Friday, November 17, 2017 Edition

Friday, November 17, 2017/ Safar 27, 1439 AH

Vol. 27 No. 63 N150

@pmlonline

peoplesdailyng

. . . putting the people first

The nation awaits rescue of the remaining abducted Chibok schoolgirls

1310 Days after

No escape for looters - Buhari insists

AU kicks against Zimbabwe coup, as Mugabe refuses to step down

Senate debates 2018 budget next week >>>page 5

>>>page 5

page 5

R-L: APC Chieftain and Former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Representatives of Nigerian Judiciary and President Court of Appeal. Justice Abdu Aboki and APC Chieftain and former Minister of Information, Prince Tony Momoh, during the presentation of a book by Presidential MEDIA Team at the State House, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: State House

FG confirms murder of 2 Nigerians in South Africa pAGE 7

New custodian, imams Maida tasks parents, appointed for Abuja leaders on menace of national mosque drug abuse pAGE 14

pAGE 6

PAGE 2

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

News CONTENTS News 2-10 Editorial 11 Op.Ed 12 Letters 13 Politics 15-17 Business Stockwatch

19-20 18

Troops repel Boko Haram attack in Madagali, kill 2 insurgents From Umar Dankano Yola

T

he Executive Chairman of Madagali Local Government Area in Adamawa state, Yusuf Muhammad has confirmed the attack launched by suspected fleeing Boko Haram terrorists on two communities in the area on Wednesday night.

Speaking to Peoples Daily in a mobile phone interview in Yola yesterday, Muhammad said the attack occurred in the night when villagers of Kafin Hausa and Sabon gari were going about their daily routine of life innocently before the terrorists struck shooting sporadically in all directions.

On noticing the ugly development, the villagers scampered for safety into nearby bushes unless one man, who was

hit and injured by a strayed bullet from the attackers.

Muhammad said the immediate response by the military troops saved the situation as they repelled them killing two terrorists in the exchange of fire between the duo.

He said that those wounded by strayed bullet has been hospitalized and is responding to treatment.

It could be recalled that, barely five days ago, a similar attack was launched in a neighbouring Gulak administrative headquarters of Madagali where at least two people lost their lives including a soldier.

However, commenting on the attack, member representing Madagali,Michika at the House of Reps, Mr Adamu Kamale said the attack it lasted for about two

hours and that the terrorists killed livestock, looted and burnt many houses.

“They were rampaging as they (Boko Haram) continued to attack our villages. ‘’ I had a distress call that they have again launched night attack at Sabon Gari and Kafin Hausa villages and as I am talking to you now Nigerian troops have engaged them in a fierce battle,’’ he said.

Also confirming the incidence in a telephone interview, the state governor Sen.Muhammadu Bindow Jibrilla said a joint operation of the Nigerian troops and local security members of vigilante and hunters repelled the attack. “ Yes there was a fierce battle that lasted for an hour but praise be to Allah, an attack launched by

fleeing Boko Haram terrorists on Sabon Gari and the other village in Madagali local government area were repelled by combined forces of soldiers, Mobile police ,hunters and vigilantes. ‘’Security are on top of the situation now,’’ Governor Bindow assured.

Reports say a fleeing villager, who simple identified as Musa, said the terrorists shot sporadically before they were engaged.

Honourable Muhammad appealed to federal government and military authorities to redeploy more troops to the area so that maximum security of lives and properties of both residents and governments can be ensured.

Education: Time for holistic overhaul Page 4

Int’l 23-24 Metro

21-22

Feture 26 Sports 27-28 Columnist 32

We want to hear from you The Peoples Daily wants to hear from you with any news and pictures you think we should publish.

You can send your news and pictures to: adverts@peoplesdailyng.com pictures@peoplesdailyng.com contact@peoplesdailyng.com

Phones for News: 08142929046 08024432099

L-R: Governor of Jigawa State, Alh. Mohammed Badaru; Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope- Adefulire; and Executive Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, during a meeting on national export promotion , yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-owo

Man, 27, in Police net over kidnap of 9-year old nephew From Kano

A

Mustapha

Adamu,

27-year old man, Samuel Moses,a.k.a Charmangu, is cooling his feet at the Kano State Police Command for allegedly kidnapping his 9-year old nephew.

Moses, a native of Tiv from Benue State and resides at Layin Famfo, Brigade quarters in Nassarawa Local Government area of the state, was said to have conspired with one Chidi

Fere Anyanwu, aka Chijoski, an indigene of Imo State to allegedly kidnap the boy.

Addressing journalists while parading the suspects at the Police headquarters yesterday, the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Magaji Musa Majiya, said they kidnapped their victim while he was returning from school.

He added that, after they successfully abducted the child, Moses then called his brother, who was the father of the victim and demanded the sum of N2

million ransom to release his son.

Majiya further said that on receiving the call from the kidnappers, on Wednesday, November 8, at around 2:00pm, the devastated father came to the headquarters and reported the matter.

He added that the Police swiftly launched investigation that led to the successful rescue of the child and arrest of the suspects, few days after the report.

“Now the child has been rescued. We took him to hospital

for medical examination and some treatment. We have since handed him over to his father.

“As you can see, we have successfully arrested the kidnappers and will take them to court to face the full weight of the law. The Kano State Police Command will not condone any acts aimed at destabilising the peace of the state. Any person found wanted will face the wrath of the law,” he said

Page 3

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

News

Ag News Editor, Ese Awhotu

R-L: Secretary-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Prof. Is-Haq Oloyede, English Translator of ANM/Member of NSCIA, Ustaz Abubakar Muhammad, Imams of Abuja National Mosque, Shaykh Ahmad Onilewura and Dr. Muhammad Kabir Adam, during the press conference on the appointment of Prof. Shehu Galadanci as the new Murshid (General Administrator) of Abuja National Mosque, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Achebe gets posthumous birthday honours from Google

T

he internet search engine, Google has honoured the late Nigerian literary icon, Chinua Achebe on its doodle.

Achebe died in March, 2013 at the age of 82.

The technology giant said on its website Thursday that it honoured Achebe on its doodle (on November 16) as it marks his 87th birthday.

Agency reports have it that Google Doodle is a special logo on Google’s homepage that is always temporarily alternated and intended to celebrate holidays, events, achievements and people.

The online search engine said that Achebe had been honoured to underscore his status as a figure of 20th century literature.

“One man took it upon himself to tell the world the story of Nigeria through the eyes of its own people.

“Chinua Achebe was the studious son of an evangelical priest. A student of English literature, he started writing in the 1950s, choosing English as his medium but weaving the story telling tradition of the Igbo people into his books.

“His characters were insiders, everyday people such as the village chief (in Things Fall Apart); the priest (in Arrow of God) or the school teacher (in A Man of the People).

“Through their stories, we witness a Nigeria at the crossroads of civilization, culture and generations” Google said.

The search engine added that Achebe’s pen brought to life the land and traditions of the Igbo, the hum of everyday village life; the anticipation and excitement of sacred masquerades.

Google restated that Achebe’s pen also brought to life the stories of the elders and the honour of warriors; the joy of family and the grief of loss.

It specified Achebe was considered by many to be the father of modern African literature and so was awarded the Man Booker Prize in 2007.

NAF graduates another set of fighter pilots in Kano T

he Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has graduated four fighter pilots from its 403 Flying Training School (403 FTS) Kano, in furtherance of the human capacity development efforts of the current NAF leadership.

The NAF headquarters in Abuja said in a statement yesterday the young pilots commenced training at 403 FTS in Kano in 2016, as part of Jet Training Course 1, after they had successfully completed the Basic Flying Course in the United Kingdom.

With the successful graduation, the number of fighter pilots available for operations in the NAF has increased thereby giving impetus to the ongoing fight against insurgency in the North East, cattle rustling in the North West and other forms of criminalities. The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique

Abubakar, who was represented at the event by the Air Officer Commanding, Air Training Command, Air Vice Marshal Christopher Okoye, noted that the increase in number of young pilots that are flying NAF Platforms today is a departure from what obtained in the recent past when senior officers of the rank of Air Vice Marshal and Air Commodore were the ones flying. Today, most of the pilots flying NAF platforms, including the C-130 aircraft, are flight lieutenants and flying officers.

Speaking further, the CAS noted that following extensive training, platform acquisition and reactivation of grounded aircraft fleet, the NAF could more satisfactorily fulfil its statutory roles across the broad spectrum of national air power tasks.

Air Marshal Abubakar added that some of the NAF’s L-39ZA aircraft had

been modified into combat aircraft, as part of efforts to enhance the combat readiness of the NAF. According to him, “the rebuilding process continues to further enhance our manpower capacity as well as status of the NAF fleet. This achievement could not have been possible without the continuous support of the Federal Government”, he said.

The graduating fighter pilots were charged to be selfless as they get set to start discharging their services to the country and the NAF. “This is a day to feel proud and to congratulate yourselves on your hard work and achievements. However, it also presents a time when you must begin to prepare yourselves to justify the efforts and resources expended on your training up to this stage.

Remember to whom much is given much is expected. Therefore, as you

assume your next responsibilities in the NAF as operational pilots, there is a demand on you to reflect the quality of training received both at home and abroad”, he said. Highlights of the ceremony included an aerial display by instructor and graduating pilots while those who distinguished themselves on the Jet Training Course in various categories were honoured.

It could be recalled that the NAF only recently, graduated 16 ab-initio student pilots, including 2 female cadets from 401 Flying Training School, Kaduna. The decision of the CAS, on assumption of office, to make capacity building the focus of his administration, is certainly yielding good fruits, as the NAF increasingly becomes more robust and combat ready.

Octogenarian woman jailed for selling cannabis

A

Federal High Court, Lagos on Thursday convicted an 87 yearold woman, Agbomabiwon Maria Seriki, for dealing in 10.3 kilogrammes of Cannabis Sativa.

However,the Presiding judge Hadizat Shagari ordered that the convict should be remanded at the Lagos State Old Peoples’ Home, Yaba, pending when any member of her family, who is willing and able to take proper care of her, apply to court to take her custody.

The convict, a resident of 9, Osunba Street, Oto-Awori, Ijanikin, Lagos, had last week Tuesday, pleaded guilty to one count charge of unlawful dealing in 10.3 kilogrammes of Cannabis Sativa,

a narcotic similar to cocaine, heroine and LSD, when she was arraigned before the court, by the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Upon her plea of guilty, the prosecutor, Aliyu Abubakar, urged the court to adjourn the case till today, to review the fact of the case.

At the resumed hearing of the matter on Thursday, the prosecutor after reviewing the fact of the case, tendered some exhibits which includes the convict’s confessional statements, drug test analysis, and the bulk of the Cannabis Sativa seized from her, which were admitted as exhibits by the court.

After the admissibility of the exhibits, the court pronounced the 87

years old woman, convicted as charged.

However, the convict’s lawyer, Prosper Ojakovo, in his pleas for mercy, pleaded with the court to be lenient in sentencing his client.

Ojakovo told the court that the woman was a first time offender, who has nobody to take care of her, and therefore urged the court to tamper justice with mercy, and consider her age in sentencing her.

In sentencing the convict, Justice Rabiu-Shagari stated that sending her to prison would be of no benefits, especially when considering her age.

The judge, consequently ordered that the convict be remanded at the Lagos State’s Old Peoples’ Home,

Yaba, pending when any member of her family who is willing and able to take proper care of her apply to court for such.

In another case, Justice RabiuShagari also sentenced a 56 years old woman , Anya Nneoma, to 12 months imprisonment, for unlawful dealing in 5.5 kilogrammes.

Anya, a resident of Vulcaniser area of Seme, Badagry, had also pleaded guilty before the court, last Tuesday, for illegal dealing in 5 kilogrammes of marijuana.

Her case was however different as the judge sentenced her to prison for the next 12 calendar months.

PAGE 4

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

Villascope

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

Education: Time for holistic overhaul

T

o state that the nation’s education sector is ailing and requires immediate surgery is to state the obvious. Everybody can see the rot in the system but nobody, at least until recently, is willing to bell the cat. Yet, the rot continues.

The decay pervades the through all segments of the nation’s educational sectors including primary, secondary and tertiary institutions yet everyone seems to agree that quality education remains the bedrock of development with successive administrations paying lip service to the urgent task of revamping the sector.

But this seems to have attained its climax as those in power have come to recognize that fact that the country is sliding gradually into the Stone Age owing to the neglect of her educational sector.

Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the effant terrible governor of Kaduna state, brought the issue to the fore recently when he ordered a competency test for primary schools teachers in the state. According to him, an elementary test meant for Primary Four pupils were set for the adults teachers and 22,000 of them failed scandalously.

Understandably, the shocked governor ordered their immediate sack and engagement of fresh hands in their stead.

Like everything in this country, his action was sentimentally interpreted and perhaps politicized.

Furious labour leaders in Kaduna state mobilized and protested his decision urging him to retain those incompetent hands forgetting that doing so would only imperil the future of the innocent children. At this age of knowledge, it is appalling that some sane minds could even offer to defend the indefensible!

Those conversant with the recruitment process into the teaching profession have expressed no surprise at the development.

They argue that the teaching profession has been debased as those unqualified teachers may have found their ways into the profession with the aid of their political mentors.

This, according to them, is not peculiar to Kaduna state as they hinted that such incompetency us not peculiar to teaching profession but abound in every sector in the country. They posit that the development was a signpost of the rot in the nation’s educational system as those who even claim to be graduates are mere ‘educated illiterates’.

Experts believe that the despoliation of the teaching profession, where teachers are regarded as the dregs of the society, was at the root of the rot in the system.

A profession which ought to attract the best of brains in the country has been relegated because of poor remuneration.

Even those who are supposed to be trained teachers, having studied Education courses in schools, would rather not take up the profession as doing so would be tantamount to everlasting covenant with poverty. They view teaching as fit only for losers in the society.

In Nigeria, teachers are the least regarded. They are the most convenient set of people to be owed salaries and entitlements. This is despite the fact that they are the ones saddled with the task of preparing the children who are regarded as the future leaders.

The danger of the rot in the nation’s education sector has begun to set in as societal values has been debased and eroded. Those aspiring to be leaders in the country, especially those who fall into the category of second generation, are products

Minister of Education Adamu Adamu

of this dysfunctional system. Some of them are are with warped mindsets with dangerous intention for the country.

It is commonplace today to see university graduates who know next to nothing even in their areas of specialization.

Some people have argued that the challenge of unemployment in the country is being overhyped because majority of those seeking for jobs are actually unemployable and empty shells.

The root cause of this is unarguably the bad foundation they got and the unrestrained deterioration of the nation’s educational system at all levels.

Dr. Olusola Osineye, a trained teacher

based in the United Kingdom, in a piece someone posted on a Whatsapp group I belong, wrote this on the poor quality of teachers in this country: “If you want to teach in any developed country, you either study for education in your undergraduate course or you acquire your first degree and take post-graduate training in education.

During this post-graduate training, you will then undergo proper training, with school placements to become a qualified teacher who is able to work with children from age 4-19 “Teaching is not for losers in other countries. It is only in Nigeria where teachers are viewed as losers. So, what you

“

Teachers in primary schools are supposed to be super trained, hot headed professionals. This is because they are the first contact person for children and their action or unction could spell doom for the entire country.

have in Kaduna and Edo State should not surprise anybody. The same situation plays itself out all over the country. I pity the South West States. I have been screaming for ages that SW states are doomed as far as education is concerned. Kaduna State is even higher than all of them in WAEC results.

What El-Rufai did in Kaduna is to me a meaningless political solution to a deep and protracted problem. The State has no trained teachers to fill the place of the sacked layabouts who should never have been anywhere close to a school. He is going to replace the current set of losers with another set of losers. People become teachers in Nigeria because they have nothing better to do. That is root of the problem.”

Osineye seems to have hit the nail on the head. The situation in Kaduna and Edo states is just a tip of the iceberg. The problem is endemic and would require a far reaching solution for the nation’s education sector to be revamped.

Teachers in primary schools are supposed to be super trained, hot headed professionals. This is because they are the first contact person for children and their action or unction could spell doom for the entire country.

On the way forward for Nigerian education, Osineye wrote: “For anything to change in Nigeria’s education sector, you have to demolish the whole nonsensical structure. The system is rotten inside out.

The funding that goes towards education is incredibly depressing.The practitioners are paid minimum wage and therefore the sector only attracts losers. Sacking the teachers will not increase funding to the sector neither will it increase their wages.

Teachers should be be qualified and trained before they are allowed near primary or secondary schools; they should be paid decent wages, the schools should be given resources to make the teachers effective.

There should be regular CPD to update the knowledge of the teachers. Teaching should be made a cult-like profession like in all other developed countries. Teachers are meant to build and train your future leaders. The current Nigerian teachers are losers; they are developing losers for the future of Nigeria.”

The menace of ‘educated illiterates’ must have become a source of worry to the federal government prompting the Buhari’s administration to launch its the “Education for Change: A Ministerial Strategic Plan (2016-2019)” this week.

The program which articulates the President’s vision to reposition the nation’s education for increased productivity and competitiveness has also been described as a demonstration of Buhari’s awareness of the enormous challenges that the country faces in that sector and the need to have a robust plan that addresses the problems in a sustainable manner.

The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, expressed the believe that by the time the implementation of the program commences in earnest, Nigerians would begin to see drastic improvements in the quality of their public education at all levels.

It is however trite to note that Nigeria has remained underdeveloped because of the quality foundational education afforded the children. This, of course, must change. The Buhari administration would be assessed on the impact it could make in education as revamping the sector would solve most of the behavioral challenges in governance and the society at large.

Page 5

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

News

Senate debates 2018 budget next week

By Christiana Ekpa

T

he President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki has said the debate on the 2018 appropriation bill would commence on Wednesday, Nov. 22.

Saraki who made the announcement during plenary yesterday, said the debate would last for two legislative days.

He said the debate would be between Wednesday and Thursday next week even as he urged lawmakers to indicate

interest on when they would want to make their contributions.

He said copies of the budget would be made available to the lawmakers before the commencement of the debate.

“The clerk will make copies of the budget available to you. A

register has been opened for you to put your names,” he said.

Meanwhile, at a press briefing, Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Sen. Sabi Abdullahi said the session would involve starting the debate for the second reading of the bill.

He noted that the laying of the budget proposal by President Muhammadu Buhari on Nov. 7 was the first reading of the bill.

“It is important we take up the debate of the basic principles of the bill and refer it to the appropriate committee.”

AU kicks against Zimbabwe coup, as Mugabe refuses to step down

By Ese Awhotu with agency report

T

he head of the African Union, Alpha Conde has said that, the body “will never accept the military coup d’etat” in Zimbabwe.

AFP reports that Alpha Conde said this in an interview with French journalists in Paris.

According to the report, Alpha Conde who doubles as Guinea’s president, said that; “We demand respect for the constitution, a return to the constitutional order and we will never accept the military coup d’etat,” “We know there are internal problems. They need to be resolved politically by the ZANU-PF party and not with an intervention by the army.”

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria had also on Wednesday called for calm, peace and respect for the constitution in Zimbabwe.

The President urged all political and military stakeholders in Zimbabwe to avoid any action that may plunge the country into unnecessary conflict and impact negatively on the region.

According to Buhari, “every attempt must be made to resolve all contentious issues by constitutional means in Zimbabwe to save the country from avoidable political instability.”

This is just as Reuters reported yesterday that Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, his wife, Grace, and two key figures from her G40 political faction are under house arrest at Mr. Mugabe’s “Blue House” compound in Harare and are insisting the 93-year-old finishes his presidential term.

the compound after their homes were attacked by troops on Tuesday night’s coup, a source, who said he had spoken to people inside the compound told Reuters.

Mr. Mugabe is insisting he remains Zimbabwe’s only legitimate ruler, an intelligence source said on Thursday.

The source said Mr. Mugabe is resisting mediation by a Catholic priest to allow the 93-year-old former guerrilla a graceful exit after a military coup.

Reuters reports that the priest, Fidelis Mukonori, is acting as a middle-man between Mr. Mugabe and the generals, who seized power on Wednesday in a targeted operation against “criminals” in his entourage, a senior political source told Reuters.

The source, according to the report could not provide details of the talks, which appear to be aimed at a smooth and bloodless transition after the departure of Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.

Zimbabwean intelligence reports seen by Reuters suggest that former security Chief Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was ousted as vice-president this month, has been mapping out a post-Mugabe vision with the military and opposition for more than a year.

Fuelling speculation that that plan might be rolling into action, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has been receiving cancer treatment in Britain and South Africa, returned to Harare late on

Wednesday, his spokesman said.

South Africa said Mugabe had told President Jacob Zuma by telephone on Wednesday that he was confined to his home but was otherwise fine and the military said it was keeping him and his family, including wife Grace, safe.

Inspite of the lingering admiration for Mr. Mugabe, there is little public affection for 52-year-old Grace, a former government typist who started having an affair with Mr. Mugabe in the early 1990s as his first wife, Sally, was dying of cancer.

Dubbed “DisGrace” or “Gucci Grace” on account of her reputed love of shopping, she enjoyed a meteoric rise through the ranks of Mr. Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF in

the last two years, culminating in Mnangagwa’s removal a week ago, a move seen as clearing the way for her to succeed her husband.

In contrast to the high political drama unfolding behind closed doors, the streets of the capital remained calm, with people going about their daily business, albeit under the watch of soldiers on armoured vehicles at strategic locations.

Whatever the final outcome, the events could signal a once-ina-generation change for the former British colony, a regional breadbasket reduced to destitution by economic policies Mr. Mugabe’s critics have long blamed on him, Reuters reports.

L-R: Director General, GIABA, col.

Adama Coulibaly, Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara and representatives of Minister of Justice, Mr. Sylvester Emmanubi, during the Inter - Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) 28th Technical Commission / Plenary Meeting, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

The G40 figures are cabinet ministers Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere, who fled to

No escape for looters- Buhari insists

By Lawrence Olaoye

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari has warned that anyone caught to have stolen public funds in his administration would be made to face the law.

Buhari gave this warning in his remarks at the presentation of a book on the performance of his administration in the last two years written by the Presidential Media Team.

The presenter of the book: “Making steady and sustainable progress for Nigeria’s peace and prosperity” Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who is also a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) also accused former President Goodluck Jonathan of having institutionalized corruption

during his administration.

APC’s National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, who chaired the presentation said the Buhari administration has achieved a lot as recorded in the book urging officials to publicize their activities for the public to know exactly what they were doing.

Buhari, who vowed to use the last ounce of his energy to serve the nation selflessly, said having gone through the harrowing experience of economic recession, his government’s efforts would be targeted at easing the economic hardship on the people.

He promised to provide more jobs and social security for the vulnerable just as vowed to ensure infrastructural progress in the country.

He said “I would at the same like to assure all Nigerians of my

commitment to improve security, fight corruption and restructure the economy.”

Tinubu in his remarks praised the President for decimating the Boko Haram insurgents noting that had Nigeria continued under Jonathan, the terrorists would have been emboldened and gained more territories.

He said that the previous administration squandered the wealth accrued to it for the development of the nation and institutionalized corruption.

While noting that the war against large scale corruption has not been won by the Buhari’s administration, Tinubu pointed out that the President had set an axe to the root of the malaise.

Oyegun said “the sheer scope of achievements of this administration

recorded in this publication is simply astonishing. Even as the Chairman of the party, I am getting a much fuller understanding of the depth and breadth of some of these accomplishments.

What this means is that we need to do more in propagating our achievements.

We have a good trumpet to blow. We have good reasons to blow it. So, let us go out and blow it very well.”

“Talking about the relevance of the book, the APC chairman said “It will also serve as a morale booster to all our party members, who are now armed with the incontrovertible and verifiable evidence of the enormous achievements of our government since inauguration in May 2015 till date.”

Oyegun scored Buhari high in his determination to fight corruption noting that the malaise has been

brought forward to public consciousness attracting debates from the common man.

The over-subscription of our Eurobonds for 4 consecutive times and our improved rating on ease of doing business ranking are key pointers to the increasing trust and confidence that investors and the international community generally have about our country and especially our government’s determination to fight corruption.”

Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in his remarks said the achievements recorded in the book were not exhaustive insisting that many more have been achieved as the book was originally scheduled for presentation on May 29th when the Buhari administration clocked two years.

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

PAGE 6

News Maida tasks parents, leaders on menace of drug abuse From Lawal Sa’idu Funtua Katsina

T

he Chairman Peace Builders Security Concepts, who is also the Chairman Peoples Daily Newspapers, Malam Wada Maida has appealed to parents, religious, traditional and community leaders to help in addressing the menace of drug abuse in the society.

Maida made the appeal yesterday while speaking at a workshop on the “phenomenon of youth restiveness and drug abuse in Katsina state”, organized by the organization and Katsina state government.

He noted that it was very dangerous to allow the menace of drug abuse to destroy the youth in the society, considering “the economic and educational challenges faced by the country at large.”

The chairman noted the figure from the NDLEA indicating that within a short period of time 653 persons were arrested for drug related offences, adding that more worrisome was that majority of those arrested are within the bracket of 18-35 years of age.

“Even those who are already into drug abuse should be brought back through rehabilitation and engagement with them,” he added.

In his remark at the occasion, Governor Aminu Bello Masari urged philanthropists in the state to find ways of establishing businesses that would provide employment for the teeming youth in the society and make them more productive.

The governor who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the State, Alhaji Mustapha Muhammad Inuwa, said the government had since 2016 constituted a joint task force which he disclosed arrested major drug dealers in the state, adding that it helped in reducing the menace of drug abuse in the state.

Masari said that, the government would soon commission a rehabilitation centre it built to assist the state command of the NDLEA in the rehabilitation and reformation of drug addicts.

At the morning session of the event, two papers were presented, Professor Sadiq Isah Radda of the Department of Sociology, Bayero University Kano presented a paper on “youth restiveness as a threat to national stability” while Professor Isma’ila A. Tsiga of the Department of English and Literary Studies, Bayero University, Kano presented a paper titled “education and youth development in Katsina state: planning for a stable and prosperous future”.

Death toll in Borno blasts rise to 20 From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

T

he number of dead victims in the Wednesday evening multiple suicide attacks in the outskirt of Maiduguri has risen to 20, our correspondent reports.

The Borno State Police Command on Wednesday night had earlier put the death toll at 18.

Spokesman of the Command

DSP Isuku Victor confirmed this in a statement yesterday, saying 18 civilians including four suicide bombers died, while 29 others seriously injured.

But sources at one of the hospitals where the injured ones were rushed for treatment said, two out of the injured ones could not make it as they died following excessive bleeding.

According to the statement ,the multiple blasts took place around Muna Gari Community of

the metropolis.

“Today 15/11/2017, at about 1813hrs, four suicide bombers, two males and two females, infiltrated Muna Gari community in konduga LGA, and detonated IED strapped to their bodies at different locations.

“The first explosion occurred at a prayer ground, while the other explosions occurred thereafter, all within the community. A total of eighteen persons including the four suicide bombers, died

in the multiple explosions”, the statement said.

“While twenty nine others sustained various degrees of injuries and were rushed to university of Maiduguri teaching hospital/State Specialist Hospital for medical attention . Police patrol /Explosive Ordinance Department (EOD) teams promptly mobilized to the scene to sanitize and render the area safe. Normalcy has been restored to the community,” it added

L-R: Representative of Plateau Governor, Al-Hassan Barde; leader of the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation (PCFRR), Mr John Owoicho; and chairman, management committee of Shendam Local Government of Plateau, Mr Elias Kwaps, during inspection and take-over of the completed Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) hostels and complementary facilities constructed by the PCFRR in Shendam, yesterday in Plateau state.

Photo: NAN

Hajj 2018: Group wants reduction in deposit for seats From Mohammed Ibrahim, Kaduna

A

civil society o r g a n i z a t i o n , Independent Hajj Reporters has called on States Pilgrims Boards to reduce the minimum deposit for 2018 hajj fare to N300, 000 per month to allow low income earners cope with the Installment payment.

This was contained in a statement jointly signed by its National Coordinator, Ibrahim Muhammed and Publicity Secretary Abubakar Mahmoud.

The group said, “we are of the believe that spreading 2018 hajj fare packages into staggered and affordable monthly remittance will give intending pilgrims the muchneeded monetary flexibility to pay for the hajj fare without serious financial strain on their meager incomes.”

NAHCON and States Pilgrims Boards had earlier agreed that intending pilgrims who wish to perform 2018 hajj shall commence by paying N300, 000 per month in four months to make up to

N1.2 million naira pending when the official hajj seat package is released by the government.

Meanwhile, Kaduna State Pilgrims Welfare Board said every intending pilgrims must deposit 800,000 naira pending final announcement of seat fare by National Hajj Commission of Nigeria.

Director Operations of the Board, Lawan Yakubu who disclosed this on Tuesday warned against registration by proxy .

He added that pregnant

women and elderly would equally not be registered.

“For the elderly men and women they need to be accompanied by able bodied relatives because Hajj is a rigorous activity. Pregnant women too wouldn’t not be registered as ordered by NAHCON,” he said.

The Director also mentioned a new policy by Saudi Authorities that said old timers pilgrims would pay additional 2000 Saudi Riyals before they would be allowed to register for the 2018 hajj.

Why we approved Buhari’s loan request - Reps

By Umar Muhammad Puma

T

he House of Representatives has that it approved President Mohammadu Buhari’s request to obtain foreign loans amounting to $5.5 billion, because they have confidence that it would be put to good use.

Chairman House committee

on media and public affairs , Rep Abdulrazak Namdas started this while briefing journalists at the National assembly media centre.

He also said the lawmakers were also moved by the need to sustain the nation’s recent exit from economic recession, specific projects for which have been outlined to be funded, including completion of the

Mambila power plant.

“Some people are saying that the coming out of recession is still slim. We don’t want to slip back into recession, we want to be certain that we are out, and so we saw the need to approve the request”, Namdas said.

On whether the continuous borrowing does not amount to mortgaging the future of the country, the lawmaker argued

that borrowing should not be seen as out of place, if done in good faith, and not used for the wrong purposes.

“Borrowing is part of development, and we believe with President Buhari, it will be put to good use”, he said, stressing that the House will ensure effective oversight to see that the loan is properly applied.

PAGE 7

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

C R I M E N EWS Suspected military pension thieves granted bail

J

ustice D. Z. Senchi of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, sitting in Jabi, Abuja on Wednesday granted bail to the two military officers accused of complicity in stealing monies meant for payment of death benefits of deceased officers.

The suspects, Ishaka Yakubu and Akinbamidele Odunsi, were arraigned alongside Abidemi Kolade and Violet Ofoegbunam (both bank officials) on a 6-count count charge of conspiracy and stealing of pension funds to the tune of N339 million.

The offence breaches Section 315 of the Penal Code Act Cap 532 LFN (Abuja) 1990, and punishable under the same Act. Arraigned on November 9, the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge following which the court ordered their remand in prison custody and adjourned to November 15 for ruling on their bail application.

In his ruling, Justice Senchi admitted each of the accused persons to bail in the sum of N1 million each with two sureties in like sum. Each of the sureties must own property worth N200 million and must deposit original title of the property with the court.

The case has been adjourned to January 23, 2018 for hearing.

FG confirms murder of two Nigerians in South Africa

T

he Federal Government of Nigeria says it is following police investigations on the death of two Nigerians in South Africa.

A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja on Wednesday, signed by the spokesperson, Tope EliasFatile, said their death occurred in two

separate incidents.

“The mission informs that the first incident involved Mr Ikechukwu Mmanwoke Edmond, an indigene of Anambra State, who was murdered in front of his home in Marvern, a suburb of Johannesburg.

“The second incident involved Mr

Eluka Agu, who was beaten to death during a robbery alongside some unidentified persons in Olievenhoutbosch, Centurion, near Pretoria.

“The Federal Government wishes to assure that the Consulate-General of Nigeria in Johannesburg has been following Police investigations on the sad

development.

The government further commiserated with families of the deceased.

“Meanwhile, our missions in South Africa would continue to engage their host authorities to ensure the safety of Nigerians residing in various parts of the country.”

(NAN)

L-R: Chief Executive Officer, Ejike Oji Community Development Foundation, Dr Ejike Oji, congratulating the National President, National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), Dr Laraba Shoda and Chief Executive Officer of Peace Advocacy and Community Development Initiative, Mr Mohammed Yusuf, during the Award Night of the First National Workshop on the Role of the NCWS in Economic Development, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: NAN

Dogara tasks western countries on money laundry

By Musa Adamu

S

peaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara, has called for stronger synergy among impoverished countries in Africa in order to achieve desired outcomes in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

The Speaker noted that due to lack of effective international cooperation and collaboration, criminals had globalised their activities, connecting across the globe seamlessly whilst the enforcers of the laws were hampered in no small measure.

Speaking while delivering a keynote address at the 28th plenary meeting of the InterGovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) in Abuja, he expressed the National Assembly’s readiness to fully comply with the global standards.

He said this would be through demonstrating political support

to the relevant competent authorities in the country to deepen the anti -money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism culture in Nigeria.

Dogara also stressed that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was wholly focused and effectively poised to deal with the issues of corruption, money laundering, insecurity and terrorism in the country.

He said: “There must be synergy between the impoverished countries where monies may have been stolen and laundered from and countries where considered as safe havens where these proceeds of crime are kept. As stated earlier, the fibres of international cooperation must be strengthened if we must win the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

“Nigeria is fully committed to complying with the global standards required of her by demonstrating political support to the relevant competent

authorities in Country so as to deepen the anti -money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/ CFT) culture in Nigeria.

“The National Assembly will, when called upon for any legislative intervention to bring our system in tandem with global realities and requirements, do so with utmost sense of responsibility knowing the central role the subject matter of anti money laundering and combatting terrorist financing play in the attainment of economic prosperity and global peace.

“Nigeria is open to forms of cooperation permissible under the law and also in line with prevailing global best practices which could be expressed in unhindered Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) information exchange, or request for Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of

Justice.”

He highlighted the connection between stolen and criminally acquired funds and sponsorship of terrorism, stressing that it would continue to be a major challenge for policymakers in both developed and developing countries, with the magnitude of wanton destruction and loss of lives it leaves in its trail.

“As you all are well aware, terrorism and illicit financial flow have become a major scourge and an issue of global concern.

Repeated calls have been made for effective global collaboration to deal with the menace of terrorism, terrorists financing and money laundering. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), United Nations, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and others have at different times created global frameworks to guide countries who are enjoined to pass relevant laws and take other counter measures to deal with individuals, entities and assets of money launderers

Benin deploys 150 troops to fight Boko Haram

T

he Republic of Benin has deployed 150 soldiers to the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), to fight Boko Haram insurgents in the Lake Chad region, an official has disclosed.

Mustapha Anka, the Chief Military Public Information

Officer of the Force, made the disclosure in a statement he issued on Thursday in Maiduguri.

Mr. Anka, a colonel, said that the troops comprised eight officers and 142 soldiers, adding that the contingent had arrived MNJTF’s headquarters, Farcha Camp, Ndjamena, Chad.

He quoted the Force Commander, Lucky Irabor, as urging the troops to be good ambassadors of their country.

Mr. Irabor, a major general, however, admonished the troops to be law-abiding, disciplined and display a high sense of professionalism in the discharge

of their duties.

“Gen. Irabor reminded the troops of their tasks, which involve garrison duties for the MNJTF. “The commander thanked the President of the Benin Republic, Patrice Talon, the government and good people of the republic

and terrorist financers in their jurisdictions.”

The Speaker commended the openness and willingness of many countries across the world that partner with Nigeria to fight corruption and return to Nigeria, monies and other assets stolen and stashed away in their jurisdictions.

He added that the National Assembly would bring its system in tandem with global realities and requirements with utmost sense of responsibility, knowing the central role the subject matter of anti money laundering and combatting terrorist financing play in the attainment of economic prosperity and global peace.

He also called for continuous and sustainable coordination and collaboration amongst the competent authorities in Nigeria and other jurisdictions whilst assuring the constituted authorities in Nigeria that the doors of the legislature was always open to them for constructive engagement and discussion.

for their unflinching support in the fight against terrorism and insurgency in the Lake Chad region,’’ he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Benin is the fifth West African country to join the MNJTF, besides Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

PAGE 8

News

L-R: Secretary to the Commission Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Dr. Musa Abubakar, Acting Chairman ICPC Alhaji Abdullahi Bako and Legal director, Mr. Okey Igbndu, during the one day public hearing, at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Civil coalition dares Police, unseals Peace Corps office

By Stanley Onyekwere

A

Coalition of Civil Groups in Abuja, yesterday, enforced the judgement of a federal high court against the Nigerian Police, by unsealing the corporate head office of the Peace Corps of Nigeria in compliance with the court order.

The Peace Corps House, had been sealed by Police since February, this year but Justice Gabriel Kolawale of the federal high court, in a judgement of November 9, ordered police to unseal and vacate the office with immediate effect.

The judge, also imposed a fine of N12.5miilon on Police for breaching the fundamental rights of the Peace Corps National

Group trains youth on peaceful coexistence From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

T

he Generation For Peace (GFP), has trained over 250 Kaduna youth in peaceful coexistence in order to reduce the frequent violence that are often perpetrated by them.

The Administrative Officer of GFP, Mr. Eric John, disclosed this to the media during International Day of Tolerance held in Kaduna yesterday.

According to him, the training will make youth to have a different focus and not be used as political tools for thuggery and other anti-social vices by greedy politicians; saying, this is very important because the fast approaching 2019 general elections.

Commandant, Ambassador Dickson Akoh and 49 others with unlawful arrest and detention.

However, following the refusal of police to obey the court order, the civil groups numbering 15, stormed the headquarters at number 59, Iya Abubakar Crescent, Abuja and opened the office.

Led by a legal practitioner and President of Lawyer Integrity Crusade Network, Mr. Edward Omaga, the groups armed with the court order told the police who barricaded the gate that they were there to enforce a valid court order.

Without resistance, an unmarked Honda Bullet car used by police to block the gate was driven to another location by a

police man.

While the groups were in the premises of the Peace Corps house, one of the officers contacted the FCT command on phone on the development leading to deployment of about 100 fully armed to the scene.

The armed policemen led by an assistant Police Commissioner, Danlami Yusuf Taura, on arrival summoned the leader of the civil groups, for explanation on their mission and were told by Omaga that they were there to enforce a lawful court order.

To justify their action, the leader of the group presented a copy of the court order to the police boss and also drew his attention to another copy pasted on the gate of the Peace Corps

house by authorities of the federal high court.

ACP Taura attempted to defend police with a claim that they have up to seven days grace to unseal the office but Omaga drew his attention to a portion of the court order that police must vacate immediately.

Another claim by the ACP, that the Commissioner of Police in charge of the FCT command had not been served by the court order was also punctured by Omaga who drew his attention to the acknowledgement of the service of the court order on the Inspector General of the Police.

At the time of this report, there was no fracas between the groups and the Police.

Omaga, maintained that in

defend the rule of law the Peace Corps house has been unsealed incompliance with the court order and that officials and the workers of the Peace Corps are expected to resumed work in the office today unhindered by the police or any other security agents.

Earlier in a statement, signed by leaders of the fifteen groups, the action of the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris was condemned in strongest term for allegedly showing disrespect to the court order.

Omaga, who read the press statement, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to call the IGP to order so as to prevent him from instigating the masses against the federal government.

Victim of army shooting cries out for help From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

A

victim of shooting by the Nigeria Army personnel on June 9, 2017 to dispersed protesting youth at Television Village in Chikun Local Government Area in Kaduna State, Denis Timothy has called on the Federal Government and the Nigeria Army (NA) authority to come to his rescue and save him from pains and agony he is currently passing through.

He made the appeal while speaking to newsmen in Kaduna yesterday.

Denis, who is now confined to a wheelchair because he has been paralyzed as a result of the gun shot, said he is a 29 years old graduate Kaduna State University who read accountancy.

He said he served in Cross River State and after his meritorious service to the nation he was enrolled by the Kaduna State Government into the N-Power scheme and attached to LEA Primary School, Kakuri in

Kaduna South Local Government Area.

According to him, he was on his way home when he saw crowd gathered at the Total Filling Station opposite Command Secondary School, not aware of what was happening he decided to move forward. Suddenly, he saw the crowd running towards his direction and he was left with no option but to also run for his dear life, before he fell down and found himself in his pool of blood.

“A good Samaritan picked me up and took me to a house and was later taken to Saint Gerald Catholic Hospital, Kakuri, where I spent three weeks before being referred to 44 Nigeria Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna.

After attending to me for over two months, the medical team informed me that the bullet is still within my system and I have to do scanning which will cost me N180,000, but unfortunately my family cannot raise the money because they have virtually sold everything for me to stay alive.

“Since I came back from the hospital I cannot pass out urine unless with the help of uretic Catheter (tube) and when I defecate someone helps to clean me up. Life has not been the same for me since then. I was a young man full of hope for better things before that black 9th June, 2017, when my life was turned around.

“The painful aspect of it is that the soldier who shot me never showed any remorse. When my senior brother wrote a letter to General Officer Commanding, 1 Division of Nigeria Army, Kaduna, there was no respond.

And when my brother visited the Headquarters, an army officer asked him how is sure that the bullet that hit his brother was fired by an army personnel, and therefore sent him away with and warned him never to set foot on the headquarters again.

“I am dying gradually whereas those who put me in this situation do not care. God knows I was returning back from my place of assignment. I was not a part of

the protesters, but look at where I find myself. Somebody should help me, especially President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai. I don’t want to die from a sin I did not commit,” he lamented.

Mother of the victim, Mrs. Asaba Timothy, said she has sold everything that is sellable in the house and now the family is moving to put their only property on sale to see if they can save Denis.

“All I am begging the Nigeria Army and the Presidency is to help and give my son a medical attention that will save his life.

Nothing more, nothing less,” she said.

When contacted the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, 1 Div Kaduna, Col Kingsley Umoh, said he just landed at the Lagos airport on his way for an assignment and promised to call back. But at the time of filing in this report he had not called back.

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

Page 9

News

NDLEA laments lack of manpower, logistics in Delta From Osakhare Erese, Asaba

T

he Delta State Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Mr Dennis Obiefule has lamented the shortage of personnel, equipment, and funds to effectively carry out the fight against illicit drugs in State.

Speaking during a courtesy /Interactive visit by the Indigenous Correspondents Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Delta State Council, the commander said the agency in the entire state has five commands manned by 84 personnel including cleaners with two operational vehicles for the twenty five local government areas of the state.

This development coupled with none release of funds, he observed has greatly affected their operations in the state, and called on government to focus on the fight against illicit drugs holistically to be able to address the issue of social vices and militancy in the country.

“There is no way you can fight insecurity without addressing the issues of illicit drugs. Delta State is notorious in the cultivation of illicit drugs. It is a major issue in the state and the worst is that the people don’t seem to appreciate the dangerous effect of drugs. It is not all about money, think of the future of your generation and that of the nation.” Obiefule said.

Continuing; “Drugs problem is not for an individual alone, it a societal challenge. When you enter a motor park you will notice that we are not safe, and we cannot keep quiet. Today, there is hardly a night life because of crime. The few individuals into illicit drugs in Delta is given the state a bad name. For long time Delta State has been notorious and some of the dealers have vowed not to stop.”

He said the only way forward is to educate the citizens on the effects of drugs, adding that NDLEA rely on the collaboration of the Indigenes but unfortunately the cartel have instilled fears on the people.

The Commander revealed that from January to November this year, the agency has arrested no fewer than 200 male and 50 female suspects with 6,844 cannabis of ‘Igbo’, 2.09 kg of coking, 22.2 gm of heroine were ceased while it secured 19 convictions, destroyed 4.2 hectares of cannabis farm, 1.0 hectares of cannabis within the period.

On the areas of drugs reduction, Obiefule said the state Command has delivered 20 lectures about drugs abuse.

Lagos govt plans 12-hour street carnival

T

he Lagos State Government on Thursday said it would hold a 12-hour street carnival on the popular Oba Akran Avenue, Ikeja, on December 3 ahead of the Yuletide.

The Special Adviser to Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode on Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs Adebimpe Akinsola, at a news conference in Alausa, said that the overall aim of the carnival was to boost the economy of the state.

Akinsola said that the event, formerly known as Lagos Street

party, had metamorphosed into a carnival which would take place on the whole stretch of Oba Akran Road from noon till midnight.

She assured that arrangements were in place to ensure maximum security and traffic control.

Akinsola said that alternative routes would be provided to motorists so that they do not experience pains as a result of the closure.

She said over 700 revellers were expected to attend the carnival in colourful costumes,

design and animation in a controlled procession.

According to her, there is provision for virtually all categories of people from kids, adults to the aged.

She said that the carnival would be used to showcase the abundant indigenous culture, food and lifestyle of Lagos.

Akinsola said that besides entertainment and fun making, the carnival would offer upcoming artistes and tradesmen the opportunity to exhibit their skills

and market their products.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde, said the objective of the carnival was to make Lagosians unwind, relax and allow small-scale entrepreneurs to make brisk businesses.

Ayorinde said it would as well showcase the diversity of Lagos culture.

He said that the event would also showcase veteran and new artistes in the music industry and comedians.(NAN)

L-R: Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu receiving the Education Officer of (UNICEF) Nigeria, Mr. Terry Dunmian, at the Minister’s Office recently Abuja

Nursing mother, 4 months old baby electrocuted in Delta … BEDC denies incident From Osakhare Erese, Asaba

A

nursing mother identified as Mrs. Favour Agbo and her four months child have reportedly been electrocuted in Ogwashi-Uku community near Asaba, Delta State.

It was reliably gathered that the incident which occurred on Tuesday night, was still hazy as at the time of this report, especially with conflicting versions of the incident.

Investigation revealed that the victims, native Anambra State, were residents of Isah road,

Ogwashi-Uku before the incident but unconfirmed sources said electricity wire in the women’s room sparked off the inferno that engulfed her entire room, and in the process consumed her, and her children while another version said the victims were shocked by the naked wire that fell on their bed where they were sleeping.

Further investigation revealed that electric wire inside the ceiling of the roof of the building which the victims were living caught fire, and affected the plaster of Parish ceiling which eventually melted

and fell on the bed of the victims while they were fast asleep.

But the husband who was sleeping in other room narrowly escaped being consumed by the inferno with one of their children who was said to have slept with him in the same room.

A co-tenant, Maryjane Obeh who spoke to our reporter, confirmed that all efforts to put out the inferno proved abortive by neighbours through their distressed calls adding the victims were later rushed to the hospital in Asaba where the woman and her four months old

baby gave the ghost in the early hours yesterday.

At Ogwashi-Uku Police Division, Police Officers who did not want their names in the print said no case of such was reported, adding that they were going to do some findings.

When contacted, the Corporate Affairs Manager of BEDC, Mrs. Esther Okolie told journalists that she was not aware of the incident, adding that she heard the incident from journalists, and assured of getting back after getting necessary details.

Ember months: FRSC to sanction reckless drivers From Femi Oyelola, kaduna

K

aduna Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) RS 1.1, Umar Guntu Ibrahim has warned that the Corps will sanction any erring motorists that is found overloading his vehicle during the Ember months.

According to him, this traffic offence is punishable under the FRSC act and attract N10,000

sanction.

The sector commander stated this while fielding questions from newsmen at the Kaduna Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) .

The sector commander had highlighted excessive overloading, road violation, dangerous driving, dangerous overtaking and non compliance to the installation of speed limit device especially by commercial

vehicles as leading causes of accidents on Kaduna roads.

According to him, “sometimes, those commercial transport vehicles do carry overload and hid somewhere till after 18:00hours when they know we would be off the road.

We normally leave the road when it’s getting dark because where are not bearing arms.

“There is no single day we don’t arrest people for

overloading. This period, people seem to be in haste to make more returns. But there is no point trying to make returns at the expense of your live, your passengers and other road users.

That is why we are on the road to sensitise and enforce measures to reduce road crashes before, during g and after yuletide.”We are partnering with relevant stakeholders to ensure that, travelers enjoy safer roads.”

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

PAGE 10

News

L-R: Michael Galway (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), Dr. Sule Meleh, Executive Director Borno State Primary Health Care Board, Dr. Wondi Alemu, Country Rep WHO and Dr. Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director, NPHCDA, at the Borno State Polio Emergency Operations Centre, reviewing Progress on polio Eradication in Nigeria, yesterday in Maiduguri

221 police personnel attached to Obiano – Spokesman

T

he Nigeria Police Force on Thursday said that 221 police officers were attached to Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra for his personal and office protection.

Obiano had alleged the withdrawal of his Aide-De-Camp.

A statement by the Force spokesman, CSP Jimoh Moshood, said that the personnel comprised one ADC; one CSO; one Unit

Commander from 45 Police Mobile Force and one Administration Officer to administer the Police Personnel.

Others are 43 Personnel of PMF, from 29 PMF and 54 PMF; 62 personnel of PMF from 45 PMF, 46 Personnel of Special Protection Unit and 66 Personnel of Conventional Policemen.

Moshood said that police personnel attached to Obiano were

more than the strength of some Police Area Commands in some States of the Country.

“This is done to ensure optimum safety and protection of the Executive Governor of Anambra,” he said.

The spokesman said that the ADC or any other police officer attached to Obiano were not withdrawn.

He explained further that the

ADC and Chief Security Officer were called to the Police Command in the state on November 14 to attend a lecture with personnel deployed for the governorship election.

Moshood said that the two security officers returned later after the lecture to their duty posts at the Government House in Awka.

He said that security arrangement currently being implemented by the Force for the

Nov. 18 governorship election in the state would not be compromised.

“The Force will also ensure adequate protection of the electorate, INEC Officials, Election Observers/Monitors, Electoral Materials and the general public before, during and after the election,” he said.

The Nigeria Police Force had deployed 26,000 additional policemen for the election.( NAN)

Niger spends N4.3bn on schools’ renovation, furniture

T

he Niger government said it spent N4.3 billion on renovation of 5,065 classrooms, construction of 123 blocks of classrooms and 2,096 toilets in some selected schools in the state.

The Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Education, Yahaya Garba, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Minna on Wednesday.

He said that the state government also provided furniture for the staff members in some selected schools.

He explained that the expended fund was part of the counterpart funding from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC’s) intervention programme for 2013 and 2014, which could not be accessed by the previous administration in the state.

Mr. Garba further explained that part of the fund was used in reconstructing and renovating nine schools selected across the three senatorial zones of the state.

He listed the schools and colleges renovated to include: Government Girls Modern School, Bida; Justice Idris Legbo Science College, Kutigi; Government Science College, Baro and Maryam Babangida Girls Science College, Minna.

Others were: Government Science College Izom; Government Secondary School, Tegina; Mu’azu Commercial College Kotangora; Government Girls Science School Kotangora and Government Secondary School, Rijau among

others.

According to him, the state government is collaborating with Abuja-based Baze University to train teachers that handle entrepreneurship studies.

He said that entrepreneurship

studies would be included in the curriculum of the nine of the schools renovated.

Mr. Garba said that the state government would invest N10 million in the training, which would begin in November.

The permanent secretary also said that the state government had disbursed N170 million to 7, 503 students studying in higher institutions of learning across the country and N55 million to 105 students studying abroad.(NAN)

Ortom, Tsav case: Court adjourns ruling on application to January 30 From Makurdi

A

Uche

Nnorom,

Chief Magistrate Court presided over by Isaac Ajim sitting in Makurdi, Benue State capital yesterday heard the preliminary objection in the case between Governor Samuel Ortom and Commissioner, Public Complaint Commission Alhaji Abubakar Tsav.

The governor had instituted a suit against Tsav asking him to explain several allegations raised by him that bother on financial impropriety.

While raising the objection, counsel to the accused, Anthony Agadah argued that what should guide the court to interpret the

phrase ‘in due service of his duty’, is to read section 10 of the Public Complaints Commission, PCC act in conjunction with section 5 subsection (2) and section 5 subsection (3) paragraph (D) He averred that the contention of the respondent is that the accused acted on his own and not within the confines of his duty, adding that the letter written by the accused showed clearly that it emanated from his office as Commissioner of Public Complaint Commission.

According to Agadah, section 211 subsection (3) of the Constitution forbids the Attorney General from abusing his office in exercise of his constitutional powers, maintaining that the

accused letter only called for investigation into the act of governance.

“I finally submit that the charge against by client is a nullity and premature. It is an attempt to silence a dogged critic of government and urge the court to grant the application.

In his reply, counsel to Governor Samuel Ortom Andrew Wombo contended that the issue of determination of the suit is not hinged on section 10 of the PCC act, arguing strongly that the section spells out clearly the duties of a Commissioner which does not include writing letter to a sitting Governor.

“The letter is contentious. It is addressed to Governor Samuel

Ortom. This is outside the preview of his duty which is stated clearly that he is to receive Petitions and complaints from people. What he has written about the Governor is untrue and that is why we have brought him to court to explain and defend himself and not to bring objection upon objection. I, therefore urge the court to dismiss the preliminary objection for lack of merit”, Wombo submitted.

Having listened to submissions by the parties, the presiding Magistrate adjourned the case to 30th January, 2018 for ruling on the preliminary objection on notice as well as hearing of the application on stay of proceeding.

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

PAGE 11

EDITORIAL

Kaduna teachers’ strike: Militancy isn’t an answer

T

eachers in Kaduna state’s public wanted to know if organised labour that primary schools have dropped chalk objected to the planned sack wanted those in protest against the government’s who failed the test to be sent back to primary planned sack of 22,000 teachers. school class 4. “Are people saying that we They first gave the government, which is should send teachers back to primary 4?” their employer, a two-week warning to Rufai said all teachers in public primary schools rescind the planned mass dismissals. But were given an ample opportunity to update the government said there was no going their teaching knowledge . In 2012, for back. The teachers made good their threat example, they were given a five-year grace and duly started a state-wide strike Nov. period to acquire the National Certificate of 8.

Education (NCE), which is the minimum The 22,000 teachers the government said it national qualification to teach in primary must get rid of, according to it, flunked a competency test that they themselves had set for class 4 pupils. This was the number that did not meet the 70% cut off mark. The test was administered to 33,000 teachers The problem is this bad. It is over all.The government’s intention is to an emergency and drastic replace the “incompetent, unqualified” teachers with 26,00 new teachers with the measures, such as the Kaduna requisite training and qualifications. state government has taken, Governor Nasir el Rufai, in a recent radio are required. Rather than interview, alleged that unqualified persons found their way into the public oppose it, NUT, the teachers’ school system because standards were union, and NLC, should ignored. “Political patronage, nepotism embrace it in the interest of and corruption became the yardsticks...

Teaching jobs were given to those future of our children. Political connected to politicians and bureaucrats,” brinkmanship is not helpful he said. According to him, “ the future of here. our children is so important that we’ll not take chances. We’ll be vigilant to ensure school. According to him, many failed to that only (qualified) people teach in our take advantage of that window. “We’ll not public schools.” keep unqualified teachers on our payroll,” The governor explained that theJune 2017 the governor vowed. comptency test exposed the extent of the rot in the system. It revealed, he said, a On the face of it, the government stands on a surer ground than the aggrieved teachers general lack of basic knowledge, not just and their union leaders. The rot in the teaching skill.”If you have knowledge, public school system is nationwide. Of but are deficient in teaching skill, we course, there are many factors responsible can retrain you. But when there is no for this. For some, government is to blame, knowledge what is there to teach?” He

“

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 Chairman Malam Wada Maida, Oon, Fnge Chief Operating Officer (Ag) Editor, Daily

Hameed M. Bello Manager, administration Hassan Hammanyaji

such as poor physical infrastructure and teacher remuneration. But, unarguably, the biggest headache is the dearth of qualified teachers. Note the observation of Mr. Nasir Umar, zonal coordinator of UBEC in Kaduna state. He said even if the government did not have to sack teachers, the state would still have had to recruit additional 30,000 teachers for the over 3 million children enrolled in primary schools.

The problem is this bad. It is an emergency and drastic measures, such as the Kaduna state government has taken, are required.

Rather than oppose it, NUT, the teachers’ union, and NLC, should embrace it in the interest of future of our children. Political brinkmanship is not helpful here.

To be sure, the unions do have a point in saying that the competency test was not administered by recognised teaching institutions like the National Teachers Institute and Teachers Registration Council. However, the government’s argument is that no law restricts it to only those organisations. It says the competency test was to test the efficacy of the training and retraining programmes of similarly competent evaluators as ESSPIN and the Teacher Development Programme.

In other words, if a majority of teachers failed the test administered by these two bodies, what difference would it have made if a different body applied it, without having to compromise standards? None whatsoever. Painful as the government’s decision is, as it implies job losses in an economy just emerging from recession, we urge the unions to, for once, put militancy aside and join hands with the government to rescue the comatose education sector.

OUR VISION

“To be a reputable, profitable, innovative and technologically reliant media company offering world class services and products”

PAGE 12

Opinion

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

Katsina APC wranglings: A replica of its national crises

By Mansir Lawal Kaware

I

t is traditional to now hear about internal political crisis in Nigeria between sitting Governments led by State Governors and a clique of the same party members led by other notable figures of the ruling party in the state. A times they are called Abuja Group, if those in contention hold positions of authority at federal or National Assembly levels. Such crises were not limited to States but could sometimes become challenges even to the Presidency.

One could record what happened between Obasanjo and Atiku as the Vice President during Obasanjo/Atiku Second tenure. It also happened between Atiku and Jonathan which forced Atiku and some five Governors of the PDP to leave the party and such quarrel is in existence between Buhari and Atiku under APC and to some extent Tinubu, going by the wordings of his supporters even though he (Tinubu) denied it. There were similar problems in the past in Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Rivers, Bayelsa, Adamawa, Oyo, Ondo, Nasarawa, Zamfara, Anambra and Imo among others. Today, similar developments are happening in some of the States like Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi and a host of others.

However, the worst hit under such characterization are the States that have serving Presidents as at the time of the logger head. It was not visible during the time of Obasanjo because the 1999 election results showed that the lacks home support and as leader of the ruling party, he made sure that in 2003 PDP won five of the six states in the South – West against all odds. Because it was his second term, the politicians within his party could not have much time for intra party rivalry in his home state. But that was not the case in Katsina when late Ummaru Musa ‘Yar’adua was President, Shema had a hectic time with what was then referred to as Abuja Group, but the death of Umaru Musa forced the group to apply a brake.

In Bayelsa, during the Jonathan regime, Tempre Desilva was faced with similar problem and had to leave the country for some time apart from los-

ing his seat as a Governor. It is, therefore, not surprising that there is this kind of controversy in Katsina between Governor Masari and a group of individual politicians that want to wrestle power from him because they are mostly those who contested primary election with him. It may not be wrong to say that opposition parties in Presidents home State usually have some peace because their chance of winning is very hazy.

Before digging into the Katsina APC Internal tug-of-war lets takes a look at what the national brouhaha of the APC looks like. For one reason or the other, the APC is an Amalgamation of different groups of people belonging to different parties that came together to save Nigeria from the calamity, that was about to befall on it. Despite the differences, their action has served the purpose because without that, nobody can tell the stay of Nigeria now. The CPC, ACN, ANPP and a faction of APGA which was later joined by the NPDP did the magic, God in His infinite power gave APC. Victory for Nigeria to once again see the light of the day. One thing Nigerians need to know is that each of the party or groups were aspiring for positions of leadership before coming to agree on a single platform, therefore, it is expected that given the chance, that urge will surely resurface.

A times the principal actors may not be the initiators but their people while at some other times the principal actors instigate their people to initiate the action. It is therefore no news to say Atiku, Tinubu and others are equally eyeing the Presidency. The attacks on Buhari can be sponsored either within the party or from the oppositions with the sole aim of discrediting his administration. Professor Wole Soyinka is in support the IPOB, Shi’ites and restructuring without recourse to the dangers inherent in those agitations and the behaviours of the agitators going by the BBC interview he granted on 11/11/2017. It is however not surprising because the same Wole Soyinka in April, 2017 led the campaign to remove Arabic inscription on Nigerian currency on the pretext that it is Islamic. How decayed could such a development be. Couldn’t he make investigation on the

meaning of what was written before portraying that he was talking about what he did not know.

But one thing is certain Buhari remain a symbol of credible leadership not only in Nigeria but in the eyes of other countries of the World.

We have a replica case in Katsina State where Aminu Bello Masari is piloting the affairs of the State. The Katsina credibility Group members of the APC are working hard to portray the Government of Masari in bad light but as at now, it seems they have lost the case because the people have been blaming those around Masari for his action or inaction. The blanket accusation by the integrity group against Masari is in itself not credible because the group is only using a general term with no specific points.

The group, the opposition and all those accusing Governor Masari of non performance need to tell Katsina State indigenes what is it that Masari has not done. In a period of about 2½ years the Katsina Governor is being rated with 16 years rule of the PDP. By this action those opposed to him are sending signals that the APC administration has performed wonders in Katsina so much so that its performance can be compared with what obtains in 16 years more so the group took its name after the Ete era National Assembly tussle, the leader of which ended without integrity himself. For any delegation to have an impact, it needs to be placed on comparative analysis of data scale.

It is not enough to say Masari has not performed, it has to be proved for Katsina States indigenes to make judgment. Therefore, the indices of measuring the performance of Masari or otherwise has to start from Shema Administration of 2007 as a case study because he is the immediate past Governor.

This is to say that one has to consider the money accrued in the month of June to December, 2007 and what was received from June to December 2015. One could then go on quarterly assessment basis for 2008, 2009 and 2016, 2017 respectively.

Consider the value of the money within the periods in question, take the cost of materials, salary, pension, debt, gratuity, moving to the Departments and gauging what was paid and done within

the corresponding periods. I can remember that in 1985 I paid N20, to Lagos on a public transport, the amount being paid today could take about 100 people to Lagos it N20 is to be paid. In the light of that the APC integrity or the opposition party members need to do more, because at present thair argument is hollow, take any department or ministry, you will find that Governor Masari has done something there. The workers have witnessed the interest of Masari in their progress as he abolished tenure system, facilitated mortgage loan, crapped the HND, Degree dichotomy, payment of salary, pension, gratuity and reinstatement of some staff laid off by Shema administration.

One other area of claim by the integrity members is that of claiming to be on the page of President Buhari APC wing. This is alien to the party in Katsina State and if anything we could not ascertain who is closer to Buhari than the Governor because in 2011 Masari contested for the Office of the Governor, under CPC. At best one could safely say that it is a group of those who lost to Masari under APC Primary election 2015, are interested staging a came back and could not find a suitable ladder hence using hired soldiers politically to come and start making noise on what they neither knew nor understood on the workings of Katsina State Politics. It is not enough to be claiming origin of Katsina you need to know the workings of those living in it. Imaging the rehabilitations of schools, hospitals and others, the national President of Nigeria Medical Association Professor Mike Osevehe Oginima of National Postgraduate medical College of Nigeria, Lagos and Katsina State Chairman Dr. Mohammed Usman Suleiman of FMC Katsina commended the hospitals renovation, but somebody who cannot administer Polio vaccine on a child below the age of five is condemning the work.

It is important for Governor Masari to forge ahead in doing his work and not allow the shouting of some people to deter him from serving the people who voted him into office.

Mansir Lawal Kaware writes in from Katsina State.

#NotTooYoungToRun: Why legislators must kill this bill

By Hamzat Lawal

T

o say that I, and indeed all Nigerian youth, are disappointed at the recent development in the National Assembly regarding the Not Too Young To Run bill, is an understatement.

The truth is that when the reports filtered out at the end of the recently concluded joint retreat of national legislators on constitution review in Lagos, indicating that the Senate and House committees on constitution review had killed the bill, I was totally heartbroken.

We felt like a child given a sudden, debilitating sucker punch by someone he trusts so much – his own father!

No one saw it coming. The bill had already passed the first and second readings. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and deputy president of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, had also publicly declared support for the bill. More than 25 State Houses of Assembly had publicly declared support for and endorsed the bill, following a series of fruitful engagements with young people at the state level. In fact, the House of Representatives even alluded to the bill as an achievement in its two-year score card.

Yes, we all thought Nigeria has come of age with the coming of this historic bill which enjoyed maximum support from Nigeria’s vast youth population. But, suddenly we woke up to the rude shock that, perhaps, all the cameras and light at the National Assembly in support of #NotTooYoungToRun were just mere histrionics to paint a false picture.

Nonetheless, the facts are irrefutable. Nigeria is at a crossroads, burdened by the youth question of “what does the future hold?” And, this is truth we cannot sweep under the carpet or gloss over with any amount of contrived political theatrics, no matter how hard we try.

First, killing the bill is tantamount to directly encouraging election-related violence; fueling re-

gional agitations; and empowering the enemies of our country to use the youth to perpetrate mayhem. This is because during the preparation and campaign for #NotTooYoungToRun bill, there emerged a perceptible new sense of maturity among Nigeria’s youth population. One could easily feel a silent revolution in the atmosphere: A consensus among the youth to enter the political fray as contenders, instead of continuously being used as pawns in violent pre- and post-electoral protests.

The Nigerian youth mustered a new intellectual energy with which they prepared to engage the democratic arena in future elections after the bill must have been passed and signed into law.

But today, witnessing the abandonment of this important bill, one wonders how this tremendous energy would be dissipated. The bill was supposed to give young people a sense of belonging in the political scheme of things, and allow for the crossfertilisation of ideas between the leaders and the led, because the lack of a mechanism for such outlet is at the root of socio-political unrest. Now one wonders, where do we go from here?

Second, discarding the Not Too Young To Run bill is another way of telling the international community that Nigeria is neither progressive nor upwardly mobile. It is important to note that #NotTooYoungToRun is a global movement, which has found so much traction in the facts that general demographics favour the youth, and that even the current Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) seek for proper youth mainstreaming for its effective implementation.

The campaign was launched by the United Nations in November 2016 and January 2017 at its offices in Geneva and New York. And, ironically, the same National Assembly had received commendation from the UN and AU for providing leadership in the continent of Africa for considering the bill in the first place.

On January 2016, the African Union Assembly

rose with the decision to devote its theme of the year 2017 to “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through investments in Youth”. AU recognised that investments made today in the youth, who represent Africa’s greatest asset, will determine the development trajectory of Africa over the next 50 years, and position the continent towards realizing the “Africa We Want”, a strong united and influential global player and partner, as envisioned in Agenda 2063.

As can be easily understood, the greatest investment in youth is political investment, because it holds the key to opening the doors to other developmental concerns like infrastructure, equality, education, health and environment, etc.

We had hoped that by 2019, we would see young people in power, helping to chart the course of governance to an all-inclusive future. But now, the feeling one gets is that the legislators are scared of such a future.

This should not be so. Rather, our distinguished lawmakers should see it as an opportunity for them to write their names in gold. Just like they rightly added it to their score card, it is a noble legacy for which posterity shall reward them and history shall be kind to the Eighth National Assembly.

For, in passing the bill, they would have given the right tool of participatory democracy to Nigerians yet to be born.

Third, Nigeria is currently passing through difficult times, and is highly in need of a “cohesionincentive” to make the youth continue believing in our young democracy. The #NotTooYoungToRun bill, which is celebrated by the world and lauded by the best of political intellectuals, is such a mechanism. It presents yet another opportunity for the youth and the government to see eye-to-eye and hold hands in a journey to birth a people-oriented new Nigeria.

And if the bill dies, a deep crack would be created in the fabric of our national consciousness, which might be hard to heal, as it would feed on

the simmering underground tensions in the country to gather its destructive momentum.

History beckons on Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara to guard our democratic heritage, entrench noble leadership, equal representation and true patriotism.

Certainly, in times of national need, Providence chooses not necessarily the old and experienced to provide effective leadership. Our founding fathers, Awolowo, Azikiwe, Balewa, built the foundation of this nation as part of the youth. Our present day youth also need their voices, to answer when Nigeria calls comes.

Fourth, it is important to remember that the Not Too Young To Run bill is not about politics; it is about governance. It is about putting a final stop to the brain drain syndrome that makes the youth leave our shores in droves and take their God-given talents to other countries, while we need them here.

It is about ensuring that young people, who nowadays graduate from tertiary institutions in their teenage, also find a place in the political space, should they aspire to such career.

It is about addressing an emerging need in the polity, after witnessing more than seven thousand youth troop out to canvass support for the #NotTooYoungToRun bill in insurgency-ravaged Yobe and Borno States. It is about entrenching true democracy – the choice of the people, who have spoken loud and clear that young Nigerians be given the opportunity to represent their communities, states and nation in matters of governance.

It is about a future that we all want to be part of, and be proud of; a New Nigeria of many faces, including the young and innocent ones. A great Nigeria!

Hamzat Lawal is an activist and a supporter who believes in the Not Too Young To Run bill.

PAGE 13

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

Comment

The rise of ethnic nationalism in Nigeria

By Labaran Yusuf Nigeria Sailing Towards Uncharted Water: The Rise Of Yugoslav-like Nationalism

W

ith the drums of ethnic nationalism growing louder by the day, the Nigerian society is facing an unprecedented level of polarisation within an already suspicious ‘fabric’ that make up Nigeria.

Ever since the Cold War ended, there have been a significant increase in ethnic conflicts across parts of Asia, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Africa, all of which had a disastrous effect on world peace and security.

Conflicts in the Balkans, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Rwanda, Darfur, Zaire, Central African Republic, Burundi and lately South Sudan, are among the deadliest and most familiar conflicts of the late 20th and early 21st centuries – that are often accompanied by gross human rights violations, such as genocide and crimes against humanity, and by economic decline, state failure, environmental problems, and refugee flows. The aforementioned ethnic conflicts are usually not about ethnic differences themselves, but sometimes are over political, economic, social, cultural or territorial matters.

Nigeria, synonymous with deep divisions, an outlying factor, which since independence have cause major political matters to be vigorously and violently contested along – ethnic, religious and regional lines. Also, because of a complicated network of politically silent identities, coupled with a history of protracted and seemingly stubborn ethno-religious wars and instability, Nigeria ranks top on the list as one of the most unstable states in Africa.

In this column, Nigeria will be compared and contrast simultaneously with the former Yugosla-

via, the reason being that both nations are multiethnic in nature, with populations holding deep cultural, religious, and social loyalty and identity towards their ethnic groupings. And also, both countries have experienced a tide of ethnic nationalism which is a major cause of suspicious and distrust among the respective populations.

Firstly, Nigeria and Yugoslavia are both heterogeneous societies. However, Nigeria is a populous country, with a population of over 180 million people. Nigeria also has a total number of over more than 250 different ethnic identities, of which three ethnic groups constitute somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of the population. The Hausa-Fulani ethnic group counts for 30 percent of the population, the Yorubas about 20 percent and the Igbos about 18 percent. These three major ethnic groups have dominated the Nigerian political spectrum since independence.

In Yugoslavia, for example, the ethnic groupings weren’t so much diverse compared to Nigeria’s. Former Yugoslavia was composed of – Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, Montenegrins, Macedonians and Slovenes, which were all under the control of former statesman, Josip Tito, a communist that established an almost united Yugoslavia, after leading resistance to German occupation during World war II. Following his demise, ethnic nationalists were emboldened and eventually lead to the fracturing and later disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991.

Just like Yugoslavia, in Nigeria, the religious factor cannot be ignored. The Hausa-Fulani and other smaller ethnic groupings that inhabit the North are Muslims while the Igbos and other smaller ethnic groups in South are primarily Christians. In the middle comprise a mixture of Christians and Muslims, while the Yoruba found in the Southwest are almost half Muslim and half Christian. This Muslim North and Christian South cleavage enhances ethnic fractionalisations in Ni-

geria, especially in Northern Nigeria, where Islamic identity plays a dominant role (Panden 2007:8; Okpanachi).

Also, in both Nigeria and Yugoslavia, identities have historically played a significant role in instituting and executing socio-economic strategies and applications. The emergence and aggravation of “us” versus “them” syndrome, where Muslims were pitted against Christians, Northerners against Southerners, Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo against each other, and so on. Just as Christian Serbs and Croats were pitted against Bosnian Muslims in the Balkans.

During his ascent to the dictatorship of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler mastered the art and use of propaganda, raising both the Public’s hatred of non-Aryans and its loyalty to himself and the Nazis, this is evident in his book Mein Kampf, the “bible” of the Nazi party. Events in the war-torn former Yugoslavia illustrate how propaganda can ignite ethnic fighting. As Yugoslav-born religious studies professor Paul Mojzes writes,” Even the most cursory reading of the politicians statement, indicates that each [ethnic] side liberally provoke the other. The name-calling was belligerent, the speeches and articles untruthful and incendiary.

All lie [d] massively” As a result of bitter ethnic hatred, hundreds of Croats, Muslims, and Serbs have been killed or wounded and more than three million have been left homeless.

Tragically, this brutal type of ethnic hatred and violence seems to be intensifying around the world.

In Africa – Burundi, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Nigeria, ethnic nationalism is spiking, with high stakes and array of consequences.

Little more than two decades ago, the Rwandan genocide, committed by the Hutus against the Tutsi population, of which more than a million people were killed and thousands more displaced, one of the most brutal acts on the African continent is off people’s minds. The same kind of ethnic

rhetoric employed during the Rwandan conflict are being used again. We here the infamous word ‘go-to-work’ that was used by the Hutus to order Tutsi killings in Rwanda being repeated in Burundi to stir up tensions and incite violence. Social media monitoring sites, have reported a surge in nationalistic sentiments and hate speeches across Nigeria. This is evident even on city streets and campuses in certain parts of the country.

It has been 50 years since the proclamation of Biafra, pro-secessionist voices are growing louder, calling for the secession of South-eastern Nigeria.

An adamant supporter of such a cause is Nmandi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who was recently released from prison, have being a figure-head of the pro-Biafra movement. This in turn, have giving rise to a new nationalistic group, Coalition of Northern Youth Groups, whose recent ultimatum for the Igbos living in the North to leave within 3 months gave the group prominence and public notice.

Unity of Nigeria is what is most needed at this crucial time, not Milosevic-like nationalistic leaders calling for secession. Let’s not forget the Srebrenica massacre, Rwandan genocide and the siege of Sarajevo, which all brought misery and brutal effects on humanity.

Finally, the government should use all possible initiatives to prevent the disintegration of Nigeria.

And also the youths should play an important role in peace building and peace making for a better and prosperous Nigeria.

About the Author: freelance writer and researcher with expertise on European, Middleeastern, African and the Americas politics. Also a student with University of Jos. A columnist with the Dailystream newspaper, my published works include: journey to Europe:jump into the Dark and Nigeria’s Health Sector in the 21st Century Labaran Yusuf writes in from Jos, Plateau state.

Does Nigeria really need political restructuring?

By Sampson Ikemitang

S

everal decades after the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates in 1914 by Lord Lugard, and 57 years of the nation’s independence, there are still strong and persistent agitations by some interest groups in the polity demanding the restructuring of the existing political arrangement. This, they say, should be done if the country must remain an indivisible and indissoluble entity. Their agitations are coming on the heels that Nigerian federalism has totally assumed the attributes of a unitary system of government. Pundits have also agreed with the above line of thought, describing the federalism in practice as a “proxy unitary.” Proxy because Nigeria being a federalist state is in character with a unitary system.

Considered from the system of practice, a unitary system of government, or a unitary state is a sovereign state governed as a single entity.

While the central government is supreme, the administrative divisions exercise only powers that the central government delegates to them.

On the other hand, a federal government is a system that divides up power between a strong national (federal) government and states and local governments, otherwise known as the component units. Drawing from the above, it is understandable that under federalism, each level of government has sovereignty in some areas and shares powers in other areas. For instance, both the federal and state governments have the power to collect tax. However, only the Federal Government has exclusive jurisdiction over the issues of defence, immigration, currency and external affairs.

Political watchers are unanimous that the unitary system of government was occasioned by the 1966 military incursion into the nation’s politics, which invariably truncated the constitutional democracy of the First Republic. Meanwhile, the military has been swift to cite the ethnocentric politics, regionalism, corruption and failure of the political elite to play by the rules that pervaded the First Republic as some of the reasons for their intervention and takeover of government.

Indeed, there are contending views regarding the ongoing restructuring debate. Those leading the fray have asserted that given the present economic realities, the hitherto political thermostat of the nation is not only weak, but lacks the propelling force to regulate the political temperature of the country. The force being the ingredient to instil the much-needed stability for socio-economic and political emancipation of the people for sustainable development, hence the need for restructuring. They have averred that Nigeria, as it stands currently, is not working, and cannot experience development unless a fundamental political restructuring is first addressed. They have also described as worthless, even the constitution upon which our democracy is based, saying it was bequeathed to the nation by the past military regimes.

Conversely, those that are averse to the restructuring idea have equally posited that Nigeria has since the First Republic, undergone a series of restructuring journeys without commensurate progress. Besides, the country has also failed to consolidate on the gains of restructuring and/ or making a conscious effort to improve on the challenges. Therefore, they opined that those clamouring for restructuring are perhaps, looking for avenues to position themselves for relevance and wait for the opportunity to milk the country dry.

In the midst of all this rambunctious debate, it is important that we establish the meaning of political restructuring in this context. By political restructuring, we simply refer to an arrangement whereby a decision on public policy issues is shifted from one level or tier of government to another. It connotes the devolution of power on the federating units. It also presupposes fiscal federalism or resource control whereby states are allowed some measure of control over the resources in their domains and contribute a percentage to the government at the centre. They submitted that it does not in any way suggest or imply the balkanisation of the Nigerian state. The advocates of restructuring have maintained that for Nigeria to progress and exit the current economic quandary, it must be returned to the First Republic’s regional political structure or the constitution of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones into

federating units. They are of the view that during the First Republic, Nigeria practised a true federalist system with three regions – Western, Eastern and Northern. These regions, they said, served as federating units with each being quite semi-autonomous. They are quick to point to the exploits and giant strides undertaken by these regions during the period to buttress their claim.

From the foregoing, it can be deduced that each region worked assiduously without having to wait for the monthly handout or what is otherwise now regarded as the “national cake” from the centre to generate the financial resources needed for development. Each region channelled its energies to the production of goods and services in the areas they had comparative advantage. In fact, there was a healthy rivalry and this made production across the three regions to be at its peak. The country did not have to rely on the importation of consumer goods to feed its citizens, as it is the case today. The naira firmed up strongly against the dollar in terms of exchange and above all, there was a balance of trade cum balance of payment.

Currently, experts have noted that the reverse is the case. We have come to a point where some state governments are unable to develop Internally Generated Revenue. For example, a recent report published by the Economic Confidential Magazine and cited by the Nigerian Pilot Newspaper of Wednesday May 31, 2017, pp. 5, showed that 14 states of the federation are insolvent. What this means is that they are broke.

They have ridiculously low IGR for 2016 which were far below 10 per cent of their Federation Account Allocations. The implication is that without the federally-shared allocation, such states cannot run their affairs.

Aside from the issue of insolvency, 15 states of the federation are also incapable of paying their workers’ salaries, in spite of the huge bailouts by the Federal Government. The arrears of unpaid salaries range from five months to 15 months respectively. Observers have therefore, posited that most states are not economically viable, but have depended largely on the monthly handouts from the federation account to survive. Many have described this situation as worrisome for a

country with the aspiration of joining the league of developed nations. Therefore, they have urged the Federal Government not to brush aside the calls for restructuring, which to them will pull the country out of the woods.

In view of the above, one cannot agree less with the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu when he described our federalism as a “feeding bottle federalism.” He said: “Unfortunately, there is little we can do about meaningful youth economic inclusion and employment until we restructure our behemoth federalism. I still hold the view that this feeding bottle federalism, this act of robbing Peter to pay Paul, which we have gradually enthroned as State Policy since the fall of the First Republic remains the cause of our economic quandary.”

As part of the effort towards finding a lasting solution to the nation’s ailing economy, which is undoubtedly fuelling agitations in the polity, many have therefore canvassed the convocation of a national conference to discuss and agree on the modus operandi for a workable federalism.

As profound as this thinking appears to be, the intended methodology to be adopted is grossly flawed. In my view, we do not need to convoke a confab to resurrect regionalism or enthrone true federalism.

A subtle way to resolving this conundrum is for the National Assembly, as the elected representatives of the people, to commence the amendment of some provisions of the 1999 Constitution which are perceived to be antithetical to the practice of true federalism. For example, Section 162(1) stipulates that the Federation shall maintain a special account to be called “the Federation Account” into which shall be paid all revenues collected by the Government of the Federation, except the proceeds from the personal income tax of personnel of the Armed Forces of the Federation, the Nigeria Police Force, the Ministry or Departments of government charged with the responsibility for Foreign Affairs and the residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Ikemitang wrote in from the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Abuja.

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

PAGE 14

News We are prepared to deal with Niger Delta Avengers – Navy chief

T

he Chief of Naval Staff, Ibok-Ete Ibas, has warned the Niger Delta Avengers against threat to resume destruction and bombing of oil facilities in the Niger Delta.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the militant group had recently announced plans to resume hostilities, claiming that the federal government had not fulfilled its promise to redress situations in the region.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command in Calabar, Mr. Ibas said no group had the strength to threaten the peace and unity of Nigeria.

The CNS, who had an extensive interaction with officers and ratings across all formations under the Eastern Naval Command, said that the navy was prepared to confront any threat in the region.

“We are prepared for any group that threatens the unity and peace of our country. We are ready to stop all forms of illegal activities on our nation’s economic resources.

“I am here to carry out an appraisal on the activities of all mobile units ashore, training establishment as well as exercise the fleet later.

“No individual or group including the Niger Delta Avengers has the audacity to threaten the country and we will also make sure that Nigerians can use the maritime space unhindered.

“We have in the last two years made a considerable impact of reducing the operations of pirates,” he said.

He said that the presence of the Navy had given rise to maritime commerce, and that there had been remarkable improvement on the number of ships that were coming into the country.

Mr. Ibas explained that the recent acquisition of 150 boats

by Nigerian Navy which was produced by an indigenous company `Epenal Boat’, had created positive impact in the navy.

“Most great nations are nations that are able to take their destiny in their hands.

“I believe that Nigeria could look inwards and develop boats.

We have identified that we have an indigenous boat company and we decided to try them, out given the type of challenges that we have,’’ he said.

He also disclosed that the Navy had on November 12 arrested six pirates that had attempted to hijack a ship, adding that the impact of the navy on sea had given rise to increased maritime activities.(NAN)

New custodian, Imams appointed for Abuja National Mosque

By Mahmud Isa

T

he Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), the apex body superintending over the affairs of Islam and Muslim in Nigeria, has appointed Professor Shehu Ahmad Said Galadanci, as Murshid to the National Mosque (General Administrator or Custodian) rather than a Chief Imam, as obtained in all countries of the World.

This was part of some adjustments and restructuring

in the Abuja National Mosque announced yesterday by the NSCIA under the leadership of its President-General and Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alh. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, The duty of Murshid, is to see the upliftment of the Muslim Community spiritually and intellectually.

The Secretary General of NSCIA, Professor Is-Haq Oloyede told journalists yesterday that , since the demise of the late Chief Imam, Sheikh Musa Muhammad, on the 2nd of May, 2015, the

council undertook a number of restructuring for effectiveness and efficiency.

He said, “In line with the best practice in National Mosques all over the world, the Abuja National Mosque would now have a Murshid instead of Chief Imam.”

Also, the 3 Deputy Chief Imams of the Mosque had recently been elevated to the position of Imams of the Mosque and one other vacancy had been declared ( to be occupied by a qualified from either the South-

South or South-East Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria), thereby bring the total number of Imams to 4.

Oloyede said “The Murshid would be supported by the 3 Imams of the Mosque and a Director of Finance and Administration.”

The Council also announced the appointments of Alh. (Dr.) Zakariya’u Babalola-Deputy President General (South), Professor Salisu Shehu-Deputy Secretary-General (North) and Haroun Muhammad Eze, esqDeputy National Legal Adviser.

L-R: Chairman Nigerian Union of Journalists Kaduna State Council, Comrade Adamu Yusuf with Sector Commander, Corps Commandant Umar K. Ibrahim briefing the Pressmen on 2017 Ember Month at NUJ Secretariat, yesterday in Kaduna.

Photo; Bashir Bello

CITAD harps on role of youth in peace building From Ahmed Kaigama,Bauchi

T

he Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), a Non Governmental Organization, has said that youth have vital and critical role in peace building, restoration and preventing conflict in the society.

The Executive Director of CITAD, Yunusa Zakari Ya’u made the observation at the 2 days Youth in Peace Building Conference organized by CITAD with support from MacArthur Foundation and the Presidential Committee on Northeast Initiative (PCNI) held at Chartwell Hotels and Suites in Bauchi yesterday.

Ya’u stressed the need for the

engagement of youth in curtailing violence such as political thugs and other youth restiveness in Nigeria.

Yunusa Ya’u who described youth as part of peace initiative said the Conference is a follow-up to years of research in community resilience to ensure that peace reins in communities in the conduct of Boko Haram insurgency.

The Excutive Director assured CITAD determination to continue working on peace building especially among youth for development of the Nation.

He thanked the MacArthur Foundation and PCNI for their support in convergence of such confrence on peace building in critical areas.

In his remarks, the representative of PCNI, Abdurrahman Hamisu said PCNI is one of the present administration intervention designed to bring about peace in North Easter states ravaged by Boko Haram activities.

Hamisu called on government at all levels as well as stakeholders to give youth the opportunity to champion the course of peace in the society.

Commending CITAD for the initiative on peace building, he assured that PCNI will always support any Programme aimed at bring about lasting peace in the country.

Also, a participant at the conference, Ambassador Aminu Garba Sidi, Chairman Christian

Muslim Peace Movement in Bauchi state observed that Nigeria will only experience lasting peace if the citizens embraced Rwanda approach of forgiving each other.

He said “ all we need as a nation to enjoy peace and move forward is to create Sysco social approach.

We need to embrace forgiveness irrespective of the damages anybody or group might have melted on us,” he said Garba Sidi who attributed causes of crises such as insurgency to youth involvement in drug abuse, social influence, money, politics and poverty stressed the need for sensitization and peace education for. youths to enable them live in peace with one another.

Bauchi to train 100 intending Christian pilgrims From Ahmed Kaigama,Bauchi

T

he Bauchi State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board is to train 100 intending Christian pilgrims that would go to Jerusalem from the state this year.

The Executive Secretary of the Board, Daniel Shawulu who disclosed this yesterday while addressing newsmen in his office explained that the state has

already commenced screening of intending pilgrims and the training workshop was scheduled for November 19.

Daniel said the intending pilgrims will be trained on how to perform pilgrimage, attitudes, tolerance, honesty and respect for one another.

According to him, about 50 persons traveled to the holy land last year from the state out of

which 30 were sponsored by the state government.

He said that the Governor Mohammed Abubakar has since appointed the minority leader of the Bauchi State House of Assembly Honourable Markus Makama as the leader of the state’s team for the 2017 Christian pilgrimage.

Shawulu noted that the visitors to the holy land from Bauchi

would be airlifted via Gombe international Airport calling all those who paid for the fare to complete the necessary formalities in time in order to avoid problems.

“We are optimistic that not less than 100 people will visit the holy land this year because churches are going to sponsor five pastors each in the state. Over 50 persons performed the pilgrimage last year from Bauchi”. He disclosed.

PAGE 15

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

Niger Gov submits Senate lauds Buhari for reinstating Obiano’s security aides 18 commissioner • Says President won’t use security in 2019 elections

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi Committee on Police Affairs, senator the All Progressives Congress (APC) 1999”. nominees to Senator Ibrahim also pointed Abu Ibrahim, who said this while government does not have such out that the perceived use of police he senate yesterday commended fielding questions from journalists in intention.

Assembly President Mohammadu Buhari, Abuja, noted that the decision of the He said “What happened in to persecute a sitting Governor From Yakubu Mustapha, Minn

T

he Niger state Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, yesterday forwarded a list of 18 commissioner nominees to the state House of Assembly for screening and confirmation.

The Governor in a letter he personally presented to the Speaker, Hon. Ahmed Marafa Guni, dated 14th November, 2017 titled GHNS/S/208. He urged for speedy confirmation of the nominees.

The letter said in parts “In line with section 192(2) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I am hereby forwarding the attached list of Eighteen (18) Commissioner Nominees for confirmation by the Honourable House”.

The list contained eight (8) of the sacked Commissioners and they includes: Hajiya Ramatu Yar’adua, Dr Jibrin Mustapha, Mammam Musa, Ibrahim Balarebi, Fatima Madugu, Zakari Haliru Jikantoro, Nadara Dan- Malam and Kabiru Abbas Musa.

Others are Idris Jibrin Amin, Zakari Bawa, Zakari Abubakar, Engr Ibrahim Muhammad Panti, Engr Umar Muhammad Tagagi, Bar Amina Musa Gu’ ar, Ismaila Ibrahim. Alhaji Danjuma Sallau, Hon. Isah M. Kanko and George Sabo Koce.

T

for ordering the Nigeria police high command to immediately reinstate the security Aids of Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra state, saying it has shown the President as a decent politician.

This is even as the senate said that from the action of the President, it has become clear that the President does not have the agenda of using the security apparatus of the state to intimidate or harass the opposition in the election.

The Chairman of the Senate

Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, to withdraw the security of the Governor was after consultations with stakeholders.

Senator Ibrahim, who was mandated by the Senate at Wednesday plenary to meet with the police high command on the issue, as well as monitor compliance by the IGP with the directive by the Senate to restore the Governor’s security Aids, said even though the security agencies were used previously by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to intimidate opposition,

respect of Governor Willie Obiano’s security details is most unfortunate, and it is heartwarming that the police authorities have explained that the action was not intended to cause him any injury or harm”.

“It is also significant and exemplary that the President has since ordered the immediate reinstatement of the Governor’s security details. It is not the interest of this government to pursue the same policy of intimidation on political opponents as was done during the PDP government since

was actually made a best practice political tool by the immediate past administration of the PDP, assuring Nigerians that the President Buhari that he knows, will not allow a repeat of that era.

He recalled that in those days of PDP impunity, the directives to intimidate political opponents with the security agencies were directly linked to the Presidency and the then sitting President never issued any instructions to counter the positions of the police and security service.

L-R: Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta; Gov. Ayo Fayose of Ekiti; Former President Goodluck Jonathan; Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers, Deputy Governor of Bayelsa, retired Rear Admiral John Jonah; Gov. Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State; and Gov. Dave Umahi of Ebonyi, and other party stakeholders, during the grand finale of PDP Anambra governorship campaign at Onitsha, yesterday in Anambra.

Photo: NAN

PDP convention: Group warns against imposition of candidates From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

A

group under the auspice of Peoples Democratic Advocate (PDA) in Kaduna state, has called on the Caretaker Committee Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ahmed Makarfi and other leaders of the party to ensure that all positions are contested for by qualified party members, warning there should not be imposition.

The group also aligned itself with the Enugu Declaration whereby the eminent party stakeholders unanimously agreed that all political

party positions must be contested for at the forthcoming National Convention of the party, especially where there is more than one aspirant to that office.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Chairman of the group, Hon. Adamu Ahmed Dattijo.

The statement expressed dismay that the PDP Caretaker Committee Chairman is trying to deny Abubakar Mustapha the opportunity to vie for a higher position as equity and justice demands.

“Because of the attempt manipulation of the Makarfi led

Caretaker Committee to deny Alh Abubakar Mustapha the opportunity to vie for a higher position as equity and justice demands, we are in total support of the Enugu Declaration because it tallies with the universally acceptable standard definition of equity, fairness and justice.

“We are amazed with the misinformation making the rounds that the position of the National Secretary which was never micro zoned has been micro- zoned and even micro-named to Katsina state on the false assertion that both Kaduna and Katsina states were under a

rotational arrangement which confers on each State the right to produce a candidate over the other alternately,” he group complained.

The group stated that it defies any logic and common sense to consider the same scenario with different panacea. What operates in the caliphate states of Zamfara, Kebbi and Sokoto is an attestation to our postulations.

According to the statement, “The last occupant of the National Treasurer was from Kebbi State but the position of woman leader that ought to be rotated was further micro

zoned and micro named to Kebbi State thereby suggesting that the action of the conveners was anything but equitable and just.

“We are aware that the Chairman Caretaker committee in pursuit of his known trait of impunity which he has been exhibiting in the course of his duty and in furtherance to his presidential ambition has decided to stand on grounds where Angels fear to tread by subsuming any persons interest within the state under his threshold.

controversial readmission into the Federal Civil Service.

Maina was secretly readmitted and subsequently elevated in the federal civil service, a move that generated huge controversy which was condemned by Nigerians.

Following this development, the House of Representatives on October 24, 2017 passed a resolution mandating

an Ad Hoc committee headed by Rep Aliyu Sani Madaki, (APC Kano), to investigate the circumstances surrounding his reinstatement.

Maina who held the position of Assistant Director until he was sacked in 2013, and his subsequent self imposed exile was reportedly, in clandestine circumstances reabsorbed and elevated to the position of Acting

Director in the Federal Ministry of Interior, in September, 2017.

“Maina came back from self-exile and was posted to his former ministry (Interior) and given double promotion from Assistant Director to Acting Director”, Hon. Adams Jagaba told the House, while moving motion for the investigation.

When contacted, chairman of

the committee Rep Aliyu Madaki confirmed that the former pension boss may likely appear before the committee next week.

Maina’s lawyer, Muhammad Sani Katu of the Justice Maman Nasir Chamber has reportedly made some initial representation to the committee, ahead of Maina’s expected appearance next week.

Maina set to appear before Reps

By Umar Muhammad Puma

I

nformation obtained by Peoples Daily revealed that embattled former Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, has indicated his willingness to appear before the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating his

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

POLITICS

Jigawa Assembly approves transfer of N3.0b to contingency From Dutse

Mika’il

Tsoho,

T

he Jigawa State House of Assembly has approved the transfer of N3.0 billion from stabilisation fund to contingency fund of the state.

The House approved the transfer during its sitting presided by the Honourable Speaker, Idris Isah Gwaram.

The motion was moved and presented by the Majority Leader of the House, Honourable Sani Isyaku Abubakar and the House deliberated on the matter.

The Speaker said “That the honourable house do now requested to consider and approve the transfer of N3.0 billion from the stablisation fund (Budget line 1510833620) to the contingency fund vote (Budget line 1604033610) to provide additional budgetary provision to some capital projects in the state”.

It could be recall that the state executive wrote a request to the House seeking for the approval of the transfer of fund for execution of capital projects across the state.

The House finally approved the request adding that the transfer of fund will help the present administration to improve live of the citizens and ensured better change.

Anambra Guber: Attempt to rig, face dire consequences - UPP warns

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

A

head of the November 18, 2017 Anambra governorship election, the United Progressive Party (UPP) has issued a stern caution that any attempt by anybody, party or agency of government to rig the electoral process in any form whatsoever, will be faced with very dire consequences.

In a statement by the party’s National Director of Publicity, Ogbuehi Dike, UPP said it is issuing this warning because it is fully aware of sinister plots by the APC to use compromised security and INEC officials to subvert the will of the people and rig in their candidate, who has been boasting that his party has the powers to “capture” Anambra state at all cost.

“We know of clandestine meetings between this party and compromised officials to manipulate the process, all in the failed bid to stop Igbos in Anambra state from electing a government that best represents their interest as presently embodied in the UPP, the only pan-Igbo party in the race.

“Furthermore, the curious and indefensible decision of INEC to halt the electronic transmission of results from polling units as it had earlier committed to is of great concern to us. The decision to continue with the outdated, archaic and cumbersome manual transmission of result from Poll unit to Ward collation centers is unacceptable.

The excuses proffered by INEC are puerile and to say the least, disingenuous.

“Having failed in their several attempts to shut us up through blackmails and threats; having also failed to coerce or buy the people, and knowing that APGA and PDP are no obstacles, the APC has been fixated on the UPP, realizing that it to be the inevitable winner”, the statement said.

UPP said it is clear that the fixation against the UPP is because of the party’s iron-cast affinity with Anambra people, deriving from their firm stand on pro-people ideology of selfdetermination, referendum and social justice; issues at the very core of the sensibility of the people and for which the people are ready to vote UPP. The party therefore called on all those conniving in the plot to rig the election to understand that Anambra is a core Igbo state,

and the people are passionate about this election, adding that they are resolute to use the election to genuinely restore the Igbo voice and demonstrate their determination for selfaffirmation.

“The only way out is for INEC to respect the sensibilities of the Igbos, by ensuring a credible election where all votes count and where the will of the people is absolutely preserved. Anything short of that will have very serious repercussions.

“We issue this caution because anybody who knows the support base of our great party, would know that it has its eyes and ears everywhere; that the people are not cowed; but ready to come out enmasse to vote and to defend their votes within the law”, the statement said.

L-R: Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Sulaimon Lasun Yussuff presenting a certificate to one of the beneficiary, Aminat Akinade, during the training of youth and women empowerment programme organise by Deputy Speaker, recently in Osun state.

Senate to partner NBA to ease passage of Bills - Saraki

By Christiana Ekpa

S

enate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has pledged the cooperation of the Senate with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to ensure easy passage of Bills before the Upper House.

He also immediately directed that all pending and prospective bills before the Senate be made available to the NBA for their input which he said would improve the quality of such bills.

The Senate President spoke when the NBA Legislative Advocacy Committee led by Paul Erokoro (SAN) paid a courtesy visit to him at the National Assembly to solicit that the association be allowed

to make its input to bills being considered by the Senate before passage.

According to a statement by the Special Assistant to the Senate President on Print Media, Chuks Okocha, Saraki said that he was in complete agreement with the NBA that their input is necessary before bills go for public hearings.

Saraki said, “l agree with you entirely as part of recommendations that we must have collaborations. I am surprised that our bills are new to you and that you don’t have free access to them. We have these bills on our website. You should be able to access them.

“Going forward, I think that instead of you waiting for us, by your experience, there are areas that require necessary

input and I think we should be able to collaborate closely.

“We’ve done this in the business sector where we set up a working group with Nigeria Economic Summit Group and my office and we’ve been able to work together in some business related bills.

“Some of these bills require amendment, some are outdated, and some are not inline with today’s practice.

We have been able to come out with a road map which we are following and the economic sector is enjoying the efforts in the business communities and infrastructure.

“We’ve passed the Railway Bill, Road Transport, Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) and Secured Transaction bills. All these are

as a result of collaboration. If there are other areas that need amendment or on general issues in the society, we want the NBA to partner with us.

We will be very happy to work closely with you. All we can assure you is that it is our responsibility to pass these relevant Bills.

“The society has changed drastically and the times have changed. So, as we send these Bills to you, I think there should be some initiative from your own part too and we assure you that there will be prompt attention on our part to fast-track such bills”, the Senate President.

Earlier, Mr. Erokoro, had solicited the help of the Senate President to enable the NBA make input in all pending

or prospective bills before the Senate to ensure that all legalistic knots are tied before such bills are taken before public hearings.

The Chairman of the NBA Legislative Advocacy Committee also demanded for a register of all pending bills before the Senate to enable them conduct a research on the bills, stating that such partnership would enable bills passed by the National Assembly to stand the necessary legal test.

He explained that the setting up of the NBA Legislative Advocacy Committee was in fulfillment of the promise made by the National President of NBA, when he visited the Senate President earlier in the year.

PAGE 17

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

Anambra Guber: CNPP commends INEC, warns against manipulation

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its level of preparedness ahead of the Saturday, November 18, 2017, governorship election in Anambra State.

The umbrella body of all registered political parties and political associations in the country warned all stakeholders in the election against manipulation of the process to thwart the wish of the people of the state.

In a statement signed by the Conference’s Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu and issued in Abuja on Thursday, the CNPP urged civil society groups and other accredited election monitors in the state, including security agencies, to be on guard and ensure that any form of electoral fraud was nipped in the bud.

“We are happy with INEC so far from our the assessment of the level of preparedness of the Commission and we urge stakeholders and security agencies to ensure fairness and maintain level playing ground as the people of Anambra go to polls on Saturday.

“All accredited election monitors and the civil society groups must be alive to their civic responsibility at this time to ensure that the popular wish of Anambrarians prevail after the polls.

“It will be in the interest of democracy and good governance if the stakeholders ensure strict adherence to the rules of the game and upholde the Electoral Act as the outcome of this election will determine the level of confidence of Nigerian ahead of the 2019 general election.

“Therefore, we impulse Anambra people to shun any form of violence and report anything that could lead to a breakdown of law and order to INEC and security agencies.

“We also urge the electorate to troop out in their number to vote the candidate of their choice to enthrone good governance and ameliorate the hardship being faced by Anambrarians.

“Your vote is your voice; it is time to speak with your thumb to determine the future of Anambra State. So, vote and not fight”, the CNPP counselled.

POLITICS

Niger Gov intervenes in Speaker, Deputy impeachment crisis From Yakubu Minna

Mustapha,

T

he Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, has intervened in the planned impeachment process of the State Assembly Speaker and his Deputy, who were allegedly said to be executive rubber stamp.

Governor Bello, who did not schedule any visit to the lawmakers, officially drove in to the House Complex yesterday morning, held about two hours closed door meeting with the House of Assembly members only at plenary session without any external coverage.

It was reliably gathered that the meeting was not unconnected with so many rifts between

the parliament members and their principals at one side and between the legislature and the executive at the other side.

The members have been agitating against non release of their constituency allowances; hence they cannot impact positively on their people by providing dividend of democracy to the electorates, even as electioneering campaign draws closer.

It was further revealed that the House has begun underground impeachment process of the Speaker, Ahmed Marafa and his Deputy, Hon. Hussaini Ibrahim, who have been dinning and wining with the state Governor, after which they planned to subsequently impeach the Governor.

According sources in the Assembly, another problem has to do with the disrespect and disregard by the Governor to its resolutions and bills passed, especially the new pension law passed and gazetted and his refusal to implement them three months after.

Moreso, the ongoing House of Assembly Commission complex project agreed to be completed within one year for commissioning has been abandoned for months without satisfactory explanation.

In another development, Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, was in the House to iron out some grievances and prepare ground for his 2018 budget presentation, as well as to ease acceptance of his list of

commissioner nominees to be sent to them, he however sacked 15 commissioners about a month ago.

Although the Governor shun the journalists who were patiently waiting outside the chamber for the outcome of their meeting, as he was guided by his security details into his car and drove away.

But in a brief interview with the Niger State House of Assembly Speaker, Hon. Ahmed Marafa Guni, who said that there were issues which have been resolved with the intervention of the Governor.

According to him, “there were issues but have been resolved, the governor is here to see how we are working and settle some rifts” he stated.

Director of Political and Democratic Matters, National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Comrade Obinna Nwaka (middle), with other members of the Directorate during the NYCN campaign to Support INEC on Credible and Non-Violence on Anambra election, recently in Abuja. NAN

Group urges NASS to make law establishing Inter-Faith Commission

By Christiana Ekpa

A

group known as Inter Faith Chaplaincy of Nigeria has called on the National Assembly to make laws establishing Inter Faith Chaplaincy Commission of Nigeria.

They made this call when paying a courtesy call on Senator Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna Central Senatorial district in Abuja.

The Chaplain General, Ezekiel Joshua, explained that Nigeria is a multi-religious and multi-cultural setting, saying that the Chaplaincy

Commission would coordinate religious affairs with the aim of promoting peace among the adherents.

“The Commission will maintain a bar and regulate preaching among all faiths in Nigeria.”

“There is need for advancement of all positive cultural, religious and social developmental purposes in Nigeria today.”

“Peace must be organically pursued, no matter the costs.

In this regard we insist that all faiths should have teachings and practices which engender peaceful coexistence among

Nigerians”, Joshua added.

Responding, Shehu Sani revealed that he has initiated a bill to establish peace and reconciliatory commission which will be laid for public hearing anytime soon.

He noted that government must invest in peaceful coexistence of its citizens before the people could be developed, adding that as a lawmaker, he was ready to support the group in promotion of peace in Nigeria.

He added that religious leaders must be sincere and faithful enough to tell their adherents the truth that life

was about peace and tolerance of one another.

Sani further stressed that the current administration was doing a lot to entrench peace all levels, saying that the citizens themselves must have faith in government and jointly work together towards achieving peaceful coexistence.

“As a lawmaker, I do know that President Muhammadu Buhari’s is doing a lot to promote peace among Nigerians, the people themselves must be committed to what government is doing’, Sani said.

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

CLASSIFIED PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

IBOM GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB

FIRST KLASS GLOBAL IMPACT INITIATIVE

MARANATHA FAITHWAY INT’L MINISTRY

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED CLUB HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED INITIATIVE HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

PUBLIC NOTICE

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1. INUAEYEN, BASSEY EKPEYONG - CHAIRMAN 2. AKPABIO, USENOBONG OTU 3. THOMAS, SAMUEL EKPENYONG - SECRETARY 4. EKANEM, UWEM MONDAY 5. UYA, KUUBRA-AFIAKOYO ETEYEN 6. UKOCHIO, NDIFREKE ERNEST 7. UDOH, UWEM EDEM THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1. Golfing, Sports and Recreation.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : INUAEYEN, BASSEY EKPEYONG CHAIRMAN.

PUBLIC NOTICE

FAITH LIFTERS FAMILY GOSPEL CHURCH THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED CHURCH HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1. Reverend Festus Oluwalambe Oluwashipe 2. Reverend (Mrs) Elizabeth Oluremi Oluwashipe THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1. To preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and to reach the unsaved with the good news.

2. To establish and disciple new believers to live a life of holiness, righteousness and victory through preaching the word of faith.

3. Lifting up the faith of the saints of God to realize their potentials in God. 4. Teaching, Training, and equipping unto maturity any believer who may have the call of God for ministerial assignments.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.OHANENYE CHINONSO PRINCEWILL -PRESIDENT 2.OHANENYE NNAEMEKA - VICE PRESIDENT 3.OKECHUKWU UNOGU - SECRETARY 4.MOSES MMADUABUCHI UDEH - MEMBER

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.SANI ENEJOH SIMON 2.HOPE TOKULA OMACHI 3.OGALA MOSES SANI 4.COLLINS DANIELS ADAH

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.TO PROMOTE FUNDING AND EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE TO GIRL CHILD AND MARGINALIZED PERSONS IN OUR COMMUNITIES.

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST TO THE WORLD.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY

SIGNED : SECRETARY

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

Kwara Wellbeing Trust

Fayode Foundation

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REMOVAL OF TRUSTEE UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

APPOINTMENT/CHANGE OF TRUSTEES THE OLD TRUSTEES ARE : 1. Mrs Oluwatoyin Saraki - Retained 2.Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki - Resigned 3.Dr Oluwarotimi Austen-Peters - Retained

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1. Nwanze Kanayo Felix - chairman 2. Uzoka-Emejulu Azuka Cecilia - secretary 3. Akinboyede Ayokunle Ajani

THE NEW TRUSTEES IS : 1. Oluwatosin Halimat Saraki - Appointed

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1. To inspire, mentor, train and support self-employment for African young women and men, age 18-30, who are poor and unemployed who are looking up to their governments or parents to “give them jobs” by mentoring and training them in developing business plans 2. To develop businessplans for mini and micro enterprises in the areas of crop production including horticulture, aquaculture etc: a variety of rural services and other related activities.

AMMENDMENT OF CONSTITUTION Paragraph 10.2 of the constitution should be altered to read “Such Trustees (hereinafter referred as “The Trustees “) shall be at least two (2) and not more than ten (10) in number and shall be known as incorporated trustees of KWARA WELLBEING TRUST. THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES REMAIN THE SAME. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS CHANGES SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_ GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : Trustees

SIGNED : SECRETARY

SIGNED : SECRETARY

Winding up

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

TRUE FAMILY OF GOD’S ARMY INT’L MINISTRY

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.PASTOR TOM EGBELE 2.PASTOR MRS ANNA OZIEGBE-EGBELE 3.PASTOR LUCKY OKO-OBOH EGBELE 4.ELDER OBHIOKHNA 5 MICHEAL EHIROMEN THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : BARR GRACE OSE INEGBENEBOR 08036333921

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

OLD NAME - GOD’S THRONE CHRISTIAN OUTREACH NEW NAME - THE PROMINENCE CHURCH

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED CHURCH HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR CHANGE OF NAME UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.OLUWASEGUN EDOGHAYE 2.MRS. SIMNOM OLUWASEGUN 3.ENGR. EMMANUEL OLOBA 4.EMILY GBUBEMI UGIAGBE 5.TEMITOPE EDOGHAYE THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES REMAIN THE SAME. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS CHANGES SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY

Page 19

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

SEC boss urges Capital Market Operators to adapt new business environment

By Etuka Sunday

T

he Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr Mounir Gwarzo has urged capital market participants to constantly adapt to new and rapidly changing economic, regulatory and business environments which will aid them in performing their expected roles in economic development of the nation.

He mentioned this during his opening remarks at the 21st Annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers.

Mr. Gwarzo stated that “almost everything now comes down to the application of (relevant) technology.

In fact, at the nucleus of dynamic changes is technology. The financial market institution of the future is one that is currently making conscious effort to automate its processes by leveraging on relevant technology”.

He however noted that as an evidence of the responses to dynamic changes in the Nigerian Financial Market, the capital market has begun to observe the evolution of new products and processes which include Sukuk, Green Bonds, Derivatives, Commodities and Financial Technology(Fintech).

On market regulation and development by SEC, he said that the Commission is committed to continue developing the Nigerian Capital Market in line with the 10year Master Plan.

Also, the E-Dividend initiative is very central and recently the Commission has embarked on a massive media campaign to sensitize the public on the December 31, 2017 deadline on free e-dividend registration exercise and regularization of multiple accounts by investors.

In addition, he highlighted that the Commission has strengthened its Rule making process and more Rules are considered on a timely basis with the underlying justifications which will aid the market’s understanding of the thought process behind coming up with the rules.

As evidence of yielding positive results on some of the recently introduced initiatives, he disclosed that the number of reported cases of infractions in the market has reduced from 291 in Q1’2016 to 36 in Q3’ 2017. Also, the number of Enforcement Cases has come down from 49 to 30 within the same period.

He concluded by saying that all the initiatives introduced and results are believed to help capital market stakeholders respond adequately to the dynamic changes in the financial market.

Prices of Kerosene, Cooking Gas soar in October-NBS

By Etuka Sunday

N

ational Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its October Report said, price of Kerosene has increased by 3.39% to N273.44 in October 2017 from N264.48 in September 2017, even as it said, that the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) increased by 24.20% to N2,374.07 in October 2017 from N1,911.44 in September 2017.

The report said: “average price per litre paid by consumers for National Household Kerosene increased by 3.39% month-onmonth and decreased by -6.59% year-on-year to N273.44 in October 2017 from N264.48 in September 2017.

“States with the highest

average price per litre of kerosene were Oyo (N324.76), Borno (N323.61) and Rivers (N320.37).

“States with the lowest average price per litre of kerosene were Osun (N233.33), Ondo (N237.50) and Enugu (N237.78).”

Similarly, it said: “average price per gallon paid by consumers for National Household Kerosene increased by 6.31% month-onmonth and by 8.34% year-on-year to N1,035.12 in October 2017 from N973.72 in September 2017 States with the highest average price per gallon of kerosene were Adamawa (N1,185.83), Benue (N1,175.00) & Ondo (N1,160.00).

“States with the lowest average price per litre of kerosene were Lagos (N912.11), Sokoto (N918.33) and Anambra (N927.00).”

Meanwhile, the Bureau said: “average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) increased by 24.20% month-onmonth and 14.86% year-on-year to N2,374.07 in October 2017 from N1,911.44 in September 2017.

“States with the highest average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) were Bauchi & Osun (N2,500.00), Yobe (N2,433.33) and Katsina (N2,412.50).

“States with the lowest average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) were Taraba & Oyo (N2,200.00), Sokoto & Ebonyi (N2,300.00) and Benue

(N2,328.57). Similarly, average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) decreased by -2.60% month-on-month and -3.40% year-on-year to N4,561.14 in October 2017 from N3,937.71 in September 2017.

“States with the highest average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) were Sokoto (N4,766.67), Abia (N4,712.50) and Anambra (N4,692.31). States with the lowest average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) were Nasarawa (N4,359.38), Kano & Bayelsa (N4,400) and Kebbi (N4,420.00),” the report said.

L-R: Official of FOMWAN Hajiya Fareeda Sada Yusuf, National Ameera, Hajiya Amina B. Omoti, National PRO FOMWAN Hajiya Surura Oyero, Representative of the Dangote Foundation, Mr. Bala Musa, during the handover ceremony of the FOMWAN mosque by the Dangote Foundation on Tuesday in Abuja

Senate moves to revolutionize Nigerian Automotive Industry

By Christiana Ekpa

T

he Senate yesterday moved to revolutionalise the Nigerian Automotive Industry as it passed a Bill on Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Plan.

This followed the clause by clause consideration of the Bill by the lawmakers during plenary.

Presenting the report, Chairman Senate Committee on Industries, Sen. Sam Egwu noted that the Bill was passed by the 7th National Assembly but was not assented by the President.

He said the Bill when enacted into law would revolutionalise the Nigerian Automotive Industries and attract foreign direct

investment in auto businesses and allied sectors.

“It will also revolutionalise the moribund Tyre Industry.

Nigeria once had a strong local tyre production base but the exit of the Michelin and Dunlop (in 2006 and 2009 respectively) to Angola.

“Their exit left a void in the market that has resulted in the importation of large volumes of tyres to satisfy growing local demand” Egwu further said that the objectives of the Bill included developing a sustainable and competitive automotive industry in Nigeria.

“It also seeks to create an environment to allow existing

assembly plants to survive and attract other Original Equipment Manufacturers among others” Reacting to the Bill, Sen. Ben Bruce (PDP-Bayelsa) said for the Bill to make sense, there must be an automobile policy, electric cars and the future of automobile industry.

“For Nigeria to leap frog and start making electric cars it is better for us because they have fewer parts” In his remarks, President of the Senate Dr Bukola Saraki said the Bill when passed, would go a long way in restoring the automotive and trye industry.

“These companies have left the country. I hope with this incentive, we start going back.

This is another way of creating jobs for the teaming youths who are unemployed” Saraki said.

He commended his colleagues for focusing on economic Bills that would provide jobs for Nigerians.

Meanwhile, the report of the Joint Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters and Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes was recommitted to the committee.

The president of the senate said: “pursuant to Order 86(2) the Bill will be recommitted to the committee for further legislative scrutiny in line with issues raised to ensure that the Bill complies with the Constitution and other areas of conflict.”

Page 20

B u s i n e s s

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

TCN increases transmission lines capacity by 600MW

By Musa Adamu

T

he Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said it had increased the capacity of the transmission lines in the country by 600mw.

According to him, this was achieved after it energized the 2nd AsabaBenin 330kV transmission line this week.

In a statement signed

by the General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, TCN explained that the newly energized Asaba-Benin transmission line provides alternative source of energy to the Asaba 330kV transmission substation in Asaba, Delta state.

It further informed that the line which was completed since 2016, was finally commissioned

into service after TCN engineers had completed the relay setting at the Asaba and Benin end of the transmission line.

It said the commissioning into service of the new transmission line, brings to three, the number of 330kV transmission lines from Onitsha axis to Benin.

It said: “These three lines have the capacity to carry 600MW each and

with the new line, the total capability of the 330kV transmission lines on Benin axis has increased from 1200MW to 1800MW.” According to the release, energizing the new Asaba – Benin 330kV transmission line also provides alternate route for power flow from Benin to Onitsha and assists in ensuring system stability, flexibility and redundancy on the line route.

Delta Govt opens bid for sale of properties in Ibadan

Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung (left) unveiling the new logo of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), during the First Annual Congress of the Federation, yesterday in Abuja.

From Osakhare Erese, Asaba

T

he Delta State Government has opened the bid for the sale of four of its building properties in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, saying the sale became important because the four building have no economic values any more.

The Chairman, Board of Directors, Delta Development Property Authority DDPA, Mr. Paul Osaji, who stated this during the opening of the bids in DDPA’s office in Asaba, explained that the sale became important in order to use the proceeds for the construction of low cost housing units for Deltans, in the state.

According to him; “ The decision to sell the properties was taken at the State Executive Council meeting at government house Asaba.

The properties have no rental value any more, whereas there is the needs for low cost houses for the teeming civil servants in the state. It make no sense to continue to keep the buildings.”

He also said the opening of the bid was to know those that have expressed interest in the buying of the properties, in the various publications were the bids were advertised in the dailies.

“The buildings were old dilapidated structures. The proceeds will be ues for the overall interest of the state.”

Osaji added.

“This means that TCN can transmit more power on this route and that fault or tripping of one of the lines would not affect power transmission in the area.

“TCN pledged to continue to invest in the expansion of the nation’s grid, noting that it is also currently executing several transmission lines, transformers and new substations projects in many locations nationwide.”

Photo: NAN

KDSG , PPDC sign pact on Open Contracting Data Standards From Mohammad Ibrahim, Kaduna

K

aduna State Government signs a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) to integrate the State contracting platform with the Open Contracting Data Standards (OCDS).

Budeshi Program Director, Gift Omoidedia fielding questions from newsmen shortly after signing the Memoranda

in Kaduna said, PPDC will be working with the State Public Procurement Authority by offering technical expertise and support in achieving the great feat.

According to her, the State has shown remarkable milestones in financial transparency and will be taking another giant step towards that by implementing the OCDS. “The OCDS will ensure that all projects being carried out in the state is linked from the tendering stage to the project

implementation stage using a unique identifier.

“This makes it easy for citizens to track the status of various projects being implemented in their communities,” she said.

The Program Director further added that they are willing to partner with the state because of their willingness to open up their procurement data practices. “ With the OCDS, projects can deliver better value for money and it will create a competitive level playing field

for contractors.

“The Center would also be able to red flag contractors who do not implement projects and promote smarter analysis and better solutions,” Gift said.

Kaduna State will be the first state government to adopt and implement the OCDS at the state level.

Director General, Kaduna State Public Procurement Authority, Thomas Gyang received the delegation and signed on behalf of the government.

Jigawa moves to compete with China, Thailand in rice production From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse

T

he Jigawa state government has intensified efforts to compete with international rice producers like China and Thailand for a better economic

development.

Governor Muhammad Badaru dropped the hint while receiving the team of Nigerian Agricultural Seeds Commission (NASC) in Dutse, the state capital.

He explained that, the

present administration has gone far in modernising the agricultural system in the state particularly the commercial farming in the state.

According to him, already the state government disbursed improved rice seeds to farmers

and it already start yielding a fruitful result as during this season farmer harvested 7.5 to 8.5 tons hectares.

He said, similar result was recorded to cluster farmers particularly groundnut and sesame farmers in the state.

Page 21

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

Farmers/herdsmen clash: AMAC Unity C’ttee visits, sues for peace in Gui

By Stanley Onyekwere

T

he AMAC National Unity Committee yesterday stormed Gui community with message of peace, in a bid to halt escalation of a minor farmers and herdsmen clash in the rural settlement near Sauka, of Airport Road, Abuja.

This is against the backdrop of a recent clash between farmers (mostly indigenous people of FCT) and Pastoralists of Fulani origin residing in the community, resulting in two persons sustaining injuries.

It was learnt that trouble started following the death of two cows while several others are still being treated for alleged poisoning of the grazing routes by unknown persons in the community.

However, speaking during the visit to the community, chairman of the Committee, John Bawa, explained that they were on a fact finding mission, with the aim of making peace between farmers and pastoralists in the community.

He informed leaders and members of the

community that AMAC Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu Candido, on receiving the news of the clash, directed the committee to intervene.

Noting that if there is no peace, there can’t be development in the community, he urged the both pastoralists and farmers to live in peace with one another , in the interest of the greater number of the people.

According to him, wherever there is reported cases of communal conflict in the Council, it’s the mandate of the committee, to embark on a fact finding mission, with the view to resolving the crisis. And we are very optimistic about the situation in Gui. Responding, District Head, Gui Ward, Alhassan Yusuf, thanked the committee for the visit, commended the AMAC chairman for setting up the committee.

He recalled that it was Fulani herdsman that ran into his palace, informing him of the poisoning of his cows, resulting in the death of two cows.

He said immediately, he informed his entire District heads to address the issue,

in order to prevent break down of law and order, which the Fulani community agreed to maintain the peace.

He said, so far, only two persons were physically attacked as a result of the incident, adding that the victims are still nursing their wounds.

According to him, they have resolved the issue of poisoning and destruction of crops.

The District Head however blamed illiteracy and youth restiveness for the recent menace of clash between farmers and Pastoralists in the community.

He also attributed cause to the practice of allowing small children to be given too many cows to cater for, as they couldn’t control such animals, which usually go astray and destroy farm produce in the community.

He disclosed that a peace committee has been constituted to swiftly handle and resolve the issue amicable.

Similarly, representative of Ardo Fulani in the Area, Malam Sale, while suing for peace, attributed the cause of the recent rising farmers/pastoralists clash in the area to im-

punity and lack of respect for law and order.

He decried the high level of people taking laws into their hands, whenever they felt offended by others.

He however declared the readiness of the Fulani community to ensure peaceful coexistence of all and sundry in the community.

On his part, a police officer, Umar Usman, who spoke on behalf of Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Iddo area command, revealed that Police are still investigating and monitoring the incident, so could not give comprehensive report on the situation.

He explained that the police, which arrested some youths, are currently patrolling the area, to prevent total breakdown of law and order in the community.

PeoplesDaily reports 21 members of the committee, drawn from various ethnic, religious and political groups domiciled in the council, are mandated to work out modalities for the intensive sensitisation and engagement of residents on promotion of peace and unity, for rapid development of AMAC

Chairman, AMAC National Unity Committee, John Bawa addressing community leaders, farmers and pastoralists inside the Palace of the District of Gui Ward, Al-hassan Yusuf, yesterday during a peace building visit in the area, in Abuja. Photo: Stanley Onyekwere

FCT-NAWOJ bemoans assault on female journalist

By Everest Samuel Ikechukwu

T

he FCT Chapter of Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) has condemned the recent physical assault on one of her members, Mrs. Josie Mudashiru of the FCT Administration, by Mr. Nnachi Okafor, of the same organization.

The incident occurred on October 6th when Mrs. Mudashiru, in company of another colleague, tried to seek clarifications on

some minor union issues from the accused, allegedly resulting in him (Mr. Nnachi) spitting on her as well as slapping her.

A development, which the Association, at the end of her November Congress, strongly condemned, describing it as despicable and a spite on womanhood.

According to the Chairperson, FCT NAWOJ, Comrade Okoh-Esene Stella, no matter the level of provocation, no man should raise his hand against a woman in the work

place because there are laid down rules of channeling such grievances for appropriate action.

A statement signed by NAWOJ’s Secretary, Grace Njoku, the Association therefore called on the federal government and other relevant bodies to look into the matter with a view to ensuring that fairness is upheld.

This, the Association said, will serve as a deterrent to those who molest women in

work places.

In another development, the Association called on media houses to ensure prompt payment of its workers, especially the womenfolks, because they are in the forefront of taking care of the family.

It therefore stressed that the Association will continue to stand up for its teeming professional members at all times.

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

Page 22

world news

international_peoplesdailyng@yahoo.com

Leah Denbok: The teenager photographing Canada’s homeless

A

Canadian teenager photographs homeless people in Toronto, inspired by the childhood of her mother.

When Leah Denbok was 12 she bought a used camera from a store she describes as a “local hockshop” a pawnbroker - in her small Ontario town of Collingwood, She fell for the medium and began looking for a photography project to channel her energy.

She was inspired by the work of Lee Jeffries, a self-taught British photographer whose work portrayed the homeless.

“I was really drawn to his work,” she says. “And how he could capture their stories just by looking into their eyes,” Her father suggested she try a similar project. The idea resonated with her because her mother was homeless as a very young child in India.

At the age of three, Denbok’s mother was found wandering the streets of Calcutta and brought to an orphanage run by Mother Theresa.

She was adopted at five and came to Canada.

“Being brought up, we always talked about my mom’s story. It opened my eyes to homelessness. The fact that my mom went through it puts it at a more personal level,” Denbok says.

Denbok and her father started the homelessness project in 2014.

She was scared to approach people at first, worried they would refuse to participate.

Instead, she found willing subjects who were open to sharing their stories once they understood the project.

“They’re lonely, they don’t have someone to talk to. It’s surprising when you stop and talk to them how much

Teen photographer Leah Denbok is seeking to raise awareness around homelessness they open up to you and how much you can learn (from them),” she says.

Denbok also paid them C$10 ($8; £6) for five to 10 minutes of their time.

She has since captured the images of about 200 people who live on the streets of Toronto, and in other Ontario towns.

Forty of those portraits, which include brief biographies of each person, will be published in a new book called Nowhere to Call Home.

The images are all taken against a white or black background Denbok sets up behind her subjects.

Her father records the conversation with the man or woman Denbok is photographing.

“I’ll try to understand the personality of the individual, try to get an image that really shows that to the viewer - an image that really tries to capture that,” she says.

The teenager says she has learned

that while each person’s story is unique, there are usually just a handful of issues to lead to people not having a roof over their heads - family catastrophes, addiction, mental illness.

An estimated 450,000 Canadians used an emergency shelter at least once between 2010 - 2014.

About 235,000 people in Canada experienced homelessness in 2016 and there are about 35,000 people are homeless on any given night.

Proceeds from Denbok’s book sales will go to the Barrie Bayside Mission, which provides shelter for the homeless in Barrie, a town between Collingwood and Toronto.

“In society we try to ignore [the homeless] and not see them, to make them invisible,” says the mission’s executive director, Major Doug Lewis, but says Denbok’s project can help educate people about the circumstances of homelessness.

Travelers’ Century Club: Meeting the world’s most-travelled people

T

he Travelers’ Century Club is home to the world’s mosttravelled people - so what keeps them going?

Bill Ashley is 79, but still remembers his first geography lesson.

He was in fourth grade in 1940s North Carolina. Most of the pupils were “bored or asleep”.

Bill was different. “I sat there, so excited,” he says. “I wanted to visit those places.”

It was easier said than done.

Bill’s family was poor. They lived on a tobacco farm, in a small house with no electricity. Water came from a nearby spring.

When he said he wanted to go to college, his parents said they couldn’t afford it.

Thanks to a scholarship - and a summer job picking tobacco - he made it. Bill became a teacher and, in the summer of 1962, finally went abroad.

It was 15 years since that geography lesson.

The trip - paid for with a $600 bank loan - took him across Europe, from London to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Since then, he has been to almost every country in the world.

Bill caught the travel bug in a North Carolina classroom. Seventy years later, there’s no sign of a cure.

To join the Travelers’ Century Club

(a non-profit group) you must have been to at least 100 countries or territories.

Bill has been to 259 of the 325 places on the TCC list.

His highlights include Table Mountain, balloon rides over Kenya, and being at “18,000ft over Kashmir”. It’s an incredible feat for a retired teacher.

“It’s where your priorities are,” he says. “Some people have to get a car every two years. I just got rid of mine April, and it was 34 years old.

“I save my money to travel. I don’t have to go to Starbucks every morning and have a $4 cup of coffee.”

• Thanksgiving: American abroad and struggling to get a turkey?

Next year he’s going to the North Pole; before then he’s heading to Colombia. Territory 260 is likely to be San Andres and Providencia, a Colombian archipelago in the Caribbean.

“My friend and I are going to fly up there from Cartagena so I can check it off,” he says.

So does he keep travelling to see new places? Or to tick things off a list?

“It’s a little bit of both,” he admits.

The TCC says some people join the club for “bragging rights”, but its slogan is more noble: “World travel: the passport to peace through understanding.”

Bill is sure that travel has global benefits, as well as personal.

“The whole thing is to try to feel like

you’re leaving the world in a better place than you found it,” he says.

To finish the TCC list, you have to visit places that are remote, or dangerous, or both.

Terry Wharton is a 79-year-old from Derbyshire, England, who has lived in the US since 1963. He has been to 312 places, including Afghanistan (five years ago) and Iraq (seven years ago).

“It was triple security to get into the hotel in Kabul - it’s where the journalists stay,” he says. “My girlfriend took photos as we went through. The security went bananas.”

Terry and his partner were able to walk freely round Kabul, but in Iraq their group of four needed protection.

“We had a driver, a guard, and a bodyguard - and he was packing heat [carrying guns],” he says.

Their trip included Baghdad (“the Minister of the Interior took a personal interest - they opened a museum for a special visit”) and Kurdistan (“super safe - we walked round there”).

They also went south to Basra, where British troops were based after the 2003 invasion.

“That was probably the least safe area,” says Terry. “We travelled in a van - they drew the drapes when we got into occupied areas.”

It sounds exciting, but also - shall we say - a touch scary.

“It was wonderful,” replies Terry. “I trust the company who organised the trip. They know a lot of detail.”

The 13 places left on Terry’s list include Fernando de Noronha, an archipelago 220 miles off the coast of Brazil, the Juan Fernandez Islands, 400 miles off Chile, and the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Sadly for Terry, unless you’re in the military, the BIOT - a base for American forces - is almost impossible to reach.

There are stories of travellers hiring yachts, sailing nearby, then calling a fake SOS to get taken ashore.

“I met a guy in South Sudan - we were there when it first became a country,” remembers Terry. “He was really upset when I said I was from England: ‘You bastards!’

“His last place (on the list) was Diego Garcia.”

Terry doesn’t know whether he’ll finish the 325 - not least because he’s having both knees replaced two days after this interview - but his eyes dance at the possibility.

“When I’m doing new countries, I get a real thrill,” he says. “I think: ‘I made it’.”

The Travelers’ Century Club has members all over the world, with chapters (branches) in the US, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The Washington DC chapter

meets in the back room of a restaurant in nearby Virginia. More than 20 members turn up to swap stories, share tips, and see friends old and new.

Listening to the chatter is like leafing through an atlas - a Lord Howe Island here; a Queen Maud Land there.

Jorie Roberts, a 62-year-old tax lawyer from the US Virgin Islands, has been to 157 places on the TCC list.

She grew up in Alabama and, like Bill Ashley, didn’t travel abroad as a child.

When she was 17, a teacher led a summer trip to Europe - London, Dijon, Geneva, Rome - and she has “travelled ever since”.

Like many members , Jorie disproves the “box-ticking” theory by revisiting favourite places. She has, for example, been to Iran twice and Cuba four times.

“We met a photographer who lived with Che and Fidel in the late 50s in the mountains,” she says. “He had all sorts of pictures of them in hammocks with cigars. It was fascinating.”

For Scott Talan, another TCC member, finding places he likes is the whole point.

“Before I knew about the Travelers’ Century Club, my real thinking was ‘go to enough places, find the ones you really like, that move you, that you want to return to’,” he says.

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

N

e w s

F

r o m

Page 23

A

f r i c a

Zimbabwe latest: Mugabe in crunch talks over his future

Z

imbabwe’s long-time president Robert Mugabe has been holding direct talks with the army over his future.

Pictures emerged of the 93-yearold meeting the army chief and two envoys from South Africa at his official residence in Harare.

The army put Mr Mugabe under house arrest on Wednesday after moving in to take control.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says Mr Mugabe must resign but sources suggest the president is resistant.

Why did the military take this action?

President Mugabe has been in control of Zimbabwe since it threw off white minority rule in 1980.

However, the power struggle over who might succeed him, between his wife Grace Mugabe and her rival former Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, has split the ruling Zanu-PF party in recent months.

Last week, Mr Mugabe came down in favour of his wife, sacking Mr Mnangagwa, a veteran of Zimbabwe’s anti-colonial struggle.

That proved too much for military leaders, who seized control of the country on Wednesday.

Photos in the Zimbabwe Herald showed Mr Mugabe meeting army chief Gen Constantino Chiwenga and the two South African envoys from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) at State House in Harare.

Alongside them was Father Fidelis Mukonori, a Roman Catholic priest known to Mr Mugabe for years who has been brought in to mediate.

Sources close to the talks say Mr Mugabe is refusing to stand down voluntarily before next year’s planned elections.

Media captionWho is Grace Mugabe?

“He is refusing to step down. I think he is trying to buy time,” one source close to the army leadership told the AFP news agency.

Zanu-PF officials had earlier suggested Mr Mugabe could remain nominally in power until the party congress in December, when Mr Mnangagwa would be formally installed as party and national leader.

What do South Africa and the region want?

South Africa is hosting millions of Zimbabweans who fled after the country’s economy crashed in 2008. It has a special interest in seeing stability restored.

South African Defence Minister Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula and State Security Minister Bongani Bongo are the envoys meeting Mr Mugabe on behalf of Sadc, which South Africa currently leads.

They will be pushing for a democratic solution. The body, which represents 16 countries, does not support coup-led governments as this would set a dangerous precedent in the largely peaceful region, says the BBC’s Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg.

The head of the African Union (AU), Guinean President Alpha Condé, was clear the AU would “in no case accept” a military seizure of power. He said he was “inviting the army to return to its barracks and return to constitutional order”.

And Zimbabwe’s opposition?

Robert Mugabe met the army chief who led the move against him Mr Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic ChangeTsvangirai (MDC-T) party and the main opposition leader in Zimbabwe, said on Thursday: “In the interests of the people, Mr Robert Mugabe must resign... immediately”.

Mr Tsvangirai, who has been abroad receiving treatment for cancer, also called for a “negotiated all-inclusive transitional mechanism” that would lead to “comprehensive reforms for free and fair elections to be held”.

This has been echoed by another Zimbabwean opposition leader, Tendai Biti, who told the BBC: “It is urgent that we go back to democracy... that we go back to legitimacy but we need a transitional period and I think, I hope, that dialogue can now be opened between the army and Zimbabweans.”

What’s happened to Grace

Mugabe and her supporters?

Early reports suggested Mrs Mugabe had fled to Namibia, but sources now say she is in the family compound, along with senior figures from the “Generation-40” group that backs her - cabinet ministers Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere.

On Wednesday, one of her key allies, Zanu-PF youth wing leader Kudzai Chipanga, made a televised apology for criticising the head of the army as a war of words raged prior to the military takeover.

Mr Chipanga is thought to be in army custody but insisted his statement was voluntary.

Local media reports say a number of other senior members of the “Generation-40” group have also been detained.

What are Zimbabweans being told?

Zimbabwe’s media usually toe the government line and today’s

lead stories make it clear there is a new line to follow.

There is a striking absence of tough questions about what the army is doing.

“Business as usual countrywide,” says The Herald, a governmentowned newspaper. Yesterday it reassured readers there was “No military takeover”.

State TV and radio stations have returned to regular programming, with Thursday’s lunchtime news bulletin on state TV giving little indication of the political upheaval.

Some privately owned newspapers have dared to address the possible end of Robert Mugabe’s rule.

“Transitional govt planned … as Mugabe cornered,” the Financial Gazette reports. “Zimbabwe scents the end of an era,” it added.

“It could easily have been entitled The end of an error. A 37-year-old error,” says a similarly

headlined NewsDay.

commentary

in

Was this a popular uprising?

Not so far, no. There have been no reports of unrest in Zimbabwe, and so far this appears to be a struggle within Zanu-PF. Correspondents say many people have accepted that President Mugabe is being eased from office.

Streets in Harare are said to be quieter than usual but people are going about their business.

On Wednesday, troops and armoured vehicles encircled parliament and other key buildings.

Hours earlier, soldiers took over the headquarters of national broadcaster ZBC and issued a statement saying that the military was targeting “criminals” around President Mugabe. source: BBC news

US to lift ban on elephant hunting trophy imports

W

e’ve been seeing carcasses of elephants, some four months old, some less than a week old” reports Alastair Leithead, flying over Botswana The Trump administration will allow American hunters to import elephant trophies to the US, reversing an Obama-era 2014 ban, US media report.

A federal government agency said imports could resume on Friday for elephants that are legally hunted only in Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) said hunting fees could aid conservation of the endangered animals.

Experts say that populations of African elephants are plummeting.

Their numbers dropped by about 30% from 2007-14, according to the 2016 Great

Elephant Census.

The nonprofit group’s report found a population drop of 6% in Zimbabwe alone.

Despite their listing under the Endangered Species Act, there is a provision in US law that allows permits to import animal parts if there is sufficient evidence that the fees generated will actually benefit species conservation.

USFWS told US media outlets it had received new information from officials in Zimbabwe and Zambia that supported reversing the ban.

There is currently an apparent military coup taking place in Zimbabwe.

USFWS argued that rather than depleting the elephant population, killing the animals “will enhance the survival of the species in the wild”.

The agency’s statement

said: “Legal, well-regulated sport hunting as part of a sound management program can benefit the conservation of certain species by providing incentives to local communities to conserve the species and by putting much-needed revenue back into conservation.”

Officials had announced the forthcoming policy change during a forum hosted this week by the prohunting Safari Club International Foundation, which partnered with the National Firearm Association to lobby for the rule change.

Every year since 2010, elephant populations in Africa have dropped by 7% on average more than 30,000 deaths per year.

Elephant advocacy groups reacted angrily to the news.

“Reprehensible behavior by the Trump Admin,” tweeted The Elephant Project, a nonprofit

organisation dedicated to the conservation of African pachyderms.

“100 elephants a day are already killed,” the group said.

“This will lead to more poaching.”

Many social media commentators, including some notable Trump supporters, such as Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, also criticised the move.

President Trump’s sons are known to visit Africa for big-game hunting trips.

One photo of Donald Trump Jr shows him holding the amputated tail of a dead elephant.

In 2015 a US dentist from Minnesota killed a famous lion named Cecil in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park.

Cecil’s death triggered an outrage in the US and Zimbabwe, and briefly forced the hunter into hiding.

PAGE 24

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

N e w s F r o m E u r o p e & A SI A

Trump Xi: Property man meets career communist

D

onald Trump is the kind of person who occasionally gets locked up in Xi Jinping’s China. A boastful billionaire, someone who thinks he is bigger than the Party, bigger than the national project.

Such a colossus can disappear to no known location for a period of quiet reflection with the help of the Communist Party’s discipline enforcers, later to reappear muttering grateful homilies on what the Party has done for his business.

As President Trump and President Xi prepare to meet in Beijing, the contrast between the leaders of the world’s economic superpowers is stunning.

Where senior members of Mr Trump’s own Republican Party have dismissed his White House as an “adult daycare centre” , Mr Xi’s Party lieutenants describe the Chinese president as a great and wise leader, “the saviour of socialism”.

Mr Trump cannot even depend on fellow US capitalists. The titans of the American tech world are not travelling to Asia with Team Trump. Instead Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Apple’s Tim Cook and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella stood shoulder to shoulder in Beijing with President Xi last week for a group photograph of the advisory board for a top Chinese university.

The asymmetry in public deference extends to the individuals themselves. Mr Trump has said repeatedly how much he respects Mr Xi and his “extraordinary elevation”, describing him as a powerful man and a good friend.

Former chief strategist Stephen Bannon has said “there is no leader Trump admires more”. But in public, Mr Xi has never called Mr Trump a great anything, let alone a great friend.

Mr Xi claims to have read many American authors from Walt Whitman to Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway but he has not listed Donald Trump among them. The real estate man’s Art of the Deal may have been a business bestseller in America but a more reliable guide to Mr Xi’s statecraft is Sun Zi’s Art of War. Mr Trump advises, “You can’t be imaginative or entrepreneurial if you’ve got too much structure.

I prefer to come to work each day and just see what develops.”

But the ancient military text, required reading for all Chinese strategists, urges, “Know the enemy, know yourself and your victory will never be endangered. Know the ground, know the weather and your victory will then be total.”

The contrast between Mr Xi and Mr Trump stretches back across a lifetime. After a cosseted early childhood as the “red princeling” son of a revered revolutionary, Mr Xi spent seven years as a farmer living in a cave before embarking on a four-decade climb through China’s political hierarchy.

To reach the pinnacle of the 89-million strong Chinese Communist Party is a feat which requires iron discipline and strategic patience. Neither quality is often mentioned in character sketches of Donald Trump.

Unsurprisingly there are style differences too. Mr Xi rarely starts

Mr Xi has a decidedly different personality to that of Mr Trump a sentence with the word “I”, wrapping his leadership instead in the dignity of the national flag.

He aims to embody something sacred, the dream of “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”. For this he must appear at all times sober, steady, invincible.

To the extent that he has a personality cult, it is exacted from others.

Schools, universities, company board rooms and government offices across China are now embarking on the study of “Xi Jinping Thought”.

By contrast, Mr Trump’s personality cult starts with Mr Trump and the first person pronoun “I” is rarely off his lips.

As he tours Asia, he leaves behind an America mired in what Chinese state media gloatingly describe as “crisis and chaos”.

An odd couple But for all the contrasts, the career communist and the property magnate do have two things in common. They both exercise enormous power and they both have great self-belief. Mr Xi and Mr Trump view themselves as the saviours of their countries and each views his country as exceptional in the world. Xi Jinping’s “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” came before Donald Trump’s “make America great again”.

But the promise is the same: to rediscover a golden age of great power supremacy and allow no outside interest to stand in its way.

As Mr Xi and Mr Trump share the world stage this week in the pageantry of what China describes as a “state visit plus”, the big question will be whether they can find a way for their countries to be great together or whether this has to be a zero sum game where the greatness of one demands the diminution of the other.

Of course this is not just a question for this week’s odd couple but a question for our lifetimes.

With the benefit of hindsight we may look back on Mr Trump’s Asia

tour and see it as the recalibration of deep and staying American power or as a milestone towards US displacement by China.

Perhaps history will place the visit in neither of these momentous narratives but instead frame the week as the last quaint ritual of a vanished world, the arranging of deck chairs on the Titanic, the calm before a storm.

Reined in Let’s take these scenarios in turn. On the eve of Mr Trump’s tour, his administration suddenly started using a new strategic slogan, talking of “a free and open Indo-Pacific”. Until this rabbit from a hat is sketched out more fully, it is hard to know exactly how it differs from the vision of previous US administrations.

But the purpose must be to reassure allies and friends and shore up American credibility after Mr Trump’s criticisms over trade deficits and defence spending, and his abandonment of the Obama administration’s TPP trade deal for the region.

The message is that Mr Trump’s senior staff, the so-called adults in the room, have reined in the president’s disruptive instincts and restored US policy in Asia to its former compass setting. If a “free and open Indo-Pacific” turns into more than a slogan, history may describe this tour as the moment when a still vigorous US superpower reinforced the economic and security ties that bind it to Asia, with allies and friends gratefully uniting behind it for protection against a prickly and assertive China.

In the second version of history, Mr Trump’s Asia tour is a point of intersection in the arc of China’s rise and the arc of America’s decline. For all his unfailing politeness to his guest, this is the version of history which Xi Jinping is attempting to write. He intends a coherent strategic push between now and mid-century building on

growing hard and soft power.

Mr Trump may be focused on Asia this week, but every other week he is consumed by problems at home, while China shows up in the region daily. With immense energy and purpose, it pours money into regional development, diplomacy, military ties and media, mounting a calculated charm offensive even in countries which have been American allies for seven decades.

All of Asia can see that Mr Xi has just emerged from a Communist Party Congress with his power dramatically enhanced, and on the surface at least, China shows none of the division and incoherence of the US. Winning weapons But no American president could willingly play the part allotted him in this narrative. Which is where the third scenario of the vanishing world comes in. On the campaign trail last year Mr Trump raged about China’s “rape” of the American economy and “theft of American jobs”. He promised that if elected, he would succeed where predecessors failed… “cunning” Chinese leaders would no longer “out-smart, out-manoeuvre and out-negotiate” American ones.

The frustration was echoed across American political and business elites where many felt China was winning the superpower race on a rigged running track.

But every new US president of the 21st Century has said he intends to rise to the strategic challenge of China only to be knocked off course by events. For George W Bush it was 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. For Barack Obama, the pivot to Asia took second place to financial crisis at home and Middle East crisis abroad.

The China of 2017 is much stronger and more confident than that of 2001 or 2009. And under Mr Xi it is committed to a war of values against American ideals of freedom and democracy.

Last week, Mr Xi led his top

team, fists clenched, in a ritualised oath of allegiance to the Communist Party flag. While for all Donald Trump’s symbolism of a long Asian tour and fine words about a “free and open Indo-Pacific”, this US president has only just put in place a China team much less a strategy.

In fact since taking office, Chinese leaders have been relieved to see Trump’s China trolling stay on Twitter. He has issued warnings over Beijing’s trade with North Korea and launched an investigation of Chinese trade practices with the US, but he has imposed no sanctions against the massive asymmetries that defeat US aspirations in China.

This may change in the months ahead. If the US were to move from grumbling co-operation with China to more robust competition, the consequences for Asia and for the world would be as unpredictable as they would be momentous.

Mr Xi is determined to avoid that. He needs a stable world and stable American export market to complete his rejuvenation of China. In Beijing this week, he will try to disarm Mr Trump.

Flattering photo opportunities are what China does best and they are a great deal cheaper than opening key markets or throttling the North Korean economy. So the host will play to his guest’s love of pomp by putting on a lavish spectacle.

He will encourage Mr Trump to imagine that this is a chapter in the Art of the Deal rather than the Art of War. After all, as Sun Zi pointed out in his ancient book of warcraft, deception, diplomacy and divideand-rule are all winning weapons for a great commander.

“The supreme excellence is to subdue the armies of your enemies without having to fight them.”

E N T ER T A I N ME N T

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

PAGE 25

BY Tobias Lengnan Dapam

Russian ‘Death of Stalin’ distributor plans January release

V

olga is currently working on dubbing, after which it will apply for an exhibition license despite earlier calls for banning the movie in Russia.

Volga, the Russian distributor of Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin, unveiled on Thursday that it plans to release the movie on Jan. 25.

Work on the dubbing of the movie into Russian is currently in progress, after which the company will be able to submit it to the Russian culture ministry and formally apply for an exhibition license, a spokeswoman for Volga toldThe Hollywood Reporter.

Earlier this month, Volga released a localized trailer and poster for the movie.

Under existing regulations, the ministry can issue an exhibition license only based on a dubbed or subtitled version of a foreign movie rather than the original. Dubbing is a more complicated and expensive process than subtitling, and it is normally done for movies intended for a wider release, as opposed to subtitled art house films only exhibited at a handful of theaters.

The fact that Volga is dubbing may be seen as a sign of

its confidence that it will get an exhibition license.

Two months ago, Russia’s Communist Party, the second-largest party in Russia’s parliament,called for a ban of the “disgusting” movie, saying it “discredits” late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Back then, the culture ministry said it would subject the movie to extra scrutiny.

A source in the industry told THR that the culture ministry could theoretically refuse to issue an exhibition license on a technicality, if not because of its content, although it has hardly ever done it.

Back in 2015, the culture ministry took issue with Lionsgate’s movie Child 44, accusing it of “distorting Russia’s history.” The distributor, Central Partnership, voluntarily pulled the movie from theaters.

There are no specific guidelines, and the ministry is free to make its own judgment on whether the content of a movie is appropriate for it to be exhibited in Russia.

The ministry could also refuse to issue a license to a movie if the submitted copy doesn’t comply with technical specifications

‘Justice League’ gets delayed Rotten Tomatoes Score of 43%

J

ustice League has been given a 43 percent score from the online review aggregator, 24 hours after reviews hit.

That puts it in the middle of pack of the five films in Warner Bros.’ DC universe so far.

The delayed score came

Singer Kiss Daniel splits with G-Worldwide Entertainment

S

ome music enthusiasts, on Thursday advised record label owners and their artists to ensure proper signing of contract agreement to avoid disputes.

They gave the advice in a reaction to popular Nigerian singer, Anidugbe Daniel, a.k.a Kiss Daniel’s announcement on his exit from his record label, GWorldwide Entertainment.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that G-Worldwide Entertainment is owned

by Emperor Geezy.

Kiss Daniel, who is best known for his chart-topping single “Woju”, announced his `divorced’ from the record label after `a four year romance’ on his twitter handle @iamkissdaniel.

“All is set for the take-off of “FLY BOY I.N.C” which is my label. This implies that all activities regarding Kiss Daniel will be carried out under this new arrangement” Daniel said.

“This is an important move for me and I sincerely want to thank the fans who have always been there for me and also the media for their constant support,” he said.

The artists also confirmed his exit with the removal of GWorldwide from his profiles on social media handles with the new label called `Flyboy INC.’ Capital Hill` music record label owner, Tobechukwu Ejiofor, a.k.a Illbliss told NAN that for some bizarre reason, most artistes do not treat the music business as a business.

“First of all I think the artist need to take a little bit more control over the music and they need to become partners in the business.

“That era where you are an artist, is fading. So when you are stepping in and meet a record label, how about raising 50 per cent of the money?

“So that when you sit down at the table, it becomes a partnership in its true sense.

“That is where we should go to now, because everybody should become like an investor in the course.

“Not the artist pops up, the label spends a lot of money, then the artist wakes up one day and says I’m leaving and you don’t even know if the label has recouped all of its investment.

“On the other side the labels need to also spell it out from onset, from day one, make it clear cut, we are looking for partners, we are not looking for people to just sign and help their lives.

“It’s being unofficial, the record label artist relationship has been very unofficial in Nigeria, let’s make it official,” he said.

Also, Akinyemi Ayinoluwa, a popular entertainment lawyer in his reaction described music as a high risk for both the label owner and the artists.

Ayinoluwa on his instagram said, “Nothing is promised in the music business. It is high risk for both parties.

“Investors sink in huge sums

of money and talent keeps faith and surrenders the control of his career for a number of years, with the expectation that he will embrace success someday.

“It is a business; you see value in an artist. You source for funding and human resources, and build leverage relationships to try to make profit from investment made.

“Usually there is an agreement in the document but most artistes will proceed with a gentleman’s handshake.

“Either party may default in terms agreed to, and for every act of breach there is a consequence. You can terminate the relationship or sue for breach of contract if fundamental enough to pursue a claim,” he said.

He expressed optimism that “If Wizkid could force an exit from the canopy of EME to a brighter rewarding future, perhaps Kiss Daniel can.

“Artists always have reasons.

With money and fame, they become something else, just like anyone with both.

“Like EME, what will happen to G-Worldwide after the departure of its most prized asset? The label going downhill is very likely.

“It is difficult to break through twice. The owner of the label will be frustrated and might leave the business,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kiss Daniel’s latest released titled “YEBA” has been receiving positive reviews.

courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes’ new Facebook show See It/Skip It, which hits online late Wednesday nights. Rotten Tomatoes has begun holding back scores for some films and television shows so they can be revealed at the end of each episode, and this is the third time a score has been held for the Facebook show.

The DC films have enjoyed both Rotten Tomatoes success (this summer’s Wonder Woman earned 92 percent) and suffered low points (2016’s Batman v.

Superman: Dawn of Justice’s 27 percent and Suicide Squad’s 26 percent).

Man of Steel, the 2013 Superman film that kicked off the shared universe, earned a middling 55 percent.

This current Justice League score can be expected to fluctuate as more reviews come in and are

tabulated.

Rotten Tomatoes has become increasingly important to helping audiences choose which films to see, and recent projects with glowing scores have overperformed at the box-office (see: Spider-Man: Homecoming and Wonder Woman). Conversely, blockbusters with rock bottom scores such as Baywatch (19 percent) and Transformers: The Last Knight (15 percent) faltered domestically over the summer.

Nevertheless, Batman v.

Superman ($873 million worldwide) and Suicide Squad ($745.6 milllion) went on to be box-office hits, their Rotten Tomatoes scores notwithstanding.

Warner’s Justice League is tracking to debut to $110 million this weekend.

PAGE 26

Feature

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

Returning to Kashmir, where our parents were shot in front of us

S

eventy years ago, a young British couple was shot dead at a mission hospital in Kashmir, making orphans of their three sons - one only two weeks old. To mark the anniversary two of those sons, now white-haired, made a personal pilgrimage to the spot.

“I feel very emotional to be here,” says Doug Dykes, standing yards from the veranda where his mother and father suffered fatal bullet wounds when he was two years old.

“I saw my parents being killed - that’s what I’ve been told. My father tried to stop the attackers approaching the nuns and he was shot. I ran screaming towards my father. My mother ran after me and then she was also shot.”

There’s a touch of anguish in his recollections - a sense that he may in some way have been responsible for the death of his mother.

We are standing by his parents’ graves in this remote corner of the Kashmir valley, the headstones shaded by recently harvested apple and walnut trees.

It may seem like a tranquil spot, but Tom and Biddy Dykes, an army officer and his wife, were killed in the opening salvos of the Kashmir crisis - and 70 years later the conflict continues to claim lives just about every day.

In all, six people lost their lives at St Joseph’s Catholic mission in the riverside town of Baramulla on that October morning in 1947. Jose Barretto, the husband of the hospital doctor, tried to save the nuns who ran the mission and was put up against a tree and shot. A nurse, Philomena, died seeking to protect the patients. Motia Devi Kapoor, a patient, was stabbed to death in her hospital bed.

The Franciscan Missionaries of Mary also lost one of their own - Sister Teresalina, a newly-arrived Spanish nun in her 20s. She leapt in front of the convent’s Belgian mother superior, taking a bullet intended for the older woman. She is buried in the nuns’ graveyard on the other side of the mission grounds.

All were murdered by armed tribesmen from Pakistan who invaded Kashmir to try to prevent the princely state becoming part of India after the British withdrawal - and to take away as much loot as they could carry. As they ransacked St Joseph’s on 27 October 1947 the first Indian troops were landing in Kashmir to repulse the invaders - and they have been here ever since to prevent the region being seized by Pakistan, which claims it as its own.

Security concerns were the main reason why the oldest of the three Dykes children, named Tom like his father, never managed to revisit Baramulla before his death in 2003.

When I met him a few years earlier his recollections of the attack were extraordinarily vivid.

“I can remember waking up, and there was gunfire all around the place,” he told me.

“Then these fellows that had raided the hospital started to batter down the door of the room we were in. The splinters started to fly across the room, and I could see the wild faces through the cracks in the door.

“The tribesmen were looting the place, they were pulling everything apart, and putting their booty into sheets which lay on the floor and were made up into bundles.”

A family servant managed to take the five-yearold away from the marauders. A little later they returned to see if they could find Tom’s family.

“We went back to the central part of the hospital, a garden area with a path around it. And we came across these bodies, covered with blood. And sitting on top, howling his eyes out, was my little brother Douglas.”

I stumbled on this story when, 20 years ago, I met the last remaining nun who had survived the ordeal. Sister Emilia, an Italian, recounted how the tribesmen had climbed over the mission walls, smashed through locked doors and manhandled some of the nuns. After they killed her friend - the new Spanish sister, Teresalina - Emilia thought she too was about to die.

The hospital run by the 16 nuns had a high reputation. Biddy Dykes - a motherly woman with a “round, happy face darkish hair and a lovely

These armed Pakistani tribesmen were photographed in Rawalpindi en route to Kashmir, a few days after the attack on Baramulla smile”, in the description of another army wife went there to give birth to at least two of her sons.

Their father was a Sandhurst-trained soldier from a family with a tradition of service in the British Indian army. He married Biddy, a military nurse, at Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal, in 1940, and had risen to the rank of lieutenant-colonel by the end of World War Two. When the British pulled out of India in August 1947, he agreed to stay on for a few months as an officer in the Indian army’s Sikh Regiment to help the transition.

The family has an anguished letter Biddy Dykes wrote 10 days before she died, shortly after giving birth to her third son, James. The security situation was alarming and she was desperately waiting for her husband to turn up and get them out.

“Hells Bells, I’d give anything to see Tom walk in this evening,” she wrote. “He said in one letter that he’d be up here today. But I don’t think there is an earthly chance.”

In fact, Dykes did make it to Baramulla but was unable to get his family to safety.

A letter has emerged that he wrote after his arrival to a British officer in the Kashmiri capital, Srinagar, just 30 miles away. In it he explains that he has come to collect his family only to be “overtaken by the present events”, in his astonishingly understated words. In clipped military fashion, he writes: “I should be most grateful if you would send a vehicle here to Baramulla to collect us.”

With an invasion underway, the evacuation was impractical. Two days later, he and his wife were dead.

The three orphaned Dykes boys along with

about 70 others were held captive in a single hospital ward for 10 days, while war raged around them. The Indian air force repeatedly bombed the mission, which the Pakistani invaders were using as a transport and supplies depot.

The two older boys eventually returned to Britain by boat. James, the baby, was so weak he was not expected to survive. He was initially cared for

by Lady Messervy, the wife of the British general who had become the first commander-in-chief of the Pakistan army, and slowly began to improve.

When, a few months later, he was well enough to make the journey home, he was taken in by a different wing of the family. He didn’t see a lot of his older brothers as they were growing up and at 18 he emigrated to South Africa.

“We never talked much about our parents - we knew the bare facts of what happened, but we were encouraged not to dwell on it,” says Doug Dykes, a brewer by profession who lives in Dorking, just outside London. It was only when I made contact with the family, sent photos of the graves and sought their testimony, that the brothers started to talk among themselves about their memories and feelings, he tells me.

St Joseph’s lies at the western end of Indian-administered Kashmir, where the mountains start to close in on the valley. The road from the Kashmiri capital, Srinagar, is lined by Indian army bases and choked with the incessant movement of the huge numbers of troops deployed to ensure that neither Pakistan nor Kashmiri separatists prise the region from Indian control.

Today there are 13 nuns at St Joseph’s, all In-

The two older boys eventually returned to Britain by boat.

James, the baby, was so weak he was not expected to survive.

He was initially cared for by Lady Messervy, the wife of the British general who had become the first commander-in-chief of the Pakistan army, and slowly began to improve. When, a few months later, he was well enough to make the journey home, he was taken in by a different wing of the family. He didn’t see a lot of his older brothers as they were growing up and at 18 he emigrated to South Africa.

dian - though none Kashmiri. In 1947 all except one were from Europe. As well as the small hospital - now, as then, specialising in maternal and women’s health - they run a nursing institute which is currently training 67 local Kashmiri girls.

The nuns recount how at times in recent years, as the security situation worsened, they have been encouraged to pull out of Baramulla. But they have insisted on staying. The service they provide to the local community is clearly appreciated, as is the evident compassion with which they conduct their mission.

For the 70th anniversary of the killings, the nuns took it on themselves to organise a memorial mass, candle-bearing processions and the laying of wreaths to honour those who lost their lives.

They invited the two surviving Dykes children to attend and asked if I would come along too.

The army has spruced up the graves for the occasion - a touch of whitewash, a few additional pot plants and camouflage sheets to protect those gathering around the graves. The quiet of the occasion is broken by the whirr of an army surveillance drone overhead, keeping an eye out for intruders.

Col Dykes lies in the only Commonwealth war grave in Kashmir, and the top-ranking Indian general in the area places a wreath, as does the diocesan bishop and the provincial head of the nuns’ order. The Dykes sons both lay wreaths too - Doug makes a point of honouring his mother.

For Doug and James Dykes, the warmth of the welcome from the nuns and the poignancy of the ceremonies is overpowering.

James, who stayed in South Africa and made a career as a tax consultant, is able to visit the room where his mother gave birth to him, as well as seeing the spot his parents were buried just two weeks later.

“I’m gobsmacked by it all. I just can’t find the words,” he says.

“I never expected to make it here.”

Neither of the surviving brothers can be sure to make it to Kashmir again. It was a precious chance - possibly a last chance - to get close to the young couple who died here, and whom they have thought about all their lives.

Source: BBC

PAGE 27

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

MAHI

I, formerly known as MAHI MOHAMMED, now wish to be known and addressed as MAHI MOHAMMED NA’IYA. All former documents remain valid. FIRST BANK, Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

ISMA’IL

I, formerly known as SAMAILA MUSA BANDAS, now wish to be known and addressed as ISMA’IL MUSA ABDULLAHI. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

MUSA

I, formerly known as ALH. MUSA ADAMU NAIRA, now wish to be known and addressed as MUSA TINTIN. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

ABDULLAHI

I, formerly known as TANIMU SAIDU, now wish to be known and addressed as ABDULLAHI SAIDU USMAN. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

MANASSEH

I, formerly known as manasseh godiya giwa, now wish to be known and addressed as manasseh godiya.

All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

abdulkarim

I, formerly known as abdullahi abdulkarim, now wish to be known and addressed as abdulkarim abdullahi. All former documents remain valid. ajanah university, nysc, Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

CLASSIFIED PUBLIC NOTICE

RIJIYAR LEMO TIMBER TRADERS ASSOCIATION The General public is hereby notified that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja for Registration under Part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act No. 1 of 1990.

The TRUSTEES are: 1. BALARABE ADAMU 2. AUWALU ALHAJI SANI 3. SANI YARO 4. SALEH HAMISU MAIJANKATAKO 5. LAWAN ALHAJI ADO 6. SANI ISA 7. ABDULLAHI SALISU 8. YUSUF SHAMSUDEEN AIMS AND OBJECTIVE (a) To promote peaceful co-existence among the members of the association Any objection to the above registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent Off Aguiyi Street, Maitama P.M.B. 198, Abuja within 28 daysof this publication Signed: SECRETARY

LOSS OF DOCUMENT

This is to inform the general public of loss of Allocation Letter for a 3 Bedroom Flat at B8 Sunshine Estate, Gwarimpa 11, Abuja. Dated 23/8/2015. At Kubwa Express Way. Belonging to Safiya Abubakar Sadiq Yabagi of Arab Rd. Kubwa Got missing. All effort made to trace the said missing documents prove abortive.

If found please return to the nearest police station. All authorities concerned and general public should please take note.

Onyeka I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS Onyeka Anuebu. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS Onyeka Henry Anuebu. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC should PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

PUBLIC NOTICE

CHERUBIM AND SERAPHIM CHURCH GOD CONFIRMED AND PECULIAR.....

The General public is hereby notified that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja for Registration under Part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act No. 1 of 1990.

The TRUSTEES are: 1.DUNTOYE SIJUWADE SAMUEL-PRESIDENT. 2.DACOSTA ADETOUN DEBBY-SECRETARY. AIMS: TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST..

Any objection to the above registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent Off Aguiyi Street, Maitama P.M.B. 198, Abuja within 28 daysof this publication Signed: BARR SEGUN AJAYI-07030428644.

AGBO I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS AGBO ANTHONY. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS AGBO ANTHONY USMAN. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE. Mbami I, formerly known as Gambar y. Esther. now wish to be known and addressed as a Mbami Esther Musa. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

MUHAMMADU I, formerly known as MUHAMMED GAINIROBO BELLO now wish to be known and addressed as MUHAMMADU BELLO. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

PAGE 28

DIGEST

The 8 most nutritious nightshade fruits and vegetables What are nightshade fruits and veggies? ightshade fruits and vegetables are a broad group of plants from the solanum and capsicum families. Nightshade plants contain poisons, one called solanine. While ingesting nightshade plants can be fatal, fruits and vegetables in this same classification of plant — many of which you’ll find at your local grocery store — are actually safe to eat.

This is because the amount of this toxic compound is lowered to nontoxic levels once the fruits and vegetables ripen. Still, the leaves and berries of the deadly nightshade plant are toxic and shouldn’t be consumed.

Find out exactly which of the nightshades are the most nutritious.

N

Tomatoes

Eggplant

Tomatoes are a staple of many diets for numerous reasons. In addition to how easy they are to grow, they’re also packed with nutrition. This fruit is high in vitamins A and C, and is also a good source of iron, potassium, vitamin B-6, manganese, and dietary fiber.

According to Penn State University’s Extension program, current research suggests that tomatoes contain carotenoids, powerful antioxidants that protect the body from certain types of cancers. Lycopene, the most common carotenoid found in tomatoes, may help reduce the risk for pancreatic, prostate, and digestive cancers.

Try this fresh-from-the-garden tomato soup to warm you up on a cold day.

Eggplant is a good source of manganese, a mineral important for both development and metabolism. Additionally, according to researchers, eggplant contains natural antioxidants that can help protect your skin from the oxidative stress of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation.

Because of their meaty texture when cooked, they’re popular among vegetarians — think eggplant parmesan — as well as with vegans.

Whip together this curried okra and eggplant to try something with a bit of Mediterranean flair.

Tomatoes

Tomatillos

Potatoes are one of the most abundantly grown foods used in the Western world. They’re also part of the perennial nightshade family that can be mildly poisonous when eaten before they’re ripe, while the skin is still green.

Potatoes are great sources of vitamin C, which helps aid immunity. They also contain enough potassium, vitamin B-6, and fiber to make a healthier staple than you may realize.

Moreover, they contain carotenoids, flavonoids, and caffeic acid, all forms of phytonutrients known to promote health benefits, according to the USDA. There are also many different types of varieties, which have different health benefits.

Potatoes are rich in vitamins A, B, C, and E, along with iron and zinc. They provide an easy way to get necessary, critical amounts of nutrients for people living in developing worlds.

Potatoes aren’t as healthy when they’re prepared with high amounts of fats, salts, and oils, like french fries. Because nothing beats a homestyle staple, try this take on roast potatoes.

The tomatillo is a nightshade that grows in a husk and is similar to a tomato. Common in Central and South America, it’s a staple of Mexican green sauces and can be boiled, fried, or steamed.

While not as nutritiously plentiful as your garden-variety red tomato, they contain antioxidants and can help you sneak some extra fiber into your diet without adding in too many extra calories.

Check out a healthy tomatillo salsa or better yet a roasted tomatillo chicken rice bowl packed with protein and fiber.

Goji berries

Bell peppers

If you need a boost of vitamin C, bell peppers are a great choice. One green pepper contains more vitamin C than an orange.

Bell peppers are one of the tastiest snacks in the nightshade family. You can slice them up and dip them in hummus, add them to a stir fry, or try making this bell pepper farro salad.

To find fresh goji berries, you’ll have to visit a Chinese plantation. But they’re also typically found at specialty food stores in dried form, sometimes labeled as wolfberries.

Goji berries contain protein and numerous healthy amino acids such as tyramine.

They’re high in antioxidants, which help immune function and cell health. If you’re trying them for the first time, know that it’s possible to be allergic to them. You’ll want to stop eating them should you develop a rash or become ill.

To get more beneficial nightshades in your diet, try adding goji berries into this double berry cobbler.

Blueberries

Bell peppers

Hot peppers may be nightshades, but like the sun they can bring some heat. And if your tongue can endure the burn, these fiery devils contain good nutrients.

Common hot peppers — like jalapenos, serrano peppers, and red or green chilies — are good sources of vitamin C, vitamin A, and potassium.

Capsaicin, what helps give spicy peppers their kick, has been shown to decrease inflammation, which can help people with joint disorders walk with less pain.

If you want something sweet with your spice, try making these chili-chocolate dipped cherries.

Blueberries contain solanine alkaloid like nightshade plants, though they aren’t technically a nightshade plant. Blueberries are often touted as a superfood because many believe they contain cancer-preventing ingredients. They’re high in antioxidants, which are known to reduce inflammation. With that in mind, blueberries are thought to prevent inflammatory diseases such as metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and cardiovascular disease.

According to researchers at the Gerontological Society of America, evidence from recent studies show that blueberries contain flavonoids, specifically one called anthocyanin, that’s directly associated with cognitive benefits.

A cup of blueberries provides a quarter of your daily vitamin C needs, as well as supplying some dietary fiber. The fiber, when combined with probiotics in yogurt, can keep your gastrointestinal tract in good working order.

For a healthy morning burst of blueberry bliss, try this blueberry and spinach smoothie. www.healthline .com

PEOPLES DAILY

Sports

Page

29

sports@peoplesdailyng.com, SMS- 08142929046

friday, november 17, 2017

Eagles to know CHAN opponents today as NFF signs payment agreement with players

Eagles

By Albert Akota

N

igeria’s Super Eagles will today know their group phase opponents at the 5th African Nations Championship kicking off on 13th January 2018 in Morocco.

The Confederation of African Football has announced that the Draw Ceremony will take place at the stately Hotel Sofitel Rabat, which also hosted CAF’s Extraordinary General Assembly following the first ever African Football Symposium in Rabat in July this year.

The 16 teams that qualified for the finals have been drawn into four pots, from which they will be drawn into four groups of four for the 23 –day, 16 –nation championship.

Nigeria, winners of the bronze medals at the 3rd CHAN in South Africa in 2014, has been slotted into Pot 2, alongside Cameroon, Guinea and Zambia.

Pot 1 has host nation Morocco, Angola,

Cote d’Ivoire and Libya with Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Sudan in Pot 3 and Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania and Namibia in Pot D. Group A will have its base in Casablanca (Morocco’s industrial and economic capital); Marrakech will host Group B; Group C will be based in Tangier and; Agadir will play host to Group D. Nigeria failed to qualify for the first two editions of the CHAN, hosted by Cote d’Ivoire (2009) and Sudan (2011), but finished in third place in South Africa in 2014 after losing 1-2 to Mali in her first match and then defeating Mozambique 4-2 and host South Africa 3-1.

In the quarter –finals, the Eagles came from 0-3 down at half time to defeat Morocco 4-3 after extra time, but they crumbled on penalty shoot –out to Ghana’s Black Stars in the semi finals, before piping Zimbabwe to third place.

In Rwanda last year, Nigeria trounced Niger Republic 4-1, only to draw 1-1 with

Tunisia and lose 0-1 to Guinea to crash out at group stage.

Meanwhile, NFF has signed an agreement with its players which it says will avoid the bonus and pay rows that have blighted the team’s past World Cup campaigns.

The NFF described it as an “historic and binding agreement that will eliminate all manner of rancour and distractions around Nigeria’s preparation and participation” at the World Cup in Russia next year.

Nigeria, who have qualified for their sixth World Cup, have reached the round of sixteen three times and been eliminated in the group stage twice.

The Super Eagles were involved in a protracted dispute ahead of the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil and a bonus row also disrupted their World Cup campaign the following year, prompting the players to boycott a training session.

Similar problems have affected other African teams.

Ghana’s players refused to train over a pay dispute at one point during the last World Cup and around $3 million in cash eventually arrived in Brasilia with a convoy of cars bringing the money to the team’s headquarters.

NFF director Shehu Dikko said no stone had been unturned this time.

“Every detail has been agreed on, match bonus for each match and each round up to the Final as well as share of income from Fifa money for each round until the stage we are able to get to at the finals,” he said.

The agreement was also signed by coach Gernot Rohr and team captain John Obi Mikel, among others, the NFF said.

“We are very happy and excited with this development,” said Obi Mikel.

“This is the first time since I started playing for the senior team that I would see everything regarding preparation and bonuses and allowances put down in black and white and a binding agreement executed.”

Dalung receives gold winning scrabble team

>>pg 30

PAGE 30

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

S p

r

Dalung receives gold winning scrabble T

By Albert Akota

he Minister of Youth and Sports Barrister Solomon Dalung has applauded the National Scrabble team who returned from Nairobi Kenya after winning the World English language Scrabble Championship back to back.

Barrister Dalung said with this result, the World English Language Scrabble has relocated from Europe to Nigeria.

“I congratulate the Scrabble Federation for again making Nigeria proud by re-enacting their status and commitment to the game of scrabble.

“Last year, your historic feat of placing the map of Nigeria on the world of scrabble where for the first time in black history, a black man emerged as a world champion. That was celebrated by not only Nigerians but the government of Nigeria who received the champion.

“Two years down the line, we are here again to celebrate another success with greater improvement and participation. I dare to say that Scrabble has relocated from its traditional home in Europe and is now domesticated in Nigeria.”

The Minister thanked the team for their selflessness and

belief in Nigeria and promised that government will continue to support the game of Scrabble and fund their activities within the limited resources available. He also used the occasion to call on the National Assembly to allocate more funds to sports in Nigeria.

“In the last two years, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has done better than any Ministry because we have brought glory to Nigeria more than any Ministry. If this is the situation, then we need more funds.

A situation where federations that have made the country proud have a yearly budgetary allocation of only N30 or N40m which cannot even fund one trip in some cases is unacceptable. We have over stretched the commitment of our people because members of the federation have been contributing their personal money to sponsor trips.”

Barrister Dalung appealed to the private sector to adopt some athletes and sponsor their training to relieve government of some of the burden and also called on the scrabble federation to embark on a massive advocacy of the game by taking scrabble to secondary and primary schools and tertiary institutions to identify young talents.

In his response, the President of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation Alhaji Suleiman Garba Gora thanked the sports ministry for supporting their trip to Kenya by giving the team the financial approval.

“We are here to show appreciation and to inform you of the patriotism of these individuals

who have made a lot of sacrifices while in camp for four months. We are making history for the second time since you were sworn in.

This time, we went to Nairobi and did better than before in terms of national placement.

“This is the first country in the world and the only black country to have won this championship

Iwobi: Why I dumped England for Nigeria

Alex Iwobi

t

back to back. We went there as the world champion in terms of country representation and also on individual basis.”

54 countries took part in the championship with 169 players.

In Scrabble, the top 15 players are considered for winning positions and Nigeria had 5 players on the list of top 15.

A

rsenal FC’s promising midfielder Alex Iwobi he revealed why he decided to represent Nigeria instead of England.

The attacking midfielder inspired the Super Eagles to a 4-2 win over Argentina by scoring a brace in an international friendly match which was played in Russia on Tuesday.

Iwobi, who made his Nigeria debut in October 2015, is a former English youth international having played for the European side’s Under-16, Under-17 and Under-18 teams.

However, at senior level the Lagos-born attacker opted to switch allegiance the African side and has recently told explained why.

“I was growing up in England and England was the only national team I knew, so I was actually very pleased to play at national level,” Iwobi said.

“However, my family are all from Nigeria, I was born in Nigeria, my uncle (Jay-Jay Okocha) is a legend in Nigeria,” the 21-year-old continued.

Iwobi’s solitary goal helped Nigeria beat Zambia 1-0 in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier last month and as a result, the Super Eagles booked their place in the finals.

Giroud ruled out of Tottenham game tomorrow

A

rsenal striker Olivier Giroud has been ruled out of Saturday’s Premier League derby against Tottenham Hotspur due to a thigh injury, manager Arsene Wenger said yesterday.

Giroud, who has scored in 10 league appearances this season also netted in France’s friendly win over Wales last Friday.

“Giroud picked up an injury, I don’t think he will be available,” Wenger told reporters. “Its short term, we have to assess him.”

Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck (groin) and defender

Shkodran Mustafi (thigh) will undergo late fitness tests.

Wenger said Santi Cazorla’s injury was the worst he had seen with the Spaniard sidelined since last October after suffering multiple infections following surgery on his right heel.

Wenger is hopeful the 32-year-old midfielder will return in January.

Arsenal, who is sixth in the standings, have not beaten thirdplaced Tottenham in the last six league meetings but Wenger is confident can beat their local rivals.

PAGE 31

PEOPLES DAILY, friday, november 17, 2017

CLASSIFIED

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

IGNITE FOUNDATION

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

PRUDENT AMBASSADORS FRIENDSHIP CLUB OF NIGERIA

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.ASADU JOHNBOSCO 2.CHIJIOKE(CHAIRMAN) 3.IKECHUKWUKA ANSELEM 4.MATTHEW(SECRETARY) 5.OZIOKO FRANCIS UCHENNA(TREASURER)

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.APEH PAUL OCHEJE 2.OKEKWU SARAH AJANIGO 3.OKORO JORDAN GOZIECHI

Ihakpu-Awka Glorious Estate Residents Association

6.AYOGU PIUS OGBODO,IDOKO CHRISTIAN 7. ECHEZONA,EZEH IFEANYI CHUKWUKA 8.ONAH BENJAMIN OKAFOR 9.UDEH MONDAY JAMES 10.ODOH CHUKWUEMEKA MARTINS.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED CLUB HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.Adegbenro Ibrahim Rotimi 2.Kareem Saheed Afolabi 3.Adejuwon Ezekiel Adekunle 4.Oke Sarafa Sunday 5.Adekola Adeniyi Habeeb

6.Olaosebikan Joseph Arisekola 7.Akeeb Adetayo Habeeb 8.Badmos Adeniyi Hammeed 9.Olaku Akinlolu Oladipo 10.Inaolaji Akinloye Ridwan

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : (1) To foster a prosperous developmental prospects for the members.

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1. TO EMPOWER ENTREPRENEURS AND INDIVIDUALS BELOW THE PYRAMID THROUGH CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT, SEED CAPITAL, MENTORING AND NETWORKING. 2. TO SPARK INNOVATION AND SOLUTIONS THAT CREATES ECONOMIC IDENTITIES FOR THE VULNERABLE AND THE POOR.

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.To promote peace and tranquility amongst her members and others.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY

SIGNED : SECRETARY

SIGNED : SECRETARY

PUBLIC NOTICE

International foundation for a greater Nigeria Advocacy

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : (1) Chief Peter Iyobhebhe , RSV. (2). Arch. Nnamdi Osuagwu (3). Surv. Okay Sunday Eze. THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : (1) To promote friendship amongst members of the association, and cater to the assistance and welfare of members.

(2). As a charity, to assist and work with relevant agencies of Government in sensitizing and orientating the Nigeria public towards nation - building, unity, prosperity and civic responsibility.

(3). To support the government, as a non - profit, non - governmental organization towards policies and relevant legislations in favour of national unity, cohesion, peace, progress, as well as integrity in governance.

(4) To promote any other charitable or socio - cultural purpose for the benefit of the unity and prosperity of Nigeria.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Nurul iman islamic mothers aid foundation

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1. Bilkisu Musa Yakubu. Chairperson 2. Rukayya Hisqeel. Secretary.

3. Hadiza Ishaq Nabayi.

4. Aisha Fathu Buba.

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : Assist members and needy in poverty alleviation by skill acquisition, social welfare, economic, horticulture and agricultural development.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Household Of Faith - Living Word Church

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : (I) Upe Emmanuel Denden (Founder/General Overseer) (2) Upe Rosetta Oghenero (3) Ohikhena Spencer Emmanuel (4) Upe Pius Edafe THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : Pascal Uncut Eat.

SIGNED : SECRETARY

SIGNED : BARR. LAWANI KAYODE.

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

PENIEL FAITH INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR AMENDMENT OF CONSTITUTION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : (AMENDMENT OF ARTICLE D (C) TO READ :THE TRUSTEES SHALL NOT BE LESS THAN TWO IN NUMBER .

AMEND ARTICLE C BY ADDING : OBJECT 3-6 . (3) TO CARE AND ASSIST ORPHANS AND WIDOWS (4) TO CARE AND ASSIST THE AGED IN TERMS OF HEALTHCARE .

(5) TO ESTABLISH SCHOOLS AND VOCATIONAL CENTRES FOR ORPHANS AND WIDOWS.(TO ESTABLISH COTTAGE , HOSPITALS TO CATER FOR WIDOWS , ORPHANS AND THE AGED.

CITI SCAPE VILLA RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.ETIM VICTOR EDEM 2.UMAR MUHAMMED BASHAR 3.AGUNECHE JUDE OKENNA 4.ADUDU BUGH THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.TO FOSTER UNITY AMONG THE MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION.

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT AND STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.OLUWASEUN ONAKOYA 2.MBANE YORKE THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1.TO EMPOWER RURAL COMMUNITIES IN STRATEGIC NEEDS BASED INTERVENTION AREAS LIKE HEALTHCARE, EDUCATION, AGRICULTURE AND DIGITAL INCLUSION. 2.TO ORGANIZE SEMINARS AND PUBLIC AWARENESS PROGRAMMES TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THE PROBLEMS OF LESS PRIVILEGED GIRLS, EDUCATE THE TARGETS AND CAUSE A POSITIVE CHANGE IN THE SOCIETY.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS APPLICATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY

SIGNED : MEYACHI SHAIBU ESQ, 08037878952

SIGNED : TOPE AYUBA-BULUS 08035158192

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

SCRAP AND SALVAGE DEALER’S ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.ADENRELE ADETIMIRIN - GENERAL SECRETARY 2.SODEINDE OLADAPO FATAI - PRESIDENT 3.YEMITAN FASASI AYINLA - TREASURER 4.ADEWALE TEMITOPE KHADIJAT - SPECIAL ADVICER 5.MR OKE ADEKUNLE MUSA - VICE PRESIDENT 6.MR LARRY OKON THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1.TO DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS FOR THE COMMON INTEREST OF MEMBERS. 2.TO PROFFER SOLUTION TO THE VARIOUS PROBLEMS AFFECTING MEMBERS. 3.TO PROMOTE PEACE AND UNITY AMONG MEMBERS.

SMILING HEART GLOBAL INITIATIVE FOR HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED INITIATIVE HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.MRS NANMAN PHILEMON KASH 2.MR PHILEMON KASH ADAMS 3.CHIEF ISHAYA KUMDUNG DAMES 4.DE NUHU ABUBAKAR ATTA 5.EDHOMERIEGUE LILIAN O 6.ADEROGBA ADEOYE ADEYEMI THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.TO RECUPERATE AND ENLIGHTENING PEOPLE ABOUT SOME DEADLY DISEASE.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

LIVING REAL EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVE

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED INITIATIVE HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.MR. ETOP UMANA 2.ENGR. UYOATA ETIM 3.ELDER NSIDIBE UDOM ETUKHO 4.DR. CLEMENT USORO 5.ELDER (DR) MANASSEH E. UDO THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.TO CREATE GOALS AND STRATEGICS TO PROVIDE HELP AND RESTORATION TO THE LESS PRIVILEGED.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIR COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY

SIGNED : SECRETARY

SIGNED : SECRETARY

QUOTABLE QUOTE

. . . putting the people first

FRIday, november 17, 2017

We can’t therefore discountenance policy consistency & synergy between all stakeholders, if we must sustain economic growth & development, going forward - Speaker House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara

SPORTS Budgets and public trust (1) latest

England wants to avoid Nigeria in World Cup draw

E

ngland national team want to avoid facing Nigeria in the draw for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, as per reports.

According to report, the Super Eagles are not the preferred rival in the teams in Pot 4 which also contains Serbia, Australia, Japan, Morocco, Panama, Korea and Saudi Arabia.

The best case scenario that will see the Three Lions tackle Russia, Iran and Panama has been termed Group of Life, while the worst case scenario which sees England face Brazil, Iceland and Brazil has been called the Group of Death.

England have become more wary of the Nigerians after they made a statement in their come from behind 4-2 win over Argentina in their last match of 2017 on November 14, so they don’t want to draw the threetime African champs.

Group F containing England, Argentina, Nigeria and Sweden, was nicknamed the Group of Death at the 2002 World Cup; the Three Lions and Super Eagles played out a goalless draw in Osaka in the final match of the group.

Arsenal striker Alex Iwobi, Chelsea’s Victor Moses and Ola Aina, Leicester City trio Kelechi Iheanacho, Ahmed Musa and Wilfred Ndidi will be on the plane to Russia barring an injury, while Everton’s Henry Onyekuru is in contention.

Taye Taiwo and Oduamadi

Advert: business: news: lagos:

FRIDAY Column BY

You can’t get rich in politics unless you are a crook -Harry S Truman, Former US President

W

e start from the basic needs before pursuing the dreams like sending a Nigerian to the moon. Nigerian noise makers are still making noise and padding the budget while when we were at ABU the US astronauts who landed on the moon visited us at the faculty of engineering in 1973. The Russians were the first to raise the stakes with the Sputnik expedition to the moon. The Nigerian copy cats cannot produce a bicycle or even a spoke. But they have gone to the ridiculous extent of saying a section of a country that produces the food needs and meat supplements of the nation as unproductive. While they foolishly call themselves productive because an Oyibo has found oil on their “land” which their ancestors were only sleeping and worshipping idols till Shell struck oil at Olibiri. Their living interest is talking loud and contriving religious sentiments to remain relevant. With many fake degrees and certificates, budgets as public trust to them are na my office I go chop.

One must address the hierarchy of needs in the budgetary process before attaining the wild dreams. For the sake of illustration consider this scenario. Consider a household. The head of the family instead of providing food, clothing, rooms and beds for his children to sleep, payment of school fees to educate his children, getting them good transport to school and place of work, would rather hide the money in his mattress and ask them to go and play soccer perhaps they will be an Arsenal top player. Then leave for London and therefore say bye-bye to poverty. There on will be sending US Dollars for his up-keep and family sustenance. Or the money for them he will save and invest in shares while they go and beg. So the issue of training them to be engineers, doctors and other responsible citizens is set aside since he would see it as a waste of his earnings.

The trust reposed on him to train and empower his children is regarded with disdain. To the Nigerian ruling elites the public trust embedded in the budgetary process is treated as holy water and the common man is not in the equations.

In Nigeria instead of getting the basic infrastructure right, the newspapers are only promoting hate stories and vilifications of other tribes with nothing to show in their backyards but leaders with cases with the EFCC or ICPC or the Code of Conduct bureau (CCB) that they are willing to part with 5% of the padding to get away with the illegal wealth. Either way at the micro and macro levels it is “lion” share for me and my tribes or those we share the same religion and the “baboon” share for other indivisuals and those outside my race or religion. All issues of

0806 564 8620 0704 385 9705 0814 292 9046 08074420617

Engr. Abubakar A. Fari mofari@hotmail.com development projects that will make Nigeria a great nation will continue to remain in the back seat.

The desire to manipulate the budget so as to position the “crooks” as former US President Harry Truman said to remain relevant in power play is the do-or-die paradigm.

The manipulations of the recurrent expenditure and the capital votes take the centre stages. Public funds have been privatized by private indivisuals who see themselves as “small governments”. During the GEJ clueless administration the promotion of indivisuals richer than “governments” was the logic of his Niger-Delta myopic ethnic nationalities with “crooks” from PDP politicians nation-wide to support the budgetary economic crimes or the day light robbery that remains unprecedented in Nigerian history.

We had a Tompolo knick-named and addressed by a serving President of Nigeria as “government”. Oil proceeds were diverted to none government accounts before the federation account and the noise makers knew pretty well the treason that called for public execution of these day light robbers but chose to ignore.

The cases of those with ambitions to vie for governorship and presidential elections induce many in the executive and the legislature to pursue earthquake corruptions. Even for a local councilor, a king maker ensures he has stolen from the budgets too much money to support his boys and girls. We remember former Governor Ngige was “imprisoned” for not bowing to the macabre dance of one of a former head of states stooge and a PDP blackmailer from his state bent on taking a chunk from the federation account of his state.

So remain lunatics of the do-or-die politics that manipulate and control the dirty games at the National and state legislative arms take the shape of the scramble for Africa. This stance

“

make the budgets as conduit pipes to siphon funds and all sorts of financial crimes that equate the victims to what former EFCC Chairman Farida to behave like mad men that need psychiatric examination. The socalled constituency projects and juicy Committee Chairmen at the National Assembly and effectively the control of the Judiciary are the stakes in budgetary chicaneries and gimmicks of the “how dare you” politicians.

Hence they store in sewages and ivory towers in places like Ikoyi liquid cash in foreign and local currencies that collectively, would otherwise create value chain and raise Nigeria’s status to an envious position in the world scene. Some even go to the ghettoes like Sabuwar Tasha in Kaduna and lock and dam millions of US Dollars that they do not need just because they are sadists.

Rather, noise makers study law to confuse and degrade the country to a banana republic and ultimate chaos.

Economic and financial criminals are legend and because of the abuse court processes to frustrate recovery of the loot remain unused for the common good.

These underutilized public funds are needed to develop basic infrastructure like roads bridges and high ways; health infrastructure; food self sufficiency; reliable supply of electric power but for the fraud by the merchants of generators importers; stable insurance policy for the civilians and military and the paramilitary; qualitative education; cost effective operations of the refineries and petrochemical complexes; and security is designed to fail in the country because some crooks have failed to rig themselves into the corridors of power among others. So hard earned foreign currency essential for financing development projects end up in the US-Zionists banks for the procurement of arms and not food and basic necessities. Commission

The desire to manipulate the budget so as to position the “crooks” as former US President Harry Truman said to remain relevant in power play is the do-or-die paradigm. The manipulations of the recurrent expenditure and the capital votes take the centre stages. Public funds have been privatized by private indivisuals who see themselves as “small governments.

agents again cheat their fellow citizens in the process. It is when these facilities are on ground that one can dream of going to the moon.

The hierarchy of needs demand that we satisfy our people with food against hunger. Then we move to provide clothing, shelter, transport and security to pursue our diverse interests. That security is one that creates an environment where one is free to move without the fear that his life and property are at risk. Nigerians witnessed this callous indifference when GEJ and the southern elements held sway. The budget was not held in trust for the citizens of the country.

The GEJ and the PDP turned Nigeria into a banana republic and the oil and gas proceeds were manipulated by a cabal from the so-called Niger Delta who regarded the proceeds from the petroleum as personal to them. One petroleum minister and her boss GEJ and other grandees met behind closed doors and appropriated it to themselves. Greedy scavengers from the PDP nationwide forgot themselves and their fellow countrymen each wanted to feast like hungry lions on a buffalo in the jungle. So what if the country ran riot.

The moment public trust is disrespected the centre cannot hold.

Corruption is a societal cancer. Clearly, something had to inevitably give way.

The naivety of GEJ and the clueless advisors could not understand that in a country with over 150 million people lacking basic needs and someone throws in the religious card and that was Christianity for GEJ and his greedy Pastors will not work. A huge majority of Christians could not eat hallelujah and vote with no hope in the future.

No food for their families while few got stinking rich from their tribes and few Pastors. Urubebe had to fall in disgrace as their scheme was clueless and treasonable in all of its ramifications.

The Biafra elements once more miscalculated and sided with the antiNigerian elements and now with no shame are crying wolf.

DAN GAYE

England wants to avoid Nigeria in World Cup draw – News

Fear of the Eagles is the beginning of wisdom!

Published by Peoples Media Limited, 35, Ajose Adeogun Street, 1st Floor Peace Park Plaza, Utako, Abuja. Kano office: Plot 3, Zaria Road, Opposite Kano State House of Assembly. Lagos Office: No.8 Oliyide Street, off Unity Road, Ikeja, Lagos. Tel: +234 814 292 9046. Cell: +234 802 443 2099; 803 7007 759. e-mail: contact@peoplesdailyng.com; pmlnewsdesk@gmail.com ISSN: 2141– 6141