour and protections of the law enforcement agents.

In the words of Mr.Yusuf Ibrahim, one of the drivers; “if there are spaces in the streets and on the major roads, we wouldn’t block roads. Our vehicles are usually big. So many abandoned vehicles by the corners of the road pose problem to us. Many at times, we park our trucks and start looking for the owners of such vehicle to see if we could navigate and park well in the streets.”

He added that, “many streets are untarred. We cannot risk going into such streets to avoid our trucks sinking in such streets.

The government is trying, but we are appealing to them to do more

to make most roads accessible.

What we use is heavy duty trucks not cars.”

Another driver, Mr. Ismaila Karim said, “We carry stinking filth. We expect people to always have patience with us and allow us an unhindered right of way.”

“We cannot fear anybody on the road as we perform this duty.

After all, some of these trucks are owed by- some LATSMA officials, FRSC officials, some soldiers and many other government officials.”

He concluded.

A Nigerian proverb has it that “when a man’s criminal mission has the blessing of his father, he becomes more ferocious in executing his vice.” No doubt, this typifies the belief of many Lagosians about the attitude of these men.

A spokesperson for the Lagos Sate Transport Management Agency (LASTMA), Mr. Shola Giwa, while reacting on the speculation that his agency and other traffic agencies treat the LAWMA/ PSP refuse collecting truck drivers with levity, he pointed out that they are privately owned like every other vehicle on Lagos roads. “they are like every other person, If they contravene, they will be treated like any other traffic offender.

Even LAGBUS that belongs to government ,once they contravene traffic law, they are apprehended.”

Mr. Giwa said. On the presumption also that most of the trucks are owned by some LASTMA officials and other law enforcement agencies, he debunked that as false and said, “an individual that works for government is not supposed to have any other bussines.”

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

Ekeing a living on dumpsite

Scavengers sorting out their waste CO NTINUED FROM PAG E 25

and pick my needs sufficiently.

I have been doing this work for more than two years and it is ok.

At least, on the average daily, I make N1, 000. But if I get a better job, I will leave this one. I am tired of it,” he said.

Another scavenger, who simply gave his name as Abdulmumi, also spoke to New Telegraph on why he choose to be a scavenger out of the numerous job opportunities which has been made available by the state government. Abdul as he is commonly addressed was a LAWMA worker but left due to the unfavorable and inconsiderate attitude of his employers. He said he had to resign to join his brothers in picking used materials from the dump site and he has been in it for past seven years. He also said he preferred working on the dump site compared to the government job which he was doing. Being a self-employed man, he is happy now that he doesn’t get orders from anyone; he is in full control of his time and person. He also gets his money on daily basis, depending on the numbers of used materials he could gather for the day. He went further to say he lives on medication to stay fit due to the dirty and unhealthy environment.”

In addition, Abdul said the work is tedious but he doesn’t have other option as he has to earn a living to cater for himself and his old mother in the north.

Although he is a trained driver, he has not being able to secure a driving job because he has not being able to get his driver’s license. These, he attributed to in-

sufficient fund. He also said he never had the opportunity to get any educational background as he was cattle herder from childhood before he moved to Lagos to source for money.

Despite the harmful nature of the work coupled with filthy and hazardous condition under which they scavenge, they are not deterred. They troop in to the platform in their hundreds to scavenge; over 500 scavengers are estimated to work at the Olusosun Ojota dumpsite every day, even as new scavengers come into the business every day.

Whenever the trucks drive in to offload debris and rubbish, the scavengers besiege the area, immediately the refuse are offloaded from the trucks they scamper for the junks and scraps.

With the current state of the world economy, scavenging from dumpsites, or waste picking, is an important economic activity that provides an income to over 15 million people worldwide and generates several billions in currency every year. One per cent of the urban population in most developing countries like Nigeria make a living from scavenging One big fact about scavenging is that everyone produces waste and to scavengers nothing is a waste, hence, they turn the wastes into their own fortune.

So, in their effort to provide basic necessity for themselves and their family members, the scavengers endure any difficult task as well as facing consequences that they might encounter in the process of scavenging because they are sure that if they can get scraps and other materials they deal in, then they will smile back home.

Waste carriers

Scavenging from dumpsites, or waste picking, is an important economic activity that provides income to over 15 million people worldwide

Scavenging for scraps

Life | In The City

27

28

Life | Mega City

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Fire on the rampage Elijah Samuel

A

s the citizenry moved from the year 2014 into 2015, it was with great relief and the hope that the unfolding New Year will afford opportunities to regain the lost grounds of the passing year.

And so, it was nowhere near the imagination that the spate of fire incidences that spiraled in several places in the hazy weeks of the opening month of the year, would break out and perish properties and goods in billions of naira worth in the Lagos metropolis.

From Ipaja to Ijora, Ilasamaja to Lagos Island, and Yaba, the ravaging fire outbreaks left in their wake gnashing of teeth and sorrows for those who suffered material and human losses. Really, it was the most hectic of times for the officials and men of the Lagos State Fire Service, who were battling on many fronts to extinguish the fire. For most of the sad incidents, nothing or little could be salvaged as the inferno wrecked enormous damages.

Mrs Kemi Ajimuda, a food stuffs seller, was one of those who suffered losses at the Kirikiri.

She said: “I have seven shops there, but everything is gone. They are all burnt to the ground.

She said she was unaware of the ill-fate that Had befallen her until “when I got to the shops this morning (Thursday) that I saw the havoc that the fire had wrecked on the area. My children said they were aware but they did not want to tell me because of my health. It was just on Monday that I restocked my shop with garri yam flour, yam and palm oil. Now everything is gone.

Although causes of the various fire outbreak could not be clearly ascertained, but according to the accounts of concerned citizens, and volunteers who helped in putting-out fire in several places, human negligent acts could have been responsible as most of the shops that were consumed by the inferno were said to be occupied by traders, most of whom used generators at night. According to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Head of Central Bank of Nigeria’s Security Department, Mrs Yaya, whose bank had responded to the Balogun Market inferno to contain its spread and possible threat to many banks within the vicinity; the possibility of human error cannot be ruled out in some of the fire outbreaks.

She also lamented the difficulties encountered to have access to the fire spots due to the way the market was constructed.

She thereby, admonished the state government to urgently do something to reconstruct it into a modern market.

“Our trucks found it difficult to get to the scene of the

Crowd at the Balogun Market fire incident in Lagos

fire due to the way the market was constructed. Some of the traders sleep within the market and use electricity generators popularly known as `I better pass my neighbour’,’’ she said.

The foregoing scenario underscores lackadaisical disposition of a number of people to possibilities that could spark fire outbreak. Again, a lot of inhibitions have often times been noted as aggravating the impact of damage in the event of fire outbreak as access to a vantage position would have been denied. Therefore, the concern for safe living in the metropolis cannot be trivialised, government thus needs to step up actions and enforce stringent laws that will curtail arbitrariness in structural and environment planning.

The Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Fire Service, Mr Amodu Shakiru, while speaking with the New Telegraph, corroborated the popularly-held notions like Yaya’s, and disclosed that carelessness is often the responsible factor in fire outbreaks in

PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

Majority of the fire outbreaks were as a result of negligence to simple fire safety rules

the state. He added that blatant disregard for building laws in the state somewhat constitutes inhibitions to fighting fire effectively in most cases. “Majority of the fire out breaks were as a result of negligence to simple fire safety rules.

For instance, it was alleged that the cause of last Makoko fire was the negligent act of someone who smoked cigarette and threw it carelessly on the ground somewhere which later ignited fire. Harmattan doesn’t cause fire outbreak but it helps the spread of fire.

Again, we discovered that after finishing with their firewood or their coal, often times, they disposed indiscriminately, the firewood and coal which fire they wouldn’t have put out completely into the LAWMA waste tank. By the time the harmattan haze comes upon such little fire, it empowers it and becomes mighty. Majority of the causes are hinged on carelessness.

“We always have difficulties to access the spot of fire. Those of Balogun Market and Mandilas on the same Island are apt

examples. You know how those houses are so closely built in such a way that it’s difficult to go between them with our equipment. When you want to quench fire, you need ample space to do that effectively; you don’t fight fire from afar.

“The government has been doing its part through the state building control agency and town planning authority. The citizenry also need to assist us by creating access to apartment.”

But they are not relenting: that’s why “we have been talking to the people through advertisement and the media to get the public enlightened. We have not relented also in organizing campaign in the secondary schools because children learn faster. By this, when they get home, they will teach their parents. Even, we get to the markets and conduct what we call fire driller and fire simulation with them; they are the ones endangering themselves: they seem not to be forthcoming in the prevention of fire outbreak,” Shakiru stated.

Life | In The City

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

29

We need to regenerate Lagos It is almost 50 years ago, when Elder Abiodun Assogba, a fashion executive arrived at the then Federal Capital City of Lagos in search of the Golden Fleece. He met an environment of near-perfect living. In reminiscence of the post-independence ambience, Assogba bemoans the gradual socio-economic degradation of the values and qualities that in those days, were not found in the city. In this chat with ELIJAH SAMUEL, he proffered solutions to the decadent nature of not only Lagos, but Nigeria as a whole How was Lagos State in the beginning? here was no development when I came to Lagos in 1966. It was in my presence that Ikorodu Road was first tarred, right from Fadeyi point through ObanikoroPalm grove-Onipanu. The mode of transportation was mainly by road.

Although there were small buses called kiakia that were used within the metropolis, the big wooden-constructed Bedford lorries, popularly called bolekaja, were the main vehicle for inter-region and interstate transportation.

There was regular supply of power by Electricity Corporation of Nigeria, ECN; complaints were promptly attended to by the officials to the joy of the citizens. This really complemented the reliable security condition which made movement around the metropolis a pleasant thing. Because of the assuring safety, we could attend two to three parties before the break of the dawn as parties were usually held in the night till dawn.

The quality of education was very high. Learning was scheduled to hold in two sessions: morning and evening. It was when when Alhaji Lateef Jakande came that the sessions were collapsed into one. What Jakande did was to solve the inadequacy of learning facilities, like buildings which prompted the two-session system in the first instance.

This was what gave birth to the poultry-like kind of classrooms that were prevalent during his time.

It was in the bid to make education accessible and convenient to the Lagos residents that made him devise that method.

Economically, it was a lot easier to embark on business and find jobs. Then, with a First School Leaving Certificate, one could work as

T

a clerk in corporate organizations or the ministries or as sales persons in multi-chain stores like the UAC, Leventis, Kingsway etc. The business people found very rewarding doing business in the era when the pounds was the token of transactions. Unlike now that the naira is abysmally devalued and of no reputation, when you earned two pounds in those days, you hardly would exhaust it before the turn of another month for another salary.

Now, people earn so much but they can afford little or nothing.

Although things like the radio, Television, refrigerator and the likes were the exclusive preserve of just few men, and not in wide circulation, they were accorded great value as those that possess them were highly esteemed. If you look at those things then in comparison to the modern gadgets that everybody could affo http://www.google. com.ng/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s &source=images&cd=&ved=0CAcQ jRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdailypo st.ng%2F2012%2F10%2F27%2Ffireoutbreaks-wrecks-havoc-lagosbalogun-market-photos%2F&ei =EDm9VKzUMKiBywOLsoLQ DQ&bvm=bv.83829542,d.bGQ&p sig=AFQjCNGV4lr2dE096eqtht mHJPP4wr n4GQ&

ust=1421772740941519 rd these days, they can’t place any importance. But the fact that some of these things were accorded great value then demonstrates how degraded we have gone in quality valuation.

At what time were the changes that crept into the standard of living become noticeable in Lagos?

There was the period that was referred to as the ‘Udoji Award Era’: it was the period when the salaries of civil servants were reviewed upward but not paid until a little over a year later. This was in the 70s during the military era. So, when Udoji, who was at the helm of civil service then, decided to effect payment, it was an unprecedented bumper harvest for the civil servants. This caused inflation where so much money was in circulation. This, of course, prompted traders to hike prices of goods. That era signaled the gradual decline in the standard of living, although the socioeconomic condition of the people in the 70s through to the mid 80s was still far better than today. It is also pertinent to note that the incessant change of Government in Nigeria and the states, particularly caused instability of policies, and thus governance suffered.

In what ways did political instability set the states back?

It is so bad that planning is hampered because of the prevailing economic vulnerability in the entire country. For instance, look at the stable democracies of the world like the one in the United Kingdom, prices of commodities and standard of living are relatively stable.

But reverse is the case with us here. Let me allude that it was perhaps an attempt to arrest the prevalent arbitrary pricing system and inflation of the era that the Buhari/Idiagbon regime embarked on price-fixing for some commodities then.

Surely, the government, governance and the citizenry are being affected by the political instability in the land. What do you advise should be the anchor of policies in the next dispensation that is about to take place in a few months from now?

Most of those jostling for politi-

cal offices are not driven by the sincere love to serve the people. They are rather propelled by the prospect of the access to public funds which they divert into private pockets. To me, military regime tends to be better in public funds management.

This country would have gotten it right from the time of the Buhari/ Idiagbon regime, but that opportunity was frittered away by a complex of forces. Within the short span of that regime, there was great discipline and orderliness in the polity and governance. At the time the people were beginning to imbibe the realities which that regime offered, it was cut short. However, I want to state that the political landscape is replete with the residue of those forces that stopped the Buhari/Idiagbon regime. It is thus not surprising that over the years, most of those who have played and occupied public offices have only used the opportunities to serve and promote their personal interests and not the public.

So, dispassionate scrutiny of the public office personalities and their programmes, and interval assessment of the workability or the impacts of such programmes should be imbibed as a political culture.

What should now guide the people in the upcoming elections?

While employing their objective and dispassionate mind to analyze the candidates standing in the elections, it is my humble plea that Nigerians should allow a change in this country through this democratic provision to effect a peaceful change. The lamentations of the people concerning governance at the federal level can be stopped through the forthcoming elections. We need a change, even if it is for the next four years when opportunity will present itself for us to go to the polls once more.

What about Lagos State?

The present governor has really made a mark in the history of the state, but the regime of Jakande cannot be sidelined in the development of the state. Some of those things that we have around today are the reminiscence of the Jakande era. In like manner, Fashola has made landmark achievement but the issue of relaxing rules and laws to allow the reign of impunity is sad. When the government did try to regulate the activities of okada riders in the state, the vast of the residents were happy about it as several lives were saved from being wasted. The display of policy summersault should cease in the interest of enthronement of good governance in Lagos State.

What are those things that you relished in those early decades of the state, which are no longer there but that you‘ll want to be brought back?

There are some things that have become relics of the past decades and can never be brought back in this present age. But let me tell you that the fashion

Assogba

CONT INU E D ON PAGE 30

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Life | Local Government Watch

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Racing through red light For so many years gone, traffic light has been accepted as a means for guiding and regulating the activities of drivers and pedestrians on the highways for easy flow of vehicular movement all over the world. Here in Nigeria, Lagos particularly, only a handful obey traffic lighting without being compelled to do so. EZURIKE UGOCHUKWU reports

T

o some people, it’s fun while to others, its arrant madness and a mark of irresponsibility to see a man or woman stand in the sun or rain controlling traffic. They are trying to make life easier for Nigerians, especially motorists, trying also to bring sanity on the road, and probably reduce accidents. Rather than empathizing and appreciating such an official or volunteer, some motorists will take delight in discounting orders from the fellow. They will enter the road regardless of who has the right of way, little or no regard for zebra crossings.

The consequences of such act is not only confusion on the road, it causes endless traffic gridlock and puts so many lives in danger.

There is no gainsaying that most of the traffic jams we experience in Lagos are often caused by impatience on the part of most drivers.

If Lagosians were to be patient and allow traffic flow steadily and gradually, the long hours spent in traffic on Lagos roads would not have been so as alluded to, by many Lagosians.

In her bid to achieve the mega city dream for Lagos State, the state government has refurbished many street lights and installed new ones at various intersections of roads in the state.

The innovation of street lighting discovered 9th December, 1868 as a non-electric gas lit, installed then outside the British house of parliament has revolutionized tremendously.

Apart from ensuring ease of transportation, it has made remarkable contribution in checking the excesses of reckless drivers. In many of the advanced countries, once a driver commits traffic offence which includes jumping of traffic light, disobedience to

We need to regenerate Lagos CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29

and dress sense in those days depicted high moral consciousness than the obscene dress codes we have among the people today in the name of civilization. Civilization is good but it has also eroded some of our virtues which distinguished us as Africans. Most parents are to blame for the moral decadence which we find in the society nowadays because they are not good models to their children.

There are both good and bad sides of civilization. The advent of GSM in Nigeria has been greatly beneficial, but in a way, it has some negative effects on us. In the times gone by, people and students were mentally upbeat when it had to do with calculation. It is no longer so as most people and even students depend on phones to do calculations. Apart from that, phones have taken over the valuable time that students should have devoted to studying in order to achieve success and excellence in academics. This is where we have to be careful as a society not to jeopardize the future of this country in the name of civilization and its effects.

How should this trend be arrested?

The government and the par-

ents should cooperate to arrest the downslide in education. The attempt by the government to introduce post-UTME as a prerequisite for admission is a good practice because that is intended to ensure that it is only those who have truly devoted time to hard work that merit placements in the institutions of learning. Although that system is being compromised in certain quarters, it will do a lot of good if we hold on to it and develop further so that a system that rewards hard work will be instituted once and for all. We have seen the positive impact of this quality- control mechanism in the institutions.

What is your assessment of the megacity project in the state?

Gover nor Fashola has made tremendous progress in the infrastructural development of the state. No doubt, many have and many still will be affected but we have to bear this as nothing of the kind of transformation that we are seeing comes easily. But there should be continuity beyond Fashola if Lagos must get to the set destination. If only all the elected will serve faithfully without diversion of developmental funds, Nigeria and not only Lagos will be great in the world.

Motorists waiting for traffic light permission

zebra crossing and bicycle lighting, such persons are adequately punished.

Although such countries do not send motor bikes or vehicles after the offender as it is common in Lagos, there however, exist modern law enforcement mechanisms usually through electronic means-the CCTV cameras.

Mr Adelugba Kehinde, who has been driving in Lagos for more than 15 years said Nigerians are lawless people who would always want to be chased about. “As for me, I have cultivated a culture to respect the traffic even at nights. I observe that law enforcement officials are always on mufti waiting for who will contravene the traffic law and become a munchable meat. I vow not to be such a victim.

I try as much as possible to honour traffic lamps,” he said. He narrated an experience he had along Allen Avenue, “I stopped to obey traffic light, but the vehicle behind me came and passed without regard for the traffic light. That never deterred me. I waited till the light turned green before I continued.”

Mr Adelubga further said, “discipline is an innate thing. Once a child inculcates it from home, it’s always difficult for the child to stray away completely from it no matter the level of peer influence. To me, traffic light adherence should be a gauge to access every person’s level of discipline and respect in the society.”

A private car owner, Mr. Adewale Adeniyi, thinks more psychiatric hospitals should be built to provide psychiatric services to examine errant traffic offenders.

“Government on the other hand should employ more hands to apprehend traffic offenders. “It’s high time our government installed Circuit Television Camera (CTV cameras) here.”

He emphasised.

Impatience is still seen as another cause to traffic disobedience. In the words of Mr Jide Adegbeson: “It’s not as if somebody has to be running after you with horse whip before you do the right thing. When you do the wrong thing, you cause problem; you cause chaos.

People suffer because of such action.

Instead of trying to undo another, we should always allow such impatient fellows go, not struggling with them as if we have been known enemies.”

Mr Austine Orudero believes that jumping traffic light could endanger the life of such perpetrator and that of a lawful person probably in his right of way.

It is not disputable fact that Lagosians obey traffic signs, according to Mr. Olatunde Owolabi, a bus driver, He quite disagrees that bus drivers are deranged crop of people.

Kindergarten children even recite very often the colours of traffic light to prove their knowledge of traffic signs.

They sing as thus; these are the colours of traffic light, traffic light 2+, red is stop, and yellow is ready and green is go! go! go! This underscores the importance to the knowledge of traffic light signs.

Mr. Onyema Ogugua a Lagosian thinks many people don’t understand the various colours of the traffic light.

Mr. Chika Ononiwu, a car dealer unequivocally believes that about 40 per cent of traffic offences are invigorated by the law enforcement agents, who do all sorts of things on the intersections there by raising the bar of indiscipline among drivers.

“Many of the law enforcement agents collect money from motorists and allow them move when they are not supposed.

When other drivers see them granted such favour, they follow suit. At times, the traffic light will indicate stop, but when the officers see their-friends, superiors and those that regularly grease their palms, they would want to single them out to go as if the laws are made for those other people in the cue.” He bemoaned.

In some areas, it is believed that tricycle riders are not tamable because they regularly bribe the traffic officials.

By so doing, mortgaged their ability to wield control over them. They also cried over the excesses of bus drivers, tricycle and motorcycle riders that have formed the habit of never to obey traffic laws.

When contacted for comments, The telephone lines of the Lagos State Transport Management Agency LASTMA, was not answered.

Life | In The City

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

Pupils clean up Lagos community

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My City, My World ‘Lagos is a changing city’ Elijah Samuel luseyi Macaulay is a Otional clergy and motivaspeaker who,

Pupils carrying out sanitation exercise

Olushola Ricketts

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foundation, the Unveiling Africa recently continued its tradition of positive citizenship and community service by embarking on a sanitation exercise in the Adenula area of Ketu, Lagos. It was the 5th edition of her soup kitchen event tagged Bright Christmas, which also involved a sanitation party.

For this edition of soup kitchen, UVA team members comprised basically students from Murtala Mohammed Airport Secondary school, Corona Secondary School and Supreme Education Foundation Schools (SEF).

The programme coordinator, Unveiling Africa, Jane Ugboh, said the gesture was something they had taken upon themselves as a way of giving back to the society at the end of the year. According to her, they took a step further to make it more impactful this time.

“So, that is why we are carrying out a sanitation exercise and brightening the Charismas of the children of this community in Ketu, Lagos. Before today, we have been coming to the community to relate with the women, landlords and the teenagers to know the major problem they are facing as a people and they all said sanitation. We are not just cleaning up the area; we are also embarking on a health talk with the people of the community,” she noted.

Ugboh urged the government to create an enabling environment for humanitarian and social organisations to operate effectively in their services.

“Today would have been a bigger day if we have had the support of Lagos State

government,” she stated.

A student from Muritala Muhammed Airport Secondary School, Ikeja, Lagos, Karimat Showemimo, described the exercise as an exciting one. According to her, it is really good because she has the opportunity to mingle with different people for the first time and it was a team effort. She added: “I think I learnt some leadership skills during the exercise, the ability to do things within a group among othPosing for a group photograph after the exercise ers.”

Another student, who participated in the sanitaback to us and we would all suffer for it. Sometimes, we tion exercise, David Lois, said he would inform his would wake up and see all parents on how they transour compounds flooded. If formed the community. His only we could change our words: “I just graduated mindset and dispose of our from Greensprings School dustbins properly, things in Ikeja, Lagos. When I get will be much better,” he explained. home, I would tell my parents I impacted a commuOfor also said he had nity. I have never done this confronted the secretary of before.” landlords’ association in the Lois lamented that in Lacommunity many times on gos, some places are clean, a possible way out, adding while others were unkempt. that he told him they had If only “Though I live in a clean sent letters upon letters to environment, I have been to the government to come to we could some places in Lagos I don’t their rescue. change our like. I feel some places, like “The place is loopy. So, where we are today, they do when it rains, the water that mindset and not have enough dustbins or comes with full force settles dispose of places where people could in this part of the area. Govdeposit waste products. The ernment needs to come in our dustbins drainage system too is poor, also to assist us. The Lagos properly, not deep enough and people Waste Managment Authorput trash inside,” he pointed ity (LAWMA) too do not things will be come to this area because out. much better of the nature of the road A resident of the comand when we drive out, it munity, Emanuel Ofor, commended the effort of the becomes hard to come down foundation. He attributed unless the water dries. And the mindset of most people the truck pushers hardly living in the area as the come around because they cause of their poor hygiene. are always arrested,” he lamented.

“When some people see that a place is dirty, they will After the general clean make it worse. If rain starts up of the community, there was a session on sanitation now, you will see people dropping their trash inside and good hygiene awarethe canal. I have told them ness. Food and gifts were severally that if the canal is also given out to children in the community. blocked, the water will come

for all the mixed experiences, found Lagos an interesting place to be and will not want to leave except it is divinely ordained.

He said he had lived in quite a few towns and Macaulay cities in Nigeria and finds Lagos the best of them all, the reason being that Lagos is economically viable and also a true Nigeria city where all tribes and ethnics are found in sizeable numbers.

“Although I was born in the North, schooled in Kano, Nguru, Ogun and Osun States but I grew up as a Lagos boy having resided in Lagos for more than 30 decades.

Lagos is a changing city. Lagos used to be a beautiful place to live in the 70s: there were few people, no traffic hold-ups, very peaceful and accommodating environment are what we had. But, in the late 80s to 90s Lagos became to grow in population, with crazy hold-up on the roads and became dangerous and dirty, but life came back to Lagos under this present political dispensation, starting from the regime of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu up to the current regime of our amiable governor Raji Fashola SAN. Lagos was rid of the dirt state, sanity was restored, security was improved and the state today is the safest city in Nigeria. Lagos is not yet a perfect state, but it has improved and still improving. Lagos is one city you are sure of making money daily if you are hardworking. It is indeed a commercial nerve center of Nigeria.

I love to remain living in Lagos, but if God instructed me to go and stay in another city, I will not hesitate, because I am being led by the Lord.

Lagos is land of opportunity – Alokwe Ruth Okocha agos attracts people to itself; beautiful landscape, waterways, high rise buildings, no wonder it is the commercial centre of the nation. ‘If you are not in Lagos, you are missing a lot.’ This is the position of Andrew Alokwe. Alokwe who works Alokwe and resides in the megacity described Lagos as “a big land of opportunity.” The young man, who is enjoying his stay in the land which is described as the most peaceful place in the world; the commercial prowess of the state makes people to fall in love with the city. “That is the reason you have so much demand in every area of the state. This is because of the number of people residing in Lagos. That is Lagos for you, the centre of excellence.” He added: “Everything that has to do with Lagos is calculated; you just have to be a perfect person to be in Lagos; you need to be wise, sharp. Lagos a nice place to live.”

Alokwe traces the weird attitude of some Lagosians to illiteracy. “The only thing l do not like in Lagos is the attitude of the illiterates, the average illiterates behave weird. When you meet them in traffic, the type of language they speak to you, even by the road side, the woman that sells potatoes, once you pick one and say mummy how much is this, she tells you N70, and you say N25, the next thing she gets angry and starts abusing you.

“There is one basic thing. If we all are educated, things will not be happening that way. The white people that we see today, are living the way they are because they are educated, Lagos will grow more if people are educated and enlighten.”

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The Mega City

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

UPCOMING EVENTS

Creative Industry Awards 2015

Organiser: Creative Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria Date: January 24, 2015 From 6:00 PM -10:30 PM Venue: British Council Office 20 Thompson Drive Ikoyi Lagos, Nigeria

APPOINTMENT WITH DESTINY 2015

Organiser: Awesome Treasures Foundation Date: January 25, 2015 From 3:00 PM- 6:00 PM Venue: Shell Hall MUSON Centre, 8/9 Marina Onikan, Lagos, Nigeria

Quantum Leap Summit 2015 Organiser: TheGateway Date: January 24, 2015 From 10:00 AM -2:00 PM Venue: TheGateway 92 Adeniran Ogunsanya St Lagos, Lagos Nigeria

Microsoft Excel Training - Business Data Analysis and Indepth Excel Organiser: UrBizEdge Date: January 23, 2015 From 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Venue: 20 Kofoworola Crescent, Lagoon Hospital, Off Obafemi Awolowo road, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria

SoConnected Coffee Mornings with Steph Obi & Tolagbe Martins

Organiser: Social Place, Lagos Date: January 22, 2015 From 10:00 AM -12:00 PM Venue: The Gallery The Social Place, 33 Sinari Daranijo Road, Victoria Island, Lagos

Access2Funds Conference

Organiser: KINETIC ASSOCIATES Date: January 24, 2015 From 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM Venue: Awolowo-way Ikeja

MEGA CITY EVENTS Ven. Godwin Dotun Otubanjo’s 70th birthday was held recently at the All Saints’ Anglican Church, in Lagos

The celebrant, Ven. Otubanjo with his wife, Mary, cutting his 70th birthday cakes

A cross-section of guests at the event

Maj Gen Ti Dibi daughter’s wedding took place in Lagos recently

Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Aremu Akiolu (left) and former Cross River State governor, Mr Donald Duke, at the wedding

L-R: Wife of Maj Gen Ti Dibi, Hellen; the couple, Mr and Mrs Chinomso Okezika and Maj Gen Ti Dibi , after their wedding in Lagos

Chief Marinho’s 80th birthday symposium at the Muson Centre, Lagos

L-R: First Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC)and the celebrant, Chief Festus Marinho, his wife, Yetunde and former Minister of State (GAS), Mr. Olatunde Odusina

Former Managing Directors of NNPC, Mr. Chambers Oyibo (left) with Mr. Gius Obaseki

PHOTO: GODWIN IREKHE

Business | The Investor

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

33

Assessing Oteh’s controversial tenure at SEC Chris Ugwu

ket knowledge. SEC established the National Investor Protection Fund and strengthened its Administrative Proceedings Committee.

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s. Arunma Oteh, who became the director-general of the apex capital market regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2010, completed her first tenure two weeks ago and eventually left after a tenure extension hope from the Federal Government was dashed.

After waiting for days without any green light from the Presidency, Oteh finally handed over to the Executive Commissioner, Operations, Mounir Gwarzo, as the acting DG. Oteh’s tenure will go down in history as one that came up with innovative strategies and policies capable of restoring confidence, but fell short of implementation due to controversies that trailed her style of administration.

Onyuike’s removal The year 2010 when Oteh took over the affairs of the commission sparked volatility at the Nigerian Stock Exchange following the removal of Professor NdiOkereke Onyuike as the DG by SEC in the wake of allegations of corporate governance lapses leveled against her by the immediate past president of NSE, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, which were considered detrimental to investors’ interest.

Dangote was also suspended by SEC as the president of the Council of Exchange. In a petition to Oteh, dated July 22, Dangote had urged the regulatory authority to investigate certain irregularities in respect of the accounts and books of the NSE. He alleged that apart from the misappropriation of N11 billion, the management of the NSE had not presented the audited financial statement for the year ended December 2009 seven months into the current financial year and had not been able to produce for consideration by the Finance and General Purpose Committee of the council, interim financial statements for the first and second quarters of 2010.

Manu and Ikazoboh’s appointments Following the sack of Onyuike and suspension of Dangote, SEC appointed Mr. Ballama Manu and Emmanuel Ikazoboh as the Interim Head of the Council of the Exchange and the Interim Administrator of the exchange respectively.

The development, which broke out late Wednesday August 4, 2010, saw security agents took over the NSE building early morning on August 5, apparently to forestall any protest, amid series of consultations with stockbrokers by the DG of SEC. The emergence of Ikhazoboh, a Forensic Auditor, as the Interim Administrator for the exchange, according to SEC, was to ensure that an exhaustive investigation was conducted into the books of the NSE, with a view to unravelling all aspects of fraud allegations, after which a new substantive DG would be named.

Oteh noted that under the powers vested on the commission by ISA, the action was necessitated by certain developments at the Exchange which was significantly eroding investor confidence and undermining the integrity of the market.

“The allegations regarding the leadership and membership of the Council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange are very grave and that is the reason the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided to take this step in exercising its power under the Investment and Securities Act and other applicable regu-

Deepening the market The market witnessed significant product innovation, improved listing rules, landmark bond market reforms (which brought it almost at par with the equities market and made it attractive enough for Triple A issuers such as African Development Bank (AfDB) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) to issue bonds), introduction of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), widening of participation in the markets through licensing and coming–on-stream of other capital trade points like National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and Financial Market Dealers Quotation (FMDQ) that have expanded market access.

With the zero tolerance for rule infractions, SEC’s enforcement machinery was significantly strengthened to respond to this new emphasis. In addition to other measures, an 18-man Nigeria Police Force team was deployed as a resident enforcement team at the commission to respond to enforcement matters with speed and promptness.

This was unprecedented in the history of the apex regulator before her tenure.

Oteh

lations.” Oteh stated.

Oscar Onyema’s appointment However, SEC, in order to further douse the tension of the exit of OkerekeOnyuike, undertook a process of recruiting a substantive chief executive officer which saw the emergence of Mr. Oscar Onyema on April 4, 2011, as a prelude towards demutualising the exchange.

Onyema, who joined the Nigerian Stock Exchange from the American Stock Exchange where he was a Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, has remained in the saddle to date.

Zero allocation The event that led to the commission’s zero allocation in the budget began when SEC boss drew the ire of the legislators when she alleged that a former chairman of the House Committee on Capital Market and Other Financial Institutions, Herman Hembe, demanded some bribe from her which she claimed she bluntly refused. The committee subsequently indicted Oteh, saying she lacked the requisite qualifications to hold such a position and should be sacked.

Oteh was also accused of wasteful expenditure and going contrary to the due process in her manner of appointments.

In a twist of events, however, Hembe was investigated and was forced to step down from his position in the committee.

The Nigerian public believes the lawmaker did not tell the whole truth about what transpired between his committee and Oteh.

For bringing the lawmakers to a public opprobrium, the House of Representatives drew a line against the former SEC director-general by adopting the sack recommendation by the Hembeled committee. The House also got the Senate to buy into the recommendation.

However, President Goodluck Jonathan’s refusal to accede to the sack recommendation on Oteh with the belief that the recommendation was illmotivated, smacks of witch-hunt and had nothing to do with competence increased the fury of the lawmakers.

In their determination to achieve their aim by every means possible, the National Assembly bluntly refused to

The hard stance by the National Assembly throughout Oteh’s tenure impacted negatively on the effectiveness of SEC’s regulatory supervision of the capital market

approve any allocation for SEC in the 2013 budget. They did not stop there.

They also came up with an impossible clause to ensure that the president did not advance funds to SEC through the back door.

The hard stance by the National Assembly throughout Oteh’s tenure impacted negatively on the effectiveness of SEC’s regulatory supervision of the capital market and its other oversight functions, including payment of staff emoluments.

Oteh’s footprint Despite the challenges, Oteh’s tour – of - duty as Director General will be remembered for its passion, purpose, articulation and faithful implementation of various reform measures driven by the vision to transform the Nigerian market into world class status. She was in a hurry to see Nigeria achieve a world class capital market that would drive development and make the country one of the most attractive investment destinations.

Some of her accomplishments, among others, include: Restoring investors’ confidence through strong enforcement actions and improvement of rules and regulations, and investor education.

Creative initiatives including partnership with Nollywood to produce movies as well as an annual integrity award to promote integrity and capital mar-

Operators’ assessment Some market operators have expressed divergent views on Oteh’s contributions to the growth of the market.

The President, PEARL Award Nigeria, Tayo Orekoya, said that Oteh made modest contributions to the stability of the Nigerian capital market, especially after the 2008 and 2009 recession.

“She came in at a time when the capital markets were in dire straits globally and particularly in Nigeria. Give it to her, she was focused in repositioning the market, particularly the Nigerian Stock Exchange, for effective performance by restructuring and transforming the leadership of the Exchange.

“She surely could have done better in terms of promoting management team spirit at the apex regulatory authority, but internationally she was able to project a great level of leadership and service. However, the controversy she entered into with National Assembly legislators was unwarranted and had negative impact on market funding and prospects.

“Incidentally, at the time of her exit, the market was still struggling to maintain its stability, while market capitalisation and investors’ confidence seem to be at the lowest ebb in years. One can appreciate her modest contributions and wish her success in future endeavors,” he said.

The Managing Director of Highcap Securities, David Adonri, said: “Oteh’s tenure had many positive attributes, except the policy of recapitalisation, which met stiff opposition from market operators.”

A senior broker said on condition of anonymity: “Well, we will let history judge her and her elitist tenure that did not come down to the level of the Nigerian capital market, an emerging market that was being hoodwinked and equated with advanced market.

Conclusion Following the exit of Oteh, it is expected that the National Assembly will appropriate funds for the apex regulator in the 2015 budget to enable it continue to carry out its oversight functions and save the capital market from eventual collapse.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

34

Maritime

NPA, operators deny agents access to port p.35

Academy to govt: Develop transport sector p.35

Nigeria, others face dearth of seamen Study has revealed that over 250,000 vacancies for seafarers exist in Nigeria, but Nigerians lack the capacity to fill them, writes BAYO AKOMOLAFE

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atest study from the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) and the International Shipping Federation (ISF) has revealed that Nigeria and some maritime countries are facing the dearth of seafarers. Other countries with shortage of seafarers are Greece, Singapore, United Kingdom, Indonesia, India and China.

A maritime research firm, Drewry, also estimated a shortfall of 19,000 personnel. It added that the shortfall would rise to 21,700 by 2018, given that there would be a requirement for an additional 38,500 officers in the next three years.

The Port Consultative Council (PCC) in Nigeria is worried over the global decline in the number of active seafarers.

Chairman of the council, Otunba Kunle Folarin, said that the trend portends threat to shipping sector development in Nigeria.

He noted that even though the development was a global issue, Nigeria’s situation had reached an alarming stage that required urgent action.

The genesis In 2010, the worldwide supply of seafarers was estimated at around 624,000 officers while the current demand was reportedly to be 637,000.

BIMCO had forecast a short-

Some Nigerian seafarers at the World Maritime University, Sweden.

Even though the development was a global issue, Nigeria situation had reached an alarming stage that required urgent action

age of 27,000 maritime officers worldwide by 2015.

The study revealed that the rapid growth of the maritime industry had outstripped the number of available high calibre young seafarers.

It also explained how changes in the world economy might influence the maritime industry in the future, along with possible measures to secure the required workforce.

Expert’s opinion Based on this development, Folarin urged the Federal Government to improve on training of officer cadre of seafarers to add value to Nigeria’s participation in international maritime trade.

Folarin said that the training of seafarers through the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency’s (NIMASA) National Seafarers Development

China opens route for Lagos, Takoradi ports TRADE West African ports to enjoy bulk cargo in 2015

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hina’s Lianyungang Port in Jiangsu Province has launched a break bulk service to ports in West Africa operated by Topsheen Shipping.

The 47,000 Dead Weight (dwt) bulk carrier, Postojna, departed Lianyungang on the first voyage on January 8, and another bulk carrier of the same size chosen for the route,

Orion Express, is scheduled to depart Lianyungang on January 30.

According to Topsheen Shipping, the ship would call at ports in Lagos (Nigeria), Takoradi (Ghana), Tema (Ghana), and Douala (Cameroon).

Break bulk carrier, Topsheen Shipping, which was founded in 2005, mainly provides services from the Far East to Africa and South America.

The carrier’s African services have already covered over 90 per cent of the ports in Africa from Kenya to Mauritania, according to company CEO,

Lei Shoucheng, carrying out nearly 100 voyages between 2013 and 2014, and sharing over 50 per cent of the market.

“It is one of Lianyungang’s top tasks to open more break bulk liners,” said Wang Xinwen, vicepresident of Lianyungang Port Group. Working with Topsheen Shipping, the port plans to boost the shipping of steel products and heavy equipment.

At present, the port has opened 13 break bulk liner services to Africa, the Middle East, northwestern Europe, South America, South Korea, and southeast Asia.

Programme (NSDP) should not stop.

Short supply of officers He said: “When we talk of seafarers, you must think of the junior ratings, you must also look at the officer cadre. Definitely, all over the world today, the officer cadre is in short supply.

“That is one of the areas you have to start looking into, adding value to Nigeria’s participation within the freighting, seafaring activity as it concerns Nigeriangenerated international trade.

NIMASA has been doing this under the NSDP programme, while private individuals also have been sponsoring themselves to become officers.

“Employment generation within seafaring is key to their welfare and what we are doing now is to promote that particular opportunity.

“Nigerian indigenous companies must be encouraged to own ships. Therefore, where the opportunities for employment do not exist in foreign shipping company, the indigenous shipping company must be able to provide employment.”

Such other opportunities, he stressed, also exists in tapping the potentials of the cabotage regime, saying that the implementation of the Cabotage law would promote many opportunities including seafarers’ employment and adequate welfare.

Demand in Nigeria According to Folarin, the total demand for all categories of seafarers is over 12,000, while the personnel available is 3,000.

He noted that what the country was doing in the last three or four years was to revive the interest of Nigerians in seafaring.

Folarin stressed that Nigeria had the potential to become

a world power in the league of maritime nations if it harnessed all the opportunities in the sector.

Philippine experience He said that the Philippines with a population of over 80 million had maximised the benefits of developing her maritime labour sector as it supplied over 30 per cent or 300,000 of the 1.2 million world seafarers, noting that Philippines earned over $4.5 billion for its economy from repatriated income.

Folarin further said that Filipino seafarers were dominant in the maritime labour market today because of concerted national efforts in that direction.

“Filipino seamen are among the Philippine’s eight to 10 million migrant workers scattered around the world whose remittances, as acknowledged even by the government, have helped buoy the economy. They number 270,000 or a third of the world’s merchant sailors,” he added.

In 2007, Filipino workers overseas sent home $14.4 billion or 10 per cent of the Philippine’s gross domestic product (GDP).

The GDP is the total value of goods and services produced by a country a year.

In some economies, Filipino sailors constitute over 55 per cent of the maritime personnel.

It would be recall that the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) had planned to sponsor 25 candidates from each state in conjunction with the state governments and other private sector concerns for navigation courses at reputable maritime academies in the world.

Under the NSDP, government was to improve the existing maritime academy and establish new ones across the country.

Business | Maritime

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

35

Terminal operator invests $323m in Apapa, other ports OUTPUT Container terminal operator significantly improved terminal productivity Stories by Bayo Akomolafe

A

PM Terminals has invested $323 million in Apapa and Algeciras ports for upgrading and expansion.

The company has also placed an order for 16 new advanced Rubber-Tire Gantry cranes (RTGs) as part of an ongoing programme of upgrading and expanding container handling capabilities and capacities throughout the company’s global network.

Twelve of the high-performance RTGs are scheduled for

delivery to APM Terminals Algeciras, in Spain, while the remaining four are destined for APM Terminals Apapa, Nigeria, with delivery in one year.

The new 16-wheeled RTGs, to be manufactured by Konecranes, will offer a lifting capacity of 41 tons, and the ability to maneuver containers into stacks five containers high.

APM Terminals Algeciras, the largest container terminal in the Western Mediterranean market, has already completed upgrading cranes and quay infrastructure to accommodate Ultra-Large Container Ships (ULCS) of 18,000+ TEU capacity, some of which now call at the terminal weekly.

It was learnt that the Port of Algeciras, located at the Gibraltar Strait, is the largest in Spain, having surpassed Valencia in 2013, and is the 28th busiest globally.

APM Terminals Algeciras was ranked fifth among European container terminals for the first half of 2014 by the JOC Group Productivity Study, with 81 cranes moved per hour with a vessel alongside.

The four RTGs ordered for APM Terminals Apapa, the busiest container terminal in West Africa, will bring the total fleet to 14 RTGs. A $135 million investment and expansion programme was announced for APM Terminals Apapa in 2011.

The company has invested $220 million in Apapa since assuming the concession in 2006 and has significantly improved terminal productivity.

It is the largest container facility by capacity of the three ports serving Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city and business centre. APM Terminals Apapa has doubled container volume in the

L-R: The Nigerian Ports Authority’s (NPA) General Manager, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Engr. T.O. Talabi, African Circle’s Acting Coordinating Officer, Fidi Ahmadu, NPA Executive Director, Marine and Operations, Engr. David Omonibeke, commissioning the trucks with Regional Manager West Africa Circle, Mrs. Oyenike Shobowale and representative of Port Manager, Tin Can Island Port, Mr. Samuel Odewole, at Tin Can Island Port, Lagos.

NPA, operators deny agents access to port C learing agents in Apapa Port have complained that port terminal operators and the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) have denied them issuance of authority cards.

The agents, who tendered their complaints at a stakeholder forum organised by the Nigeria Customs office, Apapa Area1 command in

Lagos said that some of their workers were not given authority cards to access the port.

They noted that this had led to the frequent arrest of their staff by police officers and called on NPA to address the issue.

On the implementation of the pre-arrival assessment report (PAAR), they alleged

that officers were making mistakes in handling the documentation.

The Chairman of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Apapa Chapter, Olumide Fakanlu advised that the detention of goods should be carried out by only one office instead of the duplication of same duty by various offices.

48-hour cargo clearance achievable, says agent

A

member of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Mr. Dayo Azeez, has said that cargoes could leave Nigerian ports within 48 hours if importers avoid false declaration and other sharp practices.

He explained that the one-year of Pre-Arrival As-

sessment Report (PAAR) on cargo in Nigerian ports had been a success.

Azeez noted that if PAAR had no discrepancy, cargo would be released immediately.

According to him, PAAR had assisted in speedy clearance of cargo at the ports, but when it was introduced, customs agents and

officers experienced some challenges, which had been overcome.

Azeez said: “When your document gets to customs and there is no discrepancy or false declaration, your PAAR is issued.

“The PAAR regime is a very welcome development, especially in the freight forwarding sector.”

past eight years and has dramatically improved productivity for Nigeria’s inbound containers.

APM Terminals also operates a second port facility in Nigeria, the West Africa Container Terminal (WACT), located in the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone.

West Africa Maximum (WAFMax) vessels of 4,500 TEU capacity have begun to call WACT, where APM Terminals has committed to an investment of $30

million for port modernisation and upgrades.

The proposed new mega-port at Badagry, located 55 kilometres west of Lagos, continues to move toward development and will serve all cargo sectors, with a planned 2019 Phase I opening of a 775-meter two-berth container terminal, with a 17 meter depth alongside and an annual throughput capacity of 1.8 million TEUs.

Freight forwarders threaten to sack CRFFN boss

T

he National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has passed a vote of no confidence on the Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Sir Mike Jukwe.

Founder of the association, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, said that if Jukwe failed to move the council forward this year, NAGAFF might be forced to take a drastic action.

Aniebonam observed that things were going wrong and time was running out.

He noted: “ I just hope that Jukwe will understand that NAGAFF is getting frustrated and we shall do things we know how to do best and let the worst happen.

“When you are no more relevant, then you cannot block the destiny of others. We will evoke all the necessary mandate of the people to take you out of that place. That is the truth. The mandate of the people is superior to constitutional provisions.”

Aniebonam also lamented

that the CRFFN Governing Council had not been reconstituted more than two years after it was dissolved.

“Is it not some people that are leading CRFFN since the council was dissolved? No election, what you see is someone just administering the council.

It doesn’t make any sense to me. It is unconstitutional; we have gone back to court to challenge the verdict of the court that CRFFN is a parastatal of the Transport Ministry, which we all know is not.

“We are back in court and we are challenging it. We need to straighten things. I hope Jukwe as the registrar of CRFFN will move very fast, this is 2015, and things cannot continue badly.

He stressed the need to get CRFFN working for the good of the freight forwarding industry and the Nigerian economy at large.

Aniebonam noted that doing things wrong would work against the goodwill of the members of the National Assembly who worked day and night to give them the council.

Academy to govt: Develop transport sector

T

he management of Crown Maritime Academy (CMA) has urged the Federal Government to develop the maritime transport industry.

CMA said it had unfolded plans to provide a total quality maritime transport education to support the nation’s economic growth.

Registrar of the academy, Mr. Musa Adesina Akinyemi, explained this at a one-day retreat for academic staff of the institute held at the school’s campus in Ogba, Lagos.

He noted that the academy has qualified academic staff and equipment at its disposal to provide manpower needed in the industry.

Akinyemi added that despite its challenges, the school recorded successes in year 2014 as some of its graduates were gainfully employed by government agencies while industrial trainees were accorded opportunity to serve.

He called on industry stake-

holders to utilise the academy by sending their staff for regular training courses.

Also, the Deputy Registrar of the school, Mr. T. E. Onukwu, in her presentation on: ‘Accessible and affordable tertiary education, what and how to offer and break-even at CMA,’ charged government to develop the transport sector because of its enormous economic potentials in terms of huge revenue and employment opportunity.

She said: “Government should look at the transport industry; develop it for the growth of the nation because of its huge revenue and massive employment opportunity.

It can generate so much revenue for the nation.”

Speaking on the academic opportunities available at the institution, Onukwu stressed that CMA had a lot of academic opportunities to offer Nigerians and the nation’s transport industry as it offers courses in all fields of transport.

36

Business | Maritime

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Firm warns over ship deliveries, overcapacity Stories by Bayo Akomolafe

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hipping firm analyst, Drewry, has warned that there will be over capacity in the global shipping this year.

Drewry explained that 100,000 Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) of scheduled new container ship capacity did not arrive on time in 2014, adding that the figure would spill into this

NPA commissions waste mgt trucks

T

he management of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has commissioned five garbage trucks in Tin Can Island Port. It was part of efforts aimed at ensuring that wastes generated by vessels did not litter the waterways.

The trucks were procured by African Circles under a joint venture arrangement between the company and the authority.

African Circle is the Marine Pollution 73/78 Waste Reception Facility Operator for Nigerian Ports Authority.

In a statement, the authority’s Assistant General Manager, Public Affairs, Musa Iliya, explained that the acquisition of the trucks was in compliance with the provisions of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) code on Marine Pollution, which NPA was a signatory.

At the commissioning, the Executive Director, Marine and Operations of the authority, David Omonibeke, said that NPA as a responsible corporate entity was committed to safety of the waterways in line with the transformation agenda of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

Omonibeke thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for his support to the authority and assured that the present management will continue to promote the Nigerian economy through the maritime sector.

Also present at the occasion was the General Manager, Health, Safety and Environment of NPA, T. O. Talabi and the representative of Tin Can Island Port Manager, Mr. Samuel Odewole.

year, thereby increasing supply pressure on an already over supplied industry.

In its weekly Container Insight, Drewry noted that by the end of last year, the total global cellular fleet had a nominal capacity of 18.1 million 20-feet containers, up six per cent on 2013 figure.

World container demand lagged behind at 5.2 per cent.

It explained: “Without the so-called ‘slippage’ of 100,000 TEUs, the global

fleet would have grown by a further 0.6 points to 6.6 per cent in 2014.

Slippage is not uncommon as ship owners and yards re-negotiate delivery terms, and the sum for 2014 was lower than seen in recent years.

“However, that tonnage still has to be delivered at some point and delays merely push the problem down the road.

This year, the problem is particularly acute as the overhang in 2014 deliveries will be in addition

to the huge 1.85 million TEUs already due to be added to the fleet.”

Also, the company said scrapping of old ships combined with further slippage of new container ships into 2016 would lower the net addition to the fleet to around 1.35 million TEUs, but this would still represent the largest spike in annual capacity since 2007.

Drewry said that the global fleet growth would exceed demand at 7.2 per cent versus 5.3 per cent.

In its summing up of the trend towards building bigger ships, Drewry said the delivery of the 19,000 TEU CSCL Globe, currently the largest container vessel in the world at 19,100 TEUs, had tickled the interest of the mainstream media and highlighted the current arms race among carriers for ever bigger, more fuel efficient ships.

“The evolution of the biggest box ship crown has been staggeringly rapid with the 2005 hold-

er the Gudrun Maersk now a veritable minnow at just 9,500 TEUs. In fact, the CSCL Globe will itself soon have to pass on its mantle as new ships for MSC and UASC, both scheduled for early 2015 deliveries, are expected to have larger stated capacities.

This hyper-inflation is matched at the aggregate level with the container cellular fleet nearly quadrupling since the start of the century,” Drewry said.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

37

38

Photo | News

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

L-R: Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola; Elegushi of Ikateland, Oba Saheed Ademola Elegushi; first President, Eko Club, Lagos, Chief Rasheed Alaba Williams; President, Eko Club, Alhaji Babatunde Faruk Grillo and other members of the club, at the Eko Club’s 40th anniversary, in Lagos.

PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

L-R: Lagos Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deputy governorship candidate, Alhaja Safurat Abdul Kareem; governorship candidate, Jimi Agbaje and Chairman, Dstv/Multi Choice Nigeria, Mr Adewunmi Ogunsanya, at the party’s town hall meeting with non-politicians and eminent personalities in Ikorodu, Lagos.

L-R: Hajia Bola Shagaya; Kwara PDP governorship candidate, Simeon Ajibola and his running mate, Alhaji Yinka Aluko, at the inauguration of the Kwara PDP campaign committee in Ilorin.

Niger State Governor, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu (right) presenting the Staff of Office to the Emir of Agaie, Yusuf Nuhu, in Agaie, Niger State.

L-R: Anambra North senatorial candidate, Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah; Princess Nwaka Onanuju and others, during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s presidential rally in Onitsha.

L-R: Coordinator, Bauchi State Football Academy, Alhaji Ibrahim Liman; Welfare Officer, Alhaji Adamu Yusuf and Coach, Bauchi State Football Academy, Alhaji Babangida Mohammed, at the inauguration of the academy in Bauchi.

PHOTO-NAN

L-R: Iyaloja General of Nigeria, Mrs. Folashade Tinubu-Ojo; APC Lagos Central senatorial candidate, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu; member, Lagos House of Assembly, Mrs Lola Akande and Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at Senator Tinubu’s visit to members of Lagos Market Women and Men Association in Ikeja, Lagos.

L-R: National Secretary, Social Democratic Party (SDP), Alhaji Sadiq Abubakar; National Chairman, Chief Olu Falae; wife of the SDP governorship candidate, Tamunominin Makinde; the party’s governorship candidate in Oyo State, Mr Seyi Makinde and Chairman, Mr. Sunday Adelaja, at the state’s governorship campaign rally in Ibadan.

39

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

Leisure Arcade NUTS

NTPuzzle

By Kaycee

Ice Cream Flavours Word Search N I D N 0 M L A 0 I H C A T S I P S D X M P N A R A I N B 0 w s H E R B E T R 0 U A W C S T R A w B E R R Y J T X P C C C T 0 E N A E B A L L I N A V M Q H R E X U M P H R M F M M P V N V A N A E P D Z N P R B U B B L E G U M E

MAMA LASISI

By Aliu Eroje

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MOYIN & FRIENDS

By Ayo Oyerinde

S K C A R T E S O O M P O T S X Y Y S BLACK CHERRY

RAINBOW SHERBET

PEANUT BUTTER CUP

COOKIES AND CREAM

BUTTER PECAN

STRAWBERRY

MOOSE TRACKS FRENCH VANILLA PRALINE PECAN

PISTACHIO ALMOND

COTTON CANDY CHOCOLATE CHIP

VANILLA BEAN

8

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9

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6

1 3

5

sir, I have no listing for a Theodore Guild.”

7

2

5

4

1

Sudoku

ALIU EROJE

aliu.eroje@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

“No, no. It isn’t a person. It’s an organization. It’s Theater Guild.”

How to play

CHIEF CARTOONIST

please.”

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3

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SUDOKU - No 38

MOCHA ALMOND FUDGE

BUBBLE GUM ROCKY ROAD

NEAPOLITAN

SUDOKU - Answer to No 37

NUTTY COCONUT

COOKIE DOUGH

The objective is to fill a 9x9 grid so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3x3 boxes (also called blocks or regions) contains the digits from 1 to 9.

A cell is the smallest block in the game. A row , column and region consists of 9 cells and the whole game consists of 81 cells. A region has thicker lines surrounding it. This simply makes it easier to play the game.

“I told you, sir. I have no listing for a Theodore Guild.”

“Not ‘Theodore’! ‘Theater’! The word is ‘theater’.

T-H-E-A-T-E-R!” “That, sir, is NOT the way you spell Theodore.”

40 Politics Senate President David Mark, in his homily to senators last week Tuesday, spoke on the challenges ahead of the legislature

Challenges before the Senate We have a loaded agenda before this 7th Assembly and there are many issues to be addressed before the termination of our tenure. These include, passing the Petroleum industry Bill (PIB); the phenomenal fall in oil prices and its impact on our budgetary commitments; ensuring a free, fair, transparent and credible election, favourably resolving the insurgency in the North East; the consideration of the reports of the Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly on the amendment of the 1999 Constitution (as amended); and the management, welfare and rehabilitation of internally displaced persons as well as the welfare of families of deceased members of the armed forces.

My bosses, we have always performed our duties diligently for the common good of all. This Senate has acted on a number of Bills that have direct and positive bearing on the lives of ordinary Nigerians.

Task on PIB As we resume this last lap of the 7th Senate, we shall endeavour to pass the lingering Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). We are conscious of the concerns of various stakeholders (Nigerians and foreigners). It has taken long but we should do all we can to pass it. When passed, the PIB will have profound impact on the future direction of our economy and will be one of the legacies of this Assembly. Although, we have a critical and congested legislative timetable ahead, we must be thorough in our work.

Bemoans unending terrorism It is with deep pain in my heart, embarrassment and frustration that I draw our attention to the fact that insurgency and terrorism are still with us. Consequently, several innocent and productive lives have been needlessly lost. The truth is that the North Eastern part of our country is under siege.

The tendency is to blame government for this sore state of affairs. Every Nigerian, irrespective of partisanship, must demonstrate patriotism to our country. We must support our armed forces and other security operatives to stop this evil. Bomb blasts are non-partisan in their destructive nature. Insecurity plagues all of us and must be tackled holistically. The armed forces and government must intensify efforts to rescue our young innocent Chibok girls.

Government must do all it can to end this insurgency. This is

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Mark’s sermon to senators

CCC

a war that we must win and we will win!

I commend the Senate and the entire National Assembly for their active roles in the fight against terrorism. I commend the relevant committees that have engaged various stakeholders. In particular, I commend members of the armed forces and other security agencies who risk their lives daily to protect our liberty, freedom and security.

On behalf of the Senate, I send my heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of those who lost loved ones in the various acts of conflict and terror across the country. We pray that the souls of the deceased rest in peace. They are our heroes and heroines and their deaths must not be in vain. We must not dishonour their memory by politicising the security challenges in the North-East. I urge philanthropists, non-governmental organisations and civil societies to support government efforts to provide assistance to the internally displaced persons and the families of the deceased.

2015 budget The National Assembly is committed to the passage of the 2015 Budget. Before we do that however, we must allow for a deliberate, meticulous and exhaustive debate of the estimates.

In the face of declining oil prices, it is clear that our overreliance on a mono-product is unhealthy and unsustainable. This reality makes it even more pertinent that the federal and state governments work assiduously to develop other sources of revenue generation outside the oil and gas sectors. The continued diversification of our economy into other sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, trade and

I am disturbed and saddened by the war songs emanating from many quarters...

Elections need not dissolve into theatres of war

services is now inevitable.

I would like to reassure Nigerians that the National Assembly will work hard to ensure that the 2015 Appropriation Bill is passed in good time.

Once passed into law, we shall also employ our oversight instruments to insist on accountability, probity, transparency and efficiency in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the budget.

General election A few weeks from now, Nigerians will once again go to the polls to elect their representatives. The electoral season brings an unusual amount of scrutiny.

We are in the fevered grip of elections but despite the pregnancy of expectation and the excitement being generated by the elections, we must always stick to the task of delivering democratic dividends to our people.

We must not shirk our responsibilities. The enthusiasm across the length and breadth of the land for the upcoming elections is proof that Nigerians have imbibed democratic ethos and values.

My bosses, many of us are already on the field seeking the votes of our constituents. Experience has shown that the electioneering period are often difficult times. Politicians must desist from provocative and inciting utterances. We may be in different political parties but we are not enemies. We must educate, caution and guide our supporters and followers. Election should be

an asset to democracy but where it leads to violence or acrimony, it becomes a liability.

We must, irrespective of party affiliations, do our best to ensure free, fair, transparent and credible elections. At the risk of stating the obvious, I would like to emphasise that for us to hold an elective office, there must first be a nation. I urge all my colleagues to continue to set example for conduct in the public sphere. I am disturbed and saddened by the war songs emanating from many quarters, particularly from highly placed Nigerians who are threatening fire and brimstone. Elections need not dissolve into theatres of war. It is my belief that war mongering will only result in a legacy that we will all regret.

As distinguished Senators, we have a role to play in ensuring that Nigeria witnesses a peaceful general election. Despite the much vaunted fear, apprehension and anxiety that our nation may not survive the elections by some doomsday prophets, I personally remain optimistic that we have the strength of character, the political will, the perseverance and maturity to rise above all the challenges that lie ahead. We are all leaders and I know that we will work towards peace and harmony. Our nation will not disintegrate after the elections.

Let me once again appeal to my fellow politicians and the entire political class, that in order to achieve free, fair, transparent and credible elections, we must support the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to carry out its responsibilities without hindrance. I also urge INEC to take into account the wishes of a large body of internally displaced persons who have expressed their desire to have their votes cast and counted. INEC must ensure that no eligible Nigerian is disenfranchised.

May I seize this opportunity to appreciate our constituents for their continued goodwill and confidence. We must not waiver in our commitment to uphold their trust in us.

Let us at this point renew our priorities, listen to one another more attentively and remind ourselves of the ways by which our aspirations and destinies are intertwined as a people. The task before us is enormous but not insurmountable. My Distinguished bosses, we are equal to it and we will rise to any challenge that lies in our path.

It is my belief that together we can make Nigeria great. As we do our best to serve our country, we need to cherish the beauty in our diversity. Rather than dwell on what divides us, let us look continually at what unites us.

My bosses, I commend you for the stability the Senate is enjoying in this 7thAssembly. Let us continue to work together for the progress of our nation.

Politics 41

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

Last Wednesday’s flagoff of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship campaign in Lagos State came with a promise of better future for Lagosians.

TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE reports

Day Ambode launched governorship campaign

I

keja, the capital of Lagos State, was practically shut down on Wednesday January 7 for the flag-off of the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial campaign ahead of the February 28 election.

Thousands of Lagosians trooped to the Sky Power Playground, beside Archbishop Vining Memorial Cathedral Church (AVMCC), Ikeja, the venue of the rally where the APC presented its governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode. Party members and supporters added colour to the day by wearing different branded ankara, T-Shirts and caps to support all the party’s flag bearers in the February elections.

Ambode and his running mate, Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule, wereheralded into the campaign venue in an open motorcade. The arrival of the duo was received with jubilation and fanfare from the crowd.

The shout of ‘Ambode’, ‘incoming governor’, ‘His Excellency’ rented the air.

Tinubu attacks Agbaje National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu could not hide his joy at the rally. It took him some minutes before he could address the crowd, many of whom were shouting ‘Ifa Eko (Lagos oracle)’ ‘Jagaban Borgu,’ ‘Asiwaju of Africa,’ ‘Governor Emeritus,’ and many other nicknames.

Tinubu accused President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of failing Nigeria. He therefore urged Lagosians and Nigerians in general to vote for change in the February elections.

On why APC should be voted in Lagos, Tinubu said that the state government has lived up to expectations in the last eight years under Governor Babatunde Fashola and therefore the people of the state should vote for continuity, development, progress and prosperity for Lagosians.

“The state has made progress under the leadership of Fashola.

I am a proud leader and father.

Whatever they may say, who is the father of this talent? I am the one. Our prayer is that our children will live and perform better than us. May your children live and perform better than you,” he prayed.

The APC national leader, who described the PDP as “an Ebolainfested party that should be avoided,” also urged the people to flee from its candidates and whatever is associated with it in next month’s elections.

He said that Ambode became APC governorship candidate in response to the yearning of the youth, women and leaders of La-

L-R: Ambode, Fashola, Orelope-Adefulire, Tinubu and Ajomale at the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship campaign flag-off at Sky Power Playground, Ikeja, Lagos, last Wednesday.

gos who rooted for him because they wanted a talented, experienced youth to continue where Fashola would stop, adding that Ambode is more experienced and credible than the PDP governorship candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje.

He described Agbaje as a chameleon, who had never been consistent in his political ideology, saying the PDP governorship candidate lacks the required management skill to take Lagos to the next level.

“He contested against Fashola during governorship primaries and failed. We told him to be deputy governor to Fashola so that we can train him to know the job but he refused and joined the Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA), where he was later turned to a chameleon. He contested against Fashola again and we defeated him during the 2007 governorship election. After we defeated him in 2007, he came back to us but before we know what was happening again, he jumped to the PDP. He went to join PDP, which is Ebola.

God forbid; we don’t want that; we don’t want Ebola in Lagos,” he said.

Fashola, PDP and Ebola In his address, Governor Fashola said PDP is more dangerous than Ebola and therefore it should be swept away with broom during the February elections.

He said PDP leaders are fond of peddling falsehood and they have destroyed many things in Nigeria and therefore, urged the people of Lagos State not to vote for a party that will destroy the state.

The governor also said that the next administration in Lagos State will face some challenges and since the next challenge is financial management, Ambode, as a financial manager and ac-

INDEP ELECT ENDENT NAT ORAL C IO OMMIS NAL SION

I have been an accountant all my life.

I will be accountable to you. We will make life more economically viable. We will make Lagos safer

countant of repute is fit for the job. He therefore appealed to all Lagosians, especially those who are 18 years and above to vote wisely in next month’s election.

“Your right to vote is not a gift by any government; it is the right that you have as a citizen in any part of the world where democracy is practised. So, whether the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) gives you Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) or Temporary Voters’ Cards (TVCs), you have rights to vote and nobody can stop you from voting. You should use your vote to send Jonathan away and vote for Ambode for continuity in Lagos.

“We need a financial manager to survive what we have done in Lagos and we need a man like Ambode to continue where we stopped. We need a young man like Ambode to do the job. Being a governor of Lagos State is a tough job, no doubt. When I took the job at the age of 44, then I could count the white hair on my head, now I am 52, I am now counting the black hair on my head. I thank Lagosians for giving me the job.

I thank Lagosians for also taking care of me. Akinwumi Ambode is younger than me. You need youthfulness to do this job. That man (the PDP candidate) is already 60.

An old man cannot do the job. If you put old people there, they will sleep and will not be able to work,” he said.

Ambode speaks The APC governorship candidate promised good governance if elected on February 28 election.

Ambode, a former AccountantGeneral of Lagos State, said: “I have been an accountant all my life. I will be accountable to you.

We will make life more economically viable. We will make Lagos

safer. We will set up an Employment Trust Fund that will make youths have access to finance for entrepreneurship.

“I will be like Governor Fashola. I will be like Asiwaju. I have learnt under them. They will pray for me. I will perform better than them. I will not disappoint Lagosians. Our party exists in all the nooks and crannies of Lagos. We stand for the protection of lives and property. We will carry all the people along, irrespective of their tribes.”

After several speeches by some party leaders on why people should vote for APC on February 14 for the presidential and National Assembly elections and on February 28 for governorship and state House of Assembly elections, state chairman of the APC, Otunba Henry Ajomale presented flags to some of the party’s candidates.

The rally was well-attended by APC big wigs within and outside Lagos State including the Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji; former Lagos deputy governors, Alhaji Rafiu Jafojo, Otunba Femi Pedro, Princess Sarah Sosan; Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire; APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Senators Oluremi Tinubu, Ganiyu Solomon and Gbenga Ashafa.

Others were: the party’s SouthWest woman leader, Chief Kemi Nelson; chairman, Campaign Committee and Lagos APC deputy chairman, Cardinal James Odumbaku, Lagos APC publicity secretary, Engr. Joe Igbokwe, and many other party faithful were also present at the rally.

With the governorship campaign flag-off, Ambode has started his statewide rallies at different local governments in the state.

42 Politics

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Can Abuja Accord curb electoral violence?

C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 3

and religious leaders against making provocative statements and delivering hate speeches, stressing that these also lead to electoral violence. “The other factor is that of the religious leaders who preach the hate message, instigating their followers to be confrontational and sometimes, label some candidates as the enemies of their faith.

If our religious leaders do that kind of preaching, what do you expect? We always follow what our religious leaders say and if our religious leader keep preaching such hate message what do you expect in that instance your followers are not going into the election based on internationally known election principles? They will think they are going for war.

“There is also the pronouncement of our traditional rulers who make provocative statements as if they want to divide the country.

This has never helped because as leaders, you have your subjects and followers. When you make these provocative statements, you are indirectly instigating them to become extremely violent.”

He also recommended other remedies, some of which required the amendment of the Electoral Act. “My conviction is that for those of us who are politicians, we must avoid provocative statements, we must avoid threatening ourselves.

One thing we need to rethink particularly in the lower elections is the issue of clearing candidates by intelligent agencies. When we came in 1999, candidates were cleared by the security agents and if you are linked with some kind of violence, or cultism, you will be barred from contesting. Later, the National, Assembly thought that whoever becomes the president will use it to victimise political opponents and now said that it is the party that should screen their candidates.

“I belong to the ruling party.

Even in PDP, we don’t have that capacity to screen candidates at the level of criminality. The only group of people who can do that is the security services. Since then, all manner of characters wants to contest elections. For example, if a cultist takes a party ticket to become the chairman of a local government, who can stop him? There is no structure or group that can stop him, but before this time, they were stopped,” Jonathan said.

Buhari’s lamentation In his own remarks, the APC presidential candidate, Buhari, said that injustice was responsible for electoral violence as candidates hardly get justice from the courts of law. Buhari who narrated his ordeal in the last three presidential polls lamented that he did not only lose the election in questionable circumstances but could also not get justice at the Supreme Court.

“When the military eventually surrendered to the democratic system 16 years ago, we hoped that we should have learnt from the developed countries that went through the painful processes of stabilising their system rather than insisting on making the same mistakes.

“I will give a few examples

L-R: Former Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku; former UN Secretary General, Koffi Annan, Buhari; Jonathan; PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu and APC National Chairman, Chief John OdigieOyegun at the election sensitisation workshop, in Abuja last week.

which I am sure most of you will recall. In 2003 when we disagreed with the election, we spent 30 months in court. Out of those 30 months in court, I only missed four settings. The first time was when we went to burry my vice presidential candidate, Chuba Okadigbo, while I was out of the country on the other three occasions.

“In 2007, we spent 18 months in court and when we eventually reached the Supreme Court, the seven justices of the Supreme Court were divided on it. Three of them said they have annulled the election because it was not conducted according to law; three others said yes, there were flaws, but all the same, the ruling party won the election. The Chief Justice of the Federation then looked at them and cast his vote for the second group and so, we lost 4-3.

“In 2011, I said that I, as presidential candidate will not go to court, but I made sure that my party went to court and we spent about nine months again and it was the same story. There was no way the ruling party will lose judgement. That was painful especially when you considered what actually happened on the field,” Buhari said.

With the sermons over, Anyaoku who presided as chairman of the occasion stepped in to read what he called the Abuja Accord.

It was a beautifully worded statement that captured the essence of the debates and he beckoned on the presidential candidates present at the workshop to endorse it.

The Abuja Accord “We, the undersigned presidential candidates of the under-listed political parties contesting in the general elections of 2015; desirous of taking pro-active measures to prevent electoral violence before, during and after the election; anxious about maintaining a peaceful environment for the 2015 general elections; reaffirming our commitment to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, desirous of sustaining and promoting the unity and corporate existence of Nigeria as an indivisible entity; determined to avoid any conduct or behaviour that will endanger

INDEP ELECT ENDENT NAT ORAL C IO OMMIS NAL SION

Nigerians should remember that their destiny is a common one... for the Peoples Democratic Party or the All Progressives Congress

the political stability and national security of Nigeria; determined to place national interest above personal and artisan concerns ; reaffirming our commitment to truly abide by the rules and regulations as laid down in the legal framework for elections in Nigeria, hereby commit ourselves and our parties to the following: 1). To run issue-based campaigns at national, state and local government levels. In this, we pledge to refrain from campaigns that will involve religious incitements, ethnic or tribal profiling both by ourselves and by all agents acting in our names.

2). To refrain from making or causing to make in our names or that of our party, any public statement, pronouncement, declarations or speeches that have the capacity to incite any form of violence before, during and after the elections.

3). To publicly and forcefully speak out against provocative utterances and oppose all acts of electoral violence whether perpetrated by our supporters and or opponents.

4). To commit ourselves and our political parties to the monitoring of adherence to this accord if necessary by a National Peace Committee made up of respected statesmen and women, traditional and religious leaders.

5). That all persons, agencies and institutions involved in the conduct of the elections must remain neutral and must be seen to be impartial in playing their roles.

The signatories The political parties and personalities who signed the peace pact included the following: Action Alliance (AA) – Tunde AnifowosheKelani and Mohammed Lawal Nalado, presidential candidate and National Chairman respectively; Alliance for Democracy (AD) – Dr. Rafiu Salau and Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, presidential candidate and National Chairman; Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) – Alhaji Ganiyu Galadima and Alhaji Mohammed Sanni, presidential candidate and National Chairman; African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dr. Naming Ibrahim Ahmad and Chief Ralphs Okey

Nwosu, presidential candidate and National Chairman respectively.

Others are: All Progressives Congress (APC) – Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, presidential candidate and National Chairman; Hope Democratic Party – Ambrose Albert Owuru as the presidential candidate and national chairman; Kowa Party (KP) – Prof. Comfort Oluremi Sonaiya and Alhaji Umar Mustapha presidential candidate and National Chairman; National Conscience Party (NCP) – Martin Onovo and Dr. Yunusa Tanko, presidential candidate and National Chairman; Peoples Democratic Party( PDP)- Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and Dr. Mu’azu Adamu presidential candidate and National Chairman; United Democratic Party ( UDP)- Godson Okoye, Presidential candidate and National Chairman; and United Progressive Party ( UPP) – Chief Chekwas Okorie, presidential candidate and also national chairman.

Also, the chairman, Inter-party Advisory Council, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, Special Adviser to the President on Inter Party Affairs, Senator Ben Obi; National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd); Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, and Chairman of the occasion, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, signed the accord.

Beyond the Accord Even while the accord was being signed, many of the signatories expressed doubts about its effectiveness. A number of persons were not sure if the ritual of signing an accord would hold back the army of thugs that are usually unleashed on the streets on election days.

Although the pact was signed with fanfare and in the full glare of everyone, some eminent personalities in the audience observed that the accord would be futile unless all the stakeholders were prepared to fully abide by its letters.

It was the consensus of opinion at the gathering that there was more work to be done to make the accord work.

It could be recalled that in previous years, the Nigeria Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution and some civil society organisations had initiated similar accords in the build up to elections only for such pacts to be jettisoned as soon as the signing ceremonies were over.

All said and done, Nigeria will remain in focus as the elections draw near and the international community will be waiting to see if this accord will work or not. One loophole is that this accord spelt out no penalties and could be said to be a gentleman’s agreement.

The challenge now is for the political actors who endorsed this pact to demonstrate that they are men of honour. Each of the signatories represented a political party and it is expected that the accord would be passed down to all the members of these parties at the state, council, ward and community levels. If this gospel of peace is allowed to permeate the hearts of the youths at the grassroots, the 2015 elections would not only be free, fair and transparent, it would be peaceful.

Politics 43

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

N’East govs disagree on calls for suspension of polls Onyekachi Eze Abuja

G

overnor of Adamawa State, Bala Ngilari, has called for the postponement of the next month’s general elections in the state as a result of the security situation.

The governor, who spoke at a stakeholders’ interactive session on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) held yesterday in Abuja, noted that as chief security officer, Adamawa State was not

suitable for elections until April.

Participants at the meeting, which included governors of Borno and Yobe states as well as federal lawmakers, civil society organisations and security agencies, however, disagreed with him.

Ngilari argued that lives are more important than holding election, and noted that the suspension would allow for proper rehabilitation of persons affected by the insurgency.

“In Adamawa, I can truly tell you that seven

local government areas are under siege. The supposed peace we have is just the peace of the graveyard. To say that the security situation in these local governments are sufficiently stabilised so that we can have these elections on February 14, 2015 to my mind is fierce.

“That is my position.

Anybody is entitled to his views. That is our position. I am the chief security officer, even as I speak now, this morning Mr. Chairman, there was an attack on Uba on

the Borno side which directly affects us in Adamawa.

“Before last Saturday, this situation, could be said to have been stabilised until this attack was unleashed on Gombi Local Government.

With that attack which completely reverberates across these seven local governments, of course people would first and foremost be concerned about their dear lives,” he added.

He expressed fears that those who attacked Biu local government

might regroup and no one can predict when and where they would attack again.

He stated that the most critical time for the insurgents to launch their attacks is during elections, adding that government’s interaction with those in IDPs camps revealed that the primary concern is not even elections.

“No politicians to the best of my knowledge has gone to the IDPs camp to canvass for votes as that would be the height of insensitiv-

ity. These are people undergoing serious trauma and they need some kind of rehabilitation, something that will assuage them and prepare them psychologically for the elections that will come.

“Therefore sir, it is my submission with due respect, that we passionately request that before the expiration of this government in May, it will only be fair if we can consider moving these elections to about April so that we can deal with the issue of reform, and rehabilitation of the IDPs and prepare them.

“This has always been the problem with the politicians. Mr. Chairman, human lives are more important to me than elections. I stand on my point that we must look at these things with the spirit of being human,” the governor stated.

Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, disclosed that there are 981,416 IDPs recorded by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) while records gathered by INEC state offices in the three troubled states put the figure at 1,059,868.

Jega stated that the commission will setup designated centres in various locations in each of these three states for the purpose of distribution of cards and organising of voting for IDPs. He said the commission will work with security agencies to ensure adequate security provisioning for the planned activities.

Jega, who maintained that elections will only hold in areas where security arrangements have certified, however noted that those who collect Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) by proxy will be disappointed because of the use of card readers.

Jega further said the commission will not revert to the use of Temporary Voters’ Cards (TVCs) in the 2015 general elections, saying INEC has gone far in producing and distributing PVCs as well as in its preparation to use card readers in the forthcoming general elections.

Governors of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, hailed INEC for working towards holding elections in his state.

He, however, said he would make the IDP camps accessible in the course of the elections, stating that the insurgents should not be underestimated in attacking during elections.

44

Business | Money Line

PATRIOTIC

Military, paramilitary, govt institutions to patronise made-in Nigeria fabrics

T

he Federal Gover nment has approved a new funding mechanism that will guarantee that cotton, textile and garment companies access long-term, low interest loans to finance their operations.

This is part of the new National Cotton, Textile and Garment Policy aimed at revitalising and boosting the growth and development of the cotton, textile and garment industry.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, disclosed this during the launch of the Nation Cotton, Textile and Garment Policy and the inauguration of a 17-member Implementation, Monitoring and Review Committee for the CTG Policy, in Abuja.

Aganga said the policy, which was a product of prolonged and comprehensive consultation with all the stakeholders in the industry, was expected to address all bottlenecks inhibiting the growth and develop-

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

FG okays low interest funding plan for textile firms ment of the industry.

He added that it would improve the quality, quantity, production capacity, marketing and competitiveness of the players across the entire value chain; control the influx of fake and substandard textile and garments into Nigeria; and improve the competitiveness of CTG across the nation, among others.

He said, “Extensive stakeholders’ consultation gave birth to the National Cotton, Textile and Garment Policy, which was approved by the Federal Executive Council on 17th December 2014.

“In 2010, the Federal Government introduced a N100billion Cotton, Textile and Garment Revival Fund, managed by the Bank of Industry to reverse the ugly trend of progressive collapse of the textile industry.

The BOI in conjunction with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization have appraised the performance of the fund, indicating that a substantial portion of it has been suc-

cessfully disbursed.”

He added, “We have, however, obtained presidential approval for some aspects in the policy such as the conversion of the loan, given to the BOI by the Federal Government

for on-lending to CTG companies, into Federal Government’s equity in the bank.

“This will make it possible for BOI to elongate the period of this fund, which was billed to end

in 2017. It further puts the BOI in a position to review the interest rate downwards. Already, a number of the beneficiaries of the CTG Fund have had their loan tenor elongated while their

interest rates have been reviewed downwards.

This will go a long way in alleviating the burden on CTG companies, especially those in the northern part of the country.”

The minister explained that the Federal Government had given priority attention to the revitalization of the Cotton, Textile and Garment industry due to its huge job creation potentials.

FG not reviewing oil benchmark –Okonjo-Iweala Abdulwahab Isa Abuja

T

he Federal Government isn’t reviewing its benchmark budgeted oil price for the 2015 budget, the Ministry of Finance has said.

Spokesperson of the Minster for Finance, Mr Paul Nwabuikwu, said this in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday.

“We are not reviewing the budget benchmark price at the moment. The price of oil is still quite volatile and we do not know how it will pan out.

“We are taking a scenario-based approach in han-

Economic Indicators

dling the 2015 budget,’’ he said.

According to him, there are additional measures to take care of the sliding oil prices.

He also said that the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) was currently at the National Assembly. `` We have been working together with our lawmakers to ensure that we steer the country in the right direction during this period,’’ Nwabuikwu said.

Minister of State for Finance Amb. Bashir Yuguda, also corroborated the Finance Minister’s view.

He said that oil benchmark price remained pegged at $65 per barrel of crude oil.

Yuguda spoke yesterday at a massive rally to flag off the Jonathan/Sambo 2015

Presidential Campaign in Zamfara State.

The 2015 budget which is now before the National Assembly he said, was designed to ensure that the ordinary people do not suffer unduly from the effect of falling oil prices.

He said that a review is not being considered at the moment because of the continuing volatility in the price of oil.

He noted further that the scenario-based approach, which the Government has adopted would ensure the adoption of appropriate measures in response to various levels of oil price.

A statement issued by Media Assistant to the minister. Ikechukwu Eze quoted Yuguda as commending government’s agricultural transformation agenda.

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

N14,737,618.7m N16,509,472.5m 8 0.0000 12 10.899 7.96 17.01 US$109.9 US$42,604,781,796.6

Description

TTM

4.00% 23-Apr-2015 13.05% 16-Aug-2016 15.10% 27-Apr-2017 16.00% 29-Jun-2019 16.39% 27-Jan-2022 10.00% 23-Jul-2030

1.21 2.53 3.22 5.39 7.98 16.47

Tenor (Days) Call 7 30 60 90 180 365

Rate (%) 11.9167 12.3333 12.6667 12.9167 13.2167 13.5000 13.7500

NIBOR

Dec, 2013 Dec, 2013 Dec, 2013 2/5/2014 1/20/2014 11/6/2013 Dec, 2013 Dec, 2013 1/20/2014 2/5/2014 Source:CBN

FGN Bonds Bid Price 90.20 99.25 104.10 109.35 114.15 76.60

Exploit prospects in ICT, minister tells SMEs Godson Ikoro

Price 90.35 99.40 104.40 109.65 114.45 76.90

Tenor (Months) 1 2 3 6 9 12

Rate (%) 12.1827 12.2737 12.3744 12.8521 12.8535 13.8443

Treasury Bills Maturity Date 08-May-14 07-Aug-14 22-Jan-15

Bid 12.10 12.10 12.05

FX

Bid Spot ($/N) 163.28 THE FIXINGS –NIBOR,NITTY and NIFEX of February 6,2014

T

Offer Yield 13.01 13.40 13.47 13.49 13.44 13.59

NITTY

Yield 12.86 13.33 13.35 13.42 13.38 13.53

Money Market Offer 11.85 11.85 11.80 Offer 163.38

Open-Buy-Back (OBB) Overnight (O/N)

Rate (%) 11.33 11.63

NIFEX Spot ($/N)

Bid 163.4000

Offer 163.5000 Source: FMDQ

he Minister of Communication Technology, Dr. (Mrs.) Mobolaji Johnson, has advised Nigerian investors to take up the array of abundant and lucrative opportunities existing in the nation’s Information and Communication Technology sector.

She gave the advice yesterday at the Fidelity Bank’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) radio programme held at the Inspirational FM Station, Lagos.

Fielding questions from journalists on where to invest shortly after ventilating the importance of SMEs and how Fidelity Bank was supporting the sector in the studio chat, Johnson said that there were opportunities in software development.

According to her, there are currently about 170 million mobile phones in the country, and it makes sense for IT-focused SMEs to latch on to mobile applications that are relevant to the people and the country.

Although she said it was a

bit difficult to pinpoint where to invest, she said that the beauty of the ICT sector is that it offered abundant opportunities to investors, highlighting that investors could invest in $15,000.00 projects in any application development.

She also said there were equally opportunities to invest in bigger areas such as digital centres, card manufacturing plants, smart card machines among others; stressing that investors could invest as much as $40million.

On what the ministry is doing to help the ICT clusters across the nation, Johnson said that the tech clusters were part of the ecosystem of software development, mentoring saying that the ministry had developed a data capture that would enable it provide young Nigerians who are developing softwares access to finance that does not depend on collaterals.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government targets 1.3 million jobs to be created in the ICT sector by 2015, comparable to the ICT led boom in India over the last decade.

Business | Financial Market News

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

45

20-Jan-15

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

Bonds FGN Bonds

Price

Rating/Agency

Issuer

NA

NA

Description 4.00 23-APR-2015 13.05 16-AUG-2016 15.10 27-APR-2017 9.85 27-JUL-2017 9.35 31-AUG-2017 10.70 30-MAY-2018 16.00 29-JUN-2019 7.00 23-OCT-2019 16.39 27-JAN-2022 14.20 14-MAR-2024 15.00 28-NOV-2028 12.49 22-MAY-2029 8.50 20-NOV-2029 10.00 23-JUL-2030 12.1493 18-JUL-2034

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

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

4.00 13.05 15.10 9.85 9.35 10.70 16.00 7.00 16.39 14.20 15.00 12.49 8.50 10.00 12.1493

535.00 581.39 476.80 20.00 100.00 300.00 351.30 233.90 600.00 434.68 75.00 150.00 200.00 591.57 206.00

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

4,855.63

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

4,417.94

Rating/Agency

Issuer

Description

Bid Yield (%)

Offer Yield (%)

Bid Price

Offer Price

0.25 1.57 2.27 2.52 2.61 3.36 4.44 4.76 7.02 9.15 13.85 14.33 14.83 15.50 19.49

12.82 15.28 15.49 15.52 15.53 15.56 15.59 15.63 15.64 15.65 14.29 14.13 13.97 14.82 15.22

12.20 15.17 15.41 15.44 15.45 15.44 15.49 15.52 15.57 15.59 14.24 14.08 13.90 14.76 15.16

97.79 96.95 99.20 88.52 87.12 87.60 101.25 71.75 103.10 93.00 104.20 89.98 66.09 71.00 81.00

97.94 97.10 99.35 88.67 87.27 87.90 101.55 72.05 103.40 93.30 104.50 90.28 66.39 71.30 81.30

Maturity Date

TTM (Yrs)

23-Apr-15 16-Aug-16 27-Apr-17 27-Jul-17 31-Aug-17 30-May-18 29-Jun-19 23-Oct-19 27-Jan-22 14-Mar-24 28-Nov-28 22-May-29 20-Nov-29 23-Jul-30 18-Jul-34

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

Maturity Date

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

# Risk Premium (%)

Valuation Yield (%)

Indicative Price

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

0.00 17.25 0.00/16.00 0.00/16.50 0.00/16.50

24.56 2.70 112.22 116.70 66.49

24-May-15 03-Apr-17 09-Dec-16 20-Apr-17 06-Jul-17

0.34 1.20 1.89 2.25 2.46

2.63 2.27 2.00 1.00 1.00

16.03 17.95 17.40 16.47 16.52

94.79 99.36 97.88 96.21 92.92

Agency Bonds FMBN ***LCRM

0.00 FMB 24-MAY-2015 17.25 FMB II 03-APR-2017 0.00/16.00 LCRM 09-DEC-2016 0.00/16.50 LCRM II 20-APR-2017 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

322.67

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

309.86

Sub-National Bonds A+/Agusto

KADUNA

12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015

31-Aug-10

12.50

8.50

31-Aug-15

0.61

4.44

19.22

96.26

A/Agusto

*EBONYI

13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015

30-Sep-10

13.00

4.18

30-Sep-15

0.45

3.23

17.35

98.88

A-/Agusto

*BENUE

14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-11

14.00

4.86

30-Jun-16

0.97

4.46

20.26

15.50

5.73

30-Jun-16

0.97

3.48

19.29

97.04

19-Apr-17

2.24

1.00

16.47

88.21

94.96

‡ /Agusto

*IMO

15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-09

‡ /Agusto; ‡ /GCR

LAGOS

10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017

19-Apr-10

10.00

57.00

‡ /Agusto

*BAYELSA

13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017

30-Jun-10

13.75

25.73

30-Jun-17

1.51

1.00

16.36

96.80

‡ /Agusto

EDO

14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017

30-Dec-10

14.00

25.00

31-Dec-17

2.95

1.79

17.33

92.53

‡ /Agusto; A+/GCR

*DELTA

14.00 DELTA 30-SEP-2018

30-Sep-11

14.00

34.14

30-Sep-18

2.12

1.80

17.24

94.61

‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR

NIGER

14.00 NIGER II 4-OCT-2018

04-Oct-11

14.00

9.00

04-Oct-18

3.70

1.00

16.58

92.99

‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR†

*EKITI

14.50 EKITI 09-DEC-2018

09-Dec-11

14.50

13.73

09-Dec-18

2.32

1.00

16.48

96.54

‡ /Agusto

*NIGER

14.00 NIGER III 12-DEC-2018

12-Dec-13

14.00

10.20

12-Dec-18

2.32

4.78

20.26

89.31

‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR

*ONDO

15.50 ONDO 14-FEB-2019

14-Feb-12

15.50

27.00

14-Feb-19

2.50

1.00

16.52

96.16

A/Agusto; A-/GCR ‡ /Agusto; ‡ /GCR

*GOMBE LAGOS

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

A/Agusto; A-/GCR

*OSUN

14.75 OSUN 12-DEC-2019

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

15.50 14.50 14.75

16.23 80.00 26.62

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

2.75 4.84 2.82

1.00 1.00 2.74

16.54 16.63 18.28

98.00 93.04 92.71

‡ /Agusto

*OSUN

14.75 OSUN II 10-OCT-2020

10-Oct-13

14.75

11.10

10-Oct-20

3.37

1.00

16.57

95.62

‡ /Agusto; ‡ /GCR

LAGOS

13.50 LAGOS IV 27-NOV-2020

27-Nov-13

13.50

87.50

27-Nov-20

5.85

1.00

16.66

88.42

A-/Agusto; BBB+/DataPro

KOGI

15.00 KOGI 31-DEC-2020

31-Dec-13

15.00

5.00

31-Dec-20

5.95

1.94

17.60

90.62

‡ /Agusto A-/GCR

*EKITI *NASARAWA

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

31-Dec-13

14.50

4.55

31-Dec-20

3.61

1.44

17.02

93.77

06-Jan-14

15.00

4.56

06-Jan-21

3.64

1.95

17.53

93.76

96.73

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

460.61 425.85

Corporate Bonds ‡ /Agusto A-/Agusto

*UPDC

10.00 UPDC 17-AUG-2015

17-Aug-10

10.00

3.61

17-Aug-15

0.33

4.88

18.20

*FLOURMILLS

12.00 FLOURMILLS 9-DEC-2015

09-Dec-10

12.00

9.34

09-Dec-15

0.64

1.00

15.86

98.22

BB/GCR

*CHELLARAMS

14.00 CHELLARAMS 06-JAN-2016

06-Jan-11

14.00

0.42

06-Jan-16

0.72

2.63

17.72

97.82

A+/Agusto; A-/GCR

NAHCO

13.00 NAHCO 29-SEP-2016

29-Sep-11

13.00

15.00

29-Sep-16

1.69

1.00

16.38

95.13

A-/Agusto

FSDH

14.25 FSDH 25-OCT-2016

25-Oct-13

14.25

5.53

25-Oct-16

1.76

1.34

16.73

96.28

A/GCR

UBA

13.00 UBA 30-SEP-2017

30-Sep-10

13.00

20.00

30-Sep-17

2.69

1.00

16.53

92.50

BBB-/GCR

18.00 C&I LEASING 30-NOV-2017

30-Nov-12

18.00

0.64

30-Nov-17

1.71

1.88

17.26

102.13

Nil

*C & I LEASING *DANA#{r}

MPR+7.00 DANA 9-APR-2018

09-Apr-11

16.00

6.30

09-Apr-18

1.72

3.48

18.86

96.23

A-/DataPro†; B+/GCR

*TOWER#

MPR+7.00 TOWER 9-SEP-2018

09-Sep-11

18.00

2.90

09-Sep-18

1.88

5.20

20.60

96.30

#

1.88

5.06

20.46

101.76

AAA/DataPro†; A/GCR

*TOWER

MPR+5.25 TOWER 9-SEP-2018

09-Sep-11

16.00

0.80

09-Sep-18

A/Agusto; A/GCR

UBA

14.00 UBA II 22-SEP-2018

22-Sep-11

14.00

35.00

22-Sep-18

3.67

1.35

16.93

92.16

Bbb+/Agusto; BBB+/GCR

15.75 LA CASERA 18-OCT-2018

18-Oct-13

15.75

2.40

18-Oct-18

1.99

2.29

17.71

97.14

BBB-/DataPro†; BB/GCR

*LA CASERA *CHELLARAMS#

MPR+5.00 CHELLARAMS II 17-FEB-2019

17-Feb-12

18.00

0.41

17-Feb-19

2.08

6.11

21.54

94.36

Nil

*DANA#{r}

16.00 DANA II 1-APR-2019

01-Apr-14

16.00

4.50

01-Apr-19

2.95

2.16

17.70

96.35

A+/Agusto; A-/GCR

NAHCO

15.25 NAHCO II 14-NOV-2020

14-Nov-13

15.25

2.05

14-Nov-20

5.82

2.76

18.42

88.90

A/GCR

STANBIC IBTC

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

30-Sep-14

11.93

0.10

30-Sep-24

9.69

1.00

16.54

78.01

A/GCR

STANBIC IBTC

13.25 STANBIC IB 30-SEP-2024

30-Sep-14

13.25

15.44

30-Sep-24

9.69

1.00

16.54

84.30

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

124.44

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

115.72

Supranational Bond AAA/S&P

IFC

10.20 IFC 11-FEB-2018

11-Feb-13

10.20

12.00

11-Feb-18

3.06

1.00

16.55

85.20

Aaa/Moody's; AAA/S&P

AfDB

11.25 AFDB 1-FEB-2021

10-Jul-14

11.25

12.95

01-Feb-21

4.28

1.00

16.61

84.33

Bid Price

Offer Price

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

24.95 21.14

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION Rating/Agency

Issuer

Description

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value ($mm)

Maturity Date

Bid Yield (%)

Offer Yield (%)

6.75 JAN 28, 2021

07-Oct-11

6.75

500.00

28-Jan-21

7.19

6.88

97.88

99.35

5.13 JUL 12, 2018

12-Jul-13

5.13

500.00

12-Jul-18

6.21

5.74

96.66

98.10

6.38 JUL 12, 2023

12-Jul-13

6.38

500.00

12-Jul-23

7.43

7.21

93.45

94.76

FGN Eurobonds

Prices & Yields

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

FGN

BB-/Fitch; BB-/S&P

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

1,500.00

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

1,439.94

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

AFREN PLC I

11.50 FEB 01, 2016

01-Feb-11

11.50

450.00

01-Feb-16

54.32

54.32

69.38

69.38

B+/Fitch; B+/S&P

GTBANK PLC I

7.50 MAY 19, 2016

19-May-11

7.50

500.00

19-May-16

6.99

6.99

100.63

100.63

B+/S&P

ACCESS BANK PLC

7.25 JUL 25, 2017

25-Jul-12

7.25

350.00

25-Jul-17

11.23

11.23

91.50

91.50

B/Fitch; B/S&P

FIDELITY BANK PLC

6.88 MAY 09, 2018

09-May-13

6.88

300.00

02-May-18

12.15

11.48

86.00

87.63

B+/Fitch; B+/S&P

GTBANK PLC

6.00 NOV 08, 2018

08-Nov-13

6.00

400.00

08-Nov-18

9.23

8.54

89.85

91.90

B/Fitch

AFREN PLC II

10.25 APR 08, 2019

08-Apr-12

10.25

300.00

08-Apr-19

30.47

25.40

53.68

62.08

B+/Fitch; BB-/S&P

ZENITH BANK PLC

6.25 APR 22, 2019

22-Apr-14

6.25

500.00

22-Apr-19

9.21

9.21

89.75

89.75

B/Fitch; B/S&P

DIAMOND BANK PLC

8.75 May 21, 2019

21-May-14

8.75

200.00

21-May-19

14.70

13.45

81.38

84.92

B-/Fitch; B/S&P

FIRST BANK PLC

8.25 AUG 07, 2020

07-Aug-13

8.25

300.00

07-Aug-20

9.97

9.97

92.00

92.00

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

AFREN PLC III ACCESS BANK PLC II FIRST BANK LTD

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

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

6.63 9.25 8.00

360.00 400.00 450.00

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

27.34 12.67 11.36

27.34 12.22 11.36

41.00 85.13 84.00

41.00 86.88 84.00

B-/S&P

ECOBANK NIG. LTD

8.75 AUG 14, 2021

14-Aug-14

8.75

250.00

14-Aug-21

10.72

9.62

89.98

94.87

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

4,760.00

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

3,892.56

**Treasury Bills DTM 9 16 23 30 37 44 51 58

FIXINGS Maturity 29-Jan-15 5-Feb-15 12-Feb-15 19-Feb-15 26-Feb-15 5-Mar-15 12-Mar-15 19-Mar-15

Bid Discount (%) 10.65 11.00 10.35 10.75 10.60 11.25 11.35 10.63

Offer Discount (%) 10.40 10.75 10.10 10.50 10.35 11.00 11.10 10.38

Bid Yield (%) 10.68 11.05 10.42 10.85 10.72 11.40 11.53 10.81

Money Market

NIBOR Tenor O/N 1M 3M 6M

Rate (%) 7.0000 12.8705 14.2773 15.5592

Tenor

Rate (%)

OBB

6.08

O/N Tenor Call 1M

6.50

REPO

Rate (%) 7.17 13.18

Foreign Exchange (Spot & Forwards) Tenor

Bid ($/N)

Offer ($/N)

Spot 7D 14D 1M 2M 3M

189.00 189.44 189.74 190.44 191.72 193.00

189.10 189.55 189.88 190.90 192.73 194.51

***LCRM

0.00/16.50 LCRM II 20-APR-2017 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017

20-Apr-12 06-Jul-12

0.00/16.50 0.00/16.50

116.70 66.49

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

322.67

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

309.86

20-Apr-17 06-Jul-17

2.25 2.46

1.00 1.00

16.47 16.52

96.21 92.92

Sub-National Bonds A+/Agusto

KADUNA

12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015

31-Aug-10

12.50

8.50

31-Aug-15

0.61

4.44

19.22

96.26

A/Agusto

*EBONYI

13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015

30-Sep-10

13.00

4.18

30-Sep-15

0.45

3.23

17.35

98.88

A-/Agusto

*BENUE

14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-11

14.00

4.86

30-Jun-16

0.97

4.46

20.26

94.96

‡ /Agusto

*IMO

15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-09

15.50

5.73

30-Jun-16

0.97

3.48

19.29

97.04

‡ /Agusto; ‡ /GCR

LAGOS

10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017

19-Apr-10

10.00

57.00

19-Apr-17

‡ /Agusto

46

Business | Financial Market News

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 2.24 1.00 16.47 NEW TELEGRAPH 88.21

*BAYELSA

13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017

30-Jun-10

13.75

25.73

30-Jun-17

1.51

1.00

16.36

96.80

‡ /Agusto

EDO

14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017

30-Dec-10

14.00

25.00

31-Dec-17

2.95

1.79

17.33

92.53

‡ /Agusto; A+/GCR

*DELTA

14.00 DELTA 30-SEP-2018

30-Sep-11

14.00

34.14

30-Sep-18

2.12

1.80

17.24

94.61

14.00 NIGER II 4-OCT-2018

04-Oct-11

14.00

9.00

04-Oct-18

3.70

1.00

16.58

92.99

14.50 EKITI 09-DEC-2018

09-Dec-11

14.50

13.73

09-Dec-18

2.32

1.00

16.48

96.54

14.00

10.20

12-Dec-18

2.32

4.78

20.26

89.31

15.50

27.00

14-Feb-19

2.50

1.00

16.52

96.16

15.50 14.50 14.75

16.23 80.00 26.62

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

2.75 4.84 2.82

1.00 1.00 2.74

16.54 16.63 18.28

98.00 93.04 92.71

96.28

POSITIVE ‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR

‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR†

Stock market extends gaining streaks

NIGER *EKITI

12-Dec-13 ‡ /Agusto 14.00 NIGER III 12-DEC-2018 The Nigerian bourse*NIGER 14-Feb-12 ‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR *ONDO 15.50 ONDO 14-FEB-2019 maintains 02-Oct-12 A/Agusto; A-/GCRits *GOMBE 15.50 GOMBE 02-OCT-2019 ‡ /Agusto; ‡ /GCR LAGOS 14.50 LAGOS 22-NOV-2019 22-Nov-12 ebullient mood the ated by N15 billion or 0.15 12-Dec-12 A/Agusto; A-/GCR *OSUN formance measures, 14.75 OSUN 12-DEC-2019 *OSUN

T

#{r}

#

AAA/DataPro†; A/GCR

S

#

MPR+5.25 TOWER 9-SEP-2018

*TOWER

09-Sep-11

16.00

US SEC to suspend S&P from rating bond market

14.00 UBA II 22-SEP-2018 22-Sep-11 14.00 UBA will tandard & Poor’s 15.75 LA CASERA 18-OCT-2018 18-Oct-13 15.75 be suspended for*LA a CASERA year MPR+5.00 CHELLARAMS II 17-FEB-2019 17-Feb-12 18.00 BBB-/DataPro†; BB/GCR *CHELLARAMS from rating securities 16.00 DANA II 1-APR-2019 01-Apr-14 16.00 Nil *DANA in A+/Agusto; the biggest piece NAHCO of the 15.25 NAHCO II 14-NOV-2020 A-/GCR 14-Nov-13 15.25 182D T.bills+1.20 STANBIC IA 30-SEP-2024 A/GCR 30-Sep-14 11.93 commercial-mortgage bond STANBIC IBTC 13.25 STANBIC IB 30-SEP-2024 A/GCR in a $60 million 30-Sep-14 13.25 STANBIC IBTC market settleTOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE ment with the US Securities amining whether the credit eral in New York and MasTOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION and Exchange Commission, rater bent criteria to win sachusetts, said the person according to Bond a person with business in 2011, will ban and a second with knowlSupranational knowledge of the matter. the company from grading edge of the talks. They10.20 both 10.20 IFC 11-FEB-2018 AAA/S&P IFC 11-Feb-13 The deal, which the securities backed asked not10-Jul-14 to be identified 11.25 AFDB 1-FEB-2021by mulAaa/Moody's; AAA/S&P AfDB per11.25 sonTOTAL saidOUTSTANDING may be announced tiple commercial loans, the because the discussions VALUE as TOTAL soonMARKET as today, will be person said. are private.

CAPITALISATION the agency’s toughest acIn addition to the SEC Catherine Mathis, a McGraw spokeswoman tion against a major creditIssuerfine, the unit of Description Rating/Agency Issue Date for McGraw Coupon (%) rater.

Hill Financial Inc. is also Hill, declined to comment, FGN Eurobonds to Bloomberg, According facing a penalty to settle as did Judy Burns of the theBB-/Fitch; SEC,B+/S&P which has been ex- probes by Attorneys GenSEC. 6.75 JAN 28, 2021 07-Oct-11 6.75 A/Agusto; A/GCR

Bbb+/Agusto; BBB+/GCR

#

#{r}

BB-/Fitch; BB-/S&P

Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers is best dealing firm FGN

BB-/Fitch; BB-/S&P

2.05 0.10 15.44

124.44 115.72 12.00 12.95

24.95 21.14 Outstanding Value ($mm)

500.00

6.38 JUL 12, 2023

12-Jul-13

6.38

500.00

T

1,500.00

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION change (NSE) has named

1,439.94

he Nigerian Stock Ex-

Market data for the year es excellence and exceptional performance by market oper- under review showed that Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Stanbic IBTC Stockbro- ators in a given year.

Corporate Eurobonds kers Limited, a member of the Promoters of the awards Limited achieved a turnover 11.50 FEB 01, 2016 B/Fitch; B-/S&P AFREN PLC I 01-Feb-11 11.50 seek to reward outstanding Stanbic IBTC Group,GTBANK as the in excess19-May-11 of 24 billion units 7.50 MAY 19, 2016 B+/Fitch; B+/S&P PLC I 7.50 growth leading market operator in contributions to the of shares,25-Jul-12 which represent7.25 JUL 25, 2017 B+/S&P ACCESS BANK PLC 7.25 theB/Fitch; Nigerian capital market. and development of the09,capied 11.42 per cent volume 6.88 MAY 2018 B/S&P FIDELITY BANK PLC 09-May-13 6.88 of tal market and the6.00 Exchange.

The firm shares valued at over N472 NOV 08, 2018 B+/Fitch;stockbrokerage B+/S&P GTBANK PLC 08-Nov-13 6.00bil10.25 APR 08, 2019 B/Fitch AFREN PLC 08-Apr-12 won the NSE CEO award asII The award reinforces Stanlion or 17.55 per cent to10.25 lead 6.25 APR 22,Lim2019 BB-/S&P ZENITH BANK PLCbic IBTC Stockbrokers 6.25 theB+/Fitch; best dealing member firm both the 22-Apr-14 volume and value May 21, 2019 B/S&P DIAMOND BANK PLC 21-May-14 8.75 tables. Stanbic IBTC Stockon B/Fitch; the Exchange in 2014. ited as the largest8.75 stockbrok8.25 AUG 07, 2020 B-/Fitch; B/S&P FIRST BANK PLC 07-Aug-13 8.25 The award is an annual ing firm in Nigeria in both brokers was also the largest 6.63 DEC 09, 2020 B-/Fitch; B/S&P AFREN PLC III 09-Dec-13 6.63 volume and value of total capital market award, in three stockbroking house in Nigeria 9.25/6M USD LIBOR+7.677 JUN 24, 2021 B-/Fitch; B/S&P ACCESS BANK PLC II 24-Jun-14 9.25 sub-categories, that recognishandled in 2014. in 2013. 23-Jul-14 USD SWAP+6.488 JUL 23 2021 B-/Fitch; B/S&P FIRST BANK LTD transactions8.00/2Y 8.00 8.75 AUG 14, 2021

ECOBANK NIG. LTD

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

14-Aug-14

8.75

16.53

92.50

30-Nov-17

1.71

1.88

17.26

102.13 96.23

09-Apr-18

1.72

3.48

18.86

09-Sep-18

1.88

5.20

20.60

96.30

09-Sep-18

1.88

5.06

20.46

101.76

450.00 500.00 350.00 300.00 400.00 300.00 500.00 200.00 300.00 360.00 400.00 450.00 250.00

10.72

9.62

89.98

94.87

14-Aug-21

4,760.00

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

16.73

1.00

A

0.41

500.00

1.34

2.69

18-Oct-18

4.50

5.13

1.76

22-Sep-18

2.40

12-Jul-13

25-Oct-16 30-Sep-17

3.67 1.35 writing 16.93capacity 92.16 was efIICO Insurance 2.29 17.71 97.14 Plc has1.99 said it is ficient as net premium 17-Feb-19 2.08 6.11 21.54 94.36 currently in disincome surged96.35 by 82.62 01-Apr-19 2.95 2.16 17.70 cussions with5.82 the Interbillion, 14-Nov-20 2.76 per cent 18.42 to N6.96 88.90 30-Sep-24 9.69 Corpo1.00 as against 16.54 N3.8978.01 national Finance billion as 30-Sep-24(IFC) for 9.69 1.00 of Q1 16.54 84.30 2014. ration the grant of a $20 million convertThe insurer was able to ible loan to the company. translate the top-line perThe company in a no- formance to bottom-line tice to the Nigerian Stock growth as profit before tax 11-Feb-18 3.06 1.00 16.55 85.20 Exchange (NSE) increased84.33 by 20.93 01-Feb-21 4.28 said un1.00 (PBT)16.61 der the arrangement, IFC per cent to N1.15 billion in had an option to convert Q1 2014, from N956.68 milany unpaid part of the lion as of Q1 2013. loan to the tax (PAT) Maturityadvanced Date Bid Yield (%) comOffer Yield (%) Profit Bid PriceafterOffer Price pany into equity holdings also followed the same Prices & Yields trajectory as it in the company. growth It noted that per cent 28-Jan-21 7.19 further 6.88 jumped 97.88by 22.6099.35 information relating to to N914.9 million, as 12-Jul-18 6.21 5.74 96.66 98.10 the proposed loan facility against N746.3 billion as would be communicated of Q1 2014.

12-Jul-23 7.43 7.21 93.45 94.76 to the market in due Total underwriting expenses in the review course.

A cursory look at the period were up by 82.01 Q1 2014 numbers showed per cent to N5.77 billion from N3.17 billion, as of that AIICO started the 01-Feb-16 54.32 54.32 69.38 69.38 year on an impressive Q1 2013.

19-May-16 6.99 6.99 100.63 100.63 note for the first three However, the 91.50 company 25-Jul-17 11.23 11.23 91.50 months year. Gross not sustain the 02-May-18 of the 12.15 11.48 could86.00 87.63 premium written the sec08-Nov-18 9.23 rose by 8.54 growth 89.85route in 91.90 08-Apr-19 30.47 25.40 ond half 53.68 of the 62.08 51.13 per cent to N8.81 bilyear as 22-Apr-19 9.21 financial 89.75 results 89.75 lion, compared9.21 with N5.83 showed 21-May-19 14.70 13.45 81.38 84.92 billion the same period in that the insurance firm 07-Aug-20 9.97 9.97 92.00 the corresponding year posted92.00 29 per cent decline 09-Dec-20 27.34 27.34 41.00 41.00 the half Q1 2013.

24-Jun-21 12.67 12.22 in profits 85.13 during 86.88 June84.00 30, 2014.

The company’s 23-Jul-21 11.36 under 11.36 year ended 84.00

35.00

5.13 JUL 12, 2018

On the other hand, 16.57 Oil Plc 95.62 Okomu led the 88.42 price 16.66 losers’ table, drop17.60 90.62 ping 6.13 per cent each to 17.02 93.77 close at N23.90 per 17.53 93.76 share.

RT Briscoe followed with five per cent to close at 76 kobo per share, while Union18.20 Dicon Plc96.73 followed with 15.86 a loss of 98.22 4.96 per cent to 17.72close at 97.82N13.23 16.38 95.13 per share.

AIICO mulls $20m IFC loan

0.80

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

B-/S&P

ers at the close of trad10-Oct-20 3.3721 while 1.00 ing session was 27-Nov-20 5.85 decliners closed at 26. 1.00 31-Dec-20 5.95 1.94 Guaranty Trust Bank1.44 31-Dec-20 3.61 Plc led the gainers’ table1.95 06-Jan-21 3.64 with a gain of 5.28 per cent to close at N20.72 per share while UBN Plc followed with five per cent4.88 17-Aug-15 0.33 to09-Dec-15 close at N9.03.

0.64 UPL Plc 1.00 added 06-Jan-16 4.99 per 0.72 cent to 2.63 29-Sep-16 1.69 share.1.00 close at N4.00 per

billion exchanged by in14.75 11.10 vestors in 1,073 deals.

13.50 87.50 Volume in the sub-sec15.00 5.00 tor was largely driven by 14.50 4.55 activities in the shares 15.00 4.56 of Zenith Bank Plc and 460.61 Access Bank Plc.425.85 Other financial institution sub-sector, 10.00 3.61 boosted in 12.00 by activities 9.34 the shares of FBNH 14.00 0.42 Plc, 13.00 with a turnover 15.00 followed 14.25 million shares 5.53 of 100.5 13.00 20.00 valued at N1.1 billion in 18.00 0.64 1,073 deals.

16.00 6.30 The number of2.90 gain18.00

10-Oct-13 14.75 OSUN II 10-OCT-2020 NSE All Share Index and per cent to close at N9.932 27-Nov-13 ‡ /Agusto; ‡ /GCR LAGOS market capitalisation, 13.50 LAGOS IV 27-NOV-2020 trillion from N9.917 tril31-Dec-13 A-/Agusto; BBB+/DataPro KOGI 15.00 KOGI 31-DEC-2020 rose by 0.15 per cent as lion as market sentiment 31-Dec-13 ‡ /Agusto *EKITI 14.50 EKITI II 31-DEC-2020 Stories by Chris Ugwu remained green. 06-Jan-14 market sentiments exA-/GCR *NASARAWA 15.00 NASARAWA 06-JAN-2021 bulls yestertended gaining streaks Meanwhile, a turnTOTALhe OUTSTANDING VALUE investors’ over of 311.5 million maintained TOTALday MARKET CAPITALISATION following their grip on the awakened optimism. shares worth N4.1 billion Corporate Bonds Consequently, the Allmarket activiin 4,640 deals was record10.00 UPDC 17-AUG-2015 17-Aug-10 ‡ /Agusto *UPDC Share Index 12.00 gained 45.999-DEC-2015 tiesA-/Agusto as bargain hunters ed in the day’s trading.

FLOURMILLS 09-Dec-10 *FLOURMILLS jostled basis points14.00 orCHELLARAMS 015 per06-JAN-2016 The banking sub-secBB/GCRfor shares on the 06-Jan-11 *CHELLARAMS 29-SEP-2016tor of the financial A+/Agusto; A-/GCR chip com29-Sep-11 NAHCO cent to close13.00 at NAHCO 29.819.39 back of blue ser14.25 FSDH 25-OCT-2016 A-/Agusto as against 29,773.39 re- vices sector was the25-Oct-13 panies after the jinx FSDH of most 13.00 UBA 30-SEP-2017 A/GCR 30-Sep-10 UBA market depression was corded the previous day active (measured by30-Nov-12 turn18.00 C&I LEASING 30-NOV-2017 BBB-/GCR *C & I LEASING broken last week. while the market capitaliover volume); with 129.6 MPR+7.00 DANA 9-APR-2018 09-Apr-11 Nil *DANA The keyB+/GCR market perapprecimillion shares worth N1.2 MPR+7.00 TOWER 9-SEP-2018 09-Sep-11 A-/DataPro†; *TOWER sation of equities ‡ /Agusto

20-Jan-15

3,892.56

The DQL contains data relating to, amongst other things, market and model prices, rates of foreign exchange products, fixed income securities and instruments in the financial market (the “Information”). The Information does not constitute **Treasury Bills FIXINGS Money Market Foreign & Forwards) professional, financial or investment advice. We attempt to ensure the Information is accurate; however, the Information is provided “AS IS” and on an “AS AVAILABLE” basis and may not be accurate or upExchange to date. (Spot We do not guarantee DTM Maturity Bid Discount (%) Offer Discount (%) Bid Yield (%) Tenor Rate (%) NIBORfor the results of any action taken on the basis of the Information. the accuracy, timeliness, completeness, performance or fitness for a particular purpose of any of the Information, neither do we accept liability 9 29-Jan-15 10.65 10.40 10.68 FGN

16 23 Bonds 30 37 44 Rating/Agency 51 58 65 72 79 86 93 100 107 114 NA 121 135 142 156 198 226 317 331 352

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

5-Feb-15 12-Feb-15 19-Feb-15 26-Feb-15 5-Mar-15 Issuer 12-Mar-15 19-Mar-15 26-Mar-15 2-Apr-15 9-Apr-15 16-Apr-15 23-Apr-15 30-Apr-15 7-May-15 14-May-15 NA 21-May-15 4-Jun-15 11-Jun-15 25-Jun-15 6-Aug-15 3-Sep-15 3-Dec-15 17-Dec-15 7-Jan-16

11.00 10.35 10.75 10.60 11.25 Description 11.35 10.63 4.00 23-APR-2015 12.30 12.45 13.05 16-AUG-2016 11.80 15.10 27-APR-2017 10.73 9.85 27-JUL-2017 12.25 9.35 31-AUG-2017 13.15 10.70 30-MAY-2018 12.10 16.00 29-JUN-2019 12.04 7.00 23-OCT-2019 13.60 16.39 27-JAN-2022 13.95 14.20 14-MAR-2024 12.80 15.00 28-NOV-2028 14.25 12.49 22-MAY-2029 13.70 13.75 8.50 20-NOV-2029 13.90 10.00 23-JUL-2030 14.00 12.1493 18-JUL-2034 14.25

10.75 10.10 10.50 10.35 11.00 Issue Date 11.10 10.38 23-Apr-10 12.05 12.20 16-Aug-13 11.55 27-Apr-12 10.48 27-Jul-07 12.00 31-Aug-07 12.90 30-May-08 11.85 29-Jun-12 11.79 23-Oct-09 13.35 27-Jan-12 13.70 14-Mar-14 12.55 28-Nov-08 14.00 22-May-09 13.45 13.50 20-Nov-09 13.65 23-Jul-10 13.75 18-Jul-14 14.00

Bonds

11.05 10.42 10.85 10.72 11.40 Coupon 11.53 (%) 10.81 4.00 12.58 12.76 13.05 12.11 15.10 11.01 9.85 12.64 9.35 13.64 10.70 12.54 16.00 12.51 7.00 14.24 16.39 14.71 14.20 13.47 15.00 15.17 12.49 14.80 15.03 8.50 15.81 10.00 16.04 12.1493 16.52

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

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION #

Issuer

Description

Issue Date

Agency Bonds 0.00 FMB 24-MAY-2015 17.25 FMB II 03-APR-2017 0.00/16.00 LCRM 09-DEC-2016 Total Outstanding Modified Duration Buckets Porfolio Market Value(Bn) ***LCRM 0.00/16.50 LCRM II 20-APR-2017 Volume(Bn) 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017 FMBN

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

OBB

6.08

O/N

6.50

REPO

Tenor TTM Call (Yrs) 1M 3M0.25 6M1.57

Maturity Date

535.00 23-Apr-15 NITTY 581.39 16-Aug-16 Tenor Rate (%) 476.80 27-Apr-17 1M 10.1256 20.00 27-Jul-17 2M 11.4433 100.00 31-Aug-17 3M 11.8761 300.00 30-May-18 6M 14.9320 351.30 29-Jun-19 9M 15.3081 233.90 23-Oct-19 12M 16.6118 600.00 27-Jan-22 434.68 14-Mar-24 75.00 28-Nov-28 NIFEX 150.00 22-May-29 Current Price ($/N)20-Nov-29 200.00 BID($/N) 591.57 189.0375 23-Jul-30 OFFER ($/N) 189.1375 206.00 18-Jul-34

4,855.63

Coupon (%)

Rate (%) Bid Yield 7.17 13.18 12.82 14.12 15.28 15.28

Tenor

(%)

Bid ($/N)

Spot 7D 14D 1M Yield Offer 2M (%) 3M 6M12.20 1Y15.17

2.27 15.49 15.41 2.52 15.52 15.44 2.61 15.53 15.45 :Benchmarks 3.36 15.56 15.44 * :Amortising Bond 4.44 15.59 15.49 µ :Convertible Bond 4.76Management Corporation 15.63 15.52 AMCON: Asset of Nigeria 7.02 15.64 15.57 FGN: Federal Government of Nigeria 9.15 15.65 15.59 FMBN: Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria 13.85 Finance Corporation 14.29 14.24 IFC: International 14.33 14.13 Management 14.08 LCRM: Local Contractors Receivables NAHCO: Nigerian 14.83 Aviation Handling 13.97Company 13.90 O/N: Overnight 15.50 14.82 14.76 UPDC: UAC19.49 Property Development Company 15.22 15.16 NOTE:

WAPCO:West Africa Portland Cement Company

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

FMDQ FGN0.00 BOND INDEX 24.56

24-May-12 03-Apr-12 Weighting by 09-Dec-11 Outstanding 20-Apr-12Vol 06-Jul-12

32.63

17.25 Weighting

by Mkt 0.00/16.00 Value 0.00/16.50 0.00/16.50

34.49

2.70 112.22 Bucket Weighting 116.70 66.49

<3

1,012.83

1,034.18

3<5

1,359.94

1,365.98

43.09

46.30

>5

564.19

769.57

24.28

19.21

309.860.24

2,936.97

3,169.73

100.00

100.00

1.00

Market

Sub-National Bonds

(N'bn)

Value

Rate (%) 7.0000 12.8705 14.2773 15.5592

Offer ($/N)

189.00 189.10 189.44 189.55 Price 189.74 189.88 190.44 190.90 Bid Price Offer Price 191.72 192.73 193.00 194.51 97.79 97.94 197.40 200.39 206.79 212.40 96.95 97.10

99.20 99.35 88.52 88.67 87.12 87.27 NA :Not Applicable 87.60 87.90 # :Floating Rate Bond 101.25 101.55 ***: Deferred coupon bonds 71.75 72.05 103.10under review103.40 ‡ : Bond rating 93.00 93.30 †: Bond rating expired 104.20 104.50 N/A :Not Available {r} :Issuer 89.98 in receivership 90.28 66.09 66.39 NGC: Nigeria-German Company 71.00 71.30 UBA: United Bank for Africa 81.30 81.00

4,417.94

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

Rating/Agency

Tenor O/N 1M 3M 6M Outstanding

0.33

322.67

0.43

Maturity Date

24-May-15 03-Apr-17 % Exposure_ 09-Dec-16 Mod_Duration 20-Apr-17 06-Jul-17

13.59

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

0.34 1.20 1.89 Implied Yield 2.25 2.46

15.39

# Risk Premium (%)

2.63 2.27 Implied 2.00 Portfolio 1.00 Price 1.00

117.3318

Valuation Yield (%)

16.03 17.95 17.40 INDEX 16.47 16.52

1,114.41

Indicative Price

94.79 99.36 YTD Return 97.88 (%) 96.21 92.92

0.5925

45.73

15.64

118.9468

1,007.20 -

40.68

14.93

86.7286

1,014.01

0.5308 0.6946

100.00

15.31

110.5977

1,056.11

0.0880

A+/Agusto

KADUNA

12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015

31-Aug-10

12.50

8.50

31-Aug-15

0.61

4.44

19.22

96.26

A/Agusto

*EBONYI

13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015

30-Sep-10

13.00

4.18

30-Sep-15

0.45

3.23

17.35

98.88

A-/Agusto

*BENUE

14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-11

14.00

4.86

30-Jun-16

0.97

4.46

20.26

94.96

‡ /Agusto

*IMO

15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-09

15.50

5.73

30-Jun-16

0.97

3.48

19.29

97.04

‡ /Agusto; ‡ /GCR

LAGOS

10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017

19-Apr-10

10.00

57.00

19-Apr-17

2.24

1.00

16.47

88.21

‡ /Agusto

*BAYELSA

13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017

30-Jun-10

13.75

25.73

30-Jun-17

1.51

1.00

16.36

96.80

‡ /Agusto

EDO

14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017

30-Dec-10

14.00

25.00

31-Dec-17

2.95

1.79

17.33

92.53

‡ /Agusto; A+/GCR

*DELTA

14.00 DELTA 30-SEP-2018

30-Sep-11

14.00

34.14

30-Sep-18

2.12

1.80

17.24

94.61

‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR

NIGER

14.00 NIGER II 4-OCT-2018

04-Oct-11

14.00

9.00

04-Oct-18

3.70

1.00

16.58

92.99

‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR†

*EKITI

14.50 EKITI 09-DEC-2018

09-Dec-11

14.50

13.73

09-Dec-18

2.32

1.00

16.48

96.54

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

News 47

SOUTH-EAST

Kalu fires aide over false claim on senatorial ambition •Story, fabricated to cause distrust with presidency, says Wabara

Felix Nwaneri

F

ormer Abia State Gover nor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has fired one of his Special Assistants, Mr. Sola Arogun, for complicity in his listing by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the senatorial candidate of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) for Abia North in the forthcoming general election.

42.8%

Arogun had filed Kalu’s papers in his absence without authorization, prompting the electoral body to list him as PPA’s senatorial candidate for the February 14 National Assembly election even when he is still a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

But, in a letter of appeal addressed to his boss, made available to the media, a remorseful Arogun stated that he acted in good faith, ex-

The percentage of households with a computer in the Americas in 2006.

Source: Itu.int

pressing regret that he did not seek authorisation from his boss before taking the action.

The letter, dated January 15, reads: “I humbly write to appeal to you to consider me and rescind your decision to suspend me indefinitely from office as your Special Assistant.

“I admit that I have erred by filling and submitting PPA senatorial form on your behalf without authorization as I am aware that you have

17

The life expectancy of women at age 60 years in Zambia in 2010-2015.

Source: Un.org

given Mr. President and the PDP National Chairman your word that you won’t leave the PDP to contest in another party.

“My action was done in good faith, without any intention to harm you and in consultation with some of your friends who are of the view that you will not agree with the plan if I inform you as you were abroad at that time and I did not go with you as usual.

“Your friends enunci-

$30m

The total amount of endorsements of Rafael Nadal (Tennis) for 2014.

Source: Forbes.com

ated that if it comes out, it’s left for you to accept or rescind the decision.

“I am using this medium to apologise for my action and to beg you to lift my suspension. I will not do such a thing like that again.

I have served you for many years, even from your time as Governor and I’ve never offended you. Please accept my sincere apologies, sir.”

It would be recalled that the Media Advisor to Kalu, Mr. Ebere Wabara, had earlier described as malicious and a wicked concoction, the story, claiming that the former had obtained a form to actualize his senatorial ambition on the platform of the PPA. Wabara, who blamed the incumbent Abia Gover nor, Theodore Orji and other members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state for the report, said it was an attempt to create discord between Kalu and President Goodluck Jonathan

and the national leadership of the party.

He said: “There cannot be a more ingenious plot than this from T. A. Orji and his men in their futile desperation to cause friction between Dr. Kalu, President Goodluck Jonathan, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the entire PDP leadership than this. The perpetrators of this evil know full well that the cordial relationship between Dr. Kalu and the leaders of the party is on the ascendancy and the only way to puncture it is to fabricate vicious lies.”

“It is noteworthy that this devilish machination is coming on the heels of the appeal by Dr. Mu’azu in Umuahia last week that the grassroots members of the party in Umuahia should co-operate with Dr. Kalu, who, he acknowledged, had good working relationships with PDP critical stakeholders in Abuja.

Udensi donates to less privileged

A

Ugwuanyi, flanked by his running mate, Hon. Cecilia Ezeilo; Governor Sullivan Chime; Senator Ike Ekweremadu; Senator Gil Nnaji; Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi; Amb. Ebenyi and others, at the campaign kick-off in Ikem.

Ihedioha: Rescue mission has failed Steve Uzoechi OWERRI

T

he Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Imo State, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, yesterday said he was worried that ‘Imo State has crumbled’ under Governor Rochas

Okorocha.

He said the state needs urgent intervention as it has crumbled in all critical sectors of the economy under the current administration.

Ihedioha, who made the assertion during an interactive session with labour leaders in Owerri, decried the widespread decay in public hospitals and schools under Okorocha’s administration,

noting that the state’s economy has performed woefully of recent.

He said: “Imo State’s health system currently boasts of only three consultants while the number of teachers handling key subjects has gone down very badly. The civil service has been turned upside down due to ignorance. We will correct all these anomalies and make a differ-

Okorocha blasts Onwuliri over comments Steve Uzoechi OWERRI

I

mo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, yesterday blasted the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, over her recent comments in the media.

The governor was reacting to comments credited to Onwuliri in the media, which according to him, are not only steeped in falsehood, but also insults the

sensibility of the Imo people.

Okorocha, who was speaking through his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo, said rather than cover her face in shame and mourn with the rest of her party members for the failed and poorly attended presidential rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Owerri, which saw most of the party’s leaders boycotting the rally, she was busy trying

to paint a flowery picture of a disastrous outing.

He said: “It was insulting to Imo people for Onwuliri to list Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nekede Polytechnic and Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri as Federal Government projects in the state, when the challenge has been what Imo people have gained from the PDPcontrolled Federal Government since its inception.”

ence when elected.”

He picked holes in Okorocha’s 2015 budget, saying that it failed a crucial test on developmentbased Appropriation Act. According to him, with 82 per cent allocated to recurrent expenditure as against 18 per cent capital expenditure, the state would be bereft of any meaningful development options in the current fiscal year.

bia State Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) gubernatorial candidate, Sir Chikwe Udensi, has shared 10, 000 bags of rice and seven thousand wrappers to indigent people and widows in all the 17 local government areas of the state.

Udensi, who made this gesture during his tour of the 17 local government areas of the state in preparation for his mega rally, also shared 1,000 cartons of exercise books to pupils of state-owned schools.

He said if elected governor come February 28, his government will not only take care of the less-privileged, but will also take care of all manners of persons, including mad people, adding that it is degrading to see mentally-challenged persons roaming

the streets naked with nobody to care for them.

According to him, his government will provide shelter for the mentally-challenged and ensure that they are adequately taken care of in psychiatric hospitals until the last of them is cured.

“The situation in Abia State is sympathetic, those we sent to buy cow for us ate both the cow and the rope.

They have no shame and the worst thing that can happen to anybody is to deal with people that have no shame,” he said.

Udensi noted that the problem of underdevelopment facing Abia State today is because “we voted the wrong people,” adding that his administration will turn the tide and ensure that nobody goes to bed without food.

Ebonyi politicians decry destruction of of billboards Uchenna Inya Abakaliki

U

nless appropriate security measures are taken, Ebonyi State, which has been peaceful since the commencement of the current electioneering campaign, may witness some crises.

This followed the destruction of campaign billboards and posters by supporters of various

political parties participating in next month’s general election.

It will be recalled that objects suspected to be Improvised Explosive Device (IED) were discovered at the state INEC office, the APC and Labour Party (LP) offices by the state police command and defused.

Ebonyi State police image maker, Chris Anyanwu, said such attitude was capable of causing

panic by members of the public.

Meanwhile, the destruction of campaign billboards and posters has taken a new dimension with the PDP and LP the two dominant parties in the state mostly affected.

Areas affected include Ezza South, Ikwo, Afikpo South, among others, which caused clashes among supporters of the parties.

48

News

Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

G

overnor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State again yesterday bemoaned the Federal Government’s employment policy, accusing it of using ill-fated Nigerian Immigration Service personnel recruitment exercise that led to the death of no fewer than 18 job applicants for the service across the country last year to fleece unemployed Nigerian youths of

30m

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

SOUTH-SOUTH

Oshiomhole accuses FG of fleecing unemployed youths of N800m over N800 million.

This came as victims of the 2014 NIS interview in Edo State, yesterday, said that several months after the incident, they were yet to be contacted for the employment promise made to them on the directive of the Presidency.

The victims, in their

The estimated number of students in Nigeria.

Source: Nigeria.usembassy.gov

hundreds during a protest along major streets in Benin, the state capital with placards bearing various inscriptions through their spokesperson, Mr. Edmund Osumah, bemoaned their fate in the ill-fated incident, that claimed the life of a pregnant mother, Mrs. Sandra Aig-

1

The number of confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease infection in health-care workers in Spain as at October 19, 2014.

Source: Who.int

bevoile, one of the applicants from the state.

Speaking during a rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Agenebode, Fugar and Jattu in Etsako Local Government Area, Oshiomhole, noted the Federal Government’s claim on the creation of three million jobs is complete falsehood

58.1%

The percentage of the urban population of Croatia in 2012.

Source: Un.org

as there was no prove of any employment by the Federal Government.

He accused the Jonathan administration of deceit, saying its stock in-trade was to make promises, without bothering to fulfill them.

According to Oshiomhole, even after the PDPled Federal Government

Workshop tasks media on objectivity, fairness on polls Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

S

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio; paramount ruler of Obot Akara Local Government, HRM Okuku Uwah Umoh Adiaka and wife, during a visit to the monarch

Rivers APC vows to drag PDP to UN •Wike insists PDP will use stadium for Jonathan’s rally Emmanuel Masha Port Harcourt

T

he Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) , has said that it would drag the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the United Nations over the recent attacks of its members in the state, particularly over the alleged recent bombing of the party’s secre-

tariats.

The party’s chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, who stated this declared that the APC would equally take the issue to Amnesty International and the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS).

Speaking while inaugurating a ten member committee to handle the matter, Ikanya noted that the leadership of the PDP had made statement

pointing out its penchant for violence as election approaches, without law enforcement agencies calling the party to order .

He said: “It has become the trend to attack our members and destroy APC’s campaign billboards, posters and banners, particularly those of our party’s standard bearer, Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, whenever the party is to go out for campaign in any

particular locality.

“In any local government area where Chief Nyesome Wike, the PDP Leader and gubernatorial candidate, is going to campaign, PDP thugs move round overnight and remove APC’s billboards, posters and banners to create the impression that Wike is fully on the ground in the area while he knows that he is not on ground in any part of Rivers State.”

Edo royal fathers back APC candidates Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

T

raditional rulers in Etsako and Edo north senatorial district yesterday declared their support for candidates’ of the All Progressives Congress in the 2015 general election, in the state.

The monarchs said their support for the APC stemmed from the need for continuity in the development so far achieved in the state by the present

administration.

The endorsement of the ruling party’s candidates by the traditional rulers was made public during Governor, Adams Oshiomhole’s visit to them during the party’s campaign tour of the area.

At the Palace of the Okumagbe of Weppa Wanno in Etsako East Local Government Area, HRH, the monarch, Dr. Egabor JP, Omoaze 1, said, “Our community and indeed the entire kingdom is proud of your

government’s achievement and have accepted your leadership which is development-oriented. I must thank you most sincerely for the autonomy granted to the College of Agriculture, Agenebode “We cannot thank you enough. Let this be on record that your tenure in the state has witnessed tremendous changes in education, road infrastructure and human empowerment, the monarch said.

Continuing, Egabor said, “For this simple

reason, we have no doubt in our mind that a vote for the APC is a vote for Comrade Oshiomhole.

So we are going to support you and make sure that all your candidates emerge victorious in the coming election.

“Areas that we thought was impossible to access, you came and accessed them. Even what the Federal Government could not do, you did all of them and so let me assure you that we will give you our full support.”

spent over $30 billion on power, Nigerians still live in darkness; and after promising the people on the construction of a second Niger bridge, nothing is on ground to justify the huge sums so far pumped into the project.

He said, “They claim to have created three million jobs? Among you people that are here, how many of your brothers have got Federal Government jobs. Over the years, government employment is done based on rules.

takeholders at a two day workshop on effective coverage and reportage of 2015 general election organized by the Nigerian Press Council in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Benin Edo State capital, yesterday called on practitioners and owners of media outfits to avoid undue influence on the profession’s code of ethics during the coming election.

They also harped on objectivity and productivity that puts the society and nation’s growth and development above all other considerations by the practitioners, stating that, it was the only way that the welfare and security of Journalists

could be guaranteed and the value of the profession enhanced.

The various resource persons and participants identified job insecurity, undue ownership influence, self-censorship and arbitrary harassment and arrests of journalists as some of the banes of journalism practice in the country, especially, during elections.

According to the communiqué at the end of the workshop signed

by Mr. George Izobo and Desmond Agbama, Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists, Edo State chapter, and former national President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, they posited that journalists should be factual, accurate and objective in their reportage at all times, particularly at enhancing voter education.

Group fears ex-militants participation in election violence Emmanuel Masha Port Harcourt

A

non-governmental organization, Academic Associates PeaceWorks, has raised the fear that some militant groups in the Niger Delta may be involved in election violence as fallout of the 2015 election.

The group’s Executive Director, Dr. Judith Asuni, who stated this in Port Harcourt, shortly after a training programme for non-violent election, however, expressed fear that the election may not go without violence, based on the perceived tension between the country’s North and Southern regions of the country over the election .

She, however, said that the group has been working tirelessly to discourage electoral violence across the Niger Delta region, by directly reaching out to youths and others who participated in militancy, by showing them videos of people

who have been killed in political violence.

She also said that politicians have a role to play to stop political violence, stressing that the non-violence agreement between President Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was “a good step,” and that “this message has to come down further to the state and local governments.”

Asuni, noted that the recent attack at the secretariats of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Okrika, and Andoni Local Government Areas “happen when politicians spread money,” adding that “we know guns have been moving around the areas.”

She disclosed that the group was working on eighteen local governments areas that are likely electoral challenges, including Okirka, just as she urged the p[eople to take full control of the elections themselves, rather than allow any party to hijack it.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

News 49

NORTH

New pump price: DPR shuts 10 fuel stations in Kwara Biodun Oyeleye ILORIN

T

he Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) yesterday shut 10 filling stations in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, for their alleged refusal to dispense fuel to members of the public at the new regime of

N87.00 per litre.

Most filling stations in the state capital still refused to dispense fuel for the second day running after a directive from the Federal Government that oil marketers should comply with the new price regime. Only private fuel stations were selling fuel when our reporter went round the city, but they were still selling at the

Wamakko’s IGP comments unfounded, says CP Umar Danladi Ado SOKOTO

T

he Sokoto State police command has described as baseless and unfounded, comments attributed to Governor Aliyu Wamakko, alleging that the InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP) broke the peace accord signed between the two major leading presidential candidates of the PDP and the APC on the February elections.

Reacting to the comments at a press briefing yesterday, the state Commissioner of Police, Alha-

old price.

Operations Controller of the state DPR, Amos Jokodola, who confirmed shutting of the affected stations, said it was carried out when he led members of the enforcement team of the department on the monitoring of petrol stations in the state capital.

According to him, the excuse given by the affected stations, which included outlets owned by major and independent marketers for failure to

comply with the government’s directive, was not acceptable.

Jokodola said the stations would remain closed until they were ready to revert the new pump price. He argued that if the affected stations were embittered by the economic implication of the new price, it is their duty to lodge formal complaints to either the PPMC or the depot from where they lifted the product.

He said: “The outing has been very challenging,

because of two issues with the marketers and even with the majors. Some of the majors complained that their technicians have not arrived from their headquarters to effect the price reduction, which we considered not to be an acceptable excuse.

“Some stations that fall under that category, Oando, MRS and others have been sealed completely and they would remain sealed until they reduce the pump price to N87 per litre as directed by the government.

“The other challenge that we have with some independent marketers is that some got stock on Saturday, calculated at the old price. And they felt we should give them time to dispose of those stocks before they reduce the price.

We said no!

“The Federal Government's directive is that effective from Monday morning, all filling stations across this nation should reduce the pump price from N97.00 to N87.00"

ji Lawal Shuaibu Gambo, said it is important to put on record that all the accusations made by the Sokoto State governor, are unfounded.

He said: “The comments of Governor Wamakko in the Sunday Sun of January 18, 2015, to the effect that the IGP broke the peace accord signed between the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari, both presidential candidates of their respective parties in the forth-coming elections, are unfounded.

Aliyu: My deputy will not be denied his rights Dan Atori MINNA

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arely 24 hours after the Niger State Deputy Governor, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the state governor, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, yesterday said Ibeto’s rights and privileges would not be denied him even though he had dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Aliyu spoke in Minna while collecting his Permanent Voter's Card (PVC); he said his deputy has the right to choose who he associates with.

Accordingly, he said:

“My deputy is free to associate with any person or group. That will not mean he will be denied his rights and privileges as the deputy governor of the state.”

On the PVCs, the governor called on Nigerians to ensure that they collect their cards, adding that any challenge in that regard should be reported to INEC. He added that; “The card gives you the right to vote who you want and this will be your fate for the next four years.

“So, come out and collect your cards. We shall solve the issue of using temporary voters’ cards when the time comes.”

Tinubu, Osinbajo donate to post-election violence victims Ibraheem Musa KADUNA

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he National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Vice-Presidential candidate of the APC, Prof.

Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday donated cash and food items to victims of Kaduna post-election riots.

Tinubu donated N10 million to the victims while Osinbajo gave out

hundreds of bags of rice and other food items, after General Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign rally was held on Monday.

According to Tinubu, the donation was his personal contribution to the victims. He appealed to the affected people, who were drawn from Christian and Muslim communities, to remain prayerful and avoid any form of violence before, during and after the February elections.

Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima (right) and Dan Madami of Adamawa, Alhaji Dahiru Bobb, during INEC's stakeholders' workshop on Internally-Displaced Persons and the 2015 General Election in Abuja …yesterday.

PHOTO-NAN

Police, APC trade words in Kogi Muhammad Bashir LOKOJA

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t was a blame game yesterday at the Kogi State police command in Lokoja, when a House of Representatives’ candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Dekina/Bassa, Hon. Benjamin Ikani, alleged complicity by the police over the attack on his campaign posters, office and supporters by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Ikani at a workshop on political violence organised by the police command, observed that some known supporters of the ruling party PDP unleashed terror on them.

He said the APC has reported the matter to the police with documentary evidence and that no action was taken on the issue.

“When it happened, we reported the case to the police, with names of the attackers, who wore police and military uniforms.

We knew they were faking police and army, because we knew them to be thugs of the PDP in the area, but the police refused to do anything,” he said.

The APC candidate was still on his feet, when the Police Commissioner, Mr. Paul Okafor, interjected, denying that there was such report before him and instead alleged that the other party had complained to the police that the APC supporters attacked them during their political rally.

The police boss said further that the police must not be blamed for any crisis that has not been reported.

He also urged politicians to always report crises to the police as they are battle-ready to stamp out any breach of peace, be it political or civil.

However, Ikani in a separate interview with journalists, expressed surprise at why the police commissioner was defending the ruling party and turning the case against the complainant.

I’m not sponsored by PDP, says LP governorship candidate Buhari Bello JOS

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he Labour Party (LP) gubernatorial candidate in Plateau State, Ambassador Bagudu M. Hirse, has described as criminal, the rumours making the rounds that he was being sponsored by the PDP administration in the state.

Crying foul over what he refers to as ‘blackmail,’ he challenged Governor, Jona Jang or any other person to prove that he was being sponsored.

Hirse, who spoke during a phone-in radio pro-

gramme, “Democracy Today” on Plateau Radio/ Television Corporation in Jos, said this campaign of calumny would never derail him from his set goals, which, among others, is to put Plateau State first.

He said his government, if elected, will set free the state, which, according to him, has been in bondage for long.

Amb. Hirse said he has a seven-point agenda, which he hopes to pursue vigorously, adding that his administration would be an all-encompassing government that will make room for equal participation.

'I will consolidate on Suswam’s achievements' Cephas Iorhemen MAKURDI

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he governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State, Mr. Terhemen Tarzoor, has reiterated his resolve to consolidate on the achievements of Governor Gabriel Suswam in the state.

Tarzoor, who spoke yesterday at the party's cam-

paign rallies in Ugba and Logo Local Government areas, promised to complete all projects started by the Suswam administration.

The PDP gubernatorial candidate lauded the developmental projects executed by the administration, which, he said, have impacted positively on the lives of the people, and promised to do more to make a difference in the lives of the people if voted as governor.

50 News

WORLD | News

We’ll prosecute crimes in Nigerian Islamic prising – ICC

Clashes in DR Congo over Kabila’s future

lAs 10,000 Cameroonians flee inland

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he International Criminal Court, ICC’s prosecutor yesterday condemned the escalation of violence in some parts of North-East geo-political zone of Nigeria and warned that she would prosecute members of any party responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The ICC’s Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, in a statement issued from the court’s headquarters in The Hague, said her office is continuing a preliminary examination into al-

legations that the dreaded Boko Haram extremists are killing large numbers of civilians, using girls and boys to participate in the conflict and forcing massive numbers of people from their homes.

She also warned Nigeria’s government of its obligation to prosecute crimes that deeply shock the conscience of humanity. “No one should doubt my resolve, if need be, to prosecute those individuals most responsible for war crimes or crimes against humanity,” Bensouda said.

Both Boko Haram sect and the Nigerian military are accused of summary executions of hundreds of civilians in the five-year uprising that killed more than 10,000 people last year.

Boko Haram has increased the ferocity, deadliness and tempo of its attacks in recent weeks, with international outrage over reports as many as 2,000 civilians may have been systematically slaughtered in a January 3 attack on the town and military base at Baga, on the border with Cameroon.

Chidoka to deliver 44th UNN convocation lecture Wole Shadare

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he Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka, OFR, is to deliver the a lecture at the forthcoming 44th Convocation of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State.

The convocation, which takes place at the Princess Alexandra Auditorium, Nsukka, tomorrow, commences with Chidoka’s lecture at noon.

The lecture is titled; ‘Rebuilding the Nigeria Dream: Mapping the Building Blocks.’

Chidoka, a former Corps Marshal of Federal Road

Safety Corps, FRSC, is an alumnus of the university.

The minister obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He thereafter proceeded to the School of Public Policy at George Masson University in the United States of America where he obtained a Master’s Degree in Transport Policy and Logistics.

He also holds a certificate in Global Strategy and Political Economy from Oxford University, UK and a Graduate Diploma in Maritime & Ports Management from the National

University of Singapore In recognition of his expertise, he was appointed on July 23rd, 2014 by President Goodluck Jonathan as the Minister of Aviation.

In August 2014, Chidoka was conferred with the prestigious National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) award by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in recognition for his productivity and commitment towards nation building.

Chidoka was appointed Minister of Aviation on July 23, 2014 by President Goodluck Jonathan.

2015: Postponement will amount to cowardice, says MURIC Mojeed Alabi

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he Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has described as an act of cowardice the series of ideas being mooted by certain individuals towards postponing the February 14 Presidential election, saying Nigerians were ready to vote as scheduled and would not tolerate any region in the country being disenfran-

chised.

MURIC, in a statement issued yesterday by its Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola and titled; “Who is Afraid of 2015”, said it was reacting to calls by some Nigerians that the North Eastern part of the country should be exempted from the polls and the possible setting up of an interim government or the entire process be postponed.

According to MURIC,

for Nigeria to contemplate such ideas would mean that Nigeria was afraid of the Boko Haram insurgents and that anyone raising the questions of the academic certificates of the All Progressives Congress’ candidate’s, General Mohammadu Buhari’s certificates or challenging the eligibility of President Goodluck Jonathan was only out to scuttle the process.

Group wants OBJ, IBB to apologise to Nigerians Taiwo Jimoh

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non-governmental governmental organization, Build A Nation, has called on former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and other past rulers in Nigeria to tender unreserved apology to the citizenry on what they termed a total disregard for Nigerians.

The demand was made in Lagos when the convener of the group, Mr. Emmanuel Ehiemua, addressed journalists on the state of

the nation and the forthcoming general elections.

He said: “Nigerian leaders have disrespected us and taken us for granted, because they are more interested in the pursuit of their own parochial interests, than the citizen.

“Most Nigerians are dissatisfied with the state of the country, arising from economic, social, political and security problems.

Therefore, Nigerians deserve unreserved apology from the leaders, past and present military and civilian heads of state for their failure to provide effective

leadership and stewardship to us.”

Ehiemua added that: “The apology will affirm the supremacy of the people over its leaders, which I think is the essence of democracy and this, will restore confidence and trust between the people and the government.

“We, are at Build A Nation, are distinguished by the pride and love we have for the nation and our readiness to sacrifice for the cause of united Nigeria where thought tongues and tribe may differ but stand in brotherhood.”

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t least four people have been killed in protests in the Democratic Republic of Congo calling for President Joseph Kabila to step down next year.

The protests continued yesterday in the capital and internet connections were blocked following Monday’s fatal clashes between opposition supporters and security forces. Demonstrators say government plans for a census are a ploy to delay elections. Mr Kabila is constitutionally barred from contesting the poll.

The government admits next year’s elections could be delayed, but says the census is vital to ensure free and fair elections.

The BBC’s Maud Julien reports from the capital, Kin-

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

shasa, that most shops are closed and internet and text messaging services have been blocked, apparently on the orders of the government.

Hundreds of angry young men are burning tyres in several neighbourhoods, looting shops and throwing rocks at cars, our reporter says. In the poor area of Masina on the city’s outskirts, police tried to disperse protesters by shooting into the air, she adds. Government spokesman Lambert Mende said two policemen and two “looters” were killed in Monday’s clashes in Kinshasa.

However, some human rights activists said up to 10 people may have been killed. The demonstrators called on Mr Kabila to step down when his term

expires and carried placards which said: “Don’t touch the constitution”.

Hundreds of people also protested on Monday in Goma, the main trading post in the east. The protests coincided with a debate in the Senate, the upper parliamentary chamber, over government plans to hold a census before elections.

The lower chamber, the House of Representatives, approved the plan on Saturday, in a vote boycotted by opposition MPs. The opposition says this amounts to a “constitutional coup”

by Mr Kabila, as it will take about three years for a census to be conducted in DR Congo, which is twothirds of the size of western Europe, has very little infrastructure and is hit by instability in the east.

Protesters burning tyres in front of store

Russia, Iran sign military pact

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ran and Russia signed an agreement yesterday to expand military ties in a visit to Tehran by the Russian defense minister. Sergei Shoigu, in remarks carried by Russian news agencies, said Moscow wants to develop a “long-term and multifaceted” military relationship with Iran.

He said that the new agreement includes expanded counter-terrorism cooperation, exchanges of military personnel for training purposes and an understanding for each country’s navy to more frequently use the other’s ports.

Iran’s Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan urged greater cooperation as a means of opposing American ambitions in the region. Moscow and Tehran have staunchly supported Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout Syria’s civil war, while Washington advocates regime change and supports rebel groups. “Iran and Russia are able to confront the expansionist intervention and greed of the United States through cooperation, synergy and activating strategic potential capacities,” Dehghan said.

“As two neighbors, Iran

and Russia have common viewpoints toward political, regional and global issues.”

Russia has maintained friendly ties with Iran and has built its first nuclear power plant. Last fall, it signed a deal to build two more reactors in Iran.

Shoigu did not the mention ongoing controversy over a deal to deliver a sophisticated air defense missile system to Iran.

In 2007, Russia signed a $800-million contract to sell Tehran the S-300 missile system, but the weaponry was never delivered amid strong objections by United States and Israel.

Rebels take over Yemen presidential palace

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emen’s presidential palace has been completely taken over by Shiite Houthi rebels, the country’s Minister of Information Nadia Sakkaf told CNN yesterday amid reports of renewed clashes. Sakkaf said the Prime Minister’s residence was also under at-

tack from the street. She called the situation “the completion of a coup,” adding that “the President has no control.”

Fighting was earlier reported around the presidential palace in the capital, Sanaa, a day after heavy fighting between government forces and Houthis -- Shiite Muslims

who have long felt marginalized in the majority Sunni Muslim country -- ended in a ceasefire deal. Nine people were killed and 67 others injured in the fighting between government forces and Houthi militants on Monday, Yemen’s Health Ministry said, before the sides agreed to a ceasefire.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

Sports News

International Sport

Refs killed Nigerian league, says Eboigbe

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Sport

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op seed Novak Djokovic and defending champion Stan Wawrinka both breezed through their Australian Open openers.

Djokovic, a four-time champion in Melbourne, beat Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene 6-3 6-2 6-4, while Wawrinka saw off Turkey’s Marsel Ilhan 6-1 6-4 6-2.

Czech fourth seed Petra Kvitova opened with a 6-1 6-4 win over Dutch qualifier Richel Hogenkamp in the women’s draw.

Wawrinka enjoyed the experience of walking out on to Rod Laver Arena as the defending champion but after a week in

I will play in Brazil after Real – Ronaldo

Ikpeba’s penalty miss in 2000 still painful – Lawal

53

54 Did you know?

That Kevin Keegan’s quote “I would love it if we beat them. Love it!” is still fondly remembered in football

Australian Open: Djokovic, Wawrinka win

Melbourne, he feels ready to focus on the “new tournament”.

“It was great,” said the Swiss. “I was happy to be back on the court. I can feel that I have a lot of support here, and it’s always nice to come back like that and to feel the crowd behind you.”

Djokovic had suffered with an illness that restricted his practice time at Melbourne Park, but the world number one believes he is now up to speed.

“It has been a rough couple of weeks but it is behind me now,” the Serb said.

“I’m proud of how I responded.”

There is always a part of the draw that is best avoided and this week it has thrown together two-time US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki and two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka in round two.

The pair came through similarly testing first rounds, with Wozniacki beating

talented US teen Taylor Townsend 7-6 (71) 7-2 and Azarenka seeing off American Sloane Stephens 6-3 6-2.

Long-time friends and rivals, Wozniacki leads their head-to-head 4-3 going into Thursday’s contest.

“I’ve known her since juniors, I think back when we were maybe 13, when she was 14, somewhere around that,” said Wozniacki. “We’ve competed for a very long time. So we go way back.”

Falcons will shock the world – Oshoala

The Sport Team

Emmanuel Tobi

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Adekunle Salami Group Sport Editor

Emmanuel Tobi Assistant Editor, Sports

Ifeanyi Ibeh Sports Correspondent

Ajibade Olusesan Sports Correspondent

Charles Ogundiya Sports Correspondent

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

AFCON 2015

51

Oshoala with Manuel Neuer at the 2014 FIFA Ballon d’or

eigning Glo-CAF African Women Player of the Year, Asisat Oshoala, has expressed confidence in Nigeria’s ability to go far at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup billed to hold from June 6 to July 5 in Canada.

The Super Falcons are in Group D where they will come up against two-time world champions, the United States of America; Australia and Sweden, who conceded just one goal in 10 quali-

fying matches.

The Super Falcons are the only African team to have played in every edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup since its inception in 1991 but they have never gone past the quarterfinal stage; a feat they achieved at the 1999 edition.

They crashed out in the group stage at the last three tournaments, but Oshoala is confident things will work out differently this time for the African champions.

“We are determined to shock the world this time in Canada as African champions,” said Oshoala, who was one of the stars as Nigeria marched all the way to a second-place finish at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Canada. “Our team is a blend of youthful and experienced players and we are not intimidated by the pedigree of our (Group D) opponents.”

Meanwhile, Oshoala has described her experience at the 2014 FIFA Ballon d’Or ceremony in Lausanne, Switzerland, as one she will relish for a long time to come.

Cristiano Ronaldo was named the world’s best player for the second straight year, as he received the 2014 Ballon d’Or ahead of Barcelona forward Lionel Messi and Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Oshoala said: “It was great to be at that historical event as it gave me renewed confidence to work harder to be the best.

“Sitting and dining with the world’s best players and administrators was a memorable experience for me and I want to appreciate FIFA for the invitation and the Nigeria Football Federation for facilitating the trip.”

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SPORT

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Lagos ready for Ibile Games -Oshodi

Refs killed Nigerian league, says Eboigbe Vincent Eboigbe

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unday Eboigbe has laid the blame for the fall of the Nigerian league squarely at the doorstep of referees.

The former Green Eagles defender argued that league football these days was so predictable as clubs only win at home while losing away.

“It is the referees that killed our league. Those days we frequently won matches away and lose at home, but that has since changed. It is corruption all the way now; they have spoilt the league for us,” Eboigbe said.

“Now I defeat you when you come to my ground and when I visit your venue you beat me. Is that football? It is so predictable. Is that the way it is in England? Nobody followed

Charles Ogundiya

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hairman of the Main Organising Committee of the Lagos State Secondary Schools Sports Festival tagged Ibile Games, Enitan Oshodi, has assured that the state is ready to host a hitch free competition.

Enitan Oshodi, who is also Lagos state Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development added that the game billed for January 26 to February 6, is aimed at discovering more talents from schools in the state.

“We are set for the games. From logistics to facilities everything have been put in place and we are good to go. Expect 12 days of exciting and entertaining schools sports fiesta.

“The objective is to discover more talents from our schools, both public and private, and to nurture them through exposure to more competitions,” Oshodi said.

Interestingly, some of the Lagos State outstanding school athletes in the year 2014 will be on parade at the Ibile Games 2015.

Among the students are Magdalene George of C/S Comprehensive College, Ijesha and Ruth Usoro of National College, Gbagada who are competing in Athletics.

Meanwhile, 300 schools have registered to participate at the Lagos State Secondary Schools Sports Festival tagged Ibile Games 2015.

According to the Main Organising Committee of the tournament, the registered schools are from public and private secondary schools that include Lagos State Government schools, Federal Government schools, military, missionary and privately owned secondary schools.

Crown fc’s Egbune Harrison

English football when we were playing because the fans believed in us; that we were even better than players in England, but after some time they spoilt everything.

“We know what happens in those pre-match meetings where they do their deals; our football can’t improve like that. In Europe teams routinely win matches away, and if clean goals are scored nobody complains.”

The former New Nigeria Bank and Abiola Babes defence stalwart added that league football back in the ‘70s, ‘80s and up till the ‘90s, was so competitive and rivalry-driven that stadiums were filled to the rafters especially when the traditional clubs were in action.

He said: “In the old Bendel alone we had four clubs.

Beside Bendel Insurance

and NNB we had Flash Flamingoes and another one I can’t remember now.

Back then fans would buy tickets one week ahead for matches between Bendel Insurance and NNB; the crowd was enough to intimidate the faint-hearted.

“The year NNB started beating Bendel Insurance they didn’t believe it. Stephen Keshi, Franklin Howard, Henry Nwosu and the others were in the ranks of NNB then. We beat them 2-1, they scored first but we leveled and went ahead, but now the crowd is gone, Ogbe is virtually empty. The referees are so deep in corruption, the fans know it and that is why they stopped going to the stadiums. I heard not long ago that the Nigerian league was the best in Africa, that is not true; as far as I am concerned our league is the worst in Africa.”

Ohawuchi scores hat-trick in Egypt

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ormer Bayelsa United striker, Stanley Ohawuchi, scored a hattrick as he inspired his club Wadi Delga record an impressive 4-1 home win over Al Masry in a week 17 Egyptian Premier League game played on Tuesday afternoon.

The former Nigeria youth international gave the hosts an early advantage when he opened scoring inside the opening minute of the game, the

quickest in the Egyptian Premier League this season (41 seconds). But there were no further goals by either sides at the end of the first half, as Wadi Delga held unto their advantage.

Upon resumption of the second half, Ohawuchi scored twice in three minutes to put the game beyond visiting Al Masry.

A further goal in the 65th minute of the game from Ahmed El-Merghany

compounded Al Masry’s misery. However, former Wadi Degla and Lierse forward Ahmed Yasser pulled back a late consolatory goal for the visitors in the 85th minute of the pulsating encounter.

Ohawuchi joined Wadi Delga at the start of the season from Maltese topflight side Sliema Wanderers were he scored 27 goals in 36 league appearances over the past two seasons.

Flying Eagles fire six past Warriors Ifeanyi Ibeh

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igeria’s U-20 national team, the Flying Eagles, on Tuesday at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna, won 6-0 against a hapless NDC Warriors side as they continued their build-up towards the 2015 African Youth Championships in Senegal.

Sunshine Stars striker, Prince Aggrey, opened scoring for the Flying Eagles on 13 minutes, and 10 minutes, Taiwo Awoniyi, who captained the side in the absence of regular skipAwoniyi per, Musa Muhammed, was

brought down in the area for a penalty which was put away by Ifeanyi Ifeanyi.

The Flying Eagles made it 3-0 in the 68th minute when Usman Hassan headed home from a free kick delivered by Wasiu Jimoh.

And a minute later, Aggrey coolly grabbed his second of the game after being put through on goal by Abdullahi Alfa.

Ifeanyi then scored again from the penalty spot after substitute Obinna Nwobodo was brought down inside the box on his way to goal, before substitute Gabriel completed the rout in stoppage time.

Winners emerge in Startimes NBA promo

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wo lucky winners have emerged from the StarTimes-NBA All access tour promo which held between December 2014 and January 7, 2015.

The lucky winners, Boluwaji Bamidele, a sports journalist and Chinedu Iroche, an advertising practitioner, both great lovers of basketball games, will be travelling for an all-expense paid one week trip to Los Angeles to meet favourite basketball icons, watch NBA games live and have fun.

Unveiling the winners

to journalists in Lagos recently, StarTimes Public Relations Manager, Israel Bolaji, said, “StarTimes is very happy to announce the two lucky subscribers who have emerged winners in the just concluded StarTimes NBA All Access Tour program and the online trivia game done in collaboration with NBA TV, United States.

“The project is another great initiative from StarTimes to reward subscribers and encourage youth sports development and also to give StarTimes subscribers and basketball

loving Nigerians the opportunity to watch and experience live NBA matches in the US.” It will be recalled that StarTimes in 2014, launched a sport channel ‘Star Sport 2 which began airing on July, 19, 2014 on StarTimes Channel 252 in response to the demand of subscribers.

The channel is available on the StarTimes Basic, Classic and Unique Bouquet. Our other sports channels are: Fox Sport, Fox Sports 2, Euro sport news, Star Sport 2, NTA Sports 24, NBA TV, and MCS Sports.

Ohawuchi

ITF lists eight Nigerians for African championship lMcCleod bags scholarship

Ajibade Olusesan

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he outstanding performance of Nigerian players at the 2015 West and Central Africa Junior Circuit in Togo has not gone unnoticed as the the International Tennis Federation listed eight of them for the Africa Junior Championship scheduled for March in Tunisia The players that will be flying Nigeria’s flag at the Mediterranean nation are Martins Abamu, Godsgift Timipre, Ayoola Michael and Michael Oshewa (all boys); while the girls’ team will comprise Adetayo Adetunji, Angel McCleod, Barakat Quadri and Timpre Maxwell.

Nigeria topped the medals table of the tournament that featured nine countries with seven gold, four

silver and three bronze medals and the nation’s all-round successful campaign was made more colourful by the month-long training scholarship to Morocco awarded to McCleod due to her eye-catching display in the girl’s 16&under category.

“It’s a plus to Nigerian tennis because McCleod has been a shinning example of how our efforts at re-engineering tennis at the junior level is yielding instant dividends,” Nigeria Tennis Federation President, Engr. Sani Ndanusa said in reaction to the development.

Ndanusa pointed that regular tournaments from NNPC, Chevron, SNEPCO, Midwestern Oil & Gas among others, is giving Nigeria an edge over most other African countries.

INTERNATIONAL SPORT 53

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

Transfer news Giovinco to complete shock Toronto move oronto FC have continued their T closed-season overhaul by securing the surprise signing of Italy

forward Sebastian Giovinco from Juventus on undisclosed terms.

The 27-year-old will arrive at the MLS club at the end of the current Serie A season and follows United States striker Jozy Altidore, who was part of the deal that took Jermain Defoe t o Sunderland, in committing to the ambitious Canadian outfit.

Soldado set for Bundesliga switch

ottenham Hotspur striker Roberto Soldado could be set for a JanuT ary move to German giants Bayer

Leverkusen.

The Bundesliga outfit is interested in bringing the Spaniard in as a replacement for outgoing forward Josip Drmic.

Spurs are aware of the interest in Soldado, but The Telegraph reports that the North London club will listen to offers for the former Valencia man if they were to bring in a replacement.

Another potential stumbling block could be Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy’s desire to recoup most of the £26m Spurs forked out for the Spanish international back in 2013.

Mourinho: I turned down Di Maria, Falcao deals

helsea boss Jose Mourinho has revealed he had the opportunity to sign Radamel CFalcao and Angel Di Maria in the summer,but

declinedduetoFinancialFairPlayregulations.

Mourinho says he spoke with Jorge Mendes, who represents both players as well as the Stamford Bridge chief, and was told that both his clients were available.

“JorgetoldmeDiMariaandFalcaoarehisplayers and he has to find solutions for them.But if Chelsea don’t have the financialcapacitytopayeight,nineortenmillioneurosayear,because of[financial]fair play,of course Mendes has to think about hisplayers.

Besiktas’ bid for Lawal rejected

urkish club Eskisehirspor have turned down T Besiktas’ offer to sign Nigeria international Raheem Lawal and now plan to double his

pay, AfricanFootball.com can report.

AfricanFootball.com exclusively revealed the interest of Besiktas in the former Adana Demirspor midfielder after an offer from Sivasspor was rejected and that has been confirmed with the offer.

A close confidant of the player told AfricanFootball.com that Turkish league leaders Besiktas’ offer to sign the Nigeria international was rejected by his club because Eskisehirspor’s new manager Michael Skibbe wants to keep him.

I will play in Brazil after Real – Ronaldo

C

ristiano Ronaldo has dealt Manchester United a blow by revealing he would like to play in Brazil when his Real Madrid career finally comes to an end.

The Red Devils have been linked with bringing the World Player of the Year back to Old Trafford in recent months.

But speaking this week, Ronaldo says he would like the opportunity to play in Brazil before he hangs up his boots.

“Corinthians and Flamengo are two famous clubs, I would gladly dress in one of their shirts,” he said.

“I have many friends in Brazil so my relationship with the country is very good.

At Real I have played with many Brazilians, with Kaka one of the people I respect most of all.”

The 29-year-old last week claimed the Ballon d’Or ahead of Lionel Messi and Ronaldo (left) and Messi goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Valdes to make Man United debut Friday

ouis van Gaal is expected to hand Victor Valdes his Manchester United debut during Friday evening’s FA Cup tie at Cambridge United.

The 33-year-old has not featured since March 26 2014, when he damaged the cruciate ligament in his right knee while he kept goal for Barcelona against Celta Vigo.

The six-time La Liga winner left Barca in the summer and he spent the end of 2014 training with Van Gaal’s Manchester United squad, before signing an 18-month contract earlier this month.

He has since been on the bench for Premier League matches with Southampton and Queens Park Rangers, but with David de Gea likely to be rested for the trip to the Abbey Stadium, Valdes will make his United bow, according to numerous reporters.

De Gea, who is said to be a target of Real Madrid, has featured in all 24 of United’s matches this term.

espected Italian football journalist Rdi Marzio and European transfer guru Gianluca claims Liverpool have rejected

a loan offer from Serie A club Parma for Mario Balotelli.

Parma are enduring an absolutely nightmarish season in the Italian top flight, and are currently rock bottom with just ninepointsfrom19games–havinglost15 matches already.

As a result, the Gialloblu asked Liverpool to borrow Balotelli until the end of the season, but they told them, in no uncertain terms, that he was not available.

Instead, the Italians are going to ask AC Milan to loan Giampaolo Pazzini,astheysetabouttheuphilltaskofavoidingSerieArelegation.

Serena

victory last year and a 19th would take her within three of the record held by Steffi Graf.

Speaking after the match, the American said: “If I could get to 19 Slams in Australia, that would be beyond amazing.”

Chavez targets Froch fight J

alencia have made a move to sign V Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher during the winter transfer

Liverpool reject Parma’s offer for Balotelli

S

erena Williams has said that it will be “beyond amazing” to win her 19th Grand Slam title at this year’s Australian Open.

The world number one, who is a five-time champion in Melbourne, celebrated her 100th consecutive week as world No 1 as she takes a step closer to another milestone in the Australian Open.

Williams booked her place in the second round where she will face Russia’s Vera Zvonareva, who she beat in the 2010 Wimbledon final, with a 6-0 6-4 win over Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck earlier.

Williams joined Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert on 18 grand slam titles with her US Open

L

Valencia move for Fletcher

window, according to reports in Spain.

Fletcher, who is also a target for West Ham, has started just four games for United this season, with coach Louis Van Gaal preferring other options including Michael Carrick, Daley Blind, Marouane Fellaini, Ander Herrera and even Wayne Rooney in midfield roles.

The 30-year-old Scotland international has just six months left on his current contract, and could therefore be allowed to leave Old Trafford on a free transfer, or for a nominal fee.

Serena dreams 19th Grand Slam title

Chavez

ulio Cesar Chavez Jr is still targeting a clash with Carl Froch after the Briton pulled out of talks over a money-spinning showdown because of a setback in training.

Froch, the world super middleweight champion, was forced to delay his plans of a spring return following his stunning victory over George Groves at Wembley Stadium last May, leaving Chavez searching for an alternative opponent.

He will now fight Polish light

heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara on April 18, but is looking beyond that bout for the chance to take on Froch.

“It is a very good fight. Hopefully we win and then go for the super middleweight title against Froch,” Chavez told ESPN Deportes.

“Fonfara is a known fighter, people know he has power, and that is good, but we will train very hard to give people the fight that they expect of me and then we can go for Froch.”

Carragher wants end to dressing room ‘selfies’

J

amie Carragher wants players to stop taking “nonsense” selfies in dressing rooms after matches and posting them on social media.

The former Liverpool star was full of praise for Arsenal’s fine win at Man-

chester City on Sunday - but he wasn’t impressed with the way players such as Aaron Ramsey and Alexis Sanchez celebrated afterwards.

The Sky Sports pundit said: “We’re talking about one giant football club going to another giant. We’re not talking

about a lower league team going to City and winning.

“Of course, you have celebrations at the end of a game, but one thing that’s winding me up full stop in football is this nonsense. Team pictures on social media after games in dressing rooms.”

Enrique backs Suarez to hit goal trail B

Suarez

arcelona boss Luis Enrique is certain that Luis Suarez will soon embark on a scoring run for the Catalan outfit.

Since making his La Liga debut in October, Suarez has scored just twice in 11 league games for the former Spanish champions.

However, the 27-year-old has provided in terms of assists and

Enrique has paid tribute to the striker’s work-rate.

“The goals will come because we all know that he’s a natural goalscorer. He’s got an extraordinary workrate. This is his first season and it’s never easy to adapt,” Enrique told reporters.

Suarez has netted five times in 15 games for Barca this season.

54

SPORT

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Equatorial Guinea 2015 AFCON

Doumbia’s goal denies Guinea famous victory

I

vory Coast were reduced to 10 men before coming from behind to claim a 1-1 draw in an opening AFCON Group D encounter on Tuesday evening.

Syli Nationale had taken a first half lead, but the Elephants fought back for a point after losing Gervinho to a red card half an hour from time.

After a cagey and rather pedestrian start to the game, it was the Ivory Coast who nearly opened the scoring in the 17th minute when Gervinho’s shot from eight yards out was superbly pushed onto the crossbar by keeper Naby Yattara.

For the most part, though, the first half was an even contest, with both sides looking dangerous on the break with the pace of the respective front men.

It was the Syli Nationale who drew first blood when Serge Aurier’s attempted headed clearance went only as far as Junior Yattara, who took his 36th-minute chance sublimely as he fired a left-footed half volley into the roof of the net from 10 yards out.

Just when the Elephants were beginning to mount some sustained pressure on Guinea they went on to suffer the setback of being reduced to 10 men after Gervinho, their best player up to that point, was red-carded for an off-the-ball incident in the 58th minute.

S

Mashaba

Vincent Eboigbe

E

x-Nigeria international, Garba Lawal, has continued to rue Super Eagles’ inability to defend the AFCON title they won in South Africa in 2013.

“It is sad that the Eagles are not at the tournament.

I still feel very bad about it and it is even more now that the competition has commenced, but we have to live with it. I may not start following until it gets to the quarter final stage,” he told our correspondent on the telephone.

Lawal said that AFCON was Africa’s equivalent of the World Cup and as such would attract considerable viewership across the continent irrespective of the fact that the Super Eagles are missing in action.

“AFCON is the biggest competition in Africa; it will be massively followed by fans. Every player wants to be part of it. If you are privileged to be called upon by your country to play in it, you have to give it your best shot,” he said.

Lawal who featured in four Nations Cups, from 2000

The Elephants refused to lie down, though, and they were back on level terms in the 71st minute when Bony chested down a long ball before setting up substitute Seydou Doumbia, who scored with a clinical effort into the bottom-left corner.

Guinea’s goalkeeper Naby Moussa Yattara (centre) saves a header from Manchester City man Wilfried Bony

rectify our mistakes.

“We gave it away ourselves. This is what we’re talking about … complacency. When we were 1-0 up, we created four chances; bury all those chances and we’re gone. Missing the penalty killed us and really disorganised us,” Mashaba said.

Meanwhile, Algeria’s coach, Christian Gourcuff, said Bafana Bafana Rantie’s penalty miss “was a turning point” in the Desert Foxes’ comefrom-behind win over South Africa.

“The penalty was a turning point,” said Gourcuff after the game.

“At 2-0 the game would not have been over but we would have been in a difficult situation.”

to 2006, noted that the loss of the Super Eagles in the 2000 final against Cameroun at home remains the edition that evokes the most painful memories.

“That penalty miss by Victor Ikpeba in the final in 2000 was the saddest experience for me in the editions I took part in. It was a goal but we were not the umpires. The referee ruled that it was not a goal and we lost. That is football for you, one team must emerge the winner at the end of proceedings.”

On the contenders for the 2015 AFCON title, the former Roda JC of Holland player named Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and South Africa as the teams to watch out for.

“With the way Algeria are going, they are capable of making it all the way.

“Cote d’Ivoire are a very experienced side, perhaps the most experienced team in Equatorial Guinea, but they can’t afford to be complacent otherwise they will be shocked.

The South African side is young and mobile. Senegal too should not be written off, they have a strong team.”

We need luck to beat Equatorial Guinea –Pitroipa

Mashaba hopeful despite loss to Algeria outh Africa’s coach, Shakes Mashaba, is confident Bafana Bafana can still progress to the knockout stages of the Africa Cup of Nations, but admits they should have got more from the Algerian game.

South Africa lost the match 3-1, having led 1-0 through Thuso Phala.

But Tokelo Rantie’s penalty miss changed the complexion of the game as the Desert Foxes came storming back.

Mashaba admits that a bit of complacency may have set in after the opening goal.

“I think our boys did very well in this game, but it’s made things difficult for us because the last two games are must-win. [But] we still have two games to

Ikpeba’s penalty miss in 2000 still painful – Lawal

B

urkina Faso international Jonathan Pitroipa thinks that his team needs luck when they play against Equatorial Guinea on Wednesday.

Pitroipa believes the Stallions will still emerge from Group A unscathed, despite the 2-0 defeat against Gabon in their

‘Ebola risk under control’

T

he Ebola risk at the Africa Cup of Nations is “under control”, says Equatorial Guinea Football Federation president Andres Jorge Mbombio.

Police and fans clashed during Zambia’s 1-1 draw with DR Congo after Ebola screening delayed entry to the ground.

Despite the wait to enter stadiums, Mbombio claims the threat is contained.

“When we decided to host the tournament, we increased the preventive measures, so that now we can say everything is under control,” he said.

“We feel proud and reassured, and only want to think of football.”

Equatorial Guinea are hosting the tournament after Morocco’s request to postpone the event because of the possible spread of the disease was rejected by the Confederation of African Football in November.

Supporters have been asked to clean their hands with sanitising gel as they enter stadiums - one of the measures which has resulted in long queues.

Africa Cup of Nations opener on Saturday.

However, Pitroipa is confident that this team will be able to navigate through the situation with considerable aplomb.

“We can make it to the final again. Don’t start writing us off because we lost our first game,”

Pitroipa told Goal.

“At the 2010 World Cup, Spain lost their opener, but they went on to win the trophy,” added the Al-Jazira striker.

“We simply lacked inspiration, a certain fire and a bit of luck. We had our chances, but it didn’t work out in the end.”

2015 AFCON FIXTURES AND RESULTS Date

Group Teams

Time

Results

January 17 E/Guinea vs Congo 5pm Burkina Faso vs Gabon 8pm

1-1 0-2

January 18 Zambia vs DR Congo 5pm Tunisia vs Cape Verde 8pm

1-1 1-1

January 19 Ghana vs Senegal 5pm Algeria vs South Africa 8pm

1-2 3-1

January 20 Cote d’Ivoire vs Guinea 5pm Mali vs Cameroon 8pm

1-1

January 21 E/Guinea vs Burkina Faso 5pm Gabon vs Congo 8pm January 22 Zambia vs Tunisia 5pm Cape Verde vs DR Congo 8pm January 23 Ghana vs Algeria 5pm South Africa vs Senegal 8pm January 24 Cote d’Ivoire vs Mali 5pm Cameroon vs Guinea 8pm January 25 Congo vs Burkina Faso 8pm Gabon vs Equatorial Guinea 8pm January 26 RD Congo vs Tunisia 8pm Cape Verde vs Zambia 8pm January 27 South Africa vs Ghana 8pm Senegal vs Algeria 8pm January 28 Cameroon vs Cote d’Ivoire 8pm Guinea vs Mali 8pm

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

55

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– Ulysses S. Grant

World Record

Sanctity of Truth

On Marble

Percy LeBaron Spencer: Invented the microwave oven (1946)

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Leisure & Puzzle }39

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

N150

Shifty allegiance of electoral facilitators

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ome people are proud of their profession or calling. They advertise it and append their titles and honours to their names.

There are those that are professional but cannot advertise their professions and or do not regard what they do as glamorous. Some of them use different appellations to describe what they do.

Some who work in salons will just describe themselves as makeover artists.

Those that plait hair will just describe themselves as hair stylists. Just like in football, those we used to call “linesmen” are now called assistant referees.

Electoral facilitators are a class of people whose services are essential to the political permutations of aspirants, candidates and political parties but whose services shorn of all nice appellations is patently illegal, unconstitutional and sometimes immoral. I do not really know whether the activity of sex workers fits into this category. But I know that the activities of those that are now popularly called electoral facilitators comes within the ambit of professions or callings that some people regard as essential but illegal and unconstitutional.

Prior to their upgrading, we called them political thugs, miscreants, vagabonds, skull crackers, private militia and other derogatory names. But we still see them as essential in the political arena with or without constitutional condemnation. I say condemnation because section 227 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) provides that “no person or association shall retain, organize, train or equip any person or group of persons for the purposes of enabling them to be employed for the use or display of physical force or coercion in promoting any political objective or interest or in such manner as to arouse reasonable apprehension that they are organized and trained or equipped for that purpose” But in Nigeria, electoral facilitators are politicians and determine a lot of things before, during and after elections. No serious political party, contender, aspirant or contestant for a political office can be taken seriously unless the person or party has organized, paid and deployed them.

Every serious political party, aspirant, contestant or candidate decries their activities, denies their existence and use; yet employs their services at critical points and times in the electoral cycle.

The business of electoral facilitators is seasonal. But it seems that with the staggering of elections in Nigeria, there is a boom season and a low scale season. The low scale season is when the States Independent Electoral Commissions organize State based Local Government Elections.

The business is localized and domiciled in one State. Their businesses are also domiciled in one State when the Independent National Electoral Commission organizes State specific elections.

But the boom period is during general elections. The facilitators with national appeal and connections operate at a national level while those with State and Local Government connections operate at their own level. The business of election facilitation may appear disjointed but there is some organization and logic to it since the major promoters have upgraded. They have upgraded and made their

Hard Choices FESTUS OKOYE

festokoye2003@yahoo.com 08054480565 (sms only)

Electronic voting machine

businesses slightly more professional.

Who wouldn’t upgrade. Native Doctors have upgraded their businesses. Some of them have blogs. They advertise on the internet. They advertise on the pages of newspapers. They have billboards and complimentary cards. Their herbs are even bottled and labelled.

You may ask what is in a name. But this is the period of upgrading. People upgrade their businesses and get them to conform to certain national, regional, and international standards. In Nigeria as well as advanced countries, certain businesses are seasonal in nature. During the cold season manufacturers manufacture warm clothing in large numbers and they are also sold in large numbers. The left over clothes from the hot season are placed on sale to make way for the new consignment.

In Nigeria, tailors are in hot demand

Prior to their upgrading, we called them political thugs, miscreants, vagabonds, skull crackers, private militia and other derogatory names. But we still see them as essential in the political arena with or without constitutional condemnation

during festive periods. During the Christmas period some parents practically spend their time giving tailors close marking. Without being closely marked, the prospect of disappointment is high.

Those that sell children’s wear have their own season during festive periods. Festive period is also good for transporters.

The large movement of persons and goods from the Northern part of Nigeria to the South East, South-South and South West of Nigeria during festive periods is massive. Some people sleep on the road due to the treacherous traffic jams and hold up around Abuja-Lokoja and Okene. It is all in the spirit of the season.

When schools are about to resume, book sellers know that their season has come. During the fasting period, you witness truck loads of watermelon, pineapple and oranges arriving from different parts of Nigeria to the North. It is the season.

Hence, it is a truism that this is the season of political facilitation and political facilitators. Political facilitators are organized at different levels of the political ladder. Some of them are domiciled within the vicinity of polling units. They own some polling units and work for all the political parties. Some of them are organized at the Local Government, State and federal level. At these levels they have leaders. The leaders keep a record of their members. They facilitate their membership of all the important and key political parties. The leaders get the contract to recruit them for any political party holding a rally, procession or any event wherein a crowd will be required.

They are the ones that are recruited to go to the airport to await the arrival of the Governor from any trip especially in an election year. They are the ones that are recruited to accompany aspirants to the National headquarters of the party for purposes of collection of expression of interest form. In a way, they give colour

to events as most of them have no ideological or special interest in the aspirant, political party or candidate other than the contractual proceeds accruing from a particular event.

Electoral Facilitators are also part of the challenges of our democracy. These facilitators cut across ethnic and religious lines. They cut across educational barriers. It is a professional calling. It does not matter if you call them facilitators or politicians. They are politicians as they facilitate things that are edifying and those that are not edifying. Some of them have to do the criminal and unconstitutional aspects of the work. They are the skull crackers and hired assassins. They are the ones hired to disrupt political rallies of rival candidates. They are the ones hired to snatch ballot papers, boxes and prevent persons from getting to the polling units depending on what the interests are.

Sometimes some members of the Police Force act as Electoral Facilitators.

They did this very well in the case of Torti v Ukpabi (1984)1SCNLR, 214. In the matter Dr. Torti Ufere Torti was the Petitioner in an election petition he filed in the High Court of Justice of Imo State at Umuahia on August 24, 1983 challenging the election or return of Chief Chris Ukpabi and seeking the Courts declaration that he ought to have been returned and was duly elected and returned as Senator for the Umuahia Senatorial District.

On November 2, 1983, the Supreme Court allowed the appeal having found on the record of proceedings in the High Court that the votes scored by Dr. Torti Ufere Torti were mutilated to the extent that the result declared did not represent the true lawful votes cast by the voters. In the judgment the Hon Justice Kayode Eso (as he then was) was so livid with the conduct of the Police and stated that “Now the Police had no business with the election under the Constitution or the Electoral Act. The duty of the Police was to maintain law and order. According to the evidence led even by the 1st respondent himself there was no disorder in the conduct of the election yet the Police, even from their Headquarters at Owerri interfered with the peaceful conduct of the election, collected the Returning Officer to Owerri having stopped him from making the announcement of the results as required by law. By the time there had been interference in Owerri, actively supported by the Police, the figures had been inflated by actual forgery of figures by 40,000. To say the least, this was a disgrace on the part of the Police as it was criminal.”

But the truth of the matter is that electoral facilitators have financiers and godfathers. They have those that provide the money for the drugs that sends them to a different planet. They have those that direct their operations. They have those that make a phone call and get them released from police custody. They have those that terminate any case filed against them. We never seem to get these people for purposes of prosecution. Even when we get them, their prosecution is half hearted.

We cannot continue to move in circles.

We must as a people and as a nation deal a decisive blow on impunity. We must get the National Assembly to pass the Electoral Offences Commission Bill and the time is now.

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by Banex Junction, Mabushi, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Advert Hotline: 01-8541248, Email: info@newtelegraphonline.com Website: www.newtelegraphonline.com ISSN 2354-4317 Editor: YEMI AJAYI.