Osun defender june 2, 2016 edition

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VOL. 11. NO.055

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Death sentence for kidnappers; what about corrupt public officials?

“Intensely selfish people are always very leaders that have given of infrastructure that Why on earth should especially the Senate for corrupt leaders decided as to what the Senate okay death rise to kidnapping and could have led to the they wish. They do not - now being widely especially as it affects penalty for kidnappers all other criminalities waste their energies in referred to as ‘legisthat have found abode realisation of dreams only to keep mum the members of the considering the good oflooters’ - due to their in our society as mon- for the youth, have about corruption of others”. - Ouida Wan- selfishness and corrupt National Assembly. ies that were meant to been criminally siwhich she (the Nada. tendencies.

While we The silence is botherphoned by the elite. tional Assembly) is the provide employment This opening quote is frown at her silence for youths, provide apt in describng our some since it smacks worst culprit? After all enabling environment on what punishment legislatorsat the Nait is the corrupt beof hypocrisy and ... Continued on pg5 should be appropriate tional Assembly haviour of our political through the building double standards.

Ekiti APC Berates Fayose Over Workers’ Strike

Buhari Is Rebuilding A Pillaged Country – Aregbesola

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- See Story On Page 2

•Governor Rauf Aregbesola, (right), presenting an Award of Icon of Democracy to former governor, State of Osun, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, during the 2016 Democracy Day Sunday Service and Award of Honour to some eminent stakeholders in the State Government House, Osogbo, last Sunday.

Democracy Day: Islamic Group Rejects May 29 Celebration- Pg 4 Osun Police Command Rescues Abducted Market Women Leader

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osun Defender Thursday, June 2, 2016

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osun Defender Thursday, June 2, 2016

Buhari Is Rebuilding A Pillaged Country - Aregbesola Aregbesola Raises Concern Over Persistent Stormy Rainfall By shina abubakar overnor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has disclosed that the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government is rebuilding a highly pillaged country left by the last administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The governor stated Chapel to commemorate this at a Democracy this Year’s Democracy Service organised by Day and honour some the Government House prominent sons and

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daughters of the state that have contributed to its development.

He added that no rebuilding of any society that come without a pain and urged the people to bear with the president on his course to give them a country everyone would be proud of as

citizens.

According to the governor, the problem facing the country today is as a result of grand pillage that was reckless during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, maintaining that what the APC-

•Photo of the day: Man on a bike carrying a baby on his back, somewhere in Ibadan, Oyo State, recently.

Ekiti APC Berates Fayose Over Workers’ Strike By shina abubakar he Ekiti State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Monday, lambasted the state Governor Ayodele Fayose for plunging the state into needless crisis, saying that Fayose’s governance was “an unconscionable and mindless treatment of Ekiti workers, while he enjoys lavish life.”

A statement signed by would take 15 years to the Publicity Secretary pay back the loans taken of the party in the state, by Adebayo, which he Taiwo Olatunbosun, first put at N5 billion commended the state and later increased to N8 workers for their resolve billion.” to continue their strike “The Adewale Omirina c t i o n o v e r u n p a i d led House of Assembly salaries. approved for Fayose to While condemning take N2 billion Central F a y o s e f o r b l a m i n g Bank loan for artisans former Governor Kayode and small-scale traders, Fayemi for taking loans, but up till now, he has the APC spokesperson, not given one naira to however, accused the anybody. governor of insincerity, “He deceived the deceit and lies. workers that April “Let us thank Governor federal allocation was N i y i A d e b a y o ’ s N700 million, even C o m m i s s i o n e r f o r though the Federal Finance, Bayo Aina, Ministry of Finance who foiled Fayose’s lie figure, as published in the in 2003 when he (Aina) newspapers, indicated wrote to the House of that Ekiti collected N1.08 Assembly, of which I was billion and you wonder a member, debunking what the governor did Fayose’s claim that it to the balance of N300

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million.

“He has so far collected about N20 billion loans which he would not disclose to Ekiti people.

These include the N9.6 billion bailout cash and another N10 billion taken from another bank, while he also denied collecting refunds on federal roads and misapplied N2 billion Ecological Fund cash, which he denied collecting for a long time, until our party applied for FOI Law to get the fact in the Fund’s Office in Abuja.

“He paid one month salary from N9.6 billion bailout and nobody knows what he did with the balance; the same way that no one knows what he does with the fresh N10 billion loan and the interest it generates in the secret account he keeps the money, after vowing several times never to borrow a naira to run his government, even as he continues to give inconsistent figures

to workers as the state internally-generated revenue, including lying against the workers that they are part of revenue sharing after collection from Abuja.

“While Fayemi borrowed for development purposes, which can be seen in roads and other development structures across the state, Fayose keeps padding, spending Ekiti money on projects rehabilitation that are fraudulently over-priced and given to his friends and cronies, while Ekiti workers suffer,” the party spokesman stressed.

led administration is doing now is redirecting the country from financial mess to the path of prudency and accountability.

He said the present administration is worthy of the people’s support as it has shown enough commitment that tackling poverty through the rendering of social support is its priority.

Aregbesola disclosed that this is the first time a party at the federal level would make genuine concern for the masses as its priority, through the provision of N500 billion as social support programme in the 2016 budget.

He commended the initiative of the Federal Government to go into school feeding programme, volunteer teachers’ scheme and provision of financial support for the small and medium scale business owners, describing the policy as massesoriented.

Speaking on his administration’s stand on May 29 as Democracy Day, Aregbesola disclosed that the day is to be seen as Social Democracy Celebration Day, while June 12 remains Democracy Day because of the commitment of

Nigerians, irrespective of ethnic colouration, to enthroning democratic government, commencing with the election and annulment of the June 12, 1993 mandate.

Some of the prominent sons and daughters of the state awarded included formers Governors Isiaka Adeleke, Adebisi Akande and Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

Others were Senators Ayo Fasanmi Olusola Adeyeye, Babajide Omoworare, Honourable Patricia Etteh, Engineer Tunde Ponle, and Senator Bayo Salami.

Speaking on behalf of other awardees, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola described the award as a challenge and further call to serve the society better in any capacity they find themselves in the future.

He commended the organizers for counting everyone of them as worthy of recognition and assured them of further commitment to ideal courses.

Osun Police Command Rescues Abducted Market Women Leader

By kehinde ayantunji he prominent business woman and Iyaloja of Kajola-Ijesa market in Atakumosa East Local Government area of the State of Osun, Alhaja Adunni Adegbokun, who was kidnapped by unknown gunmen 10 days ago, has been rescued by men of Osun State Police Command.

The State Commis- ed over to the Iyaloja sioner of Police, Mr General of Osun State, Olufemi Olanipekun Alhaja Awawu AsindeOyeleye, confirmed that made and that she has the business woman was been reunited with her rescued along Ikire ex- family members in stable pressway by the police condition.

It would be recalled patrol team from Ikire that the Kajola-Ijesa marDivisional Police Headket has been closed down quarters. since Alhaja Adegbokun Speaking through the was abducted at her resPolice Public Relations idence at Araromi Street Officer (PPRO) of the on 19th of May. State Police Command, ASP Egbedele Ajibade, the CP said policemen are on the trail of the abductors of the woman.

He said the victim was Change of Name taken to Oluyoro Private Hospital in Ikire for first I, formerly known and aid treatment immediaddressed as GANIYU ABIDEEN AKANO, now ately she was rescued wish to be known and and later moved to the addressed as AKANDE Police Clinic in Osogbo ABIDEEN GBENGA. for comprehensive medAll documents with ical attention. former name remain The police boss said valid. The General Public that the business woman should please take note. was eventually hand-

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•Lists Ways To Avert Nature’s Anger

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he governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has associated incessant stormy rainfall being experienced in the country to the much talked about negative impacts of man on the environment.

The Governor stated have led the worse state this during a courtesy the global climate has visit and the opening receded into, manifesting ceremony of the Osun in the harsh weather Architects’ Sustainable and incessant natural Information Synthesis disaster that the world is Forum in Osogbo. witnessing today.

He attributed much He averred that even of the destruction of though nature is calm the global ecosystem to but it does not respect anti-nature activities of human beings and as human beings. such could be devastating A c c o r d i n g t o t h e in form of protest against Governor, it is these unconscionable human human activities that activities.

Aregbesola, who warned of danger ahead, appealed to all stakeholders in the fight against climate change to sensitise people on the need to engage in reasonable activities.

Besides, he also canversed for a serious commitment to the greening of the environment by planting multiple trees where one is felled.

“Let me call our attention to the danger or is it tragedy - the whole world faces today with

our climate.

“Have we paused to ask ourselves why we have stormy rainfall constantly nowadays. It is either we experience this hailstorm before or during rainfall and we go about as if this is a normal occurrence.

“No! We are today at the mercy of the nature and it is human activity that has led to this worse climatic conditions we now experience,” Aregbesola said.

Aregbesola also expressed his worries in the inability of the professional body to come up with a suitable

•Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (middle); Papau New Guinea’s Minister for Public Service, Puka Temu (left) and Acting Nigerian High Commissioner to Australia, Cecilia Yahaya (right) when the Vice President arrived Papau New Guinea few days ago for the 8th Summit of African, Carribean and Pacific Group of States.

Discourage Negative Values In Children - Aregbesola Counsels Parents

By sola jacobs he Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has counseled parents to discourage negative values among children but rather encourage values of hard work, dedication and patriotism in them.

S p e a k i n g a t t h e the ugly incident of annual Children’s kidnapping of 219 D a y c e l e b r a t i o n o n Chibok school girls in the theme: “Rights of April 2014 by members Children in Place of of Boko Haram sect, out Violence, Insecurity and of which two of them Early Marriage” at the were only recovered few Osogbo City Stadium, the weeks ago.

He carpeted early governor decried the level of insecurity, child abuse and forceful girl child and early marriage that marriage perpetuated are currently threatening under the guise of culture the life of the Nigerian and religion, which he child, which deprived described as alien to our t h e m o f a t t a i n m e n t culture, as marriage is t o f u l l p o t e n t i a l s not consummated till and opportunities to a girl He elucidated contribute to national the negative effects of early child marriage, development.

He stated that children which happens to be in the country have the problem of Fistula been victims of war and Obstetric and caesarian natural disasters, as well section in the girl-child.

Governor Aregbesola as forceful early marriage therefore said all hands and child labour.

Aregbesola recalled m u s t b e o n d e c k t o

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collectively help every child, especially, the girl-child to realise their maximum potentials.

He also stressed the need for children to be properly, morally and religiously brought up with a view to contributing meaningfully to the society and humanity at large.

The governor who was represented by his deputy, Otunba (Mrs) Titi Laoye-Tomori, urged parents to resist the western incursion of gay-marriage and transgender, which is most alien to our culture as blacks.

He pledged the total support of the state government to the total development of children in the state, through provision of best educational infrastructures and facilities, as his administration had embarked on newly-

constructed 100 new schools, improved welfare package, health facilities and enforcement of child rights laws in the state.

In her opening remarks, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs in State of Osun, Pharmacist Lara Ajayi, lauded the effort of the state government in the provision of qualitative and functional education and promotion of welfare package through provision of free meal to 250,000 pupils daily.

Ajayi also lauded the passage of Child Rights Act prohibiting child-labour, forceful marriage and all forms of discrimination against children, especially the girl- child.

Part of the activities at the Children’s Day was the N250,000 scholarship award by the Zenith Bank to some school pupils across the state, school match-past and presentation of gifts to

material for building plan 56 years after the exit of colonialism.

Aregbesola said what also gave him anxiety was the impact of professional in the lives of the people and whether the professional cared about the welfare of the people when the plan, design and build houses.

He also lamented that over two decades after the continent’s contact with the European and 56 years after independence, Nigerian architects have yet to come up with a policy on which material is best and suitable for building plan.

He averred that the recommendation of NIA on a building roof suitable and durable for Nigeria is enough catalyst to revamp the nation’s economy.

He stressed that the situation has gone so awry that not only the roofs but also the buildings in both urban and rural areas have so much degenerated to the level that significant numbers of them are no longer fit for human habitation.

“Up until this moment, it is not about the roofing materials alone which are unsuitable but also our buildings both in rural and urban areas have become a serious challenge.

“Our houses in urban settlement even depresses me more: most of them have passed their age of usefulness.

“If the country is committed to reviewing our human habitation through governmentinspired efforts and you professionals recommend a new and durable building roofing, this alone is enough and capable of revamping our economy,” Aregbesola said.

He called on Architects to be helpful in preventing the building anarchy of modern times, adding that they should also see to era of incidents of encroachment on roads and illegal structures that is becoming rampant in our society.

Aregbesola held that encroachment and illegal structures will have been avoided if architects have helped their clients do due diligence by obtaining proper documentation for their property before building.

According to him, “in Osun, wýe have not only reduced the cost, we have also simplified the process of obtaining land documents and building approvals in this state.

“This is in our quest to enhance urban aesthetics, prevent future separation of buildings from roads and bring about the security that

possession of documents brings. It is my hope that our architects will support this programme adequately and increase the awareness on this with their clients.”

The President of Nigerian Institute of Architecture (NIA), Arch.

Tony Oliver-Braid, has described Osun as a very unique state in the whole of the country.

Oliver-Braid, who also described Governor Rauf Aregbesola as an extraordinary governor, disclosed that Osun is the only state in Nigeria that has at least one architect in a local government and over 50 architects engaged by the state’s Local Government Service commission.

The NIA President gave the statistics during a courtesy visit to the Governor and the opening ceremony of its two-day conference tagged Osun Architects’ Sustainable Information Synthesis, OASIS Forum 2016 and the 20th Anniversary of NIS by the by NIA, Osun.

The theme of conference is: “Join the Race to Make this World a Better Place” taking place at the Multipurpose Hall, Local Government Service Commission, State Secretarial, Abere.

Oliver-Braid, who was represented by the institute’s third Vice President, arch. Enyi Ben Ehbo, said the governor’s landmark programmes and achievement are visible for all to see.

He said “We commend you for the tremendous work you are doing despite the lean resources.

“As a seasoned Nigerian, we can see the work you are doing. With the number of architects we have in your state, Osun should see itself as the home of architecture in Nigeria.”

He said the theme of the conference was designed to herald the United Nations Environment Day, which comes up every June 5th of the year and the World Habitat Day, celebrated First Monday of October every years.

He called on governments and all stakeholders in the preservation of planet earth to take affirmative action to save the world, adding that there should be zero tolerance for killing of animals and take time to safeguard some of them, who are now endangered species.

He assured the governor that the impact of architects would be noted in every local government of the state very soon.

If you have a story or advert for us, contact 08033927286, 08033880205, 08061197897, 08023191891.

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Death sentence for kidnappers; what about corrupt public officials?

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•State of Osun governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (left), giving a word of advice to the pupils of Oyan High School, during the celebration of 60th year anniversary of the School at Oyan, last Saturday.

he pportunity cost of stealing by the elite has resulted in the rise of deviant b e h av i o u r i n c l u d i n g kidnapping. Corruption is a heinous crime which has destabilised the whole of the society. Kidnapping is an offshoot of the denial of opportunities wrought by corruption. From this perception what is sauce for the goose must be sauce for the gander. The penalty for both criminal infractions should be the same. The malfeasance of the people in the National Assembly has cost the country a lot, not least in terms of perception.

This is reflected in the now infamous comments of the British prime minister David Cameron recently. It shows that due to the actions and inactions of the National Assembly all Nigerians are now tarred with the same brush as criminals.

What this means is that we must now like China make corruption a capital offence with death penalty attached. A drastic remedy is clearly required before corruption destroys the country. As clearly stated by PMB “we must destroy corruption before corruption destroys us”.

Thus we must all key in to the President’s vision

as the debilitating effect of corruption has already torn aside the social fabric leading to all manner of criminal behaviour. The detterence must therefore be punitive. The Chinese had to take this step because they know that corruption would halt the magnificent advance they have already made. The need is actually more imperative here because we have not realised the hopes of independence; no thanks to corruption. Let us be absolutely clear about it; this country is not going anywhere unless it launches a no-holds barred assault on corruption.

Let us be absolutely clear about it; this country

Nigeria Needs Architectural Intervention For Economic Development - Aregbesola Metuh’s Family’s Williness Refund Of N400m, Victory For Anti-graft War T C By kehinde ayantunji he Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has called for quick architectural intervention to stimulate the nation’s economy.

According to him: Aregbesola also charged the leadership “One of the ways to of Nigerian Institute of r e v i v e o u r e c o n o m y Architects (NIA), on the is to invest greatly in need to intensify efforts resuscitating some of our at fast-tracking rapid dearth and dilapidated economic recovery of the sectors, architectural nation through quality development is of greater importance. service delivery.

“It is obvious that The governor made the statement while playing our economy has been host to the national seriously bastardized delegation of the NIA, at b y t h e s u c c e s s i v e the Government House, administrations, but Osogbo, the state capital. nevertheless, much has Aregbesola said that to be done to stimulate the nation has gotten to a our economy for greater stage where architectural development.

“No sector should be intervention is required to salvage her economy ignored at this special from the drift of collapse. e c o n o m i c p e r i o d , The governor, who government intervention decried the untapped in the services being n u m e r o u s r e s o u r c e s rendered by the members being endowed with the o f t h e N I A w o u l d nation, said the time has contribute significantly come for government at in promotion of local all levels to maximize building materials in the their endowments for country”, he added.

“Obsolete building greater productivity.

He contended that ideology” in the country prompt intervention of and identified lack of government towards innovation as major building effective and factor responsible for efficient architectural the nation’s woes in institutions would go a building development,” long way in encouraging he lamented.

Aregbesola said it adequate patronage o f l o c a l l y - p r o d u c e d was unfortunate that the building materials in the nation was still crawling with what he regarded country.

He attributed some as “leftover ideas” of her o f t h e a r c h i t e c t u r a l colonialists in building challenges in Nigeria to t e c h n i q u e s , s a y i n g negligence of “necessity”, the time has come to adding that government’s establish and enhance i n t e r v e n t i o n o n t h e a collaborative effort activities of Nigerian between the government architects would go a and the leadership of long way in building NIA. The governor, who a vibrant architectural institution that would be appreciated the large number of architects a model in the world.

in Nigeria, however stressed that the nation’s economy would have benefited more from their services, if they had come up with ideas that will make builders in Nigeria, appreciate and use more locally sourced building materials for construction.

He said: “Nigerian architects have not come up with a structure on the kind of roofing sheet that best suit Nigerian territory, despite years of being in practice.

“Greater volume of the materials we use for building construction in the country are very unsuitable, as this pose a serious challenge to our society.

“This implied that if our architects who are professionally saddled with the primary responsibility of planning, designing and building are committed, hence, the exercise is enough to revive the nation’s economy.

“There is a need for Nigerian architects to build up a strategy that will be regulating roofing materials, as this idea will go a long way in restructuring our building view and as well revamping the nation’s economy.

He urged architects to direct their attention towards things that will benefit the nation by maximizing the available resources for greater architectural development.

The governor submitted that architects in Nigeria and the entire African region need to

apply their professional knowledge and competence at influencing the development of durable, useful and beautiful structures that are suitable for the country, noting that the exercise is enough to revamp the nation’s economy.

According to him, “though our architects do great things in the midst of the elites, we want them to make it general, so that it can cut across.

Earlier, the National President of NIA, Tonye Oliver Braide, who was

represented by the Vice President, Eyinbeng Ebong, commended Governor Aregbesola for prioritizing the role of architects in the state since his assumption of office.

Architect Braide attributed some of Aregbesola’s strides in all sectors of the economy, especially on infrastructure, to what he regarded as a result of preference given to NIA. According to Braids, “Osun is so blessed for having an extraordinary governor that is doing

extraordinary things in the state.

“Osun is the only state in Nigeria that can boast of having at least an architect in every local government council in the state, just as the state remained the only state that has over fifty architects employed by the Local Government Service Commission,” he said.

The NIA President assured the governor that the professional body will examine some of the challenges thrown up for the economic development.

Democracy Day: Islamic Group Rejects May 29 Celebration

By kazeem mohammed n Islamic group, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has expressed misgiving over the choice of May 29 as Democracy Day, saying it was an attempt to trivialize the June 12, 1993 phenomenon.

A statement by the of June 12, 1993 remains Director of the group, the most orderly and Professor Ishaq Akintola, most peaceful election in said the refusal of past the annals of Nigeria’s l e a d e r s t o g i v e d u e history. recognition to June 12 “The June 12 election was partly responsible for is a most significant the nation’s “wobbling landmark; hence, it is and fumbling till date.” more important than May It described May 29 29. as a political deception “This is because; it concocted by the then was the only election military junta to erase the w h i c h brought June 12 history from the Christians, Muslims and memory of the people. traditionalists together The statement read: u n d e r o n e u m b r e l l a “Going down memory to vote for a Musliml a n e , N i g e r i a n s w i l l Muslim ticket. recall that 29th May is so “Nigerians of all revered by the Federal tribes also jettisoned Government because the e t h n i c s e n t i m e n t o n military handed over to that memorable day to a civilian government vote for Chief Moshood on May 29, 1999, but Kashimawo Abiola. the choice of 29th May “Unfortunately was merely an attempt the election was most to trivialize the June 12 criminally-annulled by phenomenon. the military junta and the “We further recall that undeclared winner was the presidential election bundled into detention,

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where he eventually died after four years.

“May 29 is therefore a political abracadabra concocted by the then military junta to pull the wool over our faces.

Whereas, nations in other climes seek to entrench their history, Nigerian leaders are wishing away our collective memory.

“For those who appreciate the true spirit of democracy, May 29 is a historic fraud, whereas June 12 is a dynamic movement.

“We aver that a people that do not know its past cannot know where it is going. The refusal of past leaders to give due recognition to the June 12 phenomenon is partly responsible for the nation’s wobbling and fumbling till date”, it stated.

MURIC then charged the All Progressives Congress-led (APC) Federal Government to quickly address the issue by giving recognition to June 12, to appreciate the true spirit of democracy.

orruption is a social menace that has ravaged Nigeria since independence and is largely responsible for the stunted growth and development of the acclaimed sleeping Giant of Africa, which is abundantly blessed with both human and natural resources, but has been unable to fulfill its huge potentials.

Successive governments over the years have always mouthed strong campaigns against corruption but were too weak to take drastic and concrete action against this hydra-headed monster, which has the capacity to kill the Nigerian state with the way the country was being run.

However, the coming on board of the Muhammadu Buhari administration has changed all of that to the extent that for the very first time in a long while, we are all witnessing a change in this direction in our national life by the frontal and resolute war against corruption.

Thus, one must give big kudos to the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for the zeal, sincerity of purpose and doggedness to confront this hydra-headed monster, which the government has

stated emphatically must be killed before it kills Nigeria and which is a fact.

Despite the lies, falsehood, hypocritical and derisive comments of blackmail and calumny of persecution, selectiveness, vendetta, etc against the anti-corruption war, which is one of the cardinal programmes of the present administration, he has remained courageous and undeterred in prosecuting it to a logical conclusion,

in line with the rule of law.

The results of the government’s anti corruption war is manifesting as beneficiaries of corrupt practices of the past era of stealing is not corruption have been returning their shares of the loot, though some have vowed not to refund because they are yet to come to terms with the fact that change has come.

A vivid testimony of the victory of the anticorruption war manifested

recently, when it was reported through the counsel of the embattled spokesperson of the PDP, Mr. Olisa Metuh, w h o i s s t a n di n g t r i a l for corruption, that he has voluntarily agreed to return the sum of N400 million which he admitted collecting from the Presidency of Mr. Goodluck Jonathan for a job in which the documents exposed payments but no details of what the money

was meant for, which he also refused to disclose and vowed not to make refund.

Seeing the handwriting on the wall with the way his criminal prosecution was progressing and to buttress Mr. Olisa Metuh’s position, the media reported that the family, through one Mr. Gilbert Metuh, issued a statement, pleading with the Federal Government to accept their offer to return the fund.

In as much as we appreciate this gesture,

we want the family of Mr. Olisa Metuh to know that what their son has done amounts to a crime against the Nigerian people, for which the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is very clear on the consequences.

Thus, this development is a victory for the focused war against corruption because of the tenacity and responsibility of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to ensure that all looted funds are recovered and culprits punished according to law, in order serve as a deterrent and lesson to all that public funds are meant for public good, rather than enriching some criminal few.

The capital punishment must be brought into play to counteract this scourge.

Therefore it’s high time the Senate broke its silence on the issue of corruption and urgently and in the most earnest manner come up with a legislation that will not spare corrupt public officials of the same punishment they have okayed for kidnappers. To endorse capital punishment for kidnappers and keep silent on the critical issue of corruption which has brought us to this sorr pass and which directly concerns them, is most hypocritical and selfish.

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One Year Of Buhari’s Govt: Our Scorecard, Health Benefit And Nutritional Facts Of Cucumber Aspirations - Information Minister Lai Mohammed F As President Muhammadu Buhari Marks Its First Anniversary, The Minister Of Information And Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Speaks With Tony Akowe And Vincent Ikuomola On The Administration’s Challenges And How It Plans To Tackle Them.

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t is one year into the life of the Buhari administration. How would you describe the journey so far?

It is very challenging and very fulfilling, but we are very much on track. I say tills because one, we campaigned largely promising Nigerians that we will tackle insecurity, we will tackle corruption and we will revamp the economy by creating more jobs and more employment. And I want to say that despite the challenges that we met, and these challenges are challenges that normally would destabilise any government quickly, we have been able to address them. I can say with all sense of modesty that we have largely kept our promise.

The most daunting challenge we met is the global economic meltdown. For a country that has depended largely on one-product, adjusting to a sharp drop from about $100 per barrel to about $30 per barre1 for most parts of the first year, it is quite challenge . And like I ex- plain whenever I have any opportunity, It is like a person who has been earning N100,000 a month now suddenly confronted with a salary cut of N30,000. He will definitely nave to make adjustment.

His lifestyle and everything else has to change. And this is what has happened.

We came into power and within a few weeks, we lost almost 60 per cent of our possible total earnings from sale of crude oil. This IS again compounded by the increasing activities of the militants and vandalism which today is costing us almost 800,000 barrels of crude per day. In other words, we are losing about 800,000 barrels per day. From a projected N2.2 million barrels per day, we are making about 1.4 million, and that again is further affecting the revenue of government. But despite all that, we remain focused.

In the war against insecurity, I think we can say confidently that we have delivered. Yes, it is true that we have all kinds of security challengeswe have kidnapping, cattle rustling, armed robbery and lately a surge in conflicts between headsmen and farmers. When we came in on May 29, 2015, the most daunting challenge that we faced was the Boko Haram insurgency. By the time we came in, about 14 of the 20 local government areas in Borno State were under the control of Boko Haram.

Yobe had about two or three, ditto Adamawa. Today, Boko Haram does not control an inch of any territory.

Today, we have dislodged Boko Haram from all its strongholds and they can no longer operate the way they used to.

Before now, they were making spectacular attacks on institutions.

They strolled to Abuja, attacked the police headquarters and the UN building. They attacked our barracks, army formation. Today, none of such is happening, and that is because of the focused and determined leadership of the administration, exemplified by the President.

If you look at the Lake Chad for instance, it used to support a million of farmers, fishermen. But in the last couple of years, Lake Chad has lost almost 90% of its total water, and what that has meant is that those who used to farm and fish there have to move southward in search of greener pasture. Now, it is the same thing with Fulani headsmen.

Before, they never used to go as Deep South because they didn’t need to go further to feed their cattle. But with climate change, with less water and with diversification, they now have to move towards the south. And that is why what the government is looking at is a comprehensive approach, a holistic approach. Rather than just address the symptom, the government is looking at addressing the diseases. So that is why we are talking about setting up ranches and grazing rand and the rest.

Of course, at the same time, on the immediate level, government is getting community leaders, traditional leaders, security agencies in difficult areas to meet and resolve the issue. Essentially, when it comes to the issue of Boko Haram, we have delivered on our promise. he notion out there, is that yes, the administration has done so well in the area of insurgency and corruption.

But when it comes to the area of economy, this is administration has not made any impact, What is your take on this?

My take on this is that people were it being objective. What was the economy we inherited? We inherited an economy, like I explained from the beginning, where as a result of global recession, the cost of commodity worldwide dropped. Unfortunately, when in the last 10 years we were selling products about $100 per barrel, the money was not invested wisely. If it was invested wisely in infrastructure, especially if they had gone out of their way to make the refineries to work, we would not today be faced with the challenges we are facing. I think the former minister of finance also said so, that if they had made enough provision for the rainy day, this government will not be facing the problem it is facing.

It is lack of prudence that has created problem for this government.

So those who are saying that they have gone from bad to worse, I think without being patronising, we were like a person sitting on a wooden chair whose entire legs had been eaten by ants and it was just waiting to collapse. If not because of the discipline we have brought into this economy and to governance, it would have been difficult to manage the kind of shock because we inherited a bad economy because of the price of crude. But most importantly, we realised that the lever of corruption was so monumental that what we met was just liabilities, liabilities and liabilities.

Two, when we came in, what did we do? In the area of the economy,

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He ordered the relocation of the centre and control of the army from Abuja to Maiduguri, after which be immediately proceeded to visiting neighbouring countries - Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Benin Republic-to seek regional support, after which he proceeded to the G7 and to the US, leading to the lifting of various restrictions on Nigeria, all within a short time. He also reshuffled the headship of the security agencies, service chiefs and improved the morale of the army.

Within a short while, we saw the difference. If anybody is in doubt as to the quantum of progress we have made in the fight against insurgency, he would see now that all the highways leading to Maiduguri have been opened and, only recently, a league match was

played in Maiduguri stadium. We are now on concentrating more on the rehabilitation and reconstruction and settlement of the people. So in the area of security, I think that we have done very well. o people may come and say how about the herdsmen and farmers? Is that not a replacement of Boko Haram? We say no. All that is largely as a result of climate change. Climate change in the sense that the real problem about these cattle Fulani and farmers is lack of resources. In the last 20 years or so, countries all over the world have been warned that as a result of climate change, there will be less resources available. There will be less water, less grazing ground and that countries should make provision, but most countries did not listen.

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It is lack of prudence that has created problem for this government. So those who are saying that they have gone from bad to worse, I think without being patronising, we were like a person sitting on a wooden chair whose entire legs had been eaten by ants and it was just waiting to collapse. If not because of the discipline we have brought into this economy and to governance, it would have been difficult to manage the kind of shock because we inherited a bad economy because of the price of crude. But most importantly, we realised that the level of corruption was so monumental that what we met was just liabilities, liabilities and liabilities.

•Contined on page 10

ew foods are as cool as a cucumber. These low-calorie veggies contain many nutritional benefits, including hydrating properties and valuable nutrients.

There are hundreds of varieties of cucumber, and they come in dozens of colors, but the edible types are classified as being for either slicing or pickling, according to Cornell University’s Growing Guide.

Slicing cucumbers are cultivated to be eaten fresh, while pickling cucumbers are intended for the brine jar. Slicing cucumbers are usually larger and thickerskinned than pickling ones.

In the United States, commonly planted varieties of slicing cucumber include Dasher, Conquistador, Slicemaster, Victory, Comet, Burpee Hybrid and Sprint, according to the World’s Healthiest Foods website. Commonly planted varieties of pickling cucumber include Royal, Calypso, Pioneer, Bounty, Regal, Duke and Blitz.

While most people think of cucumbers as vegetables, they are actually a fruit. They contain seeds and grow from the ovaries of flowering plants. Cucumbers are members of the plant family Cucurbitaceae, which also includes squashes and melons. The most common type of slicing cucumber found in a grocery store is the garden cucumber, Cucumis sativus, according to World’s Healthiest Foods.

Nutritional Profile Cucumbers are good sources of phytonutrients (plant chemicals that have protective or disease preventive properties) such flavonoids, lignans and triterpenes, which have antioxidant, antiinflammatory and anti-cancer benefits, according to World’s Healthiest Foods. The peel and seeds are the most nutrient-dense parts of the cucumber. They contain fiber and beta-carotene, a form of vitamin A that is good for eyes, reports Livestrong.com. A study published in the Pakistan Journal of Nutrition found that cucumber seeds were a good source of minerals, and contained calcium.

“Cucumbers are naturally low in calories, carbohydrates, sodium, fat and cholesterol,” said Megan Ware, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Orlando, Florida. There are just 16 calories in a cup of cucumber with its peel (15 without). You will get about 4 percent of your daily potassium, 3 percent of your daily fiber and 4 percent of your daily vitamin C. They also “provide small amounts of vitamin K, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, manganese and vitamin A,” Ware said.

Health Benefits Of Cucumbers Hydration According to Ware, “Cucumbers are 95 percent water.” This makes cucumbers a great way to stay hydrated, especially during the summer. A cup of cucumber slices is “nearly as thirst-quenching as a glass of water,” according to Eating Well magazine.

The anti-inflammatory compounds in cucumbers help remove waste from the body and reduce skin irritation, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Preliminary research also suggests cucumbers promote anti-wrinkling and anti-aging activity, according to an article in the journal Filoterapia.

Cancer prevention Cucumbers contain two phytonutrient compounds associated with anti-cancer benefits: lignans and cucurbitacins. In recent years, pharmaceutical companies have been paying special attention to cucurbitacins, hoping to use them in new cancer drugs. According to a 2010 research review published in Scientific World Journal, scientists have found that cucurbitacins can help block the signaling pathways that are important for cancer cell proliferation and survival.

Cucurbitacins can also inhibits the growth of pancreatic cancer cells, according to a 2009 study published in the Journal of Cancer Research looked at cucurbitacin B (which cucumber contains) on human pancreatic cancer cells and found that cucurbitacin supplements inhibited the growth of seven pancreatic cancer cell lines by 50 percent, and also increased apoptosis, or “death by suicide,” of pancreatic cancer cells.

According to World’s Healthiest Foods, lignans may protect against cancer through working with the bacteria in the digestive tract. The bacteria take the lignans and convert them into compounds such as enterodiol and enterolactone, which can bind onto estrogen receptors and possibly reduce the risk of estrogen-related cancers, such as ovarian, breast, endometrial and prostate cancers. The research is not yet clear on whether lignans actually assert anticancer benefits.

A 2009 meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Cancer found little or no association between lignan intake and reduced breast cancer risk.

Cucumbers contain several antioxidants, including vitamin C, beta-carotene and manganese, as well as flavonoids, triterpenes and lignans that have antiinflammatory properties. Vitamin C is well known for its immune system benefits, and beta-carotene has been shown to be beneficial for vision, according to the Mayo Clinic.

According to a 2010 animal study published in the Journal of Young Pharmacists, fresh extracts from cucumber showed increased scavenging of free radicals. Free radicals are associated with a variety of human diseases, but can sometimes be held in check by antioxidants, according to the Pharmacognosy Review.

Another study of cucumber extracts in animals, published in the Archives of Dermatological Research, found increased overall antioxidant benefits. Though this study focused on the cosmetic applications of this use of cucumbers, decreased free radicals can improve your inside organs as well as your skin. n additional study published in Current Pharmaceutical Design found a positive association between the triterpene cucurbitacin and reduced inflammation, particularly in cancer cells. A review of triterpenes on the immune system, published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, suggested that they can help with inflammation and encouraged future research.

Heart Health “Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables of all kinds is associated with a reduced risk for many health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke and obesity,” said Ware. Cucumbers’ potassium content may be especially helpful in this regard. One cup of sliced cukes contains only about 4 percent of the body’s daily potassium needs, but it comes with significantly fewer calories than most high-potassium foods like bananas. Potassium is an essential part of heart health, according to the American Heart Association. Many studies have linked it with lower blood pressure because it promotes vasodiliation (widening of the blood vessels), according to Today’s Dietitian. A study of 12,000 adults, published in Archives of Internal Medicine, showed that those who consumed 4,069 mg of potassium each day lowered their risk of cardiovascular disease and ischemic heart disease by 37 percent and 49 percent, respectively, compared to those who took 1,793 mg per day.

The vitamin K in cucumbers is also known to be essential in the blood-clotting process, according to the Harvard School of Public Health.

Risks of eating cucumbers There can be a few risks from eating cukes. Pesticide consumption is one concern. Ware explained, “The Environmental Working Group produces a list each year of fruits and vegetables with the highest levels of pesticide residue, known as the Dirty Dozen.

Cucumbers are one of the fruits and vegetables that the Environmental Working Group has placed on its Dirty Dozen list, meaning the exposure to pesticide residue is high.”

Additionally, cucumbers may be waxed to help protect them during shipping. According to World’s Healthiest Foods, both organic and conventionally grown cukes may be waxed, but organic ones can only use non-synthetic waxes with chemicals approved under organic regulations. For this reason and the pesticide concerns, World’s Healthiest Foods encourages buying organic cucumbers. But Ware stipulated, “This does not mean you should avoid cucumbers altogether if you can’t find or afford organic. The nutritional benefit of eating conventionally grown produce outweighs the risk of not eating produce at all.”

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Similarly, most studies have not found significant correlations between lignan intake and reduced prostate cancer risk, according to the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, though one study of older Scottish men published in the British Journal of Nutrition showed that consuming an enterolactone-containing serum reduced the risk of prostate cancer.

On the other hand, a Journal of Nutrition study of nearly 800 American women found that those with those with the highest lignan intake had the lowest risk of ovarian cancer. Furthermore, a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute looked at nearly 1,000 women in the San Francisco area and found that postmenopausal women with the highest lignan intakes had the lowest risk of endometrial cancer.

Skin ou’ve probably seen pictures of people at a spa relaxing with cucumber slices over their eyes. It turns out there’s science behind this pampering ritual. Ware explained, “Cucumbers have a cooling and soothing effect that decreases swelling, irritation and inflammation when used topically. Cucumber slices can be placed on the eyes can decrease morning puffiness or alleviate and treat sunburn when placed on the affected areas.” She also noted that high vegetable intake is associated with a healthy complexion in general.

Bone Health According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, in the past few decades, it has become clear that vitamin K is important to bone health, and one cup of cucumber contains about 19 percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin K. One review published in Nutrition noted that vitamin K intake might reduce fracture rates, work with vitamin D to increase bone density and positively affect calcium balance.

The human body uses vitamin K when building bones, and the effects seem to be especially important for women. A large 2003 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study showed that low vitamin K levels were associated with low bone density in women, but not in men. Another study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1999 found that low intakes of vitamin K were associated with an increased risk of hip fractures in middle-age women.

This is especially interesting because the women saw results from eating lettuce, showing that dietary consumption of vitamin K via eating vegetables (not supplements) is beneficial. When it comes to men, the affects of vitamin K and bone health may become more apparent as they age: A 2000 study saw reduced risk of hip fracture among both elderly women and elderly men who consumed more vitamin K. Antioxidants

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2016 Democracy Day Sunday Service And Award Of Honour To Some Eminent Stakeholders In The State Of Osun At The Government House, Osogbo, Last Sunday.

State Of Osun Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Inspected Ongoing Construction Of Chief Adebisi Akande Trumpet Interchange Bridge Of Omoluabi Dual Carriage Motorway At Gbongan Junction, State Of Osun, Recently.

•(R-L) Governor Rauf Aregbesola, his deputy, Otunba (Mrs) Titi Laoye-Tomori, The Akirun of Ikirun, Oba AbdulRauf Adedeji, presiding Bishop of Victory Chapel International, Bishop Mike Bamidele, Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Dr. Elisha Ogundiya and Secretary to the State Government of Osun, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, at the Democracy Day Sunday Service.

•Governor Rauf Aregbesola (right) and his counterpart from Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, during the inspection.

•(R-L) Aregbesola, Rev. Dr. Ogundiya and Lord Bishop Osun North East Diocese, Rt. Rev. Dr. Humphrey Olumakaye.

•A cross section of dignitaries at the event.

•Ongoing construction of the first dual carriage motorway in Osun, named Chief Adebisi Akande Trumpet Interchange Bridge of Omoluabi Dual Carriage Motorway.

•A cross section of Choristers during the service.

•Aregbesola (left) and a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ajibola Famurewa (right) during the inspection tour.

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‘Those Who Blame Buhari For The Nation’s Economic Condition Are Not Objective’

•Contined from page 6

it was to introduce the TSA. With Treasury Single Account, it is now possible for the government to ensure that all revenues accruing to the government were in one account.

Then we introduced discipline and efficiency, which led us also to uncover about 23,000 ghost workers in the first instance, and another 11,000 today. Now we must not fail to understand the fact that the option would have been for us to retrench out we said no, we are not going to take that option. We spend Nl65 billion every month just to pay civil servants at the federal level. But unlike this time two years ago where federal, state and local governments used to share N800 billion monthly, last month, N299 billion was shared. ow, those who are saying that we are not managing the economy well, we challenge them to give us suggestions, alternative approaches. Now It is so sad, very unfortunate that we did not inherit a robust economy. But we are managing that weak economy in a manner that it will not collapse completely. Yes, we have certainly taken some decisions that are painful to the people, but only for the short run. In the long run, we are building the foundation for a viable economy that will promote growth. How are we doing this? We are doing this through the 2D16 budget. One, by dedicating about 30 per cent of our entire budget to capital projects roads, railway, power. And for you to see what the last administration did in terms of infrastructure and what we are doing, I will just give you this figure: in the whole 0[2015, the last administration spent only N18 billion on roads all over Nigeria.

In 2016, we are spending N250 billion on roads. In 2015, the administration spent less than 10 per cent on capital projects; we are going to spend 30 per cent on capital projects. The beauty of investing in infrastructure is that it also strengthens the non-oil sectors-agriculture, solid minerals, tourism, culture- because it provides necessary infrastructure for it to be harnessed.

Again, this is the first time in the history of any government in Nigeria that a government, without any brooding, without any strike or protest from anybody, we have from inception thought about an inclusive social intervention. In the 2016 budget, we have set aside half a trillion naira to cater for people who will normally be left behind in any budget, because most people like to talk about manufacturers, chambers of commerce. Nobody talks about the poor of the poorest, and this budget is dedicating half a trillion naira to this.

And this is in six components. The first component is the employment of 500,000 unemployed graduates. They will be employed and trained and then deployed to go and teach in our schools. The next is the employment of 100,000 artisans and technicians.

People with OND and the likes will also De trained and deployed to work as technicians. One strategic policy is the one meal a day, which is targeting 5.5 million pupils all over Nigeria. And this on its own is revolutionary because if you are going to provide a meal a day for 5.5 million pupils, even if you are giving

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available to bring in fuel and open letters of credit. So, from October last year, NNPC has been responsible for over 90 per cent of the fuel that has been brought in. It achieved this not because it also has foreign exchange, but because it has been doing what they called Direct Sale, Direct Purchase. SO, NNPC has been dealing with foreign refineries by telling them we have this crude, take it and give me refined products.

But that 445,000 barrel per day is just 50 per cent of our total local consumption. To balance up that, NNPC has been taking crude meant for the federation account. That is why month after month, states have been taking less money: from the federation account because their share of the federation account is now being used to bring in refined products. ast month, the total foreign exchange that was available was $550 million and NNPC said they would need 500 million of that to bring in petrol. You can imagine if we had gone on that road, there will only be $50 million left for the three tiers of government to share because the oil marketers refused categorically to bring in fuel because they claim that they cannot go to the second tier market to buy dollar at a high price and you compel them to sell at N86.50.

So they just sat down. Now, even when NNPC brings in this fuel, it lacks the capacity to store, distribute and market it.

In all this, what they were doing was to bring in the product and go back to the marketers to help stock the product at a fee, hire trucks from them to distribute. What now happens is that they get this product at about N77 and because all around

L •Mohammed

each of them just one egg a day, you need to provide 5.5 million eggs a day, and in a school year of 200 days, you are going to need more than N1 billion eggs a day. You can imagine the kind of economy that will be created in producing this. In states where we have tried this, we have seen the success. School enrolment is improved, nutrition of the students is improved and then they do better in school.

We also have the enterprise scheme, which is targeting to give loans through cooperatives to one million traders and market women, 460,000 technicians and artisans, and 200,000 agricultural workers. Most economies grow when they have small enterprise. You can imagine if a million people today can employ five people each, you will have five million people in the market. We are not talking about big businesses; we are talking about the types of business you can give N100,000 and they start marking something. The other one is the conditional cash transfer which will give N5000 to the vulnerable Nigerians. This year alone, directly, we are going to lift about eight million Nigerians out of poverty. When you look at the exponential effect of It, It may affect about 30 million people. But we must take this painful decision. And that will lead me to the issue of increase in rice. Like I said, if only the last government that benefited from the windfall in oil had wisely invested this windfall, we will not be facing the problems we are facing today.

If only our refineries were working, we will not need to import at least 50 per cent of our total consumption, because they were designed in a manner to be able to take on this 445 million barrel of crude per day. The 445,000 barrel of crude a day, which is allocated to NNPC, is actually meant for our local refineries because that is the total capacity of those refineries if they were working. If they had invested and repaired these

refineries, now when we were now faced with this global recession and the crash in the price of crude, we would not have been exchanging that crude for refined products. Instead, we would have been refining it here.

Is that why you adopted a new price regime for fuel?

First, Nigeria has lost over 60 per cent of its revenue from the crash of the price of crude. With that, there was no longer foreign exchange

•Contined on page 11

Signs Of Allah In Solar System

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he earth rotates on its axis at one thousand miles an hour; if it turned at one hundred miles an hour, our days and nights would be ten times as long as now, and the hot sun would then burn up our vegetation during each long day, while in the long night any surviving sprout would freeze.

Again, the sun, source of our life, has a surface temperature of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and our earth is, just far enough away so that this ‘eternal fire” warms us just enough and not too much!

If the sun gave off only one-half its present radiation, we would freeze, and if it gave half as much more, we would roast.

The slant of the earth, tilted at an angle of 23 degrees, gives us our seasons; if it had not been so tilted, vapours from the ocean would move north and south,

piling up for us continents of ice.

If our moon was, say, only 50 thousand miles away instead of its actual distance, our tides would be so enormous that twice a day all continents would be submerged; even the mountains would soon be eroded away.

If the crust of the earth had been only ten feet thicker, there would be no oxygen without which animal life must die. Had the ocean been a few feet deeper, carbon dioxide and oxygen would have been absorbed and no vegetable life could exist. Or if our atmosphere had been thinner, some of the meteors, now burned in space by the million every day would be striking all parts of the earth, starting fires everywhere.

Because of these, and host of other examples, there is not one chance in millions that life on our planet is an accident.

•Culled from ALNAS Foundation

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‘Why Board Appointments Are Delayed’

•Contined from page 10

us the cheapest you call get fuel is between N150 and N280 a litre in Benin Republic, Chad, Niger and Cameroon, the attraction to divert was very high. We decided that we should stop living in denial. part from the Federal Capital and a few other cities, where else can you get fuel at N86.50? In most parts of the South East, North West and North East, they have been buying fuel at N200 a litre. I remember we travelled in December and bought fuel at Nl50 a litre in the hinterland.

The major advantage of this new price regime is that it will free us completely from the payment of subsidy.

If you remember, we did not include subsidy in the 2016 budget because we knew we cannot afford it. In 2015 alone, we paid one trillion naira in subsidy, and that is one sixth of the total budget of 2016. Using World Bank rate and cost, one trillion will build for you at least 1,200 kilometres of road, at least 40,000 housing units, two modem hospitals in every major city in the country and train about 10,000 students from primary school to university level as well as 400 stateof-the-art schools all over Nigeria if that one trillion is to be spent on infrastructure.

So, we made up our mind that in 2016, we are not going to have any subsidy because we knew we cannot afford it. So, what we did was to ask everybody to go and buy foreign exchange at the interbank rate. We sat down with them and said if you buy at this rate, you can still make profit if you seek between N135 and N145.

But the most important benefits are four.

One, it frees us from the payment of subsidy forever. Secondly, it makes this product available everywhere, every time. Thirdly, it guarantees stability of prices and number four, it guarantees investment in refineries in the downstream sector and creates new jobs and protect existing ones. At least about 200,000 jobs will be created as a result of this new price regime because people will now be able to invest in new refineries, have more retail outlets. But before now, jobs were contracting in this industry.

Take the Kaduna Refinery for instance. We have about 10,000 people working in our refineries all over Nigeria, producing nothing. It is now that we are investing in local refineries by inviting technical partners to co-run and co-manage them.

It is now that we are using them that they are gainfully employed. We are clear in our mind that the ultimate solution is to be self-sufficient in local refining of oil. That is why we are taking several steps. The first step is that we have invited people to come and invest and co-run these refineries and as at today, for the first time in a decade, all three refineries are working, even though not at optimal capacity. And we are working towards that. Secondly, we have invited investors to come and co-locate modular refineries within existing refineries. That way, they don’t need to build their own pipelines, tank farms and their own logistics. They will use the logistics existing in those refineries. This has been the problem with most people. Somebody will come and say I want to have a refinery in Akure and then you ask him, what is going to be the source of your

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crude? Are you going to lay new pipelines from Port Harcourt to Akure or from Warri to Akure?

But if you co-locate in the existing one, the crude pipeline is there already, the network is there already, tank farms are there

already.

That is what we are doing.

We hope that by 2018, we will be refining locally 60 per cent of all our need and by 2019, we will exit importation and become a net exporter of refined petroleum products. Because by then, we hope to De refining about 750,000 litres per day, and with Dangote Refinery also coming on board between 2018 and 2020, we hope to become a net exporter of refined petroleum products. But that again depends on if we are able to manage and handle this increased vandalism because it is a real problem.

Like I explained to you, we are losing about

I am very confident that the future is bright. We have spent this first one year planning, consulting and we now have a budget which has been signed into law and we intend to implement this budget judiciously and religiously. If we do so, Nigerians will start feeling a lot of relief

880,000 barrels of crude per day. It is not only affecting our crude production, it is also affecting our capacity to give gas to our power plants. We are not just sitting g on our oars. Every day, we are looking for solution to this problem. So when people say it is worse now than when we came, I tell them that we should thank God that we came in because this country today would have been totally unmanageable.

When you were campaigning for election last year, did you ever anticipate the level of rot you met on the ground as a government?

It was not possible to do so. It was not possible for anybody to do so. That brings me to the fight against corruption.

People have come to accuse us of investigating the campaign funds of the PDP and that the fight against corruption is one sided. But that is not true because we never set out to investigate the campaign funding of the PDP. We set out to find out why our army could not defeat a rag tag army like Boko Haram. Why did this war last for so long? Why were our soldiers mutinying and running away from Boko Haram?

Why were they illequipped? It was in the process that we discovered that the money meant for equipping them, to buy them booths, medicines among others, were actually spent for campaign.

We were campaigning and did not even know what was going on, but just wondering why this war was intractable.

Our soldiers have done well in Liberia, Sierra Leone, in Lebanon and everywhere, but then, what has happened? That was when we realised that the money was being dished out. The interesting thing about the 2.1 billion dollars is that there is nobody so far who has been accused of corruption who has denied it. They have all given ridiculous reasons. One said he took N4.3 billion, but he was rendering spiritual services to the government; another said he took N13 billion, but he paid to go and find land for the Maritime University. Another said they paid N2.1 billion into his account for advertisement. We realised that this was the money meant to fight Boko Haram. o, there was no way we would have anticipated the level of rot. The only reason why the 2015 elections were a do or die was perhaps because they did not want us to find out about this. 1£ they had been in government, most of the things now being disclosed would not have been exposed. Look at the 115 million dollars they paid into an account from where they were dishing out money to people. 1£ you look at the campaigns in 2015, money was just flowing out, but we did not know it was that bad. So, we had to stop the bleeding, and that is what we have done so far and we are still stopping the bleeding.

The argument out there is that the money recovered so far should have been put back into the economy Nobody even appreciates the fact that this IS a continuous process. I am happy that Mr. President has promised to release the figure of what has been returned. But what I know is that a lot has been recovered in assets and not in liquid cash. When you recover an asset and there is no buyer, it becomes a problem for you. I also know that we are experiencing challenges in recovering part of the monies abroad partly because of

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Job Vacancies In Nigeria

Team Leader (Shelter) · Lagos, Market Related · Job Type: Permanent · Sector: Admin · Posted by Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on Tuesday, May 31, 2016 · Reference: 169880 Job Details Employer: Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is a non-governmental, humanitarian organization with 60 years of experience in helping to create a safer and more dignified life for refugees and internally displaced people. NRC advocates for the rights of displaced populations and offers assistance within the shelter, emergency food security, and water, sanitation and hygiene sectors.

The Norwegian Refugee Council has approximately 5000 committed and competent employees involved in projects across four continents. In addition, NRC runs one of the world’s largest standby rosters, NORCAP, with 650 professionals, ready to be deployed on 72 hours’ notice when a crisis occurs.

In light of the displacement in the north eastern part of Nigeria, NRC is about to start up an emergency response programme in Nigeria to respond to the humanitarian needs Job Description · The Team Leader holds overall responsibility for management of the Technical and Social activities of the Shelter project including: project planning and implementation, assessment, monitoring and evaluation; · Coordinate the Shelter activities according to strategy, proposals, budgets and plans; · Ensure that all program data are accurately collected and reported; the shelter assistance is in fact provided to selected and approved beneficiaries; the quality and quantity of construction materials distributed; the shelter completion and occupancy; · To assess the shelter construction training needs of the community and assists in the development of appropriate training materials and plans; · Ensure that all programming, administrative and logistical tasks are promptly and correctly completed in accordance with NRC policies, procedures and guidelines; · Represent NRC in meetings and promote exchange of information with relevant external actors; · Ensure adherence to NRC policies and donor requirements; · Remain current on all issues related to Shelter Programming and ensure that staff maintain and update their knowledge; · Coordinate strategy and approach with other NRC offices and personnel; · Conduct staff meetings and produce regular reports; · Maintain updated and precise records on the geographical location of NRC beneficiaries; · Supervise and support the daily work of all shelter program staff; · Monitor and account for the statistical outputs of the team; · Provide weekly, monthly and quarterly reports on upcoming activities, progresses and achievements made in the designated areas of responsibility; · Ensure correct implementation of NRC Security Policy; · Maintain a close line of communication and cooperation with all relevant NRC counterparts in the country; · Provide in-advance input on the overall program strategy and decisions in the designated area of responsibility; · When requested by the supervisor, participate in strategy and coordination meetings with national and international stakeholders; · Performs any other duties as requested by the shelter Program Development Manager.

Candidate Requirements · Bachelor degree in civil engineering or related fields in development · Minimum 5 years’ experience from working with shelter/NFI, houses construction/repair projects in a humanitarian/recovery context. Experience from working with social work and/or with distribution of humanitarian assistance is an advantage. · Must have knowledge of emergency, transitional and permanent shelter construction requirements and protocols · Familiarity with international minimum standards of shelter service delivery (i.e., SPHERE) is an advantage · Excellent communication skills – written and spoken – in English required. · Fluency in one or more of the national/regional languages (Hausa and Kanuri preferred) · Must be willing to work as a team member, take direction, and share technical skills with colleagues and counterparts · Computer literacy in word processing and spreadsheets is required, · Familiarity with AutoCAD, GPS, ARC GIS and Google Earth is strongly desirable · Must be able to work under pressure Apply before Wednesday, June 15, 2016 - 16 Days left Companies may expire jobs at their own discretion. …………………….end……………………..

Inventory Controller · Lagos, Market Related · Job Type: Permanent · Sector: Admin · Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2016 · Reference: 169879 Job Details Our client, a reputable haulage company with nationwide reach, is recruiting qualified personnel to fill this vacant position.Job Description · Responsible for inventory management.

Candidate Requirements · B.Sc./HND business related courses or statistics. · 5years cognate experience. · Excellent Computer Literacy is a must.

Apply before Saturday, July 30, 2016 - 61 Days left Companies may expire jobs at their own discretion. ……………………end………………..

Account Officer · Lagos, Market Related · Job Type: Permanent · Sector: Accounting · Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2016 · Reference: 169878

Job Details Our client, a reputable haulage company with nationwide reach, is recruiting qualified personnel to fill this vacant position.Job Description · Execute all accounting transactions and effect the necessary reconciliation of outstanding transactions. · Recover amounts established being receivable.

Candidate Requirements · B.Sc/HND in accounting. · 2 years relevant experience. · Should be honest and dependable.

Apply before Saturday, July 30, 2016 - 61 Days left Companies may expire jobs at their own discretion. ……………………end……………………..

Marketing Officer · Lagos, Market Related · Job Type: Permanent · Sector: Marketing · Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2016 · Reference: 169877 Job Details Our client, a reputable haulage company with nationwide reach, is recruiting qualified personnel to fill this vacant position.Job Description · Contributing to the annual sales and marketing plan. · Planning and project managing marketing events and evaluating their success. · Evaluating the effectiveness of all marketing activity. · Developing and implementing an internal marketing programme.

Candidate Requirements · B.Sc/HND in a social science course. · At least 3 years relevant experience. · Should have the ability to work without supervision.

Apply before Saturday, July 30, 2016 - 61 Days left Companies may expire jobs at their own discretion. ………………………end………………………..

Administrative Supervisor · Cross River, Market Related · Job Type: Permanent · Sector: Admin · Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2016 · Reference: 169871 Job Details Our client, a reputable haulage company with nationwide reach, is recruiting qualified personnel to fill this vacant position.Job Description · Oversees and administers the day - to - day activities of the office. · Develops policies, procedures and systems which ensure productive and efficient office operations. · Provides assistance and support to the office in problem solving, project planning and management, and development and execution of stated goals and objectives.

Candidate Requirements · B.Sc/HND in hospitality management, business administration, Marketing or any other social science. · At least 5 years relevant experience.

Apply before Saturday, July 30, 2016 - 61 Days left Companies may expire jobs at their own discretion. …………………..end……………………

Technical Support Officer · Abuja, Market Related · Job Type: Permanent · Sectors: Engineering, Technical, Graduate · Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2016 · Reference: 169881 Job Details A logistics company need experienced personnel to occupy the vacant positions: Responsibilities: · Installation, integration, maintenance and management of networked systems for the transmission of data. · Identify and resolve server hardware issues. · Server support would be windows enterprise and other servers in the data centre. · Carry out regular checks on the status of servers (software and hardware) · Manage the data backup of servers · Efficiently analyzing and correcting hard ware and network issues. · Install new equipment and soft ware upgrades. · Responsible for the overall soft ware needs of the company (network and computer applications) · Start up all applications e.g.: Sugar, CRM, Sales force ETC. · Install soft ware, tests systems, implement and maintain system integrity. · Recommend and install fire walls and antivirus Software. · Handle escalation support from support team as assigned by support chief.

Candidate Requirements · Minimum of Bachelors Degree in related field. · 1-3 years experience in related field.

Person Specification: · Must be able to work flexible hours on-site and remote. · Ability to communicate with individuals at all levels in the Company and with various business contacts outside of the company in an articulate, professional manner · Strong interpersonal skills · Good analytical skills · Excellent critical thinking and problem solving skills · Ability to multitask Apply before Saturday, July 30, 2016 - 61 Days left Companies may expire jobs at their own discretion. …………………….end…………………….

You can subscribe to Job Vacancies in Nigeria, Jobs in Nigeria via your e-mail: www.jobszilla.ng •Culled from Sahara Reporters

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n 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) claimed that about 64 per cent of all anti-malarial drugs consumed in Nigeria were fake. It is truly tragic that some five years later, this lamentable situation is substantially unchanged.

The use of drugs that are substandard, spurious, falsely labelled, falsified and counterfeit (SSFFC) is one of the country’s major challenges.

It hampers progress in healthcare delivery, increases mortality rates and the prevalence of drug-resistant infections, cripples legitimate pharmaceutical enterprises, and strengthens organised crime.

In the specific case of malaria, counterfeiting is a particularly problematic issue. Malaria is by far the nation’s biggest killer, accounting for some 300,000 fatalities annually, in addition to resulting in the loss of millions of man-hours lost to ill-health. Fake antimalarial drugs simply worsen an already-bad situation.

During the late Professor Dora Akunyili’s leadership of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), a sustained campaign against the fake drug menace resulted in impressive

5

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OR no fault of theirs, the current batch of youth corps members almost missed being mobilised for the mandatory one-year programme because the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was cash- strapped. Not a few people heaved a sigh of relief when the NYSC eventually rode its financial storm and mobilised the set of young Nigerians who had been kept needlessly in the throes of agitation and despondency.

Held in apprehension for quite a while, these young Nigerians had wondered how they became trapped in the web of a nation’s futile aspirations. Without participating in the scheme, they were unemployable—the NYSC Act had assured that—and here was the agency saddled with the responsibility of ushering them into the compulsory national service saying it might not perform its statutory duties!

The NYSC had been beleaguered for quite a while and the problems which had threatened its essence varied from the economic, such as funding, to the socio-political, such as the failure of the scheme to impact the youths positively and live up to its billing as an institution. The national integration which the scheme sought to establish has remained largely a national mirage despite its existence for

editorials from other newspapers

Countering Counterfeiting

•The war against fake drugs must be reinvigorated

victories. Counterfeit drugs were reduced from 40 per cent of the market in 2001 to 16.7 per cent in 2005.

Much of her success came from a strategy which combined a relentless information campaign on the dangers of fake drugs, a preparedness to identify, confiscate and destroy them regardless of where they were found, and increased cooperation with the authorities of countries like India and China, which are the biggest sources of fake drugs.

It appears that Akunyili’s successors at NAFDAC have not been able to apply the same tactics with a similar measure of success. Fake drugs are still being imported into the country, despite the agency’s deployment of Truscan scanning technology at the nation’s ports. Markets that were hitherto notorious for selling fake drugs are allegedly witnessing a resurgence in sales. Increased access to sophisticated printing technology has made it easier for counterfeiters to produce drugs that look no different from their authentic counterparts.

If Nigeria is to regain the initiative in the anti-fake drugs war, one of the things it must do is to intensify Professor Akunyili’s tactic of taking the battle to producing nations. It is widely believed that Nigerian businessmen instruct manufacturers in these countries to produce drugs with reduced active ingredients, which they then import into the country.

If this is true, it speaks to weak regulation in producing countries, since the deliberate manufacture and export of substandard products is patently unlawful. NAFDAC must liaise with its opposite numbers in countries where the worst offenders are found, and jointly develop strategies that make it much harder for unscrupulous businessmen and unethical manufacturers to produce and export fake drugs.

Then there is the need to resuscitate the agency’s information and education campaign. Nigerians must be reminded again of the danger of fake drugs, educated on how to discover them, and instructed on what to do when they find them. When the

Funding The NYSC

over four decades.

We once observed in one of our comments on the NYSC that the nation had failed to harness in full the advantages which the NYSC scheme offers the Nigerian state by giving it the opportunity to meet the nation’s youths at an impressionable point in their adulthood. Rather than convert the energy, youthful exuberance and hunger for adventure as an opportunity to instill the virtues of patriotism, their delayed mobilisation may have served only to endorse the tedium which the one-year period now represents.

Surely, that should be the last thing the NYSC wants to be; a tedious interregnum between the agony of education and unemployment, as many sceptics have defined it. In the hands of proactive and creative management, though, the period could serve as one for renewal of passion and love for the country even in the face of paucity of funds. The disconcerting reason given for the delayed mobilisation of the recent batch of corps members was that the NYSC was broke and we think this reason was indefensible, especially for a national service.

Since the service is not optional, the Nigerian state should rate it as such and prevent such delays

osun Defender Thursday, June 2, 2016

general populace understands that the war against fake drugs is theirs, rather than the agency’s, it will become easier to prosecute.

NAFDAC must also strengthen its ties to relevant stakeholders, especially the medical and pharmaceutical associations, drug importers and retailers, and the law enforcement agencies. Regular raids of markets and shops must be carried out; offenders should be promptly prosecuted and organisations implicated should be publicly blacklisted.

The agency should also be looking in the direction of those marketing miracle cures via radio, television and online.

Far too many drugs are being pushed as panaceas capable of curing dozens of ailments, and often enjoy prime-time slots on air.

Nigeria’s war against fake drugs is as vital as any other campaign it has fought.

Winning it will guarantee millions of citizens healthy, happy and productive lives.

•Culled from The Nation

procured its certificates without even embarking on, let alone completing, the scheme. Much as the scheme may have derailed, however, we are of the opinion that it can still be rescued and reinvented by proactive and creative management.

It is not unusual for social institutions to derail once in a while but the solution is not to discard them, especially those with a noble mission like the NYSC. The solution is to alter the normative patterns of the institution and focus on the change in its results or effect on the society. We think that the NYSC can be made to go through such a process of rebirth.

However, the rebirth cannot happen when it is cash-strapped.

It is even unheard of that, against the background of the plethora of reports of individuals enriching themselves by exploiting the loopholes in the system to the tune of mind boggling amounts of money, a national scheme like the NYSC was reported to have been so broke that it could not mobilise prospective participants!

in the future.

If the Nigerian state takes the NYSC as a truly serious process of national concern, it will be pursued with vigour and national pride, such that delaying it will be regarded as being similar to a felony.

We expect the agency to rate the scheme as inviolable. The participants must believe in the process and look forward to it as an annual ritual that completes their educational pursuit.

We had also once suggested that the NYSC be enriched and elevated as a national process that is capable of infusing meaning into the lives of the youths instead of reinforcing their despondency. Elsewhere, the annual programme would have yielded results in the direction of national integration and resolving a myriad of national issues like unemployment and militancy. We are persuaded that if the scheme had been well managed and given direction from the beginning, the country might not have experienced the anger and discontent that have trailed its operations.

It is easy to see that the NYSC has already gone to seed with the abuses that have threatened its essence from fake members to successful and virtual sabotage •Culled from Nigerian Tribune by participants who have

interview

14

‘I Am Confident That The Future Is Bright’

•Contined from page 11

judicial challenges or because some of these countries are not too keen.

Don’t forget that this money has been in their countries for the past 15 to 20 years. Any time we go there, we are met with one legal challenge or the other. But I think that because of the integrity of Mr. President today, we are seeing more enthusiasm on the part of these countries to return our money. But I can assure you that at the right time, Mr. President will disclose to Nigerians how much has been recovered. eople have argued that why go and borrow money when there is money out here to recover? Our answer is very simple.

That money out there is not in our coffer yet and you can’t wait for that money to come in first before you start building roads or before you start paying civil servants. Look at the Abacha loot; we have been on that since 1998 or 1999 and yet we have not been able to recover them.

What I assure you is that under this government, there will be so much transparency that anybody cannot use for any other purpose except for the generality of Nigerians whatever money is recovered.

There is also the notion out there that there is no economic team in place at the moment and this has effected planning by this government.

That IS not correct. There is an economic team in place headed by the Vice President, with the Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Minister of State Petroleum, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment and the Central Bank Governor. So, the economic team exists.

But we are used to having a mixture of people from the government and the private sector.

You cannot dictate to a government the form of its economic team.

However, this team I spoke about, nothing stops it from being expanded in future. But right now, to address the challenges, we have this economic team in place and I know that this team interfaces regularly with the private sector. I am aware of at least four or five occasions when they invited economic experts, financial experts, industrialists and others to exchange views even before the 2016 budget. So, you cannot use the same mode, every time.

The President said recently that they are going to treat militants in the Niger Delta hKe Boko Haram, but some people believe that the government should adopt the option of dialogue instead ...

Dialogue does not mean you have to tolerate criminality. They are not mutually exclusive. Once there is criminality, the government must be firm.

But at the same time, it has not shut any door for negotiation. There will be a mixture of both, but law and other, but law and order must be maintained. I think it is how that balance is delicately maintained that is important. The President never said that he has shut out dialogue, but said he will deal with criminality.

Looking forward, what do we expect from this government in the next three years?

I am very confident that the future is bright. We have spent this first one

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•mohammed

year planning, consulting and we now have a budget which has been signed into law and we intend to implement this budget judiciously and religiously. If we do so, Nigerians will start feeling a lot of relief. For instance, I believe that the Minister of Finance has already held meeting with many of the contractors that have abandoned site and arrived at an agreement where certain amount of money will be released to them on condition that they call back the staff the disengaged and go back to site. They have agreed also on what milestone will be paid for what work will be done. This alone is going to reflate the economy.

I am told that about N50billion is being released to contractors in this regards so that they go back to work people supplying planks, nails, gravels and others will be back in business. I can also inform you that with the employment of 500,000 unemployed graduates, 100,000 artisans going to relieve the labour markets when you now start implementing enterprise scheme which is about 1.76 million ordinary Nigerians, one million market men and women, 460 artisans and another 200,000 agricultural workers, the economy will suddenly be reflated and there will be more money in

circulation and people will feel relieved. We will build on that in 2017, especially with our emphasis on infrastructure. The Lagos /Kano railway will be inaugurated this year.

Also the Calabar/Lagos. We hope to commission the Abuja/Kaduna railway this year. We intend to link about 2,300kilometers of roads and we are finishing the master plan on gas to help boost the power sector.

We also need to fully engage agitators in Niger Delta so that we are able to reach our full potential in the oil and gas sector. For many years, we have stagnated at 2.2 million barrel per day. If there is peace there again, we should be able to invest more money in the exploration and get between 2.5 million bpd and 3 million bpd and that will improve the finances of the government.

There are complaints by members of the APC that the government has not remembered them in terms of appointment into boards after working for its emergence. Many believe that the economy will move faster if these boards are functional.

What is delaying the reconstitution of the boards? can assure you that they will not have to wait for too long. But the government has had certain

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The government is trying to run a leaner and more efficient government and in the process, the government will merge certain boards and agencies because we found that some of them are just duplication of others. There is the Steve Oronsaye report which is being studied by government. So, the government is saying how can we start appointing board members into parastatals when in a few months time they will cease to exist? Why not wait until the re- structuring is done?

osun Defender Thursday, June 2, 2016

challenges. The government is looking seriously at reducing the cost of governance. The government is trying to run a leaner and more efficient government and in the process, the government will merge certain boards and agencies because we found that some of them are just duplication of others. There is the Steve Oronsaye report which is being studied by government. So, the government is saying how can we start appointing board members into parastatals when in a few months time, they will cease to exist? Why not wait until the restructuring is done? We know that those who work should be rewarded and so, because of the pressure, we now decided that we should take those parastatals we know will not be merged and reconstitute the boards.

For example, we know that nothing will happen to NNPC or Central Bank. There are about 300 of such agencies of government, and we are working very fast to ensure that we put people there. So, like I said, they will not have to wait for too long.

One year into his tenure, would you say that the President’s rating is still high?

Naturally, when you are campaigning, especially for a President like ours, and we won, his rating was up there. But there were also expectations. Of course the rating has gone down today, which is bound to happen. It happens to every sitting President because of the challenges be is facing. But in a few months time when people start seeing the results of what he has done, it will go back. Don’t forget that the President was not elected for one year, but for four years. We didn’t promise anybody that we were going to do everything within the first year. But we are satisfied that we have laid the foundation in the first year which we will build on in the remaining three years.

As a party, the Action Congress of Nigeria to which you belong opposed an increase in the price of petrol. Many people believe that if it had been Gone then, we would not be passing through that phase now. Any regret opposing it then only to do it now?

You cannot compare oranges with apple. In 2012, it was subsidy they were removing, but in 2016, there was nothing to remove because there was no subsidy at ‘all. The reason given then for removing subsidy was corruption. And we said don’t punish all of us because of the corruption of a few; punish those people who are corrupt and clean the system. Today, the once increase is because we don’t have an alternative.

Also, in 2012, crude oil was selling for about 140 dollars a barrel while in 2016, we are selling for under 40 dollars a barrel. In 2012, the Central Bank had over one trillion dollars in excess every month and our foreign reserve was buoyant. I just told you that last month we had just 550 million dollars revenue and our foreign reserve is depleting. So, they are two different situations.

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sports

England Boss Roy Hodgson Should Tap Into Tottenham Chemistry - Jenas

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oy Hodgson would be “daft” not to take appearing to punch West advantage of the five Tottenham Hotspur Brom’s Claudio Yacob, players in his England squad during Euro 2016, but Jenas says Hodgson says Jermaine Jenas. should not try to tame Barring a surprise, “ H o d g s o n s h o u l d the PFA Young Player of H o d g s o n w i l l n a m e tap into that. If he can the Year.

“Do nothing at all,” D a n n y R o s e , K y l e get enough people on Walker, Eric Dier, Dele the pitch committed to is Jenas’ advice. “Leave Alli and Harry Kane playing that way, he can him alone. Let him be his final 23-man group do it. You need [people the player he wants to for the tournament on with energy] to press be. It’s what makes the Tuesday. high up the pitch. Then top players great and the F o r m e r S p u r s a n d you need full-backs who minute you start taking E n g l a n d m i d f i e l d e r can do what Kyle Walker it out of them, you are J e n a s h a s b e e n and Danny Rose do for diluting them. I hate that. hugely impressed by Spurs. Whether he picks It is part of his make-up Tottenham’s season, them or not is another and he will learn.”

Meanwhile, former despite their catastrophic matter but he would be final month, and believes daft not to tap into that S p u r s a n d E n g l a n d forward Teddy the quintet should be a and I think he will.” key part of Hodgson’s J e n a s h a s b e e n Sheringham believes plans for France. particularly impressed Kane can be the first “If England do well at by Alli and believes his Englishman to win the the Euros, Tottenham will combative style of play Golden Boot at a major tournament since Alan have a huge influence,” is not an issue.

Jenas is quoted as saying T h e 2 0 - y e a r - o l d Shearer on home soil in

by The Independent. missed Spurs’ final three 1996.

“Can Kane challenge “They have just had matches of the season a phenomenal season through suspension after for the Golden Boot at Euro 2016? Yeah, of in terms of the club’s development and that has been a blessing for Hodgson.

“There’s no way he had any inkling that Dele Alli would go on to the level he has and even Eric Dier, ionel M e s s i ’ s t r i a l o n c h a r g e s o f there was questions mark defrauding the Spanish tax payer of €4.1 over him last summer million begins on Tuesday in Barcelona.

— he was a right-back, Prosecutors maintain earnings from image centre-back... It wasn’t quite happening for him t h a t B a r c e l o n a a n d rights between 2007 to but now he looks like one Argentina forward Messi 2009.

The prosecutors have of the most accomplished and his father Jorge used holding midfielders in tax havens in Belize and called for 22-month the league. Then there’s Uruguay to avoid paying jail sentences for both the continuing form of taxes totalling €4.1m on accused, but it is very Harry Kane.

“Spurs will have a massive influence not just because of the players but because of the way they play. There was glimpses [when England beat] Germany. Danny Rose on the left knows exactly where Dele Alli wants the ball, Alli knows where Kane wants it. •Lionel Messi struggled to get to his feet and left ArgentiThey have got a very na’s friendly against Honduras with an apparent injury. good understanding.

course he can. If he hits a run of form like he did in the league then absolutely,” Sheringham is quoted as saying by The Mirror.

osun Defender Thursday, June 2,

Compiled By Lukman Ussein “If he scores a couple of goals in the group stage and England get a nice draw in the round-of- 16 then he’ll be bang in the mix.

“You need everyone confident and in-form

once you hit the knockout stages, particularly your strikers, as that is when it all gets a bit tense. Give either Kane or [Jamie] Vardy half a chance at the moment and they will take it.”

•FC’s Raf Honigstein discusses the factors that will decide whether Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s leaves or stays at Dortmund.

Lionel Messi Tax Trial Begins In Barcelona Ahead Of Copa America

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unlikely that this will happen even should they be found guilty. Both deny any wrongdoing, and €5m has already been paid in arrears and extra charges.

Messi is not due to appear in court until day three of the trial on Thursday, June 2.

Since the end of the club season he has been in Argentina preparing for the upcoming Copa America Centenario in the United States.

The Albiceleste national captain picked up a back injury in a friendly against Honduras on Friday last, but is expected to be able to

travel back to Europe, and then quickly return to California ahead of the team’s opener against tournament holders Chile on June 7.

Both Lionel and Jorge Messi appeared in court previously in the Catalan town of Gava in September 2013.

The player has said that he does not closely scrutinise his contracts and lets his father and advisors look after his financial affairs.

The Spanish revenue service (Fiscalia) initially accepted the 28-year-old’s version of events, however another sector of the government (Abogacia del Estado) decided to continue with the

charges.

Other Barcelona players have also run into difficulties over their tax affairs.

Javier Mascherano was reportedly fined heavily and received a one-year suspended sentence for fraud in January 2016.

A long-running investigation into the structure of the €90m-plus transfer of Neymar from Santos to the Camp Nou outfit in summer 2013 has yet to be resolved.

Real Madrid’s Keylor Navas To Miss Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Tipped For Arsenal, Man United Or City By Cousin Costa Rica’s Copa America Campaign

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osta Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas will miss the Copa America Centenario this summer due to an Achilles tendon problem.

N a v a s h a s b e e n old would face a spell suffering with Achilles on the sidelines with the problems for some time issue.

Although he played and missed last year’s G o l d C u p , a n d h i s in both the final La Liga club, Real Madrid, had g a m e o f t h e s e a s o n announced earlier this against Deportivo La month that the 29-year- Coruna on May 14 and

•Keylor Navas helped Real Madrid to Champions League success on Saturday.

Saturday’s Champions League final success over Atletico Madrid, Real have now said that Navas is suffering with Achilles tendinopathy.

As a result, he will miss this summer’s tournament in the United States, which takes place from June 3-26, and will be replaced

by Deportivo Saprissa’s Danny Carvajal.

The Costa Rican Football Federation (Fedefutbol) announced on its official website: “The Achilles tendon has again caused a problem for the national team goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who will miss the Copa America Centenario, which starts for Costa Rica this Saturday.

“The Costa Rica FA (Fedefutbol) will organise for the goalkeeper Danny Carvajal to replace Navas.

“This Monday the medical department at Real Madrid communicated to the medical department at Fedefutbol that they had done a scan on the national goalkeeper’s left heel.

“In the statement it said that the keeper had chronic Achilles tendonitis, so it was recommended that he stop completely in order to get a definitive treatment.

“Our department has asked for images of the scan, and received them some hours later, when they were looked at by our doctors, along with radiologist Randall Bujan and orthopaedic specialist Vladimir Badilla, who agreed that it needed treatment at this time.

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ierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s Gabon teammate Daniel Cousin has urged the striker to join Arsenal next season, but says he would also progress at Manchester United or Manchester City.

A u b a m e y a n g i s to England. The Premier r e p o r t e d l y o n e o f t h i s League is a different style summer’s most in-demand than in Germany. It’s more transfer targets after scoring physical,” Cousin said.

25 Bundesliga goals this “For me I think it’s a good season, and Cousin said he moment for Pierre to move had a clear preference when to a big club like Man United asked which team he thinks or Man City. the striker should join.

“I think he can score “Arsenal. Because the more goals and get more team plays very well. And experience with a big team.

Arsenal need a striker to win They have now Mourinho at the title next season,” Cousin Man United and Guardiola told the BBC World Service. [at Man City]. I think this “And I think if he plays with [Mesut] Ozil, he gives good kind of coach can help Pierreassists. I think he can play Emerick to progress more.”

Both Arsenal boss Arsene very well with this team.”

Cousin said he feels the Wenger and Mourinho are striker wants to try his luck expected to sign at least one in the Premier League, but striker this transfer window.

Arsenal have been linked also said the Manchester clubs are both attractive with a move for Juventus’ options with new coaches A l v a r o M o r a t a w h i l e Jose Mourinho and Pep speculation is rife that Zlatan Guardiola coming in at Ibrahimovic could reunite United and City respectively. with Mourinho at United.

“I think he wants to move

www.osundefender.org

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Thursday, june 2, 2016

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friend and fan called and demanded my take on the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari in the last one year. He wanted a candid view and provable data for or against his government in my piece.

However, he landed me with a caveat, that he knew that I have sympathy for the President, because I prefer his ascetic lifestyle and his unblemished integrity.

So, he wanted me to divorce emotion from bare-it-all assessment. And I promised to say it the way I see it.

So, why I elected to write, the words of Oliver Cromwell, a former British warlord, came to mind. He once commissioned an artist to paint his portrait, for there was no video or photograph then, and when the artist brought the “oil on the canvass” portrait, it was more strikingly beautiful than the real person. Not wanting to be deceived, the General roared with decree laden tone, “This is not me, where were the pimples and watts on my face? Return to the drawing board, and paint my picture in exact form.”

The instructive lesson there is, most of the commentators and writers were busy assessing President Buhari from the prism of ideal situation, leaving the details to suffer. Whereas, there is devil in the details. For me as a student of Philosophy and Mass Communication, Buhari should be assessed from two spheres. We can begin the debate from a cup with half filled water; to determine whether the cup is half filled or half empty.

Not to be swimming in the water of ambiguities, I shall lay some indices that can be used for the quantities. 1.

Economy 2. Corruption 3. Security 4.

National integrity 5. Institutions of state 6. National thinking 7. Life expectancy.

I would have loved to roll out more, but space is not friendly. Now, let’s work the Mathematics together.

On the state of economy, some opinion moulders and critical stakeholders, coupled with ordinary people on the streets, have handed guilty verdict to Buhari, because to them, prices of food have hit the roof; job loss is commonplace; salaries of workers were not paid and the people are suffering.

As beautiful as the arguments appear, anyone with deep insight would know that they are just symptoms of the systemic failure.

There was a time in this country when we heard nothing about oil boom, the administrators of each region came up with strategic planning, which defined them. Awolowo knew that agriculture was the credible source of revenue, and he invested in agricultural extension services, as he formed Cocoa Produce Board to encourage cocoa cash crop farmers on a better price regime, and got people to plant trees that would be a viable alternative to cocoa money, should the market react negatively. Same for wide net taxation, which brought all adults to duty of paying tax. In return, schools, libraries, roads, towers, bridges and industries were created, and life abundance was achieved.

Who Says Buhari Is A Failure?

By goke butika Nigeria a respect. If that is not an achievement, I wonder what it is.

Of course, the issues of Niger Delta Avenger is burning, but it is obvious that the forces that were fleecing the nation at the expense of the Niger Delta environmental challenges were unhappy with Buhari, who wanted to institute a clean-up and possibly restore life to the area, instead of dashing national wealth to few individuals, who had stolen so much that they could wage a war against the nation, and the only way to checkmate the man is to launch new violence in the area. Let it be reminded that if Niger Delta Avenger is not crushed, then we do not have a nation, and I would not take side with those who are calling on the President to pamper the criminals, who called themselves avengers. So, Mr. President is on point on the military option.

Those criminals must be degraded like Boko Haram before any talk can be meaningful to them. es, it would bring hunger and pains, because we have no other viable source of revenue, but I would rather submit that the avengers should continue to pollute the land for their people, while contending with the superior fire power of the nation’s military. They are nothing but terrorists, and by the time we are done having no oil to sell, people would think, create and innovate. After all, the richest man in the world is not dealing in oil, but technology.

On the issue of national integrity, Buhari has shown to the world that we are capable of governing ourselves, and it is not a mistake that he shone on the international stage. For the state of our institutions, it is zero for now, but that is not a recent failure, it is systemic too, and the way the budget is handled suggested that corruption was the unwritten rule in our institutions.

However, with Buhari in the saddle, the music appears to be changing. National Assembly, civil service and agencies can bear witness to that now, and I think it is a moving train.

Oh, things are hard now, and life expectancy seems to have dropped, but the dialectics of development dictates that there would be thesis before we have antithesis. We had great country abinitio, now the country is rotten, and surely with perseverance, there is going to be a new day called synthesis. A yam tuber gets rotten before it brings out new life for another fresh and bigger tuber.

The change Buhari promised is here.

The national thinking is different now.

When was the last time you heard that a Permanent Secretary traveled to Dubai to celebrate marriage of his daughter?

Who among the ministers is boasting with private jet now? Why are the yesterday’ big men begging for their lives in detention for sharing of national wealth? Who is looking for corners to cut now, when people like Omotseye are being sentenced into prison? Who wants to be a guest of EFCC now? Why are the bankers returning loots to the government? The answers are known to us.

Of course, Buhari has his shortcomings, but he did not promise to make things happen like a magician, and it will be unfair to pass judgment

Y

•buhari That was the state of the Western Region, before the confederation arrangement was truncated in 1966 by the ambitious military guys. Along the line, the nation was delimited into states, and centralized at the centre with terrible decrees, which gave all powers and resources to the Federal Government, while the states became appendages. Hence, “feeding bottle federalism” arrived.

Forget about the long history, begin the assessment of this democratic experiment in 1999, and interrogate issues on how this country has been governed since then. Shortly after democracy was restored, the price of oil rose astronomically; there was plenty money to throw at the nation’s challenges. Instead of embarking on strategic planning, President Obasanjo raised jumbo pay for the political office holders; politicians painted the country in red with cheap money; corruption was on its four, as civil servants began to pad payroll to steal like politicians; the new money began to manifest as the nouveau riche began to import everything, including toothpaste, and the fake lifestyle of proverbial rich country began to fly.

Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua wanted to correct the anomaly, as he reversed some of the

thoughtless policies, but terminal illness reversed his effort and handed the country to President Jonathan, whose ineffectual buffoonery gave a country, where corruption and impunity were elevated to state policies. The country earned more money, spent lavishly and when reelection bid approached, the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and other revenue sources were offered to individuals to make the re-election of the President happen. ndividuals were carting away billions of naira and foreign currencies from the national vault of the Central Bank for prayer and mobilization for election; signature bonuses in billions of dollars from oil wells were stolen for re-election purpose, and funds were stolen under the guise of security votes. Do we think the theft of billions would not have consequences?

Having x-rayed the gravity of the state of the economy and corruption, you will agree with me that Buhari got a thumbup in the area of security, particular on the way he dealt a deadly blow to Boko Haram activities in the North East. Yes, you may have your reservations, but I know that with the way Boko Haram menace was before Buhari took over, the nation’s integrity was on the line, and degrading the terrorists have earned

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OSUN DEFENDER is published by Moremi Publishing House Limited, Promise Point Building, Opposite Guaranty Trust Bank GTB, Gbongan Road, Osogbo, State of Osun. All correspondence to the Managing Editor, Kola Olabisi, Telephone: 08033927286 (kolaolabisi@yahoo.com); Editor, KAYODE AGBAJE, Telephone: 0803-388-0205, E-mail:

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