The Nation June 25, 2014

Newspaper of the Year

Tears as fire guts Ibadan market NEWS Page 7

•Goods worth millions gone

•Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

VOL. 9, NO. 2888 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

SPOR TS Page 24 SPORTS

•Eagles ‘wanted $2m to play Iran’ •Team plans surprise for Messi •SAFA denies Keshi job offer •Go for victory against Argies, minister urges national team •England 0 Costa Rica 0•Italy 0 Uruguay 1 •Cote D’Ivoire 1 Greece 2 •Japan 1 Colombia 4

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Search of Tambuwal’s car: NSA orders probe From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

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ATIONAL Security Adviser (NSA) Col. Sambo Dasuki has ordered an investigation into the alleged search of House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Wazari Tambuwal’s car on Monday at a conference in Kaduna.

A top security source told The Nation yesterday in Kaduna that the NSA ordered that the incident, which was widely reported in the media, be investigated, adding however that the soldiers on guard never insisted on searching the Speaker’s car.

According to the source, who pleaded not to be named, “there was never an attempt by soldiers and other security agents to search the Speaker’s vehicle as all dignitaries and participants were accorded due respect.”

He explained that what happened was that “detectives from the Department of State Security Services and other security operatives were trying to verify whether or not it was actually the Speaker’s vehicle when he hurriedly disembarked and Continued on page 4

•B ATTLE FOR OSUN: Part of the crowd at Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s re-election campaign in Ifelodun/Boripe/Odo-Otin Federal •BA Constituency at Ikirun...yesterday. Inset: From left are: Deputy Governor Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori; first civilian governor, Senator Isiaka Adeleke; Ogbeni Aregbesola; his wife, Sherifat and the wife of Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun, Fumilayo.

STORY ON PAGE 8

Military issues red alert No more leave, pass for officers

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Eagles will stop Messi, say Keshi, Enyeama

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja and Precious Igbonwelundu

ILITARY officers and men were placed on red alert yesterday — no thanks to the increasingly daring moves of the deadly Boko Haram sect.

Fears of likely infiltration or inducement of officers and men have made the military hierarchy to recall those on leave, The Nation learnt.

Besides, the military has placed restrictions on Facebook networking by officers and other ranks.

Military personnel have also been stopped from taking annual leave or travelling out of their official postings.

All those who were earlier granted leave of absence have been ordered back to their duty posts.

The directive may have WHERE ARE caused apprehension in THE CHIBOK the system, but a source said it was nothing to worGIRLS KIDNAPPED ry about.

ON APRIL 15?

Continued on page 4

•Three ex-champions out

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AGLES coach Stephen Keshi said yesterday that his side will play for a win in today’s last group game against Argentina in Porto Alegre.

The Super Eagles need just a point to reach the second round for the first time in 16 years. However, a defeat will see them through if Iran fails to beat Bosnia in the other encounter.

Expected to garner support from Brazilians against their arch-rivals who expect 80,000 supporters from across the border, the 51-year-old

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•Emmanuel Emenike during training...yesterday

•Peter Odemwingie training...yesterday. PHOTOS: AFP

Continued on page 4

•LIFE P15•SPORTS P23 •MONEY P26 •INVESTORS P28 •POLITICS P51•FOREIGN P59

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

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NEWS • Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun (right) presenting a cheque to former Chairman of the Ijebu East Local Government Area and running mate to the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2011 governorship election in the state, Mr. Tunde Oladunjoye, who is one of the 103 beneficiaries of the severance allowance paid to political office holders in the Gbenga Daniel administration at the Arcade Ground, Governor's Office OkeMosan, Abeokuta... yesterday.

How Fed Govt c Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort should have been a money-spinner.

Why is its growth stunted? DEJI ADEMIGBUJI examines the factors against the growth of the resort and establishes that without the Federal Government's support, all cannot be well with the country's only retail and tourism-based Free Trade Zone

• Empty stores in Tinapa

I •Bayelsa State Commissioner for Industry and Investment, Bayelsa Kemela Okara (third left) speaking at a news conference to unveil the Bayelsa Hosting Investment and Economic Forum (BSIEF) in Lagos...yesterday. With him are from right: Senior Special Adviser on Investment to the Governor, Mr. Cyril Akika, Director-General, Bayelsa Investment Promotion Agency (BIPA), Mrs. Freda Ruth Murray-Bruce and Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson.

PHOTO: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE.

•From left: Group Chairman and founder, Kasapreko Company, Mr. Kwabena Adejel, Director -General, National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhil and Director , Alomo Bitters, Samuel Adetola during the appointment of key distributors and inauguration of warehouse in Lagos.

PHOTO: ABIODUN WILLIAMS

•From left: President, Resident Doctors, Federalpsychiatric Hospital (FNPH) Yaba, Dr Olusegun Akinwotu; Speaker/ Facilitator, Dr Joshua Olufinlade and Vice President,FNPH, Dr Oyetayo Jeje at a Health Awareness Campaign Against Substance Abuse for Bus Drivers at Sabo Motor Park in Lagos...yesterday.

T is called a Free Trade Zone.

But, in reality, it is not. The benefits attached to such status are denied it. The Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort, Calabar, Cross River State is regarded as the African Business Resort. But what manner of a business resort looks like a ghost town?

The Tinapa Free Zone and Resort, Calabar widely regarded as Africa's Premier Business Resort and the only retail and tourism-based Free Zone in Nigeria, is wearing the garb of a dying tourist destination. The resort, which enjoyed so much media hype on CNN and a permanent bottom strip ad on Super Sport channels, is regarded as the major single investment of the state government but the multi-billion naira investments of the government of Cross River State looks like a fading empire.

Walking from the Tinapa Lakeside Hotel through the prebuilt retail and wholesale accommodation measuring about 65,000m2, the shops, which were earmarked for letting as stores and warehouses in four composed emporia of about 10,000m2 each, one hardly sees any serious transaction.

The sullen eyes of the sales hands bear credence to the bad business climate at Tinapa. Most of the shops are virtually empty leaving their business posters and signages to offer an empty promise to any visiting tourist. The floors of the walkway to the retail shops are being taken over by grass.

At Tinapa, there are 80,000 square metres of rentable space for retail and wholesale business, including four 10,000-square-metre emporiums, as well as smaller shops and warehouses. The resort's facilities include a casino; ``Studio Tinapa'' (a film studio); a three-star hotel known as Lakeside Hotel; a children's arcade; restaurants; a mini amphitheatre; a night club and pubs.

The resort also has an artificial tidal lake with water drawn from River Calabar; a water park; leisure land and a parking lot for about 4,000 cars.

A taxi driver, who often plies Calabar in the night, told The Nation that when tourists lodge in the Tinapa Lakeside, they often go outside the resort to club as the enter-

•Imoke

tainment strip, which comprises spaces for a casino, an eight-screen digital cinema, vintage international standard restaurants, a night club and pub, has been closed to business. The Nation sited some expatriate engineers who are working on a new hotel in the resort clubbing at Mirage Hotel on June 19.

The artificial tidal lake that feeds from the Calabar River, which used to be an allure for tourists, is now dirty. The lake used to flow beautifully into the Atlantic Ocean. Now, it is quiet and deserted.

This is the state of Tinapa, whose pay off lines, "The African Business Resort" in some of its TV commercials still resonates in the mind of many, prompting concerns among stakeholders.

At a time, the Comptroller of Customs in Akwa- Ibom and Cross River states, Mr Akande Bamidele, raised the alarm when companies operating in Tinapa issued a 60-day notice, signifying their intention to relocate from the premises of the resort.

Bamidele, who disclosed this when he visited the Cross River Se-

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

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ovt can save multi-billion naira Tinapa

• This artificial lake in Tinapa has seen better days curity Adviser, Mr Rekpene Bassey, said that the access roads and the shallow seaport of the resort were some of the challenges enumerated by the companies.

Bassey said: "Tinapa is dear to us; that is why we have been investing so much to keep the place going and we are doing everything to address the traders' complaints. Tinapa requires sustained qualitative and institutional support, which is devoid of bureaucracy, to survive and flourish. The Cross River Government is working assiduously to upgrade and add value to the infrastructure and operational environment around the resort. That's why the management of Tinapa has been handed over to AMCON.'' The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Liyel Imoke, Christian Ita, listed some factors inhibiting the growth of Tinapa.

E said: "There was no gov ernment policy on Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort and Tinapa was never gazetted.

You call it a free trade zone but the Nigeria Customs Service is always there. If you buy anything at Tinapa now, the Customs will be waiting for you at the gate. Does that kind of arrangement apply in Dubai?

"Besides, the Tinapa project was predicated on the assumption that about 25 flights would come into Calabar everyday and that roughly 80 percent of those flying in would be possibly going to Tinapa but that is not the case now.

"For those who are supposed to make use of Tinapa, the road between Aba and Calabar is bad. Similarly, people from the north-eastern and north-central parts of the country are afraid of travelling to Calabar because of the bad roads and the low canopy at the Ikom Bridge.

"The Calabar channel into the Calabar Port has not been dredged and large oceangoing vessels cannot berth there. So, these are part of the factors militating against the fulfillment of the Tinapa dream.''

Ita solicited the assistance of the Federal Government in efforts to make Tinapa functional. ``For instance, for Tinapa to become truly functional, the Calabar River ought to be dredged to enable ships to berth there and the federal highways linking Tinapa with other parts of the country should also be rehabilitated. ``Then, the issue of customs has to be addressed. It is, however, important to note that only the Federal Government could address these particular issues. ``That notwithstanding, the state

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government has gone in to rescue Tinapa by retailing some things there. ``For instance, the state government has given out one of the emporiums in the resort to the General Electric (GE) for its training school, which will start operations very soon,” he said.

Ita said the main goal of the government was to transform Tinapa into a global shopping hub and tourism resort.

Ita said: "One of the major problems or challenges we have with Tinapa is that the place was not gazetted. The resort is supposed to be a free trade zone; yet, we still have the Customs Service there. The roads from Calabar to Aba and Calabar to Makurdi are not good; the Calabar River has not been dredged and ships, which are supposed to berth there, first go to Onne; these are some of the factors militating against the success of Tinapa.

"You are also aware that because of the debt which the state government inherited from the last administration, Cross River has already reached its threshold on borrowing; meaning that we can no longer borrow money. Now, Cross River spends at least N100 million to maintain Tinapa every month and the current administration has done everything to make Tinapa work.

"If you go there today, the small money they are making is from the hotel or water park. But the state government has done everything possible to make Tinapa work and increase its footfalls.''

Akande explained that the state of the seaport was also affecting tourism in the state. The Tinapa Resort, he pointed out, is also suffering, adding that due to the situation, some investors were already making plans to move elsewhere.

"We have identified some key factors in the lull in economic activities in the state. The bad road is one of them. We have seen that the government is doing very well in terms of providing good roads within the city, but the problem is the road linking the state to other states is the main problem. They are very bad sections and this is really affecting economic activities in the state adversely. The road is a serious problem as we have been in touch with business men in Abia and the neighbouring states but they complain that they cannot come here to do business because of the bad road,” he noted.

Akande also pointed out that the dredging of the Calabar Channel

has also been noted as one of the cause for concern and something should be done about it urgently.

Also, an online publication also quoted a top official of the Calabar Free Trade Zone, who pleaded for anonymity, saying the Tinapa is also challenged because of problems associated with shipping goods to the Resort which had made the proper kick-off of economic activities in the state a stalemate.

"Calabar Free Trade Zone feels highly challenged because the road leading from Onne, which is the nearest port to Calabar, is something that needs urgent attention. It causes great discomfort for our people to bring in their goods or take out their goods. The Calabar Port that is among the oldest ports in Nigeria, which has got a lot of history behind and it, is attractive to shipping lines. We have been told of so many reasons why it is still not working, but we are still unable to understand," he said.

When The Nation visited some of the Shops in Tinapa, a lot of clearance sales are going on at a highly discounted rate. One of the attendants who spoke with The Nation said the owners of the business have really made loss and some of them are defaulted in paying their loans to banks. This perhaps explains why the Managing Director of the Ugonabo Trading and Logistics in Tinapa Elvis Masor, told a South South focused publication Niger Delta Report that he would leave Calabar as soon as the goods he has are sold out. According to him, there was no need continuing to stay and incurring losses. "You can see there is no traffic. You can stay from morning till night. Virtually we don't make sales again. Basically it is actually the major problem we are having because what really do is importation and this is known to be a free zone and most of our customers who come from other countries when they come they get some embarrassment from customs discouraging them from coming in to buy. Our mode of importation that we feel could be addressed in future.

E are expecting that the Calabar seaport should work, because during our importation, we bring in from Onne in Rivers meanwhile Calabar is the final destination. Goods coming in from Rivers would still be on transit to Tinapa. Had it been the Calabar Port is working, it would have also gone a long way to salvage most of the problems we have as a free zone,” he said.

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PHOTOS: DEJI ADEMIGBUJI

Explaining why the ineffective use of the Port militates against Tinapa Business Resort and Cross River as a whole, the General Manager of Ecomarine (ECM) terminals, Mr. Kingsley Ihenacho, whose company was concessioned to manage the Calabar Port for 25 years, said the non-completion of the dredging of the channel to the advertised draft of 9.4m meters is the biggest threat to the development of the port with adverse effect on their financial projection and cargo throughput which was predicated on the completion of the dredging as assured during the concession exercise.

"The drop in performance in general cargo and container volumes shown above are purely affected by non-completion of dredging and pull-out of container services from Calabar(by Maersk line). This is in spite of ECMT's huge investment in this sector of our operation (in terms of equipment purchase). Also, with the withdrawal of Baco Liner services in Nigeria, Calabar port is completely without a container service. At the moment, all the cocoa exporters are trucking to Lagos for consolidation and export at the expense of the government of Cross River State in terms of revenue and to the port in terms of cargo traffic," he said.

He said this among other problems have stunted the growth efforts of the various Free Trade Zones in Calabar (CFTZ and TFTZ) and has largely made them unable to realize their basic potentials. "The FTZ are all struggling presently due to the non-dredging of the Calabar river channel. Based on all of the above, the going-concern status of ECM Terminals Calabar is threatened," he said.

The Managing Director of Tinapa, Bassey Ndem said because of the parlous situation, importers and other investors had continuously used the Onne and Lagos ports to ship in goods into the state: a situation he said was having very serious financial implications on importers, manufacturers and entrepreneurs alike.

Tinapa was initiated by Governor Donald Duke as a way to boost business and tourism in the state. Over $350 million was spent on initial development. The first phase of Tinapa Business Resort and Free Trade Zone, Calabar was commissioned on the April 2, 2007 and its 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) drive from Calabar by a roundabout route, but the Federal Government is building a more direct 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi)

access road to link it with the city.

However, the legal status of the Tinapa Free Trade zone has been uncertain. It is owned by the Cross River State government, but only the Federal Government can operate a free trade zone. Governor Liyel Imoke had appealed to the Federal Government to take a stake in the project, and to remove uncertainty about its status which is hindering investment. He suggested that one approach could be to decouple the leisure facilities from the trading zone.

IGHT now, Asset Manage ment Corporation of Nige ria (AMCON) is set to take over the management of Tinapa Business Resort following a settlement agreement with the Cross River State government for the transfer of its controlling interest in Tinapa.

By the agreement, it was gathered that AMCON is to buy back Tinapa's debts totalling N18,509.744.797.05 and also provide N26 billion for the revitalisation and resuscitation of the resort to reposition it as a private sector driven enterprise. But whichever way it will be revived out of its ghost town ambience, the global tourist are waiting for the promises Tinapa had made to them in some of its numerous TV commercials on CNN and other platforms during Duke's administration.

But the state government is also looking at other ways of stimulating Tinapa's growth. Ita added that the location of Tinapa has encouraged the government to develop an estate called Summit Hills.

He said: "The state government is building the new Summit Hills Development Area and that is where the government is constructing the International Convention Centre.

The government has constructed a new road there because it realised that the distance between Tinapa and the city-centre is about 14 kilometres. This new road shortens the distance by almost eight or nine kilometres, bringing Tinapa closer to the city centre. Get this clear, AMCON is not just taking over Tinapa; it is investing N26 billion in the resort to enable it to function optimally.

"Tinapa is in Cross River and nobody is taking it away from us. If Tinapa works, it is to the glory of Cross River. AMCON is investing N26 billion to develop the entertainment aspect of the Tinapa resort to increase its patronage; there is no controversy over Tinapa.''

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

NEWS US envoy: Fed Govt delays release of Chibok girls

Search of Tambuwal’s car: NSA orders probe

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HE United States envoy has said the federal government is responsible for the seeming lack of progress in rescuing the over 200 Chibok girls.

No fewer than 219 schoolgirls abducted from their dormitory at Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok on April 15, are still in the custody of Boko Haram.

The U.S. is among the countries assisting Nigeria is the search for the girls. The others include Britain and Aus-

Continued from page 1

walked to the conference hall. The service chiefs parked their vehicles 300 meters away from the venue and trekked.”

The source said the Speaker was aware of such security protocols because anytime “he comes to Mambilla Barracks for Friday prayers, his vehicles are always verified.

It is customary.”

He said the presence of security agents at the venue was for the safety of everybody present there, adding that other top dignitaries, including the Governors Mukhtar Ramalan Yero (Kaduna), Mu’azu Babangida Alliyu (Niger), the Deputy Governor of Plateau State, the NSA, service chiefs and traditional leaders had their vehicles searched”.

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Continued on page 63

Military probes abduction of 91

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•President Goodluck Jonathan congratulating President Jose’ Mario Vaz of Guinea Bissau during PHOTO: NAN his inauguration in Bissau…on Monday.

PDP suffers setback in bid to sack Amaechi, Nyako, Kwankwaso, others

HE People’s Democratic Party (PDP) suffered a setback yesterday in its bid to sack the five governors who defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). A Federal High Court in Abuja voided its purported service of court processes on the defendants.

Mr. Justice Gabriel Kolawole, in a ruling, faulted the procedure adopted by the PDP in serving court documents on the defendants and held that the plaintiff’s failure to effect proper service had robbed the court of jurisdiction to proceed with the case.

The PDP, late last year, sued Governors Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), following their defection to the APC. It urged the court to, among others, order them to vacate office.

Shortly after the filing of the suit, the party sought and obtained the court’s leave to serve the governors by substituted means, through the national headquarters of the APC in Abuja. Rather than serve on the address indicated in the order granted, the court’s bailiff unilaterally served on a separate address on the ground that the APC

tralia.

Reacting to questions about how useful the collaboration has been, Ambassador Phillip Carter of the U.S. African Command (AFRICOM) said the U.S. government was only assisting the Nigerian government on the kidnap that has sparked protests across the globe.

“Fundamentally, the question of what this is achieving, that is a question you should

•Judge adjourns case indefinitely From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

had relocated from its former address.

The governors, who felt dissatisfied with the bailiff’s decision, urged the court to set aside the purported service on the grounds that the documents were not properly served on them.

Ruling yesterday, Justice Kolawole upheld the governors’ argument that they were not properly served, an error that must be corrected before the court could take any further steps in the case.

The judge held that filing a separate motion for service, after it was granted leave for substituted service, was an admission by the plaintiff that its earlier service was defective.

Mr. Justice Kolawole held that it would have been in order had the plaintiff sought to serve the governors through the AttorneysGeneral of their states.

“The plaintiff’s motion on notice dated March 20, 2014 seeking an order for leave of court granting substituted service on any senior adult in the liaison offices of the various states is an admission that the service effected on the defendants is logically incongruous and defective.

“It is obvious that the ad-

dress where the bailiff had purportedly served the defendants was invalid. It was inapplicable or erroneous and has ceased to be a valid address. It will not serve any useful purpose,” the court added.

Mr. Justice Kolawole went on: “The motion on notice amounts to putting the cart before the donkey. It is an abuse of court process. It is hereby dismissed. The plaintiff has returned to where it was after the December 13, 2013 order. As it is, the defected governors have not been properly served with the originating summons.

“The plaintiff should repackage itself and do the needful to get the defendants properly served. I uphold the application of the defendants seeking the setting aside of the purported service and striking out the motion on notice,” the judge held He then adjourned indefinitely to enable the plaintiff effect proper service and file proof of such proper service before the court.

The PDP, in the substantive suit, argued that the governors should be sacked, because of their defection, adding that they had forfeited their offices to the party.

It said in the event that the

•Shettima concerned

HE Defence Headquarters yesterday launched an investigation into the alleged abduction of 91 women and girls in Damboa and Askira Uba Local Government Areas of Borno State.

Preliminary findings revealed that the alleged abduction occurred on June 16.

According to a military source, who confided in our correspondent, the Defence Headquarters had directed the alleged abduction of 91 in Kumanza, Yaga, and Dagu be probed.

The source said: “The DHQ is already investigating the alleged abduction of 91 people, including some girls, in Borno State.

“Already, we have established contacts with local authorities to ascertain the true situation of things.

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

“”Intelligence report indicated that many of the locals ran away when the insurgents invaded the affected villages.

“But we are determined to get to the root of the alleged security challenges in the villages.”

In a tweet, the Defence Headquarters also said: “Efforts to verify the claim from the community and local authorities on ground were yet to establish if it was abduction or a displacement.

“Some earlier believed to have been abducted have surfaced in Maiduguri, the state capital. They narrated their ordeals from the June 16, 2014 attack. Four were said to be dead.

“We enjoin all Nigerians to Continued on page 63

Eagles will stop Messi, say Keshi, Enyeama Continued from page 1 •Amaechi

five governors were sacked from office, the court should order the deputy governors or speaker of the Houses of Assembly or any officer next in rank, who is still its member, to assume the office of governor.

The PDP is asking the court for a declaration that by the combined provisions of sections 177 (c), 221 and 222 (c) of the 1999 Constitution, the five governors, who were elected under its platform, cannot continue to enjoy the mandate given to it (PDP) by the people/electorate of the concerned states as they (governors) have defected to another political party.

It also pleaded for a declaration that in the absence of any division in the PDP, the five governors have vacated or forfeited their seats upon their defection to the APC.

said his boys will not be intimidated by the predominant support base that Porto Alegre will offer to the Albiceleste.

“We’re here to play, if we have the support of the Brazilians we will appreciate it.

But we are not looking at that, we are just here to win our game,” Keshi told reporters.

It is the fourth time both teams will meet in the World Cup, with the South Americans having won all three previous encounters.

All attention is on one man,

captain Lionel Messi who has scored twice already and is familiar with the Nigerians. The talisman got a birthday message from the Nigeria coach.

“My team and I want to wish him a very happy birthday. We want to wish him a healthy long life, all his heart’s desires,” Keshi said.

“If there is a way to stop him, it is something that I will share with my players and coaches.”

Goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, who gave a yeoman performance against Messi Continued on page 63

CORRECTIONS •The result of the Netherlands versus Chile match is Netherlands 2 Chile 0 and not Netherlands 2 Chile 1 as we reported on page 1 yesterday.

•All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun was Social Democratic Party (SDP) governor of Edo State between 1992-1993 and not Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) governor as reflected in Jide Osuntokun’s column of last Thursday.

Insurgency: Military issues red alert to officers and men Continued from page 1

Another source said placing all units and commands on the red alert was to eradicate “threats in the system”.

A “red alert” is issued when there are reasons to believe there will be a major security risk.

The Directorate of Security Service (DSS) warned last week that Boko Haram planned an attack in Abuja, using a fuel tanker.

Besides, newspapers had their distribution disrupted, following fears that their vans were to be used to carry ex-

plosives – an action that cost the companies huge losses.

No fewer than 486 men travelling from the North were arrested early this month in Abia State by soldiers who suspected them to be Boko Haram members.

In line with global military practice, officers and men have been cautioned to separate their personalities from official calling on Facebook.

The military opted for these measures as part of the ongoing “re-strategising plan” against the insurgents, who are trying to extend their op-

eration areas beyond the Northeast.

A military source said: “The security challenges in the country require a state of alertness on the part of officers and men in the Armed Forces. This is why everyone has been placed on what I may describe as ‘red alert’.

“We are at a stage in the fight against insurgents that we cannot take things for granted. It is just a way of restrategising.

“Do not forget that if all options fail, we may move heavily against the insurgents

and make the battle a decisive one. But, the military is looking forward to options being explored by the government.

“So, the alertness is to ensure that all officers and men are within reach and accessible in case of any task.”

On the recall of officers and men from leave, the source added: “We want everyone restricted to his or her duty post and barracks to avert infiltration by the insurgents.

“Some of these insurgents have been trying to induce military men but they have never succeeded. We need to

be proactive.

“Do not forget several attempts made by the insurgents to strike in some military/ police barracks and formations in Abuja, Jaji, Bama, Maiduguri, Gombe, and other places.

“After screening of all these places and beefing up security, the next stage is to prevent officers and men from inducement by these insurgents.”

The source said: “It has nothing to do with any other speculation you may be thinking of. All over the world, access to military formations

and conduct of officers and men are determined by security trends.

“There is a signal ordering all officers and men not to associate their activities on the Facebook with their official position.

“Those breaching security use the internet a lot, we cannot expose our officers and men to grave risks. As we track Continued on page 63

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

NEWS NGO advocates training

National Assembly adjourns to honour Kuta

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NON-GOVERNMENTAL organisation (NGO), Sponsor A Child (SAC), has said childcare practitioners are unable to evaluate care service quality and identify rights violations because they lack the requisite training.

The NGO discovered this in a research it conducted on childcare practice.

The discovery spurred the Social Development Fund of the Embassy of France in Abuja and SAC to organise the Home Quality Service Advocacy Scheme training, which will hold tomorrow.

SAC’s Coordinator Olatoun Williams said the training comprises five compulsory modules, to be delivered by experts in child care, who will use the Good Home toolkit of critically acclaimed manuals.

The coordinator said the trainings would be free between June and September, courtesy of the French Embassy in Abuja.

Why I made false statement against Atuche, by witness

By Adebisi Onanuga

A

LAGOS High Court, Ikeja, heard yesterday that a former Keystone Bank Plc official, Mr Uguru Onyike, was coerced to make false allegations of forgery against a former Managing Director of Bank PHB Plc, Francis Atuche.

Onyike told the court, presided over by Justice Lateefat Okunnu, that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the management of the bank coerced him to make the false statement against the former bank chief.

The witness claimed that the agreement he had with the EFCC was that he would be made a prosecution witness.

Onyike is a former head of Operations of the bank’s Central Shared Services (CSS) Centre on Victoria Island, Lagos.

The EFCC is prosecuting Atuche and wife, Elizabeth, for allegedly stealing N25.7 billion belonging to Bank PHB (now Keystone Bank).

Charged with Atuche and his wife is a former Chief Financial Officer of the bank, Ugo Anyanwu.

•Aliyu, others to attend special session today From Sanni Onogu, Abuja

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•From left: Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele; Deputy Chief of Staff, Abubakar Kachalla; Supervising Minister of National Planning Commission, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda and Vice-President Namadi Sambo, at the National Economic Council meeting in Abuja...yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Jonathan undermining Reps, says Minority Whip T

HE House of Representatives has condemned the “embarrassment” given to its Speaker Aminu Tambuwal by security operatives during an official visit to Kaduna State on Monday.

Addressing reporters yesterday in Benin, the Edo State capital, Minority Whip Samson Osagie said: “It’s no longer a secret that the authority of this Seventh House of Representatives, under the leadership of Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, is being seriously undermined by agents of the state.

“On June 23, Speaker Tambuwal was subjected to a most embarrassing treatment by soldiers acting supposedly on the ‘order from above’ to stop-and-search the Speaker’s official car carrying the flag and other insignia of the office of No 4 citizen of the country.

“Ordinarily, this would not have attracted any reaction as Mr. Speaker, all Nigerians can attest, is a humble, down-toearth public officer who will lead by example in such circumstances. But for the fact that his car alone was flagged down for a stop-and-search speaks volume of a possible attempt to begin to tag the Speaker as a security risk, thereby undermining the leadership of the

Lawmakers move motion on Tambuwal’s harassment today

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HE alleged harassment on Monday of House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal by soldiers in Kaduna will be debated today on the House floor, it was learnt yesterday.

Tambuwal, who was billed to deliver a speech at an international conference, was delayed when the soldiers insisted that his official car must be searched before he could be allowed into the venue.

The soldiers said they were acting on “orders from above”.

The military authorities have not made any statement, denying or accepting the harassment.

But the House has prepared a motion condemning the alleged harassment of the Speaker by the soldiers.

From Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

House of Representatives.

“Furthermore, coming at a time when ministers are beginning to obtain injunctions to prevent the committees of the House from carrying out investigations, in line with Section 88 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, one cannot but be alarmed at this naked show and unreasonable use of power and influence by some agents of the state against the legislature.

“In the last media chat, we

From Victor Oluwasegun, Abuja

This is just as the House, which reconvened yesterday from a two-week break suspended sitting in honour of the late chairman of the senate committee on Senator Kuta who died this month.

The motion was meant to have been tabled yesterday but for the adjournment of plenary by the House due to the death of Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta representing Niger East Senatorial District.

The Senator died on June 12.

Minority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila is likely to move the condemnation of the disrespect to the office of the Speaker under matters of urgent national importance and “breach of privileges”.

all recall that Mr. President averred that the administration had issues with the House of Representatives as he considered that the activities of the House amounted to Legislative dictatorship.”

Osagie added: “Since then, too many events have occurred that suggest a deliberate onslaught against the House of Representatives.

“This, at best, can be described as the highest degree of intolerance of a legislature which, in the face of stiff challenges, had exposed the monumental corruption in

the subsidy administration and conducted its affairs with the desired independence necessary for a viable democracy.”

The lawmaker said the House of Representatives would demand an explanation on why the Speaker was subjected to such an embarrassment in Kaduna on June 23.

Osagie wondered why other public officers in Kaduna for the same function, including government appointees, were given special treatment.

EFCC: Fani-Kayode’s aide’s statement voluntary

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HE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday denied a witness’s claim in the trial of former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode that he was forced to lie.

Ojo Agbor told the court on May 14 that the commission’s officials beat him up and detained him, forcing him to write a false statement.

According to him, the officials threatened to charge him alongside Fani-Kayode, if he failed to implicate the former minister.

Agbor said someone else gave him various amounts of money to pay into FaniKayode’s account, adding that the EFCC asked him to write that it was the former minister who gave him the money.

“They then told me that I should write that it was FaniKayode who gave me the money to deposit. They threatened to make me an accomplice,

By Joseph Jibueze

if I didn’t write that Fani-Kayode gave me the money. My Lord, I had no option than to write it,” he said.

But an EFCC investigator who handled the case, Mr Shuaibu Umar, said Agbor was never forced to make the statement.

The investigator said he discovered that some lodgements were made into Fani-Kayode’s bank account by various individuals, including a man identified as Mark Ndifreke and Agbor.

According to him, Agbor was invited to give an explanation on the money he paid into Fani-Kayode’s account.

Umar said Agbor was cautioned before he made the statement.

Umar added: “He (Agbor) came to our office on his own.

It’s not true that Agbor was lured to the EFCC, beaten up, hand-

cuffed and detained. It’s not true that he was beaten up and tortured to write a statement or that he was not allowed to speak to his wife, who just had a baby.”

The investigator tendered Agbor’s statement, which was admitted in evidence.

During cross-examination, Fani-Kayode’s lawyer, Chief Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), asked Umar how many times Agbor went to the EFCC office.

The witness said it was once, adding that he made his statement the same day.

There was mild drama when Adedipe asked Umar to read the first paragraph of Agbor’s statement.

The paragraph reads: “In addition to my earlier statement on December 26, 2008...”

At this point, Adedipe asked Umar to admit that Agbor visited the EFCC more than once.

Umar said he was not aware of the other visits, adding that

he was only aware that the witness visited once.

When Adedipe sought to “put it to” Umar that he was not telling the truth, the witness responded: “I put it to you that I’m not lying.”

The prosecution counsel, Mr Festus Keyamo, apologised on the witness’s behalf.

The lawyer said Umar was unaware of courtroom ethics, which bars a witness from exchanging words with a lawyer.

Justice Rita OfiliAjumogobia said there would be “fire” should the witness use such an expression again, indicating that the witness could be sent to prison for contempt.

She adjourned for about 20 minutes to enable Keyamo “caution” his witness on how to speak in court.

When the judge returned, Adedipe said Agbor was kept in EFCC custody for four days from December 26 till December 30, 2008.

•Fani-Kayode

But Umar insisted that Agbor was never held beyond a day, but granted bail on selfrecognition, being a civil servant.

Keyamo said he had one more witness – Ndifreke – who was said to have been evading service of the court summons to testify.

Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia said she would not issue a bench warrant until she was convinced that Ndifreke was deliberately avoiding being served.

HE Senate and the House of Representatives adjourned their plenary sessions yesterday in honour of a former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal Character and InterGovernmental Affairs, the late Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta.

The senator, who represented Niger East, died on June 12 at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) on his way to London for medical treatment.

He has since been buried according to Islamic injunctions.

The lawmakers resumed yesterday from their twoweek end of third legislative year.

Senate President David Mark and House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal led senators and House members to sign the condolence register at the foyer of the National Assembly.

Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba (Cross River Central) read the only order of the day, titled: Demise of Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta.

He said: “The Senate announces the demise of Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta (1949 2014)” and called for adjournment, in line with the tradition of the Senate in honour of their late colleague.

Mark told reporters that Kuta was a patriotic citizen who worked tirelessly for the nation’s progress.

He said Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu and the family of the late senator would attend the special valedictory session of the Senate in honour of the late Kuta today.

Mark said: “In Kuta, Nigeria and indeed the Senate has lost a very patriotic citizen who, at all times, joined hands with other patriots to move the country forward.

“Specifically, the late Senator Kuta made the Senate Committee on Federal Character very vibrant and responsive to the needs of Nigerians, in terms of making relevant agencies under it, to bring about equitable recruitments into the federal service and allocation of resources. He was an active senator who placed the nation and others before self.

“For now, I don’t want to comment on how the Senate will immortalise or honour him because a special valedictory session has been slated for tomorrow (today) in that respect, where his governor and some other governors, along with his family members, will be in session.

Tambuwal, in his condolence message, said: “We have indeed lost one of the greatest parliamentarians of our time.”

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu described the late Kuta as a detribalised Nigerian.

He said Senate lost a man whose dedication to work was enviable.

The senator insisted that the late Kuta was a friend to all, adding that his friendship was from the heart.

He said: “We have lost the husband of our female senators, and for those of you who cover the Senate, you know what I mean by that.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

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NEWS

Jonathan unveils N2.4tr Centenary City

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday performed the groundbreaking ceremony and unveiled the N2.4 trillion Abuja Centenary City project.

The project is meant to commemorate Nigeria’s 100 years of amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates in 1914.

Jonathan described the project as a city of hope, elegant and a symbol of the nation’s unity.

The city, he said, promises a unique and global standard in real estate project.

According to him, no other sign could demonstrate the symbol of his administration’s determination for excellence than the Centenary City.

When completed, Jonathan said, the project would be a modern city where beauty and architectural creativity would fuse.

The President said his administration was determined to make it a sustainable and viable economic project.

He said: “We don’t want to build a city where everybody will have maiguard (security man). We don’t

From Augustine Ehikioya and Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

want a city where everybody will dig their bore holes and where everybody will be buying generators.”

Former military Head of State and Chairman of Centenary City Plc, Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar, urged Nigerians to give peace a chance.

Abubakar said it is only when peace reigns in all parts of the country that projects can be successful.

He said: “It is only when there is peace that the project can be successful. It is the duty of everyone of us to make sure that we maintain peace in the county.”

Abubakar said the feasibility and environmental studies had been completed, adding that the project was planned in three phases that would be completed within 10 years.

The former military leader said N1.2 billion, being the 100 per cent compensation, had been paid on the economic trees belonging to the original inhabitants and the structures belonging to some non-indigenes in the area.

The Secretary to the

Anxiety over missing aircraft •Plane departed Kano for Douala

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By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

SINGLE engine citation aircraft has been declared missing by the Nigerian and Cameroonian aviation authorities.

The American registered aircraft, with registration number N9784L, reportedly departed Kano at 6.12am local time yesterday and was estimated to land in Doula, Cameroon, at 11.04 am local time.

A source said the aircraft,which was based in Douala, Cameroon, as at 11.16 am local time, had contact with air traffic controllers in Doula at 11.16 am local time.

The single engine aircraft has only the pilot on board.

It was learnt that Nigerian aviation authorities were collaborating yesterday with their Cameroonian counterpart on the search and rescue operations for the aircraft.

Police retirees oppose pension administrators’ 18-month notice

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ETIRED police officers have opposed the 18month notice to hands off the management of their funds by pension administrators.

They said the continued management of their pension fund by the administrators was unacceptable.

In a statement by the Kwara State Chairman and Secretary of the Retired Police Officers’ Association, Lasisi Akinlabi and Evang Umah, the retirees said the administrators should transfer the fund to the special pension scheme recently established by the police high command and stop the demand for an 18-month notice before making the transfer.

The police pensioners alleged that the administrators had been violating the Pension Reform Act and mismanaging the fund to the detriment of the pensioners.

“For example, Section 4 of the Act provides that withdrawals due to a subscriber shall not be less than 50 per cent of his annual remuneration as at the date of his retirement. Contrary to this clear provision, the per centage of withdrawals allowed officers by the pension funds administrators is between 25 and 30 per cent, in

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

gross violation of the law,” the association alleged.

It also alleged that “the oppression and unfair practice” by the administrators against its members had caused untimely deaths of several members and made many other wretched.

The retired officers said it was the alleged incompetence, lack of transparency and contravention of laws by the administrators that made their association across the country to seek the establishment of the special pension scheme for the administration of the funds.

They saidthis was in line with what obtains in sister regimental establishments.

The retirees’ statement added: “They (administrators) cannot continue to impose unfair labour practice on police officers under the fund and insist they must remain under the oppression and breach of law for 18 months, another illegality as the condition is unknown to law and has never been communicated to the retired officers.

“These pension fund administrators are advised to take a cue from insurance companies, any time a retiree indicates his intention to move from programme withdrawal to annuity, the transfer window is immediately opened...”

•President Jonathan performing the ground-breaking ceremony of the city in Abuja...yesterday. With him are: Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn (carrying a shovel with Jonathan); Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim (left); General Abubakar (in white babanriga behind Jonathan); wife of Ethiopian Prime Minister, PHOTO: AKIN OLADOKUN Mrs Roman Desalegn (second right) and First lady Dame Patience Jonathan...yesterday

Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, said the city is not a housing project but an economic project.

He said the residential area, which would be provided, would only complement the business concerns.

A Dubai firm, Eagles

Hills Properties, Anyim said, would develop the city at no cost to the government.

According to him, the

Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund authorities have signed an agreement to coinvest with the firm on the project.

Alleged pension fraud: Sachet water seller, three others on trial

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HE Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) yesterday said it has filed charges against a sachet water seller, Mrs. Philomena Ayodele, for benefiting from pension funds for six years without being a civil servant.

The suspect will face trial with a worker in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Oladimeji Bello; another worker in the Police Service Commission (PSC), Mr. Abiodun Osagie and Mrs. Regina Osagie of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

A statement in Abuja by ICPC’s Resident Consultant (Media and Events), Mr. Folu Olamiti, gave details about the alleged fraud.

The statement said: “In a major breakthrough, a cartel, masterminded by Mr. Abiodun Osagie, his wife, Mrs. Regina Osagie, and Mr. Oladimeji Bello, all of the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation (OHSF), have been dragged before FCT Abuja High Court No. 6 for allegedly diverting

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

pension funds into private accounts using various banks and fake identities in violation of the provisions of the ICPC Act 2000.

“Abiodun Osagie is with the Police Service Commission while his wife is with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. Mr. Oladimeji Bello is still with the OHSF and was part of the Pensions Management Committee set up after the dissolution of the Abdulrasheed Maina-led Pensions Reform Task Team (PRTT) and allegedly abused his office by re-inserting the ghost names into the pension list.

“Also listed for arraignment is Mr. Abiodun Osagie’s sister-in-law, Mrs. Philomena Ayodele, a 42year-old housewife and a pure (sachet) water seller who has been enjoying pension for six years without having served for one day in the Federal Civil Service.”

The commission

explained how the woman was detected and arrested.

The statement added: “Mrs. Ayodele was arrested on July 19, 2013 at Keystone Bank, Mararaba branch, while trying to withdraw her monthly ‘pension’.

“In her statement, she was alleged to have confessed that it was Mr. Abiodun Osagie who approached her and requested for her bank account details to enable them pay monthly pensions into her account. She alleged that she had been collecting the pension money from her account and the proceeds were usually shared by them.

“The arraignment of the suspects marks the end of a nine-month undercover investigation by ICPC of corrupt practices in the Pensions Department of the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation.

“In the course of the investigation, the ICPC team visited the home of Mr. Osagie and a list containing several names and account numbers in banks was retrieved. The accounts were

opened with fictitious names and had as beneficiaries Mr. Osagie’s wife, Mrs. Regina Osagie, his sister-in-law Mrs. Ayodele, and other relatives.

“The ICPC detectives also discovered that all the accounts had pensions funds credited into them on a monthly basis since 2008 until their arrests in 2013.

“The payments were done in such a way as not to attract attention, but the special squad set up in the Financial Investigations Unit, under the direct supervision of ICPC Chairman, was able to piece the puzzle into a meaningful pattern that exposed the perpetrators through deductive investigations.

“Before pensions management was moved to the Pensions Transitions A d m i n i s t r a t i o n Department (PETAD), a review of the pension processes in the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation ordered by ICPC had started yielding very positive results following the full support of the immediate past and current Heads of Service.”

hailed the master plan and directed that the inputs of governors be included in it.

Dankwabo said it was resolved that the document be considered critically, especially at state and regional levels.

He said it was decided that each state government should set up technical units within two weeks on the matter.

Yuguda described the master plan as a blueprint for accelerated infrastructure development in Nigeria in the next 30 years.

The minister said it was

based on the need to raise infrastructure stock as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the current 35 per cent to 70 per cent.

He said Nigeria’s core infrastructure level was below the target benchmark.

While the document identified the required investments to improve infrastructure, in line with the country’s growth aspirations, Yuguda said it also provided for shortterm and medium-term priorities to guide project selection with the first term covering five years.

Governors seek funding with infrastructure master plan

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HE National Economic Council (NEC), comprising of governors, yesterday reviewed the draft of the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan and directed the National Planning Commission to reflect the actual funding needed to in view of the value of the rebased economy.

Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam and his Gombe State counterpart, Ibrahim Dankwabo, addressed State House correspondents on their resolution.

They spoke alongside the

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

Supervising Minister of National Planning, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, at the end of the NEC meeting chaired by Vice-President Namadi Sambo.

Besides the governors, others at the NEC meeting included the Ministers of Justice, National Planning, Finance, and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor.

Suswam said the council

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY JUNE 25, 2014

NEWS Ekiti regents protest neglect

Fire razes Bodija market PART of the yam flower section of the Bodija Market, Ibadan was razed yesterday razed by fire.

The fire, which occurred around 4:30 am, burnt 16 shops and destroyed grinding machines and yam flower worth about N20 million.

The razed shops included a hairdressing salon, a barber’s shop and a liquour’s centre.

The Director, Oyo State Fire Service, Mr Oyekunle Kareem, said the cause of the fire was unknown.

Yesterday morning, some of the fire victims burst into tears on getting to their once blossoming shops that had been reduced to rubble.

Women wailed over their loss and men looked devastated and lost in thought.

The victims told The Nation that night guards phoned fire fighters as soon as the fire started. According to them, the fire would have razed all the shops in the section but for the quick intervention of the fire fighters.

One of the victims, Abass Mustapha, said he lost two grinding machines worth

From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan.

N

A

•Part of the Bodija Market gutted by fire... yesterday.

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

N600,000 and several bags of dry yams to be grounded into flower. He put his loss at N900,000.

He said: “The night guards even salvaged some of our items but they were already burnt.”

He said the traders were looking forward to Ramadan sales only to be visited by the fire.

Another victim, Mrs Bilkis Olalekan, said her goods consumed by the fire were worth over N1,500,000.

She said: “Somebody called me at 6:45 am to in-

PHOTOS: FEMI ILESANMI

forme me that my shop has been razed down. I rushed down here quickly and was really surprised at what has happened. I stocked bags of yam flower worth over N1,500,000.”

Mr Nasiru Lawal, who also lost his shop in the fire incident, expressed surprise at the incident.

•A victim of the fire in pensive mood...yesterday.

They all called on the government to come to their aid.

Afe Babalola hails Fayemi, Fayose

By Adegunle Olugbamila and Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

•Aare Babalola

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ENIOR Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Aare Afe Babalola has commended Governor Kayode Fayemi for conceding victory to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Ayodele Fayose, in last Saturday’s election.

He also congratulated Fayose on his election.

In a ‘Letter of Commendation’ dated June 24, and addressed to the governor, Aare Babalola said: “I write to commend you sincerely for your highly commendable act of statesmanship and sportsmanship of congratulating the winner of the Saturday, June 21, 2014 gubernatorial election, Dr. Ayodele Fayose, shortly after he was declared the winner by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC).

“You have not only demonstrated that truly you are a man of honour but that you are not desperate to remain in office as governor.

“You have equally shown that you are a man of peace and honour who all of us in Ekiti are proud of and will continue to be proud of. I want to specially thank you for not allowing Ekiti to be turned into another theatre of war with the attendant gory carnage, burning, maiming and killing as well as wanton destruction of both ambulatory and non-ambulatory properties similar to the events of 1983 when 76 houses were damaged in Ado–Ekiti in one day after the gubernatorial election.

“Your Excellency, without any iota of doubt, you are indeed the hero of the June 21 gubernatorial election in Ekiti State and like the GovernorElect said during your meeting yesterday, ‘you are indeed an unusual Nigerian’ and an apostle of politics of restraint and decorum.

“Apart from Alhaji Ibrahim Kwakwanso of Kano State eleven years ago, I do not know of any other loser in Nigeria politics who congratulated the winner. Your name will go down in history as a lover of peace and also a lover of the people who you have toiled to serve most assiduously in the last four years.

With your action, indeed a new dawn has begun in Ekiti land.

“I will also like to com-

mend your action to all political gladiators in the country.

They should take a cue from your well-informed demonstration of a gallant and honourable looser without necessarily turning our election into a do-or-die phenomenon.

“Again, with your action, lawyers who have been perching in the wings in the hope for another harvest at the election tribunals would by now have known that the game is up in favour of a new dawn of electoral maturity in Ekiti.

“Finally, the Ekiti project is calling for the co-operation of all patriotic and well meaning Ekitis for economic development of Ekiti regardless of different political beliefs in terms of meaningful contribution, advice and personal investment in the economy of the state.”

In his letter to Fayose, Babalola said: “Because of the peculiar nature of Ekiti as a landlocked state with very poor means of transportation and without any other means of revenue apart from the monthly allocation from the centre, which is about the least among the 36 states of the federation, Ekiti cannot afford to be in opposition to the government at the centre.

“It is for this reason that I urge you to use your God-ordained and God-given position as the next governor of Ekiti State to get close to the centre and secure enough of Federal Government presence in Ekiti

this time around.

Babalola recounted how he drafted a memo and defended same before the Mbanefo Panel for the creation of Ekiti State from the then Ondo State, highlighting various human and natural potentials like agriculture, mineral resources and the Ikogosi Warm Spring as prime drivers of the state economy.

He lamented that all the identified potentials have not been fully optimised, tasking the governor elect to push for them upon his assumption.

“As at today, all the above have not been optimally utilised while farming has been abandoned thus rendering the state very poor depending on nothing apart from the monthly allocation from the centre which can barely pay workers’ salaries. It is important to look into these areas to drive the development of the state and a realisation and fulfillment of your electoral promises to the people of the state.

“I am particularly thrilled by your kind words of your readiness to build on the foundation laid by the Dr. Kayode Fayemi administration in the state. Your administration will benefit from working together with patriotic and well meaning Ekiti regardless of different political beliefs in order to achieve the vision of the founding fathers of Ekiti.

“This is the more in a coun-

Oyo Council chief urges support for Ajimobi’s second term

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HE Caretaker Chairman of Ibadan North West Local Government, Mr Wasiu Olatunbosun, has urged the people of Oyo State to give Governor Abiola Ajimobi a second term.

Olatunbosun spoke yesterday while distributing foodstuffs and provisions to 100 Muslim clerics ahead of the Ramadan season.

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

Olatunbosun said the gesture was aimed at putting smiles on the faces of the downtrodden and assisting the needy.

He said: “I have started this kind gesture since I was a councillor, and I am emulating the goodwill of the late Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Abdul-Azeez

Arisekola-Alao whom Allah has blessed with this aspect.

“The gesture was to show love and give the needy a sense of belonging in the Holy Month. Bountiful rewards await those that assist, particularly to needy. As the saying goes givers never lack. We should all strive to assist less privileged not only the holy month of Ramadan.”

The council boss urged the Muslim clerics to distribute the foodstuffs equally among the needy within their mosques.

He called on others and corporate organisations to assist the needy during the Ramadan period.

The council boss urged the clerics to support Ajimobi’s second term ambition.

try like Nigeria where people find it difficult to distinguish between politics and governance, a development which often makes people taking over the reins of government from their predecessors to always abandon the projects of their predecessors and start their own, particularly when such predecessors are not from the same party with the new helmsman.”

O fewer than 40 Ekiti regents and members of their traditional councils protested yesterday over an alleged neglect and abandonment by governments at all levels .

The regents protested at the Department of Local Government Studies, Faculty of Administration, Obafemi Awolowo University,Ile-Ife, Osun State.

The President of the Council of Ekiti State Regents (CESR), Regent Falade Moradeke Aladesanmi,who addressed reporters , said their mission was to call the attention of the coordinator, Research Group on Female Traditional rulers in Nigeria (RGFTN),Dr Fatai Olasupo to the insensitivity of some of their communities, Obas, local and state governments to their plight.

Aladesanmi said: “Before we accede to become regents, series of promises were made to us, including building palaces, buying cars and remunerating us well. This is so because we lose most of our rights once we ascend the office of traditional Regency. As regents, we are not expected to marry if we had not done so before being appointed regents. If married, we are not expected to have a baby while on the throne, and our husbands must not live with us in the palaces.

“As women, we must not dress as we wished but always appear in male dresses. We must not even work to earn a living; and there are limits to where we can go during and after leaving office as regents.”

The Head of the Department of Local Government Studies, Dr. Francis Oluyemisi Fagbohun, assured them of prompt action as they have come to the appropriate quarters.

Accenture to help manufacturers

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CCENTURE Product Lifecycle Services (APLS), a new business service aimed at helping manufacturing clients better organise, develop and manage products and services, has been launched.

According to the Senior Managing Director, Accenture, Eric Schaffer, the product would help manufacturers increase revenues and reduce costs and time to market for new products as breakthroughs in digital technology continue to transform the value chain for industries, including airline, automotive, industrial equipment, and public transportation.

He said: “APLS provides a comprehensive portfolio of business and technology services drawn from a range of engineering and product development services, such as innovation and product design excellence, PLM transformation; implementation and application services and support; PLMas-a-service and embedded software development for connected products. In addition, APLS includes full program and change management services.

“To support clients’ manufacturing and digital operations, APLS also can provide maintenance, repair and operations optimization services (MRO); enterprise asset maintenance services and manufacturing technology services.

“We are helping our clients realise the true value of Digital Industry 4.0 and connected products as they tackle the challenges created by the digitisation of their products and services, and the new business models these require.

“APLS can help companies sense and adapt to changing customer needs by enabling an infrastructure for connected products and nimble product development; an ecosystem for customers, partners and suppliers to continually influence product strategy; and automated systems that provide new levels of flexibility and efficiency to address specific markets on a global scale.”

Vice President of Research at CIMdata, Stan Przybylinski said: “Accenture’s recent acquisitions represent a key step in Accenture‘s strategy to create strong end-to-end services for engineering and manufacturing clients.

“The launch of APLS comes at a time when digital technologies are creating a huge potential to change the way products are developed, manufactured and delivered to the market. CIMdata estimates the global market for PLM consulting and implementation services will see a five year CAGR rate of 4.2 per cent.”

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY JUNE 25, 2014

NEWS

Fayemi to create more councils

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KITI State Governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi has received the report of the Committee on the Creation of Additional Local Government Areas.

Fayemi, who received the report at the Exco Chamber, restated the commitment of his administration to create additional councils in response to the yearnings of the people.

The governor said his administration would immediately set up a White Paper Committee to enable the State Independent Electoral Commission carry out a referendum in the affected council areas.

Fayemi, who set up the committee five months ago, stated that government would strictly adhere to the provision of the laws on the creation of new council areas, adding that this accounted for the decision to subject the report to for the State Executive Council’s pronouncement and other legal processes.

Fayemi said: “Let me say that given the importance this government has placed on the effort of the committee, we are going to set the ball rolling immediately on the report by establishing within the next 24 hours, a white paper committee to produce a white paper on the recommendations of the committee.

“The report will be made available to the State Executive Council with a view to

From Sulaimon Salaudeen, Ado-Ekiti

pronouncing on it and taking the next step in law, which I believe is a referendum by the State Electoral Commission and a resolution of approval by the State House of Assembly before government then takes a full and final decision on where the councils will be,” he said.

The governor, who restated that the council creation is not a political gimmick, said it was a genuine yearning from the people who had consistently tabled their request for new council areas.

He praised the committee for their dedication to duty.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the Committee, Justice Akin Ajakaye (rtd), said the committee received 72 memoranda from 15 local governments with exception to Emure local government and painstakingly analysed and verified the memoranda.

Ajakaye said a public hearing was held where all communities which sent memo defended their proposals and the committee afterwards gave very “detailed objective considerations to the requests of all communities”.

He disclosed that one of the factors considered was not placing a senior traditional ruler under his lower counterpart in the location of headquarters for the proposed councils.

Amosun pays severance benefits to ex-political office-holders

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UCCOUR came the way of former elected and appointed political office-holders in Ogun State as Governor Ibikunle Amosun began payment of their severance packages yesterday.

At a ceremony to kick-start the exercise, over a dozen of those who served under former Governor Gbenga Daniel received their cheques from Amosun at the Arcade Ground of the Governor’s Office, Oke-Mosan in the state capital.

Each of the ex-elected and appointed political office holders would receive a cheque of between N1.9 million and N3.9 million.

Amosun, who addressed the beneficiaries, said the money for the severance packages had already been set aside for such purpose.

The governor said everybody would be paid irrespective of political leanings.

He added that the delay in paying the beneficiaries followed his administration’s resolve to first sort out pen-

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

sioners, who had put over 30 years, but were owed entitlements to the tune of N11 billion by Daniel’s administration.

“We are still struggling even as I speak with you, to pay this backlog. I can tell you that we have paid nothing less than N4 billion of those backlogs that was left unpaid. So, we decided that we will pay them first. We have not even finished paying them.

“As of today, we have been able to pay up to February of year 2011. We have been struggling to pay as when due.

“So, we just realised that at some point, we must address the matter of those of us that have served diligently and selflessly. We didn’t say you didn’t serve; you served, but we need to sort ourselves out first in a way to consider those who have served the state with all their lives first. And that was why we have this delay,” he said.

10,000 cooperative societies risk deregistration in Lagos A BOUT 10,000 cooperative societies operating in Lagos State are yet to register in the ongoing revalidation of database of all such groups.

Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives Mr. Gbolahan Lawal, who spoke while addressing reporters on this year’s International Day of Cooperatives, said any society that failed to comply, would be disaccredited.

Lawal said only 3,000 cooperative societies have so far registered with the government in the exercise to ascertain the actual number of cooperative societies operating in the state.

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

He said the number of registered cooperative societies in Lagos had been 13,000, noting that government could not continue to rely on that figure as some of the societies might have folded up or new ones created.

According to him, “we have embarked on the revalidation of registered cooperative societies in Lagos State. The aim of the exercise is for easy identification and planning purposes. The revalidation exercise is still on and I want

to use this opportunity to encourage societies that are yet to be captured to go to Cooperative Area Offices nearest to them for the exercise.”

Lawal said the theme of this year celebration was apt and relevant as the administration was ready to encourage all co-operators to achieve sustainable development.

He added that the celebration had been an opportunity to showcase the achievements of the state’s cooperative societies with a view to

motivating others to achieve greater height.

Lawal said the administration had continuously used cooperatives to deliver on its developmental programmes, such as the agricultural microcredit scheme, distribution of improved seedlings and inputs to cassava and rice farmers, among others.

He said the administration had trained 2,935 members at the Lagos State Cooperative College to raise the quality of manpower for the movement among others.

•Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola SAN (second left) launching the book: “Lagos Eko Project (2009-2013): A Legacy of Excellence” at the Vetland Senior Grammar School, Old Abeokuta Motor Road, Agege, Lagos...yesterday. With him are Commissioner for Education Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye (second right), Special Adviser on Lagos Eko Project Ms. Ronke Azeez (left) and Tutor-General/Permanent Secretary, Education District 1 Mrs. Florence Adebola Ogunfidodo (right).

PHOTO:OMOSEHIN MOSES

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APC takes Aregbesola’s re-election campaign to rural areas

HE Osun State chapter of All Progressives Congress has taken Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s re-election campaign rally to rural communities in Ifedayo Local Government Area, urging residents to vote for its governorship candidate in the August poll.

Led by the Ila Federal Constituency Campaign Committee Chairman, Mr. Sunday Akere, who is the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, the campaign train visited communities such as Isimi-Olotu, Alabama, IdiOdan, Irepodun-Enle and Ayetoro.

The residents, who are predominantly farmers, trooped out en mass to welcome and listen to the electioneering promises of the party, rather

•Group denies alleged plan to ban Okada, Korope From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

than going to their farms.

Akere, while addressing the people, said Aregbesola was committed to improving the lots of the people in the rural areas by creating access to the communities to make it easier for them to move their farm produce to the market.

According to him, in the last three and half years, the governor has ensured the construction of medical facilities and extension of electrification projects in the rural communities.

The commissioner noted that Aregbesola understands that the major means of livelihood for the rural dwellers is farming and that it is when the produce gets to the market that farmers make money.

He mentioned access and quality roads linking various rural communities to the major towns that were constructed by Aregbesola’s administration.

Akere said Aregbesola was seeking re-election to allow him complete the other projects to take Osun State to greater height.

He added that the governor was working toward extending electricity to other rural communities in the area that are yet to be connected to the national grid.

Responding, the community leaders urged the government to provide more infrastructural facilities for the areas, hoping their votes would be used in the interest of development of the areas.

They also assured the campaign train of their readiness to vote for the APC as long as they are promised better transformation.

In another development, a support group for Aregbesola’s re-election, Door-to-Door Campaign Organisation (OD2D), has dispelled an alleged plan by the governor to ban commercial motorcyclists known as Okada and

intercity commercial buses called Korope in his second term.

The Director-General, OD2D, Mr. Segun Omoworare, in a statement yesterday, said Aregbesola, who has been enjoying the support of the Okada riders and the Korope drivers, would never place a ban on their business.

According to him, placing a ban on the operators would increase poverty and hunger, which he said the governor has successfully reduced to the barest minimum with series of empowerment programme.

Oyo Assembly orders stoppage of illegal structures

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From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

HE Oyo State House of Assembly has ordered stoppage of all illegal structures springing up at the New Gbagi Business Complex, Ibadan.

Chairman, House Committee on Commerce and Cooperatives, Temitope Olatoye gave the directive during an unscheduled oversight function visit to the market yesterday.

He said the House had received petitions complaining that virtually all the areas demarcated as parking spaces have been turned into illegal shops.

According to him, it was unbelievable that the market has been defaced through illegal structures, thereby affecting the international objectives for which the market was established.

Olatoye, who assured of the genuine intention of the committee at sanitising the market, said the House after completing its investigation would ensure that the standard is maintained.

Other members of the committee who came with Olatoye, included Olusegun Ajanaku, Adesope Azeez, Adeleke Ayoola and Amoo Salaudeen.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

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NEWS

•The Nation’s General Manager, Training and Development Mr. Soji Omotunde (in white dress) and Editor, Online and Special Publication Mr Lekan Otufodunrin (in suit) with participants of X2 News Reporting Course at the Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information (NASPRI), who visited The Nation corporate headquaters, Lagos...yesterday.

Governors’ Forum, Southwest PDP, Obanikoro congratulate Fayose, Fayemi

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HE Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has congratulated the Ekiti State governor-elect, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, on his victory at the just-concluded governorship election.

While also congratulating the people of Ekiti for their conduct during the election, the NGF under the chairmanship of Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, praised the incumbent Governor Kayode Fayemi for demonstrating a rare spirit of sportsmanship by accepting the outcome of the election and promising to work with Fayose to develop the state.

The Southwest Zone of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Minister of State for Defence Musiliu Obanikoro also hailed Fayemi for displaying a high sense of maturity.

The NGF, in a statement yesterday by its Director-General, Asishana Okauru, said: “The people of the state have made Nigerians proud by demonstrat-

From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor and Augustine Ehikioya (Abuja)

ing again that Nigerians, on their own can choose their leaders on their own terms, in an ordered manner.

“The peaceful conduct of the election assures us all that the future of democracy is bright. We commend the handling of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).”

It urged other national institutions and security agencies to emulate INEC, eschew partisanship and learn to discharge their responsibilities with professionalism. They should put their services at the disposal of Nigerians, irrespective of political affiliations,” the NGF stated.

The governors asked the governor-elect to see the election as one in which there is no victor and no vanquished.

Also, the PDP Southwest Zone, in a statement by its Zonal Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Waheed Lawal in Ibadan yesterday, said unlike the old practice of throwing fire and brimstone by the contestants and planning litigation, “the governor congratulated the winner and embraced him while the latter reciprocated the kind gesture.

“Honestly, this is a confirmation of genuine patriotism and passion for the growth of Ekiti State where the two contestants come from.”

The PDP congratulated the Ekiti people for effecting the change of government in a peaceful and constitutional manner, adding: “Truly, the state demonstrates being a fountain of knowledge.”

The party said the INEC and the security operatives “should be given a pat on the back for the peaceful conduct of the election.”

Akume, Uba, Agoro disagree on poll

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HE Senate Minority Leader, Senator George Akume (Benue North West) and the Chairman, Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Senator Andy Uba (Anambra South), expressed divergent views yesterday on the Ekiti poll.

While Akume described the election that produced the governor-elect Ayodele Fayose as “highly militarised and commercialised,” Uba said the election was “transparently and successfully conducted.”

But former presidential candidate of the National Action Council (NAC), Dr. Olapade Agoro, declared yesterday in Ibadan that the victory of Fayose was not an indication that Southwest people will vote for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015.

To Akume, the election could not be said to be free and fair and hence, its outcome should not be seen as credible.

He told reporters in Abuja that “the Ekiti election has come and gone, but the highly militarised and commercialised process of the election, which must have in one way or the other affected its results substantially, cannot just be waived aside.

“It is a fact though that the

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From Sanni Onogu (Abuja) and Oseheye Okwuofu (Ibadan)

state governor, a democrat to the core and product of our great party, Kayode Fayemi, has accepted the result by congratulating the winner, Ayodele Fayose.

“Questions such as, why were APC governors prevented from entering Ado-Ekiti, two days to the election for the party’s mega rally to shore up support for Fayemi, should be answered.

“Also, why did the same soldiers or police arrested APC leaders across 16 local government areas of the state on the day of election without a corresponding arrest of leaders of PDP? “These questions must be asked before jumping to conclusion that the election was substantially credible.”

He added that “as bad as the election process may be, credit needs to be given to Governor Fayemi of our great party who has no doubt set a good precedence for all other political players in the country on electoral contests and their outcomes.”

But Uba, in a statement in Abuja, praised the successful conduct of the election, which he described as very credible.

Uba said: “Peace and stability which are integral component of meaningful development in any

society, were exemplified in the Ekiti election by INEC.” He insisted that INEC surpassed its previous efforts in conducting elections by putting right all that it was critiqued against previously to the point that Nigerians from all walks of life, applauded it for a job well done.”

On the alleged militarisation during the election, Uba said what the Federal Government did was to provide adequate security, manpower and logistics for the smooth conduct of the election.

He said: “I salute the effort of Mr. President, who graciously provided adequate security manpower and logistics to ensure that no life was lost, thereby giving the Ekiti voters adequate confidence in coming out to vote.”

He therefore urged the Federal Government and INEC to use the Ekiti election as a litmus test for the 2015 general elections.

Agoro, who spoke with reporters in Ibadan yesterday, maintained that “the electoral defeat of Fayemi by Fayose showed clearly that personality in the Nigerian electoral process matters much more than political party’s slogan.”

NYSC DG, Jega laud corps members

HE Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig-Gen. Johnson Olawumi and the Chairman of the Independent Election Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, have praised corps members serving in Ekiti State for the success of the election.

Jega, in a letter to the Director-General of NYSC, described the election as credible, free and fair and praised the corps members for conducting themselves in a dignified manner.

He extolled the exemplary behaviour and patriotism of the youth, who he said shunned pol-

From Bukola Amusan, Abuja

iticians’ inducements in the course of conducting the election.

The INEC boss and Brig-Gen. Olawumi further praised the maturity of the corps members during the election.

The NYSC Director-General used the opportunity to encourage and advise all corps members nationwide to always imbibe the values of humility and service while serving their fatherland. He assured them of their security anywhere elections are being held.

It appealed to INEC to replicate the feat during the August governorship election in Osun State and the 2015 election.

But Obanikoro said Fayemi has advanced the ethos of the nation’s collective democratic experience.

The minister, in a goodwill message yesterday by his media aide, Ohimai Amaize, praised Fayemi for what he described as the governor’s uncommon magnanimity and sportsmanship by graciously accepting defeat.

“I wish to commend His Excellency Governor John Kayode Fayemi for his show of uncommon magnanimity and sportsmanship by graciously accepting defeat.

“By this singular act, he has advanced the ethos of our collective democratic experience,” he said.

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U.S. hails Fayemi

HE United States has praised Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi for “graciously accepting the results” of last Saturday’s governorship election.

Deputy Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson, Marie Harf, in a statement in Washington, quoted the U.S. as saying that the election was credible.

The statement reads: “The United States commends the people of Ekiti State, Nigeria, who turned out to vote in the June 21 gubernatorial election. U.S. Embassy and international observers assessed that the process was credible and efficient, and that security forces collaborated effectively in providing a safe environment free

of major incidents.

“We congratulate Mr. Ayo Fayose on his election, and commend Governor Fayemi on graciously accepting the results. We urge all parties to accept the outcome as representing the will of Ekiti’s voting public.

“As we look towards the August 9 Osun State gubernatorial election and the national elections in February 2015, the process in Ekiti should lend confidence to the Nigerian public and the international community that INEC, the security forces and the political parties have the capacity to conduct themselves in a manner that strengthens Nigeria’s democracy and gives political voice to its population.”

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

NEWS

Kano blast survivors recount ordeal

Two remanded for murder From James Azania, Lokoja

A LOKOJA Chief Magistrate’s Court yesterday remanded a businessman, Mohammed Ibiyomi and a sales boy, Chuckwuma Mathew, in prison for allegedly killing Isah Musa.

Police prosecutor C. S. Ayabatu said on May 24, Fatai Jubril reported at B Division, Lokoja that a man, Ojo alias 2face, conspired with a group of boys to stab his friend, Isah Musa.

Musa died at the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja.

The accused pleaded not guilty; their counsel urged the court to grant them bail.

The Chief Magistrate, Alhassan Hussein, ordered them to be remanded at the Federal Prison, Koton-Karfe. He adjourned the case till July 27.

End teachers’ strike Two non-governmental organisations -Centre for Children’s Health Education, Orientation and Protection and the Charles&Doosurgh Foundation– have called on the Benue State Government to end the eight-month teachers’ strike.

The groups urged the Gabriel Suswam administration to consider the plight of the children.

The groups called for the intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Suswam and the teachers have been at loggerheads over the N18,000 minimum wage.

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TUDENTS of the Kano State School of Hygiene and donors have rushed to the Murtala Muhammad Hospitals to donate blood for victims of Monday’s bomb blast.

A bomb ripped through the school, killing eight and injuring 20.

Commissioner for Health Abubakar Labaran said one person died this morning, bringing the number of casualties to seven.

Labran’s account contradicts the figure given by security agencies.

In an interview with reporters on the scene of the incident, Commissioner of Police Adenrele Shinaba said eight people died.

A victim, Adamu Haladu (30), said: “I underwent necessary procedures to secure admission into the school.

The day I collected my admission letter, I was elated.

“On Monday morning, I was so happy that I was going to sign my documents. I give glory to Allah that I survived.

“We were all waiting for the provost but I decided to stand where he parks his car.

“Shortly after, he came in and I called my parents that the provost was around.

“When I ended the call, the next thing I heard was a deafening sound. I noticed that my legs were shattered. I crawled on my chest out of the scene.

“All I will say is that only God will repay those behind this dastardly act.”

Another victim, Auwalu

•Kwankwaso, Emir condemn act

•One of the victims...yesterday.

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

Mohammed (29), said: “On Monday, I went to the school to check my results.

“I was standing beside a

PHOTO: KOLADE ADEYEMI

vehicle, when the blast occurred. I became unconscious.

“But as God would have it, this is my fate. This is the problem I have fallen into, but I thank God, everything that happened was destined by him.

“May God guide the perpetrators on the right path because I will never wish them bad.”

A victim’s guardian, Muhammad Lawal, said: “I came to visit my nephew, Abdulmutalib, who is a student of the school. What has happened to him was destined

by God. “We had gone to the school to collect his admission letter when the incident happened.

“His legs were fractured.

We are begging the

government to take care of the victims.”

Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso has described the explosion as unfortunate.

He praised security agents for arresting a suspect on the scene of the attack.

The governor visited the scene of the explosion where he was received by the provost, the commissioner of police and state Director of Department of State Security (DSS).

Kwankwaso called on security agencies to continue working with the government to rid the state of insurgents.

His words: “What happened here was unthinkable considering the fact that the victims were only seeking admission in an institution that will train them to offer humanitarian services to the society.

“We appeal to residents to be vigilant and report any suspicious movement to security agents.”

The governor also visited the hospital, saying government would pay the victims’ medical bills.

The Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, who flew in from Sokoto after a meeting with the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, described the incident as dastardly and cruel.

He said the incessant terrorist attacks were assuming a dangerous dimension, which needed concerted effort by stakeholders.

The monarch called on the government not to relent in its efforts in supporting the victims.

Sanusi prayed for the recovery of the victims and the repose of the souls of the dead.

38 killed in attacks on Kaduna villages

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HIRTY eight fewer than 38 people have been reportedly killed in two separate attacks on villages in Sanga Local Government Area of Kaduna State by gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.

This is coming barely 24 hours after President Goodluck Jonathan opened an international conference on security and development challenges of pastoralists in West and Central Africa in Kaduna.

The attackers were said to have invaded Kabamu in Fadan Karshi district and Ankpon in Nandu district both of Numana Chiefdom about 10 pm on Monday night.

Sanga Local Government Chairman Emmanuel Adamu said 21 were killed in Kabamu village and 17 in Akpon.

Adamu, who said the attacks lasted for four hours, appealed to the people to remain calm.

Governor Ramalan Yero assured the people that the government was working to end the attacks on communities.

In a statement by his Director-General, Media and Publicity, Ahmed Maiyaki, Yero said security agents have begun investigating the matter.

He said: “No stone shall be left unturned in our resolve to arrest the perpetrators of

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

these attacks.”

The governor condemned the attacks, describing them as a “provocative attempt by some unpatriotic people to cause confusion and unrest” and condoled with families of the victims.

He called on the people in Fadan Karshi and other parts of the state to remain calm as security forces have been deployed in the area.

The governor urged residents to continue to live in peace with one another and to be more vigilant.

Secretary General of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) Adamu Marshal said: “Barely 24 hours after we went to declare open a conference put together by the Presidency to find a lasting solution to these attacks, our villages were attacked.

“We were at the conference talking and discussing how to stop these attacks by herdsmen. It is heart breaking, it is worrisome, but we will not stop appealing to our people to remain calm.

At the same time, we will ask the government to find a solution to these attacks.

“When we say 38 people, we are modest because we are still searching for those missing. Many of the people ran into the bush. We cannot find them.”

Convener of the Concerned Realists of Southern Kaduna John Danfulani accused the government of failing to handle security issues in Southern Kaduna.

“The security situation in Southern Kaduna has been given less attention. We are reiterating our stand that Southern Kaduna security crises deserve a state of emergency.”

Exco reshuffle in Kwara From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

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WARA State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has approved the appointment of Christopher Ayeni as the new deputy chief of staff, Government House.

In a statement yesterday in Ilorin, Secretary to the State Government Isiaka Gold said Ayeni, a former Senior Special Assistant, Agriculture, replaces Leke Ogungbe, who is now Special Adviser, Budget Monitoring.

Gold also announced the redeployment of Seye Ogunbiyi, former Special Adviser, Budget Monitoring as the Special Adviser, Agriculture.

Ayeni was deputy speaker of the House of Assembly; he also served as Commissioner for Agriculture between 1999 and 2003.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

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NEWS Unregistered contractors risk sanctions, say BPP NY contractor, consultant or service provider not registered with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) risks being sanctioned for operating illegally, BPP’s Director General Mr Emeka Ezeh said yesterday.

He said most companies have been operating without registration, adding that the through public awareness, contractors are beginning to appreciate the scope of BPP’s powers.

Ezeh spoke in Lagos at the 2014 annual Contractors, Consultants and Service Providers (CCSPs) forum. He was represented by the Mr Micheal Chukwura.

The Public Procurement Act of 2007, among others, makes it mandatory for the BPP to maintain a national database of the particulars of CCSPs, so as to ensure sanity in the procurement process.

Ezeh said the bureau ensures there is transparency in appropriation, advertisements, pre-qualification, bid submission, evaluation, approval by appropriate authority, contract award, as well as project implementation.

He said the BPP also sets

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By Joseph Jibueze

procurement approval thresholds for tenders board, as well as ministries, departments and agencies of government, and urged contractors and service providers to get registered.

BPP’s Director of Finance Mr Chris Nwangwu said consultants are required to log into the bureau’s database and provide basic company details, including their emails.

A temporary identification would be sent to the email provided after the initial registration, while consultants are expected to re-login to complete basic details of the company such as Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) registration, among others.

Nwangwu said after the BPP performs a verification of the information submitted, it issues a permanent contractor identity. He, therefore, urged all CCSPs to ensure they follow due process.

Guests at the event include Special Adviser on Due Process to Oyo State Governor Mrs Aderonke Adedayo, and a representative of the Minister of Works Mr Adebukola Alayode.

Challenging Ekiti poll is exercise in futility, says Fayose

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HE Ayo Fayose Campaign Organisation (AFCO) has said that anyone thinking about going to the Tribunal to challenge results of the last Saturday Governorship election in Ekiti State will be wasting his time and resources, saying; “Challenging the results of an election adjudged by the whole world as the best in the history of electioneering in Nigeria will be an exercise in futility.”

The Director General of AFCO, Chief Dipo Anisulowo, in a statement in AdoEkiti yesterday, described claims by some All Progressives Congress (APC) sympathisers that the election was rigged through what they called “photochromic”

as laughable.

Anisulowo said despite that the APC candidate, Governor Kayode Fayemi had conceded defeat, the Fayose Campaign Organisation was aware of the falsehood already being peddled by the APC that the ballot papers used on Saturday were designed in a way that made the thumbprints to disappear “within minutes” while “pre-programmed” votes would later appear.

The statement read: “We are aware of the feeble and childish attempt that some of the APC loyalists are making to discredit the election already adjudged as the best in the history of Nigeria. They are posting on the internet that all the votes that were

announced by INEC were pre-programmed, claiming that the term ‘photochromic’ was used to produce the ballot papers.

“One of their paid writers, even wrote about it on the Social Media yesterday (Monday), alluding that the election was rigged through photochromic.

“He wrote ‘For instance, they deliberately wanted to embarrass the Ewi, whose daughter the Deputy Governor is, by preponderantly sending PDP pre-programmed ballot papers to the palace.

“He went further to say that ‘Did you notice that the ink dried on your hand almost immediately? And that at counting, the imprints all

came out very boldly, in the same size and colour though blue and black ink were used.’

“All these are calculated attempts by the APC people to discredit the election results, perhaps in readiness for their wild goose chase at the Tribunal, but we want to assure them that they won’t succeed this time.

“Nigerians should be reminded of how the APC people lied in 2007 that they recorded how the governorship election was rigged even in the palace of the Ewi of AdoEkiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, but the party could not produce a single photo evidence at the tribunal because their plans to do what is known as Morphing and Syncing was exposed.

Rivers honours Oputa with mass From Rosemary Nwisi, Port Hacourt

HE Catholic Bishop of Port Harcourt Diocese, the Most Rev. Camillus Etukudo, has urged Nigerians and religious organisations to intensify prayers for peace.

He spoke yesterday during a funeral mass in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, organised by the government in honour of the late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa.

The cleric said the country had been submerged by problems, worsened by economic and political crises, which only God’s intervention could solve.

He said people should pray for the state, the country and the judiciary, adding that God should give the nation honest and good judges like the late Justice Oputa.

Governor Chibuike Amaechi bemoaned the rot in the judiciary.

He said it was regrettable that the arm, which produced sound and incorruptible judges, such as the late Justice Oputa and the late Justice Kayode Eso, is experiencing retrogression.

Represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Goerge Feyii, Amaechi said the honour was bestowed on the late jurist because of his clean record, sound mind and impeccable character.

He urged the judiciary to produce such judges.

The Oputa family, represented by one of the deceased’s sons, George Oputa, thanked the government for the honour.

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Liberation Assembly celebrates

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IBERATION Assembly Church International will start the celebration of its thanksgiving from June 27. Time is 6pm.

It will continue the next day and it will feature giving back to the community– welfare service at 4pm.

There will be grand celebra-

tion on June 29 at 11am.

Venue is the church auditorium at 51, Oyemekun Street, off College Road, Ogba-Ijaye, Lagos. The theme of the event is: “Manifestation of Greater Work.”

The hosts are Apostle George and Pastor Ethna Chidiebere.

•Pastor Tony Onyemaka, DPO Muazu Muhammed, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, SP Awoniyi Bamidele and Pastor Niyi Famuyide during the familiarisation visit by the Trinity House Church to the Maroko Divisional Police Headquarters at Oniru, Lekki, Lagos.

PHOTO:NNKEA NWANERI

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Court restrains PENGASSAN from holding conference

HE National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) has restrained the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) from holding its delegate’s conference until a suit seeking to stop it is determined.

Two of its members, John Nwanosike and Jonathan Omare, who are members of the Chevron Nigeria branch, sued the association over the alleged violation of their rights.

PENGASSAN, its Chevron Branch, Mr Esanubi Frank and Mr Ayanate Kio are the defendants.

Ruling on the ex-parte motion, Justice Kenneth Amadi on Monday granted an order of

By Joseph Jibueze

interim injunction restraining the defendants from holding any delegates conference until the substantive suit is determined.

Efforts to serve the interim order on the National Secretariat of PENGASSAN at 288 Ikorodu Road was frustrated as the workers allegedly locked their gate and refused to accept service on the ground that they would not open until today, when the conference would end, it was learnt.

In their affidavit, the plaintiffs said they were duly elected as delegates to the

‘Why we honoured Obi’

Underage boys terrorise community

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

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ORMER Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has bagged the Golden Merit Award. It was given by the Nigerian Library Association (NLS).

Presenting the award yesterday at the Golden Royale Hotel, Enugu the National President of the association, Mr. Abdulsalami Rilwanu, said they did not present it to anyone over the years because nobody in authority made efforts to uplift library services, until Obi became the governor.

He said in appreciation of his efforts, the association wanted to honour Obi when he was the governor, but for his insistence that he preferred the honour after leaving office.

His words: “Obi was chosen for the award because of his efforts when he was the governor. He supported the development of public library services. Before him, in the old and new Anambra State, no governor visited or built any library since 1966, when the then Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu built the Onitsha Library.”

PENGASSAN conference, adding that their tenure was valid for a term of three years, but the defendants allegedly canceled their names, denying them the right to vote and be voted for at the conference.

The plaintiffs said in a bid to also prevent them from exercising their franchise, the defendants set up a disciplinary committee to try them after they expressed the fear that their rights were been trampled, following which the panel found them ‘guilty’ even when there was no evi-

•Obi receiving the award from the National President of the association, Mr. Rilwanu,...yesterday.

dence of any offence against them.

The plaintiffs are, therefore, seeking a declaration that the removal of their names as delegates to the zonal and national conference was unconstitutional; as well as an order mandating the defendants to include their names as delegates.

They also sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining them from holding the conference until the illegality occasioned by their removal was redressed.

Justice Amadi adjourned till June 30 for hearing of the motion on notice.

EAR has gripped residents of Agege in Lagos as some under-age boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 14 have continued to terrorise the community.

They boys and girls have formed themselves into groups, snatching money, handsets, harassing people, attacking motor bikes, vehicles, and even the passersby at secluded places.

Addressing a Stakeholders’ Forum on Security yesterday at the council’s secretariat, the chairman, Agege Local Government, Hon Jubreel AbdulKareem, lamented the increasing rate at which the children terrorises the community.

The event had in attendance religious leaders, marketers, Neighbourhood Watchers, Policemen, members of Community Development Committees (CDC), youth organisations, among others.

“Some of these boys and girls, AbdulKareem said, are not up to age of maturity when you look at them but what they are doing is more than what a matured person can do. They are under 18; 15 years, 16 years even 14 including those that are still in primary schools. So, when they are being apprehended, you wonder what the police are doing with these young children and whereas, what they are doing is beyond their level.”

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

NEWS Clark’s son to contest From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

SON of Ijaw national leader Edwin Clark, Ebikeme, picked yesterday nomination forms of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) August 15 primaries.

The Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) will hold council polls on October 28.

Ebikeme will contest for the chairmanship position in Burutu Local Government.

Clark, who picked his nomination form in Asaba, said sustainable democracy was dependent on stakeholders abiding by electoral laws.

He said if elected the people will form the basis of his administration.

Clark urged the electorate to shun money politics, adding that politicians who attempt to induce the electorates financially do not mean well for them.

Kidnappers demand N50m

Edo police chief warns lawmakers against fighting

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DO State Commissioner of Police Foluso Adebanjo warned lawmakers yesterday against causing any fracas that may be hijacked by political thugs.

Thugs almost joined in Monday’s fracas as the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers prevented the four suspended legislators from entering the premises.

Policemen prevented thugs from joining the fight.

Adebanjo met with the lawmakers, who were sitting outside the complex.

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

He told reporters that the lawmakers promised not to cause any trouble.

His words: “The thugs have been kept away from here. What happened yesterday was unfortunate.

I have told them it should not repeat itself and they gave me their word.”

The lawmakers and Assembly workers were outside the Assembly for about 10 hours.

The crisis rocking the Assembly took another dimension as the lawmaker

representing Akoko-Edo I, Hon Kabiru Adjoto demanded N500million from Patrick Iluobe over alleged threat to life.

Iluobe, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker, had alleged in an interview that Adjoto had threatened to kill him.

Iluobe said Sunday’s attack on some lawmakers was targeted at him, as according to him the gunmen chased his vehicle to Benin not knowing that he was not inside.

He said police could not have immediately concluded investigation on the matter.

From Bolaji Ogundele, Warri

K

•Adebanjo

Adjoto through his lawyer, Dele Igbinedion, gave seven days ultimatum for Iluobe to retract and apologise for the false allegations.

Adjoto described the allegations as false and malicious since the police have confirmed the Sunday’s attack was a robbery.

.

Ex-militants hail Fed Govt EX-MILITANT leaders have hailed the Federal Government on the non-violence and entrepreneurship training held in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

The National President, Phase 2 Ex-militant Leaders, Aso Tambo (aka General Kpala), said the training was a success, as the ex-militants were equipped with entrepreneurship skills, nonviolence and conflict resolution know-how.

Tambo thanked President Goodluck Jonathan and his Special Adviser on Niger Delta, Kingsley Kuku, for the programme.

He said the ex-militants want the region to be developed like Lagos and Abuja, stressing that the training should be combined with integration.

Business woman dies A LAGOS business woman, Madam Kate Alasa, is dead.

She was 50.

Madam Alasa, who died on June 19, hailed from Jattu-Uzairue in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State.

There will be a Christian wake on July 2 at her home, 3, Odudu Close, Agric Bus Stop, Ojo, Lagos at 5pm. Her remains will be buried the following day at her home town, Jattu-Uzairue in Etsako West Local Government Area.

She is survived by two daughters, Mariam and Peace, and several siblings, including the Managing Director of Pentals Nigeria Ltd, Babs Alasa.

•The late Madam Alasa

IDNAPPERS of the National Treasurer of Urhobo Progressives Union (UPU) have demanded N50 million for his release.

The kidnappers, who reportedly contacted the victim’s family, threatened to kill Mike Ederiwhevwe, if the ransom was not paid quickly.

Ederiwhevwe was kidnapped in Ugolo, Okpe local Government Area of Delta State on his way from a meeting at the home of the UPU‘s National President, General Patrick Aziza.

It was gathered that the kidnappers reportedly made away with more than N3 million of the union’s money.

A family source said the ransom was not be realisable and ratherpers to release the 65year-old.

Police spokesman Celestina Kalu said: “The gunmen contacted the family and they are demanding N50 million.

“They also carted away N3 million inside the victim’s car.

We are doing everything possible to secure his release,” Kalu added.

‘Black marketers’ arrested From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

S • Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communication Mrs Ibem Semenitari (left); tResident Electoral Commissioner Aniedi Ikoiwak and the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) Administrative Secretary, Evurulobi Chinedu at the inauguration of National Inter-Agency Advisory Committee on Voter Education and Publicity in Port Harcourt...yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

‘Conmen’ harass, ‘detain’ policemen in Bayelsa

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HERE was a drama at the Mechanic Village, Tombia, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, after suspected conmen harassed and “detained” two policemen who came to arrest them.

The policemen, who came with a complainant, Fredrick Ojukwu and a witness, Ebi Ozegbe, escaped death as the suspects reportedly organised a mob to lynch them.

Eyewitnesses said it took the reinforcement of a police team, led by the Divisional Police Officer of Akenfa to rescue the victims.

It was gathered that before the intervention of the DPO, the crowd of over 50 people seized Ozegbe’s phone.

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

They were said to have torn the officers’ uniforms.

The reinforcement team freed the victims and arrested eight suspects.

The “conmen” were said to have defrauded Ojukwu of N140,000 under the pretence of purchasing a car for him.

Ojukwu reportedly gave the suspects the money as a deposit for a second-hand vehicle.

He promised to pay the balance after inspecting the car.

But he rejected the car shown to him by the main suspect, identified as Obum, and demanded a refund of his

deposit.

The suspects, it was learnt, agreed to refund the money but later went at large for many months.

They ran out of luck when the complainant learnt that they have been seen at the mechanic village.

Ojukwu lodged a complaint at the police station and was accompained to the mechanic village by policemen.

On sighting them, the suspects grabbed the four of them and beat them.

It was learnt that the presence of the police spokesman, Alex Akhigbe, who had gone there to fix his car, did not deter the mob.

Akhigbe confirmed the inci-

dent and said it was unbelievable that some people could prevent policemen from carrying out their constitutional duties.

He said: “I was at the mechanic village to fix my car when I saw a large crowd.

“I was attracted to the scene but the mechanics said they do not allow policemen to arrest their members.

“I urged the leadership of the park to bring some people to accompany the suspects to the station, they refused.

“The DPO himself led a team to the park and was able to arrest the situation.

“The police team rescued our men and arrested eight persons, including Obum.”

INEC, parties discuss primaries, others

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HEAD of the 2015 elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and political parties met yesterday in Abuja on how to schedule their primaries and draft guidelines for campaigns.

The meeting also discussed the approved guidelines for party registration/ de-registration.

At the opening of the second quarterly meeting with the parties, INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, urged them to abide by the provisions of their code of conduct.

Jega assured that INEC would ensure that elections are credible and accepted by all.

The INEC chairman told the parties that the successful conduct of last weekend’s governorship election in Ekiti State was a challenge for all to ensure a better per-

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

formance in 2015.

He said: “The successful conduct of a free, fair and peaceful election in Ekiti is a good omen for the subsequent elections to come and, indeed, for the satisfaction of the aspiration of Nigerians for a consolidated democracy.

“We must not rest on our oars but must continue to do our best collectively to sustain and keep on improving on this achievement.

“The coming election in Osun State, God willing, should, on all counts, be better; the 2015 elections must be the best.”

Jega urged all stakeholders to unite for the conduct of credible elections.

The INEC chairman hailed those involved in the successful conduct of the

Ekiti election for doing a good job.

Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) Chairman Yunisa Tanko promised to support the parties in future elections.

The IPAC chairman urged political parties to participate in voter registration, adding that this is the foundation of any credible election.

He said: “Political parties are interested in voter register, as this is the foundation for any credible election in any country. We want to be fully involved in the second phase.”

Tanko noted that the continuous voter registration should be automatic for anyone who attains 18 years.

The IPAC chairman called for monthly meetings with INEC leadership until the conduct of next year’s polls.

He urged the parties to submit a 13-point agenda to INEC in their next meeting.

ECURITY agents clamped down yesterday on black market operators of petrol in Calabar, Cross River State seizing their products.

The development worsened the scarcity the city has experienced in the past few days.

Petrol tanker drivers in Calabar had gone on strike, following a face-off with the government over parking lot for their trucks.

It was gathered the government directed them to park in Odukpani Local Government, which they complained was too far away from the city.

Close to a filling station at New Airport Road it was observed that the security agents, consisting policemen and soldiers, who came in a truck of the Emergency Response Squad, started shooting sporadically into the air and collected the gallons of petrol from the sellers.

Bayelsa seaport to cost N150b From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

B

AYELSA State Governor Seriake Dickson has said the Agge Deep Seaport project in Ekeremor Local Government Area would cost N150billion.

The governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said the project will diversify the state’s economy.

According to the statement, Dickson spoke during the state Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Executive Committee meeting in Yenagoa.

The governor said the government would inaugurate a small and medium enterprises loan scheme and an entrepreneurial training institute.

Dickson said the project would assist persons desirous of doing business, adding that the process of acquiring certificate of occupancy had been computerised.

He urged the people to shun violence.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

Life

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

15

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Text only: 08023058761

•Dr Afolayan, Prof Tidjani-Alou and Prof Akoma at the ISOLA ocnfernce

Wanted, new growth model for Africa •Scholars chart way forward for continent

‘It is my hobby, I enjoy it’ – Page 17

•

•SEE STORY ON PAGE 16

Poetic whispers at midnight – Page 47

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

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E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

Wanted, new growth model for Africa

Some issues distrub African scholars. These are what they call inequalities in the distribution of the dividends of economic growth and the disconnect between the economic model and the progress in the livelihood and wellbeing of the people.

As a way out, they are seeking more pragmatic ways of preserving and protecting Africa’s folklore, language and education.This was the thrust of their discussion at the 10th conference of the International Society for the Oral Literatures of Africa (ISOLA) held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. EVELYN OSAGIE, who was at the conference, reports.

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HEY came from universities across the world to Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, seeking a new model course for Africa’s development with regards to folklore, language and education.

They expressed fears over the investment in the extractive industries to the detriment of education, manufacturing and basic infrastructure. They said the continent’s army of unemployed youths calls for concern. If Africa must remain relevant in the face of globalisation, technological and electronic advancements, they urged its leadership to wake up to these challenges.

Welcome to the 10th conference of the International Society for the Oral Literatures of Africa (ISOLA). What other place to hold the conference than the prestigious Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny. Members of the Nigeria Oral Literature Association (NOLA), led by Prof Godini Darah were there.

The holding of the conference in Cote D’Ivoire, the organisers said, was intentional.

Its historic, multi-lingual and multi-cultural status, according to the ISOLA President, Prof Antoinette Tidjani-Alou, earned it the host right.

The theme was Oral Literature and Education.

Prof Tidjani-Alou said the conference was meant to chart a new course for leaders in education, oral tradition and languages. She urged African leaders to promulgate policies that promote and ultilise the oral traditions and languages for the continent’s educational and scientific growth.

Chairman of the conference’s Local Organising Committee (LOC), Prof Leon Koffi, said it is no gainsaying the fact that a lot of opportunities abound in the culture sector; hence, his government is open to and is constantly seeking ways of galvanising the wealth in the sector. For this reason, he said, the country is pleased to host the conference. As the scholars deliberated, the hosts ensured that they were also treated to folk dramatic and musical performances along with their sumptuous local delicacies.

The conference had two internationally-acclaimed scholars from Africa and the UK as keynote speakers – Ghanaian scholar Prof Esi Sutherland-Addy and French scholar Dr AnneMarie Dauphin-Tinturier.

In her paper entitled: Speaking the Heritage into a Rising Africa: The New Educational Frontier, Prof Sutherland-Addy canvassed for better policy implementation and the inculcation of oral tradition and the Mother Tongue into the educational systems, saying it would help to build a balanced knowledge-based economy across the continent.

Citing an instance from technological and educational advancement of the Asians, she urged leaders to develop their oral traditions and language to meet up with global scientific innovations. This feat, according to the professor, can be achieved through proper documentation and adoption of curriculum and policies that would incorporate African folklore and culture into the educational system and technological developments.

She said: “Education must be transformative and relevant in answering the question of the day. There is the question of embedding orality into education broadly aimed at contributing to the search for an African Renaissance and sustainable development: Africa’s rising can only mean the reaping of the dividends of abundant resources and economic growth which will depend on the expansion of democratic space entrepreneurship and innovation. Leaders should think of orality for the future; and seek to preserve our oral tradition for the future generation. Ultimately, orality will live if it is practised, validated and transmitted.”

Asides government, Prof Sutherland-Addy said, the onus is also on the academia, the elite and parents in promotion and preservation of folklore.

“Indigenous knowledge circulating in oral form must not be treated as quaint trivia but must be subjected to serious assessment for

•Prof Sutherland-Addy (left) and Prof McLaren

•French scholar, Elara Bertho and Dr Egbudu

•From left: Dr Ighile, Prof Ohworiole, Prof Sotunsa, Dr Afolayan and Osagie

CONFERENCE its potential contribution to real economic growth and protected from unethical appropriation. These processes require the enlightened involvement of custodians of such bodies of knowledge. And for a forum like this

one, it is important to emphasise that there are moments when intellectuals are called to an activist approach to their work,” she said.

The scholars also said African oral traditions contain tools that would help in the advancement of global medicine, noting that Africa’s rich bio-diversity holds many cure

‘Africa’s rising can only mean the reaping of the dividends of abundant resources and economic growth...Indigenous knowledge circulating in oral form must not be treated as quainttrivia but must be subjected to serious assessment for its potential contribution to real economic growth and protected from unethical appropriation’ for various ailments. As the world intensifies its fight against the virus, World Health Organisation (WHO), they urged leaders and heads of ministries of health to exploit the wide range of communicative and information dissemination tools in the campaigns against the spread of the Humuno deficiency Virus (HIV).

Citing examples from her work on the digitisation of oral performance in hypertext system of Bemba-speaking region of Zambia, Dr Anne-Marie Dauphin-Tinturier, said study has shown that cultural tools (such as traditional institutions, folktales, traditional music, songs and dance) are better sensitisation and educative tools for the prevention and management of the spread of the virus.

Prof Mobolanle Sotunsa of the Department of Languages and Literary Studies, Babcock University, said findings show positive response when oral media were used in HIV/ AIDS prevention campaigns. While calling for the integration of indigenous media into the existing strategy of educating the Nigerian public about the HIV/AIDS, she advised leaders to borrow from Africa’s rich cultural heritage oral tradition.

She said: “The preliminary findings reveal that integrating indigenous oral media, as the case of Yoruba talking drum poetry/music engendered greater attitudinal change and better understanding of the messages. Findings have revealed that integrating indigenous oral media, as the case of Yoruba talking drum poetry/music engendered greater attitudinal change and better understanding of the messages.

“A research assessed (via a questionnaire/ survey) the baseline knowledge and attitudinal disposition of Nigerian secondary school students to the message of HIV/ AIDS prevention and issues of free sex and other predisposing factors of the virus already gotten from existing formal education media (pre-test) with those from commissioned two talking drum poetry performances.”

Using Prof Femi Osofisan’s play, Yungba Yungba and the Dance Contest, Oral Literature scholar from the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Dr Bosede Afolayan, observed that folklore holds lessons that ‘power-drunk’ politicians should learn from. “Proverbs and folktales, though communal, folk and traditional artefacts, can only be discerned by the wise, the learned and the uninformed. They hold lessons that self-perpetuating and op•Continued on Page 47

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An Accountant graduate, Mrs Ijeoma Nnadi, has taken to commercial tricycle operation.

The mother tells NNEKA NWANERI about her passion Keke Marwa for driving.

‘It is my hobby, I enjoy it’

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HE had dreams of a better future. Born in Lagos, her childhood held the promise of a good life.

She attended the then St Dominic’s Primary School in Yaba, on scholarship; and moved on to the Reagan Memorial Private Secondary School. She studied accounting at the university.

After graduating, she took up teaching. After a series of teaching appointments, she ventured into business. She later left to pursue her passion - driving.

Not being able to secure a vehicle for herself, with the help of a friend, she began with the tricycle, popularly known as Keke Marwa.

She told The Nation how it all began from being the last child of a polygamous home to being her own boss in the transportation industry.

Before now, Mrs Nnadi was into the business of buying and selling foodstuff before venturing into the transportation business.

Now, she has 4 tricycles in her fleet fetching her money on daily business.

“Food selling bussiness is a very competitive market and many people are into it. When I don’t get anything to go home with I had to look for options which led me into the passenger carrier services through the help of a friend,” she said.

LIFESTYLE Being on such means of living was tough and challenges were not easy. At some stage, she attempted backing out but with advice from friends, she stayed back to dare the consequences and follow her dream.

“Driving has been my hobby and I enjoy it notwithstanding the challenges involved. It is a job that one needs to have the heart to do, but I take no exception to being female doing it.”

For four years, the business has favoured her as she is able to support her husband with the house hold expenses as well as give her two children a quality life and raise them to be great. According to her, they will match up with what they need, despite the situation of the country.

Mrs Nnadi spoke of some of the challenges in the industry.

She also isn’t pleased at the way some passengers she conveys refer to her.

“Many people talk to me with disrespect because I ride Keke Marwa. Some even advised me to get something else doing because it is not a feminine job. Others said I should go get a man to take care of me. Whenever they say such, I just laugh and keep working because they are simply ignorant. I don’t pick on their words as it can be very irritating.

•Mrs Nnadi

“Being in this business has made me realise that in life, it doesn’t matter what you do or how you do it, what counts is your passion for what you do.

What drives me is my passion for driving. After all, what a man can do, a woman can do better.”

Mrs Nnadi said.

The poor pay she got from her first work as an accountant forced her to look elsewhere. She couldn’t see herself working for anyone, as whatever she earned never seemed to be enough to take care of her small family. She also tried some teaching jobs, but got ‘peanuts’ at the end of the

Using artworks to celebrate women

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DVOCATING social, political and all other rights of women equal to that of men is definitely not the brain behind the Petals of Steel Exhibition, but the quality of womanliness.

If history of the visual Art exhibition is to be written including roles played by some individual personality in the country in the promotion of Art exhibition, especially African Arts, Nkechi Abii will definitely be counted among these dinstinquished Nigerians.

This was the hallmark of Nkechi Abii, an artist who used principles of colour, harmony lines and space employed by a painter in the rendition of picture on fabric.

A graduate of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, specialised in Graphic Arts, Nkechi in her works is to appreciate and uphold the importance of the woman in the society.

A one-week Art exhibition held at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, brought out different representations of the bust of woman’s outing attires, from different tribes and dialects, down to the style of tying of the head scarf and lace scarf, including the neck bead.

Also exhibited was some fashion works which depicted evolution of ancient and modern fashions, there was projection of the transition of female fashion which seems to have gone full circle, bringing out the natural features of a woman.

Nkechi’s works did not only bring out the aesthetic nature of woman, but also displaced some courageous deeds and their necessity to the existence of man and human reproduction.

According to her, she is inspired by the world around her, nature, aesthetically pleasant things,

Stories from Bukola Amusan, Abuja

EXHIBITION socio-political issues and things that affect her personally.

The exhibition featured about 46 works that encouraged the retention of family values, while celebrating traditional authentic femininity.

Speaking at the exhibition, Nkechi said “this year’s exhibition is channeled toward celebrating woman, because I believe that women are actually the back bone of any society.

“A woman is natural by heart and I think women need to come out of their shell to also be a provider, although women are gentle but very strong, I am using this exhibition to celebrate them today.”

She explained further that the Petals of Steel Exhibition was also aimed at creating more awareness and appreciation for local artistry.

In her artistic statement, ‘Art Alive!’ Was her first solo exhibition held at the state library, Owerri, Imo State in 1984, ‘Back to Land’ in 1985 was her joint exhibition of graphics, textile and paintings which took place in Akure, Ondo State.

In 1986, the “Creative sorority” another joint exhibition, took place in Owerri and Anambra state, respectively. Then there was Efe in 1987, an exhibition of indigenous materials made into wearing apparels used to adorn the body with traditional motifs, which included Agbada, George, Brocade, Akwete, Oja, Adire, hayes headies.

Her works evoked reactions from the audience, because they addressed various situations prevalent in the society, from politics to social issues

month.

The accounting graduate is planning to start a big business, but she is skeptical because it is capital intensive. As soon as she hits the capital base involved, she will switch.

She has a programmed daily routine that give her time for her husband and children.

The transport business is time consuming. “I always make out time for myself to prepare meals and cater for the house chores.

“This local transportation industry has target hours; failure to meet up will mean one wants to go home with anything. So, I try to uti-

lise the morning and evening rushing hours, take off two hours off duty in the afternoon to prepare dinner for my family before hitting the road. So am busy from 6am till 8pm daily either on the road or doing the house chores. I don’t go out Saturdays and Sundays because the children are home, so rather spend quality time with them; though I attend parties, depending who is partying and how important the party is,” Mrs Nnadi said

Hoteliers seek health and safety procedures in Abuja

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HE Federal Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation have been urged to put in place health and safety procedures in Abuja hotels. These, according to stakeholders who recently met at the AES Luxury Apartments, Jabi first year anniversary, will help to protect the lives of Nigerians and particularly hotel users. The AES also has a branch in Amuwo-Odofin, Lagos State.

Barely one year after the official commissioning by the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Edem Duke, the management has continued to list its gains and challenges with a promise to consistently offer elaborate and quality services to their guests.

The general manager of the hotel, Mr Olufemi Adesina, said the health and safety procedure will serve like a code of ethics for visitors.

He also suggested the introduction of the Shanghai-type of visa for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), saying that it would enhance tourism and investments in West Africa.

The Shanghai visa policy grants international travellers with genuine passports the opportunity to stay in some cities in the Republic of China for 72 hours of sightseeing.

“We are one of the hotels clamouring for improvement of tourism in West Africa. I’m trying to present a paper to the ECOWAS to introduce the ECOWAS visa as is applicable in Shanghai because it will enhance tourism and invest-

TOURISM ment in West Africa. Also, foreigners can come to Nigeria without going through the Ivory Coast or Ghanaian embassies,” Adesina said.

He stated that despite the security challenges in Nigeria, there were remarkable improvement in the tourism sector and called on the ministry tourism, culture and national orientation to establish health and safety department that would monitor the activities of hotels in Nigeria.

He said, “The tourism industry is actually improving and despite the challenges of insecurity, people are still willing to visit Nigeria. Even my foreign in-house guests admitted that we have good things in Nigeria but the world is actually misinformed about Nigeria.

“Aside a Shanghai visa policy, the kind of policy I want is in the area of health and safety because these are the paramount things you take into cognisance before setting up a hospitality and hotel industry.

“We are trying to imbibe a culture where people will change the idea of negligence so that they can improve and there should be quality. The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation should establish health and safety officials typically for the hospitality industry. These officials will go from one hotel to another to monitor quality and check standard. They can close down a hotel if they have any health and safety issues.”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

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‘My secret to good writing’ The Lagos Chamber of Commerce Vice-President, Mrs Toki Mabogunje, is a woman of many parts.

Aside being a business executive, consultant and lawyer, she is also a writer and an ardent supporter of the arts. Mrs Mabogunje started writing at the age of six. She has discovered a secret to good writing that she believes would serve as inspiration to the young.

EVELYN OSAGIE,who was at the ANA Lagos Branch Vintage Wine And Fresh Blends Episode 4, reports.

•A scene from one of the performances

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HE song, Ajo l’aye, meaning ‘life is a journey’, ushered the steps of the boys and girls to the stage. Reciting lines from Life’s Journey, a poem from the collection entitled: The Duet, the pupils took the audience on a journey of words.

The atmosphere was sombre and calm as one after the other each stepped in front of the chorus to recite the lines. And just when one was recovering from the weighty messages embedded in the lines as the group left the stage, they are replaced by a new one with a fresh interpretation of poem.

It was no festival of plays but theAssociation of Nigerian Authors’ (ANA), Lagos Branch, Vintage Wine And Fresh Blends Episode 4. This edition of the event, which seeks to create a platform for young, new or aspiring writers (Fresh Blends) to parley with established literati and art promoters (Vintage Wine), had the spotlight on the Lagos Chamber of Commerce Vice-President, Mrs Toki Mabogunje.

The selection of Mrs Mabogunje, ANA Lagos Chair, Mr Femi Onileagbon said, is inspired by her collaboration with her son to produce a collection of poems. “This feat matches one of the major objectives of Vintage Wine as a social responsibility project- to get parents to support their children’s literary creativity and actively have a hand in their development like her collaboration with her son is as a desirable move towards promoting the reading culture.

“And when parents and children engage in reading and writing together, they create and share bonds that will save our nation. It is our hope that there will be more of this type of literary collaborations among family members and that, parents will become the first supporters of their children’s talents,” he said.

She watched with rapt attention and a smile crested on her face as the pupils from four secondary schools across Lagos recited and performed her Life’s Journey. The poem is one of many in The Duet, collection she authored with her son, Damola.

Like her son, Mrs Mabogunje started writing at a very young age of six. She shared her experience as a writer, business executive, consultant and lawyer with the young at the event.

She recounted: “I started writing at the age of about six years and so did my second son Damola.

Throughout my primary and secondary school days, I wrote poems, short stories, plays, essays, dialogue and even songs. I thoroughly enjoyed it and continued to write just poetry into adulthood.

As a child and young student, I did have a few adults around me who enjoyed writing and encouraged me and those who did not even understand what I wrote but I wrote them anyway because I enjoyed writing them and reading them.”

But the journey was not all rosy. Like many of the young and aspiring writers, she too suffered discouragement in her early days. But that did not discourage her pen. In fact, it later served as an

•The author’s family members

CONFERENCE

‘When I told my father that I wanted to study Mass Communication, he said, “Over my dead body”...When my family moved house and I lost my 15 years collection, something died inside me...We get deprived of the world the opportunity of what that child could have given us...So when I noticed the talent in my son, I started nurturing it early’ inspiration when she discovered early that, like her, her son Damola also had the flair for writing.

So, from age six, she started collecting his poems, a feat which, she said, eventually berthed The Duet.

“When I told my father that I wanted to study Mass Communication, he said, “Over my dead body”. But I kept on writing. And in solving people’s problem I ended up in Law. When my family moved house and I lost my 15 years collection, something died inside me. So when I noticed the talent in my son, I started nurturing it in him from Age Six by collecting Damola’s poetry and by age 19 when I looked upon it I realised it was rich enough to make a collection. And this gave birth to the collection, The Duet.It is the poetry of a boy •Continued on Page 48

•Chairperson, National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP), Lagos Branch, Mrs Eki Egboigbe and Mrs Mabogunje

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

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COMMENTARY EDITORIALS

FROM OTHER LANDS

Groping for solution Govt should come up with workable plan to rescue the Chibok girls on time

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VER two months after the scandalous abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram, it is disturbing that they remain in captivity. Even more disconcerting is the haziness of the approach by the Jonathan presidency to the issue, particularly its apparent indecision on whether to pursue a rescue operation or a release mission.

Regrettably, the uncertainty has been complicated by news of an impasse in behind-the-scenes talks between the Federal Government and the insurgents, with clerics and Northern leaders serving as facilitators and mediators. It is understandable that trust issues are at the heart of the deadlock, as the two sides are reportedly divided on the terms for the release of the hostages.

It is curious that the presidency is reportedly insisting on an unconditional

‘There is no doubt that the government will need to do much more to ultimately win the terror war; but as far as bringing back the girls is concerned, all it may need is a deeper appreciation of the plight of the captives and the will to ensure that they return alive and in good health’

release of the girls, which may not be realistic, given the group’s condition demanding a swap involving its members in government custody. It would appear that a simultaneous swap, which is favoured by the militants, makes more sense, since they reasonably cannot be expected to trust that the other party will act honourably if they released the girls first. Indeed, it is no surprise that the negotiators are said to have expressed fears about the likely negative consequences of the government’s possible failure to respect the terms of a deal in which the girls are released first.

This is no time for dithering or bluffing.

These girls have obviously overstayed in the cage, and it is the government’s responsibility to urgently bring them back. Instructively, the Chairman of the Presidential Fact-Finding Committee on the Abduction of Chibok Girls, Brig-Gen (rtd) Ibrahim Sabo, at the presentation of the panel’s report last week, reminded President Goodluck Jonathan of the grave circumstances of the kidnapped schoolgirls. As he accurately observed, “The schoolgirls are in the hands of insurgents whose record of wanton destruction of life and property in the North-East of the country is well known.”

In other words, the government needs to get its act together and move expeditiously as this matter will not just go away like a bad dream.

It is enlightening that the presidential panel established that “there was mass abduction on the night of April 14”; and also that “a total number of 276 students were abducted” from Government Girls’

Secondary School, Chibok. According to the committee’s findings, “As of today, 57 of the abducted students have been reunited with their families after escaping along the zig-zag transport route taken by the insurgents, or by bolting to safety when the insurgents laidby for a rest.” However, with dampening effect, Sambo said, “Sadly, 219 students remain unaccounted for.”

Clearly, the government must account for this tragically missing number of schoolgirls, and it cannot justifiably play the ego card. It is unclear what answer the panel recommended for the problem, and how far its report would influence government action, but it is apt to note that Sambo told the president, “The committee has articulated options in the rescue strategy, and these are contained in our report.”

As things stand, it is lamentable that the government is apparently groping for a solution, which is puzzling considering the fact that the other party has proposed a workable arrangement. It is important to stress the imperative of freedom for the girls, and accepting the idea of “Humanitarian Exchange” seems not only sensible but also practicable. The details of place and time can be easily worked out once the critical question of the method is resolved.

There is no doubt that the government will need to do much more to ultimately win the terror war; but as far as bringing back the girls is concerned, all it may need is a deeper appreciation of the plight of the captives and the will to ensure that they return alive and in good health.

Presidency vs. Kwankwaso •Dr. Jonathan should stop his unconstitutional meddlesomeness in Kano

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HE undemocratic use of national security agencies as a tool to armtwist political opponents of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration must be deprecated by all well-meaning Nigerians. All across the country, opposition politicians, particularly those of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are being harassed, intimidated and threatened with physical violence by security agencies, which should ordinarily stay well above the political fray. Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State recently raised the alarm that his security personnel has been reduced by President Jonathan, obviously, to rein him in from openly disagreeing with him. That is unacceptable in a democracy.

Agreeably, Governor Kwankwaso’s political sins are legion. Prominent among which is his decampment from the PDP to APC, a hurricane-like development that has seen Kano State become an APC stronghold, as the recent local government election in that state showed.

Again, Governor Kwankwaso has been trenchant in his criticism of the Jonathan administration as a monumental failure, a view shared by many other political commentators and activists. Even more stringent is the governor’s insistence that power must go back north, since, according to him, President Jonathan is merely usurping the turn of the northern part of the country to produce the president.

As if to rub in insult into the festering political injury, Governor Kwankwaso recently bested the PDP political machinery in Kano, in the choice of the new Emir

of Kano, despite the mobilisation of the Presidency against the winner, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. That successful trouncing of the president’s political machinery appears to have been the last straw that broke the camel’s back. For, shortly after the defeat of the presidency by Governor Kwankwaso, the Federal Government wielded the big stick, by slashing the governor’s security personnel. In taking that undemocratic step, the Federal Government obviously paid scant regard to the tenets of federalism and the provisions of the constitution.

So now, it seems that instead of President Jonathan and the PDP-led Federal Government remaining in the political ring to wage the political duel, it has chosen to resort to underhand tactics, and employ unconstitutional means. That step is unacceptable. For the avoidance of doubt, the security of lives and property is the chief prerogative of a state, and nobody has the right to play politics with it. Not even, Mr. President.

The security apparatchik of the Governor of Kano State should immediately be restored to the parity of other state chief executive officers without much ado.

Also, the Federal Government should cease to instigate crisis in the state, if that is true, as the governor alleged. In fact, it is in the political interest of President Jonathan that no untoward harm that can be blamed on his administration should befall his political opponents. So, it is politically unwise that the president is seen as taking steps that can expose the governor, a clear opponent of his, to harm.

As we have stringently argued on this column over time, Nigeria is avowedly a federation. That is what the constitution defines us to be. And it is elementary that in a federation, the central authority has no powers to undermine the constituents in their areas of authority. As far as we know, the governor of a state is the chief security officer, which implies that he should exercise control over the national security agencies in matters affecting the state, except where the overriding powers of the federal authority are clearly provided for.

Unfortunately in our clime, politicians treat national security agencies as federal agencies, instead of national institutions, and this misinterpretation is creeping into the mindset of the security.

‘It seems that instead of President Jonathan and the PDP-led Federal Government remaining in the political ring to wage the political duel, it has chosen to resort to underhand tactics, and employ unconstitutional means.

That step is unacceptable. For the avoidance of doubt, the security of lives and property is the chief prerogative of a state, and nobody has the right to play politics with it.

Not even, Mr. President’

The brutality of Egypt’s regime • US and allies must take tougher approach towards Sisi BDEL Fattah al-Sisi, the former Egyptian army chief, took power in a coup nearly one year ago. He has driven Egypt relentlessly down the road towards autocracy, running a regime with a human rights record that seems determined to match that of Hosni Mubarak, his former master, for its brutality.

With much of the Middle East in turmoil, many in the west have ignored the injustices being meted out by the Sisi regime, not least the death sentences imposed on hundreds of its opponents. But the jailing of three journalists working for Al Jazeera, the Qatariowned news channel, has thrown another bright spotlight on the regime’s wrongdoing.

Peter Greste, an award-winning Australian correspondent, and two Egyptian-born colleagues were on Monday sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment by a court in Cairo for spreading false news and supporting the now banned Islamic group, the Muslim Brotherhood. Many analysts say their imprisonment amounts to political revenge by the Sisi regime against the rulers of Qatar, which backed Mohamed Morsi, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, who was ousted in last year’s coup.

There is no evidence that the three men committed any offence. Mr Greste, for example, is not a Muslim and had spent little time in the Arab world before his arrest. This was a farcical trial overseen by a kangaroo court. These men were guilty of journalism – nothing more.

Their plight is one more example of the ruthlessness of the Egyptian regime. The country’s besuited generals fear the Muslim Brotherhood and reject any reconciliation with political Islam. They killed more than 1,000 Islamists after their takeover and 16,000 people have been arrested.

This crackdown also raises questions about the west’s approach towards Mr Sisi. Last weekend, John Kerry, US secretary of state, was in Egypt, restoring Washington’s “historic partnership” with Cairo. He said the US would soon provide the military aid that was withheld after the coup. US regional realpolitik appears to have trumped any commitment to human rights.

US policy in the Middle East faces immense challenges. A jihadist emergency is sweeping the region, and the US regards Mr Sisi as a stable ally in the fight against Islamist extremism. The US needs Egypt to maintain security in the restive Sinai peninsula, a breeding ground for al-Qaeda militants.

Still, the US and its allies should rethink their approach to Egypt. They should urge Mr Sisi to end his vicious intolerance of dissent, be it from the Muslim Brotherhood or from secular liberals who have also felt the wrath of his rule. The sole effect of his policies is to push the Brotherhood underground.

This can only encourage those Islamist extremists who argue that violence is the only valid response to the regime’s crackdown – and that jihadist acts of terror are therefore the way to fight back.

The west should also take a tougher approach towards Mr Sisi and his Gulf patrons. The US should make any future transfer of military aid to Egypt dependent on a more inclusive approach to the regime’s opponents. David Cameron, the UK prime minister, should reconsider his decision to investigate the security risks posed by the Muslim Brotherhood.

This is little more than a PR stunt to appease the Gulf states and risks sending the wrong message to Mr Sisi – namely that the west is relaxed about his crackdown.

Egypt has been through turmoil since the 2011 revolution. But the west needs to rid itself of the notion that all will be well if Egypt settles under a strongman. Egypt will only be stable if it becomes an inclusive society, responsive to its citizens. The starting point should be to free all those innocent of trumped-up charges levied by an increasingly authoritarian state.

– Financial Times

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

20

CARTOON & LETTERS

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IR: “Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change.

When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.” – Milton Friedman In my interaction with people and numerous engagements on social media, I have come to realise that when it comes to changing governments in Nigeria, majority of our people think we are limited to just two options: PDP or APC. I have had cause to hold discussions with people and I realised that the prevalent notion is that as far as changing governments is concerned; we think it is a case of being stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. We have based our assertions and thought

Ekiti guber poll: Nigeria’s day of infamy

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IR: Rather than celebrate the victory of Ayo Fayose in the Ekiti governorship election, Saturday, June 21, should go down in history as another day of infamy in Nigeria.

That was the day a governor with sterling achievements lost an election to the corrupt influence of money and abuse of power. It was a combination of cash, food items and misuse of security agents that snatched a deserved victory from Kayode Fayemi.

I did not say Fayemi could not lose election, but certainly not to Fayose whose antecedents are well known, especially as the governor of Ekiti between 2003 and 2006.

I sympathise with Fayemi and pity Nigeria because in an ideal society, past performance should determine the outcome of an election.

All hope should not be lost. We must ensure we build a society where politicians will not exploit the poverty or low estate of the people to cheat them (as it was done last Saturday in Ekiti).

Those who misuse security agents should know that they are on the wrong side of history. Now or later, history will exact its toll on them. They are destined for the Hall of Infamy.

• Ade Johnson Ketu, Lagos

EDITOR’S MAIL BAG SEND TYPEWRITTEN, DOUBLE SPACED AND SIGNED CONTRIBUTIONS, LETTERS AND REJOINDERS OF NOT MORE THAN 800 WORDS TO THE EDITOR, THE NATION, 27B, FATAI ATERE ROAD, MATORI, LAGOS. E-mail: views@thenationonlineng.net

Examining the ‘third’ option pattern on what everybody else thinks; we are yet to form individual opinions that emanate from a thorough study of our situation, a critical look at our leaders over time and the body language of the ordinary people.

During electioneering, Nigerians scrutinise the aspirants and realise that they are the same, but then, they dig even deeper and choose to vote for the one that is ‘less bad’, but it doesn’t take more than six months for their eyes to become clear to see that they have made a mistake whose repercussion they will suffer for three years.

What I call the ‘third’ option is perhaps the hardest and that is why most Nigerians find it easier to collect one congo of rice and sachet tomato and suffer for four years rather

than rise up collectively to reject this flawed system. The ‘third’ option is an option to either continue year in year out to elect leaders who do not care about the masses, or revolt against a system that paints such leaders as the only option and glorifies looting and plundering of the national treasury. The ‘third’ option is an option that takes away power from greedy and quarter-to-dead leaders that have turned public office to their birthright and place it in the hands of the ordinary people.

The ‘third’ option is an option that stops the blind trust and misplaced loyalty of the people to the flawed political parties lying around and in the failed political system being operated. The ‘third’ option is an option that encourages the masses to ask questions on matters of govern-

ance and demand accountability rather than stifle them. The ‘third’ option is an option that establishes a system that makes heroes of hardworking men and women rather than light-fingered politicians. The ‘third’ option is an option that builds cells and platforms relentlessly as a viable alternative to the political parties who have no clear plans for the masses and no clear direction on how to lift the nation out of the quagmire of corruption and insecurity, in preparation for the ‘crisis’ that will pave way for a challenge for power by ordinary people.

Considering and giving the ‘third’ option a chance helps the Yoruba man understand that the Igbo man isn’t his enemy. It helps the Hausa man understand that his enemy

isn’t the Yoruba man. It helps the Muslim understand that the Christian isn’t his enemy. It shows very clearly to all that the masses have a collective enemy: This anti-masses government and it helps them unite to fight their common enemy.

It is an option to be brave enough to do something about our situation rather than go through life suffering and smiling. It is an option to go beyond criticising government and analysing heated political situations to change that system that overheats the polity to achieve its selfish purposes.

The ‘third’ option is possible and we must keep that hope alive, remain vigilant and await the ‘crisis’ that will be our ride to power. Like the Christians continue to prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ even though they don’t know when it will be, we must continue to work, plan and build in anticipation of another chance that will allow us to challenge for power with the right people, under the right conditions, with the right orientation and marching under the right banner.

• James Ogunjimi Ogun State, Nigeria

GM foods: Morality or survival?

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IR: Top of the most contentious issues confronting the 21st century is the suitability of genetically modified food (GM food) as an effective means to improve food supply and combat hunger especially in Africa. With research confirming human population increasing annually by 1.2%, it has become imperative to once more push to the forefront the ever debatable question if food produced from organism that have had changes introduced into their DNA through genetic engineering still retains the answer to secure food supply.

Several African countries have repeatedly rejected GM food, although the controversy still rages across the Atlantic with advanced nations in America and Europe still debating on policies and legal frameworks on how to market products derived from this technology.

The dispute pits consumers, biotechnological companies, farmers, government regulators, NGOs and scientists for and against the subject. The major area of controversy in America and Europe is whether GM foods should be labelled, the

role of regulators, the truthfulness in scientific findings and publications, the effects of GM crops on health and environment, the impact of GM crops for farmers, effects on pesticide resistance, and the role of GM crops in feeding the world.

In 2002, Zambia which suffered severe food shortages had earlier halted food aids shipments from the United States citing the fear of the unknown. This is irrespective of the fact that the Zambian government had earlier declared some parts of the country as disaster areas as nearly three million people were suffering from hunger due to severe drought. The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) estimated that Zambia needed about US$61 million in food aids to avert impending crises. Also neighboring Zimbabwe and Mozambique have also rejected the US grain offer citing possible adverse effects on humans.

In between crises and fatalities, embolden refusals from governments of poor hungry nations has set analyst and policy makers thinking as to logical reasons why people who may inevitably die either way from malnutrition and hunger

will prefer to die from acute lack rather than die in unwanted abundance.

Nigeria not to be left behind toed the African rejection trend. In March 2005 a Nigerian Consumer body - All-Nigerian Consumer Movements Union rejected GM foods and called on the Federal Government to change its position on “these dangerous products” although the body admitted that the GM technology has the capacity to increase food production and also improve the nutritional quality of food.

It also condemned the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Nigeria and the United States Agency for International Development to jointly promote biotechnology and genetically modified products in Nigeria. But Nigeria which does not have a policy on GM imports has already drafted a biosafety bill which allows the use of GM technology, but the National Assembly is yet to pass the bill into law.

This bill is touted to hold the key to agricultural transformation in the country as it will increase and

improve food production including the production of tomatoes, cotton, sorghum, maize and cowpeas by farmers. The president has still refused to assent his signature to the biosafety bill in this current seventh assembly despite failing to do same in the last sixth assembly. African countries which have policies on GMO imports and have already banned the use of GMOs includes; Lesotho, Zambia, Kenya, Angola and Ethiopia.

As the nation still awaits this bill to be passed intolaw, the need to renew the sensitization of GMOs becomes imperative as the reasons which the fears stem from must be effectively and promptly addressed.

A local proverb postulates that a mother hen can’t gather her chicks under her wings if it hasn’t seen a prey kite hovering over the skies.

The leading private agrochemical and biotechnology multinationals may project the technology as harmless, but the basis of their incorporation is to maximize profit hence they must come forth clean before the hesitant public.

• Diana-Abasi Alphonsus Udoh Copenhagen.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

21

COMMENTS

‘Our Girls’; School Security Project; Mayhem on the Motorway; Extortion on our roads; Delta Solar plan

U Tony Marinho

NBELIEVABLY ‘Our Girls’ are still missing from Chibok since April 15. We must never give up hope and we must pray and continue to support loved ones, families and friends.

The news is zero, no news. Will they be forgotten?

As the announcements on the ‘secure schools project’ gets underway and more money comes in, in the aftermath of the Chibok kidnap, let us repeat our warning to those handling the funds and executing the projects about using the girls to perpetrate fraud. It bears repeating that there should be in place the strongest possible warning about the likelihood of outright blatant fraudulent diversion and fraudulent hyperinflation of any related contracts to the internationally donated $10m plus local content for added ‘school security’. Every effort should be made to prevent corrupt officials taking their pound of flesh. Security is no use without optimum standards in schools. Razor wire and high walls are good to help ‘secure the body’ but so also are books and toilets to ‘secure the mind’. The $10m+ allocation must reverse the poor quality of life in the schools which uniformly all lack basics including sanitation, books, science and sports equipment. In most Nigerian schools, especially those in out of city or distant LGAs, there is nothing attractive. It is one of the wonders of Nigerian brain’s thirst for any knowledge at any price that students still bother to attend class in such poor child and teacher unfriendly circumstance. But the political leadership prefers diversion to development and inexplicably steals from children and uses it to finance local chiefs and emirs and for stealing under the guise of deductions for running the local political party. There is nothing to be gained by using the $10m for building walls around politically neglected rubbish mentally un-stimulating, empty school environ-

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HE National Conference, which started in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Monday, March 17, has almost run its full course even with the little extension of time granted it. There are 492 delegates, which comprise representatives of the various ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, professional groups, political representatives and civil society groups, among others.

The major task before them is to deliberate on how to resolve the country’s constitutional challenges and address all matters except issues bothering on the indivisibility and indissolubility of Nigeria as a nation.

After the initial hiccups caused mainly by the demand for perquisites and the antics of some ethnic bigots among the members, the conference has found its feet. But last Thursday, the delegates were at daggers drawn when they took divergent positions over the recent arrest of 486 suspected Boko Haram members in Abia State. The suspects were arrested around 3:00 a.m. on Sunday, June 15, along Enugu-AbaPort Harcourt Expressway, at the boundary between Abia and Rivers states. The suspects whose ages were from 15 years and above were said to be travelling in 35 buses from undisclosed northern states to the South-south. They were said to have claimed to be going in search of jobs. Two of the buses were said to have escaped.

At the proceeding of the conference last Thursday, Sergeant Awuse, a delegate from South-south, called on security agencies to beef up security around oil installations in Port Harcourt and other parts of Rivers State. He said the time had come for the conference to intervene against the background of the arrest of the 486 suspects which in-

ments in the name of security and safety. Nigeria’s children deserve better education facilities. In fact before Boko Haram, much of education was already empty shells.

It is a great pity that what is supposed to be good for us must be so costly. The fanfare that greeted the start of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway repairs has quickly evaporated in the 4-10 hour delays caused partly by the narrowness of the available lanes and partly because of the overloaded sluggish massive trailers struggling with tiny cars. The word is that work will stop as government has not released money or the money released is in transit through some banks. The contractors are not gods. The road has to kept open; the available roads are bad and poorly prepared.

Maybe trailers need a separate lane. The contractors need to be advised properly by the supervising authorities about keeping two lanes wide enough and open on each side during construction. Nobody gets on the expressway without trepidation. The expressway deserves a dedicated radio phone-in programme. How long will the expressway be a snail-way?

It is noted that the checkpoints are back with a vengeance, within and without the cities. It is greatly unfortunate that the uniform is once again being used by its wearers to extort from traffic. When will this checkpoint corruption end? When will traffic wardens and officers take pride in their uniforms in front of Nigeria’s children and tourists and their own family members in those vehicles who see them and sneer?

There are 3,000,000 potholes in the UK but they are filling them and what is described as a pothole in the UK is probably a very smooth road in Nigeria. Nigeria can boast that Nigeria’s potholes are bigger that the UK potholes. A Nigerian pothole would require road closure in the UK. Nigeria should fill its potholes with simple cheap PWD methods; If you think Boko Haram is bad just remember that the worst terrorism is yet to come. The terrorism of politics, physical and vote-rigging, is real and it kills, maims and

ruins the entire country. Yet it is approved and encouraged by government. The Ekiti election may be a lesson for us all.

Do the people want development agendas of just ‘rice, okada and cash’ distribution? While we seek to be in the top 20 economies, we are happy to be in the bottom 20 countries in democracy and election transparency. While we host foreign security personnel, Nigerians should learn that the last Nigerian is worth more to Nigeria than the first foreigner. This lesson can be learnt from America in particular. Of course Nigeria has some really good people and some really bad people. The roads are clogged by chronic queue-jumping drivers -terrorists who compound every traffic jam. There are kidnappers and body part terrorists who are specialists everywhere but we never arrest the receivers of stolen body parts, not once! By now our security should have specialist anti-body parts teams to track down the ritualists who supply body-parts services on demand to politicians and get-rich-quick people.

Delta State is planning a power plant that will generate 3,000Mw of power from a solar plant. At last someone in Nigeria’s political power structure is taking the sun seriously just as it is even in countries with 10% of Nigeria’s sun supply daily. Around the country we see signboards indicating solar power equipment factories boasting solar power. Worldwide the cost of solar equipment has plunged by 80% with better power storage in better solar batteries and new technology. All states should go solar, please.

If you think Boko Haram is bad just remember that the worst terrorism is yet to come. The terrorism of politics, physical and vote-rigging, is real and it kills, maims and ruins the entire country. Yet it is approved and encouraged by government.

Confab of ethnic chauvinists cluded a kingpin of Boko Haram.

But hardly had Awuse finished his contribution, when Bashir Dalhatu, a delegate from the North, rose to his feet and said the arrest of the suspects could lead to serious crisis.

Dalhatu pointed out that the arrest was an ominous sign. He said: “We were told that those arrested in Abia State are migrant traders. We have been so far informed that only one of them could be a suspected Boko Haram member. …When traders travel to the North at midnight, we don’t describe them as armed robbers. They do their legitimate businesses… The security agencies should note that if other Northern states decide to retaliate, the consequences would not be imagined…”

Only the quick intervention of the confab chairman and former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Kutigi, saved the day.

While some Nigerians have been skeptical about the ongoing National Conference, others believe that the conference, which has been long overdue, will help the nation address issues threatening the unity of the nation. But all along, the activities, particularly the utterances of some of the delegates both from the Northern and Southern parts of the country, have left people wondering whether the delegates were actually sincere about moving this country forward. Particularly worrisome is the attitude of some Northern delegates. The other day, one of them, a traditional ruler was almost calling for secession on the floor of the conference. Instead of putting aside ethnic cleavages and other primordial interests, some of

‘If we, as a people, are determined to get out of the current embarrassing situation in which the country is now enmeshed, we must come together as a united people with one destiny and face the challenges confronting us headlong’

the delegates have clearly been promoting parochial and selfish passion all over the place.

From what transpired on the floor of the conference last week, it is quite clear that most of the problems confronting this country may have been caused by the politicians and the elites while the poor people of the country remain as pawns in the chessboard of political rivalries and ethnic jingoism now threatening to suffocate everyone. Come to think of it. The initial investigation conducted on the 486 persons arrested confirmed that some of them, maybe as many as 87, were wanted Boko Haram suspects. But their sympathisers are saying that they had embarked on their journey in search of jobs in the southern part of the country. That story is too palatable to be true. The question is: How is it possible for that large number of people to come together anywhere and jointly embark on a journey at that awkward time of the day (3a.m.) to where they do not have any idea of, in search of jobs?

That sounds like a tale by moonlight. Again, at least, two buses in the 35-bus convoy were said to have escaped that night. That is enough to raise suspicion about the actual motives of the ‘itinerant’ job seekers.

Meanwhile, no fewer than 87 of the suspects are believed to be connected with Boko Haram in one way or another. The suspects’ interrogators are said to have relocated one of the suspects who is believed to be a kingpin of Boko Haram and had been on the security wanted list for some time, to a detention facility for comprehensive investigation. The suspected kingpin is believed to have been relocated out of Abia State because of “valuable information and clues” he had released to his interrogators. The arrest of the kingpin was said to have been heralded with a drama as he gave a wrong name to interrogators, but unknown to him, one of

the officers in the team, who had been on his trail recognised him.

Faced with this stark reality, he capitulated and disclosed his real name with the admission that he had, indeed, been on the wanted list of security agencies.

Trust Nigerians. Some highly placed people are said to be inundating the security agencies with requests to know the real identity of the arrested Boko Haram kingpin and others now undergoing interrogation. I think it is advisable for people to allow the security agencies to do their work without anybody raising unnecessary eyebrows. It is quite unfortunate that many of the elites of the society have been behaving in a way to suggest that they are either enjoying the spate of crisis going on in this country or may as well have sympathy for those bent on truncating the peace and corporate existence of the country. It would be recalled that at least two sitting senators were in the past fingered as collaborators of Boko Haram. Even though investigations into their activities had since become moribund, there are clear signs that some highly placed Nigerians, including some members of the National Assembly, are part and parcel of this Boko Haram imbroglio now rocking certain parts of the country. It is sad that the arrest of the nocturnal travelers has become politicized. We must not compromise the unity of this country on the altar of sectional interests.

During the submission of the Brigadier-General Ibrahim Sabo-led Federal Government’s fact-finding mission to Chibok last week, he made it clear that the committee collected information from all the stakeholders except for one unnamed senator from the area who refused to grant it audience. What this portends is that it is either the senator was not interested in peace or could be a beneficiary of the current stalemate in that part of the

Dele Agekameh country. And he remains a senator “representing his people”. Rather than boycott the activities of the committee, one would have expected him to come forward and voice his displeasure, if any. He is not alone. There are many others in privileged positions over there, who would rather do the same thing. They probably prefer that things should be done their own way or within the narrow prism of their whims and caprices. This is unfortunate.

If we, as a people, are determined to get out of the current embarrassing situation in which the country is now enmeshed, we must come together as a united people with one destiny and face the challenges confronting us headlong. The present scenario where some privileged people on both sides of the divide, resort to playing the ethnic card each time there is a burning national issue that calls for unity of purpose, will not augur well for the health of this country. What Nigeria needs today is peace without which there can never be progress and development. This can only be achieved when the political elite refrain from tribalism and making inflammatory statements such as we witness every day all over the place.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

22

COMMENTS ‘Re: Danger signals we are ignoring. Several recommendations had at several workshops been made to our leaders on diversification to earn Nigeria additional revenue since the ‘70s and 1980s. Yet, none of them has been able to show an example of diversification. The same static and worsening revenue is being earned … The earlier the diversification - gold, bauxite, tin and columbite, iron and steel - better. If we have done the needful, by now we must be ignoring the Chinese, Indians and or USA’s threats of reduction in our oil export. From Lanre Oseni’

•Fayose

For Olatunji Dare The president should caution himself and his cabinet members for heating up the polity. May be the president does not know the meanimg of declaration of war in Ekiti State by his deputy recently. The President said he would only develop Ekiti if PDP wins.

Was that statement statesman like? The president should understand the meaning of leadership first before accusing others of non statemanship. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Apapa Lagos.

Sir, thank you for yet another outing today. It is really unfortunate that Dr Ebele Jonathan has reduced the quality of Nigeria Presidency to his level of raw intelligence.

From Niran Jinadu, Ibadan Our president is deceiving us by saying that some statements from his political opponents are causing problems in the country. His party PDP is the problems of Nigeria. Olisah Metuh stirs a confusion in Kano by congratulating someone that has not be chosen as Emir. PDP member utterances are the worse so far. What we need in this country is unity not disunity. I like your constructive analysis by pointing out the flaws of President Jonathan and his party members saying. They need to moderate their utterances before advising other political opponent. From Olarotimi, Surulere.

For Segun Gbadegesin It’s unfotunate that even the few who are supposed to be the eye of the populace have

W

ATCHING several world leaders speak glowingly of the triumph of good over evil at the June 6, commemoration of the Allied landing on Normandy 70 years ago to herald the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II, it was impossible not to feel sympathy for Angela Merkel, Germany’s Chancellor, who was there throughout the ceremony.

But that was not the feeling Merkel and Germans had for themselves. Yes, their nation was defeated. In defeat, however, Germany was liberated. Under Nazism fostered on the people by Adolf Hitler, the country that gave the world some of the finest brains in science, music and arts unleashed an ideology that would have subjected the rest of the world as slaves to a superior Aryan race that should have reigned for a thousand years.

Although the anniversary was to mark the pivotal event that led to the defeat of an enemy, all the leaders saw in the defeat of Nazism a common cord to espouse the virtues of liberty, justice and, more importantly, cooperation. Germany did not glorify her military leaders who fought heroically throughout the war. In fact, the monuments they have on the war is dedicated to celebrating the Allied troops. Having come to terms with the ideological and military misadventure, the unanimous conclusion among Germans is never again will they walk that path.

Twenty two years after World War II ended, Nigeria entered a war with no less intensity, ferocity and devastation. What became known as the Biafran War was fought to retain the country’s territory and stave off its dismemberment. Going to war to maintain a country’s territorial integrity is a noble objective and with the declara-

joined the praise singers. Indeed a typical Yoruba man. Anonymous Yes Governor Fayemi deserves a second term in office, because his present administration has transformed the life of Ekiti people. Anonymous Sir, I empathise with you. Those in control of Nigeria play Russian roulette. God watches. I await the bang. Already, I prayed.

From Adeyemo, Akure.

Re-Fayemi deserves a second term. Although your write-up was supposed to have been published last Friday, June 13 to enable our reactions published and read Wednesday, 18th. However, the ‘die is cast’.

God has already ordained ‘the Winner’ irrespective of journalistic promotion of a candidate. May God give us Peace. From Lanre Oseni.

The dropping of #446b theft charge against Abacha’s son is an unequivocal pointer to the fact that the Jonathan’s Junta is a “Government of the corrupt by the corrupt for the corrupt through the instrumentality of a bovine Judiciary”. We have lost the fight against corruption. Nigeria is finally on the Road to Yugoslavia. From Chief Bobson Gbinije,Warri The scenario you are painting will continue to bedevil us in Nigeria until we heed prophet Major Orkar who tried to excise North east and west for claiming to be born to rule Nigeria for ever. From Uche Lawson, Aba. I think we can still pardon President Jonathan and find ways to help him succeed,if we so wish, political diferences apart.The country remains ours and the President just the leader. He is truly a man who really means well for his country but gets stuck by both the antics of his party and the many problems besetting his gov-

ernment. I see the sound speeches he makes simply as sad reminders of the kind of pragmatic and visionary leader he could have been but for the constraining factors. Nobody, it is very clear, can deliberately elect to become a non-performing or bad leader of his country so as to be entered on the bad side of the nation’s history, whatsoever.

President Jonathan couldnt have been an excepion and, except getting him out of the way at the polls becomes the best option for the better, the president, by every metric, truly needs our prayers and cooperations, without which the nation would ever remain perpetually stagnated. From Emmanuel Egwu.

We certainly will vote him out tommorrow, yet, we are comitted progresives in Ekiti which we wil demonstrate in 2015 by voting whichever candidate presented by the APC in next year’s presidential election.

This is the aggregate opinion of we in Ekiti, check out the election result tommrrow if am wrong. From Niyi Adewale,Ado-Ekiti For Tunji Adegboyega Re: Danger signals we are ignoring.

Several recommendations had at several workshops been made to our leaders on diversification to earn Nigeria additional revenue since the ‘70s and 1980s. Yet, none of them has been able to show an example of diversification. The same static and worsening revenue is being earned … The earlier the diversification - gold, bauxite, tin and columbite, iron and steel - better. If we have done the needful, by now we must be ignoring the Chinese, Indians and or USA’s threats of reduction in our oil export.

From Lanre Oseni.

I can feel what you feel. Now that America

Our own D-Day

By Pius Mordi tion of no victor no vanquished at the end of hostilities, why is Nigeria not remembering the war?

As in every other war, the rules of engagement were routinely flouted. With an ill-equipped but stubborn opponent, the stage was set for unsavoury acts to be committed in a bid to quickly end the war. Were there acts where civilians were willfully targeted? That was never refuted. Were there acts bordering on genocide by federal forces? The Biafrans strongly believed so with feeble rebuttal from federal commanders.

But similar things happened during World War II. Under “Operation Reinhard”, over six million Jews were exterminated under Hitler’s plan to permanently solve what he termed the Jewish problem. The infamous concentration camps did not process only Jews for mass killings. And there were Hiroshima and Nagasaki where America’s atomic bombs were not designed to neutralise the stubborn Japanese army.

Despite the imperfections of WWII, both the victor and the defeated have found a common ground to celebrate its outcome.

For the Jews, Germans, Soviets and the Allies, the joint refrain is “never again”.

The key lay in the fact that the story of the war was told without let, hindrance or denial. Every actor reconciled itself to the role played in the war and proceeded to

support the graphic dramatisation of their role through the numerous films made on various facets of the war.

Curiously, Nigeria has opted for selective amnesia in telling the story of her civil war. Apart from failing to annually celebrate the war, stories and references on particular aspects of the hostilities are officialy discouraged. The regular excuse is that such graphic stories will re-open old wounds and destabilise the country.

Herein lies the continued withholding of approval for the screening of the movie adaptation of Ngozi Chimamanda Adichie’s “Half of a Yellow Sun”. As can be seen from similar actions in the past and the healing effect of the 70th anniversary of the Allied landing on Normandy, refusing to reconcile with the past no matter how unpalatable is, in the long run, counterproductive.

It is farcical to argue that telling the truth will hurt the path to peace and unity. After years of unmitigated horror visited on blacks in South Africa under apartheid, that country has emerged stronger, but only after it told the truth of its past and resolved not to walk that path again. Cue the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The closest Nigeria has come to acknowledging the bravery of its soldiers is the armed forces remembrance day. Dedicated to remembering the sacrifices of members of its armed forces in war theatres, a wreath is routinely laid at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the president. This annual ritual holds no significance for Nigerians. It does not inspire patriotism, does

•Fayemi

and other nations are making efforts to stop buying our oil or reduced the quantity they are buying, are we going to start drinking the oil? It is high time we looked for alternative resources to boost our finances so that our government will not have to start asking for funds from the international community to solve our problems.. God forbid, if this oil dries up today, where are we going to get money to generate revenue for development, when our leaders keep relying only on oil money every month instead of sourcing for another way of making money ?It is very unfortunate. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State.

I believe our leaders are actually in their usual illusion thinking that China will not reduce its import from Nigeria. This is the time the president and other leaders should stand up and take action to avoid another presidential tears again. Nigerians are watching. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Apapa, Lagos.

Kudos for your piece titled ‘Danger signals we are ignoring. I found it interesting to read your reference to O.A. Lawal Economics textbook. You have indeed reminded me of my days at Ila Grammar School, Ila-Oragun, where back in the late ‘70s we all, right from Form 3, regarded the book as the ‘Bible of Economics’. God bless you for that ‘jab of memory’. From Dr. Adebisi, Akure.

not remind us of a crucial time in our history, does not remind us of pitfalls to avoid in our quest for a more perfect union, does not chart a path we can collectively acknowledge as the right one to development. That day does not have a soul.

To move forward, we must confront our past, cease to live a life of denial and lay the ground rules for the actualisation of our collective aspirations. That lies in ceasing to attempt a re-write of Half of a Yellow Sun and encourage the dramatisation of events such as the massacre in Asaba. That way, we can say “never again.” And our own D-Day? How about the day federal forces began the police action or when General Philip Effiong unconditionally surrendered Biafra to be re-integrated into Nigeria?

• Mordi wrote from Asaba

‘To move forward, we must confront our past, cease to live a life of denial and lay the ground rules for the actualisation of our collective aspirations. That lies in ceasing to attempt a rewrite of Half of a Yellow Sun and encourage the dramatization of events such as the massacre in Asaba. That way, we can say “never again’

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

WINDOW IN BRAZIL with

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net Stories by Taofik Salako

FirstRand to invest $120m in Ghana’s power plant

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OUTH Africa’s FirstRand Limited.

(FSR) said its investment banking unit will finance as much as $120 million of Ghana’s $820 million Kpone power plant as lenders seek to benefit from African infrastructure projects.

Rand Merchant Bank is also the lead arranger for about $400 million of commercial bank funding for the project, Michael Larbie, Head of FirstRand in Nigeria, said by phone from Lagos.

Cenpower Generation Company and other sponsors are providing $250 million with about $200 million from development finance institutions, he said.

The 340-megawatt Kpone gas and oil plant will help Ghana, the world’s secondlargest cocoa producer, plug an electricity shortfall of about 200 megawatts.

Larbie, said demand to participate in the commercial bank tranche was two to three times oversubscribed and funding will close in about a month.

“There has been lots of interest in this project,” said Larbie, declining to name the banks involved. “It’s one of the biggest projects that we’ve lead arranged.”

FirstRand, based in Johannesburg, is South Africa’s second-largest financial-services company.

25 NLNG is one of the biggest success stories in our country. From what I am told, the company has invested $13 billion so far since inception, and has become a pacesetter in terms of revenue generation for the government.

-Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga

Stock Exchange, brokers in stalemate over minimum operating standards

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HE Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is insisting on implementing its new minimum operating standards for all stockbrokers, but chief executives of stockbroking firms said the new minimum operating standards are unrealistic.

Sources said both the NSE and stockbroking firms have not been able to reach a mutually agreeable position on the requirements and implementation framework.

At a meeting between the chief executive of the NSE and chief executives of stockbroking firms, the NSE was said to have told stockbrokers that it would not go back on the minimum operating standards to the murmuring disapproval of stockbrokers.

A source said the NSE has since directed stockbroking firms to submit their plans for compliance with the new

By Taofik Salako

minimum operating standards on or before July 11, this year.

According to the source, the stockbroking firms are also required to submit periodic updates on their compliance, ahead of the January 1, 2015 deadline for full compliance.

The new standards relate to all the three classes of dealing members including broker dealers, brokers and dealers and address the five broad areas of manpower and equipment; organisational structure and governance; effective processes; global competitiveness; and technology.

Commenting on the rationales for the new standards, Head, Legal and Regulation Division, NSE, Ms Tinuade Awe, said the new minimum operating standards were meant to complement the tremendous transformation that

the market had undergone in recent years and to extend these forward-moving traits to the dealing members.

According to her, the objective of the minimum operating standards is to transform the operators into more competitive and compliant operators.

"We intend to ensure that the broker dealers, brokers and dealers have very robust controls, strong governance framework and sustainable operations that will enable them compete on a global scale for the benefit of the investors and the capital market," Awe said.

She noted that the capital market is very dynamic with a diverse mix of local and foreign investors who can only invest with the confidence that the dealing members operate pursuant to clearly defined standards that are comparable to

those to which broker dealers in other markets operate with.

We simply cannot afford to be inferior to anyone in terms of size, skill, technology or organisational governance of our market participants" Awe added.

NSE had explained that investors will be given an extra degree of protection because the operators will become more robust and stronger, with good controls and globally acceptable processes.

Stockbroking firms, however, said the new minimum standards were attempts by the Exchange to enforce consolidation in the industry.

There are 238 broker-dealers on the NSE but less than 15 per cent of them account for more than three-quarters of the trading turnover at the market.

DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$117.4/barrel Cocoa -$2,686.35/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold -$1,396.9/ troy Sugar -$163/lb MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE -N11.4 trillion JSE -Z5.112trillion NYSE -$10.84 trillion LSE -£61.67 trillion RATES

Inflation -8% Treasury Bills -10.58%(91d) Maximum lending -30% Prime lending -15.87% Savings rate -1% 91-day NTB -15% Time Deposit -5.49% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $45b CFA EUR £ $ ¥ SDR RIYAL

FOREX

-0.2958 -206.9 -242.1 -156 -1.9179 -238 -40.472

•From left: Director, Co-operatives and Agricultural Insurance, Lagos State, Mrs. Zulikha Ibrahim; Commissioner for Agriculture and Co-operatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal and President, Lagos State Co-operatives Federation (LASCOFED) Limited, Mr. Oriyomi Aiyeola, during the Ministry’s briefing on the upcoming International Co-operative Day, at Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja.

PHOTO: SOLOMON ADEOLA

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Reserve managers fear fallout from Fed’s tapering

By Collins Nweze

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ESERVE managers from Nigeria and other emerging-market central banks are wary of the impact of Federal Reserve’s tapering policy that takes away $10 billion quarterly from investment flows to global economies.

A survey by HSBC Reserve Management Trends 2014, obtained by The Nation from Central Banking Publications said the Federal Reserve’s policy of tapering will have a major impact on reserve management at a tactical level, forcing many managers to adopt a more defensive approach, and may cascade to the strategic level in terms of changes in asset allocation.

Such managers, it said, have already taken steps to prepare their portfolios, including shortening duration, changing asset allocation and diversifying. Overall, mark-to-market losses due to rising yields are viewed as the most significant risk reserve managers face in the year, as this will impact their fixed-income portfolio.

The survey draws on responses from 69 central banks which control $6.7 trillion in reserves, 57 per cent of global reserves and was carried out last month.

Over half of the respondents, holding reserves worth $3.1 trillion, ranked rising yields as the most significant risk and almost two-thirds ranked it as either the most or second-most significant. For investors who traditionally invest in fixed income assets, the prospect of rising yields portends a decline in their value.

Global Head of Central Banks and Reserve Managers at HSBC, Christian Deseglise, said: “HSBC is proud to sponsor the 10th annual edition of this leading survey of reserve managers. This year, in a challenging global environment, the survey highlights a number of significant trends across the sector, including continuing diversification of assets and currencies, and particularly a growing interest in investing in RMB.”

GDP growth, broadband devt inseparable, says MainOne chief

HE Chief Executive Officer of MainOne, Ms Funke Opeke, has said growth in a nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and broadband availability are inseparable as the latter triggers the former.

Speaking at the weekend at the dinner of the Nigerian Academy of Engineers in Lagos, she said Nigeria is not even among the first 10 countries in Africa in level of broadband and internet penetration, adding that only eight per cent penetration has been achieved by the country while there are countries on the continent with 30 per cent penetration.

She decried the attitude of

CBN’s loans to banks hit N3tr - P 26

By Lucas Ajanaku

federal, state and local governments that treated the expansion of infrastructure by telcos as avenues to raise internally generated revenue through exorbitant multiple taxation. She said this had hindered broadband and internet penetration into to the hinterland.

Ms Opeke said efforts were ongoing through the Presidential Advisory Committee on Broadband and Internet Penetration to solve the problems associated with lack of understanding of the benefits of expansion of Internet facilities in the country. She explained that statistics have shown that countries that achieved 20 per cent increase in their

broadband and Internet penetration recorded 1.3 per cent increase in their Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

She said the ICT revolution in Asia, especially India has led to outsourcing of research and development that had tremendously helped the manufacturing industry. She said that Indian ICT experts are even writing software for banks in the United States.

Ms Opeke emphasised that broadband and internet penetration had helped to create a lot of jobs in the past 20 years and therefore, Nigeria should know by now that there is a relationship between economic growth and Broadband and Internet Penetration.

‘Foreign reserves may drop’ - P26

On a note of optimism, she said that new initiatives like licencing of indigenous infrastructure providers, open access regime that allows sharing of telecom infrastructure among operators, freeing up of additional spectrum and other policies that are emerging could accelerate broadband and Internet penetration in Nigeria.

Director, Telecommunications & Postal Services, John Akindele, who represented the Minister of Communication Technology, Dr Omobola Johnson on the occasion, revealed that up to 60 per cent of the capital outlay by telcos in the country was being consumed by taxes and levies that had continued to have negative impact on the

quality of services that they render to their customers.

He said the situation can begin to improve if other states of the federation take a cue from the policies of the Lagos State government that freed the telcos from heavy and multiple taxation and levies as well as a once and for all fee as against annual fees being demanded by government agencies at all levels.

Akindele said the speed at which other states of the Federation implement the decision of the National Economic Council on drastic reduction of rates and other impediments on the path of telecom providers will determine the rate of broadband and Internet penetration in Nigeria.

From court room to printing - P39

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

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THE NATION

BUSINESS MONEY

e-mail: money@thenationonlineng.net

Afrinvest committed to wealth management

CBN’s loans to banks hit N3tr L

OANS from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to banks in the first quarter rose by 119 per cent to N3.16 trillion, an Economic Report from the apex bank has shown.

According to the report released at the weekend, banks’ borrowings from the apex bank in the preceding quarter stood at N1.44 trillion. The funds, which came as Standing Lending Facility (SLF), showed a daily average of N51.12 billion. They were given at 14 per cent.

The SLF is an overnight CBN credit available on banking days between 2 pm and 3.30 pm, with settlement done on same day value. Funds were sourced mainly from time, savings and foreign currency deposits, as well as accretion to unclassified assets.

The funds were used, largely, to extend credit to the private sector and payment of claims on demand deposit.

The CBN said interest paid on the SLF during the period stood at N1.70 billion, compared with N0.87 billion in the preceding

Stories by Collins Nweze

quarter.

It said the total assets and liabilities of banks stood at N24.4 trillion at the end of the first quarter, representing an increase of 0.6 per cent over the level at the end of the preceding quarter.

The funds, the CBN said, were sourced largely from draw-down on capital and reserves accounts; increased time, savings, foreign currency, and demand deposits.

They were also used for the acquisition of unclassified assets, foreign assets and extension of credit to the private sector.

The CBN said total assets/liabilities of the discount houses stood at N135.8 billion at the end of the first quarter, indicating an increase of 1.5 per cent above the level at the end of the preceding quarter, but was a decline of 62.2 per cent below the level at the end of the corresponding quarter of 2013. The increase in assets relative to the preceding quarter, the CBN said, was accounted for by the increase in claims on Federal

Government and state governments, and other assets which more than offset the effect of the decline in claims on others.

It said the increase in total liabilities was attributed to the rise in capital and reserves, other amount owed and other liabilities, which exceeded the decline in money-at-call.

“Discount houses? Investment in Federal Government securities of less than 91-day maturity rose by 47.3 per cent to N46.2 billion and represented 47.1 per cent of their total deposit liabilities. At this level, discount houses? investment was 12.9 percentage points below the prescribed minimum level of 60 per cent for fiscal year 2014.

CBN data indicated that the value of money market assets outstanding at the end of the first quarter increased by 1.11 per cent to N6.9 trillion, compared with the increase of 4.02 per cent at the end of the preceding. The development was attributed, largely, to the 5.98 per cent increase in treasury bills outstanding.

A

• CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele

Total borrowing by the discount houses was N45.7 billion, while their capital and reserves stood at N23 billion. This resulted in a ratio of two to one, compared with the stipulated maximum of 50 is to one for the fiscal year,” it said.

The CBN also said foreign exchange inflow and outflow amounted to $10.09 billion and $15.67 billion, resulting in a net outflow of $5.58 billion during the review quarter. Foreign exchange sales by the CBN to the authorised dealers amounted to $14.77 billion, compared with $9.10 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013. The average exchange rate of the Naira vis-à-vis the US dollar at the Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS) window was N157.30 per dollar, indicating marginal appreciation over its levels in the fourth and the corresponding quarters of 2013.

T

•Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Jibril Aku, flanked by Managing Director, Deutsche Bank Nigeria, Charles Weller and his deputy, Mrs Adeola Azeez,during the presentation of ‘Straight Through Processing Excellence Award’ to Ecobank in Lagos.

How to ensure financial stability,

by NDIC T

HE Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has reiterated its commitment to strengthen its collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure a safe, sound and stable financial system in the country.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive of NDIC, Umaru Ibrahim, who led his management to visit CBN Governor Mr Godwin Emefiele expressed confidence in Emefiele’s ability to transform the financial system.

The NDIC boss observed that over the years, the two institutions had played complementary

roles in banking supervision, particularly in the aftermath of 2008 banking crisis and the emergence of the bridge banking that produced Mainstreet, Keystone and Enterprise banks.

Ibrahim said there was need for both institutions to continue to work closely to ensure the vibrancy of the nation’s banking sector.

He recalled the various efforts and contributions of the Executive Committee on banking supervision and other CBN and

NDIC joint committees on critical issues affecting the financial sector, saying that the nation’s economy had been better off for the collaboration.

Emefiele said both institutions would sustain existing partnership, especially in the area of Joint Examination of Banks which he described as highly beneficial to the banking system and the economy as a whole.

He said he supports efforts by the members of the Financial Services Regulation Coordinating Committee (FSRCC) to ensure effective consolidated risk based supervision of the financial conglomerates.

FRINVEST West Africa Limited has restated its commit ment to wealth management that wil lead to better client-adviser interactions, simpler language and investment personality assessments.

Its Managing Director, Ike Chioke, said the financial crisis of 2008 led to a new environment that includes changes in investor needs and market opportunities, and goals-based wealth management offers an adequate response to these changes.

He said: “Each investor has not only a variety of goals but different risk profiles to accompany each goal, and investment advisers must develop clear strategies to match their clients’ different goals and risk profiles. Unfortunately, this role becomes obscured in today’s world of sophisticated portfolio management and performance analysis.”

Chioke further said the first step in goals-based wealth management is for the manager to identify and describe the client’s main goals. He, then, weighs the goals in monetary terms and prioritises them, structures a sub-portfolio for each goal, determining which assets or strategies are most likely to help the client achieve each goal, and optimises the sub-portfolios throughout the client’s portfolio.

He said the firm was looking at ways of rewarding teams that fully embrace the concept of financial planning, allowing for a higher degree of flexibility and responsiveness to client needs.

“We will also review client goals on a quarterly basis, and showing how the portfolio is preparing individuals to reach specific personal financial goals,” Chioke added.

Analysts predict drop in foreign reserves

HE Chief Economist, Renaissance Capital (RenCap), Charles Robertson, has said Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves, which stood at $37.08 billion on June 19, would drop to $35 billion by the year-end.

He said should such decline occur, it would imply greater weakness of the naira than current N164 to dollar end-year assumption.

“We assume foreign exchange reserves will fall from $44 billion in 2013 to $35 billion this year – a decline of $9 billion. That would imply greater weakness than our current 164 to dollar end-year assumption. But we expect the CBN to counter-act this, by tightening monetary policy,” Robertson said.

He added: “We believe reserves will likely fall further in 2014 on the back of subpar oil production and higher imports due to election-related spending. We think a N160 to 170 to dollar target range is likely. One upside for the government from a weaker naira would be more naira from dollar oil tax revenue.”

Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismarck Rewane, said the foreign reserve comprises about $10 billion volatile funds, also called ‘hot money’. The volatile funds mainly from foreign portfolio investments moved from one country to another to earn a short-term profit on interest rate differences and/ or anticipated exchange rate shifts.

These speculative capital flows are called “hot money” because they can move very quickly in and out of markets, potentially lead-

ing to market instability.

Rewane said reversal of capital flows will intensify, further depleting external reserves which have been on decline since last year.

He said there would be further external sector imbalances in a run-up to 2015 elections even as equity market imbalance is likely to increase with stock market correction ensue.

He said spill over from RussiaUkraine crisis poses downside risks for neighbouring countries and Europe with 20 per cent of European Union’s energy consumption is from Russia with 32.5 per cent of Nigeria’s imports coming from the EU. He said recent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rebasing is expected to boost Nigeria’s estimated size by about 70 per cent. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) changed the base year for calculating Nigeria’s GDP to 2010 from 1990 to reflect changes in the economy of Africa’s most populous nation, and more accurately assess the size of its output.

Most governments overhaul GDP calculations every few years to reflect changes in output and consumption, but Nigeria has not done so since 1990, meaning sectors such as the Internet, telephones and even the ‘Nollywood’ film industry have had to be newly factored in to give a truer picture.

He said the GDP growth is accelerating but hampered by insecurity, which has about eight per cent negative impact on nominal GDP.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

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BUSINESS

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CPPIB pumps $332m into unit of India’s largest engineering firm

HE Canada Pension Plan Investment Board(CPPIB) has agreed to invest $332million in a subsidiary of India’s largest engineering and construction company, saying it sees India’s infrastructure sector as a long-term growth market.

CPPIB said it will make its first investment in India’s infrastructure sector with an initial $166million investment in L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Ltd., a subsidiary of engineering firm Larsen & Toubro Ltd. that develops highways and other major infrastructure assets. CPPIB has committed to a second investment of $166-million in 12 months.

The pension fund manager, which invests $219billion in assets for the Canada Pension Plan, has increasingly been making investments in emerging markets, which it says have higher long-term growth rates than developed markets in North America and Europe.

It favours investments that can become a platform for expansion and further growth in key long-term growth sectors such as infrastruc-

ture and real estate.

André Bourbonnais, CPPIB’s senior vice-president of private investments, said the pension fund expects its new investment to become a long-term infrastructure platform in India.

“There’s tremendous need – you just need to go there once to realise how much need for infrastructure there is,” Mr. Bourbonnais said in an interview. “Toll roads are really a core infrastructure asset for us, and a core infrastructure need for India.”

Mr. Bourbonnais said the deal gives CPPIB a platform to build more toll roads, and fits well with the fund’s long-term growth strategy for India.

“We think there are strong fundamentals, a growth middle class, good demography, rapid urbanisation. For all those reasons, we think it’s a good investment.”

Larsen & Toubro is India’s largest engineering firm, and its infrastructure division owns the largest group of toll-road concessions in India, including 19 existing toll roads spanning 2,200 kilometres

between some of the country’s biggest cities. The company also owns a power transmission line project and a subway project in Hyderabad.

L&T Infrastructure set up 13 years ago, describes itself as a pioneer in India of public-private partnerships, where projects are developed in partnership between governments and private sector companies. The company’s web site says it handles a portfolio of infrastructure assets worth $7.5billion in 23 projects across all sectors.

For L&T, the deal provides a partner willing to allocate capital to major long-term projects that can take years to develop, which can tie up significant financial resources if funded solely by the parent company.

R. Shankar Raman, chief financial officer of L&T, said CPPIB’s investment will give the company money to grow.

“With its long-term view, CPPIB is an ideal partner for L&T and will provide growth capital to L&T IDPL to expand its infrastructure development business,” he said in

Blue Gate unveils smart LED TV

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LUE Gate, a leading brand in the provision of alternative power solution, has veered into consumer electronic and home appliance segment of the market with the unveiling of smart LED TV series integrated with power surge protective device and advanced technology.

Speaking with reporters at the weekend, the Dr. Tope Obayemi, the Business/Product Development Manager of Blue Gate Smart LED TV, on the launch of the product, he explained that the Blue Gate Smart LED TV displays its content in Full-High Definition and crisper picture quality.

The LED TV has one year warranty and is built to withstand fluctuating power supply.

According to him, the Blue Gate LED TV is a gateway to music, games, movies, shows, pictures, network connected storage device and any online content as desired by its users.

Assuring that Blue Gate is committed to bringing technology to meet the needs of its consumers, he explained that the new product is equipped with easy-to-use, personalised and intuitive functions, including quick start-viewing functionality and excellent LED TV quality image.

He explained: “Our user friendly Smart LED TVs consume about 70 per cent less energy and come with an attractive design of a narrow bezel that is slim and sleek. It also comes with 3 HDMI ports, USB port, one headphone jack, AV Input and output connectivity with a dynamic ratio and resolution”.

He added that Blue Gate products are okayed by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

Blue Gate UPS and Stabilisers won the best UPS and Stabiliser of the year awards in 2011 and 2012.

According to Institute for Government Research and Leadership Technology, the organisers of the 2011 UPS/Stabiliser award, Blue Gate UPS and Stabiliser won the award as a result of the products’ reliability, ruggedness, energy efficiency and aftersales support they provide in electronic appliances.

The African Brands Review Award subsequently honoured Blue Gate with The Best UPS and stabilizers in 2012.

Also, Blue Gate brand was nominated as Best Consumer Electronics Brand in 2013 by Campaign Hype during the Electro World and Luxury Living Show 2014. Blue Gate products are available at all strategic locations nationwide at affordable prices.

Govt urged to participate in Hague summit

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• From left: Chairman, Wemabod, Dr. Adedayo Adewusi; MD/CEO, Mr. Olumide Ologun; new GMD Odu’a, Mr. Adewale Raji, immediate past GMD, Dr. Adebayo Jimoh and developer of Wemabod’s Apapa Shopping Mall Tokunbo Omisore during the maiden visit of the new GMD to the mall in Lagos.

Oracle buys Micros Systems for $5.3b

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OFTWARE maker Oracle is buying Micros Systems Inc., which provides software and hardware to the hospitality and retail industries, for about $5.3billion (U.S.).

Oracle Corp. said Monday that it will pay $68 per Micros share, a 3per cent premium to the company’s $65.77 Friday closing price.

Oracle said the acquisition will

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extend its offerings by combining Micros’ industry-specific applications with its business applications, technologies and cloud portfolio.

Oracle expects the deal to immediately add to its adjusted earnings. Its stock climbed 18 cents to $41 before the market opened.

Micros’ board unanimously

approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the second half of the year.

Oracle is based in Redwood Shores, Calif. Micros Systems is based in Columbia, Md. Last week Oracle reported fourth-quarter results that missed Wall Street’s expectations, hurt in part by the devaluation of Venezuela’s currency.

China, Japan manufacturing grows again, euro zone falters

LOBAL manufacturing activity appeared to accelerate in June, buoyed by a return to growth in China and Japan and the fastest expansion in the United States factory sector in more than four years.

Surveys of manufacturers around the world released on Monday gave some positive signals for the global economic outlook, but dark clouds remained over Europe, where an unexpectedly sharp fall in French business activity dragged on the wider euro zone.

The data suggested Beijing’s targeted stimulus measures and Japan’s improving labor market were helping domestic demand in Asia’s dominant economies.

The HSBC/Markit Flash China

Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose more than expected to 50.8 in the month from 49.4 a month earlier. The 50-point level separates growth in activity from contraction.

“The authorities’ mini-stimulus is filtering through to the real economy,” said Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC. China’s government has unveiled a series of modest measures to support economic growth in recent months, including reserve requirement cuts for some banks that could encourage lending.

The Markit/JMMA flash Japan Manufacturing PMI also rose in

June, hitting 51.1 and showing the first growth in three months.

External demand remained weak for the two export powerhouses, and some analysts think China may need more stimulus to offset a cooling housing market and avoid a sharp slowdown in economic growth.

Japan’s weak exports also take the gloss off the government’s efforts to breathe new life into its economic reform agenda.

But in a more positive sign for global demand, U.S. factories showed their strongest growth in activity since May, 2010, with Markit’s preliminary PMI rising to 57.5.

HE Federal Government has been urged to use the forthcoming economic summit scheduled for the Hague next month to showcase the nation’s investment opportunities.

President, Netherlands-African Business Council, Nigeria Chapter, Chief Cliff Ogbede, said the forum would open a window for Nigeria to access the over 750 million euros facility earmarked by the Dutch government to support Dutch small and medium enterprises owners who are interested in the African market using Nigeria as a destination.

He said the forum would encourage Dutch Small and Medium Enterprises to take advantage of the new Dutch Goods Growth Fund (DGGF) .

Speaking in Lagos Ogbede said the forum which will hold annually is another opportunity to showcase Nigeria as a new frontier for investments.

According to Chief Ogbede: ”We are targeting a large portion of this fund to be invested in Nigeria, having seen the significant progress being recorded in the life of this administration and the need to encourage more Dutch investments into Nigeria with priority on Small and Medium Enterprises participation which

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

will help to stimulate economic growth, create a strong middle class through job creation and improve the well-being of Nigerians.”

Ogbede confirmed that NABC has recorded interests from many Dutch/European firms who are invested in various sectors of the economy, including oil and gas sector, agriculture, vocational training/ skill acquisition, power generation and transmission, real estate/housing development, infrastructural development.

He said: “Other areas include education, finance, insurance, IT technology, aviation and tourism development and promotion of SME’s and hope that the government with the organised private sector will use this platform to attract more direct investments into Nigeria.

“The NABC believes that an increase in business activities with the transfer of expertise and knowledge to Africa will help tremendously to strengthen African economic development.

“The Dutch expertise in various key sectors of the economy will provide significant value to the sustainable development of the African continent.”

American Apparel Board rejects demand to meet CEO

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HE Independent directors of maverick retailer American Apparel Inc have rejected a demand to meet and reinstate ousted Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dov Charney, a source has said.

The board last week stripped Charney of his titles of chief executive, chairman and president. Initially known for insisting on manufacturing clothing in the United States, Charney eventually became notorious for conduct like attending meetings in his underwear.

American Apparel’s board cited Charney’s alleged misuse of company funds and role in disseminating nude photos of an ex-employee who had sued him.

Charney’s lawyer demanded a meeting on Monday, and the board’s refusal to meet with and reinstate him makes a legal battle with the ex-CEO, who still controls 27 per cent of the company’s stock, more likely.

In the letter to the board, sent on Thursday, lawyer Patricia Glaser said the company had failed to give Charney 21-day notice of his severance package as required by law, making his dismissal “not only unconscionable but illegal.”

A link to the letter, whose receipt the source familiar with the matter confirmed, was provided in an article on the Wall Street Journal’s website.

The letter threatened legal action should 45-year-old Charney not regain his executive positions.

The board sees no point in meeting with Charney at this time, the person close to the matter said.

The board is expected to announce it is working with investment boutique Peter J. Solomon imminently, the source said. An officer at the bank declined to comment.

It remains unclear what role the boutique advisory firm would perform for the retailer, which has a market value of $120million and has been struggling with weak sales and heavy debt. It could provide financing alternatives, the source said.

The source denied an accusation

by Glaser that the board gave Charney an ultimatum on Wednesday: resign voluntarily to receive $1million a year over four years as a consultant, or be terminated for cause.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

THE NATION INVESTORS

FBN Holdings postpones 1.87b shares takeover bid for Oasis Insurance

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BN Holdings has postponed its billion-Naira takeover bid for minority shareholdings in Oasis Insurance Plc. FBN Holdings is making the takeover bid through FBN Life Assurance Limited, an insurance subsidiary of FBN Holdings. Under the initial plan, FBN Assurance plans to make a mandatory takeover of 1.87 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo of Oasis Insurance currently held by minority shareholders. The takeover would have applied to shareholders in the book of Oasis Insurance as at the close of business on June 20, 2014 while FBN Assurance would have opened open application list or the takeover on June 23, 2014 and closed same on July 14, 2014.

Reliable sources in the know told The Nation that FBN Holdings has postponed the takeover bid because it could not obtain the necessary regulatory approvals within

By Taofik Salako

the timeline for the earlier dates.

According to the sources, the quotations committee of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has not approved the takeover bid, forcing the company to put the transaction on hold.

However, the sources indicated that FBN Life Assurance plans to reopen the takeover bid as soon as it received all regulatory approvals.

FBN Holdings, through FBN Assurance, had acquired the majority equity stake in Oasis Insurance. It had acquired about 4.63 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each of Oasis Insurance from the previous core investors-Oasis Group Limited and MetroWest Investments Limited.

The sale transferred the majority 71.2 per cent equity stake in Oasis Insurance to FBN Life Assurance. The acquisition was ef-

fected through the execution of a share sale and purchase agreement between the parties following receipt of the requisite regulatory approvals from the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Oasis is quoted on the NSE. With the acquisition of 71.2 per cent, FBN Life was required to make a mandatory take-over bid to the remaining shareholders of Oasis insurance in line with section 131 of the Investment and Securities Act (ISA) and Rule 445 of SEC’s Rules and Regulations. The takeover bid could however make Oasis Insurance, a publicly quoted insurance firm, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the group.

The acquisition would enable the FBN Holdings to deepen its insurance business as FBN Life seeks to harness Oasis Insurance’s

relative strengths, thereby creating synergies for the development of the insurance business.

Oasis Insurance is expected to leverage FBN Holdings’ wide network, including the international spread of its flagship-First Bank of Nigeria Limited, to expand its coverage of the Nigerian general insurance market through crossselling of products on First Bank’s network.

In a review of the outlook of the group, chief executive officer, FBN Holdings, Mallam Bello Maccido, said the group would leverage on its acquisitions to consolidate its performance.

According to him, outlooks for each of the group’s businesses remained positive with increased contributions from the businesses expected to cumulate into better returns for the group.

He said the group has increased investments across its business

lines with a view to strengthening its leadership positions pointing out that the recent acquisitions of ICB banks across four West African countries, the acquisition of Oasis Insurance and ongoing efforts to strengthen the investment banking and asset management business through the acquisition of a merchant banking licence would help to enhance benefits to all stakeholders, especially the shareholders.

“As we steadily progress in our journey under the holding company arrangement, we expect to drive growth in each of our business lines, in a way that will enhance the aggregate performance of the group. This will be complemented by reinforcing the preeminence of our commercial banking franchise, while driving the level of contribution from each of the non-banking subsidiaries,” Maccido said.

Foreign investors slow down on Nigerian equities

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THE quantity of foreign portfolio investments in the Nigerian stock market fell to its lowest level in three months, according to the latest update on foreign portfolio investment (FPI) by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The NSE indicated general decline in foreign investments last month while the overall trend continued to show net deficit with outflows more than inflows. However, in a remarkable shift, Nigerian investors sustained a strong demand for equities during the period. While foreign participation declined from 75.25 per cent in April to 45.56 per cent in May, domestic participation more than doubled from 24.75 per cent to 54.44 per cent.

The five-month report for the period ended May 31, 2014 detailed month-on-month as well as periodic transactions by both foreign investors and Nigerian investors. The report used two key indicators-inflow and outflow, to gauge foreign investors’ mood and participation in the stock market as a barometer for the economy. Foreign portfolio investment outflow includes sales transactions or liquidation of equity portfolio investments through the stock market while inflow includes purchase transactions on the NSE. The NSE report is generally regarded as a credible gauge of foreign portfolio investments in Nigeria as it coordinates data from nearly all active investment bankers and stockbrokers.

According to the report, the quantity of total foreign transactions dropped by about N47 billion in May to N91.9 billion, its lowest position in four months. Besides, the inflowthe buy side of the foreign transactions, declined by about N24 billion from this year’s high of N65.1 billion in April to N41.3 billion in May, its lowest position in three months.

Total transactions trended to its high of N201.61 billion in May, driven largely by significant increase in transactions by Nigerian investors, which rose from N45.64 billion in April to N109.75 billion in May. Five-month cumulative analysis however still underlined the dominance of foreign investors, who accounted for about 63 per cent of the turnover on the NSE during the period. Aggregate turnover during the period stood at N933.55 billion, consisting of N587.15 billion from foreign investors and N353.41 billion from Nigerian investors.

Buy-sell analysis of the foreign transactions showed that foreign investors had taken out more than they

invested during the period. Foreign outflows stood at N353.41 billion within the period as against inflows of N233.74 billion.

In April, foreign investors traded N138.79 billion worth of shares including sales transactions of N73.73 billion and buy transactions of N65.06 billion. Total domestic transactions stood at N45.64 billion. Total transactions during the month stood at N184.43 billion.

The foreign sale-buy trend in April followed the same trend in recent months, although the momentum of buy transactions appeared to be picking up. In the first quarter, nearly two-thirds of foreign portfolio transactions were on the sell side.

According to the NSE, total foreign outflows stood at N229.03 billion in the first quarter, representing some 64.2 per cent of total foreign transactions during the period. Total foreign inflows stood at N127.41 billion. Altogether, foreign investors’ deals accounted for N356.50 billion during the three-month period, more than 65.11 per cent of total transactions of N547.51 billion. This indicated that Nigerian investors accounted for N191.01 billion, 34.89 per cent of total transactions, during the period.

Month-on-month analysis showed that there was increase in the momentum of foreign transactions in March 2014, with increases in both sell and buy orders. However, the downtrend continued to dominate transactions. Total foreign outflow in March 2014 stood at N75.42 billion as against inflow of N55.13 billion, totaling N130.55 billion. Foreign investors accounted for 78.25 per cent of total transactions-foreign and domestic, of N166.84 billion in March 2014.

The flow of investments in March 2014 contrasted sharply with the situation in March 2013 when there were more inflows than outflows. Total foreign inflows totaled 53 per cent of total foreign transactions in March 2013. Total foreign transactions stood at N80.14 billion in March 2013, consisting of inflow of N43.13 billion and outflow of N37.01 billion.

Month-on-month, the outflows in February are about 107 per cent higher compared to January 2014 and about 183 per cent compared to February 2013. While total transactions at the NSE increased from N181.97 billion in January 2014 to N198.70 billion in February 2014, foreign outflows accounted for the increased tempo of activities and the higher proportion of foreign participation to local participation.

Foreign portfolio outflows stood

•From Left: Head, Corporate Services Division, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Bola Adeeko; Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Oscar Onyema; High Commissioner of India, His Excellency, A.R. Ghanashyam; Executive Director, Business Development, NSE, Haruna Jalo - Waziri and First Secretary & Head of High Commission's Office, High Commission of India, Lagos, Mrs. Rani Malick during a visit by the High Commission of India to the NSE

at N103.53 billion in February 2014 as against foreign inflows of N32.75 billion. These indicated that foreign investors accounted for 68.59 per cent of total transactions during the period. This contrasted sharply with the situation in similar earnings season of February 2013 when foreign investors had more inflows at N39.34 billion as against outflows of N36.63 billion.

Total foreign outflow had stood at N50.14 billion in January 2014 as against inflow of N39.53 billion during the period, bringing total foreign transactions to N89.67 billion. In comparable period of January 2013, foreign inflow was higher at N40.96 billion against outflow of N20.50 billion.

Recent reports have continued to highlight increased foreign participation, though negative. Foreign investors accounted for 49.28 per cent of total transaction value of N181.97 billion in January 2014 as against 36.89 per cent of total transactions of N166.60 billion in January 2013 and 48.91 per cent of total transactions of N142.24 billion in December 2013.

Portfolio flow analysis in recent period had shown a consistent trading pattern in foreign transactions.

While foreign investors flowed in more funds than they took out in the first half of 2013, they have since been taking more money out than they invested since the beginning of the second half of 2013.

Month-on-month analysis showed that total foreign transactions closed

December 2013 at N69.57 billion, consisting of inflow of N32.40 billion and outflow of N37.17 billion.

Total foreign transactions rose to N88.89 billion in November, including inflow of N42.68 billion and outflow of N46.21 billion. These had closed October at N82.33 billion including inflow of N39.45 billion and outflow of N42.88 billion.

In September, total foreign inflow was N26.14 billion as against outflow of N27.88 billion, bringing total foreign transactions to N54.02 billion.

Total transactions at the stock market during the month stood at N108.19 billion, out of which domestic investors contributed N54.17 billion or 50.07 per cent.

In August, foreign inflow had stood at N31.12 billion as against outflow of N39.76 billion. Total foreign transactions thus stood at N70.88 billion, 52.26 per cent of the total turnover of N135.63 billion recorded for the month.

Foreign investors had took out nearly a double of every penny they invested in the Nigerian stock market in July, unusually high disparity between foreign portfolio inflow and outflow, which led to significant decline in net foreign investment in the Nigerian stock market.

The seventh month report for July 2013 had indicated that total foreign inflow stood at N31.81 billion as against outflow of N61.90 billion in July, showing the widest divergence between inflow and outflow so far this year.

Total foreign inflow had risen to N90.15 billion while outflow stood at N60.09 billion as total foreign transactions increased to N150.24 billion in June.

Foreign investors had accounted for 36.89 per cent, 39.65 per cent, 52.78 per cent, 64.48 per cent, 48.68 per cent and 51.13 per cent in January, February, March, April, May and June respectively.

Portfolio transactions by foreign investors totaled N61.46 billion, N75.97 billion, N80.14 billion, N122.97 billion, N91.86 billion and N150.24 billion in January, February, March, April, May and June respectively.

Foreign investors staked about N4.08 trillion on quoted shares on the NSE between 2007 and 2012. Foreign investors had gradually and consecutively increased their investments in Nigerian equities from about 15 per cent of total market turnover in 2007 all through till a high of about 67 per cent in 2011.

Foreign portfolio investors concluded deals worth about N2 trillion on publicly quoted Nigerian equities between 2012 and 2013. Value of foreign portfolio transactions on the NSE increased by 29 per cent in 2013 as domestic investors showed keener interests in listed equities.

Value of foreign portfolio transactions increased from N808.4 billion in 2012 to N1.04 trillion in 2013. In both years, Nigeria retained net inflow from foreign investors. However, net inflow dropped consider

Newspaper of the Year

AN EIGHT-PAGE PULLOUT ON THE SOUTHWEST STATES

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

PAGE 29

Arisekola: From grass to grace

INSIDE

Though he died a billionaire, the late business mogul and Islamic leader Alhaji Abdul-Azeez Arisekola-Alao was born in the ghetto. He grew up there before fortune smiled on him. He made his millions at a young age. BISI OLADELE was at Ita Baale, Ibadan where it all began for the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland.

•Continued from Page 30

‘We had dedicated, hard working lawmakers in our time’ •PAGE 34

‘Parliamentary standard is falling in our assemblies’ •PAGE 35

Save my life, amputee begs Nigerians •PAGE 36

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

30

SOUTHWEST REPORT

Arisekola: From grass to grace A

LHAJI AbdulAzeez Arisekola Alao, 69, who passed on last week, was a man of destiny and is so fondly remembered by his relations and close associates. And the reason is not far-fetched.

A visit to his Jenrola family house in Ori-Okiti, Ita-Baale near Beere in Ibadan clearly confirmed that.

Dirty, densely populated with many old, some dilapidated buildings inhabited by people at the lowest rung of the social ladder, OriOkiti, unbelievably produced the enigmatic billionaire businessman.

Though, he became famous for his booming business empire in the 1960s, particularly for his auto sales firm, Lister Motors, the business mogul was better known for his exceptional love and passion for Islam as well as his unparalleled philanthropic gestures.

Arisekola-Alao, who was the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, was born on February 14, 1945, to the families of Alhaji Abdur Raheem Olatunbosun Olaniyan Alao and Alhaja Rabiatu Olatutu Abegbe Alao. The parents were peasant farmers, who hailed from Ajia in Ona–Ara local government of Oyo State.

He attended St. Lukes School, Adigun, Ibadan and later ICC Primary School, Igosun, Ibadan.

Recalling his growing up days, Arisekola’s cousin, Pa Ganiyu Jenrola, said the deceased showed signs of leadership and greatness right from his childhood days at ItaBaale. Even at primary school, he recalled that Arisekola used to prevent his colleagues from fighting by making good effort to bring all parties in a case to a roundtable for amicable resolution.

His words: “He was a man of peace. He would prevent and resolve crises among his primary school mates as well as play mates in the neighbourhood. He was coolheaded and open-minded. Azeez also had this unusual respect for elders. He would not sit and watch elders do anything that he was able to do for them. He could not stand such sights. He was such a different boy.

“He was also accommodating. He would not also join his mates for just any type of play. He chose the play he wanted to be involved in.

He was very gentle and reserved.

With such signs and others, we observed that Azeez was a special child. So, we were not surprised to see him become famous, rich and great.”

Pa Jenrola said no other child in

the family manifests special signs to suggest that they would be like Arisekola.

His business empire After his primary education, Arisekola could not attend secondary school because his letter of admission and scholarship came too late. To fill the time, Pa Jenrola explained that he went to learn trading from his older cousin, who was dealing in pesticides including Gammalin 20 and associated goods at Ogunpa, Ibadan. He was 16-yearold when he started the apprenticeship.

After a few years, Arisekola was said to have started his own trading company, Azeez Arisekola Trading Company, which dealt in Gammalin 20 and associated products as well. And few years later, at age 19, he made his first million.

Pa Jenrola said Arisekola built his first house in Agodi at age 21.

From the trading company, Arisekola expanded his business, setting up Lister Oil Nigeria Limited, Lister Flour Mills Nigeria Ltd, Lister Property and Estate Company, Lister Printing Press and Lister Farms and Fishery (at Abegede covering 200 hectares).

Others are Lister Insurance Company, Barakat Investment Nigeria Limited, Jubab International and Aris Corporation (based in London). The business mogul also has shareholding in many banks including First Bank of Nigeria.

A conservative estimate of Arisekola’s business empire shows that it is worth over N60 billion.

The Lister Oil alone is said to be worth at least N50 billion.

It was learnt that Lister Flour Mills and Lister Biscuits Company was to be reopened before this Ramadan according to schedule. But death turned it to a mirage. He was said to have injected huge cash into the company to reposition it.

His politics Though, not a card-carrying member of any political party, Arisekola wielded a huge political influence. He was friend to the high and mighty in the political class.

He was as close to the successive top military brass during the military era as he was to top politicians across the country.

Through Islamic and business connections Arisekola wined and dined with the who-is-who in Nigeria. He was a personal friend to all the heads of state and presidents from the Second Republic till date.

Due to his financial strength and

•Arisekola family House political connection as well as vast grassroots reach, Arisekola was able to influence the selection of governors from the old Oyo State till date. He supported many of their campaigns with huge amounts of money.

Arisekola was also believed to have influenced the appointment of ministers, heads of federal and state parastatals and agencies, National Assembly members, state lawmakers and council chairmen.

Confirming this, a former governor of the old Oyo State, Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, disclosed that he had only N20,000 when he was contesting as governor in 1983 but that Arisekola gave him N20 million and 20 vehicles in addition to a special car.

With such influence, Arisekola dictated many candidates for appointment and elective political positions in Oyo State.

His closeness to the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111, presented a solid political team influencing who became what as well as government policies in spite of the fact that both friends do not carry cards of any political party.

The calibre of people paying condolence visit to his Basorun, Ibadan home since his death is a confirmation of his political strength.

Callers include Vice President Namadi Sambo, who represented President Goodluck Jonathan; Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal; the Sultan of

‘

Through Islamic and business connections Arisekola wined and dined with the who-is-who in Nigeria. He was a personal friend to all the heads of state and presidents from the Second Republic till date

‘

Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; Ogun and Osun State Governors, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and Rauf Aregbesola respectively; former and serving ministers, Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko; Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon. Monsurat Sunmonu and many others.

His philanthropy Attestations by many speakers about Arisekola showed that he was a philanthropist per excellence. He gave as much money to the cause of Islam as to the well-being of others. He gave so much towards medical care of the sick, sponsored many children’s education up to university level, gave to associations, groups and neighbours, among others.

According to one of his close associates, Alhaji Kunle Sanni, there has not been any philanthropist like Arisekola. “He gave without rationalising. He gave to the rich and the poor. He actually sought for people he had seen for a while and assisted them on discovering their problems. Every year, Arisekola sponsored 100 of people to Umrah (Lessr Hajj), in Saudi Arabia. He drew beneficiaries from various states, groups, communities and cities. It was like Arisekola would fall sick if he did not help people.

“Many times I wondered why one would do such without ceasing.

Arisekola is indescribable; he was humble to a fault and a giver of the highest order. I can’t find any giver like him around. May Allah give us another Arisekola in Nigeria,”

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

He used to describe himself as “NPA” meaning No Proper Arrangement.

Some of us believed that he should organise himself into having a foundation but he did not do that. Most of the foundations we hear about, I can tell you do not give up to half of what Aare gave

‘

he said.

Alhaji Sanni recalled several instances when the late billionaire gave to people that he (Sanni) believed did not have a worthy cause to attract such assistance but pointed out that the deceased never cared.

Arisekola built mosques, gave towards churches, community buildings and others.

At his gate, beggars queue up every morning to receive alms, except when he was out of town.

Alhaji Sanni disclosed that the beggars have an association there, pointing out that they earn at least N30,000 every month.

Arisekola’s nephew, Mr Demola Solalu, is the Special Assistant on Public Relations to Governor Abiola Ajimobi. Reflecting on his uncle, he said: “How would one describe Aare? He was like a role model to some of us young children. After my secondary education, my mum, who is his cousin, took me to him to get me a job. The man declined. He said this boy will only start chasing women if he starts to earn income now. That was how he joked about it. You know he was a very jovial person. That day, he gave me money for GCE, extramural classes and JAMB. That was a turning point in my life because I made up my mind immediately to go to university. I thank God I accomplished it. He sponsored me throughout. After my graduation from the university, he employed me immediately at his Monitor newspaper.

Aare was a kind and selfless individual. I have not come across any other person like him. He took all other person like his children irrespective of your relationship with

him.

“Anytime you were with him, he was always giving to people, assisting them for various challenges -health, education, social, religious etc.

“He used to describe himself as “NPA” meaning No Proper Arrangement. Some of us believed that he should organise himself into having a foundation but he did not do that. Most of the foundations we hear about, I can tell you do not give up to half of what Aare gave.

“But there was a day, I was very happy about his style too. I saw a letter written to him from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, thanking him for paying the bills of patients who could not pay. So, I was surprised that people were noticing what he was doing.”

Pa Jenrola also recalled that a day he will never forget was the day he went to meet his cousin, requesting him to come and make all the neighbours around their family house happy.

He said: “One day, I went to him.

I asked him to come and make our neighbours happy. And he came, he asked me to invite all of them.

When they arrived, he asked them to line up according to their sex.

He gave each person N5,000 and uncooked rice with meat. Aare distributed money and food to everyone around here every Ramadan.”

Pa Jenrola, who is the Mogaji Arisekola at the Ita-Baale family house, also betrayed emotion while recalling how the deceased bought a tipper lorry for him after his retirement from the army. According to him, he allowed him to use the tipper to supply sand to all his construction sites to earn a good living.

“When I grew old and I could not do laborious jobs again. I went to him to offer me a less stressful job in one of his companies or at his home. But he declined, saying I was too old to work again. He promised to give me money for upkeep till death and he fulfilled it.” He said sobbing. “My benefactor is gone now.”

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SOUTHWEST REPORT

Lamentations from his mosque

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HE death last week of billionaire businessman, Alhaji AbdulAzeez Arisekola-Alao has continued to generate torrents of reactions from across the land especially within the Islamic community where he held sway as the Aare Musulumi of Yoruba until he breathed his last.

From the Arisekola Central Mosque along Iwo Road, in Ibadan, built by the Islamic leader 16 years ago, the Chief Imam, Alhaji AbdulRazak Akuru and members of the congregation have been lamenting the demise of the philanthropist, who died on June 18, 2014.

Alhaji Akuru said:”What am I going to say again after what people have been saying since his death, it was a loss to all Muslims in this world. Aare Arisekola built this big mosque at Iwo-Road and I have been in that mosque for over 16 years.

And since the first Ramadan we had in this mosque in 1999, the Aare ensured that he fed everyone that came into his mosque for Ramadan to pray.

“Also when the fasting reached 20 in Ramadan, over 3,000 men and women were being fed with abundant food, including fruits.

Some people even come to Aare’s mosque purposely because of the food and he will always warn us never to chase any of them away but allow everybody to participate in it. Sometimes, if the food was not enough, Aare will tell us to go and cook more and kill more cows. We killed up to four to five cows along with small rams everyday during Ramadan.

“Since 16-years-ago till date, that was how Aare had been feeding the masses and he didn’t like people to know that he was the one doing it. What always surprised me most times was that if we were cooking at the back of this mosque, Aare often came over to cook with us, especially cutting of the ewedu and preparing of the Amala. He was second to none in terms of his kindness and philanthropist gesture. I don’t

•Arisekola's mosque

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

know who will replace his type of humanitarian gesture towards the downtrodden in the society.

All I will say is that Almighty Allah should forgive him of his sins and make the children he left behind to be greater than he was.”

Also, one of the members of the Mosque, Mr. Babatunde Olagboye, said of the late business mogul: “He was like a father to all of us here and his death was painful to everyone, we cannot stop his death because it is Allah that gives and take.”

Commenting on Aare’s good gesture, Olagboye explained that the big Mosque he built for Allah is a manifestation of his good deeds, adding that sponsoring over 100 Muslims yearly to Mecca by Arisekola is very rewarding to Allah.”

In his words: “There is no doubt that we are going to miss Aare because nobody can fill the gap he has filled in the past 50 years, the Muslims, in particular will miss him for his popular support for Islam. The political class in Oyo State will miss him for his political advice and his support at all times.

He has created a big vacuum for those of us who have a very close relationship with him and for his family, but we can only pray to Allah to grant him Aljannah Firdauz. He came, he saw and he conquered. I don’t know who can ever replace him. When M. K. O. Abiola died nobody to replace him, when Baba Adedibu died nobody to replace him too, and now our own Aare Arisekola is gone and I don’t think there will be a replacement for his goodwill,“he said.

He stressed that he had given hope to the hopeless, love to the unloved ones and peace to troubled heart, however, wondering why he had to die at a time like this.

The Chief Security Guard of the Mosque, Mr. Adebowale Abodunrin, in tears, could also not fathom the loss of the Aare Musulumi at a time he was most

needed.

Abodunrin, who noted that he had a close relationship with Aare Arisekola for over 20 years said: ”Baba Arisekola has done a lot in my life and in my family.

He will, forever, be remembered for his accommodating spirit.

Anytime he came to this mosque to pray he related with me as if we are from the same family background, age or social class. There was no day I asked him for assistance that he will decline me of it. I wouldn’t have had a means of livelihood if not for him, because if this mosque doesn’t exist what will I be doing here?

Nobody walked up to Aare in tears and returned the same way.

He was a problem solver and a messenger of Allah on earth.

Baba Arisekola gave money freely without questioning what you intend to use the money for. He gives me free Ileya ram and put money for its preparation.”

Also reacting, was one of Aare’s benefactor, Alfa Bashiru Ayinla said: “I am still much in great pains over the death of my benefactor, Alhaji Arisekola, because what I am today, he contributed to my success in life. I remember when Alhaji Oloko took me to him when I wanted to pay for my JAMB exam and all hope was lost, he gave me N5,000 instead of N2,500 I asked for. After I gained admission to The Polytechnic Ibadan, he was the one who sponsored me all through my stay there. Today, I am a HND holder and the petrol station I am working in today as the manager, he was instrumental to it.”

He confessed that: ”I have never seen any influential person in Ibadan that would be able to replicate his philanthropic gesture and good will. He was kind, loving, caring and accommodated all irrespective of your religion, tribe or nationality.”

Weeping uncontrollably, Ayinla kept on wondering” So my own Baba Arisekola is gone?

I pray to Allah to forgive him his sins and grant him AljannahFirdauz.”

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

34

SOUTHWEST REPORT

'We had dedicated, hard working lawmakers in our time’ The 7th Assembly to sit at the Parliament Building, Agodi, Ibadan, marked its third anniversary penultimate week, amidst praises for having done its legislative business without crisis. The deputy speaker of the 2nd Assembly (1979-1983), Chief Olanipekun Adesokan, who turned 79 this month, recalls his days in the hallowed chambers of the House, where the likes of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo once held sway, in the First Republic. He spoke with BISI OLADELE.

•Chief Adesokan

W

HAT were you doing before your election into the state House of Assem-

bly?

I was once a teacher and I was also in the civil service in the Ministry of Economic Planning. I was there until 1965, when I was transferred to the Federal Immigration Department. I was among the first set of people that were transferred from the Western Nigeria Civil Service to the Federal Civil Service during Chief Ladoke Akintola days as the Premier of the region. I even had a friend among us who later retired as the Deputy Immigration General. When I was in the Statistics Department of the Western Nigeria, I got promoted to Assistant Sta-

W

tistics Officer. But because of the little politics we were playing in our town (Fiditi) then, I made a publication that caused my promotion to be cancelled. It was serious politics that was going on in Western Nigeria then. So, I was warned that I should neither be at the front nor at the back because all of them knew how to play politics. I thank God because that was what helped me. At that time, I was also studying Law. Did you later return to Immigration Service after your Law programme?

Yes, I went back and when I was there, I was promoted from Assistant Officer to Immigration Officer.

Then, somebody was there who had

Diploma from Ahmadu Bello University and was given Senior Immigration Officer. That was the reason why I had to resign my appointment in January 1972 and I started my law practice.

How did you get into politics?

It was in 1976. There was to be an election into local government councils in Nigeria. The military government under the late Murtala Mohammed appointed Dasuki, former Sultan of Sokoto, to carry out the exercise. He did it in a way that would allow everybody to participate and contest. When we got to the meeting of Fiditi Progressives Movement, it was Chief Adeyi that told them that if we didn't want Agbekoya to win the election, they should persuade me to contest.

So you contested as a local government chairman?

No, it was ordinary councilor in Fiditi. I won as a councilor in the local government and that got me into politics. I was still having a chamber in Lagos.

Were you a member of the Con-

stituents Assembly?

Yes, I was. I represented Oyo Local Government from 1977 to1978.

My intention was to go back to law practice after the conference. I didn't have the intention of going fully into politics. But our people, led by Chief Ojelabi, insisted that I should contest. They said even if I didn't win I could become a commissioner.

Do you mean a member of the House of Assembly then could also be appointed as a commissioner?

Yes, by then Chief Michael Koleoso, was appointed a commissioner after winning election as a member of the Oyo State House of Assembly. But, he couldn't hold the two positions at the same time.

People could be appointed after winning an election but you will lose your seat. In my own case, I contested the election and won to represent AFIJIO. There were eight seats in Oyo Local Government then: three for AFIJIO area and the remaining five were for the remaining parts of Oyo. They wanted

to appoint me as a commissioner but Oyo people refused. All the eight of us who contested the House of Assembly, except one, were Christians and they would not want to allow any Christian to become a commissioner. Also, Chief Adeyi, who is from my town, was a commissioner and minister for so many years and they wouldn’t allow anybody again to come from AFIJIO Local Government to be commissioner. They later appointed me as the Deputy Speaker.

How would you describe the business of lawmaking during your time?

We were really dedicated, hardworking and thorough.

Under which party did you win election to become a member?

It was the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and I was representing AFIJIO. There were three constituencies for Oyo and AFIJIO local governments. One of them was for Fiditi and Iware state constituency which I represented.

What was the business of law

‘Parliamentary standard is falling in

HAT was your position as a member of staff of the House of Assembly?

I started my career in the Western Nigeria House of Assembly, when I joined as a Clerical Assistant at a very young age of 17. It was a job for a school certificate dropout that I was then. From there, I studied and ended up being the clerk of the House.

In which Assembly did you eventually become the clerk?

I was appointed in the old Oyo State. It was between 1989 and 1991 when General Ibrahim Babangida was preparing to hand over, he appointed some of us in the state assemblies across the country. We were called Clerk-Designate. We were handling the administration of the House, restoration of services and gathering staff audit. We were doing this before Osun State was created on August 12, 1991 and I had to move because I am from Osun State. I actually started work in 1958, at the Western Region House of Assembly and this is where I met some people I will forever have respect for.

Can you mention some of them?

I met the likes of Chief Rotimi Williams, Chief Anthony Enahoro, Chief Jonathan Odebiyi, the late Adegoke Adelabu, Chief Frank Oputa Otutu (from Kwale) and the late Chief Denis Osadebe.

I also met Chief Kabiowo, who was the first man I knew to have donated his salary to educate people of his constituency. The import of that action never left me

Having worked as an administrative personnel in the then Western Nigeria parliament till he rose to become Clerk of Osun State House of Assembly in 1991, Pa Jacob Oluwole surely knows the story of lawmaking in the Parliament Building, Agodi, Ibadan, where he started his career in 1958. He recalls how things were done then and laments the drop in quality in our various parliaments across the country now, in this encounter with BISI OLADELE. ever since because I see that as a service par excellence. If you are able to donate your salary to your own people for their upliftment, there can’t be any better definition of public service.

How did you feel being part of the Western Nigeria Parliament and Oyo State House of Assembly then?

There was nothing peculiar about it. The politicians knew themselves and their positions.

They held the power; we were just manning the structures to make them work efficiently and assist them to be productive. It is a pleasure to read the speeches of Osadebe, Rotimi Williams, Adelabu, not to talk of Awolowo and Odebiyi. When you look at those people and listen to them, you will feel you had a privilege.

They were developed and matured minds, who gave nothing out of their offices other than service. But unfortunately that is largely lacking these days, especially since 1991/1992. Members of the Assembly since 1992 were calling themselves the new breed, but in actual fact, they were the new greed and you can see what has been happen-

ing to the country since their time.

What are you trying to describe here?

There was no proper and orderly handing over of institutions to succeeding generations. Institutions do not build themselves. When

you have high calibre of people in institutions, the institutions will stand the challenges of time. As they say, your predecessors usually have certain things written on your own table. I believe that type of writing guides and gives direc-

‘

Today, when you hear them in the House, you will wonder if the people ever went to school, particularly, if you know that some of them even claim to hold PhDs in Political Science

‘

tion. Today, politicians are looking for power to benefit themselves only and not their own people. Where you have such a situation, the society makes very little progress.

As a member of staff of the Western Nigeria and the old Oyo State House of Assembly, can you remember some of the parliamentary words commonly used by assembly men within the confines of the House?

Yes, for instance, I cannot call a member by his name in the House.

I can only call him, for example, the Honourable member from Fiditi. Even when the Speaker also wanted to recognise him to speak, he addressed him so; not Mr. In the parliament, it was virtually a taboo to call a member of the House by his name. Sometimes, they used Latin. And when they wanted to adjourn, they will say ‘Mr. Speaker put the question, the House now adjourns’. They will now say ‘The motion is carried’. Also when they say ‘Votes and Proceedings’, it means the last sitting of the House. When they want to adjourn, they will first say, ‘Do you want to take a day certain?’ which

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

35

SOUTHWEST REPORT Today, you see someone that has just finished from the university jumping to the State or House of Representatives because of the money he wants to make.

I hope our young people will learn how to play good politics

‘

•Oyo State House of Assembly making like then?

It was very interesting. There was a time I proposed that the Sixth Assembly should emulate the way we were debating then. This Seventh Assembly is trying. They move motions and sponsor bills that are very essential to the life of the people.

But they also dance to the governor's tune too. During our time, in Awolowo's party, discipline was the watchword and you can't do anything against that.

How many constituencies were there in the Assembly then?

There were 126 constituencies.

Where did Chief Gbolagunte hail from?

He was from Ibarapa in OkeOgun area of the state.

What was the pedigree of House members then that made your debates robust?

Many of them were well learned.

Some were principals of secondary schools. Our constitution was unlike the present one, which provides that before you can contest you must have at least a secondary school certificate. In those days, there was nothing like that. It was free-for-all. But they understood politics, and we even moved a motion that we should be debating in Yoruba so that everybody will understand your point. Although, there are others who were very shy and would never say anything, the debate was very lively and thorough.

What kind of issues usually led to hot debates then?

It was very early by then. We just started legislative system. Many people didn't really understand the system because by 1979 when we started, we were just coming from military regime, which was totali-

tarian in nature. People could not really engage in any form of debate under the regime. In the House, we discussed issues that concerned our people and their welfare. People don’t play politics as much as we did then. Most young people in politics today are only looking for money.

What about inter-party struggle?

That was serious between the NPN and UPN. Thugs were being used here and there. But we thank the present governor because now we don't have political thuggery in his administration.

Was there a time thugs invaded the House of Assembly during your time?

No. They never did. We never brought governance so low to that level. The House of Assembly was well respected.

How would you rate the second

Assembly, where you served in comparison with the first and the third assemblies?

We were the best because we had the best materials. The First Assembly was earning double salary because you could be a teacher and still be a member of the House. The foundation they laid was the best.

There was massive thuggery during the 1983 election campaign, they even burnt my bus. But now, everywhere is calm and there is nothing like that again.

Would you like to comment on the other assemblies including the current one?

I only knew that the Third Assembly was full of election riggers. That was 1983. The Fourth Assembly in 1999, during the time of the late Lam Adesina as the governor tried its best. The Fifth was during Ladoja, where they could remove any governor in a way that should not be done at all. They even removed the speaker then. That was all sponsored by the late Adedibu, because he was the de facto Chief Security Officer of the state. The Sixth Assembly, during Governor Alao-Akala's regime was when the lawmakers were throwing themselves down from the second floor of the Parliament Building. That

was no assembly to me because they had demonstrated shear madness. I expect them to argue and leave the rest to God. The present Seventh Assembly is trying.

Looking at the Oyo State House of Assembly as an institution from the beginning, how would you describe it?

It started during the first parliamentary system in Nigeria. That was why it was stable. Unlike where you go about doing anything you like, any bill or motion, they will sit down at the floor of the House to argue together and go back and agree in unison. The foundation Baba Awolowo left there is still there. You have to praise his knowledge, attitude, discipline and manner of handling issues.

What advice do you have for younger politicians of the current and future generations?

They should desist from seeking vaulting ambitions. They should not pursue money in politics. Today, you see someone that has just finished from the university jumping to the State or House of Representatives because of the money he wants to make. I hope our young people will learn how to play good politics.

he stood for. Talking about broadmindedness, I remember when they were discussing a bill to establish the Sport Council

Commission, the late Chief Lekan Salami was a member of the House and he wanted to speak, but the Speaker, Prince Adeleke Adedoyin, wasn’t going to allow him to speak. Chief Awolowo had to intervene by pleading with the Speaker to allow the man to speak.

Incidentally, he was on the opposition side. But Chief Awolowo pleaded with the speaker to allow the member of the opposition to speak, which was rare in other assemblies.

And Chief Rotimi Williams?

The man was not nicknamed “The Law” for nothing. He knew his law, and we are still using some of his laws in about nine states till today. Most of the laws he drafted as Attorney General of Western Region are still being used in Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Lagos, Edo, Ekiti and Ondo states today. We are just adapting them to our present needs. In fact, when I admired him so much was when he left the position of the Attorney General. There was a case in Akure, which I read about in the papers.

The judge was throwing some questions at the lawyers just to enlighten the court, as they say. Chief Williams just said, ‘I made this law and I am now interpreting it’. So, having been the drafter of that law he knows what the law is up to. A man who is not sure of himself will not speak that way. I just grabbed that fact that no matter what I do I have to be sure of myself. I grew up with this type of things I copied from those leaders. They were very good leaders, and I wish they could come back so that we will have a good society again. We had a good society when they were here.

our assemblies’ means, do you want to take a particular day? But, it is unfortunate that they don’t use many of those legislative jargons again. Like I said, if there is no orderly handover from one generation to the other we will encounter this type of problem we are facing now. That is the problem of decadence. There is no progress at all as we experience terrible drop in quality. Today, when you hear them in the House, you will wonder if the people ever went to school, particularly, if you know that some of them even claim to hold PhDs in Political Science. Because of the personal aggrandizement common with them now, they don’t really do the work of the public. They were elected by the public to do their work but they don’t do the work of the public the way it should be done. Take the security challenges we are now facing as an example, we may not know, and we don’t have to know, the action the government is taking minute by minute, it is a security situation, and when you see members of the National Assembly discussing the issue they will take it personal and you will wonder if the man was ever elected to work for himself or for Nigeria.

You were a young man when you joined the Western Nigeria House of Assembly. What influence did working in that assembly have on your life?

I will just say honesty is the best poverty; but the correct saying is honesty is the best policy. They

were honest to themselves and to their people. You wouldn’t see a member of that assembly claiming sitting allowance for a sitting he never attended; no one would take a mileage claim for a journey he went for himself. They were truthful to the public; they were transparent in dealing with others and themselves and that really rubbed off on me.

Having seen at least five assemblies, would you advise any of your children to go into politics, particularly, a lawmaker?

One of them discusses a lot with me. But, I told him that he must be successful as a private individual first before going into politics so that he will be able to withstand undue pressures. Most of the members in the houses of assembly these days have not succeeded in their private lives. That is why they harass their governors anyhow and threaten them with impeachment if they fail to appropriate money for them. That is also because they have nothing to fall back on when they leave the place.

So, it is necessary that a man succeeds first as a private individual before venturing into politics.

Was there anyone in that first assembly that you regard so much and considered a hero that you love to be like?

It was Chief Awolowo first, followed by Chief Rotimi Williams.

What were the attributes that made them your heroes?

Many people saw Chief Awolowo as arrogant but I didn’t

•Pa Oluwole see him that way. To me, he was broadminded. When you want to speak with him, be sure of yourself and your facts; that was what

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

36

SOUTHWEST REPORT Board organises tourism quiz, debate for students From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

I

N its determination to make secondary school students develop interest in and appreciate tourism, the Osun State Tourism Board, in collaboration with the Nigeria Flour Mills, has organised a quiz and debate competition in which schools at local government, zonal and district levels competed for honours.

Apart from motivating the students to have interest in tourism, the quiz competition was designed to test how much they know about tourism so as to make the government and schools know where to come in to help them in their quest to be well grounded in tourism matters.

Yessy Event Managers, Osogbo in Osun State, venue of the competition was filled to its capacity.

Students who thronged the venue were eager to demonstrate their knowledge of issues on tourism.

Before the grand finale of the competition, St. David High School, Ile-Ife and Science High School, Ile-Ife emerged from Osun East Education District, Erin Community High School, Erin-Osun and Osogbo High School, Osogbo emerged from Osun Central Education District while St. Anthony’s High School, Ikoyi and GOF International College, Ejigbo emerged from Osun West Education District.

Announcing the result, the Quiz Master, who is also the Tutor-General and Permanent Secretary for Osun Central Education District, Mr. Bunmi Obisesan, said all participants were winners since they have all made it to the final.

Advising the students to keep up the effort, he announced the Osogbo High School, Osogbo as the winner with 73 points, St. Anthony’s High School, Ikoyi came second with 64 points while St. David High School, Ile-Ife took the third position.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Chairman, Osun Tourism Board, Abimbola Daniyan, said “the essence of the programme was to develop in our children the love for tourism so that they would be genuinely involved in tourism activities that can fetch them economic gains.”

The General Manager, Osun Tourism Board, Mr. Abiodun Balogun, said the board believed that “these intellectual activities” would encourage establishment of many Tourism Clubs in all middle and high schools in the state.

Tutor-General and Permanent Secretary, Osun East Education District, Mr. Kola Buari, in his keynote address, expressed appreciation to Osun Tourism Board for partnering the Nigeria Flour Mills in reviving quiz and debate in schools. According to him, the development would promote friendliness and healthy rivalry among schools and students.

Also, the representative of the Nigeria Flour Mills, Mrs. Bisola Sarumi, thanked the board for partnering with her company to organise the quiz and debate competition.

She advised all participants to patronise the company. The students were happy to display the trophies and certificates presented to them as winners.

•The corper (middle) with the villagers

Ondo community praises Youth Corps member over projects

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HE people of Etioro Community in Akoko Southwest Local Government Area of Ondo State have expressed their gratitude to Mr. Godwin Afiene Assanshure, a youth corps member serving in the area for contributing to the development of their community.

Afiene Assanshure, a 2013 Batch ‘B’ corps member with NYSC Call-up N0: NYSC/UMM/2013/144775 and State Code: OD/13B/0037 served at the Adekunle Ajasin University (AAUA) Akungba-Akoko.

Even though the young man has completed his service year and about leaving the state finally for his place of origin, he rendered various services and organised economic empowerment skill acquisition training on carpentry (PVC ceiling) for youths in the community and distributed many domestic materials to widows.

Besides, he donated drugs to patients in the health centre, two equipped first-aid boxes (one for the health centre and the other for a public primary school in the community), refuse bins (baskets), exercise books, inter-house sport uniforms (for the best pupils of the school), beautification of Olu of Etioro’s palace (Horticulture) and gave orienta-

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

tion to pupils on basic road safety signs and regulations.

At the presentation of the relief materials, the traditional head of the community, Chief P. A. Adewumi, who spoke on behalf of the beneficiaries, said: “We feel good because this is the first time in the history of the community when a corps member would do a remarkable thing in the community. Afiene has impacted our community positively. We are

happy and we appreciate you.”

Chief Adewumi particularly praised the skills acquisition programme of the corps member, saying the gesture had helped the youth and added much value to their lives.

The community head prayed that God would continue to protect the corps member and favour him in his future endeavours.

Earlier, Afiene, a native of Bayama, Obanliku Local Government Area of Cross River State, who is a graduate

‘

We feel good because this is the first time in the history of the community when a corps member would do a remarkable thing in the community

‘

of English Education from the University of Maiduguri, thanked God for inspiring him to continue to show love and contribute to the development of education, health and welfare of the people, particularly at the grassroots.

He expressed his determination to continue to make meaningful impact on humanity.

According to him, the projects cost him about N150, 000 which he got through individual donations from members of the public who are always touched by his vision.

He said: ”Throughout the period of carrying out these projects, I always moved about with a comprehensive list where all my proposed projects were written and anybody I believe could help me would be contacted after showing him the list.

“In fact, I put it as a condition that no amount is too small from any donor, and today people in Etioro and its environs rallied round me to ensure that I executed some of the projects.

“They showered praises on me and prayed fervently for success in my future endeavours. The development will give me a retentive memory of my service year in Ondo State.

Save my life, amputee begs Nigerians

F

•Kayode

OR 27-year-old Kayode Alade, March 15, 2009 will remain the saddest day in his life. It was the day the once bubbly young man experienced an everlasting trauma.

When he came into ‘The Nation’s office, along Oyemekun Road, Akure, symphatisers around looked at him pitiably and cursed the day he had the terrible road accident while travelling on his motorcycle.

Following this incident, one of his hands was amputated. Apart from this, Kayode is also battling with shoulder dislocation.

The victim had the accident along Afo-Idoani in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State.

Alade, who is married and has two kids, is now in distress. He is seeking financial assistance from public-spirited Nigerians to the tune of N750, 000 to correct the dislocated shoulder.

The young man, who is a native of Idoani, lamented that he had spent large sums of money on medical treatment since he got involved in the accident.

While narrating how the accident happened, Alade said: “I was riding

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

my motorbike from Idoani to Afo when I was crushed by a hit-andrun driver. Since then, I have not been myself again. I have visited several hospitals because of the damage done to my body.

“I have exhausted everything I have trying to sustain life. I have sold all my valuables because this accident affected my right hand. I have spent about N450, 000 on this accident.

“I cannot work again because there is no way for me to move the hand due to dislocation on my shoulder. I am just learning to use the left hand to eat.

“Immediately the incident happened, I was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Owo where I spent 21 days. I was later referred to National Orthopedic Hospital (NOH) Igbobi in Lagos State where I also spent some months.”

According to him, it was those who were emotionally moved by the pain he was passing through at Igbobi Orthopaedic Hospital (IOH) that normally gave him money to

feed.

Alade said he still owes the hospital about N150, 000 but they discharged him when they discovered that there is no means for him to pay.

He said: “Despite that my hand had been amputated, I am still feeling the pains in my shoulder because it had been dislocated from the remaining parts of my body. I can’t move it again. It was this that led me to a hospital in Kwara State from where I was referred to Gani Fawehinmi Diagnostic Centre in Ondo.

He said he had to pay N65,000 before a test was carried out, saying he got the money from good Samaritans.

Alade said he took the result of the test to Kwara Hospital where he was told that he would need about N750, 000 to get his dislocated shoulder fixed.

He said: “I am now in great pains and I have no means of livelihood.

I am urging Nigerians, government and non-governmental organisations (NG0s) to please come to my aid. My children are still young; I will regret this if I do not stay alive to take care of them.”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

37

THE DUE DILIGENCE

, 2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Portland Paints: Returning to profitability

P

ORTLAND Paints & Products Nigeria (PPPN) Plc witnessed a major rebound in 2013 with significant improvements in actual and underlying profitability. In its first report after it became a subsidiary of UAC of Nigeria (UACN) Plc, audited report and accounts of Portland Paints for the year ended December 31, 2013 showed a net profit after tax of N107 million, a major recovery from net loss of N228 million in recorded in 2012. While turnover dropped marginally, the company leveraged on improved internal efficiency and group-wide synergies to boost the bottom-line.

From a generally negative position in 2012, underlying profit and return indices were all positive in 2013, underlining the fundamental improvement in the operations of the company during the year. While gross profit margin improved from 41 per cent in 2012 to 47 per cent in 2013, pre-tax profit margin recovered from -7.0 per cent in 2012 to 4.5 per cent in 2013. Average return on total assets, which ended 2012 negative at -8.3 per cent, bounced back to 5.7 per cent while return on equity improved from -29 per cent to 12.2 per cent. The improvement in underlying value also reflected in the 14 per cent increase in the net assets value of the

company.

The balance sheet position of the company also emerged stronger during the period with better financing structure, improved liquidity and working capital and less risk of financial leverage. Debt-to-equity ratios dropped by 18 points while equity coverage for assets increased by eight points.

Financing structure Portland Paints’ paid up share capital remained unchanged at N200 million. Total equity funds meanwhile rose from N777million in 2012 to N884 million. On the back of declines in long-term and current assets, total assets dropped by 13.8 per cent from N2.39 billion to N2.18 billion. Total liabilities also simultaneously dropped by 19.4 per cent to N1.30 billion as against N1.61 billion recorded in previous year.

The financing structure was generally positive. The proportion of equity funds to total assets increased from about 32.5 per cent in 2012 to about 41 per cent in 2013. The gearing ratio of 38 per cent in 2012 dropped to 20 per cent in 2013. Current liabilities/total assets ratio improved from 56 per cent to 38 per cent while long-term liabilities/total assets ratio was relatively better

Fiscal Year Ended December 31 2013 2012 Nmillion 12 months % change Profit and Loss Statement Main Business Segment Total turnover Cost of sales Gross profit Operating expenses Interest and other incomes Finance expenses Pre-tax profit(loss) Post-tax profit (loss) Basic earnings per share(kobo) Gross dividend (Nm) Cash dividend per share (kobo) Net Assets per share (kobo) Balance Sheet Assets: Fixed assets Total long term assets Trade debtors Current assets Total assets Liabilities: Trade creditors Bank loans Current liabilities Long-term liabilities Total liabilities Equity Funds Share capital Total Equity Funds

at about 60 per cent in 2013 as against 68 per cent in 2012.

Efficiency Average cost efficiency and productivity improved during the period, underlining the improved margin that boosted the bottom-line. The company undertook staff right-sizing during the period. Average number of employees dropped from 201 persons in 2012 to 168 persons. Staff costs however dropped from N509.79 million to N352.45 million. Average staff cost per employee dropped from N2.54 million in 2012 to N2.10 million in 2013. Meanwhile, average contribution of each employee to pre-tax profit improved from a loss of N0.99 million in 2012 to N0.74 million.

Average cost of sale per unit of sale declined in 2013. Total cost of business, excluding finance charges, thus dropped considerably from 106.1 per cent in 2012 to 93 per cent in 2013.

about 18 per cent below N1.36 billion in 2012. This midline efficiency cushioned increase in interest expenses from N70 million to N105 million. With these, the company returned from a loss position of N199 million in 2012 to pre-tax profit of N124 million in 2013. After taxes, net profit stood at N107 million in 2013 compared with a loss of N228 million in 2012. While the company did not declare any dividend, basic earnings per share recovered from a loss of 56 kobo in 2012 to a modest gain of 27 kobo in 2013. Net assets per share rose by about 14 per cent from N1.94 to N2.21.

Beyond the surface, underlying indices showed improvements in profitability and returns. While gross profit margin improved from 41 per cent in 2012 to 47 per cent in 2013, pre-tax profit margin recovered from -7.0 per cent in 2012 to 4.5 per cent in 2013. Average return on total assets, which ended 2012 negative at -8.3 per cent, bounced back to 5.7 per cent while return on equity improved from -29 per cent to 12.2 per cent.

•Chairman, Portland Paints Larry Ettah

, Mr

Governance and structures

Portland Paints- purveyor of the Sandtex brand of paints; was for several years a division of West African Portland Cement (Wapco) Plc, now Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria. With the division performing creditably well as a going concern, Wapco initiated the registration of Profitability the division as a limited liability company in 1985. Portland Paints beBoth outward and underlying percame a publicly quoted company in formance indices showed impresJuly 2009. One of the most diversified sive outlook in 2013 as Portland paints manufacturing companies in NiLiquidity Paints managed marginal decline in geria, Portland Paints manufactures the top-line cost with efficient midPortland Paints’ liquidity position and markets decorative, automotive, line cost management. Turnover dropped by 3.3 per cent from N2.87 improved significantly during the industrial and marine paints. It also period with positive working capibillion to N2.77 per tal and increased financial agility. holds sole agency for world-renowned cent. Cost of sales how- Current ratio, which measures the sanitary brands including Armitage Shank, Ideal Standard and Jaquar.

12 months ever declined by 13 per financial readiness of a company by In June 2013, UAC of Nigeria cent from N1.68 bil- relating current assets to relative lilion in 2012 to N1.46 abilities, improved from 1.09 times (UACN) Plc, Nigeria’s largest conbillion in 2013. Gross in 2012 to 1.68 times in 2013. Work- glomerate, acquired the majority eqprofit thus increased ing capital/turnover ratio im- uity stake of 51 per cent in Portland 2,546 by 11 per cent from proved from 4.2 per cent in 2012 to Paints. Following the acquisition, the N1.18 billion to N1.31 20.4 per cent in 2013. Debtors/credi- board and management of the com2,866 billion. Total operat- tors ratio closed 2013 at 179.5 per pany were reconstituted. Mr. Larry 1,684 ing expenses stood at cent compared with 83.2 per cent in Ettah, who leads the management at UACN, became the chairman while 1,181 N1.11 billion in 2013, 2012.

Mr Olufemi Oguntade was appointed 1,356 managing director.

47 On the basis of available inFiscal Year Ended December 31 2013 2012 70 formation, the company has largely complied with extant -199 codes of corporate governance % % -228 and best practices.

Financing structure

2,601 2,771 1,463 1,308 1,113 33 105 124 107 27 221

2.2 -3.3 -13.1 10.8 -17.9 -30.7 49.3 -162.0 -147.1 -148.2 13.9

556 786 542 1,395 2,181

-14.5 -15.9 13.2 -3.9 -8.6

650 934 479 1,452 2,386

302 181 830 467 1,297

-47.5 -39.0 -37.7 67.8 -19.4

576 296 1,331 279 1,610

200.0 884

0.0 13.8

200.0 777

-56 194

Equity funds/Total assets Long-term liabilities/Total assets Current liabilities/Total assets Debt/Equity ratio

40.5 59.5 38.0 20.4

32.5 67.5 55.8 38.1

Profitability Gross profit margin Pre-tax profit margin Return on total assets Return on equity Dividend cover (times)

47.2 4.5 5.7 12.2 -

41.2 -7.0 -8.3 -29.4 -

Efficiency Pre-tax profit per employee (Nm) Staff cost per employee (Nm) Cost of sales, operating exp/Turnover

0.74 2.10 93.0

-0.99 2.54 106.1

Liquidity Current ratio Working capital/Turnover Debtors/Creditors

1.68 20.4 179.5

1.09 4.2 83.2

Analyst’s opinion

The overall performance outlook of Portland Paints reassures on synergies and prospects of its new business alignment. The turnaround in 2013 evidenced successful implementation of innovation and proactive policies, which centred on enhancement of its service delivery through the restructuring of its operations and, in particular, the route to the market and focus on areas of its core competencies as well as enforcement of procedures and processes. With the large group structure of UACN, which also holds controlling equity in the major paints company-CAP Plc, Portland Paints is uniquely positioned to deepen its presence in existing markets, achieve scope and scale economies in procurement, production and distribution.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

38

THE NATION

BUSINESS PENSION

Lagos pensioners appeal to Fashola over pension increase

L

AGOS State pensioners in the old pension scheme, the Defined Benefit Scheme, have appealed to the Lagos State Government to address the issue of non-payment of increases in their gratuities and allowances.

The pensioners under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Lagos State chapter, are asking for the balance of three years arrears of 142 per cent pension increase, which has run into billions of naira.

They are also demanding the implementation of the six per cent increase of 2003, and 16 per cent increase of 2007 gratuity of pensioners who retired from year 2005.

The Chairman, NUP Lagos State Council and Southwest Zone, Mr. Nojeemdeen Ibrahim, told reporters in Lagos that although the State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, has promised to address the issue, there is need for him to give it immediate

action.

He said that the state has been paying monthly pension but pays the old pension scheme without increase regularly. He urged the state government to pay the various increments in pensions.

He said: “There are pensioners that retired since 2006 from the local government councils and primary schools that have not been paid their gratuities or allowances.

“There was an increase of 142 per cent by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration in 2000 through to 2007.

We were later paid three years and we have been waiting for the outstanding years, which we pray will be paid very soon.”

He noted that the administrations of Obasanjo and late Alhaji Musa Yar’ Adua also made increases of six per cent and 15 per cent, respectively on pension and added that these adjustments

were yet to be implemented by the Lagos State Government, while other Southwest states have implemented and paid the increases.

“As the chairman, I know that many states in the Southwest have implemented these increments. I wonder why our state should be any different,” he said, and called on the Commissioner for Establishment and Training, Mrs. Florence Oguntuase to help facilitate the payment.

‘Retirees better under new pension plan’

R

ETIREES under the management of Premium Pension Limited now look healthier than they were during their working days, Managing Director of Premium Pension Limited, Mr. Wilson Ideva, has said.

He said the success of the contributory pension scheme has provided retires opportunity for medical attention adding that Premium Pension has been carrying out basic medical checkups on retirees whose pension they manage.

He said: “The medical evaluation is carried out during retirees’ interactive forums that have been taking place across the country.

“Retirees’ forums are interactive events organised by the company across the geopolitical zones of the country to essentially identify avenues of further consolidating and even enhancing the quality of the rendition of pension fund administration by the company.”

Ideva said it is also a way evaluating the success of the new pension scheme in the country.

He said: “We are interested in the health status of retirees whose pension is under our management. We want to have healthy retirees that would continue to enjoy their pension for a long time and in good health. The programme has served to further

concretize the cordial relationship existing between the company and the retirees, majority of who are on monthly programmed withdrawal.

“Many retirees now look forward to this medical test organized by our company during the interactive forums. As a result of the success of the contributory pension scheme, some retirees now look healthier than they were during their working days.

They stand to enjoy enhanced longevity if they adhere to the professional medical advice they are getting.”

He stated that the company has continued to maintain its tradition of ensuring unmatched customer satisfaction especially in retirement adding that company has about N347 billion under its management and has so far paid about N63.2 billion as retirement benefits while 13, 350 retirees receive pension every month.

The retirees’ interactive fora have been conducted in the Southwest, South-south, Southeast and Northwest. The Northeast and North-central will take their turns in the coming months, he said.

One of the retirees who attended the forum in Owerri, Mrs..Edith Okwuaka, said the medical check-up should be further scaled up beyond the basic.

Okwuaka who was until her re-

Stanbic IBTC Pensions to sensitise Rivers retirees

S

TANBIC IBTC Pension Managers Limited is set to raise awareness of pensions and retirement planning, the third series of extensive public awareness campaigns in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State.

The seminar, which would hold on July 10, with the theme, “Life renewed at 55 and beyond,” has so far been organised in Lagos and Abuja.

Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited, Dr. Demola Sogunle, said the company last year launched a comprehensive engagement and enlightenment initiative aimed at highlighting the significance of early retirement planning.

He said the programme would provide a veritable platform to appeal to Nigerians, especially those resident in Port Harcourt

and its environs, to recognise the country’s Contributory Pension Scheme as a powerful tool with which to set future goals and create the comfort and security necessary to enjoy fulfillment in retirement.

Sogunle said as an industry leader, Stanbic IBTC Pension has an obligation to highlight the benefits of the contributory pension scheme, which presents a clear path for employees to maintain a stable standard lifestyle even well after retirement.

He added that the seminar will also provide a platform for the company to forge closer ties with its customers as well as to enlighten the public on developments in the pension industry.

Other activities expected to feature at the event are expert presentations on lifestyle and health living.

• Ideva addressing retirees during the Retirees’ Forum in Enugu.

tirement the Chief Nursing Officer at the Federal Government Girls College, Owerri, commended the programme and urged the pension manager to make the medical checks to be more in-depth in terms of tests,

J

analyses and prescriptions to enhance the quality of life of retirees.

She further advised that the programme should include regular advice on the necessary steps toward detecting and managing more serious geriatric health chal-

lenges. For instance, serious prostrate related diseases, which have become rampant, could be avoided in men through timely and regular Prostrate-specific Antigen (PSA) screening, she said.

Japan Pension Funds boost bond sales

APAN’s public pension funds, which is among the world’s biggest, has accelerated net sales of domestic government bonds to 1.85 trillion yen ($18.1 billion) in the first three months of this year, central bank data showed.

According to Bloomberg, the 128.6 trillion yen Government Pension Investment Fund and its smaller peers held 6.7 percent of the 998 trillion yen of outstanding JGBs at the end of the period. The funds sold a net 267.5 billion yen of the debt in the fourth quarter of 2013.

GPIF is under government pressure to boost returns as pension payouts surge for the world’s oldest population. The health ministry released a

review of the fund’s portfolio allocations this month, paving the way for an expected revamp of its bondheavy investment strategy. Investors and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News expect the fund to reduce holdings of domestic bonds, which account for more than half its portfolio, and replace them with Japanese stocks and foreign investments.

Japan’s benchmark 10-year bonds yielded 0.595 percent as of 4:52 p.m. in Tokyo, the world’s lowest level.

Equivalent U.S. Treasuries yielded 2.65 percent.

The Bank of Japan purchases 6 trillion yen to 8 trillion yen of government debt each month as it seeks to

end 15 years of deflation. The central bank became the largest holder of the debt for the first time in data going back to 1997, with 20.1 percent of outstanding JGBs, outstripping the 19.4 percent portion owned by insurance companies.

GPIF held 55 percent of its assets in local bonds as of Dec. 31, 17 percent in domestic equities, 15 percent in foreign stocks and 11 percent in overseas debt.

The fund will cut its target for Japanese bonds to 40 percent, and increase its target for the country’s shares to 20 percent, according to the median estimate of 10 fund managers, strategists and economists surveyed by Bloomberg News last month.

any time and there is a tax benefit if left for a period of five years and over, with all contributions made in a single calendar year treated as a single block. Below are steps you should take to start your AVC today: Decide on an amount that is convenient for you to contribute in addition to your pensions. Say for instance, in saving up for a project, how much do you need for the project and how much do you need to contribute periodically to meet up that amount of money.

Notify your employer to include the agreed, additional amount to your pension contribution on a stipulated, periodic basis, monthly, quarterly or biannually, among

other.

Benefits of AVC All AVCs are taken from your total emolument before tax is deducted; hence the contribution is tax exempt.

AVCs are flexible in structure. Contributions can be made monthly, quarterly or annually, and in any amount to suit your needs It also encourages a disciplined savings culture. The ARM Pensions AVCs is managed by experienced professionals, and therefore enjoys our noted investment management expertise.

AVCs can also be withdrawn at any time, although withdrawals before five years will be taxable.

Tips for AVC in CPS: You can contribute more

A

S the term implies, Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) is an extra amount of money one voluntarily contributes (in addition) to the already existing compulsory monthly pension contribution as required by the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

Please note that you do not need to open a separate pension account or fill any additional forms as this contribution would be made directly to your already existing pension account.

All you need do is notify your employer of your intention to make AVCs. AVCs are however, peculiar because they can be withdrawn at

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

39

SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

From court room to printing After practising law for six years, Elizabeth Idem Ido, Creative Director, Mmabon’ Clothing Limited, has gone into T-shirt printing, reports DANIEL ESSIET.

•Ido

T

HERE are times that a person’s hobby or passion can become his profession. In such cases, the successes recorded gets very overwhelming. A classic case of this is the story of Elizabeth Idem Ido, a lawyer, who after six years of practice, opted into her passion - T-shirt printing.

Today, that passion has metamorphosed into Mmabon’ Clothing Limited, where she holds sway as Creative Director.

The idea of establishing the firm came in 2009, as a T-shirt printing hobby. Since then, MMABON has come a long way in building a sustainable casual apparel brand. The target of the firm is to become the first Nigerian large scale high street clothing retail brand.

Though it was supposed to remain a hobby, it took a life of its own and literally overwhelmed her career at the time, making her to build a structure for the business and jettisoning her legal practice.

Therefore, armed with N500, 000, she sourced a range of garments and branded them individually. At the moment, her firm has been able to establish production centre and showroom in Lagos with nine permanent staff.

Over the past four years, MMABON’s sales has grown significantly due to its distinctive designs, product and service delivery quality. The firm, according to its proprietress, is striving to

set international quality standards in the apparel production industry and evolve into a large scale high street retail brand.

“I think when people say that 95 per cent of businesses fail, a significant portion of those failures happen because the business didn’t have a good idea to begin with.”

Initially, Ido didn’t anticipate growth beyond herself and her living room. More business spurred on by returning and new customers from a base of close circle friends and their network inspired the level of growth the business attained at the time. At this stage, she found it challenging getting people who could run with her standards and passion.

“I remember thinking then that a custom T-shirt production and printing business would never measure up to being a lawyer. This affected my productivity the first few years because it took me a long time to mentally accept my

‘fate’,” she said.

Full throttle into the business, she realised she had made no plans for growth and investment.

The business was largely selffunded with no backup plans and she literally had to grow the business organically and slowly.

As a strategy, month-to-month profits were ploughed back into investing in more machines, stock and capacity. In the long run she was better for it. But she fell into troubling times. She had no mentor in the line of business and depended on her determination to run with the ‘gift’ she had been blessed with. She was thrown into the deep sea and she labored hard to swim out of it.

Despite this, she didn’t give up.

She trusted her instincts, vision, providence and feedback and went into the business headlong. She had a long term brand plan. It was important to her to build a solid brand, so low profit margins or losses at the beginning meant ab-

solutely nothing to her. Her work ethic at this point was centred round creative consistency and delivery at the best standards and building a team to deliver at these set high standards.

She was adamant that her products had to ‘speak’ for herself and independently command brand goodwill in years to come. That paid off, today 80 per cent of her customer portfolio are from referrals.

She made her first break about one year. Deliberately, she now set break-even points yearly. Her organic growth depends on this to grow assets and production capacity yearly.

Her favourite project is securing the bid for the Official Merchandiser of the Calabar Festival 2013 - 2015.

She said: “I am not quite sure of the qualification ‘favourite’ but I would say it’s been the most outstanding and challenging project we’ve embarked on. The platform has clearly expanded the horizons for us.”

Govt urged to boost SMEs in logistics business

T

HE Federal Government has been urged to put in place incentives critical to raising the potential of small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs), as the sector is under the yoke of the economic slowdown being experienced in the country.

Speaking at the Institute of Business Development Continuous Professional Development Programme and induction in Lagos, the Chief Operating Officer, Red Start Logistics, Mr. Sola Obabori, said the overall business environment was not improving.

This, he explained, is because the SMEs do not have sufficient capabilities to navigate the complexity of administrative and bureaucratic procedures.

According to him, building the capacity of logistics service providers is an important contributor to the competitiveness of SMEs, adding that SMEs require support to understand regulations, gain access to finance and meet quality standards.

He noted that many small-tomedium sized freight forwarders and logistics service providers had not been able to join international networks in a bid to offer custom-

ers the sort of worldwide coverage claimed by multinational operators and successfully compete for global accounts business, because of capacity. Prominent among the problems, he maintained, is how to provide the sort of sophisticated supply chain management (SCM) systems now increasingly being demanded by major exporters and importers involved with worldwide trade flows.

He said SMEs in the logistics sector were being challenged by customers to provide them with endto-end supply chain solutions, but need support to be able help their customers, mostly importers, manage the flow of their cargoes from origin to final destination.

To compete with the new breed of logistics operators, he said SMEs need to develop tailor-made IT system that provides supply chain management resource.

This, he said, would take the system beyond the basic track and trace capabilities of most other online systems and help deliver the inventory visibility that many customers are now demanding.

The Registrar, Mr. Paul Ikele, said the event became necessary

•Chairman, Membership Committee of the institute, Mr Amadi George; Ikele and President,Mr Ifeanyi Obibuzor at the event.

not only to admit new members but to as well expose them to the concept in the consummation of the professional body and the challenges ahead for all devotees.

On the duties and privileges of the inductees, Ikele explained that a major privilege of members of a professional body is part-ownership of the body, as such, the necessary commitment is required to give expression to the sense, it is ‘ours’ but not ‘theirs’.

According to him, man’s func-

tional existence is in terms of making decisions and taking actions believed to be most effective and efficient in dealing with given circumstances.

The objectives for the founding of the institute, according to him, include bringing together professionals in business development for interaction, development of the profession into career path and advance its practice, method and application in all human endeavors to enhance effectiveness and efficiency. He ad-

The business is thought to be for men.But,women are making in road into construction industry, reports DANIEL ESSIET.

A

An amazon in a man’s world

FEMALE entrepreneur, Mrs. Bimpe BamgboseMartins, has proved that dreams can come true if people have the courage to pursue them.

An economist, Mrs. BamgboseMartins,Chief Executive,Matokins Nigeria Limited, was quick to realise that construction equipment rental firms opt for bigger and wealthier clients to make more money. She therefore saw an untapped opportunity in the market being ignored. She saw an opportunity to help small businesses and homeowners with small-scale construction.

Though she is not an engineer, or as a technical person, her passion for good buildings, capacity for great marketing skills, was the motivation behind her venture into the terrain, which is thought

to be the exclusive preserve of the male folk. Today, she has built her firm into becoming one of the most successful and innovative firms in the industry, with a strong presence in the market, specialising in construction and real estate.

Breaking into the sector did not come easy for this construction amazon, as she experienced rejection at the onset, and had to battle older and more established competitors in the sector. But her breakthrough came with the first major job she did; it involved developing a personal house for a client. This was to later open doors leading to more jobs coming through referrals.

As a winning strategy, she took on every construction project that came her way, handling each

project and client as if they were the single most important relationship ever to her.

Also, her ability to have instilled into her workforce a mindset of working smarter, faster and treating each customer as if they are the most important aspect of the business, has worked for her as most of her clients are vocal ambassadors for the company and the brand.

In 2011, Mrs. Martins caught a vision that aimed at taking young people off from roaming the streets; and thus, she was led to starting a non-governmental organisation (NGO) known as Strategy for Mentoring Initiative and Leadership Empowerment (SMILE). The NGO also helps young entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses.

•Mrs Martins

Besides, through the NGO, she has been inspiring people to find their true passions, to step ‘outside of the box’ and to realise their own sense of greatness and for her, life is all about knowledge, attitude, respect, motivation and

monished members to strive hard to promote business development as a way of restoring the right attitude and values to improve the economy.

He challenged all members, especially the new ones, to be committed to the institute by way of dutifully playing their roles and performing their duties, while continually adding value to themselves through conscientious participation in the institute’s educational programme for self development. action.

She admonished youths not to be discouraged even in the face of perceived failure, as there are growth opportunities in the economy.

She stressed that empowered youths are critical to the long-term health and prosperity of the economy. For her, young Nigerians can increase their chances of success with practical education and training, realising that leadership skills are key to growth, and that strong attitude foster successful entrepreneurs and leaders.

SMILE, she said, embraces and encourages change, increasingly focused on what it can consistently do well- that is building leaders and mentoring young people to excel in their vocations. The body also aims to impact positively on young leaders, guiding inspiring , encouraging and teaching them to imbibe the essential ingredients of success which includes hard work, right attitude, moral values, determination, perseverance, passion and can–do-spirit, among others.

40

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

EMPOWERMENT CLINIC

How to sell yourself

with

BOOK REVIEW Author: Arch Lustberg Publisher: Pinnacle of Grace Reviewer: Goke Ilesanmi

GOKE ILESANMI

O

NE of the ways to excel in life is to know how to effectively position, sell or market yourself in every situation. And communication is very critical to success in this area. That is why I want us to examine this text entitled “How to Sell Yourself”.

It is written by Arch Lustberg, a communication expert who taught Speech and Drama at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. for 10 years. Lustberg owns Arch Lustberg Communications.

He says communication means transfer of information from one mind to another mind, or to a group of other minds. Lustberg adds that it can be in the form of an idea, a fact, an image, an emotion, or a story. This author then submits that the premise of this book is therefore to stress that every time you open your mouth, in order for communication to happen, you have to sell yourself. Lustberg asserts that if you do not sell yourself, communication is nearly impossible.

According to him, we think of selling as being product-oriented. Lustberg adds that this is only one aspect of selling. In the case of product sales, the factors are usually the salesperson and the price, he expatiates, stressing that even when there is a slight price difference, we rarely buy any bigticket item from someone we really dis-

like. Lustberg stresses that ideas are not much different, especially that the only time we pay close attention to an idea being communicated by someone we do not like is when we have a heavy personal or emotional investment in the subject.

He says you can have the best message in the world, but if you do not present the message the way you intended it, you are probably communicating the wrong message.

Structurally, this text is segmented into 14 chapters. Chapter one is entitled “Selling yourself”. According to Lustberg here, there are three things you need to sell yourself, and these are competence, likability and luck. He says the first two will almost always deliver the third, adding that having competence and likability is not enough. This author stresses that most of us already have them, adding that what is needed, and what this book will emphasise, is the audience’s perception that you are competent and likable.

In Lustberg’s words, “It isn’t about faking it, or fooling the audience… Real people like you and me need to learn some basic techniques that will let us be our real selves in the presentation situation.”

Chapter two is based on selling your competence. The author educates that there are four communication tools available to everybody, and these are the mind, the face, the body and the voice. He says, “I’m going to oversimplify matters by calling the way you use your mind the audience’s determination of your competence; and your face, body, and voice your like ‘likability’. We can call your mind your ‘substance’. Your face, body, and voice your ‘style’. Or we can refer to your mind as ‘what you say’, and the other three as ‘how you say it’.”

He adds that only very few people are

wonderful when they are winging it.

Lustberg explains that some are “naturals” while most are not. “Never forget that you know more than anyone else about certain things… You are unique. Use this to your advantage. Only you can put it all together in your particular way. But do it with care…,” he educates.

In chapters three to eight, Lustberg X-rays concepts such as selling your likability; selling with confidence; selling with the right signals; selling yourself as a speaker; selling yourself in confrontation and media interviews; and selling yourself in the classroom.

Chapter nine has the subject matter of selling your product. Here, this author discusses how to sell your product by selling yourself. Lustberg says over the years, he has trained thousands of Merril Lynch financial consultants. He stresses that at first, the people he trained were professionals with several years of experience and aboveaverage sales records. “They reported that their sales shot through the roof after understanding the open face, eye contact, gesture, storytelling, personalising, and appearing not as sales professionals, but as loving family members,” illuminates Lustberg.

He adds that for a sale to take place and for customer satisfaction to be the final and enduring result, some basic principles must apply. These, according to him, are: first, you must know your product; second, you must believe in your company, your product and yourself; and third, you also know the territory.

In chapters ten to 14, the author examines concepts such as selling yourself in the job interview; selling when testifying; selling yourself in meetings; selling yourself in negotiations; and the ‘selling yourself’ handbook.

Stylistically, this text radiates some uniqueness. This is expected given that Lustberg is a communicator. The language is simple and standard, and the presentation very logical.

Lustberg uses a lot of didactic illustrations, analytical details, autobiographical effects, classical/literary allusions to achieve ana-

lytical amplification, as well as understanding and conviction on readers’ part. What’s more, he employs visual textual distinction by making areas of conceptual emphases bold to attract attention. The outer front cover is non-verbally communicative and the inside pages are well laid out.

However, Lustberg can still improve on this text by harmonising the chapters for compactness. Doing this will even reduce the problem of repetition and redundancy noticed in the text, which he admits in chapter nine. A grammatical error noticed in this book is “Real people like you and me need ….” (page 15) instead of “Real people like you and I need....” The “Me” is supposed to be in the subject case “I” because it is not serving as an object to any antecedent or subject.

In spite of all the shortcomings, this text is a good one. It is a must-read for anybody that is prepared to showcase his or her competence and achieve success through effective communication strategies.

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

Communication strategies in mergers and acquisitions(2) Last week, we said the concept of mergers and acquisitions has long been considered one of the fastest routes to business growth, yet, experience has shown that most mergers fail to achieve the expected synergy and are more often counterproductive at the end of the day. We added that post-merger integration challenges are many, stressing that even though nobody expects structural changes occasioned by mergers to be so smooth, there are appropriate strategies that can be put in place to ensure that the integration process is carefully managed to limit disruptions and achieve synergy so as to exceed the expectations of all stakeholders.

We said one of the strategies for achieving successful mergers or acquisitions is effective communication. We expatiated that communication needs to begin during the preliminary stage of the merger or acquisition to set the tone for success. We explained that too often, communication does not start until it is too late. We said there is a case that communication should start early to pave the way for internal acceptance and post-merger integration. We stressed that overwhelming experience indicates directly or indirectly that people issues are the main reason for take-over failures and communication is still central to the people issues.

Challenge

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OMMUNICATION does not come easily to many managers who throughout most their careers have dealt almost entirely with hard facts and figures, not the soft people issues. These managers may not be good enough as leaders. Many managers are uncomfortable about giving tough messages to their staff, and being honest with them about bad news of job cuts or site closures. Mergers involve many technical and complex issues required by law, the stock exchange and other regulatory bodies. Communication is not legally required and so it is an easy area to drop down the priority list.

Communication is not easily quantified and measured, which makes it difficult to grapple with when merger budgets are being considered.

Communication function

The communication function is not always represented at a sufficiently high level within the organisation, and even then the head of the function may not be strategicallyminded. Lack of information flow from the upper level of management will cause problems for the first-line managers and supervisors who need to deal with the frontline em-

By Goke Ilesanmi

ployees every day. They will not have enough information to satisfy the day-to-day needs of their staff. This creates the dreaded communication vacuum – filled by the grapevine – that will undermine the positive aspects of the merger.

After the merger

After a merger has taken effect, strategic communication is central to the integration of the two organisations into a more effective single entity. By definition, this requires change communication. Effective communication during the post-merger phase is required to ensure a common understanding of the business case for the merger and the vision for the future. It is also required to help people understand and internalise change; keep the organisation focused on customers and productivity; reinforce desired behaviour; promote cultural alignment; help with retention and motivation of key talent; and control the rumour mill.

Good practices

One of the good communication practices in the post-merger period is to recognise that all merger goals depend on communication.

Employees have to be persuaded to believe in the corporate vision and to act to bring it about. This is a communication task. Another practice is to know the communication goals.

At all times, with all stakeholders, the goal for communication needs to be kept in the forefront of the mind. Senior managers need to know their constituencies closely and segment them carefully.

Logistic and cultural factors

Managers need to be aware of the logistic and cultural factors necessary to communicate with staff in diverse locations. Another thing is to be flexible. Bring the best combination of communication techniques to bear on the situation and be prepared to adjust according to feedback. You also have to listen. Dialogue is the richest form of feedback, but not the only one. Another good communication practice in the post-merger period is to always communicate. Paradoxically, noncommunication is still communication because it sends negative messages.

Procedures

To achieve success in your merger and/or acquisition, you must also follow a framework to help manage the complexity. Understand all stakeholders, know the goals, write a plan, craft messages positively and effectively, select media carefully. According to Kim Harrison, a recognised public relations authority, “Compare the difference between ‘We don’t expect any staff reductions’ and ‘There will be no staff reductions’ and even better, a more positive ‘We all have important roles to play in the future’.” Check senior managers’ commitment to the message and their ability to communicate it consistently, firmly and honestly.

Merger communication stages

Research shows that out of more than 8,795 mergers and acquisitions deals announced

worldwide in 2008, the vast majority were friendly. From a communication perspective, friendly deals have three phases: pre-deal planning; deal announcement and post-integration. In contrast, hostile deals, which require persistent crisis management (communication), have more phases, and can include lobbying shareholders for proxy votes and litigation.

Pre-deal planning

Planning mergers and acquisitions communication may be a communication team’s most confidential assignment—much more so than quarterly earnings—and their most important one, too, since a mergers and acquisitions deal is a great opportunity to reposition the company. Ideally, senior management will invite you to the table as part of a crossfunctional team that could include general counsel, investor relations (for public companies) and human resource as soon as the deal looks real.

One of the initial challenges faced by the communication team is to create and finalise the merger plan and documentation within a short time frame, and without a lot of information, since details change during each negotiation session.

To be continued PS: For those making inquiries about our Public Speaking, Business Presentation and Professional Writing Skills programme, please visit the website indicated on this page for details.

GOKE ILESANMI, Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is an International Platinum Columnist, Certified Public Speaker/MC, Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker and Career Management Coach. He is also a Book Reviewer, Biographer and Editorial Consultant.

Tel: 08055068773; 08187499425 Email: gokeiles2010@gmail.com Website: www.gokeilesanmi.com

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NEWS

•Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar (seventh right) with some children of the late Aare Musulumi, Alhaji Abdul Azeez Arisekola-Alao during the condolence visit of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chief to the Arisekola-Alao family house in Ibadan

Boko Haram ready to swap 219 girls with 70 detainees

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OKO Haram has demanded the release of 70 of its members in detention as a condition to free the Chibok girls, it emerged yesterday.

The sect is also asking the government to give amnesty to its members.

A lawyer close to the armed group, Hajiya Aisha Wakil, told AlJazeera English that the sect said only when these conditions are met would it release the abducted girls.

No fewer than 276 girls were abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State on April 15.

The Boko Haram leaders deceived the girls that they were soldiers who came to protect them from attack.

There are 219 girls in their custody following the escape of 57 from their enclave.

In spite of the support from

H

By Olukorede Yishau, Assistant Editor (News)

an international coalition, including the United States, Britain, France and Australia military personnel and the use of a negotiator, the girls remain in the sect’s custody.

Hajia Wakil, who is also known as Mama Boko Haram, because of her closeness to members of the sect, said: “And they want to be given amnesty, rehabilitated, and allowed to come back home and move freely. I told them not to hold the girls as ransom and to give me the sick ones - and that wa s

where we ended up. The girls are a growing burden to them, and if the demands are not met ...”

Speaking on her relationship with the sect, she said: “I don’t agree with what they are doing, but I speak

to them because I am their mother. Sometimes they call me Um el Salam [Arabic for mother of peace]. These are Nigeria’s lost boys. My hope is that the government listens to them and lets them have dialogue.

“I’m still with them after all these years because I didn’t betray them. I didn’t betray the government. I didn’t betray the military I’m just in the middle grasping for peace.”

Asked how the schoolgirls were being treated, Hajiya Wakil said: “I know that Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awatiwal-Jihad [original Boko Haram fighters led by Mohammed Yusuf] don’t touch women or elderly ones.”

But she added that Boko Haram had evolved over the years and the girls were ab-

ducted by members who deviated from its original teachings.

“I have spoken to them about the girls and the situation to plead for their release. When this first happened, they told me the girls were well but some sick.

They need medication.

They are giving them antibiotics but they cannot buy food to feed them. They are attacking villages for supplies.”

Hajia Wakil said she knew many members of the sect, especially those born in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

“I know all the boys from here. I held them when they were born.” She was a member of the Presidential Committee on Conflict Resolution led by Sheikh Ahmed Lemu.

Soldiers search Tambuwal’s car

OUSE of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal was stopped yesterday by soldiers in Kaduna for security checks.

According to the soldiers, they were acting on “orders from above”.

Tambuwal was on his way to an international conference where he was to deliver a speech but was delayed when the soldiers insisted that his official car be searched before he could be allowed into the venue.

The incident is coming five days after security agents, acting on the orders of the Federal Government, prevented Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole and his Rivers counterpart Rotimi Amaechi from travelling to Ekiti State for an All Progres-

sives Congress (APC) rally.

Oshiomhole’s chartered helicopter was prevented from departing the Benin Airport.

Amaechi and his convoy were stopped by security operatives from entering Ekiti.

APC national leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s chopper was grounded at the Akure Airport. He returned to Lagos by road.A source said Tambuwal was barely 200 meters from Hotel 17, venue of the conference on Security and Development Challenges of Pastoralism in West and Central Africa, organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser, when he was stopped

•‘Govt owes Speaker apology’ From Tony Akowe, Kaduna, Victor Oluwasegun, Abuja, Joseph Jibueze and Precious Igbonwelundu

by the soldiers.The speaker arrived at the venue at about 9.16 am and was stopped even though the seal of his office was conspicuous on the vehicle.

The soldiers rebuffed protests by Tambuwal’s security aides, insisting that they must search his car before being allowed into the premises.

Tambuwal was said to have come out of the car and walked to the venue when it became apparent the soldiers meant what they said.

However, other important guests, including governors, invited to the event were allowed in without a search, The Nation learnt.

A security official at the scene, who did not want to be named, said: “Initially, we never knew it was the Speaker coming, but on getting closer, I discovered that it was the speaker, but I heard one of the soldiers saying they must search the car. But the security officials attached protested, but their protest fell on deaf ears. I saw the Speaker came down and walk away,” he said.

The Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media, Imam Dalhatu Imam who confirmed the incident, told The Nation that it was highly unusual for security operatives to search the Speaker’s car

“What they are doing is undermining the legislature as a whole. It is not about the speaker, but the institution.

We are just urging them to be mindful of the fact that the institution must be protected at all times. The constitution provides that the integrity of the legislature and the executive be protected at all times. If it cannot be protected, then it is unfortunate,” he said.

Imam said that the soldiers subjected the Speaker’s car to a search, using anti-bomb detectors, adding: “If the number four citizen of this country can be subjected to such treatment, only God knows what will happen to others.

“It is not about the person of the Speaker, but the office he is occupying. What we expect is for the security agents to show respect for the office of the Number 4 citizen of the country.”

According to him, Tambuwal had since departed for Ibadan to commiserate with the family of the late Alhaji Abdulazeez Arisekola-Alao.

Lawyers condemned the embarrassment caused the Speaker, saying it amounts to abuse of authority.

A professor of law, Akin Oyebode, said: “I have not heard of it, but I will be surprised if the Number 4 citizen is subjected to such embarrassment, coming shortly after that of some governors. It shows all is not well with Nigeria. The

embarrassment is inexplicable and indignifying and President Goodluck Jonathan and his boys owe Aminu Tambuwal an apology. Nigeria should not be turned into a lawless state.”

Mr Norrison Quakers (SAN) said: “Though nobody is above the law, it is wrong to subject the Speaker to reoutine security screenings. However, in the situation we find ourselves in the country at the moment where everybody is suspected of terrorism, it is not bad if the screening was not politically motivated, unless it was done in an embarrassing manner.

“After all, we all travel, and we are subjected to various forms of screenings. But this ‘order from above’ has become a recurring decimal in our polity. There can only be one ‘above’, which is the Presidency, and that itself is a challenge, because the Presidency is not constituted of only the President,” he said.

Quakers said it had become clear that some people in the Presidency were taking advantage of their relationship with the President to issue directives against perceives opponents, adding that “we must move away from name-dropping and political witchhunts”.

A former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ikeja Branch chairman Onyekachi Ubani, said any public official critical of the president should expect such a treatment.

“There is no other reason other than that they are acting on orders from above. You know the Speaker has not been

Boko Haram abducts 91 villagers in Borno • 90 sect members shot dead

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O fewer than 91 people including 60 women were feared abducted by suspected Boko Haram insurgents between Thusday and Sunday in Kumanza,Yaga and Dagu villages in Damboa local government area of Borno State.

A local vigilante official told reporters yesterday that four villagers were killed while attempting to escape from their abductors.

Chairman, Sector 5 of local vigilante group in Borno State, Mr. Abb Aji Khalil, said: “over 60 women were among the villagers abducted.

“Some suspected Boko Haram members invaded

•Tambuwal

in their good books. They have accused him of romancing with the opposition. Anyone that belongs to the opposition or has any affiliation with the opposition or has anything to do with the opposition is a Boko Haram suspect.

“So, it is obvious that the speaker is seen as a Boko Haram suspect and they have to subject him to that, having had some relationship with those they tagged opposition and who they also regard as sponsors of Boko Haram insurgency. So, anyone that has anything to do with the opposition is a number one crime suspect.

“Recently, they had to prevent governors from getting into Ekiti State and even newspaper distribution vans were also searched for incriminating materials. So the point is that the moment you have any dealing with the opposition or they suspect that you are with the opposition, you are a Boko Haram suspect,” Ubani said.

Kumanza,Yaga and Dagu villages and kidnapped 91 persons.

“More than 60 married women and young girls and children were forcibly taken away by Boko Haram terrorits.

Four villagers who tried to escape were shot dead on the spot” Khali said on the telephone.

It was learnt yesterday that the military shot dead no fewer than 70 suspected Boko Haram terrorists that attacked Chuha I and Chuha II, and Korogilim villages in Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State over the weekend, during which more than 40 people were killed.

They were killed by air strikes and the ground troops of the Army’s Seventh division.

A resident of Korogilim Mr. Joshua Yakubu said the insurgents were killed on Sunday when the military responded to emergency calls.

According to him, the convoy of vehicles used by the terrorists were bombed.

“I want to inform you that we are happy with the gallant efforts displayed by the military with the quick intervention, which led to the killing of dozens of terrorists.

“Initially when we started hearing some deafening sounds of explosions at the outskirt of our villages, we thought the end of the world had come, but interestingly, we later confirmed that the explosions were from troops targetting the fleeing terrorists that attacked and killed many of our people.

There were more than 100 bodies and the scattered food items they looted during the attacks at the scene.

People were trooping in to see things for themselves,” he said. Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade in an sms response yesterday said: “Yes it happened.”

•This page is being rerun due to technical problem

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The Midweek Magazine

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

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HE hall spoke “volumes” rather than “whispers” in showcasing the beauty of African culture.

Locally made mats and baskets hung boldly on the walls speaking in loud African tones.

The atmosphere within Prince of Anthony Hotel came alive with colourful attires and served as a pool for well-known personalities to converge.

It was formal presentation of Midnight Whispers, a poetry collection written by Adetola Adesina. Guests enjoyed rib-cracking jokes from the moderator, Wale. Sumptuous snacks were served over free flowing drinks as selected poems were being read from the collection, like The Meaning of My Name and Letter to Adam and Eve. The lines gave a feeling of rusticity and transported guests to the traditional African society.

The book was presented by former Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Mr Dele Alake; while the Director-General, Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC), Prof Tunde Babawale chaired the event. Other guests included the Publisher of Yes Magazine, Mr Azu Arinze; the Oniropora of Iropora Ekiti State, Oba Joel Olonibua;.Nollywood actors, Fred Amata and Keppy Ekpeyong Bassey, among others.

Mr Alake spoke of the relevance of promoting ones culture amid modernisation. He advised guests to take their culture seriously; adding that “It is good to go back to our roots”.

Alake, who was a student to the author’s father, said Adesina took after his father who was an intellectual of repute.

The book was reviewed by the Editor of The Nation Newspaper, Mr Gbenga Omotosho, who was represented by the Assistant Editor, Art and Life Desk, Mr Ozolua Uhakheme.

He praised the author’s effort, while noting that the 35-page collection is a rich in African content.

He said: “Midnight Whispers is a poetry collection that helps to celebrate and educate young ones on the values and norms of the African culture. The book is a must-read for the public.

Reading through the book will help to instil a strong cultural consciousness in our rapidly fading values.”

Seeing the a-list guests, the author could not contain his enthusiasm for Midnight Whispers.

According to him, the collection celebrates, promotes and proclaims the beauty of the African culture. Writing and publishing the collection, Adesina said, was a dream that became a reality.

He said: “God has a reason for creating us as Africans. It doesn’t matter where you are born.

•From left: Mr Arinze; Oba Olonibua; Mr Alake and Mr Adetola at the event

PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

Poetic whispers at midnight

By Adeife Adebiyi

LITERATURE As an African man I will continue to propagate the culture and value of Africa. Our names are mean a lot to us.”

He revealed that the reason for the title is that serious matters are usually reserved for the midnight which is customary in African culture when women wake their husbands up in the middle of the night to discuss cogent issues.

“My mother wouldwake me up in the middle of the night to talk to me especially to re-

‘Midnight Whispers is a poetry collection that helps to celebrate and educate young ones on the values and norms of the African culture. The book is a must-read for the public. Reading through the book will help to instil a strong cultural consciousness in our rapidly fading values’ buke me if I had misbehaved. Also, our names are very significant as Africans. They determine our identity as well as the path a child will toe in life. Names are the very root from which life springs from. But children of nowadays will abbreviate their names without mean-

ing. We no longer prostrate for our elders. This is our culture but it is a pity it’s fast eroding.

Also we see a lot of evils being perpetrated everywhere. These acts are alien to us. These cultures are imported; they do not represent us as a people. It’s time we return them back to where they came from,” he said.

Wanted, new growth model for Africa •Continued from Page 16 pressive leaders should learn from.”

NOLA Secretary-General, Dr Mark Ighile, the ISOLA conference was a platform of re-focusing his “present-future oral literary emphasis”. “The confluence of scholars in a related field is a boost to my career, and the lessons learnt for the conference is of immense benefit to NOLA, the Nigerian arm of the group. The overall experience would be brought to bear on our promotion of folklore and oral literatures as we prepare to host the world, come August 13 to 15.”

The Chariman, NOLA Conference Central Planning Committee, Mr Okey Okwechime, advocated that Oral Literature as a subject in tertiary institutions should be introduced in 100 level for in-depth study and cultivated interest.

The conference had in attendance the former ISOLA President, Prof Russell Kaschula of the Rhodes University (South Africa); ISOLA Vice President, Prof Chiji Akoma of Villanova University (United States); Prof Joseph McLaren of the Hofstra University; Prof Kouadio N’Guekhan Jérémie (Cote D’Ivoiré); Prof Sekou Bamba (Cote D’Ivoiré); Prof Felicity Wood of the University of Fort Hare (South Africa); Prof Bimpe Jegede, University of Ibadan (UI); Dr Felicia Ohwovoriole, UNILAG; Dr Jonas Egbudu Akung and Mrs Jayne Onwan both of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) and Dr Oluwatoyin Okiiya, Ekiti State University, among others.

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HO will win this year’s edition of the National Art Competition (NAC). The search has begun for the winner, with the organisers, Nigerian Breweries (NB) Plc and African Artists’ Foundation (AAF), calling for entries.

Interested artists have been asked to submit their works as will close on July 22. The finalists will be announced on August 5 and the grand finale will hold on November 22, according to the organisers.

NAC, according to them, aims to promote the conceptual development of contemporary art in Nigeria with the mission of rais-

•From left: Okwechime, Mrs Onwan and Prof Jegede

NAC calls for entries

By Chinasa Ekekwe

ing awareness on relevant social issues through the use of creative artistic expression.

AAF Head Curator, Medina Dugger, said the theme for this year’s competition is Interventions. She said the theme explores how contemporary art will serve as a catalyst for positive social change, saying it will require artists to think about their relationship on the social, political and cultural framework of the

society that they live in.

Dugger said a one-page proposal will be submitted which should contain a sketch of how the artist’s creation would interprete the theme. The selection committee will be headed by Professor El Anatsu.

Corporate affairs adviser, NB Plc., Mr Kufre Ekanem said artists are encouraged to apply and are free to explore the theme in any form of art which will include painting, sculpting, mixed media or photography,

adding that entries received will be assessed by a panel of judges and the top 12 artists will proceed to the finals shortlist.

Ekanem said the 12 finalists will attend an artist’s retreat/workshop where training will commence. “Artists will not only be trained but exposed to galleries and studios of renowned art professionals in Nigeria. The finalists will be mentored thereafter to ensure the fine tuning of their initial thoughts which will lead to the production of their art works for the final exhibition. The winning art pieces will be selected at the final exhibition.”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

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The Midweek Magazine

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

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NFURLING is a unique exhibition of 42 photographs and poems by Sandra and Amara Obiago.

The mother, daughter artistic journey opened at the Wheatbaker Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos. It will feature diverse body of images presented on large canvases and aluminum dibond plates, depicting expressions, patterns and textures in landscape, nature, cloth and light filled architectural spaces.

Sandra Mbanefo Obiago is an award winning filmmaker who is known for her years of creating films, radio programmes and media campaigns on development issues such as health, youth empowerment, and democracy and good governance. This is her first solo exhibition of photographs presenting work dating back to 2007, taken during filming, and on travels to different parts of Nigeria and Africa.

For her daughter, Amara, is a perceptive first year International Affairs student at George Washington University in DC, US, who grew up in Nigeria and has a gifted eye and an unforgiving photographic lens.

She started taking photos at age eight and her portfolio is made up of images she took with diverse cameras including her first Sony Erricsson phone presenting the world through a daring and bold youthful prism.

In their photographic debut, both artists feature poetry alongside their work which touches on self-discovery, inquiry and adventure. They illustrate global themes of humanity’s search for meaning through space, light, natural and man-made patterns, illustrating various states of Unfurling, a visual and philosophical “opening and release”. Unfurling is an expression of both artists’ exploration of how thought, memory and meaning can be reflected through everyday objects within everyone’s reach – a piece of cloth, a solitary corridor, a child’s laugh, or a curled up leaf. It is an attempt by both to reflect on the ebb and flow of life from different generational vantage points, always seeking artistic truth.

Obiagos’ poetry touches on everyday challenges and the desire to find truth. The poems are a social commentary on life in an African mega-city, as well as focus on a personal path to self discovery, and are juxtaposed alongside photographs which visually strengthen these musings.

“Looking at these photographs, I am struck first of all by their honesty. By honesty I mean a visual fidelity to their individual ways of seeing, nothing contrived just a refreshing lack of self-consciousness that they have in common,” comments vet-

T

• A mara

and Sandra

Mum, daughter’s artistic journey

By Ozolua Uhakheme

PHOTOGRAPHY eran documentary photographer Jide Adeneyi-Jones, who has worked across Africa, Europe and North America. “Unfurling is not photography; it is not poetry. It is light in a simple and pure form,” adds celebrated Nigerian portrait photographer and musician, TY Bello. “By seeing through their eyes we are lifted through the truth of two worlds and find our self making peace with where we are.”

“Before I take a photograph, I try to pick out the part of the scene that may not be obvious to others present. I pick out an object, a smile, a pose… really a distinct moment in time that can never be reproduced.

I was told I do this as a way of self-identification in each scene and I believe this to be true, “ explains the youthful Amara, who started a photo-club in high-school and raised money to support a children’s charity project with other students. “In every image there is a small part of me, a mirror that reflects a certain time, place, memory and thought.”

“These images transcend the humans, nature and situations they capture at different times and various locations. They bridge the dichotomy of how we live and relate with our environment, and gently guide our eyes to look inward and reflect, slowing us down to review life and meditate on everything’s existence,” adds Victor Ehikhamenor, former artistic director of 234NEXT and a celebrated Nigerian

Why Nigeria still crawls, by Oyebode

HOUGH an accomplished business tycoon, Mr Gbenga Oyebode is not resting on his oars.

He has his hands in many pies.

He is on the board of MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd., Socfinaf SA, and Crusader Nigeria Plc, among others. Besides, Oyebode is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA); Chairman, Access Bank Plc, and Chairman & Managing Partner of Aluko & Oyebode, a law firm.

He also sits atop Okomu Oil Palm Co. Plc, in addition to being a member of the American Society of International Law; American Bar Association; Council Member; International Bar Association; Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and Chairman, Asset Management Group Ltd, among others.

Of course at his level, even ants anywhere near his home, if any, must have long said final bye to deprivations. Yet, the same man, presumably, has had countless sessions in the hands of the men with stethoscope in a bid to force his blood pressure down, no thanks to the worsening plight of the lessprivileged in his beleaguered country.

That the heart of Oyebode, who chairs the Section on Business Law of the Nigerian Bar Association (SBL-NBA), daily quakes over the exacerbating plight of the general run of the nation’s populace occasioned by its frightening economic rheumatism, came to the open recently.

While reviewing SBL’s activities and its 8th Annual Business Law conference held at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Islan, his mien bore infectious worries over the daunting socio-economic cataclysms in the land.

His worry: “Policymakers, for years, have

‘We must strive to ensure we implement our laws and policies as most of our problems arise from lack of execution. We don’t need foreigners to tell us that there is poverty and insecurity in the land. We don’t need anybody to tell us that there is infrastructural deficit’ •Oyebode Dada Aladelokun, Assistant Editor

ADVOCACY been found wanting in the area of conscientiously implementing the nation’s laws and policies to move it out of the woods.”

Then, his admonition: “Government must waste no further time in creating more jobs if it is genuinely concerned with ending the orgy of violence that has now become a recurring decimal in the country.

“We must strive to ensure we implement our laws and policies as most of our problems arise from lack of execution. We don’t need foreigners to tell us that there is pov-

erty and insecurity in the land. We don’t need anybody to tell us that there is infrastructural deficit. We also know that we have good ideas, laws and policies. The problem is: we don’t execute them.”

At the forum, another irony that had put him on tenterhooks came to the fore. He felt worried that in the same country where countless citizens are now scavengers for crumbs, egregious corruption hide under the cloak of immunity clause.

He was livid when he demanded: “Why don’t we go after corrupt governors after the expiration of the tenures when immunity no longer applies?” He readily ascribed it to the problem with the execution of the nation’s laws, which he said, must be addressed forthwith.

To the humanist, we cannot lay claim to running a just system when the laws of the land are not dispassionately executed in the interest of all.

visual artist.

“Photography and poetry is private and personal art for me,” concludes Sandra Obiago, whose microscopic images of Adire cloth demonstrate Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage through a study of traditional batik. “Coming from a film background, which is a group art form, I have always felt solace and comfort in retreating into myself and creating with no one around.”

The exhibition runs until end of August.

It is sponsored by Ruinart, the worlds’ oldest established Champagne house, the Global Energy Group, a leading Nigerian corporate art patron, and the Wheatbaker, a boutique hotel committed to celebrating the best of Nigerian creativity.

‘My secret to good writing’ •Continued from Page 18 from age six to 19,” she said.

While advising the young ones to keep working on their craft, Mrs Mabogunje shared with a secret she discovered during her over 40 years foray into world writing. She said: “Although most people think that becoming a good writer is 80% talentand 20% writing, but I shall tell you a secret.

The trick to good writing is not talent, but bad writing. Lots and lots of bad writing. Sometimes terrible writing. Sometimes horrible writing. In fact, writing so horrible that it shall never see the light of day! The difference between your favourite author and you is that they became obsessed with experimenting on wordsthat just because became a good enough reason to write!”

While praising the efforts of the pupils’ efforts, shelamented that most parents, achieve their ambition through their children. She, however, called on parents to “Understand who your children are and encourage them”, saying: “We get deprived of the world the opportunity of what that child could have given us”.

Aside words of wisdom, she gave the pupils copies of her books and donated some to their libraries. With her were members of her family which included her hubby, Mr Seun Mabogunje., an engineer; Mrs Margaret Laja, her mother, who is a former Headmistress of Ireti Primary School and Mr Ade Laja (brother). It was attended by members of ANA; and the participating schools included Reagan Memorial Girls Baptist Secondary School, Ikosi Senior High School, National College, Gbagada and Aunty Ayo Comprehensive Girls Secondary School. National College, Gbagada, went home with the first prize with Ikosi Senior High School at second place.

Mr Mabogunje commend ANA Lagos efforts at investing in the future, saying it is a right step towards promoting reading culture in the young.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

49

The Midweek Magazine

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Running to earn a living Kaya running to carry load from the trunk of a bus at Bolade Bus-stop, Oshodi, Lagos.

PHOTO: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE

U

NESCO research once stated that Igbo as a language and culture is going extinct? Why do you think this is so?

Not all Igbo people speak the language. Many of the younger generation of Ndi Igbo do not speak it at all in their homes, so their children do not understand a word. Neither do they practise the rich Igbo culture. The young Igbo parents do not speak the language even in private, at home, and in the villages these days. You find housemaids brought from the village preferring to tinker with and learn the English language even when you speak to them in Igbo! It is that serious!!

Is Igbo language in greater danger of extinction among the younger Igbo generation compared with other major Nigerian languages?

Yes. The Igbo families speak English in their homes more than other ethnic and linguistic groups in Nigeria. I see adults and parents of the two other large ethnic groups speak with their children in their language and indeed, speak in their dialect. We appear to be ashamed of speaking our language or maybe some think it derogatory or unfashionable to speak it.

Is it possible even now that some parents cannot even speak Igbo or propagate the culture to encompass the young ones?

It is possible to propagate the language even when the younger Igbo parents themselves do not speak the language. I once gathered some Igbo children to teach them our language. The response was great. Their parents were interested and some actually started attending the classes too.

If we have small groups like that spread everywhere there will be progress. Also if schools devote more time to learning the “spoken” Igbo language in schools, there will be progress.

Can anything be done, perhaps through the current academic curriculum, especially at tertiary levels, to make Igbo as a language more exciting to learn?

If more people start to write books and schools include Igbo in their curriculum, it will go a long way. Igbo political leaders also need to lead the way, use the language more often at functions. They will encourage the youth to mimic them.

There are several dialects in the Igbo language. Is this why the language is disappearing?

Officially, there are over 25 different dialects, but I think we have more. That is not why the language is not spoken, no. When I was teaching those children I urged the par-

Reviving, preserving Igbo culture Former Executive Chairman, Ehime Mbano Local Government Area, Chief Florence Chinyere Duru is a US trained educationist. The author of a book on Igbo proverbs and idioms spoke on why Igbo language is facing extinction, the need for a lingua franca and educational curriculum review, among others. OSITA IKE reports.

HERITAGE ents to back up the classes by speaking Igbo more frequently in their homes. The children complained that this did not happen and they still spoke only English at home! One of them said he spoke Igbo to his uncle and the uncle responded in English.

In the case of the older children and young adults that have never spoken Igbo...are they a lost cause? What can be done to get them to speak?

I still do not believe it is a lost cause yet! If we start now to bring serious awareness to the people concerned, there will be an improvement. The problem is a total neglect of the language all round.

Do you think the govt. can assist in rectifying this problem of a dying language and culture?

Government can help by adding more Igbo language courses to the school curriculum and making sure that Igbo language and culture is properly taught. Our language and culture should be practiced everywhere we are.

Adopting a lingua franca might be a good step towards detribalisation and forging national unity. What are your thoughts on this?

Having a lingua franca in a complex country like Nigeria is necessary for the unification of the different tribes. But back home, each tribe should speak their language. Lingua franca should not swallow our language!

Our language and culture determines who we are and gives us the foundation vital for phenomenal growth and development as individuals.

Are there any research findings as to the possible time this decline begin? Do you think the defeat of Biafra during the Nigerian/ Biafran war could be partly responsible for the decline of the Igbo language?

As far as I know and remember, we were taught Igbo language in schools in the 50s and 60s and I cannot quite pin down when the Igbo language stopped being used. But I

guess that after the civil war in 1970, morals and good behaviours were thrown overboard as people from other parts invaded our territory introducing “foreign” cultures and thereby diluting ours. This of course affected our language and culture too.

What efforts have you made personally to rectify the backward slide?

As I said earlier, I gathered some children of young parents, here in Lagos and I was encouraged by their show of interest and participation. This can be done in various environments too. Secondly, the older generation can do what I am doing by putting down in books, as much as they know and remember about our culture and tradition.

Every one doing his or her bit from their little corner. Thirdly, there are groups, I hear that get together to promote the interests of the Igbo race. That is commendable.

On my part, I intend to publish other books about other areas of Igbo language, culture and tradition.

One might argue that Igbo is not a ‘complete’ language in the sense that not every English word has an Igbo counterpart in the sense that a Yoruba or Hausa person can discuss fluently in their languages without an English interjection, while this is not possible in Igbo. Could this be a possible reason why it appears like spoken Igbo is on the decline?

I believe that Igbo language came complete. After all we had no Europeans to teach us English in those days. The English interjection came recently. We had no record of the words except for the bits and pieces of Nsibidi which were never researched into.

Nsibidi showed that there were records of Igbo words. That is why I have used the Nsibidi motif for the cover of my book ‘Ukwa Wu Ilu’ which will be published mid May by Oyster Books here in Nigeria. It is a collection of hundreds of Igbo proverbs and idioms, with translations and examples on how they should be used.

If left unchecked, can the death of the language have an adverse effect on the indi-

genes? What could such consequences be?

If left to die it means that eventually there will be no Igbo language and therefore no Igbo race! A race needs its language for identification, unification, stability and durability. Your culture is your identity. It is the sum of the core values that a child is raised on from birth. These values shape your character and effectively fire your aspirations.

That is why Ndi Igbo are generally seen as enterprising, hard working, astute, intelligent and so on. These were values that have always been central to the Igbo way of life.

The book is a good step towards doing something to resuscitate and preserve the language, but is it enough?

Like I said earlier, this book is just a tip of the iceberg. All hands must be on deck. Every one should start collecting bits and pieces of what is available to them. We have lost so much largely because of our oral tradition in place of written records. The collection I put together is just a fragment of the rich and vast body of idioms and proverbs that the Ndi Igbo have. Others should try to collect more and publish.What more do you propose we do?

We should publish books about our Igbo cuisine, our traditions, marriage, yam festivals, masquerades, folklore and other aspects of our rich and vibrant culture. There is a lot of material to collect and a lot of work to do!

We have songs and dances that need to be preserved.

Do you think that the Igbo people who are losing their language and culture even care?

That is my fear. It does not seem to be a priority among Ndi Igbo at present. I do not see excitement and enthusiasm in our people, especially the youth. This is why I suggest that those who have the desire to do something should pick up the young ones wherever they live and teach them the language and culture. Not necessarily for commercial purposes. Mentoring can include programmes and projects that would be run in Igbo, be they in sports or commerce.

50

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

51

WEDNESDAY JUNE 25, 2014

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

The outcome of the governorship election in Ekiti State shocked many Nigerians. It has brought home the threat by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to retake the Southwest. Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI and Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examine the implications of the power shift in Ekiti on Southwest politics and 2015 projections.

APC, PDP prepare for Osun poll T

HE shocking defeat of Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi in the governorship election may have sent warning signals to the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that the threat by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to stage a comeback in the Southwest may not be an empty one after all. Indeed, basking in the euphoria of victory, the governor-elect, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, and other PDP stalwarts have promised to reclaim other Southwest states controlled by the APC. They say what happened in Ekiti would be repeated in Osun, where Senator Iyiola Omisore, who shares similar characteristics with Fayose, is flying the party’s flag in the forthcoming election in the state.

But, the consensus of political observers is that the situation in Osun is quite different from that of Ekiti. For instance, a trade unionist and publicity secretary of the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS) in Ogun State, Mr. Kayode Adebayo said the major difference is that the APC candidate in Osun, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who is seeking re-election, is a grassroots politician, who has initiated policies that are impacting positively on the people. “Aregbesola’s welfarist approach to governance has been appreciated by the people of Osun. So, there is no likelihood that what happened in Ekiti last weekend would repeat itself in Osun,” he told The Nation on Monday.

Aside from Adebayo, an array of other respondents, including the National Publicity Secretary of the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), Mr. Kunle Famoriyo; a finance and investment consultant, Mr. Akintunde Maberu; a civil society activist and convener of Nigerian Voters’ Assembly, Comrade Moshood Erubami; a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Dr. Tunji Ogunyemi; and APC chieftain Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora were very categorical that the Osun election would be a different ballgame.

Mamora, dismissed the idea of a PDP comeback in Osun, saying it is not possible because each state has its own peculiarities. Like Fayemi, his Osun State counterpart has also worked. But, unlike the Ekiti governor, Aregbesola is a grassroots politician. Even at that, Mamora said the APC is on top of the situation. “We have our operational strategies in place for Osun to ensure PDP does not snatch the state from us. We will retain Osun and other states in the Southwest. We will definitely learn from the Ekiti experience.”

All the respondents are in agreement that the progress made in the state, particularly in the area of infrastructural development and in education and youth empowerment are remarkable. Famoriyo described Rauf Aregbesola as a highly-focused politician who has been working for the benefit of the people. His words: “He has introduced people-oriented policies aimed at improving the economy of the state. He has made sure that the educational base of the state is solid, by making sure that there are standard schools for the children to attend. The idea is for children of the poor to also attend standard schools like those of the rich men in the society. It is a populist project. He made sure that the children are given a good meal at school, to put them in the right frame of mind to concentrate on their studies. Osun is number one in the world today in the area of education.”

Maberu said it is remarkable that Governor Aregbesola is trying to inculcate some of the virtues of the human being associated with the Yoruba culture, which is encapsulated in the Omoluabi concept. He added that the people have seen the benefits of the reforms the governor is introducing, particularly the reclassification of schools and his youth empowerment programme. “It has created jobs for a lot of people. Don’t forget that the state is landlocked, but through the reforms it has been able to generate more

•Dr Fayemi

•Aregbesola

•Fayose

•Omisore

income for the state, by increasing its internally-generated revenue,” the finance and investment consultant noted. He added that Osun is a state that has multiple cities — just like Delta – and that Governor Aregbesola went ahead to develop all the cities at the same time. So, there is no part of the state you visit that you would not see the presence of the government.

In terms of performance and service delivery, majority of the respondents are in agreement that Governor Fayemi, performance in the last four years is excellent. What actually went wrong in Ekiti? The former Senate Minority Leader is cocksure that what happened in Ekiti has nothing to do with the governor’s performance. His words: “Governor Fayemi has done very well in terms of performance and service delivery. From my interaction with the people, the consensus was that he did well. It is quite unfortunate that performance has not been the basis for his re-election. It is a kind of strange be-

haviour of the people in terms of election.

We will keep that on board to ensure we don’t have that kind of situation again”.

Similarly, the university lecturer said: “What happened in Ekiti had shattered correlation between performance and electoral reward. It is assumed that politicians who performed while in office should be rewarded with re-election. In Ekiti, it has been proved otherwise which is very illogical. It happened for the first time in the history of southwest. The Ekiti experience has shown that performance does not correlate with electoral victory.

“Fayemi performed, why should be lose the election. He should be rewarded with re-election. The argument that he borrowed money to develop the state is not an excuse to vote him out. He didn’t pocket the loan.

May be he lost because he didn’t share the money with the individuals”.

In his opinion, Adebayo said what played out in Ekiti last Saturday was a protest vote

‘Aregbesola’s welfarist approach to governance has been appreciated by the people of Osun. So, there is no likelihood that what happened in Ekiti last weekend would repeat itself in Osun’

against the APC. He said “there is a limit to the role people who are not indigenes of a state can play in the politics of a state, if such persons do not want to incur the wrath of the people.” He advised APC to imbibe internal democracy, adding that the brazen manner the governor was imposed on the people of Ekiti might have a hand in the way the electorates voted. “I’m not saying the party leadership cannot influence the emergence of a candidate. But they should not do it so brazenly in the manner Fayemi was imposed on the people of Ekiti,” he added.

Speaking in the same vein, the lecturer, Dr. Ogunyemi, advised Aregbesola not to rest on his oars. He also advised Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to steer clear of Osun State for now.

“In fact, I will advice that he should not come to Osun to campaign for the gubernatorial poll. People believe his presence may likely create tension in the state.

Adebayo also said people should not gloss over the fact that Fayemi was too distant from the people of Ekiti in his body language and policies. “How can he ask civil servants to conduct exams for teachers at all levels in the state? Reform is not an abstract; if you want to reform education in Ekiti, you must set out the parameters clearly and there is no way you can do it without involving teachers themselves through their union. The governor failed to carry ASUSS along and this did not go down well with stakeholders in the sector,” he said.

Comrade Erubami blamed the APC for taking the electorate for granted, by not properly mobolising them to ensure that they carry out their civic responsibility by voting. He added that Governor Aregbesola should learn from what happened in Ekiti.

He said a situation whereby over 300,000 voters were disenfranchised because they could not present permanent voters’ cards on the day of election was a grievous mistake. He wondered how political parties were indifferent to the voters’ apathy towards collection of voting cards. He said in election a single vote is very important in deciding a winner. “I don’t know why the political parties could ignore 300,000 votes.

It is unfortunate the party leaders failed to mobilise the electorate towards collecting the cards,” he noted.

The civil society activist advised Aregbesola to ensure that all eligible voters collect their voters’ cards before the election.

It is the responsibility of the politicians that want peoples vote to assist them particularly people in the rural areas that may find it difficult to move to the collection centre, he said. Erubami added that politicians must live in the heart of the people. “There is difference between politics of principle and politics of winning votes. They should create atmosphere of accessibility. They should run participatory government; that is to say, people should be part of government,” he said.

Some of the respondents advised the APC to do a critical analysis of what went wrong in Ekiti to avoid a similar mistake in Osun.

Mamora agreed that the possibility that Ekiti electorates were swayed by material inducements to vote for the PDP cannot be ruled out. The APC chieftain therefore bought the idea of doing “a critical study of what really transpired to ensure that the same thing does not happen in Osun.”

Human rights activist George Afolabi noted that the PDP victory in Ekiti cannot possibly be ascribed to the personality of Fayose or his previous performance as governor, but to the federal might behind him.

He advised the APC to throw its weight behind Aregbesola to ensure electoral victory.

“The PDP has declared Ekiti and Osun governorship elections as a war. All APC governors should rally support for Aregbesola for the party to retain Osun.

52

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

53

BUSINESS EXTRA Cement: Court insists on order against SON, others From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

A

FEDERAL High Court in Abuja insisted yesterday on the need for the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (MITI) to explain the rationale behind the newly introduced cement grade.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed, in a ruling yesterday, refused the applications by SON and the ministry for an order setting aside an earlier order by the court, directing them to show cause why they should not be restrained from enforcing the new cement grade, as prayed in an ex-parte application by a cement manufacturing company, Lafarge Cement WAPCO. By the ruling, the defendants are still required to convince the court on why they should not be restrained from enforcing the new policy on cement grade.

Lafarge had, upon the introduction of the new grade, sued SON and MITI, challenging the propriety of the policy.

Suspecting that the defendants could penalise it for not meeting the new standard before the determination of its suit, Lafarge applied for an order restraining the defendants from enforcing the new policy.

The court declined to grant the order, but ordered the defendants to appear and show cause why the restraining order by Lafarge should not be granted.

Fed Govt okays transfer of PHCN pensioners to PTAD

T

HE Federal Government has approved the transfer of management of over 20, 000 PHCN pensioners from Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Ltd/Gte (NELMCO) to the Pension Transition Arrangement Department (PTAD) established under the Pension Reform Act, 2004.

The Federal Government owed the pensioners under the auspices of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) (Electricity Sector) N4.5 billion monthly pension since March. Some have not been paid since February.

Managing Director, Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Ltd/Gte (NELMCO), Dr. Sam Agbogun who broke the news yesterday at NELMCO/ PTAD /NUP stakeholders workshop on the ‘Transition Of NELMCO NUP Pension

B

By Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

Obligation (Electricity Sector) to Pension Transition Arrangement Department (PTAD)’ held in Benin, Edo State capital, said the pensioners were also owed gratuity, death benefits, outstanding electricity rebate, monetisation arrears, among others.

He attributed the challenge of late and delayed pension payment of the PHCN pensioners to capitalisation of PHCN pension’s provision as opposed to recurrences and inadequate budget appropriation.

He said the Federal Government came up with the transfer plan to end the irregular payment of pensions.

NELMCO was set by the Federal Government under the Ministry of Finance to aggregate all non-core assets of

PHCN and dispose of them and use proceeds to pay liabilities. They are to aggregate all PHCN liabilities, verify and pay, manage PHCN pensioners in the interim and situate them in the appropriate special purpose vehicle, among others.

PTAD was established under the Pension Reform Act, 2004 to manage the payment of pensions under the old pension scheme, the Defined Benefits Scheme.

According to the Act, PTAD will exist till the last man and woman under the old scheme dies.

According to Agbogun, huge finances deplored by the Federal Government in fighting insurgents and tackling other security challenges in the country affected pension payments.

While allaying their fears,

Abogun explained that following the reoccurring challenge that has led to inability to pay pay the PHCN pensioners, the Board of NELMCO at its last board meeting resolved and directed that their payment and management obligations be transferred to PTAD in three months.

Speaking further on the transition programme to PTAD, Abogun said NELMCO would complete the harmonisation of Pre-June 2003 retirees, and the monitisation of Post-June 2004 retirees and address resolution the 2000 retirees’ issues.

He said NEMLCO would also engage PTAD to finalise the transfer, hold interagencies meeting with the Budget Office of the Federation, Office of AccountantGeneral of Federation, NELMCO Board, engage leadership of NUP (Electric-

ity Sector); effect transfer to PTAD in July; and manage residual house-keeping issues such as arrears.

PTAD Director-General, Ms Nellie Meshack, represented

by Mr E. Audu said aside from the transition, she would ensure that the monthly payments were made promptly.

She said: “We have been working to receive the pensioners from NELMCO. The Federal Government gave us three months to complete the process.

“This means that PTAD will take over the management of the PHCN workers from July 1, this year.”

Comrade Temple Ubani of NUP said following the meeting with his colleagues, NELMCO and PTAD, he was hopeful that the government would keep to the plan.

Bayelsa woos investors with trade free zone

AYELSA State is to establish two free trade zones to woo investors as the Seriake Dickson administration gets set to boost the economy of the riverine state.

Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Kemela Okara, said in Lagos yesterday that beyond the incentives, the legal framework that would enable investors, both foreign and local to enjoy the benefit of their investment would be put in place.

To actualise this, the state will host an investment and economic forum in Yenagoa

By Lucas Ajananku

between July 16 and 18.

Media Adviser to the Governor, Daniel IworisoMarkson, said the state’s monthly Internally General Revenue (IGR) has rised to N1billion from the paltry N50milion raked in before the Dickson administration, adding that the target is to move it up to N3 billion.

The state is also set to build a 500-room hotel to boost tourism, which is one of the areas of its comparative advantage. It has hosted major national and international en-

tertainment events Okara said the theme of the forum, which is “unlocking Bayelsa’s growth potential,” is apt because of the boundless opportunities available for investors to take. These are to be showcased during the forum, he added.

According to him, “Bayelsa is looking for people to help us unlock our potentials especially in the area of agriculture. We produce rice which has a high grade grain, in large quantity.”

The commissioner said the government had in the last two years undertaken a great

drive for infrastructure development including building roads between Yenagoa and the major towns which has opened it up and prepared it to host massive investment.

He said Bayelsa is also one of the safest places in the country, with a low crime rate, which also encourages investment.

“For every sector, we will ensure that all government and private sector stakeholders are present at the conference. The main incentive for investors is the free trade zone we are planning to establish. To establish a free

trade zone, there will be non application of local taxation,” said, adding: “The state has put a lot in place to host this conference in terms of infrastructure and developing Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs). We want a sustainable development and partnership that works,” he said.

Special Adviser to the governor on Investment Cyril Akika and the Director-General of the Bayelsa Investment Promotion Agency (BIPA) Freda Ruth Murray-Bruce were among the top officials with the commissioner.

54

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

MONEYLINK

CBN rolls out cash-less policy on July 1

T

HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said it would commence the third phase of the cash-less policy on July 1, 2014, in the remaining 30 States of the Federation.

It stated that having successfully completed phases 1 and 2 of the cashless policy in six Pilot States and the Federal Capital Territory, the Management of the Central Bank of Nigeria hereby notifies all stakeholders and the general public that phase three would follow at the beginning of July.

The apex bank said, as was the case in the Pilot States, a one-year waiver has been granted on the application

of withdrawal charges in the 30 states slated for rollout in phase 3. This means that withdrawal charges will continue to apply to transactions above the specified limits in Abia, Anambra, Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Rivers States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Therefore, charges on withdrawals for both individual and corporate account holders will only take effect in the 30 States from July 1, 2015. This waiver is to allow ample time for the deployment of adequate infrastructure needed to support the policy, as well as additional sensitization of various stakeholders on the merits of

FCMB to raise $300m

F

IRST City Monument Bank (FCMB) Group plans to raise about $300 million this year to boost consumer lending.

The lender may consider issuing Eurobonds if market conditions are favorable, its Chief Executive Officer, Ladi Balogun told Bloomberg.

He said: “Our preferred source of funding has been the loan markets as opposed to bond markets due to more stable pricing.

We will probably get to about 40 per cent of our loan book being personal lending.”

He explained that FCMB plans to increase its loan book by about

• CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele

the policy.

All financial institutions and the general public should please take note.

By Collins Nweze

20 per cent to N540 billion ($3.3 billion) this year, as it joins other lenders in raising debt to boost credit to consumers and fund infrastructure.

He said the bank is targeting a return on equity of 15 per cent this year, and 20 per cent in 2016 compared with 13 per cent in 2013, adding that the bank plans to increase its customer base to four million by 2016 from its current 2.5 million.

Skye Bank promotes financial literacy

S

KYE Bank Plc has instituted a Financial Literacy Seminar series for secondary schools in the country. The programme, the lender said in a statement, is designed to empower the Nigerian child and youth to be financially responsible citizens from early in life.

It said the seminar series is aimed at raising awareness on child and youth financial empowerment and inclusion by taking financial literacy seminar to schools in the country.

It added that the initiative was one of its contributions towards ensuring the future economic prosperity of the country by empowering the youth with the necessary financial and entrepreneurial skills.

“Studies have shown that financial literacy is an important component of sound financial decision making and a lot of positive correlations have been established between financial knowledge and self beneficial behaviour.

New capital base: BDC operators seek deadline extension

S

OME Bureau De Change (BDC) operators yesterday in Lagos urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend the deadline for the new capital requirement set for the industry.

The operators who pleaded anonymity due to what some of them termed, “the sensitive nature of the new capital requirement,” told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the July 15 deadline is rather short.

They argued that the deadline would hamper economic growth, lead to the closure of many BDCs and loss of jobs, if the recapitalisation time frame was not reviewed.

They also queried the criteria used by the new Governor of CBN at arriving on the time frame, stressing that commercial banks were given enough time to increase their capital base.

Also speaking, a chief executive of one of the BDCs, who also pleaded

anonymity, said it would be difficult to raise the N35 million within three weeks.

The operator said that even quoted companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) could not raise fresh capital within the stipulated time frame because of the long process of fund raising.

He explained that BDCs were privately owned and as such, could only raise capital through private placement of shares through individuals, or group of individuals.

According to him, no proprietor of BDC can get a buyer for a property within 30 days.

Another operator, said the new capital requirement would not solve the problem of the industry, stating that BDCs do not require huge capital because they don’t give loans to people.

“They only buy currencies in accordance with CBN approval,” he said.

CBN in a statement issued by Mr Isaac Okoroafor, on behalf of the Director, Corporate Communications Department, said that the deadline for the new capital is July 15.

It said the new guidelines would also help the bank to check the financing of unauthorised transactions as well as the ‘dollarisation’ of the Nigerian economy.

It added that the N35 million must be deposited in a non-interest yielding account in the CBN subject to a grant of approval-in-principle.

In addition to the money, it said that all BDCs applying for the new licence would be expected to make an application fee of N100,000; a licensing fee of N1 million and an annual renewal fee of N250,000.

It also stated that unlike in the past, multiple ownership of the BDCs would not be permitted, adding that anyone found having more than one BDC would be severely punished.

The operator, who blamed CBN for the rot in the industry, said that the apex bank failed to adhere to its licencing procedure.

The operator accused the apex bank for approving licences to every ‘dick and harry’ unlike when only professionals were given operational licences.

He alleged that many managing directors of BDCs could not read or write, noting that in the past promoters of BDCs must have a minimum of 10 years financial experience.

The operator said that profiteering in the industry would be solved through proper scrutiny and adherence to licencing rules and procedure.

NAN recalls that CBN had on June 22 released fresh guidelines for BDC operators and raised the operating capital base to N35 million from N10 million to check persistent depletion in the country’s external reserves.

FGN BONDS

DATA BANK

Tenor

Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year

35m 35m

11.039 12.23

19-05-2014 18-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($) 400m 400m 400m 400m 400m 400m

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33

NIDF

Price Loss 2754.67

Amount Sold ($) 399.9m 399.9m 399.9m

Exchange Rate (N) 155.75 155.8 155.7

Date 2-5-14 2-3-14 1-29-14

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Currency OBB Rate

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day

Amount 30m 46.7m

Rate % 10.96 9.62

Date 28-04-2012 “

JAPAULOIL CILEASING TRANSCORP SKYESHELT CAVERTON CCNN RTBRISCOE DNMEYER IKEJAHOTEL MRS

O/PRICE 0.60 0.52 5.12 95.00 6.41 11.42 1.03 1.06 0.86 67.00

Current Before

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

147.6000 239.4810 212.4997

149.7100 244.0123 207.9023

150.7100 245.6422 209.2910

-2.11 -2.57 -1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

152.0000

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

(S/N)

GAINERS AS AT 24-06-14

SYMBOL

NGN USD NGN GBP NGN EUR NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) (S/N) Bureau de Change

Year Start Offer

C/PRICE

CHANGE

0.66 0.56 5.50 100.00 6.73 11.99 1.08 1.11 0.90 70.00

0.06 0.04 0.38 5.00 0.32 0.57 0.05 0.05 0.04 3.00

DISCOUNT WINDOWx Feb. ’11

July ’11

July ’12

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00%

SYMBOL

O/PRICE 2.42 8.50 1.36 42.00 11.88 29.93 33.25 6.59 1.10 0.75

C/PRICE 2.30 8.08 1.30 40.50 11.49 29.00 32.26 6.40 1.07 0.73

CHANGE -0.12 -0.42 -0.06 -1.50 -0.39 -0.93 -0.99 -0.19 -0.03 -0.02

6-2-14

28-10-11

% Change

CAP Index

N13.07tr 40,766.16

N6.617tr 20,903.16

-1.44% -1.44%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH BGL NUBIAN FUND BGL SAPPHIRE FUND CANARY GROWTH FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CORAL INCOME FUND FBN FIXED INCOME FUND FBN HERITAGET FUND FBN MONEY MARKET FUND FIDELITY NIGFUND INTERCONTINENTAL INTEGRITY FUND KAKAWA GUARANTEED INCOME FUND

Offer Price Bid Price 157.99 157.07 9.17 9.08 1.09 1.08 1.18 1.18 0.68 0.68 1.39 1.33 1,664.78 1,661.81 1,087.24 1,086.78 119.02 118.19 1,087.30 1,087.00 1.67 1.62 1.05 1.03

LEGACY FUND NIGERIA INTER DEBIT FUND PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND STANBIC IBTC ETHICAL FUND • • • •

LOSERS AS AT 24-06-14

AIRSERVICE DANGFLOUR COSTAIN CAP NASCON ASHAKACEM OKOMUOIL DIAMONDBNK CONTINSURE WAPIC

NSE

UBA BALANCED FUND UBA BOND FUND UBA EQUITY FUND UBA MONEY MARKET FUND

143.11

142.62

0.78 1,944.64 13.62 1.07

0.76 1,936.31 13.28 1.05

1.3496` 1.3598 1.0204 1.1825

1.3404 1.3598 1.0023 1.1825

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96%

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK

Bank

Previous 04 July, 2012

Current 07, Aug, 2012

8.5000

8.5000

Movement

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

55

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 24-06-14

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 24-06-14

Equities sustain rally amidst increased demand

N

IGERIAN equities remained on the upswing yesterday, sustaining a bullish streak that has added N222 billion to market capitalisation in the past three trading sessions.

Equities rode on the back of increased demand and rising investors’ appetite to close yesterday at N13.783 trillion, representing an increase of N54 billion on the opening value of N13.729 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI), the main index that tracks all equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), rose from 41,577.47 points to close at 41,740.52 points, representing an increase of 0.39 per cent.

The uptrend strengthened the overall market position, with the average year-to-date return higher at 1.0 per cent. With 34 gainers to 26 losers, the positive market situation was driven by both the widespread bullish sentiments and the gains recorded by highly capitalised stocks.

Volume of transactions was above average with total turnover of 622.38 million shares valued at N7.76 billion in 7,926 deals.

Market analysts said they expected the bullish sentiments to continue as investors take early positions ahead of the second quarter earnings reports.

Skye Shelter Fund topped the gainers’ list with a gain of N5 to close at N100. Nigerian Breweries followed with addition of N4.98 to close at N175. MRS Oil and Gas added N3 to close at N70. Dangote Cement rose by 75 kobo to close at N228.25. Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria chalked up 64 kobo to close at N110.65.

Guinness Nigeria gathered 60 kobo to close at N180.60.

Cement Company of Northern Nigeria rose by 57 kobo to close at N11.99. UAC of Nigeria garnered 50 kobo to close at N60.20. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria

(Transcorp) rose by 38 kobo to close at N5.50. UACN Property Development Company added 35 kobo to close at N18 while Caverton Offshore Services Group rose by 32 kobo to close at N6.73 per share.

On the other hand, SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company topped the losers’ list with a drop of N9 to close at N675. CAP dropped by N1.50 to close at N40.50.

Okomu Oil Palm and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria declined by 99 kobo each to close at N32.26 and N65.01 respectively. Ashaka Cement dropped by 93 kobo to close at N29. Dangote Flour Mills lost 42 kobo to close at N8.08. Guaranty Trust Bank dropped by 40 kobo to N28.50.

National Salt Company of Nigeria (Nascon) dwindled by 39 kobo to N11.49. Access Bank lost 23 kobo to close at N9.57 while Dangote Sugar Refinery dropped by 19 kobo to close at N9.30.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

56

NEWS (SHOWBIZ)

Gospel singers remember Kefee

L

EADING Nigerian gospel artistes, on Monday, converged to discuss how to give their late colleague, Irikefe Don Momoh, popularly called Kefee, a befitting burial.

The artistes, numbering over 100, converged on the Surulere, Lagos office of Sammie Okposo, a celebrated gospel act.

According to Okposo, the death of Kefee had affected the Nigerian entertainment industry and the world in general.

Kefee, he said, was a major contributor to the development of entertainment industry in Nigeria.

“We are going to bury her as a queen and it will be nice for us to

COSON launches Operation No Hiding Place

By Dupe Ayinla-Olasunkanmi

work together to make her burial a grand affair. It will also be nice to use this opportunity to get our acts together as gospel artistes and entertainers in general because that is what Kefee would love,” Okposo said.

Also, Tosin Martins said celebrating Kefee should be an annual memorial event, which could be expressed via an entertainment symposium. “This will ensure that pertinent issues in the entertainment industry are discussed for the development of a foundation in her memory,” he added.

At the end of the meeting, a committee tagged Kefee Memorial

Committee was constituted to plan the various events, which will hold in Lagos and Sapele.

This, they said, will include a symposium and a service of songs in Lagos tagged An Evening with Kefee.

According to the organisers, there will also be a documentary on Kefee’s life and times, performances of her songs by other artistes, Kefee memorial merchandise and a tribute concert in Sapele, Delta State.

The members of the committee include Sammie Okposo, Nikki Laoye, Comrade Rex Anighoro, MomoduInu Noah, Tosin Martins, Anny Ibrahim, Joan Paul, Aity Dennis-Inyang, Emem Ema and Chilee Agunanna, among others.

• Okposo

T

HE Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) has launched a comprehensive action to deal with organisations and individuals that have defaulted in their obligation to pay for the deployment of music in their businesses or in a public setting.

According to the General Manager, Chinedu Chukwuji, the step is being taken to locate those who have infringed on the law. “They will be smoked out and made to bear heavy consequences for the infringement of intellectual property,” he said.

Speaking to journalists in his Ikeja office recently, he said: “I can clearly state here that COSON will take decisive steps within the confines of the law to get full compensation for the works of all our members. No defaulting music user will find the easy way out.

Hotels and similar establishments

A

C

• Mr_-Chinedu-Chukwuji, GM COSON, with Chief-Tony Okoroji, Chairman-COSON

By Dupe Ayinla-Olasunkanmi

that constantly defy the law and have gone ahead to abuse the rights of our members and affiliates will get it tough from us from now. We will leave no stone unturned to ensure that our members get the deserved rewards for their labour.”

According to him, while COSON remits copyright royalties to the home countries of some of these hotel brands for the works used in Nigeria, they chose to exploit its

members’ works without appropriate compensation.

He, therefore, called on all users of music around the country to show respect for the intellectual property of “an industry that has contributed immensely to the growth of the Nigerian economy.”

Chukwuji is currently in Algiers, where he is representing COSON at the African Committee meeting of the Confederation of International Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC).

Somewhere Down the Line hits cinema June 29

T last, fast-rising Nollywood actress and producer Tamara Eteimo has revealed plans to premiere her much-anticipated movie entitled Somewhere Down the Line on Sunday, June 29, at the Silverbird, Ikeja City Mall, Lagos.

The movie was produced under the stables of Shola Fajobi’s Origin 8 Formats Limited. Interestingly, since Fajobi announced his intention to delve into film production and distribution early this year, ‘Somewhere Down the line’, has been his first production.

According to him, his distribution company, E-Force, is also fully prepared to undertake the arduous task of distributing the thriller to all nooks and crannies of the country.

He said: “I’ve not been doing much with Nollywood directly in the past.

But because of the interest most of my clients are beginning to show in Nollywood, I decided I would throw my business acumen, which obviously is not in doubt, into those two areas.

This year, I have said I would produce 50 movies. I have so far produced 12 movies; and certainly before the end of the year, I will have produced all the 50 movies. Somewhere Down the Line is actually one of our first film productions. After this, at least, we shall be releasing four movies every month under my stable. Definitely not all the movies will go to the cinemas and not all will be premiered. Some will go to the cinemas and some will go straight into DVD,” he explained.

Unlike the regular movie premiere, Fajobi, in a bid to up the ante, got one of the leading consumer product companies, Procter & Gamble, to

it leads them down an emotional destination, causing more sorrow than joy.

The couple agree on surrogacy, but it turns out that Grace, the surrogate, becomes emotionally attached ‘Somewhere Down the Line’ and does n o t want t o

By Mercy Michael

sponsor the movie and the premiere.

Tamara, the lead character in Wale Adenuga’s Superstory, Itohan, on her own part, combines an amazing cast of talented Nollywood actors as well as fresh faces, most of whom were her housemates at the Next Movie Star in 2011.

The movie stars Bukky Wright, Yemi Blaq, Rachel Oniga and Mary Lazarus, Yinka A y e l o k u n , Adetomiwa Kukoyi, Yinka Salau, kingsley Ogboso and others.

“Inasmuch as it’s my first, I tried my best to make it a success. A movie has to be appealing to the audience and once it gets a good reception, it will stay long at the cinema.

I’m not saying the movie is perfect, but it is close to perfect. Nobody will watch Somewhere down the line and say it’s a stupid film.

They will connect to it one way or the other,” said the producer.

The movie tells the story of a couple, Tolu and Goke, who are childless eight years after they got married. They choose the path of IVF, but

State.

part with t h e foetus in her womb.

There will be campus screenings across five Nigerian campuses, including the University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Niger Delta University, University of PortHarcourt, River State and University of Ibadan, Oyo

Buchi celebrates 50

ELEBRATED Raggae gospel artiste, Buchi Atuonwu, aka Buchi, yesterday, marked his 50th birthday in style.

As part of activities to celebrate his birthday, the award-winning singer has also revealed plans to launch a new album and hold a thanksgiving at Grandeur Event Centre, Ikeja, Lagos on July 4.

According to him, the coming event is being planned to appreciate God’s goodness in his life.

“With the recent fire outbreak in my house, it is worth celebrating, particularly because no life was lost. It is like a two-in-one celebration because I will be launching my new album on the same day,” he said.

Buchi, who has been in the music industry for almost three decades, started out as a reggae artiste before becoming a born-again Christian.

In the ‘90s, Buchi worked as a DJ at ‘Floating Buka’ in Victoria Island, Lagos. He also played with

F

By Dupe Ayinla-Olasunkanmi

celebrated Reggae act, Ras Kimono, who was also a DJ then.

• Buchi

Poverty didn’t force me into stand-up comedy, says Ayanfe

AST-rising comedian, Abel Oladokun Asogba, aka Ayanfe, is a graduate of Economics and Social Studies from the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin, Lagos.

In an interview with The Nation, the first child in a family of four said the job of a master of ceremonies cuts across all religions.

“An MC is the one who brings attention to an event; he stabilises an event and he is the main person who drives an event. But a comedian is one who that brings a comic relief to the audience,” he said.

Recounting his journey into the entertainment world, Ayanfe said it all started from h i s church.”Whenever they want to do an event, I would go there to compere, so it became part of me. I have always liked to be on the microphone either playing or just

By AdewoyinAdeniyi

talking. Being a comedian and compere is not a very big task to me,” he further explained.

However, Ayanfe, who described Seyi Law as his role model, said he was not forced into the standup comedy business out o f poverty.

“I started off as an MC; and along the line, I realized that I could be funny. I guess I am just being myself. No situat i o n pushed me to it.

I just felt I a m going o n course and it h a s b e e n going o n smooth,” he said.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

57

CITYBEATS O

Man beats girlfriend to death

PERATIVES of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested a man for allegedly beating his girlfriend to death.

The incident occurred during a fight between them on Monday in Odogunyan, Ikorodu.

It was gathered that the deceased, a 20-year-old woman, simply identified as Kemi, was said to have visited the suspect, an auto mechanic simply identified as Muyiwa, at his workshop in Rufu about noon.

A source said few minutes after her arrival, there was

By Jude Isiguzo

an argument over some money the woman had earlier demanded, adding: “On that fateful day, she told Muyiwa she would not leave his workshop if he did not give her the money.

We all kept quiet at first, expecting them to settle their differences. But suddenly, a fight ensued. In the process, Muyiwa pushed Kemi and she landed on the ground, hitting her head on a brick. She lay motionless.

Everyone thought she was pretending. At that point, Muyiwa dragged her in-

side the workshop and told us she was alright. But to our surprise, we later heard she was dead.”

Neighbours alerted policemen at nearby Shagamu Road Police Station, who came take the corpse to the mortuary for autopsy.

The suspect reportedly fled to a church where he hid in an abandoned office and later joined other worshippers in a vigil. But unknown to him, one of the worshippers who lives around the area where the incident occurred sighted

him and alerted the police who came to arrest him.

Police sources at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, where the suspect is being held said he expressed regrets over the death of his girlfriend.

“I was angry because she threatened to quit the relationship because I did not give her the money she requested for,” the suspect reportedly told operatives.

Spokesperson of the state police command, Ngozi Braide, said she was yet to be briefed on the matter.

Our ordeal, by freed robbery suspects

A

MEN Daniel heaved a sigh of relief after his strenuous walk to freedom. He would rather return to his Akwa Ibom home state than stay anywhere near Lagos.

Alongside Friday Saturday (26), he was freed by Justice Adeniyi Adebajo of a Lagos High Court, Igbosere, on Monday after their eight-year detention for alleged armed robbery.

Both were remanded in prison in 2006 by a Magistrates’ Court for alleged conspiracy and armed robbery. They languished in Ikoyi Prisons without trial until 2010 when a lawyer, Charles Okungbowa, volunteered to help them pro bono.

Daniel, son of a retired police officer, said he was yet to overcome the shock of the incident, saying: “I was an auto-mechanic working in Ajah. I was arrested in broad daylight along the road by a policeman in mufti. I was about closing shop that day when a man whose vehicle broke down asked me to get other boys to push his vehicle to a filling station.

“I called three other boys and we assisted the man. On our way back, the man identified himself as a policeman, saying he was arresting us. At the station, they demanded N30,000 for my release. Others arrested were granted bail with amounts ranging from

By Precious Igbonwelundu

N15,000 to N25,000. Since my brother could not produce the N30,000, I was taken to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba. I was shot in my left leg and a hot cutlass used to burn my thighs. I was returned to the cell without medical attention. Inside the cell, others used candle wax to treat my gunshot wounds. I was beaten severely. They would use knife and whips on me to force me to admit that I was an armed robber. I only knew the second defendant (Saturday) on my arraignment day at the Magistrates’ Court.

Saturday, who was arrested on December 7, 2006, while selling puff-puff at the market in Yaba, said: “I saw some

A

people moving in a vehicle and they called me. So, I went to them to sell puff-puff before a bus filled with policemen came. That was how I was arrested among other people. They took N7,000 from me and took me to Panti. They advised me to call my brothers to bring money to bail me.”

“My brother gave the police N30,000 only to be told it was not enough. I was taken to Yaba Magistrates’ Court and remanded for armed robbery. At Panti, I was shot in both legs; with the first defendant, I was taken to Ikoyi Prison. It was an experience I won’t forget in a hurry,” he said.

‘My wife denies me sex’

50-YEAR-OLD man, A d e b o w a l e , Egbedokun cut a pitiable picture yesterday when he prostrated before the Customary Court, Agege in Lagos to seek the dissolution of his 14-year-old marriage.

Besides alleging that his wife, Comfort, a nurse, was adulterous and was not caring enough, Egbedokun said she was denying him sex.

The marriage is said to have produced two girls Oluwashola (14) and Toluwalope (12).

“Is there any married man

Church prays

“I

N our society today, there are a lot of barren women, the afflicted, the unemployed, the impotent and many people suffering untold afflictions. Even the society and indeed Nigeria are in various difficulties. We as Christians cannot fold our arms and close our eyes to these things.”

With these words, Prophet Joshua Rotimi Okin of the Christ Grace Evangelical Bible Church (Palace of Deliverance) at Ilupeju in Lagos, explained the ongoing 90day fasting with fervent prayers that he is observing with the church’s congregation.

He told The Nation yesterday: “In our church, we firmly believe that God is the solution to all human problems, especially spiritual challenges that people grapple with today. And to

• Amen and Friday

• Okin

help them fight the battle, we started a 90-day intense prayer with fasting which is ongoing. We are also praying for our dear state and nation and their people for peace and progress to reign.”

The cleric urged Nigerians to always pray ceaselessly for their well-being and the stability of the country “in these trying times.”

By Basirat Braimah

who doesn’t crave sex? Since 2010, my wife has been sleeping in our sitting room. We used to have sex only four times in a year.

“She cares less about me, but concentrates more on our children. I gave some of my tenants quit notices because I heard she was having an affair with them.

“At different times, I find my wife missing at midnight. I wanted to pay her dowry but her siblings told me they were well-to-do, so I did not bother. She doesn’t do her responsibilities as a wife. All I pray for is a divorce,” Egbedokun told the court.

Seething with anger, Comfort said: “I used to love my

husband dearly, but turning me into a punching bag made me withdraw all my responsibilities as a wife.

When he had a dream that I was sleeping with his tenants, he concluded I was having an affair. He forced me to resign from my work in January, promising to take care of my upkeep, but I am yet to receive any allowance from him. So, I also want dissolution.”

The court president, Mr Philip Adekunle Williams, adjourned the matter till July 14 for judgment.

One dies as building collapses in Lagos

T

HE life of a man ended on a tragic note yesterday when a building under construction collapsed at Okegbo in Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb.

Several other workers who were inside the building when the incident occurred sustained various degrees of injuries.

Six persons were working on the decking when it suddenly caved in.

Three of the workers, simply identified as Olaoluwa Olayinka, Mubarak and Yaya, were said to have been trapped under the debris.

While Mubarak and Yaya were rescued, Olayinka lost his life.

The building, The Nation learnt, was initially used as a poultry farm before its owner decided to construct a one-storey structure on it.

Policemen from Shagamu division and other rescue workers including officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and the state fire service were at the scene to salvage the situation.

A food vendor, Toyin Alabi, who narrowly escaped death, said: “I went to the upper floor to sell amala to the workers. But for brother

‘... But I had barely stepped downstairs when the building collapsed. Had I stayed back, perhaps, I would have been dead by now or be in the hospital now’

By Jude Isiguzo

Yinka (one of the workers), I would have been dead by now. He was the last person to buy food. While I was waiting for them to finish eating so as to retrieve my plates and money, he angrily ordered me to come back for my plate and money. I left angrily. But I had barely stepped downstairs when the building collapsed. Had I stayed back, perhaps, I would have been dead by now or be in the hospital now.”

The injured, according to the policemen at the scene, were rushed to the General Hospital, Ikorodu, for treatment.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

58

Sani Lulu Abdullahi FOSLA Academy, Abuja

I

LETTER TO MR. PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, DR. GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN (GCFR) ON THE NFF AND THE UNJUSTIFIED IMPEACHMENT OF SANI LULU AND COLLEAGUES (THE TRUE STORY (2ND EDITION)

t is with the greatest respect that I again humbly write, using this platform to express my profound gratitude and that of my colleagues who had the unique opportunity of serving as the President and members of the Board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) between August, 2006 to July, 2010 and also to submit for the second time an update of our True Story after our illegal impeachment, four years ago.

Mr. President, we had written severally, with the last being an open letter to you dated 28/08/2012, primarily to convey the high level of injustice meted unto my NFF led Board and to show how our four years tenure was abruptly terminated under circumstances that we consider as unjust and heavily beclouded by deliberate falsehood and blackmail which were aimed at frustrating our selfless, sincere and committed efforts to reposition Nigeria Football and reclaim our rightful place of glory among the soccer nations of the world.

Your Excellency, the purpose of this letter is therefore to humbly continue to use this only available medium to state in clear terms our own perspective of the circumstances under which we were undemocratically and unlawfully pushed out of office and unjustifiably vilified, intimidated, arrested, detained and charged to court. As a true democrat and humanist, we are sure that your Excellency will be interested in our own side of the story which bears footprints of our courageous vision, patriotism, commitment and dedication that, in ordinary circumstances should be encouraged and supported. Indeed, at the height of our persecution and even up till now, all our efforts to have an official opportunity to present our case to Your Excellency were thwarted.

Before our Board assumed office on the 28th of August, 2006, Nigeria Football had suffered unprecedented decline, which climaxed in the non-qualification of the country for the 2006 World Cup. It was, therefore, premised on above that the Federal Government in response to the yearning of patriotic and football loving Nigerians, endorsed the full application of the football statutes as approved by FIFA. This acceptance gave rise to my election into office as President NFF. My election was based on my experience in the football industry with an added advantage as a serving Director of Sports with FCTA and also as a Fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyor.

In order to uplift the Association, I was determined, after my election, to uphold the virtues of excellence, discipline, prudence, transparency, equity, fairness, justice and openness as the hallmark of the administration of this great body. It is in line with above, that I sincerely have a vision of “USING THE POWER OF FOOTBALL TO BUILD A BETTER FUTURE FOR NIGERIANS.” Additionally, in our quest to strengthen above statements, we made campaign promises, including, reorganization of the national teams and the local leagues, development of youth football through empowerment of states FA’s, enhanced marketing and sponsorship drive etc.

It is, therefore, in our strict compliance with our mission statements and campaign promises, that we set out to give our selfless service. We took up the challenge to restore the glory of the sector despite inadequate funding.

Indeed, we had inherited a debt of over N300 Million Naira, highly demoralized national teams and a football system that had no capacity to meet the high expectation of the nation. We were, however particularly encouraged

by Government’s endorsement of the policy of rule of law, due process and fight against corruption for our excellent take off.

Conscious of government’s laudable support, we in earnest commenced the running of the affairs in line with our vision. It was in this spirit that within the first year in office, we negotiated and succeeded in settling substantial part of the inherited debt of about N300 Million Naira. We also settled several court cases and most importantly restored the glory of Nigeria Football as the new Super Eagles were catapulted to the 9th best position on FIFA ranking. A feat only second to the 1994 ranking where we were rated 5th best in the world.

In the pursuit of our set objectives and goals, we satisfactorily partnered with the Federal Government as our main sponsors, state governments and corporate sponsors such as Adidas, AIT, Afribank, GLO, Guiness, Tom Tom, Peak Milk, IGI as well as CAF and FIFA to ensure the delivery of our services within available and inadequate resources.

Furthermore, realizing the magnitude of our responsibilities and the inadequate resources from the Government and corporate sponsors, we resorted to internal borrowing as the best option to augment our lean resources. It must, however, be noted that, but for such a measure (for instance where I as the President had to personally source almost about N40 Million Naira to settle players allowances during the U-17 FIFA Youth Tournament in South Korea and the CAN Africa Nation Championship in Ghana 2008) it would have been difficult, if not impossible for the team to attain satisfactory performances of winning the championship and losing Gallantly to the Host nation respectively.

Despite all the challenges, particularly, the NFF congress budgeted approvals for four consecutive years which were twice the Federal Government allocated Budget, we still made great strides during this period towards the actualization of our campaign promises as enumerated in the achievements below: • For the first time since the creation of the Association, the Secretariat was overhauled and restructured in line with the statutory provision, with appointment of a Secretary General, two Deputy General Secretaries and four Assistant General Secretaries, directly responsible to the NFF Board.

• We created an enabling environment for youth participation in all local football tournaments and consequently all the National Teams for the first time in Nigeria and Africa qualified and participated during this period in all the nine categories of FIFA organized world championship finals. This feat at that time was achieved only by Brazil in the world. Among such FIFA organized competitions were the under-17 male FIFA World Cup in Korea 2007 and Nigeria 2009, where we won Gold and Silver medals respectively, the under 20 male FIFA World Cup in Canada 2007 and Egypt 2009, the 2007 Women FIFA World Cup in China, the women and men Olympics in China 2008, where the men won Silver medal, beach Soccer World Cup in 2007, 2008 and 2009, the Under-17 female World Cup in New Zealand 2008, the U-20 female World Cup in Chile 2008 and Germany 2010 and finally the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

• The entire age-grade football programme commencing from the under-13 was duly instituted with the sole aim of eradicating future age-cheats and maximizing the empowerments of youth.

• Through the FIFA goal projects, we completed the construction of NFF Technical Centre with an artificial football pitch, while the existing NFF Secretariat was fully rehabilitated and renovated including the provision of two 100KVA generating sets to ensure constant power supply. Also the final design for the proposed NFF Headquarters was completed and awaiting commencement of construction all to be funded from FIFA goal project II allocation, our FIFA financial Assistance programme (FAP) Funds already saved with FIFA and proposed partnership with M/S Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. • The transportation system was fully overhauled with the provision of two Marco Polo Buses, a 32 seater coaster bus and a 16 seater mini bus, which are still the only buses in use, four years after our illegal removal from office.

• Grading and training of our Coaches, Referees and all relevant professionals were carried out in accordance with international standard with direct involvement of FIFA and CAF. • For the first time in the history of Nigeria Football, an annual grant of N18,500,000 (i.e. N500,000 to each state) was approved and released effective from 2009 to 36 states and FCT Football Associations to facilitate development of grassroot football.

• Our aggressive marketing drive resulted to almost 100% revenue increase as compared to previous sponsorship.

• We also introduced and sustained quarterly interactive media briefing with sports Editors and Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN).

• In our selfless determination to prosecute the 2010 FIFA World Cup we raised over N300 Million from FIFA and other corporate sponsors to execute our pre-tournament activities until the remittance of Federal Government approved grant on 2nd June 2010, just four days to the commencement of the competition. These earlier funds were used on the following: - Hiring of an Aircraft, Purchase of match tickets, Two weeks Team camping in London, Four international friendly matches, Payment of critical debts or miscellaneous to former Coach Berty Vogts and new Coach Lars Lagerback and Payment of deposit for hotel accommodation in South Africa.

Your Excellency, I wish to reiterate here that our landmark achievements were not without challenges. Among these challenges were the colossal debt inherited at the inception of our administration, and the antagonistic disposition of the Ibrahim Bio led National Sports Commission, which was completely dissatisfied with the autonomy of the NFF under the new FIFA regulation. Indeed, several attempts were made to frustrate our activities and whenever we stood by the FIFA approved statute in our activities, we were branded as arrogant or not conforming to the old tradition of compromise.

Some of the glaring and unnecessary challenges that bedeviled the Federation, particularly towards the end of the four years tenure were: • The Late release of funds for competitions. For example, the Government grant of N900 Million for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa was released on 2nd June 2010, only four days to the commencement of the tournament.

• The required additional funds of the excess N200 Million and N600 Million (over and above the approved Government provision) expected from the Presidential Task Force (PTF) for the 2010 African Nation Cup and 2010 FIFA World Cup respectively were never remitted to NFF. • The Minister of Sports – Alh. Ibrahim Bio’s, directive, just two months to the commencement of FIFA World Cup tournament, cancelling the NFF’s paid reservation of Hampshire Hotel as the Super Eagles base camp in South Africa despite FIFA approval and accreditation was a major set-back and unnecessary.

• The unilateral directive of Mr. Patrick Ekeji, the then Director General, National Sports Commission in June 2010 while we were already in South Africa for the World Cup, postponing the NFF election scheduled for 26th August, 2010, contrary to the approval of the NFF congress, FIFA and the earlier endorsement of the election timetable by the Honourable Minister of Sports at our inauguration ceremony in August 2006, was obviously illtimed. In fact the NFF Electoral Committee’s deadline for submission of contestant forms had expired on 21st June, 2010 with me as the only unopposed Presidential candidate for the election scheduled for August 2010.

• Furthermore, Alh. Ibrahim Bio the then Hon. Minister of Sports, in the absence of NFF representative, led a team including Dr. Amos Adamu to the FIFA President on 21st June, 2010, with a letter requesting FIFA not to have

any financial transaction with my NFF led Board. He particularly intimated FIFA not to release the $8M (Eight Million Dollars) participation grant to us due to financial misappropriation and maladministration. Their visit took place a day before our last group stage match against Korea, where an expected victory would have advanced us to the next stage. The players who were entitled to 25 percent of this fund should naturally be demoralized. The outcome of this was then obvious.

• The letter from Alh. Ibrahim Bio – Hon. Minister of Sports dated 30th June 2010 to FIFA withdrawing Nigeria from all FIFA organized tournaments was ill-timed and done out of malice and selfish interest without due consultation with relevant authority.

• The allegation leveled against us by the then Hon. Minister of Sports, Mr. Ibrahim Bio, on the 6th of July 2010 at the inauguration ceremony of the new NFF management was baseless and a clear manifestation of the determination of the Sports authority to corruptly use instrument of power to blackmail us and justify their illegal action of forcing us out of office. For instance, he accused us of corruption for purchasing World Cup tickets and paying off Berty Vogts. A former Coach whose outstanding debt was directed for settlement by FIFA before we could engage the new Coach, Lars Largerback and participate in the World Cup in South Africa.

• The leadership of PTF Chief Rotimi Amaechi, had variously attempted to corruptly influence my NFF led Board in taking wrong decision i.e. sharks FC continental qualification ticket and imposition of NPL Presidential aspirant.

• In addition, other allegations were made against us during one of the public senate seating by Senator H. Lokobiri, who accused us of mismanaging the sum of N2.16 Billion (made up of $8million FIFA participation fee and $5.5million local Organizing Committee (LOC) funds for the Under-17 FIFA World Cup held in Nigeria 2009).

The truth is that the participation fee had not, at that time, been released to us while the LOC fund was lodged in a dedicated account. Surprisingly, however, at the same session in the Senate, Mr. A. Popo, vehemently expressed his unhappiness about the involvement of the DG, NSC and his cohorts in a calculated attempt to frustrate the NFF from performing creditably at all tournaments, including the 2010 World Cup qualification.

Your Excellency, the NSC and PTF had their ways and finally mobilized all the available apparatus and powers at their disposal to get us out of the way. Consequently our impeachment was contrived and we were removed from office in the most brazen manner and without regards to due process and the statutes of NFF and FIFA. Indeed, one Mr. Ray Nnaji, who had earlier been expelled for anti-NFF/FIFA activities was used to spearhead the campaign.

He wrote a petition which the EFCC used to swoop on us at the NFF and subsequently without due process detained, charged and arraigned us in court.

It must, however be noted here that the EFCC court charges leveled against us were centered on the following: Purchase/procurement of two (2) Marco Polo Buses, Hiring of an Aircraft at a rate lower than the normal price and, Conspired to book a cheap, substandard and unbefitting Hampshire Hotel for the Super Eagles Team in South Africa. While above case is still on, four (4) years after our unlawful impeachment, we have patriotically and faithfully remained patient for God’s verdict.

Your Excellency, it should however be noted that in the pursuit of justice we followed due process in accordance with FIFA/NFF statutes by formally challenging all these allegations and illegalities up to the level of the International Court of Arbitration on Sports (CAS) in Zurich. We only withdrew this case in February 2011, because NFF had vacated its impeachment against us on 28/12/2010 and this was consequently followed by the intervention of CAF President (Dr. Isa Hayatou). Also, relatedly and most importantly, we had to exhibit maturity and patriotism in the application of our vision of using the power of football to better the Nigeria society, by avoiding to overheat the polity of the politically tensed nation which was preparing for its election in April 2011, just less than 2 months away.

Mr. President, Sir, from the foregoing, it is obvious that in accordance with the approved NFF/FIFA statute, the Government created the enabling environment for us to be democratically elected by Nigerians and to run the football body upto the time of our illegal impeachment on 3rd July, 2010. It is, indeed, a glaring mischief that despite the fact that we cleared a huge debt of over N300 Million inherited on assumption of duties in August 2006, reengineered and re-structured the Federation, delivered all our campaign promises and left a total sum of over N2.8 Billion in the various accounts of NFF, either in Nigeria Banks or with FIFA, we are still being vilified for mismanagement of resources and corruption. It is on record that this historical achievement was attained by my team because of our transparency, accountability, dedication, commitment and passionate interest to serve and uplift our Nation to the highest level of World football. It is unfortunate and questionable that the illegal impeachment was deliberately and corruptly conducted before the NFF Secretariat could produce the full financial statement of the World Cup activities that was then ongoing. Even though the NSC had never queried the NFF under my leadership on financial misappropriation or mismanagement, it is evidenced from records that all our yearly financial transaction and statements were duely processed through External Auditor for an endorsement by the congress, which is the highest body of NFF and subsequently published in Nigeria dailies.

Also, Sir, while I was going through the trauma of the impeachment, my aged mother was kidnapped and those who held her hostage demanded 10 percent of the two billion naira, I was erroneously accused of misappropriating.

Also, within the same period, Mr. Patrick Ekeji -DG NSC in his attempt to deliberately complicate issues used the instrument of his office to petition against me to security agencies accusing me of threatening his life.

Your Excellency, kindly recall from my presentation above, that I was impeached by the congress and following my case with CAS, the same congress had to vacate my impeachment despite EFCC court case, which implies my innocence. Also to be noted, are that all funds utilized preparatory to our participation at the 2010 FIFA world cup final were sourced from either FIFA or NFF sponsors as government funds for the competition was remitted to NFF account, four days to commencement of the tournament, when we were already in South Africa. So why the court charges on us and why for over four years no accelerated hearing on these issues which bother on our international and national integrity? We certainly do not merit this inhuman and ungodly treatment, particularly as this illegal act of impeachment was hatched through a petitioner, who was later, publicly compensated by the group that impeached us.

Mr. President Sir, your laudable Transformation Agenda lays emphasis on transparency, openness, accountability, fairness and fight against corruption. It is therefore my wish and prayer after patiently and painfully waiting for 4 years of deprivation that you kindly use your Good office to consider, address and direct the following:• NFF must tell Nigerians why they vacated my impeachment while EFCC had arraigned me in court.

• Why did the Electoral Committee discontinue the main electoral process when we were returned unopposed and not convicted • NSC/NFF should account for the Two Billion and Eight Hundred Million Naira (N2.8 Billion), I left behind at my impeachment.

• Aminu Maigari-led EXCO should vacate office following the resolution of NFF congress to vacate my impeachment.

• PTF should present to the public the statement of account of over One Billion Naira (N1Billion) realized from fund raised for the Africa Nation Cup and World Cup in 2010, because none was remitted to my led Board for the Budgeted purpose.

In conclusion, Mr. President, it is obvious that because of our love and patriotism for our dear country we followed due process and rule of law as contained in the statutes to file a case with CAS, but withdrew following intervention of CAF President after NFF vacation of impeachment vide extract and I quote “The congress resolved that the decision of 09/07/2010 concerning impeached Alh. Sani Lulu Abdullahi, Mazi Amanze Uchegbulam and Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi be vacated in the spirit of reconciliation. Similarly, congress resolved that all members of the football family having any football matter pending in ordinary court, should proceed to withdraw same in the spirit of sportsmanship, while imploring the Executive Committee to open up a channel of communication in resolving such disputes including the matter in CAS with former members of its Executive Committee.” But NFF has refused to implement above decisions as they relate to me and my colleagues except our withdrawal from CAS. These oppressors appear to have succeeded in their unholy act after four years of my illegal impeachment, but I say no, because it is time for God Almighty to accept my prayer not to allow this jungle justice and illegal act to continue in our great Country. Our Lord, you know we faithfully, without fear or favour, fought corruption and served our nation and entire humanity and yet we are witnessing these perceived humiliation and injustice.

My prayer, therefore, is that God Almighty, our Creator, the Omnipresent and Omnipotent, should empower the over 160 million Nigerians to support Mr. President in identifying and exposing these inhuman and corrupt officers who used the power of Government to corruptly impart high level of injustice on Nigerians through our illegal impeachment.

Mr. President, kindly address this INJUSTICE, because despite these blatant illegalities we exhibited patience and tolerance to create enabling environment for our national team to thrive.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014

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FOREIGN NEWS Sudan death row woman Meriam, ‘detained’

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SUDANESE woman freed from death row on Monday has been detained with her family at Khartoum airport, sources have told the BBC. Meriam Ibrahim was sentenced to hang in May for renouncing Islam, sparking widespread outrage at home and abroad.

About 40 security agents detained Mrs Ibrahim - along with her husband, Daniel Wani and two children - at the airport, the sources said.

On Monday, Mr Wani said the family intended to leave for the US. Mrs Ibrahim was released from prison after an appeal court annulled the death sentence imposed on her.

Meriam Ibrahim with her husband Daniel Wani (L), children and legal team after her release in Khartoum She was arrested in February, and gave birth to a daughter in prison not long after being sentenced.

The family has been taken to the headquarters of one of Sudan’s security agencies, the sources said.

Before she was detained on Tuesday, Western countries had welcomed the decision to rescind the death penalty.

The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) is an extremely powerful body, which frequently intervenes in Sudanese politics.

It is a key part of the informal coalition - also comprising the military, Islamists and pragmatists - which rules Sudan.

The different components are constantly jockeying for a better position.

In recent times, NISS has been flexing its muscles.

It is very possible that NISS did not like the decision to release Meriam Ibrahim, and rearresting her and her family was a way of making this point to the rest of the Sudanese government.

However, security is not a homogenous entity either.

It is also conceivable that one part of NISS accepted Mrs Ibrahim’s release, while another section was not happy with it.

Mrs Ibrahim’s release and rearrest simply underlines the fact that there are many decisionmakers in Sudanese politics, and they do not always agree with each other.

Born to a Muslim father, Mrs Ibrahim, 27, married Mr Wani, a Christian, in 2011.

Sudan has a majority Muslim population, and Islamic law has been in force there since the 1980s.

Even though Mrs Ibrahim was brought up as an Orthodox Christian, the authorities considered her to be a Muslim because that is the religion of her father.

Mr Wani has US citizenship.

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HE father of an Australian journalist jailed in Egypt said his family was stunned by the court’s decision to imprison his son, and Australia’s prime minister vowed his government would work quickly to free the reporter and get him out of Cairo.

Parents of Australian journalist Peter Greste, Lois (left) and Juris Greste speak to the media in Brisbane, Australia. AP Australian Peter Greste was one of three Al-Jazeera journalists sentenced by a Cairo court on Monday to at least seven years in prison on terrorism-related charges stemming from an interview with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Greste’s father Juris Greste told reporters in the family’s hometown of Brisbane on Tuesday that he was in a state of shock and was struggling to think straight.

“We’re not usually a family of

superlatives, but I have to say this morning my vocabulary fails to convey just how shattered we are,” Juris Greste told a news conference accompanied by his wife Lois Greste. “You can never prepare yourself for something as painful as this.”

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Department called in Egypt’s charge d’affaires Sherif Bedeir Hussein to make an official objection to the court ruling.

Hussein, the embassy’s first secretary, declined to speak to reporters as he left the 30-minute meeting. The ambassador, Hassan Hanafy Mahmoud ElLaithy, is currently in Cairo.

“We’re obviously shocked, dismayed, really bewildered by the decision of the court in Egypt,” Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters.

Abbott said Australia respects the legitimacy of the Egyptian government, its justice system

and the need “to crack down on extremism including the Muslim Brotherhood, but ... it is important that there be due process, it is important that decisions be made on a fair and just basis.”

“The Australian government will continue to make intercessions at every level with the Egyptian government and elsewhere to try to ensure that Peter Greste and his colleagues are swiftly released,” Abbott later told Parliament.

Abbott said he had a “very constructive discussion” about Greste over the weekend with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

“My understanding is that the Egyptian court system does work at arm’s length from the government, but I do understand that once the court system has done its work, then there are options for presidential acts — presidential clemency, presiden-

•Kerry arrives in Arbil, the capital of Northern Iraq’s Kurdistan autonomous region...yesterday

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tial pardons and so on — that’s why I’m not in the business of being critical of the government,” Abbott told reporters.

Juris Greste described the judgment as “a slap in the face and a kick in the groin to Australia as well as all fair-minded people around the world.”

“Journalism is not a crime, or you should all be behind bars — it’s a simple as that,” he told reporters. “Our son Peter is an award-winning journalist, he is not a criminal.”

Lois Greste said there has been no decision yet on an appeal, but the family was considering all options. The family did not know if their son might be able to be transferred to an Australian prison to serve his sentence.

Peter Greste’s brothers, Andrew and Mike Greste, were in Cairo to hear the decision, but have not yet been allowed to visit their brother, she said.

PHOTO:REUTERS

Iraq grants U.S. Special Forces ‘acceptable assurances’ on immunity

ASHINGTON has secured “acceptable assurances” from Iraqi authorities shielding US Special Forces from local law. The deal comes as US forces are set to begin advising the embattled Iraqi army as Sunni militants continue their surge across the country.

The Defence Department is yet to receive in writing immunity agreements for the troops, but “Iraq has provided acceptable assurances” for the 300 Special Forces troops President Barack Obama announced he would send to Iraq on Thursday, John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement.

The agreement, which came via “diplomatic note,” will see US advisors subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and not Iraqi law.

The issue of US troop immunity has long been a sticking point

between Washington and Baghdad. Obama ultimately decided to withdraw all US troops and trainers from Iraq in October 2011, after Iraqi authorities refused to sign up to a new Status of Forces agreement granting American forces immunity from local prosecution.

The US military and Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel have since opposed sending any special operations teams to Iraq unless a written agreement was secured from Baghdad guaranteeing they would not be prosecuted under Iraqi law.

None of the Special Forces troops have arrived in Baghdad yet, with Pentagon officials saying they would touch ground by the end of the week. The Pentagon hopes the US trainers will be able to provide a better intelligence assessment of radicals

from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS, or ISIL), including the type and quantity of USmade armaments which they had seized from the Iraqi military.

Defence officials have stressed, however, that there are no plans for them to directly engage in combat.

The ongoing offensive by the ISIS is being done with the aim of achieving total dominance in Iraq by radical Sunni militants.

On June 22, jihadists captured three new towns and two border crossings, one with Jordan and one with Syria.

On Monday, Earnest expressed the White House’s concerns regarding the security situation amid the successful ISIS offensive.

In a separate diplomatic victory for the Obama administra-

tion, Kerry announced that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had agreed to begin the process of forming a new national government by July 1.

“The key today was to get from each of the government leaders clarity with respect to the road forward in terms of government formation,” Kerry said.

It is believed the White House would favor a new leader over the Shiite Maliki, who has alienated Sunnis and Kurds by purging moderate members of the opposition from his government.

On Tuesday, Kerry held additional crisis talks with leaders of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region in a bid to get them to support Baghdad against Sunni insurgents.

Iraqi Kurds have ruled themselves in relative peace since the US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. Having long sought their own independent

Russian leader Putin ‘scraps Ukraine military move’

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•Meriam

Jailed Al-Jazeera journalist’s parents shocked by Egypt’s decision

USSIA’S president has asked parliament to revoke the right of military intervention in Ukraine, where rebels have been fighting government troops.

Vladimir Putin’s move was aimed at “normalising the situation” in the conflict-torn eastern regions of Ukraine, his presssecretary said.

The parliament authorised Mr Putin to use force in Ukraine on 1 March.

Ukraine said Mr Putin’s latest move was a “first practical step” towards settling the crisis in the east.

In a statement, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stressed that this came after Mr Putin had officially supported Kiev’s peace plan, which involved a ceasefire.

Since March, Moscow has annexed Ukraine’s southern Crimea peninsula.

This was achieved with the help of troops without insignia. Despite initial denials, Mr Putin later admitted that they were Russian armed forces.

However, Moscow denies accusations by Kiev that Russian troops are helping and arming the separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk re-

gions.

On Tuesday, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Putin had sent a letter to the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, asking to revoke the right of military intervention in Ukraine.

Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma (second left), OSCE Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini (centre) and Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov joined the talks with the separatists Mr Peskov said the move was linked to Monday’s launch of talks between Kiev and separat-

ist leaders in the east. Representatives from Russia and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe also took part in the meeting.

The separatists said afterwards that they would observe a ceasefire until Friday morning, responding to the unilateral truce declared by President Poroshenko.

The BBC’s Daniel Sandford in Moscow says that Mr Putin’s request to parliament could be voted in as soon as Wednesday, according to senior Russian officials.

Exiled Thai minister forms anti-coup group

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N exiled Thai minister has formed a group to lead a campaign against the military government, which seized power in last month’s coup.

Charupong Reuangsuwan is the only minister to have escaped into exile.

He called the coup, which followed months of anti-government protests, “an outrageous act” and “grand larceny”.

The Organisation of Free Thais for Human Rights and Democracy (Seri Thai) aims to “restore and strengthen” Thai democracy.

In a statement addressed to Thai citizens and e-mailed to journalists, he said: “It is now tragically evident that Thailand has returned, once again, to a vicious cycle of absolute dictatorial governance.”

He accused the junta of stealing the people’s sovereignty by seizing power from the elected civilian government, which was run by Mr Charupong’s Puea Thai party.

The military leadership has pledged to return to democracy, but only after it has carried out sweeping reforms of the political system.

Mr Charupong, however, accused the military of intending to create “a new puppet structure” for “anti-democratic elements”.

A demonstration in Bangkok on 22 June saw anti-coup protesters arrested Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha has promised to return Thailand to democratic rule eventually It is not yet clear from which country the new organisation will operate.

In response, Acting Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow told journalists there was “only one legitimate government”.

Ebola ‘out of control’ in West Africa

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TAFF of the “Doctors without Borders” medical aid organisation carry the body of a person killed by viral haemorrhagic fever, at a center for victims of the Ebola virus in Guekedou, Guinea on April 1, 2014 An epidemic of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa is now “out of control” with more than 60 outbreak hotspots, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Monday.

“The scale of the current Ebola epidemic is unprecedented in terms of geographical distribution, people infected and deaths,” MSF said in a statement.

The rapid spread of the disease, which is deadly in up to 90 percent of cases, has overwhelmed aid agencies and health workers and terrified local communities.

“The epidemic is now out of control,” said Bart Janssens, MSF director of operations.

“With the appearance of new sites in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, there is a real risk of it spreading to other areas.”

After the first reported cases in Guinea at the start of the year, at least 337 people have died from Ebola in the three countries in 2014, according to data released last week by the World Health Organization.

The incurable disease is spread by contact with bodily fluids including sweat, meaning just touching an infected person is enough to spread the virus.

MSF called for a “massive deployment” of medical resources by governments in the region to curb the epidemic.

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SPORT EXTRA

Sabella: Argentina will play 4-3-3 against Nigeria

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OACH Alejandro Sabella says Argentina will stick to its three-man attack in its last group match against Nigeria, though he hasn't yet decided who is going to be in the lineup.

Argentina has already qualified for the second round but needs at least a draw against Nigeria to top Group F. Sabella kept his cards close to his chest when asked Tuesday if he

Glo to Eagles: Beat Argentina to restore Nigeria’s pride

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would rest some of his key players.

The coach said Argentina "will almost certainly play with a 4-33 formation but I don't have the starters because I want to await the recovery of a few players."

He said "there is always a risk of a problem, someone feeling pain at the last moment, there's always a risk of a player being in doubt."

ITTF LAGOS WORLD TOUR

I expect tough games, says Toriola

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IGERIAN professional table tennis player Segun Toriola, has expressed his joy at winning his first series of matches, stating that it was a good start at the ongoing International Table Tennis Federation(ITTF) Lagos World Tour holding at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.

Toriola, who has represented Nigeria at six Summer Olympics debuting at Barcelona, added that he was in competition with other good African players in his group, and expects every game to be tough as he advances.

According to him, “First straight win is not bad enough; well this is just the first match.

We have other good players; each game is always difficult as you move on. So far my group

By Bowale Odukale has not been bad”.

Toriola is competing in the Men’s Single against fellow country mates Aruna Quadri, Segun Ajetunmobi of Nigeria, Omar Assar of Egypt, El-Sayed Lashin of Egypt, Mohamed ElBeiali of Egypt, Suraju Saka of Congo Brazzaville and Khalid Assar of Egypt.

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•Alejandro Sabella, head coach of Argentina, talks to Lionel Messi during training...yesterday

keep calm. The DHQ is yet to confirm the several reports on the abduction of girls in Borno State as at now.”

A source in Borno State Government said: “We are not yet sure of the abduction of the 91 people, we are trying to verify this claim.”

Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima expressed serious concerns about the reports of yet another abduction in Damboa local government area of the state.

The Governor has directed the chairman of the local government and other government officials from the affected areas to make very urgent but accurate enquiries from communities and report to him, according to a statement by his Media adviser, Isa Gusau.

HE Squash section of the Ikoyi Golf Club is agog as the Prime Atlantic Close Squash tournament which commenced on Tuesday and ends on Sunday, June 29 goes underway.

The tourney which started five years ago according to the organizsers would accommodate its members, i.e. both male and

female players who wish to take part in the 6-day tourney.

Briefing newsmen on Tuesday, the chairman of the squash section of the Ikoyi Golf club 1938, Tokunbo Ogundipe noted that the tournament was to encourage its members on some of the values of the club, which include healthy living, good avenue for

people to exercise after a hard days work through the game of squash.

The Captain of the club, Akinwunmi Akintola also listed the modalities for the tournament which commenced on Tuesday.

According to Akintola, the three categories are open to all the members of the squash section of

pose to the Nigerian government and not AFRICOM,” he was quoted by Premium Times.

Mr. Carter reportedly spoke during the sixth U.S. Africa Command Academic Symposium in Accra, Ghana.

“We were asked by the leadership of Nigeria to provide help to deal with the horrible phenomenon, Boko Haram. We have an interagency, inter-government effort with the Nigerian government run through our embassy in Abuja under our ambassador,” he said.

2014 WORLD CUP RESULTS Costa Rica 0 - 0 England Italy 0 - 1 Uruguay Japan 1 - 4 Colombia Greece 2 - 1 Côte d'Ivoire

“While the governor views the reported abduction with all the seriousness it deserves, he is also worried that weighty developments such as information concerning the abduction of 60 persons.

“The governor is worried that only recently, leaders of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breaders Association reportedly refuted media reports that 30 fulani women were kidnapped at a community in Chibok.

The Association relied on what it called comprehensive investigation that involved making enquiries from its members.

“Governor Shettima expresses profound appreciation to the Nigerian and International media for their very critical support which has no doubt been very helpful in the circumstance. The Governor is hopeful that the schoolgirls

abducted in Chibok will by the intervention of God, be rescued and so will those recently affected, if ongoing enquiries confirm reports about the unfortunate incident.

“Governor Shettima assures the citizens of Borno State, other Nigerians and the International community that his administration is working very hard, doing all it can and should do, collaborating actively with relevant bodies both the military and community members, to find a lasting solution to the crisis that has been a big thorn in the Governor’s flesh.

“Part of the measures being taken are yielding fruitful results that aim at enhancing security of lives and property in the State. Peace has been relatively achieved in major towns and peace will by God’s grace.”

The ambassador also debunked rumours that the U.S. government is leading any operation in Nigeria. He said AFRICOM’s core engagement with Nigeria includes locating the girls and improving the Nigerian Security Forces’ capacity to manage information. “[AFRICOM] is not leading them (Nigerian soldiers) to do anything. We are not putting any equipment on the ground. We are only to support them. That is the direction of President Obama and the request of President Jonathan,” he said.

He explained some of the

Command’s activities on the continent, and said AFRICOM has no intensions of militarising Africa. He said AFRICOM is a geographic combatant command of the U.S. Defence Department and is focused on military relations with African states and other regional security organisations on the continent.

AFRICOM, which began operations in 2007, is located in Germany but holds liaison officers at key African posts in the continent.

Mr. Carter, who served as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Guinea from 2007 to 2008 and has also served in

the club. Veterans who are over 50 years of age are also eligible to participate in the tournament just as members who are over 60 years of age have been grouped as super veterans. They are also entitled to play for the various prizes which will be given out by the sole sponsor of the tournament, Prime Atlantic.

In the same vain, Olajumoke Adebola a representative of the Prime Atlantic, sponsors of the tournament, told newsmen that its organisation encourages and supports individuals through sporting activities organized to enhance the growth and development in the sport industry.

Eagles will stop Messi, say Keshi, Enyeama Continued from page 4

•Keshi...yesterday

US envoy: Fed Govt delays release of Chibok girls Continued from page 4

Eagles’ qualification for the second round, winning the match will boost the team’s confidence and restore the nation’s pride. We recall that the Argentines have triumphed over the Super Eagles thrice when both teams met at previous World Cup tournaments at USA 94, Japan/Korea 2002 and South Africa 2010. It will therefore be historic and refreshing if the Super Eagles can pay back the Albicelestes in their own coins. We encourage all the players and the coaching crew to remain determined to excel throughout the 90-minute duration of the match,” the statement added.

Globacom further called on all Nigerians to continue to support and believe in the team.

“As the reigning African champions, Nigeria cannot afford to fail the continent. The coaching crew should evolve the right strategy to achieve victory to put a smile on the faces of the fans,” Globacom said.

Prime Atlantic Close squash tourney goes underway

NEWS Military probes abduction of 91 Continued from page 4

HE National team, Super Eagles has been tasked to ensure total victory over the Albicelestes of Argentina when both sides clash in the last Group F match of the on-going 2014 World Cup on Wednesday in Brazil.

Nigeria moved to the second position in Group F with 4 points after defeating Bosnia1-0 in Cuiaba last Saturday, while major contender, Argentina who will face the Super Eagles in the next match has 6 points after defeating hard fighting Iran also by a lone goal.

According to a press statement released by the company on Tuesday in Lagos, Globacom saluted the fighting spirit and doggedness of the Eagles which saw them trouncing Bosnia, adding that the team needs at least a draw to guarantee its qualification for the Round of 16.

“We urge the Eagles’ camp to remain focused on the task ahead. We believe that another victory is achievable and we stand by you as ever, believing fervently that you will do Nigeria proud,” Globacom said in the statement.

“Even though a draw with Argentina will ensure the Super

other capacities in Africa, Asia, and South America, delivered opening remarks at the kick-off of the Symposium which will run till Thursday.

Ghanaian Minister of Defence, Mark Woyongo, bemoaned the mixed results achieved by security operatives in the sub-region.

“This year’s theme which is titled Perspectives and Partners on Population-Centric Security Sector Transformation is both timely and topical because of the contemporary security challenges facing our region and Africa as a whole,” he said.

at the 2010 World Cup also praised the player but said he is not up against one man but the whole Argentina frontline.

“He’s one of the best players in the world and has made a lot of progress since the last time we met,” Enyeama said.

“It might not be a game between him and me, it’s going to be Nigeria against Argentina. There are other players like [Sergio] Aguero and [Angel] di Maria.

“I watch tapes of opponents, I have done that. We have studied their tapes, their strengths and weaknesses.”

“Every game has its own character. I will study the game but I’m sure tomorrow is going to have a different character,” Keshi said.

European giants Italy, four-time champions, became the latest former winners of the FIFA World Cup to exit Brazil 2014. They lost 1-0 to Uruguay in the last Group D match at the Estadio das Dunas, Natal on

Tuesday.

Captain Diego Godin scored in the 81st minute as Uruguay edged 10-man Italy to reach the second round of the World Cup. The match boiled over in the second half when Claudio Marchisio went in hard on Egidio Rios and was shown a red card.

However, Uruguay were lucky to not be down to 10 men themselves as Luis Suarez seemed to sink his teeth into the shoulder of Giorgio Chiellini as they tussled in the box.

The Liverpool striker escaped punishment and went on to celebrate with Godin as the defender rose highest from a corner to score the crucial goal with nine minutes remaining.

Italy however became the third former World Cup winner to be sent home from the tournament after Spain and England.

With the victory, Uruguay joins Brazil, Germany, Argentina and France as the remaining past winners still in the race.

Military issues red alert Continued from page 4

those threatening security of the nation, they are also surfing the net to know much about us and our personnel.

Our officers and men can be on Facebook but without reference to their military positions or postings or assignments.

“This is a policy even in the United States and most advanced countries. Ours is a sensitive service; it is also regimented. There are certain things that are strictly controlled within military ethics.

“This challenging period calls for proactive measures from military officers and men.”

TODAY IN THE NATION

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2014 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL.9 NO.2,888

‘If you think Boko Haram is bad just remember that the worst terrorism is yet to come. The terrorism of politics, physical and vote-rigging, is real and it kills, maims and ruins the entire country.’

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

I

AM still in shock over the shocking defeat of Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the incumbent, in last Saturday’s governorship election of Ekiti State. Like many a newspaper pundit, I predicted on this page on May 28 that the election was a “likely shoein” for the governor against his two leading opponents, Ayo Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Michael Bamidele, an estranged chieftain of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), who had moved to the Labour Party (LP).

Fayemi had virtually everything going for him; his record of performance, his incumbency and his integrity, not to talk of his youthful dynamism and eloquence.

One of his leading opponents, Fayose, had a terrible record as governor and was even impeached and literally had to flee the state when President Olusegun Obasanjo declared an emergency in the state following the crisis caused by the impeachment.

He tried to stage a comeback in 2011 (not 2007 as I wrongly said in my May 28 prognosis of the election) by contesting a Senate seat on the platform of the LP, but lost.

The other leading opponent, Bamidele, although a formidable politician in the state, seemed more of a disaffected spoilsport than a serious contender, given his close association with the governor and Labour Party’s lack of much presence in the state. Therefore for me, as for most observers, at least from a distance, the election was Fayemi’s to lose. And sadly for me lose it he did fair and square from the look of things.

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), 360,455 people in the state turned out to vote. Of these, 203,090 voted for Fayose, 120,433 for the governor, a dismal 18,135 for Bamidele and 10,089 had their votes voided. Clearly, Fayose won by more than a landslide.

By almost all accounts, the Ekiti election was INEC’s best outing since Prof.

Attahiru Jega took it over from the discredited Prof. Maurice Iwu. All the sensitive materials were distributed ahead of time and the election itself was peaceful, despite initial fears that it would be violent.

So what happened?

For the Deputy National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Lawal Shuaibu, INEC’s failure to sufficiently publicise its decision that only those in possession of permanent voter cards would be allowed to vote led to the disenfranchisement of many of his party’s supporters. He also blamed the relatively low turnout of voters for his party’s de-

People and Politics By MOHAMMED H ARUNA ndajika@yahoo.com

The exemplary Fayemi

‘

It can, of course, be argued that when the chips are down, politics, for the masses at least, is essentially about the stomach.

As Thomas Phillip Tip O’Neal, the legendary Speaker of the US House of Representatives, once put it, all politics is in the end local •Dr. Fayemi

feat. In addition, he said the barring of some APC governors from the state and the use of the military and the police to harass and detain many of their leading members contributed to the defeat.

Senator Lawal’s first two reasons were clearly lame. According to Kayode Idowu, the chief press secretary of INEC’s chairman, 476,870, or almost 65 per cent of the 732,166, who registered to vote, collected their permanent voter cards (PVC). Of these, he said, 80 per cent voted. It is very unlikely that the remaining 35 per cent who failed to collect the PVC were APC members. But even if they were, the APC should blame itself more than INEC for not sufficiently informing its members about the decision. Similarly, it should blame itself for the relatively poor turnout of voters which, at about 49 per cent, is, in any case respectable even by global standards in these days when voters have become thoroughly disenchanted with politicians because of their selfish and roguish ways almost everywhere.

However, if Senator Shuaibu was wrong to

RIPPLES POLICEMAN HELD FOR STEALING 15 MOTORBIKES–News

•••and that’s what Nigerians would call ‘AUTHORITY STEALING!

’

blame INEC for his party’s defeat, he was right, at least partially, to attribute the defeat to the Federal Government’s gross abuse of its might to intimidate and harass both local and outside APC chieftains - notably, the governors of Rivers and Edo, Rotimi Amaechi and Adams Oshiomhole ahead of the election, using the need for the maintenance of law and order as a camouflage. This was at a time PDP chieftains, including two ministers who are not from the state, were allowed to roam freely less than 24 hours to the election.

The most glaring of this crude abuse of power was the Gestapo invasion of the residence of Mr. Bimbo Daramola, the director-general of Dr. Fayemi’s campaign organisation, in the wee hours of Saturday by soldiers and the police. During the invasion, Mr. Daramola’s 87-year-old father was reportedly tormented.

In the end, however, I believe Dr. Fayemi’s defeat can be attributed to what, in Nigerian parlance, has since been described as the politics of the stomach, a politics Fayose and his party, the PDP, have ap-

HARDBALL

T

HIS is not about the Ekiti State governorship election of June 21, which is still being analysed in various quarters, particularly by the conquered camp. But it is about pre-election events that also deserve analysis, especially by observers of conscience.

Two days before the poll, an incident involving Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi provided food for thought about dangerous abuse of power in the political sphere. He was travelling by road to Ado-Ekiti for the final rally of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), having flown to the Ondo State capital, Akure, from his base in Port Harcourt. According to his account to reporters in Lagos, “And I was to take off from there to Ado-Ekiti; the boundary between Ekiti and Ondo is about four kilometres. I saw about 15 soldiers carrying guns and as soon as they saw me, they cocked their guns and were positioned.”

He continued: “They stopped me and said I would not go to Ekiti. Meanwhile other vehicles were going. They told me they were on order not to allow Governor Amaechi get to Ekiti. I asked if it was all the governors that were placed on the order, but they said, ‘It is

On the road to Ekiti you alone’”.

Worse was to follow as Amaechi said that at a point his life was in danger. According to him, “They came to me and said they gave me 20 minutes to move or they would shoot me. Everybody was panicking.” It took the intervention of some top APC members who responded to Amaechi’s distress call to prevent an escalation of hostility that could have resulted in bloodshed.

Now, it is unclear who gave the command to keep Amaechi away from Ekiti on that day, and why it was necessary to do so. But it is easy to guess that this must have been the handiwork of a desperate political rival; and it is clear enough that the directive demonstrated primitive thinking and those robots that carried out the order not only represented darkness but also institutional backwardness. So, the army is now empowered to do dirty jobs for a so-called democratically elected administration.

The development was dreadful, but not

TONY MARINHO

parently been proverbial masters of.

In my May 28 piece, I said it was “doubtful that the good people of Ekiti State would want a return to those locust years under Fayose and his PDP, a party he had called some of the nastiest names” after he was forced to leave following his impeachment.

Obviously the two decided to make up and proceed to do what they know best how to; buy the poor masses’ votes, as could be seen, for example, from well-publicised long queues of people collecting free bags of Fayose’s rice at PDP campaign rallies, something Dr. Fayemi could obviously not bring himself to do but which, even if he was disposed to, his government simply did not have the resources to match the deep pockets of those behind Fayose.

It can, of course, be argued that when the chips are down, politics, for the masses at least, is essentially about the stomach. As Thomas Phillip Tip O’Neal, the legendary Speaker of the US House of Representatives, once put it, all politics is in the end local. In other words, a successful politician is one who can address the simple everyday concerns of those whose votes he/ she seeks, rather than one who would appeal to big and abstract ideas like Democracy and mouth empty slogans like Transformation or Change. O’Neill should know; he served in the House for 34 years from 1953, the last 10 as Speaker before he retired in 1987.

The difference between Nigeria and the US, it seems, is how their masses perceive their concerns. Whereas the ordinary American has a long term view of his needs, the ordinary Nigerian’s view, circumscribed by his abject poverty, is that of satisfaction here and now.

This can only be the explanation, at least in part, of why Fayemi, who touched the lives of the people of Ekiti like no other politician before him, would come a very distant second to someone whose administration was a byword for corruption and mismanagement.

However, while we can debate the reasons for Fayemi’s defeat, the defeat itself is undisputable. It is to his eternal credit that he accepted it with an uncommon grace.

Hopefully, Fayose will respond with the same grace, and not behave with the kind of arrogant triumphalism common to our politicians, as he promised he would in accepting Fayemi’s congratulations.

Three years ago Fayemi was chosen as the Governor of the Year by Leadership. By his courageous act of accepting his defeat, the man, for me, deserves the honour of being the Man of our 15 years of civil rule.

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above just for Amaechi. It is worth mentioning that Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole of APC also complained that federal government agents prevented him from travelling to Ekiti for the same rally. More fundamentally, the polity may yet witness even outrageously greater instances of crude use of political power and position. In other words, the condemnable abridgement of the governors’ freedom of movement looks like a seed that may ultimately lead to an unwanted harvest of tyranny.

With the 2015 general elections ahead, this vile display of fangs ranks among the most threatening signals that political crooks will likely go to any length for the sake of power, which is disturbing enough.

However, even more alarming was the federal government’s reaction to the wellfounded accusation of repression. According to the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, “It is absolutely wrong to accuse this administration of repression…This accusation cannot stand at all.” Just one question for the fanatical defender: Were the soldiers who stopped Amaechi and Oshiomhole not under the influence of a puppeteer?

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