311015wkend by Peoples Media Limited

5 Customs Deputy Comptrollers-Gen >>PG 6 resign

‘How Reuben Abati sabotaged Jonathan’ >>PG 3

Kano shuts down school over sodomy >>PG 10 weekend.peoplesdailyng.com

Saturday, October 31, 2015 Muharram 18, 1437 AH

. . . P utti ng the p eop l e fi r st

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N150 Vol. 4 No. 67

Corruption

‘No president before Buhari actually fought’ >>Pg 2

Gov. Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State (R), commiserating with victims (students) of a collapsed school building at the Gwadangaji Secondary School, who were admitted at the Sir Yahaya Memorial Hospital, yesterday in Birnin Kebbi

565 Days after Will the abducted Chibok schoolgirls ever be rescued?

NEWS

Appeal Court dismisses Saraki’s suit against CCT

>Pg 6

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

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Interview

No president before Buhari actually fought corruption —Ezeife

hat is your view on the bailout funds by federal government to states? It is the finest decision this administration had taken, this is because the states owe backlog of salary arrears due to unavailability of funds. The civil servants need to be taken care of to be able to contribute meaningfully to the economic growth of their states. The fall in the price of oil in the international market had affected many things in the country. However, the states need to look inwards to increase their revenue internally in order to meet their financial obligations without recourse to federal allocation. They also need to embark on capital projects in addition to payment of salaries. In the past, the nation’s economy was driven by agriculture, manufacturing, mining and industry, why are the states now depending on federal allocation to pay salaries and embark on capital projects rather than source fund internally through the above mentioned sectors? Every disappointment they said is a blessing. Fall in the price of crude oil in the international market, is saying to us wake-up, after many decades of indolence, as a result of oil boom. The groundnut pyramids can still come back; Malaysia came to Nigeria and borrowed palm tree seed a couple of years ago. But today, we are shamelessly importing palm oil from Malaysia. Do you also know that a Mexican agro allied company based in South Africa has acquired big farm settlement in Enugu State where they are producing pineapple that they export to Europe? Reason being that they get better quality of pineapples as well as spend less hours transporting the agricultural produce to Europe. Six hours from Nigeria as against twelve hours from their original location. Note also that they did not come into Enugu with Mexican or South African soil to cultivate this pineapple; it is our soil that they are using to produce. So why can’t these states look in the direction of agriculture to boost their revenue generation through foreign exchange from agricultural products. It is also instructive to note that as you move around the country, East, North and West, you will find fertile arable land, galore but our government and people are too lazy to look in that direction. There is therefore, every need for governments at all levels to re-introduce farm settlements and agriculture extension practice across the country, in order to guarantee food safety as well as provide employment, in addition to the foreign exchange earning that will accrue to government through export. When I talked about internally-generated revenue, I do not mean that government should go and persecute traders

As the anti graft policy of the incumbent administration is getting accolades across the globe, the former governor of old Anambra State Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife in this exclusive interview with Peoples Daily Weekend eulogizes the president’s effort to purge the country of corrupt officials. He also commended government for releasing the much talked about bailout fund to states amongst other issues bothering on economy

Ezeife

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If you come to the north; there are reservoirs of fertile lands that are lying fallow. We are not making progress as a country. So, many northern states can produce tomatoes in abundance, due to the nature of their soil and export it to England but the monthly hand-out from oil money had blinded them to such viable opportunity. Do you also know that southern Nigeria is a dependent area?

and house owners in the guise of revenue generation. It is a matter of developing the agricultural sector to employ more people, feed more people and generate export. We can export flowers to the world. If you come to the north; there are reservoirs of fertile lands that are lying fallow. We are not making progress as a country. So, many northern states can produce tomatoes in abundance, due to the nature of their soil and export it to England but the monthly hand-out from oil money had blinded them to such viable opportunity. Do you also know that southern Nigeria is a dependent area? We depend on onions from the north, tomatoes from the north, pepper from the north, carrot from the north, beef and goat meat from the north amongst many other stable foods. Yes amalgamation is good because it makes one section of the country dependent on the other for what they do not have. Don’t you think that the extant laws and regulations in the country are also partly responsible for the widespread indolence amongst states, owing to the fact that federal government enjoys exclusive rights of exploration of all mineral deposits in the country? Not all minerals are placed under the control of the federal government and even the ones affected, the 2014 National Conference recommended a reversal. The conference changed so many things and that is why, nobody in his right senses can oppose the implementation of the conference recommendations. Myopia notwithstanding, myopia means short sightedness, if you have small advantage; you will not because of that, not implement what will benefit the larger percentage of the country. However, to contemplate calling for another National Conference is the craziest thing Nigeria can think of. If that happens by accident, Nigeria will be trapped in the circle of conferencing without implementation because any president that comes on board, will call his own conference. What do you think is responsible for the consistent fall in the nation’s economy despite the change promised by the incumbent administration? I am not interested in what is responsible for the perennial downward trend of the nation’s economy. Everybody knows that it is down, the investors in stock exchange market in Nigeria have lost a lot of money. The exchange rate is down like it has never been before, people are starving, and those who have services to render in the economy are not patronized. What is of interest to me is the fact that this economy requires proper re-organization. First, we need to put crude oil into Contd on Pg 16

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

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Special Report

How Reuben Abati sabotaged Jonathan — Edwin Clark

former Federal Commissioner for Information, Edwin Clark, has alleged that Reuben Abati, the Special Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Media and Publicity, sabotaged the former president by failing to promote his image and achievements. Against Mr. Abati’s claims that Mr. Clark no longer considered Mr. Jonathan his ‘son’, Mr. Clark said he still sees the former president as a political son despite gaining nothing from his presidency. While expressing his resolve to quit partisan politics, Mr. Clark was recently reported as saying Mr. Jonathan “did not have the political will to fight corruption.”. In his response to Mr. Clark’s remark on the ex-president, the former president’s publicist wrote in an opinion article titled, “Clark the Father, Jonathan the Son” that the octogenarian was only making the disparaging remarks because Mr. Jonathan had lost the 2015 election. “Who would ever think Chief E.K. Clark would publicly disown President Jonathan? He says Jonathan was a weak president. At what point did he come to that realisation? “Yet, throughout the five years, he spoke loudly against anyone who opposed the president,” Mr. Abati wrote. Apart from Mr. Abati, many other persons loyal to the ex-president, such as the Ijaw Justice Forum, IJF, and other groups also took exception to the claims by the elder statesman. But in an email to PREMIUM TIMES Thursday, Mr. Clark said he could not understand why he came under attack over his comments on Mr. Jonathan “for reasons so obvious”. Mr. Clark said it was curious that Mr. Abati, who he accused of failing to sell Mr. Jonathan’s achievements to Nigerians, could accuse him of disparaging a man he (Abati) was never loyal to. He said he had to, at a point, point out to Mr. Abati how negligent he is to his duties by not defending Mr. Jonathan against some of the scurrilous attacks against him and also by not promoting the president’s image and well-known achievements of his administration. “My advice that a publicity committee made up of eminent journalists be put in place in Aso Rock and that media proprietors and senior journalists should be invited to Aso Rock were jettisoned by Abati because of what I suppose is his covetousness, particularly when many journalists and media houses always complained to me that he was not carrying them along,” Mr. Clark said. “Dr. Reuben Abati has risen to the defence of his last employer too late. He owes the former President apologies for his (Reuben Abati) failure to perform while in office. I should not be used as a

Chief Clark scapegoat. I love Goodluck Jonathan and Goodluck Jonathan loves me,” he said. Mr. Clark also recalled that before his appointment by Mr. Jonathan, Mr. Abati was one of the strongest critics of the president in his Guardian newspaper

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column. “I do not recall any favourable remark made by Abati all those years when he was the chairman of the Editorial Board [of the Guardian] and syndicated columnist about the former president,

My advice that a publicity committee made up of eminent journalists be put in place in Aso Rock and that media proprietors and senior journalists should be invited to Aso Rock were jettisoned by Abati because of what I suppose is his covetousness, particularly when many journalists and media houses always complained to me that he was not carrying them along.

His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan. “If I recall correctly, they were always the butt of ridicule by Dr. Reuben Abati. In fact, he became so notorious and fearless a critic of former President Jonathan and his wife in the Guardian Newspaper that I had to draw the attention of my cousin the proprietor of the Guardian newspaper to his excesses. “These vitriolic attacks on former President Jonathan and his wife only stopped when he was appointed the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity by the former president,” he said. Mr. Clark said Mr. Abati repeatedly lied against him in his article. He said it was “crude and unpolished” for Abati to claim that he would still have been a card carrying member of the PDP if Mr. Jonathan had won re-election. “I do not know the background of Dr. Abati but for him to lie and devilishly imagine that I should have remained a PDP card carrying member if President Jonathan had won the election is satanic.” JONATHAN REMAINS MY SON He said he remained proud of the performance of Mr. Jonathan in a number of areas such as the railway system, economy, fight against polio and ebola, maternal health, the power sector, etc. “He tarred more roads than any of his predecessors; he turned agriculture to agro-business, a multibillion dollar business; he built the Almajiri schools in the Northern parts of this country. “He established new federal universities across this nation; he allowed for free speech across this nation, and did not mind when he was criticised or, even, abused. “People were not arbitrarily locked up in jail or prison, as he truly respected the rule of law. “He signed the Freedom of Information Bill into law, which was not done by his predecessors; he modernized the aviation sector; he convoked a National Conference that brought Nigerians together and proffered recommendations on how to better bind Nigerians together as one. “He sanitized the electoral system of this country, unlike what we had before him, when elections results were announced without actually voting, when ballot snatching were rampant and common place. “He brought transparency into the electoral process – when people could vote and the votes actually openly counted without violence. “Today he stands as the first African president to concede an election to an opponent, even before the final counts,” Mr. Clark said. Contd on Page 5

Special Report

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PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

As Delta mechanics, sacked workers protest harassment By Osakhare Erese, Asaba

t least 2000 mechanics otherwise known as Automobile Technicians at the mechanic village along BeninAsaba Expressway, on Friday protested alleged harassment and intimidation by security agents in the state and called on the state governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa to come to their aid. Our findings revealed that there exists a cold war between Oshimili South Local Government Council officials and the Automobile Technicians at the mechanic village over the rightful ownership of the vast parcel of land where the technicians operate. The protesters armed with placards reading among others: ‘Gov. Okowa please come to our aid; we have been molested severally by security agents used by the Council boss Barr. Chuks Obusom; we need your intervention to help save us from our private work,’ marched to the Secretary to the State Government’s Office threatening to avenge their harassment if urgent steps are not taken to settle the issues. Addressing the protesters, Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Mr. Ovie Agas said: “The state government is aware of the current crisis at the mechanic village and the governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa had set up a committee to look into the rightful ownership of the mechanic village and the committee is presently working to submit its report,” urging the protesters not to take laws into their hands as the state government will deal decisively with offenders

of the law. The protesters in a petition addressed to the state governor signed by Comrade Ifeanyi Abanum and Engr. Frank Brown Esumai, a copy made available to our correspondent reads: “We suffer molestation from the law enforcement agencies severally and we have never been heard simply because the government has refused to acknowledge our values,” alleging that the council boss (Barr. Obusom) employed thugs against them as they stormed the mechanic village and allegedly vandalized forty five mechanic workshops and carted away forty vehicle engines. The Petitioners further alleged that the thugs invaded the privacy of the Automobile Technicians with impunity when the case had been reported to the state police commissioner who until now has arrested nobody. They further stated: “We want such intimidation to stop so that we can have our peace and repair our customers’ vehicles, Mr Obusom wants technicians to pay exorbitant rents and revenue, and we cannot afford to pay such exorbitant rent.” But in a swift reaction, the council boss, Barr Chuks Obusom dismissed their petition as frivolous, saying that the automobile technicians have not been willing to pay rents where they operate from adding that, “they cannot operate freely on the land because it belongs to the state government.” Also in his reaction, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Alkali Baba Usman, dispelled their allegation as untrue saying that the mechanics have been fanning the embers of trouble with a view to breaking down law and order in the

Other placard-carrying protesters

state Meanwhile, no fewer than 6,000 sacked Delta civil servants on Friday protested delay in their reinstatement after they had three weeks earlier, petitioned the State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa to look into their matter. The sacked civil servants were said to have be employed by the administration of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and were relieved of their duties for alleged irregularities and anomalies in their recruitment. The protesters, armed with placards: “Gov Okowa please reinstate us, we cannot feed our family; we appeal to you to help us out, please attend to our petition and help us out,” marched to the government house, claiming that their employment followed due process. Addressing the protesters at the government house gate, special adviser to the Governor on labour relations, Comrade Mike Okeme, assured the sacked civil servants of the state government’s readiness to recall them as soon it resolves the irregularities and anomalies in their recruitment. Comrade Okeme said: “Governor Okowa is aware of the yearnings and aspiration of the Deltans and would work hard to realize the goals of prosperity for all Deltans through the Smart Agenda,” explaining that the governor was not discriminating, but would absorb Deltans into the state civil service first before considering applicants from other states. He said that the governor had studied the report of the committee set up to review the recruitment exercise embarked upon by the last administration in the last two

The protesting mechanics years and the allegations of bribery and corruption levelled against the civil service commission with the view that available vacancies in the service would be evenly distributed among the 25 local government areas of the state. The spokesman of the protesters, Mr. Obus Regha said:

“We were recruited and deployed to the directorate of establishment and pension before we were sacked, we however appealed to the state government to change our suffering by reinstating us because we have no money to feed and take care of our well being.

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PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Special Report ‘Reuben Abati sabotaged Jonathan’ Contd from Page 3 Mr. Clarks said despite all the achievements, like most leaders, Mr. Jonathan must also have had his weakness, and that stating them should not mean disparaging or disowning him. “In keeping with my character, I cannot say in private what I cannot say in the public. I do not therefore, reject or disown Jonathan as my beloved political son,” he said. WHY I SUPPORTED JONATHAN Mr. Clark also took time to give account of why he supported the former president. He said his support for Mr. Jonathan predated his assumption of office as president and that he was one of the few leaders who ensured a smooth transition of power when the late governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieseigha, was impeached. “Of course, I openly supported President Jonathan not only as my son but also as the first person to emerge from the minorities of the Niger Delta as the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “I had no choice but to support him and I have no regrets. My support is total and unyielding,” he said. Mr. Clark also said if most of President Jonathan’s close associates and political leaders exhibited such support by exposing all his achievements, rather than the pretence and betrayal they were engaged in, “the story today would have been different”. “It will be recalled that I had on several occasions openly criticised the former president in the press and in my statements for actions or inactions which were damaging to the president’s image while he was in office. “When the president failed to check the excesses of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, which included his undue interference with the activities of the EFCC, I did not fail to speak my mind openly in opposition to the president. “When the president did not deliver on his promise to complete the construction of the East-West Road, I did not fail to speak my mind openly. I even told him publicly that he should not leave the South South people poorer than he met them. “When the Governors’ Forum appeared to arrogate to itself powers that infringed upon those of the president in the Constitution of Nigeria with impunity, I did not fail to criticise. “The press conferences and open letters I wrote, which were carried and published by the various media houses are there to confirm this claim. However, with all these, my support for him was and still is total and unshakeable,” he said. ALL PRESIDENTS SINCE 1999 FAILED TO FIGHT CORRUPTION Mr. Clark also said he did not single out Mr. Jonathan on his comments about the inability of Nigerian leaders to fight corruption since the return to democracy in 1999.

Ex President Jonathan

He said his comments about corruption were hinged on the fact that “it has been the reason for the neglect of the ordinary man in Nigeria by all governments.” “I declared, not for the first time, my support for any effort to eradicate the cankerworm from our body polity. I traced the forces that had made the eradication of corruption impossible in time past. “My analysis did not begin and end with the Goodluck Jonathan administration. “I actually traced them from the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1999, with former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo failing to even scratch the surface beyond using some special purpose machinery to harass real and unreal enemies. “For the eight years of President Obasanjo’s administration, he definitely institutionalised, legitimised and legalised corruption in this country. The cases of Halliburton and Siemens are typical examples. “Today, former President Olusegun Obasanjo is one of the richest former rulers. “The same forces were also at play in

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Abati

the time of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, GCFR, when anti-corruption activities slowed down because of some of those who assisted him in his presidential election in 2007. “A situation where Chief James Ibori, former governor of Delta State, who was facing criminal charge, was playing a significant role in the affairs of Nigeria at Aso Rock such that his former state commissioner for Finance, Mr. David Edebve, became late President Yar’Adua’s Principal Secretary,” he said. Mr. Clark said he knew that Mr. Jonathan was willing to fight corruption, but was not successful because of his insistence that due process should be followed. He said Mr. Jonathan could otherwise have initiated investigations into the scandals of Halliburton, Siemens and other alleged corruption charges leveled against some former heads of state and other prominent Nigerians. “He believed that there are institutions set up by the government such as the EFCC, the ICPC and other anti graft agencies. But regrettably, some of those who surrounded him led by the Attorney General (AG) and Alhaji Hassan Tukur, etc made it impossible

for these institutions to work either by stopping them from arresting offenders or prosecuting some of the cases. “Over 50 high profile corruption cases are still pending in the various courts for over 8 years now. Laughable plea bargains and out of court settlements became the order of the day. “It was at this juncture, when there was general complaint about the government not aggressively fighting corruption, I addressed an open petition to the then Chief Justice of the Federation, Hon. Justice Dahiru Musdapher, dated 2nd November, 2011, complaining that most of those charged to court especially those of the former governors who have become senators were still pending. “He promptly replied my letter on 3rd November, 2015. Most of the petitions written against some prominent Nigerians, addressed to the anti graft agencies did not see the light of the day. Ironically, the perpetrators of these corrupt actions were the same persons who attacked former President Jonathan’s inability to eradicate corruption in Nigeria,” Mr. Clark said. premiumtimesng.com

A situation where Chief James Ibori, former governor of Delta State, who was facing criminal charge, was playing a significant role in the affairs of Nigeria at Aso Rock such that his former state commissioner for Finance, Mr. David Edebve, became late President Yar’Adua’s Principal Secretary

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PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

News

We’re working to keepNaira value – CBN Gov ...says no plan to further devalue naira By Lawrence Olaoye

he Central Bank Governor (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has said that the management of the apex bank has perfected plans to save the Naira from further depreciation in line with the policy of President Muhammadu Buhari. Speaking with State House Correspondent after a meeting

with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday, the CBN boss also declared that there was no plan to further depreciate the nation’s currency. According to Emefiele, his management recently met with critical stakeholders in the private sector where far reaching decisions on how to exclude certain items from obtaining foreign exchange from the Nigerian Foreign Exchange market were taken. While affirming the fact that the CBN has no power to ban the importation of any product, Emefiele confirmed that his

meeting with stakeholders yielded positive results on how they could partner to further strengthen the Naira. He said “What we have done is to exclude certain items that are imported into the country from obtaining foreign exchange from the Nigerian foreign exchange market. “Yes it is also true we held a stakeholders’ meeting with the organized private sector and prominent and leading private sector stakeholder were at that meeting. “It was not meant for the press. The purpose of that meeting was to

engage the private sector to make the private sector understand that government realizes that they are engine of growth and we also used the opportunity to explain to them the basis and purpose of those policies that we have introduced and at the end of that meeting they were very happy, they saw our position and indeed at the end of that meeting some of them in fact provided us with the names of some items that should be included in the list that should be excluded from foreign exchange. And I must confess that at this stage given the determination of some of the organized sectors to say that yes, they produce these items and that we should exclude those items from foreign exchange we are reviewing that list and we may in due course include more items products that can be produced in Nigeria in the list of items that will be excluded from

foreign exchange in the Nigerian foreign exchange market.” On the debate on further devaluation of the currency, he said “There has been a lot of talk on whether or not we want to depreciate our currency again. The truth is that we had adjusted the currency by depreciating it from N155 to N197 in February this year. “There is no intention to depreciate or adjust the currency any longer. “The President has been very clear on this, The Vice President has been very clear on this and let me further reiterate our position at the Central Bank of Nigeria that we are not considering any further depreciation of the currency. What we are trying to concentrate on right now is how to improve and deepen the foreign exchange market by improving supply of foreign exchange into the market”.

Soldier petitions IGP over arrest, seizure of property by Zamfara Police From Ibrahim Sidi Muh’d, Gusau

L-R: Coordinator, Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (ASEMA), Alhaji Saad Bello; Gov. Muhammadu Bindo of Adamawa; Director-General of NEMA, Alhaji Sani Sidi, and others, at the inauguration of the 2015 flood intervention relief materials by NEMA, yesterday in Yola

5 Deputy Comptrollers-General of Customs resign, as 29 others retire By Osby Isibor

he Nigeria Customs Service yesterday said the decision of five Deputy Comptrollers-General of Customs (DCGs) to turn in their letters of voluntary retirement from service was part of an “ongoing reorganisation of the service”. The five officers who submitted their notifications of voluntary disengagement from service to the ComptrollerGeneral of Customs, Hameed Ali, are John Atte, who was in charge of Finance, Administration & Technical Services; Adewuyi Akinade (Tariff & Trade); Austin Nwosu (Strategic Research & Policy);

Musa Tafir (Enforcement, Investigation & Inspection) and Ibrahim Mera (Human Resource Development). Twenty nine other senior officers also left the service. Though they gave no reason for their resignation, it is believed that the DCGs unanimously quit service following the no-nonsense leadership style the CG, a retired army Colonel, known for his anti-corruption stance. A statement from the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, signed by the spokesperson of the Service, Wale Adeniyi, acknowledged the acceptance of the resignations, alongside 29 other senior officials who were also retired

from service. The statement said the resignations and retirements were part of re-organization of the service. “As part of on-going reorganization in Nigeria Customs Service, 34 Senior Officers have been retired from Service with immediate effect,” Mr. Adeniyi said in the statement on Friday. “The re-organization of the Service is one of the core mandates of the ComptrollerGeneral of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd). “Those affected in the exercise are five Deputy ComptrollersGeneral of Customs (DCGs), who had earlier given notification to the Comptroller-General for voluntary disengagement.

serving Soldier under 115 task force battalion of the Nigerian Army in the northeast, Corporal Lawal Ahmed has registered a complaint to the Inspector General of Police requesting him to investigate what he allegedly described as illegal arrest, detention and seizure of his properties by the DPO of Talata Mafara Police division under Zamfara state Command. The Corporal lamented that the state Commissioner of Police over his refusal to act accordingly on the petition earlier submitted enlisting him to investigate the matter with a view to find the reasons behind his arrest and the seizure of properties which includes 3 handsets, two copies of newspapers and a 16GB memory device. The first petition which was earlier addressed to the Zamfara state Commissioner of Police by the protesting Soldier and made available to Peoples Daily weekend, has alleged that the DPO was sponsored from elsewhere to

have mobilised his men to tracked and arrested him alongside his hosting friend on the 25th of last August and could not released him until 27th of the same month. It further claimed that during the arrest, a thorough search was conducted in a hosting friend’s room and have found nothing unlawfully in his possession apart from 2 copies of newspapers, 3 handsets and a 16GB device (memory card). It also revealed that, a traditional title holder under Mafara Emirate Council had intervened and scouted for their release having knowledge that the hosting friend who is also his sonin-law was absolutely law abiding citizen, therefore could made to believe he would never habour a criminal in his apartment as warne According to the petition, the DPO was said to have released the host on the 26th of August and left behind the Soldier under the agreement that the sum of 27,000 naira should be paid before the case is buried, the money was allegedly paid by the host following day of 27th of the same month.

Appeal court dismisses Saraki’s suit against CCT trial

he Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday dismissed the appeal by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, challenging his trial on 13 counts of false assets declaration before the Code of Conduct Tribunal. By a two-to-one split decision the three-man panel of the appeal court, held that the appeal lacked merit. Justice Moore Adumein who led the panel and Justice Mohammed Mustapha dismissed the appeal, while Justice Joseph Ekanem in his dissenting judgement upheld the appeal and discharged the Senate President of the trial before the CCT. The majority judgment dismissed

all the six grounds of appeal by Saraki. It dismissed the grounds that the charges were not properly served on him, that the tribunal was not duly constituted because it is comprised of two members instead of three and that absence of the Attorney-General of the Federation had rendered the charges incompetent. But Justice Ekanem ruled that the irregularities in the filing of the charges due to the failure of a lawyer in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. M.S Hassan, to indicate in his letter to the tribunal who authorized him to file the charges had rendered the charges incompetent.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

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Cover

How Nigerians turn GSM into General Street Madness By Agi Victor

hen Thorstein Veblen (1857– 1929), an American social scientist, propounded the technology determinism theory, where he noted that a society’s technology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values; that technology seeks to show technical developments, media, or technology as a whole, as the key mover in history and social change and not man, many thought he ascribed too much power to technological innovations, owing to the claim that man as a rational being has greater control over his actions and environment. Part of the arguments also is that since necessity is the mother of inventions, man has a great deal of control of how he uses them to satisfy daily wants and not technology dictating what man should do, how he should do them per se and when to use them towards societal development. That the development of technology itself follows a predictable, traceable path largely beyond cultural or political influence which in turn has “effects” on societies that are inherent, is a reality and cannot be disputed in our society. In short, technology has influenced the way people behave, how they interact with others and even how they think to a larger extent. The argument whether technology is key to societal development or no should be viewed in critical dualism. But on a more frank note, technological innovation, and in the context of this piece, the GSM is determining the social structure and values of our society, howbeit on a negative and alarming rate. Let’s leave this argument and settle on the topic of this piece. But to continue, on a brief memory lane, recall that the federal government under the leadership of former President Olusegun Obasanjo introduced GSM in the country in 2001. The effort of the federal government then, to deregulate the sector brought about many gains we are enjoining today in our nation, and it is being recognized as one laudable achievement of the former president to our economy, and has written his name in gold. It was a welcome development in Nigeria, because it marked the country’s journey to globalization which has helped her to remain competitive in the global market, as information sharing is one key factor that is responsible for that. There is no gainsaying the fact that the introduction of GSM in our society has had profound influence on the economy positively. Inter alia, it has made life and living easy, colourful, exciting and tenderly too. More so, the technology has cut costs and minimized time waste. The service has extended beyond normal phone calls and messaging, to include provision of internet service through modems and subscription platforms, literarily turning the world into global family in the hands of users. Today, the percentage of Mobile Telecommunication subscribers in Nigeria is over 90% according to statistics by NCC, and this percentage clearly shows how much we have accepted GSM as our way of communication. GSM has no doubt impacted positively on the lives of Nigerians considering the fact that it enables

effective communication not only in cities but even in rural areas, thus the slogan “everywhere you go” by a service provider in the country, as my grandmother in the village can now reach her children everywhere in the city in the comfort of her bedroom. Despite this resounding impact of GSM to the economy, it is lugubrious to know that the usage of this technology can best be seen as “general street madness” (GSM) not global system for mobile communication. The rampage and or madness in the use of telephone in our country is so alarming that one begins to subscribe to the idea that this technology is determining even the way we eat in this country. Yes! Or how do you explain a situation where someone can spend all he had in purchasing voucher without food on the table. What do you make of a labourer for a construction site who carries bricks on his head, but keep shouting hello, hello hello…, every now and then, and at the end of the day goes home with close to only half of the money paid because of the money spent on unnecessary phone calls. How also do you defend the wastage culture in our society where you hear people say: “I just called to hear your voice?” That we are all guilty of some of these acts does not in any way make them right and calls for reflection. The above instances are just a few of what Nigerians do with the cell phone. Telephone has become a symbol of status in our society, where people compete for who uses the latest and the costliest phone technology. Nigeria has in recent time being the biggest market of phones in Africa, especially for the Chinese producers. Well, whether we believe it or not, most of the acclaimed new phone technology from these companies are just little moderation on the previous ones, perhaps in size, speed, applications etc, performing little differently from the former (just mere packaging). But we so much crave to get this new phone model in our society at the expense of moral and rational standards of the African society. What madness! It is even worst in our institutions of higher learning where especially our female students have turned perpetual beggars in the hands of relatives, friends and most time politicians who are ready to buy these phones and get what they want from them in turn. The technology is also affecting the standard of our education, where students prefer hours on social media with phones to an hour with their books. This is not exclusive to university education; many secondary schools in the country have toed this line. As noted ab initio, phone has become one way the rich in the society wants to show off their wealth. Thus, a big phone for a child in secondary school sends a clear message that the child is a “big man pikin.” Madness indeed! In what seems to be going viral on social media, it was alleged that Student Union executives and legislators at a particular federal university budgeted N1, 837, 550 to make official phone calls between August, 2015 and January, 2016, having a separate budget for internet facilities and sending of bulk Short Message Service (SMS), and even to buy phones for top executives. This is how bad we have gone

in the use of this technology. Suffice to know that parastatals also budget billions to fund calls and other phone services in a country where poverty is on the increase with no attention. In a report a national daily reports that a whopping N602.6 billion was expended on airtime by subscribers for their phones to make calls in the first half of the year, spanning January to May! The figure was arrived at using the subscriber data released monthly by the telecoms industry regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the current industry’s Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) provided by the operators. It was gathered that each of the monthly subscription represents the total number of active lines on all mobile networks in the country. These include the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) operators; the Code Division Multiple Access operators, as well as the fixed wired/ wireless networks. In a country where we like transferring technology, we are quick to argue that money is being spent everywhere on phone calls. It never occurred to us that the tariffs on phone calls and other services supersede that of any advanced society. The exploitative tendency and the sheer negligence of the NCC, has added to this madness, where service providers treat customers with utmost disregard. It seems as if these service providers are doing us a favour even with the much we

pay. In our usual compensating reaction, we would always admit that telecoms services were taking priority position in the daily needs of Nigerians, but NCC and other necessary stakeholders are doing nothing to minimize this madness. Where it is understandable that Nigerians spend a sizeable chunk of their incomes on telecoms services, and not getting real value for their money through the provision of quality services by the operators is exploitation in all respects and calls for action, rather than mere complaints. No doubt, GSM has impacted on our economy positively as noted earlier, especially in the areas of job creation, communication and globalization. It goes to say that such development is being tamed by the recent madness associated with the use of the device in the country. As much as government and service providers contribute to this, the phone users have contributed more to this unprofitable use. It means that the introduction of GSM, a technology has determined our actions greatly in this county, sadly, affecting our society negatively. There is therefore need for us to change our mentality on the use of mobile phones, value placed on the device and as rational and moral people determine what we do with the technology and not the technology being the determinant so we can benefit from the many gains therein.

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Perils of underworld men in FCT

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna, Agi Victor, Zingfa Felicia, Ibrahim Saratu, Paul Patience and Zakariyya Khadijah

he increasing spate of armed robbery in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has become a major cause of concern. A recent visit to some areas within the metropolis like Mabushi, Area One, Lugube, Lokogoma by our reporters, revealed a tale of nasty experiences from the residents. Sophie Garaba who lives around Lugbe, shared her family’s experience saying, “my family experienced a terror of armed robbery in our home; some days ago, we were all sitting in our place when

we heard a knock as early as 7am; we opened the door, and before my twin brother could spell j-a-c-k p-o-t, we were all forced to lie face down, before they took away our belongings and money. “After our first encounter with our ‘September visitors,’ we thought the story has ended there, but unfortunately gunmen came visiting again; thank God no one was at home but they broke into the house through the back door and stole jewelleries and laptops and scattered all the place, but we thank God that we did not have such a bad experience again,” she said. Garaba added that there was also a robbery operation that happened a few months ago: “I can remember precisely, it was at Zenco Garden Es-

tate, Lugbe and the residents informed the police who they responded in time. A banker, Miss Christy Christopher, who lives around Area One said, “It was like I just finished watching a movie because it happened in broad daylight. Every day when I come back from work I will discover my room especially my dress were scattered. I had been complaining to my friends but no one could offer any explanation. “One day, when I came back from the office, behold! I met well-armed boys packing my belongings. Those boys broke in through my back door and were comfortably searching my room. By the time I opened the door, they were not bothered, one of them just barked at me ‘sis-

ter you will have to maintain, if you dare shout you will not find it easy,’ so I had to cooperate with them. “After the operation they left, as they had stationed a car behind the house. After they drove away I started shouting, but already they were gone. I occurred just after I paid my house rent, but I am looking for somewhere else to relocate to, so that I can leave this environment.” “It was in the afternoon last week Sunday when we went to church and on our return we met a syndicate has broken into our house and stole our belongings, this is really a bad experience,‘’ says Alheri, who resides at Lokogoma Estate. Similarly, a respondent who refuse to disclose her identity, said a microfinance

bank in Mabushi and some shops around the area were robbed week before last which scared most customers to desert the area. A Marketing Consultant, Osaretin Obebo says the issue of robbery in Abuja is getting out of hand. “Along MarabaNyanya road, ‘one chance’ people are found there; even around Berger pick- pockets are everywhere. Agberos as they are popularly called are practically all over the place making Abuja uncomfortable to reside in. He added that, “the greatest number of citizens one can find in these unfortunate situations are youths. Many of them do not want to find Contd on Page 9

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something meaningful to engage in, though some of them have probably searched all over but could not get jobs. The government can come into this picture by creating job opportunities for our youths even if through empowerment programmes.” However, for Lucky Daniel, the cause of most incidences of robbery is insecurity. He cited an example when he said: “A girl closing from her place of work late walked through a dark path where there was no light and someone was walking behind her without her knowing the person’s plans were sinister.” He also said that, “the police are most times not fast in carrying out their duties, because in a situation where ‘The Agberos’ will be causing nuisance in an environment and the police will be close by and watch without doing something about it is not good enough. Street lights should be everywhere in Abuja and functioning as well, because when there is darkness, evil activities tend to raise their ugly heads.” “Security personnel should wake up, youth empowerment programmes should be all over the place, where they can go and borrow money and everyone will have one thing or another doing to keep themselves busy, and no one will think of going into robbery,” Samuel Jepe a vulcanizer said. A mechanic, Abdullahi Isiaka Ajana, pointed out that some of the most alleged hide outs where one can easily find these robbers are places called Daki Biyu and Angwan Smeti, both behind Jab Motor Park. According to him, “the issue of robbery now in Abuja is very disturbing and fraudsters are virtually everywhere,

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Perils of underworld men in FCT

Police on patrol in the FCT

people who collect your hardearned money, all in the name of opening a bank account for you in ‘so-called new banks.’ Multiple tax collectors are making life hard for the average man in the society by collecting their products and collecting the little money they have worked for. These alone can make one go into robbery without thinking twice. “Government should track down those behind those illegal ‘new banks.’ The rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer because of bad policies and lack of concern by government,” he said. A fruit seller, Mrs. Chinenye Onuoha said “most times, robbery is not done intentionally; it is a product of joblessness and lack of opportunities. Good jobs should be given to

A mechanic, Abdullahi Isiaka Ajana, pointed out that some of the most alleged hide outs where one can easily find these robbers are places called Daki Biyu and Angwan Smeti, both behind Jab Motor Park.

our graduates in order to stop the peril that is hovering all over today.” To Mr Nurudeen a resident of Utako, “crime is something that the government should give utmost attention to in our society. As one of the basic needs of the people, the government should provide more security strategies towards curbing crimes. To achieve a crime-free society, people also have a work to do, they should collaborate with security agencies, and not withhold any information that will be helpful. “We all should be security conscious and always watchful. Since the government is not living up to expectation of providing security to the people. Government should also at the same time intensify effort to guarantee security of lives and property. Security is very important to our living in this city and thus should not be neglected by anybody,” he emphasised. Mr Emmanuel Ezegwe, Chairman Poverty Reduction and Youth Development (PRYD), a non-governmental organization based in Abuja, said: “For me, the rate of crime in the FCT is gradually increasing, and this is majorly as a result of the absence of jobs for our youths who are mostly involved in these crimes; as the saying goes, an idle man is the devil’s work-

shop. “That is why some of them are left with no other option than to be involved in these crimes. Provision of employment is therefore the sure remedy to the increase in crime in the country. The residents should also help themselves by taking note of strange face and making sure the security agencies are alerted immediately if any strange thing is being detected,” Ezegwe said. Another respondent, Sir Raymond White, lamented that unemployment is the root of all crimes adding that government does not recognize youths. “A situation where you have a rotational government, where the old faces in PDP are the same faces we are seeing in a supposed “change” government is not good for our youths. They should entrust us with responsibilities so that we will not be ready hands for crimes in the society. A graduate who is supposed to be working and putting into practice what he has

learnt in school spends all his time looking for one job to the other. If job opportunities are made available to the youths, they will be busy and there would be no time for evil plans,” he said. FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Wilson Inalegwu said the police are up and doing in ensuring we have a city free from armed robbery. He said the police have been parading such suspects and reassured that the police will always ensure that criminal activities are curbed and residents should cooperate with the police in ensuring that FCT is totally free from crime.

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News

Emir seeks laws to reduce joblessness

From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

he Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Suleman Adamu has described idleness and poverty as the causes of social vices and political unrest among the youth in the society, just as he called on state lawmakers to take urgent action. Alhaji Rilwanu Suleman who stated this yesterday when members of the State House of Assembly paid him a courtesy call in his palace, stressed the need for the promulgation of laws that would reduce joblessness in the society. According to him, idleness and the attendant poverty have been the major causes of social and political unrest among youths. He urged the lawmakers to expedite action towards tackling the problem. The Bauchi emir commended the speaker

and other members of the Assembly for opening their doors for advice and suggestions and assured them of his support towards enhancing good governance in the state. Suleman Adamu noted the cordial relationship existing among the members and urged them to keep it up. In his remarks, the Speaker, Alhaji Kawuwa Shehu Damina had earlier told the emir that they were in his palace to show their loyalty and commitment as well as learn from the exemplary leadership qualities of the emir. He said their visit had exposed them to numerous opportunities for robust oversight in the discharge of their duties and assured the emir of their commitment towards ensuring the development of the state.

SDG to sustain training of nomadic teachers From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

he office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has assured the continued training of nomadic school teachers under the new world agenda “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A director at the MDG office, Dr Ifeyinwa Ukaegbu disclosed this in a statement made available to the media in Kaduna yesterday. The statement added that Nigeria is transiting with the rest of the world to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which was recently adopted by Heads of States and Governments at the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.” Dr Ifeyinwa stated that the lessons learnt in the implementation of MDGs have shown that investing in education was vital to the sustainable development in all three dimensions - economic, social and environmental. She averred that the new Sustainable Development Goals which was expected to kick off

in January 2016 would sustain the regular training of nomadic school teacher to improve on the quality of teaching and learning in nomadic schools. She further disclosed that the 4th and 5th agenda of SDGs which were to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning. She opined that the capacity building programme for nomadic head teachers is one of the most effective strategies for ensuring a turnaround in the quality of nomadic education saying that all teachers in nomadic schools should be regularly exposed to new innovations in their profession. The statement reads “I charged the nomadic teachers to make good use of the opportunity offered by the training. She urged them to share ideas on the challenges they are facing in the use of the nomadic schools’ curricular and also show commitment in the discharge of their duties. She noted that this would be the surest way of ensuring the funds spend by the MDG are justified.

Rotary International District 9125 Governor Dr Mike (R)Presenting. Recognition award and gift to one of the Volunteer Community Mobilisers, Mansur Garka, for outstanding controbution to Polio Eradication.

Kano shuts down secondary school over sodomy From Edwin Olofu, Kano

ano state government has closed down Hassan Ibrahim Gwarzo private boarding school, Kano, with immediate effect, following the allegation of homosexual activities. Acting governor of the state, Professor Hafiz Abubakar directed the Private and Secondary Schools Board to seal the college immediately

to pave way for investigation. Professor Hafiz Abubakar further announced a 14 member committee under the leadership of Professor Abubakar Mustapha to investigate the allegations and turn in their report within two weeks. There was panic among guardians and parents of Hassan Ibrahim Gwarzo private boarding school yesterday following a heart touching story aired by a private

radio station on alleged rampant cases of sodomy in the college in which a 9 year old student of the college claimed he was overpowered and sexually violated by an unknown person. Similarly, the police in Kano have also launched a full blown criminal inquest to unravel the mystery surrounding the sexual assault in male dominated boarding school.

Create conducive environment for business women, groups tells El- Rufai From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

oalition of business women, Kaduna Women Advancement Forum (KAWEAF) and Quintessential Business Association (QBWA) under the auspices of Business Membership Organizations (BMOs) in Kaduna, had called on the state governor, Malam Nasir ElRufai, to create conducive avenue for business women in the state in order to improve dwindling economy of the state.

This call was made yesterday in Kaduna during the maiden gender and business dialogue platform themed: Reducing gender based business environment risks in Kaduna state, organized by the state’s Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development in conjunction with BMOs. Hajiya Aisha Musa and Victoria Aboi, representatives of KAWEAF and QBWA respectively, argued that based on the fact that women constitute over 45 percent of business

population across the 23 local government areas of the state, hence the need for government to provide strong capital base. Other problem militating against women in business include multiple taxation, certification, high cost of doing business, cultural hurdle, poor access to land, socio-political environment, healthcare among others. Responding, Governor El-Rufai, who was represented by his deputy, Architect Bala Barnabas, said more

than half of the problems mentioned have been solved as the state government has already directed all its MDAs to carry women along in all their programmes to reflect gender sensitivity promised during the election campaign. El-Rufai further suggested that they take holistic approach through collaborating with other professional and organized bodies such as National Assembly, Nigeria Bar Association and so on, to plead their course better.

“We are very committed to issues that affect women in Kaduna state which is why we are including them in key political offices. We also told them to include minimum of 30 percent women in whatever programme they are carrying out,” he said. Earlier, the Commissioner, Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Rabi Abdulsalam, urged the participants to rise up to their responsibility to collectively move the state forward.

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News

Irate youths kill two armed robbers in Bauchi

From Mijinyawa Ahmed Bauchi

rate youth in Bauchi state yesterday killed two suspected armed robbers in a mob action, who were believed to be experts in snatching motorcycles from commercial motorcyclists popularly called Okada riders in the state capital. Our correspondent gathered that the suspects attempted to snatch a motorcycle along Maiduguri road when the angry mob descended on them and beat them to a state of coma which led

to their death. The Bauchi State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Haruna Mohammed, who confirmed the incident, said the hoodlums stabbed a motorcycle rider with a knife while struggling to snatch away the motorcycle. He said “two suspected hoodlums armed with knife and pretending to be passengers opposite NIDB Building along Maiduguri road Bauchi, stopped a motorcycle rider and stabbed him with a knife at his lower abdomen and struggle to snatch

his motorcycle, but the victim overpowered them and raised alarm. “The incident attracted the attention of passersby and angry mob who beat the suspects to a state of coma. “Police detectives attached to Housing Estate Division visited the scene and rushed all the casualties to ATBU Teaching Hospital, Bauchi for medical attention and the two suspects were certified dead by the medical doctor while the victim is responding to treatment,” he said.

The police spokesman said the knife used in carrying out the attack was recovered at the scene. DSP Haruna identified the deceased suspects as Haruna Abdullahi and Burhanudeen Usman and residents of Tilden Fulani in Toro local government area of Bauchi State. Mohammed urged members of the public not to take laws into their hands whenever they arrest suspects, warning that the command will not fold its arm and watch such disregard to law and order in the state.

L-R: Former DirectorGenerals of the NYSC, Retired Brig.Gens. Soyemi Sofoluwe and Maharazu Tsiga, with the co-ordinator, NYSC FCT, Mr Olanipekun Alao, during the swearingin of 2015 Batch ‘b’ corps members at the NYSC orientation camp , yesterday in Kubwa, Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-owo

Buhari mourns Sen. Pwajok By Lawrence Olaoye

resident Muhammadu Buhari has expressed sadness over the death of the immediate past senator that represented Plateau North senatorial district and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the

April 11, 2015 election, Senator Gyang Pwajok. The President, who received the news of Senator Pwajok’s death in the course of his official engagement in India, offered heartfelt condolences to his family, the government and people of Plateau State on the passage of their illustrious son in

a statement by his Senior Special Assistant, media and publicity, Garba Shehu. Buhari believed that Pwajok’s demise was a great loss not only to Plateau State, but Nigeria as a whole, given his invaluable contributions to the enthronement of peace in his state and development of the

country. “His life touched so many people. He was loved by so many. That is why there is grief all over the state and many parts of the country,” the President said. President Buhari prayed God Almighty to comfort all who mourn Senator Pwajok and grant his soul eternal rest.

the partnership if established will provide support to over 1,800 Internally Displaced Persons who are victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast, currently living in Uhogua within Ovia federal constituency of Edo state. “Many of the IDPs had died of malnutritious diseases, while others are sick and frustrated due to their social exclusion and absence of relief materials. We will be pleased to collaborate with the United State and her agencies. We are optimistic that the relationship between the embassies and my office will bring about solution

to the key challenges plaguing our nation. The lawmaker who represents Ovia North/East and Ovia South/West federal constituency of Edo state, also called for project collaboration in the areas of power project in Uhen town, Kokhuo town and Ekewan town all in Ovia North/East local government, and Usen Siuko towns in Ovia South/West of her constituency, which she said have no access to electricity. “As I speak to you here, part of the local government in my constituents are still being referred to as the Dark

Continent, reason being that they are far from having access to electricity at this age cyber nation. Responding, the US Embassy officials, namely Messrs Marlin Hardinger and Robert Wong, both of whom are political officers as well as Mr. Ray Hotz, the economic officer of the Embassy, assured that the US was committed to seeing the end of the Boko Haram insurgency. Wong said that the US was passionate about the issue of IDPs and that they would do everything possible to support them.

Lawmaker seeks US partnership on IDPs

By Umar Muhammad Puma

lawmaker in the House of Representatives, Hon. Omosede Igbinedion (PDP Edo), has called for collaboration between the United State government, it’s agencies and her NGOs, Integrated Constituency Development Programme (ICDP), in intervening in the lives of the Internally Displaced Persons, (IDPs). Speaking when she received officers of the Embassy of the United State of America in her office, the lawmaker said

RTEAN wants FG to fix bad road network By Mohammed Usman

he national president of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), High Chief Musa Isiwele Shehu has called on the Federal Government to as a matter of priority fix the bad road network across the country. Isiwele spoke to journalists recently in his office in Abuja on the state of the nation at 55 as it affects road network in Nigeria. Though the national president admitted that the past administration tried in no all measure to address some problems on some roads in Nigeria, but was quick to urge the present administration to as a matter of importance to pick up from where its predecessor stopped. Hear him: I am older than the country’s independence, because I am 62 years old now. Nigerian roads had been very bad, but to be frank with you, the past administration has tried to address the problems in the sector. Due to the bad conditions of the roads in those years, the bad boys in Obolo Afor, Ninth Mile and Port Harcourt used to discharge the loads in some of my trucks. But today, it doesn’t happen again, because the past administration has improved on the roads. So I give kudos to the then Federal Ministry of Works. “Now, we implore the present administration to continue where the former stopped, because we still have roads that are very bad. Presently, Abuja-Okene roads are not yet completed likewise the second bridge, among others. Due to the non-completion of the dualized roads, the road users use single lane which has been causing accidents. If the roads are dualized, and each driver minds his lane, accidents on the roads will be meager. “Let the roads be completed, because the country has the money to do that. If you go to Saudi Arabia; from Jeda to Mecca, each road has seven lanes, seven for going and seven for coming, making all 14. Even in the night, you don’t need head lights; you use streetlights and no police man will arrest you for driving without headlights. So in the night you can drive without headlights. “So this is government of change and we want the change to be extended to the roads. Good road saves life; good road puts food on our tables, because we don’t have any other business more than transportation”.

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Photosplash

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Gov. Muhammed Abubakar of Bauchi State, inspecting guards of Honour during the swearing-in ceremony of the NYSC 2015 batch â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; corps members at the NYSC orientation camp, yesterday in Kangere village, Bauchi state

Newly constructed Hostels Block at Federal College of Education (technical) Bichi , under new provost , Professor Bashir Mohammed Fagge, recently in Kano

Chief Judge of Edo, Justice cromwell Idahosa (M), during a ceremony to mark the opening of the 2015/2016 legal year, yesterday in Benin City

L-R: Pastor in-Charge of Seed-Life Church, Kaduna, Dr. R.A. Ogunkunle, Mrs. Janet Oladejo, and Pastor of the Heritage Church, Mando, Kaduna, Pastor Elijah Oladejo, during the naming ceremony of their child Abigail Anuoluwa Oladejo, recently at the Heritage Church, in Kaduna. Photo: Joe Oroye

R-L: The bride Hajiya Murja Faruk, the groom, Alhaji Shamsudeeen Faruk, Alhaji Faisal Gaya, Hajiya Sadiya Mohammed, Hajiya Aisha Kabiru Gaya, and her friend, during the wedding ceremony of Hajiya Murja Faruk and Alhaji Shamsudeeen Faruk, recently in Okene, Kogi state.

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News

Lasun pledges legislative support for IPU By Umar Muhammad Puma

over the nature of the school structure. He accused some contractors and builders of using inferior building materials to construct houses or projects in the state. He assured parents of the affected students that the state government would handle the medical treatment of those injured, while the destroyed classes would be reconstructed.

“My administration would not tolerate any substandard project, I embarked on touring secondary schools to ensure that the education sector is being upgraded,” he added. Also speaking to newsmen at the scene, Principal of the school, Alhaji Abubakari Sambo, thanked the governor for the visit. He said the incident occurred

around 9am when the students were already receiving lessons. “We complained about the structure of the school during the immediate past administration but no action was taken by the then government.’’ Our correspondent gathered that the structure which was constructed two years ago by the immediate past administration was sub-standard.

eputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yusuf Sulaimon Lasun, has assured that the National Assembly would give legislative backing to the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s (IPU) convention on migration mobility. Speaking at the 133rd Assembly of the IPU in Geneva, Switzerland, Lasun, who is the leader of the Nigerian delegation, revealed that the country has always been alive to its responsibilities concerning migrants and displaced people. The deputy speaker also assured that Nigeria will continue to play leading roles on global issues, following the adoption of the African position on refugees by the Assembly on Monday. He said Nigeria would have no problem domesticating the document and back it with relevant legislative powers. “If we are going to be factual, Nigeria has always been proactive about these issues and you would recall that the House just created a standing committee on refugees. “Besides, the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, is keen on the issue of refugees and displaced people and proactive about how deliberate efforts aimed at reconstructing the northeast should be put in place. So, I don’t think this document will be difficult to domesticate”. The author of the document, Patrick Taran, President Global Migration Policy, also expressed optimism that Nigeria would not lag behind in the implementation of the document Taran, who has worked previously on the issue in Nigeria, said “It is becoming crucial to ensure the viability of economies in developed world and increasingly, a key element to development in integrated regions of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

who remove plate numbers of parked vehicles under the guise of “parking on obstruction”. Uduaghan said “we do not have any agent assigned to remove plate numbers of vehicles parked whether on obstruction or not, those agents are criminals, so far we have arrested 62 of them and handed them over to the police for persecution, we would not subscribe to illegal collections in the state”.

Investigation revealed that illegal revenue agents swoop on unsuspecting car owners including traders at various markets across the state clad in various T-shirts with inscription “Operation Arrest Illegal Parking” often times operating as genuine task collection agents, especially in Asaba and its environs. A victim, Mr. Carl Okey, who spoke to our correspondent, said “I parked by the road

properly to collect money from a nearby bank before I came out I found out that my plate numbers had been removed from my car, I ran after the agent who often go with police sergeants and they issued a receipt for me to pay N5,000 which I did before I got my plate numbers back.” He commended the state government for its prompt attention. The state government had warned all illegal agents to

hands off all forms of revenue collection in the state or face the wrath of the law but in a swift reaction, the state acting Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Charles Muka, said “the police is out to arrest illegal revenue collection agents as directed by the state government”, disclosing that over 62 suspects were currently undergoing interrogation and investigation before they would be charged to court.

Mohammed, over alleged corrupt practices. The group in a press conference addressed by Comrade Prince Afoke Okporua in Abuja on the need for the anti-corruption war to be holistic, picked on the statement credited to Network for Justice and Economic Development

which called on the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to probe Senator Bala’s stewardship in the territory. While dismissing the group as faceless and lacking in integrity, Okporua said they would have ignored their claims and request, but have rethink

given the fact that falsehood unchallenged assumes the posture of truth. Okporua noted the claims are not only diversionary but also divisionary and a figment of the imagination of the group which he said only exists in the pages of newspapers. He maintained that the good works

of Bala as FCT minister are there for everybody to see and assess. He, however, urged the present administration to make the war against corruption holist and across the board, party lines and start from 1999 as to properly tackle the menace.

Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri (R)presenting an official National Flag to His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III during a courtesy visit of the DG to the Royal Palace, on Thursday in Sokoto.

Four students injured as building collapses in Kebbi From Ahmed Idris, Birnin Kebbi

our students were critically injured, following the collapse of a building at Gwadangawaji Government Day Secondary School, Birnin Kebbi, the Kebbi State capital. Confirming the incident while fielding questions from journalists Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu expressed dismay

62 Illegal tax collectors arrested in Delta

From Osakhare Erese, Asaba

fforts by the Delta State government to rid the state of Illegal revenue collection agents on Thursday paid off as no fewer than 62 suspected agents were arrested. The Commissioner for Transport, Mr. Vincent Uduaghan, had at a press conference last Tuesday, disowned illegal tax collectors including unsuspecting agents

Group faults call for probe of ex-FCT minister, Bala By Ochiaka Ugwu

etwork of Civil Society Groups (NoCSG), an Abuja based nongovernmental organisation (NGO), has chided those calling for the probe of former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala

PAGE 14

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Crime Cycle

Mashe Umaru Gwamna pmlcrimecycle@gmail.com 08138559513

Woman uses 2-week-old baby as collateral for N20, 000 loan

ross River State Police Command has arrested one Madam Maria Ekanem, 27, for allegedly selling her two weeks old baby for twenty thousand naira. Others also arrested in connection with the alleged sale of the baby include Mrs Eno Enang, Reuben Eno and Dr Okokon Offiong. The Cross River State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP John Eluu, said the police succeeded in tracking down the culprits following a tipoff. Eluu said on getting wind of the matter, a team of detectives from the Federal Housing Police Station in Calabar, swung into action and finally nabbed the suspects. He said: “We got a tipoff on the crime a week ago and immediately swung into action which led to the arrest of the five suspects. “Four members of the syndicate had negotiated the sale of the baby for N20, 000 with Ms. Maria Ekanem, mother of the child.” The PPRO said investigation was still in progress and when completed the suspects would be charged to court for prosecution. In her reactioin, the mother of the child denied selling her baby for N20, 000, insisting that she only used her two weeks old baby as collateral to get money for food Narrating her story, Maria said: “When I was pregnant I almost aborted the child but I summoned courage and delivered the baby but after giving birth there was no money and I approached one Dr. Okokon for financial help to buy food and feed the family. “Later Dr Okokon directed me to hand over the baby to Matron Eno, who runs a private clinic and it was while doing the exchange that the Police came and arrested us, I am innocent,” she said.

Abuja police shatter onechance robbery gang

he Federal Capital Territory (FCT), police command, has arrested a gang of criminals who specializes in using commercial taxis to rob innocent passengers.  The robbery suspects, who are now in police custody, are said to operate the popular “one chance vehicle”, and station their vehicles at popular bus stops where they carry desperate passengers only to rob them half way into their journey. The suspects, totaling nine persons according to the Public Relations Officer in charge of the FCT, police command, ASP Anjuguri Manzah, were arrested at various parts of the city following intelligence report and complaints from victims. Those arrested include Adams Maina, Yau Abubakar, Abdul Adamu, Ada Oyigotho, Ibrahim Abba, Kenneth Okonkwo, Chijioke Elom, Chibuike Nnaji and Habeeb Hassan.  Items recovered from them at the time of their arrest include two operational vehicles, a Honda Civic with registration number RBC 135 TJ and one unpainted Golf 2, vehicle with registration number YLA 989 AA. Also recovered from the suspects are various brands of mobile telephone handsets, tools, knives and other weapons. Anjuri, said that, in Abuja, apart from robbing innocent

passengers at gun point while on motion, some members of the gang, operate in bus stops, motor parks, markets, shopping malls and other highly populated places to rob people of their handbags, handsets, laptops, monies and other valuables while posing to be passengers or customers as the case may be. In an interview after parading the suspects before news men, some of the suspects, added that, they had to take into the crime due to lack of good job, even though they are willing to work. They said they have been in Abuja for sometime and struggling to survive and that they were lured unto the illegal business because of the profit in it.  They said on a good day, they get as high as N20,000, each, especially when they rob people that are just coming from the banks. On how they rob their victims at bus stops and those they carry in their illegal taxis, they said they resume duty everyday at about 7am, in the morning and carry out their duty and work late into the night before closing for the day. At the bus stops, they said they pretend to be passengers waiting to board vehicle and snatch hand bags and handsets and other valuables. In other not to be caught, they said, they would quickly pass the snatched items from their victims and

IG, Solomon Arase pass it quickly to their members who will then leave the scene to a safer place. With this, he says not even the police can accuse them of stealing since the item stolen has been taken away by their colleagues. On how they rob passengers they carry in their vehicles, they said they usually target bank premises, shopping malls and other busy areas wherepeople are waiting to board commercial vehicle. After carrying the passengers, they said they would drive to busy

roads like the Kubwa express road and the airport roads where they force the passengers to surrender their valuables at gun point or pointing a dagger at them. After taking their valuables, they would then push their victim out of the moving vehicle and zoom off. However,they also confessed that they usually throw off the bags off the express road after ransacking it of all valuable. The police PRO said the suspects would soon be charged to court as soon as investigation into the matter is concluded.

Confirming the arrest, the Ogun State Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said investigation into the matter was ongoing. “The arrest is true. The case has been transferred to the SCID, and it is being handled by the Anti-human trafficking department. The suspects are still undergoing investigation. During our investigations, we

will get across to the parents and find out the circumstances that led to the disappearance of their babies. “We will also get across to the NCS authorities to show the level of complicity of their officer. I cannot disclose the suspect’s name, because we are still investigating. He was arrested with the wife,” Oyeyemi said.

Police arrest Customs officer wife for buying 4-day-old twin babies for N500, 00

he Ogun State Police Command has arrested an officer of the Nigerian Customs Service, Azeez, alongside his wife for allegedly buying a set of 4 day-old twin babies for N500, 000 in the Sango Ota area of the state. Azeez, and his wife were reportedly detained by police officers attached to the Sango Division recently and the babies were recovered from them. Azeez, who confessed to the crime, said he purchased the babies when his wife could not give birth to a second child after 23 years of marriage. According to the report, a police source said, “The incident happened recently. The police got a tip-off that the couple had gone to Ibadan, Oyo State, to buy twin babies for N500, 000. We then moved in on them and discovered it was true. “The twins were just four

days old on the day of the arrest. We have not seen the parents yet. “The customs man said in his statement that he and his wife already had a child together but they had tried to have a second child for 23 years and so they decided to purchase the twins. The suspect told the police that he paid N500, 000 for the babies. The babies had been with the police until Friday, when they were transferred to Abeokuta. “The suspects were taken to the anti-kidnapping section of the SCID. It is possible that the parents of the babies connived with the suspects because they have refused to show up since the day of the arrest. But the babies are doing very fine.” The couple has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Command headquarters in Eleweran, Abeokuta for further investigation.

POLICE DIARY

Security is a collective responsibility. Partner with the Police command to fight and provide security for all. Promote Community Partnership in preventing and controlling social disorder in the society Police

Emergency Numbers in the FCT

08032003913, 08061581936, 07057337653, 0802840883

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

PAGE 15

Interview

Katsina needs N45bn to redeem education sector – Radda

ack of employment is one of the major problems of our youths; what do you have in store in that

regard? People should understand that government is not a major employer of labour anywhere in the world. It is only in Nigeria and this part of the country that government is becoming the major source of employment, but honestly speaking government is not the major employer of labour; what the government does is to create an enabling environment for private enterprises to operate and when you create that kind of environment the private sector will improve and when local and foreign investors come and invest their resources creating companies directly and indirectly, things will be much better. As I am talking to you now, there are a lot of private companies that are coming to Katsina State to invest. Especially with regards to cattle rustling, what is the government doing to ensure effective security in the state? The government of Katsina State is doing everything to ensure adequate security for the citizens, you know it is on record that state governors of the northwest met and contribute their resources to see how they can curb this cattle rustlers and banditry in their states including my state Katsina, therefore efforts are being intensified and Masari’s commitment in that direction is quite evident. Among so many efforts, Katsina State is providing vehicles to Jibia, Safana, and Batsari borders to curb out criminal vices in the state. What are the priority policies and programmes of your government? I said it that one of the policies is an open door policy and that the major thrust of the government is education and the governor said it three times that agriculture is an area that employs about 90% of our population and most of these farmers are those that farm for their living, thus agriculture is our major source of employment so the best thing the government could do given the level of employment is to develop agriculture in the sense that people can stand on their own and be able to use the best practices in the world to achieve the best output. We are also planning how government will empower the people given that there

Alhaji Dikko Umar Radda is the chief of staff to Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State. In this interview, he described the present administration of the state as a lifeline for Katsina people and called for personal commitment by everyone for it to succeed

Radda

“

It was really disheartening, we took stock of education as a sector where we found out that over 80% of the pupils of Katsina were sitting on the floor. We found out from the estimates we got from the education committee that the state needs to invest about N45billion naira to put education in the right situation.

is a lot of poverty in this country especially in and Katsina ranks about 31st poorest even though it has been number nine in the hierarchy of collection of federal government allocation; but still our people are poor;

how do we change this, better than trying to empower people with small enterprises. Would you say the administration has done enough from its inception towards meeting

people’s aspirations? Honestly speaking the government has done a lot in terms of planning, as what we did as government when we came into power was to assess the situation in different sectors of the economy. We x-rayed education, agriculture, health sector, water supply and other essential services; what we saw was disheartening with the money government collected in the past eight years with the excess crude of about N76 billion the State received in those years. It was really disheartening, we took stock of education as a sector where we found out that over 80% of the pupils of Katsina were sitting on the floor. We found out from the estimates we got from the education committee that the state needs to invest about N45billion naira to put education in the right situation. In fact had it been that the 76 billion naira excess crude oil revenue was used in improving educational standard and other infrastructures, Katsina State would have been among the best in the country. Since before the coming in of this government, when we were campaigning, we set up a committee tagged restoration project on about nine sectors of the economy and they have looked and x-rayed those sectors. After we came into being we tried to assess the level of damage in every sector and we were able to get that; the governor has said it during his 100 days in office broadcast. Now all hands are on the deck day and night planning to see how we can face up the development in these aspects like how long will it take us to restore education; how long it will take us to put agriculture into the best practice that it is supposed to be; how we’ll empower our youths to also create jobs. What we are doing now is planning, and given the dwindling economy of the country, the revenue has degenerated to the lowest level. Katsina is receiving almost N4billion Naira and this month we collected about N3.3billion and after payment of salaries and overhead cost, the state will be left with N300millon to work with. What is your message to the people of Katsina State? My only message is, government cannot do this alone, people have to be responsible, we have to take responsibility on most of these things in order to address criminal vices in all parts of the country

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Page 16

Interview

‘Southern Nigeria dependent on North’ Contd from Pg 2

good use, whether we export it or not, we should use it to subsidize the cost of production in all sectors of the nation’s economy. As you know, the cost of petroleum products affects everything in the economy. Of course, we know that we are operating a high cost economy, therefore, how do we compete with China? I give you example; a young handsome man like you in Anambra State started a metal manufacturing after his graduation from the university. But due to lack of adequate government policy to protect local industries, same products like his flooded the market from China at a price one third (1/3) his cost of production. So, he had no option than to close shop and join the army of unemployed seeking unavailable jobs in the country. Today, we cannot compete in the world market with other manufacturers due to high cost of production in Nigeria. Therefore, we must as a matter of urgency take a detailed look at the situation. To start with, our high cost of production must be dealt with, we must also use what we have to get what we want, what we have is crude oil and what we want is industrial power. The only way to get there is to use petroleum products to reduce the cost of production. Then we look at the economy by asking this pertinent question, why is cost of production in Nigeria high? First: power, second, infrastructural deficit, third, labour cost and other factors. So, we need to study that and impose what I may call ‘Infant Economy Import Levy’ may be 20 0r 50 per cent. Everything that comes into Nigeria from outside must be levied, then we study sector by sector, the cost of production and also impose sector by sector production duties. Before we move to identify the problems in agriculture, manufacturing, services, mining and industrial sectors and begin to proffer solutions to them with the view to reversing the trend. We have what it takes intellectually and materially to be great as a nation. We have the material, we have the weather and we have the soil. We are not cheated by God in any way, on the contrary, God designed Nigeria for unsurpassed greatness, it is our own people who are messing up God’s design for Nigeria. God wants us to be the big brother in Africa and the rallying point for the entire black race. Let us

not begin to condemn and defame the incumbent administration, they are not doing very well or seem to know what to do because the problem is beyond them and sadly enough, they did not cause the rot. The price of crude oil depreciated because God wants to help us wake up from under-developed and inactive slumber. Are you bothered about the refusal of government to reduce pump price of petroleum products despite the continual depreciation of the price at international market? I do not know if eighty seven naira (N87) per litre will be high or low when converted in line with the current price at the international market but what I am advocating is that it should be pegged at forty (N40) or fifty naira (N50) per litre irrespective of the price at the international market. Or rather, government should look at the conversion rate and probably add small amount to it with the view to reducing cost of production in the country. This is because every activity in the economy is dependent on petroleum products. Was the delay in the appointment of ministers by the incumbent administration justifiable? No, it is not justifiable, for a government to be in place for one month without ministers is not good enough. I had said it severally that what we have in the country today is a democracy and not a dictatorship but what we are witnessing now is dictatorship. President Buhari should understand that this is a democracy and therefore its tenets and creeds must be adhered to. Can we then attribute his delay in appointment of ministers to his

“

Ezeife

views and conviction that ministers are noise makers? Let us not kill our President, though it is very-very bad for a president to say that ministers are noise makers. Don’t you think or believe that Mr. President was joking when he made that statement? It is bad to say things that can affect or hurt others even jokingly but I do not think that we should overemphasize the saying that ministers are noise makers. I had criticized some of his policy directions and actions as a president but it is not anything that comes out of the mouth of an executive that we will use to fight him. Ministers are serious and responsible citizens and not noise makers, Buhari knows that they are not and he did not wish that we should use that side talk, which he did not even take seriously to persecute him. There are notions in certain quarters that the anti corruption crusade of the present administration is selective, do you share similar sentiment? Not only do I believe that Buhari has the track record that qualifies him to fight corruption, I also believe that his anti graft policy is serious, determined and will succeed. I know that some people had in the past attempted

to fight corruption, but no President before now actually fought corruption. Fighting your enemy is not fighting corruption and that is where Buhari must make sure he does not make a mistake. He has made a mistake already, in the case of Saraki, something that happened many years ago. If Saraki was not the Senate President or did not get to that position in the manner he did, will anybody drag him to Code of Conduct Tribunal? Such dirty politics should stop, it is on its own a corruption of the anti corruption crusade, but that is isolated. We pray that he lives it isolated and not use it to fight his perceived enemy in the name of fight against corruption. Buhari can fight corruption, Buhari has taken anti corruption crusade as his cardinal policy and Buhari will succeed in that fight for the benefit of the country. Go to the NNPC, the monumental stealing that was going on there has to a very large extent stopped. Impunity has also gone down because people are afraid that they will be called to answer for their actions and inactions; if things continue this way, our respect as a country and people will be restored amongst the comity of nations. As you know, thieves are not respected anywhere.

Let us not kill our President, though it is very-very bad for a president to say that ministers are noise makers. Don’t you think or believe that Mr. President was joking when he made that statement? It is bad to say things that can affect or hurt others even jokingly but I do not think that we should overemphasize the saying that ministers are noise makers. I had criticized some of his policy directions and actions as a president but it is not anything that comes out of the mouth of an executive that we will use to fight him.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Contd from Back Page

thus in a confidential report by H.W Kulkam, the Chief Instructor of the College:”Tall, slim, and well-turned out, Buhari is a quiet, unassuming and honest individual.” Major General S.P Malhotra, Commandant of the College, on his part, had written: “Sober and balanced. Straightforward, simple and mature.” Memories are made of such. In almost all the countries he has visited, President Buhari always spared the time to interact with Nigerians in the Diaspora, at the grounds of the Nigerian Embassy or High Commission. It was not different in New Delhi. Ambassador ‘Sola Enikanolaiye, the acting High Commissioner of Nigeria to India had put together an impressive assemblage of professionals, postgraduate students, businessmen, indeed, Nigerians from all walks of life. He reeled out the many ways in which the High Commission supports Nigerians in India, and from the way he was repeatedly hailed, he seems quite popular with the people. Nigerians asked many questions. The President answered them all. And he gave them his usual charge: be law abiding. Don’t lord it over your hosts. Obey the rules. Be good ambassadors of Nigeria. From the High Commission, it was time to meet with the CEOs of Indian companies, particularly those who do, or are aspiring to do business in Nigeria. All the big names in pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, construction, manufacturing, power, oil and gas, agriculture, and many other sectors, were there. They spoke earnestly. The President responded frankly. New vistas were opened, promises were made. A very rewarding session, if you ask me. That parley did not end without President Buhari warning the Indian businessmen not to connive with unscrupulous people to send substandard food and pharmaceutical products to Nigeria. To show how dear this was to the heart of the Nigerian president, it formed part of his paper at the plenary session of the summit the next day. Thursday was the main day, in which 41 heads of government gathered at the Indira Gandhi Stadium for the high point of the summit. After a colourful opening session of cultural display, Prime Minister Modi took the floor. He underscored the raison d’être of the summit: “The dreams of one-third of humanity have come together under one roof. Today, the heartbeat of 1.25 billion Indians and 1.25 billion Africans are in rhythm.” He said further:”India is honoured to be a development partner for Africa. It is a partnership beyond strategic and economic benefits. It is formed from the emotional bonds we share, and the solidarity we feel for each other.” Modi backed his position with statistics. In the past few years, trade between Africa and India has more than doubled to over $70 billion. India is now a major source of business investment in Africa, and 34 African countries enjoy duty free access to the

Page 17

Saturday Column

A Passage to India

President Buhari (1st L) during the visit

Indian market. The country has equally committed $7.4 billion in concessional credit and $1.2 billion in grants since the first summit held in 2008. In the immediate future, according to Modi, concessional credit of $10 billion would be given to Africa within five years, while grant assistance will total $600 million. The presidents spoke one after the other. Trust Robert Mugabe, who spoke in his capacities as Zimbabwean president and chairman of African Union, he used the opportunity to fire darts at the West. According to him, one-third of the world’s population must be respected, therefore, the United Nations must become the United Equal Nations, with its Charter amended. Chairperson of the AU Commission, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, submitted that Africa and India could no longer be rationally excluded from the permanent seat of the UN Security Council, a position supported by almost all the presidents. One thread ran through the presentation of nearly all the African leaders. This was a good time to promote cooperation between Africa

“

and India. South-south cooperation must not just be political slogan, but an opportunity for the countries to meet their growing challenges. “Africa needs mutual partnerships leading to development, rather than aids,” submitted King Mohammed VI of Morocco. Idris Deby Itno of Chad said India and Africa had had mutual exchanges since time immemorial, stressing that partnership will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). President Muhammadu Buhari said India and most African countries have similar historical experiences, and the summit was an opportunity to review what had been achieved since 2008, stressing:”India and Africa must develop new spirit of solidarity to confront challenges.” He equally brought the message home, saying:”As a government, we have demonstrated our strong determination to change the direction and content of governance, including the management of our resources through accountability, transparency, and result-orientation in governance. We are confident that India, as a tested

friend and dependable partner, will always stand shoulder to shoulder with us in the discharge of the mandate entrusted to us by our people.” With the summit over, and planning to return home, I sent text messages to my friends in Nigeria, saying since I was in the land of talisman, they should indicate the type they wanted. The responses were rib-cracking, but you can’t beat this one from Steve Nwosu, Deputy Managing Director/ Deputy Editor-in-Chief of The Sun Newspapers. He wrote: “Get me a money doubling ring. They call it evergreen pocket. Every money you spend finds its way back to your pocket. Hahahaha.” No doubt, India and Africa are onto a strong partnership that may be enduring, mutually beneficial, with strong implications for development. That is the true talisman; ever potent, ever sure. Adesina is Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, to President Buhari

He equally brought the message home, saying:”As a government, we have demonstrated our strong determination to change the direction and content of governance, including the management of our resources through accountability, transparency, and result-orientation in governance.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Page 18

Politics

We support Senators’ walk-out on Amaechi - PDP Caucus By Ahmed Abubakar

he National Caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the walk-out protest by PDP Senators during the confirmation of Rotimi Amaechi for ministerial appointment shows a collective stand against corruption. PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh stated this while briefing newsmen on the resolutions of the PDP national caucus meeting held at late hours of

Thursday, in Abuja. Metuh said confirmation of Amaechi’s nomination as minister of the federal government of Nigeria by the Senate was an indication of insincerity of the All Progressives Congress (APC) fight against corruption. “We salute the courage and unity of purpose of our senators, especially as demonstrated in the Senate chamber on Thursday, in their collective stand against impunity and corruption in line with the wishes

and aspirations of Nigerians. “The PDP states that what the APC senators did on Thursday finally put a death nail on their party`s Presidential war against corruption. “While the APC former Governors are being rewarded with ministerial appointments in spite of cases of corrupt charges on them, the PDP former Governors are being handed on a selective war against corruption,” Metuh said. The party according to Metuh

called on President Muhammadu Buhari as leader of Nigeria to stand up for justice and equity in the country. “Mr President should hurt the undemocratic attitudes of some agents of government in the interest of peace and stability,” he said. Metuh said that the caucus identified the judiciary handling election petitions in some states particularly Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Imo, Taraba, Ogun, Plateau and Lagos states as provocative.

“ PDP notes that the outcome is a consequence of the arm-twisting from the nation’s security operatives under the direct command of APC.” He said that the PDP and Nigerians wondered why it was necessary to interfere with the composition of Rivers state Tribunal. Metuh added that the party was worried over several harassment of the Resident Electoral Commissions of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on election petition matters.

We’ll sustain election feat for democratic growth – REC From Osakhare Erese, Asaba

he Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Delta State, Elder Abasi Aniedi Ikoiwak says the commission would sustain and add value to the laudable feat as the commission has resolved to provide electoral services necessary for entrenching democracy in the state and in the state and country. Elder Ikoiwak while speaking with our correspondent in Asaba, said the affirmation of the Delta State Election results by the Election Petition Tribunal was a credit to the commission and dispelled all forms of irregularities associated with the commission in the past as untrue. According to him “All the elections result up held by the Delta State Elections Petition Tribunal from the House of Assembly to the Governorship Election of the last general elections, were an enhanced credibility to the commission” saying that over the years the need for a permanent venue for carrying special activities of the commission had assumed a critical dimension. The State INEC Boss however pledged to sustain an add value to the laudable feat the commission has recorded in her resolve to provide electoral services necessary for entrenching democracy. He decried inadequate accommodation as staff career progression as major challenges befalling the commission in the state and appealed to the leadership of INEC at the federal level to ameliorate the problem aimed at enhancing the welfare of INEC staff in the state. He said “A situation where at every turn of event the Independence of the commission is infringed upon is not right for the system” saying that the commission according to the law is an independent commission which ought to take decisions regarding the employment, discipline, and promotion of staff.

L-R: Commissioner of Police for Ebonyi, Mr Peace Abdalla; Managing Director, Enugu Electricity Development Company (EEDC) Mr Robert Dickerman; Gov. Dave Umahi of Ebonyi; Chief Executive officer, EEDC, Sir Emeka Offor, and others, during the inauguration of two hilux vans donated by EEDC to Ebonyi Police Command, yesterday in Abakaliki

Group urges former lawmaker to shed political ambition By Patience Paul

youth group, Ezeagu Youth Agenda (EYA), has called on former member of the House of Representatives from Udi/Ezeagu federal constituency of Enugu state, Hon Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, to shed what they called ‘his inordinate and overreaching political ambition’ in the overall interests of his people. According to the group, their people have continued to watch with considerable concern and utter dismay Hon Ozomgbachi futile bid

to regain the House seat which he lost to Hon. Oguerinwa Amadi in a transparently free, fair and credible contest early this year. A press statement issued by the group and signed by its chairman, Comrade Amobi Okemiri, said, “We of the EYA are quite perturbed that after spending a lengthy 12 years in the National Assembly, a selfaggrandizing Hon Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi does not feel that it is incumbent upon him to allow other more qualified and more conscientious personalities to assume the mantle of credibly and effectively representing our

constituency. “It is time to convey the bitter and foreboding truth to Hon Ozomgbachi in clear and unequivocal terms: The entire people of Udi/Ezeagu federal constituency are totally fed up with his self-serving, self-imposing, self-perpetuating and self-seeking leadership style, which has brought scant dividends of democracy to our long-suffering people and has only served to vastly empower and enrich the clannish, cabalistic and sycophantic interests surrounding a self arrogating and self important Hon Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi”.

mosque, report that policemen and members of religious aid groups conducted search on worshippers at the only entrance to the mosque that was open. All the other entrances were closed at 12 noon. The Chief Imam of the Mosque, Mallam Mohammad Ibn- Usman, whose sermon dwelt on condolence to families of those who lost their lives in the bomb blast, lauded the turn out and the conduct of the worshippers.

He urged Muslim faithful not to relent in their prayers for peace in Nigeria especially in the North-East. The cleric stressed the need for the people to support the security agencies to ensure security of lives and property In a related development, ASP Ahmed Suleiman, the Chief Imam of Police Barracks Jum’at Mosque Yola, told NAN that all the gates into the mosque would be shut by 2 pm. (NAN)

Worshippers turn out en-masse to observe Juma’at in bombed Jambutu mosque

n spite of Oct. 23 bomb blast outside the new mosque in Jambutu area of Yola which claimed many lives, worshippers turn out enmasse to observe Juma’at congregational prayer at the mosque on Friday. ``Many of us deliberately came here to tell the terrorists that they cannot intimidate us”, a worshipper who simply identified himself as Habibu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). NAN correspondent who prayed at the

PAGE 19

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Tourism

IITA Forest Ibadan: Birdwatchers’ paradise Golf course at IITA

he International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is a research and training institute for students, as well as professionals in the area of agricultural research. Located just a few kilometers northward of Ibadan city, the institute is not only a research site, but also a huge leisure estate that is well known as a birdwatchers’ paradise. In response to specific development needs, IITA works with research and development partners to deliver research outputs that are achieving an initial outcome. They then use this research outcome to excite and attract more partners who will ultimately take charge of upscaling and outscaling the technologies by broadening participation and increasing the chances of success and ultimate development impact. Much of IITA’s 1000-hectare campus is used for scientific research on improving food production in Africa. A third of the campus consists of unspoiled tropical forest, a natural preserve for birds and other fauna, a lake about 3 km long, developed to provide irrigation water and attract hundreds of species of resident and migratory birds. The lake has been spawned with various fish species and is a lodestone for anglers. Guides are available for visitors wishing to take a tour of the forest, try their luck at angling in the lake, or watching for rare migrating birds. Educational and recreational facilities IITA is in an area of outstanding natural beauty covering 1000 hectares and this includes rain forest, lakes and the research laboratories. There is a fully equipped medical unit, water treatment plant, and power generators. IITA offers recreational facilities such as swimming pool which is adjacent to the Snack Bar, just relax and soak up the rays or take a cool dip. It also has a pool table available for use inside the I-House. Cue sticks and cue chalk is obtainable from the reception

desk. Other sporting facilities at the institute include a 9-hole golf course, football pitch, badminton court, lawn tennis court, table tennis, squash, and fishing at the institute’s lake. Also available is a bike ride and opportunities for children to play in a safe and secure environment. IITA forest accommodation I-House, with its 108 well furnished rooms, spacious dormitory facilities, and a conference hall is an ideal venue for organizing workshops, retreats, team building exercises, or a relaxing weekend with the family. Active visitors can go fishing or just stroll around the lake while less active visitors can kick back at the pool or in one of the bars. IITA’s hotel rooms are in three categories namely; Superior Rooms, Standard Rooms and Flatlets. Equipped with an en-suite bathroom, satellite television, direct dial telephone, data dial socket, room temperature control, shaver socket in bathroom fully equipped kitchen for self-catering, the hotel offers the perfect atmosphere for a pleasant experience. IITA Forest reserves and bird-watching The forest reserve is a mature Guinea-Congo lowland rainforest with scattered emergent. Thick climbers grow in openings where the secondary nature of the forest is most apparent, with clumps of Terminalia spp., Bambusa vulgaris, Elaeis gurlensis (Oil palm), Ceiba spp., Milicia spp. The reserve also boasts of a small lake for water sports such as canoeing and fishing. Also a total of over 300 species of birds have been recorded in the reserve and some of them include Ibadan Malimbe (Malimbus ibadanensis), Great snipe (Gallinago media), Phyllastrephus baumanni and a diverse assemblage of Pale arctic water winter birds at the site. The forest is a good place for birdwatching because of numerous species of tropical birds. Cometonigeria.com

Forest Lake at IITA Ibadan

Spacious lawns at IITA

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

PAGE 20

Homes

By Miriam Humbe

Make your bathrooms bold and brilliant

nyone who remembers the seventies, or has lived in a house from the decade, will no doubt shudder when it is suggested that bright and bold colours should be used in the bathroom. Unfortunately, mustard yellow wallpaper and lime green linoleum floors scared many and significantly damaged the reputation of bold colours in bathroom dĂŠcor. Today, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time to bury your fears, and, to put it bluntly, move on. Bold colours, when applied in the right way can transform the bathroom into a memorable feature. The first golden rule, select a colour you are going to like in ten years. This is a difficult prediction, and no one has a crystal ball, but if you have any hesitation towards a colour scheme now, in a couple of years, you will truly hate it. Robust colour is a different design game, compared to working with shades. Bold colours will be dominant, before we go any further, make sure you are prepared to

like black, is always in fashion. Navy is easy on the eye and easily complimented by other colours. When applied liberally, the result is audacious, but at the same time, elegant. Applying bold colour, on interior walls, and across decoration and accessories within the space, will provide a strong sense of composition. Power to the pastel Pastels are not often thought to be bold colours. However, combining sweet pink tones, with musk yellow, results in a sugar sweet pop of daring colour. To avoid pastels looking prudish, combine contrasting colours. The effect will be cheeky and modern. Use colour across different bathroom elements to enhance the contrast further. Creating contrast will also ensure a potentially pale interior, sustains depth and animation. Sometimes less is more While it is completely in order to support and encourage liberal applications of attention seeking colours, somelove your chosen colour scheme for many years to come. If the above warning has not scared you, and all this colour talk is making you experience a decorating buzz, here is some inspiration and advice. Lush Lemon Avoid a flashback to peeling mustard wallpaper, work with lemon yellow. Lemon is very much on trend at the moment, and when teamed with a complimentary crisp white, it will create a refreshingly cheerful interior. Bathroom tiles are a manageable way to applying bold colours. Using the shower cavity as a colour zone is an effective way to create boundary. Make sure you install a framed glass shower screen instead of a curtain. This will ensure your colour application is always in view. A Pivotech shower screen is perfect for the job. Navy never goes out of fashion If you are nervous about bold colour application, navy is a style safety zone. Navy,

times, less is more. If you are drawn to an extraordinarily dynamic hue, such as a florescent, it will be most effective if you strategically select the area of application. Below, the dominant green bathtub is effective and fashionable, because it is not challenged by other colours, nor is green applied across multiple surfaces. If you want to be so bold as to design with fluorescent colours, be discerning and you will achieve a smart looking bathroom. Balance If you want to go all out, applying colour across almost every bathroom surface, there must still be a balance within the interior. Use mirrors and glass to relieve colour application and avoid needing to increase your palette. Mirror frames and shower screens from Pivotech are an effective solution to achieving a subtle break in colour. www.pivotech.com.

d n e k e e W

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ent m n i a t r e t n E

Fashion

s Beauty Tip

d Kannywoo

Hollywood

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Bollywood

PAGE 21

Michael Jackson is worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s topearning dead celebrity

PG 37

Funke Adesiyan goes to American film academy

PG 36

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

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Your Body, Image & U

What you eat says a lot about your body image With Jacqui Iwu bwreforms@gmail.com 08184825606 (sms only)

lot of people feel what they feed their body is not vital and they can eat whatever they lay their hands on. Again, food must not be when you eat a whole pot of cooked food and drink whatever you see. Food could even be small but very healthy chops. Those who enjoy snacking can also feed on healthy snacks. Some nutritionist will disagree that snacking is healthy. This is because lots of people who love snacks hardly go for healthy ones. Cooked or fried groundnuts with fresh garden eggs are all healthy snacks. Roasted unripe plantain is good too. The only problem with roasted plantain is the unhygienic way it is prepared by road side sellers, if you have a barbecue equipment, you can do your roasted plantain on your own and add other items like fish and beef to spice it up depending on your taste. A combination of fried groundnuts and fresh banana is a also a healthy snack and can be used as food. There are so many healthy snacks so, I totally disagree that snacking is not healthy, it all depends on what you snack on. Those who feed on too much baked foods and flavoured drinks suffer from the bad effects of snacking. Lots of people love to eat cakes, pies, doughnuts, chinchin, biscuits, and all sorts

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

The thing with baked foods is that they go well with sweetened drinks so those who enjoy eating too much of them hardly drink water, but rely more on cola and other fizzy drinks which contain lots of caffeine and sugar.

of things, while forgetting to take fresh fruits and water. The thing with baked foods is that they go well with sweetened drinks so those who enjoy eating too much of them hardly drink water, but rely more on cola and other fizzy drinks which contain lots of caffeine and sugar. Drinks with just caffeine and sugar are not healthy at all. They are just empty calories and have no nutritional value. Those of you who love fruits like watermelon, oranges, coconut are on the right track. If you break the coconut yourself, enjoy the water. Coconut water flush out toxins and enrich your skin texture. These fruits can be used as food and your body will get all the nourishment it needs. They will also make your skin glow. There are people you see, especially women and you think that they use very expensive skin

products, but if you examine them closely, they feed more on fruits and vegetables. Such women also drink lots of clean water to moisturizse/hydrate the skin both in and out. If you are a man and you drink lots of alcohol, you must make regular water drinking your companion. You must not rely on just the one glass of water you drink during your lunch or dinner, but must drink plenty water starting with your breakfast. Water will help reduce the bad effects of the alcohol in your vital organs like the kidney/liver/ heart. Please do not use water as an excuse to drown in alcohol. This will backfire in your face some day. Try to reduce the amount of alcohol you take and drink more water. There are men you see with very crinky and dry skin, such men tend to con-

sume too much alcohol and apart from the damages done to the kidney/liver/heart, it dries up your skin and makes you look older than your age. The worst kind of alcohol are the dry ones like gin, brandy, vodka, whiskey etc. It does not matter how expensive or refined these alcoholic drinks are, they are still unhealthy when consumed too much. Those who drink beer can always check the number of bottles they take in a day and must not make beer consumption a regular stuff. How about wine? Different wines have their alcoholic contents and some are much healtheir than others. Wines are made from grapes which are basically fruits, but their production process matters a lot, making some more healthier than others. Red wine is much healtier than other types of wine, but

stay away from wines with high alcoholic contents. I personally get very bad headache when I drink some types of white/dry wine in small quantity so, I keep away from white wine even if it is one glass. If this happens to you each time you consume any wine product, stay away from such wine. It means they are not good for your body. Champagnes are good, but also contain alcohol as well so do not pride yourself as one who can afford to drink champagne and then feel it is healthy. The alcohol in them are equally as bad as the ones in other alcoholic drinks. Those who come from countries where most wines are being produced tend to benefit more from getting them fresher than some of us in this part of the world. Coming back to solid foods, those who cook their own food and also understand various food nutrients tend to eat healthy because they know how to combine their food items. Someone who eats eba/amala/tuwo every day, morning, afternoon/night does not understand what eating healthy is. These are basically carbs that must be combined with some protien so that you can have a balanced diet. Knowing how to combine your food makes your diet rich/healthy. Carbs are just for energy and weight gain. The foods that nourishes your body and gives it a good look are protein/fruits/vegetables plus plenty of water. Jacqui Iwu is a Life/ Career/Business Coach A Stress Management Expert &Conference Speaker Media Relations Personnel BLOG: http//bluntjacqui.blogspot.com FACEBOOK: Beautifulwoman.column TWITTER: @ JacquiWORLD

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Page 23

Womanhood

Senator Khairat Gwadabe: Outstanding among her equals

t was late last year when the federal government mooted the idea of a National Conference which would afford Nigerians the opportunity to come together and discuss their future after some 100 years of existence occasioned by the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates in 1914. To achieve this aim, President Goodluck Jonathan has set up a committee, led by Dr. Femi Okurounmu, to prepare the blueprint for a National Conference within one month after which the government would determine how the talk shop would be conducted. The presidency chose Dr. Okurounmu, an engineer and a former university lecturer who was also a senator of the federal republic between 1999 and 2003. Dr. Akilu Indabawa was named to serve as the secretary of the committee. The other members of the committee, according to a statement by Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyiam Pius Anyiam were Prof. George Obiozor and Prof. Ben Nwabueze. Sen. Khairat Abdulrazaq-Gwadabe, a former member of the National Assembly also featured prominently on the list. For this elegant amazon, it is a true story of ‘who the cap fits’, not just because of the beautiful niche she has carved for herself with her unique fashion statement but because of her innumerable achievements in the many endeavours of life she has found herself. Born in 1962 and married to a handsome former military officer, Khairat Abdulrazaq-Gwadabe was elected Senator for the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja Senator Khairat Abdulrazak-Gwadabe constituency, at the on-set of the Fourth Republic in 1999. She ran on the platform of the People’s For this elegant amazon, it is a true story Democratic Party (PDP), defeatof ‘who the cap fits’, not just because ing many opponents to clinch the position. At the National Assemof the beautiful niche she has carved bly on the floor of the red chamber, Senator Gwadabe distinfor herself with her unique fashion stateguished herself as a vocal voice for ment but because of her innumerable the helpless and sponsored many bills. She successfully held that ofachievements in the many endeavours fice spanning from May 1999 to May 2003. of life she has found herself. Senator Khairat Gwadabe is

“

a woman of distinction indeed. Born in Ilorin in April 1962, she studied law at the University of Lagos and became a legal practitioner. Her election into the senate in 1999 was her first venture into politics. Having taken her seat in the Senate, she was appointed to committees on the Environment, Health, Women Affairs (chairman), Federal Character, Tourism and Culture and Federal Capital Territory. She was a member of the Panel of Review of Nigeria Customs and Excise. Khairat, an outstanding woman among her peers, was once again a contender to regain her Senatorial seat. In 2003, she contested a senatorial seat on the platform of the PDP but lost in the primaries but was not given the ticket. Some people believe that this may not have been unconnected to her previous support for a move to impeach President Olusegun Obasanjo. But in such a swift move that dazzled her political supporters and opponents, in January 2003 she announced that she was moving to the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) due to what she termed as unfair treatment by the PDP. In August 2005, after about some six years into her marriage, Senator Abdulrazak-Gwadabe made her husband proud when she gave birth to her first child, a boy, at a hospital in Miami, Florida in USA. She was aged 46. The father of the new baby, Colonel Lawan Gwadabe, was former military governor of Niger State. As of December 2011, Senator AbdulrazakGwadabe was the Chairman of the Senators Forum, through which former and serving senators shared their knowledge and experience. Her wealth of experience propelled President Goodluck Jonathan to name her among the prominent persons who would prepare the blue print needed to start the national dialogue for the unity of this country. At the National Conference, Senator Gwadabe is making her mark as a resounding legal luminary as well as leaving her foot prints on the indelible sands of time.

PAGE 24

Kiddies World

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

With Miriam

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

Humbe

ABCDE

HIS AND HERS CORNER

Jigawa State:

The “New World”

ocated in the northwest geopolitical zone of Nigeria, Jigawa State was created out of the old Kano State in 1991 with its headquarter in Dutse. The state is divided into twenty seven local government areas which include Auyo, Babura, Birnin-kudu, Birniwa, Buji, Dutse, Gagarawa, Garki, Gumel, Guri, Gwaram, Gwiwa, Hadejia, Jahun, Kafin-Hausa, Kaugama, Kazaure, Kirikasamma, Kiyawa, Maigatari, MalamMaduri, Miga, Ringim, Roni, Sule-Tankarkar, Taura, and Yankwashi. History Jigawa is an agricultural state created by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida. The former Kano State being one of the largest in terms of land area, was simply too large for easy administration and meaningful development and this called for a new state to be created. People and culture With an estimated population of 4,348,649 million, Jigawa State is populated mainly by HausaFulani but there are also the people of Manga (a Kanuri dialect) and Badawa, who constitute significant percentages in Birnwa, Guri and Kirikasamma Local Government Areas. The pattern of human settlement is nucleated, with defined population centers. Covering a total of 322,410sqkm land area, Jigawa State is bordered to the

south and east by Bauchi State to the east and north by Yobe State, to the west by Kano and Katsina States. It also shares an international boundary with Niger Republic. Weather/Climate Jigawa is semi arid, characterised by a long dry season and short wet season. The climatic variables are erratic and vary considerably over the years. The annual mean temperature is about 25°C, but the mean monthly values range between 21°C in the coolest month and 31°C in the hottest month. However, the mean daily temperature could be as low as 20°C during the months of December and January when the cold dry harmattan wind blows from the Sahara Desert. The wet season lasts for roughly four months (June to September) and dry season is seven to eight months (October to May). The rainy season sometimes starts in May but early rains in April are not unusual while the bulk of the rainfall comes in June through September. Violent dust storms, followed by tornado and lightening, usually herald the onset of the rains in May and June and their retreat in September or early October. The total annual rainfall ranges from 600mm in the north to 1000mm in the southern parts of the state. Cities and towns Other important cities and towns include Dutse, Hadejia, Gumel, Ringim, Kazaure, and Birnin Kudu By cometonigeria.com

Love is sharing

Cartoon

Tom and Jerry having coffee

Mickey and Minnie Mouse wedding

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Kiddies World

PAGE 25

With Miriam

Humbe

ABCDE

MODEL OF THE WEEK

AFRICAN TALES AFRICAN TALES

Why the Hippopotamus lives in water

any years ago the hippopotamus, whose name was Isantim, was one of the biggest kings on the land; he was second only to the elephant. The hippo had seven large fat wives, whom he was very fond of. Now and then he used to give a big feast to the people, but a curious thing was that, although everyone knew the hippo, no one, except his seven wives, knew his name. At one of the feasts, just as the people were about to sit down, the hippo said, “You have come to feed at my table, but none of you know my name. If you cannot tell

my name, you shall all of you go away without your dinner.” As they could not guess his name, they had to go away and leave all the good food and tombo [palm wine] behind them. But before they left, the tortoise stood up and asked the hippopotamus what he would do if he told him his name at the next feast. So the hippo replied that he would be so ashamed of himself, that he and his whole family would leave the land, and for the future would dwell in the water. Now it was the custom for the hippo and his seven wives to go down every morning and evening

to the river to wash and have a drink. Of this custom the tortoise was aware. The hippo used to walk first, and the seven wives followed. One day when they had gone down to the river to bathe, the tortoise made a small hole in the middle of the path, and then waited. When the hippo and his wives returned, two of the wives were some distance behind, so the tortoise came out from where he had been hiding, and half buried himself in the hole he had dug, leaving the greater part of his shell exposed. When the two hippo wives came along, the first one knocked her foot against the tortoise’s shell, and immediately called out to her husband, “Oh! Isantim, my husband, I have hurt my foot.” At this the tortoise was very glad, and went joyfully home, as he had found out the hippo’s name. When the next feast was given by the hippo, he made the same condition about his name; so the tortoise got up and said, “You promise you will not kill me if I tell you your name?” and the hippo promised. The tortoise then shouted as loud as he was able, “Your name is Isantim,” at which a cheer went up from all the people, and then they sat down to their dinner. When the feast was over, the hippo, with his seven wives, in accordance with his promise, went down to the river, and they have always lived in the water from that day till now; and although they come on shore to feed at night, you never find a hippo on the land in the daytime.

Master Ojimaojo David Umoche

ACTIVITIES

With the help of the right materials, have fun colouring the images below. Show your work to your parents or teacher for correction. Cheers!

CREATIVITY

How to make a paper lunch box with handles Bring some food to your plain old lunch by making your own paper lunch box with handles. Get kids involved with the process by letting them help decorate their box the night before. Using a traditional origami box pattern, you can easily construct several of these lunch boxes to use every day of the week. Crease your edges to make the paper more malleable. Things you’ll need: • 2 - 24-inch squares of thick paper • 2 handles from a brown grocery bag • Super glue • Glitter • Markers Instructions Construct the box Take one paper square. Fold it in half lengthwise like a door and again so it’s a smaller square. Unfold the paper. You should have four quadrants on the paper. Fold each corner to the center of the square. Then, fold the right and left edge to the center. Your paper should now be a rectangle.

Fold the top and bottom of the rectangle to the center to form a square. Undo all the folds, so you’re starting again from your original square. All the folds you’ve made will make it easier to manipulate the paper from here on out. Place your square in front of you so it’s shaped like a diamond. Fold the two side points to the center. Pinch in the top and bottom far right and left triangles. Note these triangles have been delineated by your earlier folding. They are located directly above and below the two triangles you folded to the center. Bring the rest of the top and bottom triangles toward the center, pressing the paper down to form the sides of the box. Repeat these steps with the second paper square to form the lid. Add the handles and decorate Decorate the box. Get your kids to help. Use glitter, markers, stickers or other paints. Take two handles from a brown grocery bag. Decorate them with markers and glitter before affixing to the box.

Pack lightweight items in your paper lunch box

PAGE 26

e-Learning

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

What will humans look like in 1,000 years?

umans will be very different creatures 1,000 years from now. C l i m a t e change, artificial intelligence and genetic mutations are all set to transform our bodies in drastic ways, according to a recent video. We could for instance, develop red eyes as our DNA mutates, and have darker skin as an evolutionary response to global warming. The video, created by Canada-based AsapScience, describes a hypothetical scenario in which our bodies are parthuman part-machine. ‘In the future nanobots - or tiny robots - will be suddenly integrated into our own bodies, enhancing our abilities,’ it says ‘No longer will we be limited by own own physiology, but truly become a mixture of biology and machine on the inside.’ Meanwhile, designer babies will cause future generations to grow into intelligent, attractive and physically people. ‘But while that will make us better smarter, stronger and better looking, such genetic similarity, or lack of human diversity, leaves room for a single new disease of the future, to wipe out the entire human race.’ Dr Kawn has created a stunning series of images which display one possible evolution for the human race over the next 100,000 years.

Dr Kwan believes that key to our future evolution will be man ‘wresting control’ of the human form from natural evolution and adapting human biology to suit our needs. As genetic engineering becomes the norm, ‘the fate of the human face will be increasingly determined by human tastes’ writes Dr Kwan, while foreheads will continue to expand as our brains continue to grow larger. As man achieves total mastery over genetics, the human face will become heavily biased towards features that humans find fundamentally appealing: strong, regal lines, straight nose, intense eyes, and placement of facial features that adhere to the golden ratio and left/right perfect symmetry. Dr Kwan believes eyes will grow ‘unnervingly large’ as the human race colonizes the solar system and people start living in the dimmer environments of colonies further away from the sun. Eyes will also develop in other ways - that would seem startling from our viewpoint today - with new features including eye-shine enhance low-light vision and even a sideways blink from re-constituted plica semilunaris to help protect our eyes from cosmic rays. By the change to our appearance may happen much faster than these timeframes. In fact, by 2050, a completely new type of human will evolve

Humans will be very different creatures 1,000 years from now. Climate change, artificial intelligence and genetic mutations are all set to transform our bodies in drastic ways, according to a recent video. We could for instance, develop red eyes as our DNA mutates, and have darker skin as an response to global warming

as a result of radical new technology, behaviour, and natural selection. This is according to Cadell Last, a researcher at the Global Brain Institute, who claims mankind is undergoing a major ‘evolutionary transition’. In less than four decades, Mr Last claims we will live longer, have children in old age and rely on artificial intelligence to do mundane tasks. This shift is so significant, he

claims, it is comparable to the change from monkeys to apes, and apes to humans. ‘Your 80 or 100 is going to be so radically different than your grandparents,’ Mr Last says, who believe we will spend much of our time living in virtual reality. Some evolutionary scientists believe this age could be as high as 120 by 2050. Mr Last claims humans will also demonstrate delayed sex-

This shift is so significant, says Mr Last, that it is comparable to the change from apes into humans. ‘Your 80 or 100 is going to be so radically different than your grandparents,’ he claims

ual maturation, according to a report by Christina Sterbenz in Business Insider. This refers to something known as life history theory which attempts to explain how natural selection shape key events in a creature’s life, such as reproduction. It suggests that as brain sizes increase, organisms need more energy and time to reach their full potential, and so reproduce less. Instead of living fast and dying young, Mr Last believes humans will live slow and die old. ‘Global society at the moment is a complete mess,’ he told MailOnline. ‘But in crisis there is opportunity, and in apocalypse there can be metamorphosis.’ ‘The biological clock isn’t going to be around forever,’ he added, and said that people could pause it for some time using future technology. His views are detailed in a paper, titled ‘Human Evolution, Life History Theory, and the End of Biological Reproduction’ published Current Aging Science. Source: MailOnline

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

PAGE 27

Leisure

The Magic Crocodile

here was once a big cave. The top part of the cave was dry and there was water in the bottom part of it. Many animals lived in the dry part and a crocodile lived in the bottom part of it. He liked to lie in the water and sleep. Sometimes he came out of the cave for a short time. One day a hunter with his bow and arrow came near the cave. He saw the crocodile and decided to kill him. He aimed at the crocodile. But he became blind at once. The hunter dropped his arrow and he began to see again! He saw the smiling crocodile of course. The crocodile was happy! The hunter aimed at the crocodile a second time and again he became blind. Then the hunter ran back to the village where he lived and told the people about the crocodile. “As I aimed at him I became blind. The arrow fell out of my bow and then I could see again,” he said. The people of the village did

not believe him. Many of them took their bows and arrows and went off to the cave. They saw the crocodile. He was lying in the sun near the cave. They aimed at him and became blind. “Take your arrows from your bows,” the hunter cried. They did so and could see again! It was clear that the crocodile was a magic crocodile. “No man can kill me,” thought the happy crocodile and went back to the cave. The other animals in the cave were happy, too. The magic crocodile did not let the hunters kill them and of course. They said “thank you” to the crocodile. Many young men came to the cave and tried to kill the crocodile. But nobody could do it with bows and arrows. In those days hunters knew nothing about the guns. However one day, a hunter who had a gun in his hands killed the crocodile. The crocodile’s magic worked only against bows and arrows. It did not work against guns.

Laugh out loud (lol)!

Search out the weather words!

Akpors and friends on a picnic Three friends: Akpors, Rukewe and Oghene decided to go for a picnic. Rukewe packs the picnic basket with drinks and sandwiches. Oghene carried the basket and they set out for the park 10km away. It takes them 2 hours to get there. When they arrived, Rukewe quickly spread the mat and set out the sandwiches. After checking around, Oghene found out that Rukewe did not pack the bottle opener. They then begged Akpos to make the 4 hour trip to go for the opener. He disagreed. “You’ll finish the sandwiches before I return,’’ Akpos protested. ‘’No we won’t’’, assured Rukewe. After some more cajoling from them, Akpos reluctantly sets out for the opener. After 5 hours, there was no sign of Akpors. They decided to wait for another 3 hours. There was no sign of Akpors. Oghene and Rukewe after waiting on Akpors for more than 8 hours were by now very hungry so they decided to take one sandwich each. As they were about to eat, Akpors pops out from behind a rock screaming:’ I knew it! I’m not going again’’!!!

Pay attention to this motivational story…

esson: “A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.” Once upon a time two brothers who lived on adjoining farms fell into conflict. It was the first serious rift in 40 years of farming side by side, sharing machinery, and trading labor and goods as needed without a hitch. Then the long collaboration fell apart. It began with a small misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference, and finally it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence. One morning there was a knock on John’s door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter’s toolbox. “I’m looking for a few days work,” he said. “Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there. Could I help you?”

“Yes,” said the older brother. “I do have a job for you. Look across the creek at that farm. That’s my neighbor, in fact, it’s my younger brother. Last week there was a meadow between us and he took his bulldozer to the river levee and now there is a creek between us. Well, he may have done this to spite me, but I’ll go him one better. See that pile of lumber curing by the barn? I want you to build me a fence - an 8-foot fence - so I won’t need to see his place anymore. Cool him down, anyhow.” The carpenter said, “I think I understand the situation. Show me the nails and the post-hole digger and I’ll be able to do a job that pleases you.” The older brother had to go to town for supplies, so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day. The carpenter worked hard all that day measuring, sawing, nailing.

About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer’s eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped. There was no fence there at all. It was a bridge... a bridge stretching from one side of the creek to the other! A fine piece of work handrails and all - and the neighbor, his younger brother, was coming across, his hand outstretched. “You are quite a fellow to build this bridge after all I’ve said and done.” The two brothers stood at each end of the bridge, and then they met in the middle, taking each other’s hand. They turned to see the carpenter hoist his toolbox on his shoulder. “No, wait! Stay a few days. I’ve a lot of other projects for you,” said the older brother. “I’d love to stay on,” the carpenter said, “but, I have many more bridges to build.

Beauty TIPS

Compiled by Isioma Nwabasha

Tips to repair nails after fixing acrylics Page 28

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Lovely acrylic nails

ake nails come in a variety of lengths, colours and designs, allowing people to drastically change the look of their hands. Unfortunately, they can also damage the natural nails underneath due to the chemicals in the primer and adhesives used to apply them. These chemicals make the natural nails thin, weak, dry and prone to splits and breaks. It takes time to grow healthy nails and reverse nail damage, but there are ways to speed up the process. After wearing acrylics on your fingernails, your natural nails can end up feeling very weak and flimsy, especially if you have had them on for a long period of time. One thing you should remember is that acrylics don’t ruin your nails forever and it is just the layer of the nail bed that the chemicals were adhered to that will feel damaged. Repairing nails after acrylics may at first feel and look like they will never

Damaged nails

look healthy again, but in actual fact with the right products and a little bit of time you can re-gain the strength of your nails in as little as two weeks. Symptoms of damaged nails Nails coming away from your nail bed Weak, brittle nails Dry cuticles and cracked cuticles Inflamed skin around nails Ridges in your nails Peeling Flimsy Great tips to help repair nails Keep your nails short as soon as you have had your acrylics removed, just while your nails are re-building damaged tissues. Make sure this is done straight away to avoid catching them on anything. Once you can see that your nails are feeling a little stronger and looking a lot healthier, then you can think about some length.

Get a regular manicure preferably once a fortnight or monthly to ensure better circulation in your nail bed. Since a lot of us are on a budget these days to avoid additional expenses why not try giving yourself a manicure at home. Massage your nail beds each night before you go to sleep to get the blood circulating at your fingertips which will stimulate the blood flow to that area and really help in the healing of your nails. Soaking your nails in an essential oil for at least ten minutes daily for a month will do wonders in speeding up the process, strengthening and moisturising your nails. After a month you will only need to soak your nails maybe once or twice a week. Stay away from harsh chemicals, this tip will prevent you from causing further damages to your already damaged natural nails. Harsh chemicals are present in cleaning

products, so consider staying away from them for a while after removing acrylics or make sure you wear gloves. Use a good cuticle conditioner, your cuticles are just as important as your nail and there is nothing worse than cracked, dry cuticles. If you are serious about repairing your nails you shouldn’t forget about the health of your cuticles. Consume biotin-rich foods. Biotin works effectively in keeping your nails strong and thick. Among the best biotin sources are avocados, bananas, eggs, sardines, salmon or tuna, berries, mushrooms and whole grains. These are just a few of the many biotin-rich foods you could start to add to your diet to help with not only your nails, but your hair and skin.

Nail repair kit

Investing in a good nail repair kit, one which is designed to really condition your nails while helping repair them at the same time. There are a lot to choose from out there so don’t run out and grab the first nail repair kit you find because there are many that seem like they are doing the job, but are actually doing more damage than good. You are looking for a nail repair kit that contains formaldehyde, a very small amount and around 80 percent protein and 15–18 percent moisture. Repairing your nails after fixing acrylics can take a little time, but if you are patient, make some time each day for a couple of weeks and follow the aforementioned tips, it won’t be long before you have your strong and healthy nails back.

Compiled by Miriam Humbe

Fashion

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Page 29

Add accessories for a polished look in black turtleneck

black turtleneck is a fashion staple that we all have in our closets and will never go out of style. It can go with just about anything you wear, such as a skirt or your favorite skinny jeans, and you’ll instantly look polished and feel warm, which has been essential during the current harmattan season. The only hard part about wearing a black turtleneck is essentially how to accessorize it. Turtlenecks can easily go conservative, so the key is to find some interesting, colourful or artsy pieces that’ll make it look more beatnik or elegant, instead of boring and conservative. Here, Alyssa shares several different ways to instantly spruce up a basic turtleneck. Best earring styles for a turtleneck… Go for the gold! Fabulous gold drop earrings are the perfect casually chic statement accessory for a black turtleneck. The bright yellow gold really stands out against the black because they’re ornate, but not overbearing. They’ll be the first thing someone will notice on you. Add a splash of colour Bright earrings can go day or night, and even with your hair styled up or down because the turquoise and red will compliment the subtleness of a black

turtleneck. Keep it simple Unique, yet simple gold hoops are perfect earrings if you’re an accessory hoarder and want to wear both earrings and a long necklace with your turtleneck. They’re simple enough to pair with another piece, but they also make a statement on their own. Best necklace styles to go with a turtleneck… Go bold with red! Nothing stands out or goes better with black than bright red. This chunky bright red floral piece will dazzle a plain black turtleneck. Pair it with simple stud earrings or no earrings at all. It’s also a great way to perk up your winter blues and the price is a steal! Chic it up If you wear brightly colored turtlenecks, try a multi-colored statement necklace. In any one of the available colors, it can go day or night and is truly an investment piece. Bonus hair tip! Your hairstyle can also make you dress up or dress down your turtleneck. For a more casual look, wear your hair down with your natural texture. Throw your hair up in a sleek bun or ponytail for a more formal events like a work meeting or cocktail party.

PAGE 30

Pots & Pans

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

With Miriam Humbe Yields 10 servings

Millet Pancakes (‘yartsala)

Preparation time 4 hours Cooks for 10 minutes Low Fat, Fat-Free, Low in Saturated Fat, Low Cholesterol, Cholesterol-Free, Trans-fat Free, Low Carb, Sugar-Free, Sodium-Free, Low Sodium

Ingredients 2 cups millet flour buy at a health food store 1¼ cups water lukewarm 1xmargarine or oil 1xsugar to taste 1 pinch salt

Directions The batter for these pancakes needs to stand for about 4 hours before you start cooking. It helps if you have a flat pancake griddle, but if you do not then use a heavy frying pan. Sift flour into a bowl and gradually pour in the warm water, stirring and mixing well as you do so to make a smooth, runny paste. Set aside for 4 hours. After this, heat the margarine or oil in a shallow pan or griddle plate. While it is warming. beat the batter with a spoon. When the margarine or oil is hot, ladle or pour enough batter in the pan to make a saucer sized pancake and cook until crisp. You can turn it once if you like but it is not essential. Remove and keep warm. Cook the others in the same way and serve to accompany a main dish, or a snack with honey or chutney.

Banana, honey, soymilk smoothie With soya milk, bananas, and honey, you can spoil yourself with this smoothie. Ideally, freezing your bananas in advance makes this really creamy. Preparation time is probably the minimum amount of time it would take to freeze bananas. You can leave the bananas to stay in the freezer overnight for best results.

Ingredients Servings: two • 1 1⁄2bananas, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch rounds, frozen (this is an important step!) • 1 cup soymilk lite (1%) • 1 cup ice cube • 1 tablespoon honey • 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to prepare Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into two glasses and serve immediately.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

PAGE 31

Relationship

Red flags that can ruin your relationship

he number of potential hazards that can ruin your relationship is astounding, though some of them are completely preventable. Most of the red flags listed below have a specific cause and effect and we exercise at least a portion of these deadly errors. Still, you can make a conscious effort towards preventing them from becoming a lifestyle that will undoubtedly ruin your relationship. Resentment. This is a poison that starts from something small. For instance, he/she didn’t get a new roll of toilet paper or he/she doesn’t wash dishes after eating and it builds up into something big. Resentment is dangerous because it often flies under our radar, so that we don’t even notice that have it and our partner doesn’t realize that there is anything wrong. If you ever notice yourself having resentment, you need to address it immediately, before it gets worse. Cut it off while it is small. There are two good ways to deal with resentment: (1) breathe, and just let it go, accept your partner for who he/she is, faults and all; none of us is perfect; or (2) talk to your partner about it if you cannot accept it and try to come up with a solution that works for both of you (not just for you); try to talk to them in a non-confrontational way, but in a manner that expresses how you feel without being accusatory. Jealousy. It is hard to control jealousy. It seems to happen by itself, out of our control, unbidden and unwanted. However, jealousy, like resentment, is poison to a relationship. A little jealousy is fine, but when it gets to a certain level, it turns into a need to control your partner which subsequently leads to unnecessary fights and makes both parties unhappy. If you have problems with jealousy, instead of trying to control them it is important that you examine and deal with the root issue which is usually insecurity which might be tied to your childhood (abandonment by a parent, for example), in a past relationship where you got hurt, or in an incident or incidents in the past of your current relationship. Unrealistic expectations. Often we have an idea of what our partner should be like. We might expect them to be considerate, always think of us first, to surprise us, support us, always have a smile, to work hard and not be lazy. Having some expectations is fine, we should expect our partner to be faithful, for example. But sometimes, without realizing it

Couple enjoying an alone time ourselves, we have expectations that are too high to meet. Our partner isn’t perfect like everyone else including you. Don’t expect them to be cheerful and loving every minute of the day everyone has their moods. We can’t expect them to always think of us, as they will obviously think of themselves or others sometimes too. Don’t expect your partner to be exactly as you are, as everyone is different. High expectations lead to disappointment and frustration, especially if you do not communicate these expectations. How can you expect your partner to meet these expectations if they don’t know about them? The remedy is to lower your expectations and allow your partner to be himself/herself, accept and love them for that.

“

Not making time. This is a problem with couples who have kids, who get caught up with work or hobbies or friends and family or other passions. Couples who don’t spend time alone together will drift apart. Though spending time together with the kids or other friends and family is a good thing, it is also important that you spend time alone with your lover. Get a babysitter, drop some commitments, put off work for a day and go on a date. It doesn’t have to be an expensive date you can exercise together, watch a DVD or have a home-cooked dinner. Most importantly, when you are together, make an effort to connect, not just be together. Lack of communication. Good communication is the cornerstone of a good relationship. If you have

resentment, you must talk it out rather than let it grow. If you are jealous, you must communicate in an open and honest manner to address your insecurities. If you have expectations of your partner, you must communicate with them. If there are any problems whatsoever, you must work on them. Communication doesn’t just mean talking or arguing, good communication is honest without being attacking or blaming. Communicate your feelings of being hurt, frustrated, sorry, scared, sad, happy rather than criticising. Communicate a desire to work out a solution that works for you both, a compromise, rather than a need for the other person to change. Ingratitude. Sometimes there are no real problems in a relationship, such as resentment

Affection is important and everyone needs some of it, especially from someone we love. Take the time, every single day, to show affection to your partner. Greet him/ her when he/she comes home from work with a tight hug. Wake he/she up with a passionate kiss (who cares about morning breath). Sneak up behind him/her and kiss them on the neck. Make out in the movie theater like teenagers. Caress his/her back and neck while watching television. Smile at your partner often.

or jealousy or unrealistic expectations, but there is no expression of the good things about your partner. This lack of gratitude and appreciation is just as bad as the aforementioned problems, because without it your partner will feel like he or she is being taken for granted. Every person wants to be appreciated for all they do. And while you might have some problems with what your partner does, you should also realise that he/she does good things too. Does she wash your dishes or cook you something you like? Does he support you in your job? Take the time to say thank you, and give a hug and kiss. This little expression can go a long way to sustain your relationship. Lack of affection. Everything else can be alright including the expression of gratitude, but if there is no affection between a couple then there is serious trouble. In effect, the relationship is drifting towards a platonic status. This might sound better than many relationships that have serious problems, but it is not a good thing. Affection is important and everyone needs some of it, especially from someone we love. Take the time, every single day, to show affection to your partner. Greet him/her when he/she comes home from work with a tight hug. Wake he/she up with a passionate kiss (who cares about morning breath). Sneak up behind him/ her and kiss them on the neck. Make out in the movie theater like teenagers. Caress his/her back and neck while watching television. Smile at your partner often. Stubbornness. Every relationship will have problems and arguments, but it is important that you learn to work out these problems after cooling down a bit. Unfortunately, many of us are too stubborn to even talk about things. Perhaps, we always want to be right. Most of us are not only disagreeable, but are stubborn to the point where we never make compromises. Keep in mind that faltering doesn’t show weakness or make your relationship flimsy. Instead, it shows that you are willing to trust the other person and meet them halfway. What is really stubborn is how detrimental this habit is to your relationship. Maybe you never want to admit that you made a mistake. Perhaps, you don’t like to say sorry or you don’t like to compromise. Learn to put away your ego and say I am sorry. Talk about the problem and work it out. Don’t be afraid to be the first to apologise. Then move past it to better things.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

PAGE 32

Fiction

When Tayo’s dark secret came into limelight T he rest of the week went swiftly. Nothing really interesting happened. No more looking from afar and smacking my lips like a lion skemping a gazelle. All I did was read the text that Jasmine sent over and over again, each time biting my lower lip harder and smacking my spirit man for not forging ahead with the advances. “Dapo, you are just so stupid” I kept repeating to myself. I tried calling her or messaging her but I couldn’t simply muster the courage to do it. I always imagined her reply and you should know I have a very wild imagination. What I saw wasn’t pretty. The text message became my own personal rhapsody of realities that I read and meditate upon daily. I pick the letters and words one by one like I’m rehearsing for a casting audition. Yes! I was pathetic, in love with someone who is older than I am. Before I could say Jack Robinson, it was already the first Saturday of the next month. The wedding of Jasmine and Tayo was happening live. “Dapo, is there fuel in the sequia?” dad asked as he was putting on his agbada, feeling fly like he is the bride’s father. “Yes sir, I bought it yesterday” I replied. “Very well, when the decorators are through with the car take it to the church and join the bridal train there. You would be the one to drive the bride and groom to the reception” he said now adjusting his cap which was clearly too small for him. I don’t know if the tailor was wearing bra on his eyes when he was sewing the cloth. “What? Dad? Can’t anybody else drive them? I mean, I might be busy or something” I replied “You know I don’t like just anyone driving my SUV, besides, the reception is in your secondary school hall. You will know the road better and you can lead other people to the venue” he said, this time his overly small cap was carefully placed on the head after much effort to squeeze the head in. I don’t even know how he can think in the cap at all. The stuff squeezed the head so tightly, giving the head a weird pear-like shape. I really wanted to avoid going to the wedding, seeing that incredibly handsome looking homicide provoking guy from kissing Jasmine in front of the whole wide world. All the plans had gone well. I had planned to lie that I was going to school to fill a form in my faculty office but Adejoke overheard me on the phone discussing the treachery with Ugo and she threatened to tell on me. Oh yes, she has mastered the art of blackmail. How do you think I sat through all the Barbie collections and two seasons of victorious? I mean, I can frigging sing the theme song of Barbie and the three musketeers.

Anyways, I couldn’t do what she asked from me this time so I decided to just chill and accept whatever happens that day. “Hey! I’m through with the car now, you can take it” the decorator guy with large titties said. I just walked over, collected the car keys from him and gave him the card of the place I gym. He now gave me this look that spelt ‘bomb dey your head’. I mean let’s face it; the man’s flesh will suffice as meat for the reception food. Two per plate oh. I was finally at the church. I avoided eye contact with Jasmine all through. We did the processional hymn, down to the opening hymn and all the remaining wedding shebang. I really didn’t care about the order of service. I was only concerned with two parts. The you may kiss the bride part and the if you are against this holy union, talk now or forever hold your peace part. Oh, I so wouldn’t hold my peace. After all said and done, the minister asked if there was anybody who was against the marriage and on impulse I just stood up. There was a large aaaaawwwwww in the church as everybody looked at me. I’m sure it has never happened at any wedding. I mean damn it! The question was rhetorical and was just supposed to be a formality. I really don’t know why I stood up. I had died while standing, Jasmine looking at me with disgust, Tayo looking at me with rage the audience looking at me with astonishment and the only thing I could say when the Pastor asked why I was standing was, “I’m sorry, I want to go and ease myself” and I ran out. Remi followed me. “Dapo, what was the meaning of that stunt you pulled in there” Remi asked me with such disappointment in her face. I just walked out of her sight. Couldn’t bear the embarrassment of my little sister scolding me. Nah! Not now, not ever. The service eventually came to a glorious ending and I still remained the designated driver of the newly wedded couple. After my blatant exhibition of epic stupidity, everybody was giving me the stink face especially the groom’s mother. Apparently the groom’s father just came out of a severe stroke attack and was sitting on a wheelchair. The little show I put on caused the poor man to nearly drop dead. They shouldn’t blame me though. He knew he had stroke and he was drinking Harp before the service like tomorrow no dey. I couldn’t even snap with the couple, I was too ashamed to show my face. Anyways, we got into the car and after many roborebe, we proceeded on our journey to the reception which was like a 15 minute drive from the Church. Both the couples gave me the silent treatment. As if just to spite me, the groom started kissing “his wife”, shoving his

“

I had died while standing, Jasmine looking at me with disgust, Tayo looking at me with rage the audience looking at me with astonishment and the only thing I could say when the Pastor asked why I was standing was, “I’m sorry, I want to go and ease myself” and I ran out. Remi followed me.

lips and sticking his tongue down her throat. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the rear mirror. To prevent further torture, I purposely climbed a speed breaker with speed which made the car shake and disturbed Paloma and Diego. “Hey, can you take it easy please,” Jasmine said with a rather calm tone “I’m sorry, I was avoiding a squirrel” I replied “Really? a squirrel in Lekki. That’s a first” the groom sarcastically replied with his baritone voice. “God forgive you” I just thought to myself. We eventually arrived at my secondary school. The school has one of the biggest halls in the area. Being in the school gave me nostalgia. Seeing the different spots where various atrocities were committed.

I saw the place where we flew fence to eat Iya chidera’s eba igbo, where we hijack junior students, give them 20 naira, tell them to buy three gala, one lacasera and two UAC cakes and bring back change. Reminiscing the old days actually made me smile for at least a minute even amidst my present problems. The couple got down from the car and the celebration started. There were some really pretty girls in this party. At least, I fed my eyes while walking. There was this game a friend and I normally play. We go about looking at girls and guessing their relationship status. The first girl I saw was wearing a pink gown and very nice shoes; she was chatting and smiling sheepishly, really seemed engrossed in it. I take it she is dating, talking to her boyfriend who is

telling her “honey, you are mi corazon” sorry for the Spanish reference, it comes with being half-Puerto Rican. However, there was no way the next girl I saw could have a boyfriend. She had this unkempt low cut and a pointed mouth that made her look like those dinosaurs from Jurassic park. Her nose was broad like roofing sheet and her teeth scattered like calculator. Honestly, even Goliath in the bible would reject her. After much skemping, it was time for the couples to dance forward to their seat. As the music started, a pregnant lady just walked up to the stage, snatched the microphone from the MC and shouted “Tayo, come and claim your unborn child oh”. Jasmine fainted. Tayo’s well guarded secret was uncovered. naijastories.com

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

PAGE 33

Romance

He lost her to another man

ou wished you could say those words, that you’ve been told she wanted to hear but you couldn’t. Logic says no. Logic does not understand the language of the heart. So you are stuck with throwing mindless and thoughtless tantrums till you lose her. Four years later, you meet her at the airport on your way back from a journey to the states, she smiles sweetly at you waving her hands at you. She told you that she has been seeing you on television and had read all your books over the years hoping you’d be impressed that she had finally taken a liking for books like you always wanted her to. You felt a tinge of pride; your success had been a major hit. You had expected that she would definitely have heard about it. And you were indeed impressed that she had chosen not to forget you even if she never contacted you. Then, it suddenly dawned on you, the reason for her wave of hands, as the blinking ring on her engagement finger caught your sight. She’s getting married she announces; You are not moved, you didn’t smile nor congratulate her. Logic that had always been your best friend starts denying you like Peter at the Crucifixion of Christ. You are still single, she is now engaged; you couldn’t confess your feelings for her back then because you were scared of immediate commitment. You were scared that you were not man enough for her; your bank accounts as at then couldn’t boast of a thousand naira. She had told you that she didn’t mind starving so far she was with you. You didn’t believe her; you had seen what the lack of money did to your parents. How it was your mother that had been responsible for most of the things in your house because your father lost his job and broke his spine in an accident that condemned him to the wheelchair the rest of his life. You saw what that had done to him, how hurt his pride had been whenever he had to collect money from your mother to do anything. You had sworn to work as hard as you could possibly work to ensure that your father’s fate never befalls you. You felt sorry that you couldn’t ask her out back then or call her your own. You felt that she deserved better than you could give; not that you had anything to give her anyway. Now the same commitment that you had eluded back then is all you are looking for but it is nowhere, four years down the lane; you are a successful writer and speaker of international

“

You are still single, she is now engaged; you couldn’t confess your feelings for her back then because you were scared of immediate commitment. You were scared that you were not man enough for her; your bank accounts as at then couldn’t boast of a thousand naira. She had told you that she didn’t mind starving so far she was with you.

repute. You had slaved yourself over the years to editors and publicists to make a hard living and when success came it had not come with all the perks that you had imagined it would come with, though it had been overwhelming but you couldn’t find anyone who could love you for who you are and you feared that you were still in love with someone who you never expressed your feelings to and whom you are now finding out that she’s engaged. So you mouthed the words in a mumble that sounded like the gibberish that came readily available to you and didn’t allow them to come out clearly. ‘I loved you back then and I still love you.’ Bisi strained herself to hear you clearly but you did not say those words again. This is not a movie, you thought to yourself, this is life and this is

the sort of thing that happens when you don’t talk when you were supposed to, so sulk it up and move on. “I could almost guess what you were thinking you know” She says watching your mouth drop as you fear that she may have figured out you’re gibberish. “You’re thinking of what happened between us those years ago and how it was possible for me to move on after you broke my heart.” Words failed you; you stared after her in disbelief and wandered for a brief moment if you would ever have the chance to tell her how you really felt about her. “It’s not like that Bisi, and I know you know that too” You say, your guilt renewed like a newly fuelled fire. “It’s never like that with you, everything has got to be complicated and you never talk,

you never truly open up except maybe in your books. I read all of your works and hoped that maybe somewhere inside it there was a hidden message for me, something to hold on to, but I found none!” “That’s not true Bisi, all or at least most of my works were a message to you. I didn’t want to start something that I couldn’t finish with you. I thought you understood that.” “Understood? Sola was right about you. You really are heartless. Did you ever sit down to consider how I felt?” The mention of the name Sola brought back cruel memories to you. You remember him clearly; he had been the one who gave her the attention that you were not willing to give; the rich boy who roamed campus with his father’s car, who had almost everything given to him

on a silver platter. He had been your arch-rival from the get go and despite your best efforts to stave away the trouble which his rivalry might cause to your friendship with Bisi, he had continued to debase you at every opportunity he got. She could see the effect of her words on you, so she backed off. “I had feelings for you back then and I think I still do. I just couldn’t do it as at that time. I couldn’t handle a relationship then and I didn’t know how else to break it to you than the way I did.” “I don’t know what to say to you…I’m sorry” she said as a tear rolled down her ebony cheek. You blink back the tears yourself. “I’m sorry too, so when’s the big day?” You managed to say, struggling to catch your breath, you felt a lot better after saying those words to her because it had been at the tip of your tongue since you discovered the rings on her finger. “It’s next Saturday and I’m getting married to Sola.” You stared at her in utter disbelief, you felt really angry, not at her nor at Sola but at yourself. You managed a smile even though your heart was in sharp contrast with what your face was producing. You felt like a thousand knives were stabbing your heart at the same time but you smiled still and urged her to send you the invite to the wedding. Naijastories.com

PAGE 34

Nollywood

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Nigerians rate Nollywood low, say more work to be done Cross sections of Nigerians bow their minds on the Nigerian Film industry, known as the Hollywood. Despite being rated second in the world after Hollywood, many still feel that the production of the home video are not up to standard. Nigerians who spoke to our reporter; Agi Victor said more work needs to be done if the industry must stand out in the world. Onyekere Ifeanyi Personally, I rarely watch Nigerian movie. That is because I can’t bear to waste my time on a movie that I can easily predict after the first few scenes. You know that is what happened in most Nigerian movie. For me, the story ideas, plot and quality are virtually the same of most Nigerian movie. There is little that is unique about them, but I must give credit to Kunle Afolanyo, the director of “Figurine” and “Phone Swap”, the dude is creative!

Nigeria movie industry which is second in the world is not a title we just bought from the market. I think the movie industry is trying. You know Nigerians have talents all around and some of these talents are just manifesting in the movie industry and I must say it’s encouraging. For me if government can give the industry more support, we would one day be the best by God’s grace.

I rarely watch movie, maybe because I don’t have time, but I think the movie industry is growing, second on the list of movie industry in the world, beating the like of Bollywood is not an easy feat. But I think the government has to enact more stringent measures in order to curb, if not totally eradicated the issue of piracy, which has become a thong in the flesh of movie producers. It is disparaging to know that pirates are making money more than the producers/marketers in the industry and I think something should be done faster.

I would want to say first that the Nigeria movie industry has come of age. The industry started well with story ideas that reflect different aspect of our culture. There was element of native intelligence in the movie industry at inception and the industry was really the fancy of many Nigerians back in the days. Today however, a lot have really changed; our culture is nowhere to be found in most Nigerian movie let alone fostering it. Something needs to be done hastily!

God’sgift Olarewaju

Lady Linda

Ogar Paulinus

Aja John

I love Nigerian movies, just that at a time when you feel the movie has just began, the movie will end. The exploitative motive of the producers and directors of these movies is too much. A single story in an America movie for instance will be parted in six disc if not more in Nigeria the Nigerian case, and they expect us to spend as much as 400 or more to finish just a single story, which in most cases are not properly ended. That is just my problem with these movies. All the same, you cannot take it away from some of our talents, I mean some of them are wonderful.

Okon Desmond

Ogbudu Sunday The movie industry is growing. The story ideas and quality are also good. For me, I would want the government to be more interested in their activities, since they are veritable tool in promoting and unifying our culture. They mirror the society both to Nigerians themselves and to the outside world, which is very important in changing the perception of the world about us.

Chidinma Uzoije The movie industry used to be my favorite, and I still watch some of their product, especially the ones with local settings. The problem I am having with them is the idea by some of them to emulate Americans. For Christ sake, I don’t understand why our talents would want to be like the white people before they can sell; perhaps they feel that their originality is inferior and cannot sell their product, which I don’t agree with. Because in their originality, they portray our culture and help sell Nigeria abroad, but in this artificiality, they are just helping the White man to remain up there ahead of us. Just my opinion though!

The movie industry is a fancy of many homes in our society; you can’t take that from the industry. But one thing which is now prevalent in our movie industry is the portrayal of illicit scene. Many youth now resort to Nigerian movie to satisfy their sexual urge. It’s unfortunate right? But one wonders sometimes if the censoring body is still working. Especially with the influx of Ghanaian movies and talents, it has become very bad, and it is really affecting our values and morality. It questions if the industry know they have the responsibility of upholding our societal values.

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Sandra Bullock wants women to get more film roles written for men

scar winning actress Sandra Bullock has said she hopes more roles written for men will be given to women. The star plays an election consultant in a heated feud with a rival in her latest movie Our Brand Is Crisis, a part intended for a man until she approached producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov about making the character a woman. Speaking on the red carpet at the film’s Los Angeles premiere, she said she hopes this kind of shift will happen more often. “It would be great, I think some roles belong to the male sex and some belong to the female sex, I just think writing wonderful stories that embrace and support women is needed. “I like men, I don’t want the male roles to change but I will go after a role if I think a woman can play it.” Sandra, who has an adopted five-year-old son, said

Hollywood

that being a parent has not changed the kind of roles she pursues. “I choose the same way as before but now I just need to choose something my son can actually watch,” she said. George Clooney walked the red carpet at the premiere with his wife, human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin, while Billy Bob Thornton, who plays Sandra’s sparring partner in the film, sported a sleeveless t-shirt and cowboy boots. Billy Bob, who was recently seen in the hit television series Fargo, said he could see comparisons between the political stage and the Hollywood bubble. “In both businesses and they are businesses, you have to watch what you say, you have to deal with the media a lot and you are trying to sell something. “In Hollywood the stakes aren’t as high, we can pretend we are important all day but we are really not, in politics we are talking about running the world, it’s life and death. In Hollywood

Adele’s Hello beats the Star Wars trailer in the battle for YouTube views

Olivier Martinez wants easy divorce

he Force is strong with Adele, as her video for new single Hello has beaten the Star Wars trailer in the battle for YouTube views. The singer’s comeback single, Hello, attracted 1.6 million views in a single hour at its highest point, after it debuted on October 23. This topped the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which peaked at 1.2 million views last week, according to Digital Spy. YouTube said Hello had the biggest launch of any video in 2015, and was “one of the mostwatched music video debuts of all time”. In fact, it averaged over one million views per hour over the first two days, with “adele hello” being the top search on YouTube. It now has almost 128 million views. But according to StarWars. com, the Force Awakens trailer was viewed 128 million times in a single day, with 112 million online plays combined with around 16 million viewers who watched the video’s premiere at Monday Night Football on October 19.

livier Martinez doesn’t want his and Halle Berry’s son to go through a custody war. The 49-year-old actor is reportedly desperate for the couple’s two-year-old son Maceo to not be stuck in the middle of any disagreements like Halle’s daughter Nahla, seven, was when she split from Gabriel Aubry. He is believed to have been horrified by the bitterness between the ‘Extant’ actress and her ex, gossip website TMZ reports. Meanwhile, Halle recently submitted a second lot of court documents, filing for divorce from her husband of two years after speculation that her original documents, filed on Monday (26.10.15), may be invalid as she used aliases and gave her estranged husband the documents herself, something forbidden under Californian law. Meanwhile, a source admits the 49-year-old actress is “very sad” about the couple’s split. They said: “She is sad, very sad. This is never easy. Olivier has definite anger management issues. I think this was coming for a long time and [Berry was] not wanting to have to do this.” The pal also claims that the ‘Dark Tide’ star was “intimidated” because Halle “was the breadwinner”. They added: “He was emasculated by her beauty and her power, and his temper could erupt.”

Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield are splitting up

mma Stone and Andrew Garfield have reportedly split up for the second time. The on-again, off-again couple, who took a short break from their relationship last April, recently decided to end their romance for good after almost four years together, but remain good friends. A source close to the ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ costars told UsMagazine.com: “They still have a lot of love for one another and they are on good terms with each another and remain close. It just wasn’t working.” Another insider told PEOPLE.com: “There was no drama, they’ve been apart while working. They still care about each other. “They still have love for one another. They are on good terms with each other and remain close.” The pair took some time apart earlier this year while the British actor, 32, was filming the upcoming historicdrama ‘Silence’ in Taiwan, but reunited a few weeks

later and were spotted holding hands in Los Angeles in May. When asked about their brief split, Emma, 26, previously said: “I never talk about this stuff for this exact reason - because it’s all so speculative and baseless. I understand the interest in it completely, because I’ve had it, too. But it’s so special to me that it never feels good to talk about, so I just continually don’t talk about it.” Rumors the couple were no longer together first started swirling after Andrew was allegedly spotted leaving the Pelicano bar in Sydney, Australia with a mysterious young blonde woman last Saturday night (24.10.15). According to local radio station KISS 106.5 a number of eyewitness yelled, ‘Where’s Emma Stone?’ and he is said to have replied: “We’re not together anymore.”

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Celebrity Gists Funke Adesiyan goes to American film academy

oruba actress, Funke Adesiyan, has enrolled in the prestigious New York Film Academy in the United States of America. The actress joins the likes of Kunle Afolayan, Stephanie Linus, Banky W and others who have passed through the school. In an interview some months back, the actress revealed that not having the opportunity to be a lawmaker in the Oyo State House of Assembly during the last general election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will not deter her career. “I have always said that no knowledge is a waste, no matter how little. I want to go for my Masters programme now that I have the time,” she had said in the interview. Funke said she may love cars, fashion and luxury, but “nothing pays more than educa-

Perrie Edwards slams ex Zayn Malik while promoting new single, ‘Hair’

errie Edwards has called ex-fiance Zayn Malik a “bell-end” – hinting that the break-up inspired Little Mix’s single, Hair. Interviewing the rest of her band mates, Leigh-Anne Pinnock asked: “So obviously with Hair, can you tell us the story behind it, because it’s got a naughty word in it hasn’t it?” The lyrics to the song, released on August 28, include: “Cause he was just a d**k and I knew it / Got me going mad sitting in this chair / Like I don’t care / Gotta get him out my hair.” © Provided by Press AssociationJade Thirlwall answered: “Well you know, sometimes when you break up with someone they are that word, so it’s all right to say in a song.”

Echoing the song’s lyrics, Perrie added: “He was just a bell-end and I knew it.” Perrie, 22, recently split from former One Direction singer Zayn, 22, with representatives confirming on August 4 that the couple had called off their engagement. In the interview with UTV’s music show Total Access, Perrie was also disappointed to find out that actor Tom Hardy was married. Asked which celebrity she would take to prom, she named the Legend star, asking her Little Mix band mates: “We all love a bit of Tom Hardy, don’t we girls?” But when presenter Elliot Holman broke the news that Hardy is already married to actress Charlotte Riley, the band shouted: “No!”

Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Malala make Time magazine’s list of ‘Most Influential Teens’

isters Kendall, 19, and Kylie Jenner, 18, have both been selected as the top 30 most influential teens of 2015 by Time magazine. Kendall has an amazing modelling career and she has the most-liked photo in Instagram history. Kylie is the most-watched teenager in the world thanks to her audience of 60 million across social media, her hair extension business and her best-selling mobile app. The Jenner sisters join activist, Malala Yousafzai for the second time in a row, as well as other teens like Malia Obama, Ariel Winter, Jaden Smith and many more. The 2015 list includes 30 superstars under the age of 20 who have all made a significant impact on the world, in which Time takes “accolades across numerous fields, global impact through social media and overall ability to drive news” into consideration.

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Entertainment Ramsey Nouah to remake pioneer movie ‘Living In Bondage’

emember this classic 20th and it will be shot in three different century blockbuster? continents, Africa, Europe and America. The movie is going to Living in Bondage is often times be remade with 21st century used as a yard stick to measure how long technology for our viewing pleasure, Living In Bondage was produced in Igbo language and released in 1992 by Nollywood practitioner, Kenneth Nnegbue, and it starred actors like Kenneth Okonkwo (Andy), Kanayo O Kanayo, Bob Manuel-Udokwu, Ngozi Nwosu, Rita Nzelu, Francis Duru etc, Now, veteran Nollywod actor, Ramsey Nouah, alongside entertainment and business mogul, Charles Okpaleke, are coming together for the rebirth of the first successful Nollywood movie. Nouah and Okpaleke bought the rights to redo the movie from the owner and producer, Kenneth Nnegbue, and production will commence in 2016. Also, the movie which will be star studded will have casts from Nollywood and Hollywood

Nollywood has been in existence because the production of the film can be said to be the pioneer movie for modern day Nollywood.

Annie Idibia goes bald for cancer

ife of celebrated hip-hop singer and Nollywood actress, Annie Idibia, shaved her hair in a bid to create awareness for breast cancer and the importance of early detection through regular check-ups. The month of October is dedicated for the campaign against cancer and since the beginning of the month, several campaigns have been organised for cancer awareness. The likes of Chioma Akpota, Omoni Oboli, Halima Abubakar, Chidinma Ekile and many others have participated in campaigns for cancer. Annie, as part of her own contribution, shaved her hair. She noted that, “Recent studies have shown that 20 percent of breast cancer is discovered by self examination rather than mammography and we must realise that cancer is not a respecter of persons. It could happen to anyone, even I Annie Idibia.

Beyonce writes an ode to Nicki Minaj I n a video posted recently by multiple Grammy winner, Beyonce, the singer sang a song for rapper Nicki Minaj, praising her rap skills and describing how they meet in a cover of Prince’s 1984 cut, ‘Darling Nikki’“I met this girl named Nicki, I guess you could say she was the rap queen / I met her in the studio lobby but her booty looked bigger

in the magazines / She said, ‘B will you jump on this song of mine?’ / How could I resist when I heard little Nicki rhyme” Beyonce sang before she broke into tiny giggles. Nikki shared the video and wrote;“Bey has spoken,“#RapQueen, #QueenBey, #BayBey. Still have the #Tidal. Kisses to all my queens.’’

Michael Jackson is world’s topearning dead celebrity A

ccording to Forbes, music legend, Michael Jackson, is the top earning dead celebrity, earning an astonishing $115 million this year. In his more 30 years solo career, the King of Pop made an impressive over $1.1 billion. But it seems he has proved even more lucrative since his death, making a further $999 billion since 2009. The impressive sum comes from two Cirque-du-Soleil shows, his own music and publishing revenues, and his half of the Sony/ATV publishing catalogue. In second place is Elvis Presley, who has made £36 million, Peanuts cartoonist, Charles Schulz, comes third with £26 million, while fourth place, with £14million, goes to Bob Marley. Elizabeth Taylor rounds off the top five with £13 million.

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ISSUES

Nigeria’s notorious baby factories

By Phillip Obaji

he government of Africa’s most populous country is trying to crack down on this hideous trade, which may include the sale of children for use in rituals. ENUGU, Nigeria — Eze, as we will call him, is an agent involved in Nigeria’s notorious baby trafficking ring. In a local restaurant in Nigeria’s southeastern city of Enugu, where dozens of people gather every evening to eat the city’s popular goat-meat pepper soup, and where all kinds of gossip can be heard, I overheard him talking to a middle-aged woman about the possibility of getting her a newborn child of any sex she requires. I walked up to him after the woman had left, and sought to find out if he truly sells babies. “Do you want a baby fresh from the womb?” he asked me. He thought I wanted to buy a baby, but in fact I was on a fact-finding mission. Eze claimed to be able to get me babies in less than 24 hours. He said that a baby, due to be born in a couple of days, was meant to go to a couple in Sweden but could be mine if I paid the cash in full immediately. “We’ll get another baby for this couple. They won’t even notice we’ve given them something else,” he said. I then told Eze I wanted to be taken to the factory, to be sure if the business was genuine before saying anything. “It wouldn’t work that way,” he said to me. “For security reasons, the women are kept in a hidden place. We don’t want any encounter with the police.” When I insisted I needed to see the babies before believing him, Eze said he could only take me to the woman who runs the factory, but with a condition that I paid him 10,000 naira (about $50). I was eager to find out how this trade was carried out, so I paid the money, and off we went—driving for about 20 minutes in a cab through slum neighborhoods late at night. Eze may be an agent for the business, but he isn’t very familiar with the area where his employer lives. On the two occasions he’s been there, it was under the cover of darkness, he said. He told me his boss deliberately took him to her home at night so he would not recognise the location. That suggests some of the secrecy that shrouds this business. On the last part of the trip we were guided by a young boy who knew the woman

WRITE TO US

Peoples Daily Weekend welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters - 150 words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be addressed to: The Editor, Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja. Email: opinion@peoplesdailyng.com adverts@peoplesdailyng.com pictures@peoplesdailyng.com contact@peoplesdailyng.com we were looking for. He soon pointed at a gate, saying, simply, “It’s here.” We met Eze’s “Madam,” a middle-aged woman who introduced herself as “Madam Sarah” and asked us to follow her to the sitting room. She bid us to a seat and then turned to me. “Welcome, my son,” she said. “I have about six girls in my custody, and they are all heavily pregnant and expecting soon,” she said. “They are not here. I keep them in a secret location.” As we were talking, a young man walked in and whispered to her. After he had left, Madam Sarah turned to me and said: “That man is the biological father to many of the children we sell,” apparently to convince me that the babies she sells are not stolen. “His job is to get the girls pregnant, and he knows how to get the job done,” she said with a big smile. She went on to tell me that she charges N400,000 ($2,000) for a girl and N500,000 ($2,500) for a boy. She talked about the cost of caring for the mothers, justifying the price of the babies. “It’s expensive catering for these girls,” she said. “I give them food and shelter and pay the guys who sleep with them, but I let them go after they have given birth.” She claims she can arrange court orders and is able to get children of all ages, genders and complexions, and at any time. The police, she said, are not a problem for her. “What sex do you want?” she asked me.

“A boy or a girl?” “He just came to find out if what I told him about this business was true,” Eze told her. She then turned to me and said: “Now you know it’s real. Come back when you’re ready.” I stood up and left, winding my way back to the waiting taxi, having glimpsed up close how the child trade mafia operates in Africa’s most populous country. Every year, security operatives discover several new baby factories. Young girls are held captive to give birth to babies who are then sold illegally either to adoptive parents, into slavery, or, it is said, for traditional rituals. There are rumors and fears that newborns are being sold to witch doctors for rituals in a country where there is a widespread belief in traditional communities that a powder made of infants brings luck. But, such sensational claims notwithstanding, the vast majority of buyers almost certainly are married couples struggling to conceive. A huge amount of the trade is carried out locally in Nigeria, but authorities suspect that babies also have been sold to people from Europe and the United States, and despite the controversy surrounding adoptions in Nigeria, many foreigners continue to seek infants here.

There are several reasons given for the high patronage of baby factories. Security agencies say most places where the illegal baby trade occurs masquerade as non-governmental organizations or charitable homes for marginalized women. Operators of these places present themselves as humanitarians who take care of the pregnant teenagers in need. Human trafficking, including selling children, is prohibited under Nigerian law but almost 10 years ago a UNESCO report (PDF) on human trafficking in Nigeria identified the business as the country’s third-most common crime behind financial fraud and drug trafficking, and the situation certainly has not improved. At least 10 children are reportedly sold every day across the country. The scourge has intensified in the southeast, which is populated mainly by the Igbo ethnic group. Security officials have several ongoing undercover operations targeting suspected baby trafficking rings in Enugu State, underscoring the severity of the problem in this region. One measure taken by the government to check the proliferation o baby factories in the state has been to set up a committee on child adoption, and its research has suggested that the incidence of child trafficking and illegal adoptions has been on the rise because some security agencies and unscrupulous state officials aided the baby-sellers. “They are now being sold like commodities and, as a responsible government, we cannot allow this to continue to exist in Enugu State,” Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, governor of Enugu, said while inaugurating the committee last month. “While we acknowledge the right and the necessity for the childless or benevolent couples to adopt motherless children and orphans,” the governor declared, “we believe that there is need for strict compliance with due process and the provisions of relevant laws to guarantee the security and well being of the affected children.” Eze and Madam Sarah, of course, have other ideas. Philip Obaji Jr. is the founder of 1 GAME, an advocacy and campaigning organization that fights for the right to education for disadvantaged children in Nigeria, especially in northeastern Nigeria, where Boko Haram forbids western education. Culled from Abusidiqu.com

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PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Opinion

The sacrifice of patriotism By Olalekan Waheed

t has been long I sang the Nigerian national anthem. Often I find myself on the warpath with school teachers and my students who will not “salute the flag” and “stand still” when the national anthem is sung or the national pledge is being recited during the morning assembly. To me this was part of my contribution to citizenship, nation building and patriotism. In elementary school, we were taught that patriotism was a virtue, but reality soon stared us in the face. It became a situation of fighting those you do not hate and guarding those you don’t love just because duty, not love, made you fight. Mr. Taiwo Akinwunmi, the young man who designed the national flag as a student back then in London, I was surprised to know that, long after my social studies teachers told me of this man’s exploits, he for many years lived in near-poverty and neglect, our politicians attend all official functions, the Federal Executive Council, the National Assembly and the likes and transact government businesses in the name of this flag, whose designer lived in a mess. Yet this man was left in his house in Ibadan, not until I watched him on Frank Edoho’s popular television show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire! I even wondered if any of these socalled politicians have demonstrated any patriotic act save for monumental corruption, impunity and national embarrassment, yet, there was no compensation for Akinwunmi who was supposed to be a source of inspiration to the young ones and also serve as one of the nation’s pride. But who will tell them?

I equally read the story of Mr. Joseph Igbinovia Alufa, the man who carved the Queen Idia mask (The Olokun) used for the 2nd edition of Festival of Black Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in 1977 hosted in Lagos, Nigeria. He had to carve it to save the nation from a major international embarrassment when the original mask stolen as one of the works of art stolen by the British during the Punitive Expedition to Benin Kingdom in 1897 would not be released by the British museum even on a “rental fee” of £2 million just for the use of the festival. I am aware the Alufa had to wait for over 31 years for the agreed fee for his work including his 19 years in court to press for his money. All this was as in 2008, I am not aware if the man has been paid now. This is sometimes the sacrifice for patriotism.

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At this point, I will like to bring in Chief Charles Okereke. As far as I know him, he is an embodiment of what you can call patriotism and nationalism in an age where it is very tempting to make enough excuse for tribalism. He believes so much in the workability of the Nigerian Project. Despite all he went through as a postgraduate (on Imo State Government scholarship which was cornered and pocketed by the Nigerian diplomatic mission) in the United States, he did his best to get a job, with the help of his school, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, USA in the University’s Physical Plant Department, when his financial challenges took a heating turn and was about to drop out of school. He successfully earned his Master of Science (MS) in agriculture with flying colours. Still in all these, in obeying Kennedy’s

In elementary school, we were taught that patriotism was a virtue, but reality soon stared us in the face. It became a situation of fighting those you do not hate and guarding those you don’t love just because duty, not love, made you fight.

admonitions to only ask what one can do for his country and not otherwise, he decided to fly the flag of the country again at the African Union (AU) Symbols Competition-Anthem Category in 2003. His composition, God Bless Africa, today the Union’s unofficial anthem won the competition but was cheated out to the third place. Chief Okereke, in dismay wondered if there could be a third position in a competition where the first position was not announced, and the second position was given to one of the “panel of judges” for the competition, and he was given the “third” position! Sensing the injustice meted out on him, Chief Okereke turned to his country for help to at least save the country’s honour on the African continent. Despite President Olusegun Obasanjo being the AU Chairman at the time, nothing was done on the matter. Seeing it as a daylight robbery, Chief Okereke again in 2007, wrote another petition to the President of Ghana, John A. Kuffor, then AU Chairman. Again, the matter will not even be investigated because he “knows nobody”. He wrote another petition to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua of Nigeria in 2008, nut remains largely unattended to. On Chief Okereke’s petition which still lies unattended to at the SGF’s office. I am using this opportunity to call on the newlyappointed Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir David Lawal, and President Muhammadu Buhari to look into this enterprising Nigerian’s case and the merit of it with the view to getting to the root of this matter. Waheed, a political analyst, posted this piece on Omojuwa.com

NASS and the blackmail syndrome By Alade Ibironke

ver since the launching of the laudable anti-corruption war by the Buhari administration and even before, certain elements of soceity have always cynically calculated that they can piggy back on the shoulders of the anti-graft campaign in order to advance their inordinate pecuniary interest thus casting a shadow on the overall goal and purpose of the war against corrupt practices and malfeasances. Granted that the present anti-corruption battle is germane in order to bring much needed sanity and probity to the conduct of governance and administrative affiars in the nation’s public and private sectors, it must be however stated the way and manner the anti-graft war is conducted will go a long way on ensuring its transparency, credibility and durability. If thorough investigation is conducted by the various agencies charged with tackling corruption e.g. the EFCC, ICPC, the DSS, the Nigerian Police Force amongst others, before they apprehend suspects or those that have run foul of the law, indeed, this means that at the end of the day, indictments and convictions would definitely be the end game and nunc dimittis for the various light fingered dramatis personae involved. This would mean that the anti-graft agencies would end up scoring over 80 – 90% success in convictions and further shore up the overall image and perception of the anti-graft compaign in the eyes of the sometimes skeptical Nigerian many of whom are used to the usual media hype sorrounding corruption cases, only for the culprints or suspects to be left off the hook on technicalities

or plea bargain grounds. When the conviction rate is high in proportion to those arrested and prosecuted, the public confidence in the anti-graft campaign will also rise commensurately and with it, the added co-operation and synergy desired to tackle the hydraheaded monster decisively and tenaciously. However where the proportion of those convicted is low relative to the propensity of arrests or prosecutions, the prevailing feeling among the populace will be that the anti-graft campaign is merely a public relations stunt meant to hoodwink them, all sound and fury signifying nothing at all. Which brings to the fore, the grave issue at hand that is the tendency of certain questionable elements of soceity who under the guise of fighting corruption, spread petitions, complaints and publicaitons, many of dubious origin, alleging that certain public agencies, parastatals or government departments are engaging in corrupt or corrupt

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practices. While the petitions allege financial impropriety in the relevant agencies or MDAs named, the very nature or substance of the petitions tend to expose the originatos as either out on a mission of vendetta, score-settling or blackmailers out to extort money from public officials who may be sensitive to undue publicity or media sensationalism that may not bode well for their official or private capacities. In fact the dubious petitioners and blackmailers par excellence may have found their way to the nation’s apex legislative institution, the National Assembly going by some of the sensational publications that are going the rounds about the supposed expenditure/income profile of the institution. Screaming headlines about the supposed gargantuar funds expended by the National Assembly and the alleged jumbo pay brouhaha of the federal legislators only serve to mask the real intentions of the sponsors of those

In fact the NASS administration under the tutelage of the Clerk to the National Assembly Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa has been acclaimed as one of the best administered parliaments in the world according to the Legislative Research Bureau and numerous legislative think tanks.

publications; to tarnish, blackmail, extort and ravage the NASS management, and federal legislator’s image, reputation and resources as the case may be. It is indeed perplexing that the National Assembly should be the target of this distressing smear campaign given the fact that it’s operations and finances are one of the most scrutinised and most catalohued in the world if recent statistical revelations by sundry public and private sector watchdogs are anything to go by. The annual budget capital and recurrent expenditure profile of the National Assembly are in the public domain for all to see while it’s contracts, tenders, prequalification and procurement profile conform tremendously with the requirements of the Public Procurement Act as many public policy experts legislative aparatchiks as well as the relevant global parliamentary bodies have attested to. In fact the NASS administration under the tutelage of the Clerk to the National Assembly Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa has been acclaimed as one of the best administered parliaments in the world according to the Legislative Research Bureau and numerous legislative think tanks. Therefore the diversionary and distractionary activities of the inordinate blackmailers and their fellow travellers should not be condoned and must be thoroughly sanctioned by the security agencies for the overall credibility and durability of the laudable anti-corruption agenda of the Buhari administration. Ibironke wrote in from Abeokuta, Ogun state.

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Comment

After Alamieyeseigha, who’s next?

By Usama Dandare

hen someone develops a persistent and intense fear of justice, he may fear retribution for some type of criminal activity. People who engage in criminal activities are obviously more likely to develop this disorder having something ugly to hide, or having a criminal record which might prompt some sort of fear for the unknown. Buhariphobia simply means ‘fear of Muhammadu Buhari’. In reality, the fear of Buhari literally means a constant and incurable fear of honesty, justice, anticorruption, discipline, probity, integrity, doggedness, hard work, and good governance. Persons suffering from Buhariphobia are usually individuals whom have in one way or the other compromised corruption, impunity, or religious bigotry. To the corrupt, Buhariphobia means a life threatening disease born out of a chronic fear of facing the anti-corruption hammer of President Buhari, which in many instances has led to several cases of heart attack, hypertension, and sudden death. In view of the aforementioned, one needs no miracle to ascertain what led to Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha’s sudden death. The chief breathed his last breath in the early morning hours of Saturday October 10 at a Port Harcourt-based teaching hospital but the real factor that led to his demise still remain unknown, thus prompting several arguments and heated debates among Nigerians. Initially, Alamieyeseigha was arrested and detained in London

on charges of money laundering amounting to a cash sum of £1m found in his London home, and later the London Metropolitan police found a total of £1.8m ($3.2m) in cash and bank accounts belonging to him in September 2005. He was charged to court by the British police but later released on bail, Alamieyeseigha jumped bail in December 2005 from United Kingdom by disguising himself in female clothes and ran away to Nigeria. Upon his arrival, he got rearrested here in Nigeria and was impeached as the governor of Bayelsa state, before the then government of former President Obasanjo arraigned him before a federal high court. On July 26, 2007, Alamieyeseigha pleaded guilty to six-count charges and was handed a two years sentence on each charge, only to be released on July 27 just hours after being taken to prison due to the time already served waiting for trial. He was later granted a state pardon on March

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12, 2013 by his former deputy who later became President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Thinking that the end of the matter had been seen not knowing that the nemesis of his inhuman atrocities are still not over yet, the late chief was obviously shocked and rattled by the reopening of his corruption cases by the no-nonsense government of Buhari, with even plans to have him extradited back to the United Kingdom where he was declared wanted ten years back for criminally jumping a bail and money laundering. What made Chief Alamieyeseigha even more shocked and perturbed was the emanating plethora of reports in which it was revealed that the British government had determined to resurrect an outstanding case of money laundering against him and had officially requested for his extradition to London. From the look of things surrounding his demise, the real

cause of Chief Alamieyeseigha’s death is obviously written in bold. It is real that the fear of President Buhari’s anti-corruption hammer and fear of being extradited to the United Kingdom to answer allegations of money laundering and pay the price of jumping bail were undoubtedly responsible for the sudden collapse of the late Bayelsa state governor. Alamieyeseigha’s health condition worsened soon after the news got to him that he would be extradited to UK from where he disguised in women clothes and jumped bail in 2005, he wasted no time before slipping into coma. No doubt, he died over fear of extradition to the United Kingdom to face justice. Consonantly, family members and close associates whom are doing all they can to cover up that the late chief died a natural way were however blaming hypertension for his death. Nonetheless, i agreed, but as long as i will continue to agree that Chief

Now that the thieving elites are faking one sickness or the other, it wouldn’t be surprising if we hear that another ‘big name looter’ is dead. As President Buhari has sworn to bring all corrupt government officials to book, the thieving elites have vowed to go the other way than to stay and face justice.

Alamieyeseigha died a natural death caused by hypertension, they must also concur with me that his hypertension must have obviously escalated after he got wind of his inevitable extradition, quiet knowing who Muhammadu Buhari is and how easier it is for the president to extradite him without giving a damn. We all heard that the embattled former minister of petroleum, Diezanni Allison-Madueke is on admission at a London-based hospital after undergoing a cancer surgery. The former vice president, Arc Namadi Sambo is also in a United States hospital for a jumper-knee surgery while the immediate past presidential adviser on Niger Delta Amnesty Program, Kingsley Kuku, is also undergoing similar knee surgery in the United States too. Indeed, the fear of Buhari is not only the beginning of wisdom but also the beginning of heart attack, high blood pressure, cancer and knee injuries. Now that the thieving elites are faking one sickness or the other, it wouldn’t be surprising if we hear that another ‘big name looter’ is dead. As President Buhari has sworn to bring all corrupt government officials to book, the thieving elites have vowed to go the other way than to stay and face justice. With the ongoing anticorruption crusade gaining momentum by the day, it is clear that several treasury looters would join Alamieyeseigha sooner or later, the only bugaboo one cannot categorically stand bold to squelch is; after Alamieyeseigha, who’s next?

Time to tame the walking bombs By Abubakar Abba Sanusi

ost times a deafening sound rips through the day. It heralds a moment of confusion, carnage and trauma. The modus operandi is always the same. A teenage girl detonates an improvised explosive device. IED, they call it. The media scramble to report the news in the goriest way possible. Human beings shattered by bombs in the course of their daily activities turn to mere statistics. The people of the North-East, especially Borno and Yobe States are now endangered species. They are like preys and the suicide bombers like predators who watch intently and patiently waiting for a window of opportunity to strike and cause devastating damage. The teenage girls often hypnotised and adorned with a bomb sneak into the populace and wreak the maximum havoc. For how long are we going to continue like this? Our security agencies must develop strategies to curtail the rampant cases of suicide bombings in conjuction with the state governments. The following

methods can help in that regard; BAN ON STREET HAWKING AND BEGGING According to UNESCO, there are about 10.5 million kids out of school in Nigeria. A significant number of that can be found in the North East, hawking on the streets or serving as guides to beggars. They have become a part of the landscape. It is very difficult to detect a would be suicide bomber once disguised amongst them. The government should not only ban begging and

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hawking but also make education free and compulsory for kids of that age bracket. It will make it easier to detect a would be suicide bomber especially when kids and teenagers are used because they have no business on the streets or busy areas. Children should be protected from abduction and use as suicide bombers by the demented terrorists. C O M M U N I T Y LEVEL INTELLIGENCE GATHERING The traditional institution can

The people of the North-East, especially Borno and Yobe States are now endangered species. They are like preys and the suicide bombers like predators who watch intently and patiently waiting for a window of opportunity to strike and cause devastating damage.

play a great role in organising intelligence gathering in the community. There should be a record of all the residents of an area, their occupations and behaviour. The ward head or leader of the residents association should be aware of any new resident in the area. There should be a close collaboration with the DSS, police and military so that any suspicious activity can be taken care of appropriately. The suicide bombers are members of a community and are probably strapped with the bombs not far from their targets. BAN ON ILLEGAL MOTOR PARKS AND MARKETS There are a lot of illegal motor parks and markets in the North East. They are mostly unorganised and not properly secured. Government should regulate their activities and build standard parks and markets equipped with bomb detectors and body scanners at the entrances after all some state governments built airports worth billions of naira. The confusion and chaos in such places makes it difficult to detect a potential bomber.

REGULATIONS ON MOSQUES AND CHURCHES It is unfortunate the way mosques and churches are proliferated in the society. In some cases you can find two or more mosques or church in one street. In the case of Islam, the religion encourages cohesion among its adherents so the idea of having more than one mosque within walking distance is unjustified. The same applies to the church. The government should introduce religious councils which will be manned by respected leaders of the two major religions and should be saddled with the responsibility of granting licences for setting up of a mosque or church in conjuction with urban planning board. No mosque or church should be erected within walking distance of one another. When you have less, it becomes easier to secure them and also less likely to become targets. Providing security of lives and property is the most important function of government. Culled from Abusidiqu. com

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Only godly leaders can save Nigeria, says Buhari

Omadachi Ijibiti Kwararafa Family says: In the same vein,and in line when we knock God out of our lives and our schools we should expect dogly behaviours! Our present predicaments in cultism, atheism, homosexuality, kidnapping, armed robbery, terrorism etc, can be linked yo our knocking God out of our schools and governments.We can change for our Nation to be great again!

Ebola: Kaduna community rejects quarantine centre

Gta 5 Unlimited Money says: I relish I discovered just what I was having a look for. You’ve ended my 4 day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a nice day. Bye Real News Right Now Satire Or Real says: Online magazines like Realty Information will give you all of the updated data you should get your business began (see Resources under). Sky News reported on Saturday that SMRT was within the early stages of considering an 800 million pound ($1.three billion) provide for the agency, which is at present majority-owned by personal equity firm Carlyle Group.

Emenike’s resignation not omen for football development – Coach Dike

Haruna says: Emenike’s retirement from Super Eagles is no issue in Nigerian football. He has outlived his prime in the team. He saw the handwriting on the wall and decided to call it a day with the team.

Of politics without bitterness

Tayo Olayiwola says: Olawale is a gentleman and a great man indeed. He has demonstrated that election should not be a do or die affair but a call to ser-

vice. Most people seeking elective offices are there to milk the system but Olawale put his people above self. He want to serve his people truthfully and in that light he could be encourage to run for higher office where I believe he will do us proud

Adamawa: Aggrieved IDPs demand release of N100m donation

John Doe says: NEMA and ADSema have received billions for IDPs from the Federal Government and International Agencies. The situation of the IDPs, especially in Camps where NEMA and ADSEMA operate remain precarious. Less than 10% of IDPs are actually in camps with the rest in Host communities where you will find 10 , 20 and even 50 people living in one household with no assistance from NEMA and SEMA.

Kalu: The drummer boy in Biafra graveyard

Abdullah Musa says: The problem with Nigeria, indeed nearly all African countries is naivety. We believe that as long as we mind our own business others will mind theirs. Far from it. Others are always on the look out for your weak points to exploit them. Boko Haram is one, Biafra is another. And while the financiers are at it, they may be sitting at dining table with our leaders, celebrating our downfall.

Online Comments What manner of democracy!

Abdullah Musa says: The hyena was looking for trouble, for an excuse, so went the folklore. It confronted a lamb that the said lamb abused the hyena on the way to market last year. The meek lamb retorted that it was not even born last year. Whether you were born last year or not, whether you abused me or not, I am going to eat you up, your mother inclusive. Within humans it is no different. The powerful believes the weak must be dictated to, even though it is against their interest.

N3.8b money laundering charge: Ex-Kebbi gov, Dakingari in EFCC net

Abdullah Musa says: EFCC seems to have a porous net. So porous that an elephant will effortlessly wriggle out.

Association of banana growers, marketers launched in Abuja

Adeosun Adebayo says: just which to ask if the association has any plan, in youth that have interest in the growing of banana and plantain. And also how can one be a member of this association. Thanks

Why we want Abuja indigene as FCT Seeking minister – Agabe of permanent solution Gwargwada to Farmers/ Sabo Auta says: We the Gbagyi have right to be minister of Herdsmen Clashes government. It should give us a chance, please.

Why I stripped Vincent Enyeama captaincy – Sunday Oliseh

Agbaruo-Ngene says: TThe truth is, Oliseh was not fair to the young man. The timing of his action and the manner would have offended any body. Those of us who know Oliseh, know that he has problem with his temper. After confessing that someone made a great sacrifice reporting to camp days after burying his mother and still went ahead to humiliate him. Again you are aware he wants to retire, why not give him a diginified exit. After 101 caps he did not deserve that treatment.

President Buhari

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Ethnic Cr says: Sambisa forest should be destroyed and turned to cattle ranch with full irrigation facility to provide grasses all through the year for pasture. This will prevent criminals from using the forest in future for evil. Nigerians should stop attaching any ethnic crisis to religion just to attract sympathy from religious group and further aggravate the crisis. Religion is not a tribe and every body can choose to belong to any one. If you are a Yoruba man becoming a Muslim does not change your dialect so people should not use religion to separate brothers and communities.

John says: Nice post thanks Nigeria is better.

Rivers tribunal sacks 10 House of Assembly members

Ademola F. says: APC are jokers! The party’s stalwarts are bribing petition tribunals to nullify elections not won by the party. Rather than focusing on the economy and improving the standard of living in the country, the party is busy witchhunting opposition parties members. God sees and those involved will be humiliated at the appointed time!

Miyatti Allah leadership weak – Fulani group

Fo16 says: Hi everyone, it’s my first visit at this web site, and post is genuinely fruitful designed for me, keep up posting such content.

NESO to partner FG in fight against insurgency

Oshinuga Odunayo Micheal says: I pray to GOD in havean as a day is rise,neso will rise all over the world and almighty GOD will touch the heart of our president, I belive that october 1st wil be a day of joyful and merciful day for neso…May God give CCG Sani Aliu power knowledge strength to drive NESO to promised land. Amen Hally Godfrey Emeka says: Now Nigeria citizens can now sleep with the eyes closed thank you NESO. Chpl’ Mrs Agnes Makir Philip says: Congrats, Sir (CG) may almighty grant you more wisdom to lead NESO to their throne. Amen. Long live NESO. Long live Nigeria.

Nyako: Probe panel in dilemma over venue Naijaname says: May God Help us o

Gov el-Rufai

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

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Feature

FERMA and challenges of road maintenance in Nigeria By Usman Adams

n Nigeria today, there is no doubt that there are myriads of problems facing the citizenry, but if there is one issue which has elicited a national consensus, it is the fact that most Nigerian roads are in deplorable conditions and in complete state of disrepair. Worried by this ugly and intolerable situation, the federal government sent an executive bill to the National Assembly which without hesitation passed same resulting in the establishment of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) in November 2002. Those who are old enough would recall the existence of a body known as the Public Works Department (PWD) which was bequeathed to the country by the then departing British Colonial masters to maintain the only few length of roads leading to the seaports for the evacuation of raw materials to their metropolitan country. No doubt the colonial masters were dealing with a few kilometres of roads and a limited number of goods and services which traversed these roads. However, the problem of a self-governing nation multiply with the continual growth and shifting of its population as well as the insistence on a good life for everybody necessitates that something more drastic and durable should be put in place to deal with the new situations. Consequently, FERMA marked Nigeria’s first ever institutional mechanism for concrete national policy platform, best practices and quality control in roads maintenance management. From the inception of the agency in late 2002 it has continued to take the necessary steps to redeem its vision of making all roads in the country particularly those ones that belong to the Federal Government motorable all year-round and the situation is not made easier when it is considered that over 90% of transportation activities in Nigeria is carried out through the roads. Road construction in Nigeria was at its peak in the 1970s and 1980s and was expected to last within 10-15years. Simply put, therefore, the life span of these roads was due to have expired over 20 years ago. Consequently, the establishment of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) was supposed to have been done over 20years ago and the absence of such a body has resulted in the accumulated deterioration and disrepair of these roads over these years. The challenges before FERMA are to say the least awesome and the Holy Writ says “The harvest is plenty but the labourers are few.” The authorities at the Aminu Kano Crescent Wuse 2 Headquarters of the agency are daily and ceaselessly being bombarded from all nooks and crannies of the country by commuters, politicians and other stakeholders with “Save our Souls” messages of deplorable conditions of roads within their areas. To be sure FERMA has the capacity and competence to meaningfully carry out maintenance in many areas where these distressed calls emanate from but oftentimes the materials and resources to cope with the situations all over the country and at the same time are always in short supply. Most of the 35,000km roads network that are assigned to FERMA to maintain have diverse and multiple problems to keep them motorable all-year-round. While some of these problems are caused by the longevity of the roads and is attendant wear-out, others are caused by irresponsible human

Engr. Ibuh behaviour and activities ranging from the dumping of refuse on the shoulders, drainage channels and manholes, illegal and dangerous parking on the road causing failure and collapse of these roads, in addition to the avoidable road crashes, injuries and fatalities they cause, vandalisation of road infrastructure such as street light cables and fittings, bridge railings, bollards and road signs, metallic crash barriers, dragging and haulage of destructive objects on our road surfaces, excavation on shoulders, embankments and cutting across roads to lay water pipes, and roads sides to lay communication cables, driving on kerbs, chutes and shoulders which destroys flow channels, spilling of waste oil and burning of tyres which destroys carriage way among other bad human activities. From the above perspective, it should be stated that while the commuters and indeed all Nigerians have the legitimate right to complain and be concerned about the deplorable state of our roads. It should also be noted that unwholesome practices and activities of our people will not in any way contribute to the remedy and succour. The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency is painfully and continuously trying to bring to the doorsteps of all Nigerian road users. At its inception the agency slowly started with handling about 5,000 roads, but as its activities lengthened in years and experience and careful planning, it is able to respond to most pressing emergencies all over the country simultaneously. Experts in roads construction believe that if FERMA is given all the resources it requires, it has the managerial skills, the competence and the dedication of its work force to be able

to carry out successfully the mandates assigned to it by the federal government. In manifestation of this assertions is underscored by the fact that even in the North-Eastern part of the country where insurgency is prevalent namely: Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe and some parts of Bauchi State FERMA has ensured that the commuters and other road users do not suffer unduly as a result of the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents as road maintenance activities are currently ongoing in those States. For the avoidance of doubt, the problems in these areas being handled by FERMA are also being replicated in all parts of the country. FERMA has carefully and methodically studied the problems facing road maintenance in Nigeria and also mapped-out the template for solving the problems but what it lacks is the financial resources to adequately and successfully carry out its mandate. Authorities in FERMA are hoping that apart from the agency estimates that in addition to its annual budgetary need of about N40 billion, of which N25 billion is expected to be met from the 5% fuel levy on the pump price of fuel, a provision of a sum of N70 billion under capital expenditure is needed to effect the structural strengthening and overlay of about 3,500kms of road on an annual basis. If this programme is sustained over a period of say 8-10 years it is estimated that the entire Federal Road Network would have been contained under the programme. What is more the emergence of the acting Managing Director Engr. Peter Odeh

Ibuh, has rekindled the spirit of the workforce of the agency when the new M.D told the workers of the management’s determination to ensure that the welfare of the staff is his priority and also prospective contractors of the agency handling the medium term road maintenance have been told in a separate meeting with him that it would not be business as usual. The other issue being raised is the fact that many engineers and road construction experts believe that if the Federal Ministry of Works can be more meticulous in the design and construction of roads putting into consideration the soil content and soil structure of roads so constructed it will go a long way in preserving the life span of roads because in applying asphalt all section of the road do not have same soil structure. Many Nigerians who are not conversant with the work of the Agency may be critical of its activities but if they can peep into what the agency has achieved in its short span of existence, they may be less vocal in their criticisms. In all perspectives, since FERMA cannot in one fell swoop accomplish all its desired activities, it has developed a two-pronged programme, namely the medium and the short term. The medium envisages that contractors would be kept permanently on sites on agreed terms, while the short term is the direct labour concept. Despite the dwindling financial resources of the government, the management of FERMA is determined that all resources at their disposal will be transparently put into optimum use to lessen the travails of millions of road users by keeping most of the roads motorable and less hazardous all year round. The new helmsman at the Agency, Engr. Peter Odeh Ibuh, has demonstrated immense competence in all the places he had previously served. He is, therefore, seen as a great asset to the Agency. Adams is a veteran journalist based in Abuja.

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The new helmsman at the Agency, Engr. Peter Odeh Ibuh, has demonstrated immense competence in all the places he had previously served. He is, therefore, seen as a great asset to the Agency.

Biographies

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Ahmed Hoosen Deedat (1918 – 2005)

hmed Hoosen Deedat was a South African writer and public speaker of Indian descent. He was best known as a Muslim missionary, who held numerous inter-religious public debates with evangelical Christians, as well as video lectures, most of that centred on Islam, Christianity and the Bible. He also established the IPCI, an international Islamic missionary organisation, and wrote several booklets on Islam and Christianity that were widely distributed by the organisation. He was awarded the King Faisal International Prize in 1986 for his fifty years of missionary work. He used English to communicate with Muslims and non-Muslims in the western world. Early Years 1918–1942 Deedat was born in town of Tadkeshwar, Surat, Bombay Presidency, British India in 1918.[5] His father had emigrated to South Africa shortly after his birth. At the age of 9, Deedat left India to join his father in what is now known as Kwazulu-Natal. His mother died only a few months after his departure. Arriving in South Africa, Deedat applied himself with diligence to his studies, overcoming the language barrier and excelling in school, even getting promoted until he completed standard 6. However, due to financial circumstances, he had to quit school and start working by the time he was the age of 16. In 1936, while working as a furniture salesman, he met a group of missionaries at a Christian seminary on the Natal South Coast who, during their efforts to convert people of Muslim faith, often accused the Islamic Prophet Muhammad of having “used the sword” to bring people to Islam. Such accusations offended Deedat and created his interest in comparative religion. Deedat took a more active interest in religious debate after he came across the book Izhar ul-Haqq (Truth Revealed), written by Rahmatullah Kairanawi, while he was rummaging for reading material in his employer’s basement. This book chronicled the efforts of Christian missionaries in India a century earlier. The book had a profound effect on Deedat, who bought a Bible and held debates and discussions with trainee missionaries, whose questions he had previously been unable to answer. He started attending Islamic study classes held by a local Muslim convert named Mr. Fairfax. Seeing the popularity of the classes, Mr. Fairfax offered to teach an extra session on the Bible and how to preach to Christians about Islam. Shortly thereafter, Fairfax had to pull out and Deedat, by this point quite knowledgeable about the Bible, took over teaching the class, which he did for three years. Early missionary work 1942–1956 Deedat’s first lecture, entitled “Muhammad: Messenger of Peace”, was delivered in 1942 to an audience of fifteen people at a Durban cinema named Avalon Cinema. A major vehicle of Deedat’s early missionary activity was the ‘Guided Tours’ of the Jumma Mosque in Durban. The vast ornamental Jumma Mosque was a landmark site in the tourist-friendly city of Durban. A program of luncheons, speeches and free hand-outs was created to give an increasingly large number of international tourists what was often their first look at Islam. Deedat himself was one of the guides, hosting tourists and giving introductions to Islam and its relationship with Christianity. IPCI and as-Salaam 1956– 1986 Among Deedat’s close friends were Goolam Hoosein Vanker and Taahir Rasool, whom many refer to as ‘the unsung heroes of Deedat’s

career’. In 1957, these three men founded the Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI) with the aim of printing a variety of books on Islam and offering classes to new Muslims converts. The next year Deedat established an Islamic seminary called As-Salaam Educational Institute on a donated 75-acre (300,000 m2) piece of land located in Braemar in the south of Natal province. The experiment was not a success, however, because of the IPC’s lack of manpower and paucity of funds, and was taken over by the Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa in 1973. Deedat then returned to Durban and expanded the IPC’s activities. International efforts 1985– 1995 By the early 1980s Ahmed Deedat’s work was beginning to be known outside his native South Africa. His international profile grew in 1986, when he received the King Faisal Award for his services to Islam in the field of Dawah (Islamic missionary activity). As a result, at age of 66, Deedat began a decade of international speaking tours around the world. His tours included: •Saudi Arabia and Egypt (on several occasions) •United Kingdom (on several occasions between 1985 and 1988, as well as Switzerland in 1987) Deedat met Zia al-Haq •UAE and Maldives Islands (Nov–Dec 1987), where Deedat was honoured by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom •The US (late 1986 featuring debates with Swaggart, Robert Douglas and several lectures including two in Arizona) •Sweden and Denmark (late 1991, featuring three debates) •US and Canada (1994, tour featuring debates in Canada and lectures in Chicago) •Australia (his last tour in early 1996, just before his stroke) On the other hand, in South Africa problems arose after the publication of From Hinduism to Islam (1987), a critique of Hindu beliefs and practices. Among others, Deedat criticised South African Hindus for praying to their various deities and being easily moved to convert to Christianity. Hindus and Christians had respected his oratory skills and arguments until then. But now, they rejected Deedat and united with other South African Muslim organisations in denouncing his attacks on other religions. Two years later, Jews joined the criticism after Deedat published Arab and Israel – Conflict or Conciliation? Illness and death 1996– 2005 On 3 May 1996, Ahmed Deedat suffered a stroke which left him paralysed from the neck down because of a cerebral vascular accident affecting the brain stem, leaving him unable to speak or swallow. He was flown to King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, where he was reported to be fully alert. He learned to communicate through a series of eye-movements via a chart whereby he would form words and sentences by acknowledging letters read to him. He spent the last nine years of his life in a bed in his home in South Africa, looked after by his wife, Hawa Deedat, encouraging people to engage in Da’wah (proselytizing Islam). He received hundreds of letters of support from around the world, and local and international visitors continued to visit him and thank him for his work. On 8 August 2005, Ahmed Deedat died at his home on Trevennen Road in Verulam in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. He is buried at the Verulam cemetery.[15] Hawa Deedat died on Monday 28 August 2006 at the age of 85 at their home.

Deedat Debates Debate and rivalry with John Gilchrist Ahmed Deedat debated John Gilchrist, a South African Christian lawyer from Benoni, in 1975 on the topic of Jesus’s crucifixion. Following their 1975 debate, Deedat made defamatory personal remarks against Gilchrist that, after refusing to publicly apologise for, led to court action and him having to pay damages of R2 138 (including court costs) to Gilchrist. The two became engaged in long-term rivalry, with Gilchrist going on to found the South African ‘Jesus to Muslims’ organisation writing many Christian tracts and responses to Deedat’s leaflets and books,[18] which Deedat in turn often responded to. Debate with Josh McDowell Deedat’s first internationally well-known debate took place in August 1981, when he debated wellknown Christian preacher Josh McDowell in Durban, South Africa. Debates with Anis Shorrosh Ahmed Deedat debated with Palestinian Anis Shorrosh several times. On 8 September 1977, they debated the claims of the Bible and of the Koran to be God’s Word in Birmingham. In the 1980s, Deedat and Shorrosh debated twice. The first, entitled Is Jesus God? took place in December 1985 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The second debate was organised with much fanfare and again held in Birmingham on 7 August 1988, entitled The Quran or the Bible: Which Is God’s Word. Debate with Jimmy Swaggart Deedat’s debated with televangelist Jimmy Swaggart in November 1986. Other notable debates In October and November 1991 Deedat toured Scandinavia, where he held three debates and several speeches. Two of these debates were held on successive nights against Pastor Stanley Sjöberg in Stockholm, Sweden. The first of these was entitled Is the Bible the True Word of God? and the second debate was Is Jesus God?. Deedat and the Pope After Pope John Paul II had called for deeper mutual understanding, respect and dialogue with the Muslims, Deedat challenged him in 1984 to a public debate in the Vatican Square, but the Pope did not accept. When the Pope’s staff stopped answering, Deedat distributed a pamphlet in January 1985 headlined His Holiness Plays Hide and Seek With Muslims.. Writings and speeches Deedat published and massproduced over one dozen palm-sized booklets focusing on the following major themes. Most of Deedat’s numerous lectures, as well as most of his debates in fact, focus on and around these same themes. Often the same theme has several video lectures to its credit, having been delivered at different times and

different places. •Is the Bible God’s Word? •What The Bible Says About Muhammad •Crucifixion or Cruci-Fiction? •several smaller spin-off titles on specific aspects of Crucifixion •Muhammad: The Natural Successor to Christ •Christ in Islam •Muhammad The Greatest •Al-Qur’an the Miracle of Miracles •Capitalizing on his popularity in the Middle East following his receipt of the King Faisal Award, Deedat secured a grant to print a collated volume of four of his popular booklets. 10,000 copies of this book titled The Choice: Islam and Christianity were initially printed on April 1993; this book was very popular in the 1990s, available for free at many missionary outlets across North America. Subsequently, several printing houses offered to print more, and within two years another 250,000 copies had been printed in several print runs across the Middle East. Later, a second paperback volume entitled The Choice: Volume Two containing six more of Deedat’s booklets was published. Deedat also widely promoted a South African printing of The Holy Qur’an Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali with commentary and a detailed index. This was widely sold at subsidised cost to the general public, and is often mentioned in Deedat’s speeches. Deedat also produced a booklet entitled “Al-Qur’an: the Ultimate Miracle” featuring the theory of ‘the Number 19’ that was popularised by Arizona-based Egyptian computer analyst Dr. Rashad Khalifa. However, this booklet was withdrawn after Dr. Khalifa disclosed some controversial beliefs, including his rejection of the entire Hadith literature of Islam. Criticism Deedat received heavy criticism from liberal Muslim groups in South Africa which felt he inaccurately represented Islam and was intolerant of people of other religions, including Christians, Hindus, Jews and Jains. Several monthly editions of the Muslim Digest of South Africa (July, August, September, October) in 1986 were almost entirely devoted to criticising Deedat’s stance and “his various dangerous activities”. In 1988, following the publication of Salman Rushdie’s fictional work The Satanic Verses, Deedat supported the fatwā of the Ayatollah Khomeini calling for Rushdie’s death. He said that Rushdie “is a hypocrite and has blasphemed holy personalities. He should not be pardoned.” His ties to Islamic extremism also became increasingly documented towards the end of his life. It emerged his dawah centre, IPCI, was heavily financed by the Bin Laden family and that he had personally metOsama Bin Laden, whom he described positively. Deedat’s debates and writings have been labelled a form of apologetics by Lloyd V. J. Ridgeon, professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Glasgow. Muslim scholar Farid Esack has criticised Deedat, comparing him to such fundamentalists as Rabbi Meir Kahane and Jerry Falwell, and writing: Deedat’s multitude of antiChristian, anti-Jewish and antiHindu videotapes have told us all that there is to be told about the other, and we are comfortable with that. There are times, of course, when questions surface about the importance of correct dogma, about the importance of labels to a God whom we believe sees beyond labels and looks at the hearts of people. Instead of pursuing these questions, we hasten back and seek refuge in “the known.” We order another of those Deedat tapes.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

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Archives Cracker that survived the sinking of the Titanic is sold for $22,968, it’s dubbed the ‘most valuable biscuit in the world’

The Titanic sank in April 1912 during its maiden voyage to New York from Southampton

biscuit cracker that survived the sinking of the Titanic has sold for £15,000 ($22,968) at auction in England and has been dubbed the ‘most valuable biscuit in the world.’ The plain cracker, sold by Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers in Devizes in Wiltshire, fetched 5,000 ($7656) more than was expected. It was bought by a collector in Greece, the BBC reported. Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge told The Salisbury Journal: ‘It is the world’s most valuable biscuit. We don’t know which lifeboat the biscuit came from but there are no other Titanic lifeboat biscuits in existence to my knowledge.’ The Spillers and Bakers ‘Pilot’ biscuit survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 in which over 1,500 people died after the ‘unsinkable’ ship hit an iceberg. According to auctioneers, the sweet was part of a survival kit that was stored within one of the ill-fated ocean liner’s lifeboats. James Fenwick, a passenger onboard the SS Carpathia, which went to the aid of survivors from the ship kept it as a ‘souvenir’ of the disaster. He put the snack in a Kodak

photographic envelope and wrote a note which stated ‘Pilot biscuit from Titanic lifeboat April 1912’. Aldridge added: ‘It is incredible that this biscuit has survived such a dramatic event - the sinking of the world’s largest ocean liner costing 1,500 lives. ‘In terms of precedence, a few years ago a biscuit from one of Shackleton’s expeditions sold for about £3,000 ($4,593) and there is a biscuit from the Lusitania in a museum in the Republic of Ireland. ‘So we have put an estimate of between £8,000 ($12,259) and £10,000 ($15,312) which makes it the most valuable biscuit in the world.’ Another item that went under the hammer was a ‘loving cup’ which was presented to the captain of the Carpathia, which came to the Titanic’s aid. It was given to Captain Arthur Rostron by survivor Molly Brown and was paid for by donations from wealthy passengers after the disaster. It sold for an incredible £129,000 ($197,531) - making it the third most expensive Titanic item ever. The cup, which stands 16 inch-

es tall, was given to Rostron for his great courage to speed the RMS Carpathia through an ice field at night to reach the Titanic and rescue 712 survivors. The auction also featured a photo of the iceberg that is believed to have sunk the cruise liner. It sold for £21,000 ($32,156). The picture of the iceberg was taken by the chief steward of the passing Prinz Adalbert vessel. It was accompanied by a previously unpublished document he wrote of his account. It states: ‘On the day after the sinking of the Titanic, the steamer Prinz Adalbert passes the iceberg shown in this photograph. ‘The Titanic disaster was not yet known by us. On one side red paint was plainly visible, which has the appearance of having been made by the scraping of a vessel on the iceberg – SS Prinz Adalbert Hamburg America Line.’ The Titanic sank in April 1912 during its maiden voyage to New York from Southampton after the supposedly ‘unsinkable’ ship struck the iceberg on 14 April 1912. The ship sank at around 02:20 on the 15 April. Mailonline

A biscuit that survived the sinking of the Titanic has sold for £15,000 ($22,968) at auction in England

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

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Digest

Could bananas cure AIDS? New drug made from the fruit can kill hepatitis C and flu

cientists have made a ‘wonder drug’ out of bananas that can kill off a wide range of viruses – including hepatitis C, flu and AIDS. It is hoped the new medicine will become a vital ‘broad spectrum antiviral’ that could protect humanity from some of the most vicious diseases. The key ingredient is a protein found in bananas called banana lectin, or ‘BanLec’. It was first discovered five years ago – and considered as a potential AIDS treatment. But it caused nasty side effects that scientists have now overcome. Now, scientists have created a new version of BanLec which can fight viruses in mice – but does not cause unwanted irritation and inflammation. BanLec works by clinging to sugar molecules found on the surface of some of the world’s deadliest viruses. Once the drug has locked on to the virus, it is rendered harmless – and can easily be disposed of by the body’s immune system. In tests on mice, the new form of BanLec, called H84T, stopped them getting the flu - without the increased inflammation earlier versions had caused. The new variation also worked in the laboratory – on tissue and blood samples against AIDS, hepatitis C and influenza. The researchers believe the drug may even work on Ebola, as all of these viruses are covered in similar sugar molecules that BanLec clings to. However they warn eating regular bananas will not have the same beneficial effect, as the ingredient is a modified version of the chemical found in the fruit. Dr David Markovitz, professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan and co-author of the paper, published in the journal

A drug made from a protein in bananas can kill a wide range of viruses – including hepatitis C, flu and AIDS

Cell, said: ‘What we’ve done is exciting because there is potential for BanLec to develop into a broad spectrum anti-viral agent - something that is not clinically available to physicians and patients right now.’ However several years of research still lie ahead before BanLec can be tested in humans. Despite this, Dr Markovitz and his co-author, Dr Hashim AlHashimi, professor of biochemistry at Duke University, hope the team’s work can help address the lack of antiviral drugs that work well against many viruses - or against viruses that change rapidly, such as influenza. ‘Better flu treatments are desperately needed,’ said Dr Markovitz. ‘Tamiflu is only modestly effective, especially in critically ill patients, and influenza can develop resistance to it. ‘But we also hope that BanLec could become useful in situations such as emergency pandemic response, and military settings, where the precise cause of an infection is unknown but a viral cause is suspected.’ British scientists today hailed the development. Professor Wendy Barclay, chair in influenza virology at Imperial College, London, called it a ‘a new strategy for combatting a wide range of viruses’ and ‘beautiful science’. Dr Ben Neuman, a virologist at the University of Reading, said: ‘In this new study, the researchers changed the banana lectin just enough to stop the side effects, while keeping its virus-blocking properties intact. And Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham, added: ‘Each new virus outbreak is a timely reminder of our need for antivirals that can work against a range of viruses. ‘Lectins have that potential as they are able to bind to the sugars that are present on the surface of a

The new form of BanLec, called H84T, stopped animals from getting flu. It also worked in the lab on tissue and blood samples against AIDS, hepatitis C and influenza range of viruses including HIV, influenza and Ebola, many of which have caused or have the potential to cause severe epidemics or even pandemics.’ The key question now, he stressed, was whether the drug will work in humans. ‘There are lots of hurdles that still need to be overcome before antiviral lectins find their way into clinic,’ he said.

“

‘For one thing, there’s a risk the immune system will recognise this as foreign and mount an immune response to it, potentially rendering it ineffective. ‘But even so, given recent events, generating antivirals that can work against a range of viruses is well worth pursuing.’ Mailonline

Dr Ben Neuman, a virologist at the University of Reading, said: ‘In this new study, the researchers changed the banana lectin just enough to stop the side effects, while keeping its virus-blocking properties intact.

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International

China’s ‘leftover’ women By Katrina Yu

ow a growing number of Chinese women are shunning societal pressures to marry – and the labels attached to them. BEIJING - Zhang Lin waits in a noisy restaurant outside the university where she has taught for more than 10 years.”I’m sorry I’ve started already; I haven’t had a chance to eat all day,” she says. Surrounded by noisy groups of older men and rowdy students she sits alone in a flowing white dress, her wavy air tumbling over her shoulders as she eats. She is 38, but could pass for a student. Between bites, she explains that she’s from the country’s south, and although she has lived in Beijing for 11 years, her father has never visited her. “Among their four children, I’m the only one who’s not married. He says because I don’t have a family he has no reason to come here,” she says, her tone momentarily subdued. “My mother came once, three years ago. But it was a disaster, a complete disaster,” she adds. Zhang was raised in a small city in what she describes as a very traditional family. “My mother especially, she’s always worrying about me being single. My parent’s generation are always on stand-by to sacrifice themselves for their children. One day she called me and said she would visit for the summer to help me find a husband.” Zhang’s mother had read an article about Beijing’s ‘marriage markets’, where parents of single children would gather at the city’s Zhongshan Park, in the hope of matching their child with the offspring of another desperate parent. Twice a week, groups of about 30 to 60 parents meet in the same spot, each carrying pieces of paper containing information about their child their job, level of education and salary, as well as their physical attributes. “When the markets started it was just for parents. But these days, you see more and more single children are dragged along with them. It’s like a fair for parents and their ‘leftovers’, mostly women,” sighs Zhang, who admits to having helped start the trend. Out of duty, she reluctantly accompanied her mother to the market twice a week, standing silently beside her for more than an hour at a time. “I felt I couldn’t refuse, but doing it made me feel everything bad you could possibly feel; humiliated, depressed, furious. I felt like such a loser, standing there to sell myself.” Labelled The term ‘Leftover Woman’

The ‘Leftover Monologues’ women and men explore the complexities of relationships in China [Katrina Yu/Al Jazeera] was first coined in a report by the Chinese Women’s Federation in 2007 to describe young females in their late 20s who had not yet married. The phrase quickly gained momentum, finding its place among popular colloquial terms such as ‘Gaofushuai’ (a rich, tall and handsome male) and ‘Baifumei’ (a pale-skinned, wealthy young woman). But while the label is relatively new, its message isn’t. China’s foremost ancient thinker, Confucius, wrote: “The Chinese girl was brought up, then as now, with matrimony in view as her goal,” and “the woman follows the man. In her youth she follows her father and elder brother; when married, she follows her husband; when her husband is dead, she follows her son”. According to these tenets, marriage in China had less to do with romantic love, and more with filial duty and societal stability. Hundreds of years later, China has modernised, and women, according to Mao, “hold up half the sky”, but most still face harsh judgements for remaining unmarried past a certain age. “There’s a sense of failure. People would just assume that there must be a problem with you. That it’s your fault,” says Zhang. Pressures within But the pressure to marry doesn’t just come from external sources. For some, it is selfinflicted. Twenty-seven-year-old Li Yuan was so desperate to rid

herself of the ‘leftover’ label, that she says she practically stopped eating. “I wanted to be normal, to get married and have a baby. I think even if you are very beautiful, and you’re not married you’re still pitiful because it means no man admires you,” says Li. Speaking from her modest but tidy bedroom in Beijing’s southeast, Li explains that she was born in China’s poor Qinghai province and raised in Hebei, a rural area not far from Beijing. “Because of the onechild policy my mother actually went to Qinghai to give birth to me and avoid punishment because she already had a son,” she says. Born into a farming family, Li grew up dreaming of life in the city. “Our farm wasn’t the kind of farm they have in Australia or America. It was just a little patch of land we shared with other families where we grew corn and wheat. When I was in high school the money wasn’t enough to support our family so my father started doing sales in town. That’s when he realised that I would have a much better life if I left the countryside.” Li went to a local university to study supply chain management. It was there that she was introduced to her first love, a young soldier. They dated for three years. “He was a very nice guy and also very handsome, and sometimes when I see romantic movies I think of him,” she says. “[But] being with him taught me that love is sometimes not enough.” Both Li’s family and that of her boyfriend disapproved

of the relationship. Li had graduated from university, but her boyfriend had not, and, she says, “They didn’t think a college graduate like me would be suitable.” In the end the pair split up. A year later, she discovered that he had married a local girl introduced to him by his parents, and had already fathered a son. “I became depressed and it took me a long time to accept it,” Li says. When their relationship broke down, Li took up a job in Beijing, and made it her mission to find a partner and settle down. Her biggest fear, she says, was being perceived as a “spinster monster”. “A colleague told me about her flat mate, who’s 36 and not married, also from a poor farming family. When she first arrived she just spent all her time studying, making money and sending money back home. By the time she turned 30 she still had no idea about relationships, or how to use make-up or make herself more beautiful. My colleague told me that recently she stopped going back home because her family, her community, everyone, would look at her as if she were a monster,” Li recalls. “This story had a big impact on me.” But after a string of unsuccessful blind dates and fruitless singles events, where women vastly outnumbered men, Li’s confidence was at an all-time low. She blamed her weight and took up a regimen of strict dieting and running. “Men believe for a woman to be beautiful she must be thin, it’s a fact,” she explains.

Li joined a running group and met someone there. “He told me he used to be very overweight but lost 30kg. He hadn’t eaten dinner for three years and I was impressed by his discipline. It was my first relationship in four years and I was so excited that I called my parents late at night and said that if he decided to marry me I wouldn’t hesitate.” But the relationship didn’t go as planned. “It turns out he was chasing after another girl the whole time,” she says, adding: “Maybe I was too honest about how much I liked him, took too much initiative and he thought I was too easy.” She has now learned to be less anxious about her single status, she says. Through running she has made friends with foreigners and some divorced Chinese women, who have helped to broaden her perspective. “They warned me about being too eager to get married, even to the wrong person,” she says. “Now I’m more optimistic, but of course I still want to settle down.” Li’s room is largely undecorated except for one corner, where she displays the medals and badges from the races she has completed. It’s when talking about them, that the usually softly-spoken and pensive Li suddenly grows animated. Her immediate goal is to complete the Beijing marathon. “It doesn’t matter whether I’m alone or not, I will finish all 30km,” she says. “I want to do it for myself.” Source: Al Jazeera Continue next weekend

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Business

China gets back to buying West African crude in Nov

hina’s loadings of West African crude oil were set to bounce back in November from a multi-year low hit the previous month, a Reuters survey of oil traders and shipping fixtures showed, due to more importing companies there and higher refinery margins. The boost helped press overall exports to Asia to 1.74 million bpd, a three-month high. But they remained anaemic compared with earlier in the year. In April, a spike in buying in India pressed West African bookings to Asia to 2.4 million bpd. China, a major buyer of West African crude oil, went cold as a buyer in October amid plummeting Asian refining margins and a buildup in stored oil. Buyers in Europe and the U.S. stepped in, with the latter taking more than two dozen West African cargoes for October loading. But a bounce back in Asian refinery margins, as well as a new slate of domestic Chinese refineries allowed to import oil, helped to boost demand for November-loading oil. “The U.S. and Europe carried the candle in October,” one trader

said of West Africa loadings. “But now China is back and showing interest.” Traders said there would be more Chinese storage space free by the time the cargoes booked now would arrive, in contrast to the 4 million barrels that were stranded off an eastern port earlier this month. Additionally, China also more than doubled, to 87.6 million tonnes, the 2016 crude oil import quota for nonstate companies. Despite this, the 918,000 barrels per day (bpd) booked to load in West Africa in November for the world’s largest energy consumer was still relatively subdued compared with earlier in the year, and stood below the 2015 running average of 965,000 bpd. The slip in November bookings to India added to a backlog of nearly 15 million barrels of unsold Nigerian oil. Angolan oil, which is favoured by buyers in China, has fared somewhat better, but prices for some grades, such as Pazflor, are still under serious pressure. Meanwhile, OPEC oil output has fallen in October from the previous month, a Reuters survey found on Friday, as declines in top producers Saudi Arabia and

Iraq outweighed higher supply from African members. The drops are not indicative of deliberate supply cuts to prop up prices, sources in the survey said, and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is still pumping close to a record high as major producers focus on defending market share. OPEC supply has afallen in October to 31.64 million barrels per day (bpd) from a revised 31.76 million in September, according to the survey, based on shipping data and information from sources at oil companies, OPEC and consultants. With one day left in October, the final figures could be revised. Even so, OPEC has boosted production by almost 1.5 million bpd since the November 2014 switch to defending market share. Despite the decline this month, output is not far below July’s 31.88 million bpd, the highest since Reuters records began in 1997. The OPEC increase has added to ample supplies, which have helped cut prices by more than half from June 2014 to below $50 a barrel. Still, with reductions in capital spending by oil companies expected to curb

future supply, analysts see signs that OPEC’s strategy will deliver. “Clearly, OPEC’s long-game strategy is working,” said Harry Tchilinguirian, global head of commodity strategy at BNP Paribas. “In the end, OPEC’s strategy is creating the conditions for higher prices for longer in a couple of years’ time.” The biggest supply drop in October has come from Saudi Arabia, which trimmed output due to reduced use of crude in domestic power plants and refineries, sources in the survey said, despite higher exports. “Supply to the market is down,” said a source who tracks Saudi output. “Exports are up but this has been more than offset by lower refinery runs due to maintenance and lower direct burn.” Direct burn - the use of crude in Saudi power plants - usually drops in cooler months due to reduced air-conditioning needs. Maintenance was being carried out at the Saudi Yasref refinery, reducing crude consumption. Saudi output, at 10.10 million bpd, remains not far below the record high of 10.56 million bpd it pumped in June. Exports from Iraq’s main

outlet, its southern terminals, were higher for much of October - reaching a record 3.1 million bpd in the first 27 days of the month - but have slowed since as poor weather delayed cargoes, shipping data showed. Shipments from Iraq’s north by the Kurdistan Regional Government via Ceyhan in Turkey have edged lower, while those by Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation have fallen to zero from about 20,000 bpd in September, the survey found. Smaller increases have come from OPEC’s two west African producers, Nigeria and Angola, and from Libya. Angola and Nigeria exported more crude this month, but a force majeure on shipments of Nigeria’s Forcados limited the increase from that country. Libyan output rose slightly, the survey found, but remains a fraction of the pre-conflict rate. Output in Iran, OPEC’s second-largest producer until sanctions forced a cut in exports in 2012, continues to edge up, the survey found. A lifting of sanctions on Iran has the potential to boost OPEC output further in 2016.-Reuters.

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Business

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 31 - sunday 1, november, 2015

Business development: Zamfara women cooperative society bags USAID awards

From Ibrahim Sidi Muh’d, Gusau

he Zamfara state Women Cooperative Society for SelfReliance (ZWCSS) a.k.a (Kungiyar mata masu dabara) has received an award over immense contributions towards economic development in the state issued by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) yesterday in Gusau, the state capital. This was contained in a statement by the organisation’s spokesperson, Hajiya Binta Yusuf Gusau, saying that the award was as a result of monitoring visit by the USAID officials during a monthly contribution meeting of the 9000-member association (kungiyar

mata masu dabara) at its Mada town Gusau main office. The statement further informed that, the USAID has registered its appreciation considering amount of 8-year legitimate struggles by the association’s Chairperson, Suwaiba Aliyu Maiyadi Mada, which resulted to the establishment of a programme that virtually benefits over 9000 married women members across the state. According to it, it is part of the achievements recorded by the association influencing an improved investment drive of over 9000 married women through provisions of loan under the funding services, adding that, it helps immensely in

securing small scale ventures for selfreliance for hundreds of rural women. “Within the first one year of the association’s inception in 2008 to 2012, the sum of 1.5 million naira was collected and disbursed to the pioneer members, and 2.5 million naira was eventually disbursed. “While 5.5 million naira was realised in 2010, and 9 million naira in 2011 and in 2012, similarly, 15 million naira was generated and disbursed subsequently to empower chain of batches with a view to ensure total reduction on government’s allocations”, the statement stressed. Meanwhile, the Chairman of Sokoto Leather Crafts Association, Alhaji Tukur Abubakar, has called

on the government to take drastic measures to revive the ailing leather industries in the country. ``The leather industries in the country should be supported to enable them produce optimally,’’ Abubakar said. He made the call in Sokoto in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria . ``It is only by reviving the industries that the production of leather materials will be improved in order to achieve economic growth. ``This will also reduce unemployment and poverty among our people,’’ he said. Abubakar commended the immediate-past Gov. Aliyu Wamakko Administration for donating N50 million to members of the association.

Kano Govt. to collaborate with estate surveyors and valuers on revenue generation

ov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has said that the state government will collaborate with the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) to improve on its revenue base. Ganduje made the remark at a one-day 2015 Mandatory Continuing Professional Development Workshop on Capacity Building in Valuation, Dynamics and Challenges on Friday in Kano. The workshop was organised by the state branch of NIESV in collaboration with the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON). The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner of Lands and Physical planning, Alhaji Faruk BB Faruk, said the state government would partner with the association in the area of tax collection and tenement rates. ``We hope the collaboration will assist the government in its efforts toward generating more revenue for the state in view of the dwindling oil revenue from the Federation account,’’ he said. Earlier, the state Chairman of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Alhaji Abdullahi Shu’aibu, called for the establishment of additional training institutions and provision of adequate facilities. ``This is necessary in order to improve on our expertise and competence in line with our noble profession of estate surveying and valuation,’’ Abdullahi said. He expressed worry that there were less than 10, 000 qualified estate surveyors and valuers to cater for the nation’s population of about 180 million. ``This explains the preponderance of quacks all over the place,’’ he said. The theme of the workshop is: ‘Capacity Building in Valuation: Dynamics and Challenges’.(NAN).

L-R: Senior Sales Manager, Perfection Motors Company limited (FAW truck dealers) Mr. Frank Mgbermena, representative of the Vice President, Mr. Mohammed Badamosi and the Managing Director, BKG group, Mr. Ifeanyi Chukwu Agu, at the official opening of 2015 Abuja motor fair on Thursday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Nigeria yields to rise as offshore investors sell holdings

ields on Nigeria’s local currency denominated bonds are expected to rise next week as offshore investors and some local investors sell holdings. “We are anticipating a massive sell off next week from some offshore investors still holding their positions in the market,” one dealer said, adding some local pension funds could follow suit. JP Morgan is expected to remove Nigerian bonds from its Emerging Market Government Bond Index (EM-GBI) by the end of October, prompting the shift out. Yields on the benchmark 2024 paper dropped to 13.49 percent on Friday from 13.60 percent last week, but are seen rising above 14 percent level next week. “A sell-off either by the remaining offshore investors in

the market or pension funds ahead of the auction on Nov. 11, would lead to increased yields in the near term,” a senior treasurer said. Meanwhile, Reuters added that Nigeria interbank lending rate fell sharply on Friday amid increased liquidity caused by an injection of funds from matured treasury bills and the disbursal of monthly budget allocations to states and local government, traders said. The secured open buy-back (OBB) - the rate at which lenders can borrow from the interbank market using treasury bills as collateral - crashed to 0.5 percent from 7 percent last week, far below the central bank’s 13 percent benchmark interest rate. Traders said budget allocations to states and local government worth about 185 billion naira

($930.12 million) had been injected into the banking system, while around 140 billion naira in cash reserves requirements (CRR) were also credited to the accounts of some banks, further boosting liquidity. Banks’ credit balance with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) opened at 385 billion naira on Friday, from a surplus of about 256 billion naira last week, but with the additional funds from budget and CRR, market liquidity should exceed 600 billion naira. Also on Thursday, the central bank repaid about 187 billion naira in matured open market operation (OMO) bills. “The system is very liquid, with the interbank rate expected to stay low in the near term,” one trader said.

Insurgency cripples leather Business in Borno - Stakeholders

ome stakeholders in Borno have said that the Boko Haram insurgency has virtually crippled the hides and skin business in the state. Alhaji Mai Zannah, the Manager of the Maiduguri Abattoir, said hides and skin used to be in abundance in the state, but regretted that the situation had changed because the state’s leather company had stopped operation. “The company stopped functioning because of the insurgency. “Our abattoir alone produces about 500 skin of various animal skin daily for the leather companies, but we no longer sell them here; we take them to Kano for the Tanneries there to buy,” Zannah said. He also lamented that the insurgency had adversely affected trading in leather production for shoe-making companies; bones for plate making and preservation of blood for animal feeds. “We used to make good sales from skin of cow, cattle, rams, sheep and camel, but now, insurgency has virtually crippled the business. “Most of our people usually take the animal skins to other states to sell because the Maiduguri Naital Shoe-making Company that was patronising us had stopped operation because of the Boko Haram insurgency,” the manager said. Alhaj Garba Haruna, the Chairman, Borno chapter of Leather and Allied Products Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (LAPMAN), also said that the Boko Haram uprising had adversely affected leather business in the area. Haruna said the union was, therefore, ready to partner with the state government to resuscitate the trade as soon as the security situation in the state improved. Also speaking, the General Manager of the Maiduguri Neital Nigeria Ltd., Alhaji Usman Tomsu, said the company was owned by the state government. Tomsu said the company was established in 1982 with finished leather and shoe making machineries. He said the company was making shoes and tanning animal skin, but that it had been moribund for nearly two decades until Gov. Kashim Shettima injected funds to enable it resume operations in 2013. ``The company operated for barely 10 years without making profit before it finally went comatose until it was resuscitated by the Governor in 2013, after an assessment visit in 2012. .”But because of the persistent security challenges coupled with power outages, we had to close down our operations. Now, we no longer get animal skin from our abattoirs. Malam Isah Bagudu, a dealer in animal skin in Bulumkutu area, also complained about the lull in the business and blamed it on the Boko Haram mayhem. “The business has virtually stopped in Borno because of the Boko Haram insurgency. (NAN)

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Oddities

Man sneaks into women’s loo to eat faeces

ccording to a news report from China, a man regularly sneaks into women’s loo to eat faeces. The report said the Guangdong man was caught emerging from the toilet after indulging in his mindbogglingly disgusting habit. Shanghaiist.com, a legitimate news source, suggests he has done it for eight years. A translation of the broadcast said: “A man has been spotted on multiple occasions entering a ladies’ restroom at a shopping centre in the Pengjiang district of Jiangmen city, Guangdong province, and eating excrement found in the toilet. “According to a security guard at the shopping plaza, the man has been spotted visiting the toilets since early this year. He goes to the second floor ladies’ room to find faeces to eat. He usually comes between 8am

to 10am during the first half of the day and then comes again at around 3pm,” the guard said. He added that the man walks in on women before they are able to finish flushing the toilet.” The news source claims a local female resident told Guangdong TV that reports of the man wandering into public restrooms have left her feeling incredibly uneasy, because he is seen lurking in another female toilet nearby. A doctor from the No. 3 Hospital of Jiangmen city said it is possible that he has a history of mental illness. The women’s toilets at the mall have been locked up and residents are now calling on the government to help seek treatment for the man. The man when confronted said he eats faeces when he is hungry and always feels better after eating it, adding that he has been doing so for eight years.

Pregnant Zimbawean sues ex for ‘seduction damages’

pregnant Zimbawean woman identified as Chido Fortune Mutonhori has sued her exfiancee, Tafadzwa Hwehwe, for $15,000 for breaking her virginity, getting her pregnant and then dumping her for another woman. According to a Zimbabwean website, Chronicle.co.zw, Chido, through her lawyers, filed a $15,000 suit at the Bulawayo High Court in Zimbabwe in which she stated in court papers that her ex boyfriend had broken his promise of getting married to her while they were dating. ‘‘After deflowering and impregnating me, Hwehwe has taken away my pride as a woman and left me embarrassed and

humiliated before my own people. He will visit me in Harare during which we would have sexual intercourse and I am now pregnant and expecting his baby. However, in March 2015, I discovered that he has been associating with another woman, fathering a child with her,” she wrote. She stated in court papers that she was suing him for ‘seduction damages’ as his action has reduced her chances of having a normal future marriage. “Therefore, plaintiff prays for payment of $10,000 in seduction damages for the period between January 2013 and March 2014. She also claimed $5,000 in damages for breach of promise to marry her and the cost of suit on a higher scale,” the court paper read.

3 women rape man at gunpoint, steal sperm

South African man has told how he was kidnapped and raped by three women in Cape Town. The 33-year old man, whose identity is being kept away from the media, said the women had stopped him in their car to ask for directions and as he was talking to them, one of them brought out a gun and forced him into the back of their black BMW and drove away. He said they drove him to an unknown place far from where they kidnapped him, then began touching him to get aroused. When he didn’t, because the only thing he felt then was

fear, the women forced him to drink an ‘unknown substance’ from a bottle to make him hard. He said all three women then took turns on him and when he came, they took his semen in plastic bags, placing them in a cooler box. After they had finished, they kicked him out of the car around Kwazakhele township, Port Elizabeth, and made off with his sperm. A South Africa police officer said. ‘‘This is really confusing to us because we have never heard of such a thing before. The man was fully conscious throughout his ordeal and he is still traumatised.’’

Woman gives birth to twins with different fathers

new mum has given birth to twins who have two different fathers. The incredible case was revealed after the woman, identified only as T.M., named her current boyfriend as the father of her twins. But T.M. admitted before maternity papers were signed that she had actually slept with a different man a week after she believed she conceived with her boyfriend. A paternity test was carried out and it was revealed that

the two men had each fathered one of the twins, who are now toddlers. Now the woman’s original partner only has to pay out child support for one of the children. Passaic County Judge, Sohail Mohammad, made the ruling in the paternity case, the New Jersey Law Journal reported. Paternity tests showed the woman’s former boyfriend was certainly the father of one twin, but wasn’t the father of the other.

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Healthy Living

How to control body odour merino) can breathe and decrease sweating. Also some of the hightech fibers wick away moisture. Dressing in layers also helps soak up the sweat. Watch what you eat. Certain foods have the potential to make our sweat more pungent. A diet high in red meat increases body odour as does curry, garlic, and other spicy foods. We don’t fully digest garlic, curry and onions so they leave the pores with the sweat and create a strong smell Remedy Dilute a little vinegar in water, dip cotton wool into it and then clean over the underarms. Please do not add vinegar to a freshly shaved skin. Dilute baking soda (not baking powder) with water and rub it on to the underarm. Surgery may be recommended for severe body odour that can’t be treated by self care measures and over-the-counter products.

A man with body odour

ody odour is never pleasant, from the person who has to go through the torture of having to stand the smell to the person that actually suffers from it. It is easily noticed in a crammed place, on in a stuffy commercial bus, on the queue or in a busy shopping centre. Excessive sweating and body odour are unpleasant problems that can affect a person’s confidence and self-esteem. Causes Body odour or bromhidrosis is the smell of a particular kind of bacteria that grows on the body. It is caused by bacteria when it mixes with sweat and not by sweat itself. It grows when it comes in contact with

sweat and decomposes it, causing an unpleasant smell. The body odour of a person can be linked with a lot of factors such as gender, genetics, health, diet, side effects of medication and so on. Some of the areas that are associated with body odor are underarms (armpit), feet, anus, pubic hair and skin. Prevention and control It can be prevented and controlled by simply adering to some basic rules of hygiene and paying attention to the troubled spots. Make use of antiperspirants and deodorants: If you sweat a lot use a roll on, cover your entire armpit area and then carry

it with you and reapply as the day progresses. You can also go along with a deodorant spray as well, spray you under arms and clothes. Look for antiperspirants that work well for you, since most of them contain different active ingredients. Antiperspirant blocks the sweating action, while deodorants have fragrance to mask the smell. Deodorants also make the skin more acidic, making it less hospitable for bacteria. Another useful tip is to shave your underarms regularly. Hairs in the underarms provide a greater surface area for sweat to stay and give the bacteria a fertile breeding ground. Take your bath twice a day to

control the sweat and once you have showered, be sure to dry yourself completely, especially areas where you sweat a lot. If your skin is dry, it is harder for bacteria that cause body odour to breed on it. It is also essential to wash clothes thoroughly to remove sweat residue and kill the bacteria that may have been transferred from the skin to the clothes; particularly clothing that comes into contact with sweaty areas such as socks, underwear and shirts. Never wear yesterday’s clothes. However clean your body is, the clothes will retain the smell of yesterday’s sweat. Do not repeat the same outfit without washing it first. Natural fibers (linen, silk, cotton, light wool like

Dealing with depression

epression drains your energy, hope and drive making it difficult to do what makes you feel good. Overcoming depression isn’t quick or easy, but it is far from impossible. You can’t just will yourself to ‘snap out of it,’ but you do have some control. The key to recovery is to start with a few small goals and slowly build from there. Take things one day at a time and reward yourself for each accomplishment. The steps may seem small, but they’ll quickly add up. And for all the energy you put into your depression recovery, you’ll get back much more in return. Getting the support you need plays a big role in lifting the fog of depression and keeping it away. On your own, it can be difficult to maintain perspective and sustain the effort required to beat it, but its nature makes it difficult to reach out for help. However, isolation and loneliness make depression even worse, so maintaining your close relationships and social activities are important. The thought of reaching out to even close family members and friends can be overwhelming. You may feel ashamed, too

exhausted to talk, or guilty for neglecting the relationship. Remind yourself that this is the depression talking. Reaching out is not a sign of weakness and it won’t mean you’re a burden to others. Your loved ones care about you and want to help. And remember, it’s never too late to build new friendships and improve your support network. Turn to trusted friends and family members. Share what you are going through with the people you love and trust. The people you talk to don’t have to be able to fix you; they just need to be good listeners. Ask for the help and support you need. You may have retreated from your most treasured relationships, but they can get you through this tough time. Keep up with social activities. Often when you’re depressed, it feels more comfortable to retreat into your shell, but being around other people will make you feel better. Being with others dealing with depression can go a long way in reducing your sense of isolation. You can also encourage each other, give and receive advice on how to cope and share your experiences.

A depressed man

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If your skin is dry, it is harder for bacteria that cause body odour to breed on it.

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Four steps to your breakthrough (I)

he word “breakthrough” is used only two times in the New King James Version of the Bible. First in 2 Sam 5:20 and second in 1 Chron. 14:11 and both scriptures refer to the same event. 2 Sam 5:17-20 says, “Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. And David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim. So David inquired of the LORD, saying, ‘Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?’ And the LORD said to David, ‘Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.’ So David went to Baal Perazim, and David defeated them there; and he said, ‘The LORD has broken through my enemies before me, like a breakthrough of water.’ Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.” (NKJV) Breakthrough has become a common word in the vocabulary of the church today – breakthrough service, breakthrough seminar, breakthrough anointing, etc. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines breakthrough as (1) An act of overcoming or penetrating an obstacle or restriction. (2) A military offensive that penetrates an enemy’s lines of defense. (3) A major achievement or success that permits further progress, as in technology. Everybody desires breakthrough – a major achievement or success that permits further progress as indicated in the third definition above. In verse 20 of the 2 Sam 5 you read a short while ago, David said, “The LORD has broken through my enemies before me, like a

breakthrough of water.’ Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.” The enemies were a barrier to David’s advancement but the Lord broke through the enemies that were before him. And David compared this breakthrough to the breakthrough of water. So breakthrough presupposes that something is standing against one; there is a barrier, an opposition to overcome to be able to move forward. Paul said, “For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” (1 Cor 16:9 NKJV) I pray that you’ll experience breakthrough this season of your life in Jesus’ name. You’ll break through every barrier or obstacle as God works through you. From 2 Sam 5:17-20, I have been able to identify four major steps to the “breakthrough” that David experienced. And I believe that these steps can also help you to experience your own breakthrough for the Bible says God is no respecter of persons. What He did for David He can do for you too. You can have your own breakthrough; your life can even become synonymous with breakthrough. Your name can become Perez or Pharez whose one of its meanings is breakthrough. You’ll become a breakthrough in Jesus’ name. So what are these four major steps you must take to experience your breakthrough as I saw it in that passage, 2 Sam 5:17-20? • Fear not. You must not fear if you want to experience a breakthrough. Don’t forget you need a breakthrough because there is a barrier, an obstacle that is standing in your way. You must not fear the enemy, the opposition if you’re going to have your breakthrough. How does “fear not” relate to

David’s breakthrough? In verse 18, David was not afraid. That was why when he knew that the Philistines were mobilizing against him; he went to his stronghold. He wasn’t rattled by the move of the Philistines. He didn’t panic. He didn’t take any panicky steps like running away or going to hide. Neither was he lamenting. Hear what David said in Psalm 3:6 “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.” (NKJV) A stronghold is a “place or means of safety, a protection, a refuge, a stronghold.” It is also called a fortress. But there is a physical stronghold and a spiritual stronghold. A stronghold is used figuratively in the Bible to refer to God as refuge, and also human protection. David went to his physical stronghold when he heard the Philistines were searching for him; he went down to his stronghold. David didn’t just go to the physical stronghold; he also went to his spiritual stronghold – God. In 2 Sam 22, the song he sang to the Lord on the day the LORD had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul, David said, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; the God of my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; my Savior, You save me from violence. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.” (2 Sam 22:2-4 NKJV) Did you see David here referring to God as his stronghold and refuge? That was why he wasn’t afraid of the enemy. You must also take God as your stronghold, your refuge. If you do,

From the Pulpit green pastures By Pastor T. O. Banso

cedarministryintl@yahoo.com GSM: 08033113523 you’ll have no need to be afraid of any challenge or enemy. “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.” (Nah 1:7 NKJV) Paul said, “And not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.” (Phil 1:28 NKJV) When the Egyptians were pursuing the Israelites after their exodus from Egypt, God told them to go forward because that was where there breakthrough was. “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.’” (Ex 14:15 NKJV) Of course, there is no reason to be afraid when the Lord says “go forward though the situation or condition could be fearful just like the sight of the Red Sea was dreadful, and the frightful condition was even made worse by Pharaoh’s army driving furiously to catch up with them.” But if God “go forward” that means He has already gone ahead. “And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.” (Deut 31:8 NKJV) With God ahead, victory is certain; breakthrough is guaranteed. I still want to dwell more on “fear not” next week God willing. But I’ll stop here today. I believe God has spoken to your heart. My prayer is that you’ll act on His Word and you’ll receive the blessing of obedience. The Lord be with you. TAKE ACTION!

If you’re not born again, I urge you to take the following steps:*Admit you’re a sinner and you can’t save yourself and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life – your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your life. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start to attend a Bible-believing, Bible -teaching church. There you will be taught how to grow in the Kingdom of God. Kindly say this prayer now: “0 Lord God, I come unto you today. I know I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me and resurrected the third day. I repent and confess my sins. I confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and surrender my life to him today. I invite Jesus into my heart today. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank you Jesus for saving me and making me a child of God” I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You will need to join a Bible believing, Bible teaching church in your area where you will be taught how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things becoming all God wants you to be. I’ll be glad to hear from you. May the Lord be with you.

Holiness and purity in a healthy church (II) 2. SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH CONVINCING MODELS IN A GODLY CHURCH Titus 2:3-5; 1 Timothy 3:11; 2:915; 1 Peter 3:4-6; Luke 1:5,6,38-56; Proverbs 31:10-31; 1 Thessalonians 2:7-10; 1 Timothy 5:5,10; 2 Timothy 1:5; 1 Timothy 5:9-14; Ephesians 5:22-33; Proverbs 22:6.

he aged women” were to learn who they would be and what they should do. That church is really blessed that is adorned with the presence of spiritual older women in the Lord. The “behaviour” of the aged women is first addressed before their blessedness or teaching, influence and impact in the fellowship and family of God. In behaviour, they are to be holy – obeying the commandments of the Lord gracefully from the heart. The holiness will not be a virtue that is put on and put off like the dresses we wear but an outflow from Christ who is resident within the heart. They are “not false accusers” or

slanderers; these are mothers who love all their children in the Lord, brothers and sisters in the church, they have no desire to hurt anyone with malicious gossip. They refuse to listen to, much less propagate hurting words about others. They love the young women and the young men as they love their real children and will protect them from any hurt or harm. In all ways and in all things, they are “teachers of good things.” These “aged women” are respectable, dignified Christian women who “teach the young women to be” (1) sober, living by the standard of God’s word; (2) to “love their children”, teaching and training them, giving time and attention to them; (3) “to be discreet”, applying godly discernment and wise judgment in all relationship with other men and even women; to be (4) “chaste”, pure, modest with all passions subdued and kept under control; (5) “keepers at home”, being a good homemaker; (6) “good”, having more than natural goodness, but the higher goodness which is a fruit of the Spirit abiding

By Pastor W.F Kumuyi within her; (7) “obedient to their own husbands”, cultivation of the same mind with the husband so that obedience really becomes what she wants to do from the heart, causing her real joy and delight. “The aged women” are to “teach the young women” and influence them with (1) godly example, (2) guided exhortation, (3) gracious expression, (4) gradual exposure, (5) growing edification, (6) gospel experiences and (7) great encouragement. 3. SCRIPTURAL TRUTH CHALLENGING MEN IN A GROWING CHURCH

Titus 2:6; Psalm 119:9-11; Proverbs 1:4,5; 1 John 2:13-17; Philippians 2:2-5; Colossians 1:28,29; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Thessalonians 5:6-24. Titus was to exhort, urge, teach, challenge, charge the young men to be sober-minded. Paul referred to Timothy as a “youth” or “young man” and he exhorted him to maintain “a pure heart and a good conscience”, to “war a good warfare, holding the faith, and a good conscience”, to “behave” and act reverently “in the church of the living God”, to be “nourished up in the words of faith and of

good doctrine”, to “take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine”, to “continue in them”, to “meditate upon these things”, to “give thyself wholly to them”, to “do nothing by partiality”, to “follow after righteousness”, to “hold fast that good thing which was committed unto” him. In the same way and after the same manner, Titus was to exhort the young men. And so are we to exhort young men in the church to be sober-minded, to live for God and not for self, putting their passions and desires under control, rendering sacrificial service to God, to Christ’s body and to humanity, God’s creation. In the New Testament, the age of young men range between 15 and 60. This period is very important and would be very useful to God and humanity if the young men are well-guided. They are to be exhorted, entreated and encouraged to be prudent, discreet and serious in their passions, appetites and propensities. Everyone should be taught to live and act as if he were in the immediate presence of his Maker, King and Judge.

Sp or T s

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Eaglets should attack Brazil, Sokari advises

Mourinho in dugout for Liverpool match today Pg 54

NFF plans overseas camp for Eagles ahead CHAN Pg 53

Pg 53

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PAGE 53

Sports

Eaglets should attack Brazil, Sokari advises

Nigeria include Iheanacho on World Cup squad By Albert Akota

Victor Osimhen against Australia By Albert Akota

ormer Flying Eagles star Kingsley Sokari believes the best formation to defeat Brazil in Nigeria’s FIFA U-17 World Cup quarter finals clash on Sunday will be to play attacking football. The Enyimba midfielder knows a few tips about the Brazilian game having played and lost against their U-20 side at this year’s FIFAU-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

The junior Selecao defeated New Zealand 1-0 on Wednesday night to book a place against the Golden Eaglets on Sunday. “The Eaglets are really having a good U-17 World Cup but that game against Brazil won’t be an easy one,” Sokari told Completesportsnigeria.com. “Brazil at any level are a big threat so with their pedigree in football, you will expect a difficult match for our boys; the Eaglets.” Sokari went on how he wants the team to

approach the game. “The 6-0 win over Australia will give the Eaglets more confidence going into the match. “The best way to defend is to attack so they should go all out. We have to and not sit back and invite pressure to the defence,” the midfielder added. Emmanuel Amuneke’s team have scored 14 goals at the ongoing U-17 World Cup in Chile and conceded three.

unday Oliseh has included Manchester City starlet Kelechi Iheanacho on a 24-man squad for next month’s World Cup eliminator against Swaziland. Iheanacho, 18, was originally not on the squad but the NFF have now announced he has been included by Oliseh. Iheanacho justified his first competitive start for Manchester City with a goal and two assists against Crystal Palace to set up a League Cup quarterfinal against Hull City. Before then, he has made six appearances totalling less than 45 minutes of action in the English Premier League on his debut season. Last year, he trained with the 2014 CHAN-bound Eagles before he opted to finalise his transfer to England. According to the official Twitter handle of the NFF, Oliseh has invited Iheanacho to

NFF plans overseas camp for Eagles ahead CHAN By Albert Akota

T CHAN Eagles striker Gbolahan Salami

he Nigeria Football federation (NFF) is pondering home-based Super Eagles training camp overseas prior to the kick-off of the CHAN in Rwanda in January, officials have disclosed. Nigeria brushed aside Burkina Faso 2-0 on aggregate to join 13 other countries for the CHAN, which begins on January 16 in Kigali. The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is now working on proper build-

up for the team heading to Rwanda. “The plan is to the team to train in a country close to Rwanda before the competition,” a top official revealed. “Tanzania would have been a suitable site but it is too expensive. “We are sure a more definite plan will be finalised very soon.” This will be Nigeria’s second appearance at the tournament reserved for players who ply their trade in their home leagues. Last year, Nigeria finished third on their debut in South Africa.

Iheanacho gets Super Eagles invite

NSC halt NFF for Code of Conduct implementation By Albert Akota

igeria Football Federation (NFF) is set to soft pedal on some hard stands being taking against Super Eagles players following the wave of retirement by some senior members of the squad. The football house entered an emergency meeting yesterday following the outcry from some well meaning Nigerians including members of the National Assembly. The NFF President Amaju Pinnick and its General

Secretary Dr. Mohammed Sanusi were summoned by the Director General National Sports Commission (NSC) to brief him on what led to the retirement of Eagles goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama and Emmanuel Emenike from the national team. Our source said the decision to soft pedal on the Code of Conduct was to get to the root of matter and find a way out of the present quagmire and avoid further resignation of more senior players from the team. The Director General, Alhassan Yakmut, also wanted

to know what transpired between coach Sunday Oliseh and Enyeama in Belgium. There also plans to invite the players affected especially Enyeama who was ordered out of the team’s base in Belgium. The Nigeria Football Federation officials were locked up in discussions over the issue. Eagles are expected to reconvene in camp on the 9th November ahead of the World Cup qualifier against Swaziland on 13th November.

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Sports

FA to investigate Rooney incident against Middlesbrough T

he Football Association will investigate the directing of a laser towards Wayne Rooney during Wednesday’s Capital One Cup clash with Middlesbrough. Footage from the fourthround tie at Old Trafford shows a green light appearing on United and England captain Rooney’s face as he prepared to take his kick in the penalty shootout at the end of the contest. Rooney’s effort was saved by Boro goalkeeper Tomas Mejias as United were beaten 3-1 in the shootout following a 0-0 draw after extra time. The FA said it was aware of reports of the incident and was looking into the matter. The penalties were taken at the end of the ground housing Boro supporters, with around 10,000 away supporters in attendance.

Wayne Rooney

Mourinho in dugout for Liverpool match today

Swansea must be at best to beat Arsenal —Monk

wansea City will have to be at their best if they want to take something out of this weekend’s Premier League clash with Arsenal, says Garry Monk. After five league games without a win, Swansea picked up all three points last weekend as they beat Aston Villa 2-1 a victory that saw the end of Tim Sherwood’s time in charge at Villa. The victory lifted some of the pressure that had started to build on Monk, and now the Swansea manager believes they can climb back up the league starting with the visit of the joint-leaders. “Each team will have a period where they will suffer and it’s about how you deal with that. Winning games obviously breeds confidence but this group is very strong. “Our effort and commitment is always there and it’s about continuing to do the right things and working hard on the training ground.

Jose Mourinho

helsea boss Jose Mourinho is expected to be in the dugout for today’s Premier League game against Liverpool despite facing a misconduct charge. Mourinho faces disciplinary action after being sent off in last week’s 2-1 defeat by West Ham. But those matters are not expected to be dealt with before the 12:45 GMT kick-off at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho, 52, has also lodged an appeal with the Football Association against a separate suspended stadium ban. Mourinho was sent to the stands after going to speak to referee Jon Moss in his

room at half-time and he watched the second half from the directors’ box at Upton Park. He also refused to take part in the postmatch news conference. The defeat was the champions’ fifth in the league this season and leaves them 15th in the table. Mourinho received a suspended stadium ban this month following comments he made about match officials after Chelsea’s 3-1 home defeat by Southampton on 3 October. The latest charge is unlikely to trigger his ban but Mourinho could face a further suspension for his actions at Upton Park.

Canadian police issue arrest warrant for Chelsea youngster

Swansea City boss Garry Monk

Chelsea youngster Lucas Piazon

oronto police have issued a warrant for the arrest of Chelsea youngster Lucas Piazon after an alleged sexual assault in July 2015. Piazon who is currently on loan at Reading was in Canada as part of Brazil’s Pan American Games football team, a competition they took bronze in with Piazon scoring in the third-place match. A statement issued said Piazon and Botafogo goalkeeper Andrey Da Silva Venture were both wanted by police over the alleged incident. It read: “The Toronto Police Service is alerting the public to a sexual assault investigation. “The two men have now been identified, and arrest warrants have been issued for Lucas Domingues Piazon, 21, and Andrey Da Silva Ventura, 22. They are both wanted for sexual assault. Piazon who made his Chelsea debut in September 2012 – has made eight appearances in all competitions for Reading this season, scoring two goals.

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Sports

Osimhen: From hawking to World Cup goal hunter

ith seven goals in four matches at the 2015 FIFA Under-17 World Cup underway in Chile, Victor Osimhen, the bean-pole Nigerian striker sits atop of the scoring chart, justifying claims that he is indeed one for the future. Osimhen is living his dream and breathing his favourite song ‘sitting on the throne’ by popular Nigerian act ,Olamide who rapped inter alia ‘I’m a king and I don’t joke with my name. “I really hustled on the streets of Lagos and toyed with the idea of doing so many things initially,” Osimhen, the last child in a family with six other children, told Cafonline.com. “I sold things like sachet water in the traffic but I knew the only thing I wanted to do was playing football though I have other talents. “I love music; I can compose and sing very well too but playing football is all that I have wanted to do. I like rap music and one of my favourite artistes is Olamide and I like this particular track sitting on the Throne,” noted Osimhen, whose name means ‘God is good’. To say that fate has a hand in the budding career of Osimhen is perhaps stating the obvious. He came from a humble family and had to hawk in the ever busy Lagos traffic along with his siblings in order to augment the purse of the family. However, he was determined not to let go his first love. “Though I was born with the talent, I also learned playing football by watching my elder brother,” the forward who stands 1:85m revealed. “He (my brother) used to play as a striker for the senior team of a neighborhood club. I joined the club later and I aspired to be better than him. “He didn’t play football for long because he was also a newspaper vendor on the streets in Lagos. Nothing interested me than playing football and I really thank God for where I’m today.” Since he broke into the Nigeria U-17 team, when he scored a brace in a friendly in June 2014, Osimhen has been the soul and heart of the team scoring goals with prolific efficiency. At the last count, he has remarkably scored a total of 45 goals, in all matches for the coach Emmanuel Amuneke-tutored side. “Victor is the kind of player any coach would be proud to have in his team because he is always ready to give his best for the common good of the team,” noted Amuneke, the 1994 CAF African Footballer of the Year. “It is not my style to talk about a particular player in a team but Victor gets his job done for the team.” The admiration between coach and player was there for all to see at the Estadio Nacional in Santiago on October 17 when Victor struck the second goal in the 2-0

Victor Osimhen

defeat of USA, going on all four before his mentor. “I prostrated before coach Amuneke after the goal against USA to show appreciation for all what I have learned under him,” he noted. “He has so much belief in me though he had never told me before until the game against the USA and thank God, I scored in that match.” Apart from the strike against USA, Osimhen netted brace in the 5-1 crushing of hosts Chile, and the only goal in the 2-1 loss to Croatia. Against Australia at the Round of 16, the teenage forward roared loudest netting a hat-trick as the Golden Eaglets eased past the Aussies 6-0. Prior to coming to Chile, he emerged amongst the top scorers at the continental

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championships in Niger last February, with four goals in six matches. His biggest guide rest on the words of former England captain ‘football’s not just about scoring goals - it’s about winning’. “Playing for the Golden Eaglets has boosted my confidence but I don’t see myself special amongst my teammates. I dreamt about playing for the national team and gradually, I have settled down into the U-17 team. “I really thank God for helping me to be part of this team. In school, I played in some competitions but there is nothing like playing for the national team. “Success of the team comes first and it is always my aspiration to always score goals

Nigeria will next face old foes Brazil at the quarters on Sunday in Vina del Mar, and the forward is looking forward to star yet again, with no special focus on the Golden Boot prize for the top scorer of the tournament.

for the team when I’m given the opportunity to play,” noted Osimhen who has a fond admiration for former African Footballer of the Year and Ivorian legend, Didier Drogba. “Drogba has always been a source of inspiration for me because he is the type of player that doesn’t give up and I like his fighting spirit. He is very passionate; always serious on the field and whatever circumstance, he would try and score for his team.” Osimhen too can score goals in the company of anybody; and his goals for the Golden Eaglets has come in different shades, but reckons his second goal for Nigeria in a 3-1 defeat of Zambia at the 2015 African U U-17 Cup of Nations in Niger as the pick of the pack. “I think the second goal I scored against Zambia in Niger was very good because it was a good example of what coach Amuneke had been telling us in training: accuracy before power. It was great tournament for us because we achieved our objective of qualifying for the World Cup in Chile.” Nigeria will next face old foes Brazil at the quarters on Sunday in Vina del Mar, and the forward is looking forward to star yet again, with no special focus on the Golden Boot prize for the top scorer of the tournament. “My priority is not to be the top scorer at this FIFA U-17 World Cup. When Nigeria won the tournament in 2013, the top scorer was not from Nigeria. Rather, it would be a thing of joy if Nigeria can retain the title,” he concluded.

BIG PUNCH I want to assure the distinguished Senators and Nigerians that under my watch no election will be won and lost at the INEC headquarters or at the commission’s offices in states. —INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu

Peoples Daily WEEKEND, SATURDAY — SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31 - november 1, 2015

Saturday Column By

Femi Adesina

hat do you do during a flight that lasts nine hours and six minutes? You read. You sleep. You wake, and sleep again. You eat. You pray (if you are the praying type). You discuss with your co-passengers. And of course, you ruminate about your destination. What you’ve heard, or read about the place, particularly if you were visiting for the first time. But first, due credit for this headline. ‘A Passage to India’ is the title of a literature text I read in the university some 32 years ago. It was a 1924 novel by the English writer, E.M Forster. The book was on the struggle for Indian independence from British colonial rule, and the book is today regarded as one of the 100 Great Works of the 20th Century by the Modern Library, while Time Magazine also includes it in its ‘All Time 100 Novels’ list. A Passage to India. That was what I embarked on, alongside my principal, President Muhammadu Buhari, who was billed to attend the 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit, scheduled for New Delhi, the Indian capital, between October 27 and 30, 2015. What had I heard about India? You probably heard those childhood tales, too. India, the land of potent talisman. India does not take part in world soccer competitions, because the world football ruling body, FIFA, had banned it for life. What was the offence? Well, France had met with a country that nobody knows, in a game of soccer. But instead of depending on natural skills, India deployed its famed talisman. The opponents kept kicking the air, because the Indians had made the ball invisible. While the opponents did all the gyrations, however, the Indians did all the scoring. Advert: business: news: lagos:

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When the game ended at the end of 90 minutes, India had scored 90 goals. Blue murder, FIFA screamed! This is unnatural, and would bring the beautiful game into disrepute. So it banned India for life. Well, that was the story we heard as young boys. Believe it, and you’d believe anything. And what of athletics. The International Athletics Federation had to ban India for life, too. What happened? It was an Olympics Games (nobody seemed to know what year, and who the host country was). India was competing, and ended up winning gold medals in all the races. You would see all the athletes at the starting blocks, and the moment the whistle is blown for the race to begin, Indian athletes would already be breasting the tape at the other end. Talisman at work! This is unfair competition, the rest of the world screamed. So the athletics federation banned India again. And that was how the country was left to play cricket, hockey and other such games. But the question we did not ask ourselves was; if talisman worked with soccer and athletics, why doesn’t it work with cricket and hockey? At least, India gets defeated in those games. Some imaginations are simply fertile. Well, we were passing to India, and it was for serious business. India and Africa

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A Passage to India

President Buhari in a handshake with PM Modi

had found common grounds, and were cooperating for development in what Narendra Modi, Indian Prime Minister calls “partnership beyond strategic and economic benefits.” We landed in the land of film stars, beautiful damsels (hope my wife is not reading this) and, of course, medical tourism, at nighttime. Straight to Lalit Hotel, where our President and his entourage were to stay. Lalit. You need to hear a bit about the story of the hotel. It was part of the Lalit Hospitality Group, established in 1988 by Mr Lalit Suri, a very successful businessman and politician, who represented his people in the Indian parliament. Lalit Suri had the Midas touch. The hotel chain was very successful, and can be

found today in most major Indian cities. He had great plans for expansion, and was growing steadily towards the goal. But in 2006, while on a trip to London, Lalit suffered a massive heart attack, and died. He was only 59. But his wife, Dr Jyotsna Suri, took up the gauntlet, and is today keeping her husband’s dreams alive, along with their four adult children. A day before we travelled, a massive earthquake had occurred in Afghanistan, and the tremor was felt both in Pakistan and New Delhi. But the organizers of the summit said ‘no shaking,’ that delegates had nothing to fear. There were presidents and top government officials from more than 41 countries, and it was, indeed, a great outing for India and Africa.

But instead of depending on natural skills, India deployed its famed talisman. The opponents kept kicking the air, because the Indians had made the ball invisible. While the opponents did all the gyrations, however, the Indians did all the scoring.

Wednesday began with a bilateral meeting between President Buhari and Prime Minister Modi. Discussions focussed mainly on three areas: strengthening relations between the two countries; oil business, and helping Nigeria and Africa to develop their potentials. India would be quite willing to cooperate with Nigeria on the military front, the PM said. She had helped set up the Nigerian Defence Academy in the early 1960s, provided instructors, and also took in Nigerian officers in its military academy. In fact, President Buhari was at the Defence Services College, Wellington, between July 22 and November 24, 1975. India wants Nigeria’s oil on government to government transactions, and President Buhari said the request would be considered in the context of ongoing reforms in the industry. Back to Wellington. The alumni of the academy paid the Nigerian president a courtesy visit at the Lalit Hotel. Led by Gen V.K Singh, it was time to go down memory lane. The Contd on Page 17

DAN GAYE

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And el-Rufai hasn’t demolished it?

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