Friday, April 5, 2019 Edition

Friday, April 5, 2019/ Rajab 29, 1440 AH

Vol. 31 No. 039 N150

@pmlonline

1,810 Days after

Sultan calls on Muslims to look for new moon of Sha’aban

>>>page 5

peoplesdailyng

. . . putting the people first

The nation awaits rescue of the remaining abducted Chibok schoolgirls

FG to publish assets of politicians, top civil servants -NFIU

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PDP street procession:

Court orders Saraki, Melaye, Ben Bruce to report to police

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L-R: Permanent Secretary Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Muhammed Bukar; minister of State, Power, Works and Housing, Mustapha Bala Shehu and Deputy director, Budget, Hajiya Hapsatu Mormoni during the 2019 budget defence at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Buhari attends economic, Pension fund: Reps summon Drugs: FG condemns Saudi’s investment summits in CBN, PENCOM, AGF over execution of Nigerian Jordan, Dubai missing N33bn widow, Kudirat Afolabi pAGE 2

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

News CONTENTS News 2-10,14

L-R: Chairman House committee on downstream petroleum sectors, Hon Joseph Akinlaja; member of the committee Hon. Yusuf Bala Ikara and the chairman House committee on Upstream sector, Hon. Nwokolo Onyemechi Victor during a joint budget defence by the committees at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Editorial 11 Op.Ed 12-13 Politics 15-17 Business 19-20 Metro

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World News

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Africa News

23

World News

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EFCC recovers N251bn, multi-million dollar jewelries, taxes in 16 months -Magu

By Christiana Ekpa

T UNIBEN alumni berates Police over Kolade Johnson’s murder Page 7

Health

25

Feature 26 Sports 29-31 Back Page

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he sum of N251 billion cash and multi-million dollar worth of jewelries such as gold, trapped taxes have so far been recovered by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) between January 2018 and first quarter of 2019.

The EFCC acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu disclosed this at the 2018/2019 budget defence held at the instance of the House Committee on Financial Crimes, chaired by Kayode Oladele (APCOgun).

Responding, Oladele reiterated the Committee’s support for the sustenance of the war against corruption by the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and transformation of EFCC into world-class anti-graft institution, observing that the issue of paucity of funds has become a thing of the past.“I am proud to say that the 8th National Assembly has done a lot to partner with the Executive in the fight against corruption and our Committee will go down in history as the most effective and most productive House Committee on financial crimes in Nigeria,” Oladele noted.

He also applauded the synergy between the Executive and Legislature towards the completion of the 10 storey office building constructed for the commission, which he observed was abandoned by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

According to him, “The construction of the 10 storey building was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan on November 24, 2014, the project was abandoned by the same administration due to its lackluster political will to foster a robust fight against corruption and build capacity for the anticorruption agemcies.

“However, the completion and relocation of the EFCC to this edifice has enhanced the work of the agency and addressed the major problem of office space and littering of the offices of the agency in private buildings in Abuja.

“We are aware that more still needs to be done, particularly on the deployment of comprehensive IT infrastructure for the building and provision of office equipment,” the Ogun lawmaker affirmed.

Breakdown of the recovery

shows that: N11.5 billion final forfeiture (cash and accounts); N133.8 billion Non-forfeiture recoveries; N8.92 billion direct deposits; N38.64 billion tax recoveries; N4.30 billion fuel subsidy recoveries and N42 billion banks (third party).

“These are in addition to recoveries of assets as jewelries (gold), various sums in other currencies and cash for major government agencies including NNPC, FIRS and AMCON. Other details are in the appendix on recoveries, according to the EFCC boss “In the first quarter 2019 financial year, the Commission made recoveries which included: Cash – N140.7 million; Direct Deposits – N2.02 billion; Tax recoveries – N7.20 billion; Subsidy recoveries – N3.06 billion and $292 million,” Magu explained.

According to him, the Commission requires total sum of N22.071 billion in 2019 against the sum of N26.396 billion approved in 2018.

He however observed that the capital expenditure of N15.196 billion was reduced to N3.978 billion in the executive summary submitted by the Executive to the Legislature.

“This represents a 74.82 percent reduction from the approved estimate of N10.07 billion in 2018. We again wish to crave the indulgence of this Committee to consider an upward review in the Commission capital expenditure proposal for 2019.

According to him, the sum of N2.02 billion is for payment of outstanding liablities to Julius Berger arising from certificate Nos. 28, 29 and 30; N1.5 billion cost over runs on new head office complex; N.299 billion for liabilities for consultancy (New head office); N.47 billion for purchase of security equipment (ammunitions) and N1.1 billion for furnishing of the new head office, among others.

In the bid to boost the Commission’s workforce, Magu disclosed plans to increase salaries and allowances of 970 additional staff approved for recruitment, who are to be fully enrolled on the personnel cost platform in 2019.

This comprises 332 Assistant Detective Superintendents, 293 Assistant Detective Inspectors currently undergoing training at NDA Kaduna and support staff that recently joined the services of the Commission.

Buhari attends economic, investment summits in Jordan, Dubai

By Lawrence Olaoye

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari yesterday left Abuja Thursday for Amman to honour an invitation by King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan to participate in the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa holding at the Dead Sea, Jordan.

According to a statement made available to newsmen yesterday by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, the President will deliver an address at the opening of the plenary alongside King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein and United Nations Secretary General,

António Guterres, and join world economic leaders in an informal gathering at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre.

The Nigerian leader will also hold bilateral meetings with some world leaders on the sidelines of the Forum.

He will depart Amman Sunday for Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to participate in the ninth edition of the Annual Investment Meeting between April 8-10.

Invited by His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rachid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice-President, Prime Minister and Ruler of

Dubai, the Nigerian President as Guest of Honour, will deliver the keynote address under the theme, “Mapping the Future of Foreign Direct Investment: Enriching World Economies through Digital Globalization.”

According to the organisers, the meeting is “the largest gathering of corporate leaders, policymakers, businessmen, regional and international investors, entrepreneurs, leading academics and experts showcasing up-to-date information, strategies and knowledge on attracting FDI.” The meeting also seeks to

explore investment opportunities in more than 140 countries, connect businesses and countries willing to engage in sustainable partnerships with investors.

Buhari will be accompanied on both trips by Governors Abubakar Badaru, Abiola Ajimobi and Yahaya Bello of Jigawa, Oyo and Kogi States respectively.

Others on the entourage include the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Babagana Monguno (rtd), and other top government officials.

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

News

News Editor, Ese Awhotu

Reps condemn power ministry’s ‘copy and paste’ budget

By Christiana Ekpa

M

embers of the House of Representatives Committee on Regional Planning and Urban Development on Thursday lampooned the Minister of State, Power, Works And Housing, Baba Mustapha Shehuri and the Permanent Secretary, Muhammad Bukar, over what they described as a “copy and paste” budget.

The lawmakers who frowned at the lack of details of expenditure in the 2018 appropriation also demanded the inclusion of Overhead column on the document with accurate accounts of releases and how they were spent before the 2019 proposal could be considered.

Trouble started when a member of the committee, Hon. Ossai Nichola Ossai (PDP, Delta), probed the bureaucrats regarding details of personnel spending as it relates to Unit-by-Unit allocations, as well as

how releases were done, and if there were done according to each subheads or “done omnibursely”.

The panel also demanded details of staff who travelled for a certain African Union event and how much was spent per head.

Also pointed out was another trip relating to UN Habitat event which coincided with the General Assembly in 2018, as members called for detail information of officials on the trip and amount spent on them.

Ossai insisted the minister must provide answers to his questions before the committee could proceed with consideration of the 2019 budget proposal, a demand that he changed was not met before he (Ossai) left the meeting.

Members also noted the absence of overhead allocation in the documents presented, asking if they also lumped it up with personnel cost and spend as they come.

Answering the questions was the PermSec, Alhaji Bukar who told lawmakers that personnel cost is not being managed by the Ministry.

He added, saying that they couldn’t provide details because it wasn’t specified earlier but would do so if necessary and that the Ministry’s personnel emolument is a function of the new Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

He therefore craved for the panel’s indulgence for time to enable him get the details before the end of Thursday (yesterday).

On why the 2019 document was a photocopy of 2018, the as noted by Hon. Saheed Fijabi from Oyo state, a director in charge of Finance in the Urban and Regional Development department struggled with words to respond.

Again, a member, Hon. Fijabi interjected saying that the response further complicated matters since

the PermSec had earlier alluded to typographical error.

The PermSec and the minister at this point could only be seen murmuring to themselves - with the PermSec heard asking the head of budget department, Hajiya Hapsatu Mormoni, sitting to the minister’s left as to why the column for overhead wasn’t added to the document, as well as the conspicuous duplication of line items bearing semblance of 2018 proposal - while she in turn pointed at the director of finance and his people, apparently blaming them for the error.

Presenting the 2018 budget appraisal earlier, the minister of State, Mustapha Shehuri said “the sum of N128,353,065,392.00 was appropriated to the Housing Sector of the Ministry in the 2018 fiscal year. Out of this amount, the Urban and Regional Development Department received a total capital allocation of N1,229,535,392”.

On the side of releases, performance/implementation, he said “the sum of N373,431,919.01 which represents 30.37% of the sum of N1,229,535,392 appropriated in the 2018 Appropriation Act for the Urban and Regional Development Department was released”.

“On the 2018 Budget Performance, the Urban and Regional Development Department received the sum of N373,431,919.01 which represents 30.37% of the appropriated amount in the 2018 Appropriation Act. The amount released was utilized to pay for; Outstanding Certificates owed contractors for various projects executed under Urban Renewal and Slum Upgrading Programme, commemoration of the World Habitat/Cities Days and preparation and conduct of study for sustainable development of the urban centres” he added.

The committee therefore dissolved into a closed door session to harmonise figures and match same with actual performance.

Oil exploration to continue in north- NNPC From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

G L-R: Minister of State for Education, Prof.

Anthony Anwukah, Members of the Committee, Masaudu adamu kazaure and ,Prof.Aliyu Muhmmadu, during the Inauguration of the technical teacher training Advisory committee, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-owo

Alleged husband killer: Court orders Maryam Sanda to open her defense

By Vivian Okejeme Abuja

J

ustice Yusuf Halilu of a Federal Capital Territory High Court, Maitama, has discountenanced Maryam Sanda’s no-case submission.

The court therefore, ordered the defendant, accused of killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello to enter her defense.

The prosecution closed its case on January 22, after calling six witnesses in the trial.

Sequel to that, the defendant, through her counsel, Olusegun Jolaawo, applied for a no case submission, insisting that the

prosecution had not made a prima facie case against her to warrant her to defend herself.

In the ruling, the court held that the prosecution adduced enough evidences through their witnesses, that the defense needs to enter her defense.

According to Justice Halilu, the offence preferred against the accused, if found guilty, is punishable under Section 221 of the Penal Code.

“The submission of no case to answer by Maryam Sanda, the first defendant, is overruled. I call on the first defendant to enter her defence,” the judge held.

“From the evidence of prosecution witnesses one to six adduced before me, a thick cloud seems to form around the case of the prosecution, making it impossible at this point of time for the other side not to be considered.

“The submission of the no case to answer as it were in this particular situation is overruled.

Meanwhile, the trial judge discharged and acquitted the defendant’s mother, Maimuna Aliyu, brother, Aliyu Sanda and housemaid, Sadiya Aminu.

The co-defendants were accused assisting Maryam to conceal the

evidence by cleaning the blood of the deceased from the scene of the crime.

He held that the prosecution (police), either by omission or commission, have clearly not done well in tying Maimuna, Aliyu and Sadiya, to the offence of screening.

“The no case submission of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants is hereby upheld and they are hereby discharged and acquitted,” Justice Halilu held.

He therefore, ordered for a dayto-day trial of the matter.

The judge fixed May 6, for the defense to call her witness.

roup Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroluem Corporation, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Kaccala Baru has said oil exploration in Northern Nigeria will continue.

He said this will enable the NNPC do a massive appraisal of the discovery of gas reserves made in 1999 in the region.

Dr. Baru who was in Kaduna for the 40th edition of the Kaduna International Trade Fair, said the corporation is working on the Kolmani River ii with optimism and high expectation.

He said President Muhammadu Buhari has personally urged the corporation to go back to exploration on the Kolmani River ii Well and drilling has been going on smoothly and that as of yesterday morning, the corporation has dug 10,075 ft deep with a target to reach 14,270 ft exploration.

“The main purpose of this well is to start some massive appraisal of the discovery that was made way back in 1999 of some gas reserves in Kolmani River 1 and so far the drilling has been going on smoothly to enable exploration.

“Well we will do the needful, if we need to probe any particular section we will take our time to do it, our target date is to see that by the end of May, we complete exploration on that particular well and move to Kolmani River iii which site is almost ready for the rigs to move there and from there we move to other locations,” he said.

Earlier the GMD in his speech at the fair said it provides an opportunity for stakeholders and long term exhibitors like NNPC to take stock of their participation through the years with a view to consolidating on areas of strength, while working on avenues for improvements.

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Villascope

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

News

with Lawrence Olaoye e-mail: lawrenceolaoye8@gmail.com Text: 08036236703 (SMS only)

Ethnic wragling over national tragedies

T

he deep seated hatred and mistrusts amongst Nigerians came to the fore recently with twin tragedies that befell the country: the execution of a Nigerians woman

by Saudi Arabian authorities for drug related offenses and the unveiling of the identities of the five scoundrels who robbed a bureau de change in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Ordinarily, both incidences in a sane clime, where human lives and dignity matter, should attract public introspection about the Nigerian society and how the incidences would affect the image of the country and the people in the omits of nation.

But in a society where human lives count for nought, the execution of a woman in a foreign land matters less. The egregious national embarrassment caused by the undesirable elements in our society in foreign lands has been turned to a topic of ethnic rivalry by those whose stock in trade is to attach primordial sentiments to whatever happens in the country.

Local and international communities have variously condemned the savagery of the execution of the Nigerians woman in an unclear circumstance as there have been doubts on the judicial processes leading to the condemnation of the victims by the Saudi authorities.

Chances are that those facing the hangmen for drug related offenses in the Holy Land may be innocent going by the observation of the federal government on the activities of drug barons and the foreign airlines operators accomplices.

They, including the Nigerian executed and those others on the death roll, may actually be victims of circumstances.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora, painted a gory picture on the challenges facing some unfortunate Nigerians pilgrims in Saudi Arabia who may end up dying for offenses not committed when she said “We have had cases where truly they didn’t commit the offence. We have appealed to the Saudi Authorities to make the trials fair, open and ensure that justice is done. Even if you are going to die, you will know that you die for an offence you committed.”

She further explained that there have been cases where airlines operators stealthily open passengers luggages and implant drugs and other contraband materials only to turn them into unwilling courtiers and be made to suffer for what they know nothing about when they are eventually arrested.

Abike-Dabiri specifically mentioned Ethiopian and Egypt Airlines operators as possible culprits in this syndicate. She disclosed that the Nigerian embassy in Saudi Arabia had succeeded in proving the innocence of one of the victims caught in the web of the international drug syndicate using innocent travelers/ pilgrims as unwilling couriers.

Therefore, the arrest and execution of our nationals in Saudi Arabia calls for a drastic diplomatic attention in order to prevent the innocent from suffering for offenses not committed.

The realization of this anomaly perhaps was at the heart of the condemnation of the execution of the Nigerians woman by Avocats San Frontieres-ASF France (Lawyers Without Borders). The international body has urged the Saudi Athotities to halt the execution of foreigners as it argued that drug trafficking/ peddling does not constitute one of the ‘most serious offenses’ in the world.

Curiously, certain compatriots have trivialized the serious issue involving the lives of their fellow countrymen in foreign lands by accusing the government of putting a lid on the identities of those on death roll in the Holy Land only to unveil those of the robbers in the UAE. Like on every other issue in the country, those stoking the ember of ethnic hate made public the identities of those executed and

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

By Vivian Okejeme Abuja

J

ustice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court Abuja, has ordered the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Senators Dino Melaye and Ben Murray-Bruce to immediately honour the invitation by the police.

The police invited the three senators for questioning over their roles in the October 5, 2018 street procession staged in Abuja by the Peoples Democratic Party.

Delivering the ruling justice Abang held that the Police invitation extended to them remained valid and subsisting, adding that it was the outcome of their honouring the invitation that would determine if their rights had been violated.

The three senators were part of the PDP leaders who led the

PDP street procession:

Court orders Saraki, Melaye, Ben Bruce to report to police protest which held some days after last year’s governorship election in Osun State was declared to have been won by the All Progressives Congress.

They alleged that the security agencies, including the Police, colluded with the APC to rig the earlier governorship election in Ekiti State and the one later held in Osun.

The senators had led a protest to the Independent National

Electoral Commission’s office in Abuja, demanding a free and fair election in 2019.

The police later dispersed the protesters with teargas, while on their way to the Force Headquarters.

Sequel to that, the Police, on October 6 and 8, 2018, invited them to answer questions in relation to the protest, the action which promoted the senators to filed a fundamental human rights

enforcement suit.

They claimed that the Police invitation amounted to harassment, intimidation and an attempt by the Police to detain them unlawfully.

They prayed for, among others in the suit, the court’s declaration that the act of the Police dispersing their procession using tear gas was a violation of their various rights, and sought an order awarding them N500m

as “exemplary and pecuniary damages.”

Justice Okon Abang, in his judgment, yesterday, set aside the right suit and upheld the case made out by the Police.

He dismissed the applicants’ suit for lacking in merit and awarding the cost of N50,000 against the three applicants.

He held that a mere invitation by the Police, which are empowered by Section 4 of the Police Act to detect and investigate crimes, could never amount to harassment or intimidation.

Abang further held that the Police, having alleged in their response to the suit that the PDP procession was dispersed following the protesters’ riotous and criminal conduct, the law enforcement agency had the power to invite suspects for questioning.

Sultan calls on Muslims to look for new moon of Sha’aban

S Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Senior Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora others on death roll because the robbers, who left the shores of the country on tourist visas to Dubai to rob a bureau de change, are from a certain part of the country.

This has become a topic of bitter exchange on the social media at a time when the national discourse should focus on strategies to eliminate the export of criminality in the country. Drug peddling and armed robbery are crimes that should not be domesticated as those putting the

face of ethnicity to everything imaginable are wont to.

Ethnicizing crimes, at a time the government is working tirelessly at image laundering, is nothing but a national shame.

The implications of the two tragedies on the nation’s image and perception of Nigerians at international fora can only be imagined.

Already, the UAE has cancelled its three months tourist visa for Nigerian passport

holders. According to reports, Nigeria passport holders are no longer eligible to three months UAE tourist visa. They are now restricted to 1 months, 96 hours and 48 hours UAE tourist Visa till further notice.

Similarly, security checks on Nigerians on pilgrimage to the Holy Land would further be made embarrassingly thorough. This, of course, calls for national introspection and must not be reduced to the usual ethnic banters.

Lagos states and you will get to know that the last governorship elections was bloody.

The outcome was soaked in the blood of the innocent!

Some of those being paid to provide protection have also turned their guns on the people they are supposed to protect. The recent killing of Kolade Johnson by men of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) in Lagos and others before him only showed that the culprits never expected to suffer any consequences for their actions.

Similarly, those high-profile politicians who fueled crisis by using security agents and thugs to send innocent citizens to their early graves at the just concluded polls never believe that they could be brought to book.

Life has become so brutish and short in this clime because there is no consequence for malfeasance.

But, this government must rise to the occasion. Sanctity of life must be uppermost in its agenda. Enforcement of law and making culprits to face the consequences of their action, irrespective of their status, remain the only true means of deterring potential criminals.

Everything must be done to ensure that those criminals caught are made to face the

music. For instance, the President had vowed to ensure that Johnson’s killers are brought to book. Nigerians are interested in how the government will treat these blood-thirsty cops. They would want to see what becomes of thugs arrested for disrupting electoral process and killing innocent people during the polls. People will also want to see how those security agents who soiled their hands during elections by participating in ballot snatching are also treated.

It is only when justice is seen to have been done that others intending criminals could be deterred. Admittedly, the nation’s justice system is slow, but the government should begin to move for serious reforms, especially in the judiciary so that the wheel of Justice could be made to move faster.

The nation’s policing system also requires reforms to sync with the nation’s present realities. Time has come for the government to look into the proposal for the establishment of community police.

Kidnappers are not spirits; they live among the people and could easily be identified by their acquaintances for arrest.

Time has p, indeed, come for a complete overhaul of the nation’s security apparatus and value system to end impunity.

Why impunity thrives

D

espite all legal measures in place in the country, there seems to be increase in criminality. Institutions and prescribed consequences for criminal actions appear not enough to scare anyone from committing crimes. Impunity thrives because there are mostly dearth of consequences because the institutions put in place to check excesses are either weak of ineffectual.

When President Muhammadu Buhari came on board, not a few shouted Eureka with the believe that he would reenact the feat he attained in his first coming as a military Head of State when discipline was forcefully knocked into the people’s skulls. But, this appears not to be so because he operates in a democracy where the rule of law and due process must be dutifully followed.

Upsurge in criminality, including kidnapping and thuggery, in the society has attained an epidemic proportion. Kidnappers operate nationwide as if there the nation’s security operatives are on holidays. Men of the underworld operate daily on KadunaAbuja express-way claiming ransoms in millions from their struggling victims.

At the just concluded general elections, thugs had their field days.

If in doubt ask those in Kano, Rivers and

ultan Sa’ad Abubakar, on Thursday, called on Muslims to start looking for the new moon of Sha’aban 1440A.H. Mr Abubakar made the call in a statement signed by Sambo Junaidu, the Chairman, Advisory Committee on Religious Affairs, Sultanate Council, Sokoto.

Mr Junaidu stated that “this is to inform the Muslim Ummah that Friday, April 5, which is equivalent to 29 day of Rajab 1440A.H., shall be the day to look for the new moon of Sha’aban 1440A.H. “Muslims are, therefore, requested to start looking for the new moon of Sha’aban 1440A.H. on Friday and report its sighting to the nearest district or village head for onward communication to the Sultan.”

The monarch prayed to Allah to help religious leaders and all Muslims in the discharge of their religious duties.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sha’aban is the eight month of the Islamic calendar that comes before the compulsory fasting month of Ramadan.(NAN)

L-R: Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Mr. Segun Awolowo; Chairman Manufactures Association of Nigeria, Chief Ede Dafinone; and Director, Integrated Mechfarms Limited, Ms. Lynsey Elston, during a stakeholders forum on implementation frameworks for the issuance of Promissory notes, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin imo-Owo

FG to publish assets of politicians, top civil servants -NFIU

By Christiana Ekpa

T

he Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has said that the assets of all public officials and senior political office holders will soon be open for public consumption.

The NFIU, a member of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units also said it has impounded N10bn suspected criminal funds.

Director of NFIU, Alhaji Modibbo Hamman-Tukur disclosed this yesterday at a budget defence session with the House of Representatives committee on financial crimes led by Hon. Kayode Oladele (APC, Ogun).

Briefing the committee on the activities of the NFIU, the director

said the suspension, which was lifted in September 2018 was based on certain conditions that need to be met by the country.

He said the Egmont Group would want the NFIU to work closely with other agencies of government in fighting terrorism, financial crimes and other related offences.

“With the lifting of the suspension, it is likely that all assets of all leaders, public officials and political office holders will be displayed.

They want to see us work with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC).

“They want us to work closely with the presidency, Code of Conduct

Bureau (CCB) and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). They want to see the assets of all public officials displayed publicly”, he disclosed.

Explaining further, HammanTukur said “we believe that NEITI and CAC are doing a good job, but it will be good that the beneficiary owner data base will be domiciled with the CCB, and we will subscribe; because CCB has assets declarations of all public officers” He said after the suspension was lifted, they faced the task of EU listing, which was targeted at blacklisting Nigeria and stop all her transactions overseas involving European countries. Adding, he informed that they were able to block the blacklisting but the EU listing subjected Nigeria to enhanced

due diligence in all transactions concerning all EU countries on suspicious transactions through their own agencies within their jurisdiction.

Hamman-Tukur disclosed that the concerns raised by the EU include terrorism, kidnapping and corruption.

The director noted that the “NFIU being a new body and in line with its mandate and to ensure information and data backup and enhance the confidentiality of the information in the NFIU, which has over time been one of the major concerns of the FATF and EGMONT Group of FIU’s. He disclosed that the NFIU had a total budget of N1.185 billion in 2018 made up of N385.310 million as personnel cost, N600 million as

overhead while N200 million was for capital cost. According to him, the capital release to date stands at N174.946 million out of the budgeted amount of N200.1 million, adding that utilization percentage stands at about 12 percent while the balance stands at N154.936 million.

On the 2019 budget, the director revealed that a total of N8.244 billion has been proposed, which is made up of N1.154 billion for overhead cost, N4.124 billion as capital cost while N2.865 billion is for personnel cost.

He explained that despite the fact the government has financial constraints due to dwindling revenue; the NFIU needs to carry out its role of monitoring financial institutions for compliance as empowered by the NFIU act of 2018.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

PAGE 6

CRIME News

News Drugs: FG condemns Saudi’s execution of Nigerian widow, Kudirat Afolabi

By Ochiaka Ugwu

T

he Federal Government of Nigeria has condemned in the strongest terms, the execution of a Nigerian national, Mrs Kudirat Adesola Afolabi, widow and mother of two, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for drug related offences.

In a press statement released

in yesterday in Abuja by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Ambassador Mustapha Lawal Sulaiman, it stated that while Nigeria respects the sovereignty of States, and abhors the violation of domestic laws of any country, the Government however does not condone such inhumane treatment being meted on

a Nigerian national.

According to the statement, “It also frowns at the Saudi authorities for not informing the Nigerian missions in Saudi Arabia of the arrest and prosecution of the deceased Nigerian, only to invite the mission to take the last will of the deceased prior to her execution on 1st April, 2019.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs

therefore wishes to assure Nigerians that it has engaged the Saudi authorities through their Ambassador in Nigeria, to ensure that the normal diplomatic practice of informing missions of the arrests of our nationals is adhered to, and that fair hearing is given to other Nigerians undergoing judicial processes in Saudi Arabia” the statement concluded.

Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, (right), Presenting Certificate to Selected Grandaunts Miss. Julbyen Nansoh While DirectorGeneral Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology (NILEST) Dr. Eucharia Ngozi Oparah Watches on at the Matriculation and Graduation Ceremony of Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology (NILEST)United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sponsored Training Programme, in NILEST Extension Centre Office Utako, Abuja. Photo: justin imo-owo

Lassa fever: Gombe PHCDA solicits media support on awareness From David Hassan, Gombe

T

he Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency has called on media practitioners to do everything they could to reach out to the public on the danger of Lassa fever within the society.

Speaking at a one- day workshop organized by the agency, the Resource

Person, Dr. Nuhu Bile said the discovery of Lassa fever in the state is a major concern to be tackle by sensitizing the public about the menace.

The scourge which has been the major concern the media need to take proactive measure to ensure that door step of the public are aware the danger of the disease.

In his presentation at the workshop Dr. Bile said to eliminate the disease can only be achieved when sensitization is been spread out to the public through the media and religious leaders.

Speaking further, he said media are in the fore front in discharging their civic responsibilities ensure success in the fight of Lassa fever in

the country.

He appealed to the public not to relent in keeping their environment clean to avoid Lassa fever which is course by rats.

Our correspondent reports that media practitioners were drawn from various media houses in the state to attend a one day seminar on need to fight against Lassa fever.

USAID launches $300m agribusiness investment to boost Nigerian economy

By Ochiaka Ugwu

I

n a bid to boost private sector investment in agricultural sector of the economy, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched Agribusiness Investment Activity.

In a press statement released yesterday by Public Affairs Section of United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria, in Abuja it noted that new New ‘Feed the Future’ initiative will strengthen Nigeria’s business enabling environment to boost private sector investment in select agribusiness value chains.

According to the statement, “Under a new contract with Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA), an international agricultural development organization, the

PAGE 7

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) recently launched the new Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity.

“This activity aims to help Nigeria develop and strengthen a more business-enabling environment through promotion of private-sector investment in agriculture.

Through CNFA, USAID will work to improve the ease of doing business in the agricultural sector, broaden access to finance by mitigating the credit risks of agribusinesses, and promote investment opportunities for agribusinesses to expand and scale up operations.

“In line with the commitment of the governments of the United States and Nigeria to broaden the economy, these efforts will increase the quality, quantity,

market access and diversification of Nigeria’s agribusiness sector.

“This activity will pursue a unique, robust business-centered strategy to implement this Feed the Future initiative in Nigeria,” said Chief of Party Adam Saffer.

“Under this approach, the activity will partner with domestic and multinational companies in order to more effectively bridge the gap between government and the private sector – and to distribute the economic benefits of the project more broadly across Nigeria’s agribusiness sector.”

“The Agribusiness Investment Activity aims to collaborate with the Nigerians agribusiness sector to integrate and upgrade thousands of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and producer organizations as high-performing commercial

actors in the rice, maize, soy, cowpea, and aquaculture value chains” the statement read in part.

“Through advocacy for streamlined regulations, more effective policies, improved production and processing practices, and significantly increased finance and investment flows, the activity will help Nigerian entrepreneurs increase the competitiveness and returns of both large and small agricultural enterprises in Nigeria.

“Over the course of the five-year award, the Agribusiness Investment Activity aims to facilitate $200 million in new lending and $100 million in new investment across the five crops in the following seven designated Nigerian States: Kaduna, Niger, Kebbi, Benue, Delta, Ebonyi, and Cross River” the statement concluded.

NDIC trains 3,260 students on financial literacy From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

T

he Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, (NDIC), has trained over 3,260 students of secondary schools across the country on financial literacy.

The Managing Director of the Corporation, Umaru Ibrahim disclosed this yesterday during the Corporation’s special day at the on going 40th Kaduna International Trade Fair.

He further explained that 841 students were hosted on academic visits to the Corporation Head Office in Abuja.

Umaru Ibrahim also reiterated the commitment of his organisation to redouble efforts at enhancing financial literacy and equip more Nigerians with the requisite knowledge required to make informed financial decisions in their engagement with various financial institutions.

The Managing Director who was represented by the Head of Communication and Public Affairs Department, Mohammed Kudu Ibrahim said in 2018, a total of 4,083 Nigerians benefitted from such programs through the Kaduna, Enugu, Lagos and Kano International Trade Fair.

The head of communication further explained that NDIC has commenced the process of verification and payment of depositors of 154 MFBs and 6 PMBs whose licenses were recently revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria in the last quarter of 2018.

According to him, the Corporation has recorded tremendous achievements in implementation of various failure resolution strategies that ensured the continuous access of depositors to their savings.

“It is on record that the ‘Bridge Bank’ resolution option adopted by the Corporation in the case of the defunct Skye Bank saved over 6,000 jobs in the industry, and also ensured that normal operations continued in all the 277 Branches of the banks. “ In addition, the resolution option utilized which was completed with the establishment of the ‘Bridge Bank’ now called the Polaris Bank, ensured that depositors of the closed banks had unhindered access to their deposits in excess of N949.60 billion as at June 2018. “ The Corporation also been relentless in its debt recovery efforts particularly the debt owed to banks in-liquidation so as to enhance payment of liquidation dividends to depositors whose balances are in excess of the insured limits. “ In 2018, a total of N526,397,116.26 was recovered in respect of Deposit Money Banks in-liquidation, N51,159,867.97 and N710,057.83 from Primary Mortgage Banks and Micro Finance Banks respectively”, Ibrahim explained.

Ishaq Bello, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Prisons Reform and Decongestion (PCPRD), has said that 5,000 inmates have so far regained their freedom in 15 states of the federation.

Mr Bello, who is also the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), made the disclosure in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Zaria, Kaduna State.

The chairman said, ‘‘In terms of statistics, within the short period of time, we have released almost 5,000 inmates in 15 states visited so far. ‘‘This is bothering on those with option of fines, age factor, some of them beyond 70 years, 80 years and above, ill-health and by reasons of certain errors were made.’’

He said his committee believed that those persons should no longer remain in prison by reason of these fundamental errors. ‘‘For instance, where somebody has been awaiting trial well beyond the imprisonment terms if he were convicted, you will find out that we have no reason to allow such a person to stay in prison. ‘‘If he had been convicted, he would have served his imprisonment terms and since left and became a free citizen. ‘‘We don’t allow such kind of thing to strive once we are confronted with it, there and then we take decisions. ‘‘We met a lot of people with psychiatric issues, some of them we were able to release them upon

Insecurity: Kebbi gov, security chiefs, monarchs chat way forward From Ahmed Idris Birnin Kebbi

F

ollowing the ongoing security challenges facing some parts of the North, yesterday the Kebbi State Governor Senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu summoned all the security chiefs and traditional rulers in finding ways on how to tackle the security situation in the State.

In a chat with our correspondent on Thursday at the Government House Birnin Kebbi, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Alhaji Muazu Dakingari said that the meeting was aimed on how to protect lives and properties of the people.

He said that Kebbi State was known as the most peaceful State in the country and as such the governor has promised to continue to maintain peace and harmony been enjoyed by the people for long.

“You see what is happening now in Zamfara, and Sokoto States in terms of killings, and you know that we are sharing border with them, and for that the Governor Bagudu would not allowed such to affect kebbi State, that is why his summon all the stakeholders on how to tackle the situations” he added.

He appealed to the people of the State to cooperate and support securities agencies when discharging their duties.

Presidential C’ttee frees 5,000 inmates -Chairman getting satisfied that we could entrust them into the hands of their relations or persons that genuinely indicated interest to take their custody-ship. ‘‘Others though pathetic, because we found out that it was not wise to release them for lack of any known relation of theirs who could take custody-ship of them,’’ he said.

Mr Bello said even for their own safety, the committee allowed them to remain in prison for their own safety especially in this era of rituals, human trafficking and all sort of evils.

He explained that if the committee allowed such persons into the streets, they would simply be handing them over to such evils. ‘‘Though we have sympathised with the management of the prison authority because managing such kind of person is not easy, they are under great constraints but we had no option but to allow them to remain. ‘‘Some went with the sickness into the prison but a lot of them develop it in the prisons like in Delta and Edo we saw quite a number of

them that have developed psychosis in the prison.’’

He said the greatest challenge of the committee was its inability to get them out of prison, adding that the situation was compounded by the absence of psychiatric hospitals close to the prison formations.

Mr Bello, therefore, advocated for the establishment of well-equipped psychiatric hospitals close to prison formations to minimise the burden if not completely eradicated.

He also advised the government

to make the hospitals responsive to the needs of the inmates.

The chairman lamented a situation where judges granted orders for remand without bothering to state a return date so much so that the person remained detained in prison for eight or 10 years. ‘‘In one of the states we visited, we found a person with 11 years without seeing the light outside the prison for one day, meaning that he had not been taking to court for all these years, these are serious laps.’’(NAN)

L-R: Director General, Industrial Training Fund, Joseph Ari; representative of the Vice President, Boss Mustapha and one of the graduating students, Nasiru Raji, during the presentation of startup kits to the graduating students of National Industrial Skills Development Program organized

by ITF, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-owo

UNIBEN alumni berates Police over Kolade Johnson’s murder By Osaigbovo Benin

Iguobaro,

C

oncerned members of University of Benin (UNIBEN) Alumni association, have lashed out at the Nigeria Police for taking dictation from an extreme position in connection with the alleged murder of a Nigerian, Kolade Johnson.

The 32-year-old Kolade reportedly died as a result of gunshot fired by a policeman attached to anti-Cultism unit of the Lagos State Command when misfortune knocked on the door

of a football viewing Centre on Sunday in the State.

A peaceful protest was staged yesterday in Benin City by the group to demand for the prosecution of the suspected culprits currently undergoing orderly room trial over the murder of Johnson Kolade who was a graduate of University of Benin.

Spokesperson of the protesters, Miss Precious Orute, tasked the law enforcement agency not to ambush justice in the ongoing investigation and redirect public perception about the institution to win public trust.

She said the tragedy has given credence to the fact that human rights of Citizens, was on a retreat.

Orute, maintained that there was no justification for security operatives to raise a hand of violence against an unarmed Civilian.

“I speak on behalf of women, Children, youths and widows in Nigeria including Kolade’s mother. We are angry at the behaviour of the Nigeria Police...

“The mentality of most of them is a shame to this nation”, she lamented.

Also speaking, a Benin-based human rights activist, Marxist

Kola Edokpayi and Comrade Ogute Divine Omale, said the investigation and enquiry on the murder of the Nigerian should not be left for the Police alone.

Responding, the Commissioner of Police, Edo State, Mr. Danmallam Mohammed who received the protesters at the Command headquarters in Benin City, expressed displeasure over the Kolade’s murder.

The Commissioner who was represented by the Public Relation Officer of the Nigeria, explained that his death was “man’s inhumanity to man”.

NSCDC decorates 12 Assistant Commandants Generals

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

T

he Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has promoted and decorated 12 officers from the ranks of Commandant to Assistant Commandants General (ACG).

Decorating the officers yesterday at the headquarters of

the corps in Sauka, Abuja, the NSCDC Commandant General, Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu charged them to up their games.

“You should note that your promotion comes with higher responsibility.

You should therefore brace up for more diligent and committed in the discharge of their duties.

“Finally, I hope this

promotion will inspire you to do more for the corps and the nation, and translate in to improved productivity”.

Also speaking, Representative of the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Danbazau, said the officers were chosen based on merit.

Represented by Emmanuel Bassey, who is the Commissioner

in-charge of appointments and promotion at the Board of Civil Defence, Prisons, Immigration and Fire Service, at the ministry, urged them to be good Ambassadors of the country.

“You should be of good conduct wherever you find yourselves. Be loyal to the government and the system. You must do your part to make this country a better place”.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

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NEWS

Ease of Doing Business: Technocrat commends Osinbajo, suggests ways forward

By Paul Efiong, Abuja

A

former director in charge of Investment Facilitation and Incentive Administration with the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission and Managing Director, Good Ground Resources Limited, Amos Sakaba has commended the Presidential Committee on Ease of Doing Business, headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo which resulted in various executive orders aimed at improving the ease of doing business in the country.

Speaking during an interview

in Abuja, he noted that the policy resulted in the reduction of fees for registration of companies and also access to licenses and approvals and also to deliberately remove challenges that businesses face in the course of running their businesses.

He however, pointed out that the impact of it on routine daily business is not being felt and disclosed that it is because there are still businesses; small, medium and micro businesses that are facing a lot of challenges.

According to him, some of these challenges are beyond

ease of doing business, because they are challenges that concern infrastructure, power supply, access roads, policy consistency on the part of government and even the elimination of corruption.

“I can say that the Presidential Committee on Ease of Doing Business has done a lot of good jobs that has found expression in a number of executive orders that were directed at easing business, especially in the way and manner government agencies handle concerns of the business community.

“So to that extent I can say

that government is on track as far as ease of doing business is concerned and it resulted in the reduction of fees for registration of companies and also access to licenses and approvals and also to deliberately remove challenges that businesses face in the course of running their businesses. So basically I think government has done well in that one and more importantly, we have seen the result in the fact that ease of doing business ranking in Nigeria has improved up to ten places.

“But the impact of it on routine daily business is not being

felt and that is because there still businesses; small, medium and micro businesses that are facing a lot of challenges. Some of these challenges are beyond ease of doing business, because they are challenges that concern infrastructure; power supply, access roads, policy consistency on the part of government and even the elimination of corruption.

These are the challenges that businesses face every day.

He called on the administration to build on the foundation on both policy and institutional framework already in place.

NDLEA arrests 40 suspected drug traffickers in Niger

L-R: Director, Portfolio Management Department, Debt Management Office, Mr. Amidu Miji; Director General, Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha and Director, Organisational Resources Department, Debt Management Office, Hanatu Suleiman, during a press briefing on the release of the Public Debt Data as at December 31, 2018 held yesterday in Abuja . Photo; Justin Imo-owo

T

he National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Niger Command, said it arrested 40 suspected drug traffickers in different parts of the state within the first quarter of 2019.

The NDLEA’s Commander in the state, Mrs Sylvia Egwunwoke, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Minna on Thursday.

Egwunwoke said that 10 of those arrested were already convicted.

According to her, about 1,807,527kg of Cannabis Sativa were seized from the suspects during the period under review.

“The command will, however, not relent in frustrating the activities of drug peddlers in the state and the nation at large,” she said.

She then appealed to the public to always report any suspicious activity or individual to the relevant authorities, to rid the state of drug trafficking and its attendant crises.(NAN)

Police nab 3 robbery suspects with 16 handsets in Delta From Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

T

he Police at Owa Oyibu community in Ika North East local Government Area of Delta State in the early hours of Thursday arrested three robbery suspects for allegedly robbing a female student identified as Chukwudi Stella of her cell phone and unspecified amount of money at gunpoint.

The Divisional Police department ( DPO) of Owa Oyibu

Policemen Division, Monday Osayi who confirmed the arrest of the suspects to journalists in the state, said the police recovered sixteen other handsets from the suspects.

He said the suspects were nabbed on intelligence gathering adding that the suspects upon interrogation confessed to the crime.

According to the DPO, the state acted on intelligence gathering after the student was robbed and

her handset and money were taken away from her by the robbery suspects.one of the suspects identified as Mukato Good luck led the police to two others were they were hiding and we arrested them” The DPO disclosed that apart from the handsets recovered from the suspects the state also recovered from them two cut to size guns and charms tied into different foods and decried the attitude of their parents who cover up for them before they were

Price of onion crashes in Katsina – Survey

T

he price of onions has crashed from N30,000 per 100kg to N10,000 in Katsina, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

A market survey conducted

by NAN on Thursday in Katsina

showed that two months ago 100kg bag of onions was being sold at N30, 000.00.

The survey indicated that the commodity two months ago was being obtained from Borno State where the traders

travel to source for it.

Contacted, the state Chairman of Vegetable Sellers Association, Ahmed Mohammed, attributed the development to the availability of the commodity in the area.

caught up by nemesis saying that it was important for parents to always expose any of their children found often in suspicious activities before the Police and called for effective policing in the area to help reduce the increasing crime rate.

Meanwhile, members of Motorcycle Dealers Association in lka North East local government area have affirmed their determination to partner with various law enforcement agencies

to check incidences of motorcycle theft within the locality.

Nnamdi Njoekpumeogor chairman of the association who spoke to journalists in the area said based on various measures introduced some persons were arrested for handed over to the police at Owa Oyibu police report where they are currently being used for motorcycle theft adding that the association will be to work with the police to rid off the criminals in the area.

Mr Mohammed disclosed that local farmers in the state had started harvesting their onions in March, which they cultivated in large quantity.

He said that there was too much supply of onions which

forced the price down.

NAN reports that the Katsina tomato market had been flooded with onions because there is no local preservation method to store the commodity.(NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

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NEWS

Pension fund: Reps summon CBN, PENCOM, AGF over missing N33bn

By Christiana Ekpa

F

resh revelation emerged yesterday over N33billion pension fund released by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, which is not listed in the schedule of funds due for release to pension fund administrators by the Pension Commission, PENCOM. Following the revelation, chairman of the panel, Honorable Ehiozuwa Agbonnayinma, has summoned the Apex bank, Accountant General of the Federation, and Director General Pension Commission to a roundtable to track the controversial sum.

The stakeholders at the

resumed hearing of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating activities of the Pension Commission and violation of PENCOM Act, said the N33 billion was not missing, The developments nonetheless are coming against the backdrop of an indictment on the Pension regulator by retirees.

Pensioners who represented the Nigeria Union of Contributory Pensioners, NUCP, at the hearing yesterday in Abuja, fingered PENCOM as their major obstacle in the smooth operation of the scheme.

Chief Aigbokhaleode Asimiafele, executive officer of the union, accompanied by pastor

Adesina Atinsola- Moranto, another retiree, admitted that the regulatory body of the contributory Pension scheme was their major problem.

They expressed worry that as the regulatory body of the Contributory Pension scheme (PENCOM) violated the provisions of the law instead of regulating its activities for optimum benefits of retirees Meanwhile disclosing at the panel’s meeting, Thursday, Honorable Agbonayinma, summoned the three critical stakeholders to appear Tuesday next week.

He said the invitation of the trio, had become necessary in order for the three important

agencies sit together with the panel members and do detailed due diligence on the said amounts whereabouts. “ From January to April 2017, we want to know what happened between CBN, AGF’ s office and PENCOM “ he said According to him, the panel was not out to witch-hunt anybody but in the service of the country and Nigeria’s senior citizens.

However, expatiating further on the union’ s submission, the retirees, requested that the fiveyearly periodic review of pension payment as enshrined in the constitution be implemented, with the lump sum and pension benefits paid to all contributors

Fracas in Jigawa as NDLEA raids criminals’ hideout

Commissioner/CEO, Accident Investigation Bureau, (AIB), Engr. Akin Olateru (middle), flanked

by Director of Engineering, (AIB), Engr. Mohammed Wali, (left) and Managing Director, Sprinfountain, Mr. Tunde Bakare during the 2019 Stakeholders Forum held at Radsson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.

From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse

O

ne person was allegedly shot dead as the officials of Nigerian Drugs Law enforcement Agency (NDLEA) yesterday raided a suspected criminals hideout in Kazaure area of Jigawa state.

An eyewitness told our reporter that, the victim was identified as Abubakar Lawal, 25-year-old, a resident of Shaiskawa Kazaure.

He explained that, the victim meet his waterloo when he ran for safety and jumped into Kazaure river where he was allegedly shot dead by personnel of the NDLEA. The eyewitness maintained that, the death of the suspect resulted to crisis as some angry youths chased away officials of the NDLEA and burnt down two of their vehicles on the spot and injured one official.

The mob also went and burnt down the office of the NDLEA located along Daura-Kazaure road, opposite Dikko Roni filing station.

He said Fire Service officials, however, put off the fire and police men have cordoned the premises and restored orderliness in the area.

When contacted, Police spokesperson in Jigawa, Audu Jinjiri, said he was yet to be briefed on the incident, saying that he will call back later.

He was yet to do so at the time of filling this report.

Other officials of the NDLEA in Jigawa could not be reached for comments.

not later than 30 days from retirement date, or allow retiring officers to continue to receive salaries until all entitlements are paid.

They warned that henceforth, rather than use 18 years and 78, 82/84 respectively for male and female,as terminal point of all contributory pension scheme for withdrawals and annuity, death should be the terminal point for such payment to all retirees, whether programmed or annuity.

The union also warned PENCOM to stay clear of Union activities among other demands they presented to the House committee for action.

Kaduna govt evolves plan to fight malnutrition in LGs From Femi Oyelola, kaduna

T

he Kaduna State Government yesterday began a two-day workshop to develop its 2019 Food and Nutrition Annual Operational Plan for 23 Local Government Areas of the state.

Malam Salisu Lawal, Director, Development Aid Coordination in the state Planning and Budget Commission, said at the opening of the workshop in Zaria that the goal was to strengthen the fight against malnutrition at local levels.

Lawal said that the workshop, supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was designed to ensure that the state and local governments were on the same page in the fight to curb malnutrition.

“Kaduna State Government has included nutrition in priority areas of intervention via a multisectoral approach with a

view to giving children a good start in life.

“The state is mobilising resources both locally and internationally through development partners to increase spending in the sector, needed to address the scourge of malnutrition in the state.

“We want our children to access all the nutrition they need to grow healthy and become intelligent and creative citizens that will contribute to the development of the state and the nation.

“To achieve this, we must make the best use of available resources by ensuring that all interventions at the state and local levels were well thoughtout to create the desired impact.

“This, therefore, makes the business of developing annual operational plan for the LGAs crucial to winning the war against malnutrition in the state,” the director said.

He thanked UNICEF and other development partners for the support and called on participants to make inputs needed to produce an operational plan that would be used to change the nutrition indices of the state.

Also speaking, Mr Yusuf Auta, Deputy Director, Development Aid Coordination in the commission, explained that the plan, when developed, would be the first in the state for the LGAs. Auta added that the absence of the operational plan in the LGAs had made the assessment of performance of nutrition interventions in the councils very difficult.

According to him, the plan is key to ensuring coordinated and strategic interventions that aligns with the state’s goals and targets in curbing the scourge of malnutrition.

“The plan will be developed

and costed as well as the strategies to implement the activities to design for greater impact,” he said.

Malam Lawwal Waziri, Director Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Kaduna State Primary Health Care Development Agency, described the plan as a short time detailed plan, formulated to achieve strategic objective.

Waziri explained that the plan provided the needed road map for achieving resulted, improve implementation at all levels, facilitate timely response and linked LGAs to state government planning and budget.

“It will also improve accountability in nutrition spending in the LGAs,” he added.

Participants at the workshop included, Nutrition Focal Persons from the 23 LGAs, Zonal Health Directors, representatives from the academia, media and development partners.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

PAGE 10

News

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

T

he Speaker House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara has promised that the House will throw its weight behind the nation’s tobacco control efforts through passage of the draft National Tobacco Control Regulations.

At an interactive session organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Delegated Legislation held in Abuja, the Speaker said that on going about its oversight functions, it is not unmindful that health must trump profits.

Dogara quoted a report by the Environmental Rights Action which estimates the Nigerian government expending as much as $591 million yearly on treatment of disease resulting from tobacco consumption.

The draft Regulations was proposed by the Minister of Health, and transmitted to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) which approved it in June 2018. The

Customs rakes in N814.7m revenue in Niger, Kwara,Kogi From Yakubu Minna.

T

Mustapha,

he Nigeria Customs Service of Niger/Kwara/Kogi Area Command has generated no less than N814.7 million in the first quarter of 2019 the highest in the last three years.

The Command Customs Area Comptroller, Yusuf Abba-Kassim while briefing newsmen in Minna yesterday said the amount generated in the first quarter of 2019 is the highest the Command has recorded in the past three years.

“In spite of lull in business activities due to 2019 general elections, between January to March this year, the Command has generated N814,755,563.86 which is the highest in the past three years, even when the Command is yet to receive official communication of the revenue target for the fiscal year 2019.” he stated.

The Controller while giving a breakdown of the amount generated by the Command in the past three years, the Comptroller said in 2016, the Command generated N539.1 million, in 2017, N417.3 million was generated while in 2018, N387.2 million was generated.

He revealed that N210.4 million was generated in January, N4.3 million in February and N599.9 was generated in March 2019.

Kassim said that in the first quarter of 2019, the Command seized 732 bags of 50kg Rice, 175 litres of vegetable oil and 11 assorted used vehicles with duty paid value of N5.5 million adding that the total duty paid value for all seizures is put at N19,120,700.

He warned smugglers to steer clear if the Niger/Kwara/Kogi area Command and engage in meaningful venture.

Dogara promises speedy passage of tobacco control bill

…As groups caution against health hazards

draft was received by the House of Representatives in January 2019 and awaits their approval for its full implementation.

Some groups that supported the quick adoption of the Regulations are the Environmental Rights Action and the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance. Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire said as custodian of health in the country, it was interested in the speedy adoption of the regulations.

The groups including youths cautioned that delay in the draft National Tobacco Control Regulations 2018 Bill currently before the National Assembly, will open the nation to massive health catastrophe.

Dr. Osagie Ehanire said that as custodian of the health of Nigerians, the ministry in concert with relevant government agencies formulated the NTC Regulations as a legal framework for effective implementation of the National Tobacco Control Act 2015.

In the ministry’s memorandum to the committee, Dr. Ehanire pointed out that it was scientifically proven that tobacco is harmful to human health, and contains more than 7,000 chemicals, of which 250 are proven to be harmful and more

than 69 known to cause cancer.

Of the over 7 million annual deaths linked to tobacco in World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics, he said that low-and middle-income countries like Nigeria bear 80% of the global burden, even as he revealed that over 20 billion sticks of cigarettes are consumed annually in Nigeria, with recent researches showing that 5.6% of adults (4.5 million) in Nigeria currently use tobacco products.

Exposure to second-hand smoke in public places in Nigeria is as high at 82% in bars and nightclubs, 36.3% in coffee shops and 29.3% in restaurants.

Because of this, the Regulation addresses the technical areas of the NTC Act which have until now not been enforceable and requires interagency collaboration. It prescribes for instance, a combination of text and graphic pictorial health warning messages to be printed on 80% of the principal display surfaces of all tobacco product packages, like is already in practice in other countries of the world. This will replace the age-long text warning that says ‘The Federal Ministry of Health warns that smokers are liable to die young’, which the minister described as

ineffective.

He cited India and China, the major Asian regional powers, as countries that go beyond Nigeria’s recommendation and currently apply 85% combination of text and graphic pictorial health warning messages on their tobacco packages.

To achieve smoke-free environment, the Regulations prohibit smoking in open space, outdoor public place or work space, including service areas, public passengers conveying transport, vehicles conveying or used to convey children; anywhere within 15 meters of a healthcare facility and any other indoor or outdoor public gathering place.

The Regulations require the owner/manager of a public area to conspicuously display warning notices of prohibited smoking areas in English Language and in at least one predominant language of the locality reading: WARNING, “No Smoking Area - Smoking here is an offence”. It also elaborates the responsibility of those in charge of prohibited smoking areas to discourage smoking, e.g. by removal of ashtrays and all accessories used to consume tobacco products.

The Regulations equally outline

responsibilities of public authority in prevention of tobacco industry interference and provides a list of authorized agencies charged with enforcement. They include the Nigeria Police, Public Health Officers; National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC); Environmental Health Officers; Customs; Consumer Protection Council; Standards Organisation of Nigeria, National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

In its submission read by Akinbode Oluwafemi, the ERA/ FoEN said that there should not be further delay in approval of the Regulations, blaming climbing smoking rates in Nigeria on low taxation, as well as weak and poorly enforced policies.

He highlighted that tobacco companies are now deliberately targeting children in their marketing tactics, citing a report titled Big Tobacco: Tiny Targets Nigeria Report which exposes widespread sale of tobacco close to 221 Primary and Secondary schools in five states: Lagos, Nasarawa, Enugu, Kaduna and Oyo State.

Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo with Senate Deputy Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah; Gov. Kaduna state, Ahmad el-Rufai, Gov. of Abia state, Okezie Ikpeazu, during Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) Award Dinner at State House on Wednesday in Abuja.

Photo: state House

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse

T

he Jigawa state Pilgrims and Welfare Board has trained over 140 Ulamas across 27 local government areas on how to train the intending pilgrims rules and regulations of hajj exercise.

The Public Relations Officer

of the Board, Alhaji Ibrahim Hashim Kanya stated this during the training that held at NUT secretariat hall in Dutse, the state capital.

Kanya explained that, the Board decided to embark on the training of the trainees whom after their training will go down to their

various local government and train the intending pilgrims.

He said, the training is aimed at teaching the intending pilgrims the rules and regulations for Hajj exercise for them to avoid breach of any law before during and after the exercise.

According to Kanya, out of total

number of 1,472 seats allocated to Jigawa state by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) so far over 300 seat was paid by the intending pilgrims in the state.

He called on the intending pilgrims and entire people in the state to cooperate with the board for a successful 2019 hajj exercise.

Letter to the Editor

EDITORIAL

A

Algeria’s old man out

bdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria’s Salah, the army’s chief of staff, last week president for two decades, has called for Bouteflika to be declared unfit been forced out of office. Aged to rule, and on Monday, the embattled 82, he is the second octogenarian leader said he would quit before the end African leader to have been compelled of his term on April 28. On Tuesday, to give up by people power. Zimbabwe’s Salah again reiterated his demand for Robert Mugabe was practically pushed impeachment proceedings, saying: out of office last November after “There is no more room to waste time.”

He added: “We decided clearly ...

37 years in office. The remaining longtime president on the continent is to stand with the people so all their Cameroon’s Paul Biya who earlier in the demands get fulfilled.”

The president’s resignation will put New Year was returned to power for the his ally, Abdelkader Bensalah, chairman umpteenth time amid mass protests.

Bouteflika said Tuesday he was of the upper house of parliament, in resigning with immediate effect to charge as caretaker president for 90 days let citizens “take Algeria to the better until elections are held. Nazim Taleb of the opposition Rachab future they aspire to”. He movement, said a took the rash decision in the transitional council was face of massive street protests necessary to pave the against his 20-year rule. He way for a free and fair announced his resignation election in the country. in a letter published by APS news agency, just hours after The anti-Bouteflika “Bensalah and the army the army chief demanded protests broke out will not facilitate a free Bouteflika’s immediate action to remove in late February election. most trusted people are him from office. “My intention ... is to contribute to calming when the longtime still part of the system. don’t want a free down the souls and minds of president, who They election because they the citizens so that they can collectively take Algeria to has rarely been might end up in jail,” the better future they aspire seen in public he said. The Algerian according to to,” Bouteflika said in the since suffering people, him, “want oversight of letter to the president of the a stroke in 2013, the election, to control Constitutional Council. process so there The announcement announced a the can be a fair vote that prompted celebrations in Algeria’s capital, Algiers, with plan to seek a fifth reflects the people’s hundreds of people singing term in elections will.” concerns songs and waving flags in scheduled for are These legitimate because front of the city’s central post April. Hundreds Algeria lacks an office. “This is a victory for organised opposition my country,” said 25-yearof thousands as Bouteflika has old Kamel, who only gave his of people, for “smashed every bit of first name. “We now want the rest of the old guard to several weeks, opposition or bought out”. The big leave; we also want corrupt took to the streets them challenge for Algeria, businessmen to be judged. of Algiers and therefore, is to organise We have won one political this transition as there battle, not yet the war.” other major are no strong wellThe anti-Bouteflika political protests broke out in late cities calling for constituted February when the longtime the president’s parties. Fears have been expressed also over president, who has rarely been resignation.

Salah, the army chief, seen in public since suffering possibly positioning a stroke in 2013, announced himself to take control a plan to seek a fifth term of Algeria. in elections scheduled As it is, Bouteflika‘s resignation is for April. Hundreds of thousands of people, for several weeks, took to the not going to end the protests. Algerians streets of Algiers and other major cities are determined that the old guard be calling for the president’s resignation. cleaned out completely. In Algiers, On March 11, Bouteflika sought to 65-year-old Halima said she intended defuse the unrest by abandoning his to continue to protest until Bouteflika’s re-election bid. However, he delayed allies also stepped down. “We are the presidential vote indefinitely and turning a page in Algeria’s history,” she announced he would only step down said. What is happening in Algeria today once a new constitution had been passed is an indication that the spark has not gone of the Arab Spring revolution fire and a successor had been elected.

Public anger continued to mount, lit in neighbouring Egypt in late 2010. It nevertheless, prompting key allies to is also a message to the continent’s sitabandon the president. Ahmed Gaid tight leaders that their time is up.

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The man Femi and the race for speakership

By Hon. Hafizu Ibrahim Kawu

U

pon his re-election into the House of Representatives in 2015, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila presented himself to his colleagues as an aspirant for the Speakership seat in the House. But narrowly lost the election to the present Speaker Yakubu Dogara in an election which Femi Gbajabiamila himself described as an Act of God. Even with APC overwhelming majority in the outgoing 8th Senate and House of Representatives, the National Assembly leadership was hijacked by reneged APC members and their opposition PDP collaborators.

National Assembly is a strategic arm of government to achieve the Change Agenda for the country to the Next Level and APC leadership, all legislatives stakeholders, party members and the citizens don’t want a repeat of 2015 leadership crisis of the 8th assembly.

Due to his wide acceptance within his party members in the House of Representatives, he was overwhelmingly elected Leader of the 8th House of Representatives on July 28, 2015.

As the 8th assembly about to expire, the race for the speakership of the 9th assembly has begun and all eyes are on, majority leader of the house. Already some members have declared they intention to vying the office of the speaker of the House of Representatives.

More than ever President Buhari looked forward to a mutual and effective working relationship with the 9th National Assembly.

In every democratic dispensation, the leadership of the nation’s legislature chambers should be entrusted on the shoulders of the persons who has possess the much needed qualities of moving the legislative body forward. If the postulation is anything to go by, Femi Gbajabiamila is the one who can be entrusted with such a challenging responsibilities of becoming the speaker of the federal House of Representatives, considering the fact that the nation Legislatives House are dire needs of strong leaders and also party loyal that will have the far reaching positive impact on the lives of Nigerians.

Gbajabiamila had his 16 years of legislative experience; was the deputy minority leader in the 6th assembly and emerged as the minority leader with the 7th assembly and majority leader in the 8th assembly.

Aside his eloquence and tactical approach to issues in the house, Gbajabiamila maintains an enviable track record. He had sponsored a countless bills in the national assembly; he is seen as one of the brilliant minds to have graced the chamber.

Looking at Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila marvelous score card as a legislator he is the one widely acknowledged as a politicians’ worth of his onion in the quest for making the nascent democratic system ticking.

He filed several lawsuits against the then federal government who he accused of operating an illegal excess crude oil account and spending tax payers’ money without appropriation. His struggle did not go in vain as the present administration has adopted a Treasury Single Account policy which has returned a semblance of accountability to government spending.

Gbajabiamila had sponsored the highest number of Bills in the National Assembly amongst all the legislators. Amongst his Bills and Motions in the House, Gbajabiamila has been very passionate about the Employee Rights Bill, Local content in Construction Industry Bill, Vocational Schools Bill, The Economic Stimulus Bill, Interest-Free Students Loan and Establishment of Nigeria Education Bank Bill etc.

Other bills to his watch are bill to criminalize the use of ‘estimated billing’ in the calculation of electricity consumed and to be paid for by consumers by Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies.

A bill seeks to amend the Electoral Act 2010 to empower election tribunals and courts to declare the deputy governorship candidates as winners in the event of death of the governorship aspirant. The bill also includes the use of card reader as part of the Electoral Act. Another bill to cover the vacuum in the event that a governorship candidate dies before the conclusion of elections.

A Community Service Bill to decongest prisons is welcomed. the review became necessary to save the inmates that “are not criminals but petty offenders involved in misdemeanours like wandering, hawking or trading illegally on the streets”. The bill aimed to allow low offenders to be given a milder punishment than imprisonment.

Making them to do community services would be of more benefit to the society than imprisonment. More importantly, it would help decongest nation’s prisons yards which is overcrowded with awaiting trial prisoners.

Always protecting the party interest, he played a pivotal role in protecting the interest of the APC, positioning it as a strong force, especially in the eight assemblies where the party suffered internal crisis that led to gales of defection. While 37 members of the caucus dumped the party during plenary on July 2018, Gbajabiamila led the remaining members to reject the defection, while he hinted at taking “necessary steps” over the move which he described as illegal.

“People elected you on a particular platform to represent them. That seat does not belong to you; it belongs to the political party. Not only does APC remain the majority in the house it is still a clear majority. This leaves APC over and beyond what is required for majority,” Gbajabiamila had said.

Last Sunday in Abuja House of Representatives majority leader Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, declared his intention in company of over 170 members-elect, having won a historic 5th term mandate to the House with 16 years’ experience this enable him understood the intricate workings of the legislature, a critical arm of government and I have come to understand the imperative of striking a delicate balance in the relationship between the Executive and Legislative arms of government without compromising the latter’s independence.

Indeed, there is an essential need for a symbiotic relationship between all arms and all tiers of government if we are to make steady progress in nation building.

During his declaration for the Office of the speaker he also displayed his good sportsmanship his Speakership campaign logo embodies the logos of all political parties represented in the House (9th Assembly) and humbly invite each returnees and member elect of to join him as together can build a more perfect union.

Hon Gbajabiamila said the task is onerous and can only be completed if all come together, in line with the legacies of our forebearers and the labours of our heroes past.

So the incoming ninth assembly speaker expected to be led by a person with considerable legislative experience and expertise who can be able to preside over its affairs and also whether the storms at any given time. Simple term incoming ninth assembly need no other person than Hon Femi Gbajabiamila as a speaker.

Hon. Ibrahim Kawu wrote it from Abuja and can be reached at Hamkiy2000@gmail.com

PAGE 12

Opinion

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

2019 Election: Very glad I stood up to be counted for Nigeria

By Kingsley Moghalu

I

ran for the office of the president of Nigeria in the 2019 election, campaigning across 30 states of the country in a grueling 12-month marathon of road trips and commercial flights, market visits (with lots of dancing in the public square!), road caravans and town halls, and issues-based messaging across various media platforms. Like several other “alternative” candidates, I lost the election at the ballot box. But we won an important victory: We have changed the political narrative.

By challenging the status quo, presenting an alternative vision for our country and bringing hope to many citizens who had lost it, we have begun an important, necessary journey towards our national redemption. Rome was not built in a day. In running (to win, not that “I also ran”) for president I took a bold, calculated risk, sacrificing safety, personal resources and income streams, and quality family life because I was fed up with the failure of governance and economic management in our country. Rising poverty, unemployment and instability remain our agonising reality. Personal success is increasingly meaningless in such an existential mess.

The 2019 elections were in many locations akin to war. Soldiers, who should defend us from external aggression, were actively and aggressively involved in domestic “special duties”. The process was marred by an orgy of vote-buying, rigging, votesuppression and violence, all superintended by the chaotic operations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Voting at my polling unit in Nnewi North Local Government Area, my home town, opened three hours late as a result of card reader malfunction. At some point, the card readers failed again. Voting went on manually, against INEC regulations. I observed that there was no privacy for the ballot boxes, so anyone milling around behind a voter could potentially see his or her voting choices. The “business” of vote-buying proceeded merrily apace in a corner of the voting premises. From several states around the country, we received credible reports that votes cast for the Young Progressives Party (YPP), my party platform for the 2019 elections, were being diverted.

Much of this was not surprising. But the elections have left me wondering if Nigeria is truly

a democracy. Or do we merely have a four-yearly ritual in which political cabals renew their hold on power by using a form but not the substance of democracy? As the character Archie said in the British playwright Tom Stoppard’s play “Jumpers”, “it’s not the voting that is democracy, it’s the counting”.

We must overhaul our electoral laws and procedures, including institutional reform of INEC by reviewing the legal framework for the electoral umpire. INEC must enable and prepare for our citizens who live abroad to be able to vote overseas in 2023. Nigerians in Diaspora remitted $25 billion dollars home in 2018, not far behind crude oil, our god of small things, and yet they can’t vote abroad.

How so? If we don’t reform our voting procedures as an urgent matter, we are not serious. Our votes must be counted and must count. Democracy is rarely perfect anywhere, but in Nigeria it’s in a crisis, and it will die if something is not done quickly.

The best path forward is to utilise technology and move to e-voting. We achieved this kind of game-changing reform in our financial and payment systems at the Lamido Sanusi-led Central Bank of Nigeria between 2009 and 2014, when I headed the Financial System Stability and Operations directorates that implemented several of these reforms. Today, every Nigerian can transact banking business and make payments much faster, efficiently and transparently using several platforms like ATMs, online or telephone banking, PoS machines, and the Bank Verification Number (BVN). We achieved these milestones because we were focused, operationally independent from political interference, and had the political will to improve the economy with a modern financial and payments system that is ahead of those of many developed countries. We can adapt these technologies for the voting process, plugging many loopholes for electoral fraud in the present system that is largely manual and antiquated. Yes, there are risks with electronic voting and collation, but they can be managed with effective risk management.

In any case those risks are small beer compared to what happened in the 2019 elections.

The political outcome of the polls, reflected in the continuing electoral dominance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples

Democratic Party (PDP), points to the mindset of our society at this time. Timing and a severe lack of political education in our populace played key roles in 2019. Millions of Nigerians heard my message.

Many claimed they loved the message and the messenger. But for sentimental reasons millions, including many of my sympathisers and initial supporters, voted for the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari and the PDP’s Atiku Abubakar. PMB voters wanted him to get a second term in office. Those opposed to him voted mainly for Atiku, “atikulating” the view that the Waziri Adamawa was the only one who could take down the incumbent president. So, between the timing of our 2019 run and cynical voter calculations about the ability to win, vision, capacity and policy prescriptions for real progress took second place.

Money, of course, also was an issue. I firmly refused to engage in vote-buying, which was perhaps the most insidious plague of the elections. For me though, none of these calculations diminishes the value, validity or impact of my 2019 candidacy.

If the poor succumbed to the weaponisation of their status by politicians, our educated middle class and elite are just as culpable of a warped mindset.

These are the men and women who ought to lead a change in voting behaviour. But no. Cynical of the possibilities for real change, they band with the status quo politicians in order to secure economic opportunities in a rentier economy. The reluctance of the middle class to play a positive role towards a paradigm shift is a huge lost opportunity for our democracy.

As for the youth, they made much noise on the overrated social media but did not vote in their numbers in 2019. Many young people also succumbed to the ability-to-win argument, leading the charge for the old establishment candidates.

Some were discouraged by the failure of the new generation alternatives to produce a consensus candidate in a coalition. I certainly had hoped that a coalition of younger, vibrant candidates could come together. But many shenanigans got in the way. The most important but less obvious reason it didn’t happen was that many so-called alternatives were in fact agents and puppets of the status quo establishment politicians and therefore were not truly independent candidates. Subsequent and recent events in the elections and the run-up

to them have pointed to this truth. The puppet masters, who viewed my candidacy as a potentially serious one and were somewhat nervous about it particularly because of the question of its timing, encouraged several of these youth candidates to remain in the race and so divide the youth vote. As it turned out, the youth themselves did not vote in their millions for our candidacies, let alone dealing with the matter of “divided votes”.

Despite pressures, I declined to step down for the presidential candidates of either the PDP or the APC and have no regrets for that decision.

I was running on a vision for our country’s future and not for opportunism. Nigerians like market men and women, widows and students around the country, and to have been received so very warmly in the North, South, East and West.

A third high point was the official presidential debate. This debate was viewed and heard by an estimated 60 million Nigerians, and turned out a great opportunity to have shared my vision and policy stances with so many compatriots at the same time.

Finally, the endorsements and support I received from a number of individuals and groups who courageously went on the public record with their views, was deeply encouraging. I have in mind the endorsements from the Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka and his Citizens Forum group, His Royal Majesty Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ife, the Christian Social Movement of Nigeria led by Solomon Asemota SAN, the Southern and Middle Belt Youth Forum, and the newspaper columnist Femi Aribisala.

I am glad I stood up in 2019 to be counted for Nigeria. “Do not despise these small beginnings”, the Good Book says, “for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand”. At least I can say to my children: “I did something to make the future of your generation a better one”. I may not be a direct beneficiary of this struggle. It doesn’t matter. To everyone who voted for my candidacy or otherwise supported me I say: Thank you. Daalu. Na gode. Ese gan.

Kingsley Moghalu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the 2019 presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP).

Political Leadership: Yorubas and their socio-economic future

By Bámidélé Adémólá-Olátéjú

L

et Us Face the Future: A Presentation On Offer To the People of Britain” was the game-changing manifesto presented by the British Labour party in the pivotal post-war election of 1945. What is the social contract between the Yoruba leadership elite and the people? I cannot think of any. In facing the future, we must not only remember the past but be deeply conscious of the debilitating circumstances that we, the Yoruba, find ourselves in today. The Yoruba’s sophisticated liberalism has become a huge disadvantage because liberalism has enabled the exchange of optimistic meritocracy for opportunistic mediocrity. The brutal but honest assessment of our self-engineered predicament is that across all strata, our leadership is the most intellectually inadequate and ill-prepared the Yoruba have had since the conclusion of the treaty that ended the Kiriji War. Our leaders have perfected a system of patronage that is disdainful of merit, hostile to innovation and favourable to laziness. Thugs have state backing and are offered police protection. Our sad situation is poignantly reflected in the election results throughout the South-West, in the recently concluded presidential poll.

From the incursion of Western education in the 1850s, the Yoruba, until this republic, have always fielded its first eleven: From Nigeria’s first lawyer and founder of its initial political current, Christopher Alexander Sapara Williams, an Ijesaman, to Sir Adeyemo Alakija, the prodigiously clever Bode Thomas, Obafemi Awolowo, Ladoke Akintola, H.O Davies, Rotimi Williams et al. Warts and all, these men ranked among the best of a generation, anywhere. What obtains now? Do we have the best holding positions? No! Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his protégé projected into the future with very little resources at their disposal. Now, despite better tools, resources and benchmarks, our leaders do not have the faintest idea what the future will look like because of greed and selfishness.

Part of what ails the Yoruba and its leadership is reflected in the debate over the political future of Lagos State. We blame everyone but ourselves. We

refuse to interrogate ourselves and why we are failing.

It is worthy of note that the party machinery of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State is so farcically inept that the party could only deliver five hundred and eighty thousand votes (580,000) to its presidential candidate after an unbroken run of twenty years in power. We have grown accustomed to apathy, laziness and lack of appreciation of civic responsibilities. Our problem is not only political, it is economic and ingrained social dislocation. The socio-economic currents fuelling the debate is an indictment of Yoruba leaders’ lack of ideological focus or real commitment to the political and economic advancement of the Yoruba. This loss of long range plan for the South-West is a negation of the gains of the renaissance which emerged from the 1850s, solidified by the treaty that ended the Kiriji Wars and was fundamentally consolidated by the consensus of the 1940s to the unfortunate schism of 1962.

The consensus of 1940 to 1962 was a game changer. Formalised through the formation of Ẹgbẹ Afẹnifere in 1948 and the manifesto of the Action Group as “Life more abundant”, it rekindled a sense of identity throughout Yoruba land. The consensus was based on the quest for modernisation. Emphasis was squarely on human capital development as a way of breaking the shackles of poverty and defeating the awful debilitating effects of indigence, aptly captured

by Karl Marx as “the idiocy of rural life”. Interwoven with this was a commitment to extend access to education, health, water, etc. In describing a similar thrust, India’s post – independence prime minister, Jawaharlal Pandit Nehru had cause to observe that: “A school here, water system and dispensary there, as well as a branch of the State Bank of India; come back in a few years and see the advance thrust made”.

Where are the schools and knowledge hubs? Where are the equipped healthcare centres? Where is the electricity to drive innovation? Where are the roads to facilitate the movement of people, goods and services?

Capital For The Yoruba The magnificent Red Book of West Africa published in 1920 is a superb chronology of the advances made by the Yoruba business class across the West African subregion in commerce, industry

and government. By the time of the consensus, it was obvious that changing conditions and greater competition for scarce capital meant that direct intervention by the state apparatus had to be used to ensure that Yoruba entrepreneurship remained competitive and up to date. Overarching Yoruba interest, instead of personal interest, is the key distinguishing factor between the leadership of Western Nigeria and today’s inept leadership. This singular difference lends itself to the Shakespearean quote of, “the fault does not lie in our stars but in ourselves.”

The Awolowo government’s plan of financial inclusion gave the Yoruba a head-start and an edge over other regions. Plans and policies in favour of social mobility and financial inclusion are missing in governance today as a result of selfishness, greed and lack of foresight and planning. It was painfully obvious to Chief Obafemi Awolowo that the conventional Anglo-Saxon banking system could not deliver the needed financial boost to Western Nigeria, given its rural peculiarities and the subsistent nature of its agricultural base. For that reason, the regional government developed its own intervention mechanisms. An example can be found in the establishment of the Cooperative Bank in 1953.

With it, a process began in which peasant farmers could transist into commercial farming through minimum farm pricing, provision of storage facilities and guaranteed markets. In addition, the provision of capital in the urban areas to those in the distributive trades led to the emergence of a lower middle class which in its heyday used to be described as a petitebourgeoisie. Of course, these policies were diligently implemented, it led to growth, development and employment in geometric proportions.

On a higher level the Western Nigeria Finance Corporation and the Western Nigeria Development Corporation were crucial to the development of a mercentilist, as well as an industrial class. In the early 1960s, visiting Malaysians who came to copy the emerging success were astonished to see Yoruba business people as owners of light industries, breweries and so on. Had this blueprint been sustained and deepened, the debilitating effects of the paucity of

capital will not be hobbling us today. Yorubaland is slipping behind because of the absence of capital and a development finance company that is our own. A regional capital powerhouse must arise from the ashes as a public/private partnership driven by the private sector and subscribed to by every Yoruba at home and in the diaspora, with the aim of a start up capital of at least $300 million.

It is sad that in a little over a generation, we have erased all the gains and edge Chief Awolowo gave us through free education. The reality today is that public schools just do not have the budget for preparing millions for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. To be competitive and become the powerhouse we once were, there should be at least one dedicated STEM school in each local government in the South-West to provide weekend courses to primary/secondary school pupils in public sector schools, with specially trained teachers on special pay and volunteers on honorarium.

With what we have now, we are inadvertently creating an unfair system of class stratification and a growing pool of untapped manpower. In the broken down public school systems, even in richer Lagos State, how does anyone get the preparation to become a doctor, robotics engineer etc? The South-West must develop a template away from a low skilled, low wage uncompetitive framework. In agriculture, with 200,000 farmers organised in cooperatives, we can export $100 billion agro-industrial products a year.

We must develop a skilled science propelled corp to make our agriculture internationally competitive and export-oriented.

Overall, we need a leadership that will reignite the original renaissance, as well as the consensus and bring it up to date. A “leadership” premised on the surbodination of the state to corporatist interests is out of sync with our traditions. To our political leaders, the critical question is: What lessons have you learnt from the governorship elections in the South-West?

The undercurrents of change is afoot. If you are not careful, the tides will sweep you away. 2023 will be hotter. Watch out!

Bámidélé Adémólá-Olátéjú a farmer, youth advocate and political analyst.

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

Comment

Insecurity in Zamfara: The government and the people have failed

By Halim Ishaq

I

n early 2017, I started knowing about the bad security situations thanks to one of my friends from that state. My friend would use anything possible to show his dismay to the situation in his state, but his voice was like the squeak of a lone chinchillas that is about to be mauled by the lions; his voice was not heard, but alas, he did not stop trying to let the world know about what is happening in his state.

His actions sparked my curiosity, therefore I need him to know what is really wrong in Zamfara, and what precipitates his continued wailing and he gave me the bombshell about how his people are being killed and kidnapped on daily basis.

What marveled me about his anecdote is the audacity of the Perpetrators to kidnap and kill at will and not being rebuked by the security agencies, in spite that it’s been provided in our constitution that no territory of Nigeria shall be taken over by any individual (s), why has the country fold

it arms to watching how the provision of her constitution is being rubbished by few number of people without taking action(s).

It has been said that 225 people have been kidnapped from December till this time, and many people have been killed, but the government and the people of the country continue to turn deaf ear to this situation. The onus is on the government to protect the lives of the government by any possible means, however, the government has reneged on its responsibility in this regard.

When it is time for election, the government will ensure that security is beefed for the people to come out and vote with mind devoid of the thought of being attacked, but after election the securities are withdrawn and I begin to ask my self, the people and the election which one should be the paramount agenda of the government? Which one should be given more attention, and which one should be glorified than the other? The action of the government has subliminally skewed the

favor to the latter.

The fault of the people is that we are too enmeshed in political affinity, and it has consequently becloud our sense of discerning what is right and wrong. Because of our political affinity to the people at the helm, we have allowed our conscience to be enthralled. Instead of us to hold them by the neck when they fail to carry out their responsibilities, we either give an alibi that they are being undermined by their traducers when it is clear that they are aloof to our plights and travails, and our situation continues to exacerbate.

The people ought to use any medium to tell the world what is happening in Zamfara and other states, but ethnic and political affinity have prevented us from taking the necessary action, because we don’t want show the world that our people at the helm cannot apprehend the complexity of making our clime devoid of crime, we cloak the truth in order not to saggy the image of our people at the helm, hence we continue to get our Jaws twitching in bad situations.

when other countries are attacked we won’t hesitate to show our support to them, but our house is engulfed by fire instead of us to extinguish it ; we left it to raze.

In the words of Shehu Sani “There is no country in the whole of the African continent where people are being kidnapped or Killed daily at these frequency & numbers. In this area, the government has failed woefully.

The government must protect & guarantee human lives as it does political ambitions & empires” The government should ensure that the insecurity in Zamfara is nipped in the mud by making sure jeremiad spirit lurking that clime is unclad, and punished severe, rather than the usual rhetoric they give, and the people should ensure that we make our voice heard, we make our dismay known and hold our government by the neck to protect our lives and properties.

Halim Ishaq is a Public Affairs Analyst.

Canada: Is Andrew Scheer looking to the far right like Trump?

By Andrew Mitrovica

I

t is said that you can take the measure of a man by the company he keeps.

By that objective calculus, the toxic company that Canada’s Conservative leader, Andrew Scheer, stubbornly keeps ought to disabuse anyone of the silly notion that Canada is an antidote to the pestilence of white nationalism infecting other, Western “liberal” democracies.

Scheer has a long history of courting white nationalists by appealing unabashedly and overtly to their ugly, nativist, xenophobic and racist temperaments (to describe them as “ideas” is antithetical to the word).

Serious attention should be drawn to Scheer’s relationship with Canada’s extreme right wing since, if accurate, a recent spate of public opinion polls suggest that the Conservative chief may well become prime minister come the next federal election scheduled for October.

Of course, Scheer is a faithful disciple of former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper who besmirched himself and, perhaps more importantly, the country he served by championing racism-infused “policies” as a means to mine the support of Canadian bigots who would be attracted to such malevolent policies at election time.

Harper’s sorry, signature gambit in this regard was the unveiling – stripped of its government-sanctioned rhetorical embroidery – of a “snitch” line, where Canadians were encouraged to report other Canadians guilty of culturally “barbaric practices” deemed “incompatible” with “old stock” Canadian values.

Harper’s legion of apologists insisted that his snitch line and use of the benign “descriptor…old stock Canadians” weren’t Exhibit A and B of how to practise sectarian wedge politics. So, stop hyperventilating you perennial politically correct types, the apologists cried.

Today, the same cavalier defence is being employed by the same band of apologists to dismiss as inconsequential Scheer’s undeniable associations with notorious white nationalists that should, if decency had any currency in politics, be disqualifying.

On February 19, Scheer spoke at an event on Parliament Hill organised reportedly by “disgruntled pipeline workers” who had travelled from Western Canada by picayune convoy to Ottawa to

“have their voices heard”. He was joined by several members of his Conservative caucus who took dutiful turns praising the “protesters” and pledging fidelity to their amorphous cause.

“We are fighting for you. We are standing with you,” Scheer told the small, yellow-vested gathering. One Conservative senator was less trite, urging the assembly to “roll over every Liberal left in the country”. His invitation to violence was predictably greeted with hoots and cheers.

The rumble-ready “United We Roll” contingent that Scheer and company welcomed, encouraged and applauded, included attendees who – anti-hate groups detail – celebrate their white nationalist, white-supremacist, anti-immigrant, antiMuslim credentials online.

Still, for the doubters, the “protesters’” convictions surely became apparent when Faith Goldy was also asked to speak at the “rally” as their marquee guest.

Goldy has, for years, flaunted her white nationalism on a variety of media platforms. Among her other noxious “beliefs” is the “theory” that the white race is facing “genocide” and is on the precipice of extinction.

In December 2017, Canada’s racistin-residence, who also thinks launching another Crusade to retake the Holy Land is a laudable geopolitical strategy, recited, with little prompting and with evident glee on a racist podcast the white supremacist clarion call, The Fourteen Words: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”

A few months earlier, Goldy displayed her white nationalist bona fides again by appearing on a podcast affiliated with [neoNazi website] the Daily Stormer while in Virginia.

Goldy described her tete-a-tete with Nazis as a “poor decision.”

Scheer knew all this and more when he chose to attend the same event, organised by the same people who thought it appropriate and right to invite Goldy, who told Indigenous peoples who assailed her presence on Parliament Hill: “If you don’t like our country, leave it.”

Rather than say no, Scheer and his caucus colleagues opted to stand – figuratively speaking – rancid shoulder to rancid shoulder with a racist in the rank pursuit of parochial, political self-interest.

And with that, the nexus of traditional “conservatism” and the wretched right wing was fashioned – married by two speeches in one place, at one time, separated by just a few metres.

Scheer and Goldy have shared more intimate moments. Before she was fired over her “poor decision” to enjoy a convivial chat on a Nazi podcast, the telegenic Goldy was a host on a network featuring a cavalcade of frothing, perpetually indignant, antiestablishment personalities called Rebel Media.

In early 2017, then-Conservative leadership candidate Scheer was Goldy’s chummy, featured guest on her defunct programme On the Hunt – for what precisely remains a mystery.

In any event, the “hot” topic du jour was

“

Scheer and Goldy have shared more intimate moments. Before she was fired over her “poor decision” to enjoy a convivial chat on a Nazi podcast, the telegenic Goldy was a host on a network featuring a cavalcade of frothing, perpetually indignant, anti-establishment personalities called Rebel Media

a non-binding, symbolic motion introduced by a Liberal MP to condemn Islamophobia and all religious discrimination in the aftermath of the Quebec city terrorist who murdered six Muslim men praying in a mosque.

Scheer told Goldy he would emphatically vote against the motion because, like his effervescent TV pal, he was concerned that denouncing the hatred that fuelled the butchery of Muslim worshippers by way of a parliamentary motion would inevitably morph into an “attack” on free speech.

“Absolutely,” Goldy said, approvingly.

Fast forward to the horror in New Zealand, when another racist who referenced “white genocide” and “The Fourteen Words” in his “manifesto” slaughtered 50 Muslim children, women and men and grievously injured scores of other innocents because of where they prayed and who they prayed to.

Scheer’s response? Not surprisingly: muted platitudes on Twitter. “Freedom has come under attack in New Zealand as peaceful worshippers are targeted in a despicable act of evil. All people must be able to practice their faith freely and without fear,” he wrote without naming the faith of the massacred or the sites of their massacres. You see, “freedom”, not Muslims, was “attacked”.

That vapid, perfunctory tweet was consistent with Scheer’s reluctance to offend the odious likes of Goldy et al for fear of alienating a potential well of votes during a likely close election. Donald Trump has proven that racist overtures – blatant or cloaked – can afford a winning edge in a tight race.

Only later, after a torrent of criticism, did Scheer issue a second statement on Facebook, daring to mention Muslims and mosques. By then, it was too late. His initial response indeed reflected the measure of the man and the company he keeps.

Despite claiming now to shun the decaying network, Scheer holds other Rebel Media alumni close to his bosom. His 2019 campaign manager was a founding director of Rebel Media.

Like his mentor Stephen Harper, Scheer is intent on, it appears, leading Canada down a dangerous, sinister slope.

Andrew Mitrovica is a Public Affairs Analyst.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

PAGE 14

News Buhari, govs, global scholars to attend Nyass Maulud in Abuja From Ahmad Bauchi

P

Mohammed,

resident Muhammadu Buhari, state governors and scholars drawn from across the globe, including faithful are expected to attend the 119th Maulud anniversary of Sheikh Ibrahim NYass on 6th April 2019 at the National Stadium in Abuja.

A statement from Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi Foundation signed by Ahmad Mohammed Saka, chairman publicity subcommittee which was distributed to reporters in Bauchi yesterday said, the ceremony, which commences with arrival of guest from Wednesday 3rd of April, three days Makon Shehu week long events from (Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays) has started with the opening ceremony and lectures by imminent Islamic Scholars at the National Mosque Abuja, which was attended by emirs, scholars, and delegates from within and outside the country.

Leader of Tijjaniyyah Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi whose Foundation organized the International Maulud said that the event was organized to honour a servant of God Sheikh Ibrahim Nyass who dedicated all his life towards the services of Islam, and whoever did good things he should be commended and remembered.

Shehu Ibrahim lived an exemplary life filled with fear of God and noble character.

Sheikh said the event showed the light and strength of Islam, and urged security agencies, the people of Nigeria and neighboring states where guest will pass through on their way to the venue and on their way back to their homes to be hospitable and be their brother’s keepers.

He said “I am appealing to security agencies to ease way for our people who are travelling in mass exodus to the venue of the Maulud and our people should obey traffic laws for the success of the event” The scholar, said people should not be panic because of the mass movement of People through all directions from within and outside the country.

He said the programme was designed to improve relationship among followers of Tijjaniyyah across the globe and immortalize the late Islamic Scholar.

He said “The essence of the celebration is to further cement the existing mutual relationship of the adherents of Sheikh Ahmadu Tijjani all over the world, to immortalize and commemorate the legacy and teachings of the Sheikh and to pray for peaceful co-existence of the entire nation”.

Chairman of the Steering Committee, Alhaji Ibrahim Sheikh Dahiru Usman, said that prominent Islamic clerics from Morocco, Algeria ,Mauritania, United States of America, Mali, Egypt Senegal, Sudan, Ghana, Cameroon, Niger and other European and African countries are expected to grace the occasion.

No food insecurity in Nigeria, Buhari media group replies UN

By Umar Muhammad Puma

T

he global report on food crisis which included Nigeria among countries that suffered most from high levels of food insecurity in the world in 2018 is totally off the mark, unverifiable and unreliable, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has said.

BMO said the report, released

by United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation, is untenable bearing in mind that under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, there has been an increase in agricultural activities leading to sufficiency in

food production and availability.

In a statement signed by its chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, BMO said: “Even in the instance of the Northeast where there are internally Displaced Persons, there had been deliberate measures taken by the federal government to ensure adequate food for the victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.

“We want to also note that several intervention agencies are cooperating with the federal government in ensuring adequate food for the people in the war affected areas. The agencies and institutions include National

Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), UNHCR, UNICEF, ECOWAS, UNDP and NIMASA.” The pro-Buhari group said that in view of all these interventions, “it runs contrary to reason that an organisation like the United Nations, or any of its agencies, would lump Nigeria with countries like Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan where there are full blown wars.

We therefore consider the report as baseless, lacking in depth and calculated to diminish the efforts of the Buhari administration to reposition the country in all sectors.

“Definitely, with the reduction in the number of Internally Displaced

Persons and their camps in the Northeast, based on the proactive measures put in place by the federal government, the challenge of food insecurity has been drastically reduced and in some cases totally eliminated.

“For instance, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, the number of Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria has reduced to about 417,000, while countries like Ethiopia and Syria account for 1.4Million and 1.2Million IDPs respectively.

Nigeria definitely has no place among the countries cited in the report.”

PAGE 15

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

By Tordue Salem, Abuja

T

he All Progressives Congress has dismissed allegations that the governor-elect of Kwara State is involved in a certificate forgery scandal.

In a statement the party issued yesterday through its spokesman Lanre Issa-Oniru, the party described the alleged smear campaign against it’s candidate as a futile exercise.

“Our attention has been drawn to the politically-sponsored and laughable allegation against the

Certificate Forgery: PDP Engaging In Futile Exercise - APC All Progressives Congress (APC) Kwara State governor-elect, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq that he forged the Senior Secondary School Certificate he presented for election.

“We understand the desperation of the sponsors of this campaign of calumny to get power through

the backdoor after the crushing defeat they suffered from the Kwara electorate in the last General Elections”, it stated.

The party stressed that the allegations were baseless and futile.

“While it is the right of the rejected opposition and their

proxies to approach the election tribunal relying on their flimsy and false claims, we assure Kwarans that it is an exercise in futility and will surely come to nought. Challenging the popular mandate given to Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq amounts to mere shadow boxing.

The outcome of the elections in Kwara is an expression of collective resolve of Kwara electorate for a new progressive order that has long eluded Kwara State”, the party stated..

“Our party affirms its confidence in our governor-elect and equally affirm that all documents he submitted are authentic. We urge our members in Kwara State to exercise no doubt at all. They should rather gear up for the task of setting our dear state on a path to progress under the capable hands of Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq”.

Immediate past Chairman of Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) Abuja Chapter, Osaretin Okoro (L), presenting a plaque to the Keynote Lecturer/Chairman Education Committee, NIQS, Ambrose Okhiria, during the NIQS FCT Unity Chapter’s One Day Retreat for Senate Members of NIQS, yesterday in Abuja . Photo: NAN

IDPs: Yobe seeks FAO’s assistance on job creation, poverty alleviation From Uche Uche, Damaturu

Y

obe state government has appealed to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization to explore more avenues towards opening up job creation and poverty alleviation programs for returnee Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs in the State.

The state governor, Alh. Ibrahim Gaidam, represented by his deputy, Engr. Abubakar D.Aliyu made the appeal yesterday, when the FAO country representative in Nigeria, Mr. Sufyan Koroma, led a team of the agency on a courtesy call on the governor at the Government House, Damaturu,

the state capital.

He pointed out that the State suffered in terms of destruction of lives and properties worth millions of naira, but now that peace in returning to the state and people displaced by the insurgency are returning to their communities, attention of the State Government is now focused on how best to effectively and efficiently address the humanitarian crisis by speeding up recovery and peace building efforts in the affected areas.

“I therefore wish to seize the opportunity to make passionate appeal towards opening up more avenues for job creation and poverty alleviation for the returnees IDPs living in host communities and the vulnerable in our state to

enable them engage in agricultural activities, both rain-fed, irrigation farming and improve the crop value chain,” he stated.

This people he said, could also be assisted with some life supporting economic drives such as modern fish and poultry production and skill acquisition programs to enable them, especially, those among them, who lost their means of livelihood, to restart their businesses and resume normal life.

Yobe State, he said has potential for agricultural activities such as cultivable land of about 1,096,553 hectares out of which over 366,000 hectares is Fadama land, in addition to a total of 765 kilometers of rivers, tributaries,

flood plains and a lake in twelve out of the seventeen local government areas of the state that could be exploited in the carrying out of the assistance.

Earlier, Mr. Sufyan Koroma, has told the governor that the reason for the courtesy visit was to find more ways of assisting the state in the post insurgency recovery plan and how best to partner the state in that process.

He commended the state governor and the government for assistance being rendered to the agency that has resulted in providing the needed humanitarian assistance to the victims of insurgency and the vulnerable ones in the state.

R-L: Director General , Committee of Youth on Mobilization and Sensitization (CYMS), Comrade Obinna Nwaka, Director Logistic, Hon Bobiwaji Adeyemi, Director of Finance, Ruth Abiola, Director of Organizing, Haruna Ogatahi and Director of media / publicity, Comrade Otobong Gabriel, during the organization post election media briefing, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin imo0-owo

PDP BoT faults militarization of nation’selectoral processes

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

T

he Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic, PDP, rose from a crucial meeting in Abuja yesterday, faulting the militarisation of the electoral process in the country, despite a subsisting Supreme Court Judgement on such issues.

The BoT, nonetheless, called on PDP members to be calm and law abiding always, assuring them that justice will always triumph over injustice and good over evil.

This was contained in a communique issued at the end of the 65th BoT meeting and read by its Chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin.The meeting was held at the PDP’s National Secretariat, Abuja.

The BoT noted that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has eroded all the electoral gains recorded during the past elections in the country.

The BoT further congratulated all party members elected into various offices just as they assured those whose mandates were stolen that such will be recovered through a legitimate process.

Reading the Communique, Senator Jubrin said, “The BOT hereby wishes to congratulate our great party and all our candidates who participated in the 2019 elections, for bracing the odds and strengthening democratic rules and culture in spite of the unprecedented level of militarization , which runs clearly against

the letters and spirit of the judgment of the supreme court that says the military has no business in the conduct of elections.

“The BOT also wishes to assure Nigerians and all members of our great party, especially those whose mandate were openly stolen, that the BOT stands by them at all times in the quest to reclaim the mandate freely given to them by the good people of Nigeria.

“The BOT notes with dismay, the systematic erosion of the gains made under the PDP administration in enhancing the credibility of the electoral process over the years, and frowns at the way all those gains are being distorted and eroded by the present administration.

“The BoT calls on all Nigerians, especially our teeming PDP supporters to stay calm and be law-abiding, as we believe justice will take its proper place despite the traumatization of the judicial arm of government by the present administration.”

Present at the meeting were Former National Secretary Prof. Wale Oladipo, former President of the Senate Senator Adolphus Wabara.

Others are one time Lagos State Deputy Governor Kofo Akerere Buknor, former Minister of Women Affairs Hajiya Zainab Maina, former Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Turaki (SAN) and the incumbent National Secretary of the Party, Senator Ibrahim Tsauri.

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

POLITICS

After meeting Buhari , Abubakar to challenge Bauchi guber election From Ahmad Mohammed, Bauchi

O

ut-going Bauchi State Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, has made a u-turn on his earlier position accepting the governorship election result.

He has instead, vowed to challenge it in court after he met with President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress Adams Oshiomole.

Governor Abubakar who was the Governorship candidate of the APC in the 2019 governorship election in Bauchi State, stated this in a video clip released by Abubakar’s Special

Assistant on Communication Shamsuddeen Lukman, which shows the governor addressing his supporters at his campaign organization in Bauchi shortly after he returned to the state.

Abubakar said in the video clip” The reason for my travelling to Abuja was to meet with vice president, president and party chairman all of whom told me that the party would go to court to challenge the election results”..

He said he had earlier accepted the outcome of the election as a destiny adding that he now met with President Muhammadu Buhari and the national leadership of the party which informed him of its plan to file suit against the election.

The governor said he is a party loyalist and as such is in support of its new decision, and explained that the party has hired four Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANS) to file the case saying he was hopeful that he would triumph in court.

Abubakar alleged that since the announcement of PDP candidate Bala Mohammed as winner of the election, Sara-Suka thuggery has resurfaced in Bauchi vowing that he would meet with security agencies tomorrow with a view to addressing the menace.

Recall that the outgoing governor went to a federal high court in Abuja to secure order that would restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission

from collating and announcing Bauchi governorship election results on the ground that the election was allegedly marred by irregularities.

But the electoral umpire after conducting supplementary election vacated the court order and announced Bala Mohammed winner having polled the highest votes.

Senator Bala Muhammad won the gubernatorial election with a total of 515,113 votes to defeat the APC candidate, incumbent Governor, Muhammad Abdullahi Abubakar who polled a total of 500,625 votes while the PRP candidate, Professor Ali Pate polled 46326 votes to emerge a distant third.

Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo with the family of Late Pastor Adetokunbo Abayomi Olorunnimbe.during condolence visits to Family, yesterday in lagos

Kebbi APC Primaries: Court adjourned Sen. Bala Na’Allah case to April 5 From Ahmed Idris, Birnin Kebbi

T

he Federal High Court sitting in Birnin Kebbi, has adjourned a case of Senator Bala Na’Allha and Alhaji Sule Sami to April 5.

Sami who was challenging the validity of Sen. Bala Na’Allah’s candidacy for Kebbi South Senatorial District over the

primary conducted last year October 2018.

The presiding judge, Justice Bassey Onu, adjourned the matter upon oral application made by the first and third respondents, Sanusi Samaila and Ifeoluwa Adeyemo and which the second respondent, Mr Afraimu Jingi, collaborated with the submission seeking for adjournment of the matter to one week.

Responding to the submission, the presiding judge, Onu,adjourned the matter to April 5 to enable both respondents to file in their replies on the amendment of the writ of summon.

He also ordered that all the replies be filed before the court on or before the adjourned date.

“You all know that this matter must be heard and determined

within 180 days from the date of filing the case and this matter was filed on Nov. 1, 2018 and has less than a month to expire now.

“Justice must be served within the stipulated time,” Onu assured.

The counsel to the plentif, Usman Hajji, expressed confidence on the court to determine the matter within the stipulated time required by law.

Appeal court sacks PDP Gombe lawmaker elect From Ado Musa , Jos

A

Abubakar

n Appeal Court sitting in Jos has sacked a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Gombe state lawmaker elect , Daniel Rabi.

Mr. Rabi was returned by the Independent National Electoral Commission to represent Billiri East Constituency in the State House of Assembly in the next four years.

The Court also ordered the Gombe state Police Commissioner, to invite the PDP returning officer of the primary, Jacob Lawal and chairman electoral committee, Magaji Layaji who were alledged to have criminally changed the name of the winner of the primary, Rambi Ayala.

Ayala who contested party primary on the platform of PDP with the sacked lawmaker elect challenged Rabi’s victory on the ground that he was initially declared winner of the primary at the venue of the exercise but surreptitiously changed by both the returning officer and chairman electrical committee of the primary.

The case was first filed at the Trial court in Gombe state, where it was dismissed by the judge.

But delivering the judgement, the presiding judge Justice M O Oniyangi, set aside the judgement of the Trial court, saying based on the fact presented before him, Ayala, the appellant was the winner of the primary and not Daniel.

“Based on the evidence presented before this court, the appellant has every evidence to prove his case and was the winner of the primary. The result was criminally shortchanged to favour the first respondent (Daniel). I therefore set aside the judgement of the trial court that dismissed the case filed by the appellant, “ the said.

Commenting shortly after the judgement, the council to the appellant, Arome Okwoli, said Justice has done in the case and that the judgement would server as a lesson to all political parties that didn’t follow due process.

PAGE 17

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

T

he Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, Mr. Daniel Asuquo has lamented the deepening liquidity crisis in the nation’s electricity market, just as the Committee pledged to support all participants in the electricity market to attain their full potentials.

Representative Asuquo made the lamentations in Kaduna today when he led members of the Committee on oversight assignment to Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company.

A statement by the Head, Corporate Communications of Kaduna Electric, Abdulazeez Abdullahi quoted the law maker as saying that “the Committee is highly disturbed by the huge financial liabilities against the Distribution Companies across the Country which is adversely affecting the pace of development in the Electricity Market”.

He charged Distribution Companies to up their games and ensure significant improvement in their monthly remittance to the market.

“The Discos must build strong partnership and synergy to attract real investment to the industry; that

POLITICS

Reps Lament Liquidity Crisis in Electricity Market you cannot have without building confidence of investors on the market”, he said.

He also lend his voice to the call for the emergence of full-fledged contract market, which he said “will enable participants in the market freely enter into fair and competitive contractual agreements among themselves.

Earlier, the Managing Director/

CEO of Kaduna Electric, Engineer Garba Haruna who was represented by a member of the Technical Team from Tata Power, Delhi-India, Mr. Rahul Kumar stressed the need for review of the wholesale and retail pricing methodology in the market to allow for more transparency and fairness to all market participants.

“The current practice where wholesale pricing changes almost

on monthly basis while retail tariff is frozen is largely responsible for the huge shortfall being experienced in the market today and unless this is addressed quickly, the liquidity crisis in the market will continue to hunt us”, he asserted.

Engr. Garba also appealed to the House Committee on Power to continue to exert necessary pressure on relevant agencies to offset the

huge outstanding electricity bills owed by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government, especially military and para-military.

He announced that in an effort to ensure that all meters related complaints by customers are addressed promptly, the Company recently commissioned its ultramodern meter laboratory.

Other issues discussed during the one day working visit of members of the lower chamber of the National Assembly included the Eligible Customers Regulation, how to bridge the huge existing metering gap, allegations of load rejection by Distribution Companies and other operational challenges affecting the nation’s power sector.

L-R: Deputy Chairman House Committee on Industry Hon. Ashiru Aminu Mani; Chairman of the committee, Hon Sylvester Ogbaga; members of the committee Hon. Muthari Chiroma and Hon. Solomon Maren during the 2019 Budget defence at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Court Nullifies Ogboru’s Candidature

By Our Reporter

A

Federal High Court sitting in Asaba on Thursday has nullified the All Progressive Congress, APC governorship primary election conducted in Delta State.

The Plaintiff Hon. Victor Ochei, through his lawyer Mr. Ahmed Rahi, SAN, prayed the court to declare that the APC gubernatorial primary election that held on September 30, was illegal and unlawful on the ground that delegates unknown to the law were used for the exercise in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1085/ 2018.

Mr. Ogboru, a business mogul, had lost the governorship elections to Delta State Governor, Dr. Okowa in March.

The APC declared the victory of Okowa fraudulent, vowing to challenge it at the Tribunal.

APC shops for new National Secretary

By Tordue SalemEmail

F

ollowing the election of its former National Secretary as Governor of Yobe State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is searching for a new National Secretary it was learnt yesterday.

The slot is expected to be retained for the North east where Buni hails from.

Fillers indocate that Waziri Bulama may be favoured to clinch the slot, having contested the position during the last electoral convention of the party, which produced the current leadership.

Bulama, who served as the Deputy Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council during the last elections,

stepped down for Buni to emerge unopposed after an agreement by leaders of the party from the north east.

According to the The Nation, a highly placed official of the party said the north east is expected to fill the vacancy, adding the leaders are expected to meet and come up with their choice for the position.

“The position is zoned to the north east and we expect them to meet very soon and come up with their choice.

“It is that choice they will submit to the NWC as the National Secretary”.

According to The Nation, it was also gathered that the battle for the position is raging between Borno and Yobe state with APC

leaders from Borno insisting it is their turn to produce the National Secretary.

The party source said the National Working Committee of the party would have decided on the issue but for the absence of the National Chairman.

“The absence of the National Chairman is what is delaying the announcement since the NWC would have taken decision on the issue of National Secretary this week.

“The Borno State governor, Alhaji Kassim Shettima had written Oshiomhole recommending Bulama, just as the stakeholders from the North East had endorsed him.

“Former members of the

defunct CPC are also in support of the candidature of Bulama. For them it would give them sense of belonging in the party leadership.

“Also of importance was that Bulama’s administrative competence was highly exhibited during the Presidential Campaign as the Deputy Director General (Coordination).

“In fact, one of the leaders of the party was said to be so impressed with Waziri’s deep intellect, his eloquent marketing of Mr. President and APC programmes all through the period of the campaigns, especially in live television programmes and debates, that he remarked, ‘this is our next national secretary’,” the source informed.

We’re Not Bothered By Ndume’s Ambition -APC

By Our Reporter

T

he All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday dismissed former Senate Leader, Muhmed Ali Ndume’s ambition as a none-issue.

The party said it was not worried by the decision of the former Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, to contest against its anointed candidate for the seat, Senator Ahmed Lawan.

According to THISDAY, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu, said the APC will wait until Ndume makes his move on the floor of the Senate in June.

The party had nominated Lawan for the Senate presidency and indicated that other interested senators-elect would have to stand down.

But Ndume opposed the party’s position, saying it was unconstitutional and could not stand. He launched his ambition on Tuesday with a nine-point agenda in a clear defiance of the party.

Isa-Onilu said: “It is not yet a date for the National Assembly to choose its new leaders and the party is at peace. We are doing what needs to be done to get our members to abide by the decisions of the party.

“We have confidence that at the end of

the day, all our members will go as a united entity on the floor of the National Assembly to do as we all collectively agreed”.

“So we are not worried at all and there is no cause for concern.”

Issa-Onilu said the party would wait till the Election Day to see what would happen on the floor of the National Assembly.

“What is important is what happened on the day of the election not before,” he said.

According to THIS DAY, it was gathered from aides to some of the NWC members that they have been playing host to many lobbyists and interested party leaders who are out to influence the zoning of certain positions to their areas.

Several party stakeholders were seen visiting the party’s national secretariat, seeking to meet with the National Chairman, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, or other NWC members.

“NWC members are contending with pressures coming from top party leaders and other representatives of interest groups to drum up support for preferred zoning arrangement,” a source said.

It was also learnt that most of NWC members have been reaching out to leaders in their zones with a view to getting feedback on the positions to support during the meeting.

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

Page 19

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

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House of Representatives Laments Liquidity Crisis in Electricity Market

L R: Chairman, Governing Board, Small & Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN),Olufemi Pedro, Director General of SMEDAN,Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda and President, National Association of Small & Medium Enterprises(NASME),Sir Degun Agboad, at the 15 Regular Meeting of the Governing Board of SMEDAN, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-owo

T

he Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, Mr. Daniel Asuquo has lamented the deepening liquidity crisis in the nation’s electricity market, just as the Committee pledged to support all participants in the electricity market to attain their full potentials.

Representative Asuquo made the lamentations in Kaduna today when he led members of the Committee on oversight assignment to Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company.

A statement by the Head, Corporate Communications of Kaduna Electric, Abdulazeez Abdullahi quoted the law maker as saying that “the Committee is highly disturbed by the huge financial

liabilities against the Distribution Companies across the Country which is adversely affecting the pace of development in the Electricity Market”.

He charged Distribution Companies to up their games and ensure significant improvement in their monthly remittance to the market.

“The Discos must build strong partnership and synergy to attract real investment to the industry; that you cannot have without building confidence of investors on the market”, he said.

He also lend his voice to the call for the emergence of full-fledged contract market, which he said “will enable participants in the market freely enter into fair and competitive contractual agreements among themselves.

Earlier, the Managing Director/CEO of Kaduna Electric, Engineer Garba Haruna who was represented by a member of the Technical Team from Tata Power, DelhiIndia, Mr. Rahul Kumar stressed the need for review of the wholesale and retail pricing methodology in the market to allow for more transparency and fairness to all market participants.

“The current practice where wholesale pricing changes almost on monthly basis while retail tariff is frozen is largely responsible for the huge shortfall being experienced in the market today and unless this is addressed quickly, the liquidity crisis in the market will continue to hunt us”, he asserted.

Engr. Garba also appealed to the House Committee on Power to continue to exert

necessary pressure on relevant agencies to offset the huge outstanding electricity bills owed by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government, especially military and para-military.

He announced that in an effort to ensure that all meters related complaints by customers are addressed promptly, the Company recently commissioned its ultra-modern meter laboratory.

Other issues discussed during the one day working visit of members of the lower chamber of the National Assembly included the Eligible Customers Regulation, how to bridge the huge existing metering gap, allegations of load rejection by Distribution Companies and other operational challenges affecting the nation’s power sector.

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INDUSTRY

Osinbajo tasks youths on skills acquisition

By Miriam Humbe Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has said that although educational qualification is important, it is gradually being overtaken by hands-on-skills because of their marketability.

The VP therefore encouraged all Nigerian youths to acquire hands-onskills.

He said these at the official closing ceremony of the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP) implemented by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and graduation of 11,000 trainees on Thursday in Abuja.

Represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha, Osinbajo said the Agency had

in the last two years alone trained over 450,000 Nigerians particularly the youths who were all empowered with start-up packs to start their own businesses.

He said out of the 450,000 trained youths, 90 per cent of the beneficiaries have gone on to become entrepreneurs who are even employing others.

“When tied with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) estimates that over 26 million Nigerians are unemployed despite the numerous initiatives of the federal government, it became obvious that more needs to be done,” he said.

Earlier, the Director General/Chief Executive of ITF Sir Joseph Ari explained that the phase of the programme was completed shortly before the 2019 elections in various crafts such as

welding and fabrication, plumbing and pipe-fitting,tailoring, aluminium, tilling, Plaster of Paris (POP) as well as Photography.

He said these trades were carefully selected based on their potential to directly impact the national economy.

“It is our conviction that training the youths and women without equipping them defeats the core objective of the programme and the policy of the present administration to create wealth and grow the economy,” he said.

Also, the Chairman Senate committee on Industry Sam Egwu charged the federal government on collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) or Bank of Industry (BOI) to give the graduants loans to start up their businesses.

Oil-refinery

Senate committee backs SON on promotion of certified Nigerian products

By Miriam Humbe

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he Senate Committee on Industry has expressed support for the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to continue its drive in campaigning for patronage of certified Made-in-Nigeria products and services always.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Sam Egwu, stated that SON remains vital to achieving the present administration’s Executive Order 004 aimed at providing support for local content in public procurement by Ministries, Departments and Agencies, [MDAs] as well as increasing the demand for locally made goods and services in the country.

Egwu expressed his support during an oversight visit to the SON Laboratory Complex, Ogba in Lagos.

He said promoting Made-in-Nigeria goods could only be achieved through SON’s quality assurance programmes and activities across the country, restating the committee’s commitment to support the organisation to achieve its mandate of improving lives through Standards.

He said: “We have visited laboratories outside this country and the SON Laboratories we have seen today compares favourably with the best in Europe, Asia

and some parts of Africa in terms of international best practices particularly with the international accreditation and expanded scope of testing. Within seven months since our last visit, it is good to see almost all the laboratories in operation and the enthusiasm competence demonstrated by the staff.

This is a good development for which we commend the Director General, management and staff of SON. We urge you to maintain these standards so that others will emulate you”.

The Senate Committee Chairman added: “Apart from ensuring diligent maintenance of the equipment, you must also ensure that the staff are continually trained to be abreast of global trends in standardisation and proficient testing, versatile and proactive.”

Also speaking, Senator Barnabas Gemade challenged SON to market the services of the accredited Laboratories beyond the West African Region where such facilities may not be in existence.

He acknowledged the accreditation of the SON Management Systems Certification services as well as the international recognition of the Organisation’s training services describing them as necessary for economic growth

and diversification.

Egwu disclosed that the oversight visit was to ascertain the progress made in the construction, equipment, installation and operation of the Laboratories with a view to identifying areas of required support to properly position SON for greater economic impact.

Welcoming the Committee earlier, SON DG, Mr. Osita Aboloma acknowledged the invaluable support of the members in appropriation over the years, stressing that their demonstrated commitment has been of tremendous encouragement to the SON Management and Staff.

Aboloma disclosed that the agency had diligently applied the 2018 appropriation by the National Assembly to the Laboratories, building of infrastructure across the nation and automation of its services for effective service delivery to stakeholders.

He sought the Committee’s continued support for the completion and equipping of ongoing office and Laboratory complexes in the six geopolitical zones of the country.

The Committee was conducted through performance, safety and endurance testing of various products including, electrical cables, GSM phones and chargers and medicated soap among others.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

Patronise SON management systems certification, save fx – FG directs MDAs

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By Miriam Humbe

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he Federal Government has directed all its Ministries, Departments and Agencies, (MDAs) to henceforth patronize the internationally accredited services of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) for the certification of their management systems and processes in accordance with international best practices.

A circular from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha informed all MDAs of the attainment of international accreditation for the SON Management Systems Certification (MSC) services.

The scope of the accreditation according to the circular covers four International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standards namely; – Quality Management Systems (QMS) Standards, – Environmental Management Systems (EMS) Standards, –Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) Standards and – Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS) Standards The SGF directed all the MDAs to take optimum advantage of the SON Management Systems Certification services in line with the Presidential Executive Order 4 on support of local content.

According to him, patronage of SON MSC would lead to huge savings in foreign exchange hitherto expended by some MDAs in procuring such services from foreign organisations.

Commenting on the SGF directive, SON Director General, Mr. Osita Aboloma disclosed that the accreditation has brought his agency at par with its contemporaries in Europe, America, Asia and some parts of Africa.

According to him, SON international accreditation of its MSC services follows on the heels of a similar attainment for its Training Services which focuses on development of national capacity in international management systems standards.

He recalled that the SON Training Services (STS) Centre received certification by the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) and the International Register of Certified Auditors (IRCA) as an Approved Training Partner (ATP) in 2018.

The Centre thus became the first CQI and IRCA approved Training Centre in Nigeria and the West African region to offer certified courses by the two international institutions, he said.

Aboloma disclosed that the MSC accreditation and STS international recognition form part of the overall repositioning of the agency’s services for global competitiveness as well as promoting ease of doing business in the public and private sectors in Nigeria.

He stated that concerted efforts are ongoing to attain international accreditation for the organisation’s other service offerings for global acceptance and promotion of international trade with, and investment in Nigeria.

Aboloma said that over 300 private sector organisations and institutions in Nigeria are already certified by the SON MSC in addition to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), with visible benefits in higher productivity, efficiency and responsiveness.

He listed the SON-MSC quality objectives as including “to achieve efficient and prompt service delivery to clients, ensure prompt resolution of all complaints as well as regular updating of its auditors’ knowledge and skills.’’

Tiv Traditional dance troupe entertaining guest during the Nigeria union of Teachers conference recently in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-owo

ICRC harps on fast-tracking infrastructural initiatives in Abuja

By Stanley Onyekwere

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he Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) has identified other alternative ways that would assist in speeding up the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) initiatives in developing Abuja, the nation’s capital.

ICRC stressed that Public Private Partnership (PPP) should be adopted by the FCDA as an alternative in providing

infrastructure in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Making this point, Director General of the commission, Engineer Chidi Izuwah, identified PPP focus areas for FCDA to include street lighting, agriculture, healthcare, co location-in hospital services (imaging/Radiology, diagnostic hematology and markets/ bus terminals.

He spoke on the sideline of collaborative workshop between FCDA and ICRC,

with the theme:’On the use of PPP option as alternative in providing infrasture in the FCT’, on Monday.

Izuwah noted that there was the need for the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) to work closely with the commission in order to execute its plans on developing Abuja.

According to him, “if the stakeholders look at challenges there would not be progress, rather the available opportunities should be

explore to boost infrastructural development.

“When we look at challenge there wont be progress, we should look at the opportunities and develop them.

“The lack of infrastructure is an opportunities for us to work with FCDA and develop them into bankable opportunities.”

He said with the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s to infrastructural developemnt, the commission was working with the FCDA

on how to execute impactful projects.

Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of FCDA, Engr. Umar Jibrin gave an overview of infrastructure development in FCT, success and challenges.

The FCDA boss reiterated that the Federal Capital City was planned to be developed within twenty five years, but he said 43 years after its creation, only about 30% of infrastructure had been provideded due to paucity of funds.

Gwagwa: Igbo Chief tasks residents on unity, peace

By Stanley Onyekwere

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esidents of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been enjoined to eschew violence, embrace unity and live in peace with one another.

This call was made by an Igbo traditional title holder, Chief David Aduge-Ani, JP, while celebrating his bestowment as Oganiru Ndi-Igbo 1 in Gwagwa community, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).

Chief Aduge-Ani while celebrating his new traditional title with some of his colleagues, members of the FCT Press Corps in the office of the FCT, Area 11, Garki, Abuja.

He advised the people to come together and support the task of governance and development of the society.

“My advice to people is that we should come together and work towards achieving peace for the progress of this country.

“Nigeria is such a great country that is naturally endowed with human other resources.

“All we need to do is to be determined with a national vision, and have good and committed leadership and followership; the sky will not even be our limit,” community leader stressed.

On what led to his conferment as an Igbo Chief, Aduge-Ani said: “Let me use this opportunity to advise that people should

be mindful that they are being monitored. How did I know that I was being monitored? So, please try to maintain the peace and be humble anywhere you live.

“The Ezeigbo of the community was doing his 36th anniversary as the Eze of that community, and you know, when they do anniversaries like this, they normally give awards to people that merit titles in the community and outside the community so they invited and told me that I merited the award for that community.

“When I met the Ezes in council, they told me that they have been following me since I started living in that community -that I have been humble, that

I don’t look for trouble, that am an easygoing human being even though, they are are surprised to hear that I am a journalist.

“I also maintain a normal relationship with members of the community. I am very cordial with them, I don’t make trouble with them, I don’t argue with them, I don’t try to intimidate people because of my professional background.”

“The tittle for me is meant to elevate me, to make me contribute more to that community’s development. As a titled chief, it is seen that you are a member of that community, you are seen as a stakeholder of that community.

So, if there are issues in that require you to be invited, you will

be invited,” he said.

Aduge-Ani advised other chiefs to always work towards maintaining peace in their domains no matter what happens, adding that that was the best way to live, without negative bias for religion, ethnicity and political affiliations.

He adds: “Government should continue to develop communities especially these settlements.a lot of things are missing sometimes,in most of this communities there is no light and stable water.

“So, government should make efforts to ensure that these communities/settlements have adequate infrastructure so as to make them feel as part of the system.”

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world news

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international_peoplesdailyng@yahoo.com

Brexit: Second day of cross-party talks held

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alks between Conservative and Labour teams have taken place for a second day, in a bid to end Brexit deadlock.

It follows discussions between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday, which were described as “constructive”.

Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said earlier that the idea of a “confirmatory” referendum on any Brexit deal would be discussed.

MPs backed a bill on Wednesday which would force the PM to seek a new delay to Brexit.

The House of Lords is due to debate it later on Thursday.

Leaving the talks, Sir Keir did not answer questions about what had been discussed, telling reporters: “We have had further discussions and we will be having further discussions with the government.”

The UK is due to leave the EU on 12 April, and as yet, no withdrawal deal is in place.

But ministers have warned that the backbench bill - put forward by Labour’s Yvette Cooper - could increase “the risk of an accidental no-deal”.

No 10 says the bill, passed by the Commons with a majority of one vote on Wednesday, would deny the PM the power to agree a deal with EU leaders on April 10 as MPs would have to agree to any new Brexit date.

Any Brexit delay will require the unanimous backing of all 28 EU leaders at a summit next Wednesday.

If they agree - but suggest a different date to the one backed by MPs - the prime minister would have to bring it back to the Commons for further approval on Thursday 11 April.

“By April 11, the European Council will have concluded and the leaders will have returned to their member states. In the words of the secretary of state, the bill could increase the risk of an accidental no-deal exit,” the prime minister’s spokesman said.

The backbench bill will need the approval of the House of Lords if it is to become law.

Sir Keir told reporters: “We will be having as he left Lords are debating the procedure to bring forward the bill, before discussing the bill itself.

But ultimately it is the EU which decides whether to grant an extension. European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen said a no-deal Brexit was still “highly likely”.

Shadow Treasury minister Clive Lewis told BBC Radio 4’s World at One that Labour would not be talking to the government “if there wasn’t the possibility that Labour Party policy - which is to take this back to the public on any deal that is agreed by Parliament - couldn’t be pursued and enacted”.

He said that even if a joint deal agreed

by Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May was exactly the same as Labour’s Brexit plan it should still go back to the public, with the option of remaining in the EU on the ballot paper.

But it has emerged that party chairman Ian Lavery offered to quit the shadow cabinet, after twice defying orders to vote in favour of another referendum.

further discussions with the government” And 25 Labour MPs - including former minister Caroline Flint and a number MPs for Leave-voting seats in the North and Midlands - have written to Jeremy Corbyn, saying another referendum should not be included in any compromise Brexit deal.

They wrote: “Delaying for many months in the hope of a second referendum will simply divide the country further and add uncertainty for business.

“A second referendum would be exploited by the far right, damage the trust of many core Labour voters and reduce our chances of winning a general election.”

Chancellor Philip Hammond has said he expects Brussels to insist on a lengthy delay to Brexit. He also described a public vote to approve any final deal as “a perfectly credible proposition”.

But Health Secretary Matt Hancock told BBC Radio 4 Today he was “very strongly against” a public vote and he would not want to see a long extension to Brexit.

The cross-party talks have provoked strong criticism from MPs in both parties,

with two ministers resigning on Wednesday.

Reports in papers including the Sun suggest as many as 15 more - including several cabinet ministers - could follow if Mrs May strayed too far from previous commitments.

Among Mrs May’s “red lines” was leaving the EU’s customs union, which allows goods to move between member states without being subject to tariffs. It also imposes the same tariffs on goods from outside countries.

Labour wants a new permanent customs union with the EU, while Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party - which props up Mrs May’s government - indicated on Wednesday that it could support the idea.

The prime minister wants to agree a policy with the Labour leader for MPs to vote on before 10 April - when the EU will hold an emergency summit on Brexit.

But if they cannot reach a consensus, she has pledged to allow MPs to vote on a number of options, including the withdrawal agreement she has negotiated with the EU, which MPs have already rejected three times.

In either event, Mrs May said she would ask the EU for a further short extension to Brexit in the hope of getting an agreement passed by Parliament before 22 May, so that the UK does not have to take part in European elections.

Bill ‘passed in haste’ Yvette Cooper’s backbench bill to prevent a no-deal departure from the EU passed by 313 votes to 312 on Wednesday.

Tory Brexiteers expressed frustration at the unusual process of a backbench bill clearing all stages in the Commons in a matter of hours, rather than months.

On Thursday, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay told MPs he would hope the Lords would “scrutinise this bill passed in haste with its constitutional flaws”.

He added that there was “no guarantee” that the UK will not take part in the European elections in May and to participate would be a “betrayal” and “inflict untold damage”.

Prince Harry and Meghan took my Instagram name

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driving instructor who had his Instagram name taken away and given to Prince Harry and Meghan says he feels “flattered” but also “annoyed”.

Kevin Keiley had used @sussexroyal for around three years because he supports Reading FC - nicknamed the Royals - and he lives in West Sussex.

But he found out Instagram had changed his handle and given his name to the royal couple without asking him.

Instagram says his handle was changed because the account was inactive.

Kevin, who lives in Worthing, says the first he knew that his name had been given away was when he got a text.

“I got a jokey text from my son which said ‘Ha ha, I see your handle has gone then’,” the 55-year-old tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

“I thought ‘What’s that all about?’ He said ‘Look on Instagram’ so I looked on Instagram and suddenly my handle wasn’t @ sussexroyal anymore it was @_sussexroyal_ “It had been taken.”

Kevin admits that he didn’t have that many followers and didn’t post often - but he would use it to like and follow other people’s posts.

He says no-one from the Royal Family or from Instagram contacted him beforehand to ask if they could make the change.

Prince Harry and Meghan’s Instagram

Kevin and his daughter Leah are both Reading fans handle references their royal title - The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Their account was launched on Tuesday and broke a world record for reaching one million followers in the fastest ever time.

Instagram confirmed to Newsbeat that Kevin’s handle had been changed in line with its policy.

It allows it to make changes to an account

if it’s been inactive for a certain amount of time.

Kevin says he hasn’t been on Instagram since finding out it changed his name without asking - and he’s “annoyed” its people didn’t contact him.

“I’m a bit loath to use Instagram until I have a chat with them personally.”

Kevin also has the same name on Twitter

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

- which he’s currently managed to hang on to.

Saw this near Worthing. Happy days only a Reading fan would know pic.twitter. com/scf2OAhRrt “I can tell you that Twitter’s gone mental.

I used to have four followers and in 24 hours I’ve gone up to about 198,” he says.

“What I’m trying to do is keep tweeting therefore they can’t take it if it’s active. I don’t know what the royals are planning down the line.”

So what would Kevin say to Prince Harry and Meghan if he got the chance?

“Hello Harry and Meghan. If you do want my Twitter account as well can you at least have the decency to speak to me?”

This is the original and only Sussexroyal.

We talk about supporting Reading FC Kevin says his phone hasn’t stopped pinging and he’s also been receiving rude messages from trolls on Twitter.

“I didn’t ask for this. I’ve had the account for years - it’s not very pleasant,” he says.

“We just put up with it don’t we? I’m sure famous people put up with it millions of times a day.”

Kevin says he will probably go back on to Instagram one day but adds: “I don’t think I’ll be following the royals.”

Source: BBC

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Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 pilots ‘could not stop nosedive’ P ilots “repeatedly” followed procedures recommended by Boeing before the crash, according to the first official report into the disaster.

Despite their efforts, pilots “were not able to control the aircraft”, Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said.

Flight ET302 crashed after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing 157 people.

It was the second crash of a Boeing 737 Max aircraft in five months.

Last October, Lion Air flight JT 610 crashed into the sea near Indonesia killing all 189 people on board.

In early Thursday trading on Wall Street, Boeing’s shares were up 2.5%.

In a news conference in Addis Ababa, Ms Dagmawit said: “The crew performed all the procedures repeatedly [that were] provided by the manufacturer but were not able to control the aircraft.”

Her comments were based on a preliminary report into the crash, which has not been published yet, but could be released by the end of the week.

The 737 Max family of aircraft was grounded following the Ethiopian Airlines crash, a move affecting more than 300 planes.

What does the report say about the cause of the crash?

The preliminary report did not attribute blame for the crash and did not give detailed analysis of the flight.

But it did suggest that Boeing review the aircraft control system and said aviation authorities should confirm the problem had been solved before allowing the 737 Max back into the air.

In a statement, the chief executive of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde GebreMariam, said he was “very proud” of the pilots’ “high level of professional performance”.

“It was very unfortunate they could not recover the airplane from the persistence of nosediving,” the airline said in a statement.

Investigators have focused their attention on the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) - software designed to help prevent the 737 Max from stalling.

The software reacts when sensors in the nose of the aircraft show the jet is climbing at too steep an angle, which can cause a plane to stall.

What happened to the Lion Air flight?

An investigation into the Lion Air flight

suggested the system malfunctioned, and forced the plane’s nose down more than 20 times before it crashed into the sea.

The preliminary report from Indonesian investigators found that a faulty sensor on the aircraft wrongly triggered MCAS without the pilots’ knowledge.

Boeing has been working on an upgrade of the MCAS software since the Lion Air crash.

It has said the system can be disabled allowing pilots to regain control if there appears to be a problem.

But the latest comments from Ethiopian officials suggest that pilots could not regain control, despite following procedures recommended by Boeing.

Analysis: What does the report mean for Boeing?

Two crashes, five months apart, with a total of 346 people dead.

Both preliminary crash reports suggest a new design to the 737 Max 8 malfunctioned, pushing each plane repeatedly into a nosedive.

One lawsuit has been filed. More are likely.

The suffering of those who’ve lost loved ones can’t be quantified. But the commercial toll for the manufacturer and damage to its reputation, at this stage, can’t be either.

Hundreds of 737 Maxs are grounded worldwide. Thousands of orders are, for now on ice, and some could even be in jeopardy.

The Max was Boeing’s answer to Airbus’ A320: a single-aisle, fuel-efficient short-haul plane.

But in the opinion of one experienced 737 pilot, the new anti-stall system, which was added to the aircraft and contributed to both crashes, was “flawed”.

Boeing is working to fix it. It needs to get the aircraft certified as safe and back in the air as soon as it can.

What has Boeing done since the crash?

Boeing has issued guidance to pilots on how to manage MCAS. It plans to install an extra warning system on all 737 Max aircraft, which was previously an optional safety feature.

It is also revising pilot training to provide “enhanced understanding of the 737 Max” flight system and crew procedures.

The planemaker says the upgrades are not an admission that MCAS caused the crashes.

The Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed last month nosedived several times before it hit the ground, a preliminary report has said.

Hundreds of 737 Maxs are grounded worldwide

Bouteflika asks Algerians for ‘forgiveness’ Tripoli forces ‘on maximum alert as rival army closes in’

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“To err being human, I ask forgiveness for any failing,” President Bouteflika wrote

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utgoing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has asked his country for “forgiveness” in a letter published by the Algerian Press Service.

The president, who has been in power for 20 years, said he was “proud” of his contributions but realised he had “failed in [his] duty”.

He added that he was “leaving the political stage with neither sadness nor fear” for Algeria’s future.

His resignation on Tuesday came after six weeks of anti-government protests.

Last week, Algeria’s army chief, Lt Gen Ahmed Gaed Salah, had called for him to stand down.

In a letter, the 82-year-old president expressed his “gratitude” for “the signs of affection and respect” from his “dear sisters and brothers”.

“To err being human, I ask forgiveness for any failing,” he continued.

Mr Bouteflika also “implored” Algerians “to remain united and never succumb to division” after his resignation.

The octogenarian leader suffered a stroke six years ago and has rarely been in public since.

Pressure had been building since February, when the first demonstrations were sparked by Mr Bouteflika’s announcement that he would stand for a fifth term in national elections.

The president later withdrew his plans and reshuffled Algeria’s cabinet to quell accusations of corruption and cronyism, but resigned this week as protests continued.

Abdelkader Bensalah, chairman of the upper house of parliament, is expected to become caretaker president for three months until elections.

he Ministry of Interior of the UN-brokered Government of National Accord (GNA) has put its forces on maximum alert as forces loyal to the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) close in on the capital, Tripoli.

“The Ministry of Interior raises the highest state of emergency and issues its orders to all security units to strongly resist any attempts to undermine the capital’s security and to take all security measures in this regard,” the ministry said in a statement issued on its Facebook page.

“The forces attacking Tripoli are not aware of the extent of the crime they are committing against the homeland and citizens,” the ministry added.

“We hold the attacking party fully responsible

for the dire consequences of this attack. The international community must shoulder its moral and legal responsibility and clearly state its position on these serious breaches the attacking side has always been guilty of,” the ministry ended, in a reference to the LNA and its commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

His forces have moved west, taking control of a several towns.

UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres is in Tripoli and was supposed to be holding a news conference today, days before the expected launch of a conference bringing together rivals from across the political spectrum.

Source: BBC

South Africa nursery teacher arrested

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he nursery school teacher who was caught in a video allegedly assaulting children has been arrested. The video was taken a year ago but surfaced recently (see earlier entry).

Some parents have subsequently removed their children from the nursery school after several videos surfaced on social media which appeared to show one of the teachers assaulting children and babies, according to local media.

The school principal’s lawyer, Danie van Zyl, says the person who took the video has also been reported.

“We immediately went to the child protection unit and opened a case there.

The lady who assaulted the children was immediately arrested,” Eye Witness News quotes Mr Van Zyl as saying.

One of the videos shows the teacher lowering the jeans of the child before striking her on the buttocks a number of times after she vomited in class.

“Why are you vomiting? Why?” the teacher is heard scolding the toddler.

The child, who is crying at the time, looks up at the teacher and continues to use a cloth to clean a small green plastic table.

Government officials visited the school on Thursday to assess the facility, local reports say.

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Russia helped Israel recover remains of soldier missing since 1982 R

ussia’s military helped Israel recover from Syria the remains of an Israeli soldier missing since the 1982 war in Lebanon, President Vladimir Putin says.

The body of US-born tank commander Sergeant First Class Zachary Baumel was flown back to Israel a few days ago.

He was one of three soldiers still listed as missing in action since the Battle of Sultan Yacoub.

The Israeli military would only say on Wednesday that Sgt Baumel’s remains had been repatriated via a third country.

But during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow on Thursday, Mr Putin was quoted by Russian media as saying: “Our soldiers together with Syrian partners established his resting place. We are very happy that they will be able to give him the necessary military honours at home.”

Mr Netanyahu responded by confirming that two years ago he had made a personal request to the Russian leader for help in the matter.

“I want to thank you, my friend, for what you have done,” he added.

Russia is supporting forces loyal to Syria’s government in the country’s civil war.

Israel and Syria have been in a

Sgt Zachary Baumel was one of five soldiers missing since the Battle of Sultan Yacoub state of war since 1948, and Israel has angered the Syrian government in recent years by conducting hundreds of air strikes in an attempt to thwart what it calls Iran’s “military entrenchment” in Syria and shipments of Iranian weapons to Lebanese Hezbollah fighters.

Five Israeli soldiers went missing in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub between Israeli and Syrian forces on 11 June 1982 in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Several years later, two of the captured soldiers were returned alive in prisoner exchanges with Syria and the allied Palestinian group, the

Benjamin Netanyahu said he was grateful to Vladimir Putin for helping find the grave

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

Sgt Baumel and two other sergeants - Yehuda Katz and Zvi Feldman - remained unaccounted for despite the efforts of the Israeli authorities to locate them.

There have been many conflicting reports regarding the whereabouts and condition of the three men over the past 36 years. Some said they might have survived the fighting and been captured.

But an Israeli newspaper reported last year that their bodies were believed to be buried in the Palestinian

refugee camp of Yarmouk, in southern Damascus, which Syrian troops recaptured from Islamic State (IS) militants that May. Four months later, a Russian military spokesman said it had agreed to search for the remains of the missing soldiers “located at specific coordinates in Syria”.

“Today, we are lifting the uncertainty and closing a circle,” Mr Netanyahu said in a televised statement on Wednesday.

IDF chief of staff Lt Gen Aviv Kochavi said: “On the shoulders of IDF commanders, whom I lead, there is a

great obligation to take care of every soldier who joins the IDF and swears allegiance to Israel.

“This was a multi-year effort... during which various studies and operations were carried out to locate the missing persons. The culmination of the effort was a series of operations led by the intelligence branch, which led to the identification and return of Sgt Baumel.”

IDF spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus said forensic tests might be able to establish whether Sgt Baumel had died in battle or under other circumstances.

Concern over Singapore’s anti-fake news law

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his week Singapore’s government proposed its anti-fake news law in parliament - the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill.

The government says the law is necessary to protect Singaporeans from fake news and educate them about potential damage it can cause - in particular inciting racial and religious disharmony.

But critics say this new law puts too much power in the hands of the Singapore government, potentially threatening civil liberties.

Government decides what is factual Under the new law Singapore’s government will determine what is factual news and what is not.

If there is content about public institutions the government says is false, it can issue corrections that must be published, though it is yet unclear the exact process of how that would happen.

In extreme cases, it can tell online platforms to remove content it deems false.

This would affect not just individuals but also social media sites like Facebook, Google and Twitter which have their regional headquarters in Singapore.

Facebook and Google have said while they support regulation around fake news, they are concerned over some elements of the proposed law.

Twitter has said it is reviewing the draft legislation..

Jail sentences and fines are also

on the cards for those found guilty of publishing falsehoods with malicious intent or going against Singapore’s public interest.

The government says the law will not target opinions or freedom of expression.

“Lawyers will know you can define what is true and what is false and refer to facts,” Singapore’s Home Affairs and Law Minister Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam said. “This legislation deals with false statement of fact. It doesn’t deal with opinion, it doesn’t deal with viewpoints. You can have whatever viewpoints, however reasonable or unreasonable.”

Matters of public confidence But experts say the law is too vague.

“The law is sweeping, broad and contains vague wording that can be common to legislation in Singapore,” says Chong Ja Ian, a political scientist working in Singapore.

Professor Chong points to a number of clauses that he says gives broad latitude to the Singapore government.

“Several sections [4(f), 7(1)(b)(vi), 8(3)(f), 9(3)(f)] say that a person must not do anything in or outside Singapore, according to the law, to ‘diminish public confidence’ in a state body,” says Professor Chong.

“What does ‘diminish public confidence’ mean? A minister can have a lot of latitude to determine whether a statement diminishes public confidence or not.”

Take for example the high profile

escape of alleged terrorist Mas Selamat, who escaped from a Singapore prison in 2008 by climbing out of a window.

Under the proposed law, that he broke out may be a fact, but could reporting that it was because of inadequate security measures, thereby eroding confidence in a public institution, be in violation of the law?

Experts say clauses like this could potentially make commenting or reporting on matters of public interest problematic.

Professor Chong also refers to Clause 61 which, according to the draft bill, “enables the Minister to exempt a person or class of persons from any provision of the Bill”.

The way the law is worded suggests the government “can exempt anybody from this act that they want,” he says.

The fear is that if power is abused, the law leaves open the possibility that a government official would not be brought to account for potentially spreading falsehoods.

Is going against the government realistic?

The government says that if you do not agree with their decision, there is always a judicial review open for you.

“The government is not the final arbiter of truth” Mr Shanmugam says in a Facebook post, in an attempt to clear up misconceptions about the proposed law. “If the person who puts it [the content in question] up says, no this is true, this is not false, then challenge it in court...The courts are the ultimate

arbiters of the truth.”

But Kirsten Han, editor of New Naratif, a regional-focused news site, says that’s not a realistic option for most Singaporeans who don’t have the time, money or the will to go up against the government.

“I would question the number of alternative sites and Singaporeans who would have the resources to take the government to the high court in an attempt to overturn a minister’s direction,” she said.

Encouraging self censorship?

“The most important near term impact will be that people will stop sharing and commenting as much online,” says Singapore writer Sudhir Vadaketh.

“If people become afraid to talk about things… then they won’t just become hesitant in talking about race or religion. They will be afraid to criticise any government policy.”

“They will be worried about commenting on what is going on in Singapore.”

What next?

The draft bill will most likely be voted on in parliament next month.

Singapore’s ruling party, the PAP, has been in power since independence in 1965. It controls at least 80% of the seats in parliament, so it is almost certain the bill will become law.

When it does, the next step is to watch how Singapore uses this law in practice. Rights groups point to previous cases which they say show the

Singapore government’s sensitivity to criticism, and say that sets a worrying precedent for how this law may be used.

The bill is also being pushed through ahead of widely expected elections which it is thought will be held soon.

“This is politically driven,” says Phil Robertson, of Human Rights Watch. “A government heading to an election... they are worried. Singapore is using this law to set themselves up as the lord and master of what is right on the internet.”

Still, some legal experts say the law has the potential to add clarity to matters of public debate, and should not be seen as something sinister.

“There is a pragmatic streak in the law,” says Eugene Tan, Associate Professor of Law at Singapore Management University.

“It seeks to have the government’s version of the facts and its side of the story known. When it becomes law, the content producer and/or the online platforms will have to carry the competing narratives.”

Regulating fake news is necessary.

And how Singapore is proposing to tackle this will be watched closely in other Asian capitals. But laws should be designed to protect citizens - that includes from the potential abuse of government.

No government is perfect, but Singapore’s approach may depend far too much on the benevolence of those in power.

Source: BBC

Reema Juffali: Female Saudi driver to make F4 debut at Brands Hatch

S

audi Arabia’s first female racing driver Reema Juffali will make her F4 British Championship debut at Brands Hatch this weekend.

Juffali, 27, will drive for defending champions Double R Racing

alongside Louis Foster and Sebastian Alvarez.

She made her competitive racing debut in October 2018 - just months after her country lifted a ban on female drivers.

“It’s such a great thing for me to do and represent my country,” she said.

“Brands Hatch is the heart of motorsport,” Jeddah-born Juffali added.

Saudi Arabia issued driving licences to women for the first time in decades in June 2018, as it lifted its ban.

Within five months, Juffali was competing in two-seater racing and

has now progressed to single-seater racing.

“It’s going to be a tough year in such a competitive championship, but I’m ready for the challenge,” she said.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

Feature

25

Climate change: Warning from ‘Antarctica’s last forests’

S

cramble across exposed rocks in the middle of Antarctica and it’s possible to find the mummified twigs of shrubs that grew on the continent some three to five million years ago.

This plant material isn’t much to look at, but scientists say it should serve as a warning to the world about where climate change could take us if carbon emissions go unchecked.

The time period is an epoch geologists call the Pliocene, 2.6-5.3 million years ago.

It was marked by temperatures that were significantly warmer than today, perhaps by 2-3 degrees globally.

These were conditions that permitted plant growth even in the middle of the White Continent.

Higher, too, were sea-levels. It’s uncertain by how much, but possibly in the region of 10-20m above the modern ocean surface.

What’s really significant, though, is that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was very similar to what it is today - at around 400 CO2 molecules for every million molecules of air.

Indeed, the Pliocene was the last time in Earth history that the air carried this same concentration of the greenhouse gas.

And it tells you where we’re heading if we don’t get serious about addressing the climate problem, cautions Prof Martin Siegert from the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London.

Temperatures may currently be lower than in the Pliocene, but that’s only because there is a lag in the system, he says.

“If you put your oven on at home and set it to 200C, the temperature doesn’t get to that level immediately; it takes a bit of time,” he told reporters.

“And it’s the same with Earth’s climate.

If you ratchet up the level of CO2 at 400 parts per million (ppm), it won’t suddenly get to an equilibrium overnight. It will take maybe 300 years or something.

“So, the question to us is: what is the equilibrium state; what is Earth’s climate going to look like with 400ppm, all things being settled?”

Prof Siegert was among a group of scientists meeting in London on Wednesday to discuss the climate lessons from the Pliocene.

These experts want to see much more research into the parallels between then and now.

A lot of the knowledge we have presently about the epoch comes from ocean sediments.

These muds, drilled off the coast of Antarctica, contain fossil organisms whose geochemistry can be used to reconstruct ancient temperatures and the corresponding likely volume of ice on the planet.

If, as the scientists suspect, sea-levels were 10-20m higher in the Pliocene, it indicates the ice sheets must also have looked very different.

“The Greenland Ice Sheet holds about 7m (equivalent of sea-level rise). That was probably gone,” said Imperial’s Prof Tina van De Flierdt.

“In Antarctica, we have the smaller West Antarctic Ice Sheet which holds about 5m. That was probably gone, too.

“And then we have the big chunk in East Antarctica. There are certain parts of that which people have believed to be stable for a very long time. But that kind of doesn’t work with the numbers. If we need more than 10m of sea level rise, we need East Antarctica to be unstable as well.”

This could certainly explain the presence

of plants in the middle of a continent where today only lichens and mosses can survive.

Prof Jane Francis, the director of the British Antarctic Survey, pulled her fossilised shrub material from rocks just 500km from the South Pole.

“These are twigs similar to southern beech,” she told BBC News. “I like to call them the remnants of the last forests of Antarctica.

“They’re probably Pliocene in age.

What we’re looking at is a time when the glaciers retreated and we were left with areas in front of those glaciers where tiny little shrubs could grow. It wouldn’t have been a nice place to live; it would have been a tundra kind of environment, but with enough sunshine in summer and temperatures (able to rise) up to about 5C.” A key unknown is how much, how soon.

How fast could Antarctica retreat in the modern era if the global climate responds to the warming forced by 400ppm?

Conceivably very fast, is the answer from Prof Rob DeConto from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

He runs computer models which incorporate physical processes in the ice that can result in the rapid collapse of cliffs at the front of Antarctic glaciers terminating in the ocean.

“Today we are measuring sea-level rise in millimetres per year. So, a little more than 3mm per year right now,” he explained.

“But these new processes imply the potential for centimetres per year. But we’re looking to the geologists for guidance about rates. Maybe, it takes 10,000 years to get to 20m. We’ve still got a lot more work to do.”

For Prof Siegert, the imperative is to

These muds, drilled off the coast of Antarctica, contain fossil organisms whose geochemistry can be used to reconstruct ancient temperatures and the corresponding likely volume of ice on the planet.

If, as the scientists suspect, sea-levels were 10-20m higher in the Pliocene, it indicates the ice sheets must also have looked very different.

bring carbon emissions under control very quickly and then reverse the concentration.

“Can we restrict temperature rise to 1.5 degrees this century? Can we do that? It’s possible,” he says.

“We’ve got to bring CO2 levels down to 40% of what they are today by 2030, or so.

And then to zero by 2050, and then negative after that. That’s a massive undertaking but it’s possible.”

Source: BBC

A message from the Pliocene: A warmer world that saw plants persist in the Antarctic interior

Prof van De Flierdt (left): Much of what we know currently comes from ocean sediments

It’s not clear how fast the glaciers of Antarctica can respond to the warming inbuilt in 400ppm

These rocks, which hold fossil plants from the Pliocene, are just 500km from the South Pole

PAGE 26

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

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4. David Oyemade- Current Secretary.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1. Chukwuemeka Uwakwe - Chairman 2. Deaconess Oluchi Joy Chukwuemeka - Vice Chairman 3. Nnam Tochukwu Excellence - Secretary 4. Obahiagbon Onodiakheose Elizabeth 5. Pst Peace Efemena

Aims and objectives remain the same.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY

PUBLIC NOTICE

EMPOWERMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WITH ENTREPRENEURIAL NIGERIA INITIATIVE CAC/IT/NO: 67445

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR CERTIFIED TRUE COPY (CTC) OF LOSS OF CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES REMAIN THE SAME. THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES REMAIN THE SAME. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS APPLICATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY

PUBLIC NOTICE

CONCLAVE FOR SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF OKE OGUN

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.MR. HEZEKIAH ADESOLA OYINLOLA 2.ENG KOLA ONI 3.MR AHMED RAJI (SAN) 4.MR JOSEPH ADETEJU ALABI 5.AIG FEMI FOLAWIYO 6.ELDER PHILLIP OLADOYINBO 7.DR. (MRS) AMUDALAT BOLANLE OLANIYAN 8.MR. DEBO ADESHINA 9.DR. DIBU ADEROUNMU 10.MR. MOYO AJEKIGBE 11.AMB DAVID A ADEJUWON THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1.To foster the social growth and development of Oke Ogun 2.To advance the social welfare /standard of living of the people of Oke Ogun.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY

Objectives: 1. To help singles avoid every form of regret both in relationship and Marriage.

2. To help build excellence in relationships and marriage.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

PHONE PARTS AND ACCESSORIES DEALERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1. AHAM LINUS AFAMUEFUNA- PRESIDENT 2. EJIOFOR UGOCHUKWU SAMUEL - 1st VICE PRESIDENT 3. CHUKWUDI OKOYE - 2ND VICE PRESIDENT 4. EZEILO NDUBUISI HENRY- SECRETARY 5. MBONU EMEKA EDWARD- FINANCIAL SECRETARY 6. IGWE NNAEMEKA- TREASURY 7.NNEJI EKENE SIMON- CHIEF WHIP 8.DAVID UCHEOMA CHARLES - PROVOST 9. ORJI STANLEY NKEM- P. R. O 10. UMEH OBICHUKWU SAMSON - ASS PROVOST 11. UWACHENA NNAMDI BETHRAND- ASS. SEC. 12. AKPA EMEKA DAVID - MEMBER 13. ENEMMUO NICHOLAS CHIDI- MEMBER 14. ANYI STEPHEN OKECHUKWU - MEMBER THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.TO PROMOTE AND PROTECT THE INTEREST OF MEMBERS. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY

Public NOTICE

THE GLORIOUS REDEMPTION CHURCH OF ALL NATIONS

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.Michael Okwuchukwu Aloy - Chairman .

2.Ngaji Patience Chinwe - Secretary.

3.Ezemegwo Chimezie Dominic.

4.Michael Chinwendu Esther.

5.Ngaji Tony Okechukwu.

6.Mmaduka Deacon David.

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY

CLASSIFIED Public NOTICE

Bright Crest Estate Residents Association

WINDING UP

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1-Safiya Ibrahim Maha 2-Okpanachi Momoh 3-Bede Egbuogu 4-Idowu Obisanya 5-Olawunmi Omodehin

MORDI I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MORAH REBECCA CHUKWUELIZO. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS MORDI REBECCA CHUKWUELIZO. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.Promoting and fostering of good and healthy living accommodation and environment for the citizenry in Nigeria and all over the world among others.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

EKUNDAYO I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS DAYO ADEWOYE. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS EKUNDAYO EYITAYO ADEWOYE. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

Public NOTICE Beellahy Foundation

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1. Bamgbose Azeez Adisa 2. Mrs. Patricia Gold Amogbai 3. Engr. Ahmed Erinoso 4. Mrs. Adenine Baseerah 5. Mr. Henshaw It’s Udoekpo 6. Mr. Paul Angrey Mawuton Ibukun.

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.To feed the hungry, assist the needy and supports religious centres.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

LOSS OF DOCUMENT This is to inform the general public of loss of ORIGINAL ALLOCATION LETTERS OF KUJE AREA COUNCIL PLOT NO. A 518 and 519 IN KUCHIYAKO RELOCATION SCHEME LAYOUT. KUJE Belonging to SANI KAKA and MUDAEBI SANI. All efforts made to trace the said documents proved abortive, if found kindly return to the nearest police station or authorities concerned. General public should please take note Public NOTICE DELTA BOTTLES & SCRAP DEALERS ASSOCIATION THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : (1) SUNDAY MBAH, (2) SUNDAY EZE, (3) UGOCHUKWU ILOKA, (4) JOHN OKOLI, (5) EZEKIEL OKEKE. AIM AND OBJECTIVE: 1. TO PROMOTE, PROTECT THE WELFARE AND COMMON INTEREST OF ITS MEMBERS. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : Barr.Tom O.Egbele

RAMATU I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS RAMATU GAMBO SULAIMAN. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS RAMATU SULEIMAN GAMBO. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

Rita I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS Rita Chinenye Okolo.

NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS Rita chinenye Nweke.

ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

Public NOTICE

SOULS HARVESTERS & DISCIPLES GLOBAL CHRISTIAN CENTRE

The General Public is hereby notified that the above named Ministry has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja for Registration under Part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act No. 1 of 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. PASTOR PIUS AWORIEWODE OPHIE 2. PST. (MRS.) ANTHONIA OGHOGHO OPHIE 3. ELDER MOSES OKORO AYA 4. MRS. MERCY ARUORIWO ONYEMGBA

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1. To proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ all over the world.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, P.M.B. 198, Maitama, Abuja within Twenty-Eight (28) days from the date of this publication.

SIGNED: P. OKORO, ESQ. (Solicitor)

Barth I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS Abutu Batholomew. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS Barth Abutu. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE. Public NOTICE

AFRICAN AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION CAC/IT/NO. 35903

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ORGANISATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC),ABUJA FOR CHANGE OF TRUSTEES UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT,2004.

THE OLD TRUSTEES ARE: 1. KWAME AKUFFO-AKOTA RETAINED 2. LARRY RAY BEACH RETAINED 3. MCLEAN SIBANDA RETAINED 4. JIKUN HUANG RESIGNED 5. MARAIAME MAIGA RESIGNED 6. IDAH SITHOLE-NIANG RESIGNED 7. RORY RADDING RESIGNED 8. STANFORD BLADE RESIGNED 9. JUSTIN RAKOTOARISAONA RESIGNED 10. GORDON CONWAY RESIGNED THE NEW TRUSTEES ARE: 1. OUSMANE BADIANE, Ph.DDr. h.c 2. DR. JEREMY TINGA OUEDRAOGO 3. DR. INGRID WÜNNING TSCHOL 4. DR. DENIS TUMWESIGYE KYETERE 5. JESSICA FRANCISCA COLAÇO 6. SYLVIA HOREMANS 7. GEORGE AGYEMANG SARPONG THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES REMAIN THE SAME. ANYOBJECTION TO THIS APPLICATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRARGENERAL,COPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED. SECRETARY

AUWAL I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS AUWAL JIBRIN. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS AUWAL JIBRIN HARUNA. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

THIS SPACE IS FOR SALE

AL-AMIN I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS AL-AMIN SALISU YAHAYA. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS AL-AMIN S YAHAYA. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE. SUNUSI I, formerly known as SULAIMAN SUNUSI Now wish to be known and addressed as SUNUSI SULAIMAN DANMIKO. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note LEGAL NOTICE

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE PROBATE DIVISION BIRNIN KEBBI, KEBBI STATE Whereas the person whose name is set out in the first column here under died date and place stated in the said column. Whereas the person whose address had claimed relationship with the said deceased is set in the second column here under has applied to the High Court of Justice for GRANT OF LETTER OF ADMINISTRATION of the personal property.

Notice is hereby given that the said LETTER OF ADMINISTRATION will be granted to such person unless a notice to prohibit the grant there of is filed in the Probate Registry High Court of Justice Birnin Kebbi, within TWENTY ONE DAYS from the date of publication of this notice.

SCHEDULE Name and Address of Deceased Applicant Name and Address JONAH AJENOR AKURE MATHIAS JONAH NIGERIA POLICE FORCE RAFIN ATIKU AREA NASSARAWA COMMAND OPP. KAMPALA BREAD LAFIA DIVISION BIRNIN KEBBI NASSARAWA STATE KEBBI STATE Who died on the 15TH AUGUST, 2012 Dated at Birnin Kebbi on 12TH day of MARCH, 2019 MOHAMMED ADAMU YELDU Probate Registrar

Public NOTICE

MARRIAGE WITHOUT TEARS WITH REV. VICTORIA ONOJAH The general public is hereby notified that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja for registration under part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act No. 1 of 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. REV. VICTORIA ECHITOLALE ONOJAH - PRESIDENT 2. SHEKINAH OLUBOJO ONOJAH - SECRETARY 3. JOHN UNEKWU NEGEDU AIMS AND OBJECTIVES THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : a. To help marriages build solid and Godly homes.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED BY: Emmanuela Idele Solicitor Tel: 08020732900

THIS SPACE IS FOR SALE

Sports

PEOPLES DAILY

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

PAGE 28

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sports@peoplesdailyng.com, SMS- 08142929046

FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

Falcons get additional backroom staff ahead of World Cup

By Albert Akota

T

he Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has approved more technical crew for the Super Falcons to enable the team compete favourably for honours at the 8th FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in France.

Per Harlsson has been brought on board as conditioning coach, while Matti Demegard will work as video analyst for the nine –time African champions before and during the World Cup finals. Both were recommended

by Head Coach Thomas Dennerby.

These additions come on the back of two preparatory tournaments in China and Cyprus, an ongoing one in Spain, scheduled participation in the WAFU B Tournament and final camping programme in the world –renown Avita Resort in Austria, making the Class of 2019 perhaps the most –prepared Super Falcons for any FIFA World Cup finals since the competition was launched 28 years ago.

Meanwhile, Coach Thomas Dennerby said that it is important to have good camps as the France 2019 Women’s World Cup finals draw nearer.

In an interview at the team’s hotel in San Pedro del Pinatar, Thalasia, Spain, Dennerby insisted that the team will get better with the different camps and tournaments ahead of the big showpiece in France.

I think it is also important that most of the players are back in their various clubs and playing games. Both the individuals and team will keep improving.”

Explaining the relevance of the new staff to the team, Dennerby said: “The analyst collects clips on players, processes them and the players can come to the analyst a day after the game to see the different situations they were into.

We also do it on team base so that we can see defending line, midfield, build up play, finishing and so on.

This is very important for the education of the players and technical understanding.

“Then we have the conditioning coach who is building the endurance of players as well as speed muscles. His role is to help our players to get quicker and better stamina.

He is also a really important part of the team.”

Falcons will play Icelandic top division side; UMF Selfoss will face Canada Women National Team on Monday, April 8.

Francisca Ordega celebrates Nigeria’s equalizer against Sweden.

Dalung charges youths to make use of tailoring hub for empowerment>>>PG30

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

Chukwueze, Michael to Join Flying Eagles for FIFA U-20 World Cup

V

illarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze and Perugia midfielder Kingsley Michael will feature for the Flying Eagles of Nigeria at the forthcoming 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland barring any last minute decision.

Both players have been identified by Coach Paul Aigbogun to fortify the Flying Eagles team ahead of the 2019 FIFA World Cup in Poland.

The 19-year-old Villarreal star made his debut for the Super Eagles against Uganda in November and also featured for the U-23 team during their U-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers Third Round match against Libya which ended 4-2 in favour of Nigeria.

Chukwueze has been in excellent form for his club this season and was outstanding against Barcelona on Tuesday night, scoring a goal and providing an assist before coming off in the 88th minute.

Chukwueze’s goal and assist took his season tally to seven goals and three assists in 27 matches, which is an impressive record considering it is his first season in La Liga.

Nigeria will face Qatar, Ukraine and USA in Group D at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland.

r

t

Dalung charges youths to make use of tailoring hub for empowerment

T

N

igerian forward Henry Onyekuru can lay claim to being the fastest player in the Turkish Super Lig. This is according to United Kingdom-based sports analytics company OPTA, which measured the speed of players in the Turkish top flight.

The Galatasaray winger clocked 32kph over 20 meters to be ranked at the top of the speed list.

Onyekuru is loan at the Istanbul-based club from Premier League side Everton until the end of the 2018/19 season.

The 21-year-old Nigerian has racked up 11 goals and three assists in 24 Super Lig appearances, making him one of the top performers for Gala.

He has also recently broken back into the Nigerian national team set up under manager Gernot Rohr, and has racked up nine caps for the Super Eagles thus far.

He celebrated his full debut for the senior team by scoring in the recent 3-1 win against Seychelles in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

Onyekuru was nominated for the Young Player of the Year at the NFF Awards but lost out to Villarreal’s new kid on the block Samuel Chukwueze.

Both players are expected to be included in Nigeria’s final squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in June and July.

Henry Onyekuru

31

Why you’ve been eating avocados the wrong way and throwing away the most important part

M

By Amaechi Agbo

Onyekuru emerges fastest Player in Turkish league

Health

By Claudia Tanner

Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung,

Samuel Chukwueze

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, April 5, 2019

he minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, has called on Nigeria youths across the country to make effective use of the provision of utra modern taloring hub to empower themselves for the future.

Dalung stated this yesterday in Osun state where the federal government opened a tailoring hub equipped

with industrial and computerized machines, button and weaving machines, stand-by generator at the National Youth Development Centre in Ode-omu, for youth employment and empowerment.

According to press statement signed by the Director of Press, in the ministry, Lere-Adams, it bites that “no fewer than 80 youths drawn across the 36 states and the FCT were trained in tailoring and fashion design.

Speaking at the closing

ceremony held on Wednesday, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Barr.

Solomon Dalung, represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr. Olusade Adesola said that the Centre was set-up to assist youths to acquire skills that would ensure job and wealth creation.

Earlier, the Director of Enterprise Development and Promotions in the Ministry, Mr. Simeon Oduyebo said that the tailoring hub was conceptualized.

Nigeria climbs four places in latest FIFA ranking

By Albert Akota

N

igeria has moved up to the 42nd spot in the latest world ranking released by Fifa yesterday.

After wins against Seychelles and Egypt in March, the Super Eagles climbed four spots from the 46th position they got in the first global ranking for 2019.

Nigeria finished their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign as Group E leaders with a 3-1 win over the Pirates on March 22 and defeated the Pharaohs 1-0 four days later in an international friendly at the Stephen Keshi Stadium.

The three-time African champions now sit behind

Super Eagles Senegal [23] and Tunisia [28] in the continental standings while Morocco [45], DR Congo [46],

Ghana [49], Cameroon [54], Egypt [57], Burkina Faso [58] and Mali [65] completed the top 10.

Three Olympian set for Tokyo 2020

A

fter wins against Seychelles and Egypt in March, the Super Eagles climbed four spots from the 46th position they got in the first global ranking for 2019.

Nigeria finished their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign as Group E leaders with a 3-1 win over the Pirates on March 22 and defeated the Pharaohs 1-0 four days later in an international friendly at the Stephen Keshi Stadium.

The three-time African champions now sit behind

ultiple scientific studies have linked avocados with health benefits ranging from antiageing to warding off cancer.

But new research suggests we’re eating them all wrong - and throwing out part of it that’s a ‘gold mine’ of powerful protective nutrients.

In the first study of its kind, scientists have discovered that the seed husks - which are usually discarded along with the seed - are rich in medicinal compounds that could prevent the growth of malignant tumours and the build-up of fat inside our arteries.

These could be used to improve treatments for cancer, heart disease and a host of debilitating diseases.

Experts say the least appreciated part of the trendy fruit could soon undergo a ‘trash-to-treasure’ transformation and as well as being used in medicine could enhance cosmetics, perfumes and other consumer goods.

Experts believe the findings could one day lead to the creation of supplements made from the husk rather than consuming it as opinion is currently divided over how safe this actually is.

Dr Debasish Bandyopadhyay, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, said: ‘It could very well be that avocado seed husks, which most people consider as the waste of wastes, are actually the gem of gems because the medicinal compounds within them could eventually be used to treat cancer, heart disease and other conditions.

‘Our results also suggest that the seed husks are a

The seed husks of avocados have been found to contain compounds which could treat cancer and heart disease (file photo) potential source of chemicals used in plastics and other industrial products.’

How the research was carried out Nearly five million tons of avocados are produced worldwide annually - in most cases, the flesh is eaten and the seed is binned.

Some edible oil manufacturers extract avocado oil from the seeds, but they remove the husk surrounding the seed and discard it before processing.

Dr Bandyopadhyay and his students sought to find out more about what manufacturers are really throwing away when they discard the seed husks.

The researchers ground about 300 dried avocado seed husks into 21 ounces of powder.

After additional processing, the powder yielded around

three teaspoons of seed husk oil and slightly more than an ounce of seed husk wax.

In lab experiments, the research team found 116 compounds in the oil and 16 in the wax. Interestingly, many of the compounds don’t appear to be found in the seeds themselves.

Key ingredients Among the constituents in the oil was heptacosane, which might inhibit the growth of tumour cells, according to the team.

It also contains dodecanoic acid, which increases high density lipoprotein (known as HDL) and, as a result, could reduce the risk of atherosclerosis - the build-up of fatty material inside your arteries that can eventually cause life-threatening problems such as heart attacks

and strokes.

Additionally, the team found behenyl alcohol - also known as docosanol - an important ingredient used in antiviral medications and treatments to cold sores/fever blisters.

In the wax, the researchers detected a range of compounds including butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), an antioxidant food additive and preservative in cosmetics.

Now Dr Bandyopadhyay says he and his colleagues will modify several of the natural compounds so that they can be used to create better medications with fewer side effects.

The findings were presented at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, DC.

Why are avocados considered superfoods?

T

Andy Murray beat Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro to win gold at Rio 2016 - the final Olympics match to be played over five sets

he trendy green is largely made up of monounsaturated fat, one of the healthiest form of fats.

Half a large avocado contains 180 calories and counts as one of your recommended five daily portions of fruit and vegetables.

Naturally low in salt and containing fibre, they are chock-full of other beneficial nutrients including potassium and vitamin E. They are also packed with tyrosine, an amino acids which helps the body produce dopamine - known as the brain’s pleasure centre.

A spike of dopamine in the body leads to increased feelings of reward and motivation.

Avocados also contain more folic acid than any other fruit.

The B vitamin is not only especially beneficial to pregnant women, but helps reduce homocysteine, an amino acid linked to anxiety and depression, in the body.

Avocados are also packed with Omega-3, which have long been tied to improving eyesight, heart health and depression.

Is it safe to eat the husk of an Avocado seed?

R

ob Hobson, a registered nutritionist and Head of Nutrition at Healthspan, said he would not recommend eating the husk of the fruit.

‘The research is really interesting and adds to the health credentials of the avocado. But we need further research before we can say it’s beneficial to eat the husk.

‘The study refers to some sort of “additional processing” of the ground powder of the husk being carried out – we don’t know what this involves.

‘Plus, the findings don’t tell us what quantities of these protective compounds a person should consume each day. The safety of extracts from the husk would need to be tested too.’

He recommended that people stick to eating the fruit/pulp.

‘Avocado are a tasty and nutritious food to include in your diet, providing you with “good” fats which means it can help keep your cholesterol levels already in the healthy range, and helping lower your risk for heart disease.

‘It may well be that more research about the nutritional benefits of the husk leads to supplements but I would hang on consuming them for now.’

QUOTABLE QUOTE

. . . putting the people first

FRIDAY, April 5, 2019

“The President needs the right pool of talents to bring ideas to the table, to generate resources within the economy that will help stimulate growth and development. I cannot over-emphasize the need to get the need to get the right talents in various fields as quickly as possible, because it is only by so doing the right ideas can be generated.”

Alhaji Musa Maigida Abdu, Chairman, Nigeria Discussion Group (NDG)

SPORTS Kogi government and its macabre dance latest

Sterling arranges for 550 children to attend FA Cup semi-final

R

aheem Sterling has arranged for 550 pupils from his old school to attend the FA Cup semi-final between Manchester City and Brighton at Wembley on Saturday.

Students from the Ark Elvin Academy in London will also meet the England winger at City’s training complex in Manchester yesterday.

Sterling, 24, was raised near Wembley after moving from Jamaica aged five.

Sterling, who has scored 19 goals for City this season, has made charitable donations in the past.

In 2017 he made a “substantial” undisclosed contribution to the fund set up after the Grenfell Tower fire.

Clubs increase spending to £260m on football agents

A

lisson joined Liverpool, Riyad Mahrez signed for Manchester City and Jorginho arrived at Chelsea in big-money transfers during the 12 months covered by the latest figures Premier League clubs have paid out more than £260m to football agents during 2018-19 - an increase of £49m on the previous 12 months.

Liverpool was the highest spending club in the top flight, paying £43m to agents between 1 February 2018 and 31 January 2019.

Chelsea (£26m) and Manchester City (£24m) were the next biggest spenders.

Advert: business: news: lagos:

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till smarting from the national embarrassment of topping the odious table of states that have not been able to keep fidelity to payment of workers’ salaries, which are in arrears of many months, Kogi State is once more in the news. Again, for the very wrong reason! The three arms of government that should be meeting minds on how to ensure that salaries are paid are locked in a macabre dance.

Governor Yahaya Bello has a beef with the Chief Judge of the State, Justice Nasir Ajanah. Although, the executive alleges gross misconduct against Ajanah, the truth of the matter is that it substantially borders on ego trip. Bello, by the way is the executive governor and that makes him the incumbent executive head.

The administration of Kogi State under him is very well referred to as the Bello administration. Yet the State Government is not the exclusive preserve of the Executive arm.

To be sure, the government is a collective project in which the Executive, the Legislature (State House of Assembly) and the Judiciary are all independent and interdependent stakeholders. The three arms exercise the power of checking and balancing one another within the ambit of the constitutional provisions so that no arm acts ultra vires of its powers.

I have devoted a substantial time to read up the development in Kogi, which actually began in December last year, but has now reached a head with a motion by the House of Assembly recommending the suspension of the Chief Judge; and my conclusion is that the matter should have been handled differently and in accordance with constitutional due process.

A grapevine had hinted that the State Governor and the Chief Judge fell out with each other when the latter rebuffed the former’s decision to subject him and the judiciary to the ridiculous level of drawing their salary across the table in the guise of auditing staff (salary) payment.

The Chief Judge rebuffed that. That resulted in other decisions including alleged suspension of the monthly subventions to the Judiciary and other perks of office. These and others are, however, are at the level of small talks.

But the official narrative that is in the public domains and which I have decided to relate with is the alleged indictment of the Chief Judge by the House Committee on Public Accounts on the basis of its consideration of the State Auditor-General’s reports on the 2016 Financial Statements (Budget performance, analysis on personnel cost, overheads, capital expenditure and revenue performance of Kogi State for the year ended December 31, 2016).

This understandably was the connection of the State House of Assembly, under the speakership

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GUEST Column BY Sufuyan Ojeifo

Yahaya Bello of Prince Matthew Kolawole, with the Governor Bello-Justice Ajanah conflict. In a situation of partisan frenzy, a finger of guilt had been pointed at the Speaker for colluding or acting in cahoots with the Governor in a desperate bid to suspend the Chief Judge. There had been a preemptive court action to restrain the execution of the plot and, interestingly, the other party had through proxy petitioned the Chief Judge to the National Judicial Commission (NJC).

The court angle was the right of the Chief Judge to exercise in self preservation while the NJC angle was the Chief Judge’s hurdle that must obligatorily be crossed without any element of culpability. The petition to the NJC remains the best approach to adopt for its procedural correctness as constitutionally prescribed. But, perhaps, Governor Bello considered the NJC process dilatory and too decent.

Did he therefore convince himself that Justice Ajanah should be ignominiously treated? Current developments in the State would appear to validate the supposition.

Consider the adoption of the motion by the Kogi State House of Assembly on Tuesday, April 2, 2019, purporting to recommend the suspension/ removal of the Chief Judge from office: it is, without a doubt, a violation

of a subsisting interim order by a Kogi State High Court that restrained the Governor, the Speaker and the House of Assembly from doing anything or taking any further step in the matter pending the determination of the suit.

The suit was filed by the Chief Judge and Chief Registrar of Kogi State High Court and the order referred to supra was made on December 13, 2018 at the behest of counsel to the Chief Judge with the concurrence of defendants’ counsel.

According to reports, the said interim order was further renewed on February 4, 2019 by common consent of counsel of both parties.

The originating summons was fixed for definite hearing on March 11, 2019 but had to be adjourned to April 30, 2019 due to the ill-health of the presiding judge.

Besides, a member of the House of Assembly, Hon. Haruna Idoko, had drawn the attention of the Legislature to the subsisting order, restraining the Governor and the House of Assembly from doing anything whatsoever on the matter but he was reportedly overruled by the Speaker, a move that reinforced the claim of Speaker’s collusion with the incumbent Executive head. The Speaker had gone ahead to approve the illegal recommendation in the face of the subsisting order and the

legal provisions.

As I had noted earlier, the NJC had already been seized of the facts of the matter via a petition purportedly authored by the Executive arm.

The petition was submitted to the NJC in December 2018. It would have been neater and tidier if the Governor had waited for the outcome of the NJC’s investigation into the matter. By sidestepping the NJC that is constitutionally vested with the powers of investigation and recommendation of sanctions against judicial officers who are guilty of constitutional infractions, the Executive and Legislature in Kogi cannot escape essential indictment as conspirators in the plot to subjugate and humiliate Justice Ajanah, nay the entire Judiciary, because he is an emblematic representation of the institution.

Indeed, the real culprits in the macabre dance that is playing out in Kogi State presently are the State Governor and the Speaker of the House of Assembly. And the victim of their reckless and rascally action is Justice Ajanah, who has the law on his side, having acted within its ambits and submitted to the observance of due process. He must necessarily deploy the magnitude of the law and constitutionalism in clearing his name.

To acquit himself on this score, he must, beyond reasonable doubts, dismantle all the wild, concocted and vindictive allegations against him. This is the trajectory that he must successfully chart and, at the end of the road, be found to be above reproach like Caesar’s wife. Justice Ajanah, before you are history and posterity. Will history remember you and posterity adjudge you as that man that was assailed by the conspirators with a cocktail of falsehood but overcame them all? Time will tell.

Ojeifo contributed this piece from Abuja via ojwonderngr@ yahoo.com

DAN GAYE

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