Monday, July 13th, 2015 Edition

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Monday, July 13, 2015/ Ramadan 26, 1436 AH

. . . putting the people first

Too many guns, arms in wrong hands in Rivers – Dakuku

@pmlonline

Niger: Curfew in Paiko as religious crisis averted in Minna

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peoplesdailyng

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Vol. 16 No. 61 N150

Police alert of rising ATM criminals in Bauchi << pAGE 3 >>

Unremitted oil tax

APC asks PDP to account for $12.4bn l Claims misleading lies – Metuh

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Passengers boarding an aircraft, during the inaugural flight of Med-view Airline route Lagos-Abuja-Maiduguri, on Saturday at Maiduguri International Airport, in Maiduguri.

Panic as STF detonates 2 bombs in Jos church

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455 Days after We’re all happy with Buhari’s Will the abducted Chibok schoolgirls ever be rescued?

performance so far – Govs

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

News CONTENTS News 2-11 Editorial 13 Op.Ed 14 Letters 15 Politics 16-18 Business Stockwatch

19-22 23

S/Report 24-25 Feature 26 Education 28 Health 30

Panic as Police detonate bombs in Jos church From Ado Abubakar Musa, Jos

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he personnel of anti-bomb squad yesterday defused and detonated two bombs at an ECWA Church in Jos, the Plateau State capital.

The Special Task Force (STF) in the state, through its Media and Information officer, captain Ikedichi Iweha, confirmed that one of the two explosives were planted in a toilet in the

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Metro

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Int’l 39 S/World

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Digest 40 Sports 41 Columnist 48

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something suspicious, who reported and the attention of the security was drawn to it and it was safely defused.”

He said,” while security personnel were searching the church, another bomb was seen outside the premises at a nearby position and was detonated,” adding that “in the entire incident, no one was injured or killed.”

Iweha said that no arrest so far was made in connection with the

incident but security operatives have since cordoned the area, urging people toremain calm and never take the law into their hands as further investigation had since begun.

It would be recalled that exactly one week yesterday when two similar attacks were launched at Yantaya Mosque and a restaurant where more than 50 people were killed and many injured.

Administration left office, as well as the $500 million tax paid by Shell. We can tell Nigerians that this is the first time the payment of the Income Tax/Education Tax by the NLNG was being disclosed by any government, in addition to paying it into the Federation Account for sharing, hence those who call it their ‘legitimate’ earnings should be asked why they did not demand the sharing of such ‘legitimate’ earnings in the past. ‘’We can tell Nigerians that apart from the said $1.6 billion NLNG payment for 2015, NLNG also paid $1.4 billion as Income Tax/Education Tax in May 2014, paid $0.3 billion as Education tax to the FG in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and $1.2 billion in VAT and With-holding Tax to the FG since 2009. These payments are just those made in the past six years alone, hence there were other payments before then.

“In addition, dividend payments totalling $4,728,136,946 was paid to the FG between 2004 and 2009, out of which only $127,851,348.19 was credited to the FG’s Independent Account with JP Morgan, leaving a balance of over $4 billion. The questions to ask therefore are why all the past taxes and dividends were neither fully paid into the Federation Account nor shared by the three tiers of government and what happened to the funds,’’ it said.

APC said now that President Muhammadu Buhari has started to ensure that all funds due to the Federation Account are paid in there as well as plugging all financial leakages, in an effort to restore transparency to the system, it is important to let Nigerians know why all due funds were not paid into the Federation Account in the past and what happened to such

funds.

The party also said that as part of the investigation, the PDP must be asked where it kept the $5.5 billion which it said was the dividend paid to the FG by the NLNG before the 29 May handover.

“Since, according to the PDP, President Goodluck Jonathan asked that the money be ‘left for the incoming administration to manage’. it is important for the party, therefore, to tell Nigerians in which account the money was ‘saved’ because it is definitely not in the Federation Account,’’ it said APC insisted that for any opposition to be credible, it must not only be factual and truthful, it must eschew pandering.

“Had the PDP embraced these cardinal principles, it would not have, in the rush to belittle the package that was approved for the states by President Buhari and to discredit his administration, engaged in outright lies and selective perception. While the PDP became fixated on the source of the money shared by the states, it forgot that there were other measures in the package that included a special intervention fund of between N250b and N300b from the CBN as a soft loan available to states to access for the purposes of paying backlog of salaries.

“The PDP also forgot the debt relief programme designed to assist the states to restructure their commercial loans of N660b, with a view to extending the life span of such loans and reducing the states’ debt-servicing expenditures.

That way, the states are freed from their perennial inability to pay workers’ salaries, and more funds are available to the various governments to use for

the benefit of thepeople. They have forgotten that the only time in the country’s history that this kind of rescue package was made was also during the tenure of Muhammadu Buhari as military Head of State,’’ the party said.

It advised those who are showboating and distorting facts to tarry a while, as what they are seeing is just the first step in a long journey to clear the rot left behind by years of purposeless governance, plug all financial leakages, ensure that all funds due to the Federation Account are paid in there for the benefit of all Nigerians and bring to justice all those who have mismanaged or looted the commonwealth.

“The revelations concerning the deep rot in the system that will come in the weeks and months ahead will shock even the most ardent critics of the Buhari Administration’s salvaging efforts,’’ APC said. eanwhile, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has denied accusations by the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, that successive administrations never remitted any dividend paid by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural gas, NLNG, until the current administration of Muhammadu Buhari.

In its response by its spokesperson, Olisa Metuh, the PDP on Sunday described the statement by Lai Mohammed as “misleading and outright falsehood.”

Mr. Metuh said the truth is that the NLNG had been on a 10year tax haven until 2014.

“Within this period, successive governments, right from President Olusegun Obasanjo never shared nor tampered with the cumulative dividends over the years,” he said.

APC asks PDP to account for $12.4bn From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

Resurgence of armed robbery: Matters arising – Page 4

Evangelical Church of Winning All (ECWA) located in Tudun Wada area near the Federal Secretariat, adding that another one was seen outside the church.

He said that all were detonated in peace, even though the loud sound in the process scared many residents of the affected area.

Iweha further narrated that, “the first bomb was seen by a member of the church who entered the toilet and saw

ver $12.4bn was paid by oil companies to the federal government as Company Income Tax and Education tax as well as dividends, which the former government of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has not accounted for, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has said.

The party in a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, called on the Federal Government to urgently unravel what happened to the past Company Income Tax/Education tax as well as dividends paid to the Nigerian government by the NLNG in the last six years, against the background of published reports that the funds were never paid into the Federation Account as they should have been.

The party also described as a glaring example of grandstanding the attempt by the PDP to distort the facts about the source of the $2.1 billion that was approved for sharing by the three tiers of government by President Muhammadu Buhari.

While giving a breakdown of the disputed $12.4b that has not been remitted, the APC said, ‘’whereas the Presidency corrected the initial erroneous report that the shared money was sourced from the Excess Crude Account (ECA), the skittish opposition continued to insist it was from the ECA and that it was part of the ‘savings’ by the Jonathan Administration.”

It said:’’Well, we can tell Nigerians that the $2.1 billion was sourced from the $1.6 billion Company Income Tax/ Education Tax paid to the FG on June 17th 2015, over two weeks after the Jonathan

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

News

Ramadan Timing Day 21

Niger: Curfew in Paiko as religious crisis averted in Minna From Yakubu Mustapha, Minna.

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he Niger State government has declared curfew from 10pm to 4am until further notice, in view of the unfortunate violence that occurred in Paiko town of Paikoro local government of Niger state.

This was contained in a press statement issued in Minna at the weekend by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor Dr Ibraheem Dooba. It said that in order to keep peace, the people are advised to not violate the curfew, warning that anybody who does so would face the consequences for their infraction.

According to Dooba, the government encourages the citizens to be law abiding, eschew violence and demonstrate the abiding peace for which Niger State is renowned.

One person was confirmed dead, cars destroyed and several other injured when youths of Hausa extraction and their Gwari counterpart engaged in war of supremacy in Paiko, Paikoro local government council of Niger state.

Also in Minna, the state capital, properties including houses and cars worth millions of Naira have been destroyed when two Islamic religious sects laid claims to a mosque said to have been built several years back at Angwan-daji area of the state capital.

The fighting in Paiko was said to be the aftermath of the battle

over the appointment of the deputy Imam for the Paiko central mosque which had earlier led to protests by a group representing the Gwari community.

An eye witness told our reporter that one of the Hausa boys had threatened to deal with the Gwaris of making life a living hell for the Gwari community should they (Gwaris) dare question who controls the mosque.

The source also recalled how the Hausa community who are said to be less in numerical strength would solicit for the support of their kinsmen from Minna who would invade Paiko town to revenge attacks on their fellow Hausas in Paiko.

Threats to cause disaffection among the tribes, according to him is said to have infuriated some Gwari youths who mobilized their gangs and confronted the Hausa community and in the ensuing encounter one of the boys lost his life while several others sustained various degrees of injuries.

Also in Minna, trouble is brewing between two Islamic sects, Darika and Izala as both are laying claims to the control of a mosque said to have been built several years back by a member of one of the sects.

Investigations however indicate that, the mosque which has been the issue of contention between the two warring parties was built by a member of the Darika group who is said to have died few years ago.

One of the sons of the deceased

later became a member of the Izala group now laying claims to the mosque and had insisted that the Darika group should join his group or stop forthwith the use of the mosque for their prayers.

For daring to challenge his warning to stop using the mosque for their daily worship, the izala convert mobilized forces and attacked the Darika sect while they were praying with petrol bombs which led to the destruction of about 8 vehicles and houses belonging to the rival group.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Niger state command, ASP Bala Elkana confirmed the two clashes but denied that the Paiko clash has anything to do with the tussle over leadership of the central mosque and was not caused by mercenaries imported by one of the factions from Minna.

Elkana who however said he is yet to get detailed briefing about what happened in Paiko that led to the death of a member of the warring parties also told our correspondent that 15 people have been arrested and are helping the police in investigations over the Izala and Darika sect clash in Minna.

The warring groups armed themselves with petrol bombs which they used in setting ablaze the cars and a provision shop belonging to one of the sect members, the PPRO said, adding however that the crisis between the Izala and Daraka sect over mosque control dates back to the year, 2013.

Police alert of rising ATM criminals in Bauchi From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

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he Bauchi State Police Command said it has uncovered a new method of duping customers by criminals through the Banks’ Automatic Teller Machines [ATM] centres in the state.

A press statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer [PPRO] of the command DSP Haruna Mohammed, made available to newsmen in Bauchi at the weekend, said that the syndicate position themselves at various ATM centres and approach their victims especially the illiterate ones under pretext of assisting them to withdraw their money for them.

He added that instead of withdrawing the money for the victims, the criminals however

transfer it online into their own accounts and return the ATM cards to owners with false excuses of network problems thereby fleeing from the venue.

The police spokesman who expressed their determination to protect the lives and property of the citizens in the state, cautioned the general public not to give their ATM cards or passwords to strangers to avoid being cheated.

He also asked people to report any suspicious person to nearest police stations or call this police emergency number; 08151849417 for help.

Meanwhile the PPRO has announced that the command would auction some recovered and unclaimed properties which have over stayed in police custody in accordance with section 31 of police act cap 2, vol. 13 LRN,

2004.

He noted that the command had obtained approval from the Chief Magistrate court VI in the state for the disposal of the unclaimed properties by way of public auction.

Items to be auctioned according to him include; three Honda Civic cars, two Toyota Camry cars, two Passat motor vehicles and V8 J5 bus.

Others are five Kasea ladies motorcycles, four Jincheng ladies motorcycles, three Bajaj motorcycles, one Honda bike, one scrap Royal motorbike, two laptop computers and one Sunny scrap Television.

He therefore invited members of the public who are interested in buying the items to go to the state police headquarters on Monday 13th July, 2015 by 10: 00 AM.

FG ignoring citizens illegally detained abroad – NGO

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n NGO, United Nigerians in the Diaspora (UNID), has said the Federal Government and the National Assembly have yet to meet their responsibilities to Nigerians facing prison sentences on trumped-up charges abroad.

UNID raised the concern as more Nigerians are placed on the death row in some SouthEast Asian countries, particularly Indonesia.

Their concern is also heightened by the United Nations’ (UN) preparation for the periodic review of the global illicit drug policy in 2016.

The organisation was formed to address youths’ challenges, providing succor to the downtrodden as well

as collaborating with the governments in finding solutions to global and national social malaise.

UNID President, Dr Paschal Okoli, made the assertion in a statement on Sunday in Lagos.

Okoli said the development was due to the poor diplomatic overtures by the Federal Government and the nonchalant attitude of Nigerian missions in the South-East Asian countries.

He added that the silence on the issue by the National Assembly led to the recent killing of the Nigerians in Indonesia.

He said that while the unwholesome venture of Nigerians, especially youths in global drug trafficking remained

condemnable.

He noted that the government’s “quarantine approach” to the plight Nigerians in some Asian countries led to the placement of more of them on the death row in Indonesia.

According to him, Nigerians are daily being harassed, intimidated and falsely accused of drug trafficking in Indonesia, Malaysia and other South-East Asian countries because they are aware that Nigerian government places no value on her citizens.

“As we speak, a Nigerian recently lost his manhood in Indonesia, for having the guts to befriend an Indonesian lady, under the cover of been a drug trafficker. (NAN)

Towns Magrib Alfijr Abakaliki 6.51 6.02 Abeokuta

7.09 5.19 Abuja 6.56 5.01 Akure

6.56 5.11 Auchi 6.56 5.06 Ankpa

6.51 4.59 Argungu

7.13 4.59 Azare

6.49 4.39 Bama

6.34 4.27 Bauchi 6.47 4.48 Benin 6.57 5.11 Bichi

6.57 4.47 Bida

7.00 5.03 Birnin Gwari 6.59 4.58 B/Kebbi Gwandu 7.14 5.02 Calabar

6.45 5.02 Damaturu 6.42 4.32 Daura/Kazaure 6.58 4.44 Dutse 6.52 4.45 Enugu 6.50 6.02 Funtua/Malumfashi 7.00 4.53 Gombe

6.41 4.40 Gumi

7.09 4.59 Gusau

7.02 4.52 Gwadabawa 7.11 4.57 Gwoza

6.34 4.29 Hadejia 6.51 4.39 Ibadan

7.06 5.14 Ife

7.04 5.12 Ilesha Baruba

7.10 5.13 Ilorin 7.06 5.10 Jalingo

6.38 4.41 Jere/Suleija

6.55 4.54 Jos

6.50 4.49 Kabba

6.59 5.05 Kafanchan

6.52 4.52 Kafin Maiyaki

6.57 4.48 Kaduna 6.57 4.54 Kano

6.55 4.47 Katsina 7.02 4.48 Kontagora 7.04 4.45 Lafia

6.49 4.53 Lagos

7.06 5.18 Lokoja 6.56 5.02 Maiduguri 6.37 4.27 Makurdi 6.49 4.55 Minna

6.59 5.00 Missau

6.45 4.40 Monguno

6.37 4.23 Ningi

6.50 4.46 Ogbomosho 7.06 5.12 Okene

6.57 5.05 Onitsha

6.52 5.06 Oyo

7.07 5.13 Port Harcourt 6.50 5.07 Potiskum 6.45 4.35 Sagamu

7.06 5.16 Sokoto 7.10 4.57 Takum 6.41 4.51 Warri 6.56 5.11 Wurno 7.10 5.55 Yola

6.34 4.37 Zaria 6.57 4.52 Cotonnou-Benin 7.09 5.23 Ndjamena-Chad 6.30 4.30 Niamey-Niger 7.24 4.59 Zinder – Niger 6.58 4.40 Garoua – Cameroun 6.20 4.33 Younde-Cameroun 6.30 4.51 (Source: Society for the Propagation of Islam Kaduna)

Recommended DU’A for Day Recommended DU’A for 06 Day 21 Pray an 8 Rak-a’t Salaat.

In every afterofthe Pray 10 Raka’ah In every Raka’ah afterRak-a’t the recitation Surah recitation of Al-Faatih’ah, recite100 Suatul Qadr Salam, 20 Al-Fatihah, recite Surah Al Ikhlaas times.After say times.

After Du’a: Salam, say the following Du’a: the following Allaahumma Qawwinee A’laaMin Iqaaamati “Allaahummaj-A’l Lee Feehi Feehi Nas’eeban Rah’matikal WaaAmrika Wa Ad’iqnee Feehi H’alaawata D’ikrikaWa WaShud’ si-A’h Wah-Dinee Feehi Li-Baraaheenikas Saat’i-A’h Awzia’-Nee Feehi Li-Adaaa-I Shukrika Bikaramika Binaa-S’iyatee Ilaa Marz”Aatikal Jaami-A’h Bimah’abbatika Yaa Wah’-Faz’nee Feehi Bi-H’ifz’ika Wa Sitrika Yaa Amalal Mushtaaqeen” Abs’aran Naaz’ireen Meaning: O Allah give me, in this month, a very large share Meaning: O Allah, on this day, strengthen me in from Thy boundless mercy, let me let keep to taste the right that carrying out Your commands, me theway sweetleads on to Thy evident clear Signs (Muhammad and Aali ness of Your remembrance, grant me, through YourMuhammad), and forthat the Isake Thy love kindness graciousness, giveofthanks toand You. Protectdirect me, my behaviour, from every angle, unto that which pleases Thee, with Your protection and cover, O the most discern- O the Ultimate those who eagerly desire fulfilment. ing of thoseHope whoofsee.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Page 4 Report

By Ochiaka Ugwu

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ecently concerns were raised by Nigerians over the resurgence of armed robbery in the commercial cities of the nation. Armed robbery – or robbery with aggravating circumstances, as it is officially known – represents a particularly feared form of violent crime as it usually is associated with severe trauma or injury to victims, and sometimes even death.

Consequently, and with the recent wave of it in major cities, there is understandable concern about safety from the public. Foreigners are equally worried: informed circles regularly receive enquiries from abroad about the risks of visiting and shopping in Nigeria.

Before now, we as a nation have seen less and less crime, even in the face of high unemployment and economic stagnation, only for it to resurface in quantum this time around.

A one form of business robbery that is currently particularly disturbing in the South East is armed robberies targeting bank customers.

Curiously, life, it would appear, is increasingly becoming nasty, brutish and short for business people and their employees given the increase in the number of armed robberies targeting them.

Although police statistics indicate that crime has been on the decline year on year, but verifiable evidence appears to suggest otherwise. This could be as result of the fact that most crimes in Nigeria go unreported.

These days, the number of people who have been attacked by armed robbers after making huge withdrawals from banks appears to be too high, raising suspicions that some of these cases are wellplanned with the connivance of someone with knowledge of the victim’s financial transactions.

Business owners have also fallen victim at their premises especially when they withdraw money or are about to make huge deposits.

And in many cases, the attackers ride on motorcycles, whip out their guns and brandish them in the faces of their victims before robbing them and disappearing into thin air. In the more serious cases, those who resist are shot.

Only last month in the commercial city of Onitsha, it was reported that armed robbers who have adopted the strategy of laying siege on unsuspecting bank customers swopped a woman who withdrew money from a new generation bank at New Market road and dispossessed her of her cash. The case is endless as this woman’s own was just one among many robbery attacks in the city.

This was followed by wellorganized gangs of six to seven heavily armed criminals who attacked two banks successfully in Lagos and carted away huge sum of money. These deadly armed robbers that held residents of Ipakodo area of Ikorodu in Lagos hostage, were said to have operated unchallenged for about two hours as they robbed two major banks in the area. The most unfortunate thing was that the scene of the robbery operation was just a stone’s throw to Ipakodo

Resurgence of armed robbery: Matters arising Divisional Police station. The policemen, who engaged the armed robbers, were, however, overwhelmed. It was reported that the operation saw three persons injured, while the robbers also set five vehicles ablaze and damaged an armoured tank as they escaped from the scene.

Going by this, one would be forgiven for thinking that our society has suddenly become the middle of a lawless jungle without police, mobile phones and security response services.

However, bank robberies overtime, have been decreasing since when only few incidents were recorded. In 2012-13 only few bank robberies were reported. This is quite an achievement considering that in 1999-2004 bank robberies in the nation peaked at an alarming rate. It is therefore of great concern that there was a renewed increase in bank robberies in recent time as most Nigerians have heaved a sigh of relieve.

There is no doubt that the new wave of armed robbery is not good for our nation at this material time especially now we are doing our best to woe foreign investors to our soil and trying to make our nation investment hub of Africa.

We all know that business finds it increasingly difficult to absorb the direct and indirect effects of crime in every clime. Indeed, with the plummeting oil prices in the world, Nigeria would be left with no alternative than to focus in other means of sourcing revenues to boost the economy.

With this prevailing reality, the business sector will remain the main contributor of disposable household income and the country’s revenue base through taxes and levies. The increase in the cost of crime means that less income is available to pay for wages and for contributing to the state coffers.

As the criminal threat increases, so too does the spending by business to secure their interests, their staff and the public. Already plans are being considered to improve security at banks, commercial areas and shopping malls. This will no doubt be extremely costly and may even have an impact on consumer prices.

IGP Solomon Arase In addition, the ongoing targeting of banks and other businesses may also prove disruptive, and could have a dampening effect on the usual shopping and spending experience.

The real concern, however, was considering that it occurred near police station, which raises questions about the safety of ordinary Nigerians who are living far from security formations, take a snack, or a break in unfamiliar environments under the false belief that they are safe.

What is worrying about the emerging armed crimes trend is that too often, security agencies take too long to respond even when they are alerted on time. It could be that they face logistical problems that make them less efficient than the public expects

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them to be. But they have a duty to identify these weaknesses and find ways of overcoming them.

For instance, the police must be required to improve their response time whenever they receive distress calls. As it is, they often come hours after the incident and usually, they have no capacity to collect evidence, track down the attackers or gather preliminary information that could help them solve the cases faster. Some of these things will require serious investment in equipment, but most only require greater initiative and diligence by the officers.

Unfortunately, it has become practice for the government to act only when the public resorts to civil disobedience. Many communities have even embarked in building a police station while some have

For instance, the police must be required to improve their response time whenever they receive distress calls.

embarked on demonstration to have one sited in their localities.

Not long ago, people of Saburi community demonstrated and pleaded with the police authority to occupy an abandoned post. They even threatened to close down their businesses and move out of town if the government failed to stop criminal activities on them.

Why must it take a threat for the public to get security?

This laxity has led to the belief that lynching is the best way to deal with suspects. The result has been that in one or two cases, innocent people have been killed by mobs on the strength of an unfounded suspicion as happened in Aluu community of Rivers State where promising young university students were roasted to death in the most brutal way when they were mistaken for thieves.

As a matter of policy, police must find a way of dealing with the supply of illegal guns. The number of armed robberies involving guns has been growing.

This was even confirmed by Presidential Committee on Small Arms Proliferation when they described Nigeria as the main destination for small arms in West Africa.

In arresting the situation, Nigerians does not expect the police to tell them where the guns are coming from. All they expect is for the police to ensure that fewer guns end up in the hands of criminals.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

News

Lesser Hajj: Saraki decries Saudi Arabia’s visa policy

By Ali Abare with agency report

S

enate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has criticized the entry visa issuance policy of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Nigeria for

Power agency to sanction companies that default on safety standards

this year’s lesser hajj.

Saraki who arrived Medinah on Saturday listened to complaints from some Nigerians who are performing the lesser hajj and noted that the Saudi authorities, unlike other embassies in the country, refused to articulate a visa policy which potential visitors to the holy land can follow and obtain their entry visa without any difficulty once they meet the requirements.

“The present process in which visitors to Saudi must go through a third party has created artificial bottlenecks now being exploited by the travel agents and the embassy officials. Our people are

now made to suffer indignities arising from conspiracy between the embassy officials and the so-called agents. The process is fraught with corrupt practices,” he said.

The Senate President said some Nigerians informed him that they had to send their passports through Saudi embassies in other West African countries where the cost of the visa was less and they did not need to go through the hardship experienced in Nigeria.

“It is unimaginable the amount of money people paid to get visa for this year’s lesser hajj and we do not want that to

repeat itself for the hajj proper coming in a few months’ time.

You know this religious rites and obligations are very important to our people and so, despite these inconveniences, they still struggle to get here and we have a responsibility to ensure this exploitation and inconvenience stop immediately,” Saraki said.

He reassured Nigerians who complained to him that the Saudi visa policy will be one of the issues the Senate will look into when it resumes plenary later in the month and that the Saudi authorities as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja will be engaged to find a lasting solution

to the problems of visa issuance to Nigerians by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Senate President further called on all Nigerian Muslims on lesser hajj and those at home to devote the last days of Ramadan to pray for peace, security, development and progress of Nigeria.

He urged them to specifically ask for Allah’s intervention in the search for a lasting solution to the Boko Haram crisis in the North-Eastern part of the country and for God to help President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to revamp the economy of Nigeria.

By Mashe Gomna

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anaging Director, Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA), Peter Ewezor has said companies that fail to comply with safety standards will be henceforth face the wrath of the law.

Ewezor who spoke on Sunday in Abuja, when he inspected project sites of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), the company handling Abuja rail project said there were pronounced cases of impunity and technical gaps in the power and construction projects in Abuja.

According to him, NEMSA is carrying out nationwide enforcement /advocacy visitations to sites where there are faults in power lines, railway/ roads or building constructions.

Ewezor who identified some areas in the FCT, where there were some constructions defects, said the companies would be sanctioned, unless they rectify these defects.

He listed the defaulting companies in the FCT to include Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, which had many of its feeder pillars dangerously exposed, or its high tension cables too low that it could be touched.

He also listed the CCECC which built its railway line in Kubwa, near 33KV power tension.

Ewezor explained that NEMSA had written to these companies about the dangers these projects posed to human lives, adding that they would still be reminded to rectify these projects.

He reiterated that if the companies fail to amend these defective projects, then NEMSA would visit them with the full weight of the law.

Ewezor called on the companies concerned to provide what he called cradle guards or armod cables to protect the exposed high tension cables.

L-R: Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, his daughter Miss. Kanyinsola Osinbajo, his son, Fiyinfoluwa Osinbajo, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC), Mr. John Kennedy Opara, Head of Service, Mr. Danladi Kifasi, former Women Affairs Minister, Senator Helen Esuene, and others, during the church service, yesterday at the Aso Villa Chapel, State House, in Abuja. Photo: Joe Oroye

Group wants IGP to probe Ekweremadu’s emergence as deputy senate president

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

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non-governmental organization, Friends in The Gap, Sunday in Abuja, called for a thorough probe into the allegation of forgery of the Senate Standing Order 2015 that made Senator Ike Ekweremadu emerge as deputy senate president.

This was contained in a statement issued by Mr George Oji, Executive Director of The Gap.

It urged the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, to properly investigate the allegation that the forgery made it possible to elect Ekweremadu as Deputy President of the Senate.

“We note the explanations by Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, that every new senate must operate with a new rule in compliance with Section 64 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution as amended to justify the emergence of the new

rule book.

“Consequently, we appeal to the senate to conduct thorough investigations to ascertain the circumstances that led to the surreptitious emergence of the new rule book.

“We urge that there should not be any sacred cow in the investigation process.

The investigation should also be concluded quickly and on time too.

“We demand that anyone found culpable, should be prosecuted in a court of competent jurisdiction in the country, as there is no immunity against prosecution provided for any lawmaker in the nation’s constitution,” it said.

The group also called for quick resolution of the leadership crisis currently rocking both chambers of the National Assembly.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

News

Bird flu: 1.4 million birds destroyed – NVRI boss

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ore than 1.4 million birds were destroyed to stamp out bird influenza that hit poultry farms early this year, according to Dr. Mohammed Ahmed, the Executive Director, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom. Ahmed told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Vom on Sunday, that 18 states were affected by the flu whose last case was reported on May 28.

He said that 800 suspicions were diagnosed in the institute’s laboratory out of which 500 tested positive to the disease.

The NVRI boss said that compensations for the destroyed birds were already being paid by the Federal Government.

“Payment of compensation for the destroyed birds is already in progress; it started

and stopped at a point, but it has resumed,’’ he said.

He observed that the compensation was being handled by the Federal Government and appealed to the states to help by initiating steps to assist farmers.

“Since it is the economies of the affected states that are being largely affected, the states should augment the compensation as they did during the first outbreak years ago.

“The states should specifically help in the design of poultry farms to encourage bio-security of the farms,’’ he explained.

Ahmed particularly warned against cluster farms, and blamed that trend for the large number of birds that had to be destroyed.

The NVRI boss singled out Plateau and Kano as states

with the largest concentration of cluster farms, and explained that the flu usually spread faster and engulf more birds in cluster famrs.

He expressed satisfaction that the flu was contained in few months compared to the first outbreak that lasted from 20062008, but observed that more birds were destroyed this time.

“More birds had to go because the production of poultry has changed with the cluster farms.

In Rantya, a village in Jos South Local Government, for instance, the cluster farms are so close and heavily concentrated in one vicinity,” he said.

Ahmed said that the disease had subsided but ``certainly not over yet’’.

“We are not taking anything for granted and have therefore

gone into active surveillance.

“We have already trained people to take samples; their task is to buy and test chickens randomly from farms and live birds markets all over the nation.

“We are virtually out of the passive, so we must go to look for possible cases. There are states and federal offices and officers to handle surveillance even in the remotest of the rural settlements.

“Such surveillance is usually the most expensive part of disease control, but Nigeria is being supported by some interventions from the World Bank, FAO, USAID and other development partners.’’

Ahmed said that the Federal Government was also carrying out forensic investigation to ascertain how the disease came in.

“We are forced to do that because what was diagnosed in NVRI laboratories is not related with previous cases, it is a new introduction all together,’’ explained.

He said that there were many speculations with humans suspected to be possible carriers, while poultry importations could also be a source of disease dissemination.

Ahmed however, expressed happiness that no human case had been found, saying that people tested, including farm workers, proved negative.

The NVRI boss disclosed that another poultry disease, known as Newcastle disease, was being zeroed in for eradication by the international community through vaccinations like Thermostable and MDV12 that is usually targeted at poultry farmers in the hinterlands.

L-R: National President, Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners OF Nigeria (AGPMPN), Dr Frank Odafen, Secretary General, Dr Kayode Adesola, and former Lagos state Commissioner r Garba Pwul, a Josfor Health, , based Senior Advocate Dr Leke Pitan, of Nigeria (SAN), on during the Sunday, urged federal and state association’s governments to step up efforts in National curbing insecurity in the country.

He made the call in an Executive interview with the News Agency Council of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos. meeting, at the He said government needed weekend in to do more in checking the Lagos. increasing number of attacks on

innocent Nigerians by insurgents.

The legal luminary was Photo: NAN reacting to Sunday’s planting of

SAN urges federal, state govts. to step up efforts on security

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Yuguda’s wife faults asset recovery committee report From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

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ife of former Bauch state Governor, Isa Yuguda, Hajiya Abiodun Hauwa Yuguda, at the weekend described as blatant lie the report by the recovery committee set up by the Bauchi State government that 22 cars allegedly taken away by Yuguda’s wives were recovered by the committee.

It could be recalled that Governor Abubakar had set up a committee to recover government property frittered away by officials of the Yuguda administration, insisting that he would leave no stone unturned in ensuring every property taken away was recovered.

The committee had claimed

that 11 vehicles were recovered from Yuguda’s wife, seven from Hajiya Hauwa Abiodun, and four from the third wife, Marya, while the fourth wife, Nafisah, was out of the country as of the time the committee went to recover the vehicles in her possession.

Speaking with journalists in a telephone interview Hajiya Yuguda expressed surprised that the committee claimed that 22 vehicles were recovered from their house, saying the report was false.

According to the founder of a nongovernmental organisation (NGO), Challenge Your Disability Initiative (CYDI), which has been assisting the less privileged, particularly the disabled people in Bauchi State, as of the time her husband left government, the

only car in her house was a Toyota Camry, declaring that, “let anyone who said seven cars were taken away from my house to come out openly and tell the whole world the truth.

She informed that what actually transpired was that as of the time the tenure of former governor Yuguda expired, he instructed his wives to return the vehicles they were using while in office so that no one would claim they took away Bauchi State government’s property.

She added that this the wives compiled with as they vehicles, which she said was were even old, were taken to to the Bauchi State government liaison office in Abuja, from where the cars were towed to Bauchi.

“I had a jeep, Toyota Camry, which I was not using and a pick up van with me when we were leaving office. These were even old vehicles bought before 2011. On the instruction of my husband, I returned them to the liaison office like my sisters, I mean the other wives, did.

“My Personal Assistant, Esther, had to even go and show them where the cars that bought in 2007, sone which are not even movable at the government mechanic place. Some cars that were bought in 2007 were being used in my NGO, CYDI office in Bauchi, there are being to take the three disable to who are working in m y office to and fro their houses and to carry all activities that have to with pole with disability.

bomb in ECWA Church in Tudun Wada, near Federal Secretariat, Jos, by unknown persons.

Pwul condemned the action in strong terms.

He said “even though the problem has been rooted over time and no one expects a miracle to happen overnight or expects a sudden seizure of violence and insecurity, there should be proactive and stringent measures toward tackling the menace.

He added that the renewed and increased blasts being experienced in Jos, Yobe and Maiduguri should be stopped with speed.

He stressed that without security, it would be difficult for the country to make any meaningful economic growth toward national development.

“Bomb blasts have destroyed many lives in Plateau and other states, targeting innocent citizens.

This is very unfortunate and sad.

“Security agents should be more apt at intelligence gathering to forestall such unwanted and dastardly attacks across the nation”, (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

News NGO wants better funding for NASC to boost performance

L-R: Wife of the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mrs. Nike Adesina, former Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Tunde Lemo, Special Adviser to the President of Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, Rev. (Mrs) Bisi Meduoye, and General Overseer/ Senior Pastor, Foursquare Gospel Church, Rev. Felix Meduoye, during the thanksgiving service for Mr. Adesina, yesterday at Yaba National Headquarters of the church, in Lagos.

By Albert Akota

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eadership of the National Assembly has been called upon to improve funding of the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) since paucity of fund has been the major hindrance limiting the commission performing it constitutional mandate.

The executive director, Centre for Leadership Network Initiative (CLNI), Mr Nelson Ossaieze, at a press conference in weekend said despite the fact that the function of the commission is crucial to the success of any assembly, lack of fund and training has been the bane of the commission.

He said: “Based on our independent assessment and evaluation, we discover that the leadership of the commission has been doing well within the limit of the fund available to them. This is possible because of the credible leadership quality of the chairman of the commission, Dr. Adamu Mohammed Fika.

“One of the major reasons why we’re having complains in the Assembly is the inadequate funding of institutions like the NASC that has major role to play in the life of any assembly. We want to see a vibrant NASC as an NGO with the mandate to support any performing institution in the country.

“That is we are calling on the leadership of the National Assembly to consider increasing the allocation to enable the commission perform it’s constitutional responsibility properly,” he said.

He said his organisation will make it a duty to monitor the activities of all agency related to the National Assembly, the same way it has been monitoring the assembly over the years.

He said if staff of the commission is well motivated, their activities will impact positively on the work of the NASS members.

“We understand the challenge of the commission, especially now that government is cutting cost, but we insist that there most be exceptions, crucial agencies like NASC should be accorded some priorities if we must move in the right direction, “ he said.

He however assured that his organisation will support the commission to achieve it mandate.

Don urges new INEC boss to sustain Jega’s legacy

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university lecturer, Dr. Dapo Odukoya, has urged the new Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) acting Chairperson, Mrs Amina Zakari, to emulate and sustain Prof. Attahiru Jega’s legacy.

Odukoya, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), IjebuOde, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ijebu-Ode on Sunday.

He said Jega had not only

raised the bar for INEC in the preparation and conduct of elections in the country, but also served with integrity and sincerity of purpose.

He added that ``Jega’s INEC must be scored high for political neutrality and integrity. ``From the onset when he was appointed in 2010, he was ready to work to ensure that he gave the country credible elections. ``The outcome is what we all witnessed at the last elections, adjudged by most, including the international community,

to be one of the best elections conducted in Nigeria. ``The elections were credible that even the number of post-election litigations at the tribunals reduced considerably. ``This is what subsequent INEC appointees must strive to sustain so that our democracy will be strengthened.’’

Odukoya then lauded the new acting chairperson for promising to consolidate on the successes achieved by Jega during her tenure. The don appealed to Nigerians to support the new

leadership of INEC in promoting the interests of democracy and improving the electoral process.

Odukoya, however, urged INEC to improve the voters’ register data bank by ensuring that it was updated periodically before elections.

Jega, the immediate past chairman of INEC left office on June 30 when his five-year tenure lapsed.

He was replaced by Hajiya Amina Zakari on acting capacity

by President Muhammadu Buhari. (NAN)

Expert calls for political will to reform housing sector

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r Festus Adebayo, the Managing Director, FESADED Communications Ltd, has advised the Federal Government to develop the required ``political will’’ to address housing deficit in the country.

Adebayo gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja. He said having the political will would enable the government to foster a vibrant private sector for sustainable mass housing development.

He added that ``let there be a political will to reform the

housing sector; we are calling on the new government of President Muhammadu Buhari to help us to look into the sector and sort things out.’’

The managing director said that the government should put into consideration ideas that would solve the long tenure of loan and equity payment.

He, however, noted that the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) had an understanding with Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) to address the housing problems in the country.

According to him, the NMRC is in a Public Private Partnership

(PPP) arrangement between the Federal Government and the private sector to bridge the funding cost of residential mortgages. ``NMRC promotes availability and affordability of good housing to working Nigerians by providing mortgage lending with increased access to liquidity and longer terms fund in the mortgage market,’’ he added.

He said FESADED Communications Ltd was to promote local content initiatives and self sufficiency in providing affordable housing in Nigeria.

He added that the organisation

introduced the Abuja Housing Show and Award to provide platform for both local and foreign players in the real estate industry to showcase their products and services.

Adebayo explained that the show was also aimed at raising awareness among developers, manufacturers of building materials and housing stakeholders on the housing needs of the country.

He said that ``the annual show is an opportunity for stakeholders to meet key international players in housing and construction sector.

NACCIMA urges Nigerians in Diaspora to return home to invest

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r Asiwaju Alabi, National Vice-President, National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), has called on Nigerians in Diaspora to come home and invest in the country.

Alabi made the call on Saturday in Ibadan during the inauguration of YEBAOT Automobile Limited, Ibadan.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the company is established by Mr Yomi

Olatinwo, an indigene Oyo State, base in United States of America.

He said that Olatinwo, who just returned from US to invest in Ibadan, had contributed to the growth of the economy of Nigeria and reduced its rate of unemployment.

Alabi said that his call became necessary because a lot of rich Nigerians in foreign countries had refused to come home to invest.

He reminded Nigerians in foreign countries that the country

needed them especially now that the price of oil, which the country depended for most of its revenue, had been on downward trend. `` The country needs to diversify its economy, to do that, we need foreign investors to boost the economy of the country, thereby creating jobs and reducing unemployment. `` Government alone cannot do it, those that have the resources to set up business should assist the government by setting up a business,’’ NACCIMA

Vice- President said.

Speaking the Chief Executive Officer of YEBAOT, Automobile Limited, Olatinwo, expressed the determination of his company to contribute to the economic growth and development of the country.

He said that his company deals in new cars, brought to Nigeria for sale. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that friends and family members of Olatinwo attended the occasion.

(NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

News Crisis: CITAD warns Nigerian leaders against disintegration From Ahmed Kaigama Bauchi

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entre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has observed that any country that is incapable of securing peace and protecting lives and property of its citizens stands the danger of disintegration.

CITAD therefore appealed to Nigerian stakeholders, be they individuals, organizations, government or professional bodies to play the roles expected of them towards ensuring peace and security of the ountry.

“All have roles to play and we must play that roles so that we can secure our country, secure lives and property, and live peacefully knowing fully that without peace there can be no development in this country”, it said.

According to the CITAD Executive Director, Yunusa Zakari Ya’u, unless the problem of Boko Haram is solve, it would compound with other problems such as ethnic and religious conflicts, cattle rustlings, breeders and farmers clash to turn Nigeria

into a theatre of war.

“We have seen what happened in Somalia, what happened in Liberia, what happened in Sierra Leone, and we do not think that we want to witness these type of things here in Nigeria”, YZY warned.

The CITAD director who was speaking at Media presentation of a book entitled ‘Insurgency and Human Rights in Northern Nigeria’ published by the centre held in Bauchi weekend, stressed the need for Nigerians to stop the danger by consciously working to ensure that peace is restored to all parts of the country.

“The only way that Nigerians can stop us from following the path as Somalia is by consciously working to ensure that peace is restored to all parts of the country, and that is the message we are living with you”, Ya’u stated.

He observed that the insurgency activities ravaging the Northeast geo-political zone is not the problem of the subregion alone, but rather Nigerian problem generally, as whatever affect one part of the country

affects the other.

Malam Yunusa Zakari Ya’u reminded Nigerians that a problem of insurgency exist in the country that require the contributions of all towards solving it through peace building in own respective communities to secure the communities, states, and the country at large.

Ya’u said the book recognized that much of Northern Nigeria especially the Northeast have been under insurgency resulting in death of thousands of people with millions living as internally displaced persons (IDPs), and thousands of others fled the county for shelter and livelihood.

He described as confusions, misunderstandings, and insinuations the phenomenon of the insurgency, its objectives and consequences that made CITAD document its impact and consequences to provide the public a better understanding and sensitize them towards peace building.

The director noted that the insurgency had badly affected the economic and social activities of

the people in Northern Nigeria, and violated their rights to access education, movement and association, saying the violation is done both by insurgents and security personnel.

“We recognized that their rights to freedom of association, movement and access to education have been denied especially young girls in the region who have fallen victims of abduction”.

Ya’u described Chibok girls abduction as instance as, according to him, thousands of other girls who were before then been abducted have been forced into slavery and insurgency as most of the girls suicide bombers are those abducted by the insurgency.

Director Yunusa Zakari Ya’u explained that CITAD encourages people to organize peace buildings in their respective domains as its being done in Jos, where for years people have been divided along ethnic and religious lines with lots of killings which hitherto is a home of peace and tourism.

R-L: Former Vice-President and chieftain of APC, Atiku Abubakar, receiving Deputy Imam of the Prophet Mosque, Sheikh Muhammad, during the former vice-president’s visit to Medina, in Saudia Arabia, at the weekend.

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Entrepreneurship: Kebbi Gov wife presents certificates to 1000 women/ youth From Ahmed Idris Birnin Kebbi

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he Wife of the Kebbi State Governor Hajiya Aisha Bagudu has weekend presented the certificate of entrepreneurship to one thousand women and youth who graduated and under go differences skills acquisition training programme under her foundation of mass literacy for the less privilege and Almajiri initiative across the state.

Presenting the certificate, the wife of the Governor said that the programme was aim to reduce the high rate of unemployment and poverty in the state, adding the exercise would be a continue one, and is oing to batch by batch across the 21 local government area of the state.

She explained that the programme was in collaboration with the Nigeria Entrepreneurship which as also got international recognition with aim to promote and assist the funerable childrens.

She then admonished the graduants to showcase the training they under go and ensure that they are self dependents as well as they should also impact the knowledge acquired to others.

“You see this is a way of being self employed as you people can use the certificate to obtain loan from the Bank inorder for you to establish business on your own”, she added.

Speaking earlier, the National vice President of the Nigeria entrepreneurship Engr.

Augustine Chibola thank the wife of the Governor for the gesture, assured her that the association is ready to partner with her NGO and also to support the graduate who under go the training under her foundation.

In her remarks, the permanent Secretary Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development Hajiya Garba Harmani has applaud the wife of the Governor for her initiative while called on the women in the state to support the present administration as they gave the women the sense of belonging in the state by empowering them on a different ways of making life easy.

RTEAN leadership: Isiwele is an impostor – Sadiq

By Ochiaka Ugwu

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ess than a week after National President of Road Transport Employer’s Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, Alhaji Sadiq Abubakar publicly stated that the factional leader of the group, Chief Musa Isiwele Shehu who claims to be National President of the association was standing trial at the Federal Court of Appeal, Kaduna over his misconduct and the latter’s denial, RTEAN

has again insisted that Isiwele was an impostor whose case is being challenged at the Federal Court of Appeal, Kaduna. This was contained in a statement issued by the association’s National SecretaryGeneral, Comrade Abdullahi Muhammed Jabi which was made available to newsmen in Abuja. Comrade Abdullahi said the issue had to do with Isiwele’s claims to be national president going places to deceive those in governments

and in public organizations to get patronages.

His words, “We consider it necessary to make a response to the rebuttal of Isiwele in some newspapers to the assertion of our national president that Isiwele is an impostor and is being challenged at the court over holding a purported delegates conference that produced him and his cohorts.

The National scribe noted it is clearly on record that the case is still pending at the Federal

Court of Appeal, Kaduna with the case file no. CA/K/287/09 suit no. NIC/7/2007.

He alleged that during the last general elections, he (Isiwele) used his splitter group to campaign for the former President Goodluck Jonathan against the rules governing labour movement which prohibit the association to be partisan or sponsoring of political activities.

“For Isiewele to deny he received no kobo from

Jonathan administrationand not in court shows that he is not being honest as there were overwhelming evidences that exposed him as beneficiary of the immediate past administration” he stressed.

He also accused Isiwele of sponsoring and organizing rallies, road shows, erecting bill boards and advertisements/ documentaries on AIT/ NTA and radio in support of Jonathan which he said was well known to the public.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

News

Injustice bane of social vices -Royal father From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

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he Emir of Birini Gwari Alhaji Jubril Zubairu Mia Gwari 11, has identified injustice as the bane of social vices in rocking the country today. He stated this in an address he delivered at the annual Ramadan Lecture orgainised by the Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) held in Kaduna yesterday.

According to the royal father injustice melted on the people today by those who are supposed to show justice to them has forced a lot of people to seek justice in their own way and must time it turn out to be in the wrong direction, The Emir added that injustice started from the home where husband and wife became unjust to each other and this variablely affected their home and children. “ The next line of injustice is from those who are saddled with leadership of the people either political or religion. If these sect of leaders decided to show injustice to their followers then according to prophet Mohammed (SWA) said such leaders will be the first to enter hell fire while those who are just to their subjects will be the first to enter paradise,” he said The guest lecture of the day Sheik Musa Yusuf Asadussunna while reviewing the theme of the lecture: The Role of Justice in a Muslim live : said justice is a vast subject that is very important in the Islamic word, because the foundation of the religion is justice and it is very unfortunate today that people who professed to the Muslims openly displace injustice to people forgetting that even those who are not Muslims deserved justice and the problems bedeviling the country today is a result of past injustice by leaders on their subjects and the only way tom correct it is to ensure that justice is done to everybody.

The Amir of FOMWAN Saudah Nuhu Maiwada while giving the report of her stewardship said the association is working to unite the Muslims Community and provide both Islamic and modern education to the ummah.

“We also have an hospital her in kaduna that is catering for the less privilege people in the society irrespective of their religion “she said In her own remark the wife of Kaduna state governor Hajia Hadiza Nasir El- Rufai said the state government will partner with organization like FOMWAN that is concern with the well being of the people of the state.

L-R: Secretary, NUJ Lagos state Council, Mrs. Bimbo Oyetunde, Chairman, Comrade Deji Olumoye, and Presidential Candidate, Mr. Rotimi Obamuwagun, during the NUJ congress, on Saturday in Lagos.

Photo: NAN

2015 NUJ elections: Prince Atunbi pledges to consolidate outgoing Presidents’ legacies From Umar Dankano, Yola

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s the national election of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ draws near, A Presidential candidate in race, Prince Dele Atunbi has pledge to consolidate the lendable achievements of the outgoing president Mal. Muhammad Garba.

Prince Atunbi dropped the

pledge while addressing Adamawa delegates at the NUJ press center Yola weekend stressing that, NUJ as a professional body in the country is being face by multiple challenges ranging from lack of good remunerations to practitioners, the P.I.I.B saga, lack of enough housing facilities for journalists and professionalism lacking among others,

He said, if all mentioned above were addressed, he had no reason to context but like of it informal his zeal to add more value to the profession.

Advising the delegates to vote for meaningful change so that the union can be moving head over hills in every circumstances.

Prince Atunbi who expressed dismay over the way Journalists as fourth estate of the realm

are positioned in the scheme of happenings in the Country promise to create an atmosphere where the cherished profession (Journalism) will be dignified and respected.

He added that journalists are special people and must be treated as such because of the intellectual contribution they are making in the development of the country.

Zamfara inaugurates Routine Immunisation committee From Ibrahim Sidi Muh’d, Gusau

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he Zamfara state 19-man Routine Immunisation (RI) working group committee has been inaugurated by the ministry of health aimed at to ensure full coordination and effective implementation of the exercise in the state.

Inaugurating the committee Saturday in Gusau, the state capital, the Permanent Secretary, state ministry of health, Dr Lawal Umar Bungudu said, the committee will ensure harmony and synergy in the provision of

RI services and partner support, and speedy resolution of issues and improved efficiency in the required services across the state.

Dr Bungudu said, the committee’s terms of reference includes, develop, identify and leverage resources to implement the state approved RI work plan, monitor and review the status of implementation of the state’s annual RI work plan.

This will be achieved by tracking identified key performance indicators across all thematic areas as outlined in the state RI annual plan and support all capacity building activities

for immunisation officers at the state, LGA and Health facility levels.

Other mandates of the committee were the support for Local Government Areas in developing and implementing their respective RI annual work plans, Plan and implement joint RI supportive supervision visits and use information generated to inform decision making, Plan and implement ‘’Periodic Implementation of Routine Immunisation (PIRI) activities such as Local Immunisation Days (LIDs) and RI Intensification projects

among others.

The rest were to ensure harmonisation of state and partner efforts in the drive to strengthen routine immunisation and ensure adequate RI information sharing between state and partners.

Responding, Chairman of the committee who is also the Director PHC, state ministry of health, Alhaji Yusuf A Musa, has assured the ministry that the group will do all their best to establish the confidence reposed on it to drive routine immunisation activities effective in the state.

Kogi pensioners give Govt 7-day ultimatum From Ahmad Ibrahim, Lokoja

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ensioners in Kogi State under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Pensioners have given a seven-day ultimatum to the state government to withdraw the services of a consultant engaged by the Accountant General of the state, Ibrahim A. Idakwo to handle pension payment or face massive protests.

Speaking at a media briefing in Lokoja over the weekend, the state chairman of the body,

Comrade Onuh Abdullaihi, said the ultimatum became necessary in view of the usurpation of the payment of monthly pension by the accountant general, where he employed the services of consultant in April, 2014,which is the function of the Baureau of State Gvernment Pensions.

According to him, monthly pension had always been through e-payment until the account general misled the governor, which led to the engagement of the services of a consultant to handle the payment

in April, 2014.

He further pointed out that the pensioners who were not comfortable with the development, opposed the arrangement by writing the state government and other relevant agencies on the possible consequence of the action but to no avail.

The chairman disclosed that as a result of the development, about 225 pensioners were omitted from the payment voucher in April 2015, while a new placements for receipt of pension in April were also left

out.

Comrade Onuh alleged that in April Over N19. 92 million was withheld by the Accountant General from the required total money released for pension payment while in May 2015 the same consultant was used to effect the payment and the same mistake of April was repeated.

He alleged that to worsen the matter, the AG instructed the constant to deduct various some of money ranging from N200 to N1,000 from salaries of pensioners.

Page 11

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

EDITORIAL

Where are killers of those journalists?

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t is with heavy hearts agents and condemnations by exposed and prosecuted. This that we recall the beastly professional associations of underscores the insensitivity killing, late January journalists, as has always been of the system to the safety 2014, of Newswatch’s the case, the matter will die down of journalists and others Deputy Editor, Toyin without questions asked on the discharging their constitutional Obadina. He was shot late whereabouts of the culprits. In duty and service to the society.

Friday, January 31 last year in the end, the poor family of the Some journalists who were killed Lagos, by gunmen suspected slain journalist is left alone to in cold blood like Dele Giwa to be armed robbers, and bear the pain of the loss of their and Obadina include James died on Saturday, February 1 loved one.

Bagauda Kaltho, Bayo Ohu and same year after undergoing a Just like the late Obadina, cases Enenche Akogwu. Their killers surgery to extract bullets from simply vanished without any his abdomen. Unfortunately, trace. Bagauda Kaltho was a the operation failed to save his senior correspondent of the life.

News in Kaduna state. He was Obadina had arrived Ikorodu kidnapped and then murdered Some journalists who around 12 midnight after in 1998. And 15 years afterward, leaving the office late on the justice is yet to be done. Ditto were killed in cold fateful Friday. He reportedly for Assistant News Editor of blood like Dele Giwa used an Automated Teller the Guardian, Mr Ogunbayo Machine (ATM) to withdraw Ayanlola Ohu, who was killed in and Obadina include money which, according to 2009 while working on a story sources, he planned to use on a James Bagauda Kaltho, that, it was believed, would have journey over the weekend. The exposed a top Nigerian Customs robbers attacked him while he Bayo Ohu and Enenche Service official. was heading home on Shagamu In 2012 alone, 13 Nigerian Akogwu. Their killers road in Ikorodu area of Lagos, journalists were killed in the collected the money and shot simply vanished without line of duty, the highest figure him twice in the abdomen. in the history of the country any trace. Bagauda Expectedly, the Nigerian police since independence in 1960. quickly issued a statement This exposes the precariousness Kaltho was a senior vowing to get the perpetrators of journalism practice in this correspondent of the of the killing and bring them to country. We agreed with then justice. Similarly, the Nigerian President of the Nigeria Union of News in Kaduna state.

Guild of Editors (NGE) Journalists (NUJ), Mohammed reacted condemning the act. A Garba, when he said in 2012: of reckless killing of jounalists statement by then President of “Media organiations should without a meaningful effort by NGE, Mr. Femi Adesina, while endeavour to provide insurance authorities to track down the condoling with the family of cover for journalists. All the killers or stem the tide are replete the slain journalist demanded journalists covering strategic in our history. Since October, that his killers be fished out to areas such as government 1986 when Dele Giwa founder of face justice. houses should be insured by the Newswatch magazine was killed We fear that after the initial government.” We still believe via a parcel bomb, no killer of razzmatazz by the security this is the right thing to do.

Nigerian journalist has been

“

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”

OUR PEOPLE

OUR VISION

Chairman Malam Wada Maida, Oon, Fnge Director/Editor-in-Chief Rufa’i Ibrahim Hameed M. Bello

Editor, Daily

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PAGE 12

Opinion

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Power privatisation: Transmission is next?

By Abdullahi Musa

A

bout 80% of the electricity in the U.S. is generated by private (“investor-owned”) utilities. The remaining electricity is produced by federal agencies such as the Tennessee Valley Authority (producing mainly nuclear and hydropower), theBonneville Power Administration (in the Pacific Northwest)andthePowerMarketing Administration of the Department of Energy(hydropower), municipal utilities and utility cooperatives.

The largest private electric producers in the United States include: AES Corporation,Southern Company,American Electric Power,Duke Energy,Luminant.

(From Wikipedia) I do not believe I am wrong, that I heard in the news that the transmission aspect of Nigeria’s power supply will soon be privatised. What I found perplexing about the news was that there has been a change in government at Federal and many States level in Nigeria. With regards to the federal level, one may say the government is not yet fully in place, it has no Cabinet yet. Where then did the privatisation agency get the nod to go ahead with privatisation of the

transmission lines?

My quote above from Wikipedia is meant to illustrate one thing: that is, even in the citadel of capitalism USA, there is role for government, not only in regulation, but also in production and transmission of power. I extended my quotation from Wikipedia to show that it is mostly American companies that are in charge of the power sector in USA. There is for instance American Electric Power. In spite of Chinese technological prowess, the building of three Gorges dam for instance, it is not Chinese Electric Power that is supplying electricity in USA. But Nigeria is different. Let me give an example that may annoy the reader, but which best illustrates my point about powerlessness.

A man has a house. Within that house there are many rooms, with rooms serving different functions.

Though the kitchen is important, it is the bedroom that is the soul of the house. What happens therein is the reason the house exists. So if the house owner comes to the conclusion he cannot discharge the function required in the bedroom, and decides to privatise it, he becomes what, an eunuch?

Our, I mean African nation states, were the creation of various European nations. Those nations

competed with each other in technological advancement. They did not privatise their existence to early starters such as Britain.

They competed, till they came to be accepted as partners if not equals.

Japan persevered in the motor car production race till they came to accepted as leaders in quality and low cost. Quite alright, as part of commercial necessity, mergers and acquisitions took place. But at no time did Japan agree to lose its competitiveness. So why should it be when it comes to Africa we are expected to confirm our infirmity, to throw in the towel, to say that organisation and creativity is not part of our makeup?

When we gave AJAOKUTA to Indians, or a kind of privatisation, what happened? It was alleged they engaged in massive assetstripping, in order to bring the enterprise down. But why not, since they own one of the largest steel mills in the world, which will thrive better with less competition.

America and Russia had advanced in space exploration for decades. To prove their technological maturity, India and China also decided they too must be on the moon. They ensured that were a day to arrive for scramble for the moon they also will also be estate owners up there.

Some may argue that it is Nigerian companies that bid in privatisation exercise. Fine, but as what, rent seekers? A South African company, MTN has been milking us dry since the advent of gsm in Nigeria. How did they come about? The failure of Nitel as telephone company contributed greatly. Who killed Nitel? Nigerians. Businessmen would accumulate bills in hundreds of thousands of Naira, refuse to pay, and jettison the indebted line and acquire a new one. There was a period in our tragic technological history when we were denied direct dial to overseas numbers in the name of security. We would be in queue the whole day trying to get Lagos from Kano or vice versa.

Businessmen who would not be paying will monopolise the trunk chatting with one girlfriend or the other for hours. They achieved this by bribing the operator.

Change, we expected, was to bring new life to Nigerians. New life means new definition. Nigeria is not in BRICS, that association of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. May be even the new acronym might seem weird: BRINCS, of disaster? Joke aside, it is an association of up comers in industrialisation seeking to get some independence, some

the ruling party. Both naira and foreign currencies were employed.

This further put pressure on the economy. And as the election shockingly for it, turned out the way it never expected, coupled with the fact that shifting of the election date by six weeks, shortened the handover time, the government then, apparently, had to do things in a hurry, leaving some tell tale gaps in the record books. President Buhari is now scrutinizing those records and comparing them with realty on the ground. He reportedly said, after preliminary findings, that the country is in a “mess” and worse than what obtained when he overthrew the democratically elected government of Shehu Shagari.

Now let us come down to the brass tacks, what is the definition of being ‘broke’? The Encarta internet dictionary defines it as, ‘having no money to spend’; ‘bankrupt’.

From the ordinary man’s point of view, being broke connotes, not having any money, not being able to cater for one’s basic needs of food, shelter and clothing. However, money is in two forms, namely, liquid cash and paper money. The latter includes debts that are being owed you, investments from which you are expecting some cash at a fixed future date, and some assets you can quickly dispose of in exchange for cash money. For the ordinary man these would include ‘esusu’, ‘adashe’, that is, indigenous group contributions, phones and electronic goods as well as other non essentials that can be sold for cash when you are boxed into a corner and getting bankrupt. In the layman’s language or rather understanding, being bankrupt means not being able to borrow money for one reason or other.

For instance because of pervasive poverty, high unemployment rate

and inflation, the circle of friends and relatives that you can run to, to lend you cash is shrinking fast. Besides, many of today’s electronic gadgets are essential tools for everyday living. Thus they can hardly be dispensed for cash.

So, many Nigerians are broke or become broke sooner than later, upon getting whatever cash they are able to lay their hands on.

On the business level, many of today’s business enterprises really have little cash in their till in the real sense. Most of their transactions are based on credit from their banks and customers. Thence, although they may be in the red in terms of liquid cash but because they are credit worthy, that is, able to secure bank credit, get supplies on credit and so on, they are still a going concern, able to carry on with their business concerns daily. So, they cannot be said to be broke as such. In fact any business organization that is broke in the layman’s language or bankrupt in the business language would not be on its feet. It will either shut down or be liquidated by creditors.

Many corporate businesses are able to remain in business by cleverly recycling their debts, rescheduling them.

Let us now go a step further, to the state level. A state government can be said to be broke if it cannot fulfill or meet its capital and recurrent expenditures.

The latter refers to salaries and overhead costs while the former refers to infrastructures and other social amenities. Suppose a state government due to paucity of funds, decides to drastically cut down on capital projects while concentrating on recurrent expenses, that is, payment of salaries et al. Can it be said to be still fulfilling its duties as a government? Remember that government workers who gulp

salaries and wages constitute only a small percentage of a state’s population; a state government is accountable to the entirety of its populace. Expenditures on capital projects have multiplier effects in that they create tens of ancillary jobs, from the contractors through the builders to the woman that sells ‘akara’ to the workers on site.

In so far as the state government is paying salaries and wages as at when due, it cannot be said to be broke. Right? Suppose that State government does not have enough money to pay salaries but is able to borrow from banks to supplement its own inadequate cash, what do we say of it? We can then say it is technically broke but not broke in the real sense. And suppose as is now the case with a state government in the west, it is indebted to its workers and cannot borrow to offset it as the banks are refusing to lend to it essentially because it has exhausted its credit limits, what is it? That state government is downright broke, correct? Any State government which combined earnings are insufficient to meet its obligations is technically insolvent.

Finally, we come to the federal government and the fundamental question ‘is Nigeria broke’? Critics say that the federal government had actually been borrowing in recent times to pay its workers. Truly, the statistics are not cheering: crude oil prices and the revenues therefrom have been plummeting; the excess crude account to shore us up in rainy days like now, has nosedived from some $4 billion to just about $2 billion; the naira exchange rate has taken a tumble as one dollar now exchanges for N230. Nigeria’s totaldebts stands at about $63 billion.Technically, a country like ours can be said to be broke if it does not have enough foreign exchange (forex) reserves to cover imports

Is Nigeria broke?

By Victoria N. Ikeano

I

s Nigeria broke? That is the question the average Nigeria is asking following recent revelation by President Muhammadu Buhari that the country’s treasury is almost empty.

It would be recalled that sometime in the third quarter of last year, critics had alleged that the country was broke, to which the then Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala denied. She stoutly defended the government then.

Our government had been basking in the euphoria of the rebasing which conferred on Nigeria the status of ‘Africa’s largest economy’, overtaking South Africa. Then oil prices, our major revenue earner, started tumbling beyond government’s original calculations, forcing it to adjust the proposed 2015 budget’s oil bench mark price downwards. Then the Central Bank devalued the Naira in a fiat, by eight per cent and also raised interest rates. Then, the government hinted at an impending austerity measures, the details of which it hoped to unveil in the first quarter of 2015, after the elections.

The impending general elections originally fixed for February, apparently, forced it to withhold the bitter pills to itself. Apparently too, the projection was that once it won the elections (as it was sure it would, going by its body language), the Jonathan administration would then unleash the full extent of its austerity measures. Then came the campaigns of 2015 and the spending spree associated with elections. This year’s campaigns were the most bitter and expensive in the nation’s history. Money literally flowed freely during this period, the first quarter of 2015, especially from

breathing space, from Europe and America dominated global economic order. Why are they not happy handing over their affairs to others to manage, privatising their bedrooms?

One is not advocating the encouragement of foolish pride.

But what we are pointing out is that others cannot, will not, should not develop you. Development must be organic, spring from inside. What of if a manufacturer from China sees that it is in his interest to thwart Nigeria’s electricity production?

What of if it is the government of China itself that may feel so threatened? Lack of electricity is the bane of Nigeria’s industrial development. From the sale of generators, footwear, underwear, textile materials, China can recoup in multiple whatever it might have spent acquiring Nigeria’s power sector.

The change agents must really come to an understanding of what change really means. It surely does not mean following policies laid down by PDP, a party supported by rent-seekers. Nigerians are capable of building their country. What they need is a proud and purposeful leadership.

Abdullahi Musa wrote in from Abuja

for three months. To help ease the pressure on our foreign exchange reserves and conserve forex for essentials, the central bank has now banned some products from accessing the official forex window.

However, Nigeria’s cash problems have arisen largely from leakages in the system and corruption. Our potentials are still strong, given our oil and gas reserves.

According to figures from the Central Bank, crude oil production, including condensates and natural gas for the month of April averaged 1.91 million barrels per day or 57.30 million barrels in that month. This is five per cent more than the 1.82 million barrels a day recorded in March. Crude oil export for April was according to the figures, estimated at 1.46 million barrels per day or 43.80 million barrels for the whole month, an increase of 6.6 per cent over what was recorded in March. The Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) in which the federal government has 49 per cent stake, recently paid $1.6 billion as tax to it. This is different from dividends. The federal government as the major shareholder receives much more, actually 49 per cent of the distributable profit. Whereas Nigeria is the sixth largest producer of crude oil, it is the fourth largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter in the world. It currently exports 22 million tonnes of LNG yearly. Plans are afoot, to increase NLNG’s production capacity to 30 metric tonnes per year. Our external reserves are rising gradually, from $29.1 billion as at June this year, to $31.89 billion as at July 7, 2015.

Verdict? Nigeria with its rich potentials in human and natural resources should not be broke!

IKEANO can be reached on (vikeano@yahoo.co.uk 08033077519)

PAGE 13

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Comment

Still on Empowering Youth Corps Members

By Gidado Yushau Shuaib

I

t is disheartening and worrisome that youth corps members are being killed while rendering selfless service to their fatherland. The recent senseless killings of members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who are serving in various parts of the country is unacceptable and must be urgently addressed by relevant authorities.

Over the years, the scheme has been very successful even in the face of economic challenges and insecurity in the country which prompted calls for a review of the scheme. More worrisome is the fact that corps members are now becoming endangered in their host communities and places of primary assignments.

Recently a corps member identified as Akpanika was killed by unidentified assailants in Ezuhu Umuhu Okwuato community in Aboh Mbaise Council of Imo State. Akpanika hailed from Calabar Municipal Local Government Area of Cross River State.

A similar incident also took

place in Kwara State where a 27-year-old Yetunde Sukurat Idowu was killed by unknown assailants and her body dumped on the roadside. The deceased corps member was an indigene of Ayetoro in Ogun State.

There is also reported killing of another corps member David Onyeasina in Benin City, Edo State. The 21-year-old graduate of Fine and Applied Arts from the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, Oyo State was purportedly killed by armed robbers.

In the face of alarming massacre of innocent youths serving their fatherland, the cheering news is the fact that that other Nigerian youths are being recognised and awarded abroad.

Four young Nigerians were among those honoured by Queen Elizabeth II of England at the inaugural Queen’s Young Leaders (YQL) awards at the Buckingham palace. The award which was first of its kind was designed to reward exceptional youths from across the Commonwealth nations.

The awardees include; Isaiah Owolabi, Kelvin Ogholi, Nkechikwu Azinge and

Oladipupo Ajiroba. All the award winners, who are aged between 18 and 29, are being recognised by the UK monarch for taking the initiative to support others, raise awareness and inspire change on a variety of different issues. The awardees have excelled in programmes towards improvement in education, gender equality, mental health and disability, equality among others.

Surprisingly those Nigerian youths being recognised in foreign land have actually undertaken similar projects which youths corps members execute in various parts Nigeria as part their mandatory oneyear service without much recognitions. .

The above scenario of Nigerian youths being rewarded abroad and while being killed at home is a comparison that is food for thought. In fact, going by the trend where members of NYSC are becoming victims of terrorism and undesirable elements in the society, it may not be out of place to consider reviews as being proposed from different quarters.

It undeniable the fact that

Why Nigeria needs stalin

By Olalekan Waheed Adigun

T

he Great Ife Students’ Union Building (Ken Saro Wiwa Building) means different things to many people. While to some, it is a place that has produced heroes and legends; to others, it is the bedrock of Students’ militancy; to others still, it is a house for thugs, rogues and ‘professional’ students.

Whatever it may mean to anyone is a matter of interpretation. For those, like me, who have served the Union in any capacity at one time or the other it is a centre for political consciousness, analyses and education which we will always love cherish.

In front of that building once stood a newspaper vendor, Abe Igi( under a tree) where different people come to read the papers (usually for free) and in turn analyse, discuss and argue about topical issues making the news for long hours that one begins to wonder if these people ever attend lectures. (I must confess I learnt more politics at this point than I did in the classroom studying for a degree in Political Science in the university). It was at this place that I met the strangest person in my life!

Comrade Tony Uchendu is a young man who you would ordinarily prefer to avoid. His appearance is austere; his stature is what you can call below average.

His ideas and opinions are either strange or bizarre. He professes Communism and his deep knowledge of Marxism particularly thrills me. But how will you know except you come close to him? But I have never met someone who calls himself a Stalinist until I met this Comrade!

In addition to loaning me Isaac Duetscher’s Stalin: A Political

Biography some day after our first meeting, he requested me to attend the meeting of his group, The Eagle Network; a group a was largely unaware of its existence on Campus. I was reluctant to read the book he gave me ( I have not read any Stalin’s biography all I knew then about him were from books about Soviet’s history and politics), just as I was to attend the meeting. After hesitating for several days, I decided to honour the invitation baring any political or social consequences for attending the meeting of a strange, largely clandestine, and an unknown group and at night! It was at this meeting still that I heard further shocking message particularly about democracy.

Noticing my hesitations, Comrade Tony allayed my fears: the group sprang up from the Black Nationalists’ Movement (BNM). I told him that I only know the Movement as a political ideological group to which the Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola belonged to as a student of The Polytechnic, Ibadan. Then we discussed some things in my project thesis: The Effects of Party Politics on Nigeria’s Democratic Experience (which I dedicated to Ogbeni). On seeing my work he oppugned all my ideas about democracy and told me that all Nigeria needed was leadership and not democracy.

It is now 54 years that our colonial masters left us. It is also 16 years since the soldiers went back to their barracks handing over power to politicians or ‘democrats’. And Nigeria has had almost equal number of years for both military and civilian regimes.

The ‘democrats’ may disagree with the points I will be making but no problem.

A lot of people are deliberately ignorant of the fact that two of modern history’s most celebrated dictators are products of a democratic process. Benito Mussolini(Italy) and Adolf Hitler(Germany) a were elected under the Fasci di Combattimento or Fascist Party and the National Socialist German Workers’ Party or the Nazi Party respectively in 1922 and 1933 in addition to countless others. We must equally concede that elections have also produced geniuses and near-saints like: Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, Margaret Thatcher, Julius Nyerere, Sam Mbakwe, Lateef Jakande, Sule Lamido and the likes, just as it has produced rogues and despots: Robert Mugabe, is just a good case.

Also, anyone who has studied US history would know that democracy is just a style of leadership not a system as we may think. Franklin D. Roosevelt is a good example.

Many remember him today as perhaps the most loved American president. Few remember the ‘Court Packing’ and attempt to flush out all his opponents from the Congress during the 1938 midterm election using his influence in the Democratic Party. All these he did to force the New Deal Program through the throat of Americans.

Few still remember he is called the lion and the fox: two creatures known for ruthlessness and craftiness.

We have equally been told that democracy is built on institutions, and not men. In fact President Obama made this point clear on his visit to Ghana in 2009: Africa needs strong institutions and not men. If I am on the same page with these people, the word institution is to be taken literarily: an organisation that has a particular purpose.

In this case may mean: courts,

youths represent the most vibrant and adventurous group in the society. If the prevailing condition does not offer the youth the needed platform to channel their bursting energy into positive use, they may readily embrace rebellious predisposition. The relevant authorities should consider the words of the sage, late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who pointed out that “If you want to know the future of any nation, take a look at what the youths are doing presently.”

We have reached a stage in our nation life when the government should review programme and policies towards addressing unfolding challenges. The NYSC authorities must devise strategies that will protect corps members in their host communities. The youths must be assured of their safety while those threaten their safety are brought to justice speedily.

Meanwhile it won’t be out of place to heed some suggestions towards empowering the youths during the youth service. Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, a current lawmakers and an entertainment guru, recently suggested the need

for entrepreneurship during the national youth service.

In his twitter handle, the senator said if he had his way, each youth corps member would receive N500,000 capital to start any business of their choice once they finish with the oneyear compulsory NYSC scheme.

He described such gesture as a way to create jobs and minimise unemployment and eradicate poverty.

In conclusion it is essential to reiterate the fact that the youths must learn to expand their intellectual horizon, develop skills and build their capacity for productivity. The energy channelled towards football and social media information should be spread across bigger economic and national concerns for the purposes of getting a grasp of the workings and distribution of economic resources.

We must develop the strategies to achieve economic justice and expand the aspiration of Nationhood.

Gidado Yushau Shuaib Mass Communication Department Baze University, Abuja

parliaments, bureaucracy, political parties, or electoral bodies. If that is the meaning of institution, then I submit we have them in fact in excess. To fight corruption alone we have: Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission(ICPC), Code of Conduct Bureau, National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control(NAFDAC), State Security Service(SSS), the Police the list is endless. Has the existence of these reduced corruptions?

It is on that note that I found another meaning of the word in Oxford Dictionary: a person who is well known because they have been in a job for a long time. In the United States’ Federal Reserve Board we can mention institutions like William M. Martin Jr. who served as chairman between 1951 to 1970 serving under five different administrations, both Democrats and Republicans. Also we have Allan Greenspan who was appointed chairman in 1987 and served four different Presidents, including Bill Clinton, even though he himself was a Republican. These are institutions per excellence. And these we need!

When I hear people talk of ‘institutions’ they say it as though they will be manned by robots or X-Men. Judges can be bribed, influenced or intimidated; security agencies can compromise; other institutions can be deliberately underfunded (all these we recently witnessed in Nigeria). The reason for all these is that these institutions are manned by weak men. Weak men cannot rise above partisanship, tribalism, nepotism, ethnicity or religious bigotry. This is where I agree with my Stalinist friend!

Irrespective of what the West wants us to believe about Stalin:

he was responsible for the deaths of untold number of Soviet’s citizens through starvation and ‘concentration’ camps; murderer of many if not all his opponents and supporters (including the respected Leon Trosky one of the leaders of October 1917 revolution); reigned terror on many through the notorious and dreaded KGB (the Secret Police), we need him to bring discipline back into our lexicon as a nation. For those who do not know, Stalin it was that mechanized Soviet’s agriculture; turned around its education that rural farmers were all sent to school; laid the foundation of Soviet’s industrialization, and development of nuclear power which compelled Americans to treat Russians as equals in international politics; responsible for Soviet’s victory over Adolf Hitler’s Nazi army. All these came with great costs. Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great and other great reformers have been dwarfed by the giant form of the Man of Steel(Stalin)(Deutscher 1961: 294 ). If we remove Stalin’s contribution to Russia’s history what is left? There is always a price to pay for making progress!

As a developing nation, we need leaders to guide and inspire our people into political, social, economic, cultural and spiritual vitality, revival and activities. History is not in want of such leaders: Napoleon Bonaparte(France), Charles De Gaulle(France), Lee Kwan Yew( Singapore), Jossip Bros “Tito”( Yugoslavia), Major-General Park Clung(South Korea), Mustafa Kemal Ataturk( Turkey), Fidel Castro( Cuba) and the likes.

Olalekan Waheed Adigun, a public commentator is accessible on email: olalekan@olalekanadigun. com, adgorwell@gmail.com

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

PAGE 14

News PAGE 8

Polio-free: Zamfara wins Bill Gates/Dangote Prize

From Ibrahim Sidi Muh’d, Gusau

Z

amfara state has been declared a winner to a total sum of one million dollars from Bill Gates and Dangote Foundation for being polio-free state in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

This was announced by the foundations’ representative and head of Solina group in the state, Dr Adesina Aladeshawe, during the maiden state Routine Immunization Working Group

Pastor supports IDPs with relief materials in Bauchi From Ahmed Kaigama,Bauchi

P

astor Yakubu Samaila the founder of Alpha and Omega Fire Ministry International in Tafawa Balewa of Bauchi state has distributed food items and baby kids worth millions to Internally Displace Persons (IDPs) from different states in the area The food items include fifty bags of rice, maize and baby kids for five pregnant women.

While distributing the relief material weekend at the ministry’s premises in Tafawa Balewa, Pastor Yakubu said the beneficiaries include victims of crisis in Nasarawa state and victims of Boko Haram across the country.

He said, “we also have special gifts for couple who have married for years without children, but by his grace five of them have conceived while expecting delivery others have given birth to their babies successfully”.

“My God directed me through the spirit to come to the aid of victims of the insurgency, deliver and heal those with spiritual bondage as well as to put smile on the faces of those women that have not enjoyed the fruits of their womb since marriage and those that are in dear need of God’s presence in their life” said Pastor Yakubu According to him, he never thought he will work for God, “I was living my life in Jos, but the says I should come back home to deliver my people and God told me I should not worry people would come from over the world to receive deliverance and many people are coming I give thanks to God”. He said According to him, I was a rugged person and living a miserable live when the prophecy came during the four year adversary of our Church. I receive the prophecy but I rejected it, but the pastor says even if I rejected it will come true, it take me fourteen days everyday an angel would touch me in the night while sleeping and will push him away thinking its my wife, in the fourteen day I feel something strange and when I open my eyes I saw light and the angel said is the cross that would protect me, safe and take me to places, I kneel down and pray that night and commence sixty days fasting the next day”.

meeting held Saturday at ministry for local government conference hall in Gusau, the state capital.

He said each of the two foundations had donated $500,000 (five hundred thousand US dollar) to fulfil their pledge made in providing financial support to any state that maintains two consecutive years without any reported case pertaining polio.

He said Bill Gates and Dangote foundations were virtually

satisfied with concerted efforts by state and partners working on routine immunisation in the state, and expressed their support in strengthening routine immunisation activities across the state.

Adesina explained that the funds will be used for the procurement of solar refrigerators for 84 political wards that were identified with no single functional cold chain equipment, and construction of

two satellite cold chain rooms in the other two senatorial zones headquarters comprising Talata Mafara and Kaura Namoda with a view to ensure total decentralization of cold chain infrastructure in the state. ‘’Based on the data we have generated from key stakeholders, the state has only 63 political wards with functional cold chain equipment while the remaining 84 political wards does not have

functional cold chain equipment.

The two foundations are interested in ensuring children are immunised wherever they are in Zamfara state,’’said Adesina.

Responding, the permanent secretary, state ministry of health, Dr Lawal Umar Bungudu, expressed government commitment in providing necessary support for the smooth implementation of their interventions.

From Mohammad Ibrahim, Kaduna

area of the state.

The community also sympathized with the family of the affected victims of the blasts.

This was contained in a statement signed by the group’s Public Relations officer Comrade Mohammed Abdullahi and made available to newsmen in the state. “ We would like to use this medium to extend our condolence message to executive governor of the state, El-Rufai,

emir of Zazzau Shehu Idris and Interim chairman of Sabon Gari LGA and entire family members of the affected victims of the recent bomb blasts at the screening venue in Zaria. “ May the soul of those who lost their lives rest in perfect peace and those that sustained injuries we wish them quick recovery,” he said.

The group further lauded the state governor for appointing Dr

Ibrahim Yushe’u as Caretaker Chairman of Igabi Local government Area of the state.

According to them, it was the first time in the history of Rigasa to produce such a position since inception of democracy.

The youth group equally commended their lawmakers particularly, Yusuf Ibrahim Zailani anf Bello Ma’aji for supporting the appointment of Dr Ibrahim Yushe’u.

Rigasa community sympathizes with El-Rufai, Zazzau Emir over bomb blast

G

roup under the aegis of Albarka Youth Forum based in Rigasa, a suburb of Igabi Local government area of Kaduna state have sympathized with the state Governor Nasir El-Rufai and Emir of Zazzau Dr Shehu Idris over the recent bomb blast that killed about 27 people in Sabon Gari Local government

FRSC medical team carrying out free medical services for petroleum tanker drivers, on Saturday in Onitsha, Anambra state.

Photo: NAN

LG workers in Kebbi protests verification, table payment From Ahmed Idris Birnin Kebbi

F

ollowing the ongoing local government staff audit, the Bagudo local government staff at the weekend protested their table payment approved by the chairman of the verification committee, Alhaji Abdulhai Mairiga Dakingari.

One of the senior staff Alhaji Usman Muhammed who was briefing newsmen on the condition of anonymity yesterday at the local government

secretariat lamented over the bad attitude of the committee toward the staff.

“We have been short paid, some people name in the voucher was written N12,000 while the committee would paid him N7000 while some staff who were in the level 12 would be given N22,000 which it was very bad” he lamented.

In a related development, the District head of Zagga village Alhaji Abubakari Maina who also express dismay over the nature of

the screening adding that he was also short paid by the committee, “I was short paid but my intention is to meet them after the exercise, am going to lay my complain later” he added.

Maina who further pointed out that since government fail not to contact and collaborate with the traditional institute then their would be hitches in the exercise.

People’s daily could recall that last week the Nigeria Labour Congress Kebbi State Chapter issue out a press

released condemning the State Government State over the verification and Table Payment exercise in the local government council.

The released which was signed the state chairman Comrade Murtala Usman said that the congress is dis associating themselves from the ongoing verification and table payment for the fact that it is ill timed and labour representatives were not involved as it has been the tradition.

PAGE 15

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

What states need is economic viability not govs pay cut – Ebonyi Gov

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, at the weekend said what the states need at the present time is programmes that would make them economically viable rather than pay cuts, just as he argued

NASS members must unite, to move Nigeria forward – Hon. Baballe

that the fifty per cent pay cut by some state governors is highly insignificant and not enough to stimulate the desired development in their respective states.

He said this yesterday, while fielding questions from journalists after he paid courtesy call on the former President Olusegun Obasanjo at his Hilltop Mansion in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

Umahi pointed out that the fifty per cent cutting of take-home pay

by some State Governors could not be enough to engender significant economic transformation, even as he charged the governors to evolve sustainable programmes that will make their states more viable and productive.

“To me, this 50 per cent pay cut by some of the governors is not the way out of our present situation in the country. For instance, I earn N600, 000 per month and if that is halved, I will take home N300,000 in a month.

That is not the kind of money that will turn around the fortune of my people in Ebonyi State.

“I strongly feel we should go beyond that level; we should endeavour to re-invent our respective states to make them viable and more productive”, he said.

Umahi, who said he never believed in the ritual of 100 days in office celebration, pointed out that he hit the ground running immediately he assumed office to

ensure that Ebonyi State “is repositioned for investment capable of increasing the wealth of the state.”

He further observed that the global fall in oil prices was good for Nigeria, since it will serve as wakeup call on the governors to the economic reality in the country and also encourage them to look inwards to harness other resources in their states to generate revenue.

By Umar Mohammed Puma

I

n order for the nation to witness rapid growth and the much needed unity, peace and stability, there is a need for all members of the National Assembly to come together and embrace dialogue, tolerance and mutual understanding, irrespective of cultural, religious, sectional or partisan affiliation.

This was made known by the Chairman, House AdHoc Committee on Welfare, representing Tarauni Federal Constituency of Kano State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Ila Baballe.

In an extensive chat with journalists weekend, Hon. Ila x-rayed the on-going face-off between certain groups in the House of Representatives and posited that despite differences that arose due to the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki and Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara as Senate President and House speaker respectively, it is time to bury the hatchet, as the collective interest and well-being of all Nigerians are infinitely greater than any individual or primordial interest.

According to Hon. Baballe, “The process that saw the emergence of Saraki and Dogara was in accordance with all extant parliamentary rules and guidelines.

“The National Assembly was inaugurated at the appropriate time and date by the Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa in accordance with the proclamation duly signed by President Muhammadu Buhari and elections for the principal NASS positions went according to constitutional dictates.

“Anybody that has an issue with the orderly and timely inauguration of the NASS does not wish this country well and should be treated as an enemy of the democratic process. The NASS members have spoken and so those who won or lost should take it as the will of the Almighty God”, Hon. Baballe added.

Edo state Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, briefing journalists after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, last Friday at the State House, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

NULGE commends El-Rufai for abolishing joint account

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

T

he recent announcement

by Governor Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai of Kaduna State abolishing state and local government joint account has been widely acknowledged by stakeholders including the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE. NULGE has been a frontline campaigner against the operation of state and local government joint account which the union has always maintained is unconstitutional, therefore, the

National President of NULGE, Comrade Ibrahim Khaleed in a statement described the measure as a noble and healthy development.

He said President Muhammadu Buhari in his inaugural speech, said he would look into the issue of local government funding which has rekindled hope for the much desired change in the scheme of things, stressing that Governor Nasir El-Rufai deserved commendation for setting the pace.

The NULGE President gave

assurance that the union would partner with the Kaduna State government in ensuring that the new financial autonomy granted to the local government achieves its goals of grassroots development and rural transformation.

He said in line with this the national secretariat of the union would introduce a monitoring machinery in all the twenty three local governments of the state to help the state government check excesses and abuses by the local government administrators.

Comrade Ibrahim Khaleed appealed to local government

functionaries in the state to make best use of the noble reforms by shunning all negative tendencies that could affect its success.

He called on other state governments to follow suit to create an enabling environment for local governments to operate and live up to their billings as the third tier of government.

Comrade Ibrahim commiserated with the government and people of Kaduna State over the deaths of some local government staff as a result of the recent bomb blast at the Sabon Gari local government secretariat.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Politics

Saraki truncated constitution to assume Senate President – Marafa

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

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he Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has been accused of violating the Nigeria’s constitution to enable him ascend to the throne as President of the 8th Senate.

The Senator representing Zamfara Central, Kabiru Marafa, said this in a statement at the

weekend, in which he was reacting to the letter which the Clerk of the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasua, and the Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Isa Galaudu, threatened to sanction the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance for not honouring the invitation to appear before the Senate President last week.

In the statement, Marafa said the offence for which the Senate leadership is threatening to punish the Permanent Secretary is lesser than the offence which Saraki and the Clerk of the National Assembly committed to emerge to the position of the Senate President.

He said Saraki and his group murdered section 60 that gives

the Senate and not any individual or group of persons, the powers to regulate its own procedure by fraudulently forging the senate standing order 2015 as amended and going ahead to conduct the business of the senate on the 9th of June 2015 using the forged document.

The letter reads in part “ I read with open amazement the

L-R: National Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. John Odigie-Oyegun, President Muhammadu Buhari, APC National Secretary, Hon. Mai Mala Buni, Deputy National Chairman APC-North, Senator Lawal Shuaibu, and others during the breaking of Ramadan fast, recently at the State House, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

letter written by both Chief of Staff to the Senate President and Clerk to the National Assembly on the refusal or inability of a government functionary to honour the invitation of the ‘leadership’ of the senate, saying the refusal violated section 67(2) of the constitution of the FRN! “Can somebody please tell them that they are guilty of similar, if not higher offence?

They in fact not only violated the constitution to ascend to the senate leadership, they murdered it!”

He said they violated section 65 (2b) of the constitution that give and recognizes the supremacy of the political party in favour of the unmentioned, unrecognized and unknown zonal caucuses.

He further alleged that they violated order 3(2) of the authentic senate standing order 2011 as amended by naming Senators Ali Ndume and Bala Na’ Allah as Senate Leader and Deputy Leader.

“According to the rule, Senator Ahmed Lawan and Sen Bukar Abba are senior to Ali Ndume from North east, while Bala Na’Allah is junior to six senators from north west. They are therefore not qualified to hold the positions they are named for”, Marafa said.

He observed also that the Senate President did not hit the gavel after announcing the names of the Senate Leader and his Deputy, arguing that this is required to give the announcement legislative authority.

“From the foregoing, it is clear that the leadership and indeed the senate itself is not properly and legally constituted”, he pointed out.

Group uncovers plot to bribe Benue guber tribunal officials From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

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socio-political group under the auspices of Save Benue Group, SBG, at the weekend raised alarm over a well coordinated plan by powerful politicians to bribe the judge and other officials of Benue State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi to compromise.

In a statement signed and issued in Kaduna, the group’s President and Secretary, Dr. Jerome Terver and Onoja Sam, also said some faceless persons have been calling and sending threat messages to tribunal officials when they refused to succumb pressure of intimidation.

It will be recalled that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the April’s governorship election, Prince Terhemen Tarzoor, took the state Governor, Chief Samuel Ortom to the tribunal on the grounds

...Asks Ortom to cut 40% salaries of all appointees

that he did not meet the criteria for nomination as the candidate of the APC in the election.

Meanwhile, SBG called on Benue State Governor, Chief Samuel Ortom, to urgently cut his salaries and allowances of all appointees to 60%, as part of austerity measures to pay six months salaries of distressed Benue workers until the economic situation improves adding that 15% of his security votes too should be cut.

The group further urged the governor to sell eight SUVs bullet proof jeeps bought for him by his predecessor and source for other means to pay workers salaries arguing that Benue is not richer than the federal government hence President Muhammadu Buhari rejected 400 million naira cars and cut 50% of his and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s

salaries The group while warning Ortom’s led administration not to follow the footsteps of former Benue state governors, George Akume and Gabriel Suswam, in the era of change said they are not opposing the governor but only offering unsolicited advice to move the state forward.

The statement reads in parts: “ We got it on good authority and want to alert Benue citizens and indeed all Nigerians as well as international community on well coordinated plans by powerful politicians in and outside the state to bribe officials of governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Makurdi to influence judgment in favour of a particular candidate, name withheld.

“We are reminding the plotters that the historical 2015 general elections adjudged to be free and

fair have come and gone with losers leaving the stage peacefully.

“We expect the present administration to uphold the action of previous government by allowing tribunals to do their job in free, fair and transparent manner so as all parties involved at the end of the day will accept the outcome of the judgment in good faith and embrace each other.

“We also got it that officials of governorship petition tribunal in Benue State are receiving threat messages from faceless persons over the much awaited judgment.

However, we call on security agencies to urgently investigate the threats without delay for justice, peace and stability of Benue State. Our members do attend the tribunal’s sittings in Makurdi and also investigate behind the scene events.”

The statement added: “As a responsible group, we cannot sit and claim that all is well in Benue State. On the issue of unpaid workers salaries, we call on our governor, Chief Samuel Ortom,to urgently put 8 bullet proof SUVs jeeps handed over to him by exgovernor Gabriel Suswam for sale and use inherited government vehicles.

“Also, Ortom should as a matter of urgency cut his and all other appointees salaries by 40% and 15% of the governor’s security votes considering the Benue economic situation and source for other means to pay all workers their complete 6 or 7 months salaries left by the former governor until things improve. Ortom’s administration has borrowed 10 billion naira and also announced to borrow another 5 billion naira again for counterpart funding.”

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Politics

We’re all happy with Buhari’s performance so far, Gov. Umahi From James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta

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bonyi State Governor, Engineer Dave Umahi has clarified that all the 36 state governors in the federation are satisfied with the programmes and policies of President Muhammad Buhari so far.

Engineer Umahi who made the clarification yesterday while on private visit to former President Olusegun Obasanjo at his hilltop residence in Abeokuta; the Ogun State capital said the forthrightness of President Buhari had endeared

him to all the State Governors.

He said “One of the greatest things that will move this nation forward is forthrightness that Mr. President has displayed so far. In our meetings with all the governors, we are very pleased with him. It’s not a question of being in this party or the other”.

“He displays rare sense of humility, honesty and the willingness to carry this country forward. And that’s what we are looking for.

He said “We are not interested in which party or the other party.

We are interested in the man who

has the welfare and the interest of the nation at hand.

“His directive to stop many accounts of NNPC, I’m sure you are gladdened because I had discussed that with you and you complained bitterly about the way NNPC was being run; when they keep more money than what they give the federal government” he said.

While appreciating former President Obasanjo for the roles he had been playing, Ebonyi Governor said, “So, we thank you and I want to say sir that you continue to support Mr. President,

General Buhari, and I’m very sure with you sir by his side, he is going to deliver in his promises.

Speaking further on why he visited Chief Obasanjo, Engineer Umahi said, “We also came here to thank you for the manners and the ways you have been using the wisdom of God to assist in piloting the affairs of our nation”.

Earlier while welcoming the governor, Chief Obasanjo thanked him for the visit saying, “ I said jokingly and I think that needs to be underlined, that you are not only a governor to me, you are also my in-law because one of

my sons is married to an Ebonyi girl and when we came on that occasion, you were the one who spearheaded all the arrangement and the reception for us.

I thank you for that. And I was saying that because your state is reasonably peaceful, people in Nigeria don’t hear much about Ebonyi and yet what I know of it is the dynamic, it’s also a complex state. But it remains a peaceful state. I believe the honour and commendation goes to you and your predecessors”.

I served my nation meritoriously as minister – Moro

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

I

L-R: U.S Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwhistle, U.S Assistant Secretary of State, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and Delta state Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, after U.S delegation’s meeting with some governors, recently in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

Too many guns, arms in wrong hands in Rivers – Dakuku

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

F

ormer member of the House of Representatives, Dakuku Peterside, who was also the Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state, has raised the alarm that there are too many guns and arms currently in circulation across the State.

“Proliferation of arms. Too many guns and small arms in the state, with Government looking on and doing nothing, giving criminals a free rein”, Dakuku said in a press conference he addressed yesterday in Portharcourt, Rivers State.

Speaking further, he accused the incumbent Governor of the State, Nyesom Wike, of contaminating the political and moral environment of the state, starting from the campaign era

to the present, adding that no government in the state has been characterized by dishonesty, selfinflicted credibility problems, violence and vendetta, like the one led by Governor Wike.

“No Government that chooses this path can earn the trust of the people. This is the reason why no responsible elder or founding father of the state wants to be associated with this government”, he said, pointing out that the government was imposed on Rivers people by mindless impunity and brute force.

While lamenting that the Governor Wike led government in the state has taken the silence and peaceful disposition of Rivers people as a sign of weakness and licence to behave irresponsibly, Dakuku said he decided to speak out because to ignore what is going on in Rivers will be a great

disservice to Rivers people whom he has volunteered to serve.

According to him, “If I choose the path of comfort and selfpreservation, history will not be kind to me. Posterity will judge my actions and inactions. Too much dishonesty on the path of the government to hoodwink Rivers people. For instance, allegations of empty coffers a spurious tale as even Mr. Wike by his own admission has been announcing various funds that he located in different government accounts.

“His false claim of using Julius Berger for the refilling of pot holes when what he has been using local contractors and paying them peanuts.

His use of the Berger name was simply a red herring to enable him to loot public funds.

Six weeks after assuming office,

the government has not made one single policy statement, rather it appointed the Nimi Walson Jack committee to design a blueprint for the running of government after it had taken off. A move that suggests we have the case of a rudderless state manned by persons whose only bond to the state is to siphon away our resources.”

Meanwhile, he said on his path, he, and his associates are duty-bound to protect their state and the interest of their people and those who reside there, just, calling on his supporters to, with continuing, unwavering faith in the God and confidence in our judicial institutions, trust that they shall soon see the end of the government of impunity and crass disregard for the rights of the people in the state.

mmediate past Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro has stated that at no time did he ever expend over 21 billion naira, maintaining that the budget of the ministry of Interior did not even amount to 5 billion naira.

Comrade Moro who said this yesterday in Ugbokolo during a thanksgiving and appreciation reception organized for him by his kinsmen at the weekend, recalled with bitterness and anguish the tragic incident that occurred during the immigration service recruitment exercise in which more than 16 persons lost their lives.

He accepted responsibility for actions and inactions of his subordinates while serving as minister, boasting that he served meritoriously in spite of criticisms from his detractors.

“I served my nation to the best of my ability even in my inhuman imperfection.

I impacted positively in the lives of Nigerians despite criticisms. I urge those who have contributed to their lives to extend same to the less privileged ones in our society”, he advised.

The former minister who sued for support and co-operation of all Nigerians regardless of ethnic or religious background to the Buhari administration to succeed, noted that until the last Nigerian is gainfully employed, electricity supply is regular, there is affordable housing, good roads and people can feed well, the job of nation building will remain a mirage.

While recalling the incident of the April election, Comrade Moro said APC did not win the elections, blaming the loss of PDP as betrayal by its members.

He particularly frowned at the betrayal act by the deputy speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Hon. James Ejembi during the inauguration of the House on June 5th 2015, averring that by his action, he has succeeded in ostracizing himself from his constituents who voted massively for him.

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Politics

Buhari capable of tackling Nigeria’s problems – APC chieftain

By Ahmed Abubakar

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Rivers Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike (middle), during a meeting with stakeholders on the road projects to Onne, at the weekend in Rivers state.

Photo: NAN

Maku instigated Jonathan against North, says Al-makura

By Ali Abare Abubakar

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asarawa State Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-makura has said the former minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, is responsible for pitching President Goodluck Jonathan against the North while in office, saying his divisive tendencies along ethnic and religious lines helped fuel the recurrent crisis in Nasarawa State.

Maku, had at a press briefing in Abuja weekend alleged among other things that innocent citizens had continued to be killed by gunmen as a result of what he

described as “insensitivity” in handling the security situation in the state by the state government, claiming the situation would have been addressed if he was sworn in as governor of the state in May, this year.

However in a swift reaction yesterday, Special Assistant to the governor on Media and Publicity, Ahmed Tukur, said it was rather unfortunate that Maku who had ignored invitations extended to him and other stakeholders on several occasions to brainstorm towards finding lasting solution to the communal crisis in recent past could make unguarded utterances

when the state government has succeeded in overcoming the situation.

He alleged that the insecurity in the state in recent past became worst as there was an increase in the proliferation of arms and ammunition when Maku held sway as the supervising minister of defence, insisting that the former minister should rather commend Al-makura for the relative peace being enjoyed in the state.

“It is on record that Nasarawa State had a very poor representation at the National Executive Council under Maku as minister from the state.

Rather than represent the state, Maku was rather setting former President Jonathan against the state and the entire northern region” Tukur said.

Tukur said the former minister prevented most of the projects that would have been carried out in the state and northern Nigeria in general because of his selfishness and advised estranged former minister to come back home and join hands with the state government in the interest of the citizenry, rather than making statements that were capable fueling crisis in the state.

North-Central should produce House Leader – Hon. Ahman Pategi

By Umar Muhammad Puma

A

s the leadership tussle continues in the House of Representatives over those that will chair the various principal offices of the lower chamber, a frontline member of the House, Hon. Ahman Pategi, representing Edu/Moro/ Pategi Federal Constituency of Kwara State and immediate past Chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources has thrown his weight behind the North-Central geopolitical zone’s quest for the position of House majority leader stressing that the zone is presently marginalized in the allocation of key offices and positions.

According to Hon. Pategi, “It is time for all and sundry to rally behind the North-Central zone to ensure the equitable sharing of House positions as having contributed substantially to the APCs victory in the recently concluded general elections, the zone cannot sit idly, while other geopolitical zones corner the key positions in the House.

“The North-West has the President, the South-West has the Vice-President and the Deputy Speaker, the North-East has the Speaker; remaining the NorthCentral as the only zone in the North not adequately represented in the House. So, I believe the House leader position is ours for the asking, make no mistake about that”, he added.

On Hon. Yakubu Dogara’s emergence as House Speaker, a visibly elated Hon. Ahman Pategi expressed delight at the development, stressing that the process was transparent, credible and in accordance with due process and the rule of law.

He stated that, “In fact, the Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA), Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa

must be commended for resisting all forms of illegitimate and undue pressure as he, the CNA, having been duly authorized by the President of the Federal Republic, Muhammadu Buhari did the right thing by inaugurating the 8th National Assembly as and when due. Nobody can fault him on that issue at all”, Hon. Pategi posited.

Buhari would tackle Boko Haram-APC From Ado Abubakar Musa, Jos

T

he All Progressives Congress (APC), has said that the Buhari’s led administration was preparing to tackl the dreaded Boko Haram insurgency that had become the order of the day in the Country.

The APC National Secretary Hon. Mai Mala Buni, disclosed this weekend while commiserating with the Muslim Ummah, during a visit to the Council of Ulama at the Jos central Mosque, over the recent bomb blasts that claimed about 51 lives at Yantaya Mosque

and a restaurant.

According to him, the APC was pathetic about the news of the incident, especially during the Ramadan when people are looking up to God. In his words, “The act of terrorism is anti-Islamic, it is not the doctrine of Islam, but some people are using the name of Islam just to kill and stop the people from practising their religions.

“Though death is inevitable as Allah has destined it upon every soul but killing people innocently is painful and sad.

“Buhari and APC led federal government is willing and determined to tackle the matter, which his government inherited from previous administration.

Nigerians should remain prayerful” he said.

Also during the visit, the second Chairman of the Council of Ulama Sheikh Alhassan Saed Adam, said their assumption is that Boko Haram was politically motivated, adding that the group needed to be dealt with for there to be progress in the country, stressing that the menace could be dealt with if prayers were constantly offered.

he Jigawa North-Central Senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2015 elections, Alhaji Musa Suleiman has said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has the necessary prerequisite and holistic blueprint to tackle Nigeria’s developmental challenges.

Suleiman whose candidature was substituted with that of Senator Sabo Nakudu, but is challenging his substitution at the court, noted that Nigeria has enormous challenges in many sectors especially in areas of insecurity, health, poverty, education and unemployment.

He said that while Nigerians had made history by voting for the President Buhari because they have confidence in his ability and commitment to bring the desired change people yearned for, he added that “Nigerians made possible for APC to take over the reins of power from the PDP that held sway for 16 years, they must now follow up by ensuring that the process of change has come into fruition.”

According to him, the best way to do it is for Nigerians to remain politically-aware and have patience with the president because the challenges are enormous and daunting, which requires patience, perseverance and prayer for the President Buhari to succeed.

“Nigerians must be willing to defend the change they voted for by continuing to support the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, through patience, perseverance and prayers, because it is a stark reality that the new government is facing a daunting challenges in all sectors. And never before has our nation been put in a situation where it virtually had to start rebuilding from the scratch after almost all sectors have become nearly comatose.”

He urged Nigerians to remain hopeful that President Buhari would steer the country away from the challenges facing the country especially the war against terrorism.

On the need to give Buhari more time, he said: For me it is too early to blame him because he has not even put his house in order and form his government, I think we should not be in hurry because whatever is worth doing is worth doing well,” he noted.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Nigeria’s active telecoms subscribers increase to 146m – NCC

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ommission (NCC) on Sunday said the active lines in the nation’s telecommunications industry stood at 146,561,744 in the month of May. The commission made this known in its Monthly Subscriber Data which was obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

NAN reports that active lines

in Nigeria were 145,476,326 for the month of April.

The figure increased by 1,085,418 in May, the NCC said.

According to the data, 144,386,841 of the 146,561,744 active numbers subscribe to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network services.

The GSM operators increased their active

customers by 1,329,607 as against the 143,057,234 subscribers they recorded in April.

The Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators had 1,993,278 active users in May, indicating a decline of 241,024 from the 2,234,302 customers they had in April.

Also, the monthly subscriber data showed that the Fixed Wired/

Wireless networks’ consumers reduced to 181,625 in May, after losing the 3,165 customers they recorded from the 184,790 data for April.

The chart revealed that the Tele-density of the country’s telecommunications industry increased to 104.69 per cent in May, from 103.91 per cent in the month of April.

NAN reports that the Teledensity statistics measure the percentage of a country’s population with access to telecommunications services, as determined from the subscriber base.

Nigeria’s Tele-density is currently calculated by the NCC on a population of 140 million people.

L-R: Group Head, Retail Banking, South, First Bank, Rosemary Asiegbu, Group Head, Retail Banking, Lagos Island, First Bank, Tunde Owolabi, Chairman, The Asian Banker, Emmanuel Daniel, Associate Director, Management Consulting, KPMG Advisory Services, Ngozi Chidozie, and Group Head, Retail Banking, Abuja 4, North Directorate, First Bank, Muntari Zubairu, during the 2nd Annual West Africa International Retail Banking Dialogue, hosted by First Bank, recently in Lagos.

LCCI wants CBN to review foreign exchange policy

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he Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to review its foreign exchange policy for imported goods.

The LCCI made the call in a statement signed by its DirectorGeneral, Mr Muda Yusuf, which was made available to newsmen on Sunday in Lagos.

The chamber disapproved of the apex bank’s policy which restricted 41 imported goods from accessing foreign exchange from the bank.

It said that the policy would serve as a disincentive to the Nigerian manufacturing sector and the economy.

The statement said that the restricted items included critical elements of the manufacturing process of many firms, across sectors in the country.

“The policy means that manufacturers who require any of the 41 restricted items as inputs and raw materials for their production may have to simply

shut their operations once their existing stock is exhausted.

“The LCCI understands the CBN’s constraints and circumstances, as it drew up this policy.

“It, however, appears as if the formulation of the policy has suffered from the CBN’s limited understanding of the manufacturing process of many of the sectors affected by this policy.’’

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the CBN on June 23 said that it was imperative to exclude importers of some goods from accessing foreign exchange.

It added that the directive was aimed at encouraging local production of the items.

The chamber, however, noted that the policy was ambiguous as the restricted items were not welldefined and specific.

It stated that the ambiguity had plunged both manufacturers and banks into confusion regarding the intent of the CBN.

It, therefore, urged the apex bank to amend the policy with full product definition, specification of all restricted items, including their HS Codes and excluding any items which are non-substitutable industrial raw materials from the list.

The chamber, therefore, called for appropriate time frames for items which required some interval before local substitutes can be created for imported raw materials.

It reminded the CBN and the Federal Government that manufacturers had yet to recover from the losses they suffered due to the recent currency devaluation.

“Compounding recent devaluation losses with higher costs and the complete inability to source critical raw materials may push many firms over the precipice.

“This may result in business closures, job losses, declined manufacturing sector production and greater social tension.’’

It urged the CBN and the Federal Government to consider palliatives and incentives to prevent such a scenario.

The chamber stated that the fundamental forces the apex bank was struggling against were economic and fiscal policy dependence.

It said the Bank continues to exert monetary policy tools almost to a point in which economic harm may result.

The chamber, therefore, listed the fundamental factors as: diversification of the economy in terms of exports and government revenue, issues around the deregulation of the downstream oil sector and the fiscal regimes of the upstream oil sector.

Others are the power sector’s efficiency, creating alternative economies in solid minerals, agriculture, manufacturing and a robust export-driven economy.

“These matters cannot be resolved through exclusive deployment of monetary policy tools.’’

The chamber added that harmonisation of CBN policies with other government agencies was critical, to avoid cross purposes and for economic development.

It, therefore, urged the apex bank to avoid policies that may produce oligopolistic and monopolistic outcomes, which the chamber noted, were at variance with its mandate of building a sound economy.

It recalled that on July 9, LCCI organised a stakeholders’ forum on the policy, which was attended by representatives of the CBN and the organised private sector, including the manufacturing sector.

The chamber said that the outcome of the forum formed the basis of the forum’s communique for government’s immediate action.

It, therefore, urged for increased engagement and consultation between the CBN and the private sector, for adequate understanding of the impact of its policies on the manufacturing sector. (NAN)

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Money Market Old Mutual Acquires 13.6% Holdings In UAP Insurance

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ld Mutual international investment, savings, insurance and banking group with subsidiary in Nigeria has acquired a 13.6 percent equity holding in UAP Holdings Limited.

UAP is a pan-African insurance holding company with subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Sudan, as well as an insurance brokerage arm in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Abraaj Group a

leading investor operating in global growth markets,had subsequently announced the completion of the full exit of its investment, through one of its Funds, in UAP Holdings Limited.

UAP’s services include life insurance, general insurance, health insurance, premium financing services and investment management services.

UAP has been operating in Sub-Saharan Africa since 1977 and its general insurance subsidiaries hold dominant

market positions in its main markets.

The respective general insurance subsidiaries are currently the fourth largest insurance company in Kenya, third largest in Uganda, fifth largest in Tanzania and the largest in South Sudan. UAP’s life insurance subsidiaries have exhibited sustained growth and continue to improve their market rankings Under the terms of the agreement, Abraaj sold its 13.6 percent stake in the Company,

which is traded on Nairobi’s over the counter (OTC) market, to Old Mutual plc, a London-listed international investment, savings, insurance and banking group.

In March 2012, Abraaj invested, through one of its Funds, in UAP alongside Africinvest and Swedfund, using a convertible debt instrument.

Simultaneously with a limited public offer conducted in November 2012, Abraaj converted its instrument into equity shares in the Company.

L-R: Vice-President, National Association of Chambers of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Asiwaju Olaitan Alabi, Manager, Yebaot Automobiles, Mrs. Emaunelar Olatinwo, Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Yomi Olatinwo, during the inauguration of Yebaot Automobiles, on Saturday in Ibadan.

Photo: NAN

CBN pledges support for economy diversification Stories from Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

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arely a week after pledging support for rice farmers and processing companies in Nigeria, the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, CON, has underscored the Bank’s determination to lead the revitalisation of the oil palm sector in order to provide jobs for Nigerians.

Mr. Emefiele made the pledge in Abuja during a meeting between the Bank’s management and oil palm value chain stakeholders to agree on a road map to resolve the challenges in the oil palm value chain in Nigeria.

He expressed concern at the contrasting fortunes of Nigeria from being the largest producer

of palm oil worldwide in the late 1950s and 1960s, to becoming a net importer of the commodity from the 1980s to date.

According to him, Nigeria currently lags behind in a distant fifth position in world production, behind countries that many years ago sent emissaries to Nigeria to learn production techniques and to get their first seedlings.

Mr. Emefiele also decried the practice where huge amounts are spent to import items that could ordinarily be produced locally, the Governor stressed the need for all stakeholders to collaborate restore the glory days to the oil palm sector in the country.

While recalling the recent policy of the CBN that excluded 41 items from being procured with foreign exchange from the Nigerian foreign exchange

markets (Interbank and BDCs), Mr. Emefiele reiterated that the policy measure was introduced to help conserve Nigeria’s foreign reserves as well as facilitate the resuscitation of domestic industries and improve employment generation in the country.

He said the CBN decided to take the lead and play a major role in the resuscitation of the oil palm sector and decided to take a bold step and include Palm Kernel, Palm Oil Products and Vegetable Oils in the exclusion list of items not valid for foreign exchange at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange window.

Mr. Emefiele also reiterated that the decision taken by the CBN to include palm oil products in the exclusion list was taken after a thorough analysis of the sub sector.

This, he said, was taken in the overall interest of the country, for the resuscitation of the local oil palm industry and to improve employment generation in the country.

“For the country to attain self-sufficiency there has to be committed development of more estate plantations and coordinated partnerships between the small holder plantation farmers and processors,” he said.

Accordingly, he said the CBN, as part of its developmental initiatives, had introduced the ‘Anchor Borrower Programme’ designed to create economic linkages between small holder farmers and processors by organizing farmers into cooperatives to boost production and take advantages of economics of scale

“Innovation in E-Payment is the Future of Banking in Nigeria”

T

he Managing Director of Heritage Banking Company Limited, Ifie Sekibo, has posited that there is a huge difference between the current growth in volume of e-payment in the country and the potentials available, judging by the number of unbanked Nigerians with access to mobile telephone services.

He noted that although the volume of e-payment in Nigeria grew from N18.1trillion in 2012 to N35.1trillion in 2014 with transaction through POS also increasing from N48billion in 2013 to N312 billion in 2014, the growth has not mirrored the huge population of mobile phone users in the country which currently stands at over 105 million. Out of this figure, he submitted, there are currently about 60million Nigerians who do not have bank accounts but have phones.

Sekibo, who spoke on Financial Services Delivery at the annual Cashless card expo of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Lagos recently, charged operators in the nation’s banking sector to brace up to deploy more innovative banking services platforms to drive growth.

He submitted that innovation is inevitable in the banking industry due to changes in dynamics across the globe which has penetrated the Nigerian banking industry. These changes, he explained, were driven by forces of globalisation, self service mobile devices and regulation.

The impact of these changes on the Nigerian banking landscape, he further observed, has reflected in the sharp increase in the growth of electronic payment services between 2012 and 2014 in the country.

“E-Payment is now a commodity, innovative e-payment is the way to go. More innovation is required to surmount the growing challenges’, he counseled.

He revealed that Heritage Bank has always been driven on the path of continuous innovation, having been the first to transform the interior of banking halls in addition to being the first financial institution to set out deposit machines in all the branches nationwide.

He also observed that Heritage Bank was also the first to launch the first real transparent MasterCard in Nigeria as well as transform small and medium scale enterprise (SME) banking approach.

“Heritage bank is a product of innovation and therefore, has always continued to encourage deployment of innovative platforms. We bounced back from the past on the waves of innovative thinking, we thrive on an innovative ecosystem”, he said.

Page 21

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Capital Market Stanbic IBTC grows by 11% in 2015 half year

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tanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, a member of Standard Bank Group, has announced a gross earnings increase of 11 per cent for its six months unaudited results for the period ended 30 June 2015.

The firm’s gross earnings grew to N68.3 billion from N61.7 billion recorded in the comparable period of last year.

According to the result, which was presented at the Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos profit before tax stood at N9.5 billion, while profit after tax was N9.6 billion. Total assets went up nine percent to N1.03 trillion from N944.5 billion in December 2014.

The Group maintained adequate capital to support its business in 1H 2015 which is well above the regulatory requirement. The group’s total capital adequacy ratio closed the period at 15.3 percent (Bank 13.9 percent), while the tier 1 capital adequacy ratio stood at 12.6 percent (Bank 10.6 percent). These ratios are well above the 10 percent minimum statutory requirement.

Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Mrs. Sola David-Borha, stated that the group is seeking to raise N20.4 billion in rights issue to support its planned growth opportunities as well as business risks and contingencies.

“Stanbic IBTC’s performance recorded in the first half of 2015 was characterized by steady growth in its balance sheet whilst our strong focus on cost containment helped to mitigate the impact of rising cost of funds and credit impairments on our operating performance,” she stated, adding that “our focus for the rest of 2015 is to reduce cost of funds and continue to resolve impaired risk assets to ensure increased profitability by year end. We remain optimistic that we can achieve these goals

Equity market dips by 2.49%

Stories from Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

H

eavy investment loses has persisted in trading activity at the floor of the stock market as twin market indicators continue to loss strength.

Specifically, Market Capitalization of listed equities depreciated by 2.49% to close at N10.836 trillion from N11.107 trillion it opened with while NSE All-Share Index equally decreased by 2.49% to close at 31,729.26 from 32,538.34 basis points recorded the previous week.

Similarly,all the Indices finished lower during the week, with the exception of NSE Insurance Index that closed higher by 1.26 per cent. The NSE 30 Index fell by43.05 to close at 1,445.12, NSE Banking index dropped by 11.26 to 350.22 points, NSE Consumer Goods Index shed 34.46 basis points to 788.22, NSE Oil/ Gas index 16.63 basis points to 352.67, NSE Lotus II decreased 45.27 to 2,149.60, NSE Industrial Goods index went down by 3.36 basis 2,198.07, NSE ASeM Index 2.65 basis points to

1209.95 and NSE Pension Index 0.29 to 1,009.98 .

Review of activity in the market showed a turnover of 1.264billion shares worth N15.770billion in 17,016 deals were traded in contrast to a total of 1.269billion shares valued at N17.570 billion that exchanged hands in 18,993deals the previous week. The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with831.925million shares valued at N8.924billion traded in 9,602deals; thus contributing 65.81% and 56.59% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Natural Resources Industry followed with a turnover of 210.046million shares worth N105.218million in 14deals.

The third place was occupied

by Oil and GasIndustry with 59.600million shares worth N1.418billion in1,632deals.

Trading in the Top Three Equities namely –Zenith International Bank Plc.; Multiverse Plc. and Access Bank Plc.,(measured by volume) accounted for 604.019million shares worth N5.590billion in2,322deals, contributing

47.78%and 35.45% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Nineteen(19)equities appreciated in price during the week,lower than 33 equities of the preceding week. Fifty(50) equities depreciated in price,higher than thirty-six (36) equities of the preceding week, while one hundred and twenty-four (124) equities remained unchanged, the same as one hundred and twentyfour (124) equities recorded in the preceding week.

The breakdown of the transaction for the week showed that Ikeja Hotel Plc led gainers Table in per centage terms, dropping by 14.79 per cent or N0.54 kobo to close at N4.19 kobo, Neimeth Plc followed with a gain of 13.93 per cent or N0.17 kobo to close at N1.39 kobo, National Aviation Handling Company Plc increased by 10.0 per cent or N0.50 kobo to close at N5.50 kobo. Other companies that depreciated in price were Continental Reinsurance Plc 10 per cent, Wema Bank Plc 7.53 per cent, Trans Nationwide Express Plc 7.46 per cent, May &Baker Nigeria Plc 6.67 per cent, Sterling Bank Plc 5.47 per cent, Fidson

Healthcare Plc 4.50 per cent and Vono Products Plc 4.20 per cent.

Evans Medical Plc topped losers chart, dropping by 20.95 per cent or N0.22 kobo to close at N0.88 kobo, Livestock Feeds Plc trailed with a drop of 15.06 per cent or N0.36 kobo to close at N2.03 kobo, UAC of Nigeria Plc 10.07 per cent or N4.48 kobo to close at N40.01 kobo.

Other Companies that depreciated in price were United Bank for Africa 9.87 per cent, PZ Industries Plc9.36 per cent, Unilever Nigeria Plc 8.28 per cent, N.E.M Insurance (Nigeria) Plc 8.03 per cent, HoneyWell Flour Mills Plc 7.71 per cent, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc 7.41 per cent.

Also traded during the week were a total of 1,430units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N586,558.50executed in 17deals compared with a total of 9,630 units valued at N734,568.22transacted last week in 22deals A total of 500 units of Federal Government Bonds valued at N508,788.04 million were traded this week in 1 deal compared with a total 1,692 units valued at N1.753 million transacted last week in 3 deals.

L-R: Chairman, Social Housing Crusader, Architect Ezekiel Etok, Chief Executive Officer, Fasadeb Communication, Mr. Fesus Adebayo, and Managing Director, Brains and Hammers Ltd, Mr. Umar Abdullahi during the 9th Housing Show closing ceremony and award night, recently in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

UBA completes right issue, rake in N11.5bn

U

nited Bank for Africa Plc , following the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has announced the completion of its rights issue, an offer which gave bank opportunity of raking in N11.5bn.

According to the bank, the offer which was through an equity, a rights issue of one ordinary share for every existing 10 units at a price of N3.50 each was fully subscribed .

With this additional equity, UBA said it had fortified its capital base ahead of the full implementation of Basel II, which requires higher capital buffer for banks, to accommodate credit, operational and market risks inherent in the business of financial intermediation.

Commenting on the offer, the Group Managing Director, UBA, Mr. Phillips Oduoza, said, “I am pleased with the successful completion of this rights issue, as it

provides further leverage to exploit our growth potential.

“On behalf of the management of UBA, I appreciate the shareholders for their strong commitment towards the growth of our dear bank and for the unwavering confidence reposed in us in building a great Pan-African institution.” We will remain true to our promise of delivering superior and sustainable return to all stakeholders over the near to longterm, just as we are committed to

the development of the African economies where we operate.”

The bank had in December last year raised N30.5bn in tierII capital through the issuance of seven-year fixed rate unsecured notes, maturing in 2021.

The bank has also completed a dual listing of its corporate bond on the Financial Market Dealers Quotation Over-the-Counter market and the Nigerian Stock Exchange, making it the first Nigerian company to do so.

“This additional equity provides further capital buffer for us to grow our business over the medium term, with a strong positive outlook on delivering our performance guidance for the year,” the Group Chief Financial Officer, UBA, Mr. Ugo Nwaghodoh, said.

The first quarter results of the bank for the period ended March 2015 showed that its earnings rose by 22 per cent to N83bn from N68bn in the comparative period of 2014.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Business Euro zone leaders: Greece must do more to earn rescue

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uro zone leaders told near-bankrupt Greece at an emergency summit on Sunday that it must restore trust by enacting key reforms before they will open talks on a new financial rescue to keep it in the European currency area.

Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will be required to push legislation through parliament from Monday to convince his 18 partners in the monetary union to release immediate funds to avert a Greek state bankruptcy and start negotiations on a third bailout program.

Some laws will have to be passed by Wednesday and the entire package endorsed by parliament before talks can start, one minister said.

Tsipras said on

arrival in Brussels he wanted “another honest compromise” to keep Europe united.

“We can reach an agreement tonight if all parties want it,” he said.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country is the biggest contributor to euro zone bailouts, said the conditions were not yet right to start negotiations, sounding cautious in deference to mounting opposition at home to more aid for Greece.

“The most important currency has been lost and that is trust,” she told reporters. “That means that we will have tough discussions and there will be no agreement at any price.”

European Council President Donald Tusk canceled a planned

summit of all 28 EU leaders that would have been needed in case of a Greek exit from the single currency, and said euro zone leaders would keep talking “until we conclude talks on Greece”.

Eurogroup finance ministers wrapped up a meeting broken off after nine hours of acrimonious debate on Saturday night without a firm recommendation on Greece’s application for a three-year loan on the basis of reform proposals Tsipras sent on Thursday.

A Eurogroup document seen by Reuters said Greece must pass laws to change its value added tax and pension systems, reform bankruptcy rules and strengthen the independence of its statistics office before bailout talks can even

begin.

Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said that while ministers had made good progress, a couple of big issues were left for the leaders to resolve.

“The Eurogroup ... came to the conclusion that there is not yet the basis to start the negotiations on a new program,” the document sent to national leaders said.

“Only subsequent to legal implementation of the above mentioned measures can negotiations on the memorandum of understanding commence, subject to national procedures having been completed,” it said, in a reference to authorization by national parliaments in countries such as Germany.

The draft said Greece needed 7 billion euros by July 20, when it must make a crucial bond redemption to the European Central Bank, and a total of 12 billion euros by mid-August when another ECB payment falls due.

It did not say how those needs would be met, and EU officials said finance ministers had been unable to agree on emergency finance.

Several hardline countries voiced support for a German government paper that recommended Greece take a five-year “time-out” from the euro unless it accepted and implemented swiftly much tougher conditions, notably by locking state assets to be privatized in an independent trust to pay down debt.

But French President Francois Hollande, Greece’s strongest ally in the euro zone, dismissed the notion, saying it would start a dangerous unraveling of EU integration.

“There is no such thing as temporary Grexit, there is only a Grexit or no Grexit.

There is Greece in the euro zone or Greece not in the euro zone. But in that case it’s Europe that retreats and no longer progresses and I don’t want that,” he said.

Argument among finance ministers became so heated on Saturday evening that Dijsselbloem decided to adjourn at midnight and resume talks at 11 a.m. to allow tempers to cool.

The ministers agreed

in principle to seek ways to make Greece’s debt burden manageable by extending loan maturities and other steps stopping short of a “haircut” or writedown, provided Athens first implements reforms.

At one stage in the debate on Greece’s debt sustainability, hardline German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble snapped at ECB President Mario Draghi: “I’m not stupid,” a person familiar with the exchange said.

Schaeuble also clashed with the head of the euro zone bailout fund, Klaus Regling, on whether Greece could afford to service its debt or not, another source said.

Greece’s new finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, was silent in public but the reaction among some lawmakers in Tsipras’ radical leftist Syriza party, still smarting from having to swallow austerity measures they had opposed, was furious.

“What is at play here is an attempt to humiliate Greece and Greeks, or to overthrow the Tsipras government,” Dimitrios Papadimoulis, a Syriza member of the European Parliament, told Mega TV. With banks shuttered for two weeks, cash withdrawals rationed and the economy on the edge of an abyss, some Greeks in the streets of Athens vented their anger on Merkel and Schaeuble.

“The only thing that I care about is not being humiliated by Schaeuble and the rest of theme” said Panagiotis Trikokglou, a 44-year-old private sector worker.

Greece has already had two bailouts worth 240 billion euros from euro zone countries and the International Monetary Fund, but its economy has shrunk by a quarter since the crisis began, unemployment has soared above 25 percent and one in two young people is out of work.

Athens defaulted on an IMF loan repayment last month and faces state bankruptcy if it cannot make the bond redemption on July 20, which would likely force the ECB to cut emergency funding for Greek banks.

German sources said Schaeuble, Merkel and Social Democratic Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel had agreed on a division of labor to force Greece to accept tougher conditions or leave the currency area temporarily.

However economists said the idea of a temporary exit was likely to mean ejecting Athens from the European monetary union in the end.

Paul De Grauwe, a Belgian economist at the London School of Economics, compared it to a couple having a trial separation.

“Temporary Grexit is like temporary divorce.

Most if not all end up being permanent,” he said in a Twitter message.

Holger Schmieding, chief economist of Berenberg Bank, was even more categorical, saying: “Temporary Grexit is Grexit.”

Analyst Nicolaus Heinen of Deutsche Bank told Reuters that billions of euros withdrawn by Greeks before capital controls were imposed would crowd out any new currency in a cash economy similar to Cuba or Lebanon, where the dollar is king.

There would be political conflict over a date for Athens’ return to the euro zone, and “tension between Greece and the rest of Europe would be bound to grow if Greece was sent to stand outside the classroom like a naughty schoolboy,” he said.

Merkel requires the assent of the German parliament to agree to the opening of loan negotiations.

Diplomats expected her to commit to calling a special session of the Bundestag to give her that mandate if Greece enacts prior reforms this week.

The United States has added its voice to calls for a deal this weekend, concerned at the geopolitical consequences if Greece were to be cut loose and become a failed state in the fragile southern Balkans, adjoining the Middle East.

“No one wants to see a North Korea in southeastern Europe,” a European Commission official said. (Reuters)

PAGE 23

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Stock Watch:

Friday, July 10, 2015

PAGE 25

Peoples Daily, MONday, July 13, 2015

PAGE 24

Special Report

Eritrean migrants face new asylum battle in EU

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ritreans struggling ashore or picked up at sea - form the secondlargest group of migrants risking their lives to reach Italy, after Syrians.

Eritrea, in the Horn of Africa, is not in the grip of war or famine. Yet around 5,000 Eritreans flee every month. Why? A damning United Nations Commission of Inquiry report blames the country’s “gross human rights violations”.

“Faced with a seemingly hopeless situation they feel powerless to change, hundreds of thousands of Eritreans are fleeing their country,” the UN says.

Rights abuses Indefinite national service is one of the

officials also visited Eritrea to discuss the migration problem.

And in March this year a new UK policy towards Eritrean asylum-seekers was announced.

New guidelines stated that conscription would no longer be automatic grounds for granting asylum, since national service would no longer continue indefinitely.

But an Eritrean migration expert, Prof Gaim Kibreab, said there was “no evidence” for the UK guidelines’ assertion that “national service is generally between 18 months and four years”.

The exodus from Eritrea is complicating Europe’s efforts to tackle the Mediterranean migrant crisis.

main drivers, according to the report. Everyone from the age of 17 can be conscripted into the military, and it continues for years. Some conscripts have served for more than 20 years.

UN investigators say “slavery-like practices” are widespread, with conscripts subjected to hard labour, with poor food, bad hygiene and wretched pay.

The Eritrean government has dismissed the UN’s findings as

“

“totally unfounded and devoid of all merit”.

Yet for most Eritreans, it is impossible to get an exit visa to leave the country legally. And by fleeing conscription they risk being arrested as “traitors” if they return.

The EU cannot send Syrian refugees back to their war-torn country.

And Eritreans’ asylum claims have generally been treated as legitimate in the EU. But despite the abuses in Eritrea, documented by

Indefinite national service is one of the main drivers, according to the report. Everyone from the age of 17 can be conscripted into the military, and it continues for years. Some conscripts have served for more than 20 years.

UN investigators say “slavery-like practices” are widespread, with conscripts subjected to hard labour, with poor food, bad hygiene and wretched pay. The Eritrean government has dismissed the UN’s findings as “totally unfounded and devoid of all merit”

Eritrea - key facts

Eritrean migrants in Rome press for rights as refugees who fled from “a dictatorship”

the UN and human rights groups, some countries are now considering sending Eritreans home.

Policy shift A Danish Immigration Service report, from November 2014, suggested that Eritrea’s policy towards returnees had become more lenient.

It was based on a factfinding mission, but did not name its sources.

It quoted the Eritrean Foreign Ministry as saying Eritreans abroad

could now “regularise their relationship with the authorities” by paying a 2% income tax at an Eritrean embassy and signing an apology letter.

“This has been done by a number of people and they have returned to Eritrea without any complications,” the report said, quoting a ministry statement.

But the ministry gave “no specific information” about whether Eritrea’s national service would be

Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki (left) rules with an iron fist

changed.

The report was criticised by Danish media and Human Rights Watch, which described it as “more like a political effort to stem migration than an honest assessment of Eritrea’s human rights situation”.

The Norwegian government sent its own assessment team to Eritrea. It was led by Norway’s Deputy Minister of Justice Joeran Kellmyr.

Speaking to the BBC,

Mr Kellmyr said he had received an assurance from Eritrea’s foreign minister that national service would be reduced to 18 months.

“It’s important for everyone,” said Mr Kellmyr.

“If national service is reduced, according to human rights standards, this could mean that a lot of Eritrean people don’t any more have the right to seek asylum.”

In December UK

Nation of six million on Red Sea - one of Africa’s poorest countries O n e - p a r t y state - no functioning constitution or independent media Former Italian colony, later formed loose federation with Ethiopia 1962 Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie dissolved Eritrean parliament, seized Eritrea Eritrean separatists - the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front - fought guerrilla war until 1991, when they captured capital Asmara Eritrea voted for independence in 1993 May 1998 border dispute with Ethiopia led to two-year war costing 100,000 lives Still no peace settlement - thousands of troops face each other along 1,000km (620mile) border Controversial tax In 2011 the UN Security Council condemned Eritrea’s collection of a 2% tax on the incomes of all of its citizens living abroad - the so-called “diaspora tax”.

UN Resolution 2023 accused Eritrea of using the tax to fund armed opposition groups in the Horn of Africa, including the Islamist al-Shabab in Somalia.

That was denied by the Eritrean government, but many Western nations backed a UN arms embargo and other

Eritrean migrants picked up in the Mediterranean include families and many lone children

The Ethiopia-Eritrea border is tense and militarised after many years of fighting

sanctions against Eritrea.

They also suspect Eritrea of using mining revenue to fund Horn of Africa rebels.

The UK government told Eritrea that the “use of coercion or other illicit means to collect the [diaspora] tax in the UK must cease”.

Yet Eritreans in the UK say they are still being pressurised to pay up.

Eritrean opposition activist Selam Kidane, based in London, said “they examine your pay slips and calculate how much your 2% tax comes to, but the actual payment is made in Asmara”.

She said the payment was necessary before any official transaction could be made in Eritrea - whether it was selling a parent’s home or getting a visa. “It is clear coercion,”

she said.

The UK Home Office has decided that Eritreans are not at risk if they refuse to comply with a “reasonable request to pay diaspora tax”. So their fear of the consequences of not paying the tax cannot be grounds for UK protection.

“Previous country guidance indicated that those who had left illegally were at risk on return to Eritrea.

“However, up-to-date information from inside Eritrea suggests this is no longer the case,” the UK Home Office says.

The Eritrean government maintains those who leave are economic migrants and says Eritrean “victims of human trafficking” who return home will not face punishment.

Yet the recent UN report spoke of some Eritrean returnees suffering detention for eight months to three years and maltreatment “to the point of torture”.

Would more aid for impoverished Eritrea help to stem the exodus, by boosting growth and making life more bearable?

That seems unlikely, as many want to escape conscription and human rights abuses.

Unless ordinary men and women can be convinced that they will not have to face years in the grim trenches on the desolate border with Ethiopia they are likely to continue to risk everything and flee the country.

Source: BBC

Feature

PAGE 26

F

ather Matthew, robed in a white and gold chasuble, turned to face his 60-strong congregation. Middleclass fathers in plaid shirts, older matriarchs under headscarves, smart-skirted women marshalling kids, and even a few muscled guys in T-shirts were scattered across 13 rows of pews in the modern, brightly-lit Roman Catholic church of St Mary.

As Father Matthew raised the communion wine, the Muslim call to prayer began blasting out from the mosque next door.

It was a Thursday evening in Dubai after work - I’d already spotted a few yawns in the back row - and I was sitting in on Mass.

Unusually, it was being conducted in Urdu.

The UAE, of which Dubai is a part, has crippling restrictions on freedom of speech. There’s widespread media censorship and dozens of activists are in jail. But it also has a little-known history of religious tolerance.

In 1958 Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, father of Dubai’s current ruler, permitted a Hindu temple to be built on the roof of the souk. You reach it today along a lane lined with shops selling figurines of gods and goddesses and garlands of roses and marigolds.

The only such temple in a country which now holds perhaps half a million Hindus, this little makeshift space, aromatic with sandalwood, hosts tens of thousands of worshippers each week, both Hindus and Sikhs.

Then in 1966, the year oil was discovered in Dubai, Sheikh Rashid donated a pocket of land to a Roman Catholic mission. The city has since grown up around it, and St Mary’s now stands beside a busy four-lane road in central Dubai.

Since Sunday is a working day, one idiosyncrasy of Christian worship here is that the main services are held on a Friday, for many people their only day off.

Churches - including St Mary’s host dozens of services, in English and Arabic but also languages from Tagalog to Malayalam.

“We see 7,000 people for Friday Mass,” Father Lennie Connully, St Mary’s parish priest, told me.

Father Lennie couldn’t put a number on Dubai’s Catholics, who originate mainly from India and the Philippines. But he was clear about what Dubai offers. “We did not expect such freedom,” he told me. “But in this compound we

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Free to pray - but don’t try to convert anyone

There is little outward sign of any religion other than Islam in Dubai, but the city is quietly tolerant of other faiths. Rulers have ensured people with different beliefs have a place to worship.

are free to exercise our religious practices.”

That’s an important qualification. As you move around Dubai, you see no evidence of religion other than Islam. Churches cannot display crosses, and those who preach publicly or try to persuade Muslims to convert can expect jail and deportation.

As my Urdu Mass ended, I met Jerry Robert, the president of Dubai’s Pakistani Catholic community.

Originally from Karachi, Robert, tall and confident in a business suit, has been here for 17 years. He’s a bank security manager. With Christians of all denominations suffering violent attacks and church-burnings in Pakistan, I asked him about conditions in Dubai.

“Much, much better,” he said. “We have freedom in a Muslim country. It’s a very safe environment for us. This is what we need in Pakistan.”

Beside St Mary’s, the Protestant church Holy Trinity stands within another high-walled compound, also built on land donated by Sheikh Rashid. Friday mornings see thousands of people - mainly African and South Asian - attending dozens of services that run simultaneously in chapels and prayer halls. From a packed Revivalist gathering - lots of loud music, arm-waving and “Satan get back!” - I joined an Anglican communion, traditional hymns mumbled over a funereal electric organ. I squeezed into a Hindi Fellowship service and peeked into the Korean church as teenagers belted out Christian rock songs.

Up a double flight of stone steps, the Coptic church was full of people and incense smoke, a red-carpeted room with carved pews, panelled walls and a huge image of Christ painted on the

“

Celebrating Anglican communion in Holy Trinity church, Dubai

Since Sunday is a working day, one idiosyncrasy of Christian worship here is that the main services are held on a Friday, for many people their only day off. Churches including St Mary’s - host dozens of services, in English and Arabic but also languages from Tagalog to Malayalam.

A Greek Orthodox church in Dubai

The inner courtyard of Holy Trinity Church compound

blue ceiling. Cymbals clashed and triangles tinkled as translations of the chanted prayers flowed across two screens in both Arabic and Coptic.

Copts, the largest religious minority in Egypt, face discrimination at home and often violent attacks. Ten thousand or more live in the UAE, and young, bearded priest Father Markos, 12

years in Dubai, told me his flock are “more than happy - they enjoy their life, they are free”.

A bystander grasped my hand.

“Life is much, much better than in Egypt,” he said. “If you respect the law here, it’s OK. There, if they know you’re Coptic…” and he grimaced.

There are more churches across Dubai and the UAE, including

several - and another place of worship for Sikhs - on land donated by the current ruler, Sheikh Mohammed.

Dubai’s record on human rights and political freedom may be miserable. However this strange city is, for some, a haven of religious tolerance.

Source: BBC

PAGE 27

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Education L-R: Special Guest of Honour, Mrs. Pauline Kadiri, Proprietor, Tophill Schools, Abuja, Mrs. Kate Nomhwange, students of the school, Dorcas Okolo, Uju Okaro, Hassan Adamu, Father of the Day, Alhaji Aminu Dahiru, Barrister Chinwe Okaro, front row pupils of the school, Yadah Imanyi, David Nomhwange, and Faith Ezeiru, during the school 2015 graduation and prize giving day ceremony, on Saturday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin ImoOwo

Group supports call to EFCC to probe Adamawa Varsity over financial activities From Umar Dankano, Yola

A

Bauchi uncovers 1500 unqualified teachers From Ahmed Kaigama ,Bauchi

B

auchi state government has discovered over one thousand five hundred unqualified teachers following the recent verifications exercise of teachers in the state.

The Deputy Governor of the state, Engineer Nuhu Gidado, disclosed this while interacting with the team of inspectors from the National Commission of Colleges of Education (NCCE), in Bauchi at the weekend, describing

it as ‘unfortunate”.

Gidado appealed to the Commission to provide the state with additional Colleges of Education which will facilitate and help in producing qualified teachers with basic knowledge and skills for teaching the teaming youth in the state.

According to him, I prayed the team of Inspectors from NCCE would do justice to the newly established state Institute of Education Kangere, through accreditation of courses to be full

pledged college of Education.

Speaking earlier, the Director Academic of the NCCE Abuja, Dr. Mohammed Sani Ali, said they were in Bauchi to inspect and interact with the Principal Officers and academic staff of the institution to facilitate smooth take off of the college.

He therefore, charged all academics staff to ensure they have their original certificates from various institutions of learning to enable them become professionals that would

guarantee their service to the institution.

Speaking also, Provost of the institution of Education Kangere, Dr. Graba Ibrahim Kirfi, said the institution have facilities that make up a standard college of education, such as functional Microbiology and integrated Science Laboratories and standard Library with capacity of thousands students which will enhance proper teaching and learning ion the college”, he said.

FG, UN collaborate to secure schools

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he Federal Government is collaborating with the UN Special Envoy on Global Education to ensure security in all schools in the country.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr MacJohn Nwaobiala, disclosed this in an address he delivered at the annual Speech and Prize -Giving Day ceremony of King’s College Lagos.

The permanent secretary, who was the special guest of honour at the event, said the collaboration was aimed at providing a pragmatic response to the protection of schools.

According to him, the initiative is equally in a bid to ensure uninterrupted education for the Nigerian-child and to prevent future attacks in schools across the country. ‘’The Federal government in collaboration with the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Mr Gordon Brown, and a coalition of Nigeria Business leaders,

introduced the Safe Schools Initiative. ‘’Through this intervention, the Federal government is also reconstructing the infrastructure of schools destroyed as well as protecting children,’’ he said.

The permanent secretary called on school authorities to intensify sensitization programmes to ensure that unhygienic practices that created high risk conditions for the spread of ebola disease are adequately addressed.

Nwaobiala said government had, in an effort to achieve a more conducive learning environment in Unity Colleges, continued to provide educational facilities which include e-library.

He added that emphasis had also been laid on training and retraining of teachers for effective teaching and learning outcomes. ‘’New teaching staff have also been recruited to address the shortage of teachers in the Federal Unity Colleges. ‘’ICT and Trade subjects for entrepreneurship as compulsory

cross-cutting core subjects have been introduced. ‘’These efforts are aimed at providing the required skills for job creation , poverty reduction and making our students self reliant for sustainable national development.’’

He commended parents for their sacrifices to ensure their children acquire quality education and teachers for their commitment to education and the success of their students.

He urged the graduating students to be worthy ambassadors of the college as well as strive to assist their alma-matar.

Earlier in his address, the Principal of the college, Mr Oladele Olapeju, expressed concern over government’s policies on education which he said tended to lay undue emphasis on examinations to the detriment of knowledge acquisition. ‘’While agreeing that examination is essential in measuring learning achievement, the situation is very disturbing as

our graduating students spend almost five months crisscrossing one examination hall to the other with barely little time to study. ‘’The experience is too harrowing and on the long run costly to knowledge acquisition. ‘’The Joined Admissions and Matriculation Board must strive to adjust its examination date to July ending every year in order to allow the final year students concentrate on their studies,’’ he said.

Olapaju said another similar disturbing issue in the school calendar was the issue of time for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), which was often completed early in May. He noted that students at this level sit at home idle for months awaiting to transit to SS 1.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that four major projects in the college comprising two state-of-the art barbing saloons, an ICT laboratory, staff quarters and a 360KVA generator were inaugurated during the event. (NAN)

concern group tagged “Mubi Patriotic Front”, has added its voice on the call on Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC to investigate the financial activities of Adamawa State University (ADSU) Mubi, from 2006 to date with a view to unravel the alleged financial misappropriation in the university.

The spokesman of the group, Alhaji Yusuf Buba Maiwanki, said the probe became necessary to safe the institution from a cabal that was milking the school dry and bent on frustrating anyone from putting a stop to the nefarious activities going on in the school.

It would be recalled that a faceless group had earlier claimed to have petitioned the Adamawa state Governor and the EFCC through a write-up in one of the national dailies (Not Peoples Daily) to investigate the activities of the University.

Maiwanki said the faceless group was disturbed by the recent emergence of Professor David Shall as the new Vice Chancellor of the University.

According to Maiwanki, such frivolous petitions against Prof. Shall by the cabal which comprised of some top officials of the University included allegations that he was not qualified to hold the position and that he bought an official jeep for the Chairman Governing board of the university.

Maiwanki who said Prof.

Shall emerged as Vice Chancellor based on merit after contesting with other candidates, said the purchased of official jeep for the chairman governing board of the university was in order as previous board chairmen under past administrations also benefitted.

Maiwanki said the need to probe the financial activities of university from 2006 to date would enable EFCC to know who the real criminals were between Prof. Shall and the cabal trying to blackmail him.

He said the probe needed to look into years of alleged mismanagement of the school Internally Generated Revenue and taxes and pension deduction.

“We want transparency and not witch hunting. So we want thorough probe of the financial activities of the university from 2006 to date” Maiwanki said.

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Education

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Golfer tasks government on school sports development

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ice-Chairman of Delta State Golf Association, Peter Iweze, has tasked governments at all levels to transform the running of the school sports development in the country.

Iweze, a retired Wing Commander made the request at the weekend during the opening

of the 7th Peter Iweze Caddy Golf Tournament held at the Ibori Golf Club, Asaba.

He said schools sports programmes provided the best platform for the discovery of sporting talents, who could be future champions. He appealed to government to give it priority

attention.

“I believe that the only way to discover great sports talents for future championships are through tournaments such as this.

“The idea of school sports are to discover talents from the grassroots and provide them the platform to express themselves and become

future superstars.

“This is what our government should be doing. Let them concentrate on school sports, inject funds into grassroots developmental initiative like this,” Iweze said.

According to him, the annual event, which brings together caddies from within and outside the state,

Foundation to partner KDSG to set up e-library facilities in schools From Mohammad Ibrahim, Kaduna

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n an effort to improve quality of education in Kaduna state, Shekarau Mabushi Foundation (SMF) has expressed readiness to collaborate with the State Government to develop a ‘Train the Trainer’ system for the constant upgrading of knowledge base of teaching Staff, establishment of e-library facilities in central locations across the state.

The foundation would also help improve healthcare system in the state.

According to the Founder, Dr. Ishaku Mabushi Shekarau, the e-library would provide schools access to more than 5 million books on the internet.

He said the charity foundation aimed at assisting the less privileged to access quality education and healthcare delivery in the state.

Speaking on his plans for agricultural development, Dr. Shekarau, said the foundation will organize mobile training facilities for farmers, introducing modern farming techniques and innovations and also distribute high yield seedling to boost farming productivity.

He added that, the foundation will enhance a scientific analysis of farmlands to advise on the class of crops most suitable to each farming area and to liaise with the state Government to facilitate cheap access to fertilizers and pesticides.

L-R: Major-General Saleh Maina (rtd), Fatima Maina, Bashir Maina, Aisha Maina, and Yuhanis Maina, during the graduation of Fatima, on Saturday at Cherry Field College, Jikwoyi, in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

‘WAEC to review allowances of examiners soon’

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he West African Examinations Council (WAEC) said that it would soon approve new allowances for its examiners toward fulfillment of the Council’s mandate.

The council’s Head of National Office (HNO), Dr Charles Eguridu, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Eguridu spoke against the backdrop of claims by some examiners that the council was not paying them allowances that were commensurate with the volume of work they did. ``We at WAEC laud our examiners for their commitment, sacrifice, support and contribution to the overall work of the council. ``The work they actually do is

of high value to us and they are one of our critical stakeholders.

“One cannot really say that their complaints are misplaced. “ We appreciate their contributions a lot and wish that we have all the monies to express this appreciation in the much they deserve.

“But the fees we charge are highly subsidised by government.

“Our fee is not an economic one and to that extent, we are limited in terms of resources at our disposal, to pay examiners.

“I, however, assure them that we are already looking into their complaints with a view to increasing their allowances in the soonest,’’ Eguridu said.

He said the council would continue to take necessary actions to the benefit of all its stakeholders.

One of the examiners who preferred not to be mentioned

told NAN that there was the need for WAEC to review its welfare package to all of its ad hoc staff.

He said that it was risky for WAEC to lose the services of examiners because of poor allowances.

Another examiner, who also did not want to be mentioned, told NAN that other examination bodies in the country paid better allowances than WAEC. “We spend so much on transportation during the marking exercise and at the end of the day, you discover that it is not worth the trouble.

“I have been marking for the council for the past eight years and I can tell you that the allowances are poor.

“It is time WAEC looked inwards to do the right thing in order to get better results from us,’’ he added. (NAN)

Principal urges students to be good ambassadors From Ado Abubakar, Jos

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rincipal of Federal Government College Jos , Muhammed Manko, has urged the 277 class of 2015 students of the school, to be worthy ambassadors of the college.

Manko, made the call yesterday in Jos, the capital of

plateau state during a special prayer and formal induction of the students into the school’s Old Students Association.

According the Principal, it was a good thing and pride for the students to have graduated from the college after spending years of studies in the college, expressing hope that the outgoing students will attained or even go

beyond the 80% success recorded by the school in the 2014 WAEC and NECO exams.

In his words during the induction of the 277 new members into the folds of the old students association of the college, the Chairman Barrister Sule Kwasau, also called advised the students on moral and academic discipline.

He said, “be worthy in characters and learning and also put into practice what you have learnt. I encourage you not to be distracted by evil things while pursuing your endeavors in life.

On behalf of the outgoing students, the Head Girl of the school, Mercy Ekojah, said they are very delighted to witness the day.

has over the years produced winners that have shown great promise in golf..

Iweze, said his passion for sports, particularly golf, had over the years helped him to achieve success during his military career.

He said: ``the reason for my unrelenting passion for sports is that sports generally has been the bedrock of my success in virtually all my endeavours in life -- from my secondary school days to my commissioning into the Nigerian Airforce.

“Through sports, I was at a time, the Executive Secretary International Military Sports at West African Liaison Office and African Representative on the International Military Sport Council, with headquaters in Brussels.”

Iweze said his ambition for sponsoring the tournament is to handover the baton that brought him success and fame to a new generation of younger people who should succeed him.

He said that golf was universal game of passion, but expressed dismay that the game had not picked up in Africa due to lack of sponsorship by governments and corporate bodies.

“This year we made all efforts to get sponsors but it’s is unfortunate that corporate organisations are still only tied to big names attached to sports events before offering sponsorship.

“Next year we intend to improve on the level of the tournament and also increase the prizes, so I want to appeal to governments and organisations to get involved and help to develop these talents,” Iweze said.

According to him, the 2015 edition with not less than sixty caddies participating is a massive improvement on the inaugural edition of the tournament six years ago that had only 15 caddies in attendance.

Addressing the young caddies, Francis Isikwu, who is the resident professional at the Ibori Golf Club, Asaba, admonished them to conduct themselves on the golf course and play with enthusiasm.

He said the tournament provided a good platform to catch younger golfers and mould them into future professionals.

According g to Isikwu, we at the club believe that in this year tournament, many talents will be discovered, so I want to appeal that we all take this game seriously.

“Golf is for the gentle and determined. Make friends, play with your heart and express yourselves on the golf course, when you do that you can go places.”

In his address, the DirectorGeneral of the Delta State Sports Commission, Victor Onogagamue lauded the sponsor of the tournament and the club for putting up a platform for future golfers.

Onogagamue, who was represented by the Director of Technical Matters in the Commission, Remy Agbahovbe, said that sports in general provided a veritable platform for human development. (NAN)

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Health

Substance abuse (III) Substance Abuse Causes se and abuse of substances such as cigarettes, alcohol, and illegal drugs may begin in childhood or the teen years.

Certain risk factors may increase someone’s likelihood to abuse substances.

• Factors within a family that influence a child’s early development have been shown to be related to increased risk of drug abuse.

• Chaotic home environment • Genetic risks (drug or alcohol abuse sometimes can run in families) • Lack of nurturing and parental attachment • Factors related to a child’s socialization outside the family may also increase risk of drug abuse.

• Inappropriately aggressive or shy behavior in the classroom • Poor social coping skills • Poor school performance • Association with a deviant peer group • Perception of approval of drug use behavior Substance Abuse Symptoms

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Health Matters Dr. Longwap AbdulAziz Saleh

e-mail: longwapabdul@yahoo.com, Text: 08039537913 Friends and family may be among the first to recognize the signs of substance abuse. Early recognition increases chances for successful treatment. Signs to watch for include the following: • Giving up past activities such as sports, homework, or hanging out with new friends • Declining grades • Aggressiveness and irritability • Forgetfulness • Disappearing money or valuables • Feeling rundown, hopeless, depressed, or even suicidal • Sounding selfish and not caring about others

• Use of room deodorizers and incense • Paraphernalia such as baggies, small boxes, pipes, and rolling paper • Getting drunk or high on drugs on a regular basis • Lying, particularly about how much alcohol or other drugs he or she is using • Avoiding friends or family in order to get drunk or high • Planning drinking in advance, hiding alcohol, drinking or using other drugs alone • Having to drink more to get the same high • Believing that in order to have fun you need to drink or use other drugs

• Frequent hangovers • Pressuring others to drink or use other drugs • Taking risks, including sexual risks • Having “blackouts”forgetting what he or she did the night before • Constantly talking about drinking or using other drugs • Getting in trouble with the law • Drinking and driving • Suspension from school or work for an alcohol or drugrelated incident Substance Abuse Treatment Most substances abusers believe they can stop using drugs on their own, but a majority who try do not succeed. Research shows that longterm drug use alters brain function and strengthens compulsions to use drugs. This craving continues even after drug use stops.

Because of these ongoing cravings, the most important component of treatment is preventing relapse.

Treating substance abuse depends on both the person and the substance being used. Behavioral treatment

provides you with strategies to cope with your drug cravings and ways to avoid relapse. Your doctor may prescribe medications, such as nicotine patches and methadone, to control withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings.

Often, a drug user has an underlying mental disorder, one that increases risk for substance abuse. Such disorders must be treated medically and through counseling along with the drug abuse.

Prevention Substance abuse may start in childhood or adolescence. Abuse prevention efforts in schools and community settings now focus on school-age groups. Programs seek to increase communication between parents and their children, to teach resistance skills, and to correct children’s misperceptions about cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs and the consequences of their use.

Most importantly, officials seek to develop, through education and the media, an environment of social disapproval from children’s peers and families.

Concluded

Hepatitis B

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he term is derived from the Greek, meaning “liver”, and the suffix, meaning “inflammation”. Worldwide, viral hepatitis is the most common cause of liver inflammation. Other causes include autoimmune diseases and ingestion of toxic substances (notably alcohol), certain medications (such as paracetamol), some industrial organic solvents, and plants.

• Hepatitis B is a viral infection that attacks the liver and can cause both acute and chronic disease.

• The virus is transmitted through contact with the blood or other body fluids of an infected person.

• An estimated 240

million people are chronically infected with hepatitis B (defined as hepatitis B surface antigen positive for at least 6 months).

• Approximately 780 000 persons die each year from hepatitis B infection -- 650 000 from cirrhosis and liver cancer due to chronic hepatitis B infection and another 130 000 from acute hepatitis B.1 • Hepatitis B is an important occupational hazard for health workers.

• However, it can be prevented by currently available safe and effective vaccine.

Hepatitis B is a potentially life-threatening liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus. It is a major global health problem.

It can cause chronic infection and puts people at high risk of death from cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Lifted from WHO. A vaccine against hepatitis B has been available since 1982.

The vaccine is 95% effective in preventing infection and the development of chronic disease and liver cancer due to hepatitis B. Geographical distribution Hepatitis B prevalence is highest in sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia, where between 5–10% of the adult population is chronically infected. High rates of chronic infections are also found in the Amazon and the southern parts of eastern and

central Europe. In the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, an estimated 2–5% of the general population is chronically infected.

Less than 1% of the population in western Europe and North America is chronically infected.

Transmission The hepatitis B virus can survive outside the body for at least 7 days. During this time, the virus can still cause infection if it enters the body of a person who is not protected by the vaccine. The incubation period of the hepatitis B virus is 75 days on average, but can vary from 30 to 180 days. The virus may be detected within 30 to 60 days after infection and can persist and develop into chronic

hepatitis B. In highly endemic areas, hepatitis B is most commonly spread from mother to child at birth (perinatal transmission), or through horizontal transmission (exposure to infected blood), especially from an infected child to an uninfected child during the first 5 years of life. The development of chronic infection is very common in infants infected from their mothers or before the age of 5 years.

Hepatitis B is also spread by percutaneous or mucosal exposure to infected blood and various body fluids, as well as through saliva, menstrual, vaginal, and seminal fluids. to be Contd

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Page 30

Healthy Living Is thumb sucking normal for kids?

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ucking is a healthy, normal and natural habit for infants. Most babies find comfort from sucking a thumb, finger or a pacifier.

When should I be concerned?

Thumb and finger sucking is not usually a concern until permanent teeth appear, unless some or all of the following factors are present: Forceful sucking.

Sucking often during the day.

Sucking throughout the night rather than just at bedtime.

Sucking that has caused changes to the position of teeth, mouth or lips.

Sucking along with tongue thrusting and speech difficulties.

What are the dental effects of thumb and finger sucking?

The strong muscle action used for thumb or finger sucking can change the shape of the mouth and the position of the teeth and lips. This can lead to abnormal swallowing patterns, even when thumb or fingers are not present in the mouth.

Repeated sucking after the four front permanent teeth grow in, makes these conditions worse and may require treatment and, in extreme cases, surgery.

If, after the age of four, a child is unable to give up the habit, it is advisable to consult a dental professional.

Tips for parents Instead of scolding children for sucking, praise them when they are not.

Spend lots of time with your child encouraging other uses of the hands such as puzzles, colouring, anything that will keep their hands busy.

When your urine is the colour of a manila folder ver think of checking your pee to see if you’re healthy? If not, perhaps it’s time you start since your urine may reveal important clues about your health.

Preferably, your urine should be the colour of a manila file folder — a pale yellow. You can take that

E

For habit-free days, offer a reward such as special time, a favourite video or activity.

At nap time or bedtime, offer a child a small toy to hold and cuddle to replace the habit.

Pacifiers

Sucking is a normal, natural habit for infants. A pacifier can satisfy this need and help to comfort and relax a baby.

However, not all babies require a pacifier. It is better for a baby to suck on a pacifier than on a finger, toy or blanket.

If you are breast-feeding, avoid using a pacifier until breast-feeding is going well, usually after eight weeks. This will help avoid nipple confusion as the sucking action required for breast-feeding and pacifiers is different.

To prevent changes to the shape of a baby’s mouth, it is important to give a baby a pacifier that is soft enough to flatten out against the roof of the baby’s mouth during sucking. Continual use should be discouraged.

When choosing a pacifier, look for one that is orthodontically approved. For safety reasons, one piece designs are recommended.

Avoid attaching a string to the pacifier to prevent possible strangulation. Check the pacifier regularly to ensure it is in good condition. Tears, cracks or other signs of wear may make it unsafe for your baby to use.

Avoid coating pacifiers with sugar, honey or any sweet substance as this can cause baby’s teeth to decay. Honey and corn syrup may also contain spores that can cause food poisoning in infants less than one year of age. www.health.gov.sk.ca

Signs of being a healthy man

as a sign that you’re a healthy guy.

However, normal urine can vary in shades of yellow depending on how much water you drink. If you drink a lot of fluids your urine will likely be clear (and medically, that’s no problem). If, however, you’re dehydrated, your urine will have a dark, brownish tinge like ice tea. Beyond simple shades, be keen to notice any other

major changes. A sweet smell, odour, a drop of red, or some other colour change that seems unrelated to any food, medication or supplement you’ve recently consumed should not be ignored.

When you ejaculate a tablespoon of semen A healthy, middle-age man should ejaculate anywhere from 2 to 5 ml of semen. While semen load decreases as a man ages, a load less than 2 ml is indicative of hyperspermia, a condition that may affect male fertility (this 2 ml cut-off is even supported by the World Health Organization!).

Aside from volume, the colour and consistency of a man’s semen can also give clues to his health.

Without getting into too much detail, a healthy guy should have white or gray, sticky semen.

Semen that’s tinged with blood or overly runny might be a sign of a health problem and should be discussed with a doctor.

When you have a resting heart rate around 70 bpm Resting heart rate (RHR), or the number of times the heart beats per minute at rest, is a great

indicator of your overall fitness level. Although an RHR will vary with age, for the average healthy male, an RHR between 70 and 75 beats per minute (bpm) is a reasonable target. In fact, an RHR between 60 and 100 bpm is generally considered normal for adults. Heart rates outside of this range can cause serious health problems and may indicate an underlying health issue. To measure your pulse, simply place two fingers on the thumb side of your wrist. When you feel your pulse, look at your watch and count the number of beats in 15 seconds. Multiply this number by four to get your heart rate per minute.

If your skin is elastic Skin elasticity, or turgor, is commonly used to assess the degree of dehydration. If you’ve been battling bouts of diarrhoea or have been praying to the porcelain gods (i.e., vomiting) chances are that you’ve lost quite a bit of fluid.

Healthy skin retains elasticity and will return to normal if you try to manipulate it. To test your skin’s elasticity, simply pinch the

skin on the back of your hand.

Dehydrated skin will remain elevated and will return slowly to its normal position while healthy skin will snap back into place.

If you have firm pink nails While they’re probably not the first item you’d expect to see on a man’s checklist of healthy markers, fingernails certainly can reveal a lot about someone’s health. Generally, a healthy individual’s nails will be pink, firm and smooth. Although subtle variations are common — a touch of white here or a few ripples there — any major changes in the nails should ring the alarm. Thick yellow nails that grow slowly may indicate a respiratory disease like chronic bronchitis. Indentations across the nails, called Beau’s lines, might point to diabetes, while spoon-like nails that curve outwards might be a sign of low iron. Although changes in the nails are rarely the first clue to an illness, if your nails don’t appear healthy, it’s best to raise this with your family GP. askmen.com

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Redecoration order: Development Control to seal-off 36 apartments in Asokoro

By Stanley Onyekwere

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he Department of Development Control, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), is to seal-off premises of a total of thirty-six (36) apartments in Asokoro District, of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), for refusal of the occupants to redecorate the affected apartments, following an

Bizman docked for allegedly assaulting Policemen

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he Police have arraigned a 29-year-old businessman, Manya Obiora in a Kado Grade 1 Area court, Abuja, for allegedly assaulting two police officers.

Obiora, who is a business man and repairs cell phones, resides at Zone 7, Lugbe, Abuja.

The Prosecutor, Insp. Simon Ibrahim, told the court that the matter was reported by two police officers: Cpl. Kelechi Odurobi and Cpl. Henry Ossia, attached to Utako Police Station, Abuja, on June 11.

He said that on same date, the officers went to Kanapy market, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja, to invite one Chidi for allegedly receiving stolen property.

Ibrahim said that Obiora left his shop to the place of arrest and hindered the police officers from doing their lawful duty.

He added that the officers later asked him to excuse them to avoid the accused from escaping lawful arrest.

The prosecutor said that rather than allowing the police officers to carry out their duty, Obiora held Cpl. Henry Ossia and assaulted him badly with his working tools.

He said the accused even threatened to dismiss the officers from the Nigeria Police Force.

Ibrahim said this made the initial accused to escape lawful arrest, adding that the offence contravened sections 167, 267, 397 and 327 of the Penal code respectively.

However, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge against him and the Judge, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq, granted him bail in sum of N50, 000 and a surety in like sum.

Sadiq ordered that the surety must reside within the court’s jurisdiction and adjourned the case until August 3 for further hearing. (NAN)

order of FCT Mobile Court.

Specifically, those affected are occupants of some blocks of flats located on Winston Churchill St, Omar Bongo Close, Males Serawi Close, Daniel Arap Moi Close, Paul Biya Close, and Queen Elizabeth St. respectively, all off Jimmy Carter Street in Asokoro.

Peoples Daily reports that out of a total number of 41 defaulters in the area (residents of Asokoro), who were summoned by the Mobile court, for alleged failure to comply with an order served them, to redecorate their buildings and perimeter fence, only five were present during the court sitting held in their neighbourhood, on Saturday.

However, according to the presiding judge of the Mobile Court, Mrs. Folashade Oyekan, the seal-off order was granted pursuant to section 2 of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB).

Oyekan, also mandated those (defaulters) who were present in court, to obey earlier redecoration order, directing them to redecorate their premises and general perimeter fencing within two-week period or risk being sealed-off.

“For those who refused to appear in court, even when it is sitting in their neighbourhood, I order that their premises be sealed-off until they comply with the redecoration notice served them,’’ she stressed.

Earlier, the prosecuting officer, Arome Tokula, had informed the court that the offenders (affected occupants) failed to comply with re-decoration order issued by the Development Control, directing them to repaint their dilapidated buildings and general perimeter fence in the neighbourhood .

He said the offence contravened section 35 (1e) of AEPB Act of 1997, and punishable

under sub-section 35 (2b) of the same Act. “The accused persons were summoned to this court for failure, refusal and neglect to repaint their premises even after redecoration order was issued on them; and the offence contravenes section 35 of the AEPB Act,’’ he explained.

Speaking to newsmen after the court session, Head, Aesthetics and Amenities, Department of Development Control, Dominic Odenigbo, noted that the essence of the ongoing diligent enforcement of appropriate design and re-decoration of houses in the FCT, as at when due, reveals the resolve of the FCT Administration towards ensuring that Abuja remained a decent city.

Odenigbo, therefore advised residents of the nation’s capital to always comply with appropriate directives of the department.

Similarly, the Public Relations

A scavenger looking for valuables in a dustbin, yesterday in Maitama, Abuja.

Officer of the Department, Kalu Emetu, who decried the poor attitude of resident to court summons and other legal notices, said its officials would immediately carry out the sealoff order, only after obtaining the necessary instruments from its legal team.

Meanwhile, the PRO warned that residents who have redecorated their dilapidated houses but failed to repaint their perimeter fencing have till August this year, to do so, or face the wrath of the law.

He reiterated that there has been enough sensitization by the Department, aimed at advancing the issue of prompt redecoration of buildings in FCT. He insisted that the Department has been carrying out jingles on radio stations as well as adequate media coverage of its activities especially reinvigorated enforcement of redecoration of buildings in the Territory.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Court remands two farmers for stealing corn in Mararaba

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Mararaba Grade 1 Area court in Nasarawa State, have remanded two farmers in prison custody for allegedly stealing 25 bags of corn.

The suspects, Michael Monday, 28, and Fakur Ponsak, 18, were charged with criminal conspiracy, trespass and theft.

The suspects, who reside at Jayi Guruku, Nasarawa State, pleaded guilty to the three-count charge and promised to be of good behaviour.

“We were hungry and Monday told me that his boss has a corn store, which we should go there, and get some for ourselves.

“This is the first time I followed him to the store to steal, I did that because of hunger,” Ponsak said.

The Judge, Albert Maga, remanded the accused after they pleaded guilty to the charges levelled against them.

“The accused persons will be punished for their offences but I will reserve the punishment until the person who bought the corn from them is arrested and brought to court.

“The accused persons and the man who bought the stolen corn will be punished together.

“The accused persons are

hereby remanded in Keffi Prison till July 23,” Maga ordered.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Cpl. Auta Agabi, told the court that one Sunday Asugwa of Gwarimpa Estate, Abuja, reported the matter at the ‘A’ Division Police Station, Mararaba on June 30.

Agabi said on the same date, the complainant received a call from one Michael, his store keeper that he apprehended some thieves in the store located at Kappa Guruku, Mararaba.

The prosecutor said the store was trespassed upon for many times by unknown persons and bags of corn were stolen.

He said that during investigation, the accused persons admitted that they had been stealing from the store, while five bags of corn were recovered.

The prosecutor alleged that the accused persons on several occasion stole the complainant corn and sold them to one Malam Isa of Mararaba.

Agabi added that when Monday’s house was searched, a half bag of corn was found there.

He said that the offences contravened sections 97, 95 and 288 of the Penal code respectively. (NAN)

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Photo Splash

Commercial motorcyclists patiently waiting for passengers, yesterday in Mararaba.

An orange seller out for business, yesterday at Area 1, in Abuja.

Young man hawking childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wears, yesterday at Nyanya, in Abuja

Beverages hawkers on the street, yesterday in Mararaba.

Photos: Mahmud Isa

PAGE 33

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Metro

Why Buhari’s administration needs to pay special attention to Abuja-South, by Hon. Dobi Interview What’s your take on the face of leadership of the House as it is today?

W

ell, from the 9th June when the house was inaugurated, I want to assure you that the leadership of the National Assembly was keenly contested and Hon. Yakubu Dogara emerged as the speaker of the 8th Assembly. So, the issue of contented or not has overtaken by events. Categorically, I am sincerely contented with the leadership of the house. I have not met personally with Hon. Dogara before he emerged as Speaker, but I personally worked with Dogara’s group to ensure his successful election. The process that saw his emergence was transparent and all patriotic Nigerians should commend the Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, for facilitating this transparent election without bias or partisanship to any person or group of persons.

As a lawmaker, are there areas you feel needs attention, in order to fast track the development of Abuja-South?

If you look at FCT generally, it lacks so many things; it is either laws are amendment to put development in place or we look at fresh laws that will make it possible to fast track the development of the FCT. I have always spoken on one issue that if you look at FCT, it should be treated as a state. In election, the constitution states that the President should win in 24 states and FCT. That of FCT is specific that you must win there. So, if the court demands that the President must win FCT and the people voted for him, then it is important you treat them like other states. During the state governorship elections, FCT resident don’t participate, as if we are non-Nigerians.

So, we feel left out in so many ways and we are going to look at relevant laws to put in place so that the central government will take care of the FCT people by way of giving us a Mayor or whatever name Nigerians would want to call it. The FCT original inhabitants are not saying you must be an indigene before contesting any elective positions.

If you are a resident of Abuja, very popular and the people want you, fine and good, you are free to contest. Apart from the mayoral request, if you go to the states, their people have the opportunity to serve as commissioners but in FCT we have only two contestable positions: the National Assembly elections and the area council elections after which there are no positions to fall back to. The

Hon. Angulu Zakari Dobi is a member, House of Representatives representing Abaji/ Gwagwalada /Kuje/Kwali Federal Constituency, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. In this interview with our correspondent, Stanley Onyekwere, he explains why the current administration under President Muhammadu Buhari, needs to pay special attention to the Abuja-South constituency. Dobi also bares his mind on the present on-going debacle in the House and dwells on the 8th National Assembly going forward. Excerpts: population of the FCT is enough to give us three senatorial seats and reasonably six houses of representative positions.

Take a look at Bayelsa; because it is recognised as a state, it has 3 senators and 5 members of the House of Representatives, but the population of that state is not up to that of FCT. So, why can’t FCT be treated in this capacity as a state; so that our voice will be heard? I almost shed tears when I won my elections and came to the House when it was inaugurated; when the Clerk of the National Assembly called state by state, many members came out, but in the case of the FCT, it was only Hon. Jisalo and I, compared with states like Lagos and Kano where you have 24 representatives. We, in the FCT are seriously marganilised in the political equation of this country. In the past and even now every state sends names for ministerial slot, but FCT is yet to benefit. I want to tell you that we have capable hands to be appointed as ministers. So, we expect that in the administration of Muhammadu Buhari that the FCT people will not be left out this time around. We have to be appointed ministers, ambassadors, permanent secretaries and so on.

What projects do you think should be prioritized in this 8th Assembly and also ensure that they are included in the budget?

As a Honuorable member representing my people, I want to seriously emphasize on the need to take development to Abuja –South; because if you

look at Abuja critically you will see that development has been concentrated mainly in the central areas of the Federal Capital Territory (AMAC Bwari). We are not against what is happening there be we are saying that the projects should be evenly distributed so that other parts of the FCT particularly Abuja south can also benefit from the infrastructural development.

We owe it a duty, as members to look at the books of the FCT to increase the budget and see how development will affect these areas.

It is my responsibility to be

“

very close to this administration to ensure serious contribution on what needs to be done to make my people feel the impact of the development of FCT and the nation generally. I promised, like I said, that the development of the southern parts of Abuja especially the roads need urgent attention. You will agree with me that these roads need linkage between one community and another especially, Kwali and Kuje area Councils together.

You know these people are predominantly farmers but find it difficult to bring their farm produce to the city. On the

I have always spoken on one issue that if you look at FCT, it should be treated as a state. In election, the constitution states that the President should win in 24 states and FCT.

other hand those people who lack roads also need water to drink. So it is our responsibility to ensure that the project we will put in the budget are strictly followed annually we can build them into the budget and see how the people will benefit. The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is all about change and nobody will be left out. Mr. President has always emphasized that he will be at the side of justice and equity.

On the part of empowering the women and farmers, the FCT administration should include virtually everybody and truly carry out a programme that will empower women and farmers.

What’s your position on the call for decentralisation of federal agencies in the FCT? This is another important area to look at because I used to know that agencies like the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board and Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board and Sharia Courts and some other agencies were usually located in the various area councils; but today, all of them have been moved to the city centre making traffic congestion acute. We also expect that this administration should look into ways of decentralising the agencies to reduce tension at the city centre.

PAGE 34

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Money Sense

How to be stylish without spending a lot of money

B

argain shopping can be turned into an art. Your closet can be overflowing with clothes that not only fit well, but that also express your unique personality and style. And the best part is, you will have paid retail price for less than 10% of it. So, the trick is to have a stylish and distinct wardrobe on a budget.

This style of shopping is definitely not for everyone. In the beginning you will have to invest more time than you are used to on browsing and rummaging through clothes, quite possibly with very little to show for it. However, if you stick with this method, you will soon train your eye and learn the places where you have the most luck. It is very frustrating at times, but that is also what makes it so rewarding when you find clothes that you love for amazing prices.

1. Weed out your old wardrobe: Get rid of anything that doesn’t fit you, and try to let go of attachments to clothes that you just don’t wear.

2. Don’t just throw these clothes out! There’s so much you can do with old clothes. Here are some suggestions.

Reuse: If you have pants that are too long/awkwardly fitting in the leg, but fit your waist, make them into shorts! They can be made into simple cut-offs or you can sew a cuff. Longer knee length shorts with or without a cuff are also an option. Cutting up t-shirts is also an option, as well as creating your own stencil and stencilling a design on the back of shorts/pants, or making an original design on a blank (or not blank) t-shirt.

Resell: If you have designer clothes or any other clothes or accessories (sunglasses, shoes, scarves, hats, etc.) that you think could yield a profit, resell them.

This cleans out your closet, and allows you to earn more money to buy new clothes..

Give away: Have friends or co-workers that are the same size? Let them rummage through clothes that you are not reusing or reselling before you give them away to charity. They may return the favour one day. However, charity is also a great way to discard your old clothes (and can usually be used as a tax write-off).

3. Find out where discount stores: are where you live, as well as where any thrift stores, Salvation Army’s, consignment shops, and second-hand stores may be located. These are my goto stores when I’m not looking for anything specific. These stores can be helpful for a specific search, but I find them more frustrating in such a situation. See what works for you though! Try each store out, and see if you like what they carry. Give each store at least 2-3

visits (spaced out enough so that they get new inventory) before you decide whether or not the store is good for you.

Be careful about return policies. Because the clothes are discounted, they usually can only be returned for store credit or are non-refundable. Don’t hesitate to try stuff on, and be confident in your purchases!

You know what’s really amazing? Discount stores have sales too! I’ve found some of my best deals in such circumstances.

Look out for them.

Be conscious of possible defects. Although most clothes in discount stores are supposedly “flawed,” most are unnoticeable and do not affect the quality of the product. However, it is best advised to inspect anything you like before purchasing.

Notice fabrics, cuts, and brand names: A wide range of clothing can be found in discount stores, and some are better quality than others. Searching for familiar brand names might be helpful, as well as looking for more quality fabrics. Better quality clothes also tend to have better cuts and thus are more flattering so again, try stuff on!

Target and Wal-Mart are also good, low-price options.

4. Sale racks! Also will be one of your favourite places on Earth. Visit your current favourite stores, as well as stores you may not normally go into. The more places you try, the better luck you

will have! It takes time to figure out which stores have the best sales, but the research can pay serious dividends. There are stores I only shop the sale racks at (i.e.

Urban Outfitters), and have still accumulated quite a collection.

Most department stores usually have a few huge sales a year, and most other stores you can find in the mall have a sale rack or two in the back. You will learn to live there; it’s a quaint neighbourhood really.

Again, be wary of the return policy for on-sale items; they’re usually different.

Don’t be ashamed to be cheap.

Have no shame in walking straight past all the regular-priced items to the sale racks. Saving money is smart.

5. The infamous outlet stores: You might not always be as lucky with outlets as with discount stores and sale racks, but perhaps the day will come when that fact changes. Attack such places with the same fervour as any other shopping adventure. And, while already discounted, outlets also have sales too. Needless to say, you should scout those out.

Outlet malls tend to become a whole day affair so make sure you allot yourself enough time to shop.

Some “deals” at outlets really aren’t that great. Don’t take the stores word for something; that shirt may only be cheaper than retail despite their advertising.

Oh, and this may sound like a broken record now, but return

policy know what it is.

6. The internet is your best friend: The Internet is the best place to go if you’re in pursuit of a specific item. There are countless, countless websites that specialize in discount clothes. You can discover your own lesser known websites simply through a little research. Goggling the type of clothing you need is also typically helpful.

Learning what size to order is more or less a trial and error process. Measuring yourself is a must in the beginning. Start out buying easier items like shirts and shoes before buying harder items like coats, and the ever unpredictable jeans or pants. Don’t buy jeans or pants online unless you have tried them on before, but it’s all a judgment call.

RETURN POLICY. Be especially wary of it when buying online. If you’re not positive about a purchase and can’t return it, chances are you shouldn’t buy it.

Returns aren’t usually free either; you’ll get refunded for the clothing, but you still pay for shipping.

Free shipping: Look for it as if it were gold. Usually after you buy so much, you’ll get free shipping. There might be a code on a magazine you need to know though, so take note of such things as well.

Security: A lot of people are wary about purchasing online because of credit card theft, and this is a valid concern. Make sure the sight is secure before giving

out any important information.

Start out with more well-known stores to gain confidence in buying items online. Check your credit card bills for purchases you didn’t make; most of the time you can be refunded for such charges, and you will be able to get a new credit card number; there is always a risk, albeit small.

7. Don’t be afraid to try something new when you’re buying clothes at low prices, you can afford to buy something you normally wouldn’t: If you see a style that fits well and is priced right, but that you wouldn’t typically describe as “you” or “your style,” buy it! While some may not work out, you will be surprised at how your style could evolve just from one great purchase!

8. Have patience, patience, and more patience: As said before, this is a slow moving process in the beginning. Until you discover what stores you like the best, it may seem like time-wasting and frivolous pursuit. Saving money on great clothes can be one of the most satisfying experiences. Buying clothes isn’t a vital aspect to life, but wearing clothes that fit and you love really makes a difference in your self-confidence and overall mood. You don’t always have to buy from the bargain rack (although you have a hard time pulling yourself away), but you can find some truly amazing clothes for even more amazing prices.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Page 35

International international_peoplesdailyng@yahoo.com

E

ANALYSIS

uro zone leaders told near-bankrupt Greece at an emergency summit on Sunday that it must enact key reforms this week to restore trust before they will open talks on any new financial rescue to keep it in the European currency area.

Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will be required to push legislation through parliament to convince his 18 partners in the euro zone to release immediate funds to avert a state bankruptcy and start negotiations on a third bailout program.

Six sweeping measures including tax and pension reforms will have to be enacted by Wednesday night and the entire package endorsed by parliament before talks can start, a draft decision sent by Eurogroup finance ministers to the leaders showed.

The document also included a German proposal to make Greece take a “time-out” from the euro zone if it failed to meet the conditions for a loan. But not all ministers endorsed the idea, which was reserved in brackets in the text seen by Reuters.

A senior EU source said such a temporary exit from the euro was illegal and would not survive in the summit statement.

Tsipras said on arrival in Brussels he wanted “another honest compromise” to keep Europe united.

“We can reach an agreement tonight if all parties want it,” he said.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country is the biggest contributor to euro zone bailouts, said the conditions were not yet right to start negotiations, sounding cautious in deference to mounting opposition at home to more aid for Greece.

“The most important currency has been lost and that is trust,” she told reporters. “That means that we will have tough discussions and there will be no agreement at any price.”

If Greece meets the conditions, the German parliament would meet on Thursday to mandate Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble to open the talks on a new loan. Then Eurogroup finance ministers would meet again on Friday or at the weekend to formally launch the negotiations.

A Greek government official, in a first reaction to the draft, said: “How can they demand all these measures at the last minute without securing a lifeline to see us through till next week?”

A European official said a Eurogroup meeting on Monday could discuss ways to provide emergency finance to keep Athens afloat.

A finance ministers’ meeting was suspended at midnight after angry exchanges during nine hours of acrimonious debate without a firm recommendation on Greece’s application for a three-year loan on the basis of reform proposals

Euro zone leaders: Greece must do more to earn rescue

(L-R) Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, France’s President Francois Hollande and Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel attend an euro zone leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium. submitted by Tsipras.

Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said that while ministers had made good progress, a couple of big issues were left for the leaders to resolve.

“The Eurogroup ... came to the conclusion that there is not yet the basis to start the negotiations on a new program,” the document sent to national leaders said.

“Only subsequent to legal implementation of the above mentioned measures can negotiations on the memorandum of understanding commence, subject to national procedures having been completed,” it said, in a reference to authorization by national parliaments in countries such as Germany.

The draft said Greece needed 7 billion euros by July 20, when it must make a crucial bond redemption to the European Central Bank, and a total of 12 billion euros by mid-August when another ECB payment falls due.

It did not say how those needs would be met, and EU officials said finance ministers had been unable to agree on emergency finance.

Several hardline countries voiced support for the German proposal that Greece take a fiveyear “time-out” from the euro unless it accepted and implemented swiftly much tougher conditions, notably by locking state assets to be

privatized in an independent trust to pay down debt.

But French President Francois Hollande, Greece’s strongest ally in the euro zone, dismissed the notion, saying it would start a dangerous unraveling of EU integration.

“There is no such thing as temporary Grexit, there is only a Grexit or no Grexit. There is Greece in the euro zone or Greece not in the euro zone. But in that case it’s Europe that retreats and no longer progresses and I don’t want that,” he said.

European Council President Donald Tusk canceled a planned summit of all 28 EU leaders that would have been needed in case of a Greek exit from the single currency, and said euro zone leaders would keep talking “until we conclude talks on Greece”.

The finance ministers agreed in principle to seek ways to make Greece’s debt burden manageable by extending loan maturities and other steps stopping short of a “haircut” or writedown, provided Athens first implements reforms.

They also insisted that the International Monetary Fund must remain fully involved in any third bailout for Athens.

At one stage in the debate on Greece’s debt sustainability, Germany’s hardline Schaeuble snapped at ECB President Mario Draghi: “I’m not stupid,” a person

familiar with the exchange said.

Schaeuble also clashed with the head of the euro zone bailout fund, Klaus Regling, on whether the EU treaty conditions for an emergency loan were fulfilled, another source said.

The rules say there must be “a risk to the financial stability of the euro area as a whole or of its Member States”.

Greece’s new finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, was silent in public but the reaction among some lawmakers in Tsipras’ radical leftist Syriza party, still smarting from having to swallow austerity measures they had opposed, was furious.

“What is at play here is an attempt to humiliate Greece and Greeks, or to overthrow the Tsipras government,” Dimitrios Papadimoulis, a Syriza member of the European Parliament, told Mega TV. With banks shuttered for two weeks, cash withdrawals rationed and the economy on the edge of an abyss, some Greeks vented their anger on Merkel and Schaeuble.

“The only thing that I care about is not being humiliated by Schaeuble and the rest of theme” said Panagiotis Trikokglou, a 44-year-old private sector worker in Athens.

Greece has already had two bailouts worth 240 billion euros

from euro zone countries and the International Monetary Fund, but its economy has shrunk by a quarter since the crisis began, unemployment has soared above 25 percent and one in two young people is out of work.

Athens defaulted on an IMF loan repayment last month and faces state bankruptcy if it cannot make the bond redemption on July 20, which would likely force the ECB to cut emergency funding for Greek banks.

Economists said the idea of a temporary exit would mean in practice ejecting Athens from the European monetary union.

Paul De Grauwe, a Belgian economist at the London School of Economics, compared it to a couple having a trial separation.

“Temporary Grexit is like temporary divorce. Most if not all end up being permanent,” he said in a Twitter message.

The United States has added its voice to calls for a deal this weekend, concerned at the geopolitical consequences if Greece were to be cut loose and become a failed state in the fragile southern Balkans, adjoining the Middle East.

“No one wants to see a North Korea in southeastern Europe,” a European Commission official said.

Source: Reuters

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Page 36

International

Islamic State ‘behind blast’ at Italian consulate in Cairo

I Omar Sharif: Lawrence of Arabia star dies aged 83

A

ctor Omar Sharif, best known for his roles in classic films Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, has died aged 83.

Egypt-born Sharif won two Golden Globe awards and an Oscar nomination for his role as Sherif Ali in David Lean’s 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia.

He won a further Golden Globe three years later for Doctor Zhivago.

Earlier this year, his agent confirmed he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

His agent Steve Kenis said: “He suffered a heart attack this afternoon in a hospital in Cairo.”

Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, who appeared with Sharif in 1999 film The 13th Warrior, remembered him on Twitter as “one of the best”.

“He was a great storyteller, a loyal friend and a wise spirit.”

Born Michel Shalhoub in Alexandria in April 1932, Sharif started out in his family’s lumber business before going to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada).

He made his screen debut in the 1954 Egyptian film Siraa Fil-Wadi (The Blazing Sun) and rapidly became a star in his own country.

His big break came when David Lean cast him in Lawrence of Arabia, introducing the actor with a nowlegendary shot of him riding a camel out of a shimmering heat haze towards the camera.

Peter O’Toole, who played TE Lawrence in the 1962 multiple Oscarwinner, considered Sharif’s name ridiculous and insisted on calling him “Fred”. The pair soon became fast friends.

In later life Sharif claimed to be baffled by the film’s success, saying it had merely been shots of people on camels walking from one side of the screen to the other.

David Lean went on to cast Sharif in the title role of his next epic Doctor Zhivago, in which he played a physician caught up in the Russian Revolution.

The actor went through a daily routine of hair-straightening and skin-waxing in order to disguise his Egyptian looks and would later admit the film had left him close to a nervous breakdown.

Other notable roles came opposite Barbra Streisand in her first film Funny Girl and as Julie Andrews’ lover in spy thriller The Tamarind Seed.

He also got to play a series of real-life figures, among them Genghis Khan and the Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara.

slamic State militants have said they were behind a deadly explosion that severely damaged the Italian consulate in Egypt’s capital, Cairo.

At least one person died and several people were injured when a car bomb went off at the building.

A tweet from a Twitter account linked to IS said Muslims should stay away from sites like the consulate, as they are “legitimate targets” for

strikes.

Policemen and civilians were among the injured, the health ministry said.

The main entrance of the building was almost totally destroyed, windows were shattered and the building was flooded after waterpipes ruptured.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after the attack and

promised the two countries would stand together “in the fight against terrorism and fanaticism”.

Had it been a working day, the casualty numbers could have been much higher, says the BBC’s Sally Nabil in Cairo.

The attack raises questions about the security forces’ ability to secure foreign diplomatic missions in the country, our correspondent adds.

Egypt’s public prosecutor, Hisham

Barakat, was killed last month by a car bomb attack in the city.

In the same month, another car bomb targeting a police station left three people dead.

Egyptian security forces have been battling Islamic militants, but the fighting has been mostly confined to the Sinai Peninsula.

Militants in Egypt have killed at least 600 police and armed forces personnel in the past two years.

Official: Burundi captures 100 gunmen as crisis deepens B urundi’s army has captured scores of gunmen and killed others in two days ofclashes in the north, a regional governor has said, as security worsened in the east African country.

“About 100 gunmen are in the hands of the army forces,” Anselme Nsabimana, governor of Cibitoke province, which borders both Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, said.

“There is no more fighting in Cibitoke. It’s calm,” he told the Reuters news agency, adding that rebels some were also killed without giving a number.

President Pierre Nkurunziza’s announcement on April 25 that he planned to seek a third term in office triggered weeks of protests by opponents who say it violates the constitution. The president cites a court ruling say he can run again.

Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi, reporting from the capital Bujumbura, said the city had been quiet in recent days, though people remained tense.

“There have been a series of police operations in the townships, and people are extremely scared.

Many say they don’t want to get involved because they risk being followed by the government,” Soi said.

Details of the fighting in the country’s north are not clear, but residents said gunmen initially fought in Kayanza province on Friday, then withdrew into forests before the army clashed with

The fighting is an alarming development in a region with a history of conflict

them on Saturday in neighbouring Cibitoke.

The Kayanza governor said on Saturday that the gunmen had crossed into Burundi from Rwanda, a charge Kigali denied.

Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said Burundi found it “convenient to find responsibility elsewhere”.

The fighting is an alarming development in a region with a history of conflict, often fuelled by ethnic divisions. But an official

said it did not follow ethnic divides.

“The gunmen are composed of all ethnic groups and are from different provinces of Burundi,” the governor said, adding that many were from the capital Bujumbura, the scene of weeks of protests against Nkurunziza.

A rebel general, who was involved in a failed coup attempt in May, told Reuters this week he and his comrades were mobilising forces to topple President Pierre Nkurunziza, who has triggered a

The lost boys of Mogadishu

M

ogadishu, Somalia - As the sun sets behind the blue waters of the Indian Ocean and the traffic disappears behind Mogadishu’s big gated houses, a group of young boys, all at or under the age of 13, jump out from a rusty, abandoned bus onto a dark, dusty sidewalk.

They are in search of shelter to hide from the night’s cold.

This group of boys is part of a growing number of children who have been left on the Somali capital’s streets to fend for themselves. Hungry and feeling lost in one of the toughest cities in the world, they spend their days trying to stay out of harm’s way.

Thirteen-year-old Deerow Fuad leads a group of three boys

who are rummaging through a heap of rubbish under a dark bridge in search of thrown-away boxes.

They plan on using these as mattresses to cushion their tiny bodies from the concrete sidewalks on which they will sleep.

“At night it is cold. There are explosions. You can hear gunshots,” Fuad told Al Jazeera as he sat on a box by the side of the road.

He was wearing a worn-out T-shirt to keep him warm from the cold gusts blowing in from the sea.

“We have nowhere to hide. We would like somewhere to hide from the cold. And we would like to go to school in the morning,” Fuad said.

None of the boys currently go

to school, and although all their parents are alive, they have not seen or spoken to them in months.

Fuad has formed a tight bond with two other street children, Abdi Rizaq and Mohamed Abdullahi.

Their days are filled with the struggle to find something to eat.

Abdi Rizaq is sandwiched between Fuad and Abdullahi on the flattened boxes, under the watchful glowing eyes of stray cats.

He is wearing a torn, oversized AC Milan football club jersey, and looks far younger than most 13-year-olds.

He has not seen his parents, who are still alive and have lived in the city for more than six months.

Abdi Rizaq was left to fend for himself, because his parents could

political crisis by seeking a third term in office.

General Leonard Ngendakumana told French radio on Friday, when the first clashes were reported in north Burundi, his loyalists were involved.

The army could not immediately be reached for comment.

Burundi’s crisis has so far been a power struggle that crossed ethnic divides, but diplomats say an upsurge in violence could reopen ethnic wounds.

not afford to provide for him.

“No one knows if we are dead or alive. Every day and night we spend our time thinking how we can better our lives. Only God knows if we will make it to tomorrow.

Anything can happen to us,” Abdi Rizaq told Al Jazeera.

He said his parents lost everything following the 2011 famine in the Horn of Africa, which left almost 260,000 people dead almost half of them children - in this country with an estimated population of 10 million.

Abdi Rizaq was born in the midst of Somalia’s long and bloody civil war to a poor family in Mogadishu. He knows that life has dealt him a tough hand, but he is not bitter.

Page 37

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

International

Islamic State leader in Afghanistan ‘killed by drone’

H

afiz Saeed, the leader of the Islamic State group in the Afghanistan and Pakistan region, has been killed in a drone strike, the Afghan intelligence agency says.

It said Saeed died in Achin in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province on Friday night.

But IS has rejected the claims, telling the BBC Hafiz Saeed Khan “is alive”.

Some 30 other militants were reportedly killed in the strike, but there has been no independent verification.

Although IS denied Saeed’s death, the group did confirm that Shahidullah Shahid, a former member of the Pakistani Taliban who defected to the group, was killed in the drone attack.

He was the most prominent of a group of fighters who appeared in a video in January, apparently filmed in Pakistan, pledging allegiance to the self-styled Islamic State.

Malvi Abdurrahim Muslimdost, a leader of the group in Afghanistan, told the BBC another senior member, Gul Zaman, had also died.

It is the first time IS has confirmed the death of two of its top leaders, Inayatulhaq Yasini from the BBC’s Pashto service reports.

He says their loss is a big blow for the group in the region.

The Afghan intelligence agency, the NDS, said Friday’s strike was carried out by US-led coalition forces in coordination with intelligence provided by the spy agency.

Nato forces have had a new mandate since the start of the year

T

A still from a propaganda video showing the leader of IS in Khorasan, based around Afghanistan and Pakistan. but can still carry out drone strikes.

An NDS spokesman told the BBC that this attack, combined with a drone strike on Tuesday, would have a significant impact on security for Afghanistan.

The Afghan government has not confirmed the deaths.

This is only the third time that US-led forces have agreed to use drones against IS in Afghanistan, says the BBC’s David Loyn in Kabul, showing the seriousness which both the government here and the international coalition are taking the threat of the organisation taking root

in Afghanistan.

There had been reports in April that Saeed was killed while planting a bomb.

Nangarhar’s Achin district is close to the border with Pakistan.

The Islamic State group refers to the Afghanistan-Pakistan region as Khorasan state.

Nangarhar has seen an upsurge of fighting in recent weeks, mostly between IS and the Taliban, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.

The province is one of the areas where IS militants are most active in

Afghanistan.

Tuesday’s strike also killed another senior IS commander and scores of militants, intelligence officials say.

Another IS militant commander, Mullah Abdul Rauf, was reported killed in a drone strike in February.

The NDS recently released a video on Facebook showing how its special forces were fighting against the IS threat.

IS first made its presence felt in Pakistan in April, when its regional spokesman claimed its fighters had shot dead three Pakistani soldiers.

No further details were given.

China’s ruling Communist Party has vowed to fight political corruption and has already arrested several officials.

Last month, a court sentenced former security chief Zhou Yongkang to life imprisonment on corruption charges, making him the highestranking former official to be jailed

in decades.

A one-line statement posted on the CCDI’s website said Mr Xi was being probed for “serious disciplinary violations and breaking the law”.

It did not say if he had been sacked or give any background to the charges.

The 61-year-old specialised in economic law cases and had

been tipped to lead a newly created research group focusing on China’s civil code.

He rose from working as policeman in the northern city of Shenyang in the 1970s to become a top official in the Chinese judiciary.

The deputy head of China’s sports administration, Xiao Tian, is also being investigated.

‘My son was executed by the police’

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alestinian families are angered by the promotion of an Israeli police officer accused of killing protesters.

Fifteen years after Israeli police shot her 19-year-old son Ahmed in the eye, killing him instantly, Hadiya Jabareen has yet to lay his ghost to rest.

Instead, the mother of six has watched Bentzi Sau, the commander who oversaw the police operation in which Ahmed and 12 other demonstrators died, rise rapidly through the ranks.

His success has come despite a judicial-led inquiry into the killings in 2000 that harshly criticised Sau and recommended that he be barred from promotion for at least four years.

The inquiry found he had used - for the first time inside Israel - an antiterror sniper unit, directing live fire at demonstrators belonging to Israel’s

Indonesia volcanic ash causes new Bali airport closure

T

Chinese corruption agency probes Supreme Court vice-president

he vice-president of China’s highest court is being investigated by the country’s anti-corruption agency.

Xi Xiaoming, who joined the Supreme People’s Court in 1982, has been accused “serious discipline violations”, according to a statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

Asia & Middle East

large Palestinian minority who posed no threat to his officers.

Jabareen, aged 54, said Sau’s career triumphs has been a bitter pill to swallow. Last week she suffered a further indignity when the Israeli cabinet approved Sau’s appointment as acting police commissioner, making him the highest-ranking police officer in the country.

“Sau’s promotion is like seeing my son killed all over again,” she told Al Jazeera. “He was executed by the police and there has been no justice since, only continuing insults to the families like this one.”

Sau is now the leading contender for the permanent post, which must be filled by September.

That will be just weeks before commemorations mark 15 years since the October 2000 protests, which erupted across the Galilee region in

solidarity with the second Intifada - then raging close by in occupied Palestinian territories.

An official inquiry, led by a supreme court justice, Theodor Or, concluded in September 2003 that Sau had ignored directives from his superiors and taken a contingent into the Arab city of Umm al-Fahm to quell protests there. At the time, he had been the northern commander of the Border Police, a paramilitary force that operates in Israel and the occupied territories.

Sau, the inquiry found, had no understanding of the police’s openfire regulations, ordering his officers to shoot live ammunition and rubber bullets at demonstrators who threw stones. The Or Commission was shocked by police testimony revealing that Sau had overseen the use of snipers, personally directing their fire.

It noted anincident in which three

sharpshooters fired on one stonethrower.

“There was no justification for shooting this way,” the inquiry members stated.

Sau’s appointment has angered the hundreds of families in Israel whose loved ones were killed or seriously injured, as well as the Palestinian minority’s leadership.

All 13 members of the Israeli parliament from the Joint List, a Palestinian party, signed a letter of protest this week urging Gilad Erdan, the public security minister, and the attorney general, Yehuda Weinstein, to cancel Sau’s appointment.

“The correct place for Sau is behind bars,” they wrote. “It is impossible for Sau to enjoy the cooperation of the Arab community or its leadership... He should not be placed in charge of our community’s wellbeing.”

he airport on the Indonesian island of Bali has been forced to shut again due to ash from a volcanic eruption, authorities say.

The transport ministry said Denpasar airport would remain closed until at least 16:00 (08:00 GMT).

Mount Raung in East Java has been spewing ash into the air for nearly a week, raising concerns it could interfere with aircraft safety.

Bali is a top destination for tourists and many have been stranded.

The airport had been reopened on Saturday as the ash lifted but the wind has now brought it back.

“We will continue to monitor developments and decide if the closure will be extended later,” transport ministry spokesman JA Barata told Agence FrancePresse.

Mount Raung is about 120km (75 miles) from Denpasar airport.

East Java’s Blimbingsari and Notohadinegoro airports were also earlier affected.

Lombok’s international airport, and a smaller one on the island, were reopened earlier on Friday.

Hundreds of flights have been postponed indefinitely or cancelled by airlines.

This volcano has been erupting for about a week and it’s been streaming ash constantly.

It’s not an explosive eruption, just a constant stream and because the summit is so high it doesn’t take much ash to interfere with flights.

The most dangerous aspect for aviation is that modern jet engines pull in so much air and the ash concentrates in engines and turns into a kind of molten glass.

The ash melts, coats inside of the engine and affects fuel flow, so in the worst case scenario it can cause engines to shut off, like we say with the BA 009.

The BBC’s Alice Budisatrijo in Jakarta says the airport closures could not have come at a worse time, as the islands are popular with foreign and domestic tourists in the middle of the school holiday season.

Indonesians are also starting to travel home for the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, so the disruption of flights to the smaller airports are being felt by many families, says our correspondent.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Page 38

International

Kosovo cuts water supplies after ISIL ‘poison’ plot

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uthorities in Kosovo have cut off water supplies to tens of thousands of people in the capital Pristina after an alleged plot by supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group to poison supplies.

Officials from the city’s water board said supply was cut early on Saturday “because of security issues” and that supplies had been tested for suspicious

substances.

Al Jazeera Balkans reported that the tests carried out by the Kosovo Institute for National Health had detected no sign of toxic content.

The move follows the arrest of five people linked to ISIL, who were accused of planning to poison a reservoir, according to the Reuters news agency.

Police say officers patrolling the Badovac reservoir saw three of the men,

whose identities have not been revealed, behaving suspiciously. The reservoir supplies almost half of Pristina, a city of more than 200,000 people. Another two suspects were arrested elsewhere in Kosovo.

Kosovo has been on a heightened state of alert in recent weeks after Kosovan members of ISIL appeared in propoganda videos alongside other members from the Balkans warning of

attacks against targets including water supplies.

Kosovo arrested more than 40 people in August last year to prevent them from joining factions fighting in the civil war in Syria.

Between 100 to 200 Kosovans are believed to be fighting with ISIL in Syria and Iraq, including prominent member Lavdrim Muhaxheri, who has appeared in a number of ISIL videos.

Mexican drug lord escaped through ‘elaborate tunnel’ M exican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has escaped from a maximum-security prison through a 1.5 kilometer tunnel, the government said, in his second jail break in 14 years.

The country’s top security official said on Sunday that the tunnel opened into the shower area of his cell in Altiplano prison in central Mexico.

With the elaborate escape, the head of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel has done what Mexican authorities promised would not happen after his re-capture last year - slip out of a maximum security prison again.

Eighteen employees from various parts of the Altiplano prison have been taken in for questioning, the security commissioner, Monte Alejandro Rubido, said in a news conference.

The National Security Commission said Guzman was last seen in the shower area of his cell late on Saturday before he disappeared.

The commission also said a search operation was being launched in the surrounding area and that flights had been suspended at Toluca airport near the penitentiary outside Mexico City.

In more than a decade on the run, he transformed himself from a

more than a decade on the run, Guzman transformed himself into arguably the most powerful drug trafficker in the world middling Mexican capo into arguably the most powerful drug trafficker in the world.

His cartel has been heavily involved in the violent drug war that has torn through parts of Mexico for the last several years.

At one point, his fortune grew to

US rights group NAACP ends South Carolina boycott

A

leading US civil rights group has voted to end its 15-year economic boycott of South Carolina a day after the Confederate flag was removed from the grounds of the state house.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had boycotted tourism and other services in protest at the flying of the flag.

It was removed after a debate sparked by the shooting of nine black people.

The suspected gunman had been pictured holding the Confederate banner.

The flag was the battle emblem of the southern states during the American Civil War but is now seen by many as a symbol of slavery and racism.

Members of the NAACP agreed the move at their annual convention in Philadelphia.

“Emergency resolution passed by the NAACP National Board of Directors at #NAACP106, ending the 15 year South Carolina boycott,” the group said on its Twitter feed.

The Confederate flag was originally placed on top of the South Carolina state house in Columbia in 1961 as part of Civil War centennial commemorations.

However, critics said it was more of a sign of opposition to the black civil rights movement at the time.

The NAACP announced its boycott in 2000 and maintained it even though the flag was later taken down from the capitol’s dome and placed by a civil war monument in the grounds.

The future of the flag was thrust back into the limelight after nine black people were shot dead in a church in Charleston, South Carolina on 17 June this year.

After a long and fractious debate, a bill calling for the flag to be taken down was signed on Thursday by Republican Governor Nikki Haley.

Relatives of some of the victims attended Friday’s ceremony to remove the flag from outside the state house.

The flag’s supporters argue that it is an important part of southern heritage.

more than $1bn, according to Forbes magazine, which listed him among the “World’s Most Powerful People” and ranked him above the presidents of France and Venezuela.

In 2013, the financial magazine took Guzman off the list, saying it was likely security expenses had cut into his trove.

His Sinaloa Cartel took over much of the lucrative trafficking routes along the US border, including cities such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez.

Guzman’s play for power against local cartels caused a bloodbath in Tijuana and made Juarez one of the deadliest cities in the world.

EU cancels summit in attempt to stop ‘Grexit’

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he EU has cancelled a full 28-nation summit to decide Greece’s fate in the single European currency as eurozone finance ministers attempt to reach a deal with Athens in “difficult” reformfor-bailout talks.

European Council President Donald Tusk said on Sunday that a summit of 19 eurozone leaders will still be held and continue until talks with Greece are concluded.

The move came after divided eurozone finance ministers held talks on Greece late into the night on Friday, telling their Greek counterpart that Athens must go beyond an initial set of proposals for reforms if it wants them to open negotiations on a bailout.

Several sources said there was consensus among the other 18 ministers around the table during the “exceptionally difficult” talks that the leftist government in Athens must take further steps to convince them it would honour any new debts.

Greek officials, European finance ministers and leaders held talks

in Brussels to decide whether to negotiate a third bailout for Greece to steer it away from imminent bankruptcy.

Al Jazeera’s Neave Barker, reporting from Brussels, said Saturday’s talks wrapped up “with a real sense of distrust coming from a lot of the Eurogroup”.

Earlier on Saturday, the Greek parliament backed a proposed bailout package with painful austerity measures from Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ government, with 251 of 300 MPs voting in favour of the package.

Such harsh austerity measures were something his leftist party was elected to counter.

Officials have voiced concern over whether or not Greece can be trusted to stick to the proposed reforms, which include spending cuts in areas such as pensions and tax hikes, to secure a three-year bailout of $59bn.

“We are still far away. It looks quite complicated,” said Eurogroup chairman and Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

Europe and Americas Haitians face bleak future in Dominican border camps

S

ome don’t even speak Haiti’s unique language. It is a sign of how much time people have lived in the Dominican Republic. Some say they moved with their parents to the Dominican Republic as children.

Others say they were born there. Most people we talked to have spent years working and raising families across the border. And dozens we met said they were deported by Dominican authorities.

At a growing camp in Anse-àPitres, in dry southeastern Haiti, a local pastor told us he started counting arrivals a couple of months ago. After he had written 160 names in his notebook he gave up.

“Every day the number was growing more and more. So finally I stopped counting,” said pastor Toussaint Eugene.

“When the migrants got here they were in very bad shape. You could see clearly that they were forced to come here. They arrived after getting arrested.”

Joanis Beaunis arrived at the camp two months ago.

He says he was born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian parents. He came to Haiti once as a child. His wife Antonia had never been to Haiti before. They both said they were rounded up with others and driven to the border. Separated from their young children, friends agreed to look after them for now. There’s little sign they’ll be seeing them soon.

The couple can’t cross back to the Dominican Republic and their kids don’t have the required documents to come to Haiti.

We met many people suddenly separated from family. Some are already talking about going back to the Dominican Republic to reunite with loved ones and look for work.

Fanet Joseph doesn’t know when but as soon as he gets enough money together he will try to cross back to the Dominican Republic. Last time he went with a group of men at night. Noone stopped them. In the Dominican Republic he had steady work on a farm and was paid on time every week. In Haiti his prospects are bleak.

“There’s nothing here, no work, no opportunity. Politicians just stuff their pockets full of our money.”

These people have arrived - against their will they say - to a country that is unable and apparently unwilling to ease their suffering.

The Dominican government told Al Jazeera that no matter what people say at these camps, they have not deported a single person since last month’s deadline passed to file the paperwork to stay. They insist that 37,000 people have “returned voluntarily” to Haiti since that deadline on June 17.

There is no way of independently verifying that number or whether every one of them came of their own free will.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Page 39

Strange World

Is the Bristol crocodile back? Witness said ‘croc winked at me’ after sighting in river

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terrified resident told police a scaly monster loomed up out of the water and gazed hungrily at him as he walked alongside a river in nearby North Somerset.

Police in the Bristol area are looking into reports a ‘monster crocodile’ has been spotted again on the outskirts of the city.

A terrified resident told officers the scaly reptile loomed up out of the water and gazed hungrily at him as he walked alongside a river in neighbouring North Somerset.

The latest sighting comes after several people reported spotting a crocodile in the River Avon in Bristol last year.

Avon and Somerset Police are studying a photo of the croc in the new sighting, in a small river running alongside Lower Strode Road between Clevedon and Kingston Seymour.

A spokesman for the force said they would assess the picture and decide how to take action.

Writing about it on a social media site the resident said the croc ‘blinked at me’.

On closer inspection, the shape looked very much like a crocodile so he snapped a pic and emailed Avon and Somerset Police.

Reports of a crocodile gripped the nation last year when several people spotted what they believed was a beast lurking in the River Avon.

A dedicated Twitter feed was even set up @TheBristolCroc to document ‘sightings’ of the creature.

Bus driver Jolyon Rea alerted the police when he saw what he was convinced was a crocodile in the River Avon under Bedminster Bridge in February last year.

Chief Constable Nick Gargan tweeted about the beast but said his officers had searched the river without tracking it down.

In another sighting a 41-yearold mother-of-three said she was confronted by the croc waddling in

the road.

A local councillor, Tom Aditya, even provided video of a six-footlong creature moving slowly along the river and birds taking off ‘in fear’ as it approached.

A croc six feet long would have gaping jaws opening to nearly three feet - big enough to swallow a child or a swimming dog.

In June 2014, 29-year-old Tamara Blanco, of Southville, Bristol, said she had been jogging close to the Clifton suspension bridge when she saw something lurking in the water.

“I felt scared at the time because the thing - whatever it was - was moving in the water” she said.

“I wanted to stay to see it properly but there was no one around and I just didn’t feel comfortable.”

Ms Blanco, who works in clothes shop Zara, added “I could feel my hair start to stand on end and I thought ‘Oh my God, is it a crocodile?’ and I just left the place.”

Tom Simpson, of Insight Print Media, produced three ‘crocodile warning’ signs which the company erected at sites along the Avon where sightings had been reported.

Dr Ian Stephen, a reptile and amphibian expert, said crocodiles and alligators could survive in British waters, pointing out that alligators can live through cold US winters.

He said a crocodile would have to have either escaped or been released from captivity and set up home in a river.

Benjamin Tapley, team leader of herpetology at ZSL London Zoo, said alligators were more likely to survive British waters than crocodiles.

Mr Tapley said that although the crocodiles could survive, ‘they can’t flourish’ and go on to become a successful breeding species in the cold waters of the UK. So it’s likely the Bristol croc - or alligator - is a ‘loner’ hunting food to survive, which could make it more of

a threat to people.

Families with young children splashing in the river on picnics would be possible targets.

In similar sightings in other parts of the world, crocodiles and alligators have been kept as pets

She added “It’s not unknown for exotic animals to escape from either private properties or zoos.

“Over the years we’ve rescued different types of exotic animals and snakes. It’s not impossible as people can own them with the right licence.”

Reptile Reports: Just like last year, reports of a crocodile have emerged in the summer months.

Puppy born with just TWO legs faces daily struggle to survive

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Snap: A passerby took this picture of ‘the Bristol Crocodile’ police are investigating.

when they were small, only to be released into the wild when they grew unexpectedly.

A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said if they were notified that someone had caught a crocodile they would try and help contain it.

ets believe Bonsai the English bulldog could be the only dog in the world who suffers from this rare condition that usually affects humans This pint-sized English bulldog was born with half a body - but he’s getting twice the love and attention from swooning animal lovers.

Adorable six-week-old pup Bonsai suffers from caudal regression syndrome, which means he has half a spine and just two legs.

The rare condition, which usually affects humans, is putting severe pressure on his internal organs, so for him, every day is a struggle.

He was born without a pelvis and just two tiny stumps where his back legs would have been,

that have since been amputated.

Vets believe he may be the only dog in the world with this condition.

Unfortunately, as so little is known about it, there’s no known cure or surgical procedure that can fix his spine.

So animal lovers at sanctuary Friends of Emma are looking to raise funds so vets can examine him to see what can be done.

Elizabeth Hart said: “Bonsai is a special character and we just hope to spread the word about him and bring awareness that those born different (animals and human alike) can still make a difference in the lives and hearts of many.

“Our worldwide research to date has not led us to a single documented case of Bonsai’s specific condition.

“As far as we know, there is no precedence to offer any kind of “prognosis” or outcome for Bonsai, so we’ll just take it day by day and address any issues that come up as best we can.

“As we move forward, Bonsai will require multiple in-depth diagnostics to better aid us with his internal anatomy in preparation of managing his unique conditions.

“He is a precious boy and deserving of every opportunity of health, wellness and a bright future that we are able to offer him.

“Please do what you are able to assist us in our efforts for this special boy and share far and wide for the greatest reach and available support.”

You can donate to help Bonsai on his YouCaring website here.

Page 40

Digest

By Madlen Davies

S

tepping on the scales every day could be the key to weight loss, a study has found.

Previous research reveals dieters tend to regain 40 per cent of the weight they have lost within a year and will have regained every single pound – and possibly more after five years.

Now, scientists have discovered that people who step on the scales each day find it easier to lose weight.

And they were also more likely to maintain their weight a year after they lost it.

Lead author Professor David Levitsky, from the University of Cornell, said: ‘You just need a bathroom scale and an excel spreadsheet or even a piece of graph paper.

‘The method forces you to be aware of the connection between your eating and your weight. It used to be taught that you shouldn’t

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Desperate to shed the pounds?

Weigh yourself every day weigh yourself daily, and this is just the reverse.’

People who lost weight the first year of the programme were able keep the pounds off throughout the second year.

However, researchers were surprised to find men were more successful than women.

Experts believe that by weighing themselves each morning, weightwatchers are reminded of the significant impact food intake can have on the numbers they see on the scales.

The researchers, from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, also believe stepping on the scales acts as a reinforcement for other behaviours, such as eating less and

People who step on the scales each day find it easier to lose weight and keep it off a year later, a study found.

Experts believe that by weighing themselves each morning, dieters are reminded of the significant impact what they eat can have on their weight

going for a walk.

The study, which involved 162 participants, saw the subjects lose one per cent of their weight using any method of their choice.

The dieters were then asked to maintain that weight loss for 10 days, before losing another one per cent and the process was repeated.

Participants tracked their weight by standing on the scales and tracking their weight on a

chart.

Eventually, each participant lost a total of 10 per cent of their body weight.

The two-year study found that frequent self-weighing and tracking results on a chart were effective for both losing weight and keeping it off, especially for men.

While Professor Levitsky was excited about the results, he admitted that he didn’t know why

self-weighing appeared to benefit men more than women.

Professor Levitsky said: ‘We think the scale also acts as a priming mechanism, making you conscious of food and enabling you to make choices that are consistent with your weight.

‘It seems to work better for men than women, for reasons we cannot figure out yet.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

How junk food destroys your memory

By Madlen Davies

T

he dangers of eating a diet rich in fatty, processed foods are well documented.

But a new study warns reaching for that biscuit, cake, or ready meal could be bad for your mind.

A team of researchers in the US have discovered trans-fats found in processed foods is linked to memory loss in men.

Trans-fatty acids, or transfats, are used to improve taste, texture and shelf-life, are known to be associated with an increased risk of heart disease and there is pressure on food manufacturers around the world to remove them.

The new research found that consuming larger amounts of trans-fats led to poorer memory in men aged 45 and younger.

It showed that men whose diets contained the highest levels of the fats were likely to recall 12 fewer words in a memory test than those who avoided them.

US lead researcher Dr Beatrice Golomb, from the University of California at San Diego, said: ‘Trans-fats were most strongly linked to worse memory in men during their high productivity years.

‘Trans-fat consumption has previously shown adverse associations to behaviour and mood - other pillars of brain function.

‘However, to our knowledge a relation to memory or cognition had not been shown.’

She added: ‘As I tell patients, while trans-fats increase the shelf life of foods, they reduce the shelf life of people.’

The team analysed data from 1,018 men and women who were asked to complete a dietary survey

A type of fat found in processed foods has been linked to memory loss in working-age men, a study found.

A new study has warned that eating a diet rich in trans-fats could have a negative impact on memory.

and take part in word recall memory tests.

On average, men aged 45 and younger were able to recall 86 words in the tests.

But for each additional gram of trans-fat they consumed each day, their performance reduced by a statistical 0.76 words.

This translated to young men being able to recall around 12 fewer words if their trans-fat

consumption matched the highest levels seen in the study, said the scientists.

Although the trend was only significant for men, this may only have been due to the small number of women participants in the same age group, they pointed out.

When they consumed less trans-fatty acids, researchers found people were better able to regulate their mood.

The association was not seen in older populations, possibly because it was masked by the effects of age on memory.

An announcement from US regulators yesterday means that most trans-fats will be removed from American foods within three years.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) - the main source of trans-fats - are not ‘generally recognised as safe’.

The move is likely to prevent thousands of fatal heart attacks each year, according to experts.

In Denmark, almost all transfats have been banned since 2003 but in the UK their removal depends on food manufacturers signing up to a voluntary scheme.

The findings are published in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE. Previous research by the same team found people who eat higher levels of the fats tend to be more aggressive.

And a recent US study found trans-fats can alter how we regulate our feelings.

Those who ate more of these fats had less awareness and control over their emotions.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

SporT 41 Page

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

sports@peoplesdailyng.com, SMS- 08142929046

NFF in dilemma over shortage of NIKE jerseys

Eagles with the Nike jersey

By Albert Akota

T

his seem not to be very good days for the management of the Nigeria Football Federation with regard to the issue of the supply of the NIKE jerseys to the National teams by the supposedly new kit sponsors as the supplies seem to be coming in trickles.

And because of the shortage of supply, NFF now seem to be rationing the distribution of the jerseys to the National teams and most times making up the shortfall by going to the market to buy some.

Investigation reveals that the National teams are only provided

>>>Pg 44

with playing jerseys as the officials are still seen wearing Adidas tracks during training.

And any attempt to take their photograph while in training will be highly resisted because they do not want to be seen wearing the Adidas jerseys and they do not want to in cure the wrath of Amaju Pinnick.

It is a predicament that does not come down well with management and staff of the Football House who were used to having abundance of kits from their former sponsors, Adidas.

But they have only resorted to grumbling as they are obviously afraid to complain for fear of losing their jobs.

The whole NIKE contract has

so much been shrouded in secrecy as non of the marketing staff was involved in the negotiation of the contract. Everything they know about the contract was what was told them by the NFF president, Amaju Pinnick who single highhandedly brokered the deal.

According to Pinnick, NFF will not receive a dime from the contract but will only benefit by receiving supplies of kits for a number of years. This is very quite unlike the kits companies that NFF had had before now where apart from the supplies of kits they were paid generously for it.

Pinnick had argued that he negotiated the contract from a point of weakness. One of the reasons he gave for signing the deal was that

>>>Pg 43

the Super Eagles did not qualify for the 2015 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations even though they still got to the second round of the last FIFA World cup in Brazil. Another was that the federation was mired in deep crisis.

“We have been doing a lot of repairs, I tell you a lot of repairs,” the source said. “And one thing that comes to mind is that whenever we want to interface with people, before you say one thing about Nigeria, they tell you 20 things about us and most of them negative, that our team is not saleable like before and so forth,” he explained.

The three-and-half-year contract signed in London (the new home of NFF) recently was expected to mark a memorable

Williams clinch 6th Six great players who may break Wimbledon title, transfer market 21st Grand Slam

return to business for one of Africa’s football powerhouses.

The new deal amounts to $2.75 million, with no cash attached to it as it goes into kit supply to the various national teams only. The first year would see Nike supply kits worth $750,000, increasing to $1 million in the second year But, three months into the so called contract NFF is still waiting to receive the major supply and is only left to buying NIKE kits from the market to service the contract as they must not been seen with any form of another kit sponsor in the National teams or offices.

And even the few that were supplied were obviously of a very low quality standard not befitting of the Nigeria National teams.

>>>Pg 42

LMC charges 3-referee for poor performance in NPFL

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

PAGE 42

PUBLIC NOTICE

THE ELECTION OF GOD’S PEOPLE’S CENTRE

This is to inform the General Public that the above named Church has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for Registration under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990.

The Trustees are; 1.Rev Dr. Ebhodaghe Alfred Ihimhinje (PhD) Chairman 2.Ihinmhinje Blessedmoses Eromosele - Secretary 3.Oga James Awuleme -Member 4.Johnbull Idahosa Samson -Member 5. Vivian Osazuwa Obhiozele -Member 6.Itse Elijah Winkie -Legal Adviser Aims and Objectives 1.

To preach the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

2.

To build and develop spiritual values in the Christendom.

3.

To establish churches and worship centres in different parts of Nigeria and outside Nigeria.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguyi Ironsi Street, Abuja within 28 Days of this Publication.

Signed:Chairman Rev.Dr. Ebhodaghe A.I

PUBLIC NOTICE

ORGANISATION FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF HEALTH AND LONGEVITY

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ORGANISATION HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. GLORY NNENNAYA STEPHEN 2. CHINENYE ADA OGBONNA 3. KATE OCHEZE OGBONNA 4. ELDER DR. CHUKWURA OKEKE THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE:

1.To promote healthy lifestyle advocacy.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUYI IRONSI STREET PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION. SIGNED: Barr. KESTER OSIFO ELEBESUNU 07060952546

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UNITED MOTORCYCLE RIDERS ASSOCIATION OF GWAGWALADA ABUJA

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.BABA MWADA BALAMI 2.YAKUBU ABUBAKAR SADIQ 3.MUSTAPHA MUSA UMAR

PUBLIC NOTICE

CENTRE FOR INCLUSIVE AGRICULTURE & GENDER DEVELOPMENT

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED CENTRE HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. rev Elemike ALPhaeus Ihenacho - general overseer 2.pastor mrs elemike florence nkiruka -treasurer 3.pastor mrs juliet nkolika emmanuel wali -secretary

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1,Improve farmers’ livelihood with use of flexible approaches to stimulate rural indusive economy with value chain actors’ involvement. 2, Support and develop innovative. technologies in agricultural production and agribusiness development initiative.

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE: 1.to preach the gospel.

2.to carryout bibilical counselling.

3.to help the poor and the needy.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUYI IRONSI STREET PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION. SIGNED:SECRETARY

PUBLIC NOTICE

TRANS ENGINEERING ESTATE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION DAWAKI

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. GAYA BASHIR IBRAHIM (CHAIRMAN) 2.LAWANSON OJOMA CECILLIA (SECRETARY) THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1. TO SERVE AS AN UMBRELLA ORGANIZATION BETWEEN THE RESIDENTS OF THE AREA TENANTS AND GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS AND OFFICIALS. 2.TO SERVE AS AN INTERMEDIARY AMONG THE ESTATE, RESIDENTS AND THE INDIGENES OF THE AREA. 3. TO PROJECT AND PROTECT THE WELFARE OF MEMBERS. 4. TO BE ABLE TO BE INDEPENDENT OF THEMSELVES. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUYI IRONSI STREET PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY

PUBLIC NOTICE

IMMANUEL FOUNTAIN OF LOVE MISSION

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.MR. ONO JOSEPH UTAKE 2.PST. EMOYEFE STEPHEN 3.MRS. IGUN KWACHE FLORENCE 4.PROF. UVIETOBORE A. IGUN 5.RICHARD K. OBARORAKPOR THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1.TO PROMOTE THE SALVIFIC LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST. 2.TO EMPOWER AND DEVELOP NEW CONVERTS TO SPIRITUAL MATURITY.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUYI IRONSI STREET PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUYI IRONSI STREET PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION.

SIGNED :OBAJE ICHABA ESQ SOLICITOR

SIGNED : ERNEST O. IBUDE ESQ 08053220512

PUBLIC NOTICE

LOSS OF DOCUMENTS

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.Pastor OAMEN ISAAC. Chairman.

2.CHRISTIANA ISAAC OAMEN. 3.OKAIMAN ERNEST THEOPHILUS. SECRETARY. 4.UKEKE PETER. THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE: 1.to preach the gospel of jesus 2.to carryout bibilical counselling.

3.to help the poor and the needy.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUYI IRONSI STREET PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION. SIGNED: BARR SOLOMON WISDOM AKHIGBE. 08037257296

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: (1)MR OGUNSANMI OLUWAKOREDE THOMPSON(president) 2)MRS TITI-ELAT OJO(secretary) 3)DR OLANIYI OJO JOHNSON (4 ) MRS THOMPSON OLUWAYEMISI JOY (RN,RM)

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1.TO PROMOTE THE WELFARE AND INTEREST OF MEMBERS. 2.TO PROPERTY ORGANISE MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOR THE OVERALL BENEFIT OF THE GWAGWALADA COMMUNITY. 3.TO PROMOTE UNITY AMONG MEMBERS.

EVANGELICAL PECULIAR INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PRAYER MINISTRY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Mercy-Line ministry

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION OF THE REGISTERED TRUSTEES OF HARMONY HOMES STAKEHOLDERS ASSOCIATION WITH RC/NO:66.204 GOT MISSING. ALL EFFORTS MADE TO TRACE IT HAS PROVED ABORTIVE. THE ASSOCIATION THEREFORE WISH TO APPLY TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR CERTIFIED TRUE COPY OF THE CERTIFICATE.ANY OBJECTION TO THIS APPLICATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUYI IRONSI STREET PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS PUBLICATION.SIGNED :BARR. EMMANUEL AGHEDO

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUYI IRONSI STREET PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION. SIGNED: Pastor elemike florence nkiruka,treasurer

LOSS OF DOCUMENT LOSS OF DOCUMENT THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY INFORMED OF THE LOSS OF ORIGINAL CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY ISSUED BY FEDERAL CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (FCDA) DATED 9TH MAY, 2007 IN RESPECT OF PLOT NO. 13 MEASURING ABOUT 1,500QM2 LOCATED WITHIN DUTSE DISTRICT ABUJA BEARING HELEN NICK LIGAMA AND TRANSFERRED TO PROF. ROBERT AJAYI BOROFFICE AND PLOT NO.14 MEASURING ABOUT 1,663, 58SMQ2 LOCATED WITHIN DUTSE DISTRICT ABUJA BEARING ABDULMALIK A. YUSUFU AND TRANSFERRED TO PROF. ROBERT AJAYI BOROFFICE. ALL EFFORTS TO TRACE THE SAID DOCUMENT PROVED ABORTIVE, IF FOUND KINDLY RETURN TO THE NEAREST POLICE STATION OR ABUJA GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM (AGIS) SIGNED: S.I IMOKHE PUBLIC NOTICE

GALLANTRY SOULS CHARITY FOUNDATION

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.MRS. OROBOLA JEMILUSI 2.DR.TOSIN JEMILUSI 3.MISS OLUWASEUN JEMILUSI 4.MISS TOLUWA JEMILUSI 5.MR. TEMILOLUWA JEMILUSI THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1.TO ASSIST AND FACILITATE HELP FOR THE FAMILIES OF POLICE OFFICERS WHO DIE IN ACTIVE SERVICE. 2.TO ENSURE THAT THEIR ENTITLEMENTS ARE PAID IN TIMELY MANNER. 3.TO SAFEGUARD THEIR WIVES AND CHILDREN FROM BEING DENIED THEIR ENTITLEMENTS BY THE POLICE OR OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS. 4.PROVIDE EDUCATION/SHELTER FOR THE FAMILY OF DECEASED POLICE OFFICER(S) AND PROVIDE THEM WITH MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD. 5.PROVIDE LEGAL REPRESENTATION FOR THE DECEASED POLICE OFFICERS FAMILY WHENEVER THE NEED ARISES. 6.PROMOTE ACTIVITIES THAT WILL YIELD MEASURABLE POSITIVE IMPACTS ON VULNERABLE PERSONS PARTICULARLY WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF DECEASED POLICE OFFICERS. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS

CRESCENT, OFF AGUYI IRONSI STREET PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION. SIGNED : IDACHABA MARTINS AJOGWU (SOLICITOR)

LOSS OF DOCUMENTS

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC OF LOSS OF THE ORIGINAL COPY OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT IN RESPECT OF PLOT 898 MEASURING ABOUT 1,600Msqr WITHIN GUZAPE DISTRICT, BEARING SENATOR JOHN JAMES AKPANUDOEDEHE. THE DOCUMENT GOT MISSING WHILE ON TRANSIT WITHIN AREA 11 GARKI ABUJA. ALL EFFORTS MADE TO TRACE THE SAID DOCUMENTS PROVED ABORTIVE. IF FOUND PLEASE RETURN TO THE NEAREST POLICE STATION. GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE NOTE.SIGNED:ASP TALUT G. DAWAKI ,O/C MOUNTED TROOP THE NIGERIAN POLICE FCT POLICE COMMAND GARKI ABUJA.

CHANGE OF NAME

I FORMERLY KNOWN AS MISS OSARETIN ANNA. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS OYEGUE OSARETIN ANNA. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. NNPC KADUNA, ALL OTHER AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

PAGE 43

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

CHANGE OF NAME

I FORMERLY KNOWN AS AHMED MUHAMMED ADAMU AND AHMED MOHAMMED A. RESPECTIVELY, NOW WISH TO BE ADDRESSED AS MUHAMMED AHMAD ADAMU. CONCERNED AUTHORITIES AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known as Miss Theresa Ngozi Nzekwu now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Theresa Ngozi Ukoha.

All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known as AISHA SAGI MOHAMMAD. now wish to be known and address as MRS AISHA SAGI MOHAMMAD. All former documents remain valid and NSUK/NYSC and general public to take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known as Mrs. Stella Oluwatoyin Mutairu now wish to be known as Mrs. Stella Oluwatoyin Ayinde. All former documents remain valid. Members of the public and management of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta should please take note.

PUBLIC NOTICE

ROWLAND-AGBARA HEALTH FOUNDATION

This is to inform the general public that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990 THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Dr. Rowland Agbara 2. Mrs. AnulikaAgbara 3. Dr. Ponshak Elisha Dauda THE AIM AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To meet the health needs of the community.

2. To promote health living within community in Nigeria through education.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED: EBUNOLUWA BABATUNDE AJEJOKUN AND CO.

PUBLIC NOTICE

YOUNG SAFETY PROFESSIONALS NETWORK

This is to inform the general public that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Anyankpele Paul Ebitimi 2. Anyankpele Prere Anna THE AIM AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To foster unity among members.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off AguiyiIronsi Street, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED: SECRETARY

PUBLIC NOTICE

Good Governance Support Network

This is to notify the general public that the above named organization has applied to corporate affairs commission for registration under part[s] of the companies and allied matters, act 1990.

TRUSTEES 1.Alhaji Haliru Dantoro 2.Alhaji Garba Gadi 3.Joseph Mangtup Din 4.Adamu Ibrahim Potiskum 5.Hafsat Mohammed Baba 6.David Oladayo Adegbite.

Aims and Objective, 1.Public enlightenment and sensitization on the importance of supporting good governance at all levels.

2.To promote peaceful co-existence among the Nigerian population.

3.To mentor and inculcate the culture of good attitude of honesty, accountability and transparency.

4.To assist the less privilege ones in the society on the issue of health and education.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the registrar general corporation affairs commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent Maitama Abuja, within 28 days of this publication.

Signed; M. M. Yar’adua.

CHANGE OF NAME I FORMERLY KNOWN AS MONDAY ELUM. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS WISDOM ELUM MONDAY. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE. PUBLIC NOTICE

OLUREMMY MOMORIAL FOUNDATION

This is to inform the general public that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990 THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Olusanmi Adeleke 2. Remi Ajike 3. Yomi Olopade 4. Durotolu Adeleke 5. Sam Ade-Jacobs 6. Seyi Ogunjuyigbe 7. Olufolahan Adeleke THE AIM AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To aid and assist victims and families of maternal mortality.

2. To help the less privileged.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off AguiyiIronsi Street, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED: ADEBOLA OYENEYIN ESQ; 08035995373

PUBLIC NOTICE

ARRAYAN CHARITABLE DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION

This is to inform the general public that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Muhammad Sulaiman Adam 2. Abubakar Muhammad Abubakar 3. Engr. Mohammed Sani Saleh 4. Mu’azzam Ibrahim Salis 5. Engr. Yaaqub Isa Saleh 6. Muhammad Umar Abubakar THE AIM AND OBJECTIVES:

PUBLIC NOTICE

His presence foundation

This is to notify the general public that the above named foundation has applied to corporate affairs commission for registration under part[s] of the companies and allied matters, act 1990.

TRUSTEES 1.Akindeji Tolu Adesomojo 2. Catherine Opeyemi Adesomojo.

Aims and Objective, 1.to assist and aid the less privilege.

2. to support missionary works.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the registrar general corporation affairs commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent Maitama Abuja, within 28 days of this publication.

Signed:secretary

PUBLIC NOTICE

UNIQUE & ABLE BROTHERS INTERNATIONAL CLUB OF NIGERIA

This is to inform the general public that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990 THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Chinedu Nwoba - Chairman 2. Okpala Onyeka - Secretary 3. Amechi Obi 4. Chukwukere Igwilo 5. Emeka Okeke

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To cater for the welfare of members.

2. To foster unity, love and peace among members.

3. To promote the welfare of its members through the spirit of love and selfless services with one another.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED: NWANKWO CHIDI C. GENESIS CHAMBERS DEI-DEI-ABUJA-FCT 08035914838

PUBLIC NOTICE

OUR NATURE ESSENCE FOUNDATION

This is to inform the general public that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990 THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Ibokete Edidiong 2. Prof. Evwierhoma Mabel 3. Ebisindor Awala 4. Dr. Mobel Ozumba 5. Obakeye Akin 6. Olugbenga Bakre THE AIM AND OBJECTIVES: 1. Provision of free education, free health care services, free shelter, free skilled acquisition workshop and free food through agriculture.

2. To provide a better living for the girl child through healthy living.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED: SECRETARY

1. To provide intellectural resources and facilities for Muslim groups and individuals involved in Da’awah (Islamic Propagation) Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

THIS SPACE IS FOR SALE

SIGNED: SECRETARY

THIS SPACE IS FOR SALE

THIS SPACE IS FOR SALE

THIS SPACE IS FOR SALE

PAGE 44

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Sport

Six great players who may break transfer market

T

he transfer window is open and the Premier League’s top clubs are reporting back for

pre-season training - but plenty of expensive new additions will be joining them before the action kicks off in August.

Who are the top transfer targets likely to be and who will be spending big money on them?

Paul Pogba (Juventus)

T

he powerful youngster Sir Alex Ferguson let slip away from Manchester United has become the European market’s hottest property this summer as he has been linked with every top club.

Manchester City lead the race in the Premier

League, while in recent weeks Barcelona have distanced themselves after making a reported bid in the region of £70m, and the trail to Real Madrid has cooled.

Even City is reported to be reluctant to meet the demands of a deal which could soar past £100m

Raheem Sterling (Liverpool)

T

he young Belgium midfielder has a fine range of passing and creative skills but his career at Chelsea was hampered by injury and a lack of opportunity. Now, though, he is one of the most prized players in Europe after excelling at Wolfsburg.

Manchester City once more lead the chase as they attempt to reshape their squad but competition has emerged in the shape of fellow financial superpower Paris St-Germain.

Whoever signs De Bruyne will get a player who has come a long way since those formative days at Stamford Bridge.

when Pogba’s wages are factored in.

Whether this remains the case - Chelsea and Manchester United have also been watching developments - in such a fluid market remains to be seen but there is little doubt he is one of the summer’s most coveted prizes.

R

amos seemed as attached to the Bernabeu as he usually is to the back of an opponent’s shirt - but that link looks to have weakened amid a contract deadlock.

He has two years left on his deal and Manchester United are pursuing a serious interest, their negotiating position helped by Real’s desire to sign their Spain keeper David de Gea. United have had a bid of £28.6m rejected, with Real expecting more than double that amount. Is Ramos using United as a bargaining chip in those contract talks? It has been done before but if they pull it off a genuine defensive superstar will arrive in the Premier League - and life will become a whole lot more uncomfortable for strikers.

Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)

D

T

here is always a saga every summer and this is it - and seemingly with only one conclusion.

England forward Sterling has been involved in a long contract stand-off with Liverpool and has made it clear he will not be signing and wishes to leave.

Liverpool’s early position of insisting they would not sell appears to have shifted and they will now sanction a sale at the right price.

Manchester City have had two offers rejected but a third is expected soon and that may well be the bid to break the deadlock and take Sterling to Etihad Stadium.

Kevin de Bruyne (Wolfsburg)

David De Gea (Manchester United)

e Gea’s development at Manchester United makes him one of the top goalkeepers in the world alongside Germany’s Manuel Neuer and a natural target for Real Madrid, who saw him come to prominence with rivals Atletico.

After a shaky Premier League start, where his slight frame struggled with the physical demands, De Gea adapted magnificently to produce a series of brilliant performances at United last season that may just have earned them enough points for Champions League qualification - and a return to his homeland.

B

enteke’s emergence as a powerful force in Villa’s surge to Premier League safety re-established his reputation as a huge attacking threat after a serious Achilles injury.

It also alerted Liverpool, who he scored against in Villa’s FA Cup semi-final victory, as manager Brendan Rodgers looks to reshape his side.

Spurs and Chelsea have also had a look at a striker who can be unstoppable but also inconsistent - and will such an obvious target man require Liverpool to change their passing style and get crosses into the box?

The current problem is the £32.5m release clause in Benteke’s contract at Villa.

Villa will not lower it and Liverpool will not pay it. Time will tell if either club blinks.

Christian Benteke (Aston Villa)

Sport

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

PAGE 45

P-i-c-t-o-r-i-a-l

UAE side Al Ain complete the loan signing of Nigeria striker Emmanuel Emenike from Turkish giants Fenerbahce.

Inter defender Nemanja Vidic will not be leaving the Serie A club in favour of a lucrative switch to Qatar, according to his agent Silvano Martina.

South Africa captain Jean de Villiers made his first appearance for eight months in an exhibition game ahead of this autumnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s World Cup in England.

Olympic super-heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will fight Dillian Whyte for the British heavyweight title in November or December.

Aston Villa captain Fabian Delph says he is staying at the club, following reports the midfielder was set to join Manchester City.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

PAGE 46

Sport

Bolt to compete at London Anniversary Games in July

U

sain Bolt is to compete at the London Anniversary

Games.

Jamaica’s two-time Olympic 100m and 200m champion has struggled with injury this year but will return for the event at the Olympic Stadium from 24-26 July.

Bolt, 28, has run just five times this season, clocking a 100m best of 10.12 seconds in April.

Justin Gatlin, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay have all run faster, with American Gatlin leading the field with a season best of 9.74 seconds.

Bolt, who holds the

100m and 200m world records, is an eight-time world champion and has won six Olympic gold medals in his career, three of which came in London in 2012.

A pelvic injury forced Bolt to withdraw from Diamond League races in Paris and Lausanne in June, and he also pulled out of the 100m at the Jamaican national trials at short notice.

He had been planning to compete in the race to improve his form for August’s World Championships in China, which he qualifies for as defending 100m and 200m champion.

Serena Williams celebrates after coming back to beat Azarenka

Williams clinches 6th Wimbledon title, 21st Grand Slam

W

orld number one, Serena Williams has claimed her 6th Wimbledon Open title after beating 20th seed, Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 6-4 in the Womens’ final on Saturday.

Williams holds all four Grand Slam for the second time in her career and is just she’s just one Grand Slam away from matching Stefi Graf’s open-era record of 22 Grand Slams.

She won her first Wimbledon title in 2002

Brazil denies athletes transit visa ahead of IAAF World Youth Championships

N

igerian athletes hoping to don the country’s colours at the 2015 IAAF World Youth Championships slated for Cali, Colombia, may yet again turn out to be an exercise in futility with reports of visa glitches around Team Nigeria.

Olukayode Thomas, the head of media for the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, that the country’s athletes were denied transit visa by the Brazilian embassy in Lagos.

The Federation is now being forced to seek alternative means to make

Athlete

sure Nigeria does not miss out in the athletics showpiece.

“Nigerian athletes may miss the 2015 IAAF world youth Championships slated for Cali, Colombia, next week due to the inability of the athletes and officials to get transit visa,” Mr. Thomas stated. “The athletes are to travel to Colombia via Brazil but the Brazilian embassy in Lagos refused them transit visa.

The federation is looking at alternatives to ensure the athletes make the trip.”

Many fear that a noshow for Nigeria in Cali will deal a serious blow to the morale of young athletes aiming to take over from the retiring ones.

Nigeria also bungled its chance of defending the Africa Athletics Youth Championships in Mauritius owing to a lack of funds which saw the country traveling late and with a lean squad for the newly introduced biennial championships.

As earlier stated by the AFN, 15 athletes from the lot in camp are to be selected for 2015 IAAF world youth Championships which runs from July 15 to 19.

and went on to win in in 2003, 2009, 2010 and 2012.

The American, who has won the US Open for the last three years running, was in little doubt about the scale of the achievement that is now within her sights

at Flushing Meadows.

Williams will turn 34 next month and Saturday’s victory made her the oldest Grand Slam winner in the open era, although Roger Federer would surpass her if he wins Sunday’s men’s singles final.

Hingis ends long wait Wimbledon title

M

artina Hingis won her first Wimbledon title in 17 years as the former world number one combined with Sania Mirza to win a thrilling women’s doubles final.

Switzerland’s Hingis and Mirza of India beat Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 7-5.

Hingis was Wimbledon singles champion in 1997 and last appeared in a final at the All England Club in 1998, when she won the women’s doubles.

The 34-year-old also plays in the mixed doubles final on Sunday.

The win also marked a

first Wimbledon title for Mirza, who is the number one-ranked female doubles player. Hingis is ranked second.

Hingis, who has won five Grand Slam singles titles, won her first Wimbledon doubles title with Helena Sukova as a 15-year-old in 1996 before adding a second with Jana Novotna two years later.

She retired in 2003 at the age of 22 after a series of ankle injuries, but returned to the WTA Tour in 2006.

Hingis quit the game for a second time in November 2007, revealing she had tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon that year, and served a two-year ban.

Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza

Usain Bolt

Flanagan wins WBO title by TKO after injury

B

ritish lightweight Terry Flanagan has won the vacant WBO title by a technical knockout after an injury to Jose Zepeda.

The fight at the Manchester Velodrome was stopped in the second round after the American suffered a shoulder injury.

Southpaw Flanagan, 26, who is now unbeaten in 28 professional fights, said he wanted a rematch with Zepeda.

Zepeda had been unbeaten in 23 bouts before Saturday’s title fight and only one of his last nine opponents had lasted three rounds.

Earlier Britain’s Liam Walsh, 29, beat Brazilian Isaias Santos Sampaio with a sixth round knockout to win the vacant WBO InterContinental lightweight title.

Walsh, who also holds the British and Commonwealth superfeatherweight titles, is unbeaten in 19 fights.

M e a n w h i l e , heavyweight champion

Ruslan Chagaev of Uzbekistan defended his WBA heavyweight belt with a first-round technical knockout of Francesco Pianeta in Magdeburg, Germany.

It was Chagaev’s 34th win in 37 fights.

Both fighters had previously lost to world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who is set to fight Britain’s Tyson Fury in October.

In the Philippines, Donnie Nietes beat Francisco Rodriguez Jr by unanimous decision to win the WBO world light flyweight title.

Terry Flanagan

PAGE 47

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, JULY 13, 2015

Some Interesting Facts 1. Prince William and Kate Middleton got married on the same day as Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun.

2. A picture of Gandalf the Grey (from The Lord of the Rings) can be seen in the collection of great wizards in Professor Dumbledore’s study in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

3. Viagra, chocolate chip cookies, popsicles, brandy and the microwave are all examples of accidental discoveries.

4. While under the influence of LSD, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis threw a no-hitter.

5. Coca-Cola translated to Chinese means “To make mouth happy”.

6. Caroline Cossey, one of the “James Bond girls” appearing in “For Your Eyes Only” was

Leisure

a transsexual.

7. 16 pennies stacked up equals one inch, and 16 pennies in a line is one foot.

8. There is a town in Pennsylvania named Intercourse.

9. Good news? Russian scientists have developed a new drug that prolongs drunkenness.

10. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

11. The poison-arrow frog contains enough poison to kill 2,200 people.

12. Months that begin on Sunday always have a Friday the 13th.

13. According to Genesis 1:20-22, the chicken came before the egg.

14. Coffee is great for asthma.

15. Our calendar repeats itself every 400 years.

16. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them.

17. On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.

18. All of the clocks in the movie “Pulp Fiction” are stuck on 4:20.

19. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies’ room during a dance.

20. Kleenex tissues were originally used as filters in gas masks.

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CROSSWORD SOLUTION 11

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Réhahn said: ‘When I arrived, children jumped on the boat to come near me. Some families invited me to their house’.

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QUOTABLE QUOTE Our facilities are overstretched and it is in view of this that we are applying that they (Lamido and sons) should be remanded in prison and not in our custody

. . . putting the people first

monday, july 13, 2015

SPORTS latest

Amuneke drags Eaglets to classroom

By Albert Akota

G

olden Eaglets’ Head Coach, Emmanuel Amuneke at the weekend dragged his wards to the classroom as part of their training regimen towards solid preparation for the 2015 U-17 World Cup in Chile.

After weeks of physical conditioning and training, Amuneke said it was imperative that the players were shown animated tactical details in order to broaden their horizon.

Amuneke, one of few Nigerians who hold the highprofile UEFA Pro License certificate alongside the likes of Sunday Oliseh and Mutiu Adepoju, showed the players different tactical formations on a projector with intermittent question and answer sessions with the players.

“These boys are lucky because nobody taught us anything like this in our playing days in the national youth teams,” noted Golden Eaglets’ assistant coach, Kabiru Baleria who played for the Flying Eagles set of 1989. “We only made use of our brains most of the time in terms of organization on the field.

NNL introduces new sanctions for match officials assault

By Albert Akota

The anti Tinubu mob

T

he newspapers on 10th July reported Bode George, the Lagos PDP henchman gloating gleefully over elections at the National Assembly the previoous day.

“You know I predicted weeks ago that the APC is just a congregation of strange bedfellows. The most beautiful thing about what has happened is that Bola Tinubu’s political influence in Nigeria is coming to a sunset and it is about five minutes to midnight for him.

“If he cannot see this now, then it will be foolish of him.

He brought in the APC national chairman and the vice-president and he thinks Nigeria belongs to him. So, he thought what he did in Lagos was what he could replicate at the national level and they have shown him that he cannot continue to be the lord of the manor.”

It is of course common knowledge that there is no love lost between Bode George and Bola Tinubu. During the Obasanjo years while Tinubu was governor of Lagos State and George was the leader of the PDP in the South West, we heard repeated threats from him that the PDP was going to ‘capture’ Lagos. This almost happened when his party launched a lightening blitzkrieg in the South West against the states controlled by the Alliance for Democracy, AD. While the other governors were cajoled by Obasanjo’s wily ways to lay down their guards, Tinubu was street wise enough to read the old soldier correctly and survived. Thus began the career of a calculating political actor that has blossomed today into a national government; a career Bode george says is “five minutes to midnight”.

From the one surviving state

T

he board of the Nigeria National League in Abuja said it has increased the sanctions it usually imposed on teams or their fans for assaulting match officials.

Emeka Inyama, chairman of the League, said at a press briefing that erring teams and their fans would henceforth be fined N1m, while the erring team would be banished.

The sanction placed on assault of match officials before now was a fine of N200, 000.

The NNL chairman said it was important to take stringent measures as the issue has resulted into referees boycotting the league because they do not want to be attacked.

The chairman also urged match commissioners and referees to live up to expectations, so as to avoid cases of assault due to improper officiating.

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Monday Column Emmanuel Yawe royawe@yahoo.com 08024565402

Tinubu in 2003, Tinubu has over the past ten years plus built up a formidable political network of great national significance. He recovered most of the states lost to the PDP in the South West in subsequent elections and made significant in roads into the North and East of the country. The AD, now rechristened ACN was a major partner in the mega alliance that metamorphosed into the APC and led to Buharis victory at this years polls. To predict whimsicaly as Bode George did that this man is politically finished because of one set back calls to question his skills in political analysis.

In the march towards the 2015 elections, analysts sympathetic to the PDP predicted that the APC

“

Tinubu’s silence in all this is ominous and eloquent. The South west APC state Chairmen have spoken; Bisi Akande has spoken.

564 385 292 327 454

– EFCC lawyer, Barrister Chile Okoroma

8620 9705 9046 1969 0344

merger could not win a national election because historically the North and the South West on which it was hinged have never travelled togather. This was only partially true because in 1992, the North dicthed her son Tofa and voted enmasse for Abiola.

Those who peddled this theory of ‘no north / south west’ political marriage overlooked this fact maybe because June 12 was not consumated. They hoped that the Yoruba’s for their historic antagonism against the Hausa Fulani would not support Buhari.

This was a complete mis reading of history. Anybody who has read Alhaji Babatunde Jose’s well informed book - Walking a Tight Rope - will agree with me that in the days preceding Nigerias Independence in 1960, the North and the West almost went into an alliance to form a National government. Babatunde Jose who was the Correspondent of the Daily Times in Kaduna, covering the whole North in the 50’s wrote as a well informed journalist, which he was untill his death. He was in a position to know because he was on first name basis with all the major political players from both the north and the west.

Additionally, he wrote that there were cultural and religious grounds to lay a solid foundation for that alliance. The Yoruba’s like the Hausa Fulanis have a well entrenched cultural tradition of respect for traditional institutions. In terms of religion, they both have a huge Muslim population. That this alliance

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did not work out in the 50’s does not mean it is an impossibility. It was only a matter of time. And no force can stop an idea whose time has come. The time came in 2015.

But the Olubode George rump of the decimated PDP are not acting alone. They have their spies and collaborators in the APC. He was therefore right when he spoke about the APC as a “congregation of strange bed fellows”. In the dying days of the PDP, the smart alecs like Dr Saraki who saw the Titanic heading towards the iceberg jumped ship. Their body is in the APC but their soul is in the cesspool of humanity otherwise known as the PDP. The earlier they are sent back home the better for the APC. I read with great interest an interview granted by Buba Galadima to the Sunday Trust yesterday. Saraki and co should be suspended or expelled from the party. In his own words; “it is dangerous going about on the streets with a scorpion in your pocket”.

The anti Tinubu mob do not mean well for the APC or the country. They do not know the significance of the APC victory this year and the heroic role played by Tinubu. What is all this nonsense talk about Tinubu wanting to grab everything? It is too early in the day. Buhari has not even formed a government. If they pluck Tinubu’s wings today, they will go for Buhari’s own tommorow.

Tinubu’s silence in all this is ominous and eloquent. The South west APC state Chairmen have spoken; Bisi Akande has spoken. With the resurrection of Radio Biafra in the East and Boko Haram pounding the North, Buhari should not go in search of additional enemies. Without the Tinubu group, he is crippled.

The Saraki Janjaweed group must be chased out of town. As Buba Galadima Buhari’s old friend put it: “It is dangerous going about the streets with a scorpion in your pocket”.

DAN GAYE

Street beggars flee Kaduna in wake of ban – News

No more room for laziness