The Nation Dec 1, 2013

Jonathan: ASUU strike subversive May soft-pedal UNN, ESUT set to –Page 5 on ultimatum resume tomorrow

2015: I have not anointed any candidate –Buhari –Page 6 ‘Why we stormed INEC’

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.08, No. 2684

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

N200.00

DECEMBER 1, 2013

EX-ZAMFARA GOV, YERIMA, 29 OTHERS ARRAIGNED FOR CONSPIRACY

–Page 5

•Main picture: Trader’s at Afor Mkpor market, Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government carrying on business as usual despite the movement restriction for yesterday’s Anambra supplementary governorship poll. Inset-left to right- Accreditation at Esther Obiakor Estate, Agu-Awka ward 1; voters at Ifite Agbaja in Abatete, Idemili North LG and on lookers yesterday.

Anambra supplementary election flops Residents ignore restriction order APC, PDP, LP agents absent from polling units Votes scored: APGA,180,178; PDP, 97,700; APC, 95,963; LP, 37,495

BENIN ARREST

I was accused of being Boko Haram founder –Asari Dokubo –PAGE 5

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

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Christmas comes to Bethlehem Municipality employees decorate a Christmas tree in Bethlehem's Manger Square, outside the Church of the Nativity, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ as preparations for Christmas celebrations got underway yesterday. Photo: AFP

BRIEFING Malaysia hails Ogun's proposed 60 storey skyscraper, city centre

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60 storey skyscraper which is part of the features in the proposed Abeokuta City Centre and Government City will re-define the landscape of the Ogun State capital, Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry, YB Dato Sri Mustapha Mohammed, has said.

Mohammed told a visiting team led by Governor Ibikunle Amosun during an investment drive in Kuala Lumpur, that the building, when completed, will be the tallest in Africa and will enhance a total transformation of other cities and towns in the state into cosmopolitan centres.

He described the government's initiative as laudable and capable of attracting more investors into the state.

The Nigerian High Commissioner in Malaysia, Ambassador Bello Sheu Ringim, lauded Amosun for what he called his 'daring willingness' to make Ogun the envy of the world.

"I am always in support of greatness of this sort because Nigeria as a whole needs to take the bull by the horn,� he added.

Responding, Senator Amosun, who was accompanied on the trip by some members of his cabinet and professionals, said "we are always ready to partner with genuine investors in our mission to rebuild Ogun.�

33 dead in Mozambican plane crash P

OLICE on Saturday found the burned wreckage of a Mozambican Airlines plane a day after it went missing in a remote area in northeastern Namibia, saying none of the 33 people aboard from several countries had survived.

It is one of the worst accidents on record in Mozambique's civil aviation history.

"My team on the ground have found the wreckage. No survivors.

The plane is totally burned," Willie Bampton, a regional police coordinator in Namibia's Kavango region, told AFP. The aircraft, en route from Mozambique to Angola, went down in deserted, swampy terrain in the Bwabwata National Park, where Namibia turns into a narrow strip of land sandwiched between Botswana and Angola.

In Maputo, LAM, the acronym for Mozambican Airlines, had not yet officially confirmed the crash.

It only said that flight TM470 had 27 passengers and six crew on board, including: 10 Mozambicans, nine Angolans, five Portuguese, one French national, one Brazilian and one Chinese.

In Lisbon, the foreign ministry said the Brazilian had, in fact, dual Portuguese-Brazilian nationality.

The Mozambique government was holding an emergency meeting in the presidential palace but likewise made no immediate statement, other than to confirm that 33 people had been on board.

The European Union banned LAM and all air carriers certified in Mozambique from flying in its airspace in 2011, citing "significant safety deficiencies".

The concern was about Mozambique's civil aviation authority, rather than the track record of the various airlines.

The LAM plane took off from Maputo at 0926 GMT Friday for the nearly four-hour flight to the Ango-

the area where the plane went missing.

"There are no proper roads, you have to go through the bush, slowly and its making our job difficult," he said.

Villagers who had heard explosions helped point police in the right direction.

Before the wreckage was found, people close to those on board gathered at Maputo airport, many frustrated at what they said was the lack of information.

"They told us it was a forced landing. I know it's a crash," said Luis Paolo, a friend of one of what were said to be two Portuguese businessmen on the flight.

Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco published a condolence message to the families of the victims.

"According to information available at this point, six Portuguese citizens were on board," it said. "With great sorrow, we will continue to follow developments in this tragic accident."

The accident is the deadliest for Mozambique since a plane carrying then president Samora Machel 120 people were in the pub at the time crashed in 1986 in South Africa en Prime Minister David Cameron lenging one.

"Given the damage caused and of the crash. Many were rescued or es- route home from an Africa's leadpaid tribute to the bravery of the "ordinary Glaswegians" who rushed to the nature of the damage, it will take caped but others were trapped by a ers' summit. That crash, which some time to complete the search of collapse on the left-hand side of the shocked the world, remains a myshelp.

Chief Constable Sir Stephen the building and to assess how we be- building. tery but was thought to be linked to Emergency services were erected tensions with the then apartheid House confirmed that one person gin the investigation.

"Clearly the safety of those con- barriers around the scene and spe- regime in Pretoria. The crash had died and further fatalities were expected after the helicopter ducting the search is of the highest cialist rescue teams remained at the claimed at least 34 lives. scene. importance." crashed on to the roof of the pub.

Mozambique said it would set A large area of the city centre was up a commission of enquiry to Mr Salmond said: "This is a black He said they "can't say definitively" whether there are people day for Glasgow and Scotland but it cordoned off.Tarpaulins were put up work with Namibian authorities still trapped within the pub, and is also St Andrew's Day and we can over roof of pub. Those injured were over Friday's crash. added "we are still in a search and re- take pride in how we respond to ad- taken to Glasgow Royal Infirmary, The Bwabwata National Park, a Western Infirmary and the Victoria 6,100-square-kilometre (2,355 versity. covery phase".

"The response from our emer- Infirmary.

Chief Constable House went on: square mile) reserve, is a sparselySome of those who were in pub populated area covered by "This is a very difficult and sensitive gency services and citizens has been taken to a nearby Holiday Inn Ex- wetlands and dense forests. operation. The scene is, as you will exemplary."

It has been reported that about press. understand, a particularly challan capital Luanda.

Mozambican authorities confirmed the plane was a Brazilmanufactured Embraer 190 aircraft and said it was the newest plane in the LAM fleet.

With 100 seats, it was twothirds empty.

Last contact with air traffic controllers was made at 1130 GMT over north Namibia during heavy rainfall. The airlines speculated Friday it may have landed in that area.

Namibia police sent a search team to the area after Botswana officials alerted them of a plane crash in the area.

"Botswana officials informed us that they saw smoke in the air and they thought the crash happened in their country, but when they came to the border they realised that it was in Namibia," Bampton said.

The search for the plane was hampered both by the rough terrain and torrential rains pounding

Eight killed in Scotland's helicopter mishap

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IGHT people died and 14 were seriously injured after a police helicopter crashed into a busy pub in Glasgow, Scotland, on Friday.

Police Scotland said they expected the final number of fatalities would be higher. The crash happened at The Clutha in Stockwell Street at 22:25.

There were three people on board the helicopter - two officers and a civilian pilot. Thirty-two people have been taken to local hospitals.

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond told a press conference it was a "black day for Scotland."

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

T

HEY were from the same state: Edo. But one was from the periphery and outer margins of old empire while the other was from its very heart. They were born the same year, a few months shy of each other. One died at thirty nine, while the other died twenty seven years later at sixty six. They were both writers. But while one was a master craftsman of elegant prose, the other was a fiction writer of powerful imagination. They would have known of each other. But they were not friends. In all probability, they held each other in cordial contempt.

The reason is simple. While one chose to work from the inside to expose the rotting innards of the Nigerian post-colonial state, the other waged a relentless intellectual and ideological warfare against it from the outside. No two individuals could have been more dissimilar in temperament, politics and ideological outlook. Yet in the end, they shared a similar fate. They were both victims of the state. One was spectacularly eliminated by a parcel bomb which bore all the hallmark of state execution. The other succumbed to a killer-convoy of the state There is no further point in comparing the late Dele Giwa and the recently departed Festus Iyayi, except to note that the unarmed prophet of any hue, if he is not deliberately courting martyrdom, must learn the nature and character of the post-colonial state we are dealing with. Yet it was impossible not to admire Iyayi’s consistency and adamantine integrity even while entertaining profound ideological and strategic disagreements with his vision and version of the post-colony. But he was not one of those contemptible charlatans that the late motor park economist famously dismissed as “ Nigeria’s akara and suya Marxists”.

A quote often misattributed to Stalin has it that while one death is a tragedy, a thousand deaths are a mere statistic. Festus Iyayi’s death

And Festus fell…..

S

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nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu

•Iyayi

on the road adds to the lengthening statistics of state violence against Nigerian citizens. Other states kits and kilts their own, but the Nigerian state kills its best and brightest like a demented hen which must suck life out of its own eggs.

Thirty nine years after Iyayi came to national political prominence in a memorable ASUU industrial dispute, he was still at it, this time as an aging generalissimo and grizzled veteran of ASUU protests.

Nothing has changed. If anything, the conditions in the public univer-

H

E was the very symbol of wastage: frail limbs, premature grey hair and a sagging gait. I had put him down as another specimen from our museum of atrocity. He seemed to have understood.

As he took his leave, the wasted young man asked me the million dollar question: “Why do we waste ourselves so much?” he cried.

The metaphor itself, I’m told, originated during our darkest national moment: the civil war. But its sad antecedents, I’m sure, must be located in the bitter and self-destructive post-independence politics of our founding fathers. Like a malignant cancer, it has overtaken every facet of our national life. Wastage has become the dominant metaphor, the allembracing formula for the tragedy of our collective existence.

Wole Soyinka, ever the troubled prophet, first drew our attention to the creeping cancer in the mid-seventies. In a newspaper piece titled “Varieties of Wastage,” Soyinka assailed the invasion of our national life by the culture of wastage. We waste our best and brightest; our best and brightest politicians; our best and brightest soldiers; our best and brightest intellectuals; our best and brightest bankers; our best and brightest journalists etc. the road, taking its orders from the system, completes the carnage for us.

One year this week, a novel and spectacular variety of wastage made its debut on the national scene. Dele Giwa, brilliant editor and one of the stars of Nigerian journalism, was bombed out of existence in his study.

This writer is often amazed these days when people talk glibly about the Nigerian bomb without first conceding that the real “McKoy” made its sly and devastating entry several months ahead of the idle speculations. It is pertinent to add here that nobody can fool history and that if

COLUMN

sities have worsened. Nigerian universities have become a global laughing stock sustained by the unusual heroism and bravery of a few. Many illustrious men and women have perished trying to make sense of this epic failure of the Black person. The intellectual fortress has been stormed and decimated. Those who deliberately destroyed the university system and whose cultural conditioning could not equip them to appreciate the virtues and values of modernity and knowledge-based civiliza-

tion have gone on to become statesmen.

For a man who showed such a powerful imaginative understanding of violence in all its chilling economic, political, intellectual and psychological possibilities to die of its most crass and unimaginative variety is a truly benumbing irony.

It is like a Panzer general being killed by an ox-driven cart. The killer state convoy is a unique Nigerian contribution to modern civilization. It will surely find a befitting place in a future museum of post-colonial atrocities. This must be in addition to low tech corruption and primitive state stealing.

Future generations surveying the catacombs of our current catastrophe must wonder why such a gifted and creative people allowed themselves to be so misruled by their worst and most miserable human specimens.

The fate of the author of Heroes reminds one of a Second World War Japanese soldier who also goes by the name Hiroo Onoda. Twenty nine years after the Japanese surrender, this incredibly brave and hardy soldier was still roaming wild on some forsaken Filipino island simply because he had not heard his commander’s order to surrender. A special ceremony had to be arranged with his old commander, now a bookseller, to allow the man who had become a semibeast foraging on leaves, roots and pillaged rice for three decades to lay down his arms. Iyayi fought on in the most inhuman of circumstances

A diary of wastage care is not taken, that horrifying spectacle of a gifted and virile young man with shattered limbs may itself become an alternative metaphor for our national condition.

As the first anniversary of Giwa’s murder approached, I’ve been thrown into deep mourning and depression. Some days earlier, a good friend, Deji Adegorioye, who had gone to buy some drugs for his indisposed son had his life snuffed out by a bus belonging to the Celestial Church. Some weeks before this, another friend, Tunde Okeleye, a customs official, was battered to death by a danfo bus whose driver had perfected the murderous strategy of overtaking in the night with lights switched off. Death had barely closed in on him before some brave new Nigerians saw it fit to remove his money, his shoes, his wristwatch and the drinks he bought for his kids.

As if all this was not enough bur-

den on the soul, news came of the death by road accident of Professor Iluyomade, Oxford-trained law teacher and attorney-general of Ondo State. Something always conspires to deny us of even our brief sources of joy, I thought in deep gloom. I remembered how the Dele Giwa murder had put a damper on the Wole Soyinka Nobel celebration. And now the cultured and lively people of Ondo town will have to share the joy of their illustrious son winning the national merit award with the grief of burying another illustrious son.

These cruel tricks of fortune! Three weeks earlier, I was thinking of sending a telegram of congratulations to Chinua Achebe on his return to high form when I learnt of the death of Dambudzo Marechera, the gifted Zimbabwean writer. I had reckoned that Achebe who had survived a thousand literary cudgels after his immensely frank but immensely impoli-

tic put-down of Obafemi Awolowo surely deserved some congratulations. But the death of Marechera, the supreme artist of hunger whose life must serve as a classic example of the dissolution of the flesh by spirit (whisky and co), halted me in my track.

These deaths make my mind to focus on the damage the notorious IfeIbadan road might have done to the intellectual development of this country. One now remembers the Bamiduros, the Kola Adenijis, the Taiye Adebanjos, brilliant men who have gone through all the rituals of education only to have their lives tragically terminated on The Road. I remember now a tall, dashing young man who would have graduated with our class of ’75 at Ife. Onome Ibru would have been an invaluable asset not only to the formidable Ibru empire but to the entire country. His life was cruelly abridged on this monster

Now, the turn of the compassionate undertaker

I

T is a grim irony. Even those who bury the dead in the land are not exempt from dying in horrid and gory circumstances. The undertaker himself has been taken under. At this rate, the biblical injunction is set to come to pass: Let the dead bury the dead. Talking about needless and pointless deaths, this one could have been avoided.

That plane ought not to have been cleared to fly.

It is one of the evils of cannibal capitalism that it sets base profit above all other considerations.

Nothing else matters. If the ageing pilot of the geriatric plane cares let him bring it down on a populous

estate. It is the contract that matters, apologies, Festus Iyayi. They will cry for a few days and will get on with it until the next crash. And so a few seconds after being airborne, Tunji Okusanya, his son, his staff, the air crew and Deji Falae, beloved son of Olu Falae, the respected Afenifere chieftain and technocrat, were plucked back to earth in a chariot of fire.

Last week, the whole of Lagos stood still as the great city bade farewell to the compassionate undertaker. Traffic was disrupted for several hours on the island. The outpouring of grief was unprecedented.

It is a typical Nigerian paradox that a

man who lived to prepare others for dignified death should now in death teach the living about the finer and nobler aspects of existence.

Snooper never met this fine fellow. But from all accounts, he was a kind and compassionate man who touched many lives. He exuded human warmth and abundant generosity of spirit. He was a humble servant of death and a proud savant of life. Despite the bonhomie and the hail fellow well met airs, there was also something of the otherworldly mystic about him. He was a man who knew that death is the ultimate leveller. Goodbye Tunji Okusanya, the compassionate undertaker.

until he fell. This is a parable for a paradigm shift for ASUU. A diseased society cannot produce a great university system.

As a mark of respect to its fallen hero and all those who have been wasted by the Nigerian university system, ASUU must now commence an introspective soulsearching about how to redeem Nigeria along with its fallen university system. It is going to take a war of position, that is a costly inch by inch campaign rather than a war of manoeuvre which is a brisk lightning strike against a demobilised enemy. The Japanese knew that they had lost the military war, so they turned to another theatre of human engagement: economy. Once the nature of war changes, so must the mode of engagement. Luckily and as Shakespeare famously said, there is still some architecture in the ruins.

All over Nigeria, our people are being wasted on a daily basis in needless and most absurd of circumstances. It will be foolish to imagine that this human culling on an industrial scale will not have its psychic toll on future generations.

The well of communal wellbeing is already poisoned. As inhabitants of the land of living ghosts, we bring you this morning an early glimpse into the culture of human wastage in this unhappy land. It was written twenty six years ago on the first anniversary of Dele Giwa’s death. Welcome to the Inca Empire and its human abattoir as enacted in post-colonial Africa. of a road.

Now consider this. If one were to resurrect all the people we have put through the ceaseless mill of our unedifying history, all the brilliant men and women that our monstrous system has hurried over to the great beyond! What an endless procession of shame and misery would it have been! What a staggering burden of collective guilt for the living!

Let us end this sad piece with a disturbing but profoundly soothing anecdote. In the gloom and misery that enveloped the nation in the wake of Giwa’s murder. I had the honour of briefly participating in one of the planning sessions for his burial. In the atmosphere of consuming sadness, I had asked a journalist friend whether things would ever be the same again in the country. The man looked at me and said philosophically: “In forty years time, Dele Giwa will be remembered as a fearless journalist of the eighties.”

Then he told me a story about his father. The old man, sensing that he had only a few more months to spare, decided to take his son down the memory lane on a tour of familiar spots on Lagos Island. As they crossed from one alley to another, the old man’s face would light with memory as they came upon some familiar land mark. “That is the house of so and so,” he would begin, “he was a socialite who died mysteriously in 1937.” At another spot the old man would look up and remark: “This is the house of J.K. he died in his prime in 1956.” And so on…

His message was clear. Life will go on. Life must go on. The only honour we, the dazed survivors ,can do to the wasted is to resolve to change a system that is responsible for such colossal waste.

•Culled from Newswatch, October, 1987.

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NEWS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

• L-R: Alhaji Lai Mohammed; a guest; Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande; Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, Mr. Oluwaseyi Tinubu, former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari; Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal and former House Speaker, Aminu Bello Masari, during a dinner party organised for Barrister Seyi Tinubu at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja...at the weekend.

Anambra supplementary T election flops HE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday went ahead with the controversial supplementary governorship election in 16 local government areas of Anambra State but had to contend with mostly empty polling booths.

It was not only the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) that boycotted the election as their candidates had warned, a majority of the voters also did.

However, INEC proceeded with the collation of the results last night at the close of voting.

Chief Willie Obiano of APGA who had the entire electoral field to himself was at press time in the lead, according to the Returning Officer, Professor James Epoke, who is also the ViceChancellor of the University of Calabar.

Earlier in the day,the restriction of vehicular and human movement ordered by the law enforcement agencies during the election went largely ignored.

People went about their business as they would on any other day. Markets, shops and stores were opened all day.

Across Idemili North and South Local Government areas in particular, strongholds of the APC candidate, Dr. Chris Ngige, it was business as usual for the residents.

Youths spent much of the time playing street football.

Only a few people turned up to vote in the election with officials and agents of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), having the field to themselves especially in such areas Esther Obiakor Estate in Agu-Awka, Awka South Council Area and Agbaja 1 in Abatete, Idemili North Council Area.

The state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Ken Emeakayi, acknowledged the poor turnout of voters and wondered why INEC allowed the APGA candidate, Chief Willie Obiano, to participate in the election despite the allegation that he registered more than once in

•As apathy mars exercise •APGA’s Obiano in the lead From Nwanosike Onu Awka violation of the Electoral Act. He told reporters that PDP has already gone to court to challenge that action.

The Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Aniedi Ikoiwak, who supervised Onitsha North and South during yesterday's election, decried the low turnout of voters.

But Emeka Iloduba, who was at Nkpor Uno Isingwu, told The Nation that the apathy was programmed by the Federal Government and INEC to make it easy for the APGA candidate.

At Ugbenu in Awka North Council Area, accreditation of the voters had not started as at 9.10am as INEC materials had not arrived despite sharing the items Friday evening.

The 16 local government areas where INEC had scheduled supplementary elections in some units were Aguata, Awka North, Awka South, Anambra East, Anambra West, Ayamelum, Anaocha, Ekwusigo, Idemili North, Idemili South.

Others were Ihiala, Nnewi South, Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Orumba North and Oyi. Anambra State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Edozie Aroh who was seen with policemen told The Nation that everything was going on well.

Accreditation began at 8am in some of the centres, while voting started between 12 and 2.15pm.

The election was originally scheduled for November 16 but ended up being characterised by massive disorganisation and fraud.

The APC, PDP and LP candidates protested the conduct of the election and called for its cancellation.

Although INEC admitted irregularities, it said they were not enough to cause the cancellation of the election.

It said the best it could do was to conduct a supplementary election which took place yesterday.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) voters apathy trailed the supplementary election in some parts of Onitsha metropolis.

A NAN correspondent who monitored the exercise in polling units in Ward 6 in Onitsha South Local Government Area and a polling unit in Ward 9 in Onitsha North, reported that INEC was fully prepared for the exercise.

It was gathered that election materials and INEC personnel arrived at the various polling booths as early as 7 a.m. while sensitive electoral materials were also available.

However, the electorate were not interested as most residents had decided to go to their daily businesses.

There was a large number of security personnel at each polling booth, which, in some cases, out-numbered the voters who turned out.

Mr. Chidi Okereke, a resident of Zik Avenue in Fegge, said that the materials, INEC main and ad hoc staff, as well as security agencies were in place as early as 7a.m.

Okereke, who is a member of Fegge Community Police Public Relations Committee, said that the mass movement of residents out of Fegge hindered the conduct of the polls. ``Although you cannot blame the people because having sacrificed some days for the election, they did not see reasons for the cancellation (postponement) of the result in the first place,'' he said. ``This is one of the areas in Anambra State where people turn-out en mass to vote during election but this today's development is unlike this area,'' Nwokabia, who is a Chief Orientation

and Mobilisation Officer in NOA, said.

He said that the number of security-men on ground was okay,. ``Honestly, there is no amount of money spent on security that is ever a waste.''

Prince Edward Okosi, Chairman of Onitsha North Caretaker Committee, told NAN at the polling booth 4 in Ward 9, that he believed that more people would see the need to turn out for the election. ``The leaders of thought in the neighbourhood had gone ahead to create the awareness about the exercise among their people,'' Okosi said.

The restriction of movement was not effective in Idemili North Local Government area as residents operated their business activities.

It was observed that most of the markets opened for business while vehicular movements were visible even with the presence of security personnel on the roads.

An INEC official, Mr Edo Kelo, said there was poor turnout in the polling units, but he still expected more people before the close of accreditation at 12.00 p.m.

At Nkpor Uno in Isingwu village, with 3 polling units of 983 registered voters, only 30 were accredited.

Mr Emeka Ilodiuba, a voter, expressed dissatisfaction at the low turnout of voters, stressing that the withdrawal of some candidates might have caused the situation.

Mrs Victoria Ibenegbu, another voter, expressed happiness about the peaceful conduct of the exercise.

The polls are being conducted in 210 polling units in 16 out of 21 local government areas of the state.

The 16 local government areas where INEC is conducting the supplementary election are Aguata, Awka North, Awka South, Anambra East, Anambra West, Ayamelum, Anaocha, Ekwusigo, Idemili North and Idemili South.

Others are Ihiala, Nnewi South, Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Orumba North and Oyi.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

NEWS

5

Why I was arrested by Benin Police,

by Dokubo •Says he was accused of founding Boko Haram sect

F

ORMER militant leader, Mujahadeen Asari Dokubo, yesterday relived his experience in the hands of the Benin Republic police who arrested him last week.

He said Beninous authorities accused him of founding and sponsoring the Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

Dokubo, who was released following the intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan, spoke on Liberty Radio, Kaduna.

He is currently based in the capital, Cotonou, where he runs a chain of businesses including a private university.

But he denied reports that he was flown to Abuja in a Presidential jet after his release.

He claimed that his arrest was instigated by some people in Benin who are envious of his achievements.

He said: “Some people thought that my university will force their own to close down. They said I’m an English speaking person and my schools are doing very well. They are tri-lingual, English, French and Arabic and so many people are getting attracted.

“From the way they planned it, there was no way I could have been released because they (police) took my visa; my businesses were closed down, and they alleged that I am the founder of Boko Haram. That was the charges that they leveled at me: that I am the founder of Boko Haram.

“That I built some mosques in Benin Republic and they closed down the mosques, saying why should I be building mosques in my schools. I was left incommunicado, all my staff were arrested.

“We don’t know who (instigators of arrest) they are, but from the question I was asked, it all points to one area and that is the university. All the security services in Benin, everybody was involved.

Dokubo attributed the escalation of the Boko Haram violence to the killing of the leader of the sect, Muhammed Yusuf, during the Yar’Adua administration.

On the proposed national conference, he said: “in a situation where you don’t take decision by yourself, as events come, you tackle them. If we are to take decisions by ourselves, we would have preferred the conference holding before election.

“But the conference is not sovereign. When we go to the conference, we will go with our agenda. We want sovereign national conference, not national conference.

“If we boycott the conference, we will not succeed. So we would go to the conference, even if we have issue with the conference, on nomenclature, because the conference should be totally sovereign.”

•L-R: Senate President, David Mark, the couple, Bisoye and Chigozie Obasanjo, wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief (Mrs.) Bola Obasanjo, Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, former President and father of the groom, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo at the wedding of the Obasanjos in Abeokuta, yesterday.

ASUU strike is subversive, says Jonathan

P

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan believes the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is more of subversion than a mere trade dispute.

But following criticisms across the country of the December 4 ultimatum he handed down to ASUU to call off the strike or risk mass sack, the President says government may review its stance.

He spoke in Yenagoa late Friday at the Bayelsa State PDP Caucus meeting.

The President is from that state.

Responding to an observation by his former boss, Chief Diepreye Alamieyesigha, that the deadline given the lecturers coincides with the burial of Professor Festus Iyayi who died in the course of resolving the dispute, President Jonathan said the leadership of ASUU showed utter contempt to his person and office.

He said never in the history of Nigeria has the President sat through a labour dispute meeting the type of which he had with ASUU. He said:”What was expected, having met with

•May soft-pedal on ultimatum •UNN, ESUT re-open tomorrow From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

the highest authorities in the land for long hours, was for ASUU to immediately issue a statement within 12 or latest 24 hours to state their position whether they were accepting government’s offer or not.

And if they are not accepting, they should state the reason for that.

“But despite the fact that I had the longest meeting with ASUU in my political history, we did not start that meeting until around 2 pm and the meeting ended the next day in the early hours of the morning.”

He said ASUU has ceased to act like a trade union.

“I have intervened in other labour issues before now. Once I invite them, they respond and after the meeting they take decision and call off the strike.

“At times we don’t even give them a long notice unlike in the case of ASUU that was given four days

notice before the meeting.

As you are meeting to resolve trade disputes, you expect the trade unions to get their officials ready.

“As far as the government of Nigeria was concerned, all the critical people that should be in a meeting were there, so what else do they want?

“After that, they didn’t meet until one week, despite the fact that you met with the highest authority. It was unfortunate one of them, Prof. Iyayi died.

“The way ASUU has conducted the matter shows they are extreme and when Iyayi died, they now said the strike was now indefinite. Our children have been at home for over five months.”

He said the ultimatum was proposed by the Committee of Vice Chancellors and that the Supervising Minister of Education merely “passed on the decision.”

He promised to hold consultation on the deadline “so that we will not be perceived to be insensi-

tive.”

Focusing on the PDP caucaus meeting, he urged unity in the party, stressing that without unity it would be difficult to achieve much in 2015.

The state chairman of the party, Colonel Samuel Inokoba (rtd), who presided at the meeting dismissed the G7 governors as the voice of anarchy who were out to destroy what the nation’s founding fathers started.

He urged all stakeholders in the state to continue to support the President as he faces the daunting task of ruling the country as well as the governor.

Alamieyesigha described the recent defection of five PDP governors to the APC as “a national embarrassment.”

The meeting started on Friday night and ended in the early hours of yesterday.

Meanwhile, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), and the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT),

are set to resume academic activities tomorrow.

They made the announcement in separate statements in Nsukka and Enugu yesterday.

The Registrar of the UNN, Anthony Okonta, said that “normal academic activities would resume immediately.”

He asked students who have pending examinations for the 2012/2013 session to report to their respective faculties and departments in Nsukka and Enugu campuses.

The ESUT Registrar, Chris Igbokwe, also advised students and academic and non- academic staff to report to the institution on December 2.

He advised students to return to their campuses at Agbani and Enugu campuses as the second semester examination would commence on Monday, December 9.

The Federal Government, on Thursday, directed all federal universities to resume work on or before December 4.

The Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, said ASUU members who fail to report for duty that day should consider themselves fired.

court to proffer a criminal charge based on the evidence provided for prosecution.

He said, already, the accused persons who had been served arraignment notice, were released through police administrative bail and pleaded with the court to fix a date for hearing.

The Chief Judge of the

state, Justice Kulu Aliyu, said in a ruling that the court was competent to handle the case.

Aliyu urged the prosecutor to serve the accused persons with all the relevant documents and fixed Jan. 13, 2014 for hearing.

The member of the House of Representatives from Gusau/Tsafe,Alhaji

Ibrahim Shehu, had, in June, alleged that some people mobilised some thugs to kill him.

He alleged that during the incident, the attackers removed large sum of money from his vehicle.

He reported the case to the Inspector-General of Police, who set up an investigation that led to the court case.

Police arraign Yerima on criminal charges

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HE police in Zamfara State at the weekend filed criminal charges against Senator Yerima Bakura and 29 others at a Zamfara High Court over alleged conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that counsel to the police, Oloye Torugbene, sought the leave of the court to

prosecute the case, pursuant to the Criminal Procedure.

He told the court that all relevant documents, including affidavits, exhibits, names and addresses of accused persons, as well as written statements of witnesses and the accused persons, had been submitted to the court.

He, therefore, urged the

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NEWS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

National conference sign of failure of the past -Alaafin

Anambra poll: Why we protested, by Buhari FROM: Yusuf Alli and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

F

ORMER military ruler, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, says the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) marched on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday to underscore the need for justice for all Nigerians.

The march, according to him, was also to drive home the point to those in charge to be courageous to punish those who made mistakes in the November 16 Anambra Governorship Election.

Buhari who spoke during a reception in honour of Oluwaseyi Tinubu, son of a National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in Abuja, said that although he was advised against participating in the protest, he ignored the advice because he was on a familiar ground..

The gathering was organized to mark the call to the Nigerian Bar of the younger Tinubu.

The ex-Head of State said that was the third time he would participate in such a protest against electoral malpractice.

He said he was happy that the Nigerian elite are just realizing that Nigeria is in trouble if it could not conduct free and fair elections.

Buhari said: "What we did on Thursday to get into that bolekaja (lorry), which I believe would not cost much even if it was smashed by the police or the military, was to ensure justice. We wanted to ensure that those who made mistakes are properly punished, those who have not made mistakes are freed and they resume their lives.

"It was a very shrewd decision to get such an old vehicle and pack us inside it. I was advised by some of my colleagues not to be there.

Maybe they thought the police would shoot us and I believe the police were much wiser, that shooting would not have stopped us. We congratulate them for showing some restraints.

"But those who advised me not to go, I knew they were sincere. I did not tell them that I would not take their advice. But I did not take their advice because if they reflected this was the third time I was out like that."

He recalled the first occasion when the late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo was tear-gassed.

"I think it must be a toxic one and he had respiratory problem and he never recovered. The late Okadigbo never recovered. I consulted the party (the defunct ANPP) and we wanted to go to court but the family said no and they left it to God. We left it to God. "The second time if you could recall, myself, the late Chukwuemeka OdumeguOjukwu, Tunde Braithwaite and a few of them were teargassed here in Abuja. So this is the third time I was out.

"So, those who advised me showed a lot of fear but I said well this is a well known ground for me, I will go again. So I went and I got off lightly. "

xxx

From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

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• L-R: Ohaneze Ndigbo South West Zone, Prince Nathaniel Uzomah; Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Eze Igbo Lagos State, Eze Hycinth Ohazuruke and Eze Igbo of Ondo State, Eze Gregory Iloehika, during the inauguration of Ohaneze Ndigbo South West Executives and launch of 100 million naira Youth Education Empowerment Fund in Ado Ekiti yesterday

Amaechi, Rivers PDP in war of words over LG dissolution

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HE Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, said at the weekend in Port Harcourt that Thursday's dissolution of Obio/Akpor Local Government in Rivers State by Governor Rotimi Amaechi would not stand.

The PDP chieftain vowed that the governor's action would be resisted by all means.

The minister who is from the local government area and the political godfather of the sacked council chairman, Mr. Timothy Nsirim and his councillors issued the threat on arrival in the state capital ahead of a rally

* It's a mere threat-PDP factional chairman From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

today by the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI) at Ogu, headquarters of the Ogu/Bolo LGA of Rivers State.

The State Chairman of the PDP Chief Felix Obuah, also declared yesterday in Port Harcourt that the party would stand by Nsirim and stick to Monday's judgment of the State High Court which proclaimed Nsirim as chairman of the council.

Obuah claimed that the Rivers governor had no right to dissolve the Obio/

Akpor LG council.

However, the Godspower Ake-led faction of the PDP in the state dismissed the threats

by Wike and Obuah as empty boasts.

The Publicity Secretary of the faction, George Ukwuoma-Nwogba, said: "The drums of war being beaten by Wike and Obuah are mere threats. Both of them should know that Rivers State belongs to all of us and that the office of the Governor must be respected.

"The Supervising Minister of Education has

enough problems that have bedevilled his ministry, which he needs to tackle in Abuja, especially the strike by the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), since July 1. Why is Wike wasting time in an alreadysettled matter that has come to stay?"

Wike said: "We will resist it to the highest level.

We have passed the stage where you can intimidate anybody. Nsirim remains the Chairman of Obio/ Akpor LG council. He (Nsirim) will continue working. If he (Amaechi) wants to personally come to stop him, we will also march down there."

2015: I have not anointed any candidate, says Buhari L

EADER of All Progressives Congress (APC) General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday in Kano cautioned some members of the party said to be dropping his name to desist forthwith.

He declared that he has not anointed any one for elective office in 2015 as being claimed in some quarters.

Farouk Adamu, a former lawmaker from Jigawa State who represented him at a one-day sensitization workshop organized by APC Forum for Equity and Justice, in Kano, said: "I am one of the

closest associates of General Muhammadu Buhari. The General has not anointed anybody."

Buhari, however, urged members of the APC in Kano to come together and form a formidable team that would be able to win convincingly in Kano in the 2015 elections.

He described the APC as a fusion of different interests, parties and not about Buhari or anybody. " Buhari's candidate is the people's candidate and whatever emerges

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

from the party whether at the Presidential or state level or at any other level is Buhari's candidate," Adamu said.

He said the forum was organized to unify the three main partiesCPC, ANPP and ACNthat fused into the APC. Alhaji Salihu Lukeman, who represented APC governors, said that all APC members in Kano are regarded with high esteem and advised

them to shun rancour that could cause disaffection among them.

Among dignitaries that graced the occasion were the APC leader in the State and former Minister of Labour, Alhaji Musa Gwadabe, a chieftain of the party, Alhaji Yusuf Ali, Senator Mohammed Mohammed from Bauchi State, former Kaduna State governor, Col Jafaru Isa (rtd), former Kano Deputy governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Tijjani Gwarzo, Barau Jibril, Kawu Sumaila and other party stalwarts in the state.

HE Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, yesterday observed that the clamour for a national conference is a testimony to the failure of past efforts to build a Nigerian state out of a the many ethnic nationalities.

The monarch made the declaration in Oyo town while conferring the chieftaincy title of 'Obasayero' of Oyo on Bauchi State Governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda, and various titles on his four wives, Aisha, Abiodun, Mariya and Nafisa who bagged titles of Yeyeloyin, Yeyeniwura, Yeyeniwura and Yeyedunni Obasayero, respectively.

The Alaafin declared "The crisis of the Nigerian state has assumed frightening and bewildering dimensions threatening our corporate existence as a country. The national question has thus far remained unresolved, one hundred years after amalgamation, making calls for a sovereign national conference strident."

Oba Adeyemi however observed that the conferment of the chieftaincy title on Mallam Yuguda "is a reflection of a beautiful handshake across the Niger."

The royal father remarked that he first had an encounter with Mallam Yuguda during his (Yuguda's) National Youth Service Corps scheme in Oyo town when he visited the palace along with his colleagues and he (The Alaafin) prayed for him that he would be successful in life.

Oba Adeyemi also remarked that Mallam Yuguda donated N10m to Oyo State Government during the aftermath of the 2011 flood disaster in the state.

"Alhaji Isa Yuguda is today being admitted into the pantheon of Yoruba political mystery on personal merit and in recognition of what he represents as the Governor of Bauchi State. The historical linkages between Yoruba land and Hausa/Fulani land are multi dimensional and interpenetrating," the Alaafin added.

Yuguda, in his response, said he would always be grateful to the Alaafin and the entire Yoruba race for the titles conferred on him and his wives.

He said, "Kabiyesi, your conferment of the title of Obasayero on me is a clear testimony of your unprejudiced disposition on the unity of our great country, Nigeria. To describe your majesty as a great bridge builder in this regard is an understatement. As a royal father, your action has lent credence to the generally held view that the traditional institution holds the hope for the continued existence of Nigeria as a united entity."

The occasion which equally witnessed various cultural displays, was witnessed by dignitaries across Nigeria, including Governor Abiola Ajimobi, Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hajia Monsurat Sunmonu, former Oyo State Governor, Dr. Victor Olunloyo and Iyalode Alaba Lawson, among others.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

Lagos restates commitment to quality education

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HE Lagos State Government at the weekend restated its commitment to the delivery of quality education in the state's public schools.

According to the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba, while the successes of the state government in several vital sectors like health, economic opportunities and education have resulted in a sustained streaming in of people from across the country and the West African sub-region, the administration has never lost sight of its responsibility to the citizenry especially in the area of education.

While interacting with newsmen in Lagos yesterday, the commissioner said the school environment, general infrastructure, type and sufficiency of learning equipment and the quality of the teaching personnel are some of the areas which, according to him, government has focused on over the years with visible and positive outcome as shown in the steadily improving West African School Certificate results.

He disclosed that the state has in the last six years, built 5,204 new classrooms to cater for the growing student population, which he noted, has increased over the years to 1,198,624, with 578,504 in primary and 620,120 in secondary schools.

The state, he added, also rehabilitated 6,666 classrooms within the period, provided 197 schools with science laboratory, built ICT laboratory in 120 schools, supplied 212 schools with science materials and installed intro-tech laboratories in 73 schools. Also, 1,409,476 textbooks were distributed freely to students while 387,133 furniture were provided to students to make them learn in a conducive environment.

NEWS

Group canvases UI ASUU urges support for members to remain tobacco control resolute A T HE University of Ibadan chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has resolved to ignore the Federal Government's ultimatum to striking lecturers to resume work by Wednesday or be fired.

Members of the union marched round the campus yesterday, distributing fliers that likened resumption without resolution of the agreement with the Federal Government to mortgaging their birthright.

The flier reads in part: "The modern strike breaker sells his birthright, his union, his wife, his children and his fellow man for an unfulfilled promise from his employer or corrupt benefactor."

About 200 lecturers,

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

led by the UI-ASUU Chair, participated in the procession.

They donned t-shirts with various inscriptions, including: "Walk out the Beasts in our system"; "Work out and work to save public education"; "FG walk the path of honour"; and "Annulment of agreements a comedy of errors."

Ajiboye said only the implementation of the FGN/ASUU resolutions of November 4 could lead to conducive teaching/ learning environments in the universities.

He said the union has

not made any new demands to warrant the Federal Government's decision to send policemen to schools and threats to recruit new teachers should the lecturers fail to resume

by December 4.

Faulting the Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike on the recruitment issue, Ajiboye said the plan will only keep students out of the classroom until the purported recruitment process is completed, which may run until the middle of next year.

On the deployment of policemen to federal universities, the ASUU chair described it as a waste of

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By Bukola Afolabi

line, Arik Air, the country's second largest airline, Aero Contractors, as well as Max Air, Kabo Air, Chanchagi, Medview, Afrijet, Skypower Air, Express Air, Bristow Helicopters, King Air and 17 private operators.

On Thursday, AON elected the Chief Executive Officer of Jed Air, Captain Nogie Meggison, as its chairman for the next two years,

while Mr. Yvan Drewinsky, the Chief Operating Officer of suspended Dana Air, was elected Vice-President. The disputed election was conducted by an independent organisation, during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the body held in Lagos, southwestern Nigeria.

It was the first election conducted by AON in the last 14 years after the last executive was dissolved on

June 28, and a committee was appointed to take charge of affairs until Thursday's election.

However, major Nigerian airlines have dissociated themselves from AON and decided to dump it. When contacted, Mohammed Tukur, former AON Assistant Secretary General, confirmed that there would be an emergency meeting but gave no further details.

Fayemi grants N600 million loan to cooperatives

E

KITI State Governor Kayode Fayemi on Saturday gave a sum of N600 million as revolving loan to Cooperative Societies in the state.

Speaking at the Oluyemi Kayode Stadium in Ado-Ekiti at the maiden ceremony of the Ekiti Cooperatives Day, Fayemi said the move was based on needs to empower the populace which he said cooperatives had been doing even without official support of government.

According to the Governor, there were no fears about the repayment of the

resources , saying they should be put to better use.

He said: "It shows cluelessness in those leading us. The same police that have not been able to stop kidnapping, armed robbery, oil theft, or arrest corrupt politicians now become a tool of democratic oppression in the hands of our policy makers. They will all fail. Will the police come to the campuses with new hostels, laboratories, lecture rooms, internet or what does Wike mean they will provide an enabling environment? It is important for him to know that apart from politicians no Nigerian worker has an enabling working environment."

•L-R: The contractor handling the Sagamu Road project; Ogun State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Arch.

Olamilekan Adegbite, the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, and Chairman, Sagamu Local Government Council, Mrs Olufunmilayo Efuwape, during Amosun’s project inspection tour across the state...at the weekend

Airline Operators of Nigeria splits

HE body representing the interests of Nigerian airlines, the Airlines' Operators of Nigeria, AON, has split AON broke up recently following a disputed election boycotted by major Nigerian airlines. The name of the parallel association will be decided in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna The airlines that will be part of the new association include Nigeria's biggest air-

7

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

loans as cooperative societies are well known of having fullproof system of loan repayment, noting that cooperatives remains the most assuring means of fighting poverty among the rural peasants.

Fayemi clarified that the State Government would contribute a sum of N300 million while the Bank of Agriculture would donate equall amount to empower members of the over 10,000 cooperatives across the state at friendly rates.

He assured of the support of his administration in upgrading of the Cooperative Multipurpose Societies Unions (CPMUs) to MicroFinance Institutions to enhance performances in making funds available to individuals on use and return basis.

Said he: "The concept of coopertives all over the world affords opportunities to reach the unreachable.

The laudable role dates back to the western region when Cocoa Farmers' Cooperatives offered a platform for the growth of

commerce in that region.

"If cooeratives are revived in Ekiti, the old roles played by them in old western region could be re-enacted here in the state. By available data, cooperatives in Ekiti State is the second employers of labour and providers of economic activities in the State.

We are confident and keen to do this because cooeratives rank no one in repayment of loans. We are ready to partner the cooperative federation to establish cottage inductries which would develop into micro inductry.

NONgovernmental organisation, Tobacco Control Nigeria, in conjunction with Social Responsibility Manager, has launched a Social Media Campaign to advance tobacco control and support the passage of a comprehensive Tobacco Control (TC) law in compliance with the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

The Project Campaign Manager of Tobacco Control Nigeria, Olamide Egbayelo, in a statement issued to The Nation yesterday in Lagos, said "more than 600,000 who die annually from tobacco-related diseases are nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke.

The world's leading preventable cause of death claiming the lives of 6 million people each year, tobacco is a slow, but more often than not, sure killer."

He opined that although several efforts have been made since 2012 in this current administration particularly by the President to get a Tobacco Control bill passed.

Most significant is the setup of a three-man ministerial team led by the Hon. Minister of Health and charged with the task of drafting an executive bill.

Egbayelo noted that despite public utterances in May & July 2013 both by the President and the Hon. Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, assuring on the importance of making Nigeria smoke-free and reducing the smoking prevalence in the country, there is still no law to this effect.

"We have launched an online petition to encourage the Honourable Health Minister, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, in his commitment and quest to pass the comprehensive Tobacco Control for Legislature in Nigeria. The petition can be signed on http://tobaccoctrl.ng/petition-to-the-health-minister/", he said.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

NEWS

•L-R: Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, the bride and the groom, Josephine Kperngu Akume and Sub-Lieutenant Alexander E. Edet and Senator George Akume during the wedding of Akume’s daughter in Wananune, Benue State, yesterday.

RTEAN launches N17.5bn mass transit scheme From Olugbenga Adanikin and Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

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O promote quality and efficient transport service delivery in the country, the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) at the weekend launched its N17.5 billion mass transit scheme with 4000 buses and 5000 tricycles for its members nationwide.

The vehicles will be given out to interested members on loan with a repayment period of three years with a guarantee.

The President of RTEAN, Musa Shehu, stated this in Abuja at the Inauguration of the Mass Transit Scheme, adding that the initiative will support the government’s transformation agenda in the transport sector.

According to Shehu, the scheme will create 9000 jobs for its members and unemployed Nigerians nationwide.

He said, “Government cannot do everything alone; the vehicles that are available for the members nationwide are not enough. We want to create jobs for our members and Nigerians. That is why we have decided to partner with some foreign investors in this scheme.

NAPEP to assist 200 farmers in 12 states

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HE National Coordinator of the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), Malam Muktar Abubakar, has said the agency will soon begin a Grassroots Agricultural Micro-credit Programme for 200 farmers in 12 states.

The Coordinator disclosed this in Abuja on Saturday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said NAPEP had started the project in 12 states to alleviate the sufferings of the vulnerable population in rural areas.

He declared, “We will be piloting this project in 12 states, namely Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Edo, Ekiti, Kogi, Niger, Ogun, Plateau and Zamfara.”

Abubakar said the microcredit programme was designed to nurture financial and entrepreneurial education for rural communities.

•L-R: Gov. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar at the wedding of the daughter of former governor of Benue State, Senator George Akume, Josephine Kperngu Akume which took place at Akume's Hilltop Summer Villa in Wannune, Tarka LG, Benue State, yesterday

FG may review rice import tariff, says Minister C

Delay on UNEP report criminal, groups tells FG From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

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O curb the smuggling of rice from neighbouring countries, particularly the Benin Republic, the federal government may soon review the rice import tariff and develop a new initiative called Rice Aggregation Centres.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, disclosed this during a meeting with farmers from Zamfara State in Abuja.

While assuring that Nigeria will in a few years become a power house in food production if farmers can effectively partner the govern-

From Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

ment, Adesina also identified the need for Nigerians to embrace locally produced food in order to create jobs and ensure food sufficiency in the country.

According to the minister, the Rice Aggregation Centres will be established in major parts of rice-producing states where the commodity would be graded and a guarantee of sales would be given for rice produced by the farmers.

Adesina said, “Two weeks ago, I met with rice millers in the country. I said I understand that Benin is killing us, because

of the smuggling across border and I told them a number of things. So we decided that they are going to adjust our tariff system, our duties and levies to cut off the guys that are trying to kill us.

“But at the same time, I announced that we are going to have rice aggregation centres.

They will clean, grade and guarantee you a price and that price will be sold to the millers.”

He added that the project will be executed in partnership with USAID but presently at design stage.

While addressing the farmers, the minister said Zamfara

State is capable of producing about 2.1 metric tons of rice if it can engage in both wet and dry season farming.

He said farmers in the state would henceforth pay 50 percent subsidy of the GES unlike the initial 75 percent.

He commended the farmers for their commitment despite the state government’s refusal to counterpart the scheme.

“Nigeria is the first to develop the electronic wallet in the world. Today, India, China, have already approached us to learn the E-wallet to replicate it in their country,” the minister said.

Customs to recover over N27b from pre-arrival assessment

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HE Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Abdullahi Dikko, has stated that it is set to generate over N27billion revenue with the implementation of the new regime called the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR).

According to him, under the past regime of Risk Assessment Report (RAR), Customs generated N20billion revenue from the 20,000 queries that were issued to service providers for non-compliance.

He broke this news to journalists during the unveilling of the PAAR at the weekend in Abuja.

He said, “I want to inform you that from 2010 to 2012,

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HE federal government has announced plans to assist Niger Republic with bulk water from Jibiya Dam, Katsina State, to facilitate irrigation projects in the country.

The Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, stated this during a meeting with a delegation from Niger Republic led by the country’s Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Abdul Labo.

According to a statement from the ministry’s Deputy Director (Press), Mrs. Oyeboade Akinola, the meeting was aimed at deepening the cooperation on water resource management between

From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

while service providers were providing services without adhering to RAR, we had issued up to 20,000 queries and out of that, we recovered N20billion. But I can tell you that there were some that escaped Customs because of the volume of work. But now, we are on and if we add an additional N27billion to what we have collected, I can assure Nigerians that the money we are going to recover will be more than that.”

Dikko noted that the federal government has directed NCS to fully take over the Destination Inspection Process from the service providers.

He added that the implication of this new directive is that NCS will now fully takeover the import and export procedures of the country.

The Customs boss said that the officers and men of the service have been undergoing training over the years in preparation for this take-over, adding that the organisation was fully prepared to assume the responsibility.

Upon the take-off, he said that the service will be charged with the responsibility of managing all areas of the inspection processes which include processing of the electronic form M, issuance of the PAAR to replace

the RAR formally issued by the service providers.

According to Dikko, with the new regime, all the documentary checks could be concluded before the goods arrive in Nigeria.

One major advantage of PAAR, the Customs boss noted, is that it enhances the conclusion of transaction within six hours instead of the previous three days under the RAR regime.

Dikko explained that “this new regime we are starting today promises better management of our revenue generation, operations, enhanced trade facilitation and better collaboration with other agencies of government to enhance national security.”

FG to assist Niger Republic in irrigation From Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

the two countries.

It was also to finalise the details and necessary agreement that would facilitate equitable utilisation of water as there was notable high interdependency between both countries for industrial purpose, irrigation, agriculture, energy and other uses.

Ochekpe said Nigeria would consider the release of water to Niger for irrigation purposes as requested.

She asked the country to construct a big reservoir that

would contain the volume of water released in order to avoid waste.

In his response, Labo said the purpose of his visit to Nigeria was to seek brotherly assistance from Nigeria in the area of bulk water for irrigation.

He said the assistance was necessary for the two countries to benefit from agricultural and economic activities.

According to Labo, Niger experiences drought in every two to three years and the only way to fight it is through irrigation.

According to him, the country would be able to produce cereal crops that were not produced during the rainy season.

Labo urged the two countries to implement the decision that would be reached at the technical meeting and gave an assurance that Niger would abide by the agreement.

The minister was accompanied by the Secretary-General, Niger-Nigeria Joint Commission, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, and other top government functionaries from Niger.

IVIL society groups yesterday described the inability of the federal government to start the immediate implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on oil devastated Ogoniland in Rivers State as criminal.

The groups, Ogoni Solidarity Movement (OSF), Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Social Action and Right Livelihood Award Foundation said the federal government with its lukewarm response to the UNEP report is unfair to the Ogoni people.

Speaking during a summit in Port Harcourt, the Executive Director of HOMEF, Rev. Nnimmo Bassey, alleged that while people are dying on a daily basis in Ogoni, the government has refused to give the matter the attention it deserves.

Foundation allays fears of Down Syndrome From Grace Obike, Abuja

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HE Jude Nnam Foundation at the weekend allayed fears of people living with down syndrome in the society.

According to Mr. Jude Nnam, it is a genetic abnormality that can happen to anyone, and not a disability.

Speaking at the first anniversary of the foundation, Nnam also pleaded with parents who have children living with the syndrome to make them feel accepted by providing an environment where they can interact with the society at large.

He said, “Most times the government classifies them together as the less privileged, but they are simply people with a genetic abnormality and have nothing to do with insanity or disability.

“They can work, drive, interact normally just like any other person; all they need is time, patience, love and understanding.”

NEWS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

MEGA holds workshop December 4

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EQUEL to the recent highly successful hosting of the MEGA Awards, the creative force behind the event, Footprints V, will come December 4, once again gather industry giants at the post-event interactive workshop on Nigerian music. Facilitated by First Bank of Nigeria Plc., the workshop which holds at the Prince Lounge of the newly opened Prince of Anthony Hotel, Anthony Village in Lagos, has as its general theme, “Re-inventing the creative force in Nigerian music industry,” is aimed at giving several upcoming and established artistes the platform to develop and expand their creative horizons.

Other sub-themes to be handled by a blend of vastly experienced music technocrats and fast-rising stars at the workshop include “Composition and Production: Creating & Sustaining Eternal Music,” “The Artiste as a Successful Brand: Fame, Faith & Fortune” and “Developing a Business Consciousness in the Management of the Creative Force.” Chairmen and moderators at each of the sessions include renowned musician and veteran producer, Mr. Laolu Akins; Group Managing Director of Cosse Ltd, Mr. Funmi Onabolu and classical singer/ tutor, Ms. Gloria Rhodes.

Discussants billed for the workshop include Ms. Tolu Gaye, a former EMI A & R Manager; ace music producer, Ayo Bankole, and top producer, Tee Y Mix.

Lagos unveils research strategies for development plan

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HE Lagos State Government has rolled out research strategies designed to help realise its 20122025 development plan.

The development, according to the government, is geared towards promoting infrastructural development, economic growth and social security in the state.

Secretary of Lagos State Research & Development Council (LRDC), Ms. Moji Rhodes, in a statement released on Saturday, said the state governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has emphasised the importance of research to the economic growth of Lagos megacity

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro project during the inauguration of the Lagos Innovation Council in August 2011 and the Lagos Research & Development Council (LRDC) in September 2012.

She said the council had invited research proposals from academics and experts in different fields of human endeavours to help chart course for meaningful development.

Rhodes said such proposals must be in line with the 2012-2025 Lagos State Development Plans, which, she said, was predicated on economic growth, infrastructural devel-

opment, social security and sustainable development.

She explained that the window of opportunities was offered by the Fashola administration through the council to drive research and innovation under the INNOVATELAGOS initiative.

She said, “The initiative has received an impetus as the way has now been cleared for tertiary institutions in the state to commence the submission of research proposals which, if approved, could benefit from a research grant of about N5 million.

“The themes considered for the research include infrastructural development

and management, social sciences, arts and humanities, science, technology & innovation cross-cutting such areas as-manufacturing, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) including the informal sector and finance,” the secretary said.

Rhodes explained some of the conditions to attract research grants, noting that proposals that would attract the grants should address and identify problems in the state under the 2012-2025 Lagos State Development Plan, while the applicants must be employed by or enrolled at a tertiary institution in the state.

National Confab will give us true democracy, says Archbishop Job

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HE Catholic Bishop of Ibadan Archdiocese, Archbishop Felix Alaba Job, has stated that the National Dialogue being proposed

by President Goodluck Jonathan will give Nigerians the opportunity to experience a true democracy.

He spoke yesterday while addressing journalists at the Archbishop Chancery, Ibadan, the

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan Oyo State capital, on preparations for his retirement by January next year after 42 years of service.

Alaba Job expressed dismay that Nigeria is still operating under a constitution that was prepared by the military, adding that the country is made up of different federating regions that came together to form a country.

According to him, the proposed national conference will allow Nigeria to solve the numerous challenges confronting it.

The Catholic Archbishop said, “There is no country in the world that does not have its or her own problems; Nigeria’s problems are endless.

America is made up of so many states and they have liberty till date, talk of China, Russia and the rest.

For Nigeria to survive, we must tolerate one another so that we can develop and experience peace.

“Do we have political parties in this country? We only have a group of selfish people that does not have the interest of the masses at heart. I believe that this confab will bring us out of the tentacles of military system, give us hope and allow us to practice a true democratic system.”

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Dignitaries honour Omoworare at mother’s burial From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo HE remains of Princess Teniade Areoye Omoworare, daughter of the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Adesoji Aderemi, and mother of Senator Babajide Omoworare, were yesterday laid to rest in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

Amid eulogies, an order of requiem mass was done in her honour at the St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Lagere, IleIfe, where many prominent Nigerians, including the Senate President Mr. David Mark, were in attendance.

In his sermon, the Bishop of Oyo Diocese, Rt. Rev. Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo, charged the country’s political leaders to resolve the issue of the strike embarked upon by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) without further delay.

He called on Nigerians to emulate the virtues of Princess Omoworare, who, he said, brought up her children in the fear of God after the death of her husband in 1986.

Speaking briefly, Senator David Mark, urged Nigerians to always think about the unity, peace and progress of the nation.

The deceased’s son, Senator Babajide Omoworare, expressed gratitude to dignitaries from far and near who honoured the family’s invitation to give his mother a befitting burial.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

WORLD/COMMENTARY

AST week, we took axe to several pillars of economic orthodoxy. These assumptions are wrong but so powerfully constructed that they make the truth seem to be the rickety, disheveled edifice. Most people believe these false tenets without critically thinking about them.

For example, when an alleged expert pontificates that government deficit spending inevitably leads to government bankruptcy, most people nod in sheepish unison, commending the learned fellow for his fiscal sobriety and abstemious wisdom. Fearing to appear dumb or inane, no one stands to ask the fundamental question: Why does a government with unlimited authority to issue currency borrow that very currency and pay interest on this artificial debt?

The true answer startles. It is a massive form of financial sector welfare that dwarfs anything government ever contemplated for the weak and poor.

More people should stand to ask piercing questions if only because the caretakers of the political economy pray that you not do so. Time is overdue that we examine the integrity of the pillars upon which our economic fate rests. What we thought was sturdy and true is but tumbling sand.

I don't expect this exposition to dispel the economic fables that parade as wisdom and truth.

Most readers have embraced orthodoxy so long that they resist the ideals and things that resist their compounding impoverishment. Knowledge is never completely an intellectual enterprise nor are people entirely rational. We become emotionally attached to what we believe we know.

The more a belief is repeated the more it becomes engrained in our minds. The more engrained an idea, the harder its removal becomes, its lack of veracity notwithstanding. Even when reality refutes a notion, many still cling to it out of custom. The unknown, uncertain truth is more frightening than the accepted lie.

Thus, I suffer no illusion this essay can debride the conventional ideas that make our economic lot worse than it should be. Of those who read this piece, many will recoil, feeling nothing but deep consternation that it can't be true. They will say the custodians of the global political economy are not so venal and cold as to perpetuate such dire, massive fraud against the welfare of so many people for so long. Yet, slavery existed for several millennia as major cog of the world economy. As it subsided, feudalism, indentured servitude and other forms of compulsory, low-wage labor took its place. The elite has suppressed the bulk of humanity for most of history, why should the present be excepted?

My hope is that some will read this with openness of mind and spirit. Don't reject what is written but objectively compare these ideas to those mainstream economics promotes. If faithful to this exercise, you will question conventions you have been led to accept. You will begin to see that economics is less an objective science and more an ideological wrestling match between competing interests.

The common man has almost always lost the match because he never understood he was in a contest. He trusted the elite to engineer things for the best of everyone when all the elite does is sculpt things to its advantage. Inordinate greed now makes the elite so sloppy that it consumes too much even for its own good. The cat is now out of the bag and it has turned out to be a rather feral, untamed one.

If the people want an economy that works for them, they better get about the task of redefining economic processes in a way that promotes their interests. To wait for the elite to do them justice is to sit with cup in hand beside a closed spigot. If people want economy justice, they must craft the ideas and draw the diagram on how they will reach this objective and force the elite to oblige.

One of the first things people must revise is a concept of money. Generally, we think of money as wealth. This is a vestige of the gold-standard when paper money actually represented a nation's gold holding. During that prior era, a person could theoretically demand to exchange the paper money he held for actual gold. This is no longer the case.

Paper money now has its value not because of gold but simple because government, by sovereign fiat, says it has value. We exist in an era of fiat money as opposed to money tied to gold or silver. This change is a massive, liberating one, opening the door to growth and prosperity impossible under the restrictive gold standard.

Ironically, the world has the maligned President Richard Nixon of Watergate notoriety to thank for this benign aperture.

When Nixon took America off the gold standard, he did not realize the future he might create. His action was born of short-term economic imperative. Due to heavy war and domestic programs expenditures as well as America's position as the world's reserve currency, the nation was exporting more money than its intake.

America's gold holdings were decimating as a result. To halt the diminution before the cupboards went bare, Nixon divorced the world's largest economy from the gold standard. As is often the case, in the face of a dire emergency, logic comes to triumph over tradition. The rest of the world could do nothing but follow America's lead in the new economic world.

Many people, including mainstream

The fiscal imperative of economic development (Part Two) As the wealthy sip the stilled wine, the poor gulp the driving rain.

•Janet Yellen, US Federal Reserve Bank Chairman

economists, lamented this would end modern civilization. They were as wrong as they were unduly melodramatic. They had deceived themselves that gold was inherently money. Although experts, they seemed to have ignored recent as well as ancient monetary history. During World War I as well as the Great Depression, the major nations suspended the gold standard and resorted to fiat money as an emergency measure. They did this to avert catastrophic deflation and allow themselves the leeway to increase government expenditures to levels needed to address the dire circumstance that stalked them.

The gold standard was a manacle to the global economy. It did not produce "sound and stable' money as its adherents professed. Depressions and crippling deflation were more frequent under the gold standard than after it. Moreover, there is nothing inherent about gold that makes it the best form of money. Gold is not found in the ground in pretty ingots. To the untrained eye, un-mined gold looks like dirt. Mankind did not use gold as money until we acquired the technological ability to mine and refine it. Prior to that, many things from animal skins to cowry shells functioned as money in different places at different times.

As such, terminating the gold standard was not so much a radical departure from tradition but a return to an older truth. Money itself is not wealth.

You cannot eat, wear or drive money. As such, it is merely a representation of wealth and value.

Essentially, money is but the idea that value can be reduced to socially accepted units of uniform proportion then transported across time and space.

Currency is but the physical symbol used to represent this valuable concept.

Those who seek a new economics must avoid mistaking money for wealth. They must come to see it as a means of assigning economic value to people, assets and resources in a way that helps us create additional wealth. In this new mindset, wealth consists of those things we use, eat, consume, wear, make, give, hear and see that make life more pleasant and worth living.

This changed mind-set is of paramount

importance. Under the gold standard, governments were compelled to save money in order to maintain their caches of the precious metal. Freed from this artifice, governments no longer are slave to hoarding metal in order to maintain their economic place. The major objective of government economic policy is no longer to stash money (gold). The prime objective now should be maximizing national wealth by integrating as many heretofore idle and inactive people, assets and resources into the productive economic mix.

This should be the objective of economic policy of a just government and society. An unemployed person earns no wages. He has no economic value because he has no money assigned to him since he has produced nothing of value. Yet, morally and economically no person is worthless. Everyone has value. The extent that we have reduced people to having no economic value is an indictment of the political economy more so than of the unemployed person. To the extent an economy becomes efficient at employing its people and resources, then that economy can be said to be developing in an enlightened fashion.

Here, government becomes the fulcrum of development. During the American economy's formative period when it became the world's largest, the American government ran budget deficits. These deficits fueled the construction of the greatest infrastructural network the world had then witnessed.

This feat was performed under the strictures of the gold standard. A century later, China would learn from this example by setting a similar course for its national development. Due to its larger size and being liberated from the chokehold of the gold standard, China launched a period of economic growth unprecedented in modern history. A key feature of this grand strategy was government spending on infrastructural development that brought theretofore idle people and resources into productive gait.

In modern times, any large nation that seeks to develop must do two essential things. First, government must dare engage in deficit spending toward the creation of modern, efficient infrastructural architecture and place that network

at the service of the rest of the economy. This not only employs multitudes. A national economy cannot expand beyond the limits of its infrastructure's ability to provide cheap, efficient transportation, energy and water. By enlarging the infrastructural base, government catalyzes further private-sector economic growth. Second, government must promote industry and manufacturing that employ additional people and resources. This requires a formal or informal national industrial policy.

These activities rest on government fiscal policy. Sadly, the current global trend is to emphasize monetary policy and downplay fiscal activism. This is no surprise. Monetary policy is the province of the rich and powerful whereas fiscal policy can be tailored toward more egalitarian ends. Consequently, the moneyed elite would rather leave fiscal policy behind the locked door.

America's central bank has engaged in a policy called quantitative easing (QE) for several years.

Through this policy, it purchased trillions of dollars of financial paper from the financial sector.

Ostensibly, the policy is meant to jumpstart the whole economy. In reality, the program has only inflated and enriched the financial sector. Stock market prices and bank profits have expanded; but the rest of the economy stagnates. The American economy is now growing but the expansion is misleading. Growth is basically limited to the investor class. The vast majority of people tread the deep black water or slowly sink into it.

Conventional economics says monetary policy, through interest rate changes or market transactions like the extraordinary QE, sends funds into the financial sector. The financial sector then will distribute the funds to the real sector.

This may have been the case before. Not anymore.

The financial sector has become bloated with too many speculative opportunities promising yields unknown to real sector investment. Consequently, the receipts of monetary policy first enter the financial sector and stay there. This accords with the general principle that the economic sector to which money initially flows is usually the greatest beneficiary of the government policy that generated the monetary flow.

Monetary policy benefits the financial sector more than any other. In other words, not enough money really gets transmitted to the real sector.

The money repeatedly cycles within the financial sector, inflating assets prices, causing the investor class to increase its nominal wealth. However, there is no equal increase in real wealth or production. There is no increase in employment.

Relative to the annealed financier class, the rest of the economy has slightly lessened.

This phenomenon repeats itself in Japan. That nation has embarked on a program more egregious than America's QE. The central bank buys almost all types of financial paper, including stocks. Since the purchases are made at the nominal and not lower market value of the financial paper, these government purchases subsidize investor mistakes. The Japanese government, not the investor, now bears the loss in the real value of the purchased instrument. Predictably, the stock market has soared but the outlook for growth in the real sector remains bleak. The financial class has benefited at the expense of the rest of the economy.

At its worse, monetary policy sinks us all. At its best, it more directly benefits the financial sector than any other. Fiscal policy represents the only chance for the average person. Fiscal policy can direct government expenditures to certain groups of people. Jobs programs provide money directly to the unemployed, Social Security to the elderly poor, tax relief or production subsidies to certain farms or industries as the case may be. In these instances, fiscal policy inures no direct gain to the financial sector because fiscal policy can completely bypass that sector. The financial sector only incidentally benefits from fiscal policy. For the financial sector, this is too little gain to be worthwhile. Thus, the financial sector abhors fiscal activism and we must remember that the financial sector now defines conventional economics.

No surprise that orthodox economics downplays the utility of fiscal policy and eschews budgetary deficits as a bĂŞte noire. The aim of conventional economics is to keep the humble and poor as they are while allowing the affluent to multiply their affluence.

In the end, the people struggle for their economic lives and fate. They lose more often than they win in this war because they look to economists and the financial elite as their generals.

But the economists and elite head the opposing army. To follow them is for the people to tag themselves to the certain defeat of their economic aspirations.

Unless people agitate for fiscal policy that stirs the economy toward greater productivity and shared prosperity, the financial elite will have their fill while most others will know only a depleted condition. The more champagne the elite buys and drinks, the less water the poor will be able to afford.

While the financial elite will bask in nearly perpetual enrichment, economic night will cast darkness over the majority of people even at the height of the daytime sun.

08060340825 (sms only)

Ropo Sekoni

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Femi Orebe Page 16

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

Dumping the Humpty Dumpty A

T last, the expected implosion in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) began on November 26, when five of the party's governors (G5) decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC). The five governors: Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Musa Kwankwaso (Kano), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), alongside members of the Abubakar Baraje faction of the PDP, defected to the APC on Tuesday. More are expected to follow suit. But it was an implosion foretold; the only surprise, if any, was that the party was able to hold itself together this far.

For the better part of the PDP years, it had been a marriage of convenience or, at best, a coalition of strange bedfellows.

Only a compound fool would not have seen what happened coming. It was obvious, as I noted a few months back, that reconciliation was almost impossible when a crisis has degenerated to the level the PDP crisis was, even then. There cannot be genuine reconciliation after the gladiators have thoroughly abused themselves in the media, or after washing some of their dirty linen in public.

One of the things the implosion tells us is that the PDP is not a good manager.

Its leaders have never demonstrated that they have the capacity to manage. And we should not be surprised because the party has not succeeded in managing success, legit or otherwise, that it has claimed at the polls over the years. If it had, Tuesday's event would have been averted. Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the party's chairman, has remained what I called him in one of my write-ups a few months back: a 'village headmaster' who thinks his duty is to whip people, including governors, into line; to shape up or ship out.

Without doubt the governors' defection is good for democracy; it is good for Nigerians. There is no way any party can defeat the PDP as formerly constituted; not necessarily because it is a good political party or that it has done so much for Nigerians, but because it has a superb rigging machinery that it has been deploying in some states without serious challenge. That machinery must have been badly eroded now. Nigerians must therefore be ready to take the gauntlet, come 2015. I have said times without number that the 2015 elections would be a completely different ball game. That was long before the G5 left the party. I stand by that prediction. But where we as a people have to be vigilant is that by now, we should be able to predict the way the Jonathan presidency will react to the situation.

Like a bad football player whose team is losing on the field, the ruling party has been abandoning the ball and going for the legs, instead, at the polls. It will do more of that now; it will soon start behaving like the wounded lion that it is. I said it just last week that the way this country is run, there cannot be any free and fair election, as long as the PDP is in power, irrespective of who heads the Independent National Electoral Commission

Five PDP governors’ defection to APC calls for celebration, but ...

•Amaechi

(INEC). If the overall boss is incorruptible, desperate politicians, especially those with the backing of the ruling party will simply look for the incorrigible cheats in the commission to do their hatchet job. I guess that was what happened in the November 16 governorship election in Anambra State that made the commission declare the election inconclusive. We should expect more of such in the coming elections. The PDP will be more ruthless and more daring: People that were saints when they remained in the party will become sinners overnight for having the temerity to dump the Humpty Dumpty.

Perhaps unknown to it, the PDP is full of itself, and that is why it continues to have the erroneous impression that no one can quit the party. In one breath, the party initially said it was not perturbed by the defection of the five governors. In another, its chairman, said to be on a visit to China, was blowing hot and cold simultaneously.

First he was quoted as saying: "We cannot ask anyone not to leave the party if he so decided. After all, soldiers go, soldiers come. If anyone leaves the PDP, many more people will join. It happens every time". In the same news report he said that "What we are saying is; let us come together as a party to promote the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan who we elected to lead us in Nigeria. Let us put behind us crises and bickering so that the President and leaders of the party could concentrate on governance and delivery of the dividends of democracy to all." Pray, what dividends of democracy have Nigerians benefitted for the 14 years that the party has remained the 'largest ruling party in Africa'?

The important thing for now is that Papa has deceived pikin too long for pikin to notice … The APC must know that it is easier to marry than it is to stay married; the consummation of the historic defection of November 26 for the betterment of the country is what should be paramount, not defection for the sake of it.

Tukur's recurring mistake is that he keeps living in the past, or in self denial, or both; thinking that the PDP has such an alluring and irresistible appeal.

Nigerians should pray he does not retrace his steps in this delusion of grandeur and that God should continue to harden his heart until he has performed the noble role of the ruling party's undertaker.

All over the democratic world, performance is a major determinant of whether a political party remains in power or is voted out. What has the PDP delivered in its over 14 years of ruling Nigeria? We are in deficit in virtually all sectors - education, health, economy, infrastructure development, transportation, etc.

We cannot even sleep with our two eyes closed. To crown it all, we see and feel corruption around us daily, with the government forever helpless as if corruption is now the in-thing or is about going out of fashion. And nothing demonstrates this more vividly than the purchase of twobullet-proof cars just to keep one minister safe.

Meanwhile, there is no money to kit the security agencies to protect the rest of us. Isn't it curious that the same President Jonathan that could not even wait for the file of the former President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Ayo Salami, to get to his desk before suspending him has not been able to act on the file of Ms Stella Oduah, the embattled minister of aviation, who is at the centre of the purchase of the controversial bullet-proof cars for a staggering N255million? The President admitted that the file on the recommendation of his committee on the scandal got to his desk more than a week ago. So, what is he waiting for?

It is only people who want to continue to live in fool's paradise that won't see that the ruling party is adrift and lost, and is about sinking, not necessarily under the burden of its incompetence but under the yoke of corruption. It is therefore only proper that those with foresight, especially people that have not been feeling too comfortable with the way things are done in the party and the country at large will vote with their legs. That was simply what the five governors have done.

This is however not to suggest that everyone in the PDP is bad or that everyone in the APC is good. Of course there are cases of some progressive elements who found themselves in the PDP not necessarily out of choice but due to irreconcilable differences over one issue or the other. The point must also be made that among every 12 disciples; there will always be a Judas. The APC should take cognisance of this. If the scales could fall from the eyes of the romantic lovers that once got wedded in the ruling PDP, there is nothing to suggest that the scales won't fall from the eyes of those now joining the APC sooner or later. However, the important thing for now is that Papa has deceived pikin too long for pikin to notice.

Above all, the APC must know that it is easier to marry than it is to stay married; the consummation of the historic defection of November 26 for the betterment of the country is what should be paramount, not defection for the sake of it. A word is enough for the wise.

ASUU strike: No, Wike! No!

I

AM at a loss why Supervising Education Minister Nyesom decided to issue the threat he did last Thursday to the striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Sounding like a military commandant, the minister ordered Vice Chancellors to reopen the campuses nationwide while lecturers are to resume duties by Monday or get sacked. Jobs of those who fail to return to work are to be advertised.

I can understand the frustration of the Minister and the federal government over the refusal of the union to call off its over four months strike after the agreement reached at the meeting with the President.

It is indeed embarrassing that the strike had been allowed to last this long and the government is justifiably desperate to end it having according to the minister met all its commitments and obligations with respect to the 2009 agreement.

Notwithstanding that most Nigerians agree that ASUU has a good cause and should get the government to provide adequate resources for funding university education in the country, the feeling in most circles is that the strike is lasting longer than necessary.

Having got the President to personally intervene in the matter and his promise this time around to meet the government’s obligations, many expect that the strike should be called off while the details of the agreement is being finetuned.

However threatening the lecturers the way the Minister did last Thursday is definitely uncalled for. He was unnecessarily combative and may have complicated the crisis instead of maintaining his cool in the face of whatever frustration he may be feeling.

To be fair to the lecturers, I remember the same Minister saying after the Aso Rock meeting that the union leader have reached an agreement with the President which they have to communicate to their members for ratification.

If the union leaders for any reason are yet to agree with their members on the terms of calling off the strike and are asking to get the agreement signed and clear some grey areas, the government should not resort to any military tactic which is bound to back fire.

Many of the campuses were not really shut since the strike commenced so there is no need for the minister to give the impression that all that is required to end the strike is to order reopening of the campuses. Vice Chancellors can go ahead and re-open the campuses that are closed but what will it matter if lecturers refuse to lecture as they have dared the minister.

Not even under military regimes did the government succeed in ordering lecturers back to classes in situation like this. Wike should have known as a lawyer that there is no need in giving an unenforceable order. Like a reader who responded to one of my earlier write-ups on this strike noted, Wike should know that the country has witnessed an ASUU strike longer that the present one and the lecturers can decide to stay off the classroom for as long as they remain united on this cause.

Having been magnanimous enough to intervene in this crisis before now, the President should not allow Wike to mess up the situation through what the ASUU leaders have aptly described as “empty threat”.

The situation should not be reduced to one of his political battles considering that this is a national matter that requires some wisdom to resolve.

ASUU’s demand may not be totally acceptable to the government but the disagreement cannot be definitely resolved by sack threat and deployment of policemen to campuses.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

COMMENT

APC enlargement: rise of citizenship over subjecthood?

Dominocracy is where rulers are too powerful; where there are inadequate means of challenge, scrutiny and accountability; and political life itself, as well as the quality of citizenship, is eroded and devalued.

The absence of secure forms of sub-central government, the lack of independent institutions that are more than the creatures of the government of the day, the failure to develop the apparatus of social and economic participation; all this, and more, properly reflects a politics of subjecthood rather than of citizenship. – Tony Wright, British MP

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HE much-vaunted electoral democracy in Nigeria in the last fourteen years has not resulted in the birth of a democratic culture that enhances the participation of citizens in their governance. With one political party in power for so long, democratic choice for citizens has been restricted to disagreement within the ruling party that has come to perceive itself as invincible and irreplaceable. PDP has over internalised and exaggerated its superiority over other political parties so manifestly that some of its leaders often refer to the party as the largest political party in Africa and as a party ordained to rule for the next sixty years. The effect of what appears as the end of the politics of choice to voters has been frustration for citizens who have generally felt more like subjects than citizens. But this past week appears or promises to have brought the politics of choice back to the country’s political landscape, and hopefully with it, a good measure of optimism that change to democracy from what Tony Wright has, in another context, called dominocracy may very well be on the way to Nigeria.

The new kid on the political block is the enlarged APC. The PDP is not new to Nigerians in many respects. It is a party that has ruled the country rather than governed it for the past

Whether before or after elections, citizens have been relegated in the last fourteen years to the realm of subjects fourteen years, without being able to change for the better most of the dismal statistics in terms of human development index that the first PDP government inherited in 1999. Over 65% of Nigerians still live in destitution after fourteen years of governments supposedly chosen by citizens and are thus subjected to citizens’ scrutiny and approval, as distinct from decades of military autocracy that owed the citizens no explanation for whatever it did or failed to do. Nigeria is lagging behind many African countries with respect to improving the situation of maternal and child mortality, percentage of citizens with access to safe potable water and proper sanitation; access to electricity for industrial and residential use, access to good roads, functional education, etc. In other words, it is only the PDP that needs to be on the defensive politically.

APC has not been in control of the central government and thus should have no reason to invest its utmost energy on optics and rhetoric. Citizens are expecting to hear messages of motivation and not of manipulation from the new political party that has brought a party of equal weight to stand up to the ruling party.

Many APC states have good records to show about doing so much with so little for their citizens. Many APC states have a political pedigree that is generally referred to in popular parlance as progressive tradition of politics in the country. It is also significant that there are many states that are willing to be infected by the virus of progressive politics, thus making it possible for the recent enlargement of APC. The enlargement must be made to translate into empowerment of the party. The principle of ‘no founder, no joiner’ provides a level playing field for all party gurus. But the initial philosophy that brought APC into existence must

not be lost in the process of preparing a levelplaying field. The main challenge about bringing change to the country may now rest on the new party for the obvious reason that it is APC that has set a new goal for itself and citizens with like minds: saving democracy.

To save democracy, the party is in a good position to use its national spread and the experience of its new members, as well as the recent experience of the party in Anambra. One thing that militates against democracy in the country is the absence of independent institutions. Such absence has since 1999 encouraged the personalisation of politics and privatisation of power, with the result of a culture of impunity across the land. Independent institutions that require struggling for before 2015 elections include getting a new Independent Electoral Commission that can perform the function of an impartial umpire. Election is too crucial for the survival of representative democracy to be left in the hands of persons that are constrained in any way. Unlike the judiciary, INEC officials do not have the security of tenure of judges and thus need every protection they can get to do their job without any trace of partiality. This has not happened since 1999 and it has to happen if democracy is to be saved.

More eyes are thus going to be on APC to re-define democratic politics and put the polity back on course. APC is expected to provide leadership in terms of the politics of ideas, particularly popularisation of a vision that sees Nigeria beyond just a site of enormous power for those who are ready to play the game. Citizens are already too hungry for a party that has a vision that is rooted in an ideology that accepts that the role of government is the improvement of the life chances of citizens in all

spheres. Whether before or after elections, citizens have been relegated in the last fourteen years to the realm of subjects. Their desires have thus not been able to enjoy noticeable space in the planning of a centralised state drowning under the weight of a burden it prefers to have but not to carry in an efficient and democratic manner. APC cannot afford not to persuade citizens about finding another way to govern this country well. More questions are certainly going to be thrown by citizens at the APC because more answers are expected from it than from the party that has been in power for the past fourteen years and that appears to have exhausted and enervated itself in the process.

While elections are important in a democracy as the only means of peaceful change, democratic politics is much more than electoral democracy. Citizens want to be included in the way they are governed. They want to have a say not only at elections but at all times about the performance of their government.

Democracy is not just for the sake of executive and legislative leaders; it is mainly for the sake of citizens. Any political party with the confidence of citizens has little to fear before, during, and after elections. APC should not allow the success of the last few days to diminish the attention it gives to mobilisation of average citizens. It needs to shift the focus of its membership drive to average citizens now yearning to become co-owners of a party that has announced plans to enter into a ‘monitorable’ social contract with citizens. Doing this can enrich democratic politics in the country, as it is capable of allowing other parties to upgrade themselves ideologically and culturally.

People across Nigeria have a vision of the Nigeria they want to live in and leave behind for their children. They have ideas about what they believe the government can and should do to make their citizenship of the country fruitful and fulfilling for them. Citizens across the country are not in the dark with respect to the need to ‘re-constitutionalise’ the governance of the country. APC as the alternative party must be ready to deal with hard questions from citizens and to assuage their fears about a country that has for long appeared to be ‘irreformable’ at the hands of military dictators and postmilitary rulers alike.

COMMENT

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

15

Jonathan’s serial sickness His curious health challenges outside the country have implications for the image and dignity of the presidency

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HATEVER was responsible for President Goodluck Jonathan’s unexpected illness in London, which caused him to miss the opening of a two-day meeting of Nigeria’s Honorary International Investors’ Council (HIIC) that coincided with his 56th birthday on November 20, it is unsurprising that the incident not only generated a vigorous controversy about his lifestyle, but also raised justifiable concern about his fitness and capacity to handle the inevitable pressures of his exalted office.

Separating fact from fiction may indeed prove to be a challenging task, especially in the light of the hazy circumstances of Jonathan’s alleged indisposition, which was conveyed superficially by his special adviser on media and publicity, Reuben Abati. With the loud silence on the nature of the president’s ailment in the celebratory birthday context, it was predictable that certain observers would come up with interpretations suggesting that Jonathan had failed to recover quickly enough from the wining and dining that presumably marked his anniversary. Specifically, a particular online news portal famed for its unapologetic passion for sensationalism and dogged pursuit of “the news behind the news,” Sahara Reporters, alleged that Jonathan fell ill following a “heavy birthday party thrown to celebrate the President’s 56th birthday at his presidential suite in the InterContinental Hotel in London.”

Although, Abati described this claim as “fictional nonsense”, and categorically denied that there was such a party, the important lesson from the conflicting information is that there will always be material to fill an informational vacuum. The presidency, perhaps deservingly, therefore suffered a damaging penalty for failing to adopt a proactive approach to the development. Abati’s reactive statement, full of sound and fury against the medium, laboured fruitlessly to reverse the imagination of the public.

He said of Jonathan, “It has never been his custom to celebrate birthday anniversaries and no exception was made this year”; he stressed that “there was

D

EATH is everywhere, always on the prowl to take mortals on the journey of no return. But Williams Shakespeare makes us to believe that the death of a prince often evokes agony, sorrow and a great sense of loss. He was right because no one loves to lose his dearest and most precious person. This is to say that the value or rather the worth of a man is best measured after his death.

The thought of Shakespeare comes to play in the passing on to glory of Dr. MacDonald Samuel Chikwendu Nwariaku, an Engineer and a role model, and one of the world’s best intellectual icons. He lived an exemplary life as a puritan and commanded respect in every circle he worked and lived.

These are great attributes that would have made him a celebrity even in the great beyond.

Indeed, the late Nwariaku in life symbolised the best essence of human dignity and good worth in character and conduct. He was a great mind, the type of which was rare among his peers and acquaintances, just as he lived through life anchoring his ways on Spartan discipline and enviable devotion to spirituality and services to God. His death was a huge loss to those who knew him well as a fountain of love, epitome of hard work and a mind with milk of

certainly no drinking spree.”

Nevertheless, it is definitely curious that Jonathan’s illness manifested on his birthday; and even more intriguing is the fact that it was understated, leaving room for fertile conjectures. It is regrettable that the presidency’s information management unit, by omission, allowed a needless information gap that was exploited to Jonathan’s detriment.

Be that as it may, Jonathan has obviously not helped matters with his rising record of unexplained sickness in foreign lands, compounded by the fact that the complaints usually arose in the course of official business. It is noteworthy that in the last three years, he has dramatically made news on account of such health issues. In the first of these sour incidents, it must be pointed out that contrary to Abati’s defensive claim that Jonathan is traditionally unenthusiastic about celebrating birthdays, the president in October 2011, caused a stir by throwing a party to mark his wife’s birthday in Perth, Australia, while he was attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in that country.

Or perhaps Abati meant that Jonathan was disinclined only when such celebration had to do strictly with himself.

On the occasion in Australia, in the aftermath of the party, Jonathan failed to show up for a scheduled Presidential Roundtable; specifically, the Nigeria/ Australia Mining Roundtable where he was expected to sell the country’s mining potential. It is instructive that an Australian newspaper, The Australian,

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

•Editor Festus Eriye •Deputy Editor Olayinka Oyegbile •Associate Editors Taiwo Ogundipe Sam Egburonu

•Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Adekunle Ade-Adeleye

described the development, perhaps diplomatically, as “mysterious.” It was simply disgraceful, especially because there was no formal explanation.

Interestingly, the shameful drama was replayed in May when Jonathan again failed to show up to give his scheduled address at the Special Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the African Union (AU), despite his arrival in the country for the historic event. There were contradictory accounts of his whereabouts and general confusion among Nigerian officials at the forum, which was a huge blow to the country’s image, given its prominence in the organisation. It goes without saying that, by his disappearing acts, Jonathan poses a security threat even to himself; for a situation where no one could account for the president’s whereabouts suggests he is not always protected and anything could happen to him.

The latest episode in London worsened the country’s embarrassment at Jonathan’s serial sickness overseas.

So disturbing is the recurrence that it is pertinent to wonder whether his constitution is especially vulnerable to conditions occasioned by such change of environment. Or is it possible, as it has been suggested, that the president is actually battling with particular lifestyle problems which get acute abroad? Of course, the President is entitled to his lifestyle choices, but certainly not at the expense of his job as the country’s leader. His status, without a shred of uncertainty, carries the consequence of high responsibility which should not be trivialised by fleshly indulgence.

It is possible to contemplate other possibilities that are also worrying. Could Jonathan’s condition be a reaction to over-travelling, or work overload, or even deficient psychological stamina?

Although it must be conceded that his essential nature as a human makes him susceptible to illness, it is equally important to underline the fact that holding a public office of such significance makes his health status a public issue, and the people have a right to know. We practise a democracy that should unveil the state of health of our elected officers. The president should enjoy no exception. The health of a nation depends, to a great degree, on the health of those who govern it.

LETTERS

Tribute to Nwariaku

human kindness.

A quintessential family man and lover of peace, the late renowned engineer was a transformational agent whose public and private life was completely devoted to humanity, as he applied his God-given rich intellectual knowledge and moral virtues to change the society better than he met it.

He was a man of immense stature who bestrode the world’s engineering landscape like a colossus. The late Nwariaku hailed from Umudinkwa, Avodim, Ubakala, in Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia State. The urbane and accomplished engineer began to edify his sojourn in life with a quest for sound education.

He attended the famous Methodist College, Uzuakoli in Abia State and the Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha, Anambra State, from where he earned the Cambridge School Certificate in Grade 1 in 1948.

For a stretch of 16 years, he dedicated his life to academic

adventures, revolving within various world class colleges and universities, including the famous Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA, the Imperial College, London and the Kings College University of Durham, New Castle.

A soil scientist and engineering expert per excellence, Dr Nwariaku obtained the prized DIC in Highways and Airports in 1959, after having obtained his B Sc. degree three years earlier

and bagged the PhD in Applied Science in 1964.

A patriotic Nigerian who served his fatherland with uncommon zeal and selflessness, the late Nwariaku worked severally in many areas of the public service and delivered his hubristic best in key aspects of civil engineering designs and construction, including roads, bridges, dams, airports, wharfs, water supplies and nuclear energy, whose contributions

R

and governors in turn impose their surrogates as local government chairmen and councillors.

It has happened and will continue to happen across parties except political office is made less attractive and service to the people is the motivation, not looting. So, e get as e be when armed robbers fight another set of armed robbers. Social Revolution is the answer.

By Adeola Soetan, Lagos adeolasoetan@gmail.com

Our politics of money

E: Festus Eriye’s column of Sunday, November 24, 2013 titled ‘Now you can go to court’.

How can there be free and fair election in a system where all processes of political power acquisition is heavily monetised? Politics in Nigeria is a huge commercial enterprise that yields the highest profit.

Godfathers install their surrogates as governors in their ‘captured’ territories

spanned the domestic and international environments.

The late Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, FNSE, and “Distinguished Merit Award” contributed immensely to the development of national infrastructure, including involvement in the construction of the 2nd Niger Bridge, Damaturu-Yola-Ngure Road, Calabar-Ogoja-Maiduguri Road, Potiskum-Rigachukun Road and serving as Resident Engineer and a member of the Task Force that built the Imo International Airport.

During his research days in the university, his academic pursuits were interspersed with practical trainings and researches during which he was involved in the construction of airstrips on ice, Alaska, USA; highways constructions in Copenhagen, Denmark and Saskoping, Sweden; and construction of airport on coral at Gan Island, Southern Indian Ocean, amongst others.

In demonstration of his intellectual creativity, he added his name to the Engineering disci-

pline literary Hall of Fame with the launch of his book ‘Principles and Practice in Road Maintenance in year 2009. The book is described by professionals as a hallmark of intellectual fecundity that is bound to inform future thoughts on road maintenance principles and practice across all climes.

In his private life, the late humanist devoted substantial time and resources to building a family that ordinarily symbolises an ideal home, a model of moral and spiritual virtues.

Married to Dame Julie Onum-Nwariaku, a member of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, (ICPC), the deceased bequeathed a worthy legacy in a son and another intellectual prodigy, Prof Fiemu Nwariaku, and a grandson, Ikenna.

His priceless works have made him a man that a country like Nigeria should not miss at this critical point of its dire needs.

Though we need this fine gentle man as a people, we remain helpless because God needs him more. What else can we say than to wish him well in his passage to eternity? Adieu, our father, uncle and brother, as we wish you a blissful rest in the bosom of the Lord.

By Folu Olamiti (FNGE)

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16

COMMENT

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

The new PDP - APC merger in perspective Nigerians have not seen the last of PDP’s troubles

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OT Even the most audacious hater of the banal PDP could have , this time a year ago, conjectured that the political behemoth could come crashing so ignominiously under the sheer weight of its sins against Nigeria and Nigerians. The sins of biblical Sodom from which only Lot’s family escaped eternal judgment, would pale into literal insignificance compared to PDP’s banality which, in its mere fourteen years stranglehold over Nigeria reduced a resource –rich country, which should ordinarily have been the pride of black peoples all over the world, to an absolutely beggarly country wallowing in the lowest rungs of the world’s development index. In those fourteen years, the only time, as of recent, when a Nigerian can truly feel proud of this country is when our yet to be adulterated youth, win some sporting laurels far away from our shores; more from their own individual efforts than any deliberate policy of the PDP-controlled federal government.

Only recently, a Ghanaian minister lost her high office simply because she expressed a mere intent to have some huge amount of money at her disposal to politically control the people but here in an amoral PDP- controlled Nigeria, a minister continues to sit pretty in President Jonathan’s cabinet despite copious evidence of her moral, financial and constitutional derelictions and weeks after the president’s panel of inquiry set up, more to obfuscate

than to adjudicate, had submitted its report. In like manner, the government has washed its hands clean of any responsibility to ensure that those who creamed off billions of naira through the oil subsidy scandal are promptly brought to book, merely by handing them over to the courts which is equally under its baleful control, sure the accused ones will, at best, be given a slap on the wrist. After all, children of PDP Chairmen, past and serving, are among. But presidential spokespersons will waste no time in telling you how the president does not control the judiciary. Nigerians, however, know better than the courts which unashamedly declare that there is no split in the PDP, in your face as it is, straight from the party’s Abuja mini convention.

Those who stole billions from the pension fund are not any different.

Indeed, so horrible was the pension scam, and the government’s effort at cover up, that in spite of a court order to arrest him, the police claimed it could not locate an accused top gun in the pension’s department, who was, incidentally being guided round the clock by dozens from the same Nigeria Police until he was allegedly helped to escape from the country.

Given the above scenario many Nigerians have refused to be excited at the historic merger of a huge chunk of that same political party with the All Progressives Congress, claiming, indeed, that Nigerian politicians are all the same: what with ownership mentality, imposition of candidates

and the fact that corruption is basically party- blind, though much more at home in the PDP. My response to all these has been that although one individual Nigerian is hardly different from the other, PDP in its corporeal sense and dealings, is completely irredeemable, no matter how good its individual members may be. It was for this reason that Moremi Funmi Olayinka, the late Ekiti State Deputy Governor, used to liken it to a virus. The reader is certain to know a decent PDP member who is, however, party to the large scale treasury looting and perverse election rigging over which the government has superintended these many years. They are getting worse by the day.

Many have, therefore, wondered as to how these big guns ‘porting’ into the APC from PDP will not spoil the broth and my answer is two-fold; one, that the milieu is by far different.

Whereas all those murky practices are more the directive policies of the PDP, a party from which you could hardly identify a lone biblical Lot for redemption, you will find among the APC leaders, individuals like its Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, General Buhari and many others, who are, indeed, Nigerian poster boys of the incorruptible. These two leaders have held high public offices and have been adjudged completely above board, leaving office in flying colours and with serial testaments to their patriotism and honesty.

It is equally true that while accusations of imposition and the lot could hold true in smaller, regional parties,

it is totally unthinkable that individuals, qua individuals, could exercise the same level of influence in a much bigger, national party, like the APC. However, much more important is the fact that APC’s hope of rescuing Nigeria from the evil stranglehold of the PDP, rests mostly on comprehensively galvanising the people to make it a mass movement by aggressively pushing to the public space, PDP’s record of unprecedented corruption and non-performance since 1999; one that has no single redeeming feature, not even the GSM phenomenon wrongly attributed to Obasanjo but which the thoroughly disreputable Abacha regime had, in fact, initiated. APC should let the world know that PDP luxuriates in illegalities such as abrogating the electorate and robbing the treasury blind.

These negativities should be comprehensively enumerated and their evil consequences brought home vividly to Nigerians. The APC must show, very clearly, how and why, these are the very reasons an otherwise blessed country like Nigeria is wallowing in the abyss of ignominy with the poverty level of its citizens in the high 70s.

The recent resignation of the chairman of SURE-P, though allegedly for healthrelated reasons, should best be seen in the fact that the programme was fast becoming a cesspool of patronage and corruption with which the decent man will never ever be connected. These inglorious facts about the PDP, therefore, impose a moral obligation of probity on all levels of the APC membership: leaders, officials and ordinary members alike, if it must lay claim to

Bring them in AIDS is just like any other disease which calls for a sense of realism, right information and a positive attitude

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AN, I heard someone say recently, is more often a victim of his circumstances than otherwise. Even when otherwise, such as when he becomes a victim of his choices, he is said to be a victim of the circumstances which led to the making of those bad choices. Frankly, I just love this theory. I had always thought that any day I chose to wolf down a large bowl of ice cream in a greedy disregard of my limits, I was merely displaying bad choice and bad taste. But now, that theory completely exonerates me, as when it happens now, I am only a victim of the creating circumstances that make me not to know my stomach’s limits. And the name of those circumstances is legion. First there is the hot, hot sun, then there is my hot, hot thirst, and finally there is my hot, hot greed.

Good, I think that’s told them.

While I agree with that tenet only for as long as it exonerates me from every responsibility from the consequences of some of life’s choices taken on my behalf, such as by my creator, I am sure you will agree, as I do, that it is difficult for anyone to want to completely distance himself from every responsibility for his bad choices. For instance, when I choose to taunt the dog and he to bite me, now please who is to blame: him that to bite the finger that feeds him or me who

chooses to feed him that finger?

Wherever the responsibility lies, there is no doubt about where the ensuing pain lies: in the body.

The pain of AIDS, the dreaded disease caused by the virus called HIV, also lies in the body. The trouble about AIDS is that once it strikes, it does not ask questions. It also does not discriminate between the wise and the foolish, the young or the old, the ugly or beautiful. It just mostly strikes wherever it finds some careless choices going on.

For instance, it can strike when it finds some carelessness in the exchange of blood through transfusion or drug needles. Luckily for us in this country, our hospitals have since begun to screen, test and frisk every blood they receive before giving it out. Good for us, I say, because that as good as eliminates the hospital as a source. Don’t you just shudder when you remember the story of Arthur Ashe, the famed American tennis pro who got AIDS from the hospital? I mean, here was the poor man running to the hospital for safety only to come out with something worse, death.

Now please, snap your fingers over your head; that will not happen to you and I. I thank you, noble sir, for exercising your faith on my behalf.

Funny thing though that many people, even after snapping their fingers over their heads still

go out to court death. They insist on injecting their daily rations of ‘high’ directly into their arms with used syringes by themselves. I mean, it is one thing to want to take trips into some airy La-La land where the reality of a missing Pension Fund, SURE-P Fund or any fund with ‘P’ running into billions of Naira does not exist. Honestly, if there was a legal and safe way to get into that land, I would be the first to volunteer to go with you. I want to live in a land where Nigerian politicians or military do not exist too, just me and... and... Oh, never mind. It is quite another thing though to want to get there by injecting oneself with used syringes. I think just seeing the syringe is enough to kill me.

AIDS can also strike the careless ‘un through exchange of bodily fluids, we’re told. I think this is the one that many of my countrymen and women have trouble swallowing. So, they prefer to have their physical relations on the straight, like, without fear. Goodness knows how many obscene text messages I have received since this column started. I hate to think that people fling themselves around the way they insist on flinging their declarations around. If so, then the 2014 theme “Getting to Zero in Africa” is endangered, like the continent itself.

I think the operative word here, people, is fear. You know that famous quotation that’s been going around, ‘if you can still keep your head in

this confusion, then it means you do not understand the situation’? By analogy, a Nigerian man or woman who blithely ignores the safety precautions our medico-administrators have been preaching quite clearly does not understand the situation.

Sometimes, I think it is safer to fear a thing first even before understanding it. Then understanding will bring more fear. Quite the philosopher I am today, no?

Anyway, I’m sure you would have guessed that today is being marked specially as World’s AIDS Day. That’s just to draw attention to the scourge and its sufferers, to give them hope and encouragement and let them know that they are not alone. And also try and eradicate it altogether. Sadly, there are many silent sufferers agonising on their own for fear of what the society will do to them and only ‘come out’ when they are beyond help or reach. I know, I had a relative like that who never let out until it was too late, and even then never faced the reality till the end. I think AIDS is just like any other disease which calls for a three-pronged approach.

First, hard as it may be, one should be realistic about one’s situation. Facing up to the reality of an illness is very difficult, I grant, but living in denial is a lot worse. As the people around me have always maintained, my knowledge of medicine is little, therefore dangerous.

But, even they will grant that denial

any higher moral ground which is a sine qua non for victory.

Ever a master of self deceit and unprecedented rigging in whatever level of election, local, state or federal, the PDP had been loudest in proclaiming on roof tops, how the exit of no less than five state governors and sundry legislators at all levels would not affect it. I imagine, therefore, that even if, as a result of its many problems, President Jonathan decides to dump the party today, some jokers like Gulak would claim that nothing has happened as long as Chairman Tukur remains his rambunctious and all-conquering self. It can only be a shame that President Jonathan could not see the disaster Chairman Tukur had become to the PDP. A well-heeled and aristocratic former governor, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, unfortunately, sees the party only as an extension of his vast holdings where he is the undisputed authority. He could, therefore, not tolerate the elected party secretary, nor did it matter to him whether or not meetings of the national executive of the party, which he saw as no more than the nominal boards of his many companies, met as statutorily expected. Rather, it was game for him to summarily dissolve state executive committees which he replaced with some fringe, unpopular members as long as his word would be law. The result was that when concerned members, state governors inclusive, raised these troubling issues with the president who is the party leader, it mattered nothing. Indeed, to ensure he had his way, Alhaji Tukur went back many decades to drag the one and only Umaru Dikko, to head his self-appointed Disciplinary Committee; all these while the soporific PDP leadership slept. Today, they can only gnash their teeth as it matters nothing to them either if their party could no longer field a governorship candidate from within its own ranks but must go shopping for one in other political parties. Nigerians have certainly not seen the last of PDP’s troubles as the party’s winter is already here.

has never made a disease go into remission. While it is also true that there are all kinds of AIDS cure claims, there are no records that sufferers have found them. For this year’s theme to be realisable therefore, it is important to report early enough for the drugs that are available and which are heavily subsidised.

The second thing is for one to obtain as much information as possible on one’s problem. Let’s face it; diseases deliver bad punches both foreseen and unforeseen. It is important to forearm oneself so as not to be knocked out. Luckily, we live in an information age with facts flying left, right and centre of one; so it is very easy to get informed on any topic under the sun from the internet to your neighbours. The other day, someone wanted to know how to cook rice on the internet and the silly thing answered. I ask you, what is this world coming to? Anyway, my point is to assure people that one needs not suffer alone anymore. The world is not called a global village for nothing: the reason is to let you know that if you crane your neck ever so slightly, an American hamburger will fall into your laps right there in your village. So will information.

The third approach is to maintain a healthy attitude no matter what. This is difficult, particularly when the fellow is in pain.

However, I am a firm believer in the notion that a positive attitude can not only make my pocket look like it’s filled with cash even when it’s empty but that it can give any group of bacteria a good run for its money. It’s just when those high heeled shoes keep pinching my little toes that my positive attitude fails me. Seriously though, World Aids Day is for us to remember that AIDS sufferers are people too. Bring them in.

COMMENT

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

17

(41) Note: This tribute to Festus Iyayi as writer is excerpted from a much longer essay that I wrote for a collection celebrating his 60th birthday six years ago. In the essay, I paid exclusive attention to Festus Iyayi the writer. In this excerpt, I have stuck to that decision. I do not know whether the collection for which the essay was written was ever published as I was never sent a copy by the Editor, Professor Wumi Raji. Raji did tell me that Festus saw and read the essay. As I mourn his transition with his family and other comrades, it gives me some consolation that he got to read some of the things I say in the tribute concerning how belated the essay was.

The title of this tribute is the same one that I gave the longer essay for the collection. There was not the slightest intimation that he would be gone so soon! Thus, I have left intact the present tense of the active verbs that I used throughout the tribute. Festus is not completely gone from us; may his writings be a lasting, imperishable legacy to us and those that shall come after us!

Writing, as if life itself depended on it (1) [For Festus Iyayi: radical humanist; writer; neorealist artificer]

I

T is a challenge for me to give a precise, easily comprehensible sense of what I have in mind in the title of this tribute: writing, as if life itself depended on it. Writing is of course one of the greatest cultural inventions of all time. At different times and places human life, especially when conceived in terms of human progress, has received a tremendous boost from powerful or momentous written documents. But unlike verbal speech which is both a primary cultural activity and a social act that almost always entails trans-individual and intersubjective negotiation between two or more persons, writing is a secondary cultural activity; in all its most significant expressions, it is a profoundly lonely activity. For this reason it is not easy to think of any act of writing of which it could be said that life itself depended on it – except perhaps in a figurative sense. Of course more prosaically, life could be said to depend on writing if a particular writer’s psychological or even physical survival in a period of an exceptionally brutal incarceration literally depended on his or her writing. But in neither of these two instances, one figurative and the other literal, am I using this loaded, pregnant phrase – writing as if life itself depended on it – in this tribute to Festus Iyayi. Rather, what I have in mind here is a combination of both the subject matter and the effect of that extraordinary kind of writing in the presence of which the reader is taken (back) to the very roots of being. This is what one confronts most powerfully and unforgettably in perhaps the best among Iyayi’s works, the book of short stories titled Awaiting Court Martial. But this effect of a kind of writing that subliminally expresses what the Italian philosopher, Giorgio Agamben, has famously described as bare life is already present, already an insistent intimation in Iyayi’s works from the very first title, the celebrated novel, Violence. In other words, I am suggesting that Iyayi is a writer in whose best stories one confronts a kind of imaginative, belletristic writing that subliminally takes us back

•Iyayi

to the roots of Being, close to the edge of what it means to live without the illusions of religious or ideological mantras, or the blinkers people often desperately snatch from the pieties of conventional morality in order to shield themselves from the savage truths of an often cruel and unforgiving existence.

Sometime in June 2006 at one of the many events organised to celebrate Femi Osofisan’s 60th birthday on the campus of the University of Ibadan, a fierce verbal controversy over the writings of Festus Iyayi took place between me and Pius Omole, then a Senior Lecturer at the University. Now, I should perhaps state that I am quite deliberately identifying Omole by name and institutional affiliation here when tact or simple courteousness demand that I keep his identity unrevealed. I am departing from that protocol of civility because the view of Iyayi’s writings that Omole expressed at that gathering, while very common among the mainstream of conservative or liberal literary critics and scholars in Nigeria, nonetheless enjoys the “protection” of anonymity. In other words, while most conservative and liberal critics privately express this view of Iyayi as a writer and some even express it in their classes, no one has publicly owned up to it.

Now, it is precisely because I do not wish to perpetuate this anonymity of a view that I consider both lacking in any demonstrable basis in the

corpus of Iyayi’s fiction and oversimplifying about the nature of engaged, committed writing in our country that I have put a particular name, a specific, individuated identity to it – that of Pius Omole as publicly stated in a verbal exchange between us. Thus, it is useful to give a profile of this view of Iyayi’s writings from the Right and the Centre of Nigerian literary-critical discourse that led to that vigorous controversy in June 2006, right in the midst of the celebration of Osofisan’s works.

On one level, this view can be simply and unambiguously stated: Iyayi is a writer of the radical Left with an overriding, urgent social cause; for that reason, the value of his writings rests primarily on the Cause (deliberately capitalised) for and about which he so passionately writes. At face value, this view is factual and perhaps even unexceptionable: Iyayi, as the whole world knows, is indeed an engaged, committed writer and the causes for and about which he writes matter greatly to him. And if his writings have, in one way or another, served to advance greater critical awareness and discussion of those causes, so much the better for Iyayi himself and those on behalf of whom he writes.

But this is all rather facile and this becomes clear the moment you bring into the discussion those who are either critical of the causes about which Iyayi writes or are indeed

dubious about, or even downright hostile to those causes. For as soon as you bring into the discussion this perspective of fragmented or multiple readerships of Iyayi’s writings, then the matter gets very complicated. And this was precisely Pius Omole’s tactic in June 2006: he vigorously insisted that Iyayi’s value as a writer is determined solely by his value for those among the Nigerian reading public that share his social and ideological views. In other words, this implies that while Iyayi’s writings are obviously very important for radical-leftist critics and activists, they don’t hold up well outside the fraternity of the Left. Expressed in other words, this implies that with Iyayi, the imaginative works are little more than an extension into the realm of fictional writing of Iyayi the activist, the passionate and uncompromising Leftist who stands tall and implacable among the country’s radical intelligentsia.

Of course, I immediately took Omole up on these assertions. I vigorously insisted that similar to what obtains in the works of other progressive, leftist writers like Femi Osofisan, Niyi Osundare and Odia Ofeimun, Iyayi is one radical writer about whose works no scholar or critic could be condescending. I stated that I was making this point emphatically because there are indeed radical Nigerian poets and playwrights the quality of whose writings invite and have indeed received a surfeit of patronising critical commentary, the kind of critical condescension that any self-respecting, sophisticated author would reject. But Iyayi, I insisted, is not a progressive, leftist writer of that kind.

Resting my “case” on an exposé on the underlying, though unspoken assumptions of Omole’s assertions, I argued that Iyayi is one of the great radical humanists of postcolonial African literature, a writer whose passionate and eloquent advocacy of the revolutionary transformation of our society did not in any way compromise the quality of his writing, especially with regard to the dominance of realism in its diverse forms and expressions in our literature across the entire ideological spectrum occupied by our major authors.

Of the underlying assumptions of Omole’s assertions during that verbal joust between us in June 2006, the most crucial is the idea that a work of literature or art cannot simultaneously serve a social cause and be a significant or even outstanding work. But this view, I countered, is refuted by innumerable works of literature and art from diverse cultural traditions of the world, from antiquity to modern times, and from classically realist to bracingly

or joyously modernist and postmodernist styles and forms. In different times and places, I argued, works that were produced to protest war, slavery, the oppression of women and the poor, and the tyranny of specific social orders and institutions have been very successful in pursuit of those causes at the same time that they have moved even readers who were not particularly open to the causes advanced by the works.

The refutation of this fallacious claim about Iyayi as a radical writer is what drives this tribute. This I intend to do through a particularly focused attentiveness to a major shift in fictional form, style and themes that occurred in Iyayi’s writings in the 1990s. This radical shift in his writings has very rarely been noted; for that reason, it has not been subjected to critical inquiry. I am using it as a point of departure for this tribute because, as I hope to demonstrate, it says a lot, heuristically, not only about Iyayi’s own writings but also about committed, radical literature in Nigeria in the postindependence period. I must emphasise here that it is a deliberately symptomatic cognitive mapping of this decisive shift in Iyayi’s writings that I carry out in this tribute because, as I shall be arguing, what at first sight appears to be so particular, so striking in Iyayi as an engaged writer, is indeed highly revealing of broader currents in Nigerian writings of a distinctively radical, leftist orientation. This is the interpretive burden of my central arguments in this essay, this claim that the shift that appears so marked, so distinctive in Iyayi’s writings is in fact symptomatic of a whole shift in radical, engaged writing in Nigeria in the last three decades. Before coming to it, a few words about the belatedness of this essay are perhaps useful.

Writing now for the first time ever on Iyayi as a writer, I am struck by how odd, how strange it is to me that he who should have been the very first about whom I ought to have written is the last, using that word “last” in its specific connotation of something that comes as the latest in an ongoing series. This is because, simply stated in its most essential aspect, no other Nigerian writer of imaginative works, either of my generation or within the ranks of self-identified progressive authors in our country, has been closer, in theory and praxis, to my own ideological and political views and to my work as an activist than Iyayi. I shall have more to say on this point later in this tribute. For now, let me simply say that I am so amazed at this belated realisation of this silence of mine on Iyayi’s works which I have admired for a long time and which I so vigorously defended in that verbal exchange with Pius Omole in June 2006 - that I am moved, probably as an act of symbolic reprieve for the oversight, to raise here the shades of that biblical saying in Matthew 20, verse 16: The last shall be the first and the first shall be the last!

To be continued Biodun Jeyifo bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

COMMENT

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

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On the APC, New PDP nuptials

XCEPT for the blindly partisan, most reasonable people welcome the ongoing political shake-up which has seen the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) splinter group New PDP merge with the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

Going into what promises to be a hotly contested general election in 2015, there are now no guarantees how things would pan out. Don’t be deceived by the PDP’s attempt at insouciance. They would be foolish not to be worried about what is unfolding.

It is not every day that a party loses five of its governors to a rival. Looming ominously in the horizon is the prospect that more will jump ship when the elements are right. Even before the defection, the G-7 governors had often said that a few other colleagues within the PDP would move at the appropriate time.

There is nothing for the ruling party to celebrate in the fact that Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his Niger counterpart, Babangida Aliyu, insist they are still part of PDP. True, there are no permanent friends or foes in politics still I don’t see how these two can continue in the ruling party. Even if Jonathan capitulates and accedes to all their demands they would never again be trusted by the party’s high command.

Last week’s developments have rearranged the political landscape such that it is no longer unduly tilted in favour of the ruling party. A newly competitive environment emerged.

Many have focused on counting governors.

But to get a real sense of the changing power dynamic, we must look to the National Assembly.

Before now President Goodluck Jonathan could reasonably expect his legislative agenda to sail through with minimal fuss. This may no longer be the case – especially in the House of Representatives.

For the first time in a very long while Nigeria is about to go into a phase of divided government – where the executive branch is controlled by one party, while the legislature is in the hands of the opposition.

If the messy United States government shutdown is any advertisement for divided government, we should all brace ourselves for a chaotic time ahead. But this dreaded arangement is not all about obstruction: it is one side asking hard questions and insisting that parliament not be a rubber stamp for decisions the executive has already taken.

In this age where the image of government at all levels is so dismal, the prospect of robust checks and balances rather than frighten, should give us hope that the train of impunity that has been run-

Former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is down. In his long years in politics and power the 77-year old has staggered from one scandal to another, but often staged improbable comebacks. This last week he was ignominiously ejected from the Senate because of his conviction on a tax-fraud case. That’s not the end of his troubles: he’s been ordered

to stand trial for bribing a senator and is appealing a conviction in June for having sex with an underage prostitute - Karima El Mahroug aka Ruby the Heart Stealer - and abusing his office to cover it up. Clearly, a case of power corrupting and absolute power corrupting absolutely. Will the day ever come when such a character will face justice in these parts?

ning out of control can be reined in.

So much has been made of the untidy nature of the fusion. One day it is seven governors, the next two of them are denying dumping the PDP. In some states the erstwhile lords of the manor in APC have been less than enthusiastic in welcoming the New PDP hordes that look set to gobble them up.

For me these are minor points of cavil. Politics is messy business. Anyone who was expecting the unprecedented movement of five governors from one party to another – each with his own agenda and local worries - to be without hiccups must be living on another planet.

Frankly, what the APC has pulled off is remarkable. At every point they were written off.

When the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and

Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) came together their opponents dismissed the new grouping as a contraption that would collapse within months.

When that didn’t happen, they began speculating that the arrangement would founder because of the personalities of Bola Tinubu and Muhammadu Buhari. Again, their dire predictions have not manifested.

So now they cynically dismiss the latest stage of the APC evolution as the merger of strange bedfellows. This supposes that what we have in the PDP, Labour Party and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to name a few is a banding together of birds of a feather. Spare me!

Depend on it: the merger of the APC and New PDP elements would throw up turbulence and disagreements from time to time. It will produce

pain – even reverse movement when some people don’t get what they want. But then nature teaches us that the process of delivering a new baby can be painful and messy. To expect anything less is to fool ourselves.

Thanks to the merger newspapers are now full of talk about ideology. This sudden fixation is so amusing because no one can tell you what the guiding philosophy of any of the current parties is – other than they all have a template of policies they would supposedly implement in office. The best you’ll get from any of them is that: a mere election manifesto.

Ideological battles as we used to know them in the Cold War days died with that era. Harsh dividing lines between capitalism, communism, socialism and welfarism have become largely blurred. Philosophies of governance are now so indistinguishable that it is hard to tell what is driving what. Russia and China which used to be avowedly communist are now as capitalist as the United States.

In America there is very little ideological difference between the Democrats and Republican.

Both proseletyse about the beauty of markets driving the economy and making government intervention minimal.

In the era of bitterly divided government in Washington, Barack Obama’s supposedly more left-leaning government has acceded to cutting government spending on social welfare programmes with a fervor that a typical conservative would envy. What now sets them apart are positions on social issues like abortion and samesex marriage.

So if Nigeria’s emerging two-party arrangement does not throw up the kind of ideological divide to please the purists, too bad. In any event, who the progressive is and who the conservative is in this country has always been a matter of branding. Whatever labels our politicians have worn they have managed to get stuck in the same shortcomings of corruption and mismanagement of public resources.

Ideology cannot be an end in itself; it ultimately should bring about development. Our people wouldn’t care whether you are socialist or capitalist if they have electricity, running water, healthcare and quality education for their children. Where these things are available the rest is just background noise.

Asari-Dokubo’s Benin adventures

Jega battles the poisoned chalice M W

ITH the exception of one or two cases those appointed to head the electoral commission in the past have often been men of personal integrity. Usually, the appointing authorities go out of their way to look for the most saintly of characters in the land.

A few days before he unveiled Professor Attahiru Jega as his pick to lead the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Goodluck Jonathan, in a television interview dropped a few hints about the man he had chosen. I remember him saying that although he had never met the academic, all who knew him said he was a person of unbending principle and integrity.

Jonathan’s statement underlined the thinking that has driven the appointment of those to manage elections in Nigeria. If only we can get a Mother Teresa kind of saintly figure who all Nigerians can trust not to pull dirty tricks all would be well.

But a halo is not all that is needed to run acceptable elections. The INEC chairman is just one person; his organisation employs thousands of people as it tries to execute its man-

•Jega

date. If the chairman is an angel and has thousands of devils carrying out his instructions, he would deliver an Anambra gubernatorial election kind of performance.

Organising an election is about getting

materials to polling points on time and ensuring that electoral officials are at their duty posts.

It is about ensuring that the integrity of vital documents – from voters’ registers to ballot papers.

A proven manager with experience running multinational scale businesses, or a military officer who has handled logistics in a war operation, are more likely to eliminate those things we complain about – logistics hiccups and late starts – than some bishop without sin.

Quick to admit that Anambra was a mess, Jega now wants to be given another chance. He says he should not be judged by his latest outing: Nigerians should wait till 2015 before delivering a verdict on him.

The problem with his request is that the same things we complain about today besmirched the 2011 polls. Anambra is just one state. If INEC can contrive such a monumental cock-up in that little space, I hate to think what will happen when it has to deal with 36 states.

After heartfelt apologies Jega would probably retire. Let’s hope that another botched outing doesn’t retire Nigeria along with its bungling electoral umpires.

UJAHID Asari Dokubo is a man of mystery. The one-time leader of the defunct Niger Delta Volunteer Forces – one of the groups that led a violent uprising against the Federal Government in the riverine creeks – doesn’t like to be called a militant - and for good reason, too.

These days he’s more of a wheeler-dealer who takes time once in a while to unleash verbal political missiles. When he’s not threatening to break up Nigeria if Goodluck Jonathan is not reelected in 2015, he’s cosying-up to the likes of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) founder, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Ralph Uwazurike and former Chief Security Officer to late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd).

For some reason that has not been made public, Dokubo found himself behind bars in the neighbouring Benin Republic where he stays on and off this past week. What many find mystifying is that the activist is not just some ordinary tourist but a major investor in that tiny country. He is said to own businesses and even a university.

No doubt the man fancies himself as something of a pan-Africanist. But wouldn’t it be interesting to know whether he maintains this same impressive business profile in the region which economic conditions he once agitated over.

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The making of the next governor of Lagos State PAGES 25

Aregbesola, Awoist and Awoism PAGE 25

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PAGE 24

•Amaechi

•Kwankwaso

HE raging crises within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) reached the climax last Tuesday when five, out of the seven aggrieved governors and some of their followers finally dumped the troubled party and pitched their tent with the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

Their movement into the APC continued a string of mergers and alliances that has so strengthened the opposition party in recent times that analysts are saying that by the time the dust raised by the governors' defection settles, the PDP would have lost its majority in one, if not both the two chambers of the National Assembly.

Abia 2015: Orji's senatorial ambition kindles fresh fire

Mergers, battlegrounds and the 2015 poll Last Tuesday's declaration of five PDP governors for APC has created new battle grounds ahead 2015, reports Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan Such analyses are based on the permutation that should federal lawmakers follow their governors' choice of party affiliations, the APC would have automatically taken over as the majority party in the

House of Representatives while the senate appears dicey.

The five aggrieved governors who have defected are: Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano); Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers);

Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara); and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa).

Governors Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Babangida Aliyu (Niger) chose to stay back under the embattled umbrella

of the PDP. The governors'move has thrown up a new political equation where the APC now has 16 governors in its fold, the same number as the one the PDP can conveniently boast of. The nPDP is left with two while the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Labour Party (LP) have one each.

Following the confirmation of a merger at the special conventions of the then three co-operating political parties, namely the Action Congress of Nigeria (AC N), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), earlier in the •Continued on Page 20

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

POLITICS

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APC/nPDP merger: Bumpy

With the recent defection of five of the seven aggrieved governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Assistant Editor, Remi Adelowo, reports on the likely implication for the leadership structure in the National Assembly

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HE reverberation occasioned by the defection of five of the seven

aggrieved governors elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) is still causing sensation across the nation's polity.

Within the leadership of the ruling party, palpable shock and disbelief reign supreme, as its leading lights are still trying to come to terms with the reality on ground.

This is a sharp contrast to the official position of the party which states, "…we wish to sate categorically that the PDP remains unperturbed as we are now rid of detractors and distractions. We urge all our members nationwide to remain focused and close ranks, now that agents of distraction have finally left our ranks."

But in spite of the open bravado by the PDP that the defection of the five governors was good riddance to bad rubbish, insiders paint a contrary scenario of a party that is in turmoil over the likelihood of transforming from its self-imposed tag of the largest political party in Nigeria, nay Africa, to a party battling for survival and relevance.

But for the refusal of the Niger State Governor, Aliyu Muazu Babangida, and his Jigawa State

•Aliyu

counterpart, Sule Lamido, to move with their G5 colleagues to APC, the PDP would have become the minority party with 16 states in its kitty as against APC's expected 18.

Senate leadership remains stable The movement of the five governors to APC has expectedly created apprehension of a possible leadership change in the Senate, but The Nation's findings indicate that nothing is likely to change in the leadership structure of the Upper Chamber, at least for now.

Up until Friday last week, about nine senators were reported to have defected from the PDP to the APC with their state governors.

Against this backdrop, the PDP, which hitherto had 72 senators in its fold, now boasts of 63, while the APC has 42 senators. The other parties, the Labour Party (LP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), have three and one senator each, respectively.

In the scenario that all the Senators in the states controlled by the G7 governors move to the APC, the party may still not boast a two thirds majority, which is the requisite number needed to effect any change of the Senate leadership.

The Nation gathered that a crack in the rank of senators initially believed to be members of the nPDP may have been responsible for the

•Lamido

Mergers, battlegrounds and the 2015 poll •Continued from Page 19

year, the APC inched its way closer to being an equal rival to the PDP when it raked eleven governors into its fold.

Back then, the ruling party had its members as governors in 23 states, accounting for nearly two-third of the 36 states of the federation. But with indications daily emerging that some of the PDP governors may dump the party in search of other political platforms ahead of the 2015 general elections, pundits predicted President Goodluck Jonathan's party can only beat its chest assuredly in just about 12 of the said states.

This uncertainty had thrown up about 11 PDP controlled states as battleground ahead of the 2015 general election, with both the ruling party and the emerging APC looking good to win the battle for the political souls of those states.

But with five of those states now in the kitty of the APC as predicted, the PDP, according to analysts, will still have to return to the drawing board if it intends to keep the opposition off some of the states remaining in its pouch as well as the four unaligned states of Jigawa, Niger, Ondo and Anambra, as the date for the 2015 election draws closer.

NIGER STATE There are indications that come

2015, the PDP is most likely to suffer defeat in Niger State. The governor of the state was the leader of the seven aggrieved governors who formed the new PDP faction of the ruling party.

Although he has chosen to remain in the PDP, analysts say his decision to remain in the PDP 'for now' is clearly not on a final note as he still has one axe or the other to grind with either the PDP leadership or the presidency.

Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State's reported interest in the presidency come 2015 has pitched him against the PDP establishment.

Recently, he accused the presidency of bribing some northern leaders because of the 2015 presidential election.

But that is not to say with Aliyu's disenchantment with the ruling party, the PDP is finished in the state. Rather it will be more apt to declare Niger State a political battleground as both the APC and the PDP will seek to lay claims to the political soul of the state, irrespective of the governor's final decision on whether to dump PDP or remain within.

The current move by the Presidency to make former governor of the state, Abdulkadir Kure, a minister will position him as a new rallying point for the PDP in the state should Governor Aliyu dump the party.

Already, Kure has been in the forefront of efforts to counter moves by

the governor's new PDP faction to corner the party's structure as the crises within the party deepens.

Aside Kure, the likes of the deputy governor, Musa Ibeto, Senator Zainab Kure, Colonel Isa Kotangora, Dr. Abdulrahaman Enagi, Ambassador Zubairu Dada and former deputy governor, Dr. Shem Zagbayi Nuhu, amongst others, are still very much around in the PDP. But should Governor Aliyu move to the APC with his current structure as well as majority of the current political office holders in the state, it would be left to be seen if the remnant of the PDP in the state will be able to curtail what many observers called the imminent takeover of the state by the opposition.

JIGAWA It is a similar fate to Aliyu's that has befallen Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State. He is also a part of the seven aggrieved governors who formed the new PDP after months of public disapproval of the state of affairs in the ruling party.

With posters proclaiming his desire to gun for the presidency all over the place, he appears to have drawn the ire of the presidency. It is also very obvious that he is still uncomfortable with his membership of the party and may move elsewhere soon. This is because he still makes very uncomplimentary remarks about the PDP and its leadership.

It was also learnt that the

opposition, especially the APC, is still bent on convincing Lamido and Aliyu to move into its camp. Until the two aggrieved PDP governors announce their final take on the ongoing realignment of political forces, their various states remain battleground states where any of the contending parties can claim vital victories.

The contest in Jigawa should Lamido join APC will not be one sided.

Though the governor is sure of moving into his new party with nearly the entire PDP structure in the state, the opposition would still have a number of prominent politicians left in the party to contend with in 2015.

The opposition to Lamido would most likely be led by his predecessor, former Governor Saminu Turaki, who is also reportedly being repackaged by the PDP leadership and the presidency to give the governor a good political fight during the 2015 general election.

RIVERS In spite of the defection of Governor Rotimi Amaechi into the APC, Rivers State remains one place where the 2015 political contest will be at its fiercest. This is because of the unending supremacy war between the governor and his erstwhile ally and Chief of Staff, Education Minister, Nyesom Wike.

•Continued on Page 77

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POLITICS

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road ahead in N/Assembly

• Wamakko

current number of APC senators, as sources revealed that not all of them have aligned with the position of their leaders to move to APC. Senator Simeon Ajibola representing Kwara South told reporters on Wednesday that he remains in PDP contrary to the almost unanimous decision of members of Kwara PDP led

by Senator Bukola Saraki and the state governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, to join APC. Ajibola also disclosed that his colleagues, including Zainab Kure (PDP Niger South), Awaisu Kuta (PDP Niger East), Bello Tukur (PDP Adamawa Central) and some others have never been part of the nPDP nor attended any of its meetings.

"When they were bandying the news that 22 senators, including myself, were in the new PDP in the Senate, 10 of the 22 were not with them. There is no way we can be said to be with them in the so-called merger," Ajibola said.

The present configuration in the Senate remains fluid and unpredictable as to the true political allegiance of some of its members.

A case in point is that of Ehigie Uzamere, the APC Senator representing Edo South, who has allegedly distanced himself from his party's merger plan.

The Nation gathered that notwithstanding an unlikely rebellion against the leadership of the Senate by APC members, its leaders are not taking anything for granted based on security reports that the leadership of the APC have aggressively embarked on a marketing drive to convince reluctant

• Kwankwaso

• Ahmed

lawmakers in states controlled by the aggrieved former PDP governors to join the party.

The success or otherwise of this exercise, according to insiders, will largely determine whether the Senate leadership can continue to sleep with its two eyes closed or keep looking over its

shoulders for possible onslaught from the APC lawmakers.

But as things stand today, the Senate President and the other principal officers can continue to sit pretty on their exalted positions.

A dicey situation in the House of Representatives Shortly after the

• Nyako

announcement of the defection of the governors, 49 out of the 67 members of the PDP in the House of Representatives whose governors have joined the opposition party also joined the train.

A statement by a member of the group in the House, Suleiman Abdulrahman and

PDP's likely next moves Will the presidency and the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) simply fold its hands and take the defection of five of its governors to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in its stride? Not likely, reports Remi Adelowo

I

F the party's antecedents in settling scores with real and perceived foes are anything to go by, it is safe to conclude that the five governors who recently left the PDP for the APC all have major battles to contend with in the weeks and months ahead.

With the disclosure by the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, that the party has not foreclosed reconciliation with its former governors, with pressures still being mounted on them to return to the PDP, indications, however, indicate that the presidency may go for broke in its bid to settle scores with the defected governors.

Indeed, dress rehearsals of likely actions to be taken against the 'rebel' governors manifested several weeks ago when the agents of the government allegedly acting on 'orders from above' descended on the personal and business interests of the leading figures of the new PDP. First was the marking for demolition of an event and recreation centre in Asokoro, a highbrow area in Abuja by the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA). The centre is owned by Senator Aisha Alhassan, a member of the nPDP. Days later, the FCDA revoked

•Tukur

the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of a property located in Maitama reportedly belonging to the Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, on the excuse that the property failed to conform to the Abuja Master Plan.

A further proof that the presidency would not brook any dissent was the arrest of the two sons of the Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over money laundering charges.

The young Lamidos spent a few days in EFCC custody before they were granted bail. Insinuations are rife that Governor Lamido decided against joining the APC with his five other

colleagues as a result of alleged threats from powerful quarters to use his sons' travails to get at him.

More of such clampdown on the leaders of the group that joined the APC on Tuesday last week is said to be in the offing, The Nation has gathered.

Investigations revealed that there are fears that the EFCC may intensify its investigation of Senator Bukola Saraki over the collapse of the defunct Societe Generale Bank despite its inability to establish a prima facie case against the former Kwara State governor so far.

Other drastic measures likely to be taken against the former PDP chieftains include compromising their personal security. Several weeks ago, policemen attached to Saraki were inexplicably withdrawn for reasons not unconnected to his romance with the nPDP. The same fate also befell the former Chairman of the nPDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, who also had policemen attached to him withdrawn by higher authorities.

With the alleged resolve of the presidency and the PDP to unleash the instruments of state on the defected governors and their allies if its last ditch reconciliation moves fail, testy times sure lie ahead in the nation's polity in the next few months.

Kawu Sumaila said legislators from Adamawa, Kano, Kwara, Rivers, and Sokoto had gone with their governors to APC. Of the 49 defecting lawmakers, Kano has the highest number of 14, followed by Rivers with 13, while Sokoto has 11.

Adamawa and Kwara boast six and five lawmakers respectively.

The other lawmakers who remain in PDP because their governors have not defected are 18 from Jigawa and Niger States.

Before the defection, the PDP had 204 House members, while the APC had 137, but currently, the ruling party has 155 members with APC boasting of 186, thus putting it as the majority party in the Lower House.

This development, sources revealed, is creating anxiety among some principal officers of the House who are members of the PDP that their positions have been put under a serious threat.

Unconfirmed reports have it that barring any last minute change of plan, APC members have allegedly resolved to effect a leadership change with the exception of the Speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, who is believed to be sympathetic to the party's cause.

Those likely to be affected in the change of guard include the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha; the House Leader, Mulikat AkandeAdeola and her deputy, Leo Ogor. It is, however, not clear yet those likely to replace the affected officers.

But leadership change or not, the new reality is simply that the APC now calls the shots in the House of Representatives.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

POLITICS

HO is an Awoist? Perhaps we should first attempt a definition of Awoism before we know who an Awoist truly is. Awoism is the totality of the doctrines of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in thought, words and deeds. The philosophical foundation of Awoism is the doctrine of mental magnitude. This doctrine has its root in Plato's philosophy: epistemology and metaphysics, and especially his philosophy of mind, otherwise known as mind-body dualism. For Plato, the body should be made subservient to the mind because the latter is superior to the former. While the mind is the seat of knowledge and intellect, the body is the seat of appetite or desire. Because Awo sees man as an instrument of change - social, economic, scientific and technological - man must undergo a training of the mind through education. Although the body is subordinate to the mind, it must be taken care of through medicare. Hence, education and healthcare are essential parts of his cardinal principles.

Both of them go together, but with the mind as superior to the body.

For Awo, man should be ruled by reason (mind) instead of appetite or desire (body). A man ruled by his appetite or desire would normally engage in corrupt practices and other vices that are occasioned by human appetite or desire that can only be curtailed by the mind or the intellect. Awo listed many of these "negative emotions" as graft, embezzlement, greed, gangsterism, etc. as "obtaining in Nigeria, my land of birth". That is why, in his discussion on the Regime of Mental Magnitude, Awo comes out with a statement of a mortification of the highest order. He writes: "In plain language, the regime of mental magnitude is cultivated when we are sexually continent, abstemious in food, abstain from alcoholic beverage and tobacco, and completely vanquish the emotion of greed and fear." In essence, the cultivation of the regime of mental magnitude is part of Awoism which an Awoist must possess.

On my part, I have always maintained that this requirement of Awolowo is very hard to come by for, as I see it, there are only three people who fulfilled this stoic requirement in a fell-swoop. They are Plato, Mahatma Ghandi and Awolowo himself. I do not know of any person who can be called an Awoist in this stoic sense. If we take this as Awoist in the strong sense, we can at least find an approximation to an Awoist in the weaker sense. This is precisely where Rauf Aregbesola comes in as a man whom the cap fits naturally.

Of course, there may be others, but they are likely to be those whose heads had been carved to fit an ideal cap, which is not natural. I believe it is generally known that Aregbe is sexually continent, abstemious in food, abstaining from alcoholic beverage and tobacco, and may be said to vanquish, if not completely, the emotion of greed and fear. I, like many other admirers of Awo, cannot claim to have passed this stoic test to be called an Awoist in the true sense of the word.

That Aregbesola has passed this Awoist test with high grade is by no means a mean feat that puts him nearer to Plato, Mahatma Ghandi and Awolowo than many of us in this regard. I think I should disarm any criticism by making it clear that my assessment was based on empirical evidence that is open to everybody to verify. Congratulations, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for it has been confirmed that you actually were sexually continent even before your marriage till today, and you neither smoke nor drink alcohol like the famous Gulder which many of us patronise. These certainly are notable areas where many of us who want to be called Awoists, including the present writer, have not made it, as "Baba Kekere" has done, most creditably.

Merely wearing a cap which looks like the one Awo used to wear, or his spectacles (both in imitation of his mentor, Mahatma Ghandi), does not make one an Awoist or a Ghandist.

We are not even sure whether to also call it Ghandi or Nehru cap or both! By my reckoning, Awolowo had put away the cap called "Awo cap" after his death. Notice that he did not start wearing that cap as a leader of the Action Group or the Premier of Western Region. Along the way, he fell in love with Mahatma Ghandi's style of dressing and found the cap easy to fix on his head without necessarily looking at the mirror. It was also part of Ghandi's simplicity,

Aregbesola, Awoist and Awoism

From Moses Akinola Makinde like the spectacles. In my dream which led me to do his wish by serialising my last conversation with him in The Nation newspapers, and later published by Evans Brothers (Nigeria Publishers) Ltd in 2010, I saw Awolowo not wearing the Awo cap but a conventional, multicoloured Yoruba cap over an immaculate white agbada. Neither did he put on the simple Ghandi-like spectacles he used to wear when he was alive. Aregbe neither wears an Awo cap nor Awo spectacles which have nothing to do with the human nature. He simply embraced the spirit and doctrine of Awoism to the letter without the extraneous cap or spectacles.

On the issue of self discipline, Awolowo had this much to say. "Men of affairs and wisdom everywhere are unanimous in the view that only those who are masters of themselves become masters of others. Indeed Aristotle has said it, with the authority of one of the greatest and wisest men that ever lived. 'Let him that would move the world first move himself'". The fact of the case is that, for any person to be able to discipline others, he himself must first be selfdisciplined. All the corruption going on in the country, especially at the national level, is a product of a violation of Awolowo's idea of discipline. A leader is not likely to be at a vantage position to discipline his lieutenants on charges of corruption if he is corrupt himself. In this case, Awolowo has sold the idea of selfdiscipline to our leaders if they must not be afraid to discipline corrupt officials under them unless, of course, they are themselves corrupt, in which case corruption will continue to spread and

flourish in the absence of self disciplined leaders. A report has it that, from his ascetic way of life, Aregbesola is difficult to convince when it comes to free spending or corrupt tendency. What he does not do you just can't do it, and this has led to accountability and transparency in his government about which his lieutenants are happy because they are not greedy and so are ready to make some sacrifice for an Omoluwabi in an Omoluwabi state. Selfdiscipline is the magic by which Aregbe functions as executive governor of his state.

Awolowo has said about God and Religion: "The touchtone of what is good, be it thought, or word or action, is LOVE. We are to love our neighbours as ourselves. Anything thereforeany thought or word or action-which falls short of LOVE is evil, and holds within itself the germ of its own eventual and inevitable destruction."

Awolowo's idea of "spiritual depth" involves the notion of God from whom love ultimately flows. Since he has argued that man is made in the image of God, so must our love satisfy that of the Biblical injunction, "Love your neighbour as thyself", or the Golden rule, "Do unto others as you wish them do unto you". It was therefore not a surprise that Awo was the first politician to establish a Muslim Pilgrims' Welfare Board in Nigeria, although he was a Christian.

Awo's action was a good example of religious tolerance. Thus we see Aregbesola's position on religion in the State of Osun as a follow-up to Awo's stand on religious tolerance where Christians and Muslims would live together in peace and harmony under the religious injunction "Love thy neighbour as thyself".

On education, Awolowo writes: "The cardinal aim of education is not, as is

popularly but narrowly conceived, to teach a man to read and write, to acquire a profession, to master a vocation, or to be versed in the liberal arts. All these are only means to the end of education which is to help a man to live a full, happy and triumphant life." Now, people have talked about Aregbesola's revolution and reorganisation in Osun's educational system.

One of the most recent is the introduction of Opon imo and what, in the like of the American philosopher of education, John Dewey, we may call education "learning by doing" - all of which is to help people to acquire theoretical and practical knowledge in order to live fulfilled, happy and triumphant lives. I am aware that Aregbesola is contemplating a proclamation about technological revolution in Osun, in the manner of the wisdom and foresight of the Emperor of Japan in 1870 in a proclamation and oath taken by him which said that knowledge must be sought and acquired "from any source with all means at our disposal", an oath that led to Japan's technological revolution in the areas of automobile and electronic technologies now far ahead those of USA and Germany. Hence, Aregbe's philosophy of education as learning by doing, and acquisition of high technologies by any means as well as by scientific intelligence are worthy of praise.

Awolowo was seen as a workaholic politician and statesman. This was demonstrated in one of his writings: "I have never regarded myself as having a monopoly of wisdom. The trouble is that when most people in public life and in the position of leadership and rulership are spending whole days and nights in clubs or in the company of men of shady character and women of easy virtue I, like a few others, am always at my post working hard at the country's problems and trying to find solutions to them. ONLY THE DEEP CAN CALL TO THE DEEP". Those close to Aregbesola know him well as a man not given to night clubs or found in the company of "women of easy virtues", but always in his office, days and nights, trying to find solutions to the problems of his state. His appointees find it tough to cope with his work habit, stretching from morning to about 3 a.m the following day. One does not know where he got his energy from to serve his state ferociously as he does. The interesting thing is that he seems to be enjoying it all.

Surely, if there is any politician who may be seen as an Awo incarnate in his Philosophy, Ideology and art of Good Governance, it is Aregbesola whose First Lady is hardly visible.

Grown and properly brought up in the politics of the Action Group in those days by a father who was one of the greatest disciples of Awo in Ikare in Akokoland, Aregbesola did not disappoint his father who must be very proud of him wherever he is now. Rather, he surpassed his father in love and passion for the immortal Awo who was a mentor to both father and son. He has even taken a step further by immortalising his mentor and that of his father by founding the Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance in his (Awo's) image, and most certainly for posterity.

I cannot end this piece without mentioning the recent commendation on Aregbesola for "sterling performance" from a powerful source - the Sultan of Sokoto - who said, "Aregbesola has been performing commendably well in the past three years". The Sultan who said he had visited Osun four times said he was elated by what he saw on ground, expressing his willingness to visit the state again. He told members of the Nigeria Governors' Forum who paid him a courtesy visit in his palace, "My brother, Rauf Aregbesola, is here with all of you. I was in Osogbo, his state capital, sometime this year. I think I have visited his state four times and I am willing to visit again. There is no doubt he is doing wonderfully well" (The Nation, Sunday, Nov 17, 2013, p.9). I hope the spirit of Awolowo and Awoism, otherwise known as Democratic Socialism, may long endure in the State of Osun even after Aregbesola might have left the scene.

Congratulations, on the third year of your meritorious administration in the Omoluwabi State.

- Makinde, a Professor of Philosophy, is the DG/CEO, Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

Director of Media and Strategy, Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Idowu Ajanaku, in this interview with Assistant Editor, Remi Adelowo, speaks on the stand of the party on the national conference, Nigeria’s leadership problem etc.

POLITICS

Odumakin is twisting facts of history, says Ajanaku Boycotting all boycottables

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HE leadership of Afenifere, particularly the spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, has accused the leadership of the APC of betraying the Yorubas in respect to the proposed National Conference. How do you view this?

I like to say very quickly that Odumakin is my friend. Odumakin with all sense of responsibility was one of the pillars of the progressives during the military era. He was also there when we were struggling against the PDP in the South-West. But what must have happened between now and then is what I do not understand, but if my judgment is right, I think Odumakin developed this hatred for the leadership of the progressives perhaps after Jimi Agbaje, who was his ally, was not given the governorship ticket for the 2007 election in Lagos.

He has raised quite a number of issues about the APC as a party and its leadership. First, he said the APC has not delivered dividends of democracy since 1999, and that APC governments in the South-West have been awarding a kilometre of road at a billion naira.

He also made a statement that APC members are enemies of the people because of their stand about the National Conference.

Let me answer your question from the rear. President Jonathan's government has started from the top what they ought to start from the scratch in respect of the National Conference. Also, President Jonathan has set up about 70 various committees in which reports have been submitted to him in the last three and half years, yet he has not been able to implement a single report out of it. Besides, Jonathan has not been able to fulfill a single campaign promise to the people of Nigeria since he was voted in 2011.

He is only using the National Conference to deceive the people.

The leadership of Afenifere has accused the likes of Chief Bisi Akande and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, among others, of selling the Yorubas to the northerners because of the alliance between the APC and the G7 and General Muhammadu Buhari.

What is your reaction to this?

That is a pure fallacy. The leadership of Afenifere, which include Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Femi Okurounmu, Olu Falae, among others, were the ones who supported Obasanjo's second term ambition in 2003. If you look at the history of the Yorubas very well, you will discover that Obasanjo was a fierce enemy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo who was the patriarch of Afenifere. It will interest you to know that when Gbenga Daniel was the governor of Ogun State under the conservative Peoples Democratic Party, the leadership of Afenifere supported him. Another question to ask Odumakin, who is alleging that the progressive leaders have sold the Yorubas to the northerners is: was he not the spokesman of General Muhammadu Buhari in the 2011

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• Ajanaku

presidential election? Did he consult any of the Yoruba leadership before he took up the appointment? This reminds me of a recent joke in town about Odumakin: the man, as they say, has ported from the mainstream of Afenifere to Afenifere of Pa Ayo Fasanmi, from there to Afenifere Renewal Group, then to Save Nigeria Group. From SNG, he moved to Mimiko's camp during the Ondo election and now people are alleging that the man has ported to President Jonathan's camp.

Why is the leadership of the APC skeptical about the National Conference?

The position of the APC and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the conference should be critically looked into. When Abacha took over power in Nigeria, the first thing he did was to set up a National Conference with constituent powers. At that time, Afenifere, under the leadership of Chief Abraham Adesanya, did not want to attend it. This same Bola Tinubu at that time told the world that the man (Abacha) was not sincere. At the end of the day it came to pass. In 2003, when the Alliance for Democracy (AD) was about entering into an alliance with Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo for his second term, Bola Tinubu also raised objection that Obasanjo was not a man to be relied upon but the leadership of Afenifere did not listen to him. At the end of the day, all the AD governors, except Tinubu, were rigged out of office. In 2006, when Obasanjo started the process of National Conference, Bola Tinubu again raised the alarm that this man was not sincere. At the end of the day, Obasanjo used the conference as a tool for his third term agenda. Ironically, history does not change; it is men that have failed to learn from history. I could remember in 2003, the leadership of Afenifere went to the Ota home of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. People like Pa Onasanya, Abraham Adesanya, Olanihun Ajayi, Ayo Adebanjo, including Odumakin, when Obasanjo wanted their support for a second term.

Obasanjo got the second term but failed to fulfill the promises he made to them.

The tragedy of it now is that the same people are now falling for the same bait from a PDP president who is worse than Obasanjo in terms of keeping promises.

Is that the same man Afenifere leaders are following? A man Senator Okurounmu said he does not know his left from his right some six months ago. In as much as I'm not against Nigerians sitting down to discuss our problems, because I will be pretending if I say that Nigeria's present structure is not defective

and there is need to sit down and address the imbalance. But President Goodluck Jonathan cannot be trusted with such a very serious national assignment. So, what we are saying now is that the likes of Chief Bisi Akande, Bola Tinubu, Chief Segun Osoba, and others are human beings and definitely will have their own faults, but when the Yorubas were seen to have been alienated politically by the PDP, Bola Tinubu stood up, provided the leadership, provided the muscle and all it takes to recue Edo, to rescue Ekiti, to rescue Osun and got good victories in Ogun and Oyo. I think such people deserve commendation and not antagonism.

It is the same anger they showed towards the Ondo election. How can Afenifere take side with Mimiko, a man who is noted to be a serial betrayer? The man betrayed Ajasin against Omoboriowo; he colluded with Agagu to rig out Chief Ayo Adefarati who was an Afenifere leader; the same Mimiko, who was not in the struggle against the military.

Odumakin said APC states are doing roads for one billion naira per kilometre and that when Adebayo Akala was governor of Oyo, he was doing it at N50million?

It is a pure fallacy. The question you now ask is that where are those roads now? There are lots of other factors that add up to road constructions. For example, when the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu constructed the Oregun Road in Lagos, a lot of funds went into transferring of vital cables and other materials which were embedded in the contract. The road has been constructed for over 10years and still in very solid shape till now.

In modern day Israel, there are roads not more than 10 kilometres that were constructed with millions of dollars because of the nature of the area. It is not the length of a road that ultimately determines its cost, but the quality, the terrain and other factors. Odumakin can make his point without necessarily twisting the facts of history.

Odumakin said the APC will be living in a fool's paradise if it thinks it can unseat a sitting president but he failed to realise that it happened in Senegal. Is he encouraging the president to use security agents to rig elections in 2015?

HE man who made this phrase popular was the late Mazi Mbonu Ojike. In the 1940s, he kept a column in West African Pilot and led a campaign against colonialism in all forms. He called for repudiation of cultural imperialism and enjoined his compatriots to find virtue in all things traditional and indigenous. Ojike was a key member of the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), once served on the Lagos Town Council and would do anything to promote anything Nigerian. It was in this context that he called for a repudiation of the colonial way of life. The bow tie that the senior civil servants, lawyers and the educated elite spotted and relished meant nothing to him. He saw nothing wrong with African wears for formal occasions and wanted others to join the crusade. He did not really succeed.

The call did not find political expression until much later.

After independence, given the way elections were handled and the barbaric way of managing public affairs, one political group or party or the other had cause to announce boycott of election. It was the case after the crisis that wrecked the Action Group and has remained the pattern since.

Anyone, group, tendency or party that lost out in the political chess game would come up with a boycott of elections and the political process. The siddon look policy expounded by the late Chief Bola Ige took the cake in this.

It has always been my contention that quitters do not win. I have always argued that it is an act of cowardice for anyone to boycott elections since, going by the law, it would not necessarily invalidate the result. I have taken the view that it is a way of making things easy for the opponent. It is better, I have always believed, to slug it out, expose the irregularities and thus sensitise the electorate to the flaws in the electoral system. It was the view taken by the late Chief Adekunle Ajasin in the First Republic when the AG ordered a boycott of elections. Despite being a Vice President of the party, Ajasin participated with a view of retaining his hold on his Owo constituency. He was vindicated. The AG lost more than it gained. The full cost of the progressives’ boycott of the electoral system in 1999 is yet to be fully computed.

However, in the light of the brazen robbery that took place in Anambra on November 16, I am willing to review this long-held position. I think the best any of the other parties that participated could do is shun the supplementary election. In principle and in general, I still believe that wholesale boycott is indefensible. In a general election in which candidates would be returned for executive and legislative positions, no party should see boycott as a useful weapon unless it is willing and able to lead the people all the way to reject the result. Otherwise, boycott is not an acceptable mode of protest.

In Anambra, however, because it is limited to the governorship election and the parties had participated in the first poll, it is the inevitable choice available. Already, as Chief Victor Umeh, the national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance has been boasting, it is obvious to all that the seat has been hijacked by the electoral commission and handed (or was it sold?) to Willie Obiano.

A further participation cannot help correct the damage consciously and mortally inflicted on the system. The systematic rigging has robbed the process of value and taken virtue from the electoral commission.

In all this, what I find personally painful is the involvement of Professor Attahiru Jega. When he was appointed, I was one of those who took on his traducers. I argued that the man was bringing in his personal integrity.

While still observing that more attention should be paid to systems and processes, I thought it wrong to conclude that Jega was not the man for the job. Now, I have been proved wrong. No one can convince me that a man who has failed to give the country a clean election register, who has serially and consistently failed in delivering on every promise has any reason to be retained on the job. I am even willing to entertain the thought that President Goodluck Jonathan knew what was not obvious to us all in making the smart move of making Jega INEC chairman. Many of us had been carried away by the reputation of the Political Science Professor as national chairman of the Academic Staff Union of the Universities.

A man of honour, I believe, should be honest enough to admit he has failed the nation. He should be man enough to admit that it is actually beyond him. The performance in Delta and Anambra, in particular has shown that there is no future for the commission and elections conducted by it with Jega in the saddle. The least I would have expected from the man is quit the stage to atone for the cardinal sin.

We have been taken for a ride. It is time for all to stand up to this latest form of electoral malfeasance. On this occasion, I support a boycott, but active resistance of perfidy on the electoral scene must not be limited to boycott. Otherwise, other elections would be doomed.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

POLITICS

snippets

Abia 2015: Orji's senatorial ambition kindles fresh fire

Tsav hails G7, nPDP merger with APC

Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, reports that Governor Theodore Orji's 2015 senatorial ambition is fast setting new goal posts in the politics of Abia State

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HE game of politics in Abia State, which has been rather drab and somehow straight-jacketed for some time now, seems to have received fresh impetus following recent confirmations that GovernorTheodore Ahamefule Orji is poised to retire to the senate at the expiration of his tenure in 2015.

Although it took some time before his close associates began to own up to the governor's ambition to vie for the top legislative position, it became obvious to close observers that he had made up his mind to follow this political route when several groups suddenly emerged from the blues, calling on the governor to run for the Aba Central Senatorial seat in 2015 and volunteering to mobilise for the realisation of their dreams.

The initial reaction of critical observers was a debate as to whether these groups calling on the governor to vie for the legislative office were genuine or whether they were merely rented? Of course, that debate has not been resolved until date.

But whichever is the truth, it seems certain today that the governor is poised to heed to the desires of the groups and will most likely move over to the Senate when his second tenure expires in 2015.

As would be expected, and as has been the case in several other states, where second term governors like him are also scheming to proceed to the senate at the end of their tenures, the plan has not only electrified the political theatre of the state, it has also raised questions on the fate of the senator presently occupying the senatorial seat in question and that of the other aspirants from Ngwaland in the power game for Orji's succession.

The great call Perhaps the first publicly known group to formally call on Orji to vie for the senatorial seat in 2015 was Isiala Ngwa Traditional Rulers Council. The royal fathers made the call way back in July this year, when they paid a courtesy call to the governor at the Government House, Umuahia.

Chairman of the council, Eze Solomon Nwosu, who spoke on behalf of the other royal fathers, said they had come to show appreciation for the ongoing transformation of the state by Orji's administration.They thereafter urged him to go to the Senate in 2015 at the expiration of his tenure as governor.

In his response, Orji assured the traditional rulers of his commitment to hand over power to Abia South Senatorial zone in 2015.

According to him, "I am the first governor that openly declared that the governorship seat will be rotational. I am here to install equity and fair play in governance."

Making references to a " Charter of Equity," which he said was drafted after the creation of Abia State, the governor said it was the turn of Abia South Senatorial Zone to produce the next governor, adding that he would ensure he honours the charter. "I want to leave here (Government House) peacefully"; he said.

Incidentally, the meeting and the promises made by the two parties have since remained subjects of intense criticisms.

Amongst the critics is a group called Nzuko Igbo USA. In one of the statements it issued, the group warned against what it described as "alleged plans to exchange the governorship position with the senatorial seat."

According to the group, part of the plan is that "Orji will take over the Senatorial seat and cede the governorship position to Ukwa- Ngwa/Abia South senatorial zone."

It said, "It should be noted that Abia Chatter of Equity is peculiar to the governorship position and its rotation between people of old Bende and Aba Divisions and does not extend to legislative positions," the group warned, adding, "The Chatter never mentioned about rotating of the governorship among the three senatorial zones."

Such criticisms aside, many supporters of the state governor have adduced his achievements as justifications for such future political permutation.

This explains why the number of groups wooing the governor for the senatorial position has not waned.

Instead, they have continued to swell by the day.

A source close to Abia State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party confided during the week that "any politician or aide that is worth that name in the state must fully identify with the senatorial ambition of His Excellency. For us that arrangement is sealed. There is no going back. Ochendo will hand over power and proceed uninterrupted to the upper legislative house."

Aside party officials and political office holders,

Stories by Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor

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LHAJI Abubakar Tsav, former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, has described the merger of the Kawu Baraje-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a good omen.

The retired Police boss, while speaking to our correspondent, said with the emerging two-party scenario, it will be more difficult for the 2015 general election to be rigged in favour of any of the two dominant parties.

"I think the merger is a good omen for democracy. It will create checks and balances in the polity. The country stands to benefit from this political development," he said.

Group insists on the creation of Ijebu State

W •Orji

whose endorsement of the governor is no longer a secret, several other organised groups, especially from Ngwaland are also emerging almost every other week to add their voices to the declared ambition.

For example, one of such groups known as Ukwa/ Ngwa Interest Group recently boasted that it would mobilize about 5,000 youths to help realise the governor's ambition.

Comrade Okey Paul Nwankwo, the National Coordinator of the group, said: "There is no doubt that every senatorial zone will send their best to represent them in national assignments.

This is why we are calling on Gov. Theodore Orji to run for the Abia Central Senatorial seat in 2015... We are set to mobilize 5,000 youths for him."

Internal intrigues Among Ngwa people both within Abia Central and Abia South senatorial zones, there are very strong political opponents determined to rubbish the governor's senatorial ambition, especially because of the alleged fear that it is intricately connected to the power game for Orji's successor at the Government House, Umuahia, by 2015.

A source, from Abia Central, who pleaded not to be named but who is a top stakeholder in the 2015 senatorial election in Abia, explained why he considers Orji's plan to contest for the senatorial seat as worrisome when he said: "The Senatorial position of Abia Central has somehow been rotated between the Umuahians and the Ngwa peope since 1999. You will recall that Senator Bob Nwannunu, an Ngwa man, held the position between 1999 and 2003. Senator Chris Adighije, from Umuahia held the position between 2003 and 2007 and now Senator Nkechi Nwaogu, an Ngwa lady has been holding the office from 2007 to 2011 and from 2011 till date. So, you can understand why the alleged Orji's senatorial ambition is considered a threat to Ngwa people in Abia Central who have ambitions in 2015. If Orji bulldozes his way and runs for the senate seat, the fate of the Ngwa people in Abia Central, who would want to be governor will be affected negatively. That is our concern," the source said.

Ngwa aspirants on the succession bid Although the 2015 governorship election campaign has not been declared open, and although aspirants from Abia North Senatorial Zone and from other communities in Abia State have not totally withdrawn interest from the race, prominent aspirants from Ngwaland have already lined up, creating the impression that the contest is theirs exclusively.For now, the major aspirants from Ngwaland alone include: •Continued on Page 26

ORRIED by government's neglect over the years of the geo-cultural zone in Ogun State, a sociopolitical organisation in Ogun East Senatorial District, The Remo Group (TRG) has re-iterated its agitation for the creation of Ijebu State from the present Ogun State.

In a communiqué issued at the end of its leadership meeting in Ipara-Remo, Ogun State, TRG noted that "the simplest way to end the marginalisation and underdevelopment of Remoland is for the much demanded Ijebu State to be created out of the present Ogun State."

Will a loyal deputy be rewarded ?

From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

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HIEF Steven Lawani has been the deputy governor of Benue State since 2007 when Governor Gabriel Suswam took over power from the then George Akume, now a minority senate leader.

Chief Lawani, who hails from Ogbadibo, Benue south senatorial district is quite older than boss, Governor Gabriel Suswam, who will clock 49 years on 15, November, 2013.

During their 2011 campaigns, they tagged it "Balance Team', it was a balance of youthfulness and experience.

What the governor lacked in experience, his deputy got.

Chief Lawan contested the 2007 Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) governorship against Govenor Suswam before he was chosen as a deputy .

He recently told the Benue South PDP caucus of his intention to contest the 2015 govenorship race and succeed his master at a meeting in Double K Hotel Resort in Otukpo.

The question on the minds of political observers is will Suswam and the people of Benue State reward a loyal deputy? The days ahead will provide an answer to this question.

Our stand on Jonathan's conference - PRONACO

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HE Pro-National Conference Coalition (PRONACO) has said it is in support of plans by President Goodluck Jonathan to convene national dialogue. The group said it sees the development as a step in the right direction.

Wale Okunniyi, National Publicity Secretary of PRONACO, said it is also a good thing that the President chose to seek the modalities for convening the national conference through the Femi Okurounmu panel.

"Our strong view on Presidential Committee on National Dialogue is that it is a first step in the right direction for the President to seek the modalities for the convening of the national conference. Our recommendation on it is that it should be guided by Nigerians, supported and constructively engaged the people.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

POLITICS

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RIGHT OF REPLY

The making of the next governor of Lagos State I

T is interesting that Dapo Thomas sought to anchor his write-up on the emergence of the next governor of Lagos State, which appeared last Sunday in some newspapers, on the determinant agency of divine intervention. Indeed, it is true as the scriptures teach us that "God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform." Yet, the same "unseen hand" that the writer alludes to, which intervenes in the positive choice of who becomes governor also reserves the exclusive right to determine the negative choice of who will not be. We are not aware that the said unseen hand has transferred that right to a certain Dapo Thomas such that he can now feign to proclaim magisterially on who will not be governor of Lagos State in 2015. Which was what he sought to do in his write-up under reference.

If this doubting Thomas had left his intervention at the level of the ethereal, matters would have been easy to dispose of.

No one, except the Almighty God, can quarrel with someone who claims to be speaking for the Supreme Being. Our country is today awash with so many fake prophets and the political season is a time when they do brisk business by bamboozling the unwary and the inordinately ambitious with false prophesies.

So the right of Mr. Thomas to mount the pulpit and try to pass himself off as a seer is not in doubt insofar as his clients are willing to be sucked in and to pay handsomely for his services. In these climes, spiritual charlatanism had for long been a dubious but highly lucrative calling with mass followership, well before Wole Soyinka wrote his Brother Jero plays.

Yet, there should be a limit to intellectual vagrancy that seeks to masquerade itself as political soothsaying. After attempting a feeble appraisal of the field of supposed aspirants, Thomas plays his hand openly in the write-up when he declares that, "The only odd person on the list (of aspirants) is Femi Hamzat. He is a Prince from Ogun State. His father, Oba Olatunji Hamzat, a former commissioner in Jakande's government, is the Olu of Afowowa Sogaade in Ewekoro Local Government Area." He continued, "How he intends to scale through the indigene hurdle normally determined by patrilineal relationship - despite his obvious relationship with the Olu of Afowowa is a mystery to me."

Let us just say that it would continue to be a mystery to his likes even well after the gubernatorial election would have been won and lost. But we should ask, since when did the "indigene hurdle" and "patrilineal relationship" become critical determinants of who becomes governor of Lagos State? Some things, as this once-upon-a-time operative of the Lagos State Government should know, are better left unsaid. Truth is that, where one's

•Fashola

By Adewole Joseph father comes from has never been a fundamental enhancer or fatal hindrance to mounting the gubernatorial saddle in Lagos.

What matters is the level of one's commitment and contribution to the well being and progress of the state. And Dr. Femi Hamzat's qualifications in this regard have never been in doubt.

Indeed, it has been the unique good fortune of Lagos State to aggregate the energies of people from far and near in composing an entity that has become the most progressive member of the constituent states that make up the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Local and international ratings continue to attest copiously to this fact.

Speaking of Oba Olatunji Hamzat, whose parental association is now being touted as a disabler of his son's purported ambition, let us go back a bit in history. It is a fact that much of the initial foundation for the transport infrastructure of Lagos State was laid by the same Olatunji Hamzat during his tenure as commissioner thirty years ago. And it continues to be a sore point of debate what the fortunes of Lagos would have been today if the Metroline project, which he initiated under the forward-looking leadership of his principal, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, had been allowed to see the light of day. If some people do not have the good grace to show gratitude they should at least desist from peddling bad blood about fellow citizens who have served Lagos State well.

But Thomas did not stop his pull-himdown hatchet job there. He goes further to add that: "The speculation in town is that Femi Hamzat enjoys the backing of (Governor) Fashola. This may be understandable. While I do not intend to deny him (BRF) the right to give his support to whoever he desires, I will only admonish him to tread softly. There is no need to create fresh tension between him and Tinubu. As the symbolic leader of the progressives and a major financier of the APC, Tinubu should be given the privilege of having a major input in who becomes the APC candidate, and in fact, who becomes the next governor of the state. For now, it will be a great honour to Tinubu if Lagos State becomes his operational base and political stronghold."

This is a most devious line that seeks to stoke the fires of a quarrel that does not exist.

Has Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a political leader who has proven quite capable of taking care of issues, complained to Thomas that he is being denied "the privilege of having a major input in who becomes the ‌ next governor of the state"? As far as we know, Asiwaju Tinubu and his worthy successor share a common interest in ensuring that

whoever takes over from Fashola should be someone who can continue with the good work started by Tinubu and carried forward

by Fashola over the past decade-and-a-half or so. If for whatever reason known to both men they have arrived at a convergence of choice and that choice seems to be pointing to Dr. Femi Hamzat, so be it. There can be no profit in seeking to create a casus belli between both men where none exists, except for those elements that the Yoruba people would call arije ni madaru. We sincerely hope that Mr. Thomas does not desire to be numbered amongst such an ignoble cast.

Obviously, the limited encounters to which Thomas was exposed while he was in the service of the state government may have fuelled a delusion that he could speak with authority on goings-on in the inner circles of Lagos politics. Who told him that Hakeem Gbajabiamila was ever in strong consideration as Tinubu's successor? The ways of power can indeed be inscrutable, but no one can deny the fact that the choice of Babatunde Raji Fashola as successor has proved to be the crowning glory of Asiwaju Tinubu's gubernatorial ascendancy in Lagos State. A political culture and corresponding structure is being built to power Lagos State into fulfilling its nomenclature as the country's Centre of Excellence. Lagosians must be wary that desperadoes like Thomas and his paymasters do not scuttle the carefully charted path to transforming their state into a modern and prosperous industrial democracy anchored on harnessing the abundant energies of an emergent megacity.

Mr. Thomas's choice of what prefix to attach to each of the names of the people he claims are currently eyeing the Alausa seat betrays his bias and possibly tells us a lot about who paid how much for what write-up. In a society obsessed with bloated dignitarianism based on honorific titles, it is revealing that House Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji is given his proper title as Hon. and Ganiyu Solomon and Gbenga Ashafa are referred to as Senator while Dr. Leke Pitan, arguably one of the brightest physicians to superintend the Health Ministry in the history of Lagos State, has his title missing while Dr. (Engr.) Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat, a Ph. D holder in Systems Engineering is simply Mr. Femi Hamzat.

However, it is instructive to remind Thomas that such sneaky put-downs are ultimately futile. The packed field of aspirants from which the incumbent govenor, simply Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, was chosen as candidate, was heavily populated with Professors, Engineers and the like and yet he emerged!

In between making specious claims and engaging in childish pranks, Mr. Thomas also takes time off to pronounce some categorical

falsehoods and proclaim bizarre logic. Hear him: "The plan of APC to become a major rallying point for all progressives nationwide can only be realised if Lagos regains the high political tempo witnessed under Tinubu. As at now, the (sic.) Lagos under Fashola has lost its political steam. The entire environment is not business-friendly for those who live on politics. Those who feed and live on political entertainment are moving to Osun and Ekiti where there is market for their business."

How an environment that is "not businessfriendly for those who live on politics" becomes a bad thing is perhaps clear only to Mr. Thomas and his ilk of jegudu jera politicians. He claims that those who feed on "political entertainment" are moving to areas "where there is market for their business"!

Haaa!!! The truth of course is that those engaged in real business that promotes the progress of society are doing quite fine under the present dispensation as the stupendous growth in infrastructure and quantum leaps in the internally generated revenue of Lagos State continue to show.

Let us conclude by noting that the great cities of today are those that continue to deemphasise primordial considerations and ascriptive tendencies in favour of achievementoriented principles in their choice of leaders.

The Anglo-Dutch origins of the city of New York are not in doubt but it was the Jews that turned it into the commercial capital of the world. The Irish antecedents of the city of Boston was deep but it was the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) influence that elevated it into the educational hub that it has become today, home to the world-famous Harvard University and many other high brow institutions. The percentage of aboriginal Emirati in the city of Dubai is not nearly enough to explain the extensive prosperity of that city which is today one of the fastest growing metropolis in the world.

What all this tells us is that the great cities are those that creatively use the energies and endowments of indigene and settler alike to drive towards prosperity.

Above all, we all need to be careful about how far we go in tracing origins when it comes to the politics of Lagos State. Centuries-old migratory patterns and even more recent population shifts should caution us that we could be presented with some rather interesting disclosures as to who comes from where even amongst the current cast of gubernatorial aspirants not to talk of past and present leaders of the state! Lastly, let it be known that hagiography procured through stealth and filthy lucre can only invite its own commensurate nemesis. A word, as they say, should be enough for the wise. * Mr. Joseph wrote from Mushin, Lagos.

26

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

POLITICS

ripples

Has Tambuwal settled for governorship?

C Kure takes on Niger

power brokers E

• Kure

IGHT years after he served out his two terms as the Niger State governor and literally went into a political oblivion, Engr. Abdulkadir Kure appears to be crawling back into relevance once again.

In the last few weeks, Kure's name has been bandied around as one of the likely new ministerial nominees, a development that sources allege, has not really gone down well with some power brokers in Niger State, most particularly the state governor, Aliyu Muazu Babangida.

Kure, it was learnt, is taking up the ministerial offer in order to settle scores with his successor, who has sidelined him politically in the state in the last eight years.

Enikuomehin in the lurch

Between Saraki and Ajibola

T

T

HE unceremonious dropping of Chief Benson Enikuomehin as the Ondo State nominee on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has left the lawyer-turnedpolitician in a quandary.

This decision may not be unconnected with President Goodluck Jonathan's resolve not to reappoint former NDDC board members, sources have disclosed.

Enikuomehin, who dumped the PDP for the Labour Party (LP) and campaigned vigorously for the reelection of Governor Olusegun Mimiko last year, is now said to be weighing his options, even as there are unconfirmed speculations that he may be appointed to head the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC) by Mimiko.

•Tambuwal

ONTRARY to speculations that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, is being positioned by certain forces to vie for the 2015 Presidency, fresh facts indicate that the nation's number four citizen may have opted to contest the 2015 governorship seat of Sokoto State after all.

If this political permutation remains unaltered before 2015, Tambuwal will not have much trouble winning the number one seat of the headquarters of the Caliphate, as he is known to be close to the incumbent governor, Aliyu Wammako, who is also alleged to be favourably disposed to handing over to the Speaker.

• Enikuomehin

HAT the former Kwara State Governor, Senator Bukola Saraki, has joined the All Progressives Congress ( A P C ) a l o n g w i t h some o t h e r members of the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) is no longer news.

With Saraki's defection, it was expected that other old PDP members in Kwara State across board will follow Saraki, who is acknowledged as the state's political leader.

But recent comments by the Senator representing Kwara South, Simeon Ajibola, that he was neither a member of nPDP nor will join APC is presently causing ripples in the North Central state.

Not a few PDP stakeholders in the state, it was learnt, are worried over the development.

• Saraki

Abia 2015: Orji's senatorial ambition kindles fresh fire

•Continued from Page 24

Enyinnaya Abaribe Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, an economist, teacher and strong grassroots politician, is a one-time deputy governor of Abia State under the then Governor Orji Uzor Kalu. A two term serving senator and current chairman of the Senate Committee on Media, Information and Public Affairs, Abaribe is believed to be a strong contender to be the next governor of the state.

He is from Abia South Senatorial Zone and of Ngwa stock, which has continued to make the case that it should be their turn to produce the next governor of the state.

But his major drawbacks may include the Orji Uzor Kalu factor and the interest of his fellow kinsman, Chief Emeka Nwogu.

Since the icy relationship between Abaribe and Kalu has not been resolved, it is feared that PDP would be concerned that Kalu may pose as a threat against Abaribe's candidacy.

Emeka Nwogu The ambition of Chief Emeka Nwogu, who is a two-term serving Minister of Labour and Productivity, is no longer a secret.

The Nation learnt that Nwogu's strongest point in his bid to secure the governorship ticket of the People's Democratic Party is his closeness to President Goodluck Jonathan.

Nwogu's wife, who is an Ijaw, from Jonathan's home state, is alleged to be well connected and as such, is one of his strongest pillars.

Nkechi Nwogu Some of the strong points of Senator Nkechi Nwogu, the PDP senator representing Abia Central, include the alleged pact to exchange seats with Governor Theodore Orji and her experience in Abia grassroots politics.

A former member of the House of Representatives, Nwogu is today a twoterm serving senator.

She is believed to enjoy overwhelming support of youths and women but it remains to be seen where all these would

take her to in the succession power game.

Her strongest opposition, according our sources, would be the argument among Abia South political lords that no Ngwa man or woman from T.A Orji's area, Abia Central Senatorial zone, should contest on PDP ticket in the interest of equity.

The others: Other known possible contenders from Ngwaland include, Eric Acho Nwakanma, from Abia South Senatorial zone, who has served as a Speaker of the state House of Assembly and twice as a deputy governor in the state.

Others are Chris Akomas, from Nenu in Obingwa Local Government, who served as Commissioner for Commerce and Industries under Orji Uzor Kalu before he became the deputy governor of the state in a joint ticket with T. A Orji after the 2007 election.

Another major Ngwa aspirant is Chief Reagan Ufomba who was Special Assistant (SA) to former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu. In 2011 governorship election, Ufomba left the PDP to realise his

governorship ambition in APGA. He won APGA's ticket but lost the election.

Today, it is said that he is still preparing for the race in 2015.

But Ufomba's major challenge may include the fact that he is from Nsulu in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government which falls under Abia Central, the same as Theodore Orji and the recent problems in APGA, as he reportedly pitched camp with the then Governor Peter Obi/Maxi Okwu faction of APGA against Chief Victor Umeh. With the current developments, the platform Ufomba would use to realise his ambition will still be unveiled in the future.

We cannot forget that names like Stanley Ohajuruka, a former Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly and a former member of the House of Representatives is being mentioned.

Also, Uzo Azubuike, who has represented Aba North and Aba South in the House of Representatives and Paul Ikonne, a prince from Ngwaland, who is the son of Eze Isaac Ajuonu, are also being touted.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

IN VOGUE

By Kehinde Oluleye

Tel: 08023689894 (sms) E-mail: kehinde.oluleye@thenationonlineng.net

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

GLAMOUR

31

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

34 GLAMOUR

&

OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL (08033572821) raphseg2003@yahoo.com

40 SUNDAY MAGAZINE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

SUNDAY MAGAZINE 41

?relationship issues Solutions to real life

Princess

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

ETCETERA

56

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

POLITICKLE

Crazy call •Or ‘The Undertakers’ The following aims to stimulate efficiency in power supply and, ultimately, value for the consumer’s money.

CHEEK BY JOWL

OH, LIFE!

THE GReggs

WHY an oil-rich country that yet grappled with an N18, 000 minimum wage conundrum and the premium black market rate of N140 to N150 per litre of premium motor spirit beside countless infrastructural inadequacies expected the average citizen to expend half of his disposable income on power supply alone confounded Yiga Marola.

Riled by the N12, 000 current charge for his humble three-bedroom flat under the new electricity tariff regime, he anticipated a fiery exchange with the manager at the district office of the local PHCN Undertaking on a Tuesday morning. A crowd lined the corridors and stairways and Yiga wondered if some meeting were planned. He checked his emotion to listen in on conversation around.

It turned out that most of the men and a few women about the premises were poor citizens similarly roused by the ‘N12, 000 affliction’ to complaint. Yiga took his turn on a queue to speak with the manager once she began to attend to customers. In front, a young man tearfully tendered bills from two flats on the same block. One had the old electricity meter and the other had none, but both fetched the prestigious N12, 000 rating.

The manager assumed evasive mode. “You see,” she said, “the same amount was charged the flat without an electricity meter. What if the flat were to receive the true charge?”

Staggered by the rationale, the youth mustered a dissenting view. “If I don’t talk now, I know one day it will go to N50, 000,” he said as he turned to go. He vowed to ‘deal’ with any official who dared disconnect the electricity cable in front of his house.

Yet another fellow pleaded that the electricity supply and billing of his residence be stopped to allow him resolve ‘school fees issues’. The manager appeared moved, but only to safer ground. “Look, just pay something this month and after the school fees, you can resume settling your bill,” she said in her most affected mien thus far. Yiga watched the man leave as close to tears as possible.

It was Yiga’s turn and he fired off. “Madam, last month I paid my bill through your cashless machine and the amount wasn’t credited for this month. And I can’t understand why the bill increases substantially every month. Last month it was about N10, 000 for my humble three-bedroom flat. Before then it was N8, 000.”

After scanning Yiga’s bill, the manager, with every angle on her suggesting pocket dynamite, countered with a broadside. “Don’t worry, the amount will reflect next month (it never did). As for your second enquiry, what don’t you understand there? Power supply improved over the last month, and given the new consumption rate, you consumed more than you did last month. Do you have a meter?”

“Yes, but it’s old …”

“You see, all old metres have been phased out and …”

“But Madam, is that why I have to pay for what I didn’t use?”

“You must have used the power or you would not be billed for it. I’m sure you have a boiling ring.”

“I don’t.”

“Then you must have a kettle.” Poor Yiga. Madam blazed from the hips now.

“You know a kettle also has a boiling ring. Look, I had to replace my electric cooker with a gas cooker to conserve electricity myself. By the way, you all caused this problem. When the government chose to sell PHCN, ‘sell it!’ you screamed.

Now see the problem.”

Yiga didn’t see the problem. Whoever monopolised power supply was obliged to provide value for money, and if that meant someone beside the current operator, then let it be. But Yiga conceded that the process of ownership transfer, after the Nigerian fashion, was fraught with allegations of pension fraud, underhand dealing and compromised bidding.

Yiga left, but not before securing reprieve from disconnection based on the manager’s intervention. The respite might be temporary given the ruthless nairabound approach of PHCN foot soldiers, but it was all Yiga could do to stem complete loss of faith in the system.

QUOTE

When you’re feeling your worst, that’s when you get to know yourself the best.

—Leslie Grossman

Jokes Humour

Fast Video MARY continually harried about that friends pleaded that she slow down and find ways to relax.

One friend invited her to dinner and, while the friend cooked, Mary agreed to watch her collection of videos on stress management and relaxation techniques.

Fifteen minutes later, Mary went to the kitchen and handed her friend the tape.

“But it’s a 70-minute video,” the friend said. “You couldn’t have watched the whole thing.”

“Yes, I did,” said Mary. “I put it on fastforward.”

Doctor’s Prescription A YOUNG man was getting married to a doctor’s daughter. At the wedding reception, the father of the bride stood to read his toast, which he had scribbled on a piece of scrap paper.

Several times during his speech, he halted, overcome with what was assumed to be a moment of deep emotion. But after a particularly long pause, he said, “I’m sorry. I can’t seem to make out what I’ve

written down.”

Looking out into the audience, he asked, “Is there a pharmacist in the house?”

Answering Your Own Question A MAN looking for work was hired as a research assistant by the physics department of a famous university to investigate the thermodynamic properties of wood.

Two weeks after starting work he was approached by an encyclopedia salesman who explained that purchase of the encyclopedia entitled the buyer to have any three special questions answered completely.

To save himself a great deal of work, the researcher bought the encyclopedia, stipulating for his first free question a full dissertation on the thermodynamic properties of wood.

Three weeks later the head of the physics department called the research assistant into his office and said, “We have a request from an encyclopedia company. One of their customers has asked for a report on the thermodynamic properties of wood. Please prepare the report for them.”

•Adapted from the Internet

T

Writer’s Fountain OWARDS great “Just a moment, now listen. Three meareading: Split up passages of sures of Gordon’s, one of vodka.” dialogue to add vitality.

Just seven extra words but the passage In the first draft of a famous novel: has gained vitality. And is there a hint of “A Dry Martini,” he said. “Three meaconflict with the barman? (“Just a moment, sures of Gordon’s, one of vodka.”

In the second draft, inserted is an extra now listen.”)

Simplify the characterisation. line of dialogue.

Ruthlessly cut everything that might dis“A Dry Martini,” he said. tract or confuse the reader – at least, every“Oui, monsieur.” thing that did not have a plot purpose. Ensure that speech, diversions and observations Animal talk: •Hippopotamus means river horse. Hippos are eventually relevant to the story’s purpose.

Write in the ‘voice’ of your character. kill more people in Africa compared to Give your characters certain traits and crocodiles. They actually sweat blood. Their skin contains a great amount of an oily ensure that speech, grammar and genuflecsubstance that exudes from the pores, and tion match character. The challenge is havwhen the beast perspires, a little blood gets ing the artisan with little education sound mixed in. unpolished despite your sense of grammati•Hippopotamuses do 80% of their cal construction, for instance. vocalisations underwater and break wind The process offers a quick way to improve through their mouths. your work, whatever genre you write in. It’s •Hummingbirds, the smallest birds, are so also a lesson you can study when you are tiny that one of their enemies is an insect, tempted to play with words and do your the praying mantis. Hummingbirds can’t thing. Avoid letting your depth of knowlwalk, but they are the only birds that can edge override the story. Focus, instead, on fly backwards. telling the story or letting the story tell itself.

57

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

Dud cheques: Culprits beware!

•Sanusi

•Lamorde

T

HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through its actions and inactions may be directly responsible for the non realisation of a projected N2trillion annual revenue window for the Federal Government as well as jeopardising the creation of over 300, 000 jobs, The Nation has learnt.

At issue is that the apex bank is delaying the roll-out of the planned implementation of the September 14th Master Services Agreement signed on Friday, September 14th, 2012, between the Nigerian Postal Services and the School of Banking Honours, in which the latter was appointed as an agent by NIPOST to engage all banks and other financial institutions operating in the country to comply with the Stamp Duty Act requirement of affixing postage stamp of N50 to any transaction receipts that is worth N1, 000 and above.

Briefing newsmen on the development, at the corporate headquarters of the School of Banking Honours, in Lagos, recently, Mr. Adetola Adekoya, Project Consultant/ Chief Operating Officer of SBH, revealed that all efforts to get the apex bank to issue the compliance circular to the

Page 58, 59

•Hemnani

E

Page 61

‘I don’t have a special seat in my office’ •Oyeyemi

Page 62

How CBN threatens N2trn revenue, 300, 000 jobs

By Ibrahim Apekahde Yusuf with agency report banks and other financial institutions in aid of the stamp duty collection has proved abortive.

According to him. "We have been urging CBN through various meetings and consultations, to hasten release of its compliance circular that will guide banks and other financial institutions on the effective implementation of Approval Letters given by CBN to School of Banking Honours (appointed Agent of NIPOST).

We became worried when private sector banks actually commenced their own charges on cashless transactions since 1st October, 2013, while NIPOST Statutory stamping, was being delayed.

"We therefore sought to draw the attention of President Goodluck Jonathan to our plight, particularly as 300, 000 jobs are being targeted on the NIPOST assignment and the

government is losing about N2trillion revenue annually."

The Stamp Duty Act 2004, was amended in 2010, with amount chargeable per transaction receipts increased from N40-N50, irrespective of amount involved with N1, 000 as baseline.

The law also covers loan agreements, deposit agreements, staff employment contracts, staff promotion letters, purchase order agreements and any other agreement covered by the law.

Exceptions to this rule are bank tellers or "receiving" cheques, drafts and any other negotiable instruments that are already duly stamped.

In a telephone interview with the CBN spokesman, Mr. Ugochukwu Okoroafor, he confided in The Nation that he was not aware that the CBN was supposed to issue a compliance letter but pleaded for more time to investigate the matter.

Pension fund: Employers risk sanctions if they default MPLOYERS defaulting on remitting their employees' pension pool should get ready to start facing sanctions. This point was reiterated by Umaru Modibbo, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Sigma Pensions, in Lagos, recently.

Speaking exclusively with The Nation Modibbo said the pension fund administrators is that of compliance by employers.

"Under the law, the Reform Act says you should remit it (pension) seven days after the last pay day," he said. "But if you don't do that, you're bound to pay interest rate of whatever amount you withhold. In fact the National Pension Commission has started appointing companies to go after these defaulting employers and get them to pay. And they have started paying. Some law firms and accounting companies were appointed by National Pensions Commission to pursue

-- Page 53

'Nigeria is ripe for quick frozen products'

By Joe Agbro Jr. these defaulting employers and get them to pay together with the interest to the organisation."

Quelling fears of contributors about the safety of their pensions in the light of recent financial scams, Modibbo urged employees to have faith in the pension scheme. "We have N3.5trn in the past eight years and there is no single fraud because of the segregation of duty," he said."

“The pension administrator is just administering this fund while the custodian is in custody of these funds. And these custodians are the big three or four banks in the country. We all know them."

Modibbo also decried the low number of registration of workers in the country, considering the working population. "We are possibly like 45 million by our estimates," he said. "Only about five million are registered out of an estimated working population of 45 million. So, where is the 40 million?"

Reacting to the a cry that

some employers did not remit funds to the pension pool, Modibbo said that workers affected in such companies must squeal to PENCOMM. In a related development, at a public forum, Abdulrahman Saleem, who represented Mrs. Chinelo AnohuAmazu, the Acting DirectorGeneral of the National Pension Commission Board said though the pension scheme has experienced some challenges, "it has eliminated queues of old pensioners. Now you can seat here and they (PFAs) come to you six months before retirement."

The high point of the event was when the head of benefit administration, Mallam Ibrahim Balarabe took would-be pensioners on a slide presentation tagged 'How to access your retirement benefits.'

Balarabe enlightened the audience which included retires and prospective retirees on the step by step processes and requirements needed to be able to access their retirement benefits.

Further checks by The Nation revealed that the CBN had in two separate letters dated November 5th 2012 and December 3rd, 2012, acknowl-

edged receipt of a letter written by the School of Banking Honours and dated September 27th, 2012, where the apex bank declared matter-of-factly

that it had no objection, whatsoever of plans by the NIPOST appointed agent to collect stamp duty on behalf of the Federal Government.

•From left: Chairman of the occasion, Sir Remi Omotoso, President/Chairman, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM) Mr. Victor Famuyibo and the Guest Speaker, Dr. Adedoyin Salami, during the 17th Annual Public Lecture of the Council in PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN. Lagos…recently.

T

HE Rural Electrification Agency (REA) would present a request for intervention in rural electrification through mini grid to Israel, it was learnt yesterday.

According to the REA board chairman, Senator Jonathan Zwingina, who made this disclosure after the Ambassador to Nigeria, Uriel Palti led a delegation to the agency in Abuja, Israel is vast in renewable energy.

The chairman added that there are wind energy sources in their desert farms besides their biomass technology.

Zwingina revealed that Palti has invited Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to visit Israel and appreciate how the country has coped with rural electrification.

Agency seeks Israel intervention in rural electrification ...To understudy Israel rural electrification

From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

He said REA has accepted to get to Israel in order to overcome its renewable energy challenges.

Asked if the delegation deliberated on investment issues, Zwingina said that it was an exploratory meeting but REA would in future examine investment in the nation's energy sector that President Jonathan already tabled during his visit to Israel.

He said that the general policy has been set by the government and the REA is only keying into the aspects

that suit it.

On the visit, the chairman noted that "Mr. Palti came on a visit with his economic adviser. And the object of his visit was to further the relationship between Nigeria and the State of Israel and particularly to look at the areas of cooperation in the energy sector. " Zwingina recalled that since the subject matter of Jonathan's visit to Israel was energy, the agency facilitated the visit of the ambassador in order to deepen the access of communities in Nigeria to rural electricity.

Customs intercepts 1,074 contraband

T

HE Nigerian Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’ Ikeja-Lagos, has intercepted a DAF truck laden with 1, 074 cartons of assorted smuggled frozen poultry products, valued at N4, 833, 000million with a duty of N966, 600 and a duty paid value of N5, 799, 600 million.

The Unit Comptroller, Nuhu Isa Mahmoud made this disclosure in a statement made available to The Nation by the Public Relations Office of the Unit, shortly after the

By Biodun-Thomas Davids

examination of the truck at the workshop area of the Unit.

According to him, “a Patrol Team led by Assistant Comptroller Abdullahi Kirawa, comprising other officers and men of the Unit intercepted the truck with the driver named Mike Abram and one Mr. Richard Ikhabuzor who was escorting the truck during the arrest.”

He further hinted “that the DAF truck with registration number DELTA

XB 434 DSZ was intercepted based on an intelligence report. It was trailed to Alaba International Creeks – via Mile 2, before the interception.”

He pointed out that the remarkable thing about the seizure was the fact that the smuggled poultry products were concealed with 190 cartons of Viju and bobo milk; the act which he said clearly showed their intent to mislead security operatives.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

Dud cheques: Culprits be The Central Bank of Nigeria has raised the alarm over the rising incidence of dud cheques with estimates for the numbers processed in the last 12 months totaling N166billion alone, a development, the apex bank considers unhealthy for the nation's financial system and feels very strongly that a review of the Dishonoured Cheque Offences Decree of 1977 would curb the excesses, reports Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

O

F all the extant laws operating in the country, the Dishonoured Cheque Offences Decree of 1977 is one of the laws being criminally observed in the breach.

The Nation can authoritatively report that 36 years after the legal framework for ensuring strict eradication of dud cheques took effect, rather than abate most Deposit Money Banks in the country have had the misfortune of processing high volumes of dud cheques in their daily transactions, in recent times.

A worrisome trend To analysts who have studied the trend, they can hardly understand the steadily but alarmingly high degree of non compliance judging by the upsurge in the crime.

From a paltry volume of N9billion in 2005, statistics obtained from the CBN shows that in the last 12 months alone, banks have processed over and above N166billion dud cheques.

This value, according to the CBN, indicates an enormous volume of dishonoured cheques in the financial sector.

Apparently miffed by this development, CBN Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Alhaji Suleiman Barau, said that the issuance of dud cheques needed to be discouraged as it could erode the confidence in the banking sector.

He spoke in Abuja last Wednesday through the Director, Legal Services, CBN, Mr. Simon Onoketu, at a two-day national stakeholders' workshop on dishonoured cheques in Nigeria.

The deputy governor admitted that enforcing the law on dud cheques was still a big challenge to the banking sector.

He said the menace of bounced cheques had the potential of eroding confidence in the banking sec-

tor as well as discouraging Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), adding that the CBN intends to create a system where dud cheques are discouraged.

He, however, said that the apex bank had begun to use the apparatus in the banking sector to discourage the issuance of dud cheques.

Barau said, "Generally, enforcement is a big challenge for us as a country. But what the regulatory authority has done is to ensure that we use the apparatus of the banking system to say if on three occasions, you issued a dud cheque, you should not be allowed to have anything to do with the banking system.

"Now, what that does is that you are marked as somebody who has the propensity to run down the banking system and so what we are trying to enthrone is a situation where you are reported formally to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, for instance, and what that does is that you will be prosecuted.

"So, we expect that once the arrangement that we have put in place works, we will get to a point where people will know that if you issue dud cheques, you are likely to end up in prison."

Echoing similar sentiments, a Commissioner with the Law Reform Commission, Prof. Osaremen Osunbor, in a keynote lecture said a situation where culprits of dud cheques were allowed an option to pay a fine of the sum of N5,000 as stipulated by the existing Act was counterproductive and ineffective in the present economic reality because the value of the Naira had since depreciated as a result of inflation.

He also argued that the current definition of dud cheques needed to be clarified and expanded to go beyond the notion of having insufficient funds in the issuer's bank account.

According to him, those who issue such cheques could deliberately append

irregular signatures including other conscious errors to cause their cheques to bounce.

Osunbor said there was need to revisit the two-year imprisonment term, which had the option of fine as stipulated by the Act. He, therefore, challenged the CBN to do more to reduce the menace to the barest minimum by mandating banks and victims to report all incidences of bounced cheques.

Also speaking at the occasion, the Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC), Mr. Ekpo Nta, said there had been increased cases of dishonoured cheques in the commission in recent times. This, according to him, could affect the image of the country as well as the atmosphere for doing business in the country if allowed to continue.

Not a question of the law In the view of the CBN and other experts, the law in its current form can not effectively discourage the issuance of dud cheques.

But not many people share CBN's sentiments.

Speaking with The Nation over the weekend, Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, Chairman/Chief Executive, Maxifund Investment Securities Plc, said there was virtually nothing wrong with the law.

"Any law is as good as those who operate it. If a law has been made the onus lies on the people to obey it. It is as simple as that. My take is that if you are given a bounced cheque, simply go to court. Even if you amend the law one million times, those who will flout it will do so with impunity," he argued.

Sharing a personal experience, Unegbu, a lawyer, and erstwhile President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) recalled that he once made legal representation for a client who got a bounced cheque and got reprieve from the court.

"A client of mine was once issued a dud cheque by someone. As soon as I was notified, I wasted no time in going to court. What we did was to file a civil and criminal proceeding against him and as you would expect, he begged us to settle out of court and had to pay up the money in contention because he knew he risked two years jail term if we pressed for prosecution," he recalled.

Pressed further, he said: "Of course, I'm very sure that particular individual would be the last person to issue another dud cheque in the future to someone else. He would say never again."

Mr. Adetola Adekoya, a human capital development expert with over three decade's cognate experience in the banking and financial

•CBN governor, Lamido Sanusi

•EFCC boss, Ibrahim Lamorde

•Unegbu

•Ita

services sector, is also on the same page with Unegbu.

As far as Adekoya is concerned, "it is not the issue of whether the law is weak but its applicability. The Dishonoured Cheque Offences Decree, to all intent and purpose, is adequate enough. It has always been there but the problem really is with the enforcement of the law.

That is what I think is the real issue here."

Psychology of dud cheques' culprits For most crime investigators, one better way to unravel the motive for a crime is to first of all understand the psyche of the perpetrator of such a crime.

Adekoya, who is also Project Consultant and Chief Operating Officer, School of Banking Honours, Lagos, one of the acclaimed innovative enterprise institutions in the country, offers a plausible explanation on the psyche of dud cheques culprits.

According to him, "You really have to go into the minds of those who issue fake cheques to know how it works because individuals would always find justification for any crime they commit."

He however, said matter-of-factly that: "Those who issue dud cheques fall into two categories. Category A are those who deliberately and fraudulently issue cheques with the intent to deceive the recipients while category B are those

who are forced by circumstances to issue same when there is an uncertainty surrounding their revenue profile."

Expatiating, he said: "For instance, if you get lease from a bank to buy a car they normally would ask you to present to them a postdated cheque as part of the repayment plan. So if your income projection for a particular month is not met, automatically, your cheque for that month, would bounce so it doesn't mean that you set out from the outset to deceive your bank. You just have problem of cashflow. Naturally, you fall into category B, whereby your revenue profile is not certain.

"We have more of category B now compared to category A because of the advent of the EFCC. But it never used to be like that in the recent past when we had high incidence of dishonoured cheques issued by criminally-minded and fraudulent individuals.

"Category A used to be in higher proportion before but it is coming down now but we now have more of those who are not certain about their revenue status and such can't redeem their financial obligations as and when due. It is not that they deliberately set out to issue those cheques."

Best practice While sharing best practices abroad, Adekoya said: "In the developed

countries, in order to avoid falling into category B, you can do insurance in an instrument, in which case if it fails, you're protected or indemnified as the case may be. Everything is insurable in the developed countries.

You can buy a ring now, and the next minute you are asked to insure it. You buy a phone, you insure it. It is as simple as that. We don't do such here because insurance has still not attained its full market potential as we have abroad."

Onus of whistleblower Between the bank and the recipient, opinions are that the latter is mandated by law to blow the whistle on the party who issued the dud cheque in the first place.

"The beneficiary naturally should blow the whistle on the issuer because it is he who is not able to get the value of his money on the basis of maturity of the cheque. But I know also that the law provides that if he is not able to claim this money for upward of three months, that's when it becomes a full crime and then the recipient, can go to court and press for charges," informed Adekoya.

Unegbu and a cross-section of analysts and experts all concur that the recipient of a dud cheque has the right to take the issuer to task because he has been so wronged.

"I know that if a cheque bounces, the issuer must make payment within three

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

s beware!

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Solid mineral development: The Nexim Bank perspective

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•Adekoya

"A client of mine was once issued a dud cheque by someone. As soon as I was notified? I wasted no time in going to court. What we did was to file a civil and criminal proceeding against him and as you would expect, he begged us to settle out of court and had to pay up the money in contention because he knew he risked two years jail term if we pressed for prosecution" months, failing which he goes to jail and pays a fine.

The original cheque can suffice without necessarily reissuing another one," deadpans Umar Lukman, a credit analyst in Lagos.

Awareness is okay and everybody knows it is a crime to so issue a dud cheque even the banks have posters pasted in the banking hall warning about it.

What needs to be done is ensuring that those who still flout this law are made to answer for it. Simple."

Renewed vigour on awr against dud cheques The banks have also been directed to intensify their campaign against the practice by placing posters on the sanction for offenders in their banking halls.

A CBN staff who asked not to be named disclosed that as part of a new impetus against dud cheques, the apex bank has endorsed the special website in which offenders' names are sent to would be made available to the EFCC for necessary action. The implication, he said, is that very soon, operatives of EFCC would start picking up defaulters in connection with the offence. To create the necessary awareness among Nigerians, he said that banks had been mandated to put up posters in their banking halls, warning people of the consequences of issuing dud cheques.

Further checks by The

Nation revealed that many banks have pasted the posters in their halls. The posters, with dominant red background, read: "Be warned! Issuance of dud cheques is a serious financial crime. Two years jail term awaits offenders."

The posters were said to have been sponsored by the Bankers Committee, an organisation of chief executives of the nation's banks, CBN and the Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIBN), among others.

It was learnt that the management of the banks had handed the task over to an elite group in top management to supply information to the dud cheques website set up by the CBN. The password to this website is in the exclusive possession of the group.

The CBN's game-plan is besides making the names available to relevant government agencies, to avail banks of such names in order to effectively monitor their activities.

The scheme will also be used as a credit-rating system for individuals. The rating technique obtains in Brazil as issued cheques are rated up to five stars depending on the credibility of the issuers. An issuer with impeccable record of financial dealings usually has his cheques marked with five stars at the back of any cheque issued by him. The rating ranges from one star to five stars.

HE transformation agenda of the Jonathan administration has been equivocal in its determination to liberate Nigeria from the shackles of the nation's mono-economic dependence on the oil sector. It is to this end that the Jonathan administration has embarked on revitalising the solid mineral sector.

Nigeria is blessed with rich mineral resources. It is on record that almost all the thirty-six states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory have one or more mineral deposits in stock. Unfortunately these mineral deposits, which can sustain some countries in the world, are yet to be maximally harnessed in Nigeria until in the recent time.

It is against this backdrop that the Jonathan administration's efforts in making the mineral sector work have been appreciated by microeconomic development observers in Nigeria. It is also crystal clear that the development of the solid mineral sector in Nigeria can only be achieved when specialized institutions in the nation's micro and macro-economic sector play their roles maximally.

Nexim Bank, one of such institutions, has taken the bull by the horns by spearheading the development of the solid mineral sector in Nigeria.

Like President Goodluck Jonathan rightly observed, the mineral sector together with manufacturing, agroprocessing and services (tourism and entertainment) are the constituents of Nigeria's 'Mass Agenda' conceptualized to intervene, and thereby drive growth in the non-oil sectors of Nigeria's economy.

The managing director/ chief executive of Nexim Bank, Mr Roberts Orya, has not minced his words in making the impacts of Nexim Bank open in the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

According to him, "Nexim Bank's intervention in the solid mineral sector is structured as is the case with other three sectors of focus. We combine funding with capacity-building. We engage stakeholders to identify obstacles to the growth of the solid mineral sector. And we look at efficient ways to remove the barriers."

The development of Nigeria's solid mineral sector is a global challenge. It involves not only making the sector merely open for investors but providing the atmosphere for such operations to be conducive and encouraged. This Nexim Bank has come to fill the gap in conjunction with other stakeholders.

In the words of Roberts Orya, "Once we have the initial local private investment in place, with government approval, I am pretty confident that foreign capital will follow. Like the oil and gas sector, we can attract global companies to come here (Nigeria) and invest in the solid mineral sector."

•Okonjo-Iweala

By Sylvester Aroh

The intervention of Nexim Bank as well as other specialized institutions has been enhanced following the passage of the Minerals and Mining Act 1999 which has provided a robust legislative framework for the sector.

On a general note, the solid mineral sector of Nigeria has a great prospect for many reasons. The recent roadmap by the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development is encouraging.

Apart from the roadmap, Roberts Orya is of the opinion that other measures already adopted in the sector will revamp the mineral sector.

Echoing him, "Improved geological information, favourable policy framework for local and international investors, the new national solid minerals policy, availability of low mining technology and recovery from the slump in the prices of metals in the global market will ensure the Nigerian mining industry revamps."

At the last count, the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development (Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, with a wider mandate) has confirmed that Nigeria is blessed with thirty-four solid minerals currently being promoted for investment. The identified minerals are capable of playing a key role in Nigeria's housing, infrastructure, and construction industry. They include coal, iron ore, limestone, granite, marble, bitumen, gypsum, talc, lead/zinc, gold, kaolin, copper, sodaash, rock salt, uranium, limestone, uranium, tin, asbestos, columbite, to mention a few.

One huge benefit of the Roberts Orya-led Nexim Bank in contributing maximally to the development of the solid mineral sector is the sector's multiplier effect in job creation for the teeming youths of Nigeria.

From available records, the number of Nigerian youths unemployed outweighs those employed. The imbalance has also led to the economic retrogression of Nigeria as a lot of manpower is constantly being wasted due to underutilisation of the nation's human potentialities. Thus the intervention of Nexim Bank in diversifying the solid mineral sector is a welcome de-

•Orya

velopment because it is a singular act that will make the fortunes of Nigeria not the same again.

The recent assertion of Orya that Nexim Bank has resolved to create and sustain 15, 000 jobs in the non-oil sector has been heart-rending. The chief executive has therefore assured that Nexim Bank will make this laudable goal realizable through the provision of finance and enhance industrial capacity as well as support the acquisition and adoption of new and clean technologies, thereby ensuring competitiveness of Nigerian products and manufacturing operations.

In his words, "The bank's funding intervention in support of exports has created and sustained 60, 000 jobs in the past few years: 2009 - 25000 jobs, 2011 - 35, 000 jobs. The bank support has attracted foreign generation of about 100 million dollars annually, making a total of 200 million in the past years."

The determination of Nexim Bank to generate multitude of jobs in Nigeria is premised on huge intervention in the sectors with higher investment potentialities such as mining, agriculture, tourism, and creative arts.

Economic analysts are of the opinion that if Nexim Bank sincerely delves into the solid mineral sector as well as other non-oil sectors, Nigeria will mark a sporadic economic turnaround. Records also indicate that the bank is not new in this sector because it has supported the Nigerian non-oil export to the tune of N20 billion naira.

Orya said, "As regard the intervention in the next five years, our strategic plan is to support the non-oil sector to the following minimum level: 2011, N37 billion; N2012, N41 billion; 2013, N50 billion; 2014, N63 billion; and 2015, N94 billion."

As the nation's solid mineral sector is being revamped with such supports from Nexim Bank, it is necessary to recall the journey of Nigeria to the solid mineral sector so far. Before the discovery of oil, Nigeria's solid mineral sector was being harnessed orderly.

The sector was then majorly in the hands of the foreigners.

The Jos tin ore, Enugu coal mining among others readily come to mind. However the discovery of oil in commercial quantities later killed the

advancement already recorded in the solid mineral sector.

So far the Jonathan administration has shown that the non-oil sector of the economy remains the only option for the nation's economic development. And for the anticipated development in the solid mineral sector to be feasible, certain measures must be put in place. It is in these areas that Nexim Bank can be seen as having the wherewithal to propel the nation to the next level. There is need to have an intervention fund. This is essential as foreign investors will surely understudy the operational status of local players before such investors bring in their resources. Some of them will also prefer to partner with local investors instead of starting all over again. And for the local operators to move forward there must be some specialized funding to help them acquire basic equipment and operate mechanically. Funds are also required to construct roads to mining sites and provide other basic infrastructure such as power and water.

It is on this basis that the recent statement of the boss of Nexim Bank, Mr. Roberts Orya, that although the solid mineral sector is capital intensive, but the bank has identified with it because the sector is strategic in the nation's economy.

Hear him, "In the area of solid mineral sector, we are working in partnership with the industry's stakeholders to take formal mining off the ground again. Although mining is capital intensive, the Nigerian solid mineral sector needs more than funding.

The legal and regulatory frameworks in Nigeria are works in progress. Nexim Bank has so far provided 2 billion naira in early funding to help some commercial miners to develop their sites in order to start operations and invite further funding from other sources apart from the long-term commitment of Nexim Bank to the nascent industry."

- Aroh is the Northern Regional Editor of a Lagosbased Research Intelligence Magazine

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

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FG advised to discontinue taxes that hurt businesses

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HE Federal Government has been told to discontinue certain taxes that hurt business and industrial performance in Nigeria.

This advice is contained in the policy recommendation of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) released in Abuja at the second NISER National Policy Dialogue.

The Director General of NISER Prof. Olufemi Taiwo who led the team at the policy dialogue said the recommendations of the research institute have been submitted to the National Economic Council (NEC) for further deliberation and approval. NISER is the socio-economic think-tank of the Nigerian government which conducts research to facilitate informed policy making towards sustainable national development.

Specifically, taxes the institute recommended to be scrapped include Earmarked Taxes and Business Levies at all levels. "Taxes like Education Tax, Fuel Tax, Police Tax, Health Tax, Social Responsibility Tax, are potentially hurtful to business and industrial performance" the report said.

From Nduka Chiejina, Abuja Moreover, the company income Tax Act (CITA) NISER said "should be reviewed to give states the power to assess and collect this tax from companies registered in their

domains. Apart from boosting state government revenue, it may encourage states to aggressively seek for real investments rather than depending on allocations from the federation account."

NISER noted that the re-

cent adoption by Nigeria of the International Financial Reporting System (IFRS) presents challenges for achieving the goal of creating a tax friendly environment for business enterprises and international investors.

Tax compliance, the institute said, should be simplified to remove the human interaction element that exposes tax officials to corrupt practices.

•From left: Finance Director, Mr. Murray Jonathan; Head, Financial Services, Nelson Sanni; Company Secretary/Legal Director, Mr. Uche Uwechia; Managing Director, Mr. Chidi Okoro, Communication Manager, Mrs. Bolaji Sanyaolu and Marketing Director, Mr. Mark Pfister, all of GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Nigeria Plc displaying the awards won by the company at the 2013 The Pearl Awards Nigeria in Lagos...recently

Unilever rewards consumers nationwide

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NILEVER Nigeria PLC, makers of Sunlight branded detergents has commenced a national consumer engagement initiative aimed at rewarding consumers across the country.

The Nation can authoritatively report that part of activities in aid of the initiative is a visit by the Sunlight Bubbleman to various neighbourhoods with gift packs to consumers across the country.

Commenting on the planned nationwide programme, Brand Building Di-

rector David Okeme said sunlight detergent brand is celebrating consumer for years of loyalty in various market and neighbourhood across the country with gifts.

The national activation and consumer engagement initiative of Sunlight detergent which started in November will run through January 2014 in the spirit of the season of celebration, thus the bubble man's visit to various part of the country will also be supported by a special fun squad called the flash mob that will seek to excite the consumers across

the country on the brand's fragrance.

From Lagos, in the southwest through Abuja in the North and Port Harcourt in the South-south of the country, Sunlight detergent will be thrilling consumers with rewards and fragrance experience. In a recent development, the bubble man was spotted at the cocoa mall in Ibadan with the flash mob crew entertaining the consumers in a prolific dance drama in the mall.

The mall activities elicited commendations from the consumers on ground

such as "sunlight detergent has been very good and we appreciate the sudden appearance in the mall." A customer who had purchased the sunlight detergent said that she has been using Sunlight for a very long time it has never disappointed her.

The sunlight consumer engagement programme will be reaching out to all consumers across the nation and consumers in the neighbourhoods should be expectant of the bubble man has he will be knocking on doors to reward consumers this season of sharing.

bank.

The new method of payment for corporate travel, he said has become imperative to eliminate challenges associated with preparing for travels, which are often times too logistic and process driven.

He said the concept of using travel management companies to facilitate corporate travel will save organisations over 30 per cent of their travel expenditure.

He said patronage for

travel management firms is low in Nigeria due to paucity of information available to organisations on the benefits derivable from using such firms, which could bring about lower fares, due to wholesale bargain from airlines, hotels, car rentals and other service providers in the hospitality chain.

He spoke of plans to increase the market share of BCD Travel in Nigeria from N13 billion in 2012 to about N15 billion before the end of the

year.

Otubu said: "In conjunction with a major bank in the country, Quantum Travels Limited has evolved a credit card payment solution which will be available for use by 2014", even as he hinted of plans by the company to launch an online travel portal that will provide seamless travel functions in a highly interactive and userfriendly mode in the first quarter of next year.

up an expansive beach in Epe, a Lagos suburb.

To this end, LG's famous slogan, Life's Good has served as a reminder of the core ethos at the heart of the company - to help improve quality of life through technology. Extending this, the new theme "It's All Possible" points towards the company's future in creating value for consumers with advanced products such as the LG G2 smartphone, which is a prime example of this consumer-centric approach, designed via insights and inspiration from actual consumers.

LG products have had a significant role and have countryspecific examples of the company making a difference in people's lives.

LG operates in many di-

verse markets where the company's products provide many valuable solutions to the challenges of everyday life. Extreme weather conditions and infrastructural issues are examples of specific challenges which people in many countries face in their day-to-day life.

One way in which LG can contribute socially in these markets is to link its products to the developmental aims and specific context of people that live there, Mosquitoes are the primary carriers of plasmodium- the malaria parasite. Malaria is one of the most serious problems facing the world today. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that over 300 million new cases of malaria arises a year, with 2-3million

Quantum Travels to launch electronic payment solution

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UANTUM Travels Limited, a travel management company has concluded plans to introduce a credit card payment solution for corporate travellers by 2014.

The electronic payment solution according to the chief executive of the firm, which is a franchise holder of the global brand BCD Travel, Mr. Michael Otubu is being put together in collaboration with a Nigerian commercial

L

LG increases social responsibility

EADING global brands are today developing as well as adopting initiatives that enable them give back to the society. One of such companies is LG Electronics with its far-reaching Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities aimed at giving back to its host communities.

Recently in Nigeria, the company joined the rest of the world in commemorating the World Environment Day by embarking on a beach cleaning exercise. The event was aimed at protecting the environment as well as to forge a collective path towards a sustainable urban future. Showing its commitment to issues that affect the environment, staff of LG Electronics Nigeria came out in their numbers to clean

deaths resulting from contraction. In Nigeria, malaria is a massive health problem. the available methods of mosquitoes control all have some inconvenience in one form or another. The need for a formidable way of combating mosquitoes is on the increase. Repulsively, it affects the morbidity and mortality rates, as well as the national economy.

The LG Mosquito Away Air Conditioner repels mosquitoes which are the carriers of the malaria parasite. The air conditioner emits ultrasonic waves that repel mosquitoes.

This technology is completely harmless to humans. The effectiveness of LG's product was certificated by the University of Ibadan's College of Medicine, and the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON).

Ex-director blames aviation crisis on interference

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FORMER director of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Mrs. Folasade Odutola has attributed the problems in the aviation sector to undue interference with the regulator's job schedule.

Addressing reporters in Lagos on the preview of her book, titled: The Big Conspiracy, she noted that regulators have not been given free hands to perform their task of ensuring that airlines comply with basic requirement.

Expatiating, she stressed that physical look of an aircraft was not a guarantee that it was in good condition.

This, she said blindly swayed the clean bills given to some of them in the past and at grave risk.

She said documentation has been compromised, largely at the peril of the aviation industry.

Odutola further ex-

plained that the book reflected on her experience in the industry and stressed that effort to ensure standard was marred by internal politics and power play.

She said: "The hazard of playing politics and being hypocritical with safety regulation are clearly reflected in the book. It shows the ugly face of office politics and power play and their detrimental effect on those at the receiving ends.

"Any airline that does not want to be thoroughly screened has no business being there. Any country that cannot guarantee safety has no business operating the sector."

Odutola, who is also an erstwhile Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, Kaduna State, added that it was not only in the safety of aircraft that could be fraught with challenges but other departments.

Body moves to check excesses in estate management

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HE Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON), has indicated its readiness to clamp down on excesses of quacks in the sector, especially that of the estate agency.

Speaking through its incumbent chairman, William Odudu, during its 33rd induction ceremony in Lagos, the body noted that most of illicit deals in the sector were being perpetrated by quacks or unregistered members operating in the sector.

To sanitise the activities of estate agents in the polity, the body said it had duly registered and established Association of Estate Agents-an association that all bonafide and qualified estate agents would have to belong to in order to know who is who and get rid of ghost members.

He as well blamed some noticeable shoddy and shady deals in the profession on a level of illiteracy and lack of basic knowledge of estate management, especially among estate agents.

To keep this at bay, he said they were ensuring all

By Biodun-Thomas Davids

operators pass through the learning center of their institute known as Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers(NIESV), for formal knowledge.

In a similar statement, he mentioned that, "The Board has put requisite machinery in place, in collaboration with the relevant law enforcement agencies to check the spread of pseudo practice and bring to book culprits found guilty of the offence.

Fleshing out on the agenda, he said they would "produce a printed register of registered members of ESVARBON as at 31st December, 2013;intensify the war against quacks, accredit and re- accredit tertiary institutions offering programmes in Estate Management and Valuation, maintain and improve professional standards in the practice of Estate Surveying and Valuation in Nigeria, introduce Train the Trainer Programme for lecturers in tertiary institutions in collaboration with the NIESV learning centre."

ICT coy launches 1st wireless internet service in Abuja

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PECTRANET Limited, one of Nigeria's internet service provider, has launched its first ever 4G LTE internet wireless broadband services in Abuja.

Speaking at the press conference, the Director of Spectranet Limited, Chief Ezekiel Fatoye, said: "Today's reliable and fast access to the internet is no more a luxury but a necessity, broadband penetration has a direct impact on the country's growth, proved time and again in many countries across the continents.

Spectranet is committed to bringing "best in class" internet services and help customers to experience world class service. We have

plans suiting every customer ranging from corporate to individuals and are committed to bringing great value to every user in Nigeria."

4G LTE, according to Fatoye, "has been recognised globally across various technologies and offers a cutting edge experience to users.

This broadband wireless internet services now in Abuja will deliver advanced technology which is fast and reliable."

He stressed that as part of the company's commitment towards customer centricity, reliability, flexibility, responsiveness, innovative products and services, customers should expect to experience a new and exciting experience.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

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HAT informed your company's emphasis on the growing of fruits and vegetables as against the trend of cash crops production?

We decided to focus on fruits and vegetables because we saw that there was a lot of postharvest loss. 40 percent of what farmers grow in respect of fruits and vegetables had no proper means of storage postharvesting so a lot of these fruits and vegetables go to waste. We saw a good business opportunity to supply these products which are sourced from Nigeria. We don't actually grow fruits and vegetables ourselves, we partner with farmers who we patronise for a range of products.

How do you think you can survive for long in business on the basis of the opportunity you spotted?

We believe that we are offering a niche product. If you see the products that we offer at the moment like plantain (ripe/ unripe) for 'dodo'; yam fries and yam chunks; Nigerian pineapples, papaya, mango and chillies like 'atarodo', 'sombo' and 'tatase', no company in the market, except us, Venus Packaging and Processing Ltd, currently offers any of them in Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) format. These products are branded as 'Sympli' and they meet the demands of customers for convenience. With all of these novel products, we have put ourselves in a very good position in the market.

How different are your Sympli brand of IQF products from genetically modified foods? ' G e n e t i c a l l y modified'means that the product is modified scientifically. IQF does not involve any modification of the product. It means we pluck the product from the stem, get them to the factory and in a very quick space of time clean the products, cut and de-stone them and, in some cases, cook them and then freeze them. So there is no genetic modification to the product. It's simply a case of processing and freezing. So it's kept as close to its natural state as possible.

Being a pioneer in the industry, with its high investment cost, what is the attraction to the IQF format?

We have got close to 20,000 metric tonnes of cold storage capacity. Our parent group, Primlaks, started in Nigeria on October 1, 1971 so we already had a fantastic cold chain. This was a logical, vertical integration for us to step in to the processing of fruits and vegetables. Primlaks was also a pioneer in Nigeria's fish trawling sector so entering into processing of frozen food is not something that is new to us. For this reason, we made the investment. We believe also that the market is growing, you have a lot of QSR (quick service restaurants) starting up, new hotels, catering companies, supermarkets and modern trade sector are booming. We believe we can cater to these companies locally with Nigerian made products.

What challenges have you faced along the line?

One of the greatest challenges that we face has been in sourcing, not because Nigeria doesn't have good products, in fact, Nigerian chillies, fruits and vegetables have some of the best quality in the world. Let's take the pineapple for example.

The sweetness of the Nigerian variety is far greater than that some other varieties found in other parts of the world. The

BUSINESS

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'Nigeria is ripe for quick frozen products' Mr. Ravi Hemnani, the CEO of Primlaks Group, speaks about his company's foray into Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) products in Nigeria in this interview with Hannah Ojo

INTERVIEW

•Hemnani

heat value of the chillies that Nigeria produce are not too high that you cannot eat them but the taste is fantastic. We were encouraged because we have good raw materials. The challenge is that most of the farms that we deal with are only about one or two acres in size and they are highly fragmented because commercial mechanised farming in the sphere of fruits and vegetables have not really taken off in the country. This is a challenge we face because we deal with very many small farms and getting consistent size and quality is difficult but we manage. We've been developing the supply chain now for several years.

We've done a lot of research and we have encountered challenges that any new entrant, any first mover will have to face.

How does your vision as a company key into the Federal Government's Agricultural Transformation Agenda?

We are in partnership with the Federal Government's Agricultural Transformation Agenda in the sense that we are creating jobs for farmers. Every job that we create in the factory means that we create about ten other jobs in the fields. We create agricultural jobs and we are increasing farm income because we have such a large range of products that we buy, which we are able to source from farmers all year round.

Many times you find that with outgrowers schemes, farmers produce only one product.

Here we offer farmers year round income because we have about seven or eight products that can be produced at any point in time. We also are going to be selling these products

locally just as we will be exporting so we'll be helping to produce foreign exchange earnings as well as jobs. I think these tie in very well with government's Agricultural Transformation Agenda.

In what ways do you think government can assist you?

The government used to have a scheme called Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS). It's a fantastic scheme. However, under its present rules CACS will end in 2016. We would like for government to extend agricultural financing because initially it was a five-year programme and it was Nairadenominated with single digit interest rate. When you take up a project such as this, which is highly capital intensive, you need patient capital, especially when you dealing with perishable fruits and vegetables which have their own maturity cycle from the time you plant the seed to the time you harvest the product. We require long term funding at single digit interest rate and we believe that government could help here.

Another area we think government has done a fantastic job has been in working with farmers in the growth of cassava, sesame and sorghum. We would be very happy if government could also work with farmers to increase the production of fruits and vegetables such as pineapples, mangoes. This is one area we feel we can see some improvement.

Do you have any partnership programme with farmers' groups or any other private sector-driven bodies to ensure steady supply of input?

We are very happy to work

with farmers. The more farmers we are able to get into the outgrowers scheme the better because this will enable them to sell their products and ensure that we have a stable supply chain. We are able to work with farmer outgrowers schemes.

How do you hope to cope with competition in the market?

Our products are niche. We have checked the market and we have not come across some of these products in the market.

When we go to the modern trade, for example, we were recently at the ANUGA 2013 Food Expo in Cologne, Germany, we found a lot international of brands, a lot of frozen food products but we did not see many people, in fact we did not see anyone, supplying the products that we are supplying like yam and plantain.

How do you hope to push the acceptance level of the products?

From the feedback we received from our participation at ANUGA 2013, where there were about 7,000 exhibitors and 155,000 visitors, we believe we would have good uptakes in the market. There was never a moment when our stand was quiet at the ANUGA food fair in Cologne, Germany; we had people at the Venus Packaging and Processing company's stand all of the time. We believe that at the international level there would be a lot of interest in our products. Locally, we see that the Nigerian market is developing very fast and people are getting busier. They have less time to bauy, cut and process their plantain or tubers of yam. They want convenience. Our products, Sympli, offer convenience, quality and taste.

Find your zone and stay in it

I

ONCE attended an event in Lagos, where I saw a young man sing and perform in front of what I estimate to be at least two hundred other young adults. His passion, energy and talent were so obvious and electrifying, that my eyes were glued to him and I could not keep a dopey grin from spreading across my face as I watched his every move. This young man was in the moment, connecting with his audience, and having such a good time on the stage that I could not help but be carried along by him. I thought to myself, "This is someone who is in his element and doing what he was born to do". Similarly, I have found myself "in my element" when writing, researching a topic of interest or solving a complex problem. These are activities I can spend all day doing and walk away feeling energized, happy, content, alive, at peace and on top of the world.

When are you "in your element" or "in the zone"? When have you found yourself so single mindedly immersed in a task that you lose track of everything else and all that exists is just you, the stimulating challenge of what you are doing, the joy and positive energy from doing it, the confidence that you have the ability to succeed and the anticipation of the sense of fulfillment that will come from mastering the challenge? This is what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, known for his work on positive psychology, calls FLOW. Mihaly describes flow as the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement and success in the process of the activity. Mihaly's research shows that frequent experiences of flow lead to higher productivity, performance improvement, innovation, motivation and personal growth. I have outlined below steps, based on Mihaly's work, which you can take to set yourself up for finding and staying "in your zone" this year.

Set Clear Goals: Since flow is associated with achievement, schedule meetings with your key stakeholders (supervisors, colleagues, business partners, customers, spouse, etc.) to clearly articulate mutually desired outcomes for the year and reach agreement on performance goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound. You are more likely to get "in the zone" when your work goals are clear and you perceive your actions as directly contributing to the desired outcomes.

Engage In Work That Match Your Abilities: Your goals must not be too easy such that they do not require your full concentration, nor should they be too hard such that you suffer mental defeat before you start. Spend time with your supervisor early in the year to identify stretch assignments (In-The-Zone Projects) that you can include in your scope of responsibilities for the year. You will experience personal growth when the work that you do furnishes you with higher than a v e r a g e challenge, demands greater than average skills set from you and keeps you in your strength zone.

Focus Your Attention, Energy and Emotion: Look for work assignments with levels of difficulty and importance that will deeply engage your mind and require a high degree of concentration. Such projects must provide you with the opportunity to connect emotionally with the challenge and intensely enjoy the process of losing yourself in the task at hand. You will find yourself "in the zone" when the work you do utilizes all your attention and heart and leaves no room for your mind to wander.

Seek continuous feedback: A friend said to me that feedback is a gift. Schedule regular meetings with your stakeholders to obtain their feedback on how well you are performing relative to your mutually agreed performance goals. This way, you get timely information regarding the potentiality of success or failure, and you have sufficient time to improve your outcomes by course correcting or adjusting your behavior. You will stay "in the zone" when you see that your work contributes directly to the desired outcome.

Pursue intrinsic rewards: Your "In-The-Zone" Projects should be activities that have intrinsic value to you. That is, you must derive pleasure and fulfillment from doing the activity itself because it affords you the opportunity to operate at your best, whilst contributing to something greater than yourself.

You are more likely to be "in the zone" when your ego is absent and you are motivated by internal rewards rather than extrinsic rewards such as money and promotion.

If your definition of success in involves achieving a high sense of fulfillment in your work, maintaining a strong internal motivation, experiencing personal growth and operating at peak performance, then seek out environments and tasks that are conducive to being "in the zone", and cultivate personal characteristics such as curiosity, persistence, low selfcenteredness and intrinsic motivation which will facilitate your flow experience.

• Okusanya is CEO of ReadinessEdge

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY

BUSINESS

DECEMBER 1, 2013

‘I don’t have a special seat in my office’ C

ongratulations on your recent investiture as president of the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) and this Brand Icon of the Year Award by BrandAge. How does it feel?

Humbling and with a heart of gratitude to God. You've been around as the top marketing man at MTN for some time and now you are also president of ADVAN; what does it take to occupy such positions?

The first thing is the grace of God. The second thing is the grace of God. And the third is the grace of God. There is nothing that you are, that you have and that you can be without the grace of God. Second and very important also is competence.

Never take that for granted. You're not qualified to be a leader if your subordinates know more than you. The third thing is character. You may have competence, but if you don't have character, you will be a disaster waiting to happen.

You also come across like some kind of superman, combining your job as General Manager, Consumer Marketing at MTN, with pastoring your church, Chapel of Uncommon Grace, and your new role as president of ADVAN. How do you cope?

That's why I said it's the grace of God. It gives you strength where ordinarily you should have broken down. It gives you speed, where you should be crawling. It gives you wings to fly, when you should be running. And so, when you have the grace of God fundamentally ingrained in you, walking with you, working in you, it makes you look like a superstar.

Keeping MTN in that coveted top position amongst brands must be a yeoman's job. How do you do it?

The beauty of it all is that I am not the only one heading that sector. I'm just part of the leadership team. And if there is anything that we know, it is how to connect with our consumers. More importantly is the fact that at every point in time, we are always reassessing our positions and asking ourselves, 'whatever we did yesterday was good enough for

PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

Kola Oyeyemi cuts the picture of a well-bred gentleman. He is General Manager, Consumer Marketing at MTN. He was also recently elected president, Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) and was only last week honoured with the Year 2013 Brand Icon Award by BrandAge Magazine in Lagos. He spoke to Gboyega Alaka about combining his MTN job with running his church, Chapel of Uncommon Grace among other issues. yesterday. There are new frontiers today; new horizons to conquer today; so don't rest on yesterday's glory. Be hungry for more.'

What's your management style?

Inclusive. I'm not your typical boss.

I'm a people person and I don't run the Berlin Wall system. I don't have a special chair in my office. My youngest staff can sit on my chair, so I run an open office.

And my motive is to create an atmosphere that allows people to manifest their full potentials and speak their minds.

Where do you hope to take MTN, from your perspective as head of Consumer Marketing?

My desire is to ensure that the MTN brand becomes not just the best brand in Africa that it is today, but one of the leading brands globally.

What keeps you going?

It is the passion to leave a legacy. I'm a man who does not believe in just passing by. I believe that any platform given by God to you is an opportunity to make a difference. So put me anywhere and my target is always to leave a legacy. I want something to happen, such that when I leave, people will say 'when he was here, this and this happened.'

What do you hope to bring to bear as president of Advertisers Association of Nigeria?

By the grace of God, I want us to be in our own facility, our own building by this time next year. That is one legacy I want to leave and we're already working at it.

With such loaded schedule, do you ever find time to play your role as a father

at home?

God has blessed me with a great family. My wife understands me inside out. She is a solid support for me. My children understand me as well, although it means sacrifice on my behalf, because I need to give them my time too. But when God gives you the grace, he makes those things look easy.

Increasingly, MTN now uses more and more artistes in their marketing and advertising campaigns, what do you hope to gain from that?

It's changing the game. We simply like to create new frontiers. What we've done with the brand ambassadorial scheme is to say to ourselves, first we need to develop the Nigerian music industry. In the last couple of years, the Nigerian entertainment industry has become a big foreign exchange earner. It has put us on the global map in the business of entertainment in the world; and so we said to ourselves, 'We've done some investments in entertainment in the country before, but how do we take it to another level?'

So what we've done with the brand ambassador thing is to give these guys a platform to be globally exposed. At the moment, we're running Loud in Nigeria and it's being beamed globally, so people can see what Nigerians are made of. That's number one. Number two is to also change the face of advertising and say to ourselves, 'How do we create iconic figures that are so versatile that they can exhibit and manifest different dimensions of their innate abilities beyond just oneUbosi stock?and So,his today, family

you find a music icon, acting in movies, acting in our films, in advertising and doing excellently well as though those are what they were born to do. So, we're invariably showing them that there are some potential they have, that they never even knew. And this means that even when music stops for them, we've opened up other vistas of opportunities for them to say 'Hey, you can do other things'.

You talk marketing so smoothly; were you always going to go into marketing or was their a turning point for you?

I don't know whether I should call it marketing back then while growing up, but I've always loved anything that gave me the opportunity to engage people; to sell my point of view. I thought maybe doing Law would give me that opportunity, but my father didn't like that. I thought maybe journalism; but he again didn't like that. So I ended up in broadcasting; and then moved from broadcasting to public relations and from public relations to mainstream advertising, and then finally into core marketing. You could say that it's been an evolution of sort.

How do you take your mind off work?

I watch movies, I read and I play music a lot. I'm very eclectic; I listen to all kinds of music, from juju to apala, to fuji, to hiphop, to rock… name it.

Favourite holiday spot I guess that'll be by the beach.

Favourite food I'm an African; so, pounded yam, egusi soup and fresh fish will do it for me.

What turns you off in people?

Lack of integrity, lies, inconsistency.

Who are your inspirations?

My father in the Lord, Bishop David Oyedepo , after God, of course. Dr Myles Munroe and a gentleman by name Ayo Oluwatosin. And quite a number of other people that have affected me in one way or the other.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

OPEC exports to increase on refinery demand, oil movements says

T

HE Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will bolster crude shipments through to mid-December, driven by Iraq and as refiners come out of maintenance, according to tanker tracker Oil Movements.

OPEC, which supplies about 40 percent of the world's oil, will raise sailings by 700,000 barrels a day, or 3 percent, to 24.05 million barrels in the four weeks to Dec. 14, the researcher said today in a report. That compares with 23.35 million in the period to

By Morgane Lapeyre Nov. 16. The figures exclude two of OPEC's 12 members, Angola and Ecuador.

"The main driver is the increase in capacity as refineries come out of maintenance both east and west of Suez," Roy Mason, the company's founder, said by phone from Halifax, England. The increase will come mostly from Iraq, while the "Saudis are lagging behind," Mason said. This time last year, Saudi Arabia reduced exports "sharply" in an

attempt to prevent prices from falling, he said.

Brent crude futures were little changed from the beginning of this year, trading near $111 a barrel today.

Middle Eastern exports will increase 3.1 percent to 17.64 million barrels a day in the month to Dec. 14, compared with 17.11 million in the previous period, according to Oil Movements. The figures include non-OPEC nations Oman and Yemen.

Crude on board tankers will rise by 3 percent on Dec.

14 to 487.81 million barrels from 473.58 million four weeks prior, data from Oil Movements show. The researcher calculates volumes by tallying tanker bookings and excludes crude held on vessels for storage.

OPEC's members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

It will next meet in Vienna on Dec. 4 Culled from Reuters

EU exit would be dreadful for Britain, says former PM Major

A

BRITISH exit from the European Union would be a dreadful decision that would cost billions of pounds and leave the world's sixth largest economy isolated; former Prime Minister John Major was quoted as saying over the weekend Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to try to renegotiate the terms of his country's EU membership before holding an "in-out" referendum if re-elected in 2015, which could lead to Britain dropping out of a club it joined in 1973.

Major, who served as prime minister from 1990 to 1997, backed attempts to renegotiate Britain's EU ties but said the government needed to be realistic about what it could achieve.

In a speech to business leaders at the Institute of Directors, Major said Britain would pay a severe price if it left the EU. "In a world of seven billion people, our island would be moving further apart from our closest and largest trading partners, at the very time when they, themselves, are drawing closer together. This makes no sense at all," he said.

"The EU would be

diminished. The UK would be isolated. I am no starry-eyed Europhile but it would be a lose/lose scenario: a truly dreadful outcome for everyone," he was quoted as saying in the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Rows over Europe convulsed the Conservative Party in recent decades and played a part in the downfall

of both of Cameron's Conservative predecessors, Major and Margaret Thatcher.

Last month Major said the Conservative Party could lose the next election if they continued to argue about EU membership.

In the speech to business leaders, Major said if Britain left the EU, it would lose foreign investment, jobs and

prestige. Outside the EU, it might have to pay for access to the single market and have to implement EU regulations without any ability to influence them, he said.

"Of course, we would survive, but there would be a severe price to pay in economic well-being, in jobs and in international prestige," Major said.

Culled from Reuters

I

F

ORMER Whyte & Mackay Chief Executive Vivian Imerman is interested in buying the whisky assets back from Diageo (DGE.L), his investment firm said on Friday.

Diageo may be forced to sell most of Whyte & Mackay's whisky assets to address competition concerns arising from its July acquisition of a controlling interest in India's United Spirits (UNSP.NS).

Imerman, chairman of investment firm Vasari and once dubbed "The Man from Del Monte" after leading a turnaround at the tinned fruit company, sold Whyte & Mackay to

T

HE largest U.K. banks will have to comply with tougher capital rules five years ahead of an international timetable as the Bank of England seeks to bolster lenders' resilience to crises.

U.K. banks and building societies including Barclays Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc will have to meet capital requirements of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision by Jan. 1, 2014, the Prudential Regulation Authority said in a statement today. The requirements include a debt limit, known as a leverage ratio, that forces lenders to have equity equal to 3 percent of their assets.

Enlarge image Bank of England in London The largest U.K. banks and building societies will have to meet capital requirements set by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision by Jan. 1, 2014, the Prudential Regulation Authority, the arm of the British central bank that

By Jim Brunsden supervises the largest finance firms, said in a statement today. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg "These decisions will enhance the stability of the financial sector and strengthen the capital regime in the U.K.," the regulator, a unit of the British central bank, said.

Lenders that will have to comply with the faster timetable also include Banco Santander SA's U.K. unit, LLoyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY), Co-operative Bank Plc, Nationwide Building Society, and Standard Chartered Plc, the PRA said.

The largest global banks cut the shortfall in the reserves they'll need to meet Basel capital rules by 82.9 billion euros ($113 billion) in the second half of 2012, leaving a gap of 115 billion euros, according to Basel committee data published in September.

The biggest lenders in Europe accounted for 70.4 billion euros of the remaining shortfall.

Culled from Bloomberg

'MoKaKi' project breaks ground in Mombasa

A

•Former British Prime Minister, John Major.

Mexico's booming car industry selling unsafe cars N Mexico's booming auto industry, the cars rolling off assembly lines may look identical, but how safe they are depends on where they're headed.

Vehicles destined to stay in Mexico or go south to the rest of Latin America carry a code signifying there's no need for antilock braking systems, electronic stability control, or more than two air bags, if any, in its basic models.

If the cars will be exported to the United States or Europe, however, they must meet strin-

U.K. banks must meet Basel rule five years ahead of schedule

By Adriana Gomez Licon gent safety laws, including as many as six to 10 air bags, and stability controls that compensate for slippery roads and other road dangers, say engineers who have worked in Mexicobased auto factories.

Because the price of the two versions of the cars is about the same, the dual system buttresses the bottom lines of automakers such as General Motors and Nissan. But it's being blamed for a surge in autorelated fatalities in Mexico,

where laws require virtually no safety protections.

"We are paying for cars that are far more expensive and far less safe," said Alejandro Furas, technical director for Global New Car Assessment Program, or NCAP, a vehicle crash-test group. "Something is very wrong."

In 2011, nearly 5,000 drivers and passengers in Mexico died in accidents, a 58 percent increase since 2001, according to the latest available data from the country's transportation department. Over the same

decade, the U.S. reduced the number of auto-related fatalities by 40 percent. The death rate in Mexico, when comparing fatalities with the size of the car fleet, is more than 3.5 times that of the U.S. Nevertheless, Mexico hasn't introduced any safety proposals other than general seat belt requirements for its 22-million strong auto fleet.

Even then, the laws don't mandate three-point shoulder belts necessary to secure child safety seats.

Culled from AP

Former boss interested in buying back Whyte & Mackay from Diageo

By Anjuli Davies United Spirits in 2007 for 595 million pounds ($972.62 million).

Vasari said in a statement on Friday that it would be interested in buying back the whisky assets should Diageo be forced to sell them.

"Whyte and Mackay would make an important addition to the portfolio of spirits and beer businesses in Africa and Asia where Mr Imerman has been concentrating his efforts

through his company Vasari," the firm said in an emailed statement.

"The W&M brand would be complementary to the strategy of acquiring and growing businesses in these regions to take advantage of rapid consumer growth."

Diageo declined to comment.

In July Diageo took a 25 percent stake in United Spirits, part of industrialist Vijay Mallya's empire and owner of

Whyte & Mackay, which sells a branded Scotch whisky but has a bigger business supplying bulk whisky that other drink makers brand as their own.

However, the British competition authority said on Monday that Diageo's lower-end Bell's whisky competes with Whyte & Mackay's own-label and branded whisky and that the merger may lead to "a substantial lessening" of competition.

Culled from Bloomberg

CEREMONY led by President Uhuru Kenyatta in Mombasa at the weekend marked the start of construction of the first phase of the planned 2 937 km standard gauge cross-border corridor linking the Kenyan port city with Kampala in Uganda and the Rwandan capital Kigali.

The initial phase of the railway would provide a new route between Mombasa and Nairobi, supplementing the metre-gauge Kenya-Uganda Railway operated by Rift Valley Railways.

With an estimated total cost of US$13·5bn, the so-called 'MoKaKi' project is being managed by Kenya Railways Corp, while China is providing financial support.

Kenyatta was joined at the groundbreaking ceremony by Liu Qitao, Chairman of China C o m m u n i c a t i o n s Construction Co. KRC is working on plans for the second phase from

Nairobi to the Ugandan border at Malaba, while studies for the 250 km from Malaba to Kampala are also underway. The third phase covers 345 route-km from Kampala to Kasese and 200 km from there to the Rwandan border at Mirama Hills via Bihanga, leaving the Rwandan government responsible for the final section into Kigali. The three governments are considering the scope for a northern branch diverging at Eldoret to serve South Sudan. The line is being designed for passenger trains to run at 120 km/h and freight trains at 80 km/h, with a maximum axleload of 25 tonnes.

'The project will define my legacy and it is my personal desire that the implementation is done to the highest standard', Kenyatta said. 'Kenya will fully meet its obligations towards the project.'

Culled from: www.railwaygazette.com

Ethiopia contracts Huawei to roll out 4G services

I

N a project expected to benefit over 400,000 mobile subscribers, state-run Ethio Telecom said it has selected Chinese company Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, to roll out a high-speed 4G network in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.

"In terms of allocation, Huawei will be responsible for the expansion of 4G in Addis Ababa, including other mobile services - the 2G, 3G, IP…," Abdurahim Ahmed, Ethio Telecom's head of communications said.

Ethiopia is among few countries in Africa that maintain a state monopoly in telecoms.

Ethio Telecom remains the only mobile operator in

By Kehinde Adaramola the country with an estimated population of 80 million.

In a bid to expand its mobile phone infrastructure, Ethiopia signed a $1.6 billion deal with Huawei and ZTE, China's secondbiggest telecoms equipment maker, to double phone subscribers in the country to more than 50 million by 2015, according to a Reuters report.

The contract was awarded under a long-term loan package to be paid over a 13-year period with an interest rate of "less than 1 percent", Abdurahim said.

Culled: VENTURES AFRICA

65 ‘SMEs still battling with teething problems’ Page 66

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

How CBN intervention will aid female entrepreneurs In the business sector women have indeed come a long way. However in spite of the achievements recorded, there are a number of setbacks which has been traced to lack of capital to fund their businesses. Bukola Afolabi takes a look at a fresh financial window for women entrepreneurs by the Central Bank of Nigeria

• Lemo O make life better for female entrepreneurs, the apex bank recently announced a nine per cent interest rate on the N220 billion loans for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

Speaking at the formal launch of the MSMEs N220 billion fund at the 7th Annual MSMEs Finance Conference and D-8 Workshop on Micro-finance for SMEs in Abuja, CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, also urged the microfinance banks to disburse the funds to individual beneficiaries at a single digit interest rate as this will strengthen the link between entrepreneurship and access to financial services.

Sanusi also announced an interest rebate component for women in the fund to the extent that women entrepreneurs who borrow from MFBs (Micro Finance Banks) are able to access these funds for interest rate subsidy which ensures that they do not pay more than nine per cent interest on loans.

He explained that the CBN would not be lending directly to businesses, but that the loan would be disbursed through the MFBs. Sanusi stated: “The CBN will not be lending directly to farmers or businesses. What this fund does is a wholesale fund. It provides funding to the participating financial institutions. If you are a microfinance bank in Benin, you can come to this fund. We assess you; we give you the money at low rate of interest long term, and then you undertake that you will lend at low rate of interest. Today, commercial banks charge 21 per cent and MFBs charge 30 to 40 per cent interest rate. We are not going to get anywhere near there”.

Sanusi informed that: “These are small businesses that are highly profitable, highly risky and MFBs tend to charge higher and the greatest challenge is not really the interest rate, but the tenor. If you give someone money for two, three months, how much can he really do in such a short time? The way we plan it is that you start with a small amount, relatively low rates of interest and relatively

T

longer tenor. When the MFB repays and establishes a track record, it is entitled to move to another level where it can get a large amount, lower rate of interest and a longer tenor”.

The fund, announced last year, had been delayed because of the need to accommodate inputs from stakeholders and address key regulatory framework to aid its successful implementation.

Specifically, it targets 60 per cent intervention for women entrepreneurs including insurance, capacity building and interest draw back.

The CBN had also unveiled plans to introduce financial literacy in schools curriculum.

Loans and advances sought by Nigerian businesses are largely short term in nature. This, in addition to huge interest rates charged by banks, significantly reduces real economic growth, financial experts have noted.

Based on statistics from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), out of the N8.14 trillion the deposit money banks (DMB) have advanced to businesses and individuals in loans and advances, a huge 97.2 percent of the loans are one year tenor, leaving just 2.8 percent to long term facilities.

Mr. Paul Nduka Eluhaiwe Director, Development Finance Department, CBN, disclosed this in Lagos at the special general meeting of the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME).

Represented at the meeting by Jeremiah Abba, of the Development Finance Department, CBN, the statistics is indeed troubling and something must be done urgently if Nigeria wants to experience real economic growth.

“As at June 2013, total deposits in Nigeria’s deposit money banks stood at N10.3 trillion. The total banking and advances in the economy closed at N8.14 trillion. 97.2 percent of these loans and advances are one year tenor. Only 2.8 percent are long term loans,” he said.

He also noted that there is a huge funding gap for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and a targeted effort must be made to correct the trend as CBN recognises a positive correlation between strong MSMEs improved

•Omeh capacities and economic growth.

As part of effort to encourage MSMEs to access credit, besides the single digit interest rate on most of its intervention funds, it is also lowering conditions on collateral.

Thus, he said the CBN is targeting October 2014 to test-run the registry of movable collateral for credit access.

When that occurs, MSMEs can access finance through the use of movable collateral items such as: jewelleries, collectibles, stock of goods, plant/machinery.

In his comments, the President, NASME, Alhaji Garba Ibrahim lamented that in spite the several financial windows opening up for MSMEs in Nigeria, the MSME operators hardly hear about them or benefit from them.

He urged those opening up funding opportunities for the MSMEs to always carry NASME along so its members can benefit from the interventions.

The Nation learnt that the apex bank will especially consider the financial health of the grassroots banks before they can serve as conduits for the new stimulus package being put together by the regulator to energise the economy through lending to small businesses.

Investigations show that some operators are anxious over their eligibility for the scheme since it was launched by the CBN, and have commenced redeployment and realignments of resources and processes.

Tunde Lemo, Deputy Governor, CBN, who could not admit that most of the banks were weak and likely to close shop, said the regulator “will look at the track record and financial health before we allow participation. They will only act as conduits as the funds will be channelled to the eligible micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).”

Onoja Usman, managing director, Lovonus Microfinance Bank Limited, said “most MFBs would not be able to access the fund because of the stringent criteria the CBN is using for the loan. We understand that rating agencies are being used to determine those that merit accessing

the fund.”

According to Usman, the fund will only serve few MFBs, as MFBs that are units may not access the fund because of impaired shareholders funds, which is ditto for those already struggling to operate as result of lack of operational capital.

Mathias Omeh, former president, National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB), expressed happiness that government had recognised them at last, saying “it is encouraging that government is remembering microfinance banks. We have been longing for it.”

The implication, according to investigations, is that the banks, which are currently undergoing routine examinations by the CBN and NDIC, may have to face the challenge of being certified fit to participate by scaling through the routine examination.

The guidelines for participation by the banks and finance companies include compliance with regulatory capital, prevailing prudential ratios, average deposit growth rate of 20 percent per annum (for institutions operating for over two years), and average clientele base growth rate of 20 percent per annum (for institutions operating for over two years).

The guidelines also include risk management framework and corporate governance culture acceptable to the regulators, degree of separation of ownership from control/management, and number of non-performing insider related facilities, among others.

According to details released by the CBN, the participating financial institutions (PFIs) will include non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and micro-finance institutions, which will be able to access funding at an interest rate of 9 percent per annum, and lend it to other entities with a spread of up to six percentage points per annum.

The scheme is expected to provide liquidity to PFIs on a maximum three-year tenor, •Continued on page 66

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

66 BUSINESS

S

MALL and medium enterprise remains the engine of growth for any economy. That much Ken Opara, Head of Small and Medium Scale Department of Fidelity Bank, admits.

“They are very critical and in Nigeria for instance they represent more than 60% of the economy. If you will take countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and India that have developed SMEs still remain the engine of growth in those countries. They remain the major area of capital. It is an important sector of the economy that cannot be over looked, you are right to say that they have not been able to get support and I will quickly answer you by saying that it is also because of the way SME’s are structured in Nigeria.”

He was however quick to admit that the problem confronting SMEs in the country are mostly structurally issues.

“What I mean by structure is that they don’t have record of accounts, that’s also a key risk that is associated with it. There is not separation of the person from the business. The person that starts the business today is not also accountable and also doesn’t really understand how the business will be in the next three years. And for a lender, the first thing that occurs to a lender is that you want to do self lending and that is that why when they lend to you they want to be sure that when they have given out support that there will be return.”

Expatiating, Opara noted that: “Unfortunately, a lot of them don’t even understand them, they don’t even have a website, there is no way the institutions will feel very comfortable whether international or local to provide support to them.”

He also explained that Fidelity Bank has been a plc has a mandate to do business in a prudent manner with shareholders and all the stakeholders. “At one point CBN stipulated that we should support SMES, not only the initiative that has been put in place for there have also been intervention funds from other areas like the bank of industry.

I think that for us as a bank we look beyond the statutory and we deal with the issue.

So, with us as a bank we try to do things that would avoid people saying that we have limited them from having access to company. We have tried as much as possible to remove all those things. And that is why we have SMEs centers.”

To create a conducive environment for SMEs what the bank does is “To take an advisory free of charge and we have one on one engagement and we call it hand-loading to understand what it means to be in business and to do proper record of account to help you set up an accounting record to help you build up those things and also to provide the luxury for you to help you understand how your business is structured.

And so having done that we are then at the comfort level say yes we understand now where you are headed and also that the implication of this business and so we have also started to provide something bigger to them. For instance we first identify cluster of people who we can also provide funding support to. In terms of the 10% I don’t think it’s just the 10% that fidelity has done, if you ask me how well fidelity has done you will understand that they have done more than the 10 percent and we are also very aggressive and we also doing it to those that have the discipline to go through

‘SMEs still battling with teething problems’

A lot of small and medium scale enterprises have been lamenting lack of support by banks. Mr. Ken Opara, Head of Small and Medium Scale Department of Fidelity Bank in an interview with Bukola Afolabi speaks on the challenges confronting SME’s and what banks are doing to ameliorate their pains

•Opara

the fidelity process and that’s what we have been doing.”

Next Opara informs that the bank is not an institution that is run on charity, it is also an institution that is run on capital will then favor the institution which they know.

“The power sector for instance is been on the line when government decided to privatize it, fidelity has been at both ends.

Fidelity if I’m not mistaken is a leading bank in the power sector and also the SMEs is that has also been, the distributorship then has

their partners that is acceptable to the managing agent, and any other collateral acceptable by the managing agent from time to time. 32 of such microfinance banks have already been selected.

Sanusi said CBN had also established six Entrepreneurial Development Centers (EDCs) across the country to encourage and build capacity for business minded youths.

He said: “Through the EDCs, we equipped them with requisite entrepreneurial skills to develop their concepts into businesses and effectively manage such businesses. Our financial inclusion strategy also provided for youth empowerment and access to financial services.”

“This is because we see the link between entrepreneurship accesses to financial services. Towards this the bank launched its MSMEs Fund on Aug. 15, 2013.”

The guidelines published on the apex bank’s website defines micro enterprise as sole proprietorships with less than 10 employees and total assets of N5 million excluding land and buildings; while SMEs are those with asset base

of between N5 and N500 million and 11 and 200 employees. It also defines women-owned enterprises as those belonging to Nigerian women groups or individuals, or enterprises that are at least 75 per cent owned or operated by female Nigerians.

Another N22 billion or 10 per cent of the fund is earmarked for social and developmental objectives, with N11 billion to be used as grants to develop the MSME sub-sector; another N6.6 billion as interest drawback programme (to settle rebates to customers of participating financial institutions who repay their loans as and when due); and N4.4 billion or 2 per cent for the managing agent’s operations (take-off) expenses.

Afterwards, the CBN expects the managing agent to “to generate income from its operational activities to fund its future expenses on a sustainable basis.”The remaining N198 billion or 90 per cent of the fund, according to the CBN, will be used for the provision of direct on-lending facilities to participating financial institu-

also been and if you also see other banks that have succeeded in that area you will see that fidelity has, so I will rather say that part of the reason why SMEs hasn’t been able to acquire the required support is because of the way they are structured.

And I say to you clearly we took a bold steps and today you will see what will happen in the one is that the power it will makes them not attractive like the foreign counterpart too because the cost of doing business is high.”

Talking about is the challenges of SMES in Nigeria, Opara insists that having the right structure is a step in the right direction. “And with the statistics we have showed that within five years that most of the SMEs die and so in terms of structure they don’t have the right structure. They don’t have all the relevant areas, they don’t have an accounting record they also don’t have tangible asset. There is also key man risk because it revolves around one person and also do not have access to market for the nation and the way they are structured. Also they don’t have the access to short term loans. Most of this institution doesn’t have business plans.”

While talking about some of the achievements recorded, Opara explained that: “We have been in the incubation period where we have problems and how to deal with that. And after addressing that we came up with what we call manage SMEs. This is essentially for building and managing entrepreneurs. The next generation of Nigeria that will then become the UAC and lever brothers and the concept of it is like taking them on an advisory to those things that can affect them from having access to funding to the market. Recently Fidelity partnered with US trade and investment, USAid commission for partners that are in Nigeria and this won’t have been possible if they we haven’t been able to give them access.

Opara also uncovers some of the other opportunities available. “We are also collaborating with the British Council and they have come up with what they call free banking and of course the fidelity is small business account. The fact is that most of the SMEs that have their business are very high and the margin is very small. They are very sensitive and they don’t have opportunity and financial inclusion making them to come and provide them with small business account.

And what that means is that they can do business without paying duty.”

How CBN intervention will aid female entrepreneurs •Continued from page 65

with most institutions limited to N5 million or N10 million, but national microfinance institutions will be able to access N1 billion.

There will also be a credit guarantee scheme, covering up to 80 percent of any default under the scheme, which will also be available to other ‘deposit money banks.’ The guarantee will also have a maximum tenor of three years, and attracts a fee of 1 percent of the guarantee’s face value, payable back to the CBN administered fund.

The CBN shall appoint managing agent to manage the MSMEs fund and its day-to-day operations. It shall have a steering committee constituted in line with its approved shareholding structure and chaired by the governor of the CBN. The bank further said that a combination of the following collaterals shall be accepted by the managing agent as security for the exposure to PFIs; legal mortgage over acceptable and appropriately valued assets including undeveloped land, guarantees from promoters of PFIs and

tions (PFIs).While N118.2 billion is earmarked for women entrepreneurs, the remaining N79.2 billion is for others.

A further breakdown shows that N106.92 billion of the fund is allocated to women entrepreneurs; and the remaining N71.28 billion to ‘others;’ while another N19.8 billion is for refinancing guarantee, with N11.88 billion for women and N7.9 billion for others.

Speaking with a cross-section of prospective beneficiaries, they confided in The Nation that the intervention fund was a right step in the right direction.

Firing the first salvo, Mrs Lucy Kanu, the Chief Executive Officer, Lucy Initiative, Lagos, said the low interest rate would enable women to have access to loan facilities to grow their businesses.

Echoing similar sentiments, Adaeze Victor of Global Women Venture, expressed optimism over the development but however noted that the modalities should be streamlined to encourage equal participation by the targeted group.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

‘Greed, ego responsible for factions in CAC’ The President of Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Worldwide, Pastor Olukunle Akinosun, spoke with Gbenga Aderanti on the crisis in the church, the deal with the late Prophet Timothy Obadare and sundry issues. Excerpts:

W

HEN will you lift the embargo on creation of districts and

zones?

We have also placed an embargo on ordination of ministers since my assumption of office. This we did because all these things have been bastardised. We sent memo to all the CAC branches. We said we wanted total restructuring of everything. It will soon be lifted when all the policy inputs from our districts and zones have been codified.

Indeed, we are already codifying the contributions made by our branches. We placed embargo on establishment of districts and zones because we wanted to check some abuses we noticed. We have since achieved stability in this regard.

Was there crisis before you assumed office?

The crisis or challenges facing the church is almost 23 years now. It started in 1991 when strange things, foreign things that the church was not known with, continued to creep into the church. Evangelism was being merchandised, before you knew it, people started planting independent churches within the church.

The people responsible for these acts were warned repeatedly but when the people refused to yield to the warning, the authority had to take some steps to discipline them, particularly the leader that started that thing.

He and his sympathisers were suspended and instead of apologising and repenting, they took the authority to court and to challenge the suspension.

The judgment said that the authority of the church had the right to suspend them. Then they went to appeal court, the case is yet to be determined.

How have you been able to quell some of the crisis to achieve relative peace?

You see, right after my assumption in office, I took it upon myself to visit the leader of the faction to make him see the need to end this impasse and he promised me, but after that, instead of abiding with what we have said that we were coming together to end the thing, some of them that do not want the crisis to end started throwing stones, calling us names. Some of them said I was seeking for cheap popularity, that was why I was visiting them to end the crisis.The problem made the authorities, general executive council, go to court to know the authentic church, and by the judgment of 1st March 2011 that said our side is the authentic church and since 1998 Supreme (a faction of CAC) had ceased to exist. They are existing illegally and they said that we should do all we could do to show that we are the authentic church recognised by the government.

But because we are brothers, despite the problems, they are still CAC members. That is why we have been so lenient.

We have been appealing to them because we do not want to enforce the ruling because if we had wanted to enforce it, we would have closed their assemblies.

After that judgment, they gave themselves titles instead of repenting. But we are still appealing to them to come back.

That means some of them are still stubborn?

Yes, some of them even say they are the authentic, even without having a licence, without having trustees.

Could it be that some people are using CAC church to promote their agenda?

That is what is happening.

We are being patient to see that the crisis is over before enforcing the judgment because we are still going to address all

these things. You cannot just go and build something and put CAC there.

CAC is a registered name, but people don’t care and they are abusing it and it is because of this problem. If you challenge any of them now, he or she will say he does not belong to your side.

But Obadare tried to reconcile all the parties before he passed on When he was agile, he came to our meeting when we were holding a peace meeting that time. He said God directed him to hands-off the division. He said God directed him that his followers should join the mainstream. We told him that in all the court litigations, his name used to appear as first plaintiff and we told him that his lawyer should write to all the courts that his name should be withdrawn, but before he died he couldn’t do it.

You see, we learnt that some people dissuaded him from withdrawing it. But before he died, he sent his first son to us. He came here, several times we held meetings with him and we told him to go and appeal to his people.

At an event, the factional leader said he had accepted that CAC should be one, but a week later one of the factional leaders said their president never said that. How will you react to this?

That is what we are saying.

There, the centre doesn’t hold.

Their leader was president by name because they all gave themselves titles.

Since Obadare decided to end the crisis before he died, are you thinking about bringing WOSEM back to the fold?

That was the task given to Pastor Paul, Obadare’s first son.

I told him that the ‘the problem in the CAC is the problem with WOSEM and now that Baba sent you to us that there’s no

more acrimony, go and bring your people.’

I asked him to go and tell them what Baba directed him to do. ‘Go and convince them’ and he told us that he was going to do his best. But he came back that they refused to listen to him.

When the final burial of Prophet Obadare took place, many people were surprised that you and other CAC principal officers were not there.

What was responsible for this?

The burial has come and gone. We give glory to God. Why not allow the matter to die like that. As for non-attendance at Prophet Obadare’s funeral, it was due to a very tight schedule I had at the time.

I had scheduled some activities for that period before the burial committee decided to fix the burial date for that same period. You could say why not send people? I want to assure you that our people were at the burial.

But contrary to what many people think, we invited him (Paul Obadare) here that we wanted to know about the programme. He said his father was beyond CAC. He said they were going to make an international programme and they made it. He said Obadare was not for CAC alone and because of that the programme was going to be international in nature.

Do you see an end to this crisis?

Even you may see the hand of God that the crisis is ending by the end of the year. Other factions are thirsty for reunification and by the grace of God, by the end of the year, we are going to be one again.

How do you hope to stop the court cases involving CAC? There are not many court cases. All the cases in court now are at the instance of our brothers on the other side. There is

NEWS

Tom Samson inaugurates Royal City at 47

By Mercy Michael

•Samson

T

HE general overseer of Christ Royal Family International Church and one of the leading gospel preachers, in Lagos Bishop Tom Samson, will inaugurate his NBillion naira monumental project christened Royal City and celebrate his 47th birthday on Saturday, 14th De-

cember, 2013. The city is built on 100 hectares of land in Iyesi, Otta in Ogun State. It accommodates a camp ground for prayers and revival, training centres, Royal Dynasty Nursery and Primary, Royal City College, Royal Diadem Schools, Royal City College of Education, water purification and packaging company, a printing press and take-off ground for the already licensed Monarch University.

For Tom Samson, it’s an excitement to feel accomplished at 47. A Christian au-

thor and founder of Christ Royal Ministry with headquarters in Egbeda, South West Lagos, he presides over thousands of souls with branches scattered all over the world.

There is also a 100,000- seater Royal City Stadium with a giant podium.

To make the occasion special , a week-long celebration has been scheduled to run between December 8 and 15. On December 8, activities will take place at the Lagos Airport Hotel, then on Monday and Tuesday, December 9 and 10 respectively; the train moves to Royal

Towers, beside Ikeja Local Government. By Wednesday December 11, all roads lead to Royal City for camping. All Christ Royal Church ministers at home and abroad will be camping at the 100-hectare Royal City. Then on Saturday December 14th, the preacher we’ll be playing host to governors, captains of industries, politicians, over 100 Bishops, 120 Apostles, people from within and outside the country to open the Royal City, while Sunday 15th will be the family thanksgiving service.

xxx •Akinosun

an appeal by our brothers on the other side against the civil case in which the registered trustees of the church and the general executive council were adjudged to be the authentic authority of the Church.

There is also a criminal case being pursued by them at the Federal High Court, Ibadan against our leaders.

On our part, we have withdrawn all cases instituted against them. They are the ones still prosecuting the criminal case against our leaders. We cannot force them to withdraw the cases if they think that’s what would settle the matter.

Christians are expected to be gentle and straightforward.

Why is politics in the Church?

I don’t think it is politics; I think it is selfishness, inordinate ambition, looking for fame and big name instead of working for the development and growth of the church. It is about individuals seeking popularity.

Looking at the pictures of the past leaders of the CAC hung on the wall, they are all Yoruba. Does it mean that the Church is just for the Yoruba people alone?

It is a global church. The pictures you are seeing are for past presidents. They are all Yoruba because the revival started here. It is normal, but the secretary slot is allocated to the eastern area.

READ T S U M 50 AN NIGERI AN I CHRIST R S AUTHO Are you a Christian author? Are you bothered about poor exposure at bookshops and limited patronage?

The Nation is offering you an unbeatable opportunity to showcase your books and talk about your passion.

The 2-in-1 project involves an advert supplement backed with a profile story on each participant.

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You will be glad you did!

72

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

WORSHIP NEWS

COLUMN

Cleric tells Christians to wake up from political slumber

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HRISTIANS in Nigeria in general and Lagos State in particular have been challenged to wake up from their political slumber, and take active part in politics if they are really desirous of establishing a government that will care for the generality of the people instead of what is obtained now.

Rt. Rev. Solomon Gbetoso Kuponu, Bishop of Ijebu North, Anglican Church, stated this at a lecture he delivered last week at St John’s Anglican Church, Iju-Ishaga, during the silver jubilee of the Young Men and Women Christian Association (YMWCA) of the church. He spoke on the theme: Terrorism as it affects social and political life of Nigeria: Christian perspective.

He described terrorism as an act of violence or threat that is unlawful and has an objective of exacting revenge, intimidating or influencing an audience. “Terrorism is one of the most challenging problems of our time and its effects are global in nature. Each

By Uyoatta Eshiet

time you take a plane, bus or train, you can’t help wondering whether this could possibly be your last journey,” he said.

He stated the possible causes of terrorism as poverty, undemocratic government, alienated intelligentsia/intellectual class of people, indoctrination, ethnicity and charity but added that some of these reasons do not hold at all places.

On the argument that poverty breeds terrorism, he stated that there are many places around the world where there are no terrorists at all despite the poverty level in these places like some poor countries in South America, Africa and Asia. He pointed out that North Korea and China are not democratic yet they don’t have terrorists, adding that those that kill do not only kill other people but kill even people of their own ethnic group and religion.

He laid emphasis on religious indoctrination, alienated intelligential/ intellectual

class of people and some misapplied charities as fuelling terrorism globally.

He said Boko Haram has killed thousands of Nigerians and non- Nigerians since 2009, destroyed churches and businesses. Nigeria is a multi-religious country with many problems but that the most worrisome is terror attacks, he said.

Terrorism as it affects Nigeria is more religion-based, he stated, adding that Islamic extremists are bent on Islamising the whole country except we stand up to stop them.

Bishop Kuponu said the kind of government that Christ approves of is the type that cares for the people in general, especially the poor and the less-privileged in our society as Christ used to do and not the elitist, self centred and religion-biased government prevalent in Nigeria.

He said unless Christians rise up as a body politically, evil will continue to reign in Nigeria.

•Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA), Lagos led by the resident Pastor, Folarin Ogunsola, donated boreholes, food, and clothing materials to the Mokoko community, Lagos, penultimate Saturday.

PHOTO: GBENGA KUTELU

Presbyterian Church warns against S Nigerians continue tiative to end the strike by to express their con- election crisis university lecturers.

A

demnation of the poor conduct of thee November 16, 2013 governorship elections in Anambra State, The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria has blamed the “inconclusive election” on the high level of desperation by the political class and corruption, which has become endemic in Nigeria.

Referring to the declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that the inconclusive election was caused by sabotage and subversion of the electoral process by an electoral officer, the Church cautioned INEC, the government, the political class and the generality of the citizenry that going by this report, it would be necessary to guard against any acts of manipulation and inducement that may mar the forthcoming general elections in 2015 to avoid any other political crisis that might destabilise the nation.

The Church stated this in a communiqué issued at the end of the last quarter 2013 meeting of its General Assem-

bly Executive Committee held in Calabar.

In the communiqué, jointly signed by thee Prelate and Moderator of the General Assembly, The Most Rev. Prof. Emele Mba Uka and the Principal Clerk, Rev. Ndukwe Nwachukwu Eme, the church expressed support for the convening of the National Conference as a forum to discuss the issues and challenges to the peaceful coexistence of the people of Nigeria and the future of the nation. The Church recommended that there should be no “no-go-areas” and that the report of thee conference should be subjected to a national referendum to take final decisions.

And while the Church condoled with the family, members of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and the government over the death of former ASUU president, Prof. Festus Iyayi, in a motor accident on the way to Kano for ASUU meeting, it commended President Goodluck Jonathan for his ini-

The Church also alerted the government at all levels to the World Bank report released mid-August 2013 to the effect that 100 million Nigerians, approximately 70% of the nation’s population, live in abject poverty.

“The people are hungry and have no access to proper health care. Socio-economic infrastructure are decaying and education, which should be the right of every child, has become the exclusive preserve of the privileged. This state of affairs is lamentable in a nation blessed by God with vast natural resources.

The situation is further compounded with general unrighteousness, crass corruption, social injustice, religious violence, criminal activities, civil unrest, etc.” the Church urged the three tiers of governments to be alive to the primary duty of governance which is to manage public funds in such a manner that will promote the general well-being of citizens in accordance to the will of God for humanity.”

Living Faith

By Dr. David Oyedepo

Power for fulfilment of destiny! Enjoying divine visitation!

E

VERY child of God is accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1:6). So, we were God’s choice before we were born. We have a glorious destiny in Christ as believers; but that destiny will remain unfulfiled until we are empowered to experience the fulfilment of divine plan.

God’s empowerment is not theoretical; it is ordained for the fulfilment of our glorious and enviable destiny. Destiny is all about the discovery of divine plan and purpose. The Bible says: According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue (2 Peter 1:3). So, by His divine empowerment, you have access to all things that pertain unto life and godliness.

The empowerment of the Holy Ghost is all about accomplishment of supernatural feats and fulfilment of our glorious destiny (Isaiah 61:1-4).

That is why everyone in the body of Christ must be baptized in the Holy Ghost.

Otherwise, one may never be able to access God’s plan.

However, it is not enough to be baptized in the Holy Ghost, we must strive to grow in power and see other dimensions of His glory.

Wherever His power is, His glory is. His power is the attractor of His glory.

You cannot see His power and miss it. Wandering away from God’s plan

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equals a life of struggles without end (Proverbs 29:18). Understanding God’s plan and walking in it are the key to the restoration of our total dignity and glory.

The Holy Ghost is, therefore, the middleman who takes the plan of God for our lives and reveals it to us.

Nevertheless, the Holy Ghost accomplishes this through certain channels.

What then are these channels?

•Vision: The unveiling of God’s plan as it relates to us is what we call vision. The Holy Ghost is the custodian of God’s plan for us as individuals. He is the one entrusted to unveil the plan of God for us as individuals (Joel 2:28).

•Revelation: Revelation of the Word empowers the drive of vision to fulfilment.

We need the revelation of the Word to drive any plan of God into fulfilment because that is the secret of our authority— because every Word revealed, is Word confirmed (Jeremiah 1:11-12).

Therefore, visions and revelations are two main spiritual forces that guarantee fulfilment of destiny.

But, we cannot experience true fulfilment without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.

How does the Holy Ghost empower us to fulfil destiny?

•He unveils the plan of God for our lives (John 14:26; 16:13) •He sheds the love of God abroad in our hearts

(Romans 5:5) •He enforces the restoration of all that the devil may have stolen from us (Joel 2:23-27) •He sanctifies us and makes us fit for eternity (1 Corinthians 6:11) We cannot fulfil destiny walking outside God’s plan.

Nobody ever survives it. No matter the anointing on our lives, we need to be properly positioned in God’s plan to fulfil destiny.

Friend, the power for the fulfilment of destiny is available, if you are a child of God. You become His child by confessing your sins and accepting Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. You can be God’s child now by saying this prayer: Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. I cannot help myself.

Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood.

Deliver me from sin and satan, to serve the Living God. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You, for saving me! Now, I know I am born again! I will continue with this teaching next week.

Every exploit in life is a product of knowledge. For further reading, please get my books: Anointing For Breakthrough, Understanding The Anointing and Anointing For Exploits.

From December 10-14, 2013, at Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Idiroko Road, Ota, many destinies will be transformed to higher levels of greatness at SHILOH 2013 tagged, Exceeding Grace. SHILOH is the annual prophetic gathering of the Winners’ family worldwide. Be there!

I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. We have four services on Sundays, holding at 6:00 a.m., 7:35 a.m., 9:10 a.m. and 10.45 a.m. respectively.

I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 7747546-8; or E-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

Clergyman advices Jonathan on confab

HE Assistant Pastor in Charge of Province, 40 of The Redeemed Christain Church of God, Lagos, Pastor Goke Aniyeloye has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to allow the hope and aspiration of the people to be reflected in the proposed National dialogue.

Aniyeloye made this known at the press conference organised last week ahead of the Special Anointing Service of me of RCCG, Testimony Chapel; Anwo Bustop, Akute, Ogun State holding on 8th of December, 2013.

The programme tagged: Wipe my tears away will bring together thousands of Christian faithful and will feature prayers, bible teaching and prophetic ministration.

According to him, the national conference will

By Adeola Ogunlade

only succeed when the hopes, aspiration and needs of the people at the grassroots are reflected and pragmatic frameworks to address them are properly worked upon.

He said "the national conference is timely as Nigeria have over 250 ethnic groups and we need to come and discuss together at this time on the way toward for our country in crises."

Aniyeloye noted that Nigeria was once the giant of Africa but we are now like grasshopper among the nations of the world because of wide spate of corruption, poverty, kidnapping, civil unrest and do or die politics that has drawn back the country in the annals of history.

He attributed the increasingly spate of insecurity in the north to politi-

cians who have vow to disrupt the peace of the country if they are not given the opportunity to rule which necessitated the need to discuss as Nigeria on how best we want to live together “We need to discuss on salient issues on governance, economy, education, human right, and other developmental issues that affect the common man in Nigeria”, he said.

Aniyeloye noted that the special prayer programmes holds every last Wednesday of the month and is aimed at encouraging Christians to look up to God for divine help and sustenance in the midst of confusion and headache.

There will also be a special anointing service on the second Sunday in December at the RCCG, Testimony Chapel, Anwo, Akute, Ogun State.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

73

74

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

NEWS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013 CHANGE CHANGE OF OF NAME NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known and addressed as Ganiat Yetunde Saidu, now wish to be known as Ganiat Yetunde Kaka.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

OBASI

I formerly known and addressed as Okolie Onyinyechi Regina, now wish to be known as Okani Onyinyechi Regina. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ojugo, Enonlenesele Antonia now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ojugo-Godfrey Enonlenesele Antonia. All former documents remain valid. Nigeria Custom Service and general public should take note.

AREMU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Koleowo, Adedotun Motunrayo, now wish to be known as Mrs. Sodiya, Adedotun Motunrayo. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OJUGO

CHANGE OF NAME KOLEOWO

I formerly known and addressed as Obasi Ozieme Ada, now wish to be known as Mrs. Njoba Ozieme Ada. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

OMUETI

I formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Esther Eseosa Omueti, now wish to be known as Mrs. Esther Eseosa B. Omonkhegbe. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AZEEZ

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Azeez, Mujidat Olayinka, now wish to be known as Mrs. Olaribigbe, Mujidat Olayinka. All former documents remain valid.

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OYEKANLU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oluwakemi Christiana Oyekanlu, now wish to be known as Mrs. Oluwakemi Christiana Johnson. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

GABRIEL-WHYTE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Success A. Gabriel-Whyte, now wish to be known as Mrs. Success A. Makaraba. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

KANE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Kane, Christiana Barinua, now wish to be known as Mrs. Dominic Christiana Barinua. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

LAWAL

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Tawa Funke Lawal, now wish to be known as Mrs. Tawa Funke Ojo. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AYENI

I formerly known and addressed as Mr. Mukaila Oladimeji Ayeni, now wish to be known as Mr. Michael Kosenkanti Oladimeji Ayeni. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

BAKE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Elizabeth Ogheneowoma Bake, now wish to be known as Mrs. Elizabeth Ogheneowoma Egbakhumeh. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AKPEKO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Akpeko Ejenavwo Melody, now wish to be known as Mrs. Idiode Ejenavwo Melody. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

OBOBA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Kate Oghogho Oboba, now wish to be known as Mrs. Kate Oghogho Emmanuel Egbabora. All former documents remain valid.

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ONOMUORHOYA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Onomuorhoya O. Joy, now wish to be known as Mrs. Owhor O. Joy. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

DEHINDE

I formerly known and addressed as Dehinde Abimbo Regina, now wish to be known as Olojede Abimbola Regina. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AKONYE

I formerly known and addressed as Akonye Francisca Chienyenwa, now wish to be known as Amaefule Francisca Chienyenwa. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

MUSARI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Sikirat Adebimpe Musari, now wish to be known as Mrs. Sikirat Adebimpe Durosinmi. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

AGUGHARA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Agughara Chizoba Queensly, now wish to be known as Mrs. Amaechi Chizoba Queensly. All former documents remain valid.

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SAIDU

OKOLIE

EGUNJOBI

I formerly known and addressed as Egunjobi Elizabeth Oluwadamilola, now wish to be known as Towose Elizabeth Oluwadamilola. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ADEPETU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oluwaseun Elizabeth Adepetu, now wish to be known as Mrs. Oluwaseun Elizabeth Thomas. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ADUNG

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adung Joy Mary, now wish to be known as Mrs. Oludiran Joy Mary. All former documents remain valid. LASU, NECO and general public please take note.

CORRECTION OF NAME I,Fakiyesi Margaret Kikelomo mispelt as Fakiyesi Margaret Kikelomo. My name should read Fakiyesi Margaret Kikelomo. In my International passport No. A05032669. My original names are Fakiyesi Margaret Kikelomo. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

FALASE

I formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Falase, Grace Taiwo, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ojopekunfin Grace Taiwo. All former documents remain valid.

SUBEB Ekiti State and general public please take note. Dele Alade

FASUAN

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Fasuan Busayo Theresa, now wish to be known as Mrs. Kolawaole Busayo Theresa. All former documents remain valid.

Ekiti State Local government Service Commission and general public please take note.

OKAFOR

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Okafor, Nkechinyere Prisca, now wish to be known as Mrs. Akeme Onuoha Nkechinyere Prisca. All former documents remain valid. UNTH Enugu and general public please take note.

AKINSUROJU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Akinsuroju Omolade, now wish to be known as Mrs. Adediran Omolade Prisca. All former documents remain valid. Hospital Mangement Board and general public please take note.

ADEKOLUREJO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adekolurejo Temitope Mary, now wish to be known as Mrs. Falayi Temitope Mary. All former documents remain valid. Ondo State Health Mangement Board (HMB) and general public please take note.

YAKUBU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Mariam Akan Yakubu, now wish to be known as Mrs. Mariam Lucky Madaki. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

JOSEPH

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Imoh Ibia Joseph, now wish to be known as Mrs. Imoh Nyeti Okoruen. All former documents remain valid. University of Calabar Teaching Hospital and general public please take note.

ODULATE

I formerly known and addressed as Odulate, Damilola Adijat, now wish to be known as Mumuni Damilola Adijat. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ANYAMELE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Mary Nwabueze Anyamele, now wish to be known as Mrs. Mary Nwabueze Azanga. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Miss Damilola Opeyemi Ojeyinka and Mrs. Damilola Opeyemi Ogundari now wish to be known as Mrs. Damilola Opeyemi Ibiyemi. All former documents remain valid. NYSC, OAU and general public please take note.

ANEBE

I formerly and addressed as Miss Ruth Aina Anebe now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ruth Aina Olanipekun. All former documents remain. Nigeria Police Force and general public should take note.

OKE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oke Funmike Oluwaseun now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Awojusigbe Funmike Oluwaseun. All former documents remain valid. Ekiti State Teaching Service Commission and general public should take note.

OLAGUNJU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Akinniranye Iretiola Adunni now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oresanya Iretiola Adunni Seun. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. OKEKE EVELYN CHIZOBA now wish to be known as Mrs. EZEONWUKA EVELYN CHIZOBA. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Mgbenyere Ukamaka Chinwe now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Nwaeze Ukamaka Chinwe. All former documents remain valid.Aiico Insurance Plc, Union bank of Nig. plcand general public should take note.

OKEKE

JAMES

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. SARAJ JAMES. Now wish to be known as Mrs. SARAH ISAAC OYIBO. All former documents remain valid, general public please take note.

OGUNNIYI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oladele Olaoluwa Oluwatosin now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Omosanya Olaoluwa Oluwatosin. All former documents remain valid.General public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Oyelude Risikat Omowumi now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oyewole Risikat Omowumi all former documents remain valid general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME Isiolaotan Funke Mariam is thesame person as Isiolaotan Funke Maria my Correct name is Isiolaotan Funke Mariam all former documents remain valid general public take note.

BALE

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. BALE WAAZOR BARITOR now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. GENTLE WAAZOR BARITOR. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

AMADI

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. AMADI SYLVERLINE CHIOMA now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. WARIS SYLVERLINE CHIOMA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

BABATUNDE

I,formerly known and addressed as MISS. BABATUNDE OLUWAKEMI SHADE now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. IWELUMOR OLUWAKEMI SHADE. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHUKWU

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. NKIRUKA NIKKY CHUKWU now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. NKIRUKA NIKKY OGBOGU. All former documents remain valid. Rivers state University of Education , NYSC and general public should please take note.

YUSUF

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ADESEWA OLASUBOMI YUSUF, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ADESEWA OLASUBOMI AKINSHOWON. All former documents remain valid.

LAGOS INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE and the general public should please take note.

FAMAKINDE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Famakinde Funmilola Christianah wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Daramola Funmilola Christianah. Ado Odo/ Ota LGEA and public take note.

IWUCHUKWU

I formerly known and addressed as MISS IWUCHUKWU ADA NKECHINYERE, now wish to be addressed as MRS. EKEH ADA NKECHINYERE. All former documents remain valid. The general public please take note.

OKEZIE

I formerly known as Miss Precious Okezie now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Precious Agbai, all former documents remain valid, general public should please take note.

AKANGE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Akange Angbiandoo Mary now wish to be known and address as Mrs. Timothy-Terhile Angbiandoo Mary. All former documents remain valid. Mouau, Umudike and general public should please take note.

DAWODU

ANGOU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. BEATRICE NGUNAN ANGOU, now wish to be known as Mrs. PAUL CHIBUIKE NWAGA. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

OLAMUSANMI

IHEKWOABA

MGBENYERE

I formerly known and addressed as Dawodu Ramotulahi Abiola now wish to be known and addressed as Obajuluwa Abiola. All former documents remain valid.General public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogunniyi Olubori Omotayo now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adeniji Olubori Omotayo All former documents remain valid. Omak MFB Osogbo and general public take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. CELINE CHIOMA IHEKWOABA now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. CHIOMA LESOR FRIDAY. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

AKINNIRANYE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss.

AREMU OPEYEMI OLUWATOYIN now wish to be known as Mrs. AYODELE OPEYEMI OLUWATOYIN, all former documents remain valid general public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Olagunju Tolulope Mary now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Bolarinwa Tolulope Anthonia.

All former documents remain valid.

Ekiti State University and general public should take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Olamusanmi Foyeke Mary now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ajayi Foyeke Mary. All former documents remain valid. Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti and general public should take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

OYELUDE

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Orisabinone Motilayo is the same person as Orisabinone Motilayo Faith all documents remain valid general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Okedeji Tolulope is thesame person as Okedeji Tolulope Adewumi all former documents remain valid general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I,Omogunwa Alaye is thesame person as Omogunwa Alaye Sola my Correct name is Omogunwa Alaye Sola all former documents remain valid general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Kasali Shakiru Adeshola is thesame person as Kasali Adetola Shakiru my Correct name is Kasali Adetola Shakiru all former documents remain valid general public take note.

AGBAJE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Agbaje Morufat Adeola now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ashas Morufat Adeola. All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

SARAKI

I formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Saraki Olabisi Idowu now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Osinowo Olabisi Idowu. All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

SHOYEBI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Shoyebi Grace Moriregba now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Olalowo Grace Moriregba. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

ZAKARITAU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Zakaritau Raehanat Oluwashola now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Yakub Raehanat Oluwashola. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

BALOGUN

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Balogun Ramotu Adenike now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Balogun Rahmot Adenike. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

OGUNNESO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oguneso Oluwaremi Jumoke now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Okedina Oluwaremi jumoke. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

ODUH

I formerly known and addressed as Mrs Augustina Eneadanu Oduh now wish to be known and addressed as Miss Augustina Eneadanu Pius. All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

EBINUM

I formerly known and addressed as Azubike Ebinum now wish to be known and addressed as Azubike Ugboh . All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

OLADELE

ONILENLA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Onilenla Folashade Fausat now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olatunji Folashade Fausat. All former documents remain valid.General public should take note.

SEMIU

I formerly known and addressed as Semiu Oladimeji Alao now wish to be known and addressed as Semih Oladimeji Alao. All former documents remain valid.General public should take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I KINGSLEY UCHENNA ANYANWU wish to make it clear to the general public that, MISS BLESSING ANYANWU and MASTER ELVIS ANYANWU are not any way related to me; either by marriage or father and son relationship.

CHIDOLUS

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Jane Chioma Chidolus now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Jane Chioma Uzoh. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

ISHOLA

I formerly known and addressed as LUKMAN BABATUNDE ISHOLA now wish to be known and addressed as LOOKMAN MOROHUNRANTI BELLO. All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

OJABINENI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Temiyemi Ojabineni now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Temiyemi Justina Adewumi. All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

ADVERT: Simply produce your marriage certificate or sworn affidavit for a change of name publication, with just N4,500. The payment can be made through FIRST BANK of Nigeria Plc. Account number 2017220392 Account Name - VINTAGE PRESS LIMITED Scan the details of your advert and teller to gbengaodejide@ yahoo.com or thenation.advert @gmail.com.

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75

‘Let’s shun factions in Ondo APC’

From Damisi Ojo, Akure UPPORTERS of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State have been urged to unite and shun factionalisation in order to take the party to greater heights.

A former Senator representing Ondo Central District, Chief Olorunnimbe Farukanmi, gave the advice in Iju, Area Akure North Local Government at the weekend.

Farukanmi, who is a member of the harmonisation committee constituted by the National Interim leadership of APC, said, “I had my political tutelage from late Obafemi Awolowo; I have never played factional politics, so I believe our breaking into factions will not augur well for the prospects of APC which is the only alternative party now in the country.”

He maintained that his interest in politics was not to seek positions, but to work with other progressive elements across the country to salvage the country from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Farukanmi urged leaders in all the 12 wards to embark on aggressive membership drive and enlightenment propaganda as they await directive on membership registration from the party’s National Headquarters.

Present at the meeting included the Chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Adesunloro Ezekiel and his All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) counterpart, Eniola Olatunji, Mr. Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye, Olorunmbe Ameto and a consultant with the World Bank, Mr. Sola Ojo.

S

Lawmaker empowers constituents on 50th birthday

I

By Oziegbe Okoeki

T was a birthday celebration with a difference when a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly representing Lagos Island 2 Constituency, Hon. Wahab Alawiye-King, clocked 50 at the weekend.

Alawiye-King used the occasion to empower 500 of his constituents with different equipment and cash to assist them to start a business, trade or pursue their education. The birthday/ empowerment programme took place at the Lagos Island Local Council with party leaders, traditional and religious leaders in the constituency and his colleagues at the Lagos Assembly in attendance.

The beneficiaries went home with equipment ranging from sewing machines, grinding machines, hair dryers, hair clippers, pop corn machines, generators, coolers and soft drinks, refrigerators, call centre gadgets including phones and recharge cards, and cash gift as bursary awards to students.

According to the lawmaker, “it is a way of giving back to the people who voted for us to become what we are today; so it is a way of giving back to my people and taking them out of the unemployment class so that they can start something on their own.”

76

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

POLITICS EXTRA

77

Mergers, battlegrounds and the 2015 poll •Continued from Page 20

With the governor's defection, it appears the entire PDP in the state have moved to the APC but that is without Wike's fast growing political group, the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI).

The presence of political heavyweights like former governor, Peter Odili, Senator George Sekibo, Felix Obuah and others in PDP is also a pointer to the fact that the battle for Rivers State in 2015 will be keenly fought.

While pundits are predicting that the APC will win the support of the electorates in the state on the strength of the popularity and performance of Amaechi, it is also being considered that the PDP will not be a pushover in the race on the strength of Wike's political sagacity and the much touted support of certain forces in Abuja.

However, the no love lost situation among the leaders of the PDP in the state, pundits say, will be an added advantage to Amaechi and his new party. Currently, Peter Odili is not known to relate well with the leadership of the party in the state.

Also, there is an age-long political rivalry between Wike and Senator Sekibo who is nursing a gubernatorial ambition for 2015. Wike too is said to be interested in being voted in as the next governor of the state.

GOMBE In Gombe, leaders of the APC in the state said they are ready to dislodge the ruling party in 2015 as PDP will meet a stiff resistance in 2015 if its plan is to rig itself back into office.

National Organising Secretary of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Abubakar Inua Kari, who is from the state, assures the people of Gombe of the readiness of the APC to defeat the ruling party in 2015. The APC leader said Governor Ibrahim Dankwanbo and his people should start preparing to leave the government house.

The merger of three leading opposition parties in the state, namely CPC, AC N and ANPP, according to some observers of the politics of the state, is likely to alter political calculations ahead of the 2015 general elections.

The presence of Senator Danjuma Goje, immediate past governor of the state in the APC is also strengthening the position of Gombe State as a state where the unexpected can still happen in 2015.

But observers say if the PDP in the state continues to enjoy its current string of reconciliations and realignments, it will go into the 2015 election with an advantage politically.

Although it is yet to officially announce the governor as its candidate for the 2015 governorship contest, the body language of the leadership of the PDP in the state indicates that it will surrender its ticket to Dankwambo without hassles to seek another term in office.

Recently, the Minister of Transport, Sen. Idris Umar, expressed support for the re-election of Dankwambo in 2015.

This endorsement comes across as a big one for the governor as the minister has earlier been rumoured to be eying the governor's job.

KATSINA Katsina State is one of the states where states where the defucnt ACN, CPC and the ANPP had impressive showings in the last election. With the three parties collapsing into the APC, the PDP will definitely be given a run for its money in these states come 2015.

Checks by The Nation revealed that leaders of the ruling party in the Katsina state are already worried that the party's candidate in the forthcoming election

•Obi

•Mimiko

•Suswam

may suffer defeat in the hands of the emerging All Progressive Congress (APC).

A source, who pleaded anonymity, said, "This is not an easy one for us in Katsina. The merger of Buhari's CPC and the ANPP is a serious threat to the PDP in the state.

On their own, the two parties have followership in Katsina. General Buhari and Aminu Bello Masari are respected sons of the state. When such parties now go into a merger, it is certain to bring headache to the ruling party and we are really worried by the development.

Moves by the political camp of the late President Umar Musa Yar'Adua to join the APC is also creating ripples in the political landscape of the northwestern state. Should that happen, the state will further become open to any of the contending political forces.

BENUE In Benue, the APC, which is a coalition of some opposition political parties in the state, is anchored on the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Though the ACN lost the 2011 governorship elections in Benue State, it made a lot of waves during the elections, which left an indelible mark

on the political landscape of the state.

Given the political heavy weights that abound in the APC in the state today, pundits are of the opinion that the party is in a position to challenge the ruling PDP seriously in 2015.

With the likes of the immediate past governor of the state, Senator George Akume; Senator Daniel Saror, Gen. Indyar Garba, Oker Jev, Buruku Federal Constituency; John Idyeh, Gboko/Tarka and Benjamin Aboho, Kwande/Ushongo and Usman Abubakar, aka Young Alhaji, all working together to oust the PDP in Benue State, the state is definitely a potential battleground.

But for a party that boast of the incumbent governor, the current Senate President, a former national chairman of the PDP amongst other notable chieftains, the PDP in Benue State will also go into the next general election prepared for a fight to finish.

However, observers say internal wrangling like the one between Governor Gabriel Suswam and Senator Barnabas Gemade, may turn out to be the grace required by the APC to do the ruling party in come 2015.

ADAMAWA In spite of last Tuesday's defection

of Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State to the APC, the political road to the Dougeri Government House, Yola, remains as unpredictable as it has been for months now.

Particularly for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which now wants to return as the ruling party in 2015, its unending internal wrangling has thrown the contest wide open.

Nyako's decision to join the APC merely confirmed the next election as a political decider of some sort in the political sphere of the state.

Nineteen out of the 25 members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly and other government functionaries had few weeks earlier, decamped to the APC at a meeting that was attended by the leader of the APC in the state, Alhaji Abdulrahaman Adamu, a one-time Minister of State for Defence and former All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) vice chairman in the North East geopolitical zone.

Others at the meeting, were the factional chairman of the Nyako-backed PDP in the state, Alhaji Umaru Mijjinyawa Kugama; Mr. P. P. Elisha, the factional secretary of the party; Interim National Vice Chairman of the APC in the North East, Alhaji Umaru Duhu; 19 members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly, national treasurer of the APC, the first son of Governor Nyako, Commander Abdul'Aziz (rtd) and a host of other dignitaries from the APC and the Nyako camp.

Being an indigene of the state, the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, would be aiming to win "at home". How he intends to do that without Nyako and other prominent chieftains who followed the governor into the APC is left to be seen.

Before now, the state chapter of the PDP has been polarised, culminating in the formation of three groups among which loyalty is shared by former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, Nyako and Tukur.

The situation in Adamawa now is such that while Nyako and his men now in the APC will be fighting Tukur from outside, Atiku and other equally aggrieved chieftains will be tormenting the PDP boss politically from within.

But the PDP can still boast of having some heavyweights in its kitty with which it can confront the rampaging APC during the next general election. People like former Deputy Senate leader, Senator Silas Zwingina, Senator Halilu Girei and former Governor Boni Haruna are still members of the PDP. ANAMBRA AND ONDO There are also the two "undecided" states of Anambra and Ondo. The two are currently standing independent of the two leading gladiators. While Governor Peter Obi of Anambra is holding firmly to the remnant of a faction of the troubled All Prgoressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State is of the Labour Party (LP).

But analysts say the two will not remain aloof for long. With the predictions that they will soon pitch their tents with either of the PDP or APC, these two states remain swing states where anything can happen in 2015 depending on where their governors decide to pitch their tents.

In addition, President Jonathan's dwindling popularity in the northern part of the country and allegations that his administration did very little to better the infrastructural states of the eastern and western geo-political zones of the country combine to make Anambra and Ondo more interesting than usual.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013

78

G

IVEN the universally acclaimed status of education as the strongest weapon to fight poverty and a useful pillar on which brighter and rewarding future is laid, the Government of Lagos state has accorded education the attention it deserves. Since assuming office, Babatundde Fashola has taken a keen interest in addressing the issues in the education sector because of his believe that it is the only weapon that can define the future of the country.

This is why the regime has embarked on a lot of reforms to improve the sector.

At a time in the state, the problem was that of access to qualitative and affordable education. However, in the last few years, alongside infrastructural development of the state, the BRF government has carved a niche for insisting on quality education. He has gone about this through creation of enabling environment.

Today, just as we can talk about what the government has invested in terms of rehabilitation and construction of wellfurnished new blocks of classrooms across the state, distribution of free text books, provision of well-equipped laboratories and libraries, provision of buses for teachers to ease transportation problems, re-launch of uniformed voluntary organizations in the state’s public schools, implementation of Teachers’ Salary Scale (TSS) for teachers in the state public schools among others, the impacts has also been enormous.

The far-reaching achievement of Lagos state under Fashola has not just ignited hope on revival of value delivery in public administration in Nigeria, it also holds the template of assessing results on both quantitative and qualitative basis The recent improvements recorded in external examina-

I

T is not for nothing that the media is notably referred to as the Fourth Estate of the Realm. The other three Estates being the Executive, the legislature and the judiciary arms of Government.

The media is the fourth and most strategic of the estates, to the extent that democracy and its successes or failure defends largely on the effectiveness and sense of responsibility and fairness with which the media holds the other estates accountable to the people. The framers of the constitution certainly did not intend that the Fourth Estate will be the problem other than its gate keeping role.

Today, the Nigeria media has played significant and very notable roles in ensuring that our nation’s hard won democracy is not only jealously guarded and protected but nurtured. It is therefore in the vanguard of a citizens ‘army’ that must seek, identity and terminate all anti democratic practices wherever they rear their heads in the polity. It is indeed a herculean task.

The media is consequently guarded by certain golden rules that remain sacrosanct and uncompromising. The first is that “News is sacred and opinion is free”, (Charles Scott of the Guardian). The other is that all report must entertain the input of all affected parties (Fairness). The media is not a court meant to try citizens. It is the court of public opinion where citizens are assisted to informed opinion after getting all the facts as presented by the media.

Unfortunately this modest and universal ideal has not been so in the past few years in Nigeria where the media has clearly sought to become the accuser and the judge.

Impact of Fashola’s education reform

By Bode Lawal

tions by pupils in the state are indicative of the positive result of the reforms and additional trainings of teachers in the state service. We can conveniently say that we have about the best teachers in the country courtesy of the heavy investment in training and re-training programme of our teachers.

To keep the flag flying, the state government recently hosted the third Lagos State Education Summit with the theme, “Qualitative Education in Lagos State: Raising the Standard” at the Eko Hotels and Towers, Victoria Island.

An integral part of the state’s educational reform is the EKO Education Project which has been a huge success thus far. The way the project has been adapted to suit the Lagos experience has promoted accountability and openness through its approval of discretional grants to schools.

The Eko Education Project enjoyed an unprecedented high rating from the World Bank, which is a partner in the project.

One facinating aspect of the Eko Project is the volunteer teachers’ scheme which has injected about 20,520 hours per month into the schools system, an equivalent of 183 full time teachers. The spirit behind the Eko Education Project was to improve the quality of education, compel the government as regulator to monitor the performances of the students, the schools and the teachers and encourage others to challenge themselves for greater heights.

Another innovation by the Lagos Eko Project is the provision of a Report Card for every school, with the card giving detailed account of how a school

•Fashola

has performed in relation to other schools, Local Government Areas, Education Districts and statewide, a programme which is unique to the Nigerian assessment system. In its characteristic innovative style of governance, the state government, with a view to involving other stakeholders in the funding of education in the state, instituted the now popular ‘adopt a school policy’. Through this policy, well-meaning individuals, corporate Organisations, and reli-

gious bodies among others are encouraged to pick and develop a school in their choice location.

The state government has since received favourable response from several stakeholders across the states that have been making massive contributions in this respect. Presently, the state government operates free education programme in all public primary and secondary schools across the state. It should also be stressed that Lagos, unlike other states, does not limit

its free education programme to only the indigenes. Consequently, the state spends more money in running its free education programme as it has to make provision for more pupils and students taking into consideration the cosmopolitan nature of the state.

Aside running free education at primary and secondary school levels, the state government has equally invested heavily in the construction of multi-lingual laboratories, installation of ICT laboratories in 120 schools and installation of science laboratories in 170 secondary schools.Till date, the state government has provided over 2,876 new classrooms in the state.

In order to reduce the financial burdens on parents, the Fashola administration has sustained the payment of the West African Examination Council and the National Examination Council (NECO) for all of SS3 students in public secondary schools in the state as part of the support for education of the people. The special intervention programme for 495 traineeteachers to assist WASCE candidates with extra coaching was also introduced.

Similarly, the State Governor recently presented a cheque of N252 Million to 126 junior and senior secondary schools, which have displayed improved performances over a period of time in the first Governor’s Education Award. With the competitiveness that the award will bring into the educational sector, the result would be for the benefit of all stakeholders in Lagos State.

Despite its huge investment in public primary and secondary education, the state government remains committed to cre-

NNPC and politicisation of kerosine distribution No example best illustrates this claim than recent publications by some leading national dailies in which unwholesome and bogus claims headlined, “How subsidy graft cause kerosine scarcity” and “The kerosine subsidy scam” have been fed the reading public.

Without going into the futility of the unfounded and untenable arguments presented in the stories and opinions aforementioned, suffice it to say that once an opinion writer has decided to close his or her eyes to the facts of the subject under treatment , it is the opinion so expressed that rightly becomes a scam.

To be sure, the present leadership of the PPMC assumed office in February 2011. At the time only four depots were functional in the country namely satellite town, Mosimi, Ibadan and Ore. This is aside the depots attached to the Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt Refineries. It then became necessary to engage the services of depots to enable bridging to inactive depots especially the Northern parts of the country.

However and not deterred by the plethora of challenges facing the new officers of PPMC at the time, they set out with uncommon focus and came up with a template to change the supply chain to all citizens of the country for good.

The cardinal objective included but was not limited to: · Supply petroleum products to the domestic market at minimal operating costs Provide excellent customer service by efficiently transporting crude oil to the refineries

By Adamu Gwazuwang.

and moving petroleum products to the market.

The management of PPMC within the first year in office, recommissioned Kaduna - Suleja line, Kaduna - Kano line, Suleja Minna line, Kaduna - Gasau and Kaduna - Jos lines. It is noteworthy that some of these depots had been unoperational and had not worked for 15 years prior to this time.

The PPMC is unequivocal in its belief that the petroleum products subsidy on DPK benefits only the rich to the disadvantage of the average man on the street.

Triggered by directives from the National Assembly, PPMC increased kero supply from 8millioin litres to 11million litres per day. The problem is and has always been distribution because there was ample evidence to prove that Kerosine meant for the masses was being diverted to the pharmaceutical industry. It is also a known fact that Kerosine was equally being diverted to the Aviation Industry, Road Construction and Manufacturing sector. Not least of all were the massive activities of smugglers of Kerosine across the borders. Then you had saboteurs who still mix Kerosine with Diesel for the purpose of increasing the volume of Diesel used for fueling.

In the face of theses known facts, claims and velifications of a DPK cartel in the NNPC is not only grossly misplaced but unfounded and misrepresented falsehood.

Since the tenure of late President Musa Yar’Adua and the con-

fusion arising from who should pay the subsidy began, NNPC has had to bear the burden of solely sustaining DPK supply to the Nigerian market as marketers have refused to bring in the product due to the uncertainty already mentioned as to who pays the subsidy. The NNPC brings in the product with some contributions from the refineries owing to its statutory obligation to make petroleum products available nationwide.

For the records, NNPC has supplied a total of 332,520,875 million litres of DPK from January 2011 – September 2013 to the Nigerian market.

It must also be emphasized that the finance minister and coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonji Iweala recently alluded to the fact that the Finance Ministry has not paid subsidy on DPK to NNPC for about three years now. This should be of concern to Nigerians who must question whether the absence of subsidy payment on kerosene to NNPC is a deliberate ploy aimed at crippling the organisation.

With the recommissioning of the Aba and Benin Depots, NNPC has been able to make DPK available through pipeline and loading from these depots to Abia, Imo and Anambra states.

Industry experts agree that the pipelines are by far the safest, most efficient, quickest and cost effective means to distribute products especially for a country as large as Nigeria.

The Gombe Depot is ready for commissioning as indeed loading of products is already in progress. The Aba - Enugu -

Makurdi lines and their respective depots will be ready before the end of the first quarter of 2014.

Once all pipelines are available, NNPC is well poised to pump DPK and indeed all products to the depots located in all regions of the country for so long as there is guaranteed safety of the pipelines from vandalisation. If the activities of pipeline vandals are stamped out, NNPC is in a position to pump products through its pipeline network spanning the entire country to 21 loading depots attached to various segments of the pipeline network. Non availability of pipelines due to incessant acts of vandalism is what denies the NNPC the ability to effectively distribute products hitch free nationwide.

On the vexed issue of the pump price of DPK, it is a known fact that the NNPC does not regulate it. The Ex Depot price of DPK has been consistent at N40.90. It is the statutory duty of DPR to regulate and enforce petroleum products prices and not the NNPC. It must be equally emphasized that those who are licensed

by DPR to sell the product buy from either IPMAN, MOMAN, Deport Owners, NNPC Retail outlets and resell at inflated and outrageous prices over and above the recommended price N50 per litre.

From the foregoing, is the NNPC culpable or guilty of all the allegations being heaped on it by a section of the media? Only NNPC mega stations sell the product for N50 nationwide.

Why then blame the NNPC for the wrong doings of others, why are other stakeholders not

ating an enabling environment where indigent students in the tertiary institutions would not in any way be short-changed.

This is being done through periodic increase of bursary awards, scholarship and grants. Equally, government is currently working on the overhauling of facilities at all the state owned tertiary institutions in order to guarantee qualitative education.

Guests at the 2200 days event of the state government, which took place at LASU few weeks ago, would readily attest to the fact that a new LASU is presently evolving. True democracy cannot exist in a society incapable of supporting the aspirations of its youth, and indeed its people.

A truly representative government must be able to create the enabling environment for its citizenry to freely express itself in positive ways so that the diverse potentials of its people could be easily harnessed for growth and development. Alexis de Tocqueville, in his immortal classic ‘Democracy in America’ (1835), insists that building the people is more necessary than creating wealth, for the value of the latter is tied to the existence of the earlier. As it is often said, great minds think alike. Undoubtedly, Governor Fashola was having Tocqueville in mind when he declared recently at a public function that “if this investment matures (the investment in the education sector), Lagos will be a better place because we believe clearly, without any doubt, that the greatest resource this country has is not oil but its people.”With the kind of reforms that has been started by the state government through its steadfast focus on upgrade of school infrastructure and teachers’ improvement, a significant progress has undoubtedly been made.

Lawal, writes from Festac Town taken up on accountability? And what about the regulatory agencies of PPRA and DPR. The management of NNPC is unrelenting in its efforts and desire to deepen the growth of the LPG as an alternative source of energy for domestic household use. In partnership with an NGO, Gas to Health Initiative, the NNPC is set to raise awareness and educate its populace on the use of LP Gas which is a more efficient energy for cooking than Kerosine.

This switch from kerosene and other biomass to LP Gas is the new trend around the globe including third world nations.

The use of LP Gas has the added advantage of reducing subsidy on Kerosine as well as saving the environment from degradation, create wealth and enhance the health of the average Nigerian, the continuous use of kerosene as household energy is a total waste of natural resource.

Available records confirm that LPG production in Nigeria is in excess of 3,100,000 tons per anum. Consumption has only recently risen to 200,000 tons per anum as at December 2012. Further available records show the NNPC has rehabilitated all the Butanization plants in all six geo political zones with the exception of Ilorin.

These are facts and facts are sacred. Nigeria and Nigerians must be encouraged to join the rest of the world in the use of LP Gas and the onus is on the nation’s mass media to educate, enlighten and sensitize our people. The inventions of scams where none exist will do the country and its citizens no good.

Gwazuwang, wrote from Abuja.

QUOTABLE "If Nyesom Wike (Supervising Minister of Education) had familiarised himself with FG/ ASUU face-off in the past two decades, even under the defunct military junta, he would have discovered that ASUU members had never been cowed to submission. In 1992, the Ibrahim Babangida junta fired all lecturers and threatened to eject them from their quarters… But at the end of the day, it became clear to the regime that universities could not be run like military barracks…"

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 8, NO. 2684

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SHUDDER to think what intensity of anguish Nigeria’s eminent vice-chancellors endured as they reportedly sat glumly through last Friday’s meeting with the supervising minister of education, Nyesom Wike.

Mr Wike, as everyone knows, is a man of many parts. Bold, dogged and energetic, the Ikwerre, Rivers State politician has made a huge impression on his followers, and, as it is obvious, is also now making a monstrously bigger impression on many Nigerians. The vice-chancellors who attended the meeting with him would doubtless have left his presence dumbfounded by the quirkiness of university education that produced such an impertinent man who many years ago defied the force and natural inclination of nature to leave a notable mark on his local government as an administrator and grassroots mobiliser.

Not only was Mr Wike twice chairman of the now controversial Obio/Akpor local government, he performed with such distinction that he managed to win the confidence of Governor Rotimi Amaechi to become his Chief of Staff. Graduating with a law degree from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Mr Wike also developed a well-honed style of politics that saw him become an implacable force in both local and national politics. He even evaded the censorious gaze of the avuncular Peter Odili, a former governor of the state, to win his support at the initial stage of his political career. And he also managed to fool the feisty and sometimes impatient Mr Amaechi to earn the juicy and powerful post of Chief of Staff and later director-general of the Amaechi re-election campaign. He has now seduced President Goodluck Jonathan, who more and more finds solace in the arms of fixers and enforcers serenading him with sweet talk and bombast.

It is important to understand Mr Wike’s background in order to find explanation for his hardline stand in the five-month-old Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike. He has a law degree, is streetwise, aggressive and gregarious. But those who know him and have worked with him insist there is little in his character or education, not to talk of the logic and judgement that sets an educated man apart from an illiterate, to justify the degree he is brandishing. He is a practical politician who is effective and skilful in herding votes. But at bottom, he is a man who conceals his unimpressive intellectual endowment beneath a morass of public works projects. Such a man is more likely to resent his betters when they meet in forums that require logic, thought-

- Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, cautioning the Federal Government against carrying its threat to sack university lecturers

ASUU strike: Fed Govt, Wike lose their heads

• Wike

• Fagge

fulness, restraint and cultured language and diplomacy. Mr Wike precisely found himself at one such forum last Friday when he encountered his betters, vice chancellors and former university teachers whom he gloated over.

To a deep and lettered man, such a meeting would lead him inexorably to the veneration and modesty that the knowledge imparted to him in his university days should naturally elicit. But to one plagued by doubts and inferiority complex, such a meeting could only trigger in all its fury the resentment his intellectual failings have dammed in his angry soul over the years. Like former President Olusegun Obasanjo who under Gen Murtala Mohammed took perverse delight in purging the universities and demystifying the super permanent secretaries who mocked his inadequacies, Mr Wike has issued orders to his former teachers which no reasonable man should ever give and which even under the military no one could hope to

enforce. Sadly, the Jonathan government is populated by many such upstarts who read politics into every dispute.

Acting on behalf of the Jonathan presidency, and after opening another war front in the president’s many battles, Mr Wike has ordered the deployment of policemen in universities to secure those who would heed the command to resume work. After all, of what use is power when it cannot be used? He has also ordered the vice-chancellors to reopen the universities, when in reality it was ASUU’s withdrawal of services, not the shutting of the campuses by school administrators, that paralysed the universities in the first instance. Those who fail to resume work, Mr Wike commanded the National Universities Commission (NUC), should be sacked, notwithstanding the fact that the universities have neither the resources nor even the available pool of qualified teachers to fill more than 40,000 vacancies already ex-

Ongoing political realignment is last hope. No hyperbole

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FTER almost 15 years of unremitting political provocation, Nigerians are about to enjoy some relief from the tedium a succession of bad or incompetent leaders have subjected them to. Kawu Baraje, the chairman of the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) that has just fused with the All Progressives Congress (APC), enthused last week that President Goodluck Jonathan should begin to prepare his handover notes. His effervescence is a reflection of the hopes elicited by the migration of five PDP governors into the APC, and the possible wholesale migration of the national legislators of the five states into the opposition party. If the migration is carried through in the National Assembly, it will mean an immediate and drastic alteration of legislative power. In addition, it will also mean in theory that the electoral vote-rich Southwest, Northwest and Northeast zones will go to the APC column. Political analysts recognise the impossibility of winning the presidency in Nigeria without two of these three blocs.

It is hardly necessary to explain why the PDP could not keep the five governors, and why it may still lose a few more to the opposition. But it is important to state that the reason is not really the desire of the North to reclaim the presidency, after being shut out for a cumulative period of almost 13 years. The real reasons are the uncontrollable and spiteful internal dynamics of the PDP, and the almost absolute incompetence of the Jonathan government to engender progress and development and to facilitate peace. If Dr Jonathan had been a listening and charismatic president, the opposition against him would have been feeble. But

now the opposition is potent and growing, and it is likely to succeed if it plays its cards well.

More importantly, the country is an overripe pimple ready for a new party to take office, and new men, no matter their ideological disposition, to implement new political and developmental paradigms.

But the expanded APC should not have illusions about its reach, power and readiness to take office. Its unity will remain testily brittle, and its ideological core will in the foreseeable future continue to be a kitchen midden of multifarious and sometimes conflicting worldviews.

While the PDP has seemed to achieve some form of unity based solely on its long years in power, the APC will have to confect its own unity based on its members’ shared desperation to take power. Neither party’s unity will be contextually superior to the other, nor will one party’s style be less morally reprehensible than the other.

The ageing PDP is a longstanding opportunist; the new APC is a latter-day opportunist. However, and more crucially, while the old opportunists have become inured to change and progress, and have even openly embraced fascism, the new opportunists, themselves idealists and theorists, appear genuinely interested in change, democracy, progress and stability. The choice facing the country is, therefore, clear and easy.

Given the awful record of the PDP in government and the appalling characters that have seized governance and entrapped a willing Dr Jonathan, I have no hesitation in recommending change.

Nor do I have hesitation in making the hyperbolic statement that four more years of Dr Jonathan would ruin the country. The signs are clear. But

the APC must appreciate the kind of politics Nigerians play and why that sort of politics has held us in thraldom for so long. Dr Jonathan’s strength remains the fact that he is viewed in the Christian middle belt with a fondness and wistfulness that belie his unsuitability for the post he has held for nearly five years. In addition, many seem to find his consistent lack of composure and charisma, as well as his lack of profundity, both engaging and beguiling. (I have struggled to use inoffensive words for a man who merits the harshest adjectives for plunging the country into retrogression and chaos).

In the South-South, neither his incompetence nor dullness matters to the single-minded voters of that zone. What matters are that he hails from their zone, and that the North, which they describe as parasitic, is once again annoyingly hankering after the plum post. I confess that such mechanical consideration of politics can be offputting and is a dangerous path to follow for a country passing through trying times. If APC is to take the presidency, it will have to select its standard-bearers with considerable aplomb by avoiding sentiments and jaded calculations, take a little of the South-South and North Central as much as it can manage, and sweep the Southwest, Northeast and Northwest. The arithmetic of the next elections, not to say the dynamics of the National Assembly, favours the opposition party. If the opposition does not underestimate the fanatical ruthlessness of the Jonathan government, if it manages its own diversities well, checks its fissiparous tendency, and puts up a winnable ticket, Nigeria will be rid of the confusion and disaster that have bedevilled it for more than a decade.

isting. In the opinion of Mr Wike, force should solve a problem that neither logic nor diplomacy could resolve in five months. As far as he understood, and based on the Kano meeting of the university teachers less than two weeks ago, at least 60 percent of them already indicated willingness to resume work. Of course Mr Wike’s foolish order and outburst are bound to unite the teachers once again, for they are nobody’s fools.

It is a worrisome indication of the incompetence of President Jonathan’s men that a crisis nearing resolution could be allowed to fester once again, thereby snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The president has himself not demonstrated brilliant statecraft, nor shown any indication he has the steady hands to propel the country to greatness. But by surrounding himself with devious and vacuous advisers and aides, he is more likely to take more wrong-headed steps capable of dooming his presidency. The president sees foreign destabilising agents, when nothing of the sort exists. Those who trouble him and the country are his ministers and aides. They are the ones who instigate him into hardline position, who alarm him with imaginary enemies, and fill his mind with anachronistic ideas of the powers and perks of a president. Thus they tell us that Dr Jonathan is the first president to engage the ASUU in 13 hours discussion, as if it is a regrettable thing, or as if his job is limited to effusing power without a corresponding acknowledgement of the burdens and responsibilities of office.

The few outstanding issues in the ASUU strike were the warehousing of the first tranche of promised financial interventions, making the agreement already reached ironclad, and paying salary arrears. I find it difficult to see how these should be a problem. Instead, Dr Jonathan, Mr Wike and other supposedly educated officials who snivel around the presidency think it is an affront to doubt the president.

Were there not enough reasons to doubt the presidency before now? Had that office not been desecrated before, and is it not now being desecrated by the thuggish characters that deface its hallowed corridors? As an adviser, I would have asked the president to approach ASUU’s new doubts (not new conditions, by the way) with the kind of self-deprecating humour US President Barack Obama is famous for.

Answering a question on ASUU strike during his last media chat in September, Dr Jonathan said that in the heady days of the Ghanaian ‘revolution’ President J.J. Rawlings closed down universities for a long time in order to reorganise the education system.

Though he added he was not thinking in that direction, it was embarrassing and insulting that his mind even wandered in that direction.

If he thought nothing of closing down public universities because many around him didn’t have their children attending them, would he also close down private universities if he had his way? By now it must be obvious to everyone that we are dealing with a fascist government, not an elected presidency. (See box). They have begun to see external saboteurs and internal collaborators. They are bypassing a somnolent National Assembly and simply directly deploying the increasingly fascist police force to undermine the constitution and take away people’s rights.

In the weeks ahead, and as the political noose tightens around his neck, a desperate Dr Jonathan will attempt extraordinary measures to keep himself in office. For all patriots, this is the time to abandon neutrality, a time to stand firm against fascism. The challenge before us then is how to guide this rampaging, paranoid bull through the country’s china shop lest we all come to grief. Indeed, the hysterical Mr Wike has managed to run the Jonathan government into a cul de sac. But if history is a guide, it is hard to see the government succeeding in its self-destructive course of action against ASUU. Not only are there no university teachers anywhere to recruit, Nigeria is hardly the right place for any competent teacher to come and offer his services, let alone for pittance and with no equipment to do the job. We are close to an election year; yet, Dr Jonathan is toying with the electorate and displaying unparalleled contempt for the youth. But perhaps we should wait to see what talisman he hopes to mesmerise us with in 2015.

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ISSN: 115-5302 E-mail: sunday@thenationonlineng.net Editor: FESTUS ERIYE