Reporters Dispatch Vol 1 No 19

2015: Jonathan as sole PDP candidate will tear Nigeria apart – Northern Politicians

Nigerian Girl Set To Become Britain’s First Black Marchioness >> Page 5

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Vol. 1. No. 19.

April 2 — 9, 2013

Nigeria’s first free newspaper

Exposed: New Plot To Loot N15 Billion Pension Fund

...Another attempt to pillage pensioners money is exposed by a bank

T

he lid has been blown off a plan by very senior officials of the federal government to loot about N15 billion meant for the payment pension of retirees in paramilitary agencies in 2012.

Fingered in the secret plan are a minister, permanent secretary and director in a ministry which our highly placed presidency source refused to name.

A presidency source told the icirnigeria.org that the plan was exposed by the managing director of a second generation bank in which part of the funds are domiciled.

The N15 billion is the unspent fund from the 2012 budget of the Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Office, CIPPO, which by government regulation should have been returned to the treasury by December last year.

The funds are in eight banks – Unity Bank (N2.8 b); Fidelity Bank (N3.8 b); Sky Bank (N3.1b); Eco Bank (N2.6b); Access Bank N300m); Diamond Bank N260m); Fin Bank (N90m) and Zenith Bank (N2.4 b) In 2008, the Umaru Yar A’dua administration introduced a policy which ordered government ministries, departments and

Former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Force, Abdulrasheed Maina agencies, MDAs, to return to the national treasury funds from their budgets which were not spent during the year.

That policy has been maintained by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

However, the N15 billion unspent funds at CIPPO was not returned to government coffers because the director of the pension office, Abdulrasheed Maina, sought and got approval to defer the refund for a while.

In the letter to the President, Maina explained that the office was still saddled with sorting out the payment of the

severance packages of personnel of paramilitary agencies disengaged from service during the Obasanjo regime.

The pension office boss explained further that many of those retired were shortchanged and CIPPO wanted to finish paying the balance due to them by the end of 2012.

In view of this, he requested and got the President’s approval to defer the return of the unspent funds till the new year when the planned payment exercise was expected to end.

But by January when the exercise ended and the unspent funds were to be returned to the Central Bank of Nigeria, Maina had run into trouble with the Senate which ordered the inspector general of police, Mohammed Abubakar, to arrest him for failing to appear it.

The Senate accused Maina of failing to appear before its committee probing pension administration in Nigeria to answer questions over an alleged N195 billion fraud.

While he was facing his problem with the Senate, however, Maina wrote another letter to the President early March in which he informed him that the payment of

shortchanged retirees had been completed and requested that the N15 billion be mopped up by the Ministry of Finance.

“We are in a new budget year and there is enough in the budget to pay for the remaining arrears,” wrote Maina in his memo to the President.

As if to forestall any attempt to access the unspent funds from 2012, Maina said that “the remaining liabilities will be settled and all requests for more funds may be forwarded if need be to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy for consideration.

Presidency sources told the icirnigeria.org that officials from one of the ministries supervising the paramilitary agencies under CIPPO, along with the permanent secretary and a director in the ministry, had laid out plans to withdraw some of the funds.

Sources said that the bank manager who blew the whistle on the planned withdrawal said he did not want to be involved, having been made to “go through hell during the investigation of previous pension scams”.

It was gathered that the manager’s bank was fingered as one of the collaborators in the multi –billion naira pension scandal at the Police Pension Office and he was arrested and

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First Lady is not sick, says aide

C

ontrary to the ongoing rumours on the state of health of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, her Special Assistant (Media), Mr Ayo Osinlu, has said that she is not sick.

In a statement on Monday, Osinlu said:’’Our attention has been attracted to speculations in the media about the

First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Page 2

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Perspectives

The APC does not need grandiose ideologies or fancy manifestos

By Zainab Usman

“This is a new dawn for our generation. This is unusual. It is gratifying that they are here to see and share with us,” the middle aged man remarked with tears of joy when he saw the nine state governors trekking through the volatile Monday Market in Boko Haram hotspot, Maiduguri, shaking hands with fish mongers, vegetable sellers and taxi drivers.

To this middle aged man, to the yam-seller who exclaimed “unbelievable” and to countless other ordinary Nigerians in that market, interacting with the governors up-close was far beyond what they had come to expect from the detached, conceited and unapproachable persona Nigerian politicians have cultivated over the years.

This daring act by the opposition governors brought to life for many, the ongoing merger of five main opposition parties under the banner of the All Progressive Congress (APC). This merger has recently dominated the agenda of political calculations for the 2015 general elections, and is the favoured discussion point for many pundits. Importantly, many justifiably question the APC’s capability of providing a credible alternative to the norm, the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), focusing especially on the APC’s lack of a coherent ideology.

One of the notable commentaries critiquing the proposed APC is the one by former Central Bank Governor, Professor Charles Soludo titled “Where is the Political Party for (the) Nigerian Economy?” In it, he mirrors the sincere concern of many Nigerians – that the APC is an alliance of convenience by disgruntled politicians lacking any progressive ideology save their inordinate ambition to grab power at the centre, that the “soul of the party” is not really different from the much derided PDP, and that it lacks a sophisticated manifesto.

As close to the truth as this description probably is, many do not quite appreciate that the dominance of the PDP behemoth and the emergence of its soon-to-be arch nemesis, the APC, are manifestations of the continuous evolution of our democratic process. The APC cannot be that which we are not.

The much cited APC’s lack of a coherent

Zambian President Michael Sata strikes the “Don’t Kubeba” pose. Photo

The mission of reporters dispatch is to place in the hands of every Nigerian the power of information and knowledge.

To promote spontaneous reading in a conscious effort to increase the declining reading culture in Nigeria.

To empower Nigerians through the provision of facts in an informative and entertaining manner with a view to enabling the populace take decisions and make choices

ideology is an interesting paradox. When many including Professor Soludo refer to ideology, they mean either or all of two things.

One, they hark back to the left-wing rightwing parties of the 1960s to the 1980s whose class-based identities were critical elements of their mobilisation strategies. Two, they are also referring to the clear articulation of the vision, strategy and proposed programmes of such parties in an ideologically-driven manifesto. As ideal as these normative expectations of a what a party should be seem, they are neither entirely relevant to our present Nigerian reality, nor are they necessary requirements for the APC or any such movement to be agents of the much desired change in the Nigerian polity.

An ideologically-driven movement is not relevant to Nigerians because globally the ideological parties that pundits long for are no longer tenable in our present unipolar (yet increasingly multipolar) world. When those class-based political parties existed decades ago, the bipolar world had two superpowers representing rival systems of political and economic organisation – the American-led capitalist West and the Soviet-led socialist East.

Countries and their constituent political parties, academics and civil society organisations strongly defined themselves on the basis of either of such doctrines.

Mission Statement

In Nigeria, progressive-pro-masses politics were personified, to varying degrees, by Awolowo’s Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), and Aminu Kano’s Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), while conservative and aristocratic politics were the forte of the Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC) and later, the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Consequently, such parties articulated their manifestos and strategies for policy execution loosely based on the political orientations they subscribed to.

Presently, the exigencies of the global environment and Nigeria’s present realities have rendered such ideological movements – at least in the way many pundits envision – untenable.

First, the global dominance of capitalism as the preferred system of economic organisation, means most of the world’s countries have adopted some variant of capitalism – whether its America’s free market capitalism, China’s state-led capitalism or Nigeria’s crony capitalism.

Secondly, any movement that employs the rhetoric of a “proletariat revolution”, promising the usurpation of the “bourgeois hegemony” to appeal to the Nigerian masses – of which people under the age of 30 constitute almost 70% – will find itself left in the cold, dry winds of the Harmattan.

The basic needs of ordinary Nigerians which sadly haven’t changed that much, are to be met with pragmatic promises to be achieved via strategically crafted but importantly, easily accessible methods. Nigerians still need the basics: electricity, jobs, access to quality education and efficient healthcare services; Nigerians want to feel secure in this era of kidnappings, suicide bombs and diabolical killings by “unknown gun men”; marginalised swathes of Nigerians want to feel they matter too in the scheme of things beyond being used and dumped during elections and importantly, many are just fed up with the dysfunction and culture of impunity that pervades the polity, which the PDP symbolises.

Since grandiose ideologies and fancy manifestos will obviously not resonate with ordinary Nigerians, what the APC or any movement needs is the ability to tap into the collective yearnings of Nigerians from all walks of life. The enthusiasm and fervent idealism of CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

based on facts rather than rumors and propaganda from spin doctors.

To contribute our quota towards the making of a street-wise populace capable of holding their own anywhere in the world.

This newspaper shall be provided free in order to reach the masses who form the most important segment of our society. reporters dispatch is a masses newspaper for the Nigerian masses.

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Page 3

News The APC does not need grandiose... young Nigerians from the 1960s to the 1990s fuelled by left wing political ideology has been replaced with brittle cynicism. This frustration stems mostly from our exclusionary and testosterone-driven political system especially at the core of decision-making.

The archetypal decision-maker being an “Oga at the top” anywhere between 40 and 80 years, typically arrogant, accessible to cronies and colleagues, yet inaccessible to his constituency, gets away with defying many manmade, marital and divine laws with impunity, and retires to be celebrated in his local church or revered in his neighbourhood mosque rather than to the societal opprobrium he so deserves.

It’s no wonder that some young Nigerians find an outlet for this frustration through Twitter and Facebook, others at markets and motor-parks perpetually feel like secondclass citizens, while many in rural areas who hardly feel the impact of governance at any level just couldn’t be bothered until elections season. This cynicism pervades all segments of society.

The APC or any such movement ought to become a rallying point for Nigerians to coalesce around, at the barest minimum to set the tone for a more inclusive type of governance where ordinary Nigerians will be regarded as people who matter in the scheme of things. Such a movement could learn a thing or two from Zambia’s Patriotic Front (PF), the platform on which the current president, Michael Sata sailed to victory in 2011, thereby upstaging incumbent Rupiah Banda and his ruling party, the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD)’s 20 year hegemony.

Observers such as Cambridge academic Alastair Fraser, attribute the PF’s victory to its ability to mobilise ordinary Zambians across ethnically diverse communities, especially the critical youth demographic, through a grassroots approach to politics. The PF focused not on socialist slogans, but on the unmet needs of individual communities especially employment and infrastructure, employed a fiery antiChinese rhetoric and the famous “Don’t Kubeba” (accept bribes from parties but vote for your choice at the polls) slogan.

Barring slight differences in context and dynamics, parallels can clearly be drawn between Zambia and Nigeria. Apparently, the key for any movement that seeks to mobilise ordinary citizens is its ability to reach out to and connect with marginalised segments of society, communicate through the language of their lived realities and basic needs, and importantly, make them feel relevant in deciding their own destinies.

The brazen visit by APC governors to Maiduguri a few weeks ago, prompted President Jonathan to visit Maiduguri days later, his first visit since his election in 2011 despite the daily carnage there. This is healthy competition on both sides to score political points with the masses, and this competition is the stuff responsive democracies are made of.

Ultimately, Nigerians need a credible alternative, not just to replace the PDP in power, but an alternative way of doing things, an alternative to the dysfunctional and malevolent “do-or-die” politics that has characterised our polity throughout the past 13 years of democratic rule. In this quest, it matters little whether the APC is an alliance of convenience by “desperate” power mongers, as they have been variously described, all that matters is their ability to provide an inclusive platform and a reliable alternative that Nigerians can choose to either support or ignore. The quality of our politics needs to be lifted from the grubby bottom through healthy competition engendered by a worthy rival to the PDP. Whether the APC is capable of this arduous task, only time and the strategies it adopts will determine.

Around Nigeria Exposed: New Plot To Loot N15 Billion Pension Fund Contd. from Front Page detained for a while by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Having been once bitten, this time, when he was approached, he sang to officials of the presidency, seeking to expose the plan.

According to our sources, the bank manager alleged that the team from the Ministry in question employed the same tactic used by those who plundered funds of pension offices in the past by first engaging in exploratory talks about how to withdraw money from the pension accounts, how much and the manner of withdrawal.

The plan put forward by the rogue team was to compile a new list of persons they would claim had either been shortchanged or not paid pension at all. Based on this fictitious list, mandates would be sent to the banks to release billions from the pension

funds.

Still smarting from his previous experience, the manager was so scared that he did not even wait for a formal letter granting approval before exposing the plot.

Although no action has been taken so far on the disclosure, our sources said that the President is likely to order an investigation into the matter.

The agencies under CIPPO, the customs, prisons and immigration services, are supervised by two different ministers. While customs is under the finance minister, prisons and immigration are supervised by the minister of interior.

In the past, several billions have been stolen from pension funds by public officers using ghost and fake pensioners’ names.

Even now several former officials of the pension offices of the office of the head of service of the federation and Police

Pension Office are being tried in the courts for looting amounts totaling more than N60 billion.

At the pension office of the head of service, Sani Teidi Shuaibu, former director; Phina Ukamaka Chidi, his former deputy, and 30 others are battling charges of conspiracy, fraud and corruption before Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

They are accused of stealing more than N30 billion from the pension funds meant for the payment of retired civil servants.

In the same vein, Abubakar Kigo, former director, police pension office, and former permanent secretary, ministry of Niger Delta; Esias Dangabar a retired director, PPO; Ahmed Wada, former deputy director, PPO, and others are also being tried by an Abuja court for stealing over N40 billion pension funds.

First Lady is not sick, says aide Contd. from Front Page movement of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan recently. ‘’For the avoidance of doubts and ambiguities, I wish to state that Her Excellency had travelled to participate in the 1st Green Women Conference in Paris, France, on March 17, where she received the Global Women Leaders’ Award for

Peace, 2013.’’

According to the statement, the president’s wife, after the conference, travelled to Germany to visit her foster mother and children. ‘’Thereafter, the First Lady called on `Mama Sisi’ who is currently receiving medical attention. ‘’It was in her normal plan to spend some time overseeing the management of

the foster mother’s condition. ‘’The First Lady also seized the opportunity to spend some time in the company of Mama’s children before they return to school. ‘’Dame Patience Jonathan is expected in the country next week,’’ the statement said. It expressed appreciation to those who had shown “genuine concern through their enquiries”.

Jonathan’s Cabinet Is Full Of Dead Woods – Tony Uranta A known ally of President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr Tony Uranta has criticized the President for his team of cabinet.

He called on Jonathan to reconstitute his cabinet as soon as possible, because there are lots of dead woods in the cabinet.

Uranta made the declaration on Channels TV live programme; Politics Today on Sunday evening while

discussing the need for the Jonathan administration to improve on its performance.

Mr Uranta said “He (President Jonathan) has to do a lot of things more visibly, accountably and transparently.

He must reshuffle his cabinet.

There are lots of dead woods in there.” He cited the example of the presidential assistant on Millennium Develpoment Goals,

Precious Gbenol, saying she had been completely anonymous, creating the impression she had not been working.

He urged the President to carry out the reshuffling the President wants to get better at his performance and meet the yearnings and demands of Nigerians, saying “he must reshuffle his cabinet if he wants to get better results.”

Alleged threat from security agencies, Boko Haram, journalist flees to Dubai Contd. from Back Page in-depth reporting on the extremist group as evidence of his closeness to the sect.

“After years of seeking ways and alternatives to working professionally and remaining with my family in Nigeria, I am afraid to report that I came recently to the conclusion that I have to flee,” he further lamented in the email.

“After my most recent expose on the scandal going in respect of

purported ceasefire negotiated between government and Boko Haram, the danger to my life has escalated to new heights. I have had to go severely underground for several weeks leading to my final decision to flee Nigeria.”

He added, “Security agents and many victims of Boko Haram seem frequently upset by the things I write in the media which made me to scale down my professional visibility. More worrying, I have turned down Boko Haram’s several requests for

me to publish exclusive interviews and materials for them.”

Mr. Salkida had written in the article, published in PREMIUM TIMES on February 1 that the claim by government that the Boko Haram sect was negotiating a truce was false and fraudulent.

Mr. Salkida has consistently maintained that he had only maintained a professional contact with a few elements he had reported upon long before the sect became violent.

-PREMIUM TIMES.

Page 4

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Business Petrobras said to auction $5 billion of Nigeria oil assets Brazilian oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA) is to auction off its stakes in Nigerian oil fields to raise cash for domestic projects, a deal that may fetch up to $5 billion, sources close to the deal said.

The state-controlled company, formally known as Petroleo Brasileiro SA, has hired Standard Chartered (STAN.L) to run the process, which will kick off in the next two months, banking and oil industry sources said.

Aba leather cluster benefits from DFID-funded pogramme A business management programme geared toward educating the leather cluster, comprising shoe, belt and bag makers, has commenced in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia.

The programme, tagged ‘Growth and Employment in States (GEMS 1)’ is funded by Department for International Development (DFID), which leads the UK Government’s fight against world poverty.

Mr Al-Habib Onifade of INL consulting Ltd., organisers of the programme, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Aba, Abia, on Monday.

Onifade said that the programme would prepare the cluster for anticipated credit facility from Diamond Bank and other commercial banks interested in investing in the leather sector.

According to him, young graduates will be engaged to serve as extension consultants to further help train the artisans on loan management and get them ready for the loan.

He explained that the extension consultants would be trained on bank products and tools made available to them, so that they would be able to help the artisans in readiness for the anticipated credit facilities.

He said that the programme would also ensure that all artisans were covered under the programme, adding that a database was being created to include their names, line numbers as well as phone numbers. ‘’We are also collecting data of all artisans involved in leather products in Aba, their names, line numbers and phone numbers. ’’The idea is to further guarantee these people because the banks are very nervous about doing business with them.

Minister of Finance, Okonjo-Iweala.

“Apart from their normal drivers’ licences, we are going to create an identification card for them, like a chip, so that anybody with that card can approach Diamond Bank for credit,’’ Onifade said.

In a separate interview, Mr Enoch Njoku, GEMS 1’s Junior Intervention Manager for finished leather in Aba, told NAN that the data gathering was already ongoing.

He said that the data gathering was geared toward reducing the perceived risk in giving credit facilities to the cluster, adding that the programme targets 15,000 artisans for initial takeoff. ‘’We are also creating a calendar of trade shows in the country to enable the artisans to look for market for their products rather than sit at their comfort zones and be expecting customers to come to them. ‘’We are beginning to let them understand that they can’t just sit here and wait for customers to come and meet them. ‘’They have to attend some of these fairs to get customers and that is why we are training them,’’ he said.

GEMS 1 is fully funded by DFID to support the improvement of competitiveness in strategically important cluster of the meat and leather industry which has the potential to contribute to growth, income and employment.

Although the project’s initial design was on cluster development, it has shifted to a “Making the Markets Work for the Poor” (M4P) project approach.

The areas of operation of GEMS 1 are Kano, Kaduna, and Lagos but it has increased its coverage this year by including Onitsha (Anambra) and Aba.

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Page 5

News

Around Nigeria

Oil spill: Fishermen demand N4.32b compensation from SHELL The Artisan Fishermen of Nigeria (ARFAN), Niger Delta Region, has demanded N4.32 billion compensation from Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Co. (SNEPCo) for five states impacted by oil spill in the Region.

The Association’s Secretary and Niger Delta Coordinator, Elder Inyang Ekong, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Eket, Akwa Ibom..

He said that the claims and compensation were necessary due to the extent and impact of the spill on the people of the region.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that SNEPCo on the Bonga oil spill located offshore Nigeria, estimates that about 40,000 barrels of crude oil escaped into the Atlantic Ocean on Dec 20, 2011.

Ekong said that the oil spill had

caused untold hardship to the fishing communities and to the association members in the region.

“We have written and nothing has been done for us, we are still waiting and we went on consultation and still nothing is happening.

“Up till today, we have not received any positive response from the regulators nor from the Federal Government.

“We have been so weak and sorrowful because our members are frustrated by the oil spill that cut across the whole Niger Delta Region,” Ekong said.

According to him, the effect of the oil spill has thrown the fishermen in all the states of the Region into “a very big confusion’’.

Ekong said that sea weeds had been noticed on the ocean floor from Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Ondo and Rivers,

adding that the development has resulted in the scarcity of fish in the area.

According to him, the massive depletion of sea weeds has lead to scarcity of fish and sardine in the market.

“The effect of the oil spill was such that sea weeds were removed from the ocean bed up to the surface of the water.

“When the fishermen go out for fishing, they catch sea weeds instead of fish and their nets are affected by the spill equally. “”About 200 Akwa Ibom fishermen died as a result of starvation and hunger caused by the oil spill in the region in the last two years”.

Ekong said that the Association had send delegates to meet with the NOSDRA, at the headquarters, Abuja on effect of Bonga oil spill to members but to no avail.

He said that Akwa Ibom was the worst hit during the oil spill in the region, saying that fishermen in the state had to go beyond the boundaries with other countries in search of fish to sustain their livelihood.

He appealed to the Federal Government, Stakeholders, Regulators and good spirited individuals to come to their aid, lamenting that fishermen had been deprived of their occupation.

“We spent N800,000 to bail five fishermen from the hands of Cameroonians who seized our members’ boats and engine in February this year. “`We are appealing to Federal Government, Shell Company and NOSDRA to look into the hardship caused by the oil spill on our members in the region.’’

(NAN)

Kogi flood victims reject N3, 000 compensation Victims of the 2012 flood disaster in Kogi have rejected the offer of N3, 000 compensation from the state government, describing the gesture as inadequate.

Some of the victims told newsmen in Lokoja on Sunday that the N3, 000 offered to them by the government was far below the losses they suffered individually during the disaster.

The flood, which affected nine local government areas of the state, destroyed more than 500 houses and rendered15,00 residents homeless.

Some of the victims said that they were paid N3, 000 compensation on Thursday by a team of government officials at LGEA Primary School at Gadumo, Lokoja.

Among the victims were Mr Zacheus Momorebe, Mr James Oguche, Mr Suleiman Ogidi and Mr Olaitan Ayorinde, who claimed to be landlords.

They said that their houses located on Ganaja Road and the old polytechnic quarters were completely submerged by the flood.

The victims said that the amount could not in any way ameliorate the losses they suffered.

They alleged a lack of transparency in the sharing of the money given victims by the Federal Government, organisations and individuals.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the state government recently released N139 million to the nine affected local government areas.

The local governments received sums ranging from N10 million to N20 million to be disbursed to victims.

Reacting to the complaints, the state Commissioner for Environment, Alhaji Abdulrhaman Wuya, said that the money paid to the victims should not be regarded as compensation but assistance.He said that considering the method used to allocate the N139 million to the affected areas and in the bid to spread the assistance, the amount each person would receive would be in the range of N3, 000. “ More post-flood measures that will benefit all of them are on the way. They should remain calm and bear with the government,’’ he said.

Wuya also appealed to people living along river banks and waterways to relocate to avoid the experience of the last year during which many lives and property were

At the annual Lagos Carnival at the tafawa Balewa Square

Military invasion: Saroh urges compensation to Sankera community A prominent politician, Prof. Daniel Saroh, has called on the Federal Government to pay N41 billion compensation to the people of Sankera in Benue over a 2001 military attack.

A Federal High Court in Enugu had awarded the compensation over the invasion of the community by the Nigerian Army in 2001 during which lives and property were lost.

Saroh told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview in Abuja on Monday that the compensation was necessary to enable the people to re-start their lives.

Saroh, a former Senator for Benue

North –East, identified the destruction of the official residence of the Chairman, Ukim Local Government Council and the council secretariat, as some of the property destroyed during the invasion.

He said since the victims went to court and won their case, government was duty bound to pay them damages.

“At the time of the crisis, some people went to court to demand compensation and they won the case in 2007, up till today nothing has been paid to anybody. ``The victims are saying that the amount is too small for them, what I am trying to say is that the Federal

Government owes the people certain level of compensation because a lot of people have been killed. ``The invasion caused so much damage to the people in terms of economic, social, environmental as well as psychological trauma,” he said.

Saroh, a former ANPP Governorship Candidate, also recalled that students of the community could not write their examinations at the time because of the invasion.

He, however, advised the people of the community to put the trauma of the invasion behind them and move on with life.

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Page 6

Politics SURE-P FUNDS: PDP, ACN IN WAR OF WORDS:

...ACN Want Independent Investigation Of Disbursement The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has called for an independent investigation of the disbursement of the funds accruing to the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) from inception with a view to establishing to what extent the funds have been abused and prescribe appropriate sanctions for those found culpable.

Maintaining that the SURE-P funds have now become campaign funds for President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of 2015, ACN said the crisis that is now tearing apart the Lagos PDP, over the sharing of SURE-P funds among PDP members in the state, has vindicated its stand that the funds meant to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal have now become a 2015 campaign war chest for President Jonathan.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said when it alerted the nation on the abuse of the SURE-P funds in a statement on Feb. 3, the Federal Government as well as SUREP managers rushed to deny any abuse of the funds and called ACN unprintable names. ‘’Today, the truth has prevailed as the PDP members themselves have confirmed that the SURE-P funds are being shared among them across the federation. ‘’Thanks to the alleged hijacking of the SURE-P funds meant for the PDP members in Lagos State by the Bode George faction and the crisis that it has generated, the nation can now see that the Jonathan Administration has willfully converted the money accruing from SUREP to campaign funds. ‘’This is a very serious violation of the constitution, because the State Implementation Committee (SIC), a body not recognised by law, has been set up to distribute the SURE-P largesse to PDP members in all the states. Recall that money being spent on fuel subsidies was in the past taken out of the Federation Account, hence it is money that would have been divided among the three tiers of government in accordance with the revenue allocation formula.

‘’But by virtue of the SUREP arrangement, part of the funds are now available for the Federal Government to share freely by approving contracts, programmes and activities in accordance with its whims and caprices. The PDP-controlled Federal Government has now seen the accruing huge funds as money which may well be spent with special favour for its cronies and party affiliates, without regard to the constitution.

For President Jonathan, this is an impeachable offence,’’ ACN

said.

The party said in order to buttress its point on the abuse of the SURE-P funds, most - if not all - state coordinators for President Jonathan’s campaign in 2011 are also the current state coordinators for SURE-P, adding that this is not a mere coincidence but a wellorchestrated attempt to give the Jonathan campaign an unfair head-start ahead of 2015 - with public funds.

It listed some of the coordinators as Alhaji Bode Oyedele (Lagos); Mr. Joseph Ishekpa (Nasarawa); Alhaji

Garba A. Kurfi.(Katsina): Alhaji Aliyu Mamman (Niger); Alhaji Adamu Yaro Gombe (Gombe); Hon Femi Akinyemi (Ekiti); Jarigbe Agbom Jarigbe (Cross River); Chief Abdullahi Ohioma (Kogi); Dare Adeleke (Oyo); Alhaji Al-Kasim Madoka (Kano) and Alhaji Kolo Bukar (Borno).

On the crisis in Lagos PDP over the SURE-P largesse, ACN said a public statement by a faction of the PDP in Lagos has let the cat out of the bag.

The PDP factional statement said, ‘’Bode Oyedele cannot coordinate Sure-P in Lagos State. We reject him. He has packed all Bode George’s agents as SureP beneficiaries. Is this the objective of Sure-P? Some Local Governments like EtiOsa, Ajeromi, Lagos Islands etc. Please find out how they got the beneficiaries. ‘’In Eti-Osa, there are names of criminals as beneficiaries, especially Ward HI. This is a waste of subsidy money and defeating the objective of the programme.

There are responsible eminent citizens who should be contacted to verify and screen the submission of names for beneficiaries but Bode George’s loyalists are putting names of touts and miscreants for his own personal agenda. We won’t allow this to happen. We intend to go to court to obtain an order to dissolve the state Exco if the Caretaker Committee won’t do it.’’

ACN said from the statement above by members of the PDP themselves, no one should be left in any doubt that the SURE-P funds have now become campaign funds for President Jonathan and his party ahead of 2015. ‘’On the basis of this, we are now calling for an independent investigation into how the money accruing to SURE-P has been disbursed since the inception of the programme, with a view to establishing to what extent the funds have been abused, and in order to prescribe the appropriate sanctions for those found culpable,’’ ACN said.

... PDP Accuses ACN Of Frittering Own Share The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Monday, reacted sharply to the allegations made by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Sunday, that the ruling party had turned the Subsidy ReInvestment Programme (SURE-P) funds into a war chest for its 2015 campaign.

Challenging the opposition ACN leaders to show Nigerians what programmes they have in their states for their own shares of the saved fuel subsidy funds, PDP faulted the opposition party for trying to politicise the SURE-P initiative of the PDPled Federal Government, accusing the opposition states of frittering away their own shares of the funds instead of using such for the benefit of the people.

In a statement issued, Monday, by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in reaction to media reports by the ACN that the SURE-P fund was being shared to PDP members, the ruling party noted that the reports were part of a grand plot by the opposition to unnecessarily stir up animosity among the people

and ensure that they do not benefit from government programmes.

PDP said the leaders of the ACN, “who are used to syphoning public funds” are clearly frustrated that the PDP SURE-P initiative is yielding results and that Nigerians across the board are benefitting from it. PDP also assured that it would not be distracted by the antics of the opposition but will remain committed to the welfare of all Nigerians at all times.

“The attention of the leadership of the Peoples

Democratic Party (PDP) has been drawn to malicious and baseless media reports by the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) that the Subsidy Re-Investment Programme (SURE-P) fund is being shared to PDP members.

“To say the least, we found it nauseating that the opposition would want to play politics with everything, including a programme meant for the benefit of all Nigerians. We are aware that this is part of a grand plot by the ACN to stir up animosity among peace loving

Nigerians and prevent them from benefitting from the programme.

“The SURE-P initiative is a programme of the PDP-led Federal Government for the benefit all Nigerians. PDP members are Nigerians and we will be happy if they were truly patronized instead of the money going to the pocket of an individual as obtainable in the camp of the ACN where funds meant for the people are diverted to the pocket of a godfather.

“We challenge the opposition to come out and tell Nigerians what programmes they have in their respective states for their own shares of the saved fuel subsidy fund. It is clear that by every indication they have none, as the funds would have since been diverted to the pocket of their godfather.

“The leaders of the opposition parties are used to frittering away funds meant for the people. They are not happy that Nigerians are benefiting from the SURE-P and are hell bent on using any means to discredit the programme and deny the people the benefits,” PDP said in the statement.

Page 7

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Politics Public office holders of fuelling security challenges — PPA Chairman Mr Sam Nkire, the National Chairman of the Progressive Peoples’ Alliance (PPA), has accused some public office holders of fuelling security challenges in the country.

Nkire made the accusation in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday, as a part of his Easter message to the people.

He condemned the activities of some governors, senators, ministers and chief executive officers of arrogant display of wealth when they return home for either Christmas or Easter.

“They distribute a few bags of rice and cartons vegetable oil to people in order to announce their arrival at their constituencies.

He advised them to stop playing “Father Christmas” with public funds and pursue policies that could provide the enabling environment for people to work instead of waiting for occasional hand-outs.

The PPA boss also reminded the people that Easter symbolised freedom for mankind, and urged them to challenge leaders who enslaved them through ill-gotten wealth.

According to him, people should not to rely on prayer alone to fight corruption in the country but take the necessary action to curb and possibly eliminate the menace.

2015: Jonathan as sole PDP candidate will tear Nigeria apart – Northern As the horse trading for the 2015 presidential election begins , Northern politicians have rejected the alleged plan by the leadership of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, to ensure President Goodluck Jonathan is the sole candidate for its presidential primaries.

The Arewa Consultative Forum and the Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen stated described the plot as undemocratic which could lead to anarchy and the of the self acclaimed largest party in Africa.

Spokesman of the ACF, Anthony Sani said North will go against such move because it would limit the choice of Nigerians during the election. ”I am not aware of this kind of move by the ruling PDP. But I want to say such practices, if allowed, would limit the democratic space by reducing the choice of candidate. As a result, members of the ruling party’s right to participate in the choice of their presidential candidate will be short changed.

Nigerians’ choice will also be limited.

“It is to be noted that even in America, when candidacy is conceded to the incumbent, it is not forced but brought about by consensus by members of the ruling party. And that was why

President Goodluck Jonathan Senator Kennedy was not barred from contesting the primaries with President Jimmy Carter in the early 80s. The practices of limiting candidacy to incumbency cannot promote democracy that is premised on triple foundation of liberty, justice and common decency.

“When you talk about effect of such development on the aspiration of the North to vie for the presidency in 2015, you at once convey an impression that the primaries in PDP is final.

Nigerians can still make judicious use of their democratic rights and vote candidates in some other parties, more so in a

clime where most of the political parties are mere clones of one another in terms of their approach to solving the myriad of problems of Nigeria.”

Sani however called on Nigerians not to let such action by the PDP result to chaos in the country.

“Nigerians should not allow the actions of a few or of a party to determine how they think, what they say and what they do.

Nigerians should shape events, and not allow events to shape us.

There is no need for chaos, since voters have the final say. Instead of causing any chaos, voters should make judicious use of their democratic rights and vote leaders of their choice,” he added.

Speaking further, the party chieftain disclosed that it was too early to determine if the North will look in the direction of the All Progressives Congress to actualise it’s aspiration for presidency in 2015 or not.

Commenting on the oneterm agreement northern Governors allegedly signed with Jonathan, Sani said, “I have said agreements (whether signed or not) and court cases do not produce presidents in a democracy. Only Nigerian voters can produce the president. Somehow, I believe that both the controversy about agreement and court cases have been brought into the open for a

higher cause. Nigerians deserve leaders they can rely upon to deliver on their promises.

“Though northerners aspire to be president in 2015, they would do so democratically, and not undemocratically. So the question of forcing northerners into one political party does not arise. They do not have to be in one party in order to make their votes count.”

For Dr. Junaid Mohammed, making President Jonathan the sole aspirant of PDP’s presidential primaries would tear the country apart.

“Let them try it. If they try it, let us see what will happen.

The second term governors are not the only ones aspiring to be president. Let PDP become an automatic consensus candidate party, and let’s see how the party survives. That will lead to a collapse of PDP and that is the best possible outcome for the country.

“If they do that, there will be reaction and the reaction will not be only from the rest of the country, but also from the international community. This because the international community will not want to pay the price of Nigeria breaking down, because they will not want to bring their marines here to stop us from tearing ourselves apart,” he warned

Obasanjo brokers peace among Ogun PDP factions Members of the various PDP factions in Ogun on Monday, held a closed-door reconciliatory meeting at the hilltop residence of former Olusegun Obasanjo, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Obasanjo was also the immediate past Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BOT).

Those who attended the four-hour meeting were Chief Segun Oni, a former PDP National Vice-Chairman, South-West, Sen Jubril Martins Kuye, a former Minister of State for Finance and Chief Sarafa Ishola, a former Minister for Mines and Steel Development.

Some of the party chieftains who addressed newsmen described the meeting as fruitful.

Kuye told newsmen that the development was part of the moves to reposition the party ahead of the 2015 General

Ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo Elections.

He said that the intra-party crises had caused a lot of setbacks to the party in the state, adding that it was necessary for elders of the party to come together and “mend

broken fences”, to move the party forward.

He hinged the choice of Obasanjo’s residence on the fact that “the former president is an embodiment of peace and a rallying point of the party both

in the South-West and at the national level.”

Kuye said that series of such meetings would be held at regular intervals to ensure that the party was united and focused ahead of the 2015 General Elections.

Also speaking, Ishola expressed optimism that the initiative would bring to an end the crisis which had polarised the party and denied it of victory at the 2011 gubernatorial elections in the state.

He called on other aggrieved members of the party to return saying: “There is no end to reconciliation. All channels of communications would be kept open.”

The former minister gave the assurance that the party remained a formidable family and members were ready to sacrifice personal interests for the overall good of the party.

Page 8

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Metro

City, Crime & Justice Court adjourns Anosike brothers case to May 7.

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Monday adjourned the case of the Ànosike brothers - Noel and Fidelis – charged with advanced fee fraud to May 7.

The preliminary objection filed by counsel to the accused, Mr Babajide Koku, could not hold because the absence of the prosecutor, Mr Ernest Ezebilo.

Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke, therefore, adjourned the case to May 7 for hearing.

At the last adjourned date, counsel

Madonna quietly jets into Malawi with adopted children American pop queen Madonna discreetly flew into Malawi on Monday with her adopted children from the southern African nation, an airport official said.

“I saw Madonna, her adopted two children David Banda and Mercy James, plus an entourage of 10, come through the VIP,” Peter Botha, a spokesman for the Lilongwe airport police, told AFP. He said Madonna arrived shortly before midday at Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe on a private jet.

Her visit — the reason for which remained unclear — comes three months after education authorities challenged a claim by her charity Raising Malawi that it built 10 schools in the impoverished country last year.

Education minister Eunice Kazembe said the charity had only built 10 classroom blocks and not schools.

Madonna’s charity, in tandem with global non-profit buildOn, had announced in December the completion of 10 schools, claiming they would provide education to 4,871 children.

It is not the first time the singer has run into trouble with authorities in Malawi, the native home of her adopted children.

In 2010 Madonna laid the foundation stone of a $15million (11.5-million-euro) academy for girls in Chinkota village, outside the capital Lilongwe. But a year later the project was cancelled because of mismanagement, and local employees sacked.

The academy was replaced by plans to build schools, in order to reach more children.

Madonna’s charity also supports child care centres in the country, which is home to nearly one million children orphaned by AIDS.

representing the accused, Mr Norrison Quakers (SAN), had informed the court of a pending application, contesting service of the charge on the accused.

He said that at no time was the amended charge served on the accused, adding that lack of service ousted the jurisdiction of the court.

According to him, where the issue of jurisdiction of court is in question, it must be first dealt with.

He said in the instant case, there was an issue of service of the charge on the

accused to which they had filed an objection.

Quakers, therefore, said that it was only trite that the application before the court be considered before taking further steps in the case.

The accused were alleged to have conspired and obtained N25 million from the Education Trust Fund under false pretence of utilising the money to set up Electronic Library for Daily Times.

They allegedly obtained N100

million from Corporate Ideals Properties Limited and Sen. Ikechukwu Obiorah, under the guise that they had a printing factory at Lugbe, Abuja.

The accused allegedly laundered N75 Million, which was realised from the sale of Daily Times property at Cold Harbour Lane, London, United Kingdom.

The offence contravened Sections 1(3) and 8 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act, 2005.

They yet to be arraigned before the court.

He’s Had Heart Surgery Four Times, He’s 80, Now He Wants To Climb Mount Everest A Third Time Talk about self-belief and never giving up, talk about Yuichiro Miura. Climbing the highest mountain in the world despite multiple heat surgeries and aging bones; now, that’s greatness.

The 80-year-old Japanese mountain climber who has had heart surgery four times is heading to Mount Everest to try for a third ascent of the world’s highest peak and will become the oldest person to reach the top if he succeeds.

Miura climbed to the summit of the 29,035 ft (8,850 metres) mountain in 2003 and 2008.

He skied down Everest from an altitude of 26,246 ft (8,000 metres) in 1970.

Miura will climb up the standard southeast ridge route, pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay

when they became the first people to reach the summit in May 1953, with a nine-person team.

“The record is not so important for me,” the octogenarian told Reuters in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, before setting out for the mountain.

“It is important to get to the top.”

The record for the oldest person to climb the mountain is held by Nepal’s Min Bahadur Sherchan, who reached the summit at the age of 76, in 2008.

Miura’s team will include a doctor specialising in heart ailments, who will keep an eye on his health. The group hopes to summit in May. Miura who is from a family of brave men has skied down the

Yuichiro Miura

highest mountains on each of the seven continents is merely following family tradition. His late father, Keizo Miura, skied down Europe’s Mont Blanc at the age of 99.

“If you wish strongly, have courage and endurance, then you can get to the summit of your dream,” said Miura.

For Miura, getting to the summit of Mt. Everest is done and dusted; he’s got a new dream already. He wants to ski down Cho Oyu, the world’s sixth highest mountain at 8,201 metres (26,906 ft), also in the Himalayas.

“Maybe, when I become 85 years old, and if I stay alive, I want to climb and ski down Cho Oyu,” Miura said. “It is my next dream.” About 4,000 climbers have been to the top of Everest and about 240 people have died on its slopes.

Man pours hot water on 13-year-old housemaid A 13-year-old girl, Precious Edu, has accused the brotherin law of her employer of pouring hot water on her. Edu, who said she was denied the opportunity of attending school after she was brought to work with Esther Amunde and her brother-in-law, Papa, in Calabar, Cross River State, said Papa poured the water on her after accusing her of splashing water on him. She said after the hot water left some burns on her neck, shoulder and chest, she was left to wallow in pains for two days until neighbours took her to the hospital for medical attention. Narrating her ordeal to PUNCH Metro on Saturday on her sick bed, Edu, who is currently being treated at the Calabar General Hospital, said she was brought to Ekorinim area of the state from Obudu in the northern part of the state to work as housemaid on the agreement that she would continue her secondary education. But the situation changed as she was allegedly denied schooling by Amunde, who insisted that Edu must not be distracted from taking care of her little son. Edu said, “Sometime in 2012, one

woman, Amaman appealed to my mother to release me as a housemaid to her sister, Esther Amunde, residing in Calabar because she needed somebody to stay with her. “When my mother accepted, it was with the understanding that I would continue my schooling. I initially stayed with Amunde’s mother in Obudu for three months before Amunde came during Obudu new yam festival in August 2012 to take me to Calabar.” Edu said on getting to Calabar, she worked full time as housemaid until

September when she expected that she would resume school with other children. She said she reminded Amunde to register her in a school in Ekorinim, but she turned down the request, saying her work was to take care of her son.” Edu said, “Amunde refused to register me in school insisting that my duty in her house was to take care of her (Amunde) son. “I was attending Girls Secondary School in my village and I was in JS-1. Even when I was with her mother (Amunde) briefly before coming to Calabar, she allowed me to go to school. But my boss said because of her son, I cannot attend school.” Edu alleged that in the course of carrying out her duties, she was maltreated and abused by Papa. She alleged that it was Papa that poured the hot water on her after a slight misunderstanding. She said, “In the morning of March 9, I unplugged a kettle and was turning the water in it into a bucket when Papa said the water splashed on him. He soon brought a smaller bowl, dipped it into the bucket of hot water and poured it on me. “When I told my boss about the incident, she neither reacted nor did

anything to the burn. It was after my skin had had started peeling because of the burn that Amunde gave me two tablets of Panadol to use. “However, when I went to fetch water from the borehole five days later, some neighbours saw my peeling skin and screamed. One of them took me to the general hospital.” At the hospital, a nurse, who identified herself as Alice, said a child rights activist, Mr. James Ibor, was called and he, in turn, alerted the police. Ibor said, “We have made written requests to the Cross River State Commissioner of Police to effect the arrest of Amunde and Papa to face the law because what they have done amounts to felony.” The activist said what they did by taking Udu from her mother to serve as housemaid was human trafficking. He said Udu would thereafter be taken to an orphanage where she would eventually be taken back to her parents after the wound had healed. Efforts to get Amunde and Papa to speak on the issue proved abortive.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. John Umoh, said he was yet to be briefed of the incident.

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Page 9

Peoples Parliament

Corruption: Will it ever end?

Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. Street Parliamentarians in Abuja told UDE EJIKEME that it hurts everyone whose life, livelihood or happiness depends on the integrity of people in position of authority. Excerpts.

Ngozi Nwoye A business person can easily begin to adopt dishonest practices, perhaps because of the pressure to meet his company goals or to survive in a competitive world. Many people regard giving and receiving bribes as normal practice. When you are an entrepreneur with heavy financial responsibilities, it is a challenge to be honest.

Even in a permissive business environment, it is possible to be honest. You need to have strong moral values. The Bible has helped me to see the benefit of honesty. An honest person has a clear conscience, an inner calmness, and selfrespect. He can be a positive influence on those around him.

Joy Uzoh Person like ex-governor of Baylesa State, Alamieyeseigha has shown to be a dishonest or dishonorable fellow, unfit to rule, unfit to sit among men and women of honour and integrity, unfit to preach to the people that he leads about ideals and values. He and Bankole, ex-speaker, House of Representatives were among the most corrupt persons in our time.

With their likes, corruption can never end in this country.

Jibril Isah Koto It is unfortunate that at the local government levels in the country, state Governors had reduced the councils to governments departments/agencies and their funds being squandered with reckless abandonment.

There is the need to revisit the constitution to expunge that aspect. |So, it is difficult to end corruption as it has formed part of our blood in Nigeria.

Sunny Odekina An average Nigerian seems to believe that it is ordained for him to go to foreign nations to buy goods for consumption in Nigeria, while his own country sells crude oil to get money to

EFCC Chairmnan, Ibrahim Larmode

Former Governor of Delta state, James Ibori

pay for those goods. If he is denied official window to execute such trade, then he brings it in through smuggling.

The men of Nigerian Customs Service had made personal fortunes out of this desire of Nigerians to eat their cakes and have it. Many Nigerians are ignorant of the working of modern nations and international trade, talk less of understanding how the value of a currency is arrived at. Where it is possible to believe that President Jonathan was not driven by greed in some of his reforms, one would have said that he adopted brazen attitude because you can’t convince the average Nigerian to believe in his own nation.

Femi Harstrup Policemen are known to have shot dead drivers for refusing to part with as little as N20 or even steal from accident victims. Aside from corruption and greed that have held the police system in chains for decades, wellto-do in the society use the law enforcers as instruments to oppress the common man.

Until the system is reinvented, re-oriented and re-engineered, the average policeman would continue to conjure the picture of a foe and not a friend that they

Halima Hassana Abdulmalik I believe the President does not learn from the pas.t Most of his actions are unpresidential but he is yet to admit that. Why does the President like to inflict pains on Nigerians deliberately?

The subsidy he had promised to remove again is not really responsible for our backwardness but his negligence and non-challant attitude towards corruption.

His decision to remove subsidy again would rather cause unrest.

The President should know that Nigerians are hungry and unhappy with his policies since he came into power.

Nigerians voted for him because of the love they have for him and because of the name he bears (Goodluck).

Why is the President now acting conversely to his name?

It is surprising that the man who told Nigerians that he had no shoes and Nigerians bought one for him is now the same person who pays deaf ears to the cries of the people.

Removal of subsidy is not what is hindering our developmental process but corruption. There is intense corruption in the system. Our President should cleanse the system by bringing corrupt elements to book. Instead of seeking for ways to punish the

sloganeer about.

Olufemi Ajokutu Are you aware that the Imo State House of Assembly recently impeached the Deputy Governor, Mr. Jude Agboso, having being found guilty of bribery allegation in respect of a road contract? The impeachment was premised on allegation that the former second-in-command in that state took a bribe of N417 million from a contractor in the state. I say kudos to the Imo law makers for their quick intervention as Agboso may have forgotten the public oath he took.

Victor Adejoh Lack of accountability at the Local Government Councils in Kogi state has become a source of worry to most of us as we have called on the state government to recall the people involve to render accounts of their stewardship. There should be a bottom-top approach in budgeting in various sectors of the economy to engender community driven development at the local government levels.

Government should set up an all-inclusive budget monitoring committee to evaluate and march spending with policies at different tiers of government, especially at the local government levels.

subsidy cabals, the President is rather seeking for ways to improvish Nigerians and enrich the PDP because I believe the subsidy removal is a PDP agenda. I hope Nigerians won’t be gullible once again in 2015.

Eric Nweke You remembered James Ibori, former governor of Delta State had admitted to fraud totaling more than $79 million dollars (50 million Pounds) said to be part of total embezzlement that could exceeded $250 million dollars (157 million pound) when he ran for the governorship of Delta state. Ibori allegedly used false date of birth to conceal previous convictions because of criminal record that would have excluded him from taking part in the election that brought in as the governor.

He tricked his way into public office. He was thus never the legitimate governor of Delta state. These were the words of his prosecutor Sasha Wass of the London Southwark Crown Court. But I am not surprised that Ibori can act that way. This is because most of these state governors are more corrupt than Ibori. Ibori is not alone in the corruption web and it seems no one can stop them. Corruption have come to stay in Nigeria. It will never end.

Page 10

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Dispatch Special

Reporting Religion In Pakistan And Nigeria: Perspectives And Realities

By Prince Charles Dickson & Ahsan Raza Good journalism is difficult work at the best of times. There is never enough information and not enough time. Reporters rely on their training and standards to overcome these difficulties and deliver news which is accurate and impartial. That is the traditional role of journalism — to enable the public to make well-informed decisions.

But every passing year, decade and period brings new challenges and difficulties, with evolving areas of coverage/ reportage bringing new dangers. In this case reporting religion.

We try to examine the Nigerian and Pakistani examples.

To Salman Khan, a journalist working with Pakistan’s largest circulated newspaper, Dawn, covering religion in journalism is a taboo and entails complications and, in some cases, life threats.

“In my view religion should be left to the public as a private affair of their lives and journalists had better focus on socioeconomic condition of the public. Even cricket is a good area which attracts the attention of a large section of readers,” he says in response to my query about hazards of reporting religion in Pakistan.

Pakistan came into being on August 14, 1947, in the name of religion in the eastern and northwestern regions of British India, where there was a Muslim majority.

Since its inception, religion has been an important part of people’s lives. In the modern Pakistan, one can seen mosques with four tall minarets, churches and walls full of religious graffiti. Politicians love to talk on Islam and vow to make Pakistan a castle of Islam where other religious minorities will live in peace and religious freedom.

But religion has been the most conflicting issue and a cause of bloodshed in the country in recent years and still journalists are not ready to cover it as beat.

“Every religion is controversial to other and newspapers cannot afford controversies,” says Maqbool Ahmed, another journalist.

But talk to Mehdi Haider, also a journalist, he says journalism should have covered the facts regarding religious controversies.

He cited the example of the massacre of Shiite sect at the hand of religious extremists belonging to hardcore Deobandi-Salfi sect of Islam, which has backing of the official sect of Saudi Arabia and other Middle East states.

No newspaper tried to raise the issue of funding to militants from the Arab countries.

“If we publish the names of backers of militants, we will face serious threats,” said Mehdi.

Javed Ahmed Ghamdi is an Islamic scholar who has been living in Dubai for the past five years. He was forced to leave the country after he preached a moderate Islam in his TV shows. Militants threatened the TV channel to close the program or face the consequence.

Pakistan, which has been under violent attacks from religious extremists of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has seen 68 journalists murdered since 1994. Since 2001, 28 journalists have been killed by TTP militants for not following their orders in coverage.

Besides this, every political party uses religion as their slogan to attract voters,

President Goodluck Jonathan

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilan

journalists cover it as a routine matter.

On March 23, cricketer-turnedpolitician Imran Khan addressing a mammoth rally in Lahore said: “I take inspiration from the life of the Holy Prophet and so I urge the youth of Pakistan to take inspiration from me.” He cited a Quranic verse and that it was his manifesto.

The next day newspapers’ did not mention the overuse of Islam by Mr Khan to exploit religious sentiment of the public.

“Should I vote for Mr Khan?’ asked Ijaz Masih, a Christian, who works for a Charity. The media again willingly ignored the view of people from other religion.

“The issue is journalists are not trained to cover religion as a beat and that is why they don’t know the importance of religion in journalism,” said Fakhar Durrani, a journalist educator based in Islamabad. He said beside lack of training, journalists also ignored religion for safety reasons.

“It’s time we should use religion reporting to lessen controversies and promote harmony among religion for a tolerant society,” he said.

The situation for Journalists and Journalism is not any different in Nigeria, as it is with Pakistan, it may only have its own dynamics, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The three largest and most influential ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.

The Hausas largely Muslims, the Igbos majorly Christians and Yorubas a very strong balance of both and a handful of traditionalists and pagans.

By and large Nigeria is roughly divided in half between Muslims, concentrated mostly in the north, and Christians, who mostly live in the South. A very small minority practice traditional religions, although the rate of syncretism is high.

Since 2002 there have been spates of clashes, particularly in the North of the country, between government forces and the Islamist group Boko Haram, militant jihadists who seek to establish sharia law.

Reporting this brings with it several risks.

Many reports divided on the casualties, are they just Christian targets or Muslims and in recent time why Muslims have been attacked.

“Reporting this religious colored conflict has brought so many challenges” says Katdaba Gobum, chairman of the Union of Journalists Plateau State. He adds “very few

are trained and have the knowledge to report this conflict”.

On April 26th 2012 there were coordinated bomb attacks on ThisDay Newspaper Offices in Kaduna & Abuja.

Abuja the federal capital and Kaduna, the foremost Northern city.

The attack left six people dead and several others injured. The first attack was at the Newspaper’s office in Abuja while the second occurred at a complex that houses a ThisDay Newspaper office along Kontagora road by Ahmadu Bello way in Kaduna.

ThisDay’s editorial board chairman Olusegun Adeniyi said. “The suicide bomber came in a jeep and security guards opened the gate for him. The guy drove in through the gate and rammed into the building and exploded. Two of our security men died, and obviously suicide bomber died too.”

Five support staff was wounded.

“Fortunately the newsroom is a bit far from the back of the building, so all the people in the newsroom escaped unhurt.”

ThisDay is based in southern Nigeria and is broadly supportive of President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, the main target for Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram.

ThisDay, a newspaper owned by the politically connected media mogul Nduka Obaigbena. The Islamic sect, Boko Haram has in the past not made any deliberate attacks on media houses until that particular attack and made it clear that they would attack media houses and Journalists who ‘misreported’ them.

This threat has affected in no small measure the way and manner the conflict is reported. Before now, the notion of reporting religion has been a page or two in most national dailies on Friday for Muslims and Sundays for Christians.

In Nigeria there are few Journalists that venture into Religious reporting or even write on Religion and politics.

This writer believes though whether in my native Nigeria or Pakistan, professional news reporters, whether being aware of it or not, are specialists in conflict. For reporters, change is news. And when there is change, there often is disagreement or conflict. There is conflict among those who like the change and those who do not, or those who want more change and those who oppose change. So journalists deal with conflict very often in their work. But many journalists know little about the idea of conflict. They do not know the root causes of conflict, or how conflicts end. They do not know the different kinds of conflict or the inter-marriage of religion and politics in festering these conflicts.

“Journalists do not set out to reduce

conflict on religion by reporting. They should seek to present accurate and impartial news”. This is the argument of Steve Aluko of the Civil Liberties Group.

But it is often through good reporting that conflict is reduced.

The news media is often the most important channel of communication that exists between sides in a conflict. Sometimes the media is used by oneside to broadcast intimidating messages. But other times, the parties speak to each other through the media or through specific journalists.

Journalism which explores each side’s particular difficulties, such as its politics or powerful interests can help educate the other side to avoid demands for simplistic and immediate solutions.

The above can be noted in the call for dialogue between Boko Haram in Nigeria and government and the issue of amnesty.

Good journalism is what this writer and a few preach, believing we can also present news that shows resolution is possible by giving examples from other places and by explaining local efforts at reconciliation.

There is need to run from the regular reportage that all news is all bad, it is violent news and does not seek other sides or points of view. It declares the worst: “peace talks...lay in ruins.”

It uses emotional and unnecessary words: massacre, mutilated, atrocity. It emphasizes the violence with words such as “mutilated bodies.”

This reportage takes sides: it describes the event from the point of view of the army spokesman. He says the patrol was attacked.

The news is full of blame and accusations with no proof. It takes the government side.

It says the attackers were Boko Haram terrorists.

How does he know? It uses emotional language: massacre, terrorists, assassination squad. It reports a claim by the police captain without proof. It reports unnamed government sources who say other unnamed people say they saw the BH leader and blame him. There is no proof of this.

These are the problems encountered by regular/traditional reportage which even puts the Journalists in trouble.

The Nigerian Guild of Editors puts a guide “Report should go further than violence and report people who condemn the violence. News should be balanced quickly: BH denies it attacked the JTF, but admits there was a battle.

The other side is given the name it calls itself: The use of ‘unknown gunmen’ when most know there is nothing like ‘unknown’.

Violence is not hidden or ignored. But it is stated as a claim and not as a fact”.

These tips can help and does help in nations with shared historical perspectives in religion like both Nigeria and Pakistan does.

Journalists should report only what is known. The bomb is a mystery, words should be carefully chosen. In religion and politics both sides’explanation and comment is necessary.

It is the believe of these writers that Journalism can and should play a great role in bridging the gap and bringing about mutual understanding and resolving some of these conflicts. *Ahsan Raza is a sub editor with Dawn Newspapers based in Lahore, Pakistan *Prince Charles Dickson is a freelance Journalist, blogger, and media practitioner of over a decade standing.

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Page 11

Dispatch Special

A Nigerian Story Of My Oga At The Top

By Prince Charles Dickson The phrase ‘oga at the top’, some forthnight went virile. We all know how the NSDC Lagos state commandant and ‘Channels TV Journalists’ exchange resulted in that now virile four-word-axiom.

We have since seen ‘oga at the top’ shirts, cups, fez caps, ringtunes, movies, you name it, infact I was quite fascinated seeing a Nigerian UK based TV use the phrase as the new catch slug. This is Nigeria, recall, Jonathan’s first coming, people named their kids ‘goodluck’.

Well, this is not much about Mr. Shem who uttered the phrase, nor his ignorance, it is not about the journalists who unprofessionally rattled him, it is not about Nigerians who seem lost on the real thematic problem in that phrase or people whose new pseudo are ‘oga at the top’.

So, what is it, that this writer is overflogging. Follow me in the next few paragraphs and let’s see Nigeria.

My name is El-Emeka Adebayo, I work with the Federal Civil Service, I am what you call an ‘oga at the top’, not so many of us, but enough to wreck havoc on the Nigerian dream, that is not if we have any.

You call us Perm Sec, Directors, Assistant this and that in various ministries and parastatals, and extraministerial platforms.

Many of us have been around the top for ages, some as far back as 1976, 79, and early 80s. We have put in twothree decades ruining Nigeria.

This is my story, by our set standards I work hard; I do not know what the general standards are because they vary depending on situations, persons, time and other factors.

In one year I can hardly tell you how hard I work, but for sure I work hard, traveling for all sorts of seminar, workshops, and conventions. Did you notice my name, I go on both Hajj and Pilgrimage to Saudi/Isreal depending on how I feel. Its an entitlement, and did I tell you, I have been 60years old several times, and I have forgotten my real age now.

I have a wife, I could actually have four but I put up a decent face de jure

in public. Really my concubines, girlfriends and babes are as many as the 36 states of Nigeria. There are just a few of them that don’t have a car gift from me, several of them live in houses in various GRAs across Nigeria. I pay the bill. As for children from them, I have lost count.

I have ‘just’ 6 houses in the FCT, a few in Lagos, and a shopping plaza in Port Harcourt and then my country home mansion. With six kids, I am not spending much on Ivy league schools, the first lad just finished from MIT, not so intelligent but money does cover up for that, one is in UK, two in US and the last two in Canada and Australia respectively.

My wife deals in gold and other jeweleries, smiling, I am sure it’s a good excuse for our source of income.

Never mind she only buys not sell. Her holidays per year are like her ‘menstrual flow’ are.

I spend an average of 2hours a day, and four days a week at the office and that’s when I am not in one of those marathon meetings with the

honourable minister, a governor or some legislative ogas at the top.

Calculate that!

Don’t mind me, I will soon be done, I have as of the last time I counted, three official cars, some regular cars, not sure if three too, my personal luxury, a Mercedes Jeep, and another luxury Sedan for my country home.

These excludes the cars the kids drive when around. Well, quite a garage you ‘d say.

We have a family doctor, actually three doctors, a family lawyer, few family teachers, drivers, gardeners, some domestic helps, several utility personnel, all well paid monthly, and excluding tips.

These also excludes my external family social services, you know how it works, I am an oga at the top. My generosity knows no bound.

I have a sound-proof power generating set, so has PHCN improved? I cannot say, though I have a whole transformer met for a community in my house, sorry I mean mansion. With those AWD luxury jeep

with four tyres costing same amount for a second hand car. I can’t tell you the roads are bad because Sule one of the drivers maneuvers them nicely.

My office pays other bills, water rates, some insurance things, and other utilities. I really careless about pension, paid myself that, a long time ago.

My sitting rooms, several of them, are an example of real life ‘argos mall catalog’ for electronic gadgets etc and some powerful industrial scanfrost refrigerators, and choice bars, both in bedroom and parlour.

My kids don’t know hardship, struggle or stress, they have all been on some form of allowance since their 14th birthday and these excludes some few millions in their various accounts both home here and those domiciled abroad.

And guess what? I am not exactly smart. How much do I earn? I do not know again sef...but I steal “whole budgets”...so who cares.

I expect gratification, a cashbacked thank you, I cheat the system, after all its government, and still I am at the center of all sorts of reforms, promises and clichés, but sadly no result because the system itself is premised on a faulty foundation.

Whether you bring in academics, politicians, or the so-called career civil servant like myself, the result is still largely the same, more crooks are bred.

Well it remains to be seem, my story is similar everywhere, very little difference, from ZamfaraAbia, Sokoto-Abeokuta, in the police, army, mdgs, even in our churches and mosques.

We are the ogas at the top, and with a few at the corners we thrive to deal with those of you below. We are game for whatever propositions might be made, Nigerians at the bottom, are not ready, we are at the top, are still game, if we want change, only time will tell.

Prince Charles Dickson is the Editor of burningpot.com

Page 14

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Around the World Women tourists desert India after sex attacks: survey The number of foreign women tourists visiting India has dropped by 35 percent in the past three months following a spate of sex attacks that have made global headlines, a new survey has found.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) says overall tourist arrivals are down 25 percent year-onyear, with holidaymakers opting instead to visit other Asian countries such as Malaysia and Thailand.

The fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old Indian student by six men on a bus in New Delhi in December sparked outrage over the country’s treatment of women, and since then there have also been other widely reported attacks.

A Swiss cyclist was gang-raped in Madhya Pradesh last month, while a South Korean tourist was allegedly drugged and raped in the same state in January by the son of the owner of a hotel where she was staying.

These incidents have “raised

All Sudan political prisoners to be freed: Bashir Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said on Monday that he will release all political detainees in the country, as tensions ease following recent agreements with South Sudan.

"Today we announce a decision to free all the political prisoners and renew our commitment to all political powers about dialogue," Bashir said in a speech opening a new session of parliament.

Former Liberian president Moses Blah dies

Officials say that Moses Blah, the man who served as Liberia’s president for two months after Charles Taylor stepped down, has died. He was in his mid-60s.

The Information Ministry says Blah died of a medical condition early Monday at the country’s largest John F. Kennedy Hospital in the capital, Monrovia. It did not give details of the condition.

Blah had recently complained of heart troubles, and sent out appeals for medical attention overseas.

Blah was Liberia’s vice president until Taylor stepped down on August 11, 2003. A former ambassador to Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, Blah served for two months as president and then handed power over to transitional head of state Charles Gyude Bryant who conducted the 2005 post-conflict presidential and general elections.

concerns about the safety of female travellers to the country”, said D.S. Rawat, secretary general at ASSOCHAM, which surveyed 1,200 tour operators from different cities.

Nearly 72 percent of tour operators reported a number of cancellations in the last three months — usually a busy tourist season — especially by female visitors from countries such as Canada, the United States and Australia.

Rawat said deteriorating standards of safety and security were the main reasons for the drop in tourists, although the global economic slowdown was also a factor.

“The situation has been further aggravated by the advisory issued by various countries to their citizens visiting India to be cautious and avoid India,” added the release from ASSOCHAM on Sunday.

The survey comes as a blow to government attempts to boost the tourism industry in a period of lagging economic growth.

Foreign tourists chat on a busy street at the Paharganj market in New Delhi on April 9, 2012. The number of foreign women tourists visiting India has dropped by 35 percent in the past three months following a spate of sex attacks that have made global headlines, a new survey has found.

Colorado prosecutors seek death penalty for accused cinema gunman Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against accused theater gunman James Holmes in the slaying of 12 moviegoers during a showing of the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises” last year, the district attorney said in court on Monday.

Holmes, 25, is accused of opening fire inside a suburban Denver theater during a midnight screening of the movie last July in what was one of the deadliest outbursts of gun violence in U.S. history.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in the shooting rampage, which also wounded 58 moviegoers. Another dozen people suffered non-gunshot injuries as they fled the Aurora, Colorado, cinema.

Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler had previously announced he had assigned a death penalty lawyer to the prosecution team, and in court documents released March 28 rejected a defense offer to let Holmes plead guilty and serve a life sentence if capital punishment were taken off the table.

Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester entered a not guilty plea for Holmes last month but said he would consider allowing that to be

changed to not guilty by reason of insanity.

Last week, public defenders said in a court filing that Holmes was willing to plead guilty and serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole if prosecutors agreed not to seek to have their client executed.

While Holmes’ attorneys said they are prepared to mount an insanity

James Holmes

defense, they wrote in the filing that “Mr. Holmes is currently willing to resolve the case to bring the proceedings to a speedy and definite conclusion for all involved.”

Brauchler, in a written response, called the move by the defense improper at this stage of the case and “that it was filed for the intended purpose of generating the predictable pretrial publicity.”

“The only conclusion that an objective reader would reach ... is that the defendant knows that he is guilty, the defense attorneys know he is guilty and that both of them know that he was not criminally insane,” Brauchler wrote.

In court pleadings, public defenders Daniel King and Tamara Brady have said Holmes has been hospitalized twice since his arrest, once for “potential selfinflicted injuries.”

At one point, jailers determined Holmes was a danger to himself and in “immediate need of a psychiatric evaluation.” He was transported by ambulance to a Denver psychiatric ward “where he was held for several days, frequently in restraints,” his lawyers wrote.

Barbara Walters laughs off talk of retirement US television news icon Barbara Walters, 83, laughed off reports of her imminent retirement Monday, indicating she has no immediate plans to draw a line under her long and storied career.

Chatting with Whoopi Goldberg and other fellow co-hosts of her ABC daytime talk show “The View,” a vivacious Walters said “nothing is going on” regarding her future after more than a half-century on US television.

“There was an assumption I would be making an announcement today.

However, here I am and I have no announcement to make,” she said to

loud applause from the studio audience.

“But I do want to say this: if and when I might have an announcement to make, I would do it on this program, I promise.”

The New York Times, quoting “an executive familiar with the newswoman’s plans,” reported Thursday that a formal announcement of Walters’ retirement would probably be made on “The View” in May. The Hollywood Reporter, a showbiz trade journal, meanwhile said it had been told by its sources that Walters — who weathered a bout of chicken pox

at the start of this year — was poised to retire in May 2014.

Walters did not address either time frame in her remarks Monday, nor did she explain why she or ABC let four days go by before reacting to the reports.

In a career spanning more than half a century, Walters has sometimes made news herself.

In 1976 she became the first woman ever to anchor a US evening network newscast, and her interviews with entertainers and politicians, notably on ABC’s “20/20” news magazine program, were often must-see viewing.

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Page 15

Around the World

Meshaal: Hamas’s born again survivor Long considered a radical, Hamas’ reelected leader in exile Khaled Meshaal has gradually shifted position to an implicit acceptance of the notion of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Following speculation he would be forced aside by the movement’s powerful leaders in the Gaza Strip, which Hamas has controlled since 2007, Meshaal himself said last year he would not seek a new term.

But the Islamist movement preferred to stick to a leader who in the words of an official “has given the movement a national face... and has good relations in the Arab world,” with Hamas’s governing shura council electing him for another four years on Monday.

Aged 56, imposing but affable, the former physics teacher with salt-andpepper hair and large dark eyes was born in Silwad, near the West Bank town of Ramallah.

It is there he spent his childhood before going into exile with his family to Kuwait, following the Arab-Israeli war of 1967 when the Jewish state seized the West Bank.

As a student at Kuwait University, Meshaal became involved in religious activism and in 1987 was a founding member of Hamas, which stemmed from Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood movement.

In 1990, he left Kuwait for Jordan, which borders the West Bank, and six years later became head of the Hamas

US sends destroyer off Korea coast The United States has positioned near North Korea a destroyer capable of shooting down missiles in the latest military move amid a showdown with the communist state, an official said Monday.

The USS Fitzgerald, which had sailed to South Korea as part of recent exercises, has been sent off the southwestern coast of the Korean peninsula instead of returning to its home port in Japan, a US defense official said.

The official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that the shifting of the USS Fitzgerald was “a prudent move” meant to offer “greater missile defense options should that become necessary.”

North Korea has threatened missile attacks against the United States. The official said that the United States had earlier reduced its presence near Korean waters after the North launched a longrange rocket in December.

The December launch, which put into orbit a small satellite, set off the latest escalation cycle with North Korea.

Pyongyang in February tested a nuclear bomb and has declared itself to be at a state of war with US-allied South Korea.

The United States previously took the unprecedented step of announcing test bombing by nuclear-capable state-ofthe-art B-2 bombers. It has also deployed F-22 Raptor stealth fighters to South Korea as part of an ongoing exercise.

Despite the high tension, the White House said Monday that North Korea has not backed up its threats with mass troop mobilizations or movements.

The episode compelled then Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu — reelected in 2009 and again in 2013 — to release Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and 19 others from prison.

Following a falling out with Jordan, the Hamas political bureau was forced to leave Amman for Damascus in 1999.

That was Meshaal’s base when in 2004 he was propelled to the movement’s leadership after Israel assassinated first Yassin and then his successor Abdelaziz al-Rantissi in the Gaza Strip.

After Hamas won a landslide victory in a January 2006 Palestinian political bureau.

On September 25, 1997, agents of Israel’s Mossad secret service disguised as Canadian tourists bungled an attempt to assassinate him on a street in Amman by injecting him with poison.

Three of the attackers took refuge at the Israeli embassy, but two were captured by Jordanian authorities.

Meshaal fell into a coma and a furious King Hussein demanded Israel hand over the antidote if it wanted the captured agents to be freed.

general election, the West mounted a boycott of the movement.

Bickering with the Fatah party of president Mahmud Abbas culminated in the formation of a unity government in 2007 but that collapsed in bloody street fighting in Gaza only months later.

Hamas militants seized control of Gaza, routing forces loyal to Abbas and undermining the power of the Palestinian Authority, with Hamas members hunted down in the West Bank in retaliation.

Human Rights body condemns parade of twomonth-old robbery suspect Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, a non governmental organisation, has condemned the recent action of the Ogun State Police command of parading a two-month old baby, the mother and a teenager for alleged robbery committed by the father of the toddler.

The group also demanded that the Federal Government fish out the Police officers responsible for the dastardly act and punish them to serve as deterrent for future breach of the rights of the Nigerian children.

It would be recalled that the Police in Abeokuta recently paraded a twomonth old baby, his mother, Fausat Adeosun, and his fifteen-year old brother over an alleged robbery committed by their father, Ismail Adeosun. The family was arrested after the suspect fled his home on arrival of the Police.

The Ogun State Police Commissioner, Ikemefuna Aduba, reportedly told the media that Mrs. Adeosun and her teenage son were arrested for allegedly “keeping a gun for her husband.”

Mrs. Adeosun claimed that she was no longer married to the suspect and had consistently asked Mr. Adeosun to get rid of the gun. She added that one of the suspect’s brother had been in the process of removing the gun from their house at the time of their arrest.

The NGO, in a statement signed jointly by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, and National

Media Affairs Director, Zainab Yusuf, faulted the position of the Ogun State Police command thus; “Under no circumstances are the law enforcement officers allowed to parade a completely innocent two months old toddler whose only misfortune is that the child is a product of a very deprived and poor background,” the statement read.

“What the police has succeeded in doing is to destroy the dignity of this innocent child which runs contrary to all known civilized policing standards and practices.”

The group thereafter demanded the appropriate sanction for “this outrageous breach.”

“We totally condemn this evil practice of continuous public parade of crime suspects even before they are properly charged to competent courts of law. The operatives of the Nigeria Police must be made to comply to international human rights standards and practice by ensuring that the right crime suspects are arrested and scientific and forensic evidence generated by the police in an atmosphere of professional competence devoid of the usual obtaining of confessional statements by duress.

“The concern of the police should not be to engage in media celebration of their so-called gallantry but must focus on effective and efficient law enforcement mechanism which will culminate in the successful trials and conviction of all crime suspects.”

A brilliant orator, Meshaal uses the freedom of movement that is denied to Hamas leaders in Gaza to criss-cross the Arab and Muslim world.

In an interview with AFP in April 2011, Abbas accused Meshaal and the exiled Hamas leadership based in Syria of attempting to foil Palestinian reconciliation under Iran’s influence.

But less than two weeks later, Mussa Abu Marzuk — Meshaal’s right-hand man and a member of the exiled leadership — signed a reconciliation agreement with Fatah in Cairo.

Meshaal has since issued multiple conciliatory statements.

In May, he even said he was willing to “give a chance” to negotiations with Israel, a notion long rejected by Hamas whose stated aim is the destruction of the Jewish state.

And in November 2011, he came out in favour of “peaceful popular resistance” as the path to building a Palestinian state alongside Israel, without giving up the armed struggle, after a two-hour meeting with Abbas.

Meanwhile, the Hamas leadership has distanced itself from Syria over its suppression of a two-year uprising, quietly quitting Damascus.

In December 2012, Meshaal made his first ever visit to Gaza.

“In this house, in Gaza,” Meshaal said at Yassin’s home, “the Hamas leadership... promises to walk down the route of reconciliation.”

Oil theft:Italian oil firm suspends operations in Bayelsa An Italian oil firm, Eni, on Monday shut down its activities in the swampy oil fields located in Bayelsa over theft.

The firm, in a statement made available to newsmen in Yenagoa on Monday, attributed the frequent spills to oil theft by vandals and said that it had decided to shut down operations to prevent further damages to the environment.

Eni, which operates in Nigeria as Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), said it authorised the suspension of operations on March 22 and subsequently declared ‘Force Majeure’ on its oil output from the facility on March 23.

‘Force Majeure’ is a legal notice that absolves an oil firm of liabilities for failure to meet supply obligations to crude buyers due to circumstances beyond the firm’s control “Eni confirms that during the night between 21 and 22 March, the company has declared force majeure and ordered the closure of its onshore activities in the Swamp Area, located in Bayelsa State in Nigeria.

“The decision was made due to the intensified bunkering, consisting in the sabotage of pipelines and the theft of crude oil, which has recently reached unsustainable levels regarding both personal safety and damage to the environment.

“Sustainability is for Eni a priority in Nigeria, as in all the countries in which it operates, the statement said.

According to the statement, the firm produced about 40,000 barrels of crude oil equivalent daily from the shut facilities.

It espressed regret about 7,000 barrels of its daily crude production was lost to oil thieves in Bayelsa, a development the firm described as unsustainable and compelled it to shut down.

Page 16

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

inspirational dispatch

Things You Can Learn from Your Pets Walk Every Day Whether you’ve got four legs or two, walking is one of the safest, easiest ways to burn calories and boost heart health.

Taking regular walks can also help you: ·Fight depression. ·Lose weight. ·Lower your risk for type 2 diabetes. ·Lower the risk of breast and colon cancer. ·Keep your bones strong. ·Keep your mind sharp.

Live in the Moment

Forget Multitasking When dogs have a job to do, they give it their undivided attention. It turns out people should probably do the same. Stanford researchers found that attention and memory suffer in those who juggle work, email, and web-surfing, compared to those who focus on one task at a time. Other studies suggest employees actually lose time when multitasking.

Living in the moment may be one of the most important lessons we can learn from our pets. In a study called “A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind,” Harvard psychologists conclude that people are happiest when doing activities that keep the mind focused, such as sex or exercise. Planning, reminiscing, or thinking about anything other than the current activity can undermine happiness.

Wag OK, so maybe you don’t have a tail.

But you can smile or put a spring in your step when you’re feeling grateful. Researchers have found a strong connection between gratitude and general well-being. In one study, people who kept gratitude journals had better attitudes, exercised more, and had fewer physical complaints.

Maintain Curiosity According to a popular saying, curiosity may be hazardous to a cat’s health. But not so for humans.

Researchers have found that people who are more curious tend to have a greater sense of meaning in life. Other studies have linked curiosity to psychological well-being and the expansion of knowledge and skills.

Take Naps

Be Silly

You won’t catch your pet going from dawn to dusk without any shut-eye. There’s good evidence humans can benefit from catnaps, too. A study involving about 24,000 people indicates regular nappers are 37% less likely to die from heart disease than people who nap only occasionally. Short naps can also enhance alertness and job performance.

Indulging in a little silliness may have serious health benefits. Cardiologists at the University of Maryland Medical Center found a stronger sense of humor in people with healthy hearts than in those who had suffered a heart attack.

They conclude that “laughter is the best medicine” – especially when it comes to protecting your heart.

Cultivate Friendships People are social animals, and friendships have measurable health benefits.

Researchers in Australia followed 1,500 older people for 10 years. Those with the most friends were 22% less likely to die than those with the fewest friends.

Don’t Hold a Grudge Part of living in the moment is letting bygones be bygones. Let go of old grudges, and you’ll literally breathe easier. Chronic anger has been linked to a decline in lung function, while forgiveness contributes to lower blood pressure and reduced anxiety. People who forgive also tend to have higher self-esteem.

Get a Back Rub The power of touch is nothing to sniff at. The Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine has found massage therapy can ease pain, give the immune system a boost, and help manage chronic conditions like asthma and diabetes.

The touch of a loved one may be even more powerful. In one study, married women experienced less anxiety over the threat of an electric shock when they held their husbands’ hands. - [Webmd]

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Page 17

Science & Environment WWF says Chinese ‘river pig’ close to extinction China’s wild finless porpoises are heading toward extinction, a conservation group said Thursday, with the dolphin-like animals now rarer than the giant panda.

With a stubby nose and grey body, the porpoises inhabit the Yangtze River and are famed for their cuteness in China, where they are known as “river pigs”.

But their numbers in the Yangtze, which is the country’s longest river, have more than halved in six years, according to an extensive survey.

Scientists spent over a month last year scanning more than 3,400 kilometres (2,125 miles) of the river in a hunt for the porpoises, but only saw 380, the conservation group WWF said in a statement.

Based on that observation, combined with sightings of the porpoises in lakes connected to the river, the total number alive in the wild was likely to be a little more than 1,000, the WWF said.

There are around 1,600 giant pandas living in the wild, according to the WWF, which has said the porpoise could become extinct in 15 years if no action is taken.

The species is “moving fast toward its extinction,” the WWF quoted Wang Ding, head of the research expedition, as saying.

The finless porpoise, which unlike the dolphin has a small dorsal ridge rather than a fin, has been hurt by human intrusion and environmental degradation.

“Food shortage and human disturbance such as increased shipping traffic are the major threats,” the WWF said, adding that researchers also discovered “traps that could affect finless porpoises”.

Waterways in China have become heavily contaminated with toxic waste from factories and farms — pollution blamed on more than three decades of rapid economic growth and lax enforcement of environmental protection laws.

Environmental activists also say the huge Three Gorges Dam and other hydropower projects on the Yangtze have upset the delicate ecological balance and harmed aquatic life in the river.

The survey failed to find any trace of the Baiji Dolphin, a close relative of the finless porpoise that was declared “functionally extinct,” after a survey in 2006.

World's biggest creature tracked by its song An Australian-led group of scientists has for the first time tracked down and tagged Antarctic blue whales by using acoustic technology to follow its songs, the government said Wednesday.

The blue whale, the largest animal on the planet, is rarely spotted in the Southern Ocean but a group of intrepid researchers were able to locate and tag some of the mammals after picking up on their deep and complex vocals.

Environment Minister Tony Burke said the researchers, who spent seven weeks working from small boats in freezing Antarctic conditions, were captivated by the remarkable behaviour of the whales they saw.

“The Antarctic blue whale can grow to over 30 metres in length and weigh up to 180 tonnes, its tongue alone is heavier than an elephant and its heart is as big as a small car,” Burke said.

“Even the largest dinosaur was smaller than the blue whale.”

A blue whale is spotted off Sri Lanka on January 21, 2012. An Australian-led group of scientists has for the first time tracked down and tagged Antarctic blue whales by using acoustic technology to follow its songs, the government said Wednesday.

The scientists collected 23 biopsy samples and attached satellite tags to two of the whales.

“The tags transmitted neverbefore obtained data on rapid longitudinal movements during their summer feeding season and their foraging behaviour in relation to the edge of the Antarctic ice,” tagger Virginia Andrews-Goff said.

“This method of studying Antarctic blue whales has been so successful it will now become the blueprint for other whale researchers across the world.”

The inaugural Southern Ocean trip of the Antarctic Blue Whale Project involved deploying acoustic buoys west of the Ross Sea to pick up blue whale songs, which can be detected from hundreds of kilometres (miles) away.

They recorded 626 hours of songs, with 26,545 calls of Antarctic blue whale analysed in real time, said lead acoustician Brian Miller.

A blue whale is spotted in the waters off the southern Sri Lankan town of Mirissa on January 21, 2012.

The blue whale, the largest animal on the planet, is rarely spotted in the Southern Ocean but a group of intrepid researchers were able to locate and tag some of the mammals after picking up on their deep and complex vocals.

“The researchers were then able to triangulate the position of the whales from their vocalisations and direct the ship to the target area,” he said.

Burke said the study proved it was not necessary to kill whales to conduct scientific research, a reference to Japan’s annual whale hunt in the Antarctic, which is conducted in the name of scientific research.

“The Antarctic blue whale barely escaped extinction during the industrial whaling era in the 1900’s when around 340,000 whales were slaughtered,” Burke said in a statement. “This research reinforces Australia’s commitment to nonlethal research of whales.”

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Page 18

Your Health Fingernails help indicate underlying health disorder - Experts Health experts on Saturday said that the colour and texture of the fingernails provide clues to underlying health disorders and nutritional imbalances.

Dr Ayesha Akinkugbe, a consultant dermatologist, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), said that fingernails, as important part of the body, revealed not only an individual’s fashion sense.

“The fingernails not only tell your state of cleanliness and fashion sense, but they can also help indicate if something has gone wrong with your overall health.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that, “to the trained eyes, the fingernails can reveal a person’s state of physical health’’.

“By scratching beneath the surface and looking closely at your fingernails, you can find out the state of your physical well-being.

“Changes in the texture and colour of the nails can be warning signs of diseases like a fungus infection, anaemia, yellow fever, lung disease, hepatitis and heart disease,” Akinkugbe said.

According to her, there are various possible signs of serious conditions of diseases indicated through the fingernails.

She said that discolouration of the fingernails could indicate signs of diseases like anaemia, yellow fever, lung disease, hepatitis and heart

Reduce salt intake to protect your kidney A cardiologist at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Prof.

Dan Bauchi, on Saturday advised against excessive consumption of salt.

Bauchi said reduction of salt intake would reduce the risk of one developing kidney diseases and hypertension.

“Salt is good for the body but excess intake of it is detrimental to the body: that can lead to hypertension and Kidney failure,“ he said.

He said that public enlightenment about the quantity of salt necessary for the body should target restaurants, homes and eateries.

Also, Prof. David Adewale, Chief Medical Director, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, said that the blood pressure was bound to rise with too much salt consumption.

“Diets high with salt increase blood pressure which is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

“A lot of people should know that food seasoning also contain salt.

“We have to encourage low intake of these seasoning so that our hospitals will not face high rate of treating people with ‘killer diseases,‘ “ he said.

Adewale, said every health institution in Nigeria should be involved in the campaign against “excessive“ salt consumption.

disease.

“For example, whitish and pale nail appearance is associated with anaemia, hepatitis, while red looking fingernails could imply heart disease.

“Disorders like thyroid disease can cause abnormality in the nail beds, making the nails dry and brittle.

“Yellowish nails with a slight blush at the base might be a likely sign of jaundice or diabetes and a half-white, half-pink nail is associated with kidney disease,” she said.

Akinkugbe said that healthy fingernails were pink, smooth, without spots or discolouration, while “dark discolouration involving the cuticle

can be a likely sign of melanoma, a form of skin cancer.”

She said that not all nail conditions and discolouration had underlying cause, especially if other signs or symptoms of a disease were absent.

Also, a nutritionist, Mrs Atinuke Taiwo, said that nail colour was important indicator of nutritional imbalances and needs in the body.

According to her, healthy fingernails are pink due to the rich blood supply underneath them, adding, “any change in their colour is an important indicator of deficiencies and lack of nutrients,” she said.

Taiwo said white nails obviously indicated iron deficiency and poor blood circulation, dark red nails can result from high content of fatty acids and cholesterol due to excess of sugar and salt.

“This can lead to an underactive liver and blocked arteries. Brittle, flaky, dry and cracking nails indicate liver congestion from lack of vegetables and fruits and fish with over consumption of sugar and pharmaceutical drugs,” she said.

Taiwo advised that blood circulation could be increased by magnesium intake and replacing refined foods with whole grain rice and bread.

“Also, flush out the system with plenty of fresh vegetables and at least five glasses of water per day,” the expert advised (NAN)

Brain Foods That Help You Concentrate Caffeine Can Make You More Alert There’s no magic bullet to boost IQ or make you smarter — but certain substances, like caffeine, can energize and help you focus and concentrate.

Found in coffee, chocolate, energy drinks, and some medications, caffeine gives you that unmistakable wake-up buzz — though the effects are short term.

And more is often less: Overdo it on caffeine and it can make you jittery and uncomfortable.

Sugar Can Enhance Alertness Sugar is your brain’s preferred fuel source — not table sugar, but glucose, which your body metabolizes from the sugars and carbohydrates you eat. That’s why a glass of something sweet to drink can offer a short-term boost to memory, thinking processes, and mental ability.

Consume too much, however, and memory can be impaired — along with the rest of you. Go easy on the sugar so it can enhance memory, without packing on the pounds.

Eat Breakfast to Fuel Your Brain Tempted to skip breakfast? Studies have found that eating breakfast may improve short-term memory and attention. Students who eat breakfast tend to perform significantly better than those who don’t. Foods at the top of researchers’ brain fuel list include highfiber whole grains, dairy, and fruits. Just don’t overeat; researchers also found

high-calorie breakfasts appear to hinder concentration.

Fish Really is Brain Food A protein source associated with a great brain boost is fish — rich in omega 3 fatty acids, essential for brain function and development. These healthy fats have amazing brain

power: higher dietary omega 3 fatty acids are linked to lower dementia and stroke risks; slower mental decline; and may play a vital role in enhancing memory, especially as we get older.

For brain and heart health, eat two servings of fish weekly.

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Page 19

Living & Style Chewing gum can make you chubby

Social Media at Work: Boosting Productivity?

A new study has found chewing gum could make people fat since its minty taste makes sugary food more tempting.

Scientists found people given to chew gum eat more high calorie sweet foods.

This is because the chemical responsible for the minty flavour of gum makes savoury foods, especially fruit and vegetables, taste unpleasant, Daily Mail reported.

The study’s co-author Christine Swoboda, a doctoral candidate in nutrition at Ohio State University, told LiveScience website: “The chemical change is the same reason why when you brush your teeth and then drink orange juice, it tastes bad.

“We were also interested in seeing whether this helps with weight loss.”

Swoboda and her colleague Jennifer Temple of the University of Buffalo, enrolled 44 volunteers for their study and asked each candidate to play a game in exchange for food.

Some played for pieces of fruit, while others played for crisps and sweets.

Before participating in the experiment, half of the volunteers had chewed either fruit gum or mint gum.

During an experiment, the volunteers were asked to keep a food diary. For a part of the time, the volunteers were asked to chew mint gum before meals, while for the rest of the time they were simply asked to note down their food intake.

The food diaries showed while chewing gum, people ate fewer meals but that they did not consume fewer calories as a result.

Swoboda said the explanation could be that the menthol in mint interacts with nutrients in fruits and vegetables to create a bitter flavour and that this was making healthy food seem unappealing.

Workers who are encouraged to tweet, chat, like and Skype on the job are among the most productive, new academic research says, shooting yet another hole in the managerial argument that social media in the workplace leads to goofing off and slacking on company time.

Far from being a distraction, common social media tools such as Facebook (FB), Twitter, and LinkedIn (LNKD), plus Skype (MSFT) to chat, enable employees to answer more customer queries, and more quickly, says Joe Nandhakumar, professor of information systems at the Warwick Business School in the United Kingdom.

He and his research team attribute this productivity boost to something Nandhakumar calls the “theory of virtual co-presence” — the ability to collaborate with others over long distances in relatively short, productive sessions to resolve problems or accomplish tasks.

Plenty of surveys and studies have looked at the benefits of granting employees unfettered social media access in the workplace, often focusing on increased collaboration among coworkers and, at the very least, keeping companies digitally savvy enough to compete for young talent. The Warwick Business School study is unique: Over more than two years, it followed the way a company’s policy to encourage social media usage among its employees led to increased customer interaction and, eventually, higher productivity.

Nandhakumar and his team studied a large European telecommunications company that used Skype, Facebook,

and Twitter, among others, alongside SAP’s (SAP) enterprise software to communicate with existing and prospective customers on various tasks: pitching products, closing sales, answering customers’ questions. In most cases, the social media-enabled workforce was able to accomplish more sales- and customer-relationsrelated tasks and did so more quickly, the researchers observed.

Nandhakumar does acknowledge corporate resistance to social media adoption — one of the most common

reasons for outlawing, say, Facebook or Twitter from the workplace is concern that the social networks represent potential security breaches and could be vulnerable to hack attacks.

“Ubiquitous digital connectivity should be seen not as an unwelcome interruption, but as part of the changing nature of knowledge work itself that needs to become part of normal, everyday practices of contemporary organizations,” Nandhakumar says.

Felix Asiegbu, a licenced Aerobic and Dance Instructor of the Zumba Fitness Club, Lagos, on Sunday said that dancing was a good way to burn calories and shed excessive body weight.

Asiegbu, who claimed to have mastered over 20 dancing styles from different cultures worldwide, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria

(NAN) in Lagos.

The instructor said that regular dancing was fun, as well as an interesting way to exercise and keep in shape.

He said that regular dancing help to tone leg muscles, give flat belly and straighten the back.

“Dancing comes to people naturally,

but when you learn the art of dancing and not just dancing at social gatherings, you reap the full benefits of the art.

“Dancing for 15 minutes alone will break you into a sweat and when you engage in this form of exciting way to sweat, you are bound to lose weight”.

Asiegbu described tango, salsa and

samba, as interesting dancing techniques for couples interested in working out together to stay in shape.

According to him, health is wealth, and everybody should engage in a regular form of exercise to build strong cardiovascular muscles and remain healthy.

Dance your way to a healthy life

Page 20

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Students’ Corner STUDENTS UNIONISM IN NIGERIA:

The Genesis and the journey so far; part 1 Students union can be defined as the association of students in an academic institution. Students’ union usually come along with same paraphernalia as states or national government , i.e it has its executive, legislative, and judicial arms.

Students’ union in Nigeria can be traced to the “West Africa Students Union” (WASU) in united kingdom.

The WASU was formed by some Nigerian students schooling in the united kingdom that time. Two Nigerian students, Ladipo Solanke and Herbert Bankole-Bright played dominant roles in “WASU” formation.

Solanke formed the Nigerian progress union (UNP) for London based students with a Nigerian background, with the support of Amy Ashwood Garvey, it campaigned for improved welfare for all African students in London and for progress in British African colonies . In 1923, Solanke proposed the merger of “United students of African Descent” (USAD) which was a Christian social organization of mostly students from west indies, with “National congress of British West Africa” (NCBWA). In 1925, Bankole Bright of NCBWA, called on USAD, the NPU and Gold Coast Students Association to join together to form a single organization for West African Students. Thus the birth of West African Students Union (WASU). This formation was inspired by the Indian student’s who had a single students’ union body.

Many students joined to form WASU and Solanke became its first secretary-general while J.B Danquah became its first president.

However, when the University of Ibadan was established in 1948, students’ union was birthed there too, to advance the cause of students struggle for better human environment for learning and the for an egalitarian Nigerian society.

Other institutions of higher learning in Nigerian soon joined the foray as they were established. University of

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Sciences: UNN records over 50 per cent increase in female students

NANS President - Comrade Muhammed Dauda

Ibadan therefore became the pace-setter of students’ Union Movement in Nigeria.

The students’ Union bodies of the various higher Institutions of learning in Nigeria, later came together and formed a conglomerate called: National Union of Nigeria Students (NUNS) in 1956, with the late Ambassador Emmanuel Obe as its first National president.

The Students’ Union association since 1962 has been making effort to influence government decisions and polices. In 1962, students prevented the signing of the Anglo-Nigerian Defense pact, worthy of mention in the “Ali must go” protest against Muhammadu Ali, the then federal commission for education, under whose tenure tuition fee was hiked. During this protest cum riot, police killed more than a dozen students in Ahmadu Bello University in May 1986. NUNS was banned subsequently following a commission of inquiry report which suggested so. All campus protests were coordinated by NUNS which operated underground since it was proscribed in 1986.

There was also anti SAP protest (structural Adjustment programm) an IMF introduced program during the IBB regime, the

Union had also protested boarding conditions, water supply on campuses, as recently witnessed in Nasarawa State University in lafia during which soldiers killed four (4) students of the Institution, and many other students’ protests which resulted in facilities.

National Assocation of Nigerian Students (NANS) was formed in 1980 as a result of the proscription of NUNS. In 1978, after a nation wide riot claimed the lives of more than 20 students who were killed by the police and Army Units. Since then, NANS has remained the main umbrella body of all students Unions in Nigeria and playing its role under the new democratic dispensation too.

To further deter students unrest, in early 1990, the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) issued Decree Number 47 which imposed a 5 years jail term and/or a N50,000 fine on any student found guilty of organizing /participating in demonstration and set-up special tribunal to try offenders.

NANS under the new democratic has come to stay!

The pertinent question is: how well has the students Unions faired under the Nigerian experimental and nascent Democracy?…….Check out In the next edition of Reporters Dispatch !!!!!!!!

University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) has recorded more than 50 per cent increase in the number of female students studying sciences since 2009, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof.

Bartho Okolo, said.

Okolo made the statement in an interview with the Western Europe correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Paris when two Nigerian female scientists received

would continue to create the enabling environment to encourage students in sciences.

The vice-chancellor said the award to the women “will motivate others in the field of science”.

The UNESCO-L’Oreal awardees were recognised each in the “ Laureates and fellows” honours categories.

Prof. Francisca Okeke , the first female Head of Department at the University

UNN Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Bartho Okolo

the 2013 UNESCO-L’Oreal awards.

“Science is the centre of development in the world. As a university, we have taken it as a key priority to train 60 per cent in science courses while 40 per cent in other fields. “ In the past five years, the level of literacy in science has gone up very high, more girls are now interested in various science related courses.

“On a scale of 100, I will say more than 50 per cent of girls have been admitted to study sciences since 2009, “ he said.

He said that the university

of Nigeria, Nsukka, bagged the 2013 Laureate award for her significant contributions to the scientific study on climate change.

She was the only recipient in that category from Africa and the Arab nations, and the third Nigerian laureate since the UNESCO- L’Oreal partnership was established in 1998.

Four others also got awards in the Laureate category with each representing Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Asia Pacific regions.

Dr Eucharia Nwaichi, an environmental biochemist from the Univers

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Page 21

Youth Arena

From bedroom to boardroom: UK teen turns tech millionaire

Like many British teenagers, Nick D’Aloisio has a hole in the knee of his jeans and gets in trouble when his bedroom is untidy. Unlike most, the 17year-old has just sold an app to Yahoo! for tens of millions of pounds.

The US tech giant announced on Monday that it is buying D’Aloisio’s news-condensing mobile app Summly for an undisclosed figure reported to be around £20 million ($30 million) — making the London schoolboy one of the youngest self-made multi-millionaires on the planet.

D’Aloisio dreamed up Summly while revising for a history exam when he was 15 — but two years later he speaks of market share and intellectual property with the self-assurance of a CEO three times his age.

“Yahoo! is one of these classic, wellknown Internet companies,” he told AFP in an interview at the office of his London publicist, sprawled in a chair in maroon jeans and a t-shirt.

The tousle-haired teen hopes the Yahoo! deal will see the technology behind Summly — whose financial backers have included US actor Ashton Kutcher and Japanese artist Yoko Ono — reach an audience of “hundreds of millions of potential users”.

D’Aloisio’s journey to tech superstardom began at the age of “nine or ten” when his parents, a lawyer and a banker, bought him his first laptop.

He taught himself how to video edit and before long moved on to programming — spending school holidays building apps at his home in leafy Wimbledon, south London, as “a hobby”.

He launched his first iPhone app, a “workout for fingers” called Finger Mill, when he was 12. Others followed, including music app SongStumblr and Facemood, which attempted to predict a user’s mood based on their Facebook status updates.

The big breakthrough came in 2011 when D’Aloisio launched Summly’s forerunner Trimit, which cut down long web articles to tweet-length summaries.

The app received positive reviews from several tech blogs and quickly racked up tens of thousands of downloads.

Then, out of the blue, the teenager was contacted by representatives of Asia’s richest man — Hong Kong

Nick D'Aloisio, aged 17, who developed the smartphone news app Summly, displays the app as he poses for a photograph at offices in central London on March 26, 2013. Got a tech idea and want to make a fortune before you're out of your teens? Just do it, is the advice of the London schoolboy who's just sold his smartphone news app to Yahoo for a reported $30 million. -PHOTO: REUTERS billionaire Li Ka-shing.

“They cold-emailed me,” said D’Aloisio.

Li was the first investor to contact him and, not knowing what to do, the teenager ignored the message.

Two days later he was “stunned” when Li’s people approached him again, and this time D’Aloisio agreed to a phone call.

“They didn’t know I was a 15-yearold, so I had to explain that,” he said with a smile.

“It was frightening. It was a hobby, I didn’t expect this to happen. But at the same time, I had nothing to lose — I was a 15-year-old.”

Li invested $300,000 in Trimit.

D’Aloisio used the cash to develop the algorithm the app used to identify the key topics in a news article, working with scientists at Stanford University among others.

Summly officially launched in November last year, on D’Aloisio’s 17th birthday — and the rest is history.

D’Aloisio will take up a job in Yahoo!’s London office in the next few weeks.

“I’ll be integrating the Summly technology into different areas we feel are appropriate for Yahoo!, and more broadly helping them with their mobile product design,” he told AFP. He insisted that he will continue to live at home, resisting temptation to splash out on a teen bachelor pad.

His parents are “very enthusiastic” about his success, he said — but are keen to keep their son’s feet on the ground.

“I still get in trouble if I don’t have my room tidy,” he said.

The family celebrated the Yahoo! deal by going out for dinner.

As for buying himself a present with his multi-million pound windfall, it will be limited to “a bag or shoes or

something”.

“It’s not going to be anything wild,” he added. “I can’t even buy a car because I don’t have a licence yet.”

As D’Aloisio starts work at Yahoo!, most of his friends — who he says are “psyched” about the Summly sale — will be finishing their A-Level exams before heading off to university.

D’Aloisio, meanwhile will begin studying for his A-Levels “outside office hours”, and would love to read philosophy at Oxford University some day.

As for his long-term plans, nothing is set in stone — a point emphasised by the large question-mark printed on his tshirt.

“Long-term I do want to do other companies,” he said, adding that he was interested in working with artificial intelligence.

“We’ll see what happens.”

Forum wants youths to use their expertise to address global challenges Participants at a forum organised by the UN, have called on the youths who are future leaders to use their expertise and compassion to address the challenges facing the world.

The forum, held in New York on Wednesday, highlighted the potential of young people in using technology to make exceptional contributions to society and history.

The forum has as its theme ‘Leveraging science, technology, innovation and culture to improve societies”.

Participants at the forum, who were described as ‘tomorrow’s innovators’,included representatives of youths from UN member states, students and young entrepreneurs with background in science and technology as

well as NGOs. In his opening remarks, UN SecretaryGeneral, Ban Ki-moon, urged the participants to be ‘global citizens’, by assisting the UN to address the challenges of insecurity, climate change and unemployment.

“Be part of creating a new vision. It is not only about telling us what kind of world you want. It is about partnering with us to realise a better future,” Ban said.

He said that working with young people was one of his priorities, adding that they have the energy and ideas needed to change the world.

The UN chief also stressed the pivotal role of education in transforming the world.

“When we give children and youth the education they deserve, they will help transform the world,” he said.

Ki-moon disclosed that his 1.5 billion dollars new initiative to be called ‘Education First’, was aimed at achieving universal education.

In his remark, the president of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Mr Nestor Osorio reiterated the need to overcome obstacles on education and employment, particularly among women and girls.

He said that social networking sites played an important role in promoting the Arab Spring by “giving the youth a voice and making them important players in the transformation of the region”.

He said that mobile phones were aiding development by allowing the users browse the Internet and transfer money.

“Young people need economic opportunity. Young people want the full

enjoyment of their political and civil rights and freedoms,’’ he said.

In his address, a 15-year-old participant, who represented the World Food Programme , Adora Svitak, urged young people to change history with their audacity and imagination.

“Some people think kids and power is a dangerous combination. But the only danger is transformational change,” Svitak said.

She said that young people were instrumental in supporting and encouraging their peers.

The UN Secretary-General’s Envoy for Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, harped on the need to engage young people in addressing global challenges.

“Young people are engines of growth and human development,” he said.

Page 22

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Potpourri

Gists, Events, Parties, Entertainment, Tourism and Relationship

Promoter AEG faces US trial over Micheal Jackson death King of Pop Michael Jackson's mother is seeking billions of dollars from tour promoter AEG Live over her son's 2009 death, in a trial that will finally get underway in Los Angeles in April.

Jury selection begins Tuesday for the trial, in which Katherine Jackson accuses AEG of negligently hiring doctor Conrad Murray to look after her son as he prepared for a doomed series of London shows.

Murray, jailed after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for giving the singer an overdose of the drug propofol, could be called to testify, although he may refuse to do so, lawyers have suggested.

The 82-year-old Jackson matriarch herself, as well as the late pop star's two elder children, will also give evidence in the trial that comes nearly four years after his death, and could last more than two months.

The trial could also broach child molestation allegations against Jackson, after the trial judge allowed such evidence even though the singer was acquitted of charges in 2005.

Jackson died at his LA mansion on June 25, 2009 aged 50, from an overdose of the powerful sedative propofol,

administered by Murray to help the "Thriller" legend deal with chronic insomnia.

At the time of his death, he was rehearsing for a series of 50 shows in London, organized with Anschutz Entertainment Group in what was seen as an attempt to revive his career, and also to ease his financial woes.

Jackson's mother claims that AEG Live pushed her son too hard to prepare for the London shows.

But AEG claims that Jackson had a history of drug abuse long before the singer met Murray, hired to care for him before and during the shows at London's O2 Arena.

The wrongful death trial on

Meet world’s smallest mother, Stacey Herald to the world, and when I look at them I see Will and I feel so full of love, it’s tough not to want more.”

And, yes, we see you staring at the screen: Her husband is 5’9". Her first daughter inherited her condition; the second daughter will grow to “average” height.

By Rhodesworld

Does she have plans for more children?

“All my babies are miracles, but we haven’t thought about if we’re going to have some more, as they’re a real handful right now,” Stacey said.

“We didn’t plan to have more than two kids, we just think that they’re a great gift

Elderly couple arrested for buying 2 Week Old Baby The Imo state Police Public relations Officer, Joy Elemoko has disclosed that an elderly couple Mr. and Mrs Paulinus Ogugua have been arrested for allegedly buying a twoweek old baby for the sum of N800,000 at Aba in Abia State.

Addressing a news conference, Elemoko said the couple, from UmuejiAgha in Akokwa Ideato North local government area of Abia state, were arrested by the Police

Ambush Squad at Ideato North area of the state while taking the baby to an unknown destination.

The command also paraded a 33 year old suspected child trafficking king-pin, Amarachi Njoku, who is from Umudim in Ikeduru Local government area of Imo state. The suspect, who confessed to the crime, disclosed that he wears female wig disguising like a female to beat security operatives.

He also disclosed that it was his

second time in the business and he gets babies from ladies who do not want their babies and sell to families looking for babies.

However, the Imo state Police Command has promised to investigate the two cases and ensure that all persons involved in the case are brought to book.

They warned members of the public to desist from this ungodly and shameful act as all necessary measures are put in place to ide ntify and arrest offenders.

Katherine Jackson's civil lawsuit -- filed in September 2010 -- was put off until after Murray's 2011 criminal trial was over, and legal wrangling also delayed a scheduled September start.

Lawyers have notably argued over what should and should not be admitted in evidence.

LA Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos has granted an AEG demand for testimony about the child molestation charges to be heard -- which Katherine Jackson says are irrelevant -claiming it could explain the star's stress and medical woes.

But she has refused to allow testimony notably about the parentage of Jackson's three children, or a bizarre incident in which his mother was allegedly kidnapped by family members and taken to Arizona last year.

Murray may be called from prison to give a deposition, but only with the jury out of the courtroom. And he may invoke his Fifth Amendment right to decline to testify in case it might incriminate him further.

AEG says it was not responsible for hiring and supervising Murray, who treated Jackson with propofol and other drugs to tackle his insomnia as he rehearsed in LA, and was to accompany him to London for the doomed shows.

According to celebrity news website TMZ, Jackson's mother and his three children -- Prince, 16, Paris, 14 and 11-year-old "Blanket" -- want more than $40 billion from AEG for loss of future earnings and other damages.

AEG claims the figure is "preposterous" because Jackson's career was in a downward spiral following the child molestation allegations as well as self-imposed exile in the Middle East, TMZ reported.

Broadcasters CNN and NBC are pressing for the judge to allow live coverage, noting that it was granted for the Murray trial two years ago. Their lawyers will press her again on Tuesday, after she denied a CNN request on March 7. "Michael Jackson undoubtedly was one of the most famous entertainers (who) ever lived. His sudden death... sent shockwaves around the world, with intense public interest in understanding what caused his untimely demise," they said.

"Without cameras, secondhand accounts and opinions dominate; with cameras, members of the public can see for themselves what transpires in the courtroom, providing the most accurate and dignified portrayal of the judicial system."

Nigeria to open culture centre in South Africa The Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, on Monday said plans were underway to establish a Nigerian Culture and Information Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.

A statement signed by Dr Taiwo Oladokun, Special Assistant (Media) to the minister said the centre would be established by the end of the year.

Explaining why Nigeria decided to site her first culture house in Africa in Johannesburg, the Minister said the decision followed the successful opening and operations of Nigerian Cultural Centres in Brazil and China in 2008 and 2012 respectively.

“It would also be used to strengthen cultural relations not only with the government and people of South Africa but also with other countries in the southern part of the continent.

“This choice is also in recognition of the role Nigeria played and continues to play in the history of Southern African countries.

Justus Esiri to be buried April 12th in Delta State Nollywood’s veteran Justus Esiri’s funeral program is out .There will be service of songs/ wake keep on April 9th at Catholic Church of Ascension, International Airport Road, in Lagos. Mass in Delta state will take place April 12th at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Abraka. Internment will follow at the late Chief Esiri’s compound, Oria-Abraka, Delta State.

reporters dispatch, April 2 — 9, 2013

Page 23

Sports Son of George Weah having Chelsea trial

Demba Ba celebrating after he produced a fine volley to hand Chelsea victory against Manchester United in the FA Cup

Warri Wolves deny making offer for Sunday Mba with Rangers Online football news giant Goal .com reports that Warri Wolves have quashed the insinuations that they have agreed to 12 million naira transfer fee with the Flying Antelopes over the Nigeria midfielder Warri Wolves have denied the rumours that they have made an offer of 12 million naira for midfielder Sunday Mba with Enugu Rangers.

According to Goal.com Wolves media office Moses Etu claimed that comments attributed to Rangers that the transfer request is being studied is false.

“Ordinarily, we would not have bothered about the news but the fact that the Management of Rangers specializes in selling lies to the public and gradually, we are getting used to their antics

which has become their trademark is something which should be well noted by the general public,” Etu said in a release.

“We want to state unequivocally that at no time did we offer any amount to

Rangers for our player, Sunday Mba. Thus, we were once again shocked to read on the pages of newspapers that we have indeed agreed on a particular amount for the said player.

“It should be noted that we have not received any letter as

per the decision reached by the Committee set up by the Nigerian Football Federation and as a professional Club and in view of what has happened in this case, we cannot act based on newspaper reports.

“It is therefore pertinent to let the public know that until we receive such letter, our hands are tied. We however assure the public that as soon as we lay our hands on such document, the Management will sit down to evaluate it and communicate to the appropriate quarter and until that is done; we shall refrain from making any further statement on the matter.

“Therefore, the insinuation attributed to the Media Officer of Rangers International is incorrect and should therefore be entirely disregarded by the public,” concluded Etu.

AC Milan legend George Weah has brought his 13-year-old son Timothy to London to undergo a trial with Chelsea.

Weah, who was named FIFA World Player of the Year, European Footballer of the Year, and African Footballer of the Year in 1995, had a loan stint at Chelsea in 2000 and netted three goals in 11 games for the Blues.

The Liberian is viewed as one of the greatest African players in history after his time with Milan and confirmed that his son also a striker - could be following in his footsteps by becoming a professional player.

"He is talented. We just wanted to give him the opportunity and we also want him to enjoy the game he has passion for so I brought him to Chelsea just for a trial and for a different experience," Weah told talkSPORT. "When I left London, I kept ties with Chelsea and when my son wanted to come to England to play, the first person I called was my daddy, Gary Staker [the club's liaison officer].

"Gary made it happen and Timothy is enjoying it. He has started training already and he is happy."

Timothy

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Nigerian Girl Set To Become Britain’s First Black Marchioness Actress, celebrity chef and Britain’s first black marchioness: Extraordinary life of the woman who is about to become the Marquess of Bath’s daughter-in-law His father might be famous for his harem of ‘wifelets’ but Ceawlin Thynne, Viscount Weymouth and son of the notorious Marquess of Bath is taking a more conventional approach to marriage.

But his wife-to-be is anything but the typical aristocratic bride.

Not only is artist Emma McQuiston the daughter of a Nigerian oil tycoon, she’s a former actress and celebrity chef.

Yet despite the 26-year-old’s impressive CV, the soon-to-be marchioness has admitted that her presence at Longleat has raised eyebrows among some elements of the aristocracy.

‘There has been some snobbishness, particularly among the older generation,’ she revealed.

‘There’s class and then there’s the racial thing. It’s a jungle and I’m going through it and discovering things as I grow up. ’I’m not super-easily offended but it’s a problem when someone’s making you feel different or separate because of your race, or forming an opinion about you before they even know you.’

Her mother Suzanna also admits to being worried on her daughter’s behalf but hopes she’ll be accepted.

‘I always felt there might be this slightly snobbish thing about anyone that’s black but it seems that everybody has taken Emma into their hearts and they love her.’

The snobbish comments are all the more ironic because McQuiston isn’t exactly a stranger to high society.

In fact, McQuiston and her husband to be are technically already family.

The daughter of Oxford graduate, Ladi Jadesimi, McQuiston grew up in the rolling

Wiltshire countryside and has long been part of her future husband’s circle, first meeting him when she was just four years old.

Her mother, Suzanna McQuiston, had already been married when she met Emma’s father, and had a son named Ian, now 51.

Ian is the husband of Lady Silvy Cerne Thynne, the daughter of the sixth Marquess of Bath by his second wife, and the half-sister of the current incumbent.

Lady Silvy is the Viscount of Weymouth’s aunt, which means that his soon to be brother-in-law is also his uncle.

With connections such as these, it is perhaps no surprise that McQuiston was a regular guest at Longleat celebrations, often spending Christmas and Easter with the Bath family.

So familiar with Longleat is she, McQuiston even made the state rooms the subject of a dissertation she wrote at 18.

‘I’ve always loved it here,’ she says of the house. ‘I would see Ceawlin at Christmas, Easter and family get-togethers.’

After studying history of art at University College London, she became an actress before reinventing herself as a celebrity chef with her own internet television show.

McQuiston also has her own food blog in which she charts her passion for eating, posting a stream of photos of herself posing with the unusual food and drink she unearths.

More recently, her blog has taken on a distinctly romantic flavour with McQuiston happily posting photos of herself and her fiance on holiday at Disneyland, as well as writing of wedding dress

Alleged threat from security agencies, Boko Haram, journalist flees to Dubai

A

Emma McQuiston, 26, is the daughter of a Nigerian oil tycoon fittings with her mother.

Heir: Emma’s husband-to-be, the Viscount of Weymouth, is heir to the palatial Longleat House Excited though she is about her impending nuptials, McQuiston admits that she’s still feels herself to be something of an outsider.

‘I have never had anything horrible said or happen to me,’ she told the Daily Telegraph. ‘But it is something you sense.

‘You can just tell with some people when they meet you, particularly in America when you are acting and you speak with a British accent.

‘You just become a little more aware of how you look.’

One person who clearly isn’t worried is McQuiston’s 38-year-old

husband-to-be, who proposed after just 18 months.

Unlike his father, who has had an estimated 70 ‘wifelets’ since the end of his marriage to Ceawlin’s mother, Anna Gael Gyarmathy, the Viscount of Weymouth has had a far less colourful love life.

Prior to McQuiston, the Viscount’s most famous relationship was with Jane Kirby who was tragically killed in 1996 when a building collapsed during a holiday to New Delhi.

‘We’d been to a party and in the middle of the night he woke me up to ask me,’ McQuiston revealed of the proposal in an interview with Tatler magazine.

‘I made him do it again and again until it sunk in.’

Nigerian journalist, who has reported extensively on the extreme Boko Haram sect, has fled Nigeria for the United Arab Emirates after he reportedly came under increasing pressure from Nigerian security agents and Boko Haram insurgents.

In an email to two PREMIUM TIMES editors, Ahmad Salkida said he had to flee after his life and that of his family became endangered in the past weeks.

“Now I can report that I am in Dubai,” Mr. Salkida said in the letter. “I am trying to get employment visa …. This is crucial so that I can sustain my stay here and contribute ultimately to today’s journalism.”

The journalist, who had worked for Daily Trust, Blueprint and PREMIUM TIMES, had become troubled of late after security agencies and Nigerian authorities began to mistake his

Mr. Salkida CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

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