Tue 20 May 2014

TheGuardian Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Vol. 30, No. 12,927

www.ngrguardiannews.com

N150

‘Nigerians living longer by eight years’ • Heart diseases, lower respiratory infections, stroke top causes of premature deaths • Women enjoy longer life than men by six years • Japan has highest life expectancy of 87 • Liberia makes greatest progress

By Chukwuma Muanya IGERIANS are now living longer by eight years even as coronary (ischaemic) heart disease, lower respiratory infections (such as pneumonia) and stroke top the list of 20 major causes of premature deaths globally.

According to the World CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

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Monarch spoke for himself over next Lagos gov, say Tinubu, others

By Abiodun Fanoro and Seye Olumide HE Special Adviser (Media)/Chief of Staff to former Governor Bola Tinubu, Mr. Sunday Dare, has dismissed as unfounded, baseless and malicious the insinuations that Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, was acting the script of his boss when he declared CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

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Thousands of local hunters from the North Eastern states assembling to embark on an expedition against Boko Haram insurgents… yesterday. (Inset) A woman gestures in front of a sign held by other protesters reading ‘‘Let’s get united with the Nigerian people to get our girls back’’ during a sit-in organised by Human Rights organisation in front of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission headquarters in Abidjan.

PHOTOS: YAHOO NEWS/AFP/SIA KAMBOU

Police avert fresh blast in Kano From Oghogho Obayuwana, Mohammed Abubakar, Karls Tsokar (Abuja) and Njadvara Musa (Maiduguri) ECURITY operatives yesterday averted what would have been a second bomb blast within 24 hours in Kano.

They demobilised a vehicle wired with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) ready to explode in one of the councils in the heart of the commercial city.

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday held a meeting at the Presidential Villa with Service chiefs and heads of security agencies to review the security situation in the country.

In a related development, the Presidential Fact-Finding

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Committee (PFFC) on the missing Chibok school girls yesterday urged security agencies and the Borno State government to be “very frank” and sincere on information relating to the kidnapped students.

Also, the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Garbai, yesterday declared that the leaders of the Boko Haram were not indigenes of the state.

He made the remark when the presidential fact- finding committee on Chibok paid him a courtesy call at his palace yesterday.

Meanwhile, Israel is now participating in the international coalition to give a complete rout to terrorism in Nigeria because aside

• Jonathan, security chiefs meet • Panel urges sincerity over abducted girls • ‘B’Haram leaders not from Borno’ • Why Israel aids Nigeria on terror war, by envoy from possessing the wherewithal, there is so much connectedness in the newly-created strategic relations between the two countries, the ambassador of the state of Israel to Nigeria, Uriel Palti, told The Guardian at the weekend.

In a statement yesterday by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Frank Mba, the recovered vehicle, “a Mitsubishi Station Wagon car, ash in colour, with registration number Kano – AE 756 GSW, loaded with assorted gas cylinders, one container

of fuel and other electrical components of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).”

As it was parked in the densely-populated Nasarawa area along Tafawa Balewa Street, Nasarawa Local Council of the state, the statement said: “Kano Police operatives acting on intelligence, tracked and recovered” the devastation ready vehicle, which “has since been rendered safe by Police Bomb Disposal experts.”

At about 9.30 p.m. on Sunday, a suicide bomber detonated one on Middle

Yoruba leaders insist on regionalism, right to self-determination, Urhobo may take case over Jesse disaster to UN – Page 4

junction by Gold Coast Road in Sabon-Gari area of the state, killing scores, including the suicide bomber who was cowardly walking away.

The statement added: “The blast led to the death of five persons, including the suspected suicide bomber. Seven persons were injured; four of them already treated and discharged while six vehicles were also damaged.

While investigations have commenced into both the aborted blast as well as the Sunday night bomb incident, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, has promised to fight the terrorists to ensure the safety of Nigerians and will in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies

PFN, others mourn Nigeria’s oldest cleric, Pedro Martins – Page 87

continue to do their best towards winning the ongoing war against terrorism.”

The security meeting is coming barely 72 hours after last Saturday’s Regional Security meeting on Boko Haram hosted by French President Francois Hollande at Elysee Palace, Paris, France. The meeting was attended by all the leaders of Nigeria’s neighbouring African countries.

Those who attended yesterday’s security meeting included Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Sabundu Badeh; Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal AdeCONTINUED ON PAGE 2

DAY 36 #BringBackOurGirls

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

2 Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Heart diseases, lower respiratory infections, stroke top causes of premature deaths CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Health Statistics 2014 published at the weekend by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the world has witnessed major gains in life expectancy in recent decades with Nigerians living longer from 46 years in 1990 to 54 years in 2012.

Published every year since 2005 by WHO, World Health Statistics is the definitive source of information on the health of the world’s people.

It contains data from 194 countries on a range of mortality, disease and health system indicators, including life expectancy, illnesses and deaths from key diseases, health services and treatments, financial investment in health, as well as risk factors and behaviours that affect health.

A breakdown shows that Nigerian women are living longer from 47 years in 1990

to 55 years in 2012 compared to men with 45 years in 1990 to 53 years in 2012.

According to the WHO report, at the other end of the scale, life expectancy for both men and women is still less than 55 years in nine subSaharan African countries – Angola, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Also, the 67th World Health Assembly (WHA) began yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland with more than 3,000 delegates, including those from Nigeria led by the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, in attendance.

Top on the agenda of Nigeria at the 67th WHA, according to Chukwu, are the calls for the establishment of African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (A-

CDC) and African Medicines Agency (AMA) with Nigeria as the hub.

Meanwhile, according to WHO, the other causes of premature deaths in descending order are: preterm birth complications; diarrhoeal diseases; Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS); birth asphyxia and birth trauma; road injury; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and malaria.

Congenital anomalies; neonatal sepsis and infections; self-harm; trachea, bronchus, lung cancers; diabetes mellitus; tuberculosis; cirrhosis of the liver; interpersonal violence; meningitis; and protein-energy malnutrition are also among the major causes of premature death.

Analysis shows that half of the top 20 causes of premature deaths are infectious diseases, and maternal, neonatal and nutritional causes, while the other half are due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) or injuries.

According to the WHO report, a baby girl born in 2012 can expect to live an average of 72.7 years, and a baby boy 68.1 years. This is six years longer than the average global life expectancy for a child born in 1990.

It also noted that low-income countries have made

the most significant progress, with an increase of nine years of average life expectancy between 1990 and 2012 – from 51.2 to 60.2 years for men and 54.0 to 63.1 years for women.

According to the World Health Statistics 2014, this has been achieved despite the ongoing HIV pandemic affecting many low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It noted that an important contributor to increasing life expectancy in low-income countries has been progress in reducing child deaths, as well as reductions in deaths from infectious diseases in adults.

The top six countries that made the greatest progress in extending life expectancy were Liberia (by 19.7 years) followed by Ethiopia, Maldives, Cambodia, TimorLeste and Rwanda.

Among high-income countries, the average gain in life expectancy was 5.1 years, ranging from 0.2 years in the Russian Federation to 9.2 years in the Republic of Korea.

However, Japan tops the list with average life expectancy of 87 years for women and 80 for men. Japan is closely followed by Switzerland with average life expectancy of 85.1 years for women and 80.7 years for men.

According to a WHA statement, over the next six days, high-level representatives

from WHO’s 194 memberstates will discuss and make decisions on key global health issues, including: efforts to prevent and control NCDs such as diabetes, heart disease, cancers and chronic lung disease; a new global strategy and targets to prevent and control tuberculosis; proposals to improve the health of patients with viral hepatitis; a draft action plan for newborn health; progress on WHO’s global strategy for maternal and young child nutrition; progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and the role of health on the post-2015 development agenda; ways to tackle antimicrobial drug resistance; efforts to improve access to essential medicines and strengthen the systems that regulate medicines; management of autism; and protecting more people from vaccine-preventable diseases.

According to the WHO report, life expectancy also depends on where people were born. A boy born in 2012 in a high-income country can expect to live to 75.8 years – more than 15 years longer than a boy born in a low-income country (60.2 years).

For girls, the difference is even more marked; a gap of 18.9 years separates life expectancy in high-income (82.0 years) and low- income countries (63.1 years).

Life expectancy among men

is 80 years or more in nine countries, with the highest in Australia, Iceland and Switzerland.

Among women, all countries in the top 10 have life expectancies of 84 years or longer. Women in Japan have the highest life expectancy in the world at 87.0 years, followed by Spain, Switzerland and Singapore.

WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, said: “An important reason why global life expectancy has improved so much is that fewer children are dying before their fifth birthday.

“But there is still a major rich-poor divide: people in high-income countries continue to have a much better chance of living longer than people in low-income countries.”

Director of the Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems at WHO, Dr. Ties Boerma, said: “In highincome countries, much of the gain in life expectancy is due to success in tackling non-communicable diseases.

“Fewer men and women are dying before they get to their 60th birthday from heart disease and stroke. Richer countries have become better at monitoring and managing high blood pressure for example.”

WHO also noted that declining tobacco use is also a key factor in helping people live longer in several countries.

Jonathan, security chiefs meet CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 mola Amosu.

The IG and the Director-General of State Security Service (SSS), Ita Ekpeyong, his counterpart in the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Ambassador Ayo Oke, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, were also at the meeting.

Although details of the meeting were not disclosed, it was gathered that it was to review the security situation in the country as well as the decision reached at the regional security meeting in Paris.

Addressing representatives of security agencies and the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Garbai ElKanemi at the Government House, Maiduguri, chairman of PFFC, Brig.-Gen. Ibrahim Sabo (rtd), said that the 26-member committee was on a factfinding mission to Borno State on the missing school girls before mobilising communities on how the abducted students could be rescued unhurt.

He said: “The presidential committee on the missing school girls is here today (yesterday) to interact with all the security agencies.

When we come to you individually or as representatives of your respective security agencies operating in this state, you have to be very frank on what you know about the missing school girls. This will not only help facilitate the quick rescue of the girls, but will put the records straight in imple-

menting our terms of reference given by the President last week.”

He said the interactive session the committee had with the Shehu of Borno was also very vital, as the information provided by the traditional ruler was very important in the rescuing of the abducted girls.

Sabo added: ”Before our interaction with security agencies and the monarch, the committee had such sessions with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), European Union (EU) and all the security chiefs in Abuja on the abducted girls A statement by member/spokesperson of the PFFC, Kingsley Osadolor, made available to journalists in Abuja, quoted the monarch as describing the abduction of the school girls as absurd and unfortunate.

The statement said in part: “What is happening now is unfortunate and absurd. It’s entirely new to us. None of the leaders of Boko Haram is from Borno. They cannot claim to be from here. The problem was brought to us from elsewhere”, he stated.

Stressing that the people of Borno were peace-loving people, the monarch said that the Borno Empire had been in existence for some 1,200 years.

Israel is part of the international coalition of willing nations which are currently sending compact teams to Nigeria in the fight against terrorist groups such as Boko Haram just as a regional action plan meeting was concluded in Paris at the weekend involving Nigeria’s

neighbours - Cameroun, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic.

But apart from the fact that Israel might be the more silent of this group that consists the United States (U.S.), France, China, the United Kingdom (UK) and Canada, her experience in handling terror in all ramifications and her quiet operations in Nigeria qualify her as a frontline bulwark.

Speaking for the first time on the “quiet” side of the fight already started, Palti said: “We found that Boko Haram, a terrorist organisation, has been working with al-Qaeda and this cannot be allowed to grow and fester here, so we are working with the Nigerian authorities alongside other countries to simply put a stop to this. By our special relations with Nigeria, we have to do this now...”

But he parried questions of composition, tenure and task of the Israeli assistance team, saying, “the issue is to try to help Nigeria. Right now, we will not go into details. The Boko Haram is a terror organisation. It’s a terror organisation that is really perpetrating crimes against humanity. It is a terror organisation that is being supported by Al-Oaeda. We in Israel suffered a lot from terrorists such as Hezbollah, unfortunately, we went through such acts during the second uprising, So, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu feels it is responsible to extend this kind of special relations with Nigeria and in condemning this terrible crimes so that Israel can assist Nigeria better...”

Israel is known for security efficiency worldwide. On the level of intelligence support being offered, Palti said: “I am not here to analyse what the military experts may be up to. I am the Israeli ambassador. It’s a crisis that everyone is concerned about. There is now an aura of goodwill by the international community, which wants to help Nigeria and I hope that sooner than later, the girls would be found.

Speaking on telephone conversation between Netanyahu and Jonathan, Paiti said: “it was cordial, also about brotherly support and update. He unequivocally condemned the kidnapping of the Chibok school girls.

And after being briefed of the situation, Netanyahu offered Israeli assistance in the efforts to try to find the girls.

You know we went through such hardships with the terrorists before now.”

He added: “The challenge to combat international terrorism is a mutual challenge and the relations that were established between Jonathan and Netanyahu has really uplifted the relations between Israel and Nigeria. Relations that were established after a very successful visit by Jonathan to Israel last October. A really special chemistry has been established between both countries’ leadership...and when they met last January in Davos, you can really feel this special relation between Nigeria and Israel. At the moment, Israel is one of the 11 countries that are participating in this international coalition to try to help Nigeria find the girls.”

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

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THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

News Yoruba leaders insist on regionalism, right to self-determination From Abiodun Fanoro (Lagos), Chido Okafor (Warri) and Terhemba Daka (Abuja) EADERS of the Yoruba nation have declared that regional autonomy is the minimum and irreducible demand of their people from the ongoing national conference.

They made the declaration as Urhobo nation resolved to take its case over the 1998 Jesse pipeline explosion that killed 1,016 people, and similar oil-induced disasters, to the United Nations in quest for redress and compensation.

Similarly, a delegate, Ms Annkio Briggs, has vowed to launch a campaign to demand $1 billion for the restoration of the oil rich area. She made the vow in reaction to alleged refusal of the Committee on Devolution of Powers to accept the demand of the Niger Delta people for a 50 percent derivation for the resources explored and exploited in their area.

The position of the Yoruba leaders was contained in a document sent to delegates at the conference. The document titled “Regional Autonomy…or Nothing” was also yesterday in Lagos circulated to journalists at a press conference addressed by a coalition of Yoruba nationality groups led by the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG).

Declaring the Yoruba position, Tokunbo Ajasin, son of the late Chief Adekunle Ajasin, former leader of the Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere and erstwhile governor of Ondo State, said the Yoruba people have a lot of hope in the conference to redress the current anomalous structure of the country.

Ajasin, speaking on behalf of the coalition, berated the Northern leaders who were said to have claimed that 80 percent of the country’s land mass belongs to the North and that it was the money from the North that was used to develop the oil sector.

His words: ”We are therefore baffled at the take-it-or-Ieave-it attitude of delegates from other ethnic nationalities, particularly the Northern delegates who circulated a document full of fallacies a few weeks ago. Those fallacies have now been exposed by the facts and figures contained in the publication we are unveiling today.”

Ajasin made it clear that the Yoruba would have no choice than to walk out of the federation if the conference failed to accede to what he said is the minimum demand of the Yoruba people.

The group also condemned the opposition of the North to the issue of regional autonomy.

“It is inconceivable that northern leaders are the ones leading the campaign against devolution of power and restructuring of government. If any region needs a stronger federating unit with greater capacity to provide education, health, security, wealth creation and other social amenities, it is the North where strong links exist between the level of poverty and conscription of innocent youths into extremist tendencies. It appears Northern leaders are not concerned, and indeed have no plan for the teeming youth from the region, as long as they are able to continue clinging to their hold on power.”

Ajasin said the demand represented the wishes and aspirations of the overwhelming majority of the Yoruba people gathered from different fora over the years.

The document reads: “The Yoruba people of Nigeria hereby make the following demands: • Regionalism: States in Yoruba land want a regional government with its own constitution and unfettered political and fiscal autonomy, except on issues it agrees to cede to the Federal Government. The South West Region must include all Yoruba people outside the imposed artificial boundaries in Edo, Delta, Kogi and Kwara states; • A negotiated legislative exclusive, concurrent and residual list; • A unicameral legislature at the centre; details of the regional legislature shall be clearly set out in the constitution; • A parliamentary form of government at the centre; • The right to self determination on and up to the right to secede; • A just and equitable taxation system that will

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• Lament North’s opposition to devolution of power • Urhobo may take case over Jesse disaster to UN • Delegate plans $1b demand for Niger Delta

Awolowo treat the federating units with equality and better coordination at the federal level in order to eliminate the current rentier syndrome; • Fiscal federalism and resource control: a system whereby a substantial part of the proceeds accruable from every federating unit will be retained and an agreed percentage contributed to the center by the federating units for the responsibility of the Federal Government; • Establishment of Regional Police; • A new people‘s constitution: the resolutions and conclusions of the 2014 National Conference shall lead to an autochthonous constitution, that is a home-grown and all inclusive draft that shall be submitted to the Nigerian electorate voting in a referendum; and • Status of Lagos: Lagos will continue to be the economic nerve centre of Nigeria and the West African sub-Region, hence, there shall be an appropriate budgetary provision that is part of the First Line Charge in the Federation Account.”

The Yoruba leaders pointed out that they are not enforcing their demands on others.

“Others are free to explore whatever suits them while we should be free to organise our governance the way it suits us.”

According to Ajasin, all Yoruba delegates at the conference are united on the region’s position and are poised to defend it.

He debunked claim that the Yoruba delegates are quarreling over creation of new state from the region, noting that under the regional structure being demanded by the Yoruba, each region would determine the number of states it wants or its own internal structure of governance.

The resolution on Jesse disaster was disclosed on Sunday evening in Ughelli, Delta State, by confab delegate, Prof G. G. Darah during the anniversary of the death of Major Isaac Adaka Boro, the acclaimed first militant who agitated for the development of the Niger Delta but was killed during the Nigerian civil war.

Darah, who delivered the key lecture at the event, alongside human rights activist, Mrs. Josephen Odumakin and Alhaji Mujahid AsariDokubo, convener of the Isaac Boro anniversary, said the first step before going to the

Gen. Aziza United Nations is to alert Nigerians to the magnitude of the Jesse disaster and many similar ones via memos submitted to the national conference.

The second step, he disclosed, is for the Federal Government to set up a body of experts to compile an inventory of the number and gravity of ecological damage and ascertain the human casualties directly resulting from oilinduced disasters.

“This is what Nigeria did with the Ogoni case.

But even without government report, the Urhobo will produce their own report and use it to support their appeal to the United Nations for monetary reparation/compensation for 55 years of oil-related holocaust in Urhobo land,” Darah said.

According to him, a team is presently collecting relevant information, pictures and other data towards achieving success in this regard.

He urged all communities affected by the Jesse pipeline explosion of 1998 to come forward with data that would guide the team in the renewed quest.

Darah stated that the Urhobo have been perennial victim of oil- induced disasters. “In 1998, the Jesse holocaust occurred. The casualty figure was over 1,000. The Urhobo in Nigeria and abroad rallied, they set up relief fund of N500 as government (of Gen Abdusalam Abubakar rtd) refused to send relief.

“The Urhobo Foundation in Lagos sponsored the first Urhobo Economic Summit at PTI on the theme of 40 years of Oil Exploration in Urhobo. In 1999, fire at Shell pipelines destroyed prime forests, fishes and farms in Ekakpamre. The fires along pipelines in Okpe land s are familiar to you.”

Darah disclosed that memoranda by Delta State and the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) to the national conference are demanding payment of monetary compensation for ecological disasters and losses of human beings in 55 years of the oil industry He said the Ogoni disaster received the international attention it got because of the dogged manner which the Ogoni people pursued their case.

Darah described Adaka Boro as a man of vision who foresaw the marginalization of the Niger Delta and died in the process to defend the region.

He warned that the people of the oil-rich South-South could break way if the North continues to behave as if Nigeria is its property.

He alleged that the 19 states of the North are not contributing anything to the nation’s wealth yet feeding fat on the nation’s wealth even more than the states producing the wealth.

Briggs, who is representing the Federal Government, and a member of the committee, spoke at the weekend at a ceremony organized by the South East, South South Professionals of Nigeria (SESSPN) to honour their delegates participating in the 2014 national conference in Abuja.

“I believe that we should have 50 percent derivation. But that was refused blindly. I was even more horrified that everybody in that committee, including people from the south east, south west and South South and the other regions, except me, rejected that position. They all agreed that we should not go above 13 percent. I refused and I am going to do a minority report on that.

“I am going to bring up a campaign that is going to demand from the oil companies and the Federal Government for the sake of restoring the Niger Delta region and any other region that has been devastated by exploration and exploitation of oil and gas. We are going to begin a campaign and demand based on a report that was conducted by outsiders, that we must have $1 trillion from both the Federal Government and the oil companies based on the UBEB report to begin to fix our environment.

“Any other thing outside of that will not send the right message. I still want to maintain that I will never accept a situation that tells me that I can only have 13 percent of what I am bringing and the person who is telling me is bringing absolutely nothing.

Also speaking at the forum, Chief Chris Eluemunoh, a delegate representing the South East said it will not augur well for the country if the national conference fails to accede to some of the region’s demands before the end of the parley.

“If we walk out of Abuja at the end of this conference without anything, there will be no Nigeria. This is not a threat but a statement of fact,” he said.

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

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THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

6 NEWS Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Issues In The News

‘GMO/hybrid seeds: Inviting cancer to our land, passing a death sentence on Nigerians’ Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, an M.I.T-trained architect with an interest in history and a passion for geo-political sustainability, equity and fairness, gives an insight into Genetically Motivated Organism (GMO) foods and their health implications in this write-up.

VER the past few weeks, the O Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has used different titles and labels to describe what he is trying to introduce into the country.

“Nigeria has biotechnologically improved crops and not genetically modified crops. There should not be fear about GMOs or Biotech crops at all because technology is technology, how you manage that technology to lower the risk to the consumer is important.”

To understand the gravity of this issue, I would explain the different methods by which bio-technology improves food so we would not be confused by the different labels the minister decides to use.

There are two methods used by scientists to modify genes.

One is marker-assisted: A specific gene is spliced and bred with the same organism such as a tomato. The other method is trans-genesis, during which genes from another organism such as bacteria are mixed with the genes of corn.

Then the minister went on to say: “Appropriate regulatory agencies would be put in place to check the benefits and risks associated with such foods.”

Any well-meaning individual or organisation will set up these agencies years before adopting this technology, especially with the global outcry against it.

Countries all over the world are banning and reacting negatively to bio-tech companies like Monsanto.

Can Nigeria with its lack of high-level scientific infrastructure truly regulate this technology efficiently?

For example, bio-techimproved tomatoes are engineered so they do not rot quickly.

Advantages include a higher income for the farmer. What is not considered is that the perishability of that tomato is linked to the human body’s ability to digest it. When the human body cannot get rid of it, it becomes toxic to the body and this is how cancers and other diseases come about.

That in itself makes this hybrid unsustainable. Genetic variety is important, which is why nature frowns on inbreeding. Our health suffers when our only consideration is profit. Illnesses, such as organ failure, sterility and cancer have all been linked to GMOs. The minister says: “The National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Abia State, conducts research into genetic improvement of economically important root and tuber crops.”

But is that the whole picture?

Are they splicing genes in Abia State? Are they playing God? Do the products from these institutions enslave farmers in a vicious cycle of seed purchasing? No, they do not.

Our institutions, through intercropping over several years, produce a variety of seeds that can regenerate themselves.

What the Agriculture Minister is proposing undergoes evasive genetic manipulation on a bio-molecular level.

Now that we have some idea what we are talking about, we as a people need to ask some very important questions.

Who is providing these seeds?

The answer is seen in an article under the title: “Government okays introduction of 40 hybrid seeds in Nigeria” as well as another article titled:

Genetically motivated crop “Monsanto to introduce 40 new seed varieties.”

In the article, Monsanto’s vice president, Micheal Frank said: “The company’s focus was to develop the right seeds and biotechnology that would enhance the productive capacities of local, small holder farmers, thereby improving their profitability and socio economic well being on a sustainable basis.”

People use this word ‘sustainable’ very sparingly. In ecology, sustainability is how biological systems endure and remain diverse and productive.

Sustainability in relation to governance and decision-making involves leadership making decisions that encourage the betterment and independence of a people’s present situation with consideration to ensure the security and sovereignty of the people’s future.

Monsanto and other foreign bio-tech firms are simply antithetical to this.

Are the 250,000 bt cotton farmer suicides in India sustainable?

Official figures from the Indian Ministry of Agriculture confirm more than 1,000 farmers kill themselves in India each month. This epidemic branded the ‘GM Genocide’ by campaigners was highlighted

by His Royal Highness, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales who said: “The issue of GM had become a ‘global moral question’ - and the time had come to end its unstoppable march.”

The Monsanto GM pest-proof ‘breeds’ of cotton were devastated by bollworms, a voracious parasite.

Furthermore, farmers were not told that the Monsanto seeds would require double the amount of water.

Between the failure of the crops, Monsanto’s royalty extraction, the high costs of seeds and chemicals, Monsanto created a debt/death trap.

According to the Government of India, nearly 75 percent rural debt was due to the purchase inputs.

As Monsanto’s profits grow, farmers’ debt grows. It is in this systemic sense that Monsanto’s seeds have been labeled the ‘seeds of suicide’.

The price difference is staggering: £10 for 100 grams of GM seed, compared with less than £10 for 1,000 times more traditional seeds.

Due to the large amount of debts incurred by buying seed, most of the farmers commit suicide by swallowing insecticide, which is also sold by Monsanto, a product they were promised they would not need when they were coerced into growing expensive GM crops.

Their wives take over farms from their dead husbands – only to kill themselves as well.

After the damning report of India’s parliamentary committee on Bt crops in August 2012, the panel of technical experts appointed by the Supreme Court recommended a 10-year moratorium on field trials of all GM food and termination of all ongoing trials of transgenic crops. Are we going to wait till this happens? Is that sustainable?

The proposed framework, aside from forcing new seed laws on farmers without properly educating them or having a national discourse on this issue list these requirements for Nigeria to meet.

• Removal of restrictions on areas of investment and maximum equity ownership by foreign investors.

• Free repatriation of capital and returns.

If we ignore the slavery that this system creates in which a renewable resource, seeds, become a non-renewable, patented commodity with these companies insisting on allowing full capital flight, is that sustainable?

Do these conditions echo what the Monsanto Vice President said earlier?

The devil is in the details. This is the vicious cycle our minister is intent to locking us into.

In Brazil, five million farmers took Monsanto to court demanding the return of about 6.2 billion Euros taken as royalties from them. The farmers claim this bio-tech company unfairly extracted these royalties from poor farmers because they were using seeds produced from crops grown from Monsanto’s genetically engineered seeds.

In April this year, a judge

ruled in favour of the farmers and ordered Monsanto to return royalties paid since 2004 or a minimum of $2 billion.

All over the world, Monsanto has a track record that makes one question why the minister will open an already vulnerable nation to such a predatory company.

In Ireland: All GM crops were banned for cultivation in 2009, and there is a voluntary labeling system for foods containing GM foods to be identified as such.

In Austria, Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria and Luxembourg: There are bans on the cultivation and sale of GMOs. In New Zealand, no GM foods are grown in the country.

In Germany, there is a ban on the cultivation or sale of GMO maize.

In Japan, the people are staunchly opposed to genetically modified crops and no GM seeds are planted in the country. There was a major cause for concern when there was a GMO contamination of canola around Japanese ports and roads leading to food oil companies. This contamination was due to the importation of GM canola from Canada.

Last September, Russia suspended the import and sale of Monsanto’s genetically modified corn after a French study suggested it may be linked to cancer. The Prime Minister ordered regulatory agencies to consider a possible ban on all GMO imports into Russia.

France’s agriculture ministry banned the sale, use and cultivation of Monsanto’s MON 810 genetically modified maize, the only variety currently authorized in the European Union.

In America, Monsanto has fought against people’s right to know if the food they eat contains GMO (food labeling).

Do people not have a right to know? As of 2007, Monsanto had filed 112 lawsuits against U.S. farmers for alleged technology contract violations or GMO patents, involving 372 farmers and 49 small agricultural businesses in 27 different states.

“Farmers have been sued after

Our great country Nigeria is not poor. We have been failed by our leaders who consistently make unsustainable decisions, such as being a huge oil producer and yet importing so much petroleum products when we have refineries. The introduction of GM seeds is analogous to that. Our small-scale farmers feed this nation despite talk about our large imports of rice. We import because we do not process what we produce, similar to what we do with our crude.

their field was contaminated by pollen or seed from someone else’s genetically engineered crop or when genetically engineered seed from a previous year’s crop has sprouted, or ‘volunteered,’ in fields planted with non-genetically engineered varieties the following year,” said Andrew Kimbrell and Joseph Mendelson of the Centre for Food Safety The question then must be asked: Why should a company that is scared to label its products and seeks to have a stranglehold on world food supply be allowed into Nigeria?

Why, despite the global uproar with advanced countries placing a ban on this company’s activities and bans in so many countries, the link to diseases like cancer, which Monsanto says is just speculation, does someone insist on forcing it down our throats without a proper public discourse?

With the uproar and active steps taken by most countries in the European Union as well as Russia, we have to question whose interest is being represented. It certainly does not seem to be that of Nigerians.

We cannot say ‘If it is okay in America, it is okay for us.’

America is controlled by lobbyists, he who lobbies the most wins. That is why despite all the children killing themselves in schools and cinemas, America will not embrace gun control, but would rather suggest more people have access to guns to protect themselves, even from 10 year-olds.

Our great country Nigeria is not poor. We have been failed by our leaders who consistently make unsustainable decisions, such as being a huge oil producer and yet importing so much petroleum products when we have refineries. The introduction of GM seeds is analogous to that. Our smallscale farmers feed this nation despite talk about our large imports of rice. We import because we do not process what we produce, similar to what we do with our crude.

Why can’t the Ministry of Agriculture actually focus on what we need, betterment of our existing farming systems through mechanization. We lose up to half of what we produce between the farm and Nigerians’ plates. This is due to inefficient harvesting.

Mechanization would allow farmers harvest faster.

Farmers all over the country are complaining that they have not been granted access to the much-talked-about ‘agriculture loans’. Instead, the farmers have been beset by unrealistic expectations and requirements set by the partner banks. Meanwhile planting season after planting season is missed.

Logistic systems that allow farmers bring their produce to market faster while maintaining its freshness via cold rooms should be explored.

This would reduce the predatory way middlemen deal with farmers and actually allow them benefit properly from the value chain.

The global average of extension service (advisory and assistance given to farmers) is 1-25. In Nigeria it is 1-1000. Our farmers have not been given a fighting chance and they have fed us for so long. Why not sustainably solve all these problems first before prescribing seeds of slavery to Nigeria’s

agriculture sector.

In 2012 the minister met with the governor of Kwara State and promised to introduce ‘flood resistant’ rice seeds to farmers. Rather than the Federal Government actually addressing the actual cause of this man-made flooding, which was caused when a dam failed, they are offering seeds that will further destroy the environment.

This type of un-sustainable quick-fix methods of solving problems today only for us to cry tomorrow has to stop.

In Haiti, after the earthquake ravaged the country, Monsanto donated its seed to them as a “relief effort”. Based on its experience in the past, Haiti burnt all the seeds donated to them.

“We have the potential to make our lands produce enough to feed the whole population and even to export certain products. The policy we need for this to happen is food sovereignty, where the county has a right to define its own agricultural policies, to grow first for the family and then for local market, to grow healthy food in a way which respects the environment and Mother Earth.” – Jean-Baptiste (the spokesperson for the National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papay).

Our people do not have access to good healthcare. Our schools lack the training or infrastructure to even begin to understand on a bio-molecular level what these corporations are giving us to eat.

Socio-economically it enslaves farmers and we lose our food sovereignty to foreign corporations. The death of millions of nature’s own pollinators, bees and butterflies across America is linked to the large scale planting of GM crops as well.

The Nigerian people are looking up to distinguished senators and honourable representatives to save them.

The senators that passed the anti-gay bill in a bid to preserve our way of life, the same senators that insisted on retaining the marriage age, now more than ever, we need them to conserve our way of life.

“Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis Chapter 1: 11-12).

God himself said it was good.

These people playing God in the laboratory seek to force us to eat what they produce, and then claim ownership rights over it. They do so regardless of the effects on our soil, our bodies or the lives of our farmers.

In the words of the Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev: “If the Americans like to eat GMO products, let them eat it then. We don’t need to do that; we have enough space and opportunities to produce organic food.”

The Nigerian people call on all our religious leaders and fathers in the Lord, Yes we need to pray, but we also need to act. When Jesus saw the money-changers in the church, he did not kneel to pray. He reacted at the abomination he saw. An abomination has presented itself to us, let us act and lets act now!.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 NEWS

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APC alleges harassment of members in Bayelsa HE All Progressives Congress T (APC) has raised the alarm over the arrest and persistent

Prof. Jibrin Aminu (left), Dr. Mohammed Bello, Jimeta Gambo, Hassan Adamu and Edwin Clark during the Plenary Session in the National Conference in Abuja … yesterday.

PHOTO: LADIDI LUCY-ELUKPO

harassment of its members in Bayelsa State by the PDP-led Federal Government.

In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the plan being allegedly pursued by the Presidency is aimed at ensuring that the opposition, especially the APC, does not gain a foothold in the home state of the President. ‘’A democratically-elected President cannot and must not shut the democratic space against the opposition, whether in his home state where he is expected to show leadership by example or any-

where else across the federation. We are therefore calling on the Presidency to stop the harassment and intimidation of our members in Bayelsa State,’’ APC said.

The party also said the police in particular must not allow itself to be used to stifle democracy and deny Bayelsa citizens of their constitutional rights to associate freely.

EFCC to quiz oil operators From Abosede Musari, Abuja HE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has invited several operators of oil companies in the downstream sector of the Nigerian oil industry for questioning on allegations of manipulating the price of premium motor spirit, and selling above the approved pump prices.

A source from the commission informed journalists that

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the list of the errant companies was forwarded to the antigraft agency by the Department of Petroleum Resources.

Already, a letter of invitation has been sent to the oil companies to appear at the commission. Also, a team of operatives has been assembled in the Commission’s Extractive Industry Fraud Section to question the affected oil chiefs.

‘Oba Akiolu didn’t speak for party, Tinubu over next Lagos governor’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 the script of his boss when he declared that the former Accountant-General of Lagos, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, is the preferred successor to Governor Babatunde Fashola in 2015.

At a public presentation of the biography of Ambode last week, Akiolu announced that the former accountant-general is the preferred successor to Fashola.

Speaking on phone with The Guardian yesterday, Dare said his boss has not conceded his right to speak to anybody.

In a similar vein, the Publicity Secretary, Lagos State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Joe Igbokwe, said the monarch simply said his mind and not necessarily the position of the party.

Also, one of the governorship aspirants on the platform of the party, Dr. Leke Pitan, who served in various capacities as Commissioner for Health and Education under Tinubu’s government, said he nursed no illfeeling against anybody’s personal opinion, especially as it is not part of the process of primaries that are well spelt out in the party’s constitution.

Dare said: “Tinubu was not in the country when the traditional ruler made the statement. A lot of questions have been asked since the monarch made the statement but my boss would respond if the need be.”

Dare, however, said that the traditional ruler in his capacity as a Nigerian and in exercising his fundamental human rights and freedom of expression “is free to express his feelings about whom he deemed fit to succeed the outgoing governor.”

He said that the governorship race is still open and several aspirants within the party have indicated their interest in contesting, but their fate would be decided through the party’s primary.

He added that it is the electorate that would ultimately decide who would become the governor of Lagos in 2015 through their votes among whom Oba Akiolu only has one vote to cast.

“It is not right to condemn the monarch for expressing his opinion considering the fact that Lagos State is very strategic, therefore everybody, including the monarch, is interested in whatever is happening here”, he said.

The party’s spokesman however posited that Akiolu could-

n’t be ignored in Lagos, saying “instead of criticising him, I think it is better to wait and see whether any of the traditional rulers whom he claimed he consulted, including some of the elders he mentioned, would go contrary to his opinion.”

According to Pitan, “if any intimidation was intended, it has not achieved its purpose.

We are even more resolute in our goal and it has galvanised many more citizens of Lagos State to stand and support us.”

But a reliable source in the party urged the Christian community to be careful not to allow the candidature of Ambode look as if “you demanded for a Christian governor and here is a candidate for you.”

Meanwhile, the chiefs and people of Badagary Kingdom have endorsed Abayomi Sewanu Sutton as their candidate for the next governor of Lagos State.

At a well-attended town hall meeting held in honour of Sutton, a coalition of various groups and political parties in the kingdom emphasised that the time has come for an indigene of the kingdom to occupy the number one seat of the state.

According to them, Badagary kingdom had been side-lined long enough based on wrong insinuation of poor education, but they insisted that Badagary could now boast of an indigene that is well read with lots of experience and exposure.

It was encomium galore when the leaders of market women, youths, various party leaders and artisans were given opportunity to speak after the profile of the aspirant was read at the meeting.

Addressing the participants, Chief Comfort Akeke (JP), the Iyaloja General of the kingdom, appealed to all indigenes of Badagary and Lagos State to support Sutton on his mission to continue with the developmental projects in the state.

According to her, “Sutton, although a son of a carpenter without a silver spoon, but he is comfortable by all standard, he has come to answer our call; he has come to take our reproach away. He has what it takes to lead Lagos State and take it from where is it to the next level. He paraded arrays of qualifications and experiences that no other candidate could boast of.

“I appeal to everyone, just as we have turned out in our large number today within a

short notice, let us take the gospel round the entire kingdom, and speak to our people in other senatorial districts to give Badagary the chance to lead Lagos State for the first time.”

Honourable Kiki Whenu, a chieftain of APC noted that Sutton’s decision to dare the position was a good omen for the kingdom, appealing to the leaders of various parties and groups to do away with their sentiments and differences and embrace Sutton as the sole candidate for the seat come 2015.

He said: “We thank God that there is change in Badagry.

Badagry has produced a carpenter’s son who has many certificates within Nigeria and abroad. It is not an easy task to have studied in those universities; Sutton must have been a man of integrity, and we need a man of integrity and honour who is hard working to take the baton from the incumbent (Governor Fashola), we need our son to occupy that seat.

“Badagry had been side-lined in terms of infrastructural development for a very long time, we must not shy away from the truth, we need our son at the helms of affairs. Do not because of money, vote anyone into power this time around, that has been our bane for a very long time, let us consider the integrity Sutton parades, and let us rally round him.

“We also use this medium to appeal to the party leaders not to impose anyone on us this time, we have our son who is well read, he can occupy the seat, and we are sure he will not disappoint us.”

Honourable Remi Sofolahan, a onetime Local Government Councillor and a member, State House of Assembly, explained that it was not out of place for the people of Badagry to aspire the number one seat in the state, stressing that the battle to the exalted seat was not to be left alone to Sutton.

According to him, other four out of five divisions in the state had one time or the other produced governor for the state, stressing that in the spirit of fairness to the people of Badagry, they should be allowed to produce the next governor in 2015.

Olaniran Akeem, a youth leader admonished Sutton never to be intimidated. He said: “Be courageous, go there and defend us, we are so proud of your antecedents and your various academic excellence,

we the youth of this kingdom are solidly behind you. Since you have come to be identified with us, we will not disappoint your aspiration. We await your campaign programme, we will ensure that the youths in Badagry kingdom throw their weight behind you. It is a pointer to the fact that our children would see education as a must’.

The highpoint of the programme was a special royal blessing at the Akran Palace by the Akran of Badagry Kingdom, His Royal Highness, Oba De Whenu Aholu MenuToyi, 1, who recently celebrated his 37th year of enthronement as the paramount ruler of kingdom.

However, at the weekend, a group, the Protector of Lagos Legacy (PLL), came out stoutly to defend Akiolu over his endorsement of Ambode as a worthy successor to the present Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Raji Babatunde Fashola (SAN). This is coming on the heels of the criticism by an organisation under the aegis of “Visioneer for new Lagos,” which the group described as faceless.

A statement by Barrister Olatunji Williams, the coordinator of the PLL, described Mr. Bambo Akin Johnson as a nonexistent name in Lagos which lacks respect the culture that is synonymous with the Yoruba by insulting the a highly revered traditional ruler like Oba of Lagos for exercising his constitutional right.

The PLL recalled that the Oba of Benin endorsed Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in the last governorship election in Edo State and nobody in the entire Benin Kingdom and the entire Edo State insulted him. “In fact, different traditional rulers in the country have been endorsing the incumbent President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and nobody has poured such venomous insult as this faceless organisation on them. Oba Akiolu has only exercised his constitutional right as is the case all over the world and should not be made a boot of uncultured vituperation by some faceless people in the name of politics. It is noted that the revered Oba of Lagos in airing his opinion said that the APC, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other political parties will still follow their party procedures to choose their candidate for the elec-

tion; and that it is responsibilities of the entire people of Lagos to vote for the candidate of their choice,” it said.

PLL further said that Oba Akiolu was following the footsteps of his ancestors when he stood boldly on the side of the people against the invasion of Yoruba land and the injustice against Late Chief M.K.O Abiola by the military junta for the annulment of the June 12 election adjudged the freest and fairest election in Nigeria till date. The then Oba of Lagos Adeyinka Oyekan handed a letter of protest to Chief Earnest Shonekan, the Head of the Interim Government, when he visited him in his palace that the people of Lagos stood with the SDP and Abiola.

PLL challenged the group to come out to address a press conference instead of hiding behind a faceless organisation to insult traditional rulers in the state.

It added: “Indeed, the endorsement of Ambode by the Oba of Lagos and other traditional rulers in the state has sent jitters down the spine of these political jobbers as he remains the most outstanding and qualified candidate for the job of building on the legacy of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Mr. Babatunde Fashola and moving Lagos to the next level.

“Our resolution is that Lagos will continue to move forward and never be captured by unprogressive forces of darkness.”

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NEWS Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Eminent journalist, author, Kaye Whiteman, dies at 78

By Kabir Alabi Garba ENOWNED British journalist, writer, researcher and former editor of the rested West Africa Magazine, Kaye Whiteman, has passed on. He died last Saturday in London at the age of 78. Publisher of Africa Today, Mr. Kayode Soyinka announced Whiteman’s passage through a statement yesterday.

“It is with great sadness that I am writing to let you know that our dear friend and colleague Kaye Whiteman died last Saturday. The news just reached me while in Nigeria where I am presently. And I still spoke with him a few days ago before I left London.

We produced the June edition of Africa Today together,” Soyinka said in the statement.

The deceased was last sighted in Lagos during the 2013 Christmas edition of KAKADU, the musical. But he was the guest of the Lagos Art community in March 2013 when the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) presented his latest literary offering, Lagos: A Cultural and Historical Companion to the public. The event held at Kongi’s Art Gallery, Freedom Park, Lagos attracted great art personalities such as Taiwo Ajayi Lycett, Dejumo Lewis, Odia Ofeimun and Toyin Akinosho of CORA, Keith Richards, the former Guinness Nigeria MD and currently the MD of Promasidor Foods Nigeria limited, among others.

The book documents the history of Lagos by exploring

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its founding stories, founders, tradition, lore and culture of the people.

“Kaye was a distinguished journalist and editor who, over five decades, developed an immense knowledge of Africa and reported on African Affairs for the international media, including our newsmagazine, AFRICA TODAY, where he was for many years a Contributing Editor. His contributions in Africa Today are usually masterpieces.

“He was for years deputy editor and eventually editor of the renowned West Africa Magazine. He appropriately took over as editor of West Africa from the legendary David Williams. Whiteman was Williams’ protégé. He did his tutelage on Nigeria under Williams. He covered the Nigerian Civil War and wrote on Nigeria and Africa with such authority, understanding and, indeed, affection that is rare among Western writers on Africa, that made some of us to consider him an honorary Nigerian. He was also the author of several incisive books on Africa, including LAGOS, which was launched only last year.

“Kaye Whiteman was head of Information for the old European Economic Community (EEC) which became the European Union (EU). It was after leaving the EEC in Brussels that he returned to London to become editor of West Africa after the retirement of David Williams. He was also head of the Information and Public Affairs Division in the Commonwealth Secretariat

serving under Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku in the late 1990s,” Soyinka said in the tribute.

According to the Africa Today’s publisher, “Nigeria and, indeed, Africa has lost a great and dependable British friend and a powerful figure - a powerhouse - in the British and Commonwealth media.”

Soyinka will miss “him greatly. He was for many years a close personal friend, confidant and colleague. I consistently shared with

him the experiences of publishing on Africa at global level. He was particularly a pillar of strengthen to me in my Africa Today project. I will for ever be grateful to him for the consistent support he gave me at Africa Today, where he wrote perhaps his very last piece in the June edition on a subject on which he was an authority EU/Africa Relations. The Africa Today edition just came out and on the distribution chain when the sad news of Whiteman’s death was announced in London.”

HE Nigerian Guild of EdiT tors (NGE) has condemned the abduction of more than

The late Whiteman

Edo APC loses four lawmakers to PDP Gunmen kidnap House Minority Whip’s father From Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu, Benin City HE political equation in Edo State shifted a bit yesterday as four members of the state House of Assembly, and several others yesterday formally joined the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Former state chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Tony Omoaghe, and former South-South Vice Chairman of the party, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu were among them.

They had a few days ago resigned from the APC over the allegation among others that the governor is running a one-man party.

But according to the interim state Publicity Secretary of the party and former state Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Godwin Erhahon, “We wish them well and we wish them safe jour-

T

ney to the lion’s den. And because they are seasonal birds, we are sure we are parting to meet again. And they will come back in the next season.

“I congratulate Comrade Oshiomhole on the major relief and assure the people of Edo State that they stand to benefit from the exit of these people. We wish them well”.

At the official declaration of their membership in the PDP, Ize-Iyamu said the move became necessary to save the political life of the state from “the selfish resolve of desperate individuals to dominate the political system.”

He assured his supporters that the PDP would sweep the polls in 2016, while thanking them for their patience and support.

On his part, Omoaghe said the group had convened a meeting of stakeholders who were then members of the APC in the state, where issues bordering on “flawed membership registration exercise as well as the fractured ward and local government congresses conducted by the party in the state” were discussed.

But “Rather than focus on the issues, so much energy and state resources were dissipated in blackmailing and attempting to induce pockets of the aggrieved to submission.

This tactics only went to prove that indeed, all was not well with the party we all labored to build.

“In view of the foregoing and

after extensive consultation and consultation and deliberation, we have resolved together with thousands of our supporters spread across Edo State to throw our full weight behind the Peoples Democratic Party by joining the party effective from today” Meanwhile, three weeks after three children of former Chairman of Etsako West Local Council were kidnapped and later rescued by security agencies, octogenarian father of Minority Whip of House of Representatives, Samson Osagie, was on Sunday kidnapped by unknown gunmen suspected to be kidnappers.

Ogbewe Samson was reportedly abducted by gunmen at his residence at Urhokuosa in Uhunmwode Local Council of Edo. The six-member gunmen were said to have stormed his residence with a golf car around 7.00 p.m.

An aide of the Minority Whip said the abduction came few hours after some youths in Urhokuosa community had threatened mayhem against the lawmaker and his family due to the deregistration of community development association by the state government.

When contacted, the spokesman for the state police command, Mr. Ejiroro Ahwara, said the command was yet to be informed of the abduction.

Govt scraps technical cooperation directorate From Niyi Bello, Akure OLLOWING the recommenFsayedations of the Steve OronPresidential Committee on the Rationalization and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals and Commissions, government has scraped the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA), assigning its functions to the Directorate of Technical Aids Corps (TAC).

DTCA was established in 2001 as an agency of the then Ministry of Cooperation and Integration in Africa, with a mandate to actualize intra-regional cooperation through deployment of experts to assist countries within the region to realize their development dreams.

The Oronsaye Committee, headed by former Head of Service of the Federation and charged with streamlining government operations by reducing areas of conflict and double schedules among

Nigerian Guild of Editors condemns abduction of school girls

agencies, recommended the abolition of 38 agencies, merger of 52 and reversal of 14 to departments in various ministries.

In its final report, which has since been submitted to the government, the committee said it discovered that the DTCA has almost the same functions as TAC, which was established in 1987 to provide a platform under which Nigerian experts are deployed to countries in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions to address their manpower needs.

In the Federal Government Gazette that contained the recommendations, it was stated that government approved the proposal that DTCA “be abolished and its functions be transferred to the appropriate department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that further funding of the agency should cease with effect from 2013 fiscal year.”

200 schoolgirls of Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. It called on the Federal Government to live up to its promise of freeing the girls, saying that the abduction is not only an assault on Chibok community, but also on the entire country.

In a communique issued at the end of the standing committee meeting of the Nigerian Guild of Editors held in Owerri, Imo State capital, on May 16, the editors, who commended Nigerians for rising against the abduction of the schoolgirls, lauded the international community for offering to assist to Nigeria to free the girls.

Led by its President, Femi Adesina, the NGE urged Nigerians to be security-conscious and pass relevant information to security agents who are expected to promptly act on such information to stop terrorism in the country.

At the meeting, the editors decried the acrimonious nature of the ongoing National Conference, calling on delegates to watch their utterances, which they said, are capable of causing more disunity in the country.

The NGE, which noted the recent rebasing of the Nigerian economy, however, expects the new economic status as the largest economy in Africa to reflect in the per capita income and the standard of living of Nigerians, as well as infrastructural development.

Worried that the 2014 budget has not been passed five months into the year, the NGE, therefore, called on both the Executive and the Legislative arms of government to resolve their differences on the issue and pass the budget urgently.

They urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), politicians and the citizens to ensure that the forthcoming governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states are free, fair and credible so as to act as a template for the 2015 general polls.

Group faults open ballot system

By Eniola Daniel GROUP, the Southern Nigeria Assembly (SNPA), has described the proposed open voting system in arriving at critical decisions at plenary as boring and outdated, warning against its adoption.

In a statement by Chief Ayakeme E. Whisky, for the coordinating chairman, SNPA said the decision is a crude attempt to stifle and prevent free expression of consent, intimidate and repress dissent.

According to Ayakeme, it is a way of achieving ulterior motive by mischief and it is as such unacceptable to Southern Nigerians, as democracy thrives on free expression of opinion.

“It is regrettable that while assemblies in other parts of the world have progressed from casting ballot to electronic voting, the national conference, which is expected to take critical decisions to transform and restructure Nigeria, will adopt an anachronistic mode of voting.”

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Tuesday, May 20, 2014 | 9

PHOTONEWS EXTRA

Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Architects, Lagos State Chapter, Ladipo Lewis (left); representative of the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Oluwatoyin Ajayi; Commissioner for Physical Planning and Development, Toyin Ayinde; General Secretary of the Institute, Bayo Ogunmefun; Head, Dry Construction Business Unit, Nigerite, Wale Ogungbe, at the company’s exhibition stand during the Lagos Architects Forum 2014, held at Eko Hotel, Lagos.

Newly elected President/Chairman of Council, CIBN, ‘Otunba Debola Osibogun (3rd left); flanked by her husband, Otunba Deji Osibogun, (1st left); Chairman, FBN Holding Plc/Honeywell Group, Oba Otudeko (2nd left); Dr. Segun Aina, immediate past president, CIBN (2nd right); and Chief Jethro Akun, former deputy governor, Plateau State (right), during the investiture of Osibogun as 18th president/chairman of Council of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), at the Bankers House, Victoria Island, Lagos at the weekend.

Assistant Director, Monitoring and Enforcement, National Broadcasting Commission, Okodua Matthew (left); Marketing Manager, DStv, Chioma Afe, Regional Operations Manager (Lagos), MultiChoice, Caroline Oghuma, at the DStv Customers Forum in Ikorodu.

Co-ordinator, People Welfare League (PWL), Comrade Biodun Agboola; Financial Secretary, Osun Civil Society Coalition, Comrade Adewole Adewale, and Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG), Comrade Ibrahim Olayinka, at a press conference on respect of the position of INEC to jettison the use of voter’s card reader for Osun and Ekiti governorship elections organised by OCSC in Osogbo.

Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi; chatting with Master Temi Rotimi, during the launch of the May 2014 Edition of Maternal Newborn and Child Health Week, (MNCHW), in Ado-Ekiti...recently.

Managing Director, Akintola Williams Delloitte, Akin Tawanda Gumbo (left); Director of Programmes and Operations, Junior Achievements Nigeria (JAN), Efe Adefulu; Managing Director, Paga, Tayo Oriosu, and Managing Director, Agile Rufai Ladipo, at the unveiling the Junior Achievement Nigeria Ambassador in Lagos at the weekend.

PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI

Regional Director/ Manager, The Lacasera Company, Visnal Kiran (left); one of the overall winners, Sanusi Yahaya; and Chief Operating Officer, The Lacasera Company, Dileeban Ponniah, during the Lacasera 2014 Partners Conference in Lagos at the weekend PHOTO; SUNDAY AKINLOLU

Permanent Secretary, Ogun State Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Mrs. K.T. Efuwape (left); Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Bimbo Ashiru, and Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Yusuph Olaniyonu, during the 2014 Ministerial Press Briefing to commemorate the third year anniversary of the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration held at the Governor’s Office Press Centre, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

10 Tuesday, May 20, 2014

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WorldReport Sudan’s order to hang Christian woman T for apostasy ‘outrageous’, says UN

U.S. cautions of renewed conflict after Mali clashes

NITED Nations rights U experts voiced outrage yesterday at a Sudanese court order to hang a heavily pregnant Christian woman for marrying a Christian man and refusing to renounce her faith.

Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, a 27-year-old who is eight months pregnant with her second child, was convicted last week under the Islamic sharia law that has been in force in Sudan since 1983 and makes conversions of faith punishable by death.

“This outrageous conviction must be overturned and Ms. Ibrahim must be immediately released,” insisted the UN experts on a range of issues, including on the human rights situation in Sudan, violence against women, minorities and the freedom of religion or belief.

They stressed in a statement that under international law, “the death penalty may only be imposed for the most serious crimes, if at all.”

“Choosing and/or changing one’s religion is not a crime at all. On the contrary, it is a basic human right,” they said.

The young mother was

found guilty of apostasy, or publicly renouncing Islam, a faith she never professed, and sentenced to hang after she refused to “return” to the Muslim religion.

Ishag, who was born to a Christian mother and Muslim father, was also sentenced to 100 lashes for “adultery”, for living with the Christian man she has been married to since 2012.

Under Sudan’s interpreta-

tion of sharia, a Muslim woman cannot marry a nonMuslim man and any such relationship is regarded as adulterous.

The UN experts said that the right to marry and found a family was a fundamental human right, and voiced particular concern that the heavily pregnant Ishag was being held with her 20month-old son in “harsh

conditions” at the Omdurman’s Women Prison near Khartoum.

“The imposition and enforcement of the death penalty on pregnant women or recent mothers is inherently cruel and leads to a violation of the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” they warned.

Putin withdraws troops from Ukraine’s border USSIA’S President, R Vladimir Putin has ordered troops near Ukraine’s border to withdraw, the Kremlin says.

Units in the Rostov, Belgorod and Bryansk regions should return to their permanent bases, a statement said.

Russia has made similar statements in the past.

NATO chief, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said there was no evidence of any withdrawal so far.

According to British Broadcasting Corporation

(BBC), removing the troops, estimated to number 40,000, could help de-escalate the Ukraine crisis.

‘Exercises’ The apparent build-up of Russian forces in the region has ratcheted up diplomatic tensions in recent weeks.

Russian defence officials have insisted the troops were involved in regular training.

“In connection with the completion of the planned spring phase of military training... at ranges in Rostov, Belgorod and Bryansk regions, Putin

ordered the defence minister to withdraw the troops that took part in the exercises,” the Kremlin statement said.

It was unclear how many troops would be pulled out or when it would happen.

“So far we haven’t seen any withdrawal at all,” Nato Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said in response to the Kremlin statement.

“I strongly regret that because a withdrawal of Russian troops would be a first important contribution to de-escalating the crisis.”

HE United States warned that northern Mali risked sliding back into war and called for the government and Tuareg separatists to return to talks after deadly weekend clashes in a traditional rebel stronghold.

The Malian army was preparing to launch an assault on the northern town of Kidal where separatist fighters killed at least eight soldiers and took around 30 civil servants hostage in an attack on the regional governor’s office on Saturday.

“The Malian armed forces are at Kidal,” Prime Minister, Moussa Mara said in a televised address late on Sunday.

“We have convinced the head of state that it is highly desirable...that Kidal be totally under the control of the Malian state.”

Mali’s international partners have been pushing for a final, negotiated settlement to a long cycle of Tuareg independence uprisings, since al Qaedalinked fighters hijacked a 2012 rebellion and seized the West African nation’s desert north.

But the lines between independence fighters and Islamist groups remain blurred. Talks have stalled between the government and groups that split with their erstwhile al Qaeda allies before a French-led military

intervention last year.

Mali’s United Nations peacekeeping mission, MINUSMA said six government workers and two civilians were murdered inside the building during Saturday’s assault, which took place during a visit by the prime minister to the northern town of Kidal.

“We are very concerned about what happened and that the response might lead to this region going back into conflict,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Linda ThomasGreenfield told journalists in Paris yesterday.

“It is important for the government to continue to talk to (the MNLA) and work on a reconciliation that will bring them back into the fold.”

In an interview yesterday with French radio RFI, Mara accused two Tuareg groups - the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUA) - of being behind Saturday’s attack.

He said they had been supported by Islamist groups, including al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Kidal is the stronghold of MNLA and while the rebels claimed control of the city on Sunday, they said they had only fought back after coming under a Malian army attack.

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

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12 | Tuesday, May 20, 2014

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Politics The National Conference Debate

‘We can’t leave confab to the mercy of • Citizens must insist on implementation of resolutions Comrade Issa Aremu, vice president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and delegate at the National Conference, spoke about contending issues in the nation’s polity, such as the comatose manufacturing industry, petroleum sector, the security challenges and expectations from the confab, the Northern Bureau Chief, Saxone Akhaine, reports from Kaduna.

HOUGH under different nomenclatures, T several national conferences had been held in the country. What is the assurance that the ongoing conference will not suffer the same fate of non-implementation of its report?

Before the Obasanjo Conference in 2005, we had Abacha’s Conference in 1995 and there was IBB’s (Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida) Political Bureau Conference of 1990. And before Independence (in 1960), there were series of conferences.

So, there is no doubt that Nigeria has had its more than fair share of conferences. And legitimately, Nigerians can say that they are conference-fatigue.

Unfortunately, it has been a case of the more we see, the less we understand. Every conference’s resolutions had not been implemented.

And from what I have seen, a preceding conference had more robust resolutions than succeeding ones, which had not been implemented.

I used to be one of those who argued that Nigeria was not supposed to be a debating society; we are supposed to be a working society. If there were a ranking in the world as to which country is the most debating society, Nigeria would be at the forefront.

With the conferences and debating that we have generated in this country, we should be a working society today because all the countries we are competing with do not do analysis by paralysis; or rather, they don’t do paralysis through analysis. They are producing; they are working: Indonesia, India, Malaysia and others.

However, some people may also argue that maybe it’s better we debate and keep on discussing rather than fighting. To that extent, after almost two months of the National Conference, one can see that there is also strength in discussing.

Four hundred and ninety-five delegates of diverse backgrounds: labour, religions, economists, businesses, traditional rulers, ethnic nationalities are assembled to discuss the way forward.

In the first two weeks, all the body languages came up when we were debating the President’s inaugural address. Now, if they couldn’t have avenue to vent this kind of anger, you can imagine where we would have dissipated the energy. It (conference) may be in chaos.

It was good that we had a platform for people to let off their steam and discuss. And I think some of the ideas coming from this conference are novel to transform Nigeria. If we can do the quality control of these ideas, they could be transformed into policies.

The challenge is for President Jonathan to show that this conference would be of a difference. That we would not only spend time and resources to generate ideas, but we would also have enough time to get them implemented for the purpose of national development.

So, while I strongly believe that we cannot continue to be a debating society, we have to be a working society. I still believe that it is better we debate, as we are doing, than engaging in a war of attrition such as is going on in the Central African Republic and Southern Sudan.

It is better we are doing what we are doing here now. Yet, at the end of the day, what Nigerians are looking for is uninterrupted power supply, goods and services, to move from this unemployment situation to full employment for our citizens. Thus, I am optimistic that this conference would be different.

I also realised that we must also change our

mindset. There is a mindset mentality that we carry from military rule. Because we were caged, we had no liberty, and no constitutional rights, we depended on the government to do and undo.

In a sound democracy, citizens must make sure that resolutions are not just made, but they must be implemented. So, we can’t leave this conference to the mercy of the government alone; we, too, must insist that the resolutions should be implemented.

And there should be new round of pressure for protests. Just like this conference came up through protests, the issue of implementation of its resolution must go through that pressure.

The unions are fighting the National Conference the same way they had fought against attempts by the National Assembly to remove labour matters from the Excusive Legislative List in the constitution. Can the confab resolve the problem?

I think we have crossed the bridge. The laws on labour issues must be federally passed because it should be on the Exclusive List. There could be complementary state legislation and not less.

What is the philosophy there? Labour is an important factor of production. In fact, it is the most important factor of production. And for you to motivate labour for development, for productivity, you must handle it at the national level.

What I am talking about is that hours of work are already fixed. Nigeria is a signatory to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and labour issues are not just a local affair; it is international.

Most of the labour laws in the countries of the world are guided by conventions that countries have ratified at the level of ILO, which is the oldest agency of the United Nations (UN) set up as far back as 1919.

Now, take the hours of work. Today, Nigeria’s labour laws are clear that every worker must work for eight hours. After eight hours, you are entitled to over-time. Before Nigeria was a signatory to make that law, under colonial rule, it was slave labour. You could work for 10, 15 or 20 hours without pay.

There is a minimum standard now of eight hours and this was what led to the struggle for May Day. In 1886, the American workers in Chicago fought to enforce eight hours.

The import of this is that some countries today do not have progressive laws like ours. In some parts of China, Pakistan and Bangladesh, workers still work for about 15 hours. They are being treated like slaves and that is why you see

that a lot of struggle is going on in those places.

Now, we also have laws that say if you have to set up factories, you must also ensure and comply with minimum safety standards. In the case of fire outbreak, you must provide the gadgets to put off fires so that workers would not be affected adversely.

There is also the Nigerian Labour Act, which regulates conflicts because labour could also be in crisis; there could be strikes. We have labour laws that say there must be dispute resolution, mediation, and arbitration and so on; and there are special courts that handle labour issues. These are federal courts and not state courts.

The vision of the founding fathers of Nigeria is that they see labour as a rallying point for Nigerians. And so, conflicts in labour cannot be left like any other conflict, whose resolution could go as far as the Supreme Court. Thus, conflicts can be resolved as soon as possible so that production can resume. That is why they are under federal laws.

We also have laws for minimum wage and minimum pension. It is federal law that ensures that no Nigerian worker should earn below N18,000 as minimum wage. Therefore, any investor, be it Chinese or whoever that comes to Nigeria must comply with the minimum wage law, and then, you must pay minimum pension.

Accordingly, our major laws guide dispute resolution, absenteeism, maternity, and others. For instance, under laws guiding maternity, women also have rights to have children. They are not only there for production, but they are also to produce future workers.

Hence, it is legitimate that workers should be married and be pregnant to have children. And when they are in pregnancy, you pay them their full pay.

If there

were no such laws, some banks would not want their workers to get married, not to talk of having children.

Now, we have those minimum protections and that makes Nigeria to be one of the progressive countries of the world. Still, some forces want to reverse them. They want states to make laws on labour. If some of them have their way, there would be customary laws on labour matters and that would be confusion.

What we are saying is that you don’t remove labour laws from the Exclusive List of the federal; there would be chaos and confusion.

States can have, for example, their separate minimum wage but it should not fall short of the federal. That is, states can improve on the minimum wage but they cannot pay less.

The bottom line is that federal should legislate on labour laws because labour is a factor of production that you need to motivate for productivity. If we allow it to be deregulated to states and the local government level, there would be confusion; there would not be minimum standard.

And if investors come around, we would be dealing with multiple labour laws and that would amount to serious confusion, which would not be beneficial to the country. But some people don’t see it that way; they just see to it at the level that they cannot pay minimum wage.

If at the central level you are having problems managing labour, can you imagine what would happen when we deregulate labour?

What we are saying is that we don’t have trouble with the National Assembly as a whole on this issue. The only problem we had was the Senate, and after our protest, the Senate had concurred. It had agreed that there was initial misinformation, and it realised that labour is too important to be removed from the Exclusive List.

But why has the problem resurfaced at the National Conference?

Unfortunately, the forces that lost the constitutional amendment used the state governors, excluding Comrade Adams

Aremu

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 POLITICS 13

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

The National Conference Debate

government alone’ Oshiomhole, and they are trying to use subcommittees of the National Conference to bring back the issue of removing labour laws from the Exclusive List.

Precisely, the latest is the Committee on the Devolution of Power, led by (former Governor) Victor Attah and (former Inspector General of Police) Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie. The argument they are canvassing is that they are trying to devolve power.

They said the powers under the Federal Government are enormous. They said there are about 90 issues that the Federal Government is legislating on and they want to devolve powers by giving some to the states. And one of the items I found ridiculous that they picked is labour.

I think it is time the Nigerian debate moved from dogma to critical issues of serious discussion. If about five years ago you said that the powers of the Federal Government were too enormous, that may make sense.

SN’T it debatable to say that the powers of Iasthe Federal Government are too numerous, it’s being canvassed at the conference?

With the problem of insecurity in which the state governments in the Northeast zone have been so overwhelmed, and with the power of the military such that the Federal Government of Nigeria has been seemingly overwhelmed such that we have to cry to the global community, can we really say that the powers of the Federal Government are too enormous? In fact, the power is too weak.

With the security of the country today, it is clear that all of us are under threat. It is not just the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police, and the State Security Services but all of us have to take blames such that we now have to go abroad seeking for support.

I share the observation of Archbishop Onaiyekan that we are all ashamed, as Nigerians, that with the enormous power we attached to ourselves, we are powerless to check local insurgency.

Against this background, I think it is completely ridiculous for anybody to still be repeating this mantra. I think the Federal Government power is not about whether it is enormous; it is about the quality of the power, and it is weak from what we have seen with its engagement with terror.

Would you say Nigeria’s military has failed to deliver considering the intervention of foreign troops to assist in rescuing the abducted schoolgirls, and tackling insurgency in general in the country?

The key word is Nigeria, not necessarily the Army or security agencies. As referred above, Archbishop Onaiyekan said we all should be ashamed as Nigerians, as we could not face a singular and local security challenge. So, all of are diminished by this crisis — not just the security agencies, but also all of us.

And why is it so? It is not so much of the kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls; the kidnapping only increases the noise level of the insecurity.

Now, we are talking of 230 of the kidnapped girls, but you know that there had been one, two, three of such cases before then. Not only that we got serial bombings, the latest one, Nyanya has part one and part two.

The issue is not apprehending these criminals; the issue is that this heinous crime ever happened in the first instance. For me, the real embarrassment is that we could not prevent serial assaults on our collective security, not just once but twice in the federal capital.

What is the position of Labour on the speculations that the Federal Government may soon increase the prices of petroleum products in the country?

I think it is important for us to move to the issue of reality. At the last Presidential Media Chat, it was commendable that President Goodluck Jonathan said categorically that he wasn’t committed to a new regime of price increases.

As a matter of fact, he said that for now, he is not increasing the petroleum price or price

of petroleum products. And I think we should take him for that. He went further to make the call that whoever is selling above the official price is unacceptable and criminal. For me, nothing would be more reassuring for all Nigerians. I think he bought into the feelings of Nigerians.

However, I think it would be the height of insensitivity on the part of any government or government officials at all levels to be pushing for any policy that will further lead to economic insecurity for Nigerians at a time we are facing the problem of physical insecurity.

The President’s statement is a complete departure from the busybody attitudes of State Commissioners for Finance, who went to Abuja to make a case for fuel price increase and for the removal of the so-called subsidy on petroleum products even though their trips were subsidised to Abuja.

I am also happy that one of the suggestions canvassed at the World Economic Forum (WEF) was that Nigerians need social protection to get out of the economic crisis in the country. I mean, we rebased the GDP of Nigeria, which has made us to become the leading economy in Africa.

This is a paradox! We have an army of the unemployed youths and poor people. I mean, this is a time for social protection for Nigerians, as articulated by the President at the WEF. And you can give social protection when you are removing the so-called subsidy, which would mean high price of fuel for Nigerians.

I think it is also time that all the stakeholders in Nigeria started thinking outside the box of removal of subsidy and so on. I think we need thinking on how to reinvent the petroleum downstream sector. And this is the time for us to be talking of passing the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

We all need new thinking coming into that sector. We want the PIB to be passed. If it’s done, we are talking of unbundling 11 new companies in that sector, which can engage and employ people.

The PIB also talk of reinvestment in that sector with a view to not only bringing back the old refineries, but also attracting new entrants to build more refineries. It also talks about how to stop the leakages in which today we are talking of thousands of barrels of crude oil being stolen. So, we need something that can stop these leakages. These are the stories we want to hear.

One thing I want to add is that there is nothing inherently good in deregulation, but there is something inherently good in regulation of any product or service. All these are means they are not the ends. The end Nigerians are looking for is uninterrupted power supply, communication and service delivery.

Let me leave you with this imagination. We have deregulated the telecommunication sector; a lot of mobile lines are available, but good services are hardly available. What is the quality of the service? It is more of quantity than quality. And why is it so? It is because the gov-

Aremu ernment is not on duty.

What I am saying is that deregulation is not a substitute for good governance. That is why I am happy that the President said during his media chat that whether it is fixed price or not, the pump price for fuel (petrol) is still N97 per litre. Whoever operates outside that is a criminal and it is punishable.

My stand is that somebody must be on duty to implement the policy; and deregulation or removal of subsidy is no substitute for good governance. In fact, for the market to function, government must be on duty.

But what is happening today is that you cannot even talk of serious market in the petroleum sector because we are importing fuel from abroad. The market is highly distorted.

Most of what we are paying for is transport cost, not even the product cost until we fix the refineries before we know the factory price.

In summary, I am excited that the President is not willing to add to Nigerians’ burden at this material time by increasing petroleum products’ prices. He alone has enough burdens to shoulder at the moment; he cannot combine physical insecurity with other social insecurities, which the so-call the removal of subsidy would engender.

What is the way forward for the down-for-thecount Textiles industry?

I think this justifies the point I raised that we need a strong federal government. The industries collapsed because we have a weak government. We need a government with appropriate industrial policies that would protect the industries.

When we had strong governments in the 60s, 70s and 80s, Nigeria was one of the leading countries in the world. That means a government that says these issues are on priority

The challenge is for President Jonathan to show that this conference would be of a different kind. That we would not only spend time and resources to generate ideas, but we would also have enough time to get them implemented for the purpose of national development. So, while I strongly believe that we cannot continue to be a debating society, still believe that it is better we debate than engage in a war of attrition. I am optimistic that this conference would be different. Still, we must change our mindset mentality that we carried from military rule. In a sound democracy, citizens must make sure that resolutions are not just made, but they must be implemented. So, we can’t leave this conference to the mercy of the government alone; we, too, must insist that the resolutions should be implemented. And there should be new round of pressure for protests. Just like this conference came up through protests, the issue of implementation of its resolution must go through that pressure.

list, it will enforce them and nobody can negate that. The government would say pay duties, these goods are banned and they would enforce it.

Today, we have weak governance and things have fallen apart. First, Abacha took us to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and liberalised trade and all sorts of goods were coming into the country. And those that were banned, nobody enforced the ban such that today, imported and smuggled goods dominate 85 per cent of our market. In fact, the locally produced goods in this country now account for less than five per cent.

That is why the newly rebased GDP is not driven by the industries; it is driven largely by telecommunication, services and entertainment. That is why we have a huge army of unemployment because the GDP is not driven by manufacturing and is not labour-driven.

In those days when our GDP was even less than the current one, it was driven by manufacturing and Nigeria recorded full employment. See, for example, the Immigration Service recruitment!

They were looking for 4,500 jobs, but about 1.2 million people put in application.

When the United Textiles Limited (UNTL) was in full production in the 80s, it employed 10,000 direct jobs. Those ones were twice or three times the number the Immigration was asking for. The UNTL did not collect N1,000 from applicants, and there was no stampede by applicants leading to death.

I am saying that industrial development is the key. We know the import or relevance of the textiles industry to the economy; that was why we helped government push the intervention funds of N100 billion.

Again, that tells you that we need a strong Federal Government to do that. And with that intervention, UNTL came back on stream in 2007 and they recorded through it 1,500 jobs. And many other factories have loaned from that money, which made them to be stable.

But unfortunately, electricity is still a problem.

Many of these factories use generators. Besides, after they produce, they have to grapple with smuggled goods that dominate the market.

Because you have produce, you have to undersell because the smuggled goods are cheaper.

Beyond financing, we also have to address other issues like appropriate policies, and we must have a level playing field so that our factories would not undersell because of imported and smuggled goods through unfair competition.

Then, electricity has to be stable; our people must also patronise locally produced goods.

Recently, Nigeria Police changed their uniforms.

They went to China and purchased those uniforms; yet, we have factories here in Nigeria that can produce for them. How can industry grow without patronage?

One of the outcomes of the World Economic Forum (WEF) is that we must have governments that ensure that things work out for their people.

TheGuardian

14 | Tuesday, May 20, 2014

www.ngrguardiannews.com

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 Stemming alcohol-related deaths GAINST the background of rising cases of sudden death in Nigeria, the recent A alert by the World Health Organisation (WHO), on the increase in the number of such incidents that are alcohol-related is timely. The warning should be taken seriously by the authorities in terms of instituting appropriate control measures and also by individuals for the sake of their good health.

Unbridled alcohol consumption certainly poses serious threat to health and may constitute a serious drawback to whatever gains that might have been recorded in the fight against diseases.

Incidentally, excessive alcohol consumption leads to non-communicable diseases (NCD), which Nigeria’s healthcare system is not yet equipped to handle.

The WHO alert should, therefore, serve as a wakeup call for government at all levels, to give attention to what could become a major public health issue if nothing is done to stem it.

WHO raised the alert over the harmful use of alcohol and linked the habit to the rising cases of non-communicable diseases as well as “sudden” deaths. The alert, contained in the organization’s Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2014, revealed that worldwide, some 3.3 million deaths in 2012 were due to harmful use of alcohol. These are avoidable deaths. And the number, indeed, is alarming.

Furthermore, the report profiled alcohol consumption in the 194 memberstates of the organization, including Nigeria, with respect to the impact on public health and policy responses to the problem. It highlighted the need for countries to take urgent action by developing policies to reduce harmful use of alcohol, noting that some 66 member-states had written national alcohol policies in 2012. That means, as many as 128 others have no policy framework on alcohol use, thereby, exposing their citizens to alcoholism with its adverse consequences.

The report also points to the higher percentage of deaths among men than among women from alcohol-related causes, even though, it says, evidence shows that women may be more vulnerable to some alcohol-related health conditions than men. It indeed notes the concern over the steady increase in alcohol use among women.

Some of the measures advocated by the report include raising national awareness; providing health services to deliver prevention and treatment of diseases; increasing prevention, treatment and care for patients and their families and supporting initiatives for screening and interventions.

Protecting the population should indeed be the overriding concern of the authorities but how to achieve that is the cause for concern.

In Nigeria where law enforcement is weak, alcohol is sold and consumed indiscriminately with hardly any real restrictions. Yet, there are legal restrictions against the sale and consumption of alcohol, especially to children and young persons.

The law, typically, forbids the sale of alcohol to children below 14 years or young persons below 18 years. Such persons are also not permitted to work in or around premises where alcohol is sold.

The law provides that alcohol should only be sold in licensed premises. There are different licences for outlets wishing to sell alcohol for consumption on the premises and consumption outside the premises. Generally, access to such premises is restricted.

Sale of alcohol is similarly limited in most outlets to hours between 6.00 a.m. and 12.00 midnight. However, alcohol may be sold in clubs and hotels at all hours to residents of the hotel or members of the club.

In the northern part of the country, particularly states where Sharia is in force, there are restrictions on the sale and consumption of alcohol under such local laws.

From the foregoing, it is clear that necessary provisions are there in the statute books with respect to the way and manner of sale and consumption of alcohol in the country. What is lacking is enforcement, which failure is at the root of the abuse and misuse of alcoholic products all over the country.

For instance, it is common to see outlets where alcohol is sold indiscriminately to forbidden groups like children and young people. Adults, of course, have no restrictions. And outlets are located either inside or near residential houses, where they are accessed by all and sundry without restrictions.

Alcohol manufacturers have devised effective but destructive ways of producing miniature sized products in plastic cans and sachets to make them easily affordable to everyone.

And all communities are flooded with all sorts of alcoholic beverages, which people consume with reckless abandon. The adverse effects of this culture manifest in cultism, armed robbery, kidnapping and, of course, sudden death that has become rampant. Many cases of heart disease and kidney failure are attributable to alcohol. And any nation must seek to liberate the populace from excessive alcohol consumption.

The Ministries of Health at all levels should therefore mount a vigorous public enlightenment campaign on alcohol consumption. These messages about health-consciousness should be disseminated on all platforms of the mass media. Government could also begin a policy of discouragement by imposing heavy taxes on alcoholic products.

Every necessary step must be taken to prevent people from drinking themselves

LETTER

Terrorism: Beyond guns and bombs Once again, Nigerians StheIR:have faced further attacks in northern part of the country, which have left more than 43 school children dead. It is another great loss of innocent lives at the hands of Boko Haram, this time in the Federal Government College in Buni Yadi.

This month alone we have lost more than 300 lives to the activities of these militants. As a father, I feel personally every condolence message that is sent to grieving mothers, fathers or siblings on this wanton spate of killings.

As with all insurgencies, fighting Boko Haram is not just a task for the military. The success for Nigeria in fighting Boko Haram and terrorism in general is largely dependent upon two key issues: leadership and political co-operation.

The first, leadership, lies squarely in the hands of President Goodluck Jonathan, who says the situation will improve – but this isn’t instilling confidence in the rest of his countrymen. He must now urgently provide all the necessary resources allocated by our government to help ensure our nation’s security. He must also work with the governors of the states to ensure a unified approach to combating this menace.

The second issue, political cooperation, is the responsibility of all politicians. We all must understand our duties as elected representatives of our people, and co-operate politically to bridge region and religion. We

must also appeal to the governors of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe; to all leaders from the region; and to all opposition leaders to co-operate with Federal Government. We have to fully support the military and provide all funds required by the security agencies. This must also be a priority for both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

I believe that with the continued attacks in northern Nigeria, the support from each and every Nigerian is vitally important for combating violent extremism.

Nigeria will soon be approaching a presidential election period, but in my opinion the fight to protect people should be prioritised over domestic politics. Disputes between the central government and local governors will not help an already desperate situation.

As the scale of the problem in northern Nigeria is only just being grasped, we should wel-

come the offers of support and expertise for outside the country. The United States and other international partners have pledged support and assistance, but this will only work if we are unified. For the sake of innocent lives, our political resolve must be as strong as the military option.

The demands of Boko Haram can never be met because Nigeria is a multicultural, open and welcoming country. The military can fight them, but defeating them will take more than guns and bombs. Success will only happen when every leader, governor, senator and the president sit together and combine their political will to put an end to these senseless killings.

• Senator Bukola Saraki, former governor of Kwara State, wrote the article for UK Guardian, which originally published it on Saturday,

SOS to Oshodi/Isolo LG, LASG IR: I wish to appeal to the Lagos into ditches and are fast developing into gullies. This road SChairman State Government and the requires urgent maintenance of the Oshodi/Isolo LGA to urgently come to the aid of motorists who face endless hardship driving along the Okota roundabout towards the Cele bus stop daily.

The whole stretch of the road is currently riddled with ditches.

This road which would take about four to five minutes to drive through now takes about one to one and a half hours. Both sides of the road now witness endless traffic gridlocks due to potholes that have degenerated

as residents of FESTAC, Ago Palace, Ikotun, Ejigbo and Jakande use the route daily.

Even in good condition, it is still too small for the number of road users.

The rains have come and driving through this route has become so gruelling and the only way out of this quagmire is for urgent intervention from the LGA or the LASG. • Ngozi Konyebagu (Mrs.), Lagos.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

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15

Opinion Completing abandoned rural roads in Imo State

By Luke Onyekakeyah HE high expectation that greeted the award of T several road contracts in all the 27 local government areas of the state by Governor Rochas Okorocha, at the onset of his administration appears to be frustrated by the contractors who got the job. The expectation was that by now, three years into the administration, each local council would have been adorned with at least a 15-kilometre motorable road. But alas, that plan is being frustrated by some unpatriotic contractors.

And, unless the State Government rallies to get the roads completed, the huge amount spent already would have been wasted. Governor Okorocha should change strategy to ensure that his vision is realised.

It is against that backdrop that last April, Governor Okorocha embarked on a fact-finding tour of all the local governments in the state, to personally assess the level of work done on the roads. Reports say the Governor was shocked that many of the road projects were uncompleted, while others were abandoned, three years after the contracts were awarded. The Governor discovered to his chagrin that some of the contractors have absconded after collecting over 80 per cent of the contract sum. This was contrary to the insinuation making the rounds that the contractors were not paid which was why they couldn’t work. But the Governor’s tour exposed the falsehood. The people were therefore in a better position to judge who is to blame for the slow pace of work on the roads.

At an interactive session with members of his cabinet, transition committee chairmen, monarchs and heads of ministries at the banquet hall in Owerri, the Governor decried the penchant of many contractors, who collected mobilization fees and abandoned the projects, saying it is criminal.

Consequently, he ordered a stop to all the road contracts and opted to use direct labour to complete the projects. He also dissolved all standing committees and resolved to take over the rehabilitation and supervision of the rural roads. The Governor said, “I don’t want to leave any of my projects uncompleted before December this year. No more awards of contracts, we shall now

do the roads through direct labour in order to get the works done so that new road projects can be embarked upon. I am in a hurry to make all roads in the state motorable,” The people are holding the Governor on this promise.

Last September, at a stakeholder’s meeting of the Community Government Council (CGC), at Ahiajoku Convention Centre, Owerri, Governor Okorocha disclosed that the state Government has lost over N6 billion to contractors who abandoned road projects awarded to them. He stated that government has spent more than N21 billion on various road projects in the state out of which N6 billion, handed over to contractors, who were mostly recommended by royal proxies, could not be accounted for. Governor Okorocha lamented that N21 billion was estimated to take care of 1000 km of roads across the 27 local government councils but regretted that only 300 km of roads was actually done, mostly without drainage.

I was appalled last Easter break, when I went home to see, among other things, the progress made on the road projects, particularly, the one passing through my community, Owu Amakohia, Ikeduru. I was surprised that the road running from Azaraegbelu on the Owerri-Umuahia highway, through Avuvu, Afor Owu, Ekeonumiri to Okpuala Amakohia, had been abandoned and there is no trace of the contractors or their equipment in the vicinity. The people are deeply disappointed.

My investigation showed that that stretch of road was awarded to three contractors. Apart from the initial excavations and a few metres of asphalt poured on two short sections of the road, nothing else has been done. The road has been abandoned and the condition in some section has gotten even worse than it was at the beginning. Besides, the contractors were doing the road without drainage, thereby exposing it to aggravated erosion and wash out.

Ikeduru is the most undeveloped council in Imo State. With no single tarred road in the entire Local Government Area, this road, which would be the first since Adam to be tarred, has once again been abandoned, and unless Governor Rochas Okorocha, who started it completes it, that may be the end of the road. The hope of a new beginning may have been dashed. That is why the Gov-

ernor should leave no stone unturned to see that all the road projects he initiated were completed as promised.

We recall that at the onset of his administration, Governor Okorocha embarked on massive infrastructure development and rehabilitation across the length and breadth of Imo State. Part of the package was the award of 15-kilometre road project in each of the 27 local government councils of the state, as well as urban roads re-development in Owerri, Orlu and Okigwe. These roads and other infrastructural development are changing the face of the three main cities in the state. I was particularly impressed with the changing face of Owerri, the state capital.

Initially, cynics insinuated that the roads were awarded without due process. While due process is totally acceptable in principle, in our corrupt environment, that mantra has been bastardised.

Consequently, I was quick to counter (in this column), that even thousands of projects awarded by various governments across the federation that followed due process were equally abandoned. I saw nothing wrong if the Governor, being apprehensive of the rot and the fact that many contractors have the penchant of collecting mobilisation fees and absconding, decided to try what I call the “do the work first without mobilization and be paid later” strategy. That could pay off and save us from the syndrome of abandoned projects. I must state, at this juncture, that it is not the method used in awarding contract that is the issue; it is the corruption mentality in the country. People want to rake in government money by whatever means available, being convinced that nothing would happen.

Like in all government contracts, the contractors initially mobilized materials and equipment to start work but abandoned them along the line after collecting the same mobilization fees that were not paid at the beginning. There were insinuations that the contractors were not paid even after completing the work. But my investigation proved otherwise. I spoke to some contractors who told me that they were actually given lengths of road to rehabilitate without the usual mobilisation fees. They told me they were afraid at the beginning, not being sure whether they would be paid after doing the work. But to

their greatest surprise, they were paid fully on completion of the job. They hailed the Governor for the innovation.

From the Governor’s tour of the LGAs, it is now clear that the contractors were actually paid and should be held responsible for the undone work.

Many of the contractors reportedly collected up to 80 per cent of the contract fees but still absconded. The Governor’s anger and frustration was justified. His decision to stop all the contracts and instead complete the roads with direct labour is the surest way to get the roads completed. Re-awarding the contracts at this stage when the rainy season is around the corner is unwise. Let the job be done through direct labour using people from the localities of the roads. The people would do everything possible to ensure that their roads are completed. Besides, that option is a veritable avenue to create jobs for thousands of idle citizens.

It is not surprising that Governor Okorocha is confronted with this cankerworm, which is capable of frustrating his well-intentioned plan to give the state motorable roads in the rural communities. Abandoning projects, unfortunately, is an unpleasant reality that defines governance in Nigeria. It is a norm. No one frowns at it. Those who wreak government through it are hailed.

The culture has become entrenched which explains why some contractors could abandon the job after collecting mobilization fees. There are thousands of abandoned projects littering the length and breadth of the country. Nigeria would be a bit better if all the contracts awarded by government at all levels were completed.

I would like to stress that in our corruption-ridden system, where contractors sign contracts, collect mobilization fee and abscond without doing the job, it is up to the authorities to devise innovative ways to counteract the malaise. One is the strategy adopted by Governor Okorocha. But as I said earlier, this is not the reason why the roads were abandoned. The ball is in the Governor’s court to push his efforts further and ensure that those who are out to derail his plans are stopped.

The community government has no power to confront the contractors. As the Chief Executive of the state, the Governor has the power to ensure that his administration’s dreams are fully realised.

Legacies: Lord Lugard and indirect rule (2)

By Patrick Dele Cole • Continued from yesterday HE records of the colonial office are filled with thousands of documents which show “X” as the signature of Chiefs in different parts of the world selling and giving their land to the British in return for the protection of the Queen of England. The French, Danes, Germans, etc followed these same examples to show acquisition of land through sale or otherwise. The land was said to have been acquired or bought in perpetuity and from this grew the doctrine that the minerals under this land also belonged to some foreign European sovereign. At Independence, ownership was deemed to have been passed over to the new Nation.

With the advent of Nollywood, it should now be possible to imagine the scene where Olu Jacobs or Pete Edochie wearing their traditional costumes sit with the British consul and someone is translating that the Chiefs and his council had sold their land in perpetuity to the helmeted, stoken-footed white man who is giving his quill to the Chief to mark “X” as his consent for losing his freedom and his land which had been measured, accurately by the ever attendant surveyor. How is this translation done? What is the Chief and his council to understand that 25 square miles, as was reported to the Chiefs Ikwerre and Okrika – now belong to the Queen when the British wanted to build the port at Port Harcourt? How do you translate 25 miles in Ikwerre or Ijaw, let alone the square of it? In return for what? Is it then any wonder that the Chiefs threw away the papers they had no use for and less understanding of?

African land law is based on African tradition which understands lease holds i.e. granting land to strangers for specific purposes for sometime with reversionary interests. No other form of transaction is possible; definitely not equitable and was a charade merely to demonstrate the strength and overwhelming superiority of the Maxim gun and the gunboats anchored nearby.

One view of the first World War was that it was inevitable given the rapacious interest of European nations to acquire land everywhere in the world – Asia, Middle East, Americas, Caribbean’s, Polynesia, etc. The land grab was necessary for pro-

T

duction of raw materials for European factories and markets for their manufacture. It does not take a genius to know that sometime soon after 1910, Europe would be at war with itself – hence the frenzy of declaring protectorates and colonies throughout Africa, Middle and far East, Asia, etc. Egypt was declared a protectorate in 1914, the same year as Nigeria and not remotely for any reason to make us want to celebrate.

The British found three land tenure system – feudal (North), Community (West), Communal (East). They supplanted all for their purposes and went further in claiming rights of minerals under the ground.

The land issue has created untold suffering to all countries where because of the need to exploit minerals and produce raw materials – the land and the minerals had been expropriated unjustly by the sovereign powers of Europe. Consider for a moment how the history of Nigeria would have changed if the land was left to the communities and development was in their own interest. If coal mined in Enugu, if Tin in Jos, if Columbine, manganese, oil etc belonged to the communities in which they were found – what a different place Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Congo, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, etc would have been.

For us in Nigeria, land continues to be one of our most divisive problems leading to perpetual instability The effects of colonial land tenure system have been disastrous and deleterious. It is a major cause of war between ethnic groups – Kalabari, Okrika, Ikwerre, Urhobo vs Itsekiri, Rivers vs Bayelsa, Cross Rivers vs Akwa Ibom, Fulani vs Birom (Plateau) of almost permanent of conflict and quarrels – hardening into psychological antipathetic – actions between ethnic neighbours.

Some of these land quarrels and issues were responsible for agitation for the creation of states e.g. the request for Port Harcourt State; North /South divide in Rivers State; Enugu land problems, land problems in Tiv, Lagos white cap Idejo chiefs and other classes of chiefs.

In prospecting for mineral rights, there is a lack of development of mineral producing areas, compounded by disaffection between mineral producing areas and the rest of Nigeria.

Let us tarry a while over this question of land and the vehicles used by Britain for colonisation. How can a royal chartered com-

pany be a Government? But throughout its colonial history – Egypt, Iran, Canada, U.S., Australia, India, China, New Zealand – it was this vehicle of a royal chartered company that was used for annexation, under duress and land appropriation.

The British had this strange creature called a Royal Chartered Company – a company that enabled its officials sometimes called Consul e.g. in 1851 there was a consul to the Bight of Biafra – are consuls not accredited to a king or state? We had another consul for Bonny, Degema, Calabar, etc. In Lagos “the British Consul” presented his papers to Kosoko in 1851. Soon after, Kosoko was deposed and in 1861 Lagos was declared a British colony. Then the land dispute started. The British asked the Oba for land. He told them he had no land; that the land owing Chiefs were the Idejo class of Chiefs in Lagos. Not withstanding this, the annexation took place. Land was taken and fought over.

Yet this fiction about the transfer of land ownership through spurious signatures has become reality. Numerous claims and cases exist that land was sold. Countless lawyers in Nigeria, West Africa and UK have argued cases and made fortunes, through the colonial legal system right up to the Privy Council on this fallacy; that chiefs sold land, or that a protectorate was established at the request of African chiefs and in their interest.

In a sense all that is written above may well be regarded as superfluous or even academic were it not for the harm done to countless people who have lost mineral wealth because of the claim of ownership, through purchase of land by the British, or other colonialists.

This then is the legacy of British rule to Nigeria. At best it was always tenuous, at worst it was hypocritical, insidious, dividing and ruling us for their benefit. Our varying degrees of acceptance of British rule has forged a strong suspicion that our differing attitudes to that rule have been transferred into how we see ourselves. British rule was a thin veneer of administration without leaving any lasting lessons about statecraft, transparency in Government or the feeling that we are all equal under God and under the rule of law.

• Concluded • Dr. Cole, OFR, is a Consultant to The Guardian Editorial Board.

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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Opinion Our mothers...and then our father

By Adinoyi-Ojo Onukaba A man came to the Prophet Muhammad and said, “O Messenger of God! Who among the people is the most worthy of my good companionship?” The Prophet said: (Your mother.) The man said, “Then who?” The Prophet said: (Then your mother.) The man further asked, “Then who?” The Prophet said: (Then your mother.)

The man asked again, “Then who?” The Prophet said: (Then your father) UR father, Mallam Shuaibu Onukaba, had O three wives. The first was Hajiya Aishatu Onukaba who died on February 12, 2014. His second wife was Madam Aminatu Onukaba who died June 4, 1997. The third was Rabi who left to marry someone else after giving my father a daughter, Sabitiu, now also deceased.

Had our father lived beyond June 14, 1984, he would have filled up the vacancy created by Rabi’s inexplicable exit and he possibly would have added a fourth wife that Islam prescribes as the limit for every man. Father liked his women and he encouraged his boys to sow their wild oats. He was a stylish, self-confident man who did not allow his lack of Western education to limit his zest for life.

All the three women in our father’s life were our mothers despite the fact that the third wife, Rabi, was only a little older than me. The concept of three mothers will sound rather strange and confusing to non-Africans or to those who have been raised in monogamous homes.

“Three mothers? How is that possible? They ask in bewilderment.

It is possible.

The connection between persons either by blood or marriage are not exactly captured by the English categories of father/mother, husband/wife, brother/sister, nephew/niece and cousins. These terms are limited when applied to kinship systems in Africa. They do not fully convey the kinship conundrum in many parts of Africa. For example, you hear Nigerians refer to someone as “cousin-brother” or “cousin-sis-

ter”. It describes a cousin who is as close as a brother or sister or a cousin who is more than a brother or sister. Don’t be surprised if we end up with “friend-brother” or “friend-sister” to describe a friend who is more than a brother or sister.

Our family lived together, worked together and dreamt of a future together in a three-bedroom bungalow in Ihima and another three bedroom bungalow at his farm which was located in between Aiyede Opa and Ilogun in the bowel of the rainforest in Okunland in Kogi State. Visitors to our home wouldn’t easily know the biological mother of any of us. We were raised and socialized to share things. One’s mother did not belong to a child alone. Mother and father belonged to everyone. No one could claim sole ownership of them. Such a background makes a child less territorial and less possessive.

Any of the women could feed (including breast-feed) any hungry child or discipline any wrong doer or reward good behaviour without involving the biological mother. In that environment, a child most times end up being closer to his or her non-biological mother than to the woman who gave birth to him or her.

Also, a child could end up being closer to a brother or sister who is not necessarily from the same womb as he or she.

Polygamy has plenty of challenges, no doubt about it. But it can also create a richly rewarding, fun-filled family life. We come from such a family. Our mothers and our father treated us equally without discrimination. We were not rich but we were not poor either. The family’s subsistence agrarian occupation ensured that there was food on the table most times – even if the choices were limited. There were 12 of us – five men and seven women. Sadly, two of the women are now late. Our parents kept us together and ensured that we remain so till date.

The women were the pillars of our family. Hajiya Aishatu and Madam Aminatu had petty businesses of their own in addition to helping their husband to plant and harvest his crops,

raise the children, cooked and cleaned the houses. In carrying out their domestic chores and procreational duties, they were guided and regulated by a sort of an unwritten timetable.

They knew whose turn it was to cook and clean as well as whose turn it was to keep the man warm at night.

Hajiya Aishatu and Madam Aminatu overcame their more prickly relationship in their early days together to graduate to a life of mutual respect and admiration for each other. By the time Madam Aminatu died in June 1997, the two women had become like sisters. They were decent, caring, hard working and faithful to their husband. Neither of them remarried after their husband died in his late 50s in 1984 when the women were still quite young. Indeed, some lecherous men in the community did propose marriage to them but they turned it down. Having spent much of their lives with our father, they did not want to invest in a new relationship with other men.

Our father was our role model. He was self-confident, fun loving, humorous and hard working. He loved and adored all his children and spoke glowingly about their achievements. He proudly discussed his children’s educational strides with friends and acquaintances that our mothers would repeatedly caution him against the envious designs of less fortunate people. He was open, spoke freely without restraint and never equivocated. He had a good sense of humour and had a free, liberal spirit that permitted his children to practise any religion of their choice. This was in spite of the fact that he was a devout Muslim who never missed his prayers.

Though not educated, he could confidently navigate his way through a gathering of learned people.

Our father had three brothers with whom he lived, worked and died. It was said that he convinced his brothers to move out of the suffocating extended family enclave where they had been born to the present family residence in Oboroke. His two older brothers were more cautious and mindful of incurring the wrath of

their step brothers, uncles and family elders.

Our father convinced his brothers to damn the consequences of seeking to free themselves from the oppressive grip of extended family overlords. He told his brothers that they would do better if they branched out on their own.

And so he led the rebellion that brought them to Oboroke where they built a house and brought their mother to live with them. For this, he was accused of being too wise and ambitious. Indeed, one major criticism of our father until he breathed his last was always that his “eyes were too open”, meaning that he was too smart and that he did not like to be cheated.

After settling down at Oboroke, he left the family house he built with his brothers to build his own. Again, he wanted to be independent, live alone with his family and run his own show. The same spirit also informed the building of a similar structure at the farm. None of the choices he made in life were easy for him.

Most people were uncomfortable with his rebellious spirit as well as the premium he placed on free will. He was never afraid to be different.

When he bought a Raleigh bicycle, some people felt it was the height of ostentation and wastefulness. But that did not bother him. If his money could buy a car he would not have hesitated to do so.

He would have driven it around town as he proudly rode his bicycle about town. Our father was a showman, a good dresser and a neat man.

When one of his sons bought him a giant cassette tape recorder and player, he chose to enjoy it in front of his house and proudly told whoever cared to ask that it was a gift from his son.

Our father loved and cherished education and he encouraged his children and nephews and nieces to take their studies seriously.

It’s been three decades since he left us. We owe him a lot in our lives and it is sad that he did not live long to enjoy the fruits of his labour. He will forever live in our hearts.

• Adinoyi-Ojo Onukaba is a former Managing Director of the defunct Daily Times.

Amosun and Awo’s legacies

By Soyombo Opeyemi EVELOPMENT all over the world is work-in-progress. An obD jective appraisal of any administration must, therefore, be based on the amount and quality of work done within a particular time or term and the resources available. A comparative analysis is even better as it affords the public the opportunity to assess the management of their resources and sum of socio-economic development under different administrations.

When I said recently that “in less than 3 years, the Amosun administration has achieved far more than what the previous government accomplished in eight years,” it was not a hyperbolic comment. The recent happenings in Ogun APC have turned out to be a referendum of some sort. From all I have read in the newspapers and heard on radio and television, feelers from towns, villages and hamlets, the common denominator is that the Amosun administration has been outstanding: Never in the history of Ogun has this quantity of work been done in such a short space of time with such meagre resources. Such remarks from the overwhelming majority of our people should constitute a ‘moralebooster’ for Senator Ibikunle Amosun, especially at this momentous time.

Following a report in the papers last month suggesting that Amosun was the first governor to visit the school, I went to the Social Development Institute (Shasha), Iperu. This is a college established in 1956 by Chief Obafemi Awolowo to offer leadership training to community leaders, traditional rulers, politicians and social workers. I established that the current governor was not the first to pay a visit to the 58-year-old school in a decade or two but Amosun is the first governor who made a promise to the school and fulfilled it. Governors came, they promised, but they never fulfilled their pledge. That much was confirmed. So the news report did not err, materially.

I was on the entourage of Amosun in June, 2013 when he paid an official visit to the college, which now offers Certificate and Diploma in Social Works and Social Development to our youths.

I was numbed by the level of the decay that I saw. Just picture structures abandoned in the bush for decades or that have lost their innocence to wars or some natural disasters. I looked at the termite-infested hall – the best of the buildings – the (high) table and chairs standing grudgingly on legs that had lost their souls to the rage of termites, the pock-marked asbestos ceiling, windows without covers, roof threatening to collapse at the slightest fury of the elements... The governor was downcast: How can

this happen in Ogun State?

“The labour of our heroes past, Shall never be in vain,” goes a line of our National Anthem. The students have been evacuated; reconstruction work is going on at a steady pace.

The Social Development Institute (Shasha) is one of the thousands of abandoned structures scattered across the state. Even if you devote the entire yearly budget to education alone and consecutively for 10 years, you will still be left with one or two dilapidated buildings. Yes, what Amosun inherited was a sector in ruins. Some of the buildings need to be pulled down. Some of the schools need to be relocated because they are currently choked by development. As at the time some of them were built, the locations were conducive to learning. Now, imagine voices of commercial bus drivers drowning those of classroom teachers!

Population has risen. Also, new schools have to be erected as schools are returned to their original owners.

Here is Amosun during his inauguration on May 29, 2011: “It appears that our public schools were deliberately destroyed so as to justify government’s abdication of its responsibility to educate the citizens, feigning inability to shoulder the attendant financial requirements as the basis. My belief is that education is a social service which in the end serves the public good. Nowhere in the world is education treated as purely a profit-making venture. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, of blessed memory, will turn in his grave if he hears that due to inability to pay school fees many pupils and students are dropping out of school in his state of birth. Or that as a result of ill-conceived policies, many of them are excluded from going to the school of their choice.” “(i) Education is now free in both primary and secondary schools. (ii) All illegal fees and levies in both primary and secondary schools are hereby abolished. (iii) The government will also be responsible for the payment of the final examination fees for primary and secondary school leavers in Ogun State. (iv) Tuition fees will be drastically reduced in all the state’s tertiary institutions. (v) The bursary and scholarship scheme for students in tertiary institutions will be reinvigorated. (vi) Allocation of at least 20 percent of our annual budget to education with emphasis placed on improving the quality and capacity of staff through training and re-training, improved welfare packages and provision of teaching and research facilities. (vii) Three state-of-the-art and well-stocked public libraries will be established, with one in each senatorial district. (viii) Immediate commencement of construction, rehabilitation and expansion of physical facilities in the sector with a target to achieve a ratio of 30 students per class in our primary and secondary schools. (ix) and Reinvigora-

tion of the inspectorate division of the Ministry of Education.”

Three years on, I believe Senator Ibikunle Amosun can look back and take pride in his achievements, for he has accomplished between 75 and 80 per cent of his promises. Indeed, by the time the world-class model schools under construction are completed, the governor would have recorded between 90 and 95 per cent success. For instance, instead of three state-of-the-art and well-stocked public libraries, you now have 15 in the first phase. Even in ‘WAEC’, once you have 75 per cent, that is “Distinction or A1”.

Today, the over 20,000 children that would have been out of school due to the policy faux pas of the last government are in school. Enrolment figures have soared as more children are abandoning private education in order to enjoy the free education policy of the current administration. TASUED has been taken off the life support while OOU is gradually coming out of the stench. Revenue from the Federation Account has slumped drastically from 2013, but due to prudent financial husbandry, teachers are receiving their salaries.

Of course, occasional hiccups are inevitable under our warped federal arrangement, but with the very first bridges and international standard roads adorning our state, the restoration of the climate of security, which has resulted in investment of about N730 billion in two years with attendant thousands of jobs, introduction of luxury buses and brand new taxis on Ogun roads for the very first time, distribution of new 500 transformers to revive SMEs, generation of over 50,000 direct and indirect jobs, scale-up of free health policy (Gbomoro) and launch of Community Based Health Insurance Scheme (Araya), payment of backlog of salaries, pensions and gratuities inherited from the last government, on-going construction of power plant to ensure steady supply of potable water, construction of state-of-the-art markets, strategically located in business districts (not in the bush), revival of agriculture through release of N1 billion to farmers to boost production, purchase of massive land-clearing equipment to aid mechanized agriculture, resuscitation of Farm Settlements, among others, the current government has, indeed, sustained the legacies of Awo. Senator Ibikunle Amosun can hold his head high for having launched modern Ogun into its golden years.

• Soyombo, a journalist, sent in this piece via densityshow@yahoo.com

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 17

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Focus Regrets, as Lagos legislators recant over Lekki bridge Lagos state legislators last week reversed their position on the controversial Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge tolling. They surprisingly passed a resolution, authorizing the state government to collect toll from prospective users. WOLE OYEBADE writes on the Legislators’ previous hard line position and why Lagosians are not surprised about the turn of events NEW, curious twist was last week added to A the raging Lekki-Ikoyi Link bridge controversy in Lagos, when the state House of Assembly suddenly backpedalled, and gave the Governor Babatunde Fashola-led executive the nod to collect tolls on the infrastructure.

The state government claims it had spent a whooping sum of N29 billion on the 1.358-kilometre suspension bridge, built by Julius Berger.

Initially, the lawmakers, like most Lagosians, had questioned the rationale behind tolling the bridge that was funded with taxpayers’ money. Heated debates had also ensued in May 2013, when the concession document was first submitted to the House for ratification, a few days before its commissioning and tolling (May 29, 2013). The concession plan, at that time, appeared dead on arrival due to the lawmakers’ arguments against it, with the general public understandably delighted by their resolve.

Notwithstanding a Federal High Court ruling that also declared tolling on the bridge illegal last March, the House, last Monday recanted and approved it, saying the passage of the resolution would serve as a legal backing for “appropriate maintenance” of the bridge.

House Leader, Ajibayo Adeyeye, during plenary, read the House of Assembly Motion No. 35, which concerns the concession agreement for the Electronic Tolling System (ETS) of the Lekki-Ikoyi Toll Bridge.

Adeyeye said: “In pursuant to Section 33 of the Lagos State Public Partnership Law (2011), this House hereby resolves to approve the request for the ratification of the Electronic Tolling System Operations and Maintenance; Concession Terms and Condition as forwarded by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State.”

Legal mind of the House, Sanai Agunbiade, representing Ikorodu I Constituency, supported the motion. He explained that the bridge, which was “financed and built by the Lagos State government,” had been with the House for a long time, adding that they (members) had deliberated on it “on and off plenary” and as such, “deserves speedy passage.”

Reacting to the development, a Lagos businessman, Hakeem Adetona described it as shocking, although, not entirely unexpected.

Adetona pays N600 to ply the bridge to and from his office at Ikota Shopping Complex every day. He said: “When the House initially kicked against tolling on the new bridge, people were excited, hoping they will stop it or reduce the toll. But when tolling started immediately after the commissioning and the Lawmakers said nothing, I knew there was more to the matter than meets the eye.

“I thought the court’s declaration would have further strengthened the earlier resolve of the lawmakers. But seeing this new twist is quite shocking. They must have reduced the matter to party (All Progressives Congress) thing. I wonder how they would still claim to be doing anything to protect the masses.”

Olisa Edem said the move was another confirmation that the House was doing the biding of the executive. His words: “For me, I’ve never expected anything positive to come out of it. It is an indictment on the (state) government to have started collecting toll without Assembly’s approval (in the first place) and (still) continue, despite court’s ruling against it.

“What else could be more brazen? That is where I had expected the self-acclaimed foremost House of Assembly in the country to call the Executive to order. For me, this is a government that talks about the law only when it suits its interest. Indeed, the infrastructure (bridge) is good and commendable, but it should not be so expensive and made only for the rich.”

While seeking the speedy ratification of the concession proposal penultimate Monday, Deputy Speaker of the House, Taiwo Kolawole noted that there had been a backlog of infra-

It was wrong of the Lagos Assembly to give such approval for toll collection on a bridge built with taxpayers money. It is an unnecessary punishment on the people of the state. It is the poor that are always on the receiving end of it. Don’t the rich have stewards, cooks, drivers and other workers that go to Lekki-Epe side to work? If they say it is only the rich that ply the bridge, are they saying it is meant for the rich alone? It is a bad argument. In any case, there is a case in court The controversial Ikoyi-Lekki link bridge structural decay in Lagos and the bridge, he argued, “is one of the ways to solve the problem.”

Kolawole observed that there were two main benefits associated with the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge. Apart from being the shortest route to Obalende, he declared, “it is also being used for exercises, going by the level of patronage on the bridge.”

He added: “You need to visit the bridge in the morning and see the high patronage. More so, people are willing to pay the toll. I think we should just give the government the go ahead, get the money and use it to solve other problems.”

Ironically, the same Kolawole had been most vocal against the tolling plan barely a year ago. As the longest serving lawmaker with 15 years of experience in the House, Kolawole had said the request of the government, as contained in the proposal, was not in line with the 2011 Public-Private Partnership law.

He had said: “As far I’m concerned, this has nothing to do with the PPP law. This is not about provision of infrastructure because the bridge has already been constructed, using the taxpayers’ money. So, why should we still toll a road that we have built with our money?”

Another lawmaker that called for the concession agreement’s express approval is Rotimi Olowo, representing Somolu I Constituency. Like Kolawole, Olowo had also initially faulted both the rationale for tolling and the N400 toll, which he described as “exorbitant.”

But last Monday, Olowo, too, justified the tolling regime. His justification: “This is what transpires all around the world for the maintenance of public infrastructure and the same applies to our Lekki-Ikoyi Link bridge. The money that accrues from the bridge will be used to develop other infrastructure. It is not building the bridge that matters, but its maintenance.”

Olowo also reasoned that the toll collection was not different from the access fee being paid by users of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Road, which he claimed “has been

instrumental in the maintenance of the road.” He likened the bridge to Robin Wood, an outlaw in the English folklore, who robs the rich to pay the poor.

Olowo said: “That corridor of Lekki-Ikoyi Link bridge would be used as a source of wealth re-distribution. People around that corridor are not poor people. If we can take some money off them, and use it for the masses, and better the interest of the electorate, then government is on the right track.”

But human rights lawyer, Bamidele Aturu disagrees. According to him, it is not only “self defeatist,” but also an attempt to further impoverish poor people in Lagos. His said: “It was wrong of the Lagos Assembly to give such approval for toll collection on a bridge built with taxpayers money. It is an unnecessary punishment on the people of the state. It is the poor that are always on the receiving end of it.

“Don’t the rich have stewards, cooks, drivers and other workers that go to Lekki-Epe side to work? If they say it is only the rich that ply the bridge, are they saying it is meant for the rich alone? It is a bad argument. In any case, there is a case in court.

“The Assembly should have allowed the appeal process to exhaust itself. I think this is wrong. It further worsens the state of poverty, penury and economic crisis of the people living in the state.”

The toll rates, as approved in the concession agreement are N250 for cars; N300 for mini vans, Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and light pick-up trucks; N400 for non-commercial buses with a maximum sitting capacity of 26 persons and N100 for motorcycles with 200cc engine capacity and above.

The Lagos Tolling Company, in partnership with two technical partners from overseas, would manage the concession. Besides, 73 per cent of the revenue generated on the bridge would go to the state government, while the tolling company takes 27 per cent.

Also, 80 per cent of revenue from incidental activities like adverts goes to the state government, while 20 per cent goes to the operating company. The concession agreement is

for 10 years in the first instance, with a renewable period of five years.

Between public interest and politics It was gathered that the concession might have been approved not because of supposedly compelling arguments by the state officials, but as a strategy to win future elections. All the All Progressive Congress (APC) members of the House are believed to be nursing re-election bids. Their Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, is already eyeing Fashola’s seat come 2015.

Executive Director, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Adetokunbo Mumuni, among others that have been following the issue with keen interest, insisted that the bridge is a public utility for the people and not a moneymaking venture.

However, Mumuni is not surprised by the turn of events. He said: “That is the nature of Nigerian politicians. You never can trust them.

You’d recall Ebun Adegoruwa was able to get toll collection nullified in the court because there was no such approval from the House of Assembly authorizing tolling on that bridge.

Because they (Lagos executive and legislators) saw this, they must have lobbied among themselves. It is all in their interest. That is the nature of politicians.

“We cannot point to any politician with the interest of the people at heart, including those that mouth themselves as progressives. That bridge is an attempt to pacify the rich and their argument on toll collection is not sound at all.

Road or bridge construction is a service and not a source of revenue generation,” he said.

However, Funmilayo Tejuoso, representing Mushin I Constituency, said the state Assembly deserves commendation, “for always being thorough in its investigations.”

She said: “At the last count, it was given a second allotted day. It means we have gone through it in line with the Lagos State PPP law 2011. It is obvious that the Lagos government is going through the proper procedure.

“We are in agreement with this particular motion; to encourage the proper cooperation and maintenance of the bridge and ensure that the money Lagos State government had put into this bridge is not wasted.”

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TheMetroSection ‘My mother’s health is at stake’ • Spelling Bee winner seeks help for her sick mother

Briefs Lagos to help victims of Daleko market fire

By Isaac Taiwo ICTIMS of Daleko Market fire incident heaved a sigh of relief yesterday when Lagos State government asked them to compile their list and promised to rebuild their stalls.

The General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Mr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, who visited the scene, assured the traders that the state government would assess their losses and see how to cushion the effect with a view to forestalling a recurrence.

He also gave assurance that an emergency management committee would be set up in various markets in the state to guide against fire mishap.

Also at the market yesterday was the Iya-Oloja General, Mrs. Folashde Tinubu-Ojo. She consoled the traders and solicited for their co-operation with the state government that has decided to compensate the victims by rebuilding their shops for them.

Tinubu-Ojo told the traders to ensure proper placement or packing of their vehicles in case of emergency so that fire fighters with their vehicles would not obstruct fire-fighting vehicles

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Firm, Edo launch 300 vehicles to boost transportation FIRM, C&I Leasing Plc, in collaboration with the Edo State govA ernment, has launched 300 brand Suzuki Alto vehicles, for use as taxi or cabs in the state for transportation purpose.

Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji (second right); Blessing Azeez and her parents, Oluwafemi and Oluwaseun Azeez during a visit to the House ...recently ministration blocks for improved performance.

By Wole Oyebade But above all, she said, “this is more personal to me; my F there is anything that will delight Blessing Azeez, first runmother needs support because her health is at stake, please ner-up of the 2014 Spelling Bee competition for Lagos schools help,” she said. now, it would be medical assistance for her mum.

Blessing’s uncle, Kunle Oladehinde explained that Mrs. Her mother, Oluwaseun Azeez, has a reoccurring mental illOluwaseun Azeez, now in her early 40s, developed mental illhealth condition that is eating deep into the meagre income of health (psychiatric disorder) while giving birth to Blessing in the family.

1998. The condition is one of the complications of childbirth.

Blessing Azeez, 16, a student of Keme Balogun Senior College, Oladehinde said: “It was a very difficult situation then, such Ibeshe, has also had her own share of ill health lately. She had a that she (the mother) could not suckle Blessing immediately lump removed from her breast some weeks ago at the Ikorodu after birth. So much had gone down in her care, but she is yet General Hospital. to fully recover. That is where the family needs medical sup“They are health issues troubling my mind,” she told Lagos Asport,” he said. sembly Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, during an invitation to the Apparently touched by the plea, Ikuforiji promised that the House in recognition of her excellent performance.

House would support Mrs. Azeez and Keme Balogun Senior Azeez was second to Olabanji Edun, among 52 participants at College within the means of the House. the grand finale of the Spelling Bee competition organised by The Speaker, however, expressed satisfaction with the excelthe Lagos State Ministry of Education in March. lent performance of Lagos students, adding that they made the Azeez, in company of her parents, family members, teachers future worthwhile. In the same week, Ikuforiji had welcomed and classmates, said she had been encouraged by her parents to the plenary, a nine-year-old whiz kid, Anjola Botoku, who and teachers to perform well. It was an effort that also brought scored credits in English and French languages in Nov/Dec her school to limelight.

2013 West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) papers.

She added that greater potential resides in students of Keme Ikuforiji said notwithstanding the insecurity and other chalBalogun Senior College, but must be given adequate infralenges facing the country, the likes of Blessing give reasons to structural support, like classrooms, laboratory, library and adbe excited, as he thanked the teachers that produced them.

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PFN decries forceful conversion of Chibok schoolgirls to Islam sponsors asserting that “ conversion by coercion is sin both against humanity and God who has always given man the right forceful conversion to Islam of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls to make choice. Kidnapping and converting Christians to Islam by

by Boko Haram, describing that action as gross violation of their force is an affront to Christianity, which can not be accepted. “ fundamental human rights.

PFN in a press statement signed A video clip released recently by Boko Haram who claimed responby the Chairman, Rev. sibility for the abduction of the Theophilus Anyimson, called for a global action against the Is- mainly Christian innocent lamic fundamentalists and their school girls for over a month HE Abia State wing of the PenT tecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has decried the reported

now, showed the helpless students reciting Islamic incantations under gun point.

The statement read in parts: “The abduction of the innocent school girls is a crime condemnable by all but more criminal is their forceful conversion to a strange religion contrary to their faith. “ Even God does not compel anyone to repent, repentance has always been by choice , and

anyone who claims God has commanded him to make converts by force is suffering from religious malady”.

While expressing optimism that the on- going efforts by the Federal Government’s collaborative efforts with some foreign countries will rescue the girls, the Abia State PFN called on Christians all over the country not to relent in prayers until the girls are released.

Youths on rampage over alleged killing of colleague in Borno allegedly shot dead by a soldier manning the military post at this Rounabout that NGRY youths and some commercial connects four main roads in the metropotricycle operators in Maiduguri, the lis. The soldier aimed at the tricycle and Borno State capital went on rampage over shot him dead for alleged violation of trafthe alleged killing of a tricycle operator at fic rule,” said Ibrahim. one of the military posts at the West End The Guardian also learnt that the soldier Roundabout Sunday morning however missed the tricycle, and the stray According to an eyewitness, Mallam Isa bullet hit the chest of a kola nut seller and Ibrahim, the tricycle commercial operadied on the spot near the Roundabout. tor was allegedly shot dead, for violating Other witnesses at the scene said the soltraffic rules and regulations on the highdier was not remorseful and this angered way, where the military post was sited. the rampaging youths who had mobilized Consequently, the angry youths in their to the area on hearing the sound of a gunhundreds barricaded major roads in the shot at a military post. area and set fire on used tyres on four Mallam Mohammed Bukar also said that roads leading to the scene of the killing the angry youths chased away the soldier “This Keke NAPEP commercial driver was and his colleagues from the area.

Fro: Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri

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He explained that: “People were angered because after the shooting, the soldier did not show any sign of regret. The youths who came to the area started protesting the killing of their colleague.”

The soldier was nearly lynched by the youths but for the quick intervention of other colleagues, who sneaked him out of the area, prevented the soldier from being lynched.

But he was said to have sustained some injuries on his head and eyes.

Motorists plying the roads were made to turn back to other routes as the road leading to Baga Road , Post Office and Customs area were cordoned for four hours by the youths who set bonfire on the affected roads.

The scheme, which is named “Comrade Tax” is a new initiative of the state government at providing an efficient taxi service, as an alternative to commercial motorcycles, popularly referred to as “Okada,” that was banned last year.

The governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomole, while speaking at the unveiling ceremony in Benin City, said the new taxis would provide relief to residents that might have faced difficulties as a result of the Okada ban. The 300, brand Suzuki Altos, were supplied by C&I Motors Limited, a subsidiary of C&I Leasing Plc., and the sole distributor of Suzuki vehicles in Nigeria.

He, however, commended C&I Leasing for partnering with the Edo State government, pointing out that Public-Private Partnership would bring rapid development to the state.

He noted that the cabs would ease the pains being faced by the people in the state.

The Group Managing Director of C&I Leasing, Emeka Ndu, said the Suzuki Alto “is a popular option for state taxi projects.”

He disclosed that, the Edo State government had provided a 15 per cent subsidy on the price of each vehicle, and that C&I Leasing Plc and Access bank, had partnered to provide a finance repayment plan of 36 months for the beneficiaries of the scheme.

The Managing Director of C&I Motors, Maureen Ogbonna, who was also present at the unveiling ceremony, said the company was happy to be a part of the Edo State taxi scheme.

She reiterated the company’s commitment to an efficient after sales service plan to ensure the success of the scheme.

DHL Nigeria donates van to Wecyclers FIRM, DHL Express and logistics company has donated a van A to Wecyclers, a Lagos-based environmental social enterprise as part of its corporate social responsibilities.

At the handover event held at the DHL Nigeria head office in Lagos on Wednesday, DHL Country Manager, Randy Buday said: “Caring for our environment is something we are passionate about at DHL. Over the years we have participated in and supported several initiatives targeted at creating a sustainable environment. Our partnership with Wecyclers further affirms our commitment and we hope that this donation will serve as a major boost to their operations.”

Wecyclers is a company determined to fix the urban waste management system in Nigeria. It is focused on giving low-income communities in developing countries a chance to create value from waste and clean up their neighborhoods through an incentive-based recycling program.

Bilikiss Adebiyi, CEO of Wecyclers, said: “Our model solves the urban waste challenge for households and recyclers. Wecyclers uses a fleet of low-cost cargo bicycles to offer convenient household recycling services in densely populated low-income neighborhoods. We motivate families to recycle plastic bottles, plastic sachets, and aluminum cans through our SMS-based incentive programme.”

Households that have subscribed to Wecyclers receive a weekly visit from its collectors, who weigh the waste, log the amount and take it to Wecycler hubs. Two hubs have been created to date in convenient locations.

DHL Country Commercial Manager, Chrysanthus Okere (left), Wecyclers CEO, BilikissAdebiyi-Abiola and DHL Country Manager, Randy Buday at the event

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Business Report ranks Nigeria, others high as business destination

By Roseline Okere and Adeyemi Adepetun ESPITE daunting chalD lenges to development and growth, a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Ernst & Young has ranked countries, including Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya as the most prominent investment destination in the world today.

According to a PwC’s report titled: “The Africa Business Agenda”, a study it conducted among the world’s leading business executives and presented at the recently held World Economic Forum for Africa, in Abuja, it showed a higher-than average growth rate, with a significant number of multinationals declaring their organizations’ intentions of growing their presence in Africa.

Indeed, the EY Africa attractiveness survey 2014 released at the weekend, noted that the gap between those who are already doing business on the continent and those with no business presence remained striking.

According to the report, which combined analysis of international investment into Africa since 2003, with a 2014 survey of over 500 global business leaders, while FDI project numbers had declined from 774 in 2012 to 750 in 2013, primarily as a result of ongoing uncertainty in North Africa, the number of projects remained well above the pre-crisis average of 390 projects a year.

EY stated that there was a noticeable divide between FDI trends in North and subSaharan Africa.

Senior Managing Partner,

PwC Nigeria, Uyi Akpata said that the report suggests that sub-Saharan Africa offers the most advantageous platform for prospects for future growth and investment and called for synergy between the governments and the organized private sector so as to take advantage of this emerging development.

According to him, “It is important that there is a working synergy between the private sector and the various governments in Africa so we could fully appropriate this investment trend to achieve optimum growth across the continent.”

“With inflows of foreign direct investment reaching record highs and GDP growth averaging 5.1 per cent this year according to the International Monetary Fund, there is a consensus

among sub-Saharan leaders that future growth can only take place if there is engagement between the private sector and government, as well as the global economy”.

The Africa Business Agenda, which is categorized into six parts of Agility Agenda, Growth Agenda, Infrastructure Development, Risk Agenda Development Agenda and Leadership Agenda vigorously shows that Africa means business.

The report further suggests a strong confidence among Africa’s CEOs in growth potential across every industry and sector and in every market in Africa but notes that a major determinant of how companies will benefit from this investment flow is their ability to harness this potential to their full advantage.

Uyi explained “companies’ ability to evaluate opportunities, understand current market dynamics and anticipate changes in customer preferences and changes within economies are preconditions to achieving company growth.”

On the focus of growth, the report further reveals that about a third of CEOs in Africa are focused on new product and service development while another third say that organic growth in their existing domestic market is their main growth opportunity. The remaining third are split between organic growth in existing foreign markets, new foreign markets and new business relationships like mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures or strategic alliances.

The report shows high

Director General, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), John Isemede (left); Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Olusegun Awolowo and Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Tunde Oyelola at a one-day capacity building workshop on “Strategies for Penetrating West African Market” in Lagos.

PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI

Senate prescribes stringent sanctions against electricity equipment vandals

By Roseline Okere HE Senate Committee on T Privatisation has emphasised the need for new owners of electricity firms to take advantage of the stringent laws in the country to ensure that electricity equipment vandals are brought to book.

Specifically, the senate wants the owners of the successor companies to take advantage of existing laws in the various states of the federation to prosecute vandals of electric installations and those who obstruct electricity personnel from performing their legitimate duties.

The committee members led by its Chairman, Senator Olugbenga Obadara, gave the advise during an oversight visit to privatized enterprises in Rivers State last week, urging

the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) succession companies, in the interim, to take appropriate measures to stem the tide.

Obadara said the power companies could do that by collaborating with the judiciary in the states to constitute mobile courts to handle all cases relating to electric power infractions.

“We advise you to take advantage of existing laws in all the states of the federation to prosecute electricity installations’ vandals and allied offences. You could collaborate with the Judiciary in all the States to constitute mobile courts to try these offenders. On our part, both Chambers of the National Assembly will synergize to enact a law on electric power offences in the future”, he said.

While reiterating the Committee’s resolve to assist the power companies to overcome their challenges to give Nigerians efficient and uninterrupted power supply, the Chairman warned that “we will not hesitate to wield the big stick when we find you wanting”.

Briefing the members earlier, Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC), Jon Abbas, informed them that the new owners had upgraded some sub-stations and re-modelled the company for efficiency.

He however listed inadequate power generation, poor network condition, higher AT & C Loss, vandalism, lack of interest by funding institutions and rampant theft of electricity as some of challenges confronting

the distribution company.

At Afam Power Station, the Managing Director, Leo Ofurum, said the plant managed by Nigerian engineers was at present generating 65 megawatts as against the installed 75megawatts. He added that the plant generates N100 million monthly for the government.

Obadara, commended the Nigerian engineers for their ingenuity and urged them to co-operate with the preferred bidder for the plant, Talevares Group, to turn it around.

The Committee members also paid a courtesy call on the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, who said the state government had built 545 megawatts plant and another 180 megawatts plant in the state.

growth rate in many sectors and very high growth rates in certain sectors like the telecom and power sectors. In the telecommunications sector for example, the level of mobile phone penetration has increased by 20 per cent per year for each of the past five years, while the power sector has a fundamental change in progress. The current yearly infrastructure investments across the continent are estimated to be $27 billion in power, $15 billion in water and $10 billion in transportation per year.

Despite these opportunities, the report said the continent’s economic growth is slower than the global average and highlights the continent’s financial crisis, bribery and corruption as factors militating against the growth of the African economy.

“The financial crisis on the continent saw over $50 trillion in wealth being wiped out as well as several banks.

The rise of emerging markets combined with globalization, the impact of data technologies, the increased influence of external stakeholders and continued repercussions from the aforementioned global crisis all now combine to create in Africa a landscape of uncertainty and complexity,” Uyi stated.

FDI projects in North Africa declined by nearly 30 per cent last year, while projects in sub-Saharan African increased by 4.7 per cent reversing the decline of 2012 and further widening the gap between the two sub-regions, with sub-Saharan Africa’s share of FDI projects in Africa now exceeding 80 per cent of total FDI. “Africa’s share of global FDI projects has grown steadily over the past decade and it is a promising sign that investors are now looking across the continent and to new sectors. Further regional integration and infrastructure development should continue to entice investors to the exciting investment opportunities that Africa can

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BUSINESS Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson (right); Director, e-Government in the ministry and Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Peter Jack, at a press conference on the celebration of the 2014 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day in Abuja.

Growing insecurity worries LCCI

By Femi Adekoya HE Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( LCCI) has expressed concern on the growing negative impact of the prevailing security situation occasioned by long drawn insurgency on the nation’s investment drive.

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Specifically, the chamber noted that investors’ confidence have been hampered, therefore limiting the realisation of the tremendous potential that the economy presents, especially post GDP rebasing.

In a statement made available to The Guardian, the chamber’s President, Alhaji Remi Bello explained that with the prevailing situation, it would be difficult to attract investors at this time just as the risk of long term investments in the economy has been heightened.

He said: “The tempo of economic activities in the Northern part of the country has declined, access to the markets by companies in the southern part of the country has reduced resulting in loss

of sales; while many enterprises have relocated.

“Security of lives and property is crucial to stimulate investment. In the same vein, Investment growth is imperative for job creation, poverty reduction and social stability.

Persistent insecurity impacts negatively on the economy just as declining private sector performance could result in job losses which could aggravate the state of insecurity.

“It is a case of mutually reinforcing conditions which underscores the strong nexus between the economy, investment, private sector performance and security situation.

Persistent insecurity creates concerns about safety and aggravates uncertainty”.

Going by the trend, the LCCI welcomed the strong global support and assistance in the fight against insurgency.

It then urged the Federal Government to take full advantage of the support not only to rescue the over 200 abducted Chibok girls, but also to address the capacity gaps in our military in dealing with the peculiarities of ter-

rorism and insurgency.

“Evidently, there is an international dimension to the insurrection which is why the global support at this time should be embraced and encouraged to strengthen the capabilities of the Nigerian Armed Forces in tackling terrorism.

“Meanwhile, governments at all levels – federal, state and local - should intensify efforts to eliminate local factors that predispose the citizens to extremism. These conditions include poverty, inequality, unemployment and illiteracy.

This calls for increased spending on education and health to improve the quality of population and human capital. It also calls for greater quality spending on infrastructure to enhance productivity of enterprises in the economy and strengthen capacity to create jobs in a sustainable way. A literate and productive citizenry is a strong antidote to fundamentalism of any sort.

“The LCCI urges all citizens to rally round the government and refrain from amplifying political, ethnic or religious

sentiments. The single most important common objective at this time is to bring back our girls and restore lasting peace in the country”,he added.

Africa’s business destination CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21 offer,” EY Africa Chief Executive Officer Ajen Sita said.

The report also found that investors were starting to look beyond the more established markets of South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya to expand their operations, and were also moving into more consumer-related sectors in line with the expansion of Africa’s middle class.

EY said there was significant movement in the list of top ten countries by FDI projects in 2013.

“Only South Africa and Nigeria retained their first and third positions from 2012 with 142 projects and 58 projects respectively.

However, FDI projects in both these countries witnessed a slight decline.

Countries such as Kenya, with 68 projects, Ghana, with 58, and Mozambique, with 33, all moved up the ranks,” the firm said.

Meanwhile, Zambia and Uganda were new entrants to the top-ten list, with 25 and 21 projects respectively, an increase of more than 20 per cent.

In contrast, North African countries, such as Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt, slipped on the rankings.

In 2013, both West and East Africa surpassed North Africa for the first time, becoming the second- and third-most attractive sub-regions in Africa after Southern Africa.

Further, the report also found that, while the UK remained the lead investor in the continent, intraAfrican investment continued to rise.

The UK was the clear leader in 2013 with 104 projects, with the US in second place at 78 projects and South Africa in third place at 63 FDI projects.

While South Africa’s investment declined by 16 per cent from that of 2012, it still showed a significant increase from the 12 projects reported prior to the global financial crisis.

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Group Managing Director/CEO Designate, Skye Bank Plc, Timothy Oguntayo (right); one of the award winner, Olawale Adegbite; and Executive Director South east, Edo/Delta Treasury and international funding Group, Skye Bank, Amaka Onwughalu during the Bank award for Domiciliary account Mobilisation for Staff in Lagos PHOTO; SUNDAY AKINLOLU

Expert proffers solution to poor power supply

By Emma Eke NTIL there is a better interU face involving stakeholders in the electricity sector, the dream of improved power supply and consumption in the country will be farfetched, the Chief Executive Officer, Signal Alliance, Mrs. Adanma Onuegbu, has said.

Speaking in an interactive session, she said the firms, which have bought the various segments of the now unbundled Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), were facing a lot of challenges, requiring understanding of policy makers and consumers’ cooperation in finding lasting solution.

According to her, who also doubles as a power solution expert, “there are some unforeseen developments that have cropped up after the takeover of the plants by the successful preferred bidders of the privatisation of PHCN.”

On the role that information Technology sector could play in improving the situation on the ground, Onuegbu included assisting the distribution companies (Discos) and generation companies(Gencos) towards having modern callcentres solution all over the countries for easier and quicker response to any complaint raised by consumers, irrespective of status.

Also critical to the needed improvement is effective communication tool to target prompting informing to the public of any plan being put in place by the operators.

She said that with the exposure of her firm in its course of maintaining working relationship with most of the operators, obsolete infrastructure base had been the main issue to be urgently tacked, head on, by way of reviewing the current electricity regulation policy as is presently in place.

Throwing more lights on why

the country is still experiencing slow Internet and data services, she blamed the development on the high cost of acquiring broadband licence by operators.

On the way out the CEO said: “Most service-providers have gone a step further by having most of our data on the cloud, which is in vogue in majority of advanced economies; its cost-effectiveness cannot be equated with the current means of preserving data by many countries, including Nigeria,” she said.

CBN, Visa International, MasterCard for 2014 ATM, payment expo HE Central Bank of Nigeria T (CBN), Visa International, MasterCard Worldwide would be among the stakeholders expected to discuss new innovations in the card and payment industry in Nigeria at this year’s Card, ATM and Mobile Expo.

A statement from the organisers, Intermarc Consulting at the weekend, informed that already, over 50 exhibitors from Nigeria, Ghana, China, UAE, South Africa, Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America, Morocco among others and major Nigerian banks will showcase their services and products at Card, ATM & Mobile Expo scheduled to take place in Lagos from June 17th to19th.

Intermarc said that this year, Card, ATM & Mobile Expo is partnering with major key epayment industries including the CBN; Nigeria Interbank Settlement Systems Plc (NIBSS); National Identity Management Commission (NIMC); National Information Development Agency (NITDA); Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) in the area of providing more information about the cash-less policy as well as the identification management of these institutions to the public The forth coming event, according the statement will open its exhibition ground to Platinum sponsors such as MasterCard Worldwide, Zenith Bank, Secure ID, Diamond Bank Plc. Gold sponsors are Chams Plc and Silver sponsors are Altech West Africa and Eco Bank Plc. Industry Support in the likes of etranzact International, Globasure Technologies, Secure Card Manufacturing and Union Bank as registration sponsor.

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Sub-Standard products will soon fizzle Dr Joseph Odumodu is the Director-General of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).In this interview with ITUNU AJAYI of our Abuja Bureau,he explains measures being taken by his organisation to promote standards as a way of life in the country. Excerpts.

IGHT now, Nigeria does not have R National Quality Policy (NQP). How then do you intend to achieve standards when NQP is not in place?

The world is moving and what we have found is that everything goes along with technological advancement and all that and one thing that has become clearly imperative for us as a country is that we have a National Quality Policy. It is not rocket science, it is just a document that defines who we are and what we define as quality. I will give you one practical example, if you take a census of all official functions in Nigeria, hardly will you find up to five per cent of them that start on time, and that tells you clearly that time does not mean anything to us. But if you translate that to another environment like the UK and the US, you find out that less than five per cent of programmes will not start on time and there are usually clearly defined reasons for that. I am just trying to give an example with time.

So, what we are going to do with the National Quality Policy is actually to redefine a new culture where we say that this is Odumodu important to us and as a result of that, we would respect it. Even before the end of gate it and we are going to present it to the this year, we would take a census of all pro- federal executive council and am sure they grammes of the government and we would would interrogate it too before we can have a be able to say for example how many of final document that would be promulgated them would not start on time, that is a way as a policy for Nigeria. of understanding whether we really under- What would be the far reaching implication for products standardisation in stand clearly or would adopt standardiza- of the NQP Nigeria? tion. Of course, if I go further on that and It would be given that standards will not be say an average Nigerian would buy a prodtaken for granted when that policy is put in uct and every time you ask them, why they place and that means that all these issues of choose that particular product, the answer pursuing substandard products would be a is usually ‘because I can afford it’. And you thing of the past because what we are trying also say this one you bought is not the good to do is to create a new mind set in Nigeria. one, this other one is the good one. ‘They You know today we are pursuing people who say yes but I cannot afford the good one’. are bringing substandard products and The National Quality Policy will also redeNigerians are busy pursuing those substanfine our mindset so that we begin to patrodard products and buying them. In the new nise quality as a basis for consumption and environment, the new milieu we’ll now have customer relationship. an environment where we would now step Those are some of the outputs that the NQP back to find what I call infrastructural supwould get to Nigerians because it is a very port and Nigerians will do away with subhighly technical activity and it is going to standard products, that is the outcome. And bring into a document issues of standardiso if you bring those products, nobody would zation, conformity, assessment, accreditabuy them, its sound impossible isn’t it, but it tion because for example Nigeria does not going to work. I have demonstrated with have any accreditation body today and that bulbs, if you go and buy bulb that sells for means by implication every product that is N500, it is likely to be a bulb that meets stantested in Nigeria today will not be acceptdards which you could use for six months but able to anybody outside of Nigeria. You there are lots of bulbs that are sold for N100 know when you buy electronics, there is a and you keep changing them maybe every certificate of quality in it and you accept it week. You find out that in a period of 12 because those countries already have months, people have spent N2,000 changing accreditation bodies. We never had, we are bulbs alone rather than buying the one for just setting up one. So, there are a lot of N500 that would last them for a whole year. changes we are bringing into the quality And people keep telling you they can’t afford environment in Nigeria. It now goes N500 bulb, that is not true because to change beyond standardisation but it is about getthose bulbs, you may have to climb someting quality assurance as a way of life. thing so it is not only the cost of buying the Considering the amount of diligence bulb but how about the risk of climbing and required to come up with a National changing them, anything can happen, there Quality Policy, do you think the June deadcould be a fall or electric shock and nobody is line for a working document given by the even taking about the cost of transportation National Steering Committee on National going and buying the bulbs.

Quality policy is feasible?

Those are the costs and the Quality Policy Very feasible, it is a lot of work. What we would present a holistic picture that would have done now is to create eight commitmake people to voluntarily stay away from tees with members drawn from every minsubstandard products. People in the UK and istry and members of the organized private sector are involved in all the committees.

We have committee on communications, committee on accreditation and several others. What we have also done is to embed SON people as secretariat for all the committees so that we can provide background information because what we find out is when you talk of standardization, quality assurance, it’s like rocket science to a lot of people, so we are providing the bridge and we break it down to the language of the ordinary person and that is exactly what we are doing. And in two weeks, you will begin to see promotional items on the NQP because we are going to do a road show, we are going to go to all the six geo-political zones carrying the message, getting feedback. We would be able to present a report to the minister by June but it would definitely not be the final report because the minister will interro-

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US knows the dangers in buying substandard products and that is why they don’t buy them and that is basically what we would communicate to Nigerians, it’s going to be tough, am not saying that by June everything would become okay, no but that journey would have started and it would be a journey of no return.

You just mentioned infrastructure support, can you expatiate on that.

We would build more laboratories as we are doing now because conformity assessment is about looking at the standards, taking a product and ensuring that the product meets the specifications of the standards, and that is only possible with laboratories that are credited with modern equipment.

We also need to have mobile laboratories.

We are looking at the possibility of introducing what we call micro hazard, it is a system where you attach something to a product and that in itself gives you a possibility of using a scan in order to establish that the product meets quality or not. This will be installed at the level of the factory where this product is manufactured. These people had done untold harm on this country and any investment put in place to stop them is worth it. Because like I told you, I have drawn a correlation between the level of job creation and the prevalence of substandard goods, the level of industrialization and the level of substandard products and have established correlation between them so the message I am passing on is that we have started a movement and that movement can only gather speed and overwhelm the present situation.

We found out that people in the rural areas are more vulnerable to the activities of importers of substandard products, with your staff strength of just over a thousand, how are you going to reach out to all these corners of the country?

There are only 1400 people in SON and there is no way we can reach every Nigerians in the rural areas. Recently we formed a national coalition on zero tolerance to substandard products and we are going to recruit almost 5 million Nigerians. There is going to be a sort of virtual village where those people would be sharing their experiences with each other but we also would be watching what is happening within that village, so in the process someone would say I went to block so and so Alaba market and bought a substandard electric cable, for us, we’ll take this information and go and do some enforcement, but ultimately, people are sharing information within a platform.

Mind you those people in the rural villages are not as illiterate as you think, but when we did a survey on the prevalence of substandard goods we found out as you pointed out that they are prevalent in the rural areas. Because Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt are becoming hot, substandard products are finding their ways into the rural area. For instance, we did a survey on petroleum products and we found out that in the Abuja metropolis, fuel quality was good but as we went out to the outskirts, the adulteration increases because they believe that enforcement is not likely to happen in the outskirts. We are aware of that but like I said, when this movement

Quality Policy is actually to redefine a new culture where we say that this is important to us and as a result of that, we would respect it. Even before the end of this year, we would take a census of all programmes of the government and we would be able to say for example how many of them would not start on time, that is a way of understanding whether we really understand clearly or would adopt standardization.

gather momentum, there would be no rural or urban area, it would be a whole new environment we would see.

How much of zero tolerance to substandard products can SON achieve considering the complexity in the system?

When we started in 2011, the level of substandard products was about 89 percent but now we have more than halved what the level used to be. This was made possible as a result of commitment to enforcement. I remember when I resumed duty and I had meetings in the markets and all that trying to sensitise the traders, they complained I was trying to introduce new laws and I said no that the laws were already on ground and I was only trying to implement them. I remembered we seized goods worth N5 million in Ladipo market and they were saying this was not how they used to do things.

They said they used to settle my people when they come and I told them time for settlement was over. And I remembered some people made comments that I was going to get tired after three months. Am I tired now, I think the man doing the wrong thing should be the one to be tired, I am doing the right thing, so I should not be.

What is the state of the MoU between SON and its Chinese counterpart on the influx of substandard products from China to Nigeria?

We are still in discussion, that’s all I can say for now because I came with a lot of momentum but it appears our colleagues on the other side are not in a hurry to sign the agreement. One of the things I made clear during a meeting we had with them was that every delay in signing that agreement is likely to put Nigerians into more debt due to the effects of substandard products. Who is losing every time a Nigerian brings a substandard product into Nigeria and we seize them. Am not aware anybody uses fake dollars to pay for those goods so the man who receives the money receives full compensation while the man who brings the substandard goods brings debt to Nigeria. So in any way you look at it, it is at this end that we record losses, in terms of potential loss of lives, potential loss of those goods and other unquantifiable losses. I always say anytime we destroy fake goods, we are destroying Nigeria’s collective wealth and that is not in our interest. We’ve made so much progress with the agreement initially but things had slowed down and I am not happy about it.

But I must continue to push because this is not something that will stop at this level.

Someone who is not a Nigerian brought in fake phones and I demanded that he be put on the television to tell Nigerians if he would do the same in his own country, so this is an all-out fight. The President had given us the mandate to clean up the environment, you know he talks about job creation, wealth creation and all that, and the only way we can achieve that is if we remove substandard products.

There have been a lot of issues on cement.

Some cement companies are accusing SON of allowing local production of lower grades while the agency stipulates 42.5N/mmsq for imported cement. What is your take on that?

The accusation is not true. You see, everything we do is governed by standards and every standard is international. In fact, apart from specific standards like standards for garri or sesame, every standard is global.

The same language is spoken on specification because we are all human beings and we all desire good quality of life. What has happened in the cement sector is not different from all other sectors. We have a standard for cement and it is NIS 444 1 and 2 of 2003 and it was adapted from the European standard 197 which its last review was in 2011. The standard made provisions for three categories of strength in cement. There is 32.5N/mmsq, there is 42.5N/mmsq and 52.5N/mmsq and indeed people can make even stronger cement. I don’t want to begin to define the technicality in all these specifications but what it simply means is the

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out of Nigeria, says Odumodu CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26 strength of concrete at 28 days when you measure the strength of the concrete. The point is in Nigeria we have the standard alliance for those three grades, the standard also specifies that there are certain things each grade can be used for. For instance the 52.5N/mmsq is used for bridges and heavy duty coverts that would carry a lot of load, 42.5N/mmsq is used for decking of buildings and 32.5N/mmsq is supposedly used for rendering like plastering and blocks. We did a survey last year and we find out that people who make blocks were using 32.5N/mmsq which is not the problem though, the problem is that the standard NIS 587 says make not more than 30 blocks from one bag of cement, we discovered that they would make 45 to 50 and above with the same one bag and sell at N160. I had a stakeholders meeting with almost 2,000 block moulders because we told them to form association. This association helps in term of self-regulatory so that when we can be able to monitor their activities. The reason they gave for making more than 30 blocks from one bag is that they won’t be able to sell if they make to the specified standard because it would be expensive, so any block you buy at N160 is not a good one. I am happy though that they said the truth maybe out of ignorance or patriotism. What we are doing now is go round the country and help them do the right thing. But there are almost 2 million block moulders in Nigeria and 1400 staff of SON cannot reach them so what we do is that we are helping them to form state units of the association so that they can be checks on themselves. There are two types of blocks which Nigerians don’t even know about, there is a low bearing block and a non-low bearing block. In a low bearing block, you must attain a good level of strength otherwise that load becomes dead load that may even bring down the building itself. I want to say also that in the study we did, 68 percent of the buildings that crash in Nigeria came down because of the strength of the concrete mixture. The point I am making is that, when we were importing cement, we prescribed 42.5N/mmsq, but when Nigeria started making cement, remember I told you there is international standard because people were noticing that if they use 42.5N/mmsq for plastering, within a short time it begins to crack, this is an indication that the cement is too strong for the plastering. We also discovered that almost 95 percent of the people just buy cement based on the brand name not the grade, so it is an everyday occurrence to buy the right quality of cement for the wrong purpose. A technical committee is going to come up with a review of the standards which would tell us what should we use for what and I believe that at the end of it all, every bag of cement would be properly labelled with specified grades and purposes. We are going to request all the cement industry in Nigeria to communicate to Nigerians what they packaged in those bags of cement. I had built two housed and

did not know anything about these grades before I took this job, I just went to buy cement, and it is the same with all Nigerians. So everyone we went to told us they do not know anything about grades. Although this is not the only reason buildings come down. It may be in the concrete mixture and most times people don’t test the soil they build on.

Considering the attendant advantages of SON’s policy on Eregistration, is there no way to make it a mandatory policy due to the apathy of most importers and manufacturers?

Yes, there is a clear challenge we have in that area. When we started promoting it, I find out that there were lots of resistance on the part of stakeholders. People don’t want to register their products, why, because they are afraid of what they are selling to Nigerians. So what we have done now is that we are pushing through a policy at the high level of government to make sure that every product is registered and we are almost there, but for now, like I said the deadline had expired and when we pick a product that is not registered, we would treat it as a substandard product.

Because we need to follow through a process, whatever the committee set up is able to come up with would be reviewed by the council of the SON which is the body that approves standards for Nigeria so whatever the outcome of that review is would be taken to standards council which

would meet in two weeks’ time and once that happens, it becomes a standard for Nigeria. But there is one more step, we would take the outcome to the minister of industry, trade and investment who is the only one who can declare a standard mandatory. What i mean is that all over the world, standards are voluntary, but when a country through its minister of industry, trade and investment declare a standard mandatory, it means that manufacturers and consumers who deals with that product must comply with specifications of the standards, so once we finish, we would send it to the minister and we are on the same page with the minister on the issue.

On what platform can consumer get back to you as a way of collaboration with SON? You know without feedbacks, improving on standards may be difficult.

I agree with you, we now have created more people platforms, one there is a national coalition on zero tolerance on substandard products and I said we are already building that coalition through the electronic platform, we have the website. Two, we have telephone numbers in all our state offices where people can access information and more importantly, we are beginning to create a new social profile because I notice that Nigerians are very active within that circle.

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‘Implications of rebased economy to tax agency’ From Mathias Okwe, Assistant Business Editor, Abuja HE recent rebasing of the Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has an enormous task on the country’s tax agency, as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) need to widen the tax net and shore up collection to upscale tax ratio to GDP, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, has said..

Okonjo Iweala, who gave the task to FIRS, said it was disheartening that though the Nigerian economy was the largest in Africa, yet Kenya and South Africa are poles ahead of Nigeria’s tax to GDP ratio.

She spoke in Lagos at a

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Osun debunks debt profile From Iyabo Lawal, Ibadan HE Osun State governT ment said it has never borrowed money to finance its projects currently under execution.

The Commissioner for Environment and Sanitation, Mrs. Olubukola Oyawoye, who disclosed this in Ibadan, Oyo State, said the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola did not borrow any money to finance all the projects executed in the state.

While delivering a lecture at the secretariat of the Oyo State Correspondents chapel in the capital, Oyawoye also said the state has banished unemployment, poverty and restore healthy living, functional education and communal peace and progress.

Delivering a lecture titled: “Clean and sustainable Environment: Panacea for outbreak of epidemic: The state of Osun experience”, the Commissioner said Aregbesola had dredged waterways across the state.

She said: “Osun do not borrow any money, we have heard news that we borrow N3 billion and then N4.6 billion and all sort of figure. If we are owing, say N400 billion, we will need N4 billion to service every month and our allocation is N2.6 billion. But we have benefits we are enjoying, which includes assistance from project finance idea, Internally Generated Revenue and assistance from international organisation like UNDP”. We do not also owe workers.

While listing the achievement of Governor Aregbesola since his assumption of office in the area of environmental sanitation, she said the state had overcome quite a number of epidemic outbreak occasioned by the look warm attitude of past administrations.

She then urged the people of Osun State to support the governor in the forthcoming election so that he could complete his good works.

stakeholders’ Engagement Forum organized by the Federal inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to engage key business leaders, top government functionaries and corporate executives on service capacity enhancements.

A Statement from FIRS, signed by its Head of C o r p o r a t e Communications and Liaison, Wahhab Gbadamosi, quoted the minister as saying, “what the rebasing has done is to demonstrate that Nigeria has much more diversified economy than we thought, services is now 51 percent, up from 26 percent. Agric is now 33 percent from 22 percent. The movie sector that was 0.7 percent 10 years ago is now 1.2 per cent. What I’m

saying is that the Nigerian economy is evolving in terms of service.

“Service is now one quarter of the GDP. The point we are making is that the rebasing has demonstrated the potentials in tax in a diversified economy base.

Through Nigeria is not doing as good as Kenya and South Africa in tax to GDP ratio’’.

She said the opportunity, which the rebasing of the nation’s GDP offers is good as it challenges FIRS and the country to do better and that the Nigerian economy is much more diversified than earlier assumed.

Also speaking at the occasion, the Acting Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Alhaji Kabir Mashi, said the

service would be compelled to invoke relevant laws against taxpayers that refused to voluntarily fulfill their tax obligations. ``The revenues that are collected by Government from you are a means through which citizens could participation in governance and your compliance with tax laws is a clear demonstration of good corporate citizenship.

“However, for those who do not comply or have fallen short, we want to urge you to fulfill your obligations under the tax laws, as we will have no option but to invoke our powers under the laws, where necessary,’’ he said Mashi, equally commended taxpayers for their efforts and contributions to the

nation`s development over the years through payment of their taxes as well as soliciting for their continues cooperation and support.

He added ``we are constantly seeking to improve upon our performance and we ask that you buy in to our initiatives as we roll them out. As we implement these initiatives, we shall interact with you more closely and hope that you see yourselves as partners in national development``.

With the Capacity Enhancement Programme (CEP) led by McKinsey and Company, Mashi said the Service has embarked on some key initiatives to improve performance and make Nigerian economy on of the largest in the world.

Mashi said that the initia-

tives would help in the areas of audits, arrears & debt enforcement, tax exemptions, evasion (high net worth transactions & rentals), registration, filing and improved communication as a means of enhancing compliance.

He said the strategy would enhance the operational efficiency of the FIRS and that such initiatives were already yielding results.

At the event, Chairman Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote suggested that FIRS should increase tax base as in number of taxpayers in the tax net before considering increase in rates.

Dangote also suggested that FIRS should honour and celebrate complying taxpayers while showing recalcitrant ones to the world.

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Facebook insiders reap $7.2 billion in sales since IPO ACEBOOK Inc. (FB)’s insidFcashed ers and executives have out of a bounty of stock since the company’s initial public offering. Their reward: $7.2 billion.

On the eve of the social network’s second anniversary as a public company, an analysis

by Bloomberg News shows that the company’s top holders have executed transactions totaling at least 186 million shares over that period, reaping them $7.2 billion.

Eleven holders have each sold more than $100 million of stock, including Chief

Executive Officer and cofounder Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook underwriter Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and early investor and director Peter Thiel.

The analysis shows how Facebook insiders and executives are locking in gains from the company’s shares amid ups and downs. The Menlo Park, California-based social network priced at $38 a share on May 17, 2012, and began trading the day after. It soon fell below its IPO price as investors questioned its business, before roaring back last

year as its mobile advertising flourished. The shares have been under pressure in recent months and are down 19 percent from an all-time high in March through last weekend.

The stock sales aren’t unusual for newly public Web companies including LinkedIn Corp., Groupon Inc. and Zynga Inc. Some of Facebook’s top executives, including Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman, have established regular share-sale plans, part

of a trend of adoption of such programs.

“This behavior is typical of a company that goes public and the executives start to sell,” said Aaron Boyd, a director of governance research at compensation-research firm Equilar Inc. in Redwood City, California. Still, he added that “the size of Facebook and the scale to which these shares are valued is atypical.”

Tucker Bounds, a spokesman at Facebook, declined to comment.

Bloomberg’s analysis looked at holders whose stakes were

Apple strikes a new chord in future of music ORE than a decade ago, M the late Steve Jobs pulled one of his trademark reality distorting maneuvers, browbeating music label executives into selling songs on Apple Inc’s then-nascent iTunes digital store for a mere 99 cents apiece.

Now, the tables have turned and it’s Apple that is being forced into a deal that is far from a sure-fire winner.

The iPod and iPhone maker is expected to announce as early as this week a $3.2 billion agreement to buy Beats Electronics, the music streaming service and headphone maker founded by legendary music producer Jimmy Iovine and rapper Dr Dre, according to three sources familiar with Apple’s thinking.

The deal would come after Pandora Media Inc and

Spotify have already claimed the vanguard of the music streaming revolution, while Apple’s riposte - the eightmonth-old iTunes Radio - is stumbling.

“Apple is about two years late, behind Spotify,” said David Pakman, a digital music investor with Venrock Capital and a co-creator of Apple’s Music Group. “They need a streaming offering.”

With digital music downloads in decline, record labels have put pressure on Apple to get its act together on streaming, according to two of the three sources. The record labels hope Apple can turn Beats Music into a strong competitor with Spotify and other streaming services, the sources said.

“The labels wanted Apple to build a premium service,”

China insists on Internet security to counter ‘hostile forces’ CHINESE official in The party renewed a camA charge of regulating the paign on online discourse Internet has said Beijing last year, threatening legal must strengthen Internet security because “overseas hostile forces” are using the Internet to “attack, slander and spread rumors”, state media said on Sunday.

The Deputy Director of the China National Internet Information Office, Wang Xiujun said political security is fundamental, reported The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Wang’s remarks coincide with a broad crackdown on online freedom of expression that has intensified since President Xi Jinping came to power last year. The crackdown has drawn criticism from rights advocates at home and abroad.

“Now, overseas hostile forces are using the Internet as a main channel to penetrate and destroy (us),” Wang was quoted as saying.

“Using the name of ‘Internet freedom’ to repeatedly attack, slander and spread rumors in an effort to undermine our country’s stability and national security.”

Winning “the struggle for ideological penetration” would “decide to a great extent the future of our party and country”, Wang said.

In February, Xi took the reins of a government body for Internet security, saying he aimed to turn China into a “cyber power”. He said then that working on public opinion online was a longterm responsibility and the Internet could be used to “spread discipline”.

action against people whose perceived rumors on microblogs are reposted more than 500 times or seen by more than 5,000 people.

China maintains tight control over the media.

Censorship is widespread and Internet users cannot access information about many topics without special software to circumvent restrictions.

Wang said China wants to strengthen its security of networks and information systems in part due to intrusions in cyberspace by foreign governments, according to the People’s Daily.

The case of former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden showed that “a few countries have used their superiority in Internet resources and information technology to conduct largescale Internet surveillance and to steal a large volume of political, economic, military and corporate secrets”, Wang said.

He did not name any country but questions over cyberespionage have long cast a shadow over China-U.S. ties, with each side accusing the other of spying.

The Defense Ministry said in March China would beef up its internet security after the New York Times and Der Spiegel reported that documents leaked by Snowden said the U.S. National Security Agency accessed servers at China’s Huawei Technologies to obtain sensitive data and monitor executives’ communications.

said one of the sources, who like the others were not authorized to speak about the matter on the record. “They wanted ... to make money through the stream.”

In recent months, the major labels had grown dissatisfied with the performance of iTunes Radio, the source said.

Streaming subscriptions are now the fastest-growing revenue source for the music industry, but Apple has not made a dent.

Streaming subscriptions jumped 51 per cent in 2013 to $1.1 billion, out of a $15 billion total spent on music, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

Meanwhile, digital downloads slipped 2.1 per cent.

Per-user spending is higher with streaming services than for music downloads. A good customer spends $25 to $35 a year on music purchases, but a subscriber spends $9 or more a month - or more than $100 a year, according to one source.

Labels earn royalties of a fraction of a cent for every stream, which the source said works out to a higher revenue per user than pure digital sales.

Apple, Beats and record labels Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment declined to comment for this story. A spokeswoman for Universal Music Group did not respond to requests for comment.

disclosed at the time of the IPO, and who have documented their share sales since in filings through May 15. The study encompassed Facebook’s Class A shares, which can be sold on the open market. The Class B shares, which carry 10 votes each, are convertible to A shares.

Insiders as a whole still hold the majority of their shares.

Of those who have sold some shares, Zuckerberg has cashed out the most, reaping $3.41 billion, mostly to cover tax obligations. Goldman Sachs made the second-most from its sales, at $914.1 million. They were followed by Thiel’s investment vehicle, Rivendell 1 LLC, garnering $861.5 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Thiel has also sold through other investment vehicles, so his total proceeds are more than $1 billion.

Michael DuVally, a spokesman for Goldman Sachs, declined to comment.

Erin Gleason, a spokeswoman for Thiel’s venture firm Founders Fund, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Only three insiders and executives haven’t disclosed any sales of Facebook shares since the IPO. They are Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin and board members Erskine Bowles, who was White House

Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton, and Reed Hastings, who is Netflix Inc.’s CEO. Bowles and Saverin didn’t respond to e-mails for comment. Jonathan Friedland, a spokesman for Netflix, declined to comment.

Some insiders sold near Facebook’s share-price lows.

In four of the top 10 days that holders made money off shedding Facebook, the shares were trading at less than $25, according to data compiled

by Bloomberg. Venture capital firm Accel Partners and board member Marc Andreessen, along with Thiel’s Rivendell, were among the sellers at those levels.

Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, is an investor in Andreessen’s venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. Representatives for Accel and Andreessen didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Much of the wealth has trickled back into Silicon Valley, boosting home prices and providing capital for new startups.

Accel and Andreessen Horowitz are prolific startup investors.

The day that Facebook insiders and executives made the most was right after Christmas 2013. On Dec. 26 last year, several stakeholders sold Facebook shares, cashing out $2.37 billion, according to the data.

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Appointments Much ado about labour law

Jonathan

From Collins Olayinka, Abuja HE on-going National Conference is perceived as an avenue for the ventilation of opinions and promotion of members’ constituencies’ ideals.

In this marketplace of ideas, there have been winners and losers even when many of the committees of the parley are yet to conclude their reports and the plenary yet to take final positions on the issues at stake.

But one constituency that may likely be loser is the labour movements, which for many years have been pushing for the retention of labour laws on the exclusive legislative list.

Government holds a different view on the matter.

The position of government is stemmed from the simple reason of democratizing the administration of law matters in the country. For instance, the Federal Government thinks it is morally wrong to enter into a collective bargaining with the central labour movement on behalf of state and local governments. The argument of government is anchored on its insistence on ensuring adherence to the principles of federalism.

But labour movement led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) seems not ready to accept defeat just yet.

In Abuja, the two labour bodies tackled Obong Victor Attah, who is a former governor of Akwa Ibom State and the chair of the National Conference committee on Civil Society, Labour and Sports.

The President of NLC, Abdulwahed Omar and his TUC counterpart, Bobboi Kaigama, alleged that the decision of the committee to move labour matters from the exclusive legislative list to concurrent list was ‘strange’ and was never the resolution of the committee.

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Labour added: “The Committee on Civil Society, Labour, and Sports have in tandem with the aspiration of the trade union movement in the country, recommended that labour and other related issues should be retained in the Exclusive Legislative list. We commend the Committee for carrying out the wishes of the Nigerian people in this regard.”

Going memory lane, labour reminded that when the Senate

Wogu

Attah in the process of amending the Constitution last year (2013), toyed with the idea of removing wages and other labour related matters from the Exclusive Legislative list to the Concurrent list, the trade unions kicked against the move.

While forgetting that not all Nigerians belong to trade movement, both Kaigama and Omar resorted to supplanting NLC and TUC aspirations and struggles with Nigerians’ aspirations.

Berating Attah for daring to relocate labour laws to concurrent list, labour, in its usual mannerism said: “Many Nigerians have started to wonder whether members of the Attah Committee live outside the Nigerian Society because the issue of Labour being retained in the Exclusive Legislative list was widely publicized during the Constitutional Amendment exercise by the National Assembly last year. Or could it be that the members of the Committee are fixated and impervious to popular opinion? It is indeed surprising that a former State Governor, who many have hitherto regarded as a Statesman, could descend so low as to resort to vendetta because a local union in his State once went on sympathy strike over National issue.”

Labour seems to lose it when it asked if the committee is aware that Nigeria is a signatory to Convention 87 of 1948 of the ILO on Freedom of Association and Right to Organise and Convention 98 of 1949 on Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining. This is missing the point because relocating the labour laws have not deprived both TUC and NLC members the right to associate in any way.

What the relocation seeks to do is to simply democratize the administration of labour issues in Nigeria by raising the voice of state governments in labour matters. Why should labour have state councils if those councils cannot negotiate on their own and are mainly the appendages of the central trade centres?

Not done yet, labour insisted that if national unions are killed in Nigeria, how would the country continue to participate in ILO Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) under Convention 144 of 1976?

Again the movement asked:

“Will the ILO invite hundreds of unions that will emerge in Nigeria into its Tripartite Committee? Indeed, can the country afford to be ridiculed before the International Community because a former State Governor is obsessed with revenge?” This again, is missing the essence of the relocation.

Labour went global in its attempt at justifying its position. It pointed at the United States, Britain, France, Australia, Brazil, Russia, Venezuela, South Africa, Ghana and Cameroon where there are national labour centres, which serve as the rallypoint of unions. But it failed to point out how many times have any of the countries it mentioned had a national strike that crippled the economy for days.

Are these national trade centres run nationally the way the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) or their Polytechnics counterparts run their affairs where ‘sympathy’ strikes had threatened the soul and destiny of the country?

The argument of Nigerian labour movement that relocating labour laws to the concurrent list will return Nigeria to dark ages is fallacious and cannot be sustained.

Also, its argument that in United States of America, minimum wage is in both federal and state legislature but states can only set standards higher than the National Minimum Wage and not lower, only went to expose the inadequacies of current labour leaders ability to ensure implementation of minimum wage by recalcitrant states and not a matter of the law.

And providing solution to how to make the labour laws work efficiently when eventually relocated to the concurrent list, labour went back to the United States to cite how having a federal department of labour as a sole regulator of labour standards and issues in Nigeria can help.

Even the Article 37 of the Russian Federation which labour quoted copiously, states inter alia: “that each citizen has the right to work in an environment that meets occupational safety and health requirements, to remuneration for work that is paid without any discrimination at a rate that is not less than the minimum

established by the Federal Government and to be protected from unemployment”, is not premised on location of labour laws in the exclusive list.

A labour leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said labour issues have long been decentralized in the oil and gas sector as both PENGASSAN and NUPENG refrain from embarking on solidarity strike.

His words: “In fact, I don’t know the thrust of this argument. In the oil and gas sector, NUPENG or PENGASSAN does not go on sympathy strike when there is strike in one branch. For instance, NUPENG members working in Shell cannot go on strike because workers in Total are on strike. Why should a university owned by a state government and hired staff for the institution will go on strike over matters that concerned federal university? It is only in Nigeria in the whole world that such can happen.

For me, relocating laws is not the issue here, what is the issue is to ensure that workers meet their obligation and respect terms of engagement with their employers. What labour should pre-occupy themselves with is to ensure the establishment of a body that can ensure the states and local government councils implement minimum wage law and see that workers are not dismissed indiscriminately and that those who lose their jobs have some kind of stipends to survive on until they are able to secure another job. That is what is done in the advanced countries that Nigerian labour continually make reference to. Labour should concentrate their energies on state governments that have refused to implement minimum wage. The ideal thing is that no state should pay less than the Federal Government. To achieve this, labour must mount a sustained pressure through well-coordinated strikes to ensure such state is brought to its kneel until it pays. But what do we see? We see labour leaders who are not ready to sacrifice but embark on newspapers advocacy to call for implementation of national minimum wage.”

But Victor Attah accused labour for championing selfish interests of its members to the detriment of the nation and did not hide his desire to have his pound of flesh on labour for having it rough with the move-

ment when he was governor.

He accused labour of using the instrumentality of strike actions to shut down the running of the country without consideration for far-reaching economic implications on the wider segments of the society.

He recounted his experience while governing Akwa Ibom state where he provided everything after establishing a university in the state and empowered it with the best of facilities and reward profile, only to have it shut down on the ground of ‘sympathy strike’ by labour.

Some members of the committee also buttressed the chairman’s position adding that it is imperative for state governments to contribute to labour issues.

Some said that a situation where labour leaders shut down the country, and even affecting private businesses over wage issues which are meant to benefit only federal government workers, was no longer acceptable.

Interestingly, a delegate from the academia, Prof Nsongurua Udombana questioned why ASUU would go on strike, shutting down all universities, even when the disparity between state and federal universities are clear.

The committee may have won the first round; the next point of call for more debates and fireworks over the issue is at plenary session where the final position would be taken.

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State govts, others may face trial PENGASSAN threatens strike over new over non-compliance with federal salary system character principles C

By Yetunde Ebosele

From Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu, Benin City HE Federal T Commission threatened to

Character (FCC) has prosecute state governments, local governments councils, government ministries, departments and agencies that fail to use the Commission’s guidelines for employment.

It also insisted that despite opposition in some quarters, the Commission promotes excellence to ensure fair share of employments, admissions into schools and other of its activities.

In a chat with journalists in Benin City recently, the member representing Edo State in the Commission, Ifaluyi Isibor said the commission would have no choice but to prosecute all those that fail to make their book open to the Commission.

He said the commission was established by an Act and would not sacrifice merit on the alter of sentiments in filling employment vacancies in public sectors.”If you remember the Oronsaye committee report, he even suggested that the commission should be scrapped but when the white paper came out the Federal Government said it should continue because if it is allowed to function it would guarantee loyalty across the country”.

He added: “The issue you would have asked me is that perhaps it might enable too

many people to be employed in the civil service and you know we don’t have that vacancy that can take 90 per cent of Nigerians in the Civil service. It is not possible.

“What we are concerned about is equity and fairness.

The 36 states and the federal capital must be represented and no state should have less than 2.5 per cent and no state should have more than 3 per cent and when you look at the analysis of the nominal role of agencies and we discover that some states are

having more than 4 and 5 per cent, then such state are over represented and when there is going to be subsequent employment into that sector, we would ensure that nobody will be employed in such state, so we don’t sacrifice merit”.

He further explained that his visit to Governor Adams Oshiomhole was to officially inform him of the agency’s presence in the state and to seek for his cooperation towards achieving it goals and objectives.

ITING alleged plans by the Federal Government to stop the salaries of its members in government agencies, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has threatened to mobilize for strike.

The union explained that it has resolved to mobilize for the strike irrespective of the recent agreement with the Federal Government.

PENGASSAN had on May 12, 2014 after a stakeholders meeting convened at the instance of the Minister of Labour and Productivity,

Yuguda lauds police commissioner’s performance From Ali Garba, Bauchi OVERNOR Isa Yuguda of Bauchi state has commended the out-going Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Ladan for his contributions to the fight against crimes in the state.

Speaking at a send-forth ceremony in honour of the police commissioner who is due for retirement, Yuguda said: “I’m the greater beneficiary of Ladan’s commitment to duty because his commitment to duty made my job of protecting lives and property of people of Bauchi state easier which was the covenant I entered with my God. I’m short of words to appreciate him for making it possible for me to fulfill my covenant with God”.

He added: “the benefit of serving in different part of the

G

country is that you will make friends and anytime you travel to those states you served, your friends there will host y o u . ” According to Yuguda, for the past two years, the Commissioner of Police worked with him closely, adding that for the first time he saw a police officer who was loyal, committed and dedicated to his job.

The Assistant Inspector General (AIG) in charge of Zone 12, Mohammed Jiya Gana Bauchi described Ladan as a trusted, gallant, disciplined, team leader, loyal, dedicated, loyal and committed officer.

The acting Commissioner, Jimoh Ozi-Obeh assured the people of Bauchi state of safety, saying he was prepared well enough to step into the shoes of his boss.

The Commander of Mobile Police and Police Public Relations Officer, Chris Eza and Haruna Mohammed said the out-going Commissioner of Police and the incumbent have been working together, pointing out that the new CP is an experienced Police officer who has the expertise to sustain and even improve the security situation of the state.

Responding the out-going CP said “I crave the indulgence of each and every officer whom I have offended in one way or the other in the course of discharging my duties to forgive me”.

He continued, “As for me, I have since forgiven you in the spirit of brotherhood, because there is an adage which says ‘to err is human but to forgive is divine’. I remained ever grateful”.

Emeka Wogu reached an agreement with the government to suspend all strike and other labour actions.

According to the union, the government, through the Office of Head of Service of the Federation and the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) is allegedly bent on carrying out its threat to stop the salaries of workers in agencies in the oil and gas industry if their organization fail to enroll into the Integrated Personnel Payroll System (IPPIS).

In a statement, the union alleged that the government had issued a memo to their managements restating its threat to stop their salaries.

The statement identified the agencies as the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Nigeria Content Development Board, Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) and Petroleum Training Institute (PTI).

According to the union, recourse to industrial action “was a rider based on the fears expressed by the inhouse branch unions leaders to the reconciliatory meeting with stakeholders at the instance of the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu”.

The statement issued by PENGASSAN’s information officer, Babatunde Oke noted that in spite of its protest letters to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) against their enrolment into the IPPIS as a result of non-con-

sideration of the peculiar situation in the petroleum industry, “the OAGF still went ahead to issue an ultimatum to the agencies threatening to stop workers’ salaries”.

Oke added:“In a letter dated April 22, 2014, PENGASSAN sought the intervention of the Minister over some issues of concerns.

“At a meeting that lasted over eight hours, the union threatened to shut down all oil and gas installations in the country if the controversial payroll system was implemented in the oil and gas industry, arguing that the introduction of the IPPIS Scheme would compromise effectiveness and efficiency in the system.

“The oil and gas industry thrives on performance evaluation and therefore introducing a system that is not based on actual and deliverables should be discouraged in a very sensitive industry as the oil and Gas. “The minister called on the Department of IPPIS in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to engage the concerned agencies to identify and resolve the associated challenges, saying that once the process is on, workers’ salaries will not be stopped.

“The union however warned that should the Head of Service of the Federation (OHSF) make good his threat to stop salaries of Staff in the Petroleum Sector by end of May 2014, PENGASSAN would mobilise its members to shut down all oil and gas installations and facilities across the nation without further notice”.

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NASU seeks adequate funding of research institutions From Collins Olayinka, Abuja HE aim of using research T institutions as the base for economic development may not be met if government continues to starve the institutions the needed funds for research purposes, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) has warned.

In a resolution adopted at the end of its regular meeting held in Rubber Research Institute Of Nigeria, Iyanomo, Benin City, Edo State, the Research and projects Trade Group Council of NASU, said the unions was worried by the insensitivity of government to the smooth running of research and allied institutions across the country.

The resolution, which was signed by Deputy President/Chairman of the Council, Wakili Tijani and Senior Deputy General Secretary, Emma Okonkwor, urged government to devise a steady means of ensuring an increased flow of resources to the sector for the realization of the aims of setting them up The unions stated that indeed part of the agreement it reached with government was the need to increase funding of research institutions, saying, “the Council-in-Session therefore urged the Federal Government to implement the portion of the Agreement it had with the Unions, on the need to increase the annual budgetary allocations to the sector in line with the recommendations of UNESCO and approve a Special Intervention Fund, for a period of three years on a 50:30:20 ratio annually like it did for the Universities as well as create a Special Fund to be called National Research and Technology Development Fund (NRTDF).”

While expressing its happiness with the progress recorded so far on the grey areas in the agreement between the Federal Government and the unions in the research and allied institutions, the union called on government to pay the 12 months arrears of CON-

RAIS once and not to fragment the payment.

It lauded the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, the Ministers of Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Chukwuemeka Wogu and his Agriculture counterpart, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina for their efforts in bringing seeming peace to the research and allied institutions.

The Council while commending these government officials also passed a vote of implicit confidence on the leadership of NASU, SSAUTHRIAI and ASURI for providing leadership in getting government to settle the grey areas in the agreement.

On the implementation of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) as it affect NASU, the Council noted that virtually all its branches have keyed into it, reviewed the system and observed that it has inflicted more pains on its membership and the union.

It stressed: “Regrettably, it noted that the branches that have keyed into the system have suffered severally as Union dues, staff cooperatives and other welfare deductions are not made and where they are deducted it is not paid. This could be viewed as a way of stifling the union of fund so as to render her ineffective in delivering services to her members.

The Council-in-Session condemned the system in its entirety and therefore called on government to as a matter of urgency redress the situation to correct this abnormality if they do not want to encounter the wrath of the union.”

The Council-in-Session also expressed concerns over the dilapidated nature of the Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria (RRIN), Iyanomo.

The union described the Institution as one of the nation’s Research Institute’s, which plays prominent role in the development of the nation and therefore called on President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to as a matter of urgency, come to the aid of the Institute.

Be good ambassadors, DG charges technical aids corps From Terhemba Daka, Abuja HE new Director-General of T the Technical Aids Corps (TAC), Dr. Pius Osunyikanmi has charged volunteers seconded to the Republic of Uganda to correct any misconception about Nigeria in their country of primary assignment.

Osunyikanmi spoke in Abuja at a fare-well ceremony organized to send forth the first batch of seven volunteers out of about seventy selected to serve as lecturers in the Islamic University of Uganda.

According to him;“As you go out there, may I charge you to be good ambassadors of Nigeria, you are volunteers selected on merit and you must be volunteers for and of merit. As you go about there, you must do Nigeria proud.

You must carry the banner of Nigeria, must be able to sell Nigeria, project the image of Nigeria, and must be able if any to reverse the misconception that is held about Nigeria. Anywhere you go in the Republic of Uganda, you will be carrying the image of Nigeria. We expect very good conduct from you, excellence from you and also expect that you will comply with all the terms of your engagement.

“As you know, this is a volunteer job, it is not the emolument that is of interest to you

but the zeal to offer service to needy countries and the need to key into the federal government policy. It is almost in a way, another form of national service and I must commend you for Offering yourself for this service. Let me place on record, that the directorate will not hesitate to apply the big stick where there are cases of departure from acceptable standard of conduct. This was made clear to you at the orientation exercise and you have signed up to a commitment of good conduct”.

The DG who said he encountered sundry challenges including rot in the agencies upon assuming office told participants that “On our part, we will be concerned with your welfare, from your allowances to your day to day activities and would from time to time interact with you, our officials will visit you to listen to your problems, encourage you, commend you when you are making giant strides.

You must know the Republic of Uganda places high hopes on you. You are like part of the hope for future development.

You must strive to live or even surpass that expectation and by the grace of God at the completion of your course we should be able to award you certificates of honour”.

The union also raised the alarm over the increasing corrupt practices that have continue to permeate the country.

It noted the helplessness juncture Nigeria has found itself in the fight against corruption and declared that corruption is a cankerworm that may destroy the country if not swiftly tamed.

“The Council-In-Session noted with pain, that the nation’s inability to tame the “monster” called corruption over the years, has caused untold hardship, national and international embarrassment to all and can be seen as the actual cause of the country’s calamities today, which has brought us to our knees.

“The Council imagined that if there is no such loss to a country like ours, where Nigerians suffer the burden of energy scarcity; electricity supply is scandalous, hospitals are in bad shape, public schools are an embarrassment and the roads are still death traps; the nation would have been a far better place to live in. It there-

fore advocated total support for the ongoing national confab position that capital punishment be meted out to corrupt public officials as being done in China today, where corrupt persons are publicly hanged. “We can do the same,” the said.

Ohiwerei foundation appoints board of trustees

By Toyin Olasinde HE Felix Ohiwerei T Foundation has appointed an eight man Board of Trustees to

pilot its affairs.

The board, according to a statement is made up of seasoned businessmen, academics and corporate executives.

Chairman of the foundation is Lawrence Agose with Fidelis Ayebae as Vice-Chairman.

Other Trustees of the Foundation are Emmanuel Imoagene, Prof. Emmanuel

Emenyonu, Engr. Greg Ojieh, and Yusuf Ageni, Ohiosimuan Ohiwerei and. Idode Ohiwerei, who is the General Secretary.

Addressing the Trustees at its inaugural meeting, according to the statement, Felix Ohiwerei expressed his happiness with the calibre of members of the Board of Trustees.’’

I’m quite confident the Trustees would ensure the Foundation takes off successfully and execute the agreed programmes, drawing from its aims and objectives’’.

He said: ‘’I have no doubt that the Board as constituted would be judicious in the application of the funds raised from different individuals, corporate bodies and Foundation Partners.’’

He added.

Already the Board of Trustees has identified three key areas the Foundation would focus on as the Promotion of Management Training and Leadership Development; the Award of Scholarships to deserving students in secondary and tertiary institutions

and the Promotion and sponsorship of humanitarian, charitable and philanthropic activities in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the Foundation has commenced work and in the words of its Chairman, Lawrence Agose, ‘’the Felix Ohiwerei Foundation would collaborate with like- minded individuals and organisations to realise its mandate and in the process make significant contribution to the socio-economic development of Nigeria’’.

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MWUN alerts security agencies on alleged plot to disrupt ports’ operations

By Yetunde Ebosele ORKERS under the aegis of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN)

W

have alerted the Federal Government and security agencies of alleged plans by some individuals to disrupt

Society of engineers bestows fellowship on 13 members From Collins Olayinka, Abuja HE Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has awarded its prestigious fellowship on 13 distinguished Engineers.

Conferring the award on the members in Abuja during the 2014 first quarter dinner of the Society, the President of NSE, Ademola Olorunfemi, described the Fellowship as the highest award of NSE that is bestowed on Engineers who have distinguished themselves in their chosen profession.

He added: “Fellowship of the Nigerian Society of Engineers is the highest honour bestowed by the Society on members within its fold who have been found worthy of such honour in learning, practice and contribution to the growth of the noble profession of engineering, as well as to the development of his immediate environment and the nation in genera l . ” He expressed his desires to see the new conferees to join the league of elitist professionals in delivering value services to the development of the country.

He therefore charged the awardees to see their induction as a wake-up call and tonic to galvanize and increase their interest and contribution to the growth and development of the engineering profession and the nation in general.

“The conferment must not be seen as an end in itself but an opportunity to be of greater service to the Nigerian Society of Engineers; supporting its projects and programmes and lending voice and muscle to any of its quests wherever possible. I therefore charge you to see yourselves as worthy ambassa-

T

dors of NSE, especially at this time in our history when we are on a threshold of self-discovery,” he stated.

The NSE boss stressed that in line with the current tone of partnership building as a veritable tool for development, the Society has taken keen interest in strengthening its collaboration with government, private and international agencies.

He stated that the NSE fully supports steps geared towards the realization of self-reliance and Nigeria’s quick transition into manufacturing and exporting nation.

He said: “The Nigerian Engineers believe that we must in one way or the other play significant roles to help the government achieve this feat. In this regard, we have moved to contribute to the recently launched National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP). The Nigerian Society of Engineers has established partnership with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) on this all-important national assignment. We are working together to see to the success of this programme in order to make SMEs in the country functional and viable.”

He hinted that the arrangements for the hosting of the World Federation of Engineering Organization (WFEO) summit scheduled for Abuja between 2nd and 7th November are on course.

Olorunfemi highlighted that the NSE is expecting international Engineers from over 50 countries with an estimated 10,000 visitors to grace the summit.

operations at the nation’s ports nationwide.

According to a statement issued by MWUN, some individuals are allegedly circulating false information and recruiting disengaged Dockworkers and “miscreants” with the aim of using them to foment trouble.

The statement alleged that the individuals are alleging that terminal operators had been owing each of the disengaged and current dockworker from 2008 till date N3,639, 560.00 “based on a purported agreement with organized labour that Dockworkers would be paid from N33.000 monthly whether they worked or not with a 10 percent increment every year”..

President-General of MWUN, Nted Anthony Emmanuel, in the statement claimed that investigation revealed that the plot which allegedly started in Port Harcourt, Rivers State had spread across all the port formations in the country.

According to them, the terminal operators owe each Dockworker N3, 639,560.00. We are saying this is complete false and has no basis. We are calling on security agencies to arrest anyone caught circulating this falsehood to avoid unprecedented crisis in the ports Nted explained that on April 19, 2014, the recruited miscreants attempted to prevent registered dockworkers and employees at Apapa bus-in and Bus-out from going into the ports to work until a combine team of security agencies and labour leaders were able to dislodged them.

He added: “We now have it on good authority that they have been re-grouping and plotting to invade the ports nationwide to cause maximum damage to human lives and terminal operators facilit i e s .

“In fact, the plot according to our findings is to completely

cripple ports operations and kill any one that stands on their way. They have been circulating inciting false information that according to agreement between the terminal operators and MWUN in 2008, the minimum wage for Dockworkers is N33.000 with 10 percent increment every year whether the Dockworker works or not.

“From their calculation, from June 1, 2008 to May 31, 2009, each Dockworker is entitled to N33, 000 making N396, 000.00. From June 1, 2009 to May 31, 2010, minimum wage for a Dockworker with 10 percent increment per year is

N39, 600, making N435, 600.00 for a year. From June 1, 2010 to May 31, 2011, minimum wage for a Dockworker with 10 percent increment is N43, 560.00 making it N522,720.00.

From June 1 2011 to May 31, 2012, the minimum wage for Dockworker with 10 percent, increment is N52, 272, making it N627264.00. From June 1, 2012 to May 31 2013, minimum wage for a Dockworker with 10 percent increment is N62,726,40, making it N752,716.80. From June 1, 2013 to May 31, 2014, the minimum wage for a Dockworker is N75, 271.68, making it N903, 2 6 0 .

0 0 .

“According to them, the terminal operators owe each Dockworker N3, 639,560.00.

We are saying this is complete false and has no basis. We are calling on security agencies to arrest anyone caught circulating this falsehood to avoid unprecedented crisis in the ports”.

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Labour Govt moves to halt workers’ industrial action From Collins Olayinka, Abuja ITH some unions threatW ening to embark on industrial action as a result of non-implementation of agreements by government, the Ministry of labour and productivity has engaged unions in the health and oil and gas with a view to stopping the impending strike action.

The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chukwuemeka Wogu, who initiated the move, said most of the perceived inaction of government was misconceived by the unions hence the need to put the issues in perspective during the meetings.

Operating under the auspices of Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), health workers has via a letter dated May 2, 2014 addressed to the Minister of Health and copied to the Minister of Labour and Productivity, gave an ultimatum of 15 days within which government had to implemented an agreement reached with them or risk industrial action.

The issues in dispute enumerated by JOHESU in its letter under reference are as follows: lopsidedness and unlawful constitution of Boards of Management of various tertiary health institutions, non – invitation of some appointed members of JOHESU to the Board meetings, and outright exclusion of NASU in any of the Boards; increase in retirement age of health workers from 60 to 65 years; promotion of officers from CONHESS 14 to 15 as directors; circularization of proper placement of Intern medical laboratory scientists on CONHESS 8; implementation of Skipping of CONHESS 10 and payment of its accrued arrears; issuance of appropriate Circular on Consultancy for other Health Professionals; issuance of circular and payment of specialist allowance to deserving officers; abolition of the post of Deputy CMAC; adjustment of Collective Bargaining Agreement of 2009 as it was done for NMA in the same sector in January, 2014; appointment of CMDs/MDs of Teaching Hospitals in accordance with the extant laws and the need to give consideration to permanent staff of the Hospitals rather than the University based personnel; advertorial for appointment of CMDs/MDs should no longer be skewed in favour of one professional group but made open to all competent and qualified Health Professionals.

After an extensive deliberation on the issues in dispute, the meeting resolved that on the lopsidedness appointment into federal medical centres, a letter that was supposed to have been written to JOHESU was misdirected to FMC, Owo. It was therefore agreed that another letter should be written to JOHESU in that regard to authenticate the identity of Mr. G. E. Emem.

On the increase in retirement age of health workers from 60 To 65 years, the meeting decided that the ministry of health should write to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to forward the necessary documents (Onosode Report & White Paper) to the NCE 12man Committee chaired by the Delta State Head of Service

for consideration.

Promotion of Officers from CONHESS 14 to 15 as directors, implementation of skipping of CONHESS 10 and payment of its accrued arrears, it was noted that circulars were issued on these issues to the various Health Institutions for compliance. The ministry of health was mandated to monitor and report the level of compliance at the next meeting.

Concerning circularization of proper placement of intern medical laboratory scientists on CONHESS 8, the meeting resolved that a circular was issued which was not in consonance with the placement of other professionals. To this end, JOHESU is to communicate their grievances to the ministry of health for necessary action.

On issuance of appropriate circular on consultancy for other health professionals, the meeting reiterated the National Industrial Court ruling and requested ministry of health to review its circular on the subject and make necessary amendments in line with the court judgment with respect to paragraph three of the previous circular.

On the adjustment of collective bargaining agreement of 2009 as it was done for the Nigeria Medical Association in the in January, 2014, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry of health was directed to forward the staff strength of JOHESU members to the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission for further necessary action within the week of the signing of this MoU. Therefore, the meeting further concluded that all issues contained herein should be resolved and relevant circulars issued within the next two weeks following the signing of this MoU. In view of the above conclusions, the trade unions under JOHESU agreed to suspend its ultimatum to embark on an industrial action as stated in its letter cited earlier.

The next meeting was consequently fixed for June 5 2014 to re-assess the level of implementation by the government.

And in an interaction with Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASAN) in company of the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Danladi Kifasi and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Clement Illoh, Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chukwuemeka Wogu, sued for industrial peace in the oil and gas sector.

Grievances included in the PENGASSAN letter included execution of Turn Around Maintenance for the refineries, Joint Venture counterpart funding, MoU in the oil and gas sector on gas and power infrastructure projects (affecting channelling gas for energy and electrification projects), crude oil theft and pipelines vandalism, failed commitment by the Federal Government on TAM which was scheduled for the first quarter and crude oil supplies (MoU of January 7, 2014), Federal Government unguided

releases on the refineries capacity, insecurity, pipeline Sabotage and danger to lives and properties across the country, Inadequate Guidelines by the FG for divestment resulting in job losses, the IMF report in February 2014 on non-performance/contribution of the oil and gas sector to the growth of the economy, fear that the oncoming political general elections would lead to diversion of public funds to the detriment of Nigerian masses, oil and gas r e f o r m Agenda/Transformation Policies are continually put in abeyance.

Other issues comprised divestments by the IOCs to Nigerians/New Investors, Integrated Payroll & Personnel Information System (IPPIS), Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), growing spate of terrorism, bombing and abductions After extensive deliberations on the issues raised, the meeting declared the contents of the MoU signed on January 7, 2014 sacrosanct. It was explained that the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Model on selective upgrade of facilities to address operational constraints is being successfully extended to Port Harcourt refineries.

This also includes the completion of the Power Plant Project and the purchase of Long Lead items.

On counterpart Funding, it was revealed that companies

are paid based on the level of verified work programmes and any shortfall should be made up from alternative funding.

It was resolved that PENGASSAN should be invited for the next structured performance review sessions On sustainable security measure to curb the menace of oil theft, it was resolved that representatives of PENGASSAN should be invited to the next meeting of the committee on pipeline vandalization and oil theft to contribute to the issues of security in the oil and gas sector.

The parley also stressed the need for gear more effort towards evolving guidelines on labour issues emanating from divestments in the oil and gas sector and that divestment agreements should include trade union rights to organize and bargain collectively.

In view of the circular by the Head of the Civil Service of the federation to stop the salaries of some agencies currently not under IPPIS in the oil and gas sector, the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Office of Accountant General of the Federation and PENGASSAN were charged to meet and identify and resolve the associated challenges and also that while discussion is ongoing, the salaries of the oil and gas agencies should not be stopped.

In view of the success of the parley, PENGASSAN withdrew an ultimatum given to the rele-

vant stakeholders to address issues of concern to its members on or before May 15, 2014.

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Uduaghan lauds Anglican Church, deplores Boko Haram ELTA State Governor Dr. D Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan has affirmed that

Gen Paul Omu (left), wife Stella, and Hon. Joel Onowakpor, Head of Inland Revenue Board, Delta State at the occasion.

Court awards N2m against Police over illegal arrest

By Bertram Nwannekanma Federal High Court, Lagos A yesterday awarded the sum of N2 million as damages against the police, over illegal arrest and detention of three tricycle operators.

Trial judge, Justice Okon Abang awarded the sum against the respondents, jointly and severally, for illegal detention of the applicants in his judgment on the suit filed by Mr. Samson Adeotan, (Chairman, Keke Owners Riders Association of Nigeria), Oluwole Owolabi and Oluwasegun Ogundare.

In the suit filed in December 2013, the applicants are seeking an enforcement of their fundamental rights against the police.

Other respondents named in the suit are the Inspector General of Police, Commissioner of Police Special Fraud Unit, (SFU) commissioner of Police Lagos State and one Petra Microfinance Bank Ltd. The applicants had sought a declaration that their detention by officers of the third respondents, and invitations by the second respondent, over a purely civil transaction, amounted to a breach of their r i g h t s .

They had sought a mandatory order of court, restraining the respondents, or their officers, from further harassing, or threatening to arrest them, over their loan facility agreement with Petra Microfinance b a n k .

They had also, claimed the sum of N20 million against the respondents, jointly and severally, for their illegal arrest and detention.

But in the judgment, the judge also awarded a cost of N50, 000 against the respondents, jointly and severally.

He held that since the transaction between the applicant and Petra Microfinance Bank was civil in nature, the appropriate step was for the bank, to have sued for a recovery of d e b t .

The judge held that it was not the duty of the police to act as a debt collector for the bank, adding that the original duty of the police, was for the maintenance of law and o r d e r .

Boko Haram poses serious threats to the survival of the country as an indivisible entity, maintaining that even though God has been on Nigeria’s side “we should remain consistent in prayers and supplication for him to finish what he has already started.”

This was contained in Governor Uduaghan’s goodwill message to the Diocese of Oleh (Anglican Communion) at its 5th Synod holding at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Igbide, Isoko South Local Government Delta State.

Special Adviser to the Governor of Religion Affairs Rev. Godspower Agbuduta delivered the address, which noted that the Church of

Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has over the years proved to be a standard bearer in the Christian movement of the nation through its consistent support and unfettered spiritual teachings, which have paved way for its fold to imbibe sound spiritual doctrines.

Uduaghan hoped that this year’s Synod would further boost and strengthen the congregation and society at large.

He said the choice of the synod’s theme “the God whom you seek,” taken from the Biblical Book of Malachi 3:15 was no doubt instructive and appropriate, especially for the church’s efforts in offering prayers and supplication for the unity, peace and stability of Delta State and Nigeria as a whole.

Governor Uduaghan said the nation needs faithful’s prayers for the country’s leaders and the Nation. “This is indeed a trying time for us a people and it demands that all religious organization must take prayers more seriously.”

Bishop of the Diocese of Oleh, Rt. Rev. John Usiwoma Aruakpor thanked Governor Uduaghan for his goodwill message and donation to the Synod, adding that the church would continue to remember the governor and his cabinet members in prayers.

On Monday, the Synod delegates skipped breakfast and embarked on seven-day fasting as directed by the Primate Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh because of the Boko Haram insurgency in the some parts of the country.

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MarketReport EQUITY MARKET SUMMARY

AS AT 19-05-2014

PRIMERA AFRICA www.primera-africa.com

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MaRKET INDICaTORS

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PRIMERa aFRICa

Equities slide in bearish trading

By Bukky Olajide

HE equities market closed T yesterday on a negative note, as NSE aSI depreciated by -0.03 per cent to close at 39,007.40 basis points, compared with the appreciation of 0.16 per cent recorded previously. Its Year-to-Date (YTD) returns currently stands at 5.62 per cent.

Market breadth closed negative as Ikeja Hotel leads 23 gainers against 26 losers topped by Nascon at the end of today’s session- an unimproved performance when compared with previous outlook.

Market turnover closes negative as volume traded depreciated by -53.37 per cent against 52.01per cent upbeat recorded in previous session. access, Zenithbank, and FBNH were the most active to boost market turnover. Zenithbank and access top market value list.

For sectoral indices, food records 0.43 per cent to emerge the most supportive sectoral performance among others while NSE Insurance is the most hit with 0.79 per cent loss recorded today.

For corporate earnings, afripaints, in its first quarter of 2014 earnings report, records negative growth of 56.8 per cent in its Revenue with negative growth of 70.7 per cent in its bottom-line.

Prestige leads the list of active stocks that record impressive volume spike at the end of today’s session.

Offshore investors were net sellers of stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), in the first quarter of 2014, even as their share of total transactions averaged 65.11 percent in the period, compared with 34.89 percent for domestic investors.

Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI’s), sold N229.09

billion worth of stocks between January and March 2014, compared to N127.41 billion worth of inflows from FPI’s.

February 2014 saw the highest level of outflows worth N103.5 billion, compared with N32.75 billion of inflows.

FPI transactions which accounted for 49.28 percent at the beginning of the year, increased significantly to 78.25 percent at the end of March 2014.

In contrast, domestic transactions decreased significantly from 50.72 percent to 21.75 percent over the same period.

This represents an overall decrease of 8.31 percent in total transactions, according to the NSE, broken down into a 50.42 percent increase in FPI transactions and a 60.68 percent decrease in domestic transactions.

In comparison to the same period in 2013, there was a significant increase in total FPI by 62.90 percent, whilst the total domestic transactions reduced by 49.43 percent.

Meanwhile, Over The Counter [OTC] witnessed sustained intraday volatility as prices moved up and down in reaction to the activities of the week. Prior to the midweek auction traders were seen taking advantages of the month long bullish trend by taking profit.

The market witnessed a reversal soon after the results of the auction was announced as traders try to readjust to the marginal rate levels. We could recall that the market has witnessed a sustained bullish trend in the past few weeks as a result of renewed interest from investors. If the current trend is sustained into the week ahead, we anticipate the upward trend as witnessed will continue.

Shareholders of Consolidated Breweries endorse N1.85k dividend

By Helen Oji

of ShaveHaREHOLDERS Consolidated Breweries Plc unanimously approved the firm’s N1.85 kobo dividend, saying the merger arrangement with Nigeria Breweries would enhance performance.

The shareholders, who lauded the management for consistently paying dividend over the years, also urged them not to rest on their oars.

They also commended the company’s decision to discuss its merger arrangement with the Nigeria Breweries Plc, saying this would facilitate growth and profitability.

They also expressed apprehension of being shortchanged on the value of their shares in the merger process.

The Chairman of the company, Prof. Oyin Odutola-Olurin, who read the recommendation, during the company’s 34th yearly general meeting, held in Lagos also disclosed that the company’s revenue increased from N33.5 billion to N33.9 billion.

She described 2013 as a truly eventful year, saying the company achieved several milestones in its journey towards greatness.

Such achievements, accord-

ing to her, include the expansion of the company’s production capacity, the successful merger of Benue Breweries Limited and DIL/Maltex (Nigeria) Plc, the introduction of a new ERP system, as well as the introduction of a new bottle for “33” and a variant of Malt drink, the Hi-Malt Choco Twist.

She pointed out that the company has concluded plans to use gas to power some of the equipment at the Ijebu Ode Brewery, in an effort to drive down costs, while assuring them that management would do everything possible to protect the interests of shareholders in the planned merger.

The Managing Director of the company, Boudewijn Haarsma noted that brewing a better future, Heineken’s longterm sustainability strategy has been integrated by Consolidated Breweries. “We aim to create genuine shared value for all our stakeholders as sustainability is part of how we manage our business”, he said.

It will be recalled that managements of both companies, had in a statement, on Monday announced plan to merge both entities for better performance.

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Law

Quote of the week Substantive and procedural law benefits and protects landlords over tenants, creditors over debtors, lenders over borrowers, and the poor are seldom among the favored parties.

John Turner

What Nigeria can learn from South African labour laws, by Boraine André Boraine, a Professor of Procedural Law and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, whose thesis for the title of LLD was “The doctrine of voidable transactions in the South African insolvency law”, was in Nigeria recently as a keynote speaker at the 2014 PUNUKA Attorney & Solicitors lecture held in Lagos with the theme: “Employee and Pension claims in insolvency and restructuring”, where various issues pertaining to labour and employnment laws were discussed.

However, in this encounter with BERTRAM NWANNEKANMA through electronic-mail, Boraine provides the recipe for Nigeria’s labour problems.

INTERVIEW SKED what he considers as major effects of A insolvency and organisational restructuring on employees, the astute law teacher said the legal framework of a particular jurisdiction would determine legal positions in relation to retrenchments and claims for wages.

According to him, some employees may lose their employment since the payroll is usually one of the first aspects to be considered in a restructuring, but the claims for wages and benefits in incidence of retrenchement would be determined by the legal framework of the particular jurisdiction.

The particular system, he said, would also determine to what extent employees may participate in the restructuring process and there may be provision for employee committees as well.

“In South Africa, employees are elevated to an improved position on a restructuring as they would be dealt with in terms of a controlled retrenchment plan regulated by South Africa’s extensive labour legislation as opposed to the suspension or termination of employment contracts in a liquidation.

“Their claims for post-commencement unpaid remuneration and wages are also dealt with as a super preference, putting them in a better position under rescue than would have been the case under liquidation. Therefore, in South Africa, employees would be in a better situation in the case of restructuring compared to their position in terms of liquidation where they will usually all lose their employment.

On the place of employees in any restructuring policy, Boraine said employees should be the major considering factor, particularly to determine if employees in the firm are redundant or if there are too many employees. Large, expensive, and sometimes, an unnecessary workforce, will constitute a drain on cash flow and on overheads.

“More often than not, restructurings involve the dismissal of redundant employees and the replacement of them with a more streamlined workforce and perhaps even computerised systems or equipment. A consideration of their position during a restructuring is therefore more often than not pivotal. But as indicated in para 1 above, their rights and general legal position will depend on the particular legal framework.

(Section 136(1) of the South African Companies Act of 2008 provides as follows: Despite any provision of an agreement to the contrary (a) during a company’s business rescue proceedings, employees of the company immediately before the beginning of those proceedings continue to be so employed on the same terms and conditions, except to the extent that(i) changes occur in the ordinary course of attrition; or (ii) the employees and the company, in accordance with applicable labour laws, agree different terms and conditions; and (b) any retrenchment of any such employees contemplated in the company’s business rescue plan is subject to section 189 and 189A of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act No. 66 of 1995), and other applicable employment related legislation.)

Sometimes though employees play a vital role in a turnaround of a company experiencing financial problems. Not only does the

employee have a job to ‘save’ looking at the bigger scheme of things when the company is saved, they also have the expertise to enable the company to make a possible turn around.

On lessons Nigeria can learn from South Africa, he said: “The labour movement in South Africa played a significant role in law reform in relation to the improvement of the position of employees in insolvency and rescue. “This was a direct result of the reform of the South African labour laws that followed the embracement of a new democratic constitutional dispensation – a dispensation grounded on a bill of rights that acknowledged fair labour practices as a basic right. But although progress has been made, South Africa, has also not adopted a wage guarantee fund for instance, and pension contributions subtracted or due by an insolvent employer still enjoys only limited protection.

According to him, “the South African democratic constitution provides for fair labour practices as a basic right and as a result of this our labour laws were completely overhauled.

“The result of this overhaul was that, in relation to liquidation of insolvent companies, contracts of employment were no longer terminated but rather suspended in liquidation procedures with the view of rescuing the business. “Employees became entitled to be informed of liquidation procedures and their position in relation to wages and other benefits in arrears in liquidation were improved by means of the ranking of their preferential claims in insolvency.

“As far as rescue is concerned, South Africa moved from a dispensation where the former rescue procedure, ie, judicial management was deemed to be dysfunctional, to a dispensation where we have, fairly recently, embraced a modern and pro-employee business rescue regime in Chapter six of the Companies Act of 2008.

The manner in which employees are now dealt with in terms of the business rescue process in the Companies Act of 2008 sets a good example for best practice.

South African business rescue system is focused on the retention of employees in a financially distressed situation and where job retention is paramount.

They also enjoy a super-preference in relation to post commencement claims for wages etc and may participate in the process by means of employees’ committees. In rescue their contracts of employment may not be suspended and any retrenchment must be dealt with in terms of the Labour Relations Act of 1995.

Employees are also regarded as one of the “affected parties,” which enable them to apply for a companies’ compulsory business rescue.

“They acquire this right both with regard to a collective unit where a registered trade union can apply for rescue by means of a court order, as well as individually where they can apply to court for the commencement of rescue proceedings in the company. Their position is further strengthened as they acquire specific rights in their capacity as employees, and often, where they are owed money by the company, they are also recognised as creditors of the company and as such they acquire addi-

tional rights, especially voting rights on creditor meetings deciding on the business rescue plan.

Asked to identify the roles of organized labour in corporate restructuring and insolvency with regards to employees’ benefits, Boraine, said in terms of rescue, organ- Boraine ised labourtrade unions can play the role of instigating and launching business rescue proceedings in respect of companies that may be facing liquidation in an effort to attempt to prevent the loss of jobs.

“They attend employee meetings, get involved and have more of a presence in the business rescue process so as to assist in the effective and efficient and restructure of that companies’ workforce. The outcome should be to structure benefits for employees who are dismissed or retained, as the case may be.

The lawyer teacher also said where an employee committee is formed such committee may may consult with the practitioner about any matter relating to the business rescue proceedings, but may not direct or instruct the practitioner; Also the committee may, on behalf of the employees, respectively, receive and consider reports relating to the business rescue proceedings; and must act independently of the practitioner to ensure fair and unbiased representation of employees’ interests.

“Employees are deemed to be affected persons in terms of the new rescue procedure.

During the business rescue proceedings of a company, any employee of the company who is represented by a registered trade union may exercise his/ her rights under Chapter 6 collectively through a trade union and in accordance with the prevailing labour law. If any of the employees are not represented by a registered trade union, they may elect to exercise their rights under Chapter 6 either directly or by proxy through an employee organisation or representative.

The Companies Act of 2008 provides that, to the extent that any employment-related amounts (for the period prior to the commencement of the business rescue proceedings) are owing to an employee of the company, the employee is a “preferred unse-

So, when looking at Nigeria, and if the information at my disposal is still up to date, it seems there is, at least, limited protection when the company fails. It, however, does not provide something like a wage guarantee fund and it seems there is limited protection in relation to pension claims.

cured creditor” of the company for the purposes of the business rescue procedure.

Regarding the business rescue plan in general, employees have the right to be consulted by the rescue practitioner during the development of the business rescue plan, and must be afforded sufficient opportunity to review any such plan and prepare a submission.

Although employees do not have the right to vote on a business rescue plan in their capacity as employees, at the meeting held to determine the future of the company, employees have the right to be present and to make a submission to the meeting of the holders of voting interests prior to a vote being taken on any proposed business rescue plan.

“To the extent that employees are also creditors of the company, they are entitled to vote with creditors on a motion to approve a business rescue plan. If a proposed business rescue plan is rejected, employees (through a registered trade union or individually) who are also creditors have a further right to propose the development of an alternative plan, or to present an offer to acquire the interests of any or all of the other affected persons so that the proposed plan can be adopted.

In so far as any remuneration, reimbursement for expenses or other amount of money relating to employment becomes due and payable by a company to an employee during the company’s business rescue proceedings, but is not paid to the employee the money is regarded to be post-commencement financing, and enjoys a super-preference ranking directly after the claims of the business rescue practitioner.

Generally, organised labour may exercise their statutory rights in the process but will have little influence beyond the Act in relation to employees’ benefits.

“So when looking at Nigeria, and if the information at my disposal is still up to date, it seems there is at least limited protection when the company fails. “ It, however, does not provide something like a wage guarantee fund and it seems there is limited protection in relation to pension claims.

“To what extent reform is required, if any, should thus be considered by taking all factors relevant to that jurisdiction into consideration”, He added.

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LawPeople

“A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion.

Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.Aristotle

‘Why NJC should not be headed by CJN’ PROFILE

By Yetunde Ayobami Ojo S the last hope of the common man, the A judiciary is expected to dispense justice in such a manner as not to lose the confidence of the people.

For many Nigerians living in a country where impunity reigns, the judiciary is expected to live up to this maxim. The institution is expected to be insulated from politics and corruption and it is for this reason that the Nigerian Judiciary Council (NJC) was established.

But the once -cherished institution recently came into public ridicule over the manner the case between a former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu and a former President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Ayo Isa Salami was treated. In that case, the two top judicial officers were rutted against each other to the chagrin of the Nigerian public.

However, to avert a reoccurrence of such an ugly scenario, renowned constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Tayo Oyetibo, is calling for the separation of the Office of Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) from the National Judicial Council (NJC), saying it has become very necessary in view of the recent development.

He said: “I subscribe to the view that the occupier of the office of the CJN should not be the chairman of the NJC. The reason is so simple and straight forward, the NJC exercises disciplinary jurisdiction over judges. The Chief Judge of Nigeria is a judge so to speak. So, if the council is to discipline judges, why then is somebody who is amenable to disciplinary jurisdiction of a council be the one to head the council.

That to me, violates the natural justice. So, there is no reason why a retired Supreme Court justice of Nigeria or a retired president of Court of Appeal should preside. It may not be even be a judge, it could be somebody of impeccable character that could be the chairman but definitely, it is high time the two offices were separated. We actually had experience recently when there was a problem with the office of CJN. There was an allegation against the occupier of the office and it is the council that would sit to determine the veracity or otherwise, of the allegation. How do you expect to have independence of the council in such a situation? But if you have a separate person as the chairman of the council, he will be in position to look at the allegations objectively but you do not expect the member of the council to find its own chairman guilty in such a situation. So I think it is necessary, as it was an oversight at the time the constitution was drafted. Now that there an opportunity to amend the constitution, it is necessary to amend that provision of the constitution to separate the two offices,” he added.

Asked his views on the recent directive by the Chief Justice of Nigeria to Judges to deliver, at least, three judgments in a year, the consummate lawyer, said three judgments per year was rather too small, because the objective is to ensure that judges are up and doing.

“There is no reason why judges should not deliver a minimum of three judgments in a year. So, that is a minimum and any judge that fails to meet up with that requirement is not fit to be on the Bench.

On the allegation that lawyers file frivolous applications to delay cases, the prolific writer and a highly sought-after speaker, said: “You see, a lawyer can file any application, it is the duty of the judge to ensure that he or she is in absolute control of his or her court. It is the prerogative duty of lawyer to file an application. It is the

body can do. In my own opinion, it is the National Assembly that have the final say on what will happen to the deliberations of National conference,” he added.

Oyetibo, the founder and Chief Counsel of Tayo Oyetibo & Co is a consummate advocate, reputed for his integrity and professional skills in the area of dispute resolution, particularly litigation and arbitration. He was conferred with the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 2003.

He has a wealth of experience in dealing with Nigerians sitting together to discuss the complex litigations and most of the cases hanfuture of this country. Indeed, there is need dled by him are regularly reported in notable to do so but the present national conference law reports in Nigeria. He regularly advises on can only go as far as National Assembly a broad range of high profile commercial wants it to go. Another way of putting that transactions. He has been described in respect statement is that, the deliberations and deci- of an extradition proceeding as a skillful advosions of the National Conference could only cate with great capacity to make a success of achieve as much as the National Assembly an otherwise hopeless situation. wishes it to achieve. Why have I said that? “If In The Legal 500, he is described as: “Very intelliyou look at the present legal regime, it is the gent and his knowledge base is vast – he works National Assembly and the Houses of through complicated cases, making them look Assembly of the states of the federation that quite simple” have powers to amend the constitution.

In the area of constitutional law, he was a There is no provision for a national confermember of a team of consultants to the ence. But, there is nothing wrong from havNational Assembly of Nigeria, appointed by ing national conference. Once a national con- the United Nations Development Programme ference has been held and decisions have (UNDP) for the First and Second Amendments been read, you now pass it over to National to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Assembly. You would see that the job has just Nigeria 1999, which were carried out in the begun. year 2010.

“So, if the National Assembly wants to support what has been decided in the national conference, it will allow it to move further. If they want to kill it, that is the end and there is nothing any-

If the council is to discipline judges, why then is somebody who is amenable to disciplinary jurisdiction of a council be the one to head the council, that to me, violates the natural justice. So, there is no reason why a retired Supreme Court justice of Nigeria or a retired president of Court of Appeal should preside. It may not be even be a judge, anybody of impeccable character could be chairman. But definitely, it is high time the two offices were separated. duty of the judge to determine it as quickly as possible. Many of the applications that take time are the application that could be disposed of summarily, through Bench ruling.

“Although, I will concede that the structures are not on ground for judges to work efficiently. For example, if the recording system is effective in every court, what the judge needs to do is to listen to argument and then, give a Bench ruling. When the argument is taken, she does not need to rise. For an experienced judge, there are so many applications that you don’t have to rise to determine.

However, the system requires that they write in long hands and read it. If the facilities are in place, all that the judge needs is to listen to the arguments, which are recorded and the judge can deliver the ruling. Afterwards, the ruling can be printed out. That is how it should be. I do not see why the executive should not invest in the judiciary to be able to fund the provision of the electronic recording gadget in the court.”

On the call for the appointed of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) to bench, he said; “ It is long overdue.

“It has happened before when members of the Bar were appointed to the Supreme Court, for example, Justice Teslim Elias came from the Bar. He was actually from academic, the same goes with Justice Augustine Nnamani also. So, if you look at the background of the judges that came from academics, that would probably support the view.

Justice Niki Tobi came from the academics, he was one of the best that sat on the Supreme Court Bench. The same goes for Justices Elias and Nnamani.

“Presently we have good quality Senior Advocate of Nigeria that can be appointed to the Supreme Court bench. We actually need that, we need to appoint them to the Supreme Court Bench. Not just the High Court, but to Supreme Court Bench.”

On the ongoing National conference, Oyetibo enthused: “My view has always been that there is nothing wrong with

Oyetibo (SAN)

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 LAW 79

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LawReport Once arbitral award is prima-facie good on the face of it, court will refuse to set it aside (3) In the Court of Appeal, Lagos Judicial Division, holden at Lagos on Thursday, February 14, 2014. Before their Lordships: Sidi Dauda Bage, Justice, Court of Appeal, Joseph Shagbaor Ikyegh, Justice, Court of Appeal Tijjani Abubakar, Justice, Court of Appeal CA/L/895/2012 Between Cel Tel Nigeria — Appellant And Econet Wireless Limited Elta State Ministry Of Finance Incorporate O.O Networks Limited DTSG Ecoshares Limited Bromley Asset Management Limited FBC Assets Limited Akwa Ibom Investment & Industrial Promotion Council - Respondents Ibile Holdings Limited First City Telecom Limited LAC Telecom Limited All Speaks Nigeria Limited S & D Ventures Limited Oceanic Securities International Limited Boye Olusanya Tunde Hassan-Odukale Conoor Investments Limited Bolaji Balogun Broad Communications Limited Oba Otudeko Foluke Otudeko Ato Adeboye—Defendants st

HE appellant’s reply brief to the 1 responT dent brief contended that grounds 1, 2, 3 of the Notice of Appeal were on the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal under Section 12 of the ACA, which could be argued at the arbitral panel, reargued in appeal at the court below and further re-argued in the appeal, showing the appellant is not hindered from making the said arguments in the appeal to the effect that she did not submit to the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal vide N.N.P.C. v. Klifco (Nig.) Ltd (2011) 10 NWLR (pt.

1255) 209.

The reply brief added that grounds 4-7 were submitted as specific issues to the court below which it did not consider specifically in the sense of referring to the arguments on them and making a decision thereon;, nor did the court below subsume their consideration under any of the other issues considered by it and; that, as the issues affected the wrongful application of

clause 27.7 of the Shareholders Agreement and improper pleading of cause of action, obvious miscarriage of justice was occasioned by the failure of the court below to consider them; upon which the appellant pressed for the appeal to be allowed.

A Notice of Preliminary objection was filed by the 1st respondent against 2nd and 4th, 6th, 8th, 7th -9th respondents’ representative briefs of arguments. Paragraphs 4-7 of the affidavit in support of the preliminary objection deposed that the said respondents having not crossappealed or filed notice of intention to vary the judgment on other grounds and/or having not appealed cannot filed briefs supporting the appellant’s brief.

The 1st respondent’s supplementary written address for the preliminary objection which was adopted at the hearing of the appeal relied on the cases of Imoniya Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and Anor. V. Expo Shipping Line (Nig) Ltd. (2010) 12 NWLR (Pt. 1208) 261 at 283, The 2nd and 4th respondents’ supplementary address filed on 24.4.13 against the preliminary objection was, also, adopted at the hearing of the appeal where it was argued that the 2nd and 4th respondents do not seek to correct

errors in the judgment of the court below; nor do the 2nd and 4th respondents agree with the judgment of the court below; or want it varied or affirmed on other grounds, therefore it is absurd to expect the 2nd and 4th respondents to file a cross-appeal or a notice to vary the judgment on other grounds vide Emeka v. Okadigbo (2012) 18 NWLR (1331) 55 at 97.

And that the 2nd and 4th respondents having appealed the judgment of the court below in their notice of appeal in Exhibit 00-1 have a parallel appeal and are entitled to file a brief disagreeing with the judgment of the court below therefore their joint brief is competent and should not be struck out vide Imoniya Holdings Ltd v. Soneb Enterprises Ltd (2010) 4 NWLR (pt. 1185) 561.

The 2nd and 4th respondents[‘ written address, also, urged that Order 16 rule 4(2) of the Rules of the Court is not meant to be punitive; but, that, it is intended to guide and to highlight the structure and features of a respondent’s brief as a rule of court to assist the proper dispensation of justice, not to foist injustice on parties vide Sanni v Agara (2010) 2 NWLR (pt. 1178) at 398 to 399; therefore to strike out the 2nd and 4th respondents’ brief would cause grave injustice to them.

The 6th Respondent also filed counter affidavit in opposition to the preliminary objection in which it attached a notice of appeal, Exhibit KA1, showing it appealed against the judgment of the court below and made the appellant and the other respondents in the said appeal. The 6th respondent caused a written address to be filed on 13-5-13, which it adopted at the hearing of the appeal, and in which it was contended that having appealed against the judgment of the court below, the 6th respondent is entitled to file a brief in the present appeal challenging the judgment of the court below vide Adenuga v Odumeru (2000) NWLR (pt. 831) 163 at 181; and that the 6th respondent’s brief attacks the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal which can be raised at any time and by any means.

Therefore the preliminary objection should be overruled and the 6th respondent’s brief be used in the appeal.

The 7th and 9th respondents, like the 2nd and 4th respondents and the 6th respondent, filed counter affidavit against the preliminary objection and attached a notice of appeal to it as Exhibit PUC1 showing they appealed against the decision of the court below and made the appellant and the other respondents co-respondents in the appeal. The 7th and 9th respondents filed a

written address against the preliminary objection, which they adopted at the hearing of the appeal, and in which they observed that a preliminary objection may be filed against an appeal, but not against a brief, so the preliminary objection attacking their brief should not be countenanced.

The 7th and 9th respondents written address added that they are not seeking to correct errors in the judgment or to set aside a finding fundamental to the case, but that 7th and 9th respondents by their notice of appeal seek a reversal of the whole judgment, so a cross-appeal would not be the proper process for them to file but an appeal which they have already filed citing in support of the cases of Lafia Local Government v.

Governor of Nasarawa State (2012) 17 NWLR (pt.

1328) 94 at 132.

The 1st respondent filed a reply address to the 6th respondent’s supplementary address in opposition to the notice of preliminary objection in which it was contended that, unlike the 2nd and 4th respondents, the 8th respondent and the 7th respondents, the 6th respondent who was, also, a party to the arbitral proceedings did not file an application at the court below for the setting aside of the partial award made by the arbitrators under section 48 of the ACA, therefore the 6th respondent has no right to appeal.

The 1st respondent’s reply to the 6th respondent’s written address argued that the 6th respondent had no right of appeal, so the notice of appeal filed by it is of no value. I believe this is a matter to be taken against the appeal itself. For now, on the face of Exhibit KA1, the notice of appeal, the 6th respondent has an appeal against the decision of the court below.

The preliminary objection has to do with the 2nd and 4th, 6th and 7th-9th respondents’ respective briefs earlier summarized in the judgment. Indeed the briefs in question disagree with the judgment of the court below.

It is trite from the cases cited by the 1st respondent (supra) that the traditional and primary role of a respondent in an appeal is to defend the judgment appealed against, not to use a respondent’s brief to shore up or bolster an appellant’s brief for the purpose of setting aside the judgment appealed against. See in addition the cases of Adefulu v. Oyesile (1989) 5 NWLR (pt.

122) 377 at 417.

Enforcement of Gbadamosi Eletu v Ojomu family did not cover unidentified lands

By Charles Musa T has been held that the importance of ascertaining the exact area of land in dispute is to enable the parties or anybody claiming through them for trespass, injunction, ownership, etc. to know the exact area of land affected by the judgment or any order for possession made by the court. See Nruama V. Ebuzoeme (2007) All FWLR, (Pt. 347), page 743, at page 736, paragraphs B-C. The decisions comprising the judgment and the ruling of the Supreme Court declaring the Gbadamosi Eletu Family entitled to 217 hectares of land purchased from the Ojomu Family, cannot be enforced against some of the current occupiers of land in the area/vicinity of land subject to the decisions, because the area of land over which the decisions declared the Judgment Creditors to be entitled is, according to some of such occupiers, different from the area of land occupied by the occupiers.

The identity of the land subject to the decisions, as against the lands occupied by current occupiers who claim that their lands fall outside the land in the judgment, is thus in issue. It is the law that in a land matter or when the identity of a land is in issue, the determination of the claim and respective rights of the parties can only be resolved upon the produc-

I

tion by the parties of the Composite Plan of the land. The identity of a land in dispute is not determined by the names that the parties or anyone else decides to call it, but by production of credible evidence like Survey Plan of the land, as names do not change the relative position of any land. See AROWOLO V. OMOLE (2010) All FWLR, (Pt. 514), page 117 at page 130, paragraphs C-D. Thus, the Judgment Creditors cannot merely rely on the decisions. The land must be clearly described.

In LAMBU V. ISYAKAU (2012) ALL FWLR 1295 at 1373, it was held “…It is the law that whilst the production in evidence of a survey plan of a land in dispute is not a sine qua non in all land cases, evidence of the identity of a land in dispute must be such that the land can be ascertained with definitive certainty. And the test of such certainty is whether a surveyor, taking the record of the proceedings in the case, can produce a plan showing accurately the land in dispute. ” It is submitted that the ruling and judgment of the Supreme Court cannot be enforced in respect of land not covered by the judgment. The position is that the current occupiers of the land who are not Ojomu Chieftaincy family members, are not judgment debtors because they were not parties to the matter and no judg-

ment was awarded against them for which they can be liable. A judgment or order of court cannot be enforced against a person not party to the suit.

According to M. V. Roman Glacier V.Agbo [2000] FWLR part 23 page 1283 ratio 5: A court lacks competence to make order against persons not properly before it. At page 1292 para E – H held “…….A court has no jurisdiction to make orders against persons not brought properly before it.” This is because to do so would amount to granting a relief not claimed which courts lack jurisdiction to do.

Thus, the decisions cannot be enforced against the occupiers who allege that the area of land over which the decisions declared the Judgment Creditors to be entitled is different from the area of land they occupy. Consequently, no claim for order of possession can be made and the decisions would remain unenforceable against such land unless a court settles the dispute as to the area of land in issue.

See Ogbuefi V. A.S.E.C. (2011) All FWLR (pt 603) 1873 at 1913-1914 paras H-A where it was held “It is settled law that identity of the land in dispute will only be an issue if the defendant made it one in his statement of defence...”

This issue can only be resolved by

production of composite plans to identify the lands claimed by the parties. There is no other way to resolve such dispute. See AROWOLO V. OMOLE (2010) All FWLR (514) 117 at 130 paras C – D. Because the decisions are declaratory, the Judgment Creditors are required to file fresh suits to claim an order for possession.

It is trite that a declaratory judgment cannot be enforced. In ABEJE V. ALADE (2011) ALL FWLR (pt 593) 1969 at 1990-1991 paras H-D it was held “A declaratory judgment or orders merely proclaim or declare the existence of a legal relationship and do not contain any order which may be enforced against the defendant: Government of Gongola State v. Tukur (1989) 4 NWLR (PT. 117) 592 AT 608. In that case, the Supreme Court further stated thus: ‘A declaration simpliciter is a solemn affirmation of a state or a status by a court. That in itself is a complete relief which is not executory.’ A declaratory judgment may however be enforced by a subsequent action (where the right has been violated). A party who obtains a declaratory judgment may go back to court and seek an order to enforce it; otherwise it remains dormant and unenforceable. Okoya v. Santili (1990) 2 NWLR (pt 131) 172 at 228 where the Supreme Court states thus ‘It is also a

matter of general consensus among academic writers and in judicial decisions that a declaratory judgment which is an embodiment of the recognition of particular right may be the basis for subsequent proceedings to enforce such rights where such right is threatened, hence a declaratory order or judgment remains a dormant right until subsequent proceedings have been taken to protect the threat to or violation of the rights so declared in the judgment or order.’” Also see ONYEAMA V. OBODOH (2010) All FWLR (pt 515) 235 at 245 paras C-E. Since the decisions only declared the Judgment Creditors to be entitled to statutory right of occupancy over land, without more, such decision cannot be enforced.

A plaintiff must also obtain order for possession before he can seek to possess land. If all a plaintiff obtained was declaration, he is expected to go back to court to claim for order of possession.

Consequently, to enforce the declaratory judgment against the occupiers, a fresh suit must be filed against each current occupier. In such a suit, it must be proved by evidence that the area occupied by each occupier falls within the exact area covered by the decisions.

• Musa is a Lagos - based lawyer

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

80 LAW Tuesday, May 20, 2014

FamilyLaw

“Never say you know a man until you have divided an inheritance with him.” ~ Johann Kaspar Lavater

Obtaining probate in Nigeria: Argument for its retention and modification (1)

By Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe HE basis of this legal piece is to critically T examine the procedure for the grant of probate in Nigeria and advance argument for its retention and modification. To do this will be to look at the mode of application and legal guidelines. It must be clearly stated from the outset that there can be no grant of probate in the absence of testamentary instrument. It is the law that the Will of the deceased (if one is made) and other authentic documents must be produced in court and filed at the probate registry.

The procedure for the grant of probate is governed by High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules of each state of the federation. The rules are to be strictly followed and the court is to ensure that there are no inconsistencies before probate or letters of administration are granted to the executors or personal representative. The executor or executors named in the Will of the testator is or are given thirty days of grace within which to apply for probate or letters of administration. After the expiration of the period allowed by law the executor shall be deemed to have violated the provision of the law and accordingly charged for contempt of court. However, there are few things that the executor must do before applying for probate, which can be termed pre-probate duties of the executor.

The first major pre-probate duty is to bury the deceased. The burial of the deceased is a primary assignment, which the executor named in the testamentary instrument must perform by supervising and making funds available for the ceremony from the deceased estate. He is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that the testator’s burial is performed according to his wish and in some cases, the testator would have specified the amount of money to be spent on his burial, where he should be

buried and how the burial ceremonies should be conducted.

Even when a man dies intestate and under customary law, it is expedient that the burial ceremony must first be concluded, that is, the second and final burial ceremonies must be performed before the family can distribute the deceased estate. And in the case of “Igiogbe” in Benin Kingdom, the eldest surviving son can inherit the “Igiogbe” (the house where the deceased lived and died) as of right after the final burial ceremony as was decided in the case of Lydia Lawal-Osula v. Saka Lawal Osula.

It is also the duty of the executor to support the family of the deceased. The executor named in the deceased will has the testamentary powers to spend part of the deceased money to take care of the family, particularly the immediate family which includes; the spouse, young children, aged parents, et al, just as the deceased would have done if he were still living. The executor as the Personal Representative (PR) of the testator makes funds available for the deceased immediate family up keep, school fees and necessities of the children.

The above functions therefore may precede the process for applying for probate and this should be done within thirty days as provided

by Law. The application for probate can be made by one of the executors named in the Will and must be done within thirty days after the death of the testator. Probate can be granted to a maximum of four persons so named as executors either jointly or separately. Where probate is granted to one or some of those named as executors in a will the grant would be as effective as if the grant had been made to all those named as executors.

Also qualified for grant of probate are creditors, next of kin and administrators of the deceased estate. Creditors such as banks and other financial institutions to which the deceased owe as a result of loan facility or

mortgage can also apply for probate subject to rules of the court that govern such procedure. It follows that only those named in the testator’s Will have express rights to apply for probate and thus derives their powers and title from the testamentary instrument for the purpose of administration and distribution of the deceased’s estate. In some cases, the Will may not contain the names of executors. If the Will is declared valid by the court, the failure of appointment of executors does not automatically invalidate the will, rather administrators will be appointed by the court to administer the estate in accordance with the terms of the Will.

Application for probate requires that the executor will have to put the following facts and documents together prior to applying to court or probate registry for the grant of probate. These are: a sworn affidavit of place of death of the testator, where he was domiciled and identify the deceased person, his profession, marital status and names of his children and spouses. The applicant must state that the deceased was resident within the jurisdiction of the Court before his death, list the names of executors as contained in the Will, if any, and also attach a list of the deceased’s real and personal property. It is the duty of the executor to search for the property and all documents relating to banking transactions, deceased’s office and other places where vital information can be obtained concerning personal and real property of the testator.

Declaration of next-of-kin, schedule of testator’s debts and funeral expenses, particular of realty, affidavit of attesting witnesses, bank certificate, death certificate of the testator and obtain application forms from the probate registry. From the above it can be seen that the executor or executors are to first bury the deceased, take inventory of his properties and do all such things that are necessary for the purpose of approaching the court for the

grant of probate. The court will certainly examine information supplied by the executor with a view to determine whether or not the executor meets the requirement for the grant of probate.

The next step is the reading of the deceased Will. The executor must as a matter of legal requirement apply to the court for the reading of the Will at the probate registry of the State High Court within the jurisdiction of the testator. The beneficiaries under the Will may assemble at the probate registry for the reading of the will after which he has to submit a written application to the Court to prove the Will and to obtain Probate. The executor is made to pay for and collect probate forms from the Court. The executor is required to fill out the probate forms and take same to the various institutions holding assets of the deceased and this would include banks with deposits in the testator’s account and companies in which the testator had shares. These institutions, as a matter of legal requirement, are to endorse the forms and the banks (if any) issue bank certificates.

It is trite that the executor submits all forms to the probate registry together with a list of all assets realized from the testator’s estate and the bank certificates obtained from the banks for assessment and valuation by the Probate Judge at the State High Court within the jurisdiction of the testator.

Missing Schoolgirls: A matter of human rights and security

By Kolawole Olaniyan HEN President Goodluck W Jonathan assumed office in May 2011, he identified persistent violence and crime as a major problem confronting the country. He promised to “confront this threat against our collective peace and security, and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

But recent events have shown that the president has failed woefully to keep his promise. The terrifying abduction of more than 300 schoolgirls by the notorious extremist group Boko Haram is yet further evidence of the increasing level of violence and crime, as well as unnecessary loss of lives and destruction of property.

It has taken weeks of demonstrations by civil society, and now international outrage, for the government to even admit that the girls, who are feared to have been sold into slavery, are missing. Yet in a televised speech, the president pointedly failed to mention the objectives of finding the missing schoolgirls, ending the years of terror, and ensuring justice for victims.

The simple fact of the matter is that the government has conceded the initiative to the Islamist extremist group; it seems completely bereft of ideas of what to do.

Amnesty International’s research indicates that at least 2,000 people have been killed in politically-motivated, communal and sectarian violence in Nigeria in 2014 alone.

Yet the Nigerian authorities have failed to investigate the killings, bring suspected perpetrators to justice, or indeed prevent further attacks. To date, few arrests have been

made and few people held accountable for the deaths.

At the same time, the government continues to illegally hold hundreds of people suspected of participating in violence perpetrated by the Boko Haram and is denying them access to lawyers.

Most of those imprisoned around the country are held without criminal charges, and some of them have been summarily executed by security forces before facing trial.

In failing to put in place credible measures to prevent abduction and killings, and fully investigate and punish perpetrators, the Nigerian authorities have neither respected, nor met their obligations to exercise due diligence to protect human rights.

Clearly, mere promises are not enough.

The government must match its words with serious and concrete action.

In fact, the inadequacy of the government’s approach to security is evident at several stages: shortcomings in the prevention of violence, lack of adequate victim support and access to remedies, and a serious dearth of resources and political will to investigate incidents of violence.

Equally disturbingly, corruption seems to be present and potentially widespread in law enforcement and security services, eroding the citizenry’s trust in the rule of law, and contributing to a sense of lawlessness that encourages violence and abuse.

To be sure, violence and crime are longstanding problems in Nigeria; they predate this administration. However, it is the primary duty of any government to guarantee the security of the population, and the absence of concrete measures by this government has contributed to the continuation of violence.

AGF, Adoke The government’s persistent failure on internal security is also a serious breach of the government’s human rights obligations and commitments, including under the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Nigeria is a state party. Nigeria has made the African Charter part of its domestic laws, which, in theory, should facilitate the charter’s enforcement.

Both the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights guarantee the right to life, physical integrity, and liberty, as well as rights related to due process.

As a corollary, the government is required to ensure the effective functioning and operation of governmental apparatus and, in general, all the structures through which public power is exercised, so that it is capable of ensuring the free and full enjoyment of all human rights for all.

These Charter-based obligations must be performed in good faith, in keeping with Articles 26, 27 and 31 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of

Treaties.

As noted, of particular importance to Nigeria’s current state of insecurity are the rights to security and life.

On the right to security of the person, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the body charged with the responsibility to oversee states parties’ compliance with the African Charter has interpreted this right to include “the right to national and individual security.”

According to the Commission, “national security examines how the State protects the physical integrity of its citizens from external threats, such as invasion, terrorism, and violence. Individual security on the other hand can be looked at in two angles - public and private security. By public security, the law examines how the State protects the physical integrity of its citizens from abuse by official authorities, and by private security, the law examines how the State protects the physical integrity of its citizens from abuse by other citizens (third parties or non-state actors).”

Regarding the right to life, this right is central both to the Constitution and the African Charter. It is a right that cannot be suspended even in case of war, public danger or other threats to the independence or security of the States Parties. As with other human rights, it is not sufficient for the government to abstain from infringing this right directly: the government must also adopt specific measures to actively protect and fulfil the right to life for everyone, regardless of their specific vulnerability or situation. A key part of the government obligation is to ensure that no one is deprived of his or her life arbitrarily.

Most worryingly, things may get worse before they get better.

Time is running out and the government needs to do something fast to ensure the safe return of the schoolgirls. As Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary-General, has aptly stated, “It is imperative that Nigeria acts swiftly and firmly to secure their safe return - with international support if needed - but the process must also demonstrate a commitment to human dignity, human rights, transparency and accountability.”

Looking forward, one way the government can also comply with its positive obligations in the area of citizens’ security and safety would be for it to monitor, evaluate, and improve the effectiveness of its law enforcement and security agencies. This will be an important step for the President to start discharging his election promises.

Further, the government must truly make security and safety of those who live in Nigeria a public policy priority by tackling the root cause of violence and crime, which is extreme poverty and lack of opportunities, and creating greater freedom for people to seek personal development and prosperity.

Victims of violence and crimes must have effective access to legal and health services, and should have access to an effective remedy. The government should also ensure that law enforcement and security agencies have the personnel and infrastructure to provide quality services without discrimination or distinction.

TO BE CONTINUED • Dr. Olaniyan is legal adviser at Amnesty International in London and the author of ‘Corruption and Human Rights Law in Africa’

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 LAW 81

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

LawPavilion trains Ogun magistrates on computer software

By Bertram Nwannekanma O ensure speedy judicial T process and enhance the quality of judgement in the state, magistrates in the Ogun State judiciary were on Wednesday trained in LawPavilion software, a Legal Research application developed by Grace InfoTech Limited (GIT Limited).

The innovative product sets offered the first Electronic Legal Research system in the Legal research in Nigeria, which is aimed at improving productivity in the legal system.

Speaking at the training attended by over 22 magistrates at Ogun State High Court, Abeokuta, the Chief Registrar of the Ogun State Judiciary, Oloyede Stephen Olusola said the law pavilion software is an innovative system for legal research that has helped in ensuring quicker dispensation of justice.

According to him, the software being deployed by LawPavilion is one of the systems to quicken the judicial process in the courts.

He said the Ogun State government under Governor Ibikunle Amosun and the state’s Chief Judge are very passionate about moving the judiciary forward in the state by setting a

standard in the area of fast dispensation of cases in the state.

The state, he said, “is much ready to partner with LawPavilion to provide quicker and qualitative justice delivery service.”

He said: “From the feedbacks, it has been helpful in terms of the time frame in delivery of judgements and rulings.

“Invariably, what it means is that judges and magistrates don’t really need to take adjournments like in the past to give some rulings because all they need now is to look at the issues canvassed in court and then Google it and all the decisions they want will come up and they can review the evidence and deliver their rulings the same day.

“It makes for a wonderful experience in court by enhancing the justice delivery system, it has been a wonderful experience as we now seeing positive results from the judicial officers.

On why the focus was on the magistrates, Olusola said the magistracy is importance in the justice sector because about 80 per cent of the criminal matters go before them.

“From experience, whatever decision to be arrives in any case in the judiciary must not only be judicial but judicious in line with the circumstance

Magistrates at the training and in trying to do that we feel that magistrates have critical roles to play in the administration of justice and that is the reason what as the courts at the grassroots, we need to equip them adequately for them to perform optimally. It is very important; magistrates will go through the ranks and become High Court judges in the future.

It is the foundation you lay that is very important. So you need to equip them as well as the judges.

“We have been training them

because we are passionate about training, about development in the legal profession and that is why we feel that our magistrates can compete favourable with other magistrates anywhere in the world. We are proud of our magistrates and the assistance we are getting from the government,” he added, Also the Chief Magistrate 1 (Administration), Ogun State Judiciary, Anthony Olusesan Araba said “the software has not only greatly enhanced his

Agbakoba seeks continuous reforms in justice administration

By Yetunde Ayobami Ojo FORMER President of A Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba has advocated for continuous reforms in the judicial procedures in the country.

The reform, Agbakoba, said “is necessary in order to speed up administration of justice in the country, especially in the Federal High Court’s Civil Procedure Rules.

According to him, the court has gone through four developmental stages, since its 40 years of existence, in terms of rules of practice.

He added that all over the world, court rules are like ‘court culture”. In every other pattern, court culture is dynamic.

“Need for rules review and innovation may arise where there is gap.

Reviews are very necessary to bring up speed with modern trend and secure continued relevance in a changing world,” he added. “ Court procedural regimes

should have an overriding purpose beyond the intricacies of litigation.

“In this model, that higher purpose is overriding objective to enable the judge deal with cases justly and swiftly.

The judge is obliged to bear overriding objective in mind throughout the proceedings, and parties are required to help the judge further the overriding objective.

The overriding objective is the chief interpretative tool for the rules, and thus precludes the strict constructionist approach to rule construction.

“The major obstacle to civil procedure reform in Nigeria is excessive loyalty to adversarial forensics. Bench and Bar alike are too enamored with ancient traditions of legal battle in court rooms.”

He further noted that, “procedural reform is the need for transformation in court culture. All culture is dynamic and court culture can be no exception.”

He said like previous reviews, especially great Federal High

Court rule-makers: Chief Judges Babatunde Belgore, Abdullahi Mustapha, and Ibrahim Auta, the model civil procedural code is necessary to bring the rules up to speed with modern trends and secure continued relevance in a changing world. “ According to him, “In this new world, judges are not lords to be worshiped but contributors to the socio-economic advancement of their jurisdictions. We must continue to hold our judges in high esteem as befits the nature of their office, but judges are workers like the rest of us and must approach their daily task with appropriate work ethic. Get the thing done quickly and move on to the next task.”

“Nigerian judges must be economically literate. They should understand how sluggish justice delivery hurts Nigeria. They should comprehend how the twin indices of enforcing contracts through litigation and resolving (commercial) disputes in court contribute to Nigeria’s extremely low ranking on the

Chairman of the occasion, Hon Justice George Oguntade (left) Managing Partner, Punuka Attorneys and Solicitors. Chief Anthony Idigbe, The Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa, Prof, Andre Boraine and Chairman, Delta State Pensions Board, Christy Siakpere at the 2014 PUNUKA Annual Lecture in Lagos PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI

World Bank’s Doing Business, year after year.”

“In the context of the global competitive environment, Nigerian justice delivery system has contributed a great deal towards Nigeria’s hostility to foreign investment and private sector growth. To be investor- friendly, an economy must be able to boast of a swift and efficient justice administration regime. Ease of enforcing contracts and speed of resolving disputes are crucial components of the ease of doing business, the feature that determines how attractive an economy is easy for business and entrepreneurial endeavour.”

performance, shorten the time for his judgements but also has enhanced the quality of his judgement.

He said: “Each time, I finish writing my judgments, I keep thanking God that I am part of this development because it makes my job easier”.

The training, he said, was helpful in that he could now utilize his Ipad optimally. Now, where I had not been able to go to the Ipad, I can now go. I know that if I have any problem, I can get back to the administrators and it will be fixed.

“The training is needful because many magistrates were not used to the software.

It has helped to enhance our ability. We appreciate the Chief Judge for giving us this opportunity and encourage her to do more in line with Law Pavilion.

We are happy that it is Ogun State that is setting the standard. We are happy to be the pace-setters”, he noted.

For a Senior Magistrate from Agbara, Basirat Bolanle Adebowale, the software was a welcome development, as it has helped her to write her judgements in record time, get new cases and do legal researches.

According to him, the Law Pavilion had launched Ogun State to the top as seen at the recent Magistrates’ Conference in Abuja, where Ogun magis-

trates were setting the pace in use of IPad and Law Pavilion software.

Mrs. Adebowale, however, called for an improvement in sub-index search and more training in managing the system.

“We still want to be trained in the case management system between the court registrars and magistrates. They have started with the judges, when they perfect that, we believe it will get to the magistrates and our registrars,” she said.

The magistrates, who were received certificates of participation from the Law Pavilion group, noted the need for continuous training on latest improvements, particularly in the upgrades, to improve in the number of judgements as well as the foreign judgements, since there might be need to rely on foreign judgements on novel issues that have not been adjudicated upon in Nigeria.

Speaking on the training, the Law Pavilion group led by Mr. Tope Orofinraye said the training was one of the aftersale services to clientele in order to ensure that clients maximally utilize Law Pavilion software.

According to him, it is important to train the individual to get maximum benefit of it, since the firm’s goal is to make legal research easier for lawyers, legal practitioners, magistrates and judges.

For those not yet subscribed, Orofinraye said electronic legal report is the future, “as you don’t need to resort to hard copies, where you spend several days and hours looking for particular legal authority, but with a click of the mouse or the keyboard, you will get whatever you are looking for. ” “At LawPavilion, we have a very robust search machine that you can get any authority you are searching for in minutes, which means you can spend your times in other things not just spending the whole day doing research. “We encourage everybody to come on board and embrace the solution that we have brought”, he added

Lagos Chief Judge urged to probe court’s verdict HE Chief Judge of Lagos, T Justice Ayotunde Phillips, has been urged to investigate the authenticity of an enrolment judgment delivered by the High Court on July 30, 2008 in a suit numbered ID/2801/92, between Mr. Farayola Ogundokun (plaintiff) and Alhaji G. Owoade (respondent).

In a letter to Justice Philips, a Lagos lawyer, Chief A.N Osuji, said his client’s property was demolished on the basis of the said enrolment judgment after he was forcibly ejected.

The enrolment judgment had declared the plaintiff as entitled to a Certificate of Occupancy of Plot 15, Apapa Oshodi Expressway, a property measuring approximately 430,849 square meters.

According to Osuji, his client, the General Overseer of the Chosen of the Lord Ministry, Prophet Martins Oni, was alleged to be in his office when people claiming to be bailiffs from the court showed him a copy of the judgment and began the demolition, in company of men said to be members of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC).

“We wish to state that out

client was not mentioned in the purported judgment, and was never served any hearing notice in respect of the suit that led to the judgment.

“Besides, the land in question legitimately belongs to our client having acquired it 17 years ago from Alhaji Owoade (the defendant in the suit).

“Our client possesses the land documents, which include survey plan, House Plan, Receipt of Purchase, Building Plan, the Ijeshatedo Family land receipt, and other documents from the government,” the lawyer wrote.

According to him, Oni’s fourstorey building, with four mini-warehouses, offices, 14 shops, a church, were all brought down and property N1.2billion allegedly carted away by the bailiffs who claimed to be taking them to the court.

Osuji said Oni, the DirectorGeneral of Police Assistance Committee of Tradesmen and Artisans, had petitioned the police, who subsequently wrote the court seeking to authenticate the judgment, but are yet to receive a response.

“In view of the foregoing,

which had resulted in our client suffering colossal damage over his legitimately acquired property, along with valuable items, we urge Your Lordship to, as a matter of urgency, use your good office to direct investigation of the authenticity of an enrolment judgment of the Lagos State High Court dated October 30, 2008 and purportedly delivered by former Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon. Justice Inumidun Akande and signed

by Mrs. M. O. Ogunewu, Registrar.

“Our client is desirous of having an urgent resolution of this matter through your immediate intervention, failure which may necessitate our seeking redress from the court of law to reclaim our client’s land and also ask for compensation for his goods carted away from the demolished building with the connivance of the bailiffs from the Lagos High Court,” Osuji wrote.

The letter, which was received by the Chief Judge’s office on May 12, was also copied to Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) and the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye.

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‘Why we support Jonathan’s transformation agenda’ Spokesman of Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), Ayo Akinola says President Goodluck Jonathan means well for the country, hence, every Nigerian should support his transformation agenda if this country must move forward. In this interview with TUNDE AKINOLA, he said TAN is a vehicle through which every Nigerian of whatever age, profession, class and ethnic group could support the president in delivering the dividends of democracy to the people.

HAT is the agenda behind W the supports some groups, including TAN, are giving to advertise President Jonathan’s?

I cannot speak for other groups but our own group, TAN, is a non-partisan, nonclass and in fact, a broad-based group of intelligent Nigerians from all walks of life devoted to seeing that the country is moving forward and not backward. And let me tell you this, this president is the most misunderstood president Nigeria has ever had in our history as a nation.

So, to answer your question, the agenda, if you choose to call it so, is to bring to the notice of Nigerians what Mr. President is doing and has done to make this country great. There are unsung successes in agriculture, sports, aviation, housing, roads infrastructure and even in power generation, just to mention a few. This is as a result of the well thought-out transformation agenda.

Let me also remind you that certain interests control the media. I am sorry to say this but that is the truth. Most of

these interests do not mean well for this country except for their selfish aims of making a kill. The media needs to be patriotic and portray the country in a positive note especially before the international community. You are not doing it for President Jonathan but for the nation as a corporate entity. But what do we have? Negativities.

Have you ever seen Cable News Network, (CNN) portraying the American government in bad light? Are you saying that the American society and government do not have negative tendencies?

Even if they must report those negative tendencies, they are toned down to the barest level so as not to jeopardise the American national interest.

The selfish media interests peddle all sorts of negativities around the president to achieve their nefarious goals.

They have already succeeded

in pocketing certain sections of this country and are making a kill out of it. We will not allow them to expand further.

Some of these power-mongers masqurading as politicians do not mean well for this country. They have run away in the past and they will do the same if they are given the opportunity to ruin this country. They claim to midwife our democracy; if that is true, why then do they want to kill it? It baffles us.

TAN will not sit on the fence.

We are supporting this president’s transformation agenda in the open and we make no apology. We are watching and we will respond positively to their negative tautologies. They are like broken gramophone records repeating the same old story without making any sense or meaningful contribution.

How do you intend to achieve

the goals of your organisation?

Our membership cuts across and we are all achievers in our various areas of calling. We are ready to put everything we have on the ground for the sake of this nation because we have no other country except Nigeria. Every well-meaning Nigerian must support him to succeed in his mandate. You cannot run down your elected president and still call yourself a patriotic citizen.

We are craving to enlist the support of well-meaning citizens of this great country to support President Jonathan to succeed. Again, we shall be working with some established agencies given the constitutional mandate to re-orientate the minds of Nigeria like the National Orientation Agency (NOA). In fact, we are trying to have a working relationship with them. We will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with them to formalise the relationship.

It may be instructive to also inform you that we are not just about showcasing what he has done and promoting his agenda but also using our resources to support what he is trying to do especially in the area of employment generation. Employment of Nigerian youths is very dear to him and we are toeing this line. We are creating employment opportunities starting with turning waste to wealth, as it is being called.

In our environment today, there are lots of wastes that ought to be recycled into usable items. We will provide machineries that would do this and we will engage youths that will be paid for every recyclable waste they bring to the factories. This is the beginning. Now, lots of people will be employed to work in these industries.

So, we are not only encouraging and supporting our government morally but also practically, by mopping up the unemployment population in Nigeria. This will be carried to all geo-political sections of the country including the youth restive areas.

Let me emphasise that entrepreneurial revolution has began in Nigeria and the TAN, are leading the revolution. One of the major challenges facing developing and underdeveloped countries of the world is poverty. It has been so endemic as a result of the high rate of unemployment that has become the major characteristic of the developing and underdeveloped countries of the world.

Although the level and magnitude of poverty and unemployment has been observed to be different within and across nations, it still remains the major obstacle to the success of the struggle for the optimum utilisation of human resources for both social and economic development of nations. Africa entered the 21st century as the poorest, the most technologically backward, the most debt distressed and most marginalised region of the world according to Economic Commission for Africa in 2001.

With the position Nigeria occupies in Africa in terms of the share of population, one cannot but imagine the percentage of Nigerians that are affected by this debilitating monster called poverty and hence making the war against poverty one of the cardinal policies of government in Nigeria.

Figures from the Bureau of Statistics show that about 67

Akinola per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line. The data further reveal that only 50 per cent of the population has access to safe drinking water, while 38 per cent cannot avail themselves of primary health care. It is estimated that about 70 per cent of Nigerians consume less than 1/3 of the minimum protein and vitamin intake due to low purchasing power. This statistics shows the very depth of poverty in Nigeria.

It is dehumanising and can be rated as a killer disease, which has assumed an epidemic state. All these did not start with this administration but any responsible government will not go to sleep with such a terrible situation. The government of Nigeria through most of her policies and programmes has made tremendous effort towards changing the scenario in the country.

Despite the effort of government in this direction, the poverty virus is getting more entrenched and spreading wider among the populace.

This incidence is higher among the youth, who falls within the age bracket of 15 to 35. The untrained and unskilled youth grows into an unemployable man, who cannot be employed because of his lack of marketable skills to be engaged in a job that can adequately support his family.

This makes it impossible for him to provide for his children in terms of education both at the formal and informal level to guarantee his wards self-sufficiency. Thus, the cycle continues with generation after generation propagating this vicious cycle of poverty.

Some people have associated this with our academic curricula, which do not adequately prepare the youths for the challenges ahead in terms employable skills, as well as, entrepreneurial skills. And this has been with us for long and the Jonathan administration is seen to be tackling these through various programmes such as the Sure-P. Economic growth is seen as a sine qua non for sustained progress in poverty and unemployment reduction. As Sachs, 2005, opined, that poverty cannot be reduced except there is economic growth. To him, it is fact that has been proved by both historical and comparative studies. Empirical facts also exist to show that countries that have reduced poverty are the ones that have grown the fastest. On the other hand, poverty has grown in the countries that have been stagnant economically. It is observed that since poverty is a situation in which the victim is subjected to economic, political, social and environmental depreciation, it carries with it the potential for all forms of resentment and quite often, such resentment could be violent and destabil-

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Building professionals applaud Nigerite initiative IGERITE Limited has been N applauded by architects, builders and planners at an ongoing exhibition organised by the Nigerian Institute of Ar-

chitects (NIA), Lagos State Chapter, at the Expo Hall of Eko Hotel and Suites recently.

Nigerite, an integrated building component solution com-

pany, identified as a Corinthian Partner by the organisers, delighted participants with the array of products exhibited at its

stand. A Corinthian Partner is regarded as a first class partner by the organiser.

Speaking at the exhibition stand, guest speaker, Director of Facilities, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, United States, Dr. Maurice Ngwaba said Nigerite has been contributing to the development of the built environment in Nigeria for years, adding that the introduction of Nigerite products has helped the development of the industry.

His words: “Nigerite is a tested and respected company in the country. Many of its products have created flexibility, thereby enabling architects and other building professionals to deliver quality jobs.”

Similarly, former president of NIA, Ibrahim Haruna, said Nigerite has produced many quality products and has formulated and produced more

quality products through research. The company has evolved in its 55 years of existence of producing building materials into many other areas.

He added that the introduction of dry construction components by Nigerite speaks volume of its leadership role in the sector.

Also speaking, Dean, College of Environment, Science and Management, Caleb University, Arch. Prof. O. S. Okedele affirmed the contribution of Nigerite to the built industry.

According to him, “we need to appreciate Nigerite’s contribution to the production of quality building materials which have kept the company ahead of competitors in the industry.

Its successes are also traceable to its alignment with some institutions of learning.”

Commenting, Bolarinwa Ayodeji of Boalink Consultant praised Nigerite for “churning

out good products one after the other, and it is one of the factors why I endorse its products for architects and other home-owners”. He added that Nigerite’s listening ear to its customers has also helped the company a great deal to produce new trend of products.

Also commending the company on its contributions to the built sector, Arch. Essien Nwanane of Fola Alade Associates, said “Nigerite is quite fantastic because I have been involved in projects using products from the company.

Apart from this, Nigerite also produces pocket-friendly products that are aesthetically decent when compared with its competitors.”

On his part, Olawunmi Agbaje of Olawunmi Agbaje Associates said, “products from the stable of Nigerite are quality products that have been bringing more customers to the company’s ever-growing market share.”

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PDP vows to regain S’West From Charles Coffie-Gyamfi, Abeokuta HE leadership of Peoples T Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West has assured its supporters that despite the challenges confronting the party, all strategies would be put in place to defeat the ruling All Progressives Party (APC) in the zone.

The PDP leadership, which assured that all the disputes within factions would soon be resolved, said it has already set up a conflict resolution committee to bring all defectors back to the party.

Besides, the PDP has set a mobilisation and organisation committee in all the SouthWest states to canvass support for the party.

Ogun State Chairman of the party, Chief Adebayo Dayo, who spoke at the party’s stakeholders meeting in Ijebu-Igbo, urged all party faithful to build a united and formidable party.

Dayo, who insisted that such role should not be left for the leadership alone, told his party faithful that being a big party, the PDP was bound to face some differences but that such disagreements would be resolved amicably.

The meeting, which attracted party supporters throughout the six South-West states, was organised to sensitise party

supporters on the need to campaign, especially at the grassroots, towards the 2015 general elections.

Those who spoke at the meeting were the party’s National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo; the National Auditor, Mr. Wale Adeyanju. Mrs. Patience Jonathan was represented by Dr. Rabi Ibrahim; the Chairman, Organisation and Mobilisation Committee of the party in South-West, Buruji Kashamu, was also present.

Kashamu ascribed the security challenges confronting the country to some Fifth Columnists who “are deliberately promoting violence and insecurity” in order to blur President Goodluck Jonathan’s achievements in all sectors of the economy.

The PDP boss expressed the view that Jonathan’s Presidency was divinely ordained, “Therefore, no amount of sabotage and blackmail can stop a man on a Divine mission”.

Kashamu reiterated his earlier call on the President to publicly declare his re-election bid. His words: “Time is running out. He (President) has consistently told us that he would declare his position this year and I wish him to do just that without further delay”.

NBA’s lecture holds May 25-27 PEAKER of the House of STambuwal, Representatives, Aminu has confirmed his participation as the Keynote Speaker at the 8th Yearly Business Law Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association’s (NBA) Section on Business Law (SBL) holding at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, from May 25 to 27.

Chairman, Section on Business Law, Gbenga Oyebode, said Tambuwal is presenting the keynote speech because the Legislature has a major role to play in ensuring that exemplary governance principles are adhered to for the promotion and sustainability of transformational, impactful economic and

human capital development in Nigeria.

Oyebode added: “The theme for this year’s conference was derived, in part, taking into consideration the fact that the conference is being held in the penultimate year to Nigeria’s general elections. Therefore, it presents a unique opportunity for stakeholders to address the imperatives of exemplary governance as a platform for enhancing economic development in the country.”

Chairman of the 2014 Conference Planning Committee (CPC), Seni Adio, said: Tambuwal’s speech is expected to set the overarching tone of discussions during the two days.

APC sweeps Kano council elections, PDP kicks From Murtala Muhammed, Kano LL Progressives Congress A (APC) has recorded landmark victory, winning all the 44 local government chairmanship and the 484 councilorship posts in the Saturday’s local council elections in Kano State.

In his two paragraph statement, Chairman of Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC), Dr. Sani Lawal, noted that the Saturday elections were conducted in a peaceful manner and the outcome declared by all the returning officers reflected the will of the people.

“The commission is thankful for the support it received from Kano State government, security agents, leaders of the 19 participating political parties, media, youth organizations and all the other stakeholders in the state for the smooth conduct

of the poll,” Lawal said.

But in its swifts reaction, the state People’s Democratic Party (PDP) rejected the outcome of the poll and threatened to challenge the conduct of the elections in court.

Condemning the result at a press briefing yesterday, former governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, who denounced the authenticity of the electoral process insisted KANSIEC has no evidence to prove election took place in major wards in the state.

The emerging leader of PDP in Kano accused APC of deploying thugs to intimidate PDP supporters, denying them opportunity to exercise their franchise.

Shekarau also alleged that KANSIEC refused to make electoral materials available within the specified space of time and where available, it was belated deliberately to short change supporters of PDP in Kano.

PFN, others mourn Nigeria’s

By Chris Irekamba IGERIA’S oldest Catholic N priest, Monsignor Ayodele Pedro Martins, has passed away. He died on Friday, May 16, at the age of 103 as a result of health complications arising from his age.

Confirming the death, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, His Grace, Most Rev. Dr. Alfred Adewale Martins, who, through his Director of Social Communications, Msgr.

Gabriel Osu, said that the man died at his residence in Victoria Island, Lagos.

The statement read thus: “On behalf of the priests, religious and entire lay faithful of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, it is with a heavy heart but with gratitude to God for a life well spent that we announce the passing on to glory of our dear Msgr. Pedro Ayodele Martins, the oldest Catholic priest in Nigeria. Details of his interment would soon be made public. May his gentle soul and those of other faithful departed rest in perfect peace.”

A man of many firsts and enviable records, Martins was born on November 16, 1910. He became the first Lagosian to be ordained Catholic priest; the pioneer Nigerian Catholic chaplain of the Nigerian

Army; first Nigerian director of the Nigerian Army Chaplaincy Services (Catholic), the oldest Catholic cleric and oldest retired military officer.

Meanwhile, President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Rev. (Dr.) Felix Omobude and General Overseer of the Vineyard Christian Ministries Worldwide, Archbishop John Osa-Oni, have paid their condolences to the Catholic Church and Nigerians in general.

Speaking with The Guardian, the PFN president described Martins’ death as a sad loss.

According to him: “I heard about it yesterday (Sunday), we in the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria express our condolences to our brothers and sisters in the Catholic community. We thank God for the exemplary life that Pedro Martins lived. We pray that the entire Catholic community, his family and people of Lagos State and Nigerians indeed should learn from the sacrificial life this veteran lived in the Army and in various endeavours where he served.”

Expressing shock over the death, Archbishop Osa-Oni told The Guardian that the man had laboured so well and had finished his cause.

He said: “I believe he worked diligently with the Lord and that is why God preserved him. I want to send my condolences to the Catholic family for this great loss of a veteran, a veteran in the priesthood and in the Army.

“I salute his courage for the wealth of knowledge that he had received over the years and I’m glad that most Nigerians have also tapped into that wealth of knowledge. It’s painful that he left at such a time in our country when we needed many fathers to stabilise some of the things that we were looking for. It’s bitter that he has gone; we hope and pray that God would raise more fathers in the Catholic and in other faiths.

Msgnr Pedro “I believe that the strength of God, the oil of comfort, will come upon the Catholic family, the Christian family in this nation and worldwide. A veteran who served in the Nigerian Army, we can see that Nigerian Army is still one of the standard army in the world with discipline. Those are some of the legacies.”

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EKITI 2014

Oni’s exit inconsequential, says South West PDP From Iyabo Lawal Ibadan HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South West yesterday rose from its meeting in Ibadan, dismissing the defection of the for-

T

mer governor of Ekiti State, Olusegun Oni to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as ineffective and of no consequence in the next governorship election in the state.

Oni, who was also the former National Vice-Chairman (South-West) of the party was described as “an animal full of skeleton and without flesh” by the Caretaker Chair-

man, Ishola Filani.

The PDP chieftain told his supporters that people from other parties are daily defecting to the PDP and did not follow the former governor.

Ajayi expressed dismay over the way and manner information is being hoarded by the present administration, saying the attribute of good governance is transparency, adding that, up till now the

present government has refused to answer the 50 questions posed to it by Ekiti Koya on how much he has spent on the various projects embarked upon by the current administration, despite the existence of the freedom of information law.

Ajayi, who is also the National Coordinator of Ekiti Koya group, told the crowd that nobody has access to any of the laws enacted by the present government because they are obnoxious.

Accord promises open administration Stories by Muyiwa Adeyemi, Ado Ekiti CCORD Party in Ekiti State A has restated the party’s resolve to run a transparent administration if elected into power in the June 21 gover-

norship election in the state.

The party’s gubernatorial candidate, Barrister Kole Ajayi stated this yesterday while addressing his supporters at Old Garage area at Ado-Ekiti.

KSU students urge support for Fayemi • Gov’s wife wants women to exercise voting rights EMBERS of the Ekiti State M University (EKSU) Students Union Government (SUG) have commended the state governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi for turning around the education sector in the last three and half years. They thus pledged their support for his re-election bid.

Led by its President, Ibitola Babatope, who paid a visit to the Deputy Governor, Prof Modupe Adelabu at her office, the union noted that the faithful implementation of Education and Human Capital Development –the fourth on the EightPoint Agenda of the administration, has completely restored the dwindling fortune of education in the state.

He listed regular disbursement of bursary to indigent students in various tertiary institutions within and outside the country, renovation of schools, distribution of laptop computers to teachers and students of secondary schools in Ekiti and regular subventions to state-owned tertiary institutions as some of the landmarks of the administration in the sector.

Responding, Prof Adelabu commended the students’ for being sensible and sensitive to the government’s effort to restore the glory of the state in education as the Fountain of Knowledge, which produced intellectuals and achievers and urged them to be studious and make the best use of the golden opportunities provided by the Kayode Fayemi led administration.

Meanwhile, wife of the state governor, Mrs. Bisi Fayemi yesterday advised women to disregard threats of an opposition party that soldiers and security agencies will prevent them from exercising their voting rights on June 21, this year, assuring that the state will be safe for the electorates and nobody will be intimidated, as Ekiti people have expressed their desire for a free and fair election.

Addressing a crowd of supporters Iye Ekiti in Ilejemeje Local Government Area of Ekiti State during a market centres campaign rally, she said his husband is running on track records of solid achievements unlike the candidates of other parties.

Mrs. Fayemi stated that “Our consistent canvass for votes is not that we are jittery but to ensure that no voter is left behind. We have to sensitize our people and increase the advocacy for voters’ education to prevent apathy.

“We have gone round all the

farmsteads and this is for us to be familiar with the challenges being faced in those

communities.

This will form part of the strategies to tackle social and economic problems at the grassroots during the second

The caretaker chairman expressed optimism that the party would win the two states, Ekiti and Osun, which were lost through judicial process when the governorship elections holding next month and August take place.

He maintained that contrary to allegations leveled by the incumbent governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State that the party was planning to rig the June election, “we are not rigging the election, but we will deploy all our arsenals to win Ekiti and Osun states.

“We are sure that come June and August when the two elections will be held, you will celebrate our victory in these two states with us. We have a lot of roles to play in the two elections and we are

also preparing now how we will ensure victory for President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 elections,” he added.

At the meeting held at the Bodija, Ibadan Zonal Secretariat of the party, the chairman surrounded by other members of the committee lamented that the lacuna created by the non-functional committee in the almost one year had rubbed off on the reconciliatory gains recorded before they left office.

Filani, however, expressed happiness that the party members across the zone had seen reason to remain committed and steadfast, which he said accounted for non-defection of any prominent member in the last one year.

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Sports Countdown To Brazil 2014 World Cup

UEFA Champions League Final Heineken five final ticket winners divided over Real, Atletico Madrid

‘We are beginning to get the 1994 feeling in Eagles’ camp’

hE five lucky winners of T heineken’s all-expense paid trip to the UEFA

• World camp opens May 25

By Christian Okpara and Alex Monye EAGLES’ Coach, SteamUPER Stephen Keshi, believes his can surpass everything already achieved by African team at the World Cup because ‘the signs are good.’

Africa’s best performance at the World Cup is the quarterfinal achieved by Cameroun, Senegal and Ghana. And Keshi says the omens show that the Super Eagles could go further that the last eight.

Speaking yesterday being decorated as the 2013 Nigeria Pitch Awards ‘Coach of The Year,’ Keshi recalled the aura that surrounded the Super Eagles’ 1994 team ahead of the World Cup in the United States, adding, “everything is beginning to fall in place.”

According to Keshi, who disclosed that the Eagles will resume camping in London on Monday, “I am beginning to see a good sign. Everybody is working together in the interest of Nigeria. There are elements of the 1994 team in my current team.” however, even with the confidence he has in the ability of his team to come good in Brazil, Keshi hinges the Eagles’ success on the fitness of the players, whom he confessed he has not seen since the country met Mexico in a friendly game in US. “I know mentally they are ready, but I need to see them again on the field,” he added.

On what Nigerians should expect from the Eagles in Brazil, Keshi said: “My job is to

bring joy to Nigerians. But it will not be easy in Brazil.

“We have just started and sincerely we need to work harder. We will begin real preparation after the game against Scotland on Wednesday.

“I know that we can win the World Cup if we concentrate, work hard and believe in our ability.”

Most Nigerians see the game against Argentina as the toughest match in Group F, but Keshi is not thinking of that tie yet.

According to the former Togo coach, Nigeria’s toughest games are the first two matches against Iran and Bosnia.

“We cannot begin to talk about Argentina when we have not crossed the hurdle set by Iran and Bosnia. The Argentina is the third game and before then, we must have known where we stand,” he added.

Meanwhile, Nigeria Football Federation’s Media Officer, Ademola Olajire, has revealed that the Eagles’ technical crew and five domestic players in the team’s provisional squad would leave for England from Abuja on Sunday to join their foreignbased counterparts in preparation for friendly game against Scotland on May 28.

After the game against Scotland, Olajire said the team would depart for the US, where they will play some friendly matches as part of the build up to the World Cup.

Keshi, Bassey, Ogunmuyiwa receive Nigeria Pitch Awards UPER Eagles’ Coach, Scommittee Stephen Keshi, CAF/FIFA member, Paul Bassey and referee, Jelili Ogunmuyiwa, were yesterday in Lagos decorated as the best in their profession by the Nigeria Pitch Awards.

The trio were not present when the awards held in Calabar in November last year and according to Matchmakers Consult, organisers of the Nigeria Pitch Awards, yesterday’s investiture was to recognize them for their achievements in 2013.

Keshi was presented with the Coach of The year Award; Bassey got the Special Recognition Award, while Ogunmuyiwa was decorated as the Referee of the Year.

Speaking after receiving his award, Keshi said the honour would further inspire his team to work harder for more recognition. he said: “I want to thank the NFF… most Nigerians do not know it, but Alhaji Aminu Maigari has been the pillar of

support behind our successes.

“I dedicate the award to my coaches, who toil day and night to ensure that we get to the standard we want for the team.”

Ogunmuyiwa, a 36-year-old referee, wants Nigerians to support match officials to do the right thing, saying, “we can only achieve greatness if all of us can join hands to develop the game.”

In his reaction, Paul Bassey pledged to continue doing his best in the service of Nigerian football, adding that the sentiment in the country is that the Eagles must succeed.

“Nigerians are resolved that the Super Eagles will do well at the World Cup. We want to do better than what other African countries had achieved at the World Cup. “Nigerians have resolved to join hands in giving the team a push, and whatever the coach desires, we must all help to actualize our dreams.”

Keshi

Okagbare’s Diamond League performance thrills Danagogo, Ndanusa VERYBODY likes a winner, E especially when the victorious one renews the peoples’ hope on a country traumatised by the activities of terrorists.

Yesterday, the Sports Minister/Chairman, National Sports Commission (NSC), Dr. Tammy Danagogo and the president of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Sani Ndanusa, joined other Nigerians in saluting Blessing Okagbare, the amazon, who put the country’s on the list of winners in this year’s International Association of Athletics Federation’s (IAAF) Diamond League.

Okagbare on Sunday at the 2014 IAAF Diamond League in Shanghai, China, set new times in winning both the women long jump and the 200 metres events.

The 2008 Olympics bronze medalist set meet records in both the long Jump and 200m where she leapt 6.86m and returned in a time of 22.36 seconds, beating Anthonique Strachan of the Bahamas, who returned in a time of 22.50 seconds to the second position.

Dr. Danagogo said Okagbare’s efforts were commendable, stressing that the feat was a morale booster for the Delta-born athlete’s preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

“This is cheering news for the athletics family and

Nigeria in general considering that preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games is on now. The result will further boost her morale to train harder for the Glasgow Games,” he said.

While urging Okagbare not to rest on her oars, the Minister said everything would be done to assist Okagbare and all other athletes preparing for the Commonwealth Games to ensure that the country places well at the Games, which holds in July and August.

The Minister disclosed that many more Okagbares exist in the country, some of who have been identified and would carry the country’s flag at the Africa Youth Games, which begins in Gaborone, Botswana today (Wednesday) and would be nurtured to stardom like her.

“Nigeria is blessed with a lot of talents like Blessing and some of them already identified would be representing the country at the Africa Youth Games. We have put everything in place to ensure they win laurels for the country in Botswana,” he said, adding, “We will not stop there. They will be nurtured to stardom like Blessing.”

In his reaction to Okagbare’s feat, Ndanusa hailed Okagbare as a true blessing for Nigeria. ‘’I could not hold back tears of joy when I watched her on

TV soaring higher in the Long Jump and moments later she brought her grace and elegance to bear in the tracks’’.

She was a beauty to behold and indeed her commanding performances are worthy of celebrating.

Champions League final match are sharply divided on their support for Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid the two Spanish sides contesting the final match at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon, Portugal.

The unbeaten club so far in the competition, Atletico Madrid, in their maiden final of the competition, will renew their El Derbi madrileño tie with Real Madrid, who are aiming for La Decima glory at the 65,647 capacity stadium in Lisbon.

As Expected, all the five fans on heineken’s fully sponsored trip to the final are united in their excitement at being the ‘lucky’ consumers among several UEFA Champions League fans in Nigeria that participated in the heineken ‘Match Your half Ticket’ promotion to decide who enjoys this once in a life time two-day trip to Lisbon. however, when the match starts at exactly 7:45pm Nigerian time, the friendship and excitement of the earlier visit to tourist locations in Lisbon will take the back stage because all five winners are sharply divided on the two finalists they will support in the epic match.

Jayne Nelson Uzegbu, the winner from Lagos, will not hide her excitement at seeing Cristiano Ronaldo celebrate with the trophy at the end of the match as she hopes that the Los Blancos make their tenth European glory in Lisbon.

DAWN Games 2014 Ogun beats Oyo in football, as gymnastics, tennis finals hold today

By Samuel Ifetoye WIMMING, table tennis, volleyball tennis and basketball took the centre stage at various centres of the ongoing Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Games entered day four yesterday.

In the swimming event held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, King Yinboteyi from Team Lagos won the 800 metres girls’ freestyle in heat one, while Seun Adeola also from Team Lagos won the boys’ version.

Ibukunle Daniel of Team Lagos beat other contestants to emerge winner in the 100 metres breaststroke for boys.

At the Agege Stadium main bowl, Team Oyo lost to Team Ogun by a lone goal in the only football match played yesterday.

In the table tennis singles event also played at Teslim Balogun Stadium for the girls, Alimot Ayinla of Team Lagos defeated Esther Akintonde (Team Ogun) in

S

straight sets of 11-4, 11-9, 11-5.

In another match played, Taiwo Okaragba (Team Ekiti) humbled Taiwo Ayobami (Team Osun) 11-6, 11-3, 11-9.

Emmanuel Augustine (Team Lagos) dismissed Quadri Owoseni (Team Osun) 3-1 in one of the single events, while Sunday Oyewusi (Team Ekiti) stopped hammed Oparemi 11-2, 11-3, 11-2.

In the volleyball boys’ event at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos walloped Team Ekiti 3-0, while Lagos girls also defeated Ogun 3-1.

The basketball courts of the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Rowe Park yesterday witnessed two matches.

Team Lagos boys won their game against Team Ogun 7335 points, while their girls lost 22-32 to Oyo. In the gymnastic team event, Team Lagos won gold, (121.95 Points); silver went to Team Ekiti (100. 41 Points ), while Ogun won the bronze (95. 27 points).

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 SPORTS 95

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

France keeper, Mandanda out of World Cup goalkeeper Steve FheRANCE Mandanda has confirmed will miss the World Cup after suffering a neck injury in Marseille’s final match of the season.

The 27-year-old collided with Guingamp striker Mustapha Yatabare during the first half of an eventual 10 victory for Marseille at the Stade Velodrome at the weekend.

Marseille announced Mandanda had suffered a cracked vertebra, immediately putting his World Cup place in jeopardy, and Mandanda used his Twitter account to confirm the news on Sunday.

“It is with sadness that I announce that unfortunately I will not be able to keep my place in the World Cup squad,” he wrote.

“I wish the team of France a World Cup full of success.”

Mandanda had been named alongside goalkeepers Hugo Lloris of Tottenham and Bastia’s Mickael Landreau in France’s 23-man squad for

the Brazil finals, with Stephane Ruffier of St Etienne called up from the reserve list to replace him.

In a statement the French Football Federation (FFF) said Mandanda would need at least six weeks to recover.

“The neurosurgical advice following the MRI performed found the need for an immobilisation brace to be worn for three weeks followed by three weeks of rehabilitation before considering a return to action,” the statement said.

“Didier Deschamps is aware that this meant the Marseille goalkeeper was unavailable.

As such, Stephane Ruffier has been brought into the list of 23 players. At present, no other player has been called.”

Speaking at the weekend, Marseille club doctor Christophe Baudot moved to allay fears of any neurological damage.

“Steve has suffered a crack on his first cervical vertebra,” Baudot told Marseille’s official website.

New Wenger deal imminent RSENAL manager Arsene A Wenger is set to sign a new contract within the next 48 hours.

The Frenchman, whose current deal runs out in the summer, will wrap up the new agreement before heading to the World Cup as a pundit for French television.

Wenger said: “Yes (it will be done), because I go to Brazil on the 10th of June.”

A proud Wenger watched his Arsenal side win the FA Cup 32 in extra-time against Hull City at Wembley to end a trophy drought of nine years since they last annexed the Football Association’s domestic cup competition.

The Gunners became the first team to overturn a twogoal deficit and lift the FA Cup

since Everton beat Sheffield Wednesday in 1966.

Wenger said: “We live in a world where people tell you always what you have not (done), they never tell you that you have done something as well.

“I believe as well the quality of a club is the consistency and then the special players make you win the trophies.

“The quality of the consistency is important for the club and on that front we have been better than everybody else - there are only two clubs in Europe who have 17 years consecutively qualified for the Champions League and that consistency demands special values inside the club.”

Giggs ends glittering career ANCHESTER United M winger Ryan Giggs has retired from playing after being named assistant to new coach Louis van Gaal.

Giggs, 40, made a club record 963 appearances for United and played 64 times for Wales.

“My dream was always to play for Manchester United” Ryan Giggs Retiring United great having won 13 league titles, four FA Cups and two Champions Leagues, among 34 trophies.

He said: “Today is a new chapter filled with many emotions - immense pride,

sadness, but most of all, excitement.”

Giggs never managed to reach a major international tournament with Wales. But he did skipper Team GB at London 2012, only to lose in the quarter-finals to South Korea on penalties.

He made his last appearance in the 3-1 win over Hull on 6 May, when he replaced youngster Tom Lawrence for the last 20 minutes of the game.

“My dream was always to play for Manchester United,” he said.

Mandanda

Louis van Gaal is Man Utd new manager FTER weeks of speculation, A Louis van Gal has finally been named as Manchester United manager, with Ryan Gigs as his assistant.

Van Gal, 62, has signed a three-year contract to succeed David Mayes.

The Dutchman, who has won titles with Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AZ Alkmaar, will take charge at Old Trafford after leading the Netherlands at this summer’s World Cup in Brazil.

“This club has big ambitions.

I too have big ambitions,” he said. “Together I’m sure we will make history.”

Van Gal said he had always wanted to work in the Premier League. He added: “To work as a manager for Manchester United, the

at the club as a sporting director once his playing days are over.

Ibrahimovic, who joined the Parc des Princes club two years ago, scored his 26th league goal of the season on Saturday as PSG romped to a 4-0 win over Montpellier to celebrate back-to-back Ligue 1 titles.

The 32-year-old has two years remaining on his current contract, but Al-Khelaifi sees the Sweden international as an iconic figure and is keen for him to have a long-

term role at the club.

“I spoke to Zlatan so that he’ll stay with us when he finishes his playing career and becomes sporting director. If he does that he’ll become the best sporting director in the world. He’s got a big personality and everybody respects him,” he told RTL radio.

“I appreciate the professional that is Zlatan, the man that is Zlatan.

“He’s very, very funny. I want to keep some former players when they stop, for example Zoumana Camara is somebody I would like to keep with us.”

provides him with a fitting stage on which to write new chapters in the Manchester United story. “ It seems Van Gal has wasted no time in making his intentions clear. “Louis has already communicated some great ideas for how the club can move forward,” said united co-chairman, Adie Glazer.

“The board is right behind him in his plans and everyone here is already looking forward to the start of next season.”

Gigs, 40, who took charge for the final four games of the season following the departure of Mayes, met Van Gal in the Netherlands last week to talk about his future.

His appointment as assistant marks the end of an illustri-

ous playing career during which he won 34 major trophies in 802 starts and 161 substitute appearances.

“I am thrilled to have the chance to serve as assistant manager,” said the Welshman. “Louis van Gal is a world-class coach and I know I will learn a lot about coaching from being able to observe and contribute at such close quarters.

“Manchester United has been a huge part of my life and I’m delighted to be able to continue that relationship in such a key role.”

United finished seventh in the Premier League, after a title defense that featured one-sided defeats by Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Chelsea, Man City, United battle for Sagna ACARY Sagna remains coy B over his future after playing what could be his last game for Arsenal.

The France international is out of contract at the

PSG wants to keep Ibrahimovic as director ARIS St Germain president P Nasser Al-Khelaifi wants to keep Zlatan Ibrahimovic

biggest club in the world, makes me very proud.

“I have managed in games at Old Trafford before and know what an incredible arena Old Trafford is and how passionate and knowledgeable the fans are.”

After ending the reign of Mayes in April after a troubled 10 months, united executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward is convinced he has appointed the right man this time.

“His track record of success in winning leagues and cups across Europe throughout his career makes him the perfect choice,” said Woodward.

“In Louis van Gal, we have secured the services of one of the outstanding managers in the game today. Old Trafford

Sagna

Emirates this summer, and talks with the club have failed to reach agreement over an extension.

Manchester City, Manchester United and

Chelsea are all reported to be interested in landing the 31year-old.

Speaking after helping Arsenal lift the FA Cup, their first trophy in nine years, he reiterated that he was yet to agree terms and admits the final win over Hull City could have been his last game for the club seven years after he joined the club from Auxerre.

“Will it be my last game for Arsenal? I don’t know,” he told The Sun. “Everyone knows I am out of contract and we have not found an agreement with Arsenal.

“Right now, there is a lot of emotion and I am just very happy for Arsene Wenger and for everyone at this club.

“We have struggled for quite a few years but the manager has always believed in us. All this time he has been heavily criticised so he deserves this victory.

“Personally, I am glad to have finally lifted a trophy.

For me, this is a great return to Wembley after losing the League Cup final to Birmingham in 2011.

“There is a lot of relief and a lot of pride, it has been nine years since the team won a title so it was really important to get this trophy at last.

“Every year we have started the season under pressure.

Before a ball was even kicked people spoke only about the lack of trophies and it ended up getting into the head of everyone at the club.

“We knew we were expected to end that run and that only increased the pressure.

“Now we have given some pride to our supporters and the players have personal pride.

“But it was a very, very difficult day for us. It was a very poor start and we were caught out on two set-pieces even though we knew that would be Hull’s main threat.

“After that we had to run for miles and miles because Hull were in place and we had to break them down. So we made life very difficult for ourselves.

“But with patience we eventually made things happen and we managed to emerge victorious.”

TheGuardian

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

By Tosin Ogunmola IGERIA, no doubt, has had a chequered hisN tory. The country would appear as a contradiction of some sorts. And we live in the realities of this contradiction. A country that is hugely blessed with natural resources is plagued with wanton environmental degradation and acute economic poverty. A country that is endowed with the best of productive soil and massive arable land imports a large percentage of its food. There is no gainsaying the fact that there is a huge gap between where Nigeria is and where it could and should be. It is therefore the desire of every well-meaning and patriotic Nigerian to see the country more from poverty to prosperity, from doldrums to enviable heights of rapid development and advancement. But if wishes were horses, it is said, beggars would ride on horses. Nothing happens by chances or wishful thinking but by conscious efforts at concrete steps and actions.

In apparent fantasy, one would imagine Nigeria in the United Nations Security Council or the G20 of most economically advanced nations. It is, however, possible. In the words of a former president of the United States of America, Nigeria has got all a nation requires to attain greatness. The question is if we can, why haven’t we? Asking the right questions and giving honest answers remains the only guaranteed way of solving problems. And the concluding question would be, if we can, why won’t we?

As in every problem-solving science, a proper root-cause analysis is important in resolving Nigeria and putting it on the path of greatness.

The journey to Nigerian state started with amalgamation of the two British protectorates in 1914 and since the interest of the colonial masters was the overriding factor, coupled with the

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Imperative of Nigeria’s re-birth cultural differences along with the resultant orientation and interests of the major sections of the amalgamated state, Nigeria was in 1960 at independence built upon mistrust amongst its constituent parts. This in turn engendered a serious political rivalry and intolerance that denied the country of a collective sense of direction. It rather bred sentiments. It bred nepotism. And the natural consequence is misgovernance. The country was run aground through corruption and the collapse of what would rather have been proper governance structures and institution. Corruption in government and desperation of survival by the populace due to limited opportunities negatively impacted on societal values, which were quickly eroded and in every facet of our lives, we migrated to the stage of “anything goes”. Corruption became the order of the day and every sector of human development collapsed from education to health, from infrastructure to industry and from security to communality. Here we are today.

It is said that when trees fall on one another,

President Jonathan you begin recovery by removing the topmost and proceed in that order till you access the tree farthest at the bottom. And it is logical for

Nigeria’s recovery to follow the same pattern.

We must begin with a rejuvenation of our value system. The home, the education system, the religious institutions and the traditional institution must come alive to this responsibility.

The last three must rally to engender and facilitate a nation system where homes take their rightful place, where proper home-training and moral values are developed. This will go along with a patriotic determination on the part of those with the responsibility of governance at all levels to engender good governance that would create opportunities. The common ingredient in all of these is that in home, in educational institutions at all levels, in religious institutions, in traditional systems and in government, those in leadership must live and/or be made to live by example.

As all of these coalesce, for a true nation to emerge out of the country, there’s need to engender trust among the constituent parts of the country. There is need to understand our differences and fashion out mechanisms to respect and sustain our individual preferences while developing a collective sense of direction to harness our potentials. We should seize the opportunity of the on-going national conference to carve a joint ambition for development and greatness, developing an agreeable roadmap in the core areas of security, economy, education, health and infrastructure towards a great nation that would in the nearest future command the respect of the world. It is possible and it is up to us all.

Finally, one germane suggestion to the political imbroglio, which would create an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust, is to work out a confederal system of government.

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Burden of power distribution

By Hussein Obaro HEN we were growing up as kids in the W late 70s and early 80s, we were made to understand whenever there was power outage that there had been a major technical fault occasioned either by an environmental interference or weather induced. I still remember vividly the fact that whenever there is a prolonged power outage, an announcement would be made on radio and television and apologies tendered to the public with assurances to rectify the hitches.

There were problems quite all right but within hours light would be restored.

Unfortunately things have really gone bad.

The operators do not believe that the consumers deserve respect and that there is accountability when there are failings in service delivery. The exclamation “Up Nepa!” says it all: Exasperated citizens feel relieved and jubilation reverberates everywhere. That is when light is restored, characterising expressions of joy and relief whenever electricity is brought. There is the rushing by Nigerians to start charging their phone battery and electrical appliances in anticipation that power may go off again any moment. “Crazy bills” has become the order of the day with the public being made to pay as high as N10, 000 to N15, 000 per month as electricity bill for a two or three bedroom flat apartment.

Nigerians are often harassed into paying bills for electricity they did not use.

Consumers are coerced with threats of disconnection to rush to pay for what they didn’t use just to save face and maintain their pride in their communities. “Inherited bills” seem to have come to stay, as new tenants of a particular apartment is forced and harassed into clearing any outstanding bills owed usually by the predecessor tenant.

The introduction of prepaid meters a few

Minister of Power, Chinedu Nebo years ago came as a relief to many, but hopes were dashed when many were made to under-

stand that those meters were actually meant for VIP customers. Nigerians less endowed materially had to pay through their nose just to get a prepaid meter. The price tag was as high as between N50, 000 to N100, 000. Even then you had to wait endlessly, indeed, for months. In the end you might still not get any meter and no money is returned nor is any interest paid for deposit in the operators’ custody. The electricity transmission companies shy away from taking responsibility or measures at restoring or repairing power installations whenever the occasion arises, which could be either due to the elements, such as storm or activities of vandals. The affected communities are usually made to bear the brunt and such breakdown. Not only that the public is made to contribute certain amounts of money to fix even the minutest faults. It is double jeopardy when you consider that upon that, one still has to pay the bill, crazy or not at the end of the month!

It is pertinent to say that some areas experi-

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ence near uninterrupted power supply while others who are in the majority have light for no more than four hours a day. What this throws up is that a lot still need to be done with regards to power distribution in Nigeria.

If I may be specific with particular reference to the Kwara State Capital, Ilorin, where I reside, communities such as Airport, Asadam/Dangote, Agbo-Oba, Ganmo, Ita-Alamu, Olunlade and some parts of Osere and GRA usually have almost 24 hours uninterrupted power supply at the expense of other communities which constitute almost 70 per cent of the population of the state capital. It must be intriguing that the billings do not reflect this disparity and lopsidedness.

It doesn’t really matter the quantity of electricity Nigeria generates, what matters is how much of electricity a household gets. Even if the country generates one million megawatts of electricity, it wouldn’t make any sense or meaning to the average Nigerian if at the end of the day he/she doesn’t get to enjoy it. Hence, the need for the power transmission companies to look urgently into their modus operandi to resolve and rectify the lopsidedness in electricity distribution.

Electricity consumers should get value for their money. It is inequitable for some people to have electricity for almost 24 hours daily while the majority of others would only be doing the paying of bills for electricity they didn’t use. Nigerians are calling on the relevant agencies like the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and, indeed, all major stakeholders in power transmission and distribution to come to the rescue of the common man with the aim of addressing the issues raised in this piece, to ensure that right things are done to move this country forward • Obaro lives in Ilorin, Kwara State.

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