PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016. EDITION

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Wednesday, July 27, 2016 / Shawwal 23, 1437 AH

We’ll link state capitals by railBuhari

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Ambassadorial nominees fail National Anthem test

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Vol. 23 No. 51 N150

Borno IDPs protest over poor feeding

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States now healthy, better funded- Govs page 5

CBN tilts monetary policy to fight inflation

By Etuka Sunday

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R-L: President Muhammadu Buhari signing document on the train. With him are Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi and Minister of State Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirka as President Commissions/Flags-off Abuja-Kaduna Commercial Operation Rail Station at IDU Station in Abuja.

Photo: STATE HOUSE

834 Days after: Will the abducted Chibok schoolgirls ever be rescued?

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n an apparent move to control inflation and further depreciation of naira, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday raised Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 200 basis points from 12% to 14%.

The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele said, the rising inflationary pressure was largely a reflection of structural factors, including high cost of electricity, high transport cost, high cost of inputs, low industrial activities as well as higher prices of both domestic and imported food products.

Recall, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently in its data showed a skyrocketed inflation at 16.5% in June attributed to high cost of electricity, transport and food; a separate index for which rose to 15.3% from 14.9% in May; its highest in almost a decade and the fifth monthly increase in a row, as the country’s economic crisis deepens.

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We’re fed up with Obasanjo’s sustained attacks- Senate Leader

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

News

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

19-22 23

S/Report 24-25 Feature 26 Defence 27 Agric 29

Buratai warns peacekeeping troops against unprofessional conduct From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

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he Chief of Army Staff , Lt. General Tukur Yusufu Buratai has warned Nigerian troops to the peace keeping force mission in Liberia to avoid all unprofessional conduct during their assignment in the country.

He gave the warning in his speech during the graduation ceremony of Nigeria BattalionNIBATT 38 United Nations Mission in Liberia-UNMIL Pre-Deployment Training at the Nigeria Army Peacekeeping Centre Jaji kaduna state yesterday.

The army boss said Nigerian will not accept any situation where its troops are seen as soft targets of conducting themselves in unprofessional manner, hence the need for the troops to maintain the professionalism the Army is known for.

According to Buratai, the unprofessional manner includes trafficking illicit substances of any kind like alcohol and drugs

as the practice contradicts United Nations ethnic.

The Army Chief who was represented by the Chief of Training and Operations, MajorGeneral Haruna also reminded the troops of the United Nations zero tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse.

He appealed to them to avoid untoward incident that could tarnish the image of the Nigerian Army and the Nation in general, adding that the Nigerian Army and indeed the Nigerian Government will not tolerate the contravention of the polices and directives.

The Chief of Army Staff opined that any defaulters of these policies would be sanctioned appropriately as he urged them to work within the rules of engagement of the mission.

General Buratai stressed the need for the troops to exhibit the highest sense of personal and environmental hygiene as Liberia is just emerging from EBOLA epidemic.

According to him, while

keeping pace with the requirement of human right observance, they should also avoid scenes that would portray disrespect for the people of Liberia.

The Chief of Army Staff, however, commanded the Commandant of the Nigeria Army Peacekeeping Centre BrigadierGeneral Adamu Dauda and urged him to remain resolute in ensuring that the high standard him achieved to robots training in Peace Support Operation by the Centre is maintained.

Earlier in his opening remark, the Commandant, Nigeria Army Peacekeeping Centre, BrigadierGeneral Adamu Dauda stated that the philosophy behind the training is in line with the requirement of deploying quality peacekeepers for peace support operation meant to provide the troops with requisite skills to enable them operate under the prevailing conditions in Liberia in the most professional manner.

“The training was intensive and comprehensive in line with the UN pre-deployment modules,

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Metro 31-33 Money Sense 34 Strange World 35 Vogue 39-40 Sports 41 Columnist 48

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Fire disasters: Sokoto will enforce safety rules –Tambuwal

By Paul Efiong

As Viral hepatitis cases triple, experts push for more action Page 4

Digest 36

policy direction of COAS and COAS vision which is ‘to have a professionally responsive Nigerian Army in the discharge of its constitutional roles.’ This must remain in focus throughout the deployment of NIBATT 38 in LIBERIA,” he said.

He explained that under the guidance of the Army Headquarters, the centre had emphasized on human right observance, sexual exploitation and abuse and the need to be responsive and professional at all times to the graduands who have been well trained and ready to do the nation proud.

“You must be robust, aggressive and alert in the discharge of your mandated roles in Liberia,” he charged.

The Commandant however hoped that the qualities exhibited by the men and officers would reflect on the conduct of the Unit in the threat of operation.

•Children Peace Ambassador, Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution, Miss Splendor Joeking (middle) flanked by representative of the Minister of Defence, Dr Hassan Abdullahi (right) and Director, Democracy and Development Studies, Gabriel Jiya, and other participants, at a National Workshop on Radicalisation, De-Radicalisation and Counter-Radicalisation, organised by Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: nan

S/African prophet burns himself to ashes alongside 21 other church members

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24 year old South african self-proclaimed prophet set himself, 21 congregants, and their church building on fire on Tuesday evening while trying to demonstrate what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did in the Old Testament.

Prophet Simangaliso Mncwabe, who runs a church [House of Miracles] with over a hundred and fifty members in Ngodini, Mpumalanga; was preaching about the 3 warriors of the Old Testament in an evening service and then finished off with a demonstration, which did not go down well.

The book of Daniel in the Old Testament reveals that after Shadrach, Meshach, and

Abednego refused to bow down to the golden image, King Nebuchadnezzar threw them into ablazing furnace, but they did not burn, as God was with them.

Prophet Simangaliso assured his congregants that miracles still happen today, and they will see them happening in his church, as the name of the church says.

As the crowd cheered, he began pouring petrol on himself and set himself ablaze.

After realizing that he is actually burning, the prophet started screaming for help and some of the people in attendance attempted to help him, but they unfortunately also caught fire in the process.

In less than 3 minutes, about

people 12 people were on fire.

The carpet on the pulpit floor also caught and spread the fire through the entire building.

In less than 30 minutes, the prophet and 21 of his members were tuned into ashes and were declared dead on the spot.

About 15 people sustained 3rd degree burns and were rushed to hospital.

Those who managed to escape stated that they have never seen anything like this in their lives.

They promised to never allow anyone to attempt to perform a miracle like this in front of them again.

Meanwhile the White Police Station is investigating the matter.

overnor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal said the state government will modernise all markets in the state so as to avoid incidences of fire as recorded in the state in recent months.

Speaking when he visited the scene of the latest fire incidence at Sokoto's Old Market, Tambuwal said having modern structures in the market place will ensure proper safety procedures are put in place.

He said government will enforce safety measures in all public places in order to ensure protection of lives and property.

"In the interim, we are assessing the damage done to this market and we will in due course announce special intervention to cushion the effect f the disaster on our businessmen and women.

"In the long term, the government will put in place adequate safety measures in all our markets and other public places. We will follow that up to ensure that strict enforcement of all safety measures," the Governor added.

While sympathising with the victims of the disaster, Tambuwal urged them not to despair, but consider their predicament as part of life's trials and tribulations.

Speaking on behalf of shop owners, Malam Muazu Danjabalu commended Tambuwal for showing concern over their plight.

He said seeing the Governor at the market at midnight when the fire was razing the shops was an act of genuine leadership which all others should emulate.

He appealed to government to assist the victims quickly enough for them to rebuild their lives without further delay.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

News Ag News Editor Ese Awhotu Borno IDPs stage protest over poor feeding From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

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housands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) taking refuge at the Bama camp in Borni state yesterday staged a protest over what they termed as “poor” feeding system in the camp.

The IDPs staged the protest when the members of House Representative paid a fact finding visit to the camp in Bama, the headquarters of Bama local government area of Borno state.

The IDPs started chanting various slogans to express their anger over their poor feeding condition and blamed the State Emergency Management Agency,

Kebbi awards fertiliser contract to Kano govt

(SEMA) for their predicaments.

Our correspondent reports that so sooner had the committee members stepped into the camp, the angry-looking IDPs started chanting “Karya ne “ meaning it is a lie, when one of the camp official said that each person goes home with a bag of 50kg bag of Rice, a bag of Semovita, a carton of Spaghetti and a packet of Maggi every two weeks.

An IDP, Yaganna Ibrahim said, “since morning we have not eaten as even the scarce food stuffs were only given to those who have hand card. We also face the problem of water and drugs but thank God the government has addressed the problem of water but we still need more boreholes and toilet facilities.

The IDPs argued that that a Bag of 50kg rice, a Semovita, a carton of Spaghetti, a package of Maggi and a gallon of cooking oil were being shared among 25 individuals every fortnight, which is inadequate for them.

Another IDP, Mallam Fannami Bulama said that they were given a bag of rice and Semovita each, with a carton of Spaghetti, packet of Maggi and a gallon of cooking oil each for a family of 25 people and called on government to address the issue.

A security source from the camp told our correspondent under the condition of anonymity that NEMA or SEMA authorities should not to be blamed, as the food items are under the control of the military authorities and that they give the food items out at the time they want and also determine the quantities they give.

It could be recalled that there were media reports that 20 to 30 persons daily were dying at the Bama IDP camp, as a result of malnutrition, the situation that attracted global attention.

Earlier while welcoming the House Committee, the Brigade commander 21 Brigade Bama, Col. Adamu Laka who was represented by his Chief of Staff,

Col Ezra Barkis said that 24,793 IDps in the Bama camp and that on daily basis, when they went on operations they recue more, mostly women and children.

The chairman of the committee, Hon. Sani Zoro who is also representing Gumel, Gagarawa, Maigatari and Sule Tankwarkwar Federal constituency assured the IDPs they will bring all the issues raised at the floor of the House with a view to addressing them.

He said as a representative of the people they will make sure all the issues of food supply, sanitation, water and medication are addressed and assured that the Federal Government is determined to reconstruct their communities for them to go back home.

While at Damboa, the House of Representative Committee on the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) assured the IDPs that their destroyed communities will be holistically reconstructed, as the House has passed a law for

the establishment of North East Development Commission that cater for their resettlement needs.

Chairman of the Committee Alhaji Sani Zoro while speaking at the Kasubula IDP camp Damboa said the Commission when established will have its headquarters in Maiduguri, as Borno state is the most devastated by the Boko Haram insurgency.

“We are in Borno on a fact finding mission to the IDP camps in the state with a view to identifying the problem facing the IDPs with a view to address them,” Zoro stated.

Alhaji Sani commended the military for their gallant efforts in librating most communities, hitherto under Boko Haram occupation and for rescuing thousands of captives.

He also commended, Federal and Borno state governments, Red cross, Doctors without Borders and other stakeholders for the assistance towards alleviating the sufferings of the IDPs.

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

K

ebbi State government has awarded a multi-million naira contract to Kano State Government on production of fertiliser to boost the latter’s huge rice production.

This was disclosed by the Governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje at the National Business Summit/ Exhibition, for Northwest Zone , organised by Daily Trust in conjunction with Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission in Kano yesterday.

He said that the fertiliser would be produced at the recently revived Kano Agric Supply Company (KASCO), one of the leading agricultural companies in Nigeria that remained defunct for about twenty years .

Ganduje, represented by the state Commissioner of Information, Comrade Muhammad Garba, said that the Kebbi State had deemed it feat to award the contract to Kano, taking into consideration the firm has been revived to full capacity for production.

“You will bear me witness that KASCO, one of the leading agricultural companies in the country, has been revived by His Excellency Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje after being defunct for about twenty years. This is why the Kebbi state government in its commitment to rice production, awarded the Kano government a contract to produce fertiliser for the rice farming,” he said.

He further said that the state government has paid maximum attention to agriculture in its effort to complement President Muhammadu Buhari’s resolve to economic diversification in the area of agriculture.

R-L; Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo Nassarwa State Governor, Tanko AlMakura, Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and Kebbi State Governor, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu as President Buhari held meeting with the ALL Progressive Governors at the State House in Abuja.

PHOTO STATE HOUSE

Jibrin lacks capacity to chair appropriation c’ttee -Reps

By Umar Muhammad Puma

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he House of Representatives has reacted to the allegations leveled against four of its presiding officers, by the former Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Rep Abdulmumin Jibrin, saying he was sacked because he lacks the character and credentials to chair the Committee.

Briefing journalist yesterday, Chairman House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas (APC Adamawa), said the sacked appropriation committee chairman, discreetly and

clandestinely allocated monies for projects that are not clearly defined in the budget for the purposes of exploiting the ambiguities for personal gains.

He said Rep Jibrin was found to be responsible for some bogus allocations in the budget for projects that have no locations and were apparently never meant to be executed.

“Jibrin’s mishandling of the 2016 budget process nearly fractured the otherwise cordial relationship between the Executive and the Legislature and brought the National Assembly and the government to public ridicule.

“He displayed crass ineptitude and general lack of capacity to handle the work, thereby serving as a clog in the appropriations process.

He contributed significantly to the delays in the passage of the Appropriation Bill.

No one, not even his Deputy and Members of the Appropriations Committee, could reach him at certain periods during the budget process.

However, reacting to the allegation, Rep Jibrin rejected Namdas claim, insisted that they Speaker Dogara and 3 others have failed to address the issues he raised.

“I have raised serious

allegations of corruption against them and rather than raise corruption allegations against me and defend themselves against the ones I raised, they are busy accusing me of immaturity and some lame and ambitious stories and compendium of lies they choose to tell in a complete waste of time for the National Assembly press Corp.

“Let me reemphasis that I did nothing wrong and committed no offense. We can’t just agree because they are corrupt and I am not. If they have problem with my bluntness and courage, I am sorry, I am not going to change,” he explained.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Page 4 Report

As Viral hepatitis cases triple, experts push for more action

By Ese Awhotu

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head of World Hepatitis Day, tomorrow, the World Health Organisation, WHO, has urged countries to take rapid action to improve knowledge about the disease, and to increase access to testing and treatment services.

The WHO which made the pledge in a statement yesterday noted that, “Today, only 1 in 20 people with viral hepatitis know they have it. And just 1 in 100 with the disease is being treated.

“The world has ignored hepatitis at its peril,” said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General. “It is time to mobilize a global response to hepatitis on the scale similar to that generated to fight other communicable diseases like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.“ According to the WHO, around the world 400 million people are infected with hepatitis B and C, more than 10 times the number of people living with HIV. An estimated 1.45 million people died of the disease in 2013 – up from less than a million in 1990.

In May 2016, at the World Health Assembly, 194 governments adopted the first-ever Global Health Sector Strategy on viral hepatitis and agreed to the firstever global targets. The strategy includes a target to treat 8 million people for hepatitis B or C by 2020. The longer term aim is to reduce new viral hepatitis infections by 90% and to reduce the number of deaths due to viral hepatitis by 65% by 2030 from 2016 figures.

The strategy is ambitious, but the tools to achieve the targets are already in hand.

An effective vaccine and treatment for hepatitis B exists. There is no vaccine for hepatitis C but there has been dramatic progress on treatment for the disease in the past few years. The introduction of oral medicines, called direct-acting antivirals, has made it possible to potentially cure more than 90% of patients within 2–3 months. But in many countries, current policies, regulations and medicine prices put the cure out of most people’s reach.

“We need to act now to stop people from dying needlessly from hepatitis,” said Dr Gottfried Hirnschall, WHO’s Director of the HIV/AIDS Department and Global Hepatitis Programme. “This requires a rapid acceleration of access to services and medicines for all people in need.”

WHO stressed that some countries, however, are finding ways to get services to the people who need them. These efforts are made easier by the declining price of hepatitis C medicines. Prices are now dropping, particularly in countries that have access to generic drugs. In 2015, a preliminary analysis estimated that 300 000 people living in low- and middleincome countries had received hepatitis C treatment based on the new direct-acting antivirals.

“In Egypt, a lower middle-income country with one of the world’s highest prevalence rates of hepatitis C – 200 000 people were treated during the past 12 months, and the price of hepatitis C treatment for each person dropped from US$ 900 in 2014 to less than US$ 200

in 2016. Other countries have stepped up efforts against hepatitis C. Brazil and Pakistan are already expanding treatment coverage rapidly, and Georgia has announced a plan to eliminate the disease,” On preventing hepatitis, WHO disclosed that Hepatitis B and C infections are transmitted through contaminated blood as well as through contaminated needles and syringes in healthcare setting and among people who inject drugs.

The viruses, it said, can also be transmitted through unsafe sex and from an infected mother to her newborn child.

“As of 2014, 184 countries vaccinate infants against hepatitis B as part of their vaccination schedules and 82% of children in these states received the hepatitis B vaccine. This is a major increase compared with 31 countries in 1992, the year that the World Health Assembly passed a resolution to recommend global vaccination against hepatitis B. “In addition, implementing blood safety strategies, including quality-assured screening of all donated blood and blood components used for transfusion, can help prevent transmission of hepatitis B and C. Safe injection practices, eliminating unnecessary and unsafe injections, can be effective strategies to protect against transmission. Harm reduction services for people who inject drugs are critical to reduce hepatitis in this population. Safer sex practices, including minimizing the number of partners and using barrier protective measures (condoms), also protect against transmission.”

On World Hepatitis Day 2016, WHO, World Hepatitis Alliance, and the Government of Brazil have announced the organization of the Second World Hepatitis Summit to take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil on 29–31 March 2017.

Viral hepatitis affects 400 million people globally. Every year 6–10 million people are newly infected.

An estimated 95% of people with hepatitis do not know there are infected.

However, the good news is that over 90% of people with hepatitis C can be completely cured within 3–6 months.

Data shows that hepatitis, is an inflammation of the liver due to the presence of toxic substances or infections caused by a protozoan parasite or viruses.

People affected by viral hepatitis usually recover, but some continue to carry the virus for many years and can spread the infection to others.

These are chronic carriers. Chronic hepatitis may persist for years and lead eventually to cirrhosis (destruction and replacement of liver cells by fibrous

“

Onyebuchi Chukwu, Nigeria’s health minister tissue).

A substantial number of cirrhotic end up with liver cancer. Chronic carriers serve as an important source of new infections; most have no signs or symptoms and an estimated two-thirds are unaware of their status. It can be contracted from unsafe blood, unsafe injections, and sharing drug-injection equipment. Children born to mothers with hepatitis and sex partners of people with hepatitis are also at risk of becoming infected.

According to the Society for Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Nigeria (SOGHIN), Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is 50 to100 times more infectious than Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) and it is estimated that over two billion people are infected worldwide and approximately one million deaths occur annually from HBV related illnesses.

In Nigeria, research findings put

The theme of last year’s World Hepatitis Day was Prevent Hepatitis: Act Now. By the adoption of a resolution during the 63rd World Health Assembly in May 2010, the World Hepatitis Day was endorsed to be globally celebrated on July 28 in honour of the 1976 Nobel Laureate Baruch Samuel Blumberg for his outstanding work on the discovery

the burden of Hepatitis B in most of the countries cities at an average of 13 per cent translating to an estimated 20 million people infected.

This translate to the fact that at least one of every 10 Nigerian is a chronic carrier of hepatitis B and not only at risk of liver diseases and death but also at risk of transmitting it to others.

It is estimated that about five million die annually due to the consequences of this disease “Viral hepatitis is described as a ‘silent killer’ because most persons do not realize that they are infected and usually are without any clinical symptoms.

Last year Nigeria , joined the rest of the world to draw global attention to the plights of over 400 million patients living with Hepatitis B or C worldwide as it marked the World Hepatitis Day 2015.

The theme of last year’s World Hepatitis Day was Prevent Hepatitis: Act Now. By the adoption of a resolution during the 63rd World Health Assembly in May 2010, the World Hepatitis Day was endorsed to be globally celebrated on July 28 in honour of the 1976 Nobel Laureate Baruch Samuel Blumberg for his outstanding work on the discovery and effective test for Hepatitis B. The World Hepatitis day is currently recognized in over 100 WHO member countries with millions of people across the world taking part.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

News

States now healthy, better funded- Govs

By Lawrence Olaoye

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hairman, All Progressives Congress (APC) Governors Forum and Imo state governor, Rochas Okorocha, has said that the financial fortunes of the states have improved tremendously.

Okorocha, who led other governors in the ruling party to President Muhammadu Buhari, while fielding questions from State House Correspondents yesterday, also said the governors were worried about the crises in the National Assembly.

Asked about the state of the economy in the states now, Okorocha said “There is a lot of improvement. You will recall that when oil was above $100, what the states are getting now is close to what they used to get when oil price was above $100.

This means this government is doing a lot, we are not yet there but we are getting there. We appeal to Nigerians to be patient with this government because it means well about the welfare of our people.”

The states have been in bad financial shape receiving meager

L-R: Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Media, Mr. Namdas Abdulrasaq, Members of the Committeee, Hon Linda Ikpeazu, Hon. Agbonayinman Johnson, Hon. Abubakar Yunusa and Hon. Thimoty Golu, during a press briefing on the allegation of budget Padding against Principal Officers , at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

allocations from the federation accounts in the last one year.

The parlous financial situation of the states left about 28 of them unable to pay their staff salaries with some of the governors applying for bail-outs from the Federal Government.

But, the minister for Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, hinted that things have begun to look up financially as the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) had improved on revenue collections making more money available for the governors to share.

The revenues shared to the governors in July from the Federal Allocation Accounts Committee (FAAC) was an improvement over what used to accrue to them in the recent past.

On their discussions with the President, Okorocha said “we have come to reassure Mr. President that the APC governors are solidly behind him. His fight against corruption, his fight against insurgents and all his laudable projects.

We are concerned about the incessant happenings in the National Assembly and we have taken it upon ourselves to look into the matter, the crisis at the National Assembly.

We are going to look into the matter because we need a strong, vibrant National Assembly to make things move fast in the country.”

Responding to criticisms trailing the governors planned trip to Germany, Okorocha said it was not a jamboree but an exchange program aimed at improving governance back home.

Ambassadorial nominees fail National Anthem, pledge test

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs yesterday commenced the screening of the 47 ambassadorial nominees forwarded to the Upper Chamber by President Muhammadu Buhari for approval.

The exercise however, witnessed a brief comic drama, as two of the nominees faltered in reciting Nigeria’s National Anthem and the Pledge, while another one missed the capital of Lagos State.

Vivian Okeke, a nominee from Anambra State, who was the first to face

the Senate screening Panel, while being nervous, faltered when she was asked to sing the National Anthem.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Monsurat Summonu, had asked Mrs Okeke to recite the National Anthem but she got stocked on the way.

During the recital, she mumbled the last stanza of the Anthem but Senator James Manager, a member of the committee, quickly assisted her to scale the hurdle.

Another nominee, Ibrahim Isah, from Niger State, in his attempt to recite the National Pledge, failed to get the

correct wordings of the stanza.

Where he ought to say, “To defend her unity, and uphold her honour and glory, so help me God”, Isah said, “To defend her unity and integrity, so help me God”.

On her part, the nominee from Benue State, Mrs Ada Ndem, was asked to mention 12 states in Nigeria and their capitals but she told the lawmakers that the capital of Lagos was Lagos.

However, there was no indication that the failure of the nominees to supply correct answers to questions posed to them by the Senators would affect their

appointment as ambassadors.

Meanwhile, the nominees responded to various questions, and at the end of the day, they were asked to take a bow and go.

Vivian Okeke, for instance, noted that the three major areas where the present government should give priority attention were in corruption fighting, war against insurgency and diversification of the economy.

She also said that returns should be received when the country puts in effort.

Mrs Okeke however said the country should look into the area of financing and salary payments. “There is also an issue

with financing. “Some of these embassies do not get their salaries for four months.

“They are supposed to be in line with the protection of this country,” she said.

Following her screening was Enoch Parduchi, one of the nominees who was asked how many states there were in the country. He was also asked to mention ten states which he did correctly.

At the time of this report, the screening of the ambassadorial nominees is still ongoing.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, June 9, released the list of Ambassadorial nominees.

CBN tilts monetary policy to fight inflation Contd from Cover page

Rising from its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Meeting at the CBN’s Headquarters, Abuja, Mr Emefiele said, “the MPC voted to: Increase the MPR by 200 basis points from 12.00 to 14 per cent; Retain the CRR at 22.50 per cent; Retain the Liquidity Ratio at 30.00 per cent; and Retain the Asymmetric Window at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR.” According to him, “The Committee, recognizing that the Bank lacked the instruments required to directly jumpstart growth, and being mindful not to calibrate its instruments in

such a manner as to undermine its primary mandate and financial system stability, in assessment of the relevant issues, was of the view that the balance of risks remains tilted against price stability. Consequently, five (5) members voted to raise the Monetary Policy Rate while three (3) voted to hold.”

He said, the Committee “Members called on the Federal Government to fast-track the implementation of the 2016 budget in order to stimulate economic activity to bridge the output gap and create employment. In the same vein, the MPC expressed concern over non-payment of salaries in some states and urged express action in that

direction to help stimulate aggregate demand.

“Members however, noted the negative effect of inflation on consumption and investment decisions and its defining impact on the efficiency of resource allocation and investment. The MPC further noted the prolonged non-payment of salaries, a development which has affected aggregate demand and worsened growth prospects. It also noted that at the May MPC meeting, members weighed the risks of the balance of probabilities against growth and voted to hold, allowing fiscal policy some space to stimulate output with injections, but this has been long

in coming.

“The MPC also considered the high inflationary trend which has culminated into negative real interest rates in the economy; noting that this was discouraging to savings.

Members also noted that the negative real interest rates did not support the recent flexible foreign exchange market as foreign investors attitude had remained lukewarm, showing unwillingness in bringing in new capital under the circumstance.

“Members further noted that there existed a substantial amount of international capital in negative yielding investments globally and Nigeria stood a chance of

attracting such investments with sound macroeconomic policies.

Consequently, members were of the view that an upward adjustment in interest rates would strongly signal not only the Bank’s commitment to price stability but also its desire to gradually achieve positive real interest rates.”

Emefiele said, the MPC expressed strong support for the urgent diversification of the economy away from oil to manufacturing, agriculture and services and called on all stakeholders to increase investment in growth stimulating and high employment elasticity sectors of the economy in order to lift the economy out of its current phase.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

PAGE 6

News

Gen. Hassan Katsina to be remembered in Kaduna

By Ochiaka Ugwu

T

he late governor of the defunct Northern Nigeria, Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina is to be remembered in Kaduna at a conference to be attended by eminent Nigerians this Saturday.

A statement signed by Alhaji Lawal Kaita, chairman organising committee of the conference said, those billed to deliver papers at the occasion include former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, General IBM Haruna, Professor Ango Abdullahi and General S.O.

Ogbemudia.

Alhaji Kaita said the conference aimed at immortalizing the late General, shall be chaired by Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon and hosted by the Kaduna State government.

“Eminent Nigerians expected

at the event are former Military President Ibrahim Babangida while the Sultan of Sokoto will lead northern Emirs and Chiefs,” Alhaji Kaita said.

He said the conference supported by Katsina state Governor Aminu Bello Masari,

General Ibrahim Babangida and other well-wishers, is convened by His Highness, the Emir of Katsina, Dr Kabir Usman.

“The theme of the conference is Challenges of National Integration and Survival of Democracy in Nigeria” Kaita said in the statement.

No regrets returning to APC, Gundiri tells critics

By Umar Muhammad Puma

F R-L: Chairman of the Occasion, Alhaji Faruk Suleiman, presenting Sawing Machine to one of the beneficiary of Al- Habibiyyah Zakat, Mr. Isyaku Usman, during 9th edition of public disbursement of Zakat, at Al-Habibiyyah Mosque Guzape, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

IPCR loses Asst-Director, Onwugbufor

By Ochiaka Ugwu

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eath has been announced of Oby Florence Onwugbufor, an Assistant Director, Budget of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR). Aside being the Chairperson of IPCR’s Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and Vice Chairperson NASU FCT Chapter, Onwugbufor was also Chairperson, Women Wing, NASU FCT. The deceased was born in 1971 in Ogbunike, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State.

Speaking to journalists on

Onwugbufor’s demise, the DirectorGeneral of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Professor Oshita O. Oshita described her as a good team player who was always desirous to succeed in any assignment given to her.

Oshita who spoke through his Media Assistant, Mr. Abu I. Michael lamented that she died when her service was needed most by the Institute and the nation. He stated that her selfless disposition to issues will make her to be missed by the Institute.

Mr. Abu also informed that Prof Oshita is billed to lead a high powered delegation of the Institute to Ogbunike

on Friday 29 for her burial.

Speaking also, a staff of the Institute and close confident of the deceased, Mrs. Chikodili Orakwue said she is yet to come in terms with the reality that her friend has passed on. She described her late colleague as courageous, peace loving, a committed individual and humanist who was always seeking for justice for the downtrodden.

In an emotion laden voice, Orakwue stated that her humble attitude and commitment to the works of God made the NTA Chapel of the Anglican Communion to hold a service of song in her honour, adding that

she was survived by an aged mother and brothers who will surely miss her greatly.

Buhari promises to link states with rail ...inaugurates Abuja-Kaduna rail line

By Lawrence Olaoye

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resident Mohammadu Buhari has assured that his administration would pay due attention to the pursuit of the 25-year Strategic Railway Master Plan aimed at rehabilitating the existing 3,505km narrow gauge rail line and developing and constructing new standard gauge rail lines across the country.

Buhari while at flag-off of Abuja-Kaduna commercial train operation yesterday also said “most State capitals and major commercial and production centres will be linked with railway system as a way of bringing about rapid socioeconomic development and improving the quality

of life of the Nigerians and promoting social and regional integration.”

The President recalled that between 1963 and the 80’s, “Nigeria had a vibrant rail system which conveyed agricultural and livestock and solid mineral resources to Lagos and Port Harcourt sea ports from where they are exported to other parts of the world. It is our vision and hope that those good old days will soon be back with us and indeed in a more prosperous way with the restoration.”

He said “I am delighted to be here today to commission the Abuja – Kaduna railway track and flag-off the Abuja-Kaduna train services (Passengers & Freight) on Nigeria’s first ever Standard Gauge Rail track to go into operation. This project was

conceived by a previous administration, started by the last government and I am pleased to complete and commission it.

“The construction of the Abuja-Kaduna Standard Gauge rail track commenced in 2009 and happily, sixteen years after, we are on the threshold of presenting to Nigerians a Standard Gauge Railway Train Service that will be safe, fast and reliable. The Abuja-Kaduna train service will provide the much needed alternative transport link between the Federal Capital Territory and Kaduna State, a corridor which has a huge potential for industries, agricultural activities and a growing labour force.

“The Minister of Transportation, Chief Rotimi

Amaechi and his team has put great efforts in the last few months to ensure the successful completion of this project under this Administration.

Completion and Commissioning of this project is indeed in keeping with our vision of bringing about the desired change to make life easier for the generality of Nigerians through the development and provision of the necessary social and physical infrastructure.

As we celebrate the symbolic return of rail service today I wish to reiterate the commitment of this Administration to pursue with greater vigour and determination rehabilitation and construction of other rail lines including the major Lagos-Calabar and Kano-Lagos lines.”

ormer governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Adamawa state, Engr. Marcus Gundiri, has blasted those criticizing his return to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the party is his original political party from the onset.

Speaking with newsmen in Abuja yesterday, Gundiri said APC is not a new party to him, adding that he has been a founding member of the party from the formative stage.

When asked to comment on the reports that some top shots didn’t want him to back in the party, Gundiri said: “Well, those people that they said are the top shots that did not want us to come back are the people who were not in the party at the formative stage because, I will tell you, that those people that they said came to complain that we should not be in the party were not there when we started the party.

“They were just comers that came to join the party at a later stage when we had already finished the foundation and the party had already been established. So, they are the people that are strange to the APC, anybody who was with us from the onset will always like us to be in the party and therefore, they are strangers, they are sojourners.

When the names of former Vice president Atiku Abubakar and the governor Adamawa Jubrila Bindow were mentioned as those speculated to be against his defection, Gundiri said “I do not know if they were the people at the national secretariat of APC but all am saying is whoever does not want Marcus Gundiri in the APC is making a big mistake because that is my party.

“I have laboured to establish that and at least let me participate from where I stop and I said those people who went to secretariat to complain are new people in the party, it was after we have formally established that party they came in, so, I am not sure who they are but I am telling you that they made a mistake.”

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

News Thugs attack Gwagwalada Deputy Speaker, Jubril Sadiq

By Usman Shuaibu

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uspected political thugs in Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) have attacked the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative House of

the Area Council, Hon. Jibrin Sadiq, a member of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).

The attack left the lawmaker with a deep cut on his head, while coming back from the FCT Area Council election petition tribunal

sitting at the high court Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.

It was alleged that the attack was a fall out of political tussle between the All Progressives Congress, APC, and APGA. It was gathered that the incident

which occurred on Friday in the afternoon had put the residents of Gwagwalada in the state of pandemonium, as the policemen were patrolling the area, in search of the suspected political thugs.

Available information revealed

that the house of the APGA member residing in Giri Community, Alhaji Abdul was burnt by the hoodlums and that the bus which conveyed the APGA supporters to the tribunal had its glass destroyed by the thugs during the incident.

It was further gathered that the official car of the former Special Adviser (SA) on Political Matters , Mr. Hassan Loko during Giri’s administration as well as the vehicle of the former Speaker of the Area Council Legislative House who are the members of APC were said to have been damaged during the crisis in the area.

Court reserves judgement in suit against NBA till July 29

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n Abuja High Court on Monday reserved judgment till July 29, John Unachukwu’s suit challenging the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) use of internet voting for its election.

Unachukwu dragged the registered Trustees of the NBA to court to stop the use of internet voting as against e-voting stipulated in the constitution for the Bar election.

The plaintiff, a Lagos-based lawyer and judicial editor of Nation newspaper, also challenged his disqualification from contesting for the post of

National Publicity Secretary.

He joined, Mr Augustine Alegeh (SAN) President NBA, Mr Ken Mozia (SAN), Chairman, electoral committee of NBA, Grace Infotech limited, Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN) and Mr Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) as co-respondents.

The judge, Justice Olukayode Adeniyi had earlier struck out a notice of discontinuance against the 6th defendant.

Adeniyi held that the court could not grant the application against the 6th defendant, who is one of the presidential candidates in a matter that

affected him. ``I have considered the notice of discontinuance, I hereby strike out the notice of discontinuance and hereby order that the suit should proceed,” he ruled.

Unachukwu’s counsel, Chief Chukwuma Ekomaru (SAN) urged the court to restrain the NBA from conducting the elections by Internet voting pending the determination of the suit.

He also averred that the NBA Electoral Committee had scheduled the 2016 general elections for Saturday July 30 and Sunday July

31.

He also said that he had expressed interest to contest and actually emerged sole candidate for the office of National Publicity Secretary only to be disqualified by the committee.

He claimed to be an associate of J-K Gadzama Law Firm and was called to bar in 2004, and has been in the private sector and in private law practice.

At the resumed hearing all the counsel in the matter argued and adopted their final written addresses (NAN)

L-R: Chief Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre,Gusau, Dr Kabir Anka; Chairman, Zamfara branch of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr Aminu Sakajiki; representatives of Gusau Emirate Council and director of public health services in the state Ministry of Health, Dr Habib Yelwa, with other NMA and state officials, during the annual general meeting and scientific conference of the NMA, Yesterday in Gusau

Zamfara Police arrest notorious criminal, Shedan From Ibrahim Sidi Muh’d, Gusau

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he Zamfara state police command has succeeded in the arrest of a notorious man killer, a Sara-Suka kingpin in Gusau the state capital identified as Sani Mohammed a.k.a Shedan (Satan) whose nasty operations recorded the consumption of lives of innocent citizens in the state.

The arrest of one of the most wanted criminals in the state was successfully made by the Police alongside ten other members of the dangerous group after stabbing one Sani Isa with knife to death by one Labaran Gwanki, a notorious member of the group at Tullukawa area of Gusau metropolis before he too tasted the same experience later in a revenge mission by another group of criminals.

The development was made known by the Police

Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Command, DSP, Shehu Muhammad, adding that, the Command, in a well coordinated and covered operation has raided criminal hideouts within the metropolis especially Tullukawa, Kwanar Dango and Sabon fegi areas.

“As a result of an aggressive operation, the Command was able to arrest eleven suspects among whom, the most wanted notorious kingpin of Sarasuka identified as Sani Mohammed Shedan, and that should just be the beginning until the rate of criminal activities were controlled to the barest level in the state”, the PPRO assured.

In a related development, a 4-man syndicate suspected to be cattle rustlers was arrested in Anka local government area by the Joint Police, Army and Vigilantes led by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO)

in charge of Anka and were able to recover 53 cows and 70 sheep in their possession.

“These efforts would be sustained while the Command solicits for useful information from the the general public on confidentiality about criminal hideouts and their activities for prompt action”.

Army says no more Boko Haram camps in NorthEast The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sanni Usman, on Monday in Lagos said there were no longer camps of Boko Haram terrorists in the NorthEastern part of the country.

Usman made the assertion while addressing newsmen at the inauguration of Strategic Communication Course for senior officers at the Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information, Bonny Camp, Lagos.

Usman, while assuring Nigerians that the military was winning the war against terrorism, said there were no more terrorists clustered in a particular place in the area. ``The situation in the North-East has tremendously improved. The military operations or the fight against terrorism and insurgency in the North-East is hinged on three things. ``First, defeating the Boko Haram terrorists which have been accomplished and making room to facilitate humanitarian assistance which is also ongoing. ``Then restoration of law and order for good governance to take place. ``We no longer have camps of Boko Haram terrorists and we no longer have them conveyed in the territories,’’ he said.(NAN)

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

News NNRA probes alleged deaths through uranium deposits in Michika From Umar Dankano,Yola

S

equel to the claim that many people have been killed as a result of radioactive activity due to large quantity of uranium deposit in Michika Local Government Area, Officials of Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) on Tuesday arrived Yola to investigate the matter.

It could be recalled that, some media reports alleged the excitable of radio-active activity in some communities in Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa which have claiming lives of villagers in five villages for a while State Commissioner of Solid Minerals, Mrs Shanti Sashi, made the arrival of the team from the Federal Government to the state Tuesday while refuting the said killing by radio-active activity.

Sashi at a press conference in Yola said recent media reports alleging the dead of many people in Michika community due to radioactive activity from uranium deposit in the area were not true.

“Nobody died of radioactive activity last year or this year. Officials of NNRA are here and they will be visiting Michika tomorrow take samples for test.

L-R; President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Sataki, President Muhammadu Buhari, Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, Speaker rt hon Yakubu Dogara, Minister of FCT Alhaji Mohammed Bello, Minister of State Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, CCEC Team and others as President Commission/Flag-off Abuja-Kaduna Commercial Operation Rail Station at IDU Station, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: State House

S/Sudan president swears in new VP as incumbent still missing T A

Prisons wardress dismissed for smuggling alcohol into Kirikiri

he South Sudanese President, Salva Kiir, on Tuesday in Juba swore in opposition leader, Taban Deng, as his Vice President to replace Riek Machar.

Mr. Machar’s whereabouts have been unknown ever since his Juba residence was attacked earlier this month.

The swearing in came less than 24 hours after dismissing Riek Machar, the man who held

the office until he went missing earlier this month.

The opposition spokesman, William Ezekiel, said shortly after the swearing-in ceremony that there was no immediate reaction from Machar.

Deng was until recently the Country’s Mining Minister and also the opposition’s Chief Negotiator in difficult, months-long peace talks with government.

Meanwhile, the opposition said Deng is meant to step aside from the vice presidency once Machar returns to the capital.

A fresh outbreak of violence between soldiers and opposition supporters erupted across the country just as South Sudan marked the fifth anniversary of its independence from Sudan on July 9.

The clashes dealt a blow to hopes of peace that had grown

after Kiir and Machar signed a peace agreement last year and formed a national unity government in April, which saw Machar appointed as vice president.

A power struggle between Kiir and Machar escalated into a military conflict in December 2013, killing tens of thousands and displacing more than 2 million people. (dpa/NAN)

Vandalism: NNPC solicits Bauchi support for pipeline protection

D

r Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has solicited the support of Bauchi State Government for pipeline protection.

Baru called for the support when Gov. Mohammed Abubakar of the state visited his office on Monday in Abuja.

“A critical area of support that we implore from you is the security of our pipelines that traverse the state, that goes from Jos through Bauchi State to Gombe and almost Maiduguri and Yola.

“There have been reported vandalism and we request that you assist us with the necessary security surveillance to make sure that

such vandalism are brought to the minimum,” he said.

He said the NNPC was committed to collaborate with all state governors to drive all the initiative that would help drive active security on the pipelines.

He noted that one major challenge of the corporation was infractions on the infrastructure, especially with pipeline vandalism and theft.

This, he said, had affected NNPC to meet its obligation to the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).

“We will continue to meet this obligation timely and effectively as much as possible,” he said.

Baru said the corporation was

strategising to start exploration at the Chad, adding that the president had given directive for NNPC to improve the prospects of the findings in the area.

“We are taking steps to restrategise and get into those regions.

“We will reinvigorate the frontier exploration and see how they collaborate with NNDC that is holding block 809 where some of the findings have been found and also Department of Petroleum Resources for the other blocks that have not been assigned,” he added.

On product distribution, he said NNPC was committed to providing adequate petroleum products to all nooks and corners of the country.

He added that since June this

year, NNPC had supplied average of 28 trucks daily to Bauchi State, exceeding the 15 trucks requirement for the state.

Ealier, Abubakar said his visit to the NNPC Towers was to felicitate with Baru as a brother and distinguished son of Bauchi State for attaining the position of the GMD of the corporation.

“We feel it is very important we come and assure him of the backing and support of the government and people of Bauchi State. “ We are confident that like he has done in all other positions he has occupied in the industry, he is going to be successful in this particular position ( NAN

By Paul Effiong with agency report

female Prisons staff attached to Kirikiri female prisons, Lagos, has been dismissed from the service for smuggling alcoholic drinks into the prison yard.

A statement by a spokesperson for the prisons, F. Enobore, said on Tuesday that the dismissal letter signed on behalf of the ControllerGeneral of Prisons by the officer incharge of discipline, Agun Olatunji, said that the staff was found guilty of negative activities which borders on trafficking, an act that contravenes the enabling provisions of Sections 14 (i) (a) and Section 82 (n) of Prisons Act Cap P.29 LFN 2004 and punishable under Sections 14 (i) (g) and Section 83 of same Act. Trafficking, in prisons parlance, is the act of smuggling prohibited item(s) or unauthorized information into or out of the prison yard. The offence is usually viewed seriously because of its potential threat to security, Mr. Enobore said.

“Cases of inmates making illegal phone calls from their cells, organising jail breaks, having access to weapons, escapes, etc are all traced to trafficking sometimes perpetrated by staff and this has often been a source of embarrassment not only to the Service but the nation at large.

“Such compromising acts no doubt, do not augur well for the security of a custodial institution like the Prisons Service and also put the lives of innocent staff and inmates in serious danger.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Page 9

News

Residents of Oghara protesting an alleged land claim by the Nigerian Navy, yesterday in Delta State. Photo NAN

Be wary of job Reps to domesticate climate change policies racketeers, NSCDC warns T public

By Umar Muhammad Pumap

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

W

orried by the fraudulent activities of job racketeers, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Kaduna State Command, has warned members of the public to be wary of their antics to avoid being victims.

State Commandant, Alhaji Modu Bunu issued the warning at the command headquarters, stressing that the action has become possible to save unsuspecting, innocent and desperate job seekers.

According to Bunu, added that NSCDC like other agencies will always make recruitment exercises public when it needs additional man-power and wonders why people fall victim of criminals who pose as job providers.

The Commandant who was reacting to the recent arrest of one Timothy Ezekiel, 26, for parading as a member of the corps with fake NSCDC identity card, explained that the suspect has claimed he was deceived and cheated by a fraudster after paying N100, 000. Ezekiel who hails from Old Kutunku in Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT revealed that the fake NSCDC identity card and uniform were issued to him by Dogo Monday in Abuja on April 15, 2015.

He explained that the suspect was arrested by operatives of the corps on surveillance in Kaduna metropolis when sighted with fake NSCDC identity card. Other items as revealed by the suspect which were handed to him in Niger State by the fraudster include letter of appointment and acceptance form.

“As if all the above was not enough, the suspect revealed that the fraudster escorted him to a commercial bank in Minna where latter opened an account purported to be for salary after paying N100, 000 to the former’s account also domicile in another commercial bank. Sequel to the revelations, the suspect has been transferred to the Federal Capital Territory Command where the transaction allegedly started for further investigation,” he revealed.

he House of Representatives, is to strengthen legislative frameworks to enhance the domestication of climate change policies which Nigeria is a signatory.

The House made this known at a roundtable on Pursuing a Legislative Agenda to enhance Nigeria’s Climate Resilience, organized by the House Committee on Climate Change on Tuesday in Abuja.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, who was represented by Rep Aminu Jaji (Zamfara-APC), said that the house would ensure that climate change was given priority in the 2017 appropriation bill.

He said that the house would work assiduously with the executive to ensure full implementation of the Paris agreement.

The Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki, who was also represented by

the Chairman, Senate Committee on Ecology and Climate Change , Sen. Bukar Ibrahim said that appropriate budget would be ensured for policy implementation.

Saraki also said that laws would be put in place for the implementation of policies on climate change.

The Country Director, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Dr Pa Beyai, said that the roundtable would ensure the efficient use of scarce resources to promote job

creation and poverty reduction.

Bayei said that UNDP’s partnership with the National Assembly would focus on development and design of draft oversight template for climate governance.

“Identification of appropriate legislation and budgetary appropriation in support of climate change and the full implementation of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, “she said.

Delta Police arrest housewife over alleged sale of her 2 year-old baby From Osakhare Erese, Asaba

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he police detectives in Illah community near Asaba have arrested a 33 year-old housewife identified as Mrs. Monica (surname withheld) in Illah, near Asaba, Delta State for allegedly selling her 2 yearold baby for N450,000.

The suspect, a native of Mbasi in Imo State, was alleged to have sold her 2 year-old baby for N450,000 to a couple who had been married for

several years in Lagos without a child to offset a loan she took to start a business in Illah community.

Police officers at the Illah Police Division who did not want their names in the print, said the suspect was arrest on a petition from her close friend who claimed she was short changed in the “deal” after she had introduced her to the couple, adding that upon interrogation, she confessed to the crime.

Sources in Illah said the suspect

sojourned in the community two years ago with the baby claiming she was married to a man who allegedly abandoned her and the baby in Owerri, and was helped by a friend to Illah community where she has been living before the bubble burst.

Expectedly, she was said to have taken a loan of N100,000 from a “local daily contribution” meeting with interest and unfortunate interest and the loan could not be paid on the stipulated date,

leaving her indebted to N300,000.

Efforts to speak to the police image maker in the state, Mrs. Celestina Kalu, by our reporter to confirm the story was not successful as she did not pick her calls as the time of filing this report, but an officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said investigation was ongoing adding that the suspect was helping the police at the CID department.

Crisis rocks OffaPoly students’ union govt poll From Olanrewaju Lawal,Ilorin

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tudents of the Federal Polytechnic Offa,Offa,Kwara State yesterday went on rampage over alleged move by school authority to swear-in a Presidential runner up of the Students Union Government(SUG) election.

It was gathered that one Akanbi Qodri, from Liberation movement had won the SUG election as the President but the school authority were said to have claimed that he didn’t have required GPs for the post, therefore,he can’t be inaugurated.

Our correspondent gathered that another candidate, one Tijani Kamal from Information movement who

was the runner up was supported by the school management and there was alleged arrangement to perform swearing in- ceremony for him on Tuesday by the school authority.

The aggrieved students, who had gathered at the main gate of the institution as early as 8am, barricade all entry and exist entrances to prevent Staff of the school from their duty posts.

They were chanting anti management songs and vowed to resist disqualification of the winner of the SUG Presidential election.

A source at the protest informed our correspondent that the students queried the school authority that

when they knew that the winner of the election did not have required GP, why did they allow him to contest at the first instance? Why they didn’t disqualified him before election took place? The source asked rhetorically.

It was learnt that the planned swearing in of the runners up of the SUG presidential candidate was truncated as a result of the Students protest.

The Police Public Relation Officer(PPRO),Kwara State Police Command,Ajayi Okasanmi confirmed the students rampage over the suspicious move by the School Management to swear in the runner up in the SUG presidential election.

He said the Police Officers drafted to the school to calm the students and other eminent people in the institution succeeded in persuaded the aggrieved students to go to their daily academic activities and the suspicious inauguration of the runner up were cancel.

In his reaction, the Public Relation Officer(PRO) of the institution Mr. Ladi Badmos confirmed the students rampage.

Badmos further said the Students actions was based on rumour stressing that the authority was not making attempts to inaugurate Presidential candidate runner up in the SUG election.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

News

L-R: Representative of Vice President, Mr. Akingbola Adeniran; Senator Barnabas Gemade, author of the book, and Acting Director General, Standard Organization of Nigeria, Dr. Paul Angya; Secretary General African Organisation for Standardization, Dr. Hermogene Nsenigmana; and Minister of Industry Trade and Investment , Dr Okechukwu Enelamah, during the book launch title: Standardization and Quality Regulation in Africa, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Delta state to establish investment devt agency - Gov. Okowa From Osakhare Erese, Asaba Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa has disclosed that the Delta State Investment Development Agency would soon be established to harness investment potentials in the state.

The Governor who stated this when he received on courtesy visit the Swiss Consular General, Yves Nicolet yesterday in Asaba said that the state Investment Development Agency amendment Bill was before the House of Assembly and would be approved in the next few weeks.

He explained that the agency would liaise with the organised private sector, embassies and investors the world over to utilise the investment opportunities and grow the state economy.

“We will soon establish the Delta state Investment Development Agency whose Amendment Bill is before the House of Assembly and will be passed within the next few weeks. The agency will liaise with the organised private sector, embassies, investors from around the world to improve bi-lateral and investment relationship in the state”, the governor said.

Governor Okowa explained that given the recent financial challenges facing the country due to dwindling oil price, the state has embarked on the diversification of its economy through the agricultural sector using commercial farmers and other farmers on the ground stressing that “in the next few years, they will act as a pivot to aggregate our output, export our produce, improve our revenue and the life of the peasant farmers”

Group petitions Buhari over alleged promotion fraud in UI

By Lawrence Olaoye

A

group in University of Ibadan, Integrity Group, has petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over alleged promotion fraud in the premier university.

The petition signed by its chairman, Dr. Charles Chijioke and Secretary, Dr. Bangbose Ajisebutu was also copied to the Chairman of the University of Ibadan Governing Council, Dr. Umar Mustapha.

According to the group, those lecturers who had the temerity to criticize the rots in the system were threatened with disciplinary actions saying one Dr. Doyin Odebowale was a victim.

The group pointed out that although a photograph on the front page of some national dailies recently succinctly captured the state of the education sector in Nigeria but not many people or even government know the level of the

rot and decay especially at the tertiary institutions.

The petition read in part “However in some other cases it is outright lawlessness and impunity as depicted in the cases of the University of Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife. But while the former is already receiving attention from the visitor to the university, President Muhammadu Buhari, the latter has however not been that fortunate despite the tons of petitions to the visitor and the education ministry on the manipulation that brought about the Vice Chancellor of the institution in December last year.

But while it may appear that the eagle eyes of the Presidency may not have seen or notice the manipulation of UI leadership crisis, which has now form the basis for similar lapses in other ivory towers, it may not be out rightly correct to say that government is not doing anything about it. But what is

much baffling about the UI’s case is either the visitor has deliberately ignore or overlooked the corrupt process or there is a power beyond the control of the presidency on the matter.”

The petitioner alleged that a former Vice Chancellor of the university was accused of fraudulently manipulating the promotion of his wife and some others while in the saddle of leadership of the university.

It stated further “The Integrity Group in the university brought the matter to the attention of the Chairman of the Governing Council, Dr. Umar Musa Mustapha and the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu.

But while the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Dr. Umar Musa Mustapha confirmed the receipt of the petition in a report of his meeting with the best six nominated for the Vice Chancellor post and wanted

members to examine the petitions and take decisions before commencement of interactions with the applicants, it appears that the Visitor who was also copied the petition remained silent on this grievous matter which is having serious negative impact on the morale of academic staff.”

The group also alleged that a recent promotion fraud was committed with that of the wife of a cousin to the former Vice Chancellor while he was in office.

It noted that the promotion procedure is the real currency of academic pursuits and this is being destroyed by deliberate manipulation of promotion processes in the university.

All efforts to get the University of Ibadan side of the story proved abortive as the school’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Tunji Oladejo, was not unreachable on his phone.

…As Nigerian students take anti-graft crusade to campuses

By Lawrence Olaoye

M

embers of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) have resolved to entrench the campaigns against corruption in the country tertiary institutions.

This is coming as they declared their support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s ongoing anti-corruption war.

The students in a statement signed by its Acting President/ National Convention Chairman, Prince Miaphen, and made available to newsmen yesterday also supported the move to recover all funds stolen by corrupt former public officials and civil

servants.

Miaphen stated “We intend to partner with Mr. President by taking the anti-corruption war to the campuses.

The quest to revamp our educational sector must also integrate the need to stamp corruption out of the corridors of our Ivory Towers which has frustrated all efforts to bring our academic institutions to competitive standards.”

They noted that corruption had for long remained the bane of Nigeria’s development.

Pointing out that corruption breeds nepotism, incompetence, apathy and public infrastructure among others, NANS urged the President not to relent in the war despite criticism from some

quarters.

The statement read, “We strongly commend the zest and diligence of the Buhari administration in the war against corruption as it has made it resoundingly clear that indeed a new no-nonsense sheriff is in town and there is no hiding place for any former or present corrupt official.

“It further makes bare that President Buhari is a man that matches his words with commensurate action because the anti-corruption crusade was a cardinal part of his presidential campaign manifesto.

“We are fully aware that some trepid and disgruntled corrupt individuals and organisations are stopping at nothing

to discredit and sabotage the ongoing war against corruption.

“Some say it is selective, claiming it is targeted at decimating the opposition. However, we are yet to see a single individual or organisation that is standing trial or being investigated for corruption under the current administration that has not had his/it’s fingers tainted with corruption.”

NANS urged Buhari not to be distracted by what it called the bickering of disgruntled politicians and public servants who would rather wish that the status quo of corruption be sustained.

It also urged all Nigerians to be wary of the antics of such people.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

PUBLIC NOTICE SOCIETY FOR SPREADING AS-SALAFIYYAH ISLAMIC PREACHING THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.OMOTAYO ABDUL-BAAQ MUHAMMED MUSILIHUDEEN 2.KASALI ILIASU AKANJI 3.ABDUL-ROZAQ HARUN AKOREDE 4.AKEEB KAMOL ALABI 5.YISAU SAHEED MAYOWA 6.MUSAKALIMULAH ABDULHADI 7.DAUDA ABEEBLAHI AMOBI 8.ISMAEEL IBRAHEEM OLOLA 9.ALEEM YAHQUB 10.JABAR ABDULRAHAMON KOLAWOLE THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1.TO EXTEND CAHRITY TO LESS PRIVILEGED IN THE SOCIETY. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

ALL SAINTS CARING CHURCH INT’L

ENDTIME MINISTRY : THE SPOKEN WORD TABERNACLE

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED CHURCH HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.PASTOR MRS. ROSELYN BITOLA ALIU 2.PASTOR SUGH IORLUMUN THOMAS 3.ELDER AUGUSTINE EHIJIMETOR OMORUANZOJE 4.BROTHER JOSEPH ALIU 5.DEACON JOSHUA MUDI LABRAN 6.DEACON OTSONU SUNDAY 7.DEACONESS VICTORIA JACK 8.BROTHER ETUBI SHIAKA 9.MRS. BEAUTY KATE GODWIN THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1.TO DEMONSTRATE THE POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST, LIBERATING MEN FROM THE OPPRESSIONS OF THE EVIL. 2.TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST ALL OVER THE WORLD. 3.TO TAKE CARE OF THE WELFARE OF ITS MEMBERS. 4.TO ESTABLISH LOCAL BRANCHES FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL WORLDWIDE.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REMOVAL AND ADDITION OF TRUSTEES UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE OLD TRUSTEES ARE: 1. JOHN OKORIE 2.BENARD OGU 3.SUNDAY UGOLO 4.AGUDIEGWU NDUBUISI - (REMOVED) 5.WILLIAM DAWODU 6.ADAM WUYEP THE NEW TREUSTEES ARE: 1.OBOT UDOFIA AKPAN - CHAIRMAN 2.AGNES UDOFIA OBOT 3.CHARITY WILLIAMS AUDU 4.NWACHUKWU TIMOTHY ONYEANULAM THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES REMAIN THE SAME.

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

SIGNED :

BY MOHAMMED SALLAU

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REMOVAL AND ADDITION OF TRUSTEES SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY

SIGNED: SECRETARY

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

INITIATIVE SKILL ACQUISITION FOR FEMALE EMPOWERMENT

ASSOCIATION OF HOUSING SCHEME STAKEHOLDERS LAGOS

GRASSROOTS TALENTS DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.OBIAKOR CHIOMA LILIAN - CHAIRMAN 2.NWAJIOBI OGONNA JOACHIN - SECRETARY 3.AGUBUOKWU IFENYINWA LINDA - MEMBER 4.ENEGHALU OLUCHI JOY - MEMBER 5.IJIOMA JENNIFER NNENNA OYIRI - MEMBER

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.MR. ROLAND EJERE 2.MR. GABRIEL OLUSEGUN ADETUNJI 3.MRS. VICTORIA NZEH 4.MR. JOSHUA ALADE 5.MRS. ANGELINA OLANIPEKUN

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1.WOMEN EMPOWERMENT. 2.ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE FEMALE CHILD. 3.POVERTY ALLEVIATION.

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE: 1.TO BRING ALL DEPOSITORS INTO COMMON FOLD. 2.TO BE FULLY IDENTIFIED WITH, CONTRIBUTE FINANCIALLY, MORALLY, PHYSICALLY, ETC TOWARDS THE ADVANCEMENT AND ASPIRATION OF THE ASSOCIATION.

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 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

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 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.ORIMADEGUN BEEGREAT WILSON - PRESIDENT 2.ADESIYAN ABIMBOLA EBENEZER - SECRETARY 3.LAGUD OLAWALE MOHAMMED 4.ANNASTASIA .O. EZEADILIEYE 5.ABIOLA MICHEAL OLUBUMI 6.GLORIE YUSUF 7.SANUSI ADENIYI SAHEED 8.ABUBAKAR MAIGARI 9.GWADABE ABBA SAIDU 10.BONIFACE OCHUGUDU CLEMENT THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE: 1.TO DISCOVER AND DEVELOP THE LESS PRIVILEDGED YOUTHS AT THE GRASSROOTS LEVEL AND GIVE THEM A BRIGHT, PRODUCTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE LIVING WITHIN EVERY FAMILY’S REACH. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : ADESIYAN ABIMBOLA EBENEZER

PUBLIC NOTICE

WINDING UP! WINDING UP!! WINDING UP!!!

WINDING UP! WINDING UP!! WINDING UP!!!

STAR VOIC OF HOPE FOUNDATION

PARWA VENTURES LIMITED. RC. 236525

THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.REV.FR.DR IKWUAGWU AMBROSE ONWUMERE- CHAIRMAN. 2. ONWUGBUFOR MARIAGORETTI CHINWE -TREASURE. 3.MR OGANYI SIMON EKOYO-SECRETARY. 4.ONWUGBUFOR DOMINIC EMEKA. THE AIMS AND OBJETIVES ARE: 1. TO HELP IN THE PROVISION OF HEALTH AREAS, ATTENDING TO THE SICK,THE AGED AND THE DYING. 2.TO ASSIST IN THE RUNNING OF SCHOOLS AND VOCATIONAL CENTERS IN ORDER TO OFFER QUALITATIVE EDUCATION AND MORALS TO OUR CHILDREN AND YOUTHS. 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 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION SIGNED: CHAIRMAN

PUBLIC NOTICE COMFORT RESTORATION FOUNDATION FOR RURAL WOMEN

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: (1). DIMGBA FELICIA NMECHA -PRESIDENT. (2). UWAKWE BLESSING ORIAKU -SECRETARY. THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE: TO ENCOURAGE WOMEN AND GIRLS IN PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT. 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 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY

Pursuant to section 478 of the companies and allied matters act, CAP: C20 Laws of The Federation, 2004. NOTICE OF THE FINAL GENERAL MEETING AND DISSOLUTION. Notice is hereby given that thee final general meeting of the members of Parwa Ventures Limited(In voluntary winding up) will be held at 21 Okepopo Street, Lagos on 31st August, 2016 by 11.00 am to transact the following business.

Ordinary Business: 1. To receive the final Account/Audited Financial Statements for the year ended 31st December, 2015 together with the report of the liquidation thereon.

2. To consider and if thought fit pass the following resolution which shall be proposed as an ordinary resolution.

“That the final account/audited financial statement for the year ended 31st December, 2015 together with the report of the Liquidation thereon, be and are hereby received.” Special business: To consider and if thought fit pass the following resolutions which shall be proposed as a special resolutions; 1. That the Company be and is hereby dissolved and 2. That all statutory resolutions for the dissolution of the company be complied with.

Dated this 26th day of July, 2016. By order of the Liquidator

NOTICE OF FINAL MEETING OF MEMBERS OF CALDER CREST NIG LTD (IN LIQUIDATION) RC. 876322 PURSUANT TO SECTION 468 OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990 TAKE NOTICE THAT THE FINAL MEETING OF THE ABOVE NAMED COMPANY SHALL BE HELD AS SCHEDULED BELOW: DATE : TUESDAY 30TH DAY OF AUGUST, 2016 VENUE : SUITE B31 ABUJA SHOPPING MALL, WUSE ZONE 3, ABUJA TIME : 10:00 AM PROMPT AGENDA:PRESENTATION AND CONSIDERATION OF THE LIQUIDATOR’S STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT OF THE WINDING UP DATED THIS 25THDAY OF JULY 2016.

Signed : Roseline Agwu (liquidator)

SIGNED. MR. BEN UDOH, ESQ LIQUIDATOR

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

AFRICAN DIGITAL VOICES MISSION THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED mission HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Izu Divine Freeman - Chairman 2. Destiny Olisadera Chukwu - Secretary 3. Chuba Menanya 4. Joshua Makinde 5. Stephanie Dabo Sani THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE: 1. To provide technical and structural supports to African business and social Enterprises.

2. To influence all Africans to commit to the vision of one developed and self-sustained Africa.

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 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : Emmanuel Ilo Esq. 08036061881, emmaoiloandco@gmail.com

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE LETTER OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT IN RESPECT OF PLOT 1290 CAD ASTRAL ZONE B11, KAURA DISTRICT, ABUJA, FCT BELONGING TO MAKATOMI NIGERIA LIMITED, GOT LOST, ALL EFFORT MADE TO TRACE THE SAID DOCUMENT PROVED ABORTIVE IF FOUND RETURN TO NEAREST POLICE STATION, GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE. JOY

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS Joy hafsatu omameh.

NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS joy hafsatu boyo.

ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

PAGE 12

Opinion

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Abuja-Kaduna: For Nigeria’s rail transport, new day beckons

By Idowu Samuel For decades, Nigerians had dreamt of a crisp transport system for mass movement, built around the railway technology like in developed countries. The dream is as good as coming to fulfilment now with the flag-off of commercial services of the Abuja-Kaduna railway project by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Last month, a delegation of the Federal Government led by the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi undertook a test-ride of the train service from Idu Main Station to Kubwa in Abuja and thereafter returned a verdict of success on the project. Amaechi said the completion of the project, which had suffered years of hiccups, is a mark of full commitment by the present government towards the revival of the transport sector in Nigeria.

The Abuja-Kaduna railway project is already a leap in the efforts towards revitalising the national economy. Aside the capacity to open space for the generation of more employment opportunities, the tendency to save costs for different categories of Nigerians on mass movement within the Abuja-Kaduna geographical axis is unquantifiable.

With the project, it would be easy henceforth for Nigerians to live in Kaduna and yet work in Abuja. Civil servants in this category no longer need to worry about the huge costs they often incur on transportation, worsened these days by the increase in the price of fuel. The opportunity to take cheap train while they shuttle repeatedly between Abuja and Kaduna has the tendency to encourage family bonding with little need for population redistribution.

Over the years, Nigerians have had harrowing experiences on long stretch movements owing to poor road networks.

All along, only a few have been predisposed to the option of air travel. With the near collapse of the railway system, the country had longed for succour. That, in any case, prompted successive governments to vote huge sums of money for reviving the railway sector. Nonetheless, past efforts in this regard failed to offer tangible results until now that hope begins to blossom with President Buhari’s endeavours. The determination by the president to put Nigeria back on the track with effective transportation system recently took him to China where he re-negotiated deals on the modernisation of the Nigerian railway agenda.

Efforts towards modernising the Nigerian railway system had commenced in October 2006. An agreement was signed between Nigeria and the CCECC of China for construction of a standard gauge LagosKaduna rail line, costing $8.3 billion. The project, well packaged was for upgrade of the entire rail system to standard gauge, covering a 25-year period. It included the Port Harcourt-Kano line and the additional, Lagos-Calabar line (East-West).

The contractor, CCECC immediately started work with the ground-breaking ceremony performed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo at Kajola in November, 2006. However, Obasanjo left in May 2007, only for the counterpart funding agreement in which Nigeria was to pay the sum of $2 billionn to the contractor to be bungled.

His government only paid the sum of $250 million at the time he left.

On assumption of office, late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua discovered that the contract did not follow due process amidst reports that the project cost was also inflated. Yar’Adua visited China, renegotiated and re-scoped the entire project.

Nigeria and China agreed to first get the services back with the rehabilitation of the

existing narrow gauge lines.

The project was segmented. The completion date for rehabilitation of the Lagos-Kano and Port Harcourt-Maiduguri lines was December 2011. While this was going on, a Chinese delegation came to Nigeria to commence on-site assessment of the first phase of the now segmented standard gauge Abuja-Kaduna line in July 2008 and to finalise it in 2009.

Unfortunately, the death of Yar’Adua stalled progress on the project.

The contract for the Abuja-Kaduna standard rail project was awarded in 2010 under the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan. Indeed, the actual construction did not start until 2011. It is a $874 million project with an Exim Bank China facility of $500 million. Nigeria was expected to pay the balance of the total sum, and the project was scheduled for completion in 2014.

But the Jonathan administration, like the previous ones, reneged on counterpart funding. That necessitated an extension of the completion period. Under Jonathan’s government, almost all capital projects inherited suffered poor funding or nonfunding despite their strategic importance to the economy, and in spite of the huge revenue from sale of crude oil all through his regime.

Although the government of former President Jonathan did not initiate the modernisation of the Nigerian Railway system, his government was on the threshold of earning the credit for its completion. That was never to be. The alleged short-sightedness and indeed largescale corruption the regime is now noted for combined to rub it of such a glory.

Now, history has beckoned on President Buhari to take the credit for re-negotiating and completing the outstanding railway projects conceived years back. He had

hardly settled down in office in 2015 when he made the outstanding payment, which had stalled work on the Abuja-Kaduna railway project.

In another breath, President Buhari is putting integrity to the fore in rescuing the modernisation of the abandoned Lagos-Ibadan dual track standard gauge line. The contract was awarded in 2012 with 2015 set as year of completion. The Federal Executive Council on July 18th, 2012 approved the sum of $1.457 billion as the project contract sum over a 36-month completion period. The project was abandoned by the government of former President Jonathan after it doled out the sum of N13 billion to it from the 2012-2013 and 2014 budgets. Nonetheless, there was nothing to show for all the efforts.

President Buhari has renegotiated and agreed with contractors on the commencement of the project including that of the East-West line (Lagos-BeninOnitsha, Port Harcourt-Calabar) at a reduced sum of $11.117 billion, with his government saving billion of naira for Nigeria on that project alone.

Within the next two years, all things being equal, the Lagos-Ibadan dual rail project would have been completed. Again, President Buhari will expectedly open it up for commercial operations. That project, as conceived, will re-define the economic environment of the South-West for good. It would assist in eliminating the long years of trauma that travellers on the Lagos-Ibadan dual carriage way have been undergoing.

In essence, the people of the South-West would have no other government to applaud than that of President Buhari who is about to make it happen.

Idowu Samuel writes from Abuja.

Who scares Governor Wike

By Ibrahim Modibbo

A

gain, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State was recently in the news for a very wrong reason. He threatened to expel, some police officers whom he perceive as being compromised by some unknown politicians by whom in specific terms? He is yet to decipher.

In what looks like a traditional, if not characteristically boisterous and highly garrulous manner, Wike the Emperor of “water front” is now tired of running away from his shadow as he hides behind his finger to cry foul where there is none.

Nigerians are under no illusion as to the enormity of the task of providing security to lives and property as well the need to reawaken the consciousness of its citizenry on the general dangers associated with crime and criminality and the need to find lasting solution to the protracted problems of kidnapping, cultism, armed robberies and terrorism.

Barely two weeks or so, after assuming the mantle of leadership in Louis Edet House, the Acting Inspector-General of Police Mr. Ibrahim Idris left no one in doubt of his mission and vision of changing the face and character of the Nigeria Police in conformity with the current democratic tempo.

The acting Inspector general is carefully set to create history by making swift changes at the force Headquarters as well

as the entire country with a view to putting square pegs in their right holes, so as to use highly resourceful and result-oriented officers that could deliver under the change mantra-of the Buhari administration.

It could be recalled that when President Muhammadu Buhari came on board, he promised to fight corruption, improve the economy, provide optimum security, create job opportunities and to generate more power and other social infrastructure to Nigerians. The government also promise to fight against regime tyranny, despotic governance and authoritarian mindset of those vested with democratic power in Nigeria. He said, it could no longer be business as usual.

As the Acting Inspector-General of police settles down to make necessary changes to reflect the mood of Nigerians for a secured country, it became imperative to transfer police officers with clinical record of service in fighting corruption and general insecurity to different states of the federation. To key-into the Buhari agenda for maximum security, the police boss in close collaboration with the police service commission has the historical duty to turn challenges to opportunities for the common good of our people. Just like Doctors without borders, the Nigeria police is an organization that is borderless as it covers every part of Nigeria and by the constitutional provisions of the federal Republic of Nigeria, no Governor has the

right to challenge routine postings of the police to any state of the federation. Many Nigerians are not happy as Governor Wike tries to influence or compromise the newly appointed police boss by warning him not to post some unnamed police officers to River state.

The Governor was quoted in the media as declaring some recently posted police officers whom he doesn’t know or does not like their faces “Personae non-grata” to River state; with a threat to “expose compromised police officers reposted to the state, if the Inspector-General of Police fails to transfer them out of the state”. Every new administration comes along with different changes and the acting Inspector General of police, should not succumb to intimidation, empty threats and blackmail from a man with such historical antecedence as Wike.

I want to believe that Governor Wike must have compromised some police officers that were posted out of the state and as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fixes the national elections in Rivers towards the end of this month, the Governor is becoming increasingly apprehensive and jittery on the probability of not getting the “traditional” support of the police.

Since coming into office as Governor, Rivers State, had never known peace as violence arising from the violent activities of cultists, kidnapping, armed robberies and organize terror took the centre-

stage. At a point, the state became lawless as human heads became shields and trophies of democratic value. People were mercilessly killed and beheaded by political thugs to the delight of an Emperor bearing in mind that law and order has virtually collapsed. If it were in other climes, a state of emergency would have been declared in River State.

Wike seems to be afraid of his shadow as he is noted for notoriety of tackling his real and imaginary enemies with hard tackles. As a short-sighted leader with short term plans in the art of governance, the Governor has all the attributes of loose cannon with full potentials of exploding on dynamite.

The question on the lips of many is that with the way, now that things are changing, who might be scaring Wike?

Why the desperation to have police of his choice instead of neutral officers with record of performance to tame lawlessness and general insecurity? Why must he dictate to the acting police boss which officer to be posted and those that are not welcome? I honestly think that Governor Wike should leave the police alone to perform its duties without interference.

Ibrahim Modibbo, an Abuja-based journalist that writes from Bendel Street, Garki

PAGE 13

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Comment

A growing global concern: Instant Noodles or instant chemical?!

By Akin Adeoya

N

oodles ban in faraway India provokes NAFDAC to action in Nigeria and sets the entire East African market afire. Now, as the epic two-minute noodles case between Swiss giant, Nestle and tough Indian regulator, FSSA, draws closer to a possible finale this July, what implications could it have for the Nigerian and African market?

We also ask the question, should you be worried about the health risks of consuming Instant Noodles?

In the last one year, observers of the huge noodles market in the international scene have watched with fascination as the popular category continues to face huge credibility challenges. Last year in India, Maggi noodles came under fire when the Indian Food and Safety Standards Authority (FSSA) conducted tests that appeared to show that the levels of lead found in the noodles were much higher than were permitted. Their report said that the “sample taken by the establishment of the commissioner of Food Safety…found presence of lead at 17.2ppm”. (ppm means “parts per million”). The permitted level of lead in such foodstuffs in India is only 2.5 ppm, so if these figures are to be believed the level of lead found is about seven times higher than is thought acceptable. This, according to experts is particularly worrisome because children are major consumers of the product and excess levels of lead are implicated in learning and development difficulties in children.

The multinational however protested, drawing attention to her own tests which show that the FSSA results are incorrect.

Instead they claim that their results “show that lead levels are well within the limits specified by food regulations and that Maggi noodles are safe to eat”. The controversy ended in court with Nestle arguing about the correct results and issues relating to the interpretation of the Food Safety and Standards Act. Concerns quickly spread across African markets where the Indian made product is popular. The Kenya Bureau of Standards issued a warning about the noodles and they were subsequently

removed from supermarket shelves in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.

The US Food and Drug administration took samples to test and concerns spread to Botswana.

In Nigeria, the country’s food and drug watchdog, NAFDAC, went for the kill, taking a cue from the Indian report, and depending entirely on the FSSA, it issued a devastating warning titled “Maggi Noodles Can Kill”. It warned Nigerians to stop the consumption of the famous Maggi two-minute instant Noodles produced by Nestle India stating that it is dangerous to the health. Its sole reference for this was the lead story from FSSA in India.

According to NAFDAC, “Nestle has recalled its Maggi instant noodles from stores across India following reports by the Indian Food safety regulators of probable lead contamination. Lead exposure causes an estimated 143,000 deaths a year worldwide”. The agency ordered that the product should be equally withdrawn from the market immediately.

However, in a happy twist for Nestle in India, test results from all three laboratories mandated by the Bombay high court show Maggi to be safe, with its lead content well within the permissible limits. According to the company, “In compliance with the orders of the Bombay High Court, we began manufacturing Maggi noodles and submitted the new batches for testing as well. All three NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration laboratories) accredited laboratories have reconfirmed that Maggi noodles are safe for consumption.

Thereafter the product went back to the market. But it was a short relief as FSSA dragged them before the Indian supreme court, averring that the Bombay high court should have appointed a neutral authority to select the Maggi samples for test rather than allowing Nestle to pick them on its own.

The move, according to FSSA, violated the “principles of natural justice”. It insisted that the ban should resume until a neutral agency picks up the sample and performs the required tests. At the April 3, 2016 hearing at the Supreme court of

India, fresh test reports were presented before the learned judges. Hearing was subsequently adjourned till July.

The eventual outcome of that judgement will have deep consequences for the Nigerian and African instant noodles market. Many issues are up for resolution, the most important being the one regarding lead presence in instant noodles. Another major issue will be the fate of instant noodles products in Nigeria which contain MSG. The consumption of MSG has been “linked with obesity and metabolic defects, part of being a trigger of asthma and causing headaches and subsequently reported pericranial muscle tenderness”. Experts contend that some popular noodles in Nigeria contain MSG. Should the Indian agency press forward on MSG after resolving the lead matter, surely a negative ruling will provoke another round of punitive actions

by NAFDAC against local noodles. Our opinion however is that NAFDAC needs to be more proactive and original. It ought to depend more on its own laboratories and should be in the vanguard of carrying out periodic tests, rather than following the footsteps of its Indian counterpart.

Matters have not been made easier

by Dr. Mercola, the online medical commentator and researcher whose recent declamation of instant noodles have been making the rounds. The influential medical researcher has come down hard on instant noodles which, according to him, “does not contain any nutrition, but it does contain close to 2,700mg of sodium in just one package”.

From him, it is also said to contain “the toxic preservative, TBHQ, common in all kinds of processed foods, which is a by-product of the petroleum industry.

Exposure to just one gram of TBHQ can cause nausea and vomiting, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), delirium or a sense of suffocation”. (ME: Do you feel that when you eat noodles?)

Among others, “it also contains MSG, an excitotoxin, which can overexcite your nerve cells to the point of damage or death, causing brain dysfunction and damage to varying degrees – and potentially even triggering or worsening learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease,

Parkinson’s disease and more”.

He reveals further that women who eat instant noodles more than twice a week were 68 percent more likely to have a metabolic syndrome.

He is not alone, regarding MSG and TBHQ which are usually present in noodles for their taste enhancing and preservative properties. According to Dr. Sunil Sharma, general physician and head of emergency, Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital, “Dietary intake of these elements is allowed within a limit, (but) regular intake can cause severe health issues”. The Washington Post, quoting a 2015 South Korean study conducted on the effects of instant noodles on human health noted that: “Although instant noodles is a delicious and convenient food, there could be an increased risk for metabolic syndrome given (the food’s) high sodium, unhealthy saturated fat and glycemic loads” (Hyun Shin, co-author of the study).

The study concludes that “excessive instant noodle consumption can not only trigger obesity but also metabolic ailments like diabetes, high blood pressure, hypertension, heart problems and so on”.

The long and short of it is that consumers should generally avoid replacing real food with fast food. Fast food and processed foods should be consumed occasionally as overindulgence is not helpful to one’s health. The big question, at this point, is, do makers of these products understand these risks and how does their understanding affect the way the products are being positioned?

Many instant noodles in Nigeria, for example, are positioned as full meal replacements. In view of the evidence above, that is most probably wrong.

Manufacturers and marketers of instant noodles should face up to the reality that it should never be seen as the replacement of a proper meal. Perhaps NAFDAC and even APCON should focus on that to help both manufacturer and consumer stay healthy!

Akin Adeoya, a leading marketing and brand communications analyst can be reached through akinadeoyaxyz@gmail.com

The President, Masari and Operation ‘Harbin Kunama’

By Abdu Labaran Leaders are dealers in hope - Napoleon Bonaparte

T

hese are definitely very challenging times for the nation, and for some states, it has been so for quite a while with consistent severity.

On a sunny day in March 2013, a day that was supposed to be a day of celebration and joy in Katsina State, a band of ruthless and daring bandits visited calamity and anguish on a peaceful community in the southern end of the state. Armed with sophisticated weapons, including AK 47s, the bandits, riding on tens of Toyota Hillux vans and motorcycles, swarmed Sabon Layin Galadima, a community juxtaposed between Faskari and Sabuwa Local Government areas, in an operation that lasted about five hours unchallenged, shooting everyone and everything in sight with maniacal abandon. Instant death for over 114 people, and various degrees of injuries, fatal in some cases, to scores of others, was the gory outcome of that madness. Plus permanent flight away from the community by some of the survivors, scared by the

persistence, daring and viciousness of the bandits and the seeming indifference of the authorities to their oft recurring predicament, because that was not the first time, just the most vicious.

That was a day when the political leadership of the state was hosting then President Goodluck Jonathan and the cream of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to a lavish reception at the Katsina Government House in celebration of some putative achievements.

In Katsina State still, farming and related activities, the mainstay of the state’s economy, had come under serious threat as a large percentage of the farming community had abandoned the farm for the urban centers as a result of the activities of those referred to by Katsina’s Governor Aminu Bello Masari as ‘Yan Kiwo Haram’, a.k.a. cattle rustlers. With their dastardly pastime of forcefully depriving herders and farmers of their cattle and other livestock, and often in the process, dealing with extreme bias any attempt at resistance, the bandits had become authority unto themselves, stealing and killing with impunity.

Thus, with the state of insecurity in Katsina state at an all time high at that time, cattle rustling

and other forms of banditry became a campaign issue in the run up to the 2015 general elections, and which then APC’s gubernatorial candidate Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari prioritised as one of the key issues he would aggressively address once in office.

In keeping faith with that promise, one of Masari’s first moves as elected governor was to mobilise his colleagues from Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, and Niger, being the states most affected by the activities of cattle rustlers and bandits, to form a united front to confront the menace. For that, he was made the permanent Chairman of the group.

And severally he has led the group to meetings with President Muhammadu Buhari and as well with security chiefs, notably the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Air Staff, the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of the Department of State Service, lying the ground for ‘Operation Harbin Kunama’, the grand military onslaught recently launched by the President at Kuyen Bana Forest in Zamfara State against cattle rustlers and bandits terrorising the seven north west states and Niger.

To boot, Governor Masari made an exclusuve arrangement with the Military, the Police, the Civil Defence Corps and the Department of State Security for extra security measures, singly bankrolled by the state government to the tune of N50million monthly, under which additional forces were deployed by these services to the seven local government areas in Katsina state most affected by the activities of the bandits.

These efforts and more soon began to yield result in Katsina State noticeable in the sharp reduction in the frequency of the activities of the bandits, even as more and more rustled animals are regularly recovered and returned to genuine owners.

With the full onset of the wet season in the North West, Operation Harbin Kunama could not have come at a more opportuned time when farmers can’t wait to go back to the farm, in sharp contrast to previous seasons when the activities of cattle rustlers, bandits and kidnappers had almost made farming well neigh impossible in the region.

Malumfashi is SSA Media to the Katsina State Governor.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

PAGE 14

News Dwindling economy: NOA urges patience among Nigerians

By Paul Efiong

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n the light of the dwindling economy in the country, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) has called on Nigerians, irrespective of religious and political affiliations, to be patience, adding that other countries of the world have gone through similar challenges in their national development process.

NOA in a statement issued yesterday by its Deputy Director,

Press, Fidel Agu, said the Director General of agency, Garba Abari made this call when he paid a courtesy visit on the Managing Editor, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

Abari noted that there was a high level of mistrust between the citizenry and the government which needs to be addressed through proper information management, hence his desire for collaboration between the two Agencies to foster

national re-orientation, patriotism and unity amongst Nigerians.

He described the role of information dissemination as key in nation building, adding that NOA and NAN must mobilize opinions and characters towards changing the ugly narratives confronting Nigeria.

The DG NOA said, “With the dwindling economy which constitutes greater challenge to meeting national obligations, there

is need to tell Nigerians what is responsible for the challenges so that we can begin to assess ourselves and ask questions on how we missed it as a nation”.

He assured Nigerians of better days ahead, saying no society is immuned from turbulence and challenges, but admonished that “we must work together to get to the promised land and build a country that we will proudly bequeath to our children”.

L-R: Guest Speaker, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah with the Chairman, Ibadan School of Government and Public Policies (ISGPP), Prof. Akin Mabogunje, at the book reading event of ISGPP, yesterday in Ibadan. Photo: NAN

FCT Minister harps on unity, good governance

By Stanley Onyekwere

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he Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has called on leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the North Central zone of Nigeria to remain united and provide good governance to the populace.

The Minister, who made this call when the Deputy National Chairman, North Central zone of the Party, Zakari Idde, led the state chairmen of the zone to pay him a courtesy visit in Abuja, said this was necessary if the Party were to prolong its electoral fortunes in the region.

Bello noted that Nigerians were unequivocally yearning for change in the manner their affairs were being managed and that the Party should remain the arrowhead and the platform for people to realize that.

“The Party is in control of all the states in the North Central and the only way it could go back to solicit their support during elections is by providing quality leadership at levels of government.

“This is an opportunity for us to show good governance because it is something that our members have been yearning for a long time. We have to really govern properly to enable the people spot the

difference so that next time, when we go back to them, they will receive us with open arms,” he stressed.

The Minister while recalling that the APC in the FCT was polarized along diverging interests when he assumed office as Minister last year, noted that the Party leaders in the zone played very crucial roles in reconciling and uniting the aggrieved members under one front, which he said helped a great deal in achieving the landslide victory that the Party recorded during the last FCT Area Councils’ elections.

Bello further stressed the need for the Party to build upon this unity; adding that its electoral successes

would always depend on it.

“You played a reconciliatory and fatherly role. You were able to talk to the aggrieved parties to bring people together. I think that gave us the necessary unity that made it possible for us to get the successes that we got during the last Area Councils’ election.

“At the end of the day, no matter our differences, I think our objective is to win elections and to provide good governance. For that to happen, we have to be united, extremely patient and know that under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, we will continue to show what good governance is,” he stated.

Dankwambo’s administration would enhance IGR to MDAs- Commissioner From David Hassan, Gombe

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s part of measures to sustain revenue development, Gombe state government under the leadership of governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo would focus on enhancing internally revenue generation across MDAs in the state.

Commissioner ministry of finance

Alhaji Hassan Muhammadu stated this yesterday in Gombe during handing over note from Attorney-General and commissioner for Justice Abdulhameed Ibrahim who was mandated to over seeing the ministry.

He said the ministry would do everything possible to ensure that it seek necessary approvals inorder to work with revenue generated MDAs to automate

service billing and tax assessment.

According to him, appropriate step would be taken to enhance the efficiency of revenue collection with a view to plug leakages that countervailing laws that promote non-remittance of revenue by MDAs. Speaking further, the commissioner strategies the need to expand operators in the sectors according to their ability to

pay continues enumeration, noting that bank services provided by government such as land and utility services would be appropriately price in order to achieve cost recovery.

He assured that the ministry would brief the activities of government from time to time to ensure that government activities on finance is achieved.

FG to resuscitate Presidential Council on Tourism

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he Federal Government is to resuscitate the Presidential Council on Tourism and set up Tourism Satellite Account to give tourism a new lease of life.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Madrid, Spain.

NAN reports that the minister arrived in Madrid on Monday for a two-day meeting with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) UNWTO on development of the nation’s tourism.

The meeting is to conclude the framework for the UNWTO development of a two-year program of technical assistance for the nation’s tourism sector.

The minister said he had written to President Muhammadu Buhari asking for a speedy resuscitation of the presidential council on tourism adding that its revival is key to the development of the sector.

The minister said that the memorandum he wrote requested for a special intervention fund to empower Nigerians in the tourism sector and build capacity. ``We want to create an all-female tourism centre where we will impact skill and knowledge for women. ``We also ask in the memo for resources to be made available to undertake the tourism satellite account. ``It is an ambitious project which will create a data bank of how many people come into the country by road, rail, sea and air and their mission in the country. ``The data will be useful for us to plan and to boost and encourage investors into the tourism sector,’’ he said.

The minister said the meeting with the UNWTO was a fall out the conference of all African Ministers of Toursim held in Cote d’Ivoire in April.

He said following the return of the country to the UN world tourism body after many years, the organisation promised to assist in the development of the nation’s tourism sector.

(NAN)

PAGE 15

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Kano rerun: Saraki advocates better bilateral relations with Iran PDP accuses APC of plot to scuttle poll

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

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From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

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eoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano State has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of alleged plans to scuttle the forthcoming Minjibir Local Government State House of Assembly rerun election to be conducted on Saturday, 30th July, 2016.

The position has been left vacant following the death of member representing the constituency, APC, late Tahir Hamisu Gurjiya early this year, but the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) slated April for the rerun election but was marred by violence and the electoral body declared it inconclusive.

But, the opposition party, at a press conference held in Kano yesterday, had alleged that APC’s bigwigs in the state, including governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and the 44 Local Government chairmen, held a secret meeting last Saturday at the government house on how to destablise the poll.

Addressing the press, PDP’s Chairman Minjibir Election Committee, Alhaji Shehu Na Allah also alleged that the ruling party had directed the local government chairmen to mobilise political thugs and other APC supporters in their respective local councils and move to Minjibir Local Government on the eve of the election for the purpose of destablisisng the conduct of the byeelection.

He said “our findings revealed that the government intends to use its powers to intimidate and harass voters with intention of disturbing the smooth conduct of the election as well as identifying government officials who sympathise with PDP, especially on the election day.”

“According to our findings there were also plans to arrest some key stakeholders who are indigenes of Minjibir Local Government on the eve of the election and if need be, during the election period.” Na Allah added.

He appealed to the state’s Commissioner of Police and other security agencies as well as Civil Society organisations to carry out their duties of maintaining law or and order during the election, calling on them to avoid being partisans of any political party.

“We wish to use this medium to appeal to PDP supporters and sympathisers to remain calm and steadfast and to avoid and action that will temper with the smooth conduct of the election. While thanking you all as supporters of our great party, we request you to behave well during the elections.”

Na Allah also appealed to members of PDP in the constituency to come out en-masse and vote the party’s candidate, Alhaji Auwalu Shagon Minjibir on the Saturday rerun election.

he Senate President, Bukola Saraki, yesterday called for improved bilateral relationship between Nigeria and the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially in areas of common interest like education and elimination of terrorism.

He stated this when the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, led a delegation of Iranian officials on a visit to him at his National Assembly.

According to the Senate President, “there should be bilateral cooperation between Nigeria and the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially in areas where there are common challenges like in tackling terrorism, science and education as well as in socio-cultural cooperation.”

He said that the visit of the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs marks a new era in the bilateral relationship between both countries, as it would step up cooperation and collaboration in areas with similar

interests between Nigeria and Iran.

In urging for cooperation, Saraki said that Nigeria and Iran has similar interests as regard the diversification of the economy, stating, “we are both oil producing countries and the falling price of crude oil has made it imperative for the diversification of the economy.”

On his part, the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs told the Senate President that Iran is ready to work and collaborate with Nigeria in education, science and technical

fields, stating that there are many Nigerian students undergoing studies in several fields of endeavour in Iran.

The Minister further stated that Iran has scholarship programmes for Nigerian students schooling in Nigeria.

He also said that Iran is ready to collaborate with Nigeria in parliamentary affairs, as both countries are members of several international parliamentary associations.

L-R: North Central Coordinator, Concerned People Democratic Party Youth, Mr. Jonathan Tsaku; National Coordinator, Mr. Uchechkwu Ogbonna and National Organizing Secretary, Mr. Leo Mathew at the press briefing by the group in support of Chief Raymond Dokpesi Chairmanship candidacy for the forth coming PDP national convention, yesterday in Abuja , Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Adamawa Assembly passes law reducing tenure of LG bosses From Umar Dankano, Yola

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damawa state House of Assembly yesterday reduced the tenure of chairmen of Local Government Council to two years instead of the two and half years in the state through passage of a bill to that respect.

The bill was passed following the consideration and adoption of report on the amendment of the Adamawa State Local Government System, Establishment and Administration Law No. 4 of 2000.

The report was presented by the House Committee Chairman on Local Government and Chieftaincy

Affairs, Alhaji Muhammadu Hayatu, who said the bill was in order as most states were operating two year tenure The bill sponsored by Alhaji Suleiman Alkali.

In her contribution before the passage of the bill, Sodom Daniel urged the house on the need to

also review the over deductions of councils monthly allocation to enable the councils perform within two years.

The Speaker, Alhaji Kabiru Mijinyawa, who presided over the plenary, directed the Clerk of the house to send a clean copy of the bill to the Governor for his accent.

Okorocha dares Ekweremadu, says seat under threat

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

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he Governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha, yesterday has challenged the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, for allegedly relocating to Imo state last week Saturday, with the hope of influencing the outcome of the poll in favour of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying his seat as the Deputy Senate President is under huge threat.

Speaking in Owerri, Imo state capital, Okorocha said in no distant time the APC Senator in the waiting from Imo State, Benjamine Uwajumogu, will take over the seat on ground that it is an aberration that a

PDP senator from the South-East is deputy to an APC Senate President because, before now, APC could not produce a senator from the South-East zone.

He said the Deputy Senate President was already aware that such development was not only feasible but inevitable, hence he fully funded the candidate of the PDP in the re-run senatorial poll in Okigwe zone and also re-located to the state three days to the election date.

Okorocha also said the victory of the APC in the re-run poll for Okigwe senatorial zone is a victory for the whole of South-East APC in particular and the people of the geo-political zone

in general, adding that all the National Assembly members from the state on the platform of PDP should be recalled to come and face proper election because none of them won election but they used their federal might and the security agencies to write results for themselves in the 2015 election.

While observing that the PDP in the state had never won any election since 2003, but had written results for themselves using intimidation and harassment to achieve their goal of producing results and forcing INEC to declare them winners on the basis of the false results, the Governor lamented that it has become part of the political culture of the state that every

election in the state must be declared inconclusive.

“There was no way the Saturday’s election could have been declared inconclusive because of one ward (Osuachara) out of the sixty four wards in the Okigwe senatorial zone and with the APC candidate, Benjamine Uwajumogu leading his rival with more than eight thousand votes.

“With the kind of victory the APC candidates recorded in the two state constituencies of Oru-East and Owerri-West where the re-run poll also took place last Saturday, it won’t be news any longer that APC is grounded in every ward in the state”, he said.

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Politics Alleged Benue Assembly invasion: Heavy security presence creates panic From Uche Makurdi

Nnorom,

• Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal inspecting the burnt Sokoto Old Market gutted by fire on Sunday night

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ver 30 fierce looking, gun wielding security operatives stormed the Benue State House of Assembly yesterday following insinuations of a possible invasion of the house by unknown persons.

This is just as the House Committee Chairman on Information Bem Ngutyo explained that the security measure is to forestall any criminal act in the assembly especially in the face of high level insecurity in the State.

The security men which included men of the Department of Security Services, DSS carried out thorough search of persons and vehicles going into the assembly complex. A certain police officer acting on instruction of the Speaker Terkimbir Ikyange, went from one office to the other, chasing out anyone who had no business in the complex.

While this was ongoing, the members were in an executive session for over three (3) hours with the suspended Kester Kyenge in attendance.

Ngutyo said they officially communicated the suspension to Kester, maintaining that their action would serve as a deterrent to other members including members of the ruling party All Progressives Congress, APC that nobody is above the law.

He accused Kester of acting the script of someone(whom he did not mention), adding “we have to tame him and prove that we are in-charge of the house”.

He recalled that the same scenario happened during the 6th assembly when late Baver Dzeremo representing Tarka State constituency at that time, was suspended for three (3) months for the same offense Kester committed, noting that Baver humbly apologized and was called back.

It should be noted that the Benue State House of Assembly has been enmeshed in fraud relating to car purchase which amounts to over N750 million. But the house leadership vehemently denied the allegation, claiming that the amount is just N317 million.

NDDC board appointments:

Delta APC celebrates, leaders commend Buhari Osakhare Erese, Asaba

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elta State All Progressives Congress (APC) leader and 2015 governorship candidate, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, chieftains of the party, Chief Frank Ovie Kokori, and Barr. Justine Rewane have commended President Muhammadu Buhari, for the nominating two Deltans for appointment into the board of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. Speaking to journalists on the appointment, Emerhor praised Mr. President for listening to the cry of the APC in Delta State, noting that the appointments have reinvigorated members of the party in the state to work harder to reposition the party to take over Delta State come in 2019.

The elated APC leader stated further that with the appointment of Engr.

Samuel Adjogbe, (Nominee, Executive Director Project, NDDC) Delta Central and Dr Ogaga Ifowodo, Delta State representative, has given the three senatorial district in the state a sense of belonging in the APC led government at the center.

Speaking similarly, a Board of Trustee Member of the party, Chief Frank Kokori also commended President Buhari, for appointing two credible Deltans to the board of NDDC, noting that leaders of the

party across the state are happy with the development.

According to him; “those who before now were in doubt about the ability of the leaders of the party in the state to attract the dividends of democracy to the state, will now have a rethink.”

On his part, Barr. Justine Rewane while commending the President, urged party faithful in the state to be patient; adding that more appointment will be giving to Deltans in due course, stressing that no part of the state would be left out, because the Delta APC is one big family.

According to him; “the NDDC appointments could not have come at a better time, we are mobilising new members to register with our great party and this will energize the Delta APC to do more in our quest to take over Delta come 2019.”

The state party chairman, Prophet Jone Erue also commended the President for the appointments, nothing that the people of Delta state are very happy, and that since the announcement of the nomination, Deltans have being trooping to register as APC members.

“It has been celebration across Delta since the list came out, so I want to join other APC leaders in Delta state to commend Mr. President for appointing these great Deltans assuring him of our total commitment

to repositioning the party in Delta state and the Niger Delta region.

He noted that the appointment also has shown the true leader of the party in the state. While extending his hand of fellowship to few aggrieved

Kumuyi applauds Gov. Jibrilla’s administration From Umar Dankano, Yola

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he General Overseer of Deeper Life Bible Ministry in Nigeria, Pastor Williams F. Kumuyi has applauded the developmental strides recorded

by Governor Muhammadu Umaru Jibrilla in Adamawa state.

Pastor Kumuyi who was in the state for evangelism made the commendation at the Yola international Airport while exchanging pleasantries with the Governor, who was on his way to Abuja for official engagement saying that reports at his disposal indicated that he is performing credibly.

Pastor Kumuyi also prayed for good health for the Governor and his team, asking God to proffer solutions to what will bring more

Peace returns to Kogi Assembly

From Ahmad Ibrahim, Lokoja

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he leadership tussle rocking Kogi State House of Assembly since November, last year was yesterday laid to rest with the resignation of the embattled speaker, Alhaji Momoh-Jimoh Lawal.

Lawal’s resignation was read on the floor of the house at plenary presided over by The Deputy Speaker, Mr Aliyu Akuh.

The embattled speaker had in the letter dated July 26, said his resignation was in the interest of the

state adding that though he would have loved to continue to struggle for the entrenchment of democratic values, he had to give way for peace to reign. ‘’We are all aware of the needless pains, the leadership crisis that engulfed this noble assembly in the past few months caused our constituents and retarded the development of our beloved state, Kogi”, he pointed out. ‘’Today, my resignation as speaker of this houae was a difficult decision but I do believe it is the right thing to

members; the chairman stated that the party stands to gain more as a united family, adding that there is more to come and it will go round all the major stakeholders.

do. To the judiciary, I doff my hat for believing in the tenets of democratic values and to my constituents, I share your frustration”.

The Majority Leader, Matthew Kolawole subsequently moved for the adoption of the letter and was seconded by the Minority Leader, Bello Abdullahi (APC-Ajaokuta).

With the adoption of the resignation letter through voice affirmation by members , the acting speaker, Akuh, called for nomination of names for the replacement Hon. Lawal.

peace and development to the state.

“I learnt of the progress going on in the state and this is heartwarming while the care being given to internally displaced persons is praise worthy.

He again expressed the hope that his coming will bring prosperity to the state and prayed for good and sound health for more provision of more delved ends of democracy.

Earlier Governor Jibrilla solicited for prayers for the state stating that the power of prayers help in the achievement of success.

According to Governor Jibrilla the state witnessed greatness since the Pastor last visited July last year Says the Governor, “We need prayers not for us in Adamawa but the country at large”.

The Majority Leader, Kolawole, once again, nominated Hon. Umar Imam as speaker and Abdulkareem Kekere as Chief Whip saying the position of the speaker could not remain in a vacuum.

The members following overwhelming voice votes adopted Umar Imam (Apc-Lokoja 1) as speaker and he was immediately inaugurated after administration of the Oath of Office and Oath of Allegiance by Clerk of the House, Mr Seidu Tseja.

In his acceptance speech, the new speaker thanked God for his intervention in the crisis that rocked the assembly for over eight months.

PAGE 17

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Politics

Saraki urges NLNG to reduce gas flaring

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

S

enate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has advised the management and board of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) to work towards reducing the current twenty per cent of gas being flared in the country, stating that it is by so doing that activities of the gas company would be appreciated

by Nigerians.

He also pledged the determination of the 8th Senate and indeed the National Assembly to foster business friendly laws in the country.

The Senate President gave the advice when he granted audience to the outgoing Managing Director of NLNG, Babs Omotowa, who came to introduce the in-coming Managing Director, Tony Attah, to the senate President.

According to him, after listening to the opening remarks by the out-going NLNG Managing Director that the NLNG has succeeded in reducing gas flaring in Nigeria from sixty per cent to twenty per cent, said, “there is need to do more. You have to work harder so you can further reduce the current status of gas flaring in Nigeria.”

While pledging the support of the National Assembly in efforts to end gas flaring in the country, Saraki told the management of the NLNG that the National Assembly would not relent in its efforts to ensure the enthronement of business friendly incentives for economic development of the country.

He explained that it was in this regard that the Senate facilitated the review of the railways laws, inherited from the colonial masters over 50 years ago.

The Senate President explained that the review of the railway law is central to the success of economic reforms in the country.

The Senate President who called for the Private Sector participation in railway development in Nigeria, said that, “no government can fully fund railways development as it is central to economic reforms.”

Saraki also advised the management of the NLNG to ensure that the roads leading from Port Harcourt to Bonny is constructed as it would lead to harmonious corporate community relationship with the host community in Bonny.

The Senate President advised the management of the NLNG to ensure that there is improvement in the use of domestic gas for cooking as it would drastically reduce the use of firewood for cooking in the country and consequently help to preserve the environment.

Earlier, the out-going Managing Director of NLNG, Omotowa, said that he and the management team were

at the National Assembly to introduce Mr. Tony Attah who is billed to assume duties as the new managing director of the company on September 1.

He also thanked the Senate President who is the Chairman of the National Assembly for providing a fruitful and conducive atmosphere for the

NLNG during his tenure as the chief executive of the gas company, while urging him to extend the same relationship to his successor, Tony Attah.

• Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign and Domestic Debt, Sen. Shehu Sani (left); gave alms to the women of Turunku, during his visit to Queen Amina’s tomb in Turuku, yesterday in Kaduna

We’re fed up with Obasanjo’s sustained attacks – Sen. Na’Allah

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he Senate’s Deputy Leader, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah ( APC Kebbi South), has taken a swipe on former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his repeated corruption allegation against the 469 members of the National Assembly, saying he rejected his fifty million naira bribe.

Obasanjo had on Monday in Abuja in the heat of the ongoing allegation and counter allegations of budget Paddings among the leadership of the House of Representatives, told state House correspondents that the allegations vindicated his earlier statement that the federal lawmakers are rogues.

A repeated allegation senator Na’Allah took strong exception to, yesterday as he slammed the former

President for being the corrupt person and not all the 469 federal lawmakers in the National Assembly.

According to him, Obasanjo lacked the moral right to be making such allegations, in view of his corruption laden antecedents while in power , one of which was the alleged N50million bribe offered to each of the federal lawmakers during the 5th National Assembly for his failed 3rd term bid in office.

Na’Allah in the statement declared that he rejected the bribe and challenged Obasanjo to come out with any proven records of corruption he has against him , failure of which he said , Obasanjo should consider his blanket allegation of corruption against National Assembly members as reckless, rhapsodic and un commonsensical.

The statement reads: “My attention has been drawn to a purported statement attributed to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in which it was alleged that he made a sweeping statement to the effect that there are no men of integrity in the National Assembly.

“I am respectfully taking exception to the statement which I express the hope is not true. To start with it is not in my character to join issues with elder statement who have had the privilege of superintending over the affairs of our great country Nigeria.

“This exception has become necessary in view of the enormity of the alleged statement to my person and integrity. If former president Obasanjo can come out with one proven record of corruption against

me as a person I promised to vacate my seat as a senator of the federal republic of Nigeria.

“For the records I was the only member from kebbi state who did not find it worthy at that time of collecting the sum of 50 million naira as an inducement to subvert the constitution and provide a constitutional framework for the third term Ambition of president Obasanjo.

I find this statement if it is true to be reckless and terrifying.

“The implication of the statement is to say that the entire over 170 million Nigerians have not elected a single person with integrity among the 469 members of the national Assembly.

This is definitely rhapsodic and does not conform to commonsense and reason”.

Saraki mourns Akarigbo of Remo, ex-Kano Deputy Governor

By Ali Abare Abubakar

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resident of the Senate, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Monday expressed deep sadness over the demise of the paramount ruler of Remoland, Akarigbo of Remo, Oba Michael Adeniyi Sonariwo, and the former Deputy Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Magaji Abdullahi, and described their death as a colossal loss.

Saraki in a statement signed by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu in Abuja, commiserated with the Royal family of Akarigbo of Remo, government and people of Ogun State and said that the monarch

lived an eventful and accomplished life.

He recalled his contributions to the development of Ogun State during his 16 years reign as the paramount ruler of Remoland as well as the Chairman, Ogun State Traditional Council.

Saraki said: “Late Oba Michael Adeniyi Sonariwo was a wellrespected traditional ruler in Yorubaland and beyond. His love and passion during his reign endear him to many people both within and outside the State.

“As a philanthropist of note, the late royal father was selfless and committed to the well-being of the average indigene of Ogun State in particular and the nation at large,”

he said.

He urged the Ogun State government to give the late Akarigbo of Remoland a befitting burial, saying his death was a great burden for his subjects and others who know him to bear.

Also, the Senate President condoled with the immediate family, Kano State government and other associates of late Magaji Abdullahi who died after a protracted illness at his residence in Kano metropolis at the weekend.

Saraki said late Abdullahi was a leader of repute, having served the State in various capacities, “as a commissioner for Works, Housing and Transport between 1989 and 1990, and later commissioner for

Water Resources.

In his bid to further serve the people of his dear State, Magaji contested for governorship under the flag of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1991. A giant step from a patriotic statesman in a bid to to render invaluable services to mankind. We shall sorely miss him,” he said.

The Senate President called on Kano State government to immortalize late Magaji Abdullahi for his steadfastness and patriotism to the course of developing the State during his lifetime.

He prayed God to grant the departed statesmen, eternal rest and their families the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Politics

Poor governance bane of Nigeria’s development – Don Osakhare Erese, Asaba

A

Professor of Economics, Peter Egbon, on Monday said the absence of good governance had remained the bane of Nigeria’s poor economic development.

Against the popular views that re-structuring the nation was the best way out of its multiple economic challenges, Professor Egbon, who was the former Deputy Vice Chancellor of the Delta State University, Abraka, said that the issue of re-structuring the nation was a distraction, even as he argued that rather what the nation needed

was good governance.

Professor Egbon who spoke to our correspondent in Asaba, explained: “Nigerians need not bother themselves about what ethnic nationality the president of the nation came from, but whether such person has what it takes to govern the country on path of glory”.

He noted that though Nigerians perceived that restructuring the country was the best line of action considering the current economic situation, those elites advocating for re-structuring does not have

the best interest of Nigerians at heart, instead they are out to service their own selfish interest.

According to him; “By true fiscal federalism, we must agree that where you produce, that body should pay some tax to the centre. For instance, when we have agriculture, cocoa, palm oil and what have you. The sources of such revenue; you know, they have 50 percent derivation, then the other 50 percent, you still participate in it. That is what we should be talking about; let us go back there to create incentives so that people

can be encouraged to harness these resources”.

He argued that re-structuring the nation was not the issue, but the nation’s leaders should be thinking of creating the right incentives for the people to harness the resources in the country, adding that the resultant effect of such move would usher in true fiscal federalism, which is what Nigeria needs in order to ensure sustainable development.

He explained that by resstructuring, according to the national conference, it meant

Lawmaker promises permanent resolution of cocoa farm allocations in C’River

•Senior Special Assistant to the President on foreign affairs and diaspora, Mrs Abike DabiriErewa, presenting the diaspora magazine to the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Paul Arkwright, during his visit to her office, yesterday in Abuja

S

tephen Ukpukpen, a member of the Cross River House Assembly, says the legislature is determined to permanently resolve the controversies surrounding the allocation of cocoa farms in the state.

Ukpukpen, who is the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar on Sunday.

The lawmaker said that a permanent resolution of the issues was necessary so that the state could realise its dream to produce 500,000 metric tons of cocoa annually.

He also expressed displeasure over the delay in the commencement of cocoa farming in the state due to the protests arising from alleged irregularities in the allocation of the cocoa farms. ``I am worried but that is why we want to resolve all the lingering issues surrounding the allocations so that farmers can begin production,” he said.

He expressed optimism that in spite of the controversy the state was on course to resuscitate its cocoa estates and reclaim its proper position in cocoa production in the country. ``We are on course to achieve our target of 500,000 metric tons of cocoa annually. We may not plant this year but when we normalise everything, the revolution will begin,” he assured.

Ukpukpen said that a cocoa board would soon be established in the state to ensure the success of the planned revolution in cocoa production. (NAN)

creation of more states, the government was wasting it’s time because, according to him, one of the main reasons for creating a state was to bring development nearer to the people, noting that one of the conditions for its establishment was that it must be a viable state.

He wondered why some Nigerians are advocating for restructuring when out of the 36 states of the federation, 27 of them was having difficulty paying workers’ salaries, while saying that what Nigeria needed was good governance.

Saraki inaugurates budget reform c’ttee

By Ali Abare Abubakar

T

he Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has inaugurated a strategic Committee to reform the budget process in Nigeria.

Speaking during the inaugural ceremony in Abuja, Saraki charged the Committee to carefully study and develop strategies and legislative frameworks that would regulate and enhance the effectiveness of public financial management in the country.

The Senate President decried the quality of Public Financial management (PFM), particularly, the management of annual budget, Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and development plans which he said have been marred by high level of inefficiency, ineffectiveness and lack of transparency.

“Over the years, the National Assembly and the Executive have expressed frustration and dissatisfaction with the outcome of our budgets. Nigerians are equally unimpressed by the outcome and

implementation of the budget, as most have come with more conflicts than results.

“Following the last Budget exercise in line with Legislative agenda, early this year, we directed to review and improve the process”.

“It is a notorious fact that our annual budgets are yet to be fully aligned with our development goals; from conceptualization, approval and implementation of our annual budget, there is need to converge our budgeting to National Planning, continuity, efficiency. Hence, the need to revisit the process”, he noted.

While describing the initiative as a concerted effort by the National Assembly to find lasting solutions to the inadequate regulations and procedures for checking inefficiency in Budget process, he assured that the 8th National Assembly will implement budget reforms that would help open the budget process to greater scrutiny and openness.

The inauguration of the Committee is coming on the heels of the economic and development challenges that have bedeviled the

country.

Earlier in her presentation of the 9-member Technical Committee to the Senate President for formal inauguration, the Director General, National Institute for Legislative Studies and Chair Person of the Technical Committee, Dr. Ladi Hamalai noted that it is imperative to initiate the process of introducing reforms through legislations in the budget process, adding that reform of existing legislations such as the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Legislative Compliance Act would be attempted in line with key resolutions in the strategy paper to be developed by the Technical Committee. She added that a Draft of the Budget Reform Bill would be presented to the Peer Review Committee comprising four Distinguished Senators and an Honorable member.

In his remark, the Chairman Budget Process Review Committee, Sen. Ali Ndume, observed that the inclusion of the Minister of National Planning will greatly enhance improved legislative-Executive relationship, particularly as it would

forestall the hiccups and pitfalls that usually attend the passage of appropriation Bills. He promised that his committee would collaborate with the three arms of government and work assiduously to ensure that the citizens get the best out of this budget reform.

The Budget Process Review Committee is made up of Sen. Ali Ndume-Chairman, Sen Mohammed Danjuma Goje, Sen. Baba Kaka Garba, Hon. Orker Jev. Emmanuel and the Minister of National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma.

While the Technical Committee which is expected to provide technical assistance to the Sen. Ndume-led committee includes the Director General NILS, as Chair Person and Director General, Budget Office Mr. Ben. Nwabueze , a Professor of Economics, Prof Mike Obadan, other members of the academia and experienced members, drawn from both Chambers of the National Assembly and NILS. The Committtee has two months to submit its report to the Senate President.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

L-R: Chairman Senate committee on Ecology and climate change Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim; Chairman House of Representatives committee on climate change, Hon. Sam Onuigbo and his deputy, Hon. Adekunle Akinlade, during a round table meeting on pursuing a legislative agenda toward Nigeria climate change governance and resilience, at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Bauchi seeks $24bn World Bank loan for health sector devt From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

B

auchi state government is to access Twenty Four Billion Dollars from World Bank Health Credit Facility, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Halima Mukaddas has disclosed.

While answering questions from journalists during a one day Journalist Round Table on Bauchi State 2015 Health Budget Scorecard held at NUJ Secretariat, Bauchi, the commissioner said that Bauchi

is among the 6 states in the North East that will benefit from $125m Word Bank health credit facility over the period of 5 years.

She said the, “ states that will benefit from the credit facility are Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Bauchi, Taraba and Gombe”, adding that Yobe and Borno will get the lion share while Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba will get least.

She said the $24m credit facility will be channeled directly to the hospitals.

“The disbursement of the funds will be

based on performance of each hospitals. The government will have minimal interference on the disbursement.

“Bauchi is currently hosting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Brono and Yobe affected by insurgents and because the health facility in the state is overstretched so we need the funds to be able to build more health facilities across the state.

“Where there are 10,000 people in a community without health facility, they will build one for them and at the moment we

have 1,077 primary health care centres in Bauchi state,” She said.

Meanwhile, Dr Mukaddas also disclosed that out of 4,000 health workers trained by the Bauchi State Government, 2,000 have absconded.

“The 4,000 that were sponsored by the government were given automatic employment after the training but unfortunately 2,000 of them absconded without serving their bond with the state government.

Also speaking, the Secretary of Bauchi State Accountability Mechanism for Maternal and Newborn Health, Bulak Afsa, called on the state government to always publish budget Information on time as well as ensure the timely release of budget funds for capital project.

She also enjoined the state government to ensure that over 70 percent of capital funds are released and ensure adequate budget allocation to health sector.

FG vows to punish use of substandard electrical materials

By Etuka Sunday

T

he Federal Government has vowed to punish the use of substandard electrical materials in the electricity industry, consequently, has flagged off nationwide certification of electrical installation contractors.

The certification of the contractors which is in four categories was intended to ensure that power projects are executed by only qualified, competent and experienced personnel The Managing Director of the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA), Engr. Peter Ewesor while speaking at the flag off in Abuja said, that the activities of certified professionals would be monitored to ensure professionalism so as to

...certifies electrical contractors reduce electrical accidents.

The certification for Category A is for electrical Installers of ultrahigh grid Infrastructures /Network including injection substation, power plants, and transformers on the grid; Category B is for contractors that work on 33Kv lines, transformers and line materials.

The third category is for experts who work on low tension Installations mostly for installation on 11kv lines while the fourth certification is for artisans involved house wiring and domestic electrical wiring.

He said: “There are attendant penalties associated with incidences of sharp practic-

es and noncompliance with guidelines and procedures listed as conditions for the issuance of Electrical installation Competency Certificate.”

Ewesor said the penalties range from suspension/revocation of certificate to prosecution of offenders.

Speaking, the Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Mustapha Baba Shehuri said the certification would promote technical capacity of the electrical installation contractors guarantee safety of workmen, lives and properties.

“If networks collapse as a result of poor workmanship, construction and installation of our networks, then uninterrupted

power supply will be seriously hindered,” Shehuri who represented his senior colleague, Babatunde Fashola said.

Also speaking, the representative of the Senate Committee on Power and Steel Development, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, Niger North said the intervention on certifying electrical contractors would help to reduce the 11 Distribution companies’ (Discos) Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection losses (ATC&C) that has negative impact on their returns on investment.

Speaking, the President of the Licenced Electrical Contractors’ Association of Nigeria (LECAN), Otunba Dele Akintola who also received his certification praised the scheme, saying that the opportunity would be judicious used.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Business

NASCON revenue hits N8.59bn in six months

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ASCON Allied Industries on Monday declared a revenue of N8.59 billion for the half year ended June 30, 2016.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this was against the N6.61 billion posted in the comparative period of 2015.

The report is contained in the company’s audited result released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in

Lagos.

The revenue represented a growth of N1.98 billion or 30.10 per cent when compared with figure for 2015.

Its profit before tax stood at N116.39 billion against N107.09 billion achieved in the comparative period of 2013, an increase of nine per cent.

The company result submitted to the exchange showed that gross profit

rose to N3.01 billion from N2.06 billion recorded in the preceding period.

Profit before tax surged to N1.87 billion from N1.52 billion achieved in the previous year.

NAN reports that the profit for the year appreciated to N1.27 billion from N1.03 billion in the corresponding period, representing a growth of N241.0 million or 23 per

cent.

The company’s total non-current assets dropped to N6.74 billion from N7.04 billion, while total assets surged to N19.24 billion from N16.24 billion recorded in preceding period of 2015.

NAN reports that the company for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2015 recorded revenue of N16.18 billion against N11.25 billion

achieved in the corresponding period of 2014.

Its gross profit stood at N4.36 billion against N3.79 billion in 2014, while profit before tax rose to N3.02 billion in contrast with N2.86 billion in 2014.

The company’s profit for the year increased to N2.11 billion compared with N1.87 billion achieved in the preceding period of 2014. (NAN)

L-R: Head, Corporate Affairs, Brand and Marketing, Nigeria and West Africa, Standard Chartered Bank, Dayo Aderugbo; Global Head, Public Affairs and Sustainability, Standard Chartered Bank, Shastry Vasuki; Manager, Corporate Affairs, Brand and Marketing, Standard Chartered Bank, Joke Adu; Ogami Rachael of Akoka Junior High School and Executive Secretary of Youth Empowerment Foundation, Iwalola Akin-Jimoh during Goal Workshop which took place at Akoka Junior High School, yesterday in Lagos,

ICT sector has potential to increase Nigeria’s GDP - Minister

M

r Adebayo Shittu, the Minister of Communication says the Information and Communications Technology(ICT) Sector has the potential to increase the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

Shittu said this on Tuesday at the Second Edition of the 2016 Information Communication Technology and Telecommunication Exhibition and Conference (ICTEL) with the theme: ``Mobility, Technology, and Nigerian Economy’’.

The event was organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

According to the minister, the ICT industry is the only sector of the economy that has recorded positive growth in the first quarter of 2016 in the country. ``Currently, about 10 per cent of the ICT sector has the potential of becoming a major contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product and the sector has also employed more professional than the oil and gas.

“Nigerian should focus more on diversification in ICT because the sector has been a success enabler to other industries with upsurge in telephone density cutting across the technology platforms.

“This expo organised by LCCI will provide a platform for the development of ICT and telecommunica-

tions sector toward a more connected government and a digital Nigerian economy,” he said.

Shittu said that the role of mobile services in delivering economic and social impacts in the country was widely recognised as it had enabled growth strategies by delivering wideranging benefits to the economy.

He listed some of the benefits to

include mobile service promoting digital inclusion, provide access to essential information such as health advice, mobile ecosystem contributing over 10 billion dollars and supporting the creation of 200,000 jobs across the country in 2015.

He said that due to global quest for ICT, government was focusing on creating opportunities for citizenship

participation in ICT tools to solve problems, promote their well being and enhance national growth.

“With the dwindling revenue from oil and gas sector, government has realised more than ever before that telecommunication and ICT are among the main drivers for the social and economic development of Nigeria.

“Government will also provide the needed enabling environment for ICT and telecommunication sector to thrive through enactment of relevant legislation,” he said.

Shittue said that the ICTEL Expo 2016 would further offer a platform for corporate organisations seeking to build partnership for enhanced profitability in the sector.

Adamawa Govt, Dangote Group, Others sign pact on Cement industries From Umar Dankano,Yola.

I

n an effort to reduce rate of unemployment the Adamawa state Government in conjunction with Dangote Group of Companies and other three Foreign Firms to construct three cement factories in the state .

Commissioner for Solid Minerals in the state,Mrs.Shanti Sashi who dropped the hint in a chat with journalists in Yola Monday said, Dangote Group of Companies and other three foreign firms in collaboration with Adamawa state Government have signed agreement to establish three large capacity cement factories in the state.

Sashi announced that the agreement had reached advanced stage and that all the parties are serious minded in finishing the project on time .

“We have signed agreement with Dangote

Group of Company and three others foreign companies and we are now looking for Federal Government License.

“The state government has approved and we are waiting for federal certificate to hand over to the investors.” Sashi said.

According to the Commissioner, the state has huge deposit of limestone and gypsum which if explore can last for over one hundred years to come.

Sashi listed Dangote group of company, Smart Group, a US based firm, BTP Swiss International and a Chinese firm as the companies that expressed their interest in the cement deal.

She explained that Adamawa was one of the high rich geographical areas in the World as far as mineral resources is concern “There are no minerals in mineral Kingdom

that is not found in the state “ According to the team of Geoscientists the whole southern part of the state comprising Guyuk, Numan,Lamurde, Demsa and Mayo-Belwa as well as Jada,Ganye and Toungo local government areas are sitting on limestone and gypsum deposits.”

Sashi confirmed.

She clearly stated that some of the companies would start mounting their cement production machines before end of this year.

She further explained that Dangote Group would plant his company in Guyuk which state government had started working on it where it made with the Guyuk community and have reached advanced stage.

The commissioner announced that the state government was making effort to avoid dependence on federal allocations.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Pension/Insurance

Minister of Communication, Mr Adebayo Shittu (Left), receiving a plaque from the President, Lagos Chambers Of Commerce And Industry (LCCI), Dr Nike Akande, at the official opening of the Chamber’s Information Communication Technology And Telecommunications Exhibition/Conference Expo 2016, yesterday in Lagos

Sovereign Trust Insurance posts 97% PAT S

Stanbic IBTC Pension retirees get N200bn

Stories from Onyeakusi, Lagos

Ngozi

S

overeign Trust Insurance Plc has recorded a 97 per cent surge in its Profit After Tax (PAT) for the financial year ended 31st December, 2015 as it grows from N294.9 million in 2014 to N582.2 million in the period under review.

The Managing Director, Mr. Olaotan Soyinka, while making this disclosure opined that the

firm has concluded plans for its 21st edition of her Annual General Meeting slated to hold on August 10, 2016.

According him, the firm has secured approval from relevant regulatory bodies for the AGM. Soyinka said the growth recorded by the in period under review was achieved as a result of the cost reduction mechanism adopted by the company, in which, management expenses reduced to N1.425 billion against N1.490

billion in the previous year with a 4.6% decrease.

The company’s Gross Premium Written, (GPW) in 2015, stood at N7.13 billion.

On the AGM, said that the high point of the Meeting will be the unveiling of the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of the firm, Mr. Oluseun Ajayi, and other members of the newly constituted Board.

It will be recalled that the

erstwhile and pioneer Chairman of Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, H.H. Ephraim Faloughi, and other members of the Board retired on April 7, 2016, after two decades of meritorious service to the organisation.

The Company’s Managing Director however reiterated that the firm’s commitment and determination to getting the organisation back to sustainable profitability in the years ahead.

Swiss Re 25% stake in Leadway, new dawn-Hassan-Odukale

T

he Managing Director, Leadway Assurance Company Limited, Mr Oye Hassan-Odukale has said that recent acquisition of 25 per cent stake in the company by Swiss Re meant a new dawn in the firm.

Oye Hassan-Odukale, who made the disclosure in Lagos said the complementary capabilities and philosophies of the two firms would bring great opportunities for Leadway to emerge as a leading African financial institution . “ Swiss Re was selected as an investor because of the existing

and well-established relationship between the two organisations.

This comes in addition to Swiss Re’s long-standing commitment to the insurance sector which combines financial strength, risk transfer expertise and its direct investments.

“The investment allows Swiss Re to deploy capital in-line with its strategy of accessing new risk pools in emerging markets and to support insurance development across the globe. The investment comes after the exit of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the

World Bank, which was the second largest shareholder of Leadway Assurance.

“The relationship between Swiss Re and Leadway started nearly 40 years ago when the then domestic insurer was in the process of ramping up its direct and personal line insurance operations into commercial and industrial line insurance operations to compete in a market which was dominated by much older foreign linked insurers.’’

Hassan-Odukale added: “For over 45 years, Leadway has enjoyed

steady growth while providing integrated insurance and financial services to its numerous clients and policyholders. It has substantial investment in key sectors of the economy with a diversified portfolio of subsidiary investments in pension fund management, trusteeship and hospitality.The company’s remarkable success has been possible because of its sound professional and business standards backed by the integrity of its board of directors and executive management.’’

tanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited has disbursed over N200billion as monthly pension to retirees under the contributory pension scheme, CPS. The company said it has continuously kept to its promise of ensuring that retirees get their benefits as and when due.

Speaking in Abuja at a pre-retirement forum for its customers, Chief Executive, of the firm, Mr. Eric Fajemisin stressed the need to build a relationship with customers as well as guide them in making wise decisions with their benefits.

Represented at the forum by the Executive Director, Investments, Mr. Oladele Sotubo, Fajemisin said: “As people head towards retirement, a decision about the type of life they wish to live in retirement should not be made from the hip, but rather through a well-structured financial planning process. The process, he said, should commence from the day one takes on a first job and involves setting aside part of current income into a retirement savings account.”

“Relationship is very key and these are our clients and so what this forum is actually tailored to achieve is to prepare our customers that are close to retirement- to prepare them as to what it takes, what they need to do and how they need to live after retirement,” he said.

At the forum, the company had outlined steps to help people make a successful transition to the next stage of their lives and have the dream retirement they desire.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Business

BlackBerry unveils second, cheaper, Android device

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lackBerry Ltd unveiled a second Android-based handset on Tuesday, a device combining Alphabet Inc’s popular software and broad app catalog with the Canadian company’s security and productivity features at a lower price.

The faded smartphone pioneer is hoping the DTEK50 will sell in greater numbers than the Priv, its first phone using the Android operating system, which Chief Executive John Chen has said suffered because of its high price.

The company said the 5.2inch touchscreen-only DTEK50 is available from Tuesday for preorder from BlackBerry’s online shop in the U.S., Canada, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and The Netherlands for $299. It plans to begin shipping the device on Aug. 8.

“This is a good marriage of proposition and price point for enterprises,” said John Jackson, an analyst at International Data Corp.

Shares in the Waterloo, Ontariobased company were up 1.4 percent at $7.18 on the Nasdaq and rose 1.6 percent to C$9.50 in Toronto.

At its November launch the Priv, which features a slide out keyboard, cost $699 without a contract in the United States and C$899 without a contract in Canada. The company trimmed the Priv’s price in April.

Calling the DTEK50 “the world’s most secure Android smartphone,” BlackBerry said it will alert users if someone is making remote use of its camera or microphone, or accessing the phone’s location information.

BlackBerry did not announce any distribution deals with major U.S. carriers, with initial U.S. sales instead expected to come mostly via Best Buy Co Inc, Amazon.com Inc and BlackBerry’s own online store.

L-R: Legal Officer, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Barr, Kingsley Nnajiaka, Lead Director CSJ, Barr, Eze Onyekwere and CSJ Programme Officer, Mr. Fedelis Onyejegbu, during the CSJ brief on state of the Economy, overcoming the Economic Recession, yesterday in Abuja, Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

NNPC, NLNG pledge closer ties to promote business interest in hydrocarbon

By Etuka Sunday

T

he Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) have pledged collaboration to promote their business interest in the hydrocarbon value chain and overcome the challenge of militancy and dwindling oil and gas prices.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikainti Baru made this known while receiving the new Managing Director of the NLNG, Mr. Anthony Attah at the NNPC Towers in Abuja.

Dr. Baru described the NLNG business model as successful experience so far noting that the NNPC as a major stakeholder would continue to provide all the necessary support for the growth and development of the company.

In his remarks, the incoming Managing Director of NLNG, Mr. Anthony Attah congratulated the GMD on his well-deserved appointment stressing that the NLNG remains the best run oil and gas company in Nigeria and Africa.

In a statement by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Mal. Garba Deen Muhammad, the NNPC GMD said despite the challenging period in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, the NNPC and the NLNG will continue to work together to make the companies move forward in the hydrocarbon value chain.

Dr. Baru urged the new MD of NLNG to always consult with the NNPC when the need arises in order to remain on the same page with the Corporation.

Speaking in a similar vein, the outgoing Managing Director of NLNG, Mr. Babs

Omotowa described the GMD as a technocrat with exceptional quality and several years of cognate experience in the Oil and Gas Industry.

Mr. Omotowa expressed optimism that the Oil and Gas industry under the steer of Dr. Baru as helmsman of NNPC will move to the next level.

He applauded the NNPC for all the support it has extended to the NLNG over the years and sued for maximum support for the in-coming MD of the NLNG. The Nigeria LNG Limited was incorporated as a limited liability company on 17 May 1989, to produce LNG and natural gas liquids (NGL) for export. Nigeria LNG Limited is jointly owned in the following proportions: Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) owns 49%, Shell Gas B.V.owns 25.6%, Total LNG Nigeria Ltd owns 15% and Eni International owns 10.4%.

Kogi gets $1.5m World Bank funds to boost health Projects

S

hareholders of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc, NAHCO Aviance, have commended the board and management of the company for declaring dividend and profitability for 2015 financial year.

Speaking at its 35th Annual General Meeting(AGM) in Abuja yesterday(Tuesday), the shareholders said while most companies are now posting losses, NAHCO Aviance was able to record an impressive turnover and growth in assets.

The company’s turnover increased from N8.1billion in 2014 to N8.5billion in 2015; while its Profit Before Tax(PBT) increased from N769.5million in 2014 to N796.8million in 2015.

The shareholders also approved dividend payouts of N324.8million at 20kobo per ordinary share of 50kobo less withholding tax for the financial year ended 31st December 2015.

Speaking at the AGM, National Coordinator of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria Sir Sunny Nwonsu said: “Today we have seen the usefulness of right thinking and focus by the chairman and the board. We are happy with the 20k dividend.”

The Chairman of Shareholders’ Trustees Association of Nigeria Otunba Mukhtar Mukhtar said despite the difficulty being experienced by many companies in Nigeria and with over 40,000 flight cancellations, it is commendable that the chairman of

NAHCO Suleiman Yahyah and the board succeeded in growing the company’s earnings.

Chairman of the Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Onitsha Zone Bishop Okpere said he and his association have always been pleased with Mr.Suleiman Yahya’s led board.

Other shareholders who spoke glowingly about the board and the management include: Sir Shola Abodunrin from Ibadan and Mr. Taiwo Aderinde among several other shareholder associations.

Speaking chairman of NAHCO Aviance Mallam Suleiman Yahyah said the company has strategized to make sure that it emerged as one of the winning companies

as Nigeria’s economy enters into recession.

One of such strategies, he said, includes investment in the NAHCO Agric Zone Project which was conceived four years ago.

He expressed optimism that the government’s planned commissioning of the new four airport terminals will bolster the company’s earnings and growth.

He said the company handled 39,699 flights in 2015 compared to 35,557 flights in 2014.

Three directors were reelected by the shareholders. They are: Suleiman Yahyah, Chris Oshiafi and Denis Hasdenteufel.

The shareholders also approved the appointment of Mrs Folashade Ode as a director and Company Secretary.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Stock Watch: Tuesday, July 26, 2016 Company

7UP

Previous Closing Price

185.06

184.5

Opening Price

184.5

High

Low

184.5

Close

184.5

Change

Trades

-0.56 25

Volume

Value

Company

Previous Closing Price

Opening Price

High

Low

Close

Change

Trades

Volume

Value

233,796

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

ABBEYBDS 1.25 - - - 1.25 0 - -

MBENEFIT 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

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

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

ACADEMY 0.59 - - - 0.59 0 - ACCESS

4.46

4.46

4.64

4.46

4.5

0.04 321

28,060,764

126,589,999.78

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

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

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

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

AFRPAINTS 2.59 - - - 2.59 0 - -

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

AGLEVENT 1.02 0.97 -

-

1.02

8 48,971 46,330.44

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

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

126,800 124,264.00

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

822.99 822.99 822.99 822.99 8.99 73

115,282 94,401,035.72

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

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

NNFM 8.99 - - - 8.99 0 - -

AUSTINLAZ 2.09 - - - 2.09 0 - -

NPFMCRFBK

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

0.98 0.98 0.98 0.98 0.98 0

6

174,000 170,510.00

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

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

PREMBREW 2.95 - - - 2.95 0 - -

CAPOIL 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

PREMPAINTS 10.93 - - - 10.93 0 - -

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

-

8.73

7 51,560 458,087.60

CHAMPION 4.17 4.17 -

-

4.17

11 146,282 587,170.36

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

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

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

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

CONOIL 27.41 26.04 -

ROADS 6.6 - - - 6.6 0 - -

-

27.41

8

13,350 330,799.00

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

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

SCOA 4.16 - - - 4.16 0 - -

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

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

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

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

MBENEFIT 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

DANGSUGAR

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

DEAPCAP 0.58 - - - 0.58 0 - -

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

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

JOSBREW 1.51 - - - 1.51 0 - -

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

JULI 1.75 - - - 1.75 0 - -

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

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

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

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

NCR 11.02 - - - 11.02 0 - -

LEARNAFRCA

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

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

-

2.62

8 37,850 99,859.50

Top Gainers Company

Previous Closing Price

Opening Price

High

NEIMETH 1.03 0.98 0.98 0.98 0.98 -0.05 6

126,800 124,264.00

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

822.99 822.99 822.99 822.99 8.99 73

115,282 94,401,035.72

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

Top Losers Low

Close

Change

Trades

Volume

Value

Company

Previous Closing Price

Opening Price

High

Low

Close

Change

Trades

Volume

Value

ALUMACO 7.75 - - - 7.75 1 200 1,474.00

MULTITREX 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

FORTISMFB 5.42 - - - 5.42 0 - -

NNFM 8.99 - - - 8.99 0 - -

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

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

INFINITY 1.42 - - - 1.42 0 - -

UTC 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

OMOSAVBNK 0.92 - - - 0.92 0 - -

UNIONDICON 11.84 - - - 11.84 0 - -

MULTIVERSE 0.5 - - - 0.5 1 10,000 5,000.00

MANDRID 5.35 - - - 5.35 0 - -

ASOSAVINGS 0.5 - - - 0.5 0 - -

CADBURY 20.1 - - - 20.1 15 82,240 1,655,764.64

ABBEYBDS 1.25 - - - 1.25 0 - -

JULI 1.75 - - - 1.75 0 - -

PAGE 33

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Metro

Unpaid salaries: Director pleads with striking FCTA cleaners to be patient

By Stanley Onyekwere

S

triking cleaners charged with the responsibility of cleaning the office complex of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister and its other Agencies and Departments have been urged to be patient as the administration working assiduously to pay them their unpaid three-month salaries.

PeoplesDaily recalls that many aggrieved cleaners, mostly widows and orphans on

Monday, once again down tools, and staged a protest over nonpayment of salary arrears owned them by the Administration.

However, the Director, Information and Communication at the FCTA, Mrs. Stella Ojeme, yesterday during an interview, described the strike action as unfortunate, as the Administration was actually working on resolving the issue, before they (the cleaners) decided that they were going on strike.

Attributing the delay in payment of May, June and July salaries respectively to the striking cleaners to the Treasury Single Account (TSA) regime, the Director noted that their cadres as well as that of the secretaries and the directors were affected by the federal government monetary policy.

The Director, told PeoplesDaily that the Acting Permanent Secretary, AlhajiSalisu Mohammed, on Monday, had a meeting with

them (the striking cleaners), where he assured them that their salaries will be paid fully.

According to her, because the striking cleaners came in as casual staff, the FCTA authorities are trying to do some proper alignment (paper work), in line with TSA regime.

Mrs. Ojeme adds: “Some of them just submitted their Bank Verification Number (BVN), so they had to put everything together to be sure that there is no ghost worker among them,

• Refuse dump near pedestrian bridge at One Man village along Keffi road

and start to pay them. He (acting permanent secretary) has promised them that they would be paid their May, June and July salaries. I was there with him, when he sent for the relevant files, and started processing it.

Unfortunately, the cleaners were not patient.

“The FCTA 2016 budget had just been passed by the National Assembly, and we are still awaiting the assent of President MuhammaduBuhari, before it becomes law. Then, there would be available funds to pay them their outstanding salaries.

“They were being paid all this while before the month of May, but right now, the acting Permanent Secretary is asking for their patience and understanding.

“Am not saying that we should owe them, it’s not what had been planned, but the fund was not available. However, I can assure they would be paid soon. My message to them is that they should be patient as this issue will be resolved very soon.”

Asked how the FCTA officials within are coping with the situation, she said: “Like my own office, my staff helps in cleaning the place, but for some officials who don’t feel that they need to have their offices cleaned are managing to stay in it like that pending when the striking cleaners will resume work there.

“Meanwhile, it was gathered that the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, on return from yesterday’s commissioning of the Abuja-Kaduna railway transport service by President MuhammaduBuhari, issued a directive for the immediate payment of the three-month salary arrears owned the cleaners.

Govt urged to tackle drought of basic amenities in Gwarimpa community

By Paul Efiong

T

he Treasurer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),Prince UmaruBayaro has called on government at all levels to ensure the provision of basic social infrastructures in Gwarimpa Community.

He decried the seemingly non-presence of government in the community, claiming that few existing basic social amenities such as pipe borne

water, health centers as well as road networks, in the community are as a result of individual and communal efforts.

Speaking in an interview recently,Prince Umaru, a former Chairman of National Youth Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) said his community (Gwarimpa) despite its contributions to the government has been marginalised by every successive administration in the country.

He said, “This Gwarimpa Community has existed for a very long time without any tangible

benefit from the government. It’s as if we have been marginalized for no just reason, even though we are among the biggest Wards in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).”

He however commended the electorates for trusting the APC in the FCT with their mandate, stressing that with the realization of such long expectations in the territory, people’s yearnings shall be fulfilled for the common good of all.

Bayaro therefore reminded the elected officials in AMAC of the need to rise above board,

in order to fulfill electioneering promises to the electorates through which they were voted for.

He specifically urged the Councilor representing Gwarimpa Ward to put in place projects that will positively affect his people.

He also observed with pleasure some economic benefits that might arise from Gwarimpa Market if properly structured and manage by the council.

According to him, “Let me use this medium to make a passionate special appeal

to the leadership of AMAC as it pertains to provision of democratic dividends to the people, who voted them into office, they should try their best to carter for the masses who elected them.

“All the councilors representing various wards in the council along with the Chairman were elected because of the failure of the past PDPled government to deliver on their campaign promises, so the government in place now should be able to live up to their expectations.”

PAGE 34

Money Sense

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Lower your IRD mortgage penalty Most mortgages have a fee to exit the contract, but calculating it can be confusing and expensive

S

am Taylor loved helping people which is why she started her career as a social worker.

But after almost three decades, Sam was burnt out and needed out. After a great deal of soul-searching she decided to start her own home staging business. “Over the years more and more people have asked for my help,” she explains. “I have a flare for it.” To start and grow her own business, however, she needs capital. To get capital she needs to sell her home—and that means breaking her fixed-rate mortgage.

What Sam found out shocked her. She was on the hook for almost $18,000 in fees, as a penalty for breaking her mortgage early. Turns out, breaking up (with your mortgage) really is hard to do. And Sam was lucky. According to the Financial Post, Tyler Bollhorn, a personal finance author who decided to move from Kelowna, B.C. to Hawaii, was shocked when he learned he’d have to pay more than $150,000 to break his mortgage.

“I got stuck with a pretty good penalty because I never read the fine print,” he says.

Turns out, Taylor and Bollhorn aren’t the only ones caught paying big fines to break their mortgage.

Steve Garganis, an independent mortgage broker and editor of CanadaMortgageNews.ca, ends up talking to many Canadians shocked to learn about the exorbitant fees to break a mortgage term.

“I just spoke to a commercial banker who went through a separation and divorce just two years into his mortgage. He ended up paying $34,000 to get out.”

Why the penalty?

Most mortgages have a fee to exit the contract. The reason for the penalty is to compensate the lender for the loss of expected profit and to compensate for the costs of creating and breaking a mortgage.

This is just as important for investors as it is for mortgage-holders.

Say, for instance, you own RBC or CIBC stock; the value of this stock goes up and down based on the balance sheet of those banks. One of the primary ways the balance sheet rises is when lenders charge interest on the loans they provide to borrowers. If a borrower promises to borrow money for five years, the bank counts on five years of interest payments. Reneg on that deal, and the lender needs to recoup some of that loss revenue.

How is the penalty charged?

Generally, the penalty is the larger of two calculations: three months’ interest or a formula known as the Interest Rate Differential (IRD). Typically, if a homeowner breaks their variable rate mortgage, the

penalty is equivalent to three-months’ interest. So, if 50% of your $2,000 monthly mortgage payment goes to paying interest, you’d be charged a penalty of roughly $3,000 to break the mortgage (plus any discharge or administration charges, which can also add up). But if you had a fixed rate mortgage, the IRD is used. The issue is how this penalty is calculated and, for the most part, each lender has a slightly different variation.

Why is the IRD so expensive?

Since there is no standardized approach to calculating the IRD and considering that mortgage contracts are often unclear and vague, a few homeowners have begun to push back on the high penalties charged for breaking a mortgage. In 2014, a class action lawsuit was launched against CIBC regarding “vague” wording and “inappropriate” calculations. According to the lawyers, more than 52,000 Canadian homeowners could be eligible for refund cheques if the lawsuit succeeds.

But putting the vague wording aside, Garganis points to another problem: how lenders treat a discounted rate when processing a penalty. Apparently, some lenders will include the money you saved by going with a discounted rate and add it back into the formula when calculating the penalty. So, if you may have negotiated a five-year fixed-rate mortgage at 2.99%, but the penalty for breaking that mortgage may actually be based on the posted rate, which currently sits at 4.64%.

It’s the equivalent of having to pay back your discount because you broke your contract. To appreciate how this works, consider a gym membership. Let’s say the regular rate is $50 per month, but you negotiate a rate of $20 per month. Eight months later you need to move, so you cancel your gym contract. The gym not only charges you $200 as a penalty—the four remaining months owed—but also charges you the $240 you saved over the eight months while paying the discounted gym membership.

“That just seems unfair to Canadian homeowners,” says Garganis.

But didn’t the rules change?

If you seem to recall a media frenzy about massive IRD rates and talk from the federal government to do something about it, then you’re right. In late 2011, the federal government began to poke around in the mortgage penalty regulation space. There was

a great deal of talk about changing the IRD formula—making it standardized, or at least, easier to understand—but nothing came of this, explains Garganis. “Lots of mortgage rules have changed since the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008, but not mortgage penalty formulas.”

The consensus among politicians and bankers is that “any change [to the formula] was too difficult to implement.”

But this wasn’t the first time politicians tried to tackle this thorny issue. In 1999/2000, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation introduced a cap on how much lenders could charge in penalty for early mortgage payouts, explains Garganis. But this cap restriction was lifted fairly quickly and, since then, lenders have gone back to applying their own penalty formulas.

What to do if you need to break your mortgage Where does that leave the homeowner?

“Remember the squeeky wheel?” asks Garganis. “Well, it really does get the grease.”

To help here’s a checklist of six tools to use: No. 1: Do a bit of daydreaming If you haven’t yet chosen your next type of mortgage, it’s a good idea to consider where you will be in five years. What about three years? By assessing how your life may change over the term of the mortgage you can make better mortgage decisions on the outset. If, for instance, you’re facing any uncertainty, consider opting for a variable-rate product.

The penalty to break these is a relatively simple equation: just three months’ interest.

Another option would be to consider porting your mortgage, rather than breaking it. Basically, you apply your current mortgage to your new home. There’s no prepayment charge, although if you reduce or add to the mortgage amount, you would have to pay a penalty. Also, this option only works if you’re moving within Canada.

No. 2: Shop around Whether you opt for variable or fixed, consider shopping around. When comparison shopping don’t just focus on rate, but consider how penalties are calculated and if you have prepayment benefits.

No. 3: Think small Quite often we get caught up in brand recognition—whether or not we’ve heard of the bank or lender. But some of the most active and stable lenders in the Canadian mortgage market aren’t spending money advertising— nor are they worried about becoming a

name-brand. “They work with independent mortgage brokers and, quite often, offer more competitive rates,” says Garganis. Even better, these lenders—known in the industry as mono-lenders—will have less expensive penalties.

No. 4: Do the math If you’re opting to break a mortgage to get a better rate, then you need to do the math.

Call your lender and ask them to calculate the penalty to break the mortgage today (most can’t do future projections, but you can get a good ballpark if you ask them to calculate the penalty as if you’re were breaking the mortgage contract today).

Then consider all the other charges for breaking the contract. For instance, there’s usually a discharge fee that ranges from a low $150 to a high of $1,000, if you have a collateral mortgage. A collateral mortgage is registered as a type of lien under the Personal Property Security Act (PPSA) of Canada and requires more legal work to be discharged.

Collateral mortgages can be good if you plan on taking out an Equity Line of Credit or if you plan on staying with the same lender in the future, but will cost you more if you need to break your mortgage or transfer to a different lender in the future.

Once you have all the costs, add them into your calculations. This is where you get to see how much it will really cost you to break the mortgage.

No. 5: Cut the costs with prepayments Quite often your mortgage contract will allow you to make a prepayment—a lump sum payment against the principal. By taking advantage of prepayments, you can lower your loan, which should lower your penalty. Talk to your mortgage advisor or lender to confirm how a prepayment will impact the penalty charged to break the contract early.

Here’s more tips on how to Crush Your Mortgage » No. 6: Start complaining Even if you’re financially prudent, very often life just happens; usually it’s a personal matter that drives this situation. If that’s your case, you may find some solace in the fact that less than 50% of mortgages are actually kept to maturity. But you still have one last tool in your arsenal: start complaining. Speak to the bank manager, then the VP, then try the ombudsman. If that fails, consider getting some cardboard and making a placard.

Nothing says unfair like: “I have to pay $30,000 to break my mortgage, so I can sell my home after my divorce.”

world news

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Page 35

international_peoplesdailyng@yahoo.com

Analysis

Climate change and ‘smart seeds’ in Africa

Subsistence farmer Joice Chimedza harvests maize on her small plot in Norton, a farming area

By Edward Mabaya

S

outhern Africa is undergoing the worst drought in more than three decades. More than 30 million people in South Africa, Malawi, and my home country Zimbabwe are facing hunger.

While this year’s drought is largely attributed to the El Nino effect, rains have been increasingly erratic over the past two decades.

This could be the new normal as climate change models forecast less rainfall and more extreme weather for much of East and Southern Africa.

Moreover, experts project that we may be entering a time of global weather uncertainty, or a “dark age”.

Game changers Recently I have seen numerous images of smallholder farmers standing helplessly next to wilted crops, dying cattle, and sun-scorched earth.

Having grown up on a small farm in rural Zimbabwe, I know full well how mother nature can destroy livelihoods for one of the world’s most vulnerable populations - smallholder farmers. I also recognise the look on many of those farmers’ faces: helplessness.

Yet, the narrative does not always have to end badly. Plant breeders, working through publicly funded research institutes, are developing new crop varieties with traits that allow them to withstand extreme weather - and not just drought, but also flooding, and frost.

People like me who work in agriculture call them “climate-smart” crops, because they offer a fast and affordable way for farmers to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change.

For a number of reasons, such as restrictive seed laws and government monopolies, lack of money and a limited number of rural seed outlets, many smallholder farmers in Africa still rely on seed from outdated seed varieties saved over many generations.

That may sound quaintly self-reliant. But actually, most of these saved seeds are for crops that long ago became vulnerable to pests and disease and produce poor yields even when the rains do come.

Less than 30 percent of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa use improved seed that has recently undergone a formal breeding process.

Seed varieties But it does not have to be that way.

Consider the Drought-Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project, which was launched in 2007 and has been implemented in 13 African countries.

This partnership of national and international agricultural research institutions has to date released about 200 distinct drought-tolerant maize varieties.

The new varieties are bred to match growing conditions in a particular region and, along with drought tolerance, their yields are equal to or higher than other commercially available varieties.

In other words, they offer some protection

against drought without sacrificing yield.

Farmers are noticing the difference and voting with their wallets. DTMA varieties have been adopted in each of the 13 target countries.

In Nigeria and Zambia, two of the droughttolerant varieties had become the most popular commercial varieties by 2013. This is especially impressive given how slowly most smallholder farmers adopt new varieties.

Breeders are also working on the other extreme, developing crops for when climate change produces heavy rains.

The International Rice Research Institute has developed rice varieties that can withstand being submerged under water for two weeks.

Rice varieties with the so-called “scuba” gene are currently being grown by more than five million farmers in Asia. The trait is now being transferred into popular varieties in Africa.

For legumes, increased precipitation often results in root rot - a disease that that significantly lowers yields.

The Pan-African Bean Research Alliance has released more than 450 new bean varieties since 1996 (PDF). All of these varieties were bred to be more resilient to extreme weather while offering higher yielding and better nutrition than their ancestors.

Farmers planting the improved bean varieties in Rwanda have seen yields rise 53 percent, while productivity among farmers using the beans in Uganda has increased by about 60 percent (PDF).

For the sceptics, it should be noted that none of the technologies cited above has anything to do with genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Moreover, they were all produced by public research institutions and commercialised by small, locally owned seed companies.

From subsistence farming to surplus The benefits of improved seed are not new. Growing up in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe during the 1980s, rain was both abundant and consistent.

For many families in my village - including mine - the adoption of hybrid maize varieties transformed rural livelihoods from mere subsistence to surplus production. I owe my education, and consequent escape from poverty, to improved seed varieties.

Nothing can fully protect crops from extreme weather. Crops still need water to grow, but not too much of it. Climate-smart seed can reduce the impact of extreme weather, but it cannot eliminate it.

Further, smallholder farmers in Africa face many other challenges, such as depleted soils, limited access to extension services, high postharvest losses and poor access to markets.

Those problems cannot be solved by improved seed alone.

However, improved seed offers perhaps the cheapest way for farmers to adapt to climate change because farmers can use the seed without any need for additional training.

Moreover, while most agricultural technologies favour big commercial farms, improved seed is scale-neutral - it can be used with the same efficiency on big or small farms.

Challenges ahead It is wrong to imagine that African farmers are reluctant to adopt the new breed of climate smart crops. With rapid uptake of mobile phones, Africa has demonstrated an appetite for adopting useful technologies.

Yet, while almost every farmer has a mobile phone, the continent lags behind in an area that is most critical for survival - agricultural productivity.

We live in a fast-changing world. All farmers now have to produce more food and fibre with fewer natural resources than they had in the past - while facing new challenges from extreme weather, along with an increase in plant pests and diseases.

These challenges are particularly hard on smallholder farmers, which is why they need to be equipped with effective, affordable technologies that are easy to use.

For small farmers - especially those facing extreme weather changes, it doesn’t get much easier than improved seed.

Edward Mabaya is an agricultural economist and Associate Director of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture & Development.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

Source: Al Jazeera

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Page

News From Africa

Dual Suicide Bomb Blasts Kill 13 in Somalia Winter cold brings floods T and snow to South Africa wo Al-Shabab car bombs exploded outside the main entrance of Mogadishu’s airport early Tuesday during morning rush hour killing at least 13 people, Somali security officials said.

Al-Shabab — Somalia’s al-Qaida-linked terror organization — claimed responsibility for the attack on the group’s Andalus radio station.

Seven of the 13 people killed were UN guards, the security officials said.

The entrance targeted in the bombing is regularly used by employees who work at the airport and is located near UN and African Union buildings that connect to the airport.

Residents in the area reported hearing two massive explosions just around 9 a.m. local time.

According to reports from the residents, a suicide bomber tried to drive a car packed with explosives through a Somali security check point and then detonated the explosives causing casualties.

Seconds later another car arrived and this time the suicide bomber detonated the car close to security forces and nearby African Union forces.

A security source told VOA that private security guards charged with protecting UN personnel outside the AU compound were also at the checkpoint at the time of the attack.

W

A policeman stands guard near the air-control tower of a airport following a suicide bombing near the African Union’s main peacekeeping base in Mogadishu, Somalia, July 26, 2016.

It’s not yet known if any UN officials were preparing to leave the airport at the time of the attack. The private security detail escorts UN officials and vehicles outside the airport perimeter.

Security sources say attackers did not breach the perimeter of the airport which partially hosts the main Headquarters of the AU as well as foreign embassies.

Kenyans Support Dadaab Camp Closure, Return of its Troops

A child runs, left, at a refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya, Aug 4, 2011.

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wo-thirds of Kenyans say they support closing the Dadaab refugee camp and sending all Somali refugees back home, a new survey shows.

In recent months, the Kenyan government has stated repeatedly it intends to close the camp in northeastern Kenya, which hosts more than 300,000 refugees, mostly from Somalia.

The United Nations has urged Kenya to reverse its decision, citing the difficulties Somalis will face if they are forced to return to an unsta-

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ble country.

But IPSOS research analyst Tom Wolf says its survey shows that 69 percent of Kenyans support closing Dadaab.

According to the U.N. refugee agency, 500 to 1,000 refugees voluntarily return home every week, and more than 15,000 have crossed the border since December.

IPSOS researchers also asked Kenyans how they felt about their soldiers’ presence in Somalia. Kenyan forces are part of a 22,000-person

African Union force deployed in Somalia to support the government and fight Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

Wolf said 56 percent of Kenyans want their troops out of Somalia. He notes that more than a third, 38 percent, said the troops should be posted at the Kenya-Somalia border, to prevent cross-border incursions by terrorists.

Interior Ministry spokesman MwendaNjoka tells VOA that some Kenyans are not aware of the significance of having Kenyan soldiers in Somalia.

“Our troops are there to stabilize and to help enhance security in Somalia, so that … as we repatriate refugees back there, they are going to a safe and secure part of the country,” Njoka said.

“Those who are demanding the return of our troops may not realize the magnitude and the effect, the role our troops are playing.”

The director of the Center for Risk Management in Africa, George Musamali, says the security problem is bigger than the refugees.

Closure of the refugee camp “is not the solution,” he said. “The solution is pacifying Somalia. We are having another challenge coming out of South Sudan. So if we withdrew KDF [Kenyan forces] from Somalia without pacifying the country, then definitely we are going to have more serious security challenge.”

Kenya hopes to close Dadaab camp later this year. Al-Shabab vows its attacks on Kenyan territory will continue until the government withdraws its forces from Somalia.

intry weather with a vengeance has swept across most parts of South Africa this week. All except the central parts of the Northern Cape have been affected, as has the highland Kingdom of Lesotho.

Until now, the Western Cape had seen most of the rain this winter.

A spokesperson for Cape Town’s water and sanitation department, Farouk Robertson, said reservoirs were at 48 per cent.

“We still need a lot of good rain because we’d like to see our dams literally overflow at the end of the winter period,” Robertson said.

“We are still at level 2 water restrictions and that still requires our residents to adhere to those restrictions.”

On Monday, torrential rain in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) washed cars off the road. Two people have been reported missing as a result. Margate, on the coast south of Durban, recorded 203mm of rain in the last 24 hours. That is over 9 times the July average. The road between King Shaka airport and Margate along the KZN coast was heavily flooded.

The KZN Department of Cooperative Governance has put disaster management teams on standby, because of continuous rain and snow.

Spokesperson Lennox Mabaso said “We are also urging everyone to ensure that they have food and blankets in their cars so that if they are caught in a lengthy road closure, you are also able to have food.”

Snow has fallen heavily in the Drakensberg Mountains, as well as in Lesotho. According to Lew Campbell at the Tiffindell Ski Resort in the Eastern Cape, the “big snow storm across the Drakensburg has piled 100cm snow on the slopes. Roads in the area are currently closed and the ski lifts are snowed in!”

While the rain and snow dominate in the three biggest coastal provinces, extreme weather of a different kind hit Magaliesburg. Mario Ferreira posted a video to YouTube, showing what he calls a “tornado going past KoesterfonteinMagaliesburg on Monday afternoon, 25 July, at around 15:30”.

The extreme weather is expected to continue until Thursday. Severe thunderstorms with strong winds, heavy rains and possible large hail can be expected in the Free State, Gauteng and North West province.

The South African Weather Service says disruptive snowfalls are expected over the high grounds of KwaZulu-Natal, the northern high ground of Eastern Cape and the east and south of the Free State.

South Sudan to Swear in New First Vice President

he apparent disarray in South Sudan’s Transitional Government of National Unity comes full circle Tuesday when former rebel leader and First Vice President RiekMacharis formally replaced by his one-time chief peace negotiator, General Taban Deng Gai. South Sudan President SalvaKiir announced last week that he had fired Machar and replaced him with Deng. Machar went into hiding following clashes between the two forces earlier this month that left hundreds of people dead.

Deng will be sworn in Tuesday as first vice president. Ezekiel LolGatkuoth, the former secretary for foreign affairs of the SPLM-in opposition, said Taban Deng has the support of the entire SPLM in opposition.

“Taban Deng Gai is known to the SPLM-SPLA-IO. He has been the chief negotiator; he was the one who negotiated this agreement in Addis Ababa. He is a general in the army. He also participated in the war of liberation since 1983. So he has the support of the army and

also the support of the party, the SPLA-IO, and he has a lot of support from South Sudanese,” he said.

Gatkuoth said South Sudanese are tired of war and want peace and they will support whoever is interested and the government would like Machar to return to Juba so that he and President Kiir will implement the peace agreement together.

But GoiJooyulYol, SPLM-In Opposition representative to Ethiopia and the African Union, said Deng does not represent the entire former rebel movement.

GoiYol said President Kiir is not interested in peace because removing Machar as First Vice President violates the agreement that ended two years of fighting from 2013 to 2015.

“Taban Deng Gai and Ezekiel Lol and two others went ahead and FILE - Taban Deng Gai, then-chief negotiator of the installed Taban Deng Gai to be the chairman of SPLM-IO. I would rebel group known as SPLA-IO, addresses a news like to tell you that we have 28 members of the politico bureau of the conference after arriving in South Sudan’s capital central committee of SPLM-IO. Only four are out of Juba. How would Juba. four people decide on the leadership of an organization,” GoiYol said.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Asia&Middle-east

Bomb Hits Kerry: US Encouraged by Support Car Damascus, for Rule of Law in South China Sea Wounds Several A U .S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States is very encouraged by statements coming from many members of the international community, including many Southeast Asian nations, that have expressed support for the rule of law and a peaceful settlement of maritime disputes in the South China Sea. Speaking at the end of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional forum in Laos Tuesday, Kerry said he has had candid and constructive discussions, including a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Monday, about a “path forward” in light of a decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration that struck down China’s extensive claims in the sea.

China has rejected the tribunal’s ruling, saying it does not have the authority to hear the case brought by the Philippines.

During his time in the Laotian capital, Kerry also met with Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida, and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, for the sixth ministerial meeting of the so-called Trilateral Strategic Dialogue (TSD).

The three urged all sides to respect freedom of navigation and overflight in the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean, while voicing their strong opposition to any coercive unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions.

An earlier statement by the 10-member Southeast Asian regional bloc seemed compromised as a result of unyielding objections from

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, rear, stand with India’s Minister of External Foreign Affairs General V.K. Singh, left, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, center, and Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop as China’s close ally, Cambodia.

The official ASEAN statement expressed serious concerns over artificial land reclamations and escalations of activities in the South China Sea, neither the Hague tribunal ruling or any single nation, including China, were mentioned.

Laos, ASEAN’s chair this year, is also considered a close ally of neighboring China.

Experts said ASEAN operates on a consensus principle that effectively gives each country a veto power when forming a stand on various issues.

Next, Secretary Kerry will travel to Manila for talks with Philippine officials that are likely to include further discussions of the South China Sea issue.

Peaceful Japan Shocked by Mass Killing of Disabled plicants to undergo extensive training, criminal background checks and mental health screenings.

Japan banned possession of double-edged knives longer than 5.5 centimeters after a mass killing in 2008 when a man stabbed shoppers in Tokyo after he drove a rental truck into a crowd and killed seven people and injured 10 others.

Tokyo’s restrictive immigration policies, especially when it comes to refugees from conflict areas of the Middle East, have also isolated the country from some of the terrorism related violence affecting Europe and the U.S.

Journalists gather in front of TsukuiYamayuri-en, a facility for the handicapped where a number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo Tuesday, July 26, 2016.

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he brutal mass killings committed at a facility for the disabled in Japan illustrates the difficulties that even nations with low crime rates, strict gun control and restrictive immigration policies face in trying to prevent attacks from seemingly deranged individuals.

Japanese authorities say they are investigating the motive of the lone knife-wielding attacker who broke into the TsukuiYamayuri-En facility for disabled people early Tuesday, killing 19 residents and wounding dozens more.But they have ruled out terrorism as the cause.

“We received information from the police that there is no evidence of the attacker being related to Islamic State,” said YoshihideSuga, the Japanese government’s spokesman and Chief Cabinet Secretary.

Police in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, about 40 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, have arrested Satoshi Uematsu, a 26-year-old former employee at the facility, Japanese media

reported.

Uematsu, wearing a black tee shirt reportedly turned himself into the police and the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said he told police, “I want to get rid of the disabled from this world.” The Japanese state broadcaster NHK reported that police recovered a bag with several knives, at least one stained with blood.

News of the mass killings has shocked the nation. The facility cares for more than 150 people with a range of disabilities.”I just want to know why this happened, the cause of it. It is something that could happen anywhere, and these cases always have to do with human relationships,” said Naomi Takano, who lives nearby.

Japan has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the developed world.

Gun related homicides in particular are rare due to the country’s strict regulations that limit gun ownership, and require gun permit ap-

car bomb exploded in a heavily policed area of Syria’s capital, causing several injuries as well as damage to government buildings, according to Syria’s state media.

The explosion took place Monday in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood of Damascus, which houses many security installations.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the violence in Syria, said the blast was near an Iranian school and caused causalities, but did not give further details.

Car bombings in the central part of Damascus are relatively rare.

In another development Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government helicopter gunships dropped barrel bombs on residential neighborhoods in Aleppo, killing at least 12 people.

Also Monday, the Israeli military said it struck a target in Syria in response to mortar fire that hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Syria’s military said the Israeli missiles caused only material damage.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said any military cooperation between the Untied States and Russia to strike targets in Syria would be transactional and not based on trust. At a news conference at the Pentagon, Carter and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said any cooperation with Russia would include measures to ensure U.S. operation security.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has proposed trying to establish closer military cooperation and intelligence-sharing with Russia to fight extremist groups in Syria.

Following a meeting with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Kerry responded to comments made by Carter and Dunford by saying that he still has some concerns about whether Russia is really prepared to step up and work with U.S. forces in Syria. That’s why, Kerry said, he didn’t publicly announce any kind of cooperation with Russia.

“Because we’ve been disappointed in the past,” he said.

Kerry said “a lot of homework” still needs to be completed before either Russia or the U.S. makes any public announcements, but discussions will continue to be held “quietly.” He said he hopes to make a public announcement about a plan by the first week in August.

Key Islamic State leader SaadEmarati ‘killed in Afghanistan’

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key commander with the Islamic State militant group has been killed in a military operation in Nangarhar, Afghan security forces say.

SaadEmarati was one of the founders of the IS group’s Afghanistan-Pakistan branch, and led several attacks against the Taliban and the government.

Afghan officials say he was one of about 120 suspected militants killed in an operation in Kot district.

It comes days after a bomb attack in Kabul claimed by IS killed 80 people.

Emarati was formerly a Taliban commander, but switched allegiance to IS following the death of Mullah Omar, the Taliban founder.

Analysts say he was one of the most important leaders of IS in the region, and that his death, if confirmed, would be a serious setback to the group’s ability to operate in eastern Afghanistan.

Afghan officials have released photos following the overnight raid in Kot, showing IS courts and recruitment centres seized by the

SaadEmarati was one of the founders of the IS group’s branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan military.

Afghan special forces commander Gen BasmullahWazari said the operation had received foreign air support.

Emarati was one of the first militant commanders in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region who pledged allegiance to IS’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Page

Europe & Americas Erdogan’s Purges Threaten Future of Turkey’s Secular Society

US election: Sanders says Clinton must be US president

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atchers see Turkey’s failed coup and the subsequent purge carried out by Turkish President RecepTayyipErdogan as part of a battle among Islamists whose ultimate vision is to allow for a greater role of religion in public life.

To others, that vision runs counter to the secular society established in the 1920s by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic.

When thousands of opposition members and ruling party supporters filled Istanbul’s Taksim Square Sunday to condemn the failed coup attempt against Erdogan, they illustrated the kind of people power that stopped the coup from succeeding.

The display of unity was a rare sight in a deeply polarized nation that has a long history of coups.

The mood was largely jovial; opponents and supporters of Erdogan celebrated the one area where they agree: a coup would bring more instability and problems than it would solve.

But along with display of unity was deep apprehension, especially as Turkey embarks on a period under a state of emergency.

“We are worried of course about the state of emergency because to a certain extent our freedom will be restricted,” said SerminDalgic, an opposition supporter attending the rally. “We want a country where we can freely speak our minds and hold rallies. That’s the kind of country we want to be,” she said.

The rally had the full blessing of the Erdogan government, which used it to further bolster the legitimacy of his rule and, more importantly, its efforts to purge opponents, especially followers of his rival, former imam FethullahGulen. Erdogan accuses Gulen’s massive movement of being behind the coup attempt, a charge Gulen - in self-imposed exile in the United States for 17 years - denies.

Reports of torture continued to emerge on Monday; lawyers said some of the arrested soldiers have been subjected to beatings and rape.

Erdogan is purging opponents and emerging more powerful - and freer to push an Islamic agenda. The Turkish leader has declared the country will raise a “religious generation” and is leading a drive to build mosques.

MeldaOnur, a former lawmaker with the main opposition, the secularist Republican People’s Party, does not believe it will be so easy for Erdogan, and thinks the same people power that stopped the tanks the night of the coup attempt, will stop Turkey from becoming an Islamist state.

But she is worried. “It is the cleansing of radical Islamic elements, but on the other hand, it is resisting not leaving its place to those who want a secular democratic republic. We do not know if it is a real cleansing, purging, or something done just to keep the position,” she said.

Onur, like others, says secularism is too deeply entrenched in Turkey, and believes the country’s position between the Muslim world in the East and Europe in the West is a guarantee that Turks will never accept an Islamist state.

Turkish soldiers detain Staff Sergeant ErkanCikat, suspected of being involved in the recent coup attempt, in Marmaris, Turkey, July 25, 2016.

Mrs Obama says the next leader has the power to shape America’s children for the next four to eight years

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embers of the audience had earlier disrupted the event’s opening prayer, chanting “Bernie!” while also jeering as Democratic National Committee chair Marcia Fudge delivered remarks.

The commotion prompted Mr Sanders to send an email saying the credibility of the progressive movement would be damaged by “booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays” of protests.

Revelations from an email leak which showed

DNC officials allegedly plotted against Mr Sanders’ primary campaign threatened to overshadow the event as it fuelled the anger of his voters.

Wikileaks released emails that revealed the DNC was biased against Mr Sanders when he ran against Mrs Clinton in the hard-fought primary contest. The FBI has confirmed that it is investigating the leak.

Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned on Sunday as pressure built on the party to address the scandal.

Democratic party bosses later issued an apology

to Mr Sanders for “inexcusable” emails which tried to undermine his White House campaign.

But Mr Sanders refused to let the email scandal eclipse his message to his supporters.

“Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her here tonight,” he said before he left the stage.

About 5,000 party delegates are among the 50,000 people expected to attend the four-day convention, which will end on Thursday with Mrs Clinton formally accepting the nomination for president.

IS Claims Responsibility for Normandy Church Attack

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slamic State says two of its “soldiers” carried out the attack on a church in France that left a priest dead.

Earlier, French President Francois Hollande had blamed IS for the incident in Normandy Tuesday.

French officials say the two attackers were killed by police after a brief standoff.

They had taken several people, including

the priest, hostage at knife-point Tuesday.

French President Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazenevue were on their way to the scene of the attack in the town of Saint-Etienne-en-Pouvray, a security official said. Hollande is from the area surrounding the church.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls expressed condolences for the victims of what

he called “a barbaric attack on a church.”

“The whole of France and all Catholics are wounded. We will stand together,” he said in a Twitter post.

The church is located about 77 miles north of Paris, where in November members of the Islamic State group killed 130 people during an attack in the down town area.

Death and rebirth in contemporary Ukrainian journalism

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s with every other analyst, activist, journalist, critic and pundit involved with Ukrainian politics, it was with extreme sadness and trepidation that I heard about the assassination of PavelSheremet.

The prominent investigative reporter for the respected Ukrayinska Pravda had been driving to work when the car he was in was blown up with an explosive placed under his seat.

The intrepid Belarusian-born journalist was killed in the centre of Kiev, a short distance from the ornate 19th-century opera house.

He had loved his adopted city, to which he had been exiled from his native country and had become a household name across Ukraine and far beyond its borders for his intrepid muckraking exposes.

It is a well-known truism that investigative journalists have many enemies. Sheremet’s death has already roiled the capital, and threatens to create serious fissures within the Ukrainian political life.

This wanton killing of a respected foreignborn journalist will require a serious response and investigation from President Petro Poroshenko’s embattled government.

I had come to know Sheremet slightly over the years, and have grown to like him, but the news of his death was much more than a personal blow.

Such killings always have a chilling effect on the profession, and it is likely that Sheremet’s

Sheremet loved his adopted city, to which he had been exiled, and had become a household death will haunt Kiev for a decade or more in the same way that GeorgiyGongadze’s kidnapping and killing in 2000 has.

All of us in this trade understand our utter vulnerability in such moments. In fact, I myself had driven through the same intersection where the journalist was killed a mere 20 minutes before the explosion took place.

There has been a veritable influx of talented

foreign journalists to Ukraine to report on the war and peace realities here.

How the reverberations of this assassination will be felt among this cohort is yet to be seen.

But Ukraine’s political crisis over the past three years has created myriad opportunities as well as an acute need for communicating the complexity of the political situation here with the outside world.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Strange

Page 39

world

First American to have a double hand transplant wants both of them removed because they don’t work

By OLLIE GILLMAN FOR MAILONLINE

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he first American to undergo a double hand transplant says he wants to have both of them removed because they do not work.

Jeff Kepner, 64, lost both of his hands to sepsis in 1999 and had prosthetics replaced with donor hands in 2009.

After having the new hands fitted, Mr Kepner, from Augusta, Georgia, spoke of his wishes to hold his wife and cook again.

But seven years later, the father says he is no nearer to being able to do either of those things and has ‘zero per cent’ function in his hands.

‘From day one I have never been able to use my hands,’ Mr Kepner told Time.

‘I can do absolutely nothing. I sit in my chair all day and wear my TV out,’ he added.

Mr Kepner lost both his hands and both of his legs after sepsis that began as a throat infection spread throughout his body.

He was coping with prosthetics but held out hopes that having the hands of a dead person attached could help him return to a more conventional life.

Mr Kepner was under the impression that if he did not gain feeling in his new hands within a year of the nine-hour operation at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), he would be able to return to using prosthetics instead.

However, it is not that simple.

Dr Vijay Gorantla, medical di-

Jeff Kepner, 64, was the first American to have a double hand transplant but wants them removed because they do not work rector at UPMC, told Time that his patient would need extensive physical therapy if he had the hands removed - and even then the prosthetics might not work.

‘We believe that additional, minor surgical procedures - and commitment to more physical therapy -

Mr Kepner (pictured with his wife, Valarie) lost both his hands and both of his legs after sepsis that began as a throat infection spread throughout his body

could improve the function of his hands to help him with activities of daily living,’ Dr Gorantla said.

Seventeen years on from his own hands being amputated, Mr Kepner said he has no intention of having any more surgery.

‘I am not going through all those operations again,’ he said, suggesting he will not have the hands amputated.

He added that he had nothing against the surgeons who carried out his double transplant, saying he took a chance with the surgery and it just did not work out.

Mr Kepner said he had 75 per cent function when he had prosthetic hands, but that was now at ‘zero per cent’.

Dr W. P. Andrew Lee, who carried out the complex procedure, admitted that Mr Kepner’s hands were not working as well as other transplant patients.

‘Complex surgery such as hand transplant do not produce uniform results in everyone but we have been encouraged by the functional return in the great majority of our recipients whose lives have been transformed by the procedure,’ he said.

DailyMail on Facebook

Mr Kepner says he has ‘zero per cent’ function in his hands and would rather go back to having prosthetics

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Digest

Highway 51 Revisited: Jackson Food & Drink

By Jesse Brooks

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o experience the full range of Jackson, Mississippi’s food & drink culture, the best plan of action is to stay overnight so there’s amble time for the full experience. The Old Capitol Inn is a full service boutique hotel in the heart of downtown. The rooms are especially elegant and come at pretty affordable rates.

Standard accommodation rooms cost about $99 per night, where suites and jacuzzi suites fall in the range of $145-175. The hotel also offers specials that include discounts for multiple nights or gift certificates for local restaurants. Wednesday through Saturday, the Rooftop Bar features local music and drinks. The restaurant also features a diverse menu for daily lunches.

For something authentically Jackson, there’s Big Apple Inn on Farish Street, owned and operated by Geno Lee, the greatgrandson of a Mexican immigrant and son of an African-American freedom rider. The exchange of Mexican and African-American cultures around the Depression-era has resulted in tamales being as Mississippi as they are Mexican today. Since 1939, the restaurant has served tamales and the unique pig-ear sandwich. Pig-ear sandwiches are pig-ears boiled for hours dressed in slaw, spicy mustard, and served mini-burger style.

With more than three major sites for higher education, Jackson is a college town.

For some reason, Irish pubs spring out of college towns. In Jackson, one particular establishment, Fenian’s Pub, stands out. Yes, there are burgers and fries here, but also delicious, traditional pub fare such as fish-and-chips and bangers-and-mash are found here. Pub fare must be paired with good beer and Fenian’s serves the local stuff like Lazy Magnolia and Yalobusha Brewing Company’s Larry Brown Ale. For breakfast, there’s Brent’s Drugs in the hip Fondren District. The restaurant is a renovated 1950s drug store that features traditional diner breakfast with a new twist.

The old milkshake bar is fully functional.

At night, a secret speakeasy bar called The Apothecary operates in the back behind a curtain where the evening’s bartenders serve up original craft cocktails.

Most of Jackson’s food taverns double over as fantastic bars with excellent live music that is mostly based in blues or rock&-roll. When hopping from one place to the next, it’s best to make sure that Martin’s Restaurant & Bar, Hal & Mal’s, and the Ole Tavern on George Street are on your list.

These places serve as great burger-and-beer type restaurants in the earlier hours before they prepare for late night entertainment.

Most nightly shows are rarely over $5 on average.

The best that Jackson has to offer can never be accomplished in a day. Highly underrated, the city is on its way to being a

culinary and nightlife destination. **Correction: Last week in this series we mistakenly reported that admission for the Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum is free. Though the admission is not free, visitors will be let in on the low prices of: $5 for adults, $4 for military/ seniors, $4 for children ages three to 18 and free for children under three. We thank the museum for their wonderful

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Property

Ganduje restate commitment to reform Kano landscape to provide mass housing

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna The Governor of Kano State Abdulahi Umar Ganduje has reinstated commitment towards changing the landscape of Kano State through his plan to provide mass affordable housing projects across the state.

He revealed this at the 10th edition of the annual Abuja Housing show.

The theme of the show was “Expanding Access to Affordable Housing in Africa”was held at the International Conference Centre (ICC)recently.

The showcases was an opportunity for moguls in the Real Estate Development sector in Nigeria to but also to meet another

developers fromWest Africa and the entire African continent.

The Govonor said, “it is very important that we create the kind of infrastructural development that will basically have impact on the low income earners in our society and that is why we as the government of Kano State is collaborating with the Minister to prioritize this project.

“Already the Minister has passed a circular to the states for the states to provide land for affordable housing units for which Kano state has already provided the piece of land, but that is not enough each state government is also required to provide additional enabling environment

with estate developers and also the state government itself.

So what we are doing in Kano is to try to make sure that enabling environment is not lacking also in the assisting of payment of compensation to the farmers and we also assist to ensure that private developers are given low taxes as well as ensure that the banks also give low interest rates with a more flexible mode of payment because all these will definitely reduce the cost of the houses to the masses” It will be recalled that the Kano State government had previously announced plans to construct a total of 2,000 housing units that would each cost N2.7 million

for the benefit of low and average income earners in the state. Some observers have wondered if the decision to construct the houses was taken following consideration by the government that the houses built by the previous administration were “too expensive” and not for the masses.

Although it had been alleged that the previous government constructed houses which were considered too expensive for people at the grassroots, with prices of those houses ranging from about N5 million, N10 million to N 15million, however the 2,000 mass housing project to be embarked upon by the Ganduje administration will not cost more than N 2.5million.

10th Abuja Housing Show

Abuja Housing Show to Promote Green Housing Mashe Umaru Gwamna with agency report The 1Oth edition of the Abuja Housing Show is set to introduce a new dimension of affordable housing delivery, to promote green housing revolution in the Nigeria .

The coordinator of the annual event, Festus Adebayo, also the

Chief Executive Officer of FESADEB Communications Limited, disclosed this to newsmen recently.

He said that considering the mountainous challenges Nigeria has in the energy sector, Green housing, an act of using renewable energy sources to provide energy solutions to households, completely independent of the national grid, can

be popularized to come to the rescue.

Adebayo reassured that the Abuja Housing Show, has become a reliable solution hub for both government and stakeholders in the built environment, is poised to introducing innovations meant to bolster efforts of government towards developing policies that will ensure sustainable housing delivery.

He also said that the Housing show, being an effort of the organized private sector, with commitment to creating synergy for the urgent solution needed to solve the staggering over 18 million housing deficit in Nigeria, has received the endorsement of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.

He noted that the event has provided opportunity for both policy makers and stakeholders to interact, and proffer solution to the plethora of problems that have bedeviled the sector over the years.

He also added that the private sector will have a rare privilege of telling the government exactly what the sector lacks.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Property

European commercial real estate investment up 2.5% in second quarter of 2016

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ommercial real estate investment remained strong across Europe in the second quarter of 2016 totalling €54.0 billion, up 2.5% on the previous quarter and 30.4% on the 10 year average, new research shows.

However, overall activity fell short compared to the second quarter of 2015 with the office sector having the strongest quarter, seeing an 8.3% increase on the first three months of 2016, driven by a particularly strong performance in the Nordic region.

The research from CBRE also points out that despite uncertainty in the UK caused by the European Union referendum, sentiment remained strong in

other European markets and investment levels were stable year on year.

Investment volumes in France and Sweden, Europe’s third and fourth largest markets, were particularly resilient. The data shows that over the last year investment in these markets has grown 32% and 20% respectively.

Indeed, second quarter results in both France and Sweden were boosted by buoyant office sectors.

Ireland also performed extremely strongly, transacting a record €2.3 billion of commercial property deals in the second quarter of 2016, more than double that of the same quarter last year, although the sale of the

Blanchardstown Centre for close to €1 billion closed during this quarter.

Poland followed suit, transacting €1.5 billion in the second quarter, over three times the level recorded in the same period last year.

But Germany showed decreased levels of investment in the second quarter, which is likely connected to a lack of availability of stock in the core markets, which dampened the European total. Core property in Germany remains highly regarded as a safe haven and sentiment remains strong.

The UK also performed less strongly than its continental

European counterparts in the run up to the Brexit vote although strong fundamentals continue to underpin the UK market. The recent depreciation of sterling, coupled with low interest rates, has attracted the attention of overseas investors to the UK, and with the spread between bond yields and property being the widest on record, the fundamentals of UK and continental European real estate remain attractive.

‘Whilst investors have reacted cautiously to Brexit, the market fundamentals remain strong and investors still have significant capital to deploy. The uncertainty means that many investors will watch and see how the market

develops before deciding how to act, said Jonathan Hull, managing director of Investment Properties EMEA at CBRE. ‘However, sentiment is already improving as the UK enters a more stable political environment and there are signs that the market is responding positively to this,’ he added.

According to Miles Gibson, head of UK research at CBRE, the EU referendum risk was undoubtedly one factor affecting investment activity in the second quarter. ‘But instability in the financial markets earlier in the year was similarly important in causing investors to be more risk averse,’ he added.

listen to the needs of your clients and always strive to not only meet their needs, but to even surpass their expectations by giving them the maximum benefits/ values for their investments. Putting smiles on the face of your clients must be your goal, and try every possible means to gain their trust. And remember, customers are always right.

they come with. We have gentle/ hot-tempered clients, patient/ impatient clients, innocent/ cunny clients, sincere/ insincere clients, humble/ arrogant clients, serious/ unserious clients, etc. They come in different shades. A good agent must be very patient and discerning to place the client in the right category.

The caveat here is that you cannot always judge a book by the cover; at times, a client may look unserious at first, but surprisingly, they will be the one to buy a property from you, the reverse is also true, whereby a client will appear very serious and even ask you for title documents and offer letter, but he/ she will refuse to answer your calls when you follow up and they will not even bother to return your calls.

Tips on how to become the Estate Agent of Value in Nigeria W

ithout boring you with dictionary definitions, estate agency is a fiduciary relationship whereby a person (referred to as ‘an estate agent’) act as an intermediary between a principal (property owner/landlord) and another party (property buyer/ tenant).

Many people (including some Estate agents) have misconstrued who an estate agent is, as well as the functions/roles of an estate agent.

Almost everyone, especially if you had ever attempted to rent/ lease or buy/sell a property would have come across an estate agent, or someone who claims to be one.

The business of estate agency in Nigeria is an all-comers affair, as there is no strict entry and exit barriers, hence, the prevalence and preponderance of ‘quacks’.

To checkmate the harmful incidences of this group of people, some concerned bodies such as the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) established the Association of Estate Agents in Nigeria (AEAN), while the government of Lagos State established the Lagos States Real Estate Transaction Department (LASTREDA).

This article is written with Estate agents in mind, and it is targeted to all Estate agents and intending ones who want to stand-out, and at the same time be outstanding in the practice of real estate agency.

Please note that estate agent and agent may be used interchangeably.

To this end, any estate agent who wants to be outstanding must take the following into consideration: 1. Trust The most important ingredient in every relationship is Trust. Trust is the belief and confidence in the integrity, reliability and fairness of a person or organisation. Never ever take the values of honesty, truthfulness and sincerity with levity. As an agent, you need to earn

the trust and respect of your clients and colleagues by being open and honest in all you say and do. This value is even much more important than academic and professional qualifications, as no client will ever buy or rent a property from you except they trust you. This is not to undermine the possession of these qualifications, but to emphasize the importance of trust, and to show that ‘trust’ is a tradable commodity.

2. Integrity Integrity is the twin sister of trust, as both go hand-in-hand, you can’t have one without having the other.

Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.

To be an estate agent of value, you must adhere to high standard of moral and ethical principles. Your word must be your bond; you must be uncompromisable.

People must know you to be someone who say what you mean, and mean what you say. You must be guided by the need to always do the right things legally, ethically, morally and professionally.

3. Professional Affiliations Professionalism is the culmination of competence, knowledge, resourcefulness, expertise, quality service delivery, attitude, discipline and tenacity. A professional in any discipline is expected to have gone through periods of academic studies, professional experience and are usually well guided by code of conducts/ethics to be able to gain the confidence of the public.

To this end, people will be more confident to deal with a person or company who is affiliated to well-known professional bodies.

Moreso, members of such bodies can easily be traced, tracked and reported in the case of professional misconduct. This is much more important because investment in real estate usually involves large amount of money, and hence people will not want to take a gamble.

4. Personal Appearance The importance of good appearance cannot be overemphasised. It has been said that ‘You will be addressed the way you are dressed’. Like it or not, a first impression can make or break a sale. Details of your appearance can show a lot about your work ethic, integrity, passion and professionalism. If what you demonstrate upon a first encounter is slouchy, people assume your business habits are probably equally slouchy. According to research by Dr. Albert Mehrabian of UCLA, as reported on www. businessknowhow.com by Nina Jamal and Judith Lindenberger in their article, How to Make a Great First Impression, “appearance and body language (visual image) accounts for fifty-five percent (55%) of an invaluable first impression. It is disheartening to see estate agents in rough shirts and jeans taking clients around; this is one of the reasons people do not regard agents as reputable.

Most often, the writer of this article has been mistaken to be a banker by the way he dresses; and the question is, Is it only bankers that dress properly?

5. Amiable Personality While personal appearance/ dressing is external, amiable/ pleasing personality is internal. You must be friendly and have a genuine love for people. Having a great sense of humour is also a plus. You must have the ability to ‘connect’ with the client. You must have a good carriage and a confident personality.

In summary, you must be a people’s person, you must be likable and you need to command the respect of your clients.

6. Excellent Customer Satisfaction An estate agent of value must value clients and treat them with dignity, respect and empathy. You must

7. Know Thy Properties It is sad that some agents advertise properties without knowing the full details of the properties, such as the owner, the title, facilities in the house, etc. A very important principle in marketing is to really know what one is marketing. An estate agent of value must know the properties being marketed insideout. He/ she must have a good understanding of the property visa-vis the location, unique attributes of the properties compared to other properties, how the property meet clients demand/expectations, etc.

8. Versatility An estate agent that will stand out must be very versatile and knowledgeable in almost every subject matter. The work of an estate agent must be seen beyond showing of properties to people, but must also include the ability of dealings with people and their emotions, because most times people can be very emotional when buying properties, and this is where empathy comes in. A good agent must put him or herself in the position of the client.

You must understand the thinking of the client, the reasons for their decision or indecision.

The client’s interest must override your own interest.

9. Patience And Discernment To be an estate agent that will stay very long in the real estate business, patience is a non-negotiable virtue you must cultivate. As there are multitudes of clients, so also there are varieties of behaviours/ attitudes

10. Branding And Standard Branding makes you to be unique and distinct amongst several other people who render similar services like yours. The need for branding and standardisation is even more important because the business of estate agency is an all-comers affair, especially in Nigeria where there’s no strict standard of practice; hence, the need for you to stand out, and be outstanding amongst several other estate agents.

Identify what is unique about you and your business and capitalise on that. Every individual is different and unique, so also is every business, and until you identify what experts call your ‘USP – Unique Selling Point or Proposition’, you may end up being frustrated by your competitors. You must also have a standard, people must know what you stand for, what you can do and can’t do. You must be specific about your mission, vision and core values.

All these will stand you out in your real estate business practice and ultimately make you a sought-after agent.

Source : ESV. Patrick Ogungbola and nigeria property center

PAGE 28

Motoring

F

ord and Mazda have been building bakkies together for decades, with today’s Ranger and BT-50 being closely related, but now that the two companies are officially divorced, and Mazda’s bakkie market share does not seem big enough to justify the expense of going it alone in the market, there have been questions over how it plans to develop its next one-tonner.

With the help of Isuzu is the short answer.

Ford collaboration gave Mazda much stylistic freedom with the current BT50, but how much will it have with the

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Isuzu-based next-generation?

Mazda and Isuzu on Monday released a joint statement revealing that the two companies had reached a “basic agreement” that would see them collaborating on a next-generation pick-up truck.

However, collaboration in this context does not mean that the two would be mix-matching their various technologies or architectures as it states clearly that Isuzu would produce nextgeneration pick-up trucks for Mazda, based on Isuzu’s own vehicle.

Although the statement does not specifically mention that the vehicles

would be one-tonners, that would be the obvious assumption given that the sales area is listed as “worldwide, except North America”, the latter being the only region where full-sized pickups are widely demanded.

It’s also not impossible that the new Mazda could be built in South Africa, given that Isuzu recently strengthened its ties with GMSA, with production volumes expected to increase in the next generation.

Pick-up collaborations are becoming increasingly common as the world market heats up and new players want to get in on the action.

Renault recently revealed its Alaskan one-tonner, which is heavily based on allaiance-partner Nissan’s Navara and the latter will also spawn MercedesBenz’s upcoming pick-up, although the German carmaker’s entrant into the segment will reportedly be more distinctive in its exterior and interior styling, in line with its premium positioning.

Fiat recently entered the fray with its Mitsubishi Triton-based Fullback, which was recently launched in SA, and Peugeot will also be getting in on the action soon, with a future one-tonner that is likely be based on Toyota’s Hilux.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Arts & Culture

Pro artists and amateurs flock to Sketch Party

Photo by Duncan Moore

Regan Russell

A

packed house on a Tuesday night is rare for any bar, much less a dive in relatively sleepy South Park. On a recent Tuesday night, though, the Whistle Stop is a bustle of creative energy. Pints sit comfortably on top of butcher paper while patrons diligently sketch everything from silly, Pokemon-inspired monsters to elaborate, surrealistic scenes that look straight out of a Geof Darrow comic book. Some keep their head down, but most chat with neighbors and friends in between swipes and swigs.

It’s possible that Sketch Party is the most happening Tuesday night scene in town. The bi-monthly art event— where right-brained patrons come to draw, color and sometimes simply doodle on paper-covered tables—has seen a steady uptick in attendance and popularity since starting in October of last year. There are certainly plenty of bars in town that offer similar, artbased nights and workshops. Some have been doing it for much longer.

However, Sketch Party co-founder Randall Christopher says the event has two things going for it: First, the price is right (it’s free and all materials are provided). Second, the atmosphere is relaxed and unpretentious and it’s a convenient gathering place for creative types to meet like-minded folks.

“To me, when we first started doing it, I was like, ‘this should be a community thing that can start building an art community.’ Just trying to get people to meet each other, that’s what I see as the real power,” Christopher says.

“This isn’t the solution for the art and culture scene of San Diego, but I really think this is going to change something.

I’m jazzed that people are meetingeach other and becoming friends, and two people might meet and be like ‘Hey, we should start a gallery.’”

While there hasn’t been a gallery started as a result of Sketch Party,

Christopher points to artist Laurie Nasica (who goes by the name Los Freedom Fries), as an example of a Sketch Party success story.

“Me and my friend started coming at the end of last year and we met a ton of people,” says Nasica, who is originally from France and recently had some of her works displayed in Pikku Salon and Gallery in Golden Hill after the owners saw her efforts on the Sketch Party Instagram page. “I’ve just met a lot of friendly people here. It’s cool to have a night like this where it’s not just another night at a bar.”

Nasica recently started painting after receiving encouragement from longtime local artist and Sketch Party staple Mike Maxwell. Active in the scene since the ’90s, Maxwell has seen art-themed nights come and go over the years and says he’s impressed with how this event has evolved.

Laurie Nasica Photo by Duncan Moore “I like that it brings a very diverse group of artists together in a city where it’s sometimes hard for artists to get all together in the same room,” says Maxwell, who’s quick to add that he’s seen a lot of talent blossom at Sketch Party. “It’s not like we’re all trying to look cool like people do at art shows.

Everyone here, because they’re drawing and making their art, they just seem to settle into the artists that they really are.”

Christopher began Sketch Party after he met fellow San Diegan Tom Haubrick and L.A.-based artist Ken Garduno. The two were Christopher’s booth neighbors at Comic-Con and had been doing a Sketch Party in Los Angeles. Christopher and Haubrick began talking to some of their favorite neighborhood bars and debuted the San Diego version of Sketch Party at Bankers Hill bar The Balboa in October of last year.

Sketch Party at Whistle Stop Photo by Duncan Moore “To be honest, I didn’t know if anyone was going to come,” admits Christopher. “But it was packed that first night. So I talked to [Whistle Stop bar manager Craig Oliver], and he said we could do it here. The first one we did here was a mad house.”

Sketch Party has had a steady pull since then, so much so that it went from a monthly night to being held on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month (the next one is July 26 from 8 p.m. to midnight). Christopher can’t exactly pinpoint the appeal, but has developed some theories after watching the event become increasingly more popular.

“The fact that people are sketching on butcher paper is really critical because it keeps it informal and it doesn’t seem serious,” says Christopher, who just wrapped a very successful Comic-Con edition of Sketch Party and is curating a “Best-Of”-style art show of Sketch Party work, scheduled for Aug. 16 at La Bodega Gallery in Barrio Logan. “People aren’t showing up with easels and a box of stuff. They just show up and doodle. I feel like people who don’t think they can draw or are intimidated will come and they realize it’s still fun. No one’s felt intimidated from what I can tell.”

However, the scene has already developed naysayers. One artist, who preferred we didn’t use her name, told us that she used to go all the time, but stopped because it got “too crowded.”

She also complained that because so many professional artists now stop by, that it could be intimidating to someone who just dabbles in art in their spare time.

Christopher admits that they may have to tweak the formula a bit in order to consistently present a welcoming environment, but maintains that the pros decidedly outweigh the cons.

Page 29

FROM THE LIVE STAGE with Patrick-Jude Oteh 0803 700 0496, 0805 953 5215 (SMS only)

As Rinconete and Cortadillo play opens in Abuja Courtesy of the Embassy of Spain, Nigeria, the play Rinconete and Cortadillo will open in Abuja on Wednesday 20th April at the Transcorp Hilton at 6.30pm. The play is an insight into what happens to young people who are left to fend for themselves most times at their own peril.

The play opens in the countryside with two young men who are on the run from their villages in search of greener pastures in the big city of Seville. They are armed with self taught skills – unfortunately these skills are stealing and duping people in order to make ends meet. At big city of Seville, they meet with other fellow thieves who have been organized into a cooperative where they pay some form of tax, offer alms to charity, pay people to pray for their success and other forms of doing good because as far as they are concerned they steal for the good of humanity and for God. They are also skilled in offering bribes to government officials to look the other way while their nefarious activities go on, and for those who are caught and sentenced their sentences are reduced to the barest minimum. We also find a group of people who offer their skills to the highest bidder thus they offer to beat up people, to cut them up and to defile their houses all for a fee.

Miguel de Cervantes is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and the world’s pre-eminent novelist.

His major work, Don Quixote, considered to be the first modern European novel is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written. His influence on the Spanish language has been so great that the language is often called la lengua de Cervantes (“the language of Cervantes”). He has also been dubbed El Príncipe de los Ingenios (“The Prince of Wits”).In 1569, Cervantes moved to Rome, where he worked as chamber assistant of a cardinal.

In 1571, he decided to join the Spanish fleet at the battle of Lepanto, a major clash between the Catholic states and the Ottomans for the control of the Mediterranean. Following this, Cervantes pursued his military career, but it was cut short when he was captured by Ottoman pirates and taken to Algiers, which had become one of the main and most cosmopolitan cities of the Ottoman Empire, and was kept here in captivity between the years of 1575 and 1580. In 1580, after his captivity, he was released by his captors on payment of a ransom by his parents and the Trinitarians, a Catholic religious order, and he subsequently returned to his family in Madrid.

In 1585, Cervantes published a pastoral novel named La Galatea.

He worked as a purchasing agent for the Spanish Armada, and later as a tax collector for the government.In 1597, discrepancies in his accounts for three years previous landed him in the Crown Jail of Seville. In 1605, he was in Valladolid when the immediate success of the first part of his Don Quixote, published in Madrid, signalled his return to the literary world.

In 1607, he settled in Madrid, where he lived and worked until his death. During the last nine years of his life, Cervantes solidified his reputation as a writer; he published the Novelas ejemplares (Exemplary Novels) in 1613, the Journey to Parnassus (Viaje al Parnaso) in 1614, and the Ocho comedias y ocho entremeses and the second part of Don Quixote in 1615. His last work Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda (The Works of Persiles and Sigismunda) was published posthumously, in 1617 The play is being staged in celebration of 400 years since the death of Cervantes.

The play written in the 16th Century is a worthy commentary on these days when people are all shouting youths and skills acquisition. In our story, the two youths could have ended up in the wrong place but they were able to turn out for good while retracing their steps. Our wish is that all such stories end up like Cervantes’ youths. It is possible and this play gives us yet another opportunity to demonstrate the power of the arts in any society. It does not matter where the story comes from, but powerful stories are always universal stories. This is one of such stories.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Page 30

Arts & Culture Book Review

Firebrand cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz keeps it real on ‘Bordertown’

S

an Diego native Lalo Alcaraz has always had a tendency to cross the line. Early on he drew political cartoons at The Daily Aztec. His recent foray into animation is as a cowriter on the Fox animated series, Bordertown, about a border patrol agent and his Mexican neighbors that takes place in the fictional town of Mexifornia.

The outspoken cartoonist and Latino activist has built a reputation for pushing the envelope of political correctness (check out his Twitter feed for a taste). His syndicated daily comic strip, La Cucaracha, is now published in more than 60 newspapers since beginning in 2002 and is one of the few daily strips with primarily Latino themes and characters.

Last year, he led a boycott of Disney after the company tried to trademark the phrase “Day of the Dead.” The company withdrew its trademark application and ended up hiring Alcaraz to consult and help write the upcoming Pixar film, Coco, which centers on the Día de los Muertos holiday. We sat down with the Lemon Grove native to discuss his roots, the controversies surrounding Bordertown and the Twitter trolls who call him a sellout.

CityBeat: Did you always want to do a comic strip when you were growing up in San Diego? I don’t imagine you were looking at Peanuts or Garfield and thinking it spoke to you, but were there any strips you could relate to growing up?

Lalo Alcaraz: I read comics like everybody else and didn’t really realize there was anything until I saw Gordo, the comic strip that used to run in the Union-Tribune and I realized, “Oh my God, this is the only Mexican in the comic pages!” It made me think that there was a problem here and why is that? So I became a fan of Gordo creator [Gustavo] “Gus” Arriola.

He had the first syndicated strip with any Latino themes. So that was something that spurred me.

CB: Tell me about when you started and the early days of La Cucaracha.

Alcaraz: Yeah I think that could be kind of blamed on me doing editorial cartoons back at San Diego State. I was doing the editorial cartoon gig for The Daily Aztec. That was great training for doing a daily strip. Just working with deadlines, you know? I eventually started doing editorial

Bordertown Image courtesy of Fox Broadcasting cartoons nationally and you have to join those trade groups and such.

Then I got to know the cartoonists and one of them recommended me for cartooning to a couple syndicates and one of them finally bit for me to do syndicated editorial cartoons. After a couple years they asked me if I’d consider doing a daily strip and I said yep.

Lalo Alcaraz CB: Considering how topical and political the cartoon was, was it hard to come up with new material and to consistently make it funny?

Alcaraz: Oh yeah! The big challenge was trying to develop new characters and trying to be topical and come up with story lines at the same time.

CB: You’ve said in the past that you relentlessly pitched La Cucaracha as an animated show.

Did you find that networks just weren’t open to it?

Alcaraz: Maybe it’ll still happen.

I still have hope in the next few years to keep pitching but in the past, I definitely think it was too political and too Mexican for the networks. They just had me in as a courtesy.

CB: One of the things I like about Bordertown is that, while it’s clearly farce, it’s equally offensive to people on both sides of the immigration issue. What made you

want to get involved with the show?

Alcaraz: When I saw the pitch I thought, “Whoa, wait a minute.

This is going to be on network television? And half the characters are Mexican? And this guy [show creator Mark Hentemann] is trying to hire Latino writers?” It made me think that this guy is the real deal. He’s not a big activist, but it showed that he cares about writing meaningful stuff and making it honest.

CB: The show has gotten mixed reviews. Do you think that some people just don’t get it?

Alcaraz: The show is not what people think it is. It’s not a racist free-for-all. Hollywood is littered with the corpses of bad Latino TV shows that were written by white guys. This one may be too challenging for people who may be expecting just something dumb, but that’s not the case.

CB: What’s next for you? Are you still working on the Coco cartoon for Pixar?

Alcaraz: Yeah, I go up and watch meetings and do a little tiny bit of writing and pitching jokes and consult on casting and cultural issues and things like that. It’s coming out in 2017. I can’t really talk about it much, though.

CB: I was amazed at the reaction you got when you announced you were working on the movie. To me,

it was very clear that Disney was coming to you to make sure they got those cultural nuances right, but your own fans and community were screaming at you not to do it.

That had to be kind of frustrating, no?

Alcaraz: It’s pretty clear to me but maybe it’s too subtle of a situation for a lot of people to understand. Instead of suing me, I got Pixar to give me money to help them and do this project right. I was let down because I was hoping people would give me a little bit of credit for the stuff I’ve done; to give me the benefit of the doubt.

Obviously I don’t chase money.

I’m an artist. And I do stuff about Chicanos and Mexicans and there’s really not a big cachet there. I’ve held it together for 25 years. I would have sold out a long time ago if I liked money.

CB: Though Pixar and Fox are certainly nice to add to the resume, no?

Alcaraz: I want to pitch some books this year and, of course, I’m going to put Fox and Pixar in front of my bio when I reach out to publishers. I really just want to do the same old stuff I’ve been doing which is to create diverse characters and have visibility for Latinos in media. But yeah, I’m going to reverse pimp my latest activities [laughs].

POEM OF THE WEEK

Symphony of Words

By Adeola Ikuomola The opposite of love is death, Hate is too weak an adjective To stand against the power of love – I am bemused by the magic of this invisible earth Giving birth out of the passions of history – Where do I go to find the realm of infinite love?

For I am mapping out new paths Into the kingdom of prosperity Through the labyrinth of my mind Making affluence my companion The mythical goddess of possibility my counsel – Death is my ultimate evidence That life is real and thoughts are but A metaphor of things yet to come – Oh, sacred flower of a dreaming heart Show me the recipe of God’s alchemy To transmute thoughts into things Imagination into image nation and dreams into reality To render all things good in the end – Pain and suffering evaporate into the ether Of God’s crescent space and His mind made visible In the invisible sphere of human thought – Time becomes empty, shaping out the seasons of life Healing myself of regrets and mistakes Before the empty slight of the traitors’ eye Ungrateful multitudes who couldn’t appreciate my song – So I depart from the material realm into the spirit world Learning at last the meaning of the Emerald text “As above so below, as within so without…”

Till earth becomes one with heaven – I am but a miracle made alive by love Dreaming, dreams of a dreamer who has but glimpsed The infinite world of endless possibilities – So I sing my song all over again, Symphony of Words Out of the note books, from the Promised Land –

PAGE 31

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

FCTA mulls rebirth of sporting activities in Abuja

By Stanley Onyekwere

T

he Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) will soon take steps to revive sportingactivities in the Territory, to enable sports take itsrightful position in the socio-economic development of the Territory.

According to the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, who dropped this hint onMonday in Abuja, while receiving a delegation of the Nigerian HockeyFederation led by

its President, Senator Abdul Ningi that paid him aworking visit, sportsremains a very important avenue to engage theyouths as it also serves as employment opportunity.

He said the FCT Administration under his watch would turn aroundsporting activities, even as he acknowledged the assistance the FCThas been receiving from the Nigeria Hockey Federation.

Bello therefore reiterated that the FCT Administration would partner andsupport Sport

Federations to take sporting activities to greaterheights in the Territory.

“The current FCT Administration would do everythingpossible to revive sporting activities in the Federal CapitalTerritory particularly hockey, because it also goes a long way inimproving the health status of the people,” he stressed.

The Minister also emphasized that the Federal Capital Territory has aninternational standard hockey pitch and therefore urged

the NigeriaHockey Federation to take advantage of the facility to entrench thegame in all the nooks and crannies of the Territory.

Bello noted that his Administration would leverage on theexperiences of the President as well as the Board members in engagingthe FCT youths.

He assured that the FCT Administration would be represented at theclosing ceremony of the on-going super league competition in Abuja asrequested by the Federation.

Speaking earlier, the President of the Nigerian Hockey Federation,Senator Abdul Ningi disclosed that the Federation is expecting somesports facilities from the International Hockey Federation and thatwould benefit.

The President remarked that the Nigerian Hockey Federation will beattending the African Hockey Federation meeting in Accra, Ghana inSeptember 2016 and therefore solicited for the FCT Administration’ssupport.

• Sympathizers at scene of an accident, at yesterday NICON Junction, in Abuja

Bello reiterates commitment towards improving health services in FCT

By Stanley Onyekwere

T

he Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCTA),Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has reiterated the determination of the FCT Administration to always give health issues a top priority, because it occupies a high placement is the scheme of things in the plans of the FCT. Bello made this point during the official handing over of some medical equipment donated by Japanese government to Bwari general hospital, according to a

statement by the Head, Public Relations Unit in the FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat (HHSS), BadaruYakasai.

The Minister, who was represented by the Acting Secretary FCT-HHSS, Mrs. Alice Odey-Achu said the donation will go along away in helping the hospital because a large number of people from part of Niger and Kaduna do come to FCT hospitals to access medical care.

He commended the Japanese government for the donation of the equipment and enjoined the staff and management of the

hospital to make judicious use of the equipment and ensure that they are kept in good working condition.

Bello also commended the effort of the management of Bwari general hospital for creating the enabling environment for the partnership between the Japanese government and FCT Administration.

Presenting the donation the Ambassador of Japan to Nigeria, Mr. Sadanobu Karaoke said the Japanese government has been trying to be helpful to Nigeria in their pursuit of the nation’s over-

all economic development as well as improvement in its quality of life, through the scheme ‘Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project’ He revealed that the Embassy has implemented a total of 152 project since 1998 in various areas such as primary health, primary education and agriculture with the total amount of grants of over 10.4 million US Dollars so far.

Karaoke added that the project for procurement of Medical Equipment for Bwari General Hospital, the embassy handed over 25 types of

equipment and tools that will surely contribute to better access to medical services in Bwari Area Council of the FCT. He further added that the Japanese government has also cooperated with Nigeria to develop different sectors including infrastructure, urban environment, inclusive growth, peace building and tackling terrorism.

The items donated include hospital beds for wards, equipment for labour ward, ultra sound scan machines among others.

PAGE 32

Photo Splash

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

An overloaded car along Sharp Corner, yesterday in Mararaba

Television camera men set for coverage, at a public function recently in Abuja

A young man hawking plastic products, yesterday at Mararaba

Business activities at Wuse Market, recently in Abuja

A man hawking clothes, yesterday at Utako Market, in Abuja Photos: Mahmud Isa

PEOPLES DAILY

Sports

WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Page

41

sports@peoplesdailyng.com, SMS- 08142929046

Football pundits call for NFF board sack over poor performance

Some member of the NFF board

T

he Secretary, Nigeria Football Supporters Club (NFSC) Rev. Samuel Ikpea yesterday urged Nigerians to insist that the incumbent executive of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) be sacked over what he called “non-performance”.

“If Nigerians do not insist on his resignation now, missing out of 2018 World Cup is imminent,” Ikpea said in Lagos.

His call is coming on the heels of the two-day visit by the FIFA President, Gianni Infantino and Secretary-General, Fatma Samoura to Nigeria on July 24.

The visit has among others, attracted about 1.2 million dollars in development fee to NFF from FIFA as against the 300,000 dollars given by the previous administrations.

“The Pinnick-led NFF executive has failed Nigerians. For Nigeria to drop

from 60th to 70th position in the world football ranking is a shame.

“Any reasonable leader will resign because of the development,” the secretary said.

According to Ikpea, the situation is not as bad as it is now under former Chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima, and so Nigerians should not hesitate before sacking the NFF executive members.

“Today, Nigeria is not for the Africa Cup of Nations, the future of our age grade teams is partly damaged and they may not qualify us for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

“Nigerians, don’t sit and look, lend your voice to this call now before it’s late,” he appealed.

On the national coaches, Ikpea said that the iNFF had embarrassed Nigerians and Nigeria’s government with the appointment of Frenchman Paul Le Guen

as the Coach of the Super Eagles though he rejected the offer.

“When you did not pay Nigerian coaches well, you don’t respect them; do you think the foreign coaches are fools?

“It is the suffering and retired foreign coaches that will accept offers from NFF,” he said.

The secretary said that he was also disappointed with the technical crew waiting as if they were there for personal interest and not for football growth.

He blamed the Nigerian media, saying they were sleeping and sentimentally divided when they should rise up to a common fight for the truth.

According to him, Pinnick has also created a division in the house of the 12th player in the field, the supporters club.

“You can see that when the national U-20 team lost to Sudan on Saturday at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

“While Nigerians are mourning, Pinnick’s supporters, his Niger Delta brothers in the supporters club were jubilating with him in the stadium,” he said.

Ikpea, then called on President Muhammodu Buhari to be aware that sports and indeed, football, in particular had kept Nigerians together.

“Football makes Nigerians smile even in suffering; it makes them to forget hunger when the game is on and so, Nigerians will not be happy not to qualify for the World Cup. “I hereby urge President Buhari to beam his searchlight on the glass house in Abuja,” he said.

Meanwhile, Buhari has during the 2-day visit of FIFA President Gianni Infantino, which ended on Monday, promised to support the NFF to develop football.

Mikel named Team Nigeria Juventus complete €90m Higuain Captain at Rio Olympics>>Pg 42 signing

>>Pg 43

PAGE 42

Sport

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Enyimba, Rivers United clash as Akwa confront Nasarawa today E nyimba and Rivers United will battle for a place in the last four of the Federation Cup when both teams clash in the quarter- final fixtutre at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan yesterday.

The People’s Elephants who have struggled to maintain top form this season, needed a late Ezekiel Bassey strike to beat Julius Atete in the previous round.

Rivers United on the other hand edged Shooting Stars 3-1 on penalties to book a date with the Nigeria Professional Football League champions.

Both sides have met twice in the league this season with Rivers United winning the first fixture 1-0, while the reverse fixture ended in a barren draw.

Holders, Akwa United will continue the defence of their title when they take on Nasarawa United in one of the last eight fixtures.

The Promise Keepers beat Sunshine Stars 8-7 on penalties in the round of 16, while Nasarawa United beat non- league side, Dynamites FC 1-0.

NPFL leaders, Wikki Tourists who secured a narrow 1-0 win against Plateau United in the previous round, will keep a date with National League side Crown FC, the club responsible for the exit of Enugu Rangers.

In-form FC IfeanyiUbah who is unbeaten in their last eight games in all competitions, will confront Warri Wolves in the last quarter- final fixtures.

Mikel named Team Nigeria Captain at Rio Olympics

C

helsea midfielder John Mikel Obi has been named captain of Team Nigeria to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio beginning August 5, 2016.

Obi, one of the three over-aged players invited to the national U-23 football team for the games, is making his first appearance at an Olympic Games.

Table tennis star Funke Oshonaike is the assistant team captain. This will be Oshonaike’s sixth appearance at the Olympics after she debuted at Atlanta ’96.

The Dream Team VI is expected to depart for Rio from Atlanta USA on July 29.

Other athletes hopefully, will leave

Nigeria on the same day.

Mikel Obi and Funke Oshonaike were chosen because of their consistency, patriotism and dedication to national assignments, the sports ministry said.

“Mikel is a young, patriotic footballer of international status and we believe he will be a role model to the upcoming athletes while Funke Oshonaike is experienced and is one of the oldest athletes in the team.

“We believe that their combined efforts will bring goodwill to TEAM NIGERIA and project the country’s image positively to the world,” a statement from the Sports Minister’s Special Adviser on Media, Nneka Ikem -Anibeze, stated.

Keshi’s final burial rites begin as FG hold on till after Rio 2016

By Albert Akota

F

inal burial rites for legendary late Nigerian Captain and Coach, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, will start in Benin City, Edo State today morning even as funds have hampered plans by the Federal Government to give him a heroic burial.

The Federal Government has now said it will play its own part for the late soccer icon after the Rio 2016 Olympic Games because of a combination of factors.

“We don’t want a haphazard burial for such a great patriot, that is why the Minister of Sports, Hon Solomon Dalung, has said the FG will play its own part after the Olympics”, declared Ministerial Special Adviser, Nneka Ikem Anibeze. “We will unveil details after the games”, she added.

The Keshi family is however going ahead with the burial plans beginning with a Church Service on Thursday, July 28 at St’ Paul Catholic Church, Benin City by 9am.

After that the late ‘Big Boss’ as Keshi was fondly called in his playing and coaching days will be moved to the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, where a novelty match will be held in his honour, followed by his body lying in state for his numerous admirers to pay their last respect.

The match is being organized by his former teammates led by Austin Eguavoen, who has also captained and coach the national team.

After that the body moves to Asaba, the Delta State capital, where his body will again lie in state at the Stadium named after him by former Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan on Nnebisi Road.

From Asaba, the body will leave for Illah, his homestead. On entering Illah, the body will be received by the Obi of Illah, HRH Obi Gbemudu along with his high chiefs.

Keshi himself was a high chief of the Illah kingdom. After that the body moves to St’ John, The Evangelist Catholic Church for a requiem mass.

Next port of call will be his home in Illah, where the body will again lie in state for an hour before internment at the same venue.

It is expected that there will be heavy presence of officials of the Edo and Delta State governments at this events heralding the glorious exit of a man who brought glory not only to the two states but the entire Nigerian nation and indeed Africa.

Mikel all smiles after Chelsea’s last training session

LMC, Infantino unveils Yobo as NPFL Ambassador F Stephen Okechukwu Keshi

ormer Super Eagles captain, Joseph Yobo said he is honoured to be unveiled as the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) ambassador.

The former Everton star, was unveiled by the League Management Company (LMC) in the presence of FIFA president, Gianni Infantino who is on a two-working days visit to Nigeria in Abuja.

Reacting on the development, Yobo

who couldn’t hide his feelings expressed his feelings on his official twitter handle, shortly after the unveiling.

Capped 101 times Yobo represented the Super Eagles at three FIFA World Cups and six Africa Cup of Nations tournaments (leading the team to win the 2013 edition of the tournament in South Africa), before announcing his retirement after the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Page 43

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Sport

Juventus complete €90m Higuain signing

J

uventus have completed the signing of Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli for €90 million, it has been confirmed.

The Argentine striker has long been linked with a move to the Serie A champions, having already agreed personal terms earlier in July.

The 28-year-old has agreed a five-year contract with Massimiliano Allegri’s side, which will see him pocket €7m per year.

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis had told Juve director Giuseppe Marotta that they would have to match Higuain’s release clause to sign the forward, which was believed to be €94.7m, but that clause was only for the player himself to buy his way out of the club.

The clause for any potential buyers was set at €90m.

Juve have matched that fee, which will be

paid in two instalments of €45m, and have sent the contracts to the Lega Serie A, who has listed Higuain as a Bianconeri player.

Higuain, who scored 36 goals in 35 Serie A games last season, joined Napoli in 2013 and was tied to the club until June 2018.

He follows the likes of Miralem Pjanic, Marko Pjaca, Medhi Benatia and Dani Alves in joining the Turin side this summer.

Higuain

Klopp sends Mamadou Liverpool’s €40m Sakho from USA tour Joao Mario bid

rejected T he father of Joao Mario has claimed Sporting CP have rejected significant bids from Inter and Liverpool for the Portugal international.

The 23-year-old has been the subject of intense transfer speculation after his excellent performances in his country’s surprise triumph at Euro 2016.

And the midfielder’s father has now revealed that a €35 million offer from Inter - potentially rising to €45m - and a €40m bid from Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have been turned down by the club.

“Proposals for the boy don’t come directly to me,” he told Diario de Noticias. They go to his agent, Kia Joorabchian, and the Sporting president.

“I was informed, however, that the club said no to €35m plus €10m in bonuses from Inter and to €40m from Liverpool.

“Nothing specific has happened, my son is a professional and knows he has a contract with Sporting.

“At the same time, we’re talking about a very valuable player for the club, who aspires to bigger projects during his career.

“I never said Sporting was not a project he liked. On the contrary, he’s always shown an interest in their ... project.”

A product of Sporting’s academy, who was previously in Porto’s youth set-up, Joao Mario scored six goals and registered 11 assists as Jorge Jesus’ side finished second to Benfica in the Primeira Liga last season.

Pato to Villarreal in the final stages

L

iverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has sent defender Mamadou Sakho home early from the club’s pre-season tour of the US. It emerged in a club video that Sakho arrived late for the flight to the US and the Telegraph reports Klopp has taken disciplinary action against him.

The club has not confirmed this, saying the France defender will get treatment for an Achilles injury.

France international Sakho, 26, this month had a doping case against him dismissed by Uefa.

He had been eligible for France’s Euro 2016 squad after serving a provisional 30-day suspension

for testing positive for a type of fat burner in March, but was left out by manager Didier Deschamps.

In the video, filmed on Liverpool’s tour of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, Sakho interrupts manager Klopp during an interview and asks: “How long do you think you can live here?”

The 49-year-old German replies: “I don’t have to think about that - you should. Only one of us turned up late for departure from Liverpool. It was you.”

Sakho joined Liverpool for £18m from Paris StGermain in 2013 and has made 55 appearances for the Premier League side.

Joao Mario

Lyon rejects Arsenal bid for top striker

F

rench club Lyon said yesterday they had rejected a 35-million-euro (£29 million, $39 million) bid from Arsenal for star striker Alexandre Lacazette.

Lyon called the 25-year-old, who has long been linked with a move to the Premier League having scored 48 goals over the last two seasons, “irreplacable” and said he would not be sold.

In May, Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas said the club had dismissed a 40-million-euro offer from West Ham United for the prolific French international.

Alexandre Lacazette

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Page

PUBLIC NOTICE FELIX ONI FOUNDATION

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God Leads-Children Of SacrificeMinistry International

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THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.MRS. NGOZI EZE - CHAIRMAN 2.MISS ADAOBI EZE - SECRETARY 3.MR. UGOCHUKWU EZE 4.MISS ADAEZE EZE 5.MR. CHUKWUEMEKA EZE 6.MR. ONYEKACHUKWU EZE THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE: 1.TO HELP AND SUPPORT THE LESS PRIVILEGED IN THE SOCIETY. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.SUNDAY ETIM - CHAIRMAN 2.OLAMIJU ORETOLA - SECRETARY 3.BOLANLE REBECCA FASHIKUN - TREASURER 4.LEONARD ISHIGUZO 5.RAMAT BOLA AHMED 6.GERALDINE IKE OKOYE 7.CHUKWUMA NWOKOCHA Aims and Objectives: 1.To promote the interest of members.

2.To promote the spirit of fellowship, mutual love, and cooperation among all members.

3.To maintain and enhance the prestige and good name of the School in all its activities.

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 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED: SECRETARY

SIGNED: EUSTACE NWAOZUZU ESQ. 07067671106

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

SEED OF ABRAHAM MISSIONARY CHURCH

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.EVANGELIST OMOREDE JOHN IDOWU - CHAIRMAN 2.MRS. OMOREDE EMISS - SECRETARY

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.PROPHET ADEBOLA DANIEL TONY - CHAIRMAN 2.MRS. MOMOH TESSY EMIKE - SECRETARY

SIGNED: MRS. OGBEIDE MARY FOR: (O.K. RUGBERE ATTORNEY & SOLICITORS) 08067108634

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED association HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

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 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

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 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Dr Susan Dim - Chairman.

2. Engr Jude Chike Dim - Secretary.

3. Mrs Carol Ifeyinwa Nnadi.

THE AIMS AND OBJETIVES ARE: 1. TO HELP IN THE PROVISION OF HEALTH AREAS, ATTENDING TO THE SICK,THE AGED AND THE DYING. 2.TO ASSIST IN THE RUNNING OF SCHOOLS AND VOCATIONAL CENTERS IN ORDER TO OFFER QUALITATIVE EDUCATION AND MORALS TO OUR CHILDREN AND YOUTHS.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1.TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO ALL NATIONS OF THE WORLD IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE WORD OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 2.TO PREACH AND TRAIN CHRISTIAN TO POSSESS THE GOOD CHRISTIAN VIRTUES AND SHINES AS LIGHT IN THE WORLD AND SALT OF THE EARTH. 3.RAISING A GENERATION OF CHRISTIANS THAT WILL BUILD A BETTER CHURCH FOR THE COMING OF OUR LORD.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED foundation HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1.TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO ALL NATIONS OF THE WORLD IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE WORD OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 2.TO PREACH AND TRAIN CHRISTIAN TO POSSESS THE GOOD CHRISTIAN VIRTUES AND SHINES AS LIGHT IN THE WORLD AND SALT OF THE EARTH. 3.RAISING A GENERATION OF CHRISTIANS THAT WILL BUILD A BETTER CHURCH FOR THE COMING OFOUR LORD. 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 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: MRS. OGBEIDE MARY FOR: (O.K. RUGBERE ATTORNEY & SOLICITORS) 08067108634

WAY TO LIFE DELIVENCE INT’L MINISTRY THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.APOSTLE EZEALA JONATHAN ISRAEL - PRESIDENT 2.PASTOR MRS JULIANA EZEALA - SECRETARY 3.EVANG. MRS. ESTHER C. SUNDAY - TREASURER 4.BRO. AUGUSTINE PAUL - MEMBER THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1.PROCLAIMING THE MESSAGE OF HOPE. 2.DELIVENCE TO THE CAPTIVES. 3.SALVATION TO THE LOST. 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 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

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BELLO

I, Formerly known as KHALIL BELLO JAURO now wish to be known and addressed as BELLO KHALIL JAURO. All former documents remain valid. All authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

DAIYABU

BILYA

I, Formerly known as BILYA AYUBA now wish to be known and addressed as BILYA AYUBA JANI. All former documents remain valid.

All authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

ZWALATHA

I, Formerly known as DAIYABU BABA MUAZU now wish to be known and addressed as DAIYABU ISAH ABUBAKAR. All former documents remain valid.

All authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

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ISAH

ADESHINA

Formerly known as ISAH HABIBU ABDULLAHI now wish to be known and addressed as ISAH MUHAMMAD. All former documents remain valid.

All authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

I, Formerly known as Adeshina Rebecca Taiye Now wish to be known and addressed as Adeshina Olayinka Fortune. All former documents remain valid. All authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

ALI

MOHAMMED

I, Formerly known as ALI MUSA now wish to be known and addressed as ALI MUSA MUSA. All former documents remain valid. All authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

offor

I, formerly known as chiazor evelyn ogom now wish to be known and addressed as offor evelyn ogom. All former documents remain valid. All authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

OLAWALE

I Formerly known as wale opaleye now wish to be known and addressed as olawale sulaiman. all former documents remain valid.General public should please take note.

OKIBE

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS GODWIN EDEH. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS OKIBE GODWIN OGENYI. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. Access bank, fidelity bank, Nigerian Army, ALL OTHERS AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

Oforma

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS Akuche chetachukwu Emmanuel. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS Oforma chetachukwu Emmanuel. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

oluwaseyitan

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS faseyitan oladipupo. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS oluwaseyitan oladipupo Emmanuel . ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

OHAERI

I, OHAERI CYNTHIA CHINONYELUM IS ALSO KNOWN AND CALLED OHAERI CYNTHIA CHINNY. ALL DOCUMENTS/ CERTIFICATES REFERING TO EITHER NAMES ARE MINE AND REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

adebayo

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I FORMERLY KNOWN AS jummai sabo abdulkadir NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS maijidda sabo abdulkadir ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. all authorities concerned AND GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

hindatu

I FORMERLY KNOWN AS hindatu muhammad NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS hindatu hassan. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. diamond bank. all authorities concerned AND GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

I FORMERLY KNOWN AS DANLADI IBRAHIM NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MOHAMMED IBRAHIM ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. All authorities concerned and the GENERAL SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

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I Formerly known as Na’ ima salihu aliyu now wish to be known and addressed as isah na’ ima aliyu all former documents remain valid.General public should please take note.

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I Formerly known as ABDULKAREEM ONUMOH now wish to be known and addressed as ABDULKAREEM JIMOH all former documents remain valid.General public should please take note.

LILIAN

I Formerly known as NWANKWO, NDIDI LILIAN now wish to be known and addressed as LILIAN BORNU. all former documents remain valid.General public should please take note.

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NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS Mrs. Nebo Martina Uzoamaka. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

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I FORMERLY KNOWN AS musa shuaibu ibrahim NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS musa ibrahim. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. diamond bank. all authorities concerned AND GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

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I FORMERLY KNOWN AS uzoechina amaka lilian. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS dominic-ezeh amaka lilian. AND

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I, formerly known as DAUDA BALA. Now wish to be known and addressed as DAUDA A. MAINASARA. All former documents remain valid. All authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

KULU

I, formerly known as Kulu sale Wasagu now wish to be known and addressed as Kulu Ibrahim. All former documents remain valid. All authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

PUBLIC NOTICE

This is to inform the general public of the loss of original offer of occupancy (R of O) in respect of plot No.1304. and File No.MISC.55474. of about 1,430.66msqr. Within Kaura District Abuja. Belonging to Jafai Stephens Concepts Ltd. All effort made to trace the missing document proved abortive.

If found please return to the nearest police station or AGIS. PUBLIC NOTICE This is to inform the general public the Loss of original offer letter belonging to Elfreida Onome Uwejeyan of block 6 flat 22 jos Street area 3 Garki 1 Abuja. Allocated by FCTA (office of the minister via adhoc committee sale of fgn houses) dated 25th July 2005. Wit file no G378.All effort made to trace d missing offer proove abortive please if found report to the nearest police station. Abuja Geographical Information System and General public please take note.

PUBLIC NOTICE

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

Some Interesting Facts Nigeria has the 4th highest number of poor, living under a dollar a day in the entire world. 100 million are ‘destitute’ according to figures from the NBS (National Bureau of Statistics).

42. Nigeria, the biggest economy in Africa is 160th out of 177 countries in HDI (Human Development Index).

43. Nigeria has the highest paid legislators in the entire world.

44. Based on amount squandered, of an income of $81 billion per year, Nigeria is the most corrupt nation in the world.

45. The nation with the most defrauded people, aka ‘mugus,’ in history, is

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Nigeria. Successive administrations continue to loot a greater percentage of the nation’s wealth, running in hundreds of billions of dollars.

46. Nigeria in 2013 was rated the worst country to be born based on welfare and prosperity projection.

47. Aliko Dangote funded Presidents Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan’s 4th republic campaigns. Buhari rejected funding from Dangote.

48. Usman dan Fodio (1754–1817) was trained in classical Islamic science, philosophy and theology and wrote over 100 books on society, culture, religion, governance and politics. He could only declare Jihad when he was made leader in Gudu {In Islam you can only declare Jihad if you are an official Muslim leader}.

49. The Borno Empire rejected Dan Fodio’s colonization jihad. Al-Hajj Muhammad al-Amîn ibn Muhammad alKânemî not only militarily defended his Empire, but also did so by religious, theological, legal and political debates, challenging why a Muslim Empire should colonize another.

Say what?

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Photographer Dmitri Izosimov from Russia shared this snap of people enjoying themselves while dancing the Viennese waltz at an event. Source: Dailymail.com

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WEDNESday, JULY 27, 2016

SPORTS latest

Garba welcomes Ugbade’s return to Eaglets

G

olden Eaglets’ Head Coach, Manu Garba has described the arrival of Coach Nduka Ugbade to the U-17 National Camp in Abuja as a good addition that would bolster the team’s quest for a ticket to the next Africa U17 Cup of Nations to be held in Madagascar next year.

Ugbade was FIFA U-16 World Cup-winning captain in 1985 and Garba’s assistant when Nigeria won her fourth FIFA U-17 World in 2013 in the UAE, and when the Flying Eagles won a record seventh Africa U-20 title in Senegal in 2015.

The former Super Eagle was reappointed into the country’s cadet side last week by the board of Nigeria Football Federation.

Garba, while introducing Ugbade at the team Monday’s morning training session at the NFF\FIFA Goal Project pitch, said the former Nigerian international would bring his wealth of his experience to bear on the team.

“I’m happy to introduce coach (Nduka) Ugbade. We have worked together both with Golden Eaglets and Flying Eagles and for some of you who don’t know him, he was the captain when Nigeria won the Kodak U-16 World Cup in China in 1985,” explained Garba.

“As I have repeatedly said, you have to listen to us and we are one big family here; and we want you to listen because you have so much to learn from him (Ugbade).”

In his post-mortem of Monday’s training, Ugbade said he was impressed with the calibre of players already assembled, promising to contribute his own quota to the success of the team.

Golden Eaglets’ coordinator, Prince Udofia, was equally excited about Ugbade, praising the NFF for rallying support towards the success of the team.

“I’ve heard so much interesting things about Coach Ugbade and I’m quite impressed with what I have seen of him even on his first day at our training,” explained the former tough-tackling defender of Bayelsa United.

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Absorption of Civilian JTF, the Real Game Changer

D

By Albert Akota

QUOTABLE QUOTE

ecision of the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) administration to absorb 250 civilian “JTF” into the military, is laudable, tactical and indeed a game changer. The achievement of the civilians in the fight against insurgency has been largely unrewarded, mostly criticized and underplayed.

Resistance against Boko Haram members in the Northeast by civilians started with night hunters, then followed by gallant daylight mob actions against insurgents. Around 2013 and 2014 many youths bounded themselves together to resist terrorists in their communities.

They later joined forces with the Nigerian soldiers to operate under the name Civilian JTF. The elevation of the gallant civilians waging war against insurgents is a long overdue process. They were highly weaponized and leaving them without a future can make them deviants once they have nothing else to do.

They fought without incentives they died without recognition, yet they remained steadfast, loyal to their conscience. They refused to allow some over bloated weakminded, poor witted, moneycraving soldiers in the past demoralize them. They refused to let the stolen billions meant for purchase of weapons against insurgency break them.

The emergence of “Civilian JTF” in the fight against insurgency in Northeastern Nigeria was received with mixed feelings. Some analysts were of the opinion that they will end up becoming radicals without fear for the law or respect for sanctity of life.

The fears of those against civilian JTF in fighting insurgency has its justification but the inroads the military made in containing terror organizations in the flash point areas of the North is on account of intelligence obtained from these gallant, oppressed citizens of our dear country.

The decision by federal government is so timely. The fearless civilian JTF’s were left with nothing else except raw determination to protect their territory from unprovoked onslaught by social cretins.

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By, Israel A. Ebije They shouldn’t be posted out of the area they are familiar with.

Their strength is primarily in the knowledge of their terrain.

Now they are gainfully employed, they will not be of any risk once the war on insurgency is fought and won by our armed forces. Their skills to fight will be a very important resource the Nigerian military will harness from in dealing with national security threats in other parts of the country.

The civilian JTF emerged on account of extreme condition caused by avoidable attacks unleashed on communities by terror organizations. They decided to take up arms and clean up their communities, a job they knew the military at that time was finding extremely difficult to achieve.

It is indeed instructive to intimate that the same situation, which has forced some Northern youths to join terror organizations, is the same factor that has made some youths gallant fighters against insurgents. The countryfailed in-between the two divides.

One group sought greener future in terrorism to mitigate their horrendous economic condition.

The other group decided to defend themselves where government couldn’t provide.

Similarity between the civilian JTF and fighters working for terror organization is familiarity

of terrain. They were mostly born in the Northeast. The civilian JTF’s were more indigenous than the so called terrorist fighters.

For some youths fighting as terrorists, the decision may have been forced on them. There are instances where family members are held hostage on the condition that their young sons must fight for terrorists. Such persons must be identified and considered for amnesty. There are good minded people among terrorists that can serve our dear nation positively.

It is indeed a commendable and very remarkable decision by military high command under PMB administration to admit the important role the civilian JTF have played in combating insurgency. It is indeed instructive to state that the military is rising from an era of corruption back to their legendary combatant legacy.

Haven hailed decision of the PMB led administration to absorb civilian JTF’s into the military, it is indeed imperative to warn against engaging miscreants into the armed forces. Every eligible person must be properly screened, investigated, vetted and most importantly given proper orientation on rules of engagement in combat situations.

Most of the 250 civilian JTF’s engaged are largely instinct based, self conscripted security operatives. They are more inclined to mob justice formula

In 1949, during the Second World War, France was overrun by Germany. The civil populace and the soldiers who were not part of those who capitulated stealthily worked together as “Free French” resistance force to retake France

in dealing with perceived or real criminals. They must be exposed to the proper act of fighting to protect, they must be thought basics in human relations and western education for most of them without any form of academic training.

Nigeria is lucky we are not faced with a situation where the civil society throws weight in support behind insurgents in the Northeast. The situation would have been similar to the one British forces in 1954 had to contend with. The imperialists had to force more than 75,000 Kikuyu tribesmen into detention camps; and herded another million-plus tribesmen into protected villages to control their movements and activities to support the Mau Mau rebels.

In 1949, during the Second World War, France was overrun

by Germany. The civil populace and the soldiers who were not part of those who capitulated stealthily worked together as “Free French” resistance force to retake France.

The absorbed civilian JTF’s will certainly work with our gallant soldiers to emancipate the Northeast of the menace of insurgency, just as General Charles de Gaul, led the Free French to send Germans out of his homeland.

Ebije can be reached via: ebije05@gmail.com, ebijeisrael@yahoo.com or @ israelebije.com

DAN GAYE

Mob sets rapist, ritualist ablaze in Delta – News

They will continue their act in hell!

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