Tuesday, October 8, 2019 Edition

Tuesday, October 8, 2019/ Safar 8, 1441 AH

2006 Days after

Vol. 32 No. 066 N150

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peoplesdailyng

. . . putting the people first

The nation awaits rescue of the remaining abducted Chibok schoolgirls

Adesina nominated for re-election as AfDB President

Adapt local solutions to national challenges, FG charges leaders

No sacred cow in anti-corruption fight -Magu

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pAGE 3

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Buhari presents N10.729 trillion 2020 budget to NASS today page 5

...Accommodates N700bn increase by lawmakers

L-R: Alhaji Ahmed Joda; Mr Pascal Dozie; Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba; President Muhammadu Buhari; Chairman of NESG, Mr Asue Ighodalo; Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed; Oba Otundeko; and, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council, Dr Doyin Salami, at the the 25th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) on Monday (October 7, 2019) at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, yesterday in Abuja.

Reps orders FG, states, Buratai to troops: Don’t spare criminals LGs to remit NSITF in Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, others deductions >>>page 3

>>>page 5

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PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

News CONTENTS News 2-14 Op.Ed

12-13

Politics 15-17 Stock Watch Business Metro

18 19-20 21

World Analysis 22 Africa News

23

World News

24

FG urges collaboration to ensure maritime security in Gulf of Guinea

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he Federal Government has restated the need for collaboration and partnership to ensure maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea.

Mr Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, made this assertion at the Global Maritime Security Conference in Abuja on Monday.

Amaechi, represented by the Minister of state for Transportation, Sen. Gbemisola Saraki, said striving to maintain safe, secure shipping in our seas and oceans was non-negotiable.

This, he said, was because the prosperity as nation-states today was linked to maritime security considering

that over 90 per cent of world international trade was done by sea.

According to him, there is a significant global concern on the rising spate of maritime insecurity and the perception that the Gulf of Guinea Region accounts for most of these cases.

“It is for this reason that Nigeria has decided to take the lead on behalf of the Gulf of Guinea states in convening this conference to examine the strategies and coordinated responses in place to address maritime insecurity.

“The absence of legal frameworks within member states seems to be a significant challenge in the regional

effort to stem the tide.

“Nigeria, in this regard thankfully has put in place detailed legislation in the form of a Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act to tackle and repress piracy and other maritime crimes in the Nigerian maritime domain,” Amaechi said.

The Minister expressed optimism that the conference would foster better cooperation in addressing the challenges of maritime security in the region for the benefit of member states and the world at large.

Also speaking, Mr Dakuku Peterside, Director-General, Nigerian

Buhari commiserates with family of ace broadcaster, Olasope

By Lawrence Olaoye

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resident Muhammadu Buhari has commiserated with family of the first man to appear on television in Nigeria, Kunle Olasope, who passed on at 82, leaving a legacy of excellence in broadcasting and foundation for many to build on.

According to a statement

made available to newsmen yesterday by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, the President sent condolences to the media industry, especially the broadcast sector, where Olasope shone brilliantly with Nigeria and Africa’s first TV station, Western Nigeria Television, WNTV, becoming a house-hold name.

Buhari believed the veteran

broadcaster’s contribution to media practice will always be remembered, and the focus of the programmes he anchored, which were mostly educational and informative, will remain relevant and inspiring.

The President prayed that the almighty God will receive the soul of the departed and comfort his family.

Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), restated that maritime insecurity remained one of the significant challenges affecting international trade.

He said it also affected the quest for sustainable use of the country’s ocean resources by member states for economic growth, improved livelihoods and job creation.

According to Peterside, Nigeria is keen to drive this initiative because it is a significant destination in the international and domestic shipping map accounting for over 65 per cent of cargo generated from the region.

While reiterating the expectations of the conference, he expressed optimism that it would provide the platform and catalyst for enhanced and robust regional and international collaborations.

He further said the collaboration when in place would deter and repress these challenges in the region.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that delegates from over 80 countries were partictipating in the conference.

Over 40 global maritime experts would be making presentations in the course of the three-day Conference with 11 thematic sessions.(NAN)

Buhari nominates Adesina for reelection as AfDB President Page 4

Digest

25

Feature 26 Sports 30-31 Back Page

32

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L-R: Comptroller of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Cross River Command, Mr Okey Ezugwu; Security Adviser to the Governor of Cross River State, Mr Ani Esin; Commander of Nigerian Navy Ship Victory, Commodore Vincent Okeke and Commandant of Nigerian Army Amphibious Training School, Calabar, Brig-.Gen. JY Nimmyel, during a sensitisation workshop for stakeholders on the Nigeria Immigration Service for National Border Management Strategy, yesterday in Calabar . Photo: NAN

Nigeria’s democracy is maturing – Buhari

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resident Muhammadu Buhari Monday in Abuja declared that ‘Nigeria democracy is maturing,’ citing the peaceful and orderly conduct of 2019 general elections and the resort to the rule of law by aggrieved candidates in settling disputes.

Buhari stated this while declaring open the 25th Nigeria Economic Summit (NES) with the theme: ‘‘Nigeria 2050: Shifting Gears’’ ‘‘The elections have come and

gone. Our country, once again, has shown the world that we can choose our leaders in a peaceful and orderly manner. Apart from a few pockets of unrest, majority of voters exercised their civic rights without hindrance. ‘‘Furthermore, we also saw an increase in the number of aggrieved candidates, and supporters, who took their concerns and grievances to the courts as opposed to the streets. This is how it should be. ‘‘Ladies and Gentlemen, what this clearly shows is that our

democracy is maturing,’’ he said.

The President, who is attending the Summit for the first time since he was elected and re-elected president in 2015 and 2019 respectively, said poverty reduction and inclusivity was at the heart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) economic policies in the last four years. ‘‘During the elections, almost all candidates proposed their vision for the economy and for the country.

Our party, the All Progressive

Congress, put before the country policies that focus on delivering prosperity to all Nigerians through enhancing security; eliminating corrupt practices in public service; supporting sectors that will create jobs; and promoting sociallyfocused interventions to support the poorest and most vulnerable among us. ‘‘These areas are all interconnected and are equally important in creating a prosperous society for all,’’ he said.

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PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

News

News Editor, Ese Awhotu

Saudi Arabia launches campaign to treat blindness in Nigeria From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

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he Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said it has launched a Volunteer Medical Campaign to treat Blindness and its Causes in Nigeria This was contained in a statement signed by the Ambassador of the kingdom to Nigeria Adnan Bostaji and made available to the media in Kaduna yesterday.

The statement added that the campaign is funded by King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center in collaboration with Al Basar International Foundation and will help to combat eye problems and treat eye patients.

The statement further Stated that the move is a i contribution to treating eye patients an finding succour to eye problems in the Nigerian society .

“The campaign’s first stage comprises of eye patients in Ibadan ( Oyo State), and in Lafiya (Nasarawa State), and it is coordinated with the local government authorities in the states.

“The campaign will continue until the end of October, the current month.

“The campaign aims at detecting and diagnosing the problems of eye patients by consultants and surgeons in order to give them the necessary treatment and to do surgery to remove cataract and glaucoma for those in need of the surgery, as well as do other minor surgical operations and offer them medicine and medical glasses.

“More than twenty (20) persons work in this campaign, comprising of consultants, technicians assistants, and a number of volunteers.

“On the first day of the campaign, a great number of Nigerian citizens who came to the campaign’s post in the city of Ibadan were actually examined and diagnosed.

“Most of them were found to have sight weakness or disorders, and the necessary treatment was given to them. The approval has also been made to perform five hundred (500) surgical operations in the coming days in order to remove cataract and glaucoma.

“This campaign proceeds from the leading humanitarian role of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in terms of humanitarian and relief aid in various countries of the world, as well as the interest of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin AbdulAziz Al-Saud, and his trustworthy Crown Prince, Muhammad bin Salman, in enhancing humanitarian work in all fields and in offering aid to friendly countries.

Adapt local solutions to national challenges, Buhari charges leaders at NES25

By Lawrence Olaoye

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resident Muhammadu Buhari has charged leaders in the country to adapt local solutions to all challenges facing the country.

In a statement made available to newsmen yesterday by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, the President gave this charge while declaring open the 25th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES25) in Abuja.

Buhari also pledged that his administration will continue to collaborate with the private sector in designing and implementing developmental projects that will keep Nigeria on track for sustained, inclusive and prosperity driven growth.

In his speech at the opening

of the 2-day Summit, the President said the successful conclusion of 2019 general elections and the resort by aggrieved candidates to seek redress in the courts rather than the street was proof that Nigeria‘s ‘‘democracy is maturing.’’ ‘‘I am informed that this year’s Summit has identified key job-creating sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, ICT, creative industry and extractive industry as focus sectors. ‘‘I am also told that your deliberations will focus on unlocking capital through our financial services sector to actualize the opportunities in these sectors. ‘‘In your deliberations, I

would request that your proposals are productive, inventive and innovative keeping in mind that Nigeria’s unique challenges can only be solved by made in Nigeria solutions,’’ he said.

Recounting the 2019 general elections, the President said Nigeria has shown the world that it is capable of electing leaders in a peaceful and orderly manner. ‘‘The elections have come and gone. Our country, once again, has shown the world that we can choose our leaders in a peaceful and orderly manner. ‘‘Apart from a few pockets of unrest, majority of voters exercised their civic rights without hindrance. ‘‘Furthermore, we also saw

an increase in the number of aggrieved candidates, and supporters, who took their concerns and grievances to the courts as opposed to the streets.

This is how it should be. ‘‘Ladies and Gentlemen, what this clearly shows is that our democracy is maturing,’’ he said.

Reflecting on the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress (APC) party, the President noted that his administration’s economic policies in the last four years focused on the need to uplift the poor and the disadvantaged and encourage inclusivity. ‘‘During the elections, almost all candidates proposed their vision for the economy and for the country”.

Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadiq Baba Abubakar (L); Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin (M) and Kaduna State Governor represented by the Internal Security and Home Affairs Commissioner, Samuel Aruwan, during the commissioning and piping of the Nigerian Air Force cadets in Nigeria Defence Academy’s 66 Regular Course, yesterday in Kaduna . Photo: NAN

No sacred cow in anti-corruption fight - Magu From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

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he Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu yesterday vowed to go after every corrupt person(s) no matter how highly placed in the country.

He further stated that the EFCC factors had actually made some state governors in Nigeria from attending flashy engagements such as birthday parties abroad, stressing that the factor is helping the government to overcome corruption tendencies.

Magu who disclosed this while interacting with journalists in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, lamented that corruption is a

disaster and evil that affects everybody which demand collective spirit to fight it, maintaining that the commission cannot fight it alone.

He explained that the desire to move forward in the fight against corruption prompted his visit to Benue state, with the aim to mobilize everyone including those at the rural areas.

“I’m in Makurdi with the desire to mobilize everybody to be party of the fight against corruption.

You will agree with with me that corruption is still pushing. I met someone who described corruption as a rain. So, corruption is still beating everyone in Nigeria. That is the essence of establishing our office in Makurdi, to bring the

services closer to the people.

“So we cannot do it alone. We are here to mobilize every human being to join the fight against corruption in Benue. We also realize that you journalists have the responsibility to fight corruption.

The Media (Journalists) are corruption hurters which is why you chose the profession because it all about investigation and journalists are investigators.

You must join hand with the Commission for it to get greater successes in the fight.

“Governors no longer attend flashy birthday parties unlike before. The fear and factors of EFCC is making them not to do so, even when they go, they are being careful and cautious of whatever

they do or say.

“The political inclination is no longer an issue. I don’t care who you are, where you come from and there is no question of identifying chairman of a political party. If you are corrupt, I will go after you.

You can see all the two governors convicted were all APC governors.

There is no political inclination, you can’t turn me round. If you are corrupt, we usually conduct thorough preliminary investigation before we come after you. That is why if you are invited to EFCC, you should know that there must be something.

“We should be able to do a lots of things against corruption and it is no longer business as usual.

Therefore, corruption is not as

reckless as before definitely”, Magu stated.

The EFCC boss revealed that the whistle blower strategy is working despite the delay in payment, adding the payment take little time because of rudiment of court process where the Judge has to take a decision and give direct and appeal to anyone with usual information to approach the commission so they can work on it and thereafter, pay such people.

He disclosed that the commission has embarked on raiding of hideouts, intimating that they raided a place at Ado Ekiti while they are also making efforts to chase the yahoo boys as well as other Fraudsters, adding that they have gotten a lot of convictions.

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PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

News

Adesina nominated for re-election as AfDB President

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resident Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Dr Akinwunmi Adesina for reelection as the President of African Development Bank (AfDB).

Mr Adesina, while speaking at an event in Lagos on Sunday, appreciated Mr Buhari for nominating him for re-election for a second term as president of the bank.

According to Mr Adesina, Nigeria has invested so much in me.

“When asked by former President Goodluck Jonathan to serve as Minister of Agriculture, it was duty calling me to the land of my birth.

“I served Nigeria to the very best of my ability. I thank God that Nigeria’s agriculture sector witnessed a much-needed transformation at the time.

“With the strong support of President Jonathan and the then President-elect, Buhari, we campaigned very hard for the position of the President of the African Development Bank.

“It was a Nigeria effort, as all hands were on deck.

“This included our former presidents and heads of state, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun

Obasanjo, former Vice Presidents Atiku Abubakar and Namadi Sambo, and of course my dear indefatigable sister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who ran a spirited campaign for me.

“By God’s grace, I was elected President of the African Development Bank on May 28, 2015, exactly 24 hours after my term of office as Minister ended.

“The nation jubilated as I became the first-ever Nigerian to be elected President of the bank since its establishment in 1964.

“Once again, Nigeria gave me air in my lungs.

“At the African Development Bank, we have worked very hard.

“In my four years as President, we have connected 16 million people to electricity, provided 70 million people with improved agricultural technologies to achieve food security.

“We have also given nine million people access to finance from private sector companies, provided 55 million people with access to improved transport, and

31 million people with access to water and sanitation.

“In all, 181 million people have directly benefitted from our investments.

“I am proud of all my staff and the Board of Directors whose hard work and relentless support have helped make this happen.

“The African Development Bank has continued to maintain its global AAA rating. Last year, the bank was rated the 4th most transparent institution globally.

“There is still much to do. We

Our vision is to guarantee security freedom, opportunities for all - El-Rufai From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

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aduna State Governor Mallam Nasir El Rufai said is vision for the state is that which will guarantee security, freedom and opportunities for all residents of kaduna state.

He made the assertion during a consultation Forum to promote social cohesion in the aftermath of the General elections in Nigeria

held in kaduna yesterday.

The Governor said his commitment to that vision is unwavering because his burning drive to fulfill his mandate will be the pointer to his tireless quest for peace and stability of the state.

El Rufai who was represented by the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs Samuel Aruwam expressed dismay that in recent times, factors of ethnicity

and religion have bled strongly into the Nation political consciousness with unfortunate consequences.

He added that too many have suffered as a result, thousand have been widowed, orphaned, displaced and disenfranchised on back of misplaced electoral disaffection. “ This government seeks peace and ardently pursues it “It is the quest for peace

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

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and stability which has guided numerous judicial reforms, because we know that rule of law will guarantee a stable environment.

“Above all the commitment to peace gives rise to the establishment the Kaduna State Peace Commission in 2017 to ensure the monitoring mitigation and prevention of conflicts, and the promotion of peaceful coexistence in the state”.

R-L: PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI, VICE PRESIDENT, PROF. YEMI OSINBANJO, SGF, BOSS GIDA MUSTAPHA, CHIEF OF STAFF, MALAM ABBA KYARI AND HEAD OF SERVICE, Dr. Folashade Yemi -Esan, AS PRESIDENT BUHARI PRESIDES OVER EXTRA-ORDINARY FEC MEETING AT THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS, YESTERDAY IN ABUJA. PHOTO: STATE HOUSE

Kagarko LG becomes first to pay new wages Chairman he Chairman of Kagarko local Government Area Mr. Nasara Rabo has said workers of the council have started to receive their September salaries under the new minimum wage package making it the first LGA to do so.

He disclosed this to newsmen while speaking to the media in Kaduna Yesterday.

Mr. Rabo explained that the implementation of the new minimum wage at the local level became necessary in view of the urgent need to consolidate on socioeconomic and political development of the state government.

He added that the payment of the new minimum wage is to commence next Monday for the month of September.

According to him Kagarko local council would be the first third tier of government to implement the new minimum wage in Kaduna state.

Mr. Rabo father said that the new salary package has been worked out in accordance with the template used by the state government, stressing that the measure is to ensure uniformity and guarantee excellence.

have gone some way climbing the steep mountainside of Africa’s development, yet there is still much way to go until we reach the mountaintop.

“Nigeria again is giving me air in my lungs, to keep on climbing.

“I wish to immensely thank and appreciate President Buhari for nominating me for e-election for a second term as President of the African Development Bank and for being such a wonderful champion and supporter of my re-election,’’ Mr Adesina said.(NAN)

Sex-for-grades scandal rocks UNILAG, as BBC documentary expose randy lecturers From Idowu Abdullahi, Lagos

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here were uproar from Nigerians yesterday as sexfor-grades scandal rocked the University of Lagos, Akoka, following a BBC documentary which exposed two of the institution’s lecturers.

The lecturers were: Dr. Samuel Oladipo and Dr. Boniface Igbenegbu. They were exposed in a 52-minutes long documentary which featured four lecturers from two of West Africa’s leading universities – UNILAG and the University of Ghana by BBC Africa Eye team led by Kiki Mordi, who had been a victim of sexual harassment which led to her quitting of her undergraduate studies The documentary exposed the atrocities committed by lecturers and how female students – those struggling with studies, seeking admission or in search of mentors are being exploited and sexually harassed.

Following dozens of testimonies,

BBC Africa Eye sent undercover journalists to the University of Lagos and the University of Ghana, posing as students.

According to the reports, the female reporters were sexually harassed by senior lecturers at the institutions.

Unknown to the lecturers, the female reporters were wearing secret cameras during the encounters.

Dr. Boniface is also the head pastor of a Foursquare Gospel Church in Lagos.

The undercover journalist sent to the institution posed as a 17-year-old student who wanted an admission at the University of Lagos.

In his bid to secure admission for her, Igbeneghu, invited the teenager to his office for tutorials, which later resulted into inappropriate conversations with her and some advances.

In the documentary, the lecturer revealed how his colleagues tossed and passed around UNILAG female

students for sex.

He also revealed how his colleagues patronised UNILAG Staff club ‘Cold room’ to perpetuate their atrocities on female students.

“Do you know that you are a very beautiful girl,” he asked her.

“Do you know that I am a pastor and I’m in my fifties. What will shock you is that even at my age now, if I want a girl of your age – a 17-year-old, all I need is to sweet tongue her and put some money in her hand and I’ll get her,” Igbeneghu said to her on camera.

Meanwhile, the Foursquare Gospel Church has suspended Dr Boniface Igbeneghu. This is coming as the institution also vowed to conduct thorough investigation into allegations of sex for grades leveled against the lecturer.

The Church also asked Dr Boniface to step down from all ministerial assignments for appropriate actions to be taken.

In a statement on Monday by the National Secretary of the church, Ikechukwu Ugbaja, said:

“The attention of the leadership of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria has been drawn to a video clip trending on social media platforms titled, ‘Sex for grades: Undercover in West Africa Universities – BBC News’ wherein a lecturer at the University of Lagos named Boniface Igbeneghu, also described as a pastor in Foursquare Gospel Church, was allegedly involved in sexual misconduct with some female students of the university.

“The general public is hereby informed that as holiness and Bible-believing church, we do not condone such heinous and unscriptural acts among our ministers. We totally dissociate ourselves from the purported conduct of Dr Igbeneghu and promise to take appropriate measures as soon as the ongoing investigation is concluded.

“Meanwhile, the pastor in question has been asked to step down from all ministerial assignments.”

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PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

News

Buhari to present N10.729 trillion 2020 budget to NASS today

By Lawrence Olaoye

B

arring last minute changes, President Muhammadu Buhari will today present the 2020 Appropriation Bill to the joint sitting of National Assembly today as scheduled.

It was gathered that the Extraordinary Federal Executive Council (FEC) chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday bent backward to accommodate the N700 billion increase made to the initial N19.002 trillion proposal made to the lawmakers by the Council in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy

...accommodates N700 increase by lawmakers Paper (MTEF-FSP) submitted by the executive.

Though there was no official briefing after the meeting, a reliable source disclosed that the Council commended the National Assembly for the increment of the crude oil benchmark from $55 per barrel to $57 per barrel.

When the Senate took the decision to jerk up the proposed Appropriation Bill, there were insinuations that the executive may reject same.

Though the ministers did not

disclose officially the outcome of the extraordinary meeting which lasted about five hours, it was reliably gathered that the Council members commended the lawmakers for increasing the proposed budget.

The source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, “FEC is happy with the National Assembly for increasing the benchmark to $57 per barrel. The additional $2is to take care of recruitment in the security agencies and also attend to critical areas.

“This is a sign that the legislature

and the executive will work together for the interest of Nigerians. It is a good development.”

Departmental heads of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning led by the Director General of Budget, Ben Akabueze, made submissions to the Council to guide its deliberations.

The meeting started at 12 noon with the rendition of national anthem and Christian prayer led by the Minister of Health while the Muslim prayer was led by the Minister of

Aviation.

The Extraordinary Council meeting was initially scheduled to hold last Saturday but was moved to yesterday on Presidential order.

According to a statement made available to newsmen last weekend by the Soecial Advise to the President on media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the extraordinary Council meeting held yesterday was to put finishing touches to the budget proposal with a view to presenting same to the National Assembly today.

Buratai to troops: Don’t spare criminals in Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto others

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

T

he Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai has once again directed troops fighting bandits, marauders and other criminals in Zamfara, katsina and Sokoto States among others to deal decisively with all criminal elements in their areas of operations.

The Army in a statement issued yesterday by Colonel Sagir Musa, its acting Director Army Public Relations said Buratai made the charge while addressing the troops at the Headquarters 1 Brigade in Gusau, Zamfara State.

He commended the troops for their commitment and professional disposition at sustaining and consolidating on the ongoing peace deal in the state and urged them to maintain aggressive posture against unrepentant bandits, kidnappers and cattle rustlers.

He used the opportunity to reiterate the combat readiness and resolve of the Nigerian Army to protect the lives and property of all law abiding Nigerians.

He further enjoined the troops to remain disciplined, committed, dedicated and absolutely loyal to constituted authority at all times.

General Buratai reiterated his charge to the troops to always adhere to the Nigerian Army’s extant Rules of Engagement and Code of Conduct during operations and training exercises, as human rights violations by any personnel will never be condoned.

According to him, “No officer or soldier should take laws into his/ her hands, innocent civilians must be protected at all times, rights abuses will never be encouraged, condoned or go unpunished”.

He assured the troops of the commitment of the Army under his leadership to their welfare and that of their families. He further informed the troops of the speedy completion of the numerous ongoing residential and office accommodations, water projects and provision of medical facilities in the newly established

barracks in Gusau and others in the newly formed units and formations

across the country.

While in Gusau, the COAS

inspected ongoing projects in the barracks and visited Wounded

In Action soldiers at the Federal Medical Centre Gusau.

L-R: Acting Director General, Nigeria Institute of Leather and Science Technology (NILEST) and Chairman, national steering Committee, Leather and Leather Products Policy Implementation Plan validation, Dr. Eucharia Ngozi Oparah, Chairman, Senate committee on Science and Technology, Sen. Uche Ekwunife, Minister of State for Science and Technology, Barr. Mohammed Abdullahi and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Bitrus Nabasu, during the Leather Policy Implementation workshop, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-owo

Reps orders FG, States, LGs to remit NSITF deductions

By Christiana Ekpa

T

he House of Representatives yesterday asked the Federal, States and Local Governments, Agencies and Parastatals, to immediately pay all contributions due to the National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) in order not to jeopardise the noble objectives of establishing the Fund.

The charge was also to private organizations to follow the same order.

This was just as the Ad-hoc committee called on all major oil companies particularly the National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries to expedite action to rectify the breach and pay their backlog of contributions before legal action is taken against them.

It’s equally asked well-meaning Nigerians, especially employers of labour, to pay their contributions to the Fund so that workers can be guaranteed safe landing when they fall.

The House Ad-hoc committee disclosed Monday at the public hearing of the Ad-hoc Committee Investigating

the Non-Remittance of Contribution into NSITF by Federal, State, and Local Governments, Parastatals, Public Corporation and Companies.

Declaring the public hearing open, the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila said NSITF was created to meet a specific need of providing adequate compensation for all employees or their dependents, in the event of death, injury, disease, or disability arising from, or in the course of their employment.

Gbajabiamila noted that, it is the employer contributions required by law that allows the fund to operate, and to meet the demands of its mandate and failure to comply with the requirement of law in this matter is an act of sabotage against the interests of the Nigerian worker which is unacceptable.

Represented by Majority Leader, Ado Doguwa the Speaker said, as it is evidently the case, government institutions themselves also fail to meet their obligations in this regard which is glaring repudiation of the government’s constitutional obligation

to serve the security and welfare of the people.

“The mandate of this committee is therefore simply to identify what factors may be mitigating against full compliance with the requirements of the law in this instance, and to make recommendations thereto on what we in the House of Representatives can do to achieve full compliance, and properly penalize those who refuse to do what is required of them, whether they’re government institutions or private enterprises.

“If it requires that we amend the law, we will do so. If it requires that we work with the National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) to improve on the internal regulatory framework, we will do that too. One thing is for certain, we will make sure that the rights of the Nigerian worker are respected and their interests, protected”, he stated.

Earlier in address of welcome, Chairman of the Committee, Sada Soli disclosed that in Nigeria, the Coal and Petroleum sectors produced the highest cases of fatality and injured

persons which is about 16.6 percent cent compared to 5.9 percent amongst woodworkers.

Soli lamented the fact that government and all its Agencies are guilty of non-remittance of the employee compensation contribution which is capable of giving the impression that Nigerians do not prioritize the social security and welfare scheme that provides comprehensive compensation to workers who suffer from occupational diseases or sustained injuries arising from accidents at work place or in the course of employment.

“We must remember that the whole idea behind the NSITF was to ensure that workers were not abandoned during the most vulnerable period of their lives when they could no longer look after themselves or their families.

“This is the principle behind the Employee’s Compensation Act of 2010, which provides a guaranteed and adequate compensation for all workers and their dependants for any death, injury, disease or disability in the course of their employment.

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News

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he Minister of Communications, Dr Isa Pantami, has tasked Nigerians participating in the on-going Gulf Information Technology Exhibition GITEX to ensure they domesticate technology ideas and add value to Nigeria\s ICT sector to build the country’s economy.

Pantami said this on Sunday while he led the Nigerian delegation to GITEX, a global technology exhibition that brings together over 200,000 trade visitors from over 145 countries of the world to share trends of ICT and ways of advancing technology innovations.

Nigeria’s participation in GITEX which is spearheaded by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is a week long programme holding from Oct.6 to Oct. 10.

The minister said that Nigeria’s participating was a platform for the country to showcase its local innovations, ICT potential, learn advancing technology from other exhibitors, network and domesticate ideas to boost the ICT sector.

“Our mission is to showcase talent, potential, network with other innovators and learn from them.

“We also hope to showcase our local content, solicit for investors to our innovations, look out for technology transfer because you

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

GITEX 2019: Minister tasks participants on technology domestication cannot undermine the capacity of those you wish to learn from.

“We must make sure there is value for money in our participation to add value to the ICT sector,” Pantami said.

He further said that as stakeholders in the industry, the success of the sector should be a collaborative effort.

The minister added that there was a need for exploration of technology advancement and not exploitation of the system.

Pantami said that ICT’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country had surpassed that of oil which made it important to harness the benefits of ICT. The Director-General of NITDA,

Mr Kashifu Inuwa, said the agency was making conscious effort toward diversifying the country’s economy through ICT, hence its participation in the 39th GITEX. Inuwa said the exhibition will create platforms for Nigeria to learn technology trends from other innovators and domesticate the ideas locally.

Nigeria’s Ambassador to UAE, Mr Mohammed Rimi, said Nigeria needed to make serious effort in promoting digital growth ,adding that the government of Dubai was ready to support the country.

Rimi recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari visited UAE in April to discuss possible ways of digital

growth, especially through deploying Artificial Intelligence.

He urged the delegation to ensure that the outcome of the meeting was implemented to benefit the country’s ICT industry and improve the lives of citizens.

Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said the commission was committed to deploy critical infrastructure to the development of ICT. “Presently, Nigeria has been able to achieve 35 per cent broadband penetration and granting internet access and speed to close to 70 million citizens.

“It is required of the commission to

boost the penetration to 127 per cent soon on its new broadband plan and we are committed to it to grant the rest of Nigerians internet access,” he said.

The Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone Limited, Mr Yusuf Kazaure, reiterated that ICT projects development in the country could not be done in silos but required collaborative effort and global exposure.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria Postal Service, Nigeria Communication Satellite Limited, Nigeria Petroleum Exchange Commission, Petroleum Equalisation Fund Management Board are some agencies representing the country at GITEX. (NAN)

Buhari condoles with Justice Nasir’s family over son’s death

By Lawrence Olaoye

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari has condoled with the family of late Galadima of Katsina, Justice Mamman Nasir over the death of one of his sons, Aminu Mamman Nasir.

According to a statement made made available to newsmen yesterday by his spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, Aminu, 48, died on Sunday at the Specialist Hospital in Katsina, leaving behind a young family and an aged mother.

The President expressed heartfelt grief on the demise of Aminu and prayed Allah to bless his soul and give strength to the bereaved family to bear the irreparable loss.

D

isplaced persons following flood menace in Oshimili South communities in Delta state are currently in disarray over alleged neglect by the state government.

Investigation revealed that various camps in Asaba and its environs have no shelters and food supply to the victims, many of whom have dumped the camps for refuge elsewhere and where they

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

T

he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Makurdi zonal office yesterday arraigned one Anna Ogbole and her company Henot Global Business Limited on a one - count charge for allegedly obtaining the sum of N3,200,000 (Three Million Two Hundred Thousand Naira only) under false pretence.

She was arraigned before Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon sitting at the Federal High Court Makurdi, Benue State.

A release from the office of the zonal head, EFCC Makurdi, said they received a petition from a complainant against Mrs. Ann Ogbole alleging that he entered into an agreement with the suspect to finance a contract she was awarded.

The complainant alleged that he made a contribution to the sum of Three Million, Two Hundred Thousand Naira (N3,200,000) towards the execution of a contract and the proceeds there from to be shared between them.

The charge reads: “That you Ann Ogbole being a Director and acting on behalf of Henot Global Business Limited on or about 21st November, 2017 at Makurdi within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, obtained the sum of N3, 200, 000.00 ( Three Million, Two Hundred Thousand Naira Only)

CRIME News

EFCC arraigns business woman for alleged N3m fraud from one Adima Godwin Egbe under false pretence that you will partner with him to execute a contract entered into between Henot Global Business Limited and State Universal Primary Education Board (SUBEB), with intent to defraud which pretence you knew to be false and thereby, committed an offence contrary to Section 1(2) of advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act”.

The accused, however, pleaded

‘not guilty’ when the charges were read to her.

Prosecution counsel, Y. Y.Tarfa, asked for a trial date and urged the Court to remand the accused in prison custody. He raised a clarification to the Court on the issue of the case being in lower Court, pointing out that was based on Issuance of Dud cheque while the one at the Federal High Court is based on Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006. He also prayed for an accelerated hearing.

However, counsel to the accused

M. O. Ozuba raised a preliminary objection to the arragnment of the defendant for a similar case before the State High Court Makurdi, even as the Court told him to file a formal application to be heard.

He made an oral application for bail of his client on liberal terms which the Court granted.

Justice Olajuwon granted bail to the accused in the sum of N1.5 Million Naira with one surety in like sum, who must show proof of relationship to the defendant and present a letter of

identification to the Court.

Also, the surety must show evidence of three years tax clearance, and must reside in Makurdi, submit two recent passport photographs.

Address of the surety must be verified by the registrar of the Court and the prosecutor must verify the documents the surety presents to the Court.

Anna Ogbole was remanded in prison custody pending the perfection of her bail conditions and the case was adjourned to November 5, 2019 for trial.

Court orders interim forfeiture of Assets of Executive Secretary of BCDA, Abdullahi From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

A

Federal High Court sitting in kaduna has ordered the forfeiture of the property of the Executive Secretary of Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA), Captain Junaid Abdullahi, situated at Jabi Road, Kaduna.

This is contained in an Order brought before the court via Motion Ex-parte dated September 27, 2019, in a Suit No. FHC/KD/CS/76/2018 between Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria and First Aviation Limited, Abdullahi 1st and 2nd defendants.

The Order signed by the Presiding Judge, and Senior Register 1 of the Court

Justice Z. B. Abubakar and MUBARAK Argungu respectively , stated that the property situated at No.7, Jabi Road, Kaduna by Certificate of Statutory Right of Occupancy No. KD/10914 and the property with Certificate of Occupancy No. LKN/RES/81/139 situated at No.6 Niger Street, Kano used as Security for the loan advanced to the Defendants

by Intercity Bank Plc and Unity Bank Plc is hereby forfeited in the interim to the Plaintiff/Applicant pending the determination of the suit.

The Order also stated that the account maintained by the 1st Defendant with Keystone Bank, and another account maintained by the 2nd Defendant with Guaranty Trust

Bank are hereby frozen pending determination of the suit.

“That the freezing/taking over of funds in any account belonging to the 1st and 2nd Defendant pending the determination of the suit is hereby granted.”

The motion ex-parte was brought before the court by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, Plaintiff/ Applicant in which First Aviation Limited is the 1st Defendant, and Captain Junaid Abdullahi is the 2nd Defendant.

The debt for recovery from the 1st and 2nd defendants is N315,489,577.77 made up of principle debt and accrued interest.

“An order of this Honourable Court granting interim possession and custody of the properties situated at No.7, Jabi Road, Kaduna, covered

by Certificate of Statutory Right of Occupancy No. KD/10914 and the property and the property covered by Certificate of Occupancy No. LKN/ RES/81/159 in the name of Alhaji Ahmed Hassan, located at No. 6 Niger Street Opposite Tropicana Hotel, Kano State, used as Security for the loan advance to the Defendants by erstwhile Intercity Bank Plc and Unity Bank Plc to the Applicants pending the determination of the suit pursuant to Section 49 of the AMCON Act, 2019 (as amended).”

Reform labour market, Textile workers tells FG From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

T L-R: Chairman, House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on the Non-Remittance of Contributions into the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Funds (NSITF), by Federal, States, Local Governments, Parastatals, Public Corporations and Companies from 2010 to date; Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Sada Soli, Representative of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Alshassan Ado Doguwa, Members of the Committee, Hon. Wole Oke and Hon. Abdullahi Idris Umar, during an investigative hearing at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

NEMA officials inspects farmlands of beneficiaries of it intervention in Niger From Yakubu Mustapha, Minna

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he Monitoring and Evaluation team of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has inspected farmlands of beneficiaries of the ongoing Federal Government Emergency Intervention Programme in Niger state.

The team was led by Mr Vincent Owan, Director, Disaster Risks Reduction of NEMA and Chairman of Emergency Agricultural Intervention Programme (EAIP).

He said that the federal government approved the programme to assist farmlands farmers whose farmlands were affected during the 2018 flood with

farm inputs in order to ensure food security in the country.

Owan disclosed that the team was in the state to evaluate and ensure that officers assigned to manage the programme were working in accordance with the directives.

“The monitoring and evaluation exercise also involves visiting

farmlands of beneficiaries and interacting with the farmers to ascertain the progress they have made so far in using the farm input given to them,” he said.

Owan, who visited yam and Rice farms in Shaku and Palwaya villages in Bosso local government area, expressed satisfaction with the progress made by farmers.

Flood: IDPs in disarray in Delta over alleged neglect

By Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

PAGE 7

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

could eke a living for themselves.

But the state government in a swift reaction through the commissioner for Special Duties, Mr Mofe Pirah said that the state government was on top of the situation adding that every IDP camps would be properly accommodated and taken care of.

While confirming that the Oneh IDP camp was over pupolated , the commissioner however assured that the state government was already creating other camps to

accommodate those who were yet to be accommodated.

The IDPs in the state have spent over four days and nights at Oneh Primary School, awaiting documentation and attendance by the appropriate authorities as those affected include: women, children, senior citizens and even sick persons who reported to camp later than some of their counterparts, who had already checked in.

According to some of the IDPs,”we had spent over four

nights in the open fields, exposed to cold, rain and mosquito bites, we had no choice but to endure with our children under such harsh conditions and we appeal to the state government to come to their rescue” They lamented the losses as a result of the floods, even as they remained optimistic of settling down as the time of filing this report but efforts were on top gear to prepare Ahamba Primary School to accommodate these stranded IDPs.

Meanwhile, the IDPs who had settled down expressed gratitude to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and the state government for ameliorating their plight and providing them with food, water, security and other basic necessities in camp.

It would be recalled that the Okowa led administration had acted proactively by settling up a flood committee in readiness for the floods expected to hit the state as predicted by several metrological agencies in the country.

he National Union of Textile Garment Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) has called on the Federal Government to urgently reform the labour market and enforce the existing progressive labour laws that will protect workers from being exploited and abused.

The General Secretary of the Union, Comrade Issa Aremu made the assertion in his speech at the Global Day of Mass action for Decent Work, held in Kaduna yesterday.

According to him Trade unions must rise up to defend the dignity of labour and fight precarious work and promote, protect and defend quality, secured employment.

Aremu added that the Union must

work to convert precarious work to regular employment with improve working condition.

“Precarious work or casual work is work done under inhuman conditions, low pay, unsecured, work that violate fundamental rights at work, reduce the dignity of workers.

"The most vulnerable are the women and young workers. Some bad employers engage in casualization, paying peanut and engage workers for 12 hours on daily basis.

“In many homes, child labour is the order of the day, where children are kept out of school to engage in menial jobs," he said.

Comrade Aremu lamented the condition of staff of closed Kaduna Textile Limited in the country, “the workers have suffered untold hardship due to long layoff without pay”.

FG unwilling to admit genocide after 52 years - Onyeobi From: Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

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xactly 52 years since the genocide committed by the troops of the Federal Government of Nigeria against the people of Asaba in 1967 without remorse, or apology.

But recounting the ordeals during the Nigerian Civil War, a survivor of the war and traditional Prime Minister ( Iyase) of Asaba, Chief Patrick Isioma Onyeobi has described the experience as cruel and gruesome, adding" October 7, 1967 is regarded as the worst day in the history of Asaba," stressing that there was hardly any family that was not touched or killed He lamented that" on that day our people had trooped out in their numbers with drums and dance groups to welcome the federal troops but regrettably, when they were surrounded by the soldiers, the men were separated from the women

and then moved down the guns" adding that despite the time lag , the federal government should admit its sins against humanity and express remorse.

"We the people of Asaba can never forget the massacre of October 7 1960, we can never forget our people who were brutally massacred that day and something positive must be done so that our people will feel a bit relieved that their children did not die in vain, we will continue to remind Nigerians that we must learn to live together as fools' , some families never recovered from that incident because their breawinners were murdered in Cold blood, we believe that a Federal University should be established here Asaba to always remind people of what happened on October 7,1967, we wish Nigeria peace and we hope that our leaders will learn from the mistakes of past so that history does not repeat itself"

FEDERAL MINISTRY OF EDUCATION ABUBAKAR TAFAWA BALEWA UNIVERSITY, BAUCHI

RE: INVITATION TO TENDER FOR YEAR 2013-2016 TETFUND MERGED LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTION PROJECTS, NEEDS ASSESSMENT INTERVENTION PROJECTS AND 2019 CAPITAL PROJECTS

addendum The Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, wishes to draw the attention of the general public to its advertisement published in Peoples’ Daily and Daily Sun Newspapers of Monday, September 23, 2019, as well as in the Federal Tenders Journal of Monday, September 23 – Sunday, October 6, 2019.

The University wishes to inform the public to note that; Lot 1and 2 (under paragraph 2.4 Capital Project) was published as Construction of Main Gate and Fence, instead of Construction and Consultancy of Main Gate and Fence at Gubi and construction and consultancy of service gate gubi, was Captured wrongly.

Except for the Corrigendum of 7th October, 2019 and the above, all other information remains valid.

All inconveniences regretted.

Signed: Vice Chancellor Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

PAGE 8

News

Delta govt resolves Ogbe -Ani community leadership tussle Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

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he leadership tussle that has unsettled the oil bearing Ogbe-Ani community in Ndokwa west local government area of Delta state has been resolved by the state government.

With the feuding parties at peace at present, it was gathered that the crisis had revolved around the leadership of Ogbe Ani Community Development Committee (CDC) Community Accredited Contact Committee (CACC) and the court suit with the Board of Energia Oil Company where N101million was awarded against the community.

But Delta state sensing dangers in the brewing crisis, intervened through the office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Peace Building and Conflict Resolution, Chief Edwin Uzor, whereby the people conceded positions to ensure peace after several meetings with the representatives of the state government led by Chief Uzor.

At the last meeting convened in Asaba, the dissolution of Chief Daniel Oba Ogun led CDC by Ogbe Ani Okpara Uku in Council and e l e ct ion of a ne w C DC Chairman, Mr Charles Enemuwe and Secretary, Emeke Ikimi was upheld.

The people also agreed that nominations into vacant positions in the community must be expanded to accommodate representatives of constituents families as well as the integration of some disbanded Ogbe Ani Community Accredited Contact Committee ( CACC).

Meanwhile, it was agreed that the Enegia CACC Board inaugurated in 2016 for a four year term would expire in September 2020 while the tenure of the Community Youth Chairman stood expired and in addition to the setting up a Constitution Drafting Committee and Global Memorandum of Understanding ( GMoU) between the community and oil Companies Operating in the area.

Addressing Journalists in Asaba at the end of the meeting, Chief Uzor said that the factions had reached an agreement and urged the community to live together in peace so that oil companies Operating in the community would respect them, adding” those of us in court are advised to go to court and withdraw for unity and peace to continue’ While expressing gratitude to Chief Uzor for mediating, one of the faction leaders , Chief Oba Ogu noted that though he was aware that the body that installed him as CDC Chairman had the powers to depose him,his anger was fuelled by manner in which it was done.

Don urges FG to enforce use of English language in public places

A

Don, Prof. Kamaluddeeen Bello, has urged the Federal Government to place strong emphasis on the use of English language as mode of communication in every public place in the country.

Bello gave the advice in Abuja while delivering the 15th Inaugural Lecture of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) with the topic “Who is a Nigerian Citizen”.

He said the call became necessary since it would be difficult to adopt a lingua franca for the country at this stage of Nigeria’s existence due to the distrust among the various ethnic groups.

According to Bello, there is no indigenous language that can be adopted in the country that other tribes will support and not protest against since there is nothing like Nigerian citizens but Nigerian indigenes.

“Nigerians should erase from

their minds, the belief that Nigerian citizenship could replace the current Nigerian indigeneship by fiat or decree or enactment of law or constitutionalised approach.

“That is, agitating for constitutional provisions alone cannot produce a deepening and sustainable Nigerian citizenship in place of Nigerian indigeneship; this is because the practice of indigeneship has been in existence since the time of Nigeria’s creation in 1914.

“This has become a culture and note that culture die hard.

“In the interim, every Nigerian should have it at the back of her or his mind that Nigerian constitution and Nigerians do not recognise Nigerian citizen, but Nigerian indigene of the various indigenous communities.

“Therefore, one should try to be assimilated into the way of life of a

place he wants to claim its indigeneship and not agitate for the indigeneship of a place that he cannot be assimilated into its culture or annoyed when denied an indigeneship of a place that he cannot be assimilated into its culture,” Bello said.

He also said that nobody was discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, gender or place of birth under citizenship but could be found under indegenship.

The Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, Prof. Abdalla Adamu, regretted that the country had been divided into ethnic and tribal lines.

Adamu, however, urged Nigerians to see the country as one indivisible entity to be able to conquer and surmount their challenges.

“The topic is interesting and it is in the public domain because there is nothing like Nigeria but communities, and I think that is what the professor

wants to talk about.

“People don’t identify themselves as Nigerians but rather as Fulani, Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Kanuri; the concept of collective Nigeria doesn’t seem to be in minds.

“The questions are, who are the citizens, how do you define the citizen and the parameter for defining citizenship and do you call yourself a Nigerian first before identifying yourself as Yoruba and so on?

“If you say you are an American citizen, you have to swear an allegiance to the flag of the country which means that you are a U.S. Citizen; even if you come from another place, there has to be that central point that connects you spiritually to the country.

“Even if you are a Nigerian and the U.S. is at war with Nigeria, you can be a soldier on the American side fighting Nigeria where you come from. NAN R-L Govs. Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and Bello Masari of Katsina State during a meeting of APC governors and leadership of the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja

FG vows to ride off water ways piracy

By Albert Akota

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he federal Government has promised not to relent it efforts to ride off water ways piracy.

President Muhammadu Buhari who disclosed this yesterday at the Global Maritime Security Conference holding in Abuja, with the theme: “Managing and Securing our waters” said Maritime security need collective efforts from all stakeholders represented at the conference.

Buhari was represented by

Minister of State Foreign Affairs, Mr Zubairu Dada at the Global Maritime Security Conference.

“I reiterate the need for a joint effort because security in the Gulf of Guinea is vital and central to global trade in view of the fact that many critical trade routes connecting the continent to the rest of the world, run through the Gulf,” he said.

He explained that Nigeria has put in place a Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Offences Act, which was signed into law on the 24th of June 2019 to give credence to the relevant

international treaties of the United Nations and International Maritime Organisation.

Dada noted that his administration has integrated National Surveillance and Waterways Protection Solution with Command and Control Infrastructure has been put in place and the Nigerian Navy has stepped up efforts in collaborating with other maritime security agencies aimed at achieving a safe and secured maritime domain.

According to him, this adminstration is working on a

Maritime Transport Plan, and Strategy, which when completed will provide a robust enabling framework for achieving Nigerian Maritime Objectives.”

Ms Saraki said the conference would also create a platform to look at strategies and coordinate responses in place to address the broad array of real and potential threats in the Gulf of Guinea over time.

She added that the absence of legal frameworks within member States was a significant challenge in the regional effort to stem the tide.

Group hails sack of IST Chairman Idoko-Akoh

T

he Citizens Awareness Against Corruption and Social Vices Initiative (CAACASVI) has hailed the sacking of the Chairman of Investment and Securities Tribunal, Isaiah Idoko-Akoh over alleged corruption.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Monday, the group hailed President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajia Zainab

Ahmed for their decisive and timely action.

The statement issued in Abuja on Monday was signed by Olumuyiwa Onlede, Executive Director of the CAACASVI. “His sack is long overdue, and is in the best interests of the Nigerian capital market, economy, capital market stakeholders, investors, litigants, and staff of IST. “We commend President Buhari

and the Honourable Minister of Finance for harkening to our call and the recurring calls by staff of IST and other stakeholders for IdokoAkoh’s sack.

“This singular act is another pointer that President Buhari is walking the talk in his avowed war against corruption. It is also a clear restatement to public officers, Nigerians and, in fact, the whole world, that in this war against

corruption there are no sacred cows.

“As stakeholders in the anticorruption war, we know that corruption will always fight back and that different sentiments and blackmail strategies will be employed by those who have vowed to toe the corrupt path.

“It is no wonder that Mr. IdokoAkoh now claims that due process was not followed in his removal from office”.

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

Page 9

JIGAWA STATE GOVERNMENT invitation to tender

INTRODUCTION The Government of Jigawa State through Chieftaincy, Religious Affairs and Shariah Implementation Directorate, Office of the Secretary to the State Government here by invites tender from reputable Contractors for the construction, completion and renovation of Friday and Daily prayer mosques as well as construction of District Head House and also Construction of NDLEA Office across the thirty constituencies in the state SCOPE OF THE WORK Construction, completion and renovation of Friday and Daily prayer mosques as well as construction of District Head House and also Construction of NDLEA Office making a total number of 98 lots with a delivery period of 12 and 8 weeks respectively A CONSTRUTION OF FIVE DAILY PRAYER MOSQUES 1 LOT 1 Auyo Constituency: I. Maro ii. Kafangar tsamiya iii. Guyu iv. Tsurufawa 2 LOT 2 Babura Constituency: i.Maisheka ii. Kofar yamma iii. Kofar kudu iv. Tashar bebaye 3 LOT 3 Birnin kudu Constituency: i. Faa ii. Chagu iii. Gudalai 4 LOT 4 Birnin kudu Constituency: i. Kauyen Abuja ii. Lemo iii. Gidan Bello 5 LOT 5 Birnin kudu Constituency: I. Yakuda ii. Zazzagawa iii. Kwalele 6 LOT 6 Birnin kudu Constituency: i. Saboru ii. Unguwar yamma iii. Karfawa 7 LOT 7 Birnin kudu Constituency: i. Arobade ii. Mungulo iii. Kwanar kangire 8 LOT 8 Birniwa Constituency: I Bugusu ii Gabasari iii Isfari 9 LOT 9 Buji Constituency: i U/Malam Amadu Damisa ii Danbazau yamma iii Kawaya Kudu 10 LOT10 Buji Constituency: I Kabbe J/Mesa ii Kora Bakwarga 11 LOT 11 Bulangu Constituency: I Turaka ii’ Gandu iii. K/Bulama waek 12 LOT 12 Bulangu Constituency: I Gabari ii Machiba iii Shagewa 13 LOT 13 Bulangu Constituency: I Bujaya ii Makera iii Mashawal 14 LOT 14 Bulangu Constituency: I Kwarin Bulama ii S/Garin Bulangu iii Mandamari sabuwa 15 LOT 15 Bulangu Constituency: I Gamajan Tsohuwa ii Hadogur Arewa iii Malumawar kwari 16 LOT 16 Dutse Constituency: I Galamawa G/biredi ii ijje iii Digawa iv Hausawa 17 LOT 17 Fagam Constituency: I Kaho iii K/Malam Yahaya Basirka iii Sabalari Basirka 18 LOT 18 Gumel Constituency: I Zango 19 LOT 19 Gwaram Constituency: I Jugwa A II Z/Nagoga G/Sarkin Aska iii Z/ta Gabas iv Girawa 20 LOT 20 Gwaram Constituency: I Abena ii Babban Gida Nahuce iii Tsangarwa 21 LOT 21 Gwiwa Constituency: I Yola kauye ii Unguwar Gandu iii Shema 22 LOT 22 Gwiwa Constituency: I Ture kwado ii Unguwar Yamma iii Korayel 23 LOT 23 Gwiwa Constituency: I Coopers Loadge ii Rorandage 24 LOT 24 Hadejia Constituency: I Oliya Sararin Rakuma ii Lungun Mutari Dankoli 25 LOT 25 Jahun Constituency: I Kurfi ii Kadoma Makaranta iii Aujara Tsamiyar Yantsurku 26 LOT 26 Jahun Constituency: I Rumfa B/akama ii Madabo iii Koran Malam 27 LOT 27 Jahun Constituency: I Kulluru ii Rabi iii Damutawa 28 LOT 28 Kafin Hausa Constituency: I Hariyal ii Giwaran 29 LOT 29 Kanya Constituency: I Karfawa ii Kanawa iii Adigul iv Balladar kanya 30 LOT 30 Kaugama Constituency: I Jalomi Arewa ii Manak iii Kanjiwa 31 LOT 31 Kaugama Constituency: I Daneri ii Kanoke iii Kota 32 LOT 32 Kazaure Constituency: I Kurtu ii Baauzini iii Kwankwarami 33 LOT 33 Kazaure Constituency: I Mahuchi ii Maigero iii K/Gidan Ado Maikaji 34 LOT 34 Kirikasamma Constituency: I Sawon Gabas ii Gandu iii Malori iv Matara Alhazai 35 LOT 35 Kiyawa Constituency: I Kulluru ii Kayarda iii Katuka cikin Gari iv Abarawa 36 LOT 36 Kiyawa Constituency: I Fake cikin Gari ii Shuwarin Gari iii Miyawon Tudu 37 LOT 37 Kiyawa Constituency: I Majiyawa ii Danfusan iii Kiyawa cikin Gari 38 LOT 38 Malammadori Constituency: I Garin Malam Ali 39 LOT 39 Maigatari Constituency: I Kama ii Kwanar Daniya 40 LOT 40 Miga Constituency: I Tsohuwar Dalan ii Dangoli iii Yandadi iv Mazawa 41 LOT 41 Miga Constituency: I Zangon Jigawa Gabas ii Garin gami iii Gidan Kanya 42 LOT 42 Miga Constituency: I Magamar uku Miga ii Kikatawa Miga iii Rugar Rama 43 LOT 43 Jahun Constituency: iKulluru ii Rabi iii Damutawa 44 LOT 44 Ringum Constituency: I Kwai kwayu ii Kagadama iii Gagarawa 45 LOT 45 Ringim Constituency: I Debe kai ii Tinti iii Daneji 46 LOT 46 Roni Constituency: I Ruwan garai ii Dansure Tasha 47 LOT 47 Suletankarkar Constituency: iTagwayen Kuka ii Santarbi iii Chiromawa 48 LOT 48 Suletankarkar Constituency: I Bandakado ii Kuka 49 LOT 49 Taura Constituency: I Kangal ii Buduru iii Fulanin bayan zarga 50 LOT 50 Taura Constituency: I Dakawar dinya ii Butiranawa Fulani 51 LOT 51 Yankwashi Constituency: I Dankama ii Karkarnai iii Burji Fulani iv Kuda Gangara B COMPELETION/RENOVATION OF DAILY PRAYER MOSQUES 52 LOT 52 Auyo Constituency: I Argina ii Yartsaka 53 LOT 53 Birninkudu Constituency: I Sabon layi K/kudu Iggi 54 LOT 54 Dutse Constituency: I Takur Filin Gambo ii Masajid Matalle Old Govt House 55 LOT 55 Fagam Constituency: I Kundum ii Jarkasa iii B/Kasuwa Basirka iv Bangon Fulani 56 LOT 56 Garki Constituency: I Magarya ii Sabuwar Unguwa iii GGSS Garki 57 LOT 57 Hadeji Constituency: I Kantin waje ii Tudunwada iii Unguwar NTA iv Yankoli 58 LOT 58 Kafin Hausa Constituency: I Dunduma C CONSTRUTION OF FRIDAY PRAYER MOSQUES 59 LOT 59 Babura Constituency: Unguwar Gawo 60 LOT 60 Babura Constituency: Manga 61 LOT 61 Babura Constituency: Jansa 62 LOT 62 Birniwa Constituency: Gumari 63 LOT 63 Birniwa Constituency: Guwa 64 LOT 64 Birniwa Constituency: Kandilwiwa 65 LOT 65 Buji Constituency: Yayarin Tukur Yamma 66 LOT 66 Fagam Constituency: Sabon Garin Rabadi 67 LOT 67 Fagam Constituency: Tsakuran

68 LOT 68 Gagarawa Constituency: Malam Baki 69 LOT 69 Gagarawa Constituency: Maiaduwa 70 LOT 70 Kafin Hausa Constituency: Waluwa 71 LOT 71 Kafin Hausa Constituency: Sarawa 72 LOT 72 Kaugama Constituency: Gwalerima 73 LOT 73 Kaugama Constituency: Gangara 74 LOT 74 Kaugama Constituency: Ubba 75 LOT 75 Maigatari Constituency: Ladin kane 76 LOT 76 Maigatari Constituency: Daguma 77 LOT 77 Maigatari Constituency: Lallashi 78 LOT 78 Maigatari Constituency: Jobi 79 LOT 79 Miga Constituency: Komai Allah yayi 80 LOT 80 Roni Constituency: Kaki Maiwando D RENOVATION/COMPELETION OF FRIDAY PRAYER MOSQUES 81 LOT 81 Birniwa Constituency: Dagacheri 82 LOT 82 Fagam Constituency: Bango 83 LOT 83 Fagam Constituency: I JIBWIS Fagam ii Dangulan 84 LOT 84 Fagam Constituency: I Buro ii Fadi gurje 85 LOT 85 Gagarawa Constituency: Gagarawa Kofar Liman 86 LOT 86 Kafin Hausa Constituency: I Kanzan ii Kwazalewa 87 LOT 87 Kafin Hausa Constituency: I Kununu ii Birkidi 88 LOT 88 Kanya Constituency: I Dazau ii Danyayin Kafi 89 LOT 89 Kanya Constituency; Tashar Kyambo 90 LOT 90 Kirikasamma Constituency: Tasheguwa 91 LOT 91 Suletankarkar Constituency: I Dan makama iiDangwanki 92 LOT 92 Suletankarkar Constituency Turkushawa 93 LOT 93 Yankwashi Consyituency; Rauda Gabas E OTHERS 94 LOT 94 Babura Constituency: Construction of Babura District Head’s House 95 LOT 95 Fagam Constituency: Installation of SOLAR Electrification at I Galambi Mosque ii Basirka 96 LOT 96 Fagam Constituency: Installation of SOLAR Electrification at I Digijin ii Fagam Central mosque 97 LOT 97 Fagam Constituency: Construction of SOLAR Powered Water supply at I Basirka JIBWIS 98 LOT 98 Hadejia Constituency: Construction of NDLEA Office Hadejia F TENDER REQUIREMENT Interested companies are to summit their profiles which must contain the following: a. Certificates of incorporation/Business name registration b. Certified true copy of memorandum and articles of association c. Registration with state Works Registration Board d. Company audited accounts for the last three years e. Tax clearance for the last three years f. Evidence of financial capability and banking support g. Technical qualification and experience of key personnel h. Evidence of similar project executed over the last three years i. List of equipment and technical capacity j. Vat registration of past remittance COLLECTION OF TENDER Prospective bidders are required to collect the tender documents from the Director Administration and Finance (Religious Affairs), Office of the Secretary to the State Government upon payment of nonrefundable tender fee of twenty thousand naira (20,000.00) for Daily Prayer and Thirty thousand (30,000) Friday prayer Mosques and other projects respectively, all Payment should be made into ZENITH BANK ACCOUNT NO. 1011289787 SUBMISSION OF THE TENDER DOCUMENT Technical and financial bids should be submitted in two different sealed envelopes and labeled “Technical Bid” and “Financial Bid” respectively with the company’s name indicated on one side of the envelopes and name of constituency and a lot number on the other side of the envelop. Both envelopes should be sealed in to one envelope also sealed and marked with the project name at the top right hand corner and address to: The Permanent Secretary, Administration and Finance Directorate, Office of the Secretary to the State Government, Dutse, Jigawa State, not later than two (2) weeks from the date of this publication.

OPENING OF TENDER DOCUMENT Bidders should note that all bids received shall be opened in the conference Hall Office of the secretary to the State Government block D New Secretariat Complex. By 12:00 noon on Tuesday 22nd October, 2019.

NOTE: Please note that: i. Bids must be forwarded with covering letter on company’s letter headed paper ii. Late submission would not be entertained iii. Bidders and the general public are invited to witness the opening of the bids.

SIGNED: Permanent Secretary Administration and Finance Directorate.

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

PAGE 10

News Maitama Sule University to commence MBBS next year - VC From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

T

he National Universities Commission, NUC has granted Yusuf Maitama Sule University Kano, accreditation to commence Bachelors’ degree programme in Medicine and Surgery (MBBS), beginning from next academic session.

The vice chancellor of the university, Mustapha Ahmad Isa disclosed this in the weekend at a public lecture organized by the Faculty of Education of the university, in commemoration of 2019 World Teachers’ Day. Isa, a professor said all materials and personnel necessary for the kick-off of the programme, including the university teaching hospital had been acquired.

According to him, when the idea of establishing the MBBS programme was muted by the university, there was a lot of ground work done to make it achievable.

“As you know, before you approach the National Universities Commission to express your desire to establish any programme, you must have had a plan and as part of the plan you needed infrastructure, persons and resources.

“So, before we met the NUC and expressed our desire to establish a MBBS programme, we made a lot of plans including getting staff from around Kano and northern Nigeria, and as you know, this university is city based, for that, we are very attractive,” he revealed The VC also disclosed that the institution was lucky to have acquired quality staff, some of which teach at some universities around the north for the take off of the programme.

“I can tell you that the lack of staff that has been expressed recently in the social media is not really a concern for us. We have already gotten people who have expressed desire to join us. We have even already employed some staff and as you know already we have programme in the faculty of basic medical sciences and many of these staff are very qualified to teach in the college of clinical sciences,” the VC added.

He further disclosed that the state government had already approved the conversion of Abdullahi Wase Specialists Hospital located in Nassarawa Local Government area of the state to the University’s Teaching Hospital.

He noted that the idea of choosing the facility to serve as the teaching hospital was to drive home the desire to successfully run the programme in the state owned institution.

GTEEI inaugurates board of trustees, vows to fight illiteracy

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he Great Thinkers E d u c a t i o n a l Empowerment Initiative (GTEEI) has inaugurated its Board of Trustees (BoT) in Abuja, even as it vowed to tackle illiteracy and democratize education for Nigerians irrespective of circumstance of birth.

Speaking during an inaugural ceremony held in Abuja, the chairman of GTEEI, Ernest Amama, said he was pushed into setting up the NGO due to his concerns over the pitfalls associated with Nigerian educational system.

According to him, the essence of the NGIO is to liberalize Nigerian educational system,

saying “this new direction is much needed in our educational system to put Nigeria on track with world community of nations in development in all fields balanced on the foundation of proper education from the grassroots level.”

Speaking further, Amama who said the members of the BoT were drawn from the six geopolitical zones of the country, observed that the NGO’s plan on new inputs for new directions and better results will emanate from their BoT members from each zone, according to their identified needs of expected beneficiaries.

He also said “Our implementation strategies will be tailored to every situation of needs, following each plan.

Speaking also at the event, Senator Kashim Shettima, represented by his Special Adviser on Political Affairs, Yusuf Adamu, said Borno state is an area ravaged by insecurity, adding that he worked very hard to ensure that the state have good educational facilities.

According to him, the state under him, has expended a lot of resources to ensure it helps indigent students, adding that a lot of students were send on scholarship, even as he said the state is now back on track.

Similarly, Prof. Daniel Omoweh, who was chairman of the occasion, while promising to do his best in supporting the NGO despite the fact that the role is a major one, just as he charged the BoT members to be

above board.

He thanked the members for the confidence reposed in him, saying that the task of directing the ship of great thinkers remain onerous task.

In his goodwill message, a retired Military General, Joseph Komilafe, said the educational pitfalls in Nigeria stems from faulty foundation, observing that the quest for certificates have negatively affected creativity and skills of the youths.

He emphasized that practical knowledge should be given prominence rather than theories, adding that polytechnics should not have business awarding degrees, except they are affiliated to universities of science and technologies.

R-L: South West Representatives, Great Thinkers Educational Empowerment Initiative (GTEEI), Brig. Gen. Joseph Komolafe (rtd), Chairman of GTEEI, Dr. Ernest Amama, North Representative of GTEEI, Alhaji Yusuf Adamu, South South Representative of GTEEI, Prof. Daniel Omoweh and International Co-ordinator of GTEEI, Mr. Jokub Skibski, during the inauguration of Board of Trustees of Great Thinkers Educational Empowerment Initiative (GTEEI), recently in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Okowa rewards 12 teachers with cash, cars From: Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

A

s the World celebrated World Teachers’ Day on Saturday, 12 teachers in Delta received cars and cash rewards for outstanding performance in their duties.

The state governor, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, announced the rewards at a Dinner and Awards night organised by Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education in conjunction with Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) for teachers in the state, in Asaba.

Recipients of the awards were principals, head teachers and classroom teachers at primary and secondary school levels, who

emerged from a selection process.

Okowa charged teachers not to only teach but develop the attitude and moral traits of their pupils.

“I want to congratulate the awardees and to let them know that the reward of teachers is not only in heaven.

“This type of recognition will touch the hearts of our teachers and make them to work harder in the development of our children.

“The teachers, just like parents, play an important role in the development and upbringing of the child.

“We need to continue to give care to our children and guide them aright because it is at this

foundational level that we can mould their character.

“We need to get the moral development of the children aright at this level, so that it will be well with our nation.” he said.

The governor urged the awardees to redouble their commitment to the upbringing of the pupils, reminding them that “teaching is a passion that genuinely flows from the heart”.

He commended Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education for organising the event and NUT for its tremendous support and partnership in improving the education sector in the state.

Earlier, Mr Patrick Ukah, Commissioner for Basic and

Secondary Education, had in his speech, said that the awardees were selected from a process that involved over 49,000 teachers and students in 470 public secondary schools and 1,126 primary schools in the state.

He congratulated the awardees and said that the assessment was done and vetted by a team of academics drawn from various tertiary institutions in the country.

The awardees are Messrs Asanuvwe Elizabeth, Owumi Onome, Omotie Phoebe(Best Primary School Teachers); Oyemike Andrew, Ogwara Gabriel, Esiedafe Doris (Best Head Teacher);

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

PAGE 11

EDITORIAL

S

Return of toll gates

ome cynics have derided Now what has changed to President Muhammadu necessitate the return of what Buhari’s ‘next level’ second Fashola calls toll plazas? Not much term administration as one that but he is insistent. He said recently will tax citizens out of their pockets. that “There is no reason why we Yes, since starting his second term can’t toll. There was a policy of the on May 29, 2019, President Buhari government to abolish tolls or as has approved one form of tax after it were, dismantle toll plazas. But another. First were new bank there is no law that prohibits tolling charges on individual and corporate in Nigeria today.” What is new is deposits and withdrawals, followed that the plazas will be managed by a hefty increase in the value by the private sector, unlike in the added tax, from 5% to 7.2%. Now past it was an all government affair. the government has Another is that no resolved to bring back the cash will change highway toll abolished in hands. “We want to 2003. limit significantly, if Minister of Works and totally eliminate, Yet another not Housing, Mr. Babatunde cash at the plazas Fashola, speaking on positive is that while ensuring that October 2 about the tolling will not electronic devices planned return of tolling that are being used be immediate. do not impede rapid on 51 federal highways, According movement. We are said: “We expect to return toll plazas. We have to Fashola, now faced with the concluded the designs of need to acquire more what they will look like, “We are only lands to establish what materials they will waiting for the the width of the be rebuilt with, and what completion of toll plazas. We are new considerations must looking at a 10-lane those roads plaza so that there go into them. What we are looking at now and can be more outlets before we trying to conclude is how introduce the and they then merge; the back end runs”. so we need to acquire toll gates In 2003, President more lands.” Yet Olusegun Obasanjo, who another positive is was rounding off his first term, that tolling will not be immediate. considered the toll gates spread According to Fashola, “We are only across the country something of a waiting for the completion of those nuisance and ordered that they be roads before we introduce the toll dismantled. His position was that gates.” roads should be maintained with We at Peoples Daily the revenue derived from the hike in understand why many citizens the pump price of petrol at the time. are uncomfortable with the He also argued that the N63 million reintroduction of the highway toll. earned daily from tolling was It is asking them take from their insignificant in the larger scheme already lean pockets to pay for road of things and contributed very maintenance. However, the reality little to the nation’s fiscal budget. today is that the government is no Besides, toll gates compounded longer in a position to build and traffic gridlock on highways, were maintain roads. We, as citizens and a source of pain for motorists and users of the roads, should do our encouraged corruption. A large small part to contribute to their chunk of the revenue earned from maintenance. It is our civic duty. tolling ended up in private pockets As for the fear of corruption, we and in the bank accounts of law believe cashless payment of the toll enforcement syndicates. will prevent that.

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Letter to the Editor

Nigeria reaping the dividends of border closure

By MUSA ILALLAH

I

t is no longer in doubt that Nigeria has for decades now become a ‘father Christmas’ kind of some sorts to most of its neighbouring countries like Niger, Benin , Chad and Cameroun among others. This is largely due to its magnanimity as the giant of Africa and the porous nature of our land and maritime borders.

Taking a cursory look at the situation which allows ‘importers’ to move goods into Nigeria and exporters take goods out of the country through legitimate and illegitimate means through the maritime and land borders, one wonders at what cost Nigeria had suffered all along. The most beneficiary of the illegal imports is Benin Republic where businesses thrive by cutting corners against Nigeria’s interests in terms of evading paying customs and excise duties by importers. Facing the reality of the times with increasing financial burdens against dwindling revenue generation for Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari in his usual patriotism ordered a partial closure of all our entrant points into Nigeria by sea and land pending when issues related to illegal smuggling of goods particularly Rice and other food items, vehicles and other sundry items across our borders into our country and smuggling of petroleum products out of the country will be sorted out.

President Buhari during an interaction with his Beninois counterpart, Patrice Talon during the 7th International Conference for African Development in Tokyo, Japan explained that the temporary closure was due to massive smuggling across the corridor which makes Nigeria lose billions of dollars as revenue that would have accrued into the treasury of Nigeria.

Most worrisome is the fact that as a result of the activities of smugglers, those countries make fortunes out of the situation while Nigeria looses.

An Abuja based daily Newspaper, Peoples Daily in its Editorial on Friday October 4, 2019 said; ‘’the border closures have been difficult decisions for the Nigerian Government to take, given that Nigeria is an economic giant in the West African Region. To keep providing the buffer, Nigeria must make sure her economy is not hurt by smuggling’’.

Unfortunately, the regional economic bloc, ECOWAS, of which Nigeria was a founding member, has been too critical of government’s action. ECOWAS through its Parliament Speaker, Moustapha Cisse Lo said: ‘the closure of the Nigerian borders with Benin more than a month ago and with Niger are a hindrance to the achievement of the community’s main objective for the creation of a prosperous, borderless West African region where peace and harmony prevail.

However, while our neighbours particularly Benin Republic have been agonised by the closure, Nigeria’s fortune in terms of revenue generation seem to be swelling up with billions of Naira into its kitty. The closure of the border has forced importers to ship their cargos into Nigeria through Apapa and Tin Can Island instead of Benin.

Briefing National Assembly members recently in Abuja, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col Hameed Ali, Retired, disclosed that Nigeria is now better off with the action. Revenue generation had since the closure increased significantly for Nigeria. In the words of Ali, ‘there was a day in September when we collected N9.2 billion’. Presently, the country averagely makes between N4.7bn to N5.8bn daily since the borders were closed. According to Ali, ‘’closing the border was worth taking the risk’’.

Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Hameed Ali added: “When we closed the border, my fear was that our revenue was going to drop. To be honest, our revenue kept increasing.

It has never happened before’’.

While wishing that the closure continues, Col Ali said ‘’for us, it is a welcome situation’’.

The accruing benefits of the closure of our borders do not begin and end with smuggled goods into Nigeria alone. Even the illegal taking

out of petroleum products from Nigeria to other neighbouring countries where it sells more has been nipped in the bud. While records before the closure show that we consume an average of 53million litres of fuel daily, today our consumption is less. In the words of CG Hameed Ali, “About 10.2million litres of fuel have now been cut down from what we assume, we have been consuming “.

In the same vein, the value of the Nigerian home grown rice which is largely supported by the Buhari administration under its CBN funded Anchor Borrowers programme has significantly increased since the closure. Though most of the beneficiaries of the increase are not farmers but unscrupulous middle men and rice processors, the feeling is that farmers stand a good chance to substantially benefit from the closure from the current farming season with good market prices for their Rice.

Disturbed by the development and the consequences staring farmers in the face, the Rice Processors Association of Nigeria, RIPAN has convened a meeting of stakeholders comprising of farmers, CBN, federal ministry of Agriculture, Rice Millers Association of Nigeria, small and medium millers association among others to review the border closure against the background of current increase of Nigerian rice in the markets.

RIPAN has accused rice distributors, wholesalers, and retailers for engaging in exploitative act of jerking up prices of the local rice.

For President Muhammadu Buhari, he has done his best for an average small or large scale farmer in the country have value for his money and labour by enhancing his status in the society. First, PMB’s support through the anchor borrowers programme and secondly, by stopping importation of Rice and thirdly, by closing all our maritime and land borders to stop smuggling of foreign rice into Nigeria.

Like the President of the Philippines , Rorigo Duterte on fighting corruption and smuggling in his country said ‘before a place can really be developed or become a viable place to do business, you have to establish law and order’.

Truly, Nigeria cannot progress unless and until we enforce our laws to the strictest. It is therefore in this spirit that the CG of Nigeria Customs has thrown his weight behind a continuous closure of our maritime and land borders. He has of recent moved to impound luxury cars brought into the country without paying due duties on them to the government. We must all support him in supporting the government to pay our dues to government o enable it discharge its statutorily duties of providing good governance to all Nigerians.

We must all consciously and patriotically support government in killing the dual devils of corruption and smuggling before they kill the Nigerian economy and ultimately kill all Nigerians. This is a civic responsibility on our shoulders.

The Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, AfCTA offers a unique window to address all knotty issues with regards to import and export of goods across our land and maritime borders. Even Vice President Osinbajo had said that the agreement, to which Nigeria is signatory, is a laudable development that builds on existing regional initiatives and presents opportunities for increased collaboration and economic integration among African economies.

He said while these are the early days of the trade agreement, there is no doubt that Nigeria would enjoy significant benefits from the agreement For Nigeria, it is a season of reaping the windfall and dividends of border closure. Let the status core remain and the borders be put on permanent lock and key until and unless correct measures are taken to make Importers do legitimate businesses and Nigeria earn more revenue.

Ilallah wrote in via musahk123@yahoo.com. He is reachable at EMEKA ANYAOKU STREET, ABUJA

PAGE 12

Opinion

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

PAGE 13

Comment

Re-thinking National Human Right Commission’s role in the Niger Delta

Saudi Arabia, attacks on Aramco, and alternative supply channels

By Jerome-Mario Utomi

By Nikolay Kozhanov

I

t is a time-honoured suggestion that during a period of rapid economic growth, nations, as well as corporate organizations, must continue investing even though it may not be clear how much investment is appropriate. Over investment is not a serious worry, since the excess is likely to be absorbed by future growth. By contrast, continuing low investment will not only be an error of judgement that development cannot forgive but amplifies the painful consequences of strategic mistakes.

Fittingly, the plight of the people of the Niger Delta region and orchestrated militancy which has become a painful consequence of prostrated neglect and low investments in the region by our leaders explain the above contrast and in order words, act as an essential step towards understanding actiondecision, or error of judgement that currently perpetuates poverty, consolidates powerlessness and promotes restiveness in the region.

For close to six decades, nothing prevented successive administrations from developing the region both infrastructurally and in manpower/ job creation, yet, for reasons taken ahead of logic, they decided to act on the part of unprofitabilitya choice that has become costly in political and economic terms for the nation. This is a lesson we must not allow to go with the political wind but keep in view even as we reflect on other causative factors and institutional attitudes that have left a big question about our nation unanswered.

Without a doubt, away from other institutional failures that have kept the region on its knees, what has really brought pressing concern, heightened the sense of insecurity and underlined the urgency of attention is the inability of the National Human Rights Commission to rise onto its constitutional responsibility to the people of the region. A failure that has resulted in the generation of misinformation, disinformation, innuendos, falsehood and outright assault on reason(s) fueling backward nature of the Niger-Delta regions.

Notably, Nigerians have witnessed so many heartbroken families without a good record of survival in the region, as a result of government’s insensitivity. The government on their part have made so many speeches and excuses without adoption of, or abide by the basic principles that helped other nations to grow in social cohesion through equitable sharing of benefits from the mineral deposits from the region.

And, in the face of this verifiable violations and deprivations, the National Human Rights Commission- a commission on whose shoulder the nation rests the responsibility for promotion,

protection and enforcement of human rights failed to inform the government that it is only through equity, justice, and restructuring of the nation that the country would enjoy economic and social progress that flows from stability.

The stunning thing about the Commission’s inaction is that it is happening when the global community is aware that communal rights to a clean environment and access to clean water supplies are being violated in the region, with aquifers and other water supply sources being adversely affected by industrial or other activities without the communities being adequately compensated for their losses. And the oil industry by its admission has abandoned thousands of polluted sites in the region which need to be identified and studied in details.

As a background, the National Human Right Commission which was established by the National Human Right Act 1995, has as its aim to; creating an enabling environment for extrajudicial recognition, promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights, in addition to providing a forum for public enlightenment and dialogue on human rights while facilitating the implementation of Nigeria’s various international and regional treaty obligation on human rights issues.

Shockingly ‘interesting’ is that despite the not too impressive performance of NHRC, The commission is not without supporters.

While many argue that the Commission cannot be blamed for environmental woes resulting from oil exploration and production in the Niger Delta region as the agency cannot investigate without complaint or petition from either group or individual- as wading in without invitation amounts to descending into the arena.

Some expressed the views that the plight of the Niger Deltans resulting from faulty/weak legal framework should be directed to the National Assembly as the Commission is not the legislative arm of the government. To others, expecting the Commission to enforce compliance will translate to waiting till eternity as they are neither staffed with security operatives like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), nor equipped with technical knowledge like the Federal Ministry of environment, to detect when organizations are not applying international best practices in their operations.

Though clear enough, this point cannot hold water when faced with a number of embarrassing facts.

Fundamentally, separate from the belief that ‘the environment is as important to the nation’s wellbeing as the economy and should deserve

similar attention’, their arguments remain sophistry looking at the functions and powers of the commission as provided in Section 5 of its enabling Act. Which provides that the commission shall deal with all matters relating to the promotion and protection of human rights as guaranteed by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other human rights instruments to which Nigeria is a party; Monitor and investigate all alleged cases of human rights violations in Nigeria and make appropriate recommendation to the federal government for the prosecution and such other actions as it may deem expedient in each circumstance. And assist victims of human rights violation seek appropriate redress and remedies on their behalf.

Admittedly, NHRC may not have the power to make laws as argued above, but can engineer people-purposed oil exploration and production regime by collaborating with the National Assembly through sponsorship of Bills and Memoranda; NHRC may be technically disempowered to investigate or detect operators non-adherence to the international best practice, but have the power to productively partner with other government Ministries and agencies that perform this task both effectively and efficiently; the Commission may not be capped with taskforce to enforce standards, but can assist communities where such violation has taken place with legal actions against such violator. The vitality of such support will enrich litigation in favour of the communities; deepen the respect for the Commission among the operators while lifting litigation cost from communities.

There are other similar but separate examples.

Without going into specifics, concepts, provisions and definitions, it’s been identified that the oil exploration and production in Nigeria are guided by so many laws. Yet, available data and our mind’s eye testify that these laws/Acts in question are no longer achieving their purpose.

As an incentive, it will not be wrong or vague to classify the critical issues confronting the region into two; the existence of multiple but an absolute regulatory framework which characterizes the oil and gas exploration and production in Nigeria and fuels International Oil Companies (IOC’s) reluctance to adhere strictly to the international best practices as it relates to their operational environment. Secondly, the unwillingness of successive administrations to identify the Niger Delta as a troubled spot, that must be regarded as a special area for purposes of development-as recommended by The colonial government long before independence.

Against this backdrop, Nigerians would have

expected NHRC as a responsive and responsible organisation to ask; if truly these laws are fundamentally effective and efficient, why are they not providing strong source of remedy for individuals and communities negatively affected by oil exploration and production in the coastal communities as the lives of the people in that region currently portrays? If these frameworks exist and have been comprehensive as a legal solution to the issues of oil-related violations, why are they not enforceable?

In like manner, using the African Commission’s decision on Human and Peoples’ Rights against the Federal Military Government of Nigeria in October 2001, as a case study, one may be tempted to ask what effort is NHRC making to ensure that the verdict passed close to two decades ago and other various international and regional obligations on human rights issues are implimented.

The NHRC cannot pretend to be unaware of the response by ACHPR to the communication filed by the Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) in close collaboration with the New York-based Centre for Economic and Social Rights(CESR), with suit Number 155/96, where the commission in October 2001, gave a wellconsidered rule finding the Federal Republic of Nigeria in violations of 2, 4, 14, 16, 18(1),21 and 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), and therefore recommended a total clean up of the polluted Ogoni and other adjourning communities in addition to taking preventive remedial and compensatory measures to improve economic and social outcomes for the Ogoni community.

Even if the Commission provides an answer to the above, it will not in any appreciable way erase the belief among Nigerians with critical interest that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), report on Ogoni land pollution also indicted the Federal Government.

To, therefore, succeed in this job, it must be stated that neither the Amnesty programmes nor the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), among other initiatives can solve the problem of the region. Rather, it would be considered a right step taken in the right direction if the NHRC communicate to Mr President of the need to have the Petroleum Industry Bill as passed by the 8th Assembly signed into law as well as organize a public hearing construed around Niger Delta challenge of which the outcome will address other nagging national issues such as restructuring and fiscal federalism.

Jerome-Mario Utomi (jeromeutomi@yahoo. com) writes from Lagos.

North East: War times and the growing peace

By Isaac Usman Mshelia

T

he northeast region of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a zone primarily known for been convenient trading and business environments and greatly overwhelmed by peace was, at a time, marred by a dreaded insurgency that resulted in public unrest, chaos, disunity, selfishness & mass disorder.

The region, it was learnt, has been one of the safest areas except for some identified local grudge between indigenes and settlers/farmers -herders; also a business route that connects Nigeria to neighbouring states of Cameroon, Niger & Chad through the lake chad basin, an area that generated huge revenue for the Nigerian government and stood focus toward strengthening bilateral relations.

The emergence of the Boko Haram Insurgence in the first half of the 21st century has regrettably wiped the peace from the northeast and gave it a new phase, been center of war and disputes.

On emergence, the Boko Haram

appeared as a notorious extremist group, advocating for reform in the practice of Islam and condemning some basic ideologies of western education.

However, the sect group which earlier emerged in Maiduguri, Borno state was proscribed both by the Nigerian government and the international communities due to continuing illicit acts been carried by it members. It been obvious that since the proscription, Boko Haram insurgence had continue to gain ascendency.

Most worrisome about the Boko Haram insurgence is the destruction of innocent lives and properties. It was regretting that a report by the National Emergency Management Agency captured a lost of over 500,000 lives and properties worth billions of funds from the inception of the insurgents group to now. It is also regretting that over 2 million Nigerians 80% of which are descendants of the northeast became Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) which equally placed Nigeria on the

global map of countries with highest figures of IDPs coming 3r to Syria and Afghanistan respectively.

No doubt, the six states thus, Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe have suffered severely more in hands of the insurgence though Borno state suffered the most.

It was on records that the insurgents group at a time seized legitimate control of some remote areas from the government authorities and extend their dominance with a view to influence residence of local areas to embrace their ideologies via coercive means. In Borno state for instance, Bama, Damboa, Goza, Mongunu, Kalabalge, Konduga, Askira, amongst other LGAs were forcibly taken from the hands of legitimate authority.

Killing people, mass displacement, resource destruction and other kind cruelty have been the business. Safety become no more. Even, at a point, all bridges linking to the metropolitan center were ravaged by the war! No peace no calm. Only war.

It was for a divine grace that fortunately counterinsurgency forces been setup by the Nigerian government embraced to stood day-in-day-out to restore peace in the northeast. The response of the various counterinsurgency forces ensures the returns of many displaced ones to their ancestral homes and the rehabilitation of some communities most affected.

Arguably, there is no much locations been control by the insurgents anymore, people have been resettle and since gone about there normal business.

Today, the northeast development commission is a reality, employment opportunities have been provided and most importantly, humanitarian agencies are working round the clock to support the victims of the insurgents. This, by extension, May be deduced as peace has been restored in the region and it is hope that war times are now over and peace shall continue to reign.

Isaac is a three hundred level student of the department of mass communication university of Maiduguri.

T

he September 14 attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure delivered the most significant shock to the global market since the 1973 oil crisis.

The drone strikes caused major damage to Saudi oil company Aramco’s facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais, cutting Saudi oil output temporarily by 5.7 million barrels per day, an amount equal to around five percent of global production.

The significant drop in output of the world’s second-biggest oil producer led some analysts to speculate that oil prices would surge to well over $70 per barrel and settle around that mark for an extended period of time.

This, however, did not happen.

The spike in prices was temporary and the barrel price fell below $60 shortly after. The petrochemical industry was also affected by the attacks, but it, too, managed to recover rather quickly. Saudi Arabia, which is the world’s leading producer of ethylene, polyethylene, and monoethylene, announced that there would be only short-term disruptions of product deliveries, with delays expected in October.

Saudi Arabia was quick to stave off an oil crisis by compensating for the partial loss of output with its own reserves and by giving assurances that export commitments will be met.

The fact that aggregated world oil reserves are sufficient to satisfy existing demand for up to four months – the period necessary for the global economy to adjust demand and bring additional production capacities online – also brought calm to the international market.

Although Saudi Arabia managed to stabilise the situation quickly and compensate for the damage done to its oil infrastructure, the September 14 attacks could still have a negative long-term effect.

Much of it has to do with consumers’ concerns about the possible repetition of such an attack. Consumer behaviour is mainly driven by perceptions and expectations – whether well-grounded or not – and it does not always conform to the rules and logic of economics.

Much of the world now sees that the drone attacks on key oil facilities demonstrated that the Saudi oil and petrochemical complex is facing a new type of security threat. It is now conceivable that major damage and disruption can be done with relatively cheap and easy to obtain weapons which can defeat sophisticated air defence systems.

On September 20, when commenting on the planned US response to the attacks, then US Joint Chief of Staff General Joseph Dunford made it clear that even a significant increase in the numbers of US personnel in the Middle East and the provision of new weapons to Saudi Arabia would not fully guarantee the security of its oil infrastructure. His admission confirmed and aggravated existing concerns among buyers of Saudi oil.

The fear of another attack could affect oil prices every time the crisis in the Gulf escalates and the risk of another regional confrontation spikes. It could also compel some buyers to decrease their reliance on oil purchases from Saudi Arabia and the region as a whole and encourage them to secure alternative suppliers.

This perceived risk may have a particularly serious effect on Saudi Arabia’s Asian clients such as China, India, South Korea and Japan who import between 16 and 36 percent of their oil from the Gulf state.

In fact, the attacks exposed their vulnerabilities, especially India’s, in absorbing supply disruptions with emergency stocks created for this purpose. According to some estimates,

Indian strategic oil reserves are enough to sustain its economy for a mere nine days. This makes India extremely vulnerable to interruptions in oil imports, as any such incident could quickly disrupt the functioning of the country’s petrochemical facilities, cause a major price hike, and affect economic growth.

Signs that big Asian oil buyers are looking for alternative sources are already appearing and major oil suppliers are positioning themselves to accommodate increased demand from Asia.

Just two days after the attacks in Saudi Arabia, Jason Kenney, the premier of the Canadian oil-producing state of Alberta, tweeted: “Alberta is the most secure major source of energy on Earth …

The strike on Saudi refineries should be a wake up call. The world needs reliable, stable energy, and Alberta can provide it.”

US producers have also emphasised the “safety” of their operations and signalled the potential for more growth in the aftermath of the Aramco attacks.

Despite the recent negative tendencies in its shale oil industry, such as the weakening growth of production in the Permian basin caused by emerging operational bottlenecks, the US is still slated to become a net exporter of oil for the first time in recent history later this year.

The US already felt the benefit of the crisis in Saudi Arabia, with Asian countries turning to its petrochemical industry to compensate for the unexpected shortage of Saudi polyethylene.

Chinese companies were also seriously considering buying additional liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the US to make up for potential delays in feedstock deliveries from Saudi Arabia.

Interestingly, even the high tariffs which previously made US products too expensive for Chinese companies did not prevent them from considering US LPG as an option.

Russia could also use Asia’s shift in oil supply producers to its benefit. In the past 10 years, China has been occasionally increasing its oil purchases from Russian suppliers to make itself less dependent on Gulf hydrocarbons, and what happened on September 14 could solidify this trend.

Yet, how much Russia ends up benefitting from this would depend on China-US trade dynamics and the ability of US companies to capture and accommodate Chinese demand.

Regardless of who attracts Asian buyers, if they continue to divest from Saudi oil, this spells trouble for Riyadh.

The Saudi authorities recognise this danger and have already taken some measures.

They have prioritised the implementation of contract obligations with Asian buyers of petrochemical products.

However, such measures might not be enough in the long term. If Saudi Arabia wants to keep its positions on the oil market, it will have to take much more drastic measures to reassure buyers.

It will have to boost the defence of its oil infrastructure and demonstrate its effectiveness in staving off another attack.

It will also have to shift supply routes away from the bottleneck of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has repeatedly threatened to close. Currently, about 90 percent of its oil exports pass through the strait; if their passage ever gets disrupted, this could cause a much bigger shock to energy markets.

The September 14 attacks should be a wake-up call for Saudi Arabia. Their long-term effects could have a serious impact on its economy. It needs to act quickly and decisively so it does not lose its positions on the global market and with that, a major source of funding for its Vision 2030.

Nikolay Kozhanov is an Int’l Affairs Expert.

Designing the future of education that works for Africa

By Adetola Salau

Y

ou cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. – Abraham Lincoln We can all agree that our schools haven’t kept up with the pace of global changes.

Yes, it is easy to lay all of the blame on the “industrial” framework that was laid done when schools were first designed or make lists of the skills we need to be future ready.

The actual creation of new models for learning is the real challenge.

The truth is, this is the most critical task that we have to achieve – the evolution of our systems of learning to support and engage the next generation. There is no stability in our rapidly changing world as there was in the past. As business and government systems change at accelerated paces, we need people who are equipped to redesign and rebuild our systems. One clear fact is that learning is a skill needed throughout life, not just during school years. Unfortunately school leaves a lot of our students either stressed out or bored.

So, the main question is: How do we redesign our educational systems to engage our youth to both navigate an unknown and complex future and meet the challenges that accompany it?

A tool that we will deploy to aid us in addressing this complex situation is design thinking, which has recently received a lot of attention in the world of education, although this hasn’t been used to address

complex challenges.

Basically, design thinking is a humancentered approach to problem solving that has been created by utilising the mindsets and methods of a designer. It has been used to develop new products, services and complicated systems, such as schools.

The process behind design thinking offers an integrative approach to designing many aspects of a system so that all the parts infuse.

Explaining this with real world examples would make it more pragmatic.

These wilI demonstrate how we could design the future of education.

In a previous article, I wrote about a supportive principal who allowed me to test out my theory on including educational technology in teaching 9th graders. This same principal realised that the pool of students we had came from our neighbourhood, with low ranking students who desired more for themselves beyond what they had been told to expect all their lives. He wanted to design a quality school that would be a model for other schools to follow and disrupt the belief that nothing good could be derived from these students.

He engaged the parents of these children in various meetings, reminded them that these children were their future and got us the teachers to spell out the challenges we would face in the classroom with them. He got us to admit that we all desired change in the country and both groups expressed they needed help in knowing what to do from

each other. We then got feedback from our students about how they desired their learning to be different from the traditional model of rote learning; they wanted their imaginations stoked.

This wasn’t a straight forward process; we researched various ideas, got creative due to the constraints of the systems we were in and voila, we had a new model for our school. We created a blended approach where our students were no longer passive receivers of information; we encouraged the development of a self-directed drive for learning, where we supported our students in the knowledge garnered to meaningful, real-world situations. It is a credit to this wonderful principal that he mentored over five principals and educational consultants (including myself) from the innovative approach he undertook to create solutions to the educational challenges in their community that year. He has grown to become more of a designer than an administrator.

The application of design thinking isn’t limited to the design of schools. Educators in their classrooms are also making design decisions every day. I worked with a teacher who took things into her hands about designing new solutions to challenges in education. We both taught at a middle school, it was classified as a crisis school, which meant we had a lot of oversight and trials. She noticed that her students were struggling with mathematics as the concepts we taught didn’t connect mentally

for them.

She wished they could work on the things they cared about instead. Charlie wanted to help make the experience at school different for her students, but knew that she understood that she couldn’t change the entire model of school. She did however realise that she could do things differently in her classroom. In my book, Re-engineering Minds for Innovation, I wrote about her story in great depth in one of the chapters. Her innovation led me to see the solution and the confidence one has when one designs solutions. She infused my mindset with the possibilities of design thinking into collaborating with other teachers, inspiring them to be designers of the interactions in their classrooms and across their schools.

These stories represent, to me, the heart of what’s needed for the future of education – a system that fosters capabilities and resilience that allow people to work around the rapidly changing world that they are a part of, by continuously re-designing what we would like it to become. While design thinking isn’t the magic solution to transforming education, it does have a significant role to play in creating these new models of education and preparing students to be future ready. Let’s bring back some of the joy in learning.

Adetola Salau, Carismalife4U@gmail. com, an advocate of STEM education, public speaker, author, and social entrepreneur, is passionate about education reform.

PAGE 14

NEWS Entrepreneur lifts 41 youths above poverty in Edo

By Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

A

B e n i n - b a s e d entrepreneur, Mr Sule Sadoh, has trained 41 youths in Edo State on how to fly drone for economic benefits.

At the two-day training workshop in Benin City, Sadoh, the Managing Director of Diamond Concept photography, showcased modern trends and opportunities that exist the world of entertainment.

Undergraduates from some tertiary institutions in Nigeria and photographers were among the beneficiaries of the programme tagged: “Fly Safe Drone Workshop”.

Sadoh, assured that the workshop will help to build capacity in youths and make self-reliant in life.

“Education is good, but, skills help to discover talent that are need to transform Nigeria.

“Education as one of the greatest weapons to conquerer, but, drone flying has come to put idle hands to work and curb youth restiveness and other vices”, he said.

Sadoh, appealed to government at all levels and other philanthropist individuals and groups to support in the training of more Nigerians with a view to ease the huge burden caused by unemployment in the nation.

“A lot of students and other Nigerians who would have love to be trained, but, we could not train everybody because of limited resources.

“So, we intend to open up the space for registration and training pending when funds will be available.

“You (youths) can sponsor your education by flying drones to cover social events, birthday, weddings and transmit events live. It is possible”, he said.

Speaking during an interview, a beneficial of the training programme, Mr Ebuka Chinyeyen Christian, appreciated the organizer of the training for his foresight and urged the government to assist them with start-ups which would enable them succeed.

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

Group accuses US-based journalist of blackmailing Buhari’s appointees

S

outh Eastern Alliance for Democracy and Progress (SEADP) has cautioned media practitioners to stop using their platform to deliberately spread fake news for cheap propaganda and pecuniary benefits.

In a statement issued after a one- day interactive session on the role of media in the fight against insecurity, the group’s Secretary General Dr Jideofor Nzekwe, affirmed that media has a constitutional role in a democracy which must be discharged according to the law.

The group frowned at those media practitioners who use

fake news to promote instability across the country.

Exemplifying with the publisher of Pointblank news, Jackson Ude, the group alleged that the former aide to ExPresident Goodluck Jonathan, goes extra miles to smear the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

With particular reference to a story against Prof. Charles Dokubo, Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Program, the group further observed that the online news platform was in the habit of carrying false stories calculated to tarnish the image of key appointees of Buhari’s

government.

The group further alleged that the platform had also falsely attacked Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, Minister of Transportation among others.

“This man and his group have made unsubstantiated claims of phantom corruption charges and imaginary contract awards against their targets just to tarnish the image of these appointees”.

“We are aware that many politicians have been victims of this brand of defamatory, irresponsible and gangster

journalism.

“We are warning every discerning member of the public especially those in the social media to beware of his falsehood.

“However, the painful thing is that these damages are done from abroad and their actions have potential negative implications on the image of our dear country.

The group consequently called on all security agencies especially the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) and International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) to investigate the allegations.

Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau (R) congratulating a newly appointed Commissioner for Finance of the State, Dr Regina Soemlat, during the inauguration of newly appointed Commissioners in Jos . Photo: NAN

Sand dealers appeal to Minister of Police Affairs over court order

By Paul Efiong, Abuja

S

and dealers Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society has appealed to the Minister of Police Affairs Mohammed Maigari Dingyadi to order the Delta State Police Command to obey orders of the Federal High Court judgments and to comply with the various directives of the Inspector General of Police, IGP. In a petition to the Minister of Police Affairs dated 12th September, 2019 signed by the President of the Cooperative Mbadiwe Ossai, called on the Minister to direct the Commissioner of Police Delta State Command to withdraw his men from its operation site and respect court orders and directives

from the IGP. The Cooperative accused the commissioner of Delta State Adeyinka Adeleke of a case of “Flagrant Disobedience of orders of the Federal High Court with impunity, criminal trespass and forceful entry into areas of sand dredging business.”

It also accused the commissioner of his refusal to comply with IGP various directives on the same matter.

In the petition, it alleged that members of the cooperative have been hounded and hunted like common criminals by the Delta state police command since 1999; preventing them from their legal business adding that the command also allowed non-members to

conduct illegal sand dredging activities on the River Niger beaches in Asaba.

Referring to the legal advice by the office of the IGP dated 3rd May, 2019 in which the AIG Zone 5 Benin and the Delta State Police Command were instructed to obey court order of the Federal High Court of Benin in a Suit No. FHC/B/CS/157/2000, to arrest suspects, and charge them to court for conspiracy, forceful entry, attempted murder, amongst others.

In another legal advice dated 26th July, 2019 by the AIG tagged “Case of Flagrant Disobedience of orders of the Federal High Court with impunity of criminal Trespass, forceful entry, “ in which

it directed the Delta state police commissioner of police to obey the court order.

According to the petition, members of the Sand Dealers Multi-purpose Cooperative Society are Licensees of the National Inland Waterways and their business activities include sand dredging, sand excavation, transportation of goods, fishing, farming, hotel, entertainment at the bank of River Niger in Asaba Delta state.

It stated that despite all orders given, no action has been taken by the police to abide by the order of the court, adding those four judgments and 22 orders of the court in their favour, the police has done nothing to protect them.

PAGE 15

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

CUPP kicks against Buhari’s plans to return toll gates

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

C

oalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has expressed shock over the decision of the President Muhammadu Buhariled Federal Government to reintroduce toll gates on the nation’s roads.

Federal government had during the week announced plans to reintroduce toll gates across Nigeria, many years after

Lawmaker donates to pregnant women, nursing mothers

T

he member representing Ipokia constituency in the Ogun State House of Assembly, Sikiratu Ajibola, has donated baby items and money to pregnant women, nursing mothers and the aged.

Ajibola, who donated the items and money under her empowerment programme, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the cash were given to pregnant women and the aged while baby items were distributed to nursing mothers.

The lawmaker, who is a member of the Allied People’s Movement (APM) party and the Assembly Committee Chairman on Women Affairs, explained that it was important to give back to the society and also support the less privileged.

She pledged to continue to fulfill her electioneering promises by extending the dividends of democracy to the nooks and crannies of her constituency.

She commended her people for the confidence reposed in her to represent them in the House of assembly.

“It is important to give back to the society. This programme is part of my 100 days in office celebration. We also distributed writing materials to primary school pupils to support their parents,” she said.

She used the occasion to call on Gov. Dapo Abiodun of Ogun to rehabilitate all the bad roads in her Ipokia constituency.

The lawmaker stated that the poor condition of the roads in her constituency has a negative effect on the economic activities of the local government area.

the government of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo had scrapped tolls on federal roads in 2004.

In a statement released by its National Publicity Secretary, Ikenga Ugochinyere, CUPP said, “We note that the decision is coming at a time the government is also planning to increase Value Added Tax. “All these are coming at a time the same government is reneging on its promise ahead

of the 2019 general elections to increase national minimum wage to N30,000.

“Opposition parties view these insensitive economic policies of the Federal Government as deliberate decisions aimed at further impoverishing Nigerians who are already wallowing in abject poverty.

“This government, clearly does not have the interest and welfare of the citizens at heart and does not deserve Nigerians’ support.

“We make bold to say that this gove rnment de cide d to embark on desperate and crazy drive for revenue to cover up for national resources that have been squandered by top government officials in an administration that claims to be fighting corruption.

“This is the same reason why armed officials of the Nigeria Customs Service will throw caution into the winds and shatter the peace of hotels and car marts under the

guise of seizing smuggled cars.

“We urge this government to henceforth drop all its anti-people policies, just as we advise Nigerians to be fully prepared to resist and protest against any government policies that will further make their lives worthless.

“Specifically, we urge the Federal Government to immediately rescind its decision to reintroduce toll gates on our roads for the interest of peace.”

Omo-Agege congratulates Ese Brume

By Musa Adamu

T

he Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie OmoAgege has congratulated Nigeria's athlete, Ese Brume for her outstanding performance at the just concluded IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Omo-Agege said by her performance, Brume has not only made Delta State in particular proud but also Nigeria and Africa in general.

The senator, in a congratulatory message issued by his Special Assistant on Sports, Mr. Azania Omo-Agege, commended what he called her optimism, determination and hardwork.

Although the Cyprus-based Ese Brume clinched bronze medal in the long jump event at the IAAF World Championships, Omo-Agege insisted that "Her bronze medal feels like gold to the Nigerian people and we hope she inspires an entire generation of Nigerian athletes to win more medals at the world championships in the future".

While descibing her as a role model, Omo-Agege tasked Nigerian youth to emulate her determination, hardwork and can-do attitude.

The senator said: "Her (Brume's)

determination and sheer doggedness in holding her nerves to win the bronze medal (Nigeria’s maiden medal at the world championships) while competing with the world’s best athletes in the women’s long jump gives us absolute joy and pride.

"Ese had wept profusely while winning the gold medal at the

African games held earlier in 2019 because she recalled being told four years earlier while she sustained an injury that she would not be able to jump anymore. However, her optimism, determination, and hardwork, which are attributes akin to the Nigerian spirit, helped her overcome this obstacle and she has

bounced back stronger.

"The good people of Delta State and Nigeria at large congratulate her and are extremely proud of her achievement and inspiring comeback. Ese Brume is a role model for Nigerian youth who would be aiming to emulate her determination and hardwork".

L-R: Governors, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe state, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano, Dr. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state, Mai Mala Buni of Yaobe State, Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, Senator Ajiyi Boroffice, President of the Senate, Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan and Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, during the APC Progressives Governors met with National Assembly Leadership, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Ondo PDP must close ranks to achieve progress - Makinde From Idowu Abdullahi, Lagos

O

yo State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde, has advised leaders and members of the Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to close ranks to ensure a viable party ahead of the next election season in the state.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, indicated that the Governor gave the charge at the Second anniversary of Ondo State PDP Support Group (PSG) held in Akure, the state capital.

The Governor declared that the PDP in Ondo must remain united to face future electoral challenges.

Governor Makinde, who

was represented by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr. Abdul Mojeed Mogbonjubola, at the event stated that he was ready to join hands with the state chapter of the PDP to achieve the needed unity.

According to him, Ondo State used to be one of the strongholds of the PDP in the South-West, adding that without unity of purpose, the target of electoral success could be a mirage.

He stated that all hands aimed at rebuilding the party must be on deck ahead of the future challenges.

The event, which was held at BTO hall, Akure, Ondo State, featured a lecture themed: “PDP: Harnessing the trust of the people,” which was delivered by Chief Tokunbo Modupe, the MD/CEO

TPT International.

In his speech, the coordinator of the group, Hon. Bode Obanla, said that the gathering was to discuss the fortunes of the party with all eyes focused on future challenges.

He added that the gathering was also aimed at galvanising members of the PSG to ensure that they all take responsibility for the needs to ensure success for the party in its future endeavours.

Obanla said: “But we have succeeded where many have failed and achieved unprecedented unity for our party in a period of war.

That, once again, proved that no single political party has the internal cohesive structure like the PDP.” He maintained that the PSG as a group has achieved successes

for itself, which has enabled the leadership of PDP to be able to adequately respond to trends within the Nigerian polity and to constantly position the party at an advantage.

Obanla encouraged all the PDP faithful to remain loyal to the party and to shun all divisive antics capable of destroying the party.

He called on members of the group to embrace oneness as they go into the next election in the state.

Other PDP chieftains who were at the programme include the State Elders’ Committee chairman, Omotayo Dairo; BOT member, Chief Segun Adegoke; state party deputy chairman of the PDP, Hon. Fatai Adams as well as a number of gubernatorial aspirants for next year’s election.

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

politics

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

A

nthony Sani, the present Secretary-General of the Arewa Consultative Forum, has warned that using the Indigenous People of Biafra to threaten the North over the 2023 presidency will not help the cause of the Igbo to produce the President when the time comes.

While referring to a statement credited to a former Governor of Anambra State, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, in an interview with a national newspaper where the elder statesman noted that Igbo people might embrace IPOB if denied the presidency in 2023, the ACF scribe argued that using IPOB to blackmail the region was unfair.

Sani, while speaking with journalists said democracy is a contest of ideas and reasons and not a matter of threats and intimidation.

He said, “I have said democracy is a contest of ideas and reasons, and not by threats and intimidation that have no place in multiparty democracy. The presidency is secured in multiparty democracy through persuasions that seek to break barriers and build bridges. It is not obtained through affirmative action.

“I do not believe Ezeife could say what was reported. This is because he is too intelligent not to know that Nigeria practises multiparty democracy which allows political parties to present their candidates from any zone as part of their winning game plans.

“Ezeife also knows that there is no national consensus on rotation, power shift or zoning that is binding on political parties.

That may explain why President Muhammadu Buhari contested with President Olusegun Obasanjo

2023 Presidency: Don’t threaten north with IPOB – Anthony Sani in 2003 despite the deliberate concession of the presidency to the South-West because of Chief (M.K.O.) Abiola. That is also why former President Goodluck Jonathan contested with Buhari in 2011 and 2015.

“If ex-President Jonathan had won in 2015, the South would have held sway for over 16 years in the nascent democracy. You may also note that in 2019, presidential

candidates emerged from both the North and the South. What is more, democracy is a contest of ideas and reasons and not a matter of threat and intimidation.

“Worst of all, the feisty doctor is reported as using IPOB to blackmail the nation. This is most unfair, especially when regard is paid to the fact that the threats can convey an avoidable impression that some elders of the South-East still nurse

some desire to split the country through IPOB.” But speaking to journalists, Ezeife said the South-East would embrace persuasion to achieve its aspiration, adding that discussions were already ongoing with some groups in all parts of the country to achieve their aspiration.

“We are going to lobby every group; we would lobby from North to South, East to West. Some of

us have started; one Revd. Obiora is foremost in this, he has started and he is in touch with some groups already. If we are not able to organise ourselves and 20 Igbo people come out to contest for the presidency, that will be our fault.

But we want to ensure that we get in touch with the political players to organise themselves and ensure that they present themselves for Nigerians to see,” he said.

L-R: Vice President, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), Mrs Tife Akisanya; President of CIPM, Mr Wale Adediran; Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State; Past Presidents of CIPM, Mr Biola Popoola and Mr Anthony Arabume, during the CIPM delegation’s visit to the Governor, yesterday in Lagos. Photo: NAN

2023: Tinubu qualified to succeed Buhari – APC Chieftain

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

A

chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Lanre Razak, awho is a close ally of the party’s national leader, Bola Tinubu, has said that he (Tinubu) is ‘eminently’ qualified to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

While speaking on speculations

that Tinubu is interested in contesting for the presidency in 2023, Razak said the national leader of the APC played a pivotal role in ensuring the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and has helped stabilise democracy.

He then appealed to the national body of the party to maintain zoning by ensuring that the presidency is zoned to the South in 2023.

“Nigerians do not need to look far to know that the APC national leader, Bola Tinubu, is the man that the presidential cap fits for the next election. He is eminently qualified to succeed President, Muhammadu Buhari and build on the foundation the latter is currently building.

“Tinubu is an achiever and his democratic credentials, vis a vis his leading role in forming a coalition

that shoved aside the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) misrule has made it crystal clear that, with him in the saddle in 2023, Nigeria would be better for it,” Razak said.

On speculations that Buhari may seek a third term, Razak said the president is “too principled to fall for such booby traps from professional sycophants,” exuding confidence that, “he will vacate

the seat in conformity with the constitutional provision.”

On the performance of Governor Sanwo-olu of Lagos, Razaq, said: “With the way the governor has started, it is crystal clear that peoples’ support is required to partake in this all inclusive government for the good of all of us. He is on the right path and is performing well.”

Jega urges NASS to adopt electronic voting system

By Musa Adamu

P

rof. Attahiru Jega, Former Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has advised the 9th Assembly to adopt electronic voting for effective monitoring of bills and motions.

Jega gave the advice at the presentation of the Scorecard of the 8th National Assembly sponsored

by YIAGA Africa Centre for Legislative Engagement in Abuja.

He said that the advice followed a study of the performance of the 8th assembly by a team of researchers who observed among other things that the technology used by the National Assembly had been there for 30 years.

“The National Assembly should

adopt electronic voting on bills and motions;voting records should be available to members of the public on all National Assembly online and offline channels.

“It is important for the National Assembly to maintain an updated open and accessible Bills Progression Chart to enable legislators, legislative aides and other stakeholders track or monitor progress of bills passage.

“The National Assembly should maintain an accessible database of assented and gazetted legislation passed by the legislature.

“Our research also showed that the 8th assembly did more than any previous assembly in terms of introducing about 2,166 bills out of which 515 were passed and 21 were alteration bills.”

Jega said that the work was commendable but not enough to produce bills, adding that there was need to also pay attention to the quality of bills as many of them were not accented to.

He said that the research showed that there was a room for improvement with regards to the quality of the bills produced.

“There is need to pay attention to the quality of bills that are introduced so we strongly recommended an establishment of a mechanism for pre-legislative scrutiny,so that bills can be scrutinised .

“Then a situation where a bill can go to the president and returned for inconsistencies or editorial work and so on will not even arise.

Jega urged the Assembly to

consider creating a Legislative Standards Committee to oversee the pre-legislative scrutiny process and also establish a monitoring mechanism to monitor implementation of bills in MDAs. He also advised them to entrench Pre-Legislative Scrutiny as a norm for all proposed legislations whether executive or private member bills.

The former INEC chairman said with this, legislative proposals would be enriched as a result of consultations with practitioners, experts and all other stakeholders.

He said that in order to improve the quality of legislative oversight the assembly should establish a minimum benchmark or targets for committees to catalyse activism and guide their performance level.

Jega said that legislative committees should uphold the principles of integrity, professionalism, transparency and mutual respect in the performance of oversight functions.

He also urged the National assembly to prioritise adequate funding for committees, which is pivotal to effective legislation and oversight.

Jega also called on the assembly to ensure transparency and accountability for funds allocated to committees.

He also advised the assembly to establish constituency offices and where they exist, they should improve engagement of the offices, because research showed that legislators were not in touch with their constituents. (NAN)

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PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

politics

Ndume commends FG over move to rebuild Biu Dam project

By Musa Adamu

F

ormer Senate Majority Leader, Ali Ndume has commended the Federal Government’s effort to commence work on over 38 year old abandoned Biu Dam project in Borno State.

The lawmaker, who spoke to newsmen in Abuja, said he got the assurance when he paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu.

He said the minister assured that work would commence for continuation of the dam project in 2020, adding that it was already captured in the 2020 national budget.

The former majority leader said that the move by the federal government would help solve the problem of water scarcity faced by residents in the area and adjourning communities.

He said although the state government had paid its counterpart fund for the completion of the dam, the federal government over the years failed to meet up its part of the funding for continuation of the project.

“It is cheering to hear that the Biu Dam, a project that was awarded over 38 years ago but abandoned over the years, has been captured in the 2020 budget of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.

The first phase of the project was awarded to LeeFakino and re-awarded to Nalando Company recently but no work is going on there.

“With this assurance from the minister, when completed, the dam will service residents who have over the years suffered immensely for lack of water.

“Biu, an agrarian community and other neighbouring communities have been subjected to untold hardship due to the continued abandonment of the dam project in spite of the huge socio-economic opportunities it will provide.

“The dam when completed will not only help in tackling perennial water shortage in the area but provide water for irrigation for the people, whose major occupation is farming,” he said.

It can be recalled that, Sen. Ali Ndume (APC Borno South), had appealed to the federal government to complete the abandoned Biu Dam project, awarded over 38 years ago, to address water scarcity in the area.

Ndume had said that the lack of access to water in the area had affected over 200,000 people thereby crippling socio-economic activities.

Edo Assembly crisis: Gbajabiamila restates NASS resolve to appeal Portharcourt judgement

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has restated the resolve of the National Assembly to appeal the judgement delivered by a federal High Court in which it barred the National Assembly from taking over the State House of Assembly in Edo state.

Gbajabiamila said “Myself and my big brother the Senate President will want to the draw our attention to the issue of the crisis in Bauchi and Edo states. Whilst we were able to successfully resolve the issue in Bauchi State, which is an opposition state, unfortunately, we are unable to resolve that of Edo State, where our party is in control.

“I think this is what we have to look at and prioritise. We should consider how to constitutionally address the

issue. For those of us on this side, the National Assembly, we are surprised that the exclusive constitutional roles given to us as prescribed in Section 12 of the constitution which is written unambiguously clear was being tested.

“We are a bit concerned about that. Of course we have three arms of government and on the basis of that, we will be going to court on this matter to resolve not just the judgement but to ensure that any other related issues like that do not come up again” .

Katsina State governor, Aminu Masari, who led the APC governors to the meeting had tried to explain the agenda of the meeting earlier.

According to him, the Progressive Governors Forum has a standing subcommittee on Legislative Matters that started in the last Assembly. But unfortunately, no success came out for

obvious reasons.

“So we thought that we should contact you early enough so that we put a machinery in motion in making sure that this time around, we are on the same page - the Progressive Governors Forum and the National Assembly. In doing so we want to use this opportunity to address some fundamental issues that does not only affect APC alone as a political party but the whole nation. “ Masari noted that “the absence of coordination has produced crisis of trust which if care is not taken can destroy our party and the political process. So as leaders, we need to make amends especially in the area of management of political relations among all the party stakeholders” The governor drew attention to the crisis that made the APC to lose some of the States it hitherto controlled saying

“We need not remind ourselves of what happened between 2015 and 2019.

We unfortunately allowed avoidable circumstances to give new life to our political opponents, especially parties in opposition to APC, like PDP. “We have not managed our personal aspiration to contest elections through the inability of our party leadership to painstakingly ensure broad consultations leading to collective decision that were recorded on most of these avoidable circumstances. We know what happened in the build up to 2019, the crisis we have in so many states within our own political party. I am referring to those crisis that could have been avoided.

Recognizing that conflicting demands from all stakeholders would not be easy to manage. Compliance with the provisions of our party constitution, and the relevant laws of Nigeria”

Kogi elections – Plot to disqualify Musa Wada ongoing, price tag agreed – PDP Says

By Lateef Ibrahim

PDP said that the attack was to prevent the Kogi of security agencies and less than half a kilometre from the Kogi State Department of State Services (DSS), Mr. PDP from presenting a candidate because the window head of November 16 governorship election in Kogi Adeyemi and Mr. Onoja seem to have not only confirmed for primaries in INEC timetable ended on September 5, State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the the involvement of the outgoing government but they a date which would have been impossible for the party to state has raised the alarm over an alleged plot to use have also betrayed the motive of the vicious gun attack”, plan and hold another primaries if their gun attack had been successful in aborting the process. the state judiciary to disqualify its governorship candidate, PDP stated.

Musa Wada by ensuring that his name does not appear on the ballot papers.

The plot, PDP said through a statement signed

by Faruk Adejoh Audu, the Head of the Muda Audu Campaigns in the state, named both the state government and the PDP Vice Chairman Ogugu Ward 3, Olamaboro Local Government Area, Mr. John Abraham as the main culprits.

The party said that the Kogi State government, and the All Progressives Congresses (APC) have perfected plans to use the Kogi State judiciary to disqualify Audu for the violence that took place during the PDP governorship primary election that resulted in one death and injuries Rescheduling of Bid Opening Exercise for Years 2015-2018 (Merged) to many in the state.

TETFund Library Development Intervention and Year 2018 TETFund PDP in Kogi state said that the pliant ward chairman of PDP, Edward Onoja, who is from the same local Zonal Intervention Project government area with the running mate of Governor Yahaya Bello, was induced with the sum of N20 million to agree to be used as a litigant to undermine the primaries of the PDP. “As at the time of the conversation, this rural PDP executive member of humble means has already been generously given the sum of one million to meet four lawyers including a Senior Advocate of Nigerian (SAN) hired by Bello’s government to execute their atrocious plot. We challenge the outgoing government to deny these revelations.

“We heard of this plot immediately it was hatched and expected that they will go to court and serve us with the processes to enable us join issues immediately, but it’s now obvious that there’s a sinister twist to even this craven process because whilst there’s been reports of the suit in the media since almost three weeks ago, we have neither been served nor have we been able to confirm in what court it was instituted or if it was instituted at all”.

PDP in the state further stated that the Bello campaign has continued to boast and threaten that the PDP will not have a candidate at the polls until the court has decided.

In reference to the statement from PDP in the state, “the latest of these threats was the one uttered by the campaign Director General, Former Senator Representing Kogi West District, Smart Adeyemi at a press conference in Lokoja on Friday.

“This is the third time Adeyemi is openly bragging that the PDP candidate will be excluded from the ballot because its primaries were flawed. Before him, Mr Bello’s running mate had equally bragged in a WhatsApp chatroom that the PDP will have no candidate because the primaries were inconclusive.

“The lynchpin of their desperate confidence is based on the sporadic gun attack on the venue of the primaries when the process was drawing to a close.

“If anyone ever doubted those behind the criminal Secretary, Tenders Board attack which took place unchallenged in the presence

A

FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, PANKSHIN, PLATEAU STATE addendum

Due to the uncertainty of the notice of a proposed nationwide strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to the Federal Government to commence strike on the 16th of October, 2019 which unfortunately coincides with our scheduled week for the bid opening exercises, for 16th October, 2019 and 18th October, 2019 respectively.

The Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) has hereby reschedule the bid opening exercises as follows: Date: 14th October, 2019 Time: 12:00noon Venue: College Boardroom All other requirements as provided in our advertisement remains the same.

All inconveniences caused are highly regretted, please.

Thank you.

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

Page 19

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

Stock Watch: Monday, October 7, 2019 Low

OPEN Volume Close High

4.80 1.15 0 2.94 1.94 0 1.27 0.27 0 1.64 0.64 0 6.60 4.60 0 57.00 48.30 0 5.79 2.21 0 9.65 40.05 0 31.50 64.00 0 1.90 1.92 0 18.45 18.45 0 1.72 1.84 0 23.25 23.25 0 0.20 0.20 0 0.20 0.20 0 6.10 6.10 0 1.75 1.75 0 186.00 186.00 0 6.00 6.65 0 14.60 14.55 0 1.80 2.00 0 3.37 3.37 0 4.30 4.70 0 14.00 14.00 0 7.35 7.80 0 1.62 1.65 0 1.91 1.96 0 4.95 4.95 99 0.33 0.33 0 21.85 21.85 0 29.60 30.70 0 0.20 0.20 0 12.20 13.05 0 32.60 32.95 0 72.00 72.00 0 1.18 1.18 0 1.53 1.53 0 31.50 31.50 0 0.51 0.54 0 0.20 0.20 0 23.25 23.25 0 0.44 0.44 0 0.30 0.30 0 1.36 1.36 0 0.72 0.72 0 0.52 0.49 0 1.83 1.83 0 2.45 2.45 0

Top Gainers

Symbol CHANGE

Trades

3.80 6.00 ACCESS -0.35 1.94 3.94 AFRIPRUD 0.00 1.27 0.27 AGLEVENT 0.00 1.64 0.64 AIICO 0.00 4.60 8.60 BERGER 0.00 37.00 67.00 BETAGLAS -1.30 6.79 3.79 BOCGAS -0.42 4.65 10.05 CADBURY -0.40 71.50 31.50 CAP -2.50 0.90 1.90 CAVERTON -0.02 08.45 18.45 CCNN 0.00 0.72 1.72 CHAMPION -0.12 23.25 23.25 CONOIL 0.00 0.20 0.20 CORNERST 0.00 0.20 0.20 COURTVILLE 0.00 6.10 6.10 CUSTODIAN 0.00 1.75 1.75 CUTIX 0.00 186.00 186.00 DANGCEM 0.00 6.00 6.25 DANGFLOUR -0.65 14.60 14.60 DANGSUGAR 0.05 1.80 2.00 DIAMONDBNK -0.20 3.37 3.37 EKOCORP 0.00 4.30 4.30 ETERNA -0.40 14.00 14.00 ETI 0.00 7.45 7.60 FBNH -0.35 1.62 1.67 FCMB -0.03 1.92 1.98 FIDELITYBK -0.04 4.95 4.95 FIDSON 0.00 0.33 0.33 FIRSTALUM 0.00 21.85 21.85 FLOURMILL 0.00 29.60 29.60 FO -1.10 0.20 0.20 FTNCOCOA 0.00 12.20 12.20 GLAXOSMITH -0.85 33.50 33.50 GUARANTY 0.55 72.00 72.00 GUINNESS 0.00 1.18 1.18 HONYFLOUR 0.00 1.53 1.53 IKEJAHOTEL 0.00 31.50 31.50 INTBREW 0.00 0.53 0.53 JAIZBANK -0.01 0.20 0.21 JAPAULOIL 0.00 23.25 23.25 JBERGER 0.00 0.44 0.44 JOHNHOLT 0.00 0.30 0.30 LASACO 0.00 1.36 1.36 LEARNAFRCA 0.00 0.72 0.72 LINKASSURE 0.00 0.52 0.52 LIVESTOCK 0.03 1.83 1.83 MANSARD 0.00 2.45 2.45 MAYBAKER 0.00

Stock Close Gain UPL 2.14 0.03 LIVESTOCK 0.42 0.08 SOVRENINS 0.28 0.13 OKOMUOIL 20.00 0.90 GUARANTY 43.50 0.25

Low 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

OPEN Volume Close High

Symbol CHANGE

Trades

0.21 0.21 0 0.21 0.21 MBENEFIT 0.00 0 0.63 0.43 0 0.43 0.43 MCNICHOLS 0.00 0 1.15 2.05 261 2.05 2.05 MEDVIEWAIR 0.00 0 24.80 184.80 0 184.80 184.80 MOBIL 0.00 0 1.20 0.20 970 0.20 0.20 MULTIVERSE 0.00 0 6.50 3.50 0 3.50 3.50 NAHCO 0.00 0 12.00 18.00 0 18.00 18.00 NASCON 0.00 0 68.50 78.70 0 79.50 79.50 NB 0.80 0 1.78 0.78 0 0.78 0.78 NEIMETH 0.00 0 1.60 2.60 0 2.60 2.60 NEM 0.00 0 52.20 552.20 150 552.20 552.20 NESF 0.00 0 1,475.00 1,475.00 0 1,475.00 1,475.00 NESTLE 0.00 0 1.60 1.65 0 1.60 1.60 NPFMCRFBK -0.05 0 4.60 4.80 0 4.60 4.75 OANDO -0.20 0 80.00 76.20 0 80.00 80.00 OKOMUOIL 3.80 0 64.00 64.00 0 64.00 64.00 PRESCO 0.00 0 0.50 0.50 0 0.50 0.50 PRESTIGE 0.00 0 12.30 12.30 0 12.30 12.30 PZ 0.00 0 4.20 4.20 0 4.20 4.20 REDSTAREX 0.00 0 0.20 0.21 0 0.20 0.21 REGALINS -0.01 0 0.50 0.50 0 0.50 0.50 RESORTSAL 0.00 0 0.21 0.23 0 0.21 0.22 ROYALEX -0.02 0 640.00 640.00 405 640.00 640.00 SEPLAT 0.00 0 0.20 0.20 0 0.21 0.21 SOVRENINS 0.01 0 46.50 46.00 0 46.50 46.50 STANBIC 0.50 0 102.00 102.00 122 102.00 102.00 STANBICETF30 0.00 0 1.97 1.96 0 1.97 1.97 STERLNBANK 0.01 0 203.00 203.00 0 203.00 203.00 TOTAL 0.00 0 6.10 6.10 632 6.10 6.10 TRANSCOHOT 0.00 0 1.15 1.21 0 1.16 1.18 TRANSCORP -0.05 0 9.60 9.60 0 9.60 9.60 UACN 0.00 0 1.74 1.92 0 1.74 1.74 UAC-PROP -0.18 0 7.60 7.80 0 7.90 7.95 UBA 0.10 0 6.00 6.05 0 6.00 6.05 UBN -0.05 0 2.89 2.94 0 2.89 2.91 UCAP -0.05 0 36.30 37.00 0 36.30 36.30 UNILEVER -0.70 0 0.27 0.27 0 0.27 0.27 UNIONDAC 0.00 0 1.00 0.99 0 1.00 1.00 UNITYBNK 0.01 0 2.04 1.97 0 2.14 2.14 UPL 0.17 0 0.23 0.23 0 0.23 0.23 VERITASKAP 0.00 0 4.50 4.99 0 4.50 4.50 VITAFOAM -0.49 0 11.30 11.50 0 11.30 11.65 WAPCO -0.20 0 0.40 0.40 0 0.40 0.40 WAPIC 0.00 0 0.59 0.61 0 0.59 0.61 WEMABANK -0.02 0 21.20 22.70 0 21.70 22.50 ZENITHBANK -1.00 0 Copyright © 2019 NgTradeOnline

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Stock Close Loss DIAMONDBNK 1.70 -0.30 BOCGAS 1.89 -0.42 VITAFOAM 2.20 -0.69 DANGFLOUR 3.00 -0.85 UAC-PROP 0.94 -0.28

Economic Summit: Dangote leading Nigeria into 4thindustrial revolution

By Etuka Sunday

P

resident of the Dangote Group Aliko Dangote has said that the private sector is key to the much touted industrial revolution, adding that his conglomerate is leading Nigeria into the new epoch through massive investment in the manufacturing sector and skill development.

This is one of the fallouts of the panel of discussion at the ongoing Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja Monday.

He said the theme for this year’s Economic Summit, Nigeria 2050: Shifting Gears, was apt, as Nigeria has to drive on the fast lane of industrialization.

The title of the session is, competing with the Giant: Achieving Rapid Industrialization, transforming education.

Mr. Dangote, who was represented by the company’s Group Executive Director, Government and Stakeholder Relations, Ahmed Mansur, said Nigeria and indeed Africa must take bold steps to change the narrative of industrial backwardness.

He described as unacceptable the contribution of the manufacturing sector in the country to the GDP, which currently stood at 9%, unlike in the Asian countries which stood at about 30%.

“To achieve a significant level of industrialization, this trend must be reversed,” he said.

Mr. Dangote said where there is will, there is way, adding that with the right policy framework, consistency and infrastructural development, the goal can be achieved.

“Dangote is in the business of producing and distributing cement, foods etc. However, we have found ourselves engaged in power generation, road construction etc as these are critical foundations for our businesses,” he added.

He said his company was already leading Nigeria into the 4thindustrial revolution, adding that: “Once we catch up with 2ndindustrial revolution, our entrepreneurial youth can help us leapfrog to the 3rd and 4th. This is what happened with the IT revolution in India.”

According to him, “the 4th industrial revolution is global in

nature.

Solutions are being developed by global companies for a global market.

Skilled people from all over the world are participating in the development of these solutions.”

He urged government to encourage more investments from local entrepreneurs, saying the country can learn from the Korean experience where they supported a number of conglomerates.

Mr. Dangote also said the government must do among other

things: decongest the ports, expand rail network, tackle smuggling, implement gas masterplan and entrenching responsive bureaucracy.

“At Dangote, we set up training Academy several years ago primarily to provide a talent pipeline to our group. Plans are ongoing to take our passion for talent development a step further by setting up a world class university within the next few years.”

Speaking also, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council, Dr Doyin Salami, the country will

require innovation and the private sector must play a central role for the radical transformation of the Nigerian economy.

Another member of the panel of discussion, Chairman of First Bank Plc, Mrs Ibukun Awosika said inclusiveness and the right educational system are required for rapid development.

Speaking earlier, the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed rolled out 11-point priority for economic development. These

are: macroeconomic stability, anti-corruption, improved health, availability of energy, sufficiency in petroleum products, improved transportation, industrialization and development of small scale industries, security, agricultural development, social inclusiveness and mass housing.

The chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Asue Igbodalo said the partnership between the private and the public sector is key to the economic development of the country.

Consumer Protection welcomes 15 ABU staff sack over alleged sexual harassment, corruption

By Miriam Humbe

T

he Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has said that it welcomes the bold and decisive action of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) authorities in terminating the employment of 15 staff and demotion of one academic staff on account of conducts bordering on corruption and sexual harassment.

A statement signed by FCCPC’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Babatunde

Irukera said: “The Commission notes that this strong disciplinary action followed investigations that established unsolicited and unwelcome sexual advances and behaviour toward members of the school community, illegal allocation of, and alteration of grades, and extortion of students.

“These types of conduct materially affect the entire community, diminish scholarship and negatively skew academic outcomes in a manner that violates the rights of targets of the behaviour and victimises others who

are invariably indirect victims. The inappropriate behaviour undermines the quality and validity of education and questions the credibility of educational outcomes.

“The Commission is further encouraged by ABU’s commitment to a broader and continuing investigation of others within the community. In addition, the Commission commends ABU for this robust and far-reaching effort and the confidence it restores and promotes in our institutions, systems and processes.

“A transparent, fair and just educational community is vital for all members of the community, especially students, and the Commission is keen to ensure that students, as consumers, are afforded the necessary protections, and our campuses are safe and secure always.

“The Commission urges educational institutions to pursue aggressive and open initiatives to ensure harassment, corruption and other vices are eradicated from educational systems.”

L-R; Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi 11, FCT Minister Mallam Mohammed Musa Bello, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, Minister of State Mines and Steel, Dr Uche Ogah during the opening ceremony of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) conference held at the Transcorp Hilton, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: State House

Customer Service Week: AEDC to reward Customers with Electricity token

By Etuka Sunday

A

buja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) yesterday said it would give out electricity token to some of its customers during the celebration of this year’s global customers’ service week.

AEDC said, it has also mandated its directors to man the customer care centres in some of

its area offices in Abuja to receive customers’ complaints and resolve them.

The General Manager, Corporate Communications, AEDC, Oyebode Fadipe, in a statement said the issuance of free token to electricity customers and the deployment of its management staff to man the customer care centres in some of its offices within Abuja is a symbolic gesture aimed at showing

appreciation to the customers for their loyalty to the AEDC brand and the importance the management attaches to the customers.

AEDC said further in the statement: “as a service provider, our customers remain one of our priceless assets on whose behalf we will continue to strive to deliver world class service. The globally celebrated customer service week offers us the unique opportunity

to once again appreciate our customers for their loyalty to our brand”.

It will be recalled that in order to deliver premium service to customers, AEDC procured the integrated commercial management system otherwise known as InCMS and also upgraded its customer contact centre to be able to handle more volumns of customer complaints with greater

visibility on the social media, which has been widely acclaimed at different fora by customers. The InCMS was commissioned by the NERC Chairman - Prof. John A. Momoh.

AEDC also transformed the MAP metering project to Mobile MAP Metering thus earning it the best MAP performing DisCo at the last review of the program by the regulator.

ICT

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

Page 20

Telecoms positioned as major contributor to Economic Growth - Danbatta

T

he effective regulation of the nation’s telecommunications industry has made the sector a major contributor to the nation’s economic growth and development.

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, affirmed at the third annual conference of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) held in Lagos.

R e p r e se nte d by O m o n i y i Ibietan, Head, Online Media and Special Publications, NCC, Danbatta said at 11.39 percent contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as at the second quarter of 2019, the telecom subsector remains a major actor in the national economy.

He said, through effective regulation by the NCC, the number of Internet users has risen to 122.6 million while broadband penetration currently stands at 35 percent. The NCC Chief Executive also informed the forum that the cumulative investment profile in the telecom sector is $70 billion.

According to Danbatta, the liberalisation of telecoms sector which started 18 years ago has triggered tremendous growth. He revealed that active telephone lines in Nigeria is now 175 million and that represents a teledensity of 91.65 per cent.

The EVC, who made his remark on the sub-theme: ‘‘NCC, SIM Registration, Security and National Development’’ stressed that with respect to Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) Cards Registration and its connection with national security, the Commission is working with the operators and other stakeholders to ensure credible SIM data needed to improve security of lives and

property to enhance national economic development.

He said: “I will like to remind us that the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), established by the NIMC 2007 Act, has released the National Identification Number Regulations 2017, which provides that a person must provide his or her National Identity Number (NIN) in order to register a telephone SIM card.”

Danbatta said the NCC, in collaboration with all stakeholders, has instituted processes to ensure compliance with the extant regulation. He also said that NCC has been engaged in continuous

verification exercise of the SIM data collected by the MNOs and their SIM registration agents across the country in order to deliver on its mandate.

“This is part of the Commission’s consistent regulatory interventions to ensure that we have credible subscriber data. I, therefore, would like to use this opportunity to encourage Nigerians who want to acquire new SIM cards, to ensure that they obtain a National Identity Number first,” the EVC advised.

Danbatta stressed that the Commission is irrevocably commitment to using telecoms to support the policies of the

Federal Government, particularly to improve the economy, enhance security of lives and property and to fight corruption in our society.

He thanked GOCOP members for using their platforms to disseminate the Commission’s programmes and policies to its various stakeholders.

Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, represented President Muhammadu Buhari at the event and he delivered a goodwill message.

The main paper for the event titled: “Economy, Security and National Development’’ was

presented by Dr. Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Sokoto.

Radical Economist and former Vice Chancellor of University of Uyo, Prof. Akpan Hogan Ekpo, represented by Prof.

Douglason Omotor, the Economic Development Advisor at the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) made a presentation on Nigeria’s economic situation.

A security expert and former Director at the Department of State Services, Mike Ejiofor, also presented a paper on the nation’s security situation.

L-R: Mrs. Grace Ojougboh, Asst. Director, International Affairs Unit, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC),Henry Nkemadu, Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Mr. Kashifu Abdulahi, Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, Minister of Communications, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman (EVC/CEO), NCC, Salisu Abdu, Deputy Director, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, and Nkechi Obiekwe, Deputy Director, Projects, at NCC during the opening ceremony of Gulf Information Technology Exhibition Conference (GITEX), Dubai, UAE...yesterday

MTN initiative impacts 510 communities across 454 local governments

By Etuka Sunday

T

elecoms giant, MTN, through its “What Can We Do Together” initiative has impacted about 510 communities across 454 local government areas in Nigeria, the Director, MTN Foundation, Dennis Okoro has disclosed.

“What Can We Do Together” project, is an initiative geared towards developing grassroots communities through collaboration with well meaning Nigerians.

Speaking at the Apreciation Dinner/Awards for Nominators of “What Can We Do Together” initiative Phase 3 held in Abuja, Okoro said, in phase 3, another 110 communities across the country

... celebrates Nominators in Abuja have been impacted.

“Under the phases 1 and 2 of the What Can We Do Together initiative, various interventions were implemented in 400 communities across the country.

“In phase 3, another 110 communities across the country have been impacted. This means that so far a total of 510 communities across 454 local governments have been transformed!

“While we are proud of what we have achieved so far, we are very aware that none of this would have been possible without our customers who continue to patronize our business through

thick and thin.

“Each and every one of you share in all the credit that MTN Foundation receives today, and we say thank you very much,” he said.

The director noted that the Nominators are people who decided to make lives in their communities brighter, by partnering with MTN Foundation.

“The MTN Foundation is pleased to be a part of this process, it has been an honour working with these wonderful men and women who have contributed to improving the quality of life in their communities.

“People like Jackson Acho

who facilitated the provision of school learning materials in the Amaise community in Abia State; or Aisha Bello who nominated a health centre in Anguwa Chiroma community of Gombe State to receive health equipment and supplies, and Salami Toyin, who facilitated the installation of a solar powered borehole in the Arometa community of Oyo state.

“These people are what kids of today like to call the real MVP’s.

All 110 nominators, made the bold decision to make a lasting, positive impact by partnering with the MTN Foundation,” he said.

Earlier in her Welcome Address,

the General Manager, Northern Operations, Hajya Amina Usman said, “we are here to celebrate some women and men who chose to step out of their comfort zones and in their own little way, take action to transform their communities for the better.

“Well, we have 110 Nigerians who did exactly that. They took a step forward, took action and partnered with us to bring about change to their world. Today, their communities are better for it.

“Because of them, school children have learning materials, medical equipment has been installed in primary health centres, and solar-powered boreholes have been installed in communities where they had no water,” she said.

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

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Why I remain committed to boosting synergy between AMAC, FCTA- Candido Chairman, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon. Abdullahi Adamu Candido, in this interview with our correspondent, Stanley Onyekwere, declares that the Council under his watch will maintain the budding synergy between the Area council and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), so as to have a peaceful atmosphere for rapid and inclusive development.

Also, he touches on other sundry issues. Excepts:

Just last week, the FCT Minister read a riot act to Area Councils’ chairmen on the need to deliver democratic dividends to the people. What’s your take on it?

The riot act by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello is a good one, and as leaders from area councils we will the do best we can to ensure that we do the needful. It is expected of us to ensure that services are rendered and from whatever little resources that is available in our disposal. And by the grace of God, we are assuring the Minister Federal Capital Territory that we will collaborate, we will also complement the effort of both the federal government and the FCT Administration.

How would you react to the recent criticism of political appointments

by Council chairmen in the wake of the dwindling revenue ?

As politicians we will also tell ourselves the truth . The people who voted for us, we most appreciate them. Sincerely, if I have the opportunity I can put in 1000 appointees to serve because it is a reward system.

Electorates are critical customers and critical stakeholders in the election process and they must be

respected. And then for me in the area council, the little appointment I made is not even satisfactory because I am seeing it in a way that I have not fulfilled the reward policy system I have in me.

So, you’re saying that the presence of political appointments is not adding to the wage bills of the Area Councils....

All the same by the grace of God, we are not lacking in the payment of salaries, we are not lacking in other services the only thing we are asking is that we should be able to come up to ensure collaboration in all organs of government and that is why this tenure if you observed it have tried as much as possible to avoid conflict with relevant organs of government.

Recently, there seems to be intensive effort at resolving conflicts between the AMAC and FCTA especially in the area of revenue collection. What’s the state of affairs of the process?

For instance; only last week, there was a press conference between AEPB and the area council. This is to ensure that our clients outside there are no longer confused, so it is a win win situation - we don’t lose they don’t lose. Clearly, we are now

AMAC Chairman Hon. Abdullahi Adamu Candido in synergy with FCTA. It did not happen in last tenure but this time we are seeing it as a potential reason for us to really collaborate so that there shouldn’t be any reason for confusion, there shouldn’t be any reason for conflict and by the grace of God under my watch I will maintain it, so that the budding synergy between the Area council and FCT is further boosted so that we can have a peaceful atmosphere.

What specific role can the residents play to assist the government deliver good governance at the grassroots level?

My message to the residents of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) is that we should pray.

We must pray for our leaders. We must pray and wish our leaders well. But then, our leaders must remember that they have a day and time of God and that they also have a date and time with our electorates because the people voted us and these people that voted us must be adequately respected. I’m shy because of the 57,000 votes I received in AMAC and I can only appoint less than a fraction that cannot even be appreciated by me for my people.

If I hadn’t been elected I can’t even appoint. So therefore

I appreciate my voters and I will continue to ensure that I submit myself to them. That is my position and by the grace of God, ot is going to be well.

For anyone who says that we are sleeping, I think for me this is my second term and if I was sleeping from my first term then I might not have been elected again. But I will charge my colleagues, we are not going to do all we can, if we relax, so so we must not relent in ensuring the rapid development of our people. Nobody is the master of everything and so we can only do the little we can and by the grace of God we will deliver.

Minister happy with traffic decongestion along AYA/Nyanya Road

By Stanley Onyekwere

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he FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has commended the Special Ministerial Task Team on Traffic Decongestion along AYA/Nyanya for delivering on its mandate of decongesting traffic on that road axis within a very short time frame.

Bello made the commendation when he received the interim report of the activities of the Task Team in his office.

The Minister noted that his conviction that the affairs of the society can be changed for the better has been buttressed by the zeal and dedication the Task Team put into the assignment and the result it

achieved in record time.

He stressed that the problems of managing the FCT are from within and these can be fixed with and by dedicated people who will put in their best and be committed to make the difference.

He however assured that all the recommendations made by the Task Team will be implemented.

“The conviction of our dear President that if we all put in our best we can change this country, and this has been clearly demonstrated by your well-coordinated team.

‘It shows you also that all the solutions to all our problems are actually within us, it’s just a matter of everybody being dedicated, putting in their best,” he said.

Furthermore, the Minister advised that there was a need for coordinated and concerted efforts by all stakeholders for things to work.

He adds that: “One tree cannot make a forest and you cannot survive if you are just an island.

So you have to relate with people around you, relate with relevant officers and at the end of the day if we all do that, Nigeria is going to be better.”

Earlier in his presentation , the Chairman of the Task Team, Comrade Ikharo Attah emphasized that there was a need to sustain efforts to check the excesses of motorists, as even the current expansion work by the Federal

Government on that road will not make a difference if this was not done.

According to him, one of such excesses was the unwillingness of uniformed personnel to obey traffic rules and comply with road traffic directives.

He noted that many drivers lacked lane discipline and exhibited arrogance while driving with little consideration for the rights of other road users.

He also explained that traffic clogging at the Nasarawa State axis of the road made it difficult for the Team to manage traffic.

He therefore reiterated that the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) should be involved in the

simultaneous control of traffic in Nasarawa State and the FCT. It was gathered that the some of the recommendations made by the Team include a total stoppage of roadside trading, concerted enlightenment campaign for uniformed personnel and immediate fixing of potholes along the road that hinder the free flow of traffic.

It would be recalled that the FCT Minister, had inaugurated the Task Team two weeks ago with a mandate to clear the traffic gridlock and ensure free flow of traffic along the AYA/Nyanya road as part of measures by the FCT Administration to ease the discomfort of motorists who ply that route on a daily basis.

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

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world news

Kansas City bar shooting: One suspect arrested as manhunt continues

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ansas police have arrested one of two men suspected over a bar shooting that left four dead, while a manhunt continues for the second shooter.

Javier Alatorre was arrested in Kansas City, Missouri, on Sunday, police said.

The second suspect, Hugo Villanueva-Morales, remained at large and was “considered armed and dangerous”, police said.

Both men were charged with murder for allegedly shooting nine people after a dispute at a bar on Sunday.

Kansas City Missouri police took Mr Alatorre into custody on Sunday afternoon, with the assistance of agents from the FBI and federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Bond was set for both men at $1m (£811,000) each.

As the hunt for Mr VillanuevaMorales continued, police warned citizens to not approach him and instead call authorities with any information about his whereabouts.

So far this year, the US has seen more than 40 mass shootings, which are defined as incidents in which at least three people are shot dead.

What do we know about the shooting?

The shooting occurred just before 01:30 local time (06:30 GMT). The suspects fled the scene armed with handguns. Officials said the shooting followed an earlier dispute inside the bar.

Bartender Jose Valdez told local media that the first suspect got into an argument, threw a glass and was asked to leave, but later returned with the second suspect and opened fire.

“He just walked in and looked for who he was looking for and started shooting,” Mr Valdez said.

Police estimated that about 40 people were inside the bar at the time.

According to a CBS News report, the four individuals who died were Hispanic, though police said they did not believe the shooting was racially motivated.

The identities of the victims were not released by authorities, but the Mexican government said two of the victims were Mexican citizens. Two of the victims were in their mid-20s, one in their mid-30s and the fourth in their late 50s, police said.

Some of the injured were released from hospital, while others were in a stable condition, police said. One of the injured victims, Michael Barajas, told CBS News that the experience was “horrifying”.

“Seeing bodies drop, and you know, it’s something you usually watch in the movies, you’re seeing in real life,” Mr Barajas said.

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international_peoplesdailyng@yahoo.com

Paris police killings: Minister calls for ‘automatic alerts’ S igns of Islamist radicalisation ought to trigger an “automatic alert”, the French interior minister has said, deploring “failings” which allowed a knifeman to kill four of his police colleagues last week.

Mickaël Harpon was shot dead on Thursday after stabbing colleagues at the Paris police headquarters.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said police should have investigated Harpon’s suspicious behaviour in 2015.

But nobody raised any formal concerns.

“In his file there was no trace of any radicalisation, no sign. There was a failing,” Mr Castaner told French news broadcaster France Inter.

He said investigators only learnt on Friday that in 2015 some of Harpon’s colleagues had spoken about his praise for the jihadist attack on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Two gunmen killed 12 people there - an attack that Harpon reportedly described as “well executed”.

Police colleagues had also commented on Harpon’s changed behaviour towards women but, according to Paris police intelligence chief Françoise Bilancini, no concerns were formally reported.

“The alarm signals should have been enough to trigger an in-depth investigation, which is what we are

The interior minister says colleagues should have warned of Harpon’s jihadist sympathies doing now,” Mr Castaner said. “If a signal had appeared perhaps we could have prevented this happening.”

About 20 officers in the French security services have been taken off duty because of suspected Islamist radicalisation, he said, without giving

details.

Mr Castaner brushed off calls for his resignation over the police “failings”, saying he had not made any error in this case. But he pledged that “we will tighten the net” to pick up suspicious signs and rectify the “malfunctioning”

alert system.

Harpon, a 45-year-old IT expert, had been working in the police intelligence unit since 2003. He had contact with members of the Salafist movement, anti-terrorist prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said, referring to the ultra-conservative Islamic ideology.

On Thursday morning, shortly before his attack, he exchanged 33 text messages with his wife. Mr Ricard said Harpon included religious phrases in his messages, such as “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) and “follow our much-loved Prophet Muhammad, and meditate on the Koran”.

His Moroccan-born wife was questioned by police but released from detention on Sunday evening.

She reportedly told police that he had been incoherent and had heard voices the night before the attack.

Anti-terror investigators took over the inquiry on Friday. It was initially regarded as a criminal matter.

Harpon was shot dead on Thursday by a junior police officer after he attacked colleagues in several offices at the central police building.

According to Mr Ricard, investigators established that Harpon left the building at lunchtime and bought two knives - one metal, the other ceramic - just half an hour before launching his attack.

Trump tax returns must be given to prosecutor, judge rules A

judge has ordered US President Donald Trump to hand over eight years of his tax returns to a New York state criminal investigation.

The judge rejected arguments by the president’s lawyers that total immunity protects him while in office.

Mr Trump is the only presidential candidate since the 1960s apart from Gerald Ford not to release tax returns.

The ruling helps an investigation into hush money paid to two women who claim they had affairs with Mr Trump.

In his 75-page decision on Monday, Judge Victor Marrero said he could not allow a “categorical and limitless assertion of presidential immunity from judicial process”.

“The only thing truly absolute about presidential immunity from criminal process is the Constitution’s silence about the existence and contours of such an exemption,” he wrote.

Judge Marrero concluded that the president’s argument, at its core, was “repugnant to the nation’s governmental structure and constitutional values”.

Mr Trump said he would make his tax returns public during the 2016 campaign Mr Trump’s lawyers immediately filed an emergency appeal with a higher court.

The president tweeted about the ruling on Monday, claiming

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

that Democrats were “pushing local New York City and State Democrat prosecutors to go get President Trump”.

The Radical Left Democrats

have failed on all fronts, so now they are pushing local New York City and State Democrat prosecutors to go get President Trump. A thing like this has never happened to any President before. Not even close!

The investigation concerns hush money payments made by Mr Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen to two women - adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal who allege affairs with Mr Trump, which he denies.

Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr is looking into whether Mr Trump’s organisation broke any election campaign laws by reimbursing Mr Cohen for the payments.

If Judge Marrero’s ruling is not overturned, Mr Vance can enforce an earlier legal demand he issued to Mr Trump’s accountants for the tax returns.

Mr Vance has said that currently, the president “has not been identified as a defendant nor is there an assumption he will be”, according to the Washington Post.

The hush money payments were not reported to the Federal Election Commission during the campaign. Source: BBC

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Ethiopia to give telecoms licences to two firms

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thiopia’s President Sahlework Zewde has given much-awaited details of moves to liberalise the telecoms industry, saying two private firms would be given licenses to operate in the sector before the end of July 2020.

State owned-Ethio Telecom currently has a monopoly, being the only company to provide voice, SMS and data services.

It has more than 41 million customers in a country with a population of more than 100 million.

Multinational firms, including Safaricom, MTN Group, Orange and Vodafone, have all shown an interest in bidding for licences.

Speaking at the opening of Ethiopia’s parliament, she said Ethiopia would continue with the economic reforms introduced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed since he came to power in 2018.

She said the government was also committed to ensuring that general elections would be held next year, and they would be free and democratic.

Preventing conflicts that have displaced millions of people in recent years was an important task ahead of the elections, the president said.

Nigeria church suspends pastor after BBC investigation

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church in Nigeria says it has ordered a pastor to step down from ministerial duties after a BBC Africa Eye investigation implicated him in a “sex for grades” scandal at a leading university.

Boniface Igbeneghu, a lecturer in French at the University of Lagos, was caught on video sexually harassing a 17-year-old undercover reporter.

“Let me just hug you. My baby.

My baby. No wait. Don’t ask me what I want to do. I’m not going to harm you,” he said at one point.

Dr Igbeneghu was also a pastor at The Foursquare Gospel Church, which said in a statement that it does not condone “heinous and unscriptural” acts.

It has asked him to step down, pending the outcome of an investigation, the church’s national secretary Ikechukwu Ugbaja said in a statement.

Dr Igbeneghu has not yet commented on the allegations.

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Gregg Schoof, US pastor, arrested in Rwanda for ‘illegal’ meeting R wandan police have arrested a controversial US pastor as he was about to conduct a news conference in the capital, Kigali.

Evangelist Gregg Schoof was arrested for holding an “illegal meeting with journalists”, police said.

Mr Schoof had been due to criticise the Rwandan government for shutting down his radio station and his church.

The Amazing Grace radio station was banned last year after it broadcast a sermon that described women as “evil”.

Mr Schoof’s church was closed in February, among hundreds of others, for failing to comply with building regulations “and for noise pollution”.

In May, Mr Schoof lost an appeal against the government’s media regulator in which he had tried to reopen his radio station.

The BBC’s Jean Claude Mwambutsa in Kigali said Mr Schoof had booked a venue for his press conference on Monday but the owners denied him access at the last minute.

As he stood outside talking to the media, police arrested him.

Gregg Schoof, right, was arrested in Kigali as he talked to journalists “We arrested Mr Schoof and handed him over to the Rwanda Investigative Bureau,” police spokesman John Bosco Kabera told AFP news agency.

“He was arrested for holding an illegal meeting with journalists in a public space. It is illegal to hold meetings in public spaces without authorisation.”

In a press statement handed to the media before his detention, Mr Schoof said the Rwandan

government had “taken a stand against God with its heathen practices”.

“Christian radio illegally closed, 7,000 churches illegally closed, condoms are promoted to children in schools which promotes filth,” the press release read.

He also criticised the teaching of evolution in schools and the easing of restrictions on abortion, adding: “Is this government trying to send people to hell?”

Mr Schoof has previously questioned the freedom of expression in Rwanda, our correspondent says.

His radio station was accused of “promoting division in the country” last year after it broadcast a sermon by a local pastor who said women were “dangerous creatures of evil, going against God’s plans”.

Mr Schoof and his family have been based in Rwanda since 2003, according to their website.

Kenya turns to SA divers to retrieve bodies after drowning

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enya is hoping that South African divers would retrieve the bodies of two people who drowned in the coastal city of Mombasa nine days ago A woman and her daughter drowned at the busy Likoni ferry crossing after their vehicle plunged into the Indian Ocean.

The incident was captured on video and shared widely on social media.

A multi-agency recovery team

failed to find the bodies or car, sparking public anger and bad publicity for the Kenya Navy whose lack of equipment has been exposed by the incident.

Government spokesman Cyrus Oguna told journalists that the South African divers would arrive in two batches and will start the search for the bodies on Tuesday.

“The first batch will arrive Sunday, the second one on Monday. They will meet the

Kenyan team starting the search on Tuesday,” Mr Oguna is quoted as saying by The Star newspaper.

Transport Minister James Macharia also confirmed to journalists the expected arrival of the South African divers.

“We had an expert from Sweden and we are having others from South Africa who are coming in the next few days to join the rescue operation,” he is quoted as saying by the Standard

newspaper.

The tragedy and the accompanying negative publicity has cast a shadow over preparations to host this year’s national Heroes Day at a venue near the ferry crossing.

Kenyan navy troops have been parading their ships and helicopters in rehearsals for the celebrations to be held at the Mama Ngina Waterfront Park in 10 days.

Ghana students protest against ‘elitism’ in law

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tudents have taken to the streets of Ghana’s capital, Accra, to protest against mass failures and “elitism” in the law profession.

Only 128 out of 1820 students passed the 2019 Law School Entrance Exams, representing a failure rate of more than 90%.

The high failure rate reflected an attempt to sideline ordinary people from accessing legal education in favour of the country’s elite, the protesters said.

“They have to change this

system. The current practice, where family relations of the rich in society enter the Ghana Law School, must change,” Courage Nobi, an aspiring lawyer, told the BBC. Ghana’s Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, has previously said she is against the mass production of lawyers as it reduces standards in the legal profession.

Protesters demanded that that President Nana Akufo-Addo intervene to overhaul what they branded the “sham system”.

Protesters

South Sudan ‘impunity over war crimes’

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woman waits to be registered prior to a food distribution carried out by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Thonyor, Leer state,

South Sudan, February 26, 2017 Rights group Amnesty International has accused South Sudan of failing to take action against perpetrators of the atrocities committed

during the country’s five-year civil war.

An Amnesty report, based on interviews with 47 people working in the justice sector, said there was

widespread impunity for crimes such as torture and rape due to political ambivalence.

South Sudan’s government has rejected the report’s findings.

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PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

Turkey-Syria border: Kurds bitter as US troops withdraw

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S troops have begun withdrawing from positions in northern Syria, paving the way for a Turkish operation against Kurdish fighters in the border area.

Kurdish-led forces have until now been a key US ally in Syria, where they helped defeat the Islamic State group, but Turkey regards them as terrorists.

The main Kurdish-led group called the surprise US move a “stab in the back”.

But President Donald Trump defended the pullout, saying it was time “to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars”.

The withdrawal represents a significant shift in US foreign policy and goes against the advice of senior officials in the Pentagon and state department. It follows a White House statement issued late on Sunday, saying US troops were stepping aside for an imminent Turkish operation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey’s aim was to combat Kurdish fighters in the border area and to set up a “safe zone” for Syrian refugees currently living in Turkey.

US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of the president, called the announcement a “disaster in the making”, saying he would introduce a Senate resolution opposing the decision and calling for it to be reversed.

What did the White House say?

“Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into northern Syria,” the statement said.

“The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the Isis territorial ‘Caliphate’, will no longer be in the immediate area.”

In a series on tweets on Monday defending the decision, President Trump said the US “got deeper into battle with no aim in sight” and that “Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds will now have to figure the situation out”.

The White House also said Turkey would take over all responsibility for IS fighters captured by Kurdish forces over the past two years.

More than 12,000 men are in detention on suspicion of being IS members in Kurdish-controlled camps located south of Turkey’s planned “safe zone”. At least 4,000 of them are foreign nationals.

How do countries deal with IS returnees?

This decision risks a recasting of alliances in Syria. The Kurds may be forced to seek an accommodation with the Syrian government. The potential chaos could facilitate a resurgence of IS. Indeed, the US pullback of its forces from the border area may herald the full withdrawal of troops from Syria that Mr Trump has long wanted.

It marks a betrayal of Washington’s Kurdish allies, a betrayal that many other countries in the region will note with alarm.

Both the Saudis and the Israelis are coming to realise that Mr Trump’s robust rhetoric is rarely matched by actions.

Last month the Syria Study Group, a bipartisan body commissioned by Congress, stated in its final report that the US still has significant security interests in Syria

and retains some policy levers with which to influence events there. But that is clearly not Present Trump’s view.

What has the reaction been?

A spokesman for the Kurdishled Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - which occupy former IS territory in north-eastern Syria - strongly condemned the move, saying they were “assurances from the US that it would not allow any Turkish military operations against the region.”

“The [US] statement was a surprise and we can say that it is a stab in the back for the SDF,” Kino Gabriel told Arabic TV station alHadath.

Meanwhile, Kurdish TV in northern Iraq said the SDF had put some of its units on alert because the Turkish army had mobilised troops on the border on Monday.

In other reaction: Brett McGurk, former US special presidential envoy for the coalition against IS, said the announcement demonstrated a “complete lack of understanding of anything happening on the ground” Former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the Kurds “were instrumental in our successful fight against” IS in Syria and that “leaving them to die [was] a big mistake” UN humanitarian chief in Syria

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Cameroon’s conflict: Will the National Dialogue

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Turkey has massed thousands of troops along the border with Syria Panos Moumtzis said aid workers were “preparing for the worst” if fighting breaks out in north-eastern Syria What is Turkey planning?

Late on Sunday, Mr Erdogan’s office said he and President Trump had spoken on the phone about Turkey’s plan to set up a “safe zone” in north-eastern Syria. It said the 20-

mile (32km) zone along the border was needed to combat “terrorists”.

Turkey considers the Kurdish YPG militia - the dominant force in the SDF alliance - an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades.

Turkey hosts more than 3.6

million Syrians who fled the civil war that began in 2011, and wants to move up to two million of them into the zone.

In his call with Mr Trump, President Erdogan also expressed his “frustration over the US military and security bureaucracy’s failure” to implement an agreement reached in August about the zone, his office said.

Extinction Rebellion: Arrests at Sydney and Amsterdam protests H undreds of Extinction Rebellion activists have been arrested as protests take place across the globe.

Thirty people were charged with committing offences in Sydney after hundreds blocked a road, while more than 100 were arrested in Amsterdam.

Demonstrations have taken place in countries including Germany, Spain, Austria, France and New Zealand.

Protests by climate change activists are expected in some 60 cities over the next two weeks.

The group is also causing disruption in London, where more than 130 people were arrested on Monday.

Who are Extinction Rebellion and what do they want?

Extinction Rebellion wants governments to take immediate and drastic action to address climate change.

“We have tried petitions, lobbying and marches, and now time is running out,” Australian activist Jane Morton told the AFP news agency.

“We have no choice but to rebel until our government declares a climate and ecological emergency and takes the action that is required to save us.”

Australia’s government has been criticised for its lack of action in tackling climate change but it insists that it is doing its part to reduce global carbon emissions.

The country’s Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said last week

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, October 7, 2019

There was a heavy police presence in London, with widespread protests expected that names and photos of Extinction Rebellion protesters should be widely distributed to “shame” them.

What’s been happening and where?

In Sydney, protesters staged a sit-in on a main road. Hundreds were pulled away from the scene and 30 of them were charged.

Australians have also been protesting in Melbourne and Brisbane There were a handful of arrests in New Zealand, where activists surrounded the government building in Wellington that houses the ministry granting oil and gas drilling permits More than 100 were arrested in Amsterdam after they erected a tent camp on the main road outside the

Rijksmuseum, the Dutch national museum Activists blocked traffic in Berlin, where authorities have said they will refrain from making arrests for the time being In Paris, 1,000 activists backed by the yellow-vest anti-government movement have reportedly occupied a shopping centre More than 130 activists have already been detained in London, with organisers vowing to shut down key sites in the city including the Houses of Parliament and Trafalgar Square.

Similar protests in the UK earlier this year brought major disruption to London and resulted in more than 1,100 arrests.

Protests are expected to spread

across dozens of cities, including Delhi and New York, in the days and weeks ahead as activists call for urgent environmental action.

What is Extinction Rebellion?

Extinction Rebellion (XR for short) wants governments to declare a “climate and ecological emergency” and take immediate action to address climate change.

It describes itself as an international “non-violent civil disobedience activist movement”.

Extinction Rebellion was launched in the UK in 2018 and says it now has groups willing to take action in dozens of countries.

The group uses an hourglass inside a circle as its logo to represent time running out for many species.

Source: BBC

ife in Cameroon’s two English-speaking provinces has been brought to a standstill by three years of conflict, which has cost about 3,000 lives and forced 500,000 from their homes.

The dispute had been simmering for decades, but boiled over in 2016, when teachers and lawyers started to protest against the use of French in schools and courts.

The government in the majority French-speaking country responded with lethal force, provoking rebels to declare independence for the region they call “Ambazonia”, which in turn led to an even stronger military crackdown.

In an attempt to end the crisis, President Paul Biya called for talks, dubbed the National Dialogue, this week.

Some were encouraged by this, but others dismissed it as a sham.

So what has it achieved?

The National Dialogue made a series of proposals: Why do these proposals matter?

A return to the name United Republic of Cameroon is significant as it would go some way towards recognising the different histories of the different parts of the country.

At independence, the Southern Cameroons (colonised by Britain) voted in a UN-organised plebiscite to be united with the Republic of Cameroon (formerly colonised by France).

The new country the two entities created was called the Federal Republic of Cameroon.

But the federation was scrapped in 1972 in a controversial referendum, giving rise to the United Republic of Cameroon.

“It is the abolition of this federal structure that lies at the core of the Anglophone problem,” opposition leader John Fru Ndi told the BBC. In 1984, President Paul Biya worsened the situation by scrapping the word “united” from the name of the country, and it became known simply as the Republic of Cameroon, which was the same name given at independence to the part of Cameroon colonised by France.

“What that meant was that the Anglophone entity had been annexed,” Mr Fru Ndi said.

What difference would they make?

A return to the United Republic of Cameroon has been welcomed, although Mr Fru Ndi would have preferred a return to a federal system of government.

The prospect of electing local governors has also been welcomed by many. Jean Emmanuel Pondi, a professor of political science, told

Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute (centre) was at the opening of the dialogue in the capital, Yaoundé

the BBC that “for Anglophones, it is a return to normalcy”.

He said that locally elected officials would mean decisions being taken closer to the people.

“It used to be an administration of proximity where things are done by the people, for the people, and in the right moment,” Prof Pondi said.

“The problem with the centralisation of power is precisely that things are done miles and miles away, by people who have no idea of the consequences of the decisions they are taking.”

He said giving more autonomy to the regions would also “accelerate their dimension of good governance, because you have to be accountable immediately, or else, you are not elected”.

The proposals will be forwarded to President Biya, with the expectation that he will order them to be implemented.

Cameroon - still divided along colonial lines: What has the reaction been?

Opinion has been sharply divided.

Backers like Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, a senior figure with the ruling party, thinks that it is a “decisive step in the right direction”.

“It will enhance participatory

development across the country,” he told the BBC. “We believe that these proposals will calm down minds and restore peace.”

But Akere Muna, a political leader and former Cameroon representative of Transparency International, walked out of the talks in protest over what he said were attempts to stifle debate.

“Speakers were pre-arranged.

You couldn’t even ask a question. It was stage-managed. So they were actually looking for spectators, not participants,” Mr Muna told the BBC. Noting that the debate in the two English-speaking regions was about “secession and separation,” he questioned why there was no commission to examine those alternatives.

“So, I thought that the prescription had nothing to do with the illness,” he said.

On Thursday, in what appeared to be a goodwill gesture President Biya ordered all charges dropped against more than 300 people detained in connection with the Anglophone crisis.

But the decision failed to appease critics who say thousands more are locked up on trumped-up charges.

What do the separatists say?

Dozens of people came for the dialogue but critics say important issues were left off the agenda

They have pledged to keep fighting until “Ambazonia is freed”.

Ivo Tapang, a spokesman for 13 armed groups called the Contender Forces of Ambazonia, has made it clear that the concessions made so far are not enough to deter them from their fight for freedom.

“We will not accept an olive branch from someone whose troops are still in our territory,” he said. “We will intensify our struggle with guns and bullets.” Source: BBC

PAGE 26

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE PROBATE DIVISION BIRNIN KEBBI, KEBBI STATE

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE PROBATE DIVISION BIRNIN KEBBI, KEBBI STATE

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.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1. Edmond Chukwuma Paul Idam Chairman 2. Nnadika Gloria Nneka

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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.

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SCHEDULE Name and Address of Deceased Applicant Name and Address BULUS YANDA DABAI TALATU BULUS YANDA DABAI AREA RIKOTO AREA ZURU LOCAL GOVERNMENT ZURU KEBBI STATE. KEBBI STATE Who died on the 28TH AUGUST, 2014 Dated at Birnin Kebbi on the 10TH SEPTEMBER, 2019 HUSSAINI ABDULLAHI Probate Registrar

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, October 7, 2019

Interview

27

How we rescued 80 girls from baby factories - Ezeanyaeche attracts a penalty of life imprisonment.

Section 359 and 380 of the code, says attempt to commit rape and indecent assault on females attracts 14 and two years imprisonment respectively.

The truth of the matter is that parents do not instill the right values in children; indiscipline and immorality are prevalent among the youth. The inability of the most prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubts that the offence was committed makes most rape cases unsustainable in the courts. The court delivers judgment based on facts and evidence before it. The Nigeria conservative nature also hinders prosecution of rape cases. Parents will find it difficult to go to court and testify in a rape case of their girl child because they consider it shameful. I will advise that the Police and judicial system be strengthened to tackle this. Appropriate sex education should be introduced early to our children. Not giving our children sex education exposes them to a lot of things.

Mr. Belonwu Ezeanyaeche is the National President/ CEO, Anti Kidnapping, Human Trafficking, Child Abuse and Drugs Abuse Initiative (AKH-TRACADA). In an exclusive interview with Peoples Daily in Abuja recently, he spoke on his NGO’s discovery of “maternity homes” where babies are produced and sold to ritualists. He also revealed that selling of babies or children is now a booming business in some parts of South East and South South states as well as rampant cases of kidnapping of children and adults alike.

Experts.

Can we meet you, sir?

My name is Mr. Belonwu Ezeanyaeche.

I am the National President/CEO, Anti – kidnapping, Human Trafficking, Child Abuse and Drugs Abuse Initiative (AKH – TRACADA) whose Head Office is in Asokoro, Abuja. It is a non – governmental organization and fully registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and other relevant bodies of government.

What motivated you into this?

About 10 year ago; someone confronted me at my village in Igbo – Ukwu, Anambra State. The man used to be an Assistant Chief Registrar of Igbo – Ukwu Customary Court.

It was a total revelation as two people (boys) were fighting and I went to separate them, while the on-lookers refused to separate them.

That Assistant Chief Registrar turned and told me that very soon; after he finished dealing with me he will also burn my house.

He said that my matter have been concluded by them. I was shocked. I quickly reported him to the vigilante men that were there. I also went further to Ekwulobia to report to the Police Station the same man and his threat to my life and property. He was promptly arrested by the Police. In his statement, he confirmed what he said against me.

I was then, the Executive Director, United Nations for Arts and Culture, under late Professor Catherine Acholonu. I was advised to report in writing to the State Security Service (SSS) Anambra State and copied their Director – General at Headquarters in Abuja. After all that, it was discovered that many people were involved and arrest was also made to that effect. It was discovered that they had planned to kidnap me and maybe in the process, I might be killed. That sad experience made me to join one Anti – kidnapping organization called Volunteered Against Kidnapping and Human Trafficking (VAKHT) as its Anambra State Director. Based on this, I started furnishing information to Police and State Security Service (SSS). The NGO was in full assistance to the state Security Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and SSS where we affected quality assistance that led to arrest of many suspects. Between year 2009 and 2014, it was like a hell as ritualists and kidnappers was on rampage in all the communities in the State, including Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, and Imo respectively.

Since you registered your new NGO and working hand-in-hand with the Police and other sister security organizations, what is the experience like?

It has not been easy for me. We rescued

over 30 children from kidnappers. We went further to rescue 35 teenage girls, three pregnant women and 25 persons that included men, women, boys and girls from kidnappers. The climax of it all is the discovery of brothels at Amansa in Awka where babies are produced and sold to ritualists. The rescued victims were handed over to Police and DSS. The owners of the brothel were also arrested by the Police and DSS. Surprise to tell you that this brothel have relocated from Amansa Awka to Ugwuoba in Oji River in Enugu State, and their business of buying and selling is now booming.

To tell you the truth, most towns and communities in South-East are fully involved in this dirty business of buying and selling of babies as well as kidnapping.

How did you get the information on the baby factories?

Very sad indeed to tell you that crime and criminality in Anambra State have now taken a new dimension. We Anti – kidnapping, Human Trafficking, Child Abuse and Drugs Abuse Initiative (AKH – TRACADA), discovered this based on information from young girls (victims) that delivered babies at these manufacturing homes that many big men (businessmen) were involved in the deal. They are the real patrons.

They have these girls, mostly students, into the business of getting pregnant at agreed fees. The money will be paid to the girls after successful delivery of their babies. Young men that will make love (sleep) with them to get them pregnant were also stationed at the “wonderful homes”.

After delivery, their babies would be sold immediately to stand-by ritualists, as earlier agreed. They collect their money and go.

Is there extra effort made by your NGO to ensure that Government gets to know of this?

Yes. We advised the State Government (Anambra) to deploy the service of the

Mr. Belonwu Ezeanyaeche Department of State Security Service (DSS) to take over screening of all vigilante members.

This is because, the current vigilante people who claimed to have been screened by the State Government were not trust-worthy and has questionable character.

What do you mean by that?

Those vigilante members screened by the Government are today being used by politicians, kidnappers and ritualists to cause trouble in various towns and communities of the State.

Did your NGO give information to the authority about these baby factories?

Yes. We reported this matter to the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Youth Development, for necessary action, but surprisingly, they kept mum over the issue.

Their nonchalant attitude made us to start wondering what has gone wrong.

We came to the conclusion that the cabal in the business of buying and selling of babies were very strong and also connected.

Sir, your comment on rape victims/ under aged girls?

It is important to note that rape means having sexual intercourse with a woman or girl without her consent or with her consent if the consent is obtained by force, threats or intimidation or by means of fraudulent representation. It contravenes section 357 of the Criminal Code of the Federation and

“

It is important to note that rape means having sexual intercourse with a woman or girl without her consent or with her consent if the consent is obtained by force, threats or intimidation or by means of fraudulent representation

Advise to youth?

Sensitization of youth, by going to schools, churches and mosques is the only way out. The bottom line is to educate the youth being used by politicians, ritualists and kidnappers to perpetrate evil in the society. Parents should also question their children that come back with big handset, bags, monies and cars on how they get them.

“Longer throat” for money or riches by parents are also part of the problem.

Will like to know your comment on cultism in most youths nowadays?

It has entered into the rural areas. It is no longer in schools. Women and girls should be careful as most boys and men may drug them and have free marathon sex and eventually use them for ritual purposes.

Trafficking of girls to various countries abroad, Is there any way out?

It is out of greed that led them into such.

Most of them knew from day one that they were going to do prostitution. Their parents are aware of their business who encourages them to go and make money to build houses and buy expensive cars. I recalled that NAPTIP says over 200 Nigerian women have been rescued from Libya where they are being used as sex slaves. Majority of these girls are being trapped in Saudi Arabia, Libya. Most of them are being killed, while their organs taken away.

May we have your comment on terror attack on Nigeria Police Personnel across the country?

My comment concerning on incessant terror attacks to members of the Nigeria Police Force is that I call on top echelon of the force to appraise the overall security situation and the way forward. I also charge Christian and Muslim clerics and opinion leaders across the country to always fishout potential trouble makers within their area who could be nursing plans to unleash mayhem to innocent Nigerians.

I however as the National President/ CEO, Anti – kidnapping, Human Trafficking, Child Abuse and Drugs Abuse Initiative (AKH – TRACADA), ask the Police Chiefs to improve on their surveillance across the country by conducting adequate treats analysis and intensifying capacity building for effective policing best practices.

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

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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) PASTOR SUNDAY JOHN-CHAIRMAN (2) MRS. AMARACHI CHIBUIKE JOHN-SECRETARY (3) ELEANYA DANIEL (4) EGWU CONSTANCE NKECHINYE. AIMS & OBJECTIVES (1) To preach the gospel of jesus christ to the world.

(2) To bring back lost souls to God through the word.

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 : BENEDICTA N. OBANYE ESQ. 08035040318

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(2) To raise wholesome people who will stand, against all odds, with the integrity of the values found in the word of God at all times.

(3) To sensitize and create awareness among people on our responsibility to remain steadfast with the mandate of the great commission.

(4) In order to accomplish all these aims and objectives, to set up and run schools, hospitals, orphanages etc and toProvide relief and humanitarian interventions to ameliorate suffering resulting from natural and man-made disasters, conflicts etc 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.

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tuesday, October 7, 2019

Minister of Sports congratulates Brume, Amusan, confirms NPFL Kick-off date

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29

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.

SIGNED : BY CHIDIEBERE NWODO, Esq. 08035077610

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THE OUTGOING TRUSTEES ARE : 1. ALH. ABDUL GANIYU OLORUNSHANUMI THE INCOMING TRUSTEE IS : 1. AKOREDE ABDULRASAK THE OLD TRUSTEES ARE : 1. IROKO FASASI 2. LAWAL KAYODE RAFIU 3. LAWAL MUSILIU ADISA 4. SHITTU MUFUTAU AYINLA 5. LAWAL OSENI 6. AYOOLA AMIN OYELOWO 7. OJELADE JIMOH OLUSOJI. 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 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.

ALABI AMINAT OLUWAKEMI 2.

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the TRUSTEES are: (1) IGBEKELE AYODELE-CHAIRMAN (2) JOHNSON AYODELE-SECRETARY. AIMS & OBJECTIVES (1) To assist the poor, physical challenged, women and youths with indigent background in the society.

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.

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. ABDULRAHMAN AHMAD 2. BELLO .A. BELLO 3. BALARABE SHEHU KAKALE 4. MUHAMMAD ALI NNAME AIMS & OBJECTIVES 1. To educate the public on effective waste, environmental safety standards, and alternate ways of converting waste materials to useful products.

2. To organized forums for educating the public on environmental protection measures 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.

Ese Brume in tears after her medal win on Sunday

By Amaechi Agbo

T

he Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Hon. Sunday Dare has applauded Ese Brume for winning Bronze Medal in Long Jump event for Nigeria and Tobi Amusan for her performance in the just concluded World Athletics Championship in Doha, Qatar.

In a message via his Twitter handle, the Minister who had made several tweets showing he was abreast of the activities of the Team Nigerian athletics in the Championship in Doha, Sunday evening, said, “Doha: Ese Brume. Congrats and thanks for the Bronze medal. Still a champion. Also, Tobi Amusan thanks for competing with the best. Still a champion. The future is bright. Thank you for making Nigeria proud!”

Ese Brume had recorded a 6.91m in the Long Jump event winning the only medal for the Nigeria on Sunday. She has also recorded her name as the first Nigerian to win medal at the World Athletics Championship since 2013.

When asked how she was feeling to win the first medal for Nigeria in Doha, Ese said “It

means a lot for me. I’m super excited, because I have not been so strong all season because I wasn’t able to perform at bigger competitions.

I cannot be more happy winning this medal.”

Nigeria had not produced a medallist in the World Athletics Championships since Blessing Okagbare won silver and bronze in Moscow in 2013, but Ese Brume bucked the trend, as she won Bronze on the last day of the Championships.

Tobi Amusan after missing out on a podium finish in the Women’s 100mH said “I’m glad to come out here and execute the plan and reaching the final, held it down, fourth place is the worst you want to be, regardless I give thanks to God...it’s a life lesson” Brume, the African Games and Commonwealth Games Champion, qualified for the final with the second-best jump in the qualifiers.

Under the weight of expectation to win her first world championship medal, Brume delivered when it matter most, as her second round 6.91m effort brought home the Bronze for her and Nigeria’s first World Championship medal in 6 years.

Elsewhere, Tobi Amusan came agonizingly close to winning her first global outdoor medal, as she finished just 0.02s out of the medals after posting 12.49s in the final of the women’s 100m Hurdles.

However, Amusan will take solace in the fact that she equalled her Personal Best (PB) of 12.48s when she won her semis earlier in the day.

Nigeria’s Oluwatobiloba Amusan had kept the hopes of Nigeria winning a medal at the 2019 World Championships, when she powered a new Personal Best (PB) of 12.48s to run the fastest time in women’s 100m Hurdles heats.

Meanwhile the minister has confirmed that the Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL 2019/20 season will kick-off on October 20.

The NPFL league has been on break since June when Enyimba were crowned champions after they defeated Akwa United 3-0 to end the NPFL Super Six Championship Playoffs with 12 points from five matches.

According to the Minister of Sports, a notification has been sent out to all the NPFL teams apprising them of the new date.

He, however, did not disclose when the fixtures for the season will be announced.

“We have been working round the clock in the last one month,” Dare told newsmen during his visit to the Golden Eaglets camp in Abuja.

“You will recall that I gave a directive that the NPFL should start on the 15 latest October 20 but after due consultation, it was obvious that the league can’t kick-off on the 15 anymore but definitely the league will start on the 20.

“Notification has gone to all the clubs to get ready. We are doing all that is necessary beyond the league announcement.

“But while the league starts, the issues that have bedevilled are under x-ray right now and we intend to attack them.

“We will be making some changes and we will be talking to a number of people and the federation and those in the past and present in the glorious days of the league.

“We have a solution to all these problems.

We just need unity of purpose to solve them.

I’m trying to unify as many factions as possible. So if their interests in the league are genuine we will move ahead with them.”

Victor Osimhen wins Lille’s player of the month award

>>>PG 30

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PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

S p Nkiruka Timothy’s brace hands Ex professionals NANPF Unity trophy

Nkiruka Timothy

N

kiruka Timothy scored two first half goals over the weekend to hand the Ex Professional |Football team the National Association of Nigeria Professional Footballers, NANPF FCT Unity Cup trophy on Sunday.

A brilliant effort by Nkiruka Timothy ensured that her club Ex-Professionals lifted the NANPF FCT Unity Cup trophy for the female category on Sunday, October 6, 2019 at the Area 3 Sport Complex against his former club, All Stars.

Miss Timothy became the tormentor in chief against her former employers Women All-Stars all through the match and could have added more goals to her name but for her selfless style of football which saw her giving passes in the 18 yard box even when she could have aimed a short at the goal.

Speaking after the triumph, an elated Timothy expressed joy at lifting the maiden edition of the NANPF FCT Unity Cup and attributed her Woman of the Match performance to team spirit.

“I am happy. It was never an easy game but I think we did our best to carry the day. The All Stars are a formidable team but I think we are the better team.

“It gives great feeling to score a brace in a final match particularly when they are enough to help your team lift the trophy, so I am happy. I could not have done it alone. Football is a team sports, therefore my performance is subject to the team spirit.

“We played like a team and won together.

That is what is most important,” she said.

Nkiruka Timothy commended the members of the NANPF FCT for their great effort in organising the competition and called for sustenance.

The Ex-professionals fielded former star players, including ex-international Mary O. Godspower, who captained the team, alongside iconic Olympic gold medallist and former Super Falcons player, ACP Chioma Ajunwa, amongst others.

Bar Victoria Nlemigbo, ex-international, Stella Godwin and others also wore the ash colour for Women All-Stars.

Meanwhile, Heritage All-Stars of Bwari defeated FCT Coaches 2-1 for the male category.

B

t

SWAN crisis deepens as two presidents emerge

By Amaechi Agb

T

he crisis rocking the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN, Monday deepened as two presidents emerged from two factional elections.

First was the declaration of the Edo State SWAN chairman, Ahmed Aigbona was declared the winner of a parallel election conduct in Abuja.

Few hours later, the incumbent president, Honor Sirawo was returned for a second term in another election held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The election in Abuja saw the emergence of Edo State chairman, Ahmed Aigbona, as president and Mike Oboh a member of the FCT chapter as Secretary-General.

Both Aigbona and Oboh, who was a former Chairman of Kano State Chapter, were elected unopposed, alongside seven others who were also elected unopposed.

The immediate-past Vice-President North West, Ado Salisu emerged Deputy President, while Femi Amusan from Oyo State became Vice-President South West.

Emmanuel Uja from Benue is also the VicePresident, North Central, with Loveday Herbert from Bayelsa as the new Vice-President South South, and Ismaila Mohammed from Jigawa is Vice-President North West.

Ikem Asika from Anambra is Vice-President South East, while Monica Iheajam of The Sun Newspapers in Lagos is the Financial Secretary.

In Port Harcourt, Mr. Sirawoo was returned as President of the association for a second term of three years unopposed.

Also elected were Bonny Nyong, National Vice

Youth and sports minister, Sunday Dare President, South South, Dan Musa Mohammed, North Central, Jiboh Zakari, North East, Chigozie Chukwuleta, South East, Jude Opara, Secretary General, Bello Farouk, Treasurer and Orji Samson Nwabebe, Financial Secretary.

The positions of Deputy President, Vice President, North West and Deputy Secretary General were declared vacant by the Chairman of the SWAN Electoral Committee, SWANECO, Mr. Isaiah Benjamin who is SWAN Chairman of Kaduna State.

He said the vacant positions would be filled in due course as some of those who purchased the forms were not present, thereby contravening the Statutes of the Association.

However, in a swift turn of event, the Mr Aigbona suspended Mr Sirawo from SWAN related activities.

“The new leadership will carry out this association’s activities in line with the constitution of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the SWAN statutes.

“That is where we are, and we will not trample upon the rights of members.

“We will respect everybody, and give the association a better face,” he said.

Aigbona said the former president of the association, Honour Sirawoo, has been suspended for carrying out acts inimical to the well-being of the body.

“I hereby issue an order suspending the immediate past president of SWAN, Honour Sirawo from all sports related activities with immediate effect.

“Sirawo’s suspension is as a result of unprofessional actions he took while in office.

“It will interest you to note that Sirawo while president unilaaterally registered SWAN with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC. This action is in violation of the status of the association and that of our parent body, Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ. “Secondly, Sirawo increased the registration/ID Card levy from N3, 000 for three years to N3, 500 for one year. These are unacceptable, hence the indefinite suspension handed to him today.

“Sirawo, is not also a SEAN member. He dissociated himself from the the association in 1999 when he took leave of absence,” Comrade Ahmed Said in Abuja Monday.

The two parallel elections were conducted in violation of the Nigeria Union of Journalists order which directed that the planned elections should not take place pending when all issues relating to the conduct of the elections were handled.

Abd’Allah takes responsibility for Enyimba’s CAF CL elimination

E

nyimba coach Usman Abd’Allah has taken full responsibility for their elimination from the CAF Champions League.

Enyimba were not able to make it to the group stages, as they crashed out after losing 1-0 to Al Hilal in Sudan. That result came after a goalless draw in the first leg played in Aba. “That’s football normally, we tried, we couldn’t qualify. I think we lost the match in Aba, we should have taken our chances over there,” he told The Punch.

“Naturally when you lose, there are a lot of things that went wrong. When you win, then you have gotten everything right. We are talking about what went wrong because we lost. The most important thing is the game is lost and we cannot bring it back.

“But as I always say that there are lessons

to learn when things like that happen so that you become more experienced and wok on the weaknesses that came. We are still in the continent (Confederations Cup), the most important thing is to look behind and see where we went wrong so that we can rectify that in the next continental game,” he said.

“There are a lot of things which I will have to sit and consider where I went wrong and then learn and work. The challenges should be on me, the players did very well. Everything that happened, I should be held responsible for it.

I think I haven’t done enough. So, we will go back and look at it and understand what we did wrong.”

Enyimba will now play in the CAF Confederation Cup playoff for a chance to make it to the group stage.

Victor Osimhen wins Lille’s player of the month award

N

igeria international Victor Osimhen has won Lille’s player for the month of September following his outstanding form for the Club.

Osimhen arrived at the modest Club at the back of a successful season with Belgian side Charleroi where he scored over 20 goal to be named the Club’s

Barcelona Coach sacked arcelona have sacked Juvenil A head coach Victor Valdes with immediate effect, amid rumours of a bust-up with Patrick Kluivert behind the scenes.

The 37-year-old rose through the La Masia

r

ranks before earning legendary status at the club during a trophy-laden 12-year spell in the senior team, winning six La Liga titles and three European Cups.

He was expected to oversee the development

player of the year.

The 20-year-old has hit the ground running immediately for Lille , scoring seven league goals in nine outing and one in two UEFA Champions league game.

The award was handed over to the Nigerian after Sunday’s home draw against Nimes at the Stade Pierre Mauroy.

of Barca’s next generation of stars, but his coaching stint has been cut short prematurely.

Widespread reports have suggested that Valdes and the club’s director of youth, Kluivert, do not see eye to eye, with friction between the

PAGE 31

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, October 7, 2019

Osimhen rescued his side’s from embarrassing home defeat after scoring the equaliser in the closing stages of the match on Sunday.

Osimhen is expected to lead the line for the Super Eagles when they take on Brazil in an international friendly slated for Singapore later this month.

pair reaching boiling point over the last week.

Barcelona have released a statement on their website, which reads: “FC Barcelona has told Víctor Valdes that he is no longer the coach of Juvenil A and belonging to the Club.

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GOVERNMENT COLLEGE MAKURDI 1997 SET ABUJA CHAPTER

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDERPART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, CAP C 20, LAWS OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA, 2004 THE TRUSTEES ARE 1. KOCE NIMROD VINATNAYI 2. MUSA YAKUBU ABODA 3. IFENNE ECHENOR CHRISTIAN 4. ANONGO ORSHI BRUCE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To promote the interest of members 2. To promote the interest and standard of living of students of Government College Makurdi.

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WILCOX MEMORIAL ABA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDERPART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, CAP C 20, LAWS OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA, 2004 THE TRUSTEES ARE (1) NWAOBI CHRISTIAN (2) CHRISTIAN OKORIE (3) IHEANOCHO NSODUM (4) VINCENT OKOROM (5) HENRY NWIHIM (6) ENG. NGOZI C AGOMUO (7) UKANWA EZIKIHE (8) NKEMDIRI KALU (9) PASCAL AKAM NZERUO (10) CHUKWUMA DIKE (11) KINGSLEY IGWE (12) DAVID ANYAELE. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES (1) To establish an avenue where former students can conduct outreach works, protect the interest and welfare of members.

(2) To promote and foster a spirit of unity amongst former students of the school.

(3) To create a national association for former students of Wilcox Memorial Comprehensive Secondary School Aba ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, MAITAMA ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

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CONVENANT MODEL HOMES INITIATIVE THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDERPART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, CAP C 20, LAWS OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA, 2004 THE TRUSTEES ARE (1) MRS. JOY ADERONKE AREMU-CHAIRMAN (2) MRS PRINCESS OZIUCHU ABRAHAM -SECRETARY (3) PROF. JONATHAN ADEYEMI AREMU (4) MR JOSEPH AIGBEDION AIMS AND OBJECTIVES (1) To provide counselling for couples (intending to marry and newly weds) ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, MAITAMA ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

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AUCTION! AUCTION!! AUCTION!!!

Association of catalyst scrap and spare parts dealers

Walk the talk for sustainable development goals initiative

THIS IS CONTINUATION OF SALES OF SCRAPS TRACTORS AND MOTOR VEHICLES ADVERTISED IN LEADERSHIP NEWSPAPER ON SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER 2O19

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08033855273 08111714796.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDERPART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, CAP C 20, LAWS OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA, 2004 THE TRUSTEES ARE 1. Mr Bonaventure Chidume.

2. Mr Sunday Chosen.

3. MADUNAGU CHISOM ANTHONY. 4. Mbah Joseph kenechukwu.

5. Uchenna joseph.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To promote unity and foster heathy competition among members of the association ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, MAITAMA ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED.Secretary

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OBINWANNE UNITED CLUB OF NSUKKA, KANO BRANCH

LOVE IN HEALTH FOUNDATION

Power court transmission ministry

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDERPART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, CAP C 20, LAWS OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA, 2004 THE TRUSTEES ARE 1. Nwankwo, Chinedu Ikeotuonye 2. Nsude Festus Chidubem 3. Agwu Chiderah Stanley.

4. Agwu Chinonso Stephen AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To offer free health care services like HIV screening, testing and counselling; Sensitization, testing, vaccination and other related illnesses.

2. To provide care and support to the less-privileged especially children and disabled persons.

3. To empower youth through skill acquisition, scholarship grants and education aid.

ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, MAITAMA ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED.Secretary

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On the authority of kajuru local government council, authorised the sales of absolute SCRAPS of TRACTORS AND MOTOR VEHICLES ON WEDNESDAY 9-10-2019 through public auction in KAJURU LOCAL GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT by 10 AM. HIGHEST BIDDERS TO BE CONSIDERED. COME ONE COME ALL AUCTIONEER JISHATU SERVICE LIMITED

&

CO

.AUCTIONEERING

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDERPART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, CAP C 20, LAWS OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA, 2004 THE TRUSTEES ARE 1) EZE OKWUDILI. 2) AYOGU UCHECHUKWU GIDEON, 3) UDEAYA COLENUS OZOEMENA. 4) IKE OBIORA CELESTINE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES to care for the wrlfare of its members ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, MAITAMA ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED.Secretary

public notice

THE TRUSTEES ARE 1. Dr Salihu Abdullahi Butu 2. Arc. Hassana Gambo AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To care for the less priveleged in the society ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, MAITAMA ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED.Secretary

THE TRUSTEES ARE 1) Rev.Uche Ebenezer president 2) Deaconess Mabel Moluokwu sec.

3) Nneka Gabriel Treasure 4)Deacon John Eze member 5)Deacon Williams Edeonyia member AIMS AND OBJECTIVES to preach the gospel of christ.

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space for sale

THE TRUSTEES ARE (1) PASTOR SUNDAY JOHN-CHAIRMAN (2) MRS. AMARACHI CHIBUIKE JOHN-SECRETARY (3) ELEANYA DANIEL (4) EGWU CONSTANCE NKECHINYE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES (1) To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world (2) To bring back lost souls to God through the world.

ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, MAITAMA ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED.BENEDICTA N. OBANYE ESQ. 08035040318. ONE PAPER.

. . . putting the people first

TuesDAY, October 7, 2019

THIS SPACE IS FOR SALE

SPORTS Now that BigBrother Naija is over latest

Super Falcons crash out of Tokyo Olympic Qualifier

T

he Super Falcons of Nigeria in as many years, have once again failed to qualify for the Olympic Games holding in Tokyo, Japan next year.

The Chris Danjuma led ladies on Monday played a 1-1 draw with Cote’d’Voire after the first leg last week in Abidjan ended goalless.

The Ivorians thus qualified for Tokyo 2020 Olympic aft the expense of the Super falcons on away goals rules.

This is making it the three consecutive times the ninetime Africa champions failed to qualify for the Olympic football event.

The team failed to qualify for the London 2012, Rio 2016 and now Tokyo 2020.

Ex Man U goalkeeper, Tim Howard retires from football

F

ormer Manchester United and Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard has retired after playing his final game for Colorado Rapids.

Howard, 40, said in January that he would retire at the end of the MLS season, his third with Colorado.

The American, who made 339 Premier League appearances, won the FA Cup and League Cup during three years at United.

He won 121 caps for the USA and played at two World Cups.

Howard holds the record for the most saves in a World Cup game – 15 against Belgium in 2014. He retired from international football in 2017.

Taye Taiwo and Oduamadi

Advert: business: news: lagos:

I

n this internet age, news gets thrust at you, instead of you fishing or digging for them. And so it is that one receives unsolicited alerts of trending and ‘breaking news’ every now and then on one’s smart phone. With Multichoice (DSTV/GOTV), organisers of the show making use of its giant reach cum platforms to give it the widest possible advertisement including exclusively dedicated blogs and channels, one cannot but catch the BigBrother naija bug, at least snippets of it. And with some 50 million Nigerians confirmed by Delloite (the firm hired by the organisers to serve as its accounting consultant), as having voted in the final week of the show, it is not surprising that even our conservative media (print and online) sought to catch a chunk of this apparently huge audience by also relaying happenings in the BigBrother House in their reports.

And so I found myself tuning in, out of curiosity, at the start of the show when Housemates were ushered/ welcomed to the House.

The very first thing that caught my attention was the female housemates’ dressing. Breasts were popping up all in the name of fashionable dressing. Indeed it seemed to me that they were competing amongst themselves for who would show off the most of that part of our body. Yet this is a part of our body that is not supposed to be exposed to public glare, not even the glare of relations. Is it a breast competition (pardon my language), I asked myself. I was dumbfounded. But the studio audience and the presenter himself were hailing them for their good dressing. On the final day of the programme I again out of curiosity tuned in to the live show which began at 7p.m. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the last woman standing Mercy Eke a.k.a.

Mercy Lambo, the eventual winner, all covered up in long shimmering attire that left only her face, hair, hands and legs visible. I was already congratulating her in my mind for doing justice to womanly dignity and even ruminating that BigBrother had perhaps given them a dress code when something else caught my attention. Alas, a leopard cannot change its spot and a BIgBrother show remains essentially what it is, namely, a show that drags womanly dignity to the mud and has no respect for nobility of the human soul, not to talk of elevating the spirit to something more valuable.

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Tuesday Column

By VICTORIA NGOZI IKEANO vikeano@yahoo.co.uk 08033077519 Nowhere is this more evident than in its ‘Saturday night’ parties.

At these parties, scantily dressed female housemates (in an instance one had only her pant and bra on) with their male colleagues dance away in provocative, compromised positions. I once stumbled into this aspect of the show and after a few minutes I could not bear to watch anymore. And to think that these night parties commence at 9p.m. when many of our young ones are still awake. The organisers could argue that we could use the parental control button to block viewing and that broadcast of highlights of the previous day’s proceedings on the family channel starts at 10.30pm of each day. However, videos of the show are posted on the internet and so available to virtually everybody.

Back to the winner’s dress on the final day. When one took another look at the attire one observed that it was rather transparent, her breasts were visible and she wore no brassiere. When she was announced as the final winner several people including the host, the runners up, Mike, other housemates embraced her tightly in the guise of congratulating her while she wriggled her buttocks provocatively. I ask you readers, in all honesty, will such a tight big between two adult opposite sexes one of whom is braless not engender any feelings and thoughts between them.

Nor should we be deceived into believing that having such adult female and male housemates

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sleeping in one room, often on the same beds would not result into anything. When many of the evicted Housemates were questioned about their apparent sexual activities in the House, they all denied it, saying that they nearly did it but never came to the point of doing it. I consider this to be a tutored line because the organisers did supply condoms to Housemates.

One of the Housemates confirmed this when they were taking delivery of their weekly supplies

by BigBrother, calling out the items one after the other. Were the condoms given out for fun? The organisers through the host declare excitedly that all 25 housemates have “really entertained us”. What is entertaining about this show?

Is it the immoral night parties where Housemates let down their hair, let go, throwing caution to the wind? Is it the smoking and drinking that housemates indulge in, the inanities that Housemates discuss among themselves? I agree with director-general of the Culture and Tourism Commission, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe that the show is a disservice to our cultural values.

What edifying and uplifting thing are viewers supposed to have learnt from this BigBrother naija show? Is it the spirit of tolerance when living together with diverse people from diverse backgrounds? How to forge cooperation, helping love towards one another in community life?

Instead what I gleaned from the House was in-fighting, hypocrisy, foul mouthing. Each

I consider this to be a tutored line because the organisers did supply condoms to Housemates. One of the Housemates confirmed this when they were taking delivery of their weekly supplies by BigBrother, calling out the items one after the other. Were the condoms given out for fun?

was plotting inwardly how to outdo the others and win the prized money. Someone was disqualified for fighting, both fighters were ladies but the other had a lesser punishment. One housemate told us during prime viewing time that a certain housemate was only sober and could think rightly on days when he is not “drunk”, that when he is drunk, he misbehaves; that he could not achieve what she has already achieved in her 25 short years; while the other replied that her family could not attain what his famous family had attained.

Such was the vituperations. There were no objective criteria in how Housemates were evicted as it depended on the whims and caprices of Housemates, lucky dip, etc. Perhaps the educative aspect of the show was the ONE. org health advocacy campaign where housemates were required to come up with ideas about creating awareness for standard healthcare in Nigeria. Overall though, this was just a drop in the ocean Notwithstanding, the organisers raked in some handsome amount of money which I guess was the final objective. With a total of 240 million people reported to have voted during the 99-day period and at N30 per voted it is calculated that they earned N7.2 billion from voting by Nigerians. Can you imagine what that money can do for poor communities in terms of provision of social services? If the Nigerian government were to ask each adult Nigerian to contribute N50 to a common pool every three months, one can well imagine that many, many communities would be uplifted each year for good. I can hear you say that corruption may not allow monies so collected to be used for the earmarked purpose.

Dan GAYE gaye DAN No sacred cow in anticorruption fight -Magu

Not even in Villa?

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