The Nation Jan 5, 2014 by The Nation

Newspaper of the Year

Three feared dead as Navy invades Warri community

Boko Haram: Police widows beg for jobs

–Page 6

Scores of women and children missing

–Page 6

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.08, No. 2719

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

JANUARY 5, 2014

Rivers: JTF arrests Senator’s aide, others with arms, ammunition

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Lloyd drags Police, Mbu to Human Rights Commission over arrest

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PDP crisis: Presidency, Tukur loyalists finger South-South gov Party chairman considers concessions to save job –Page 4

Refugees fleeing escalating violence in the Central African Republic, wait in line at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, on Friday. Violence in Central African Republic has uprooted nearly a million people, a fifth of the population. Photo: REUTERS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

PAGE

CAPTURED

Dead drunk

WENTY-EIGHT year-old Levi B. Carter's accomplishment is one that's truly horrifying. KCRG ABC 9 News reported that the Iowa City, Iowa man was so intoxicated that when given a breath test, the breathalyzer wasn't able to calculate it. The police responded to a call from a woman who claimed to be Carter's passenger at about 2am Friday morning. She told them he had driven off the road and hit a street sign. When the authorities arrived to Carter's home they found him in his basement, “talking to people that were not there.” He wasn't able to stand without holding himself up, and if you can believe it, “smelled strongly of alcohol.” Mr. Carter told police he had drank two Bud Lights. Two. He failed an eye test and was unable to complete any other field sobriety tests. When they administered the breathalyzer test.

Officially stoned A long line of buyers outside Bud Med in Edgewater, Colorado, USA stretches around the block on January 1, 2014. The nation's first recreational marijuana shop opened on that day kicking off an experiment that is being closely watched around the world by activists campaigning for marijuana use to be legalised.

BAROMETER sunday@thenationonlineng.net

Yobe thwarts PDP’s 2015 calculations

•Gaidam

T took a lot of courage and political savvy to conduct the local government election in Yobe State's 17 LGAs in the closing days of last year. That Governor Ibrahim Gaidam was able to pull it off comes not only as a surprise to Nigerians, opposition party and ruling party alike, it effectively put paid to any plan by both the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disenfranchise the Northeast, a significant bulwark of the opposition. The PDP and the Jonathan presidency will now have to rework their calculations if they hope to retain the office they have won thrice, mostly dubitably. In 2015, the chances of holding elections in Yobe are much higher than it was when the state had not yet conducted its LGA poll.

House vs Okonjo-Iweala

•Okonjo-Iweala

HERE is unlikely to be any let up in the mutual animosity between the House of Representatives and the Minister of Finance, Ngozi OkonjoIweala. She is too cocksure about everything to approach the legislature with the respect, humility and diplomacy required to secure the lawmakers' co-

Elechi's short-lived borrowed robes

N December 27, Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State was widely reported by many newspapers to have condemned President Goodluck Jonathan's proposed national conference. Everyone was befuddled. Obviously pleasantly surprised, the Southeast zone of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) was quick to hail and endorse the governor's position, which they described as courageous and wise. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on whose platform the Democratic Republic of Congo-trained economist was elected, was, however, quick to deplore Mr Elechi's uncharacteristic deprecation of the confab. It turned out the governor's critics were all mistaken and unduly hasty. Going by what was attributed to the governor on that controversial Friday in

December, it is not surprising that a huge fireball of controversy followed it. He had said, “The National conference to me is a big joke, waste of time and a distraction to Goodluck Jonathan. I'm skeptical about it. It will not achieve anything. The constitution gives the National Assembly the power to makes laws and the referendum cannot override the deliberations of the National Assembly. The best was the colloquium by former President Obasanjo in 2005. There, all segments of national life talked and took far-reaching decisions. I will still consult my people, but if at the end they decide to participate, I will not stop anybody but I will distance myself and be an on-looker.” Three days after this alleged denunciation of the national conference, Mr Elechi published a denial in Nigeria's leading dailies. In

•Elechi

it he claimed he was misquoted, as they often say in these parts, for mischievous reasons, and that the attribution to him amounted to 'wicked distortions.' He claimed that what he really said was that it would be a huge joke to campaign for zonal representation of dele-

gates to the conference on account of the existing 36state structure supported by the constitution. He also added that he merely referred to the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo 2005 confab to draw the attention of the new confab to existing work on the issue. It is hard to tell where the mistake came from, if indeed it really was. If the misrepresentation came from reporters, it was an unpardonable blunder. If, however, the governor misspoke, surely reporters who knew him well, and were conversant with his antecedents, should have reported his remarks guardedly. How could they dress a governor who is an unrepentant conservative and pro-presidency politician in borrowed, progressives robe? The newspapers should have contextualised their reports with facts suggesting that Mr Elechi's pur-

ported statements were shocking and uncharacteristic, especially considering how in his about seven years in office he never for once made a controversial statement, nor did anything unusual worth anyone taking the trouble of remembering. They should have underscored their stories by drawing readers' attention to the fact that the governor, in words and actions, always detested publicity of any kind, whether positive or negative. Except he was in a state of suspended animation, Mr Elechi could never make a statement that would challenge his party, not to talk of the president. And except everyone is mistaken, Mr Elechi will now retreat deeper into the self-imposed obscurity he had been enamoured of since he assumed office in 2007.

operation. And the House is too jealous of its powers to cede it to anyone with a stiff upper lip. While making a presentation before the House Finance Committee on December 19, the minister had in an embarrassing outburst demanded respect for ministers from the lawmakers. To everyone who watched what transpired on television, it was hard not to conclude that her surliness was influenced by distorted and poisoned talk from the corridors of power. Surely, the minister must know that any day and anytime Nigerians are more likely to side with their lawmakers against any appointed official, no matter how brilliant and officious. The lawmakers are ours; the minister is President Jonathan's.

By ADEKUNLE ADE-ADELEYE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

OLIPSISM is a condition in which a person regards his own thoughts, deeds and interests as the sole determinant of reality to the exclusion of everything else. Nothing else matters apart from this self-absorption, and the entire universe can go to hell. It is a situation of abysmal and irredeemable egotism. On the other hand, alienation can be regarded as a social condition in which the degree of estrangement is so severe that people become and feel like aliens in their own land. The nation itself comes to resemble an alien contraption, a medieval torture wrack, designed to torment its hapless citizens to submission. In an engrossing historical replay of the dramatic technique of estrangement and the literary theory of defamiliarization, what is familiar suddenly becomes unfamiliar. It is a war of all against all, and alienated nationals become enemy combatants in their own fatherland. The national fabric is fractured in an irreversible manner. Radical anarchy reigns supreme. One hundred years after Amalgamation, Nigeria has become a classic example of an alien nation. There is no disputing the fact. Everywhere you turn, you are confronted by the social pathologies arising from alienation: a deviant post-colonial culture of unprecedented impunity, anti-social behaviour ranging from armed robbery, kidnapping, ritual killing for money, official extortion, state burglary of the Exchequer all compounded by elite political delinquency. This is as close to hell on earth as it can get, more so since there are extant glimpses and vestiges of the paradise Nigeria could have been for the Black person had things gone alright and not awry. Even more so, when there is a persistent belief that there is an immanent rationality, a higher divine logic, which quietly guides human history to a higher and more beneficial order irrespective of the collective death wishes of certain societies and people. Although originating from the West after the horrors of the Dark Age, the modern nationstate paradigm is supposed to be a radical advance on earlier forms of human organisation of territorial space such as empires, fiefdoms, principalities, parochialities and kingdoms. The old monarchical states are forcibly and radically restructured and democratised to accommodate new talents and vibrant emergent energies. As more and more people clamour to have a better say in the way and manner they are governed and consequently as the divine sovereignty of monarchies gave way to the secular sovereignty of the people, human governance is infused with a new rationality in which the pulse of the people becomes the pulse of power itself. New institutions are put in place which emphasize the separation of power and which act with impersonal rigour and objectivity, recognising neither prince nor pauper in the pursuit of social justice, law and order. Unfortunately, modern Nigeria has failed woefully and lamentably in all the indices of modern governance. It is sad to note that the ancestors of modern Nigerians who lived in the territorial space cobbled together by colonial fiat would have been happier in their pre-colonial fiefdoms despite the wars, famines and internal slavery. For ex-

COLUMN

Alien-Nation (1) (One Hundred Years of Solipsism)

nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu

•Lord Lugard

ample by 1904, the Egba citystate had solved the problems of sanitation and misappropriation of state funds. Although premised on a dubious civilising mission, the colonial conquest and subsequent amalgamation of the territories that make up modern Nigeria was not done to ameliorate the living conditions of the natives. It was principally an act of imperialist aggression designed to expropriate the abundant resources of the periphery for metropolitan prosperity. But let us be brutally frank with ourselves. This was also an act of compulsory globalisation which was virtually inevitable in the absence of a local, African or West African, seafaring global power which could have validated these local resources in the international market. Without

such inter-continental validation, these native resources to which no human value and labour have been added are next to useless, a paradoxical tribute to nature’s subversive generosity and ability to play a spoiling mother to her tropical children. Globalization in one form or the other has always been the first condition of mankind, depending on the stage of history and the state of technology. The caravan route that stretched from ancient Kano to Baghdad was an earlier and rudimentary form of globalisation. It brought the wonders and magic of Mesopotamia to the African hinterland. At a point in history, the basin of the great rivers of Babylon was at the centre of human civilization and advancement. Centuries later when Mansa Musa set forth on a journey to

Mecca taking all the gold in his empire with him like a footloose vagabond, he was obeying the logic of globalisation albeit with ruinous consequences. But from the eleventh century, it was the emergent seafaring powers of Portugal, Spain, Holland and England that led the rest of the world in the race to modernity. Sweet indeed are the uses of adversity. Although colonisation originated from base economic motive, it did leave some beneficial effects and benign legacies. Among these are modern literacy arising from the alphabetisation of the local languages, modern educational systems, modern communication system, a good road network, a modern railway system and above all a desirable ethos of transparency and accountability in fiscal management. The post-colonial conquerors of Nigeria must go into hiding when their achievements are compared with those of the colonial interlocutors. In some ways, then, Nigeria, despite the inglorious circumstances of birth, is , and remains, a tribute to the colonial imaginary and its profoundly self-subversive genius. Although often described in colonial exchanges as an arbitrary block hewn out of the heart of Africa, there is also evidence of a romantic colonial vision which saw the creation of such a large, sprawling Black conurbation as the possible future catalyst and saviour of the entire continent. In other words, if the idea of a huge and formidable African country like Nigeria did not exist in colonial imagining, it would have had to be willed into existence by the post-colonial imagination. The heroic efforts of some visionary African leaders in this respect, notably Kwame Nkrumah and his pan-African dream, Sekou Toure, the early Zik, Julius Nyerere and even Muammar Ghaddafi and Gamel Abdel Nasser, despite their pan-Arabic narcissism, cannot be easily ignored. One in every four persons of

the Black race happens to be a Nigerian. With its huge and largely arable landmass, its prodigious human and natural resources, the vibrant collective memory of its people and their sheer spunk when compared to other Africans, Nigeria ought to become the Mecca of the Black race and a medicinal haven for its tortured psyche. But something went catastrophically wrong. We are still searching for the Black box of the most astonishingly talented Black nation. Even if we ignore the discreet obituaries already making the international round, we cannot ignore the telltale signs all around us that this nation is about to collapse and die. Once again, the international community is concerned not because they love Nigeria but because its huge carcass will constitute a catastrophic global health hazard. If you don’t dispose of a dead person on the basis of sanitary hazard, you must do it on the basis of enlightened self-interest. In sheer magnitude, the humanitarian catastrophe arising from Nigeria’s possible disintegration is better than verbalised. The good news is that unlike biological organisms, dead nations can actually be revived and resurrected. But it will take a colossal willpower on the part of the doctors and the doctored. While most nations are willed into existence by a few individuals, it usually takes the collective efforts of many to transform the imagined community into an organic reality. Few are called but many must volunteer. No matter the nature and manner of its coming to be, a nation is never given. It is usually defined and refined in process, a process which is a Homeric battlefield; a site of perpetual conflicts and ceaseless overcoming of contradictions. In order to properly focus on what went wrong, we must go back to where the rains started beating us. (To be concluded next week).

Okon becomes a public letter writer

T is the season of letters. Missives have become missiles flying all over the place like weapons of mass destruction. The gentle and polite art of belleslettres has been transformed in post-colonial Nigeria to a weapon of political offensive often with chilling prognostications. Over Christmas, snooper received a letter from his daughter which began with the ominous opener: before it is too late. The heart froze at the looming prospects of literary fratricide. But it turned out to be a merely mischievous but arresting opening gambit of seasonal felicitations. Looking for a theory of political letter writing, Baba Lekki, the old crusty contrarian, calmly explained that the word “lethargy” which he described as the principal ailment of the Nigerian ruling class has now transformed into the exact opposite of its origi-

nal meaning. According to the crazy old man, it now means “leta ji” or the awakening of letters. When the dust has settled a bit, perhaps a young researcher in one of our universities will conduct a scholarly inquisition into the Impact of Letter Writing on the Politics of The Fourth Republic. There can be no doubt that the old profession of public letter writing profoundly affected the literary and political development of modern Nigeria. Those ones were a breed from another planet: fierce, fearsome patriots who took no hostage and were walking dictionaries in their own right. There are at least three famous Nigerian writers whose fathers were public letter writers. But while we are still on this subject, it is appropriate to report that Okon has cottoned on the act by becoming a public letter writer. He had set up shop in the garage with a rusty, antediluvian com-

puter which he probably stole from the warehouse of a defunct newspaper in Majidun owned by the one with the deathly grin. A rapid queue soon built up. It was a distraught woman that first came forward. “Oga Okolo, abi wetin dey call dat yeye name? I wan make you write letter to dem yeye NEPA people. Before, before dem dey produce 12 hours of darkness, now dem don increase am to 23. Ask dem make dem add the rest one hour so dat katakata go scatter dem mama”, the woman screamed. “I hear you my sista”, Okon nodded in agreement. Another woman came and asked Okon to write a love letter to her banker lover. “Ha mama, I go begin dat one with osculate me, my bobo”, Okon sneered. “Osculate ko, ejaculate ni. Weeree. He be like if say your head

no correct sef”, the woman snapped and left. Then it was the turn of a distinguished Lagosian-looking man in three piece suit and colonial bowler hat. He had an aura of authority about him which was quite unnerving. “I was a colonial PLW, which means public letter writer, but these days if you send a private letter to these ones they will respond with a public letter bomb.”, the man opened.. “So baba, wetin you want me do with dat one?” Okon queried. “Ha, that is not why I am here. I want you to write a letter to Vanguard demanding for the true paternity of Iyabo’s letter.” The old man suddenly exploded. “Ha baba, on dat one I dey maternity leave”, Okon quickly retorted and began packing his computer.

NEWS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

â&#x20AC;˘Lagos State Deputy Governor, Hon. Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire (Right), flanked by Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba (left), answering questions from pressmen during a briefing on the state of a pregnant woman, Alexandra Ossai, allegedly battered by her Lebanese boss, Kaveh Noine, at Toppan Printing Company in Ikeja, Lagos at the Banquet Hall, Lagos House Ikeja, at the weekend.

PDP crisis: Presidency, Tukur's loyalists finger South-South governor A PRO-JONATHAN Southsouth governor is in trouble with the presidency over the Tukurmust-go campaign rocking the party. Some forces in the presidency and loyalists of the Nationa Chairman of the PDP Mahmud Tukur have identified the governor as the brain behind the anti-Tukur's campaign and are rooting for him to be sanctioned. The situation has sparked a cold war between the governor and one of his colleagues who is also die-hard loyalist of President Goodluck Jonathan. But it was learnt last night that some PDP governors and leaders were trying to build a consensus on retaining Tukur. It was gathered that the governor had been under watch for some time now to establish precisely the camp he belonged to in the crisis tearing the party into bits. It was learnt that some loyalists of the president and Tukur had stumbled on some documents on why a change must be effected in the party the authorship of which they traced to him.

From: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

It was gathered that some forces in the presidency were shocked that the governor could work against the interest of the National Leader of the party, President Goodluck Jonathan. A top source said: "We thought the anti-Tukur's project was dead with the defection of five governors to APC only to be faced with the antics of some PDP governors who are obviously acting a script to hijack the party for their presidential ambition. "These few PDP governors are behind the present antiTukur's plot. And it is unfortunate that security reports have implicated a South-South governor as the brainchild. "This is why they make a mountain out of a mole hill of the forthcoming NEC meeting. These few governors however cannot succeed because it looks impracticable and strategically defective to change PDP leadership in what I may call an "election" year. Sources alleged a hidden

agenda to cause confusion in the party, ease out Tukur and stop President Jonathan from securing a second term ticket. The situation in the party now is such that two SouthSouth governors are not on talking terms over agitation for Tukur's removal. One source said that while there are a few others supporting the Tukur-Must-Go campaign, they cannot go far and expressed surprise at the 'overnight ambition' for the presidency by some people. "These are the elements magnifying the crisis in the party for selfish reasons," the source said. It was also gathered that the need to build consensus among PDP governors and leaders on Tukur's retention partly informed the shift of the National Executive Committee meeting of the party from January 16. A source said: "We are already trying to build consensus among governors and party leaders on why Tukur must remain in office in the larger interest of the party's success in 2015. Governors Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi),

Idris Wada (Kogi), and the Acting Governor of Taraba State, Garba Umar, were named as the arrow heads of the campaign to retain Tukur. Party leaders are hopeful of agreeing on some key issues such that the exit of Tukur will not be on the agenda. Another source said the retention of Tukur might be based on some concessions from the presidency and the party leadership. The source said: "For instance, if Tukur remains in office, he cannot be talking of transformation or rigid nomination process for 2015 poll. The PDP National Chairman has already started the concession process when he went to the National Assembly and offered automatic tickets to those performing very well and those intending to defect. "The concessions will be such that the party would be united and its electoral chances unhurt." "NWC members must learn to put the interests of the party first by abiding by the provisions of the party's constitution."

JTF arrests Amaechi's opponents with arms,ammunition, Okoro, Jerry HE Joint Task Force (JTF) hands them over to police Okechukwu Tonye and Daniel Ibito-Anga, in the Niger Delta,

codenamed Operation Pulo (Oil) Shield, has arrested six persons with arms and ammunition in Rivers State, with sources indicating that the suspects are political opponents of Governor Rotimi Amaechi, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF). The Spokesman of the JTF, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, last night, confirmed the arrest, but insisted that the suspects were picked for illegal possession of firearms and not for political reason. Nwachukwu said: "As at 3rd January six suspects with arms were arrested during a routine patrol at Ogu community in Ogu/Bolo LGA (of Rivers State). Items recovered were: 7 x AK-47, 164

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

rounds of ammunition and six locally made canon launchers. "Suspects were handed over to the Nigeria Police yesterday (Friday). They were arrested for illegal possession of firearms and not for any reason of political or social affiliation as being wrongly insinuated." The Rivers Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmad Muhammad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), when contacted at 8:12 pm yesterday, said of the suspects' handover to the police by the JTF: "I have not been briefed of such handover, for now." A source in Port Harcourt stated that the suspects were associates of Senator George

Sekibo, who represents Rivers East Senatorial District and the self-acclaimed Speaker of the Rivers House of Assembly, Evans Bipi, the representative of Ogu/Bolo constituency, who are allies of the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience. The source said: "On January 3rd, members of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) arrested six youths around Ekporo Road, on their way to Ogu in Ogu/Bolo LGA of Rivers State. They were in an off white Land Rover jeep, with registration number JJ 441 BZ. The youths were arrested based on their suspicious movement. "Those arrested gave their names as Sunday Elisha, Uche Jenikachi, Ibinabo Lawson,

who parades himself and his known in Ogu/Bolo as Security Adviser/Personal Assiatant to both Senator George Sekibo and Evans Bipi. "Both Senator Sekibo and Evans Bipi are from Ogu and are known and have confessed publicly to be extremely close associates of the Nigerian First Lady, Patience Jonathan, who hails from nearby Okrika and they all speak the same native Okrika dialect. "As a matter of fact, Evans Bipi was a domestic aide of Mrs. Jonathan before he was elected into the Rivers State House of Assembly in 2011. Senator Sekibo, who nurses a governorship ambition in 2015, is hoping to ride into Rivers State Government House on the back of Mrs. Jonathan.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

SURE-P scandal rocks Benue House From Uja Emmanuel,Makurdi

HE Benue State House of Assembly is boiling over the disbursement of N200 million released to the 23 local governments in the state for the execution of projects under the Subsidy Re-investment Programme (SURE-P). Some members of the House were accused of collecting money from the LGs to cover up alleged mismanagement of the funds, prompting the Assembly to constitute a five man ad-hoc committee to get to the root of the allegation. The Committee which is headed by Christopher Afaor is charged with the responsibility of investigating the implementation of SURE-P projects in the state. It is expected to establish how much was approved for the local governments in the state by the federal government from 2012 till date and how much was actually released to them by the state. A source said the bubble burst when some legislators were excluded from benefitting from the largesse. A report earlier commissioned by the House on the implementation of the SUREP in the state, according to sources, indicted some top government officials and four local government chairmen who were recommended for suspension. The report, it was gathered was not allowed to be presented for debate by the House and some members are now demanding that it must be tabled for discussion on the resumption of the legislature from recess. Attempts to speak to the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker, Yakubu Emanche, failed as did not pick his calls or reply text messages sent to him.

Bomb in North Sinai kills Egyptian soldier

bomb exploded under an armoured vehicle near the Egyptian North Sinai town of Areesh yesterday, killing one army soldier and wounding at least two others, security sources told Reuters. Armed men planted the explosive device on the road used by army vehicles in Egypt's campaign against militant Islamists in Sinai, the sources said. It went off when the armoured vehicle drove over it. Egypt has struggled with security in the Sinai peninsula since the ouster of autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Hardline Islamists exploited the security vacuum after Mubarak's fall to launch attacks into Israel and on Egyptian targets. Violence surged in North Sinai, near the border with Israel, after the army overthrew the country's first elected Islamist leader Mohamed Mursi on July 3 last year, prompted by mass protests against his rule.

Govt begins evacuation of Nigerians from war-torn CAR * Evacuee gives birth to twins T HE federal government has brought back about 360 Nigerians home from war torn Central African Republic. They are the first batch of Nigerians to be evacuated from that country since the outbreak of the civil strife there. The returnees arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja yesterday. Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Nigerian Army and the Foreign Affairs Ministry are handling the evacuation process which will continue for the next five days. The United Nations says, nearly one million people have already been displaced from their homes in the clashes between Christian militias and the

mainly Muslim Seleka rebel group that overthrew President Francois Bozize in March. Over 2000 Nigerians are said to be taking refugee at the Nigerian Embassy in Bangui from where they are taken to the airport for airlifting back home. One of the returnees, Mr. Ali Gani, an indigene of Borno State, said that he lost his wife in the crisis. "I am in grief," he said. The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi, said that evacuation is continuing. Meanwhile, a woman, who was among the first batch of evacuees, gave birth to a set of twins on

arrival in Nigeria at the weekend. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the woman went into labour while on board a chatered Arik Airline, which landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja at 8.30 p.m. Mr. Munzo Ezekiel, the Public Relations Officer in the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) told NAN that the woman was delivered of her twin baby boys by the agency's medical team at 11 p.m. He said that the woman and the twins were in good condition at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport medical centre. Meanwhile, Ambassa-

dor Martin Uhomoibhi, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who received the evacuees at the airport, said 2000 Nigerians would be evacuated in the course of the exercise. Uhomoibhi said that the evacuation became necessary to protect the lives of Nigerians living in Central African Republic following political crisis that has engulfed the country. He said that the Federal Government gave the evacuation order in reaction to the political crisis in that country. NEMA's Deputy Director, Planning, Research and Forecasting, Alhaji Alhassan Nuhu, told

NEWS

newsmen at the airport that the evacuees would be accommodated in the Hajj Camp at the airport. He said that NEMA was working with the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) in the various states to ensure the safe return of the evacuees to their states of origin. He said that the SEMAs and Local Emergency Management Committees were expected to ensure the transportation and subsequent integration of the evacuees into their communities. Some of the evacuees who spoke to NAN solicited government's support to enable them start life afresh in Nigeria. Mr. Ali Gana, an evacuee, and an indigene of Bama in Borno who said he lost his wife in the crisis, said he returned home with his two children. ``My wife left the place where we were taking refuge to look for her sister and never returned,'' he said. Gana, who said he was traumatised, and was seen holding on to his crying three year-old daughter, added that he witnessed human beings being butchered in Bangui before escaping to the Nigerian Embassy. He lauded the Federal Government for coming to their rescue and expressed the hope that they would not be abandoned in the future. According to NAN most of the evacuees in the first batch were women, children and the sick. A NEMA official who accompanied the evacuees told NAN that most of the women were citizens of Bangui married to Nigerians.

Paedophile vicar, 46, facing jail

â&#x20AC;˘From left: Former Governor of Bauchi State, Sen. Adamu Muazu; Minister of Water Resources, Mrs Sarah Ochekpe; Executive Secretary, Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission, Mr. John Kennedy Opara and Commissioner, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, Amb. Abdullahi Bage, during arrival of the last batch of Christian pilgrims in Abuja on Friday.

Police bust gun-running syndicate S

EVEN suspected members of a gunrunning syndicate allegedly involved in the sale, manufacture and repair of locally made guns have been arrested by the police in Kaduna State. They were paraded yesterday in Kaduna by Police Commissioner Olufemi Adenaike, who said that the suspected gun-runners were arrested following a tip-off from a member of the public. The suspects include the village head of Sabon Gidan, Kakau, in Chikun Local Government Area of the state, Aliyu Yahaya. Investigation is still on, according to Mr. Adenaike with a view to arresting other members of the syndicate and oth-

ers involved in the manufacture and repair of locally made guns. According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), he urged the public to continue to support security agents by providing them with useful information that would aid efforts to safeguard the state against terrorism and other crimes. Speaking to newsmen, Yahaya, who was accused of harbouring some of the suspects and being in illegal possession of guns, confessed his complicity in the crime, saying that he regretted his action. The village head said that he bought the gun from Mohammed Shuaibu for N150, 000 to enable him to protect his house-

hold against the menace of armed robbers and assailants. He said that Shuaibu told him that the gun was licensed, adding that he paid him half of the price with a pledge to pay the balance when all the gun's registration documents were given to him. Yahaya advised the public against engaging in criminal acts or possession of arms, irrespective of the circumstances. He stressed that people should rather report anything that could breach the peace and security of the society to security agencies. Also speaking, Shuaibu (45) confessed that some years ago, the police arrested him in connection with illegal possession of

arms. He said that he had jettisoned the gunrunning business for over two and a half years before Yahaya contacted him to procure a gun for him. He said that he usually bought guns from his tailor, Mohammed Abdullahi. Abdullahi (55) said that he had been in the gunrunning business for sometime; adding that he usually purchased guns from a Nigerien (now at large) for subsequent sales to his customers. He attributed his involvement in the crime to economic hardship, saying that he had three wives, 21 children and nine grandchildren, left behind by his deceased son, to cater for.

vicar is facing jail after pleading guilty to making and possessing over 8,000 indecent pictures and videos of children as well as extreme images of animal porn. Rev Ian Hughes, who was priest in charge of the Wirral parishes Poulton and Seacombe, admitted 16 counts relating to the images and footage at Liverpool Crown Court on friday. Hughes, 46, appeared in the dock wearing a dark suit and tie without his trademark nose ring and dog collar and replied guilty as each charge was put to him. Hughes was charged following a search of his home in, Wallasey, on May 22 last year. Pornographic material recovered included more than 6,000 images and movies at the lowest category of seriousness, more than 1,000 at category two, more than 500 at categories three and four and more than 60 at category five, the most serious. Judge David Aubrey adjourned sentencing until January 28 so a pre-sentence report could be written and said Hughes would have to sign on the sex offenders register immediately.

News

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

Three feared dead as naval gunboats storm A oil-rich Delta community T least three persons were feared dead and scores missing last night after naval gunboats swept into the waterways of oil-rich Ugborodo Community in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, raining bullets on the community. The casualties included passengers in a commercial boat caught unawares on the waterways by the invading gunboats. “You can hear the gunshots ringing out; the Navy are being used to destroy innocent Nigerians that they are supposed to protect,” a community leader told our correspondent by phone from Ugborodo last night. “Some persons have been killed. Some of them were passengers in a commercial boat who were shot by the naval personnel,” he added. Femi Uwawa, another community leader said three

•Dozens of women, children missing

From Shola O'Neil, Southsouth Regional Editor

Ilajes were killed while going to their home town. “They were shot by the navy, who are taking their corpses away right now,” he said. Uwawa hinted that the death toll could rise further because of women and children who fled into the bush and jumped into the water to escape from tear gas fired by the military men. Eyewitnesses said Saturday’s operation was launched in three gunboats with 60 soldiers and three officers led by naval captain, shortly after a meeting be-

tween security operatives and leaders of the community. Residents of Aruton, Ode-Ugborodo said last night on phone that a combined team of soldiers and naval men from NNS Delta and the Forward Operation Base (FOB) in Escravos had surrounded the town and were shooting indiscriminately into houses. They said the military were being used to silence those opposed to a faction backed by the Delta State Government in the leadership tussle over the Ugborodo Community Trust. The incident confirms our

exclusive report in yesterday’s edition of The Nation about an impending military operation allegedly targeting illegal bunkering and crude oil facilities vandals in the area. Residents said the attack was at the instigation of some of their discredited leaders in collaboration with some officials of the state government. A prominent leader of the community, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said prior to the invasion, the head of the FOB, in Escravos, Captain Ezete had led a team to a meeting with the community leaders at the Aruton Public

Field. He said: “We told him that our people are peace loving people and we want the peace to continue. We only asked that they free our spiritual head, who is languishing in detention because of his opposition to some persons in the community. “It was therefore surprising when the military went back and surrounded our town, and started shooting indiscriminately into the air. They further fired teargas at our women and children, leading to a stampede.” “I cannot tell you how many persons have been killed at the moment, but the

body of an Ilaje boy was recovered from the sea front and taken away by the navy,” one source added. The Base Information Officer, NNS Delta, Lieutenant Ibrahim Yohanna could not be reached for comment on the development as calls to his telephone line were unanswered. He had on Friday denied the planned invasion when our reporter called him. He said the troops were only to provide security for a company that was drilling borehole. At the time of this report, several commercial boats on their way to riverside towns in the area were sent back to Warri by the naval personnel who took over area. The Ugborodo Community Trust is currently embroiled in a leadership tussle over the proposed $2.6billion gas plant in the area.

Rivers: Lloyd drags Police, Mbu to Rights Commission

•Wants to be released forthwith

• South Sudan refugees at a camp in Juba

Rivers: Ogonis insist on governorship

HE Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), an umbrella body for all Ogoni people, is demanding the Governorship of Rivers State in 2015 and insists that the UNEP report must be implemented. The people made the demand yesterday in an address presented by MOSOP President Legborsi Pyagbara, during the 21st anniversary celebration of Ogoni Day at Bori, the Headquarters of Khana LGA and ancestral home of the Ogoni. The day, first marked in 1993, is commemorated annually in line with the Ogoni’s quest for justice, socio-economic and political emancipa-

OME wives and children of policemen killed by Boko Haram insurgents, yesterday appealed to the government and the police to provide them with vocational training and jobs. The widows and other members of their families made the appeal in Kaduna during the distribution of bags of rice, vegetable oil and a cow by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Muhammed Abubakar. Margaret Ishaya, widow of one of the deceased officers,

•Demand implementation of UNEP Report

tion. Pyagbara explained that UNEP submitted its report on the 4th of August, 2011 with far reaching observations but lamented that over two years after, the Federal Government under President Jonathan has failed to implement it. He described the non-implementation of the report as genocide against Ogoni people insisting that the series of non-violent actions by Ogonis to push for its implementation will continue. He protested a situation whereby the people continue to suffer exclusion, and pleaded with the country’s

political class to provide the needed platform for an Ogoni to rule Rivers from 2015. “The lesson from struggles for freedom globally, is that as you show signs of victory in your cause, opponents and wicked authorities will intensify efforts to divide you. As we march towards 2015, let us not allow anybody to use us to inflict violence on one another in the name of any party,” he said. Also speaking, Governor Chibuike Amaechi praised the unity and peace in Ogoniland and urged them to resist the pull down syndrome.

Police widows beg for jobs

said she and her colleagues were ready to accept job as cleaners. She said that it would go a long way in fending for their families and appealed to the police authorities to consider them during recruitment. The wife of late Inspector Sunday Badeh, who died in the process of detonating a bomb, urged the police to fast track the payment of benefits to the affected families. Mrs. Badeh, however,

commended the support from the police authorities following the demise of her husband. Also speaking, the widow of Sgt. Yakubu Musa, who was killed on April 18, 2012 at Rigasa said some of them needed jobs to have a steady income. The IG assured the widows and other families of deceased officers of the Police continuous support for them. Abubakar, represented by the Commissioner of Wel-

Represented by Senator Magnus Abe, he decried the non-implementation of UNEP report by the PDP government under President Jonathan. He pledged that the APC will implement the report if allowed to govern the country. President Supreme Council of Ogoni traditional rulers, King Godwin Gininwa represented by the Mene BuaBagha, Mene Suanu Baridam urged the Ogonis not to relent in their quest for freedom irrespective of political affiliation and sued for the implementation of UNEP report. fare, Mr. Usman Yakubu, said the distribution of food items was aimed at alleviating the hardship the families of the deceased officers were facing. He said that the police have so far distributed food items to families of deceased and injured officers affected by the insurgency in 10 states. “Though they have paid the supreme price so that Nigeria and Nigerians can live in peace you will continue to be regarded as active members of the Nigeria police family,” he said.

HE detained Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Mr. Chidi Lloyd, has petitioned the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), protesting his arrest for alleged murder by the police. He is accusing the State Police Commissioner, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu; the state’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmad Muhammad, DSP; and the Police Command of unlawful arrest, detention, intimidation, arbitrary and excessive use of police powers. He asks to be released forthwith. Lloyd whose petition was written by his lawyer, Ken Atsuwete, was arrested by the police on Thursday for what they called double murder. They accused him of running his car over Police Sergeant Urang Obediah and one Kingsley Ejeuo in Port Harcourt. Lloyd in his petition said he was only a passenger in the car which was involved in an accident “along the Emuoha Council Secretariat axis of the East-West Road, occasioned by an illegal road block or check point mounted by the some policemen from the Rivers State Police Command.” He said one of the policemen, Sergeant Urang Obediah, died shortly thereafter, with one Kingsley Ejeuo as a result of the impact from the collusion. His lawyer said: “The driver (now detained) of the said vehicle promptly handed himself over to the police, while Hon. Lloyd proceeded to the hospital somewhere in Port Harcourt for treatment between the 31st of December 2013 and 1st of January 2014, when he was discharged and he proceeded to his house in Port Harcourt, for continued treatment under strict medical instructions from his doctor. “Hon. Chidi Lloyd was in his house until the 2nd day of January, when he described the whereabouts of his residence to the officers and men of the Rivers State Police Command, who had made enquiries through telephone as to the location of our client. Lloyd was

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

at home with his wife, relatives and one of his lawyers, Emenike Ebete, when senior officers from the said police command came in to effect an arrest, without stating the reason for the arrest. “As a law abiding Nigerian, our client allowed himself to be whisked away in an unmarked police vehicle, without the least explanation as to why his house was invaded by a huge number of policemen, who came armed to the teeth, in a commando and extremely intimidating style. “The pandemonium caused by such harassing and intimidating attack on his peaceful home has now left a stigma and palpable fear in his wife, children and entire household. Hon. Lloyd has been in detention at command since then, without being arraigned or released by the said police command.” Lloyd said his continued detention is a violation of his “freedom of movement, right to private and family life and all other attendant inalienable rights of the said client, as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights” by the police “under the unlawful and arbitrary orders of Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu, who is now a law unto himself in Rivers State.” He accused the police of malicious distortion of the circumstances surrounding Lloyd’s arrest and of continued harassment “by manufacturing defaming facts against Hon. Lloyd, who was clearly painted as a convicted man on the run, who was apprehended by the police, while he was attempting an escape.” He added:”This is an act of criminal defamation of character, deliberately employed by the Rivers State Police Command, under the watch of Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu. The aim is to degrade and treat Hon Chidi Lloyd in a way that is not human and humane, in clear contrast to our client’s constitutional right not to be treated in a degrading and inhuman manner.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

NEWS

2015: Chime endorses Jonathan

Don’t terminate airport remodelling, ex- minister pleads By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

ORMER Minister of Aviation, Babatunde Omotoba, has urged the federal government not to succumb to political pressure and end the ongoing remodelling of airport facilities as well as building of new terminals in four major airports. Omotoba said that it took a long time before the federal government could get to start the rehabilitation of the airports, which had been neglected for over 30 years. He expressed fears that the ongoing projects might be abandoned for years if they are stopped. Omotoba said: “I am very happy with what is happening now; the remodelling of the airports and especially the fact that government wants to build new terminals. “That will give Nigeria a good face. Imagine the international airport terminal in Lagos built in 1978, it was blindly fashioned after the Schipol airport in Amsterdam and nobody considered the weather. “They just took the design and brought it here. That is why if you go in there today the place is hotter than anything.” Omotoba, who noted that the Lagos airport is too old, said the airport facilities must be concessioned to be effectively maintained. He stated that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) would regulate them and government can divert the funds budgeted for aviation to other critical sectors. This, he said, will be keeping in current, global practices. “Let’s look at airports in other parts of the world. London Heathrow is not owned by the government; it is owned by the Ferrovial Group and when it was privatised and the group took over the terminal, it also took along about five other airports.

Yuletide: NAMA handled over 1,900 flights By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

VER 1,900 flights operated through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos during the justconcluded festive season, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) said yesterday. It said a total of 170,749 passengers flew in and out of the airport from December 23-31. NAMA’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Supo Atobatele, stated that the agency handled an average of 550 flights daily across the nation’s airports apart from the low-level flight operations in the Niger Delta area. A t o b a t e l e said traffic peaked on December 23 when the airport recorded 289 flights with 25,184 passengers while 262 flights flew 23,625 passengers on Christmas Eve. Exphe traffic trimmed to 105 flights flying only 10,772 passengers. In all, 80,850 passengers were recorded on the domestic route while 89,296 passengers made the international routes.

From: Chris Oji, Enugu

•The seven suspected oil thieves paraded yesterday by the Nigerian Navy for alleged smuggling of stolen petroleum products Akwa-Ibom

Jonathan: We cannot lose terror war

HE fight against terrorism is one Nigeria cannot afford to lose, President Goodluck Jonathan stated yesterday. The president spoke at the combined passing out parade of Cadet Officers comprising Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASPs) and Inspectors at the Police Academy in Wudil Kano. Not less than 677 cadets graduated from the Academy. Jonathan reassured that

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

the federal government will continue to support all security agencies in the war against insurgency. He charged the combined graduating cadet officers to use the techniques acquired during the 19month course to reposition the act of fighting crime and terrorism. He promised that the federal government will continue to support the ef-

Four Cameroonians, three Nigerians arrested for smuggling petrol •Navy seizes 134 drums of 250 litres petrol

OUR Cameroonians and three Nigerians have been arrested by the Nigerian Navy at the Ibaka deep sea port, Mbo local government area of Akwa Ibom State, for allegedly smuggling 134 drums of 250 petroleum products out of the country. The seven suspected oil thieves were arrested by the Nigerian Navy while perfecting plan to ferry a large quantity of illegally refined petroleum products to Cameroon on the New Year Eve. The four Cameroonians suspects are: Lappa Bamileke, Fabian Lemonmu, Meluis Ameh and Elias Mume while their three Nigerian accomplices are Egbe James, Emeka Igbokwe and Michael Effiong John. Apart from the 143 drums of 250 litres of petroleum products, other items recovered from the suspected oil thieves were two 40 horsepower engines, two pumping machines as well as provisions which the suspects used to mask the stolen products to convince the border security that they were only carrying ordinary articles of trade. The seven suspects were paraded at the Nigerian Navy Base in Ikot Abasi and Ibaka and later handed over to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corp (NSCDC) for further investigations by

the Commander, NNS Jubilee, Commodore Isaac Ogbole. Ogbole, who spoke with reporters shortly after handing over the suspects, said that it was possible they did not only deal in petroleum products but arms and ammunition as well. His words: “Our country and Cameroon, they have boundaries. There is nothing wrong. We are friends. But again, from all indications, these men… it is not only petroleum products that they have been carrying. “They have made useful statements to my people that their master is somewhere in Cameroon and I am sure he comes in and out. “They could have equally smuggled arms and ammunition in and out of our country. From what we have seen, they are perpetual smugglers.” The suspects, however, pleaded not guilty to the allegation. One of them, Lappa Bamileke, told our correspondent that he was only a passenger in the boat. “The only crime I committed was to board that boat. I don’t know anything about what I am being accused of. What will my father say when he gets to hear all these? “I was only carrying provisions in that boat and not petroleum products. I cannot plead guilty to a crime I did not commit.”

forts of the various security agencies in tackling the lingering security challenges in the country, pointing out that the government is determined to promote and ensure a combat-ready Police Force. Addressing the graduating officers, the Inspector General of Police, M o h a m m e d Abubakar, tasked them to translate the lessons into action. ‘’Our mission and vision

is to promote a combatready Police Force that will tackle the daunting security challenges confronting the nation,’’ he stressed. The Chairman of Police Service Commission, Mike Okiro, commended the foresight of President Goodluck Jonathan in upgrading the Academy to a degree -awarding university which engages in research aimed at renewing strategies in combating crime.

NUGU State Governor, Sullivan Chime, has endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan for re-election in 2015. Chime, who spoke before a large crowd of people at the Okpara Square, yesterday, said the president needs not campaign if he intends to contest in 2015. Chime was speaking on behalf of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the 4th inauguration of elected local government council chairmen in the state. “He (Jonathan) should go to other states to campaign. Enugu state is intact for him. Any time he declares interest to contest let him rest assured that Enugu is already won by him,” he told the cheering crowd. While emphasising that there is no opposition in Enugu, the governor told other political parties to forget about contesting any election in the state because the state is 100 percent PDP. Chime pointed at the justconcluded council poll in the state where the PDP won all the chairmanship and councillorship seats. Already, posters of the president for 2015 election were adorning the streets of Enugu as at yesterday. While congratulating the 17 council chairmen, he enjoined them to learn how to embark on projects while advising them to adopt the bottom to top approach in embarking on projects.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

NEWS

Lagos commercial drivers seek extension of new registration

Two die in Benue car accident

OMMERCIAL motorists yesterday appealed to the Lagos State Government to extend the Dec. 31, 2013-deadline fixed for the new registration of commercial vehicle operations. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Lagos State Ministry of Transportation commenced the new registration of commercial vehicles on Nov. 1, 2013 and the exercise was expected to end on Dec. 31, 2013. The Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, said at a recent meeting with transport service providers that the new vehicles' registration was for purely security reasons. He said that the measure was adopted to address some security issues, including kidnapping, which were always linked to commercial vehicles in the state. Opeifa vowed that no unlicensed commercial vehicle would be allowed to operate in the state as from Jan. 1. 2014. However, a NAN survey revealed that many of commercial motorists had yet to comply with the new registration order. Mr. Odunayo Daniel, a commercial driver who operates in the Oshodi-Iyana Ipaja axis, described the registration as a welcome development but stressed that the time allotted for it was insufficient. ``There is nothing bad with the new registration, considering the motive behind it; the only problem is that the time for it is too short. ``You know the number of vehicles in Lagos, the 60-day time limit fixed for the registration is not enough to be frank. I will be very glad if the government can extend it to a minimum of six months,'' Daniel said. Another driver, Mr. Wasiu Salako, noted that the timing for the new registration coincided with that of the FRSC registration for the Enhanced Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles Number Plates and the Driver's Licence, making it cumbersome for motorists. ``They should have allowed us to complete this one before initiating another; although we cannot fight the government, what we are begging for is extension,`` he said. Another commercial driver, Mr. Korede Alagbe, said: I have not done the registration; in fact, I am still pursing the new Number Plate and Driver's Licence. Let the Lagos State Government reconsider the deadline.'' Mr. Samson Iyiola, a bus conductor, said: ``The registration is funny to me, it should not have involved conductors, who are only trying to eke out a living.'' Mr. Suleiman Akanji, a commercial driver, conceded that he did not have any idea about the registration. ``I don't know anything about this registration of commercial vehicles' owners, drivers and conductors; is it different from that of the FRSC?'' he asked. Another commercial driver, Mr. Victor Eze, noted that drivers and conductors worked with different vehicles on a shift basis, wondering how the registration would look like in such a situation.

• L-R: Secretary , Yoruba Obas Conflicts Resolution Committe, Sabiganna of Iganna, Oyo State; Leader, of the Committe, Olugbo of Ugboland, Oba Obateru Akinruntan and Treasurer, Olojodu of Ojodu, Oba Sikiru Obatula, at the meeting of the Commiitte in Ibadan at the weekend.

I’m not an advocate of consensus candidacy - Fayose

ORMER Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, at the weekend expressed opposition to consensus candidacy for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming governorship poll. Fayose, one of the aspirants in the party, clarified his position on Friday at a rally in Ado-Ekiti to start his tour of local governments in preparation for the May governorship election. He said: “I cannot support consensus candidacy because it is undemocratic. I have always preferred transparent primaries. Even if we do it and I lose, I will support whoever

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

wins.” He added, “I am not an advocate of consensus. I love primaries. I was one of those who fought that there should be primaries and I am ready for it financially and spiritually. When we go to the field, we will all test our popularity among our members. “I am ready to support whoever emerges in a transparent primary, even if he defeats me by only one vote. I don’t take pleasure in anything that doesn’t follow due process.” “Whether you like it or not, PDP still needs some-

one like me. Our party should not field someone who cannot win election. I don’t want to end at the level of candidacy the way others were thinking. I want to get the ticket and conquer for you. “I want to be installed as PDP governor come October 16, which marks the eighth year of my impeachment from the government house in Ekiti and by the grace of God, I shall be restored.” On insinuation that he might move against those who engineered his impeachment if he emerges, Fayose said: “I have heard it in many quarters that I would take my pound of flesh from those who were

seen as being responsible for my impeachment. I am not God. Vengeance is of only the Lord.” Denying the rumour that he had secured presidential backing as the party’s consensus candidate, Fayose said he was the most qualified to confront Governor Kayode Fayemi in the coming election. He said: “I am the only one among the aspirants who has the experience as a former governor. “I am also the only one who knows how to defeat a sitting governor. I defeated Otunba Niyi Adebayo in 2003 in a circumstance similar to the present situation.”

Reverend Joseph Akinfenwa, described Falase as an epitome of humility, whose exemplary life has transformed many in the society. He urged Nigerians to emulate the exemplary qualities of the celebrator. These special attributes, he said, were responsible for the many achievements recorded by Falase in national and international fields of

medicine. Dignitaries at the service included the former Registrar UI, Chief (Mrs.) Modupe Mojisola; Prof. Olumade Adeuja, Dr Dele Akinluiyi , Ambassador Chief G. Falase , Chief Mrs. A.O. Falase, Professor Francis Egbokare , Ambassador Olu Sanu and the Chief Medical Director , University College Hospital ( UCH), Professor Temitope Alonge.

The Committee Leader, the Olugbo of Ugboland, Oba Akinruntan, said: " We have achieved a lot after setting up this committee. We discovered that the genesis of rivalry among Yoruba Obas was nothing but mere ego. "We have succeeded in that we have been able to make our traditional rulers speak with one voice." On the Alaafin and Ooni feud, he said: "They are our senior Obas. We are not competent to judge them. We are their children. They

have been our rulers for many years. But we are sure they would come together very soon". "As for the feud between Obasanjo and Iyabo, it is a family matter and it is also a political matter. We don't want to make comments on it. "We will see what we can do about it later. We will settle it in a matter of time. It is a family matter, they will settle it. "When we leave here, we will meet him to know what actually happened."

Eminent Nigerians pour encomiums on Falase at 70

MINENT Nigerians yesterday gathered in Ibadan to celebrate the former Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan (UI), Professor Ayodele Falase, who clocked 70. It was a professorial gathering comprising foreign diplomats, politicians, eminent physicians and top government officials. They poured tributes and accolades on Falase, de-

From: Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

scribing him as a renowned cardiologist and administrator. Friends and family members attended the thanksgiving service at the All Saints Church Jericho Ibadan where they appreciated God for sparing the celebrator. In his sermon, the Bishop of Ibadan Diocese, Most

Yoruba Obas Conflict Resolution Committee to reconcile Alaafin, Ooni

HE rivalry between the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, will soon be laid to rest, the leader, Yoruba Obas Conflict Resolution Committee, Oba Fredreck Obateru Akinruntan, has said. The royal father also restated the committee's resolve to put an end to the perennial rivalry among other Yoruba Obas. This came just as the monarchs said they would likely mediate in the seem-

From: Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

ing crisis between the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and his daughter, Mrs. Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello. This was disclosed at a meeting held by the committee in Ibadan yesterday. While noting that the cause of enmity among monarchs in the zone was egoism, he assured that the committee would not be distracted but would focus on the resolution of the crisis.

WO persons died in a motor accident that occurred at the weekend in Wannune, Tarka Local Government Area of Benue. Mr. Daniel Ezeala, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Benue, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Makurdi yesterday. The PPRO said that the accident occurred when a lorry conveying members of the NKST Church, travelling from Ukum to Makurdi, fell off the road after hitting another vehicle, killing two persons with others sustaining injuries. ``The vehicle, which tried to avoid a speed bump, ran into another vehicle in front, xxx thereby causing it to fall into a ditch, which resulted into the death of the two passengers,'' he said. Ezeala said that the passengers were travelling for a conference of the NKST Church in Makurdi. He said that the injured passengers were currently receiving treatment at the Wannune General Hospital while the two corpses had been deposited in the hospital's morgue.

APC mobilises members for registration

HE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue has commenced the mobilisation of members for registration ahead of the 2015 general elections. An APC chieftain, Mr. Mike Gbasha, who addressed party members yesterday in Gboko, said that the meeting was convened to educate members on the need to woo more members into the party. He frowned at the imposition of candidates on the party by some individuals. Gbasha urged the people to turn out en-mass for the party's registration, adding that it was their only weapon against the forces of imposition, intimidation and harassment. ``I encourage you to come out in large numbers for the registration to defeat the forces of imposition by enthroning democratic principles in our great party,'' he said. Also speaking, retired Maj.-Gen. India Garba, another party chieftain, assured the people that the APC would advance the cause of democracy in the country via the provision of democratic dividends. ``The APC will implement programmes that will be seen by physical human beings and not spirits, saints and angels. ``All we hear today is about projects that are only seen by angels, saints and spirits,'' he added. Garba urged the party members to be ``foot soldiers'' in the drive to boost the party's membership.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

NEWS

Boko Haram: Ex-senator seeks treaties with US, Israel

APC to receive 120 defectors in Rivers From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

From Ogochukwu Abakaliki

former Senator representing Ebonyi North, Anthony Agbo, yesterday urged the federal government to enter into deeper security collaboration with the United States and Israel to win the war against insurgency in the north. He spoke in Abakaliki with reporters. Agbo said such pact will enable security agencies to gain access to intelligence and infrastructure of these countries for a more effective fight against the insurgents. According to him: “Prayer is the spiritual side of it but on the practical and diplomatic side, I would want the government to enter into this security and diplomatic pact with these countries. “I believe that this is what we need at the time because our security personnel as good as they are trying cannot contain with the complicated terrorist situation. “This is because we don’t have adequate training for the military, police and other security networks.”

We’ll rebrand NANS By Godwin Simon

HE newly elected executives of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Zone D (South West) have pledged to work towards rebranding the students’ union body. This was disclosed by the Public Relations Officer, Mr. Olatinwo Jeremiah, during an interview with our reporter. He noted that NANS currently has a low rating among students and the public, thereby fostering misguided public opinions about it. He promised that students’ welfare would be the priority of the current tenure. According to him, “The new leadership of NANS zone D is pledging its total commitment to topnotch, apt and strategic advocacy for members. We will give our all in making the government do the needful. The welfare of our members is our priority.” He, however, appealed to students across tertiary institutions to see themselves as one indivisible body, calling on them to support NANS so as to reach the promise land. He lauded the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the federal government for resolving their differences and expressed optimism that the strike would mark a turning point for Nigerian educational system.

•Bride’s father, Lt. Gen. Oladipupo Diya (2nd right); his wife, Folashade (right); Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun (middle); bride, Oluwayemisi (2nd left) and groom, Oluwadamilola Salau (left) during the wedding of the Salaus’ in Lagos yesterday.

NCWR approves joint team on abandoned water projects

HE National Council on Water Resources (NCWR) has approved the establishment of a Joint Task team to ascertain the technical, financial and legal status of all abandoned water projects in the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The team, which includes representatives of the federal and state governments, will require the services of independent consultant to carry out its functions. This was contained in a communiqué at the end of the nd 22 meeting of the NCWR

From: Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

organised by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources in partnership with Kaduna State Government. The meeting also solicited collaborations between the federal and state governments as contained in the National Policy of Water Supply and Sanitation to ensure early compilation of all water resources projects. The council, at the end of the meeting, approved the setting up of an inter-ministerial committee drawn from the Water Resources, Environment,

Health and Finance ministries. The committee will also have other relevant agencies and states to workout modalities for preparation and development of the 2014 High Level Meeting (HLM) and prompt compilation of Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking- Water reports. It added that the existing sanitation policy and hygiene be harmonised to produce a single and acceptable National Policy that will provide effective framework for programme delivery. In a statement in Abuja by

the ministry’s Deputy Director (Press) Mrs. Boade Akinola, the council stressed the need for Nigeria to attain nationwide Open Defecation Free (ODF) status by 2015. It urged states, councils and communities to embrace the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach and commit funds towards its achievement. On capacity building, the council concluded that state water providers should cooperate with the National Water Resources Institute to help in fulfilling the mandate to carry out staff training.

ties is more than 20 years in Nigeria. Going down memory lane, Makinde disclosed that the meritorious roles played by Ojo Ladipo, Moses Olaiya, Chief Hubert Ogunde, among others, cannot be said to be irrelevant as far as Nollywood is concerned. “These great men recorded milestones that attracted international awards for about 40 years now,” he noted. Continuing, he said: ”I found it intriguing that these sets of narrow- minded class of disgruntled elements refused to produce superior argument on my view but chose to measure my performance based on the theatre industry, a position I found hypocritical, delusional and deficient in all

assessment of intelligence. “For followers of my activities in the Lower Chamber, my contributions and impact at ensuring our industry becomes the mainstay of the nation’s economy as well as my constructive agitation for the welfare of Nollywood practitioners as exemplified through various motions in that regards is quite profound.” Makinde added that Nollywood is acknowledged as a veritable alternative to oil in our country but the industry is daily confronting challenges ranging from lack of funding to absence of a formal regulated structure, piracy, internal crisis, retraining and inadequate distribution network among other factors.

Celebrating Nollywood at 20 is fraudulent, says Makinde

EASONED actor –cumproducer, Rotimi Makinde, has stated that celebrating the nation’s movie industry, otherwise known as Nollywood, amounts to falsification of facts and an injustice to the history of the sector. Makinde, who represents Ife Federal Constituency at House of Representatives, said: ‘’My attention has been drawn to some misguided statements being championed by some hatchet men on the social media. “I hereby restate my position that Nollywood is not 20 years. The numerical designation of Nollywood as an industry that has existed for only 20 years is a deliberate falsification of facts and an injustice on the

By Adetutu Audu

history of the sector.” Reacting to statements against his stance that the theatre/movie industry has existed for more than 20 years, Makinde stated most of the promoters of Nollywood @ 20 are motivated by political and pecuniary reasons. Makinde, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), stressed that the motive of the drivers of the Nollywood@20 celebration is to harness the strength and popularity of the film industry to campaign for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)- led Federal Government for the 2015 election. The veteran actor, in a statement, said it is an open secret that film industry or theatre activi-

Groups seek suspension of substandard HIV andAIDS drug

HE Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria NEPWHAN, Treatment Action Movement (TAM) and AHF have called on the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to suspend the purchase and supply of a local brand of anti- retroviral, TYONEX, the AZT/3TC/NVP and TDF/3TC combinations produced by Lagos- based Tyonex Nigeria Limited.

By Adetutu Audu

Funded through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) pool, the drug is supplied by the Federal Ministry of Health. The groups, in a press statement, said the drug is substandard and requested stoppage of its continued supply until a panel made up of representatives of key stakeholders ascertain its efficacy and safety. They said TYONEX has physical integrity deficits

with clinical complaints by several patients transferred to the drug. Given that there is no cure for AIDS, the groups said the extension of treatment to People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) is a deeper responsibility than most people realise. Aside the suspension of the drug, the groups requested the drug should be recalled pending a full investigation into their observations.

NE hundred and twenty youths under the People Democratic Movement (PDM) who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on January 1 at Elele community will be received tomorrow. The leader of APC in Elele community, Ikwerre local government of Rivers State, Elder Chidi Wihioka, said the 120 defectors sent him a letter with their names and phone numbers titled: Our resolution declaring support for Governor Rotimi Amaechiled APC in the state. Wihioka expressed delight that the defectors chose light and promised they will not regret their decision to join the APC. He said: “I noticed they were serious when I saw their letter with names and phone numbers. I welcome their decision to join my great party. I will communicate with the leadership of the party in the state.”

All-Africa Literary festival holds in Accra

HE British Council auditorium in Accra, capital of Ghana, will host the 3-day All-Africa Literary festival. The festival organised by the All Africa Media Network holds from April 24-26. Writers, readers, publishers, literary societies, thinkers and marketers of literature are expected at the festival to foster the trade of creative writing and encourage the art of reading. The event will also feature a literary workshop for teenagers and young adults aimed at demystifying the mystery of writing and encouraging them to embrace creative writing. There will also be tours as well as the launch of Ghana literary prize by the Ghana Literary Prize Foundation during the festival. The event ends with the All-Africa Media Network Awards to recognise credible Africans at home and the Diaspora. Some recipients from Nigeria include Professor Catherine Acholonu, Chief Tony Chukwu, Professor Omolara Ogundipe-Leslie, Hon Ifeanyi Abaekwume and Erelu Bisi Fayemi.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

10 For my part, I have always held the view, And hold it still, that a king whose lips are sealed By fear, unwilling to seek advice, is damned. And no less damned is he who puts a friend Above his country; I have no good word for him. Creon(Antigone)

APC’s nation-saving visits

N the African parlance, when a political leader groping in the darkness of ignorance, self-deceit or greed for power tooters towards a pit of quagmire the elders in that village or community ,(irrespective of clannish or ideological differences) would respond with the needed swiftness and promptitude that the situation deserves. The consequences of standing aloof, unconcerned about the king’s imminent fall would be grave not just for the victim but the entire community. Similarly, it is the height of sheer wickedness for elders to stand aloof while a goat in labour groans in pains. Their expected response is to assist it and its future generations overcome the trauma. In the light of this it would be uncharitable to view the recent visit of APC leadership to leaders across the nation, including former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as an attempt aimed at wooing them to join the party. Given the enormity and gravity of the obvious gross failure of the current president Goodluck Jonathan-led administration to live up to the constitutional responsibility of ensuring the security and guaranteeing the welfare of the citizenry(Section 14 Sub.Section 2b of the 1999 Constitution as amended),APC’s moves should be better be seen as that of patriots on a mission of savaging the ship of state from capsizing under the overwhelming storm waves of crass political ineptitude and gargantuan corruption in high places, Those who see the visit of concerned Nigerians as merely for party politics are losing the debate on the Nigerian question. And others who keep talking about the assemblage of politicians of different ideological leanings have forgotten so soon how the sweeping wave of the Arab Spring that tore through Tunisia ,Libya and Egypt brought the citizens of variegated ideological leanings together for the common purpose of keeping their country one, united and strong nation. The same should apply here to the Nigerian situation. People

•Governor Rocha Okorocha (Imo); Aswaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Gen Muhammadu Buhari; Governor Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo); Governor Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun); former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Senator Alli Sheruf ; Chief Bisi Akande; Governor Muritala Nyako(Adamawa) during a visit to Obasanjo by APC Leader at his residence in Abeokuta Ogun State… recently By Idowu Ajanaku

should do not talk about ideology when the nation is in crises; when the nation is bleeding and when the nation is in a state of near-collapse. Put succinctly, what the APC is doing now is to rescue Nigeria from the hands of the PDP vultures who have ruled this country for the past fourteen years and left us worse off than in 1999. This happened in Great Britain under Prime Minister Churchill, when the conservatives and the social democrats had to work together to save Britain. Ditto India among others. If memory serves, back then hopes were high that with the return of democracy after 15 unbroken years under the jackboots of military dictatorship the citizens would heave a sigh of relief from the stranglehold of undemocratic forces. But how utterly wrong could the gullible, peace-loving and law-abiding citizens be! Alas, all that took place was the change of baton from the men in khaki to those who only metamorphosed into democrats in the flowing garb of irredeemably corrupt, overtly avaricious and a conscienceless clique of treasure-looting buccaneers in the name of PDP. Name it and all that is evil in political leadership in the African continental landscape

is fully represented here. From decrepit infrastructure to near-collapsed health care system, to the transportation and education sectors that are moribund are the legacies the People’s Destructive Party (PDP) have bequeathed this generation and the ones to come. To fully grasp the ongoing re-alignment in the country, it should be seen as a fulfillment of the prophecy of Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo who is regarded as the iconic figure of progressive in Nigeria. In one of Awolowo’s books entitled: The Heroes he wrote and I quote ‘ one day, the best in the progressives, the best in the conservatives will come together to rule this nation’. In other words, what we are witnessing is the best of the progressives,(former ACN,CPC,ANPP) the best of the conservatives (new PDP)now coming together under the new platform of APC in fulfillment of the late sage’s prophecy.This indeed shows that history does not change, it is men that has failed to learn from history. It should be noted that not everybody in APC is good neither nor everybody in PDP is bad. But the coming together of the best in APC and the best in PDP. On that score, APC members’ visit to Obasanjo has

nothing to do with wooing him into the party. What Bola Tinubu said at the meeting was that despite whatever differences may exist between him and Obasanjo, the latter remains a partner in the Nigerian project having fought a bloody civil war to keep the nation together and received the baton of surrender from the deformed Biafran army. In addition, having ruled Nigeria as a military head of state and willingly surrendered political power to a civilian government at a time when such was not a feature in Africa,he deserves to be listened to when that country is in the vortex of political tutrmoil. As fate would have it, Obasanjo came back again to rule Nigeria for another eight years as a civilian head. Also, since many Nigerians believe that Obasanjo navigated Nigeria into this political quagmire we now find ourselves, first by imposing late Umaru Yar’adua as Nigerian president and Jonathan as the vicepresident who later got elected as the president after Yardua died honour he should similarly navigate Nigeria out of the current mess.. The crux of the whole matter, as Tinubu rightly put it during the meeting is that we must appreciate the courage of Obasanjo as God used him to bring Jonathan on

board, hence he has the temerity to write a letter to the same President Jonathan about the parlous state of the nation. Curiously,some observers out of pettiness tried to remind Tinubu that Obasanjo had spoken bitterly about him over the controversial issue of Government College Ibadan that Lam Adesina destroyed documents that would have been proof of the issue at stake. But the question is why didn’t Obasanjo raise the issue when Lam Adesina was alive, also by the time Lam Adesina left office in 2003, Obasanjo was still the president, so why did he not prosecute him if there was any substance to it all? Others have gone to town over the imbroglio between the duo when the then president withheld allocations meant for Lagos state councils over the Local Government Councils. But do all these matter within the matrix of the current political crises in the country? The answer is obvious. Our actions should therefore, be dictated by what is most pressing, most expedient all with the aim to get the country out of the wood. That explains why Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other APC leaders should be commended for visiting Obasanjo and even Retired General Ibrahim Babangida who was the one that annulled the June 12, 1993

Lawyers condemn ‘charge and bail’ jobs

OME lawyers in Lagos yesterday condemned the attitude of legal practitioners who undertake “charge and bail’’ jobs in courts. The lawyers, who spoke in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the action violated the rules of professional ethics of lawyers. “Charge and bail’’ is a practice employed by some lawyers, where they lobby to secure the bail of accused persons charged with criminal offences.

It is also referred to as “ambulance chasing”. A Lagos based lawyer and social critic, Mr. Anthony Makolo, said that there was a dire need for strict observance of ethics in the legal profession. He expressed dissatisfaction with the practice of such lawyers, adding that it portrayed the image of the legal profession in bad light. “Some of these lawyers, who chase briefs in court often times have no intention of undertaking full representation of the accused in the sub-

stantive trial. “They only charge them some amount of money to secure their bail after arraignment and thereafter opt out in search of new clients. “The situation is very disturbing because these lawyers by their conduct send wrong signals to members of the public that the profession is cheap,” he said. Makolo called on the National Judicial Commission (NJC) to put in place adequate machinery to monitor and check the activities of such lawyers.

A Constitutional lawyer, Mr. Ogedi Ogu, described the situation as “a ridicule on the legal profession’’. He said that it was annoying that some of the people who engaged in ‘ambulance chasing’ in court were not lawyers. “A handful of the so-called ‘charge and bail lawyers’ are not lawyers in the real sense of it. They are people who overtime, have come to learn such practice from the activities of lawyers. “This practice simply leaves the impression in the

minds of litigants that lawyers are hungry and desperate people. “It is now very important for the legal system to make moves to check incidences of abuse on the profession by lawyers,” he said. He urged lawyers to report any person found undermining the code of conduct for legal practitioners to the appropriate authority for sanctions. Another lawyer and social critic, Mr. Spurgeon Ataene, said that the attitude of such lawyers was a clear breach of

election which many of the progressives fought against. It is noteworthy that the APC leaders are following the footsteps of Late African icon Nelson Mandela who developed the spirit of forgiveness despite all he suffered in the prison and in the hands of the white tormentors. It would be recalled that Mandela upon release visited the British police officer who beat him to a state of coma while he was in prison. All this were done in the overall interest of South Africa.Perhaps, if Mandela did not take such reconciliatory steps but went on a vengeance mission, South Africa would have been in the vortex of a political upheaval by now. Good enough,Mandela looked beyond his personal interest and considered South Africans even generations yet unborn.That is why today, South Africa remains a solid, prosperous nation and when Mandela died he was celebrated across the globe in a manner never witnessed in recent history.. In a similar vein, what the APC leadership is doing now is to carry these leaders along as stake holders not minding what they have done against the nation in the past as their contributions will be useful in rescuing the nation. APC should not be seen in the light of a political party; it is rather a movement of those who believe in the future of Nigeria. Never in this country have we had so much unbridled corruption, the quantum of oil theft, the total blackout in the nation, the collapse of the education sector evident in ASUU over five months of strike that nearly paralyzed tertiary education in the country. What more should we add? Is it the massive unemployment with 60 per cent of the 80 million Nigerian youths without a job to put food on their table; the winding up of industries in Nigeria and their movement to Gambia and Ghana, the diminishing status of Nigeria in the international community, the disgrace of Nigeria at the recent celebration of fifty years of OAU and many others have necessitated this movement that we are witnessing today. Nigerians who truly desire a united nation should put ethnic, religious, ideological and political differences aside and join the APC rank as those morally and physically equipped to salvage the ship of state from upturning into the ocean of redolent corruption and inept leadership. Ajanaku, journalist writes from Lagos. the rules of professional ethics for legal practice in the country. Ataene said that such practice should be alien to the legal profession, especially as there was a code of conduct regulating the activities of lawyers. “Ambulance chasing in the courts is very discouraging and it undermines the profession. “Although, it is lawful for an accused to secure legal representation, but I must say that it highly undermining the profession. “For a lawyer to now convert the court premises to his office just to chase briefs is unfortunate,” he said.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

Ropo Sekoni

Page 14

Femi Orebe Page 16

SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

Missing link in Okoh’s homily D

ELIBERATELY, I have almost always refrained from taking on our religious leaders. But something stirred in me when, on Christmas Day, I watched the Archbishop of Abuja, The Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, talk about some people who want to cause trouble in the country, only to travel out when there is a crisis. “Nigerians ought to be grateful to God and live responsibly. Do not join anybody to cause trouble. If we follow life diligently, Nigeria will blossom, your lives will blossom. Refugees are not the happiest of people, don’t make yourself a refugee”, he had said. President Goodluck Jonathan also delivered his own ‘sermon’, when one would have thought the only thing he should have been allowed to do was read the lesson at the service; that is even if he must. Are there no more Lay Readers in the church? Be that as it may, the President turned the rare privilege of speaking at the service into a political soapbox. He ranted about the country belonging to some people and not to some other people. One did not need to be discerning to know who the tirades were aimed at. And the question that naturally arose from that was at what point did those people the President was referring to stop being the country’s true statesmen and patriots? Why did he not reject it when these same people were throwing him forward for the presidency, since he did not know them to be the owners of Nigeria? Be that as it may, I revere the Anglican Communion and that is why I made up my mind to write now. Perhaps if the leadership of some of the ‘penterascal’ churches had said what Primate Okoh said, I would have ignored them because some of those ones have redefined the essence of the church, especially with the emphasis on prosperity, to the detriment of the ultimate, salvation. But it is important to tell our religious leaders the home truth. The Most Rev Okoh, who is also the Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, said the right thing when he talked about peace and the need for Nigerians to emulate Jesus Christ. But, whether knowingly or unintentionally he eventually entered into the realm of politics when he made the statement about people wanting to cause trouble in the country, only to fly out when the country begins to burn. I waited anxiously to see whether the Primate would balance his sermon by also cautioning the leadership on the need to govern responsibly. He never did; which was a big minus to whatever good intentions he might have had with the sermon. The crisis that the Most Rev Okoh was afraid of would always come, no matter the amount of sermonising. It is inevitable the way the country is drifting; one of the things that can avert it is for the religious leaders to also tell these political leaders nothing but the truth. Even when the Primate asked the congregation how many of them had International Passport, I laughed because I am

Anglican leader’s one-sided sermon

•Okoh

almost sure many of them do. That church is not one of those churches for the ‘wretched of the earth’. If the Primate comes down to some of the backwater Anglican churches, even his own followers would not say ‘Amen’ to whatever prayers he might have said when the emphasis is only on trouble makers, without saying a word about avoiding what could have triggered the trouble. Can there ever be peace when there is no justice? Thank God this is no longer the era when the priest would ask the congregation to ‘say after me’. That was the way of the catechists of old that only had the authority to speak authoritatively on the Bible then. Nowadays, the priest would say his own while the congregation would also say theirs because all, including the priest, have different ailments that they have brought before Christ. So, the question of saying after the priest does not arise. My Lord Spiritual should ask people back in the village what life is like with them. Indeed, our religious leaders should do well to find time to visit the unknown quantities in their churches. Otherwise, they themselves will be blindfolded by the grandeur of power if they restrict themselves to the cocktail circuits of the high and mighty. Primate Okoh must be familiar with some of the ugly developments in the country. The most recent being the case of the aviation minister, Stella Oduah, who is enmeshed in a N255million bullet-proof cars’ scandal. In which decent society does such a thing happen without the government taking a firm action against the culprit? Is the Primate aware too of the many promises the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Federal Government has made concerning power supply in the last 14 years? How far has the government kept to its promises? Now, the same President Jonathan who told us that

“I waited anxiously to see whether the Primate would balance his sermon by also cautioning the leadership on the need to govern responsibly. He never did; which was a big minus to whatever good intentions he might have had with the sermon”

this year, we would be throwing our generators away because we won’t have any need for them again has shifted the goal post. He has therefore budgeted close to one billion on generator-related matters for Aso Rock and federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). It is good that Nigerians have learnt not to trust the government again; so, they have refused to act like the people who only saw the gathering storm and poured away the water in the house. Moreover, has the Primate bothered to ask why our economy is improving only on paper? Has he bothered to find out the cause of the Rivers State crisis, etc.? In saner climes, heads would have rolled over any of these sad developments, that is if the country itself is not on fire now. I know many members of the Anglican Communion who are very displeased with the state of affairs in the country today. As a matter of fact, I also know of an Old Citizen of the church who says he dare not go to church any Sunday unless he has at least N30,000 handout to give to young and able-bodied men and ladies of the church who are roaming the streets years after graduation. In those days, it was the young ones who assisted the old financially. The person I am talking about is over 70 years old and he is the one who now has to fend for people that the country should have provided jobs for if there is a government properly so-called. Our religious leaders should not shy away from speaking truth to power. These are the kinds of things they should be telling them, instead of delivering homilies that would give the leaders the impression that God is behind them, even when they are stealing the country blue. The contradictions in Nigeria, and especially under this administration, are mindboggling. It is true they did not start under the present government but then it has been the same PDP government all these years. But again, we would have been seeing signs of assurance if the present government has any clues to the country’s problems; but the changing is only getting worse. It is gratifying to note, however, that Primate Okoh’s position contrasts sharply with that of the immediate past Prelate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, The Most Rev Peter Akinola. Akinola, in his sermon at the interdenominational church service at the National Ecumenical Centre, Abuja, to commemorate the 2012 National Democracy Day, accused governments at all levels of allowing corruption to eat into the country’s socio-economic and political fabric, by paying lip service to the fight against the cankerworm. That was only last year. Corruption has worsened in the country with the Jonathan government looking perpetually helpless as if it has covenanted with the affliction. The only people whose lives can blossom the way Nigeria is being run today are the crooks and treasury looters. Poverty and hunger have already made many Nigerians refugees even though we are not at war. My Lord Spiritual, this is the home truth.

Limits of social media activism

T a recent training for some student journalists in Lagos, award-winning journalist Tolu Ogunlesi wondered how journalism was practiced in the pre-internet period. His question was informed by the ease with which writers now source for information and share their thoughts through various digital platforms. I shared with him and the participants how journalists had to go to libraries to check old newspaper cuttings for background information, dictate stories word for word when analogue telephones failed to go through and be at the mercy of few local prints and broadcast organisations. Thanks to technology, communication is now done with much ease with various platforms available to share information at a click to a global audience. Unfortunately, the unrestrained freedom to communicate is being abused with some ‘citizen journalists’ sharing false information and sometimes indulging in baseless criticism. Much as there was genuine cause for concern over the section of the proposed bill on electronic fraud that stipulated a seven-year jail term for who intentionally publishes slanderous messages about government electronically, it cannot be totally faulted based on what the electronic space has become. What it sought to punish before it was deleted following public outcry was “anyone who intentionally propagates false information that could threaten the security of the country or capable of inciting the general public against the government through electronic message shall be guilty of an offence.” I agree that the law could be misused by intolerant government officials, but a situation where some people under the cover of freedom of expression resort to misinforming the public through sharing of false information that can threaten the security and peace of the country is not tenable. The electronic platforms have become a haven for all manners of writers who have the least regard for the right of the person they are writing on to fair hearing. Unsubstantiated allegations against government officials and others are widely circulated with malicious intentions. While people should be free to hold the government accountable through alternative media like the online platforms, it should be done within the limits of the law and code of conduct for journalists. We don’t have to like government officials, but in the words of Charles Prestwich Scot, facts are supposed to be sacred and comments free. Social media writers can afford to rejoice over the deletion of the controversial section of the bill but they have to realise the need to exercise the freedom to publish with due sense of responsibility. For public officers who have been used to being reported by the traditional media only, they have to come to terms with the new reality of multiple options to beam the searchlight on their activities. More than ever before, government activities will come under intense scrutiny and appointees should be ready to speak up when necessary instead of getting unnecessarily agitated over some criticisms.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

COMMENT

HIS is the season for private citizens and public officials to make resolutions about how to choose new paths of improvement in what they do. Just as expected, our political leaders have seized the opportunity of Christmas and the coming of 2014 to do what they know how to do best: make promises; sermonise about how to make Nigeria work for all; and even pontificate about matters that are naturally beyond their ken. The goal of politicians’ sermons and New Year resolutions is generally to assure citizens of the relevance of political office holders to the lives of citizens. What troubles the average observer is that Nigerian political leaders from the president down to local government chairmen never take the trouble to find out if citizens are impressed by their mendacious talks at every religious festival. For example, when President Jonathan announced his resolution to give Nigerians at least 18 hours of electricity per day, he did not realise that most citizens could not turn on their televisions or radio to watch or listen to him, simply because of power outage. Citizens must have been wondering in darkness why the president had to make this promise, more so that the energy sector had been successfully privatised by his administration. Ordinarily, people would now expect to hear from the new owners of the electricity supply chain, most of whom have been silent since they took over from PHCN. The federal government should give all the assurances of help at its disposal to the new electricity companies, not to citizens who have in the last six years have had to live with unredeemed promises about moving

Another season of homilies and resolutions

One New Year resolution expected from politicians, particularly those at the federal level, is public affirmation of total commitment to free and fair election in 2015 electricity supply from 2,500 megawatts to 5,000, and later to 6,000 megawatts. In another part of his Christmas message, President Jonathan (perhaps unwittingly) made negative comments about the nation’s diversity, which for decades, leaders and citizens have passionately believed to be a fertile source of greatness for the country: “It remains my sincere belief that no height of human accomplishment is beyond us as a nation, if we can overcome our differences, such as they are, and forge a binding consensus to put the progress and well-being of the country above all other considerations.” I am sure the president knows that our cultural differences are not handicaps. What we need to do, as we prepare for a national conference to discuss how to make our country do better than it has done since 1966, is not to see our differences as obstacles to overcome but as realities to understand. Therefore, delegates to the national conference should not be encouraged to go and sit down and work out how to overcome our differences, but how to understand them and use the country’s diversity to improve the country’s performance and competitiveness within the comity of nations. With the president’s announcement of his commitment to encourage Nigerians at the proposed national conference to contribute to how to make Nigeria peaceful and great, it is a good time to add that there is more to a national conference than talking about how to make a nation great. It requires talking and agreeing on how to make justice in all forms

an abiding aspect of public and private life in a country. The presence of justice in every society and polity is the source of peace, harmony, and greatness. Those who have been calling for a national conference for decades have been concerned about justice to all sections of the country as the best way to make every part of the country feel confident to make the most sacrifice towards achieving the country’s progress and greatness. Such advocates recognise the country’s diversity, believe that the diversity is a source of greatness, particularly if the diversity is managed with a sense of justice by all concerned. Governor Kayode Fayemi’s New Year message to people of Ekiti State captures this view well: “I urge us all as a people whose destiny is connected inextricably with our great country to keep praying as we support the agitation for the restoration of true federalism and the entrenchment of equity and justice in our polity.” One New Year resolution expected from politicians, particularly those at the federal level, is public affirmation of total commitment to free and fair election in 2015. On the part of partisan politicians, there should be an expression of commitment to a violencefree election at all levels, such as we just witnessed in Yobe, despite the state of emergency in that state. On the part of the country’s independent electoral commission, the agency needs to assure citizens at the beginning of a new year that all elections in 2014 and 2015 will avoid all the problems that marred the recent Anambra gubernatorial election. INEC

must, as a body that is expected to be an impartial umpire, accept that excuses for not getting any aspect of polling right reflects sadly on the commission, erodes voters’ confidence in the electoral process, and can lead to serious democratic deficits capable of creating legitimacy problems for post-election governance. In addition to President Jonathan’s resolution to organise a credible national conference, INEC is the second most important agency in the country to assure citizens that it will do everything possible to gain the confidence of citizens in all elections the agency will conduct in 2014, as a way of making the right preparation for the 2015 national elections. Citizens need to be assured that elections will be transparent, efficient, free, and fair at all times in 2014, as this is one way to enhance peace, harmony, and unity in the country. As universal (and sometimes instructive) as New Year resolutions are, Nigerians know that the president and most governors are entering in 2014 their lame-duck phase. Consequently, citizens are not going to take many of the promises made by federal and state executives with much seriousness, given the fact that a lame-duck year is not the best time to fulfill promises that could not be fulfilled in the preceding three years of full governing authority. What is likely to attract citizens’ attention and belief is for the federal government and its agency, INEC, to resolve to do a thorough job in organising a credible national conference in 2014 and credible elections in 2015 and beyond.

COMMENT

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

Presidential sermonising P

Homilies without the necessary steps will lead us nowhere

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan still faces the very serious challenge of effectively and clearly communicating his ideas to the public, especially when speaking off the cuff. This problem was, once again, evident when Dr Jonathan addressed the congregation at the Catholic Church, Area 3, Garki,Abuja, during the New Year Service on Wednesday. We find it difficult to understand why the President feels the compulsion to speak at these essentially religious events, and if he must, why he cannot make use of prepared texts. In the ‘sermon’ in question, for example, Dr Jonathan sounded unconvincing, even hypocritical, when he urged his fellow politicians to shun self-interest, put the country first and begin planning for the next generation. Yes, the sound bite might be right. The intention might appear honest and nationalistic. But many would expect charity to begin at home for the President in this regard. For both the President and the opposition, for example, governance has practically taken a back seat for some time now, as all attention and energy are focussed on the next election. The President in particular has refused to take the moral high ground as he has lent the weight of his office, for instance, to the fractiousness in the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) while also allowing aides close to him to utilise state institutions to undermine the legitimate government of Rivers State for petty, partisan reasons. The preoccupation with his second term ambition, albeit legitimate, has practically ripped his party apart, with negative implications for the polity. There is hardly anything in the 2014 Federal Government budget proposals that suggests our national leaders have any inkling of the immense hardships majority of Nigerians are going through. All that seem to matter are their vain, creature comforts such as acquiring and maintaining electricity generators, feeding pets in the presidential zoo

ROM the look of things, it does not require the help of a soothsayer to tell the world that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been regretting and also fighting already lost wars of vendetta against the G-5 governors. There is no gainsaying the fact that the PDP has left its obligations for fights of the governors, which were the imminent behaviour it exhibited that compelled the governors to pitch their tents with the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is today receiving ovations from many members of the public for dazing the PDP diplomatic uppercuts. If you have seen a wounded snake in the bush before or have wounded one yourself and took a very keen observation of her, you would notice that she bites every object on her way; or if you have seen an entrapped dog before, you would notice that she cries more than any wailing group of persons. These are better ways to describe the drive of the once self-acclaimed largest party in Africa, known as and called the Peoples Democratic Party. Since Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State and four of his fellow governors moved from the perceived problematic PDP, to the All

or acquiring an 11th presidential jet in a country where millions are ravaged by hunger and want. This is certainly a far cry from the kind of elevated politics he advocated at the Catholic Church and makes Dr Jonathan’s words sound vacuous. Again, Dr Jonathan repeated his request for prayers to solve the country’s challenges. As he put it “Despite our challenges, all that we continue to request from you is your continuous prayers because we believe…And luckily we are in a Christian congregation, we believe that no matter what an individual thinks he is, if God doesn’t want an individual to succeed in achieving anything, you will not”. Of course, we believe in the efficacy of prayers. But we must also beware of the dangers of fatalism. The sensible bridge between the two is both to pray ardently to God but to also work hard and seriously to achieve desired objectives. Our leaders were elected to utilise their minds and talents in seeking for solutions to the country’s problems rather than expect God to do the job for them as President Jonathan’s remarks suggests. As things are, the country is drifting so badly under the present inept leadership that the existence of the present generation is endangered so much that they may be unable to produce or provide for the next generation Dr Jonathan appears so enamoured of. Another alarming aspect of President

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

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Jonathan’s ‘homily’ on this occasion was the impression he created that the problems confronting Nigeria are only a reflection of a larger global picture. In his words, “Just like the Senate President mentioned, the world as a whole is facing a lot of challenges at this period. If you put on your television and if you turn to the newspapers, there are always breaking news and the breaking news are not positive news …We are reading about crises everywhere. And our country, too, unfortunately, we also have our own fair share of crises. The issue of Boko Haram and the excesses of the militia groups, kidnapping in southern Nigeria. Boko Haram terrorist activities in the northern part of the country, but government is committed…”. Unfortunately, the language of the President in this respect does not suggest a government seriously committed to solving national problems. He insinuates, perhaps unintentionally, that since other parts of the world experience similar challenges, Nigeria cannot be an exception. From this perspective, the impression is created that our problems are common to the human race and there is nothing we can do about them. Yes, there is no human society devoid of problems. But serious societies are motivated by their problems and challenges to seek solutions and creating better, safer, healthier environments. Nigeria certainly has the material, human and natural resources to be one of the most successful countries on earth. But presidential sermonising without complementary actions will get us nowhere. All the prayers in the world without the requisite leadership qualities will only see us sinking deeper in the mire. We have had enough of sermonising from President Jonathan. It is time for decisive actions in the direction of national greatness. The President can start by taking action today on the Princess Stella Oduah gate scandal that stinks right under his nose.

LETTERS

Amaechi and PDP’s regret Progressives Congress (APC), the PDP has not concealed its open regrets. Even when many legal luminaries had said before and after Amaechi and co moved out of the PDP that they have a right for free association, the PDP is going to court of law to seeing that their seats are declared vacant. The discreditable side of the PDP is that it refused to address almost all the issues raised by the former G-7 group as the reasons they were not happy with the party before five of them genuflected. Gov.

Amaechi, for one, told the world that the reason the G-5 governors moved to the APC was because Mr. President failed to resolve the issues the G-7 governors had raised, hence they took a position. The PDP did not go to court to ask Mr. President why he was unable to meet the requirements of the governors, but here is the party exposing itself to the gallery for public ridicule. Unlike the PDP and Mr. President, Gov. Amaechi has no personal antagonism with the two. Political calculators

knew that those calling for Amaechi’s head for telling the leadership of the country where it should get things right, were only doing so out of sheer sentiment that Mr. President perhaps said that he went to school without shoes or because he said that he is a PhD holder or because he is from the SouthSouth region. The PDP did not go to court to ask Mr. President the reason Rivers State continued to lose her oil wells in some parts of the state like Etche and Kalabari. The PDP did not see these inimical acts

as affecting the Rivers masses. It, perhaps, thought that the former oil wells in Rivers State that were given out to other states, would affect Amaechi alone. Gov. Amaechi should be praised for the position he took in joining the APC in order to give room for peace. Notwithstanding, if there is any person or party today that is still making problems in and out of Rivers State, that party is the PDP and some of its members. Gov. Amaechi has a way of surviving in troubles, which no person should think that his joining the APC would bring to an end his political career. His developmental activities

Abdul-Mumini Jibrin should apologise to Ngozi Iweala

F you truly want to test a man’s character and maturity, give him power. Sometime I wonder at the level of immaturity exhibited by our law makers. The recent brawl between the Finance Minister, Ngozi OkonjoIweala and the House of Rep. Committee Chairman on Finance, Abdul-Mumini Jibrin, during a recent parley on the state of the economy is sim-

ply another childish display by our honourables. For God’s sake, the woman has every right to make her point clear, why not allow her to talk and establish her case. I don’t want to believe that the Chairman’s action was premeditated but for him to act in that manner simply shows his lack of emotional intelligence and maturity. Committee chairmen must treat their assign-

ments with utmost sense of dignity and objectivity. If he has any issue with the person of the honourable minister, he should at least respect her office and not close up on her rudely. Besides, it is expected that public office holders should model the right behaviour and conduct in the discharge of their assignment. His action fell short of that. If the Chairman is placing his

argument on the fact that the honourable minister complained of not too fine, his approach would have been more humane. I think the committee should apologise to her because the Chairman’s attitude is condemnable and unsatisfactory for a public office holder of that status. Alexander Ighoro Warri, Delta State

might be diminishing in Rivers State, but from accounts it was noted that the federal allocations to the state has also diminished. No one should think that Amaechi has taken Rivers State back to slavery by joining the APC. Afterall, no member of APC has been recorded as the leader or part of the troubles orchestrated against Amaechi in the state, but some Rivers persons who want to slave the state by magic or design, hence they pose in making sure that the governor is removed for them to have their ignoble and inglorious way to manipulate the state. It is unconstitutional for anyone to say that Mr. President must test power for 8 years for fairness, equity and justice to play in the six regions of Nigeria. But to Amaechi, he sees as ignorant and self-seeking those who line their political perception on the margin of religion and ethnicity. This is just the bane of the PDP and the reason it has lost out even though it still brags as the leading party. The PDP has become a victim of its manipulation, but is only shy to make the world know that it is regretting, except through its vendetta language we can read. Odimegwu Onwumere, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

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COMMENT

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

Southwest 2014 elections: Will President Jonathan allow history be his guide? But whoever thinks these jejune tricks will result in successively rigging any of the coming elections in the Southwest must think again

UST in case our dear president does not know, or knows but has forgotten, the South-west, aka Wild, Wild West, has been the grave yard of many a federal government of Nigeria. It has serially posed questions, especially at elections, bordering on the very survival of this country as we saw in 1966, 1983 and ’93 and barely escaped asking same questions in ’03 and ’07 when, under President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigerians witnessed the most rigged elections anywhere under the sun. This was no design of the West as its peoples, the Yoruba, did not sit down anywhere to plan mayhem. Rather they were a victim of what GBOGUN GBORO captured beautifully in his column in The Nation’s edition of Thursday, January 02, 2014. We will quote him, mutatis mutandis, at some length. In the article: YORUBA NATION: TIME TO STAND STRONG, he wrote: ‘We must also make it clear to Nigeria that we are now much more determined to uphold and show our rejection of electoral fraud – that heinous disease that has periodically brought disaster upon Nigeria since 1964. The source of this Nigerian disease is no more than those in control of the federal government who, since independence, assumed that it is their prerogative to dictate, through fraudulent means, the outcome of elections in any part of the country. In the context of this disruptive assumption, respective electoral commissions, electoral tribunals and Appeal courts, as well as the

Nigeria Police – have usually operated like invading armies wherever the people show abhorrence to this fraud; Yoruba land being the foremost of such areas. The result is that thousands of our young men have needlessly been dispatched to their early graves as was the case in 1965 - 1966 when hundreds were killed by Nigerian law-enforcement agencies all over the Western Region. In Ondo State in 1983 when falsified results were announced by federal authorities in the gubernatorial election, scores of those who rose to resist the fraud were again mowed down by the police. Similar examples abound as in the rigged 2007 gubernatorial election in Osun State when tens piled up in the morgue for weeks. The lesson here is that the Yoruba, having been accustomed to choosing their own rulers for over a thousand years, are too culturally attached to free and fair elections to tolerate electoral fraud.’ In the full knowledge of this Yoruba resistance, our current tormentors have devised two ingenious ways of achieving the same result without noisily showing their hands: the first is to abandon their own party in the choice of a hireling as gubernatorial candidate; a practice recently condemned by former President Obasanjo. The ‘candidate’ is then maximally supported: money, tonnes of it –after all, some 10 billion dollars in oil money remain unaccounted for, police, soldiers, all. This, of course, is the second stage as much earlier, ele-

ments of the Electoral Commission, acting on orders from above, would have maliciously imported hundreds of thousands of fictitious names into the voters’ register. INEC then ensures there is no verification whatever, or allocates very insufficient time to the exercise. In ‘THIS IS NO SCARE MONGERING’, Sunday, 3 November, 2013, I wrote as follows on this phenomenon: ‘A pattern of election rigging ahead of 2015 is emerging as any keen observer of recent elections in the country would readily affirm. And it is not by happenstance; rather, it is a well choreographed test run of what will be put into play in the 2014 elections in both Ekiti and Osun states. Of course, they will attempt the ‘Ondo template’ in Anambra where they will do everything to assist the candidate of Governor Peter Obi, the President’s good friend. How perceptive! In Anambra, where the voters’ register was heavily manipulated again, Professor Atahiru Jega, the INEC Chairman, personally undertook to ‘clean up’ the compromised register but, you believe that and you will believe anything. In the end, the election turned out worse than the Obasanjo elections. But whoever thinks these jejune tricks will result in successively rigging any of the coming elections in the Southwest must think again. As in previous elections, we have over a thousand eagle eyes that will tear into INEC’s convoluted Voters’ registers to identify hurriedly imported, but fictitious names, just as a million sol-

diers cannot scare a determined people even in the unlikely event that the military high command succumbs to the army being used as ex-President Obasanjo already indicated in his letter to the President. We know there are enough men of honour in the Nigerian army to reject such evil plans even if, unfortunately, that cannot be said of a Nigeria Police that has largely become an armed wing of the ruling party. But they will meet the Yoruba doubly prepared for a government we know hates the majority of our people whilst eagerly romancing an insignificant minority. Apart from President Jonathan’s need for new friends, especially in an ‘electorally hostile’ geo-political zone like ours, we can never forget that he personally declared himself the overall campaign manager for the PDP candidate in the 2009 rerun election in Ekiti. We are not unaware of the boast within PDP and its crony political parties in the state that the high command has charged them to do anything to rig Fayemi out of office following which the icing on the cake would be Mr President personally ensuring Aregbesola is equally rigged out. Talk we say, is cheap; but we warn and pray that those so minded would learn from our history, dating back to the Kiriji war and, especially, the fact that every wrong done to the Yoruba collective has brought down every offending government : Balewa’s, IBB’s, for instance. The Yoruba will hate to be the leitmotif - the recurring theme -for a dismemberment of Nigeria but no-

body should foolishly dare us. Governor Kayode Fayemi has very succinctly enunciated the Yoruba attitude to the coming elections. This he captured in his New Year message to his Ekiti compatriots when he said: ‘My dear honourable people of Ekiti, as you know, this year 2014 is a year of crucial decision in our State. Our still young republic grapples with the legacy of militarism, its violent imprint on our politics, and a generational perception of political competition as a form of warfare. It is unfortunate that politics is not widely seen as a contest of ideas for hearts and minds but a desperate means to get to power by all means possible. I take this opportunity to remind all and sundry, particularly those who would be interested in contesting the upcoming election, that the quality of power is defined by the nature of its pursuit. When we mortgage our consciences and values in the pursuit of power, no matter how dignified or admirable our intentions, it costs us bits of our humanity and deprives governance of the moral authority that is its true foundation. We should refrain from inciting our people to violence and other negative tendencies. Ultimately, an anarchic approach in which the contestants for power deploy all means, fair or foul, to win, de-legitimises and de-humanises politics. We cannot afford to lose the grounds we have gained in establishing peace and tranquility in Ekiti over the last few years’. We can only hope that a word will be enough for the wise.

Have a great New Year! This year, learn to take things in your stride with a good slice of humour

SEE you made it into this New Year. Congratulations. I know you had no intention of missing this event but going by the myriads of problems we had confronting us last year, you must agree that for a minute there, there were doubts. We had so much to contend with during that year – national fiscal rascality, governmental roguery, epistolaric confrontations, a permanently disappointed populace, a near-disenchanted writer here (that’s me!). Add to that list insufficient housekeeping allowances given by husbands who whistle off-key, children more interested in their social network profiles than any school or career progress, and north Korea threatening to literally rain fire and brimstone on the world. Why, I bet even the Almighty himself was beginning to wonder why he thought the Garden of Eden needed a human to tend it. The animals would have done better than man is doing right now. What’s more; no animal would ever have thought of eating that blasted fruit. In spite all that, the beat must go on; so, welcome to the New Year. I do not pretend to be a prophet. I restrict my prophetic utterances to the kitchen. For instance, when the powers have come on me, I have often found myself predicting to the head of the house that if

money does not flow in the direction of the pots, there would be no food coming out of them within a day or two. The power of prophesy is such that it gets results, well, not always. For instance, when the children were young, I had often shouted my prediction that if they did not clean their rooms, there would be no supper. They had often looked up long enough to digest that information before going on with their task of causing more havoc. I had also forgotten that they did not want any food anyway and had had to be forced to eat. However, I will still take a good look into my crystal glass and make a prediction or two on this land. I think I can safely predict that Nigerians are in for a bumpier ride this year. For example, look at the level of the nonchalance of our aviation minister to public censure against the strange purchases of armoured vehicles by her ministry, and the indifference of her boss to the entire matter. Perhaps, it could be that her boss has remained mum over the matter because he is also planning to buy yet another jet for the presidency, maybe one that can safely fly over the boko-haram territory. Anyway, even as we speak, we are told that the good lady is planning to purchase more vehicles. Actually, when I heard that, I did laugh a bit and wondered aloud if the

woman was not going at it a bit strong. I mean, really, is the business of the ministry of aviation to purchase vehicles or to make planes fly more safely? Sorry, I’m stating the obvious. So, folks, we might need to buckle our seat belts; for this ride of governance is likely to have to dash through some more rough weather. My crystal glass also tells me that as the nation’s two major political parties inch towards 2015, their measures would become more desperate and their tactics would become less subtle or refined, and either one would be more ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater. It would be true to say of them at that time that they could not care less. Reader, you and I must prepare to resist being thrown out by those who have no idea of how to bathe babies. I do not want to be like one of my students who once wrote that to be forewarned is to be fore-harmed, I would rather say that we must arm ourselves to absorb or repel the year’s bumps. First, let your armoury consist of quivers filled with endless arrows of humour. GEJ talks when he should not talk, and does not talk when he should? Just laugh it off. The man is probably missing home. It’s not easy to be away from the home you were born into and grew up in for close to eight years now; and goodness knows how many more if the nation succeeds in foisting the 2015 presidency on him. You know how it is with politicians. They never desire to serve; their people always desire them to serve. APC and PDP dancing naked?

Just laugh. I have always known APC to be a form of aspirin; and any aspirin must contain a little bit of alcohol so what do you expect? It’s PDP I have never been sure of. Does it sound like an insecticide, a pesticide or just a plain suicide giver? Anyhow, I think it stands for death and that is why they have systematically been killing the country since their train got into Aso Rock. I admit that is not very funny, but if you consider that all suicide missioners first kill themselves, I think you will see the funny side. Is your police force going against the law? Just laugh and console yourself with the fact that your Nigeria Police has always been cross-eyed anyway. You know what happens to those ones, don’t you, I mean crosseyed folks? When they are looking at evil, they see good; when they are looking at good, they see evil, and that’s exactly what is going on in the country. Not very funny, I guess, but if you remember that your police may ask you to arrest your own criminal and bring him/ her in for questioning, you may see the funny side. You also need to arm yourself with a large slice of love this year. Ah! But this is one thing that is sorely lacking in this country. For instance, have you taken a good look at your average Nigerian trader? When next you make a purchase, take a good look at the measuring tool or his/her eyes for that matter. Chances are that the tool is shorter than the law allows. Every single trader is doing it because no one can stop him/her. Well, that’s

one reason. The other is that really, the buyer is nothing to them but a piece of money; this is why traders tend to have these vacant eyes. They do not see their clients or anyone else but lucre, filthy lucre. So, if you are a client reading this, I assure you that you are nothing more than money walking around in various forms of currency waiting to be plucked. When you are well dressed, you are the highest currency and they tell you ‘you look a million dollars’. When you are in your kitchen wears, however, you just ‘ain’t worth a dime’. Nevertheless, this year, learn to love your fellow Nigerians – trader, politician, police, GEJ, neighbour, thief, etc. – for love begets love, respect begets respect and, conversely, hatred begets hatred. We already have enough of that last one coming at us from the government, so don’t add to it. Then, arm yourself with a very positive attitude this year. Just believe that in the end, all manner of things will be well. That is what I usually tell myself when things slide off the handle worse than a snail having a soapy bath. Let’s face it; you cannot help yourself, anymore than our aviation minister can help herself when it comes to buying cars; or GEJ from wanting to stay on in office or buying jets; or Obj. from writing letters or talking. They are things that happen to us, so we must take them in our stride with a good slice of humour. Just believe that we the people will laugh last because the country belongs to us, not to them. HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR!

COMMENT

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

(46) Are Jonathan and PDP now liabilities for tolerable impunities of elite misrule? (2)

•Logos of major Nigerian political parties

N this concluding piece in a series that began in this column last week, perhaps I should start by admitting that the idea of tolerable impunities of elite misrule is a pessimistic, despairingly ironic notion. For ordinarily, there should never be talk of a “tolerable” or benign form of impunity in the misgovernment of any nation, any region of our world. This is because impunity of bad or mediocre elite governance is “tolerable” only to the rulers and even then only to that segment of the ruling class that occupies the seat of power, incumbency and patronage. For the overwhelming majority of the population, impunity of misrule is extremely intolerable. This is because it exerts a terrible toll on the lives of millions of the citizenry of any country whose unhappy fate it is to be subjected to such form of misrule. In our country, we are only too familiar with the lineaments of impunities of misgovernment. The underlying structural feature is the fact that a very tiny fraction of the populace lives in untold, squandered and unproductive wealth while the great majority live below the absolute poverty line. Consequently and more alarmingly, millions of our peoples have greatly inadequate access to the amenities and benefits of modern, civilized and dignified existence. The list of such basic aspects of life in modern societies of the world that we sorely lack in our country is well known: potable and drinkable water for the vast majority of the populace; regular generation and distribution of electricity, as much in the cities and towns as in the rural communities; hospitals and health clinics that are clean, serviceable and actually do save lives; roads and highways in a nationwide or territorial transportation grid in which travel is relatively safe, comfortable and free of imaginable and unimaginable hazards; security of life, properties and personal possessions; ever-widening expansion of communities of enlightened, progressive and civicminded people adequately attuned

to both the challenges and the opportunities of life in the 21st century of the Common Era. As if the profile above is not bad enough, impunity of elite misgovernment also traps any people unlucky to be so misruled into becoming either willing or unwitting accomplices in their own subjection as the values, the practices and the norms of the rulers become those of the ruled as well. The corruption, the rot, the dog-eat-dog heartlessness of the political class is reproduced prodigiously in the populace. And it may come to be, heaven help us, that for the younger generations, this is all that they know of their country as knowledge of times when things were different becomes increasingly erased until it dies out with the last set of those old enough to have known relatively better and more humane times. No compatriots, “tolerable” impunities of elite misrule is a barbarous notion, a contradiction in terms, a sardonic yielding of discursive and ethical ground to a form of misrule that should never be accorded even the slightest space of legitimacy, talk less of sovereignty. These opening observations and thoughts are further clarified by the fact that even the perpetrators of impunities of elite misrule never admit to being rulers of this kind. With the possible exception of the Nazis and the openly fascist, rightwing dictators of South America in intermittent periods throughout the 20th century, no governments, no ruling class parties in modern political history have ever admitted to being perpetrators of “tolerable” or benign forms of impunity of misrule. This is partly because it is extremely dangerous to the perpetuation of this kind of misrule to admit openly and cynically to its peculiar form of governance. For any government, any regime of military or civilian governance to do so would be to admit that it is undemocratic and therefore itself liable to being undemocratically removed from office or power. Moreover, to admit that a political

order or a governmental administration is a “tolerable” form of misrule is to raise the risky, dangerous question of “tolerable” for or to whom? For surely, unless one has a very low opinion of human beings and their capacity for good, just and humane governance, one must necessarily accept the fact that impunity of elite misrule cannot be “tolerable” for the vast majority of those condemned to suffer or put up with it. As a matter of fact, for our purposes in this series, this is the bottom line, the discursive or investigative fundament: for whom, for which groups and classes of Nigerians, have impunities of elite misgovernment since the return to “democracy” in 1999 been “tolerable”? Compatriots, in responding to this all-important question, I now intend to leave all abstract and speculative issues aside and address the question very concretely, very pointedly. This I wish to do by returning to the questions with which I concluded the discussion in last week’s piece. Let me remind the reader of the questions. From the time when Jonathan became Acting President in 2010, unprecedented sums have disappeared from the national treasury and the nation’s savings account, the Excess Crude Account: where did all this money go? Why, in spite of this – or precisely because of it – is the PDP fast breaking up and disappearing as the ruling party that was destined, as the boast went, to rule Nigeria for the foreseeable future in this 21st century? And what connection does all this have to the probability of the end of “tolerable” forms of elite misgovernment as the APC positions itself to become the new, post-PDP ruling party? The roiling fragmentation of the ruling party into two factions, the PDP and the New-PDP, together with mass defections into the APC are not taking place because corruption, waste and squandermania have become too big, too unprecedented in its scale and therefore too unsustainable - which of course is the

case. The basic cause of the unfolding implosion of the ruling party and the defections into the APC is the question of whether the Presidency will remain after the 2015 elections with Jonathan, the first “Minority” civilian Head of State in the country’s political history or go to a candidate from the North, most likely from the so-called “core” North. The oil subsidy mega-scam of 2011 in which 2.58 trillion naira - which is two and half times the annual budget for the whole country - was blatantly misappropriated was used primarily to fund Jonathan’s election in 2011. It has neither drawn sustained criticism nor has it afforded much ideological and moral firepower to the other political parties. Ditto with the 21 billion dollars that was the balance in the nation’s savings account, the ECA, when Jonathan became Acting President in 2010; in less than four years, it has dwindled massively to well below 2 billion dollars without any accounting provided to explain the disappearance of such a vast sum from our national coffers. But it too has neither been the target of principled and unrelenting criticism by the other parties nor the cause of the mass defections from the PDP to the APC. I do not mean to suggest that the extraordinary levels of corruption, aimlessness and mediocrity in the Jonathan presidency is of no consequence in what is happening to and within the PDP now. For by even the abysmally low levels of performance in office of all the PDP federal administrations since the return to civilian “democracy” in 1999, the Jonathan presidency is extraordinarily mediocre and lackluster. However, even though this fact is being used vigorously and opportunistically by the other ruling class parties and especially the APC in their aspirations and efforts to dethrone the PDP as the ruling party in 2015, this is not the main reason why the PDP is imploding and is on the verge of ceding ground to the APC. The main reason is that Jonathan’s presidency and the PDP

under his leadership have far exceeded the “tolerable” limits of elite misrule and all the ruling class parties and politicians are fearful that if the PDP is not stopped, they will all lose as the other ruling party – the army – steps in to “save” the country and the ruling class. It remains for the other ruling class parties - and the APC especially - to demonstrate in theory and in practice, in ideology and policies, that their accession to power will be more than a mere reconfiguration of the PDP into new power blocs and alliances that will restore governance in our country to “tolerable” forms of impunities of elite misgovernment. If this does not happen, it will be business as usual, with only a few cosmetic changes to legitimize the new status quo. In such a reconstitution of the political order after 2015 in which we might say the king is dead but long live the king, nothing significant will change. The Southwest and the “core” North will still be the dominant power blocs in the country. The Presidency will still have the largest concentration of power, authority and patronage in any Head of State in the world. The Southeast will still feel permanently excluded from entitlement to producing an incumbent for our unreconstructed presidency. The Executive Governorships will still function basically as mini heads of state whose maintenance costs are financially crippling and morally deleterious for the country and the citizenry. And the people, the multitudes in every part of the country will still continue to endure the ravages of “tolerable” impunities of elite misrule. This is not a forgone conclusion, an inevitable happenstance looming on the horizon of the present. But we need another series to explore this non-concluding conclusion on a note of hope, faith and optimism based on a firm and unshakeable belief in the capabilities of the masses of our peoples to take their destinies into their own hands. Biodun Jeyifo bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

COMMENT

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

• Akande

HE PDP never expected the All Progressives Congress (APC) to become the behemoth that it is today. It unwisely underrated the resilience and resolve of the founders of the party to collapse their differences and face a common foe-President Goodluck Jonathan. It never imagined that the ACN which they regarded as a SouthWest party or, as they called it then, "Tinubu's Party", would later become a national party with such formidable influence within the polity. The APC, an amalgamation of ACN, CPC and ANPP, had gained a very wide acceptability, national acclamation and popularity within a very short period of its existence. Deceived by the failure of the ACN and the CPC to work together in the 2011 elections, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) was under the illusion that it was going to enjoy the monopoly of the political space till eternity. Unfortunately, the party was witnessing its own funeral ceremony at a time it thought it was immortal. Jonathan's men, who deceived him into believing that "there is none holy as their boss…", are acting as the undertakers with Bamanga Tukur and Olisa Metuh leading the funeral procession. When General Muhammed Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, Chief Tom Ikimi and Alhaji Bello Masari saw that the Nigerian state was sliding into anarchy, directionlessness and was losing its moral balance, they decided to come together to save the sinking ship. The product and outcome of their efforts was the APC that is now spearheading the struggle for our national revival. These men must be commended for resolving whatever differences they had against themselves and making the national recovery a major project above their personal and individual aspirations. Though the PDP attempted frustrating the merger and the registration of APC by INEC, by sponsoring some phoney people to also present their own "APCs," for registration in order to create a registration dilemma for INEC, the electoral body, however, saw that it was all a game of "Esau and Jacob". It went ahead to register the authentic and original APC led by General Buhari, Asiwaju Tinubu and Ogbonnaya Onu and the APGA faction of governor Rochas Okorocha. Since the party was registered, Jonathan and his men have never slept well. And it is very likely, without claiming any prophetic power, that they will never sleep well again. Exhibiting obvious political immaturity and showing lack of experience to manage crisis situations, Jonathan chose the wrong time to cause disaffection and division within his party. Gullibly swallowing Tukur's vulnerability theory, Jonathan, himself a captive and hostage of power, mishandled the PDP crisis. A more strategic and calculating person would know that it was not politically expedient for him to allow the crisis within his party to escalate at a time that the APC was growing in stature and influence. But not Jonathan and Bamanga Tukur: their response and approach to the issue of the seven aggrieved governors smacked of nothing but

• Tukur

APC and a collapsing PDP By Dapo Thomas

irresponsible arrogance that had caused more damage to their party and their ego. On his part, Jonathan could not stand or tolerate the guts of people like Sule Lamido, Murtala Nyako, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Aliyu Babangida who belonged to the founding team of the PDP. He was not receptive to people telling him the history and philosophy of the party. Since his intention was to hijack the party, the crisis provided him the avenue to ease them out by frustrating all reconciliatory moves. If it was not his original plan to get rid of these people, why should it be difficult for a man ruling a multi-ethnic state like Nigeria with all its problematic dimensions and conflicts, to resolve an ordinary dispute with just seven party men who felt the Chairman of the PDP was derailing the vision of the party for the nation. Jonathan's failure to manage the PDP crisis was a serious deficit to his capacity to rule a complex nation like Nigeria with the expected efficiency and wisdom. How can we trust a man who could not fix his problem with only seven men to manage the destinies of millions of Nigerians that are craving for national redemption. Every citizen wants to credit their president with some initiatives but in our own case, how do we glorify a president who is tolerating the excesses of his party chairman because he claimed to be the only one that can ensure the invulnerability of the president? Should it be the chairman of a party that should be protecting the president of a nation or the other way round? The simple truth is that Jonathan's desperation for his party ticket in 2015 has exposed him to all sorts of ridiculous manipulations by his aides. The man could no longer decipher truth from falsehood and sycophants from loyalists. It is a very dangerous ambition that makes the president of a nation to expose himself to admonitions from every Tom, Dick and Harry whose intentions and love for the president are far from being noble. The APC was too swift to appropriate the loss of PDP to its advantage. The APC leaders saw the crack in the PDP and decided to move in fast by lobbying the seven aggrieved governors, popularly known as G7, to switch to APC. They went to Rivers, moved to Kano, went on another pilgrimage to Sokoto before journeying to Kwara. Their next trips took them to Niger, Jigawa and Adamawa. All these efforts were not in vain as five (5) of the seven (7) governors had since joined the APC with the other two keeping their joker to their chests. Those who moved to APC were Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Abdullahi Ahmed (Kwara), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State.

Not long after the governors' defection, 37 members of the PDP in the House of Representatives defected to APC thereby giving the APC a simple majority in the House of Representatives. The PDP was so incensed that it quickly took the case to court, asking the court to declare their seats vacant not knowing that another court had already restrained the leadership of the House of Representatives from declaring their seats vacant. According to media reports, many PDP senators and members of the House of Representatives would likely defect to the APC this January. Both Jonathan and Tukur are now confused as to what action to take against the defectors and how to stem further defections. The APC, which they thought would become the butt of gossip centres and beer parlours, in and outside Aso Rock, has now become a consuming fire that is sending them scampering in different directions, looking for fire brigade remedy that can reduce the impact of their political tragedy. Aside from the legal action, the PDP and the Presidency have now resorted to begging, persuasion and appeals to stem the tide of defection. The Senate leadership, led by the Senate President, David Mark, had been saddled with the task of convincing the aboutto-defect Senators not to go. Suddenly, Tukur and Jonathan have realised that a political party is an institution and not a village association. Why should two men appropriate the structure of a political institution by running it as if it is their personal estate and creating the impression that other members of the party are irrelevant? Why did it have to take the defections of party members for Tukur and Jonathan to realise that a political party is part of a political process that is system-driven and should not be manipulated in order to protect the ambitions of certain individuals? The defections are a serious embarrassment to the PDP leadership, hence its desperate attempt to nip subsequent ones in the bud. The picture of grim, over the collapsing PDP was well captured in this graphic lamentation by one of the founding members of the party, Alhaji Sule lamido, Governor of Jigawa state: "We are today witnessing the de-construction of what appears to be the final collapse of our dear party, the PDP, under the inept and imbecile National Working Committee (NWC), led by Bamanga Tukur…I am short of words to express my pain. It is agonizing to see the party built in every home, in every village, town and cities all over Nigeria with lots of sacrifice, being destroyed." The response of Jonathan's men, those who pushed their oga to his present predicament, was a consoling prophecy, nay prayer, or better still, a curse ; that the APC will soon collapse. Let us listen to the Doyin Okupe rhapsody: "The APC boat is destined for the Red Sea and in fact, I remember that when

we went to Israel, we prayed to God to remove all the people troubling Nigeria. So, by what is happening now, I believe that God is working quietly to gather these people for destruction. By the time Jonathan defeats those giants, God will take all the glory and people will know that the APC is heading for failure." When a man with no antecedents for prophetic expertise begins to revel in spiritual anecdotes and allusions about their activities while on pilgrimage to Israel, and concludes that the exodus of PDP members to APC was a collection for destruction by God, such a man is suffering from pilgrimage fatigue, prognostication illiteracy and heretic delusion. All these are serious ailments that only God himself can 'rectify'. But the APC needs to be very careful so that Okupe's wishful thinking will not end up haunting the party. It is a good thing that disenchanted and frustrated PDP members are flocking the APC because it is convenient for them. I am only worried about the post-storm debris and how to manage this sudden convergence of the assorted; those who are defecting are coming with their own aspirations and ambitions which the party leadership has to align with those of the original members. We are in a very critical stage of a strange struggle against political principalities and everybody must be ready to sacrifice personal political ambition for our national survival. This is not the time to be rigid about ambitions but a time to offer oneself for a liberation battle. We are under siege by a power-drunk bunch that is not prepared to sacrifice anything for national stability. If those in APC, including the defectors, begin to engage in power war because of political offices, where then is the justification for the vilification of the PDP? The beauty of having a party like APC as a viable alternative to the PDP can only manifest in the willingness of the leadership of the APC to jettison their individual aspirations for our national revival. The desperation for membership should not turn APC into a political dump site where just anybody having a grudge against Jonathan or Tukur would run to in order to settle a score. It is exciting seeing the PDP depleted but let those who are coming to the APC know that the sharing of the spoils of war can only come after the battle must have been won and lost. At this stage, both old and new members must be ready to make concessions, trade positions, reach some compromises, offer some sacrifices and operate on consensus. The real spoils of war can only come when the jackals in power have been pursued to the bush where they naturally belong. The APC cannot savor the euphoria of its triumph until the PDP has been finally laid to rest.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

Twists in Taraba handover deals

Presidency, PDP woo Marwa, Gunduri

PAGES 21

BOLAJI AKINYEMI

PAGE 22

Let's stop ignoring grievances in Nigeria PAGE 25

Kaduna: Can PDP survive APC offensive?

â&#x20AC;˘Sambo

HERE appears to be a hurricane sweeping through the political landscape in Kaduna State and through the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and unless stakeholders in the party move fast, there are clear indications that it might lose power in the 2015 general elections. Ahead of the 2011 elections, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) gave the PDP a big scare. But the party had to rely on religious sentiments to win the

Worried by the recent mass defection of members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State, Vice President Namadi Sambo is leading a PDP counter charge, reports TONY AKOWE, KADUNA governorship election. After the scare caused by the CPC, the former governor, the late Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, moved to build bridges across political divide in the state, winning the confidence of opposition parties in the state. The death of Yakowa left a vacuum, truncating the peace initiatives

targeted at aggrieved members of the party in the state. The Nation was informed that several members of the party are feeling left out in the scheme of things in the party across the state. The emergence of the Abubakar Baraje-led new PDP further compounded the

problems in Kaduna State as it provided the aggrieved members opportunity to express themselves. But rather than call them for dialogue, the leadership of the PDP in the state called the aggrieved members names, apparently under-estimating the calibre of people that constituted

themselves into the new PDP in the state. Former National Legal Adviser of the party and a former Commissioner for Justice in the state, Mark Jacob, lamented that an otherwise tiny misunderstanding has been allowed to grow into a huge ball of fire that has the capacity of rubbishing every structure of the party, pointing out that unless things change for good in the party, there will be a political â&#x20AC;˘Continued on Page 20

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

POLITICS

• Yero

•Continued from Page 19

disaster if it goes into any election now. While expressing concern over the current state of affairs in the party, Jacob said it was unfortunate that those saddled with the responsibility of guiding the party through troubled times do not care that the boat is threatened. Jacob said "in the face of unfolding political events in Kaduna State, it is indeed worrisome that once again, persons shouldered with the responsibility of guiding the PDP boat through troubled times do not seem to care that the boat is threatened by critical weather conditions or are still enmeshed in the euphoria, size and magnitude of the office they occupy. Otherwise, how does one explain the rascal docility, loud silence and inaction of these major players in the PDP to the serious events that occurred in the last 10 days. It is an accepted fact that conflicts abound in all human associations thus the challenges in the Kaduna State PDP are not an exception, however what is baffling is that an otherwise tiny misunderstanding has been allowed to grow into a configuration that has the capacity of rubbishing every structure of the party. The officials of the PDP in Kaduna State must be held accountable or responsible for any collateral damage that befalls the party if all caution is again thrown to the wind and genuine issues of concern raised by party members and political observers are again ignored or labelled as "attention seekers". Available data garnered from on the spot analysis reveal that the PDP is at its lowest rating since 1999 and unless things change, there will be a political disaster if we go into any election now". He said further that "all in the political and PDP leadership of our state that the current challenges are surmountable. However, there must be a change in the style of leadership being provided. The traditional stronghold of the PDP, which is Southern Kaduna, is gradually, but surely slipping away from the PDP; thanks to the shoddy, unintelligent conduct of the party leadership both at the state and zonal levels in the last few years. Of course, instead of listening to advice, they engage in childish gossips, name calling and persecution of anyone who speaks up, just as the trend is glaring in both Northern and Central Kaduna zones. The entire state is pregnant with feverish anger against the current administration in the state and as well our party. When you meet politicians, they complain of exclusion, you meet businessmen, they complain of non patronage and overconcentration of business opportunities in the hands of a few favored

Kaduna: Can PDP survive APC offensive? fronts of those in government, you meet the youths, they complain of failure to empower. This trend must be arrested if we want to sustain the fortunes of the party in the state. It is imperative that party stalwarts reconsider hard-line positions in view of the sensitivity attached to our state, as political capital and nerve center of Northern Nigeria. This, we must guard jealously and use as a source of strength, integration, peaceful coexistence and development. However, this we cannot, as a state, boast of if we are unable to effectively manage simple political discontent within our state and showcase very high political/ administrative capacity. Finally, I restate my belief that the current challenges are surmountable, but this will require that the leadership of the party and those in government facilitates genuine reconciliation on the premise of justice, equality and equity. The style has been to dismiss and insult those who make suggestions, I hope the recent ugly trend of events have thought us good lessons". The decamping of Audi Yaro Makama, two time chairman of the PDP in the state, along with many other stakeholders to the All Progressive Congress (APC) has further left the PDP vulnerable in the state. Even though PDP officials in the state have failed to admit the fact that the exit of Makama and other loyalists of former governor, now Senator, Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi to the APC is a threat to the continued dominance of Kaduna politics by the party, there are clear indications that the party is threatened by the exit of these politicians and many more who are billed to follow in the days to come. The Nation gathered that apart from the Makarfi loyalists that have left the party, loyalists of the immediate past governor, late Patrick Ibrahim

• Makarfi

Yakowa, may follow suit having been made irrelevant in the scheme of things in the party and in governance in the state. It was gathered that the APC is currently in discussion with leaders of the Yakowa loyalists with a view to attracting them to the party. Ismaila Abdullahi Yakawada, who is believed to have a wide acceptance across southern Kaduna is one of those being attracted by the APC. Also, a former governorship aspirant of the party and former Commissioner for Finance in the state, Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi, who is believed to be one of the best grassroots mobilisers in the state, is also believed to be going round villages in the northern part of the state, mobilising PDP members to join the APC, since in his words, "the PDP has failed to carry them along." Hunkuyi has consistently have problems with Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, since his time as governor in the state. Even though both Hunkuyi and Sambo camps have failed to comment on this since then, Sambo was said to have awarded Hunkuyi a contract as governor and refused to pay him the money. The contract sum was reportedly paid by late Yakowa. Also, a letter making the round in the state suggests that the present government is out to implement an agenda carefully prepared. In a letter dated March 6, 2013 and addressed to the governor, one Mallam Zubairu Sani, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Albarka Consult, drew up the agenda which many believed is currently being implemented by the government. The letter reads "In reference to government house memo KDGH/CONF/008/13, find attached, my submission on the ways forward in charting a new political course for Kaduna State and the game plan to overcome the zone 3 challenge". It suggests the "immediate change of the leadership of the state House of Assembly. For the Speakership position, another member from Giwa Constituency should replace the present speaker. This is to counter the threat and influence of the Yakawada camp. Reshuffle the cabinet in disguise as a ploy to make the commissioners relax, then fire them within one to three months in the new positions, when they would have had a false sense of satisfaction that they would not be dissolved and make them open up on the activities of their ministries. This is to get rid of the Yakowa loyalists, especially from zone 3. For political exigency, the PPS, Aliyu Samaila, should be reassigned as was done to the Timothy Gandu. Not quite long after you swear in the new commissioners, sack all, remaining Yakowa appointees…" Investigations revealed that this plan may have •Continued on Page 23

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

POLITICS

Twists in Taraba handover deals

In Taraba State, Governor Danbaba Suntai's camp is excitedly preparing for the governor's return to the seat of power early this year. But current twists suggest that Acting Governor Garba Umar may not be willing to return power so soon. Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, reports on the reconciliation deals

â&#x20AC;˘ Suntai

T the twilight of 2013, aides and close associates of Governor Danbaba Suntai of Taraba State were most enthusiastic the governor will resume duties before the end of the first quarter of 2014. But during the New Year festivities, Acting Governor Garba Umar, broke his long silence on the power tussle, re-declaring his loyalty to the governor but unequivocally stating his unwillingness to be cowed by some elements he accused of plotting to hijack the state, using Suntai's name. "Our major challenge in 2013 was the cabal which tried to hijack the machinery of governance, using the name of Suntai," he said, adding, "I can assure the people of the state that I will not fold my hands and allow any individual or group to hijack the state." Before Umar's New Year's broadcast,Taraba State's power intrigues, which peaked late last year, as ailing Governor Suntai returned home from his prolonged overseas medical trip and tried unsuccessfully to take back power from Umar, his deputy. It would be recalled that Suntai, who was involved in a plane crash in Yola and had to stay away in overseas hospitals for treatment for about 10 months, returned to Nigeria on August 25, 2013, at the heat of alleged political moves to declare the Acting Governor as the substantive governor. So, when Suntai submitted a letter to the Taraba State House of Assembly, stating his intention to resume duties, a serious political crisis unfolded in the state as loyalists of the two leaders fought desperately to outdo each other both at the state assembly and in the executive arms of government. At the end, the House passed a resolution empowering Umar to continue in acting capacity till Suntai gets fit to resume his office. Since then, insiders said Suntai felt his deputy has betrayed him and so, he has been reaching out to some powerful elements, both within the state and outside, to ensure he is not pushed out from the office he was voted into by the people. Our investigation shows that among the powerful elements Suntai has reached out to and who have showed solidarity in his course include General Theophilus Danjuma. Soon after the Hope Uzodinma- led People's Democratic Party committee created what had been described as a "diarchical"system in Taraba, the powerful former Minister of Defence, flew into Jalingo in a bid to save his political godson, Suntai, from the complex power

â&#x20AC;˘ Umar

game. Although the power play had continued since then, we gathered that Danjuma has not backed out of the intrigue. He allegedly spoke to President Goodluck Jonathan severally on the negative implications of allowing Suntai to be pushed out of office, when it is certain that his condition is not hopeless. In fact, it is said that Danjuma's singular backing, more than any other, may have made it difficult to dislodge the ailing governor. Another strong support that has helped sustain Suntai is Nigeria's First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, whom sources said was reached through Suntai's wife, Hajia Hauwa Danbaba Suntai. As one of Hauwa Suntai's aide, told us in confidence over the weekend, " Madam in Abuja has also been very helpful to the Suntai family, and she is involved in the ongoing negotiations to resolve the crisis." An associate of Suntai, confirmed this in a chat with The Nation during the week, when he said, "Dame Patience Jonathan has shown motherly support to Hajia Suntai in ensuring that her husband, is not thrown out." Perhaps because of these strong supports, Suntai's associates were certain, before New Years Day, that soon after the celebrations, Umar will have no option than to hand over power back to Suntai. While Umar's associates, today are not denying the possibility of handing over power back to Suntai in the near future, they insisted that "certain agreements have to be reached before such a thing can be done. According to one of the aides of Umar, the resolution that empowers the Acting Governor to hold on to power demands that he must do so until Governor Suntai is healthy enough to take power back. So, the question we must all answer and agree on is whether the governor is now healthy enough and capable of shouldering the enormous task? It is not just a matter of some elements, desperately trying to take power by force. The interest of the state and that of the governor is what is at stake here," he said. Umar himself said that much in the New Year broadcast when he said his loyalty to his ailing boss, Danbaba Suntai, was "consistent and unshakable". He openly admitted that he was only holding brief for Suntai, pending the governor's recovery. As he puts it, "as a loyal lieutenant, I will continue to hold brief for my boss by staying focused on his master plan for the development of our dear state.

"My resolve to do so is borne out of the need to ensure continuity and completion of the set goals and objectives within the life span of the current administration started about seven years ago.'' That open declaration notwithstanding, an insider in Jalingo Government House, who is obviously sympathetic to Suntai, told The Nation that Suntai's close aides are not deceived by the Acting Governor. " This is not the first time Acting Governor Umar would make such comments about being loyal, but we are here and we can see through his actions. He wants it all but the law and the people's votes are against him." The deals: Notwithstanding the suspicion between the two camps, our investigation confirmed that careful underground negotiations are going on both in Abuja, where powerful elements like Patience Jonathan, PDP National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, and General Danjuma are said to be actively involved and in he state, to ensure a peaceful resolution of the Taraba power puzzle. From the outcome of some of the meetings so far held over this issue, it seems the deals that must be settled and agreed upon by the two camps, which are not yet settled, according to our sources, include the fate of Umar, should he agree to return power, the fate of the members of the executives and top government functionaries, who Suntai removed at the heat of the intrigues and that of the current executive council members who Umar recently constituted, amongst others. "These are amongst the issues that have stalled every meeting. Add these to the argument on the true health situation of the governor and you will agree that the anticipated return of power to Suntai may take longer than his supporters may wish. If these issues are not addressed more objectively than they are being addressed today, the handover may never take place before the 2015 elections," the source said. The source further alleged that reactions to the Acting Governor's New Year's declarations may mar rather than help realise the few areas of agreement so far. With these seemingly unending twists in the Taraba power crisis, observers are eager to see how it would turn out this 2014 and the likely effect in the 2015 general elections.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

POLITICS

HESE are indeed not the best of times for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). With the 2015 general elecions just some months away, both the Presidency and the leadership of the PDP have in the last couple of weeks embarked on desperate measures to mitigate the recent losses the party recorded, following the defection of five of its govenors and 37 lawmakers in the National Assembly to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Aware that some prominent members of the APC are not happy over their seeming loss of influence in states where some PDP governors recently moved to APC, The Nation gathered that the Presidency has constituted a high powered team to woo these APC members to the PDP. In Adamawa State for instance, two prominent APC chieftains, General Buba Marwa and Mr. Marcus Gunduri, who are alleged to be unhappy over the handing over of the party's structures in the state to Governor Murtala Nyako, are reportedly under immense presure to defect to the PDP. The thinking in the Presidency is that if Marwa and Gunguri move to PDP, the effect of Nyako's defection to APC would be greatly minimised. Marwa and Gunduri are no pushovers in the politics of the North-East state. According to a source, both the Presidency and the PDP leadership are aware that the only way to salvage whatever remains of the fortunes of the party in Adamawa State is to woo Marwa and Gunduri to the party. The source quipped, "The Presidency knows that with the combination of Nyako, Marwa and Gunduri, Adamawa State will surely be a walkover for the APC in 2015." In the 2011 governorship elections, both men gave Nyako a run for his money in a poll that was adjudged by many observers as one of the most keenly contested governorship elections in the country. During the election, Marwa contested under the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), while Gunduri was the candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Both parties, along with the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) have since merged to form APC. Though The Nation gathered that Marwa and Gunduri have so far spurned entreaties from the PDP, some of their supporters are allegedly asking them to consider the PDP offers. The supporters' argument, according to a source, is that Nyako is not likely to adopt the spirit of 'give and take' in the control of APC structures in Adamawa State. What has further boosted the confidence of PDP leaders that Marwa and Gunduri may move to the party is not unconnected to the absence of the two APC chieftains at a recent meeting convened by Nyako at the Government House in Yola. The meeting was at the instance of the national leadership of APC, which recently mandated Nyako to harmonise his differences with Marwa and Gunduri. Both men gave no reason for their absence from the parley. The situation in Sokoto State where the governor, Aliyu Wammako also defected to APC is also similar to Adamawa's.

Presidency, PDP woo Marwa, Gunduri Aware of the implications of the defection of its key members in five Northern states, the Presidency and the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have adopted some desperate measures to stem the tide, reports Assistant Editor, Remi Adelowo

â&#x20AC;˘ Marwa

â&#x20AC;˘Gundiri

Sources revealed that the Presidency has desperately tried to convince some PDP stakeholders not to move with Wammako to APC. One of such people is Wammako's deputy, Muktar Shagari, who a few days ago visited the Vice President, Namadi Sambo in Kaduna. During the visit, Shagari reportedly assured the VP that Wammako's defection to the major opposition party will not affect the PDP's control of the state in the next election.

Until now, Wammako and Shagari were believed to be close, which explains why the latter's latest action came as a shock to many political observers. According to a source, Shagari's political moves of recent formed the major part of the discussion between Wammako and former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta a few days ago. The Nation gathered that Wammako had sought Obasanjo's

intervention in appealing to Shagari, who is known to be his political godson. Obasanjo, it was, who brought the two men together in 2007. The former President was alleged to had asked Shagari, his former Minister for Water Resources, to step down as the PDP governorship candidate for Wammako, who had just defected from the ANPP, following his parting of ways with the then governor, Attaihiru Bafarawa. Shagari not only relinquished the governorship ticket, he also agreed to be Wammako's running mate. As compensation for his decision to remain in PDP, The Presidency, according to a source, has allegedly promised Shagari the party's 2015 governorship ticket. One other option being considered by the Presidency is to lobby Wammako's predeccessor, Bafarawa, an APC chieftain, who is alleged not to be happy that the APC structures in Sokoto State would be controlled by Wammako, his reported political foe. In the case of Kano State, no effort is being spared by the PDP leadeship to mitigate the effect of Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso's defection to APC. The ruling party is also allegedly banking on the complaints by some APC stakeholders, led by former governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, to maintain the party structures in the state. Presently,there is a battle for supremacy between Kwankwaso and Shekarau over the control of APC structures in the North-West state. While Shekarau's camp argue that the former governor, being a founding member and a former presidential candidate should be recognised as the APC leader in the state, supporters of the incumbent governor think otherwise. According to them, Kwankwaso, based on current political realities in the state, stands head and shoulders above Shekarau and should be accorded that status in APC. With this battle for supremacy yet to be resolved, sources revealed that the PDP has sent emissaries to Shekarau to consider defecting to the APC with the promise of being made the leader of the party in the state. The Nation however gathered that Shekarau bluntly told some PDP leaders who recently visited him that he has no intention of leaving APC, because of what he described as "my disdain for anything PDP." But the Presidency and PDP leaders are still not giving up on persuading Shekarau whom they consider a big fish capable of serving as a counter-poise against Kwankwaso. Beside Shekarau, the Presidency is also banking on the support of Mohammed Abacha, the eldest surviving son of late dicatator, Gen. Sani Abacha, to shore up the PDP's support base in Kano State. In the last few months, the younger Abacha has been quite visible in the state. Recently, he was part of a PDP delegation that accompanied the Minister of State for Works, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, who was in the state to inspect some Federal Government projects. But it remains to be seen if these desperate measures are enough to reverse the dwindling fortunes of the ruling party in these core northern states.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

POLITICS

Kaduna: Can PDP survive APC offensive? â&#x20AC;˘Continued from Page 20

been implemented by the government to its exact specification with the exemption of sacking the remaining Yakowa appointees who are Special Advisers. The near correct nature of the actions of Governor Yero since June 2013 in relation to the proposal has further widened the gulf within the PDP in the state. Audi Yaro Makama, who was always regarded as the Chairman of Chairmen, when he led the party in the state, recently led 70 others to join the APC, saying they decided to abandon the party they worked hard to build in the state because of the injustice currently existing in the party. Makama believe that their exit from the PDP is part of the political revolution that is happening in this country, saying "the injustice in PDP is one reason why we left the party for the APC. As you can see, most of the people here are PDP members who have played a greater role in its development in Kaduna State. We cannot remain in a party that cannot provide infrastructure for people of the state. This is why we want those in PDP to know that we hardly join a party that we know will not deliver. So, by 2015, APC will win elections in Kaduna". However, former governor, Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, who is the arrow head of the Makama group, is still a member of the PDP, but it remain to be seen how long he will hold back since almost all is henchmen have dumped the PDP. One of his aides told The Nation that "presently, Makarfi is out of the country. He has been informed of the decision of his men to dump the PDP, but he remains a member of the party for now. We don't know what his move will be when he returns, but definitely, he will be alone in the party now. But the PDP is also aware that if Makarfi leaves, it will affect its fortunes in the state greatly because his supporters at the grassroots will follow suit and as you know, he has a wide followers across the state because he has remained in touch with them even after leaving office as governor". But the leadership of the party in the state dismissed the action of the decampees, describing them as attention seekers. The party's Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Mansur, said the defectors have long ceased to be members of the party even before they announced their defection, describing their exit as good riddance to bad rubbish. Mansur said "it has come to our knowledge that some disgruntled politicians are claiming to have defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Kaduna State PDP wishes to inform the general public that the so-called individuals and their copilots have ceased to be members of the PDP for a very long time ago. In short, it is a good riddance to bad rubbish, these politicians have stopped participating in PDP activities and programmes a long time ago. As such, their socalled defection is only a charade intended to deceive the general public for cheap political point. We are calling on our teaming supporters to remain calm and focused and not to be deterred by the so-called defection, as their defection is not and will never be a threat to PDP", the statement reiterated. The dwindling fortune of the

Is Labour Party drifting or sinking?

â&#x20AC;˘ Yakowa

party in the state is no doubt of concern to Governor Mukthar Ramalan Yero and Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, who had to spend his Christmas holiday in Kaduna holding consultations with stakeholders on how to stop the party from collapsing in the state. Sambo and the governor held series of meetings with various interest groups in the state and it was gathered that more of such meetings are still lined up in view of the fact that it will be politically suicidal for the Vice President for the party to lose Kaduna State to the opposition party. However, while Sambo was holding consultation meetings, there were further reports that 1,200 members of the PDP in his (Sambo) local government area had joined the APC, a report which PDP promptly denied, insisting it was aimed at embarrassing the Vice President. Abdullahi Babawo said at a news conference in Kaduna that they were taken aback about the news of such defection and challenged officials of APC to produce the membership cards of those PDP members who have joined them. Babawo said, "our attention has been drawn to publications by APC that some of our members have decamped to their party from PDP and to portray the APC as having gained an upper hand within the Kaduna North Local Government Area". While insisting that those who manufactured the report wanted to score cheap political point against him, he said "I have met with all my ward chairmen and it was a malicious fabrication deliberately executed to coincide with the visit of the Vice President to the state and to diminish whatever he came to do. I assure the public that APC has no strong footing within the local government

and we are going to show that we are the party to beat". The Nation also gathered that at the moment, there is a lot of dissatisfaction among strong members of the party from Southern Kaduna that has remained the strong hold of the party since 1999. Party leaders in the area have been complaining of being left out of the scheme of things in the state. The umbrella body of the southern Kaduna people had in a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan complained that despite giving the party majority of the votes that brought the government to power, they have been given the least patronage in terms of appointments and projects by the government. Sources however said that the people of southern Kaduna may opt for the APC, especially if the party gives them the governorship ticket. Also, the appointment of the next minister from the state may go a long way to determine their next move. Already, some have said that the Special Adviser to the Vice President on Special Duties, Isaiah Balat, is being considered for a ministerial job. Others believe that since Balat is already an Adviser in the presidency, another southern candidate, preferably a woman, should be appointed as a minister from the area. But there are those who believe that there are plans to ensure that the ministerial slot does not go to southern Kaduna. This may further expose the party to dangers especially in the southern part of the state. So, as the political theatre becomes hotter, Sambo is personally leading the counter force to halt the hurricane. How far he can go before the 2015 elections remains to be seen.

NYONE with a sense of history would appreciate what the Labour Party stands for wherever it exists. It is usually seen as the party with an alternative programme, a distinct identity. It is believed to stand for the people and always rejects the bourgeois plan. On the ideological spectrum, the Labour Party is usually located to the left of the centre. When the Labour Party was floated in the still-born Third Republic, it held out hope but lost its balance as the state waded in and scuttled the dream of having a real alternative. It came up at a time the people had confidence in the Labour Movement and had identified with the party. When another Labour Party was floated in the Fourth Republic and people like Comrades SOZ Ejiofor and Salam were presented as interim leaders, those who knew them felt, with time, it would blossom into a true Labour Party. Alas, about a decade after it was registered, nothing remains of the original ideals and expectations. It is probably more retrogressive than other parties where people could at least identify with a few individual leaders and tendencies. In the Nigerian Labour Party today, there are no leaders or followers known to stand for anything. And, because it stands for nothing, it falls, from one state to another, for anything. In 2010, Mr. Andy Uba, regarded as one of the most detested members of the Obasanjo do-nothing administration, had to hire the party's platform to contest the Anambra State governorship election. He failed. Similarly, in Ekiti in the last election, a former governor of the state to whom a lot of atrocities have been traced, and who is still standing trial for alleged mismanagement of public fund, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, hopped on the LP pedestal to seek a place in the Senate. He denounced his erstwhile party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and promised to liberate the state as a progressive. Of course he lost at the poll. He is now back in the PDP. Also in 2011, when Mrs. Pauline Tallen was tired of the politics in the PDP and looked around for a party that could bear her weight without looking beyond the surface, she identified the LP. She was joined on the expedition by exGovernor Joshua Dariye who is a fugitive from the United Kingdom and who has admitted converting Plateau State funds to private use. At least he exposed the PDP as receiving part of the money allegedly looted from the state treasury. Today, he is in the Senate on the platform of LP. Now, as 2015 draws closer, many other disenchanted (or disgruntled) members of the PDP are running for cover in the LP. Former Governor Gbenga Daniel who has been credited with many political misdeeds in Ogun State is said to have sent an advance party of his loyalists to the LP. .In Ekiti where Fayose once played the same role, Opeyemi Bamidele, a member of the House of Representatives who failed in the bid to represent the Central district in the Senate in 2011, fearing failure in the bid to wrest the governorship ticket from a performing Governor Kayode Fayemi, has again defected to, wait for it, the LP. He has been assured the ticket despite protests by older members of the party. Let me quickly admit that it is the inalienable right of Mr. Bamidele to aspire to any office in the country. There is no doubt, too, that, given the political tradition in the country, he is free to hop from party to party and is not the worst political prostitute in the country. It can also be argued that his new party is not the only one guilty of this mindless act. However, I have singled out the party here because of what it professes to stand for and the expectation of Nigerians, especially the progressives who had looked forward to the LP maturing to save the land. What could have motivated Mr. Olusegun Mimiko of Alliance for Democracy fame; PDP fame to defect to LP? Is he a different person? In AD, he was a Commissioner. In PDP, he was Secretary to the State Government and later a Minister. But, when he could not realise his burning and consuming passion in PDP, he opted for LP. Who is the national leader of the LP? What was his political profile before he was helped on the scene? What are his political thoughts? How has he organised the party? An honest answer to any of these questions would reveal the hollowness of any claims the LP makes to progressive ideals. Today, the LP represents the same thing as the PDP. In 2012, it was a combination of forces between LP and INEC/Police and the Federal Government that snatched victory in Ondo. In Osun, Mimiko is unabashedly a strong supporter of a PDP aspirant, and in Ekiti, he is backing Bamidele. Perfidy has never gone unrewarded in Western Nigeria. Whether what we have now disguised as LP is another demo remains to be seen in days and years ahead. Suffice it to warn that those who allow their heads to be used to break coconut may not partake of the eating. History remains the ultimate judge.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

POLITICS

BOLAJI AKINYEMI

Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) and former Minister of Foreign Affairs isoneofthenation'sleading political thinkers. He recently served as a member of the presidential committee on amnesty for Boko Haram. A few days before his 73rd birthday he sat down with selected journalists to share his thoughts on the committee's work and recent political developments in the country. FESTUS ERIYE was there.

Let's stop ignoring grievances in Nigeria

OW do you see the APC developing? I have often said and I have been on record for saying so that a two-party system is a positive development for nation building to overcome all our nativistic cleavages. It is one of the legacies of IBB that was jettisoned ill-advisably. I welcome it. I must also say I think people who are talking about the lack of ideological orientation in the PDP or the APC completely miss the point in that political parties are there to win elections and they will configure themselves in such a way as to maximize their electoral support. You look at the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States, there is always a mixture. The southern element, for example, in the Republican Party in the United States have nothing in common with those in Montana and those from Massachusetts; the same thing with the Democratic Party. We should start to give up this missionary concept with which we judge our politics, whether domestic politics or foreign. It must be so pure that you would think we are electing a Pope. With the Snowden and Wikileaks now, we all know that those who mount the pulpit at the UN or wherever and preach pure values, their agencies are busy doing the filthiest things possible against even some of their own major allies. It doesn't bother me. It is a welcome development and then of course we must not forget that the Labour Party is coming up. So, if you don't like the PDP or the APC, the Labour Party is there for you. Remember in the United Kingdom, you have the Labour Party, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. The Labour Party in Nigeria will always be for those of us who want to vote our conscience. The Labour Party may never win an election in the Presidency, but they will make you feel good that you still voted but not for either of those two characters. We've heard a lot of criticisms about APC poaching in the PDP waters... In what other waters would they poach? Is that the same way you see the APC attempt to woo Obasanjo and Tinubu describing him as navigator and asking him to come and navigate for them? Politicians will do anything to get into power. I'm not surprised and I'm not going to lose any sleep over what any politician says or does in order to win over people. I'm not saying I support what they do. I'm just saying I'm not going to lose any sleep because it just doesn't surprise me. I have experienced a situation where you have a meeting that breaks up at 11pm and you have reached certain decisions about to do and some of the people who were at the meeting, leaving your house, have gone on to another meeting of the other side. And in the morning you remind them, 'don't forget our decision' and they reply, ahh... Things have changed. There are different colours... What different colours? I had gone to sleep believing decisions have been reached. So, I won't lose any sleep and won't be surprised.

•Akinyemi

Could we then be talking about the death of ideology? Ideology, in this country, died a long time ago. It's just that things that we got from the Western or the Eastern countries, long after they are dead, are still wagging their tails. There are people still preaching Marxism in Nigeria. Some people still believe in Marxism and other kinds of things. Ideology in terms of inflexible beliefs is long gone - except if you are talking about North Korea. But that's a one-party system. It doesn't matter what they believe in. They are there. The death of ideology is long celebrated. From your observation of what is going on, do you think this is a major shift in the balance of power in Nigeria or just a cosmetic game that after a while will settle down to the same old fashion? Are we seeing a major shift? I don't really know. And that's the honest truth. I am old enough to have witnessed alliances between political parties always on the eve of elections or at times, after the elections. It happened in 1959, on the eve of our independence at the Action group. Half of the Action Group was negotiating with Zik. The Akintola wing were sending messages to the NPC, which the Sarduana saw as duplicity and so it ended up with the NCNC. Then UPGA was also an attempt at shaking hands across the Niger. Then in 1979 between UPN and NPP, they were again negotiating, while the NPP was also negotiating with the NPN. So, I am old enough to have gone through and seen that all those alliances falter on two platforms. Disagreement over who runs for what office or if it's after elections, who issues the best offer for post. So, that is why I said that I don't know how fundamental this is. Because it then takes us back to the question I addressed earlier on about ideological posturing. If a party is not founded on a firm set of beliefs, that it is just to get rid of the ruling power, if you don't succeed electorally, you are going to break up. If the issue then starts about who runs for governor, president and so on,

because also politics is about power and the power could be power within the party or power over the country. But if you have fixed ideological postures, then the people you will invite to join you must be people who have the same ideological beliefs, who see things the way you see them. That is most likely to hold together. But in a multi ethnic, multi religious country like Nigeria, you've got to broaden your base. Does it mean that if APC does not get power at the centre in 2015 that coalition will not survive? Yes, but I will even modify that by saying let us watch out for when candidates start being adopted because this is Nigeria. I am a political scientist. Let us be practical. I have seen and you have seen, in the past how many years, a man is not adopted today to be a candidate for governor, tomorrow he moves to another party. Now, then what was his belief in the party he is leaving and then after some time he comes back. We have even had it at the presidential level, so many of them. Do you really believe that this will change within one year, that all of a sudden, people will now embrace the values that there is nothing wrong in being in the opposition? Even the way we run the National Assembly… I am quite surprised that we really haven't had people do an analysis of that. Nigeria is the only country that I know where, without forming an alliance, members of the minority party are made chairmen or deputy chairmen of House and Senate committees. I've never heard of it in my life. How can you claim that you are in opposition and yet you are the chairman of a House committee ruled by another party? Whereas technically, they can say no, we are in opposition. We accept we are in opposition and we will fight the battle of opposition. But when in fact you have already be sucked into what I call status politics. I am chairman of this committee and chairman of that committee. How can you then say you are running a viable opposition? You have applauded what looks like an

emerging two-party system. But if you look at the current configuration would you say it poses a potent threat to the PDP in 2015? The same way you would look at that time that the military thought NRC was going to beat the SDP but they were wrong… That means Nigerian politics makes a fool of all of us who dare prophesy! Well, I must agree with you that the configurations show that nothing must be taken for granted whether by the ruling party or the APC coming up. That's good for our country. Politicians are likely to be more respectful of the citizens, of the people when they actually have to fight for their victory. I think that is good for us. When nothing can be taken for granted, that is good for us. We do need the politics of citizen control, the politics of citizen respect, politics of citizen appreciation - where things center around the interest of the citizens. Whether vote is really going to count, we need that and not 'What the heck... E dibo fun wa, e o dibo a ti wole.' (Whether you vote for us or not we have won). You served on this Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenge in the North and the report is ready. Things are fairly better now, but do you think the worst is over? No. I don't think the worst is over. Things are a bit better? Oh yes. To what extent did your committee play some strategic roles in creating the kind of situation we have right now? I would rather put it this way, that the carrot and stick by the president is something that needed to be applauded. I would rather actually give more appreciation to the military intervention. I think that the symbolic value of the presidential dialogue committee was that it showed the preparedness by the federal government to negotiate if the other party is willing to negotiate. It was a diplomatic gesture. Right now, the President of the Southern Sudan and his former Vice agreed to go to Ethiopia to talk, even though the official army of the Southern Sudanese is actually giving the rebels a bloody nose. It's like if you want to talk, I am ready to talk. But if you want to fight, I am ready to continue fighting. A government should never be afraid to negotiate. But like Kennedy said, it should never negotiate out of fear. At the time we were set up, the Boko Haram had already overrun most of Borno and Yobe states. There were some people who were beginning to feel that our committee was set up as a kind of appeasement. Some people felt that way and said so. Therefore, it was necessary for the President to let these people know that I can use the military just as well. I think that things are better now. I would give the appreciation to the military intervention. The reason I said no to the president is because we tend in this country, it is either yes or no, people now think that because things have gotten better, maybe the Boko Haram is finished. But the Boko Haram has become an affiliate of an international movement that is not finished. If the major tree trunk is not finished, how can you say that the branch is finished? I just don't want Nigerians to relapse into a state of complacency, where they will later turn around tomorrow and say, we thought this thing was finished. No. Number two, the factors that led to the emergence of Boko Haram are still there: Massive youth unemployment, disillusionment with the system, loss of values, loss of faith in the judicial system. These issues were raised with us by the Boko Haram members we spoke to. These were their grievances. They are all still there. You must address the issues of massive youth unemployment. It is a time bomb. You must address the issue of caring for the widows, the fatherless, orphans. You must address those issues. You must curb corruption. This people can see. Even the blind who stumbles into a pothole on a road that was constructed three months ago knows why. He walks confidently because the road is only three months old but, all of a sudden, he falls into a pothole. He then knows why that pothole was there. We must address all these issues. They

•Continued on Page 25

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

POLITICS

•Continued from Page 24 are beyond partisan politics. That is why I said Boko Haram would continue. Boko Haram will continue to afflict us. In any case, mention to me one country in the world where you had religiousbased insurgency and it has been defeated. The leadership of Boko Haram has never come out to say that they are fighting for economic emancipation. It has always been religion-based. How do you begin to negotiate with people whose demands are not negotiable? The want install theocracy in the North. And then the people your committee was meeting were the hired hands. There was no evidence that you met with the members that mattered. If you really met with the leadership, perhaps you would have seen something more substantial. My reaction to your point is, look at where the demand for negotiation was coming from - the northern elite, the Sultan and Western countries like The United States and Britain. What do you lose by saying 'Fine. I'm ready to negotiate.' You're right, the pressure didn't come from Boko Haram members. But it came from prominent and eminent Nigerians. What do you lose by saying, alright, I am ready to negotiate. If I should turn the question around, what do you gain by saying, 'I am not ready to negotiate.' Then they turn around and say it is because you are refusing… Cuts in... No, my point is, if people are saying negotiate, then the government should have had discussion with these northern elite and asked them to provide credible people to negotiate with. Your committee met with some prisoners. We still have Shekau in the bush somewhere slaughtering people. Then, what did we lose by setting up that committee and saying we are prepared to negotiate. What did we lose? Frankly, I thought the government was just embarking on a wild goose chase. We didn't lose. A government must always…In fact, this is classic management technique. You want us to talk, I am ready to talk. And then you fold your hands. You didn't lose anything. Yes, you have allocated manpower resources for this, but then, that's part of management. You have lost nothing. It would be different if the president had taken the position that because I have set up this committee, I will order the military to stop action and then, Boko Haram had continued to gain ground. Then you will have a point. On the other hand, rather than have to confront a situation where the president will be accused of showing lack of respect for the northern elite, showing insensitivity to the people who are actually suffering and who have come up with a solution package… and also, the Americans and the British saying you are just using iron fist which was not working, according to them. The president said okay 'here's a committee headed by a minister in my government. He gained because he was prepared to negotiate. Apart from those prisoners, we did meet important leaders of the sect, not Shekau. Last week, somebody still came up to say he was Shekau. The CIA confirmed that those tapes are fake. I have come to the conclusion that actually what Boko Haram has decided to do is that every leader of the sect would be called Shekau. There was another spokesperson for Boko Haram that they kept using his name. There is no way to find out the real fact. Except if you conduct DNA testing and even at that, do you know who Shekau's father was, because you have to get a relative of his? What happened with Boko Haram is that they have been trained by the Al-Qaeda international network. It is not true that it was just the foot soldiers that we met. Even with the foot soldiers, meeting them served a very good purpose. For the first time in my life, I met Nigerians who could not be bribed. Money was nothing to them. Just as they were prepared to kill, killing them also was nothing to them because they believed in a cause. So, it was that cause that you needed to attack. And that was where some eminent Sheiks who were on our panel took them on based on the issues of the Quran. At the end, those Sheiks were able to persuade them that the interpretation by Yusuf and Shekau of the Quran was wrong. That was why they were able to go on tape and they did. And the advantage of it was that when this tape was then played, there were other foot soldiers who then said, 'Wait a minute...if our commanders are saying this...all these efforts were to make them understand that their cause and their interpretation of the Quran given to them by Shekau was faulty. They were not offered anything, nothing. Not even their freedom. As far as I know, they are still in the prisons. There are some of them who didn't give us the time of day. You could tell from their body language. But there were others who listened, who were persuaded and were convinced. Believe me, dealing with Boko Haram has alerted me, and this is the message I would like to give to Nigerians. Usually, we think every man has his prize. 'Don't worry; how much?' But I met a group that couldn't be bought and they may not be the only group. They may not be the only group. If you push people to the wall, whether in

•Akinyemi

the Niger-Delta or in any part of Nigeria, you may never know when they may cross that boundary. And then you know you really have trouble on your hands. Up till now, we always believed that money could solve all the problems; throw money at them. But these ones couldn't be bought. There was a guy… when he was arrested, his wife was pregnant and he had a little baby and they were separated. He was imprisoned somewhere. The wife and the kid were in another prison. He was aware of where they were. So it was like, look, cooperate with us, and incidentally, your wife had a baby boy. He said he knew. Don't think because you separated them he didn't know. Of course, prison is porous. Then we said to him, don't you want to go and visit your wife and new baby? But he said, 'What for?' He said where he is, that's the way Allah wants it and where his wife and baby are, that's the way Allah wants them to be. It is a struggle that does not allow for family sensitivity. That one, are you now going to say we'll give you money...So, that is a lesson that was imprinted on my own mind, which I would like Nigerians to pay serious attention to. Let us stop doing things as business as usual. Things are not business as usual in this country. There are the aggrieved and you are right that in the case of these people, they found a religion on which to hook on their grievance. There may be other groups. It could be ideology that they would hook their grievances on. Let us stop ignoring grievances. What would you say the committee achieved? From what you said earlier, it's like you more or less canvassed compensation for victims of Boko Haram. And I know the president had said there wouldn't be compensation. Did the committee recommend that? Is the committee in disagreement with the president on that? No, we didn't canvass compensation. We canvassed victims' support. What's the difference between the two? A man, a driver loses his left eye in the bombing. If he goes to court, the judge can award N2 million to N3 million compensation. We said no. Instead, look at the man. He lost one eye and can't drive again. What does he want to do? What do we suggest to him to help him maintain his family, educate his children and put food on the table and have another life? He might decide to become a carpenter. In this case,

government pays for the man to be trained to be a carpenter. You set up a workshop for him after he graduates. You give him the running capital, so that from the proceeds of that workshop, he can now maintain his family. That is victims' support. All the money you are going to put into it may be more than N5m. You don't even know the figure. We are not concentrating on the figure. We are concentrating on giving the man an alternative life. Take a woman who lost her husband. Maybe, she has run away from Maiduguri to settle in Opebi, Ikeja. Is it a small shop that will set up this woman who lost her husband, the breadwinner, and left to cater for the children? How much will it cost to set up a shop for her and give her running capital? That is victims' support. But the moment you talk about compensation, it is a legal term. Then, you have to start setting up a committee to decide how much you compensate the woman for the loss of her husband. We didn't want to go down that road. We were reading on the same page with the president. I was the Chairman of the Victims' Support Committee. We wrote the draft for a Victim Support Agency that would handle this matter. Did the president accept that? Yes, he did accept that. Now, what were the gains? The committee took a holistic look at the problems facing Nigeria that encourages insurgency all over the country. We came up with a recommendation for a Marshall Plan for the whole country - not just the North East but for the whole country. Manifestations of insurgency are kidnapping, blowing up of oil wells, armed robbery. We didn't put a figure on it but we suggested a Marshall Plan that would rescue Nigeria. Recall that in the new budget, the president said N2 billion intervention fund for the North-East and when they complained that it was too small, the Minister of State for Finance said that was just the first tranche for this year out of the total amount. I am not privy to what the president is going to do with our report. And I am not privy to what he has decided to do, but obviously, he has accepted the concept of an intervention fund. The other gain, as far as I am concerned, is the way we reached out to the victims. We had a meeting with the surviving victims of the Madalla bombing as well as the surviving victims of the NYSC office that was blown up. I remember one

“A government should never be afraid to negotiate. But like Kennedy said, it should never negotiate out of fear. At the time we were set up, the Boko Haram had already overrun most of Borno and Yobe states. There were some people who were beginning to feel that our committee was set up as a kind of appeasement. Some people felt that way and said so. Therefore, it was necessary for the President to let these people know that I can use the military just as well. I think that things are better now”

of the priests who still had shrapnel wounds and lost one of his children. He brought another son who had metal plate...Frankly, there was no dry eye. Everybody was moved to tears. But the man said the healing has just started by the fact that the government sent you people. He said apart from the government delegation that came the day after the bombing, they had seen nobody, such that they thought they had been forgotten. So, you have that psychological reaching out to them. And it happened to me also in Kano when I went to the hospital. There was a man on the bed who first of all told me off. He asked what I came to the hospital to do. Have I come to say sorry? Is that what he needs? I asked, did he mind if I sat on his bed. He told me to sit wherever I want to sit. I sat next to him on his bed and we just allowed him to talk. And it turned out that he lost his three children and when he removed the clothes covering him, he had tubes coming out of... I saw he had lost his vital organ. He said even if I want to start all over again, I can't start. After he had talked, I started calming him down. I said I'm not even going to say I'm sorry, because I didn't do it. I told him the president sent us to let him know that he knows you exist. I spoke to him and gave him a little package. He calmed down and gave us advice on what to do for the victims. We went around the country, reaching out. This is a remarkable difference from what used to happen in this country where no one remembers such victims. I remember when Yar'Adua became president, I called one of his aides to tell the president to write a letter to victims of a major accident that happened at that time somewhere in Delta and a lot of people died. Let us try to show that government can be a compassionate government. This is what I expect First Ladies to be doing, frankly. When there are disasters, I expect the First Lady to go to the hospital. Obviously, she can't go to every home. This is the compassionate face of government. We did that. We showed the compassionate face of the government. To me, those are what we count as gains. Obviously, we didn't persuade Boko Haram to give up but we came up with what I would regard as an exhaustive report on what causes insurgency. If you go to government archives, there are up to 50 of such reports that had been written. I cannot claim that to be our own success. But those two, victims' support and proposing a Marshall Plan to actually pull Nigerians out of the gutters of misery. I would regard those as having been worth the time spent on it. As a fallout of the work of your committee, you have said that things have improved. Maybe you have Boko Haram boxed into the corner, but you have also seen them grow in terms of their capability. Before now they didn't have columns of pick-up vans. Now they have all that. They have more ordnance. They even attacked military bases. They never had that kind of capability. So when we say things have improved... Cuts in... When the president asked me, I said, no. He asked me, do I think... What I'm getting at is, how do you rate the capability of Nigerian military to deal with this problem? I am not in a position to answer that question on the military tactics being adopted. But this has to do with the fact that I am not Minister of Defence, a service chief, not the National Security Adviser, so I don't really know. Do we have operational drones? I know the President went to inaugurate one, but is it operational? If those drones are operational, you will be able to pick up. Although they are expensive to run, you need drones. You have to pick up the columns and before it gets there, you can send bombers after them or you set ambush for them. I, myself, have questions to ask. Let me use this opportunity to say this. There was a front page story in one of the newspapers last time. Somebody designed toys for his child. And he has designed this thing that can actually fly. I looked at that thing. Believe me, if I were the president of the country, my National Security Adviser would have gone to pick up that man. So, you've got brains to do this. How can we make this thing operational? First of all, what other brain waves have you got? This is how to make a breakthrough. Obviously, the guy has the technological skills. This thing flew out of his compound and crashed into another place. That is the way to develop Nigeria, not through PhD. Yes, you need PhDs, but research and development. Go back through history and see. There was this man, during the Italian Renaissance, he's noted now more for sculpture. They came up with files of his drawings. He was able to dissect the human body that showed where muscles are. He did designs for submarines at a time nobody even heard of ships apart from wooden canoes. He designed space ships. He never went to school. The Americans spent $300 billion on their space programme. India spent $1.65 billion on their own. You want to tell me that Nigeria cannot afford $1.65billion? I am sure in one month we steal more

•Continued on Page 76

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

POLITICS

ripples Wada, Idris fall apart?

• Idris

HERE are strong indications that the Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada, and his predessessor, Ibrahim Idris, are no longer on good terms. A recent interview granted by Idris' son, Abubakar, who is a member of the House of Representtives, during which he criticised Idris for alleged nonperformance is reportedly causing ripples in the Kogi State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Many party members argue that Abubakar's comments may just be a true reflection of the alleged frosty relationship between Wada and Idris.

In Oyo PDP, it's Akala versus Akinjide T HE recent sighting of the campaign posters of former Governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala, declaring his 2015 governorship ambition, has laid to rest speculations over the former Police officer's interest to reclaim the seat he lost in 2011. If the current political configuration in the Oyo State PDP is anything to go by, the battle for the PDP governorship ticket will be a straight fight between Akala and the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mrs. Jumoke Akinjide, with the former Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, coming a distant third.

• Ochei

Governorship campaign heats up in Delta

• Akala

Sambo fights for political life

HE wave of endorsements by some groups to the much speculated governorship aspirations of the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Victor Ochei, and the Senator representing Delta North, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, is gradually heating up the politics of the South-South state. In a recent newspaper report, Ochei was quoted as saying he was still consulting on his 2015 ambition, but not few people in the state believe that it is just a matter of time that the youthful lawmaker throws his hat into the governorship ring.

Makarfi keeps cards close to his chest

TILL on Kaduna politics! Anxiety has gripped the camp of the Vice President over an alleged plan by former Governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi, to defect to the All Progresives Congress (APC). What has further fueled the speculation is the recent defection of thousands of PDP members to APC, with these defectors alleged to be mainly loyalists of Makarfi. Ripples gathered that Makarfi, who is still piqued over his sidelining in the politics of Kaduna State by the vice president and the state governor, Ramalan Yero, has allegedly vowed to prove his political worth in 2015 by leaving PDP for APC.

HE import of the recent visit of the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, to his home state, Kaduna, is not lost on watchers of political development of the state and the North-West geo-politcal zone. Sources revealed that Sambo recently got wind of a secret plan by some key aides of President Goodluck Jonathan to sell the candidature of a Northern govenor as Jonathan's running mate in 2015. The VP's meeting with some PDP leaders from the North-West in Kaduna is to convince doubting Thomases that he has not lost control of his political base as it is being insinuated in certain quarters.

• Sambo

• Makarfi

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

IN VOGUE By Kehinde Oluleye

Tel: 08023689894 (sms) E-mail: kehinde.oluleye@thenationonlineng.net

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

GLAMOUR

32 GLAMOUR

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

GLAMOUR 33

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

34 GLAMOUR

OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL (08033572821) raphseg2003@yahoo.com

Photos by EMEKA ODOGWU

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

38 SUNDAY MAGAZINE

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SUNDAY MAGAZINE 39

Another story on Page 44

40 SUNDAY MAGAZINE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

SUNDAY MAGAZINE 41

42 SUNDAY MAGAZINE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

•Jeremaiah

SUNDAY MAGAZINE 43

•Kristy

•Tolulope

•Abimbola

•Temitope

•Ibrahim

•Ibukunoluwa

44 SUNDAY MAGAZINE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

Solutions to real life

?relationship issues

Princess

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

ETCETERA

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

POLITICKLE

Resolutions for all

THE GReggs

How did you do in 2013, dear reader? Not too bad, but you could do better? Well, why not? Why not, as many do, set New Year’s resolutions? You know, of course, that resolutions often end quickly and a return to old ways ensues faster than you can say ‘January’. Still, the ritual of yearly ‘oath-taking’ guarantees a smile or two as the writer illustrates with common experience. THIS year: I will find out the real meaning of ‘resolution’ in the dictionary. I will stop procrastinating about procrastinating. I will remember to write 2014 instead of 2013 as the date. I will replace decades-old pictures of me with 2014 ones. I will not develop road rage and curse when a driver cuts me off in traffic. I will not conjure poor telecoms service to end an unwanted phone call. I will not pretend to be near the market to end a phone conversation. I will not fake bus stops on the phone to keep someone waiting. I will promise no more than I can give and give more than I promise. I will not cause problems and blame it on someone else. I will read the equipment manual before I lose it. I will remember neglected relations. I will stop saying the right thing at the wrong time, and vice versa. I will try to be at the right place at the right time. I will not worry too much, for worry little solves problems. I will work harder to find time to relax more. I will smile more and frown less; laugh more and whine less. I will limit perfection to being a better person. I will stick to these resolutions for more than a week.

The cure

CHEEK BY JOWL

OH, LIFE!

To remedy old year blues that may trouble the reader, the writer prescribes a past exploit of the Sunny Side character of peculiar demeanour. KOLOGBA Mensa had a good job, lived in a nice flat and appeared to have everything a bachelor needed. But friends questioned the look of bewilderment that sometimes leapt to his face while he talked. Were there salient health issues demanding attention? Why didn’t he just see a doctor? Something of an incurable cynic, Kologba considered the counsel. What if he was slightly unhinged? Other than the creepy feeling of emptiness that intermittently tugged at his sense of wellbeing, he felt fine. Wondering if he could still tolerate the sterilised world of white overcoat, needle and syringe, he resolved to attend to his health once and for all. At the hospital, the doctor frowned at the patient’s symptoms. Kologba had trouble remembering three things: places, faces, and … He couldn’t remember what the third was. For a diagnosis of mild personality disorder, the doctor prescribed initial remedy: jogging, joining a support group and indoor games. Jogging could add years to Kologba’s life, claimed the physician. And he was right. After aggravating susceptible knee joints in two weeks of road running, Kologba felt more than 10 years older. Ever sceptical, he sought and found the right kind of support group. They never meet. He took up cards. While playing with a friend, he interrupted the session with a suggestion to “make it more interesting.” They stopped playing. There had to be better therapy. Ah, why not do a ‘How to’ book? Everyone plans to write someday, some already have and others are working on something. Kologba thought he had a good title to start with: How to Cure Personality Disorder.

Phrases better not heard during surgery *Darn! Page 33 of the manual is missing! *Better save that. We’ll need it for the autopsy. *Wait a minute, if this is his spleen, then what’s that?

*Oh no! I just lost my Rolex. *... And could you stop that thing from beating; it’s throwing my concentration off. *Anyone see where I left that scalpel? *FIRE! FIRE! Everyone get out!

QUOTE

A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other. —Author Unknown

Jokes Humour

New Year’s Evolution ON New Year’s Eve, Nancy, the attendant, stood up in the local beer parlour and said that it was time to get ready. At the stroke of midnight, she wanted every husband to be standing next to the one person who made his life worth living. Well, it was kind of embarrassing. As the clock struck midnight, the bartender was almost crushed to death. Festive Lecture ON New Year’s Day, Peter was in no shape to drive, so he sensibly left his van in the car park and walked home. As he wobbled along, he was slapped by a policeman. “What are you doing out here at four o’clock in the morning?” asked the officer. “I’m on my way to a lecture,” said Peter. “And who on earth, in their right mind, would give a lecture at this time on New Year’s Day?” asked the policeman sarcastically. “I agree, but my wife will,” said Peter with a grim look.

New Year’s Thoughts •What is a New Year’s resolution? Answer: a ‘to do’ list for the first week of January. •New Year’s expectations: athletic build. Reality: overweight. Option A: lose weight. Option B: Buy bigger clothes. •My New Year’s resolution: I resolve to date more models. My New Year’s resolution revised: date more. Revised one last time: get a date. •I’m going to lose weight. I’m going to exercise every day. I’m going on a diet and will stick with it … wait, is that cake? •I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work this year; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. Passing the Buck THE drill instructor was at the end of his tether; a naval recruit’s ineptitude was driving him crazy. Getting in the young man’s face, the instructor said, “Whoever told you to join the Navy?” Snapping to attention, the youth said, “The Army recruiter, Sir.” •Adapted from the Internet

Writer’s Fountain S I N G humour in writing: Disclosure humour. If humour is a instance, what does the following joke reveal about the speaker? form of defence, you would laugh the loudest at ‘“Women are funny creatures. For example, take my what you fear the most, right? But do you? Yes, as wife.” He sniggered. “Oh, please, somebody take my wife the following joke suggests. …”’ Q: How many copy editors does it take to change a The man seemed frightened of women. Without broken light bulb? the joke, the fact might not be apparent. A: None. Copy editors only change what’s working. Discrimination is the reverse of fear, so hidden Whoever created that joke probably had good prejudices are often revealed in jokes. Jokes in reason to fear copy editors. In your stories, you centuries past could be very cruel as their typical can use jokes to reveal the inner fears of characters targets were cripples, old widows, beggars, women that might otherwise remain mysterious. For of easy virtue and foreigners. Perhaps these were symbols of all things greatly feared: illness, death, Different strokes: poverty, venereal disease and invasion. •It’s a diverse world we live in. In the U.S., Jokes circulate in every society to reflect American football, basketball and baseball communities’ fear of the unknown or the ominous, are the three most watched sports on TV. as you would find. But people will tell jokes based •In England, the top three most viewed are on prejudice only when they think their audience soccer, Formula One auto racing and will laugh with them, not at them. boxing. In Russia, it’s soccer, ice hockey and You can, therefore, insert such jokes in your boxing. stories to reveal, in just a line or two, the tacit •And in China, it’s soccer, table tennis and assumptions, fears and prejudices of an entire social swimming. group. Humour, as you may have noticed, can •No statistics are readily available for describe characters or set a scene quickly and with Nigeria, but we hazard a guess: the most efficiency. watched sports are football, football, and Yet, your story need not in itself be funny. It more football! could just as well carry a hint of comedy.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

21 years of VAT: Successes, failures •Okonjo-Iweala •Mashi

Page 58, 59

-- Page 53

'Courier companies operating under unfavourable business climate' •Oladapo

Page 61

‘I operate an open door policy’ •Moussalli

Page 62

Unregistered trucks will no longer lift petroleum products - PEF

From left: Executive Director Mainstreet Bank, Mr. Roger Woodbridge, with Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, at the completion meeting for the tranche II of the N25billion Ekiti State Bond in Lagos…recently. PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

National automotive policy will not inflict hardship on Nigerians - Jonathan

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan over the weekend assured that the implementation of National Automotive Policy approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in 2012 would not inflict pains on the people. Jonathan gave the assurance when he received a delegation of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The president, who spoke against the backdrop of criticism that had trailed the policy from certain quarters, said it would bring back the country to the right path in automobile sub-sector. Specifically, as the policy commences in March, some group had criticised the proposed increase in clearing rates and tariff on imported

fairly used cars also known as ``Tokunbo." Jonathan, who thanked RTEAN for supporting the policy, assured that the policy would ensure competitiveness and productivity in the automobile sector. He added that the policy would assist in the establishment of automotive supplier parks and clusters and job creation. ``One area I want to commend you is on the Auto Policy of Government. People have different views, but the most important body that can comment on the policy is your body. ``From RTEAN position on the Auto Policy, I am quite pleased, let me use this opportunity to assure Nigerians that government cannot bring a policy that will increase the hardship of Nigerians.

`Ìf that comes up, I will abort it even midway because we cannot come up with a policy that will make Nigerians suffer or pay higher prices for vehicles. ``However, we must come up with policies that Nigerians will pay less and especially job and wealth creation and improvement on our economy. `Às a nation, we spent an average of over four billion dollars in importing vehicles. `Ìf this chunk of money, even half of it, is invested in the country to assemble and manufacture, it will go a long way.' ``When you assemble, other small cottage industries will come up to produce one component or the other to serve the main assemblage plant. ``This will create jobs and stimulate the economy. By the

time you import, you are exporting jobs, but if you assemble locally you are creating jobs. That is the thinking of government.'' The president thanked the association for coming to interface with government and commended its efforts to procure 4000 vehicles of various types for mass transit in the country. He directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, to incorporate the union in all programmes in the centenary celebrations. Earlier, the RTEAN National President, Chief Musa Isiwele, commended Jonathan for the Automotive Policy and the improvement in road network across the country. Isiwele acknowledged that the improvement on national highways had improved road transportation and reduced accident.

By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf with agency report

treasury bills, placed with the central bank at an interest rate of zero percent, also hurt the lender's income, he said. The increase in interest on savings "was something not budgeted for by the bank," Onasanya said. "Barring any additional pronouncements by the government, we will be achieving our 2012 numbers." FBN reported 2012 net income of 75.7 billion naira, more than

triple the previous year. The Central Bank of Nigeria increased the cashreserve requirement for federal, state and local government deposits to 50 percent from 12 percent in July to reduce liquidity and support the naira. The regulator also told lenders to lower fees and commissions from April 2013 to prevent potential conflict with clients.

‘How regulations weakened First Bank's profit in 2013’

NDICATIONS are that the projected profits for First Bank Nigeria in 2013 will be as the previous year owing to tougher regulatory requirements which inevitably increased its costs. It would be recalled that the rise in interest rate paid on savings cost the bank N5billion ($31.5 million) in the nine months through September, just as a reduction

in commission on sales led cost the bank N10 billion naira. Making this disclosure at the weekend was First Bank Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, Bisi Onasanya, in a phone interview with Bloomberg from Lagos, the commercial capital. A sale of about 150 billion naira in

HE Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) at the weekend said that unregistered trucks would no longer be allowed to lift petroleum products at depots. This is contained in a statement issued by Mr Goddy Nnadi, the General Manager, Corporate Services of PEF, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja. The statement said a five-pronged strategy had been implemented by PEF Management Board to quicken the compulsory registration and tagging of trucks used in moving products under the Project Aquila. It said the project would begin in January. ``Under the plan, the Information Technology Systems in the organisation have been upgraded to ensure faster processing and tagging of trucks used in the movement of petroleum products nationwide. ``Staffers of the IT unit have also undergone special training for better and more efficient service delivery. Trucks not tagged will not be allowed to bridge products in any depot," it said. The statement said that registration and tagging of trucks would now be decentralised to designated centres in the six geo-political zones to reduce stress on marketers and transporters. It noted that documentation processes had been streamlined and paper work reduced drastically. The statement added that tagging teams would work simultaneously at the various zones to ensure that marketers are not delayed unduly. It said that marketers were now to file applications for the registration and tagging of their trucks at the various depots. The statement said that the processing of such applications by the Customer Care Unit had been limited to two working days only. It explained that the measures were being implemented to ensure speedy service delivery to petroleum marketers. ``Project Aquila is the high-tech electronic loading and delivery system implemented by the Board to check leakages in the system as well as enthrone transparency and due process, " the statement said.

NATCOMS demands value for money in telecoms services

HIEF Deolu Ogunbanjo, the President, National Association of Telecommunication Subscribers (NATCOMS), at the weekend urged telecommunication operators to provide value for money in telecoms services in 2014. Ogunbanjo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that operators, in the previous year, failed to provide subscribers with uninterrupted telecoms service delivery. He said the association in 2013 received complaints from numerous subscribers on the poor services being rendered by the operators. `Ìn 2013, the association received numerous complaints from the subscribers bordering on call drops, bad networks, unsolicited messages, just to mention but a few. `Ìt is worrisome that network operators lacked the capacity to cope with the increasing traffic generated by subscribers in the country," the NATCOMS official said. Ogunbanjo advised the operators to upgrade their networks, to meet the growing number of subscribers. He urged the operators to identify the base stations, base transceiver stations, interconnect-links and transmission-links that were congested, and address the problems, while expanding their networks. The NATCOMS official said it was imperative for every operator to offer excellent service to subscribers, adding that failure to do so could limit the nation's economic growth. `Èach time a subscriber makes or receives a call, sends an SMS or accesses data services, what the subscriber wants is value for money. ``There is also the need for government to solve the problem of poor power supply in the country, which constitutes one of the problems impeding the delivery of quality service," he said. Ogunbanjo also identified challenges of infrastructure vandalism, theft and community issues as some of the factors responsible for poor services in the country.

BUSINESS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

21 years of VAT: Successes, f It's 21 years since Value Added Tax (VAT) administration became fully operational in the country under the charge of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). Nduka Chiejina, Assistant Editor, takes a critical look at the problems and prospects thus far. •Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance

HE Value Added Tax (VAT) became fully operational in Nigeria over two decades ago, 21 years to be precise. 21 years after, it has taken on a life of its own, as it is a popular culture being observed by all and sundry, including corporate organisations and individuals. But what really is a VAT? Experts who should know offer plausible explanation. VAT, according to Wale Adio, a tax expert, "Is a tax on spending. The tax is borne by the final consumer of goods and services because it is included in the price paid. The tax is at a flat rate of five per cent collected on behalf of the federal government by businesses and organisations which have registered with the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) for VAT purposes." Expatiating, Adio said: "A business or organisation which has registered for VAT is classified as a "registered person." Such persons will pay five per cent VAT on goods and services purchases but can claim credit for this tax (called input tax) when sold, five per cent VAT (called output tax) is included in the price of all goods and services supplied by registered persons. The registered person has to make regular VAT returns and either pays to, or receives from the FIRS, the difference of the input tax and the output tax." VAT returns (and payments) are normally made monthly to the FIRS Integrated Tax Office on or before 21st day of the month next following that in which the supply was made. To claim a credit for input tax, a registered person must hold a "Tax Invoice." Records and accounts have to be kept; FIRS Integrated Tax Offices provides free information and advisory services to help you with VAT. Road to VAT From available information, sourced from FIRS website, The Nation gathered that the idea of introducing VAT in Nigeria came from the Study Group set up by the federal government in 1991 to review the entire Tax system. VAT was proposed and a

Committee was set up to carry out feasibility studies on its implementation. In January, 1993, the federal government agreed to introduce VAT by the middle of the year. It was later shifted to 1st September, 1993 by which time the relevant legislation would have been made and proper ground work done. VAT came as a replacement to the existing Sales Tax which had been in operation under federal government legislated Decree No.7 of 1986 but was operated on the basis of residence. Besides, the rationale behind replacing Sales Tax with Value Added Tax was informed by a number of factors and considerations, notably: The base of the Sales Tax in Nigeria as operated under Decree No. 7 of 1986 was narrow. It covered only nine categories of goods plus sales and services in registered hotels, motels and similar establishments. The narrow base of the tax negated the fundamental principle of consumption tax which by nature is expected to cut across all consumable goods and services. VAT base is broader and includes most professional services and banking transactions which are high profit-generating sectors. Only locally manufactured goods were targeted by the Sales Tax Decree of 1986, although this might not have been the intention of the law. VAT is neutral in this regard. Under VAT, a considerable part of the tax to be realised is from imported goods. This means that under the new VAT, locally manufactured goods will not be placed at a disadvantage relative to imports. Since VAT is based on the general consumption behaviour of the people, the expected high yield from it will boost the fortunes of the state governments with minimum resistance from the payers of the tax. VAT as a global phenomenon Value Added Tax is a consumption tax that has been embraced by many countries worldwide. Because it is a consumption tax, it is relatively easy to administer and difficult to evade. The yield from VAT is a fairly accurate measurement of the growth of an economy since purchasing power

•Lamido Sanusi, CBN governor

(which determines yield) increases with economic growth. VAT is considered to be a selfassessment tax that is paid when returns are being rendered. In-built in the new tax is the refund or credit mechanism which eliminates the cascading effect that is a feature of the retail sales tax. The input-output tax mechanism in VAT also makes it self-policing. In essence, it is the Output Tax less Input Tax that constitutes the VAT payable. It is the equivalent of the VAT paid by the final consumer of the product that will be collected by the government. Although VAT is a multiple stage tax, it has a single effect and does not add more than the specified rate to the consumer price no matter the number of stages at which the tax is paid. VAT administration in Nigeria The VAT system in Nigeria is administered by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). The FIRS Integrated Tax Offices (ITO) is located throughout the federation. Although VAT is administered centrally by the federal government by using the existing tax machinery of the FIRS in close cooperation with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the State Internal Revenue Services (SIRS), the net proceeds from the tax accrue solely to the state governments after making an allowance of 20% to cover the cost of administration. In effect, the state governments will benefit to the tune of 80% of the entire VAT collection. The implementation of VAT officially commenced on the 1st September, 1993. However, registered persons were given the whole of September to adjust their accounts, particularly the incorporation of VAT information in their general ledgers, in order to comply with the requirements of the tax. This meant that all registered persons were to start issuing VAT invoices to their customers as from 1st October, 1993. VATable goods and services At the moment, there are seventeen categories of goods and twenty four categories of services that are VATable. The goods and services exempted are as follows: medical and pharmaceutical prod-

•Kabir Mashi, FIRS boss

ucts; basic food items; books and educational materials; newspapers and magazines; baby products; commercial vehicles and their spare parts, and agricultural equipments and products and veterinary medicine. Besides, services exempted include but not limited to the following: medical services; services rendered by Community Banks, Peoples Banks and Mortgage Institutions; and plays and performances conducted by educational institutions as part of learning. A VATable person is one who trades in VATable goods and services for a consideration. Every VATable person has an obligation to register for VAT payment. The registration is to cover all the business activities of the VATable person. The person can be a sole proprietor (e.g. a trader), a professional (e.g. a lawyer) a partnership, a Limited Liability Company; a Club or Association or a Charity. A resident of Nigeria, who performs services outside Nigeria, needs to register with the Integrated Tax Office (ITO). VAT offences and penalties There are various offences with very stiff penalties under the VAT system. Some of the offences are: failure to register; failure to furnish required information; making false claims; obstructing VAT inspectors; and failure to submit returns. These offences carry penalties ranging from fines of up to N10,000 to various terms of imprisonment. In some cases, the fines or penalties depend on the amount of evasion involved. The law is even stricter in dealing with officers of the Board. Any officer of the Board who aids or abets the commission of any of the offences under the VAT law will be liable to a fine of N50,000.00 and/or imprisonment of five years. A salient feature of the VAT system is its ability and promptness in making refunds as and when due. Refund here does not necessarily mean direct cash payment. The Decree permits a taxable person to claim refund of the excess tax, in the event of input tax exceeding output tax. Re-

fund is also available for VAT paid on zero-rated goods and services. The FIRS is empowered to set the guidelines and requirements for VAT refund from time to time. Tax defaulters in government circles To analysts, the FIRS is doing a yeoman's job of getting everybody into the tax net. But, regrettably, some quasi-governmental agencies have been known to act in the breach when it comes to fulfilling their civic obligation, that is paying taxes as at when due. To address this lacuna, in 2003, the FIRS gave notice to all federal and state government ministries, departments, agencies, local government councils of the federation, corporate organisations and all other collecting agents on the mandatory direct epayment of VAT to FIRS accounts. The service noted that "over the years, huge arrears of taxes accumulated by federal, states, local government councils and all other collecting agents all over the country have impacted negatively on the nation's revenue profile. It is also a known fact that the nation needs a sustained flow of revenue for her development projects." All state government ministries, departments, agencies and local government councils were then required to ensure that all contractors under the jurisdiction of FIRS provide their Tax Identification Number (TIN) before engaging in any transaction with such entities and in the same vein, all staff of state MDAs and local government councils under the jurisdiction of FIRS must obtain TIN to facilitate the remittances of the relevant taxes. Last year, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) commenced the implementation of automated Value Added Tax (VAT) and Withholding Tax deductions at source for the aviation industry beginning from September 2013. Making this known recently was the Acting Executive Chairman of FIRS, Alhaji Kabir Mashi. He spoke at a one-day sensitisation workshop for FIRS

BUSINESS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

es, failures

‘

VAT is considered to be a selfassessment tax that is paid when returns are being rendered. In-built in the new tax is the refund or credit mechanism which eliminates the cascading effect that is a feature of the retail sales tax. The input-output tax mechanism in VAT also makes it self-policing. In essence, it is the Output tax less Input Tax that constitutes the VAT payable. It is the equivalent of the VAT paid by the final consumer of the product that will be collected by the government

’

Field Officers, Collection Agents and Banks. Mashi also listed the automation of all FIRS receipt processes, increase in the number of payment channels as well as the implementation of the Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS) as among steps taken by FIRS to ensure increase tax revenue collection for the government. He also disclosed that FIRS is collaborating with the commercial banks to make the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) mandatory for opening of an account and all transaction with the individuals and corporate bodies. Mashi said: "We have extended invitations to our collecting agents for their magnanimity in collecting and remitting taxes on behalf of the Service. Businesses now know that there is no hiding place for them anymore. Yes they can run, but they can no longer hide." According to him, efficient revenue management entails generating the maximum level of revenue without leakages, prompt delivery of quality services to the taxpaying public and high level of transparency and accountability. He said while part of the ITAS project focuses on taxpayers registration using TIN, the filing and registration and returns processes, payment processing was being addressed by the collection automation project. The FIRS boss explained that the FIRS has "adequate mechanisms for proper analysis and monitoring of these initiatives to enable us address attendant challenges as they occur. The success or otherwise of some of the above initiatives depended on the level of cooperation of agencies like the Nigeria Customs Service, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation." Mashi noted that the Service at inception focused on efficiency in collection, assessment and accounting, adding that: "While the primary mandate remained un-

changed, a lot has since changed from process reengineering to process automation through our modernisation programme." He assured of the Service commitment to keeping its mission statement to operate a transparent and efficient tax system that optimises tax revenue collection and voluntary compliance. Between September and December 2013, when the automation process started, about N600 billion has been realised from the aviation industry alone, a development which the FIRS wants to harness. It was also revealed that another automated tax capturing platform has been introduced by the FIRS for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for the purpose of recouping proceeds from Withholding Tax and VAT originally meant for the FIRS but which many MDAs have had denied the service. A source who spoke with The Nation in confidence said the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved the use of the automated platform to capture Withholding tax and VAT proceeds from MDAs giving the large amount of money involved and the complexity of the exercise. To this end, a Canadian company has been engaged to assist the FIRS in this effort. So far it was revealed that about 15 to 20 MDAs have so far been registered on the platform and more will be registered in the New Year. A the height of the financial crisis that hit the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) it was revealed that one of the reasons the FAAC was resorting to drawing down the Excess Crude Account (ECA) was because revenue generating agencies like the FIRS and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) were not making enough money as expected to fund the federation account without recourse to the ECA. This development is was learnt is what compelled the federal government to mandate both revenue generating agencies to ramp up their revenue generating drives and feed the federation account with more cash.

From left: Princewill Omorogiuwa, Chief Executive, Simon Page Business School, Mildred Bagshaw, Marketing Manager, PZ Cussons Nigeria, Nana Utomi, Senior Partner Mabat Pro and Solomon Twum, General Manger Simon Page Business School at the annual end-of-year dinner in Lagos...recently

ZTE smartphones hit Nigerian market in 2014 •Assures on equipment investment on wireless and broadband systems services Z

TE Corporation, a leading global maker of telecommunications equipment and network solutions and mobile devices, has hinted of plans to introduce ZTE branded smartphones into the Nigerian market this year. Making this disclosure recently in Lagos was Brielle Gao, Managing Director, ZTE Nigeria Limited. Gao, who assured that her company was in the country for the long haul, said it hopes to consolidate its superior performance in the areas of telecoms infrastructure, security equipment while expanding some other solutions in various business sectors in Nigeria in the new year. "Most importantly, during the year, we plan to introduce ZTE smartphones which has enjoyed global acclaim into the Nigerian market," she stressed. ZTE has maintained an effective presence in Nigeria for close to 10 years with stable, long-term partnerships with the federal government and major private telecommunications operators. The ZTE boss, who scored the National Public Security Project Communication System (NPSCS) Project high, said ZTE is very proud to have delivered a secured, modern e-security platform and solutions to the Nigerian government and the Nigerian people. "The NPSCS project remains a security issue and should be treated as such, but suffice to say here that the project is indeed an audacious step towards providing modern infrastructure for public security and epolicing in Nigeria." While taking stock of the company's performance in the outgoing year, she said: "ZTE Corporation, a publicly-listed company posted a net profit of about USD90.5million (RMB 552 million) for the nine-month quarter ending in September 2013. That represents an increase of about 132% when compared to same period a year earlier, as the company executed its operational strategy to improve cash flow and raise profitability. "Internationally, ZTE

By Olayinka Oyegbile

continued to focus its efforts on major and globally leading carriers, and gained strong momentum in key sectors such as enterprise and government ICT solutions, services and mobile devices, while consolidating its share of the telecommunications network infrastructure market." On partnerships with telecom operators over the years, she said: "Through the year 2013, we strengthen our relationship with the local operators. We are currently involved in facility upgrade with some major operators in Nigeria. We hope that in the coming year we will continue to offer more efficient, up-to-date infrastructure that will not only boost mobile phone services but particularly catalyse access to broadband services."

•Gao, at the parley

Expatiating, she said: "Looking ahead to the next reporting period, equipment investment by the telecommunications industry will remain focused on wireless and broadband systems and their ancillary transmission networks. We expect more positive figures in subsequent reports." ZTE, she stressed, "will continue to drive product innovation and solution-based operations with a strong focus on mainstream products, while seeking to improve research and development efficiency." Commenting specifically on Nigeria's operating business climate, she said: "To us, Nigeria is a key market for telecommunications growth in Africa and the world. Here you have very dynamic and versatile market driven by high population of tech-trendy and unassuming endusers. With our competitive, robust, innovative solutions and technologies, ZTE is best poised for strong presence in this market." Like many corporate citizens, ZTE has also been involved in CSR activities in its host communities. "During the year we initiated the ZTE ICT Lab Project for primary and secondary schools. With this project, ZTE plans to make donations of ICT laboratories to select primary or secondary schools. We are kicking off this project with the donation of an ICT Lab to the Police Children School located at Mopol 20 Barracks, Ikeja, Lagos. The lab, which is ready for commissioning, is equipped with 20 modern Desktop Computers with UPS accessories and a Laserjet Office Printer. The Desktops will be linked with Internet facilities. The lab is also complemented with a 5 KVA Generator. We are planning to invite you all to the inauguration and handover at a date, most likely in the third week of January," she stressed.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

BUSINESS

NSCDC to reduce vandalism of national assets in 2014 - Abolurin

HE Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), at the weekend, pledged to drastically reduce vandalism of national assets and public utilities this year. The Commandant-General, Dr Ade Abolurin, made the pledge at a news briefing at the Corps headquarters in Abuja. He said the corps had made great efforts in 2013 to reduce vandalism of critical infrastructure, especially in oil and gas, telecommunication and transport. ``Every challenge we ex-

perienced in 2013 should not be seen in 2014. We are supposed to be more proactive and successful in driving away oil theft and vandalism," he said. The commandant-general attributed the hitch-free Christmas celebration across the country to improved security and effective policing. He disclosed that the Corps would accord high priority to ending oil theft in the Niger Delta, adding that it would soon roll out plans to achieve the mandate. ``In the next one week we will roll out activities to show

the public how effective we will be this year in reducing the rate of crime in the society; we are up to the task.'' Abolurin, who led officers of the corps in a prayer session to usher in the New Year, said the corps would achieve its mandate through God's guidance. He said the prayer session was important in order to seek the face of God and ask for his protection during the year. ``God will help us to transform the society, He will help us fight vandalism and we will co-exist harmo-

centre of the state, were the worst hit. ``When Abia was created, I felt so proud not because I thought we should be split into so many states, but because I thought we had the potential to place Abia as one of the top states in the nation. ``As a commissioner then in the old Imo State, I remembered coming into Aba when they were opening the NTA office in the town and we had lots of designers there. ``Take for an example people in the textile and garments industry, these are people that need just a little support to get to the global stage

of designing," he said. He alleged that ``22 years down the lane, no meaningful development has taken place in the state.'' Kalu added that a situation where critical infrastructures were in deplorable condition and in most cases nonexistent was regrettable. ``We have not lived up to expectations and we still have a long way to go to create viable agriculture, industries and proper infrastructure. ``There is no question that we need to do a lot more and part of the problem is that we have not really had time to amplify our resources

matter was reported on Dec. 12, 2013, at the Aso Pada Police Station by Jona Ikpe of Aso Pada. Adaji told the court that on Dec. 12, Ikpe kept his generator valued at N13,000 beside his barbing saloon situated at Aso and the accused made away with it. ``He was later arrested at

Mararaba without the generator,'' he said. Adaji said that the offence contravened the provisions of Section 287 of the Penal Code. If convicted, the accused is liable to five years' imprisonment or fine or both, but he pleaded not guilty. The presiding judge, Mr

niously with one another this year. ``We ended the year praising and thanking God for what He has done, so we are commencing the New Year with praises and prayers so that He can guide and be with us," Abolurin said. He charged officers of the corps to be diligent, proactive and work with uncompromising dedication. The commandant-general urged the public to give peace a chance and support government the corps in its effort to protect critical infrastructure for the good of all.

Kalu decries poor state of infrastructure in Abia

FORMER minister of finance and economic planning, Dr Kalu Idika Kalu, has said that the state of infrastructure in Abia fell short of the aspirations of its founding fathers. Kalu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in his country home, Ohafia, that the euphoria that greeted the creation of the state 22 years ago seemed to have waned due to under-development. The former minister also decried the lack of manpower development in the state. He said the ingenious artisans in the state, particularly in Aba, the commercial nerve

beyond the ones we know. "Abia State had oil and gas territories which were ceded to other states. ``We still have a golden opportunity to look at these things radically and isolate ourselves whether as governors, senators or members of the house,'' he said. Kalu said what the people needed was a system that would bring about growth, development, stability and progress. He added that such proper steps would reduce the poverty level among the people to the barest minimum.

Mechanic in court for allegedly stealing generator

HE police at the weekend arraigned a motor mechanic, Obufuna Ezeokafor, 33, of Aso, Mararaba in Nasarawa State, at a Grade 1 Area Court in Aso Pada, Mararaba, on a charge of stealing a generator set. The prosecutor, PC Friday Adaji, told the court that the

Albert Maga, admitted the accused to bail in the sum of N100,000 and a surety in like sum. Maga said that the surety must be of reputable character, possess landed property and must reside within the jurisdiction of the court. He adjourned the case to Jan. 9 for hearing.

Bello tasks OPS on development

HE Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, has stressed the need for private sector support towards improving the socio-economic infrastructure of the state. He made this known at the launching and introduction of

a new range of construction equipment, manufactured in China by XGMA, into the Nigerian market by Richbon Nigeria Limited recently at its headquarters in OshodiApapa, Lagos. The event brought together hundreds of construction workers,

contractors, bankers, government agencies, engineers, surveyor, artisans, and mechanic. Equipments that were launched included excavators, motor graders, forklifts, vibratory rollers, wheel loaders and bulldozers. Richbon was

handed a certificate of dealership by the management of XGMA. Bello, who was represented by Mr. M.N Mustapha at the colourful launching, said that the equipments are suitable to improving infrastructure in the state.

From left: National Business Manager, Mouka Limited, Mr Kayode Okuwa, Comptroller of Prisons Borstal Training Institute Abeokuta, Mrs Folasade Akinwale, Coordinator of Youth at Risk Network, Mr Daniel Nweze and Chief Commercial Officer, Mouka Limited, Mr Jude Abonu during the donation of Mouka mattresses to Abeokuta Prison at Mouka Head Office, Ikeja, Lagos ...recently PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

Price of food items crash in Jos

RICE of some food items have crashed in the Jos just few days after the Christmas and New Year festivities. A survey conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the weekend at the Tomatoes Market, Jos, showed that price of vegetables have dropped from what obtained two weeks before the festive season. A bag of green beans that sold for N12, 000 before the festivities, now costs N7, 000. A bag of carrot that went for N10, 000 is now sold for N5, 000, while a big basket of tomatoes that was sold for N5, 000, now attracts N2000. Checks also revealed that a bag of onion that was sold for N4, 500 before now, attracts N2, 500, while a bag of hot pepper that sold for N8, 000, now costs N3, 500. The ordinary pepper that was sold for N5, 000, now goes for N2, 000. The Chairman of Plateau Vegetable Dealers Association, Alhaji Shua'ibu Mohammed, said the situation was caused by low sales after the festivities. Mohammed also blamed the development on excess supply of the commodities to the market, stressing that supply was now more than the demand.

India woos Nigerians to attend her exhibition in Lagos

HE High Commission of India in Nigeria at the weekend advised Nigerians to take advantage of its forthcoming three-day exhibition of products and services in Lagos. The commission, in a statement signed by its First Secretary, Mrs Rani Malick, said that the exhibition would hold from Jan.16 to Jan.18 at its office in Lagos. "The High Commission of India will hold a three-day Indian Products and Services Exhibition (IPASE-4). "This will be the fourth edition of the annual event after success of three editions. About 25 local businesses engaged in Indian products and services in Nigeria will display them at IPASE-4. ``Nigerian businessmen and other stakeholders should, therefore, avail themselves of these Indian products and services,'' it said. The statement said that the exhibition was part of the commission's efforts at promoting Indian products and services in Nigeria and as well encouraged Nigerian stakeholders. It listed the products to be displayed to include automobiles, fans, pumps, pharmaceuticals, herbal medicines, healthcare products, power generation machines and clothing materials. Others are toiletries and cosmetics, shoes and fabrics, electrical equipment, machines, telecommunication facilities, insurance products, telemedicine networking, and security solutions.

Council boss empowers less privileged

XECUTIVE Chairman of Iba Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Honourable Princess Ramota Oseni Adeyeri, has empowered a large number of the less- privileged in the area. The aged, widows, and students of the skill acquisition centre located in the local council, among several others, benefitted from the poverty-reduction programme. The empowerment exercise which cut across tribal and religious lines was held at the council premises recently. Desk top computers, deep freezers, professional photo cameras, clippers and sterilizers, soft drinks and coolers, grinding machines, popcorn machines, among other items, were given to the beneficiaries according to their business interest. Beneficiaries who were into tie and dye-making also received financial support to boost their businesses. The beneficiaries filled with joy, expressed gratitude to the chairman for the empowerment. One of them who gave her name as Folake Jimoh said: "We thank God for giving us someone like Hon Adeyeri as our chairman. She has a listening ear and a compassionate heart for the less-privileged. Her gestures are unprecedented in this LCDA." Speaking, the chairman said the need to alleviate poverty in our society cannot be over emphasised. "This is why we have given all these items to a cross section of our populace today. It is worth mentioning that those who are going home with computer systems and those in tie and dye-making were variously trained over three to six months before this empowerment. "Another major aspect of our poverty alleviation programme is monthly stipends to widows, the age and other less-privileged in the area. The programme started from the inception of this administration in 2011. An average of N2, 520, 000 is paid in various sums to about 375 people in these categories. In spite of this level of success, I am not resting on my oars as efforts are being made towards facilitating more projects that we are putting in the year 2014."

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

OU were part of the last executive, how would you describe the experience? The old executive tried their best for the association because it was a period when members, especially indigenous courier companies, did not see why they should join any association, so the old executive tried to convince members on the need to be part of the association and so it was a good one. Don't forget that I was the secretary at that period. Most members were indigenous courier companies, they didn't believe so much in funding the association, they believed they had paid dues which was less than N30,000 for one year and it should be enough for them to run things. Don't forget that was the period we were championing the establishment of the passage of Courier Commission Bill which means we had to be going to Abuja now and then. The challenge then was that most of the operators were doing capital market business, most of them were limited to that line of business and so when esolutions was introduced, members were facing difficulties in their businesses. It was also a period when the renewal fee was jerked up from N250 to N1million. We had challenge with that one, eventually it was brought back to N500,000 which we currently pay . This was where through the doggedness of the last executive and if there had been no executive, I'm sure NIPOST would have gone ahead to do this. NIPOST being the regulator and executor, it means they can wake up and say, 'today you have to be paying this,' not minding what we are facing. The business volume was declining, at the same time, the cost of doing this business was going up, the cost of renewing the license was going up. It was N3million for the person who wanted to take a new license had to pay, we were able to fight that and they brought it back to N2million; these were parts of what the last executive were able to do. If the last executive had been wonderful why did you aspire to become the president of the association? I've always believed so much in professionalism, yes the last executive tried to instill discipline in members. I was there when the association was formed in day one and I had seen the vision of the first president, Sir Obiora Okeke, now late. The dream was to have an association that would be a real umbrella for all the couriers operators, but I found out that most people are still not in any of the associations either Nigerian International Air Courier Association (NIACA) or Association of Courier Operators (ANCO), yet they enjoy the benefit that we all fight for. When any boy does anything wrong they believe that it is the courier

BUSINESS

'Courier companies operating under unfavourable business climate' Siyanbola Oladapo is the Managing Director, Bowill Errands Limited as well as President of the Association of Nigeria Courier Operators (ANCO). An Associate of Chartered Institute of Administration, he, along with others, championed the passage of the Courier Bill. In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, he speaks on development in the courier sub-sector, among others companies and the problem of quacks is still there though Courier Regulatory Department (CRD) is trying its best to war against them just as we are saying we want to flush out all those illegal operators from the industry. Secondly, the quacks need to do things properly, the people in the association also must play according to the rules of the game. Also, all these transporters who are not real couriers but they can just help you take things are just messing up the whole thing. You made mention of parallel association, do you think it is good for your association? Before the coming together of the Nigerian courier operators there had been Nigerian NIACA, NIACA is for the people that have international affilia-tions, it was only DHL, FEdex and TNT that were part of that association and so they didn't allow any other person who was in courier industry to be part of them but during the 2nd Nigeria Couriers Summit, it was said that there should be an umbrella courier body that would take care of everybody, whether you are international or you are indigenous and that is why ANCO is called Association of Nigeria Courier Operators that is whoever is practicing courier business in Nigeria must be part of it. You talked about quacks in the business, how are you going to tackle that problem? You see because our members go out, they know who these people are. They would see them they can easily give us their names. I'm going after them because they give us a bad image, if they do anything, they will say they are courier companies and they are disturbing the flow of our business. Secondly, because they are quacks, that do not mean they are not registered. They are registered, yet they are not doing things professionally, you must do things professionally. We must be respected the way bankers are respected. If you say you work in a couriers industry, people must respect you and part of the things we are doing is to now have a lapel pin that every member of ANCO carries which means when you have that thing with you, you are expected to display certain level of responsibility

•Oladapo

INTERVIEW and now it is compulsory that everybody in ANCO will have to sign code of conduct written on the letter head of their respective companies sealed so that we can deal with them when they do things that are not right. The reason why banks don't give us loan is that they see us as just being there. I want to make sure that they have respect for courier practitioners so that when we go there and say I'm a couriers practitioner, the banks can

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look at what you are doing and still give you loan. You talked about expanding business frontiers; you only mentioned Ghana. Is that the only country you are doing business within West Africa? If you do a business with anybody in the Republic of Benin you will have challenge because they don't know anybody to report you to if there is any problem that is why the commission was very important then. The

The reason why banks don't give us loan is that they see us as just being there. I want to make sure that they have respect for courier practitioners so that when we go there and say I'm a couriers practitioner, the banks can look at what you are doing and still give you loan

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Republic of Benin has Courier Commission, Ghana has , Nigeria does not have, Nigeria benchmarks things with Ghana, we felt let us bring somebody from Ghana since they have been there for quite some time now. Let somebody from there come and talk about those opportunities and how the commission is being run in that place that was why we brought the man from Ghana. What we are planning to do is to have an association, West Africa Courier Operators Association, I have discussed with the man from Ghana . That one will open more businesses for local operators. Again, we are thinking of having a courier institute. There is no university where they study courier and it has been experience from one company to the other and what we are planning to do again is to have West African Courier Institute in Nigeria so that where there is manpower challenges, they can send people to Nigeria or anywhere we want to set it up. We are looking at Nigeria because of the volume and size of what we have here so that people can get a degree, can have a certificate. We will make sure we attach it to a particular institution, these are the kinds of things we hope to do all in the hope of expanding the market the more, and business opportunities for everybody. What are those new things you are going to introduce in this new dispensation? We are going to address the manpower challenges which most of them have now. Hitherto, most of them can leave courier A and owing them or has duped them, can easily go to another company to start business. The website is being repackaged that we have a data base for every worker, ever staff of every courier company so that once you report them about any fraudulent activity, we will make sure that throughout the industry, that person does not get a job and we are partnering with CRD. Secondly we intend to set up a machinery for having a befitting ANCO secretariat. I'm not saying I'm going to build it, we will start the process of setting it up. Again,

we are looking at whoever does not belong to the association would not operate freely in this industry . Some people don't know where to go to recruit their staff, we want to assist them in the recruitment. If they need our assistance for staff, we can recommend people. We want to resuscitate meeting of couriers so that if there are challenges in any of these agencies we can discuss it. We want to have regular meeting with our registrars who give bulk of the jobs to our members so that from time to time we can have a feed back of what they are doing and again to be able to discipline ourselves. We will ensure professionalism as the core of our existence¸ if you are not a professional, you won't have anything to do in that business. We are going to have management courses, most of them by virtue of the way the license was given to them don't even have what it takes to be the head of these agencies. They will now have lecture on management and administration, which is going to be free of charge we organise experts to come and teach them on certain things so that they can brush up their knowledge and other things. What are the positions you want to present to government concerning the association? One, is to give us the necessary backing as a voice of more than 200 companies in Nigeria. Government should give us a listening ear, especially as it concerns regulators, ensuring that the regulator should not be the player, that NIPOST should be NIPOST, they should have a different commission so that we can witness the same thing they witness in telecommunication by setting up a commission . We want them to back us up; let there be soft loan. They should help us on all these charges, they are killing the business; this is a business that can assist Nigeria to increase her GDP if they can assist us. It seems courier business is shrinkng, it used to be a thriving business, what could have been responsible for this? That is the problem when government brought out some policies. In Lagos in particular, they said any motorcycle below 200cc cannot operate, you can only operate in designated areas. It means most of us will have to sell all the motorcycles we have so that we can get 200cc and 200cc is 250 per cent above the other ones, the NIPOST just increased renewal fee from N250,000 to N500,000, the tariff has been increased twice in 18 months, the roads are getting bad now and then, motorcycles have to pass through those roads. Most of these 200cc, their life span is 12 to 15 months, the cost was becoming too much for the courier, that is what has killed most of them, but courier business is still there, operators have only changed the way they operate.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

TOCKS rose, with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (SPX) rebounding from the biggest drop in three weeks, while Spain's two-year yield slid to a record. Emerging-market stocks fell with industrial metals after China's service industries dropped. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.1 percent while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.5 percent at 9:30 a.m. in New York. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index lost 1 percent. The yield on Spain's two-year note slid as low as 1.05 percent, the lowest since Bloomberg started tracking the data in 1993. The yen strengthened against 12 of 16 major peers. Copper dropped 0.8 percent, gold rose 0.5 percent and South African corn jumped to a record. U.S. stocks fell yesterday, snapping a streak of rallies on the first session of the year since 2009, as investors sold shares following the best annual gain since 1997. Spanish bonds gained today as a report showed unemployment in the nation dropped the most in six months. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is due to speak today at an economics conference in Philadelphia. "When there's such a large move in the market like yesterday, there's a little bit of a knee-jerk reaction in the morning," John Manley, who helps oversee about $233 billion as chief equity strategist for Wells Fargo Funds Management in New York, said in a telephone interview. "It kind of entices people into the market," John Manley, who helps oversee about $233 billion as chief equity strategist for Wells Fargo Funds Management in New York, said in a telephone interview. "When I look around there's not a lot of places to go with stocks. If we shake people

Stocks rebound in U.S., Europe as emerging markets fall up in the masses like we did yesterday I think it's OK." European Markets Today's gain in the Stoxx 600 trimmed this week's decline to less than 0.1 percent. Trading volumes were 7.5 percent above the 30-day average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The gauge jumped 17 percent last year for its biggest annual rally since 2009. Next Plc (NXT) jumped 9.9 percent after the U.K.'s secondlargest clothing retailer increased its profit forecast and said it planned to pay a special dividend. Remy Cointreau SA (RCO) slipped 2.1 percent after Frederic Pflanz resigned as chief executive officer. "Next is a good surprise for the market and the U.K. economy," said Pierre Mouton, who helps oversee $6 billion as a portfolio manager at Notz, Stucki & Cie. in Geneva. "Otherwise, we are seeing a quiet start to the year. My gut feeling is, this year, we will see the market moving a lot around the pace of tapering in the U.S." Bernanke Speech Bernanke is scheduled to make remarks today at the American Economic Association in Philadelphia, four weeks before his term expires on Jan. 31. Fed officials said Dec. 18 they would trim monthly purchases of bonds to $75 billion from $85 billion starting this month. About three shares fell for each that rose on the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, extending this week's loss to 1.7 percent, the worst week in two months. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slid 2.6 percent, while equity gauges in Shanghai, Seoul, Jakarta and

Turkey declined more than 1 percent. South Africa's FTSE/ JSE Africa All Shares Index retreated 1 percent. China Slowdown China's non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 54.6, the lowest since August, from 56 in November. Data on Jan. 1 showed the official gauge for factory output dropped more than economists projected to a four-month low. An HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics Ltd. index of Chinese manufacturing published yesterday slipped to 50.5 from 50.8 in November, matching the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. "You cannot count on China to contribute to global growth now as the economy is still under structural adjustment," said Dai Ming, a money manager at Hengsheng Hongding Asset Management Co. in Shanghai. "There's no excitement in the macroeconomy and in this case it's difficult for the stock market to have good performance." Spain's 10-year yield fell to as low as 3.89 percent, the least since May 2010. Unemployment (SPUECHNG) declined 107,570 last month, according to Ministry of Labor in Madrid, the biggest decrease since June. The additional yield investors demand to hold Spanish 10-year debt over similar-maturity German bunds dropped below 200 basis points for the first time since May 2011. The Italy-Germany spread also slipped below 200 basis points, for the first time since July 2011. Treasuries, Yen The rate on U.S. 10-year Treasuries (USGG10YR) was 3

percent, after jumping to 3.05 percent yesterday, the most since July 2011. The yield on German 10-year bunds was at 1.95 percent, while the rate on similar-maturity U.K. gilts was at 3.04 percent. The yen strengthened 0.5 percent to 104.31 per dollar, extending this week's gain to 0.8 percent. Japan's currency advanced 0.9 percent to 142.03 per euro. The euro fell 0.4 percent to $1.3617. "The market, from a positioning perspective, is very short of yen and vulnerable to thin liquidity," said Sue Trinh, a senior currency strategist at Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong. Copper dropped 0.8 percent to $7,331.25 a metric ton and zinc declined 1.9 percent to $2,035 a ton. Gold rose for a second day, rising 0.4 percent to $1,229.60 an ounce, heading for the biggest weekly gain since October. White corn in South Africa climbed as much as 2.8 percent. South Africa's harvest was the smallest since 2007 last year, dropping 20 percent from 2012, after the country's main growing regions didn't receive sufficient rain for crops to grow during the planting period. Meal made from white corn is one of the nation's staple foods. The cost of insuring against losses on corporate bonds was little changed, with the Markit iTraxx Europe Index of creditdefault swaps on 125 investment-grade companies at 71 basis points, the highest since Dec. 20. The gauge dropped 47 basis points last year, following a 56-basis point decline in 2012

Next emerges as big Christmas winner with sales up 12%

RITAIN'S second-largest clothing retailer, Next, has emerged as the high street winner over the festive shopping season, with sales "significantly ahead of expectations". The shopping group said that strong sales of seasonal jumpers and nightwear had boosted trading in the runup to Christmas, with sales up 12% on last year for the period from 1 November to 24 December. The retailer saw a surge in sales in the last three months of the year, doubling its online growth from the previous quarter and seeing its strongest underlying growth in stores since the summer of 2002, according to analysts at Bernstein. Raising its pre-tax profit forecast for 2013 by about 4% to a range of £684m to £700m, Next also announced that a special dividend of 50p per share would be paid out in early February to shareholders, at a cost of £75m. It is also planning to distribute a further £300m in 2014 via share buybacks and special dividends. Shares in Next jumped 10%, taking them to an all-time high of £60.99, later settling at £59.80, a gain on the day of 8%. Next's healthy Christmas numbers come after John Lewis and House of Fraser reported a sales surge in the runup to Christmas. Out in the cold is Debenhams, which issued a profits warning and parted company with its finance director after disappointing sales. Attention is now turning to Marks & Spencer, which is due to report next week. Like Debenhams, it slashed prices in a lastminute bid to woo Christmas shoppers, raising fears that the high-street stalwart could miss its profit targets. Analysts said that Next's strict policy of not discounting outside clearly defined sales events was something other retailers should take heed of and had clearly not affected its ability to take market share. Neil Saunders at retail analysts Conlumino said:"This is one of the reasons why Next is a festive winner in terms of both sales and profits, guidance on the latter now being at the very top end of market expectations." Simon Wolfson, the chief executive, said Next had performed well partly because of shoppers' growing confidence in ordering online for delivery to homes and stores which helped the company capitalise on a late surge in sales this year. But Wolfson said sales had mainly been lifted because it had got its product right, particularly on womenswear, this winter after a not so sparkling year in 2012. "We had a good season and a lot of ranges were better than the previous year," he said. Wolfson warned that the retailer's strong performance was unlikely to continue in the first half of this year and sounded a warning about confidence among cashstrapped consumers. "The consumer hasn't had an awful lot more to spend. Looking forward the environment will be better, just not a lot better," he said. "Although we have seen a return to economic growth and the credit squeeze on consumers is abating, earnings are not keeping up with inflation and so we are not expecting a return to the boom times." On a day when Nationwide revealed that house prices rose by 8.4% in 2013, Next also sounded the alarm over a potential rise in interest rates adding further pressure on household incomes. "We are also wary that any return to significant economic growth is likely to result in rising interest rates which, in turn, is likely to moderate spending of those with mortgages," the company said.

FireEye shares surge 24 percent after Mandiant acquisition

•On the floor of the U.S stock exchange

Cheerioswillnolongercontaingeneticallymodifiedingredients

ENERAL Mills Inc. said it will no longer use genetically modified organisms to make its signature breakfast cereal, Cheerios, because of consumer demands. The company made the announcement in a blog post Thursday saying it would no longer source genetically modified corn and sugar to make the breakfast cereal rings. It said whole grain oats, the chief ingredient, was never available in genetically modified varietals.

"Why change anything at all? It's simple. We did it because we think consumers may embrace it," Tom Forsythe, vice president of global communications for General Mills, said in the blog post. Forsythe said the shift was not driven by fears over any dangers associated with genetically modified foods. It is "not about safety," he said. "Biotech seeds, also known as genetically modified seeds, have been approved by global food safety

agencies and widely used by farmers in global food crops for almost 20 years. "And it was never about pressure. In fact, this change is not much of a change at all. The product is essentially the same. The simple and unique nature of Cheerios made it possible - and we think consumers may embrace it." The move applies only to original Cheerios, not other varieties of the cereal. The familiar yellow box will now say "not made with genetically modified ingredients,"

Forsythe said. Activists have been pushing for more labeling on foods containing genetically modified ingredients. Ballot measures in Washington state and California calling for more labeling have both failed. Grocery chain Whole Foods, however, has pledged to label any products containing genetically modified ingredients by 2018. Source: www.latimes.com

HARES of cybersecurity company FireEye Inc were set to open 24 percent higher on Friday after the company bought computer forensics specialist Mandiant Corp for $1 billion. The deal is a sign of further consolidation in the cybersecurity industry, FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a note. "This deal speaks to our thesis around massive consolidation in the security landscape for 2014, with names such as Fortinet Inc and Proofpoint Inc as prime acquisition candidates ...," Ives said. Analysts have said larger players such as IBM, Symantec and Hewlett Packard could look to acquire smaller security players to help drive growth as spending on cybersecurity increases. Cisco Systems Inc said in July that it would buy cybersecurity company Sourcefire Inc for $2.7 billion. Goldman Sachs raised its price target on FireEye's stock to $45 from $40. FireEye had raised its fourth-quarter revenue forecast on Thursday. The company's shares have more than doubled since they debuted in September. The stock was trading at $50.50 before the bell.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

IMPLORE my esteemed readers to see this article as a ‘soft-touch’ on an issue that should be considered somehow important. We also like for this article to be considered invitational to a reminder to the effect that somehow, some of those little things we consider common-place, by reason of time or sophistication (or furthermore, sophistication), tend to hurt our outcome, as a consequence of their being taken for granted; some things do not change. Recall the traditional ‘factors of production’ (remember they are about four in number- Land, labor, place and capital); I suspect that over 87% of those in secondary schools up until 1979/80, will find it difficult to relate with this very old traditional economic theory, for reasons of innovative postulations, more sophisticated theories, technological and advancement. All of the above have combined to deem our reference to the old-school, to which some of these early learning are categorized. In essence, that is exactly the objective of this piece for this week – to call us to remembrance and reconnect to some of those fundamentals, which though old and archaic, remain instructive and relevant in our modern-day business/investment decision-making process - either for instruction as a guide. Characteristically, the OLD SCHOOL seems unprogressive, irrelevant and serving as a distraction, but in the main, they remain relevant. The challenge for us in our modernity is to apply them in the modern environment of sophistication, in ways that they are relevant and profitable. For reasons of bringing this topic to relevance with the foregoing, let us commit to remembrance, furthermore, the addendum to LAND as a factor of production, according to our old school theory. Land, as a factor of production, encompasses the need for nearness to market, nearness to raw materials and nearness to/or availability of labor (in this case, though labor stands alone as a factor of production, the importance of the location of land itself, being considerate of its nearness to source of labor, brings to focus the ingredient of real and opportunity cost). Suffice, therefore, that for the cost of land as a factor of production to be efficient, it must also enable the cost efficiency of acquiring labor, also a very important factor of production, standing alone. It would be appropriate to reason that the present trend of multi-national businesses locating their production plant in distant place far away from their homelocation, for reasons of ‘cheap labor’ gives credence to the relevance of what we would glibly refer to as old school theory. Agreed, technological advancement, development in the area of telecommunications and innovative business practices have all come together to narrow the size of distance and expand the frontiers of space, to the effect that the rigidity of land in its definite term is no longer as compulsive in today’s world. Never-the-less, we think some business engagements are taking the basic truths for granted, with their resultant consequences in business failures. In some cases, however, past experience could lead to mistaken anticipation and therefore, drive wrong investment, not minding careful consideration of the basic factors. Projections, in scenarios such as the above, are erroneously based on past experience. But it is very important to take into consideration the peculiarity of every individual market, no matter how close they are, when making investment decisions. At the start of my advertising practice 25years ago, two things were predominantly evident (1)advertising or brands management services were in demand only at the economic center point of the country, for the reason that that is the PLACE head offices of the businesses and decision

‘THE PLACE’ As a market influencer

makers, for whom the services are targeted. Therefore advertising agencies were located in Lagos, which was the PLACE. (2) Outdoor media services were only an appendage to the package on parade by the advertising agencies, being, in those early period, a complementary media to the core media vehicles in demand. The client at that time will immediately lap-up spaces in newspapers, take up airtime and position in TV and Radio stations, before considering the appropriateness or need for outdoor. I remember in the early 1990s, we were challenged in selling outdoor medium, among other media options, as a hard-sell. We would rationalize the need for the inclusion of outdoorin our campaign plan, on the basis of the given brand’s need to associate with the not too literate, semi urban and the not-too upwardly mobile, given the nature and characteristics of the brand, and its role as a reminder medium. In addition, which was more convincing, outdoor media was comparatively the cheapest of the media options. Over time, however, the relevance of outdoor advertising media and therefore, the demand for it, grew. As an individual practitioner, I will commend the tenacity of those pioneers in the business and their determination to succeed. They held steadfast, in the face of obvious challenges market limitations. However, we must acknowledge the power of innovation in the business and services offering within the sector. While Afromedia struggled to keep up, based on its heritage and pedigree, the then KLINSITE (later metamorphosed into Optimum Exposure) changed the entire sector, by her aggressive drive for innovative service offering/delivery. In less than ten years of the entire outdoor service evolved into a profession of some sort, owing to the injected innovation and repositioning. KLINSITE’s lead

became the fillip for the traditional service providers, leading onto the improved image, target market perception and the value essence /appreciation of outdoor advertising platform as an advertising media platform. With its equity appreciation, came quick growth in business performance, in volume and value terms. Until recently, the outdoor sector enjoyed the image of a lead media option in the media mix for every campaign. More and more service providers and investors went into the business, and fortunes grew. The forms of display panels dotting landscape in Lagos and select locations outside Lagos, today, are rather exciting to see. In fact, the attraction in outdoor hoarding has slowly shifted from the messages they display to the platform on which the messages are displayed. To the focus of this piece, Abuja has turned out a disaster market for outdoor advertising service provision, bringing us to the consideration of PLACE, as a factor of production. The success of Lagos market, as a spinoff of the introduction of innovative service provision, sparked off aggressive investment drive among the key players. There is no doubt in my mind, the investment drivers among service providers played up proactive market forecasting and market expansion, in their quest to open up new market. Secondly, I want to reason, the opening up of Abuja, posted new opportunities, in their calculation, based on the old assumption that since it will become the new federal capital, corporate heads/ decision-makers will be at the PLACE, therefore, it is the place to be. Perhaps it is a function of the particularly expansive landscape characteristic of Abuja city plan, the smallest size of display panels in Abuja is a spectacular board. That was how ambitious the investors were; large

size hoardings for optimum opportunity to see, and the converse attraction of high rates (good business). They rushed up locations in ‘strategic location’ in and around the city. Some of the players prided their improved performance and high rating profile on the number of hoardings they have in Abuja. The sad news is that, over 75% of outdoor hoardings in Abuja are either empty or abandoned. Perhaps the story would have been different if careful attention was paid to peculiar indicators attributable to Abuja as a PLACE for outdoor service usage. From our observation, the following could be important: 1. The media usage pattern evident in the target market 2. The environmental influence on the target audience’s outdoor engagement (lifestyle, traffic profile, etc.) 3. The market opportunities open to the offer, based on the evident economic nature ( how much of commercial activities and interests are evident in the targeted market 4. The profile of business leaders in the market 5. The population density Among other factors, we consider the above as not having been properly considered before Abuja was decided as the PLACE for outdoor business market location, before the huge investments decisions were taken. The consequence today, is poor showing in the outdoor business in Abuja market. I am sure outdoor service providers in that market are retooling, in the face of evident challenges. We need to carefully consider all and every single ‘factor of production’, no matter how much of old school it has become, in taking our business decisions. The fundamentals don’t really change in their basic truths.

Power outage: How SMEs are coping •A set of generators

Page 66 & 67

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

Giving rural women business direction Toyin Odulate studied Environmental and Civil engineering. She later bagged an MBA from INSEAD in France. In an interview with Yetunde Oladeinde, the CEO of Olori cosmetics talks about her antecedents in Accenture, MTN, Loreal Cosmetics and starting her range of cosmetics

HAT inspired your choice of career in engineering? I was inspired to study engineering because I liked Chemistry in school and I wanted to do the type of engineering that would let me do some Chemical Engineering. Luckily, I had a mentor who inspired me in this area even though I never practiced it. It gives me the electrical background and I have always been business-focused. Where did you start your working career? I started my career in Consulting for Accenture in the United States of America. We consulted for different businesses and they learnt how to optimise their businesses. As a financial service industry, you get to work with different types of multinationals and I

did this for about three years. I then moved to Nigeria to work with MTN in the business risk department where I managed the revenue assurance function for Nigeria. It was a great opportunity for me and MTN was just starting this new concept of bringing mobile phones to the people at that point. It was exciting and challenging in a positive sort of way. At that point, more people wanted your services and you did not supply fast. Shortly after this experience, I set up a telecomm consulting services outfit and I did this for two years. Here I worked with telecommunication companies who wanted to outsource their revenue assurance for risk in Nigeria and Ghana. It was after this that I went to do my MBA in France. While I was in France I worked for Loreal Cosmetics and did business for them in Ghana and Paris. I

managed another French food and beverage company and garnered lots of experience in the process. What did you do with the experience gained? I started a cosmetic business called Olori which I conceptualised in the university about 15 years ago. It’s a natural African bath and body company which was launched formally about six months ago. The product that we have here is for the hair and it is called, “Damage be gone”. It is done using a recipe that has been in the family for so long. All content is hundred per cent natural. The ingredients for the product were sourced from six states that included Kwara, Ekiti, Ondo, Abuja, Kebbi and Kano. It is hundred per cent organic and African in content. It is an affordable luxury product and packaging is important to us at an affordable price. We believe in using products that occur naturally in Africa. This is one of the ways of exporting Africa to the rest of the world. How do you source the materials for your production? What we do is to support the women cooperatives that produce the raw materials. While they supply what we need for the ingredient, we also support them to give their business direction.

What influenced the choice of the name Olori for the brand? My mother’s nickname is Olori. My father used to call her my olori. In addition, I must say that the name represents a lot of things that I believe in. It is used for an oba’s wife, a queen and woman of royal descent. It depicts a woman who is fearless, someone who believes in quality and the best in everything. Besides, there is an olori in every woman. Who or what would you consider as the greatest influence in your life? When it comes to life as an entrepreneur, I would say that it runs in the family. We have always stood out as entrepreneurs and that was a great influence on me. My grandfather invented Alabukun powder which is iconic. We love the legacy and his children and grandchildren draw inspiration from this. I didn’t meet him because he died 15 years before I was born. If you look behind the Alabukun sachet, you find that of all the grandchildren, I look more like him. So I am proud of this lineage and I am carrying this on to give Nigerians here and in the Diaspora a proudly Nigerian brand. What plans do you have for the future? Olori is a beauty company which would have different parts to it like the L’Oreal brand. They have different brands and while working with them I gained lots of experience that I will use now. We will complete the range. This will include the hair shampoo, scalp conditioner, body cream, oils and soaps. We will be using the black soap in different ways. Apart from this, we will be creating all kinds of items from products from different African countries like Morrocco. We will also incorporate a make-up line. What is life as an entrepreneur like? Life as an entrepreneur can be very exciting but challenging. To succeed you need to put in your best and not get too bothered by the obstacles in your way. Most times, I try to motivate and encourage other women that there is nothing they cannot achieve if they are passionate about what they do. On a daily basis, you find yourself doing five or more things before going to work. If you can do this very well, then you should be able to take such decisions at work and do it very well. Where do you hope to be in the next ten years? In the next ten years my dream is to have built the Olori brand to be a household name. A brand that would serve as a reference point as well as motivate other. In addition, I want to be an accomplished entrepreneur, not only in Africa but on the international scene If you had to advise women, what would you tell them? Personally, I believe that hard work and perseverance is required to get to the top. Women need to be focused and set goals for themselves in whatever area of life they are in.

Jigawa LG disburses N5.4m vehicle loans to teachers

HE Hadejia Local Education Authority (LEA) at the weekend said it had disbursed N5.4 million in loans to teachers and nonteaching staff in the area. Its Education Secretary, Alhaji Haruna Buba, disclosed this after a

meeting of the education management of the council in Hadejia, Jigawa State. Babu said that the loans were provided to about 50 teachers and other members of staff to enable them buy cars and motorcycles.

He said that the gesture was aimed at improving the welfare of teachers and motivating them. The secretary urged the beneficiaries to make good use of the loans. Buba urged parents to comply with the

Jan. 6 school resumption date and ensure that their wards returned to schools on that date. He commended the Jigawa State government on the schools' rehabilitation and teacher development projects going on in the state.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

66 BUSINESS/SME REPORT

IKE most businesses, small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) pine under the yoke of epileptic power supply, as most of them commit a large chunk of their resources to provide alternative source of power supply for their businesses. The result is that most of them not only end up using up their scarce resources, but the challenge of providing power supply for their businesses has led to the low turnover of most of these enterprises in recent times. From foot-ware manufacturers to frozen food vendors, cobblers, drycleaners to hairstylists, barbers, vulcanisers, motor mechanics, sound mixers, video rentals, to viewing centre operators, graphics designers to grinding machine operators, printing presses to concrete mixers, pub operators, cafés, photographers, to mention just a few, all have suffered from the bitter pill of power crisis at one time or the other. A case in point is Mr. Sola Soetan, who runs a fledging insecticides factory in Matori Industrial Estate in the Mushin axis of Lagos. While sharing his experience with The Nation recently, Soetan said the challenge of power has been having a serious toll on his business in recent times. "Providing an alternative source of power for our factory remains a major challenge for us to the extent that we have contemplated shutting down many times because of the drain on our resources as we hardly break even," he lamented. But as with all things human, there are a few exceptions. In the midst of this power crisis, some entrepreneurs have been able to find a way around this problem. A cross-section of some respondents who spoke with The Nation shared personal experiences of their survival struggles. Coping without steady power supply Mr. Oyebamiji Olamilekan, 25, runs Oyebam Footwear Design, Lawanson Street, Mushin, Lagos, which he set up in 2009. Going down memory lane, Lokoso, as he is fondly called by friends, recalled that his business suffered a lot of drawback because he relied mainly on power supply from the Power Holding Company Nigeria, PHCN, at some point in time. "Adequate power supply helps us in doing the finishing of our jobs, which are filling and sewing of leather, to make our work look smart and good. But the irony is that with PHCN, this was never adequate to sustain the tempo of manufacturing," he recalled. "Before we bought our generator, we do gather the foot wears which we want to file and sew together in one place until the PHCN supplies power. But then, we have to pile up the job and more often than not, we walk several miles in search of electricity from our friends who are also footwear designers. It was terribly stressful. In order to cope with this stress of epileptic power, I decided to buy a generator, so that we can do the finishing without any stress. And it has been useful and helpful. And we have been able to manage the cost." Like Olamilekan, Mr. Babatunde Felix, 40 years old, is a tailor by profession. He tells his story: "I have been running this business for the past six years now. Here we have some sewing machines that require the use of power supply before it can be operated, like the phoenix sewing machine, weaving/ sewing machine and industrial sewing machines. We also use electricity for ironing clothes when sewing and after sewing. So, our business can't survive without light. But unfortunately, we have been at the receiving end due to frequent interruption of power supply

Power outage: How SM

•Small generators: saving grace for SMEs

By Lanre Williams and Tolulope Ogidan

which makes us not to rely on PHCN. "I brought a generator which is used only for the weaving and phoenix sewing machine, while the industrial sewing machine can only be powered with a high voltage generator and not the smaller ones. "What I adopted as a strategy is that I only make use of the industrial sewing machine once we have public power supply through PHCN as well as for ironing. We, however, complement it with charcoal-powered iron, especially if such clothes are multi-coloured clothes. But in some cases we give customers their clothes without ironing. These are some of the measures that have worked for me and business has been running smoothly somehow for me." For Femi Akanni, a young man of 28 years, who runs a barbing saloon at Odumagbo Street, Ilupeju, Lagos, which he set up over three years ago, 2010 to be precise, his survival strategy, in the face of unpredictable power supply, has been what he described as "some form of rationing." "I cannot barb without electricity. In short, I can't do anything without electricity in this business, because this business needs electricity to survive. To get around this challenge, I had to buy a

generator even before I started this business because I knew I will need it, so that I can attend to my customers if there is power cut. But then, I don't run the gen for 24 hours non-stop but do so only when we have customers. That way, I'm able to manage fuel consumption and still manage to break even at the end. So, my advice to a prospective barber is that they have to be able to ration the way they run their generator, especially if they also contend with the problem of power like some of us do." Mrs. Ronke Badmus, 33 years old, is the Managing Director/CEO of Ronkey Graphic & Design, situated at Dehinbo Street, in the Mushin environs. Mrs. Badmus, who has been managing the business since 2009, easily admits that: "Electricity helps us to carry out our work successfully, and without it we cannot work at all, because this business requires the use of electricity. It is the livewire. I have to buy a generator so as to cope with the business whenever there is no power supply, and it has been useful in so many ways." In the view of Azeez Yusuf, who has been running Ononuga Printing Press, a printing outfit, in the last five years, electricity is very important in his line of business, as such, he had to ensure that he had in place an alternative source of power supply to mitigate the perennial power cuts experienced from the PHCN.

’

He tells his story thus: "All our machines, like Kord 201 cutting machines, need the use of electricity before they can function. Electricity is important in our work, because if there is no electricity we cannot work at all. "I bought a Mikano generator, which we make use of whenever there is no power supply, that is how I have been able to cope without power supply." Mrs. Tawa Ibrahim runs a polymer factory, as such, she requires steady supply of power to be able to help in production. But public power supply is hardly ever available not to talk of being adequate at all. "The state of electricity is very bad, it is very hard for one to start a business, which will require power in this country. So before you start, you must add in the budget allowance for your generator. I have been into business for seven years, so I know; it's pretty difficult to survive in the business relying solely on public power supply." Idris Agboola is the owner of My Choice Barbing Saloon, a business he has run successfully for two years now. He recalls that: "I knew the state of power supply wasn't good before going into this kind of business." One way he has been coping, according to him, is that "I don't wait for them to bring electricity before I do what I have to do; I make use of my generator 24/7. As such, I

It's impossible to do this kind of business without electricity because with an unreliable source of power supply business will be at a great loss. So, I make use of my generator, but I add more to my price, and, thankfully, my customers understand and things have been going on smoothly as far the business is concerned

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

BUSINESS/SME REPORT

ow SMEs are coping

•High tension cables

can't advice anyone who wants to go into this kind of business to depend on our power supply in this country because for now, it just can't work." On his part, Rahseed Ogunowo, who has been managing Unique Barbing Salon in the past five years, says it is contrariwise to rely on public power supply. "We sometimes have power once in five days, so how can I do my business with that kind of power supply?" he queried. "It's impossible to do this kind of business without electricity because with an unreliable source of power supply business will be at a great loss. So, I make use of my generator, but I add more to my price, and, thankfully, my customers understand and things have been going on smoothly as far the business is concerned," he quipped. Lukmon Oluwole, who set up an aluminium frame business in April 2012, said of his experience: "We use electricity in cutting glasses because we cannot cut with our hands. So, we use a glass-cutting machine which requires the use of electricity and also we make use of electricity whenever we need to dig hole into a glass." Pressed further, he said: "Due to the instability of our power supply in Nigeria, I had to buy a generator, which we make use of whenever there is no public power supply." Rebecca Akinola has been running a frozen food store in the heart of Mushin since 2008. According to her, "We need electricity to sustain and manage this business. If there is no electricity, all the chickens, turkeys and fishes we have in store will get spoilt, because they need to be frozen and it needs electricity before it can be frozen. "I bought a generator, which requires a huge amount of money to get it. But it has been helpful." For Tunde Adeyemo, an electronic technician who began business some six years ago, electricity is the mainstay of his business, as such, he cannot do without

•A welder at work

it.

"We use electricity to confirm if what we have done is in good condition and we also use electricity when we want to make use of appliances like soldering iron." One way he complements the meagre public power supply is through the use of a generator and a power inverter. "We make use of generator and inverter, which has helped us to cope with our work when there is no power supply. We make use of inverter whenever we don't have fuel in the generator. So, that way, we are still

able to deliver our jobs to the satisfaction of our customers without much of a delay, unlike when we were relying solely on public power supply which was hardly enough not to talk of being steady at all." Damilola Owodunni, a cyber café operator, commenced business in 2011. "We cannot operate without electricity. So electricity helps us to operate and manage our business "We bought the necessary thing, which is generator, and it has been useful to us." Just like Owodunni, Mr Israel

Adeshina, who runs a cyber café in Igando axis of Lagos, stressed that he hardly ever relies on public power supply for his business. "I don't depend on public power supply to run my business, because I know it's not stable. I power my cyber café with a generator most of the time." Mrs. Adejoke Adelanwa sits atop as the CEO of God's Own Frozen Foods, a business she has been running smoothly in the last two-and-half years now. Sharing her experience, she says matter-of-factly: "This line of business can't depend on public power supply, or else it will run down. I have been into this business for two-and-half years now, and have been making huge profit despite the fact that I rely more on power generated through alternative source of power supply like the generator." Just like Mrs. Adelanwa, Mrs. Bisola Lawal runs Bisola Frozen Foods. On her going spirit, she said: "I have been able to stay afloat in business through the use of my generator since 2011. I don't depend on electricity at all, because if I do all my goods will get spoilt." Ojo Sunday, 32, is a photographer. He opened his photo studio in 2010. "We make use of electricity in the studio to make the pictures which we snap come out good, we also use it for the printing of pictures from the printer which requires power supply to do that and for charging our digital camera. But with a standby generator, we are able to still continue our work unabatedly whenever there is no power supply from the public source." Mr. Tunde Williams produces Wady brand of sachet water. Naturally, he requires steady supply of power to be able to run his business. But sadly, this is not always guaranteed, especially at the peak of production. "The problem of adequate power supply in this country is a big one, I must confess, we make use of it whenever we see it, but we don't depend on it at all," he grudgingly admits. "My generator is always available whenever I need it. To start any business that requires power supply, you must have an alternative, which is a generator. I have been in business for 10 years now non-stop. If you're able to order your steps as I have done over the years, you will not only break even, but generate enough profit to expand the business on the long run." Mrs, Adebola Ogunmuyiwa has been managing Lady B saloon for the past four years. In those four years, she has relied more on alternative source of power supply than relying on the public source of energy. "I was able to cope through the use of generator. What I do is that whenever I have customers I put on my generator, I don't wait for power supply because it's not reliable at all. I make profit, because I charge more when I make use of my generator." Mr. Godwill Peters runs a drycleaning business, which he set up in 2012. Acutely aware of the problem of incessant power cuts, he has never relied on public power supply since he set up shop. "I didn't even bother to connect electricity to my shop, because it's not stable at all. Since I started business, I have been making use of my generator, though it costs more, but I prefer it." For Mr. Felix Goodluck, who manages Blessed Computer Works and Stationeries Stores, he attributes his staying power in business to the divine. "I have been coping by the grace of God. When customers come to make photocopies, or do any kind of computer jobs, I put on the generator and when I'm through I put it off, and if there is power supply, all well and good. The business is three months old. And I can tell without any fear of contradiction that I'm making profit. Or who will enter into a business that is not yielding profit?" he quipped rhetorically.

APC members allege death threats From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

EMBERS of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo Federal Constituency have alleged threats to their lives by a faction within the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP). Drawn from the four local governments (Afijio, Atiba, Oyo-East and Oyo-West) that constitute the constituency, thousands of the members made the allegation yesterday at the ancient palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111. They were in the palace to greet the paramount ruler for the New Year. Their spokesperson, Mrs. Akofade Owoade, said: ''We are being intimidated and threatened by the factional group within the PDP. "They even come to our (APC members) houses threatening to deal with us simply because we refused to join and support them''. Owoade stated that they decided to open up to the monarch to save their members from persistent threats and intimidation of the PDP. According to her: ''We do not want to take laws into our hands since we are committed indigenes of the metropolis and because know that our paramount ruler is peace-loving. "We resolved to ventilate f our ordeals to him to avert the looming danger''. They were received by the Chief of Staff, Alhaji (Prince) Nurudeen Adeyemi on behalf of the Alaafin.

Gombe arrests 54 criminal, 34 arms in 2013 By Vincent Ohonbamu, Gombe

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

NEWS

OMBE State Police Command recorded a major breakthrough in the year 2013 following the arrest of 54 criminals and recovered 34 arms from criminals. The Command also recovered 1,101 rounds of live ammunitions, 21 empty riffle magazines and 54 vehicles from criminals within the year under review. The Commissioner of Police, Nma Kudu, described the feat as a major success compared to 2012 when the command arrested 52 armed robbery suspects and recovered 17 arms, 636 rounds of ammunitions and six vehicles as well as arrested two fraud steers. He said the success was made possible by superior crime fighting strategy of visibility policing which made Gombe state to be "adjudged the peaceful state in the Northeast geopolitical zone of the country. He said the transparency and accessibility to the general public has encouraged the citizens to partner with the police and offer information which has helped in reducing criminal activities in the state.

‘Lagos'll prosecute offenders of domestic violence’

HE law against domestic and workplace violence is still in force, Lagos Deputy Governor, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, has stated. She warned that offenders will be prosecuted according to the provisions of law. Adefulire made this known yesterday while addressing a press conference at the Governor's office in Alausa. She disclosed that the recent case of violence against one Mrs. Alexandra Ossai al-

By Oziegbe Okoeki

legedly battered and brutalised by her boss is already receiving government's attention. She added that all relevant agencies of government have been mobilised to investigate the matter with a view to prosecuting the offender. The deputy governor informed that Mrs. Ossai is in government's custody at one of the newly built homes for victims of domestic violence and other related issues. She added that govern-

ment has also taken care of the medical expenses incurred in the course of her treatment. Orelope-Adefulire assured the public that the law will take its course once it is established through an independent investigation that the boss actually abused the woman violently in the course of discharging her duties to the alleged offender's company. The deputy governor appealed to members of the public to report issues of violence anywhere around them to the government, noting that government has made adequate

provision for rescue and rehabilitation of such victims, while an enabling law is in force to also prosecute offenders. "We require adequate information to be able to act; once we get such information, our rescue team will assist such victims and take them to any of our homes built for such services with a view to rehabilitating the victims while we also go a step further to investigate such cases and ensure the prosecution of offenders in accordance with our laws," she stated.

Oyo Speaker reiterates commitment to people's welfare From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

HE Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Mrs. Monsurat Sunmonu, has re-affirmed the commitment of the present administration to the welfare of the people, most especially the downtrodden. Sunmonu gave the assurance during a visit to State Hospital Oyo and some private hospitals in Oyo town as part of activities marking the beginning of 2014. The Speaker added that it is pertinent to associate with the sick people, inmates and extend a helping hand to them. This, she said, will further give them hope they are not forgotten most especially durxxx ing this festive period. She explained that Governor Abiola Ajimobi will not relent in efforts at making the people of the state happy by providing basic amenities and support for them. While welcoming the first baby of the year at State Hospital Oyo with cash gifts, Sunmonu called on parents to see the children as a gift from the Lord.

Osemawe appoints new Lisa •Bishop of Diocese of Lagos West, Rt. Reverend James Odedeji(third right); his wife, Lydia(second right); Human Resources/ Administrator, Down Syndrome Foundation Nigeria, Amaka Obidi(4th right) and Venerable Israel Owoyele with Children of the Down Syndrome Foundation Nigeria during the Bishop’s visit and presentation of materials to the Foundation in Surulere, Lagos... at the weekend PHOTO: OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL

Fire razes 60 shops in Ife

O fewer than sixty shops were razed in Oja-Tuntun at OdoOgbe in the ancient city of IleIfe, Osun in the early hours of yesterday. Goods and properties worth several millions were lost to the huge inferno which cause are yet to be ascertained. An eyewitness account revealed that the fire raged for almost six hours before it was put under control by the combined team of fire services and security agencies. The dry season and current harmattan period was said to have assisted the fire. Inspecting the extent of the damage, the Special Adviser

•Aregbesola, Omoworare sympathise with victims From: Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo.

to the Governor on Commerce, Cooperatives and Empowerment, Dr Olalekan Yinusa, sympathised with the affected traders and urged them to be careful with electric appliances, especially during harmattan season. He instructed the Director of Empowerment in the ministry to take account of victims and the extent of damage, saying Governor Rauf Aregbesola is touched with their plights. The Commissioner for In-

formation and Strategy in the State, Mr. Sunday Akere, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Engr. Segun Aduroja, urged traders in the state to adhere to the cleaning exercise on Thursdays to avoid the unnecessary incident in the future, particularly during the dry season. Some of the affected traders, Mrs. Omisakin Comfort, Mrs. Adenaiya Sakirat and Mrs. Isiaka Nusirat, who spoke with journalists at the market, appealed to Governor Rauf Aregbesola to come to their

aid. They lamented their source of livelihood had been affected by the incident. Senator Babajide Omoworare( Ife-Ijesa) also sympathised with victims of the fire incident. In a statement by his media aide, Tunde Dairo, Omoworare said: "It is our prayer that God Almighty will comfort the affected people, put an end to tragedies of this nature and replenish the purses of the victims of this undesirable and unpleasant development.

Aregbesola warns two warring communities

SUN State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has read a riot act to the two warring communities of Oba Oke and Oba Ile in Olorunda local government. Holding a peace meeting with the monarchs and people of the communities at the Executive Lounge of his office at Gbongan Road Osogbo, the governor expressed sadness at the violent disputes between the two neigbouring communities. He declared that he would send a fact- finding committee to visit the communities and do a house-to-house search to unearth weapons and mercenaries allegedly imported into the area. He warned that any mercenaries found in the commu-

• Sets up peace committee From: Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo.

nity and their sponsors would be made to face the full wrath of the law. He said it was unfortunate the two communities could resort to hiring mercenaries to kill one another. Aregbesola also set-up a committee to broker peace between the two communities. No fewer than six people have been killed in the violent crisis rocking the two communities since last October. According to the governor, the committee should comprise of five persons from

each of the communities to include a woman, youth and other stakeholders. He said the state government, police and the Department of State Security (DSS) would also be represented in the committee. He said: "We would disinfect the entire communities of mercenaries, such that nobody would be able to intimidate anyone again. "I advise both sides to disperse these mercenaries from your communities because if we catch them, the mercenaries and their sponsors would be charge for murder. "I abhor the crisis in the communities and it would be our joy to witness that peace

return their in the interest of development." He challenged the two communities to work towards attracting investors into their communities rather than exhibiting act capable of scaring them away. He also ordered the Commissioner for Land and Physical Planning, Mr Muyiwa Ige, to conduct an assessment of the extents of damage inflicted on the communities and fashion out a method of alleviating their suffering. Speaking on behalf of the Oba Ile, Alhaji Tijjani Oladosu, attributed the crisis to provocation from the side of ObaOke. He alleged that they stoned Oloba of Oba-Ile on the day of the town's traditional festival.

HE Osemawe of Ondo, Oba Victor Adesimbo Kiladejo, Jilo III, has approved the appointment of Chief Simeon Olusola Oguntimehin as the High Chief Lisa of Ondo Kingdom. Oguntimehin, 79, is a past President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and former member of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). The High Chief Lisa title in Ondo Kingdom is the second in rank to the Osemawe, and the Lisa is the statutory Prime Minister of the kingdom. The new chief was before his elevation to the high chieftaincy title, Chief Gbogi - the head of GBOGI quarters in the kingdom. The new Lisa-elect is, amongst his other titles, a Knight (Grand Commander of St. Christopher in the Anglican Communion 1998) and Nigeria National Honours Awardee of the Officer of the Order of Niger OON (2001).

•Lisa of Ondo

SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Digital TV broadcasting: Beyond the freedom of choice With the advent of digital TV broadcasting otherwise known as Pay TV has come the pleasure of choice and exposure; but along with these have also come some attendant risks, as explored by Gboyega Alaka.

T has been 20 years since the first pay television company debuted in Nigeria, giving the Nigerian audience its first feel of rich digital television programming. With it also came the attendant freedom to choose what to watch, as against being saddled with a couple of moribund government-doctored and censored television channels. Naturally, it was expensive especially with the huge satellite dish and the technical expertise required to set it up; but Nigerians, who could afford it, latched onto it nevertheless. Of course, those who couldn't waited in the wings; catching in on every opportunity to visit homes, joints and offices that had it. Another attraction, aside the freedom of choice of channels, is the clarity that came with the digitalised broadcasting. The amazingly clear visuals were really pleasing to watch; and that was another luxury, considering the poor reception that came with the local channels. MultiChoice DStv, which was the only brand available in those early years also monopolised the market, MyTV, Daarsat, StarTimes and most recently, GOtv joined the fray. Naturally the prices have plummeted, especially with StarTime and GOtv, meaning that more homes could now afford it. As far back as February 2013, StarTimes already boasted of over 1million subscription mark, and there are strong indications that that figure might have doubled. Same applies for GOtv, MultiChoice's option for the low income

earners. Expectedly, this has opened Nigerians to the outside world, impacting greatly on the people's outlook, be it music, sports, broadcasting, film-making and even religion. Unfortunately, it has also come with its shortcomings, with the attendant human tendency to do things in excess. There is also the danger of over-influence, which can and unfortunately is already leading to the subjugation of some aspects of the country's socio-economic outlook. Soccer-crazy Nigerians no longer watch their own local league, preferring instead to spend their time with the better organised and better packaged European leagues. While one might not blame them for opting

for better products, the inherent danger is the unfortunate impoverishment of their own soccer, with league matches in Nigerian stadiums now being played to empty stands. It got so bad on a certain weekend years back, when fans refused to go the stadium to watch a crucial Enyimba Champions League match in Owerri, ostensibly because their favourite premiership clubs were also playing at the same time. Needless to say, Enyimba laboured to win the match with an inadequate 1-0, only for the same fans to turn around and blame the club for a poor performance. Likewise, our over-exposure to countless foreign television channels has also affected

our culture gravely, with language, our number one identity, being the number one casualty. Barakat Balogun, a housewife, expressly declared that she normally becomes agitated and puts pressure on her husband anytime their DStv subscription expires. Her reason is that she is usually left without entertainment because the local terrestrial television channels are all replete with bland, unexciting and uninteresting programmes. To top it up, Barakat declared that having become used to digital broadcasting; she normally finds the terrestrial channels too blurry and boring. Unfortunately, her children are also caught up in this obsession, as they also only watch foreign cartoons and children's programmes. These, coupled with a school system that has long declared local language as vernacular and a home where more English is spoken than the native language, have made it difficult for kids to express themselves in their native tongues. Another danger that has come along with the digital pay TV age is the limited censorship of their programmes, owing to the private nature of their channels. This has inadvertently given the channels unrestrained liberty to air programmes with more violence, sexual innuendoes and outright sex than the youngsters' minds can take. The result is a prevalence of perverted youths capable of anything from the wow to the outrageous. Tolulope Olaleye, a civil servant in Lagos, recalls how she once came home early from work to find her nine-yearold son watching a sex scene on TV. At first, she thought he had somehow laid his hands on some x-rated CDs, only to discover that it was only a scene in an American film being shown in one of the channels. Tolulope confessed that as much as providers of these pay TV have opened Nigeria to the outside world for good, there is need to beware of the negatives, which she says can be more dangerous. According to Adeshina Peters, an accountant with a Lagos chemical distribution firm, “The thing is, you are guaranteed rest of mind with the terrestrial TV channels, because they dare not go overboard with their content. But with the numerous movies and entertainment channels on the different Pay TV bouquet, it's a different ball game and one that parents need to worry about.” Adeshina is all the more worried now that the government seems to have finalised plans to migrate from terrestrial broadcasting to digital broadcasting in 2015. His fear? How would they exercise control?

Ehidiamen wins Innovative Young Journalist award Kelechi Amakoh reports on the inaugural Innovative Young Journalist Award won by fresh graduate and freelance journalist Jennifer Ehidiamen

HREE young journalists got rewarded for their innovative input to journalism in Nigeria in 2013 at a media award organised by the Journalists for Christ International Outreach (JFC International) in Lagos. The inaugural ceremony of the Innovative Young Journalist Awards meant to promote excellent multimedia practice among young journalists was held along with the end of year fellowship of the Christian journalists group in Lagos penultimate Saturday. Jennifer Ehidiamen, a graduate of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Lagos and a New Media Fellow at International Reporting Project www.internationalreportingproject.org emerged winner. Her entries for this award were said to be top of the range in terms of uniqueness of topic, depth of research and multi-media presentation. Ehidiamen who also writes for the Global Press Institute on health and development in Nigeria is the author of several articles

and books, including Half a Loaf & a Bakery (Learning by doing before graduation) on diverse issues available in print and online, i n c l u d i n g h e r b l o g , youthmakingchange.blogspot.com. Hannah Ojo, a freelance journalist with The Nation newspaper, and Alade Abiodun of National Mirror newspaper were the first and second runners-up respectively. The winner got N30,000, a plaque and a certificate while the second prize was N20,000 and a certificate and N10,000 and certificate for the third prize. Journalist and educationist, Fola Adekeye, who presented the plaque to the winner noted that the exploits of the nominees signify a rebirth of journalism practice in the country; while an impressed Editor of Telegraph on Sunday, Emeka Madunagu, hailed the efforts of the enterprising young journalists, noting that the skills they exhibit are what is 'needed to excel in the new journalism world.' Madunagu also enthused that their performance is a testimony that there indeed is a future for journalism in Nigeria.

Tolulope Ojemuyiwa, Ehidiamen's lecturer at the NIJ, lauded her efforts and that of the runner-ups. “The first day I met Jennifer, I knew that she was destined for the top. This is not the first time she is winning an award, so I am not surprised.” Publisher of Praise The Lord newspaper, Julius Adegunna, said he was particularly impressed by the ability of the winner to be “openly Christian in a secular media environment.”

President JFC International, Lekan Otufodunrin, said the award was part of the group's activities to promote excellence in the Nigerian media based on Christian principles. “As Christian journalists, we must excel in our work and be a good example to others based on the biblical principles which should be our guiding principles.” Otufodunrin promised that more spiritual and career-enhancing activities will be organised in the New Year.

Jennifer Ehidiamen receiving her plaque from Fola Adekeye, Chairman of the occasion

SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

Ehidiamen wins Innovative Young Journalist award Kelechi Amakoh reports on the inaugural Innovative Young Journalist Award won by fresh graduate and freelance journalist Jennifer Ehidiamen

Jennifer Ehidiamen receiving her plaque from Fola Adekeye, Chairman of the occasion

Mind & Body THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

Staying healthy in 2014 •12 ways to focus on your health, from January to December January Feeling groggy, a little sick and lethargic? It might not be a hangover. Over-thecounter sleep aids can mimic the effects of too much booze. Resolve to get on a regular sleep schedule, avoid caffeine and long daytime naps, exercise regularly and keep stress in check. Staring at cellphones and computers can make dry eyes feel even worse. The Mayo Clinic recommends using the 20/20/20 rule: For every 20 minutes you're on the computer, look away at an object at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds or more. February Flossing may protect you from Alzheimer's, says a British study that found bacteria from gum disease in brain samples of some people who died of the disease. So while you're sampling Valentine's Day chocolate, remember your dentist's advice: Brushing is not enough. You should floss at least once a day. March March is National Kidney Month, the perfect time to remind adults 60 and older to get an annual urine test to screen for kidney disease. The National Kidney Foundation recently changed its guidelines in light of research showing that 59 percent of Americans will at some point have moderate kidney disease. Persons with high blood pressure or diabetes face a special risk. April A 15-minute walk after eating can lower your blood sugar level for hours, and significantly reduce your risk of diabetes. More important, taking a short walk after meals can be much more effective at preventing blood sugar spikes than taking one 45-minute walk daily. What better way to get started than National Walking Day on April 2? May This is Celiac Awareness Month. Some 3 million Americans have celiac disease, which means they're unable to digest gluten a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. The Food and Drug Administration has new guidelines for foods labeled "glutenfree," including a requirement that they contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten. June Eating berries can lower your risk of heart disease significantly. A study of nearly 94,000 women found that those who ate three or more servings of blueberries and strawberries a week had a 32 percent lower risk of heart attack. With peak mosquito season here, it's important to remember they spread diseases to humans and animals. Electric fans are an effective way to keep mosquitoes away from people and pets in the backyard. If you're unlucky

enough to get bitten, a dab of simple household ammonia will counter some of the chemical reactions that make your skin itch. July Packing for a trip to the beach or lake? Keep food safe by making sure your cooler stays cold enough during the drive. Block ice keeps food colder than cubes. Plastic bottles filled with water and kept in the freezer overnight work well, too. Remember that a full cooler stays cold longer than one that's partially filled, and be sure to keep frozen meat and poultry securely wrapped and away from produce or snacks. August Fitness trackers for logging information about summer workouts are getting smarter and cheaper all the time. The typical tracker now costs less than a month's fee at a fitness club. One model about to hit the market not only measures how many steps you take and how well you sleep but also recognises more than 100 different exercises; it also measures your heart rate and blood oxygen level and tabulates how many calories you burn. September For National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, we remind men that are mindlessly popping omega-3 fish oil pills that it may not be a good idea. Studies show that men with high levels of fish oils in their blood either from pills or from eating fatty fish more than twice a week are at increased risk for the type of prostate tumours most likely to be fatal. New research suggests that yoga is a good way to lower your risk of a fall. Falls send more than 2 million older Americans to the emergency room each year. By promoting balance and muscle strength, yoga not only helps prevent falls but also lowers injury rates. Another study found that waltzing around your living

room three times a week can also reduce your risk of a fall. October This is Depression Awareness Month. Although coffee certainly isn't a cure for serious depression, a recent Harvard study, based on 16 years of data from more than 200,000 adults, found that drinking two to four cups of java a day may lower suicide risk by half. Researchers believe that caffeine, a mild stimulant, may be a mood booster. If the onset of shorter days fills you with dread, you may have seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression that comes and goes as the brain chemicals called neurotransmitters which are sensitive to light fluctuate throughout the seasons. How to beat the "winter blues"? Get more Vitamin D. Exercise. Get outside every day. Get enough sleep. And consider light therapy sitting next to a type of bright light that mimics natural outdoor light. November It's easy to overeat during the holidays, so why not go into the season with a plan? Here are some suggestions: Stick to smaller plates and smaller servings. Split an entrée or a big portion of anything with someone else. And say no to seconds. Drink lots of water. When it comes to dessert, go for fresh fruit. And if you're eating out, take home half of your meal to enjoy later. November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month. There will never be a better time to quit smoking. December With flu season at its peak, these seven foods may help keep you healthy: almonds (antioxidant vitamin E); black-eyed peas (a good source of zinc); carrots (vitamin A helps fight respiratory infections); mushrooms (selenium wards off flu); tea (green or black has powerful antioxidants); tomatoes (vitamin C); yogurt (probiotics). SOURCE: www.aarp.org

Anxiety linked to stroke risk

EN and women with severe symptoms of anxiety may have a higher risk of stroke than their more relaxed counterparts, a new study suggests. "The greater your anxiety level, the higher your risks of having a stroke," study co-author Dr. Maya J. Lambiase, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, told Reuters Health. "Assessment and treatment of anxiety has the potential to not only improve overall quality of life, but may also reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as

stroke, later in life," she said in an email. Dr. Philip Muskin, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Centre in New York emphasised that the stroke risk identified in the study among overly anxious individuals was not vastly increased. "What it's really saying is, you're a little more likely to have a stroke," said Muskin, who was not involved in the study. Still, he added, "I would like to be a little less likely (to have a stroke) in my life." source: reuters.com

Antioxidants in diet linked to cataract risk

OMEN who eat foods rich in antioxidants may have a lower risk of cataracts as they age, according to a new Swedish analysis. "Oxidative damage of the eye lens caused by free radicals has been suggested to be crucial in development of cataract," said Susanne Rautiainen of the Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institutet, who led the study. Her team looked at the diets of more than 30,000 middle aged and older women, and found those with the highest total intake of antioxidants had about a 13 percent lower risk of developing cataracts than women who consumed the least. "Previous studies have focused on individual antioxidants obtained from the diet or supplements and they have reported inconsistent results," Rautiainen said. "However, in diet much wider ranges of antioxidants are present than those studied previously." Instead of looking at single antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, and plant flavonoids such as lycopene, the researchers used a measure of total antioxidant values in foods, which takes into account how the nutrients work together. For the study, more than 30,000 Swedish women over age 49 were observed for about 7 years for signs of developing cataracts, and were given a dietary questionnaire. Foods high in antioxidants include coffee, tea, oranges, whole grains and red wine. source: reuters.com

Trebling tobacco tax 'could prevent 200 million early deaths’

CCORDING to a recent research, trebling tobacco tax globally would cut smoking by a third and prevent 200 million premature deaths this century from lung cancer and other diseases. Scientists from the charity Cancer Research UK (CRUK) on Wednesday in a review in the New England Journal of Medicine, said hiking taxes by a large amount per cigarette would encourage people to quit smoking altogether rather than switch to cheaper brands, and help stop young people from taking up the habit. As well as causing lung cancer, which is often fatal, smoking is the largest cause of premature death from chronic conditions like heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure. Tobacco kills around 6 million people a year now, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), and that toll is expected to rise above 8 million a year by 2030 if nothing is done to curb smoking rates. Richard Peto, an epidemiologist at CRUK who led the study, said aggressively increasing tobacco taxes would be especially effective in poorer and middle-income countries where the cheapest cigarettes are relatively affordable. Of the 1.3 billion people around the world who smoke, most live in poorer countries where often governments have also not yet introduced smokefree legislation. source: reuters.com

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

‘How to handle evil prophecies in 2014’ As usual, prophecies and predictions have ushered in the New Year. The Senior Pastor of Living Waters Unlimited Church Lagos and founder of The Macedonian Initiatives, Pastor Ladi Thompson, spoke with Sunday Oguntola on how Nigerians avert some of these predictions using spiritual dynamics. Excerpts:

T’S a New Year laden with expectations. What does 2014 hold in stock for Nigerians? It’s going to be one of the best years for Nigeria. I believe the greatness of our destinies will come to the fore. However, everything boils down to the spiritual negotiations that the church is able to reach. The thoughts of God towards us are always good and not evil but there are things to do to make the year the greatest year for all of us. What are some of these negotiations that must be done? For the believers, we recall there were people called wise men in ancient times. There were astrologers, necromancers and star gazers. They had the abilities to foresee the future and manipulate the destinies of men. They could know what the year portended. Balaam was one of them. He was hired to curse the Israelites but for the first time in his life, he could not locate the stars of Israel among the zodiac that he was used to. Rather, he said there would come a star out of Jacob and a sceptre out of Israel. You see, there are some people whose stars cannot be located among the zodiac and are so untouchable. That star that Balaam said would come out of Jacob later came years after him. Mathew one said wise men came from the east to worship Christ. Why did they come thousands of miles just to worship? They said because they had seen his stars. They could not manipulate his destiny. Anybody that is born again is under the star of Christ and is untouchable. What is the import of all these? You see, every New Year, you hear predictions and prophecies. Many Nigerians stop at no efforts to hear what the year holds. But the truth is most of the predictions we hear are full of evils. They frighten people and send everyone panicking. Let me assure that no evil can come near those who are under the star of Christ. Let’s get that straight away. If they gaze into your stars, they see the star of Jesus and they are left with no choice but to come look for you. They will not come to attack but to surrender to you. For them, what should they look forward to? I will say three things in this line. The first is, there are

certain things God has ordained must happen this year. Not all of them will be revealed to men. God will retain the prerogatives to keep them. They range from 5-20% in every year. If you plan anything against what God has planned for this year, you will fail. In 2014, the liberation of certain people will take place. If you want to know what 2014 holds as an individual, there must be spiritual maturity. You must not look at 2014 as a year on its own. You must see it as a link in a chain. There was 2013, which led to 2014 that will eventually take us to 2015. 45% of what will happen to Nigeria in 2014 will be results of things that were done in the previous years. Some people think because they attended crossover services, everything will fall in line for them. If you got pregnant in 2013, you should expect to deliver this year. Then, we must realise a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. It means there were things we did in the last years that will bring certain harvests in 2014. If you have the power of initiatives and take certain decisions, 2014 and beyond will be different. If you get the wisdom to decide differently, you will get a result that will neutralise the results of past years. If we know these things, we will make the best out of 2014. If we keep doing things the way we have always done and expect different results in 2014, then we are big jokers. For example, last year was a terrible year for us in terms of Boko Haram attacks. It could have been

worse but God helped us despite the fact that we started talking about this insurgency eleven years ago. That same year, the group was declared a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). We have tried with military offensive but not all problems can be resolved with force. There have been innocent killings and sentiments against the military. We must move to secure support from the local communities and secure sympathy beyond gunning down the insurgents. If we initiate something fresh in 2014, then we can expect to totally wipe out the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. There have been many frightening predictions for 2014. Should we believe or just dismiss them? I already said God has plans for His children this year and always. In the same vein, the devil has his agenda for people and the world. Satan has a list of those he wants to kill this year. Many pastors and prophets can access that list and release the names there, not knowing they are promoting satanic agenda. If you check the list of God, you will find no such things there. If you embrace the prophecies from Satan, it is too bad for you. So, those announcing there will be deaths, dooms and disasters, we should have another look at them. We should ask them who showed them those evils. Nigerians must begin to understand that apart from things fixed by God, the others are dynamics that can be altered. If someone prophesies your house will be on fire, you can decide to be

xxx

•Thompson

proactive and buy an extinguisher. So when the fire comes, you save the house by applying the extinguisher and lose only a chair or table. So, we must realise there are spiritual dynamics in charge of prophecies and predictions. If you are not under the star of Christ, some of these things the evil prophets have said will happen to you. But if you come under the star of Christ, then you are safe and have risen far above powers and principalities. How can the nation make the best out of 2014? I believe 2014 will be the best for Nigeria. It is a year in which we can achieve our na-

NEWS

House Favour lifts less privileged

UNDREDS of the lessprivileged last week smiled home with various gift items ranging from bags of rice to crash helmet, exercise books and cash. It was at the annual empowerment scheme of House Favour church in Egbeda, Lagos. Hundreds of widows and the less-privileged flooded the premises of the church where the items were distributed free to them. The senior pastor of the church, Rev Bayode Olubo, explained the scheme was conceived to demonstrate the kindness and compassion that

By Sunday Oguntola

the Christian faith represents. He said nothing guarantees living than hope, stressing the charities, which have been the hallmarks of the church, are intended to give hope to the hopeless in the society. Olubo said: ‘‘The Bible loves a cheerful giver and God even commanded us to be our brothers’ keeper. “Christmas is a time for celebration and as everyone would celebrate, those without help ought to do so also.” He challenged Christian leaders and organisations to assist the less-privileged in the

society because lots of people are suffering. The suffering masses, he pointed out, are looking at some Christian leaders with dismay because of their ostentatious lifestyles. “Really, I don’t blame those who castigated some so-called men of God. It is actually obvious that there are lots of Nigerians suffering due to lack of assistance from both the government and religious institutions. “Yet, these so-called men of God are pilling wealth that their unborn generations cannot finish. It is quite sad,” he said.

tional potentials and become the leader God created us to be in Africa. We should address the issue of youth restiveness and redirect their energies. We must come up this year and admit collective guilt for the escalating corruption in the

nation. If we don’t, it will be too late by next year. Nigeria is like a train that has not lost its brakes going down to evident ruination. If we halt the decline and reverse in the right direction, we will have the greatest year so far in this nation.

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. Kindly contact Sunday Oguntola on 08034309265 or shinystarontop@gmail.com for advert details and participation. You will be glad you did!

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

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Living Faith By Dr. David Oyedepo

Commanding supernatural The devil is not your victory! friend. He is on the prowl

•The Prelate & Moderator of the General Assembly of The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, Most Rev. Emele Uka (extreme right), receiving a donation of N200, 000 from the Women wing of Ohafia Improvement Union Warri branch Delta State in support of the proposed Hope Waddell University project in Ohafia, Abia State.

•L-R: President, Global Ministries, Apostle Aderemi Adebiyi presenting certificate of recognition to the Press and Publicity Secretary Lagos State Chapter of the ministries, Revd Petkola Taiwo Ibitowa. With them are the Lagos State Chairman, Rev. Raphael Oladejo and Vice President, South South, Pastor Ebere Imuseh

Atilade to Jonathan: Fight corruption in 2014 T HE Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) South West region, Archbishop Magnus Atilade, has appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to make good his promise in tackling the monster of corruption in 2014. Nigeria‘s progress, he said, has been hampered by an increasing level of impunity and corrupt practices, stating that they require urgent attention for national development. Atilade spoke last week in his office. According to him: ”It is very sad that I have not seen a broad and comprehensive policy in favour of the masses

By Adeola Ogunlade

as every advantage, opportunity and social welfare programmes are reserved for the rich.” He charged the president to be more assertive and fight corruption without being intimidated by any individual or group. The cleric took a swipe at the cost of governance and the allowances given to members of the National Assembly. While advocating for a reversal of such allowances, Atilade said: “We need to go back to the unicameral system of governance as Nigeria can-

not afford the bi-camera system of government that is very expensive and has become a platform for siphoning our common wealth.” On the New Year, Atilade expressed optimism thus: “I have a great hope that 2014 will be a better year with less strikes, better educational policy, infrastructural development, better academic facilities and a pleasant year for all Nigerians. ”I strongly believe good will overcome evil and the negative forces of darkness and agents of Satan will be subdued by God for the sake of God’s children who are praying for the survival and sustenance of our great country, Nigeria.”

Vocational training key to wealth - Odukoya

HE acquisition of vocational skills is the shortest route to financial independence, the Senior Pastor of Fountain of Life Church Lagos, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, has stated. He said Nigerians with entrepreneurial training cannot be stranded and remain eminently qualified to achieve financial greatness. Odukoya spoke during the ninth graduation of Grace Springs Vocational Centre at the church’s auditorium. He said that the current realities in the country demand that vocational skills should be added to degrees acquired in universities as white collar jobs are no longer readily available. According to him: “It has been proven that those with additional vocational and en-

By Sunday Oguntola

trepreneurial skills are having an edge in the marketplace and they are the ones exhibiting financial freedom and impacting lives on a daily basis.” He disclosed that the church was quite mindful of the importance of this aspect of the economy, explaining the needs to arm the youths with alternative job skills necessitated the setting up of the centre five years ago as a nonprofit making outfit. While charging the graduates numbering over 100 to utilise whatever training they had acquired from the centre to influence others, Odukoya urged them to cultivate an entrepreneurship mindset and put God first in everything they do. The principal of the centre,

Mrs. Yetunde Holloway, charged the graduating students to make judicious use of the skills they had acquired, urging them to be good ambassadors of the centre. Speaking on behalf of the graduates, the best graduating students, Olayinka Akinbanji, said what the centre has impacted on him is invaluable. “The skills no doubt will make us employers of labour and we are grateful to the Fountain of Life church for coming up with such a laudable centre.” The graduates after months of extensive training were certified competent in different vocations such as tailoring and styling, soap and cream making, soft furnishing, shoe making, plumbing, beadcraft, accessories making and catering.

WO main forces dominate the supernatural world. They are the forces of good (God) and evil (devil). These two forces cannot be compared in anyway. One is greater and mightier than the other. God is the Almighty, the source of all victories and good things. The devil is noted for evil, causing problems and making sure that victory eludes people. It is because of this that I will be showing you why you need supernatural victory in the affairs of life. There is no better time that you need supernatural victory than this new year. Life is a battlefield. Because victory is the desire of everybody, victory therefore remains the desire, expectation and aspiration of all living being. The Bible says: In the world you will have tribulations, but he of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33). In 1 John 5:19, we also understand that…the whole world lieth in wickedness. From the above scriptures, you can see that life is a battlefield! That is why the desire of every living being is victory. In fact, the war began in the Garden of Eden, and it has continued till now. Whether you are willing to fight or not, the fight is on. Your desire alone not to fight is not relevant. As soon as Satan was chased out of heaven, he came down here on earth (Revelation 12:12). You need supernatural victory, because your battles are essentially spiritual. That means your victories can only be established by spiritual help – a supernatural force coming into operation to give you victory. It takes the supernatural forces of heaven to subdue the battles that are raging against you.

looking for ways and means of destroying you (John 10:10). Satan does not do it in the natural realm. Therefore, if you must be victorious this new year, you must meet him in his realm, the realm of the supernatural. That is why you need supernatural victory. After creation, God looked at everything He created and said it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). It, therefore, means that an enemy has planted anything that is not very good in your life (Matthew 13:24-28). That enemy is none other than Satan, the devil. But I see every such planting in your life uprooted today, in Jesus’ name! We had this testimony, among others, from our Mission in Mali. A sister had AIDS with swollen legs, which were rotten. As she was listening to one of my tapes with one of her friends, a force hit her legs and that was it! The swollen legs became normal and the AIDS in her body was completely flushed out! That is supernatural victory! The foul spirit of sickness was hiding in her body to destroy her life. But a supernatural force came into operation and brought her victory. You can see why you need supernatural victory. Are you tormented by the devil with sickness or infirmity? As you are reading this teaching, a force will hit you there to set you free for ever, in the name of Jesus Christ! Friend, you really need supernatural victory, especially in this new year. Recognize that battles are not strange to people (1 Peter 4:12-13). Every battle is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your victory. Problems are not designed to destroy you, but are programmed to be solved. Obstacles, are opportunities

for miracles; they are not to stagnate your destiny. They are there to prove your worth in God. There’s no champion who has no stories of challenges to tell. Champions are products of challenges. “So what do I do?” you ask. You have to go forward! That’s what to do. Because at the end it shall speak. Wait for it, the victory is coming. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh…(1 John 5:4). Heaven is the city of overcomers. We have several scriptures in the Book of Revelation that authenticate this (Read Revelation 2:7, 17 and 26. Revelation 3:5, 12 and 21). “…To him that overcometh…” the scriptures kept emphasising. You must be prepared to overcome. You have God’s backing for victory. The number of victories available to you is equal to the number of battles you’ll ever need to fight (2 Corinthians 2:14). Victory is the birthright of the redeemed. The redeemed are those who are born of God. You become born of God, when you accept and confess Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord. If you set for it, please say this prayer:”Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious blood. Today, Lord Jesus, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!” I will continue this teaching next week. Every exploit in life is a product of knowledge. For further reading, please get my books: Walking In The Miraculous, Exploring The Secrets Of Success and Releasing The Supernatural. 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

NEWS

Sow seeds of love, says Kumuyi

HE General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, has charged Christians to continue to sow the seeds of love, compassion and peace for their desired blessings, success and promotion in the New Year. He spoke last Sunday at the annual December Retreat and Special Miracle Service of the church at the Deeper Life Conference Centre, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The event tagged Crossing Over to your new inheritance and walking over the storms of life attracted thou-

By Adeola Ogunlade

sands and featured bible study, concert, testimonies, seminars and prophetic ministration. According to him, 2014 will be a year of abundant laughter, success, promotion, breakthrough, victory and progress for every Christian. On how to access these goodies, Kumuyi said: “God wants us to continue to sow the seeds of love instead of hate, peace instead of war and joy instead of sadness everywhere we find ourselves.” He opined that nations

around the world will continue to roam within the circles of war, civil unrest, acrimony and bloodshed with its attendant consequences when people continue sowing the seeds of discord, hatred and anger and resentment among different ethnic, tribe and language divides. Kumuyi further advised Christians to take solace in God no matter the storms of life that may rage as Jesus has the power to still any storm “Jesus is the master of the storms of life and he is always interested in stilling the storm whenever we call on him in faith,” he said.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014

‘What outdoor artwork means to me’

Bunmi Babatunde is a seasoned sculptor who has been involved in a couple of outdoor and indoor art works. Most prominent of his works is the statue of Chief M.K.O. Abiola located at the Ojota public garden. The imposing work was done about seven years ago. Today, Babatunde looks back and gives kudos to the Lagos State Government for the project and more in this chat with Edozie Udeze

UNMI Babatunde is not only a professional studio artist who has given his best to the art in the past thirty years; he is equally a sculptor who has been involved in many outstanding outdoor works in the society. His love for sculptures has indeed made him one of the most notable and respected signatures in Lagos State. One of such beautiful works is the imposing statue of Chief Moshood Abiola located on the Ojota-Oworonshoki Expressway, Lagos. Concerning that work, Babatunde intoned: “Yes, that M.K.O Abiola statue was a project of the Lagos State government. I was only privileged to handle it. It is one of the most important projects I have handled so far. “It is one of those works that mean a lot to the state government because of the place of Abiola in Nigerian politics. It was more of his political role and activism that made the Lagos State government to embark on that mighty project. This was why I took my time to handle it, applying my best artistic acumen to bring it to that level it is today. You can see how ecstatically imposing it is,” he submitted. Installed about seven years ago, the statue, which shows Abiola in his flowing Agbada and beckoning on his teeming supporters, was encouraged by the government in order to add beauty to the environment and make Abiola’s place in history indelible in the minds of the people. “I think the location was informed by the fact that hitherto there was a sculpture there before. However, the state government considered the proximity of the garden and the political and historical importance of Abiola. That place first attracts your attention as you approach the state. And in terms of art aesthetics and beauty, this is good for the eyes to behold.” Babatunde who trained at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos and has been fully involved in the training of many younger artists in the past twenty years explained why he was chosen to do this work: “Well, it was not really that I am a sculptor, well grounded in the business, but also because this is my own area of competence. Over the years, I have devoted all my time to sculpting, using the best materials for various experiments. This was why when the work was given to me to do; I had to use my own professional ingenuity to know what to do. I had to design it in a way that you can’t mistake the person of Abiola. This was why the work took me three months to complete. And it had to be done in such a way that it would survive the vagaries of weather,” he said. Using bronze to do the work, the artist first of all considered its strength and long-lasting effect as

•Babatunde

an outdoor work. “When I suggested this to the state government, they did not hesitate to accept it. At least it will last for a long time. For now, the Lagos State government means well to the art. The government has encouraged a lot of arts to be mounted in different corners of the state. We also appeal to the state government to work with a professional body of the art to do most of its street sculptures.” In this wise, he said, “We have the Guild of Professional Artists;

we also have Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) and others who have competent professionals to handle government projects to make the streets beautiful and more edifying. Even here at the Universal Studios of the Art (USA) we have a number of sculptors well-known within Nigeria who are capable of handling the most complicated outdoor project.” In the world of sculpting, it is usually advisable to encourage artists with high professional reputa-

“Sometimes too, an art work is considered relevant to a particular location due to its value in time. In terms of looking at what the people need in a society, the government and the artist concerned must work together to give the public what they need. Since art is considered therapeutic in terms of its aesthetical beauty and appeal, they must be done in a classical way in order to curry for the necessary attention”

•Reminiscence by Babatunde

tion and dexterity to do works that will last for long. Babatunde has always been one of those artists who feel that professionalism, competence and maturity on the job should never be compromised. “When we see some of the standard of art we have on the streets, we feel very bad. This is why it is imperative that the state government should employ the services of the professional bodies to get these works done. That way, when you see the work, when it is finally mounted and it attracts the kind of attention people need, everybody will be happy. Beautiful art is what we need to express who we are; give colours to our streets and make people identify with our history, culture and tradition.”

Babatunde’s attitude to the beauty of the art as part of the upgrading of the streets to an acceptable level is that more outdoor projects should be embarked upon by government at all levels. Said he: “The beauty they add cannot be quantified, they remove the ordinariness of an environment. If you go where the Awolowo statue is today, you’ll quickly reconnect with him, with his place in history and the role he played in the lives of his people. This sort of work gives some sense of nostalgia and then you begin to remember the kind of virtue he stands for. So when you capture such a past, the present can easily be used to project the future.” Sometimes too, an art work is considered relevant to a particular location due to its value in time. In terms of looking at what the people need in a society, the government and the artist concerned must work together to give the public what they need. Since art is considered therapeutic in terms of its aesthetical beauty and appeal, they must be done in a classical way in order to curry for the necessary attention. “When I finished the Abiola project, the first thing I did was to call for a press preview and allowed for comments. From what people said, I was sure I had done a good job. Today, if you look around you, you will see some other equally good jobs making the state beautiful.” Equally important to most artists is the volume of commissioned work they get in a year or from time to time. Commissioned works are usually given by clients to artists they know that they can deliver quality works. Over time, Babatunde has also enjoyed such largesse which has helped to shore up his resume in the business. “Oh, over the years, I have got a couple of commissioned works. Most of them came from individuals who recognised my competence. What I don’t do is to hustle for such commissioned works. I have done many works that are so outstanding because, to me, sculptures represent life. In a work of such nature, your competence has to show. I hate it when works are given to people who cannot handle them well. It does not speak well of our professional reputation.” A seasoned studio artist, Babatunde is also the Chairman of Universal Studios of Art (USA), Lagos, where he has his studios and where he trains student artists from various locations in Nigeria. “As an accomplished artist, it is my responsibility to ensure that the younger ones are well-groomed so that they can face the rigours of their profession maximally. So far, I thank God for how far he has taken me. I can say it loud and clear that Nigeria is blessed to have the quality of artists we have today. When people come into the country they do not fail to meet this array of professionals and what they stand for.” He praised Nigerian art patrons who he described as lively and huge contributors to the growth of the sector. “Before now, it was expatriates who patronised us most. But today more Nigerians have begun to recognise the importance of the art and invest more these days. The interest is growing everyday and we all are happy about it.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

PTDF gives 60 students scholarship

HE Petroleum Training Development Fund (PTDF) has given scholarships to 60 students to study oil and gas-related courses at the Ostfold University College in Fredrikstad, Norway. The Executive Secretary of the PTDF, Dr Oluwole Oluleye, stated this yesterday in Abuja at the departure ceremony organised for the students. Oluleye, who was represented by the General Manager (Administration and Human Resources) of the Fund, Mr. Balarabe Ahmad, said that the programme was organised in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. He said that the programme was also part of the PTDF’s intervention efforts in the Niger Delta area and other parts of the country to empower the youth. He said the students — 12 girls and 48 boys — were selected from various secondary schools across the country, adding, however, that 70 per cent of them were from the Niger Delta region. Oluleye noted that the Fund was known for training people via local and overseas scholarship schemes at postgraduate levels, adding that it decided to extend the scheme to cover undergraduates because of the success of the programme. “The Fund decided that it would also be beneficial to Nigeria if youths are given the opportunity to explore various undergraduate programmes under the Amnesty Programme of the federal government. “The Federal Government has designed vari-

ous programmes to engage our youths in such a way that they will contribute meaningfully to national development, while steering them away from militancy and mischief,’’ he said. Oluleye warned the students against being carried away by the euphoria of their success in the selection process, advising them to rather work hard and make the country proud. The General Manager (Education Programme) of the Fund, Mr. Hammed Galadima, said that there were more than 600 Nigerian students studying in various universities across the world under the aegis of the PTDF He advised the students to abide by the terms of the scholarship which, he said, excluded the extension of the programme due to poor performance. “There will be no room for you to repeat; you should ensure that you finish your programme within the given time,’’ he warned. One of the students, Doubre Peter, who is from Warri, Delta, thanked the federal government for the opportunity given to him through the scheme, pledging to make Nigeria proud. M o h a m m e d Mohammed, another beneficiary from Salisu International Secondary School, Katsina, said that the award was a rare gesture, stressing that he would make the best out of it. A female beneficiary, Isu-Sylvanus Aresuo, who is from Balyesa, said that the scholarship would give her life a meaning, adding that she would strive to contribute her own quota to Nigeria’s development. (NAN)

NAICOM pays N2.2bn claims, resolves 61 disputes

HE National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) yesterday said that its complaint bureau resolved 61 disputes and facilitated the payment of N2.2 billion claims in 2013. The Head, Corporate Affairs of NAICOM, Mr. Salami Rasaaq, said this in a statement. According to him, this is in the realisation of the commission’s continued effort at ensuring the protection of policy holders and insurance consumers over settlement of genuine insurance claims. “The commission received a total of 193 complaints from insuring public, insurance companies, insurance intermediaries and legal practitioners in 2013. “Out of this figure, 61 complaints were successfully resolved in 2013 through correspondence, adjudication meetings

and direct contact with the insurance companies. “The settled cases amounted to N2, 236 million, while the remaining 132 complaints are at various stages of settlement with some nearing closure,” he said. Rassaq said that through the adjudication meetings, 15 cases were settled while one case was under subjudice. He said that some of the claims and disputes settled were on Group Life, Fire, and non-payment of brokers’ commission, motor vehicles, maturity benefits, life policy, aviation, burglary and theft. Rasaaq said others were non-remittance of premium to insurance companies, severance benefits, bonds, investment, marine, death benefit, goods on transit, nonpayment of loss adjusters’ fees and annuity benefits.

EBERE WABARA

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

WORDSWORTH 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

Grammatical crudities W

E still have a backlog of school-boy howlers from last year hence the appearance of 2013 faults in this edition and subsequent ones. THE NATION ON SUNDAY of August 4, 2013, circulated numerous poisoned slips starting from its front page: “KSB: I will marry again if…” Truth in defence of freedom: I will remarry if… “Fashola, who congratulated the new commissioner for (on/upon) the elevation….” Still on the foregoing: “Congratulations for (on/ upon) making it double for the Land of Honour….” (Half-page advertisement signed by The Management, Office of the Deputy Governor, Ekiti State, Nigeria) “The accident, which occurred around (about) 6.30am (6.30 a.m.), was the worst in the locality in a decade.” ‘Around’ in timing is sheer Americanism! “Fifteen of the youth died while several of them have (had) fractures and are (were) being attended to at government (the government) hospital in the….” “Sources said the deceased might be given mass burial since they are (were) from the same village.” “May God continue to bless you, give you wisdom and good health beyond measures (measure).” (Fullpage congratulatory advertisement signed by Sir J.I.A. Arumemi-Ikhide, Chairman Arik Air) Finally, THE NATION ON SUNDAY Editorial of August 4: “The era of harassments from NYDC, a federal agency, has finally been put paid to by that landmark judgment.” ‘Harassment’, unlike ‘embarrassment’, is uncountable. THISDAY front and inside pages of August 10 indulged in grammatical crudity trebly: Window headline: “Nigerian crude oil exports to hit 1.94m bpd in September” The intro: “Nigeria’s crude Oil (sic— abuse of capital letter) export, excluding condensates (another comma) will hit 1.94 million barrels per day by September….” The Saturday Newspaper: ‘by September’ implies, possibly, August, September or October, while the headline says ‘in September’! So, which is the correct version: by or in…? “THISDAY gathered (just tell readers what the medium ‘gathered’!) that the victims—six of them— were abducted by the gunmen at about 7.00am (7.00

a.m.) on their way to work….” Can publications ever be specific on time? Either: at or about a particular time. ‘At’ and ‘about’ cannot function in the same environment— except in informal entries: at or about 7 a.m. “Bayelsa govt invests N1.17bn on (in) aquaculture farms” “…he explained that attacks by Boko Haram on churches is (why?) not a vendetta against Christians, but a political tool.” Lastly from THISDAY COVER under review: “We should be very careful because many of the people who are now jumping into the APC bandwagon are ex-PDP members.” Between APC and PDP: climb/jump/get on (not into) the bandwagon. Or, worse still: ‘join the bandwagon’! “We have a lot of youths, millions of them, that are yet be (yet to be) attended to in the Niger Delta.” “Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State must brace up for more trouble from the opposition in the days and months ahead….” (Contributed by Kola Danisa) The embattled governor must brace for—not ‘brace up for’! “They died when the vehicle they were travelling in somersaulted after the front tyre bursted (burst).” Past tense and past participle: burst “The governor noted that their deaths (death) has again brought to the front burner….” Finally from THE NATION ON SUNDAY under review: “That message need (needs) to be avoided….” Next is THISDAY of August 3, also beginning from its front page: “…suspected to be member (a member) of the terrorist organisation, al-Qaeda.” “To download (a comma) visit your favourite app store” and “for more information (a comma, again!) log on to….” “Many African countries like Sierra Leone are looking up to Nigeria for a bale out (sic)….” Commentary: bailout “Abia and armedchair critics” Insight: armchair critics “For Mrs Obioma Imoke, it’s another feather to her cap” A rewrite: For Obioma Imoke, it’s a feather in her cap

“…they are coming with much more (many more) new aircrafts (aircraft) and state of the art (state-of-the-art) private aircraft….” “Born same (the same) day to same (the same) parents….” “The strike action definitely will compound the security situation in the country.” Remove ‘action’ in the interest of scholarship. “Nigerian universities have continued to go down in rating with its antiquated and obsolete scientific equipments….” ‘Equipment’, like ‘stationery’ and ‘cutlery’, is noncount. Still on National Mirror: “…held recently at (on) the institution’s main campus served many purposes.” “…you always want those type of players in your team.” Sport journalism: this type of players or those types of players—depending on context. “AMC has set up series (a series) of activities….” “…a major setback for marketing practice in (on) then continent.” “Astymin brilliance reward: Sustaining long term equity” Brands & Marketing: long-term equity “Navy arrests oil bunkering syndicate” Community Mirror: oil-bunkering syndicate “Forum calls for co existence (co-existence) in Ondo” “…whereas European leagues are getting set to kick-off for 2013/2014 season.” Phrasal verbs do not admit hyphenation. Insight: kick off. Finally from the Back Page of NATIONAL MIRROR of July 25 comes the last set of gaffes: “Majority (A majority) of the reported 5,000 Nigerians who….” “The WHO said that approximately 15 million people worldwide have (had) active tuberculosis.” “…people drink from streams due to the absence of portable (potable) water.” “…deep thought and practical wisdom which more matured (mature) people are more amendable (amenable) to.” “As this year’s World Population Day was being commemorated at (in) Abuja, the Minister of Health alerted the nation about (to) the spate of teenage pregnancies.” HAPPY, PROSPEROUS 2014!

•Akinyemi

‘Let's stop ignoring grievances in Nigeria’ •Continued from Page 25 than 1.65 billion in Nigeria. That's how much Indian space programme cost. The Chinese did the same thing. Simply because while America will spend $50 million trying to develop a pen that would not drip in space, the Chinese would just take a pencil along into space. It doesn't cost them anything, the pencil is already there. So, the Chinese spent $1.6 billion. And they have put an explorer on the moon now. Nigeria can afford this. I know I have been preaching this since my days at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs about what Nigeria can be doing, even before it has solved its poverty problem. Other countries have done so. Give us something to make us proud. I'm 72 now. I want this country to do something so that on my death bed, I can smile and say yes, my country made it. Right now, there is nothing to make me say my country made it. I believe in celebrating 100 years. I am not looking down on that. It has been a difficult existence for us. But whether we become so pessimistic or so depressed about the performance of our leaders, that even things we should celebrate, we don't want to celebrate them. But a hundred years of our existence, not so peaceful, can't be peaceful. It cannot. We are human beings, we are not robots; human beings with fears, with misunderstandings. No, it can't be peaceful. That we are still together after 100 years is worth celebrating. But I want something more than that to celebrate on my death bed, something more than that. This could tie to the issue of the national conference that the president is calling. From your experience, would you say that the engagement would yield something profound? I am a firm believer in the national conference. I think the president has said. I hope I am not misinterpreting him, that it's going to be called a national conference. People have been demanding it. People had thought this would be a solution, a platform that will address grievances, fears and come up with a solution. Somewhere along the line, the president seemed to have become persuaded that he could pull it off. That the situation is ripe enough for him to attempt this. Would he succeed? I don't know because the conference is not by the president for the president. It is for you and I and the kind of people we elect that will go there. It's going to depend on the seriousness of the delegates you send. It is unfortunate that the APC has decided to boycott it. I think it is gravely unfortunate. Another lesson I have learnt in life, don't boycott things. Life goes on. We have suffered. It has never worked in Nigeria, we have boycotted, boycotted and the country continues. And unfortunately, you can't reverse it. When you then decide to join, maybe whatever system they put in place, you can't say let us go and revisit...I am not a believer in boycott anymore. I'm not. Elections were boycotted in 1960. Whatever it was, the elections were still held. Government was still formed and until the military came in, that government was ruling. General Abubakar offered to meet NADECO. We are on record. I know the messages sent to me: 'Don't take part in the transition. The transition is not going to last. It's a contraption. The contraption is still in place now since 1999.' You decided you won't take part. Thank God, if somebody like Tinubu had decided to obey NADECO and not take part, what would have happened today? I am not a believer in boycott. Number two, the outcome will depend on discussions there. The success will depend on the attitude of the National Assembly because,

frankly, the constitution did not make any provision for a national conference. But this is a country where we came up with the Doctrine of Necessity when we were confronted with a problem. I'm sure we have enough SANs, who can come up with how to get the National Assembly and the president to read from the same page so that the outcome of the national conference can become law. But I must say this. I admire the president. If not for anything for one thing. I don't believe, I may be wrong, I don't believe I know of any government in the world that would decide to embark on a major programme and put critics of the government on the advisory committee to come up with modalities. If you know Femi Okurounmu, Professor Nwabueze was there to start with. He dropped because of old age. Asemota. I can mention about six. These are difficult people to deal with and you now put them into a committee to come up with modalities. It takes courage. Normally, government will say we are looking for our own people. 'That one is on the same page with us, put him there. That one is not our friend. No, no, no remove him from the list.' That is how government operates, frankly, whether here, in America or Britain. They will say don't put him on the committee, he is a troublemaker. These are the people the president looked for. I admire Mr President for that, it shows courage. I am not even sure I have that kind of courage. What is your comment on Obasanjo's letter to Jonathan? All that needs to be said have been said by the exchange of those letters. I shy away from getting myself involved in a situation where the whole purpose is to say, Hey, I'm still alive. I'm still relevant. I shy away from that. Enough have been said about those letters. Some of the comments have been useful, some to add fuel to the fire. The other comments not useful at all. They were just drawing attention to themselves. This is a New Year. I prefer to just watch and see things unfolding. Even though, I am a professor of political science, I am not a prophet. So, I will join all of you in folding my hands and watching events unfold and let the waves carry us to where the waves are going. Was Nigeria snubbed by South Africa at the funeral of Nelson Mandela? Yes we were snubbed. There is no other answer to that question. But the Jonathan Administration is not to blame for that. If the snub had been directed at the President, then why were other Nigerians who are prominent internationally not invited and given a prominent mention? The root cause lies in the propensity of so-called eminent Nigerians going round backstabbing other Nigerians, running them down internationally, all in an attempt to give the impression that nobody else counts except themselves. Since 1979, we have always had two Presidents on each occassion, one located at the capital and the other self-styled located elsewhere, entertaining and gossiping with members of the diplomatic corps and running down state functionaries. There were others who also indulged in these disgraceful and shameful practises. However in the process, the international community saw through the despicable characters and adjudge them worthless. The end result is that it is the whole of Nigeria that suffers as the international community decides to give Nigeria a wide berth and not get involved in the Nigerian wahala. That explains why those who trumpeted their relationship with Nelson Mandela were nowhere to be seen at the funeral.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 5, 2014

NEWS

• L-R: Chief Missioner, Ansar-ur-deen Society of Nigeria, Alhaji Abdulrahman Ahmad; Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, and Managing Director, Osun State Investment Company, Mr Bola Oyebamiji, during the inauguration of the Ansar-ur-deen Society of Nigeria Central Mosque in Ikire, Osun State.

Fashola named among 100 top global thinkers L

AGOS State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), was at the weekend named with other global personalities like Pope Francis of the Vatican; Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, and Mayor of Warsaw Poland, Hanna Gronkiewicz-waltz as 100 Top Global Thinkers for 2013. The rating was conducted by a global personality assessment organisation, Lo Spazio della Politica (LSDP). Lo Spazio della Politica, which is based in Italy and Brussels, is an independent Think Tank fashioned after the prestigious Foreign Policy (FP). It lists personalities, organisations and institutions that have made significant impact on the lives of people as well as objects, research projects and public policies which have inspired thinking globally. It is founded by young Italian scientists and scholars. In its list titled “The LSDP Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2013,” the organisation said it included Fashola “because he made Lagos an African hub of innovation, launching the Lagos Innovation Advisory Council, with the help of the Harvard Kennedy School”. Fashola has, in the last seven years, received numerous local and international awards as well as recognitions

By Oziegbe Okoeki

by prestigious global bodies for his innovative and peopleoriented leadership. Such awards include the 2009 Good Governance Award from the United Kingdombased African Business Magazine, 2010 Award for Excellence in Leadership of the Martin Luther King Jnr. Foundation. His dogged pursuit of renewal of the infrastructure of Lagos as the critical strategy for economic growth and poverty alleviation has also won the state honours from far- away as Australia for undertaking the fastest infrastructure renewal ever in Africa. The organisation named Pope Francis as number one “because he reminded the world that the Catholic Church is a Global Power.” It placed the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, 31 on its list “because 2013, for better and for worse, has been the year of Abenomics.” The organisation stated that the list emphasises mostly political leaders, scientists, businessmen, academics and intellectuals even as it tries to balance the geographical representation between Europe, the United States, Africa and other continents adding, however, that the balance varies on yearly basis. The President of South Ko-

rea, Park Geun-Hye, was also listed “because she has created a Ministry of Science and Future” while Nigeria’s Adefunke Ekine, Fellow, Echidna Global Scholars Nigeria, got on the list “for her experience in teaching and directing schools in Africa in particular for the promotion of science among female students.” Three women, Jenet Yellen, Elvira Nabiullina and Karnit Flug from the United States, Russia and Israel respectively, took the second position in the list “because they showed that the Central Bankers’ Club is not ‘Men Only’ anymore while Brazilian Scientist, Ruth Nussenzweig, made the third position in the list “for her research on malaria and her will to work again with her husband in Brazil at the age of 85.” Also included in the list are Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and King Albert 11 of Belgium, “for their role as Monarch innovators in Europe,” the famous Japanese Film Director, Hayao Miyazaki, “because he keeps making adults and children dream even in the years of his retirement.” There was also Bill Maris, the Managing Director of Google Ventures, United States, “because he was the first to use a quantitative and algorithmic approach in the field of venture capital.”

Make Nigerians smile, Uche charges FG

HE Prelate of Methodist Church Nigeria, His Eminence Dr. Samuel Uche, has called on the federal government to initiate policies and programmes that will bring smiles to the faces of Nigerians and help everyone forget the traumatic experiences of 2013. He stated this in his New Year goodwill message made available by the Church’s Media and Public Relations Officer, Reverend Oladapo Daramola. Uche said: “Nigerians need succour, relief and re-

By Sunday Oguntola

newed hope and the only way for this to become a reality is for the government to meet the aspirations and yearnings of the people through economic policies that have human face which will yield immediate dividends.” Uche noted that 2013 was a tough year for Nigerians, urging the government to take measures to reverse the trend in 2014. “It has become imperative for the federal government to rise up and stem the tide of suffering sweeping

through nearly every part of our country. “The masses are ‘bleeding’ and there is an urgent need for a solution. All hands must be on deck to stop the bleeding or else we risk undesired consequences.” He, however, predicted that 2014 will be a prosperous year for the nation. He said those setting the collective destiny of the country backward will be exposed and disgraced except they repent and seek God’s forgiveness for the troubles they have caused the nation.

SPORTS THE NATION ON SUNDAY

Rivers, Niger in Maryam Babangida Memorial Tennis final

EXTRA

JANUARY 5, 2014

Maiden Roberts Orya Tennis Tournament serves off Monday

HE final of the 3rd Maryam Babangida National Junior Tennis Championship holds today at the Minna Sports Club, Niger State with titles in the U 14 for Boys and Girls singles at stake. Top seed, Fortune Aniso of River State is expected to face a stiff challenge when he battles Oluwabunmi Are of Kwara in the Girls final. Aniso justified are top ranking by beating Peace Bulus of Taraba 6-2, 6-2 while Are, who emerged champions in the senior category of the recently held school sports Festival in Kwara, was also in commanding form when she dispatched Amina Ibrahim of Edo state 6-1, 6-0. The Boy's final also promised to be intriguing as homeboy Paul Kwange faces Godsgift Timibra of Rivers for the top prize. Kwange outplayed Adehi Oche of Benue 6-4, 6-3 to set up the clash with number one seed, Timibra who ended the run of Tochukwu Ezeh of Anambra 6-1,6-4 in the semifinal.

Adeleke dares Echiejile for Eagles shirt

AZIO of Italy player Seyifunmi Adeleke believes he has a lot to fight for in the Super Eagles if he is to be consider good for selection. The former Flying Eagles invitee, who is on loan to FC Biel-Bienne of Switzerland said he has gathered a lot of ability to withstand the big boys in the national team after enjoying a prolific form with his Swiss club. "I took the best decision to go on loan to FC Biel-Bienne as I was not anywhere in the coach’s plan at Lazio. Yes, it’s been great coming from their youth rank but I don't think it will be great for me to be looking at the name of the club while on the bench," Adeleke explained. "I have been on loan in Italy, I know what I have gathered in the country and it’s really helping me now in Switzerland and I believe hard work will bring the best of me ." "I did wonderfully well for me club and they commended me a lot because I went there to prove a lot of things right and it really paid off for me. I am a better player for Super Eagles but it won't be enough on the pages of newspaper." "There are good players in my positions. ”

Iheanacho

Iheanacho: Keshi faults Man City move N

IGERIA coach Stephen Keshi has faulted U 17 star Kelechi Iheanacho's choice of Manchester City to begin his career in Europe, arguing the 2013 U17 World Cup MVP ought to have started with a much smaller overseas club. "We need to be realistic in our dealings, Iheanacho should have been taken to a

smaller team, where he can mature quickly by getting play time,” he said. “Iheanacho can't play in Manchester City in the next one year or so, it is not good for him." The Iheanachos are still in Spain after a medical by Kelechi for City there. The youngster is set to be at the FIFA Awards in Switzerland

next week. Efforts are also in full gear to get father and son to England to finalise the transfer. Keshi informed that he would have picked U 17 star Kelechi Iheanacho for CHAN, but for the youngster's "premature" move to Manchester City. "I would have loved to take him to CHAN, where he

Wolves earn N30m on Mba move

Mba

ONTRARY to reports, Nigeria club side, Warri Wolves earned at least 150,000 Euros (about N30m) when Sunday Mba signed for French club CA Bastia. It was widely reported that the Super Eagle moved

to France as a free player. A s o u r c e t o l d MTNFootball.com: "Mba didn't go for free, Wolves will get nothing less than 150,000 Euros, but I can't say the actual price," Warri Wolves media officer Moses Etu told MTNFootball.com Mba did not join Bastia on a free transfer, but he does not have the figure the French team coughed out to secure the services of the Nigeria international. "It is not true, how could Mba go for free? Our consultant Emmanuel Ibru is there with him (in France). I don't have the figure of the deal now. We are waiting for that soonest," Etu said.

could get more exposure and experience, where he would grow more in confidence and take his game to next level, but he and his dad opted for something else," Keshi said on a Radio Nigeria interview. The Eagles coach has picked U17 goalkeeper Dele Alampasu for the continental tournament, which kicks off in Cape Town on January 11.

R R A N G EMENTS have been concluded to hold the 1st Roberts Ungwaga Orya Tennis Clinic and Tournament at the prestigious Makurdi Club in Benue State from Monday. The event is targeted at boys and girls between the ages of four (4) to fourteen (14) years of age and the daily tennis clinics will open at 8am to 12noon of each day. Training, Coaching and mentoring will be anchored by very experienced and internationally recognized coaches. Forms are available at the Makurdi Club, Radio Benue and Makurdi Sports Council. The organizing committee has released a statement by the promoter, Mr. Roberts Ungwaga Orya (MD of Nexim Bank), that this is his personal contribution towards youth development in Nigeria by providing alternative opportunities for the youths in our society to actualize their individual talents, aspirations and to attain their full potentials. A tennis tournament is scheduled for the last two days of the event with a promise of entertaining tennis and very attractive prizes for all winners.

Orya

'Ameobi will shine at World Cup'

Ameobi

HOLA Ameobi will be a handful at the 2014 World Cup on the back of his current form, according to Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew. Ameobi is in the frame to be in Brazil in the summer with Nigeria. And Pardew told Abso-

lute Radio: "He is a fantastic player. I love him to bits. Again, he will be going to the World Cup, and I wouldn't want England to play him when he is on his debut. He is a real handful, he really is. And he has got great feet. “He is an absolutely fantastic character. He just gets himself up to particular games, perhaps to a higher level, and therefore he can nab these games that are just phenomenal. "Probably his weakness is having that level every game, and that has cost him

getting a regular place at times at this football club." Pardew added: "He is six foot five, and you look at him as a big man, but he has got as good a feet as I have never seen for a big striker. He can manoeuver the ball and take it away from you when you think you have won it. And obviously he won the penalty at Palace the other day doing just that." The Nigeria striker's contract will expire in June.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY

SPORT EXTRA

JANUARY 5, 2014

India magistrate to probe death of Nigerian footballer

Ighalo out for three months after knee surgery

* Arsenal player Cazorla celebrates his goal with Serge Gnabry in yesterday's FA Cup 3rd Round match between Arsenal and Tottenham.

HE Tripura State government in North East India has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the mysterious death of 17-yearold Nigerian footballer Auro Azendu Joel, who was found dead in a juvenile home here last week, officials said yesterday "West Tripura district magistrate Kiran Gitte would conduct the magisterial probe and submit a report to the state government about the death within a week," a senior official of the state home department told reporters. He said that the officials of the Nigerian embassy in New Delhi have taken away the body of the slain footballer Friday after the post mortem. "Joel was found dead at a Tripura government-run juvenile home at Narshingarh (near Agartala) Dec 25 night. The death might be because of illness. However, our probe is on," Deputy Superintendent of Police (Central) Rajendra Datta told reporters. Joel was staying at the home since Sep 14, under the order of a local court after he was detained by Indian immigration officials. He was subsequently arrested by the police for allegedly forging a visa while going to Bangladesh through the Akhaurah check post, near here. 'Juvenile home officials took him to the G.B. Medical EDRYCK Boyata was College and Hospital after he sent off as Manchesfelt chest pain. Doctors at the ter City were held to a hospital said he was brought 1-1 draw by Blackburn Rovdead," Datta said. ers at Ewood Park. Alvaro Negredo put the visitors ahead deep into firsthalf stoppage time before Scott Dann equalised ten minutes into the second period. City were below par all afternoon and were lucky not to S everyone expected, suffer a shock cup exit as it doesn't look like for- Boyata was given his marchm e r h e a v y w e i g h t ing orders for two silly fouls. Manuel Pellegrini made champion David Haye (26-2) has any solid plans to retire despite apparently being advised to do so by specialists after undergoing surprise shoulder surgery late last year. Haye posted a picture of himself back in training on PORTS marketing speTwitter on Thursday, and cialist Gerardo Molina said: "First session of the year. has claimed that an 2014 is going to be my healthi- unnamed club is willing to est, let's start as we mean to go pay €400m (£330m) for Lionel Messi. Molina, who works for on". Euromericas Sport Marketing, has written a report on the market value of the player, and has revealed that there is a club willing to pay Blackburn 1 - 1 Man City an astonishing fee for the Aston Villa 1 - 2 Sheffield Argentine forward. “There is a club that is pracBarnsley 1 - 2 Coventry tically sponsored by a governBolton 2 - 1 Blackpool ment that would be prepared Brighton 1 - 0 Reading to pay €400m (£330m) for Leo Bristol City 1 - 1 Watford Messi,” he told Cadena SER. Doncaster 2 - 3 Stevenage “There are three European clubs that asked us to come up Everton 4 - 0 QPR Grimsby 2 - 3 Huddersfield with this study in order to Ipswich 1 - 1 Preston Kidderminster 0 - 0 P’rough RSENAL are being Macclesfield 1 - 1 Sheffield linked with Bayern M'brough 0 - 2 Hull City Munich striker Mario Newcastle 1 - 2 Cardiff Mandzukic. Norwich 1 - 1 Fulham The report claims that the Rochdale 2 - 0 Leeds United Croatian is highly rated by Southampton 4 - 3 Burnley scouting staff and with RobSouthend 4 - 1 Millwall ert Lewandowski set to Stoke City 2 - 1 Leicester arrive on a controversial free transfer at the Allianz Arena WestBrom 0 - 2 C. Palace Wigan Athletic 3 - 3 Milton ahead of next season, Yeovil Town 4 - 0 Leyton Mandzukic's future is under question. Arsenal 2 - 0 Tottenham

HE medical services of Granada CF have announced that Nigerian striker Odion Ighalo, who underwent knee surgery in Barcelona will be out of action for between two to three months. Ighalo was treated by Dr. Ramón Cugat at the Quirón Clinic in Barcelona, who diagnosed the player as having suffered damage to the external meniscus within his left knee. Following a medical procedure that took an hour to complete, the surgeon reported that the treatment was successful, with the player now heading for a lengthy recovery period, which will keep him out of action for much of the remainder of the season. Ighalo is currently on his fifth season on loan at Granada from Udinese, having featured in eight games and scored once in La Liga, whilst also making two appearances with two goals, in the Copa del Rey.

Onazi open to sign new agent

FA CUP

Man City held by Blackburn

Haye to fight on despite doctors' warnings

seven changes to the side that beat Swansea on New Year's day, though the quality and strength in depth at his disposal meant that they were able to field a strong side. It was the hosts that provided much of the attacking intent throughout the opening half, however. Costel Pantilimon had to be on his toes a number of times to race off his line and clear the danger ahead of the chasing Rudy Gestede. City began to find their feet as the half wore on,

though, and had Blackburn who had pressed high and in numbers penned in their own half for the final 10 minutes. It looked as if the two sides would go into the break on level terms until an unmarked Negredo latched onto Edin Dzeko's knock-down at the far post, turning the ball past a helpless Paul Robinson. The home side started the second half in a similarly positive manner to which they started the first and were level after ten minutes.

Tom Cairney's floated corner was met by the towering Rudy Gestede, whose header could only be flapped at by Pantilimon. Dann was the quickest to react, poking the ball into an empty net from four yards. Bowyer introduced Jordan Rhodes and DJ Campbell late on, and though Boyata was shown a second yellow for a silly foul on the latter, the hosts were unable to convert their numerical advantage into a vital win.

Club willing to pay £330m for Messi

England - FA Cup

find out how much Messi was worth. “We cannot say who the clubs are. The clubs wanted to analyse the viability of a possible transfer for Messi. “Messi is five times more marketable than Cristiano Ronaldo. According to studies, Ronaldo is worth between €150-160m. “Messi's buy-out clause is €250m (£207m), we believe that figure is obsolete and devalued. Right now there is no player in the world of sport that has a greater value than Leo Messi. According to market research in the last five years, Messi is worth €400m (£330m).”

Mandzukic on Arsenal radar

Arsenal's injury crisis

means they need extra bodies to arrive at the Emirates this month, although Arsene Wenger admitted that his current options are "quite restricted". And if they fail to bring in cover for Olivier Giroud and Nicklas Bendtner in January, Mandzukic could be a decent buy at the end of the season, depending on what price he is available at.

Messi

Rooney's future at United still in doubt

HERE is no guarantee Wayne Rooney will sign a new contract with Manchester United if the club fail to reach next season's Champions League, according to David Moyes. Moyes admitted in a press conference that the club "would have to wait and see what happened in that situation". United's latest defeat, to Spurs last weekend, saw them slip to seventh in the table, raising real fears that the England striker could leave if United fail to secure a top-four finish. Rooney's form this season suggests that he is happy with life at United, but that could all change if his team

continue to underwhelm. Indeed, if United fail to reach next season's Champions League Rooney, unlike last summer, would have a genuine excuse to leave Old Trafford. That could see him refuse a new deal, if one were offered, and seek pastures new. Good news for Chelsea.

Rooney

IGERIA midfielder Ogenyi Onazi is now free to negotiate fresh terms with any reputable agents, MTNFootball.com can specially reveal. With the 2014 transfer window proving to be one of the most dramatic in recent years, the much-sought-after Onazi no longer has an exclusive contract with any agent. His contract with Leo Giusti will run out in the first week of January 2014 after which he is free to enter into discussions with any agent of his choice. Interestingly, there are numerous enquiries from top European clubs who are keen to sign the Lazio star. A source close to the player told MTNFootball.com: "Being a young player it is very important for him to make the right choice. "The choice of agent could make or ruin a footballer's career, so it's crucial to settle for a honest and reliable one at this stage of his professional career. Once that is sorted, he could focus on his football."

NBPLC bags SWAN award, pledges commitment to Sport

N a bid to show appreciation to a continuous supporter of Nigerian Sports, Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Oyo State chapter during its 2013 end of the year week has bestowed an award of honoured on the Nigerian Breweries Plc in an elaborate event held over the weekend in Ibadan. The Chairman of Oyo State chapter of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Comrade Gbenga Opadotun who presented the award to Tayo Adelaja, Public Affairs Manager, West mid/west Nigerian Breweries described the good gestures exhibited by NB over the years to sports development, not only in Oyo State, but Nigeria as whole as big factor that is driven the sector.

QUOTABLE ""Sometimes because of our inability to express ourselves properly, people don't really capture what we say and go about misquoting or are actually mischievous… I can't be against the conference.”

SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 8, NO. 2719

- Ebonyi State Governor, Martin Elechi, denying making a critical comment on the proposed national conference

HERE is hardly any Nigerian who does not believe that 2014 is perhaps the most fateful year in their country’s history. It is not only the 2015 elections that will be decided by this year’s events, the country’s very existence, its peace, development, unity and stability also seem almost certain to be hinged on the political and social dynamics of 2014. But it is not certain that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is as clear in their minds just how portentous the year is as the All Progressives Congress (APC) appears to show with their desperate political re-engineering designed to pip the ruling party to the post in the next polls. By its attitude and methods, the ruling party gives the impression that what needs to change is not how it has governed the country since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, but simply how it can retain power, assured that it is too big to fail, too inclusive to be pigeonholed, and too long in power to be dethroned. On the other hand, and like the rest of the country, the APC appears to think that the ruling party’s methods have so undermined democracy, impoverished the people and stoked the fire of sectarian, ethnic and class revolts that the country seems assuredly headed for the precipice. It believes that the PDP suffers from intellectual paralysis and lacks the hunger to remould and redefine the country away from the mediocrity and stultification of the past years. I fear they may be right. My fear is worsened both by the low calibre of ministers President Goodluck Jonathan has assembled and the manner the president himself has subjected the presidency to unyielding policy inertness and lack of vision and innovation. If the APC should win the elections in 2015, there is a sense in which both the party and the rest of us expect radical changes that would permeate the entire body politic. But if the PDP should retain power, there is a sense in which they would see it as an endorsement of their jaded methods and sterile ideas. Clearly, whichever fork in the road we take will have monumental repercussions on the future and destiny of the country. Indeed, given the paralysis and retrogression of the past 14 years, it is shocking to still hear some enlightened commentators argue for continuity. I am convinced that the age of active or passive neutrality has long passed. At the risk of being labelled partisan, I am today advocating drastic and urgent change with all the fibre in my being. The PDP has outlived its usefulness; it is time to try the APC. But here is the dilemma we must confront. The PDP is no longer able to govern; can the APC get its act together to win office, and if it does, will the process of winning leave the party with a substantially sound party structure and a reasonably coherent ideological rampart to satisfy national expectations?

2014: Year of decision

• Tukur

• Akande

I think 2014 will offer the PDP enough chance to demonstrate just how incapable it has become in governing, and enough room for the APC to prove that the process of cobbling a platform or a rainbow coalition together does not deprive it of the sound structure a party needs to win as a political party, and the rudimentary ideology it also needs to prepare a concise, practical and unique roadmap out of the hell the ruling party has driven the country into. The PDP needs little effort in reinforcing its infamous ways. The harder task lies with the APC, which has surprisingly managed to assemble under one roof what may pass as the most fractious, most disparate and probably the most cantankerous political leaders and followers Nigeria has ever seen. The party’s leaders must resist the temptation to see this observation as unduly harsh – for even their PDP opponents bank on the party’s centrifugal forces to manifest dramatically as the elections draw near – but as a challenge they desperately need to confront boldly and overcome with all the innovativeness, resilience and diplomacy nature endows. As every rainbow coalition knows from experience, and as the fractiousness in the states is already showing, the APC won’t find its task of unifying rebels from other political parties easy at all. What is even worse is that rather than embrace and project

a brilliant ideology indispensable to the remaking and revival of the country, the APC will find itself in the ghastly and uncomfortable role of embracing and projecting a single-minded grab for power. Even if it manages to cobble up a platform for the elections, it will not be because its members believe the ideals the party purports to stand for. Compromises will be necessary to create a semblance of unity in the party, no matter how tenuous and disingenuous. Members will block their nostrils just long enough until the party takes office, whereupon the logic of being in office will either compel obedience down the rank and file or produce a sound party leader who will begin the arduous and thankless task of gently nudging the party in the right ideological direction, softly and gingerly. Any attempt to put the cart before the horse would spell disaster. So, when next opponents and commentators ridicule the APC for being insufficiently ideological, they should take the insult in their strides, for it is not only a true reflection of the party’s current make-up, it is also a political exigency the party should be glad to have the opportunity of riding into office. To win in 2015, the APC will have to overcome two main challenges, and either is capable of destroying the party or truncating its noble aspirations. The first is its

Struggling to get on the snipers’ watch list

OT too long ago, Governor Rotimi Amaechi asserted confidently that he was on the watch list of opponents/enemies allegedly drawn up by the President Goodluck Jonathan government. It was apparent he was eager to corroborate the allegation by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that the Jonathan presidency had compiled a list of 1000 people to watch, and for whose elimination, if necessary, snipers had been trained. The allegation has predictably generated heated controversy, with the president scorning the allegation, and Chief Obasanjo refusing to disavow his statement. Law enforcement agents and other relevant bodies have been mandated to investigate the claims. But the All Progressives Congress (APC), the leading opposition party, has been anxious to give Chief Obasanjo the benefit of the doubt, for as they believed, he was in a position to know. With Mr Amaechi claiming to be number

one on the list, it appears a few more, after supposedly spying their number on the list, have also come out to claim their own badge of honour reminiscent of the spooky military days when a journalist wasn’t worth his salt until he had been incarcerated. While Mr Amaechi was yet to provide proof of how he knew his name was on the list, not to say the fact that he was number one, another APC chieftain, Nasir el-Rufai, has come out to name a few more politicians, especially opposition leaders, whom he claimed were comfortably ensconced on the now infamous watch list. According to Mallam el-Rufai, not only is he a ranking member of the watch list, opposition leaders like former Head of State Mohammadu Buhari, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Bisi Akande are also on the list. All three are presumably top on the list, and perhaps would displace Mr Amaechi to a fairly lower rung contrary to the initial expectation of the Rivers governor. It is not known yet why the

Jonathan government would keep such an unwieldy list of people to watch, when even in the despicable days of the military, fewer than that number were put under surveillance. But perhaps it is reflection of the size of the opposition and the paranoia of a government that is unable to meet the high expectations of the people. If the list is as long as Chief Obasanjo claims, it may not be out of place to assume that the former president is himself on the distinguished list of the damned. Perhaps, too, the caustic pen of Palladium qualifies him to be on the list of the special, targeted 1000. While we await other politicians to reveal just how high up on the list they are, and while we hope opposition politicians would resist the temptation to be as paranoid as the Jonathan government, Nigerians will need to be persuaded with more facts and figures than the opposition has provided in order to conclude that physical woe awaits the government’s damned.

ongoing effort to reconcile the contentious political structures forced by circumstances to coexist and cohabit in many of the states now under the party’s control such as Kwara, Kano and Sokoto, among others. The APC, it must be remembered, is an amalgam of three parties in its first layer, to wit, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). Even before this layer of contrasting linear expansivities coalesced into a solid foundation, wider and more transcendental political goals compelled the amalgam to bear the additional layer of defecting PDP governors and lawmakers, with all their idiosyncratic foibles. The truth is that the APC is now indeed a boisterous and fragile mixture of incendiary elements with inadequate bonding electrons necessary to guarantee its stability. Whether its two or so mercurial leaders – both of whom are far more mercurial than anything we have ever seen in one party since the First Republic – can stabilise the party and steer it away from implosion remains to be seen. But the incentive to get it right is that if they do not manage the elements within the party well, subordinate their ambitions properly and also get other smaller party leaders to surrender their own ambitions for the common goal, they are unlikely to get another chance. Worse, their failure may also doom the country and render future coalitions difficult to cobble together. The second main challenge, which is closely leashed to the first, concerns how the party would manage the ambitions of its leaders especially at the candidacy level. Who should be the presidential candidate of a party widely expected to take office in view of the abject failure of the PDP? What of the running mate? How should power be shared between the political zones? What are their heads telling them about the kind of leaders the country is willing to vote for as distinct from what their minds are saying? Assuming the country is ready to put them in office, are they capable of providing the young and dynamic faces the country wants? In my opinion, this will be the most difficult challenge they will face. I expect them to surmount the difficulty of uniting their party’s many factions. But I am less sanguine about how readily they can read the mind of the country, not to say how easily and quickly they can get their powerful and notable aspirants to submit to new realities. However, I suspect that given the brilliance with which they have consistently wrong-footed the PDP, especially the Jonathan presidency, and the adroitness with which they have expanded the base of their party, not to talk of the uncommon passion with which they have approached the entire project of building a grand coalition capable of winning major elections, I am a little hopeful they will competently knit together a durable party structure ahead of the elections and balance the ambitions of their leaders to avoid a debacle. Their passion seems to suggest that their priorities, in descending order, are to legitimately defeat Jonathan in a free and fair election, take power from the PDP in order to effect change and foist new political and bureaucratic paradigms on the country, and put the right APC leaders in office. It is inevitable that such zeal should create the necessary conditions for the subordination of ambitions and the management of internal divisions and dissensions. I think they have gone too far forward to look back or to allow personal interests to stand in the way of victory. They will now need to work on the more unmanageable and excitable substrata of the party leadership to imbue them with the spirit of sacrifice without which it would be impossible to unhorse the PDP. I think the APC leaders will pull through and win, even if by the skin of their teeth. And who knows, 2015 could even turn into a rout.

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ISSN: 115-5302 E-mail: sunday@thenationonlineng.net Editor: FESTUS ERIYE