Wednesday 06 Mar 2013 The Guardian Nigeria

TheGuardian Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Vol. 29, No. 12,487

www.ngrguardiannews.com

N150

North, S’South senators trade blame over PIB • Reps move to criminalise default in wages, pensions payment From Terhemba Daka and Bridget Chiedu Onochie, Abuja T was meant to be a normal Ibate legislative session. But a deon a bill that affects the nation’s economic mainstay yesterday turned the Senate into a battleground. It was a clash between Northern and Southern senators.

The tense session was over the new Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which passed a crucial second reading yesterday. Northern lawmakers and their southern colleagues refused to yield grounds on their positions over some provisions of the bill.

And apparently worried about the default and delay in the payment of salaries and pensions of employees, the House of Representatives yesterday began moves to criminalise the development.

Consequently, a Bill for an Act to prohibit the late payment,

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Dr. Christopher Kolade (left), Karl Masters, Prof. Oladipo Akinkugbe, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his wife, Bola, during Obasanjo’s 76th birthday and book launch in Abeokuta… yesterday.

PHOTO: NAJEEM RAHEEM

Why we lost Bakassi to Cameroun, by Duke

By Martins Oloja, Kabir Alabi Garba, Charles Coffie-Gyamfi (Abeokuta) and Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu (Benin City) HOUGH it is now more than T a decade since the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula was ceded to Cameroun through the judgment of the International Court of Justice at The Hague, the memories of the development still hurt as they were relived yesterday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, during the formal presentation of the book,

• ‘How Britain, France, others deceived Nigeria’ • Jonathan, Oshiomhole laud Obasanjo at 76 Olusegun Obasanjo: The Presidential Legacy 1999-2007.

The presentation of the book, described as a “passionate account” of former President

Olusegun Obasanjo’s eight years in Aso Villa, was a major highlight of his 76th birthday and had former Governor of Cross River State, Donald

Duke, as the book reviewer.

Incidentally, in attendance too was ‘Bola Ajibola, another dramatis persona in the Bakassi saga, among many

other dignitaries.

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan and Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday congratulated

Cure for AIDS possible, says HIV co-discoverer – Page 3

Obasanjo on his 76th birthday.

Duke’s review, no doubt, was deep and engaging. But as a key state actor in one of the issues raised in the book - ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun the former governor seized the opportunity to present what he termed “an authentic and an unbiased account of what transpired leading to the judgment that ceded Bakassi, a local council then in Cross River State to the RepubCameroun.” of lic CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

2 NEWS

Reps move to criminalise default in wages, pensions payment CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 non-payment and under-payment of workers’ wages, pensions and other emoluments, sponsored by Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, yesterday scaled second reading on the floor.

It was subsequently referred

by Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal to the joint Committee on Public Service Matters, and Labour, Employment and Productivity for further legislative action.

Of about 150 clauses contained in the draft bill, northern lawmakers were opposed to fiscal benefits given to the host community (Host Community Funds), which is 10 per cent of net profit of oil companies operating in the region, National Frontier Exploration Agency as well as the power of the petroleum minister which they said was enormous and could hamper efficient implementation of the bill.

Titled “A Bill for an Act to Provide for the Establishment of a Legal and Regulatory Framework for the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria and for other Related Matters, 2012,” the lingering draft was first introduced in the sixth Senate but legislative action on it could not be concluded as several versions of it were found in circulation.

It was, however, re-introduced in the seventh Senate as an Executive Bill with measures adopted to ensure that only one version was brought before the Senate. It was consequently read for the first time on September 19, 2012.

Northern senators, who contributed to the debate, expressed worry that with the existing 13 per cent derivation allocated the area, there was no rational for additional 10 per cent net profit to host communities that were in the habit of squandering allocations meant for the development of the area in the last 30 years.

The bill, among other objectives, seeks to establish a department in the Ministry of Petroleum, which will be charged with frontier exploration services. The department would be vested with the responsibility to promote front end data acquisition of hydrocarbons in the frontier basins in hinterland Nigeria, focus on aggressive exploration of the seven inland basins to evaluate the country’s hydrocarbon potential, ensure adequate funding and skilled manpower in the sector as well as involve private participation in the exploration of these basins.

The Leader of the Senate, Victor Ndoma-Egba, in a lead debate said the bill would allow for petroleum host community fund to increase freedom to operate in the area.

“It will also assign oil and gas infrastructure security to host communities thereby minimising environmental degradation due to vandalism and crude oil theft, introduce penalties to host communities in the event of vandalism in their locality as well as ensure management of the fund through regulations”, NdomaEgba said.

Senator Alkali Abdulkadir Jajere (Yobe South), who opened the debate, maintained that with the Petroleum Trust Development Fund already instituted to ameliorate the plight of oil producing areas, there was no justification for the host community fund. He also condemned the powers bestowed on the petroleum minister.

“The bill was controversial. It has a lot of issues that need to be streamlined before it is passed. The host community fund is like the PTDF, which has already been enacted by the National Assembly.

“The powers conferred on the minister are much, too wide and uncontrollable. The minister is made to become too powerful. We have to reduce the powers and encourage the por-

tion that says exploration frontiers should be encouraged. We also have to look at the powers given to the President.”

Senator Ahmed Lawan (Yobe North) put the total amount expended on the oil-producing region of the country in the last 30 years at N11.3 trillion. He, therefore, blamed leaders of the region for the deplorable and impoverished condition of the people.

“I want my colleagues to know that 13 per cent derivation in the last 13 years equals N7.3 trillion. Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 10 years equals N2.7 trillion. Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs from 2007 to 2012 equals about N50 billion. Amnesty programme from 2009 to 2012 gulped about N250 billion, Special Presidential Initiative, including Ecological Fund, has about N73 billion, totalling about N11 trillion.

“Leaders of most of the communities have failed to deliver with this huge amount to the host communities. We are leaders. Whether I am from Yobe or anywhere, I am a Nigerian and I am concerned with what happens there. Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. It is my submission that the host community development fund should have no place at all in this bill”, Lawan said.

Lawan also decried the attitude of those from oil producing areas towards others who do not have oil, urging the government to extend their search and exploration to other parts of the country.

“The states that produce oil see others as parasites and unnecessary neighbours. We should search for petrol and gas wherever we can find it and therefore, there should be exploration and possible exploitation of oil across the country,” he said.

Lawan’s earlier remark that leaders of the oil producing areas have failed their people, however, triggered a ‘Point of

Order’ from Senators James Manager (Delta South) and Heineken Lokpobri (Bayelsa West), who cautioned on unguarded remarks against the people of the region.

Senator Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta North), dousing the tension, listed gains of the bill. He urged his colleagues to shun ethnic and political sentiments to allow for easy passage.

“While my colleagues have raised a few issues, it is important to realise that any bill coming from the Executive may not have all the perfections but the basic thing is that the Executive has good intention.

“We should try to get the view of the public on the bill. It is only then we can know how good the bill is. It is important to realise that there is strength in this bill. It talks about local content laws and that is one of the laws that will guide the industry. It has also provided for health and safety of the environment. People in Niger Delta are in danger of pollution. We should have knowledge of host community fund.

“No state is being shortchanged by the provision of host community funds. The 10 per cent is the net profit of the company and not from the Federation Account. I support that the bill be read the second time and go for public hearing so that the view of Nigerians would be observed”, he said.

Senator Isa Galaudu (Kebbi North) vehemently opposed the bill. In fact, he insisted the bill should be returned to the Executive for a proper work.

“They have to go and do good work on this bill. We will return it to the sender so that it will be patriotic and nationalistic.”

Senator Benedict Eyade (Cross River North) in his contribution urged his colleagues to rise above emotions and sentiments so that the bill could be read the second time. “This bill is crafted in a way that it has

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

‘How Britain, France, others deceived Nigeria on Bakassi’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Although not a contributor to the book project, Duke believed his fresh account could add value to the documentation.

His account: “The status of Bakassi had always been in a quandary to people within its vicinity and the Nigerian nation in general.

Both the nations of Nigeria and Cameroun laid claim to it and certain actions taken during the Nigerian civil war, remain unclear or may indeed have compounded the situation,” Duke stated as he did a flashback to 1913 when “the British colonial authorities” ceded Bakassi “to the Cameroun-controlled German authorities.

The crux of the matter at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, he stressed, “was whether the British had the authority to cede what was not theirs. As Southern Nigeria, of which Bakassi was a part of at the time, was a protectorate and not a colony.

“In 1981, there was a skirmish which cost the lives of three Nigerian soldiers leaving in its wake a simmering cauldron.

However, in 1994, all this came to a head when the government of Gen. Sani Abacha physically put troops on ground to take full control of the peninsula (perhaps, in my view, to booster his leadership and rally the nation behind his administration).

“Cameroun immediately proceeded to the International Court of Justice at The Hague. The case was in full throttle with all parties in full representation by the advent of the newly-elected civilian administration of Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999. Upon winning the elections in January 1999, Obasanjo as President-elect de-

cided to embark on a world tour to reintroduce himself to the world having been in confined sabbatical for three years, three months and three days and show the new face of Nigeria.

“Cameroun was one of the first places of call. I accompanied him. We arrived in Yaoundé with Gen. Aliyu Gusau and the late Abubakar Rimi in tow, among others.

“Contrary to protocol layout as in other countries visited during the trip, Cameroun was a cold reception. Incidentally, President Biya was at the airport to see off some other dignitaries upon our arrival. But he hardly acknowledged our delegation and we had the uncomfortable wait and cold shoulder treatment at the airport lounge not knowing what to do or where to go. When he eventually met with Obasanjo, he (Obasanjo) spoke in the vein of African brotherhood and African solutions to Africa’s problems. Biya was very reticent.

“On our trips to Paris and London still not yet sworn in, Bakassi remained topical with assurances of support from President Chirac, Prime Minister Tony Blair and several Western leaders … for Nigeria. Back home, we were torn between withdrawing from the case or concluding in court. Our legal team led by Chief Richard Akinjide and the firm of DJ Freeman, Solicitors, assured us it was a “slam dunk case”, a euphemism that we were more than likely to succeed. Our judge advocate, Prince ‘Bola Ajibola, also stated that we had a healthy chance of success.

“Obasanjo was nevertheless

nervous. Despite several diplomatic shuttles, high legal fees, assurances from high places and all, we lost. At my meeting with him immediately after to review, I saw a broken man, feeling disillusioned and let down by those whose judgment he relied upon and in his self-assuredness of his diplomatic skills and charm.

“But he did not brood for long, he immediately tried to achieve what he considered the next best thing. Could we appeal?

What could we do for the affected population? ‘How many were they?’ He asked me, and I said, ‘it depends.’ He looked up and said, ‘depends on what?’ I said ‘what you want to use the numbers for.

For elections, we could be as much as 500,000, for tax purposes, as little as 150 adults and 1,000 children.’

“In his post-judgment shuttle to remedy the situation, I found President Chirac quite astute, while reminding Obasanjo that France had a defence pact with Cameroun, he wondered why Nigeria did not withdraw from the case when we could.

Tony Blair said Britain and the colonial West could never support our cause as a reversal of colonial agreements anywhere, that would be a dangerous precedent with serious global repercussion for colonial agreements everywhere.

“The United States was totally disinterested. As for China and Russia, we were on our own and they couldn’t care less. Mention must be made of Secretary General Kofi Annan. He was our greatest friend in those dark days stretching the process of handover to allow us time to sort ourselves out diplomatically and also help our psychological adjustment to the new reality.”

In what appeared like his first public statement on the issue almost six years after he left office as governor, Duke recalled his interaction with Chief Arthur Mbanefo, the then Nigeria’s Permanent Representative at the UN and “serious reprimand on diplomatic ethics” he got from him. “He claimed we kept him in the dark so why were we bothering him now?”

According to Duke, “hindsight is 20:20. We ought to have walked out on the case and kept the twothirds of the peninsula we controlled. There were mixed reactions at home then and to date. Gen. T. Y. Danjuma, Defence Minister at the time, advocated we take up arms and flush the gendarmes off the one-third they controlled and some of our military commanders felt same.

“Others felt Bakassi was the opportunity cost for Obasanjo’s quest for international statesmanship and acceptance.

“But then our legal team said we had a “slam drunk case”. I recall, in Geneva, Obasanjo’s brilliance, with a blank sheet of paper before him, he eloquently reviewed before the delegations from Cameroun led by Paul Biya and that of the UN led by Kofi Annan, Nigeria’s case. Biya had earlier read a bland prepared speech stating the Camerounian case, which largely centered around his humiliation by Gen. Sani Abacha.

“Yes, we lost Bakassi to international conspiracies and not for want of trying,” he concluded.

The ICJ delivered its judgment on October 10, 2002, finding (based principally on the Anglo-German agreements) that sovereignty over Bakassi did indeed rest with Cameroun. The judgment instructed Nigeria to transfer pos-

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NEWS 3

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

News

Indian, bank, others re-arraigned over N8.5b fraud

Shell declares force majeure on Bonny Light

By Bertram Nwannekanma

HELL Petroleum S(SPDC) Development Company has declared force

HE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday re-arraigned an Indian, Ashrok Isran, Bank PHB (now Keystone Bank Plc) and three others before an Ikeja High Court for conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretence.

The defendants, which include Isran’s company, Nulec Industries Ltd and three officials of the bank namely Anayo Nwosu, Olajide Oshodi, Sunny Obazee were arraigned before Justice Olabisi Akinlade on an amended 12count charge.

The defendants were alleged to have defrauded one Daniel Chukwudozie of Dozzy Oil of the sum of N855, 000,000. They were earlier arraigned before Justice Habeeb Abiru last year on a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretences but were re-arraigned following the elevation of Justice Abiru to the Court of Appeal.

All the defendants pleaded

By Roseline Okere

T

Peter Egom Ashikiwe, ‘Motor park economist’ passes on ETER Alexander Egom or P Ashikiwe as he preferred to be known in later years, and a distinguished old boy of Kings College, has died at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital during a brief illness.

Egom whom many will remember as a famous school boy champion sprinter, first at St Teresa’s College in Nsukka, where he was the undisputed Eastern Region junior champion and then at King’s College, Lagos in the early ‘60s, passed on at 6 p.m. on March 3, 2013.

Still later, at the University of Cambridge, England, where as an athletics blue, he took a First Class degree in Anthropology, his 100 yards dash record at Cambridge remained unbroken, until that sprint was replaced by the 100m .

Alex later took a master’s degree in Economics from the prestigious University of Aarhus, Denmark’s second oldest University in the city of Aarhus, and lectured there and at the University of Dar - es Salaam, Tanzania in Economics for several years before relocating to Nigeria in the early 1980s.

In the mid 1980s and ‘90s he was a prolific writer and frequent commentator on the Nigerian economy (“Motor park economist!”).

At various times he also worked at The Guardian Newspapers and at the defunct Financial Post, only recently retiring from the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs as a senior researcher.

Egom

National Hospital workers protesting against delay in their promotion and welfare negligence, while calling for dismissal of its Director of Admin in Abuja … yesterday.

PHOTO: LADIDI LUCY ELUKPO

majeure on Bonny Light off take programme following the shutdown of Nembe Creek Trunkline (NCTL) after a leak was observed on Sunday.

Shell in a statement by its spokesman, Precious Okolobo yesterday, said that the cause of the leak would be determined by a joint investigation visit, which would be scheduled once the leak point had been excavated.

It stated that SPDC was mobilising a team to repair the line after the investigation.

“Thereafter, the NCTL will reopen for operations”.

It added: “There has been a recent upsurge in crude theft activities on the NCTL, resulting in frequent production shutdown and massive oil spills blighting the environment. Between February 22 and25, 12 flow stations producing into the pipeline were shut down by safety systems three times due to oil theft”.

Sultan seeks amnesty for Boko Haram From Saxone Akhaine, Northern Bureau Chief ULTAN of Sokoto, Dr. Sa’ad Scalled Abubakar II yesterday on President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently grant amnesty to all Boko Haram members as a means of encouraging them to lay down their arms and end insecurity in the country.

The supreme leader of the Islamic sect, Sheikh Abubakar Shekau last Sunday threatened to unleash fresh attack in the north.

The Sultan of Sokoto, who is also the President General of Ja’amatu Nasril Islam (JNI), the apex Northern Muslims umbrella body, also

denounced last Saturday’s violence in Wukari, Taraba State, saying it was “madness beyond comprehension.”

The Sultan made the call yesterday, at the opening of the Annual Central Council meeting of the JNI in Kaduna, consisting mainly of Northern Muslim traditional leaders and clerics.

While urging Jonathan to consider granting amnesty to Boko Haram members, the Sultan argued: “We want to bring to the notice of the government our challenges. As Muslim leaders, we feel very concerned and very, very worried the way things are going on in Nigeria today, especially the insecurity issue in this

country. We have problems in the North, we have in the South East, we have in the South West and in the SouthSouth. We believe that it is the duty of the government to protect all of us.”

The Sultan noted: “You have been living together for centuries why of a sudden do you say you don’t want to live with one another? These are some of the things we shall be discussing. Either there is something somewhere we don’t know, or we come to the table together (with the other side) and seek for solution.

“By the grace of God, we believe that the issue of security or rather, insecurity, terrorism and their likes shall be

discussed. We have of terrorism, everywhere, everyday.

“We have heard in the news that the President shall be visiting Maiduguri in a couple of days. And praise be to God, that the Shehu of Borno is here and he will be briefing us this evening. We want to use this opportunity to call on the government, especially Mr. President to see how he can declare amnesty to all combatants (Boko Haram) without delay. That will make any other person who picks up arms to be termed a criminal.

“If amnesty is declared, it will give so many of those young men who have been running and hiding to

embrace that amnesty. Some of them have already come out, because we have read in the papers that some have already come out. Even if it is only one person that denounces terrorism, it is the duty of the government to accept that person and see how he can be used to reach others. It is left for the government to use that person, evaluate him and see whether he is genuine or fake.”

Also, the Minister of Health, Dr. Mohammed Aliyu Pate, who was invited to enlighten the gathering on the controversy concerning Polio, regretted, only Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan still had cases of wild polio.

Reps mourn slain Kwara police CP, ask IGP to fish out killers From Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Lagos N one voice, the House of Icondemned Representatives yesterday the killing of Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chinwike Asadu and urged the Inspector–General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, to fish out his killers.

Adopting a motion sponsored by Zakari Mohammed (PDP, Kwara State), the House also mandated the IGP to “ ensure that the killing does not go the way of the previous unresolved murders and assassinations.”

Accordingly, the House mandated all its relevant committees to follow up on the case “ with a view to ensuring that the Police execute their job effectively.”

The lawmakers also asked President Goodluck Jonathan to redouble his efforts as the Chief Security Officer of the country “ to ensure that all his security a chiefs are on top of their schedules.”

They also made a case for the installation of CCTV cameras to be encouraged in all state capitals and all public places.

The lawmaker while presenting the motion after a minute

silence was observed for the late officer, argued that the killing of the Kwara CP brings to question “ our fast deteriorating security capacity to deal with all forms of crime in its ramifications.”

Mohammed recalled “that the IGP, on resumption of office last year, lamented the pending unresolved murder and other heinous crimes in

the country, said it is traceable to the incapacity of criminal investigation departments.”

The lawmaker said: “Since 1986 death of Dele Giwa, former Editor of Newswatch magazine through a parcel bomb, Hajiya Sadaatu Rimi, Olufunsho Anthony Williams (2006), Marshall Harry (2003) and Chief Bola

Ige (2001), “no high profile killing or assassination has been unravelled.”

He further stated: “Late Chinwike Asadu by all standing is a law officer who has some minimum level of detail to ensure safety in the discharge of his constitutional responsibility of policing but the fact that he was caught by assassins bullet is

worrisome.

“If a high ranking police officer is attacked in this manner, our security situation in the comity of nations would further worsen thereby making investment drive in our country a mirage, as no investor would put his resources in an unpredictable environment,” Mohammed argued.

Cure for AIDS ‘possible,’ says HIV co-discoverer

By Chukwuma Muanya with agency reports

• ‘HIV may increase heart attack risk’

ORE reactions have conM tinued to trail the announcement of the appar-

boost a man’s risk of heart attack, a study of more than 82,000 veterans.

Barre-Sinoussi said with renewed scientific efforts, an end to the worldwide epidemic could be achieved.

“We are now in a position that we have evidence suggesting a cure might be possible. We have to stimulate funding for research into cures. It’s ongoing, and it will take time, but more and more data is indicating that we have to move forward and work on a cure,” Barre-Sinoussi said.

The professor said that while antiretroviral drugs had been

ent cure of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-positive baby in the United States (US).

A leading scientist, who won the Nobel Prize for discovering HIV, Prof. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, told The Times London that a cure for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) now “might be possible.”

Meanwhile, a study published in the March 4 JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that having HIV/AIDS may

successful in helping people to live normal lives while infected, it was also important to try to find more permanent solutions to the disease. It still affects 100,000 people in Britain and 30 million worldwide.

Barre-Sinoussi won the Nobel prize for medicine in 2008 together with Luc Montagnier, for their work pinpointing the cause of AIDS. Her comments come after U.S. researchers announced at the weekend that a baby girl who was born with HIV had been cured after very early treatment with standard

drug therapy.

Researchers analysed information on the vets, 97 per cent of whom were men, between 2003 and 2009. The scientists excluded anyone who had heart disease at the outset, and then tracked the others, recording 871 heart attacks. About 1.34 per cent of the HIV-positive group had a heart attack during 5.9 years of follow-up, compared with 0.92 per cent of the others.

After accounting for factors that could affect cardiac health -including smoking, cholesterol levels and substance abuse — the HIV patients’ risk of heart attack was about 1.5 times that seen in the non-HIV group.

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

4 NEWS

Fashola to deliver 1,966 ongoing projects

‘N8b out-of-court Zaki-Biam settlement grossly inadequate’

By Kamal Tayo Oropo

From Joseph Wantu, Makurdi

AGOS State Governor, BaS the nation gropes for anLterday batunde Raji Fashola, yes- Atidote for its myriads of seembarked on a tour of curity ailments inflicted on ongoing projects in Lekki and Ikoyi axis of the state with an assurance that his administration remains committed to completing about 1,966 ongoing projects spread across the s t a t e .

Speaking to journalists after the tour, which took him and members of his cabinet to several projects, including Ozumba Mbadiwe Road construction, shoreline protection around Kuramo and Alpha beaches, he said his administration was currently executing 1,966 projects which they intend to complete within the next 812 days when his second is due.

The tour, he said, was essential for them to see the extent of work on several projects as well address challenges being encountered by the contractors, which indirectly hamper or slow down the projects.

Okorocha intervenes to save deputy From Charles Ogugbuaja, Owerri OVERNOR Rochas OkoG rocha of Imo State has appealed to the 27-member Imo State House of Assembly to softpedal on its planned impeachment of his deputy, Jude Agbaso, following the allegations against him by a group of contractors in the state.

In a statement by the Special Assistant, Media (Print) to Okorocha, Mr. Ebere Uzoukwa, which was made available to The Guardian yesterday, the governor asked the contractors not to cause disunity in the state. He urged the committee handling the investigation to consider the atmosphere in the state.

The Guardian learnt that some contractors alleged that Agbaso received gratification from them before awarding them contracts, adding that they were allegedly having problems executing such jobs.

Agbaso, until recently, doubled as deputy governor and Commissioner for Works, a position that gave him power and leverage to “award, negotiate and facilitate” contracts in the state.

the state by its citizens, it is even now being confronted with self-afflicted burdens arising from a court declaration that it deployed inhuman and brutal force on its citizens.

This came to fore as prominent citizens and victims of the 2001 Zaki-Biam military invasion have described as grossly inadequate the N8 billion Nigeria agreed to pay in compensation for lives and property it destroyed during the massacre.

A Federal High Court sitting

in Enugu had in 2007 ruled in favour of the victims of the military onslaught in Zaki-Biam. Then spearheaded by the late Dr. Alexander Gaadi, judgment was awarded in their favour in the sum of N41.8 billion, which has not been redeemed yet.

However, reacting to the recent agreement between the plaintiff’s lead counsel, the Benue State Government and the Federal Government to pay just N8 billion in out-ofcourt settlement, the victims described the entire arrangement as unreasonable and not commensurate with the damages caused the people.

They wondered how Governor Gabriel Suswam and the

Federal Government could trifle with the matter without bargaining a better deal for the people. Suswam was quoted in a national daily on Monday as proudly saying that the matter had been settled out of court, with parties agreeing to the sum of N8 billion, and that the said amount would soon be restate. the to leased Lead counsel to the victims, Ucha Ulegede, while fielding The from questions Guardian on telephone, confirmed being a party to the settlement as a last resort after many years of frustration.

However, he insisted that the said amount was rather too small to take care of the per-

sons affected by the invasion.

“I am actually involved in the N8 billion compensation arrangement and out-ofcourt settlement, but the issue of Zaki-Biam invasion is a complete genocide and no amount of money to be paid will bring back the lives of people that were lost. I think whatever that must have happened in the past, we can put heads together as stakeholders,” he said.

“But the N8 billion the Federal Government has agreed to pay is grossly inadequate, at least half of the judgment debt should be paid to the Benue people. And that is why I am trying to meet with the counsel to the Federal Gov-

Reps move to criminalise default in wages CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 generated enough criticism, some genuine and others are political. I agree that the N11 trillion spent without anything to show for it calls for worry but while I agree with some of my brothers on certain issues, I think they should also stop and think. The host communities cannot be held liable. We must rise beyond emotions and sentiments and let this bill be passed into law.”

“I am totally against this bill. If you have this 10 and 13 per cent, it is 23 per cent that is to be deducted from the oil money.

That 13 per cent derivation is also something to consider but my main concern is the deposit of oil in some other states of the country waiting for exploration which this bill did not capture”, said Senator Danladi Sankara from Jigawa NorthWest.

For Senator Helen Esuene (Akwa Ibom South), the fact remains that the host communities are suffering and they should not be allowed to continue to suffer. She, however, recognised that certain sections of the bill should be addressed, especially as it relates to the powers of the minister.

Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, in his remarks said the only areas of contention in the bill include the 10 per cent host community funds, excessive powers of Pe-

troleum Minister as well as oil exploration frontiers. He, therefore, urged his colleagues to work towards resolving the issues as colleagues and patriots.

Before rising for the day, the chamber observed a minute silence in honour of the Assistant Political Editor of Guardian Newspapers Limited, Mr. JohnAbba Ogbodo, who died in a car accident last week.

Ogbodo was remembered for his hard work and commitment to the journalism profession. The Senate condoled with his family and The Guardian and prayed that God gives them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

Leading the debate on the general principles of the proposed Bill for an Act to prohibit the late payment, non-payment and under-payment of workers’ wages, pensions and other emoluments, Gbajabiamila had said that it was only in Nigeria that employers delay workers’ payments with impunity, pointing out that the practice was making the fight against

corruption “almost practically and humanly impossible.”

But House Deputy Leader, Leo Ogor who expressed reservations on the practicability of the proposed legislation, warned that circumstances may arise when for unavoidable reasons, employers may not pay such emoluments due their workers.

He said the intent of the Bill was commendable, but that care must be taken to avoid creating any wrong scenario, adding that “its implementation may be a problem.”

However, the Chairman of the House Panel on Sports, Godfrey Gaiya, had a contrary view, as according to him, employment is a contract and so, such breaches must be compensated by employers.

“Any labourer who has worked is supposed to be paid as and when due, or else should be compensated for any delay,” he stated.

Also, the Chairman, House Committee on Electoral Matters, Jerry Manwe, accused

some government agencies of deliberately keeping funds meant for workers’ wages as fixed deposits with banks with the intent to get high interest for themselves, arguing that the law as proposed would stop such practices.

Similarly, Minority Whip of the House, Samson Osagie, blamed workers’ inability to get assets acquisition loans on irregular payment of wages. “It is only in Nigeria that you have to pay for any asset you want to buy in cash,” he said, adding that any practice that negates the welfare of the people could be criminalised by the parliament.

Another member, Joseph Akinlade, said the law would put a stop to the impunity of deliberate delay of payments by employers.

“Non-payment of workers’ salaries, or their pension when they served for 35 years is a violation of the employment contract. The impunity of default is a problem and if there is sanction, it would stop,” he added.

Jonathan, Oshiomhole laud Obasanjo at 76 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 session of the peninsula, but did not require the inhabitants to move or to change their nationality. Cameroun was thus given a substantial Nigerian population and was required to protect their rights, infrastructure and welfare.

President Jonathan said: “On behalf of my family, the government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and on my own behalf, I write to express warm felicitations to you on the occasion of your 76th birthday anniversary.

“Over the years, you have always readily given of yourself to the cause of the peace, stability, growth, and development of our country, Nigeria. For this, we owe you an enduring debt of gratitude.

Oshiomhole described the former President as “an outstanding statesman who has dedicated himself to the ideals of national unity, peace and progress of Nigeria.”

In his speech at the ceremony, Obasanjo said that he would serve Nigeria with all commitment and dedication till he breathed his last.

He also vowed to use the last drop of his blood to preserve the unity and progress of Nigeria, first and foremost and Africa and the world in general.

Obasanjo also urged Nigerians to learn to forgive, revealing that a person (he didn’t mention his name) who played a major role in the late Gen. Sanni Abacha’s efforts to kill him later came to apologise to him and he forgave him.

Among friends and associates of former President Olusegun

Obasanjo who gathered to felicitate with him on his 76th birthday and book presentation were former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Nigeria’s former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK), Dr. Christopher Kolade, Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun, President Goodluck Jonathan was represented by his Chief of Staff, Mike Oghiadomhe; Chief Akin Delana; President of Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, former governor of Anambra State and Senior Special Assistant to President Obasanjo on Presidential Household; Dr. Andy Uba former Head of Service and Principal Secretary to the President; Steve Oronsaye; former Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Prof. Sola Akinrinade; Prof. Ayo Ibidapo-Obe, former Vice Chacellor of the University of Lagos; former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice; Prince Bola Ajibola.

Others are former InspectorGeneral of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero; Zenon Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Femi Otedola; former Zenith Chairman and CEO, Jim Ovia; Chief Jimoh Aliu; Chief Doja Adewolu; co-editors of the book: Prof. Oladipo Akinkugbe and retired Permanent Secretary and former Chairman NCC, Alhaji Ahmed Joda; former Information Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili and Hon. Carl Masters, a Caribbean old friend of Chief Obasanjo. Others were Dr. Patrick Dele Cole, former Ambassador to Brazil and former Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs, Dr. Goke Adegoroye; former Permanent Secretary and a

contributor to the book, Mr. Dare Babarinsa, former Executive Editor, Tell, Olabode Agusto; former Director-General, Budget Office, Abuja, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, former Chairman of the PDP; Dr. Emmanuel Egboga, Senior Special assistant to the President on Petroleum Matters.

Also in attendance were traditional rulers from across cities in Yorubaland, including the Olowu of Owu, Oba Adegboyega Dosunmu. The list is inexhaustible.

A four-in-one package, the occasion kicked off with the presentation of the outcome of the Regional Summit on Women and Youth in the Promotion of Cultural Security in Africa, followed with the book presentation; thereafter, prizes were presented to winners in four different types of competitions. These are Atrium; Regional inter-collegiate and inter-university debate on Human Security in Africa; school farm; and Young Farmers’ contest.

The cutting of the birthday cake drew the curtains on the over five hours event.

One interesting spectacle that left many guests wondering about the nature of the current presidency in Abuja yesterday was the unpreparedness of the president’s representative. Curiously, Chief Ogiadomhe did not read a prepared statement and the speech he made was considered by many as un-presidential and unquotable. He did not go beyond the stereotypes of an Obasanjo “serving Nigeria with total commitment truly as a General…You did so for eight years with passion…you shunned the usual temptation of regime extension and Nigeria is ever grateful for that…you have remained a true lover of our great country…”

ernment, Damian Dodo (SAN), Governor Gabriel Suswam and other prominent stakeholders to arrive at possible means so that the Federal Government pays a tangible amount to Benue people,” he added.

Recalling that a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt had ordered the government to pay N36.7 billion as compensation to the Odi community of Bayelsa State within three weeks for similar military action in 1999, Ulegede wondered why same treatment would not be accorded ZakiBiam victims who he insisted suffered more devastating destruction.

An indigene of Zaki-Biam, Honourable Shima Ayati, whose relatives were massacred, viewed the agreement between Benue and Federal Government as political, even as he said he was not yet convinced to speak further on the matter.

Another victim, John Okafor (a businessman), who lost his shops during the attack, said that only God has kept him alive, noting that the socalled settlement was of no value considering the number of people and families involved.

Okafor wondered why their client was deserted by the state government while he was pursuing the matter even when a prominent son of the state was the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation.

Service of Songs for John-Abba Ogbodo ERVICE of Songs for the late STheAssistant Political Editor of Guardian, John-Abba Ogbodo, who died last Thursday in a ghastly motor accident in Kogi State, holds today, March 6, 2013.

The venue is NUJ Press Centre (beside ABC terminal), Utako, at 5.30 p.m.

Appeal Court dismisses forgery case against Suswam From Joseph Wantu, Makurdi HE Court of Appeal sitting in T Makurdi, Benue State, yesterday dismissed an appeal brought against Governor Gabriel Suswam by a former gubernatorial aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Terver Kakih.

Kakih had dragged Suswam to a Federal High Court in Makurdi seeking, among others, a declaration that Suswam was not qualified to contest the 2011 governorship election, that he supplied false information to INEC in Form CF001, and that he (Kakih) be declared the rightful governorship candidate of PDP and by extension the governorelect of Benue State on the same platform.

However, in a lead judgment

by Justice delivered yesterday John Inyang Okoro, leading four other Justices of the Court of Appeal, the court unanimously dismissed Kakih’s case anchored on 10 grounds of appeal and awarded N50,000 cost in favour of PDP and Suswam.

The Federal High Court presided over by Justice Marcel Awokulehin had on July 11, 2012 ruled that it had no jurisdiction to entertain Kakik’s case on the basis of PDP vs Timipreye Silva’s case earlier decided by the Supreme Court. The court equally held that even if it had jurisdiction, Kakih did not prove his case as required by law.

NEWS 5

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Aregbesola tasks acting CJ on justice From Tunji Omofoye, Osogbo OVERNOR Rauf Aregbesola G of Osun State has charged the Acting Chief Judge (CJ), Justice Adebola Adepele Ojo, to raise the stake in the judicial system by promoting substantive justice at all times.

He also urged the judges in the state to learn by the happenings in the judiciary to uphold the oath of office they swore by ensuring the name of the seat of justice is not drawn into undue ridicule.

Aregbesola, who made this call yesterday in Osogbo during the swearing-in of the CJ, said the citizens should seek to be in harmony with universal rules of getting justice each time they approach the court.

He noted that the need to promote justice is very paramount to his administration because he is a direct beneficiary of justice in its undiluted form.

The governor said: “I will not cease to let people know that I am a beneficiary of justice. I am here today directing the affairs of our state for the past two years with the progress we have achieved, by the grace of God, because justice came our way from the God-fearing judges of the Ibadan Court of Appeal. Why then won’t I promote justice? If justice is good for me, it is also good for others”.

Opposition govs’ meeting, act of desperation, says Presidency From Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Abuja HE Presidency said yesterT day that the recent meeting of some governors, under the aegis of the All Progressives Change (APC), in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, was an act of political desperation.

It also said that the government would fish out the killers of the Kwara State Commissioner of Police who was murdered at the weekend in Enugu State.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said the visit of the governors to Borno State was to pre-empt the visit of Mr. President, which had been planned and scheduled several weeks ago.

President Goodluck Jonathan has been scheduled to visit the state tomorrow (Thursday). Okupe said: “This is surely an act of crass opportunism and political desperation on the part of these gover-

nors and the party they represent.

“We regard that visit as a media circus, stunt and photo-ops by these governors who were apparently in Maiduguri to feather their political nests. If one may ask, where were these governors in the last 18 months that they had been in office? It is obvious that it is part of their mobilisation drive that took them to Borno State rather than any patriotic call to duty.

These are desperate powermongers, who flock together

in spite of their obvious conflicting political philosophies and inordinate ambitions.”

Questioning the motive of the meeting of the opposition governors, Okupe said: “That visit, which was borne out of sheer political recklessness, could have caused Nigeria major security embarrassment but for the fact that the Federal Government and its security apparatus made extra efforts to ensure that the visiting governors were safe.

“Being elected officials, the

Jigawa disburses N3b to contractors From John Akubo, Jigawa HE Jigawa State government T has disbursed the sum of N3 billion to the construction company handling the Jigawa Eastern Bypass road project as part of the agreement between the government and the company.

The eastern bypass road, when completed, would link over 100 communities and make it possible for peasant farmers to transport their farm produce to the markets.

The Commissioner for Works and Transport, Baba Aliyu Santali, disclosed this when he received community leaders from Kiri-Kasamma Local Council Area, who visited to express their appreciation over projects that have been executed in their area by the state government.

Santali said the Lamido administration has a tradition of releasing 30 per cent of the total sum of any project immediately after signing agreement with any company.

Oyo PDP faction dissociates self from peace talk From Iyabo Lawal, Ibadan HE crisis rocking the Peoples T Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State worsened yesterday as a faction of the party in the state distanced itself from the planned reconciliation meeting at the party’s secretariat tomorrow.

The meeting is coinciding with another parley of party members in the 11 local councils in Ibadanland being spearheaded by a group named PDP, Ibadan group.

According to the PDP Ibadan Forum Chairman, Nureni Akanbi, the meeting, which will take place at Liberty Road, would have former governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, as the guest of honour.

But the factional party organ, through its Publicity Secretary, Lukman Agboluaje, called on its members and supporters to disregard a letter purportedly inviting them to the reconciliatory meeting at the Queen Elizabeth Road party secretariat.

onus was on the Federal Government to ensure that they were safe in spite of their being oblivious of the peculiar security implications and real potential dangers inherent in their hurriedly packaged visit.”

The presidential spokesperson vowed that the government would spare nothing at ensuring that any murder of any Nigerian anywhere in the world is punished. He cited the example of those who carried out attack on the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, recently that have been apprehended.

He said that certainly, isolated tragedies such as the killing of Mr. Chinwike Asadu cannot be taken as an index of failed state as being labeled by the opposition parties “because if that was to be so, many nations of the world, including some of the advanced countries, would be termed failed states.

“All over Europe and America, criminals engage in killings and mass murder, even of school children and nobody in those countries laid the blame on the president or head of government, talk less of using it to denigrate their countries as failed or failing state.

“A few days ago, a retired police chief, Bill Dowling aged 59, who was a station commander at Marlborough Police Station for over five years, was killed with his girlfriend in his home town in the United Kingdom. Till date, no opposition politician in the UK has insinuated that this was an evidence of a failed state or ineffective government in the area of security or law enforcement”.

Imoke writes lawmakers, resumes work Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State (left); Speaker of the House, Najem Salam and newly appointed Acting Chief Judge, Justice Oyebola Adepele Ojo, during the swearing-in ceremony at the Governor’s Office, Osogbo…yesterday

Workers’ strike threatens N29b Ikorodu-Ketu road expansion

By Tunde Alao ONSTANT strikes by the C construction workers handling the expansion of the Ikorodu-Mile 12 road in Lagos may hamper early completion of the project.

More than three times, workers of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), the contractor, have been at loggerheads with the management over alleged poor remunerations and health services, among others.

On Monday, the workers embarked on another round of strike, which has paralysed activities on site and triggered speculation that the 24-month completion date may not be achieved.

According to the aggrieved workers, the skilled ones, such as welders, iron benders and bricklayers should take between N8,000 and N10,000 daily, while labourers should take nothing less than N4,000 daily. “Go to any construction site in Lagos, labourers are getting as much as N3,000, while artisans are getting N5,000. The situation here is unimaginable. Artisans are getting N1, 700, while labourers are getting a ridiculous N800!”, one of the aggrieved workers

The only concern is that rain may have negative impact on the construction. Therefore, I urge government to prevail on the contractor to look into remuneration agreement with the workers lamented yesterday.

Some of the workers, who spoke with The Guardian on condition of anonymity, said their last protest in November 2012 failed to yield positive result despite their disaffection made known to the Lagos State government, especially the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), the agency that awarded the contract.

Expressing concern over the constant strikes, Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Institution of Engineers (NIS), Mr. Olatunde Jaiyesimi, said the industrial action must stop so that the timeframe set for the completion of the project would be realised.

According to him, the delay may not affect the structural plan of the project if the engineering design is strictly followed. “The only concern is that rain may have negative impact on the construction.

Therefore, I urge government to prevail on the contractor to look into remuneration agreement with the workers”, he said.

It would be recalled that the 13.5-kilometre project that commenced in September 2012 is meant to expand Ikorodu Road, from Ikorodu Township to Mile 12.

According to the Managing Director of LAMATA, Dr. Dayo

Mobereola, the road, when completed, would make transportation easy for the people of Ikorodu and its environs. Also, he noted that the plan is to extend the road, with one lane on each side and BRT in the middle.

Effort to get comments from the construction company failed as the gate of their site office was firmly locked.

And because of the alleged instruction from the Governor’s Office that no public office holder should grant press interview, most of the government officials contacted declined comment, saying it is only the governor that can speak on the issue.

• Greets Obasanjo at 76 OVERNOR Liyel Imoke of G Cross River State has officially resumed work after a three-month vacation.

In compliance with constitutional provisions, the Cross River State helmsman, who returned to the country on Friday, wrote to the House of Assembly, notifying the lawmakers of his return.

Meanwhile, the governor has congratulated former President Olusegun Obasanjo on his 76th birthday.

Imoke, in a statement issued in Calabar, the state capital yesterday, described Obasanjo as the father of modern Nigeria, who “deserves all the commendation and goodwill messages he is getting given his role in ensuring the unity and growth of the country and his rich contribution to our democratic process.”

Body names Saraki member of council HE Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, an initiative of the United Nations Foundation, has appointed Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki (Kwara-Central) as a member of its Leadership Council.

As a public-private partnership formed during the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2010 by the former United States Secretary of

T

States, Hillary Clinton, the alliance seeks to mobilise highlevel national and donor commitments towards the goal of universal adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels.

The appointment of Saraki is in line with the alliance’s objective of mobilising high-level national and donor commitments towards the goal of universal adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels. Its ambitious

but achievable goal is to foster the adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels in 100 million households by 2020.

Confirming his appointment, Executive Director of the alliance, Radha Muthiah, thanked Senator Saraki for accepting his appointment, adding that he merited the appointment in lieu of his past and current transformational programmes within and outside Nigeria.

THe GUARdIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

6 NeWS

Gunmen kill DPO, nine others in Borno

Anambra RATTAWU, NUJ oppose redeployment of broadcast outfit’s workers From Uzoma Nzeagwu, Awka He Radio Television Theatre T and Arts Workers of Nigeria (RATTAWU) and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Anambra State have given the government seven days to reverse the order for redeployment of 148 staff of the Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS).

The unions also advised the government and ABS management to withdraw “the questionable list and instantly set up a committee to involve RATTAWU and NUJ representatives from the state and national bodies for further deliberation.”

According to an eight-point resolution signed by RATTAWU Chairman and Secretary, emeka Kalu and Mrs. Tina ekenta respectively, and NUJ Chairman and Secretary, Mr. Henry Nwasike and Ms. Ify Anumba, the unions further admonished the government to review all matters affecting the ABS in all its ramification with a view to effectively repositioning the establishment for optimal production.

The resolution dated March 5, 2013 and made available to newsmen after an emergency meeting of the unions at the

NUJ secretariat, Awka on yesterday, noted that the unions viewed the exercise as a carefully masterminded act of victimisation of the workers.

“It is on good authority that those who masterminded the exercise saw it as an avenue to witch-hunt and victimise their perceived enemies and potential rivals in the establishment.

The unions fault and consequently rejects the exercise and calls for a total reversal,” the statement reads in part.

In his reaction, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Joe-martins Uzodike, explained that the government had every right to rationalise staff of ABS, especially when the establishment is over bloated.

According to Uzodike, ABS was over populated with staff strength of 385 for what he described as a little place.

“As I speak now, some of the staff have not received their January salary and at the same time, the N4 million subvention given to the outfit for pension and gratuity has been utilised for other purposes.

“The Ministry of Information, which is the supervisory ministry has appealed to the government to allow the workers to be redeployed instead of being sacked, but incidentally, when the list of those affected was released, they went on protest,” Uzodike said. He urged those affected to pray while government looked into the matter.

The state government was said to have, on March 1 this year, released names of 148 workers of ABS and directed them to report to the office of the Head of Service for redeployment, but the HOS has denied knowledge of such directive.

From Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri AReLy 17 hours after the asB sassination of Mobile Police Training Camp (MPTC) com-

A scene of a demolished area at Afaraukwu Ibeku in Umuahia Local Council of Abia State… yesterday. (Inset: A hotel and a private residence said to belong to an alleged kidnapper, Mr. Ifedike Olisagbo, before demolition).

PHOTO: IBEABUCHI ABARIKWU

Ogun Assembly in rowdy session, breaks into two factions From Charles Coffie Gyamfi, Abeokuta He relative peace in the T Ogun State House of Assembly since the advent of the present administration was seriously disturbed yesterday over a purported suspension of the Speaker, Suraj Adekunbi, his deputy, Tola Banjo, Majority Leader, Israel Jolaoso, and another member, Olakunle Oluomo, by a faction of the legislature.

But in a quick reaction, the Speaker said that contrary to the position of the faction, four of the legislators, including Remmy Hazzan, Motunrayo Oladapo-Adeleye, Job Akintan and John Obafemi had earlier in the day been suspended for “gross indiscipline and disregard to House Rules.”

Trouble started at last week’s plenary session over the appointment of the chairman of the Assembly Tenders Board Committee, which resulted in a rowdy session and abrupt end of the sitting. At yesterday’s sitting, an attempt to find solution to the disagreement ended in another rowdy session.

At yesterday’s sitting, the Majority Leader, Israel Jolaoso, moved for the suspension Hassan, Oladapo-Adeleye, Akintan and Obafemi, who the speaker said walked out on him during the last Thursday’s tussle. The speaker then called for someone to second the motion, but before that could be done, AdeleyeOladapo advanced towards the maze and in the ensuing struggle for possession, it got broken.

Following the rowdiness, the speaker lost control of the House and afterwards left the chambers in a hurry alongside others. After they had left, 14 of the 26 members chose Remmy Hazzan as Speaker Pro tempore and conducted counter plenary session, where they also pronounced the suspension of the substantive speaker, Adekunbi, and the three other legislators.

Now retreated to the status quo during the immediate past Peoples democratic Party (PdP) administration, the House has Group G-14 and Group G-12. The Speaker and

his deputy are in the G-12 faction.

However, the embattled speaker later told newsmen that the action of the suspended lawmakers was “illegal and un-parliamentary; all the actions we have taken are in line with the House Rule.”

He assured that the House would resume today “because with the suspension of the four members, we can form the quorum.” earlier, the Chairman, Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, Adeyemi Harrison, had told newsmen that the Assembly would reconvene later in the day to complete plenary. When asked about the mace they would use when the reconvene, he went berserk and manhandled the Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Correspondents’ Chapel, Mr. Kehinde Akinyemi of Daily Trust.

Journalists were eventually tear-gassed out of the Assembly premises to prevent them seeking audience with the speaker, who was holed up in his office when newsmen came calling.

S’West PDP leaders back govs forum, Tukur, Anenih From Iyabo Lawal (Ibadan) and Charles Coffie Gyamfi (Abeokuta)

L

eAdeRS of the Peoples democratic Party (PdP) in the Southwest rose from their meeting yesterday in Ibadan, Oyo state capital expressing their support for the creation of the ruling political grouping’s Governors’ Forum.

They also passed a vote of confidence on the leadership of the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and also welcomed the emergence of Chief Tony Anenih as the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) of the party.

In a communique issued at the end of the meeting comprising zonal caretaker committee members of the party, they called on the national leadership to accelerate pace of development in Southwest to create opportunities for PdP supporters.

It accepted the decision of the National Working Committee (NWC) to comply with a court order by inaugurating a caretaker committee to steer the affairs of the party until another election is conducted to usher in a new executive.

The communique was signed by the six state chairmen: Messrs Makanjuola Ogundipe (ekiti), Tunji Shelle (Lagos), Bayo dairo (Ogun), ebenezer Alabi (Ondo), Ganiyu

•Ogun youths oppose dissolution of party leadership Olaoluwa (Osun) and yinka Taiwo (Oyo) who pledged their loyalty to the committee headed by Chief Ishola Filani.

Filani explained that the priority of the committee was to reconcile all warring factions in the six states to ensure the rebuilding of a stronger party.

He said that the committee would exist until another election is conducted.

However, recent dissolution of the PdP’s executives in the South West and Ogun State by the national leadership has been deplored by a group of its youth members.

Ogun State Progressive youth Forum (OPPyF) of the the PdP, took the stance in a communiqué issued after deliberations in Abeokuta on the crisis rocking the political grouping in the South West. The youths also asked the PdP’s lead counsel, Mr. J. K. Gadzama (SAN), to apologise to it within the next seven days or resign his position for “misleading the party in taking a decision that was not in the party’s interest”.

“Failure to do this (apology or resign), will leave us, without any option than to report the Counsel (Gadzama) to the Legal Practitioners’ ethics and Priviledges Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).”

The communiqué, signed by

the Forum’s Chairman, Mr. Akintunde Farouk and the Secretary, Mr. Musa Akinlolu appealed to party members to continue to be loyal to the State executive Committee, led by Senator dipo Odunjirin, and market the party at all levels.

The South West executives were recently sacked based on Gadzama’s recommendation to the NWC. But the forum said Gadzama knew “fully well that there is a subsisting Order of the Appeal Court, issued on June 26, 2012 staying the execution of the order/judgement which the NWC was misled to act on”.

The meeting which attracted delegates from all the state’s 20 local councils stated: “We reject the purported dissolution of the South West exco and the Ogun State exco as it contravenes the Order of the Appeal Court made in Suit No. CA/L/38m/12.

“We restate our committment to the rule on law and commend the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the National Judicial Council (NJC), for its recent corrective measures, especially the sacking of Mr. Charles Archibong. We urge our leaders to continue with the court cases and pursue them to logical conclusion.”

mandant and a traditional ruler, some gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram sect members have attacked the Gwoza divisional Police Station and a new generation bank.

They killed the divisional Police Officer, Abubakar digire Ahamdu and his deputy, and eight civilians caught up in the crossfire.

Gwoza is a border town with Cameroun and 135 kilometres Southeast of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital and an epicenter of activities of the Boko Haram sect.

The gunmen, according to a resident, yahaya Isa, used Improvised explosive devices (Ieds) and petrol-bombs in torching the police station and the bank. They carted away undisclosed sums of money from the bank, located 750 metres away from the attacked police station.

Narrating the incident, Isa said: “We were about going to bed when we started hearing multiple explosions and sound of gunshots at the divisional police station on market road.

The dogs started barking, while the people at the main junction of Maiduguri-Mubi Road ran for safety, as the gunmen exchanged gunfire with the policemen at the station for over two hours.

Investors council wants terrorism, oil theft tackled From Madu Onuorah, Abuja OORdINATOR of the NigerC ian Honorary International Investors Council (HIIC), Baroness Lynda Chalker, yesterday warned that the twin acts of terrorism in the north and oil theft in the Niger delta constitute a major threat to Nigeria’s “current positive economic outlook.”

The HICC, which called for good governance in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, is the body that advises President Goodluck Jonathan on building positive image to attract international investors into the country.

Calling for urgent steps to check terrorism and oil theft, Chalker told journalists after meeting with Jonathan at the Presidential Villa that Nigeria’s economic potential would not come to reality if the two challenges were not quickly resolved.

She also warned that Nigeria would face stiffer competition from countries with similar economic potential, including oil-producing nations.

Chalker, who said that HIIC had a very successful planning and update meeting with Jonathan ahead of the June 2013 meeting in Abuja, however noted that further discussions would be needed on how to bring an end to terrorism, oil theft and other social-economic challenges facing Nigeria.

According to her, “we will be having further discussions and also seek to bring about an end to oil theft in the Niger delta which is critical for the country and the way in which Nigeria is viewed abroad. We talked about the presentation of news, whether it was always fair. We talked about the relationship between the federal government and many of the 36 states. It was a very positive meeting.”

Chalker commended the federal government for its achievements especially in the areas of infrastructure developments especially the recent opening of the Lagos -Kano rail project.

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

NEWS 7

Senator fingers ‘external groups’ for Plateau attacks • Laments killing of infants PEOPLES Democratic of local conflicts between A Party (PDP) senator, Berom farmers and Fulani Gyang Pwajok, yesterday herdsmen, Pwajok said: “It

Newly recruited officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) taking oath of secrecy and neutrality after a two-day induction programme in Yola, Adamawa State…yesterday

Abia probes newspaper company From Gordi Udeajah, Umuahia

Militant group threatens to attack oil firm From Inemesit Akpan-Nsoh, Uyo property at the site, we are

GROUP, which claimed to OVERNOR Theodore Orji G has instituted a probe into Abe militant, “Niger Delta the management of the ailing Subterranean Force”, has Abia Newspapers and Publishing Corporation (ANPC), publishers of National Ambassador from 1999 till date, by inaugurating a judicial panel of inquiry.

The governor, while inaugurating the five-man panel headed by Justice Agbara Amobi, said members are to establish the cause of the corporation’s slow progress within the period, in spite of the funds he said, were released to it.

The panel was also charged to investigate and identify the assets, including vehicles, printing machines and other equipment acquired by ANPC from 1999 till date, determine whether the funds and assets were properly managed during the period under review and where there was any mismanagement, to identify those directly or indirectly involved and make appropriate recommendations.

Babalakin’s co-defendant gets leave to travel

By Bertram Nwannekanma and Yetunde Ayobami-Ojo N Ikeja High Court, Lagos, A yesterday granted leave to Wale Babalakin’s co-defendant, Alex Okoh, to travel to the United Kingdom for medical check-up for an undisclosed ailment.

Okoh was charged alongside the Chairman of Bi-Courtney Ltd, Wale Babalakin, for allegedly transferring N4.7 billion on behalf of former Delta State governor, James Ibori.

The duo were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alongside their companies Stabilini Visioni Ltd., Bi-Courtney Ltd. and Renix Nigeria Ltd. The trial judge, Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo, in his ruling on an application filed by Okoh’s counsel, Mr. Olaniran Obele, ordered the EFCC to release his travelling documents to enable him go for the medical trip.

The judge also directed that Okoh be allowed to keep the medical appointment with the UK hospital between March 6 and 19.

threatened to attack Frontier and Septa Oil and Gas Company in Esit Eket, Akwa Ibom, alleging failure by the firm to keep to its promise to the group.

The threat was contained in a statement by one ‘General’ Oyobio Oyobio, who claimed to be the leader of the group in Uyo. “Unless the company adheres to its three-point demand, which include: N600 million for royalty and N100 million every month for settlement of the boys and security of the pipeline and other

ready to visit the Central Processing Facilities (CPF). The company should be ready for an attack, within one week of this notice, on their two oil and gas locations, if they don’t settle us and the inauguration of the CPF cannot hold,” the statement reads in part.

According to the statement, since 2011, the company has refused to comply with the group’s demands. It threatened to wreck havoc in the gas tank farm, no matter the heavy security presence.

Investigations by The Guardian revealed that the group’s grievance came on the heels of the facts that some former militant groups were set-

tled with a huge amount of money by the company, but the demands of the Niger Delta Subterranean Force have allegedly not been met.

Besides, it was learnt that the group’s threat may not be unconnected with plans by the Akwa Ibom State government to commission the plant this month.

“We gave them one week from now to settle us before inaugurating anything on those sites,” the group maintained.

General Manager in charge of Operations of the Frontier Oil Limited in Eket, Mr. Wole Adefila, confirmed receipt of the said letter, saying that the company would treat it accordingly.

blamed “external groups” for the incessant attacks on rural communities in Plateau State, urging the residents to unite against the menace.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted Pwajok as saying, in a statement in Jos, that “the modalities and nature of the attacks indicate that these groups of attackers are largely external to Plateau and the sole aim is the decimation of the people in a bid to destabilise the state.

“Clearly, what they want is to stifle our determination to shun violence, embrace and trust one another so as to live as brothers in peace.”

The senator, who described the attacks as “a hallmark of organised and specialised terror with no empathy or regard for human dignity”, advised the residents to quickly realise that they must unite “so as to overcome these trying times”.

“We must ask ourselves who is perpetrating these inhuman crimes while actively and practically seeking answers together,” he said.

Pwajok particularly condemned the recent attacks on Kwogom Village in Vwang District of Jos-South during which more than 10 persons, including women, children and infants, were allegedly killed, and described it as the “highest level of cruelty”.

Rejecting the suggestions that the attacks were results

Confusion over ‘repackaged’ Tobacco Control Bill

By Wole Oyebade HERE is confusion in the T Nigerian tobacco control community over the “repackaged” Tobacco Control Bill currently before the Senate, The Guardian investigation at the weekend has revealed.

A Tobacco Control Bill, sponsored by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Ifeanyi Okowa, and some other top senators, is currently before the Senate, titled: “A bill for an Act to repeal the Tobacco (Control) Act 1990 Cap. T 16 Laws of the Federation and to enact the National Tobacco Control Bill 2012 to provide for the regulation or control of production, manufacture, sale, advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco or tobacco products in Nigeria and for other related matters”.

The bill has passed the first reading and is slated for second reading this month. The Tobacco Control Bill is to assist in the eradication of tobacco-related epidemics and reduce addiction in the country.

However, another bill of similar intendment has been initiated at the executive level through the Federal Ministry of Health. According to a source, the Ministry of Health was already at a high level in redrafting the Tobacco Bill.

Confirming this development, a focal person for to-

bacco control at the ministry said the ministry was indeed repackaging the Tobacco Bill, stating: “It is true that we are repackaging the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) and what we are doing is planned for the Executive.

“Currently, we have finished with it at the ministry and the bill has been sent to Justice Ministry. We are now finalising work on it to go to the minister, who will then present it at the Federal Executive Council (FEC).”

In another twist, it was gathered that there was another Tobacco Control Draft Bill in the House of Representatives, which has also passed the first reading. Curiously, all the sponsors of the bill seem to be working independent of one other and with support from different stakeholders. It was also learnt that there is a sharp division among civil society groups over which version of the bill to support.

The sixth National Assembly had passed an NTCB, sponsored by Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, but it was not signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan. It was alleged last year that the Ministries of Health and Trade and Investment could not agree on the effects of implementing the provisions, both to health and investment, which therefore, stalled its presentation to Mr. President for assent. The bill eventually lapsed.

According to a source at the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA), which is the umbrella body of all tobacco control groups in Nigeria, members are yet to make their decision on which bill to support. The source said that most members of the alliance were cautious about throwing their weight behind any bill until they knew the motive for the proliferation of Tobacco Control Bills in the National Assembly.

NTCA Chairman, Nurudeen Ogbara, said that tobacco control groups were not in a hurry to support any of the bills, noting: “At the level of the NTCA, we are still studying the situation. When all the bills are made public, we will study and judge them on their merit to see which one best reflects the spirit and letter of the Frame-work Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the Nigerian scenario.”

Director of Corporate Accountability, Environmental Right Action/Friend of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Mr. Olufemi Akinbode, told The Guardian on Monday that the tobacco control advocate group was aware of on-going processes and proliferation of the bill, but there should be no confusion about whether to support it or not.

Akinbode noted that there were basic guidelines that must be followed in the processes and that ERA/FoEN was poised to support the

bill that “prohibits sale of cigarettes to persons under the age of 18, ban on promotion of tobacco or tobacco products in any form, and smoking in all public places.”

cannot be as simple as that; after all, we have never seen a Fulani herdsman wearing a bulletproof vest and uniform to herd cattle.

“What we have is some guerrilla style of attacks that have assumed consistent pattern adopted by conflict merchants who have made Plateau a frontline state for their operations.”

The lawmaker also noted that some of the villages being attacked had never been theatres of any previous conflict, as they had remained strong examples of peaceful settlements.

He expressed disgust that innocent infants were being targeted. “Such attacks on children and women, even during wars, is abhorred and forbidden in every religion and society. The Geneva Convention of 1949 and the additional protocols, which are the core international humanitarian law, forbid it,” he said.

Pwajok called for more intelligence-gathering techniques to help security agents tackle the situation and also called for prompt prosecution of people so far arrested in connection with the attacks.

He challenged the security agencies to investigate allegations of complicity levelled against some of its men, saying that efforts should be made to rid the system of bad eggs to restore public confidence in security personnel.

The senator commended traditional rulers in Plateau State for their efforts to boost interactions among the people, which he noted, had led to the stability in the state capital.

He advised them to continue to rebuff all provocations to be goaded into conflict.

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THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6

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WorldReport Kenyatta still in early lead as Kenya counts votes HURU Kenyatta was still U in early lead as ballots were counted yesterday in Kenya’s presidential election that brought out millions of voters despite pockets of violence that killed no fewer than 15 people.

The deputy prime minister, who faces international charges of crimes against humanity linked to the last election, was provisionally ahead of Prime Minister Raila Odinga by 53 to 42 per cent with about half the votes counted.

But Kenyatta could still be overhauled as the count goes on in a vote Kenyans hope will restore their nation’s image as one of Africa’s most stable democracies after the bloodshed five years ago.

Although voting passed off broadly peacefully with a big turnout, the real test will be whether the candidates and their backers accept the result, after the disputed 2007 vote touched off ethnic blood-letting that killed more than 1,200 people.

“Nobody should celebrate, nobody should complain,” election commission chairman, Isaac Hassan, told journalists, saying work was going on to resolve glitches and speed up the count. “We therefore continue to appeal for patience from the public.”

The commission said provisional results may not be tallied until today, meaning an official declaration will not come until then or later.

‘Venezuela’s enemies caused Chavez’s cancer’ United States (U.S.) President Barack Obama (fourth left) and members of his cabinet during their first meeting of his second term in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington

Mali’s conflict in bloodiest phase, dozens of militants killed OZENS of Islamist miliD tants in Mali have been reportedly killed in the bloodiest phase of the country’s conflict to date, according to French and Chadian authorities.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said his country and Chadian troops were now involved in a “pincer movement” against rebels based in the Ametettai valley.

A report by Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted Le Drian as warning that the high-risk operation in the rugged terrain was likely to go on for some time because of the need to secure neighbouring valleys.

Also, French officials said their operation in the Ifoghas, during which troops have seized more than 50 weapons caches, has already confirmed their worst fears regarding the “industrial” scale of AQIM and its allies’ operation in Mali.

Meanwhile, plans were underway to meet future

security needs as the head of the EU training mission in Mali announced that a first battalion of Malian troops trained by EU instructors should be operational by July.

French General Francois Lecointre said the reference point for the trainers would be the Chadian army, which was well-adapted to its environment, and not a sophisticated Western-style army.

But it remained unclear if key commander, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, was among those killed during the fresh conflict.

Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno had on Monday reiterated his belief that Belmokhtar had been killed during fierce fighting in recent days in the Ifoghas mountains, on Mali’s northeastern border with Algeria.

Reports quoted Deby as

saying that his government had only refrained from displaying the body out of respect for Islamic principles.

Radio France International (RFI) published a picture, taken by a Chadian soldier, of what it believes to be the corpse of Belmokhtar, the mastermind of the January assault on an Algerian gas field that left 37 foreign hostages dead.

U.S. presses for UN sanctions against N’Korea over nuclear test IPLOMATS have announced a move by United States (U.S.) asking the United Nations (UN) Security Council to pass new sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons test last month.

But ahead of a council meeting to discuss the proposed measures, agency reports cited the isolated North as threatening to scrap an armistice, which halted the 1950-53 Korean War, a move that would surely heighten

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Pyongyang threatens to scrap armistice tensions.

The sanctions would for the first time target the isolated state’s diplomats and cash transfers.

Against this background, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said China had agreed on the proposed new sanctions and that she hopes for a vote by the 15member council this week.

After reaching an agreement with China, the United States

distributed a draft resolution setting out new measures at the closed meeting.

“It looks a good draft,” said Mark Lyall Grant, UN ambassador for Britain, one of five permanent members of the council.

“The action includes financial sanctions aimed at restraining the North’s nuclear programme,” said one envoy at the meeting. Details were not immediately made public however.

Lessons of failed coup attempt in Benin Republic, by diplomats From Oghogho Obayuwana (Foreign Affairs Editor) HE failed coup in Republic of Benin is being interpreted by diplomatic watchers as a positive sign of the continuous entrenchment of democratic norms in Africa.

But by yesterday afternoon, police and security operatives in the West African nation were still hunting for the third alleged plotter suspected of mounting the failed coup to unseat the country’s President Boni Yayi.

Yayi was until January this year, the chairman of the African Union (AU), a body now being headed by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn for the

T

next one year.

The Beninois president had been out of the country and was also in Equatorial Guinea for the Africa-South America Summit on Cooperation and Development.

Diplomats interviewed by The Guardian lauded the failure of the coup attempt in Republic of Benin and similar other attempts in Guinea Bissau, Mali and Eritrea, where mutineers failed to upstage the government of President Isaias Afwerki in January this year.

Meanwhile, two persons – one a cabinet member and one said to be linked to the ringleader of a previous plot – were arrested on Sunday according to agency reports. The third accomplice is now thought to

be in hiding in Equatorial Guinea.

A plot to poison Yayi late last year also failed but officials preferred to keep the details of that felony away from the public.

A statement issued after the foiling on Sunday and made available to The Guardian through the diplomatic channel in Abuja said the indicted coupists were actually plotting to overthrow Yayi and install a military government in his place.

However, the country’s state prosecutor, Justin Gbenameto, told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that “the plan was to block the head of state from returning to Cotonou after his trip and to

institute a military regime.”

It was further confirmed by the Agence France Presse (AFP) that one Col. Pamphile Zomahoun and an accountant, Johannes Dagnon, were in custody and investigations were continuing.

But according to the BBC, the accountant is the head of a major business and an associate of Patrice Talon, the man being held in connection with the 2012 poison plot.

The third suspect remains at large but Benin has an extradition treaty with Equatorial Guinea and authorities are hopeful of making an arrest.

Theorists have also opined that there appears a link between the latest coup attempt and the 2012 plot.

ENEZUELAN Vice President V Nicolas Maduro has accused his country’s “historic enemies” of being behind the cancer of President Hugo Chavez.

Maduro also announced a United States (U.S.) embassy military official was being expelled from the country for seeking active Venezuelan military officers to promote “destabilisation projects.”

The vice president, while making the disclosure during a meeting with top government officials in the capital, urged Venezuelans to continue to support the president and also pleaded for international understand and respect for the country.

The revelation came yesterday as supporters of Chavez

prayed and wept in his hospital’s chapel yesterday after learning the cancer-stricken leader’s condition has worsened, plunging Venezuela into an uncertain future.

The once omnipresent face of the Latin American left, now breathing with the aid of a tracheal tube, has neither emerged nor spoken in public in almost three months, leaving the oil-rich nation and the region on tenterhooks.

“I came to pray because the news were shocking and we have to face it by not losing faith and hope,” said Marta Rodriguez, 50, a housewife who was among 50 people in the Caracas military hospital’s “Chapel of Hope” that was inaugurated for Chavez last Friday.

Assad says Syria ‘victorious’ as rebels overrun town RESIDENT Bashar al-Assad P said yesterday his regime has defeated the “conspiracy” against Syria, even as rebels overran a provincial capital and captured its governor in the biggest coup of their revolt.

The Syrian president’s remarks were made a day after Syrian rebels overran the provincial capital of Raqa province in the north, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Assad, in comments published in the Lebanese newspaper, Al-Akhbar, also said his opponents, backed by foreign powers, were “playing a game of survival” and that

his forces had the upper hand on the battlefield.

“The conspiracy against Syria is nearing its end,” the paper quoted him as saying, citing unnamed politicians who met with Assad in the Syrian capital.

“Significant successes have been made, whose strategic importance is clear even to those in the region and the rest of the world who are making useless plans against Syria’s security,” Assad said.

The politicians said Assad appeared “very comfortable” with military developments in Syria and had pointed to “contradictions in the exiled opposition groups’ stance... as proof of their failure”.

Chinese parliament opens, targets growth, others HINA yesterday targetted C 2013 economic growth of 7.5 per cent and vowed to tackle corruption and improve the quality of life as a yearly parliamentary session to seal its transition to new leadership started.

Outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao also pledged to protect China’s “territorial integrity” as the government announced another doubledigit rise in military spending to modernise the world’s largest standing army amid mounting tensions.

In his final major act after a decade in charge of day-to-day government, Wen delivered a

“work report” to about 3,000 delegates at the opening of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the rubberstamp parliament.

The NPC is meeting for nearly two weeks and will finalise a power transfer to Li Keqiang as Wen’s successor. It will also appoint Communist Party chief Xi Jinping as state president in succession to Hu Jintao.

Wen bowed deeply to the representatives arrayed under a giant red star in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People before starting his farewell speech, which lasted an hour and 40 minutes.

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THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

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THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Politics Archibong petitions Jonathan to reverse his compulsory retirement

Jonathan

Mukhtar

Mark

By Ehichioya Ezomon (Group Political Editor)

• Alleges unfair hearing, miscarriage of justice

TTORNEY General of the Federation and A Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, on Monday last week announced President Goodluck

plea or considering the gravamen (grievance, substance or chief ground of complaint or accusation) of the charges preferred, the grievious charge of criminal infractions against Dr. Erastus Akingbola, former Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank Plc. Some of Akingbola’s alleged breaches were fraudulent conversion, obtaining by false pretense, money laundering, market manipulation, loan scam, and fraudulent and wrongful trading of securities, amounting to N346,185,841,243.75 and £10,925,649.58.

The Judge also reportedly made some pronouncement on the professional competence of the prosecuting team of six Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), comprising Damien Dodo, A.B Mahmoud, Kola Awodein, Konyinsola Ajayi, E.C Ukala and J.B Daudu.

In the second petition by Chief Olajide Ajana, counsel for a faction of PDP in Ogun State, the Judge was alleged to have issued a Bench Warrant against respondents that were not served the contempt application before him (Judge) and for granting the main reliefs in an application that was not moved ex parte.

Following the petitions, the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, asked for Justice Archibong’s comments, which he gave in July 2012.

The Judge said he exercised his discretion to terminate proceedings in the case against Dr. Akingbola due to lack of diligent prosecution by the counsel, who, “for the umpteenth time in three years sought leave to amend charges.”

“The Prosecution Team’s response to each challenge was an application to further amend charges,” the Judge said.

“In point of fact, at the time I terminated proceedings, the prosecution had effectively been permitted to withdraw the existing charges yet again, declined to present fresh charges but rather decided to embark on an appeal specifically prohibited by provisions of the EFCC Act.” Regardless, Justice Archibong stated that the order disbanding the team was made on the Attorney General of the Federation, who, he said, had neither appealed his (Judge’s) ruling nor instituted fresh proceedings against Dr. Akingbola. So, “any talk of the Judge frustrating an appeal by counsel of the Prosecution Team is totally baseless,” he added.

He denied discharging Akingbola, as widely suggested, “as the accused’s properties are still attached by the State.”

“The effort to get Akingbola to give an account of his stewardship of his Bank was simply frustrated by the prosecution team’s incompetence, an uncomfortable but very self-evident fact,” he said.

On Chief Ajana’s petition, Justice Archibong said the counsel “represented serial contemnors” and that his petition should be discarded “without much ado.”

Perhaps, not content with mere written response to the allegations, the Judge specifically asked to be

Jonathan’s compulsory retirement of Justice Charles Efanga Archibong of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

The enforced superannuation followed the President’s endorsement of the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC), whose committee had found the Judge answerable to the allegations made against him by two petitioners.

However, that committee, dubbed, Investigation Committee, recommended to the NJC only a reprimand, a ‘warning’ of the Judge, to change a new leaf.

But at an emergency meeting on Wednesday, February 20, the NJC, alluding to the Investigation Committee’s ‘Findings’, recommended to the President the compulsory retirement of the Judge.

Coincidentally, the announcement of enforcement of the NJC’s recommendation to the President came on the same day the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice I.N Auta, sent to Justice Archibong the NJC’s letter suspending him from office, pending the decision of the President on the matter.

Also the same day, Justice Archibong petitioned President Jonathan, imploring him to reverse the decision to retire him from office. He premised the five-page petition on several grounds, chief among which was unfair hearing, and thus miscarriage of justice.

Essentially, the Judge wants the President to reconcile the seeming contradictions in the whole process, especially the refusal of his request to personally appear before the Investigation Committee, and the NJC, through the Chief Justice of the Federation (CJN) and Chairman of the Council, Justice Aloma Mukhtar, telling the President that he (Judge) appeared before it, and was heard; the equation of an ‘error’ with ‘misconduct’; superimposition of ‘warning’ with ‘retirement’; and the NJC’s discarding of his (Judge’s) complaint against his accusers.

These formed the substance of the Judge’s petition to the President entitled, The President Should Rescind/Withdraw Acceptance/Approval Of The National Judicial Council’s Recommendation That I Be Compulsorily Retired As A Judge Of The Federal High Court.

The five-page petition was copied to Chief Justice of the Federation, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

He specifically asked the President to rescind/withdraw acceptance/approval of the NJC’s recommendation that he be compulsorily retired as judge of the Federal High Court.

The genesis of Justice Archibong dilemmas started last year when two petitions against him were filed to the NJC. In the first petition, Chief J.B Dauda, one of the prosecuting counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), complained that the Judge had dismissed, without a

granted audience by the NJC, noting that the petitioners were people who could make representations, written and unwritten, formal and informal at various levels; a privilege he did not have as a Judge.

The NJC Investigation Committee did not grant him (or any of the parties) the privilege of appearing before it to defend the allegations against him.

However, the three-member committee, headed by the Chief Judge of Benue State, Justice I. Hwande, sat on Wednesday, November 21, 2012, to consider the case, whose report, consisting of 19 pages, was issued on December 18, 2012.

Noting that, “all facts were complete with regard to the submission by the Petitioners and the response by the Judge,” the committee decided not to invite the parties, “as it had sufficient evidence before it to deliberate on the matter.”

And having looked at the petitions and the response of Justice Archibong, the Investigation Committee formulated eight issues for determination, including the reported discharging of Akingbola without taken his plea; the Judge describing the prosecuting lawyers as indolent and incompetent, and a drain on public purse; his alleged refusal to release the Certified True Copy of his ruling to the EFCC; issuance of arrest warrant on parties without due service on the parties; and whether the Judge was in order in dismissing application that was never heard on the ground of incompetence.

The committee eventually found Justice Archibong blameworthy in all but one allegation, which is that, “from available records, it was not established that the Judge called in Journalists into his chambers, as alleged in the petition,” to avail them of his handwritten note and telling them the names of the Senior Advocates of Nigeria he allegedly referred to as being incompetent, indolent and a drain on public purse.

In conclusion, the Investigation Committee recommended only a “warning” to and supervision of Justice Archibong.

It said: “From the totality of evidence before the Committee as gleaned from the records, we are satisfied that the Judge misconducted himself in his utterances and conduct of cases before him.

“We therefore recommend that he be warned seriously to henceforth conduct himself with decorum and to upgrade his knowledge of the law. In addition, his Head of Court should closely monitor him and ascertain the type of cases he assigns to him.”

Nonetheless, Justice Archibong wondered why his own complaint to the Privileges Committee of the NJC, as regards the conduct of the prosecutors (in this case his indicters), was not considered, stressing, “the NJC treated my complaint as a nonissue and decided to not only put me on trial, but joined in the campaign of calumny waged by my accusers.”

He dismissed the NJC’s labeling him as “lacking a full grasp of the law and procedure of the Court,” stating that only last month (February 2013), the

Tambuwal Performance Evaluation and Monitoring Committee of the same NJC gave him a commendation in writing.

Still, at an emergency meeting on February 20, 2013, the NJC, alluding to the report of the Investigation Committee, suspended Justice Archibong from office and recommended to President Jonathan to compulsorily retire him from office.

Part of the letter of the same day, signed by the CJN and Chairman of the NJC, Justice Mukhtar, reads: “After the investigation, the committee, before which you (Archibong) appeared and was heard, submitted a report to the National Judicial Council, which was deliberated upon… After deliberation, Council accepted the ‘Findings’ of the committee and had accordingly recommended your compulsory retirement to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Consequently, acting pursuant to the powers conferred on it under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, the Council decided to suspend you with immediate effect from office as a Judge of the Federal High Court, pending when the President will act on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council.”

Commenting on the punishment meted out to him, Justice Archibong likened the Chief Justice to the committee that investigated him without interviewing or hearing from any of the parties at issue.

He accused the CJN of not only denying him the right of fair hearing, “she obviously subverted the whole process and lied to the President that I had appeared before her committee ‘and was heard.’”

“I do not know what the CJN’s agenda is but she has denied a serving Judge of this Federal Republic of Nigeria fair hearing, and subverted due process, engaging in constitutional infractions aplenty,” the Judge said.

Justice Archibong accused the NJC of ignorance of the law by equating “error with misconduct.”

His word: “They (NJC) have displayed ignorance of the law and mischievously equated error with misconduct, obviously to satisfy whatever aims and objectives they were pursuing.

“Certainly not to ensure equitable and clean dispensation of justice by humans not tainted by fear or favour, not guided by the imperatives other than those dictated by the oath of judicial office.”

The Judge said the NJC endorsed the committee’s efforts, “confusing the number of petitions against me, a very busy Judge with a large docket of cases, with the veracity of the claims contained therein, the merits of any defence regardless.”

Justice Archibong said the CJN jettisoned the recommendation of the Investigation Committee (which was a ‘warning’) and “unilaterally superimposed the ultimate draconian sanction of ‘compulsory retirement’ in her characteristic, dictatorial manner at any meeting, which she called...”

Therefore, his humble appeal to Jonathan is: “I petition Mr. President to rescind/withdraw the acceptance/approval of the NJC’s recommendation that I be retired compulsorily as a Judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria.”

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THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

TheMetroSection Painful saying ‘Goodbye’ to My Principal From Bridget Chiedu Onochie, Abuja

How come Mr. Uche Awon of Leadership Newspaper had spoken to some of our colleagues at the Press Centre, Mr. Taiwo Adisa of Tribune was also said to have spoken to his people. Nobody was saying anything about my colleague. At that time, I needed someone to tell me that Ogbodo was not dead, that he made it like others F I knew Mr. John-AbbaOgbodo was Ihave travelling to meet his death, I would dissuaded him from embarking on

that ill-fated journey. I would have convinced him to stay back so he could live for his young wife and children, who are just between the ages of eight and one year.

But I never anticipated his death now, no, not so soon, not even in the nearest future. He was full of life and particularly, excited the very Wednesday we parted.

Had he imagined he would be separated from his family and colleagues forever, I bet my “Principal”, as I chose to call him since I was posted to assist him in the Senate two years ago, would have shunned that invitation.

“Madam, I am travelling to Awka tomorrow, take care of the Senate for me”, he told me as he handed me some naira notes and returned to the Senate Press Centre, smiling, while I made for The Guardian office.

Should I say that the parting was “well made” as in Shakesperae’s Julius Caeser?

Definitely not! That short sentence – “Please, take care of the Senate for me”, keeps reechoing in my mind. It is hard to

Ogbodo

believe that my Principal has gone-forever.

I have been in a haze, half-dreaming, near-hallucinating ever since the news of his death reached the Senate Press Centre.

I want to wake up from the dream to realize that Mr. Ogbodo is not dead after all.

I have listened to people talk about shock from the death of loved ones but never have I experienced such psychological trauma until the afternoon of Thursday, February 28.

I could not explain the pain and grief

that seized my heart that John of all people could succumb unto death.

Chairman, Senate Press Corps, Mr. Cosmos Ekpunobi, was the first to get the information and was able to manage the news for a while. Gradually, people began to discuss in clusters until it could no longer be contained.

It was then that Ekpunobi let out that our colleagues had been involved in a car accident and that one of them was in a critical condition. Right away, the atmosphere changed and there was confusion everywhere.

Was my Principal the one in a critical

condition? I asked myself.

“But he is strong”, a voice said to me.

He couldn’t have died so easily, or was that the reason my Bureau Chief, Madu Onuora, called some minutes ago to ask where I was?.

“Madam, where are you?” he had asked. “At the Senate, sir”, I replied. That was his usual style of trying to catch one off-guard. Perhaps, he wanted to know if I had heard.

Putting all these thoughts together, I was afraid Ogbodo might be in serious trouble.

Millions of questions sprang up at the same time. How come Mr. Uche Awon of Leadership newspaper had spoken to some of our colleagues at the Press Centre, Mr. Taiwo Adisa of Tribune was also said to have spoken to his people. How come no one is saying anything about my colleague? At that time, I needed someone to tell me that Ogbodo was not dead – that he made it like others.

But the deep cut on his head was too much to bear. He passed on.

Ogbodo would be greatly missed for so many reasons.

He was my mentor at the Senate.

He taught me to work hard and not join those who chase after money.

He was caring, too, always wanting to be sure I had had my lunch and that the pressure of work was not too much on me.

We had the best working relationship colleagues could ever have because I understood him so well.

Having covered the National Assembly for over a decade and mastered the terrain, Ogbodo carried himself with pride and self-contentment. He was committed to the job.

My “Principal”, I am still very confused.

The entire Abuja newsroom is confused.

The Senate Press Corps is confused. Is life this cheap? Until I wake up from this prolonged nightmare, I want to say, “Peace Ogbodo, peace my principal, my teacher, friend and great colleague.”

Ejigbo lCDA embarks on anti-flood, empowerment programme

By Tolulope Okunlola and Bukola Ojeyemi HEAD of the heavy rains expected this year, the Ejigbo local Council Development Area (lCDA) of lagos State has embarked on measures aimed at safeguarding residents from the adverse effects of any flooding that may follow.

The measures include de-silting of drainage channels and constructing new ones, removal of illegal structures that impede flow of flood water from the primary to secondary drainages and ultimately, into the Ejigbo canal.

The lCDA Information Officer, Mr. Rabiu Hassan told The Guardian on Monday that the Department of Environment has been particularly concerned about

A

flood-prone areas, including Iyana Ejigbo and others and has been carrying out remedial works to protect the people from harm due to flood.

He said a massive drainage channel has been constructed that would effectively evacuate floodwater from the junction and surrounding areas into the canal.

On other steps being taken by the council to improve the welfare of the residents, Hassan said “the chairman Kehinde Bamigbetan recently inaugurated a youth empowerment programme in which 100 youths were sent to Ejigbo Skill Acquisition Centre, to learn various vocations after which they would be empowered by the lCDA to become entrepreneurs in their own right.”

Hassan also said the lCDA chairman has approved the procurement of General Certificate of Education (GCE) and Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) forms free of charge for eligible youths in the area to encourage them strive for higher academic attainments and relief their parents of financial burden.

To boost economic activities, Hassan said efforts were on to establish more markets than the two available at present, the Ejigbo Market and Jakande Market, even as he commended the cordial relationship between the Ejigbo lCDA and all the different market associations, religious groups and community development associations.

Fayemi’s N5 million gift: Anglican Church sacks vicar From Muyiwa Adeyemi (Head, South West Bureau, Ado Ekiti) HE crisis over the demotion of the vicar of St Paul’s Millennium Anglican Church, Odo Owa, Ekiti State, Venerable Michael Ogunniyi over the N5 million gift to the church by Governor Kayode Fayemi is still far from over as Ogunniyi has been asked to go on compulsory retirement.

The Vicar, who was demoted from Venerable to Canon, told The Guardian that he was due for retirement in 2017.

Ogunniyi had been at loggerheads with the Bishop of Ekiti West Diocese Rt. Revd.

Samuel Oludare Oke for spending N3 million to buy a

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bus for the church without getting approval from the bishop.

Fayemi gave the church N5 million during the burial of the Primate of the Church Most Revd. Abiodun Adetiloye who donated the church to the community.

The Diocese in its first official statement released yesterday exonerated the bishop of any wrongdoing and accused Ogunniyi of “behaving in a very disappointing way tantamount to inefficiency, incompetence, disloyalty, canonical disobedience, betrayal, dereliction of duty and general unruliness.”

The statement noted that if the bishop had any ulterior motive about the money, he would not have deposited it in

the church account.

“If he had other motives, he, who had received the gift in cash from the governor, would not have paid it into the Odo Owa church account, in the first instance,” the statement said.

The Diocese said Ogunniyi was not punished for the mere purchase of the N3 million bus, “although his unilateral action in itself not only constituted disobedience to the bishop’s order, it was in violation of the diocesan policy/regulation that no archdeaconry or church should make expenses in excess of N1 million without reference to and approval of the bishop. Ogunniyi who was collated an archdeacon two

years ago by the same bishop claimed ignorance of the policy guideline.”

In a statement signed by Prince Sola Adetunle and Otunba Kunle Olasope, the Diocese disclosed that “The matter was discussed at its board meeting held at Our Saviour’s Anglican Church Ipoti on March 1, this year and at the meeting the bishop handed over Canon Ogunniyi a letter of compulsory retirement, giving him six months notice to expire on August 31, 2013.”

The Diocese also asked those threatening legal action at Odo Owa to go ahead as “they are entitled to their rights but the diocese will not be deterred.”

But Ogunniyi in his reaction

said he had no regrets for all his actions, disclosing that the church has been longing to buy the bus in the last 15 years and when the church council decided to buy it for evangelism, he had no choice but to approve the purchase.

According to him: “The bishop did not want us to buy the bus, but the church insisted that we must buy it. In this case I am duty-bound to be loyal to the church not the bishop. I have accepted and I am going. I have pleaded with the church members not to go to court because I am fulfilled by seeing the church members happy. I considered it as a sacrifice and I am happy to pay it.”

Briefs Lagos moves to enforce rules on branded vehicles AGOS State Signage and Adl(lASAA) vertisement Agency has entered into a partnership with Mobile Advert Agency of Nigeria (MOAN) for enforcement of regulations on all branded vehicles.

It is to effectively apprehend defaulters of mobile advertisement registration platform.

Under the agreement was reached recently by both parties at the former’s head office in Ikeja, MOAN officials will wear lASAA’s reflective enforcement gear with serial number for the purpose of identification. lASAA’s Managing Director, Mr. George Kayode Noah, said: ”This partnership will assist us in capturing all branded motor vehicle as fleets for mobile advertisement while also establishing an efficient mobile advertisement management system”.

It is expected that the new arrangement will not only enhance prompt issuance of permit to clients, but also maintain lASAA’s personalized customer service delivery.

SMC hosts Zuriel Oduwole URIEl Elis Oduwole, who is Z being likened to a comet and touted to be “the next larry King”, will on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 be hosted by the School of Media and Communication (SMC), PanAfrican University, to kick start a project that will galvanize African youths to “ dream up, speak up and stand up” for Africa’s emerging renaissance.

Zuriel, a precocious child of Nigerian-Scottish origin, has at age 10, showed amazing media and communication talent, especially in the area of in-depth interviewing.

This talent has resulted in her interviewing world leading personalities, including past and current presidents, especially in Africa where she has interviewed among others, the presidents of Mauritus, Cote d’Ivoire, two past presidents of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings and John Kufuor among others.

Olawumi, 55, passes on R. Abayomi James M Olawumi (a. k .a Abela) has died at the age of age 55. He was an active, member of Christ Messiah Church Ilorin and a native of IIofa, Kwara State.

Final funeral arrangement will be announced by the family.

He is survived by his wife and children.

Olawumi

METRO 13

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

‘I didn’t expect my son to come back to me as a dead body’

The late Emmanuel Nyam

His father, Stephen Nyam

From Isa Abdulsalami, Jos MMANUEL Agwom Nyam, the 24-yearold student of Nasarawa State University, who was allegedly shot dead by the Army on February 25, was buried at the weekend in his village, Lamingo in Jos North Local Council of Plateau State amidst wailings by members of his family and other sympathizers.

Emmanuel was one of the three students who was shot when students of the institution were peacefully protesting against non-availability of water on their campus.

The father of the deceased, Mr. Stephen Igem Nyam, an engineer, who was with his wife Mrs. Piona Nyam, at their residence, described the late Emmanuel as very humble, disciplined and respectful when he was alive.

Nyam spoke with The Guardian. Excerpts.

Accept my sympathy on the death of your son, Sir. Who was this Emmanuel?

Emmanuel was my son and the second born. I had of five them.

What course was he studying at the Nasarawa State University?

He was reading physics. He was a 300-Level student.

Were you told about the circumstances that led to his unfortunate death?

Well, I was told. The day it happened, I was told that he was shot dead by the soldiers and he died instantly. As a matter of fact, it was Monday afternoon that I received the bad news. My son’s close friend in the school was the one who broke the news to us. He got to the senior sister and told her that Agwom had been shot dead. I didn’t know what happened but later we were told that the students were demonstrating because of lack of water in the school. So, the military came in and started shooting.

So, he was a victim of the shooting.

How did you receive the news of his death?

Normally, it was very shocking for any parent to receive that sudden news of death.

Not that he was sick. You sent your child to school. You expect him to come back home after completion to be a man of his own.

But unfortunately, I didn’t expect him to come back as a dead body. So, it was really shocking, very stressful for the family.

Given the circumstances surrounding the killing of the three students, what message do you have for the government?

I will say the government is responsible for all these things. In the first instance, if there had been water in that school, there would not have been any riot or crisis because we are aware that that school has been having problem of water shortage. If the government has been living up to its responsibilities, certainly, it would have provided water for the school and even the town. But that did not happen, it means the government is not responsible enough to cater for the people who voted for them.

For the government to now say that it cannot provide water for the students, in particular, is bad.

Of course, we pay school fees, which include water supply and everything. And if the students are not getting what is supposed to be given to them is very unfortunate. It means government will have to look at those issues critically. They don’t have to wait until when people complain.

Why should you wait until you receive complaints? What is required of the government to do and if they don’t do it at a time that is needed, of course, the consequence is that somebody will demand his rights.

How do you see government’s action of sending armed soldiers to quell a peaceful demonstration by armless students?

It is unfortunate that in this century, a government would act the way it did. This is a

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Photonews

His mother, Piona Nyam

This is a university environment. It is supposed to be a learning institution. At the slightest provocation... suddenly, you did not even send in the police to quell the protest but soldiers to shoot the children. That is uncivilized. It is never done anywhere. university environment. It is supposed to be a learning institution. At the slightest provocation, even government was not provoked, and suddenly, you sent in not even the police but soldiers to start shooting the children. That is uncivilized. It is never done anywhere. What I know is that anytime there is such a disagreement and it involves a riot, it is normally the police that are invited. They use other processes such as teargas or at worst, rubber bullets.

But in this instance, live bullets were used on armless students. I was in the school.

There was no sign of destruction anywhere.

So, what really happened? It means it was deliberate.

This boy (my son) was shot in the chest. If they were shooting the boy in order to disable him, it could have been somewhere, may be his limbs. But if it was a direct shooting, it means the person that did it had the intention of killing the boy. So, I expect government not to involve the soldiers. Soldiers are meant to protect the territorial integrity of this country and not for internal security. They were not supposed to be involved. It is the police responsibility and other law enforcement agencies that are civil in nature to take up the matter. But when you allow the military, the military are trained to kill and if you invite them, you already know the consequences in advance. So, why did the government use the soldiers?

Do you have any cause to apportion blame on the management of the university?

Well, I cannot for now say precisely because we have not heard from the university. And if the school invited the soldiers, then it is the fault of the university. But that one, I cannot begin to apportion blame. If it was somebody from outside that gave the directives to allow the soldiers in, then that is a different ball game altogether. But I have not heard from the school. The school authorities have not spoken. All we are hearing in the news is that the military has been busy denying.

We have not received any news from the university as to why the soldiers came in.

Was it on the invitation of the school authorities or what? So, at this point in time, I do not have the facts to begin to apportion blame. But if the school invited the soldiers, then certainly, it should be held responsible.

Now, what has happened has happened.

No amount of resources or money can bring back your son. What do you want government to do for the families of the victims?

You are right. No amount of resources can adequately compensate for the loss of lives of these children. What I expect government to do is first, to fish out the perpetrators of this act, bring them to book. If they are found guilty, they should be punished adequately. Secondly, government should pay compensation to the parents of those who are still in the hospital to alleviate the suffering and the trauma they go through. No amount can bring back the lives of those children. So, this is just to say, compensate those people so that at least, they know government has shown concern to the parents. But if the government keeps mute, it means the it is in support of what

Suspected political thugs in a brawl during the protest of Action Congress of Nigeria Libration Movement in Ibadan, Oyo State...on Monday PHOTO: NAN

Long queue of vehicles waiting to enter the Federal Secretariat park in Abuja...on Monday

PHOTO: NAN

Member, Advance Management Programme 24 (AMP 24), Lagos Business School (LBS), Mr. Bayo Yusuf (left), Chairman, Community Service Responsibility (LBS), Mr Dele Alimi, Administrator, Living Funtain Orphanage; Ngozi Okibunor, Public Relations Officer (LBS) Dianabasi Akpainyang, President (AMP 24 LBS), Mrs. ijoma Pearl Okoro; Sheila Ezeuko; Director, Socials (AMP 24, LBS) Mr. Isa Omagu and Mr. Wole Falowo during the presentation of gifts to the Living Fountain Orphanage Home in PHOTO: AYODELE ADENIRAN Lagos.

National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration Control (NAFDAC) official, Mrs. Tawa Arilesere (left), Vice Chancellor, Bells University of Technology, Prof. Isaac Adeyemi, the author, Ayo Baje and Mr. Paul Ajifafe during the launch of a book entitled “How to be a successful student” in Lagos.

TheGuardian

14 THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 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 ‘Class of 80’ URNING eighty is more than coming of age.

TAnd from Alex Ekwueme and Christopher Kolade to Emeka Anyaoku; from Femi Okunnu to Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, enrolment in the class of octogenarians this particular season has been, coincidentally, quite high. And, deservedly, these men have been celebrated by friends, family and a nation grateful, not only for the blessings of longevity, but for their continued service to the country. Faithful servants and committed patriots who exemplify the kind of integrity the nation often seeks in vain today, it is only appropriate to say eighty hearty cheers to Ekwueme, Kolade, Anyaoku, Okunnu and Bayero as well as other members of their generation who belong in the caravan of good, obedient and patriotic servants of Nigeria.

Their milestone however calls for as much sober reflection on the fate of Nigeria as the celebrations that have attended it.

All the good they have done notwithstanding, it is a tragic irony that in their life time the “class of 80” has witnessed the grisly metamorphosis of Nigeria from a powerful, prosperous nation to one of unimaginable depravity; a nation wherein political fortune-hunters, rent seekers, sycophants and bigots have colluded to personalize the people’s collective patrimony. In the hands of these buccaneers, the nation has become a play thing while her resources have been mindlessly pillaged. All the cherished values of a dignified people have been discarded. And a question begging for answer is: the individual dignity of the celebrated octogenarians notwithstanding, are they not inexorably linked to the nation’s woes? They did their bit well enough, but did they keep quiet in the face of bastardisation of their legacies before their own eyes?

At the risk of ruining their party, it is legitimate to ask: To what extent is their generation complicit in the rot that runs through Nigeria today?

In light of the seeming helplessness and somewhat confused mien of the elderly over the present decadence, Nigerians are curious to know: How did all this happen before their eyes? Given the fact that many in this class of octogenarians took on the mantle of national leadership while in their 20s, why should the youth of today think that one day the baton of transformational leadership would be passed on to them? With the unending recycling of this and succeeding classes in public administration, could it be said that one of their mortal sins is that proper succession management was never contemplated in the first place? Or, was it badly executed?

In a society of manifest stagnation and looming anarchy, why should Nigerians believe in progress as defined by a generation that cannot truly be exonerated from the national failure?

The celebrants may be exceptions, but these questions are appropriately posed to their tribe, for they express the growing disenchantment with the silence and, even, complicity of the elderly in the on-going plundering of Nigeria. And so, lending a voice to the aspirations of all who crave the Nigeria envisioned by the founding fathers, a prosperous and united nation in which peace and justice reign, it is just right to use the occasion of the 80th birthday of these prominent Nigerians to re-direct attention to the missed road and how to get back on track. It is befitting to restate that Nigerians need not undergo the suffering and deprivation they are experiencing in the hands of a self-seeking, insensitive political elite, who parade themselves as leaders.

To this end, beside identifying genuine solution-seeking platforms and speaking out against corrupt leadership, our eminent persons may want to hurry up on their memoirs, so that Nigerians can see from their recorded history the source of derailment and learn useful lessons on the journey to a better future.

As Nigeria inches towards the centenary of its amalgamation, it is appropriate to be anxious about what the year 2014 and beyond hold for the country.

Will 2014 turn out to be the year of careful introspection about our collective existence? Or will 2014 be a signpost to more political banditry as politicians prepare for elections in 2015?

It is here that the exemplary lives of the Anyaokus, Kolades, Bayeros, Ekwuemes and Okunnus become instructive. Just as tenacious as members of this generation were in their resolve to be truly Nigerian in all they did, Nigerians could muster the same tenacity to stay on course as the nation matches on in search of its destiny.

Nigerians can take a cue from their dedication and selflessness and promote collective national interests as opposed to the parochial, sectional and even jaundiced line that seem the only path now.

In the diplomatic service, the private sector or public service, the celebrants have over the years taken their callings and done just one thing: service to the fatherland.

In their twilight years, it is a mark of how well they have served that the nation still calls them up for more of what they have given all these years.

The hope is that these men would keep their integrity intact, as they remain available for their country because, imperfect as their tribe may be, more important to Nigeria today are the inspiring examples from what they have done before.

Nothing must be done to tarnish that.

LETTERS

The future of APC IR: The emergence of All served its own eight years in this ShasProgressive Congress (APC) first round; not all of us Yoruba been long overdue. I antici- accept OBJ, but we cannot runpated and canvassed for it vigorously in 2011 in many letters to newspaper editors, who published them, patriotically. I encountered persons who mourned the failure of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to unite and champion the unification of the progressive opposition political parties that time.

Some or many persons then started to question the progressiveness of the leaders of the ACN and CPC. I reason that APC has no future if it is not built on solid rocks.

The Almighty God is the Rock of Ages. His anointed Moses are General Muhammadu Buhari and Senator Bola Tinubu, who I expect mean well for Nigeria to support. They should be the stabilising blocks supported by a key person from each of the other four zones representing, participating political parties, in the midst of all comers’ game.

The clamour for dropping Buhari and Tinubu as President and Vice-president is misplaced. Rather than dropping, support them with younger persons, so that Nigeria can maximally benefit from their experience and goodwill.

Another necessary rock to uphold the future of the APC is rotational presidency, to be documented and signed, if necessary. It is imperative we start with the north-west to serve its remaining four years. After that, the presidency shifts to the south-east. I plead with the south-south zone to accept that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has

away from the fact that he is Yoruba, whether he did well or not.

The argument against rotational presidency is unthoughtful; it contradicts history, experience, and political science as social order. We relish rubbishing the wisdom of our political leaders who meant well for Nigeria. Look at how religion has become a monster, simply because the so-called political elite are resisting the constitution that stipulates state secularity. The President, the governors, and all the other political office holders continue to politicize religion, and when they look back, they quickly turn

away their gaze from their own faeces, that is, Boko Haram.

In my experience, from the late Gani Fawehinmi to Pius Abioje, Nigerians don’t like First Ladyism. It disgraces good governance and accountability.

Fashola et al waging war on commercial motorcyclists does not portray sensitivity to the plight of ordinary Nigerians who need their services.

Sending beggars back to their states of origin contradicts the ideal of “One Nigeria”. The APC leaders should produce a manifesto on the issues raised here, and similar ones that are not mentioned, e.g. electoral transparency.

• Pius Abioje, University of Ilorin.

Yariman Gusau’s position untenable The petition by Bala StheIR:Abdullahi (Yariman Gusau) on appointment of Prof. Ben Okeke as VC of Federal University, Gusau is to say the least very unpatriotic, embarrassing, cruel and smacks of high level ethnicity at a period the country is in search of peace and unity. It is clear that only people like Bala still hold this country to ransom with careless and unguarded statements capable of further dividing the nation.

Bala should know that there are laid down criteria for the appointment of VCs and it is not based on sentiments and geopolitical zones, but on qualifications, merit, ability to perform and deliver amongst others. He should cite cases where VCs appointed from the South East have done such things as alleged.

New federal universities must

reflect the federal character principle wherever they are sited and the reason for appointing VCs from outside is to ensure quality, standard and rapid development of the new institutions and also reduce as much as possible local politics capable of bringing setbacks and lowering standards.

Higher institutions should command high standards and reputation; they are not the kind of place being envisaged by the Yariman. Bala should rather be concerned with the quality of the person rather than his state of origin. A biased person like Yariman Bala should be cautioned against inflammatory statements.

• Ahamdi Anunibe Lagos.

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

15

Business Industrywatch P40 Nigeria’s slow, steady move to rice self-sufficiency

49 firms jostle for Afam, Kaduna power distribution plants From Mathias Okwe and Emeka Anuforo, Abuja S no fewer than 49 companies are jostling to acquire Afam Generating Plant and Kaduna Distribution company, the privatisation process for the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company may be truncated due to feud over 20 year-old pact between the gov-

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ernment and a private firm.

The Afam Power Plc and Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc were among the 17 PHCN successor companies that were earlier advertised for sale in December 2010 and both, along with 15 others, went through full competitive tender process, which culminated in the submission of technical and financial pro-

...Pending agreement may stall sale of Enugu plant posals in July 2012.

But none of the bids received for Afam Power Plc and Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc scored the required minimum 75 per cent to progress to the financial bid stage.

The development compelled the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) to order a re-run of the entire transaction, as it was not prepared to settle for a second best.

The Acting Director General of the Bureau of Public

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo (left) and the acting Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Benjamin Dikki at the pre-bid conference for investors interested in the privatisation of Afam Power Plc and Kaduna Distribution Company.

Revive Ajaokuta steel plant, youths tell govt From: Lillian Chukwu, Abuja group of youths have called on the Federal Government to revive and complete the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCOL) and the National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) at Itakpe to promote the nation’s industrialization agenda.

Besides, they said the revival and completion was needed to sustain the Federal Government’s employment generation drive.

The youths, who staged a peaceful protest at the National Assembly yesterday, stressed the importance of iron and steel industry in national development, describing the sub-sector as an essential catalyst for growth.

The protest, led by the Initiative for the Actualisation of Ajaokuta and Itakpe (IAAI), faulted the prolonged delay in the completion of Ajaokuta

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Steel and the Iron Ore Mining Company projects.

Chairman of IAAI, Mohammed Omolori, lamented the comatose state of the iron and steel facility when the nation is in dire need of its output, for industrialization and job creation.

“We implore the Presidency to reactivate, complete and commission the first phase of Ajaokuta Steel plant and associated infrastructure, as well as resolve the legal issues of ASCL and NIOMCO. Furthermore, government should urgently permit the disbursement of the federal solid mineral development fund to provide essential capital needs of Ajaokuta steel,” Omolori added.

The IAAI chairman urged the present administration to “disregard the evaluation report on Ajaokuta by Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (NIAF) as it was neither in the

interest of Nigeria nor the uncompleted steel plant.”

The report is a draft assessment by the Department for International Development (DFID) that urged the Federal Government to shut down the ASCOL as it was not economically viable.

He said: “ASCOL alone and the 1.3million tonne first phase completion will directly employ 10,000 professionals.

When ASCO gets to the third phase by which time, it produces 5.3 million tonnes of steel per annum, there will be a multiplier effect in respect of employment opportunities.”

He listed countries like Britain, Germany, France, Japan, China and United States of America as economies that planked their industrialization agenda on strategic focus on iron and steel development.

Meanwhile, the Vice Chairman Senate Committee on Niger

Delta Affairs, Senator Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to show more commitment towards the completion of ASCOL and NIOMCO. The Senator made the call in a statement signed by Michael Jegede, his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity.

He was reacting to the protest staged at the National Assembly by some youths from the central axis of Kogi State, led by Alhaji Mohammed Bashir SaniOmolori, requesting the Federal Government to release fund for the full operation of ASCO and NIOMCO. According to Abatemi-Usman, the President must endeavour to fulfill the promise he made to Nigerians to revive Ajaokuta Steel during his presidential campaign in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.

Enterprises (BPE), Benjamin Ezra Dikki, on Monday, told the applicants that the privatisation body had zero tolerance for non-compliance with the terms of the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the transactions.

He said by the end of January, the deadline for the receipt of Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from prospective bidders for the two firms, 19 applications were received by BPE for Kaduna Disco and 30 applications for Afam plant.

He said the Bureau, had in February sent Requests for Proposals (RFP) to the 48 prospective bidders.

“Bids that are submitted late will be rejected immediately and proposal not submitted in substantial compliance to the RFP will also be neglected. Our philosophy is that only the very best is good enough for Nigeria.”

Dikki spoke at the pre-due diligence conference organised in Abuja for the re-tender of Afam Power Plc and Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc held also in on Monday.

The Guardian learnt that the Federal Government, National Electric Power Authority (NEPA, as it was then known) and Aba Power Limited had entered into a lease agree-

ment, since 2005, for the distribution of power to the ringfenced residential and commercial consumers at Aba, Abia Sate. The contract covered Aba Business Unit and Ariaria Business Unit, both of which form part of Enugu Distribution Company (Enugu Disco).

The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had in 2006 granted a license to Aba Power Limited to distribute power within the ring-fence in view of the agreement.

The company had since indicated its interest to continue its business through full acquisition under the on-going power sector reform programme.

According to sources, BPE appeared bent on the sale of the entire Enugu Distribution Company, including the Aba ring- fence to the selected preferred bidder in contravention of the pending agreement.

As the controversy rages, a group of Igbo elders under the aegis of Ndigbo Lagos had written to President Goodluck Jonathan asking him to toe the path of honour by respecting the terms of the agreement with Aba power limited.

They had also followed up the letter, signed by Professor Anta. O. Anya, Admiral Alison Madueke and others by a visit to the President on the matter.

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

16 BUSINESS

Cisco rakes $750m from Nigeria, others on services From Adeyemi Adepetun, Johannesbourg IGERIA’S robust market was confirmed in South Africa yesterday where Cisco, a United States (U.S.) based

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networking firm announced a yearly revenue of $750 million from its operation in Nigeria and other African Countries.

The company, which said,

about $1.7 billion could be generated from African market offering the same services, also stressed that South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt constitutes about 63 per cent of the continent’s potential market.

According to the company, seven countries represent 80 per cent of Africa’s total addressable market (TAM).

The are Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Libya among others.

Cisco also advised service providers, including MTN, Vodacom, Orange, Etisalat among others to be ready for huge data revenues if properly maximised.

Speaking yesterday at the ongoing Cisco Expo 2013 in Sun City, Johannesbourg, South Africa, Managing Director, Africa, Emerging Markets for Cisco, David Meads said the continent

presents huge market potential for investors, adding that dearth of International bandwidth was driving adoption of connectivity.

According to him, Cisco’s strategy in Africa was aimed at helping the continent to improve innovation, prosper, sustain growth and enhance social inclusion through life changing solutions.

Speaking on the theme of the expo, tagged: “Internet of Everything”, the Cisco Africa managing director said global internet market could generate up to $14.4 trillion by 2020, adding that the target would be achieved through collaboration between governments and the private sector.

Meads said the huge African market has positioned it strategically, stressing that some operators have started

deploying the 4G and LTE technologies ahead of some Western Countries. “The robustness of the African market earned Cisco about $750 million yearly and the market keeps growing.”

Meanwhile, Cisco has projected huge opportunities for African service providers in big data, stressing that data volume has expanded three-fold since 2011.

The Networking firm was however quick to say that along with the rest of the globe, Africa faces vexing challenges from big data, especially in their areas of storage.

The Cisco boss, Consulting Services, Peter Ford said many analysts consider data as “the new oil”, which has the power to transform economies, bring greater efficiency to businesses and improve the daily interac-

tions as consumers.

Like oil, he said data was not truly valuable until it has been refined, stressing that this means analyzing it and extracting insights that could be leveraged into valuable action.

“Big Data is already transforming businesses today and playing an integral role in defining new processes to aid in new innovation. Today, it is not a question of whether Service Providers in Africa should invest, but how far should they go. At a minimum, they can utilize it internally to transform their operations or expand externally to further benefit their customers as a ‘Network Based Data Intermediary. The ability for Service Providers to move more aggressively into this space may be difficult but the prize may warrant further investigation.

Managing Director, Union Trustees Limited, Olufunke Aiyepola (left), Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, CDL Asset Management Limited, Bade Adesina and Managing Director, UBA Trustees Limited at the Union Trustees Limited’s yearly general meeting.

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Liberia financial experts in Nigeria to study micro finance banks’ operation HE Central Bank of Liberia T (CBL) has engaged HASAL Microfinance Bank Limited, in a fact-finding parley with a view to learning from the micro finance bank’s practical experiences in financial inclusion drive over the past year.

The Liberian apex bank team, which had earlier visited the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), was at HASAL Bank in company with the Nigerian apex bank’s officials as part of its initiatives targeted at gaining some insights into how the Nigerian apex bank and other financial institutions are implementing the financial inclusion strategy and how such experiences could be used to design appropriate framework for the implementation of financial inclusion strategy in Liberia The Managing Director of HASAL MFB, Mr. Rogers Nwoke, took the delegation through core areas of the bank’s operations, including product development and marketing strategies which, he noted, had been responsible for the modest achievements recorded so far in the bank’s financial inclusion agenda.

Nwoke spoke on some of bank’s products like the Mobile Banking,which enables transactions through the use of POC (Point of Collection) terminals by HASUSU Savings Executives who carry out door-to-door cash mobilisation from micro customers.

Besides, he explained the introduction of POS (Point Of Sale) terminals to both SME and Micro customers which enable them use their Debit Cards for purchase and payment for goods and services, amongst others.

According to him, the bank “has also built a large network of branches and Cash Centres, across the Federal Capital Territory with several Correspondent Banks for easy deposit/withdrawal of cash mobilized”.

In his remarks, the leader of the LCB team, Tefleh Wollor, who obviously was impressed by the well-informed explanations of the Hasal Bank boss, said the visit was made to the MFB “to understand their role to Financial Inclusion in Nigeria” Similarly, in her remarks the Executive Director/CEO Universal Empowerment Mission of Liberia, Irene Konneh George, said she was “happy to be in Nigeria and to get information to take back home to help improve my own work” Saye Bujie of Liberia Credit Union National Association in a similar tone said he was “impressed with facilities, programmes presented and processes” In Liberia the Micro finance sub sector comprises, Microfinance Deposit Institutions (MDIs) and operates basically non-deposit banking as their market is made up of Credit unions (cooperative societies).

It would be recalled that MFB had hosted HRH, Princess Maxima of the Kingdom of Netherlands during her factfinding on financial inclusion to Nigeria during the launching of the National Financial Inclusion strategy by the Federal Government a few months ago .

BUSINESS

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MoneyWatch IMF projects increased, gradual global growth in 2013

Source: IMF staff estimates.

By Chijioke Nelson with agency reports LOBAL growth is projected to increase durG ing 2013, as the factors underlying soft global activity are expected to subside.

However, this upturn is projected to be more gradual than in the October 2012 World Economic Outlook (WEO) projections. Policy actions have lowered acute crisis risks in the euro area and the United States. But in the euro area, the return to recovery after a protracted contraction is delayed. While Japan has slid into recession, stimulus is expected to boost growth in the near term. At the same time, policies have supported a modest growth pickup in some emerging market economies, although others continue to struggle with weak external demand and domestic bottlenecks. If crisis risks do not materialize and financial conditions continue to improve, global growth could be stronger than projected. However, downside risks remain significant, including renewed setbacks in the euro area and risks of excessive near-term fiscal consolidation in the United States. Policy action must urgently address these risks.

Economic conditions improved modestly in the third quarter of 2012, with global growth increasing to about three per cent. The main sources of acceleration were emerging market economies, where activity picked up broadly as expected, and the United States, where growth surprised on the upside. Financial conditions stabilized. Bond spreads in the euro area periphery declined, while prices for many risky assets, notably equities, rose globally.

Capital flows to emerging markets remained strong.

Global financial conditions improved further in the fourth quarter of 2012. However, a broad set of indicators for global industrial production and trade suggests that global growth did not strengthen further. Indeed, the third-quarter uptick in global growth was partly due to temporary factors, including increased inventory accumulation (mainly in the United

States). It also masked old and new areas of weakness. Activity in the euro area periphery was even softer than expected, with some signs of stronger spillovers of that weakness to the euro area core. In Japan, output contracted further in the third quarter.

Turning to the updated outlook, growth in the United States is forecast to average two per cent in 2013, rising above trend in the second half of the year. These forecasts are broadly unchanged from the October 2012 WEO, as underlying economic conditions remain on track. In particular, a supportive financial market environment and the turnaround in the housing market have helped to improve household balance sheets and should underpin firmer consumption growth in 2013. The projections, however, are predicated on the assumptions in the October 2012 WEO that the spending sequester will be replaced by back-loaded measures and the pace of fiscal withdrawal (at the general government level) in 2013 will remain at 1Âź per cent of GDP. The near-term outlook for the euro area has been revised downward, even though progress in national adjustment and a strengthened EU-wide policy response to the euro area crisis reduced tail risks and improved financial conditions for sovereigns in the periphery. Activity is now expected to contract by 0.2 per cent in 2013 instead of expanding by 0.2 per cent. This reflects delays in the transmission of lower sovereign spreads and improved bank liquidity to private sector borrowing conditions, and stillhigh uncertainty about the ultimate resolution of the crisis despite recent progress.

During 2013, however, these brakes start easing, provided that the planned policy reforms to address the crisis continue to be implemented.

The near-term growth outlook for Japan has not been downgraded despite renewed recession. Activity is expected to expand by 1.2 per cent in 2013, broadly unchanged from October. The recession is expected to be short-

lived because the effects of temporary factors, such as the car subsidy and disruptions to trade with China, will subside. And a sizeable fiscal stimulus package and further monetary easing will give growth at least a near-term boost, with support from a pickup in external demand and a weaker yen.

Growth in emerging market and developing economies is on track to build to 5.5 per cent in 2013. Nevertheless, growth is not projected to rebound to the high rates recorded in 2010 and 2011. Supportive policies have underpinned much of the recent acceleration in activity in many economies. But weakness in advanced economies will weigh on external demand, as well as on the terms of trade of commodity exporters, given the assumption of lower commodity prices in 2013 in this Update. Moreover, the space for further policy easing has diminished, while supply bottlenecks and policy uncertainty have hampered growth in some economies (for example, Brazil, India). Activity in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to remain robust, with a rebound from flood-related output disruptions in Nigeria contributing to an acceleration in overall growth in the region in 2013.

Against this backdrop, the projections in this WEO Update imply that global growth will strengthen gradually through 2013, averaging 3.5 per cent on an annual basis, a moderate uptick from 3.2 per cent in 2012, but 0.1 percentage point lower than projected in the October 2012 WEO. A further strengthening to 4.1 per cent is projected for 2014, assuming recovery takes a firm hold in the euro area economy.

The policy requirements outlined in the October 2012 WEO remain relevant. Most advanced economies face two challenges.

First, they need steady and sustained fiscal consolidation. Second, financial sector reform must continue to decrease risks in the financial system. Addressing these challenges will support recovery and reduce downside risks.

The euro area continues to pose a large downside risk to the global outlook. In particular,

risks of prolonged stagnation in the euro area as a whole will rise if the momentum for reform is not maintained. Adjustment efforts in the periphery countries need to be sustained and must be supported by the center, including through full deployment of European firewalls, utilisation of the flexibility offered by the Fiscal Compact, and further steps toward full banking union and greater fiscal integration.

In the United States, the priority is to avoid excessive fiscal consolidation in the short term, promptly raise the debt ceiling, and agree on a credible medium-term fiscal consolidation plan, focused on entitlement and tax reform.

In Japan, the priority is to underpin the renewed emphasis on raising growth and inflation with more ambitious monetary policy easing, adopt a credible medium-term fiscal consolidation plan anchored by the consumption tax increases in 2014–15, and raise potential growth through structural reforms. Absent a strong medium-term fiscal strategy, the stimulus package carries important risks. Specifically, the stimulus-induced recovery could prove short lived, and the debt outlook significantly worse.

In China, ensuring sustained rapid growth requires continued progress with market-oriented structural reforms and re-balancing of the economy more toward private consumption. In other emerging market and developing economies, requirements differ. The general challenge is to rebuild macroeconomic policy space. The appropriate pace of rebuilding must balance external downside risks against risks of rising domestic imbalances.

In some economies with large external surpluses and low public debt, this entails a lower, more sustainable pace of credit growth and fiscal measures to support domestic demand. In others, fiscal deficits need to be rolled back further, while monetary tightening proceeds gradually. Macro-prudential measures can help stem emerging financial excesses. In the Middle East and North Africa region, many countries will need to maintain macroeconomic stability under difficult internal and external conditions.

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MONEY WATCH

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

A bank’s quest for global recognition HE journey to greatness is always T associated with hardwork, strategic focus and global recognition. This is the case of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, as it was ranked as number one banking brand in Nigeria for the second year running.

According to a recently released “2013 The Top 500 Banking Brand”,

by The Banker/Brand Finance, the bank was retained as the number one banking brand in Nigeria.

The Country Representative, Nigeria, The Banker- a publication of Financial Times Group, United Kingdom, Kunle Ogedengbe, said First Bank came top among the Nigerian banks as 414th in the world, followed by Guaranty Trust Bank, 415th and Zenith Bank, 454th.

Speaking on the procedures for the ranking, Ogedengbe stressed that Brand Finance employed the methodology of discounted cash flow technique to discount estimated future royalties at an appropriate rate to arrive at a net present value of a bank’s trademark and associated intellectual property which is the brand value that is used in the ranking.

The process, according to the Editor of The Banker, Brian Caplen, involved

five steps. These were getting the brand-specific financial and revenue data before segmenting the revenue into retail banking, commercial banking, wholesale/investment banking, insurance, asset management and credit cards streams; model the market to identify demand and the position of individual banks in the context of all other market competitors; establish the royalty rate for each bank; calculate the discount rate specific to each bank, taking account of its size, geographical presence, reputation, gearing and brand rating; and discount future royalty stream to a net present value, which brings about the brand value.

By the steps, First Bank led other Nigerian banks with a brand value of $201 million; meaning that if any entity is to use the First Bank brand, such will pay $201 million (N30.15 trillion), against N25.5 trillion in 2012, which is $170 million.

“Bankers are now more aware of the importance of brand to their business and how it needs to be both invested in and protected.

“The buoyancy of First Bank is underlined with its leadership position in Nigeria, not only in age, but

also in all major financial indices and ratios. The bank is the largest financial services institution by total assets and gross earnings, with more than five million customers, over 650 branches and five subsidiaries, which provide comprehensive range of financial services,” Caplen said.

He noted that it has international presence through its subsidiaries like FBN Bank (UK) Limited in London and Paris, and Banque International de Credit (B.I.C) in the Republic of Congo, as well as Representative Offices in Johannesburg, Beijing and Abu Dhabi.

The bank, since its establishment in 1894, has consistently built relationships, focusing on fundamentals of good corporate governance, strong liquidity, risk management and strong capitalisation.

At present, it has 1.3 million shareholders globally, quoted on the floor of The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), where it was one of the most capitalized companies and also had an unlisted Global Depository Receipt (GDR) programme, which was transferred to its Holding Company- FBN Holding

Plc, in December 2012, in line with the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“Over the years, it has played key roles in the Federal Government’s privatisation and commercialisation schemes in particular and the Nigerian economy in general. It has also led the financing of private investment and infrastructure development in the Nigerian economy and in other strata of the society.

“The bank has taken effective measures to mitigate risks associated with financial transactions in all ramifications. In this vein, it is the first institution in Nigeria to achieve globally acclaimed certifications in ISO27001 Information Security Management Systems, ISO38500 IT Governance and BS25999 Business Continuity Management Systems,” the statement added.

The 2011 result of the bank was impressive as it recorded huge gross earnings, with profit before tax put at N68.02 billion; profit after tax, N47.46 billion; total asset, N2.46 trillion; shareholders’ fund N373.57 billion; loans and advances 1.128 trillion; and customer deposits N1.78 trillion.

The bank’s strategic business units focused on specific customer seg-

ments (corporate banking, public sector, retail sector, institutional banking and private banking) to ensure that each segment receives full value.

In October 2011, FirstBank expanded its continental footprint through the strategic acquisition of 75 per cent equity stake in Banque Internationale de Credit (BIC). This is in line with FBN’s commitment to establish presence in selected African countries with clear growth opportunities and potential returns to its shareholders.

The bank’s product mix has been designed to cater for the needs of its diverse client base and currently, it is a key investor in the evolving mobile money market in the country. The Bank has agreements with three major telecommunication companies in order to ensure that present and potential customers have access to a wide range of financial services through their mobile phones.

In e-business, the bank has innovated a bio-only card to protect senior citizens and the uneducated from fraudulent use of their cards while promoting financial inclusion. The bank also has a product, FirstInstant Account targeted at low income customers in its quest to deepen financial inclusion across Nigeria.

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THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

In partnership with Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

TheGuardian

www.ngrguardiannews.com

When Shell’s Afam VI plant was under construction five years ago

Gas To Power:

Why The Darkness Will Linger

By Toyin Akinosho IGERIA arrived at 2013 still a long distance away from an eight year goal: to get its public power utility and private suppliers, to put l0,000Megawatts (MW) of electricity into the national grid, every day.

The target was set around the time that the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act(EPSRA) was signed into law in March 2005, four long years after the bill itself was first presented at the National Assembly.

President Umar Yar’adua elected to moderate the vision of his predecessor. He wanted to get

N

the nation plugged in to 6,000MW of electricity by December 2009 and increase the wattage 10,000MW by 2011, when his mandate was supposed to end.

None of these modest targets have been achieved.

At the end of February 2013, Nigeria was generating 4,397MW at peak, and a minimum of 3,819MW. It’s not clear for how many hours of the day the peak is achieved.

The nation has struggled, for the past four months, with generating between 3,800MW and 4,500MW. It’s not an optimum state of affairs. But there is optimistic talk, especially among right-ofcentre policy analysts, that with the sale of four gov-

ernment owned power plants to an equal number of consortia/companies, the true power supply revolution is about to begin. What about the short run? Where is the gas? How long will it take to get the gas supply right if you’d spent so long a time to get here?

President Goodluck Jonathan’s “Roadmap For Power Sector Reform”, launched in Lagos in August 2010, fixed the medium term as December 2013, when “our expectation is that the total quantum of power delivered to electricity consumers across the country should be at least twice the current level.

This ambition reflects expected outputs from the planned completion of projects which have already

been budgeted and for which the government will retain direct accountability, namely: • the completion of all the overdue NIPP projects (for generation, transmission and distribution); • the completion of the outstanding (and already budgeted) PHCN projects; and • the completion of the outstanding (and already budgeted) NGC investments in the gas supply and transportation industry.

Jonathan’s figures are that In the medium term (up to December 2013), the nation can expect: a modest increase in the total power generation capacity of the existing PHCN power stations (which would bring the total to just under 4,500 MW); the addition of 4,775 MW from the NIPP plants; and a substantial (3,300 MW) increase in power generation capacity from IPPs all by December 2013. As such, the medium term expectation is that 14,000 MW of power generation capacity will be available by December 2013.

December 2013 is just nine months away. The total capacity of all NIPP plants installed is only 1,688MW installed, one third of the 4,775MW

CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

24 AFRICAN OIL&GAS REPORT

KICKSTARTER

Gas To Power: Why The Darkness Will Linger

Again, The Gas To Power Challenges off Geregu, Egbin, Ughelli and Sapele(which produce less than 2,000MW currently), the bulk of power in the country will be up to the govPower Aspirations, April, 4, 2012), the Petroleum ernment to generate, at least between now and 2015. How? Ministry came up with an Emergency Gas The NIPP plants, which have a 1,688MW capacity Supply Plan to deal with the gas supply shortnow, “will be managed under Operation and fall.

Maintenance (O & M) contracts now being preBefore then the minister had declared, with a pared by the Niger Delta Power Holding rhetorical flourish, that there was more gas available than was being taken up. It was not a Company (NDPHC), the parent company of these plants”, according to the Power Road Map. correct interpretation of things.

By 2015, (our calculations) these plants should In any case, the job that the Emergency Gas have total capacity of about 3,500MW, given the Supply team had to do was clearly to fastrack some of what had always been on the drawing current pace with which they come on stream1,700MW every two years-and they will still be board.

Between then and now, the spur lines from the having gas supply challenges, largely because of the pace that government gas transportation Escravos-Lagos Pipeline to the Omotosho and projects are going, as well as the unwillingness Olorunsogo Power Plants have been completof government to unlock the domestic gas suped, but a significant quick win is the gas proply market with market friendly fiscal regime. It cessing plant completed by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company(NPDC), the is not expected that the private power producers would have scaled up Power generation operating subsidiary of the state hydrocarbon much beyond what they inherited. Power company, NNPC. The Oredo processing plant Plants are not comparable with Telecomms has the capacity to output 65Million standard cubic feet per day(MMscf/d), with early first gas Transmission Plants.

This edition is our second since the pull out phase delivering 45MMscf/d to the Ihovbor Independent Power Plant (IPP) and the remain- started exactly a year ago, that will tackle, directly, the gas to power challenges in the Electricity ing 20MMscf/d to the domestic market for Supply Industry. other users through the Escravos-Lagos The Africa Oil+Gas Report is the primer of the Pipeline System (ELPS). What we’re cheering, hydrocarbon industry on the continent. It is the largely, are projects that had been slated to market leader in local contextualizing of global come to fruition as far back as 2010. It is as developments and policy issues and is the go-to usual, the triumph of low expectations. medium for decision makers, whether they be The Niger Delta Power Holding Company international corporations or local entrepreboasts that it has completed installing four neurs, technical enterprises or financing institu“power stations” (namely Olorunsogo, tions, for useful analyses of Africa’s oil and gas Omotosho, Alaoji and Sapele) with one thouindustry. Published by the Festac News Press sand six hundred and eighty eight MegaWatt(1,688MW) capacity, between January Limited since November 2001, AOGR is a monthly, 40 page hardcopy publication delivered to 2011 and December 2012. Big deal. But somesubscribers around the world. Its website thing is extremely wrong if, with all that remains www.africaoilgasreport.com and the increased capacity in the last two years, all the contact email address is info@africaoilgasrenation is generating, today, averages port.com. Contact telephone numbers in our 4,000MW. West African regional headquarters in Lagos are So where was all the power generated earlier 2348130733523, 2347062420127, 2348034449079, than now?

There has been so much celebration by govern- 234803652979, 2348023902519. Please enjoy ment, about reaching 4,500MW. We didn’t stay what this edition of the Pullout has to offer. on that magic number for six months. Just as the nation was celebrating breaching 4,000MW, the generation was dropping.

Reuben Abati, the president’s spokesperson, is shouting down those he thinks are heckling his boss. He is uncomfortable with the marketplace din that democratic freedom allows. But his claims that power delivery has tremendously improved does not take cognizance of the facts on the ground.

Our government’s applause about the transformation of the Power sector is too loud for what it has delivered. There are large swathes of cities and factories where power supply doesn’t reach five hours a day. Our office is located in one such part of Lagos. It means that a 500MW shortfall, in Nigeria, is still economically significant.

Plus, even though the companies that have bought some power stations, in the course of the privatization process, are about to take them over, we need being reminded that things are not going to change in a way that is truly transforming, in the next three years, in part due to transition process, in part due to the current lack of urgency about gas supply Editor challenges. When the nation completes selling EEKS after our article about the huge gap W between gas supply and power plant availability (How NNPC Cripples Nigeria’s Gas To

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23 anticipated in the Roadmap.

The PHCN plants are not producing more than 2,000MW, far less than half of the 4,500MW they were expected to produce

by December 2013. And where are the other IPPS who are expected to deliver 3,000MW? They are: Agip’s 450MW at Okpai, Shell’s 660MW plant at Afam, Akwa Ibom State’s 190MW at Ikot Abasi and who else?

Geometric in Aba? AES Barge in Lagos? Dangote’s Obajana Plant? All of these producing 3,000MW? Oh, come on…

Even if they are firing all cylinders(which they are not), the entire contribution of IPPs and NIPPs and PHCNs today all come to roughly 4,000MW. Jonathan’s Power Reform Roadmap also says: ”In the short term, work to implement the National Gas Masterplan will be accelerated. In the period up to April 2011, it is expected that there will be enough gas supplied to power producers (circa 1,636 mmscfd) to support the targeted increase in actual generation capacity of circa 7,000 MW. Translation: the government, as of August 2010, envisaged power generation of 7,000MW and “hoped” that 1.6Billion cubic feet of gas per day would be available to feed them.

This is itself a real challenge.

Government has been able to construct some gas lines to some power plants and commenced crucial gas infrastructure projects, but it is struggling to deliver on all the infrastructure that will feed all its own power plants.

How did we get here?

The gas supply design was flawed from the start. The government did not ask for an “expression of interest” from contractors for gas supply projects until a full year after the award of contracts for 10 gasfired power plants. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

In March 2005, the same month that the power reform act was signed into law, the Obasanjo government awarded contracts to Shandong Power Construction(SEPCO) to build a 335MW power plant in Papalanto/Olorunsogo in Ogun State, and to the Chinese Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Company(CEEMCO) to build a 335MW plant in Omotosho in Ondo State. Rockson Engineering a Nigerian company, was awarded a contract to build a 378MW plant in Alaoji in River State.

Six months later, the government dramatically awarded

$414Million worth of contracts for the supply of turbines and electricity generation equipment to General Electric(GE), with a six year long (post installation) service agreement estimated at $118Million. The turbines were to be sited in Omoku in Rivers State(230MW).

Gbaran/Ubie (Bayelsa State, 250MW)), Ikot Abasi(Akwa Ibom, 230MW), Sapele(Delta State, 500MW), Eyaen a.k.a Ihovbor(Edo State, 500MW),) Egbema(Imo, 250MW) and Calabar (Cross River, 250MW).

The PHCN itself published these figures of “seven new Federal Government Projects in Niger Delta” in a flyer produced in late 2005.

Today, on www.nidelpower.com, the website of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company of Nigeria(NDPHCN), there’s a list of 11 power plants in various stages of completion. One power plant has been removed; the Ikot Abasi NIPP power plant has been curiously replaced by Ibom Power, which is a 190MW project of the Akwa Ibom State government(since completed).

Some of the planned capacity has been escalated. Alaoji is now assigned a nameplate capacity of 1,074MW, of which only 225MW, which is even lower than the original 335MW, has been completed; Calabar’s planned nameplate capacity is now 561MW, but it is still under construction; Egbema’s would be capacity is now 338MW, but it is still under construction; Gbarain and Omoku are to produce 225MW each, not really different from the original capacity assigned to them, but they are still under construction. The Ihovbor plant in Edo State is being commissioned, as I write, with 450MW available, although, originally, it was meant to produce 500MW. So, four out of seven power plants under the Niger Delta scheme, awarded eight years ago, are still under construction and one is only just being commissioned. Of the three power plant contracts awarded earlier than the Niger Delta scheme, Alaoji is completed, but at 110MW less than what it was originally planned to and 849MW less than what the government itself later decided it should produce. The government has done better with Olorunsogo. It planned 335MW originally, escalated it to 750MW, but has 562.5MW available(ie completed). At Omotosho, the government scaled up the planned capacity from 335 to 500MW, but has commissioned 450MW. There’s a Geregu Plant (a second phase,

an add on to the one built in early 2000s), which is planned to generate 434MW, but currently has available 144.7MW. This is a very mixed result and when all is added and subtracted, it is negative. This is the background against which James Abiodun Olotu, CEO of NDPHC, reportedly declared that all NIPP projects would be completed by the end of 2013.

Gentlemen, these collectively will be the defacto providers of power to Nigeria between 2013 and 2015, as the new owners of Geregu(1st Phase), Sapele(earlier phase), Ughelli and Egbin get down to the nitty gritty of doing business in Nigeria.

So where is the gas coming from?

NIPP authorities have often come across as being befuddled themselves by the process by which gas gets fed into power plants. If they don’t strive to own it, we’d all be in the dark for a longer while. This is what they often say: “Inadequate gas supply has been a major challenge in executing some of the NIPPs but we have been assured by the Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani AlisonMadueke, Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and all stakeholders including the International Oil Companies (IOCs)”. It’s vague.

Omotosho and Olorunsogo are being fed, through spur lines from the Escravos Lagos Gas Pipeline System, which takes gas from Shell, Seplat, Niger Delta Western and Chevron fields in the Niger Delta, to Lagos. The spur lines to the two power plants were only completed in 2012. The ELPS system itself is being debottlenecked, but there are always security issues and yet, for all you know it is gas from the ELPS that is the most guaranteed of all the proposed gas supplies to the NIPPs. Agip is expected to supply 50 Million standard cubic feet a day(50 MMscf/d) to the 225MW Omuku Thermal Plant, when completed. The gas is coming from its Obiafu/Obrikom fields.

The company currently supplies 75MMscf/d of gas to the 450MW power plant it constructed in Okpai, in Delta State.

Now it is working on expansion of gas supply into the gas line from its Obiafu/Obrikom fields in the east to Seplat Petroleum’s Oben field in the west. The gas line christened OB-OB gas line is under construction. It wouldn’t be completed before 2014. This crucial infrastructure will link the gas cluster in the west to that of the east of the country.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 41

25

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

CompuLife Encouraging capacity through patronage of local ICT products

Jonathan

Patronage of locally-assembled Information and Communications Technology products, including computers, home appliances, among others is critical to the drive towards enthroning a knowledgebased economy and improve local content developments in the industry. ADEYEMI ADEPETUN reports. spite of the 2001-2002 worldwide economic gloom, the ITheNrapid pace of technological progress has not been arrested. technological revolution in information and communication technologies (ICT), which has contributed to the extraordinary performance of some leading economies including the U.S.A, Japan, and China among others, has not slowed down.

The rapidly falling prices of ICT products and services along with their increasing efficiency and quality encouraged users to invest in ICT. Indeed, in its ICT Price Basket for 2010, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) disclosed that ICT services were getting more affordable worldwide, stressing that more local solution and patronage are changing the pace of developments.

ITU stressed that consumers and businesses globally are paying on average 18 percent less for entry level ICT services than they were two years ago – and more than 50 percent less for high-speed Internet connections.

The telecommunications Union body recommended that urgent measures must be implemented by governments of member countries including Nigeria, to take local content developments to appreciable level.

Trully, analysts have argued that the impact of ICTs is not a single, stable and predictable outcome, but a non-linear, ongoing process that changes and evolves over time as the actions of individuals and groups within an organization or country are not wholly determined by outside forces, but hugely internal interventions.

While it may be difficult not to appreciate foreign products, it is equally becoming worrisome why local products and es-

AT A GLANCE • Global mobile penetration now over 100 per cent in four of world’s six region - P. 27 • PFS canvasses more capacity building to unlock indigenous software - P. 28 • Acceptability marketing critical to local software production in Nigeria . – P29 • Airtel Africa signs MOU with women on capacity building P. 30 • ICT evolution, Nigeria and rest of the world P. 31

Johnson pecially ICT products continue to experience lower patronage in Nigeria.

A typical example in the country is the indigenous computer manufacturing sub-sector.

The development has been blamed partly on the insensitivity of government to support the players in the hardware manufacturing sector such as Zinox, Omatek, Veda among other manufacturers.

Over the years, stakeholders have continued to point accusing finger at the government for not coming up with favourable policies that give indigenous players preferential treatment compared with their foreign brands or as it is obtain abroad.

Indeed, owners of foreign brands of computers imported into the country are believed to have enjoyed good operating condition in their respective countries and are therefore, well positioned to sell at relatively competitive prices. Industry analysts have argued that Nigerian computer firms have always

Ekeh found it hard to compete favourably with their foreign counterparts due to high cost of production incurred occasioned by general poor state of infrastructure in the country, the unfriendly monetary policy where interest rate is at double-digit rate, among others.

One, cannot but mentioned the uncontrollable penchant of Nigerians to run after foreign brands of computer such Samsung, HP, Dell, IBM, Acer and so on, neglecting the locally-developed brands based on the perception that indigenous PC brands are inferior to foreign ones, is another challenge to the patronage of Nigerian brands of computers.

This has even become more worrisome, in the sense that most of these celebrated brands are not keen about setting up an assembly plant in Nigeria, which could among others improve competition, boost economy and create jobs.

It will be recalled that in 2000, the Federal Government of Nigeria embarked on an aggressive drive towards the proviCONTINUED ON PAGE 26

26 COMPULIFE

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

How to increase patronage for local ICT products CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 sion of more efficient ICT services in the nation and also investment in ICT through its privatization and deregulation policies.That impact can only be said to have rub off well on the telecommunications sector with the introduction of GSM services.

The players have continued to leverage the Nigerian market to boost their global earnings, with increasing capital flights.

Government’s effort at promoting local content development is still foot dragging, especially in the ICT sector, as there have been no clear cut drives on the part of the policy makers.

Today, most Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government still patronise foreign brands to Made-inNigeria products.

In her recent Interview with The Guardian, the Chief Executive Officer of Omatek Ventures, Mrs. Florence Seriki had stressed that if local content development must be successful, the number one citizen must appreciate indigenous manufacturers by patronizing Made-in-Nigeria products.

Throwing their weight behind Seriki’s statement, stakeholders have called on

government, private entities and individuals to patronise locally-manufactured ICT products, including computers, stressing that this portends huge benefits for the Nigerian economy.

Already, in one of her interactions with indigenous operators in the ICT sector, the minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, said the poor patronage and non-utilisation of locally-assembled ICT products was a threat to the nation’s economy and national security.

Johnson reckoned that as at mid-2011, only about 5,000 computers had been produced in Nigeria by all the local computer firms combined. She stressed the need for Nigeria to change the trend, assuring that the government would also look into the issue of tax waiver for the players in the subsector to boost their competitiveness.

In a recent chat with journalists in Abuja, the Director-General of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Dr. Chris Onyenemam said Nigeria would be loosing greatly if it failed to encourage local production of products, services.

NIMC, which will be using Nigerian made computers for its National Identity Number project, scheduled for second quarter, according to Onyene-

mam, patronage of local players has become imperative for the economy.

By and large, the Chairman Zinox Group, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh emphasized strongly in government removing various bottlenecks hindering local players in the country.

Ekeh, who also stressed the need for government to invest massive in education to be able to create a knowledge economy, noted that capacity building for the economy can only be achieved through innovation.

According to him, if sectors such as the textile, airline, and stock markets could be supported through subsidy, “I don’t see any reason why government cannot invest in massively education in education.

Atleast about N150 billion should be used to subsidize the education sector.

“Why am stressing on the education sector is because, we need innovation to be able to create our contents as a nation.

The support for local content development is very crucial if the economy must move forward. Government should empower the students, right from their primary level to tertiary.

They should be given PCs, laptops, that is the we can create a knowledge economy that will rub off well on loal production.”

Ekeh, who will be commissioning a new manufacturing

plant in March, canvassed improved infrastructure; incentives among others for local players.

The Zinox boss noted that what indigenous computer firms needed are good policies from government to be able to create digital activities that will ultimately lead to the patronage of locally-assembled computers Underscoring the importance of patronsing local ICT products in Nigeria, the Director General of the National Information Technology

Development Agency, Prof.

Cleopas Angaye, in one of his interactions with journalists, said local content development holds key to Nigeria’s future.

Angaye, who recently recommended Omatek power solution to Nigerians, said NITDA would partner with indigenous operators such as Omatek in areas it deemed appropriate to sustain the growth of the sector He noted that while an existing directive by the government, asking the MDAs to patronise locally-assembled computers, was yet to be fol-

lowed to the letters, NITDA will not rest on its oars to ensure that there is total compliance to such as progressive directive.

Angaye pointed out that the only challenge facing indigenous players is poor patronage from the Nigerian computer users, stressing that Nigeria needed to adopt model adopted by countries such as India, South Korea, United States, China and others, where patronage of their locally-assembled IT products are being consumed by them

Board members and facilitators of Lagos State Chapter of Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) during a training on ‘mobile devices and byod; IT audit and security considerations’ in Lagos… recently

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Capacity building critical to unlocking indigenous software potential, says PFS

By Adeyemi Adepetun ECOGNISING the enormous potential embedded in software development, Precise Financial Systems (PFS), an indigenous software development company, has reiterated the need for Nigeria to invest hugely in capacity building to encourage local developers in the country.

PFS Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Yele Okeremi, who led other members of the management team to a media chat with journalists in Lagos at the weekend believed strongly in encouraging the use of Made- in-Nigeria software.

Though, silent about the amount the country loses yearly to various importation of foreign software, Okeremi believed that Nigeria can save up to $50 billion through the development of indigenous software.

According to him, despite the Nigeria’s huge population, human and material resources, the country still buys software from smaller countries such as Jordan, United Arab Emirates and Latvia.

He stressed that most companies spent huge amount of money to buy and maintain software.

Okeremi, who was very emphatic about the need to look inward for software related services and products, stressed that it was high time Nigeria started developing its own software to catch up with its counterparts in the global ICT market.

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The PFS boss said that PFS was able to stand its ground in the ICT sector as a result of training and retraining.

According to him, the firm develops world-class software suitable for Nigeria including accounts packages like iTeller.

He said, “Nigeria’s wealth can be preserved here in Nigeria by developing our own software. Most companies pay a lot of money to buy and maintain software from abroad. We need to look at the fundamentals before we can have a total success. What does it take to build a piece of software – training and retraining?

“We need to build software companies and use the practitioners as spring boards, once we can do this, the country will be on the path of repositioning the ICT sector.

PFS as a software company, with clients and operations in 33 countries – Africa and Europe – is a success story for the black race.”

“We have been able to create our own market and we thicken the market because we chose to run a different race in software development. This is a software thinking company and it is very critical to us. PFS does not sell any foreign solutions; we develop applications that are suitable for Nigeria, but world-class.”

Also speaking, the Deputy Managing Director of the firm, Mr. Philip Ayeni, pointed out that a lot of opportunities abound in the ICT sector with the world advanc-

ing rapidly through it, while Nigeria was still lagging behind.

Ayeni explained that the trend was not good enough for the country, adding that a lot of efforts and the necessary platforms must be put in place, if Nigeria must be

reckoned with in the global ICT sector.

With PFS huge strength in financial software, the DMD said major financial institutions in the country have found PFS software very efficient and better than those that were imported, “reason

why we have remained very relevant in the industry. We also help the manufacturing, oil and gas sector with our software. I must tell you if we say we going to quantify how much the country loses to foreign importation, we can only assume, because so

many things are involved.

“All that is needed is for government to give recognition and encourage developers.

They must also buy these products, because that is what other economies are doing. They invest in local content.”

Samsung organises fair, showcases products

By Toyin Olasinde O further bring it numerous products closer to the people, Samsung Electronic West Africa has concluded a three-day product fair in Lagos, The fair, which is also going to be staged in Abuja and Port Harcourt very soon, according to the Product Manager Chima Ezenwanne was packaged to among other things deepen Samsung pres-

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ence in major markets across the countrys.

In the words of the IT Manager for Samsung, Folasade Oyelayo; “The aim of the fair is to show consumers that Samsung has a fantastic range of IT products. People have long associated the brand with innovative mobile phones. It is very funny that whenever Samsung is mentioned, the first thing that comes to people mind is

the Galaxy range of smart phones. The Samsung brand is synonymous to innovative products. Our cutting edge technology spans across all our product range. We believe that Nigerians deserve to enjoy the same innovation from Samsung in the IT space’’.

The Samsung IT division caters for IT products like printers, monitors, laptops/note pc’s and all in

one pc’s. Official staff members from Samsung IT products. There was an experience consumer on the special features of Samsung IT product display. There was an experience center with full product display. Consumer were allowed to experience the IT products first hand and directed to accredited brand shops where they could make purchase with 24 months warranty.

Microsoft empowers developers for improved productivity

By Bankole Orimisan ICROSOFT Nigeria recently organised a oneday workshop to sharpen developers’ skills using its innovative products and solutions.

The workshop, according to Microsoft ORbiggest drew a large attendance of the Nigerian developers’ community, was targeted at empowering developers to better position them within the industry. The workshop was also aimed at improving profitability of the developers in their chosen field.

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Developer Platform Evangelism Lead, Microsoft Anglophone West Africa, Shina Oyetoso, explained that the rationale for the “workshop was that itwas part of the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative geared towards empowering individuals’ innovation for global competitiveness and to educate the developers on how to position their software.’’

He added that the developers workshop was an offshoot of the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative launched on February 5th aimed at sowing seeds of growth and investment on the African continent.

Country Manager Microsoft Anglophone West Africa, Emmanuel Onyeje, in his address at the workshop,

charged the developers to create more user-friendly and innovative Apps that will help to enhance users’ experience. He encouraged them to come up with consumable content that people can easily buy into.

Onyeje advised that “Access” one of the pillars of the 4Afrika Initiative was needed to drive content consumption through devices.

The Microsoft Country Manager said the Corporation was focusing on giving people skills for them to employ people or to be employed. He disclosed that the Company was partnering with the Federal Government of Nigeria to launch an Innovation Centre in the

country and to set-up an App Factory that will provide Windows apps by Nigerians for Nigerians, and also provide them skills for employability.

Donald Oyeleye, an app developer at Infoware Limited, developers of the Infoware Finance App spoke on apps for the financial industry.

He explained that the essence of developing apps is to help users solve specific problems in order to their enhance productivity.

Akinwale Ariwodola, an IT Consultant with Antinormal Limited and Sasha Winston-Onyiah, Lead Programmer at IDSL taught the developers on how to develop Apps for Windows store.

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MaritimeWatch Combating traffic gridlock along Lagos ports’ access roads

By Moses Ebosele HAT is the permanent W solution to the perennial traffic situation in and around the seaports in Lagos State?

The traffic gridlock, mostly compounded by the activities of containerized trucks and petroleum tankers, seems to have defied concerted efforts of the three tiers of governments and traffic agencies.

In May 2012, the Federal Government, in collaboration with the Lagos State government, rolled out some measures expected to bring succour to port users, residents of Apapa and other stakeholders.

But, the measures, which included use of the army, navy, police, Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC),LagosStateTraffic Management Authority (LASTMA), threat to crush any recalcitrant truck, among others appearedtohavefailedassome stakeholders predicted.

Some port users in a chat with The Guardian on Monday identified alleged congestion in the ports, tank farms along the Apapaaxis,badroadsandindiscipline truck drivers as some of the factors responsible for the excruciating traffic situation within the axis.

They urged the Federal Government to relocate all tank farms, revive the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and monitor closely the prompt clearance of goods at the ports as part of measures to bring the situation under control.

Besides, road haulage operators, under the aegis of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), at the weekend, renewed appeal to the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola to approve their request to construct a dedicated modern truck terminal at Ilu Eri, Ijora.

According to the group, the development is expected to curtail the situation, adding, “The proposed truck terminal will be an ultra-modern complex and, very environmentally-friendly, because it will surely key into the Lagos State Government’s beautification efforts.”

National Chairman of AMATO, Chief Remi Ogungbemi, said: “Governor Fashola should, please, save our souls and grant the approval for AMATO to construct the terminal, which will surely resolve the problem of traffic congestion on the Lagos ports access roads”.

He added: “It is not enough for officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) to persistently hound and impound trucks waiting on the roads to enter into the ports. Many truck owners have been rendered bankrupt, owing to the incessant seizure of their trucks and imposition of outrageous fines

by LASTMA. The humane and right choice is for the Lagos State Government to grant AMATO approval for the truck terminal, which will serve as a marshalling yard, keeping the trucks from using the roads as their parking lots.”

Ogungbemi explained recently that the traffic situation along the access roads to the

A tank farm along Lagos port axis port would remain the way it is unless government provides a parking space within the ports for its members.

He said: “Before the port concession, there were designated places where trucks were allowed to park. But the port concession arrangement has taken over those places.

That is why you are now seeing trucks littering the whole place within the ports, that is, the Tin Can and the Apapa ports. So, all those trucks parking on the road is not in the interest of the owner or the driver, but the truck has to come from somewhere. Look at an aircraft that flies. We have airport. We have a tarmac. We have a hanger for planes. So, we also need a terminal for trucks designated within the ports.

For me, this is what I know to be the permanent solution to the traffic situation within the two ports.”

He added: “To a layman, you will say that the truck operators are the cause, but the major cause of the traffic is that the foundation or structure of the ports has been tampered with. So in the absence of a truck terminal at the port, you automatically find trucks parking anywhere they see a space.

“Well, we cannot exonerate ourselves. We can only be managing the situation on ground pending the time we have the infrastructure in place.”

But, an economist, Dr Matthew R. Otoide, in a chat with The Guardian on Monday advised the federal government to find lasting solution to the alleged within the port, pointing out that “it is the best

solution, at least for now”.

Explaining further, Otoide said: “Is the 24 hour directives working? How come the port access roads are littered with all manners of trucks? The minister of transport should find out what the problem is. The entire Apapa is under bondage. The environment is polluted. The government should find a permanent solution. We cannot continue like this”.

Another port user who simply gave his name as Olamide spoke in a similar vein: “Why are we (Nigerians) like this? The port is not the problem. The problem is our attitude. Those in authority should tackle the problem without sentiment. Relocate the tank farms and make the railway viable. Any other solution is like scratching the surface”.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the economy, Mrs. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, had recently attributed the problem of congestion at the nation’s ports to corruption among government officials.

Okonjo-Iweala at the investigative hearing organised by the House of Representatives joint committees on finance, customs and marine transport in Abuja.

The Minister who was represented by the permanent secretary in the ministry, Dankadi Kifasi, said there was a need to improve the general port operations in the country.

She said: “Nigerian ports need to enhance their efficiency to come close to international best practices”.

According to her, the decongested roads in the port’s vicinity were being reversed to its for-

mer state, adding that the situation was made worse by the lawlessness of tanker drivers lifting petroleum products from tank farms.

The Minister explained that the Ports Reform committee was currently collaborating with the Lagos State Governmenttosolvetheperennial traffic congestion, adding that the Federal Ministry of Works had also commenced rehabilitation of the access roads to the ports.

The Minister of Transport, Alhaji Idris Umar, said that a bill to further sustain port reforms would soon be submitted to the National Assembly.

He explained that the bill would seek to repeal the Nigerian Ports Authority Act of 1999 and enact the Nigerian Ports and Habours Act, 2013.

Represented by the permanent secretary, Mr. Nebolisa Emordi, the minister said to ensure efficiency in the operations in the ports, the number of agencies operating at the ports had been reduced from 14 to 7.

While calling for a permanent solution, Apapa GRA Residents Association, described the situation as “very alarming,” pointing out that apart from death and loss of man-hour, the metropolis is no longer attractive for business.

Meanwhile, to boost efficiency at the port, the Managing Director of NPA, Habib Abdullahi explained recently that rail lines have been rehabilitated within the Port, pointing out that it is the only way to ensure “goods can be moved in the cheapest means possible from the

Ports”.

Abdullahi said: “If you go to Apapa you will see a 1.6km road which links the quay side to the outside of the port. We are widening it so that it can take more trucks. The rail lines within the ports like I said earlier are also being rehabilitated so that shippers can move their goods from the quayside to the Lagos-Ibadan axis, IbadanJebba axis, Jabba-Kaduna, Kano – Nguru. It is such that even from Kaduna junction you can link the eastern part of the country”.

On the clamour for deep-sea port along the west coast of Africa, the NPA boss said: “A number of investors are coming in. There are two or three ports that are being developed.

We have the Ibaka deep-sea port, which is in Akwa Ibom State. The Government of the state is coming up with an industrial city. They want to use a spot that is recognized as a location point of the deep-sea port, which is Ibaka.

“We have the Lekki deep sea port. This is just outside the Lagos metropolis. Some investors are also interested in this, and they are coming up with a kind of dredged harbor with about 16 meters draught.

It is actually not natural. But, they are trying to do it the way it is done elsewhere. I know it is a civil engineering work that is coming up. This will help in bringing in bigger ships. There is also another port in Badagry.

This one involves one of the concessionaires. Badagry is just outside Lagos. All these will boost our effort to operating deep-sea ports.

“That is a lot of development

plan in the offing. A lot of people and investors are really interested in putting in their money into these projects and it is taking the form of P.P.P (Public Private Partnership)”.

On the role of NPA and stakeholders in ensuring more conducive atmosphere in the sector, Abdullahi said, “In July, (2012) the Federal government heldaretreatontheportindustry. The President, Vice President, the Secretary to the Federal Government and relevant Ministers, stakeholders in the maritime industry were there. For about 18 hours, we deliberated on how to reform and revive the maritime industries. We are going to come out with a new reform policy, which will carry us forward and see us through the next decade or two and that itself is going to take care of all these things you are talking about.

“There would be a synergy between us (NPA), Customs and NIMASA (Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency). In a month or two when the reports are out, you will have new policies in the industry”.

Commenting on the onestop cargo clearing operations in the Ports, Abdullahi said the NPA has submitted a letter to Ministry of Transport. “We have submitted the result of a study that was sponsored by the Department of Trade of the United State. This is the Port community System. This is about the coordination of the activities of all relevant agencies within the port. This is to give a One-Shop to our operations and activities.

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NPA begins anti-terrorism training *Pledges to transform Bonny Island

By Moses Ebosele ARRING any last minute change in plans, the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) will today begin special security training aimed at protecting its facilities and installations against terrorist attacks.

According to NPA, the programme tagged: “Protecting Nigerian’s Seaports’’, is designed to provide “the Nigerian maritime community with the needed information to protect on-shore, and sub-sea facilities from potential terrorist and criminal threats”.

NPA explained on Monday that the inaugural course is targeted at the military, intelligence, law enforcement agencies and maritime administrators “while the private sectors would take its turn at another forum in April”.

Explaining further, NPA said: “These are the initiative of the Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC).

The TFC is a creation of the office of the President of Nigeria in cooperation with the Ministry of Transport and the Nigeria Ports Authority.

“The Trade Facilitation (TFC) is to manage all information flowwithinNigeria’smaritime domain in an effort to deliver efficiencies, effectiveness, safety and security throughout the seaports and waterways”.

Meanwhile, to enhance safetyofnavigationandprotection of the marine environment, NPAistoestablishVesselTraffic Management Information Services (VTMIS) at Bonny Island, Rivers State.

According to the Managing Director of NPA, Habib Abdullahi,theparastatalisalso intensifying plans to ensure an effective succession plan of its ageing marine personnel including pilots.

Receiving a delegation from the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Company to his office in Lagos, Abdullahi pledged the commitment of NPA to meet the expectations of all stakeholders.

Represented by the Executive Director, Marine and Operations, David Omonibeke, an engineer, the Managing Director assured theNLNGdelegationthatmanagement of NPA will soon visit

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Port facilities in the Bonny Island for on the spot assessment.

The Managing Director, according to a press statement issued by NPA’s General Manager in charge of Public Affairs, Capt Iheanacho Ebubeogu, used the opportunity to commend NLNG for its contributions to the development of the nation’s seaports and the maritime industry in general, adding that the NPA will always fulfill its obligations to all stakeholders in the industry.

Earlier, the leader of the NLNG delegation and Deputy Managing Director of the company, Basheer Koko listed Pilotage, training and certification of pilots, channel management, Jetty maintenance and traffic management, light house management among others as critical operational issues which NLNG wants NPA to look into in order to ensure smooth operations at Bonny Island.

While noting that Nigerian Ports Authority’s role is vital to NLNG operations, he stressed the need for continuous collaboration between the organisations.

Representatives of NPA at the meeting were the Executive Director, Engineering and Technical Services, Alhaji Mohammed Sani Saleh, General Manager, Legal Services, Mrs. Obiageli Anubi, General Manager, Marine and Operations, Mallam Mohammed Bulangu and General Manager, Security, Col. Jamil Tahir [Rtd.], among others while the NLNG team also comprised of General Manager, Shipping, Temilola Okesanjo, Charles Okon and Mrs. Titi Horsfall both of Government relations department.

In a related development, NPA has donated some security devices to the Ports Authority Police Command.

Speaking before handing over the devices to the representative of the Ports Police Command, Abdullah said NPA appreciates and commend the Police Command for their efforts at combating security challenges at the nation’s Seaports, adding that the devices are aimed at assisting

Nigerian Navy Ship(NNS), ‘Thunder’ on arrival at the Port of Douala, Cameroon for the International Sea Exercise tagged ‘Exercise Obangame Express’, PhOTO By ODITa SuNDay recently. and encouraging the police to do more.

Abdullahi was represented by the Assistant General

Manager in charge of Security at Western Port, Mr. Sam Asamage.

Receiving the items on behalf

of the Port Police Command, Mr. Selem V. Amachree, Assistant Commissioner of Police, NPA Headquarters said,

“On behalf of the Inspector General of Police, Mr. M.D. Abubakar and Ports Authority Police Commissioner, I accept

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Industrywatch Nigeria’s slow, steady move to rice self-sufficiency

By Femi Adekoya itherto, Nigeria was one of the world’s largest importers of cement. Today, going H by the claims of glut in the market, the country produces enough cement locally to make it a net exporter. Within a decade, Nigeria grew local production by about 1,000 per cent, a revolution that has been described as swift and decisively powered largely by Dangote and Lafarge.

In recent times, there have been questions on the nation’s ability to replicate the cement revolution in rice production. Can Nigeria move from being the world’s largest importer of rice to being a zero importer, in two years? That is, the 2015 target set by government to cease the importation of rice and become self sufficient.

Specifically, with a current yearly consumption of about 5.2 million metric tonnes compared with a production capacity of 3.4 million, with imports catering for the remaining 1.8 million, according to statistics by Olam, the country's rice consumption is expected to jump to 35 million metric tons by 2050, some 30 million metric tonnes over the present consumption pattern in the country.

Albeit many have argued that cement is not rice, as rice has to be grown, while cement is simply manufactured. Like everything that has to be grown, rice lies at the mercy of nature: farming cycles, soil quality, disease, rainfall, flooding, among others. For instance, last year’s devastating floods have caused a reassessment of Nigeria’s rice-producing capacity with government’s 2015 target hanging in the balance.

That Nigerian may achieve its projections for rice production in the country, stakeholders have called for an active collaboration of private and public sectors in order to increase production capacity as well as meet local demand for the product.

Already, five countries account for more than 80 per cent of the world’s exports of rice: India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and the United States. On the import table, things have changed dramatically with about 36 countries jointly claiming responsibility for 80 per cent of exports, a table where Nigeria prominently features.

President Goodluck Jonathan had said in August 2011, at a meeting with the International Fund for Agricultural Development that, “There is no reason why Nigeria should be importing rice. We have all that is needed to grow enough for domestic consumption and have a surplus we can export to other countries.”

A close observation at Nigeria’s appetite for the staple food, as well as government’s ambitious self-sufficiency vision for rice, places emphasis on government’s effort to create an enabling environment to grow the current production capacity in the country.

To this end, a sizable tariff has been slammed on imported rice, with the federal government imposing a 100 per cent special levy on the importation of the commodity in Nigeria to protect local millers.

Interest in commercial rice processing increased steadily over the past three years, with almost a dozen new entrants considering greenfield or refurbished milling operations.

Sadly, many mills in Nigeria are not processing due to lack of quality paddy, competing business priorities, or lack of equipment or technical know-how. Even if all mills were running at capacity, processing would meet only a fraction of demand.

The Federal Government at the weekend however noted that Olam’s investment in rice cultivation saying would close the gap in rice importation and increase Nigeria’s self sufficient in rice production soon, if adequate partnership is enhanced.

Chairman, Presidential Committee, Rice Price Benchmark, Dhiru Ado-Kurawa during the committee’s visit to Olam Farm Project in Doma, Nasarawa State said farm project sited in 9,400 hectares would place Nigeria in a platform to produce enough rice and especially explore the export market.

He said: “The committee has the responsibility of monitoring rice in the country and regulates the price for rice imports. We have been a part of government encouraging rice production in Nigeria and monitoring the existing rice producers. Importation is encouraged because it is very easy for importers to get banks that

Olam’s Doma rice farm support them with letters of credit while they just sit back in their air-conditioned offices and place orders for rice imports. “We are very impressed with what Olam is doing; to have cultivated 6,400 hectares this year, in Nigeria is a boost. What we have here is just like want you can find in Thailand, Brazil, among other leading countries in rice cultivation. We have realized that importation will not do us any good and that is why we want to support local production and support those who are in the business of growing rice like olam. We spend hundred billions of naira importing rice into this country, imagine for a moment what that kind of money will do for this country if it is retained here’’ he said.

Kurama urged other rice importers to start backward integration to fast track government efforts to be self sufficient in rice production.

He said that he was convinced that with more of this kind of investment in the country, rice exportation would be achieved.

The chairman however reassured of Federal Government’s plan to reduce rice smuggling to the barest minimum to protect rice investment in the country.

Kurama said the popular belief that imported rice are better milled will soon be a thing of the past if all these policies are strictly followed.

“High duty is to capture revenue but more importantly to support local production of rice through a barrier process and protection of the investments made by local farmers. I am very impressed by what I have seen here at Olam’s farm

especially because Nigeria consumes 5.2mmt of rice yearly. If we are serious and really mean business, we can cultivate all the rice we need here in the country and have the surplus to export.”

“We have been relegated to preventable poverty because there are no jobs especially in the rural areas, whereas we can channel our energies and efforts into rice cultivation and processing and save for ourselves hundreds of billions every year.

The government is 100 per cent behind any company that will make this kind of investment, because this is a partnership with government to reduce the huge import since Nigeria has the dubious honour of being the second largest importer of rice in the world.

“We have to plant our own food and not abandon feeding ourselves just because we have oil.

We have other needs that can be met with the money saved from food importation because a penny saved is a penny earned. Most of our local rice production is consumed in the rural areas and that is why you hardly find them in the towns and cities and some are equally being exported to our neighbouring countries. We need to close this gap and government has been encouraging millers to mill our locally produced rice. At the end of the day when the gap between production and processing is closed, rice importation will be a thing of the past in Nigeria,” he said.

On the reason behind the hike in tariffs on rice imports, he explained thus: “The committee realized that most importers were under-invoicing. If rice is $700 for instance they quote $200 as their

buying price. Government decided to set up this committee to find out the international market price of rice and fix the quota for importers.

Government decided to put in place a high duty on imported rice and it has worked because now it is very clear that the Customs Service is the second largest revenue earner for government after oil and rice is the highest revenue earner for the Customs.

“The high duty is to capture revenue but more importantly to support local production of rice through a barrier process and protection of the investments made by local farmers. Blanket Waivers were given to importers of rice in 2008 to prevent food shortage and that was because we were not ready then. Now the government is ready, the Nigerian people are also ready in trying to grow our own rice and there is enough information on how this can be achieved.

“Nigerians should please bear with the government because the price of rice will go up as we have shut the door to import and that same price is going to shoot up the production of rice locally and our farmers will have the opportunity to make more money. We have to go through the little hard time it will take for our farmers and millers to catch up with satisfying local demand in terms of quantity and quality. And from what we have gathered I can assure Nigerians that by the end of this farming season, we are going to see more rice than we have ever seen in the history of this country because of government’s policy to encourage local production.”

Exportation of oil, gas boosts Nigeria-Spain trade

By Sulaimon Salau RADE relationship between Nigeria and Spain may have edged up further through the significant volume of oil and gas export to the European country.

The Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Alvaro Castillo Aguilar, recently confirmed that Nigeria’s oil export volume has remained the major boost to trade relationship between the two countries.

Aguilar, who was represented by the Economic and Commercial Councilor, Embassy of Spain, Pablo Martinemet Segrelles, at the bimonthly luncheon of the NigerianSpanish Association in Lagos, said

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the two country are presently working to exploit other areas of the economy.

He estimated that trade relationship in 2011 stood at £26 billion, and optimistic that the 2012 trade volume from Nigeria would hit £7billion.

His words: “The trade relationship is growing very fast and we have come a very long way with Nigeria’s export to Spain in 2011 £26 billion, we are still working on the volume for 2012, but we expect about £7 billion to be realized in export from Nigeria to Spain. That is against only £275 million moving from Spain to Nigeria, but

there is a huge gap, mainly due to oil and gas export from Nigeria,” he said.

The ambassador said the countries are also looking at a diversified trade in the areas of energy, construction, agriculture, finance, security, health sectors, among others.

“I think this is a good opportunity for us to keep working together and to get investments as well as export improved.

“We are supporting Spanish companies to invest in Nigeria and we are looking for potential partners willing to do business with them.

We have a commercial office in the

Spain embassy and we are working with the Nigerian government to encourage the companies,” he said.

The President, Nigerian-Spanish Association, Rauf Abiola Masha, also confirmed that the relationship is more in favour of Nigeria, because Nigeria exports a lot of products, mainly oil to Spain, with import less from the European country.

On diversification of the economy, Masha said, although some countries are already exporting other products to Spain, he said there was need for the Nigerian government to make a reasonable diversification to the non-oil sector.

He however, noted that the associ-

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EVENTS

Oloibiri Lecture For Civic Centre HE Society of Petroleum T Engineers (SPE) announces its 2013 annual Oloibiri Lecture Series & Energy Forum for March 14 at the Civic Centre in Lagos. The issues are The Emergence Of Unconventionals: Impact on The Nigerian Petroleum Industry and Indigenous Participation in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry: Are We On Track?. The Oloibiri Lecture Series &Energy Forum commemorates the history of Oil and Gas exploration in Nigeria by providing a forum for discussing and proffering solutions to contemporary challenges facing the Nigerian Oil and Gas sector.

“Participants will be treated to a highly interactive and informed discussions, drawing on their own experience as well as those of invited resource persons from the industry, government regulatory agencies and subject matter experts”, says Osayande Igiehon, Chairman SPE Nigerian Council.

NAPE Calls For Abstracts For 2013 Conference HE Nigerian terization and predicT Association of tion of rock properties Petroleum Explorationists(NAPE) has called for abstracts for papers for its 31st Annual International Conference, scheduled for Novembe 10-14 at the Eko Hotel.

The theme is Stimulating Exploration and Reserves Growth In A Maturing Basin.

The organization expects to receive the abstracts by July 1, 2013 and send out notice of acceptance by August 2, 2013. NAPE wants its presenters to have submitted their full papers by September 27, 2013.

Sub-themes include: Seismic technologies and the development of new play concepts; rock physics models; charac-

from surface and subsurface data.

Contending and competing exploration technologies, how far and how well?

Reservoir management strategies for sustained production and improved recovery.

Technology application and exploitation of small accumulations.

Policy initiatives for enhanced exploration and reserves growth.

All abstracts are to be emailed to Matthew Oton(Ph.D), of the Department of Geology at the University of Ibadan at ntonme@yahoo.com and copied info@nape.org.ng

KICKSTARTER

Gas To Power: Why The Darkness Will Linger CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24 *Addax was expected to supply about 45MMscf/d of gas from Adanga Field in Oil Mining Lease(OML)123, directly to the Calabar IPP. For sixyears, the NNPC and Addax disagreed over this. The project was caught in the challenge of interpreting the Production Sharing Contract(PSC) agreement between the two companies. It wasn’t until late 2012 that the government finalized an alternative agreement with Frontier Oil, to supply 150MMscf/d of gas to the Calabar plant. Gas from Frontier Oil’s Uquo field in Eket, will be transported via a proposed 40km Accugas line(owned by Septa Energy) to Oron, from where an Oron to Calabar line(supposedly under construction

by Kaztech), will deliver the gas at the Calabar Power Plant. In March 2013, the completion of Calabar Power Plant, the Eket To Oron Line and Oron To Calabar lines are uncertain.

Addax was also to provide 30MMscf/d of gas to the Egbema Plant via a 10km pipeline from its Izombe field in Imo State. It’s not certain that Addax is going to do this and it’s not clear

who is doing it. *Shell is expected to provide 40MMscf/d from its Gbaran/Ubie Integrated gas project, into the Gbaran/Ubie Power station under construction. Shell’s Gbarain Ubie gas processing plant has been completed two years ago.

Completion date for the Gbarain Power Plant is uncertain, so also is the fate of the short, 5km gas line from the gas processing plant to the power plant. Shell is also to supply 30MMscf/d of gas to Alaoji, from the Shell eastern cluster, which includes gas from Obigbo North field. Imo River field and Alakiri field and to which the 240MMscf/d Okoloma gas project has been added. There was headline news about the inability of the contractor to complete the pipeline, and it was awarded to another contractor. The new Sapele plant is also expected to be receiving gas from the ELPS. *TOTAL was not asked to supply gas for any of the NIPP projects. The company officials say they have commenced proceedings towards EPC tender for the construction of a 440MW

Independent Power Project in Obite, located a Rivers State, in the east of the country. S me 70MMscf/d of gas from Obite and Obagi fields, in OML 58, will feed the power plant. The French super major has not taken a Final Investment Decision on this IPP and it isn’t clear when the project will come on stream. *Chevron once broke the grounds for a 780MW a Power Plant in Agura in Lagos state.

But the initial enthusiasm for that project has cooled and no one is talking about an engineering phase, let alone an investment decision. Chevron has a larger gas supply commitment for domestic use than any other company apart from Shell. It supplies over 200MMScf to the Escravos -Lagos pipeline, the main natural gas transport infrastructure for the country’s domestic supplies in the country.

Most of these companies, apart from Shell have never been part of the gas supply chain to Nigeria’s electricity infrastructure. It wasn’t until 1995, that Chevron showed up as a company of reckoning in the local gas supply market. Agip came later.

HUMAN CAPACITY

OAU Charges Forth To Second Year Of Oil and Gas Masters ITH the end of the first year in W sight, the Obafemi Awolowo University’s Geology Department looks forward to a second batch of students for its new, skill based Master’s degree in Petroleum Geosciences, Petroleum Geophysics and Petroleum Geochemistry. The new year is expected to commence on 2nd April, 2013 Last year’s batch of students are rounding up at the end of March 2013.

“We have in our first year assembled an excellent team of instructors from Government, Industry and Academia, each one of them an expert in his own area of specialization, who shares our vision of producing in Nigeria well-grounded graduates with the modem technical and inter-

personal skills required by prospective employees”, says Omar Rahaman (professor), who is co-ordinating the programme.

The students have access to eight Window-Based Workstations donated by Shell and Landmark and equipped with the Geographix Discovery software; four UNIX Based Workstations donated by ExxonMobil and Schlumberger and equipped with the interpretation software Geoframe. There are also four pairs of high end desktop computers donated by geoscience graduates of OAU who work for Chevron Nigeria. Apart from Geographix and Geoframe, the 12 workstations are also equipped with such software as Opendtect donated by dGB, a Dutch geophysical company and its

Nigerian partners Danvic Concept.

The Kingdom suite software was donated by Seismic Micro Technology at the instance of B.D Ako, a professor of geophysics at the University. There is also RockDoc software, donated by Ikon Science, a UK based geophysical company. Perhaps the biggest catch however, is the Petrel software, donated by Schlumberger. In the oil industry today, Petrel is the most robust software for interpretation. It started “life” as a software for reservoir characterization. Now it is being increasingly used for basic seismic interpretation.

Professor Rahaman says that the department is seeking funding for the a) Appointment of a Director of

Studies of Professorial Status to coordinate and administer the programmes and provide liaison between Sponsors, Industry, Government, Non-Government Agencies and Students, (b) Appointment of an ICT Manager of Technologist status to manage the VSAT and sixty desktop computers and laptops, which are among the facilities provided by The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) as part of its upgrade intervention of programme of the Department. These need to be managed by someone who knows how to do so. d) Scholarship for students. The tuition fee for each of the courses is Ni, 000,000.00 (one million naira) only per student. It covers the cost of

instructions and instructional materials, fieldwork for a minimum of 16 days and computer time but does not include board, feeding, purchase of books, e.t.c.

The department has scheduled, for career talks, the hours between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the first and third Thursdays of every month starting from April 2013 through to November 2013, to be delivered by professionals working in Government and Industry. “This activity will provide the opportunity for prospective employers and the students to interact with one another and for the employers to hunt amongst the students for prospective employees”.

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

42 AFRICAN OIL&GAS REPORT

LOCAL CONTENT

By Moses Aremu STRATEGy meeting to discuss modalities for a vastly improved indigenous vessel utilization was held on Wednesday, February 20, 2013, at the Cedar Hall in the premises of Lonadek Consultants in Lagos.

The meeting was convened to come up with action items for ensuring that Nigerian vessel owners enjoy a rightof-first refusal in all future vessel contracts and that the existing contracting strategy is designed to favour Nigerian companies, with the country’s financing context taken into consideration.

Attendees included Emeka Ndu(C-I Leasing), Pere Nduku(Seabulk Offshore), Chibuike Ogwuibe(Century Bumi), Uwem Udoh(Coastland Resources), Bunmi Akomolede(Brone Survey), Adesola Osidipe(CNS Marine) Jide Sotande-Peters(Altitude Energy).

Ibilola Amao(Lonadek) moderated the proceedings.

A submission by the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping strategy group proffering “solutions for the increase of the competitive capacity of indigenous capacity of indigenous operators from the upstream sector of the maritime industry” was circulated to participants the day before.

The conversation, which turned out to be a real strategy and national

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Oil and Gas Vessel Owners Seek “Tenure Elongation” For Contracts, Reduced Interest Rates and other details development session, lasted 1 hour 55 minutes with the following recommendations: All Category I & II vessels must be Nigerian and Nigerians must be given a right of first refusal for Category III vessels.

There is a need for a watchdog that would compel the IOC’s to treat Nigerian vessel owners as fairly as they treat foreign vessel owners, Most contracts awarded by IOCs do not guarantee utilisation and can usually be cancelled within a short time frame, as low as 30 days. Minimum contract duration should be set at 5years with optimum utilization.

Cancellation clause is unhealthy for Nigerian business capacity growth and should be removed. Indeed, the contract termination clause often inserted by IOCs using the services of Nigerian marine vessels should be cancelled.

Most Nigerian Banks currently grant loan at single digit of around 9%.This is rather high, and is too close to double digits. In other to achieve 4-6% interest rate from financial institutions, there is a need to engage and educate the bankers in particular on the nature of

the marine/maritime business. A review of the contract lifecycle to five (5) years and above will also incentivise banks to reduce interest rates.

For effective administration of the Nigerian Content Support Fund(NCSF), only contributors and those with marine vessel related operations should have access to the funds. The NCSF should serve as collateral for operators when marine vessel owners are requesting for loans from banks Import duties charged on indigenous vessels should be reduced to 1% so as to enable them compete favourably with foreign vessels and also, enhance incountry growth and development.

Temporary Import Permits should continue to be charged, but should be tied to the duration (i.e. within three, six, nine and twelve months respectively) of the contract of the foreign vessel in question.

Intervention by the Federal Government of Nigeria on the issuance of the Temporary Import Permit would be helpful.

The call for a Nigerian body to categorise vessels as Brand New, Used and Old is not necessary for the time being.

As the marine business is international in nature, applicable rules and classifications go beyond what may apply in Nigeria. Since there are international bodies that accredit and audit vessels, such responsibility falls to them. Such calls may be revisited when the country has developed significant in-country standards that would be acceptable by the international community.

The use of bonds to overcome high customs duty is highly recommended.

The option however, needs to be investigated if it is a viable line of action e.g. insurance bonds and cash In order to protect indigenous operators, regulatory agencies such as the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board(NCDMB) need to be sensitized with regards to certain tendencies, by some IOCs, to impose Marine and Maritime Laws and Policies from their home countries on indigenous vessel operators. However, indigenous operators themselves should strive to attain certain level of certifications that are acceptable globally.

NIMASA requires strengthening so that it has autonomy, utilizes highly skilled and vibrant surveyors and inspectors who can close out surveys in the shortest possible time. It should also have correspondent offices in international waters, and educate, enlighten and work closely with insurance companies.

Challenges are experienced during bidding and uploading stages of a contract, on the bidding portal. The process is still very manual and requires improvement. The NCDMB should publish a list of companies that have successfully registered on the portal as well as successful bidders once selected by operator(s).

The Nigerian Chamber of Shipping should be empowered to function as an authority that regulates Marine Contractors within the Oil and Gas industry, thus filling the yawning gap that is currently in place. However, “Industry Advisory Team (IAT)” or Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) should also be included in the Chamber, so as to bring to bear, the dynamics of the operation of Indigenous Marine Vessels, with focus on asset owners.

A Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board(NCDMB) Liaison office needs to be established in Lagos for proximity, easy access and ease of administration.

All the participants at the event had a general consensus that we should all work towards achieving and maintaining international standards and that the OVID qualification was extremely useful.

Outside of these recommendations comes some contribution from Phillip Matthew, a marine consultant and CEO, PEM offshore. He notes that Nigeria should promote The International Marine Contractor’s Forum (IMCF)’s Common Marine Inspection Document (CMID) “which is skewed towards the requirements of captains and navigators and is a better at qualification/classification of vessels of below and above 500GRT”.

He argues that the Offshore Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF)’s Offshore Vessel Inspection Database (OVID) , is skewed towards Marine Engineers and “does not recognise the difference between vessels of 500GRT and above and as such places very unnecessary requirements on owners of smaller vessels and would result in an unnecessary financial burden on Nigerian vessel owners” .

For participation in Oil & Gas section, contact: The Manager: Lagos: 01 7736351; Abuja: 07098513445

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6,

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Energy How to tackle post-power reforms challenges, by stakeholders

By Roseline Okere and Sulaimon Salau ONCERNED stakeholders have clamoured for well synchronised policies that would encourage optimal utilisation of both natural and human capital resources inherent in the country after the emerging power reforms.

They said this was necessary in order to sustain the efficency expected to come with the reforms.

Besides, the experts noted that the country’s installed power capacity of 8,000MW and generating capacity of between 3,500MW – 4,000MW for population of 164 million was still inadequate. They thereforeinsisted that the nation could only meet the national demand for electricity, if generation is increased to about 75,000Mega Watts (MW).

The engineers who spoke at the Electrical and Electronics Engineer Yearly Lecture organised by the Nigerian Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State, also believed that diversification of sources of power generation, dearth of skilled manpower

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The comatose state of the power sector has exposed the lack of commitment by those who have been in authority to exploit our numerous and abundant conventional energy potentials that would have supported sectors that should propel our country to unimaginable heights. and use of technology are areas that should be given serious attention, if the problems of the power sector should get sustainable solution.

Meanwhile, others stated that Nigeria has a funding gas of power infrastructure to the tune of $3.5 billion yearly (N553 billion).

The Special Adviser to Bayelsa State Governor on Power, Olice Dickson Kemenanabo, an engineer said: “considering a level of generation that would represent one megawatt per 200,000 citizens to utilize all the modern energy technologies, we should be targeting the attainment of at least 75,000 megawatts within the foreseeable future.”

He however, lamented the rate at which the country waste its huge fossil fuel resources, as it

emerged the second largest gas flaring country, while the populace suffers black out arising from shortage of gas to power.

“Nigeria accounts for 40 per cent of gas flared in Africa. This amount of gas is capable of producing 200TW-Hr of electricity that can meet power generation of the entire continent and more than twice that of Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa. Painfully, it is simply wasted,” he said.

He continued: “Fossil fuels account for 67 per cent of the world’s conventional electricity generation sources, while 13 per cent is from nuclear power. Interestingly, Nigeria has huge untouched fossil fuel resources with potentials that are capable of exporting electricity to the

Vice President, Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), Lere Olopade (left); President, Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), George Osahon, and Managing Director, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Limited at the NAPE Monthly Technical /Business Meeting, sponsored by Seplat Petroleum Development Company Limited, in Lagos.

Nigeria’s power generation drops to 4,167mw

By Roseline Okere IGERIA’S electricity generation has N dropped further from 4,502mw it recorded in December 2012 to 4,167.8mw as at this week, according to the Presidential Task Force on Power in its report.

This is also a reduction from the 4,286mw it recorded in the month of January 2013 which resulted to serious irregular electricity supply across the country.

According to the agency, energy generation stands at 89,758.66 Megawatts Hour (MWH) and 87,587.93mwh was distributed.

Explaining reasons for the recent drop in power supply, Chairman of PTFP, Beks Dagogo-Jack, stated that the trend of blackoutwas linked to the fact that Nigeria’s current available peak cannot satisfy the demands of its population of 160 million people.

Dagogo-Jack said in a statement from PTFP’s head of media, Awele Okigbo, in Abuja, that current generation, transmission and distribution capacity of the country was simply not enough for itspopulation, hence the blackouts.

He however noted that planned and ongoing electricity projects at both the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs) aimed to alleviate much of the constraints on the national grid are expected to come within the third quarter of 2013.

“Let’s face it, with our population of over 160 million people living in over 25 million households; the current available peak power is just a tiny drop in the ocean. This is why we are having the blackouts.

The load shedding, which is increasing lately has its origins in the fact that once consumers witnessed increasing supply

and reliability, previously suppressed or migrated demand started returning to the grid. People who used to only put one airconditioning unit at their homes when using their small generators now put on all units at home,” Dagogo-Jack said.

Chairman and Chief Executive of Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Sam Amadi said that the country hoped to increase to 7,000MW target by December this year.

He added that the government was determining to ensure that by 2014, the country would be able to provide 14,000MW of electricity.

Amadi said that NERC has entered into a partnership with Nigerian University Commission to embark on power management training of its students in order to provide the need manpower in the country’s power sector.

entire sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, the nation has continued to struggle with a number of obstacles that prevented the realization of these important opportunities to the fullest extent. It is therefore ironical to hear the untenable story of lack of gas or any other feedstock for that matter has been the issue. Perhaps a little bit of statistics will debunk that perspective.”

Kemenanabo therefore noted that the comatose state of the power sector has, “exposed the lack of commitment by those who have been in authority to exploit our numerous and abundant conventional energy potentials that would have supported sectors that should propel our country to unimaginable heights.”

According to him: “In the present era, and going forward, the major challenge that may confront the energy sector is the technical management of the new regime emerging in consequence of the privatisation of the assets owned by the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) monopoly.

In meeting these challenges, he said there were several factors that must not be overlooked.

Some of these includes competent engineers, alternative power sources and technologies among others.

He noted the importance of exploring alternative sources of power generation as against the undue dependence on conventional sources such as fossil fuels for thermal power stations.

He said: “Technologies such as sails, windmills and watermills are a few energy sources that were developed early for specific human purposes. Ambient energy, especially from the sun, is all over yet, has not been maximally developed to meet the demands of modern comfort.

The obvious implication is that with the right physical infrastructure, solar energy may well suffice, with no resort to conventional energy.”

The Head Mining, Energy and Infrastructure Finance, Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited, Soji Omisore, said the power sector would require $7.6 billion and $3.5 billion yearly funding requirement and to bridge the funding gap respectively.

Omisore who spoke at the Akindelano Legal Practitioners Seminar Series last week in Lagos, hinted that low electricity outputs significantly impacts the cost of doing business, as power comprises roughly 20 - 25 per cent of cost of manufacturing in Nigeria. Thus, development of the sector will remain key to achieving targeted economic growth rates.

He pointed out that the power sector has the largest funding gap, compared with transport, information technology and other sectors.

Omisore stressed that the country’s power capacity was still inadequate. “South Africa generating capacity of approximately 35,000MW for population of 49m. Low electricity outputs significantly impacts the cost of doing business as power comprises roughly 20 per cent to 25 per cent of cost of manufacturing in Nigeria.

Thus, development of the sector will remain key to achieving targeted economic growth rates.

Compared with transport, Information technology and other sectors. the power sector has the largest funding gap”, he said.

He noted that at 12kwh/Capita, Nigeria has by far the lowest per Capita access to electricity among emerging economies. South Africa’s 478 kwh/Capita is the highest in Africa.

According to him, the current power set up in Nigeria is conventional, but is extremely inefficient, with poor availability, massive transmission losses, poor service and collection.

Omosore believed that modest improvement by the private sector on the current structure alone would represent a major step change in Nigeria.

He stated: “Most public owned power generating facilities are highly inefficient, running at less than 40 per cent of installed capacity.

ATC&C (Aggregate, Technical, Commercial and Collection) losses more than 60 per cent.

The Chairman, NIEEE, Adekunle Sunday Makinde, an engineer, said: “Engineering, by virtue of its commitment to the wellbeing of the society, places a huge responsibility on engineers to ensure that the interest of the society is upheld in the execution of their projects.

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NigeriaCapitalMarket NSE Daily Summary (Equities) as at Tuesday PRICE LIST OF SYMBOLS TRADED FOR 05/03/2013

CAPITAL MARKET 49

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

NSE Daily Summary (Equities) as at 05/03/2013

PRICE GAINERS

LOSERS

SEC to improve regulatory policies, investment protection strategy

By Helen Oji HE Securities and T Exchange Commission (SEC), yesterday, declared that the establishment of the new board in the commission would enhance improved regulatory policies and high level of investment protection in the market.

The Chairman of SEC, Mallam Sulleyman Ndanusa, gave the assurance during a visit of the board members to Nigerian Stock Exchange and Central Securities Clearing System in Lagos.

The SEC team, which included its Director-General, Arunma Oteh, and other commissioners and top management, held separate meetings with management of the NSE and CSCS. Ndanusa, who expressed excitement on the level of innovative put in place by the new management of NSE and CSCS in ensuring that the become more attractive to investors, also pledged its support and cooperation to move the market forward.

According to him, the visit is part of the strategies of the new board to collaborate with all stakeholders in the

market with the aim of ensuring high level of regulation and protection of investments in the Nigerian capital market.

He explained that the absence of a board in SEC for about six months delayed some actions, noting that all these would be addressed in order to ensure that things left undone are properly taken of.

He maintained that SEC would do everything within its powers to ensure that the

efforts and aspiration to transform Nigerian to become the gate way for investments in Africa would be achieved.

“Our visit today is to see what you people are doing and assure you of our support. The new board of SEC believes in working with all stakeholders, listen to the challenges and find solutions to them. We all have learnt our lessons from the downtown and moving forward we need to work together.

It

is no longer possible to work in isolation. Our mission is here is to show that it is new paradigm and we are excited with what we have seen,” Ndanusa said.

He noted that CSCS, plays very critical and strategic role in ensuring transparency, integrity and accountability the market, adding that the market cannot grow without a strong depository being put in place.

“The operations of CSCS are very critical in ensuring trans-

parency, integrity and accountability in the market.

No matter the level of technology, without a strong depository the market cannot grow,” Ndanusa said.

Earlier, the Chairman of CSCS, Mr. Oscar Onyema, described the visit of SEC team as a sign of good things to come in the market, noting that the board was made up of experienced professionals capable of moving the market forward.

Speaking in the same vein,

the Managing Director/Chief Executive of CSCS, Mr. Kyari Bukar, said CSCS was being transformed into a leading depository that can compete globally.

He added that the management of CSCS, in collaboration with the new board is working with other market stakeholders on market issues especially dematerialisation.

Sterling Capital woos investors to ARM Money Market Fund’s IPO.

By Helen Oji TERLING Capital has urged investors to embrace ARM Money Market Fund offer of 1, 000, 000, 000 Units of N1 each at par.

The Fund, which is authorized and registered in Nigeria by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a Unit Trust Scheme, has Sterling Capital as issuing House to the fund.

According to a statement by Sterling Capital, the fund is an open-ended mutual fund designed to provide investors with regular income from

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investments in high quality short-term money market instruments and debt securities issued by the Nigerian Governmen.

It is promoted by Asset & Resource Management Company Limited (“ARM”) one of the largest non-bank financial services firms in Nigeria with a focus on asset management.

The antecedent of the company in asset management, according to the statement is reflected in some of its wellestablished Funds under management which include; the

ARM Aggressive Growth Fund and the ARM Discovery Fund.

“These Funds have continued to perform better in the market, while the company seeks to replicate the same feat with the promotion of ARM Money Market Fund. The ARM Money Market Fund offer opened on the February 11th 2013 and closes on the 20th March, 2013.

The primary objective of the Fund, according to the issuing house is the provision of a steady stream of income to investors by investing in high quality short term money

market instruments and government securities.

The ARM Money Market Fund is governed by a Trust deed with First Trustees Nigeria Limited as Trustees to the Fund. The Fund is offering 1,000,000,000 units as the initial subscription to the public.

The Fund, according to the statement has a risk rating of “Prelim Aa(f)” as rated by Agusto & Co. This rating shall be subject to an annual review throughout the life of the Fund. The Fund is designed for investors seeking to opti-

mize their returns at minimal risk. It provides a relatively cheap opportunity for investors to build wealth at a considerably lower risk and potential returns.

Asset & Resource Management Company Limited (“ARM”) is one of the largest non-bank financial services firms in Nigeria with a focus on asset management.

Established in 1994, ARM started operations as a traditional asset management company specialising in the management of quoted equities and fixed income securities.

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Published in association with

Nigeria: Agriculture looking to cash crop Nigeria 6th March 2013

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Opinion Between Balewa and Jonathan

By Femi Kehinde N the summer of 1963, Abubakar Tafawa IMinister Balewa was on his only annual leave as Prime of Nigeria. He did not go to London, Paris or Washington to enjoy his vacation, but rather went to his Tafawa Balewa village in Bauchi. A British photojournalist came to interview the Prime Minister, learnt that the Prime Minister was on leave and asked for his contact overseas. The journalist was amazed when he learnt that the Prime Minister was enjoying his annual leave in his Tafawa Balewa village. As a curious journalist, he took a train ride from Iddo (Lagos) to Jos and another train ride from Jos to Bauchi from where he boarded a taxi to the Prime Minister’s village.

In Tafawa Balewa village, there was no visible evidence of the presence of a very important personality in the village – no police or military presence or convoy of cars or array of visitors.

Curiously again, he saw a farmer on a donkey carrying bales of sugarcane and asked the poor farmer, if he knew the Prime Minister and quite unexpectedly, the peasant farmer, equally answered the journalist that he had just left the Prime Minister and had just dropped some sugar canes for him, and curiously again, the foreign journalist asked the farmer to lead him to Abubakar’s house and he gladly obliged.

Amazingly, without the trappings of office, he met the most powerful Nigerian then, sitting on the native floor mat, enjoying the sugar cane gift with his children. Those were our leaders of yesteryear – simple, humble and of moderate dispositions.

Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the first Prime Minister of Nigeria was born in the small village of Tafawa Balewa, in the present day Bauchi State, in the North Eastern part of Nigeria in December 1912 of a very humble parentage; just a commoner, from the Jese ethnic group of the Hausa stock, he was of a moderate background and moderate education. After leaving Bauchi Provisional School, he proceeded to Katsina Higher College in 1928 and qualified as a teacher in 1933, and was at the Institute of Education, University of London 1945-1946, on a one year scholarship.

Abubakar foraged into public consciousness by joining the Bauchi Discussion Circle – a forum for political reforms and debates. He was in the Nigerian Parliament between 1946 and January 1966, during which he served as Minister of Works (1952) and Minister of Transport in 1954 and as a member of the biggest party in the Federal Parliament, he was on September 2, 1957, appointed the first Prime Minister of Nigeria.

At the time he was murdered in the January 1966 coup, he did not leave behind a sprawling mansion in Lagos or in Kaduna. He had only a moderate house in Bauchi and a small country home in Tafawa Balewa village, after being in

the Parliament for 20 years.

After taking office as Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in May 2007, Jonathan publicly declared his assets. According to Jonathan, as of May 30, 2007, he had a total of N295, 304, 420 ($8,569,662.40) in assets.

Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was born on November 20, 1957 and currently the President of Nigeria. Goodluck was born in Otuoke in Ogbia Local Council of the then Eastern Region, later Rivers State and now Bayelsa State. Goodluck holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) Degree in Zoology, with a Second Class Honours Upper Division, an M.Sc in Hydro Biology/Fisheries Biology and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Zoology, all from the University of Port Harcourt, the first Nigerian President to hold a doctorate degree.

Jonathan was also awarded Honorary Doctorate Degree by his Alma Mater, the University of Port Harcourt. Balewa, a Knight and Commander of the Order of British Empire (CBE), was also awarded Honorary Doctorate Degree from the University of Sheffield, UK in May 1960.

He had, like Balewa, worked also as a lecturer and later as Environmental Protection Officer, before he joined politics in 1998. Goodluck had since been Deputy Governor of Bayelsa, Governor of Bayelsa State, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Acting President and now President. Whilst Balewa was the first Prime Minister of Nigeria, he is Nigeria’s 14th Head of State.

Like Balewa, he is also of humble background.

Like Olusegun Obasanjo, who became Head of State of Nigeria in 1976 “against his personal wish and desire”, Goodluck also became Acting President of Nigeria, according to him under “very sad and unusual circumstances”.

Abubakar was a devout Muslim, a simple man and popularly known as “Balewa the good” and “the man with the golden voice” according to the Daily Mirror Editorial of June 17, 1965. Having founded the Bauchi Discussion Circle in 1943, which honed his public speaking skill, he was also in 1948 Vice President of the Northern Teachers Association and in 1949, organised the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), originally conceived as a cultural organisation to become a political party in 1951.

Jonathan has a First Lady, Mrs. Patience Faka Jonathan, who also doubles as a Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa State Civil Service. Balewa, like Olusegun Obasanjo, in his first outing as Head of State, had no specific first lady. He had four wives – Jummai, Ummah, Zainab and Laraba.

At the 14th annual Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conference in London in June 1965, his contributions at the conference were not only statesmanlike but forthright, and on the BBC panorama programme, after the conference, his performance was outstandingly brilliant. He was confident, elegant, ebullient, charismatic, mature and sophisticated. The British press described him as disarmingly patient and

reasonable.

Sir Abubakar, in January 1966, hosted in Lagos the emergency Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conference to discuss the crisis in Cyprus. His performance at the conference was quintessential, brilliant, lucid and intelligent. During the meeting, Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, so fascinated about Abubakar’s candour, had hinted him of the possibility of a military coup in Nigeria, in January 1966 and had offered him political asylum in Britain, but Abubakar, being a devout Muslim rebuffed the offer and remained unperturbed throughout the conference.

Sometimes in January 2013, the CNN ace reporter, Christiane Amanpour interviewed President Goodluck Jonathan. Apart from the performance being lack-lustre and his entire demeanour not dignifying and dismal, throughout the interview, that one would shudder to say “(that if it were Balewa, the story would have been different) and Amanpour would have met her match; a noticeable difference was shown between our glorious past and our decaying present.

Harold Wilson at the age of 10 dreamt the office of the Prime Minister of Great Britain. At the age of 10, he posed for a photograph with his father at the entrance of No. 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the Prime Minister of Great Britain and prophetically told his father that he would one day live in the residence, as the Prime Minister of Great Britain. That was a mission, a goal and a vision. He prepared for it and accomplished it. He fought the general election for the seat of Orminsk and won, and immediately became Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Works at the age of 29 and became Prime Minister of Great Britain at the age of 48. Harold Wilson prepared for this office and ended up one of the best Prime Ministers of Great Britain.

The greatest public speaker of the Balewa generation was perhaps the stormy petrel of Ibadan politics and Lion of the West, Adegoke Adelabu alias Penkelemesi. Like a meteor, he lived for 43 years (1915-1958), earned double promotions in elementary, primary and secondary school (Government College Ibadan). He was bookish, knowledgeable, versatile and dynamic. He was Manager, African Produce (UAC), Chairman, Ibadan Municipal Council, Member, Western Region House of Assembly, Member, House of Representatives and Federal Minister, without leaving behind a sprawling mansion in his OkeOluokun compound of Ibadan. He was so gifted in oration that the late Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Daniel Tayo Akinbiyi, whilst condemning his “garrulity and insolence” at meetings of the Ibadan People’s Party (IPP) warned that “an old ox knows more than a young colt”.

There is the urgent need to revisit the clamour for Parliamentary Democracy, where the Legislature and Executive are fused. The Prime Minister would as a member of the Parliament, be

skilled in public speech and, must possess, in sufficient quantity, oratorical prowess. It would also reduce the cost of governance, a business for only those who are really cut for it. In Parliamentary Democracy, you cannot be a minister without being an elected Member of Parliament.

Let us take a cursory look at Balewa’s star-studded ministers and colleague-parliamentarians: Jaja Wachukwu (Foreign Affairs), Raymond Njoku (Transportation), Aja Nwachukwu (Education), K.O Mbadiwe (Commerce), S.L Akintola (Communications), Festus Okotie-Eboh (Finance), J.M Johnson (Internal Affairs), Ayo Rosiji (Health), Mohammed Ribadu (Mines), Musa Yar’Adua (Lagos Affairs), Prof. Teslim Olawale Elias (Justice).

Balewa’s sour point, however, was his incapacity to stem the tide of Western Region crisis, which led to the treasonable felony charge and conviction of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and subsequently snowballed into the “Operation wetie” crisis and ultimately the collapse of his government in 1966.

Parliamentary Democracy makes governance less attractive and enhances quality of governance. A comparative analysis of the Hansard (Parliamentary Proceedings) of the First Republic and our current Republic, would reveal a great decline in the quality of debates, quality of members and Parliamentary finesse.

The 1999 Constitution, a huge military contraption is a false start, and it is thus imperative that we convoke a Sovereign National Conference to discuss Nigeria and fashion out the way forward.

In retrospect, one would not but remember with fondest memory, Nigeria’s great public speakers of the days of yore – Herbert Macaulay, the Great Zik of Africa – Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, the immortal sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the Sardauna of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello, Dr. Kinglsey Mbadiwe, Alhaji Maitama Sule, Jaja Wachukwu first Nigerian Speaker of the House of Representatives, Samuel Ladoke Akintola, Samuel and his father, Alvan Ikoku, Bola Ige, Aminu Kano, Earnest Ikoli, the late Odemo of Isara, Oba Akinsanya, Prof. Eyo Ita, the late Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, J.O.J Okezie, Festus Okotie Eboh, Dr. Mike Okpara, Alhaji Muhammed Ribadu, Raymond Njoku and other eminent Nigerians.

Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa represents the ancient, whilst Dr. Goodluck Jonathan represents the modern, but one would still, however, salute Balewa “the good” and the man with the “golden voice” because looking at our present political theatrics, one would nonetheless be inclined to echo and agree with Prof. Ola Rotimi, distinguished Professor of Theatre Arts in his book“Our husband has gone mad again”!

• Kehinde was a member, House of Representatives (1999-2003) representing Ayedire/Iwo/Ola-Oluwa Federal Constituency of Osun State and Principal Partner, Femi Kehinde & Co., Ibadan.

Can Nigerian youths dare to dream?

By Aminu Safana OR most Nigerian youth today, all we hear of is how good things were in ‘those days’. We hear of how wonderful the FNigerian school system was, how efficient the railway lines were, how caring the health system was. Every conversation seems to turn to lamentations about the current decay in our political, social and economic systems – that is, for those not caught up by the life and death gamble that the security of lives and property in Nigeria has become. For too many, it was violent death, not even the chance to lament.

Yet, as the stirrings of nationalism and true consciousness begin to grow in one, the realisation also hits with full impact: that Nigeria is, and will be the only true country we will ever have. And with this realisation comes grim determination: it is our responsibility to talk the talk, walk the walk and fight the fight; it is only when we are ready, able and willing to fight for the cause of justice and righteousness that the Nigeria of our dreams will emerge. And every so often, I ask myself, what is the Nigeria of my dream? What do I imagine in the Nigeria we aspire to have – a country where things work, a land of justice, safe and secure, where everyone is entitled to aspire to, and engage in the pursuit of happiness. I ask, what is the Nigeria of my dream?

The Nigeria of my dream is that where we will have great lead-

ers and where there will be zero tolerance for corruption, where there is job security, justice, fairness and equity. I want the great Nigeria, which our founders dreamed of and which our past leaders will be proud of. The Nigeria I dream of is that where every citizen will have equal access to job opportunities, where corruption will be banished and where all security threats become a thing of the past as the country gallops into the track of economic growth, development and prosperity. When I despair about the needless deaths and destitution in Nigeria, I ask how and why did we get into this state? How did one of the countries with the best potentials in the entire world become a land of permanent potentials – but where no potential is ever realised?

Nigeria was a country that respected, and was proud of its multitudes of peoples and cultures. Today, we have become a country permanently apologising for its failures, bogged as we are by the issues of futility in philosophy, insecurity in polity, chaos in politics, immorality in the culture, corruption in the economy, frustration in art and absence of creativity in literature. Today, instead of a country surging ahead on the global stage, we have millions of youth choking on the bitter gall of frustration and hardship. Our natural resources are being stolen and common wealth is being embezzled. Nigeria is crying for help, no one seems to be listening. Certainly not those entrusted with managing our lives and fortunes.

This is not what Nigeria used to be: it was a country with sound

morals; it was a country where our leaders respected one another in spite of their political differences; it was a country where all of us were our brother’s keeper. And then, everything seemed to implode on the altar of ethnic and religious chauvinism. And I ask, can the youth of today dare dream of a Nigeria where we will respect ourselves, our cultures, our identities and our collective humanities as human beings?

I dream that soon, we will be able to look at the past and revive the dreams of our founding fathers – the dream of building a strong, proud African land where freedom, justice and prosperity rules, not the poverty, insecurity, death and destruction that stalk our land every day. I dream that we can make a better Nigeria, so that this generation and the next can grow up and see a country that has no business with poverty, a Nigeria where there will be less corruption, less security threats, mass job opportunities and standard infrastructure.

I ask myself: is there hope for this country? When will we get the leadership that will transform this land of great people to a truly great country? As I reel from the pain of numerous betrayals, plenty of false starts, loss of hope, poverty, lack of security and the sheer ache of massive disappointments, I ask: Can Nigerian youths dare to dream?

• Safana is a student of mass communication at Baze University, Abuja.

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Opinion For ‘BOT member’ John Abba-Ogbodo

By Wahab Gbadamosi OMETIME in 2008, as one drove through Sheated Area 10, there was diminutive John in a argument with some policemen by the checkpoint in front of the post office. What was John Abba-Ogbodo’s grouse?, a man had driven in a manner dangerous to other road users. The freedom fighter that he was, AbbaOgbodo pursued the ‘big man’ from the Defence Headquarters (Ship House) until both leveled up by the checkpoint.

The officers held Ogbodo, in deference to the big man’s directive, hardly knowing they had also arrested a big man. They got more than they bargained for. Ogbodo, armed with his working knowledge of police operational rules and basic laws, stood up to the police officers.

Confused about what to do with the diminutive but courageous man, the policemen, following appeal to both parties, beat a retreat and allowed Ogbodo off. The policemen seemed confused, wondering why and how a man with no weapon could take on four armed officers, at night! One of them asked that he be warned not to try that outside Abuja. Such acts of courage against injustice and anything that impinges on his dignity defined the earthly sojourn of the essential John Abba-Ogbodo.

You might disagree on several issues with John Abba-Ogbodo but you cannot question his grit, tenacity of purpose, determination to make a success of his journalism career – and his life – on his own terms.

Never one to be dictated to, Ogbodo radiated an inner core that defined his essence. He worked so hard. But he also relaxed after he must have turned in all his copies. Ogbodo’s sport car was not an unusual sight - post 9pm on Jos Street, at one of Abuja’s numerous watering holes. He loved to relax and crack jokes.

It is not unlikely that one of the reasons that gave him an unshakeable confidence to relate to the world was that he chose to be a quiet investor. He would always reminisce how his then Bureau Chief, Martins Oloja always nudged him on. A colleague once queried why he was still glued to his old sports car. Ogbodo demurred, in the typical Ogbodosque manner any time he votes to play the homo di panza (man of the belly). When the reporter was gone, Ogbodo tapped me and quipped: ‘Look

at this guy o. What does he know about me? If he knows what I’m doing for myself, he will feel sorry for himself’.

A political reporter for so many years, he had an acute understanding of issues that shape and define the world. Over a decade ago when Osama Bin Laden led his ragtag band to humiliate America on American soil, Ogbodo though sad at the event located the defeat of the U.S. in the psychological realm: “America may never get over that attack. It is a psychological defeat.

It is God’s punishment for their arrogance. Empires come and go. At a time, the Greeks dominated the world. At another time, it was the Romans. The British did too. Americans are misusing their own dominance of the world today.

That was why God brought a Bin Laden to deal with them.

“After the Americans, world power will go to China, afterwards, it will come to Nigeria,” he quipped, some inscrutable self-assuredness coursing through his voice, then he poured the last bit of the green bottle and tapped: Gbadamo – as he often called me – we go see tomorrow now. When you banter and ask him about life, John was never to be beaten, he often shot back: ‘It’s not bad. But can you add value?’

Two years after I began what looked like a one year sabbatical at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Ogbodo was one of the few reporters in Abuja who wouldn’t mind putting a call through at 9:30 pm on a Friday – just to confirm the second name of an old People’s Democratic Party (PDP), official or an event that took place five years earlier. He was meticulous in ensuring that any copy that carries his name must be perfect.

For over a decade at the PDP Secretariat, Wadata Plaza in Abuja, Ogbodo was a regular sight, having earned the confidence of his boss, Martins Oloja, who has a knack for smelling good copy men 50 miles away. A press conference/briefing would be incomplete without questions from John Abba-Ogbodo. The man from Benue State has a track record of being a tall man with probing questions, ‘puncturing measured hubris of many mass of protoplasm’ (apologies to late Chuba Okadigbo).

In 1997, some American clergymen were in Professor Jerry Gana’s office at Radio House, Abuja, ostensibly on a troubleshooting mission for Nigeria’s fledgling democracy. It was a Fed-

eral Government counter-move to the NADECO’s havoc done to government’s image in the United States and in the West. A reporter asked for a list of clergymen and their affiliations. A perusal of the list and addresses showed many were businessmen. Ogbodo tormented the hefty men from the U.S with several questions. A piece: Contractors in Cassocks in TheNews magazine opened with the personae of Ogbodo as a short man who often grows tall at press conferences with the quality of his questions. Ogbodo worked then for TNT – a Lagos-based afternoon journal. This, he combined with lecturing at tutorial classes, for students itching to enhance their linguistic competences. It was not long before a blossoming career at The Guardian beckoned.

Three days ago, when I broke the story of his death to my cousin, Bashir Abigbinde, who had only a faint acquaintance, wondered why a man whose stories always featured on the front page of The Guardian should die like that.

That innocuous testimony from an average reader, in fact a former infantry soldier, is a testimony to the quality of Ogbodo’s stories and his hold on the average reader’s mind for over 10 years when he represented the stable in Abuja.

Though it was some four years later before he joined the ranks of the ‘red-necks’ in political reporting in Abuja, like Jacob Edi and Ben Agande would say, in less than three years he had demonstrated the confidence Martins Oloja had in him for giving him a shirt at The Guardian was not misplaced after all.

This was in the late 1990s when political reporting in Abuja was a show dominated by Abiodun Adeniyi, now a Ph.D holder with the Presidency; the late Femi Ojewuyi, Farouk Adejoh Audu, Bisi Abidoye, Tunde Rahman, Nosike Ogbuenyi, Chuks Okocha, Chuks Ohuegbe, Amos Duniya, Tom Chiaehemen, Adamu Muhammed, Osaretin Ihimariyiebo and very few others. When you pull a call to Ogbodo between five and 7 pm, he was always quick to quote Debo Adesina, The Guardian’s former editor’s rhetorical question: ‘’Will you publish that story on your shirt?” ‘Let me turn in my copies first’ was always his plea.

Once on a trip to Awka in the company of some ‘BOT members’, Ogbodo’s wisecracks ensured the six-hour trip suffered no dull mo-

ment. Even then, a 2.am interview with former Governor Chris Ngige in Awka saw Ogbodo in his elements.

A grassroots person, Ogbodo never allowed himself to be swallowed by the trappings of the city. And so when he was to be married to his beautiful wife, he insisted it must be in Benue.

And off to Adoka in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State we all went. Still locked in my brain is the picture of real people we encountered Adoka, who radiated a humanity so warm that when I ran into Ogbodo at the Senate Public Hearing on the Federal Capital Territory Property Tax some five weeks ago, I was quick to ask that I want to see him do the Agliyen dance steps again.

In the PDP correspondents’ league for so many years, and for most part of the last decade, Ogbodo was a prominent member of the BOT, as we often like to address red necks (older reporters) in the PDP league. Though membership changed over time, a constant figure was Ogbodo, Chairman Paul Mumeh, Jacob Edi – who is assisting Wada with his public communication, Chuks Okocha, then another Chuks (Akunna), whose fluency in Yoruba, Igbo and a bit of Hausa and his street wisdom enabled him meander through sources, colleagues and several political turfs.

Yusuf Alli, later Musikilu Mojeed joined.

As we mourn Ogbodo and his unfortunate exit from a honourable journalism career, we must not forget the dignity with which he carried on his trade. Confident, surefooted with a self-assured voice at the microphone, sacredness of facts, attention to details and sequences of events, Ogbodo was a pride to the journalism profession. He was a veteran of many night vigils all on the trail of good copies and picturesque descriptions.

Younger reporters would benefit from his copies to imbibe some of the traits that enabled the management of The Guardian to repose so much confidence in him, in the same way they could learn from his ‘I can do it … I’m no slave to you’ spirit that enabled him to relate to several members of the lower and upper parliament as equals – not some cringing folks always looking for crumbs at the expense of good copies that shape the course of events and the future a country.

• Gbadamosi is an Assistant Director, Communications and Liaison Department, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Abuja.

Thoughts on Nigeria’s currency

By Rosemary Adole N adaptation of a popular phrase goes thus: is the kobo A worth your thoughts? The thoughts of how to make ends meet as a Nigerian; how to pay school fees, pay rent, light and water bills that one does not get to use, the noise of generators at home at the close of the day, the thought of starting the next day as early as 4.00 – 5.00 am and the traffic and more. Again is the kobo worth your thoughts?

This question started running in my mind while assisting one of my children in the primary school with the mathematics homework with one of my children who is in the primary school. The homework is about the naira and kobo; on how to buy and get change. I was trying to teach him that 100 kobo make one naira. We were supposed to find out what the change would be if we spent a few kobo out of the one naira and he said to me, “mummy, you have never given me one naira before and I don’t know what the kobo looks like”. This is a fact. At this point I realised that I hadn’t been making sense all the while. I then changed to the pound and penny and before long we were done.

At the end I asked him to replace the pound and penny with the naira and kobo symbols. Nigerian children can identify with foreign coins but not with the kobo and naira. I think that this says a lot about the level of inflation in the country, even though we have the figures to prove how well we are doing as a nation in terms of the strength of our currency.

When children are taught about the naira and kobo these days, especially the denominations of less than five naira, it is actually an abstract situation that is a bit tall for their young minds to grasp. It is like using things like apples in teaching the alphabets. Some children can recite the A for apple so well but have never seen apples in their lives. For the children in the cities it may be alright, but for the ones in very remote areas, apples for them are some abstract objects. Those days, children had no business spending note money. The coin was just sufficient. It

was more than enough reward for good behaviour as it could purchase so many items like sweets and biscuits. Growing up for me in the mid 1970s and early 1980s, I remember my grandmother would send me to buy one naira meat, which was cut to about 12 to 15 sizeable pieces. Even the five naira, which is in note form at present, cannot purchase an item on its own. It has to be part of some other money to complete payment for a good.

Money simply defined is “an acceptable means of payment for goods and services or for the settlement of debt”. It is also a legal tender that is being backed by law as a means of payment. Going by this definition, where do all the coins of less than five naira fall? Do coins cease to be money in the Nigerian sense, judging from the level of non-usage and non-acceptability of the coins in our country? Is it okay to use only notes and not coins if we claim that coins form part of our money supply? When did we use the coins last in this country? Have the coins become souvenirs or just a collector’s item? These questions continue to beg for answers.

In January 1973 when the naira and kobo were introduced, the coins were in the denominations of ½k, 1k, 5k, 10k, and 25k while paper money was in 50k, N1, N 5, N10, and N20. In 1991, one kobo, 10K and 25k were reduced in size with the introduction of higher denominations of 50k and N1. In May 2007, the 50k and one naira coins were re-issued with the introduction of the two naira coin. It was also stated by the central bank that the coins from 1/2k to 25k be withdrawn from circulation.

Nigerians love to do business in cash. As the economy expanded due to increase in population and transactions, higher denominations of the naira were introduced to ease businesses.

Each time, people continue to crave for the higher denominations, bringing about subtly the drift from the use of coins. People also love to show off large denominations of currency in their wallets.

The developed economies like USA, China and many countries in Europe that we look up to as model economies and aspire to be like still use coins. Looking at the history of money, we are

made to understand that money has evolved from one form to another over time. In early times, barter prevailed as a means of exchange and trade, and then came the use of commodities such as cowries, manila and precious metals. Could it be that our rejection of coins in Nigeria is just a thing of history and is a way that our money is evolving or that we have a problem as a people? Could it also be that we are dealing with “wild inflation variant” as it is with the “wild polio strain”?

What is wrong with us Nigerians, even the low income earners do not like the coins, of course what can the coin buy? Going by the CBN official exchange rate of the naira to the British pound (which is N242.75) the kobo is equivalent to 0.004 of a penny. So then, is the kobo worth your thoughts?

The kobo is a part of our identity as a sovereign entity. We should accept it. Accepting it will help us to teach our children such values as being prudent, so that they begin to learn early that money does not come cheap. They will also appreciate that a lot of hard work goes into the creation of money. In my opinion I think that coins should exist alongside paper money at least for the sake of our children, if for nothing else or we stop teaching them things that have no relevance to their existence.

Nigerians are very intelligent people. For me I have never wished I came from somewhere else, especially when I hear and see the exploits Nigerians are doing all over the world – in sports, sciences, arts and other human endeavours. If this coin problem were happening in other countries, I bet Nigerians will not be far away from the circle of those to proffer solutions. Have we thought of not having coins in circulation as a problem? Some would argue that we have bigger problems to contend with than of mere coins, but I would argue that this is a fundamental issue in our economy. This has got to do with price stability and the function of money as a store of value (whereby money could be held as a form of asset to be converted within a short notice). We can and we should find ways of re- inventing, refashioning, and using the law to make coins acceptable.

• Adole wrote from Lagos.

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The GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Midweek Art Capacity building tops agenda, as NICO matriculates 74 officers From Bridget Chiedu Onochie, Abuja

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TOTAL of 74 students of Cultural Administration participated in the matriculation exercise for the 2012/1213 Academic Session organized last week by the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO).

The ceremony, which took place at the premises of NICO Training School, Orile Iganmu, Lagos State, had 62 of the students in the Diploma Class while the remaining 12 registered for PostGraduate Diploma in Cultural Administration.

Almost all the students are drawn from the Institute and other sister parastatals in the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation.

In attendance were the Vice Chancellor, Nasarawa State University, Professor Shamsudeen Amali, head, Department of Theatre and African Studies, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Professor emmanuel Dandaura, heads of various department of NICO, including Director, Orientation and Cultural Affairs, Mr. Festus Ihenetu, Director, Administration and human Resources, Mr. Abayomi Oyelola, Director, Finance and Account, Mr. Godson Ordu, Special Assistant to the executive Secretary, hon. ebi Campbell as well as host director of NICO Training School, Prince Bamidele Olusa.

Before administering oath on the students, the executive Secretary, NICO, Dr. Barclays Ayakoroma, said the Institute has trained a total of 234 cultural officers from federal, states and local government levels. Out of this number, he said 186 were in Post Graduate programme while the remaining 186 had diploma Graduands at the ceremony certificate in Cultural Administration.

Ayakoroma added that with the programme, track the changes taking place in cultures of week, we had international mother tongue beneficiaries would be accorded the rightful Joseph Odegina, Minister Duke charged matric- the world. day, the change must not be at the large scale ulating students, many of whom are nominated place in civil service and tertiary institutions, “It is very important for us to train culture before we see that it is worth being engaged and sponsored by agencies of government at all should they desire to further their studies in levels, to accord the training programme the workers because research itself is an evolving upon. We can bring changes even at the micro the field. phenomenon and techniques of gathering level like families, institutions, from there, we Speaking on how far the Institute has gone in seriousness it deserves. data change with time and as we live every day, sensitize the leadership and gradually, it gets to “I am confident that at the end of our training getting the Training School accredited, there are lots of exchange taking place within the larger society as we aspect it to be. programme, you will be able to contribute Ayakoroma said the responsibility rests on cultures and until we can track these changes, “It begins with culture workers getting the Nasarawa State University, the affiliated meaningfully to the socio-economic develop- it becomes difficult for us to compete with right orientation. If they have it, then, they can Institution. he stressed that the major respon- ment of our great nation”, he added. other cultures around the world, before you sell it but I tell you that there is a reasonable sibility of NICO was to ensure that necessary number of culture workers that also need the ICe Chancellor, NSUK, Professor Shamsudeen know, we would be sup-planted. requirements were put in place for the take-off “So, training here is important so that we are orientation and that is another reason the Amali in his address, said it was of great of the school and having done that, Nasarawa sensitive to what is our own, we are sensitive to training is important.

State University (NSUK) and National University importance to the society and to world at large those new cultures, we are also sensitive to “They need to be convinced themselves that to have an institute dedicated to the study of Commission (NUC) will work towards getting high breeds, that is what is now between theirs they need to sell our cultures before they ever the school accredited. he however disclosed arts and culture and specifically, awarding and ours. At the moment, there are many peo- identify what aspect of the cultures to sell. So, I that discussion has commenced in that regard. diplomas, degrees and high degrees in the field. ple that cannot distinguish clearly what is see a lot of value in it, I also see a lot of changes “Yes, activities have commenced towards that Decrying the relegated place of culture in authentic Nigerian culture; they mix them coming from it but it mustn’t be radical change and that is the reason we have the Vice Nigeria in terms of funding and government because of continuous interaction. before we begin to appreciate that it needs to Chancellor of Nasarawa State University, who is interest, he charged culture workers not to “Training is very important in this regard be engaged in.” the face of the Institution and the head of relent in the struggle to push for recognition for because it sharpens the skill of culture workers Nkechi Dorothy Njoku, a diploma student Department of Theatre and Cultural Studies arts and culture in the country. to know what to preserve, know what to pro- shared optimism that the training will further “We have to work to push for a better status for here for them to see things for themselves.” mote and to know the interferences that are exposed to her responsibility as a culture workMindful of the critical need of training and the sector. We have to make it; we have to strug- likely to come so that we can be proactive in er and enable her define her role as a NICO staff. retraining officers in the realization of NICO’ gle to get better funding. It will not come by acci- planning our preservation activities for “The training will broaden my horizon on what vision and objectives, Ayakoroma said the dent, we have to work to make sure the money Nigerian art and culture”, Dandaura said.

I should do in NICO. Most of us have certificates school curriculum has been reviewed by a comes; nobody will give us the money on a plathe said that one of the reasons the training is from other fields. Lectures are taken from the ter of gold to make it.

We have to struggle, that is group of experts drawn from the nation’s univital at individual level is because it will con- grass root on how to administer culture in our the only way out.” versities.

Speaking on the relevance ofthe training to the vince culture workers on the relevance of daily activities.”

“We have not only reviewed the curriculum of Some of the courses offered in the school Nigerian culture before they are able to prothe school, which was done by a committee of development of the sector and the society at mote and sell same to the larger society. include Nigerian Peoples and Culture, Nigerian large, President, Society of Nigerian Theatre experts drawn from Nigerian universities, we his words: “There are various levels of changes Performing Art, Arts and Crafts, Nigerian have also repackaged the annual National Artists (SONTA) and head, Department of we are talking about, even at individual level, Cultural heritage and Advance Research Repositioning Workshop for Cultural Workers Theatre and Cultural Studies, NSUK, Professor like what NICO is doing, we have indigenous Methodology and others that are relevant to and made it a quarterly programme for officers Dandaura said for Nigeria to compete with language training programme, during the arts and culture. to update their knowledge and keep them other cultures of the world, there is need to abreast of current trends in the culture sector.” earlier, Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief edem Duke, said it was gratifying to note culture and tourism sector has been identified as one of the key sectors he poet and sometime honour of Whiteman, who flew journalist and publicist, and constantly re-invented itself, with great potentials to realize the growth and painter Deji Toye will moder- into town to launch the book on Femke van Zeiji, a Dutch from the first settlement on an development aspirations of the nation. ate a conversation around Kaye Wednesday, March 6. The author Journalist who in recent years uninhabited island to the cre“It is therefore imperative that the human Whiteman’s ‘LAGOS: A Cultural himself also turns 77 around that relocated to Lagos. ation of the port in the early capacity, which is critical in fostering the and historical Companion’ at date and so there’d be a small Whiteman first came to Nigeria years of the twentieth century…. desired transformation, are trained and re- the Freedom Park (1 hopspital musical show at the Park’s in the 60s, but he fell for Lagos The city’s melting-pot has fertirained continuously to cope with the rapidly Road, by Broad Street, Lagos) at food court after the conversation. when he lived in the city for two lised a unique literary and artischanging global environment”, the Minister 4pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013.

The discussants are Tolu years between 2000 and 2002. tic flowering that is only now said.

The conversation is part of an Ogunlesi, poet and journalist, and The book’s blurb says that the beginning to be appreciated by a Represented by the Director of Tourism, Mr. arthouse forum, organized in Toni Kan, poet Short story writer, author “explores a city that has world that has only seen slums

V

Arthouse forum on Whiteman’s book on Lagos holds tomorrow T

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Sports Soccerex greets Abdullahi on award

Minister urges NFF to raise Eagles’ market value with AFCON victory

HE world’s leading sports T consulting and management firm, Soccerex has congratulated the Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi on being conferred with the African Sports Minister of the Year Award.

In a letter to the minister, Daniel Krebs, a director at Soccerex stated that the body was pleased to learn of the award to the minister.

“The Soccerex team would like to congratulate you for this achievement,” he stated.

Krebs further stated, “we from Soccerex would like to sincerely thank you again for the support you have shown us and thank you for all your work in developing sports in Nigeria.”

The minister was honoured recently by the Institute of Leadership and Management in Nairobi, Kenya as the African Sports Minister of the Year.

The body said it honored the minister because of the ongoing reforms in the sports sector and his effort to build an enduring governance system in the sector.

The award to the minister has elicited praises from several sport stakeholders, including Aminu Maigari, the president of the Nigeria Football Federation, who said, “the minister greatly deserves the award and we at the NFF are happy to congratulate him.

Promises to back Maigari for CAF seat From Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja INISTER of M Sports/Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Bolaji Abdulahi has advised the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to capitalise on Nigeria’s South Africa 2013 CAF Nations Cup victory to leverage on the marketing opportunities that will not only put the NFF on a sound financial footing, but also upgrade the Super Eagles value.

Abdulahi urged the federation to work hard to generate alternative funding to add to what it receives from both the Federal Government and FIFA, adding that the Nations Cup victory must be seen as an open opportunity to attract more investors for the federation.

The sports minister, who spoke yesterday in Abuja on the funding for the Super Eagles’ March 23 Brazil 2014 World Cup qualifier against Kenya in Calabar, assured that money would not frustrate the Super Eagles’ participation in the championship.

“As you are aware, the budget was signed just last week by the president. Anybody that works in the sector must

always appreciate it that there will always be this issue of money, but all I know is that they will get the fund to prosecute the game against Kenya.

“But the biggest challenge here is that the NFF has to also work harder to be generating alternative source of funding. By being African champions, I am also sure that they will get other source of funding from CAF,” Abdulahi noted.

On the quest of the NFF President, Aminu Maigari, to contest the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) seat vacated by former executive member, Amos Adamu, the minister said he would receive the full support of the Federal Government, adding that the NSC has continued to draw support for his candidacy.

“Our position on the CAF seat is very clear, we have a candidate, which is Aminu Maigari. He is having our full support. We even met yesterday to marshal out strategies for the election, so it is our hope that he will succeed. Of course you know that politics at that level is an international thing, but we are optimistic that he will be successful,” he said.

Ogenyi Onazi is expected to be in Coach Stephen Keshi’s list of foreign-based players invited for the World Cup qualifier against Kenya.

Pepsi ICC Africa Division 1 T20 Fall-Out

Nigeria relegated to Division Two, begins preparation for WCL play-off

By Christian Okpara

Obi, Ameobi may make Keshi’s N foreign-based players’ list NTER Milan ace, Joel Obi and Imake Shola Ameobi, are likely to the 25-man Eagles squad for a 2014 World Cup qualifier against Kenya later this month.

Obi missed the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa due to a long-term muscle injury, while Ameobi’s contract at English Premier League club, Newcastle, prevented him from the tournament.

However, defensive midfielder, Obi has not been involved with his Italian Serie A club lately.

Officials are also insisting that injured Spartak Moscow striker, Emmanuel Emenike, will be fit in time for the March 23 clash against the Harambee Stars in Calabar.

Super Eagles Coach, Stephen Keshi is expected to meet with the technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) today to defend his callups. Top officials of the Federation told MTNFootball.com, “Keshi is to defend his team list for the World Cup qualifier against Kenya on Wednesday before the list is released.”

“Coach Stephen Keshi is expected to come up with a 25man list for the game against Kenya,” further stated NFF General Secretary, Musa Amadu.

The Super Eagles are expected to re-group this weekend at a training camp in Abuja with players from the domestic league before they relocate to Calabar a week to the match.

Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko (left), presenting the key to a bungalow and a cheque for N1 million to Super Eagles’ defender and Sunshine Stars’ Skipper, Godfrey Oboabona, at the Governor’s Office in Akure…yesterday.

IGERIA over the weekend failed in its bid to qualify for the ICC Division One Twenty20 play-off scheduled for the UAE later this year when it finished in the last position at the African qualifiers in Kampala, Uganda.

Playing against Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Botswana for the ticket to join Namibia as Africa’s two representatives in the competition in UAE, Nigeria could only finish with two points with one win and seven loses in its eight game in the competition won by Kenya.

In second position behind Kenya was Uganda, which won seven games, Tanzania was third after three wins,

while Botswana took the fourth position with tow victories.

Incidentally, Nigeria beat Botswana in one of the early games of the competition top raise its fans hope of a good outing. But it went on a losing streak that saw it dropping seven games, including the reverse fixture against Botswana.

With this outing the country will return to Division Two, a group it last played in 2011.

But before beginning its sojourn in that division, the Nigerians will take part in the World Cricket League Division Seven play-off scheduled for Gaborone from April 4 to 14.

Nigeria Cricket Federation

(NCF) General Manager, George Wiltshire, the team will go on a short break and return to begin preparation for the WCL play-off, which will see the first two teams qualifying for the Division Seven.

Wiltshire also disclosed that the technical committee of the federation would study the technical report of the country’s performance in Kampala to ensure that some of the shortcomings of the illfated campaign did not happen in Gaborone.

A good outing in Botswana, he revealed, apart from getting Nigeria promotion to Division six of the WCL, will also create more opportunities for Nigeria to play more games against highly rated

Ahead Brazil 2014 World Cup Qualifier

Mba, Oboabona, 22 others to tackle Harambee Stars UPER Eagles boss, Stephen Sunveiled Okechukwu Keshi has a list of 24 homebased professional players, who will be joined later by their foreign-based counterparts for the all-important World Cup qualifier against the Harambee Stars of Kenya, scheduled for March 23 in Calabar, Cross River State.

Super Eagles’ Media Officer, Ben Alaiya, quotes the team’s Secretary, Dayo Enebi Achor, as saying that the full list of foreign-based professionals would be unveiled on tomorrow by the team’s technical crew, as Keshi has mapped out plans to ensure that only

fit and ready players will be invited for the clash against Harambee Stars of Kenya.

On the 24-man list is Eagles home-based skipper, Chigozie Agbim, Sunday Mba, who was one of the heroes of Nigeria’s 2013 African Nations Cup win, Godfrey Oboabona, the Sunshine Stars skipper, who featured in all games of the tournament in South Africa, Gabriel Reuben, Papa Idris and goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi all make a return to the team.

The team will as usual encamp at Bolton White Apartment, Zone 7 in Abuja from Sunday, March 10, from

where they will be joined by foreign-based players next week for the trip to Calabar, venue of the encounter.

Glo hails F/Eagles, Eaglets’ preparations LOBACOM has commended G both the National U-20 team (Flying Eagles) and the U17 National team (Golden Eaglets) for the adequate preparation they are making ahead of their respective African Youth Championship matches in March and April.

The Flying Eagles will be defending their African Youth Championship title in Algeria, while the Golden Eaglets will attempt to announce their return to continental reckoning in Morocco.

“We are delighted by the level of work carried out by the coaching crews of both teams,” a statement from Globacom said in Lagos on Tuesday.

“We are also confident that the Flying Eagles, from the result of their warm up matches, will successfully defend their U-20 AYC title. Similarly, with the high rate of work exhibited by the Eaglets during their warm up matches so far, we are assured that they will conquer Africa,” the statement added.

The Eaglets on Monday defeated the U-17 team of Botswana, Diamond Zebras 9-0 in a friendly match organised to put the team in shape for the forthcoming AYC.

The invited players Goalkeepers 1. Agbim Chigozie (Rangers), 2. Akpeyi Daniel (Heartland), 3. Ajiboye Dele (3sc).

Defenders 4. Egwueke Azubuike (Warri Wolves), 5. Papa Idris (Kano Pillars), 6. Zango Umar (Kano Pillars), 7. Oboabona Godfrey (Sunshine Stars), 8. Kwambe Solomon (Sunshine Stars), 9. Chibuzo Okonkwo (Rangers), 10. Ezekiel bassey (Lobi Stars), 11. Benjamin Francis (Heartland), 12. Zubaru

Muhammed (Tornadoes).

Midfielders and forwards 13. Mba Sunday (Nigeria), 14. Gabriel Ruben (Kano Pillars), 15. Gambo Muhammed (Kano Pillars), 16. Ubale Mannir (Kano Pillars), 17. Pius Samson (Ranchers Bees), 18.

Ohanduku Gomo (Sharks), 19. Obinna Nwanchukwu (Heartland), 20. Saka Ayo (Enyimba), 21. Jiya Muhammed (Bayelsa Fc), 22. Emeka Ezeh (Rangers), 23. Anthony Okputu (Lobi Stars), 24. Adepoju Taofeek (3SC).

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

SPORTS 59

Government has not given any grant to NPFL, says Abdulahi From Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja INISTER of Sports/Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Bolaji Abdulahi has clarified that contrary to the Nigeria Premier Football League management committee’s claim that it has been offered a grant by the Federal Government to enable it begin the 2012/2013 league season, the committee was only offered a soft loan to ensure that the league did not suffer any further postponement.

The minister, who spoke to journalists at the opening of the meeting of African regional working group of Experts on Physical Education and Sports yesterday in Abuja, said the decision was taken to grant the committee a soft loan when it became obvious that the sponsorship talk had collapsed, insisting that the committee was never given any take off grant by the

M

Federal Government.

He revealed that he decided to appeal to the respective authorities to come to the aid of the committee with a loan to enable them begin the season to save the careers of the numerous Nigerian youths that earn their living through the Nigerian football League, adding that efforts were being made to resolve all sponsorship issues that have frustrated the commencement of the league.

Abdulahi, who earlier insisted that all issues about the league be resolved before the beginning of the new season, said he decided to change his stance because clubs were paying salaries to players, who were not doing anything for them as a result of the crisis in the premier league.

“There is no government grant to the NPFL committee.

What happened was that they had issues with the firms involved in their title sponsorship and we are trying to

see if we can make some stop gap for them by appealing to the respective authorities to see whatever they can do help them out as a form of loan, so that they can start the league.

“But what I can also tell is that I am supposed to have a meeting with them today or tomorrow, but the issues that had frustrated the take off of the initial sponsorship talk with Total Promotions and Glo has been resolved.

“We know it is very difficult getting to all this because of certain interests, but eventually we will get to that settlement point so as to keep the goal focused. What we want is to give Nigeria a befitting league. There will also be these difficulties at the beginning but I am sure that we will come up with a long term solution in the interest of football and Nigerian youths.”

The 2012/2013 season of the Nigeria Premier League has been scheduled to begin on March 9, with Enyimba of Aba hosting Enugu Rangers in the star match of the week.

Gudu Arch-deaconry wins Abuja Anglican Diocese Women Games From Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja EFENDING champions, Gudu Archdeaconry, emerged the overall champions with a total of 79 points to successfully defend the Abuja Diocese Anglican women games, which ended at the Anglican Girls Grammar School at weekend in Abuja.

The defending champions secured the victory ahead of other archdeaconries like, Wuse, Durumi, Maitama, Asokoro, and Mpape to win the one-day event, which featured march past by women, three-legged race, a dance for Jesus, dressing up for school, 100 metres and relay races, among others.

Speaking at the occasion, wife of the Primate of the Anglican Communion, Nkasiobi Okoh said the occasion, which was usually done by the Abuja Diocese of the Anglican Church to usher in the Mothering Sunday, was aimed at uniting the women of the Anglican community through participation in sports, adding that it also helps to keep the women fit as they grow older.

“You can see that the women, who came for the cultural troops were well and colourfully dressed. There has been an improvement. This is one of the activities we normally do to mark the Mothering Sunday of the Anglican Community.

D

The NFF will decide, which club owns Sunday Mba today.

Sports minister commends Adeboye over table tennis championship HE Minister of Sports and T Chairman National Sports Commission (NSC) Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi has commended the General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Pastor Adejare Adeboye for the organisation and sponsorship of the Adeboye U-20 Table Tennis Championship the final of which was held at the Redemption Camp over the weekend.

Mallam Abdullahi, who graced the finals of the Championship at the Youth Center, Redemption Camp, commended Pastor Adeboye for investing in sports development, “I am very happy, that the RCCG is interested in sports development, especially, sponsorship of table tennis, this championship will not only help discover new talents, but it will also keep our youth in good shape and top form for future championships.”

Abdullahi said the thinking of the RCCG and that of the NSC is in the same direction as Table Tennis is one of the sports that government is focusing its attention on.

“Table Tennis is one of the sports we are determined to transform and towards this end, a lot of efforts and invest-

ment is being directed toward transforming the sports and am glad that the RCCG has joined hands with us. I thank the church and our dear Pastor Adeboye for their efforts.”

He urged the RCCG to continue to work with the NSC in the drive to transform sports in Nigeria.

The minister was received at the Redemption Camp by a high-powered delegation led by the wife of the General Overseer of the Church, Mrs. Folu Adeboye.

Enugu Rangers and Heartland of Owerri battling for points during the 2011/2012 season.

Eagles, Nollywood stars set for pitch awards in Calabar HE country’s biggest stars T will on March 23 gather in Calabar to strut their stuff in the maiden edition of the Nigeria Pitch Awards, scheduled for the Conference Hall of the Tinapa Hotel and Resort.

Among the dignitaries expected at the event is Cross River State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, who is top of the list of personalities to be honoured at the first-ever Night of Stars, preceding the inaugural Nigeria Pitch awards.

Governor Imoke, whose administration has hugely supported the reinvigoration the Super Eagles and the Golden Eaglets, will be honoured alongside the Minister/Chairman, National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, NFF Executive Committee members, Super Eagles’ players and a dozen stars of the Nollywood industry on a

night that aptly marries football and entertainment.

The two-hour event starts at 9pm, with the red carpet on from 8pm.

Matchmakers Consult International Limited, endorsed by the NFF to organise the Nigeria Pitch Awards, says it is putting together this event that will annually precede the awards, and has gone to great length to ensure it would be a roaring success.

“We are putting together something that will amply reflect the huge progress that our country has made in both football and entertainment sectors in the past few years. It is auspicious that this is coming at a time that the Super Eagles has just won the Africa Cup of Nations and Nollywood is celebrating 20 years on stream, but the truth is, this event has been in the works for some time now.

“As it has turned out and for good too, this inaugural Night of Stars will principally celebrate Nigeria’s triumph at the Africa Cup of Nations and the rapid growth of the Nollywood industry in only two decades,” Matchmakers Chief Executive Officer, Shina Phillips, said yesterday.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Adamu Gumba and the Chairman of House Committee on Sports, Godfrey Gaiya are also expected on a night that will see players and coaches of the Super Eagles as principal guests.

Expected from the Nollywood sector are top stars such as Desmond Elliot, Bimbo Akintola, Keppy Ekpeyong, Nse-Ikpe Etim, Francis Duru, Ejike Asiegbu, Bimbo Manuel, Fred Amata, Lancelot Imasuen and Chika Ike.

Lagos International Polo Tournament

Lintex, Fifth Chukker in massive clash FIRE-FOR-FIRE atmosA phere is expected when Lintex-Anadariya and Fifth Chukker battle in the prestigious Majekodunmi Cup as full-scale action resumes at the Lagos Polo International Tournament, which enters its final week today.

Ibadan Eleyele and Kano Ibah fighting for honours on the opening day of the 2013 Lagos International Polo Tournament.

With four of the nine cups available already claimed in the first phase of the event that has MTN and GTB as major sponsors, polo enthusiasts can look towards an action-packed five days of polo with the best of ponies on display.

Kano teams, Susplan and DMS, are scheduled to commence proceedings for the week in the Low Cup, which has Caverton, Ibadan Challenge, Ibadan Jericho and Kano RTC as other participating teams.

They will be joined by either Goodfellows or Tavia Trojan, who were scheduled to meet in a qualifier yesterday evening.

Other teams in the Majekodunmi Cup are Delaney Linetrale, Ironclad Shoreline and Ashbert Titans.

The teams are to battle in two leagues with the winners heading into Sunday’s grand finale.

The Majekodunmi Cup is the final match today and it

will be preceded with the match between Ibadan Jericho and Kano RTC in continuation of the Low Cup. Regarded as the most prestigious cup in Nigerian polo, the Majekodunmi Cup is a high-goal polo, with the teams featuring their invited foreign professional polo stars.

Other games to look out for in the final week are the Italian Ambassador’s Cup clash between the Titans and the Kaduna-based Fifth Chukker.

This cup is played between the highest handicapped team from the northern part of Nigeria and the highest handicapped team from the Southern part of the country.

There will also be a lot of prestige at stake when Linetrale and Anadariya jostle for the Independence Cup and the same atmosphere is expected when Lagos HST and Lagos Bell Oil & Gas clash in the Governor’s Cup.

THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

60 | SPORTS

UEFA Championship League

Italian press gives Celtic very slim comeback chance Italy they are a superstiIthatNtious bunch. They know 99 per cent of the time Juventus will make it to the quarter-finals of the Champions League tonight.

But, just sometimes, things can go wrong. Tuttosport, the Turin-based sports paper says that only once in the history of European football has a side overturned a 3-0 home defeat.

According to BBC in Scotland, it was Dynamo Bucharest against Slovan Liberec in the 2009/10 Europa League, but the first match had been awarded to the Czech side after a pitch invasion in Romania.

Curiously enough, it was former Juve player and an old acquaintance of Scottish football from his time with Dundee, Dario Bonetti, who was in charge of Dynamo at the time.

Nonetheless, Tuttosport did not rate the chances of a similar upset at the Juventus Stadium likely.

“The convincing win recorded against the Scots at Celtic Park should allow Antonio Conte’s men to rest easy,” it said.

“The great comebacks of European football have usually been achieved in games played in front of your own fans.

“One example was Deportivo La Coruna at the Estadio Riazor who turned round a 41 first leg defeat with an emphatic 4-0 victory.”

The defeated side on that occasion was an Italian one Milan and it included current Juventus star Andrea Pirlo.

He was also part of the Milan side, which lost a 3-0 half-time lead in the Champions League final against Liverpool in Istanbul in 2005, a memory which still burns.

Despite those occasional historic setbacks, La Gazzetta dello Sport is also understandably upbeat about Juve’s chances.

“With a little bit of concentration the Bianconeri will go flying into the quarter-finals, something Italy’s most popular club has not achieved in seven years,” it reckoned.

“That was Fabio Capello’s side, a great team with Gianluigi Buffon in goal, Fabio Cannavaro at the back, Emerson, Patrick Vieira and Pavel Nedved in midfield and Alessandro Del Piero, David Trezeguet and Zlatan Ibrahimovic up front.”

Efe

We can’t be complacent against Celtic, Conte cautions squad Coach, Antonio JofUVENTUS Conte has warned his players becoming complacent as they look to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League against Celtic on Wednesday.

The Bianconeri lead 3-0 from the first leg at Celtic Park after a clinical performance, but the former Italy international does not believe the tie is over despite the one-sided scoreline .

“Qualification is obtained over 180 minutes and so far we’ve only played 90. There is another 90 to go against a strong, proud team who will want to make amends for first leg,” Conte told reporters.

“The first leg has given us a seriously good chance of reaching the next round, but in football, there are always surprises.”

The 43-year-old reiterated that the Scottish outfit can still cause a problem for the Serie A leaders despite being behind in the tie and praised the work being done by his opposite number Neil Lennon . “Celtic are a side capable of creating plenty of danger, we need to be fully focused,” he

added. “It’s an important test.

They are a great team and Lennon is doing a superb job.”

Conte was also full of praise for his own players after their victory in Glasgow, and hoped that winning so handsomely in a notoriously hostile stadium will stand them in good stead for the future.

The coach continued, “not succumbing to the pressure of Celtic Park was an excellent test of the team’s maturity and gives me great confidence. It’s not easy to play in hostile environments.

“Everybody at Juventus should be proud of what we’re doing. We need to keep it going.”

Valencia’s Cissokho confident heading into PSG clash ALENCIA defender, Aly V Cissokho is confident that his side can win their Champions League tie with Paris Saint-Germain today, stating, “in football nothing is impossible.”

Los Che lost the first leg at the Mestalla 2-1 with Adil Rami scoring a late goal to give the Spanish side hope in the second leg.

“We lost at home but nevertheless we have chances to win in Paris. In football, nothing is impossible,” Cissoko told a press conference.

“It will be a tough match, we will have to be patient. I’ll have to be strong in defence.”

The France international added that, while the absence

of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marco Verratti will benefit his side, PSG have more than capable alternatives.

“These are two major players (that are missing). Ibrahimovic ball holds up well and is a good player. Verratti technically dictates the game,” he added.

“Despite those two losses they have many options and can play both Beckham and Menez.”

Cissokho went on to say that mistakes in defence that have led to goals being conceded this season have to stop, starting tonight.

“We have lost points due to errors, so we cannot make them again, especially against PSG because it could cost us the tournament.”

Application for tickets for Champions League final ends March 15 ANS have until 15 March to Ftickets apply for international for the UEFA Champions League final at Wembley, while hospitality packages for the big event are already on sale.

Applicants can request a maximum of two tickets per person (in the same price category) by completing an online application form.

Once the sales window closes, every valid application will enter a ballot, irrespective of

the time of submission within the application period, to determine which fans are allocated tickets. Applicants will be informed via email by 8 April as to whether they have been successful or not.

Tickets come in four price categories (GBP) – Category 1: £330, Category 2: £230, Category 3: £140, Category 4: £60. Youth Package tickets for one child accompanied by one adult are available at discount prices in Category 2:

£120 (1 adult + 1 child ticket).

An administrative fee will be charged per successful ticket order.

Hospitality packages are also on sale in two categories, gold and platinum. UEFA will once again deliver a high quality hospitality programme, tailored to impress guests. Wembley offers not only a thrilling matchday experience, but also an exclusive setting for its most discerning spectators.

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TheGuardian

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

By Paul Irikefe ince 1958 when Nigeria began oil production, the story of the country has followed a skewed trajectory dictated by powerful interests. It has spawned a nation with the highest turnover of political leadership in Africa, of coups and counter-coups, with a bloody civil war, a corrupt, inefficient, greedy and ostentatious class of elites, and above all, an economy that is purely rentier and a politics that is overly prebendal. Oil, as one analyst puts it has made Nigeria a parvenu, puffed up by petro dollars.

But this trajectory may be about to change. The world is poised for a new global energy order, one that will send shockwaves and confusion to ‘petrolist states.’ Indeed a big powershift is underway, whose ramification and magnitude we are yet to fully comprehend.

The revolution actually began in 1948, but only recently did other technologies emerge to make it a reality.

Today with remarkable precision, hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have been combined to unlock the extensive gas and oil trapped in “source rock” – rock from which oil and gas slowly migrated into natural reservoirs over millions of years. These unconventional energy resources have already been found in significant quantity in the U.S., Abu Dhabi, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Oman, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. And according to the International Energy Agency, recoverable reserves of shale gas are present almost in all country.

The global energy glut as well as the economic and geopolitical consequences is already beginning to dawn on the world, beginning in the United States. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that the United States, thanks to this revolution in shale gas and oil, would surpass Saudi Arabia and Russia to becoming the world’s largest oil producer by 2020. And it is clearly en route to being a net exporter within the decade.

Being the biggest importer of Nigeria’s crude oil (a little less than half of our oil export), this is bad news for the country. Already American oil import from us last year slumped from 810,000 barrels to 361,000. Says, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, the co-ordinating Minister for the Economy and the Finance Minister, “the discovery of Shale oil and gas in the U.S. are long-term fundamental factors that we must pay attention to. Nigeria cannot afford to bury her head in the sand oblivious to changing energy trends in the

S

The global energy glut as well as the economic and geopolitical consequences is already beginning to dawn on the world, beginning in the United States. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that the United States, thanks to this revolution in shale gas and oil, would surpass Saudi Arabia and Russia to becoming the world’s largest oil producer by 2020. And it is clearly en route to being a net exporter within the decade.

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An inconvenient truth

world. It is in our best interest to respond proactively to these trends.

The consequences of not doing so could be very unpleasant not only for us but future generations too.”

Nevertheless, some are already arguing that there is no cause for alarm that the left over oil slice will go to Europe and Asia, and there is no reason to our being overly worried. Indeed, that appears comforting and reassuring, except that it is dangerously false and misleading.

The truth is that China’s growth will soon taper off with its hunger for energy, and its reserve in shale and

tight-oil resources surpasses that of even North America by 50 per cent.

China is poised to leverage on this energy advantage as America, relying on its energy boon, grows more competitive and prosperous.

Clearly, a world of increasing energy independence and falling oil prices will be tremendously painful and undermining for a country that operates an exogenous economy that derives about 95 per cent of her foreign exchange earnings and about 65 per cent of her budgetary revenues from oil and gas exports.

Indeed, the sharp swing in oil prices

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Editor: MARTINS

OLOJA

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ABC (ISSN NO 0189-5125)

Clearly, a world of increasing energy independence and falling oil prices will be tremendously painful and undermining for a country that operates an exogenous economy that derives about 95 per cent of her foreign exchange earnings and about 65 per cent of her budgetary revenues from oil and gas exports. Indeed, the sharp swing in oil prices do not just affect the international system, it has always led to regime insecurity in this nation. do not just affect the international system, it has always led to regime insecurity in this nation.

It did this in the oil embargo of 19731974 following the Yom Kippur War. The sudden sharp rise in the price of oil led to so much money and the recalculation of power for Gowon, resulting in a military coup that brought in Murtala Mohammed/Obasanjo-led government. It did this too in the oil price shock of 1985/ 1986 that brought in a counter coup against Buhari, and so on.

But the most troubling implication will be that Nigeria may officially be transitioning out of her golden age –roughly from 1958 to the middle of this decade – with nothing to show for it. Unable to further subsidise corruption and use petrodollars to buy consensus and vote, to settle disgruntled parties and cronies, and to deny us freedom and good governance, dignity and a decent future, it remains unclear whether the system, a system that the elites have always insisted to be priceless and non-negotiable despite all evidence to the contrary, can still hold.

Nigerian government at all levels may have to respond choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. First, they may choose to absorb the financial and social pressure that this brings and so bear the cost by cutting down on frivolous spending, maybe by cutting down on their wages and emoluments, for example, cutting down on what members of National Assembly earn or by making sure that N2.3 million is not spent daily for refreshment in Aso Rock. But that is most unlikely. A culture of sacrifice does not appear to be in abundance in Aso Rock.

Therefore, a more likely scenario would be to push the cost to the Nigerian people by raising taxes and other forms of revenues. In other words, without the incentive to drill into the ground anymore, government may be forced to drill into the minds, creativity and entrepreneurship of the people and that could be the game changer. It will call for a new form of leadership, where contracts will be respected; foreign direct investment will be sought and government will be for the people and by the people.

Hopefully, we may also be able to demand a better deal by trading taxation and political order with voice and political freedom. It will be an era that may demand a new-breed politics and politicians with vision, clarity and character to lead this nation to its long denied destiny. The prospect of a Nigerian spring has never been more real, alive and terrifying.

• Irikefe is a reverend father in the Catholic Diocese of Warri.