Tue 17 Dec 2013

TheGuardian Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Vol. 30, No. 12,773

N150

www.ngrguardiannews.com

States under emergency rule may not hold polls in 2015 From Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Abuja

WING to threats to secuO rity in states under emergency rule, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may not conduct general elections in 2015. in areas those “We can’t conduct free and fair elections in states under emergency rule. It is not ideal at all because the security situations are not predictable, “declared the Chairman of the commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega,

• General elections to cost N92.9b • Jega lists hurdles before exercises • Parties seek N25 billion yearly while briefing the Senate Committee on INEC at a oneday stakeholders’ forum at the National Assembly yesterday.

Last month, the state of emergency declared in

Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states was extended by another six months.

At least N92.9 billion is required by INEC to conduct the country’s general elections in 2015.

According to the commission, Nigeria will spend not less than $7.9 per voter to conduct the general elections, and that 73.5 million voters exist currently in the voters’ register.

When $7.9 is multiplied by 73.5 million voters, it becomes clear that the country will need to spend $580.65 (about N92.9 billion) for the general elections.

Jega declared that funding was a key challenge being faced by the body. He said that in preparing for the forthcoming elections, one guiding principle for the commission had been to make elections more cost-effective and to give Nigerians better value for money.

He continued: “Our estimate is that the cost of election per voter, which is an international standard for viewing the cost of elections, is coming down in Nigeria.

“We project that for the 2015 elections, this would come further down by almost $1 from $8.8 in 2011 to $7.9 representing almost a 10 per cent drop. This compares favourably with some other African countries. However, we are anxious about getCONTINUED ON PAGE 4

E apologise for not beW ing able to include the commemorative Mandela album in yesterday’s edition of The Guardian due to technical hitches. The album will now be included in tomorrow’s edition of the newspaper. Editor

Jonathan stops NDDC from awarding new contracts - Page 8

Former President Shehu Shagari (right) and National Chairman, Nigeria Legion, Col. Micah Gayya (rtd), during the decoration of the former with the 2014 Armed Forces Remembrance Emblem at the State House, Abuja... yesterday.

PHOTO: PHILIP OJISUA

Govt begins ubundling of transmission company - Page 88

Clark seeks ‘Arab Spring’ for Nigeria to develop

By Anote Ajeluorou ENOWNED writer, Prof.

John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo, has decried the country’s slow development since 1960. in independence According to the former university teacher, the country is

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• Says country is worse now than 53 years ago • Laments writers can’t change politicians • Declares govt moved capital from Lagos to demobilise citizens worse today than it was 53 years ago at that historic moment of self-rule from its imBritain. powers, perial

In an unusually frank manner, Clark, whose 80th birthday celebrations spanned over three days last week and

ended at Freedom Park, Lagos, with the Committee for Relevant Art’s Arthouse Party, lamented that Nigerian writ-

ers have made little or no impact on the political direction of the country despite years of commitment through con-

structive criticism and other methods of political engagements.

Thus for Clark, what the country needs to develop is a people’s revolt like those of the Arab world that are popularly CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

• UEFA Champions League Draw on Page 95 • Imoke swears in 17 women, others as council chiefs - Page 10

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Clark says country is worse now than 53 years ago CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 known as the ‘Arab Spring.’

The writer, who is also simply known as Prof. J.P. Clark, said that despite the critical voices Nigerian writers had lent to efforts at developing the country by prodding political leaders in the right direction, nothing seemed to have happened to justify their contributions to the task of nation-building.

Clark was also responding to another poet, Mr. Odia Ofeimun’s challenge that poetry does make things happen, and that poets like Clark, Wole Soyinka, the late Christopher Okigbo and Chinua Achebe and himself, whose humanistic efforts have nurtured the intellectual souls of millions of young people across Nigeria, Africa and beyond, do have “gifts to change the arts of statesmen” to positive engagement. But Clark disagreed, arguing that the consciousness of those at the helm of Nigeria’s affairs had been too immature and narrow to imbibe the humane positivity that poetry and poets offer to realise a just and egalitarian society.

In a fit of frustration at what Nigeria has turned out to be since he started writing in the 1960s, Clark declared: “We artists (writers – poets, novelists, playwrights, essayists) have not made anything happen in this country. What is our

Aregbesola seeks Assembly’s nod to create 27 councils From Tunji Omofoye, Osogbo

Nigeria today? As poets, have we changed anything? What have we changed? If anything, things are worse than 53 years ago; not even our poetry, shouting, polemics, criticism have changed anything. We have no gift to make the art of statesmen change. It’s something else that will change the country.

“We have no gift to make Nigerian politicians change.

They are doing what they want to do and that’s why we have remained like this – undeveloped! But by the time we have

an Arab Spring, with people rising in Nigeria, then it’s going to be different.”

The first African to be named a professor of English also spoke on the underlying reason Nigeria’s capital was moved from Lagos to Abuja, saying it was the military’s design to demobilise Nigerians so that they could not have a cohesive voice to rise up against their oppression and effect positive change in their condition. He said that this situation had worked effectively to the advantage of those at

political leadership, both military and political.

“It wasn’t because of scarce land that the capital was moved to Abuja,” Clark said.

“Abuja has more bridges today than all the creeks in the Niger Delta put together. So that what happens in Lagos these days don’t affect other parts of Nigeria unlike before, when the capital was in Lagos. We’ve been demobilised by the military. I’m concerned about the growth of this country, a country we all want to be better than what it is.

“Probably if we had fought for our independence from colonial rule, we should have done better. We should have been unearthing our gold. We are more blessed than we have shown so far. Nigeria is too blessed to be this poor.”

The erudite scholar and lyrical poet pointed out that he and writers of his generation like Okigbo, Achebe and Soyinka were lucky to have realised themselves very early in their careers as writers and expressed gratitude to millions of their admirers around the

world. He noted that when they started out in their early days as writers in the 1960s, they didn’t realise how far they would go, but that he was glad where they were.

He stated: “We didn’t set out to be taught in schools or subjects of examinations. We realised what we were quite early. We were lucky we realised ourselves very early. We are very grateful, if I can speak as a group. Our time was right. Talent and time find each other, as they did to us. I leave criticism to critics.”

Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State (middle), his wife, Florence (right) and the Deputy Governor, Moses Alake Adeyemo, during the thanksgiving service to mark the governor’s 64th birthday at the Government House Mosque, Ibadan... yesterday.

OVERNOR Rauf AregbesoG la of Osun State has sought for the approval of the state House of Assembly to create 27 new local councils in the state.

Speaking before the lawmakers yesterday, Aregbesola said the state government had earlier set up a committee headed by former Speaker of the House, Prof. Mojeed Alabi, on the creation of the new councils in line with Sections 7 and 8 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

While urging the House to give positive consideration to the bill, the governor noted that the new councils would operate a parliamentary system of government in order to avoid financial constraints.

According to him, the local council creation committee recommended that 27 local councils be created for the state, adding that many factors were considered in the selection of the new councils.

The governor also informed that the bill would seek the approval of the parliament for the creation of the office of council managers for the new local councils, saying that the council managers would be civil servants in the employment of the Local Government Service Commission from Grade Level 14 and above.

He maintained that the bill was to re-engineer the local council system in the state to serve as a pacesetter for other states in the country.

In his remarks, Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Najeem Salaam, assured that the House would give special consideration to the bill in the interest of the overwhelming people of the state.

Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Jigawa Chapter, Adamu Turaki Muhammad (left); NBA National Treasurer, Joyce Odua; the Grand Kadi, Muhammed Inuwa Ali; National President, Okey Walli and the Jigawa State Chief Judge, Justice Aminu Sabo Ringim, during a courtesy visit by NBA to Jigawa Judicial complex marking the beginning of NBA Week.

PHOTO: JOHN AKUBO

General elections to cost N92.9 billion, says Jega CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 ting all our funding requirements being met well in advance of the 2015 general elections.”

Fresh agitation began yesterday for the re-introduction of government’s funding for registered political parties as their leaders asked the National Assembly to pass a legislation that would allow each of the current 25 political parties get one N1 billion yearly.

If their demand is granted, government will be releasing N25 billion yearly to political parties.

All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) National Chairman, Victor Umeh, who made the request on behalf of other political parties, said the practice was in vogue even in more advanced democracies.

In his response to the request, Jega said funding political parties was good but declared that it should be

based on a scientific formula.

He explained that each benefiting political party must attain certain feat in electoral performance.

On challenges facing the 2015 election, Jega identified insecurity, funding, attitude of the political class and inactive citizenry as the key issues.

He also identified some residual challenges, including delay in the amendment to the legal framework, espe-

cially the Constitution and the Electoral Act. He said while it would be impossible to predict the challenges facing the management of election, “all we have done is to learn from past challenges and try to anticipate them as well as contain them.”

On the challenge of insecurity, Jega said: “The heat and passion associated with elections in Nigeria often make elections appear like war.”

Senate President, David Mark, who was represented by the Majority Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, before opening the forum, maintained that the conduct of a credible election would confer legitimacy on elected officials.

He said: “If elections are not credible, the public will not see those elected as authentic but would be seen as impostors. If elections are credible, those elected would be regarded as au-

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NEWS Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Fish farmers tackle agric minister over grants From Chuks Collins, Awka HE stage may have been set for a war of accusations and T counter accusations between aqua culturists in the country under the aegis of Fishfarm Estate Developers Association and the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina over what the association described as a breach of contract.

Members of the association, according to its national president, Chief Maurice Ebo have already unearthed documents concerning a tripartite agreement signed by them, the Ministry and Fidelity Bank for a systematic approval and release of the Federal Government special grant to fish farmers.

Ebo had disclosed in a press briefing to journalists yesterday in Ogidi, Anambra State alleged that the agreement with the Agriculture Ministry and the bank on disbursement of funds was in pursuit of the transformation policy of the Federal Government to boost fish production and exports in the country.

Adesina

He claimed that the implementation pattern which was formulated to the satisfaction of the parties had progressed smoothly right from the era of the late President Umaru Shehu Yar’Adua, till there was a change of guards when the minister took over and brought in a new acting Director of Fisheries, Deaconess Areola.

Falling short of blaming the awry situation on the new acting director whom he accused of lacking the disposition and views of the concept of the fishing policy having come from the Forestry Dept, the fish farmers association leader alleged that ever since the assumption of office of the acting director all contact or disbursement to known fish farmers stopped.

Homeowners’ Initiative will boost development, says Amosun HE aim behind the launch T of the Ogun State Homeowners’ Initiative was

Minister of Interior, Abba Moro (left; Passport Control Officer, Ikoyi Passport Office of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Dupe Anyalechi and Managing Director, GT Bank, Segun Agbaje, during the commissioning of buildPHOTO: ODITA SUNDAY ings donated by GTBank Access Bank to the Service in Lagos… yesterday.

NIPR lauds CECP’s anti-cancer efforts HE Lagos State chapter of T the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) has praised the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP-Nigeria) for its efforts in fighting cancer.

Mr. Joseph Okonma, the NIPR’s chairman, speaking during CECP-Nigeria’s courtesy visit to the institute’s office at Ilupeju, also pledged to support the group.

CECP-Nigeria is an initiative co-promoted by six of the core bodies of the Organised Private Sector in Nigeria namely, the Institute of Directors (IoD), Lagos Chamber of Commerce and industry (LCCI), Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agriculture (NACCIMA), Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The specific goal of CECPNigeria is the acquisition of 37 mobile cancer centres (MCCs) for the screening and early treatment of the

scourge in the country.

According to Dr. Kin JEgwuonwu - Coordinator of the 2013 Focal Project, CECPNigeria and National Coordinator, National Cancer Prevention Programme (NCPP), the country has the 13th lowest life expectancy in the world. Most Nigerians do not live to retire, to attend their children’s graduations or weddings, to see their grandchildren, or to enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Cancer is a major contributor to untimely death in Nigeria.

According to global statistics, over 100,000 Nigerians are diagnosed with cancer every year, and 80,000 die (10 deaths every hour) with a death ratio of 4:5!

Executive Secretary, CECP-

Nigeria Dr. Abia Nzelu, stated that it seeks the utilisation of NIPR’s media network (online and offline) to promote the two donation codes (‘44777’ and ‘777526’), among Nigerians, while simultaneously disseminating information about cancer as well as adoption of the principle of promoting one major community project yearly.

She specifically sought NIPR Lagos chapter’s support in achieving the under-listed proposed lines of actions: • creating content for dedicated media programmes focused on the Cause for the Year (i.e. cancer prevention); • creating content for jingles/public service announcements /post-news

mentions; • creating content for and facilitating on-air endorsements by VIPs like Banky W. (cancer survivor); Governor Liyel Imoke (cancer survivor); Mama H.I.D. Awolowo (lost daughter to cancer); Agbani Darego (lost mum to cancer); and, • new Media (online) support through the relevant websites and platforms of NIPR. Any other workable ideas or strategies from NIPR or CECP Okonmah pledged NIPR Lagos chapter’s support for the cause, which, according to him, “is truly worthy.” He also promised to invite CECPNigeria to address members of the institute in one their future general meetings.

to develop the state and not for revenue drive, Governor Ibikunle Amosun has said.

The governor, who spoke during the launch of the initiative, a geographical satellite imaging of the state, lamented that the culture of building without approval has been rampant with sheer volume of development not being monitored even as he asserted that the consequences are serious both for property owners and government.

Underscoring the commitment of his administration to embark on urban renewal, the governor said the programme was conceived to enable people regularise their property status with huge discounts while those who build illegally should also obtain relevant documents.

While calling on the people to embrace the programme, which is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Amosun appealed to property owners in the state to commence regularisation of their property documents by visiting the homeowners’ charter centres created across the state.

In his welcome address, the Director-General Lands, Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo, said the homeowners’ charter initiative is designed to ensure security of tenure for homeowners at a friendly cost. Oshinowo said it has become worrisome that not up to 20 per cent of property in the state have relevant documents.

ASUU members assault journalists in Minna From: Abiodun Fagbemi (Ilorin) and John Ogiji (Minna) OURNALISTS, who converged at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State to cover an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) yesterday were physically assaulted and asked to leave the Senate building of the tertiary institution.

The ASUU meeting, which was shrouded in secrecy following several changes in venue for the meeting to more than three places, finally commenced at about 11.00 a.m. yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has warned university authorities and the Federal Government against sack of non-teaching members of staff of universities, saying it “may not fundamentally address the problem of salaries and wages” since bulk of the salaries is expended on the academic members of staff.

Journalists, who got the wind of the ASUU meeting rushed to the university Senate Building venue to keep vigil with a view to knowing the outcome of the meeting only for the FUT, Minna ASUU chairman, Abdulfatai Jimoh, to storm

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• SSANU warns against sack of workers out and ask security men to march out journalists from the venue.

Jimoh personally tried to push the Daily Trust correspondent, Aliyu Hamagan out of the venue of the meeting.

Abdulfatai had earlier thought Hamagan was a member of the union and invited him to come closer.

He asked Hamagan: “Who brought this stupid people inside? What are they doing here?”

Hamagan quickly responded: “I am one of the people you are calling stupid. I will not have you insult us like that.”

Abdulfatai, on discovering that Hamagan was a journalist, pushed him, asking him to leave, saying: “You people are intruding. We did not invite you. Get out of this place now.”

As this was happening, members of the Local Organising Committee of the ASUU NEC meeting also stepped out of the meeting venue, joining Abdulfatai in shouting on the journalists.

Abdulfatai said to the newsmen in a mixture of pidgin and English: “Anything wey una see, make una take am like that because we didn’t invite the media.”

However, there was disagreement among the members

over the presence of the media.

Some suggested the media should stay because they are doing their job, while others insisted: “We did not invite them. When we need them, we will invite them.”

When the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Musbau Akanji, got wind of the fracas, he quickly came in to plead with the journalists.

Akanji said: “Although, I am not a part of the meeting but I am apologising on their behalf because they are in my territory.

“This place (FUT, Minna) is a Federal Government institution and it is a public place that everybody, including journalists, can enter, especially when they are discharging their responsibilities.”

As at the time of filing in this report, the meeting is still ongoing under closed-door at the Senate Building of the Federal University of Technology, Minna.

The association, comprising the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and other allied institutions (NASU) and the Nigerian Association of Academic Technocrats (NAAT), made its position known yesterday at the University of Ilorin during a public lecture and press conference on the report of

the committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Public Universities.

Analysing the report of the committee led by Prof.

Mahmoud Yakubu, the western zone of the association said the NEEDS Committee Report of 2012 failed to “objectively and robustly” examine the challenges of Nigerian universities.

It however called on the Federal Government to jettison the report, which it said, was skewed in favour of the academic members of staff, stating that the non-teaching members of staff would be forced to down tools should the government go ahead with implementing the report.

Zonal Secretary of SSANU, AbdulSobur Salam, who presented the association, said: “We, the members of the nonteaching staff unions... reject all the contents and derivatives of the committee’s report in totality.”

According to him, the NEEDS committee report demonstrated disdain for the nonteaching members of staff by recommending one non-academic member of staff per 12 academic counterparts.

Reiterating the report with facts and figures in line with international best practices, Salam made reference to many world-class universities where non-teaching members of staff strength tripled their teaching counterparts.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 NEWS

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Rivers Assembly still under siege From Kelvin Ebiri TTEMPT by both pro A and anti-Governor Chibuike Amaechi mem-

The group of 17 first generation of Nigerian professors, who were bestowed with distinguished awards, as part of activities marking the 51st anniversary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) in a group photograph, in Abuja at the weekend.

Ekiti APC intolerant of opposition, says Labour • Court awards N2b damages against Compass From Muyiwa Adeyemi, Ado Ekiti KITI State chapter of the E Labour Party (LP) yesterday accused ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) of being intolerant of opposition parties.

The LP that tag itself as the party to beat in the 2014 governorship election in the state also accused the APC of running Ekiti as a police state, thereby creating an atmosphere of insecurity for opposition members.

The LP State Chairman, Mr. Akin Omole, at a press conference in Ado Ekiti yesterday alleged that, “it is now a crime in Ekiti for opposition parties to hold meetings and conduct their businesses under the atmosphere of peace because of fear of possible attack by party thugs.”

However, Director of Publicity of the APC, Mr. Segun Dipe said it was laughable for the LP to accuse the ruling party of being intolerant of opposition because all parties in the state had been holding their meetings without any complaint.

He said LP is yet to be feasible

in the state and it will be inappropriate to consider such a party as an opposition.

Dipe said the party was not aware that LP is organising any rally as APC is currently focused on the registration of its members. According to him, “Why should they want to blame APC for their shortcomings and inability to convince Ekiti people to join their party?

In another development, an Ado-Ekiti High Court yesterday awarded the sum of N2 billion as damages against the Western Publishing Company Limited, publishers of Compass Newspapers in a libel suit instituted by Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

Aside the N2 billion damages, the newspaper house was also ordered by the court to publish a retraction and apology to Governor Fayemi in three national dailies and on the Internet.

The judgment was in regard of a malicious publication published by the Compass Newspaper in its Saturday, August 25th, 2012 issue, where

Tinubu, Fashola lead 5000 youths in music fiesta

By Wole Oyebade N the spirit of the season, no fewer than 5000 youths in Lagos yesterday gathered at this year’s Musical Youth Fiesta, led by Senator Oluremi Tinubu and wife of the Lagos State governor, Abimbola Fashola.

The youths, drawn from various Local Government Area/ Local Community Development Areas (LGA/LCDAs) of the state, were thrilled to classical rendition of songs of praise, drama, dance-drama, exhortation and prayers for the nation.

Among the groups that

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showcased talent were the Mountain Top Orchestra of the Mountain of Fire Ministry (MFM); the Natural Band; Enoch and Group; and the Elohim Tabernacle.

Others were Christ Apostolic Church choir; Tobi Sax and the Band, Gestemani Drama Group and the Cherubim and Seraphim (C&S) Choir.

Convener and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Musical Youth Fiesta Initiative, Tinubu said the vision is to draw about 5000 youths together under a roof and be entertained by talent display in arts, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

it alleged that the governor was deducting N1 billion illegally from the local government account in the state.

Mr. Remi Koleoso, of the Abuja Bureau of the Newspaper, who wrote the story was also joined in the suit.

The LP chieftain also alerted the security agencies and the traditional rulers of subterranean efforts by some politicians to disrupt its rally slated for Thursday, December 19, 2013, urging the stakeholders to call these unruly people to order in the interest of peace.

Omole added that the party is composed of responsible individuals, who are desirous of change and good governance.

Omole, however, acknowledged the efforts of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Sotonye Wakama to curb the excesses of the APC members, but noted that the Divisional Police Officers of some Divisions were operating in a manner that could undermine the integrity of the police.

“Our meeting was disrupted in Ilawe Ekiti and our chairman in that Council was beaten by APC members. We reported the case, but the DPO did not do anything.

Little wonder, they were bragging around that they are the ruling party in Ekiti. We will no longer tolerate all these.”

Omole charged Fayemi to empower Ekiti youths through what he called ‘real employment’, rather than giving them jobs that have no career progression.

Delivering the judgment, Justice Cornelius Akintayo averred that the conduct of the defendant (Compass Newspaper) was below diligence, said Governor Fayemi had proved the six ingredients of libel among which are the personality involved, nature, mode of the publication and failure of the defen-

dant to show remorse.

Justice Akintayo held that the cost awarded must be adequate to repair the pecuniary damage, since the conduct of the defendant was below diligence.

He therefore ordered that the Western Publishing Company Limited and Mr. Remi Koleoso must retract the said publication with apology in Compass Newspaper and two other national newspapers and the Internet.

Also, the duo will pay the sum of N2 billion to Fayemi.

He also awarded another N50, 000 as cost of the suit and 10 per cent interest rate on the imposed fine starting from the day of judgment till the fine is paid.

Justice Akintayo said the prosecution called three witnesses and tendered 11 exhibits, which were all admitted and marked accordingly. The trial Judge who said the defendants called only one witness added that the defendant also failed to counter the claims of Fayemi.

Akintayo affirmed that a defendant who did not object to documentary or witnesses evidence is deemed to accept guilt.

Reacting to the judgment, the claimant’s counsel Mr. Rafiu Balogun, commended the judiciary for standing by the law. He said the defendants failed to establish the claims in the story when confronted with the facts; a development, which he said was against the tenets of journalism, which is premised on truth and fairness.

He said the newspaper outfit was not remorse when asked to retract the publication, stressing that rather than retract; the paper went ahead to publish two other malicious stories.

It is recalled that Fayemi had, had through his counsel, R.O. Balogun and Co, sued the Compass newspaper for libel and sought N10 billion as damages for libel.

bers in the Rivers State House of Assembly to reconvene yesterday was thwarted by the police who have continued to lay siege to the state legislature.

Meanwhile, the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged that six anti-Amaechi lawmakers plan to hold an illegal sitting at the State Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the purpose of impeaching the governor.

The Guardian gathered that the anti- Amaechi lawmakers had, at about 6 a.m., mobilised some youths from the Okrika axis of the state with a view to storm the House of Assembly yesterday. But on arrival at the Marine Base jetty in Port Harcourt, they encountered scores of proAmaechi youths also from Okrika, and sensing that there was going to be mayhem, they have to retreat.

The police have continued to prevent the lawmakers; workers in the House of Assembly and members of the public from accessing the legislative building. Anti-riot policemen yesterday used armoured personnel carrier to chase supporters of the lawmakers on both sides of the political divide away from Moscow Road, Port Harcourt.

Residents passing though the Court Road, Off Station Road, in a bid to access Moscow Road and the state secretariat were thoroughly screened by the police.

APC spokesperson in the state, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, said after failing yesterday morning to be smuggled into the House of Assembly by some hoodlums that would have dressed in police uniform and guided by some PDP officials, the six antiAmaechi lawmakers have changed their line of

action by concluding to sit at the PDP Secretariat within the week starting from December 17, 2013.

Their pan is to impeach the governor and announce the self-proclaimed Speaker, Evans Bipi, as the acting governor, while imaginary crimes would be used as an excuse by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest Amaechi.

“We have never seen where lawmakers sit in a party secretariat to carry out any business of the House and we wish to say in advance that any such action would be null and void and of no consequence whatsoever. We warn Bipi and his co-conspirators to exercise restraint because there is a limit to rebellion. We also wish to call on the police to promptly seal off the PDP secretariat to prevent it from being used to perpetrate this illegality which, if allowed to be implemented, will trigger crisis of unimaginable proportions in the state and beyond,” he said.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream, Magnus Abe, representing Rivers South-East, berated the police for not allowing 25 pro-Amaechi lawmakers access to the Assembly building despite a court order directing the reopening of the House.

He argued that Section 215 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) stipulates that the commissioner of police should obey lawful orders from the state governor who is the chief security officer. But regrettably, he said what obtains in Rivers State is antithetic to the provision of the constitution.

“The police refused to allow the 25 lawmakers into the House of Assembly against the order of the court. If the 25 members of the House of Assembly who are in the majority decide to sit, what is the interest of the police?” he queried.

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8 NEWS Tuesday, December 17, 2013

NBA flays EFCC for criticising Supreme Court judgments From John Akubo, Dutse

Bar Nigerian HE T Association has berated the Economic and Financial

President Goodluck Jonathan (middle); Executive Director, NDDC, Tuoyo Omatsuli (left); Vice President, Namadi Sambo (second right) and the Ag. Managing Director, NDDC, Dr. PHOTO: Christy Essien, at the inauguration of the Niger Delta Development Company new Board at the State House, Abuja… yesterday.

PHILIP OJISUA

Jonathan stops NDDC from awarding new contracts From Mohammed Abubakar, Abuja RESIDENT Goodluck P Jonathan directed yesterday that the new board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) should not embark upon any new contract until all the ongoing projects littering the region are completed.

The President also admonished the commission to work towards ensuring the development of the oil-producing communities of the Niger Delta region. The inaugurated Board, however, did not include representatives of Edo State and North-West, as the President said he was yet to receive the nominees from the affected areas.

Giving the directive at the inauguration of the newly confirmed members of the NDDC in Abuja, the President, who lamented the public perception of NDDC as a poorly performing intervention agency of government, however, tasked the new board towards

Orders Aso Rock visitors to wear emblem ensuring that the situation was redressed to justify the purpose for which the commission was established.

The President said the task was particularly tasking on the commission’s Chairman, Bassey Ewa Henshaw, who the President challenged to use his influence as a former Senator towards attracting adequate budgetary allocations for the commission. While thanking members of the National Assembly for quick screening of the members, the President lauded the out-going Acting managing director of NDDC for her achievement within the time she held fort.

For the incoming board, the President said there were a lot of challenges, “but I just have to admonish you very clearly that there are so many issues about the NDDC. The Niger Delta people feel that the NDDC is not really doing what

they are suppose to do over the period.

“There are so many ongoing projects. A body like NDDC should not just go into a voyage of contracts procurement but ongoing projects must be completed for people to benefit before new ones are awarded. There are just too many ongoing projects and we believe that you don’t even have enough manpower to manage the ongoing projects.

You have a lot of responsibility and for those of you from the Niger Delta who are even there, you know that the history of intervening agencies is legion.

“From three per cent to one intervention or the other, if you aggregate the total amount of money the Federal Government has spent on this agency is enormous and I don’t believe on ground that we have something to show

very clearly.

“People are so inquisitive now, society is becoming more open and of course the freedom of press laws and so on, so everybody wants to know what is happening in the NDDC and is your responsibility to do things differently.”

The President recalled that the former board at a time had to be dissolved because instead of the board to work with the management to make sure that people from the area benefit from the NDDC, they were busy quarreling over money.

According to him: “If the money that belongs to the people is being spent the way it should, there will be no reason why people should quarrel. There are guidelines in terms of procurement and managing of funds and If the MD or ED is doing things con-

trary to expectations, there are lines of reporting, there are lines of authority and I will expect you to follow. I don’t expect you to go and start quarreling.

“I expect you to be committed both the board and the management so as to ensure that the people from the area benefit from the resources. I urge you, particularly the chairman as the head of the team now, the MD, other board members and the EDs to work together to make sure that within this period, Nigerians see clearly that you are totally committed to the development of the place.

“You know everything badly done by a government body, the president is blamed. If you do it badly, it is Jonathan that is probably using NDDC funds for election campaigns, that is what people will say. I will really look at your activities clinically, and I will not accept any aberration from the conventional and acceptable way of managing resources of the

E

true position of things have drawn blank at the public departcommunications ment. Neither of the two ministers was also available for comments.

The alleged killings are coming on the heels of the killing of two French soldiers. There has been unease in the CAR since rebel leader, Michel Djotodia, ousted President Francois Bozize in March.

In May this year, in an exclusive interview with The Guardian, the Nigerian ambassador to CAR, Prince Roland Ola Omowa, had advocated a Nigerian military presence to give stability to the country.

The ambassador was actually

in Nigeria to deliver a special message from the ousted Bozize to President Goodluck Jonathan when the rebels struck.

Lamenting the fate of CAR, his well considered opinion is that Africans must find solutions to African problems. He disclosed that the colonial interests in that country meant that it is constantly watched over while the discovery of oil and the entrance of China as a player in the CAR economy has not gone down well with entrenched interests.

He also spoke at length on what he thinks Nigeria’s role in the CAR should be.

“Yes, there is nothing wrong

if Nigeria stations troops in CAR. That country and its leaders adore Nigeria and looks to Nigeria for continental leadership. But it has been abandoned over the years.

Those who are of the opinion that we should build on our healthy bilateral relations are correct. We can have a security partnership. And why not?

If France, a former colonial power always has troops stationed on the ground,” he added.

He continued: “If we had a standby crack force, say a brigade with all the components. Fifty thousand troops stationed somewhere in the region armed to the teeth, should there be a problem

27, 000 apply for Technical Aids Corps volunteers From Niyi Bello, Akure HE Directorate of Technical T Aid Corps (TAC), a Federal Government agency handling the deployment of middlelevel manpower to assist countries in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific regions to address their human resources shortfall, said yesterday that it received over 27,000 applicants within one week of its public request for volunteers.

Director-General of TAC, Dr. Pius Osunyikanmi, who made this disclosure yesterday during the commencement of the interview for shortlisted candidates, said the scheme embarked on fresh recruitment because “there was a credibility question on the databank that we had before as most of the people on the waiting list were suspected to have come in through the back door.”

Ajimobi marks 64, pleads for forgiveness OVERNOR Abiola Ajimobi G of Oyo State has pleaded with whomever he might

Govt silent over alleged killing of Nigerians in CAR From Oghogho Obayuwana, Foreign Affairs Editor VEN as the alleged killing of scores of Nigerians in the Central African Republic (CAR) is yet to be confirmed by the appropriate authorities in Nigeria, there are justifiable concerns regarding the fate of Nigerians living in that troubled country.

The Nigerians, according to media reports, were the victims of the latest wave of sectarian violence following months of political crisis.

About 3,000 Nigerians live in the country.

However, Ministry of Foreign Affairs has maintained that it is unaware of the development. All efforts to get the

Crimes Commission (EFCC) for disparaging Supreme Court judgments that acquitted Bode George and El-Rufai.

Wali, who spoke yesterday in Dutse when the NBA paid a solidarity visit to the Attorney General of Jigawa State to mark its Law Week, said it was wrong because it is a judgment of the highest court of the land.

The anti-graft agency had in a statement, expressed concern over two separate court decisions on December 13, 2013, in cases investigated by the commission.

They include the acquittal of the former chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Olabode George and five others by the Supreme Court. The other was the acquittal of the erstwhile Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasir el-Rufai and two others by a Federal Capital Territory High Court.

Continuing, Wali said that a judgment did not go well in favour of a party is not a reason for it to disparage that judgment.

(and in Africa you will always have this sort of problem), it can be taken care of with an African solution and France would not have to meddle in the country. But now that some gun-wielding fellows have chased away a legitimate government, they can always do it again.

President Goodluck Jonathan and outset Bozize met weeks before his ouster in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea during the South, South leaders summit. But considering its security challenges and the dictates of its economic diplomacy, Nigeria may have opted to focus more on the West African sub-region for interventionist purposes.

have wronged in the course of his governance of the state to use the occasion of his 64th birthday to forgive him.

The governor during his anniversary celebrations at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba, Ibadan yesterday, promised to re-dedicate the remaining part of his life to the service of humanity and put in all his best to ensure that the state is turned around for the better.

The occasion had been preceded by thanksgiving services at the Government House Chapel and Government House mosque, where special prayers were offered by Christian and Islamic clerics.

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 NEWS | 9

OBASANJO’S LETTER TO JONATHAN

Don’t throw Nigeria into crisis, Yakassai cautions Obasanjo From Saxone Akhaine, Northern Bureau Chief LDER statesman, Alhaji E Tanko Yakassai, has cautioned former President,

Jonathan

Obasanjo

Kukah warns against do-or-die politics From Saxone Akhaine, Northern Bureau Chief HE Catholic Archbishop of T Sokoto, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has admonished politicians to learn from the mistakes of the past in order to sustain the nation’s democracy, warning that politics should not be a do-or-die affair.

Kukah threw some words of caution to Nigerian political leaders to take a cue from the life and times of the late South African leader, Dr. Nelson Mandela, in their struggle to make Nigeria a great country.

Kukah, who delivered a sermon at the one-year remembrance service for the late for-

mer Governor of Kaduna State, Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, said that in everything our politicians are doing, they should know that there would be an end to any event in life.

Commenting on the letter from the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, to President Goodluck Jonathan, the cleric said: “I am sure some of you have read Obasanjo’s letter. I was one of the first people to get the letter, but not from Obasanjo.

“I read page one and the conclusion. I have not read the rest. You hear politicians tell you about the threat of doom and bloodshed. When food is

almost ready, very bitter political enemies who have not been talking will begin to talk because food is almost ready.

“So far, with the corruption and the erosion of integrity in Nigeria, we have not even come close to what politics is.

We have bandits and all kinds of people who want only the key. We must continue to pray for Nigeria because we are rescinding and have forgotten what our overall objective should be”.

According to the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, “Mandela is dead and Nigeria had better adjusted itself very quickly to take its rightful position.

There are rules to every game.

You want to be President, there is a date. You don’t want somebody to be President, there is a process.

Short of a coup, there is no other way of accessing power except through election”.

Kukah argued: “For me, what lies before us is not about President Jonathan because even if he stays for 20 years, he will go one day. But really, we should wake up.

The very idea that somebody moves from this party to that party or is going and coming from Abuja, all of us who are fooling ourselves will soon be left stranded when the matter is settled. Somehow, people are imagining that you can fall in love and fall

Cleric urges Jonathan to react, berates Tambuwal

By Isaac Taiwo ISHOP of the Diocese of Ife, B Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, the Rt. Rev. Oluranti Odubogun, has described the letter written by the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, to the incumbent, President Goodluck Jonathan, as an unfortunate development in governance.

Speaking with journalists at the weekend during the Diocese of Ife’s programme for Advent Ordination of four priests, presentation of one honourary and one statutory canons, and collation of three archdeacons, Odubogun said ordinarily where there is good governance, dog does not eat dog and where a past President is having ideas and information for the incumbent, these should be communicated in a better way.

He added that though the content of the letter is a reflection of the present position of things in the country, it had political undertone.

The cleric, making reference to some salient issues in the letter in question, asked the President to respond to those critical allegations, especially those relating to killersquads, which Obasanjo said, were being trained and that

more than a thousand names are on the list, wondering if the nation is back to the age of Abacha.

“Since Obasanjo has gone public, Jonathan cannot remain silent and there is need to refute some of those serious allegations. There is no defence in the area of corruption but one thing that is certain is that Nigerians have continued to suffer under the yoke of mismanagement of government and no one that

has been in governance can absolve himself from the blame.”

According to the bishop, “if truly the President had entered into agreement that having been Vice President, Acting President and President for more than one term of an elective President, he would quit, then he has to honour the agreement.

“God teaches us that if we should make a vow or enter into a covenant, we should

honour same. So, whatever they have agreed in the secret and they are now making it public, the President knows and he should do what is right so that God can back him.”

The cleric expressed surprise that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, would indict Jonathan’s government of corruption, saying Tambuwal could not be absolved in any way.

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, to moderate his views concerning President Goodluck Jonathan and the woes of the nation in order not to throw the country into crisis.

Yakassai, who spoke on the letter written by Obasanjo to Jonathan on the ills of Nigeria and the alleged plans by the President to vie for 2015 election, said “he that approaches justice or equity must come with clean hands.”

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) chieftain accused Obasanjo of mischief through the letter, arguing that all the issues raised by the former leader were also perpetrated under his administration between 1999 and 2007.

Yakassai said: “Obasanjo’s letter to Jonathan was in bad taste, by reason of being a former President who was instrumental to the emergence of democracy. He had every opportunity to see President Jonathan and tell him whatever he feels, particularly as they both belong to the same party. For him to resort to writing an open letter clearly shows that there is mischief somewhere. He wanted to use that to harass Jonathan, particularly when the content of the letter was leaked to the media.

“I don’t want to know the content of Obasanjo’s letter.

I am a Nigerian and I want to say my mind. There are things that Obasanjo did in this country that were even worse than what he is complaining of today. There was power-elongation attempt; the corruption he is complaining of can be traced to the foundation he laid.

“I think from that angle, he should have been cautious.

Certainly, I am not happy about the way Jonathan’s administration is fighting corruption, which I believe,

he inherited from Obasanjo.

There are cases known as high profile, which started from the tenure of Obasanjo.

“What I don’t like is anybody criticising another in this country. This will get the attention of people in uniform to scuttle our democracy. We have suffered enough for this democracy and I don’t want anybody to criticise any person and endanger this our democracy”.

“I am 87, I cannot go to anywhere or other country if we are under fire. I was born in Nigeria and I will die in Nigeria. I have many children, many grand-children, I don’t want anybody to put their lives in jeopardy. We have gone through crises in the past and when serious crisis erupts, people like Obasanjo will run away from the country. I will be here in my country because I don’t have anywhere to go”.

On the allegation of a killersquad being raised by Jonathan against political enemies ahead of 2015 general election, Yakassai queried: “Who has been killed by the killer-squad?

Did he mention the person that has been killed or trailed? Who are those people penciled down for assassination?”

He continued: “My concern is that if you don’t want Jonathan in 2015, do not put this country on fire.

Obasanjo is not the only former Head of State who lives in Nigeria. We know how the others conduct themselves. I am sure people like Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Ibrahim Babangida, Abubakar Abdulsalam and Ernest Shonekan have been meeting Jonathan and advising him. What stops Obasanjo from seeing Jonathan any time of the day to tell him how bad he feels about things that are happening in Nigeria? My advice is that before approaching justice or equity, you must have clean hands”.

Group urges PDP governors to speak up GROUP, North-West A Solidarity Forum (NSF), which draws its membership from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the seven states of the zone, has called on PDP governors to speak up on the controversial letter written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan.

The group’s Zonal Leader, Alhaji Abubakar Danfulani, said in a statement yesterday, that the silence of the governors was worrisome to the forum, stressing that it is important for them to intervene in a measured

manner that would engender reconciliation.

In the statement titled: “Obasanjo’s letter: Where are the PDP governors?”, the forum said it was concerned about the content of the 18page letter “which borders on issues of governance and exposes details of such other issues, which should not have been meant for the public space.”

The forum stated that while it is still pondering on the motivation behind the declassification of the letter

by Obasanjo, it feels quite surprised that none of the PDP governors has deemed it necessary to intervene in

the matter.

“The silence in the camp of the PDP governors is worrisome to us.

It gives the forum the impression that the governors may be sympathetic to the cause of Obasanjo since he was said to have been responsible for the election of no fewer than 18 out of the 23 of them (out of which five have now defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“But is that enough reason to keep mute and stand the risk of being complicit in the grand plan by the former President to expose the underbelly of President

Jonathan’s administration to attacks by the opposition elements?”

The forum said at this point, the PDP governors, who believe in the survival of the Federal Government and the party could not afford to sit on the fence or keep mute.

“They cannot afford to pander to the whims and caprices of an individual who has a personal axe to grind with President Jonathan at the detriment of the Federal Government and the ruling PDP. “They (governors) must stand up to save the government and the party from the

grand conspiratorial alliances that are being maliciously coupled by Obasanjo with a view to undermining the Federal Government under the watch of President Jonathan.”

The forum urged that the salvation of our nascent democracy, the political careers and future of the governors “should give them a sense of urgency and commitment to the task of working together to pursue peace and success for the Federal Government and the ruling party now and during the 2015 general elections.”

10

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

NEWS Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Court orders warrant on Ajudua, fixes hearing Feb 12

By Yetunde Ayobami Ojo Atinuke Ipaye of JhasUSTICE Ikeja High Court, Lagos ordered that production warrant be served on the prison authority to produce a lawyer, Mr. Fred Ajudua on February 12, 2014 for arraignment.

Ajudua is alleged to have conspired and obtained the sum of $7.4 million by false pretence from the former Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ishaya Bamaiyi.

The charge was filed before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) delineated No ID/345/13 dated October 10, 2013.

At the resumed hearing yesterday, the prosecution counsel, Saidu Atteh told the court that he became aware of the matter late on Friday and was unable to serve the defendant the charge.

He asked for new date for arraignment as well as a warrant to produce the defendant in court.

But in his response, the defendant’s counsel, Richard Ahonaruwgho told the court that he got to know about the matter on Saturday and was served the charge today (yesterday), but that his client was sick and on admission at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

The arraignment earlier scheduled to come up yesterday failed as Ajudua was absent from court.

The prosecution then

sought an adjournment to enable Ajudua to appear before the court.

Justice Ipaye therefore adjourned arraignment till February 12, 2014 and ordered that production warrant be served on the prison authority to produce Ajudua at the next hearing date.

Ajudua was alleged to have conspired with Alumile Adedeji a.k.a Ade Bendel,

Princess Hamabon William and others still at large and obtained money from retired Lt General Ishaya Rizi Bamaiyi.

Ajudua along with other suspects allegedly defrauded Bamaiyi at the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons, where he and the other fraud suspects were on remand for various crimes.

EFCC claimed that the suspects had fraudulently collected the money from

Bamaiyi, falsely claiming that it was part of the professional fees charged by Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) to facilitate his release from prison.

The anti-graft agency also alleged that Ajudua and others fraudulently claimed that $1 million out of the total money collected from Bamaiyi was for financial assistance for the treatment of Justice Olubunmi Oyewole’s father.

The suspects were said to have told Bamaiyi that Oyewole’s father was admitted at Saint Nicholas in Lagos and the $1 million was meant to assist the judge in treating his father.

The offences of conspiracy and obtaining by false pretences were said to be contrary to Sections 8(a) and 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud Related Offences Act. No. 13 of 1995 as amended by Act No. 62 of 1999.

has threatened a show down with the national leadership of the party if it ceded political leadership of the party in Kwara to ex-Governor Bukola Saraki.

Meanwhile, Saraki and the former Lagos State Deputy Governor, Femi Pedro yesterday explained why they dumped the PDP. At a press briefing yesterday in Ilorin, factional interim Chairman of the APC in Kwara, Rev Bunmi Olusona said democratic means rather than

HE Delta State Police T Public Relations Officer (PRO), Lucky Uyabeme, on Sunday evening, died in a motor accident in an accident at Ogwashi-Uku, along the Asaba-Ughelli expressway.

The police spokesman, who was said to be behind the wheels in a Toyota Highlander, was said to be returning from Kwale, where he had attended a burial when the accident occurred.

Sources said the vehicle, in which they were driving, skidded off the road, somersaulting several times and throwing out the occupants, before catching fire Uyabeme, according to reports, was travelling in company with two others Ozobume Innocent and Mrs. Philomena Atuya- when the accident occurred. However, the two other occupants of the SUV survived.

APC ends meeting, plans to consolidate in S’East From Charles Ogugbuaja, Owerri ETERMINED to spread D its political stronghold in the South East geopoliti-

Chairman, Arik Air, Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide (right); Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie (second left) and others during the unveiling of Arik new aircraft, CRJ-1000 and their seventh year anniversary held yesterday at Arik Air headquarters, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

PHOTO: SOLA OJEDOKUN

APC faction cautions against making Saraki leader faction of the Kwara State A chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC)

Delta Police PRO, Uyabeme, dies in auto crash

• Why we left PDP, by ex-gov, Pedro autocratic method should be used in appointing would be leaders of the party at any level.

Olusona said, “we are not against the recent defection of Saraki to the APC. What we are against is our party’s leadership collective resolve to cede the party machinery to Saraki and his cronies with their penchant to jump from one party to another without any qualms.

“Democracy is a way of life that involves freedom to make choices and leaders don’t live a

life of leisure. They take responsibility for others. Our people had unfortunately lived through some tumultuous decades of human history and we are not prepared to once again mortgage the interest of our people.”

Olusona alleged that Saraki’s eight years as the governor of the state were not the best economically, politically and morally in the history of the state and its people.

He urged members of his faction to remain calm over the development as the ideals of the group on progressive type of politicking would be upheld irrespective of whose ox is gored.

The APC factional leader justified the alleged constitution last week in IIorin of an eightman interim executive com-

mittee led by him. He believed the move would lead to phenomena growth of the party in the state.

However, sources told The Guardian in Ilorin that the national leadership of the APC in Abuja may take a drastic measure against Olusona and members of his group.

Saraki said he advised to no avail the embattled Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur to avoid any unnecessary conflict with the Adamawa State governor after his election as party chairman.

Saraki who disclosed this while explaining what necessitated their move to the APC to party members at the monthly interaction held at Ile-Arugbo, GRA, Ilorin, said rather than find ways of harmonious relationship with

his state governor, Tukur embarked on a journey of vindictiveness dissolving one state’s exco to another.

Saraki traced the dictatorial tendency and resort to unilateral decisions to undue intervention of the PDP National Executive Council led by Tukur in the internal affairs of state chapters, particularly in Adamawa and Rivers states and lack of confidence in the ability of the Tukur-led executive to uphold the sanctity of the peoples’ interest as some of the reasons for dumping the party.

Pedro, who contested the 2007 governorship poll in Lagos State on the platform of the Labour Party, ascribed his defection to the need to team up with the progressives to rescue Nigeria from the doldrums.

Imoke swears in 17 women, others as council chiefs, urges service From Anietie Akpan, Calabar N a major boost to women participation in politics, 18 females in Cross River State were yesterday sworn-in as council chairmen and vice chairmen respectively in 17 out of the 18 local government area of the state.

Governor Liyel Imoke swore in three women as chairmen, 15 took oath of office as vice chairmen while the rest are men in an all Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) affair.

The swearing in of Bakassi

I

council chairman who is also a woman will come up next month as the council’s election was delayed by one month due to litigation.

While swearing-in the new chairmen, Imoke said it was the beginning of a new dispensation in the local government administration of the state.

He charged the chairmen to do everything possible not to disappoint the people as their election was a testament of the hope the people reposed in them.

He said, “it is a social contract with your people. You have to work tirelessly to ensure the rapid development of your various local government areas.

“You shall strive to make this state and your local governments a role model in Nigeria in terms of economic development. You must ensure that all projects embarked by your predecessors that are beneficial to the people were completed irrespective of political affiliations or ethnic background.

cal zone of the country, the All Progressives Congress (APC) ended a strategic meeting in Owerri, resolving to apply more political dexterity to expand and win more members in the zone.

The party also resolved to “fight to finish” to ensure that the governorship candidate of the party in the just concluded governorship election in the state, Dr. Chris Ngige, was returned the winner of the election.

Speaking to journalists in Owerri on Sunday, after the meeting, the former National Chairman of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, said the meeting deliberated on the strategies to ensure that Ngige was declared winner at the end, adding that the party would employ legitimate and legal options to achieve it.

‘How Nigeria can leverage on population for growth’ From Itunu Ajayi, Abuja what seems to be an ItheNaccount rendering and expectations of Nigerians in the coming year, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Olusegun Aganga has again said the country will leverage on its position as the 10th largest growing economy to win investors and diversify the economy.

He told journalists in Abuja at the weekend during the opening of a two-day 2013 annual seminar titled ‘Leveraging on sustained economic gains for a successful enterprise nation’, that efforts have been focused on enablers for expansion and competitiveness in the industry.

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 NEWS | 11

Stop politicising Suntai’s health, says ex-governor From Charles Akpeji, Jalingo ORMER governor of FHaruna, Adamawa State, Boni has cautioned

Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun (second left); Deputy Governor, Segun Adesegun (left); state Director General, Lands, Olusegun Osinowo (second right) and Chief Judge, Mrs. Olatokunbo Olopade, during the launch of Ogun State Homeowners’ Charter by Governor Amosun in Abeokuta… yesterday

against politicising the health issue of Governor Danbaba Suntai of Taraba State, saying he (Suntai) was fit to discharge his constitutional responsibilities.

Wondering why a few overzealous persons in the state, especially the legislative arm of the government, have continued to play politics with the governor’s health, thereby denying him the right to resume office, Haruna, who was in Jalingo at the weekend to

visit the governor, said: “Governor Suntai is fit to continue.”

Haruna, who expressed sadness at the way the members of the state House of Assembly were handling the issue, said the lawmakers ought to “bring morality into the matter as much as marrying it with the provision of the constitution.”

He said: “It is not my intention to dabble into the affairs of the state, but as a leader, I have a responsibility”, stating that “I still insist that the issue of ill-health is not in the control of anybody, it is about God and accident could happen to

Oshiomhole appoints new commissioner

NIMET to install marine weather equipment

From Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu, Benin City

From Omotola Oloruntobi, Abuja

OVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has appointed a former Labour leader, Didi Adodo, as the Commissioner for Establishments and Special Duties.

At his swearing in yesterday in Government House, Oshiomhole said Adodo, who was a Commissioner for Special Duties (Labour) during his first tenure, was reappointed based on his commitment and vision to reposition the state.

Oshiomhole said while swearing in Adodo yesterday: “Let me welcome back Comrade Didi Adodo to this Executive Council as a commissioner responsible for Establishment and other Special Duties, especially Non-Governmental Organisations and Civil Societies. I am sure those of us who have worked with him will readily agree with me that we have lost a lot in these few months of his not sitting by us and with us”.

G

Pre-Isoko Economic Summit holds December 28 PRE-ISOKO Economic A Summit meeting will hold at Noble Hotel, Oleh, on December 28, 2013. The summit, which is being organised by the Isoko Action Group (ISAG), holds in the first quarter of 2014.

According to the organisers, the meeting is designed to have first hand consultations with Isoko leaders and people from all walks of life in order to prioritise, strategise and determine the potential, proposals and requirements of each community in the oil-producing area in Delta State ahead of the summit next year.

“The summit is designed to fashion out necessary steps and actions to move the Isoko economy forward,” the organisers stated. “Education, economic empowerment, skills acquisition and industrialisation of Isokoland, are among areas to focus on at the summit.”

HE Director General, T Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Dr. Anthony Anuforom, disclosed that the agency has started the installation of marine weather data-gathering equipment at the nation’s seaport.

He said the equipment, when completed, would enable the agency provide accurate weather forecast for the maritime sector.

Anuforom, who spoke at the 27th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Meteorological Society held in Abuja, noted that the gesture was part of the agency’s commitment to providing accurate weather information to relevant stakeholders in the country.

Anuforom said: “We are installing marine weather

data grid because the marine environment is largely not monitored. Over the years, much of the effort of NIMET has concentrated on monitoring land events and not in the marine environment.

Thanks to the Federal Government, which gave us support to be able to procure a marine data grid. The installation is going on at Apapa port.”

“We will be able to collect marine weather data, which will help us to issue forecast to assist the maritime sector and those operating on oil rigs, helicopter operators in the Niger Delta area, shipping line, among others,” he added.

Speaking on the topic: “The Role of NIMET in Mitigating Impacts of Climate Change Hazards in Nigeria”, he said the impact of the climate

change was mostly felt by developing countries.

He said: “The choice of the theme draws attention to the fact that climate information can be harnessed scientifically to the benefit of human society. Climate change and the associated extreme weather and climate are global phenomena. These now occur with increasing frequency and intensity and are manifestations of the forces of nature in action.

“Presently, there is no known technology to arrest these forces. However, there is sufficient scientific knowledge and tools to predict their occurrence, with sufficient lead time for precautionary measures to reduce their negative impacts.”

Speaking further, he said the forces of nature that produce

Court opts to continue trial of Atuche, others over alleged N25.7b theft

By Bertram Nwannekanma USTICE Lateefat Okunnu of Jyesterday an Ikeja High Court, Lagos, opted to continue with the trial of former Managing Director of the defunct BankPHB, Mr. Francis Atuche; his wife, Elizabeth and the bank’s Chief Financial Officer, Ugo Anyanwu, over an alleged N25.7 billion theft charge preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Consequently, the judge dismissed the application filed

by Atuche and his wife dated November 29, 2013, and brought pursuant to Sections 6(6), 230-248, 270-274 and 287(2) of the Constitution, in which the duo challenged the jurisdiction of the Lagos High Court to entertain the charge against them on the strength of the Appeal Court judgment delivered on November 21, 2013.

The appellate court, had in a unanimous judgment, struck out a theft charge preferred against former Managing Director of Finbank Plc, Mr. Okey Nwosu, on the ground that the state High Court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the charges, which are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal High Court.

Atuche, who had capitalised on the Appeal Court’s decision, urged an Ikeja High Court to dismiss the charge against him and his wife,

Elizabeth, on the ground that the subject matter of the charge against them revolves around the issue of acquisition of shares as disclosed in all the 27-count charge.

He also argued that the control of capital issue i.e. shares, is item 12 on the Exclusive Legislative list of the 1999 Constitution and same exclusive to the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court by virtue of Section 251(1) of the 1999 Constitution and Section 7 (3) of the Federal High Court Act, 2004 Cap F12.

But Justice Okunnu, in a ruling minutes after parties had finished arguments on the matter, stated that she cannot grant Atuche’s application, which is aimed at dismissing the charge, as doing so will amount to preempting the decision of the Court of Appeal in a separate appeal filed by Atuche on June 22, 2011.

Atuche, in the said appeal, challenged the ruling of the Lagos High Court over the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the charge.

In dismissing the application, Justice Okunnu said it will amount to judicial rascality to so do and, therefore, opted to continue with the trial pending the determination of Atuche’s appeal at the appellate court on the same issue of jurisdiction.

The judge subsequently dismissed the application and adjourned till March 10, 2014, for the continuation of trial.

In the motion filed by his counsel, Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN) and supported with a four-paragraph affidavit deposed to one Martins Nwankwo, Atuche had contended that the Lagos High Court does not have the power and jurisdiction to review and make judicial pronouncements on most of the exhibits tendered so far; the exhibits being subject of item 12 of the Exclusive legislative list.

Atuche further contended that the court could not reach a fair, just and whole decision at the end of the trial without considering the exhibits bordering on capital market issues upon which the court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate by virtue of the 1999 Constitution.

But the EFCC, in its notice of preliminary objectionto the motion filed by Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), urged the court to dismiss it in limine (from beginning) for being scandalous, frivolous and vexatious.

The anti-graft agency in the motion filed December 3, 2013, also contended that the plaintiffs were gambling with the process of the court contrary to the Supreme Court’s decision in Abubakar v. Yar’Adua (2008) 4 NWLR (Pt.1120).

EFCC, therefore, urged the court to dismiss the motion being vexatious and abuse of court process.

extreme weather cannot be stopped but that scientific knowledge should be applied to minimise the impact on human society.

Earlier, the Director General of NEMA, Mohammed Sani Sidi, stressed that it was time for the nation to be proactive in addressing disaster management.

Sidi, who was represented by Director, Disaster Risk Reduction, Kayode Fagbemi, expressed disappointment that most local councils do not have disaster management centres.

“Disasters are increasing in frequency and magnitude worldwide and they result in considerable human, environmental and material losses to communities, diversion of resources, and have also slowed down the process towards sustainable development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals,” Sidi added.

anybody.”

Moreover, there is nothing in the constitution that says that when one has problem of ill health, there is a time frame within which if one does not recover, that that person should be removed from office.

Haruna said: “I have spoken with him (Suntai); I have interacted with him and there is nothing wrong in him going back to his position as the governor of the state.”

He stressed: “The most important thing is that the governor has capable hands around. Even his deputy can still complement his efforts, we should stop playing politics with things of this nature, as it could happen to anybody.”

On the letter transmitted to the House of Assembly by the governor, which sparked the present controversy, Haruna said: “He did the right thing by transmitting letter to the House.”

He called on the lawmakers to do the right thing by allowing Suntai to resume office, saying: “It is left for the legislators to do the right thing. Let them do the normal and the right thing and avoid certain forces that seek to truncate what was right.

So let them go back and do the right thing because everything is not about politics, it is about morality and God is the dominator.”

Citing the tribulation Job went through in the hands of the devil and still triumphed in spite of the afflictions meted on him, Haruna, who sounded prophetic, added: “The purpose, which Suntai was elected a governor has to be completed.”

12 Tuesday, December 17, 2013

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PHOTONEWS

Anambra State Governor Peter Obi (middle), Chinyere Okunna (right) and the Rector of St. Pius Spiritual Year Seminary, Akwu-Ukwu, Rev. Fr. Celestine Umeh, at the inspection of the integrated farm by the governor.

Deputy Director, Laboratory Service, Abiodun Falana (left); Director General (DG), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC), Paul Orhii and Director, Laboratory Services, Stella Denloye, at the DG’s special award in Lagos…at the weekend.

PHOTO: AYODELE ADENIRAN

Chairman, ADDAX Petroleum, Xinmin Wu (left); General Manager, Health, Safety and Environment, ADDAX Petroleum, Grace Amadi; one of the participants, Kingsley Onoyom; and President, Volunteers Club of ADDAX Petroleum, Mohammed Dauda, during the launch of ADDAX Petroleum Club “Run for a Child Initiative” in Lagos.

PHOTO: SUNDAY AKINLOLU

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Airtel, Segun Ogunsanya (right); winner of the CEO’s Excellence Award, Abayomi Adesalu and Regional Operations Director (Lagos Region), Bayo Osinowo, at the Airtel end of the year Black Tie award night in Lagos.

PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI

Multi Choice Regional Manager, North, Olaleka Ismail (left); winner of the first draw, Ade Joseph Medpin, and the Branch Manager, Multi Choice DSTV, Abuja, Mrs. Enimigha Okpu, at the presentation of a return ticket to Brazil 2014 draw to its first winner in Abuja.

PHOTO: PHILIP OJISUA

Amona of Lisa, Adeyinka Adefunmiloye (left); Otun-Baale of Lisa, Lateef Odugbemi; Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Ogun State, Yewande Amusan; and Director, Administration, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ogun State, Tunde Adesanya, and other dignitaries, during on the spot assessment of Lisa Memorial Arcade by the commissioner in Lisa Ifo Local Council, Ogun State.

Immediate past Chairman of the Squash Section of Lagos Country Club, Ikeja, Taye Ige (left) and new Chairman of the section, Demola Olusunmade, during the decoration of Olusunmade at the AGM of the club in Lagos

Cross section of the priests at the 2013 Advent Ordination of the Diocese of Lagos West (Anglican Communion) Archbishop Vining Memorial Church, Ikeja, Lagos PHOTO: OSENI YUSUF

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013 13

WorldReport EU’s door remains open to Ukraine as unity cracks ivisions emerged in the D European Union’s policy towards Ukraine yesterday

Midwives perform a die-in as they take part in a demonstration as part of a nationwide strike, begun on October 16, to obtain an improvement of their status in Paris…yesterday.

PHOTO: AFP

Amnesty accuses Bahrain of torturing detained children MNESTY International A accused Bahrain yesterday of torturing children who have been arrested on suspicion of participating in Shiite anti-government protests.

“Children are being routinely detained, ill-treated and tortured in Bahrain,” the rights watchdog said.

It claimed that scores of children, including some as young as 13, “were blindfolded, beaten and tortured in detention over the past two years.”

“By rounding up suspected

dynasty.

It said that sentenced children under the age of 15 held at a juvenile centre face abuse at night, when social workers finish their day shifts and police take over.

It said the Gulf kingdom amended its juvenile law in August, allowing the jailing or fining of the fathers of children who take part in demonstrations.

“Bahrain’s government purports to respect human rights yet it is brazenly flouting

under-age offenders and locking them up, Bahrain’s authorities are displaying an appalling disregard for its international human rights obligations,” said Said Boumedouha, Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.

The group said at least 110 children aged between 16 and 18 are held at the Dry Dock Prison, an adult facility, pending investigation or trial, over taking part in protests against the ruling Sunni Al-Khalifa

South Africa unveils Mandela ‘unity’ statue DAY after the nation buried A the former president and anti-apartheid hero, a ninemeter (30-foot) bronze statue of Nelson Mandela with his arms outstretched to symbolize unity and reconciliation was unveiled in South Africa yesterday.

The 4.5 metric ton statue is the largest of Mandela created in the world and was inaugurated on the lawn of South Africa’s hilltop Union Buildings, the seat of the central government, overlooking

the capital Pretoria.

Mandela died aged 95 on December 5 in Johannesburg and was buried on Sunday in his home village of Qunu in Eastern Cape province following 10 days of emotion-charged mourning that focused the attention of the world on South Africa.

“We laid Tata to rest in Qunu only yesterday. Today, he rises majestically at the seat of government, as a symbol of peace, reconciliation, unity and progress,” South African

President, Jacob Zuma said at the unveiling.

“Tata” is the Xhosa word for father, and Mandela is revered as the father of the new South Africa born from the end of apartheid in 1994 when he became its first black president.

The inauguration coincided with December 16 Reconciliation Day, a public holiday commemorating the ideal of racial and political reconciliation that Mandela preached after his release in 1990 from 27 years in apartheid prisons.

international obligations on a routine basis by resorting to extreme measures such as imposing harsh prison sentences on children,” said Boumedouha.

South Sudan ‘foils coup attempt’ Sudan’s President, ScoupOUTH Salva Kiir says an attempted by soldiers loyal to his sacked former deputy, Riek Machar has been put down.

It comes after heavy gunfire overnight in the capital, Juba.

At a news conference, Kiir said the government was in full control of the capital, and announced a night-time curfew for civilians.

Several people are reported wounded and hundreds of people have sought refuge at the United Nations mission in Juba.

The UN has expressed concern and appealed for calm. It said it was in touch with the government.

Hilde Johnson, the special representative in the country, said she was “deeply concerned” and urged “all parties in the fighting to cease hostili-

Iraq violence kills 54 ahead of Shi’ite Holy Day bombers and gunSpleUICIDE men killed at least 54 peoin Iraq yesterday, medical and police sources said, in attacks mostly targeting Shi’ite Muslims, who mark a big religious festival next week.

Al Qaeda-linked Sunni Muslim militants have intensified attacks on the security forces, civilians and anyone seen as supporting the Shi’iteled government in Baghdad,

tipping Iraq back into its deadliest levels of violence in five years.

In Baiji, 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, four men wearing explosive belts took over a police station after detonating a car bomb parked outside, police sources said.

Two blew themselves up inside the station, killing five policemen. The other two did the same about an hour later as Iraqi special forces counter-

attacked, the sources said.

“We believe the attack was aimed at freeing detainees who are being held in the building next door,” said Major Salih al-Qaisi, a police officer at the scene.

“All the militants were killed before they reached the police department building where the detainees are held.”

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suicide bombings

as the Dutch foreign minister berated a senior European Union (EU) official for announcing on Twitter that he had suspended work on a trade agreement with Kiev.

EU foreign ministers arriving for talks on the EU’s relations with Ukraine and Russia said the door remained open for Ukraine to seal a far-reaching trade and political agreement with Brussels despite Kiev’s last-minute decision in November to pull back from signing the deal.

Dutch Foreign Minister, Frans Timmermans sharply criticized EU enlargement chief, Stefan Fuele, the official in charge of negotiations with Ukraine, who announced on Twitter at the weekend that talks with Ukraine were on hold because Kiev had failed to give a clear commitment to sign the trade deal.

“I think making policy on the basis of a Twitter notice

by Mr Fuele is perhaps not the best way of approaching this issue,” he told reporters.

“There was no reason from a Dutch point of view to suspend talks.”

“I believe the best signal we can give Ukraine is simply that the door is still open,” he said.

Fuele’s decision reflected growing frustration among

EU officials at what they see as the inconsistent position taken by President Viktor Yanukovich, who sometimes appears to be veering towards Brussels and at others towards Moscow.

Yanukovich’s decision to abandon the EU deal last month in favor of closer ties with Russia sparked weeks of mass protests in Kiev.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt accused Yanukovich of “double speak”.

“Sometimes he says ... he wants to sign it in the near future. The other day he said he was going to fire those who negotiated the agreement,” he said. “If there’s a clear message from Kiev, we are ready to sign tomorrow.”

Ukraine sent first deputy prime minister, Serhiy Arbuzov to Brussels for talks last week on reviving the pact following reports that Ukraine had asked the EU for 20 billion euros ($27 billion) in aid to offset the cost of signing the deal.

The EU held out the prospect of increased EU aid and help with negotiating an International Monetary Fund loan if Ukraine gave a firm commitment to sign the EU accord, but Ukraine has not replied, Fuele said.

A Kremlin aide made clear that Russia was ready to extend a credit to Ukraine to help Kiev cope with its economic problems and keep the country in Moscow’s orbit.

are the trademark of al Qaeda’s Iraqi wing, which merged this year with its Syrian counterpart to form the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Two hours later, three suicide bombers seized the local council building in Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of the capital, after setting off two car bombs outside, security sources said. At least three people were killed.

ties immediately and exercise restraint”.

“I have been in touch regularly with the key leaders, including at the highest levels to call for calm,” she said.

Riek has not commented and his whereabouts are unclear.

But his spokesman said he was safe and denied reports he had been arrested.

Tensions have been high in South Sudan - the world’s youngest country - since President Kiir dismissed his entire cabinet, including his deputy Riek Machar, in July in an apparent power struggle.

Machar, who had indicated he planned to contest the

presidential elections in 2015, now leads a dissident faction within Mr Kiir’s ruling party, the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

The two men are from rival ethnic groups that have clashed in the past.

Kiir is from the Dinka community, the largest in South Sudan, while Mr Machar is from the Nuer, the secondlargest. Some Nuer have complained about Dinka political domination.

The fighting in Juba broke out overnight, and intensified in the early morning, with reports of continuous gunfire and several explosions.

14

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Politics

Wada

Ibrahim

Idris

Crack in Kogi PDP over governance issues From Adamu Abuh, Abuja HERE appears a crack within the ranks of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State, as the relationship between Governor Idris Wada and his political godfather, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, may have turned sour.

Idris, former governor of the state, sponsored Wada in the December 2011 governorship poll to the consternation of many party faithful who were taken aback by the lastminute decision to deny the initially favoured Alhaji Jibrin Isa Echocho the opportunity to vie for the seat on the platform of the PDP. However, two years down the line, it seems the supporters of the past governor, whose influence in Kogi PDP cannot be underestimated, are biting their fingers for installing Wada as Kogi governor.

The son of the past governor and a member of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim, dropped the hint in an interview with newsmen in Abuja. He claimed that Governor Wada has failed to live up to the expectation of the people of Kogi State.

The lawmaker, who represents Ankpa/Omala/Olamaboro federal constituency, said Wada would face a herculean task to reclaim his mandate in the 2015 polls, even as he stressed that the changes in the polity would not affect the fortunes of the PDP at the elections.

Ibrahim spoke about his ambition and why he wants to explore it. “The government of Kogi State is not working in line with the aspirations of our people,” he said. “If you go home, poverty is too high in my place. I am telling you the gospel truth and we say we have a government.

“Although the governor comes from my party, but we would sort that one out later.

Time would tell what would happen.

“All the same, we are remaining in the PDP. Kogi would remain a PDP state. The APC cannot constitute a threat to the PDP but there would be change within the government structure, by the grace of God. You cannot say my dad (Idris) made a mistake (in installing Wada as governor).”

On what would be the fate of a troubled PDP ahead of the 2015 polls, Ibrahim said: “PDP would come out of its present crises stronger. I am sure all the governors that defected to the APC would come back even before the 2015 polls. Things would take

T

As Rep Ibrahim faults timing of national confab shape.

“Whatever that is happening now is very normal but I am assuring you that the PDP is a family and we would remain one in spite the fight in the family currently.

“We disagree to agree. That is why I told you that my state would remain a PDP state even as we would do our changes internally. All those going to the APC would come back.”

The lawmaker, who is a member of the House Committees on Environment, Privatisation, and Commerce and HIV/Aids, said he is taking advantage of constituency projects he has attracted to the state, to impact positively on the lives of his constituents.

Justifying the need for constituency projects, he said: “It is very necessary because without it, what do we tell our people? What can I offer my people most of whom do not have the means to come to Abuja? How would the people feel the impact of the government?

“For instance, I have dug several boreholes in the nooks and crannies of my constituency comprising Anpka, Omala and Olamaboro councils of Kogi State.

“As we speak, I have been able to ensure that several schools are made functional. Right there in Ankpa local government secretariat, the building of an ICT centre has been completed. All we are waiting for is to ensure the computerisation of the place, which they say they would do before the end of this fiscal year.

“The one for Olamaboro, as I speak, has been commissioned and is at the service of the people. We have faced disappointments with the contractor on the one meant for Omala.

Without constituency projects, how would my people benefit from these projects?

“We have made improvements in the provision of potable water; we have provided solar energy-powered street lightening; we have built and furnished primary schools in my constituency. I also provide drugs to the people of Obagana that were affected by flood.

“Take note that we don’t execute these projects directly. We only make recommendations on what suits our people to the executive and it is their duty to go ahead to do them.

“Right now, I want to build additional standard markets for my constituents in the three local councils, as my own personal con-

tribution. Already, I have secured the lands in central parts of my constituency to achieve the goal even before we get to the 2015 polls.

“I will be giving scholarships to 150 tertiary institution students from my constituency shared 50 apiece for the three local governments in my constituency. When we go home for the Christmas break, we would do all that, by the grace of God.” On the implementation of the 2013 budget, Ibrahim said: “In the area of road construction, I will say, yes, they (Federal Government) have tried. If you ask me to score them, I will give them a pass mark.

“When I say a pass mark, that does not mean it is excellent. We will still need to ensure that we follow our duty by going to exercise our oversight functions from time to time. I think in the area of road construction, this government has tried considerably compared to what was obtainable before. Our democracy, as a nation, is still in the making.

“When you talk of budget implementation in its entirety, that is another entity that carries its own assessment. I will say no! It is appalling.

“The major factor is the finance ministry and we are made to understand that it is being handled by the Finance Minister, Dr. (Mrs.) Okonjo-Iweala. She dictates everything and Mr. President confirms it. Mr. President relies on her to give him all the necessary advice.

“But what they should realise is that what is on ground is different from bookwork.

Okonjo-Iweala is doing her best but she has to be diplomatic in the whole thing.

“It is unacceptable to say that the reason for the poor implementation of the budget is due to non-availability of the budget because the money was appropriated for and it was given to them.”

On why the lack of faith on the part of the executive arm over budget implementation, Reps Ibrahim said: “This is a very big question. I will not be in a position to answer it.

Oga at the top should be able to answer that question.

“We have always exercised our oversight functions. The leadership of the House gave us three weeks to go on oversight. All committees of the House had to suspend sittings to achieve the goal.

“If they say we just come to the House, sit

and do nothing, I beg to disagree with you.

Ours is to advise the executive arm on what is best for Nigerians, and we expect them to implement.

“I disagree with those who think that there are political undertones in our disagreement with the executive arm. As legislators, we don’t compromise our duties to achieve political gains whether you are a member of the PDP or APC. “Legislators from across all political parties go on these oversight functions and whenever we turn in our reports, they are a reflection of what we see on ground. You will agree with me that this government has so many lapses and we all know that disagreements occur whenever we strive to correct them.

On the power sector reform, Ibrahim applauded the initiative, saying it would be of immense benefit to Nigerians.

He noted: “As I speak to you, we are supposed to go on oversight functions on all the power sector to be advertised. It was scheduled for the 8th of December. When we come back, we will be able to submit our reports on the floor of the House regarding the takeover of the power sector.

“The power sector reform will be most beneficial to Nigerians because now it has gone to the private hands that would ensure that things are done correctly. The issue of ‘I don’t care’, the issue that it is government property would not be there.

“The only problem is that fellow Nigerians would have to pay higher for electricity tariffs. But we are ready to pay a little bit higher as long as we have uninterrupted electricity supply.

“Whatever tariff charged is not comparable to the cost of diesel, fuel and operating our generating sets. I think this is a better deal if done to the letter. The power sector reform is what we require to jumpstart the economy.

“Under the current dispensation, there is nothing like government property in the power sector. Those who invested heavily in it would not sit down and allow it to be mismanaged. I think for it to work, consumers should be ready to pay a little bit higher than what they are paying now.

“Naturally, they (operators) have to offer the service before they increase the tariff.

Certainly, if they make up their minds to increase tariff at take-off point, there would be crises. They should rather prove to consumers, prove to the generality of Nigerians that the increment would be worth it.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 POLITICS 15

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Strategic communication as essential part of counter-terrorism operations

By Sambo Dasuki IGERIA is a young democracy faced with emerging challenges of the 21st Century; challenges that old democracies still grapple with.

Globalisation presents to the world both opportunities and difficulties. Nigeria’s democracy will benefit from those opportunities presented by globalisation in a world where information and distance are increasingly demystified by new technologies. This will afford Nigeria the chance to leapfrog in its democratic enterprise.

With this opportunity though comes a price: the threat of alien and dangerous ideologies. Global terror, championed by Al Qaeda, has encroached upon frontiers of Nigeria’s security and wellbeing.

Nigeria is responding to this threat on all fronts.

Through new and relevant legislation and policies, agencies continue to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in Nigeria.

Nigeria realises that military action on its own will not counter terror if not accompanied by a robust public diplomacy aimed at defeating the ideology of hate and building consensus against violent extremism. That is why strategic communication is an essential part of our counter terrorism operations.

Nigeria will continuously update its strategic communication needs to reflect current challenges occasioned by terror.

Nigeria’s diversity, rich history and culture are assets for the demonstration of national cohesion. We will mobilise these national assets to remind Nigerians that more issues unite us than divide us.

Our shared history, culture and geography will be amplified as basis for a comprehensive strategic communication in order to attain set national security objectives.

In all areas of strategic communication programmes, focus will be placed on: a. Unity and indivisibility of Nigeria as a nation. b. Democracy and the fundamental freedom of worship and belief. c. Public safety and good governance. d. Zero tolerance for violent extremism.

Our strategic communication goals are targeted primarily on our people. We seek to create a nation in constant conversation with itself, employing communication to heal wounds and build trust as we confront violent extremism.

Through deeds such as good governance, economic growth, health, employment for our youths and respect for human rights, we will bring hope and prosperity to our people and make it increasingly difficult for young people to become radicalised.

As a nation of many tribes and reli-

N

We need to create a nation in constant conversation with itself gions, we strive to entrench respect for differences among our people.

Nigeria’s strategies for strategic communication are based on the following considerations: a. Fast-track democratisation and good governance to eliminate conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism, thereby creating hope and prosperity. b. Emphasising national unity through initiatives that build a consensus around patriotism, civic education, self-reliance and respect for our differences. c. Counter all forms of extremism by first waging an intellectual warfare and mobilising national resources to isolate terrorists and dismantle terrorist propaganda and appeal in Nigeria and Africa.

Our strategic communication will target large and specific audiences, using the most effective channels.

Our specific audiences are pointsof-contact whose opinions shape public perception. a. Points-of-contact This underestimated audience will be targeted to influence the public and serve as change agents in communicating Nigeria’s strategic communication goals.

They include: a. The political class b. Respected journalists and commentators c. Civil society and union leaders d. Traditional institutions e. Teachers f. Religious leaders g. Youth h. Women leaders These points-of-contacts will be encouraged to speak for peace and tolerance and against violent extremism through both print and electronic media and at other times via organised town hall meetings. b. Large audience In order to communicate our basic message against terrorism at both home and the West African subregion, the TV, radio and Internet will be utilised to more broadly project strategic communication instruments in English, Hausa and French languages.

Through specific programmes in BBC Hausa Service, VOA Hausa Service, Radio France etc., that are known to have large audiences in the West African sub-region, we will employ narratives to consistently defeat terrorism.

Equally overwhelmingly significant will be our use of the Internet for counter- terrorism objectives.

UR strategic communication O strategy will be prioritised around the following themes, taking into consideration the peculiarity of Nigeria and its challenges even before the rise of terrorist groups like the Boko Haram, which seeks to aggravate existing social problems:

Nigeria faces myriad of development challenges competing for urgent attention. The threat posed by growing terrorist operations has stretched national resources aimed at safety and security. Strategic communication is yet to be a top priority in budgeting, thus making unavailable the requisite for an effective financing of public diplomacy programmes. Also inadequate is the availability of capacity for law enforcement agents and policy makers on strategic communication strategies. It is in this area that Nigeria will benefit from its global partners, helping to finance and train its officers to achieve a robust strategic communication system.

a. Terrorism is un-Islamic The terrorists twist and pervert the true meaning and spirit of religious text to win support for their evil cause. Our strategic communication will emphasise the un-Islamic nature of terrorism by means of sound Islamic knowledge.

We will encourage mainstream Islamic scholars to write books, articles and issue Fatwas that directly dismantle the ideology of suicide bombing. b. Counterterrorism is not against Muslims We will ensure that Muslims in Nigeria do not misconstrue the fight against terror. The terrorists are an influential minority who live and claim to be Muslims but through their activities bring harm and ridicule to Muslims and the religion of Islam.

Concerted effort will be made to isolate the terrorists from the communities they find sanctuary. c. Encourage and empower Muslims to speak out against terror The ideology of terrorism will be defeated through mainstream Muslims in Nigeria. Our strategic communication will seek to enlist and build capacity for counterterrorism cooperation among Muslims by exposing the true intent and form of government that the Al Qaeda modeled Boko Haram seeks to impose. d. Muslim-Christian relations The terrorists are desperate to ignite a religious war between Nigerian Christians and Muslims in order to achieve a war scenario that would aid their operations.

Unfortunately, some religious leaders do not seem to comprehend the aim of the terrorists.

We will launch an aggressive interfaith response between Christians and Muslims to create awareness on terrorism. Our major goal is to unite Nigerian Muslims and Christians against terrorism. e. Mass literacy Terrorism continues to exploit illiteracy in the Northern part of Nigeria. We recognise that mass literacy in the English language will open up opportunities for the Northern poor to make life choices. f. Counterterrorism is apolitical Government will build inter-party collaboration for counterterrorism to ensure party affiliations do not hinder stakeholders from contributing to effort targeted at public safety and security.

Nigeria realises that the success of its strategic communication lies in the successful coordination of efforts across all levels and agencies of government. The Office of the NSA is tasked to coordinate these efforts, especially as it relates to countering terrorism.

The Behavioural Analysis and Strategic Communication Unit, Counter Terrorism Department is tasked with the responsibility of initiating de-radicalisation, counterradicalisation and strategic communication programmes and developing strategies, messages, and programmes to expose the evil of violent extremism.

While working to strengthen Nigeria’s strategies for strategic communication and entrench cross-government cooperation for the strategy, we are tackling the narratives of Boko Haram in partnerships with security agencies, media and civil society.

We are involved in initiatives such as: a. Building capacity for Muslim student associations to serve as intel-

Dasuki

The terrorists are desperate to ignite a religious war between Nigerian Christians and Muslims in order to achieve a war scenario that would aid their operations. Unfortunately, some religious leaders do not seem to comprehend the aim of the terrorists. We will launch an aggressive interfaith response between Christians and Muslims to create awareness on terrorism. Our major goal is to unite Nigerian Muslims and Christians against terrorism. Terrorism continues to exploit illiteracy in the Northern part of Nigeria. We recognise that mass literacy in the English language will open up opportunities for the Northern poor to make life choices. lectual assets in the battle against terrorism and enlisting their support for counterterrorism. b. Organising conference for Islamic school teachers, to train them on identifying extremist tendencies in their students, building their capacity for de-radicalisation and helping them learn new teaching and communication skills that would help them deploy counternarratives in the Islamiyyah classrooms. c. Preparing Muslim preachers for strategic communication during the Ramadan Tafsir.

Efforts are geared towards a unanimous Fatwa condemning suicide bombing and denouncing terrorism as un-Islamic by mainstream Muslim scholars. d. Targeted TV & radio programmes. e. Building Community Cohesion Centres (with the Mosques as the centres) across the nation, to serve as grassroots base for counterterrorism and community relations. f. Organising Muslim-Christian dialogue to build cooperation and understanding for counterterrorism. g. Setting up Counterterrorism desks in selected states of the federation. h. Exploring making productions of movies and creating video games to discredit violent extremism. i. Initiating and empowering non-

state actors to key strategic communication priorities.

Nigeria faces myriad of development challenges competing for urgent attention. The threat posed by growing terrorist operations has stretched national resources aimed at safety and security.

Strategic communication is yet to be a top priority in budgeting, thus making unavailable the requisite for an effective financing of public diplomacy programmes.

Also inadequate is the availability of capacity for law enforcement agents and policy makers on strategic communication strategies; it will face the twin challenges of funding and inadequate capacity.

It is in this area that Nigeria will benefit from its global partners, helping to finance and train its officers to achieve a robust strategic communication system.

Finally, I wish to note the significance of institutionalising strategic communication in the training curriculum of defence and securitytraining institutions for a long-lasting culture that ensures strategic communications is built into every operation that our forces are involved.

• Excerpts from a Speech by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (Rtd), at the National Defence College (NDC) Strategic Communications Workshop on Monday, December 9, 2013.

TheGuardian

www.ngrguardiannews.com

16 | Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Conscience Nurtured by Truth

FOUNDER: ALEX U. IBRU (1945 – 2011) Conscience is an open wound; only truth can heal it. Uthman dan Fodio 1754-1816

Editorial The legislature and the corruption question T is a shame that the fight against corruption in Nigeria has not only stalled, Iprosecuting so much talk about it does not seem to move to action, those who should be the war.

Corruption, identified as the bane of Nigeria’s development, must however, be fought to its end and talks about it can never be enough. Mercifully, three major events have recently, kept the issue on the front burner of national discourse. First, came the Transparency International 2013 Report which ranked Nigeria 144th most corrupt country among 177 countries. Secondly, the African Development Bank (AfDB) recently revealed that $2.6 trillion is stolen annually through high-level corrupt practices on the continent. While the ripples of these revelations were still being felt, a third occasion to discuss corruption came via the 2013 International Anti-Corruption Day marked by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). There, those in power too had a chance to bare their minds on the problem of corruption bedeviling the country. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, of course, joined the fray, and underlined the deepening impunity in government circles.

In particular, the poor performance of the anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) came under the critical lens of the Speaker. The influx of funds from grant-making bodies which has not been accounted for was specifically mentioned. The Speaker also questioned the pension fund scam, the misapplication of funds in the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), the continuing illegality of the Federal Executive Council acting as a contract clearing house despite the constitutional remit of the Bureau of Public Procurement to that effect and bureaucratic double standard over which the relevant organisations have refused to act.

However, the Speaker seemed to have patted the back of the National Assembly which he claimed had done its oversight function provided for in the constitution. He claimed that the legislature had carried out probes and whose reports the relevant organisations had refused to pursue to logical conclusion. In the exercise of their disciplinary measures, according to him, the legislature had not spared any of its erring members such as Farouk Lawan who was suspended from house committees following his indictment.

Besides, the House had passed into law the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to aid citizens’ action in curbing corruption in the country.

This is impressive talk. There is no doubt that the body language of the Presidency, as Tambuwal posited, not only seems to encourage corruption, it actually embraces it. And this is a tragedy for Nigeria. But is it possible to exonerate the National Assembly from charges of corruption? There are many clauses in the constitution that empower the National Assembly to monitor the country’s resources. For example, sections 59 and 80-89 give full powers to the National Assembly to appropriate funds for the running of the affairs of the country and also to act as watchdog over the use of the resources by ways of horizontal accountability and by means of its powers over the AuditorGeneral of the Federation. Sections 80(3) states that “no money shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the Federation, other than the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, unless the issue of those moneys has been authorized by an Act of the National Assembly.” And of course, it must be done in the manner laid down by the National Assembly as stated in Section 80 (4) of the constitution. Also, Section 85 (4) specifically states that “the AuditorGeneral shall have power to conduct periodic checks of all government statutory corporations, commissions, authorities, agencies, including all persons and bodies established by an Act of the National Assembly”.

Above all, the power of impeachment engrossed in Section 143 gives the assembly the teeth to bite the executive. The National Assembly has yet to exploit this for effect.

The charges of corruption are grave and daily, the impression is given as though the executive has all the power in the world to make and unmake despite constitutional provisions to the contrary. It is in this context that the submissions of the Speaker, good as they sound, would amount to grandstanding intended for an audience already overwhelmed by maladministration of government. It should be emphasized that there is danger in riding roughshod over the people. For sure, the large-scale corruption pervading the country amounts to impunity.

The National Assembly could perhaps begin the remediation process by a certain self-purge and penitence in terms of reviewing its outlandish packages which rank it among the highest paid in the world. It would be edifying for the Nigerian National Assembly to also learn from the resentment to even the tokenist salary increase proposed by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) for the British lawmakers over their insensitivity to the ongoing economic recession in that country, despite several years of salary freeze. It is only by such self-purge and the power of personal examples that the legislature can regain the moral high ground and be alive to its responsibility.

LETTERS

Jacob Zuma, whither South Africa?

IR: When (Baba) Nelson hero of our time”; is he not? As a to Pa Mandela in 1994 as President, S5, 2013, Mandela died on December dignified nonagenarian, Pa P.W. De Klerk, said something at the age of 95 being Mandela was a living African born in 1918, diverse encomiums were poured on him.

Comment/lamentation by the first Black President of United States, Barak Obama: “He left legacy of freedom and peace; a profoundly good person; sacrificed his own freedom for the freedom of others; reconciled himself with those who jailed him” for 27 years. My question to the current President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma is: What happens to Baba’s legacies, with particular reference to reconciliation, equity and freedom in South Africa?

I found it distasteful when Zuma said of Pa Mandela’s demise, “South Africa lost its greatest son”; at 95 whose son was Mandela for God’s sake?

And then, “Our people have lost a father” – must he exclude himself because he is President? Even if Pa Mandela were only one minute older than Zuma, ancestrally speaking, he cannot cut that oneminute off to become Mandela’s equal, earthly-wise.

He calls him “The first President of a free South Africa.” Yes, but much more than that. As someone said, Pa Mandela was and he is still the Father of a democratic South Africa. Yes, if only because he was the acknowledged leader of all those who were imprisoned for South Africa’s sake. Pa Mandela shares the honour with those with whom he was imprisoned, and with P.W. de Klerk, who was used by God to facilitate end of apartheid.

David Cameron of England described Pa Mandela as “the

ancestor.

The only reservation I have on Obama’s comment, and he is much more pardonable than Zuma, is what he added that Pa Mandela “no longer belong to us but to the ages.” Ancestrally speaking, that is not correct. All the encomiums that people are pouring on the faithful departed indicate that he joins African ancestors, and together with God, they will continue to watch and judge what we do with their legacies, with particular reference to being our brothers’ keepers or otherwise. The ancestors are spiritual beings; like Martin Luther King, Jr., Mandela is alive.

The last White President of South Africa, who handed over

challenging to President Zuma in my understanding. He described Pa Mandela as a “unifier”. With what adjective will people describe Zuma as South Africa’s President? I was impressed by another commentator who said on the same BBC International (via Tv3, Ghana) that Mandela could have made himself a life President, but handed-over after five years, saying it was time to retire. People are apprehensive what becomes of South Africa after the magnanimous Mandela.

He must have been playing a stabilization role!

Pa Mandela was a “unifier”; hence a stabilizer. Nigerian rulers, what are you? Indiscipline is making you shun rotational presidency.

You are destabilizers!

•Pius Abioje, University of Ilorin.

Re: ICPC and Abuja land scam IR: The Independent Corrupt blanket condemnations of the SOffences Practices and Other Related past.

Commission (ICPC) is

appreciative of your well-considered and incisive editorial in The Guardian of Tuesday, November 19, 2013 at page 14, for two main reasons.

First for congratulating Dr. Ade Abolurin, the Commandant General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSDC) for his exemplary behaviour in “blowing the whistle” on his errant staff. The news media and the public should begin to appreciate these new moulds of Chief Executives and Agencies that gave of their best. We urge you to sustain the trend as we move away from the perennial

Secondly your conclusion that “Nothing should be allowed to scuttle the investigative processes or to provide a surreptitious cover up” is why ICPC has not stampeded the outcome to the court as requested by your comment.

Lastly, for your information all the names of the NSDC officials from whom properties were seized were conspicuously displayed in the seizure orders published in some newspapers, contrary to your assertion that the names were not disclosed.

Folu Olamiti, Resident Consultant (Media)

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

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Opinion The joy of Christmas

By Luke Onyekakeyah N a couple of days from now, the world will Iyear’s be celebrating another Christmas. This Christmas is the 2013 edition since the th

first Christmas heralded the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. The stage for that was set in Bethlehem, a small town in Judea.

The cast included Joseph, Mary, the shepherds and the angels. Baby Jesus, whose birth is synonymous with Christmas, is the central issue of Christmas. The message of Christmas is that of joy and peace. That was the heavenly message brought by the multitude of angels who appeared in heaven and overwhelmed the shepherds in the field.

The angel’s message was straight - “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” Luke 2:14. That was the message from heaven that marked Christmas.

Therefore, any other issue, concern, expectation, desire or want that is not in tandem with this eternal message is not for Christmas. Any desire not geared towards giving God glory and in turn promoting peace and goodwill towards men on earth contradicts the spirit and purpose of Christmas.

On that note, it is right to ask what your expectations at Christmas are. Are your expectations geared towards mundane things or focused on the message of Christmas? Many people have varied expectations at Christmas – some good some bad. Some are expecting gifts from someone. Some want to go for exotic shopping spree. Some want a new car.

Some want to complete their house. The expectations are many and varied. For many, unless their expectations are met, there is no Christmas in their subconscious.

If your expectations fall short of the central theme of Christmas, which is joy, peace and goodwill, you should retract it and have the right spirit. Remember that Christmas has no end. As long as the earth exists with human beings, there will be Christmas celebration. In

a matter of twelve months from now, there will be another Christmas. So, nobody should kill him or herself because of this year’s Christmas. Mellow down; take life easy.

What will be will be with or without you.

Thank God specially that you are alive to celebrate another Christmas. That is the greatest gift.

One of the main features of Christmas is mass movement of people from one place to another. There are international travels across continents, regions and countries.

Over and above that are the domestic travels within the country. In Nigeria, for instance, the traditional movement at this time is from the West to the eastern states and then north to the southern states. There is this air of hurry, hurry, hurry! Many people appear to be in a hurry to reach their destination, meet certain goals/targets before the year ends. The event of Christmas, which comes on December 25, just six days to the end of the year accentuates this haste.

Somehow, there is a false feeling in some individuals of if I don’t accomplish the set objective, meet a target or goal, there won’t be another chance. But that is completely fallacious. There is no particular Christmas that would mark the end of Christmas, opportunities, expectations and targets. Soon after Christmas comes the New Year that opens a brand new world of opportunities. Those that lost their lives during Christmas “rush” don’t ever get another chance to celebrate another Christmas.

I am a bit hesitant to adduce “rush” to Christmas because there was nothing in the first Christmas that suggested “rush”, especially for mundane things. The duo of Joseph and Mary, on their way to Bethlehem to get registered in a census ordered by Caesar Augustus (63 BC–14 AD), the Roman Governor were travelling on a donkey, that walked normally. The shepherds were in the field keeping night watch over their flock under a

serene atmosphere when the multitude of angels appeared with the message of Christmas.

It was only after the angels had departed back into heaven that the Bible said the shepherds “went with haste” to Bethlehem to confirm what the angels had said. That rush was geared towards meeting Baby Jesus in the manger and not for any material purpose. I have dwelt on the issue of rush at Christmas because it is the cause of many deaths on the roads in Nigeria during this season. The high rate of road accidents that has become another nightmare in Nigeria worsens during Christmas. This is very sad.

Yesterday, Sunday, while on my way to church service around 8.30 am, I saw two accidents on a stretch of Lagos inner city road that is less than one kilometre away. The first one involved a yellow passenger mini bus that hit a private car from the back. The argument that ensued between drivers, their passengers and members of the public who gathered caused an unexpected traffic holdup early that morning. We managed to wriggle out.

Then, just about five minutes later on the same road, a more devastating accident occurred. A private Toyota car coming on the opposite side of the road on top speed apparently lost control and instead of turning at a sharp bend went and hit the raised pavement, jumped it and ended up smashing the car at the roundabout on the other side. Three young men and a lady quickly jumped out of the car apparently unhurt. Smoke was spewing from the car. The whole thing happened in a flash. Luckily, no vehicle was coming at the time because it was still early morning.

These accidents are happening because people are rushing to their destinations. I am sure that all the plans made for that car’s use this Christmas were suddenly truncated that morning because the driver didn’t exercise restraint while on the wheel. The truth is that there is no need rushing to do anything dur-

ing this festive period. It is not mandatory that one must travel. It is better not to travel and stay alive for another Christmas than get oneself into trouble.

It is important to point out that the way Christmas is celebrated in Nigeria is different from the way it is celebrated in other climes.

In the Western world, for instance, the prices of goods are slashed apparently to make things affordable to all. Shops open Christmas sales where every imaginable item is sold at rock bottom price. That culture promotes and brings joy to millions at Christmas.

But here in Nigeria, the stakes are high. Once it is December 1st, the prices of every item in the market skyrocket beyond measure. Everything from food items, clothing, shoes, household utensils, etc, have their prices raised.

Many business men stock pile goods to be sold at Christmas, for that is when they make very high profit. The price hike is also extended to transport fares. Travelers pay through their nose. Criminals have a field day during Christmas. This culture of profiteering during Christmas negates the spirit and purpose of the historic event. Rather than promote joy, millions, among our famished citizenry are made sad during Christmas. The joy is denied them by circumstances beyond their control.

As many embark on travelling, partying, eating and drinking, nobody should forget the central message of Christmas, which is joy to the world and peace to men of good will.

While the joy is to the whole world, the peace is only for men and women who have goodwill towards others. The only way to be a partaker of this peace is to eschew bitterness, rancor and acrimony. To the tension enveloping Nigeria’s polity we say peace. Let peace and joy reign in the hearts of all men as a prelude to peace in the country. The gift of Christmas, which is Christ, is love. His message is joy – the joy that surpasses understanding.

• Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year till after the holiday.

Why Junaid Mohammed should support conference

By Felix Oragwu HIS opinion piece is a rejoinder and reaction to the stateT ments credited to Dr. Junaid Mohammed a distinguished leading Nigerian Politician from Northern region of Nigeria, namely, (i) “supporters of Sovereign National Conference (SNC) are asking for Civil War, as per Punch Newspaper on line, December 1, 2013, and (ii) “Re 2015: There will be blood shed if Jonathan runs, warns Junaid Mohammed”, as per Sun news on line. December 6, 2103.

I beg to differ on SNC or National Dialogue. I see the SNC of the representatives of over 200 hundred ethnic nationalities of Nigeria as an opportunity for Nigeria to address and resolve her intractable challenges of political instability, crises of good governance, endemic corruption at all levels of governance, insecurity, ethnic nationality conflicts, joblessness, and pervasive poverty visited on Nigeria since the end of the Civil War in 1970. The SNC, in particular, offers a crucial platform to renegotiate the terms and conditions on which the diverse peoples comprised in Nigeria can live in peace, unity and progress. The objective of the SNC is therefore to achieve political stability and peace in Nigeria, national political cohesion, nationalism, patriotism, pride and love of the citizens for Nigeria as a Nation State The successful holding of the SNC will assist Nigeria in reinventing and actualizing her once cherished and lofty aspirations, namely, “a united, strong and self-reliant nation, a great and dynamic economy, a just and egalitarian society, a land full of bright and full of opportunities for all its Citizens and a free and democratic society”. In brief, the main objective of SNC is to achieve political stability and peace in Nigeria, national political cohesion, nationalism, patriotism, pride and love of the citizens for Nigeria as a nation state not a civil war.

I also have to disagree with people who say that all Nigeria’s problems are due to “the mistake of Amalgamation” in 1914 of over 200 differing and distinct ethnic nationalities to set up Nigeria as a Nation State. This is because it is “Amalgamation” that made United States of America (USA) a big and most powerful Nation on earth, USSR a second most powerful Nation

on earth and United Kingdom (UK) of Great Britain a great and formidable colonial power in Europe. Nigeria with its large population and talented human resources, huge natural resources and large geographical space can be a great power at least in Africa.

However, USA and UK respectively came into being through a strategy of negotiated terms of Union in the case of USA of America States who are all immigrants from Europe, Asia and Africa, respectively, but who found themselves in North America originally owned by what is now history called the Red Indians, and in the case of UK of Great Britain is also through a negotiated Union of independent Nations of England, Scotland and Wales living independently in one big Island called Britain, which through the resulting Treaty of 1707 brought UK into being. What I believe is the “mistake” in the case of Nigeria is the strategy of “forced Amalgamation” in 1914. Britain herself as a colonial power later realized her “mistake” and corrected it in 1951, when she organized a National Conference of representatives of Nigeria’s over 200 constituent ethnic nationalities led by Alhaji Ahmadu Bello leading the Northern Nigeria’s Group of Nationalities (now the 19 Northern States), Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe leading the Eastern Nigeria Group of Nationalities (now the South East States, Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states, and Chief Obafemi Awolowo leading the Western Nigeria Group of Nationalities (now the six South West Sates, Edo and Delta states) respectively, in Ibadan, Western Nigeria for a negotiated Federation in 1951 to make Nigeria a true Federation, which sustained Nigeria in relative unity, peace and progress from 1952-January 15, 1966.

However, in January 15, 1966, Nigeria through a military fiat, resurrected the terrible “mistake” of “forced Amalgamation” by dismantling and jettisoning the carefully negotiated terms of Union by our founding fathers of Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, respectively. The true Federal arrangement of 1952-1965 sustained Nigeria in relative unity, peace and real socio-economic progress. The SNC is an opportunity to correct that “mistake” by the military and return Nigeria to real unity, peace and progress as was the case from 1952-1965. This

is why I see the proposed SNC or National Dialogue so crucial and imperative and given the current travails, a “make or break” for Nigeria. It offers an opportunity to bring Nigeria back to a sustainable true Federation for peace and unity to reign again in Nigeria.

It was the well-structured federation arrangement of 19521965 which assured that the Federating Units were sufficiently viable and sufficiently powerful to develop at their own pace and factor endowments and that the Federal (Central) Government was not so powerful and not so attractive to undermine the autonomy of the Federating Units to avoid fanning Nigeria’s ethnic and religious diversity into destructive competition to grab and control the powerful Federal (Central) Government. This was what gave Nigeria peace and it was in attempt to change the situation that led Nigeria to Civil War in 1967-1970 and the intractable challenges of peace and unity since 1970.

From 1952-1965 the Federal (Central) Government with only a Capital Territory as at present had its responsibility mainly as mutually agreed Common Services. The SNC is to address what caused the Civil War and related Nigeria’s intractable challenges of unity and peace and not to cause another Civil War as being stated by distinguished Dr. Junaid Mohammed.

The SNC is meant to honestly, dispassionately and truthfully determine the terms and conditions for keeping Nigeria a sustainable Nation State in peace and real unity. It will also return accountability in government, bring new leadership in government and help Nigeria to use accountability as a serious instrument to prevent and or fight corruption in government in Nigeria. Therefore in my view all the stakeholders both politicians and non-politicians should support the SNC to avoid Nigeria’s collapse or disintegration as is the case with Sudan.

I, therefore, appeal and urge distinguished Dr. Junaid Mohammed as a leading stakeholder in Nigeria’s project and those who reason like him to have a rethink and give their full support and commitment to the SNC to enable it re-negotiate the terms and conditions on which the diverse peoples comprised in Nigeria can live in peace, security, progress and unity • Oragwu lives in Lagos.

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THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Opinion The need for true federalism (2)

By Raph Uwechue URTHERMORE, true political federalism FAt must be anchored on true fiscal federalism. independence, the revenue sharing formula was 50% on derivation to the region of origin, 20% to the Federal Government and the balance of 30% was shared equally among the regional governments including the region of origin.

This formula was reconfirmed in the 1963 Republican constitution.

This delicate and controversial issue of Revenue Allocation should be appropriately revisited with a view to striking an equitable balance between the two principles of derivation and need in our overall national interest. Such an exercise should take into account the proposed reduced responsibilities of the Federal Government and the corresponding increase in those of the Regions.

The tenure of the chief executive at Federal and Regional levels should be reviewed. To facilitate appropriate timely rotation of this key office among the proposed Six Regions, a president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should hold office for a single tenure of six (6) years and should not be eligible for another term of office as President of the Federal Republic. The President should be assisted by a Vice President of his own choice as running mate, whose role shall be defined by the constitution. The Vice President should not be an automatic replacement of the president when a vacancy occurs in the course of their tenure.

Apart from stopping the inevitable distraction from the time and attention of the office holder in the quest for a second term, a single tenure eliminates the crucial and unfair advantage enjoyed by an incumbent with access to vast official facilities, which are not available to his or her co-contestants in the conduct of electoral campaigns.

The tenure of the president should commence from the date when he was sworn in as President. The office of the President should rotate among the Six Regions. When a vacancy occurs by whatever cause (demise, incapacity on health grounds, impeachment, resignation) a person from his/her Region, selected through a

process to be established, should assume the office of the president of the Federation for the remainder of the six-year tenure allotted to that Region.

There is today ample evidence that Nigerians, irrespective of their political affiliations, have accepted the six zonal arrangements and not a Sudan-type, conflict-prone, bi-polar demarcation of North and South. This fact came clear in 2007, when the elective headship of the two key arms of government – the Executive and the Legislature emerged from North-West (President Umaru Yar’Adua) and North-Central (Gen. David Mark). At the same time the third arm of government – the Judiciary – was headed by Justice Legbo Kutigi also from North Central, although by existing convention, succession here has been by professional seniority. Nobody, anywhere in the country, complained that the “South” was short-changed and deprived, simply because what the vast majority of Nigerians saw in the situation were two contiguous but separate zones, North-West and North-Central.

They did not see a “North” having it all and the entire “South” going empty handed. For them our country has six geo-political zones, not two, vis-à-vis the distribution and rotation of key national offices.

An earlier confirmative political phenomenon further attesting to this fact occurred in 1999, when the South West geo-political zone fielded the two Olus – Obasanjo and Falae – from the three political parties, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and a joint ticket of All People’s Party (APP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD) respectively – for the universally acknowledged SouthWest presidential slot missed by their kinsman, Chief M.K.O.Abiola, in 1993. This landmark equity-driven political event, involving in unprecedented unanimity all the then registered political parties, is a categorical national affirmation of the six zonal concept, taking precedence and clearly overriding party political consideration, vis-à-vis rotating all key political offices, including the Office of the President of Nigeria. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo triumphed over his kinsman Chief Olu Falae, in a national yet distinctly intra South-West presidential contest.

Those who are still preaching the antiquated, pre-amalgamation, presently unconstitutional and invidiously divisive North-South political doctrine with regards to presidential power shift should stop to reflect on the fact that of the 52 years since Independence, the geographical area which they designate as the North has produced civilian and military rulers of Nigeria for some 38 years, leaving in the process a most significant stamp on the politically crucial configuration of our current State and Local Government structure. Although we admit that some of them, proved to be leaders of good polish and nationally acknowledged integrity, like Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari and lately Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua. The so-called South by contrast has so far clocked less than 15 years in the presidential saddle. If therefore, the two-zone North-South concept were to prevail, and strict equity were to apply vis-à-vis power shift, when then is the South due to hand over the presidential baton? Is it after completing its own equalizing stint of 38 years? Surely, in the interest of national cohesion and socio-political stability, we must recognize the fact that our country simply cannot progress steadily, to the desired benefit and comfort of all the component groups, while operating an unstable elastic zoning system, which either shrinks to two or expands to six as and when it suits the sectional interest of any part of this vast and variegated nation.

Recurrent experience has shown that in our present stage of political development, a loose rather than a tight arrangement, without the central government wielding a big stick politically and financially, holds out the best chances of peaceful coexistence among our numerous ethnic and cultural groups. In this political exercise, our ultimate objective should be not simply that of giving more responsibilities to the Regions vis-à-vis the Centre but of producing a new basis for a national joint venture, with the Regions having more practical opportunities to operate without friction in many areas that are today the exclusive domain of the Central Government.

A truly strong and prosperous Nigeria has, of necessity, to be a politically stable Nigeria.

Greater strength does not necessarily lie in the outwardly impressive but inwardly brittle togetherness such as binds the particles of a piece of rock but in the less obvious and more supple cohesiveness holding together those of a lump of rubber. Tested under pressure the former cracks up, the latter bulges but does not break. Nigeria’s ultimate strength and chances of stable progress in sustainable unity lie in her ability to hold together in times of stress the various and divergent elements of which she is composed.

They do not lie in setting up an over centralized constitutional straight jacket with insufficient allowance for her varying angles and curves. To boost the chances of political stability, the diminution of the powers and control of the Central Government and the resultant increase of those of the Regions ipso facto reduces the dazzling but ill-fated attraction of Central Power and the consequent do-or-die struggle to grab it by means fair or foul.

We shall conclude this piece as we began it by reiterating General Gowon’s wise admonition half a century ago: “Rule out (A) Complete breakup (B) Unitary system of government de jure or de facto.

Find a new arrangement, our own invention, which will be peculiar to Nigeria and which has not yet found its way into any political dictionary.

It is particularly noteworthy that Switzerland, an internationally respected but relatively small European country, with three ethnic units – French, Germanic, and Italian, found a durable answer to its ethnic problems in the formation of a unique highly decentralized federal structure, Confederation Helvetic, based on mutual respect and accommodation for its tribal units, in instructive contrast with its European neighbours – the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia – which collapsed along ethnic lines. As a country, Switzerland has survived peacefully over the years in impressive stability and evident prosperity, with the city of Geneva, today serving as the European host of the United Nations Organisation in enviable tranquility.

• Concluded • Ambassador Uwechue OFR, ex–President-General Of Ohanaeze Ndigbo wrote from Africa House, Ogwashiukwu, Delta State

Between Obasanjo and President Jonathan

By Tayo Ogunbiyi HIEF Olusegun Obasanjo, aka OBJ, Nigerian former military C Head of State and two-term civilian President, is again living up to the image of an un-official watchdog of the country, which he had carved for himself. His recent widely publicised stinker to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, aka, GEJ, simply follows the tradition of numerous others he had written to successive Heads of State in the country in the past. Former Presidents Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and Umaru Yar’Adua have had to contend with the venomous pen of OBJ at one time or the other.

On the recent ‘pen bombing’ of GEJ by OBJ, one would like to state that OBJ is not saying anything new. It is obvious that GEJ is apparently overwhelmed by the enormity of the challenge of governing a nation as complex as Nigeria. There seems to be a dearth of well-articulated policies and programmes that could bring about the much needed succour for the masses. All we seem to be seeing is mostly uncoordinated form of governance.

On the issue of corruption, except for his hypocritical followers, whose gods are their bellies, it is quite obvious that the GEJ administration is yet to demonstrate that it has the much needed political will to decisively tackle corruption in high places. The recent aviation scandal suffice. Till date, the report of the administrative panel set up by the presidency to probe the scandal is yet to see the light of the day. Perhaps, the most dastardly act a government could commit is to shield corrupt public officials.

On the issue of ethnicity and tribalism raised by OBJ in his lethal missive to GEJ, one has also had to express such concerns.

Suddenly, ethnic and tribal sentiments are taking centre stage, like never before, in our country. While it is true that every man, first and foremost, belongs to a ethnic group on the ground of birth, it is equally true, and importantly so, that in a multifaceted and intrinsically complex nation like Nigeria, the presidency must not be seen to be either overtly or covertly fanning the ember of tribalism.

Having said all these, however, one would like to state that OBJ is a fundamental part of the whole problem our nation is

presently grappling with. For one, OBJ practically foisted GEJ on Nigerians like he did the late Umaru Yar’Adua. Twice, OBJ had actively participated in the process that produced our leaders, and twice his choices have left the nation in very precarious situations. The needless crisis occasioned by the health challenges of late President Umaru Yar’Adua is still fresh in our memories.

Against all calculations and popular anticipations, OBJ was reported to have imposed GEJ as the running mate to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua in the run up to the 2007 presidential election. The rest, as they say, is now history.

Insinuations have been made, in certain quarters, that OBJ vigorously supported both late President Yar’Adua and GEJ for selfish reasons. Those who made this allusion based their argument on the premise that OBJ saw in both of them late weak characters whom he could exercise unrestricted control over. He, probably, saw in their personalities, character flaws he could lash on to indirectly hold on to power by being the power behind the throne.

Unfortunately, while it may be true that the two personalities might not really look like their own men, OBJ could not really achieve his objective because his supposed ‘puppets’ were hijacked by other equally potent political interests and forces with similar goals. Seeing that his anointed ones were defying his authorities, OBJ suddenly became an Apostle of the goods of the nation. He fired a deadly salvo at the late Umaru Yar’Adua in the wake of his mis-managed health crisis. Now, Jonathan is next on the firing line of this obviously angry Owu warrior.

Like GEJ, OBJ has had his own fair share of opportunities to write his name in gold, but he wasted it. One is yet to see a Nigerian twice as lucky as OBJ. He never had the ambition to rule on the two occasions that fate beckoned on him to lead our nation.

It was reported that he reluctantly agreed to mount the saddle after the death of his principal, late General Murtala Mohammed in 1976. With regards to his second coming, it allegedly took persuasions from certain ‘powerful’ individuals before he agreed to contest the 1999 General Elections. Till date, aside OBJ, no other Nigerian has had the privilege of ruling the country for eleven years (1976-1979 and 1999-2007). Equally, no other Nigerian has missed the opportunity to be a national hero like OBJ. It was under his administration that the decay of federal infra-

structure across the country got to an amazing height. It was, equally, under him that elections became a ‘do-or-die’ affair.

The acts of impunity committed by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, under his administration was legendary. Though, he was a civilian ruler, OBJ ruled in such a fashion that made people mistook him for a military dictator.

Lagos State had a taste of this when it had a running battle with OBJ over seized local government funds. Yet, at the tail end of his rule, OBJ attempted to extend his hold on power. In his characteristics self-righteous posture, he was to later reveal that he would have had his tenure elongated if he had intimated God about it!

What we need now is a conducive political environment and a united front to ensure that the country truly fulfill its potentials as the giant of Africa. We do not need the unnecessary distractions of men who are part of the reason why a famous writer alluded to this generation as a wasted one. Today, Nigeria is the sixth oil exporting nation in the world but couldn’t fix her refineries. Ours remains a country where children jump and shout each time public power (electricity) is restored. In all honesty, our nation can do without the meddlesomeness of OBJ and his co-travellers, who erroneously believe that they have the magic wands to move the country forward. We have had enough of people like OBJ. He and his likes should quietly enjoy their retirement and leave Nigeria alone.

As for President Goodluck Jonathan, rather than resorting to desperate measures to perpetuate his Presidency, he should take a cue from the lives and times of the late Nelson Mandela, who shunned all divisive tendencies to reconcile his country to the path of unity and prosperity. GEJ should avoid like plague, hypocrites and charlatans who daily parade the corridor of powers to tell him lies for selfish reasons. These are the same people that told late General Abacha that he was the best. He should concentrate on doing all he could to genuinely move the country forward. He should toe the line of honesty, sincerity, transparency, forgiveness, love and patriotism. History beckons on GEJ and what history says about him is determined by what he does now.

• Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Tuesday, December 17,

19

TheMetroSection Fear of VIOs is beginning of wisdom

By Isaac Taiwo, Abdulwaheed Usamah and Kenechukwu Ezeonyejiaku

• Motorists bemoan high-handedness of road enforcement agencies

ESPECT the Police, fear Lagos State Traffic “R Management Authority (LASTMA), but flee Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs), if you can,” is a common maxim among drivers in Lagos State. This is not unconnected with the ordeal and trauma Lagosians have been subjected to, in the hands of these law enforcement agencies.

While police brutality is well-known, it took the Inspector-General of Police’s ban on checkpoints across the country for motorists to get some respite on the road.

In Lagos, the absence of police checkpoints has, however, left the field open for officials of the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO) and (LASTMA) to inflict pain on motorists.

In fact, it took the intervention of the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), during the induction of new Special Traffic Mayors, to stress that the primarily responsibility of LASTMA is to keep traffic moving.

In the words of the governor, the priority is not about arresting those who violate traffic laws, but to keep the traffic moving.

“If any LASTMA official realizes that in the process of arresting a traffic offender, there is every likelihood of creating more traffic bottleneck, such a traffic offender should be let go. If traffic is kept moving, the quality of life would improve as lesser hours would be spent in traffic.”

But no road traffic enforcement agency elicits terror in the minds of motorists than the bands of VIOs in their trademark white and black uniform. The mere sight of them on the road makes the heart of drivers skip a bit. And the reasons are not farfetched.

Law enforcement agents saddled with the responsibility of ensuring sanity on the roads have always come under heavy criticism of being high-handed in the execution of their duties, to the extent that both commercial and private vehicle owners dread them.

Unlike the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the VIOs’ penchant for dispossessing erring drivers of their cars and keeping it in custody until a hefty fine is paid, makes them to be branded “road demons.”

But why should motorists be scared of ‘road demons’ in various shades of uniforms? Most likely, it is due to the absence of valid vehicle particulars.

According to a senior FRSC official, there are seven must-have requirements for a driver to be on the road, anything short of it would elicit a booking and/or payment of fine.

The must-have requirements are valid Driver’s Licence, valid vehicle license, valid MOT/Roadworthiness certificate, valid insurance certificate, fire extinguisher, spare tyre and C-Caution.

Of these seven, the Driver’s Licence is the hardest to get and the singular offence most motorists are booked for. In Lagos, obtaining a driver’s license has become a nightmare.

By law, the process requires going through three different agencies, which comprise the

PHOTO: AYODELE ADENIRAN

VIOs on duty in Lagos

The must-have requirements are valid Driver’s Licence, valid vehicle licence, valid MOT/Roadworthiness certificate, valid insurance certificate, fire extinguisher, spare tyre and C-Caution Motor Vehicle Administration Agency (MVAA), the VIS and the FRSC before a temporary license can be issued.

But like what happens often at the Passport Offices of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) across the country, the bottleneck associated with obtaining driving certification, which is data capturing, has succeeded in creating a black market at various Drivers’ Licence centres in the state, which many applicants say stems from the new regime introduced in 2012.

Many drivers, even when they possess valid driving documents, are often harassed on the road, especially when they are in possession of Driver’s Licence not issued in Lagos. It is immediately branded fake while the holder is subjected to various inhuman treatments and treated as an offender.

A civil servant, who preferred anonymity, narrated his ordeal at the hands of the VIOs recently. “Every driver intending to get the new

Driver’s Licence is subjected to untold rigour in Lagos; which was why I went to Ogun State to obtain my licence duly signed by the relevant authorities.”

“I have been using it for several months until I was recently stopped by the VIOs and on demand for my Driver’s Licence, I proudly presented it only to be stunned by their accusation that it was fake. I was dumbfounded as a fine was not only imposed, but my vehicle was also impounded.”

“I parted with an appreciable amount of money before I could retrieve my vehicle. I never believed the Driver’s Licence issued in Lagos would be different from that of Ogun.

The irony is that they would not even listen to your explanation,” he lamented.

Reacting to the high-handedness of enforcement officials, Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, said drivers were expected to know the rules and regulations governing the art of driving before they mount their seats and handle the steering.

“The new method of procuring Driver’s Licence provides that applicants should pass through written and practical test and we have told law enforcement agents not to take advantage of their privileged position to over-react or be inhuman in the course of carrying out their civic duty.”

He placed it on record that a Driver’s Licence obtained in Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Enugu and any other parts of the country is tenable anywhere.

“The responsibility to issue driver’s license rests on the state. What the FRSC does is to produce and hand over to the state. Any driver’s li-

cense obtained from FRSC yard would be considered fake.”

“The due process is that one goes to the state where he resides and approaches the Vehicle Administration Agency or the Board of Internal Revenue where he pays the appropriate fee and provides his personal data. The state will then present the applicant to the Vehicle Inspection Service who will conduct test for him and, if qualifies, will present him for photo data capture with the FRSC. “FRSC will not capture him if he has not paid the appropriate fee to the state, or would his name appear in the data base. In Lagos, obtaining Driver’s Licence by proxy is not acceptable, because it will not enter the database and whether fresh licence or renewal, you are to do a written test.

“Also, the signatory in each state’s Driver’s Licence is different and subject to change anytime and when changed, the new signature is communicated to the appropriate authorities to note. So, in most cases, it is the signature on the license that gives the holder away as holding a fake licence.”

Opeifa further said when a driver is apprehended with a fake Driver’s Licence, he loses his right to drive and in that case, his car would be towed at his expense. He said law enforcement agents were not authorized to drive anybody’s car.

He reminded the law enforcement agents to be humane while executing their duties and at the same time, wisely defend themselves since they do not carry arms and offenders may want to take advantage of this to harm them.

Briefs FGC Warri elects new officers

Irene Ola-Odunbaku for burial Thursday

Fashola, Tinubu for Olusi's autobiography launch

State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), acting National UNERAL rites for Mrs. Irene Abimbola Ola-Odunbaku, HE 1994 set of Federal Government College (FGC) Warri old LandAGOS Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande F who died on November 27, will begin tomorrow with a T students recently held its reunion AGM/Dinner party in leader of the party, Bola Tinubu are among eminent personaliAsaba, Delta State to catch up on progress recorded by indi-

viduals so far.

This is the third in the event that was initiated by Ikechi Abalogu, Lawrence Ogbeide and Peter Imohi.

It was formed to bring old students together yearly and improve the general wellbeing of members.

The Asaba event was an exciting one as it recorded more attendance than the previous two held in Warri (2011) and Lagos (2012).

Highlight of this year's event was the election of exco members . They included Ikechi Abalogu (Chairman), Olive Okparayote (Vice) , Ovie Adaseu (Secretary) ,and Chidi Anene (Treasurer) while Steven Atseyinku and Bukola Fatoki were elected Public Relations officers, Mfoniso Akpabio, Lauretta Okwusabo and Wale Ajayi were elected Welfare officers.

The 2014 meeting holds in Abuja.

Christian wake at Palm Avenue Methodist Cathedral, Mushin, Lagos at 5.00p.m.

She will be buried on Thursday at Apena Cemetery, Ebute Metta after a funeral service at the same church at 11.00a.m.

She is survived by an aged mother, husband and chilOla-Odunbaku dren.

ties expected at today’s launch of 'Do not be a low mean man: The Story of a Prince of Peace', the autobiography of National President of the Zumratul Islamiyyah Society of Nigeria, Tajudeen Oluyole Olusi.

The 358-page book, which details the journey of the former National Vice- Chairman (Southwest) of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and former member of the House of Representatives, will be presented to the public today at the Grand Ball Room of Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos at 10.00 am.

In his foreword, former Lagos State Governor, Lateef Jakande said the “book is not just an autobiography but the story of a public man in every sense of the word.”

“It is a story of religions in Lagos, a story of Lagos politics, education and commerce. In this long story, Olusi has lived a life of honour and service for which he gives the credit to his father. Prince Tajudeen Oluyole Olusi is a man of integrity and a trustworthy political associate. He is, indeed, the prince of peace,” he said.

20 Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Lagos reforms LASTMA, unveils Law Enforcement Institute

By Tope Templer Olaiya HE Lagos State government has unveiled the state’s law enforcement institute, which has been put together to improve traffic management and environmental sanitation in the state.

The state governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, formally unveiled the Lagos State Law Enforcement Training Institute along with the Senior Special Assistant on Transport Education, Dr. Mariam Masha among others, after the evaluation training programmes organised for officials of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and Kick against Indiscipline (KAI).

At the unveiling of the enforcement institute attended by the first civilian governor of the state, Alhaji Lateef Jakande and the first military governor, Brigadier-General Mobolaji Johnson, the governor explained the rationale of the reform, which he said had been on-going in the last two years.

He added that the reform was tailored to redevelop and furnish all the 30 offices where LASTMA and KAI officials are presently working in difficult condition. “We are also reequipping all the offices. I am told that the first four offices are ready and another batch of four will soon be ready.”

Masha, who coordinated the evaluation-training programme in collaboration with the Ministry of Establishment, Training and Pensions, explained that there is nothing more important in enforcing the law than educating those who enforce it.

She proposed institutionalizing standards and training of all the law enforcement officers concerned with transport and traffic management, environmental sanitation and neighbourhood security.

“The career evaluation training programme, which began with LASTMA and KAI, was intended to determine suitability and ability of each personnel for the assigned job, achieve appropriate re-orientation and professionalism of the officers and equip officers with the requisite skills for their assigned tasks.

“Since you cannot teach an old dog new trick, we got creative and worked with them on learning how to forget a few old tricks. We applied traditional and non-traditional but acceptable educational processes, which were deliberately designed to touch the hearts and awaken the minds of our officers. Our focus is on self-improvement, stress management, developing mental toughness and resilience.

Though it is work in progress, we have been able to ignite cultural change and combat cynicism between the officers, their agencies and the community,” the special assistant explained.

T

www.ngrguardiannews.com THE GUARDIAN,

Rotary joins fight against HIV/AIDS

By Isaac Taiwo ANY Lagosians, especially drivers, M benefitted from 2013 World AIDS Day celebration with the theme: “Getting to Zero,” which was marked by Rotary International District 9110¸ with testing and counselling at Ikeja Motor Park, on Awolowo Way, near Ikeja Local Government Secretariat, Lagos.

Speaking at the programme, the District Governor, Rotary International, District 9110, Gbenga Olowu, said the programme was held in continuation of Rotary Int’l’s commitment to always identifying with the less- privileged.

“The AIDS pandemic is still very much around and we in Rotary have been in the vanguard of reducing the incidences of AIDS, acquaint every citizen in the country with the information that “HIV does not kill”. We must all ensure we stop the spread or growth of HIV before it develops into AIDS. For this reason, we in Rotary have set up a group called Rotary for Family Health and AIDS Prevention.

“This is one of our activities every World Health Day, to spread information to people in the community on AIDS’ prevention through testing and counselling and we have recorded tremendous success.

“Many years ago, people died of HIV because of lack of education and we are happy to see both men and women voluntarily coming for test and counselling with a view to knowing the health status, which I consider very important and I am happy to disclose that our group, Rotary for Family Health,

organizing a seminar at the Rotary Centre, GRA, Ikeja, which was attended

by Secondary School students, Rotaractors, university students and Rotary members, where the participants, including consultants from Lagos State government and some members had a good interactive sessions.

“We have been impressed by the large turnout of drivers, market women and the public. I am sure our partnering with the Lagos Control Agency and Society for Family Health would yield positive results.

“This project put at a cost of half a million naira intends to reach not less than 500 people.

“We also wish people would get the message as we were told during the seminar that there are other deadly diseases apart from AIDS that could kill instantly, and that the society should eschew the notion that once any one contract AIDS, one would die,” he said.

“We are also happy that the issue of stigmatization is being obliterated and by the time those that are prominent in the society get involved in the campaign, the problem of stigmatization would no longer be an issue,” he said.

He advised those that have not made Mrs. Opeyemi Falolu (left), Adesanya, Olowu, Dr. Bakare, Chioma with one of the beneficiaries themselves available for test and counPHOTO: ISAAC TAIWO selling to seize the opportunity as soon AIDS and Prevention, has been seeing the continue with the campaign until AIDS as they have one.

A beneficiary, Godfrey Orisa, 53, who figure of those positive dropping every is total eradicated,” he said. came for the test said, he only desired year.

The Chairman, Organising Commit“In addition, we also have a yearly protee, Assistant Governor, Rotary Int’l, Dis- to know his health status while Mrs. Unice Ogunyase, 58 said she made hergramme for testing, counselling and trict 9110, Nigeria, Adeniyi Adesanya self available for the test and counscreening when we also offer other med- said because of the importance of the ical attention aside HIV/AIDS but our World’s AIDS Day to Rotary Int’l, the lat- selling because she had never done major focus has been on HIV. “We will ter has decided to mark it by first of all, one.

Group launches Back to School Project to assist indigent Isoko students

By Kenechukwu Ezeonyejiaku NEW educational philanthropic initiative designed to assist indigent young people in Isokoland to gain access to education so they could also help in the transformation of their communities was launched last Saturday in Lagos by Emotor Isoko Development Association.

The educational project would bring accelerated development to the oil-bearing but highly neglected Isoko communities of Delta State.

While speaking at the fifth anniversary celebration of the association, its President, Mr. Patrick Obaro Utudor, said the association was desirous of reorienting Isoko youths towards the path of education, saying it was key to self-development.

He said the association was also desirous of stemming the trend of school dropouts and get-rich-quick syndrome prevalent in the Niger Delta region.

He said: “We have found out that a lot of young people in the Niger Delta don’t go to school. They prefer going into militancy and looking for quick ways of making money.

They believe education is noth-

A

ing; that getting education is a waste of one’s time. For many, the thinking is, “if I graduate, I won’t get a job in this country.”

So, they go for any little opportunity they see to make money.

Based on this, we want to re-orientate them that school is the key to their own self-development and if they are developed as a people, their communities will be developed as well.”

He added that the association would raise funds to procure 500,000 writing materials and also give scholarships to 100 students of Isoko origin yearly.

While delivering a lecture entitled: Education: A Veritable Tool for Community Development, Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief, Biographies Development Centre, Dr. Ufuoma Ahworegba said education was incontrovertibly the pivot of sustainable development and the most important possession to be owned by any person.

According to Ahworegba, former British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair’s three factors necessary for sustainable development, which are ‘education’, ‘education’ and ‘education’, remain the fundamental pillars of growth and development, adding also that the human mind makes possible all the developmental achievements if it is unlocked through educa-

Deputy Editor, The Guardian, Mr. Julius Eto (left); President, Emotor Isoko Development Association, Mr. Patrick Obaro Utudor; his wife, Joan; Chairman of the occasion and Head, The Guardian on Sunday Advertising, Dr. Monday Evawomaha; representative of the association’s patron, Mr. Joseph Oke Onemo and patron’s wife, Mrs. Roseline Okpithe at the event in Lagos… communities and countries. A eradicate poverty, live healthtion. growing body of evidence sug- ier lives, travel faster and safer He stated: “The advances in gests that education can reand curb population growth.” medicine, space exploration, duce crime, improve health, He called on Isoko people agricultural innovations, the lower mortality and increase whom he said were mostly efficient public administration political participation. Around subsistence farmers to propand private sector growth are the world, incarceration and erly educate their progenies to all attributable to education. It conviction rates are high think big so as to help advance is an instrument, which faciliamong the least educated. Edu- the cause of their people and tates social and economic cation is an essential tool to their communities. transformation of individuals,

Briefs SNEPCO lifts old people’s home in Lagos S part of its giving back initiatives, Shell NigeA ria Exploration and Productivity Company SNEPCO, a subsidiary of Shell Petroleum, has inaugurated a renovated part of the Old People’s Home in Yaba area of Lagos.

It embarked on the project to contribute to the wellbeing of the old men and women living in the home.

Speaking at the event, which coincided with the organisation’s end-of-the-year party, the Managing Director, Mr. Chike Onebekwe, said the project was not the first project handled by the company and pointed out that the company had last year donated a 30KVA generating set to the home.

He said: “We are pleased to identify with children with special needs and senior citizens as part of our social investments portfolio which cuts across health, education and social services.

Faith Mission Cherubim & Seraphim Church begins crusade

Wife kills husband over N100

Ogun cooperative societies get N50m loan

From Abiodun Fagbemi, Ilorin

HE Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has T promised the Ogun State Cooperative Federation Limited (OGSCOFED) the sum of N50 million

HOUSEWIFE simply identified as Mariam in Mission C & S Church worldwide will A Ilorin, the Kwara State capital on Sunday alFholdAITH from tomorrow to Sunday, December 22, its yearly programme with the theme: “Di- legedly struck her bricklayer husband to death vine Mercy of God 2013” at the church’s camp ground, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Km 53, Sapade Bus Stop, Ode Remo, Ogun State at 9.00 a.m. Speaking about this year’s programme, Founder/President of the church Prophetess Mariam Adeleye, said “the programme is aimed at prevailing over the storms of life, to bring about salvation, healing and a better 2014, to come.”

Host minister to speak at the programme Most Snr. A.P.K. Akinola, Snr. A.P.M. Akintola, A.P. G.O. Adigun, Pastor Moses Olayiwole, Pastor Ilesanmi. Adeleye calls on Nigerians to be part of this programme.

following disagreement between them over N100. The incident, which occurred at Oloje area of Ilorin, threw the entire community into confusion as sympathisers thronged the deceased’s compound.

The Guardian gathered that the woman, a mother of four, all late, had recently returned to her matrimonial home after she parted ways with her late husband following irreconcilable differences .

However, sources said their relationship went sour again leading to a hot argument between them over the sum of N100 that the woman was said to have demanded from the husband.

to boost their small and medium scale businesses across the state. This was made known during a walk day to mark the International Cooperative Day in Abeokuta. The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Community Development and Cooperatives, Chief Samuel Aiyedogbon, said the governor is acting on his promise to double the loan from N25 million to N50 million upon repayment with full interest as at when due.

The governor disclosed that 81 cooperative societies have so far benefited from the sum of N1 billion credit facilities from the present administration in conjunction with Bank of Industries (BOI), which is accessible through formation of cooperative societies by interested would be beneficiary.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 21

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Focus Poverty reduction through corporate social responsibility

Queue at the filling station. Inset, the vessel

By Dele Fanimo

True kindness presupposes the faculty of imagining as one’s own the suffering and joy of others- Andre Gide, French Novelist HE queue was long, snaky and unwinding. Women, young T girls, some with babies strapped behind their back, clutching various sizes of jerrycans, anxiously waiting for their turn at the pump. Curiously, it was not the season of fuel scarcity.

Save for this particular filling station, there was other station within the Calabar metropolis had no such human traffic.

More importantly, this particular fuel station is at the far end of the city.

Apart from, those already waiting anxiously on the queue, others were hurriedly heading toward the station.

For those who can afford cooking gas, this piece may not make much meaning. But the average Nigerian who struggle day and night to eke out a living, will definitely understand the import of buying the commodity at #50 per litre.

Apart from selling kerosene at #50 litre, this particular station also added a unique approach to selling. The station dispenses this commodity thrice a week-Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Only military, paramilitary men and women in uniform are allowed to buy on Tuesdays; Housewives, Civilians and the common folks usually have their turn on Thursdays, while civil servants who could not leave their various offices on weekdays get their turn on Saturdays.

Apart from this, management of the station, in trying to ensure that those who buy do not resell at higher rates, only dispense between 10 and 15 litres to each person.

One noticeable disposition of Calabar residents who throng this filling station is the orderly manner and patience employed by them while waiting for their turn at the pump.

The Guardian’s observation at the filling station showed that nobody was in a hurry matter how long, because they believe it will go round.

Indeed, enquiries by The Guardian showed that the target of everybody is kerosene. But why this particular station?

Station Manager, Northwest filling station, Sylvester Akpunonu, in a chat with The Guardian, said the crowd was a testimony to the corporate social responsibility of NorthWest Oil and Gas Limited, which pegged a litre of kerosene at N50.

Other filling stations in the metropolis could not heve attracted the teeming crowd of consumers as they sell the commodity for prices ranging from #130 to #150 per litre. So, the choice is clear.

According to him, the sale of the commodity at N50 had been consistent in the last two years, thus attracting consumers to the station.

Akpunonu who said the availability of the product in the station year round was buoyed by the ownership of a private

jetty, tank farm and vessel by the parent company.

He said, as part of alleviating poverty in the society, the promoter of the business, Mrs. Winifred Akpani instructed that on no account should kerosene be sold above N50 in the station.

Akpononu said the motivation behind the gesture was the believe of his chairman, Mrs Winifred Akpani, that while she is still alive, it would be a taboo for her to see fellow Nigerians suffer, particularly when she is a position to assist.

The station manager said some even come from neighbouring towns and villages to confirm the veracity of the claim, while others who initially came, thought that it was a flash in the pan but two years down the line, the filling station is still selling.

When asked how they consistently get this supposedly scarce commodity, Akpononu, said “the issue of supply is not a problem. We have our own jetty in Calabar Free Trade Zone (FTZ) and so, our vessel bring the commodity directly, berth at the jetty and discharge same to our tank farms also located close to the jetty” The manager said further: “you know, kerosene is something that is used in many homes in the country. It is a product that should be very cheap. And for the owner of this establishment (Mrs. Akpani) the people matter a lot. She has always expressed her desire to see that the people live comfortable lives and get kerosene at the cheapest rate possible. We really don’t make any profit, and that is why the Federal Government gives us subsidy. But we are not the only one enjoying subsidy, even though we remain committed to selling at #50 per litre”.

This kind gesture will obviously elicit favourable comments from the ordinary folks who throng this filling station.

A resident who had been patronising NorthWest Filling Station, Mrs. Marry Awpri, said “I have been buying kerosene here since last year, for #50 per litre. Other filling stations sell for between #135 and #150. In fact. I don’t even know how to describe the lady who owns this station. This woman has been helping people, even my sister standing beside me is just here for the first

The school

time and when she saw the crowd, she almost gave up but I assured her that as many as we are, we will all get buy. Some of us came here as early as 5am and we are sure we will get to buy.”

Another customer, a student who simply identified himself as Aku. Said he started patronising the station since February this year adding that “Until I came here, I thought it was a lie, but here I am buying at #50, while others sell for #130 or #150. I can tell you now that most students will be coming here. Because every kobo saved matters to us.

This woman (Akpani) with the milk of kindness flowing endlessly from her, despite playing the role of “Mother Theresa” in Calabar, is an extremely private person, who does not want to be dragged to public arena through the media.

If you think her benevolence ends with the kerosene subsidy to Calabar residents, you are mistaken, because it extends to other spheres.

Silently, this philanthropist per excellence had saved many lives with no blood affinity, but through chanced meetings, yet she is elusive.

If you also think that she is also doing all these for future political gains, you are equally wrong, because she is from Delta State and not Cross River where she has thriving businesses backed with unparallel corporate social responsibility.

Akpani, it was, that pulled down, decrepit and dilapidated classrooms in Ikot Omin within the Calabar Metropolis and erected several blocks of classrooms in St. Augustine Primary School.

Apart from this, two blocks of storey classrooms were built to add to the learning environment in the school.

Today, Akpani has adopted the school and she gives free lunch once in a week to the pupils. The meal is usually noodles and egg. Another way of ensuring that their mental capacity is enhanced for learning.

Indeed, the Deputy Head Teacher of the School, Mrs. Ene Victoria Major, could not hide her joy when she spoke to the The Guardian in the school premises.

She said, “Officials of NorthWest Petroleum Limited, just drove into our premises one morning and said their boss (Mrs. Akpani) has decided to adopt this school and she will like to pull down already collapsing structures and replace them with solid buildings. It was like magic, but within a short period the structures were pulled down and what you are seeing replaced them. Apart from this, the twin blocks you see over there was added to it, while new furniture were brought in to replace the old ones. We cannot thank her enough, only God can reward her. She is even feeding the pupils with noodles and egg once in a week” To preserve and secure the school, a befitting police station was erected within its presinct. It was said that because of the nature of the school before that rescue mission, hoodlums found it a safe haven for smoking and committing sundry crime.

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THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com 77

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Business Nigeria, Ghana renew battle against inflation

By Chijioke Nelson, with Agency reports HE Nigerian Bureau of T Statistics said the nation’s fight against inflation relapsed in November, the first in four months, mainly on higher food prices.

Last month, inflation was estimated at 7.9 per cent, up from 7.8 per cent in October, as prices of major food items like meat, fish, as well as bread and cereals increased.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Ghana raised the policy rate by 100 basis points this year to keep inflation under control and sustain a weakening currency.

According to reports, the cause of the rise in prices was not given, even as the October figure became lowest in more than five years and remained within the target of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of less than 10 per cent.

For over two years, CBN has retained the benchmark interest rate at 12 per cent, in a move it claimed was targeted at stabilising the Naira and keeping inflation under control.

Still, speculations have been rife that price pressures may ensue as the nation prepares for elections in 2015, and for the immediate, the Yuletide that is around the corner.

The Bank of Sierra Leone also cut its benchmark interest rate to bolster growth in subSaharan Africa’s secondfastest growing economy, lowering the rate by 200 basis points, or 2 percentage points, to 10 per cent as the outlook for inflation remains favorable.

The country’s inflation, which slowed to 9.4 per cent in October from 9.9 per cent a month earlier, according to Statistics Sierra Leone, necessitated the downward movement, that was up at 20 per cent in February this year.

“The committee envisages food inflation to continue to decline, bearing in mind the anticipated good agricultural output and stable prices of non-food items in the coming months.

“Growth prospects for 2013 remain bright, supported by buoyant activities in the mining, agricultural and service sectors,” the Sierra Leone Bank said in the statement.

‘Why govt plans clampdown on telecoms operators’

By Ade Ogidan (Business Editor) and Adeyemi Adepetun HE need to protect the T nation’s subscribers from being continually shortchanged prompted the fresh sanctions rolled out by the Federal Government against erring telecommunication operators in the country.

This was disclosed yesterday in Lagos by the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson.

Under the new directive, failure of telecommunications operators in the country to improve on their services may earn them fresh sanctions, as the Ministry of

Communications Technology; Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) have moved to protect the interest of the about 120 million telecommunications subscribers in the country.

Already, NCC has served the GSM operators December 31 deadline to either improve on their offerings or be sanctioned.

Reading the riot act to the operators, Johnson, said any erring operator risks being fined on failure to improve on services to its subscribers,come January 1.

Besides, such operator would be stopped from further expanding its network through the stoppage Subscribers Identification Modules (SIM) sales.

According to a letter dated December 10, addressed to the operators by the commission and signed by its Director, Legal and Regulatory Services, Josephine Amuwa, the NCC reminded the operators on the need to strive to meet the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which the commission had reviewed downward in 2012 for the operators to meet.

Johnson reiterated that

henceforth, it’s no longer going to be business as usual, warning that operators must rise up to redress the current poor state of quality service delivery.

“We are concerned the poor quality issues still abound. I am inundated with complaints about quality of service and the seemingly uncaring attitude of our telecoms operators to resolve these issues on a regular basis. We will continue, through the industry regulator to apply sanctions when operators fail to meet the required standards in terms of service quality breaches.

“However, consumers can-

Director-General of Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Dupe Atoki (left); Minister of Communication Technology, Omobola Johnson; Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communication Commission, Eugene Juwah, and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communication Technology, Tunji Olaopa, during the press briefing on the CPC as a major ally and significant driver of consumer protection in the telecom sector in Lagos yesterday.

Photo by Gabriel Ikhahon

not continue to bear the burden of poor service delivery.

Though we are mindful that the operators are facing issues in deploying or maintaining infrastructure, we believe that operators can do better in delivering acceptable quality of service which they are clearly not doing’’.

The Director-General of CPC, Mrs. Dupe Atoki said “the challenge of doing business in Nigeria is the usual justification for these violations by service providers.

“However, as far as CPC is concerned, as long as a business is in operation, and consumers pay for the service or product, Nigerian consumers must get value for their money’’ She added that “under the Consumer Protection Council’s Act, CPC has the power to sanction, prosecute and compel any product or service provider, to answer a lawful inquiry, disobedience of which are all criminalized”.

In addition,these operators,according to Atoki,risk prosecution and jail terms of up to “five years if investigations currently ongoing reveal that they have deliberately short-changed Nigerians in poor service delivery. CPC can make orders in the interest and protection of consumers and disobedience is also criminalized by law. While NCC can impose fines on an offending operator, CPC can in addition commit such recalcitrant offenders to jail terms for contravening any consumer protection enactment.”

The Minister stressed that the regulator has the power to ban a mobile network from signing up new customers if it feels the lacks the capacity to service its customer base.

“The failure of the operators to meet with the terms of agreement with the Commission in 2012, will warrant implementation of

CONTINUED ON PAGE 23

NERC directs Discos to implement metering scheme From Emeka Anuforo, Abuja ISTRIBUTION companies D have been directed to resume the implementation of the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation ( CAPMI), an Order of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) aimed at closing the metering gap in the industry.

Since the take over of the distribution companies by private concerns, complaints about very high estimated billings and other related malpractices have

‘Unresolved staff issues plaguing industry’ resurfaced nationwide.

Meanwhile, the Discos are complaining of staff that they did not legitimately inherit, thereby over-bloating their payroll.

Officials have explained how these legacy Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) staff in question are in a kind of limbo, as it were, as they have not been officially disengaged

by PHCN. Many of them, officials say, are working side by side with re-engaged legacy staff

and the DISCOs are unsure how to pay them their salaries.

Aside from salaries, some Discos have complained to NERC that the over bloated workforce has a negative impact on operations.

CAPMI, introduced earlier in the year, according to NERC, is a response by the regulator to address the lingering issue of nonissuance of meters by the electricity companies.

CAPMI allows for any interested and willing customer

to advance money to their electricity distribution company and in return will be given electricity credit until the cost of the meter has been recovered by the customer.

A statement from NERC yesterday, noted that the directive to continue with CAPMI was given to the operators at a meeting they had with the regulator at the weekend.

NERC also revealed how unresolved staffing issues remain a major issue impeding the operations of recently privatized electrici-

ty generation (GENCOs) and distribution companies (DISCOs).

This, according to the Head of Media at NERC, Maryam Yaya Abubakar , was brought to light during the second general meeting of industry operators convened by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory

Commission at the weekend.

She said: “Legacy staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria are yet to know their fate with the new owners as they are yet to be served severance letters, officially terminating their contracts with the

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National Assembly pledges support for local auto makers

By Taiwo Hassan HE National Assembly has pledged to back genuine local automobile companies operating in the automotive industry with appropriate legislations to promote the nation’s automobile industry.

The move by the legislators is to ensure that local companies that are gearing up for vehicle production are given conducive business environment for their operations in line with the modified automotive industry policy already announced October 2, 2013.

The Senate Committee on Trade paid a visit to VON Automobile Nigeria Limited, in Lagos over the weekend, led by its chairman, Senator Odion Egbesia, to ascertain and evaluate readiness of the company to resume production of passenger cars.

Egbesia, who led a five-man team, including, Senator Ibrahim Gobir, Vice Chairman; Senator Sefiu Kaka; and Senator Hope Uzodinma; on a facility tour of the plant, commended the owners/management of VON automobiles, but advised them to invest on assembling passenger cars, which

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. VON to roll out passenger cars next year is the fulcrum of the automobile policy thrust being advocated by the Federal Government.

According to him, the committee was satisfied with the buses and trucks already assembled at the plant, including the infrastructure there but added that passenger car lines should be constructed urgently to meet the demand for the sedan and Sport Utility Vehicles, next year.

He however regretted lack of patronage of the already assembled buses and trucks, lamenting that fleet owners/ operators should change their psyche and embrace made-in-Nigeria vehicles.

“I’m glad I came here and I’ve seen for myself the real efforts on the part of private entrepreneurs to actually start something in the area of manufacturing and this is Ugbesia commendable,” said.

He added that the visit, the first since the automotive policy was announced, was to ascertain whether the plant could justifiably take advantage of the revised policy.

“I commend the management of VON for its achievement within a relatively short time, and urge the plant to urgently meet the spring target for the production of passenger cars, as the public eagerly awaits the gains of the auto policy,” he said.

The legislator explained that the Stallion Group- owners of the facility, should speed up

activities at the plant to roll out passenger cars for the benefit of the motoring public.

“We are tired of bringing in tokunbo – and now we are seeing some efforts on the part of Stallion Group of Companies to do something that will transmit into manufacturing of cars in Nigeria.

And I’m very impressed with what I’ve seen.”

In his reaction to critics of the new auto policy, Ugbesia said: “I am sure those protest-

ing haven’t read or studied the policy. No policy ever pleases everybody. Most new policies please some people and of course, offend others and there is nothing you can do about that.”

Earlier, Managing Director VON Automobile Nigeria Limited, Tokunbo Aromolaran, who conducted the team round the facility, assured that the company will live up to the expectations of Nigerians, in rolling out affordable and competi-

tive brand of vehicles.

Meanwhile, Dr. Dora Akunyili, former Information Minister and a director at VON Automobiles, said it requires tremendous faith in the future of Nigeria for the company to have invested so much of its resources and called on well-meaning Nigerians to encourage initiatives aimed at expanding the economy’s productive base to create gainful employment opportunities.

Govt explains clampdown on telecoms operators CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22 the Key Performance Indicators early instituted by the Commission, which would imply much more drastic action.

“The stoppage of SIM card, would not preclude issuance of sanctions as done in 2012 as the commission is angered by the fact that the KPIs were lowered after the sanctions but the operators did not meet to the terms of agreement it entered with the Commission to improve quality over a 12 months period during which it promised to meet with the KPIs. “Ultimatum on the improve-

ment on quality of service is from December 31st, implying that the commission would take another measurement on this date”, the source stated.

Indeed, operators have in the last few years listed challenges confronting and limiting their ability to deliver effective quality service as multiple regulation and taxation, Illegal access denials and site shut-outs, inadequate power supply, lack of incentives to drive service penetration to the remote and rural areas, rent seeking charges for permits and approvals necessary for deployment, security, among others.

Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola and Company Secretary, Lotus Capital Limited (lead Issuing House for the Osun Sukuk), Mas’ud Balogun; at the Completion Board Meeting of Osun Sukuk Company Plc’s N11.4 billion Fixed Rate Development Sukuk Al Ijara Due 2020 in Oshogbo, Osun state.

AfDB approves $185m for Trans-Saharan Highway FRICAN Development A Bank (AfDB) has approved the release of 184.79 million dollars for the proposed 9,000-kilometre Trans-Saharan Highway (TSH).

The approval was contained in a statement issued by the bank yesterday in Addis Ababa.

‘Unresolved staff issues plaguing industry’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22 company. As a consequence, these workers who have not yet been legitimately been engaged by the new owners have been forced to linger on in this uncertainty.”

She stressed how NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, had during the meeting, assured operators that the Commission would meet with the Bureau of Public Enterprises to provide necessary interventions for speedy resolution of the legacy staffing issues, among others.

Other issues raised at the meeting, according to her, include load allocation to various electricity distribution companies, non-remittance of collections to the Market Operator, gas constraints, inadequate communication between the Transmission Company of Nigeria - TCN and DISCOs. “ Other issues that were dealt with include customer metering, Interim Rules, security of electricity workers.On the issue of

remittances, Amadi said that defaulters will suffer sanctions for noncompliance. It can be recalled that NERC gave an ultimatum to erring DISCOS who were yet to remit their collections to the Market Operator,” she noted.

In response to an inquiry on why some of the Discos were defaulting in their remittances to the Market Operator, Chairman of the Distribution Companies Roundtable (an umbrella body of the discos)- Dr. Ransome Owan told The Guardian that a number of issues were still unclear.

He said: “There is still uncertainty about the interim market rules, labour payroll and the approval of how much discos should keep from collecting for October supply of electricity and utility obligations during the same period. I am confident that the situation would be normalized.”

The Presidential Action Committee on Power (PACP), chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan, had

last March endorsed CAPMI as an alternative funding mechanism for pre-paid meters in the country and directed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to commence immediate implementation.

CAPMI was expected to immediately facilitate the deployment of meters to electricity consumers and check ‘crazy bills’ following the failure of the ‘free meters’ scheme announced in June last year by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.

NERC had in June 2012 announced that customers were no longer required to pay for electricity meters because the new tariff, at the time, had incorporated the cost of the meter in the fixed charge component of the bill.

NERC says, however that CAPMI, was designed as an alternative for customers who are willing to advance money to their distribution companies for speedy installation of prepayment meters.

It noted that the bank had approved the release of the amount during its meeting on December 11, held in Tunis.

According to the statement, the project involves the construction and asphalt of 565 kilometres of road to link the main axis and the Chadian branch of the Trans-Saharan Highway.

The statement added that part of the amount would be used for the construction of a 543-metre-long bridge on River Niger at Farié, with three kilometres of access road.

It would also include the construction of infrastructure to ease transport and transit at the Algeria and Niger and the Niger and Chad borders. ``The project will facilitate overland trade and regional integration between the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), ECOWAS, Economic community of Central African States (ECCAS) in general and Algeria, Niger and Chad, in particular. ``The project’s specific objective is to improve the TSH’s overall level of service and the living conditions of inhabitants of the project impact area.’’

The bank statement pointed out that the project was designed to put infrastructure at the centre of economic, social, political and security stakes of the continent, with the highway located on the Algiers-Lagos and Dakar-Djibouti trans-

Donald Kaberuka African corridors as identified by the Programme for I n f r a s t r u c t u r e Development in Africa (PIDA).

It said the project would be executed in line with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) objectives of linking major cities of AU member states by 2020. ``The project is expected to improve TSH service and increase traffic and trade between North Africa, West Africa and Central Africa, as well as reduce the cost of transport and logistics.

Others include improving the living conditions of residents of the project area and their access to basic social services such as potable water, schools, health units and contribute to the overall improvement of security in the Sahara region.

The News Agency of Nigeria

(NAN) reports that the programme was part of PIDA’s priority projects to connect African capitals and major cities within the framework of the transport sector policies and vision of ECOWAS and others.

It is also in line with AfDB’s strategic plan for the countries concerned and consistent with pillar two of the bank’s 10-Year Strategy (2013 to 2022) aimed at providing affordable access to reliable electricity and transport infrastructure.

Other donors to the project include the Islamic Development Bank, Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) and the Development Bank of Central African States (BDEAC).

The project would be completed within 60 months.

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24 |BUSINESS Tuesday, December 17, 2013

‘Financial products should have real value addition’

By Chijioke Nelson HE development of finanT cial products that will stand the test of value addition may need to incorporate youths, the future and practical skills needed for entrepreneurship.

These may have been the reasons for the innovation of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc’s GTCrea8 Account, which seeks to rediscover lost savings culture and reward customers.

The Deputy General Manager, Retail Banking, GTBank, Ibukun Odegbaike, who spoke on the sidelines of the draw for GTCrea8 loyalty reward promo, said the aim of the initiative was also to promote financial services among the youths.

However, the card-based, interest bearing undergraduate account, at its draw, emerged Shalom ElishaWigwe, as the Star Prize winner of a new Mini Cooper car.

Ibukun explained that youth products are not necessarily expected to be huge account balances, but that the scheme was to help them imbibe the lesson of savings, building up of balances, while spending and using alternative banking channels.

“As at now, our customer base on this product is over 500,000. We engaged our customers where they preferred most- online. There were different products and services online and specialized card for GTCrea8 that enables transactions on Automated Teller Machines, Point of Sales, online shopping, among others,” she said.

The promo, which commenced since March 2013, has rewarded account holders with Blackberry phones, ipods, laptops, Samsung Galaxy Tab, televisions and mini fridges in its monthly zonal draws.

The bank has also organized events on campuses across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria where students had the opportunity of winning prizes over the period of the campaign.

To qualify for this promo, students in tertiary institutions were required to open a GTCrea8 e-savers account and conduct a minimum of three transactions per month on alternate banking channels such as ATMs, POS and Internet banking, maintaining a minimum account balance of N5,000 for six consecutive months.

Head of Operations, FBN Mortgages Limited, Mrs. Tosin Oluwatimilehin (left) and President, Mortgage Banks Association of Nigeria (MBAN), Femi Johnson and Executive Secretary, MBAN. Kayode Omotoso, during a media briefing on the launched Nigeria Mortgage Re-finance Company, in Lagos.

CeBIH, NIBSS reiterate support for financial inclusion drive

By Chijioke Nelson HE Committee of eBanking Industry Heads (CeBIH) has pledged support for the financial inclusion drive, led by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Chairman of CeBIH, Chuks Iku, made the pledge recently, at the third yearly conference of the group in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Chuks said the purpose of

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the conference, among other things, was for e-payment stakeholders to learn new methods and strategies of pursuing the objectives of the nation’s financial inclusion strategy (NFIS), which is aimed at reducing the number of adults excluded from access to financial services from 46.3 per cent to 20 per cent.

The objectives of CeBIH, he said, is to promote electronic banking and electronic

payment services in line with global best practices while promoting the adoption and usage of electronic channels in a way that will bring about financial inclusion of the unbanked and under-banked in line with the payment vision 2020.

According to him, the theme of the conference- “Epayment Systems: Harnessing Opportunities for Growth and Profitability”, was informed

by the need for banks and other stakeholders to seek ways to grow the use of electronic channels in a sustainable way.

CeBIH, he added, “recognises the role of Central Bank of Nigeria as our regulator and also that of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).

What we want is that the CBN should engage stakeholders on a more regular basis on its financial inclu-

How to manage fleet operations, by expert

By Taiwo Hassan HE Chief Executive Officer T of Sattrak Services Limited, Abdul Bamgbopa, has advocated the use of telematics solutions to solve the operational challenges being faced by fleet operators in the country.

Bamgbopa, who stated this while delivering a lecture titled: ‘Managing Fleet in a Difficult Socio-Economic Environment: The Role of Telematics Solutions,’ during a one-day auto stakeholders forum in Lagos organised by

the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), said that fleet telematics would abreast fleet owner the necessary information about the utilisation and operations of vehicles in a fleet through remote technology.

According to him, the access to information was vital in operations management, whether it is for a fleet department of an organisation, or for a company whose business is haulage and logistics, commercial transportation, vehicle rentals and leasing.

He defined fleet telematics has the communication of

information about the utilisation and operations of vehicles in a fleet through remote technology.

The automobile expert said that a combination of telematics device and an intelligent Fleet Management System (FMS) can deliver a fully automated, end to end solution for managing fleets to enable fleet operators make proactive plans and informed decisions that will save them significant cost while increasing profits.

Appraising the business environment and how it affects fleet operators, the Sattrak

boss stressed the need for efficient fleet management in the nation’s transport sector.

“Virtually all fleet operators in Nigeria today are saddled with similar challenging socio-economic and operational realities amidst increasingly competitive business landscape, with the need to continually optimise revenues and reduce cost. Therefore, efficient management and utilisation of vehicle fleet is of the utmost importance as it can have major impact on a company’s financial performance” he said.

‘Nigeria to become largest fertilizer producer in Africa’ From Joke Falaju, Abuja OLLOWING increase investment by private sector in fertilizer production, Nigeria may soon become the largest fertilizer producer in Africa, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina has said.

The minister pointed out that the country’s private firms such as Notore, Dangote and Indorama have committed $7billion to build fertilizer-manufacturing plants to expand domestic fertilizer production in the country.

While noting that the increased fertilizer production is a positive development

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for Nigeria and other African countries, Adesina said with rising population of Developing 8 (D8) countries, greater priority must be put on assurance of food security, saying that any nation or region that cannot feed itself is not sovereign nor can it assert its position in the global economy.

In his remark at the fourth D8 Agricultural Ministerial meeting recently in Abuja, Adesina pointed out that D8 organization is a very important body in the world, with a trade opportunity between the countries to rise to $500 billion before 2020.

According to him, “with the rising population of the D-8 countries, nothing is more important to our security than food, therefore greater priority must be put on assurance of food security, for any nation or region that cannot feed itself is not sovereign nor can it assert its position in the global economy.”

To boost its position in the global economy, the minister proposed need to promote scientific exchanges between D8 countries which should include agricultural universities, agricultural research institutions and farmers organisations.

“We propose the establishment of a D-8 Agricultural Research and Development Capacity Building Initiative to strengthen agricultural research and development and technology transfer between countries,” he said.

Adesina pointed out the need for significant increase in the level of investments in the seed industry, which must include expansion of private sector investment, this he said would help improve seed registration, variety registration, biodiversity exchange and harmonization of seed laws.

He called on the D8 to estab-

lish a seed sector investment fund that would support joint investments in expanding the size of the seed sector.

The minister also proposed that due to the new fertilizer policy reforms, demand for fertilizers is rising among farmers and given the vast supplies of natural gas within D8 countries there should be accelerated cooperation in promoting joint investments in fertilizer manufacturing.

He proposed the establishment of fertilizer investment fund to accelerate joint investments in fertilizer manufacturing and boost the contribution of the D-8.

sion initiatives.”

Commenting on the theme of the conference, Executive Director, NIBSS, Christabel Onyejekwe, noted that while there are opportunities for growth and profitability in the epayment industry, increased collaboration is required to harness these opportunities.

She said: “In the financial sector, we have not rested on our oars. We have always risen to the challenge of harnessing growth and opportunities, even when it seems impossible. As an industry, we dare to say we have contributed to building the nation and we would continue to be a critical contributor to Gross Domestic Product’s upward movement.

“The major enabler towards optimising growth and development, however, is to collaborate as stakeholders. It is not about blind competition in the market. That will not lead us anywhere. The name of the game is collaboration.

“We can confidently say that we have come a long way, but there are facts that must be told. Only 28 per cent of our registered PoS are active. This is a meagre 31, 000 active PoS out of the 158,000 out there, yet we have not even gone cashless across Nigeria.

“Less than 20 per cent of rural Nigerians have been reached by the mobile money operators and more than 45 per cent of Nigerians are yet to be banked. These are veritable sources of growth and development for us as a whole.

“We believe that the PoS business can be further improved, mobile payment deepened more and revitalised, while our drive for financial inclusion must be re-energised.”

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FRC’s mandate critical to national development, says ex-chairman HE pioneer Chairman, T Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), Dr Aliyu Yelwa, said the commission has the capability to ensure the prudent management of public funds to achieve Nigeria’s rapid economic development.

Yelwa said this in Abuja, at the send-off party organised for him and some former commissioners of the agency.

He recalled that the commission was established to enthrone a regime of prudent, ethical and efficient management in spending public funds.

Yelwa however expressed concern that the level of development in the country had not been commensurate with the country’s earnings from natural resources since

NIPEN records N198 billion PAT

By Taiwo Hassan IGERIAN Ballpoint Pen Industries (NIPEN), a subsidiary of the CFAO Group in Nigeria, has announced N198 billion profit after tax (PAT) for 2012 financial and statement of accounts.

Specifically, the figure represents 19.2 per cent growth over the corresponding period in 2011.

Managing Director of the company, Steve Faderin, made the disclosure at the company’s 38th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Lagos.

Faderin, while reviewing the company’s performance for the year under review, said: “2012 remained very good particularly when viewed against a backdrop of economic uncertainties.”

Faderin, who is also the Group Managing Director of CFAO Group in Nigeria, explained that the company’s performance in 2012, which improved by 17.2 per cent over that of 2011, was made possible by increase in the volume of plastic crates business, which grew substantially during the year under review.

According to him, this was as a result of the company’s commitment to being a market leader in plastic crates manufacturing.

NIPEN’s plastic crates supply was the major contributor to the growth in the turnover of the company during the period under review, particularly in the first half of the year.

The yearly reports and statement of accounts indicated that the company was “able to maintain a good performance with its BiC pens, with 94.4 million units sold compared to 82.7 Million units in the preceding year, representing 14 per cent increase, in spite of extremely difficult operating conditions.

However, the quantity of razors sold dropped to 64.3 million units from 73.3 million units recorded in the previous year, a drop of 12.3 per cent, mainly as a result of competition price war and the influx of counterfeit and prohibited razors into the country.

Faderin said that NIPEN has initiated strategic actions in collaboration with the Standard Organisation of Nigeria towards eradicating counterfeit plastic products, especially razors in Nigeria.

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independence. ``When you think of all the revenue we have generated through crude oil sales over the years and you look at what we have been able to achieve, it does not tally. ``Many Nigerians will agree with me that the development we are seeing is not commensurate with all those trillions of dollars we have made from these sales. ``It is for this reason that the FRC was set up, to be the eagle eye of the people and make sure that public funds are well managed and judiciously spent,” he said.

Yelwa however praised the stewardship of the pioneer

Many Nigerians will agree with me that the development we are seeing is not commensurate with all those trillions of dollars we have made from these sales.

staff of the commission, which he said had grown with less than six members of staff in 2007 to over 130 presently. ``We began operations from the basement of the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. But today, we have

our own offices with over 130 staff,’’ he said.

The former FRC chairman appealed to the commission’s staff to support its interim management team and continue to work as a team to achieve the mandate of the organisation.

In his remarks, the commission’s Secretary, Victor Muruako, appealed to the Federal Government to reconsider a proposal by the Steven Oronsaye-led committee to scrap the commission.

He commended the sacrifice and selfless service of the pioneer commissioners, noting that since the commission was established ``the man-

agement of public finance has not been business as usual’’. ``Gone are the days of discretionary and secret public finance management, which today is now based on fiscal rules and fiscal responsibility. ``The MDAs have now all been compelled to realise the necessity of publishing their Annual Reports and Audited Accounts at the end of the year because of the FRC Act you’ve set up,’’ Muruako said.

The pioneer commissioners who were honoured at the event included Dr Sylvanus Mordi, Policy and Standards, and Shuaibu Kore, Monitoring and Evaluation.

Others are Zakari Sada,

Planning, Research and Statistics, Chris Okewulonu, Legal, Investigation and Enforcement, Hon. Ismaila Muazu, Finance and Administration, and Ben Upah, representing Organised Labour in the commission.

The rest are Suleiman Abubakar, Organised Private Sector (OPS), and Hajiya Yusuf Amina, representing the Ministry of Finance.

The commission also honoured a former pioneer commissioner who is now the Managing Director of FMBN, Kumo Gimba.

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BUSINESS Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Mobile broadband’s shared access may fetch Europe €12b by 2030 UROPE could benefit in ecoE nomic terms by €12 billion over the period to 2030 as a result of implementing mobile broadband in 2.3 GHz spectrum with the Licensed

Shared Access (LSA) regulatory framework, according to a report by Plum Consulting.

LSA provides a regulatory framework for licensed sharing of bands by mobile that

are already assigned to another user. LSA allows both the existing user and the new mobile user to operate with certainty.

The 2.3 GHz spectrum is a

globally harmonised band for mobile broadband but in Europe other uses of the band have prevented its widespread adoption. LSA could change this and make the band economically viable for mobile broadband.

The benefits come from supporting larger capacity networks, higher download speeds and new product innovation.

Ericsson, Nokia Solutions and Networks and Qualcomm commissioned this study.

Chief Executive Officer at Plum Consulting, Tony Lavender noted on the publication of the study that the economic benefits enabled by the availability of 2.3 GHz through LSA could well be in excess of €12 billion - using the 2.3 GHz band with LSA reduces operators’ deployment costs

as mobile data traffic continues to increase and it also facilitates the introduction of new products and pricing options for mobile operators.

He added that as 2.3 GHz is already globally harmonised, Europe would be able to benefit from the scale economies of this band and make another valuable contribution toward meeting targets for mobile spectrum.

U.S. municipal bonds may shrink further in 2014 HE withering U.S. municiT pal bond market will shrink even more well into 2014, with interest rate and credit risks keeping both investors and borrowers away.

Barring an unforeseen turnaround in the final weeks of 2013, municipal bonds will post their first negative annual performance since the financial crisis, with investors fleeing municipal funds at a record pace and the market’s overall size, now less than $3.7 trillion, contracting for a third straight year.

Analysts, portfolio managers and traders say concerns about the Federal Reserve scaling back its massive stimulus, and about the financial soundness of state and local governments, will keep hitting the market at least through the first half of next year. They expect debt issuance to fall further and investors to continue exiting bond funds.

“There are two themes that occurred this year and they’re going to carry on to next year,” said Chris Alwine, head of municipal bonds at The Vanguard Group, which has $100 billion in assets. “The big news in the muni market was the back-up in rates and the underperformance of the long end of the curve.”

Municipal bond yields shot up this year on the Federal Reserve’s talk about tapering its monthly purchases of Treasuries and mortgagebacked securities, news of Detroit’s bankruptcy filing and Puerto Rico’s budget woes. Demand plummeted as investors moved into more

promising equities.

Supply followed, with outstanding municipal debt hitting its lowest level in nearly four years.

As for performance, the Bank of America Merrill Lynch master municipal index has fallen 2.84 per cent this year, putting the market on track for its first negative total return since 2008. Its index of bonds with maturities 22 years or more is down nearly six per cent.

“Altogether, 2014 will likely be another down year for munis,” wrote Thomas Weyl, credit analyst for Barclays Capital in a note. “As we contemplate the taper and rising interest rates, as well as continued municipal mutual fund outflows ... it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Total municipal issuance will likely tumble to $349.5 billion in 2014 from the $366.1 billion it projects for this year, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s (SIFMA) recent survey of 11 underwriters and dealers, one of several forecasts for a drop in bond sales.

“Although the overall systemic credit quality of the municipal market is strong, state and local issuers remain pressured by a moderate recovery, and the refunding wave has waned,” said Michael Decker, head of SIFMA’s Municipal Securities Group.

Rising yields have ended the savings issuers could reap through refinancing existing bonds. Sales of refunding bonds are running 30 per

cent lower than last year and depressing total issuance, according to Thomson Reuters data.

In fact, sales may not even meet SIFMA’s projections for 2013. As of Friday, total issuance for the year was $303.66 billion and sales are only expected to reach $2.5 billion next week.

“In the growth years, 2000 to 2010, you had debt for new infrastructure growing significantly and you had refunding,” said Chris Mier, managing director of analytical services at Loop Capital, which forecasts 2014 issuance only at $300 billion. “Now you’re seeing ... new money volume for these infrastructure projects flat because of the political environment and the aversion for taking out new debt.”

On the demand side, net outflows from muni funds which have already hit a record $52.76 billion this year could persist for three to six months, said Vanguard’s Alwine.

Outflows during the third quarter alone, $32 billion, exceeded total net outflows of any entire year going back to 1992, according to Lipper, a Thomson Reuters company.

Many funds hold Puerto Rico bonds because they are exempt from state and federal taxes, and some outflows were driven by the territory’s budget woes. Detroit’s bankruptcy filing - the largest municipal one in U.S. history also led to outflows.

Still, “maybe 80 percent was driven by fears of interest rates going higher,” said BlackRock Managing Director Peter Hayes, who heads the firm’s municipal bonds

Peninsula Capital, others make second round growth capital investment in Rancard software technology operators, content and serv- tinues to believe in the A company, Rancard, ice providers across Africa. tremendous growth opporannounced, that it has con- We’re delighted to have tunity in the technology cluded its second institutional investment round led

by Peninsula Capital, a private investment management company, based in Menlo Park, California, United States of America, for the expansion of its investment portfolios across Africa.

Also participating in the round were existing investors, Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment and M&A organisation and Adlevo VAS Holdings, an investment holding company managed by Adlevo Capital Managers, the technology-focused African private equity firm.

Commenting on the investment, Chief Executive Officer, Rancard, Kofi Dadzie said: “This investment will boost our efforts in growing a world class team, building critical partnerships and in deepening our technology base, as we continue to deliver compelling technology for mobile network

King, an experienced Silicon Valley-based venture investor join Adlevo and Intel Capital to deepen the wealth of experience, knowledge and access available to Rancard”.

Rancard, in July 2012, received its first institutional investment from Adlevo and Intel Capital and has since strengthened its management bench, deepened its product technology and is better positioned in its expansion to key markets across the African continent.

Robert King, founder of Peninsula Capital LLC, said he believed Rancard has the potential to be a global software enterprise giant company. “Their focus on mobile communications, positions them to be on the leading edge of this space.

Managing Director, Intel Capital Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia/CIS, Marcin Hejka, said that “Intel Capital con-

ecosystem across the continent.

Companies like Rancard play a big role in the region’s economic growth, and it is our mission to foster technology innovation on the continent.”

Investment Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, Tobi Oke said that “Rancard’s focus on cloud-based mobile software puts it in a unique position to take advantage of the rapid growth of mobile phone usage in the region, and will help accelerate the uptake of technology and online services.”

Managing Partner of Adlevo Capital, Yemi Lalude, also said: “This follow-on investment is a recognition of the exciting progress made by Rancard since our initial investment in July 2012. As the mobile value-added services industry transitions from SMS to voice and databased offerings, Rancard is in a key position to help its customers drive significant incremental revenue.”

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Appointments Tackling unemployment through skill acquisition

Kaigama

Jonathan From Collins Olayinka and Chuka Oditta NE of the major challenges O confronting the world today is unemployment in various formats.

While it is obvious that unemployment affects every part of the world, the outlook and characteristics obviously diff e r .

Here in Nigeria, the availability of white-collar jobs is fast fading away while those who went to school still find it difficult to seek opportunities in the informal sector, which has proven to harbour more job opportunities and a quick way to tackle the pangs of unemployment.

The Nigerian school curricular could also be blamed for manifest inability to match the graduating students with the type of job opportunities that are available.

As unemployment continues to grow with its attendant effects on the growth of the national economy, government soon realised that opening up the job space that would be enough to absorb the massive unemployment challenge indeed goes well beyond employment of new people in government offices.

This perhaps explains the reason the present government has embraced acquisition of skills not only by graduates from formal schools of learning but to include youths and women and disabled persons that populate the informal sector of the economy.

The creation of Community Service Youth, Women Empowerment (CSYWE) by the federal government as a result of the need to provide palliatives for the partial removal of petroleum subsidy in January 2012 was meant to serve this purpose.

The first huddle to the effective implementation of the programme was its placement in the Federal Ministry of Finance but the government promptly reversed itself knowing it will achieve more when it is administered by job creation specialists domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity who also have the benefit of work-

ing with and tap into the expertise offered by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Presenting the programme’s scorecard recently in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chukwuemeka Wogu, said that the programme had generated more than 188,000 new jobs. Apart from its capacity to generate jobs, the minister also hinted that Mexico government was willing to collaborate with Nigeria by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on CSWYE and skills acquisition programmes.

Wogu argued that little was paid to the efforts of government to generate jobs in the informal sector of the economy by critics.

He submitted that the economy of emerging economies such Asian Tigers were buoyed by the economic activities of the informal sector driven by youths and women.

The minister insisted that a recent statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics which revealed that about 480,000 new jobs were created ought to be greeted by applause and should not have been allowed to go without positive comment to serve as encouragement to government to do even more.

Speaking in Ibadan at a stocktaking and sensitisation exercises of the Community Service Youth, Women Empowerment (CSYWE), project component of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P), Wogu pledged that the federal government plans to look beyond the job creation factor, saying government was willing to ensure the revival of ailing industries to provide the base for the sustainability of job creation efforts especially for women, youths and disabled persons.

The minister listed the beneficiaries to include the general community services works, healthcare projects, rehabilitation, water sanitation, environmental renewal, infrastructural maintenance and social services, all which

require regular upgrade and maintenance.

He disclosed that the policy would open up the job space and that efforts were on to revive the textile mills in the north, the Lagos-Kano rail and the Lagos- Ore - Eastern road axis amongst many others.

He also said that government would come to the aid of southwest in its effort at reviving the Odua Investment Group, which had the capacity to generate massive jobs.

According to the minister, government had come with plans to transform the job creation exercise to the next level with the revival of ailing but economic-yielding industries which used to remain in the backbone of the old Western region to enhance a better and skilled orientation for beneficiaries as the nation moves from a mono-economy with a view to reducing white-collar jobs.

He explained that federal government had made a solemn pledge in the beginning to collect, save and use its own part of the subsidy fund judiciously for the benefit of the teeming unemployed masses. The minister submitted that the success recorded in the pilot programme in the past one year had demonstrated the need for sustenance and that the early criticisms that greeted the emergence of the programme had been surmounted by the success it has recorded.

The participants in the programme in Oyo State is made up of 1, 982 males and 1, 518 females working in no fewer than 144 service units spread across the 33 local governments in Oyo State alone, Wogu stated that an additional 2,000 beneficiaries would be added soon in each state of the federation.

Already, he added, the participants had covered 8,750,000 man-hour till date and had been paid N276, 666, 300 as stipend, while N29, 855,000 had been remitted to the state as running cost between February and September this year.

In addition, Wogu stated other five states in the zone

Wogu including Ekiti, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Lagos states had also benefitted with a total beneficiary figure of 19,000 man-hour work outputs of 27,550,000 and a direct economic impact of N1, 441, 706,950 under the period in review.

The minister stressed that out of the SURE-P component which engaged over 6, 000

health workers in selected maternal and child health programme in the zone, 1, 060 were engaged in selected primary health centres, 1, 000 health workers work as midwives, 377 as community health extension workers and 431 as village health workers in 144 renovated primary health centres to treat infant and maternal mortality with a

view to reducing deaths of under-five and tackle maternal morbidity.

He also disclosed that the scheme’s vocational training due diligence was being effected for the rehabilitation and refurbishing of some training institutions in the zone with a view to training youths in various areas on vocational skills.

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38 APPOINTMENT Tuesday, December 17, 2013

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Governor’s wife seeks diversification of economy From Anietie Akpan, Calabar IFE of the cross River W State Governor, Mrs. Obioma Liyel Imoke has charged the state government on the need to diversify to non-oil products as part of measures to attract wealth to the state.

Speaking at the prize presentation ceremony of the 2012 cultural parade ceremony and a three-day capacity building workshop on Cultural Parade Presentation and Logistics, Mrs. LiyelImoke, emphasised on the importance of cultural festival, which according to her was capable of making the state a major revenue earner.

She stated that apart from oil, Cross River State needed to harness other products that would attract wealth, hence the workshop to train people from the grassroot on how to streamline the rich cultural heritage of the state.

While presenting the prizes, she explained that cultural festival was all about beauty, depth and intricacies of our culture in a way that people would appreciate, adding that there was need for stakeholders to key into the vision of creating an exceptional cultural serviceoriented Cross River State.

She said that there were standards to meet and encouraged incoming council chair-

men to embrace the cultural policies of their predecessors and improve on past mistakes.

The state first lady who also declared open the three-day capacity building Workshop on Cultural Parade Presentation and Logistics said that the aim of the workshop was to make cultural festival purposefully and intentionally planned towards achieving desired goals and commended the state carnival commission for organis-

ing the training.

The first prize of N1milion went to the Calabar Municipal Council, while three local governments – Ikom, Odukpani and Bakassi got three hundred and sixty-six thousand naira each.

On his part, the state Commissioner, Ministry of Local Government, Peter Ojie noted that the efforts of the Carnival Commission to engage the local government councils in the cultural festi-

val and expressed hope that the workshop would address issues hindering organisation of successful cultural festivals in the local government levels.

Ojie emphasized the need to separate the children carnival from cultural festival and reiterated the ministry’s willingness to partner the state Carnival Commission in its quest to promote the culture of Cross River to the outside world.

Earlier, the Chairman of the state Carnival Commission, Gabe Onah described the state Governor, Liyel-Imoke and his wife, Obioma Imoke as cultural artistic persons who introduced innovations such as the children carnival, adjudication and costumes as well as appreciation to the Carnival Calabar pointing out that the engagement of the local government councils further increased the content of the carnival.

ICAN council member becomes SWAN chairperson HE honorary treasurer of under her leadership young T the Institute of Chartered women were groomed in a Accountants of Nigeria better perspective and that (ICAN), Mrs. Onome Joy Olaolu has been appointed chairperson of the Society of Women Accountants of Nigeria (SWAN), a chapter of the institute.

Speaking at the occasion recently in Lagos, the 49th President of ICAN, Alhaji Kabir Mohammed said the virtues of Olaolu who is also a member of the Governing Council of the Institute earned her the position.

According to him, she brought a lot of positive changes to the council and had contributed meaningfully to its proceedings.

He charged the newly elected chairperson to ensure that

some social vices plaguing the society such as sexual harassment of young women especially at tertiary institutions were highlighted and proffered solution to for the betterment of the nation.

Accepting the mantle of leadership, Olaolu said, “having accepted the mantle of leadership together with its attendant responsibilities, while at the same time acknowledging the aims and objectives of the body and its role as the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of ICAN, this executive has lined up a couple of projects that will move SWAN forward over the next two years.”

Manager, VAS, Data&Content Development, MTN Nigeria, Omotayo George (left); Chief Executive Officer, CCHub, Lagos, Bosun Tijani; representing Chuka Ofili of Okada Books and grand prize winner, Azuka Ofili, and Chief Marketing Officer, MTN, Larry Annetts at the presentation of Hyundai IX 35 to the grand prize winner at the closing ceremony of the MTN App Developer Challenge in Lagos at the weekend PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI

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40 APPOINTMENTS Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Librarians seek adequate funding of libraries, decry dearth of books From Collins Olayinka, Abuja HE dearth of books and low T funding of libraries across the country is a formidable snag in the wheel of technological as well as economic development of the country, the WAEC/Libraries and other Trade Group Council has said.

In a communiqué issued at the end of its regular meeting in Umuahia, Abia State, the Council said that the inconsequential status given to libraries in Nigeria was bad omen and gradual sliding of a nation populated by educated illiterates.

It argued that a nation’s seriousness about development could not be detached from the premium it attached to acquisition of books and that it was worried by the continued total neglect of library services in the education sector in Nigeria.

It noted that for several decades there had been no procurement of books and other information materials while the infrastructure were also in a state of decay.

The Council also lauded the decision of the Non Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) to resume active roles in the affairs of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) especially at a time Nigerian labour movement desired direction in its struggle against the introduction of injurious neo-liberal economic policies by the government.

The communiqué signed by Michael Adegoke and Damola Adelekun who are the chairman and secretary of the Council respectively added: “For any human development to take place the ‘information

market’ must be well funded.

The Council-in-session therefore urged all tiers of government to as a matter of urgency improve their funding of this important sector for acquisition of books, non-book materials, virtual facilities and infrastructure so that it could operate first class services and fulfill its aims and objectives.

Moreso, it implored the Tertiary Education Trust Fund to reconsider its decision and start sponsoring library activities. It also called on all state governments to place the staff of the libraries on the same pay structure as obtainable in their respective state tertiary institutions.”

The Council frowned at the faulty and sub-standard educa-

tion system in the country. It viewed the rot as an indictment on the part of the policy makers saddled with the responsibility of implementing policies in the education sector.

It further noted with great concern the consequences of the rot in the education system, which includes the incessant strike actions and poor quality products. It therefore called on the three tiers of government to increase funding of education sector in tandem with UNESCO prescription and also called on the federal government to make a law that all children of public office holders must be made to attend public schools in Nigeria for the re-engineering of the sec-

tor.

The Council-In-Session noted with dismay the slow pace of the on-going dialogue between the WAEC, Nigeria office and the union headquarters. It expressed fears that such step could harm the cordial relationship that has been in existence between the union and WAEC by anti-labour practices and nonchalant attitude of WAEC management to union matters.

It, therefore, urged WAEC management to as a matter of urgency scheduled a meeting with the union in continuation of the meeting held on the 18th October 2013 over demands of its members as forwarded to WAEC Nigeria National Office

in the resolutions adopted at Makurdi NASU WAEC Congress.

The Council-in-Session also expressed its concerns over the high tax regimes imposed by some state governments and Federal parastatals, which is considered outrageous and burdensome on the workers.

It therefore urged the affected state governments and federal parastatals to withdraw such obnoxious tax regimes and come up with workers’ friendly regimes.

The Council frowned at the unresolved issues in the agreement signed with the management of NABTEB and resolved that NABTEB management erred in not fully implementing the agreement reached

with the union.

However, it commended the NABTEB management for resolution of some of the issues agreed upon and for cordial relationship existing between the management and the union.

It therefore urged the NABTEB management to as a matter of urgency expedite action in resolving all the outstanding issues, payment of transfer allowance to members hurriedly transferred in January 2013, tour allowance of members involved in November/December, 2012 and abrogation of the obnoxious tax policy, in order to foster and strengthen industrial peace and harmony in the Board.

ICSAN elects new executives

By Tunde Akinola HE Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN), Lagos State Chapter, has elected the executives that would steer the wheels of the organisation’s activities.

At the yearly general meeting held in Lagos recently, Francis Meshioye emerged the new chairman while Mrs. Faustina Igwebuike was elected vice chairman.

Other newly elected executives include Mrs. Nkechi Onyenso who became the social secretary, Adewuyi Alawusa, publicity secretary, Bayo Ogunnaike as assistant publicity secretary, while Mrs. Abiola Laseinde became the treasurer of ICSAN. Addressing journalists at the event, the newly elected

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Outgoing Chairman,Fiscal Responsibility Commission Alhaji Aliyu Jibril Yelwa, (right) handing over the affairs of the Commission to the Executive Secretary, Barrrister Victor Chinemerem Muruakor at the Commission’s headquarters, Abuja.

Chairman, Meshioye said that his administration would leverage on the activities of the past executives. “We will bring to limelight the activities of the organisation.”

Meshioye stressed the need for membership moblisation noting that chartered secretaries and administrators across the country should make sure they belonged to different state chapters of the organisation in order to entrench further corporate governance.

He said that his executive would use its members in different organisations to promote corporate governance.

This, according to him, would impact positively on the economy of Nigeria, especially the decision making process.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 APPOINTMENT

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PTDF moves to bridge skills gap in oil sector From Collins Olayinka, Abuja HE Petroleum T Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has conducted interviews for about 3,715 candidates for its overseas scholarship scheme with a view to filling the existing skills gap in the oil and gas sector.

The interview kick-started the process of selecting scholars that will be sent abroad to study in oil and gas related disciplines at Masters degree level in top ranking universities.

The shortlisted candidates who sat for the aptitude test simultaneously in three centres of Abuja, Port Harcourt and Lagos included those that applied for the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 scholarship awards.

The Executive Secretary PTDF, Dr. Oluwole Oluleye who monitored the exercise at the Lagos centre, said that those that would eventually be selected for the awards would be trained at Masters level to fill the available human capacity gaps in the oil and gas industry which were identified by the Fund as a result of skills gap survey conducted in collaboration with international oil companies and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

He gave reasons for combining candidates who applied for 2013/2014 scholarships with those for 2014/2015.

His words: “I was appointed

The Petroleum Technology Development Fund is responsible for developing the human capacity requirements of the oil and gas industry as well as building and upgrading institutions that provide oil and gas trainings in country. in May, when the processing of the 2013/2014 was in progress which would have led to the sitting of aptitude test in October 2013. Having just taken over, I had to quickly re-evaluate what was on ground, streamline processes and try and ensure the processing of the awards was transparently done. This among other issues contributed to the decision to combine the two.�

The Petroleum Technology Development Fund is responsible for developing the human capacity requirements of the oil and gas industry as well as building and upgrading institutions that provide oil and gas trainings in country.

The areas of training at Masters level include Engineering, Geological Sciences, Environmental Studies, Offshore related courses, Energy courses and

Information Technology. So far 2, 381 M.Sc scholars and

601 Ph.D scholars have been trained by PTDF since the

inception of the Overseas Scholarship Scheme.

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APPOINTMENTS Tuesday, December 17, 2013

UNDP tasks stakeholders on effective council administration From Anthony Otaru and Kanayo Umeh, Abuja HE United Nations T Development Programme (UNDP) has challenged local governments stakeholders in Nigeria to strengthen relationship with other tiers of governance.

According to UNDP, such collaboration will help to ensure effective conduct of Inter-governmental affairs in the implementation of development programmes at the grass root.

The Resident Representative of UNDP in Nigeria, Daouda Toure, in a remark at a two day forum of Local government

• Partners Nigeria on junior professional programme functionaries held in Abuja recently said Nigeria need to take advantage of all development opportunities.

He stated that the forum had presented a golden opportunity for interaction between the political and bureaucratic classes in charting a sustainable way forward for the benefit of the greater majority of the Nigerian people.

In his keynote address, the Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki explained that the objective of

the forum was to strengthen the relationship between the ministry and local government in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, as part of measures to create jobs for young Nigerian professionals, the federal government through the Ministry of Youth Development has initiated partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to draft eligible youths into the Junior Professional Officers Programme (JPO-P).

The Junior Professional

Officers’ Programme (JPO-P) is a United Nation Programme for recruitment of young professionals to work with the UN system around the world for a period of one to two years depending on satisfactory performance.

The Minister of Sports and the Supervising Minster of Youth Development, Bolaji Abdulahi, disclosed this recently at the official launch of the recruitment portal of the Junior Professional Officers Programme in Abuja.

Turaki said: ‘’It is also to create awareness of the role of this new ministry in the coordina-

Executive council members of the All African Students’ Union (AASU) led by their President, Mouhammed Sallah (second left) and Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Prof. Innocent Ujah during the presentation of AASU/Nelson Mandela Distinguished Leadership Merit Award of Excellence to Ujah recently in Lagos…recently.

PHOTO: WOLE OYE-

tion and monitoring of the implementation of government policies and programmes that are developmental in nature in relation to state and local governments.”

He explained that it formed part of the ministry’s mandate of promoting good governance and harmonious relationship amongst the three tiers of government and relevant international bodies.

According to him, the intergovernmental affairs department of the ministry had been providing leadership for the implementation and strengthening of Nigeria’s local governance and local development programme since the return of the overseeing of the affair of local government was returned to the ministry from the office of the Secretary to the government of the federation.

He noted: “This programme aims to ensure that participatory development approaches are adopted at sub-national levels for effective local development.’’

Explaining further, he said: “This will enable local people participate in and benefit from their own governance institutions and development services. Currently, the project initiation phase for strengthening Nigeria’s local governance and local development programme is being implemented.”

The minister explained that the ability to collaborate easily and effectively was fundamental for any organisation, adding that one of the biggest opportunities was for councils to get their communities truly involved in their day-to-day

thinking.

He stressed that the forum floated by the ministry and the UNDP would go a long way in strengthening structures and consolidating operations to foster development while enhancing connectivity between local, states and national policies for development.

He assured that the ministry was poised and disposed to providing critical leadership initiative.

Abdulahi explained that the programme provides young professionals pursuing a career in development with direct experience.

He added: “Since inception in the 1960s, the programme has positively impacted on all its stakeholders, for the JPO themselves, it exposes them to international capacity development activities, on the job training, career development within the UN system and exposure to multi-cultural work environment.

“For the donor country, it is a platform to internationally train young graduates to return to national development activities, mechanism through which national representation in international organisation are increased.”

He further revealed that with the signing of the MoU, Nigeria became the first country in Africa and 20th donor country in the world supporting the UNDP JPO programme, which according to him had opened an opportunity for young talented Nigerians to make alternative career options in the UN system for a period of one to two years depending on satisfactory performance.

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013 APPOINTMENT

Oil workers fault exclusion from NCDMB summit

By Yetunde Ebosele IL workers have described as disappointing, the exclusion of oil workers from the just concluded stakeholders conference of the National Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

The workers, under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), in a statement signed by its President, Igwe Achese, expressed dissatisfaction at the alleged deliberate exclusion of NUPENG and its senior arm PENGASSAN from the conference, which had virtually all stakeholders in the nation’s oil and gas sector in attendance.

The body submitted that the non-inclusion of NUPENG and PENGASSAN in the stakeholders summit was an attempt to gag their impressions on happenings in the affairs of the Board, as it was not yet equal to the task and compromising

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on issues based on regulation in the industry.

According to them: “The union frowns and condemns in its entirety the action of the Content Development Board to single out the two Labour unions in the oil and gas industry, who are major Stakeholders in the sector.

“NUPENG states that it was in the forefront for the struggle to make the local content bill a reality but today it is been excluded in the discussions of the affairs that affect the human capital involved in the actualisation of the process,” the statement read in part.

NUPENG further alleged that the Local Content Board’s deliberate act to exclude the two unions was to prevent them from revealing the weaknesses and lapses noticeable, which they have always pointed out.

The union reiterated, “it is sad to note that the ideals and

NUPENG states that it was in the forefront for the struggle to make the local content bill a reality but today it is been excluded in the discussions of the affairs that affect the human capital involved in the actualisation of the process purpose of setting up the Board have not been realised.

It is a shame today that the level of success expected of the Board has not been met. The Board has failed to call indigenous firms who are benefitting from the Local Content Act to stop enslaving their workers who are Nigerians as casuals.”

The Content Development Board, the oil workers added, had also failed to monitor and carry out enforcement on indigenous firms, owing workers salaries and allowances.

Besides, it also hinted that the Local Content Board has also

failed to fish out indigenous firms operating in the sector fronting for foreign firms, making the Act itself a nullity.

“These foreign firms invest in fabrication and other local content tools used in the oil and gas industry, using Nigerians as fronts. This whole exercise negates the principle behind the local content Act and these firms have many expatriate workers doing jobs that qualified Nigerians can do.”

To this end, the workers called for another summit to include the union and PENGASSAN in order to move the work of the Board forward.

Achese

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APPOINTMENTS Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Dangote Sugar to create 150,000 new jobs ANAGEMENT of Dangote M Sugar Group last week revealed that the company would employ over 150,000 new staff to work in its new sugar plantations in about six states of Sokoto, Kebbi, Jigawa, Taraba, Kogi and Kwara.

The company also announced the appointment of a new group Managing Director for the Dangote Sugar Group, Graham Clark, and also announced the promotion of the former Dangote Sugar Managing Director, Abdullahi Sule, to the position of Deputy Group Managing Director of Dangote Sugar Group.

Clark said that Dangote Sugar Group would continue to strengthen output, sales and distribution through a large distribution network as well as have additional investment for new factories.

Revealing that plans were

Unlike before, where we import raw sugar for refining, the economic model of the sugar plantation is profitable when examined from the value-chain process. We will change the whole process and seek partnerships with communities and state governments in order to aid land acquisition for sugar plantation. underway to begin production in Savannah Sugar, one of Dangote Sugar’s subsidiaries, with the aim of increasing its sugar refineries to five across the country, he said Dangote Sugar embarked on the expansion as part of its efforts to boost the integrated sugar cane farming and sugar milling through increased plant capacity from 50,00 tonnes per annum to 200, 000 tonnes According to Clark, the remodelling of the integrated sugar production would

enhance the company’s value-chain process, as by-products will be extracted from sugar cane for production.

He said: “Unlike before, where we import raw sugar for refining, the economic model of the sugar plantation is profitable when examined from the value-chain process. We will change the whole process and seek partnerships with communities and state governments in order to aid land acquisition for sugar plantation.

“The company is actively

pursuing a backward integration master plan with a target of producing a total of 1.5 million tonnes of sugar per annum locally from its subsidiaries. We will also continue to strengthen output, sales and distribution through a large distribution n e t w o r k . ” He added that the company would harness opportunities in the regional markets after it had satisfied demands in the local market.

It would be recalled that Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), was recently quoted to have invested N18 billion to cater for latest farming equipment, expansion of the field/irrigation channels, importation of cane variety, community settlement and staff compensation/welfare package(s).

A statement from the company revealed that Savannah

Sugar has 5, 200 hectares currently under cultivation with cane and has a daily can crushing capacity of 4,000MT. As a front line player in the backward integration policy, the Savannah sugar’s projection is to produce one million tonnes of white sugar by 2015, cultivating 100,000 hectares in about six states of Sokoto, Kebbi, Jigawa, Taraba, Kogi and Kwara.

Savannah Sugar is capable of producing 50,000 metric tonnes of sugar per annum.

The nation’s foremost sugar refinery has increased its market share of the Nigerian sugar market in the nine months ended September 30 2013 as part of the strategies to grow the company both locally and globally. The company is planning to resume exports to selected West African countries in the first quarter of 2014.

Airtel reaffirms commitment to human capital development

By Adeyemi Adepetun O further grow its corpoT rate social responsibility, Airtel Nigeria has said that it would continue to invest in education and human capital development in Nigeria.

Chief Executive Office/Managing Director, Segun Ogunsanya, who reaffirmed this in Lagos, at the Lagos Business School, Pan Atlantic University, 17th graduating class of the Executive Masters in Business Administration programme, themed: “Soaring To Greatness”, Ogunsanya said that Airtel recognised, “education is the bedrock of any thriving society and today, we are leading a quiet revolution in the delivery of quality primary education across the country.

“We have partnered with state governments to adopt primary schools in underserved communities so that we can offer the children the best opportunity in life to realise their dreams and become the leaders of tomorrow.”

He noted that the telecom operator had also collaborated with the Lagos Business School to develop young, exceptionally talented Nigerians.

“Early last year, we announced a major human capital development programme that would involve the recruitment of the brightest students from the Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme of the Lagos Business School (LBS).

“Recently, we also inaugurated the Airtel’s Leadership Development Programme in conjunction with the LBS and other leading management development consultancy partners. At Airtel, we place a high premium on education and we will continue to invest in the development of the human capital in Nigeria,” Ogunsanya said.

He also shared important leadership and management tips with the graduates, encouraging them to “Keep an open mind (do not limit your thinking); always share your knowledge or else you will get smaller.

“Don’t just plan to participate; plan to win as people only remember the winner.

Also, plan to win small battles so that the war is won – nothing is too big to surmount and always remember that whatever you set your mind on, you will succeed.”

Also speaking at the occasion, Nnamdi Ezeigbo, president of the EMBA 17 class, thanked the Airtel CEO and congratulated all members of the outgoing class saying “there is joy at having successfully concluded the arduous task of passing through an institution as great as this with endless list of great men and women.”

The Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), George Uriesi who challenged the graduates to take very seriously the matter of self-mastery, describing it as an important factor that defines very successful people.

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APPOINTMENTS Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Empowerment of youths, women, a collective responsibility, says Esuene From Anietie Akpan, calabar VER 1000 youths and women have been empowered in Akwa Ibom State courtesy the Senator Representing the State’s South Senatorial District, Helen Esuene.

Esuene who disclosed this on the occasion of her “2013 Constituency Briefing/Empowerment programme in Eket Local Government Area” recently said that it was part of her

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effort to make people of her Senatorial district self-reliant.

She noted, “the empowerment of youths and women is a collective responsibility and that is the reason I am stepping out of my official mandate of law making to carry out this exercise .

“Today, I am doing a public presentation to confirm with the political expectation of our times. Some lives have been touched in the past and some

others will be touched in the future. This empowerment exercise is therefore not final.

Other deserving persons will be appreciated and empowered before I vacate the Senate seat.”

The beneficiaries were empowered with generator sets, gas cookers, freezers, sewing machines, hair dryers, flat screen television sets, rechargeable standing fans, musical equipment, among

others.

She also presented cash donation of N100, 000 each to some of the beneficiaries .

Cars were also presented to PDP Chapter Chairmen and Chapters Coordinators of Esuene senatorial campaign team across the 12 local Government Areas in the senatorial district in a ceremony that attracted thousands of persons.

She urged the beneficiaries to

use the empowerment tools to improve their on-going businesses, set up barbing business, viewing centres, catering businesses, dress making and hair dressing and transportation.

The Senator said that all relevant stakeholders in the state should sustain the task of creating useful employment for the youths.

In her remark, the Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mrs. Valerie Ebe, expressed appreciation to Senator Esuene for empowering youths in the state, saying that youth’s empowerment was part of the present administration’s agenda .

She said: “I feel very happy that the Senator we sent to represent us has done it and she has not done it for herself but considered people of her senatorial district. She has done excellently well.”

Ebe said that women should be given more opportunities to mount political positions in the country. Also speaking, Senator Emmanuel Essien, Chairman of the occasion urged the beneficiaries to make good use of the items given to them and advised those who are aspiring for political positions to emulate Esuene by using their positions to better the life of the people.

LAHASCOM boss tasks workers on discipline the one on major policy decisions that are crucial to the overHAIRMAN of the Lagos all success of the commission.”

State House of Assembly The chairman, however, Service Commission, Olawale assured the staff of their manMogaji, has urged workers of the commission to be self-dis- agement’s commitment to ciplined in the course of car- capacity building and human rying out their various duties. resources development, adding that the commission was still in Mogaji, who gave the charge its infancy and faced with the at a four-day retreat organ- need to “equip workers with the ised by the commission for necessary knowledge and skills its’ workers, said that there that would help us achieve colwas the need for improve dili- lective success.” gence and professionalism, if The retreat was organised to the commission must up its review the commission’s activigame and achieve its’ man- ties since its inception. Also to determine if it has lived up to date.

He stressed that workers expectations and as well as must “live above board in all worked in line with its vision, our actions and manage mission and core values as stipinformation well, particularly ulated in the establishing law.

By Wole Oyebade

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013 APPOINTMENT

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Group rates Odu’a high on operational standard HE Association of African T Development Finance Institution (AADFI), under the auspices of the African Development Bank (ADB) recently at its third peer review and rating exercise rated Odu’a Investment Company Limited as the best performing DFI in areas of Governance, Financial and Operational Standard.

According to a news statement issued by Odua’a, AADFI in its report indicated that Odu’a obtained 92 per cent and was classified as the best performing Institution with a rating of AA Grade.

A letter signed by the Secretary General of the Association of African Development Financial Institutions, (AADFI), J.A Amihere showed the result of the Third Peer Review of AADFI member Institutions, which was based on the 39 Institutions that submitted to the exercise.

The result according to Amihere, was announced by the review Consultant, Paul Yuma Morisho from Abidjan (Cote D’ivoire) and approved at the just concluded Chief Executive Officers forum in Mombasa, Kenya.

The said report showed that nineteen other institutions also scored above 80 per cent for their performance in areas of governance, financial and operational standard.

Quoting Amihere, the statement said: “The outcome of the Assessment in 2013 as declared by the consultant who reviewed the assessment results and approved at the Peer Review in Mombasa – Kenya showed that Odu’a obtained 92 per cent and was classified Best Performing Institution with a rating of AA.” AADFI through its Secretary General congratulated Odu’a on her performance

NITDA appoints ISPON member on board O build a creative environ- Sa’adatu Ayitogo and T ment that would enable a Emmanuel Ighomena are thriving knowledge industry members. that could compete on the global stage, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) board has appointed the Managing Director of Precise Financial Systems (PFS), Yele Okeremi as a representative of Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON).

ISPON is the apex body of computer software and related services industry in Nigeria. The institute was formed in 1999 with the primary objective of being a catalyst for the growth of the software-driven IT industry in Nigeria. It was specifically set up to facilitate business and trade in software and related services and to encourage the advancement of research in software technology. It is a non-profit organisation.

The NITDA board members comprise Dr. Tosin Ajayi as chairman, while Musa Bello, Saidu Gwadabe, Ben Bako, Wilson Chinedu, Harami Balami, Segun Ilorin, Hajia

Other members are the representatives of the Ministries of Science and Technology, Communication Technology and Education, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Nigeria Society of Engineers, Computer Professional Registration of Nigeria, Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) and the DG of NITDA, Dr. Ashiru Daura.

As a board member, Okeremi sees the possibility of building an enabling environment to create a thriving knowledge industry comparable to anywhere else in the world.

According to him, Nigeria could be self sufficient and independent regarding any technological issues for domestic consumption and export. He wants to see this possibility become a reality, at least in increasing measure during the board’s tenure. The board runs for four years.

noting, “AADFI is pleased to extend her warm congratulations to the Board of Directors and Management team on this record performance.”

He, however, urged the company not to relent on its oars at entrenching best practices at all times in the discharge of her duties.

Reacting to the letter of award, the Group Managing Director, Adebayo Jimoh, said he was not surprise about the rating noting that it actually validates physical happenings about the company.

He noted that the company’s operation was guided along international business best practice and corporate governance.

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Labour NHIS woos NLC, TUC others to health insurance

By Wole Oyebade O meet the federal governT ment’s coverage target of 30 per cent by 2015, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has urged various labour unions in the country to support the universal health coverage plan for Nigerians.

The body noted that only when the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) mobilise members to enroll into the scheme, would the government’s plan for improved access to healthcare and wellbeing be achieved through universal insurance coverage.

Zonal Coordinator, NHIS Lagos Zone, Ahmed Ndaman, at a sensitisation programme for men of the NLC and TUC, said that the scheme was to protect citizens as well as to reduce the burden of financing healthcare by the government.

Ndaman, who was represented by Awala Ebijiwe, explained that healthcare was globally expensive and only few individuals could afford to pay the full costs.

This, according to Ndaman, was one of the reasons most developing countries, including Nigeria, had not fulfilled healthcare needs of their population, coupled with challenges of shrinking budgetary support for healthcare services and inefficiency in public health provision.

In the light of this: “Health Insurance Security is increasingly being recognised as integral to any poverty reduction strategy. Health insurance, which allows one to access healthcare services without incurring huge medical bill, is central to social risk management of all the social security requirements such as shelter, food, personal security and so on.”

Health is particularly critical to the entire population, especially the workforce.

International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said implementing Universal Social Health Insurance protection might turn out to be a milestone for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by year 2015.

Ndaman added that it was in line with this ILO’s projection

and international best practices that the Nigerian government had initiated the concept of not-for-profit Social Health Insurance.

According to Ndaman: “It is a system of health insurance that is financed by compulsory contributions, which is mandated by law or taxes and the systems provisions are specified by legal statue.

The level of contribution is not determined by health risk, that is age, history of illnesses in family, current health problems, but by ability to pay.

“Social Health Insurance is a mandatory national plan for all citizens. It ensures free universal access to hospital treatment in the guidelines by the Federal Government.

It combines risk pooling with mutual support,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO), Sandra Achebe, noted that NHIS was designed to improve the health of Nigerians and in the last eight years had dropped maternal mortality in

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013 LABOUR | 51

‘Hold governments accountable for fundamental human rights’ violation’

By Owei Lakemfa NE of the most fundamenO tal achievements of humanity is the proclamation, exactly sixty-five years ago, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a basic standard applicable to all peoples and nations.

The Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) congratulates humanity for this great achievement, and declares that the immediate, and greatest challenge today, is its implementation.

Of all fundamental human rights, the most basic, is the right to life, which is enshrined in Article 3. But tragically, in some parts of the world, a dog has a better chance to life than a human being. Today, from the cities of Iraq, through the alleys of Syria, to the streets of the Central African Republic, human life count for little or nothing in the increasingly insane art of warfare.

As we know, virtually all wars are caused by the acts of commission or omission of human beings while most of the foot soldiers are propelled by hunger and poverty.

Humanity has to bid farewell to wars by embracing the trade unions insistence that poverty be abolished, social dialogue enthroned, and social justice ensured for all.

OATUU views the rational for so called low intensity conflicts, as irrational as the argument that there should be no universal nuclear disarma-

ment because there are countries that are matured enough to have nuclear arms.

Wars, conflicts and insecurity are the greatest dangers to attaining the Universal Declaration as they violate all its Articles including the right against torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, and the right to freedom of association, peaceful assembly, family and press freedom.

OATUU calls on all labour leaders to fight for the full implementation of the Declaration particularly the right to life, and Article 23, which states • everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment, • everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work, • everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection, and • everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

It should be the basic duty of all trade unions to ensure that the government in their respective countries, implement Article 24 which states: “Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reason-

able limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay” and Article 25 which provides that everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Also fundamental in every trade union agenda, should be Article 26 which declares: Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages.

Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and

shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their chil-

dren.

The immediate future and well being of the world, rests on the implementation of the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, and labour

leaders have the duty to be in the forefront of this struggle.

• Lakemfa is the secretary general of Organisation of African Trade Unity (OATUU).

NHIS woos NLC, TUC others to health insurance CONTINUED FROM PAGE 50 Nigeria from 840 to 630/100, 000 live births “due to increase access to health care.”

The question that bothered the minds of labour unions present at the sensitisation programme was, if the insurance scheme was as important as described, why had it not been made compulsory by the federal government, coupled with massive awareness campaign to drive it far and wide like it is done against HIV/AIDS? Chairman of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN), Lagos Branch, Dr. Adeyeye Arigbabuwo explained that health, by the Nigerian constitution, was on concurrent list and “can hardly force anything on the states.

He added that it, however, took nothing away from the scheme, which must be dynamic and well packaged to be acceptable down to the

grassroots.

He added: “You have to give a human face to everything you are doing, especially for the fact that health insurance in Nigeria is relatively new and we have to propagate it. While we are doing that, we must not be rigid on the law or guideline because when you are bringing something new to the people, it must be packaged in a way that the people will embrace it.

“Healthcare today is all about empathy. There must be empathy from the side of the providers, government and the users. Users must empathise with providers; providers with the government and government empathise with all. All of us must form a common team that is focused on one objective.

“In countries like German where the scheme started over 100 years ago they still have their challenges till date.

Everything has a teething stage, but we must learn to accommodate one another.

With empathy, you are your

brother’s keeper,” Arigbabuwo said.

Ebijiwe said further that NHIS remained the only option for accessible healthcare in the country and the labour unions must help spread the message and encourage members to enroll in the scheme to support in the achievement of universal coverage.

Vice Chairman of the TUC, Muktair Saka, though lauded the benefits attendant of the scheme, but added that there must be improved sensitization, coupled with lesser delays in the enrolment processes.

He noted that Nigeria had one-too-many great programmes, but implementation was usually their nemesis.

Saka said: “We believe in this scheme and we will help drive awareness among our members, but we hope this will not be another National Housing Fund programme where there were so many promises at the beginning but none fulfilled in the end.”

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013

For The Record Overcoming Nigeria’s

By Abdulrahman Dambazau CFR, Ph.D. T is a pleasure to be here in this first licensed private university in Nigeria which was founded in 1999, coinciding with the year the current democratic experience started. It is indeed an honor to be invited to deliver the university’s Eleventh Convocation Lecture. I will start by expressing my gratitude to the Board of Regents, Governing Council, the Senate, Management, Staff and Students of this wonderful academic institution for considering me for this distinguished university lecture, and in particular, the immediate past Vice Chancellor, Professor Eghosa Osaghae.

I have been requested to make a presentation on the theme “Overcoming Nigeria’s Security Challenges”, a topic I consider most appropriate at this period of our national life. We have, as a nation, always been confronted with security challenges since independence in 1960, and sometimes so threatening that one would expect total collapse, but for some unexplained reasons it appears that Nigeria has developed some resilience in her ability to bounce back whenever it was almost knocked down by these challenges. My task here is not to dwell on the history of Nigeria, and I assumed that most of us are conversant with it, but it is important that we learn some lessons from our history, if the intention is to provide the opportunities for making progress.

To begin with, not only that the word “security” has various meanings, it can be contextualized on the basis of time and space. In its simplest definition security means “freedom from danger, fear or anxiety”. We define security on the basis of threat perception – threats that may impact on our physical body as individuals or groups; psychological thoughts or behaviour; our properties; means of livelihood; socio-economic needs (food, health, education, etc); the environment; freedoms or fundamental rights; and sovereignty or territorial integrity. We all share the consequences of these threats or the benefits of avoiding them, either as individuals, groups, state, region or even the world as a whole. It is therefore apt to view security as a “public good”. The idea of public good can be traced to David Hume’s 1739 thesis of the “common good” presented in his publication, the Treatise of Human Nature, and Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. In line with economic theory, Holcombe defined public good as a good that, once produced, can be consumed by an additional consumer at no additional cost.i Preceding Holcombe’s definition, Paul Samuelson (1954) is credited as the first economist to develop the theory of public goods, which he referred to as the “collective consumption good” in his classic paper in which he defined the concept in terms of “…goods which all enjoy in common in the sense that each individual’s consumption of such good leads to no subtractions from any other individual’s consumption of that good…”ii Samuelson identified two elements of public goods: the first is “non-rivalry” that is consumption by one does not reduce the supply available to others, such as knowledge, street lights; the second “non-excludable” that is, once these goods are produced their benefits are shared by all, such as clean air, international legislation etc. As a public good therefore, once attained, whether in a state, region, or global, the advantages of being secure are distributed equally to all within the public space they relate to.

The traditional perspective of security focuses on military dimensions of security in which the defence of a nation’s sovereignty or territorial integrity is paramount. This approach is in line with the idea of maintaining a strong military to protect national values and also defend the nation against external aggression. Generally viewed in the context of “national security”, the word security has different meanings for different people, and it is for this reason that the concept is believed to be ambiguous. Harold Lasswell, for example, saw national security lying in the “…best balance of all instruments of foreign policy, and hence in the coordinated handling of arms, diplomacy, information, and economics, and in the proper correlation of all

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Gen. Dambazau measures of foreign and domestic policy.”iii In line with the traditional notion of national security, a nation is said to have security when: it does not have to “…sacrifice its legitimate interests to avoid war, and is able, if challenged, to maintain these interests by war”;iv or when a nation has the capacity to preserve itself as a free nation with fundamental institutions and values intact;v or a nation has the capacity to protect its vital economic and political interests, the loss of which could threaten its fundamental values and vitality;vi or there is absence of threats to acquired values and the absence of fear that such values will be attacked;vii or if it possesses the necessary conditions required to enjoy self-determination or autonomy, prosperity and well-being of citizens; etc.viii In 1994 there was a paradigm shift from the traditional concept of security when the Pakistani economist, Mahbub ul Haq, first drew global attention to the concept of human security contained in that year’s UNDP Human Development Report. The Report equated security with people rather than territories, that the proper referent for security should be the individual rather than the state; with development rather than arms. Human security holds that a people-centered view of security is necessary at all levels (national, regional and global). The new concept expanded the scope of global security to include threats to economic, food, health, environment, personal, community, and political issues. There are two positions on human security: first, “freedom from fear”, which focuses on protecting individuals from violent conflicts while recognizing that violent conflicts are strongly associated with poverty, lack of state capacity, and other forms of inequalities; and second, “freedom from want”, a position which says that the threat agenda should be broadened to include hunger, disease, and natural disasters, because they are inseparable concepts in addressing the root of human insecurity, and that they kill more people than war, genocide, and terrorism combined. Former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan examined human security in its broadest sense, which he said to embrace far more than the absence of violent conflicts, because, according to him it: …encompasses human rights, good governance, access to education and healthcare, and ensuring that each individual has oppor-

tunities and choices to fulfill his or her potential. Every step in this direction is also a step towards reducing poverty, achieving economic growth, and preventing conflict. Freedom from want, freedom from fear, and the freedom of future generations to inherit a healthy natural environment…ix Before we suggest how to overcome the security challenges in Nigeria, we must begin by acknowledging the fact that it is the sole responsibility of a government to guarantee the security of its citizens, and also as a matter of fact it is this responsibility that gives any government its legitimacy. In the case of Nigeria, the responsibility to protect and guarantee security is clearly spelt out in Sec 14(2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution which states that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” This is the basis for the social contract in which we as citizens of Nigeria surrender some of our freedoms in addition to submitting ourselves to the authority relating to governance in order for us to enjoy the full protection of our remaining rights. These rights which include those of life; dignity of human persons; personal liberty; fair hearing; private and family life; freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of expression; peaceful assembly and association; freedom of movement; and freedom from discrimination, are enshrined in sections 33 to 43 of our Constitution. These rights are fundamental to the social contract between government and the citizens, and failure to guarantee them by the former not only means a violation of the “agreement,” but also a threat to the security of a nation.

So what then are the major security challenges currently facing Nigeria? In other words, what issues threaten our rights, well-being, and existence as individuals, groups or a nation? First, the composition of Nigeria as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation, while not necessarily a disadvantage in themselves, is a security challenge within the country’s political environment. There are scholars who hold the view that ethnic rivalry and distrust are a consequence of colonial strategy of divide and rule, a situation that persists as a strategy for politicians for the mobilization of political support and votes during elections.x Still there are those who think that historically African societies

have been characterized by tribal cleavages even before the colonizers set foot on the continent.xi Whatever view one may hold, it is a fact that ethno-religious violence is a common occurrence in Nigeria and there is hardly any state that does not experience ethnic violence.

As a matter of fact even politically, ethnic patterns have been developing along party lines since independence in 1960. There appears to be heightened ethic nationalism which can be associated with ethnic violence especially during and after elections. We may all remember the election violence of 1964, 1983 and 2011 in which many people were killed and properties destroyed, and each of the elections violence supercedes an earlier one. This was why the 2008 Uwais Electoral Reform Report noted that the “history of Nigeria’s elections shows a progressive degeneration of outcomes” with the 2007 elections being the worst since the first elections in 1922. The Report also noted that politicians are becoming “more desperate and daring in taking and retaining power, more reckless and greedy in their use and abuse of power, and more intolerant of opposition, criticism and efforts at replacing them.” Many of the thugs politicians armed and drugged for use to either grab or retain power are those who formed the nucleus of Boko Haram members; militants in the Niger Delta; Ombatse in Nasarawa; and increased the strengths of armed robbers and kidnappers on our highways. Let me seize this opportunity to re-state what I said in my speech during my Pulling-Out parade organized by the Nigeria Army in November 2010, in which I urged the military to remain neutral especially during elections.

Now that there is a lot of clamour and anxiety over the 2015 elections, I urge the military and the police to remain neutral and not to allow politicians to use them in furtherance of their political interests. We should always remember that we are under oath to serve the country in accordance with our professional calling and to protect the Constitution, and this should remain the focus.

In terms of resources, Nigeria is such a huge country of about 170 million and approximately 350 ethnic groups, with vast amount of untapped natural resources. The call for unity in diversity has not been heeded, rather since independence we have indeed regarded Nigeria as either a “mere geographical expression” or the “mistake of 1914”. After over 50 years of independence, and about 100 years of the north and south amalgamation, we are still grappling with the idea as to whether or not Nigeria is real. There is the mistaken assumption that Nigeria could go back to where it was in 1914; others think the country can split into north and south; yet for others, every ethnic group can be granted the right to self-determination. In a nutshell, an environment has been created for unnecessary and unhealthy rivalry, particular among the three major ethnic groups, while the country is left suffering from serious socio-economic problems. More recently, religion has become a major issue, leading to mutual condemnation. There is deep suspicion, fears and anxiety in the relationship between Muslims and Christians, sometimes leading to violence, especially in the north. As a result of the various ethno-religious conflicts, people have been killed, injured or displaced; properties destroyed; businesses closed and investors scared away; and communities are split along ethno-religious lines. Worse still, the effect of ethno-religious rivalry is reflected in the media, which is regarded as the fourth estate of the realm, the agenda setter, force multiplier, and gatekeeper. The media is not only crucial for national development but also a facilitator in nation-building. As a tool for shaping public opinion, the media must be objective and avoid sensationalism, bias and distortions. If it were a solid object it is possible to dissect the Nigerian media along ethno-religious line on the basis of its news presentation. On the political front, since independence in 1960, our political parties have always reflected ethnic patterns, and this has posed the challenge of managing multi-party democracy in a multiethnic and multi-religious nation like ours. The

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security challenges politics of ethnicity and religion has denied us the opportunity for census which we require for national planning purposes, as we always attach population to the share of the so-called national cake and other advantages. Nigerians have been arguing as to whether Muslims are more in number or it is 50/50, and forgetting that there are citizens who are neither. But the question is, what is the real advantage of more in population when 70.82% of the total population in Nigeria lives under extreme poverty (less than $1 a day) and Nigeria is the home of 8.03% of the world’s poor; the death rate is 13.48 deaths/1000 population; 51% of girls are out of school; the average life expectancy is less than 50 years; infant mortality rate is 74.36 deaths/1000 live births; under-five mortality rate of 138/1000 live births; maternal mortality rate of 840 deaths/100,000 live births; insignificant percentage of our population has access to medical drugs; human development index is one the lowest in the world? This is in spite of the fact that Nigeria is a wealthy nation, earning over $400 billion of oil revenue alone over the years of our existence. In fact according to a New York Times report recently, Nigeria is currently the world’s 6th most populous and expected to hit 300 million in 25 years at the rate of 2.553% growth. What plans do we have for this population - for education, healthcare, food, employment, drinking water, housing, electricity, etc? On the other hand, what strategy do we have in curbing population growth bearing in mind other cultural and religious challenges? Meanwhile a reporter from the NY Times made an observation of the living condition she saw somewhere in Lagos in which:…a typical apartment block known as “Face Me, Face You”…whole families squeeze into a 7-by-11-foot rooms along a narrow corridor. Up to 50 people share a kitchen, toilet and sink – though the pipes in the neighborhood often no longer carry water… At…Primary School, more than 100 students cram in most classrooms, two to a desk… As graduates pour out of high schools and universities, Nigeria’s unemployment rate is nearly 50 percent for people in urban areas ages 15 to 24 – driving crime and discontent…xii Now talking about crime and discontent, the lineup of violent crimes, specifically of armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, and ritual murders, pose a different kind of security challenge in Nigeria. These crimes pose serious threats to the lives and properties of citizens, and equally increase the risks in businesses and investment climate. Even though we lack reliable crime statistics, it is safe to assume that the rates of these crimes are growing higher, while there is no capacity for effective policing. There is a growing concern on the efficiency of the Nigeria Police and the effectiveness of current law enforcement strategy leading to various debates on community policing and de-centralized or State policing. There appears to be a misunderstanding of what community policing is all about, except if we are re-defining the concept – for most people the thinking in Nigeria is to deploy police personnel on the basis of their local origin. Community policing pursues two interrelated goals: developing solution to problems through collaborative problem solving; and improving public trust. The concept encourages partnerships with relevant stakeholders because of the belief that the police can rarely solve public safety and problems alone, and such partnerships would involve private businesses, non-profit organizations, the civil society and the media, in addition to other government agencies within the community.

The community policing model encourages the application of modern management practices to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

The other contentious issue in circulation is the idea of “State Police”. Attention has been largely drawn from the practice of the United States from which we copied the federal system.

Unlike the unitary or confederate, in the federal system as operated in the US, the Constitution prohibits the federal government from exercising general police powers. Each state therefore retains its own police powers and maintain jurisdiction accordingly as long as the crime is committed within its territory and the criminal

or suspect does not cross into another state.

The structure does not end with the state policing department because there are also county and municipal police departments.

Every university, for example, has its police department and its jurisdiction does not go beyond the university. In Nigeria, people have expressed the fear that state policing would also mean state autonomy, in addition to the caution that politicians are likely to abuse the powers of state policing by using it against their opponents. While such argument is not misplaced due to the antecedents of most Nigerian politicians exercising executive powers, if we have a police that is well grounded in professionalism, then it would not be difficult to understand that the main functions of the police are order maintenance, law enforcement and provision of services, including first aid. We are however in a society in which sycophancy and the pursuit of material gains are the order of the day, therefore the possibility that the police could allow themselves to be misused is very likely. The other fear is that there are those pursuing the agenda of ethnic self-determination and therefore state policing arrangement would enhance their agenda through the backdoor. All these arguments show that we have not been practicing democracy on the basis of the rule of law; transparency; accountability; and respect for human rights.

For now we have to contend with the general public perception of the Nigeria Police as unfriendly, brutal, corrupt, unprofessional, and inefficient. With this public perception even the ideas of community and state policing would not work for us. First, we need to have a professional policing outfit that is welltrained, equipped and funded to carry out law enforcement and order maintenance critical for the security of any nation. The public has a lot of distrust of the police to the extent that people would rather not report their complaints to them; and sometimes individuals take the laws into their own hands because they simply do not trust the police. There is the urgent need to re-examine the recruitment policy that would ensure strict vetting or background checks for potential recruits; thereafter the training of successful recruits must go beyond the initial training at the Police Col-

lege. At every level of their career, training must be continuous, including such specialized training in criminal investigation and forensic science. Of course no matter the quality of training if the appropriate equipments are not available to back it up, then we would not expect the police to be efficient. The Nigeria Police must be well-equipped in line with its responsibilities, therefore the minimum standard in transport, communication, forensics equipment, and computers must be met. A situation in which police stations lack even the stationery to document their activities is unacceptable by any standard. Police detention facilities are very dehumanizing and have lots of health hazards. Second, we must understand the importance of the police constable because ultimately he decides what is processed in the criminal justice system. We must therefore be concerned about his welfare: his pay and allowances; accommodation; healthcare coverage or medical insurance; and retirement benefits, including pensions.

For now the military has taken over the responsibilities of the police, and it has become the law enforcement body in Nigeria deployed in almost all the states in one form of Joint Task Force (JTF) or another. The military not only secure key and vulnerable points, but also man road blocks and check points with active participation in routine policing duties. In the United States, the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 was passed prohibiting the use of the U.S. Army for routine law enforcement unless the Constitution or an act of Congress explicitly authorized such use. This act was amended five times in the 1980s, largely to allow for the use of military resources to combat trafficking in illicit narcotics. The task before us now is to have a well-grounded professional police that could enforce law, maintain order, and properly investigate crimes by observing the rule of law which stresses the equality of everyone before the law and that the law is no respecter of persons; the presumption of the accused innocence until proven guilty, beyond reasonable doubt; and respect for human rights. This is the very first step of overcoming the security challenges in Nigeria, but this does not preclude the fact that the country requires a reform of the entire security sector.

Drugs and arms are drivers of violence and in-

security, and the combination of these two drivers in a conflict-prone environment like ours can be deadly. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Nigeria is a transit point for heroin and cocaine intended for European, East Asian, and North American markets.xi There is a growing concern that the whole of West Africa is “…changing more and more from just being a stockpiling place into a hub where cocaine is traded,”xi with about of cocaine from South America to Europe passing through West African countries, and Nigeria happens to be a major transit country. Afghan heroin is trafficked through Pakistan and the Middle East into West Africa, and Nigeria is not only a major target for the heroin trade, but we also manufacture methamphetamine in growing quantities. As an example, in 2008 the NDLEA recorded the seizure of 335,535.34 kg of cannabis, 3655.5 kg of cocaine, 11.6 kg of heroin, and 530 kg of other psychotropic substances.xv Aside the issue of hard drugs, there is the issue of fake and adulterated drugs which are also of immense security concerns, particularly as they relate to the health of Nigerian citizens.

These drugs are killing people or at the least worsening their health conditions.

There are over 600 million small arms and light weapons in circulation worldwide that contribute in destabilizing regions, facilitate violent crime, and undermine sustainable development. Nigeria’s borders covering a little over 4000 km are porous and easily accessible not only through the about 90 legal entry points, but also additional 1,497 illegal routes.

The Immigration Service complained of inadequate logistics and poor road networks.xvi With our porous borders criminal groups and insurgents easily smuggle weapons into the country: from Niger Delta where they trade illegally bunkered oil for arms, some of which are sold to criminals in the south east who then terrorize communities with armed banditry and kidnapping; from the north east, especially weapons from Libya, Chad and Somalia, which the Boko Haram insurgents find useful in terrorizing communities; and through the Seme border in the south west. According to the 2003 Small Arms Surveyxvii, there were an estimated 10 million illicit small arms and light weapons in West Africa, but an estimated 3 million of that quantity were in Nigeria, but with the recent security challenges in Libya and Mali, there could be more. The challenge we have relates to the strategy to be adopted for not only to clean the mess created by the presence of drugs and arms, but also to prevent them from further infiltration through our borders. Like the problem we have with a weak police institution, we also have similar problems with the Immigration and Customs, the two main institutions policing our borders.

Related to the security of Nigeria’s borders is maritime security. Maritime security is important not only for the exploitation of maritime resources, but also for securing livelihoods development. The challenges in the Gulf of Guinea, for which Nigeria is a major stakeholder, are those of piracy, oil theft, and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Between 2003 and 2011, the Gulf accounted for about 30% of piracy attacks (427 of 1,434), mostly off the coast of Nigeria, Angola and Republic of Congo. The region is said to be a source of about 5.4 million barrels oil per day.

Nigeria accounts for the region’s 47% of the total oil supply.xviii In 2012, an estimated 100,000 barrels of oil were being stolen per day, costing Nigeria about $1 billion per month in lost revenues.xix Illegal refining of oil itself causes significant environmental and economic devastation.

TO BE CONTINUED • Lieutenant General Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd) is Associate and Fellow, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA and Visiting Fellow, Center for Peace, Democracy and Development, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA

National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013 NEWSEXTRA

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ISSUE

EEG needs assured funding to boost non-oil exports

By Joseph Ogheneovo IL was discovered at a tranquil town called Oloibiri, in the present day Bayelsa State, after half a century of exploration.

This momentous discovery redefined Nigeria’s economic future as she not only joined the ranks of biggest oil producers but also became an economic kernel in Africa.

Following the regime of oil boom in 1960s and early 1970s, agriculture, which had been the mainstay of the economy and provided jobs for over 70 per cent of the population, was forced to play the second fiddle.

Contributions to total exports fell from about 70 per cent between 1965 and 1970 to 40 per cent in the 1970s. This worsened in the 1990s when it crashed to mere two per cent.

Consequently, what first appeared as boom turned into doom and gloom as crude oil vulnerabilities became more apparent in 1980s following an oil glut that brought about excessive surplus amid falling demand.

The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) had been established in 1976 but little was done to promote the manufacturing sector whose value-added fell to 25 per cent between 1982 and 1986. By 1986, it had become obvious that unless serious efforts were made to encourage non-oil exports, the country could be in for a storm. The Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) introduced in 1986, in realization of this, came with 18 different measures to promote non-oil exports.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) data revealed that the measures were favourable to manufacturing as growth rate rose from 11.2 per cent between 1981 and 1985 to 19.4 per cent between 1986 and 1994. After the military interregna came the democratic government of Olusegun Obasanjo which further realised the need to promote non-oil exports by establishing the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) in 2005. The scheme was aimed at providing incentives, ranging from five to 30 per cent of export value, to exporters.

The EEG is paid in the form of the Negotiable Duty Credit Certificates (NDCC), which are redeemable against payment of customs and excise duty. Exporters are allowed to sell it to other exporters. But it is available to every non-oil exporter, and is based on objective scoring criteria.

Findings have shown significant growth in non-oil exports since the adoption of the EEG. Data show non-oil exports have grown from less about $600 million in 2005 to over $3 billion in 2013. There is also remarkable increase in value chain expansion in terms of processing/manufacturing capacities, leading to

O

new investments and job creation.

Furthermore, there is huge leap in production levels of commodities like sesame, cocoa and rubber, on the back of increased demand from exporters whose competitiveness was boosted by this scheme. However, insider sources said the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) had imposed arbitrary limits and restrictions on use of NDCCs in disregard of the rules establishing the EEG. The NCS feels that it is being singled out to carry the financial burden alone in a scheme that would benefit the entire economy, said the source, while giving reasons for the restrictions.

Another challenge was that exporters had to pay 7 per cent surcharge to the customs before they would be allowed to use NDCC. The challenges reached a climax on August 22, 2013, when the NCS stopped allowing use of NDCCs. The unilateral action, which created an extremely difficult liquidity situation for exporters, was aggravated when the affected exporters who raised concerns over this were told the order to reject the certificates came from above. Findings revealed that, until today, no written instruction has been issued to effect the rejection.

This is in contradistinction to a circular issued on February 20, 2013, by Dikko Inde Abdullahi, comptroller-general, NCS, to deputy-comptrollers-general, assistant comptrollers-general and Customs area comptrollers, which said a compliance desk had been set up to supervise compliance.

Amid these enormous setbacks, however, players in the organised private sector (OPS) have come up with alternative ways of funding this scheme in their belief that the country economic

Furthermore, there is huge leap in production levels of commodities like sesame, cocoa and rubber, on the back of increased demand from exporters whose competitiveness was boosted by this scheme.

However, insider sources said the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) had imposed arbitrary limits and restrictions on use of NDCCs in disregard of the rules establishing the EEG. The NCS feels that it is being singled out to carry the financial burden alone in a scheme that would benefit the entire economy, said the source, while giving reasons for the restrictions.

Aganga future depends on it. One way of doing this is to create a budgetary allocation for it. This funding arrangement can be estimated based on the projected growth rate of non-oil export sector, while grants disbursal can be done either by finance ministry or ministry of industry, trade and investment, after verification of claims. It may also be undertaken by the NEPC which has the full data of the scheme from inception in 2005 to date.

Apart from annual budgetary allocation, creation of Non-oil Export Development Levy has also become timely, according to stakeholders. A tariff in the form of levy can be introduced. This may be a two per cent levy on Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) value of all imports. This will impose a very small burden on imports and create a resource pool to administer the scheme. A two per cent levy may not materially impact imports but it will surely create a funding source of meaningful size to support the growth of strategically important non-oil exports. The levy funds can be administered through either of the two ministries mentioned above or through NEPC. In furtherance of this scheme, stakeholders also call for creation of one per cent levy on export of crude oil with a view to using the proceeds to fund the EEG scheme.

In fact, it is the conviction of the OPS that the diffidence in implementation of EEG policy since August 2010 has affected the momentum of export growth from 2011 to 2012. It is, therefore, time to pursue bold, far reaching and enduring solution to funding EEG as growing the non-oil exports is a strategic imperative and will remain so at least for the next decade. The EEG policy has resulted in remarkable growth in non-oil exports and needs to be sustained. There is every reason to support and fund the scheme as it is a key tool in economic transformation of Nigerian economy. Sustainability of the scheme, therefore, needs to be secured by adopting these enduring funding arrangements.

• Ogheneovo is a public affairs commentator

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013 INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY

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General Motors to invest $1.3 billion in five U.S. plants ENERAL Motors Co said G on Monday it will invest nearly $1.3 billion at five U.S.

plants to make a new transmission and boost output for a planned new engine as well as add a vehicle paint shop.

GM, the No. 1 U.S. automaker, said the investment at the plants in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana will create or retain about 1,000 jobs combined, but did not say how many will be new jobs.

The five plants employ

about 7,500 people.

The investment is part of $8 billion that GM typically spends annually on its global operations and will be used to make a new 10-speed transmission and boost planned output of a new V6 engine, as well as support production of an existing 6speed transmission, the company said. GM also will add a new paint shop and logistics center.

Since 2009, when GM emerged from bankruptcy

The largest piece, $600 million, will be spent in the Flint, Michigan, assembly plant, where the heavy-duty Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickup trucks are built, for upgrades that include a new paint shop with the help of a $49.5 billion U.S. taxpayer bailout, the company has announced investments of more than $10.1 billion in its U.S. operations, including $2.8 billion this year alone.

China sets out urbanisation plans to support economic growth HINA will map out city C clusters across the country’s central, western and northeastern regions and develop them into engines for growth as part of its urbanisation strategy, according to the nation’s leadership.

“Diverse and sustainable” funding mechanisms will be developed to finance policies, they pledged at an urbanisation conference, according to a report of the meeting by the Xinhua News Agency recently.

Attention must also be paid to the environmental impact of such development, they said.

China’s leaders pledged last month to speed up urbanisation as part of a package of policies that represent the biggest expansion of economic freedoms since at least the 1990s. Premier Li Keqiang has championed the strategy as a “huge engine” for growth as he seeks to shift the world’s second-largest economy toward a model that relies on domestic consumption rather than investment and exports.

“Pushing forward urbanisation is an important path to solve problems related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers,” according to Xinhua’s report posted on the central government’s website. It is also a crucial tool “to boost China’s domestic consumption and drive industrial upgrading.”

President Xi Jinping and Li spoke at the two-day conference, with Xi emphasizing principles and priorities and the premier giving more detailed plans, according to Xinhua, which said it was the highest-level meeting the Chinese leadership has ever convened on urbanisation.

China’s urban population surpassed that of rural areas for the first time in the country’s history in 2011. Even so, millions of migrants who have moved to towns and cities can’t benefit from urban welfare, education and health services because the household registration system, known as hukou, classifies them as rural residents.

The National Development and Reform Commission, the nation’s top economic planning agency, said recently that it would promote urbanisation and issue supporting policies on residency, land, capital, housing and public services.

Priority will be given to investments in projects such as shantytown redevelopment, construction of

affordable housing, more railway infrastructure in central and western China and major projects to promote energy saving, emissions reduction and environmental improvement, it said.

One of the thorniest issues facing policy makers is who pays for urbanisation — the cost of the physical infrastructure and the recurring annual spending on providing millions of new residents with health care, welfare and education services. ocal authorities are barred from directly selling bonds or borrowing from banks and can’t run budget deficits.

To raise money to fund spending they set up thousands of financing vehicles, racking up debts that Fitch Ratings Ltd. said in April increase risks to the country’s financial stability.

The urbanisation conference agreed that the taxation system for local authorities will be improved and categories of taxes that are “localgovernment oriented” will be gradually established, according to Xinhua. A mechanism will also be set up that links fiscal transfer payments from the central government with the pace at which farmers become urban residents, it said.

The management system for local authority bond sales will be improved and the government will study the establishment of financial

institutions for urban infrastructure and housing, according to Xinhua’s report, which didn’t give further details. Private investors will also be encouraged to participate in building and running public facilities, it said.

The conference repeated a pledge made in a document released after last month’s Third Plenum to relax the household registration system. Allowing migrant workers to gain urban residency status in an “orderly manner” will be a primary task, according to a recent statement.

Concerned that local authorities will see urbanisation as an opportunity to boost infrastructure or develop too quickly, the conference warned that targets should be “practical and realistic,” Xinhua said. Officials should not pursue “quick results,” rather they should push forward in an “active and steady manner,” it said.

The conference reiterated the strategy outlined in the Third Plenum document that urbanisation and the reform of the hukou system should focus on small and medium-sized cities, while migration to the biggest cities should be strictly controlled.

“Not every city or town has to grow like a giant,” the conference pointed out, according to Xinhua.

GM has made a series of announcements as the end of the year approaches, including the promotion of product development chief Mary Barra to chief executive, starting next month.

The Detroit company will also drop its Chevrolet brand in Europe and end manufacturing in Australia.

It also has sold stakes in French automaker Peugeot and its former finance arm Ally Financial.

“Today’s announced plant upgrades continue the momentum of a resurgent auto industry,” GM North American President Mark

Reuss said in a statement.

“More importantly, these investments add up to higher quality and more fuelefficient vehicles.”

The largest piece, $600 million, will be spent in the Flint, Michigan, assembly plant, where the heavy-duty Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickup trucks are built, for upgrades that include a new paint shop.

More than $493 million will be invested at the Romulus, Michigan, powertrain operation for new equipment to build an allnew 10-speed automatic transmission as well as boost production of the previously announced new V6 engine, the company said.

GM said details about the 10-speed transmission, which is intended to boost fuel economy, and the V6 engine will be announced later.

The rest of the money will be spent at GM’s DetroitHamtramck assembly plant, where the Chevy Volt, Malibu and Impala cars are built, for a logistics center; at the Toledo, Ohio, powertrain plant for increased capacity of an existing 6-speed transmission and tooling for a new variant; and at the Bedford, Indiana, castings plant to make parts for the 10-speed transmission and existing 6-speed transmission, GM said.

GM previously said it was also spending about $332 million at four U.S. plants, including Toledo and Bedford, and made a small investment in Romulus.

Current CEO Dan Akerson is scheduled to give a speech in Washington on Monday at the National Press Club.

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MarketReport EQUITY MARKET SUMMARY

AS AT 16-12-2013

PRIMERA AFRICA www.primera-africa.com

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 MARKET REPORT

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MARKET INDICATORS

AS AT 16-12-2013

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Dangote Cement, Nestle, others lift NSE market capitalisation by N277b Stories by Helen Oji OLLOWING price gains Fcapitalised recorded by major highly stocks, especially Dangote Cement and Nestle, equity transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange reopened in an upbeat yesterday, as market capitalisation rose significantly by N277billion.

Specifically, at the close of transactions yesterday, the All Share Index (ASI) appreciated by 2.22 per cent to 39695.34 points from 38,831.59 points recorded on friday.

Also, market capitalisation of listed equities grew by N277 billion or 2.22 per cent from N12.426 trillion traded to N12.703 trillion .

Investors exchanged 265.123 million shares worth N2.858 billion in 3974 deals against 727.416 million units valued at N4.907 billion exchanged in 4469 deals on friday.

Dangote Cement led the gainers table, appreciating by N20.00 to close at N220.00, Nestle Nigeria Plc followed with N6.00 to close at N1126.00 per share.

Ashaka Cement increased by N0.51 kobo to close at N20.51 per share. Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Nigerian Breweries garnered N0.40 kobo and N0.20 kobo to close at N27.10 per share and N161.20 per share.

Nigerian Breweries added

20kobo to close at N161.20 per share. Ashaka cement gained 51 kobo to close at N20.50 per share.

International Breweries and Evan Medical gained 0.16 kobo to close at N27.04 and N3.51 per share respectively.

African Prudential and Access bank also added 0.11 and 0.10 kobo to close at N2.54 and N9.50 per share.

On the other hand, Guinness Nigeria Plc topped losers chart, dropping by N8.00 to close at N247.00, Larfarge Wapco traild with a loss of N4.20 kobo to close at N107.00 while Cadbury Nigeria Plc loss N3.00 to close at N63.00.

Other stock that depreciated in price were Unilever Nigeria Plc and PZ Cusson declined by N2.87 kobo and N0.97 kobo respectively to close at N54.61 kobo and N35.63 kobo.

Further analysis of the investment showed that Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (TRANSCORP) recorded the highest volume of activities, exchanging 57.951 million shares worth N234.343 million, Unity Bank Plc followed with account of 36.649 million shares valued at N19.165 million while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 26.421 million shares valued at N713.563 million. Zenith Bank exchange 17.111 million shares cost N372.061 million and ETI traded 15.433 million shares worth N227.149 million

IOSCO committee meets to strengthen securities market HE IOSCO Affiliate T Members Consultative Committee (AMCC) met for the first time since it changed its name in order strengthen consultative role within IOSCO, aimed at strengthening the securities market.

The AMCC, at the meeting, according to the report on IOSCO website, discussed how best to draw on the collective experience and expertise of its members and to strengthen its role as a consultative committee to the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

At the meeting in Madridon 13thDecember, members of the AMCC also agreed to work together with IOSCO through the IOSCO General Secretariat on issues affecting securities markets and the broader IOSCO membership.

The report added that AMCC members further agreed to be proactive and forward looking in their approach similar to the manner in which other IOSCO committees were seeking to do so The AMCC agreed in September to revise its internal organization in an effort to enhance its contributions to IOSCO’s ongoing policy and research work.

Until then, according to the report, the AMCC was known as the Self Regulatory Organizations Consultative Committee (SROCC).

The committee consists of SROs, securities exchanges, financial market infrastructures, investor protection

funds, and other organizations.

At the Madrid meeting, the AMCC also approved three new work streams and discussed with the IOSCO General Secretariat how to take this work forward.

It added that the following mandates; investment management data, emerging risks and cyber threats, which are closely aligned with IOSCO’s research and policy work were approved.

Chairman of the AMCC and CEO of the Brazilian Financial and Capital Market Association (ANBIMA), José Carlos Doherty, highlighted the importance of these new steps for the inclusiveness of the committee and for its consultative role within IOSCO. He said: “Our members have a lot to contribute to these work streams as they have a practitioner perspective that complements the work of the securities regulators who constitute the ordinary membership of IOSCO.” IOSCO Secretary General David Wright said: “I very much welcome this new forward looking agenda and the priority global policy areas that the AMCC have agreed to work intensively on. It is very important that IOSCO draws together and benefits from the expertise of all its membership.There is no doubt the AMCC has a major contribution to make.” Participants at the meeting also discussed other areas of mutual interest, such as crowd-funding and technological issues on market infrastructure.

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GlobalStocks U.S. stock-index futures change gradually

Stockbrokers trading .S. stock-index futures U were little changed, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rallied the most in four weeks, as investors weighed economic reports from Asia and awaited the outcome of budget negotiations in Washington.

Gilead Sciences Inc. advanced 2.4 per cent in early New York trading after getting approval for a hepatitis C pill that may generate more than $6 billion in annual sales. Dean Foods Co. fell 0.9 per cent in Germany after Morgan Stanley downgraded its recommendation for the stock.

S&P 500 futures expiring this month rose 0.1 per cent to 1,807 at 7:44 a.m. in New York.

The equity gauge gained 1.1 percent on December 6, snapping a five-day slump, as the payroll expansion in November beat estimates and the unemployment rate fell to a five-year low.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 8 points, less than 0.1 per cent, to 16,021.

“Our fundamental view is that any tapering-related pullback will be a temporary selloff,” said Dan Morris, who helps oversee about $520 billion as global investment strategist at TIAA-CREF Asset Management in New York.

“Markets will recover and people shouldn’t be too clever and time it.

Valuations and earnings are good. We don’t see a bubble in U.S. stocks.”

U.S. stocks closed little changed last week, snapping an eight-week rally that was the longest streak in almost a decade, amid concern the strengthening economic recovery may spur the Federal Reserve to reduce its stimulus soon.

The S&P 500 has gained 27 per cent in 2013 as the Fed refrained from trimming its $85 billion a month of bond purchases.

The gauge is trading at 16.2 times the projected earn-

ings of its constituents, compared with a 10-year average of almost 14.9.

China’s exports surged 12.7 per cent in November from a year earlier, data showed yesterday.

That beat the median projection in a Bloomberg survey for seven per cent growth.

The General Administration of Customs in Beijing also said imports into the world’s secondlargest economy increased 5.3 per cent.

That missed forecasts.

The country’s trade surplus

widened to $33.8 billion, the biggest since January 2009.

Chinese consumer prices rose a slower-than-estimated 3 percent, a statisticsbureau report showed yesterday.

In Japan, third-quarter growth slowed more than initially estimated and the current account unexpectedly fell into deficit in October.

U.S. budget negotiators are nearing a deal to trim automatic spending cuts and break a three-year stretch of failed fiscal talks in Washington.

Aides to Republican

Representative Paul Ryan and Democratic Senator Patty Murray, chief negotiators on a special panel, say they are optimistic for a compromise by a December 13 deadline to help ease $100 billion to $200 billion in automatic cuts for a year or two.

The 29-member budget conference panel was set up by the legislation that ended the 16-day government shutdown in October, with the goal of getting both chambers of Congress back to regular order in devising a budget plan for Congress.

Gilead climbed 2.4 per cent to $75.80 in pre-market trading. The Food and Drug Administration said it gave approval for sofosbuvir, which Gilead will call Sovaldi, for use with other drugs depending on the type of illness.

Dean Foods lost 0.9 per cent to $18.27. Morgan Stanley reduced its rating on the food-and-beverage producer to equal weight, similar to hold, from overweight, or buy. The shares have posted a year-to-date gain of 20 per cent even after falling 19 percent since early August.

Emerging equities advance on China data, Indian elections MERGING-MARKET stocks E risen the most in three weeks as better-than-expected Chinese exports added to signs the global economy is improving. India’s rupee headed for a four-month high as the main opposition party won state polls.

ICICI Bank Limited led a rally on the S&P BSE Sensex Index, which climbed to a record in Mumbai, while the rupee gained 0.7 per cent.

Equities in Turkey and Poland advanced at least 0.5 per cent as data showing U.S. employers added more workers to nonfarm payrolls in November than economists expected also supported developing-country assets.

South Korea’s won increased to a two-year high versus the dollar and the Mexican peso gained to the strongest level since October.

Thai bonds rose as Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she will dissolve parliament.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index added 0.9 per cent to 1,011.03 in London.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won the state polls held over the past month, giving it momentum before a 2014 national election in India.

Chinese exports climbed the most in seven months, boosting confidence the global economy can withstand a cut in Federal Reserve stimulus.

“Chinese exports were

much stronger than expected, which is helping the rest of north Asia as well, and in India, the opposition did better in state elections than expected,” Michael Wang, an emerging-markets strategist at Amiya Capital LLP in London, said by e-mail.

“The sentiment is more positive for emerging markets now than compared to the summer because the growth cycle in emerging markets is at least accelerating now.”

The developing-country index has climbed 14 percent from this year’s low in June and is valued at 10.6 times projected 12-month earnings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with a multiple of

14.5 for the MSCI World Index.

All 10 industry groups in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index increased, led by technology and industrial companies.

India’s equity gauge surged 1.6 per cent, the most among benchmark developingnation indexes in Asia, while the rupee appreciated for a fourth day to 61.1350 per dollar.

Victories by the Bharatiya Janata Party in areas holding about a sixth of India’s 1.2 billion people would give it momentum to end the ruling Congress party’s decadelong rule in elections due by May 2014 and install Narendra Modi as prime

minister. ICICI Bank jumped 5.1 per cent.

The wins will boost the benchmark stock index by as much as 6 percent to a record by year-end, according to the average of 10 estimates compiled by Bloomberg last week.

Poland’s WIG 30 Index increased 0.6 percent, the most since November 25, while the government’s fiveyear bond yield declined 14 basis points to 3.64 per cent.

Poland’s central bank may leave interest rates at record low 2.5 percent for as much as half a year longer than its official guidance as inflation risk remains subdued, policy maker Elzbieta Chojna-Duch said.

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Law

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Quote of the week Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.

—- President Dwight Eisenhower judicialeditor@yahoo.co.uk/ 08033151041 Desk Head: Ibe Uwaleke

Falana

EFCC does not need permission to prosecute any judge, says Falana Interview

By Bertram Nwannekanma

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recently came out with mindboggling revelations of corruption cutting across the various strata of the judiciary.

In the report published by a section of the media, the anti-graft agency hinted of a probe of seven judges made up of five judges of the Federal High Court, two justices from the Court of Appeal and a former Chief Judge of Lagos State.

A senior EFCC official in the report was alleged to have said the investigations into the criminal conduct of all the judges targeted for probe had either been concluded or reached advanced stages but that the Chairman of the EFCC Ibrahim Lamorde has not given us a go-ahead for the judges to be arrested and charged for corruption.

However, a Lagos-based Senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and human rights activist Femi Falana, in this encounter, said the anti-graft agency should go ahead to prosecute the judges, if it has strong evidence against them. He also spoke on other national issues SKED his views on the purported letter by A the EFCC to the CJN seeking for permission to arrest and prosecute some judges who were alleged to have large sums of money in their accounts, Falana said there was no need for the letter.

He said: “The EFCC does not need the permission or the fiat of the CJN to prosecute any judge suspected to have committed Economic and Financial Crimes. Section 7 of the EFCC Act empowers it to request anyone to account or

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explain his sources of wealth. If there is a complaint that a judge cannot explain large sums of money traced to his/her accounts, he/she may be prosecuted. But the EFCC should first carry out a thorough investigation into the matter.

On his assessment of the present democratic experience under the ruling party, the fearless lawyer said there was still no reliable means of transportation, or compass or a particular destination. “ It has been a 14-year journey to nowhere. Even the government concedes that Nigerians are not reaping the dividends of democracy. With infrastructural decay, insecurity, unemployment, corruption, impunity, extra-judicial killings, kidnapping, armed robbery, terrorism etc, the dividends of democracy are a tantalizing reality for the majority of our people.

On whether Nigeria’s poor ranking on global corruption index has made corruption, Nigeria’s number one problem, Falana said, “corruption is certainly not our main problem.”

“It is a feature or manifestation of a neo-colonial capitalist society. Western countries are the most corrupt nations on earth but because there is rule of law all those who are careless or negligent to be caught are arrested, humiliated and prosecuted.

In other words, the capitalist system sanctions those who flout the 11th commandment of the bourgeoisie that is “thou shall not be caught”.

But in a neo-colonial environment, the rule of law is manipulated by the ruling class to cover up corruption and abuse of office.

You can see all the desperate moves being made by the executive and the Senate to shield the Aviation Minister, Ms Stella Oduah from prosecution.

As far as President Goodluck Jonathan is concerned, the high rate of the corruption is a question of perception. In other words, the allegation that Nigeria is a very corrupt nation is not a reality! That is where I part ways with the President. In the First Republic the rate of corruption was 10 percent.

Today, it is 100 percent in many cases such as when contractors collect huge funds and abandon project sites, when statutory allocations of government departments are completely diverted, when government pays billions of

naira for fuel subsidy without any supply of fuel.

On the proposed national conference, he said: “With all due respect, there is no move to convene any genuine national conference.

“President Jonathan has unequivocally stated that the resolutions of the imposed national dialogue would be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration. That, in effect, means that the national dialogue is an expanded town hall meeting to provide Nigerians with the opportunity to make input into the on-going review of the constitution by the National Assembly. That can never be a serious National Conference”.

On whether decisions on the conference should be sent to the National Assembly The revered silk said: “The institution of the National Assembly will have to be considered in a serious national conference.

“In other words, Nigerians will like to examine the presidential or parliamentary system of government and agree on whether we need a bicameral or unicameral legislature. Whether we need a full time or part time legislature? But by submitting the resolutions of the Conference to the National Assembly it is presupposed that the regime is satisfied with the status quo.

“Any national conference or dialogue that is not sovereign or whose resolutions will be submitted to the executive or the legislature for consideration is a complete distortion of the democratic rights of the Nigerian people.

On fears that the proposed conference might lead to disagreements and rancour going by the recent show of shame in Edo state between the state governor, Adams Oshiomhole and a former member of the panel, Tony Nyiam.

He said: “Of course, a national dialogue will throw up disagreements, walk outs and even threats of integration. But at the end of the day, there will be concrete resolutions if there is no manipulation by the government.

Asked to comment on fears being expressed in some quarters that Nigeria will break up in 2015, Falana said, “It is not in the interest of any faction of the ruling class to balkanize the country.

“It is also not in the interest of imperialism to

have Nigeria broken into pieces. “However, with the lack of readiness on the part of the INEC as witnessed in the just concluded Anambra State governorship election, there are genuine fears that the 2015 general elections crises may lead to violent eruptions.

“Such fears cannot be dismissed. More so, that terrorist attacks may make election impossible in certain parts of the country while some candidates may be kidnapped.

“There are also threats that the country would be plunged into war, if President Goodluck Jonathan is not re-elected. Such threats cannot be dismissed having regard to the federal support for five instead of 27 legislators in Rivers State and 16 instead of 19 governors in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.

“From all indications, the management of the post -election crisis by the ruling class will define the future of the country.

On his reaction to the House of Representatives’ moves to amend the National Judicial Council (NJC) Act to absolutely empower the body to punish or pardon erring judges without recourse to the president.

He said, he “supports the move provided that the NJC will be restructured.

“At present, it is a Council of the Chief Justice of Nigeria who is empowered to nominate 14 out of the 24 members.

“It is suggested that the NJC should comprise of retired judges, lawyers and members of some civil society organization.

Asked whether Mrs. Clara Chime could sue Governor Sullivan Chime for the violation of her fundamental human rights despite the governor’s immunity as a serving governor, Falana said, Mrs. Clara Chime has been freed from illegal detention or confinement in the Government House, Enugu.

“She is currently enjoying her personal liberty.

She has also been able to travel out of Enugu to visit some friends and relations. Mrs. Chime is perfectly entitled to sue Governor Sullivan Chime as well as the police and SSS personnel who colluded with her husband to detain her.

Since there is no trace of insanity in her, she can also sue the husband and the doctor who gave the highly misleading impression that “she is non compos mentis.”

“How can a husband who claims to love his wife lie to the whole world that his wife is mentally challenged and then locks her up in a room? Is the Government House a psychiatric hospital?

“As a public officer, the governor did not disclose his own ailment, why then did he disclose the health condition of his wife granted that he was even honest about it? Did the governor not travel abroad for treatment? Why did he not allow his wife to travel abroad? The immunity of the governor does not cover the infractions of the fundamental rights of his wife.

On the use of siren by the governors, which led to the death of former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Festus Iyayi Falana said: “It was unfortunate that Prof. Iyayi was killed in such a gruesome circumstance, by executive lawlessness.

“I can assure you that the case would provide a basis to challenge the reckless use of sirens and harassment of motorists on our roads by top public officers and some first-class traditional rulers. “ If the governor of Lagos State with all the traffic jam in the city, could move around without a siren, there can be no justification for the harassment of road users by other governors.

“Interestingly, there are some other governors who do not use siren or dispatch riders. In countries where siren is manufactured, it is only used by ambulances, fire fighter vehicles and the police for emergencies. Prof. Iyayi was my comrade.

“He was also a client. His death is a personal loss.

I already have the instruction of his family and ASUU to pursue this matter in court and take advantage of his tragic death to prevent further loss of lives on our terribly bad roads via executive lawlessness”.

Section 7 of the EFCC Act empowers it to request anyone to account or explain his sources of wealth. If there is a complaint that a judge cannot explain large sums of money traced to his/her account, he/she may be prosecuted.

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THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

LawPeople

“Hard work is painful when life is devoid of purpose. But when you live for something greater than yourself and the gratification of your own ego, then hard work becomes a labor of love.”

—-Steve Pavlina (born 1971); Motivational Speaker And Entrepreneur

By Joseph Onyekwere Bar Association (IBA), in recogIthatNTERNATIONAL nition of the huge investment opportunities abound in Africa, recently had its African investment conference in Lagos, Nigeria. Interestingly, out of all the countries in Africa, IBA decided to make Nigeria the destination of choice for that conference. Not a few Nigerian lawyers were elated by this development. Among them is one of the leading commercial lawyers in Nigeria and an outstanding member of the IBA, Olasupo Shasore (SAN). He believes that holding the seminar in Nigeria was a great boost for the country’s quest for foreign direct investment. “It was a very important seminar we had at this time in Africa. It was a very important seminar because investment in Africa is so topical - the performance of African economy and the performance of Africa as an economy are attracting a lot of attention.

There are monumental advancements in business in Africa. Policies are changing, investment is coming and growth is there but I think that what concerns the general public is the trickledown effect. People are waiting to see how it reflects on the street”, he declared. But he is of the view that conducive business environment in terms of contract enforcement and stable tax climate will do the magic.

Shasore has made indelible contributions to the development of law profession in Nigeria and beyond in his areas of professional competence. They include Civil and Commercial Litigation, Shipping and Admiralty Litigation, Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution and Public and Constitutional Law. He has acted as counsel at numerous commercial arbitration proceedings and as fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (United Kingdom). He is frequently selected as an arbitrator in both international and domestic disputes.

A member of body of benchers, he presently serves as chairman, Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Committee of Section on Business Law of the Nigerian Bar Association and Editor of Commercial Law Reports Nigeria.

At the commercial Bar, his footprints are legion.

Shasore acted as counsel in a number of leading decisions of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and the Court of Appeal in Nigeria. Some of the notable roles and decisions are: Lead counsel in the Court of Appeal decision Ladgroup versus Wema Bank & ors. (2004) 12 CLRN 54 legal precedent for the authority of a mortgage receiver to institute or defend actions on behalf of the (mortgagor) company; lead counsel in the Supreme Court Case Nigeria Advertising Services Ltd & Anor versus UBA Plc & Anor (2005) 7 CLRN 36 where the court restated the extent of the mortgagors’ equity of redemption; lead counsel in the Supreme Court case, Maritime & Gen. Ass Versus Overseas Union (2006) 1 CLRN 8S; (2006) 4 NWLR (Pt.971) 622 deciding the law applicable in Nigeria for foreign judgment registration and enforcement proceedings and lead counsel in the Supreme Court case Alsthom S.A & Anor Versus Olusola Saraki (2005) 2 CLRN 1; where the court restated the principle of fair hearing in civil proceedings, among others.

He is a executive board member, Lagos Court of Arbitration; member, London Court of International Arbitration, Africa User Group; chairman of Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, Section on Business Law, Nigerian Bar Association; IBA; Maritime Arbitrators’ Association of Nigeria; Nigerian Society of International Law and International Association of Prosecutors; Chairman of the National Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Reform Committee; member of Panel of Experts of Panel of Recognised International Market Experts (“PRIME”) and member, Advisory Committee; International Lawyers for Africa (ILFA).

How did this legal prodigy venture into the law profession? He responds: “I have always had a desire to study law even in middle and early schools. I read books that had law backgrounds.

I always had interest in the law.”

He, however, stated that the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) inspired him a lot. He recalled: “I remember when I was in the university and Gani Fawehinmi came and addressed the faculty. That encounter was very motivating! Equally, my uncle was a foundation judge of the Federal High Court. I lived with him for some time. That

Shasore (SAN)

‘Contract enforcement, stable tax climate will boost investment in Africa’ There are monumental advancements in business in Africa. Policies are changing, investment is coming and growth is there, but I think that what concerns the general public is the trickle-down effect also was a motivating factor.”

He added that attending the Bar dinner and watching Chief J.O.K Ajayi, Alexandra and Rotimi Williams coming in a single file also inspired his legal interest. “They were benchers and that was at the height of the profession.

They walked in a very solemn and dignified way and it makes you want to be a legal practitioner.

Today as a bencher, I am almost humbled by the fact that some of those law students would be watching me in that same way”, he said.

Born on January 22, 1964, in Lagos Island, the young Shasore started his elementary education in Broadfields Primary School, Edgware, Middlesex, England between 1969 and 1974. He later moved to Orange Hill Grammar School, Edgware, Middlesex England, UK. He was in the school from 1974 to 1975. He later returned to Nigeria and enrolled at the Federal Government College, Lagos, between 1975 and 1980. As soon as he left the school, he enrolled at Igbobi College, Yaba, in 1980 and left 1981.

Immediately he left the college, he got admission to study law at the prestigious University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), in 1981.

In 1986, he graduated from the university and earned for himself an LLB (Bachelor of Laws) degree. Subsequently, he was admitted to the Nigerian Law School, Lagos in 1986. He graduated in 1987 and was called to the Nigerian Bar on October 22, 1987.

Not done with academic pursuit, Shasore, two years after the call to Bar, enrolled at the

University of Lagos for his Master’s degree programme in law. In 1990, he bagged his LLM (Master of Law) degree. He was appointed a Notary Public for Nigeria in 1996. A few years later in 2001, he went to the Institute of Maritime Law, University of Southampton.

Following his professional dexterity and outstanding advocacy practice, the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC) in 2006 bestowed on him the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). In 2007, he became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb), United Kingdom.

Though he had a stint with the chambers of Burke and Company, Lagos, between 1988 and 1990, his real legal pupilage took place at the firm of Chief Olisa Chukwura (SAN) where he also spent a year. He has this to say about him: “He was an excellent lawyer and a great mentor. I thoroughly enjoyed him. Just one-year experience and I was thrown into the deepest.

Whereas other lawyers started their professional life hovering around Magistrate and High Courts, I spent my first year in the appellate courts, contributing to briefs; contributing to his appearing in the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal all over the country. It was a tremendous experience!

“I was privileged to know the best of the best at that time both at the Bar and the Bench; appearing before the likes of Ganiyu Agbaje, Kayode Eso, Aniagolu in the old Supreme Court at Race Course building.”

Shasore later joined the firm of R. O. Akinjide & Co. Lagos as managing associate. From there, he moved to Ajumogobia, Okeke, Oyebode & Aluko in 1990 and left in 1993 to cofound Ukiri & Shasore. The firm existed between 1993 and 1999. In 1999, he joined Ajumogobia & Okeke, a leading commercial law firm operating in three cities in Nigeria as a litigation partner and has been there till date except in 2007 when he took a leave of absence

to serve the people of Lagos State as the Attorney General (AGF) and Commissioner for Justice.

Prior to his acceptance to serve as the AGF, Shasore has since 2002 been leading the Corporate Commercial Crime and Business Fraud of the firm. He currently leads the Commercial Litigation & Arbitration practice group.

He was a board member, Lagos State Football Association between 1999 and 2000; member, Executive Board, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Nigeria (1999-2007); supporting member, London Maritime Arbitrators’ Association (LMAA) (2001); editor-in-chief of “The Arbitrator” a bi-monthly Journal on Arbitration Law (2001); executive editor/editor-in-chief of Commercial Law Reports of Nigeria (2004 till date) - a monthly law report of decided cases circulating in Nigeria and Vice President - Maritime Arbitrators’ Association of Nigeria (2005-2010).

He was invited to serve as the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State in 2007 and left in 2011. Within that period, he was the chairman, Justice Sector Reform CommitteeCriminal Law of Lagos State Committee (2009 2011).

His contributions in the Public Sector Law and Policy Development are numerous. He is credited with the Policy for Criminal Justice Sector Reform in “awaiting trial persons”. He initiated the new legislation on Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011; initiated and led new legislation on Administration of Criminal Justice Law, (reenactment) 2011; Chaired the Reform and Drafting Committee on the consolidation of “Registration of Titles Laws in Lagos State” and produced draft Bill and authored and issued Mediators Guidelines for Citizens’ Mediation Centre 2011, among others.

As the Lagos AGF, he acted as the Head of State Prosecution Service and Chairman of the Technical Implementation Committee on the Reform of the Magistracy in Lagos State. He also constituted the committee and facilitated the review of the Criminal Code Law, Administration of Criminal Justice Law. In 2011, he received the first Attorney-General of the Year Award and Public Sector Legal Team of the Year 2011 Award on behalf of the Ministry of Justice and Office of the Attorney-General, Lagos State.

Shasore is also an author, who has many scholarly monographs to his credit. They include Shipbuilding 2013 (Getting the Deal Through), Civil Forfeiture (in criminal justice) - legislation required (2011) and Commercial Arbitration Arbitration Law & International Practice in Nigeria (2011), co-author with Candide-Johnson (SAN).

The quintessential legal practitioner did not become a success over night. He overcame some challenges to be able to get to where he is today.

Read him: “The initial salary and compensation package for the new wig was not attractive and is still not very attractive. I think the compensation is what challenges the mettle and resolve of any new wig. But I believe that legal practice is just a calling and not just a job. And in a calling, you take the hardship in the spirit of the calling, knowing full well that you are not only doing a duty, you are doing a service; that you would be compensated better as you go along.”

He advises young lawyers: “Be determined but decide very early in your work career what you want to make out of the law. I found out that a lot of energy is dissipated in the very early part of the work career, not sure of what to do. So quite early, focus on the profession. It is a rewarding profession.”

He relaxes by reading and writing books. He is also a sports lover and enjoys eating rice more than any other food. Shasore loves blue colours.

He is married with children.

Do you know…

Manslaughter: An unlawful killing which does not constitute murder.

Sunday Omini v. State [1999] 12 NWLR (Pt. 630 ) 168 at 182, [S.C.].

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

78

The family is both the fundamental unit of society as well as the root of culture. It is a perpetual source of encouragement, advocacy, assurance, and emotional refueling that empowers a child to venture with confidence into the greater world and to become all that he can be.

——MARIANNE E. NEIFERT, (Dr. Mom’s Parenting Guide)

FamilyLaw

Legal perspectives of marriage (5) If the wife and husband separate or divorce, can a court require them to work outside the home?

O, not directly. If a wife and husband separate or divorce, a court still cannot directly order one or both of them to work. The court can, however, declare that one or both parties owe a duty of financial support to the other party or to the children. A duty of financial support means that person who is supposed to pay support must come up with the money somehow — usually from work or from savings. If the person who is supposed to pay support does not pay the money and does not have a good excuse why the money has not been paid, that person could be held in contempt of court. The possible penalties for being held in contempt of court include payment of fines and incarceration. Payments of child support and alimony will be discussed later.

Are there legal remedies if a husband or wife refuses to have sexual relations with his or her spouse?

In some states, the refusal to have sexual relations with a spouse is a specific ground for divorce or annulment of the marriage. In other states, refusal to have sexual relations could be considered a ground for divorce because it is an “irreconcilable difference” or “mental cruelty.” A court, of course, would not order a person to have sexual relations with his or her spouse. In fact, in many states, a spouse who forces sexual relations with a partner can be charged with rape under the state’s criminal laws.

What is loss of consortium?

Loss of consortium refers to the loss of companionship and sexual relationship with one’s spouse. (The concept also can apply more broadly to the loss of companionship and affection from other family members such as a child or parent.) In personal injury actions, plaintiffs may seek monetary damages for loss of consor-

N

tium in addition to payment for other losses such as medical expenses, lost wages, and physical pain and suffering. For example, if a man is injured in an auto accident caused by a negligent driver and the man is unable to have sexual relations with his wife for two years because of the accident, both the husband and wife may seek damages for that loss.

Can wives and husbands sue each other?

Yes. They can sue each other, of course, in connection with a divorce. They also usually can sue each other in connection with financial deals in which one may have cheated the other. A growing number of states also will allow one spouse to sue the other for deliberate personal injuries, such as those suffered in a beating. Some husbands and wives may try to sue each other in connection with an auto accident in which one of them, as the driver, accidentally causes injury to the other, who was a passenger. In effect, the person suing may be trying to collect money from an insurance company rather from the person’s spouse. Many states do not allow such lawsuits.

Can a husband or wife testify against each other in court?

Yes. Husbands and wives routinely testify against each other in divorce cases. There is an old rule of law in many states that husbands and wives cannot testify about communications between themselves made during the marriage. Although the rule may be applied in some circumstances, it generally does not apply if the husband and wife are involved in a lawsuit against each other.

Living together outside marriage Can two people live together without being married?

Of course! The Census Bureau reports that such arrangements are quite common. Some

zoning laws do prohibit more than three unrelated persons from living together in one house or apartment, but two unrelated people generally can live together anywhere they want. A few states still have laws on the books prohibiting “fornication”—sexual relations between a man and woman who are not married—but such laws are virtually never enforced. Some states also have laws against “sodomy” which, among other things, prohibit sexual relations between people of the same sex. Those laws are rarely enforced if the conduct is private, consensual, and between adults (although in 1986, the United States Supreme Court in a divided decision did uphold a Georgia law criminalising private sexual relations

between two men.)

Can two people who are living together enter into agreements about sharing expenses or acquiring property?

Yes. The law allows people to enter into many types of contracts. If two people want to agree about who will pay what and how they will share in property that they might acquire, such an agreement can be valid and enforceable by courts in most states. From a legal standpoint, it is best to make the agreements specific and in writing. An oral agreement might be enforceable, but it is more difficult to prove. Each party to the agreement should give some benefit to the other party, such as agreeing to pay a certain portion of expenses. If an agreement looks as though it is only creating a gift from one party to the other with the recipient giving nothing in return, the agreement might not be enforceable.

Will a court enforce an agreement by which one unmarried partner agrees to keep a house and the other promises financial support?

Probably not. To begin with, such agreements rarely are in writing, so they are hard to prove in court. Second, to the extent that one person is promising financial support to the other, that promise usually is contingent on a continuation of the relationship. If, for example, one partner says, “I’ll take care of you,” the statement may be too vague to be enforceable; if it means anything, it probably means something along the lines of “I’ll support you financially as long as we are living together.” So, if the couple breaks up, a court probably would not find an enforceable promise for continued support.

TO BE CONTINUED

At Human Rights Day, Lagos campaigns for Special Peoples’ Law Event

By Bertram Nwannekanma HE figure was mind-bogging, 10 T million out of about 160 million of Nigeria’s population living with one form of disability or the other and 9 out of 10 of them living below poverty line.

However, over the years, this large number of the nation’s population had suffered general neglect, physical and mental assault, as well as inhuman and degrading treatment.

With inadequate or non-existent special facilities at their disposal, their environment became their arch-enemy.

Discrimination against disabled persons persists in the areas of employment, housing, education, transportation, communication, recreation, health services, political process, representation and appointments.

Without a vocational training of any sort, and for want of appreciable means of livelihood especially in the developing world, many disabled people have resorted to begging thereby creating unimaginable nuisance and embarrassment to their immediate environment, and the society at large.

It was, therefore, not surprising that the Lagos State government utilised the opportunity provided by 20th Anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and programme of Human Rights Day to campaign for special people’s rights to safeguard the rights of person with disabilities.

The celebration was spiced with a debate competition involving school pupils drawn from various primary and secondary schools in the state,

who were successful in the essay writing competition earlier organised by the Ministry of Justice.

With a theme such as: “The Rights of People Living with Disability”, the state governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), led the campaign by calling on all to be sensitive to the needs of these special people, adding that “our special people require special consideration”.

The governor announced plans to design more public infrastructure to accommodate the needs of physicallychallenged people in the state.

According to Fashola, the Federal Government and other states in the country should take a clue from the Lagos State’s “Special People’s Law 2011” and do the necessary to ensure its national embrace and implementation.

The governor, who spoke through the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, noted that as far back as 2011, Lagos State had seen the need to address the challenges being faced by these special people and this culminated in the passage of the Special People’s Law in 2011.

“The law is to safeguard people living with disability against all forms of discrimination and to equalise their opportunities in all aspects of living in the society. The law also established the Office for Disability Affairs”, he said.

Ipaye said the governing board of that office inaugurated on July 9, 2012, was charged with the implementation of the law.

The board, Ipaye noted, was constituted by the governor to ensure that special people are in the majority since “they know where the shoe pinches” and would be able to carry out the assignments better.

“Persons with disabilities face a lot of challenges and are sometimes abused both in the developed and developing countries and it is in realisation of this anomaly and the need to accord these individuals their full rights as human beings and also some special rights by reason of their circumstance that the government of Lagos State is seriously making conscious efforts to improve on the living conditions and the opportunities available to persons living with disability”, he added.

Ipaye noted that the “state government also ensures that at parking lots, one out of 20 parking lots is properly marked and reserved for persons living with disability.

“Further, a person living disability also has a right and necessary facilities to access public buildings and public places. You may have noticed around the State Secretariat that most government offices have been modified to give access to physically-challenged

We believe that no individual is ‘able’ or ‘disabled’ by choice.

The choice is beyond all of us. However, how we treat our disabled compatriots is our choice. Our choice in Lagos State is to ensure that no one is discriminated against on account of his disability. individuals’.

“We believe that no individual is ‘able’ or ‘disabled’ by choice. The choice is beyond all of us.

“However, how we treat our disabled compatriots is our choice. Our choice in Lagos State is to ensure that no one is discriminated against on account of his disability”, he said.

The AG said the state had provided that the physically-challenged enjoy equal opportunity in terms of employment, stressing that “the state is an equal opportunity employer without discriminating against prospective employees on the ground of physical

Head of Department , Private and Property Law, University of Lagos, Dr. Chinwuba Nwudego (Left) and Lagos state attorney general, Ade Ipaye ..at the event

infirmity”.

He said that not less than four state counsels who are physically challenged have been employed in the Ministry of Justice alone, pointing out that they are performing excellently well in office.

Earlier in his address, the Dean of Law, University of Lagos, Prof. Imran Oluwole Smith, stated that there could not be a human right without the rights of people with disabilities.

Represented by the Head of Department, Private and Property Law, University of Lagos, Dr. Chinwuba Nwudego, the guest speaker urged other state governments to emulate Lagos government in recognising the rights of the special people’s rights by passing disability rights.

He, however, noted that the legislative progression on the recognition and protection of rights of persons with disabilities among the federating states in Nigeria has been slow and unimpressive given the multitude of efforts by the international community in this regard.

For the Lagos State Solicitor General, Mr. Lawal Pedro (SAN), disability should not prevent any person from achieving success in life.

He berated those discriminating against disabled person, saying records have shown that physicallychallenged persons performed better than others if given the opportunity.

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com 81

80 Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Need for academics to be on court bench (2)

By Tunde Olofintila THERS are Hon. Justice Badder Ginsburg, a Professor of Law at Rutgers University School of Law and Columbia Law School, who was appointed a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals in 1980 before her appointment to the Supreme Court in 1993, Hon. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who was at various times a Professor of Law and Lecturer at Harvard Law School, a Professor at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and a Visiting Professor at the College of Law, Sydney, Australia and at the University of Rome. He was appointed a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and as its Chief Judge, 1990–1994 and Hon. Justice Elena Kagan, who after a stint at practicing Law in Washington became a professor of Law, first at University of Chicago and later at Harvard Law School as well as Dean of Harvard Law School before her appointment to the Supreme Court Bench in 2010.

The combination of the experiences these eminent jurists have gathered as private legal practitioners, public office holders and as Academics have definitely and positively impacted on their judgments and the administration of

O

justice in the United States.

In Nigeria, appointment of academics to the bench is not new following the 1972 appointment of Hon. Justice Taslim Olawale Elias from his professorial chair at the University of Lagos to the exalted office as a Justice of the Supreme Court where he later became the arrowhead of Nigeria’s judiciary as the Chief Justice of Nigeria. It is instructive to note that while in office as a Judicial Officer, the learned and erudite Justice Elias occupied his office with unquestionable integrity, character, industry and dignity.

Not minding that the erudite scholar and exemplary (ethicsminded) jurist was removed from office as CJN in some inexplicable circumstances in 1975, his jurisprudential excellence, which could not be caged or ignored, later saw him being appointed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague in 1976 and was elected President of the world body in 1982 after the death of Sir Humphrey Waldock, thus becoming the first African to occupy that lofty seat.

Agreed that not all academics or Senior Advocates of Nigeria will be like Elias, after all two identical twins from the same homozygote egg cannot behave alike, but the

Justice Mukhtar (CJN) Elias example gives verve to the argument that more academics could be given the opportunity to adjudicate at the appellate levels of our legal system.

Another academic who made it to the Bench was Hon. Justice Niki Tobi who left University of Maiduguri as a Professor and Dean, Faculty of Law and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics) for an appointment as a Judge in the Rivers State Judiciary. The fact that he rose from the High Court Bench to become a Justice of the Court of Appeal and eventually a Justice of

the Supreme Court bears an eloquent testimony that academics excel on the Bench.

Yet another is Hon. Justice Adolphus Karibi-Whyte, who was appointed to the Rivers State Judiciary from the University of Lagos. He later became the Chief Judge of Rivers State from where he was elevated to the Supreme Court like Hon. Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, who was Imo State Chief Judge and Hon. Saidu Kawu, who was Kwara State Chief Judge. It is trite to say that Hon. Justice Karibi-Whyte had a thor-

oughly distinguished career on the Bench, including his stint at the Supreme Court.

With all these as reliable precedents, just imagine a Prof. Ben Nwabueze, an expert in Constitutional Law, a Prof. Chris Ohuruogu, an expert in Human Rights Law, A Prof. Akin Oyebode, an expert in Jurisprudence and International Law, a Prof. Itse Sagay, a Prof. M.T. Abdulrazaq, an expert in Taxation, a Prof. G.A. Olawoyin, a Prof. I.O. Agbede, and a Prof. P.A. Oluyede or a Prof. Ayo Ajomo on the Supreme Court Bench. These men and many others like them who will occupy the Bench with dignity, scholarship and eminence will lend colour and character to the quality of judgments delivered in their respective areas of specialisation.

It is also capable of checking the tardiness among some judges and enhancing the quality of judgment as they will bring their learning and scholarship to bear on their judgments and complement the efforts of those of their peers on the Bench who do not have an academic background. It is worth giving a try. If it works, we continue to run with it and if it does not, we jettison the idea. After all, there is no harm in trying. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Constitutional issues in Atiku’s cases

By Professor Ademola Popoola Continued from last week Book title: Landmark Constitutional Law Cases in Nigeria 2004-2007: The Atiku Abubakar cases Authors: Maxwell M. Gidado and Chudi N. Ojukwu Publisher: Legal Research Initiative Year of publication: 2013 Price: not stated Reviewer: Professor Ademola O. Popoola Faculty of Law Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife Nigeria Review LANDMARk Constitutional Law Cases is divided into five chapters.

Chapter One, which is introductory, consists of a brief on Nigeria’s constitutional developments, the profile of the Supreme Court and a biographical sketch of His Excellency Atiku Abubakar GCON. Chapter Two deals with the case of Attorney General of the Federation V Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in which the Supreme Court decided that the Vice President could only be removed following the process laid down under the Constitution and that the President had no powers to declare the office of the, Vice President vacant.

Chapter Three deals with the case of Action Congress (AC) V Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in which the Supreme Court held that the INEC had no power to disqualify candidates for an election.

Chapter Four deals with the case of Attorney General of the Federation V Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in which the Court of Appeal held that the executive immunity being a vice president is absolute and that he could not be subject to criminal prosecution in any court, including the Code of Conduct not tribunal.

Chapter Five deals with the case of Godie Ikechi V Peoples Democratic Party in which the Federal High Court held that a political party must act in accordance with its constitution and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The book

ends with comprehensive indexes of (i) Reported cases (ii) Subject matter (iii) Nigeria cases and a list of justices of the Court of Appeal and of the Supreme Court.

The industry of the counsel and the genius of the judges that sat on the cases at the various levels deserve commendation.

A review is not supposed to “help” the reader out of the reading experience. It is an attempt to prepare the reader for the intellectual ‘adventure ahead of him.

Hon Justice Dahiru Musdapher’s lucid “Foreword” vividly put the “thorny issues” raised in the cases reported in their proper perspective. These issues are no doubt thought provoking. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s involvement as the “trigger puller” justifies the, sub-title. “The Atiku Abubakar cases”. At a broad level, the issues thrown up by the cases and the surrounding circumstances bring into the front burner the following dimensions, which cannot but attract the attention of the discerning mind.

• There is no craving more deep rooted in human beings than the craving for justice it is a fundamental law of life. Every school of legal thought gives justice a supreme place Plato defines it as “a kind of natural harmony and healthy habit of mind”. Justinian held that it is “the constant and perpetual will to give every man his due”. In the pursuit of justice, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar did not entertain any dread of the lonely path.

• Constitutional government connotes, not just a government under a constitution, but also rather government under a constitution which has the force of a supreme, over-riding law, and which imposes limitations on it.

Constitutionalism has come by and large to presuppose a written constitution as a supreme overriding law.

As Nwabueze eloquently put it, government is a creation of the constitution. It is the constitution that creates the organs of government, clothes them with their powers and in so doing, delimits

the scope within which they are to operate. A government operating under such a written constitution must act on accordance therewith.

Any exercise of power outside the constitution or which is unauthorised by it is invalid. The constitution operates, therefore, with a supreme, over-riding authority” • The state under conditions of democratic morality, is/and could only be “a state of law”, “a state founded on law”, “a state based on law”, “in short,” “a law-governed state”. The concept of “a law-governed state” expresses the notion that state power the power to govern the affairs of man in society, is not just arbitrary power, but one that should be exercised in accordance with definite procedures and rules. In more succinct language the state denotes power and force exercised only “in the name of the law”, a legal order, a body of laws that regulates, conditions and qualifies the exercise of power backed by force within a given community. A lawless state or an organisation of power and force unregulated by law or not exercised in accordance with law is the very antithesis of “a society in which legality reigns”; • An independent, fearless and impartial judiciary is the greatest pillar of any democratic government.

It is indeed beyond dispute that respect for the law is one of the principles, which have come to be regarded as essential to the effective and just operation of popular government. In fostering this principle, the role of the judiciary is crucial, for in the words of Mr. Justice Arthur Vander built: It is in the courts and not in the Legislature that our citizens primarily feel the keen cutting edge of the law, if they have respect for the work of the courts, their respect for law will survive the shortcomings of every other branch of government but if they lose their respect for the work of the courts, their respect jar law and order will vanish with it to the great detriment of society.

The decisive role of the court in relation to good governance arises

inexorably from the concepts of government of laws, government under law or the rule of law. It arises because in a constitutional government, only a court of law has the power and the right to say authoritatively, and with finality and force binding on all, including the government, what the law is that governs or rules the lives, affairs and actions of people in the country, And “once it has spoken, then its decision or order, however perverse or blatantly wrong it way be, establishes, again with binding force, the law on the point in issue, unless and until it is reversed on appeal by a higher court (Nwabueze 2009:84). Neither the government nor anyone else has the power or the rights to substitute and apply their own view of the law or preference to that of the court in a matter affecting the lives, affairs and actions of other people.

“To admit nut any such power or - right in anyone, the government included, would only lead to anarchy, to the substitution of the rule of the jungle for the rule of law.

• There is a linkage between courts and politics. Politics in this context does not carry the pejorative connotation of “jobbery” or “partisan manipulations.” It refers to the processes concerned with the authoritative determination of a society is goals and ideals, the distribution of rights duties costs, benefits, rewards, and punishments among members of that society. The courts and judges are, to a greater or lesser extent, major participants in there processes: their role is, however, secondary and subsidiary to that of the real policyforming instruments of government the executive and the legislative”.

• The unprecedented split in the Nigerian presidency in 2006 is a breach of the unity of the executive. The principle of a single executive under the presidential system presupposes that for the purpose of election, a vice presidential candidate is “mated with the

presidential candidate as in a marriage” (Nwabueze 2004:77) and “(A)s with two persons joined together in marriage, the electoral mating of the one to the other creates a kind of union or companionship between then in which the vice president is to stand or fall with the president” (ibid).

The seven cases reviewed in this book collectively or severally highlight one or other of the perspectives discussed above.

All things considered. I agree with Justice Dahiru Musdapher that this book is well-researched and chronicled, “which makes it a worthy epithet to all lawyers and political actors.”

I too commend the profound hard work that has been put into its writing, The book is a worthy addition to the growing body of informed and authoritative literature on Nigerian constitutional Law and democratic governance.

Lawyers, law teachers and students alike, journalists, historians, political scientists, sociologists, public policy analysts, indeed, anyone who takes intelligent interest in the role of law in public affairs will find the book useful. I have no hesitation whatsoever recommending it to all.

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Mandela was an iconic leader, freedom fighter, says NBA N December 10, every year the International Community reafO firms its faith in the principles enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is done through seminars, conferences, workshops, rallies, marches and addresses.

For some people, the events of December 10 have become a yearly ritual that must be observed. For others, it is a distraction that must be accommodated by virtue of our membership of the international community.

For the Nigerian Bar Association, this day offers us and the country a unique opportunity for sincere reflection on the past, the present and strategic projection to the future. This is because, more often, it is our refusal to look at the past and learn from our challenges that leads us into making the same mistakes in the area of human rights defence and protection. For when we sincerely interrogate our past, we will find out that those that trampled the fundamental rights of the people in the past have always and I say always appealed to be afforded their rights when they are out of power and in difficulties.

Let me pause to pay tribute to the greatest symbol of human rights and human rights activist of this century, the late President Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela was an iconic leader, freedom fighter and human rights activist, who used his training as a lawyer to serve, not only his people in South Africa, but also the entire humanity. He demonstrated the role a lawyer should play in the interest of the public, which should serve as a lesson to lawyers worldwide.

As we celebrate his life, we should embrace his legacy and ideals for which he lived and died for. May his soul rest in peace.

For this year, the Nigerian Bar Association has resolved to look at the fundamental right to life against the backdrop of extra judicial executions and other rights violations and implications for national security.

We decided to focus on the right to life because the fundamental law of the land, which is the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, (as amended) guarantees the right to life and provides very clear constitutional basis, when someone’s right to life can be abridged. Even in those circumstances, very clear safeguards are provided, because life as they say in local parlance, has no duplicate and has no photocopy and if someone’s life is taken away, it cannot be reversed. The right to life is, therefore, fundamental and inalienable to the human person. Yet it seems we have lost the value for life in Nigeria.

Unfortunately, it seems as if the country has lost its soul and no longer regards the right to life as fundamental. On a daily basis we are regaled with bizarre statistics of the Wali (SAN) number of persons that have lost their lives in questionable and unac- criminality and the deadly insurceptable circumstances. We flip gency challenges, to engage in extra through the newspapers and behold judicial killings and executions. these statistics and pictures and simWhile we recognize the fact that ply move ahead, because we have where there is rise in crime and crimbecome immune to shock. The lives inality people are jittery and more of Nigerians are wasted on account nervous about the constitutional proof ethnic, communal and religious tection of our liberties, believing that conflicts, and we do not bath an eye- suspects should be detained indefilid. nitely and not given their due process While it is unacceptable that rights. However, it is in moments of Nigerians will continue to die on difficult security challenges that the account of insurgency, robbery oper- citizens must become more vigilant ations and mindless kidnappings, it in the defence and protection of the is unconstitutional, illegal and rights of the citizens. immoral for state and non-state We acknowledge that our security actors to engage in extra judicial exe- agencies have been engaged in difficution of Nigerians who have not cult insurgency and militancy operabeen found guilty by a properly con- tions. We support our military and stituted court of law. It is also not suf- other security agencies who day and ficient to plead the doctrine of neces- night toil to make sure that we sity occasioned by rising crime and remain safe, but we will continue to

urge them to observe the rules of engagement in their operations and not to engage in indiscriminate execution of persons who are mere suspects, no matter the circumstances, they must endeavour to give unarmed civilian suspects their due process rights.

Commenting recently on extra-judicial killing, the Honourable the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice said ‘‘that the Federal Government has noted with concern that the police has through the years relied on ‘’Police Force Order 237’’and ‘Section 33 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria’ to commit extra-judicial killings. He said the order which allows the police to shoot any suspect or detainees trying to escape or avoid arrest has led to extra-judicial killings of 7,195 people in four years, out of which 2,500 were detainees’’ The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF), Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) revealed this while delivering a keynote address at the national dialogue on torture, extra-judicial killings and national security organised by the national human rights commission (NHRC) in Abuja in 2012.

It is gratifying that the military authorities have acknowledged that for close to one year, they have detained over 1,400 suspects in their various detention centres and that they have recommended 500 for trial, 167 to be freed and 614 cases to be reviewed. The implication is that these suspects have been in detention for several months in violation of constitutional stipulations. This is constitutionally unacceptable. We therefore urge the Attorney General of the Federation and the Chief of Defence Staff to grant the Nigerian Bar Association access to the detention facilities in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa to access the condition of

those centres and the number of persons detained and for how long they have been detained.

We also call on the all those who have one form of grievance or the other to explore peaceful and nonviolent means of redress. Nothing justifies the killing of innocent citizens. Nothing justifies the killing of persons of different faiths on account of what they do not even know or appreciate. Nothing justifies the mindless destruction going on in different parts of the country. We must continuously and continually work on our federation for purposes of strengthening the bond of unity and brotherhood in the country.

Unexplained and challenging security situations must make us stronger and we must at this time stand firmly with our troops that are in the line of fire with an enemy that is very mobile and vicious.

More fundamentally is the fact that we do not seem to have a coherent, forward looking and acceptable national security policy and strategy.

Our national security strategy is obviously reactive and episodic.

We, therefore, urge the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to constitute and convene an All Nigerian National Security Conference to draw up a comprehensive and coherent National Security Policy Strategy that can respond to the changing domestic and international situation. Since the present security strategy in Nigeria is reactive, episodic and ad-hoc, no serious country can operate on such loose security infrastructure.

Finally, in our fight against violent crimes, we must never loose the soul of compassion and empathy on account of the security challenges facing the country.

• As presented by Okey Wali (SAN) president and spokesman of NBA.

Call for abolition of death penalty re-echoes at judicial workshop EVENT

By Bertram Nwannekanma EATH penalty as a punishment D for capital crimes, was the topical issue in an event organized last week by a human rights group, Avocats Sans Frontieres France, (Lawyers Without Borders) in partnership with National Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Institute of the Nigerian Bar Association and Access to Justice in Lagos.

The event, tagged Saving Lives (SALI) practical workshop for judicial actors had the complementary of stakeholders in the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria in attendance It was another effort at eviscerating the effect of death penalty in the nation’s Penal Code as well as to examine whether death penalty has served as enough deterrent to would-be capital crimes offenders.

Participants at the event, which was second in the series, were drawn from Lagos State Judiciary, Ministry of Justice, Prisons, Police, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria and human rights groups.

Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Lagos High Court, lamented that although, she detested dishing out death penalty in her judgments as a Christian, but “she is compelled by law to do so in the midst of an overwhelming evidence.”

The judge, who has been in the criminal division of the court right from her time at the Magistrate’s Court, called for more enlightenment on the issue of death sentence as well as the sociological implications.

She also called on all parties to ensure that all rights of appeal were adequately exhausted when death

sentence was passed on any convict, no matter how bad the case might be.

Another judge of the Lagos High Court, Justice Kudirat Jose, was more concerned about the engagement of youths on profitable venture to deter them from crimes.

The judge was, particularly, irked by the rise in heinous and gruesome crimes that carry death penalty.

To her, there should be a way of deterring the youths from venturing into crime, since death sentence seems not to be working.

This view was also supported by the Head, Nigeria Office of Avocats Sans Frontieres, France, Angela Uwandu, who said people were more eager for a system that could deter crimes as “they are aware that death penalty is not the solution.” “They are desirous to know how we can go forward, from where we need to be.”

According to her, “there is the need for Nigeria to urgently repeal the regime of capital punishment that dispenses death penalty as a punitive measure in the country’s legal framework.

While lamenting that the Nigerian legal system was still harbouring death penalty when “the whole world is shifting away from capital punishment in its entirety,” the group said using the constitution to justify the death penalty, especially in this day and age, is a clear departure from modernity to savagery.

Uwandu condemned the recent execution of four convicted persons in Benin City, the Edo State capital, as well as President Goodluck Jonathan’s directive to governors to exercise their constitutional responsibility of signing death warrants for condemned prisoners and called on Nigerian government to respect its self-imposed moratorium on execution.

According to her, there has been erroneous belief that death penalty serves

participants of the event as a deterrent, but now we have come to realize that it is not true.

“This assertion was not supported with any empirical evidence, to suggest that death penalty is serving as deterrent. What is happening is our society is very instructive because offences such as armed robbery and murder, which are punishable by death in Nigeria in our legal system, copied from our colonial masters, are on the increase, even though they are punishable by death. |” It is not deterring criminals from engaging in these activities. This has shown that death penalty is not the solution that we need.

“Beyond that, we also see torture as a major problem. From our experience, we have come across several detained persons on death rows, who were convicted based on confessional statements because we have a faulty investigative system in Nigeria. As long as it continues to be faulty, it would have an impact on the judgment that would be delivered at the end of the day.

‘Our judges act mainly on evidence that are put before them and witnesses that are gotten by the police.

As we continue in this system, we have people getting convicted on evidences based on confessional statements obtained under duress.

It goes to say that execution, once carried out, is irreversible. If we don’t get our investigation right on that basis, we are meting out the death penalty, when we are not even sure that the person we are giving

that maximum penalty are actually culpable of the offence,” she added.

Uwandu said the move by the Federal Government to resume execution of over 700 inmates on death row in Nigeria was contrary to comments made by the Nigerian government at international level and is a huge dent on the human rights record of Nigeria.

“In November 2008, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights at its 44th Ordinary Session in Abuja, Nigeria, adopted a resolution calling on state parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to observe a moratorium on the death penalty’, she noted.

Even if you look at the International Criminal Court (ICC), the court handles crimes against humanity, war crimes, heinous and gruesome crimes against an entire community, the maximum penalty is life imprisonment, we can borrow a leaf from there, we know that life imprisonment is sufficient for nay type of crime in Nigeria.

Participants at the practical workshop were however, of mixed feelings on the abolition of death penalty, giving the state of the nation on the increase of kidnapping, Boko Haram insurgency and other gruesome killings in the country.

Our judges act mainly on evidence that are put before them and witnesses that are gotten by the police. As we continue in this system, we have people getting convicted on evidences based on confessional statements obtained under duress. It goes to say that execution, once carried out, is irreversible. If we don’t get our investigation right on that basis, we are meting out the death penalty, when we are not even sure that the person we give that maximum penalty are actually culpable of the offence.

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013 AFRICAN ECONOMY

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Africa’s bond issuance hits $10b in 2013

By Bukky Olajide BOUT $10 billion is what the African continent has raised this year. This is about 100 percent rise of $1 billion in 2003.

Africa first showed up on foreign fixed income investors’ radar in 2001, when Egypt issued its first global bond.

Earlier, South Africa, Tunisia and Morocco had tapped the international capital market, but only in small amounts.

Seychelles was the first subSaharan African country outside South Africa to issue a global sovereign bond in 2006, the island nation raised $200m.

The region’s attractiveness increased after the Seychelles and Ghana became the first sub-Saharan countries outside South Africa to issue bonds in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

Since then, a host of other issuers has arrived, from Rwanda to Nigeria to Senegal became the new territories in the global hunt for yield.

The Federal Government of Nigeria introduced its FGN Bonds in 2003. Other initiatives included the introduction of Primary Dealer Market Makers, regular Issuance Programme, Benchmark Bonds and a liquid secondary market.

Now a booming market, seems as if these countries are on race to issue bonds before the US Federal Reserve tightens monetary policy .

Analysts said the fact that more and more issuers came into the market created selfmomentum and additional comfort both to investors and to new sovereigns debuting in the market”.

According to them, the region has benefited over the

A

past five years – and particularly since 2010 – from investors’ hunger for yield because of ultra-loose monetary policies in the US, Japan and Europe.

Rwanda,, the latest country to raise bond was able to issue a $400m bond, The increased reliance on foreign investors – and the hunger shown by non-resident investors for Africa – has prompted the International Monetary Fund to warn for the first time that subSaharan African countries are becoming “increasingly

vulnerable to global financial shocks.

The World Bank also warned in its semi-annual report on the continent, that the search for yields among investors has supported strong capital flows to developing countries in recent years, including sub-Saharan African countries and added that a disorderly increase in interest rates represented an economic risk.

Interest rates are starting to rise as the Fed prepares the ground to reduce its stimulus to the US economy.

The JPMorgan Nexgem Africa index, which tracks the bond market in the region, is yielding 6.79 per cent, up from a low-point in January of 5.3 per cent but down from a “taper tantrum” peak of 7.9 per cent in June.

Moody’s, the rating agency, puts the total stock of government and corporate debt in hard currency across Africa at less than 4 per cent of the size of the regional economy, below the 11.3 per cent of Latin America and the 5.1 per cent of Asia.

Moreover, new countries will arrive in the market, offering investors an opportunity to diversify risk within the African region.

Moody’s expects that six African countries will debut in the international capital markets with hard currency bonds within the next few years: Angola, Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique.

Until now, few corporations have issued debt denominated in US dollars in the region outside Egypt and South Africa.

Analysts also talked of seeing more issuance: ‘’we now have established sovereign risk for a number of the African countries, and that gives good benchmarks for corporate issuers to come to market’’, they said.

Although issuance has increased substantially, the size of the international sovereign bond market in Africa remains small.

Analysts expect that 2014 could be the year in which companies start following countries in using the global bond market.

ue talking about the three conditions posed by Jedran, and eventually they will manage to reach a compromise, most likely by the end of the first quarter of 2014,” Riccardo Fabiani, a Londonbased analyst at Eurasia Group, said in an e-mail.

“These negotiations are likely to prove challenging, as neither side wants to appear the loser, and the issue of oil revenue sharing is likely to be the most controversial point.”

The conditions set by Al Jedran had already decreased

the possibility exports from the east of the country would resume, according to Richard Mallinson, an analyst at Energy Aspects Ltd. in London.

No tankers went to the three ports in the past week and no oil carriers are signaling for them either, according to shipping data compiled by Bloomberg. Three that went to Libya in the past week sailed to terminals in the west of the country, the data show.

Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO), ConocoPhillips, Hess Corp (HES), OMV AG (OMV) and Occidental Petroleum Corp.

(OXY) are among the companies that would have benefited from a reopening of the eastern terminals, which serve as export routes for the crude their Libyan units produce.

The central government is struggling to assert its authority against armed militias, while strikes and protests have forced sporadic halts at many oil facilities. Oil Minister Abdulari Al-Arusi last week said the drop in production has cost the country more than $7 billion.

Soldiers surrounding an oil terminal in Tripoli, Libya

Libya’s oil sales constrained as Eastern Ports remain shut LIBYAN rebel leader A refused to hand over control of three oil ports to the government, spurring the biggest gain in benchmark crude prices in almost two weeks as the North African nation’s exports stayed constrained.

Ibrahim Al Jedran told a news conference yesterday that the oil export terminals of Es Sider, Ras Lanuf and Zueitina, closed since the end of July, will remain shut after the authorities rejected his conditions, including a demand to share oil revenue with his self-proclaimed government in the east.

“We failed in making our conditions implemented, so we confirm that we won’t open the oil ports,” he said, speaking in the eastern city of Ajdabiya. “We now officially mandate the Executive Bureau of the Cyrenaica Region to start what it has been tasked with and preserve this wealth,” he said, signaling that the eastern region known as Cyrenaica may sell oil without the central government’s approval.

Brent crude futures, a benchmark for more than half of the world’s oil, rose as much as $1.11, or 1 percent, and were at $109.94 at 10:09 a.m. London time. The gain was the biggest since Dec. 3. The price fell 2.5 percent last week amid expec-

tations that the terminals, with a combined export capacity of 650,000 to 900,000 barrels a day, could reopen.

Crude output in Libya, which holds Africa’s largest proven oil reserves, fell to 210,000 barrels a day last month, the lowest level since the 2011 rebellion and NATO bombing campaign that ended Muammar Qaddafi’s 42-year rule. The country was producing an average of 1.55 million barrels a day in 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and had plans to raise production to 2 million barrels a day through increased exploration.

Libya is currently exporting about 110,000 barrels a day from five terminals under government control. A ninth terminal, Hariga in the east, is under partial government control.

A tribal mediator who is trying to end the oil ports stalemate said the government has agreed to Al Jedran’s conditions to set up a committee to monitor oil sales and review past contracts, while rejecting the third demand for revenuesharing because Libya isn’t a federal state.

“Two-thirds of the conditions have been met and the ports should have been reopened,” said Saleh Al Etweish, head of the Al Magharba tribe to

which Al Jedran belongs, by telephone from Benghazi, the largest city in eastern Libya. Al Jedran, a former regional commander of the Petroleum Facilities Guard, “now must bear the responsibility of his action,” he said.

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zaidan said his government formed several committees to monitor the oil sales and “achieve better accuracy,” according to a published transcript of comments from Dec. 13 on the government’s Facebook page.

“I expect both sides to contin-

African nations urged to fix tax system FRICAN countries are A being urged to spearhead ambitious tax reforms that would tame the rising tax evasion cases in the continent. African Development Bank (AfDB) observes that the new tax measure should be based on the widening of the tax base, to ensure fairness and greater compliance.

“The potential for further tax reform and rationalisation, through broadening the direct tax base and reducing the range of indirect taxes, will help to reduce the size of the underground econo-

my, curtail illicit capital outflows, and improve overall governance,” said Donald Kaberuka, the president of the AfDB. He argues that were it not for illicit financial flows, “Africa would be in a position to finance the bulk of its development needs from its own resources, with external financing as a merely complementary source”.

Kaberuka has, however, cautioned that as long as the continent continues to witness illicit resource transfers, domestic financing for

development would continue to be seriously inadequate.

A report published by the Tunis-based Bank and the Global Financial Integrity, a research and advocacy organisation working to curtail illicit financial flows out of developing countries, says that over three decades, the haemorrhage of resources from Africa was about four times Africa’s current and almost equivalent to Africa’s current Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The report further shows

that between 1980 and 2009, Sub-Saharan Africa lost about $108 billion (Sh9.2 trillion) more in resources than North Africa did over the same period. However, in the most recent decade, North Africa lost some $50 billion (Sh4.3 trillion) more than Sub-Saharan Africa. Within Sub-Saharan Africa, West and Central Africa lost the most resources on a net basis over the 30-year period, about $246.7 billion (Sh21 trillion), followed by Southern Africa $241.3 billion (Sh20.5 trillion).

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013

INTERvIEw

‘Nigerians should choose inconvenience over aiding graft’ Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dr. Joe Abah worked with the DFID/ State Partnership for Accountability, Responsiveness and Capability (SPARC), a programme geared towards helping Nigerian leaders and government workers change governance for the better, through reforms. He spoke to Abuja Bureau Chief, Madu Onuorah & Tony Otaru on state of reforms in the country.

To what extent can you say that the bureau has fulfilled its mandate?

ET me say that the reform of the public services is an on-going issue. It never ends. Even in the most advanced countries or economies, they are constantly reforming their public services and improving them and making them better. So, our job is not one that we can just undertake as a one set of activity and the world would be a better place after that. That is not the way it works.

First, the Bureau has done a number of things. It initiated the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information Systems (IPPS) which has greatly reduced the government wage bills. It got rid of a number of ghost workers. A lot of people focus on the number of ghost workers. But there were lots of other fraud in the system. You had people on level 10 who are being paid on level 14 because they’ve gotten a deal with somebody in the payroll department.

You had people who have taken loans and just disappeared with it. You had people who have been collecting salaries from multiple agencies. They were in existence. They were not ghosts but they collect salaries from multiple places. So, all these things have been addressed by IPPS. And that was something that was generated and initiated by the Bureau.

We initiated it. We evaluated it and handled it over to the office of the Accountant General of the Federation. And they are now processing the payments. We still need to work on the personnel management aspect of it, to make sure that things are not complicated and that they are well computerized, including succession planning and career progression. All of these things are in the system. And we should reduce the carrying of files and the opportunity for people to withdraw their CVs or certificate of births and insert new ones in the files. So, we still need to develop and discover more in that regard to make sure that it can be a complete system.

We have also place guidance on how to restructure ministries.

We recently put out guidance on planning and budgeting to make sure that the two take to each other. We’ve also set out guidance on job evaluation and classification to make sure that people know what their jobs are, that they have a job schedule in their minds when they are coming to the Secretariat every morning.

And in terms of ensuring full implementation of government policies, the government in 2006 decided to severe some junior staff. You know that senior officers previously used to have cooks, gardeners, drivers and stewards attached to them. The government decided to do away with them. But the Bureau suggested to the government and it agreed that it should prepare these people for life outside the service. The Bureau commenced the pre-retirement training for people who are about to retire and we are still doing it today. We also had to intervene to make the government policy more humane and to ensure that implementation is properly done.

What has the Bureau done in terms of enhancing effective delivering of service to the citizens?

The Bureau is being overseen by a steering committee on reforms which is headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). Its membership includes the Head of Service, Accountant General of the Federation, Auditor General of the Federation, Federal Civil Service Commission and all key Ministries’ representatives. These are all the people who have a direct role to play in the way that the public service works. The Bureau is the secretariat and operational arm You need to look at the reforms happening in the various sectors which are driven by government policy. It will give you an example about how some of these reforms impact on people directly. If you look at the reforms we undertook in the transport sectors, for instance, we carried 4½ million people by rail last year. That was up from 4 million people we carried in 2009. We moved 182,000 metric tonnes of cargo in 2012. In terms of the way we use our water ways, 1.3 million travellers used our rivers to travel within the country in 2012. That exceeded government

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Let me say that bureaucracy on its own is not necessarily a bad thing. It is unnecessary bureaucracy that is a bad thing. Bureaucracy makes sure that things are done properly and keeps people out of jail. So, due process, sequence and rule of law, all of these reduce arbitrariness. Somebody cannot just come and say, am a Minister, go and do that.

No. The civil servant has job to say that the laws of the country says you cannot do that or you should do it this way.

Dr. Abah target by 4 times. We moved 4 million metric tonnes of cargo through our inland water ways in 2012. But these are just figures.

This one of the most outstanding economic efforts the government has put in place because you need to draw a correlation between these reforms happening and economic development. If you look at countries that have developed, they developed on the back of their decision on strong transportation system, particularly in their ability to move goods and services around their countries and beyond. They developed on the basis of power. And if you look at the unbundling of the power sector at the moment, talk to anybody you know in the power sector internationally, they will tell you that this country at the moment have the best chance they have ever had to get stable power supply.

We are not there yet. We can say that the infrastructures and systems are being put in place. We are reducing maternal mortality. The numbers of women dying in child birth has been halved by 50 per cent between 1990 and 2013. We have reduced infant mortality. The number of children dying at birth has been reduced by 40 per cent in the last 10 years.

So, all of these things tell you a story about a country that has identified the key constraints to development and is trying to do something about it. And so, all of these things you have been seeing, whether it is the refurbishing of the airports, the improvement in train services or the improvement in power, these are all very serious things which Nigerian has neglected for the last 30 to 40 years. Now, we started to tackle them right from Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure in 1999.

We’ve now started to tackle them with seriousness. So, you mustn’t see the work of the Bureau simply as dealing with the civil service and whether people come to work or not. It is far more serious than that. This is how our country will develop as a nation, through deep infrastructural reforms. This is what we are undertaking now.

Why is it difficult for the public service in Nigeria to lead the development of the country? The public service is actually a drag on national development through its bureaucratic bottlenecks and all that.

Let me say that bureaucracy on its own is not necessarily a bad thing. It is unnecessary bureaucracy that is a bad thing.

Bureaucracy makes sure that things are done properly and keeps people out of jail. So, due process, sequence and rule of law, all of these reduce arbitrariness. Somebody cannot just come and say, am a Minister, go and do that. No. The civil servant has job to say that the laws of the country says you cannot do that or you should do it this way.

Yes, unnecessary bureaucracy. But if you look our system, you will see that sometimes some of our people go out of their way to create that unnecessary bureaucracy because each unnecessary bureaucracy they create is a toll gate for corruption.

Because what should happen is that as a citizen of Nigeria, you should be able to go into a public service organization and get a predictable service.

You should be able to apply for your passport and somebody should tell you it would be ready in seven days. You don’t need to know anybody. If you go back there in seven days, it should be ready. You don’t need to bribe anybody. You don’t need to do any of that. That is how our public service should work.

However, some people will now say oh, there is no toner, no booklets or printer to print or photocopy this or that. However, if you want it quickly, I can help you. That is what happens. But it is unnecessary. That is why one of the key constraints that the public service has is this issue of internal corruption. That is one of the key problems that we have. And it is that internal corruption that creates this unnecessary bottlenecks because if you don’t need to go and see anybody, there will be no money that to be made. That is what happens and that is changing. Some of us take hope in that.

I look at my appointment into public service, I never lobbied, I didn’t know anybody, I have never met the President, I have never met the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. I don’t know any of them. I was appointed on the strength of my CV. Somebody said come and do this job for us. And I came to do

it with my own mind set. I am not under pressure from anybody. I don’t have any godfather. I don’t have anybody to satisfy and the government knows that I speak my mind. And they say this is a serious peace of work and we want you to come and do it.

So, it is gradually changing but Nigerians can also help us. I have been in this country for the last 10 years I have never given a policeman any kobo on the road. I have never. That does not mean I have never done any wrong but when I do anything wrong, I want to be punished for it. I don’t want the benefit of the doubt. The law say I should not do this. So, if someone has done it, the law should take its full course.

Because of that, I have never given anybody a kobo. I have been driving in Abuja for 10 years. So if our people begin to demand better public service, if they refuse to pay the tolls, if they are willing to suffer the inconveniences which am willing to suffer, then you will see that some of these will start to change. Even my mother will say to me, I am waiting for my gratuity. And I will say okay, let me go and write to them. And she will say no.

You shouldn’t go and use this your reform thing there. I have an arrangement with them.’ I will say, ‘mama, you shouldn’t be having an arrangement with anybody. You served for 35 years.

Your gratuity is your right. We will go and demand that right and that’s what we do.’

So, I think Nigerians can also help us. It is not enough to blame the civil servants. I think if Nigerians should insist on their rights. If they complain and insist on not playing along, then some of these things will start to change.

And how effective has this your position for Nigerians to resist public officials been communicated to them?

What I saying is not new. We have the National Orientation Agency who has been talking about these issues for a while. I have only been in this post for three months. I haven’t interfaced with the number of people I need to interface with. So, I would hope to be able to have detailed conversation with a number of MDAs, including the Federal Ministry of information. I think we all have a responsibility to communicate the reforms. It is not just the Ministry of Information but also the media. We need to start discussing the fact that we can live better and work better.

Yes, one of the key roles this Bureau has is to communicate the reforms. But we are not politicians. We are not a propaganda body. Figures I give has to be actual figures that are based on performance and are verifiable. What we will do is to tell you that this is working and this is not working as we hope. We will ensure that Nigerians are aware of what is going on in the Bureau and that government gets feedback from the citizens about what is working well and what is not working.

From next month, we will undertake a public perception survey of Nigerians across the country. The citizens will tell us about what is working well and what we need to change. We will not be defending anything about the views of Nigerians. I am a Nigerian. I have experience of public services. I know how much I spend on diesel every month. So, I also have an interest in getting power. I have an interest in using good roads. I have an interest in living a secured life and also not having to provide my own water, security and every other thing.

We need to make sure that the input of Nigerians inform the work that we do as a government and that Nigerians are aware of the work we do as a government. Look, until I came to this seat, I wasn’t aware that we are producing export quality rice that is healthier than imported rice in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.

And I am a Nigerian like you and am from Ebonyi State. You can imagine that. So, we need to tell this story. You read in the media that NAFDAC laboratory is accredited to international standard.

Soon, people forget about it. But they don’t actually realize what it means, which is that anything that NAFDAC says it is happy with can actually be exported internationally because foreign countries will say that if NAFDAC has passed it, then it must be safe to eat. That is a big deal because it opens up a lot of our food and water industry to international markets. These are some of the stories we need to tell, not just the disagreements between the politicians.

But how does the citizen and State get the public service needed with the mind-set of the average civil servant which is not geared to towards maximum productivity?

I think this is a very important question very pertinent one because I was a workshop recently when a government official said we need to travel more to look at other countries and how things are done there. I disagreed with that because first of all, we need to travel around our own country first and see how things are done. We need to travel within Abuja first because within our country, there are things that are working. NAFDAC is working, I have had malaria once and I went to buy malaria tablet and I saw on it that you can send a text to a particular number to confirm if the drug is working, whether it is fake or genuine. I sent the text. Within 3minutes, I got a text back saying yes, this is genuine, that I can take it.

This is a major thing. So NAFDAC is working. We need to go and study why it is working because NAFDAC works in the same environment as everybody else, with the same so-called Nigerian factor. The people working there face the same issue of no light, poor roads and all the things that people complain about. We need to go and study that. We need to go and study why the rail transport system is now working, having been comatose for 40 years. We need to go and study why our agriculture system is suddenly improving, why fraud in the fertilizer business which has been with us since colonial times has suddenly disappeared.

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013 NEWSEXTRA | 85

‘Nigerians should choose inconvenience over aiding graft’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 84 These are some of the things we need to study. People will immediately jump at leadership and say it is because of leadership. But look at NAFDAC. It has had change of leadership. Prof Dora Akunyuli was there before. She did certain things. Today, we have a new person. Is it that we are giving birth to special NAFDAC DGs. No. There are other factors. People in NAFDAC are now trained on their jobs. It is no longer foreign training for the sake of foreign training.

People in EFCC are now trained in investigation. It is no longer the generic thing.

People now have performance management systems through which they are given targets and their performances measured. So, go to NAFDAC, EFCC or FIRS. In FIRS, you know nobody wants to pay tax. People are saying, ‘why should I pay tax when there is nothing to benefit from government? I am paying for my own security, sending my children to private schools. Why should I pay? But look at the improvement in FIRS in the last few years. They basically doubled or tripled the amount of money they are able to give to the government through a number of things – zero tolerance for corruption.

This is common in all the organizations that intend to work. Remember, Prof Akunyili sacked her own brother–in–law. And for an African woman to sack her in-law on the basis of corruption, you know what it takes to do that.

Apart from zero tolerance for corruption in the agencies that work, they focus on making people have the right skills. In FIRS, before now, you can become a director even without knowing anything about tax. Now, you must know how to calculate tax. So, they are training people on the core needs that they need to have. They are also interfacing with the public and seeking for their support.

All the organizations mentioned above are in the public consciousness. People are talking about them. They are even saying, ‘if any of our staff is corrupt, come and tell us and we will do something about it.’ So, these are some of the things we need to capture to show how Nigerians have done it despite all the problems of inadequate funding, corruption and lack of electricity power. If these people have managed to do something and the reforms they have done have survived leadership changes, then, these are some of the things we need to capture and disseminate more widely.

The next thing on the agenda of the Bureau will be how to reform government parastatals, drawing from our knowledge of all these things that happened. And that is even before we look outside our country.

There are things that are happening even in Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Jigawa and other states which we can all learn and improve upon.

So, we don’t need to continue with the usual trips to Malaysia, Singapore to learn how they do things. The people who are doing things are those who have sat down and thought about how they are going to do it.

And that is what we should start doing.

Give us an insight into how the restructuring of the tenure system initiated by the Bureau has impacted on career movement and efficiency?

The tenure policy came in principally to address a particular problem. And that problem was that there was bottleneck at the top. There were a number of directors and permanent secretaries who have been there for 15 to 20 years. Their presence made it impossible for people to be promoted. There was stagnation and so government decided that the top echelon of the public service should have a limited tenure so that fresh blood would come into the system with fresh ideas. This is because if you have a permanent secretary or a director who has been in that position for 15 years, from the time that person became a director till now, the world has moved on.

Most of them were not computer literate.

Most could not type their own letters even though they all had computers which they were unable to use. The world had moved on from them and we needed to create room for younger and brighter people to come in. They know they have a fixed tenure. So, if you have a fixed tenure like me who have a fixed tenure of four years, you will be in a hurry to make your marks so that if I leave, I can point at a number of things and I will say ‘yes, I did this and that.”

But if I was relaxed and was going to do this job till I will be 60 or 65 years, then maybe that urgency may not be there. So that is one thing the tenure system has done. Also, Mr President has wisely introduced the Performance Contract System where he has a performance contract with his ministers and the ministers with their directors and permanent secretary. So, when you have this kind of a system and you know you have only four years, you will be motivated to do a bit more. The aim of the tenure system for the directorate cadre was to unblock a blockage at the top and inject a sense of urgency into the top hierarchy of governance.

Yes, there was opposition to the reforms. It is normal. There is no way you will not get opposition from those that will be affected by the reforms. Former EFCC chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu said that when you fight corruption, it also fights back. But I think if you talk to the civil servants themselves, they will tell you that a lot of people who were previously stagnated have now been able to get to the top where they can now make valuable contributions to government. Don’t forget that all these reforms were done by public servants. So we are getting into that situation where people can get up and do better things.

What are the challenges of reforming the public service?

I think the key challenge in reforming the public service is the cynicism of Nigerians that reforms will never work, that nothing works here. ‘This is Nigeria. It won’t work.

They are just trying to use it to chop money.’ These are the usual refrain. And I think this is born out from our history. I don’t blame Nigerians. We need to win their trust back. We need to show them that certain things work because this is the same country where the mantra is always, “I will report you to NAFDAC. I will report you to EFCC. EFCC will hear about this.’ This is because these organizations have been able to build a trust around them. This is the task we need to take.

Commander, Guard Brigade, Maj.-Gen. Emmanuel Atewe (left); Justice Minister and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, during the decoration of Atewe with the rank of Maj.-Gen. at the State House, Abuja... yesterday.

PHOTO: PHILIP OJISUA

Obasanjo is fighting God, says Gulak From Emmanuel Ande, Yola ORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday received bashing from the Political Adviser to the President, Aliyu Ahmed Gulak and the Adamawa State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP] over his 18-page controversial letter to President Goodluck Jonathan.

While Gulak described the letter as a direct fight against God, the Adamawa State PDP said that Obasanjo was a political insurgent who is out to destroy the unity, peace and the growth of democracy in the country.

Meanwhile, Nyako’s deputy, Mr. Bala Ngillari, has distanced himself from the defection to APC. Ngillari, who spoke at the rally, said that he did not decamp to any political party and that he has no intention any day to do so.

Speaking at the PDP rally yesterday in Yola, Gulak said the President could not be distracted by the action of any individual or group that are out to destroy the unity of Nigeria for selfish interest.

“I want to say it very clear today that anybody fighting President Goodluck Jonathan is fighting God, because it is God that put him in that office and only God can remove him from the office not an individual, enemies of democracy should stop wasting their time on stopping the

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• ‘Ex-President, a political insurgent’ • Nyako’s deputy still in PDP I want to say it very clear today that anybody fighting President Goodluck Jonathan is fighting God, because it is God that put him in that office and only God can remove him from the office not an individual, enemies of democracy should stop wasting their time on stopping the President from contesting election in 2015 President from contesting election in 2015”, he stated.

Gulak, who said Jonathan’s administration was on rescued mission, insisted that the mission was not only possible, but that PDP will capture power in 2015.

“There is nothing that will stop PDP from capturing power in 2015, Jonathan is aware that there is no other political party in Adamawa that can win elections than PDP, so on the issue of Adamawa, he is sleeping with his two eyes closed”, he stressed.

On Governor Murtala Nyako’s defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC], Gulak urged the House of Assembly to exercise their constitutional powers by taking urgent actions against the governor.

While speaking at the rally, the Adamawa State PDP Chairman, Mr. Joel Madaki, said that Obasanjo’s recent attack on Jonathan was as a result of the present admin-

istration’s courage to restore sanity in the system and put Nigeria on the right part of democracy.

The deputy governor, who was represented by Mr. Dauda Bello Furo, said that he joined PDP based on the political ideologies of the party to build Nigeria’s democratic culture and the entire Africa and not to seek greener pastures under the platform of the PDP. “I will never leave PDP for whatever reasons; as a democrat, it is my responsibility to resolve any crisis in my party, but not to abandon a house I build on a rock, so take it from today that I still remain in PDP and I will work for the party throughout my life in politics”, he stated.

Senator Bello Tukur, representing Adamawa Central Senatorial Zone on PDP platform that represented the National Assembly members at the rally, refuted the allegations that some members want to defect to APC.

Court adjourns trial of bank ex-chief, Nwosu, others

By Bertram Nwannekanma USTICE Lateefat Okunnu of Jyesterday an Ikeja High Court, Lagos, adjourned the trial

President Jonathan

of a former Managing Director of defunct Finbank Plc, Okey Nwosu, and three other directors of the bank, sine die (indefinitely).

Nwosu and three former directors -Dayo Famoroti, Danjuma Ocholi and Agnes Ebubedike, were standing trial on allegation of stealing N10.9 billion belonging the bank.

But an Appeal Court sitting

in Lagos, had in a unanimous decision, struck out the theft charges preferred against Nwosu, Famoroti and Ebubedike by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The Court of Appeal held that the Lagos High Court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the charges because they emanated from capital market transactions.

The appellate court also held that such a capital marketbased case should be handled by the Federal High Court.

On the strength of the verdict, Ocholi’s counsel, Mr. Lanre Ogunlesi (SAN), had urged the court to dismiss the charge against his client because of the Appeal Court judgments.

But the EFCC counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), informed the court that the prosecution has filed their appeal against the three judgments at the Supreme Court.

Jacobs asked the court to, therefore, adjourn the matter indefinitely in the interest of justice.

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013

INTERVIEW

‘Nigeria’s treatment at Mandela A senior diplomat, technocrat and now chairman of the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Ambassador Joe Keshi, gives a very compelling insight into what went wrong in Nigeria’s foreign policy that bred the perceived undignified treatment at the international arena culminating in the complete silencing of Abuja’s voice during the commemoration of the passage of the legend, Nelson Mandela. The diplomat spoke to Foreign Affairs Editor Oghogho Obayuwana and John Okeke Going by the way Nelson Mandela’s funeral played out, can it really be said that Nigeria, an erstwhile frontline state in the antiapartheid struggle was snubbed at recent memorial service for the Madiba?

HAVE been reflecting on it sometime because Nigeria said that all those we helped that they turned against us and again that issue has surfaced more because of the fact that to some Nigerians it look as if we were snubbed by not nominating president Jonathan to be one of the speakers but when you look at it, I don’t think we should blame the South Africans. This is something that has worried me for a while particularly when I was in Sierra Leone. You see, at the point of victory we lost it and I have had time to reflect since Mandela died for no reason because I was in New York when the news on the 5th came that Mandela was dead and instantly what struck me watching the networks till early hours of the morning in the US was the fact that there is no major broadcaster in the United States today that has not interviewed Mandela. There is no major actor or actress of any calibre in any sector that has not forged a relationship with Mandela and South Africa. Business men, civil rights activists and then what struck me instantly was that for a country like a United States that successive leaders from Nixon, Reagan in particular, the Bushes and so on. This was the country that did not even support the end of apartheid the way we wanted it , finally they came up with what they called constructive engagement which was just to prolong apartheid.

What happened was that at the moment of transition they resorted to power to win over South Africans. We (Nigeria) deplore nothing instead we have spent the last couple of years arguing that they treat us badly without recognizing what we did for them(South Africa). Look we must know that what we did, we also did for our self interest . At that point we needed to come up with a new approach to engage South Africa and you also know that we made a couple mistakes even in the way we handled the last transition because at that point of South Africa transition from the apartheid regime to free South Africa, you Know there was a crisis in this country. We had an elected and uncrowned President MKO Abiola, who was invited to South Africa . We had (Gen Sani) Abacha that was saying go to South Africa, ‘I am the head of state’ So what we did to the international community created confusion . We didn’t know who to relate to . And subsequently that has also continue to affect us but for me that is a lack of capacity... Thereafter South African businesses came over to this country .

There are a couple of South Africa businesses in this country.

Beyond traders some criminals and drug dealers and the rest, we can’t they even expect some Nigerian companies in South Africa?

Why because we do not have even the capacity to compete. Let me get back to Liberia and Sierra leone, to make the point , I think there was a Nigerian and I think he used to live in Apapa who applied to reconstruct the Liberian Airport while we were running the ECOMOG. We looked at it. He wanted us to do all the rest of the work to help Liberian reconstruction and said we should put in Money for he wanted to do the Airport . Now here is the comparison and you see why I say when i say we do not have the capacity. If the Americans were to give an American contractor N6 billion for example to re-do that Airport, not a penny of that N6 billion will leave America because everything they need to reconstruct that airport we be purchased in America.

The ship that will carry equipment and materials there will be an American ship . The workers that will do the airport will probably be an Americans workers . So invariably, more than 90% of the money stays in America. In the case of Nigeria if you give N6 billion everything the guy will need to re-do the airport will be purchased from abroad . The workers and some experts needed to do that airport we be recruited from abroad. So the only tiny thing that will come to you become a little, little profit . So if we are saying that this country (South Africa) is against us we should look inward and see what we have done to ourselves over the years.

So how do we build this capacity you are talking about?

No, this country has refused to grow up . We need to grow up .

What you begin to look at it .when you begin to look at it, take military capability for example , we are running into difficulties in our peacekeeping because of poor quality of equipment.

Where do we get the equipment from ? We buy them. But guess what, the same industries that were established at the same time in Pakistan , Brazil and India they are now producing nuclear armament . What are we producing in Nigeria? Where is the industry ? So where our foreign policies had succeeded when the nation needed to go to other levels and begin to do things

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Jonathan like other nations, we spend more time on not focusing on those things. We must learn that we have got to that stage when we have to find a way to earn the respect of the world and that we require us looking inwards and rebuilding our institutions, rebuilding our leadership , rebuilding ourselves and addressing some of the problems that often times embarrasses us particularly the issue of corruption. So when you begin to look at everywhere, whether in Zimbabwe or any place. You see at the point of victory, we did not transit very well. We make mistakes even in the appointment of ambassadors.

In Namibia for instance in which I was involved, the Federal Government sent messages to us that we must be the first to present our letters of credence to the new Namibian Government. They appointed Joe Garba. We submitted Joe Garba’s credentials to the Namibian Government and they accepted it . Second day after independence, they say we should come and present our papers . Babangida had taken Joe Garba’s papers away . Why ? Somebody has started campaigning against Joe Garba among Nigerians, From within the government circle. Now instead of being number one as we were campaigning to be, we became number sixteen and the Namibians could not just understand why we were so disorganized . They could not understand why after presenting to them a respectable diplomat who at that time was the president of the UN General Gssembly, we later withdrew the man without giving them any reason and then instead, we started saying that Namibian President protested.

Nobody protested rather it was our own internal contradictions . After the man had been appointed some people started protesting as to why should he be the one to go to Namibia? things like the area he comes from may have been in the background. Oh, he is too ambitious and all manner of things they said and then there after they scuttled it . But why do you want those people to respect you after you have sent in your credentials ? They have accepted it and then abandoned it. Then when you want to look at Sierra Leone, to some extent, we helped to save the sovereignty of that country. We saved Sierra Leone from disintegrating but at the last minute, just a few months and so on we messed up. The rebel took over the city. Yes, we recovered the city, won back the city but at a great cost and that led to credibility issues. Then , the United States and everybody came and said no they are going to take over this operation and so on and so forth. And what happened? They (Nigerian gallant soldiers and establishment) were shoved out. It was the generals who stayed there for only six months that has just made a documentary, It is worldwide. They have called it “The General who saved Sierra Leone”. What of Nigerians soldiers who died? Who fought gallantly to drive the rebels away, held the city for the couple of years. Again because of carelessness, you know that lack of poor leadership, poor perception , lack of seriousness and lack of discipline . And that is why it is said that when you look at these issues at the point of victory we shoot ourselves on out foot and it has taken a lot from us, but the greatest challenges in all these areas is that, we must make true distinctions . Our foreign policies were successful because we said we wanted to achieve a visible result. Going beyond that , the next level of relationship when you want to earn respect and the ability to capitalize on the relationship you build over time , we just don’t

Mandela have the capacity.

So what can Nigeria do now to arrest the sliding off the radar of influence at the international arena?

We’ve just got to be serious at home . We just got to begin to build that level of intellect and skills that are necessary and thank God that we are e beginning to have the Dangotes , the multinational companies and the Nigerian-owned companies but they need to know that it is not the number of cars and the number of Houses that makes you a respectable person on earth . It is really what you contribute, what you invent and how you do things. So when you saw the life of Bill Gates and others who have spent so many billions of dollars for humanity and the world . I think some of our people that are developing along that side need to know that they got to show more commitment and seriousness and help this country to build those skills . They need to build the industries that we can take out . The industries that can really work . Not just small , small business for they cannot help us . So when we are complaining that these people have failed , they are not treating us nicely . Let us also realize that we are not the only country that helped them (South Africa). There are many other countries that did as much as we did. Maybe in Africa we have been leading but those in Southern Africa will also contest with us . They bore the brunt of aggression of South African aparthied.

The Scandinavian countries provided a lot of assistance and so on. Am sure some of their companies are operating very well .

You hear some Nigerians says the lots of South Africans make it difficult for Nigerians to do some good business there. But if you see the way others are entering into South Africa. So it boils down to that, do we have the resources? Do we have the skills? Do we have the manpower? We might have the manpower in terms of population but do we have the skills, the knowledge and the resources to be able to compete? And these are the things that we need to begin to build rather than be complaining that we are snubbed and the rest of it .

But the way it is now , what should be the point of our entry in terms of building up all of these capacities ? Can we capitalize on the life of Madiba with the present state of South Africa . How can we make the moment of current history, count?. How can we use the moment to regain the lost momentum?

You know foreign policy is often described as an extension of domestic policies. At the point that we are now, we need to look into our domestic policies. In fact , I was telling some colleagues who came in from foreign affairs (ministry) today that when you look at the challenges we face today in some of our foreign policies , our domestic politics overwhelms what we try to do abroad and it poses a challenge to us . It is a big burden to Nigeria Diplomats . For example , as a pattern In the US, in the world , when your president is not in the country ,he is engaged abroad, you don’t do things to embarrass him because that weakens him where he is in abroad . So your President out of the country must be strong because he is carrying the burden of the country outside and he also carries the weight of the country in that representation . In our own case today our President is in Kenyan after leaving South Africa and look at what Nigerian newspapers are carrying , very damaging letters.

This is going to go round the whole world and there is your President standing to represent your country and everybody

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87

funeral, a wake-up call’

Jacob Zuma

Ban Ki-moon

What happened was that at the moment of transition they resorted to power to win over South Africans. We (Nigeria) deplore nothing instead we have spent the last couple of years arguing that they treat us badly without recognizing what we did for them(South Africa). Look we must know that what we did, we also did for our self interest . At that point we needed to come up with a new approach to engage South Africa and you also know that we made a couple mistakes even in the way we handled the last transition because at that point of South Africa transition from the apartheid regime to free South Africa, you Know there was a crisis in this country. We had an elected and uncrowned President MKO Abiola, who was invited to South Africa . We had (Gen Sani) Abacha that was saying go to South Africa, ‘I am the head of state’ So what we did to the international community created confusion . We didn’t know who to relate to . And subsequently that has also continue to affect us but for me that is a lack of capacity...

Thereafter South African businesses came over to this country . there if saying oh this is what they are saying about him in his country and so on and so forth. It is very, very bad. We need to begin to build a bunch of leaders who know how to manage society and public policy and who can understand these nuances. We need to be strategic the way we are doing things.

But for me, we need to begin to realize that all the noise we make about our politics and things like means that our politics need to be reformed . We need a new generation of leaders that can bring down the tempo so that anybody who look at the Nigerian politics does not see confusion all the time . We must understand ourselves because we might think that there is no danger. I know the Minister of Commerce all the time he says the investors are coming but we need to know where the investors are going to and who they are. If anything is going to happen those people are not gonna pull out their money and that is the end. That requires so much confidence , so as a nation our leaders at every level must understand that they have a responsibilities to build that confidence. It is not a short term confidence for nobody is going to invest on a short term confidence. They need to see that the nation is stable , the leadership succession is stable and that in next couple of years nothing is likely to happen in this country but the economy is expected to grow. So they can protect their investment. But where there is slack that is why they are not getting the kind of enormous amount of investment we should be getting for our population , resources , manpower and the rest of it. We are getting there and of course our education is one of the best I the world. And that is another thing because some of the industries that are coming in requires tremendous amount of skills and they are not in this country. We can deceive ourselves that we have them but we know we don’t have them. But it is not as if we can’t make all those things, we can . It is whether those entrusted with the development process know what needs to be done and begin to do it. I was in the meeting of the Ex- permanent Secretaries yesterday and there was this great concern expressed that some

permanent secretaries were no longer planning, and that things are just done . We need to begin to entrench planning in away way we can develop this country In very systematic manner .

How about the possibility of Nigeria’s security challenges driving investors out?

The security situation is the part of the issue of confidence .

When people perceive your country as being insecure from the outside world. When they are looking at Nigeria nobody is looking at Borno State. In fact, if you look at the slants of the global media it is in Nigeria . That is the first thing . If you talk about Borno, it is still in Nigeria. The perception is in Nigeria . For most people , they do not know where Borno is not to talk of how far it is from Abuja. The Niger Delta is of the same because of the militants. Today, there is relative peace in Niger Delta. The number of people who were saying that the place is a no go area .

That is exactly what I say that the burden of the domestic politics overwhelms us . The last incident that happened in which Boko Haram struck in military base and destroyed some things there takes off some confidence also from the military because the perception is how did these guys get into the city that the military is in charge (state of emergency) and then got into the military barracks . It mean there was no parameter. It means that the military did not secure their own compound where their arms and a munitions are. So many of these questions , so when somebody learnt about these things they begin to say in a country where the military cannot secure its own installations who then can they secure. So these are the things . So, as we reflect on these things rather than we complain that we are snubbed why were we snubbed if at all we are snubbed. I don’t really think so . We know the way the country is in South African.

It is just like us here. You know we are in ECOWAS. For them Southern Africa is closer and more important to them. In that concentric circle and if they have to choose from Africa, it is only natural that they will choose one of their own from that

Joe Keshi region and because these are also the people they all fought with shoulder to shoulder, like Namibia . For me I will say to Nigerians we need to understand that in the execution of your foreign policy , you have your own set of objectives. We have archived our objective. We wanted South Africa to be free of racial discrimination and apartheid, we have achieved that with the rest of South Africa. The next thing is that how do we engage South Africa in a meaningful manner that will be mutually beneficial to the boost our economy. That is the challenges we face today.

What is then your view in the issue of the appointment of the foreign Minister, in terms of the relevant capacity and a knowledge of these deeper issues?

In the issue of appointment of foreign minister, to a large extent I think Nigeria has relatively been lucky with foreign Ministers in terms of professionals, right from Jaja Nwachukwu ,Oko Arikpo, and then you have Joe Garba, Ignatius Olisemeka Emeka and until the later ones. We have been Relatively lucky with the choice of foreign ministers and as the president looks forward to retooling his cabinet, I sincerely hope that he will maintain that because the foreign minister more than any other minister in the country speaks for the country around the globe so he must not just only pick a minister but look for those who are eligible which is the major thing. He must not only be knowledgeable but must be articulate . He must be diligent to be able to handle the job. Above all he must be very strategic. When you go back to some who have added an academic bite to it like (Bolaji) Akinyemi and (Ibrahim) Gambari . When you look at some major countries of the world, their trade for example America trade more with Canada and Mexico than any other countries in the world. So that makes it important that we must jealously guide that relationship and build infrastructure to keep that relationship going to keep trade and the economic interaction going . So what we need to do here is to focus to make ECOWAS work.

Unfortunately, thirty something years after the establishment of ECOWAS , it has not really worked effectively as originally conceived by the founding fathers. But there is work in progress and I think we will get there. So we need to put in place foreign Minister that is knowledgeable. The foreign minister that has the charm and the charisma to be able to do things for this country and to be able to re-strategize and redirect our policy in a way that we need to begin to create new engagement that resolve some of the issues that have bothered Nigerians for years now. I still maintain that we were not snubbed. Our foreign policy has relatively recorded success but next level I emphasis is that we need to re-strategize to build on the liberation relationship that we had .

We knew all these fellows. We must change with the game and I know in some instances some of us did not change with the game. In my own case for the example , the guy who became the prime minister of Namibia along with the President, we were all very friendly in one year that we were doing the election but the minute the election was over, the constitution was in place and he was appointed president, the ballgame is then different. It is now ‘Mr. President’... We need to change with time and in the case of South Africa, the country has changed from what it used to be under the apartheid yoke, do we know how to relate with that reality? so I think we need to provide a foreign minister that will really bring a change to the ministry today.

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013

NEWSEXTRA

PERSPECTIVE

The battle commences

By Gamal Nkrumah

In the wake of the passing of Nelson Mandela, South Africans are praying that their country’s record of stability will continue, writes Gamal, son of Ghana’s former President Kwame Nkrumah HE passing of former South African presiT dent Nelson Mandela was a deeply unsettling experience for the African National Congress (ANC), the country’s ruling party.

Mandela was ailing and he had already achieved what some had felt to be impossible by laying the foundations for his party to be cosseted by impressive electoral majorities with or without his presence on the political stage.

In the aftermath of Mandela’s triumphant standing as the first democratically elected black African president of the country, the ANC basked in Mandela’s glory and proceeded to win successive landslides in elections.

Yet, today the party’s grandees are caught up in a post-Mandela maelstrom.

Many indigenous black Africans are becoming increasingly restive, and they want the ANC to enforce, with or without white European settler approval, a radical policy of land redistribution.

Mandela exhibited an extraordinary capacity for magnanimity towards the country’s whites in his attempts at fostering reconciliation between the races, and he bent over backwards to accommodate the interests of the white colonialists and to allay their fears of an indigenous black backlash.

But today, blacks are beginning to look beyond the confines of the ANC for the fulfillment of their aspirations, and Mandela’s brand of racial reconciliation can no longer be taken for granted. Mandela brokered power-sharing arrangements between whites and non-whites in South Africa, but economic emancipation for the bulk of the black population continues to be as elusive as ever.

In economic terms, Mandela’s legacy has been disappointing, and the vexing question of land ownership and property rights remains one of the most pressing issues facing South Africa.

Property rights in the country are inextricably intertwined with political questions, in particular in rural areas, and it is therefore little wonder that Mandela’s mortal remains are to be buried in his remote home village of Qunu in Eastern Cape Province, one of South Africa’s poorest and least developed areas.

Despite Mandela’s astounding political achievements, economic challenges still simmer, and political disgruntlements and discontents brew. While the post-apartheid South African constitutional dispensation is characterised by parliamentary sovereignty, Mandela and his successors turned a blind

Gamal Nkrumah

eye to the disquieting trend that power has been effectively shifting from the legislature to the executive.

The ramifications of this shift have given the ANC a crucial opportunity for it to consolidate its hold on South Africa’s political establishment. Moreover, a substantially different set of constitutional principles are now in force, marking a departure from previous dispensations.

The electoral system shifted after the constitutional settlement that defined the political parameters of post-apartheid South Africa from a modified single-member Westminster system of voting to a system based on proportional representation.

Because of its racial diversity, the multi-racial Rainbow Nation may have felt that it had few other options.

Services to mark Mandela’s passing began on Tuesday with a major memorial at the FNB Stadium. Located on the edge of Soweto, the Stadium was the place where Mandela made his last public appearance at the World Cup Final, held in South Africa in July 2010.

The memorial, lasting four hours, included tributes by UN Secretary-General Ban KiMoon, US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro. South African President Jacob Zuma gave a keynote address.

The funeral saw heads of state and celebrities such as Obama, former US presidents Clinton and Bush, Britain’s prince Charles, and US television host Oprah Winfrey all travelling to remote Qunu. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an ANC sharpshooter who has called the ruling party a byword for cronyism, officiated over the funeral service.

The South African legislature held a special sitting of the two houses of parliament on Monday, with lawmakers paying special tribute to Mandela. South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, a member of the ANC, inaugurated the proceedings with a speech describing how the iconic figure’s passing had prompted a “sweeping feeling of sorrow” across the globe.

Meanwhile, initiatives for black advancement in South Africa are often met with derision by the country’s white European settler economic elite, and black government officials are sadly not always in a position to help their black compatriots.

While the oppressive apartheid laws are now a nightmare of the past, when Zuma runs again for the country’s top job in the 2014 presidential contest, he may be obliged to draw inspiration from Mandela and struggle to reconcile militants and pragmatists within the ANC, so far a seemingly insurmountable task.

Retrospection and introspection, notwithstanding, the battle for a reinvigorated, more equitable South Africa has only just commenced with the passing of Mandela.

•Nkrumah wrote this piece for Egyptian newspaper, Al-Ahram

PDP warns Tukur’s aide over remarks against govs From Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Abuja HE National Working T Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Monday issued a stern warning against Bamanga Tukur’s Special Political Adviser, Umar Gada over a statement that suggested that governors elected under the party’s platform were moving to unseat the party’s national chairman.

In a statement issued in Abuja, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, said that the party “has distanced itself from a statement credited to Senator Abubakar Umar Gada, Special Adviser to PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamangu Tukur, suggesting that the National Chairman and some PDP governors are at loggerheads over some political issues.

Metuh said Gada’s statement does not in any way represent the true state of affairs in the party.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the NWC enjoys a harmonious relationship with our governors, Board of Trustee members, elders of the party and other key stakeholders with the National Chairman piloting all in supporting President Goodluck Jonathan to deliver the Transformation Agenda for the good of all Nigerians”, the statement said.

The NWC said it would “continue to uphold the manifesto and constitution of the party in the overall interest of all Nigerians in line with the principles of service, justice and equity” adding that “in this regard, we remain on the same page with our governors and all our elected and

appointed officials.”

It, therefore, warned all personal aides of NWC members and all unauthorized persons to desist from making comments on the administration of the party.

Gada had in a statement on Sunday said: “As far as Tukur is concerned, the PDP governors are loyal to the President and the national body, except for a few with hidden agenda who are nursing the plot to remove him (Tukur) because of their personal presidential ambition.

“This few governors that are clamouring for the removal of Tukur are doing so with a hidden agenda to make President Jonathan vulnerable because of his loyalty.

These governors that are clamouring for the removal of the national chairman are known with hidden presidential ambition.

“The plot is remove Tukur and make Jonathan vulnerable because the national chairman is blocking their political ambition,” Gada said.

The Special Adviser said the national chairman had kept quiet for some time with the feeling that these governors would see reason and stop their negative campaigns

against the PDP chairman.

He asked: “What is the offence of the national chairman that the governors will be asking for his removal?”

Gada said the plot of the PDP governors calling for the removal of Tukur did not meet any reason, as there had not been any of the governors that asked for legitimate request that was not granted.

“Which of these governors have asked or made a legitimate request that the national chairman did not grant?

What wrong has the national chairman done that a few of these governors would be asking for his head?

“The only crime that Tukur has committed is because he is loyal to President Jonathan.

Do the few PDP governors clamouring for Tukur’s removal as national chairman want a national chairman that would be disobedient to the president?

“By setting the gimmick for the removal of Tukur as national chairman, they are going to make the President vulnerable and open for attacks. But we are happy that the President is wiser and completely aware of the plots of these few governors, who see Tukur as blocking their discreet presidential ambi-

Tukur

‘Senate to pass National Health Bill before Christmas’ From Emeka Anuforo, Abuja HE National Health Bill T (NHB) will be ready before December 25, 2013. The Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, gave the indication yesterday at the inauguration of the Boards of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital Bauchi; National Obstetric Fistula Centre, Abakaliki; and National Ear Care Centre, Kaduna in Abuja yesterday.

He said: “Before the Christmas, we hope that we will be able to deliver the National Health Care Bill in the Senate and it will move to the House of Representatives for concurrence.”

Okowa appealed to government and doctors, including other aggrieved professional bodies in the sector, to embrace mutual understanding.

He went on: “As long as we continue to waste our time on in-fighting between one association, or one union or the other, we’ll definitely be dissipating our energy in the wrong direction and we will not be providing the best of care for Nigerians.

“I want to appeal to all of us

to ensure that we see ourselves as friends rather than as competitors within the health care sector. But, the Ministry of Health must also look very closely to ensuring that things are done in such a way that all groups are carried along in such a way that there are no doubts because we cannot afford to have any more strike in the health care industry.”

Minister of Health, Prof.

Onyebuchi Chukwu, appealed to the Boards to provide oversight on the management of their relevant health facilities, to ensure the implementation of government policies; the effective and efficient utilization of resources; the observance of extant laws and regulations; and to ensure accountability for funds and performance.

These functions, according to him, are their roles and not day-to-day administration of such institutions. He also urged them to help their respective institutions devise better means of revenue generation in ways that would not affect the populace negatively.

He appealed to the Boards to look at the issue of incompetence and negligence being

leveled against health care providers: medical doctors and non-doctors.

Chukwu said stakeholders in the sector, including Senator Okowa, would meet with the doctors to appeal to them to shelve them planned strike.The doctors had threatened to down tools tomorrow over some certain demands which they claimed government had not met, having given series of promises.

In an interview with journalists, Chukwu, whom the doctors said should be held responsible for the strike, said: Why would I be held responsible for the strike? Ok, I am now saying they should work so that nobody will say I asked them to go on strike.

Actually, seriously speaking, there is no basis to hold me responsible. When I now imagine that each group feels I am not doing well for them; I know I am doing the right thing. It would have been absurd if only the nondoctors were accusing me; they would have said I am biased. If my colleagues are accusing me, this means I am for the truth. I don’t look at people’s face; what I want is in the interest of all

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 NEWS 89

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Soldier testifies on son’s murder

By Joseph Onyekwere T the resumed trial of Chigozie Abani yesterday at the Lagos High Court, Igbosere, a retired military officer, Mr. John Obi, narrated before Justice Aishat Opesanwo how his son was allegedly murdered.

AT 7p.m on August 14, 2010, at Ijanikin, Lagos, Abani, 34, with others now at large, allegedly killed one Okechukwu Obi, an offence contrary to Section 319 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, according to the charge sheet.

Testifying in the case yesterday, the victim’s father, who was led in evidence by the State Counsel, Mr. Afolabi Sholebo, said he was in his house when his daughter rushed to tell him that his son had been killed.

“I rushed to the scene, which is a beer parlour where my son was hanging out with his friends, and

A

found his lifeless body,” he said. “I also saw matchet wounds on my son, which suggested that he was cut to death when their gun had no effect on him.

“I immediately called the police and arranged for his body to be taken to the mortuary, after which I gave an account of what happened at the police station.”

According to Obi, the victim’s friends said the defendant and others numbering about 20 stormed the beer parlour and killed his son. He added that Abani was arrested during a manhunt for the suspects while he was running into the bush to evade arrest.

The prosecution counsel, however, prayed the court to adjourn to enable him present the witness’ original statement in court. The matter was subsequently adjourned till February 17 for continuation of trial.

Miss Anuoluwapo Marcella Van (left); Director, Yoruba Language Centre, University of Ibadan, Prof. Kola Owolabi; Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Arinola Sanda; Miss Sarah Omotola Mathews and Iyabo Sodipo, during the presentation of certificates at the Yoruba Language Centre in Ibadan PHOTO: NAJEEM RAHEEM

Govt begins unbundling of transmission company From Emeka Anuforo, Abuja IKE its parent, the defunct National Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and the one before the latter, the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is now to be unbundled for greater efficiency.

Latest information from the corporation, indicates that two key divisions of TCN, the Market Operator (MO) and the System Operator (SO), would be separated from the firm, which had over the years gained notoriety for inability to effectively wheel generated electricity to distribution companies, and made independent.

Executive Director, Nigerian Electricity Market Operations/Market Operator, Jang Bagnall, in an interview in Abuja yesterday, stressed that the MO and SO would be separated legally from TCN to form the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO).

TCN was incorporated in November 2005. TCN emerged from the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) as a product of the merger of the Transmission and Operations sectors on April 1, 2004. Being one of the 18 unbundled Business Units under the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), the company was issued a transmission Licence on July 1, 2006. TCN licensed activities include electricity transmission, system operation and electricity trading.

The TCN is responsible for evacuating generated electric power from generating companies and wheeling it to distribution companies.

Bagnall said: “The next step is that we need to have some independence from the TCN. Before the unbundling comes, which is actually scheduled for December 31, 2015, we must have formed legal separation of the three entities in TCN. The Market Operator will be its own individual company, but the System Operator and the MO are going to be combined to make the NISO. They will now have an independent governing board and the only body they will probably be responsible to would be the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

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New firm, Nigerian Independent System operator, to emerge “That means that the SO and the MO would culminate in the NISO. That design is very much after the North American market, which is called the Independent System Operator (ISO). They would run the market (MO) and transmission (SO), but they do not build and maintain it. That is where the Transmission Service Provider (TSP) comes in.

We would break first into the three entities, and then we are going to build them back into two entities, NISO and TSP.” He expressed optimism that the declaration of the Temporary Electricity Market (TEM), scheduled now for March 1, 2014, would bring a momentum behind the reforms at the Transmission Company of Nigeria, noting that the firm would then be on the right path with more investors coming in.

Bagnall, who is one of the expatriates brought in by Manitoba Hydro International as part of the Canadian firm’s management contract with Nigerian government for TCN, stressed how the new managers were already introducing global best practices into the management of TCN. He said: “In essence, TCN is being split into three entities, which are Transmission Service Provider (TSP) – responsible for building and maintaining the transmission system to supply the power to wherever it needs to go to.

The System Operator (SO) in

the actual design is going to be tasked with operating the system reliably and dispatching generation at the least cost electricity supply. And the Market Operator (MO), which is my function, is in charge of managing the market by the market rules. The market rules are actually designed by the market participants and not the MO. That means it is designed by all the Generation companies (Gencos), Distribution companies (Discos) and anybody else who is a participant in this market place.”

“What we really need to do is to get outside investment into the generation sector and transmission and distribution segments. We need to grow this electric power sector so we can get power 24/7.

To get there, we have to start with more distribution. The Discos have to be able to pay their bills too. We have to build more transmission, because we are having weak transmission system since they have not been maintained for years. All the generation system in the South with their weak system does not make it possible to get electricity up to the North.

“Now, the MO is going to be breaking up from the TCN. The first aspect of this as stated in the TCN blueprint is the Ring Fencing. It is when we would define what the projections are for the three entities to find out the number of personnel that are needed and

we start filling those positions and responsibilities.”

On the Market Operator’s relationship with other market participants, he stressed: “Specifically, I know there have been questions about the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET) and how they play into this. NBET in my view is a market participant like any other Genco or Disco. It is a facilitator to give confidence to the investors that they are going to be paid till such time that the Discos can get on their feet, when they can pay their bills fully, then the real market can take off. NBET is not designed to be there for long term; the reason is that since the Federal Government (FG) backs it, investors do not want the FG to be necessarily involved. They want an open, honest and fair market place where everybody can make money.

“What will eventually happen is that people will rely more on the MO for payment when the market stabilises. The way ISO works in North America now is that 95 per cent of all payment transactions goes through the MO but right now in this bilateral market, it is not happening because the market is still new. Sooner when people get more confident about what they do, they are going to sell to the market even though the price goes up and down, knowing the Discos are going to buy from the market. It is then up to the MO

to match up those two sides and everything will flow in and pass out through the MO. However, the key will have to be independent because we have to be seen as not having any outside influence and that is why the MO has to break up soonest, and get the TCN unbundled.

“The MO sends out bills to Discos of what they have consumed since it controls the meter readings. This settlement function is core for the MO but we can tell NBET the meter readings by giving them the data for the billings. It is extremely important that we monitor the data collectively so that there will be no hint of impropriety or manipulation.”

On the November remittances compliance level by Discos, he stressed that his office was still collating details of those that have complied.

He said: “I do not think all of them have complied but I will say we have been working with them to confirm payments that have been made.

Some of these payments may not have being credited to the bank account yet because it takes sometimes like seven days for the notification. We are actually working with them to confirm what they have paid and I cannot give you a list of that yet because we are still waiting for the data collation.

“The only ones we have confirmed is the same one we had last week (N2 billion payment) but we have heard and seen

letters of significant amount being paid so we are awaiting confirmation from the banks.”

On the sudden drop in electricity, he stressed how generation capacity had gone down in the last one year.

He said: “The truth is that supply is better in some areas than others. But the problem we are having on the system right now is that the generation capacity has gone down from a year ago to now. We have less generation now in the system and what is drying them up is the question. It is the lack of gas and mostly, its vandalism, damage to infrastructures and lack of the gas infrastructures; so the gas plants cannot run. I understand we have roughly 3,080mw on the system now, not even up to 4,000mw.

“So what we need now is that, all Nigerians will really need to participate and stop vandals from hurting other Nigerians by destroying gas and power infrastructures. They hurt transmission lines, and some people dig up sands from under our transmission towers and they fall down because there is no foundation for them anymore. We need a concerted effort as a whole to help move the power sector to where it needs to be, and if we get that, it will be better for everybody. It is hard to say when people do not realize what it is like to have power all round the clock in a week.

When that is done, it is going to drive a whole lot of things

ICPC probes personal, company tax payments From Abosede Musari, Abuja OLLOWING the recent disFancecovery that fake tax clearcertificates were used in contract bidding process for government jobs, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) has begun a nationwide investigation of personal and company income tax payments procedures.

The action, experts say, may lead to the prosecution of 156 companies. The commission, therefore, has advised taxable

individuals and companies to respect tax laws and pay their taxes “as and when due,” get proper assessment and avoid tax touts in or outside tax offices.

It also warned tax evaders and users of forged tax certificates to desist from the act. In an official communication yesterday, the ICPC said the probe was necessary to bring integrity into tax administration.

“It should be noted that Tax Clearance Certificates are very important for individuals be-

ing nominated for appointive and elective positions, bidding for contracts in government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) or processing land applications or similar transactions,” the ICPC said.

The agency claimed that some companies suspected to have presented forged tax clearance certificates during bidding exercises were reported to it by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), 156 of which may be prosecuted.

“Preliminary investigations

indicate that about 156 of these companies may face prosecution for using fake tax clearance certificates,” it said.

“Similarly, any company that presents spurious audited reports in a public bid also stands the risk of being prosecuted.”

According to the agency, during the recently concluded PHCN privatisation exercise, it effectively barred two companies from making the final list of successful bidders for presenting “cooked” audit reports and under-as-

sessed company income tax.

“Tax authorities are hereby advised to learn good practices from those states that have tamper-proof tax certificates,” it stated.

“They should create electronic platforms to synchronise with Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) and automate the issuance of tax clearance certificates annually to public service employees so as to reduce the incidence of illegally acquiring certificates from ‘easier’ sources.”

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Sports Iheanacho leaves Eagles camp for Man City deal HE most valuable player at T the last FIFA Under-17 World Cup, Kelechi Iheanacho, has left the Super Eagles camp to travel to England, where he is expected to sign for Manchester City.

According to the Super Eagles’ Media Officer, Ben Alaiya, Coach Stephen Keshi said he had to permit the departure of the player after his father, James Iheanacho, personally put a call to him yesterday afternoon requesting the release of his son for the trip to England.

“Initially a young man came declaring that he was the agent of Iheanacho, but I declined to deal with him until I hear from the family because the boy is still a minor.

“It was soon after my rejection that I got a call from his father who told me that they have gotten travelling visa to the United Kingdom and that I should oblige him with his son’s release. I did and told the young man to go and do the nation proud at whichever club he finally chooses to settle down with,” Keshi said, according to Alaiya.

He revealed that Keshi acknowledged Iheanacho as a

talented player, adding that the coach cautioned that the player should be handled gently and professionally as he navigates his professional career.

Alaiya disclosed that the national team also cancelled its second training session for yesterday after it appeared that the close to three hours morning training session may have taken its toll on the players.

“We have to be cautious not to push the players too hard so that nobody will break down,” Keshi said.

The Eagles, currently in camp for the CHAN 2014 tournament, will tomorrow play its second practice match against Niger Tornadoes of Minna at the Mainbowl of the Abuja National Stadium.

Its first game against Prison FC of Abuja ended 4-1 at the weekend.

Another game has also been scheduled for Saturday in a bid to toughen the side for the CHAN tourney.

Keshi said it would have been great to play an African country before the start of the tournament but noted that time factor may not permit that.

Simunic banned from World Cup for alleged Nazi chant Simunic’s alleged proJbigOSIP Nazi chants have cost him time, as FIFA laid a 10-game ban on the Croatia defender that will cost him the 2014 World Cup. After Croatia had defeated Iceland 2-0 to seal their fate as a member of the 2014 World Cup, Simunic grabbed a microphone and led the home crowd in a chant.

He said loudly “za dom” — translated from Croatian as “for the homeland” — four times, gaining an immediate response from fans, who chanted “spremni,” meaning “ready.”

The chant earned him a fine of approximately $4400 in Zagreb, but that came before FIFA began its investigation.

Croatia was controlled by the pro-Nazi Utashas regime during the second World War and the “Za dom” chants are con-

sidered incendiary.

Furthermore, FIFA had previously warned and fined Croatia for its fans’ racist behaviour.

The gesture was condemned by Croatia Football Federation Chief, Davor Suker, as inappropriate last month.

FIFA suspended Simunic, fined him 20,000 pounds and released the following statement to the BBC this afternoon: “The salute was discriminatory and offended the dignity of a group of persons.” The Dinamo Zagreb captain, Simunic had denied any political nature in the chants.

“The thought that anyone could associate me with any form of hatred or violence terrifies me,” he said in a statement on Dinamo’s official website.”

Kelechi Iheanacho (left) takes on Mexican players during the UAE 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup. The competition’s MVP is at the verge of joining English Premiership club, Manchester City. PHOTO: AFP

Fatal accident halts work at 2014 World Cup venue ORK has been halted on W the Arena Amazonia in Manaus, which will host four World Cup matches in 2014 and England’s opening match against Italy, following a fatality at the stadium.

A construction worker died at the site on Saturday, prompting a Labour Court to order a halt to all work being conducted high above ground until they are satisfied that conditions are safe.

England are set to kick off their Group D campaign at the stadium on June 14 against Italy and the tragedy is the latest in a series of setbacks for organisers.

The state government’s unit responsible for overseeing the construction is confident though that the suspension will be lifted soon.

A statement from the Amazonas state government read: “During the day on Saturday and Sunday the Amazon state government,

through the project management unit of the World Cup, was at the construction site of the Arena Amazonia watching the work performed on site after the fatality occurred early on Saturday.

“Around noon on Sunday, we took note of the notification of the Labour Court for the immediate partial stoppage of work. The decision should be applied to activities (carried out at) height, notably cover mounting and on the facade of the stadium.

“The decision was immediately acted upon by (construction company Andrade Gutierrez) and it is taking the appropriate measures for the full resumption of work.

Other services will continue normally, starting from Monday.”

The three other matches the venue is set to host at the World Cup is Cameroon/Croatia, USA/Portugal and

Honduras/Switzerland.

The death in Manaus brings the number of workers killed during construction of World Cup venues to five, including two who died last month when a crane collapsed at the Itaquera Arena in Sao Paulo, which is to hold the opening ceremony and first match of the finals between Brazil and Croatia.

FIFA has said the Sao Paulo stadium will not be completed until mid-April now, less than two months before the start of the tournament.

The world governing body extended its sympathies after the latest death.

A statement said, “FIFA and the local organising committee (LOC) learnt of the death of the worker on Saturday at the Arena Amazonia site with great sadness.

“We would like to send our most sincere condolences to his family, relatives, colleagues and friends.”

2014 CAF Champions League

Enyimba draw Togolese club, Pillars get Vita of Congo

By Christian Okpara ORMER African champions, Enyimba of Aba will face Togolese club, Ange de Notse in the first round of the CAF Champions League, while Glo Premier League kings, Kano Pillars will meet As Vita of Congo DRC in the same round.

In the draw held yesterday in Marrakech, Morocco, Enyimba will play the first leg of the tie at home in Aba,

F

Enyimba and Nasarawa United battling for honours during the 2013 Federation Cup. PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI

while Pillars will begin their campaign away from home.

Fifty-two clubs will be involved in the preliminary round to be joined by holders, Al Ahly (Egypt), Coton Sport (Cameroun), TP Mazembe (DR Congo), Hilal (Sudan), CS Sfaxien (Tunisia) and Esperance Sportive de Tunis (Tunisia) at the second round.

In the Confederation Cup draw, Nigeria’s representa-

tives, Bayelsa United and Warri Wolves were drawn bye in the first round alongside Asec Mimosas (Côte d’Ivoire), Ismaïly (Egypt), Wadi Degla (Egypt), Djoliba (Mali), MAS (Morocco), El Ahly Shandy (Sudan), E.S.S. ( Tunisia), C.A.B. (Tunisia) and Zesco United (Zambia).

These clubs will join the 42 clubs that would be involved in the preliminary round of the competition.

Sports betting firm, Bet2Win, launches with enhanced service offerings ET2WIN, Nigeria’s leading B sports-betting operator has announced the launch of its website in Nigeria - www.bet2win.com.ng.

As part of the launch of bet2win.com.ng, Bet2Win is giving every customer a 30 per cent bonus on all deposits made on the site up until January 15, 2014.

Chief Executive Officer of Bet On Sports Limited, Dolan Beuthin said the launch of the betting site was in response to strong demand from patrons for a quicker way to bet on sports events.

“This is another exciting landmark for Bet2Win, which again highlights our continued commitment to enhancing our service offering.

“In particular, improving the betting experience for our onthe-go customers who enjoy playing on the Internet from the comfort of their homes and offices,” Beuthin said.

Beuthin was also keen to stress that Bet2Win has a long tradition of integrity and customer satisfaction “our business model is based on earning the trust of our customers. We have built a reputation in this business for over 35 years and been involved at the cutting edge of betting technology and regulation.

“With Bet2Win, customers can be assured of immediate payout on winnings.

Customer’s accounts are automatically credited with their deposits and winnings instantly,” he said.

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Women league in sponsorship talk with six companies NFF hails four-star Falconets

By Gowon Akpodonor ETTER days may be in the offing for Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) following a revelation yesterday that six major companies based in Lagos are showing interest in sponsoring the league.

At the just concluded Annual General Assembly of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in Warri, Delta State, the NWFL was allegedly granted the autonomy to seek for a different sponsor for its activities, after issue of funding for the nation’s women football was tabled before the board.

Speaking with The Guardian on phone yesterday, the Chairman of the NWFL, Dilichukwu Onyedinma said a consultant working for them in Lagos was holding talk with the companies, adding that she was positive that something good would come out of it ‘very soon.’

“The consultant is doing a great job and it is giving us feedback on weekly basis. As at last week, they (consultant) was already holding talk with six different companies and some of them are very enthusiastic in sponsoring the women league. It will be a major breakthrough for the league if we are able to tie down this sponsorship deal between now and end of January 2014,” Onyedinma said.

Since Seven Up Bottling

B

Company, owner of Pepsi pulled out from its sponsorship of Nigerian women football in early 2000, the league has been nothing to write home about. Not even the existing sponsorship deal between the NFF and telecommunications giant, Globacom, for the league and all the national teams has been able to better the women’s league.

The situation has become worrisome for stakeholders, as the women football department finds it difficult to take care of some basic things like the annual Super Six competition and Challenge Cup. The 2013 edition of the Super Six Competition for the Women League was recently cancelled due to lack of funds.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has commended players of the National Women U-20 team, Falconets, for their victory over Tunisia in the FIFA World Cup qualifier at the weekend.

The Falconets thrashed the visiting Tunisians 4-0 at the Abuja National Stadium at the weekend in the first leg of their encounter with striker, Uchechi Sunday scoring a hat trick and Patience Okaeme also on target. NFF President, Aminu Maigari told The Guardian yesterday that the girls are worth commending.

Egbegi, George-Taylor sad over state of amateur boxing OME boxing stakeholders Samateur have decried the state of boxing in the country and called on the authorities to take urgent steps to reposition the sport.

Trigo Egbegi, a renowned boxing analyst, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that much work was required to improve the condition of the country’s amateur boxers.

Egbegi noted that the boxing circuit was devoid of the kind of activities that could produce the kind of talents that could make their mark in the international scene.

“If you come down to the Nigerian boxing scene, there is not much to talk about.

“Yes competitions were held this year but if we keep finding talents and not grooming them, of what use will that be? As far as I am concerned, boxing in Nigeria is dead, but not yet buried.

“Although it is fair to say that there are some initiatives working to produce talents, but after the grassroots, where else do they go to?

“I really look forward to when we can produce something exciting from the boxing talents here and stun the international boxing scene,’’ he said.

In the same vein, Rotimi George-Taylor a former president of the Nigeria Boxing Federation (NBF), said that boxing had been only 40 per cent active in the outgoing y e a r .

“It was only a bit active and I must commend the Lagos State boxing authorities for their efforts, but it must be a collective effort to turn box-

ing around in the country.

“I expect more to be put into Nigerian boxing next year; it needs to be improved upon, to conform to the new AIBA rules, get better facilities and standard coaches,’’ George-Taylor said.

NAN reports that the only notable national boxing competition that was staged in 2013 was the National Open Boxing Championship, which took place at the Late Brai Ayonote Gymnasium, National Stadium, Lagos.

The forthcoming Eagle Belt Boxing Tournament would hold on December 18 in Lagos.

Those to feature in the Eagle Belt tournament are those that represented the country in last October’s World Boxing Championship in Kazakhstan.

Cross River and Abia states volleyball teams competing for honours during the first National Youth Games, which ended in Abuja….at the weekend.

National Youth Games Fall-out

NSC rues Edo, Lagos, others absence, as Elegbeleye opens National Council of Sports meeting From Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja HE National Sports T Commission (NSC) yesterday declared as unfortunate the decision of four states, Lagos, Edo, Jigawa and Zamfara to opt out of the just concluded National Youth Games in Abuja, saying that not giving the youths in the states the opportunity to be part of the games was a wrong decision.

NSC Director General, Gbenga Elegbeleye, while opening the extraordinary meeting of the highest decision making body in Nigerian sports, the National Council on Sports, yesterday in Abuja, said the NYG has opened the gate for a harvest of youthful talents in the country.

The NSC director general

also charged the meeting to deliberate on such issues as the memo on the need to review the National Sports Policy, note on the establishment of the Sports Information Management System (SIMS), as well as note on the implementation of the sports sector key performance indicators.

The NCS, which endorsed the youth games during its last meeting in Ilorin, will meet for two days in Abuja to deliberate on the records and activities of the sector in 2013.

The NCS, The Guardian gathered, will also be saddled with such other issues as fixing a date for the next edition of the National Sports Festival (NSF), which is billed for Calabar, Cross River State and review the draft copy of

the rules and regulations of the NSF, following the decision to make subsequent once an open event.

“I am pleased to note that the first edition of the youth games was successfully concluded last weekend with over 3000 athletes from 33 states of the federation and the FCT participating.

“Unfortunately, Edo, Jigawa, Lagos, and Zamfara States did not participate in the Games,” he lamented.

“I wish to remark that the committee set up at the last Council meeting to look at the modalities for the organisation of the National Sports Festival has since submitted its report to the Minister of Sports/Chairman

Bayelsa 2013 Dickson Wrestling Cup begins RESTLERS from across W the country will converge in Yenagoa, Bayelsa

NSC Lagos’ Liaison Officer, Tayo Oreweme, NCF Boss, Lekan Adeyemi, new champion, John Fawole, Vice Admiral Jubril Ayinla and Kufre Ekanem, during the presentation of the winner’s cheque to the overall champion at the end of the NB Plc National Chess Championship…at the weekend.

NSC.” “I believe we all have the draft copy of the reviewed festival rules and regulations, which is one of the main reasons for this extraordinary meeting. We are also expected to consider the date for the festival and recommend same to the council for approval.

“Also in line for deliberation include the memo on the need to review the National Sports Policy, note on the establishment of the Sports Information Management System (SIMS) and note on the implementation of the sports sector key performance indicators,” he said.

State, for the maiden edition of the Governor Seriaki Dickson Wrestling Championship, which begins today.

The over 400 wrestlers from 20 states of the federation and eight private clubs arrived in Yenagoa yesterday in high hopes of toppling the host state from their exalted position as the home of wrestling in Nigeria.

Athletes would weight in the various weight classes today preparatory to starting off mat action with the Greco- Roman event tomorrow.

The female and male Free Style Wrestlers will test their might on Thursday and Friday respectively.

Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF) President, Daniel Igali confirmed that the Dickson Cup would serve as a yardstick to select athletes for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, adding that his federation is poised to make the championship a world class.

Igali also revealed that Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi and Nigeria Olympic Committee President, Sani Ndanusa, would be at the venue to cheer the wrestlers on Thursday and Friday.

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SPORT Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Barcelona youngster, Ekpolo, wants to play for Eagles

By Olalekan Okusan E is yet to play at the senior level for four-time UEFA Champions League winners, Barcelona, but 18year-old Godswill Ekpolo says his ultimate aim is to feature for the Nigerian national team.

The defender told The Guardian from Spain that he would continue to work hard in order to get the attention of the Barcelona coaching crew, just as he would also not relent in his dream of playing for his fatherland in the near future.

“It is the dream of many

H

footballers to play for Barcelona and for me it is a dream come true. I hope to remain with Barcelona, if it is God’s will. But if I get a better offer I can go to another club. My real target is to represent the national team of Nigeria one day because this is one of my dreams as a player and also it is a dream for everybody to represent his country as a footballer,” he admitted.

Having featured for the Catalunya U-18 team, Ekpolo says he believes he has the wherewithal to fight for a shirt in the national U-20 team, the Flying Eagles.

Ekpolo, who was born in Benin City in 1995, left the country with his family to Tarragona, a small city 50 miles away from Barcelona, when he was six.

Four years later he got into FC Barcelona’s academy (La Masia, ‘The Farmhouse’), where he is one of the most respected players in Barça’s youth teams.

In his ninth season playing for the Catalan squad, Ekpolo has been named as the juniors’ (juvenil A) captain. He belongs to the prolific class of ’95, with some of his teammates making it into Barça’s reserve team.

Club poised to develop motor sports in Nigeria, says Okao OTORCYCLE Sports Club M of Nigeria, organisers of ‘Motocross Naija Bike Race,’

Barcelona’s youth team star, Ekpolo (right) during a league match recently.

Fawole, Coker are NB plc’s Chess champions HE 2013 edition of the T Nigerian Breweries Plc International chess championship threw up some incredible games, but fat the end of the battles, former national junior champion, John Oyeyemi Fawole and Labake Coker emerged triumphant from the pool of top players.

The seven round Swiss event pairing, the 36th edition of the competition was held at the Mobolade OkoyaThomas Multi purpose hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.

The new national male champion secured six out of maximum seven to place top in the Masters category and won the star prize of N250, 000 and the trophy.

Bomo Kigigha, Femi Balogun and Unwana Ekpoikong were joint second with international Master, Bunmi Olape, also in line for consolation cash prizes.

Fawole’s defining moment in the event started in round five with a brilliant Bg5 Nadjorf Variation of the Sicilian win against Miedo Denunu after an initial set back loss to former champi-

on, Kigigha in the earlier round.

In the female section, Coker’s brilliance in the middle play, played a key role of winning the trophy for the first time after several years of efforts.

She was joint first with Toluwani Rachael with five points each but came top on tiebreak.

Okemakinde Toluwani and Emmanuel Akintoye are joint third with four points each and shared the prize money.

In his closing remarks, the Public Relations Adviser, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Kufre Ekanem commended all the participants for their conduct during the event and urged them transform the lessons of chess skills in their human endeavor.

“Chess players are supposed to be discipline and academically oriented. This sponsorship remains a key element of our several youth empowerment and talent development initiative. It is a further demonstration to our dedication to being a responsible corporate citizen committed to winning with Nigeria,” he

stated.

Among the dignitaries at the closing ceremony were the Liaison Officer of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Tayo Oreweme, former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Jubril Ayinla, the President of Nigerian Chess Federation, Lekan Adeyemi, the Corporate Affairs PR and Brand Manager, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Edem Vindah and some parents of U-14 boys and girls, who came to savour the joy of their children winning prizes.

In all, N1, 520,000-prize money was won in all the seven categories of play.

at the weekend held its firstever competition tagged: ‘The Moto-NG Superbike Bikers Trophy (BT),’ in Evbobanosa near Benin City, as part of its end of year activities.

The event, according to President of the outfit, Oduagbon Okao, is aimed at developing motorbike sport culture among Nigerian youths, as it would provide them a gainful career in life.

He explained that the race was also to honour the grand patron of the club, Prof. G.I. Akenzua, who is also the Enogie of Evbobanosa, for his immense contributions to the development of the club.

According to Okao, “the motor sport is a multi billion-dollar industry that the country was yet to fully embrace. We believe that a well-developed motor sport industry presents an opportunity to positively and actively engage the youths of Nigeria.

“The opportunities for growth in the service sectors that has a symbiotic relation-

ship to the sport is a potential huge source of employment opportunities.”

He added that the growth of motorcycle sport in Edo State has received the support and encouragement of the people and government of state, adding, “so the Edo State government has prom-

ised to construct a bike racing circuit in Evbobanosa by 2014.”

Also speaking at the event, Akenzua promised his community will continue to provide the enabling environment for the sport to thrive, noting the sports has positively impacted on the econ-

YSFON U-17 President’s Cup lights up Confluence City IGERIAN youth footN ballers under 17 years are all headed for Confluence city, Lokoja, venue of the 2013 YSFON U-17 President Unity Cup, which kicks off today and end on serves of between, December 22.

The competition, which holds at the Confluence and Lokoja stadia, according to the National Secretary of the Federation, Patrick Okpavuerhe, is being sponsored by Kogi State government and would feature 16 states from across the country.

The states are the defending champion, Bayelsa, Kaduna, Kebbi, Kaduna, Edo, Delta, FCT, and Kogi.

Others include Taraba,

Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Osun, Ekiti, Ogun and Kwara.

He disclosed that the tournament would be declared open by Kogi’s Commissioner for Sports, Anthony Puke, at the Confluence Stadium, Lokoja.

Earlier, the YSFON National President, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna had commended Governor Idris Wada for sponsoring this year’s edition, saying, ‘indeed, we are very grateful to His Excellency for partnering with us at this time of sports development at the grassroots level.’’

Gawuna enjoined all participating teams and their handlers to be of good conduct before, during and after their respective matches.

Beach Soccer culture a big draw for tourism industry, says Pepsi ITH the huge patronage W of the Copa Lagos Beach Soccer tournament in the last three years, Pepsi, one of the partners of the event, has called for the sustenance of the new football culture to add to the growing tourism industry in Nigeria.

Speaking at the final of the 2013 Copa Lagos Beach Soccer Championship at the

Executive Director, FCMB Capital Market, Tolu Osinubi, presenting trophy to Isa Abdullahi, captain and goalkeeper of the Super Sand Eagles at the end of the tournament…on Sunday.

Eko Atlantic Waterfront at the weekend, Head of Marketing, Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc, Norden Thurston said the large turnout of fans has shown that Beach Soccer is gaining acceptance amongst Nigerians.

He said Copa Lagos is not just about football, as there is also music, entertainment

and fashion, to make it a fun weekend for families and groups of friends, adding that the beach soccer tournament aligns with the brand philosophy of Pepsi, enabling consumers to seize the moment and live for now.

He said Pepsi will continue to support sporting and other entertainment events

that will improve the lifestyle of members of the society.

The final match between Nigeria’s Super Sand Eagles and their Senegalese counterparts lived up to the hype, with the defending champions forced to dig deep to beat the current Africa Beach Soccer champions from Teranga Sand Lions 4-2.

Head of Marketing, Seven-Up Bottling Company, Norden Thurston (right), Emeka Ogbonna, Isa Abdulahi, Captain of Nigeria team and Tale Victor celebrating Nigeria’s victory at the Beach Soccer tournament.

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Guardiola wants to win Club World Cup AYERN Munich Coach, B Pep Guardiola says he has no intention of taking the Club World Cup lightly as his European champions prepare to face China’s Guangzhou Evergrande in the semi-finals today.

Guardiola has already enjoyed a glittering coaching career and is the only boss to have already won this competition twice, in 2009 and 2011 with Barcelona.

And even though his team comes into the competition as overwhelming favourites, the Catalan is not taking anything for granted.

“This tournament is very important, very prestigious.

It’s not easy to qualify for it, nor to win it,” he said.

“There are only two matches, the semi-final and the final, and, simply put, we have to win them.

“You don’t have the good

fortune to take part in this competition very often in your life as a professional footballer and I’d like to express my gratitude to the team and (predecessor) Jupp Heynckes because, thanks to them, I am here today.”

Although he has won the Champions League twice, the Spanish title three times and even managed a treble including the Spanish Cup in his first season as a coach, Guardiola will not be the senior figure in the dugout.

Opposite him will be Italian 2006 World Cupwinning coach, Marcello Lippi, who reappeared in China last year after a twoyear hiatus following his second, and unsuccessful, spell in charge of the Azzurri.

For all that Guardiola has won, his CV does not yet match that of Lippi, who led

Klitschko

Juventus to the 1996 Champions League crown and five Serie A titles, before doing the league and cup double with Guangzhou in his first season, with a league and Asian Champions League double in 2013.

Yet Lippi himself has been impressed with the younger coach’s career so far.

“Guardiola is an intelligent and capable person.

We’ve seen what he’s done with Barcelona and Bayern, he’s changed teams but kept on winning,” said the 65-year-old.

“He’s brought with him his philosophy of play, slowly but with sureness.”

Lippi knows his team, the first ever Chinese participants in the competition, have little chance of upsetting the odds, even suggesting they only have a one per cent possibility.

“We’re going to play against one of the best teams in the world.

“When you play a match against a team like this, out of 100 matches you lose 99, but you can win one and I hope that will be the next one. You never know.”

If Bayern do win the tournament, it would be their fifth trophy of the year, having won the treble of Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup back in May, and then added the European Super Cup in August.

However, they did lose out to Borussia Dortmund in the German Supercup, so will not be able to match the achievements of Guardiola’s Barcelona in 2009.

Even so, Bayern’s French winger Franck Ribery, who is on the three-man shortlist for the Ballon d’Or, alongside the holders of the trophy for the last five years in Lionel Messi (2009-2012) and Cristiano Ronaldo (2008), wants to finish the calendar year on a positive note.

WBC declares title vacant, names Klitschko champion emeritus HE Board Meeting of the WBC and its President, Jose Sulaiman, have decided to appoint Vitali Klitschko, one of the WBC’s greatest and most successful Heavyweight Champions, as Champion Emeritus.

The WBC said yesterday that it shows its full support of Vitali Klitschko in his political activities in his home country, Ukraine and understand that he is unable to defend his title inside the ring in the foreseeable future.

“Therefore the WBC appoints Klitschko Champion Emeritus and thus give him the opportunity to decide at a later point whether he wants to resign from professional boxing or fight for the WBC Heavyweight title again,” a statement by the body said.

Speaking on his appointment, Klitschko said, “I want to thank the WBC and

T

its president Don Jose Sulaiman for the support in our fight for democracy and freedom in the Ukraine. It was and is a great honor to hold the WBC title and I’ve always done it with pride.

“The offer of the WBC gives me the theoretical possibility to return to the boxing ring, which I cannot imagine at all to the current state. Right now, my full concentration is on politics in Ukraine, and I feel that the people need me there.

My brother Wladimir will ensure more sporting success and I will – as always – support him as much as he currently supports me in my political fight. ” Klitschko, whose professional record is 44-2 with 40 Kos, captured the WBC Heavyweight crown in 2004. After a break of his career of almost four years due to an injury, he returned to the boxing ring

in 2008 and succeeded one of the greatest comebacks in sports history.

With an impressive performance against reigning WBC Champion Samuel Peter, Klitschko regained the WBC belt for the second time by TKO 8. Thus he became the fourth boxer alongside Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis to win a heavyweight belt for the third time.

With this success and his younger brother Wladimir Klitschko also being a World Heavyweight Champion, both Klitschkos were at the same time World Heavyweight Champion, which secured them an entry into the sports history books. In 2011, the Klitschko brothers even became the first siblings to unify all heavyweight belts under one family name.

Bayern Munich’s midfielder, Mario Goetze (left) vies with Hamburg’s defender, Jonathan Tah during a German Bundesliga match in Munich... at the weekend.

Raja Casablanca meets Ronaldinho’s Atletico Mineiro Still, Atletico coach, Cuca, is with an injury-time strike TLETICO Mineiro will A make their maiden not expecting his players to from Abdelilah Hafidi. appearance in the FIFA Club be fazed by a potentially hosWorld Cup tomorrow against a buoyant Raja Casablanca.

Brazilian side, Atletico, clinched their first Copa Libertadores title back in July with a two-leg victory over Paraguayan side Olimpia.

The South American champions now have the opportunity to end an historic year with a world title, but will need to negotiate a semifinal with a Casablanca side that has momentum following consecutive wins to start the tournament.

Casablanca are likely to have the home fans in Marrakesh on their side following their surprise 2-1 quarter-final win over Mexican outfit Monterrey.

tile atmosphere in northwest Morocco.

“It was a surprise to everybody (Casablanca’s last-eight win), Cuca said. “We expected Monterrey to advance, because of its tradition. We didn’t stop observing Raja, but it’s a team with a different style compared to the Mexicans.

“Now we will have to play against the home team, but in the Copa Libertadores we also played under pressure against opposing fans. Our players are used to that.”

Both of Casablanca’s victories have come in dramatic fashion, with Faouzi Benzarti’s men beating Monterrey in extra time after edging through their playoff against Auckland City 2-1

However, Mineiro represent a step up in calibre from their previous opponents, with Brazil international Jo and former Barcelona star Ronaldinho - appearing in his first Club World Cup since 2006 - among the Belo Horizonte club’s ranks.

Casablanca midfielder, Chemseddine Chtibi, is undaunted by the task in front of his side, though, and is looking forward to the chance to compete against 2005 Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldinho.

“It’s a huge occasion for us to be facing a team that has a global superstar like Ronaldinho,” Chtibi said.

“He’s a magical player and everybody dreams of sharing a pitch with him. We want to show we can play.”

Mikel, Luiz expecting difficult games against Galatasaray OHN Obi Mikel believes Jthreat Galatasaray will pose a real to Chelsea when they meet in the UEFA Champions League last 16.

The two clubs were drawn together yesterday in a tie that will see Chelsea legend, Didier Drogba, return to Stamford Bridge with the Turkish champions.

And while Mikel acknowl-

Mikel

edges the Ivorian will be dangerous for Galatasaray, he is also aware of other strengths in Roberto Mancini’s side.

“They are a great team,” the Nigerian told Chelsea’s official website. “Didier, Wesley (Sneijder) - they have a good team and obviously they have Roberto Mancini, who is trying to implement his philosophy and change the way

they play.

“It will be tough but it’s a game we’re looking forward to. It will be good to meet old rivals, who you have played against in the past, as well as old team-mates.”

Chelsea defender, David Luiz, echoed the thoughts of Mikel and believes playing the second leg at home could prove crucial if they are to progress to the quarterfinals.

“You can see how important it is for Galatasaray when they play at home,” he said. “They qualified in the last game, which they had to wait one more day to play because of the snow, and they beat a team like Juventus.

“It’s good for us to play the second leg at home, but for sure you need to get a great result to qualify, that’s why we need to get a great result in the first game.

“We have to think that we need to win that game because even if we draw 0-0 and they come here and score an away goal, it will become a very difficult game.”

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THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

SPORTS Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Man City ready for Barca battle ANCHESTER City insist M they are confident of beating Barcelona after being pitted against the Catalan side in an eye-catching Champions League draw that will also see Arsenal take on the holders Bayern Munich.

The other two English sides had, on the face of it, easier draws for the first knockout round with Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea facing their former striker Didier Drogba’s Galatasaray, while David Moyes’ Manchester United take on Greek champions Olympiacos.

City may have paid a steep price for failing to top their group but in the build-up to the draw at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, were the one team that Barcelona had been keen to avoid - the local sports daily El Mundo Deportivo’s front page had stated simply “El City, No!” City boss Manuel Pellegrini

does not believe facing Barcelona is the fearsome prospect it once was.

He said: “I think they will be very concerned also.

Barcelona is not the team it was two years ago.

“I think it is a beautiful game with two very good teams.”

Arsenal beat Bayern 2-0 in Munich at the same stage last season but went out on away goals - the German side having won 3-1 at the Emirates.

Gunners winger, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain said: “We managed to get a good result away at Bayern last season so that brings back good memories. If you’re going to do well in the competition you’ve got to beat the best teams.”

Arsenal now have German international playmaker, Mesut Ozil in their ranks and Bayern defender Jerome Boateng admitted: “They’re the toughest opponents we could have had. They’ll be

totally up for it after what happened last year. Both matches will be very intense.”

Drogba said he was relishing his match against Chelsea, having scored the equaliser and then the winning penalty against Bayern Munich to win the competition in 2012.

“What a draw... I’m the luckiest man in this competition,” he said on his official Instagram account. “In both games I’ll be playing home!

See you in few months.”

Chelsea midfielder, Juan Mata said it would be a fond reunion for all concerned.

He told the official Chelsea website: “Didier was a legend here. I guess that he would be very excited about coming back. He did a lot of great things for this club and scored a lot of very important goals. In fact, he scored probably the most important goals in the history of this club.”

Ancelotti not expecting luck against Schalke EAL Madrid coach, Carlo R Ancelotti does not expect luck to play any part in the

Manchester City’s Bosnian striker, Edin Dzeko (right) vies with Bayern Munich’s defender, Jerome Boateng during the UEFA Champions League group D match in Munich, southern Germany, last week.

Every player is important in Chelsea, Mourinho insists ANAGER Jose Mourinho M maintains every one of his Chelsea squad will have an important role to play over the hectic festive schedule - which kicks off with a Capital One Cup quarterfinal at Sunderland.

The Blues closed up on Barclays Premier League leaders Arsenal with a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace, but with one eye on the upcoming showdown at the Emirates Stadium on December 23, Mourinho is likely to rotate the players for the trip to Wearside.

Centre-half Gary Cahill was rested at the weekend as a precaution following a minor thigh problem, and could return to the defence alongside David Luiz as Mourinho would like to rest captain John Terry.

Branislav Ivanovic is suspended, so Cesar Azpilicueta will switch to his favoured right-back role, with Ashley Cole returning on the left.

“Now is an important period for all of the squad everyone has a role to play and a contribution to give,” Mourinho said.

“Every player will be important when we have so many games and competitions to play.”

Mourinho continued: “Azpilicueta can go on the

right, Ashley Cole on the left, with David (Luiz) as a central defender.

“If Cahill recovers, I will play him if he does not recover, then I will go again with John, but I would like to John a rest for that match.”

Mourinho has been impressed with the efforts of the Blues skipper, who has again been a consistent performer since coming

back into the side this season and has chalked up 23 appearances already.

“He is very solid, very focused with the ball he makes the right choice, and without the ball he is also very focused,” said Mourinho.

“I think he is having a very good season, let’s see if he can keep going this way because he has been fantastic.”

forthcoming Champions League showdown with Schalke.

The Spanish giants are once again going in search of ‘La Decima’ - a 10th European Cup - and their convincing performances in Group B saw them sail through to the last 16 with ease.

Germans Schalke impressed in Group E, however, and Ancelotti is treating the 2011 semi-finalists with due deference, insisting only hard work will see Los Blancos succeed across the two legs.

The Italian told AS: “The last 16 of the Champions League is always difficult; we will have to stay very focused.

“They are a team with a lot of experience. It’s got nothing to do with good or bad luck.

“This is the last 16 of the Champions League and we have to give our all in both

Chelsea’s French-born Senegalese striker, Demba Ba (left), Serbian defender, Branislav Ivanovic (right) and Crystal Palace’s Irish defender, Damien Delaney during the English Premier League match at Stamford Bridge in London at the weekend.

PHOTOS: AFP

Ancelotti

Inter scalp delights Benitez while the APOLI coach, Rafa Fiorentina N Benitez was delighted Azzurri increased their gap over Inter, who are fifth, to with his team’s 4-2 triumph over his former club Inter Milan on Sunday but insisted he was not seeking revenge.

The Naples outfit were 3-1 up after 41 minutes and held on for their 11th win of the Serie A campaign.

Benitez, who endured a difficult six-month spell at Inter before leaving the club in December 2010, said to sscnapoli.it: “This wasn’t revenge, absolutely not.

“I have so many friends in Milan.

“All I was interested was in the game that had a lot of value for the standings.

“I am satisfied with my team and the determination shown by my players.

“This victory against a great rival is important and we were worthy winners.”

Napoli climbed five points clear of fourth-placed

seven points.

Moreover, Sunday’s outcome allowed Napoli to put behind them their painful exit from the Champions League.

Napoli beat Arsenal 2-0 last week but finished third in Group F due to an inferior head-to-head record with Borussia Dortmund and the Gunners.

Benitez’s team had won four of their six group games, something no other side in Champions League history had done and gone out.

“We left the Champions League with our heads held high after a beautiful game against Arsenal,” Benitez added.

“I was certain that my players would hand a similar performance against Inter and they did.”

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 SPORTS 95

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Nothing special about Barcelona, says Man City ANCHESTER City’s Chief M Executive Officer, Ferran Soriano and Director of Football, Txiki Begiristain see ‘nothing special’ about FC Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16.

City will play home to Barca in the first leg of the tie and the duo of Soriano and Begiristain say the encounter will be 50-50 for both teams.

Both Soriano and Begiristain used to work at Barcelona. In fact, it was Begiristain, who sold Yaya Toure to City in 2010.

Begiristain told his club’s official website after the Champions League round of 16 draw yesterday: “I think it will be a great match. Ours is a team with a lot of confidence especially after winning against the champions in Munich - that will give us a lot of confidence.

“Our manager knows perfectly Barcelona because he managed in Spain for a long time. In this sense, we are confident.

“If you want to win the

Champions League you have to beat the biggest teams, Barcelona are one of the biggest teams.”

City boss, Manuel Pellegrini added, “I think Barcelona will be very concerned that they have drawn us. They are not the team of two years ago.”

Arsenal have been drawn against current holders Bayern Munich.

Bayern captain Philipp Lahm said, “it’s a prestigious tie but a tough opponent. It was the hardest draw amongst the second-placed teams. Arsenal are certainly not a team you’d hope to face.”

Chelsea and Manchester United have the advantage of playing the second leg at home after winning their groups, while City and Arsenal will have to travel away for the second legs of their ties.

City beat Bayern Munich 32 in their final Group D game and could have topped their group had they won 4-2.

Aguero out for ‘at least a month’ ERGIO Aguero will be out of action “for at least a month,” according to Manchester City boss, Manuel Pellegrini.

The striker, City’s leading scorer this season with 19 goals, injured his calf during Saturday’s 6-3 victory over Premier League leaders Arsenal.

The Argentine, who has

S

scored 13 times in the league, claimed the opener against the Gunners before limping off at the start of the second half.

Pellegrini confirmed Aguero’s absence at a news conference yesterday.

City are due to play Championship side Leicester City in the League Cup quarter-finals today.

Champions League Fixtures Tuesday 18th February 2014 Bayer 04 Leverkusen Vs PSG Man City Vs Barcelona Wednesday 19th February 2014 Arsenal Vs Bayern Munich Milan Vs Atlético Madrid Tuesday 25th February 2014 Zenit St Petersburg Vs Borussia Dortmund Olympiakos Vs Man Utd Wednesday 26th February 2014 FC Schalke 04 Vs Real Madrid Galatasaray Vs Chelsea

What a huge task….Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere seems to say of the pairing against Bayern Munich in the Champions League…. Photo Reuters

Champions League last-16 draw:

Arsenal ‘a genuine banana skin’ for Bayern, says Boateng Manchester City FhasORMER defender, Jerome Boateng labelled Arsenal as the ‘toughest draw’ for Bayern Munich in the Champions League last-16.

The German holders, who progressed against the Gunners courtesy of the away goals rule at the same stage last year, could not have drawn Manchester City having already faced them in the group stages, and Boateng believes his side have been handed a genuine banana skin.

He told the official Bayern site, ‘they’re the toughest opponents we could have had.

They’ll be totally up for it after what happened last year. Both matches will be very intense.’

Bayern Director, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was also quick to point out the difficulty of

the draw against Arsene Wenger’s side.

‘There were more manageable and easier opponents in the hat, but we can’t change it,’ he said. ‘We know we have to approach Arsenal with great respect, and that’s what we’ll do.

‘We’ll have to turn in two very good performances.’

The Gunners finished second in their group behind Borussia Dortmund, meaning they were always going to be faced with tough opposition, but the competition holders represent a fearsome

test for Arsene Wenger’s side.

Manchester City, who also were runners-up in the group stages, have been drawn against Barcelona, while neighbours Manchester United face Olympiacos, and Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea take on Galatasaray.

Wenger still dreaming of ‘angel’ Suarez RSENE Wenger has A admitted he’s still pining for Luis Suarez after watching the Liverpool striker demolish Tottenham.

The Uruguayan, who the Gunners tried to sign in the summer, produced an allstar performance against Spurs – scoring two and providing three in the 5-0 rout at White Hart Lane.

But Wenger, who has long since given up the chase for Suarez after Liverpool’s refusal to sell to the Gunners, was quick to praise the lethal forward as he continued his frightening goal-scoring form.

‘I think that every defender in England hates playing against him,’ the French boss said on Telefoot.

‘He has a strong, provocative personality. From the information I gathered on him it appears that on a day-to-day level he is really easy to work with.

‘Also that he’s respectful, he loves training, he’s an angel.

He turns into a demon when he’s on the pitch.

‘We all dream about having players like that.’

Five reasons why Tottenham were wrong to sack Villas-Boas NDRE Villas-Boas has left A Tottenham by ‘mutual consent’ after another

Suarez

humiliating defeat – this time against Liverpool, but here are five reasons why Spurs should’ve kept more faith in the Portuguese.

Flop new signings weren’t his fault Villas-Boas was working under the rule of director of football, Franco Baldini, and the failure to fill the gaping void left by Gareth Bale was ultimately the Italian’s responsibility.

Tottenham weren’t in that bad a position Spurs were going strong in the Europa League and Capital One Cup, and were only five points off fourth place in the Premier League.

Yes, a couple of defeats were crushing, but you don’t lose any less points for a 1-0 loss, and games against Manchester City and Liverpool were hardly three-

point bankers.

His record should’ve earned him time AVB finished last season with Spurs’ highest-ever Premier League points total, and leaves with the biggest win percentage (55 per cent) of any Tottenham manager since 1899.

He was right to hit out against fans and press Much has been made of AVB’s decision to vent at Spurs’ home supporters and members of the media after disappointing results, but the fact is; the club’s negative fans were increasing tensions on the pitch for his players, and journalists who had achieved precisely nothing in sport were belittling his achievements at Porto and deserved to be put in their place.

Injuries What you don’t need when coming up against one of

the best strikers in the world is a midfielder playing centre-back. Spurs have been cruelly hit with injuries in

Andre Villas-Boas

this department, and that’s a situation that all but the world’s top, top sides would struggle to cope with.

TheGuardian

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

By Ogundimu Babatunde Solomon T is no more news that the prolonged issue of the convocation of National Conference which was adamantly opposed by the President some months ago has now been rubber-stamped by him during his Independence Day broadcast on October 1 where President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan presented to all Nigerians a ‘surprise package’ on his intention to facilitate a ‘national dialogue’ on the future of this entity called Nigeria.

To crown it up, he set up a 13-member Advisory Committee which was inaugurated on Monday, October 7, 2013. It is quite clear and understood that, if Nigerians have mixed spontaneous reactions about the national conference announced by President Jonathan considering his opposition to such in the past despite the advocating for such conference by different groups and personalities. I shall return to this, but whatever may have induced this change of mind in the president is welcome and should set a pace for guileless, scrupulous and constructive discourse among Nigerians.

Following the trend of issues, some groups and personalities have hailed and will continue hailing President Jonathan for that complete U-Turn made for the convocation of the long-salivated national conference while some have condemned and still are condemning the proposed national conference by him thereby giving it different terms. Some said it was a diversionary move from his incompetence and the 2015 elections (which is around the corner); some even termed it as a ‘Greek Gift’, some termed it as an act of ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ while some even opposed it vehemently because it doesn’t have the term ‘Sovereign’.

Considering these two sides of the coin, I believe that the two sides that are of different viewpoints are neither right nor wrong gazing their point of views crucially. Recalling the word of the late Chief Bola Ige that we need to ask whether we will remain as a country and under what conditions. Though it can never and will never be a panacea for all our problems (political, economical and social), still we need to talk. And talk we must. Going by this, I think those who are in support of the national conference are right. Of course, unless we sit down to have sincere and meaningful national dialogue, this country will disintegrate (U.S. Think Tank) before our very eyes, though not in the way some people envisage. That is why the national conference is imperative. The National Conference basic aim is

If the ulterior motive for convening a national conference is for the purpose of using it as an organ of distraction and a tool for manipulative political perambulation, then it is better to swallow the idea of a conference

I

We should make this National Conference go beyond the President’s expectation and make him understand that if he had announced the National Conference to costume his personal interest, he has committed the greatest mistake of his life as we (Nigerians) will not allow him to tamper with the outcome of the national conference to suit certain interest or for partisan political reasons

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National dialogue: A call for ‘benefit of doubt’

Senator Femi Okurounmu to rescue the nation especially when the nation is faced with an intractable crisis as we are currently. So, the topmost agenda for the National Conference is how to

restructure Nigeria to make it work.

Back to those who accuse the President of insincerity over the issue of national conference, I think they may have a point

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OLOJA

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while recalling the previous conferences called by the Late Gen. Sani Abacha and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and sardonically ask what Nigerians got out of them. Let me say that the answer is right here with us because we (Nigerians) all reaped what we’ve sown in the conferences because of our lackadaisical attitude and so the two leaders had their way. Also, the opposition party to the planned National Conference must have been imagining what will be the outcome of this conference while regurgitating their experience(s) of the Political Reform Conference organised by former Obasanjo in 2005 to douse the tension in the country about the organisation of the Sovereign National Conference. After the wastage of our resources and the distractions on our national psyche, the resultant force of the conference was only infamous third term agenda of the former president. What about the 105 points of agreement that were reached during the conference? Can somebody vouch and say that the national conference that will be organised will not go the way of the National Political Reforms Conference?

For those who oppose the planned “national conference” because it does not have the term “Sovereign”, I would say it is our point of duty to determine the nature and structure of the proposed dialogue. We should make this National Conference go beyond the President’s expectation and make him understand that if he had announced the National Conference to costume his personal interest, he has committed the greatest mistake of his life as we (Nigerians) will not allow him to tamper with the outcome of the national conference to suit certain interest or for partisan political reasons.

To the President, I have an apparent message. Make no mistake; if the ulterior motive for convening a national conference is for the purpose of using it as an organ of distraction and a tool for manipulative political perambulation, then it is better to swallow the idea of a conference. And know this, either we are going to have a national conference that is free and sovereign or we have nothing. This government should perform on critical sectors of the country. There is no need to lean on convocation of a conference as an alibi.

This is a clarion call to all and sundry to leave the realm of conjecture and give Mr. President the ‘Benefit of Doubt’ and wait to see what he and his conference actually offer, as this is a bold step aimed at building a “Perfect Reunion”. Let’s all embrace it and not ruin our future with the pain of the past. It is never too late now. Today is our day of salvation, tomorrow may be too late!

Solomon is an undergraduate student of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta and the founder of GOWON (Go On With One Nigeria) Group +2348161303255, +2347030337526. olamidebabs@gmail.com