Tuesday, January 12th, 2016 Edition

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Tuesday, January 12 2016/ Rabi Al-Thani 2, 1437 AH

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Arms deal: Why we’ve not invited Jonathan —EFCC

l Ex-NBC boss, Mba arrested over N15bn fraud

From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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R-L: President Muhammadu Buhari, in a handshake with Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, during the governor’s visit to the president yesterday at the State House, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

he chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu yesterday gave reasons why former President Goodluck Jonathan has not been invited for questioning over the $2.1 billion arms deal.

Speaking with newsmen in Lagos, Magu said memos and documents regarding the disbursement of the $2.1 billion indicate that the money was not approved for political campaign but purchase of arms to prosecute insurgency in the North East zone of the country.

Magu also hinted that National Publicity Secretary of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Olisa Metuh has refused to refund money received from the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).

According to him, Metuh said he would rather go on hunger strike than refund the N400 million he allegedly collected from Dasuki.

Magu added that former military governor of Kaduba state, Jafar Isa who was arrested recently for receiving N170 million from Col Dasuki

Contd on Page 2

FG unfolds 13 point power reform agenda page 2

5 injured, vehicles damaged in Niger APC, PDP clash pAGE 4

Buhari, APC in stormy meeting pAGE 2

Boko Haram: 4 6 students, driver North East states get die in Jigawa N1.5bn FG bailout auto crash pAGE 3

>> pg 3

pAGE 6

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

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News CONTENTS News 2-10 Editorial 11 Op.Ed 12 Letters 13 Politics 15-18 Business Stockwatch

19-22 23

S/Report 24-25 Property 27 Motoring 28

FG unfolds 13 point power reform agenda

By Etuka Sunday

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he Federal Government yesterday unveiled a 13 point agenda to properly reposition the power sector.

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Batunde Raji Fashola SAN, in a maiden meeting with power generation, distribution, transmission companies and other stakeholders said, the agenda which was drawn up for effective monitoring of the sector, would also form the basis of discussion at meetings.

He gave the agenda to include: public engagement, especially around electricity tariffs; collection, payment and debts; and generation

capacity and maintenance.

Others are ancillary services and dispatch order, procedure and discipline; gas requirements and constraints; 33KV load offtake and imbalances; location of excess and overload safety; quality service, new captive and embedded generation and franchising.

Fashola, who inaugurated a monthly sectoral meeting for operators in Nigeria’s power sector, explained that the idea behind the monthly meeting was to listen to operators on the various concerns in the industry and to develop workable solutions for the NESI. Speaking at the headquarters of the Transmission Company of Nigeria in Abuja, the former Lagos state governor said the meeting will

be held in various states across the country and told power companies to be ready to host the sector whenever they were to host.

He charged the power firms to appoint a person or people who can take decisions during or after the meeting to be their representatives.

Fashola said, “We also want to have at least one representative of each major Disco, Genco or power player who can make decisions on behalf of his organisation. So it will do us very well to avoid sending representatives who cannot take decisions for their company.

“Our plan is that this meeting will hold every second Monday of the month. So it is a fixed calendar, subject, of course, to any public holiday that falls on Monday and

in such a case we will move it to the next Monday automatically.”

The minister also noted that the meeting would democratise access in the power sector to citizens in Nigeria, adding that the gathering would allocate tasks, solve problems, as well as provide information management and analysis platform.

Fashola said, “This meeting will revolve around the major issues in the industry. It will be about what steps will be taken about gas, managing of transmission capacity, distribution, metering role out and others. So this meeting should be the information centre to the Nigerian public, holding every Disco, Genco, TCN and government accountable at various levels.”

Arms deal: Why we’ve not invited Jonathan - EFCC Contd from cover page

Development: Gov. Ganduje solicits support of finance, education ministers page 3

Arts

30

Metro

31

S/World

39

Digest 36 Sports 41 Columnist 48

has refunded N100 million and signed an undertaking to refund the balance.

He said in spite of the refund, Isa would still be prosecuted.

Magu also revealed that Patrick Akpobolokemi, former boss of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, was re-arrested recently outside the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, after new evidences of alleged embezzlement of N34.5 billion and another N600 million were linked to him when he was in charge of the maritime agency.

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that the war against graft was selective, adding that his agency is not teleguided in the ongoing anti-corruption fight.

He said EFCC cases drag in court because of many court applications, adding that “when a politician steals N10 billion, he keeps N5 billion for litigation.

He hires Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs). Judges accuse us of not conducting thorough investigation in order to compromise.”

He said the anti-corruption war was a collective war and advised the media to join EFCC to fight the war whose victory would

Bayelsa guber: APC rejects result, heads to court From Isaac Money, Yenagoa

We want to hear from you

He was said to have jumped bail and the lawyer who stood surety for him had to be arrested in his place until his re-arrest outside the court in Lagos after he resisted their directives to return with them to the EFCC office.

Magu, noted that the war against corruption has just begun, saying nothing will be left to chance in bringing corrupt elements to justice, whether the persons are highly placed or not.

He added that the extent of the looting of the nation’s treasury was mind numbing.

Magu said it was most unfortunate for anyone to say

T

he governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the just concluded election in Bayelsa state, Chief Timipre Sylva, has rejected the results and heads to court.

He said that the results of the election are unacceptable to APC. Chief Sylva, who addressed journalists in Yenagoa Monday afternoon, also accused officials of INEC in the state of colluding with the PDP administration in the state to rig the election.

The INEC had declared incumbent Governor Seriake Dickson of the PDP winner with 134, 998 as against 8, 6852 of APC’s Sylva on Sunday night.

Focusing on major issues on the declaration of the results by

INEC, Chief Sylva who took a cursory look at the circumstances that led to the APC’s defeat alleged that everything was being done to ensure that APC lost the guber race.

Reiterating his lack of confidence on the activities of the state INEC officials, he said the body language of INEC officials, the manner materials were distributed, the role of the government in the state and other silent issues that were not known to members of the public were reasons for going to court to challenge the results.

“But as far as we are concerned as a party, these results are completely unacceptable to us. However, we have called on all APC members to keep calm; there is no need for anybody to take the laws into their hands. We will seek redress

in a competent court of law.”

“Ab-nitio, I am very sure that you are familiar I have always complained about the INEC in a Bayelsa state .Even in a court of law, of an accused person is to stand trial before a judge, and the accused person says that he cannot expect justice from a particular judge, usually something is done about it even in a court of law where somebody is accused “.

“In this case, we were contesting an election, and I said from beginning that I have no confidence in the REC and the administrative secretary .That I do not expect a free and fair election if these people were going to preside over the election. I said so over and over and over. I even reduced it to writing and we sent this petition”.

be for the benefit of the next generation.

Meanwhile, the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission yesterday arrested Emeka Mba, the Director General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission over an alleged N15 billion fraud.

Mba was arrested in Abuja and taken to the EFCC’s headquarters for interrogation.

EFCC detectives were said to have visited the headquarters of the NBC last week, ransacking computers and searching files especially in the Finance and Account unit.

Buhari, APC in stormy meeting

By Lawrence Olaoye

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resident Muhammadu Buhari last night met behind closeddoors with the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The interactive session began around 8:18p.m, when President Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo arrived the venue of the meeting.

It was held at the First Lady Conference Room in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Among those who attended the meeting included the APC National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, Deputy National Chairman, Lawali Shuaibu and Zonal Vice Chairman, Segun Oni. Also at the meeting was the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal.

The meeting was still in progress as at press time.

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

PAGE 3

News

AG News Editor, Ese Awhotu

Development: Gov. Ganduje solicits support of finance, education ministers 2015 elections:

By Edwine Olufu, Kano

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overnor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has solicited that assistance of the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adosun on the issue of the multi-million Dollar balance of refund to the state government on the Paris Club debt repayment during the Obasanjo administration.

Governor Ganduje while on a visit to the minister in Abuja yesterday said that the state was so far paid only $40 million leaving an outstanding balance of $41 million.

The Minister, who

congratulated the governor for his efforts in looking inwards in the area of internally generated revenue promised to look into the issue.

Similarly, the governor visited the Minster of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, where he said that the administration decided to inaugurate state and local government Education Promotion Committees to provide focus in the delivery of quality education to citizens of the state.

A statement by Halilu Ibrahim Dantiye,Director General, Media and Communications, to the Exec.

Gov.said,

Governor Ganduje explained that the committees centered on rehabilitation of schools, provision to instructional material, ensuring quality assurance for effective teaching and learning, promoting discipline as well as provision of adequate manpower in schools.

“At his material time when human capital asset remains the most important means of generating economic froth and development, we cannot afford to allow our vibrant and future leaders to be an army of uneducated people and a liability to our society”, the governor

stressed.

He, therefore, appealed to the Federal government to support his administration to ensure that people in Kano access quality education capable of transforming their lives.

The Minister of Education, Mlaam Adamu Adamu who told the governor that he was not personally present during the launch of the Kano Education Promotion Committees due to pressing engagements said the Buhari administration is committed to turning around the fortunes of education in the country.

L-R: Secretary to the Yobe state Government, Alhaji Baba Malam Wali, Deputy Speaker, Yobe state House of Assembly, Hon. Ibrahim Garba Kurmi, Yobe state Deputy Governor, Engineer Abubakar Aliyu, and Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mohamme Bello Kawuwa, during the inauguration of state tax force on immunization and primary health, yesterday in Damaturu.

Boko Haram: 4 North East states get N1.5bn FG bailout

From David Hassan, Gombe

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he Minister of Health, Dr Foloronsho Isaac Adewale yesterday said the Federal Government through the ministry of health has earmarked the sum of N 1.5 billion naira as immediate relief to be distributed among four states of the North East that have been heavily affected by the spate of insurgency.

The minister who stated this in Gombe while going round to assess health facilities in the state,

also said he was in the state on a mission as directed by President Mohammadu Buhari as part of the federal government’s effort to upgrade health facilities in the affected states.

“The N1.5 billion is a money appropriated by our ministry as immediate relieve to take care of our people in the four states of Adamawa, Borno, Gombe and Yobe. We will use it to upgrade health care facilities and make sure that our Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs )get the needed attention.” He explained.

The Acting Secretary to the State Government Mr James Pisagi who received the minister on behalf of the state government stated that, the visit of the minister was timely considering the current state of health facilities in the state which he said have been over stretched as a result of increase in number of displaced persons from neighbouring states.

While calling on the federal government to also look into other challenges faced by the state particularly in managing its Snake Bite Center, and other Primary

Health Facilities in the state, he also said the state has remained on the receiving end, ravaged by the spate of insurgency in the subregion while trying also to host the increasing number of displaced persons from the neighbouring states as a result of the insurgency.

Some of the facilities visited by the minister include the Gombe State University Teaching Hospital, Military Health Center, IDPs camp, and some Primary Health Centers in the state.

A fleeing resident, Musa Amadu in a telephone interview, said the insurgents struck the village at about 12:30am on Sunday and picked their prospective victims in their houses before killing them with sharp knives. ” We are now in deep sorrow,” Mr. Amadu lamented.

According to him, the insurgents had a field night for many hours as they operated unchallenged due to complete absence of security personnel in the area they attacked.

“We want the government to

deploy more security personnel for us because as Nigerians the government owes us a duty to protect us,” he said .

Confirming the development to journalists, member representing Madagali and Michika constituency at the House of Representatives, Mr Adamu Kamale, said that six people were killed and eight others injured during the midnight attack.

“We are in mourning now, they slaughtered six people, eight others seriously injured.

“The fact that our area share

borders with Sambisa Forest and Cameroon republic should have been enough reason why government must deploy security personnel to protect us.

If the government does not take proactive measures to stem the ugly insurrection of insurgents into our domain, they will kill all of us.

“The number of soldiers deployed is grossly inadequate, we need more security personnel as our villages share borders with Sambisa Forest” ,the lawmaker said.

…As Boko Haram slaughters 6, injures 8 in Madagali

From Umar Dankano,Yola.

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oko Haram insurgents have launched a fresh attack in Madagali Local Government Area in Adamawa State slaughtering six and injuring eight.

Report from the area revealed that the suspected insurgents struck in the early hours of Monday, exactly 12:30 am slitting the throats of the victims in their respective houses and setting ablaze two houses of prominent personalities of the town.

Army panel submits report, recommends sanctions

By Joy Baba Yesufu

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he panel set up by the Nigerian Army during the 2015 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States following petitions and allegations of unprofessional and partisan conducts of some officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army yesterday submitted its report.

The high powered panel headed by Major General Adeniyi Oyebade GOC 1 Division submitted the report to the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai yesterday in Abuja.

It will be recalled that based on petitions and allegations of unprofessional and partisan conducts of some officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army during the 2015 General elections, Ekiti and Osun States Gubernatorial elections last year, the Nigerian Army set up a high powered Board of Inquiry.

Submitting the report, the Chairman of the Board, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, the General Officer Commanding 1 Division Nigerian Army, stated that the Board placed advertorials in the media requesting for memoranda from the public before they commenced sitting. In all, he stated that 62 officers and over 100 soldiers appeared before it as well as 62 civilians.

According to him, the Board had made far reaching recommendations that would assist the Nigerian Army and the nation in the future. He further added that; 2 officers were recommended for compulsory retirement from the Nigerian Army, 3 were to lose their command and 1 was recommended for prosecution for collecting financial gratification.

Other recommendations include placing 15 officers on watch list, 9 officers were to be further investigated by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission over allegations leveled against them.

While 6 officers were to face an audit committee and 62 officers (mostly of the rank of Majorsbelow) were to be given Letters of Displeasure and to appear before their respective General Officers Commanding for counseling.

Three officers are to be given letters of commendations.

General Oyebade also commended an officer, Captain Sagir Koli for non-partisanship and professional conduct during the election period.

In his remarks while receiving the report, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General TY Buratai, thanked the Board for a thorough and dispassionate job devoid of influence from any quarters.

PAGE 4

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

News Adamawa primary school teachers protest nonpayment of salary arrears

From: Umar Dankano, Yola

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rimary school teachers in Adamawa have staged a peaceful protest pressing for the payment of their salary arrears and other entitlements from the state government.

The teachers who started their protest from the Adamawa State Basic Universal Education Board (ADSUBEB) terminated it at the Government House where they tabled their grievances before the duo of the SSG and Commissioner of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.

The teachers who took to major streets in the state capital bore various placards with inscription such as “please give

us our TSS and our Bail out”, “we are tired with delay in payment of salaries”, “No leave grant for 3 years”, “No yearly increment for 18 years,” among many others.

Addressing the government delegation comprising of SSG and Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, leader of the teachers Comrade Edwin Omoraka told the government delegation that they were forced to stage the protest to demand the payment of their salary arrears.

Other demands as presented by the teachers include nonpayment of yearly increment and upgrading for 15 years, nonpayment of leave grant for 3 years, delay in payment of salaries, nonpayment of bail out

to teachers, and non promotion of teachers for 10 years.

Addressing the teachers, the SSG expressed dissatisfaction with the way the welfare of teachers is being relegated saying that as a teacher himself, he was saddened by the development promising the teachers to exercise patient as the government will look into their complaints with a view to addressing them holistically.

The SSG who was miffed by reports of the shabby treatment mated to the teachers by chairman of ADSUBEB said the chairman will be summoned to answer why he did that noting that if as SSG he listens to the teachers he sees no reason why the ADSUBEB chairman should mistreat them.

On his part, the commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs Mustapha Muhammad Barkindo said the incumbent administration is doing everything possible to ensure that some of the issues raised are addressed in the first quarter of the year while others that can not be resolved immediately would be escalated forward.

He added that most of the issues raised by the teachers were backlog of the myriads of challenges the government inherited noting that despite the challenges of shortage of funds facing the government, it will try to priories teachers welfare as education is one of the top priorities of the government.

Suspected child kidnappers paraded by Oyo State Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service, yesterday in Ibadan. ` Photo: NAN

5 injured, vehicles damaged in Niger APC, PDP clash From Yakubu Mustapha,Minna.

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t least no fewer than 5 people were injured and 6 vehicles were also damaged in a clash between the ruling All Progressive Congress APC and Peoples Democratic Party PDP in Suleja local government of Niger State.

The ruling APC and PDP yesterday clashed at Kwamba in Suleja town inflicted injuries on many people while cars belonging to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party PDP and that of the police were damaged just as properties of shop owners were also looted.

Investigation revealed

that when information got to the youths of Suleja that the influential former governor, Engineer Abdulkadir Abdullahi Kure was leading the Campaign they quickly mobilized to check his excesses by blocking Kwamba road so as to disallowed him and supporters from gaining access to the venue for the Campaign in Suleja town.

It was reliably gathered that while the clash was ongoing where the alleged organized youths used cutlasses, sticks and iron rods for the attack on the said campaigners to their domain.

The shop owners at Kantoma areas in Suleja were attacked and their properties looted by another group of youths who

were shouting ‘zamu ci ubanku, ba zamu yarda ba a Suleja’ meaning (we will deal with your fathers, we will not allowed that in Suleja).

It was further gathered that the party had earlier officially informed the security agencies in Suleja about the Campaign and were assured of protection and safety throughout the rally but reverse was the case.

Report gathered that the member house of Representatives in the National Assembly, Honorable Abubakar Lado Suleja was alleged to have masterminded the attack and this was his second time for organizing such attack against the PDP in Suleja, insisted that the party will not be

allowed to carry out any campaign in Suleja.

The Police Public Relations Officer PPRO, ASP Bala Elkana confirmed the incident, said that PDP got approval for their campaign yesterday while Hon. Abubakar Lado Suleja mobilized tugs for campaign unofficial caused confrontation in the process as Kwamba road was blocked.

Elkana noted that it recorded 5 casualties with minor injuries as 6 vehicles were damaged including two of the police adding that the situation was under control just as former governor Kure agreed to turn back and returned today Tuesday to continued their campaign.

NAF builds regional helicopter maintenance hangar in Niger State

By Joy Baba Yesufu

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he Nigerian Air Force (NAF) yesterday said it has completed a massive maintenance hangar for the Nigerian military helicopters and others within the West African countries.

The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshall Abubakar Sadique made the disclosure when he received Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State in his office at NAF Headquarters, Abuja.

Sadique said that hanger, which is located in Minna the Capital of Niger State, is aimed to become a regional hub for helicopter maintenance in partnership with the State government and other critical stakeholders.

He said that the NAF is doing its possible best to ensure that security is maintained and sustained in the state through the presence of personnel, facilities and formations.

He said: The NAF is looking at the possibility of enhancing our operations in Minna. We have a hanger that we have constructed already, which we hope that it will turn out to be a big maintenance centre for helicopters not only for the NAF, but other air forces in West African that operate the same helicopters.

“We have completed the hanger and built administrative block the aim is to make that hanger a maintenance workshop for the Helicopters.

We are working towards actualising that not only with other partners but also with the Niger state government as well the Americans.”

“We also want to make sure that whatever it is that we need to do in order to enhance the general security of Niger state we will do that and that is the assurances that we have given the state governor. We believe it will have positive effect not only on security but on the economy of Niger state,” he added.

Also Governor Sani Bello said that his administration is looking to partner with the air force in the area of capacity building and security particularly around the Minna Air Port.

“We are looking at hour we can collaborate with the Nigerian air force to build capacity and look at how we can collaborate around the air port area.

“Thank God the air force has already started building a hanger there, it is almost completed if not for just one or two minor things that should be done. I am hoping that to some certain extent we are in agreement, we have some sort of partnership with the air force to make the project a success,”, he said.

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

News

PAGE 5

Mouloud/ Yuletide: FRSC prosecutes 112 traffic offenders in Nasarawa State

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he Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Nasarawa State Command, said it had prosecuted 112 persons for violating traffic rules and other related offences during the last yuletide and Eid-el-Mouloud festivals.

The Sector Commander, Mrs Faustina Alegbe, disclosed this to newsmen on Monday in Lafia.

According to Alegbe, out of the 117 offenders arrested, 112 were convicted and fined, while five were discharged.

She said that the offenders were arraigned before a Magistrate at a mobile court session in Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area of the state in December 2015. ``In December 2015, we had a mobile court at Nasarawa Eggon and as I speak to you now, another mobile court is in session at Akwanga Local Government Area. ``Our goal is to enforce the law to the fullest and minimise traffic offences and its attendant consequences on our highways,” she said.

The sector commander also said that the state recorded 74 road accidents in December 2015 as a result of overtaking and speed limit violation. ``There were lots of road crashes in that particular month, about 74 of them are known to the command. The rate was high because it was a festive period,” she said.

She said the command was taking steps to sensitise the public through workshops and seminars to the need to drive safely and adhere strictly to the highway rules and regulations. (NAN)

Commission approves promotion of 3,684 Inspectors to ASPs

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he Police Service Commission has approved the promotion of 3,684 inspectors to the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP).

This is contained in statement issued by the Mr Ikechukwu Ani, Head, Press and Public Relations of the commission in Abuja on Sunday.

It said that eight pilots were also promoted from ASP to the rank of Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSP) and two aircraft engineers to DSPs. The statement stated that the promotions took effect from Jan. 1. (NAN)

L-R: Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Professor Julius Okojie, Director, Health Planning, Research and Statistics, Ministry of Health, Dr Ngozi Azodoh, Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, and Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, during a capacity enhancement and sustainability workshop for Nigerian Africa Centres of Excellence, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

Lassa fever kills 3, 11 others infected in Bauchi From Ahmed Kaigama Bauchi

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bubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital Bauchi has disclosed that 3 persons have died, while 12 others are infected by Lassa fever in Bauchi between December 2015 to January 2016 contrary to Bauchi state government that denied outbreak of the disease in the state.

It would be recalled that Bauchi

state ministry of health on Sunday declared Bauchi free of the Lassa fever virus.

A consultant on infectious diseases at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Bauchi (ATBUTH) Dr. Abdulrahman Tahir disclosed this to newsmen on Monday in Bauchi, saying the cases were reported between December 2015 and January 2016, already three

persons are certified dead out of the fourteen cases reported.

Mr. Tahir said cost of treatment is high, saying that the kits cost at least twenty thousand Naira each and they have limited of them presently. He warned the general public to avoid rats either cooked or roasted for now as an easy way to control the spread of the disease.

Dr.Abdulrahman said the

disease is also associated with poverty and ignorance, “if people have enough food to eat and meat I am sure they would not go after rats and spreading of food stuffs on the street where rats would come and eat”. He lamented that, the testing centre for Lassa fever is far away from the state and patient suffer waiting for the result to come out before proper treatment commences.

Group frowns at calumny against national Open University leadership

By Albert Akota

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he Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CCSG) has called on Nigeria security agencies to commence proper investigation against those behind the current media blackmail going on against the leadership of the National Open University of Nigeria.

While addressing the press in Abuja yesterday, the president Comrade Etuk Bassey Williams said it findings revealed that some students of the University with

unresolved disciplinary problems are behind the blackmail to taint and discredit the image of the institution and its leadership.

Bassey wondering why some students would want to run down an institution like the NOUN which remains one of the cheapest distant learning institutions in the world despite it comparably world standard just for personal reasons.

He said the importance of the institution to Nigerians was the major reason the coalition took time to investigate the allegations,

adding that the allegations are pure blackmail bereft of facts as all payments to the institution are done online, which implies that records of payments made to the institution by students are traceable.

He said the several innovations brought to bear on the institution by Prof. Vincent Tenebe, are legendary and should be embraced by all.

“NOUN based on our findings remains one of the cheapest distant learning institutions in the world thereby affording Nigerians not only the opportunity to work and

learn but access to cheap and qualitative education owning to its strict compliance with global best practices made possible by the innovations.

“It introduced into the system by the Prof. Vincent Tenebe led leadership, which has seen the institution more than double its study centres from 36 to 76 nationwide, achieve an unprecedented increase in the number of students’ enrolment and 100% success in accreditation of courses the NUC,” he said.

NGO to perform birth defect surgery for 100 Nigerians

D

r Mike Omotosho, District Governor, Rotary International, Kwara Chapter, says surgeons from the United States are in the state to perform cleft lip and palate surgery for 100 indigent patients.

Omotosho disclosed this at the General Hospital in Ilorin on Monday while introducing a team of experts on defect corrective surgery visiting the North Central part of Nigeria.

The district governor said that birth deficiency was a reality and

charged people to stop stigmatising those with birth defects within the society.

He said that defect can be corrected surgically and people can live their normal lives. ``It is a tough time taking care of regular babies, not to talk of babies with defects, such as cleft lips and palate. ``These babies grow up and loss their total self esteem,” he said.

Omotosho said that the experts would perform free surgery for indigent patients cutting across

the North Central zone of Kwara, Plateau and Abuja.

Dr Barbar Fisher, Team Leader, Alliance for Smiles, USA, said that the surgery would involve both children and adults.

She said that about 10 per cent of babies born with the defects are killed, while some are hidden away and wasted.

The team leader said that the corrective surgery can help bring back such people to become contributing members of the society.

Dr Abdulfatah Olokoba, the

Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the General Hospital, Ilorin, said that the exact prevalence of birth defect were yet to be ascertained.

He said that some babies with such defects either get killed or are hidden away in Nigeria.

He commended the surgeons from the US for their humanitarian effort in putting smiles on faces of people.

He assured that the hospital would collaborate with the experts during the surgical operation.

(NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

PAGE 6

News

700 of our members still in army custody – Shiite

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

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he Islamic Movement in Nigeria had said contrary to the statement credited to the General Officer Commanding, 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, stating that the army had handed over all its members to civil authorities and that there is no one with them, is not true as 700 of the movement members are still in military detention facilities.

The Head of the Media Forum, Mallam Ibrahim Musa stated this in a statement made available to

the media in Kaduna yesterday.

The statement added that members that have been declared missing by the Islamic Movement that are either killed, burnt alive or in military detention facilities.

“There are still members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria in Bassawa Barracks and Nigerian Army Depot in Zaria as well as in Military Cantonment Jaji.

“Also so, no corpses have been handed over to the Movement by the Army as some of them are still being kept at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Zaria.

“We hereby declare the statement by the GOC that they have handed everybody over to the police as false and mischievous because with the way the Army is acting and doing everything possible to cover up its sins in the massacre, we fear they might eliminate those with them and claim that they are not with them.

“We therefore call for the release of all our members that are currently in detention and being denied legal services.

“More so, following comments by some Saudi-Wahabbi scholars in various media outfits

commending the government for killing members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and directly praising Governor Nasir El-rufai and President Muhammadu Buhari for fighting what they described as a “Jihad for them”, we call the attention of those concerned to immediately dissociate themselves from such malicious utterances.

“These include sermons delivered in mosques and other religious places including those of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who declared Nigeria only for Sunnis

in public, thereby displaying the peak of religious intolerance and marginalization of a section of the society by a traditional ruler.

“The government is aware of the activities of these SaudiWahabbi scholars on radio and television especially in Kaduna and the newspapers where it is directly described as using state machinery to fight jihad for the Sunnis against the minority Shi’ites of the Islamic Movement.

“We are all aware that there is no such thing as a state religion in Nigeria and every Nigerian has the constitutional right to practice any religion of his choice and belong to any sect of his choice but contrary to this, a democratically elected government is being hailed for ‘doing jihad’ on behalf of some people.

“In as much as the Islamic Movement in Nigeria is a Movement for all irrespective of sect and religion with a majority Shi’ite membership, we are concerned about the sectarian sentiment being sponsored by the state with the intention of intimidating the members of the Movement.

“It is the duty of the government to assure Nigerians that it is not involved in using state apparatus in launching attack on and segregating a part of the citizenry because they do not belong to their religious faith.”, he said.

6 students, driver die in auto crash in Jigawa

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) recently liberated from insurgents by the Nigerian Military from Khadadamamari, Ladin Buta, Hilmari, Kashauri, Keshan Ngala, Aiwa, Masu Kura, Mabirni, Grza 1 and 2, Mashuari, Dubenge, Tauba and Majande, living in their temporary camp, yesterday in Bama Local Government Area of Borno state.

Photo: NAN

… As Muslims Council mediates on El-Zakzaky safety - SAN From Taofeek Lawal, Ilorin

A

Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN),Mallam Yusuf Ola- Olu Ali has confirmed that the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs(NSCIA) has continued to mediate between Federal Government and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria.

It could be recalled that Nigeria soldiers had clashed with members of the movement while it leaders, Sheik Ibrahim Yakubu El-Zakzaky and others were arrested.

While speaking with our correspondent after the BoT meeting of Muslims Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) held in Ilorin,Ali said that part of the condition forwarded by the Council was that the Council and members of the group should have access to the Movement

leader and other arrested.

The Senior Advocate who said he was part of the meeting while the resolution was taken said there would be no escalation of the crisis because the Council also told Federal Government that whatever peace meeting and negotiation that would be hold, members of the group must be part of it.

He said this would let them have confidence in whatever the Federal Government and other negotiators are doing.

Ali said that the Council, Chaired by the Sultan of Sokoto, in it recommendation insisted that S heik Ibrahim Yakubu ElZakzaky family’s must also have access to him so that they could be sure of his safety.

While addressing journalists, the BoT of MSSN warned the federal government against banning wearing of hijab by

Muslim women in any part of the country.

The chairman of the Board of Trustees, Justice AbdulKadir Orire who was the first GrandKhadi of Shariah Court of Appeal,Ilorin said the MSSN will not accept the ban of anything that is part of Islamic doctrine as divinely ordained by Allah.

The Jurist condemned calls by some people for the banning of hijab which he described as part of dress of Muslim Women.

Orire condemned insinuations that the use of hijab is aiding the suicide bombings in th NorthEast by Boko-Haram.

The BOT chairman, said hijab wearing was a divine commandment from Allah and disagreed with those accusin spate of bombings to those wearing hijab describing it as “unfortunate”.

He said anyone caught perpetrating such criminal acts

should be punished rather than banning the wearing of hijab by Muslims.

“Wearing of hijab is part of life of Muslims. Certainly Muslims will not accept the banning of anything that is part of Islam”, he said.

He said calls for banning of hijab was an agenda of some people and wondered why such people have not called for the banning of police and military uniforms which were often used for perpetration of heinous crimes.

In his remark, a Member of the Board from lbadan, Alhaji lsiaq Kunle-Sanni called on the Federal Government to install screening machines at public places to curtail bombing and other security threats.

He said the free entry and exit in markets, churches, mosques and other public areas pose security risk.

T

he Jigawa Command of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) on Monday said six students and a driver died in an auto crash involving a Toyota bus with Reg. No. 41A 05 YB on Gaya-Kano road.

Mr Zayyanu Ibrahim, the Public Relations Officer of the command, told newsmen in Dutse that the accident occurred at about 12: 55 p.m. on Sunday.

Ibrahim said the accident happened when the driver of the bus lost control at Zangon Buji village in Dutse Local Government Area.

He said that the bus was conveying Exchange students of Unity Schools from Damaturu, Yobe, to Abuja.

The said four of the victims died on the spot, while the rest died on Monday at the Rasheed Shekoni Specialists Hospital, Dutse.

According to the public relations officer, 16 others who sustained various degree of injury were receiving treatment at the Dutse General Hospital and the Rasheed Shekoni Specialists Hospital.

He advised motorists to desist from speeding under whatever circumstances. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

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We have seized N1.2bn illicit drugs in 5 months - Kano Police

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

K

ano State Police Command said it has recovered drugs worth N1.2 billion since the coming of the new Commissioner, Muhammad Musa Katsina in October, saying It was a breakthrough in its commitment to fighting crime in the state.

This was stated by the Public Relation Officer of the Command, DSP Magaji Musa Majiya while parading about nine suspects

arrested with bags of cocaine powder yesterday.

He however, stated that about 250 suspects have been arrested within the said period, lamenting that most of them are not indigenes of the state.

According to him, that the command has also recovered more than one million bottles of Tutolin and Facalin cough syrups within the period under review, adding that the command’s store has been stocked with cartons of hard drugs.

He further revealed that investigations conducted by the command has shown that 96% of the drug consumers are indigene of Kano, calling on the general public to rise up and cooperate with relevant authorities to fight the menace in the state.

Meanwhile, the Police image maker lamented the high rate of rape cases in the state, saying “ since the coming of this commissioner, he has been up and doing to rid the state of the persistent cases of rape.”

He revealed that the commissioner has set up a special anti rape squad which comprises of female Police personnel with a view to gathering valuable intelligence information from those affected.

Sounding a note of warning to those who feel that they can flout the law with impunity and go scot-free, Majiya reaffirmed the commitment of the command to prosecute anyone found to have engaged in breaking the law no matter his status in the society.

R-L: Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal, Sadique Abubakar, presenting souvenir to Niger state Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, during the governor’s visit to the Chief of Air Staff, yesterday in Abuja.

Engineer docked for allegedly causing death of 40 fowls

A

n engineer, Gibson Onyeka charged with causing the death of 40 fowls, valued at N144,000 was on Monday arraigned at an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Onyeka, 34, residing at No. 1, Babatunde Hassan St., Ishaga , Lagos, is being tried for causing damage and killing of animals.

According to the Prosecutor, Insp. Akeem Raji, the accused caused the death of the fowls, owned by one Olarenwaju Oladuja, sometime in October 2015 at Iju-Ishaga, Lagos.

“The accused was in charge of renovating the building of the complainant’s neighbour.

“He, however, demolished the fence demarcating his client’s building from the complainant’s, leading to the death of the complainant’s fowls caged in his compound,” Raji said.

He alleged that the offences contravened Section 392 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, which prescribes a three-month jail term for accused, if found guilty.

Onyeka, however, pleaded not guilty and was granted bail in the sum of N100, 000 with one surety in like sum by the trial judge, Mr T.O. Shomade.

The case was adjourned to Jan. 25 for mention. (NAN)

I’ve killed 15 persons since I joined cult - Suspect From James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta

A

23 year old member of New Black Movement of Africa popularly called Aiye Confraternity, Kazeem Tiamiyu on Monday confessed to have been actively involved in the killing of no less than 15 persons since he joined the cult group.

The alleged cultists who was said to be the butcher of the cult group in Ijebu Ode Area of Ogun State revealed that he has also sold several guns to Cults members in Abraham Adesanya Polytechnic in Ijebu Igbo and and Tai Solarin University of Education in Ijagun.

The revelations came as he was paraded by Ogun State Police Command at its headquarters in Eleweran in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

The suspect who said he was withdrawn from the Polytechnic by his parent after getting information on his involvement in cultism further revealed that his targets were killed during clash between his group and members of Eiye confraternity.

While parading the suspects, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa. Adejobi explained that the state command has zero tolerance for

cultism and will continue to make life unbearable for the papetrators.

Adejobi said the suspect was arrested in Ondo Road in ijebu Ode sequel to the Command’s anti-cultism fight and further investigation into various murder cases around the area.

The PPRO said the suspect was arrested with four single barreled shot gun, one double barreled cut to size gun, one single barreled cut to size gun, seven rounds of live cartridges, expended cartridge and assorted charms.

Speaking with journalists, the suspect said, “I was withdrawn from school after my parents got information on my involvement, I denied but I came back to Ijebu Ode to operate with my members. I have so far taken part in killing so many people across the State, the last one was in 2015 between Aiye and Eiye, the group has killed 15 people since I joined.

“We were told we were going for a birthday and when we got to the venue, we were told we have to involve in cultism and were threatened to be killed should we reveal the secret.

“Other members of the group and students of Tai Solarin University of Education and we move in group whenever there’s any operation to be carried out, I have never led any

operation and I am not the hitman because anyone can strike since we operate in group.”

The Command also paraded one trans border arms dealer, Taiwo Adekun who also confessed to be the arms supplier to Tiamiyu and his members.

Adekun who was paraded alongside his step daughter, Sofiat Opeifa of Ifonyintedo area of Republic of Benin also confessed to have supplied no fewer than 42 guns and one AK47 riffle to cults and other criminal gangs in Ogun and Lagos States.

The Police Spokesperson said Adekun and Opeifa were arrested in Ijagun area of Ijebu Ode while trying to supply guns to Tiamiyu.

According to the Police, the suspects were arrested with five locally made short single barreled and five double barreled short guns.

Adekun, a blacksmith said he was not the maker of the gun but always get the guns from the manufacturer whenever he was to supply customers.

“I am not the producer, I only supply through the manufacturer whenever I need to supply, this is my forth time supplying Tiamiyu. I sell the single barreled for N10, 000 while the double barreled is sold for N20, 000 each.

Police refutes army claim on clash with Shiite in Jos From Ado Abubakar Musa, Jos

F

ollowing a statement credited to spokesperson of Operation Save Heaven, Ikedichi Iweha, in Plateau state that the procession staged

by Sisters Forum of Islamic Movement on Saturday had caused skirmishes leading to the death of one person, the state Police Command has refuted the claim.

Adekunle Oladunjoye who is the Plateau state Commissioner of Police made this known yesterday, during a press conference held at the Police Headquarters in Jos, the state capital.

According to him, “the Shiite procession has no correlation with the incident that happened along Bauchi Road which led to the killing of one person on Saturday.

“The procession went on peacefully from Anguwan Rogo which is the shiite headquarters to the Jos Central Mosque. Our men witnessed the procession. Besides that, the Procession took place in the morning of Saturday while the other incident occurred around evening time. The women finished the procession and dispersed in peace without any problem recorded. “, the commissioner added.

Also in his reaction to the army claim, the leader of Shiite in Plateau state, Sheik Adamu Tsoho said the claim was baseless and be discarded.

He added that it was worry some for such information to be coming out from army, saying sensitive issue like this should be first investigated before making it public, calling on security agent to be fair in addressing issues.

Recalled that the spokesperson of OSH was quoted to have said that “army special taskforce operation safe haven in Jos, has banned forthwith all forms of procession in the state. The ban is sequel to the violence which followed the Shiite procession on Saturday which led to the death of one person and the destruction of property and vehicles.

“Only processions with the commissioner of Police permit and escort would be allowed and the organisers held responsible for the fallout of such processions.

“It might interest you to know that violence broke out during the procession of the Shi’ites around Gangare, Rikkos, Nassarawa, Angwan Rogo and Bauchi road within Jos metropolis at the weekend.

“Following the violence, there has been physical deployments of personnel to forestall further breakdown of law and other “, the statement added.

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PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Senator Gaya donates ambulance to Gaya LG

By Ali Abubakar

S

enator representing Kano South, Senator Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya and former Governor of Kano state has donated ambulance to the people of Gaya Local Government Area of the state to ease the rigory they experience

in getting medical attention in the urban areas.

Presenting the ambulance, on behalf of Senator Gaya, Hon Nura Dankade, former commissioner of Information Kano State said that the senator shares in the pain of the people travelling a long distance with to access medical attention. He

added that reason; the former Kano State governor in his characteristic of magnanimity and care is donating a bus to assist them in transporting the people to hospital in the nearby urban cities.

Receiving the bus on behalf of the people of the local government, Commissioner

for Health Kano State, Hon Kabiru Ibrahim Getso, urge politicians, businessmen and other meaning people from the area to take queue from the senator to better the lot of the people. He said that since Senator Gaya was given the mandate, he has continued to provide for the entire state and

not just his constituency.

Dignitaries present at the presentation ceremony are former Chairman of All Progressive Congress in the state, Alhaji Adamu Aliyu Sumaila, Alhaji Bala Maikawa Director general of Senator Gaya’s campaign organisation and so many others.

Emir of Kazaure tasks universities on research

A

lhaji Najib Adamu, the Emir of Kazaure in Jigawa, on Monday in Kazaure tasked universities in the country to woo the private sector to fund researches in universities.

Adamu spoke when he received Prof. Abubakar Kundiri, the Deputy Vice- Chancellor (Administration) and also the incoming Vice-Chancellor of Federal University Dutse, who paid him a courtesy call.

He explained that research was important to solving problems of the society, which would in turn bring development in all spares of life.

“The mandate of universities worldwide is to engage in research for the overall development of the society,” he said.

The emir urged the incoming V-C to focus more on promoting research during his tenure.

Earlier in his remarks, Kundiri said that he was at the palace to formally introduce himself as the incoming V-C and to seek royal blessing and cooperation. (NAN)

Police lost 15 officers in Plateau - CP From Ado Abubakar Musa, Jos

T

he Plateau State Police Command has revealed that it lost about fifteen policemen in the last quarter of the 2015, saying that all the officers died in the course of their duties.

CP Adekunle Oladunjoye, who is the state commissioner of police, made this known yesterday during a media briefing held at the state police headquarters in Jos, the Plateau state capital.

The commissioner who was explaining the successes recorded by the command said, the command had in the last quarter of last year recovered a good number of arms and ammunitions from various criminals across the state.

He said apart from the 29 armed robbers arrested, about 26 arms and more than 1000 ammunition were equally recovered by the command.

According to Oladunjoye, his command had recorded various cases of culpable homicide, armed robbery, criminal conspiracy, vandalism among others.

He however said that the successes were achieved through the effort of the command and the existing synergy between the police and other security agencies in the state.

Primary 2 pupils of L.E.A. Primary School, Kubwa, learning in their class room, after resumption from the Christmas and New Year holidays, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Kwara govt. seeks N1.5b loan to pay teachers’ salary

A

lhaji Musa Yaketi, Kwara Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, says the state government has applied for N1.5 billion loan for payment of teachers’ salary.

Yaketi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin on Monday that as soon as the loan was secured, government would commence payment.

He said the state government has earlier secured a loan of N4.8 billion from Sterling Bank, part of which

was used to pay the first tranche of the salary, remaining three months arrears.

The commissioner appealed to teachers across the state to suspend the strike, in the interest of their pupils, adding that the issue of salary was beyond redemption, as no money is coming in.

NAN reports that the indefinite strike has entered its second week, with the resolution from the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) not to go back to work until their salaries were fully paid.

NUT chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Musa told NAN the concerned teachers have been directed to remain at home until further instruction from the union.

Musa said that teachers cannot adequately impact knowledge on the students with empty stomach.

“There is no way the hungry teachers could deliver effectively, it is better for teachers to remain at home until the government is capable of paying them,’’ the NUT boss said.

“Non-payment of salaries is like the case of a labourer going to farm

with empty stomach, there is the possibility that he would not be able to perform”, he added.

Meanwhile, Dr Muideen Akorede, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Governor, told NAN that the delay in payment of salaries was due to shortfall in monthly allocation to the state.

“In Kwara, this has resulted in some delays, especially at the local government level.

“This has led to wrong speculation that the state government interferes with LG funds; this is untrue,” Akorede added. (NAN)

Benue governorship tussle: Supreme Court reserves judgment till Jan.15

T

he Supreme Court on Monday reserved Jan. 15 for the judgment of an appeal challenging the election of Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue.

Justice Walter Onnoghen-led six justices reserved the judgment after counsel to parties adopted their written addresses. ``We have gradually come to the last stage of the procedure at the bar, leaving us at the bench to give our judgment. ``In view of that, Jan. 15 has been agreed by all of us here to be the date

to deliver the judgment. Therefore, the judgment is reserved to that date,’’ he said.

Mr Terhemen Tarzoor of PDP had sought a declaration of the apex court to set aside the Court of Appeal judgment which had dismissed his petition for lack of merit.

The appellate court in Makurdi on Nov. 18, 2015 upheld the verdict of the Election Petition Tribunal which affirmed the qualification and election of Ortom as governor of the state.

Tarzoor had asked the court to reverse the tribunal’s judgment and

declare him winner of the April polls.

He said the tribunal erred in its judgment as Ortom was not qualified to contest in the election.

According to him, Ortom is not validly nominated by the All Progressives Congress to stand for the election as provided by the Electoral Act. Tarzoor had also asked the appellate court to direct the Independent National Electoral Commission to issue him with the certificate of return.

In its argument, the APC had

insisted that its candidate was validly nominated in conformity with the requirements of the Electoral Act, 2010.

APC further said that the burden of proof rested on the shoulders of the appellants.

On his part, Ortom had argued that the procedure for his nomination as the candidate of the party remained the exclusive right of the APC machinery.

The governor, therefore, urged the appellate court to dismiss the appeal for lacking in merit. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

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Lassa fever: Suspected cases identified in Sokoto From Raji Bello, Sokoto

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okoto State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Balarabe Shehu Kakale has confirmed cases of possible Lassa fever in the state, after two persons were identified to be having Lassa fever related symptoms.

Kakale in an interview said the state government is already alerted and has taken measures to checkmate the position outbreak in the state.

He explained that the blood samples of the affected persons have been collected and now en route to Lagos State for necessary laboratory investigations.

Findings revealed that the two cases were identified at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital and State Specialist Hospital, all situated within Sokoto metropolis.

A staff of the Specialist Hospital who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity disclosed that a 9yr-old boy admitted in the hospital is undergoing treatment after experienced severe fever symptoms.

“A nine year-old boy was admitted in our hospital. He had a severe fever symptoms including vomiting and bleeding through his nostril.

The patient has been relocated to an isolated ward for observation and intensive treatment. We are not sure of the ailment but hope is not that of lassa fever because it carries the same symptoms,” the source explained.

Also speaking, the Chief Medical Director, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Dr. Yakubu Ahmed also confirmed that a woman who was suspected of having lassa fever symptoms was admitted in the hospital.

“On the 5th January, 2016, a 24yr old pregnant woman was referred to our hospital for admission. She lost the pregnancy due to high fever and excess bleeding and eventually died few days later.

“In order not to take chances, we have collected the blood samples and sent to the appropriate authorities for laboratory tests. We are expecting the result after 48 hours to establish the fact about the symptoms experienced by the deceased.” Ahmed said.

The CMD noted that there is no confirmed cases of Lassa fever in the hospital yet until the medical results prove otherwise.

Ahmed also disclosed that a response team established during Ebola epidemic has been activated as part of measures to tackle the outbreak.

L-R: Bauchi state Governor, Alhaji Muhammed Abubakar, presenting souvenir to the Consulate-General, Niger Republic, Hajiya Rabi Abdu-Dodo, during her visit to the governor, yesterday at the Government House, in Bauchi.

Photo: NAN

Task Force bans processions in Plateau

T

he Special Task Force, Operation Save Haven, set up to maintain peace in Plateau has banned all forms of procession in the state.

The directive was contained in a statement signed by the media officer of the task force, Cpt. Ikedi Iweha on Monday in Jos.

According to the statement, only processions approved by the Commissioner of Police would be allowed to hold in the state. ``The organisers of such procession must obtain a permit from the police and duly escorted during the procession,’’ it said.

The statement warned that

defaulters of the directive would be held responsible in case of any breakdown of law and order.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ban was sequel to the violence which broke out during a procession organised by some Shiite members at the weekend.

The violence had led to the loss of one life and destruction of property worth millions of naira.

NAN recalls that the fracas had broken out in some major streets in Jos metropolis including Gangare, Rikkos, Nasarawa Gwom, Angwan Rogo and Bauchi roads.

Cholera vaccine supply set to double, easing global shortage – WHO

By Doyin Ojosipe

T

he global supply of oral cholera vaccines are set to double after WHO approved a third producer, helping to address global shortages and expand access in more countries.

Globally, OCV production is low, with demands currently exceeding supply. Sudan and Haiti last year made requests to WHO for supplies of vaccines to conduct pre-emptive vaccination campaigns that could not be filled because of the global shortage.

The vaccine producer, a South Korean company, is the latest oral cholera vaccine (OCV) manufacturer to be approved under the WHO’s pre-qualification programme, which ensures that drugs and vaccines bought by countries and international procurement agencies such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) meet acceptable standards of quality, safety and efficacy.

The addition of an additional pre-qualified vaccine producer is expected to double global supply to 6 million doses for 2016, with the potential for further increased production in the future. This additional capacity will contribute to reversing a vicious cycle of low demand, low production, high price and inequitable distribution, to a virtuous cycle of increased demand, increased production, reduced price and greater equity of access.

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated. There are between 1.4 million and 4.3 million cases a year, and as many as 142 000 deaths.

Cholera is endemic in more than 50 countries, but usually only garners international attention during humanitarian emergencies, such as the outbreak among refugees in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 1994 that killed tens of thousands. Climate change and El Niño may also be contributing to more frequent cholera outbreaks.

Oral cholera vaccines have

been used in mass vaccination campaigns in response to humanitarian emergencies since 1997. But because the disease disproportionately affects poor communities who are often unaware that the vaccines exist, there has historically been little demand for the products.

In 2013 the WHO created the world’s first OCV stockpile, undertaking to buy and use 2 million doses a year in order to stabilize and create demand for the vaccines.

Vaccination requires 2 doses per person, meaning the stockpile is sufficient to cover 1 million people.

Access to OCV has been further improved by a commitment of US$115 million over 5 years from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to expand availability and the use of vaccine in countries with endemic cholera. Since the OCV stockpile was created more vaccines have been distributed and used than in the previous 15 years. A total of 21 OCV deployments of about 4 million doses to 11 countries have

been used in various contexts: humanitarian crises in Cameroon, Haiti, Iraq, Nepal, South Sudan, and United Republic of Tanzania; outbreaks in Guinea and Malawi; and in endemic hotspots such as Bangladesh and Democratic Republic of the Congo.

According to WHO, the creation of the stockpile and pre-qualification of a new vaccine producer highlights the success of an international joint effort through publicprivate partnership, including governments, non-profit organizations, manufacturers, donors and research organizations. Accompanying the use of stockpile vaccine, many donors and partners have worked together within the framework of the Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC) to demonstrate the public health potential of this vaccine when used in mass vaccination campaigns.

The evidence is contributing to a body of work which will inform larger investments on the further production and use of this vaccine.

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

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UNIBEN tasks contractors on speedy completion of projects From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

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he management of University of Benin has tasked contractors handling projects across its campuses to stick with the terms of the agreements they entered with the institution, stating that time was of the essence.

Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof.

Faraday Orumwense who gave the charge during an inspection tour to some ongoing building projects at Ugbowo campus of the institution, said completion of the projects was “top on his priority list”.

Public Relations officer of the University, Mr. Michael Osasuyi, in a statement, conveyed Prof.

Orumwense’s desire to “make the university rank among the world best Universities”, if the right investment on education that encourages “globalcompetiveness” is sustained.

A cross session of Principal Officers, Deans and Directors also accompanied the ViceChancellor on the visit to the newly constructed undergraduate and post graduate hostels, lecture halls at the Faculty and school of Medicine as well as the Faculty of agriculture where the VC implored the contractor in charge of the furniture to brace-up and supply the furniture work, were among the places visited by the school’s Management team.

Pupils of Ansar-Ud-Deen Secondary School, Oke-Ado, on morning assembly, during resumption from the Christmas and New Year holidays, yesterday in Ibadan.

Photo: NAN

Sokoto begins payment of gratuities, pension From Raji Bello, Sokoto

S

okoto State Government has commenced the payment of arrears of gratuities, consisting of life and death, as well as arrears of pensions no fewer than 1,901 persons.

The Commissioner of Finance, Alhaji Sa’idu Umar made the disclosure in Sokoto, shortly after monitoring the payment exercise at the SubTreasury Office in state.

Umar assured that both living and deceased retired workers of the state government would

benefit from the gesture.

The Commissioner explained that the payment amounting to over N2.64 billion covers the period of 2011 to August, 2015.

His words: “Cheques are being issued to the surviving beneficiaries who would in turn deposit same in their respective bank accounts.

“The cheques of the deceased beneficiaries are being paid directly to their estate administrators and the courts to be administered by their Registrars after verification,” he added.

Umar said that the state government had set up an inter-ministerial committee to conduct honest and transparent payments.

He also averred that the state government had issued a circular to all the banks in the state to close all “unnecessary” government accounts.

“All dormant and inactive accounts had been closed there with and a dedicated account which is centrally closed had been opened.

“This is to ensure accountability and efficiency, as

well as save government’s funds from unnecessary pilferages.

“The state government is also taking steps to block internallygenerated revenues’ leakages,” Umar added.

He further lamented that there were a lot of cases of cash interactions at the State’s Board of Internal Revenue.

Umar also stated that the activities of the board were being transformed into electronic payment systems, to enhance its operations, as well as boosting the state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

Ambode inaugurates Fagbohun, new LASU VC

G

ov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Monday inaugurated Prof.

Olanrewaju Fagbohun as the ViceChancellor of the Lagos State University (LASU) charging him to rebuild confidence in the institution after its protracted crisis.

Ambode said at the inauguration in Lagos that Fagbohun would require the support and cooperation of all stakeholders, particularly staff

and students, to ensure a peaceful atmosphere that would promote academic excellence.

“This appointment was made after a thorough screening and selection process by the Governing Council.

“Over the past few years, LASU has had a fair share of successes and challenges; as a result, there is a lot of work to be done to propel the university to a world class status.

“I urge that we all use today’s event as a rallying call for all to join hands to move LASU forward,” he said.

Ambode said that his government was not just passionate about education, but also committed to raising the standards by providing the necessary infrastructure and delivering outstanding results.

“We are fully conscious of

the unique position that LASU occupies, thus, the desire of all that the institution should refocus on intellectual engagement is very imperative,” he said.

The governor said he was optimistic that Fagbohun would show leadership and brace up to the developmental and academic challenges of the institution.

In his address, Fagbohun promised to restore peace to

the institution, foster high level scholarship and consolidate on previous gains.

“LASU truly is a citadel of academic excellence that must be let out of its present bondage.

“I therefore invite all stakeholders in the LASU project to join hands with me in the task of putting it back on the front row of academic excellence where it rightly belongs,” Fagbohun said. (NAN)

Unemployment: Monarch urges youth to embrace farming

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he District Head of Wakama in Nasarawa state, Mr. Peter Angbazo, has urged youths in the country to embrace farming for them to be self-employed.

Angbazo made the call on Monday in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Wakama, Akun Development area

of the state.

He said that for the country to attain food sufficiency as well as fight poverty and unemployment, youths and other Nigerians must go back to farm.

The district head also appealed to government at all level, to give agriculture priority if the country

was to move away from oil as the major source of revenue.

“We are the custodians of people’s culture and apart from preaching peace and unity, it is also our duty to offer advice that will help make the country grow faster.

“Government is doing its best in providing job opportunities to

the youths, but government alone cannot provide employment for all citizens.

“That is why there is the need for the youths and other Nigerians to go back to farm, so as to become self-reliant, as well as ensure food sufficiency and reduce poverty and unemployment in the country,” he

said..

Angbazo commended his people for living in peace and called for the sustenance of the atmosphere.

He called on his subjects and other Nigerians to give their maximum support and cooperation to the government for the country to progress.(NAN)

Page 11

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

EDITORIAL

he Nigerian Senate is debating a bill to regulate or censor social media practice in the country. It is a similar move to that of the House of Representatives in 2011 to gag the mainstream media. That move failed, expectedly. The bill before the Senate, entitled “A bill for an Act to prohibit frivolous petitions and other matters connected therewith”, is the handiwork of the Senate’s deputy leader, Senator BalaIbnNa’Allah. Ironically, he is of the governing APC, which swept to power earlier this year on a change platform. Before him, immediate past president of the Senate, David Mark, had repeatedly suggested a curb on “nosey” social media platforms.

The Na’Allah bill seeks to make it an offence punishable by “an imprisonment for a term of two years or a fine of N200,000” on conviction for “acting, using or causing to be used any petition or complaint not accompanied by a duly sworn affidavit”. It again provides for a “mandatory six months imprisonment, without an option of fine, for any person who unlawfully uses, publishes or causes to be published any petition, complaint not supported by a duly sworn affidavit”.

Not surprisingly, the Senate’s open declaration of war on social media has provoked a lot of angst. Public opinion is palpably against the senators who are out to scuttle free speech provided for in the country’s Constitution. But the senators are just as defiant. Reacting to the groundswell of criticism, Senate

president BukolaSaraki, the other day, swore that the Senate would not be forced by public outcry to kill the bill. As it is, it has passed a second

“

T

Senators’ unnecessary muscle flexing The courts are there to ensure a citizen’s good name is not defamed. Why not take advantage of this instead of going for a new law, especially to protect lawmakers from the prying eyes of the media? reading.

It is a fact that much of the bashing the senators have received over their unmerited bloated remunerations and expensive lifestyles, in contrast to the mass poverty in the land, has been more in the social media than the traditional or mainstream media. This is because they use the Internet, which cannot be controlled.

This ubiquity of the Internet gives its users room to say just about anything and in whatever tone they so choose.

Unfortunately, what the senators are

OUR MISSION “To be the market place of ideas and the leading player in the industry by putting the people first, upholding the truth, maintaining the highest professional and ethical standards while delivering value to our stakeholders”

doing is a resort to self-help. Our position is that they do not need to do that.

First, what they are attempting to do is in clear breach of the Constitution of Nigeria which guarantees free speech as a right. Any other piece of legislation that contradicts or undermines this cannot stand.

Secondly, the Constitution guarantees all citizens of this country, including our lawmakers, the right to privacy. The courts are there to ensure a citizen’s good name is not defamed. Why not take advantage of this instead of going for a new law, especially to protect lawmakers from the prying eyes of the media? Thirdly, the concept of the rule of law prevents them from, as one legal mind posits, “subjectively making laws to… advance the interest of some as against the interests of others in a society”.

It is intriguing that whenever our lawmakers find the social media useful they don’t fail to turn in its direction. Many of them used these platforms to campaign for office.

But now they are turning against the very platforms they used to grab political power. One thing is for sure, this present attempt at gagging the media will fail as it did several times in the past. We are gladdened by the assurance given by President MuhammaduBuhari that if the bill finds its way to his table for his assent, he will veto it. It is important our recalcitrant lawmakers know early where the President stands in this matter so that they don’t believe they have his support.

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PAGE 12

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Opinion Arms deal scandal and NASS oversight role

By Paul Onwude

I

was doing a piece on the 2016 Budget, when I decided to turn my TV on and watched a discussion on the Arms deal and the failure of the National Assembly to oversight the procurement.

One security scholar interviewed holds the opinion that it was wrong to investigate the scandal openly at all because, we are doing great harm to our internal security. Another person interviewed is a former operative of the DSS who said the President has the power to authorize the purchase of arms provided it is in the budget.

Nobody is saying the President don’t have the powers to authorize the purchase of arms but the manner they went about it. Also the President who authorized the purchase of the arms has the responsibility to ensure the funds he approved are well utilized.

The President supervises the NSA directly and not a Minister in the case of a line Ministry, Department or Agency.

The President cannot claim that he did not know what his personal aide was doing because the report of activities of the NSA is reported directly to the President and nobody else and if he claimed he was not aware of the activities of the NSA then that amounts to dereliction of duty because his interest was being

served which has amounted to wasteful spending/ corruption that has resulted in the death of our fighting men in the war against Boko Haram due to lack of appropriate and needed arms and ammunitions and the dislocation of IDPs from their homes.

The power to authorize comes with the additional responsibility to supervise the expenditure because a failure in the process is also the failure of the authorizer and s/he would be held accountable. That is why some people hold the opinion that President Jonathan should also be questioned or held accountable. I think that opinion is correct.

As to the apprehension that an open trial is putting our internal security on harm’s way is not true. The trial whether media or open court trial is not discussing the type of arms bought or the strategy to combat Boko Haram or indeed other security strategy.

The trial is only looking at how money was approved, collected and use or misused.

This is about just tracing the money or following the money. Why should the NSA be paying out money? Is he the Minister of Finance or Accountant General? Why should NSA be paying out money for publicity like in the case of Dakposi?

That is what the trial is about? At best the role of the NSA is to research the

security situation and make recommendations as to the approach needed to address the security challenge and the appropriate equipment required to deal with it and Government goes about how to source those equipment.

His/her recommendation goes to the President and not even to the Minister of Defense or Service chiefs because he/she is an Adviser to the President. The position of the NSA is a research position and not a command position as we have turned it into. In Nigeria, we turn thinks upside down. Nigeria is not the only Country with such office but here we misuse and abuse the office.

Recently, Obama appointed a Nigerian deputy National Security Adviser: International Economic Affairs. We don’t have those dimensions here. We in Nigeria think the NSA must be an Army Officer not even any other branch of the Military but must be an Army Officer. What is actually needed is Security Consultant with very high level research and analytical skills, then supported with expert deputies; International Economic Affairs, International Terrorism, Food Security, all the dimensions of security etc.

In the same TV discussion, a Member of the House of Representatives, of the PDP stock, was featured and his worry was the way the

prosecution is being done.

That it is selective and a media trail. And that talking about it in the public is destroying our internal and external security strategy. He preferred a secret internal prosecution.

About whether the trial is selective or a media trial, we don’t know about that.

But what is clear is that there was an arms deal and all the people involved are those in government and their associates in the last administration and they happen to be PDP people since it is a “family affairs”.

So to that extent it affects mostly PDP people since they had a “family dinner”.

The question would be, are prosecutions in court not public trial, except, of course, if the court orders a trial in camera. For now, the Courts have not come to that decision yet.

So I ask myself. How is the public prosecution of Dasuki and others involved in the arms deal a derogation of our national security? The trial of Dasuki in an open court or in the Media as alleged does not in any way affect our internal or external security because what is being tried is how money was spent? Who was supposed to spend the money?

Why did NASS not raise the red flag during it oversight? In the National Assembly, it is only the Senate that has a Committee on National Security and

Intelligence, which have the responsibility to oversight security agencies. The House of Representatives does not have a committee on Security and intelligence but on the military branches and police, and this means the House of Representatives does not have any mechanism to oversight the security agencies and by extension the office of the NSA. However, such huge scam cannot be going on the NASS will claim they did not know about it. In the course of this investigation, the name of the current Senate President was mentioned as having got wind of it and demanded for a bribe to keep quiet.

He has denied it especially since receipts are not given for bribe no-one can prove it except you mark the currency like in the case of Farouk Lawal. The media is not digging into it to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the claim and denial. The Media need to investigate the claim that some members of the NASS took bribe and turned the other way.

Again, the oversight activities of NASS are but a child’s play. I am privileged to have access to what the NASS called oversight report, from it you could deduce if those people are serious lots. That is a discussion for another day.

Paul Onwude is a Public Affairs Analyst.

Creating new template for presidential media chat(II)

By Kabir Dangogo

A

t the same retreat, a State House correspondent raised a very important issue which had to do with bringing editors to interview the President when the correspondents were at the Villa to not only cover the presidency but also to monitor developments.

Besides, they were the eyes and ears of their editors. If I understood him well, what he seemed to be saying was why not have the State House correspondents interview the President whenever the need

arose instead of waiting three to six months to assemble the editors. No one should feel that the correspondents are too junior to interact with the president. It is their beat and so be it.

That was the crux of my argument then. The correspondents represent the media houses and probably the editors depend on them to scoop happenings in the presidency before they appeared on the PMC. So why not have them interview and interact with the president?

It should take the shape of a press conference with the

President standing and the correspondents sitting down.

It would be a kind of breezy interview session that should take no more than 30 minutes with a certain number of correspondents picked to ask questions at a given session. It would not be healthy to hold the President for two to three hours interview. Sometimes such long interviews have a way of taking the shine out of a guest no matter how hard he tries, especially where the questions would not be submitted in advance. Instead, the frequency of the interview could be increased to, say,

monthly instead of quarterly.

Of course, media houses that want a detailed interview can individually request for same with the president’s office.

Each request can be treated on its merit.

That way the President can relax and learn the names of each correspondent by recognising them to speak on first name basis. This builds familiarity between the President and the correspondents that helps their work. The President can also use the forum to establish personal rapport with the correspondents that

could go beyond the period of the presidency.

That is the practice most American presidents followed and used effectively. That is what President Barrack Obama currently does with finesse. This approach should end the PMC circus and present the President as the one on whose desk the buck stops. So long Presidential Media Chat?

Kabir Dangogo is the Managing Director/CEO of Timex Communications, Kaduna

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

PAGE 13

Comment Ex-raying Dikko’s stewardship in Customs B

By Patrick Orkuma

ut for the ubiquitous prevalence of mobile devices and growing internet penetration, we may just as well be in a complete dictatorship. The greatest indication of this yet is the siege laid to the Jabi, Abuja residence of the former Comptroller General of Customs, Abdullahi Inde Dikko by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The invasion that followed the siege was as crude as it was alarming.

Yes. The Abdullahi Inde Dikko in question is the same one that revolutionised the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) within the six years he held sway. The same one that transformed the operations of the service from analogue to digital with consequence that businesses are able to clear their goods in the shortest possible time; he boosted the morale of men and officers; built infrastructures for the service across the country.

We are talking about the same Mr Dikko who demonstrated that the chants about diversifying from oil revenue could be a reality when he astronomically increased the revenue generation capacity of the service and was on the way to netting the nation

N100 billion monthly.

It was this very same man that the Chairman of the House Committee on Customs, Hon. Sabo Nakudu, recommended to the officers of the Service and just about everyone interested in studying the dynamics of leadership to take a cue from. It was Mr Dikko who voluntarily retired as Comptroller General of NCS to allow a fresh leadership to take the reforms he initiated to a new level.

So at what point was it decided that his abode should be invaded by EFCC operatives like a common criminal?

The expectation is that law enforcement and anticorruption agencies would act on the strength of information, credible intelligence and evidence. But the raid on Mr Dikko’s residence apparently failed to yield whatever the invaders were after hence the insinuation that they are seeking other sites to ransack in their quest to have evidence or cook up some. Why invade a person’s residence, particularly in his absence, when there is not adequate intelligence that the objects of interest were on the premises? This spree of evidence shopping is now common place going by the experiences of those

presently in incarceration.

The EFCC even admitted in some instances that it had no evidence on some of the people incarcerated in the name of conducting investigations after arrests.

Next is the fact that, with Mr Dikko away, his children – reported to be minors, were the ones at home, yet the raid went ahead. The kids were greatly traumatized to the point of being left in tears.

One can only wonder about the extent of psychological and emotional damage done to the young ones on account of officers who could have kept the residence under watch until the owner returns but decided to unleash terror on children who had no connection with the politics of the day.

Furthermore, the siege, raid and unleashing of terror were carried out without warrant.

What was the hurry that the procedural requirement of showing up with that piece of paper was disregarded?

The decision to invade Mr Dikko’s residence without a valid warrant suggests his situation would be another trial in the media and public opinion regardless of what allegations would be brought against him. He is going to be added to the growing list of the perceived ‘enemies’

of the present government that must be hounded into extinction even if it means pronouncing a guilty verdict at a mob trial since obtaining evidence without warrant is already a sure way to make any case against an accused person collapse.

Nigerians however have cause to worry.

A new dimension is being introduced to the clampdown on personal liberties as the regime seems to be entrenching its autocratic credential faster than anticipated. Those after Mr Dikko, via the kites they usually fly in the media, might have added treason to his supposed crimes in addition to the list of alleged economic crimes they usually charge their perceived enemies with.

Considering that they are having a hard time to perpetually keep their victims in the gulag on account of court interventions, a charge of treason would imply a longer period of incarceration regardless of whether the person would eventually be found not guilty if the case successfully went through trial.

The spectra of repression further looms larger with the reported directive that Mr Dikko should be arrested at any airport he arrives at

upon his return from his trip. Does this mean an order to abduct, crate and ship remains a possibility if his errand abroad necessitates not immediately returning home? If the whole idea was to apprehend him, why did the EFCC not closely monitor his movements before and prevent him from travelling?

Nigerians should dispassionately review these happenings and make the necessary interventions. Most citizens desire that corruption and impunity decisively dealt with for us to have a better country. But his should not be misconstrued to the point of gleefully cheering on our rapid descent into dictatorship irrespective of how we personally feel about the persons being hounded.

We should all be rightly alarmed that the EFCC in an attempt to justify its recent actions would go as far as accusing people who served this nation judiciously with terrorism charges and bogus financial accusations to hang them before any proper trial.

Today they go after these people, what happens when they come for us?

Orkuma is a security expert and contributed this piece from Kaduna, Kaduna State.

Guards Brigade regimental dinner night & President Buhari(II)

By Ben Adam Shemang

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ext I saw that some white jars wrapped with serviettes were given to officers turn by turn. Each just poured little of the content into their glass it was soon time for what is called in military palace “Loyal Toast”. Yes, they all pledged loyalty to the President and Commander-In- Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. The Mess Manager, call him the MC came briskly as he could then speak, invited the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, to deliver his speech.

The President, Service chiefs and everyone listened with rapt attention. Yes, people could laugh as he gave the origin of regimented dinner. He seized the opportunity to pledge the loyalty of the military to the president and defence of the country not forgetting those killed in the fight

against boko haram “I will like to recognize our colleagues who are engaged in combat activities in the north east of Nigeria in their effort at curtailing the boko haram terrorism. For those who have paid the supreme sacrifice or supreme prize in the service to defend our nation, I must commend this particular and onerous sacrifice. May their gentle souls rest in peace”, he said.

Some outgoing and incoming officers of the brigade were introduced the Guards Brigade Walking Stick was also unveiled and souvenir presented.

The President thereafter, delivered his speech. Before that, his class mate was at the venue of this regimental dinner night and the officer was the 7thCommander of Guards Brigade from 9th October 1972 t0 21 November, 1973, then Lt Col Paul Tarfa, now a retired general.

The president singled him out as

his classmate and school mate.

He said in 1962, they had the largest intake of 75 who were sent to various countries to be trained and commissioned.

Of the 75, only 30 passed and the rest were sent back home to Nigeria. He recalled that General Paul Tarfa went to Canada, General Shehu Musa Yar’adua was another classmate, he, President Buhari went to Aldershot Officer cadet School in England, others went to Texas, USA, Pakistan, India, Australia, among others. Recall session over, President Buhari praised the gallant troops for resilience and gallantry in the fight against the insurgency saying that they are fighting to ensure there is peace and development. “Guards Brigade has been committed to the security of the Federal Capital Territory and environs to ensure security of the presidency, citizens and diplomats”, the

President said of the Guards Brigade.

The delighted Chief Host, Brigadier General MS Yusuf who is the Commander Guards Brigade was full of smiles after all. The event was well attended, successful and met his expectation as he ended his vote of thanks with “thank you sir and good night” to the president.

The Regimented dinner ended with the president again have some handshakes and there after he moved to the army band collected the conductor’s baton and directed affairs of music to the admiration of all. End of Regimental or regimented diner.

Back to history, from Independence to date, there have been 29 commanders of Guards Brigade, the First being Major WU Bassey always remembered as NA1. Just behind the Villa, Camp WU Bassey is there in his memory. Other Commanders of

Guards Brigade include in their then ranks as: Major Mobolaji Johnson, Major B. Ochei who introduced the famous walking Stick of the Commander Guards Brigade, Col Joe Garba, the diplomatic soldier, Col John Inieger, Lt. Col Paul Tarfa, Col Maman Vatsa, Col Jerry Oseni, , Col Joshua Madaki, (my fellow Village man), Col John Madaki, Col Musa Bamaiyi, Brig. Gen BC Magashi, Col M Mana, Maj Gen AA Mshelia, Brigadier Gen M Munguno (now National Security Adviser), Maj. Gen EJ Atewe while the current commander is Brig. Gen MS Yusuf. The Headquarters of the Guards Brigade is in Agui-Ironsi Cantonment not far from Camp WU Bassey.

Ben Adam Shemang is of the Voice of Nigeria, Abuja and can be reached on shemangba@gmil.com

PAGE 14

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

News FRSC advises motorists to desist from night journeys

T

he Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), on Monday restated its advise for motorists to desist from embarking on night journeys.

Mr Nseobong Akpabio, Zonal Commander, FRSC, Lagos and Ogun State, gave the advice when he visited their office in Badagry.

He said that 80 per cent of accidents during the yuletide occurred during the night. ``We all know the state of the roads in Nigeria; the government is trying to improve on the roads in the country. ``But for the time being, motorists should stop embarking on night trips. ``Travelling in the night makes it more difficult for the driver of the vehicle to notice bad spots on the road and this usually leads to a lot of mishaps. ``Most of the accidents that were recorded in Lagos and Ogun State during the yuletide happened at night. That is why we are advising motorists to desist from that act. ``We have carried out different enlightenment programmes in order to enlighten the public on the dangers of travelling at night’’, he said.

The zonal commander said that from April 1, all commercial vehicles that had not installed speed limit device would be prosecuted. ``We are starting with commercial vehicles then others would join at a later date. People must try to understand that this device is not just to regulate excess speeding. ``It also helps to minimise fuel consumption in the car and this in turn helps the cars to last longer. ``Most transport companies are already using these devices and they have been reaping the reward form it. So, people should be encouraged to install the device’’, Akpabio said.

He called on the Lagos state government to assist the agency with patrol vans, ambulances and towing vehicles. (NAN)

L-R: Malam Bello Imam, Special Guest, Imam Ibrahim Mashood, and Onoba of Mando, Malam Idris M. Sani, during Onujabe Scholar annual Maulud Nabiya celebration, at the weekend in Mando, Kaduna.

Photo: Raji S. O.

Fayose condemns Faleke, Audu’s arrest by DSS

From Ayodele Samuel,Lagos

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kiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has described the arrest and detention of the Kogi State Deputy Governorelect, Hon James Abiodun Faleke and Mr Mohammed Audu, son of the late former Governor of Kogi State and All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Abubakar Audu, as a confirmation of his prediction that penchant for dictatorship will rise this year with rampant disobedience human rights abuses by the APC government of President Mohammadu Buhari.

The governor said even though Faleke and Audu were released very late on Saturday by men of the Department of State Security

(DSS), Nigerians should by the arrest brace up for a full-blown dictatorship.

In a statement issued on Sunday, by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said “it is now clear that Nigerians can no longer hold opinion different from that of President Buhari and his faction of the APC and this should worry lovers of democracy in the country.”

He said arresting and humiliating Faleke and Audu by the DSS, just because they choose to pursue their rights within the ambit of the law was a dangerous trend that all Nigerians, irrespective of political party affiliation must condemn.

Governor Fayose said; “They started with Senate President,

Bukola Saraki; later, the DSS invaded the Akwa-Ibom State Government House and those who should speak out kept silent because of politics.

“The DSS moved against the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col Sambo Dasuki, invading his residences in a commando liked manner and when he got order from the court for the DSS to vacate his house, the order was ignored. Up till today, Dasuki is still in detention despite that he was granted bail by the court and he met the bail conditions.

“When all these happened to Dasuki, many of those who should talk, especially our so-called human rights activists kept silent because of politics.

“Now that it happened to Faleke and Audu, members of President

Buhari’s party who are not on the same page with him on the Kogi State election, should we also keep silent because it is APC affairs?

Definitely no!

“We are not going to keep silent because we are not in this to protect the interest of any political interest.

Rather, our concern is the survival of democracy, which is obviously being threatened by the forces that have turned the DSS to their agent of political victimisation.

“Most importantly, Nigerians should know that tyranny does not know political boundary. The moment tyranny becomes fullblown, it does not even know its own family members. The only concern is its selfish interests and anyone that is against those interests must be pull down or whip to line.”

Buhari urges unity among Nigerians, hails armed forces

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resident Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday called on Nigerians to build on things that unite rather than divide the country in spite of diverse cultures and religions.

He gave the advice at the Inter-Denominational Church Service to mark the 2016 Armed Forces and Remembrance Day at the National Christian Centre, Abuja.

Represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the President said the nation was proud of the contributions of the armed forces for ensuring peace, justice, freedom and prosperity of the nation. ``Let us renew our determination to build a strong and united nation where freedom,

justice, peace and prosperity are easily within reach; a nation where we emphasise those things that bind us rather than those things that divide us. ``We are a country of diverse cultures and even religions but let us tap more into that diversity for strength rather than for strife.’’

According to him, the country today celebrates the families of the fallen heroes, their wives and children as well as their other family members. ``No one has suffered as much loss as you have and no one can truly understand your pain but today our nation commends you. ``Your great loss is the gain of millions of Nigerians and generations yet unborn. ``We applaud you and the

heroic men and women of our armed forces and we thank God for the worthy lives they lived.’’

The President further applauded those who made contributions in various ways to support the military. ``On a day like this, we not only commend the gallantry of the armed forces; we remember in particular all those among them that have paid the supreme price. ``They belong to the distinguished company of those we refer to in our national anthem with the words, ``the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain.’’ ``Today, we honour their service and their memories.’’

Buhari noted that the reputation of the armed forces

for courage and service had often been noted not only at home but also abroad especially the military’s contributions to several international peace keeping missions.

He specifically mentioned Nigeria’s military and heroic operations in Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Dafur.

According to him, at the end of 2015, Nigeria had 2,972 troops active in various UN missions and Nigeria is one of the top 10 contributors of troops to the UN all across the world and top five on the African continent ``The armed forces contribute and represent one of the most patriotic institutions in the land playing a leading role in nation building.

``It diligently attends to their traditional duty of defending and protecting our territorial integrity. ``Their remarkable efforts in particular at this time in combating insurgency in the north-east is greatly appreciated by the Nigerian people ``Boko Haram and insurgency in the north- east has now been degraded militarily; the insurgents no longer hold territory and can no longer launch military style attacks as they had done in the past.’’

He expressed gratitude of the nation to the military, adding ``we are confident and we pray that with God on our side, the armed forces of Nigeria will complete the work that they have started”, (NAN.)

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

PAGE 15

APC stakeholders in Kirfi, T/Balewa LGs protest over comm nominee From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

A

ll Progressives Congress, APC, stakeholders in Kirfi and Tafawa Balewa Local Government Areas have protested against a commissioner designate nominated by Governor Mohammed Abubakar.

There has been outrage in Kirfi and Tafawa-Balewa where stakeholders kicked against the nominee saying they were not consulted as agreed with the governor during campaign period, with others lamenting lack of representative among the nominees.

Speaking on behalf of stakeholders from Kirfi Local Government Area who took their protest to the NUJ press center Bauchi yesterday, Alhaji Garba Usman Kirfi, said “we came to Press Center to record our grievance and protest for excluding Kirfi among the

16 commissioner nominees submitted to state Assembly for screening by Governor Abubakar”.

According to Garba Kirfi, they were not happy because it appears Kirfi is not going to be represented at the state executive decision despite its population and its loyalty to the party.

“We worked for the party to victory, we have suffered as opposition in the past and now that we are happy we formed a government and yet we don’t have a representative in the cabinet. It is unfortunate, if that is how this government is going to start in this footing. The governor should look in to it” Usman said.

Also speaking, Secretary of the party in Kirfi, Manu Abubakar said “not only that the governor promised to construct the road that links Kirfi with Gombe because of our business and economic transaction during

his campaign promises, to our dismay the road is not mentioned amongst the road to be built this year in the 2016 budget. Why is he treating the council as an outcast?”

A stakeholder from Tafawa Balewa who is also the member representing Lere Bula in the state assembly, Hon Aminu Tukur told journalists that the governor has the constitutional right to appoint a commissioner, but said the governor had promised to consult stakeholders in Tafawa-Balewa LGA. He added that he is not against the governor neither the commissioner nominee, but he insist the governor should respect stakeholders’ views since he was voted by the masses in choice of commissioner nominee.

Responding, Senior Special Assistant on Media to Governor Mohammed Abubakar , Comrade Sabo Mohammed said it’s the prerogative of the governor

to nominate, beside anybody nominated has the credentials and the capability to be Commissioner, stressing that the governor already met with the stakeholders over the issue.

He said his boss was taking cue from President Muhammadu Buhari who took his time and gave priority to who is trusted and technocrats, not only that the governor has assured that all those nominated would work with stakeholders.

Comrade Sabo said due to the economic situation, the state ministries had been reduced to 16 and the state have 20 local governments, adding “you don’t expect each LG to have a commissioner but there are other offices and appointment coming.

People should be patient.”

It could be recalled that Governor Abubakar has submitted 16 names as commissioner nominees to the state assembly for approval.

Kogi guber: Hostilities begin at tribunal as court grants PDP prayers

Governor Idris Wada From Ahmad Ibrahim, Lokoja

T

he Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has granted the prayers of the Peoples Democratic Party to inspect electoral materials used in the recently held gubernatorial poll.

The chairman of the threemember panel, Justice Halima Mohammed flanked by Justice Patricia Ajoku and Justice Ogbogo Ejembi granted the exparte motion at the inaugural sitting of the tribunal yesterday in Lokoja.

However, she issued a consequential order that all the respondents in the petition be served the tribunal’s order for

them to be present during the inspection at the headquarters of the electoral umpire in Lokoja.

Counsel to Governor Idris Wada,Chief Chris UcheSAN, leading two other senior advocates and about 10 legal practitioners for the PDP had sought in the application filed on January 9, an order of the tribunal to inspect materials used in the conduct of the governorship election in the custody of INEC. He averred that the motion supported by a 17-paragraph affidavit and deposed to by one S.M. John-Mark was in line with section 151 of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.

The tribunal equally

Governor-elect, Yahaya Bello granted six exparte motions for substituted service of petitions and other court processes on the Kogi Governor-elect, Alhaji Yahaya Bello who is a respondent in all the petitions.

In their separate motions seeking the leave of the tribunal, Uche of PDP, Jibrin Okwutepa (SAN), APC; Reuben Egwaba, Labour Party and I.K. Idota of Progressive Peoples Alliance sought an order of the tribunal for substituted service on the governor-elect.

Lawyers to the African Democratic Congress and All Progressives Grand Alliance also sought the tribunal’s order to serve the petitions and other court processes at Yahaya Bello’s last known address, the APC

Secretariat or the notice board of the tribunal.

Each of their motions was supported by an affidavit saying that all attempts by the bailiff of the tribunal to serve the respondent failed.

Earlier in his welcome address, Chris Uche (SAN) who spoke on behalf of his colleagues from the Bar drew the attention of the tribunal to the essence of time in the determination of the petitions saying the case in Kogi was “Narrow and Novel”.

He noted that the world was waiting for the judiciary to apply its wisdom to save the country out of the political logjam, pointing out that the scenario was new and never contemplated in the nation’s democratic experience.

Bayelsa supplementary: TMG expresses disappointment with political parties

By Umar Muhammad Puma

F

ollowing the conclusion of the Bayelsa governorship election, the Transition Monitoring Group, TMG, has expressed disappointment with the country’s political parties, saying they exhibit a lack of skill and expertise to contest elections by the democratic rules of the game.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja, chairman of the group, Ibrahim Zikirullah stated that the undemocratic behaviour by political parties and their elected representatives undermines public confidence in the electoral process.

Zikirullah called on the Inter - Agency Consultative Committee, ICCES, to audit the performance of the security agencies deployed for the Bayelsa state gubernatorial election, particularly in areas where elections were disrupted by violence.

“All political parties in Nigeria continue to exhibit a lack of skills and expertise to contest elections by the democratic rules of the game.

“As a consequence, they fall back on familiar strategies of buying support, intimidation, harassment and rigging.

This deprives citizens of the opportunity to exercise a free and democratic right to choose at the polls.

“For Nigeria’s elections to become credible, political parties must be democratic, transparent and accountable.

“TMG calls on the security agencies to be proactive in securing the space for future elections. Security agencies have a particular mandate to ensure the protection of citizens and sensitive materials on Election Day, “he added.

The monitoring group said a total number of 135 critical incident reports were received from a combined 55 mobile and stationary observers.

It said these incidents are considered serious as they undermined the integrity of the overall process, which includes; Ballot box snatching / stuffing, stealing of ballot papers, partisan poll officials, not counting ballot papers amongst others.

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Politics

PDP Youth Vanguard calls for release of Haliru and Metuh From, Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Y

outh from the Northern region under the auspices of PDP Youth Vanguard has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to release the former Chairman of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Haliru Bello and the party spokesperson, Chief Oliisa Metuh from detention describing their continued detention as unlawful.

Leader of the group, Alhaji Ibrahim Amodu disclosed this while

addressing the media in Kaduna yesterday.

Alhaji Amodu maintained that ‘’the government is for everybody and not for some selected individuals, and the priority of governance is to foster democratic dividends as aforementioned in party manifestoes not to witch hunt”.

The vanguard also advised the government to concentrate on building the nation rather than torment the opposition.

“We therefore call on the

President and his men to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Olisah Metuh and Dr. Bello Haliru’’ “Former PDP National Chairman Alhaji (Dr.) Haliru Bello was arrested with his son Abba, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and also arrested the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“Chief Metuh is still being kept at the commission’s headquarters and his lawyers were making

frantic efforts to reach him,” the statement read.

“While details of why Chief Metuh was invited is yet to be made public by the commission, it could be recalled that severally, Chief Metuh, as the mouthpiece of the opposition party had alerted in various press conferences and statements that he has been under threat and that the ruling party and the government have been very uncomfortable with his stance” he said.

PDP supporters celebrating re-election of Governor Seriake Dickson in Bayelsa state governorship election, at the gate of the Government House, on Sunday night in Yenagoa.

Arms deal: DPC urges Buhari to dig deeper

By Saratu Ibrahim

T

he Democratic People’s Congress (DPC) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to dig deeper into the ongoing arms deal saga, with a view to identifying and prosecuting the culprits to serve as a restraint to all those who would attempt such heinous crime against the fatherland The party expressed total shock at the revelation and confession over billions of naira of arms funds allegedly embezzled and misappropriated by some public office holders and their political associates during

President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

In a statement signed yesterday by the party National chairman, Olusegun Peters the party said it’s astonished with the fact that a sum of $2.1 billion dollars appropriated to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East and other part of the country including Abuja where thousands of soldiers and innocent civilians were killed, wounded and abducted, and millions of people displaced from their homes could be brazenly looted by reputed public officers and their associates.

According to the statement, the party is highly disappointed that

eminent Nigerians delegated with the security and wellbeing of the citizenry could be so heartless to divert, misappropriate and embezzle $2.1 billion dollars for procurement of weapons to fight Boko Haram insurgents.

It noted that there is no moral justification for sharing of this blood money by the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Mohammed Dasuki (rtd)and his collaborators in crime, as the gallant soldiers who protested of not being well equipped were court marshaled, dismissed, imprisoned and some sentenced to death for refusing to fight the insurgents.

“Nigeria’s poor global image has been further tainted by his arms scandal by supposed leaders of the country who shamelessly sold their integrity, dignity and honour for a mess of arms porridge; it is time to redirect the ship of Nigeria state to the path of rectitude development and advancement.

“It is a time to elect God fearing leaders who will provide abundant dividend of democracy to the longsuffering populace, not carnage and also a time to lead Nigerians to the promised land of peace, love, unity and progress,” the statement said.

Anaguta community alleges Lalong of suppressing members From Ado Abubakar Musa, Jos

T

he Anaguta Community in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau state has alleged that the community was being suppressed in the area of political appointments by the Governor Lalong administration.

Jonathan Nyam, chairman of the group, made the allegation yesterday during a press conference organised in Jos. According to a statement jointly signed by the chairman and his vice, Pastor David A. Bahal, “The administration of Governor Lalong

has deliberately neglected Anaguta people because it did not appoint Anaguta person as his commissioner from Jos North as done in the past.

“More amazing and worrisome is the fact that even in the appointment of membership of the Transition and Implementation Committee into Jos North LGC,

an anguta man was only given a paltry position of only a Supervisory Councillor haven voted participated vigorously in the election of Lalong,” the statement added.

The community however called on Lalong to as a matter of urgency restored all their political appointments as it was before.

APC Dep. spokesman to drag party to court

By Umar Muhammad Puma

D

eputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank has threatened to sue the national chairman Chief John Oyegun over his refusal to recognise him as the acting National Publicity Secretary.

Addressing newsmen yesterday in Abuja, Frank said if the party continues the way it is now, he would have no option than to drag the party to court.

Asked why he has not been speaking for the party, he said, “Well that again, l will use this opportunity to really speak out my mind. I have kept quiet for too long on this issue. I have approach my national chairman, time without number and l have approached the elders of my party regarding this. I have even written an official letter regarding to this, to allow me to exercise my right as the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party.

“So, if the leadership of the party today knows that what they are doing is very, very wrong and if they think that they want to continue to sit down and appoint a national publicity secretary, one day, even the chairman would sit down there and some people would appoint the national chairman for the party without following due process. It is risky for anyone that is perpetrating this act within the party that does not want to give me my right. It is my right.

“So, if as a party, we cannot acknowledge the office of deputies, we should scrap them.

“The constitution of our party is very clear and automatically l should be the spokesperson of my party. If the leadership of the party today fails to do what is right, Nigerians are still watching. If my party cannot recognize the office of Deputy, then we should scrap the offices of the Deputies. We have Deputy National Chairman; we have Deputy National Organizing Secretary, etc. So, why do we create Deputy if we cannot respect the offices of Deputies? As a party, we should scrap the office of the Deputy Senate President, Deputy Speaker and Vice President. Let us know that the offices of the Deputies are not necessary.

On why his party lost the just concluded governorship election in Bayelsa state, he said he warned the former governor, Timipre Silva and the leadership of the party over the impending defeat.

He said he had forewarned that if urgent measures were not taken the party would suffer defeat and it did.

“Times without number I have said it that the Bayelsa APC has issues. Issues that were not attended to and I have been shouting a long time ago that if we do not resolve our issues and we go into this election, we will lose Bayelsa but nobody listened to me”.

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

PAGE 17

Politics

Saraki decries violence in Bayelsa elections

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has lamented the reports of violence and deaths trailing the rescheduled governorship election in Southern Ijaw Local Government area of Bayelsa State.

Saraki in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu in Abuja said it was unacceptable that an election meant to produce a governor for the state was turned into a theatre of warfare with attendant loss of lives and destruction of property.

He called on the security agencies already mobilized to the state to quickly restore peace, while urging them to ensure that the perpetrators of violence are identified, arrested and prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others.

“The sheer level of violence that has been reported following the conduct of the rescheduled elections in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area is absolutely unacceptable.

To descend to the use of force in a democratic process will no doubt negate and put a question mark on the outcome of the elections.

“I call on the security agencies to quickly end the bloodbath and also ensure that those responsible for the violence are arrested and prosecuted irrespective of the political affiliation,” Saraki stated.

Re-run: Ekweremadu congratulates Dickson, hails Bayelsans

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, has congratulated the Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state on his victory in the protracted governorship election.

In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media, Uche Anichukwu, Ekweremadu, who reacted to the final outcome of the polls, said Dickson’s reelection against all odds was expected given that the state had witnessed splendid transformation under his government.

He said: “It is a sweet victory, coming against all odds. It is a testimony to the performance and popularity of Governor Seriake Dickson and our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. “I commend the people of Bayelsa State for standing up to be counted, for protecting their democratic rights to freely choose their leaders. They have made a resounding statement to the effect that the state remains a PDP enclave and that they are committed to keeping it so.”

He, however, charged Governor Dickson to repay Bayelsans for their faith in the PDP and his leadership credentials with greater transformation in his second term.

L-R: Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial Zone, Senator Shehu Sani, APC Chairman North-West, Alhaji Inuwa Abubakar, and former Kaduna state APC Interim Chairman, Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed, during reconciliatory meeting with APC stakeholders, yesterday in Kaduna.

Sen Shehu Sani’s suspension illegal, says APC zonal chairman From Mohammad Ibrahim, Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

A

ll Progressive Congress, North-West Zonal Chairman Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir yesterday described the suspension of Senator Representing Kaduna Central Senator Shehu Sani by the state party exco as illegal.

He said as far as the national party is concerned the Senator remains a bonafide member of the party.

The zonal chairman of the party was in Kaduna as part of a reconciliation committee set up by the national leaders to intervene on the current internal crisis in

Kaduna APC. Alhaji Inuwa also warned the aggrieved party members to desist from media campaign against each other.

It could be recalled that there was a purported letter from Senator Shehu Sani’s ward in Tudun Wada suspending him from engaging in the party for 11 months.

But the party ward chairman later came out to distance himself from the suspension saga, saying the letter was forged while Shehu Sani’s camp accused the state government of inciting party members against him. This led to the national body to intervene by sending the Zonal chairman to

call all aggrieved party members to order.

“We are in Kaduna to meet with the party elders in the state on ways to address the problem.

Whatever the case maybe, there are rules and regulations of the party that is bound on every party member.

“Therefore, as far as the national body of this great party is concerned the suspension of Shehu Sani from the party is illegal based on the fact that right procedure was not followed.

Even the ward chairman wrote to national body to say the suspension letter was forged,” he said.

On whether there was a

faction in Kaduna APC, the zonal chairman said “As far as we know there is no faction in the party in the state”.

In his remarks, Dr Hakeem Baba Ahmed who spoke on behalf of the elders of the party expressed happiness for the intervention, saying it was timely.

He also emphasized on the fact that there was no faction in the state.

Senator Shehu Sani who was also at the meeting said he will abide by the size fire agreement.

He also said he has no problem with the state governor’s policies only that there are people around him that always want to create problem among them.

Ex-NDDC boss condemns Bayelsa guber election violence

By Osby Isibor

A

chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State and former Ag Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Pastor Power Ziakede Aginigha, has condemned in strong terms what he called ‘the shameful level of electoral violence’ during the just concluded Bayelsa governorship election that lead to the death of many lives in the state.

Pastor Power Aginigha in a press statement made available to Peoples Daily yesterday, called on the Election Offences Tribunal to prosecute all masterminds of the wanton violence before, during and after the elections to serve as deterrent to others.

He called on his kinsmen

irrespective of political leanings to remain committed to the task of reversing the Ijaw ugly story.

He however, commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for providing the conducive environment for Bayelsans to exercise their franchise.

The founding secretary, Ijaw National Congress also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for not using the instruments of coercion at his disposal to influence the outcome of the election, saying “This is indeed a litmus test of Mr. President’s commitment to deepening democracy in Nigeria”.

According to Aginigha, “My thoughts and prayers go to the families of those who lost their lives during this election. The theatre of the absurd which

the Bayelsa election represents underscores the urgency of the need for an Election Offences Tribunal to prosecute all masterminds of the wanton violence before, during and after the elections.

“I join all men of goodwill to felicitate with His Excellency, Hon Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on his victory in the keenly contested Bayelsa State gubernatorial elections concluded on Saturday 9th January, 2016. I wish him a successful second term in office.

I salute the resilience of the Bayelsa electorate throughout this long electoral contest unprecedented in the history of the state. I commend His Excellency, Chief Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the bold statement he has made in raising the bar

of politics in Ijaw nation’s only homogenous state, Bayelsa.

“Chief Sylva has within so short a period transformed Bayelsa from the monstrous grip of oneparty dictatorship to a state with a vibrant opposition waiting to take over power anytime. There is no doubt that Governor Dickson will be humbled by the tortuous electoral journey he went through and cannot afford to conduct the business of governance without regard for the genuine feelings of the Bayelsa electorate.

“To my Ijaw nationalists, I say that the true enemy of the Ijaw nation is not PDP, APC or any political party in Nigeria. It is the pervasive underdevelopment of our territory and our people in spite of the enormous human and material contribution of the Ijaw nation to the survival of Nigeria as a corporate entity”.

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

PAGE 18

Politics Akure people are marginalized – Sunday Idowu INTERVIEW

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ou have been part of the active voices clamouring that the Akure Division of Ondo State should produce the next state governor. What exactly is your motivation?

Are you a politician?

As much as I am not a politician, don’t forget that all human beings are political animals and as such I must be concerned about what is happening in my environment and society. To answer your question as to the motivation for the clamour for an Akure indigene to become the next governor in my state only an unfeeling person would not feel pained when he’s marginalized.

Though I spent most of my adult life in Akwa Ibom State, a place I still have sweet memories of Nice People. but I came back home to Akure, my hometown, and I could not believe how my people have been so marginalized in the socio-economic and political scheme of things and nobody said anything. Akure people are so relegated to the background in every indices of societal development despite being the most populated with the highest votes. I had to feel concerned. This is not a matter of being an ethnic jingoist. What is not right is not right and this is my motivation. Akure the state capital has a local government with the largest voting population, yet we’re the only one of the five divisions in the State that has never produced the state governor. We looked at things from all ramifications and concluded that we have been grossly marginalized. I must also hasten to say here that Akure people also marginalized themselves through our complacency. Talk about ministers and other key federal appointments, I cannot remember the last time an Akure man or woman was made minister. Because we have the voting strength, each time they bring governorship candidates we support them. We give them our bloc votes but we have never gotten anything in return.

How do you mean you have not received anything in return? Akure is the state capital and it’s a given that projects will be concentrated here.

What have we got? Please tell me. Do you know that through the Land Use Act our forests were taken over and the gains from them are being managed by the government and not the people because of the obnoxious land decree? There are laws that affected places with crude oil deposits and they have the derivation formula. But in our case they took our land and given nothing in return. You cannot take my land and because it is the state capital, you bring everyone here to govern us and turned to second fiddles.

But you have the

Mr. Sunday Idowu is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Jojein Hotels and Resort, a world-class hospitality in Akure, the Ondo State capital. Mr. Idowu is an Akure indigene and he’s considered one of the most active voices in the clamour for Akure and its indigenes to have their rightful place in the state’s politics. Peoples Daily was there. infrastructure and government presence. What else do you need a governor of Akure extraction for?

If I take you round Akure you will shed tears. Akure is nothing but a glorified village. Take three or four major roads away from the infrastructure you talked about and the remaining ones are just slums.

Is the picture of Akure you just painted not an indictment of the past governors including the present Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko?

I will not describe it as an indictment. What I said is a statement of facts and they’re there for you to verify. Now that you mentioned Governor Mimiko, I will have to tell you some things. At the inception of his first term, he started almost immediately some laudable projectsand primarily concentrated on education and health which had a lot of impacts on the masses. But all of a sudden, he allowed himself to be cajoled into joining the feud between Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and some Yoruba elders. He abandoned those things that would have made him one of our Yoruba leaders. A man has a license to dream; most times he should go back to bed, awake again to confirm reality. If a man does not know where he is going to, he should know where he is coming from. Let me give me a personal example. When I was building this place Jojein Hotels and Resort, the governor was like an inspiration. In fact, there was a time he even advised me on how to trim the palms. So, he started well. He was so concerned about the people’s welfare and he was loved by all in return. In fact, if you had insomnia then, you wouldn’t need drugs once you saw Iroko as he was fondly called. But he abandoned

Mr. Sunday Idowu these people-oriented pedestals.

Government is not honouring its debts. Most of us, cannot meet our monthly wages any longer and now the banks’ knockings are giving us sleepless nights as the loans could not be honoured.

It looks like your anger is based on what you expected to gain personally. Why did you even build a project of this magnitude here when it could have been more productive in Lagos or Abuja?

Sometimes a man needs to think with his heart. Akure is my hometown and I wanted to contribute my own quota in developing my town and state. When we were young, we listened to tales in the moonlight which Yoruba calls Aalo. There’s this one about a snake that went out to look for food. A hunter saw it and

“

We definitely will need his support. We will plead with him to reciprocate our servitude.

We don’t mind welcoming Saul to Damascus.

Paul will cover the oil bowl when the flies pass by; we will all go before God and ask him to wash our iniquities with hyssop. No matter how a swimmer prides himself, he cannot tell us where the crocodile has its lump until he gets to the other bank of the river.

wanted to kill it but the snake pleaded, singing and telling the hunter that it was not the kind of snake to be killed.

When the hunter got home and started cutting the snake into pieces, it sang again that it’s not the kind of snake to be cut. Again the hunter paid it no attention. During its cooking the snake sang again that it should not be cooked, but the hunter ignored it.

When the hunter finally settled down to eat the snake, it sang again that it was not the kind of snake to be eaten and the hunter did not listen and ate the snake. Those who know the story know how it ended Are Akure people not concerned that your agitation might sacrifice merit for ethnicism and parochial tendencies? What if the best person for the job is not from Akure?

There is nothing parochial in what we are saying. We are talking about equity and fairness and justice.

And tell me, where is the best man for the job from? Are you saying there are no competent people that can be governor in all the five districts in this local government? So, are you saying that there were no competent people in Akure that could be governor when we supported Pa Adekunle Ajasin, the late Adebayo Adefarati, the late Olusegun Agagu and now Mimiko?

It is just in Akure’s nature to be magnanimous. Every time we baked the beans and carried it on our heads and went to the village square. All the other divisions ate the baked beans on our heads and we took home the empty bowls. All these years we have never bothered ourselves about who becomes governor, but we cannot be

serving others and they will not give us what we deserve.

How well have you involved the political parties in your agitation to produce the next governor?

Right now the people of Akure district have made up their minds to be on a zero party level. What this means is that if APC picks our son, we will support APC. If PDP picks our son, we will support the PDP. And if it is an unknown party that picks our son; that is the one we will support.

Our agenda is not about any political party; we have competent people in all the parties. So, any party that picks one of us will get our votes.

What about the governor?

Akure district might need his support on this agitation…

[Cuts in] We definitely will need his support. We will plead with him to reciprocate our servitude. We don’t mind welcoming Saul to Damascus.

Paul will cover the oil bowl when the flies pass by; we will all go before God and ask him to wash our iniquities with hyssop. No matter how a swimmer prides himself, he cannot tell us where the crocodile has its lump until he gets to the other bank of the river.

The anti-corruption effort of President Muhammadu Buhari has been generating comments across the globe.

While some have urged him on, others feel there is a witchhunt of opposition party members. What is your take since you said you are neither PDP nor APC? If there is no witch there will be no hunting. For me, and in fact, the Buhari government is too slow to deal with these sick minds. You call yourself a politician and you steal money that belongs to the health sector leading to the deaths of children and the underprivileged. Is that not worse than manslaughter?

Nigerian politicians are incredible that they steal what they don’t even need. One person steals billions and takes them abroad to buy houses that he won’t live in and pay taxes on those houses. Honestly, if not that I am averse to capital punishment because it is only God that gives life and should be the only one to take it, I would have recommended that corrupt politicians should be stoned to death. Our ‘law dealers’ appropriate diamonds and gold to themselves in act of banditry, while the land is littered with children famished, their bones sticking out of their torn rags. Most of them should be sent to psychiatric homes.

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PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

SEC begins e-dividend campaign

By Etuka Sunday

T

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has commenced a four day enlightenment programme for investors on the recently launched e-Dividend Platform.

The programme which commenced Monday with a Road Show, will continue till Wednesday January 13, and culminate in a Town Hall Meeting on Thursday January 14, 2015.

Speaking during the Road

Show, Head, Market Development Department, Mr. Henry Rowlands said Investors into the Nigerian Capital Market are entitled to their investments when they invest money hence the need for the e-dividend portal and the enlightenment campaign. According to him, “We discovered that when dividends are declared by the companies where they invest, they are sent by post which takes time and sometimes they do not even come at all.

Because investors change addresses, some of the dividend

warrants do not even get to them.

Having looked at it as at 30th September 2015, the Commission realized that unclaimed dividends amounted to about N90billion.

SEC determined we will address it once and for all and that is why the Commission launched the electronic dividend portal.

“Electronic dividend simply refers to an online system of paying dividends to inventors whereby when companies declare dividends which are the profits meant for investors, rather than send it by

post, they will just wire it to the investor’s bank account and that is what informed this exercise. The Commission desires that the money of investors hanging as unclaimed dividends get paid to them with ease” he added.

Head, Corporate Communication SEC, Naif Abdussalam, said the SEC, has “directed all registrars of public companies to return all unclaimed dividends, which have been in their custody for 15 months and above, to

the paying companies.”

The SEC also notified the public that enrolment for e-Dividend payments could now be efficiently conducted at bank and registrar branches nationwide through the online platform launched on July 29, last year.

“We want to make sure that we take the message down to the grassroots; we want every Nigerian investor within this period of 90 days which is free to get registered because immediately after the 90 days, a fee of N100 will be charged.

Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu (left), addressing a news conference on the new petrol pump price compliance, yesterday in Abuja. With him is Director, Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Mordecai Ladan (right).

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Fuel price disparity: Kachikwu gives final warning to filling stations, depots

By Etuka Sunday

T

he Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu yesterday gave filling station and depot owners final warning to as matter of urgency comply with the government approved price of fuel or have their licenses withdrawn.

Kachikwu who gave the warning while addressing newsmen at the NNPC Towers said, the failure of the filling stations and depot owners to comply with the prices set by the Petroleum Product Marketing Company (PPMC) and Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) would no longer be tolerated, consequently, extreme measures would be taken to withdraw their licenses.

“Anybody who doing it, does that at the risk of their business continuity, and if we consistently find somebody who continues to

…Threatens to withdraw licenses, punishes corrupt officials breach the rules and regulations of this country, we will ask the DPR to withdraw the licenses as extreme measures of those depots and filling stations.

And that is how serious we want to go about this,” he said, The Minister said: “Even when we have taken advantage of some of the price modulation factors to reduce price, a lot of filling stations in this country continue to sell fuel above the prices that has been set by the PPMC. This is very intolerable, It is ripping off innocent Nigerians and it is doing it at a time when there is very zero tolerance for this sort of misbehavour.

“So am seizing this opportunity to give a very last warning to everybody runs a filling station and everybody who owns a depot, we must go back to the price that

has been approved by the PPPRA and put in place by the PPMC. And that price for PMS to the best of my knowledge is N86.50 for non-NNPC filling stations and N86 for NNPC filling stations.

“I have asked DPR to oilup their enforcement machine because they are not doing it the way I want it to, happen and frankly, effectively, immediately, they are going to hit the streets with security agencies, if any filling station is found quite frankly to be selling product above the right price, we are going to sell the product of those filling stations for free, then we are going to seal those stations and I will not reopen those stations for the period of three months.

If any depot does the same thing, similar things will happen. We cannot afford the

continuous indiscipline in the system where people know the right to do and just for the simple profiteering continue.”

He said: “Now if anybody says their buying products from the depot about the prices that has been mandated by the PPPRA, they should please send text messages. We are going set up some numbers, I don’t know if they have set up already; DPR has those numbers, but please we need to flash those numbers before the TVs and everybody so that people will contact us. If you go into a filling station and you buy a product at the wrong price, please don’t take laws into your hands, just step out and send a message to the numbers that PPMC and DPR will give you and we are going to quite frankly move rapidly, it doesn’t

matter the part of the country it is.

“If anybody who is running a filling station on the other hand is also buying product from the depots at any figure over and above what has been set, and I hear all kinds of side agreements where they are keeping two rosters or invoices; one in which is the official one and another which is the side one; anybody who subjects you to that, please also send messages to those numbers and we will take effect. I expect this practice to stop forthwith so that Nigerians citizens can get the benefit of the good intervention of His Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but if continue to take laws into your hands and do the wrong thing for a very short term gains, then this government is going to move rapidly to stop that and enforce the laws,” he said.

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PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Energy

‘Saudi Aramco’ll sell downstream ops, not upstream’

S

A typical oil refinery

Oil dive deepens to 12-year low; $20 warning on China

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brutal new year selloff in oil markets quickened on Monday, with prices plunging 6 percent to new 12-year lows as further ructions in the Chinese stock market threatened to knock crude as low as $20 a barrel.

Amid an accelerating tailspin that shows no sign of slowing, Monday’s dive - the biggest one-day loss since September triggered a rash of panicky trading across the market.

Long-term futures contracts for 2017 and beyond fell nearly as hard as those for immediate delivery as some producers rushed to hedge, while a key options gauge surged to nearly its highest since 2009.

The latest catalyst was a further 5 percent decline in China’s blue-chip stocks and a surge in overnight interest rates for the yuan outside of China to nearly 40 percent, their highest since the launch of the offshore market.

Technical and momentum selling added fuel to the selloff.

Morgan Stanley warned that a further devaluation of the yuan could send oil prices spiraling into the $20-$25 per barrel range, extending the year’s 15 percent slide.

“The focus is still on China

and the demand concerns in China moving forward into 2016,” said Tony Headrick, an energy market analyst at CHS Hedging LLC. While China’s volatility is spooking traders over the outlook for demand from the world’s No. 2 consumer, drillers in the United States say they are focused on keeping their wells running as long as possible, despite the slump.

U.S. shale output is expected to decline by 116,000 barrels per day in February versus the month before, the same rate as January’s estimated drop and a slower pace than many had expected months ago, the Energy Information Administration said.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell $2.00 to settle at $31.55 a barrel, their lowest since April 2004. Brent has fallen more than 15 percent in six straight days of losses, the worst such slump in a year.

Long-dated Brent crude prices for 2017 and 2018 fell nearly as hard as the tumbling frontmonth contract on Monday amid a scramble of producer hedging, according to dealers.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 fell $1.75 to settle at $31.41 a barrel, the lowest since December 2013.

The fierce selling triggered a renewed scramble to buy options betting on a further slide, sending the CBOE volatility index .OVX, a gauge of options premiums based on moves in the U.S. oil exchange traded fund, over 13 percent higher to more than 63 - close to its highest level in seven years.

Nearly 17,000 lots of March $30 puts CL300O6 and 18,000 lots of February $30 puts CL300N6 traded, doubling Friday’s volumes. The markets are positioned in a way where “traders are afraid to be long,” said Clayton Vernon, a trader and economist with Aquivia LLC in New Jersey.

“The firm push for normalization with Iran has taken the last shred of geopolitical risk out of traders’ minds.”

The European Union said on Monday that the lifting of sanctions on Iran could come soon, following a deal last year to curb the Middle East nation’s nuclear program.

Many market participants say that Iran’s return to the oil markets would add more pressure to the global glut that has knocked prices from more than $100 in mid-2014.

Speculators cut their net long position to the smallest since 2010, with short positions rising in a sign that they are losing faith in a price rise any time soon. (Reuters)

audi Arabia is considering selling shares in refining ventures with foreign oil firms but would not offer a stake in the crude oilexploration and production operations of state oil giant Saudi Aramco, sources familiar with official thinking said.

Some Aramco managers have been informed that the company is looking at listing shares in “joint downstream subsidiaries” at home and abroad, the sources said.

One option is to create a holding company that would group together Aramco’s stakes in the downstream subsidiaries, one source said.

Shares in the parent firm would not be offered, he added. “The holding company is the one which could be listed, not Aramco itself,” he said, declining to be named because of political sensitivities.

The global energy market has been awash with speculation since Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman appeared to indicate in an interview with The Economist magazine last week that Saudi Arabia might sell shares in Aramco, as part of a privatization drive to raise money in an era of cheap oil.

On Friday Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, issued a brief statement saying it was considering options including the stock market listing “of an appropriate percentage of the company’s shares and/or the listing of a bundle (of) its downstream subsidiaries”.

Aramco has crude reserves estimated at about 265 billion barrels, over 15 percent of all global oil deposits, so it could become the first listed company valued at $1 trillion or more if it went public, analysts have estimated.

But several sources close to Aramco said its massive size, and the confidentiality surrounding it as the main instrument of the kingdom’s oil policy, meant the sale of a stake in the parent firm was not being actively considered. “The government will never give up its crown jewel,” said a senior banker in Riyadh.

Instead, authorities are looking at accelerating plans that have been in the works for many years to sell shares in part of Aramco’s vast refining and petrochemicals empire, which by itself is estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars.

A precedent for the sale already exists: PetroRabigh, a refining and petrochemicals venture in which Aramco and Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical each own 37.5 percent.

It held an initial public offer on the Riyadh bourse in 2008.

“The higher priority is to IPO downstream - it would be lowhanging fruit,” said Essam alZamel, a prominent economic columnist in Saudi Arabia.

Aramco could not be reached for comment on Sunday, a day off for the company’s employees.

VENTURES It is not clear which ventures might be involved in a sale. But the range of candidates is wide; Aramco and subsidiaries own or have an equity interest in over 5 million barrels per day of refining

capacity.

Its operations include a joint refinery with Royal Dutch Shell in Jubail known as SASREF; a venture with Exxon Mobil in Yanbu known as SAMREF; and its YASREF refinery, which is a venture with China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec). YASREF has already said it is looking at listing its shares eventually on the Saudi stock market.

Subsidiaries of Aramco abroad include S-Oil in Korea; a refinery in Fujian, China owned jointly with Exxon and Sinopec; and Motiva in the United States, which is a venture with Shell.

Prince Mohammed told The Economist that he expected a decision on the Aramco privatization to be made “over the next few months”. But an actual sale of shares would probably take much longer to happen as it would involve reorganizing Aramco.

“This is still at a very preliminary stage. They have to do a study first and submit the results to the board members, and then decide whether to go ahead with it or not,” said the first source. Selling shares in joint ventures could prove problematic if foreign partners did not agree.

An industry source said Aramco’s foreign partners had not yet been consulted on the idea; at present, they are “like a deaf man at a wedding”, he said. At the right price, foreign investors might be keen on grabbing a chunk of Saudi Arabia’s refining operations, which have been growing even as global oil prices have plunged in the last 18 months, squeezing upstream producers.

But Saudi political sensitivities may influence any sale. Traditionally, shares in state firms have been sold at discounted prices exclusively to Saudi investors as a way of sharing the kingdom’s oil wealth.

So any listing of shares would probably have to occur on the Saudi bourse, and though the market opened to direct foreign investment last year, participation in an initial public offer might well be limited to local investors; foreigners would have to buy the shares in the secondary market.

The Saudi bourse, capitalized at only $379 billion, has been hit hard by the tumble of oil prices it is trading at four-year lows - so it is in poor shape to absorb a big new supply of equity. Initially, any sale of Aramco assets might therefore be limited to several billion dollars, bankers say.

Nevertheless, the government appears determined to proceed with a sale - not merely to raise money, but as part of a drive to diversify the economy beyond crude oil production and have the private sector play a bigger role, analysts said.

“This is part of the reformist tidal wave characterizing Saudi Arabia... It’s part and parcel of Mohammed bin Salman’s drive to alter the structure of the economy,” said John Sfakianakis, a Riyadh-based economist.

(Reuters)

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Page 21

ICT

Hackers used malware to confuse utility in Ukraine outage – report H ackers likely caused a Dec. 23 electricity outage in Ukraine by remotely switching breakers to cut power, after installing malware to prevent technicians from detecting the attack, according to a report analyzing how the incident unfolded.

The report from Washingtonbased SANS ICS was released late on Saturday, providing the first detailed analysis of what caused a six-hour outage for some 80,000 customers of Western Ukraine’s Prykarpattyaoblenergo utility.

SANS ICS, which advises

infrastructure operators on combating cyber attacks, also said the attackers crippled the utility’s customer-service center by flooding it with phone calls to prevent customers from alerting the utility that power was down.

“This was a multi-pronged attack against multiple facilities.

It was highly coordinated with very professional logistics,” said Robert Lee,a former U.S. Air Force cyber warfare operations officer who helped compile the report for SANS ICS. “They sort of blinded them in every way possible.”

Experts widely describe the

incident as the first known power outage caused by a cyber attack.

Ukraine’s SBU state security service blamed Russia, and U.S. cyber firm iSight Partners identified the perpetrator as a Russian hacking group known as “Sandworm.”

Ukraine’s energy ministry has said it will hold off on discussing the matter until after Jan. 18, following completion of a formal probe into the matter.

The utility’s operators were able to quickly recover by switching to manual operations, essentially disconnecting infected

workstations and servers from the grid, according to the report.

SANS ICS said on its blog it had “high confidence” in its findings, which were based on discussions and analysis from “multiple international community members and companies”.

The report’s authors declined to identify those sources.

U.S. critical infrastructure security expert Joe Weiss said he believed the report’s findings would be validated. “They did a phenomenal job,” he said.

There is strong interest in the outage because of concerns that

similar techniques could be used to launch more attacks on power operators around the globe.

“What is now true is that a coordinated cyber attack consisting of multiple elements is one of the expected hazards (electric utilities) may face,” SANS ICS Director Michael Assante said in a blog.

“We need to learn and prepare ourselves to detect, respond, and restore from such events in the future,” said Assante, former chief security officer of the quasigovernmental North American Electric Reliability Corp

Phones

Israel brings tech expertise to protecting connected cars

B

uilding on its expertise in technology, Israel is emerging as a leader in the race to keep cars secure and prevent the nightmare scenario of a hacker commandeering your vehicle.

Most cars today are equipped with some level of connectivity and self-driving vehicles are being developed. Given this level of sophistication, protecting cars from contamination with malicious software has become big business.

“We view this as a potential $10 billion market opportunity over the next five years,” said Daniel Ives, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets in New York.

“As we have seen with cyber security over the past decade, the lion’s share of the innovation going after this market is from Israel and Silicon Valley.”

The threat appears real enough. Fiat Chrysler recalled 1.4 million vehicles to install new software last year after cybersecurity researchers showed they could turn off a Jeep Cherokee’s engine as it drove. Software manipulation, albeit intentional, was also behind Volkswagen’s emissions scandal.

From its headquarters in Tel

Aviv, Check Point, one of the world’s largest cyber security firms, pioneered the computer firewall two decades ago. It hopes to repeat that success with a security capsule for vehicles.

Connected cars need a twopronged defense. First, they must make sure nothing bad gets in, like a virus sneaking through a navigation system.

Then they have to keep internal communications secure to allow functions like side-view mirrors which angle down when vehicles are put into reverse.

Check Point is focusing on protecting the car’s external gateway, said Alon Kantor, vice president of business development. After two years of meeting carmakers and their top suppliers, he said they now have a working “proof of concept”.

“The car manufacturers didn’t know exactly what cyber security was. We had to study the networks in different cars. It was mutual learning,” Kantor said.

With Check Point’s system, everything going in and out of the car passes through the company’s cloud-based network, where it is inspected in real time and malware is blocked.

“The idea is to prevent the next recall and handle all

security and updates over the air,” Kantor said.

Experts warn that hackers may eventually try to track driving patterns, interfere with fleet management or falsify information passed electronically to insurers.

“Automakers are working to keep pace with the dynamic nature of cyber threats by incorporating security by design, developing internal expertise, and cultivating partnerships -- both procedural and operational -with organizations specializing in cyber defense,” says the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a Washington-based association of 12 of the largest car makers.

Some 420 million connected cars will be on the road in 2018, and the number has risen 57 percent annually since 2013, according to market researcher IDATE. Technology companies are alive to the business opportunity.

Last week, Harman International Industries, a maker of connected car systems, said it was buying Israeli-founded cyber defense start-up TowerSec to protect its products with marketready platforms. Israeli media estimated the deal at $70 million. Technology giants like

IBM and CISCO have asked their teams in Israel to work on protecting cars.

“What makes cars so vulnerable to attack is that they are such complex systems,” said Yaron Wolfsthal, head of the IBM research center in the desert city of Beersheba.

Premium cars, put together from a comlex supply chain, can run on up to 100 million lines of software code -- about 12 times more than in the new F-35 stealth fighter jet.

Like other global technology firms, IBM set up a branch in Beersheba two years ago when the military began moving operations there, including elite intelligence and cyber warfare units whose graduates are behind many of Israel’s private sector successes. IBM has developed a comprehensive prototype, Wolfsthal said, and is looking to integrate it with a car manufacturer. The program will be connected to other IBM systems that can spot patterns of broader security breaches.

NEW SKILLS None of the handful of companies in Israel that spoke with Reuters would give the names of carmakers with whom they are talking. But the pitching

process can include exposing them to the vulnerability of their own models. Check Point said it showed executives from a few large automakers that it can hijack their car’s external communication channel using a handheld transceiver and frequency jammer, both of which can be bought on eBay for a few hundred dollars, and a laptop computer running open-source software.

Also based in Tel Aviv, Argus Cyber Security developed a defense system that protects a car’s internal networks as well as the external wireless connection.

The start-up was founded by graduates of the military’s cyber intelligence unit and in September raised $26 million, including from auto supplier Magna International.

Yoni Heilbronn, the company’s head of marketing, was the only foreigner to appear at a closed-door session last year in the U.S. Congress discussing how to protect connected cars.

“Car manufacturers for the last 100 years simply built cars and were very good at doing that. Cyber security is generally not their core competence,” he said. “This is where it comes back to Israel.”

Page 22

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Business

FG to review insurance bill, says Finance Minister

T

he Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, says plans to review the Insurance Consolidated Bill to ensure an efficient insurance industry in the country have been concluded.

This is contained in a statement on Monday in Abuja by the Director of Press, Ministry of Finance, Mr Marshal Gundu.

Adeosun said that the move aimed to make the Bill conform to the ideals of contemporary insurance practice.

She said that the review would form the basis of a new

draft bill, which would be sent to the National Assembly for consideration.

She said a committee had been constituted to carry out the review and make its findings known in three months.

According to the minister, the Terms of Reference of the committee include a critical review of the draft Insurance Consolidated Bill to make it a framework or principle-based legislation.

She said that the review also aimed to align the insurance

sector with the powers of other financial regulators in the country. ``It will provide a thorough examination of current market problems and recommend appropriate regulatory powers for the sector to allow the Insurance Regulator Act appropriately. ``The committee is to undertake a review of all other insurance laws and update the draft Insurance Consolidated Bill to align with international best practices.

The committee is also to make other recommendations as it deems fit for the overall good of the nation’s insurance industry,’’ she said.

Adeosun said the committee would be chaired by Dr Omogbai Omo-Eboh, a renowned expert in Insurance Law, while Dr Talmiz Usman from National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) was the Secretary.

Members will include representatives of the Ministry of Finance, NAICOM, Nigeria Insurers’ Association, Nigeria

Council of Registered Insurance Brokers and Institute of Loss Adjusters of Nigeria.

Mr Kamar Raji from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Dr Ladi Hamalai of the National Institute of Legal Studies were also named members.

Adeosun said that the activities of the committee would be funded

by NAICOM, the statutory agency of the Federal Government established to regulate and supervise the Nigerian Insurance Sector. (NAN)

L-R: Divisional Head, Corporate Communication, Security Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Naif Abdussalam, Assistant Manager of SEC, Mr. Abubarkar Suleiman, Assistant Manager of SEC, Mr. Abdulrahman Abubakar, and Head of Department, Marketing Development of SEC, Mr. Henry Rowland, during SEC e-dividend registration exercise, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

NSE market capitalisation sheds N233bn T ransactions at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday recorded losses totalling N233 billion following drop in values of major equities.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that market capitalization which opened at N9.30 trillion dipped by N233 billion or 2.61 per cent to close at N9.06 trillion.

Lafarge Africa led the losers’

chart with a loss of N10.14 to close at N94.86 per share.

Dangote Cement followed with a loss of N6.89 to close at N153.10 per share, while Nigerian Breweries dropped by N3.26 to close at N106.24 per share.

7UP shed N3 to close at N182 per share, and PZ decreased in value by N1.08 to close at N22.21 per share.

Conversely, Total led the

gainers’ table, growing by N7.42 per share to close at N155.95 per share.

Ashaka Cement gained N1.20 to close transaction at N1.19 per share , while MC Nicholas appreciated by 5k to close at N1.03 per share. Wema Bank and Learn Africa gained 3k each to close at N1.03 and 85k per share, respectively.

GT Bank was the most

traded stock as investors’ staked N844.29 million on 47.08 million on its shares in 277 deals. UBA sold 19.95 million shares valued at N60.24 million traded in 176 deals, while FBN Holdings accounted for 11.95 million shares worth N52.19 million in 343 deals.

Custodian and Allied Insurance recorded a turnover of 5.01 million shares valued at

N20.34 million transacted in five deals, while Access Bank earned N22.43 million from sale of 4.92 million shares in 84 deals.

NAN reports that turnover volume closed lower with a total of 127.68 million shares valued N1.37 billion in 2,474 deals.

This was in contrast with 235.55 million shares worth N1.94 billion posted in 2,953 deals on Friday. (NAN

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

PAGE 23

Stock Watch: Monday, January 11, 2016 Company

7UP

Previous Closing Price

185.06

184.5

Opening Price

184.5

High

Low

184.5

Close

184.5

Change

Trades

-0.56 25

Volume

Value

Company

Previous Closing Price

Opening Price

High

Low

Close

Change

Trades

Volume

Value

233,796

43,137,315.02 MAYBAKER 1.26 - - - 1.26 5 26,078 32,955.18

ABBEYBDS 1.25 - - - 1.25 0 - -

MBENEFIT 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

ABCTRANS 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0 4 505,000 252,500.00

MCNICHOLS 1.2 - - - 1.2 5 154,383 176,896.62

ACADEMY 0.59 - - - 0.59 0 - ACCESS

4.46

4.46

4.64

4.46

4.5

0.04 321

28,060,764

126,589,999.78

ADSWITCH 1.63 - - - 1.63 0 - AFRIK 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - AFRINSURE 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

MOBIL 138.99 - - - 138.99 20 6,378 854,115.18 MORISON 1.73 - - - 1.73 0 - MRS 49.66 - - - 49.66 1 500 23,590.00 MTECH 0.91 - - - 0.91 0 - MTI 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - MULTITREX 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

AFRIPRUD 2.65 2.7 2.7 2.61 2.61 -0.04 35 553,581 1,479,349.55 MULTIVERSE 0.5 - - - 0.5 1 10,000 5,000.00 AFROMEDIA 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0 1 550,000 275,000.00

NAHCO 4.38 4.17 4.17 4.17 4.17 -0.21 19 203,175 850,145.97

AFRPAINTS 2.59 - - - 2.59 0 - -

NASCON 7.18 7.5 7.3 7.16 7.3 0.12 26 1,031,170 7,479,398.60

AGLEVENT 1.02 0.97 -

-

1.02

8 48,971 46,330.44

AIICO 0.9 0.91 0.91 0.91 0.91 0.01 18 983,972 898,207.23 AIRSERVICE 1.91 - - - 1.91 3 1,505 2,918.35 ALEX 9.84 - - - 9.84 0 - ALUMACO 7.75 - - - 7.75 1 200 1,474.00 ANINO 0.25 - - - 0.25 0 - ARBICO 5.04 - - - 5.04 0 - -

NB 135 135.2 135.2 129.51 129.51 -5.49 105 1,220,085 161,842,702.19 NCR 11.02 - - - 11.02 0 - NEIMETH 1.03 0.98 0.98 0.98 0.98 -0.05 6

126,800 124,264.00

NEM 0.69 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.01 16 1,774,600 1,241,859.00 NESF 552.2 - - - 552.2 0 - NESTLE 814

822.99 822.99 822.99 822.99 8.99 73

115,282 94,401,035.72

NIG-GERMAN 4.91 - - - 4.91 0 - NIGERINS 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

ASHAKACEM 22.5 - - - 22.5 16 55,698 1,233,876.58 NIGROPES 7.46 - - - 7.46 0 - ASOSAVINGS 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

NNFM 8.99 - - - 8.99 0 - -

AUSTINLAZ 2.09 - - - 2.09 0 - -

NPFMCRFBK

AVONCROWN 1.52 - - - 1.52 0 - BECOPETRO 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - BERGER 9.6 9.61 9.61 9.61 9.61 0.01 9 379,696 3,674,398.56 BETAGLAS 48.51 - - - 48.51 0 - -

0.98 0.98 0.98 0.98 0.98 0

6

174,000 170,510.00

NSLTECH 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - OANDO 8.5 8.92 8.92 8.48 8.48 -0.02 364 7,671,197 65,761,034.51 OKOMUOIL 28.82 - - - 28.82 21 108,772 3,056,214.60 OMATEK 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - OMOSAVBNK 0.92 - - - 0.92 0 - -

BOCGAS 4.18 - - - 4.18 0 - PAINTCOM 1.14 - - - 1.14 0 - CADBURY 20.1 - - - 20.1 15 82,240 1,655,764.64 PHARMDEKO 2.14 - - - 2.14 1 5,000 10,850.00 CAP 38 39 39 39 39 1 16 166,666 6,492,031.87 PORTPAINT 3.53 - - - 3.53 0 - CAPHOTEL 4.07 - - - 4.07 0 - -

PREMBREW 2.95 - - - 2.95 0 - -

CAPOIL 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

PREMPAINTS 10.93 - - - 10.93 0 - -

CAVERTON 2.63 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 -0.13 7 145,913 366,122.50 CCNN 8.73 9.16 -

-

8.73

7 51,560 458,087.60

CHAMPION 4.17 4.17 -

-

4.17

11 146,282 587,170.36

CHAMS 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - CHELLARAM 3.76 - - - 3.76 0 - -

PRESCO 30.5 - - - 30.5 6 32,910 1,045,950.40 PRESTIGE 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - PZ 25.5 25 25 25 25 -0.5 33 567,539 14,195,538.05 RAKUNITY 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - REDSTAREX 4.2 - - - 4.2 2 19,785 83,097.00 REGALINS 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

CILEASING 0.5 - - - 0.5 2 4,000 2,000.00

RESORTSAL 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0 1 100,000 50,000.00

CONOIL 27.41 26.04 -

ROADS 6.6 - - - 6.6 0 - -

-

27.41

8

13,350 330,799.00

0.6 - - - 0.6 0 - 1.06 1.01 1.06 1.01 1.06 0 11 3,520,635 3,661,166.09 ROKANA ROYALEX 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - CORNERST 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - RTBRISCOE 0.5 - - - 0.5 3 78,164 39,082.00 COSTAIN 0.5 - - - 0.5 1 5,000 2,500.00 CONTINSURE

COURTVILLE 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - CUSTODYINS 4.1 - - - 4.1 6 16,101 64,845.03 CUTIX 1.45 - - - 1.45 1 26,666 38,665.70 CWG 2.67 - - - 2.67 0 - DAARCOMM 0.5 - - - 0.5 1 4,000 2,000.00

SCOA 4.16 - - - 4.16 0 - -

SEPLAT 230.04 225 225 225 225 -5.04 20 77,862 17,490,790.00 SIMCAPVAL 103.24 - - - 103.24 0 - SKYEBANK 1.9 1.9 1.99 1.9 1.99 0.09 75 2,020,105 3,920,083.45 SKYESHELT 100 - - - 100 0 - SMURFIT 0.98 - - - 0.98 0 - -MAY-

DANGCEM 162 163 163 163 163 1 33 156,759 25,532,904.96

BAKER 1.26 - - - 1.26 5 26,078 32,955.18

DANGFLOUR 2.31 - - - 2.31 16 31,484 75,328.68

MBENEFIT 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

DANGSUGAR

- - - 1.2 5 154,383 176,896.62 6.52 6.32 6.51 6.32 6.51 -0.01 26 343,221 2,210,542.55 MCNICHOLS 1.2 MOBIL 138.99 - - - 138.99 20 6,378 854,115.18

DEAPCAP 0.58 - - - 0.58 0 - -

DIAMONDBNK 2.87 2.8 2.8 2.74 2.74 -0.13 43 1,315,800 3,645,250.00 IPWA 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - JAPAULOIL 0.5 - - - 0.5 1 10,000 5,000.00 JBERGER 39.5 - - - 39.5 4 1,180 44,879.00 JOHNHOLT 0.96 - - - 0.96 0 - -

MORISON 1.73 - - - 1.73 0 - MRS 49.66 - - - 49.66 1 500 23,590.00 MTECH 0.91 - - - 0.91 0 - MTI 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - MULTITREX 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - MULTIVERSE 0.5 - - - 0.5 1 10,000 5,000.00

JOSBREW 1.51 - - - 1.51 0 - -

NAHCO 4.38 4.17 4.17 4.17 4.17 -0.21 19 203,175 850,145.97

JULI 1.75 - - - 1.75 0 - -

NASCON 7.18 7.5 7.3 7.16 7.3 0.12 26 1,031,170 7,479,398.60

LASACO 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0 1 300,000 150,000.00

NB 135 135.2 135.2 129.51 129.51 -5.49 105 1,220,085 161,842,702.19

LAWUNION 0.54 0.53 0.53 0.52 0.52 -0.02 14 910,610 481,548.30

NCR 11.02 - - - 11.02 0 - -

LEARNAFRCA

0.68 0.65 0.65 0.65 0.65 -0.03 10 1,074,871 699,416.15

LENNARDS 3.15 - - - 3.15 0 - LINKASSURE 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - LIVESTOCK 1.4 1.41 1.41 1.41 1.41 0.01 9 134,400 192,410.51 MANDRID 5.35 - - - 5.35 0 - MANSARD 2.62 2.55 -

-

2.62

8 37,850 99,859.50

Top Gainers Company

Previous Closing Price

Opening Price

High

NEIMETH 1.03 0.98 0.98 0.98 0.98 -0.05 6

126,800 124,264.00

NEM 0.69 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.01 16 1,774,600 1,241,859.00 NESF 552.2 - - - 552.2 0 - NESTLE 814

822.99 822.99 822.99 822.99 8.99 73

115,282 94,401,035.72

NIG-GERMAN 4.91 - - - 4.91 0 - NIGERINS 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - NIGROPES 7.46 - - - 7.46 0 - -

Top Losers Low

Close

Change

Trades

Volume

Value

Company

Previous Closing Price

Opening Price

High

Low

Close

Change

Trades

Volume

Value

ALUMACO 7.75 - - - 7.75 1 200 1,474.00

MULTITREX 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

FORTISMFB 5.42 - - - 5.42 0 - -

NNFM 8.99 - - - 8.99 0 - -

UNHOMES 5.23 - - - 5.23 1 3,750 18,637.50

MCNICHOLS 1.2 - - - 1.2 5 154,383 176,896.62

INFINITY 1.42 - - - 1.42 0 - -

UTC 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

OMOSAVBNK 0.92 - - - 0.92 0 - -

UNIONDICON 11.84 - - - 11.84 0 - -

MULTIVERSE 0.5 - - - 0.5 1 10,000 5,000.00

MANDRID 5.35 - - - 5.35 0 - -

ASOSAVINGS 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

CADBURY 20.1 - - - 20.1 15 82,240 1,655,764.64

ABBEYBDS 1.25 - - - 1.25 0 - -

JULI 1.75 - - - 1.75 0 - -

Peoples Daily, Tuesday, January 12, 2016

PAGE 24

PAGE 25

Special Report

E-learning for Africa held back by power shortage K n o w l e d g e economy s a lack of power holding back educational technology in Africa?

There are welldocumented problems about access to education.

The Africa Learning Barometer at the USbased Center for Universal Education at Brookings says of the continent’s nearly 128 million schoolaged children, 17 million will never attend school.

There have been i m p r o v e m e n t s , with targets for the millennium development goals widening access to primary school.

But many millions, particularly in subSaharan Africa, never start school or learn so little that it is hardly worth them attending.

Against this backdrop, education in Africa, particularly in East Africa, has become a hotbed for e-learning.

Education providers, politicians and entrepreneurs agree on the potential of educational technology as a way to reach outof-school children and improve the education received by those that are

I

Educational technology is not going to be any use without affordable power

in school.

‘Huge potential’ “The potential is huge. There are 440 million under-16s on the African continent, and the vast majority of them aren’t getting a quality education, because their schools are overcrowded, with under-trained

teachers, and with little to no learning resources,” said Nisha Ligon, chief executive of Tanzanian company Ubongo, which creates digital content.

“E-learning gives us a great opportunity to supplement these kids’ learning at a massive scale,” says Ms Ligon,

whose company’s television output reaches over 1.5 million households in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Ghana.

“We see e-learning as a huge opportunity to equalise the access to learning material for the majority of schools

Solar power is being predicted as filling the gap in power

in Africa that are underserved financially or academically,” said Nivi Mukherjee, president of education at Kenyan company BRCK. The company’s product, the BRCK, is a rugged, self-powered, mobile wi-fi device aimed at connecting people

to the internet in areas without reliable access to electricity.

The company has rolled out a low-cost tablet running web-based content and locally cached videos, for use by school students.

‘Chronic shortage’ But how do you power

it?

What e-learning devices need more than anything are power and connectivity.

This is an area where many parts of Africa continue to fall short. While internet penetration and grid power have become more widespread, especially

in urban areas, a chronic shortage of power still affects the continent.

According to the African Development Bank almost 620 million people - 60% of Africa’s population - are without access to electricity. In East Africa, only 23% of Kenyans and 15% of

Tanzanians have power.

Although he believes things are getting better, Dr Bitange Ndemo, former permanent secretary in Kenya’s Ministry of Communications, says there is a problem with affordability and the means of accessing power.

“Health centres would be able to connect but there is still a challenge in arid and semi-arid regions that are sparsely populated.

Telecoms firms find it difficult to

connect because there is no business case. Some areas are connected via satellite,” he said.

Ms Ligon says companies such as hers have almost no reach in non-electrified areas.

“And yet in these areas people do still have technology,” she said.

“Radio and basic mobiles are common in rural areas. And smartphones are really starting to pick up.”

Solar power filling gap?

There are positive projections for the future of power provision too.

The International Energy Agency expects 315 million people in rural areas in Africa to gain access to electricity by 2040.

This will increasingly come from off-grid and mini-grid solutions.

Both Mr Ndemo and Ms Ligon believe technologies such as solar will play a huge part in providing power to rural Africa and allow e-learning to flourish.

Jesse Moore, head of Kenyan pay-as-you-go solar provider M-KOPA Solar, says its affordability and scalability make it the best solution, and that it could offer a lifeline to e-learning.

“Simply put, if there is no source of reliable and affordable power, then

“

Although he believes things are getting better, Dr Bitange Ndemo, former permanent secretary in Kenya’s Ministry of Communications, says there is a problem with affordability and the means of accessing power.

“Health centres would be able to connect but there is still a challenge in arid and semi-arid regions that are sparsely populated. Telecoms firms find it difficult to connect because there is no business case. Some areas are connected via satellite,” he said.

Across Africa, 60% of people do not have reliable access to electricity

There are still millions of children in Africa with no access to schools

e-connected devices are going to struggle,” he said.

M-KOPA has already connected over 300,000 households to solar, and expects to pass one million homes by the end of 2017.

“I would bet that in a decade’s time, distributed solar power ends up as the primary power source for half the population,” Mr Moore said.

‘Piece of the puzzle’ Educational technology must be delivered in a way that is relevant and accessible.

Ubongo is focusing on television and radio, popular and widely available, and combining this with mobile phone interaction. Ms Ligon says it provides “really engaging e-learning”.

And she says it is important to think about why people want electricity and how they want to use it.

“Same goes for technologies like smartphones, tablets and laptops. They are all just tools, and we need to understand what people want from them.”

Ms Ligon also stresses that e-learning is not the only solution to educational challenges, but rather a “piece of the puzzle”.

“Teachers are incredibly important, and we need to make sure we’re also investing in teachers and schools, and see how e-learning can supplement them. It is not a replacement.”

Ms Mukherjee said schools needed to be encouraged to be more innovative in the way that they approach learning, while governments needed to invest in digital content.

“As schools have budgets for textbooks, there should be a marketplace for digital content too. Only with good content will we see positive learning outcomes. Without it, it’s just cool devices,” she said.

Source: BBC

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PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Feature

How Che Guevara’s home became a kitesurfing haven

So much so that the couple returned to the resort for a short honeymoon a few months later

S

hortly after the Cuban revolutionaries took power in Havana, Ernesto “Che” Guevara suffered an acute asthma attack. To recover, he moved out to a house in a small resort outside the capital called Tarara.

Pristine Caribbean beaches, crystal-clear waters and crucially for Che’s lungs - clean coastal air, Tarara’s unique microclimate was the perfect setting in which to recuperate from the months of jungle warfare against Fulgencio Batista’s army. By all accounts, Guevara didn’t rest much, holding long meetings late into the night with his comrades.

Still, his wife, Aleida March, remembers their few weeks in Tarara fondly: “We only lived in that house for two months and, although it never became much of a home, I have happy memories of that time,” she wrote in her autobiography.

Built in the 1940s and 1950s, Tarara began life as a seaside getaway for Havana’s wealthy families and the military elites of Batista’s government. In fact, the house where Che Guevara stayed had previously belonged to “a customs official with links to the dictatorship”, wrote March.

But once Fidel Castro took over, most of the residents fled into exile or were forced out.

Today most of the 500 homes in Tarara belong to the state.

Many are in disrepair, frozen in time as though the families who lived in them in 1959 had only just gathered together their

belongings and made their hasty exit to Miami.

The small town has played a number of roles over the years.

At the height of the Cold War, it housed Soviet officials working as government advisors in Cuba.

But after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the resort was used by an altogether more needy group of visitors from the former Soviet bloc.

Thousands of children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 came to Tarara as part of a government-run treatment programme. From 1990, the wards of the Tarara Paediatric Hospital were full of children from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, many suffering from cancers and incurable skin conditions, hoping to benefit from the same restorative airs as Che Guevara decades earlier.

More recently, patients from Venezuela have received cataract treatment at the resort as part of the renowned “oil-for-doctors” agreement in which Cuba pays for Venezuelan oil with healthcare.

But take a drive around Tarara today and you’re unlikely

to find many Venezuelan eye patients or children from Ukraine, but rather kitesurfing

Once a seaside getaway for Cuba’s wealthy and the honeymoon home of Che Guevara, Tarara is now becoming a centre for kitesurfing and other water sports. the ideal wind conditions for water sports and gradually word is getting out.

“There’s very big potential for kite-surfing in Cuba, but especially here in Tarara,” says Matteo Gatti, a tousled-looking 40-something Italian who’s the brains behind the town’s new surfer identity. “We want to make this a sports village where people come to do kitesurfing, paddleboarding, wakeboarding, yoga and cycling.”

“During the hurricane season in Cuba, there is a very good side-on wind and the beaches are empty,” says Gatti, his Cuban-Spanish inflected with Italian. “By day you can kitesurf and at night you can go dancing, go to restaurants or see a concert because Havana is just 10 minutes away. They’re perfect conditions.”

Gatti may be right. As holiday destinations go, the location could hardly be better.

But it won’t be easy to realise his dream of turning Tarara into a Caribbean hub for extreme water sports.

He’s got the timing right, as Cuba gradually opens its doors to foreign investors, especially in tourism. But he has had to wade through layers of bureaucracy

and paperwork to obtain the rights to operate his fledgling business, Havana Kitesurf Club, out of a little office in Tarara.

“We have this permission from the government because I use Cuban people, Cuban instructors,” he explains. Later, one of them, Julio, gives me my first lesson on the shore.

He shows me how to manoeuvre the vast multicoloured kite by imagining the hands of the clock in the sky and weaving it back and forth around the 12 o’clock position.

The idea of manipulating the cumbersome frame while riding a surfboard out at sea seems pretty daunting. For now, I just focus on avoiding bringing it crashing down on the few sunbathers enjoying a picnic on the beach.

“We’re organising an international kitesurfing competition here next year,” Gatti tells me, his enthusiasm infectious.

One wonders what Che would make of a worldwide surf contest in his honeymoon home. Then again, one wonders what he’d make of all the recent changes in Cuba.

Source: BBC

A group of Ukrainian children in Tarara in 2006 - they were affected by the Chernobyl disaster

enthusiasts from around the world. The small resort boasts

the height of the Cold War, it housed “ AtSoviet officials working as government

advisors in Cuba. But after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the resort was used by an altogether more needy group of visitors from the former Soviet bloc.

Matteo Gatti set up his kitesurfing club in 2012

Page 27

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Defence

Army to retire two officers compulsorily over misconduct

By Joy Baba Yesufu

T

he high powered Board of Inquiry set up by Nigerian Army authority to investigate the petitions and allegations of unprofessional and partisan conducts of some officers and men of the Nigerian Army d u ri ng t h e 20 15 g e n e r a l elections, Ekiti and Osun States gubernatorial elections last year, Board after a thorough job had yesterday, submitted its report to the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) LT Gen Tukur Buratai at the Army Headquarters, Abuja.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Ag. Director of Army

Public Relations, Col Sani Usman yesterday in Abuja.

The statement said while submitting the report, the Chairman of the Board, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade and the General Officer Commanding 1 Division Nigerian Army, stated that the Board placed advertorials in the media requesting for memoranda from the public before they commenced sitting saying that in all, 23 officers and over 100 soldiers appeared before it as well as 62 civilians.

According to him, the Board had made far reaching recommendations that would assist the Nigerian Army and the nation in the future. He further added that; 2 officers were

Lieutenant -General Tukur Buratai, Army chief

recommended for compulsory retirement from the Nigerian Army, three are to lose their command and one was recommended for prosecution for collecting financial gratification.

Other recommendations Gen Oyebade said include placing 15 officers on watch list, 9 officers were to be further investigated by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission over allegations leveled against them.

While 6 officers were to face an audit committee and 62 officers (mostly of the rank of Majorsbelow) were to be given Letters of Displeasure and to appear before their respective General Officers

Commanding for counseling.

He thanked the Nigerian Army for the opportunity to serve and reiterated the Board’s members’ willingness to serve when called upon for any other such assignment.

He also acknowledged the support and cooperation they received from the Nigerian Police and other security agencies, as well as the general public.

In his remarks while receiving the report, the Chief of Army Staff, thanked the Board for a thorough and dispassionate job devoid of influence from any quarters.

He expressed delight that the Board, knowing the gravity and implication of their report on the

careers of officers and impact on the Nigerian Army, discharged their assignment diligently and professionally. He assured them that the report would be reviewed accordingly, in line with Nigerian Army’s legal and administrative procedures.

The Army Chief also enjoined members of the Board to share knowledge acquired in the course of their assignment with their colleagues for the benefit of the Nigerian Army and the nation.

He further reiterated assurances that the Nigerian Army would continue to remain professional and apolitical in the discharge of its responsibilities.

Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Abayomi Olonisakin

Army urged to assist families of deceased officers From Ahmed Kaigam, Bauchi

T

he Commandant 33 Artillery Brigade Bauchi Brigadier Abraham Luka Dusu has charged serving officers and men of the Nigeria Army to assist the dead, the living heroes and dependants, including all those who suffered various deprivations as a result of wars.

Brigadier Abraham made the charge in an interview with newsmen in Bauchi yesterday

saying we owe the fallen heroes and their dependants a sympathy and care.

“We have that responsibility of taken care of the dependants of the deceased heroes and either serving military officers reside or where living ex-service men occupy” he said Dusu reiterates that soldiers have played vital role more than any other individuals in keeping the country peaceful a n d i n d i vi s i b le s ince it got

independence to date urging citizens to reciprocate by giving helping hands to siblings of the ‘fallen heroes’ and continued support to the living officers so that they would succeed in surmounting the security challenges faced by the nation.

According to him, the military in collaboration with other security agencies has in recent time recorded tremendous successes in the fight against insurgency in the northern part of

the country assuring that efforts would be intensified to free the nation from all acts of terror in the shortest possible time.

The army commander who asserted that all Nigerians are stake holders in the security business also asked Christians and Muslims clergy men and their followers to always put the nation in prayers to get rid of its numerous problems whenever they perform their religious functions.

Also speaking the Pastor

of the ‘Shadawanka’ barracks’ church Captain Reverend Ibrahim Mavisky explained that the special service was organized in honour of deceased soldiers who died while in active service to the country and pray for the repose of their souls “This is a day of given honour to the fallen and living heroes who hazarded and continue to hazard their lives for the territorial integrity of the nation and for peace to reign worldwide.” he said

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Page 28

Agriculture Farmer wants all tiers of govt to invest in agriculture

M

r. Owali Ilem, former Chairman of Cross River Commercial A g r i c u l t u r e Development Association (CADA), on Sunday urged all tiers of government to prioritize agriculture for the country to prosper.

Owali made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar.

He said that the country had huge agricultural potentials that should be fully harnessed for the nation to solve her socioeconomic problems, including unemployment.

He said that if government focused more on agricultural, there would be enough food for the citizenry and raw materials for local industries and exportation.

According to him, government, especially at the local and state levels, should not pay lip service to agriculture, but encourage the private sector to embrace commercial farming.

“Let all tiers of government, groups and individuals invest heavily in agriculture and Nigeria will be better for it,” he said.

Owali said government should support the poor and rural farmers through supply of inputs and farm implements.

“Farmers in the rural areas are poor and need government’s encouragement through supply of inputs, implements and granting of interest-free loans.

“Government at all levels should provide the enabling environment’ such as good roads and help those interested in commercial farming to secure land,” he pointed The former chairman noted that the country’s overdependence on oil revenue had adversely affected the economy, adding that prioritization was one way to rescue the nation’s economy.

“Before the discovery of oil, we had groundnut pyramids in the north, palm oil in the east and cocoa in the west among other resources. All these were abandoned because of oil.

“From the south to the north, Nigeria has enough agricultural potential that can make her be among the richest economies in the world.

“But this can only be achieved if all hands are on deck. It goes beyond government; individuals and groups must also show interest in investing in agriculture,” he said. NAN

Cashew not tree

Cashew farmers made good profit in 2015 season – Group

By Agi Victor with agency report

T

he National Cashew Association of Nigeria has on Sunday said they recorded huge sales and made profits from cashew nuts during the 2015 cashew season.

This was made known by some cashew farmers in Lagos who stated that the current global market trends showed an increase in demand for cashew.

The association’s spokesperson, Mr Sotonye Anga said that this was due to Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) and improvement introduced to farmers in 2014.

“We are glad to witness the prosperity of cashew farmers in Nigeria. It goes a great deal to show that NCAN is working and in collaboration with government and our development partners.

“The current global market trends show an increasing and strong demand for cashew and Nigeria will continue to deliver its quota and remain relevant in the cashew world.

“I therefore, urge our cashew farmers nationwide to be serious

with the cashew business and be committed to GAP and quality improvement protocols so as to get the cash in cashew.

“It is obvious that local cashew farming and processing holds a great potential for national economic growth, development, employment creation and better income for farmers in rural areas” he said.

According to Anga, with little more steps to support the subsector by the Federal Government, cashew will soon become the number one cash crop in Nigeria.

He said, “We hope to do much more for the cashew sector and create more prosperity for our cashew farmers, cashew processors, traders and exporters.’’

Anga told NAN that Africa produced over 50 per cent of the world’s cashew and Nigeria was among the top three largest cashew producers in Africa.

He said about 400,000 hectares of land was being used for cashew production across the country.

Anga, however, noted that Nigeria’s annual yield per hectare was low because the nation’s

current annual production stood at 150,000 tonnes of raw cashew nuts.

He said the association was moving forward by rejuvenating cashew plantations and increasing the area of land under cashew production in Nigeria.

Anga told NAN that the recent successes of cashew farmers in some parts of Kogi State had further encouraged the association to continue its drive to empower cashew farmers nationwide.

He said cashew farmers were already clearing their farms for the 2016 season.

Some cashew farmers in Umoni Village, Ofu Local Government Area in Kogi told NAN on telephone that they were happy with the development as their lives had become better.

A cashew farmer, Mr. Samuel Haruna said he was able to roof his family house with the sales he recorded from the 2015 cashew season.

Haruna, who had been in the cashew business for more than 20 years, said he never really made profit from selling raw cashew nuts as much as he made in 2015 season.

“I was able to buy 14 bundles of roofing zinc to roof my family house. I have been involved in cashew farming for 20years and I never had it this good.

“This 2015 cashew season was really good for me and for my people, I realised good money from the sale of cashew.

“We cashew farmers from Umoni village are very happy; we are pleased with the activities of NCAN and all the efforts at improving cashew farmer’s livelihood.

“This year I made good money from my cashew farm for the first time. Not just me but other cashew farmers made good money too” he said.

A 30-year-old cashew farmer, Mr Joel Thomas told NAN that he bought a jeep from the sale of cashew recently.

Another cashew farmer, also from Umoni Village, Mr Ibrahima Sule, said he bought a Toyota car from the sale of cashew in 2015.

A 35-year-old, Mr Isaac Idanyi said he was able to build a fourbedroom flat from the sale of cashew nuts.

FG to empower over 30,000 youths in agriculture

By Agi Victor

I

n an effort to promote decent income generation and livelihood for Nigerian Youth, towards curbing the menace of unemployment in the country, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, has commenced the process of empowering about 30,000 youths based on priority

value chains, through the Youth Empowerment in Agricultural Programme (YEAP).

This was made known by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Architect Sunny Echono, in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, during a meeting with stakeholders in the Poultry Industry in Abuja.

Echono disclosed that the ministry received about 34,000 applications

from intending Nagropreneurs and Market Oriented Producers from 12 participating states, including the FCT. He said a total of 250 Nagropreneurs would be selected per state including FCT under the first phase of the project. “ Validation and final selection of the young Nagropreneurs and Market Oriented producers would be done at state levels in collaboration with

the ministry’s state directors, while training would be conducted for the beneficiaries at different credible Agricultural and Research Institutions, Universities and other Vocational training centers across Nigeria”, he stated.

The participating states are, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Oyo, Abia, Katsina, Lagos, Niger, and Ogun.

Page 29

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Agriculture

FG develops 9m oil palm sprouts for farmers, investors

By Patience Paul with agency report

T

he Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has urged farmers and investors to take advantage of nine million oil palm sprouts developed by the

ministry to develop the sector.

The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Sonny Echono, who made the call while briefing newsmen in Abuja said that the ministry was determined to make Nigeria a net exporter of the produce.

He said the seedlings had

already been distributed to major oil palm companies as well as individuals, noting that large stocks of the seedling were still left in a number of states across the country. ``We want to bring this to the attention of potential investors and oil palm farmers to off take these

seedlings and make use of it. ``They are available in 24 states of the Federation, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Edo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Osun, Kwara, Adamawa, Benue, Kaduna, Taraba, Nasarawa, Kogi and Plateau states. ``They are being sold at highly

subsidised rate of 80 naira per raised seedling; we have raised them for one year and they are ready for planting,’’ he said.

He said they are economic trees when planted, has high returns and they remain relevant for several years, encouraging Nigerians to take advantage of the evolution in the oil palm industry.

He said the seedlings were developed in collaboration with Oil Palm Research Institute.

Don’t mishandle pesticide, CPC advices farmers involvement of consultants

By Agi Victor

I

A typical maize farm

Nigeria @ 55: Don calls on FG to restore agriculture

By Agi Victor

A

professor of Agricultural sciences, Friday Omoregbe, has called on the Federal Government to restore extension services and produce improved seedlings to boost agricultural production in the country.

Omoregbe, who is a lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension Services, University of Benin, made the call while in a chat with newsmen in Benin City, the Edo State Capital, on the event of the nation’s 55th independence anniversary.

He said that not much achievement was recorded in the sector, 55 years after the country got independence, except for those recorded in the previous administrations.

The don said that the extension practice in the country had gone comatose, stressing that without efficient extension services, meaningful progress would not be made in the country’s agriculture sector.

“Before the previous administration, achievement in the agriculture sector was low but there has been a tremendous change which started in the previous

administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

“Most crops that were only seen as food crops and not cash crops, such as, cassava, maize, beans and oil palm are now cash crops.

“But there is a decline in the production of some cash crops such as cocoa, rubber, oil palm that used to earn foreign exchange for the country.

“The key information needed by farmers especially to those in the rural areas to boost production should be provided.

“There is technological advancement in the agriculture sector since independence but the

challenge is the rate of adoption of these technologies by farmers. We have to encourage rural extension services which should be a multiple service approach, including government, private sector and NGOs to disseminate information to these farmers,’’ he said.

The don said that there would be a revolution in the agriculture sector: “with the increase rate of unemployment in the country, and having more graduates go into agriculture, agriculture will become a business. It will no longer be seen as a profession for old persons and illiterates but as a viable enterprise,’’ he said.

Farmer blames slow growth of agriculture on involvement of consultants

A

n Osogbo based farmer, Alhaji khamis Olatunde, on Friday blamed the slow growth of agriculture in Nigeria on involvement of consultants in the implementation of government programmes and policies.

Olatunde, a businessman and the Chief Executive Officer of Tuns holdings and farms, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo.

He alleged that most of the consultants employed by government to implement its various agricultural programmes “don’t know anything about real farming.”

“Those consultants are always hanging around government agencies and ministries, with high-tech power presentation of how farming production would be done, deceiving the government while in the real sense they don’t know anything about practical

farming,” Olatunde said.

He, therefore, advised government to make the good use of real practising farmers who operate on farms in order to promote its agricultural policies and programmes.

Olatunde, however, urged government to identify such practising farmers and channel its agricultural programmes through them for effective and maximum results.

He stressed the need

for government to encourage mechanised farming as being practised in other countries, saying “that is what makes agriculture work for them.”

“For effective agriculture development, productions of agricultural crops should be based on geo-political zones with comparative advantage.

“This is a major way by which we can produce enough food crops that will feed the whole nation,” he said. (NAN)

n line with its mandate of protecting lives of Nigerians, the Consumer Protection Council, CPC, has advised farmers and other users of other agro-allied chemicals against improper handling during application.

The advice was given by the Director-General, CPC, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, at a workshop organised by the council in collaboration with the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme- Nigeria.

She said that mishandling of the chemicals could cause death, cancer, miscarriage and respiratory diseases, among others.

Represented by the Director, Quality Assurance and Development, CPC, Mr. Emmanuel Amlai, she said the mishandling of pesticides, herbicides and rodenticides had “led to death in some cases, while some people had developed illnesses like cancer and respiratory diseases and miscarriages, among others.”

She further warned retailers of substandard or banned pesticides to desist from doing so or be ready to face the wrath of the law, noting that the agency would not spare anybody caught selling any of the banned chemicals.

“Let me sound a note of warning to those unscrupulous retailers who engage in the sale of banned and substandard pesticides, that my council will ensure that anyone caught in the act will not be spared from the full wrath of the law,” she said.

She also appealed to farmers and other users of agro-chemicals to dispose their remnants and their containers at sites approved for such, saying improper disposal could pollute underground water which will be harmful to human health.

“Consumers are also expected to understand the environment and the consequences of chemicals in order to conserve natural resources and protect the earth for future generations.

“As pesticide users, it is, therefore, expected that you will recognise standard pesticides even from their labels and packaging, and you should use them responsibly to avoid damage to health and the environment,” she added.

Page 30

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Feature

The art detective fighting to save Syria’s past

The UN cultural agency, Unesco, has condemned the destruction at Palmyra as a war crime yria’s cultural heritage is being identify works that are being looted. A you have a receipt? Was there a history that attacked from all sides: the Assad museum can download its entire collection was given to you? We can’t always rely on regime, opportunistic looters, and say ‘put this on your database; if it because we’ve known the smugglers to opposition forces, so-called Islamic anything ever appears in the marketplace, falsify provenance information. But we look State fighters and even Russian air strikes. it’s not authorised to be sold’. at what was given. And we’re pretty adept Ancient sites like Palmyra have suffered “As soon as the conflict happened in at determining whether it’s legitimate or destruction, and it is feared that hundreds Syria, we reached out to our contacts on the not or whether it was made up or whether of precious valuables have been smuggled ground to put everything they could on the it’s completely absent. out of the country to be sold on the database, even before it was stolen.

“We then notify the authorities. We international art market. are a free service to law enforcement.

Art specialist Christopher Marinello is Syria’s riches chief executive of the Art Recovery Group, • Syria’s oldest sites date back which has retrieved US$500m (£330m) of 5,000 years, to the Early Bronze Age stolen and looted works of art over the past • It has more than 10,000 decade.

Mesopotamian tells or archaeological He spoke to the BBC World Service mounds Inquiry programme about what can be • Syria has six Unesco World done to help stop the theft of the country’s Heritage Sites: Ancient city of Damascus, precious antiquities.

Site of Palmyra, Ancient city of Bosra, “We’ve been aware of smuggled goods Ancient city of Aleppo, Krak des Chevaliers from Syria for some time. As a lawyer in / Saladin’s Castle, Ancient Byzantine New York, I represented a lot of galleries, villages of Northern Syria auction houses and dealers that had • Twelve more Syrian sites are on problems bringing items in and out of the Unesco’s list for future consideration United States. So I was very aware of the “Once a looted object is reported to smuggling routes that take place, and the us, it goes onto the database. Then we traffic that is involved with antiquities. check the sales catalogues of all the major “What’s happened now is Isis and other auction houses. We’ve got teams of people people are taking advantage of the war in checking eBay, Amazon, other sale venues.

Syria to tap into these markets and sell their We’re also a very sophisticated searchable goods on a worldwide basis. database with visual recognition software, “You’ve got some very poor people doing so dealers and collectors contact us and say They know that if they place objects on the digging, and selling to a middleman ‘I’m about to buy something’ or ‘someone’s our database, we will tell them where they who moves the objects on to Lebanon, approached me with something. Should I are. We turn over all the information. I’m through Beirut into Turkey and then into buy it? Is it on your database?’ about to go to Venice at the invitation of the Western world. We’ve heard reports of “The first thing we look at is the the Italian government, and that follows Isis taxing the trade, up to around 20%. provenance. Where did you get it from? Do Poland and Romania and Bulgaria and “The number one funding for Isis is oil, and after that, kidnapping and ransom demands. When they don’t have access to those, they look for something else, and the antiquities in their backyard have provided a natural source for income.

Syria’s cultural heritage is being attacked from all sides: Satellite image of Palmyra showing destruction of the Temple of Bel in August the Assad regime, opportunistic looters, opposition forces, 2015 “Stopping this crisis requires a multiso-called Islamic State fighters and even Russian air faceted approach, where number one is [to] strikes. stop the war. Number two is to increase awareness of collectors and dealers and Ancient sites like Palmyra have suffered destruction, and auction houses not to purchase material that has no provenance. it is feared that hundreds of precious valuables have been “We are just one small portion of the smuggled out of the country to be sold on the international solution: we run the Art Claim database.

We have donated our services to museums art market. and anyone on the ground who wants to

S

“

other governments.

“We have several hundred thousand objects on our database, and that’s only since March, 2015. It’s growing exponentially. The FBI database has just 15,000 objects. The Interpol database has about 40,000 objects. The Italian police have a fantastic database, and next year they will be changing it to work with Interpol.

“But they’re not actually checking the marketplace the way we are. They don’t have the funds to do that. They don’t have the manpower.

“The Italians have done it right: they’ve got 300 officers dedicated to art crime. But let’s look at the United States: a 320 million population with just 16 FBI agents in the art crime team. And they’re also assigned to bomb duty as well.

“Here in London there are just a handful of in the art crime unit. They are overworked, underpaid and the whole department could use an overhaul.

“We’ve noticed a big jump in dealers and collectors checking with us, and that is evidence of fear.

“In the US, the FBI has issued a declaration that anybody who is found to have been purchasing looted Syrian objects could be prosecuted under a US Federal Law about funding international terrorism.

That’s pretty scary.

“We’ve seen some wild reports that the markets are being flooded with this material, but we haven’t seen the really high-end antiquities getting here. We know of a recent container that was seized here in the UK with a great deal of Syrian looted objects on it, and I can’t go too much beyond that because it’s a current investigation

here in the UK. “But other than that container, we’re seeing a lot of low-level material, and a lot of fakes. A lot of people are trying to take advantage of the situation and send fakes through and pretend that they’re real.

“The better, more reputable auction houses do not want to sell this type of material in their sales room. It’s the lower to mid-level dealer that [poses the risk]. It’s that way with fine art as well: you always have those people who are looking to get a good deal without asking any questions.

“That’s a big threat because it creates a market, and as long as there’s a market for this type of illicit and looted material, it’s going to be dug out of the ground. And when you have a situation like we have in Syria - where the government is near collapse, and there’s no authority to really stop the export of this type of material - you have chaos.”

Source: BBC

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

PAGE 31

Women coming from farm along Jikwai Road, yesterday, in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Man docked over N1m land fraud A

47-year-old man, Uzoma Kalu, who allegedly obtained N1 million on the pretext of selling a plot of land to another man, has appeared before a Wuse Zone 2 Senior Magistrates’ Court, Abuja.

Kalu was, however, remanded

in prison custody until the next date of adjournment.

The accused, whose address is unknown, is facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and fraud.

Sgt. Christopher Johnson told the court that the case was reported by the complainant, Mr. Emmanuel

Balogun of Citec Estate, Life Camp at Utako Police station on December 11.

The prosecutor said the accused and his accomplice, Emmanuel Chijoke, still at large, conspired and deceived the complainant into paying for a plot of land at Lugbe, Airport Road, Abuja.

“The complainant paid the accused and his accomplice the sum of N1 million for the land.

“After collecting the money, they absconded until the accused was arrested on December 11,” he said.

The offences contravened

Sections 79 and 322 of the Penal Code, Laws of the Federation respectively.

The accused however pleaded not guilty.

Magistrate Fatima Bukar adjourned the case to January 18 for further hearing. (NAN)

Agent docked for alleged certificate forgery

P

olice have arraigned a travelling agent, Segun Adetuwo, 40, before Zone 2 Senior Magistrates’ for allegedly forging medical certificate for a client.

Prosecutor Osa Oyeyemi said that Akindele Ayo, Managing

Director, Everyday Scan, Nyanya, Abuja, reported the matter through a petition to the Police Command on October 10, 2015.

Oyeyemi said that the accused in September last year forged a medical certificate

that a client used to process travelling documents to Ukraine for studies.

He said the accused also used the complainant’s office name, with the stamp and signature to forge the medical certificate.

The prosecutor added that

the complainant discovered the act on October 1, 2015 when the accused client who went to Ukraine came to the complainant’s office for renewal of the certificate.

He said that during police investigation the accused

admitted that he forged the original medical certificate he obtained for one of his client for another client.

Oyeyemi said the offence contravened Section 364 of Penal Code and the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge. (NAN)

NGO reiterates commitment to girl-child education, youth empowerment

By Saratu Ibrahim

D

pat Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, has reiterated its resolve towards promoting girl-child education and youth empowerment amongst other priorities on its agenda this year.

The NGO revealed it had evolved measures that training of youth on modern technology, especially in computer skills would be given proper attention across the six FCT area councils for 2016.

According to the Foundation president and chief executive officer, Mrs. Patience Ardey, who disclosed this in Gwagwalada Area Council,

recently, there would be more concentration on sensitization of parents within the rural communities in FCT on the need to enroll their girls in school.

“We shall be focusing more on teaching the youths on how to create bloggers, and how to manage it effectively. “This will add to their computer knowledge and usage even provide avenue for them to get employment in

many places, after the training.”

“Our awareness campaign will start in the first quarter of 2016; we will group people in a particular place and train them, after which the team will move to another area, till the major communities we have mapped out, are fully covered,” she stressed.

Furthermore, Ardey said that the foundation was interested in

youth empowerment because of their future, which they could help in building a virile society.

However, she appealed to the area council chairmen and well to do individuals to support the foundation in achieving its goals, as since its inception in 1986, funding has been through petty projects; saying that “Dpat is not tired in empowering rural dwellers.”

PAGE 32

Photo Splash

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Children at the Internally Displace Persons (IDPs) Camp, recently at Wassa, in Abuja.

A scavenger on the move, yesterday in Mararaba.

Women carrying firewood at the Federal Secretariat, yesterday in Abuja.

Scavengers at public dustbin, yesterday in Mararaba.

Hawkers waiting for traffic to build up along Zuba Road, yesterday in Abuja.

Photos: Mahmud Isa

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

PAGE 33

Metro

Abuja lawyers express mixed feelings over high bail conditions

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ome legal practitioners in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have expressed mixed feelings over the bail conditions handed down to defendants by courts in the Territory and country at large.

Some of the lawyers told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) last week that the bail conditions were normal while others said it was not attainable.

A senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Solo Akuma, appealed to the public not to assume that bail conditions were ``stringent or unattainable.’’

Akuma said, ``it is the nature of the offence that determines the bail that is given to a defendant.’’

Another lawyer, Mr. Labaran

Magaji, who corroborated Akuma, said that bail conditions were at the discretion of courts.

A female lawyer, Mrs. Adaeze Anah, said “bail is a shield and not a sword; so, I can’t say whether it is attainable or unattainable.

“There are factors that determine the kind of bail conditions given to an accused person.’’

In his reaction, another legal mind, Mr. Godwin Chukwu, told NAN that bail conditions should not infringe on a defendant’s liberty.

Chukwu said that bail must be exercised judiciously and judicially, adding that serious offences usually attract high and unattainable conditions.

He, however, cautioned that it should not be allowed to defeat the end of justice.

“Bail is free and the actual reason for bail is to ensure attendance in court and for temporal liberty of the defendant. ``Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution presumes a defendant innocent until proven otherwise,’’ he stressed.

Also, another lawyer, Mr. Ahmed Jega said, ``in my opinion high bail conditions is to put fear in the defendants in order for them to show up in court on the adjourned dates.’’

Not left out, Oyeyemi Adeniyi and Kunle Aladetoyinbo, said that high bail conditions were lawful because the court sets the

bail bond based on fairness, good conscience and natural justice.

Adeniyi said that “bail is a bond and is free only if the court makes an order to pay a certain amount. ``Bail is a recognisance entered into in the court and if the defendant refuses to appear in court, the set amount would be forfeited to the government.

“The gravity of the offence determines how high the bail bond is and the beauty of it is that you are not paying the amount as long as the defendant shows up; the court wants a traceable and reliable surety and bail is at its discretion.’’

But, Mr. Jude Kalejaiye, said that the judicial system should

A wheel barrow pusher on the move, yesterday at Nyanya, in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Development: Activist wants FCT Minister to focus on Area Councils

By Usman Shuaibu

A

Human Rights activist in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Alhaji Mohammed Guwa Lamorde, has called on the FCT minister, Malam Muhammad Bello to as a matter of urgency focus on the development of the six Area councils of the Territory.

He charged the minister to deem it necessary to visit communities across the area

councils, so as to ascertain the distinctive problems affecting the welfare of the people there.

Lamorde, who is also a retired civil servant made the call in an interview with Peoples Daily at the weekend in Gwagwalada, He expressed with dismay that the immediate past minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed had neglected the area councils in terms of provision of basic social

facilities, and urged the present minister to expedite action to reverse the trend.

He pleaded with the minister to implement policies and programmes that will be of benefit to the residents of the nation’s capital.

According to him, the minster should accord priority to critical road rehabilitation in the satellite towns.

He therefore, advised the minister to use his knowledge

to appoint good hands that are ready to work with him to move the FCT to higher heights.

While commenting on the forthcoming Area councils’ election in the FCT this year, Lamorde appealed to the leadership of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as political parties to ensure that their actions are within the purview of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

be checked for inconsistency concerning the bail conditions given to defendants by courts.

Kalejaiye told NAN that some of the conditions were unrealistic given that most of the sureties were supposed to be civil servants.

He said: “It makes mockery of the system; the idea behind the amount to be paid by the surety is just in case the defendant happens to jump bail or something else happens.

“Now, you give bail option in millions of naira and you say a surety must be a director in the federal civil service and must have landed property, may be specifically in Abuja.

“Does this not raise a question where the director is supposed to get that amount of money and property from, looking at his take home pay?”

He added that the conditions have made it almost impossible for people to stand as sureties to defendants because they were afraid.

According to him, the initial idea of the huge bail amount may be to make it impossible for high profile in the society to get bail.

Kalejaiye, however, said that these people still find one or two persons who openly stand for them.

In the same vein, Mr. Ifeanyi Amasiorah, who said that stringent bail conditions was not part of the country’s laws, noted that some courts were exercising its discretion wrongly.

“Courts are not meant to give stringent bail conditions because it is not in line with the law of the land.

“If such bail condition is higher than the accused then it amount to no bail at all,’’ Amasiorah said.

Also, a human right activist, Mr. Kanu Chijioke, said that bail conditions were supposed to be liberal adding that it was unlawful to give a stringent bail conditions.

Chijioke, who said that the laws were already provided in the law books, noted that it was unfair to put a defendant in custody on bailable charges.

“It is unfair to keep somebody in prison and say you are investigating the refusal of the executive to obey the court order. ``Executive lawlessness is the major problem of our country today,’’ he said.

However, Mr. Gabriel Egbule, reminded the courts of the advice of the Supreme Court not to imposed stringent bail conditions on any matter before it. (NAN)

Page 34

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Money Sense

How to start a cleaning business A

nd that’s why few industries can claim the variety and depth of opportunities that professional cleaning can.

The cleaning industry has two primary market groups: consumer and commercial. The consumer arena consists primarily of residential maid services, along with carpet cleaners, window cleaners and a variety of other cleaning services required on a less-frequent basis. The commercial arena is dominated by janitorial services, which typically provide a wider range of services than maid services, along with other cleaning companies, such as carpet and window cleaners that target businesses rather than individual consumers.

While it’s recommended that you decide on a niche and concentrate on building a business that will serve your chosen market, it’s entirely realistic to expect to be able to serve multiple markets successfully.

Before you leap into the cleaning business, it’s important to look at it with 20/20 vision.

Though technology has certainly had an impact on cleaning services, this is not a high-tech business. Nor is there any glitz to it. And there will be times when you’ll have as much trouble as Rodney Dangerfield getting respect.

But the upside is that you can build an extremely profitable business that will generate revenue very quickly. Most cleaning service businesses can be operated on either a part-time or

If it can get dirty, chances are someone will be willing to pay you to clean it. full-time basis, either from home or from a commercial location.

That flexibility gives this industry a strong appeal to a wide range of people with a variety of goals.

Another positive aspect of the industry is that within each category of cleaning businesses are market niches and operating styles that vary tremendously.

Salt Lake City janitorial service owner Michael R. says, “We offer a wide range of services to a very limited clientele. We have refined our customer base to a group that we feel we can best serve in a way that will allow us to maintain those customers permanently.”

This means you can build a company that suits your

individual style and talents. If you like doing the work yourself, you can stay small and do so. If your skills are more administrative in nature, you can build and manage teams to do the work. For people who like working outside, the opportunities in service areas such as window cleaning and pressure washing are abundant.

Residential maid services offer fairly predictable hours; disaster restoration and cleanup can mean calls at all hours of the day or night.

Few industries offer this tremendous range of choices and opportunities, and the need for general and niche cleaning is expected to increase in the future.

manage your time efficiently, and you must be able to build relationships with your employees and your customers.

a drawback. The advantage is that you can do things your way.

The drawback is that you have no guidelines to follow. Everything you do, from defining your market to cleaning a bathtub, is a result of trial and error. As an independent owner, you must research every aspect of the business, both before and during your business’s lifetime, so you’ll start right and adapt to market changes.

too, at your personal line of credit.

Many a successful business has been started with credit cards.

Friends and family: The next logical step after gathering your own resources is to approach friends and relatives who believe in you and want to help you succeed. Be cautious with these arrangements; no matter how close you are, present yourself professionally, put everything in writing, and be sure the individuals you approach can afford to take the risk of investing in your business. Never ask a friend or family member to invest or loan you money they can’t afford to lose.

Partners: Using the “strength in numbers” principle, look around for someone who may want to team up with you in your venture. You may choose someone who has financial resources and wants to work side-by-side with you in the business. Or you may find someone who has money to invest but no interest in doing the actual work. Be sure to create a written partnership agreement that clearly defines your respective responsibilities and obligations.

Government programs: Take advantage of the abundance of local, state and federal programs designed to support small businesses. Make your first

stop the U.S. Small Business Administration; then investigate various other programs. Women, minorities and veterans should check out niche financing possibilities designed to help these groups get into business.

The business section of your local library is a good place to begin your research.

One of the hottest business trends today is to be home based, and cleaning services are excellent candidates for this type of setup.

After all, your customers will likely never come to your facility since all your work is done on their premises. But that’s not the only issue influencing your decision to operate from a home based office or a commercial location.

Many municipalities have ordinances that limit the nature and volume of commercial activities that can occur in residential areas. Some outright prohibit the establishment of home based businesses. Others may allow such enterprises but place restrictions regarding issues such as signage, traffic, employees, commercially marked vehicles and noise. Before you apply for your business license, find out what ordinances govern home based businesses; you may need to adjust your plan to be in compliance.

…Do you have what it takes?

T he necessary qualifications depend, of course, on the type of cleaning service you decide to start. But for any type of service business, you need a determination to make the business work, a willingness to please the customer and the dedication to provide a thorough cleaning job.

Another critical requirement for the owner and the employees of any type of cleaning service is honesty. “Clients must have total trust in the people who come to clean their homes,” says Fenna O, who owns a maid service in Orlando, Florida. This is important whether they’re cleaning bathrooms every week or carpets twice a year--or dusting and vacuuming an office at night.

A maid service is probably the simplest business in terms of necessary cleaning skills.

Janitorial services, carpet cleaning businesses and other niche cleaning operations often require the use of special equipment and/ or cleaning solutions for which you must be trained.

Beyond actually being able to do the work, a cleaning service operator needs some basic business skills. You need to understand the administrative requirements of running a company, you should be able to

Franchise or independent operation: That franchises will work closely with you as you start your business and take it to the point where it is running smoothly and profitability is an advantage, especially in the beginning. But you may find that once you become established and are financially secure, a franchise agreement is a decided disadvantage.

For people who want to own their own business but would rather choose an opportunity that has proven successful for many others rather than gambling on developing their own system, a franchise is the way to go.

Also, most franchises provide a degree of marketing support-particularly in the area of national advertising and name recognition; that’s extremely difficult for individuals to match.

In the long run, you’ll likely invest far less money operating as an independent service than as part of a franchise. Also, as an independent, you’re not tied to any pre-established formulas for concept, name, services offered, etc. That’s both an advantage and

Target market: Most of the cleaning service operators we spoke with used personal savings to start their businesses, and then reinvested their early profits to fund growth.

If you need to purchase equipment, you should be able to find financing, especially if you can show that you’ve put some of your own cash into the business. Beyond traditional financing, you have a range of options when it comes to raising money. Some suggestions: Your own resources: Do a thorough inventory of your assets.

People generally have more assets than they immediately realize. This could include savings accounts, equity in real estate, retirement accounts, vehicles, recreation equipment, collections and other investments. You may opt to sell assets for cash or use them as collateral for a loan. Take a look,

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

world news

Page 35

international_peoplesdailyng@yahoo.com

Starving Syria as a weapon analysis

By James Denselow

N

obody should doubt the tactics that the Syrian regime and its allies will countenance in order to win this war. The horror of Madaya has been told in the pictures of emaciated children and the stories of people forced into eating cats, dogs, grass and whatever else they can find to survive. Starvation can be added to a list that includes chemical weapons, barrel bombs, massacres and indiscriminate artillery use on built-up urban areas.

Madaya had previously seen a single food distribution on October 18 before a stranglehold took place that has now seen huge suffering for an estimated 40,000 residents. In Madaya, 25 miles away from Bashar al-Assad’s presidential palace, 23 Syrians, including children, starved to death last month. Others risk landmines and sniper fire to do whatever they can to keep their families alive. Seen in isolation, the story of Madaya could appear as just another tragic chapter in the story of Syria’s bloody civil war. However, the tactics of starvation have both context and history, while lessons can be learned about how media attention and pressure have led to access being promised for aid and desperately needed relief.

Not a new weapon tarvation is not a new weapon but a tactic from medieval times finding modern applications. Hezbollah’s reported role in the siege of Madaya has parallels with the role of militias in the War of the Camps during the Lebanese Civil War. This conflict within a conflict in the 1980s saw siege tactics applied on Palestinian refugee camps by militias in urban areas, with similar consequences for anything edible. Pauline Cutting’s powerful chronicle of life working as a medic in a camp, Children of the Siege, told of people having to eat insects and even contemplating eating bodies of the fallen in order to survive. As a tactic, starvation not only weakens your enemy but also places them under increasing pressure to care for civilians within the besieged site. In Syria, it is also an example of collective punishment and the failure of an international responsibility to protect that didn’t exist during the time of the Lebanese Civil War. The international system is haemorrhaging legitimacy and effectiveness every time a civilian

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A toddler is held up to the camera in this still image taken from video said to be shot in Madaya on January 5 [Reuters]

dies in a besieged area due to a lack of access to aid. After all, the UN has been pushing for aid to be delivered to civilians for years. The Security Council has passed two resolutions concerning cross-border aid access without permission from Damascus and it has a mandate until January 2017 to do so.

Yet, while Madaya is an extreme example of the effects of siege, other areas are under similar pressures. The UN estimates that 400,000 people in 15 areas are going hungry, while 4.5 million Syrians are living in areas “hard to reach”.

Single shipments of aid are not enough and such is the level of malnutrition in Madaya that NGO Doctors without Borders (MSF) is calling for the evacuation

of civilians in order to receive lifesaving hospitalisation.

No illusions hile Syrians slowly starve to death, we should be under no illusions as to what this means for the UN system that is seemingly impotent in preventing it. In the UK, pressure is growing for the military to airdrop aid to support civilians in places such as Madaya. If UN access is continually denied, then the argument is being made that if drops were made for Yazidis in Iraq fleeing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL), why not for civilians in Syria?

Others counter by explaining that the regime’s air defence is stronger in areas near Damascus, but then, would the Syrian regime

W

“

Aid access and the humanitarian crisis in the besieged areas must move up the agenda of the Vienna process and be an issue to address right from the start of the upcoming peace talks

shoot down Western aircraft dropping supplies of civilian aid?

The other lesson from Madaya is that media pressure apparently works in changing regime behaviour in the short term. The Syrian regime has said it will allow aid in - showing that it is good at answering questions that it has posed.

However, media attention and the global outrage it sparks is fickle and short-sighted, and the tragedy of Syria’s long war is that without a wider resolution to the violence, one-off deliveries can’t truly change things. Syrians are forecast to soon face temperatures below freezing, and fuel will be added to the list of life-saving items for those surviving under siege. This should give urgency to an international system that should be ashamed of how it has

failed to stand up for the people of Madaya.

Aid access and the humanitarian crisis in the besieged areas must move up the agenda of the Vienna process and be an issue to address right from the start of the upcoming peace talks. If these fail, then serious consideration must be given to new ways of ensuring that basic human rights and the laws of war are not footnotes in history, but rather real constraints on the actions of armed groups.

James Denselow is a writer on Middle East politics and security issues and a research associate at the Foreign Policy Centre.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

Syrian children call for the lifting of the siege off towns in Syria in front of the offices of the UN headquarters in Beirut [Reuters]

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Page

News From Africa Church split over Niger presidential candidate homosexuality would be a Hama Amadou denied bail failure - Welby

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split in the Anglican Communion over homosexuality “would not be a disaster, but it would be a failure”, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

Speaking before a meeting of world Anglican leaders, Justin Welby said he wanted “reconciliation”, but that would mean “finding ways to disagree well”.

Views range from Churches in the US and elsewhere who accept openly gay clergy to those who condemn homosexual acts.

There are fears of a permanent schism in the 80m-strong Communion.

The Communion covers more than 160 countries, many of whom look to Archbishop Welby for leadership. The Anglican Communion website describes him as “first among equals”.

Since the liberal Episcopal Church in America consecrated Canon Gene Robinson - a divorced man in a gay relationship - as bishop of New Hampshire in November 2003, sniping within the Communion has intensified.

Sian Blake: EastEnders actress’s partner due in Ghana court

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he former speaker of Niger’s parliament, Hama Amadou, will not be released from prison to campaign for elections, Niger’s court of appeals has said.

Mr Amadou was arrested in November 2015 for baby-trafficking charges after fleeing to France for a year.

He filed for provisional release to run in the elections but Judge Ibrahim Harouna denied the appeal on Monday.

Mr Amadou says the accusations against him are politically motivated.

Africa Live: Latest updates The Constitutional Court on Saturday approved him to stand in elections. The court of appeals did not give a reason for the verdict.

Mr Amadou’s second wife was arrested in June 2014 along with 16 others, accused of illegally buying new-borns from “baby factories” in south-east Nigeria - where babies are allegedly sold for thousands of dollars. All denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Amadou - a leading opposition presidential candidate was then arrested in November 2015 after living in exile in France.

Mr Amadou’s supporters say the

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Hama Amadou was set to campaign against Niger’s President Mahamadou Issouffou in upcoming elections

charges were fabricated to prevent him from running against President Mahamadou Issouffou in the 21 February presidential election.

“With this rejection of conditional release, the regime succeeded with its first knock-out

blow,” his lawyer, Souley Oumara, said.

The BBC’s Abdourahmane Dia says that Mr Amadou now has five days to appeal against the decision - or risk following the election from his prison cell.

Kenya’s Garissa University restarts teaching after attack

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he partner of a former EastEnders star found dead with her two young sons is set to appear before a court in Ghana.

Arthur Simpson-Kent, 48, is being held by police in Accra after his arrest in a beach resort on Saturday.

The bodies of Sian Blake, 43, and the boys were found in the garden of their south-east London home on 5 January.

Ghanaian police cannot hold a person for more than 48 hours without putting them before a judge. UK officers say an extradition request is yet to be made.

Detectives from Scotland Yard, who are in Ghana, have already spoken to Mr Simpson-Kent.

They have said an application for extradition will be “made by officers and partner agencies in due course”.

Zachary, eight, and four year old AmonImage copyrightBlake Family Ms Blake and the couple’s sons were last seen on 13 December, and a missing persons inquiry was launched on 16 December. The Met Police said they spoke to Mr Simpson-Kent at their house in Erith on the same day.

Ghanaian Police say Mr Simpson-Kent arrived in Ghana on 19 December.

The country’s police force became involved on 7 January and arrested him in in Busua, a southwest coastal resort, two days later.

The few students who came on Monday attended a business management class

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eaching has resumed at the Kenyan university where 148 students died in a gun attack last April but only a few students have turned up for its reopening.

Security has been tightened at Garissa University College nine months after the attack by militant Islamist group al-Shabab.

Staff reported to work last week to get the campus in north-east Kenya ready.

Last year’s attack was the deadliest so far by the Somali-based group in Kenya.

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Media captionTomi Oladipo retraces the steps of the attackers

Pistorius seeks to appeal against murder conviction

The campus has been closed since the attack and at the time some 650 students were offered places at a sister campus in Eldoret, western Kenya, to continue their studies.

They were not expected to return to Garissa but the authorities are hoping to attract a new cohort of students by the start of the academic year in September.

“I have the memories of lost friends, the environment gives me flashbacks... but life must go on.”

Shamsi Abdi Barre, third-year student, Garissa University College Only about a dozen students arrived and attended a business management class, including Shamsi Abdi Barre.

She told the BBC that though she

is happy the university has reopened, she has “a lot of memories of lost friends [and] the environment gives me a lot of flashbacks”.

The BBC’s Angela Ngendo in Garissa says that those who turned up were third-year students who worked in the local area.

They told her they wanted to complete their classes so they could graduate.

She told the AP news agency that she did not want to “remember everything that happened” and said she “would not be comfortable” returning despite the strengthened security.

Al-Shabab has launched several attacks on Kenya, saying they are in revenge for Kenya’s decision to send troops to Somalia.

he South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is to seek an appeal against his conviction for murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius killed Ms Steenkamp in February 2013 after firing four times through a locked toilet door.

A manslaughter verdict was overturned last month and a murder verdict introduced in its place.

The athlete’s defence has lodged papers at the Constitutional Court, urging a review of his murder conviction.

He is currently under house arrest after spending one year of his original fiveyear sentence in jail.

South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal ruled in December that the lower court had not applied correctly the rule of dolus eventualis - whether Pistorius knew that a death would be a likely result of his actions.

Jump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.

Last month, Justice Eric Leach said that having armed himself with a high-calibre weapon, Pistorius must have foreseen that whoever was behind the door might die, especially given his firearms training.

Pistorius has always maintained he believed he was shooting at an intruder.

His lawyers say the appeals court made fundamental errors, claiming in appeal papers that the court “acted unlawfully and unconstitutionally when it rejected the factual finding of the Trial Court and replaced it with a contrary factual finding of its own”.

Oscar Pistorius has always maintained he believed he was shooting at an intruder

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Asia&Middleast Afghanistan peace talks held in Pakistan India

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alks aimed at kickstarting negotiations for a final peace settlement in Afghanistan have taken place in Pakistan.

Monday’s meeting - which also included the governments of the US and China - sought to revive a process that collapsed last summer after Afghanistan announced that Mullah Mohammad Omar, founder and leader of the Taliban, had died in a Pakistani hospital more than two years ago.

The announcement led the Taliban to pull out of the talks after just one meeting hosted by Islamabad.

Infighting within the Taliban: Ever since the appointment of new leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, there have been divisions, and it is unclear who would represent the group if talks went forward.

The rise of ISIL in eastern Afghanistan: The armed group has been fighting the Taliban.

Lack of trust and confidence between Pakistan and Afghanistan: There is hope that with the involvement of the US and China, this could be mended.

Javid Faisal, deputy spokesman for Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, said that Pakistan was due to present a list of Taliban members who were and were not willing to participate in talks with Kabul on ending the 15-year war.

The agreement would also include “bilateral cooperation on eliminating terrorism”, according to Faisal.

“Those who are interested in peace can join the dialogue, but those who wish to continue the fight will be targeted through joint

counterterrorism platforms,” Faisal said.

Meanwhile, a former Taliban senior official said that “military confrontation is not the solution” and that a “political solution” was needed to end the war in Afghanistan.

“The motivation for peace talks was very weak in the past,” Mohammad Hassan Haqyar said.

“But now the situation has changed and the Afghan government, America and Pakistan seem to have a readiness for dialogue.

“America has realised that a military confrontation is not the solution.”

Earlier, speaking at the meeting on Monday, Sartaj Aziz, a foreign affairs adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister, said that “the primary objective of the reconciliation process

is to create conditions to bring the Taliban groups to the negotiation table and offer them incentives that can persuade them to move away from using violence as a tool for pursuing political goals”.

Aziz added that neither preconditions nor threat of military action should be attached to the start of the negotiation process.

Attempts at peace talks have occurred in the past, but Al Jazeera’s Omar al-Saleh, reporting from Kabul, said: “What is different this time is that when the Pakistani army chief [General Raheel Sharif] came to Kabul last month, the two sides [Afghanistan and Pakistan] agreed that this time Pakistan would use force alongside the Afghan government against any Taliban members who oppose the peace talks.”

Jallikattu: India order to allow Tamil Nadu bullfighting challenged

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nimal rights activists in India have challenged a government order lifting a ban on Jallikattu, a form of bull fighting which has been popular for centuries in the state of Tamil Nadu.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the petition on Tuesday.

At the annual festival held in January, thousands of men chase the bulls to grab prizes tied to their horns.

The Supreme Court imposed the ban in 2014 following objections from animal rights activists.

In its order, the Supreme Court had said that use of bulls in the sport “severely harmed” the animals and was an offence under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, but last Friday the government issued an order lifting the ban.

The sport is due to resume this month, after no events were held last year.

Bulls are readied for contest outside a pen near village open ground in Tamil Nadu (file photo) Image copyrightJ Suresh But on Monday, the Animal Welfare Board of India, animal rights groups and activists filed six petitions in the court, challenging the “cruel sport”.

Animal rights activists says Jallikattu is a “cruel sport”

“ We h a ve p e t i t i o n e d t h e Supreme Court to immediately quash the government order,” one of the petitioners, Gauri Maulekhi of People for Animals, told the BBC. “The government order is against every law and ethic, it is a politically-motivated, peoplepleasing exercise,” she said.

In Jallikattu, bulls are released from pens, with bullfighters supposed to hold on to the animals hump for about 15-20 metres or three jumps of the bull to win the prize.

The ban had been criticised by political parties and cultural organisations in the state who had argued that Jallikattu was a part of

their cultural tradition.

Jallikattu is more than 2,000 years old and considered to be one of the oldest sports still practised in the modern era.

Over the years, scores of people have been gored or trampled to death in the contests.

Hundreds, including spectators, have been mauled or injured.

Madaya Syria: Aid convoy enters besieged town

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n aid convoy has begun entering the besieged rebel-held Syrian town of Madaya with enough food to last 40,000 people for a month, the UN says.

Residents have been trapped there for six months by a government blockade and have received no aid since October.

The UN says it has received credible reports of people dying of starvation.

Simultaneously, aid lorries entered two villages besieged by rebel forces in the northern province of Idlib under a deal between the warring parties.

The situation in Foah and Kefraya is also said to be extremely dire, with

an estimated 20,000 people trapped there since March.

UN-led humanitarian convoy about to enter Madaya, Syria (11 January 2016)Image copyrightOCHA Syrians wait for the arrival of an aid convoy in the besieged town of Madaya on 11 January 2016Image copyrightAFP A BBC Arabic correspondent who is with the convoy saw the first of the lorries entering Madaya.

The BBC’s Lyse Doucet in Beirut says some 20 lorries have now entered and, with darkness falling, the aid agencies will distribute food through the night.

She says the delay was because

the lorries needed to synchronise with those entering Foah and Kefraya.

In total more than 60 lorries operated by the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Syrian Red Crescent and the World Food Programme had left the capital Damascus for Madaya, Foah and Kefraya on Monday morning.

They were carrying basic food items - including rice, vegetable oil, flour, sugar and salt - as well as water, infant formula, blankets, medicines and surgical supplies.

War of words - Lyse Doucet, chief international correspondent, BBC News, Beirut Tens of thousands of suffering

Syrians will finally get aid but this humanitarian mission was forged by a cruel conflict. Aid for rebel-held Madaya was contingent on help for government-controlled Foah and Kefraya.

Images of Madaya’s emaciated children sparked alarm in many capitals and created greater impetus but they also provoked a war of words.

Supporters of the Syrian government and its Lebanese Hezbollah allies accused rebel forces in Madaya of seizing food for themselves. Some even mocked reports of starvation. The opposition charged President Assad’s forces with more war crimes.

firearms charge exsoldiers sent to jail

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ix former soldiers from the UK who worked on an anti-piracy ship have each been sentenced to five years in prison in India.

They were arrested on firearms charges in October 2013 when the ship they were on was found to be full of weapons.

The charges were dropped, but the Indian authorities appealed against the decision and have now won their case.

All 35 sailors and guards on the boat received five-year sentences and were ordered to pay 3,000 rupees (£30).

Nick Dunn, from Ashington, Northumberland Paul Towers, from Pocklington, East Riding of Yorkshire The men were arrested on board a ship owned by an American company which offered armed protection services to vessels sailing through an area known as “pirates’ alley” between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. Customs officials and police found 35 guns, including semi-automatic weapons, and almost 6,000 rounds of ammunition on board the ship which did not have permission to be in Indian waters.

A court in Tamil Nadu upheld the claim by the Indian authorities that the vessel was not properly licensed.

The men have consistently denied any wrongdoing and claim they have been abandoned by their American employers.

They also say they have not been paid since November 2013.

Speaking after being convicted, Mr Dunn said: “They have no evidence against us to say we’ve committed any crime and yet they have found us guilty.

“I have done six months in prison, I’ve done 27 months in total and now they’ve sentenced me to do a further five years. This is absolutely disgusting.”

Meanwhile John Armstrong said: “I should be surprised but I’m not.

“I’m a bit speechless but I’d seen it coming. We will appeal, but I don’t know when because I haven’t spoken to the lawyer.”

Billy Irving’s partner, Yvonne MacHugh, said: “After two long years of fighting to get my partner Billy home I’m devastated with today’s verdict.

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

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Europe & Why Obama has not closed Guantanamo

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bama initially promised to close Guantanamo Bay within a year of entering the White House in 2009. Two days after he was sworn in as president, he signed an executive order mandating a review of the cases of all the detainees. The order also called for the closure of the detention facility. In 2010, a task force concluded that 156 detainees were cleared to be transferred to foreign countries.

The prison, which was opened in January 2002 as Camp X-Ray and has the dubious honour of its 14th anniversary on January 11, currently holds 105 detainees.

Yet the aims of his executive order have languished since 2009 due to the opposition of Congress, inaction at the Pentagon and other priorities.

Guantanamo Bay has widely been acknowledged as a stain on A m e ri c a ’s i nte r n a tio n a l reputation and a recruiting tool for terrorists Opposition to its closure involves two central issues which Obama has been unable to resolve.

One is finding host countries to take in all the detainees. The other issue concerns whether some of the detainees can be moved to “supermax” facilities within the United States.

This becomes a legal mess for the White House. How would the president legally justify holding prisoners indefinitely on US soil?

The US administration has not explained how they would get around US law - something it has been able to do in Guantanamo Bay. The president’s opponents seized on reports that a transferred detainee returned to the battlefield after being released. Abdul Qayum Zakir, who, according to US intelligence, became a Taliban military commander after his release from Guantanamo Bay. In late 2010, an emboldened US Congress passed a law requiring the US secretary of defense to personally certify to Congress that a released detainee “cannot engage or re-engage in any terrorist activity” - which will prove almost impossible to police.

A guard looks out from a tower at the detention facility of Guantanamo Bay US naval base in Cuba [AP] There has also been opposition from the Pentagon. According to reports, US General John Kelly, who oversees Guantanamo Bay, has made it increasingly difficult for foreign delegations to visit the facility, slowing negotiations with third-party countries willing to take detainees.

police Fraud trial for Princess Italian investigate Cristina opens in Spain murder of US woman A P

landmark trial has opened for Spain’s Princess Cristina, accused of helping bankroll a lavish lifestyle with funds her husband received from an alleged scheme to embezzle about 6m euros ($6.5m) in public contracts for conferences and sporting events.

Cristina appeared on Monday in front of a three-member panel of judges on charges of tax fraud.

She is the first member of the royal family to stand in the dock, as a lengthy investigation into her husband’s business affairs finally goes to trial.

Arriving at the court in Palma, Majorca, Cristina, her husband Inaki Urdangarin, and 16 others were charged with being accomplices in the embezzlement and tax fraud case. All deny the charges.

The 50-year-old sister of King Felipe VI has been stripped of her duchess title because of the charges.

She is accused of two counts of tax fraud, carrying a maximum prison sentence of eight years, for allegedly failing to declare taxes on personal expenses paid by a property company she owned with her husband.

Her husband, an Olympic handball medallist-turnedbusinessman, is accused of using his Duke of Palma title to embezzle millions of euros in public contracts through a nonprofit company he ran, Noos Institute.

Cristina, sister of King Felipe VI, was stripped of her title because of the charges [Cati Cladera/Reuters]

Prosecutors are seeking a 20-year prison sentence for Urdangarin.

The anti-corruption group, Manos Limpias, meaning Clean Hands, drove the case forward.

The case is being heard in the regional capital of Spain’s Balearic Islands as many of Urdangarin’s business deals under investigation were made for the islands.

Cristina and her husband are not expected to utter a word during the first few days of the trial as judges read out the 89 alleged crimes committed by the suspects.

During this period, lawyers including Cristina’s will make their arguments aimed at having their clients removed from the case.

Cristina denied knowledge of her husband’s activities during a closed-door court appearance in 2014, when a prosecutor recommended she should be fined.

The charges against Cristina are limited to the financial years 2007 and 2008.

The trial is expected to last six months.

olice are giving “maximum attention” to the investigation of the death of an American woman in Florence who was found strangled in her apartment.

Ashley Olsen, a 35-year-old artist from Florida, was found dead on Saturday with neck bruises and scratches.

Italian police have vowed to find Olsen’s killer and have questioned her boyfriend.

Police in Italy were criticised for how they handled a murder case involving another American, Amanda Knox.

British student Meredith Kercher was found dead in 2007 in Perugia, Italy.

Her roommate, the American Ms Knox, and her then-boyfriend, were convicted of the murder, acquitted, convicted again and acquitted again.

Tributes laid outside of Ashley Olsen’s apartmentImage copyrightEPA News agency ANSA said she was found strangled but have not named an official cause of death.

“I can’t imagine a person would hurt her,” Amy, a friend of Olsen’s who would not give her surname, told the Associated Press news agency.

“We’ve got a great community here of people and everyone loved her.”

Georgette Jupe, another friend who knew Olsen because they lived in the same area and both had beagle dogs as pets, said she hopes for Olsen’s sake the investigation is “more clear” than in the Amanda Knox case.

Cologne attackers were of migrant origin - minister

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he men suspected of attacking women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve were “almost exclusively” from a migration background, mainly North African and Arab, an official report says.

Cologne police also made “serious mistakes” in not calling reinforcements and the way they informed the public.

More than 500 criminal complaints were filed, 40% alleging sexual assault.

Apparent retaliatory attacks in Cologne on Sunday were condemned by the government as inexcusable.

The Pope meanwhile said Europe’s “humanistic spirit” risked being undermined.

The “immense influx” of migrants was causing problems, he said, but the continent had the means to strike a balance between protecting its citizens and helping migrants.

North Rhine-Westphalia state’s interior minister Ralf Jaeger said that recent arrivals in Germany were among the suspects in the attacks, which took place in central Cologne, in the area of the cathedral and the main railway station.

The attacks took place in the area of the cathedral and the main railway station

A man is led away by police officers at the main train station in Cologne, Germany (early hours of 01 January 2016)Image copyrightEPA Nineteen individuals are currently under investigation by the state police in connection with the attacks, NRW’s interior ministry says in a report (in German), none of them German nationals.

Those 19 suspects include 14 men from Morocco and Algeria. Ten of the

suspects are asylum seekers, nine of whom arrived in Germany after September 2015.

Mr Jaeger is himself under political pressure. On Friday he fired Cologne’s police chief, Wolfgang Albers.

Interior Minister of North-Rhine Westphalia Ralf Jaeger waits for the beginning of a meeting of the internal committee at the NorthRhine Westphalian state parliament

in Duesseldorf, Germany, 11 January 2016.Image copyrightEPA Addressing state MPs on Monday, Mr Jaeger criticised police for not calling for reinforcements on the night, and also for the way they informed the public about the investigation in the days after the events.

His report details how a group of around 1,000 men of North African and Arabic origin gathered on 31 December. Smaller groups formed, surrounding women, then threatening and attacking them, he said.

These groups were predominately made up of North African men who had travelled to Cologne from different cities.

“After the intoxication with drugs and alcohol came violence,” said Mr Jaeger. “It culminated in the acting out of fantasies of sexual omnipotence. That must be severely punished.”

Around 1.1 million asylum seekers arrived in Germany in 2015.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s immigration policy has come under criticism since the attacks.

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Page 39

Strange

world

Horrific skin condition means Andrea could get cancer if exposed to any sunlight

By Kate Pickles

• Andrea Monroy, 23, was born with rare condition xeroderma pigmentosum • It means her body is extremely sensitive to the UV rays found in sunlight • It means she is at an increased risk of developing cancer from sunlight • She can only go outside at night - or if she is wearing protective clothing

M

ost people can’t wait for the long, warm days of summer to return.

But for one young woman, being out in the sunshine is a nightmare she must actively avoid.

Andrea Monroy, 23, was born with xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) - a hereditary defect which means her body is unable to repair damage from the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

The rare genetic condition causes extreme sensitivity to the sun and can lead aggressive skin cancer if she is exposed to sunlight.

It means she can only leave the house either at night or if she is covered from head to foot in protective clothing.

As a child Miss Monroy developed an unusual amount of freckles and was diagnosed with XP when she was five.

The condition, which only affects about 2,000 people worldwide, means he could get cancer from sunlight.

Her parents took drastic measures to protect her from the sun’s harmful rays like homeschooling and having tinted windows fitted to their house.

‘In every single way I have always had a different life,’ said Miss Monroy, from San Diego, California.

‘I never went to school as it wasn’t safe and my mum taught me to read and write.

‘The house windows were tinted and are curtains were kept closed if I was in the room.’

‘I usually don’t go out much in the day. Everything I do is at night. When I go out, the sun must not touch my skin.

‘I wear a hat that has a special plastic to protect me from the sun, not completely but it does help.

‘And I also wear gloves, the material is special to protect me from the sun. It can be very hard but I cover all of my body by wearing jeans, boots, and a

Andrea Monroy has a rare condition that can lead to cancer when sufferers are exposed to sunlight

jacket.’

Miss Monroy has already undergone 25 surgeries to remove cancerous cells and has ongoing treatment to target precancerous cells.

Now the brave young woman blogs her experience on her website and YouTube channel: NightLensBlog to encourage other people who are facing

challenges.

I love my freckles and my scars, I’ve learnt to love myself. I wish the world was more open She said has learned to love her freckles, despite years of people picking on her appearance.

‘It makes me feel like a better human,’ she said.

‘I thought I was the only one in the world with XP. I realised I wasn’t and I met others that had

The symptoms of the extremely rare hereditary condition started when Andrea was two. She cannot leave the house during the daytime unless she wears protective clothing

The illness means she cannot go outside in the daytime and must even protect herself from exposure to UV rays at night

same thing as me.

‘I live each day, day by day.

I don’t want to think about the future I just want people in general to live and love life to fullest.

‘Life is hard but there is

Pursuit of glamour: Fulvia says she models her look on US transgender porn star Allanah Starr

always a way to make the most of it.

‘I love my freckles and my scars, I’ve learnt to love myself. I wish the world was more open.’

DailyMail on Facebook

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Page 40

Digest

Hundreds of birth defects ‘due to a lack of folic acid’

By Ben Spencer

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ore than 2,000 babies have died or suffered a disability because of ministers’ refusal to adopt expert nutritional advice on folic acid, experts have warned.

Scientists have repeatedly advised the Government to ensure food companies add folic acid to flour, a measure they say reduces the risk of children being born with serious defects such as spina bifida.

Now researchers at six British universities have calculated that 2,000 pregnancies associated with major defects would have been avoided since 1998 if Ministers had taken the advice.

These cases - around 150 a year - would never have happened had the UK followed 78 other countries and added the key vitamin to flour, they said.

Rates of neural tube defects birth defects of the brain, spine or spinal cord - are not falling across the UK, resulting in the death of the fetus or newborn baby, or life-long disability in those who survive.

Experts on the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition wrote to ministers in October expressing their concern that recommendations made in 2000, 2006 and 2009 to improve levels of folic acid intake had still not been taken on board.

Ministers are thought to have stalled on implementing the health measure because they feared a backlash over what some might describe as the mass medication of the population.

Folic acid is said to reduce the occurrence of severe birth defects. Women are advised to take 400 micrograms per day for the first three months of pregnancy or while they are trying to conceive The NHS advises that most people should be able to obtain the recommended dose of folic acid from a balanced diet alone, but women are advised to take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily whilst trying to conceive and for the first three months of pregnancy.

However, the official figures show 85 per cent of British women aged 16 to 49 have low folic acid levels.

And further research has

Scientists have repeatedly asked the government to ensure that products such as bread are fortified with folic acid by adding it to flour

found that more than 70 per cent of women do not take supplements regularly or early enough in pregnancy.

In the US, fortifying flour with folic acid has led to a 23 per cent reduction in neural tube defects.

The new research, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood journal, estimates the number of defects that could have been avoided if the UK had adopted a flour fortification policy in 1998, the same year the US adopted the policy.

Researchers said 2,014 cases of defects in pregnancy could have been prevented - equivalent to a 21 per cent drop in cases.

Many of these women would have decided to terminate the pregnancy, the researchers said.

But assuming there had been no terminations, around half of babies would have died during the pregnancy.

The other half – about 1,000 – would have either been aborted or born disabled, they calculated.

The authors are from the universities of Queen Mary in London, Oxford, Newcastle, Bristol, Leicester and Southampton, as well as Public Health England and Public Health Wales.

They wrote: ‘Our results show that in the UK between 1998 and 2012, there was little, if any, change in the prevalence of pregnancies with a neural tube defect, while in the US, quickly following the introduction of mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid in 1998, there was an approximate 23 per cent reduction in the occurrence of affected births.

‘The failure of Britain to fortify flour with folic acid has had

significant consequences.’

They compared the situation with thalidomide, which resulted in the births of 500 people with disabilities in the UK. ‘Justifiably, steps were introduced to immediately halt the epidemic, and regulatory precautions were introduced to avoid another similar epidemic,’ the academics wrote.

‘Unfortunately, no such sense of urgency has been applied to the prevention of spina bifida.

‘It is a public health failure that Britain has not implemented the fortification of flour with folic acid for the prevention of spina bifida and other [neural tube defects].’

Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said: ‘Implementing the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition’s advice to add folic acid to flour would reduce the risk of birth defects, such as spina bifida, in pregnancy.

‘Public Health England’s analysis shows that 85 per cent of 16 to 49-year-old women have folic acid levels below the new World Health Organisation recommendation for women entering pregnancy.

‘This highlights the importance for pregnant women, and those trying or likely to get pregnant, of taking a daily folic acid supplement of 400 micrograms before and up to the 12th week of pregnancy.’

The charity Shine, which supports thousands of families affected by spina bifida and hydrocephalus, has been lobbying for folic acid to be added to food for more than a decade.

It believes ministers have failed to take action because they fear it would be unpopular with voters.

A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition submitted recommendations to Government around folic acid and bread in October. We are currently considering these.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

More than 2,000 cases of defects in pregnancy could have been prevented if the UK had adopted a flour fortification policy in 1998 according to a new research

PEOPLES DAILY

Sports

tuesday, january 12, 2016

Page

41

sports@peoplesdailyng.com, SMS- 08142929046

Football loves me, says Buhari

>>Pg 43

Okocha predicts doom for Oliseh at CHAN

Sunday Oliseh giving out instructions to player

F

ormer Nigeria captain Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha has warned against using the performance of the B Team at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) to judge coach Sunday Oliseh’s ability.

The CHAN, a tournament for players based in their country’s domestic league, kicks off this weekend in Rwanda with Nigeria chasing a first title after finishing in third place in their tournament debut two years ago.

There’s pressure on coach Oliseh in his first full tournament in charge of the national team which he took charge of in July 2015 and his former team mate believes it is not yet time to scrutinize the trainer.

“Well, I can’t set any target for the Super Eagles and coach Sunday Oliseh as far as the African Nations Championship is concerned,” Okocha said..

“Oliseh is my friend and he is my colleague. I think he’s got all it takes to get us

back on track. We don’t have to use the CHAN to judge him. We just need to encourage and support him and let him do his thing.

“Hopefully he is the right person to take us to where we want.”

Nigeria’s fortunes have plundered in recent times as they have fallen down the ladder on the international index.

Yet Okocha, winner of the Africa Cup of Nations in 1994 when the national team was ranked as high as fifth in the world, feels that it is just a bad patch.

“I have no fears as regards the Super Eagles’ position as 66th best in the world and 14th best in Africa because big countries and big teams go through difficult periods,” he said.

“Honestly speaking, we are going through rough periods but there is nothing to be ashamed of. We just need to work hard to be back to where we rightly belong.

“It is a challenge because our results re-

cently have been poor. We just need to accept it and fight our way back to the top.”

After the CHAN tournament, Nigeria will return to their hunt for a ticket to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) against Egypt.

“As regards the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, I believe that the Super Eagles can qualify but we have to do our homework well to achieve this. We have to accept first of all that we are no longer who we used to be.

We have to humble ourselves and realize that we are starting afresh. Once we accept our fate at the moment I think we will qualify,” Okocha said.

“As regards the way forward for the Super Eagles and Nigeria football, the way forward is to accept our fate like I said, to humble ourselves and to realize the fact that things are no longer the way they used to be. Once we accept that I think that it would be a great beginning for us,” he concluded.

Neymar will beat Messi, Ronaldo in 2016 world footballer award - Lemar >>Pg 46

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Page 42

Sport

Football loves me, says Buhari

By Lawrence Olaoye

P President Buhari

resident Muhammadu Buhari yesterday spoke of a love relationship between him and the game of football.

The President said this after receiving the Glo/CAF Platinum Award for Good Leadership which was conferred on him last week in Abuja in recognition of his support for football which resulted in Nigeria winning two major international tournaments last year.

The Minister of Youth and

Sports Development, Mr. Solomon Dalung, received the award on behalf of the President and presented it to him at the Presidential Villa yesterday.

“Under your administration, we won the Under 17 World Cup and we also won the Under 23 African Cup of Nations.

“We have had very good fortune in football since you came to office and the sports family is very happy,” the Minister of Sports told Buhari while presenting the award to him.

Responding, the President re-

called that Nigeria first won the Under-17 World Cup in 1985 in China, when he was military head of state.

“Thirty years after the first victory, Nigeria won again last year.

What a fabulous coincidence. I think football loves me,” the President said.

He thanked the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for honouring him with the award.

The Glo/CAF Awards are held annually to reward deserving players, coaches, managers and supporters of African football.

NBBF to host AGA in Abuja

Nwakali, Chukwueze to sign for Arsenal

G

olden Eaglets skipper Kelechi Nwakali and his teammate Samuel Chukwueze will sign long-term contracts with English Premier League club Arsenal this month, it has been specially gathered.

A top source informed: “The players’ visas to England are being processed and a party of seven including their legal guardians are expected this month in London to finalise their transfer to Arsenal.”

Both teenagers are expected to later be given professional contracts

by The Gunners when they have clocked 18 years.

Their transfers are being handled by the powerful Stellar Group, who manage such top stars like Gareth Bale of Real Madrid.

Midfielder Nwakali was the Most Valuable Player of the 2015U17 World Cup. Last year, he underwent trials at another EPL club Manchester city, who already have older brother Chidiebere Nwakali on their books.

He has already said Arsenal is his dream club because he believes their attractive passing game will suit his own game.

However, negotiations between City and the youngster’s agents broke down over the transfer fee.

Right winger Chukwueze was one of the outstanding players as Nigeria won a record fifth U17 World Cup in Chile in November.

Basketballers

By Albert Akota

N

igeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) has announced her 2016 Annual Stakeholders Consultative forum for Wednesday 3rd February, 2016 at the National Institute for Sport Auditorium, National Stadium, Package B, Abuja.

According to the statement from the NBBF secretariat, delegates which include corporate sponsors, team owners, club chairmen, club secretaries as well players, coaches, technical officials and the esteemed media are expected

to arrive Abuja on the 2nd February as the forum is billed take off at 9am prompt on Wednesday.

All present at the assembly will witness milestone presentations, from first, a top managing consulting group signed to manage and develop the Nigerian Basketball Federation’s digital space, i.e. website and social media accounts.

As well as, presentations from the Referees and coaches Associations, both inaugurated and reconstituted respectively after the 2015 consultative forum which had over 150 stakeholders in attendance in Abuja.

The stakeholder’s forum will also feature the pre-season seminar for all basketball officials, that is, Referees, Table officials and Technical (match) commissioners. the 2016 national grading exercise taking place for new officials, and national officials that will be sanctioned to officiate in the 2016 season of the DStv and Zenith Bank Leagues this season, from the 4th to 6th February in Abuja, 9am to 6pm daily.

The statement also said that, the board of Nigeria Basketball Federation led by Mr. Tijjani Umar is extending an open invita-

tion to all.

Team owners, club secretaries, coaches, players, and the media to come assess the highs and lows of Nigerian basketball in the previous 12 months and to project a course for the upcoming calendar year, across all the cadres (the senior and junior national teams; men’s and women’s league; youth and developmental programmes, etc) they remain steadfast in building on the challenges and great exploits of 2015 and launching Nigerian basketball to greater heights in 2016.

U17 World Cup MVP Nwakali set to finalise deal with dream club Arsenal

NFF set to hold CAF License ‘A’ coaching course

By Albert Akota

T

he Nigeria Football Federation has concluded arrangements to organize the esteemed CAF License ‘A’ Coaching Course the highest workshop for coaches in the African continent.

NFF’s Assistant Director (Technical),

Mr. Abdulrafiu Yusuf, saidyesterday that the much awaited CAF License ‘A’ course will start on February 21, and last for four weeks.

“This is a course that most Nigerian coaches have been looking forward to. We have notified the Confederation of African Football and we are making all necessary arrangements to have a successful pro-

gram.

“The forms are now available for sale at the Accounts department of Nigeria Football Federation. It is important that interested and qualified persons pick up their forms sale to help our planning,” said Abdulrafiu Yusuf, a former Nigeria international player.

It would be recalled that the NFF has

conducted a number of CAF License ‘C’ and CAF License ‘B’ coaching courses over the past five years. But this is the first CAF License ‘A’ course to be conducted.

The latest was a CAF License ‘B’ coaching course that took place November 15 – 29, 2015 and attracted about 80 participants.

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Page 43

Sport

Bony may return to Swansea City —Alan Curtis

S

wansea City interim manager Alan Curtis does not expect striker Wilfried Bony to return to the Liberty Stadium during the January transfer window.

Bony, 27, left Swansea to join Manchester City in January 2015.

The Ivory Coast international has been linked with a surprise return to Swansea, who is 17th in the Premier League.

Curtis, appointed manager until the end of the season, has said a forward is the priority during the transfer window.

Bony joined Swansea for £12m from Vitesse Arnhem in 2013 and was the Premier League club’s top scorer in 2013-14 with 20 goals.

The Ivorian joined Manchester City on a four-and-a-half-year contract in January 2015 in a deal worth £28m.

He has scored eight goals in 23 games for City this season while Andre Ayew and Bafetimbi Gomis are Swansea’s joint-top scorers with six goals apiece.

Wilfried Bony

Sanchez close to Arsenal return, reveals Wenger

A

rsene Wenger will not risk Alexis Sanchez against Liverpool on Wednesday, although the Arsenal boss revealed the forward is eager to make his return from injury.

The Chile international has not featured since November’s 1-1 draw at Norwich City due to a hamstring problem.

In his absence Arsenal have moved top of the Premier League and progressed to the fourth round of the FA Cup and his imminent return is sure to give their title hopes a huge boost.

Wenger confirmed that Sanchez will not be ready in time for the trip to Anfield, but the Frenchman hopes to have him back for Sunday’s meeting with Stoke City.

Ozil was among those rested for Saturday’s 3-1 FA Cup win against Sunderland after a stellar season that has seen him contribute an impressive 16 assists and five goals in Arsenal all competitions.

Sanchez

Jagielka warns team-mates not to panic against Manchester City

E

star

Alexis

verton captain Phil Jagielka insists his side cannot panic despite their lack of momentum in the Premier League as they prepare to visit Manchester City on Wednesday.

While City are riding high in third and just three points adrift of leaders Arsenal, Everton are 11th having won only six league games this season and just once in their past seven topflight fixtures.

The Toffees proved they can mix it with the best by beating City 2-1 in their League Cup semi-final first leg last Wednesday but recent league history is on the side of the hosts, who have won four and drawn one of their last five against Roberto Martinez’s side.

Everton are hopeful

that the Premier League’s joint-top goalscorer Romelu Lukaku - who is on fine form having scored 10 goals and assisted three more in his last 10 games - can overcome an ankle knock in order to play against Manuel Pellegrini’s side and help to provide their league form with a muchneeded boost.

And Jagielka, who made his comeback after two months out with a knee injury in Saturday’s FA Cup win over Dagenham and Redbridge, called for calm ahead of a key week in which Everton play City and Chelsea.

Pellegrini, meanwhile, is aware that City is entering a potentially decisive period of their campaign as they continue to battle on four fronts.

Phil Jagielka, Everton

NANF demands fresh elections to replace LMC

By Albert Akota

M

ore troubles seems to be brewing for the nation’s football managers with the fresh demand coming from the National Association of Nigeria Footballs (NANF) which has demanded for a fresh election into the LMC and sanctions for clubs that could not pay salaries to players last season.

The NANF in a statement signed by Larry kubeinje Vice President (NANF) South South zone, they wrote: “the so called

League Management Company (LMC) was setup illegally as a stop gap measure with clear terms of reference which they have since exhausted that mandate.

He added, “The LMC itself is an infraction on the statutes of the Nigeria Football Federation.

It is a complete aberration. If this request is not granted within the stipulated time the NANF will have no option than to go back to the trenches.

“Mr. President you would do well to conduct proper elections into the premier league board within four weeks from the date of

your receipt of this petition in line with the Nigeria premier league rules and the Nigeria Football Federation statutes.

In addition, National Association of Nigeria Footballs (NANF) want to respectfully draw your attention to the ugly and disgraceful incident where FC Taraba players had to sleep outside the Government House in Jalingo for nine days to press home demands for their outstanding 11 months’ salaries.

It is a similar situation in all the 20 professional league clubs in Nigeria some clubs are even

owing salaries and contract fees far back as 2012 and 2011. The NANF wonders why the Nigeria Football Federation will be so insensitive to the plight of players in our professional leagues.

She recommended that clubs that cannot afford to pay their players should be outrightly sanctioned from participating in the 2016 football season.

The Nigeria Football Federation must come out with a categorical statement instructing all clubs to pay two weeks before the commencement of the 2016 season. Those clubs that cannot

pay their outstanding should be sanctioned and excluded from 2016 football season.

If the NFF fails or refuse to compel clubs to meet their obligations before the 2016 season commences the NANF will have no option than to have direct confrontation with the clubs and sideline the players to ensure that they meet their obligations to the players before the commencement of 2016 football season.

The letter was copied to the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Barrister Solomon Dalung

PAGE 44

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Sport Murray, Watson whitewash Germany at Hopman Cup

H

eather Watson and Andy Murray combined to help Great Britain whitewash Germany Britons Andy Murray and Heather Watson registered singles wins on a sweltering day in Perth to help give Great Britain a 3-0 Hopman Cup whitewash of Germany.

On a morning when temperatures rose to 36 degrees, Watson beat Sabine Lisicki 6-3 6-4 before Murray overcame Alexander Zverev 6-3 6-4.

The pair then teamed up for a 6-3 6-4 win in the mixed doubles.

Britain still need France to beat Australia Green in the last group game to reach Saturday’s final.

For Watson and Murray, the competition is useful preparation for the Australian Open, which starts in Melbourne on 18 January.

An early break in each set was enough for Murray, 28, to ease home against his teenage opponent, ranked 83

in the world.

Murray wore Zverev down by keeping him on the move and targeting his opponent’s inconsistent forehand.

The Scot did lose his serve once in the second set, letting a 5-2 lead slip as Zverev had break points to level at 5-5.

But Murray quickly recovered to seal victory on his next service game after a big serve down the middle.

British women’s number two Watson, 23, earlier secured an impressive straight-sets win over former Wimbledon finalist Lisicki.

Lisicki, ranked 32 in the world, made a strong start on serve in the first set only for Watson to make the decisive break at 4-3 and serve out the set to 15.

The second set was more comfortable for world number 55 Watson as she broke Lisicki twice to seal a third career win over her former training partner.

Heather Watson and Andy Murray combined to help Great Britain whitewash Germany

Edmund loses to Berdych in last eight at Qatar Open

B

Kyle EdmundGermany

ritish number three Kyle Edmund is out of the Qatar Open after losing 6-3 6-2 to world number six Tomas Berdych.

Despite the defeat, Edmund, currently ranked 102nd, will better his career-high ranking of 99 when the new standings are released next week.

Berdych will play Novak Djokovic - against whom he has won two of 23 meetings - in the last four.

World number five Rafael Nadal also advanced with a 6-3 5-7 6-4 win over Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov.

Nadal was made to work for his victory by the world number 79, but prevailed in just over two hours.

He will next face Ukrainian world number 94 Illya Marchenko, who upset Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3 7-6 (3).

Mathews helping Bay FC in survival bid

C

olwyn Bay has enlisted the help of world title contender boxer Derry Mathews in their bid to avoid a second successive relegation.

Bay, who are in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League relegation zone, were put through their paces by Mathews at his Liverpool gym.

Seagulls manager Kevin Lynch is a good friend of Mathews.

“He’s got a great personality about him to rally the troops and work the lads really hard,” Lynch said.

“The lads needed picking up and I can’t thank Derry enough. It’s been inspiring.”

Mathews, 32, faces WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan on 13 February in Liverpool.

Lynch took over in October 2015 from Ashley Hoskin, who had only been in charge for five months following relegation from the National League North at the end of the 201415 seasons.

The former Southport player inherited a side that was 20th in the table and had to wait until 2 January for his first league win in charge, a 2-1 victory at Workington.

Colwyn Bay

Niger Governor’s Cup ends with talents hunt at Kontagora Yakubu Mustapha, Minna

T

he Niger State Governor’s cup football competition has ended with the discovery of many talented youths who would be developed for future games in the country.

The Chairman Niger State Football Association NSFA,, Comrade Ahmed Fresh made the disclosure yesterday in an interview after the final match of the competition tagged ‘Kontagora 2015’ expressed satisfaction over the entire organization of the competition.

Fresh stated that they were challenged by the playing facilities like standard football pitch which needed an urgent attention in all the Senatorial Zones of the state, while he applauded the state government efforts in putting to standard the Minna stadium which is ongoing.

He maintained that in every competition there must be a winner as well as lesser and the spirit of sportsmanship must be there at any given time.

The President of Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick who was represented by Ibrahim Gusau commended the Niger State Governor Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello and the state Football Association for organizing the competition.

Gusau appealed to well to do Nigerians, NGOs and companies in the country to sponsor this kinds of competition for the youths just as he hailed the Federal Government in its effort towards football administration in the country.

The Niger State Governor Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello represented by his deputy Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Ketso said that the aim of the competition was to unite the youths, keep them busy so as to arrest restiveness amongst the youths in the society, assuring to sustain the tempo annually in the state.

The best player of the competition was given a brand new jinchen motorcycle while Usman Bashir was rewarded for the most valuable player and best final player even as many received awards for their performance in their respective areas.

The competition which was contested amongst the local governments in the state had Katcha local government as the winner with four goals against Mashegu with two goals through penalty while Kontagora local government in the third place with N150, 000, N100, 000 and N50, 000 reward respectively

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Sport

Page 45

P-i-c-t-o-r-i-a-l

TP Mazembe star striker Mbwana Samatta is attracting strong interest from French Ligue 1 outfit FC Nantes, according to French reports

Andy Murray says he may need Novak Djokovic’s form to dip to have a chance of winning this year’s Australian Open

Zambian midfielder Isaac Chansa says he is looking forward to playing in his first African Nations Championship (CHAN)

According to the Nyasa Times of Malawi, the Flames national team coach Ernest Mtawali has called for an early camp in an aim to prepare for their upcoming 2017 CAF Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier against Guinea

Jordan Spieth matches Tiger Woods by winning his seventh PGA Tour event before the age of 23 with a huge win in Hawaii.

PAGE 46

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

Sport

Neymar will beat Messi, Ronaldo in 2016 world footballer award - Lemar These days Lemar can legitimately be called a veteran of England's music circuit, having burst onto the scene back in 2003.

While the soul and pop singer has been pushing his latest album, music has not been his sole focus, with the north London native keeping one eye firmly on his beloved Tottenham Hotspur.

Born within earshot of White Hart Lane, he has been enjoying the sight of seeing Mauricio Pochettino lead something of a revolution at Spurs and the platinumselling artist gave his views on the new feel of the side exclusively in conversation with FIFA.com.

He also reflects on his childhood memories of Paul Gascoigne and explains why he thinks Neymar could break Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's FIFA Ballon d'Or domination.

When did you start supporting Spurs?

I grew up in Tottenham, born and raised a street away from the ground, so [I'm a Spurs fan] by default everyone in the family supports them.

I don't know if I ever made the decision! [Laughs] I just grew up as one that was it. You could hear the matches from my bedroom window when they used to play.

When you were growing up it was one of the most enjoyable times to grow up watching Tottenham. Gazza, Chris Waddle, Gary Lineker, Ossie Ardiles all spent time at the club...

Oh Gazza, jeez. I still think he's one of the best players, period.

Throughout Gascoigne's career and still now, I think he's one of the best players ever for Tottenham and England.

I just think he's an exceptional talent on an international level. I was down there recently in the box watching a game with Ossie Ardiles, it was just amazing during those kind of glory days or with those 'glory players'. But we're not on a bad run right now!

There's quite a buzz about what's going on at the lane now. Do you like the direction Pochettino is taking you?

Yeah, exactly! I think Pochettino has done a really good job. The team's on the young side, there's a lot of potential, but they're beginning to pull it together slowly but surely.

During the second half of the season, because we're a striker short, when people start getting tired we will start suffering more.

After a slow start to the season, every win brings more confidence and brings us closer as a team. There was a time when we were going through managers a bit too quickly, I think. With the younger players it's good that we're holding on to them and developing them well.

Did you have any worries earlier in the season about Kane rediscovering his scoring touch or did you always have faith?

I stood by him a few people asked the question: 'Do you think Kane's still got it or is he a one-season-wonder?'

I really did think he was going to

come together. I think it's the test of a good player, you've got to be able to take that pressure on board.

I think the difference between good and great is when you're under pressure that's when you show your class. We saw it when [Usain] Bolt ran [in the Athletics World Championships] against [Justin] Gatlin.

Gatlin was faster than him, but when it mattered and the pressure was on Gatlin over-stretched for the line.

What would be your realistic and dream expectations for the season?

Well the dream prediction is number one! Then with Arsenal in sixth or something like that! The way it looks, fourth position would be great if we go on an amazing run for the rest of the season and get a striker in.

If we don't get a striker in, then [fifth] might be the limit. I'm hoping for fourth and I'd be over the moon as we keep finishing just outside it.

You've played in front of thousands at the likes of the O2 Arena in the past – how do you think the mix of adrenaline and nerves compares to those on the football field?

I think it's very much the same. I think probably a striker, or a goalkeeper when he saves a penalty, is the closest thing you get to going on stage.

I don't know what it is, if it's love, that energy you get from people when they are on your side is something that is quite unexplainable.

That's why strikers love scoring.

Yes, it's scoring the goal, but that euphoric feeling of having the crowd on your side as a whole really is an immense thing. To make it even more carnal, human beings love to be loved.

Who is your tip to walk away with the FIFA Ballon d'Or in January?

My favourite, who I always think is the player of the year, period, is Messi. I just think not only what he does, but the way he does it, is unbelievable.

Obviously this season he's had a bit of injury and has been out for a bit, so Ronaldo will probably pip it, but for me, Messi is the geezer.

PAGE 47

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 12, 2016

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PUBLIC NOTICE DUTSEN-REME COMMUNITY INITIATIVE

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The general public is hereby notified that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for registration under part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Liman Kabir Rufa’i Ahmad - Chairman 2. Alkali Ibrahim Adamu - Secretary 3. Muhammad Almahadi Garba - Treasurer 4. Aminu Raiyana Suleiman - Pro 5. Surajo Labo - Financial Secretary 6. Mudahiru Lawal - Aduditor 7. Aminu Bala - Organizing Secretary 8. Umar Suleiman - Welfare Director AIM AND OBJECTIVE: 1. To provide education and schools facilities.

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THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Uchenna E. Umez 2. Nkiru B. Nwigbo AIMS AND OBJECTIVE 1. To preach the word of God. Any objection to the above registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent Off Aguiyi Street, Maitama P.M.B. 198 Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

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QUOTABLE QUOTE They are mostly women, and children who are orphaned. Some of them don’t even know where they come from. This is the pathetic situation in which the country has found itself.

. . . putting the people first

TUESday, january 12, 2016

-President Muhammadu Buhari

SPORTS Corruption: ‘Is Thy Name Nigeria?’

I

latest

Police find sign to NFF official’s murder

D

etectives investigating the murder of the Nigeria Football Federation official, Ibrahim Abubakar and his gateman, Umar Saidu have retrieved clues that could lead to the arrest of the gang that carried out the dastardly act.

Though no arrest has been made, it was learnt yesterday that the police are following the evidence they have gathered at the crime scene.

The Federal Capital Territory Commissioner of Police, Wilson Inalegwu told our correspondent that police investigators were working on certain leads which he believed would assist in tracking down the killers.

“We are following some clues, no significant development yet.

But be rest assured that we’ll crack the case,” Inalegwu said.

Abubakar and Saidu were killed by unknown gunmen who attacked the Kado Estate, the Abuja residence of the head of NFF protocol last week.

Both men were shot dead during the attack in which only Abubakar’s residence was targeted out of the six flats in the compound, prompting speculation that the incident was an assassination and not a robbery case.

Sources informed our correspondent that the patrol team from Life Camp Police Station that was directed to go to the crime scene did not get there on time because it was not given the right address.

A member of the patrol team said, “When we got a call from the control room, we were told the attack was happening at an estate in Mabushi. We were on our way there when we were told it was at Kado Estate.

Ozil will win 2016 Ballon d’Or- Wenger

A

rsene Wenger admits he would like to see Mesut Ozil win the Ballon d’Or next year but feels individual awards in football are “not logical”.

The Arsenal boss believes Lionel Messi should win the award for 2015 following his stellar year with Barcelona, although Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar are also in the running.

Wenger has previously criticised the award, insisting that a player could damage his career by focusing on individual prizes, and reiterated his stance ahead of the 2015 ceremony.

Advert: business: news: lagos:

had the privilege, in October 2001, of attending Transparency International’s 10th International Anti-Corruption Conference which held in Prague, Czech Republic. All the nations of the world –from as mighty as the United States of America to as minuscule 200,000-strong Vanuatu, had gathered in that Eastern European country to compare notes, share experiences and exchange ideas on how to effectively tackle corruption at the global, continental, regional and national levels. The five-day Conference which took place at the beautiful Congresovo Centrum in the heart of Prague attracted world leaders and experts cutting across both public and private sectors; politicians, lawmakers, judges, captains of industry, clergies, personnel of the armed and paramilitary forces, representatives of national anti-corruption agencies, NonGovernmental and Civil Society Organizations, the Media and sundry others.

Over one hundred and fifty workshop titles were up for delivery by experts from diverse fields of experience offering, thus offering participants a multi-faceted view of the subject matter and a multiplicity of approaches on how to deal with the menace of corruption and other ethnics-related issues. I was particularly interested in topics such as: ‘Building Ethics in the Civil Service’, ‘creating an Honest Police Force’, ‘blowing the Whistle on Corrupt officials’, ‘Money Laundering and Recovering Proceeds of Corruption’, ‘Causes, Consequences and Remedies of Judicial Corruption’ and ‘Curbing Corruption in the Oil, Gas and Mining Sectors’ among many others.

The Conference was practical and action-oriented with focus on case studies, concrete strategies and impact assessment from the diverse experiences of different nations. It provided portent ideas and networking opportunities for public and private sector personnel and went beyond political statements to take stock of what strategies had or had not worked in the various anti-corruption policies and regulatory measures used nationally and internationally.

Participants were exposed especially to: strategies for equipping the society to hold public office holders accountable, strategies for evolving portent intelligence gathering mechanism against lone-actors and organized corrupt groups, strategies for effective whistle-blowing and protection of whistle blowers’ and strategies for collaboration and coordination among the branches and tiers of government, between public and private sectors on the one hand and government and people on the other, in the all-important task of fighting corruption as a common enemy of humanity.

And it was quite an auspicious moment particularly for Nigeria and Peru, because both countries were singled out for special mention at Plenary especially for their tenacity in the pursuit of looted funds abroad belonging to their respective countries.

And although the Conference admitted the existence of obstacles to the recovery of looted funds and even offered high-profile strategies for scaling those obstacles, Nigeria’s and Peru’s success stories provided an opportunity by the West also to loud the efficacy of the so called ‘Mutual Legal Assistance’ initiative designed to help victim-nations recover looted funds abroad.

It is not sufficient that a nation has succeeded in trailing and tracing her looted funds abroad. The real challenge is the bilateral or multi-lateral effort to repatriate such funds through the thick

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Sambo Dasuki and thin of complex municipal laws of harboring countries. Many victimcountries do not have the patience to go through the tedium of such complex processes which they believe are deliberately designed to frustrate them. Nigeria and Peru proved that all that victim-nations need do is fulfill all righteousness by duly applying to recover their looted funds and in the ensuing eye-ball to eye-ball with the harbor-country thereafter, ensure that they do not blink first.

Peru if you must know was battling to recover a paltry 22 million dollars; which in the parlance of boxing categorization would be a measly ‘feather’ or ‘bantam’ weight category compared to the several hundreds of millions of dollars of the Abacha loot that Obasanjo was pursuing. At the risk of exaggeration, a spoilt child of a poorly-ranked corrupt politician in Nigerian could conveniently have paid Peru her looted funds without batting an eyelid. Yet that 9 millionstrong Latin American Republic Peru, was in an upbeat mood at the prospect of such ‘huge’ amount injected into her twin economic mainstays of agriculture and mining. But the irony of it today is that we are not only dealing with insane politicians who have stolen our billions of dollars but side by side with that sickening reality we also have to cope with the insanity of a multitude of raggedy, bigoted others who are telling us to forgo the loot and to “let bygones be bygones”.

Iran which is a virtual world power today celebrated the prospects of 7 billion dollars coming into its economy after the treaty partially lifting sanctions by the Western powers. Of course Iran knew how much 7 billion dollars could do to lift its economy. But here in Nigeria we celebrate an individual for salting away ‘9’ billion dollars of our common patrimony and we are prepared to frustrate any efforts by government to recover that amount. For all some of us care, a terminally ill Dieziene can resort to gratuitous death-bed magnanimity and pick the controversial Greek debt of 1 billion dollars to free Greece from the harangue of the European Union. That is how filthy rich some of our treasury looters can be. And that is how bigotedly I-don’t-care some of us can get!

But back to the Congresovo

Centrum, it was at the Prague Conference that I first heard the phrase ‘grand corruption’; symbolizing perhaps a malignant stage of corruption from which it is said a dangerous alliance can happen, between obscenely-corrupt politicians and organized business crime groups with the inevitable result that a nation is perpetually held to ransom -as we see in many parts of Latin Americas. Yet it was on this subject of ‘grand corruption’ that another moment for Nigeria came up at the conference. This time alongside Russia, where the two were singled out for special mention as destinations where corruption had reached ‘grand’ level and that therefore the threat of the emergence of powers stronger than government was nigh and nigh.

A report presented at the Conference which was prepared by Professors Peter Langseth and Edgardo Buslaglia, both from the UN Global Program Against Corruption, said that in about “a ten year period”, Nigeria and Russia alone, had seen “more than 250 billion dollars looted by corrupt leaders”. This amount which the report said was diverted mostly to banks in Europe and the United States was “the equivalent of the World Bank budget” in the same period. In fact on the same subject and around the same period, ‘The Financial Times of London’, writing under the title ‘Nigeria’s Stolen Money’ (24/07/99), had reported that of the 1 trillion dollars in criminal proceeds laundered through banks worldwide each year, about 100 billion dollars came from corrupt regimes nested, feathered and plumed in Nigeria.

And even as the Obasanjo regime was commended for its un-yielding efforts in the recovery of the ‘Abacha loot’, the Conference could not conceal its reservation that repatriating such amount back to what it described as “systemic corrupt environment” like Nigeria, would be ‘penny-wise’ for the obvious reason that corrupt politicians would “abuse their power to loot the nation’s treasury” again.

Quite an uncanny piece of prophesy you might say. But did it not come to pass under our very watch that the so called ‘recovered Abacha loot’ was ‘relooted’ by corrupt politicians? Were we not told that between Jonathan’s discredited anti-corruption Caesar Lamurde, his vacuous Finance Minister Ngozi and his serpentine Attorney General of the Federation, Adoke, the Abacha loot, like ‘needle in a haystack’, was missing and could not be found?

And now it is the very patriarchs of our dear nation, old men who should be teaching us last morals before the curtains of their lives are drawn, that have turned thieving rodents in our midst. Ripened octogenarians, who may no longer have need for teeth to crack the marrow out of juicy bones, are the ones that are now stealing us black and blue. Like the English poet Geoffrey Chauser asks in ‘The Canterbury Tales’ “If gold rusts what shall iron do?”.

President Buhari had said it all when he made the statement: “If we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill us”. But maybe he should only have

said ‘if we do not tame corruption, corruption will kill us’. Because whereas ‘corruption’ can, and in fact has been known to kill many a nation, it is inconceivable that ‘corruption’ itself can be ‘killed’ by any nation. No nation -no matter how preemptively or proactively vigilant- has been known to be completely immune to the canker worm of corruption. The nations that have instituted the best safeguards, investing heavily in both ‘punitive’ and ‘preventive’ measures are still not totally free of it.

A nation, like Nigeria, that has made corruption a virtual way of life can only hope not to be killed by it –if it has not already been killed by it- before it can ever hope to be on the path of those that have managed to tame or contain it. It is encouraging that we have for the first time, a President who has not only got the requisite integrityquotient to fight corruption, but has the determination and the tenacity to take the monster head on.

Postscript Parliamentarians, judicial officers, lawyers, officials of ministries of justice, those from directorates of Public Prosecution, State Security Services and other related agencies, from all over the world attended the Prague Conference.

They made contributions and shared experiences in the areas of national and international networking especially with regard to the changing faces of corruption and the need for dynamic and constant review of legislation necessary to check these shifting vistas.

But when I obtained the comprehensive list of participants at the Conference, I noticed that even of the 70 members of the NASS Joint Committee on Anti-Corruption who I knew were funded to attend the Conference, none was on the list. And when I ran into the then Justice Minister, late Bola Ige and introduced myself as an Aide to Obasanjo’s Special Adviser on NASS then, the Cicero asked: “where are the legislators? This is where they should be”.

And although I felt a sense of representative guilt and could hardly vouchsafe an answer, I did not allow the heinous sins of the non-participating lawmakers to take away the reward of my own participation. I felt consoled by the fact that that in Prague I was privileged to be part of an important movement namely the brave reaction of right-minded citizens of the world to the pernicious threat that corruption poses to democratic governments around the globe.

No feeling could be greater than that.

DAN GAYE

PDP can’t govern Nigeria again –News

It is a corrupt party!

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