The Nation November 13, 2012

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Why Lam Adesina wasn’t flown out, by son

NCC bans MTN, Glo, Airtel, others

NEWS

Page 4

•Ex-governor ‘believed in Nigeria’

•‘No more promos, lotteries’

NEWS

Page 4

www.thenationonlineng.net

VOL. 7, NO. 2308 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

N150.00

Jonathan may cancel N5.6b pipelines security contracts Nigeria’s oil output falls as theft soars From Shola O’Neil, Warri

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ESPITE the controversial N5.6 billion pipeline surveillance contracts awarded to ex-Niger Delta militant leaders, oil thieves are in business and Nigeria’s production is falling.

Production at the peak of militants’ activities in the Niger Delta was at its 1.3m barrels per day (bpd) all-time low.

Output increased progressively - up to 2.7 barrels per day after the amnesty programme and the award of pipelines surveillance contracts.

But following the recent sabotage, which led to shut-ins, production has dropped to 2.5m, thereby significantly reducing the country’s revenue.

Now, President Goodluck Jonathan is said to be considering the cancellation of the contracts. There was no confirmation of the plan last night, however.

Alleging crude theft, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) at the weekend shut down the Imo River Trunkline in its Eastern operation, reducing production by 25,000 barrels daily.

Several crude theft points were found on the facility.

Agip, Total and others are also believed to be losing thousands of barrels daily to crude oil thieves “because beneficiaries of the contract have not been putting their houses in order”, said a source in the oil industry.

Representatives of the major oil firms, who insisted on not being named, are of the opinion that Ateke, Asari, Dagogo and Egberi Papa failed to justify the N2bn contract they got for the Rivers pipeline.

A Presidency source, who shares this view, hinted that the dismal performance of the exmilitants in Bayelsa and Rivers may have informed the unwillingness of President Jonathan to renew the contract.

It was gathered that the president is unhappy that even “after sticking out his neck” to

•From left: Governors Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Chief Bisi Akande...yesterday.

Oshiomhole: I’ll focus on people From Osagie Otabor, Benin

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EFORE a huge crowd of dignitaries, workers, politicians and ordinary folk, Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday began his second term with a pledge to continue with his achievements.

The Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, BeninCity venue of the ceremony was filled to capacity.

Yesterday was declared a public holiday by the Edo State Government to mark the event.

The Government House and the streets leading to the Government House got some facelift.

Traffic was high on major streets, especialContinued on page 63

Continued on page 4

•Oshiomhole taking the oath of office at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City…yesterday.

How parties sabotage electoral process, by Jega

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OLITICAL parties sabotage electoral process through their activities, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chair Prof.

Attahiru Jega alleged yesterday.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said some political parties operate without manifestos.

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Abuja

The duo spoke at the workshop organised by the National Institute for Legislative Studies in Abuja.

Senate President David Mark and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu underscored the need for discipline in political

parties.

The former President noted that without discipline, no political party can endure.

He stressed the need for the electorate to hold political office holders accountable to their party manifestos.

Obasanjo regretted that politi-

cal parties have reduced party manifestos to “mere instruments for political campaign”.

He added that most political parties throw away their manifestos shortly after being voted into office.

He said: “I want to say that Continued on page 4

•AIRLINES CUT FARES ON ROUTES P11 •ACN HITS GOVT ON RIBADU REPORT P59

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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Aviation sector With barely four functional airlines and less than 20 aircraft serving about 160 million Nigerians, the elite and government officials embrace private jets and chartered flights as the solution to the nation’s ailing aviation industry, OLUKAYODE THOMAS, PAUL UKPABIO, INNOCENT DURU and KELVIN OKUBOR report.

•President Goodluck Jonathan (right) greeting Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda at a retreat in Abuja...yesterday. With them areVice President Namadi Sambo (wearing a hat) and Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun.

•House of Representatives’ Speaker Aminu Tambuwal (right), Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan (middle) and National President of NULGE Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel, during the launching of Africa Municipal and Local Government Unions Network and confirment of Award of Grand Patron of AMALGUN to Uduaghan PHOTO: ABAYOMI FAYESE in Abuja

•The Owa of Igbajo, Oba Adeniyi Olufemi Fashsde (middle), his Olori and the Managing Director, Metropolitan Industries (Nig.) Ltd., Naranbhai G. Patel during the fund raising dinner for Igbajo Polytechnic, Igbajo, Osun State held at Etal Hotel, Kudirat Abiola Way, Oragun, Lagos... at the weekend. PHOTO: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE.

•President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mr Goodie Ibru speaking at the 2012 Lagos International Trade Fair in Lagos... at the weekend.With him are Benue State Commissioner for Commerce and Industries Terfa Ihinda and representative of Governor of Benue State, Dr . David Salifu. PHOTO : MUYIWA HASSAN

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NTIL recently, Nigerians could count on their fingers members of this exclusive club. They included oil companies, the Presidency and some individuals.

But not anymore. Nigerians are losing count of their country men who own private jets. Governors, politicians, legislators, religious leaders and top executives in telecommunications and banking own jets. Those who do not own jets travel on chartered flights.

The brand of plane the elite and government officials love include, but is not limited to, Hawker Siddley 125800 and 900XP, Gulfstream 450, 550 and 650; Bombardier Challenger 604, 605; Global Express; Embraer Legacy and Falcons.

Aviation experts and industry watchers are not at one on the number of private jets in Nigeria today.

While some claim it is over 200, many believe that figure is an exaggeration.

A foreign magazine, Forbes, recently claimed that in the last five years, Nigerians may have spent about $6.5 billion or more buying private jets, and that there are more private jets in Nigeria than even comparatively richer African countries, such as South Africa, Egypt and others.

Forbes revealed that the craze for private jets rose by 650 per cent between 2007 and 2012. As at 2007, there were just about 20 private jets in Nigeria, but as of today, there are about 200. Forbes claims that Nigeria is one of the fastest growing private jets markets.

But for Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the figure being peddled by Forbes or any other medium is not right. They revealed that only 77 private jets are operating in Nigeria, and 67 of the jets are not registered in Nigeria.

NCAA spokesman Sam Adurogboye said: “Basically, we have 10 privately owned jets owned

by Nigerians that are registered. We equally have 67 that are foreign registered. What this means is that they are bought overseas and registered there. Nigerian registered has to do with those jets that are on the register of aircraft maintained by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. It follows, therefore, that those are the aircraft that you have oversight authority over. By oversight, I mean regulatory functions that determine whether it is fit to fly, whether it is fit to be brought into the country, whether it is fit to be operated at all in your airspace. Every country has its registration mark for its aircraft. It is allotted

by International Civil Aviation Organisation. No country has two numbers, it is just one.”

Adurogboye said he “cannot say whether the 67 foreign aircraft” are owned by Nigerians or not. “When people buy airplanes, often times they don’t buy it directly as individuals.

People buy aircraft through an agent, usually a company. That is the position of the law. Like I said earlier, you buy through a firm that will charge you because it is in business to make profit. Our business is not to find out the owner of any aircraft. It is bought by a third party as it is known to the

law and it is registered with NCAA in the name of the firm. There is nowhere in NCAA records where you will see the name of an individual as the owner of any aircraft.”

Nigerian owned jets with foreign registration

However, a highly placed aviation officer confided in The Nation that many public office holders own most of the private jets registered abroad. He said the trend is to prevent them from being linked to the ownership of such airplanes.

The Managing Director of Aero Airlines, Captain Akin George, has condemned the increasing number of private jets being parked at most of the aprons of Nigerian airports. He was particularly piqued that most of the private jets carry foreign registration credentials rather than Nigerian registration. The decision to register the jets in foreign countries, particularly in South Africa, is said to be informed by the notion that in case the owners want to resell the jets, they would warrant a bigger value from buyers.

George urged the authorities to make registration in Nigeria friendly and attractive. He said all the aircraft in Nigeria were registered in company’s names rather than private names.

Governors need jets

Outrage continues to trail the recent acquisition of jets by Akwa Ibom Governor Godswill Akpabio and Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

Akpabio reportedly bought a Gulfstream jet manufactured in 2011 for $45 million in July 2012. The plane registration number is N224BH. This was confirmed by the state’s spokesman Aniekan Ummanah, who insisted that it is Akwa Ibom State property.

Amaechi, on October 7, took delivery of a Bombardier Global 5000 (N565RS). The jet cost $45.7 million. The state’s former aircraft, a Dash 8-Q200 aircraft, was sold to Cross River State for $6 million.

A Port Harcourt-based human rights campaigner described the vogue as “ungodly”. But Rivers State Information Commissioner Mrs. Ibim Semenitari told reporters the plane was paid for “two years ago”.

She added: “The reason is for safety.

The new aircraft is a much safer one.”

Semenitari revealed that expert advice was sought before the purchase and that the Rivers State House of Assembly approved the purchase.

If Akpabio and Amaechi merely acquired jets to be ferried around in, Taraba State Governor Danbaba Suntai not only acquired one, he had enough time to combine governance with studies as a pilot. He qualified as a private pilot from the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) Zaria in August 2010.

Recently, the pilot-governor crashed at Ngulore village, 10 kilometres to Yola International Airport. Suntai was piloting a Cessna 208 aircraft, with registration number, 5N-BMJ. The governor and his aides are undergoing treatment in Germany.

House of Representatives member representing Zuru/Fakai/Zakaba/ Dawazagu Federal Constituency of Kebbi State, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, who is

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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NEWS

dying, private jets market booming reported to have sold Suntai’s first plane to him, recently justified the acquisition of private planes by the elite.

He said: “Since I took delivery of my aircraft, it showed that it is far cheaper to maintain than maintaining my cars.

A return flight from Abuja to Zuru, my village, costs me 50 litres of petrol, whereas my jeep consumes over 200 litres.”

Na’Allah added that it is cheaper to maintain a plane than the latest models of cars and Sports Utility Vehicles. He said: “To service it after a mandatory 50hour flight, which is the equivalent of servicing a car, costs less than N50, 000.

And for maintenance, the retainership fee with Aviation Maintenance Organisation (AMO) per annum is about N200, 000.”

He revealed that his C-172 aircraft manufactured in 1971 cost him about $48,000 to acquire.

“In all, you will see that it is very cheap to maintain these aircraft than to maintain the latest car in the market. I think if people know that it is cheaper to acquire and maintain a small aircraft, like my own, many Nigerians would not hesitate to get one today, than the craze for buying flashy cars, with armed robbers trailing you, not to talk of bad roads and frequent car crashes will reduce,” he said.

•Dangote stepping out of his private jet

•Oritsejafor's jet

•Rivers State’s jet

•Interior of P Square’s jet

Chartered flights booming For elite and government officials, especially governors, who could not acquire private jets probably because of public outrage, the next level is chartered air planes.

Aviation sources put the cost of a trip between N4million and N7 million.

In 2011 alone, statistics revealed that Nigerians spent roughly N29.7bn on chartered flights. According to NCAA and FAAN data, an average of 50 jets was chartered daily in 2011. NCAA Director-General, Dr. Harold Demuren, confirmed this in a recent public lecture.

Preferred charter operators include Kings Airlines, Associated Airlines, Top Brazz Aviation, Wings Aviation, Associated Airlines, Overland Airways, Arik Air, Vistajet, Aero Contractors, Caverton Helicopters, OAS Helicopters, Bristow Helicopters and Pan African Airlines.

No, yes to private jets, chartered flights

Lagos lawyer Festus Keyamo has described the development as waste of public funds. He said: “This is a colossal waste of public fund. It is absolutely obscene and distasteful and a classic case of misplaced priorities for state governors to acquire private jets at this present time. By placing the said private jets or airplanes in the hands of private managers, is also an avenue for fraud. It cannot be a source of revenue enough for a state to recover that kind of capital. That kind of income can never be in commensuration with such investment especially in this very situation and time when people are hungry in the state. It is not commensurate.

“There are a lot of commercial jets in Nigeria for any state governor or government to move around in. They should return the private jets to where they got them from, recover the money and use it for projects that will really affect the lives of people in their states positively.”

Another lawyer, Mohammed Fawehinmi, agrees with Keyamo. He said: “Governors or state governments are not presently considering the economic situation of the country to justify acquiring private jets. I will implore Nigerians to be asking questions collectively and stop hailing these people. The money used to acquire those private jets is meant for development projects that should benefit the citizenry of each state.

Unfortunately, the governors now use such monies to buy jets and some people are hailing them and wanting to be like the governors, creating more problems for the citizens of those states.”

For Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, it is unfair to say governors have private jets because the jets are owned by their states. He said: “I do

Some members of the Exclusive Club •Ayo Oritsejafor Clergy •David Oyedepo, Founder/General Overseer of Living Faith (Winners Chapel) •Aliko Dangote businessman.

•Mike Adenuga (Jnr) boss of telecommunications giant Globacom •Aminu Dantata businessman •Femi Otedola boss of Zenon Oil •Emeka Offor, Executive Vice- Chairman of Chrome Group of Companies •Ishiaku Rabiu Chairman of BUA Industries •Sayyu Dantata businessman •Gabriel Igbinedion billionaire businessman and philanthropist •Wale Babalakin (SAN), Lawyer and businessman •Mohammed Indimi, businessman •Ifeanyi Ubah, Chief Executive Officer of Capital Oil •Musa Adede Kings Airlines boss •Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State •Tunde Folawiyo, scion of late business tycoon and Baba Adini of Nigeria, •Sunny Aku, furniture merchant and businessman •Nduka Obaigbena, Publisher of ThisDay •Andy Uba, Senator •Jimoh Ibrahim Chief Executive Officer of Global Fleet and NICON Group, •Arthur Eze Oil magnet and Chairman of Triax Airlines •Joseph Agboli, Pastor of Victorious Army Ministries •P Square- Musicians •Bala Ibn Na’Allah, legislator not like the word private because it suggests that it belongs exclusively to the governor in question. If it is an aircraft purchased for a state to ease movement of the governor and government officials for official duties, I do not see anything wrong with that because at the end of the day, it could be more protected and viable.

Many times, when these governors are travelling abroad, they go with First Class tickets, sometimes they go with up to 10 Commissioners, 10 advisers and even with their wives who may also go with their hangers-on. So some governors go on a trip with 30 or 40 people. By the time you pay for first class and business class tickets for such a large number of people, you find out that money of the state is being drained in a very drastic and shameless manner. On the other hand, if government acquires a jet for the state and it is the property of the state like governor Odili, former Governor of Rivers State once did for his state, then

it is viable. And to the best of my knowledge, the jet was being used long after he had left Government House.”

Aviation expert, Captain Dele Ore, said for states that are not linked by commercial flights, there is nothing wrong with such states acquiring jets.

He said: “Every state has its own peculiarities. And there are states that are not properly linked by the commercial airlines. And so it makes commuting from such places to Abuja or Lagos, which is a commercial centre, difficult for the officials, therefore creating a need for an aircraft to be designated to belong to such a state for ease of governance because of the need to commute to the federal capital, without first of all going to Lagos.”

He added that what should be worried about is whether the jets were acquired after due process has been followed.

“We should not be against the use of aircrafts if they are used to develop and train the people of the state and

‘

Every state has its own peculiarities.

And there are states that are not properly linked by the commercial airlines. And so it makes commuting from such places to Abuja or Lagos, which is a commercial centre, difficult for the officials

‘

ease government officials’ transportation as long as they have capacity to buy and maintain because some people can say that they cannot even feed themselves and so on. But if it helps the governor to go to Abuja and in a few hours he is back in the state instead of spending two extra days on the road, it saves delay in government duties and these same aircrafts might also be used for medical evacuation and such emergencies. So it depends on what studies they made and arrived at in such states. As a blanket cover to condemn state governors buying jets, I don’t share that view. It is not all governors that you can fault; there are genuine needs in some places.”

Commercial moribund

airlines

While the elite and top government officials continue to acquire jets, the nation’s commercial airlines continue its fast march to the morgue.

In the last few years, about ten commercial airlines have died. Only

Arik Airline, Aero Contractors, IRS and Overland seem to be in the air, and the number of flights they operate is grossly inadequate.

Because there are more Nigerians chasing the few planes, operators not only charge exorbitant prices, with an hour flight sometimes costing as much as N35,000, one of the highest in the world. Passengers are most times delayed at the airports for hours; flights are cancelled without genuine excuses and getting a refund is a herculean task.

Commercial airline operators reportedly owe banks about N250 billion. Recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) placed a ban on further loan to commercial flight operators to prevent further escalation of their debts.

So critical is the situation of the industry that the Federal Government is proposing a new intervention fund for the aviation industry.

Aviation Minister Stella Oduah said: “We wanted a direct growth for a better impact than what we currently have in place and our strategy to utilising it is to have a tripartite, triangular if you like, system where the CBN with the approval of the Ministry of Finance pays directly to aircraft manufacturers of the leasing company. The leasing company would in turn bring the aircraft to our airline operators. The airline operators would now have access to brand new aircraft, if not brand new, but relatively brand new aircraft. You and the passengers will have access to functional airline that can take you to where you want to go safely and aviation remains the preferred mode of transportation.

“Aviation is pivotal to the growth of key economic sectors, such as travel and tourism, agriculture production and distribution, rural development, trade and commerce, manufacturing and other non-oil sectors, which are critical to economic transformation of any nation.

The value chain of creation by aviation is enormous. In order to reposition the Nigerian aviation sector for this role, we consulted widely with industry stakeholders and relevant ministries, departments and agencies to develop a common mission and vision.”

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THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

NEWS NCC bans promos, lotteries by telecoms operators

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•From left: Former Military President Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Chairman, Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company, Alhaji Sani Bello and Former Head of State Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, during the presentation of a book title “Basic Concepts in Cyberlaw” to mark Bello’s 70th birthday in Abuja...yesterday PHOTO:ABAYOMI FAYESE

How parties sabotage electoral process, by Jega Continued from page 1

there are some areas where political parties need improvement. One of them is on the issue of manifestoes. What I have come to see and understand in Nigeria is that manifestoes are prepared for campaigns and afterwards, they are thrown away.

“How then can we hold parties and their elected leaders to their promises and manifestoes? Or if they have no manifestoes, what do we hold them to?”

Jega, in a paper on “Party Politics and elections in Nigeria”, said: “There is exhibition of corruption and corrupt tendencies deliberately exhibited by the political parties. Electoral officials are usually blamed for declaring false electoral results but, in most cases this happen, it is because of tremendous inducement and pressure from political parties and from candidates.

It’s incredible the amount of money that is budgeted. Political parties budget fund in terms of the amount to be given to security agencies, INEC or electoral officials, litigations and so on. Really, this is a very serious challenge in terms of the future deepening of democracy in our country.

Of course, people can resist it and when people resist it, some other tendencies come on. We have to curb this exhibition of corrupt practices in our electoral process”.

He added that political parties exhibit poor organisation and mobilisation very clearly and it is no longer important to go out and sweat in terms of mobilising people for party programmes and certainly little action goes into what is prepared in the manifestoes.

According to him, intolerance and insensitivity generally characterised not only inter party relations but also intra party relations.

“By the time we moved into the new dispensation from 1999 onward, virtually every party, no matter big or small, had a youth wing, an armed wing and many people specialised in terms of the role that they play in providing arms or whatever for aggressive engagement and competition in politics. Virtually every party wants one way or the other to cut corners when it comes to party nominations. When it comes to party nomination, for example, we have seen how parties will put aside the provisions of their own constitutions, will actually substitute names without reference to democratic procedures. Section 31 of the electoral laws has a clause which says that the names of candidates submitted for any election cannot be changed, for whatever reason. The same section also defines the procedure by which candidates can also emerge from the party.”

Mark urged the panelists to direct their ingenuity on how to solve indiscipline, lack of cohesion, ideology drought and absence of internal democracy and transparency in political parties.

He added that a deep reflection should as well be given to the malady of intra and inter-party squabbles.

According to him, to effectively address the issues is to establish a definitive roadmap on how to consolidate and sustain the gains of democracy.

The Senate President noted that intra party squabbles arise mainly because political party affiliation is rarely anchored on ideology or any uniting and defined philosophy, but rather largely on crass opportunism.

This, he said, undermines the capacity of the political party to govern effectively, even after gaining political power.

He said: “The internal contradictions sired by the coming together of strange bedfellows breed convulsions, strife and upheavals which hamper the machinery of governance.

“In the most extreme of cases, as we had in the First and Second Republics , intra party squabbles combined with inter-party conflicts to scuttle the democratic experiment.

“Two vivid examples are the events leading to both the

January 15, 1966 coup, and that of December, 1983.”

Mark insisted that modern representative democracy requires viable, ideology based political parties capable of providing clear policy options as evidence of a demonstrable capacity to govern.

He said: “Political parties ought not to be corrupt selfcentered organisations dominated by power hungry elite who serve only their own interests, and those of their cronies. Political parties must serve the interest of the ordinary citizen.

“A political party must clearly stand for something.

“In our fragile democracy in which destabilising demons have suddenly found their voices and have been let loose in the new air of freedom, each political party has a duty to preach restraint, caution and political moderation.”

The political class, as a whole, he said, has the solemn duty of ensuring that Nigerians develop sustainable confidence in the country’s electoral and justice systems.

Mark noted that lobbying targeted at legislators is the act of attempting to influence legislation and resolutions made by the parliament.

To him, it is unfortunate that the term, “lobbying”, has come to acquire a pejorative connotation, despite its many inherent and positive benefits.

Why Adesina shunned foreign hospital, by son

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ORMER Oyo State Governor Lam Adesina who died in Lagos on Sunday declined to be flown abroad because he preferred to be treated where common people are taken care of, his son said yesterday.

Dapo Lam-Adesina, the politician son of the late Oyo State leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) spoke to our reporter in Ibadan.

The Oyo State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, said it even took a while to convince his late father to be transferred

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UNMEN yesterday shot dead one person and injured two others at Kawo bus stop in Kano metropolis.

An eye witness told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano yesterday that the incident occurred at

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

to a Lagos hospital from the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan where he was initially admitted.

The late Adesina was believed to have suffered from diabetes.

He said: “One of the things he emphasised was that he must not be taken abroad for treatment. He said he did not want to be treated outside Nigeria. He said he wanted to be treated where common Nigerians are treated. That was why we could not fly him abroad for

treatment. He rejected the idea.

We were forced to take him to St Nicholas Hospital in Lagos when there was strike at the UCH. It took us a long time to convince him that there was strike at UCH before he allowed us to take him to St Nicholas Hospital. All of the time, he would say that he wanted to be treated where ordinary people are treated. He would have loved to remain at the UCH or at the State Hospital, Adeoyo, Ibadan.

He believed that there was nothing spectacular about him

to warrant being taken for treatment abroad. That was why we could not fly him abroad because he said he was not going.

Even if he would die, he said he would not go abroad.

He never treated himself outside Nigeria, even when he was governor so that people would understand that there was no difference between him and other people.”

He said his father believed so much in Nigeria and lived his life for the masses. He added that he believed in the possibility of change till the end.

Gunmen kill man in Kano about 10:30 a.m. when some people were busy carrying out their daily businesses at the junction.

According to the witness, the suspected gunmen arrived at the place on two motorcycles, ordered people around to leave the place in their own interest.

It was gathered that shortly after giving the order, the gunmen opened fire indiscriminately and shot one person dead, injuring two others.

The gunmen were said to have shot in the air before fleeing the area on their motorcycles.

Spokesman of Kano Police, Mr Mustapha Abubakar, confirmed the incident.

Abubakar said the injured persons were taken to the hospital.

He said security had been beefed up in the area to ensure the arrest of the attackers.

EGULATOR of the telecoms sector, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), yesterday banned telecoms operators from running promos and lotteries.

It attributed network congestion to the promos.

Director, Public Affairs of the commission, Tony Ojobo in a statement, lamented that the commission has, in recent times’ been inundated with complaints from consumers, and others against the various promotions offered by telecommunications operators.

The statement said: “Consistent with its processes, the commission has carefully evaluated the complaints received especially against the backdrop of sustaining the integrity of the networks, the general interest of the consumers, the socio-economic impact of these promotions on operators and other relevant stakeholders.

“The commission therefore has banned all promotions by telecommunications network operators as well as lotteries being carried out on such networks. This ban covers all proposed and approved promotions and lotteries on which the commission has given approval further to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) entered into with the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC)”

By Lucas Ajanaku

The commission said the ban takes immediate effect and shall continue to remain in force until such a time as may be determined by the Commission. Affected operators are Globacom, MTN, Intercellular, Visafone, Etisalat, Airtel and Multilinks.

The commission assured all telecommunications consumers of its resolve to ensure that the quality of service offered across all networks is such that delivers value to the consumers. “ In due regard to the aforementioned responsibilities, therefore and having observed that these promotions have increased the number of minutes available to subscribers for use within a limited period of time thereby creating congestion in the networks as subscribers try to use up the available minutes within the stipulated time.

“That on-net calls were now being offered by operators at tariffs well below the prevailing inter-connect rates thereby introducing anti-competitive practices and behaviour.

“That termination of calls were becoming increasingly difficult from one network to another and overall consumer experience on the networks has become very poor thereby making it extremely difficult for subscribers to make calls successfully,” NCC noted.

Jonathan may cancel pipelines contracts

•Tompolo Continued from page 1

approve the contract and the controversial multibillion naira coastal security contract awarded to ex-militant Chief Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo), oil theft continues.

A company, Oil Facilities Surveillance Limited (OFSL), incorporated by Ekpemupolo got the biggest contract to police the Delta State end of the pipelines.

The contract is worth N3.6b.

The Gbaramatu-born Tompolo enjoys the support and respect of over 60 per cent of former militants from Akwa Ibom State to Ondo State.

The company owned by Mr. Victor Ebikabowei (a.k.a Boyloaf) got a N580m contract to take care of the pipelines in Bayelsa State.

The Rivers State group of Alhaji Mujaheed Asari-Dokubo, Ateke Tom, Prince Ipalibo Gagogo Farah and Soboma Jackrich, got a N2 billion contract to work in Rivers State.

Asari-Dokubo could not be reached for comments. But his spokesperson, Comrade Rex Anighoro, said: “On the surveillance contract, it is not an issue for Alhaji (Asari). Ateke Tom is the chairman of the company. Ipalibo Gagogo Farah is the Secretary and Alhaji Asari-Dokubo and Sobo-

ma Jackrich are members.”

While maintaining that he was not speaking on behalf of the company, Anighoro said the best avenue to seek answers as to why the company is not executing the contract is the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), adding: “The contract was duly awarded by the NNPC to the beneficiaries who are qualified citizens. So, if there is a problem, those who awarded the contract should be asked about the bottleneck,” he added.

However, failure to renew the contracts which are due for review next year, might lead to massive unemployment among the over 5,000 people, some of them ex-militants, in employment as a result of the contract.

Keston Pondi of OFSL said the management of the company relies on its “goodwill and personal resources to continue to pay the huge wage bills”, adding: “We are getting close to a point where the company would be forced to lay off thousands of the youths.”

He advised the Federal Government to think about the implication of throwing about 5,000 more youths into the streets without jobs. “If the contract is not renewed, we could be returning to the dark days because illegal bunkering and other crimes will escalate; it will spell doom and the country will be worse off,” he said.

ADVERT HOTLINES: 08023006969, 08052592524 NEWSROOM: LAGOS – 01-8962807, ABUJA – 07028105302 COMPLAINTS: 01-8930678

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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NEWS LAMIDI ADESINA (1939-2012) Adefaratis offer condolences From Damisi Ojo, Akure

THE family of the former Governor of Ondo State, the late Adebayo Adefarati, has commiserated with the people of Oyo State and the Lam Adesina family on his death.

A statement by Otunba Adegboyega Adefarati, on behalf of the family, expressed shock on the death of the educationist and politician.

Adefarati, who noted the cordial relationship between the late Adesina and his father, said the duo had everything in common as foremost educationists and erudite politicians.

The statement acknowledged the transparency, humility and perseverance of the former Oyo State governor, stressing that his legacy would live on.

It also symphatised with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), particularly its National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, on the demise of Lam Adesina.

A big loss to democracy, says Fayemi

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KITI State Governor Kayode Fayemi has described the death of former Governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Lamidi Onaolapo Adesina, as a “big loss to Nigerian democracy.”

In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Yinka Oyebode, Fayemi described Adesina as “one of the heroes who fought ceaselessly for the return of democracy in 1999.”

He also described Adesina as a committed Awoist, who practised and defended the ideals of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, till he

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

(Adesina) died.

Fayemi noted that Adesina’s tenure as Oyo governor between 1999 and 2003 on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) witnessed the implementation of people-oriented policies, which positively touched the citizenry.

He said Adesina used his position as a member of the House of Representatives in the Second Republic to canvass the passage of laws that aided good governance, even

as it advanced the manifesto of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).

The governor recalled that Adesina chose to be on the side of the people during the struggle for the return of civil rule, enduring arrests and detentions.

Adesina, he said, became a thorn in the flesh of the late General Sani Abacha junta and he was arrested and branded a “Prisoner of War” by a military administrator.

“Alhaji Adesina was a democrat, activist, patriot and one of the leaders of the National Democratic Coalition

(NADECO), who put their lives on the line, fighting the military and grounding the junta.

“This great man remained one of the legends of the democracy we all enjoy today.

He has secured a place in the hall of fame of the Nigerian democracy.

“On behalf of the government and people of Ekiti State, I commiserate with members of the Adesina family and the government and people of Oyo State on the death of this icon of democracy whose legacies will continue to endure for a long time,” Governor Fayemi said.

LAUTECH mourns THE management of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso has commiserated with the Oyo State Government on the death of the former governor, Alhaji Lamidi Onaolapo Adesina, on Sunday.

A condolence letter sent yesterday to Governor Abiola Ajimobi and signed by the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Niyi Gbadegesin, said the late Adesina, a former visitor to the institution, would be remembered for his contributions to the development of the university.

Ikuforiji condoles with Ajimobi LAGOS State House of Assembly Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji has condoled with Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State and the people of the state on the death of Alhaji Lamidi Adesina.

In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Adebayo, Ikuforiji said: “The news of the death of one of the leaders of our great party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and one of the dependable and progressive-minded politicians that Nigeria has ever produced, Alhaji Lamidi Onaolapo Adesina, was received by me with shock and sadness.

“For the Great Lam, who lived as a committed, progressive politician till his last moments to have died at this time when more of his like are needed to salvage our country from the mess it is wallowing in, is sad and unfortunate.

“Though our Great Lam died at a relatively old age of 73, there is no doubt that the progressive movement would have loved to have him around for more years due to his immense knowledge and experience.”

•The widow Sarat Adesina (left), Ajimobi and his wife Florence when they visited Adesina’s widow...yesterday.

PHOTO: FEMI ILESANMI

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I’ll sustain his legacy, says Ajimobi

OVERNOR Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State yesterday led members of the State Executive Council (EXCO) on a condolence visit to the family of the late former Governor Lam Adesina, pledging to continue to celebrate, honour and sustain the legacy left behind by the elder statesman.

At the Felele, Ibadan home of the late politician, Governor Ajimobi noted that Alhaji Adesina was his benefactor since 1964 and that whatever he achieved in life was made possible by the contributions of the late Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) leader.

He said: “We will continue to celebrate the departure of a good leader. He mentored us; he mentored many of us; let us take solace in the fact that he lived a fulfilled life,

both spiritually and politically.

“He always said what gladdened his heart was that he had a political son in me (governor).

Whatever anybody may say, I am the foremost political son of Alhaji Lam Adesina.

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politics, he made me.

“When you remove the mundane politics of Oyo State; the pedestrian politics; the pull-him-down innuendoes of Oyo politics, there is no closer person to him as his political son than I, Abiola Ajimobi.’’

Adewusi mourns

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bigwig of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State, Dr. Adebayo Adewusi, has described the death of Alhaji Lam Adesina as a “monumental tragedy for the progressive forces in the country.”

Adewusi, who is the Chairman of WEMABOD Estates Ltd, said although the party would miss his leadership prowess and role as a unifying factor, it would ful-

Party opens condolence register HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Oyo State chapter, has opened a condolence register for Lam Adesina at the party’s secretariat, 89, Adeoyo- Total Garden Road, Agip Bus Stop, Yemetu, Ibadan.

ACN’s Publicity Secretary, Mr. Dauda Kolawole, said this in a statement.

The party described the deceased “as one of the few political icons of our time.”

It said the condolence register was opened to

Talking about Godliness, the former governor lived it and acted it. He was usually praying and fasting.

“I always call Alhaji Adesina my three-in-one. He was my teacher, my uncle and my political mentor.

Whatever I am today in

give Adesina’s supporters the opportunity to pay their last respect to their leader, as his Felele, Ibadan home might not be conducive for such an exercise.”

The ACN Chairman, Chief Akin Oke, thanked leaders of the party, elders, members and the opposition for sympathising with the Lam Adesina family at their moment of grief and urged them to use the death of the political leader to unite and work for the progress of Oyo State.

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

fil his dream of sustaining a united, indivisible ACN in the state.

In a statement yesterday, Adewusi said: “The death of Great Lam is a loss to all of us his followers and many political sons. It’s a tragedy for the progressives. He was a father of progressive politics. He suffered a great deal for the masses. He was imprisoned for fighting for the enthronement of democracy and the oppressed. He suffered all forms of degradation and was denied freedom. So, his death signifies a sad end of someone who fought on the side of the masses for many decades. We will miss him.

“Many of us depended on his tutelage and mentorship. He was a father and teacher. We have learnt from his experience. Our party will remain united because that was his dream when he was alive. He canvassed a united party and we know that though he is no more, our party will remain strong and united.”

•The late Adesina

Osun mourns From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

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HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Osun State has commiserated with members of the party in Oyo State on the death of Alhaji Lamidi Onaolapo Adesina.

The Acting Chairman of the party, Mr. Adelowo Adebiyi, who expressed shock on the death of the former Oyo State governor, described the incident as a great loss to the progressives.

In a statement issued by ACN’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, the chairman said a great vacuum has been created.

He recalled the contributions of the deceased to the development of Oyo State when he was the governor between 1999 and 2003, saying he used his wisdom to transform the state.

Adebiyi described the late Lam Adesina as a committed Awoist and a progressive politician who lived a life worthy of emulation.

The ACN boss, who sympathised with Governor Abiola Ajimobi, the family of the deceased, members of the ACN in Oyo State and progressive politicians in the country, urged them to take solace in the good deeds of the former governor.

He prayed the Almighty Allah to grant him Aljanah Fridaus and the family and ACN members the fortitude to bear the great loss.

PDP mourns Lam Adesina From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

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HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has commiserated with the family of the late former governor of Oyo State, Chief Lamidi Adesina, who died on Sunday.

A statement yesterday by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, described the death as a depletion of the ranks of seasoned politicians in the country.

He said although the late Adesina was not a member of the PDP, the party appreciated his role in the sustenance of democracy in the country, adding that the nation would miss his experience and words of wisdom.

Metuh described Adesina as a renowned educationist and political leader who devoted his energies to the service of his fatherland.

‘He was a veteran of democratic struggle’

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HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Ondo State chapter, has condoled with the family of the late Lam Adesina, Oyo State ACN, government and people of the state on the death of the former Oyo State governor.

The Director of Media, Publicity and Strategy of the ACN, Mr. Idowu Ajanaku, described Lam Adesina as a veteran of the democratic struggle.

He said his death has come as a shock to the nation at a time when the struggle for the enthrone-

ment of true democracy in Yorubaland and Nigeria has reached a crescendo.

Ajanaku recalled that the late activist was one of the politicians, who led the protests against the late General Sani Abacha in Ibadan when the nation was under siege by the military despot, adding that he and the late Bola Ige were later paraded as “prisoners of war” by the Military Administrator of Oyo State, Col. Ahmed Usman, who obeyed the instruction of his boss.

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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NEWS Osun declares Thursday holiday From left: Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola; his wife, Sherifat; Mr. Moshood Omidiran; his wife and member of the House of Representatives, Mrs Ayo Omidiran and House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal during Mrs. Omidiran’s 50th Birthday celebration at Leisure Spring Hotel in Osogbo, the state capital... at the weekend.

Why regional integration is crucial, by Aregbesola

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SUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola yesterday said regional integration is necessary to facilitate socio-economic development in all parts of the country.

He spoke in Osogbo, the state capital, at the opening of a two-day workshop on regional integration in the Southwest.

Aregbesola said: “We are

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

convinced that regional integration is a viable path for us to tread to achieve the much desired development that has so far proved elusive.

“We believe that it is not for nothing that regional integration as a viable road to development has acquired global popularity. As a peo-

ple and region, we have a history of success in this regard to hold on to, a record of past achievements to guide us and strengthen our conviction about the practicability of integration.”

The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Mr. Bashir Ajibola, said the idea of regional integration was

informed due to “the failure of the Federal Government to impact positively on the lives of the masses”.

He said the bulk of the nation’s resources are being controlled by the Federal Government, hence the need for states to come together to develop their regions.

Aregbesola said: “If there is anything that can be described as an attempt at dis-

integration, it is the unthoughtful creation of states that we have embarked upon in the country over the years.

In view of this, our idea will amount to re-integrating the country, for which we should be given kudos.”

Participants at the workshop were drawn from the six states of the Southwest and included political office holders.

Ondo polls: Activist urges Jega to probe INEC officials

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IGHTS activist Morakinyo Ogele yesterday urged the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, to set up a committee to probe the activities of the officials who supervised the October 20 governorship election in Ondo State.

Ogele alleged that ballot papers were found in the custody of some politicians before the election.

He said this led to the arrest of 15 people at the home of a political leader a day before the poll.

Speaking with The Nation in Akure, the state capital, Ogele said the election was the worst in the country’s history.

He faulted INEC for conducting the poll, despite the pendency in court of a case filed by the candidate of Accord Party, in which INEC was a respondent.

The activist accused the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Akin Orebiyi, of changing the date of the arrival of sensitive and non-sensitive materials.

He said despite announcing

CPC petitions tribunal on Mimiko’s victory THE candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the October 20 governorship election in Ondo State, Prince Olusoji Ehinlanwo, and his running mate, Mrs. Damilola Oluyemi, have filed a petition at the Election Petition Tribunal.

They are challenging the declaration of Governor Olusegun Mimiko as the winner of the election.

The Labour Party (LP); the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Akin Orebiyi and the State Returning Officer (SRO) are joined as respondents.

The petitioners said the result was unacceptable because the election was allegedly marred by irregularities.

They urged the tribunal to nullify the election.

CPC said: “As we indicated throughout the governorship campaign, we are committed to the promotion of democratic ideals in our dear state and beyond.

From Leke Akeredolu, Akure

the materials would arrive in the state two days before the election, they arrived a week to the poll.

The lawyer said Orebiyi

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

“In our quest to make Ondo a reference point in good governance, we will remain focused and undaunted. We believe that by the grace of God, our state will surmount the current setback through the strong collective will of our people to ensure that truth, justice and fair play triumph.

“We urge our people to remain steadfast in this struggle, as it is not just a fight to liberate our state from an unpopular government, but also a struggle to guarantee a brighter future for our children.”

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had earlier petitioned the tribunal, alleging that the election was marred by irregularities.

So far, five parties, including the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Accord and the People for Democratic Change (PDC), are challenging the election result at the tribunal.

confirmed that there was criminal alliance between some of his workers and a particular party.

He said: “A week to this election, the REC declared that there was criminal alliance between some of his junior work-

ers and a certain political party to rig the election.

“He made the declaration when an INEC staff and a Ward Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) in Ondo West Local Government Area were arrested and arraigned for allegedly

being in possession of unclaimed voter cards.

“We have said this on several occasions, that the election cannot be free and fair as a result of organic leakages at the INEC office. The ballot papers were seen all over the place with the people that were hired to thumb print them.

“Recently, Jega openly admitted in Washington, the United States (US), that there were sundries of irregularities in the conduct of the election.

While we were fighting for true democracy, INEC officials in Ondo State were promoting malpractices and rigging in the conduct of election.

“Again, there was cruel election alliance between INEC and LP. Ikaadi Igbe Ayo were inserted in the voter register and several people could not vote.

This election is worse than the one conducted by Mrs. Ayooka Adebayo during the rerun in Ekiti State.”

Ogele said if INEC’s claim that the election was free and fair was true, five parties would not be challenging the result.

Kashamu, Daniel, Mustapha to reposition Ogun PDP

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CHIEFTAIN of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Prince Buruji Kashamu, former Governor Gbenga Daniel, Senator Lekan Mustapha and Hon. Dave Salako have been assigned the task of charting a new course for the party in the state.

They are to liaise with

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

former Minister of Mines and Steel Development Chief Tunji Sarafa (Ogun Central) and others in Ogun West Senatorial District to reposition the party for the 2015 general elections.

They were assigned the task on Sunday in Ijebu-Ode

at a peace parley of the Ogun East PDP. Kashamu and Mustapha were at the meeting.

A chieftain of the party, Chief Agboola Alausa, said it could only be victorious in 2015, if members are united.

Alausa said internal squabbles were responsible for the party’s defeat in the 2011 governorship election.

The factions of Kashamu, Alhaji Jubril Martins-Kuye and Daniel said they may not work with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his group.

They accused Obasanjo of cornering appointments and other benefits from Aso Rock for his Owu people.

Former Ogun PDP Secretary Chief Adepeba Otemo-

lu alleged that Obasanjo was grooming a member of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for the 2015 governorship election without considering the overall interest of the party.

Otemolu said Obasanjo’s actions were undermining the party’s reconciliation efforts and could set the PDP back in 2015.

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

OSUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has declared Thursday, the first day of the new Islamic year, a public holiday.

He said the holiday was aimed at promoting religious harmony among residents.

Addressing Muslims at a lecture marking the new Hijira year, Aregbesola said the first day of the Islamic calendar should be celebrated like January 1.

The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Special Duties and Regional Integration, Mr. Ajibola Basiru, said religion is a sensitive matter that must not be politicised to avoid strife and acrimony among adherents of various religions.

He said: “Prophet Mohammed preached peace, love and justice to all men of faith and if the first day of the new year of the Christian faithful is accorded Honour, honouring the first day of the Islamic year is justice on course.”

Aregbesola said violence, corruption and other vices were abhorred by Prophet Mohammed and urged Muslims to shun violence.

An Islamic scholar, Sheikh Dhikrullahi Shafi’I hailed the state government’s gesture on the holiday.

Sheikh Shafi’I, the Mufti of Conference of Islamic Organisations (CIO), urged other governors, especially in the Southwest, to emulate Aregbesola.

He said: “If our Christian brethren enjoy public holiday on their New Year Day, same benefit should be accorded the Muslim Ummah. The government’s action is a step in the right direction.”

Ogun pays N88m compensation From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

The Ogun State Government yesterday paid N88.07 million in cheques to 69 individuals, whose properties were marked for demolition to pave way for road expansion at Agbeloba in Abeokuta, the state capital.

A Deputy Director at the Bureau of Lands, Mr. Isaac Akogun, said the Governor Ibikunle Amosun followed due process by compensating the landlords before demolishing the structures.

Akogun said the government contracted the valuation of the property to a consultant.

Assembly to screen Osun CJ-nominee THE Osun State House of Assembly has asked a nominee for Chief Judge, Justice Oyebola Ojo, to forward 26 copies of her profile to the parliament unfailingly today for screening.

In a letter to the Assembly, Governor Rauf Aregbesola said the National Judicial Council (NJC) recommended Justice Ojo for the post.

He said as stated in the Constitution, it was the responsibility of the Assembly to confirm the nominee or otherwise.

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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NEWS $382,000 for flood victims

Okereke-Onyiuke: Hearing in appeal stalled

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

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HE Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission yesterday donated $382,000 to flood victims.

Issuing the cheque, the President of the commission, Kadre Ouedraogo sympathised with the victims and their relatives.

He said: “Today, on behalf of the Commission, I wish to present a cheque to the Nigerians affected by the flood.

“This donation of $382,000 is within the framework of supporting our member-state to alleviate the suffering of the people.

“We hope that this fund will come in addition to the support given by the Nigerian Government and enhance delivery of assistance to the victims.

“It is an expression of solidarity, goodwill and concern for the suffering of the affected people.”

Receiving the cheque on behalf of Nigeria, Minister of Foreign Affairs Olugbenga Ashiru thanked ECOWAS for the gesture.

“This ceremony is a true demonstration of the fact that we are our brothers’ keeper, in the true spirit of our African tradition where the misfortune of one becomes the shared misfortune of the community.”

Sylva’s ex-Chief of Staff arrested From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

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HE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday arrested Sam Ogbuku, the former Chief of Staff to ex-Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva.

According to a source in EFCC, Ogbuku was picked up at his residence in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, by operatives of the commission.

The source said: “The arrest is in connection with the ongoing investigation into the tenure of Sylva as governor of Bayelsa State.

“We need to interact with Ogbuku because several payments to Bureau de Change operators from the Bayelsa State treasury were traced to the suspect.

“So far, he has made useful statement but we are still interrogating him.”

“There is likelihood that we might detain him.”

Sylva is facing a six-count charge of stealing and money laundering to the tune of N2billion before a Federal High Court in Abuja.

He was alleged to have connived with some state officials to defraud the state of N2 billion while he was governor.

Since he was arraigned on June 5, further investigation by the anti-graft agency established more evidence of graft against Sylva and his cronies.

Among the assets traced to the former governor in the Federal Capital Territory is a duplex at Cachez Estate, valued at N310million.

Another is a N700million mansion in Wuse Abuja, allegedly acquired in the name of Marlin Maritime Limited, a company, owned by Sylva.

By Joseph Jibueze

Prof. Okereke-Onyiuke

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HE absence of judges at the Court of Appeal, Lagos, yesterday stalled the hearing of an appeal by former Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Prof. Ndidi Okereke-Onyiuke.

Ms Okereke-Onyiuke is challenging the High Court’s assumption of jurisdiction in the N3.3billion theft charge brought against her by the Lagos State Government.

The prosecution accused her of stealing the money from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Her lawyer, Wole

Olanipekun (SAN), told Justice Christopher Balogun that the case was slated for hearing yesterday.

The judge, while dismissing her application for a stay of proceeding, said he would allow some time to enable the appeal to be heard before further proceedings resume.

However, no cases came up for hearing yesterday as the judges were said to be away.

The Lagos State Government filed two charges, accusing Ms Okereke-Onyuike, her deputy, Lance Musa Elakama and six others of alleged N3.3 billion theft while on the Exchange.

The others are Creative Financial Services Limited, Mining System Limited, OPDC Properties Limited, OAK Business and Finance Company Limited, Uzoma

Henry Onyekuru and Kingdom Securities and Finance Company Limited.

In one of the charges, the state said the former DG and Elakama on or about June 20, 2008 conspired to steal various sums, property of the Exchange.

Ms Okereke-Onyiuke had sought to stay proceedings in the matter pending the determination of the appeal.

But Justice Balogun held that Section 273 of the state’s Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL), 2011, prohibits suspension of proceedings in a criminal trial.

He said the position of the law was that a court must treat a statute as it is without adding or subtracting.

Justice Balogun said he was not entitled to remove or add anything to the law.

According to the judge, the words used in the section

are “clear and unambiguous,” therefore the court would not “derogate from the provisions of the law.”

He stated that going by the letters of the law, no criminal matter can be suspended both at the Magistrates’ Courts and at the High Court in Lagos.

“This is the position of the law in Lagos State as regards criminal matters.

“The application for stay of proceedings brought by the defendant, dated May 11, is thereby refused and dismissed,” he decided.

Justice Balogun, however, said he was aware that the defendants had filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal, Lagos, against his assumption of jurisdiction on March 23.

He said he would defer to the Court of Appeal by continuing hearing in the case later.

Justice Balogun adjourned hearing till December 4.

Access to land for housing still a problem, says Jonathan

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has said equitable access to land for housing development and adequacy of housing remains a challenge.

Jonathan spoke at the opening of the Presidential Stakeholders’ Retreat on Housing and Urban Development held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said if this deficit is to be bridged, the country must continue to seek ways to provide affordable housing, especially to the no-income, lowincome, lower-medium income, and the informal sector

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

workers.

The President said a variety of housing delivery schemes, including social housing, rental schemes, regeneration and housing cooperatives must be evaluated.

“In June, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved both the National Housing Policy and the National Urban Development Policy, as the umbrella framework for a coordinated response to meeting the challenges in this sector.

“I commend the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and all stakehokders who participated in the development of the two approved policies, for their remarkable efforts. “ We cannot but recognise this important step, bearing in mind that prior to the approval, the housing and urban development sector operated without enabling policy instruments that would positively harness the potentialities of the sector.

“These policies are to be translated into action through

a road map for the housing and urban development sector.

“The road map will address the challenges of achieving a housing revolution in our nation.

“It will also provide the pathway for transforming our cities into livable and functional human settlements.”

Minister of Housing and Urban Development Ms. Ama Pepple and her Finance counterpart, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, said to avert a housing crisis, the country requires one million housing units yearly for the next eight years.

Wike to banks: pay contractors

IITA to produce Osun soil map THE International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has agreed to produce a four-year proposal on how to get a workable soil map for increased food production in Osun State.

Its Deputy Director General, Kenton Dashel, said his organisation would lead scientists from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Martin Luther University in HalleWittenberg, Germany and the State University, Osogbo, to produce the soil proposal.

Dashiel said the soil map was necessary to enhance food production.

The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Rauf Aregbesola on Quick Impact Intervention Programme (QIIP), Dele Ogundipe, told the IITA boss that the government was trying to establish a Best Practice Demonstration farm backed up with a Food and Soil Laboratory.

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

• Wike left) and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Dr. MacJohn Nwaobiala at the meeting yesterday in Abuja.

tractors meet up with the expectations of the Federal Government.

He said: “For one week, work cannot be done by sev-

eral contractors due to the non-payment by the banks. “ I have decided to follow this issue closely because we must deliver on schedule.

“These are government funds. They are not funds borrowed from the banks and must be released accordingly without impediment.”

Trial of Ali’s son, others fixed for Nov 26

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NIGERIA’S newest airline Med-View has explained why it chose the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two (MMA2), Lagos, as its operational base.

The airline, which began operation last Thursday, said it settled for MMA2 because of the “efficient facilities there”.

Its Managing Director, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, told the management team of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), operators of MMA2, that it considered advantages and disadvantages of other offers before choosing MMA2.

INEC to meet for 2015

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INISTER of State for Education Nyesom Wike has called on banks working with the Federal Government on the execution of projects in the basic education sector to pay contractors promptly.

The minister hailed the management of the Universal Basic Education Commission, (UBEC) on the improvement in the execution of almajiri schools, Special Girl-Child Schools and library projects in the country.

Wike spoke in Abuja at a meeting with banks, contractors and UBEC management.

He regretted that the execution of several basic education projects have been stalled due to delayed payments by banks.

Wike urged the banks to stop delaying payment to contractors to enable the con-

Why we chose MM2, by Med-View

LAGOS State High Court, Ikeja, yesterday fixed November 26 for the re-arraignment of Mamman Ali, son of former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman, Ahmadu Ali and three others for alleged N4.4 billion fuel subsidy fraud.

The defendants were scheduled to be re-arraigned before Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo yesterday but the court failed to sit. No reason was given.

Mamman Ali was arraigned on July 26 with Christian Taylor and Nasaman Oil Services for an alleged N2.2 billion fuel

By Adebisi Onanuga

subsidy fraud.

At the last sitting on October 30, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) informed the court of its intention to re-arraign the defendants on an amended charge.

EFCC counsel Francis Usani said the amended charge would enable them to join another oil marketer, Oluwaseun Ogunbambo, as a co-defendant in the matter.

In the amended charge now before the court, the defendants would be facing a

13-count of fuel subsidy fraud.

The EFCC, in the new charge, alleged that the defendants were involved in subsidy fraud amounting to about N4.4 billion.

The commission alleged that the defendants had conspired to obtain the money from the Federal Government for the purported importation of 30.5million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

The EFCC said the alleged offences contravened Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act of 2006

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will convene a stakeholders’ meeting to validate its ongoing strategic planning process.

INEC Chairman Prof.

Attahiru Jega said this in Abuja yesterday when a team of United States International Foundation for Electoral System (IFES) led by its President, Williams Sweeney, visited him.

He said: “We have started preparation for 2015 and we have started our strategic planning process.

“We have virtually done all the in-house consultations and our hope is that by the first week of December we will be able to have what we call stakeholders’ input for the validation of the strategic planning.”

“In 2013, we will start the process of implementing the plan and we will be doing that two years before the election.”

“We want to be one of the best election management bodies in Africa and we are working hard to achieve that.”

Sweeney said: “We are here to compliment INEC for delivering world-class election to Nigerians.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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NEWS CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW Kogi demands governorship rotation From Muhammad Bashir, Lokoja

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EOPLE of Kogi West and Central Senatorial Districts have demanded the rotation of the state’s governorship among the three senatorial districts.

The people also voted in favour of the rotation of the presidency among the six geopolitical zones and the creation of a new state.

Only the Eastern Senatorial District objected to the governorship rotation. The zone has been producing governor since the creation of the state in 1991.

Voting on the 49 aspects slated for amendment was later conducted through a voice vote in local dialects.

The people voted for the creation of more states and local governments, boundary adjustment, financial autonomy for local governments, abolition of state/local government joint account, among others.

Edo Speaker, lawmaker worried From Osagie Otabor, Benin

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PEAKER of the Edo State House of Assembly Uyi Igbe has criticised the areas listed for amendment in the constitution.

Igbe said he was sad that areas such as devolution of powers and true federalism were left out.

He spoke to reporters after attending the Public Session on the Review of the 1999 Constitution at Oredo Federal Constituency.

Majority Leader Phillip Shuaibu said the review of the constitution should have included decentralisation of powers .

Shuaibu said items left with the Federal Government were too much for it to handle

Monarch calls for Oke-Ogun state From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

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HE Chairman, Conference of Obas and Chiefs of OkeOgun, , Oba AbdulGaniyu Salau, has called for OkeOgun state to be carved from the present Oyo State.

Salau, who is also the Aseyin of Iseyin land, spoke at the peoples’ public session on the review of the 1999 Constitution, at Iseyin City Hall, Iseyin.

He said: “We are constitutionally qualified for the new state as all the requirements needed have been provided for. The area comprises of 10 local governments, with a population in 1.6 million people.

“Also, the abandoned Ikere-Gorge dam located in Iseyin, if completed, is the third largest in the world. This is coupled with several untapped natural resources. Our human resources also rank among the best in the country. What then is the basis for merging us with Oyo and Ogbomoso?”

From left: The member representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency, Hon. Victor Ogene; former House member Okwudili Uzoka and Secretary to the Anambra State Government Oseloka Obaze at the People’s Public Session on the Review of the 1999 Constitution in Ogbaru, Anambra State…yesterday

Follow due process, says Ekweremadu

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EPUTY Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has urged those agitating for states to follow due process .

According to him, the constitution amendment cannot create states but can provide procedures for state creation.

The Deputy Senate President said the Senate would also carry out another public

From Chris Oji, Enugu

hearing in all the geo-political zones on Thursday and Friday.

He said the creation of states is cumbersome because the 36 states has to vote.

Ekweremadu said it was a give-and-take exercise and appealed to governors and stakeholders to close ranks

and decide on the states to be created.

“Let us coordinate ourselves,” he said.

Responding to a question on the sovereign national conference, Ekweremadu said it is not provided for in the constitution.

The Deputy Senate President said what is in the constitution is the amendment of

“the constitution and we are a country ruled by law therefore things extra constitutional, extra legal otherwise is anarchy.”

He pointed out that this is the first time the Nigerian constitution is receiving input from the grassroots and that people should be free to say their mind.

‘National Assembly’ll focus on geo-political zones’

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HAIRMAN, House Committee on Public Affairs Zakari

Muhammed has said the National Assembly may support the strengthening of the six geo-political zones instead of creating more states.

Muhammed, representing Baruten/Kaiama Federal Constituency of Kwara State, spoke to reporters at the weekend in Kosubosu headquarters of Baruten Local Government.

When asked to comment on the clamour for more states, he said: “The way it is now, we want the status quo to remain.

“It is an issue that will be embedded in the constitution.

“We are saying instead of creating a multiplicity of

‘We want state police’

By Jeremiah Oke

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KORODU Federal Constituency has called for the creation of state police to complement the effort of the federal police force.

The people voted to maintain the status-quo on tenure elongation.

To them, the four years single tenure is enough for any serious government to carry out projects.

On local government and state joint account, the people said they support the Federal Government to abolish Section 162 (6) which provides for a joint account.

They claimed that if the money is given to the local governments directly from the Federal Government, they would be able to carry out projects without waiting for financial approval from the states.

states, empower the geo-political zones.

“My personal view about it is that what we need is creation of more local governments because they have a direct bearing on the people.”

The legislator described calls for a referendum in the country as unconstitutional, saying a collation of people’s views and eventual review of the 1999 Constitution would end such a clamour.

His words: “As far as I am concerned, a constitution is not a perfect document; you work on it every time.

“Also, this will put to rest

the call for a referendum. It is unconstitutional.

“If you look at these issues, they are issues that people talk about, like local government independence, state legislature independence, revenue formula and all that.

“What we have done is like gathering the aggregate of opinions on some of these contentious issues.

“There is a public hearing coming up and the House will articulate the entire position of the 360 constituencies.

“So, I give you the assurance that the voice of the people will be heard this time.”

‘Constitution review a sham’

By Emmanuel Oladesu

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N Itsekiri leader, Chief Rita-Lori Ogbebor, has described the weekend public hearing on the proposed constitution amendment as a “sham and monumental failure.”

The exercise, according to her, was fit for the trash bin because “it was nothing more than a ploy to rubber-stamp the selfish agenda of those who organised it.”

Addressing a briefing in Lagos yesterday, the women’s leader said: “The exercise was designed to fail.”

She expressed disgust at the way the Warri exercise was conducted, saying the event slated for 9am did not start until 4pm.

“And because of the wishy-washy mannner in which the programme was handled, people got angry and walked out on the organisers.

“What we need is not state creation but how to address the issue of the minorities as stated by the Henry Willink Commission of 1958.”

Residency clause in Anambra From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

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GBARU Federal Constituency in Anambra State has endorsed the creation of additional states in the Southeast, residency clause and abolition of joint allocation for local governments.

Secretary to the State Government Oseloka Obaze said there was need to include the residency clause in the constitution, adding that it would help unite the country.

Obaze said: “The need for the residency clause will solve problems for people living in various areas. It would also safeguard their investments as well as help unite the country.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

CITYBEATS

08033054340, 08034699757 E-mail:- ynotcitybeats@gmail.com

Man accuses wife of calling him Ogboni A

48-YEAR-OLD, man Joseph Okoroawam is praying an Oshodi Customary Court in Lagos to dissolve his 14-year-old marrige on grounds of false accusation by his wife, Adaeze.

According to the petitioner, his wife has been falsely accusing him of seeking to use her for money making rituals.

Okoroawam, who accused his wife of being disrespectful and rude, said she was fond of calling her siblings to beat him up each time they quarrelled.

Trouble, he said, started in 2005 when his wife accused him of belonging to ‘Ogboni’ Fraternity and was trying to sacrifice.

Okoroawam, who is also seeking the custody of their four children, said his wife has denied him access to them since 2008 when she parked out of the house.

He said: “I have not been able to see or even speak

•Couple seek marriage dissolution

By Precious Igbonwelundu and Alimi Abosede

with my children. Even the phone I bought and handed over to her for me to reach them has not been on. The old number my son used to reach me is also not going. So, at the moment, I do not know how to communicate with them.

“I once tried to go to her village to see my children, around 2008, but her people chased me with sticks.

I do not want her anymore.

All I want is to have custody of my four children,” he said.

He added: “I married her on March 7, 1997, when I paid N5, 000 as her bride price in her village in Anambra State, but each time we had a scuffle, she would say I have not paid

her bride price and that she would go because she has been told by some pastors that I wanted to use her for rituals, after which I would marry another woman from my village in Ebonyi State.”

In her defence, Mrs Okoroawam said her husband is not taking care of her and the children. She said the phone he bought for the children was still with her in Lagos, since she has not travelled to the Southeast where their children are staying with her mother.

She said: “He is a very wicked man, he does not care about the children, I do not want him either.

All I want is that he should be providing for his children, both their school fees and feeding allowances. He has not

paid my bride price and he told me that he would not marry me because I am already useless since I have four children out of wedlock. He said his people do not marry Igbo girls.

While I was still in his house, he usually brought different women, so I do not want him again.”

The Court President, Mrs. O. Olorunnimbe, ruled that Mrs Okoroawam be given temporary custody of the children, pending the determination of the case. She said the petitioner should ensure that his children’s needs were met, adding that he should provide for them this Yuletide.

She ordered the respondent to avail her husband the number she uses to call her children to enable him reach them whenever he wishes, adding that the phone he bought should be sent to the children as soon as possible. She adjourned the matter till January 17 next year.

Woman charged with biting off landlady’s finger

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WOMAN, Chidinma Ariwador, has been arraigned before an Itire Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly biting off the finger of her landlady, Mrs Uju Frank.

Ariwador is facing a twocount charge of conspiracy and assault occasioning harm, before Magistrate A.O. Awogboro.

Prosecuting Inspector Olakunle Shonibare said the accused on November 6, at 11:27pm at Ago-Okota, Isolo, a Lagos suburb, conspired with her brother, Israel, to assault Mrs. Frank.

Ariwador, who is the complainant's tenant at 51, Chief Idowu Rufai Street, Ago-Okota, Shonibare said, often makes trouble with the complainant and her husband.

Shonibare said: "The complainant's husband rented a three bed room apartment at the said address and sublet one of the rooms to the accused when they realised they did not need it. Along the line, the accused stopped paying utility bills and also refused to bring her part of the rent so

By Precious Igbonwelundu and Alimi Abosede

that the complainant can pay the landlord. When the problem became heated, they had to go to the police for intervention and the Ago Police Division waded into the matter.

"The accused was given a date to pack out of the room, but she did not keep to it. This led to their disagreement and in the scuffle that followed the accused bite off one of the fingers of the complainant."

Ariwador pleaded not guilty and was granted N50, 000 bail with a surety in like sum. The case was adjourned till December 18.

There was a mild drama in the court after the complainant realised that the accused was not remorseful for causing her a permanent injury.

She went to the 'Black Maria' where Ariwador was kept and slapped her severally.

Her action angered the Prison Warden in-charge of the vehicle who beat the complainant for assaulting the accused.

Succour for physically RE you physically challenged, but willchallenged ing to learn? You can

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now aspire to be a fashion designer.

A Nigerian and Hollandtrained fashion designer, Veronica Freeman, has opened a not-for-profit fashion design school, God's Glory, in Alagbado, a Lagos suburb, where such people can be trained.

Mrs. Freeman told The Nation that the institute currently has 35 students, with about 100 students on the waiting list.

"I have a daughter who is like them and through her, I found out they are incredible people with incredible talent “When you move closer to them and witness their desire to overcome challenges, you will want to help them," she said.

Asked how she communicates with her students, Freeman, who came to Nigeria with her husband about a year ago, said she had to learn sign language.

Freeman said her institute is capable of producing "exceptional and hardworking fashion design experts" but said she would love to do more.

"We use industrial ma-

By Segun Balogun

chines which I bought from China, so students are exposed to global standards quite early," she said.

On how to make them employable, she said "the problem is not so much about campaigning for them, but about ensuring their proficiency, dexterity, and good behaviour.

"No employer can resist the students I train. Just give them one month trial and you'll see that they are the best anywhere,” she said.

Mrs. Freeman called on governments to eradicate every form of discrimination against physically challenged people and partner with corporate entities and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to explore their productive abilities.

"With this plan, we can turn this country into a fashion exporting country, if we get the right support because I didn't plan to do it for free, but God said it must be free," she said, advising parents of physically challenged people to register their children on the institute's website.

Three women arraigned for allegedly assaulting policeman

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HREE women were yesterday arraigned before an Igbosere Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly assaulting a police officer.

Lydia Edward, 28, Eunice, 20, and Happy Edward, 18, are standing trial before Magistrate A.A. Adefulire, on a four-count charge of assault, breach of peace, malicious damage and inflicting injuries.

Prosecuting Assisitant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Felix Ifijem told the court that the women, on November 11, at 1am assaulted Corporal Charles Arinze, attached to the Bar Beach Police Station.

“The first accused was arrested by the police only for

By Precious Igbonwelundu

her to call the other two, which led to the assault on the officer. The accused did not only assault Arinze, but also inflicted injuries on his right hand and maliciously damaged the Bar Beach Police Station’s counter,” he said.

According to Ifijem, the offence contravened Sections 170, 172, 185 and 337 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos, 2011.

They accused pleaded not guilty and were granted N50,000 bail with a surety each in the like sum.

Magistrate Adefulire adjourned the case till December 12.

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

US to overtake Saudi as top oil producer, says IEA

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HE United States will overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world’s top oil producer by 2017, the West’s energy agency said yesterday, predicting Washington will come very close to achieving a previously unthinkable energy self-sufficiency.

The International Energy Agency (IEA), according to Reuters, said it saw a continued fall in US oil imports with North America becoming a net oil exporter by around 2030, and the United States becoming almost selfsufficient in energy by 2035.

“US, which currently imports around 20 percent of its total energy needs, becomes all but self-sufficient in net terms - a dramatic reversal of the trend seen in most other energy importing countries,” it said.

The forecasts by the IEA, which advises large industrialized nations on energy policy, were in sharp contrast to its previous reports, which saw Saudi Arabia remaining the top producer until 2035.

“Energy developments in the United States are profound and their effect will be felt well beyond North America and the energy sector,” the IEA said in the annual long-term report, giving one of the most optimistic forecasts for U.S. energy production growth to date.

“The recent rebound in U.S. oil and gas production, driven by upstream technologies that are unlocking light tight oil and shale gas resources, is spurring economic activity - with less expensive gas and electricity prices giving industry a competitive edge,” it added.

IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol told a news conference in London he believed the United States would overtake Russia as the biggest gas producer by a significant margin by 2015. By 2017, it would become the world’s largest oil producer, he said.

DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$107/barrel Cocoa -$2,686.35/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold -$1,800/troy ounce Rubber -¢159.21pound MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE JSE NYSE LSE

-N6.503 trillion -Z5.112trillion -$10.84 trillion -£61.67 trillion RATES Inflation -10.5% Treasury Bills -7.08% Maximum lending -22.42% Prime lending -15.87% Savings rate -2% 91-day NTB -15% Time Deposit -5.49% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $35.8b FOREX CFA -0.2958 EUR -206.9 £ -242.1 $ -156 ¥ -1.9179 SDR -238 RIYAL -40.472

The $75 benchmark price will safeguard what is precious to the economy, which is the macro-economic stability of the country.

- Dr Ngozi OkonjoIweala, Minister of Finance

‘Shell’s, Eni’s oil deal may violate UK laws’

‘Reps won’t pass PIB quickly’ T R HE House of Repre sentatives will not rush the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, it emerged yesterday.

Being one of the most important bills that would have passed through the National Asembly, the lawmakers said they have resolved to shelve political party affiliations or ethnicity to give the bill, the scrutiny it deserves.

To make good their decision, the opposition lawmakers commissioned a consultant to intimate them on the technicalities inherent in the bill.

The opposition parties include the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Democratic

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

People’s Party (DPP), Labour Party (LP) and Accord Party (AP) Leader of the opposition, Femi Gbajabiamila (ACN, Lagos), explained that the briefing by the consultant is to ensure that a thorough understanding of the letters of the executive bill are fully grasped by the lawmakers.

Besides, he said the stepping down of the consideration of the bill on two occasions, was meant to avail the lawmakers enough opportunity scrutinise the document.

The bill was stepped downon on the eve of the two-month vacation at its first presentation when The House Leader, Mulikat

Akande-Adeola could not offer proper explanation on its provision.

He said: “‘We stepped the Bill down twice for good reasons because we cannot doubt the fact that it is one of he most important bills that would come out of this National Assembly.

“For that, we have resolved not to adopt any fire brigade approach. we don’t want any quick passage. We want a proper passage, a thorough meticulous passage when all the facts are understood. Don’t forget that the petroleum industry is a technical industry.

“The fact that you are a legislator does not automatically mean you should know about petroleum. So you have consultants. When you pass something quickly, you

take a position that is uninformed, that is why later you start having amendments.

Gbajabiamila said its passage is conditional upon full understanding of the details, “we are talking about 300 pages of documents, or more,” he stated.

He however pleaded that Nigerians should not see the decision to do a thorough job of the bill as undue delay, saying, “you don’t just bring a bill without briefing The Leader who is supposed to move it on your behalf. So what you call delay, I don’t see it as such. “ This is a very important bill and it requires the attention it deserves. That is why I have called a meeting of all opposition members across all parties for a briefing by a consultant on the PIB, so that we can be fully equipped when we go into debates,” he added.

OYAL Dutch Shell and Eni could “fall foul of anti-corruption legislation” in Britain over a $1.1 billion Nigerian offshore oil block the companies bought last year, campaign group’s Global Witness, said on Monday.

Block OPL 245, which holds an estimated 9 billion barrels of oil, had been owned by former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete’s company Malabu Oil and Gas. It was later awarded to Shell, starting a decade-long legal dispute that ended last year.

Shell and Eni according to Reuters, have repeatedly said they paid the Nigerian government last year for the oil block, which Eni operates, and that they never dealt with Malabu.

Etete originally acquired the asset in a deal conducted while he was Oil Minister under Sani Abacha’s regim.

He was convicted for money laundering in France in 2007.

Local newspapers quoted Nigeria’s Attorney General Mohammed Adoke in May as saying that Shell and Italian company Eni agreed to pay Malabu the money for the block, with the government as an intermediary.

Arik, Aero, others slash fares

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor

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• From Left: Deputy Director, Cental Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Anthony Ikem; Mallam Mohammed El-Yakub, Chief Executive Officer, Metropolitan Skills Limited and Hajia Ummahani Ahmad Amin, during a seminar on Islamic Capital Market, by Metropolitan Skills and Islamic Finance Institute, Southern Africa, at Protea Hotel, Oakwood Park, Lekki, Lagos...yesterday.

PHOTO: ISAAC AYODELE JIMOH

Sugar Master Plan takes off

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HE Federal Govern ment yesterday kicked off the implementation of the Nigerian Sugar Master Plan.

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, said the Sugar Master Plan, which was recently approved by the Federal Executive Council, is expected to raise the country’s local sugar production level, thereby making the nation to be self-sufficient. Besides, it will stem the tide of high importation of the commodity. It is also expected to con-

From Franca Ochigbo, Abuja

tribute to the production of ethanol/ generation of about 411MW of electricity and at the same time create over 100,000 jobs.

Aganga disclosed this during the first stakeholders’ forum on the NSMP in Abuja on Monday, where he unveiled the new master plan and its implementation strategy. Stating that NSMP is the product of several consultation with all stakeholders in the sugar industry.

He said, “We held several

consultations with all the stakeholders in the sugar industry. At the end of that consultation, the product was a Sugar Master Plan and then a government policy. Again, after further discussions with stakeholders and relevant ministries, the Sugar Master Plan was approved by the Federal Executive Council.

Now, we have a Sugar Master Plan, from sugarcane to sugar production.

“This is the first time that we have gone through the details of the Sugar Roadmap, policies and incentives that

are available and the game plan of where we want to be at the end of the implementation of the plan. As at today, we only produce two per cent of the sugar we need in the country while we import raw sugar.”

“If you compare this to other West African countries, that two per cent is the lowest. For instance, Benin Republic produces 25.6 per cent of their sugar requirement; Burkina Faso, 47 per cent; Cote d’Ivoire, 54 per cent; Senegal, 48 per cent and Mali, 28 per cent.

Fed Govt votes N500m for software development

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HE Federal Govern ment, yesterday said it had released N500 million as part of the $15million Technology Venture Capital Fund needed to grow the nation’s local software economy.

It will be used in the development of software incubation programmes in the country.

By Lucas Ajanaku

Addressing a forum on software incubation in Lagos, the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, said the fund will be seeded through the Nigeria Information Technology Development Fund (NITDEF). She added that the government’s seed

fund would attract the remaining $12 million from investors locally and internationally.

The minister said as part of efforts to grow the software sub-sector of the ICT industry and make it contribute substantially to to the gross domestic product (GDP), the government came up with the idea of setting up incu-

bation centres with the pilot project located in Lagos and Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

Mrs. Johnson said the eLearning Centre would host the software incubation centre in Lagos, while Tinapa Knowledge City would house the Cross River State’s innovation centre.

OMESTIC airline op erators have reduced their fares, as part of measures to woo passengers.

Some airline officials told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the move was to encourage travellers who could not afford the high fares.

Arik Air, which sold its one-way ticket last week for between N30,000 and N40,000 to any destination in the country from Abuja, has reduced the fare to between N30,00 and N35,000 for economy class and N45,000 for business class.

Also, Aero tickets, which were sold for N28,000 economy and N50,000 business class, have dropped to N21,400 and N49,000 respectively, while IRS charges between N22,000 and N25,000 for economy and N50,000 for business flyers.

Med-View, a new airline, which started operation last week, charges between N15,000 and N19,000 for economy ticket and N49,000 on business class to Lagos.

Aero Business Development Manager, Mark Snoxell said the airline reduced its fare to gain more business opportunities.

He said the move would also help the airline to mitigate losses occasioned by flying with empty seats.

An official of Arik Air, who pleaded anonymity, said two of its aircraft that were faulty on Friday had been rectified and certified by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to fly.

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ENERGY THE NATION

E-mail:- energy@thenationonlineng.net

A new era beckons in the power sector as new companies prepare to take over the electricity distribution companies being privatised by the Federal Government. For watchers, the issues facing the power sector are complex, dynamic, and frequently inter-related. DANIEL ESSIET looks at the challenges before the new operators

Challenges before new owners of PHCN

•Adenikinju

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HE move to restructure the electricity distribution market and make it more competitive have led to emergence of new players in the field. Consequently, the sector will be moving into an era that will be marked by rapid technology change targeted at improving service delivery.

Speaking with The Nation, the President, Nigerian Association of Energy Economists (NAEE), Prof Adeola Adenikinju, said the outlook for the supply of electricity has not been positive. So, he sees privatisation as a big step forward to improve power sector’s performance. He said the reforms have provided opportunities, which includes better ways to serve customers, greater customer satisfaction, improved reliability and new revenue streams.

As new operators takeover, Nigerians expect sufficient supply of power to meet demand for years to come. Nevertheless, Adenikinju said sustaining and enhancing the adequacy of the power supply requires attention to an array of factors such as natural gas and aging infrastructure. With various components of the power system requiring upgrade or replacement, he said efforts will have to be made to address this pressing concern. Much of the power system infrastructure problems are legacy issues and the strategies for addressing aging infrastructure are aimed at supporting current and future needs.

Adenikinju said the transition expected in the electricity market in the coming years presents a massive challenge to all parties and stakeholders involved in it. Critical challenges, he said would arise from specific issues that affect the regulation of electricity markets from a regulated to liberalised sectors. There are concerns such as security of power supply as well as boosting transmission corridors to provide adequate solutions.

According to him, tackling these challenges, need to be handled in the

most efficient manner. He noted that the transmission system is aging and many facilities will require replacement. In most areas, older, higher cost plants are used to produce higher levels of output. The maintenance costs and lost time for maintenance of older plants are also higher. Consequently, the output of electricity in the short run is accompanied by rising marginal costs. He noted that the nation will need to make increasingly larger sacrifices to radically restructure its electricity market in a manner consistent with world best practices.

While watchers expect the private operators to play a significant role in shaping the electric power industry, the concerns are that the government needs to upgrade and expand high-voltage transmission facilities, protect and enhance environmental quality and improve energy efficiency. The cumulative effect of these initiatives has the potential to impact power system reliability as well as electricity market dynamics. According to him, a modernized transmission system will make better use of statewide generating resources and enhance access to power resources.

Adenikinju said that the development of new demand response resources and addition of generation and expansion of transmission will contribute to a more reliable power system.

For watchers, the issues facing the electric system are complex, dynamic, and frequently inter-related. Nonetheless, the production of electricity from natural gas has grown dramatically. Power plants fueled by natural gas are vital elements of the electric system and their roles are expected to grow.

On a cautionary note, as dependence on natural gas for electric generation increases, the impact of natural gas supply on electric system reliability and power costs will also grow. For instance, disruptions in natural gas supply can affect the ability of gasfueled generation to provide power, which could impact electric system reliability. While experts foresee a need for new resources to replace retiring units, project financing remains a hurdle for generation projects. The outlook for return on investment is also unclear.

Adenikinju urged the government and stakeholders to commit resources to help ensure a bright energy future for the nation.

‘Poaching, others impede local oil firms’ growth’

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OACHING of staff, lack of access to fund and lack of provision of start up leverages for indigenous oil service companies by the Nigerian Content Act are some of the major challenges impeding the growth of oil industry.

The Managing Director of Engineering Automation Technology Limited, Emmanuel Okon disclosed this at the Fifth Anniversary of the company in Lagos.

He drew the attention of the government and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board to the need to support indigenous oil service companies.

He said: “Where appropriate struc-

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

tures and systems exist as in Engineering Automation Technology Limited, funding presents itself as the major limiting factor facing most indigenous entrepreneurs in running successful business operation.

“Existing legislations including the recent celebrated Local Content Act do not provide start up leverages for competent and ambitious indigenous companies like ours.

This has negatively impacted on our business aspirations giving rise to operational challenges also faced by other local companies.

Congestion challenges Operators need to address transmission congestion, including new or upgraded transmission, additional generation, or demand-side measures. Transmission congestion results from physical limits on how much power high-voltage lines can reliably carry.

Solutions to congestion may include building or upgrading existing transmission, building additional power supply resources in close proximity to an area needing supplies, or reducing the demand for power in the areas downstream from congested lines.

Distribution challenges While interconnected, the power grids serving various regions of the country don’t reflect differences in geography, climate, reliability requirements, and available power re-

sources. Where the various regions interface, the differences create seams in the overall fabric of the grid that can lead to market inefficiencies and inhibit efficient coordination of grid operations.

Customers They need to allow electricity consumers, suppliers, and service providers to participate in all types of price-based demand response programmes. What Customers want is value-added energy services such as consumption information, consumption controls (load shifting), demand response, higher reliability, and energy bundles).

The Director-General the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Ms. Bolanle Onagoruwa, once noted that the objectives of the privatization of the power distribution companies include improving efficiency by increasing collections, reducing technical/non-

technical losses, reducing costs as well as increasing access to electricity. Others include improving infrastructure through private sector investment, ensuring fair tariffs to all end-users, increasing commercial viability of the power sector, and improving customer service.

Renewable energy sources Overall, restructuring in the electric power industry will stimulate demand for natural gas and that rising demand will lead to higher wellhead prices as the discovery process progresses from larger and more profitable fields to smaller, less economical ones. The restructuring will have a significant impact on crude oil production because petroleum-based generation is a big share of overall electricity generation.

Unless required by the Federal Government, the restructured electricity market is not projected to stimulate renewable energy technologies. If policies require increased use of renewable energy, average electricity prices will increase slightly. Biomass, wind, and geothermal would be the most likely technology choices for expanded use of renewable energy.

•An electrical distribution system.

NPDC’s oil production hits 130,000 bpd

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RUDE oil production by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the exploration and production subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has hit 130,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr Andy Yakubu, disclosed this through the Managing Director of the National Engineering and Technical Company Limited (NETCO), a subsidiary of NNPC, Mr.IshakuAbdullahi, at the just-concluded Lagos International Trade Fair.

He identified sustained amnesty programme of the Federal Government and the re-entry into the abandoned fields and facilities by the company as a major factor respon-

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

sible for the improvement in the production.

He said: “With the return of peace in the oil-producing Niger Delta due to the amnesty programme, the NPDC re-entered abandoned oil fields and resumed production. This has positively impacted on the NPDC’s growth aspiration with current crude oil production now averaging about 130,000barrels per day.”

Yakubu said abandoned assets of the NNPC/Shell Joint Venture had also been reactivated and production ramped up on the divested Shell’s assets. He noted that the NNPC was also implementing a robust programme aimed at drastically reducing the development costs of

both joint venture and Production Sharing Contract (PSC) projects in order to increase government’s take from oil revenues.

He said the corporation had acquired three-Dimensional Seismic data gathering equipment as part of efforts of the Federal Government to increase the country’s crude oil reserves through increased exploration in the Inland Basins, especially in the Chad Basin.

The NPDC has its head office in Benin in Edo State and base offices in Port Harcourt and Warri. It was established in 1988 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the NNPC. Its operations are concentrated mainly in the Niger Delta and span five States - Imo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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COMMENTARY EDITORIAL FROM OTHER LAND

EDITORIALS

Borrower’s burden

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•There’s no justification for FG’s planned $9.3bn loan

HE Presidency seems to have suddenly become conscious that the original $7.96bn (N1.9tr) it proposed in the 2012-2014 Borrowing Plan it earlier submitted to the National Assembly would be inadequate, and has interestingly reviewed its projected foreign debt profile to $9.3bn (N2.1tr) for the two-year period. The amended borrowing plan, which showed an increase of $1.4bn (N230bn) is aimed at infrastructural development, particularly in the agricultural, housing, education, health and transport sectors. With this development, Nigeria’s external debt would stand at $14.1bn by 2014, up from the current level of $6.2bn.

The additional external loan, according to Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, who defended the new plan, is expected from a Euro Bond that the government would issue next year ($1bn), a Diaspora Bond ($100m), the African Development Bank ($200m), the World Bank ($300m) and China-Exim Bank($500m).

A breakdown of how the entire $9.3bn would be spent includes $450m for erosion and flood control projects in the South-East states and Cross River State; $200m for the FADAMA agriculture projects in some states in the North; $150m for educational projects in Edo State; $243m for power projects in Zungeru; $136m for water supply projects in Zaria; and $500m for the Abuja Light Rail Project.

Okonjo-Iweala, who in 2005 ironically achieved dubious stardom as a minister who was the arrowhead of negotiations that successfully freed Nigeria from the foreign debt trap, resulting in the country’s exit from the Paris and London

clubs of creditors, painted a bright picture to the House Committee on Loans, Aids and Debts, arguing that the loan had “zero interest” rates, “soft terms” and a repayment period of 40 years, and another 10 years of grace. Justifying the planned borrowing, she added that the infrastructural and other needs of the country are substantial, and would gulp between $10billion and $14billion, equivalent of more than N1.5 trillion a year for the next three years. “If we take that from our budget, it means the totality of our capital budget,” she stated.

If Okonjo-Iweala expected that her arguments for increased external borrowing were beyond criticism, she probably needs a rethink. In particular, many question why the country cannot spend from its savings, especially with a reported external reserve of about $46bn. The minister’s answer: “The lower you run the reserve the more the Naira will depreciate, so we must maintain a level of reserve and we believe that for our economy, we should push it to $50billion and $10billion of Excess Crude Account because of the uncertainties in the world.”

However, this seeming economic wisdom flies in the face of logic and common sense, considering the size of the country’s reserve in relation to the amount of the planned borrowing. Furthermore, it is unclear what level of spending from the reserve would devalue the Naira, as she claims. Also, based on her analysis, we wonder what level of reserve the country must maintain to sustain its economy.

There are more worries: If the country’s budgetary resources can accommodate infrastructural and other needs, as she

implies, why borrow then? If we are making more money than we can spend, and not spending as we ought to spend in that the current budget is even under-implemented, do we really need to enlarge our foreign debt burden? Since the loan has to be repaid anyway, is it not counter-productive to commit the country to a debt that it has the financial resources to avoid in the first place?

What these questions show is that it is certainly not enough to appeal to expertise or professional knowledge, as the minister seems to be doing in this matter, because her reasoning is simply unconvincing. The futility of the projections is further compounded by the fact that Nigeria has hardly spent any loan judiciously in recent years. And, given the way the present administration is going about the anti-corruption war, there is nothing to suggest that things will be different now.

‘What these questions show is that it is certainly not enough to appeal to expertise or professional knowledge, as the minister seems to be doing in this matter, because her reasoning is simply unconvincing.

The futility of the projections is further compounded by the fact that Nigeria has hardly spent any loan judiciously in recent years.

And, given the way the present administration is going about the anti-corruption war, there is nothing to suggest that things will be different now’

10-year deadline • Ruling party is just waking up to the shame that we are importing petroleum products HIRTEEN years after, the understanding of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Federal Government is being opened to the anomaly of a major crude oil producer importing refined petroleum products. Indication to this effect emerged when President Goodluck Jonathan received the reports of the three task forces that were set up by the government to look into various areas of the petroleum industry and recommend ways by which Nigeria could benefit optimally from the resource.

Hear President Jonathan: “On the Task Force on Refineries, people make jest of us that we import what we have and export what we don’t have. We have crude oil yet we are busy importing kerosene, diesel, aviation fuel, petrol and these are products of crude oil, why do we have crude oil and still be importing the deriva-

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‘We must caution however that no matter how long it takes to end fuel importation, the government must not at any time within the period contemplate withdrawing the so-called fuel subsidy. Nigerians are not responsible for the ineptitude, corruption and policy flipflops that have put us in the quagmire of fuel importation; they therefore should not be the beasts of its burden’

tives of crude oil? If we place our focus right, we should be having retail filling stations all over Africa and the world and generate revenue for Nigerians”.

Ordinarily one should commend the initiative even if belated; but for the government’s antecedents. The Jonathan administration, like the Obasanjo administration is long in talk but short in action.

We have not forgotten the many broken promises that the government has to its discredit. Perhaps the one that readily comes to mind is its promise to end Boko Haram insurgency by June this year. This is November, more than four months after that presidential proclamation, and Boko Haram is still very much around and alive. What of the many promises the party and government had made on electricity generation, with the goal post incessantly shifted when the target became unrealisable?

The PDP-led government does not seem to appreciate that the President is like an oracle and whatever he says is sacrosanct.

When a leader has a track record of not living up to his words, whatever he says is likely to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Even beyond all these, why must it take us a whole 10 years from now to end fuel importation? When we add the 10 years to the already wasted 13 (from 1999 to date), then we are talking of a whole 23 years wasted simply because the ruling party has not been able to get its focus and priorities right.Nigeria’s refineries at Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna have a combined capacity of 445,000 barrels per day

but have, unfortunately, not operated at full capacity because of lack of maintenance and corruption. In the best of times, they never attained 70 per cent capacity utilisation.

All said, in the interim, we have to find a way to make them work since government has been unable to sell them to private investors. Whatever shortfall we have can be bridged by importation until we gradually attain self-sufficiency in refining the products. It is shameful that it took the PDP government this long to realise the need to get more functional refineries in the country. And, having wasted so much time, all the president could say if the 10-year target is not met is for Nigerians to “…write something against us saying we did not rule the country well”. The matter is not that simplistic; as that is already assured. A more serious government would have said something beyond the pedestrian.

We must caution however that no matter how long it takes to end fuel importation, the government must not at any time within the period contemplate withdrawing the so-called fuel subsidy. Nigerians are not responsible for the ineptitude, corruption and policy flip-flops that have put us in the quagmire of fuel importation; they therefore should not be the beasts of its burden.

If we had started from somewhere in the last 13 years, we would have made some progress and we would have avoided becoming the laughing stock that even President Jonathan acknowledged we have become in the comity of nations.

Greece drinks the hemlock

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REECE’S Parliament did what it had to do on Thursday. Despite some defections from the ruling centrist coalition, lawmakers narrowly approved a $23 billion package of new austerity measures, including further spending cuts to social services, pensions and public salaries, as well as tax increases demanded by Greece’s European lenders.

In return, the troika of official creditors — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — promise to consider, but not guarantee, reducing the punitive interest rates they charge Greece for bailout loans and unlocking a $40 billion aid payment Athens needs to avoid a default on its debts.

No responsible Greek lawmaker could have ignored the terrible consequences of voting no.

But no one can dismiss the threat to social stability from these cuts. Even Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who fought hard to push the package through Parliament, characterized the cuts it imposed as “unfair.”

The fact is, just about everything in this austerity package has been tried before and failed disastrously. These unpalatable steps will do nothing to make Greece’s debts more payable, bring its budgets closer to balance or help make the structural reforms Greece needs to revive its economy. Instead they will almost certainly further shrink an economy that has already shrunk by an astounding 25 percent over the past few years, making fiscal improvement nearly impossible.

The austerity approach was supposed to reduce Greece’s ratio of debt to gross domestic product. But that ratio has grown, despite debt write-offs and bailouts, because the economy has contracted so much. The new package is expected to shrink it an additional 9 percent.

Greece cannot pay off its debts when it is shutting down its economy. It has to put people back to work. The only way forward is through more debt write-offs and more low-interest European loans, as well as by opening up restricted job markets.

But measures that extend and deepen Greece’s severe recession are certain to intensify public opposition to labor market reforms that could increase an unemployment rate already over 25 percent. And imposing new fuel taxes and health care charges will hurt ordinary people and make a tax system that is scandalously unfair even more so.

Ordinary Greeks are losing confidence in a political system they feel has failed to protect them from economic ruin. Greek lawmakers know this but feel compelled to do as their European creditors ask. And, we suspect, many of those creditors also know that more austerity is not the answer. But so far, they have been unwilling to challenge the leader of Europe’s biggest economy, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who continues to believe that only economic punishment will push Greeks to reform.

It may be a winning political formula in Germany, where Ms. Merkel stands for re-election next year. But it is a profound, and profoundly unnecessary, tragedy for Greece.

– NewYork Times

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THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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CARTOON & LETTERS

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IR: Kindly let me use your esteemed medium to express my worries over the worsening gullibility among my fellowmen which makes them fall easy prey to the antics of fraudsters who are in various forms.

A Harvard study said the most gullible people in the world are the Filipinos. The study said “the causes of this gullibility include the inability to question information and an over-reliance on interpersonal sources.”

All too often, Nigerians fall easily to swindlers, especially money doublers. Usually, the customer brings a small amount of money which he hides under a scrap of cloth.

The trick is for a few customers to win small amounts to convince those with big money to play.

Those who win the small sums are smart when they take their winning and walk away. But the greedy will stay and stake a bigger sum. The customer is given the cloth with the money and warned not to open it for a given period of time. Eventually, when the customer opens it he finds no money but scraps of paper. And when he returns to complain, the blame is laid on him.

Even now, Nigerians will go for‘wonder banks’ that promise unreasonable returns.

As Aristotle once observed, youths are easily deceived because they are quick to hope. In Nigeria the youth are lured easily by politicians for their own selfish purposes and eventually discard them.

Looking for work to do, and finding none, the youth become a menace to the society.

At no place than the church is the

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Gullibility is harming Nigeria on all fronts gullibility of Nigerians most manifest. Nigerians, believing that what ever the pastors tell them is divinely inspired, accept everything in ‘faith’. People have been flagellated to exorcise their purported demons. Men have allowed their pastors sleep with their wives believing that it will be the solution to the couple’s infertility.

Nigerians, seeking for any means to get wealthy go to witchdoctors who are themselves poor. Idolaters carve images and call them their god. Nigerians have an unrivalled herd mentality.

Suicide bombers have continued to bomb their own fellow Nigeri-

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ans in the dubious belief that they are carrying out a divine injunction. And because of gullibility, there is no shortage of recruits.

Without asking questions, without examining facts, Nigerians gang up to mob and burn fellow Nigerians alive.

Tribalism is also a consequence of gullibility. Nigerian children grow up hating other tribes because their parents told them that those ones are their enemies. When the children grow up, they pass it on to their children and the cycle goes on. It is this deep-seated prejudice that has made Prof Chinua Achebe’s book “There was a country” an issue of truculence.

Perhaps the most gullible among

Nigerians is the government, particularly to organizations like the IMF and World Bank and some other so-called international lenders. As at today, Nigeria’s debt profile is $44 billion, and recently it signed a new deal to borrow $600 million from China’s Export-Import bank, supposedly to build a railway to service Abuja and its environs, a deal said to be in dispute.

If our earnings from oil are judiciously used and leprous hands of corruption don’t touch them, we would not need to borrow money to finance any projects. Our creditors sold SAP (Structural Adjustment Programme) to us, and we bought it!

Debt is a tool for manipulation

We must eschew corruption, greed and waste

IR: It is clear to all now that the war against corruption has completely lost steam.

What many of us do not understand is why governments and their functionaries still insult us by mouthing their so-called zero-tolerance for corruption. The correct position is that our governments at all levels now have zero-tolerance for anti-corruption war. The Otedola-Farouk scandal remains an open sore that will not get healed until and unless either or

both the dramatis personae is or are prosecuted forthwith. That scandal makes a mockery of all claims that there is a war against corruption in Nigeria. Nigerians will not allow the matter to die down. The police have shown gross incompetence in the handling of the matter. The file should be withdrawn from whoever is at present investigating the allegation of bribery and given to officers or agencies that know what they are doing.

The only amendment that would

make sense is for the National Assembly to make crimes of corruption strict liability offences that would require the defendant show that she is innocent and justify how she came about her stupendous wealth and not for the prosecution to prove that she is guilty. The Constitution should also make it clear that there would be no interlocutory appeal in criminal cases.

Without these safeguards corruption cases will go on endlessly as we are already seeing with the oil

Yuguda’s lordship over council chairmen must end IR: Barely two weeks after being sworn in as the caretaker committee chairman of Ganjuwa local government area of Bauchi State, the state governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda, sacked the chairman, Alhaji Abdul Hassan.

The sack was contained in a statement made available to journalists in Bauch and signed by the permanent Secretary (Political Affairs), Government House, Bauchi,

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by neo-liberalists led by these institutions and other institutions known as the”Washington Consensus”. They sold to a gullible Nigerian government the idea of fuel subsidy withdrawal. They preach privatization but are on hand to make sure local industries are not protected and dead, so that they will have leeway for their own exports. They are the ones who sold devaluation of currency and high interest rate to our government.

Gullibility fosters corruption.

That is why fuel subsidy thieves can manufacture any figures to get undue payments under the nose of gullible NNPC and government officials and still get away with it.

It is in Nigeria where a juju man has more credibility than a professor of science. It is in Nigeria we vote politicians in because they had no shoes growing up.

If we must develop as a nation government, institutions, individuals should be critical and refrain from swallowing everything hook, line and sinker.

• Dr Cosmas Odoemena, Medical practitioner, Lagos.

Hashimu Yakubu, on behalf of the Secretary to the state Government, Mr. Ahmed Ibrahim Dandija.

Though no reason was given for the sack of the chairman, the statement stated that the governor had appointed Sallau Baba Nassarawa as the new caretaker chairman of the local government, adding that the appointment took immediate effect.

This is not the first time

Gov.Yuguda of Bauchi state will be suspending or sacking council chairmen without giving reasons for their removal from office. It is either no reason was given or they have been replaced with “immediate effect”.

It must be recalled that in 2010 the governor suspended the entire 20 elected council chairmen for eight months for an offence that indicted none of them.

We believe that by now, 13 years into the present political dispensation, our governors would have shed off the toga despotic tendencies of military administrators. In as much as we are not holding brief for any erring council administrator, Nigerians will no longer accept a situation where council chairmen are removed for no justifiable reasons.

• Jeff Nkwocha LG Study Network, Warri

subsidy scam.

Reckless spending by states and the Federal Government needs to be checked urgently. One example which we have always brought up is the indefensible sponsoring of pilgrims to Jerusalem and Saudi Arabia. This is wrong and constitutes an unconstitutional frittering away of public resources. Those who want to go on pilgrimage should use their own resources. Religion is a private affair. If governments do not stop this unlawful practice, we shall consider instituting actions against all of them. The same goes for sponsoring of lawyers in the Ministries and in private practice on jamboree trips to International Bar Association Conferences where Nigerians do not make any presentation except to present their rowdiness and gaudy lifestyle. These jamborees explain why our roads are not motorable, our schools have collapsed and why there is general poverty in the land. Let the jamboree stop please!

• Bamidele Aturu Esq, Legal practitioner, Surulere, Lagos.

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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COMMENTS “

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“You’re right; and I’m sorry, if I sounded alarmist. But I just wished one day, voters here too would behave like the American WASP – be enlightened and broad-minded enough to vote for quality and conviction and not be rabble-roused by passion and primordial sentiments.

Olakunle It makes democracy all the more beautiful!” lordbeek@yahoo.com, 08054504169 (Sms only, please) Abimbola “I agree. But here, it is a different kettle of fish.”

“Meaning: that angels live in America and baboons live here?”

“Of course not – and don’t be “Yes, it was. But you swore Obama would head back to his majestic and brilliant, and after such acrimonious campaign! silly! It is just that unlike America, even with its bias against Kenyan Luo tribesmen, by the time the Republicans had finWhen would our politicians concede defeat with such grace and the Black and even other minorities, there is a national consenished with him!” such majesty?” sus on how the state should be run. Here, it’s far from that – “But asodun n’iyen now! [That was just sweet talk!]. I was “When the hurly-burly is done, when the battle is lost and and the chaos at elections is only a symptom of that political only jiving.” won!” he said with laughing eyes. “But the problem is the Nigeanomie.”

“No, you looked earnest enough! Why don’t you admit rian electoral battle is never lost and won; and the hurly-burly is “Meaning your favourite pitch for a national conference?” it?” never done: not with the pre- and election proper rigging, and “And why not?”

“Okay, okay. I goofed. You win.” post-election bickering, not to talk of the mindless violence that “I don’t see why not. But the regnant political elite would “Better!” comes with the electoral territory!” rather push their luck. To them, Nigeria is a gambit to be “But you must credit the American electoral system – so The other burst out in a guffaw. “I can feel you: professor of pushed to breaking point.” transparent, even when they had challenges, as those voters Macbeth and Shakespeare expert! Indeed, it is a classic case of “That is why we must not fold our arms. Nigeria is damn in Chicago who gave up after hours of trying, because the how not to run a democracy!” too important to be left solely to the politicians and power computer crashed.”

“But you know my real heroes of the Obama victory?” racketeers.”

“Yes, you’re right,” he admitted, nodding.

“Who?” the other wanted to know.

“I agree, but back to the US elections. Obama, faced with a “But did you see the celebrating Kenyans? Obviously, the “The WASP: White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, the American landformidable foe and dead heat poll forecasts, told his electors irony was totally lost on them.” lords and majority, since the discovery of the so-called new that in four years, he had rapidly aged working for them – and “What irony?” frontiers, after which they made savage mincemeat of the nahe was evidently believable, for indeed he had aged, and his “You mean you couldn’t get it?” It was the other’s turn to tive red Indians and took over their land. But now,” he added hair had turned grey out of punishing work.” lase his partner with a triumphant glint. “Could a Luo man, with a sardonic, sententious air, spiced with laconic wit, “the “And if I may add,” returned his partner, “Obama was not a hapless minority, ever likely to become president in Kenya?

WASP have an electoral wasp to contend with. They sting hard the first to be sentenced to such excruciating work. It took And what rebuke Obama hands the Kenyan president!” and take no prisoners! That is what has gifted Obama the AmeriPresident Bill Clinton just 100 days in office to grow a shock of “Rebuke?” can presidency for two terms – some historical comeuppance?” grey in his hair and develop bags under his two eyes – bags of “Yeah. President Mwai Kibaki was, for donkey years, a “You know, you have a solid point there. Very solid point!” glory he has carried till today!” victim of electoral heist and political repression, during the “Yeah, I know!” he returned with a wink. “While a slice of the “Now my friend,” the other added, “show me the Nigerian Kenyatta and Arap Moi years. Yet, he replicated these same WASP voted for the other side, the minorities solidly voted for equivalent of Obama or Clinton: straight-from-prison Mr. Antidespicable conducts after he himself became president! See their own. Now, what sort of democracy is that, where the corruption, Olusegun Obasanjo, who left the presidency with how he virtually forced the Kenyan electoral chief to declare minority could band together to lord it over the numerical marosy cheeks but bequeathed his country the gaunt cheeks of his him winner, even when the poor man could not vouch for jority? Is democracy turning from majority rule to conspiratoAbacha gulag days? Or even present incumbent Goodluck the tally he announced? Can you imagine that?” rial rule? I just wonder!”

Jonathan, under whose unsteady hands Nigeria faces a melt“I think it is an African curse.”

“Don’t be so alarmist and sinister!” the other quickly cautioned. down, yet whose hand couldn’t be steadier in his pursuit of a “African curse? You’re dead right!” he agreed. “Even here, “It’s only two elections, in an electoral history of more than 200 2015 encore ...? all our leaders falling over themselves to congratulate years for God’s sake! Your generalisation is too sweeping.”

“Your point, precisely?” the other snapped, almost rudely.

Obama, with their mealy mouthed, empty and annoying “That the presidency, or any other public office for that matcant. Have they ever learnt anything from the American “The presidency is no booty to be ter, is no booty to be enjoyed but service, service and ceaseless democracy which they jump on the bandwagon to celebrate? to be endured. That, to me is the lesson of American I mean!” enjoyed but service, service and service democracy and the triumph of Obama, who our shameless “As for that,” the other conceded yet again, “I think our ceaseless service to be endured. That leaders crow is the pride of the Black race – which indeed he political elite are beyond redemption. But you know, Obama’s victory speech was fine. What blew me out, howis the lesson of American democracy is.”“Again, I agree. They admire Obama so much. But can they ever, was Mitt Romney’s concession speech. It was simply pay the Obama price, in selfless and quality service?” and the triumph of Obama”

AY it! Recant in your own words! Let the whole world know!”

“Say what?” his askance eyes popped out.

“Go on!” he jeered, a glint of triumph in his mocking eyes. “When the going was tough, you were blabbing: Obama ti d’abamo o! Obama ti d’abamo o!” [Yoruba twisted pun, which could mean Obama has turned a joke or regret]. “Now that Obama has earned a second term, you must recant. Really,” he declared, rubbing it in, “you must!”

“O, that! But it was only an election!”

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epublican ipples

HE common notion about political office holders otherwise called politicians in developing countries is that they are not to be trusted when they make electioneering promises which has more often turned out to be mere sloganeering. However, in Ekiti State, trust is gradually being restored in governance with the advent of Governor Kayode Fayemi. Ekiti people have realised that he is different from other politicians because he has kept a substantial part of his electioneering campaign promises which he made to them in 2007 as encapsulated in his 8point agenda.

It was the same 8-point agenda he reiterated when he was sworn-in as governor on October 16, 2010 by promising to deliver the dividends of democracy by ushering in a new dawn. Ekiti people had been traumatised through bad governance by previous administrations of conservative elements. Though Fayemi assumed the leadership of Ekiti State with a lot of goodwill from the people who felt their liberator has come, he had a lot of burden on his shoulders to live up to their expectations.

He almost incurred their wrath arising from his methodical planning which took him some time before taking off fully. One cannot blame the people because they have suffered and had many unfulfilled promises in the past so they expected an immediate succour from the governor whom they regarded as a magic worker. Dr. Fayemi took his time, calculated, planned and carefully identified what he wanted to do and how to do it before launching his agenda fully. He inherited a debt of 42 billion naira and many abandoned projects from his predecessor, a paltry 109 million naira Internally Generated Revenue and a meagre 2.5 billion naira monthly allocation from the federation’s account which is the second lowest in the country.

But with careful planning, prudent management of resources and an avowed commitment to the welfare of the people, he has been able to deliver, within reasonable limits, dividends of democracy in an unprecedented manner.

In two years, Fayemi has turned Ekiti State into a huge construction site such that discerning observers say the job he has done is more than what some governors did in 8 years.

It is not only the work that Fayemi did that fascinates Ekiti people, but the way he has earned their trust in governance. His method is novel and his style is inviting and fascinating. He is the first Governor in the country to embark on a village square meeting for the sole purpose of knowing what each community in his state requested to be incorporated in the budget. He started this in November 2011 when he undertook the tour of all the local governments where every town sent a representative to

Obama price

Restoring public trust in Ekiti

By Hakeem Jamiu ask for at least three projects the community would like to be incorporated in the following year’s budget (2012).

At each meeting, he promised the towns that, at least one project would be granted for each town in the budget. This promise has been fulfilled as every town with at least a project either completed or ongoing presently as contained in the 2012 budget. Out of these requests, provision of pipe borne water and boreholes, supply of transformers and repair of schools were common demands across the communities. The Governor immediately embarked on the construction of miniwater works in many towns.

The final phase of solving the water problem in Ekiti once and for all will be in 2013 when the pipes would have been ready and the Ero, Egbe, Ureje and Itapaji dams would have started functioning optimally..

When the Governor embarked on another round of village square meeting in October 2012 to again request for what each community desire to be in the 2013 budget, he got more gratitude than requests. The social security for the elderly became the most popular of the programmes while the renovation of schools was next. In all the LGAs visited, elderly women who are beneficiaries of the N5, 000 monthly allowance came in groups to pray for the Governor while many of them danced with him. One elderly woman who was about 80 years old presented the Governor with a gift of Kolanut which she had kept for a long time for the Governor. A touching episode was when the Governor visited Ola-Oluwa Muslim grammar school. The students swarm round the governor and were falling over one another in their bid to touch him in a show of appreciation which nearly led to a stampede inside the newly refurbished hall.

Therefore, when the governor embarked on the village meetings in October, it was sure that he has restored confidence into governance with the way people of the communities gave him a rousing welcome for keeping to his promise of the previous year. They also thanked him for restoring peace to Ekiti after many years of violence, instability and uncertainty.

The Governor kept his note of their requests of 2011 which he read what they requested and what he has done out of the request. Some he has fulfilled fully while others are ongoing.

So when they made other requests against 2013 budget, they

trusted that he will do it again.

One of the journalists who had gone round the state on inspection in three days and to cover the second year anniversary remarked that there is no other state in Nigeria presently with the volume of job going on in Ekiti and they wondered how he managed to do this considering the small earnings of the State. What surprised the journalists most is the transformation of Ikogosi Warm Spring resort centre within one year. Some of them who visited the resort last year were short of words when they saw the level of transformation of the place.

The roads leading to the place from all directions have been tarred. The landscaping has been done, new chalets have been constructed while the existing ones have been renovated. A 1,000 seater amphitheatre is almost completed while the whole place has been redesigned. The swimming pool is brand new with the warm spring water directly piped into the pool and the whole area of the warm and cold spring have been transformed to accommodate small huts for family relaxation. A long stretch of pathway made of strong plank of teak wood has been constructed right from the chalets to the warm spring area. The scenery is so natural and picturesque such that it has made the resort a world class tourist centre.

The Governor has again promised to embark on ‘Operation Renovate all Hospitals’ in year 2013 while the urban renewal currently going on in Ado-Ekiti would be extended to other traditional headquarter towns of Ikole, Ikere and Ijero in the first phase. Ekiti people are excited over all the good things that are happening to them in the last two years and they are now convinced that governance could be made simple and result oriented if there is enough sincerity of purpose and an avowed commitment to improve the lives of the people on the part of a leader.

• Jamiu writes from Ado-Ekiti

‘But with careful planning, prudent management of resources and an avowed commitment to the welfare of the people, he has been able to deliver, within reasonable limits, dividends of democracy in an unprecedented manner.

In two years, Fayemi has turned Ekiti State into a huge construction site such that discerning observers say the job he has done is more than what some governors did in 8 years’

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

22

COMMENTS

M

AJOR General Muhammadu Buhari, retired soldier, politician and one time Head of State and CommanderIn-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces is a man only a few can claim to know. The gangling Fulani man from Daura in Katsina State, northwest Nigeria is an enigma that is very difficult to unravel.

As a soldier he remained committed to the ideals of his profession and stuck to the best in military tradition. When he became a soldier/ politician as Head of State, he, together with his second in command, late Major General Babatunde Idiagbon brought that steely quality of a good soldier combined with unquestionable discipline to bear on our daily lives and living as a people.

Not many Nigerians liked this then, but after living through the Babangida years of anything goes and the steady decline in our values as a people and a nation, not a few today would relish a dose of the Buhari/Idiagbon even if just a little, in order to bring sanity into our national lives. Such is the level that we have declined and things have degenerated that we would not even mind some “high handedness” of that era now.

This, probably was what some new day politicians who believe in cleansing Nigeria of the evil of corruption, maladministration, nepotism et al, all rolled into bad governance thought they saw in the retired General when they dragged him into partisan politics at the outset of this democratic dispensation. But each time he stepped forward to lead, he was given a resounding rejection by the electorate, or rather, rejected by the electorate acting under the manipulation of the ruling class. This is debatable you know?

These “qualities” were also probably what the terrorist organisation, Boko Haram saw in Buhari when they appointed him their negotiator-in-chief in their offer of dialogue with the Federal Government to end the mindless and evil terror they have been unleashing on the good people of northeastern and to some extent, northwestern Nigeria for some time now.

Lest I am accused of eulogising Buhari, no.

Neither am I interested in bringing him down, far from it. All I’ve tried to do is to bring out what we know of Buhari’s past/antecedent to find out why Boko Haram would want him to represent them in a peace meeting with the government.

If it is the Buhari that we knew, I doubt if

T

HESE national groups are as distinct from one another as the Ibos are distinct from them or from the Yorubas or Hausas. Of the eleven, the Efik, Ibibio, Annang national groups are 3.2 million strong as against the Ijaws, who are only about 700,000 strong.

Ostensibly, the remaining nine national groups population is 1.4 millions. But when you have subtracted the Ibo inhabitants from among them, what is left ranges from the Ngennis, who number only 8,000 to the Ogonis, who are 220,000 strong.

‘A decree creating a COR state without a plebiscite to ascertain the wishes of the people in the area, would only amount to subordinating the minority national groups in the state to the dominance of the EfikIbibio-Annang national group. It would be perfectly in order to create a Calabar state or a Rivers by decree and without a plebiscite because each is a homogenous national unit.

But before you lump distinct and diverse national units together in one state, the consent of each of them is indispensable, otherwise, the seed of social disequilibrium in the new state would have been sown. On the other hand, if the COR state is created by decree after the Eastern Region shall have made its severance from Nigeria effective, we should then be waging an unjust war against a foreign state. It would be an unjust

‘I see no reason for departing from this mandate’, if any Region in Nigeria considers itself enough to compel us to enter into association with it on its own terms. I would only wish such Region luck. Luck, I must warn, will, in the long run, be no better that that which has attended the doings of all colonial powers down the ages!

Now that Buhari says NO there would have been a Boko Haram then and even now if he were to be in charge, not to talk of being asked to represent them. But then you never can tell.

Before I was struck by malaria last week forcing this column to be off, I was debating the Boko Haram appointment of Buhari as a negotiator and concluded that head or tail the former Head of State would be the loser. If he accepts, his opponents would say “we told you so. The man is a religious fanatic, in fact a terrorist. How come Boko Haram chose him to represent them? He must be one of them or a sympathizer”. And if he says no, the story would change; “ don’t mind him, he is not a patriot at all, he’s only interested in himself. To help Nigeria find solution to this security challenge using his experience both as a former Head of State and retired General he is saying no, just because he wants Jonathan to fail so that the north (Buhari) can retake the presidency in 2015", etc.

But considering the pros and cons, I thought Buhari should have accepted the offer but with conditions. Except there is contrary information, we all know that a former Head of State, especially one with Buhari’s kind of character would not support a Boko Haram. Forget about all his inflammatory political rhetorics of the past, he just doesn’t fit in. Yes, he has been carrying his religion/faith on his face but can he really do anything to hurt the other faiths if he gets to power? No. So, he’s just pandering to the Islamic faith just to get the support of the Muslims, which most politicians will do just to get elected?

Was Jonathan not sold to the South and the Christian elements in the North, in 2011 as ‘one of us,a Christian’ hence we should vote for him?

So, if we can conclude that Buhari is not a

terrorist or can not be a member of Boko Haram, then why can’t he represent them in negotiating peace with the Federal Government?

It is on the strength of this argument that I think Buhari ought to have accepted but may be as a mediator. Boko Haram probably chose him because of his integrity and belief that he won’t sell them out. Good if that was their reason. And I don’t think the Federal Government has anything serious against his choice. So it appears the man is his own problem over this matter. Why did I say this? If Boko Haram trusts him to negotiate for them and the government has no serious objection if any at all, why can’t he accept if it will help the nation find a peaceful end to this Boko Haram insurgency, after all he is are suppose to be a statesman and patriot? May be Buhari should ask himself why didn’t Boko Haram nominate Babangida or even Abdulsalami? Did I hear you say integrity?

Now as a mediator, all he needs to do is to sit down with terrorists to know what they want and also listen to the government’s position.

After series of talks and shuttle diplomacy between both sides transmitting each side’s position to the other, he can then bring both sides together at a formal parley, where one expects Boko Haram’s leadership to come out in the open.

Buhari should not be afraid of the public perception of Boko Haram as murderers and terrorists. The Palestinian Liberation Organisation and it’s leadership, including charismatic Yasser Arafat were once regarded and labelled terrorists, especially by Israel and her allies, but that did not stop them negotiating underground before the now famous Oslo peace deal. The FARC rebels in

Columbia are still similarly labelled and have not dropped their guns, yet negotiation is going on between their representatives and the Columbian government at a neutral country.

So. If Buhari is really interested in helping Nigeria out of this conundrum he should accept to mediate between the Federal Government and Boko Haram and set up a formal platform for both sides to negotiate peace. After doing the ground work he can withdraw and allow them negotiate their peace. This is more honorable than outright no if he knows it. He should not mind all the noise and side talks, he should just face the task if he truly loves Nigeria.

I am not rally bothered or persuaded by his explanation for his no, this is the time for all men and women of goodwill to step forward and pull his back from the precipice. For those abusing Buhari over this matter, time will tell.

But if the man should remain faithful and stubborn to his no, that should not discourage both the Federal Government and Boko Haram from pursuing that window of opportunity to achieve lasting peace in the north and the country in general. May be both sides could look for and agree on a less controversial but equally credible negotiator to arrange preliminary peace talks at a lower level after which a bigger parley could then be arranged where an agreement could be reached. Friendly but neutral countries could be brought him at this stage to gain the confidence of both sides.

At every stage both sides must negotiate in good faith for the main objective of peaceful resolution to be achievable.

If at the end of the day nothing came out of this offer, Boko Haram in my opinion, have themselves to blame. All this while they have been fighting, bombing indiscriminately and killing innocent souls across the north without letting us know what their political demands are other than a vague reference to Islamization of Nigeria. Can that be a realizable agenda anywhere in the world today, not to talk of Nigeria?

Struggling to have a political face or voice to speak or represent them shows that they were just interested in killing, destroying or causing mayhem to avenge whatever injustice they must have suffered in the hands of whoever.

Even the Talibans have people who speak for them and negotiate on their behalf with the Afghan government and even the Americans.

So if Buhari says no, then Boko Haram should bring out their leaders and we’ll negotiate with them. We are tired of this bombings and killings. Let there be peace in the north.

Reflections on Awo phenomenon-2

By Eric Teniola war, because the purpose of it would be to remove ten minorities in the East from the dominance of Ibos only to subordinate them to the dominance of the Efik-Ibibio-Annang national groups.

I think I have said enough to demonstrate that any war against the East, or vice versa, on any count whatsoever, would be an unholy crusade for which it would be most unjustifiable to shed a drop of Nigerian blood. Therefore, only a peaceful solution must be found, and quickly too to arrest the present rapidly deteriorating stalemate and restore normalcy.

It is my considered view, that whilst some of the demands of the East are excessive within the context of a Nigerian union, most of such demands are not only well-founded, but is designed for smooth and healthy association amongst the various national units of Nigeria.

For instance, the East has demanded the creation of separate regional monetary authorities, the demolition of the appellate jurisdiction of the Federal Supreme Court, and the dependence of the Federal Government on financial contributions from the regions.

These and other suchlike demands, I do not support. Demands such as these, if accepted, will lead surely to the complete disintegration of the Federation, which is not in the interest of our people. But I wholeheartedly support the following demands among others, which we consider reasonable and most of which are already embodied in our memoranda to the Ad Hoc Committee: ‘That mines and minerals should be residual subject: that revenue should be allocated strictly on the basis of derivation; that is to say, after the Federal Government has deducted its own share for its own services, the rest should be allocated to the regions to which they are attributable; that the existing public debt of the Federation should become the responsibility of the regions on the basis of the location of the projects in respect of

each debt, whether internal or external; that each region should have and control its own militia and Police Force; that, with immediate effect, all military personnel should be posted to their regions of origin.

If we are to live in harmony with another as Nigerians, it is imperative that these demands and others, which are not here related, should be met without further delay by those who have hitherto resisted them. To those who may argue that the acceptance of these demands will amount to transforming Nigeria into a Federation with a weak central government, my comment is that any link, however tenuous, which keeps the East in the Nigerian union, is better, in my view, than no link at all.

Before the Western delegates went to Lagos to attend the meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee, they were given a clear mandate that if any Region should opt out of the Federation of Nigeria, then the Federation should b considered to be at an end, and that the Western Region and Lagos should also opt out of it. It would then be open to Western Nigeria and Lagos, as an independent sovereign state to enter into association with any of the Nigerian units of its own choosing on terms mutually acceptable to them.

‘I see no reason for departing from this mandate’, if any Region in Nigeria considers itself enough to compel us to enter into association with it on its own terms. I would only wish such Region luck. Luck, I must warn, will, in the long run, be no better that that which has attended the doings of all colonial powers down the ages!

‘This much I must say in addition, on this point. We have neither the military might, nor the overwhelming advantage of numbers here in Western Nigeria and Lagos. But we have the justice of a noble and imperishable cause on our side, namely: the right of a people to unfettered self –determination. If this is so, then God is on our side and God be with us- then we have nothing whatsoever in this world to fear.

The fourth imperative, the second conditional one, has been fully dealt with in

my recent letter to His Excellency, the Military Governor of Western Nigeria and in the representation which your deputation made last year to the Head of the Federal Military Government. As a matter of fact, as far back as November last year, a smaller meeting of leaders of thought in this region decided that unless certain things were done, we would no longer participate in the meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee. But since then, not even one of our legitimate requests has been granted. I will, therefore, take no time in making further comments on a point with which you are well familiar.

As soon as our humble and earnest requests are met, I shall be ready to take my place on the Ad Hoc Committee, but certainly not before.

Certain attributes are required on the part of Nigerian leaders- military as well as nonmilitary leaders alike- namely: vision, realism, and unselfishness.

But above all, what will keep Nigerian leaders in the North and East unwavering in the part of wisdom, realism and moderation is courage and steadfastness on the part of Yoruba people in the course of what they sincerely believe to be right, equitable and just.

In the past five years, we in the West and Lagos have shown that we possess these qualities in large measure. If we demonstrate them again, as we did in the past, calmly and stoically, we will save Nigeria from further bloodshed and imminent wreck and, at the same time, preserve our freedom and selfrespect into the bargain.

In view of this, one has since discovered that the Awo legacy will never end. The Awo myth lives on. Theodore Sorenson sums it all when he wrote; “no myth or exaggeration, admiring or adverse can help hurt the dead.

But it can make true perspective difficult for the living”.

• Concluded • Teniola, former Director in the Presidency, Office of the Secretary to the Government now lives in Lagos.

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

23

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41

NATIONSPORT TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

NATION SPORT

NATION SPORT

NATIONAL SPORTS FESTIVAL:

AFRICAN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP FALLOUT

Athletes' accreditation list out soon, says MOC

T

HE Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 18th National Sports Festival in Lagos has assured stakeholders that the names of accredited athletes and officials would soon be made public.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reports that less than 15 days to the Ga m e s , t h e Ma i n O r g a n i s i n g Committee (MOC) had yet to publish

the list of participants. However, the MOC only concluded the Delegation Registration Meeting (DRM) on Sunday in Abuja, an innovation in the biennial competition.

The meeting is where athletes and officials are entered for the Games and the ineligible ones have their names removed, to check mercenaries and two states entering one athlete.

The Secretary of the Games Services and Secretariat, Deji Aladegbemi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday that the MOC had yet to release the list.

“We are relying on the MOC for that all-important document. We have been working on assumptions in the provision of logistics and accommodation but believe that the document’s timely release will help

F

ORMER CSKA Moscow star Dmitry Kuznetsov has shared his thoughts and impressions on Ahmed Musa's brace against Kuban Krasnodar to the Russian Press.

The Nigeria international's rich vein of form continued as he was on target in the 35th and 51st minute of the away encounter. ''He is a player who does everything right in attack, frees himself and creates chances.

Today, he proved that he's a goalscorer. At the moment, Musa is a major player in the attack. I like him, like how he has adapted as a centreforward,'' Kuznetsov, a former Russia international, was quoted as saying by Ria Novosti.

With his brace on Saturday,

us a lot in our planning,’’ he said.

The Secretary said the LOC had made provision for athletes and officials based on their past experiences of the festival. He explained that the LOC would be responsible for the welfare of athletes, while state governments would cater for their officials.

Meanwhile the Assistant Chairman of the Media and Publicity Committee, Fred Edore, told NAN that more than 400 journalists had been accredited and that more were still being expected.

Edore, Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), said that their accreditation cards would be released three days before the Games.

A

• Wale Edun

Niger contingent hits Lagos Nov. 26—Director

T

HE Niger Director of Sports, Baba Sheshi, on Monday said that the state’s contingent to the 18th National Sports Festival would arrive in Lagos on Nov. 26. The festival, tagged ``Eko 2012’’, will hold between Nov. 27 and Dec. 9.

Sheshi, who disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone, said that the athletes were currently finalising their strategies to win medals in a closed camp. He said the state would feature in Taekwondo, Squash, Volleyball, Wrestling, Special Sports, Tennis, Basketball, Table Tennis, Scrabble, Weightlifting, Judo, Boxing, Kick Boxing, Handball, Athletics, Football and Table Tennis for the disabled.

The Director of Sports also said that Gov. Babangida Aliyu of Niger had been supportive of the preparations,

to ensure a successful outing. ``Team Niger is in closed camping; the coaches are putting strategies in place to ensure the readiness and the fitness of the athletes.

“Already, the athletes and their coaches are well motivated financially and every necessary moral support is being provided to them. The sports festival is like the Nigerian version of the Olympics, hence, we in Niger State are attaching a lot of seriousness to it,” Sheshi said.

He disclosed that they were working tirelessly to improve on their last outing in Port-Harcourt, where the state went home with nine gold, two silver and seven bronze medals.

Sheshi said that an advance team would be sent to Lagos on Nov. 22, to facilitate Team Niger’s arrival to the Games.

Ondo badminton players ready, says coach

T

HE Ondo State badminton coach, Tunde Ajibogun, said on Monday that his players were preparing to surpass their record at the 17th National Sports Festival in Port Harcourt. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Ondo State badminton contingent to the 17th National Sports Festival in Port Harcourt, tagged ``Garden City Games’’ won a bronze medal.

Balogun told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Akure that his players were in good form and had been training before the

commencement of the state’s closed camping. ``Our preparation started since we attended tournaments like the first Esther Ayodele Open Badminton Championships in July at Ilorin and the Abuja National Open Badminton Championships. And I know the ability of the players I have, that is why I decided to pick three males and a female for the festival. ``We want to win as many medals as possible at the 18th National Sports Festival in Lagos and by the level of my players' preparation, I believe we can achieve it,’’ he said.

Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka on Monday, the Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Dr. Edozie Aroh, said that gold medal winners would receive N200, 000 each.

According to him, winners of silver medals would be rewarded with N150, 000, while bronze medal winners would get N75, 000. Aroh said there were other incentives being packaged to further motivate the athletes, such as ensuring adequate logistics support.

He said this was the first of its kind in the state, stressing that Anambra was determined to reverse the dismal performance of the State in past festivals by boosting the morale of its athletes. ``It is part of our commitment to the athletes, as well as to ensure a superlative outing; motivation is paramount in sports and we want to provide that as much as possible.

They now know what is at stake. It is not just about the state but for them as individuals; they must give in their best because they have never had it so good,” Aroh said.

On the medal prospects of Anambra in Lagos, the Acting Permanent Secretary, Dr Cyprian Amuzie, said it was targeting about 30 gold medals and many silver and bronze medals.

Amuzie said taekwondo, gymnastics, and the swimming team handled by a newly-engaged coach, Joseph Okechi, had high medal prospects.

He also said that the athletics team being jointly handled by Johnny Igboka and Uchenna Emedolu, would be expected to win many medals. The Permanent Secretary said that monetary prizes attached to the medals by the state government would spur the athletes to fly the flag of the state to higher heights. ``The commissioner has noted with regrets the poor outing of the state in the NSF and has resolved to reverse the ugly trend. He pledged to provide all necessary logistics both for camping and the games proper, including the announcement of mouth watering prizes for every medal won at the games,” Amuzie said.

Musa is only two goals shy of top scorer in the Russian Premier League Alexander Kerzhakov, who has scored nine times.

•Musa

Ordega parts ways with Russian club

Anambra dangles cash prizes before athletes S part of strategies to ensure optimal performance at the 18th National Sports Festival (NSF), the Anambra government has announced cash rewards for athletes that will win medals at the games. The Games, scheduled to be hosted by Lagos, will hold from Nov. 27 to Dec. 9.

Disclosing the prizes to the News

‘Ahmed Musa does everything right’

Ikhana to be

this Sacked week

S

UPERSPORT.COM can report that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will relieve Kadiri Ikhana from his position as Super Falcons' head coach this week.

Ikhana failed to meet the minimum requirement of the four-year contract he entered into with the NFF in April this year.

The Nigerian FA in its contract to Ikhana handed him the requirement to

A

four-man team of technical officials led by World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) council member, Erhan Basoglu has arrived for Saturday's 8th Obudu International Mountain Race and the fourth African M o u n t a i n R u n n i n g Championships scheduled to hold at the Obudu Ranch Resort in Obanliku, Cross River State.

The officials, all from Turkey, arrived at the weekend and were received at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos by Sir William Archibong, chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the race who later led them to Obudu via Calabar where they were received by other members

win the 2012 African Women's Championship (AWC) in Equatorial Guinea.

Supersport.com has been informed that Ikhana was given the option to resign after the loss to South Africa in the AWC semis rather than face the ignominy of being sacked.

"Officials of the NFF did convey a message to Ikhana after the loss to South Africa to resign but he didn't

heed that. And the loss to Cameroon in the third place just finished off any chance of Ikhana remaining as head coach of the Super Falcons.

"As I speak with you, majority members of the technical committee have put up their hands for Ikhana to be sacked. That's their recommendation. So the decision will be made official this week or latest next week," said a top official of the

federation.

Ikhana's fate was further nailed by a member of the football federation's technical sub-committee, Paul Bassey, who said the Falcons' manager "technically has no job" with Nigeria.

Bassey surprisingly disclosed to Brila FM that the federation made an error in hiring Ikhana as Super Falcons' head coach.

He added that the troubled coach

Obudu Race: WMRA technical officials arrive of the LOC who were at the Obudu Ranch to put finishing touches to the arrangements for hosting another world-class competition.

A visibly delighted Archibong told the media that the arrival of the officials is the final phase of preparation for another hitch-free event on Saturday. “The officials who are our technical consultants are in town to conclude work on the new 12km course for the race.

It is a totally different course from the 11km course we have used for

the last seven editions. The new course will have 90% of the race on bush paths with only 10% on asphalted road. This is in line with the standard set by the WMRA before Obudu was granted the hosting right for the 2014 world championships", explains Archibong.

Meanwhile this year`s Obudu Mountain Race winners will share over N45m in prize money.

This much was revealed by Honourable Patrick Ugbe, the Commissioner for Youth and

Sports in Cross River State.

Ugbe disclosed that there is an unchanged prize money outlay for this year’s edition.

Two years ago, the total prize money for the 6th edition of the race was increased by over $ 3 5 , 0 0 0 b y t h e or g a n i s e r s following the introduction of the women’s version of the African Nations Mountain Running Championship.

The total prize money which went up from $245,500 to $278,000 (N45m) has been

should have resigned immediately after the Falcons' 0-1 loss to South Africa's Banyana Banyana in the semifinals of the 2012 AWC. "He should have just resigned after losing in the semifinals (to South Africa) rather than wait till the team's loss to Cameroon in the third place," said Bassey.

Ikhana is just seven months into a four-year contract in which he earns N3 million (around $19,300) per month.

retained for this year’s edition.

The prize money for the first to the 10th position for this year’s race remains the same with the winners in each gender category going home with $50,000 each, while $20,000 and $9,000 respectively will go to the second and third placed finishers.

The prizes for 4th-10th placed finishers in each category also remain at $4,500, $4,000, $3,000, $2,500, $2,000, $1,500 and $1,000, respectively.

The African Championship draws a prize money of $15,000 for first team position, $10,000 for second and $7,500 for third team position for both men and women.

• Returns to Rivers Angels

F

IT again ex-Falconets striker, Francesca Ordega does not plan to return to Russia to continue with WFC Rossiyanka having left the club on a mutual consent N a t i o n S p o r t s h a s authoritatively gathered.

Ordega returned to Nigeria some weeks back to treat her ankle injury but sources close to the Benue State-born striker disclosed that she complained about the freezing weather in the Eastern European nation among other things, and so was not too keen on a return to Russia.

The source further scooped that the all-action striker is poised for a return to Rivers Angels, the club from where she jetted off to Russia alongside Desire Oparanozie about two months ago.

From Tunde Liadi,Owerri It was also revealed that Ordega is in high level discussions with other clubs outside Russia where she hopes that the weather will suit her best.

The striker is expected to lace boots for her Rivers Stateowned club in the Women's Super 6 which kicks off on November 16th and the Women's Challenge Cup which has reached the semi final stage.

Ordega was in fine form for the Falconets at the recently held FIFA U20 Women's World Cup in Japan where she overcame an ankle injury barrier to plunder four goals, including a hat-trick against hapless Italy, in Nigeria's march to the semi final.

NPL Dec. 1 kick-off date doubtful

T

HE proposed December 1st kick-off date of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) may not be feasible if NationSports findings are anything to go by.

Our source at the Nigeria Football Federation, (NFF) secretariat in Abuja, disclosed that the league may not begin on that day since the Football House may have shifted its Annual General Assembly (AGA) which normally serves as the official close of the season.

“What I want to tell you now is that we are sourcing for a possible venue for the AGA,

From Patrick Ngwaogu Abuja because Rivers State is out of it.

The stakeholders have rejected the state because of the statement by Governor Rotimi Amaechi which described the NFF as the most corrupt organisation in Nigeria at a Presidential Retreat held last month in Abuja.

“This statement has elicited bitter response from various football stakeholders including former NFF President Sani Lulu Abdullahi who has challenged the governor to come out with his facts as Chairman of the Presidential Task Force to a public debate to substantiate his

NIGERIA VS VENEZUELA

Visa hitch stops Omeruo

A

• AFN boss, Solomon Ogba

top source in Holland h a s i n f o r m e d NationSport that the technical crew of the Super Eagles handed a late invitation to ADO Den Haag defender, Kenneth Josiah Omeruo to team up with the Nigerian squad for the encounter with the Venezuelans in Miami, United States but the player couldn't complete his visa application.

The source, in an exclusive chat, said Omeruo was called by the Eagles' secretary, Dayo Enebi Achor on Friday last week asking him if he had a visa with which to travel to the United States, but SportingLife gathered

From Tunde Liadi,Owerri that the Flying Eagles star stated that the notice was too short for him to get his visa application approved.

"Omeruo was given a late call up on Friday. The secretary of the Eagles (Dayo Enebi) called him and asked if he could make the journey to the United States, but he told him it would be impossible for him to make the trip since processing of visa to the USA will take nothing less than a week.

"The defender also said had it been he got the call up on time he would have arranged things to make himself available for his fatherland," the source said.

INSIDE

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

Page 25

Website: http://www.thenationonlineng.com

Fed Govt plans cargo airports - Page 26

FCT ends messy meat transportation

Health Secretariat in partnership to fight blindness

FCT ends messy meat transportation

- Page 28

A

Who’s afraid of Ribadu?

- Page 40

FTER years of unwholesome trips to the soup pot, some reprieve has come.

Meat transporters in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will now treat their consignment and its consumers with some respect.

Before now, meat was transported in the messiest of manners.

They left it uncovered and could be conveyed on the heads of itinerant carriers or in rickety vehicles, among other unhealthy means.

No more, said the FCT Administration which has rolled out a new policy banning the use of rickety vehicles and motorcycles in the transfer of meat in the Federal

By Bukola Amusan

Capital city, area councils and satellite towns.

Under the new policy, the mode of meat haulage will be through dedicated meat vans and special purpose-made tricycles with meat haulage compartment.

The Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, made this known while inaugurating the first phase of the FCT Meat haulage Programme at Karu Abattoir in Karu, Abuja. Akinjide, who was represented by the Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Develop-

ment Secretariat, Mrs. Olvadi Bema Madayi, said the new policy was part of measures to ensure wholesome meat consumption in the FCT. The minister stated that the tricycle meat vans were to be used to convey meat to distances not more than 3km from the slaughter points while the four wheel meat vans would go to longer distances.

“The specifications for acceptable vehicles required for meat transportation are solely dedicated meat vans which are being commissioned today and special purposemade tricycles with meat haulage compartment.

“The internal coverings of the

meat compartment of the vehicles are stainless steel sheets. The emphasis on stainless steel coverage is to ensure non-metal contamination of meat.

“This measure is in line with National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) standards,” Akinjide said. The FCTA, she noted, viewed with disdain the existing way of meat transportation in rickety vehicles and motorcycles.

“The importance of consumption of hygienic food in improv•Continued on Page 26

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

26

ABUJA REVIEW

FCTA ends messy meat transportation

Man docked for manslaughter

•Continued from Page 25 ing the quality of life of the populace cannot be overemphasised.

Meat, being a perishable produce, must be handled right or it may endanger the public health,” she stated.

The minister directed the Nigeria Police, NAFDAC, Abuja Environmental Protection Board, Federal Road Safety Corps and Directorate of Road Traffic Services to enforce the new meat haulage regulations of the FCT. She added:”The effective enforcement of these regulations is an important thrust in ensuring best practices in meat handling.”

She disclosed that the FCT Administration had concluded arrangements with a private investor to build and operate an ultra modern abattoir in Tungan Maje.

She noted that the abattoir would serve the Federal Capital City and also introduce meat processing and packaging in the territory.

In her welcome address read by the Director of Administration and Finance, Agriculture and Rural De-

A

•The new Abuja meat vans velopment Secretariat, Mr. John Obiahu, Madayi explained that the FCT Meat haulage Programme was being operated under a public private partnership arrangement between the Agricultural and Rural

Development Secretariat and Lead Automobile Company Limited.

“Lead Automobile Company Limited has been an important key player in the Meat Haulage Policy actualisation.The company made a

substantial input to the formulation of the policy,” Madayi said.

She blamed the lack of alternative means of meat transportation for the shortcoming in addressing early the meat haulage challenge.

Fed Govt plans cargo airport in six states M

INISTER of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide has said that the Federal Government will construct six bulk-produce cargo airports in the Federal Capital Territory and five other states. The states are Lagos, Rivers, Benue and Plateau.

The minister, who stated this during a meeting with members of the local organising committee on agricultural show and exhibition in the FCT, said the cargo airports would be used for transporting bulk agricultural produce from one area to another.

She reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to make the country sufficient in rice pro-

Stories by Bukola Amusan

duction by 2014.

“The Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, is working assiduously for Nigeria to be rice-sufficient by 2014.

“The government, in collaboration with state governments, has initiated a rice mills programme and is procuring rice mills which would be distributed across the states and the FCT. The FCT is expected to get two of the rice mills which will be located in Abaji and

The Federal Government has revolutionised the agriculture sector with the development of a new policy aimed at making agriculture commercial. The government has introduced the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) aimed at revamping the sector and ensuring food security

T

Kwali area councils,” she said.

Endorsing the agricultural show and exhibition slated to hold from December 5 to 8, 2012, Akinjide advised youths to take up employment in agriculture which, she stated, was financially rewarding.

“The Federal Government has revolutionised the agriculture sector with the development of a new policy aimed at making agriculture commercial. The government has introduced the agricultural transformation agenda (ATA) aimed at revamping the agriculture sector, ensuring food security, diversifying the economy, and enhancing foreign exchange earnings.

“Under the ATA, key initiatives such as the growth enhancement support scheme (GESS) have been introduced to support smallholder farmers in the agriculture value chain. The ultimate goal is to ensure that agriculture is practised as lucrative commercial enterprise that is not only sustainable but also attractive to our youths and young people,” she stated.

Earlier, the chairman of the local organising committee on agricultural show and exhibition in the FCT, Alhaji Ari Isa Moham-

FCTA bemoans wall-defacing posters

T •Akinjide

med, explained that the FCT Administration was partnering with the Abuja Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture to organise the exhibition.

“The Department of Economic Planning, Research and Statistics is working with the Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat and other stakeholders and has since commenced preparation by setting up a local organising committee for the agricultural show and exhibition,” said Mohammed, who is the Director of Economic Planning, Research and Statistics in the FCTA.

Financial institutions cautioned on loans to developers

HE Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has cautioned banks and other financial institutions against granting loans to estate developers without authenticating the genuineness of their title documents from the Development Control Department.

The department, in a letter dated September 24, 2012, which was signed by the Director of the Department of Development Control Yahaya Yusuff and made available to newsmen in Abuja said loans should only be given to developers with proper evidence of building plan approval from the Department of Development Control.

Yusuff also implored the offi-

cials of the FCT Water Board and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to confirm the genuineness of land documents from the department before installing their infrastructures.

The statement said: “I am directed to request that your various financial institutions grant facilities on buildings within the Federal Capital City and area councils only when an evidence of building plan approval from the department is tendered by the applicants.

“In making this call, it is necessary to clarify that approval of

building plans by any other agency like ministries, Federal Housing Agency and area councils is not valid in the FCT, even in cases where area councils had granted approvals in history, such approvals are not valid especially where the affected property had not been developed before 2006.

“In cases where such documents purporting approval of building plans are tendered, it is advised that your office verifies the documents to ensure authencity, this is against the background of the frequency of

25-YEAR-OLD man, Jamil Abdul’Aziz, of Wuse Zone 5, Abuja, has been arraigned before an Abuja Chief Magistrates’ Court for allegedly causing accident by dangerous driving.

The prosecutor, Abdullahi Adamu, told the court that on October 28, the accused drove dangerously on Ibrahim Babangida Expressway, by ECWA Church, Wuse 2, Abuja.

Adamu said that as a result, the accused knocked down a pedestrian, George Danjuma, of Sanga LGA, Kaduna.

He said that the victim was rushed to the hospital where he died.

Adamu said that the offence contravened Section 548 of the Road Traffic Authority. AbdulAziz, however, pleaded not guilty.

The Chief Magistrate, Mr Azubike Okeagwu, granted the accused in the sum of N300,000 and two sureties in like sum.

Okeagwu said that the sureties must be civil servants who reside within the jurisdiction of the court and adjourned the case to November 29 for hearing.

cases of forgery and fraudulent back-dating of such documents in developers desperate bid to enjoy relevant facilities”he said The FCTA said the call become necessary in view of the invigorated demolition of properties in the FCT as occasioned not only by the rate of development of illegal structures but discoveries made of past forgey of documents either to secure such approvals or in the approvals themselves.

While urging banks to be mindful of the development, the development control said the move was necessitated in view of the risk of losing such funded projects to the city clean up exercises on account of improper approval procedures.

HE authorities in the Federal Capital Territory have decried the defacing of the city walls with posters.

The territory administration wants perpetrators punished but first it requires a law in that regard.

That law will soon be passed to stop such acts in the city.

The Assistant Director, Aesthetics and Amenities, Development Control Department, Mr Richard Aderinwale, a lawyer, who led officials of the department on a clean-up exercise, said most of the pasting that were mostly done at night and by religious bodies and politicians.

He said a hot pressure machine has just been purchased to be used in cleaning up the city.

He blamed churches for pasting on any available space to announce crusades and night vigils.

He said the dirty act should be discouraged by all means, stressing that a legislation should be passed to disqualify politicians whose posters are found on the streets from contesting elections in the city.

He said if there was an enabling law, the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) could enforce it on politicians and the defacing of the capital city would stop.

He said it is embarrassing that up till now there is no law against pasting of posters.

He advised residents to contact registered bodies before embarking on such exercise in the city.

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

27

ABUJA REVIEW

•The secretary FCT Health & Human Services, Dr. Demola Onakomaiya (middle) with members of the International Centre for Eye Care Education

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HE Secretary, FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat Dr. Demola Onakomaiya has stressed the FCT Administration’s commitment to eradicating blindness by the year 2020, adding that the Secretariat will collaborate with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and World Health Organisation to fight the disease.

This will be done by providing the required medical equipments

Health Secretariat in partnership to fight blindness

By Bukola Amusan

in all FCT hospitals in line with international best practices.

The Secretary gave the assurance

To eliminate avoidable blindness and improve socio-economic well-being in the FCT, the Administration has established three main components of the eye care plan namely Disease Control, Human Resource Development and Equipment Technology

when West Africa sub-regional Manager of International Centre for Eye Care Education, Dr. Anne Effion Ebiri visited him in Abuja.

He said that to eliminate avoidable blindness and improve socio-economic well-being of FCT, the Administration has established three main components of the eye care plan namely Disease Control, Human Resource Development and Equipment Technology.

He said that the International Centre for Eye Care Education

(ICEE) came into collaboration with the FCT Health Secretariat in 2011, with a Memorandum of Understanding on eye care signed between the FCT Health Secretariat and ICEE in April 2011 as regards the FCT. One of the achievements of this collaboration between the two bodies is the establishment of an ultra-modern eye care centre in Kubwa General Hospital where primary, secondary and tertiary eye care services are being rendered to the public at a subsidised

rate, added Onakomaiya.

In her speech, Dr. Anne Effiom Ebiri said the “Seeing is Believing (SIB) Nigeria Project” started in January 2011, and that it is customary for SIB representatives from International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) to visit project locations at least once before the full project cycle to assess the progress made on the project.

Anne added that the project has recorded appreciable achievement in the area of advocacy, health information, awareness creation and community mobilisation, support to infrastructure development and equipment. She urged the general public to take advantage of the self-test vision corridors being erected in strategic locations in the FCT.

FCTA to open 10 new districts

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•Senator Mohammed

HE Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has restated its commitment to open 10 new districts with up-to-date basic infrastructure before 2015.

The FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed disclosed this during the 2012 annual general meeting of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, FCT chapter.

The Minister, who was represented at the occasion by his Senior Special Assistant, (Information Management System), Hajiya Jamilah Tangaza, noted that the aggregate infrastructure development in the FCT in more than 36 years has not been more than 25 per cent.

Senator Mohammed regretted that over 90 per cent of allocated plots in

the phases one to five of the Federal Capital City are not yet developed by those to who the plots were allotted.

According to him, the change in demographics has therefore necessitated his administration resolve to approach provision of

infrastructure and general development of the city from a radical perspective.

He said: “We came up with the land swap model which translates to the private sector providing infrastructure in exchange of land.”

He reiterated that the

Our benchmark is to provide at least 10 new districts by 2015 as the FCT Administration is to grant agreed percentage of land in a Greenfield district to a developer for real property development under a special contract envisaged by the Land Use Act

Artistes’ union inaugurated in Gwagwalada

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ARELY a month after Kuje’s chapter of One Hundred Thousand Poets and Musicians for Change came into being, the Gwagwalada wing has been inaugurated.

Its aim was to enhance socio-political and economic development in the area council through music, painting, poetry and other forms of arts.

Habib Musa, a traditional musi-

cian and trumpeter was unanimously elected as the chairman of Gwagwalada’s wing of the movement during the inauguration ceremony.

Speaking at the event, the chairman of Abuja’s chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Mr Edwin Eriata Oribhabor, who brought the movement to Nigeria after it was initiated in the United States two years

ago, said artistes are highly respected in the society.

He further said that the respect accorded to them should be seen as an advantage to preach change and development to the people.

Oribhabor said the poets, musicians and other artistes involved in the movement will stage a monthly or weekly concert in different parts of the council where pressing societal problems would be dis-

sected and solutions proffered.

In his acceptance speech, the newly elected chairman, Musa, said he was delighted to be elected as the chairman of Gwagwalada wing of the group. He added that he will deploy everything at his disposal to bring about change.

The movement will be inaugurated in the four remaining area councils of the FCT before January 2013.

implementation thrust of the transformation agenda on the FCT is to open up new districts as the private sector would be given incentives to provide site and services within such districts.

“Our benchmark is to provide at least 10 new districts by 2015 as the FCT Administration is to grant agreed percentage of land in a Greenfield district to a developer for real property development under a special contract envisaged by the Land Use Act,” he added.

The minister emphasised that, in exchange for the grant, the developer is to provide primary infrastructure in the agreed district without any financial, technical or demand risk on the part of the FCT Administration; adding that the land swap model promises to expand the city and eventually reduce cost of houses.

Senator Mohammed urged the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations to collaborate with the government in promoting people-friendly policies and programmes for good governance and national unity.

Speaking earlier, the President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Alhaji Mohammed Abdullahi revealed that the institute would move its headquarters from Lagos to Abuja before the end of this month.

The theme of the AGM/Conference was “Role of Public Relations in Fostering National Unity.”

28

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

DISCOURSE

Role of judiciary in evolving sustainable Nigerian nation Text of an address delivered by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) former president, Nigerian Bar Association and pro-chancellor and chairman of Council of the University Of Ibadan) at the opening of the Ondo State Judiciary Legal Year at Akure, Ondo State on November 6.

• Continued from Friday

Judiciary and judicial powers

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HE word “Judiciary” has been defined as: “That branch of government invested with the judicial power; the system of courts in a country, body of judges, the bench. That branch of government which is intended to interpret, construe and apply the law…”

Our own Constitution invests the Judiciary with the judicial powers of the Federation by stating in very clear terms thus: “The judicial powers of the Federation shall be vested in the Judicial Courts to which this section relates, being courts established for the Federation.”

We shall come to this anon.

Even in the days of yore, when the King of Great Britain perceived himself as being the repository of everything, ranging from science to medicine, then to economics, religious piety and master of the law, Chief Justice Coke had the courage of his conviction as a Judge to politely tell him that he was under no man but God and the Law. It was a very interesting session between King James I and the Justices of the realm when the King, in his royal splendor and earthly majesty summoned the Justices in his bid to take over adjudication from them and/or to be the appellate court over their decisions. For the purpose of this lecture and also for effect, let us reproduce the dialogue that ensued between the King and the Justice Coke: C. J. Coke: Your Royal Majesty, you have no such power under our laws.

King James: I have always thought and I have often heard the boast that your English Law is founded upon reason. If that be so, why have not I and others as well as you judges?

C. J. Coke:True it is, Your Majesty, that God has endowed you with excellent science as well as great gifts of nature, but Your Majesty will allow me to say so, with all reverence that you are not learned in the laws of this great realm, which is an art which requires long study and experience before that a man can attain to the cognizance of it. The law is the golden net-wand and measure to try the causes of your majesty’s subjects and it is by that law that your majesty is protected in safety and peace.

King James: Then I am to be under the law: which it is treason to affirm.

C. J. Coke: Thus wrote Bracton. The King is under no man, but under God and the Law.

The Pakistani experience In a contribution made by me to a collection of essays in honour of a respected Bar leader and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, I enthused thus on the role of lawyers and the Judiciary in putting an end to the military tyranny in Pakistan: “The legal community in Pakistan displayed rare courage and bravery by asking the head of the then head of Military junta, General Pervez Musharraf to step down and demanded that he be tried for treason under Article 6 of the Constitution. The legal community equally appealed to all political parties to join lawyers in the struggle to kick out the Military government.

As a result of critical stance of lawyers and the Judiciary, the Military came down heavily against the Chief Justice, Iftikar Mohammad Chaudhry and the Bar. The government became so repressive to its own people to the extent that many were clamped into jail. The government used brutal force against lawyers, journalists, politicians and human rights activists. Lawyers in Pakistan organised series of protests demanding for an end to military rule and the formation of a national government to hold elections within three months. More than a dozen judges and government law officers also resigned and refused to cooperate with the government of General Musharraf. Today, the people of Pakistan are free from the yoke and jackboot of the Military in Pakistan. Today, the rest is history, as the Military dictatorship has ended in Pakistan and its people now enjoy dividends of democracy.”

Birth of the High Court in Nigeria Coming back home to Nigeria and particularly situating this paper within the framework of the topic, I dare say that since the birth of the Judiciary in Nigeria, particularly since 1863, when Ordinance No. 11 came into being, establishing the Supreme Court of Lagos, particularly, the coming into being of the Supreme Court Proclamation Order No. 6 of 1900, establishing the Supreme Court for the Southern Nigeria Pro-

tectorate, the Nigerian Judiciary has discharged its duties and functions as an agent of nation building and integration in a commendable manner. Put succinctly, the Nigerian Judiciary has played a far reaching positive role in the evolution and sustenance of the Nigerian ‘nation’. I have deliberately put the word nation in quote because, to my mind, Nigeria is still struggling to attain the status of nationhood. In his book titled Path to Nigeria’s Freedom, that political enigma and leading administrator of all times, Chief Obafemi Awolowo posited thus: “Nigeria is not a nation; it is a mere geographical expression. There are no ‘Nigerians’ in the same sense as there are ‘English’ or ‘Welsh’ or ‘French’; the word Nigeria is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria from those who do not.”

It is debatable and arguable whether we have passed the stage so rightly presented by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo as far back as 1947. But the point must be quickly made that but for the Nigerian Judiciary, the country itself would have packed up and dismembered into pieces and shreds. Some examples of the judgments of our courts will suffice.

A peep into some revolutionary judgments In Esugbayi Eleko v Government of Nigeria[, the Privy Council declared null and void the deportation of the Oba of Lagos from his domain to another part of Nigeria by a Governor who was vested with both executive and legislative powers. The Court held thus: “No member of the executive can interfere with the liberty or property of a subject except on the condition that he can support the legality of his action before a court of justice.”

This judgment heralded the culture of the rule of law in Nigeria and in latter cases in later years, the judiciary ably performed its role in checkmating the excesses of the executive, both under military dictatorship and civilian administrations. A few examples are Balewa v Doherty; E.O. Lakanmi v A.G. Western State & Ors, Chief Mojeed Agbaje v C.O.P, Adamolekun v Council of the University of Ibadan, Paul Unongo v Aper Aku, Awolowo v Minister of Internal Affairs; Government of Lagos State v Ojukwu, Fawehinmi v Akilu, A.G. Bendel v A.G. Federation, Obeya Memorial Hospital v A.G.F, Garba v University of Maidugur, Sofekun v Akinyemi, Garba v Federal Civil Service Commission, Bello v A.G. Oyo State, Olaniyan v University of Lagos, Military Governor of Ondo State v Adewunmi, Stitch v A.G.F.

Judiciary as the anchor of the present democratic government

The present democratic experiment took off in 1999 with former Military dictator, General Olusegun Obasanjo transmuting to a civilian President in agbada, but with much respect to him, not fully appreciating and comprehending the nitty-gritty and constituents of a democratic government rooted in a Constitution, which vests judicial powers and authorities in the superior courts established by the Constitution.

Although he came to office through judicial proclamations or on the crest of judicial affirmation on each of his two terms as exemplified by the Supreme Court decisions in Falae v Obasanjo, Yusuf v Obasanjo, Buhari v Obasanjoe.t.c, he wanted to govern more or less like a military dictator, thinking that he was still using decrees which were superior to the provisions of the Constitution. Had the Courts not checkmated him and asserted the supremacy of the rule of law, I doubt if through or by his actions and body movements, the democratic experiment would not have fallen like a pack of cards before he left office in 2007. His government approved the unconstitutional removal of the democratically elected Governor of Oyo State, Rasheed Ladoja by a tiny minority of the members of the House of Assembly who purportedly sat to re-

•Chief Olanipekun

move the Governor at D’Rovans Hotel Ibadan, outside the precincts of the House. However, the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment which also paved the way for others, declared null and void the absurd exercise.The apex court subsequently nullified the equally unconstitutional impeachment of Governors Joshua Dariye of Plateau State and Obi of Anambra State.

Had the Supreme Court not intervened as appropriate, nearly all the Governors who were not in the good books of President Obasanjo would have been unconstitutionally and undemocratically removed from office. While he and his Vice-President came into office under the same ticket and enjoyed same immunity under section 308 of the Constitution, he attempted to remove the Vice President from office through a Press Statement issued by his Press Officer. Again, the Supreme Court set aside the removal.Furthermore, his attempt to arraign and prosecute his Vice-President for sundry criminal offences against the clear provisions of section 308 was also halted by the Court of Appeal.

Constituting himself as the executive and the judiciary, and appropriating the powers of the Judiciary, he directed the confiscation of all the funds and allocations due to the Local Governments in Lagos State from the Federation Account on the pretext that by his judgment, the Lagos State Government erred by creating Local Government Areas/Councils without the approval of the National Assembly. For years, the funds meant for the entire Local Governments of Lagos State were not released. As expected, the Supreme Court again rose to the occasion by nullifying his action and telling him in clear language that he over-stepped his executive bounds.

Apart from the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, I am not aware of any Chief Executive in Nigeria who came into office under the 2010 Electoral Act that is not sitting in his executive office today by virtue of judicial fiat or affirmation. Fashola’s election, it must be borne in mind was fiercely challenged during his first term, as demonstrated in the case of Agbaje v Fashola. Some examples of the decisions of our courts and Tribunals on these Chief Executives would suffice. In CPC v INEC, the Supreme Court affirmed the election of President Jonathan as the President of Nigeria; in PDP v INEC, the Supreme Court gave a judicial fiat to the election of Abdula’aziz Yari Abubakar as the Governor of Zamfara State; Peter Obi’s election as Governor of Anambra State was confirmed by the same apex court in HDP v Obi, ditto for the Governor of Borno in ANPP v Goni, as well as the Governor of Taraba State in Ikenya v PDP; Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State is in office today by virtue of the Court of Appeal decision in Aregbesola v Oyinlola; shortly before him, Fayemi of Ekiti State assumed office via the Court of Appeal decision in Fayemi v Oni; after a vey protracted litigation in respect of his first term in office as evidenced in the Supreme Court decisions in Dingyadi v INEC No. 1, Dingyadi v INEC No. 2 and Dingyadi v INEC No. 3, Governor Wammako of Sokoto State got his second term election affirmed by the Court of Appeal in the unreported decision of the Court of Appeal in Ahmed v Wammako; Dr. Uduaghan of Delta State is peacefully residing in the Govern-

‘I have deliberately put the word nation in quote because, to my mind, Nigeria is still struggling to attain the status of nationhood. In his book titled Path to Nigeria’s Freedom[11], that political enigma and leading administrator of all times, Chief Obafemi Awolowo posited thus: ‘Nigeria is not a nation; it is a mere geographical expression. There are no ‘Nigerians’ in the same sense as there are ‘English’ or ‘Welsh’ or ‘French’; the word Nigeria is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria from those who do not”

ment House in Asaba today, courtesy of the Supreme Court decision in Ogboru v Uduaghan; same goes for Sule Lamido of Jigawa State whose election was confirmed by the same apex court in ACN v. Lamido, as well as Governor Ahmed of Kwara State whose fate was positively decided by the same Supreme Court in Belgore v Ahmed; in Nasarawa State, Governor Al-Makura retained his office through the instrumentality of the Court of Appeal decision in Doma v INEC; we are not unaware of the fierce legal battle fought by Governor Olusegun Mimiko before he regained his mandate in 2009 through the well considered judgment of the Court of Appeal in Agagu v Mimiko; Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State was/is not left out as the petition challenging his election was dismissed by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Katsina in Masari v INEC & Ors; even the recently concluded election in Edo State which brought forth Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as the undoubted people’s choice has been challenged by his opponent in General Charles Airhiavbere v Oshiomhole; be it noted that appeals against the rulings of the Tribunal in these fresh election matters are now slated for hearing at the Court of Appeal Benin on 7th November, 2012; it was not until 29th October, 2012 that the Supreme Court upheld the election of Governor Dickson of Bayelsa State; Governor Ajimobi of Oyo State got his election affirmed by the Election Tribunal in PDP v Ajimobi.

Apart from the executive positions highlighted above, it is common knowledge that most of our legislators, both at the State and National Assemblies are in their respective Legislative Houses today through the grace of the judgments given in their favour by different Tribunals and the Court of Appeal. Time and space will not permit us to go into further details. An attempt was made by some sitting Governors in five States to make a mockery of the Constitution by reading into section 180 of the Constitution what it did not contain or anticipate by contending that their tenure of office was virtually indefinite. In the Supreme Court landmark decision in Marwa v Nyako, the apex court, just like the American Supreme Court in Mabury v Madison supra, upheld the supremacy of the Constitution and enjoined all and sundry to respect its sanctity. But for this salutary and welcomed decision of the Supreme Court, some Governors would have deliberately sponsored cases against themselves, praying for the annulment of their elections and order for a rerun, as many times possible, so as to make them become permanent tenants in their respective Government Houses, since their contention, inter alia, was that a fresh tenure began anytime they took a fresh oath of office.

In Oloruntoba-Oju v Abdul-Raheem, the Supreme Court gave succor to 49 University of Ilorin dons who were prematurely and illegally sent packing from the Ivory tower by restoring them to their respective positions. In Elelu-Habeeb v AGF, the Supreme Court also rescued a State Chief Judge who was summarily impeached, as it were, by a sponsored State House of Assembly. Be it noted that this judgment has stopped and halted the reckless impeachment of State Chief Judges by some politically inclined Governors who believed and still believe that their Chief Judges must be their errand boys and girls. In Fawehinmi v President, FRN the Court of Appeal rightly released the judiciary from the narrow confines of locus standi interpretation and construction, by holding, commendably in my view, that the late Chief Fawehinmi, who established that he was a tax payer, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria as well as a senior citizen possessed the locus standi to challenge the decision of the Federal Government to pay the wages, salaries and emoluments of a few Ministers in a foreign denominated currency, that is, the American dollar. This decision again has freed litigants and citizens from the servitude and denial of justice arising from the strict rule of construction placed on the nagging issue of locus standi.

Despite all the vicissitudes plaguing our nation and affecting the Judiciary and notwithstanding all the criticisms(some of which are justified while some are over-orchestrated) leveled against our Judiciary on diverse issues, ranging from corruption to failure to properly appreciate the law, and dovetailing to lateness or improper sitting by some Judges, and also including appointment of some who are not expected to be on the Bench, it is submitted that of the three arms of Government, to wit, the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, the Judiciary has served Nigeria best in terms of promoting national evolution and sustaining it. Had the Judiciary behaved like the two other arms of Government, I am afraid, the country would have packed up and, long ago, we would have heard the shout of “to your tents, O Nigerians”.

• To be concluded

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

‘

If it is somewhat ironic that actions for negligence have been instituted by patients against Doctors who acted as Good Samaritans following roadside accidents, but the legal position remain quite clear. The number of such actions became so frequent in the United States in recent years, that passing Doctors became extremely reluctant to render assistance in Emergencies, and some States brought in legislation to limit actions for negligence arising from casual treatment at the scene of accidents.

See page 38

’

E-mail:- law@thenationonlineng.net

• Justice Maryam Aloma Mukhtar

She had cleared all hurdles for her appointment. What remained was her swearing in as Justice of the Court of Appeal (JCA). Justice Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo came prepared for the exercise last Monday. But she got a shocker: Chief Justice Maryam Aloma Mukhtar refused to swear her in. Reason: she claimed that Justice Jombo-Ofo is not from Abia State, where her husband hails from, but Anambra, her state of origin. Chief Justice Aloma Mukhtar is citing the Federal Character principle to buttress her stand. The principle stipulates that a married woman shall continue to claim her state of origin in matters of federal appointments. Should this provision remain part of the laws? Does it not contradict the constitutional provision that no citizen shall be discriminated against on the basis of state of origin or sex? Lawyers tackle these questions in this report by ADEBISI ONANUGA, ERIC IKHILAE, JOSEPH JIBUEZE and PRECIOUS IGBONWELUNDU.

CJN vs Jombo-Ofo: A test case for Federal Character

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HOULD the Federal Character principle remain part of the laws? This is the question begging for an answer in the face of recent happenings. The principle states that the composition of the government of the federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character (nature) of Nigeria.

It was designed to promote national unity and command countrywide loyalty, ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or sectional groups in government or any of its agencies.

The phrase federal character was said to have been used by the late General Murtala Muhammed in his address at the opening session of the Constitutional Drafting Committee on October 18, 1975.

Some have called for the scrapping of the principle, arguing that it has outlived its usefulness. Opponents say it has, over the years, become an instrument for enthroning and nurturing mediocrity, denying opportunities to capable Nigerians and in the long run, damaging the country’s development.

Last week, the issue resurfaced with the reported refusal of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Maryam Aloma Mukthar, to swear in one of the newly appointed justices of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo. Justice Jombo-Ofo was not allowed to take the judicial oath

Inside: •Lagos lawyers to give 50 hours of pro bono ... P.33

on the grounds that the state she represents (Abia) is not her state of origin (Anambra). It was based on a petition against her.

A list of 12 justices was initially released for the swearing-in but the inclusion of Justice Jombo-Ofo as representing Abia where she had served as a High Court judge for many years after her marriage to Mr Jombo-Ofo, an indigene of the state, drew the ire of some Abia indigenes, who wrote the petition.

They were said to have alleged that Justice Jombo-Ofo did not disclose her true state of origin. She is from Anambra State but after her marriage she subsequently transferred her services to Abia.

Abia State Governor Theodore Orji could save the day. He was said to have confirmed the indigeneship of Justice JumboOfo who had served in the Abia State Judiciary for 14 years and also affirmed that her name was indeed sent by the state government as one of the state’s candidates for elevation to the appellate court. Orji reportedly urged the CJN to disregard any spurious petition or allegation against her indigeneship and swear her in.

The decision not to swear in Justice Jombo-Ofo is said to have been based on Official Gazette No. 74, Volume 84, with heading: Guiding Principles and Formulae for the Distribution of all Cadres of Posts.

•Continued on page 30

NBA partners Law Reform Commission... P.36

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

30

LAW COVER CONT’D

CJN vs Jombo-Ofo: A test case for Federal Character • Continued from page 29 It was created in pursuance of the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, etc) Decree No. 34 of 1996.

Its Clause 11, Part 11, which deals with definitions, among others, states: A married woman shall continue to lay claim to her state of origin for the purpose of implementation of the Federal Character formulae at national level.

Criticisms have continued to trailed this provision. A wife of a former CJN said on a social media forum: “Can my husband claim my own state? When these policies begin to state ‘woman’, you know that it is a man that drafted the law!”

Analysts argue that the principle contradicts Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution, which provides: (1) “A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person:(a) be subjected either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any executive or administrative action of the government, to disabilities or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions are not made subject; or (b) be accorded either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any such executive or administrative action, any privilege or advantage that is not accorded to citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions.”

The Senate last Wednesday faulted the principle, urging the CJN to swear in Justice Jombo-Ofo forthwith, a resolution which followed a motion by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.

Will this mark the beginning of the end of Federal Character? With the Constitution currently being amended, should it be allowed to remain?

Ekweremadu noted that the CJN who refused to administer the oath of office on Justice Jombo-Ofo, presided over the processes that cleared her.

According to him, the implication is that “Nigerian women have lost all they have struggled for over the years and Nigeria will be taken 100 years back.

“It also shows that once a woman is married outside her community, local government area or state, she cannot aspire to any position (appointive or elective) in her husband’s community. It is also very unlikely that she will secure such position in her place of origin since she has been married out.”

Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba described it as a bad development for women, particularly at a time when a woman is the CJN. He said rather than being on the part of progress, the country was retrogressing.

“Once upon a time in this nation, we had Kalu Anya as the Chief Judge of Borno State, a Yoruba man was Attorney- General of Borno and the then Secretary to the State Government was also a non-indigene. Today, three decades after, we are being told that an Igbo woman will not have opportunity in another part of Igbo land. I think we are retrogressing.’’

He noted that the implication of the action was that the judiciary was limiting itself in the choices available to it, saying that that would promote mediocrity.

Senate President David Mark said the CJN, by not swearing in Justice Jombo-Ofo, was crying more than the bereaved since the Abia State Government was not complaining.

“I think the judiciary or the CJN is crying more than the bereaved because Abia State is not complaining.

They submitted her name and the

• Falana (SAN)

• Aturu

• Shittu

Governor was there. Why should anybody else say she is taking Abia State’s slot because that is what it meant in effect, if she was not sworn in?

“If you are resident in a place, why can’t you take appointment there?

But particularly on this issue, I think it was a mistake and it should be corrected.”

Senate spokesman Eyinnaya Abaribe said it would be injurious to womenfolk if the situation was not corrected.

Lawyers have added their voice to the development, saying such a principle should not remain.

Justice Olufunlola Adekeye, speaking during a valedictory on her retirement from the Supreme Court Bench, implored the CJN, the Chief Judges of the states, the Judicial Service Commission and the National Judicial Council to review the policy that married women could not reach the peak of their career in their husbands’ states of origin.

Justice Adekeye noted that complaints of this nature were common in the judiciary. She said most women transfer their services to their husbands’ state after their marriage which, according to her, is logical and in compliance with the tenets of marriage that the two spouses shall become one.

The retired jurist regretted that whenever there was vacancy at the top in the husband’s state of origin, the woman would be denied the post and then referred to her own state of origin, after having climbed the difficult career ladder and putting so many years into the service.

She said: “It is my view that during the existence of her marriage, the name of her husband must qualify and make her eligible to reach the peak of her career in her husband’s state.

“I think it is unconstitutional as well as discriminatory to deprive her of her promotion in her acquired state as a citizen of Nigeria, by virtue of Section 42 of 1999 Constitution,” she said.

Foremost rights activist Femi Falana (SAN) is of the view the CJN was wrong not to swear in Jombo-Ofo last week.

He said: “In exercise of his powers under Section 238 (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 President Goodluck Jonathan appointed 12 High Court judges including the Honourable Justice Ifeoma JomboOfo as Justices of the Court of Appeal.

“The appointment was sequel to the recommendation of the Na-

tional Judicial Council presided over by the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria.

“As soon as the appointment was made by the President, the former High Court judges became Justices of the Court of Appeal in line with the Supreme Court decision of Ogbuyiga v. Okudo (1979) 1 All NLR. “Having not been removed as a Justice of the Court of Appeal by the appointing authority, the refusal of the Chief Honourable Justice to administer the oath of office on the Honourable Justice Ifeoma Jumbo-Ofo cannot be justified in law.

“Since the appointment of the Honourable Justice Ifeoma JomboOfo has not been validly set aside she should not have been subjected to any embarrassment on the basis of a belated petition that sought to challenge the appointment on the ground that she is not an indigene of Abia State.

“In other words, the petition ought to have been discountenanced as it violates Section 42 of the Constitution which has prohibited discrimination arising from circumstances of birth or sex.

“May we remind those who are opposed to the appointment of the Honourable Justice Ifeoma JumboOfo of the case of Augustine Mojekwu v. Caroline Mojekwu (1997) 7 NWLR (PT 512) 283 where Tobi JCA (as he then was) held inter alia: “‘All human beings – male and female- are born into a free world and are expected to participate freely, without any inhibition on grounds of sex, and that is constitutional. Any form of societal discrimination on grounds of sex, apart from being unconstitutional, is antithesis to a society built on the tents of democracy which we have freely chosen as a people.’”

Another human rights crusader, Mr. Bamidele Aturu was of the view that the CJN ought not to have stopped the swearing-in as the judge as she had scaled through the processes of clearance.

He said: “It is not a question of whether the act should be allowed to remain or not. It is that the Chief Justice of Nigeria refuses to swear in a justice of the Court of Appeal who is duly appointed by all the relevant constitutional institutions; the Judiciary commission and the NJC and of course, her nomination has been vetted by the NASS. So, as far as her appointment is concerned, everything that is necessary has been done.

“So the question of swearing in was just a formality which ought not to have been stopped by the

CJN. So many of us are perplexed that she was not sworn in on the basis of the fact that she ought to have filled her own state of origin as opposed to her husband’s state of origin.

“My own immediate reaction is that the Federal Character Commission that you are talking about is a not a superior legislation to the constitution of Nigeria. The Constitution of Nigeria makes it very clear that nobody should be discriminated against in application of any law or in any executive action.

“The Constitution says in Section (1)(3) that if any law is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution, that other law shall be null and void.

“So if the decree or Federal Character Commission that you are talking about conflicts with the relevant section of the Constitution which says you can not discriminate against a person because of his state origin, because of where that person, quoting that very law, it is all clear that the people are wrong.

“So, I state very categorically that it is contradictory, and that is very clear because when you look at Section 42 of the Constitution, it is superior to that law that you have just cited.

“The seal of Nigeria or of a particular community, ethnic group, state of origin, sex, religion or political belief shall not be subjected either expressly by or in the practical application of any law in force in Nigeria or any executive or administrative action.

“So from the proof of the Constitution, it is very clear, it is not ambiguous and is superior to any other law. So for the CJN not to have sworn in Justice Jombo-Ofo on the basis that she was claiming the state of origin of her husband, as far as I am concerned, she is within the regulation because she has been appointed, the appointment had been completed.

“What happened was very embarrassing. I am expecting that the CJN should have quietly apologise to nation and call this woman and swear her in instead of raking up all these laws that do not exist.

“Clearly, it is very unfair. It is illegal, it is unlawful, it is embarrassing because as far as the law is concerned, once you are elevated, she is already a Justice of the Court of Appeal. So there is nothing they can do about that one.

“Do they want her to go back to Abia? She cannot go back to Abia because under the law, she is already a Justice of the Court of Ap-

‘It is my view that during the existence of her marriage, the name of her husband must qualify and make her eligible to reach the peak of her career in her husband’s state. I think it is unconstitutional as well as discriminatory to deprive her of her promotion in her acquired state as a citizen of Nigeria, by virtue of Section 42 of 1999 Constitution’

peal.”

A university don and lawyer Mr. Wahab Shittu said the provision should be expunged from the laws.

“That law should not be allowed to remain as part of our laws because Justice Jombo-Ofo’s appointment ought to be based on integrity, credibility, discipline and competence and not any other consideration because a judiciary appointment is a divine calling that places the holder in a position to dispense justice for the rest of the society.

“Such an appointment should not be on the basis of sentimental reasons or on the basis of her state of origin or any other reasons but on the basis of her competence, discipline, integrity.”

Shittu said it contradicts Section 42 of the Constitution. “Certainly it contradicts the constitutional provisions. But I also want us to look at the CJ’s reluctance to swear her in with understanding in the sense that it should not be seen ordinarily as an attempt impair the appointment.

“Since she is the Chief Judge of the federation, We should give her the benefit of doubt and you would see that the petition is not meritorious.

“It is clearly unfair given the fact that it is the height of her career.

When she got married to her husband who is not of her state, she automatically assumed the state of her husband. So in all respect and given the fact that the governor of Abia state has also said that she remains the nominee of the state, she ought to be sworn in.

“But I would not want us to just condemn the CJ of the federation.

All that she is doing is that she is taking her time before ultimately coming to swear her in.”

A human rights group, the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), condemned the development.

A statement by its Director, Chino Obiagwu, a lawyer, said: “LEDAP is concerned that the decision was arbitrary and unfair, and inconsistent with previous instances in which a number of female justices have been appointed, promoted or elevated on slots from their states of marriage rather than states of birth.

“LEDAP is worried that such practice of denying married women judicial appointments because of their state of marriage negates the principles of fairness and would be detrimental to women in judicial service. It is contrary to the entire values of marriage and of the Nigeria society.”

Former President of the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Stella Ugboma said: “Let us ensure that all these unfair and discriminatory provisions and regulations are expunged from our laws.”

She added: “The comforting aspect of this matter however is that nobody has removed her as a justice of the Court of Appeal. Swearing-in is just a formality and can be done anytime.”

Enugu State-based Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC) Nigeria director Oby Nwankwo said the Federal Character principle could be challenged through litigation.

She said there was need for “litigation to seek to change the Federal character rules that discriminate against women in this manner.”

Nwankwo added: “Such a rule or policy should not be part of the body of laws in Nigeria in this century. Such a public interest litigation attacking the rules or policy would not be targeting the CJN. We all love her and I am sure that it is not in her character to implement such a rule or policy.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

31

NATIONAL BAR

• Senate President, David Mark (in white) and the NBA delegation after the visit.

NBA takes call for referendum to National Assembly

T

HE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has re-iterated its call for a referendum in the effort to amend the 1999 Constitution.

NBA President Okey Wali (SAN), who led a delegation of the association’s officers on a visit to the Senate President, David Mark last week.

It expressed lack of confidence in the ongoing process to amend the

By John Austin Unachukwu

constitution, especially as it did not provide for a referendum to collate, aggregate and accommodate the views of a broad spectrum of Nigerians.

Daudu praised Mark for providing effective and stable leadership for the senate in recent years.

He also expressed appreciation

Ikeazor for burial Nov 23

T

HE remains of Chief Chimezie Ikeazor (SAN) will be buried on November 23.

A statement from the family said a valedictory court session will be held at the premises of the Anambra State High Court, Onitsha on November 21.

Ikeazor, a Ph.D holder and Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), was born at Ire Village, Obosi, Idemili North Local Government Area, Anambra State on 21st January, 1930. His father, late Mr. Eugene Akosa Ikeazor, was the first African Commissioner of Police in the then Eastern Region.

He studied Divinity and Law at the University of Hull, England and King’s College, University of London respectively where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Law, specialising in Public International Law. On February 10, 1959, he was called to the English Bar (of Grays Inn, London) and enrolled at the Supreme Court on April 9, 1960. In 1973, he was elected unopposed as a National Vice-President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

A year later, he founded the Nigerian Legal Aid Association to promote Free Legal Services to the Poor. He invited his lawyer friends to assist him in the social crusade to make justice available to the under privileged who could not afford it.

In 1974, he was elected Director, Governing Board of International legal Aid Association as African Representative, and in the same year, he obtained second position in World Legal Aid Merit Award in Vancouver, Canada.

In 1976, the Legal Aid Council Decree was promulgated by the then General Olusegun Obasanjo’s Federal Military Government in response to the call by Chief Ikeazor, to take over the Legal Aid Scheme for a more comprehensive coverage, by the Federal Government. This led to the establishment of Nigerian Legal Aid Council.

He attended several National and International Conferences on Law and Legal Aid and read learned keynote addresses. He has been cited in many international journals and

for the support of the Senate in pushing through some justice sector bills sponsored by the NBA. He informed the National Assembly that because of the importance of the rule of law to the Bar, NBA has inaugurated the Legislative Assembly Working Group and the Rule of Law and Constitution Review committee to liaise with the National Assembly on behalf of the NBA to make sure that the rights of every Nigerian is respected under our laws.

He assured the Senate President that the NBA is ready to part the National Assembly at no cost, noting that this is its contribution to fatherland.

Wali SAN said: “Anybody who believes in the rule of law must pay attention to the constitution and its amendment. The NBA has been in support of the ongoing process and for a referendum to ensure the participation of every Nigerian in this fundamental issue and amendment of our constitution.

“Nigerians have really complained that they have never been part of or participated in the making of their Constitution from independence till date, hence the call by the NBA for mass participation in the ongoing process so that we get a constitution the we can confidently affirm that ‘We, the people of the of the Federal Republic …”

He commended the current efforts of the National Assembly through Public hearings at different constituencies, but said notwithstanding, there is need for a referendum.

Mark thanked the NBA for its contributions to the work of the National Assembly saying that he sees the NBA and other professional groups in the country as partners in progress contributing to national development and progress.

“I appreciate the contributions of the NBA which I see as being made in good faith,” he said.

Mark said no Constitution is per-

fect, hence the need for amendment.

“The document we have now, our Constitution, has set out modalities and procedures for its amendment which does not include a referendum,” he said.

He stated that at the moment, the Senate has a series of public hearings in the Senatorial zones and the States which will allow Nigerians to make input in the ongoing amendment process.

Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekwremadu and Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma Egba corroborated the Senate President’s position that the laws, especially the Constitution, make specific provisions for situations where the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can conduct a referendum.

This, they said, does not include the amendment of the Constitution, adding that until the Constitution is amended to provide for referendum in the process of amending the constitution, it cannot be adopted.

• The late Ikeazor (SAN)

received numerous commendations in judicial and legal circles.

In 1986, Ikeazor was conferred with the status of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). In 2003, he authored a book on Legal Aid for the Poor in Nigeria, Titled: “Legal Aid for the Poor in Nigeria.” He was the first African Representative/Director on the Governing Board of the International Legal Aid Association.

Federal appointments he held include one time Director, Governing Council of Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (later was appointed a life member); as well as one-time Chairman, National Committee on Legal Aid Centre for Women and Social Services. The committee had as members two High Court Judges and other distinguished and eminent lawyers.

He was Chairman, Board of Trustees, National Community Development Council of Nigeria and onetime a member of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the financial and other activities of the Management of Nigeria Airways Ltd. Ikeazor was also a member of the Governing Council of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi; member of the London Court of International Arbitration and the International Dispute Resolution Centre Of London.

He was also Chairman of the National Study Group on Legal Aid Reform in Nigeria.

He had several traditional titles, received several awards from universities, as well from other organisations and bodies.

• Enajero, Mrs Adenubi, Wale and a prison official

Court strikes out theft charge against two

A

N Igbosere Magistrates’ Court, Lagos Island, has struck out theft charges brought against a waiter, Lucky Enajero (38) and a commercial motorcycle (okada) operator, Rasheed Wale (30) for want of diligent prosecution.

The Magistrate, Mrs Badejo Okusanya, ordered that they be released from the Ikoyi Prison where they have been incarcerated for long, immediately.

The order followed an application by a Principal Legal Aid Officer, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Lagos Office, Mrs Grace

By Joseph Jibueze

Adenubi.

Enajero, who was arraigned on October 11 last year, was charged under Section 390 of the Criminal Code with alleged stealing of an HP Laptop and I-Pad from the Silverbird Galleria on September 24 last year.

Wale was charged with breaking and entering a shop at Pelewura Market, Lagos Island, on November 19 last year. The alleged offences contravene sections 411 and 390 (9) of the Criminal Code.

They pleaded not guilty to the

charges and awaited trial for a year.

They were granted bail on the day of arraignment but could not perfect the bail conditions.

The duo also could not afford legal representation at the initial stage because they had no money. Their matter was then referred to the Legal Aid Council.

When the case came up before the magistrate, Mrs Adenubi noted that the prosecution witnesses were absent. She said they had lost interest in the case.

The magistrate agreed, and struck out the cases out for want of diligent prosecution.

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

32

LEGAL OPINION

Justice Olufunmilola Adekeye’s landmark judgments BOOK REVIEW

• Continued from last week

O

UR Legislature must guard these rights jealously as they are part of the foundation upon which the government itself rests What is evident from this dictum is that like John Locke and the other political philosophers of his epoch, My Lord believes in the inviolable character and sanctity of the social contract between Government and the citizenry. That is not all. She pointed to the imperatives of the universality of this derivative right as an incident of global best practices. According to His Lordship: ...a rally or placard-carrying demonstration has become a form of expression of views on current issues affecting government and the governed in a sovereign state. It is a trend recognized and deeply entrenched in the system of governance in civilized countries –it will not only be primitive but also retrogressive if Nigeria continues to require a pass to hold a rally...

Perhaps, it would only suffice here to draw attention to two reactions to the above pronouncement as a way of gauging the impact of the judgement on the polity. The flagship of the Nigerian Press, The Guardian Newspaper of 12/12/2007 described the judgement as “[a]nother milestone ... in Nigeria’s bid to enthrone constitutional democracy and guarantee the citizens’ right to congregate...”

Speaking for the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, the National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, had this to say: Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) highly commends the Nigerian judiciary for consigning the Public Order Act to the dust-bin of history.... By this historic judgment, one of the obnoxious relics of colonialism, the Public Order Act, has been consigned to the dust-bin of history. Our democracy is the greatest beneficiary of this judgment, for freedom of expression and assembly are core ingredients of democracy.... with the judg-

TITLE:

Justice Olufunmilola O. Adekeye, CON, JSC, FCIArb LANDMARK JUDGEMENTS (Selected leading decisions in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court) EDITOR: Professor Yemi Akinseye-George, SAN PUBLISHER: The Centre for Socio Legal Studies, Abuja PAGES: 784 +v-xxiii PRICE: NOT INDICATED REVIEWER: Chima Centus Nweze, Justice, Court of Appeal, Nigeria ment; Nigeria has joined other democratic nations to exercise the fundamental and inalienable rights of liberty and freedom. In other words, Nigerians can peacefully protest unpopular government policies without police permit.

Scholars of Comparative Constitutional Law are conversant with what has been has called the “majoritarian approaches to constitutional interpretation.”4 Whereas Originalists maintain that the original public meaning of the text [of the Constitution] must control later interpretation,5 majoritarian constitutional theory, according to Professor Roger Arnold, in his seminal article titled “In Search of a Theory for Constitutional Comparativism:”6 ... embraces [the] sovereign expression of ordered society...The activist version of majoritarianism seeks to embody in the text of the Constitution current contemporary standards, on the view that the founding document is a living document embracing the broadest ideals of our evolving national experience We invite the reader to encounter Adekeye, the majoritarian constitutional theorist in these memorable words: The founding fathers [of the Nigerian Constitution] could not have anticipated all the perplexities of the future nor can constitutional questions be decided in perpetuity. The Constitution was intended to endure for ages to come and consequently be adapted to various crises of human affairs. The meaning of a constitutional provision is to be determined not by the original

intentions of those who drew [the document] but be the exigencies and the new aspects of life itself7...

Her romance with “interpretive majoritarianism”8 is evident in other cases which the constraint of time would not permit us to explore.9 One theme that runs like a golden thread through most of the judgements is the “Gospel” that the grating chains of technicalities should not be allowed to overwhelm the substance of any case. Such cases like Obafemi and Ors v Abereoran; Oloruntoba Oju v Abdulraheem etc bear eloquent testimony of my Lord’s attitude on this issue. Two of such pronouncements may be cited here to illustrate this approach. In Obafemi and Ors v Abereoran, for instance, my Lord had this to say: It is the attitude of the court now that cases where a strict adherence to the rules of court or Practice Directions would clash with that of the fundamental principle of justice, the courts have invariably leaned heavily on the side of doing justice. Strict adherence to technicalities leads to injustice as justice can only be done if [the substance] of the matter rather form is examined10 It was this approach that gave judicial succour to the appellant in another appeal where she overruled an objection to the propriety of issues that were not tied to the grounds of appeal. Hear this: Where briefs are properly filed and the appeal is ripe for hearing, the issues are not incompetent, in the process of doing substantial justice, the court shall not hesitate to bend backwards to glean through the grounds of appeal and marry them with issues

raised for determination in the briefs.

After all, briefs of parties and the issues raised therein are meant to assist the court in quickly identifying the issues in controversy between the parties. The trend in the courts nowadays is to do substantial justice and to discourage any short cuts in advocacywhich is what technicality is all about11 In an article in a recent book on the Supreme Court, a distinguished Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria did a critique of the role of sentiments and/ or prejudice in [judicial attitudes] at the apex court.12 It is interesting to note that although Adekeye JSC is a deeply religious person and

holds the exalted position of Chancellor of the Jebba Diocese of the Anglican Communion; she has not permitted her religious sentiments to unduly influence her reasoning.

A perusal of all the fifty judgements in this volume will confirm this assertion. On the contrary, she has, steadfastly, held on to the wise counsel that “a Judge is to exercise a discretion informed by tradition, methodized by analogy, disciplined by system and subordinated to ‘the primordial necessity of order in social life.’13 • To be continued next week

Nigeria’s quest for environment governance • Continued from last week

M

R Director-General, before proceeding with the subject of my lecture, it is pertinent to reminisce on my career in the academia. A number of good friends have asked me that question of why I elected to deliver my inaugural at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and not at the Lagos State University (LASU) where I spent upward of 19 years. Here again, I see the hand of God in the journey of my life. I joined the Faculty of Law of the Lagos State University (LASU) in January 1991 as Assistant Lecturer. That same year upon the conclusion of my Masters in Law, I was made a Lecturer II and subsequently a Lecturer I in 1993. I became a Senior Lecturer in 1996 and was appointed Associate Professor in December, 2004.

Around that period, the University Senate approved a new minimum standard for promotion and appointment of lecturers within and into the university. The core of the new set of standards is that possession of a doctorate degree is mandatory for appointment and/or promotion of an applicant from Lecturer 1 and above. Undaunted by the development, I enrolled for my doctoral programme and completed same in November, 2008. I then applied to be appointed a professor in the Department of Private and Property Law having fulfilled the three-year maturation period to move from Associate Professor Cadre to professor. At

By Olanrewaju Fagbohun

this point in time, I had over 40 publications in local and international journals and extensively served in different administrative capacities within the university. To my utter consternation, I was informed that despite the fact that I had the highest score in the prima facie assessment that was done, there is a 10-year post-doctoral qualification that I did not meet. I pointed out that neither the Guidelines for Appointment for Academic Staff nor that for Promotion made any mention of 10 years post-doctoral qualification.

Regrettably, entreaties that this unwritten condition should not be made applicable was futile. I was advised to wait till 2018 to re-represent my application.

Director-General, when our most central wishes are fulfilled, we often experience joy and delight; when they are facing frustration, we typically feel anguish and grief.

But not always. Where the victim is certain that the fond images of those behind his frustration are neither in accord with reality, fairness or an articulate objective assessment, but, more in their fantasy and hapless illusions, the victim’s prospect of his goal will blunt the discomfort being endured and strive for his goal.

When eventually good men provide the platform for the attainment of that goal, attaining it provides compensatory elation.

It is on this score that I must express

my deep and especial appreciation to the Director-General, Prof Epiphany Azinge, (SAN), the Okailolo of Asaba. Under your watch, I was appointed a Professor of Law December 9, 2009. You provided me the platform and made it unnecessary for me to seek correctness from those behind my travails. Olusegun Yerokun, you stood tall as a lone voice in the wilderness, and forever, I will remain grateful to you sir. Same goes for Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, who upon becoming aware of the quandary in which I found myself, forewarned me of unavoidable intellectual decay if I fail to pursue self-determination.

I believe I have said enough of the unequal inheritance of my career. It is the part that I have been destined to follow and I thank God almighty for guiding me through.

I will proceed with my journey into the realm of Environment and Sustainability.

Introduction It is fairly obvious from my topic that the area of my discourse for this Inaugural Lecture is Environmental Law. This certainly will not catch many by surprise. It is in this area that I have consistently worked in the last 16 years. My first international paper in the field of Environmental Law was presented at the University of Legon, Accra, Ghana in 1996. Since then, I have had the opportunity to consult for the private sector and the government both at the State and Federal levels as lead investigator, lead task leader or lead co-ordinator

of consortium. I have also been involved not only in designing curriculum, but, also in extensive teaching of environmental law and policy both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I have similarly collaborated with national and international partners both in the academia and within the fold of non-governmental organisations and civil society groups. As at the last count, I have, in this field, published 52 peerreviewed articles; presented 48 commissioned papers; co-edited four books and wholly authored a book. The field of Environmental Law is one where I can with all humility confidently assert that I have the competence not only to signpost the core issues, but, also proffer practical and workable solutions.

In starting this paper, it is certainly not out of place to seek an understanding of the general perspectives of environmental law.

Fifty-five years ago, environmental protection as we know it today was unknown. Since the 1960s, however, the subject of “environmentalism” which has acted as the catalyst for the development of environmental law in its different phases has blossomed. Equipped with new knowledge of the limitation of our environment, activities that were prior to the 1960s regarded as commonplace have now metamorphosed into everyday challenge sufficient enough to engage the attention of policy makers and scholars in environmental studies, political science, law and international relations. It can rightly

• Prof Fagbohun

be said that we are in the middle of an environmental revolution, a transformation of our ideas about how we should relate with our environment and ultimately with nature.

Over the last 40 years, minute by minute on a daily basis, both the print and electronic media make sporadic announcements of desertification, deforestation, spread of toxic chemicals, declining fisheries, loss of biodiversity among others, and ‘celebrate’ isolated national and internationally shared environmental catastrophies and fatalities in different forms.

• To be continued next week • Fagbohun is Professor of Environmental Law and Head of Department, Akinola Aguda School of Postgraduate Studies, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Lagos.

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

33

LEGAL OPINION

Lagos lawyers to give 50 hours of pro bono yearly, says Fashola

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OON, lawyers in Lagos State may be compelled to give 50 hours of pro bono legal service yearly to ensure that more indigent citizens of the state have free access to justice.

Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) gave the hint in a keynote address delivered at the opening of the Lagos Public Interest Law Partnership (LPILP) Stakeholders’ Meeting in Lagos.

The governor told the meeting that the state government was in partnership with leaders of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) to encourage lawyers practising in the state to take up pro bono cases.

“In partnership with the Nigerian Bar Association we shall encourage each lawyer practicing in Lagos State to personally render at least 50 hours of pro bono public legal. service per year.

“We further believe that with the public interest law partnership, we can build a functional platform comprising the public sector, the private sector and the people.

“Our goal is to ensure that justice and access to justice are within the reach of every resident of Lagos State irrespective of his or her geographical location or financial means”, he said.

Fashola urged private legal practitioners to partner with the government in order to realise the objective of providing free legal services to persons of limited means especially in criminal cases.

He said lawyers, “as priests in the temple of justice”, should readily and deservedly place their skills at the disposal of members of the society who could not afford their services.

The governor said the Directorate for Citizens’ Right, Citizens

• Ipaye

By Adebisi Onanuga

Mediation Centre, Office of the Public Defender, Consumer Protection Unit and Public Advice Centre were all created to provide free legal services to Lagosians.

In his paper titled “Introduction to Lagos public interest laws” the state Attorney General, Mr. Ade Ipaye observed that access to justice has become a big challenge primarily due to ignorance and poverty lamenting that the courts which were supposed to promote access to justice have been endorsing the barrier in spite of constitutional provisions.

Ipaye pointed out that denial of access to justice and loss of faith in the justice system can only promote self help, impunity and injustice.

The attorney general explained that pro bono services will establish a functional and efficient scheme to connect those in need of free le-

gal services to qualified professionals.

The commissioner for Justice said that his ministry has now taken on the responsibility of promoting and safeguarding citizen’s right by ensuring equal and free access to the justice system, irrespective of social standing or place of origin.

He said that the service which also entailed a Staff Training and Exchange Programme(STEP) will also expose state counsels to the best of legal practise by giving them opportunity to work with professionals in the private sector and enhance their ability to serve the populace with greater efficiency and effectiveness.

In his lecture entitled” The Pro Bono Concept”, Prof. Edwin Rekosh, Executive Director, Public Interest Law Network Institute based at Columbia University, New York, commended Nigeria for developing the pro bono culture.

Rekosh said:”Legal aid is an essential government responsibility to provide integrity for the justice system.

“The legal community has a responsibility to complement the effort of the government in the provision of free legal services.

“Narrowing the justice gap requires an effort from all stakeholders”.

He recommended that the Nigerian Law School should make it mandatory for its prospective students to undertake at least 50 hours of pro bono services as a basis for admittance into the bar.

Earlier in an address of welcome, Mrs Omotola Rotimi, Director, Office of the Public Defender (OPD), said that the partnership would create more opportunities for citizens to access justice.

‘Referendum on Constitution illegal’

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WO lawyers – Chief Olusegun Otayemi and the Executive secretary of SERAP, Mr Adetokunbo Mumuni – have said it is unconstitutional to subject the Constitution to a referendum on conclusion of the ongoing review by the National Assembl (NASS).

The lawyers, in separate interviews, lent their weight to the position canvassed there is no provision in any of the country’s laws under which a referendum could be convened for people to voice their views on the Constitution.

Otayemi argued that for the NASS to convene a referendum on the

By Adebisi Onanuga

Constitution, it would first need to amend the relevant laws to accommodate the exercise.

“The position of the NBA on the issue is more political than legal. I believe the NBA was talking about what is ideal. It is, however, good to know that the National Assembly has its powers dictated by law and cannot go outside the law validly without first amending it” , he said.

Executive Director of SERAP Mr Adetokunbo Mumuni, who said that the NASS was canvassing the position of an enlightened self interest, submitted that if a referendum is

called, it means they are submitting their power to make law as contained in the constitution for Nigeria.

Mumuni argued that a referendum would have been appropriate if there is no NASS in place adding “ If we had wanted to have it initially, the culture would have been directly from the constitution drafting committee, then a referendum would then be held for Nigerians to pass it. But that would have been possible if we don’t have a constitution before. But we already have a constitution and that is why the NASS said under what law would they call a referendum.

Institute ranks Law Faculties

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HE Nigerian Institute of Ad vanced Legal Studies (NIALS) is set to embark on annual ranking of the Faculties of Law of Nigerian Universities.

To this effect, the Institute has dispatched letters to the Vice – Chancellors and Deans of the Faculties of Law involved in the project. One of the letters obtained by our correspondent which was signed by the Director-General of the Institute, Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN) reads: “Re: nials nigerian law faculties annual ranking The Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) was established in March 1979 as Nigeria’s apex institution for research and advanced studies in law. Pursuant to its statutory mandate, NIALS has continued to be in the forefront of legal research, policymaking and law reform in Nigeria”.

“Based on strident allegation that standards of legal education is on the decline and bearing in mind the statutory responsibility to provide information, supervision, guidance

and advice to researchers of any university in the field of law; and in further realisation of its statutory goal to develop the mobilisation of Nigeria’s research potentials for the task of national development and dissemination of research findings, NIALS plans to embark on a novel project: NIALS Nigerian Law Faculties Annual Ranking”.

“Our duty demands that we undertake this project to promote standardisation and ranking in the field of law for the mutual benefit of the students and institutions. The project will involve onsite and desktop research using the indices attached to this letter. Thus, personnel involved in the project will visit Law Faculties in the country for survey analysis. In view of your key position as the Dean, Faculty of Law of your University, we would appreciate your cooperation, which will be vital in achieving the object of this venture, thank you” The Institute gave the parameters for the ranking to include: Number of applications, number of admissions, staff strength Staff – student ratio,

library, Postgraduate studies, capacity building – external and internal publications. Other parameters are: International accomplishment – moot trials etc, community service, web placements, external linkages, cross culture/internationalisation of staff, conferences/seminars and roundtable. They also include: Alumni support and visibility, infrastructural development, organisation and strategic vision, research undertakings, attraction of grants, high profile personality lectures, performance of graduates at the Nigerian Law School, average performance of graduating class, Moot trial participation, quality of dissertations, general ambience of the university, interruption of lectures, recognition of degree overseas, placement of graduates in top law firms, hiring of graduates to teach at top 400 Universities in the world, admission of graduates into LL.M and Ph. d programmes in top 400 universities in the world (Times Higher Education supplement ranks 400 top universities in the world).

LAW AND PUBLIC POWER

with gabriel AMALU email:gabrielamalu1@yahoo.com

Audacity of America’s democracy

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ARACK Obama is an enigma. But the greater enigma is the United States of America’s democracy. If we are not witnesses, it would have been dubbed a fictional classic; a product of creative ingenuity or a Chinua Achebe’s master class. Yet before our eyes, a Kenyan by the standard of most of the world’s democracies has been freely elected the President of the most powerful country in the world, for another four years. The share impetuosity on the part of Obama, born of a Kenyan father, and married to a descendant of an African American, to seek and win the election to govern America made up of about 73% white voters in 2008 and again in 2012, is evidently the greatest political event of the twenty-first century.

But the United States of America was not always that gracious. In his first best seller, Dreams from My Father, President Obama recalled that in those days when his young mother showed her indifference to racism and played with her coloured girl friend, his maternal grand father had been warned by his neighbors thus: ‘you best talk to your daughter, Mr. Dunham. White girls don’t play with coloreds in this town.’ According to his grand father, the family had to move from Texas to Hawaii ‘in part because of this discomfort with such racism’.

Luckily while Obama was still a toddler, Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. and his ilk furthered the fight for civil rights to help America make the necessary transition.

As the young and ebullient President Kennedy pushed further the frontiers of democratic space in the United States in the 1960’s, and also sought to conquer space; President Obama in that first book retorted: ‘How could America send men into space and still keep its black citizens in bondage?’ Slowly but surely, America kept making progress, such that less than 50 years after, the coloured son of the distrust woman touted for having a coloured friend, Barack Obama, was freely elected to lead the most powerful country in the world.

And to confirm that it was no fluke, President Obama last week yet again received an endorsement for another four years.

Tracking this transition, then Senator Obama in his second best seller, The Audacity of Hope, authored: ‘Indeed, the value of individual freedom is so deeply ingrained in us that we tend to take it for granted.

It is easy to forget that at the time of our nation’s founding, this idea was entirely radical in its implications, as radical as Martin Luther’s posting on the church door. It is an idea that some portion of the world still rejects – and for which an even larger portion of humanity finds scant evidence in their daily lives.’ He continued: ‘In fact much of my appreciation of our Bill of Rights comes from having spent part of my childhood in Indonesia and from still having family in Kenya, countries where individual rights are almost entirely subject to the self-restraint of army generals or the whims of corrupt bureaucrats’.

President Obama in that book recalled when in company of his new wife Michelle he visited Kenya for the secound time. One of the throw offs was the way his relations swarmed around as they relayed how difficult it was for them to get employment or any government service without bribing the bureaucracy. As Obama prepares for his second term in office, it is hoped that he will help Africa to wean herself of the big man syndrome touted as public service. With unemployment at nearly 8% close to the last presidential election, there was a strong doubt whether Obama could be reelected. Unfortunately in most Africa countries, unemployment is a multiple of that figure and yet most of our leaders are busy salting away the resources of the continent, and ‘winning’ every reelection.

As Obama’s dreams from his African father and audacious hope from the American democracy turn to reality, I guess it is time for us in Africa and Nigeria in particular to begin to dream dreams. As suggested by a friend, which politician will have the audacity to start a political party with zero tolerance for discrimination of any form?

Such a platform would be open and competitive, relying only on skills and competence to choose its candidates for elections. The platform would appeal to honesty, integrity and community service as hallmarks as against anachronistic tendencies. When Obama started his political carrier in Illinois state legislature, many didn’t give him a chance, but he was bubbling with confidence and he won. Years after successful terms in the state legislature he gunned for the US senate. Having tested the challenges and disappointments, he confessed: ‘when I decided to run for the United States Senate, I wasn’t so sure of myself’.

But reminiscent of his 2012 Campaign slogan: Forward, Barack Obama marched forward despite his fears and won the US Senate seat. Four years later, he marched yet forward and majestically into the office of the President of the United States of America in 2008, a feat repeated few days ago. So the challenge of building a new prosperous Nigeria, while seemingly daunting is achievable as the Obama’s story has shown. Part of the tool for such success is a Constitution founded on the core essentials of humanity as that of the United States. Theirs proclaims: ‘We hold these truths to self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’

As our National Assembly work to further amend the 1999 constitution, they should ponder on what is needed to make Nigeria great and seek the grace to actualise them.

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

34

LAW & SOCIETY PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMANAL JUSTICE BILL AT DENNIS HOTEL, ABUJA

• Ewere Aliemeke (left) and Prof Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN) • From left: Abdullahi A. Yola, Justice Ishaq Bello of FCT High Court and Justice Aliyu Mayaki

• Prof Deji Adekunle

• Chinonye Obiagwu

• Dr Fatima Waziri-Azi and A.T. Kehinde

• From left: Al-mustapha Hassan, Programme Officer, Justice for All; Dr Bob Arnot and Saudatu Mahdir of (WRAPA)

• Emmanuel Uche (left) and Nicola Folis

• From left: J.A. Muminu, I.A. Joshua and A. Isah

• Chioma Onuegbu (left) and Shettima H.B.

• G.N. Okafor (left) and Hajara Yusuf

• From left: A.U. Enahoro, Amedu J. Sule and Okey Igbudu

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

35

LAW & ECONOMY

How Africa’s economy can grow, by Fashola, Soyinka, others • Lagos hosts Kuramo Conference

N

OBEL laureate Prof Wole Soyinka and Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) have said Africa can develop through more functional cooperation.

Soyinka said if China could develop the way it has in the last 10 years, then the rest of Africa, including Nigeria, could also grow.

Fashola believes Africa holds the key to its development, and must use it to unlock doors of opportunity.

They spoke at this year’s Kuramo Conference in Lagos, convened by Fashola, which had the theme: The Global Commonwealth.

Highpoint of the conference was the launch of the Lagos Court of Arbitration, an international alternative dispute resolution platform.

Soyinka, who chaired the event, said there can be no development without quality education for the citizenry. He said million have been subjected to a very narrow definition of education.

According to him, application of technology will reduce what he described as “single-source thinking.”

He said the internet, which lies at the heart of the knowledge economy, with its infinite capacity to aggregate data, connect people, mediate access and support transactionary exchanges, is a perfect tool to drive growth.

“A lot of the solutions to the problems Africa faces will lie in the realms of technological innovation,” he said.

Soyinka agreed that corruption works against development, saying it may require “shock treatment” to end it. He said it manifests itself in many aspects, such as in what he called “unconstitutional appendages of elected people.”

He cited Rwanda as an instance, where government officials were barred from using official vehicles and not allowed to go abroad for medical treatment.

Soyinka said corruption is so commonplace that the wife a local government chairman drives around in an official vehicle.

He hailed the conference organisers, saying: “We might come out of this with the first Kuramo Socialist Manifesto.”

Fashola urged African leaders to take their destiny in their hands.

He said: “We hold the key, and we must use it to unlock the door that leads us to the vast promise of our endowed continent.

“We must no longer hand over the key to others to unlock the door for us. The reason is simple. They will go through the doorway before we do.

“This time it is incumbent upon us to walk through those doors ahead of our partners or at least side by side.

“We must draw on the lessons of our past and build on the successes of the present.

“We must not continue to wait for the West and the East to come to us; we must export Africa to the world.

“We must ensure that we use this window of opportunity to secure the future of the generation of young Africans who look to us for leadership so that the problems of hunger, famine, poverty and under-development on our continent are overcome now and not in any distant future. This is what Kuramo is all about.”

Keynote speeches were delivered

by Director, Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford University, Prof Paul Collier and international economist Dr Dambisa Moyo.

The conference drew experts from various public and private sectors including law, business, fi-

By Joseph Jibueze

nance, media and entertainment, energy and the environment with the aim of covering emerging issues tailored to address advocacy and policy required to shape global decision-making.

Other notable issues to be discussed include the role of the creative industries in supporting local economies, the recovery of stolen oil wealth from public coffers, solutions to addressing contentious energy solutions, conflict resolution in Africa, as well as consumer rights in developing economies.

Former Lagos Attorney-General and Chairman, Kuramo Conference Committee, Mr Olasupo Shasore (SAN) said the essence of the conference was to present “a policy crossroads.”

“We believe that policy is an allimportant tool for development.

Policy must be brought from the richness of dialogue, consultation, interaction and innovation.

“There has been a yawning gap in international for a for private and public sector interaction on policy matters. We have lacked that platform to exchange African ideas and African answers to global challenges.

“Kuramo was conceived to drive an issue-based development agenda. These conferences are designed to set that agenda from the deliberations of delegates and the network of professionals that attend.”

Shasore also spoke on what has been achieved from the last Kuramo conference. “We have directly produced a model draft bill for the recovery of proceeds of crime by forfeiture. We have noticed a percentage increase in educational budgeting (even though the issues exceed more budget allocation).

“We have encouraged non-governmental action in the area of access to knowledge; the future of has also been addressed by the launch of the Lagos Court of Arbitration and finally, a true consolidated title to property bill in the municipal Lagos is now imminent.”

Collier said Nigeria’s government has the challenge of oil management. Three factors are crucial in getting, he said. They include rules, institutions and a credible mass of informed citizens.

He said the country’s education system is failing, describing many of the teachers as “functionally illiterate”, a failure management of schools. Collier suggested experimenting with “something different,” such as such as state-financed, but not state-managed schools.

He cited Ghana as an example of a country providing a legal environment that makes it possible to run universities well, which he said explains why students and teachers from across the world go to Ghana.

“Without reforming your schools, you really have no future.

You best brains will get on the plane and leave your country. The aim should be to get them back,” Collier said.

Collier praised Fashola’s development efforts, saying: “Fashola inherited decades of missed opportunities which he is now putting right.”

He identified areas needing more as housing, as “most people in Lagos are badly housed” and “slums are dysfunctional for the economy as well.”

Collier said Nigeria should learn from its history of missed opportunities. “You have been through an oil boom in the 70s and nothing was achieved with it. Now, you’re

• Collier, William Kallema, Prof Soyinka, Fashola (SAN) and Moyo.

PHOTOS: RAHMAN SANUSI

• Shasore (SAN) and Mark Eddo

• Senator Olorunimbe Mamora; former Lagos Attorney-General Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) and Lagos AttorneyGeneral and Commissioner for Justice Ade Ipaye

• Lai Mohammed

• Hairat Balogun

• Pat Otomi

going through another boom. You need to learn from history, not repeat it.”

Moyo says the problem with Africa lies in poor execution of policies. “We’re doing a very bad job of execution. We have to figure out the best way to execute,” she said, adding that corruption, cronyism, opaque processes and subsidies remains banes of development.

According to her, some public officials feel that public coffers are

private coffers; therefore punishment for corruption must be made more stringent.

Moyo said many African leaders lack self-respect, which is why some of them have no shame “in going around begging for money when they preside over enormous resources.”

She added: “If you’re using public funds to send your children abroad to school, then there’s something inherently wrong with

that.”

Fashola also spoke on the essence of Kuramo. “It is about knowledge, improvement and influence. Kuramo is also a confluence of ideas to tackle and consider from a unique African perspective, the issues that challenge us globally.

“Kuramo will continue to provide a platform for public and private sector collaboration to drive international development in Africa and secure a better economic future for ourselves.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

36

LAW & SOCIETY

• From left: Kefas Magaji; Prof Cyprian Okonkwo (SAN) and Kalgo JSC (rtd)

• Prof Oserheimen Osunbor and Secretary to the Commission A.F. Oguneye

• From left: General Secretary, NBA, Emeka Obegolu; Edosomwan (SAN); Wali (SAN) and Executive Director, NBA, Osita Okoro

NBA partners Law Reform Commission on reform

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HE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Okey Wali (SAN) has indicated the readiness to partner with the Nigerian Law Reform Commission to reform laws in the Statute books because such laws impede national development.

Wali (SAN) made this statement in Abuja when he led some national officers of NBA on a courtesy call to the Commission at its headquarters In Abuja.

Welcoming the NBA delegation to his office, the Chairman of the Commission, Justice Umaru A.Kalgo JSC (rtd) expressed delight in receiving the NBA at the Commission and assured the Lawyers’

Stories by Johnn Austin Unachukwu

body of the readiness of the Commission to work with it.

The NBA President, Okey Wali (SAN) said: “ We are here on courtesy call and familiarisation visit to introduce ourselves to you as partners in law reform. To let you know that we are willing to sustain the cordial relationship between the Commission and the NBA.” The NBA chief thanked the Commission for its tremendous assistance to the NBA in the past, stating that for any society to move forward, the laws must move for-

ward, hence, the importance of law reforms because if the laws are stagnated, the society will definitely be stagnated.

Wali said: “ The NBA is a major stakeholder in the process of law reforms, we are always ready to contribute to the reformation of our laws no matter whose Ox is gored.”

He appealed to the Commission to keep cooperating with the NBA in the over all interest of the country. H e noted that the Commission and the must work together to reform our laws as catalyst for socio-economic and political development.

The Commission told the NBA that it is chief organising a programme

on sentencing guidelines which is intended to cure the current defects of sentencing people differently for the same offences committed within the same jurisdiction, harmonise sentencing procedures in the country and ensure the same offences get the same sentences in every part of the country.

The Commission said it intends to organise an event to make the plea bargaining process clearer. It, however, regretted most of the amended bills it submitted to the office of the Attorney-General is yet to see the light of day and urged the NBA to assist the Commission to make sure that some its bill with the National Assembly are passed into law.

The Commission commended the NBA President for stimulating discussions on how the country should be governed, stating that the American constitution has been amended for 27 times, that it is a dynamic process.

The NBA President assured the Commission of the cooperation of the NBA to fast track the passage of Justice Sector bills in the National Assembly; more so, he urged the Commission to work the NBA Legislative Advocacy Working Group under the Chairmanship of Paul Erokoro (SAN) and the NBA Constitution review and Rule of Law Committee under the Chairmanship of Charles Edosomwan (SAN).

• NBA President Okey Wali (SAN) (middle), the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Alhaji Bello Mahmud in a group photograph with staff of the Commission and National Officers of the NBA during a courtesy visit by the NBA President to the commssion last week.

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

37

NATIONAL BAR

Erastus Akingbola, twice lucky?

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HEN on October 22, 2012, a Lagos High Court, Ikeja presided then by Justice Habeeb Abiru adjourned hearing in the trial of the former Managing Director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc, it was for both the prosecutor and the defence to within 14 days, file their final written address before the court, the defence having closed its case earlier on the order of the court. The court thereafter adjourned, to reconvene next tomorrow, November 15, 2012, when it is expected to announce a date for the delivery of judgement in a trial that had spanned about 19 months.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had charged Akingbola, his wife, Anthonia and associate Bayo Dada before the court on a 29 count charge of alleged stealing of N49.7 billion belonging to the bank. The theft charge was later amended and reduced to a 22 count charge when the commission dropped his wife, Anthonia, from the list of the accused persons following their inability to arraign her before the court to face charges.

No doubt the elevation of Justice Habeeb Abiru to the court of appeal would have its consequences on the various cases in his court because with his swearing in nine days ago, he has lost jurisdiction over all the matter in his court.

It is now not clear whether the cases in his court would start denovo, that is , afresh or de dismissed technically.

One of such celebrated cases before Justice Habeeb Abiru was that of the former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Dr. Erastus Akingbola, the case which has been on for the past 19 months had reached the stage of final addresses by counsels after which there would have been a Judgement.

The case of Dr. Akingbola dragged on for a much longer time because of various applications brought by the deference team comprised of Chief Felix Fagbohungbe (SAN), Mr. Deji Sasegbon (SAN) and Mr. Rickey Tarfa.

The travail of Dr. Erastus Akingbola, started sometimes in August 2009 when the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi sacked the Chief Executives and directors of some banks in the wake of the banking reform exercise. The shocking part of the reforms was the calibre of the people affected and who lost their plum jobs to the reform in the banking industry such as the former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Oceanic Bank Plc, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru, Intercontinental Bank’s, Dr. Erastus Akingbola, Finbank Plc’s, Okey Nwosu, Afribank’s, Sebastine Adigwe, Union Bank’s, Barth Ebong, Spring Bank’s, Charles Ojo, Bank PHB’s Francis Atuche among others. They were all replaced by appointees of the CBN. Not long after their removal, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) arraigned the seven former bank chiefs in court on various allegations including: fraud, corruption, theft and mismanagement.

One case that has however generated much public attention is that of the former boss of the now defunct Intercontinental Bank plc, Dr. Erastus Akingbola. He was charged with four different suits by the EFCC in Lagos while he instituted one against his arrest and trial by the commission. There was one case in a London Court against him but which has been concluded. Akigbola has however appealed the judgement of the London court.

On the 13th of August, 2010 after he returned from a self imposed

By Adebisi Onanuga

exile, Dr. Akingbola was first arraigned before a vacation judge, Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

He was docked before the court by the EFCC on a 22-count charge of theft, market manipulation, insider trading, abuse of office and economic crime involving several billions of Naira. The former bank chief however, pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the alleged offence and the court granted him bail.

His counsel Chief Felix Fagbohungbe (SAN) shortly after the arraignment in a statement of defence, faulted the EFCC’s charge on the grounds that the figures being mentioned was never entered as amounts allegedly stolen by Dr Akingbola .

The senior advocate claimed that there was nowhere in the reports of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation and the EFCC that Akingbola was accused of taking any money for himself, his firm, and any firm or individual related to him.

The defence also revealed that the CBN had investigated the bank four times before Akingbola’s removal in August 2009, and that after his removal, three further forensic investigations were conducted by a joint team of CBN, NDIC, EFCC and forensic experts.

Chief Fagbohungbe stated that the investigations revealed that throughout his 20 years in the bank, Dr Akingbola never took any loan from the bank either directly or in favour of individuals and firms he was related to in spite of the fact that the regulatory provisions in the banking industry allowed such with the CBN’s approval.

The arraignment however turned out to be the beginning of the drama that played out in the case, because 18 months after the arraignment, the EFCC was unable to call any witness.

The drama climaxed on the 2nd of April 2012 when the presiding judge, Justice Archibong discharged Dr Akingbola of the charges against him and also barred the prosecution from appearing before his court or another judge of the Federal High court over the matter for what the court termed lack of diligent prosecution by the prosecution team made up of five Senior Advocates of Nigeria.

According to Justice Archibong: “This prosecution team has chosen to pursue a campaign to scandalise the court , which amounts to serious and professional incompetence in the prosecution of the accused. This prosecution team or any part of it shall not be given further audience in this court in relation to the charges against the accused either before this presiding judge or any other judge of the Federal High Court”.

However, the freedom granted Dr. Akingbola was short-lived, as the anti-graft agency re-arrested and arraigned him alongside his wife,Anthonia and the General Manager of Tropics Securities Limited, Mr Bayo Dada before Justice Habeeb Abiru of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja on a new 29count charge of stealing. The charge against him was later reduced to 22 count charge when the EFCC could not arraign his wife along him.

At the commencement of his trial at Ikeja, the defence team led

by Chief Fagbohungbe filed an application seeking an order restraining the EFCC from arraigning him.

Dr Akingbola had claimed that the information with which he and his co-accused were charged before the Lagos high court, Ikeja was the same with which he was being tried before the Federal High Court in Lagos an d sought an 5 order to quash the matter. Justice Abiru in his ruling however said the information in the two suits had nothing in common.

The court also struck out seven of the initial 29 counts charge against Akingbola’s wife, Anthonia after the EFCC counsel Godwin Obla, asked the court to strike out the said counts as Anthonia was said to be still be at large. Thereafter, the prosecution led by Chief Emmanuel Ukala, opened its case against the former banker boss.

The case of the prosecution lasted about 10 months during which time, it called two witnesses to collaborate its charges.

The first witness was the Chief Inspector of Access Bank, Mr Abdulraheem Jimoh. The second, Mrs Nkechi Ibekaku was one of the EFCC operatives that conducted investigation into the activities of the bank.

Mr Jimoh , who was led in evidence by Chief Ukala for the EFCC, during the trial , testified that the former bank chief illegally transferred various sums running into several billions of Naira belonging to Intercontinental Bank into his personal accounts, that of his wife and his companies.

According to him, Dr Akingbola allegedly used Inter- Capital Market Limited (ICML), a subsidiary of the bank to carry out the transaction by unilaterally increasing its lifeline from N2 billion to N5 billion.

Jimoh also alleged that his former boss transferred about N18.6billion into accounts which had his wife, Anthonia and his coaccused Dada as signatories. The witness claimed that there was no document in the bank’s record justifying the transactions.

The bank official listed the companies which allegedly benefited from the alleged “irregular” transactions to include, Tropics Securities Ltd, Tropics Property Ltd, Tropics Finance Ltd and Bankinsson Nigeria Limited.

The second prosecution witness, Nkechi Ibekaku also alleged that Dr Akingbola diverted over N30 billion from the bank for his personal use without any documentation. The EFCC operative claimed that all investigations made into the transactions revealed that the money went to the first defendant, Dr. Akingbola.

After the EFCC closed its case the former bank boss and ssociate, Dada, through their counsel, filed a no case submission, stating that the commission failed to prove its case and that there was no connection between the evidence of the prosecution and the charges preferred against them.

Justice Abiru however dismissed the application stating that a prima facie case had been established against the two defendants and ordered them to open their defence.

• EFCC Chair Ibrahim Lamorde

• Akingbola

After the ruling, Dr Akingbola opened his defence during wehich he called four witnesses including, Ayoola Ayinde, a former head, foreign operations of Intercontinental bank, Thomas Ayodele, the Managing Director of Intercontinental Capital Markets Limited (ICML), Akin Fabunmi, former Financial Controller of the bank and a Stockbroker.

The star witness for the defence was Ayodele who told the court that the former bank managing director never benefitted from the transactions he was being tried for. According to him the N2.1 billion transaction involving ICML and Regal Investment Company Limited was done with the approval of the board.

He stated: “ On March 10, 2009, Dr Raymond Obieri, the chairman of Regal sent us a request that we should transfer some (N2.1 billion) for the company, after we examined the financial viability and the integrity of the client we sent a memo to the board for approval.

Ayodele added that following the development, ICML wrote to Intercontinental Bank to increase their placement (funds) from N2 billion to N5.5 billion to enable them to carry out the transaction, and according to him, “It was a normal practice for us to ask the bank to increase our placements whenever we have such big transactions involving our clients.

He said the funds (N2.1 billion) which the bank gave to ICML was repaid in June 2009.

In the course of the defense, Dr. Akingbola entered the witness box and testify in his own case.

In his testimony, the former bank chief denied ever stealing from or defrauding the bank was founded in 1989. According to him the charge of stealing of about N49.1 billion brought against him by the EFCC are “spurious, malicious and false”.

He maintained that “The allegations are false and that it is incorrect because I never posted, receive or authorized any such amount and I did not receive or see any money. I didn’t convert Intercontinental Bank Plc funds fraudulently to Tropics Securities Limited”.

Dr Akingbola also testified that though he is the Chairman of Tropics Securities, he never authorised, signed or paid any money to Tropics Finance and that he was not aware of the transactions on purchase of shares as he was not involved in the day to day running of the company which has an Executive Director in charge of shares in Intercontinental Bank.

“Intercontinental Bank has 200

branches within Nigeria, 57 in Ghana and many subsidiaries so there are about 10 Executive Directors that have autonomy and are checked through countersigns by other executive directors,” he said.

He stated further that the alleged transactions were carried out by the Executive Director in charge of Investments and Subsidiaries, Yinka Adebiyi , who is still wanted by the EFCC. Akingbola also denied the allegation that he had, between March and July 2009, transferred 8.5 million and 1.3 million Pounds Sterling belonging to the bank to Fulgher Solicitors, a United Kingdom- based law firm.

The former bank boss said he financed the transaction through a N2.2 billion loan facility obtained from Regal Investment Company Ltd, owned by the Chairman of Board of Intercontinental Bank, Dr Raymond Obieri.

Though Dr Akingbola admitted that he was the chairman and a signatory to the accounts of Tropics Securities Ltd, Tropics Property Ltd, Tropics Finance Ltd and Bakinson Nigeria Ltd he was, however, emphatic that he was not aware of the transactions as he had not signed any cheque or document for these companies since they were established”.

Akingbola also denied that he had in February 2009, transferred N2.5 billion from Intercontinental Bank’s account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to his personal account.

After his testimony, however, efforts by the defence team to get an adjournment to call further witnesses was rejected by Justice Abiru, who ordered him to close his defense and ordered parties to file their final addresses within 14 days of the last date of hearing, October 22, 2012. The trial judge thereafter adjourned the matter to November 15, 2012 during which all expected that a date would be announced for judgement.

However rather than a date being fixed for the judgement in the Akingbola matter, the trial judge was suddenly elevated to the Court of appeal, thereby losing jurisdiction to further adjudicate in the matter.

In addition and going with the Supreme Court case of Ogbunyiya V Okudo (1979) All NLR 105, the legal implication of the appointment of Justice Abiru to the Court of Appeal is that the case has been technically resolved in favour of the defendant the second time. In other words, Mr Akingbola has been discharged, through no fault of his.

As things stand today, it is not yet clear which way the trial of Akingbola would go as there is another school of thought that the matter could be ordered de-novo, that is, to re-start all over again.

Can the case of Akingbola be likened to that of a cat with nine lives? That is the issue for the court to decide when it resumes on Thursday, if at all, it would, in the matter.

‘This prosecution team has chosen to pursue a campaign to scandalise the court , which amounts to serious and professional incompetence in the prosecution of the accused. This prosecution team or any part of it shall not be given further audience in this court in relation to the charges against the accused either before this presiding judge or any other judge of the Federal High Court’

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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NATIONAL BAR

Medical negligence & jurisprudence

I

N general terms, medical juris prudence represents the science of law concerned with medical practice. The subjects is wide and varied. But in this text, I shall concern myself with some aspects of medical jurisprudence.

In the case of Tega Esabunor & Another vs Dr Tunde Faweya & 4 Others reported 2008 12 NWLR part 1102 at page 799 particularly at page 810 paragraphs A – B. It was held that the code of ethics of the medical profession otherwise known as published code of ethics enjoins a Doctor not to allow any thing including negligence or religion to intervene or interfere between him and his patient and that he must always take measures that lead to the preservation of life. This code of ethics places a great burden on medical practitioners in such a way that they cannot accede to the wish of citizen who will allow a child to die on account of religious believe.

It is not every breach of medical ethics that will crystallize in legal sanction, but on the other hand, every breach of a legal duty owed to a patient by a medical doctor will generally attract a legal remedy.

Many Nigerians whose legal rights are grossly violated as a result of the breach of the duty owed to them by people professing skills like lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects, and other professional do little or nothing to assert their rights. This attitude is largely informed by apathy and ignorance and sometimes illiteracy. Though recent events indicate that Nigerians are becoming more conscious of their legal rights and have resorted to litigation to have them protected.

Against this background, a Doctor must appreciate his legal environment, in other words, he must know the legal consequences of the breach of his obligations to his patients.

Negligence and malpractice Medical negligence is sometimes loosely called “malpractice”.

Though the latter is not strictly synonymous with the former as other forms of irregular medical practice come within the ambit of malpractice. Consequently, this text is not restricted to medical negligence but include other practices that impose legal obligations on doctors.

Generally, the law on medical negligence is as follows; if a person holds himself out as professing a special skill and knowledge and is retained as such, by a patient or on behalf of a patient, he owes the patient a duty to exercise due care and caution in undertaking the treatment of the patient. The General duty is same whether he is a surgeon, physician, psychiatrist, gynecologist or anesthetist.

In other words a Doctor must possess a reasonable degree of proficiency and apply a reasonable degree of diligence. Where the duty of care a doctor owes to his patient is breached due to the doctor’s ignorance, unskillfulness, incompetence and recklessness, and a patient suffers some bodily, mental or financial disability or even loss of life, the Doctor in question becomes liable for negligence.

The standard of care and skill the law requires of a Doctor discharging his responsibility is that of the ordinary and average competent doctor exercising the ordinary degree of professional skill. No doubt he is neither expected to possess all current medical knowledge nor be able to apply all known diagnostic and therapeutic techniques; but a doctor of a particular standing, as regards grade and experience, is expected to have a standard of knowledge and capability

By Augustine Ogoma Esq.

commensurate with his status or with those within his grade or class.

Consequently, a house surgeon is not expected to posses the same skills as a consultant surgeon, but at the same time, he is expected to confine his activities (except in emergencies) to a level of medical care which is within his competence. In the same vein, it is risky for a general practitioner to arrogate to himself the competence of a consultant, Thus, a general practitioner electing to perform a major surgical operation, not in an urgent situation or emergency might be held liable for negligence if damage ensues, even though he could not be expected to possess the same skill as a consultant surgeon, who should have performed the operation.

It is pertinent to observe that in the determination of negligence, personal equation and idiosyncrasies are irrelevant. It has been stated in Glassgow corporation vs muir reported 1943 AC page 448 that if a person is prone to behaving unreasonably, carelessly or recklessly due to certain congenital defects, he will no doubt be excused in the courts of heaven, but he will not be excused in the courts of law as he is expected to live up to the standard of a reasonable man.

Specific cases of negligence It is rather impossible to draw up a comprehensive list of all events which could constitute medical negligence. This stems from the fact that the list increases with advances in medical technology.

There are some situations that have been accepted to constitute negligence and there are: (a) Amputation of the wrong limb digits, etc: Before one starts pondering whether this kind of misadventure is common let me refer to an even as reported in NEWSWEEK International news-magazine. March 27, 1995 Edition. Willie King, a 51year old diabetic with disease-ridden right foot awoke from surgery in February 1995 to discover that his doctor at the University Community Hospital in Tampa, Florida, U.S.A had amputated his left foot by mistake. His right foot was eventually cut off.

Within the same period too and at the same hospital, 77 – year old Leo Alfonso died after a respiratory therapist mistook him for another patient and removed his ventilator. It was also further reported that a Michigan surgeon reportedly removed the wrong breast of a 69-year old cancer patient in February 1995.

A 1990 Havard Medical malpractice study found that 4 percent of 30,000 patients were harmed in New York Hospitals and that in nearly 14 percent of those cases they died. Dr. Lucian Leape, co-author of the study. Estimates that if these rates are typical of the United States, then 100,000 people die each year as a result of printable medical errors the equivalent of a jumbo-jet crash every day. You can only guess as to what the figure is likely to be in Nigeria. (b) Surgery, Orthopedics and Obstetrics: Though any surgical procedure may give rise to allegations of negligence, but orthopedics, obstetric, plastic surgery and gynecology are acknowledge to be “high risk” specialties in the advanced countries. Missed fractures (especially the scaffold), right plaster casts and poor results from spinal procedures are common complaints in orthopedists. In obstetrics, damage to the newborn from anoxia of forceps produces injury of great mag-

nitude. While failed tubal sterilization is a common cause of litigation in gynecology, as is a failure of vasectomy in general surgery.

Anesthesia: Anesthesia has its own special risks. The actual administration of the apathetic is not usually the cause of complainant, but the many anaesthetic is not usually the cause of complainant, but the many ancillary responsibilities such as transfusion, injections, airways, intravenous catheters, diathermy and hot-water bottle burns present common grounds for actions in negligence. A lapse on the part of the anaesthetist is a more common cause of action than is failure of equipment. One of the most tragic and expensive anaesthetic mishaps is the production of cerebral damage from hypoxia due to a failure to maintain oxygenation during the operation. (d) Retention of objects in operation sites: There are cases where swabs, packs, towels or instruments have been left behind in the abdomen after operation. These constitute clear case of negligence. The responsibility remains with the Doctor or surgeon, and if the theatre nurse has the actual risk of maintaining a swab count, the doctor must satisfy himself that everything is correct before closing the abdomen. (e) Therapeutic Hazards: Many kinds of treatment hold inherent risks, but these will not ipso facto provide ground for negligence, except of course the Doctor failed to draw the attention of the patient of these potential risks and also failed to take all possible steps to avoid undesirable consequences. For example, where certain operations carry some wellrecognised risks as in the case of laryngeal paralysis in thryroidectomy, Particular care must be taken if the patient’s psychological state permits, the risk should be explained before the operation. Drugs with known risk should be handled with care.

Equally, substances known to cause serious or fatal reactions should only be administered after either a test dose or any enquiry to ensure that previous applications had been made without mishap. (f) Failure of Communication: When a patient has been to another Doctor and there was lack of or insufficient information on his medical condition and the patient suffers damage in the result, he can sustain an action for negligence.

2.3 PLAYING THE GOOD SAMARITAN: If it is somewhat ironic that actions for negligence have been instituted by patients against Doctors who acted as Good Samaritans following roadside accidents, but the legal position remain quite clear.

The number of such actions became so frequent in the United States in recent years, that passing Doctors became extremely reluctant to render assistance in Emergencies, and some States brought in legislation to limit actions for negligence arising from casual treatment at the scene of accidents.

We do not have such legislation here, and playing the Good Samaritan could be a high risk business.

While the ethics of the profession will encourage a doctor to render assistance in emergencies, his duty in such circumstance is moral and ethical. In other words, he is not under a legal obligation to render such assistance, neither is he negligent if he does not offer his services in an emergency. Once he volunteers to assist, he assumes a legal responsibility to exercise rea-

sonable care and skill. He may be sued if that legal responsibility is not properly discharged. The fact that no payment or other reward is offered or expected, makes no difference to the duty of care.

Damages suffered by the patient However careless, negligent or teckless a Doctor may be a patient cannot sue for negligence if no damage has resulted. The patient must have suffered some loss.

Patient consent: It cannot be disputed that a person of sufficient maturity and mental capacity can choose whether or not to submit to the ministrations of a Doctor. With a few exceptions, consent to examination and treatment is necessary before a Doctor treats the patient. Consent may be express or implied. In any case failure to obtain consent may lead to recovery of damages in a civil action for trespass.

Indeed, Lord Donaldson, Master of Rolls, puts the issue aptly when he stated in Fvs West Berkshire Health Authority reported 1989 2 WLR that: “In the absence of consent all, or almost all, medical treatment and all surgical treatment of an adult is unlawful however beneficial such treatment might be.

This is incontestable”. As stated earlier, there are few exceptions.

There are three kinds of situation in which the questions of consent generally arises. These are (a) where there is no consent at all, (b) where consent is obtained by fraud or misrepresentation, and (c) where there is informed consent.

The first situation presents more problems than others and I will concentrate on that.

While absence consent may lead to trespass. As already noted, there are few exceptions when it will not.

In a Canadian case, Marshal V Curry Nova Scotia Supreme Court, reported 1933 3 DR page 260 a male patient agreed to an operation for the removal of a hernia in his groin. When the doctor opened the inguinal canal, he found that the left testicle was grossly diseased He deemed it necessary to remove the testicle, not only to cure the hernia but also because if not removed. It might become gangrenous and cause blood poisoning the Doctor was certainly not negligent and the patient institute an action on the ground that his consent for the removal of the testicle was not obtained. The Court held that where a great emergency that could not be anticipated arose. It was better to put consent altogether out of the case and to rule that it was the surgeon’s duty to act in order to save the life or preserve the health of his patient. Despite the absence of express or implied consent, the doctor acted in the interest of the patient for the protection of his health and possibly his life. The removal was in that sense necessary and the action failed.

It is therefore, clear that where no consent has been given, for the doctor to escape liability, he may arise the defence of necessity and show that the treatment given deserved some urgency. The case above is instructive on that, so also it the one hereunder.

In an English case, Hamilton v Birmingham Regional Health Board & Anor reported 1969 BMJ page 456, a woman of 40 was sterilized without her consent following the delivered of her third child.

All three of her children had been delivered by Caesarean section.

She said that if she had been advised that having further children might be dangerous to her health of life she still would have declined sterilisation, preferring to put her

• Ogoma

life a t risk. She claimed that the sterilization had denied her of a chance of having more children and deciding whether to do so. She succeeded in her claim.

There are cases where patients presented for treatment are unable to give any form of consent at all. This may be because of the patient’s physical or mental condition or by reason of his or her age. The physical condition on admission may be so serious that the patient is unconscious or virtually unconscious. It might seem that, provided treatment is administered without negligence, in an emergency, and in the best interest of the patient, question of consent is unlikely to arise. This was what happened in the case of the patient whose testicle was removed.

We will now consider a situation where there is a positive restriction on the Doctor’s right to treat a patient. This is best illustrated by another Canadian case, Malette v Shulman et al Ontario High Court of Justice” reported 1988 47DLR (4) page 18 In that case, a woman was seriously injured in a road accident.

She was virtually unconscious an unable to speak. A nurse searched through her handbag and found a Jehovah’s Witness Card in French.

It was understood by the Hospital Staff, and in particular by the Doctor in charge of her treatment, to state clearly that because of her religious beliefs she did not wish blood or blood products to be administered to her. The card stated that she full realised the implications of this. It went on to state that she had no religious objection to the use of non-blood alternatives, such as Dextran, Haemacel, PVP, Ringer’s Lactate or Slime Solution.

Her condition deteriorated and the Doctor in charge, fully aware of the card, decided to administer blood and did so personally. The patient’s daughter arrived, objected and declared that in her view the patient had made it clear that she did not wish to have blood transfusion. Upon her discharge, she sued the Doctor, the hospital and four Nurses for negligence and trespass.

It was held that there were no negligence and that the treatment had been carried out in a competent, careful and conscientious manner, but that the card constituted a valid restriction on the Doctor’s right to treat the patient and that the blood transfusion amount to trespass. She was, therefore, entitled to damages in trespass.

Indeed, Mr. Justice Donnelly who was in the panel of judges who decided the case said: “A conscious, rational patient is entitled to refuse any medical treatment and the Doctor must comply, no matter how ill- a d vised he may believe that instruction to be”.

• Ogoma, is a Senior Magistrate, Imo State Judiciary Owerri and PhD Research Student

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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ABUJA REVIEW NEWS

•From right: Director General, Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) Mr Emeka Ezeh; Chairman, Abuja Chapter, Lagos Business School Alumni (LBSSA), Samson Kanu; the Secretary, Eno Iyang, and Director, LBSSA Relations, Henry Onukwuba at the BPP session with the Alumni in Abuja

•From left: Member, House of Representatives, Gambo Dan-Musa (left); Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Women in Parliament, Mrs Rafeequat Onabamire and Coordinator, Women Political Empowerment, Women Rights Advancement Programme (WRAPA), Rabi Abdullahi at the flag-off of the Peoples Public Session at the National Assembly

•From left: Director, Establishment Inspection, National Agency For Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs. Hauwa Keri; Director-General of the agency, Dr. Paul Orhii; Nutrition Specialist of UNICEF, Dr. Omotola Davis and Dr. Alo Isiaka Steven, during the presentation of Vitamin A Test Kit donated by UNICEF to NAFDAC, in Abuja.

•From left: Ambassador of Switzerland to Nigeria, Hans-Rudolf Hodel; Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa; a member of the committee, Bimbo Daramola and Policy Adviser, Federal Office for Migration, Roland Flukiger during a meeting on the bilateral migration partnership between Nigeria and Switzerland at the National Assembly

•Executive Secretary, Anti-Corruption Network, Dino Melaye (with microphone) and members protesting against policies by Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Nigerians at the Ministry of Finance

•Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Local Content, Asita Honourable (second left); his Deputy, Nassir Ahme (second right); Managing Director, FrieslandCampina, WAMCO Nig Plc, Peter Eshikena (middle); Corporate Affairs Manager, WAMCO Nig Plc, Ore Famurewa (left) and Mrs Adeola Temitope during a visit to the Committee at the National Assembly

•Pupils of Model Primary School Asokoro performing during the National Healthcare Waste Management Summit in Abuja

•Participants at the Etisalat Nigeria Idol in Abuja

PHOTOS: ABAYOMI FAYESE

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THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

ABUJA REVIEW

T

HE week passed on quietly unlike the previous one in which a protocol breach almost ruined the presentation of a petroleum committee report. The issue, though, has refused to go away.

One week after the Nuhu Ribadu-headed Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force (PRSTF) submitted its report to President Goodluck Jonathan, the Presidency is still fretting over issues raised by the chairman of the task force.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe took up issues with the former anti-corruption agency chief, questioning the neutrality and fair-mindedness of his team.

The medical doctor turned politician who has since that faithful Friday after Steve Orosanye’s attempt to rubbish the report failed, has picked up the gauntlet and with a wave of the hand, declared that the job of the task force was incomplete, saying the team failed to engage consultants, as stipulated in the terms of reference of the task force.

The president has assured, though, that despite the disagreement by some members of the committee, the report will be considered on its own merit and so he was going to work on it.

The presidency also said it will look into the report on refineries.

However Nigerians are watching keenly to see if the president will stick to his words by implementing the reports.

The week was also shaped by presidency concern for telecommunication subscribers in the country. An ultimatum has been issued to telecom service providers in the country to improve service or face sanctions.

Besides, government said it has also concluded arrangements to check all promotions that are aimed at increasing subscriberbase as this has been fingered as one of the root causes of congestion on the network.

As a result, by December, government is expected to come up with another detailed review of the quality of service indicator, with a position that any network operator that is found wanting will be appropriately sanctioned by the regulator. It is yet to be proved if the government will back its word with action.

The Presidency also pursued the issue of development as it approved a loan of $77million (about N12billion) to address the perennial potable water problems in Lagos and Cross River states.

The loan which is a concessionary one is coming from a French agency. The breakdown shows that $43.9 million (N6.8bn) goes to Cross River State and $33.8 million (about N5.2bn) to Lagos.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) also approved N2.3 billion

T

HE Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has distributed medical equipment to public hospitals in the territory.

Presenting the equipment to medical directors of the hospitals in Abuja, the FCT Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretariat, Dr. Demola Onakomaiya, said that the gesture was in line with President Jonathan’s transformation agenda to bring massive improvement to the health sector.

While describing the equipment as ‘world-class brands’, Onakomaiya stated that the FCTA under the leadership of Senator Bala Mohammed is committed to ensuring a holistic overhaul of public health care facilities in the territory to turn them into global best standards.

He said the distribution of the

Who’s afraid of Ribadu?

From the Villa

By Vincent Ikuomola for expansion work on the service lane of the Niger Bridge at Onitsha.

The Council also approved N444 million for completion of the Ibadan-Oyo section of the IlorinIbadan Expresssway.

The decision was reached at the weekly FEC meeting presided over

by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Other approval granted at the weekly council meeting includes the Mambila and Zengeru dams under the Build, Operate and Transfer arrangement. Already the Federal Government has signed two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with two Chinese firms, Messrs Sino Hydro and

CCEEC. Also, the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation launched to raise money to resettle people who were displaced from their homes, was successful in its first outing as it raked in N11.35 billion.

There were also pledges from other people who preferred to keep their donation secret. Aliko Dangote, the co-chair of the committee and the Federal Government donated N2.5 billion each.

Dangote, who had earlier donated N200 million to Kogi State also set aside N150 million for the running of the Committee Secre-

tariat.

Also on the donation list were Chief Arthur Eze, Tony Elumelu and Jim Ovia who donated N1 million each while the chief fund raiser, Chief Mike Adenuga donated N500 million.

Anambra State Governor Peter Obi also announced a donation of N1.8 billion on behalf of all state governors representing N15 million each from each state.

Others who donated to the cause included construction giants Julius Berger, Setraco, Dantata and Sawoe, RCC and other corporate organisattions and public-spirited individuals.

Flagging off the fund raising, the President appealed to Nigerians and the international community to donate generously to the cause.

He recounted the ordeal of the victims during his tour of the affected states as “tragedy that will melt the hardest of hearts’’.

The President noted that though the cause of the flood was still being assessed, government had taken some immediate measures through the release of funds and relief materials.

Beside the funds raised, the Presi-

dency released the sum of N9.7 billion to the Ministry of Agriculture for food and agricultural seedlings while N2.5 billion was released to the Ministry of Health for disease control.

The president also stirred the hornet‘s nest when he described the Boko Haram sect which has become his nemesis and its sponsors as primitive and uncivilised.

The president who spoke in Dutse, Jigawa State, noted that the act of taking people’s lives, especially innocent ones through acts of terrorism is primitive, hence perpetrators and sponsors are uncivilised.

While calling on Nigerians to totally condemn the act of terrorism, the president stressed that the various killings by the group are unjustifiable.

He therefore urged Nigerians to assist relevant authorities to check the trend which he noted was inimical to the development of the country.

Jonathan also praised the people of Jigawa State for maintaining peace, despite the violence within the Northeast geo-political zone.

Abuja Hospitals get medical equipment

By Bukola Amusan

equipment was a reflection of the FCTA to bring about health care services delivery based on quality, equity and sustainability.

“Equity is reflected in distributing the equipment to all secondary health facilities in the FCT, thus the rural and economically less advantaged zones such as Rubochi, Bwari, Karshi and other hospitals in the same cohorts will benefit from the equipment,” he said.

He noted that the medical equipment were acquired with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) fund from the various public hospitals, adding that the health secretariat will

continue to make best use of the fund.

The secretary advised all health care professionals that will use the equipment to be skillful and careful while handling them to ensure good re-

sults.

Speaking earlier, General Manager of Hospitals Management Board, Dr. Aminu Mai, stated that the provision of standard medical equipment is crucial to the development of the health

Equity is reflected in distributing the equipment to all secondary health facilities in the FCT, thus the rural and economically less advantaged zones such as Rubochi, Bwari, Karshi and other hospitals in the same cohorts will benefit from the equipment

sector in the country and should be taken seriously.

Also delivering an address, Head of Abuja Central Medical Stores, Dr Celina E. Asuelinmen, commended the efforts of the FCTA in modernizing equipment, while delivering health care services in line with world class standard.

She said the equipment will ensure better diagnostic examination procedures and patients’ management in general hospitals in the territory.

Equipment distributed were electro-cardiogram (ECG) machines, defibrillators, feto-maternal monitors, hematocrit centrifuges and bench centrifuges, among others.

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PROPERTY

Tuesday, November 13, 2012 Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.com

* The Environment * Mortgage * Apartments * Security * Homes * Real Estate

email:- property@thenationonlineng.net

•Afri Bank Estate, Ilupeju, Lagos.

How to make the new housing policy work The goal of the new housing policy is to ensure that Nigerians own or have access to decent, safe and sanitary housing in a healthy environment with services at affordable cost and secured tenure. However, surveyors say except something is done urgently, the new policy may go the way of past ones, OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE reports •STORY ON PAGE 52

•Lagos explains slow pace of work on

•Why buildings collapse - PAGE 52

Badagry expressway

- PAGE 52

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THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

PROPERTY/ENVIRONMENT

How to make the new housing policy work

T

HE new housing policy is about the third robust attempt at having a policy that will address the poor housing provision in the country.

The previous ones were dogged by poor decisions, such as the frequent changes in the status, tenure, nomenclature and mandate of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

In a paper, entitled: The New National Housing Policy, an effective framework for its implementation by the pioneer Managing Director of Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and Shelter-Afrique, Nairobi, Kenya, Mr S. P. O. Fortune-Ebie, said the old housing policy didn’t attempt to resolve the lingering gap that stood at about 17 million units in deficit.

Speaking at a housing summit organised by the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors & Valuers (NIESV), he said the old housing policy didn’t address land access and financing, which are keys to housing acquisition, including the lack of appropriate identification and recommendation of construction methodology that is appropriate for the country to increase her housing stock.

He argued that no nation has ever solved its housing problems by a few privileged individuals building their mansions, but rather, it is achieved by the central government directly encouraging the production of houses by pushing out favourable

Stories by Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie Asst Editor

policies that will encourage not only private sector participation but creating a functional and virile mortgage sector that will enable people with verifiable means of income own houses and pay in the long term.

Fortune-Ebie, a surveyor, recalled that as the pioneer managing director of FESTAC Town, Lagos, the agency targeted the poor, middle class and the rich and regretted that succeeding governments couldn’t continue with the idea of the town.

He predicted that if the feat had been replicated in other states, the bourgeoning 17 million housing gap would have been bridged as the houses that sold for N9,000 30 years ago, are now bought at N60 million.

He said: “As an integrated process, the housing delivery demands a coordinated and integrated actors in public and private sector of the economy. Lack of effective coordination and integration of efforts between the housing sector and other relevant ministries, departments and agencies have been the bane of housing development in the country.”

He called for the review of the policy at the end of four years aside the impact assessment, which he canvassed should be carried out bi-

•Akomolede

•Mrs Okolo

•Fortune-Ebie

annually.

Minister of Land Housing and Urban Development, Ms Ama Pepple, said the concern of government in this new policy is in funding availability, mortgage risk environment, access to financing, improved land titling processes and housing supply. She said her ministry is working with foreign and local partners and the financial services sector to develop a mortgage liquidity facility to make long term funds available to Primary Mortgage Banks.

He said the combined forces of the government and the private sector would add about one million housing units to the national housing stock within the next three years.

The minister, who was represented by a staff member of the ministry Mrs Margret Okolo called on the National Council of State to make regulations under section 46 of the Land Use act to help the implementation of the Act besides addressing the challenge of capacity building for artisans in the construction industry.

She stressed the need to put in place vocational training programmes to address their deficiency.

Earlier, Chairman, NIESV, Faculty of Housing, Chief Kola Akomolede, regretted that housing issues are not taken seriously by the government. He noted the miserly budgetary housing provisions of less than one per cent by

the Federal Government while many state government’s fail to have a housing ministry.

He criticised the argument that the private sector should build houses for the people and wondered how a developer who is in business to make profit will build subsidised houses for the poor, which should be the purview of the government.

Akomolede called on the government to confront the three major impediments that stand in the way of access to decent housing for the people, which he noted, as lack of access to land at affordable prices, lack of mortgage for would-be house owners either to build or buy and the high cost of building materials.

‘Why buildings collapse’

F

•From left: Awobodu being presented an award by Awojobi, at the event in Abuja.

AULTY design, lack of comprehensive sub-soil investigation, quackery, use of substandard materials, poor workmanship, non-adherence to professional advice and greed, have been identified as some of the reasons buildings collapse.

Chairman, Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), Mr Kunle Awobodu, stated this at the 25th Annual Conference and General Meeting of the Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers (NIStructE), in Abuja at the weekend.

Speaking on Built environment professionals and incessant building collapse, he listed other common denominators in diagnosing building collapse to include copied design, non-adherence to approved design, quackery, use of substandard materials, poor workmanship, professional incompetence, cognitive dissonance, ignorance and pilfering.

Others, according to him, are construction in crisis situation, unrealistic timelines, nocturnal concrete work/concreting in the rain, improper budget and financial control, change in use, poor drainage system, fire incident, lack of maintenance and force majeure.

He called on professionals in the sector to join the association to save the sector from total collapse.

Awobodu said the guild is promoting unity among built environment professionals, pointing out that a house divided against itself

cannot sustain its relevance.

According to him, the onus is on the professionals to turn the tide of decay in the sector and save the lives of the people.

Members of the guild at the event included first female town planner in Nigeria, Mrs. Catherine Kehinde George; a quantity surveyor, Mr Edwin Umolu, President of NIStructE, Mr Busola Awojobi; and immediate past president, Mr Victor Oyenuga.

Awobodu said BCPG, in the last four years, has been championing campaigns against building collapse menace, mobilising all stakeholders, especially built environment professionals and artisans including concrete workers, iron benders, block makers, and carpenters on the need to eradicate cases of collapsed building in the sector.

He said the weakness of professionals in the built environment had been identified as their inability to create time for activities that will collectively benefit them.

“We need to overcome the beggarly attitude and endeavour to develop a strong voice and necessary control in the construction industry that remains the nation’s economic barometer. We should not leave our fate completely in the hands of politicians, who are not committed to promoting standard construction but more interested in the juicy end of building contracts,”Awobodu stressed.

Lagos explains slow pace of work on Badagry expressway

L

AGOS State Government has explained the reason for the purported slow pace of work on the Lagos Badagry Expressway by CCECC, the firm handling the project.

A statement from the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure said the government was not unmindful of the challenges to many users of the road.

It said the plan was to reconstruct the stretch from Eric

Moore through to Seme Border but it has been phased due to the huge financial implications.

The statement said the Lot 1, which is the first phase of the project, demonstrates the vision of the Fashola administration on the road.

The second phase, being handled by CCECC, has further been broken into three because of the financial position of the state.

This phase will be from Mazamaza to Okokomaiko.

It emphasised that the Lot 2A (from MazaMaza to Okokomaiko) was awarded late last year and the contractor mobilised early this year, noting that the stretch in this phase is highly built up requiring extensive removal of obstruction and relocation of services.

“This is what is going on and is being construed as slow pace

of work,” the statement said.

Furthermore it said aside from the removal of the obstructing structures on the Right of Way of the road, the state government has since started the relocation of essential services on this axis, which include water mains, PHCN facilities, PTOs facilities and the like. These facilities the ministry said are not easily replaced due to their importance and the nature of the new de-

signs adopted to make them viable and relevant in future development.

The statement stated that beyond this, however, the responsibility for maintaining the road belongs to the Federal Government.

The state government appealed to commuters to be patient with it. It pledged its commitment to build a first class road.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

53

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

Sebastine Tar Hon is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). He is also an author of four law books, including ‘Constitutional Law and Jurisprudence in Nigeria,’ which helped in resolving the impasse over Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s acting presidency status when the late President Umaru Yar’Adua was flown abroad for medical attention. He speaks in this interview, on the ongoing constitution review and reacts to allegations by Chief Great Ogboru of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) in Delta State that he compromised his interest. BISI OLANIYI reports.

Why I withdrew Ogboru’s case, by SAN

I

N view of the views of hte Nigeria Bar Association on the Constituion review process, how would you want the 1999 Con-stitution amended?

I want them to focus more on the judiciary and the rule of law. Section 285, Sub-Sections 5, 6 and 7 should be amended. The sections limit the timeline within which tribunals and courts of justice should deliver judgments in election matters. Currently, tribunals must deliver judgments within 180 days, from the time of filing of the petitions. The Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court are to deliver judgment within 60 days from the time of filing of the appeals.

In so much as we agree that the extension was noble, the Supreme Court has now said that anything outside those days, count us out. So, it is for the National Assembly to amend those sections and put provisos, stating that provided that if a judgment is delivered after those number of days, a court hearing such an appeal, can make certain orders.

The second vital area is to state as one of the functions of the National Judicial Council (NJC), because it is not expressly stated, should originate budgetary proposal for the state High Courts, Sharia Courts of Appeal and Customary Courts of Appeal in the states and the FCT (Federal Capital Territory), in case of capital expenditure, to be presented to the National Assembly and budgeted upon. Once that is budgeted upon, the courts will access the funds from the NJC. Without that, state Chief Judges are pawns in the hands of state governors. Whatever they want, they do to them and the Chief Judges cannot stand up to them, in present day Nigeria.

You have been accused by Chief Great Ogboru, the 2011 governorship candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) in Delta State, of compromising his interest because you withdrew his application at the Supreme Court.

How will you react to the allegations?

I went to Lagos in April 2012 for a matter at the High Court, Ikeja. After the matter, Chief Great Ogboru called me and said somebody gave him my number over a matter he had at the Supreme Court. We arranged and when he met. He told me the Supreme Court has dismissed his appeal and he wanted

me to apply that the Supreme Court should set aside the judgment.

I told him that the Supreme Court hardly overrules itself, after delivering a judgment. He persisted and I told him that I would think about it.

Luckily for me, I stumbled over an authority. A decision of the Supreme Court reported in 2011: Dingyadi against INEC, where the apex court overruled itself in a particular decision it gave, not that it set aside its previous decision, which was given in another matter. So, I felt encouraged. When Great Ogboru called me to give him feedback, I told him, with the authority, we could boldly approach the Supreme Court.

In the course of my research too, I came across an authority: Adegoke Motors against Adesanya, reported in 1989, where the Supreme Court stated that if any counsel felt that the apex court had made an error in judgment, the counsel should be bold enough to approach the Supreme Court to overrule itself.

So, that was the basis for accepting the brief...

Based on these two authorities, I filed an application to have the decision overturned. In essence, I was asking the Supreme Court to sit back and determine the appeal or refer it back to the Court of Appeal. If they said that the judgment of the Court of Appeal was a nullity, I told them that it was not proper, with due respect, to say that the appeal that made them to make the pronouncement was a nullity. It was on that basis that I accepted to file the application at the Supreme Court.

When the matter came up at the Supreme Court, I indicated openly, which can be verified from the records of the Supreme Court, that I was ready to move my own application to have the Supreme Court overrule itself or set aside its judgment.

When I made the statement, counsel on the other side/opposing counsel, consisting of WoleOlanipekun (SAN), who was leading Alex Izinyon and a great number of other lawyers, said they had filed some preliminary objections to the application, on the issue of jurisdiction. The presiding Justice of the Supreme Court asked me, whether on the basis of the objections, if I was going to withdraw, but I said no. I will not want

• Hon

to mention the Justice’s name. Another counsel from Afe Babalola’s Chambers, who is also a SAN, led the team for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a young lady led the team for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The opposing counsel all said they had preliminary objections.

So, you then withdrew the application...

The presiding justice asked me again, whether in view of the objections, I was still ready to go on with my application and I responded in the affirmative.

To show you the resolve, I had to move the application.

The Supreme Court then said in view of the fact that I was served that morning, the matter would be adjourned till November 8, which was done. Immediately after the adjournment, the Supreme Court asked me the nature of my application. Of course, the justices had known, but they wanted to take me to task and I knew. I told them that it was an application I wanted them, with due respect, to overturn their previous decision. That was where trouble started.

How? The justices of the Supreme Court told me that I was bringing the apex court on collision course with politicians and ridiculing the judiciary. They said they had read all that I had filed, including the ones filed the previous Friday and they had come to the conclusion that nothing on earth would make them grant the application. There is electronic evidence to back what I have said.

At that point, it was only responsible and reasonable for me to withdraw the

application. That was exactly what I did.

It has been alleged that it was predetermined.

If I had a predetermined intention not to move the application, why did I prepare and file a reply on points of law on the Friday just before the Monday that the matter was to come up? If I had anything to hide, why did I insist on that same day that Chief Ogboru put up appearance in court on the day I was to move the application? Why did I have to worry myself telling the Supreme Court, ab initio, that I had an application and was ready to move it?

Again, why did I reject the first offer by the Supreme Court that I should withdraw the application? Was it not suicidal and bad practice when the Supreme Court raised grave allegations against me, for me to have allowed even one more second to pass without openly showing the Supreme Court that I was not that character they were describing me to be?

How did your client react to the withdrawal?

He called and abused me. He said a lot of wrong things about me. He accused me of compromising his brief. He called me a fraud and unprintable names. I kept my cool till today. He said I compromised his brief. I told him nothing of such happened. Before I could say anything, they had flooded the Internet with those allegations, accusing me of unprofessional conduct and even had the effrontery of writing to the Supreme Court that they had engaged another lawyer and that my conduct was gross misconduct, but I said no. This is a man or a group talking out of ignorance.

What did he expect you to do at that point?

I do not know what Chief Ogboru expected me to do at that point. I practise my law before the Supreme Court and not before any other person. It is the Supreme Court of Nigeria that made me a SAN and also called me to the Nigerian Bar. If the Supreme Court is directly accusing me of ridiculing it or bringing it on collision course with politicians, where am I going to practise my law? if I am thrown out of the Bar or disrobed as a SAN? What respect do I have again?

If you go to the Internet, they said it was a predetermined position. I challenge them to go and obtain the records from the Supreme Court. When I went to the Supreme Court, I announced my appearance, and others also announced their appearance. After that, I told the Supreme Court that I was ready to move the application.

Was Ogboru or any of his associates

present in court, to be consulted, before withdrawing the application?

My client was not in court. We met the previous Friday and I told him, while preparing the last set of papers, to be in court on Monday, He said his deputy would be in court. I learnt that the deputy was on the way, when the matter was withdrawn. Chief Ogboru sent his associates and some lawyers to court. I consulted one of the lawyers he sent, who told me not to withdraw, but I said no, I was not going to seek adjournment again, since the Supreme Court had made its position known.

At that point, consultation was no longer necessary. It was no longer a fact.

An application is based purely on law. I did my best, which my client described as the best that he has ever seen and the Supreme Court said it was not enough.

There was no need to go again and consult.

The matter came up at the Supreme Court on Monday. On Friday, we were together in my chambers in Abuja and he saw all that I prepared and he described it as excellent. He said my posture was also excellent. I then went to court. The Supreme Court said it was an academic exercise, that the application would not be granted. At that point, what other consultation would I have made? It is more reasonable to terminate the matter at that stage, than to prolong the evil day.

Will it be correct to say that you actually compromised in the matter?

Couldn’t you have simply withdrawn your apperance?

How could I have done that? Since I started practice, this is the first time any client of mine is feeling dissatisfied, not to talk of alleging that I collected money from opposing camp to compromise his brief.

As an authority, as an author of four law books: Constitutional Law and Jurisprudence in Nigeria Law of Evidence in Nigeria, Substantive and Procedural Civil Procedure in Nigeria, Federal High Court, State High Courts and FCT Abuja High Courts, Volume 1, Hon’s Law of Evidence in Nigeria, God has given me the grace to become a SAN at my age, won’t I be the greatest fool, if I compromise myself? I am a reference point, both nationally and internationally. I just have to bring out my person, so that Nigerians and everybody will know that these allegations are useless, baseless and capricious. Why should Great Ogboru’s matter be different? In short, I regret accepting that brief. If he goes beyond this point, I will fight him legally.

‘No going back on LG financial autonomy’

M

EMBER representing Anaocha/Dunukofia/ Njikoka Federal Constituency of Anambra State, Honourable Uche Ekwunife has said the National Assembly will pursue financial autonomy for the local government system in the country in the ongoing constitution review.

Hon Ekwunife who is the House of Representatives Committee Chairman on Environment spoke while briefing her constituents in the United Kingdom, UK. She said in a statement at the weekend that the National Assembly would ensure that the local government system gets financial autonomy to be able to meet the challenges facing it.

“There is no going back on the financial autonomy for local government system because it will among other things bring development to

From Odowgu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

the grassroots and the rural dwellers will feel the impact of democratic governance which President Goodluck Jonathan Transformation Agenda is all abouth” On the outcome of the Presidential Election in US, Ekwunife urged Nigerians to learn lessons from the US’ election, adding that the country and its leaders should be more interested in issues concerning governance instead of engaging in campaigns of calumny.

“I want our leaders and politicians to learn lesson from President Brack Obama and his closet rival, Mitt Romney who engaged each other on campaign of issues and not what is obtainable in our democracy where our politicians engage each other in campaigns of character assassination”

• Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Legislative Compliance, representing Oshodi Federal Constituency 1, Hon Moruf Akinderu-Fatai (right) calming participants during the review of the constitution at Bright Vile Hall, Oshodi. With him are Chairman, Community Development Committee (CDC), Oshodi chapter, Mr Israel Orija and former Secretary to Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Council, Korede Soremekun.

PHOTO: TAJUDEEN ADEBANJO

54

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE

Market opens with N34b loss

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 12-11-12

•Oando grows net profit

T

HE Nigerian stock market opened this week on a bearish note as most equities closed below their opening values.

With 27 decliners to 19 advancers, aggregate market capitalisation of all quoted equities dropped by N34 billion from its opening value of N8.514 trillion to close at N8.480 trillion.

The benchmark index at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the All Share Index (ASI), reflected the downtrend at 26,609.34 points as against its opening index of 26,718.30 points.

Nestle Nigeria Plc, Nigeria’s highest-priced stock, topped the losers’ list with a drop of N2.83 to close at N629.50. Dangote Cement, market’s most capitalised stock, followed with a loss of N1.50 to close at N121. CAP dropped by N1.49 to close at N28.35. Cadbury Nigeria lost 50 kobo to close at N24 while First Bank of Nigeria fell by 42 kobo to close at N15.52 per share.

However, Nigerian Breweries led the gainers with a gain of N1.70 to close at N137. PZ Cussons Nigeria trailed with addition of 81 kobo to close at N28.42. NCR Nigeria added 65 kobo to close at N13.74. UACN Property Development Company rose by 60 kobo to close at N12 while Berger Paints gained 42 kobo to close at N8.82 per share.

Investors traded 215.756 million shares worth N1.634 billion in 3,856 deals. The financial services sector remained the most active with 166.808 million shares worth N798.550 million in 2,216 deals.

By Taofik Salako and Tonia Osundolire

Other actively traded sectors were oil & gas, consumer goods, industrial goods, conglomerates and services with 14.440 million shares, 12.511 million shares, 10.784 million shares, 4.570 million shares and 3.674 million shares respectively.

Meanwhile, Oando Plc grew net profit by 5.7 per cent in the third quarter ended September 30, 2012. The company’s interim report showed that profit after tax rose to N9.3 billion in 2012 compared with N8.8 billion recorded in corresponding period of 2011.

Turnover grew by 24 per cent from N392.3 billion in 2011 to N487.8 billion in 2012. Gross Profit increased by 3 per cent, from N49.1 billion to close at N50.7 billion.

Commenting on the results, group chief executive, Oando Plc, Mr. Wale Tinubu, said the management was pleased with the report, citing increased revenues and profitability due to improved operations and recently commissioned investments.

He outlined that in the upstream business, the listing of OER on the TSX will provide a platform for the company to raise funds to drive its aspiration for exploration and production growth through acquisitions and asset development.

He pointed out that the Ebendo field drilling programme has experienced an increase in gross production capacity to 4,000 bpd with the addition of 2,000 bpd from the tie-in of the EB-4 well just as completion of the EB-5

drilling programme is now positively anticipated.

“We also successfully commenced drilling on the Qua Iboe field, with the first of three wells to be completed in Q4 2012. Our three rigs deployed in the Niger Delta continue to operate at optimum levels of 90 per cent plus efficiency, with the fourth rig expected to commence drilling operations in the New Year. In the Midstream, our Gas and Power business is at advanced stages of completion of the CNG project and we have commenced construction of Alausa IPP, with both projects aiming to reduce the cost of power generation for commercial customers and significantly increase our total power generation capacity respectively, thereby aid in resolving our drive to increase the nation’s dependence on Gas,” Tinubu said.

He noted that notwithstanding the challenges experienced in the downstream since the inception of the year, the company has increased its leadership in both product importation and distribution while it has commenced construction of mid-stream jetty to increase throughput and eliminate lightering and demurrage exposure.

“We recently announced our plans to reduce our net debt through a combination of capital raises, divestments and business combinations to strengthen the company in preparation for focused growth in the high margin exploration and production sector. These plans are underway and are progressing successfully. We continue to work towards a resilient performance in the fourth quarter of the year, focusing on driving our business into the next chapter and staying committed to our stated objectives for the year and beyond,” Tinubu said.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 12-11-12

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

55

MONEY LINK

Analysts predict rise in October inflation T HE national headline inflation has been estimated to rise slightly by 0.3 per cent to 11.6 per cent in October, from 11.3 per cent in September, Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) Limited, Bismarck Rewane has said.

The FDC report for November said there has also been a rise in the consumer price index (CPI), which was estimated to increase by 0.76

Stories by Collins Nweze

per cent to 139.1 points in October from 138.01 points in September.

FDC’s urban inflation index showed that prices of goods and services rose by 2.27 per cent to 13.84 per cent in October, from 11.57 per cent in September. It said that November’s surge in prices is mainly attributable to cost push factors and disruption from flooding.

“Using trend analysis, we estimate the national headline inflation will rise slightly by 0.3 per cent to 11.6 per cent in October, from 11.3 per cent in September.

This is as a result of the rise in the consumer price index (CPI), which we estimate to rise by 0.76 per cent to 139.1 points in October from 138.01 points in September,” it said.

The firm attributed the increase to limited food sup-

ply needed to meet demand as well as a slow output in the agricultural sector. It said the global increase in food prices will contribute to the rate of inflation in coming months, adding that the rise in inflation further supports the stance of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in monitoring its tightening.

Rewane said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is not expected to change the benchmark interest rate at

its next meeting later this month but insisted that the possibility of easing rates in early 2013 is high if inflation remains moderated.

He noted that the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) will be left unchanged at 12 per cent per annum within plus or minus 200 basis points corridors adding that the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) will also be retained at 12 per cent of total local currency deposit liabilities.

•Rewane

FIRS records N590.29b VAT in 10 months Leasing forum advocates

T

HE total Value Added Tax (VAT)) collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) from January to October this year is N590.29, its Chairman, Alhaji Kabir Mashi has said.

Head, Communications and Liaison Department?, Mr. Emmanuel Obeta, who disclosed this in a statement

From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

yesterday, added that plans are underway to amend the Value Added Tax (VAT) Act. According to him, Mashi spoke at the opening of a nationwide VAT enlightenment campaign yesterday in Abuja.

The FIRS boss, said the spokesman, also noted that

lection, providing an average of about 16 per cent of total collection in the last eight years.

He said that VAT collection had grown from N163.3 billion in 2004 to N659.1 billion in 2011, representing an increase of more than 400 percent and that VAT is the third highest contributor to tax collection in the last eight years.

the amendment would help resolve silent issues as regards VAT and shore up revenue from taxation.

He said FIRS realised a total of N3.8 trillion between January and September.

The FIRS boss said , even though VAT was introduced in 1993 to Nigeria, it has become a major contributor to tax col-

Court restrains Coscharis, bank from Capital Oil

A

FEDERAL High Court sitting in Lagos, presided over

by Justice O. E. Akpan, yesterday granted an order of Interlocutory Injunction restraining Coscharis Motors Limited and one of the commercial banks in the country from interfering with the properties of Capital Oil and Gas Limited pending the determination of a substantive suit before the court.

The lender and Coscharis Motors Limited are defendants

By John Austin Unachukwu

in a suit filed by Capital Oil and Gas limited and its Managing Director, Mr Ifeanyi Patrick Ubah before the court challenging the veracity of their claims in respect of an alleged loan facility, the terms of which they claim has been breached by the plaintiffs.

When the matter came up for hearing last Friday before Justic O. E. Akpan of the Federal High court, the respondents were not in court, nei-

ther were they represented by Counsel. Counsel to the applicants, R. A. Lawal Rabana SAN informed the court that

he was in Court to move an application, a Motion dated October 30, 2012 which was duly served on the Defendants.

Naira drops as oil firms halt dollar sales

N

cording to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Expected dollar sales from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation “haven’t come through,” Jide Solanke, an analyst at First Securities Discount House Limited said.

Oil-producing companies,

AIRA fell for a second day as oil companies refrained from selling dollars in the market, Bloomberg report said. The currency slipped 0.1 per cent to 157.6 a dollar but has increased three per cent this year, the secondbest performer in Africa, ac-

FGN BONDS Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($) 350m 150m 350m 138m 350m 113m

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2012 “ 14-04-2012

GAINERS AS AT 12-11-12 SYMBOL

CUSTODYINS UAC-PROP AIICO BERGER NCR MANSARD MAYBAKER TRANSCORP UNITYBNK ETERNA

O/PRICE

1.29 11.40 0.58 8.40 13.09 1.76 1.62 0.96 0.53 1.86

C/PRICE

1.39 12.00 0.61 8.82 13.74 1.84 1.69 1.00 0.55 1.93

CHANGE

7.75 5.26 5.17 5.00 4.97 4.55 4.32 4.17 3.77 3.76

O/PRICE 0.60 29.84 1.08 4.99 5.51 0.54 0.54 0.56 12.20 1.03

C/PRICE 0.57 28.35 1.03 4.76 5.30 0.52 0.52 0.54 11.80 1.00

CHANGE 5.00 4.99 4.63 4.61 3.81 3.70 3.70 3.57 3.28 2.91

Exchange Rate (N) 155.2 155.8 155.7

Date 2-7-12 27-6-12 22-6-12

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Year Start Offer

NGN USD NGN GBP NGN EUR NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) (S/N) Bureau de Change (S/N) Parallel Market

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

153.0000

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

July ’12

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00% 11.8%

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

NSE CAP Index

27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16

% Change -1.44% -1.44%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

LOSERS AS AT 12-11-12

SYMBOL JAPUALOIL CAP NEIMETH UBA CCNN NEM WEMABANK WAPIC OANDO IKEJAHOTEL

Amount Sold ($) 150m 138m 113m

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 Currency

OBB Rate Call Rate

which sell dollars to meet domestic expenses, are the second-biggest source of foreign currency after the central bank, which sells dollars on Mondays and Wednesdays to keep the naira within a three per cent band around 155 per dollar.

business in Nigeria” held in Lagos.

Executive Secretary of ELAN, Andew Efurhievwe, said revenue service has made considerable efforts in response to the issues through the issuance of circulators to enhance understanding and greater tax compliance.

He said that tax issues remain significantly unresolved because of constraints of the tax laws hence the need for the FIRS to continue its proactive initiative by exercising its discretionary powers with in the current laws to review and improve on its activities.

The forum noted that leasing is a significant financing alternative that facilitates acquisition of capital assets, foster economic growth, creates employment and enhances tax revenues.

DATA BANK

Tenor

NIDF NESF

E

improved tax regime

QUIPMENT Leasing Association of Nigeria (ELAN), the umbrella body for lessors, has been advised to work with the federal Inland Revenue service (FIRS) and other stakeholders to ensure a better tax regime for the leasing industry.

In a statement, the group said this was part of the resolutions reached at a one-day business forum on the “implications of current tax regime on equipment leasing

Offer Price

Bid Price

ARM AGGRESSIVE 9.17 KAKAWA GUARANTEED 1.00 STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE 126.23 AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND 124.91 LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL 0.79 BGL SAPPHIRE FUND 1.11 BGL NUBIAN FUND 0.96 NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. 1,740.91 PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND 10.45 CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST 1.39 CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST 1.87 STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY 9,058.74 THE DISCOVERY FUND 193.00 FIDELITY NIGFUND 1.67 • ARM AGGRESSIVE • KAKAWA GUARANTEED • STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND

9.08 1.00 125.92 124.12 0.76 1.11 0.94 1,733.86 9.94 1.33 1.80 8,827.50 191.08 1.62

Movement

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Bank P/Court

Previous 04 July, 2012

Current 07, Aug, 2012

8.5000 8.0833

8.5000 8.0833

Movement

56

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13 , 2012

NEWS Anambra community seeks help on erosion

R

ESIDENTS of Umueri in Anambra East Local Government Area of

Anambra State have called for assistance to tackle erosion which has ravaged the community.

Some villages in the community have been cut off from their neighbours. The major road to the palace of the traditional ruler, Igwe Nelson Okoye, who passed on in 2001, has been damaged.

As the community prepares for the funeral rites of the monarch in December, there is the fear that guests may face a hard time accessing the community.

The Nation learnt that the monarch died during a communal conflict between Umuleri and Aguleri. Many people were killed and property worth millions of naira CHANGE OF NAME ADEMUWAGUN I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ADEMUWAGUN MARY OMOLOLA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OLUWOLE MARY OMOLOLA. All former documents remain valid. Nigeria Police and the general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME PEPPLE I, formerly known and addressed MISS. GLORIA SOMINATOM PEPPLE now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. GLORIA KINGSLEY ITA. . All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

destroyed in the crisis.

A resident, 66-year-old Daniel Onuigbo, said the ongoing reconstruction and reconciliation of both neighbours are being hampered by the ravaging erosion.

He said some of the roads collapsed about 20 years ago without any help to repair them.

According to him, the road has become so bad that bicycle riders and trekkers have not been using it.

Widow of the late monarch, 76-year-old Lolo Florence Okoye, said an indigene has come to the rescue of the community.

She added that the residents need the state government to rescue the community.

The community has over 10 villages, mostly settlements, which the erosion has cut off.

The most affected roads are Gabriel, Shell, Nenyi, among others.

Mrs Okoye said: “There was nothing my late husband did not do to make the state government to work on the roads.

But his effort failed because it was the time anger was so high in the place because of the communal war.

“Since then, some of the roads have been abandoned. We have been living like refugees.

Weeds have taken over all the roads. We walked through track roads but today, God has touched one of our sons to remember his people. He is Benneth Emeka, who lives in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.”

Tension in Imo as thugs invade council offices T HE local government crisis in Imo State yesterday deepened as armed thugs invaded some council secretariats on alleged order of the state government.

The thugs were suspected to be members of the Imo Security Network.

They were allegedly led by some government officials who stormed the offices of the chairmen and whisked them away to an unknown location.

The 27 chairmen were disengaged by the government on the grounds that their tenure had expired.

But the council chiefs have refused to vacate their offices over the claim that their ten-

•Govt: Okorocha won’t use hoodlums From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

ure would expire in 2013.

Speaking with The Nation, the Secretary of the state chapter of the All Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) and Chairman of NgorOpkala Local Government Area, Enyinna Onuegbu, said 50 hoodlums invaded Owerri North and abducted its Chairman, Eric Ogwo and his secretary.

They were allegedly taken

to the Government House in Owerri.

Onuegbu said: “The government officials, who supervised the raid, said they were directed by the state government to arrest all of us because our tenure had lapsed. After manhandling my colleagues for about two hours, they were dumped at a police station to make it look like a police action.

“But the police, realising

that the matter is sub judice, as the Federal High Court had ordered us to maintain status quo as council chairmen, released my colleagues. This further confirms the lack of respect for rule of law by the Imo State Government.”

But the Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Ebere Uzoukwa, denied the allegation.

He said: “Governor Rochas Okorocha cannot engage thugs to effect arrest council chairmen, since he has unrestricted access to the police.

But the tenure of the chairmen has lapsed and they do not have any more business in the council.”

Orji to repair 16 major roads in Aba

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BIA State Governor Theodore Orji has promised to repair 16 major roads in Aba, the state capital.

The governor spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Ugochukwu Emezue.

He said his administration has set up a task force to appraise major dilapidated roads.

Orji listed the roads as Azikiwe, Jubillee, Cemetery, Milverton Avenue, Eziukwu/Okigwe Roundabout, Ama Ogbonna, Nwala

From Ugochukwu UgojiEke, Umuahia

by Faulks to Brass Junction

by Aba/Owerri, Ngwa and Ohanku, which is ongoing.

Others include Emelogu Road completed but to add drainage, Ehere, Omoba road, Umuola Road, Ikot Ekpene Road from Opobo Junction to Bata, Amaogbonna/Omuma by ACCN, Nwigwe by Nwagba Avenue and Geometric Access Road, all in Aba. The governor spoke in

Umuahia, the state capital, at the expanded Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus meeting.

He assured that his administration would give Aba a face-lift, “as the city is very dear to any government in this state”.

Orji said that he is not unaware of the infrastructural decay in the commercial city.

The governor blamed the alleged decay on past administrations.

He said: “It was occasioned by neglect by previous ad-

•Orji

ministrations, which is what I am poised to rectify.”

‘Internal democracy our survival strategy in Abia PDP’

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HE Abia State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has promised to ensure that those joining the party follow its internal

From Ugochukwu UgojiEke, Umuahia

democracy to sustain the prevailing peace and loyalty.

Its Chairman, Senator Emma Nwaka, spoke in Umuahia, the state capital, at the expanded caucus meeting of the party.

Major PDP stakeholders, including Governor Theodore Orji, members of the national and state as-

semblies, as well as appointed political office holders attended the meeting.

Nwaka said it is through an uncompromised internal democracy that the party can survive.

He said: “As party leaders, we want to assure you of our determination to maintain a level-playing field for all those who desire to use our platform. The era of imposition of candidates is over for

GUS 9: PASCHAL BEATS COLLEAGUES TO TASK

good in this party.”

The party chairman stressed that Abia PDP is not only united but has also become the beautiful bride of politicians.

Nwaka said this has enabled it to enjoy an influx of people seeking membership of the party.

He added that Orji has become the “selling point” of Abia PDP because of his sterling performance.

Abia gets five new judges From Ugochukwu UgojiEke, Umuahia

F

J

ames panted endlessly, Nuhu screamed himself hoarse, Onyinye barely mustered enough strength, Uzor flanked woefully, yet Pashal excelled with finesse.

Chidi Mokeme had warned that the ‘Wave Your Flag’ challenge, the day’s task, would test the survivors’ physical strength, endurance and agility.What they did not bargain for was a gruelling challenge that kept them gasping for air, even after Chidi declared the game closed.

The Wave Your Flag challenge involved five steps: they were to climb up a tree with a rope to get pieces of a flag; cross a muddy area, placing planks on stumps of wood to serve as makeshift bridges; crawl under a bamboo bed; climb over nets; and climb up ropes to arrange the pieces of their flags on a beam. They had to make three trips to successfully hoist their flags, traversing the obstacle course.

At the sound of Chidi’s whistle, the survivors charged with fervour. They soon lost steam when they got to the final round of the first stage.

By the time Paschal fixed the three pieces of his flag, James was battling to fix his third piece; while Nuhu was attempting

to fix his second piece. Both Onyiniye and Uzor were attempting to fix the first piece of their flag.

Chidi noticed that Paschal’s flag was not properly fitted and asked him to properly fit it; which he did. James’s large frame and his notoriety for boasting about his toughness did little to help him overcome the challenge. He watched helplessly as Paschal coasted to victory.

At intervals, he appeared to give up but still he kept at it.

Chidi soon brought the game to an end.

Onyinye fixed one of her flags while Nuhu and James fixed two each.Uzor fixed none. For his victory, Paschal received a toothbrush. In Gulder Ultimate Search 9, the survivors had been making use of chewing sticks, as all luxury items, including tooth brushes, were taken away from them.

For her dismal performance, Uzor had the Stump of Shame tied to her right leg.

Asides being forbidden to talk to fellow warriors, she was to drag it everywhere she went. She however heaved a sigh of relief when she learnt that the challenge was not intended to evict a survivor.

The show goes on tonight on AIT, African Magic World (DSTV), Real Star (Star Times), AKBC, Uyo and ITV (Benin) at 10pm.

IVE new judges have been sworn into the Abia State Judicial Division.

The state now has 26 judges in the State High Courts and seven in the Customary Court of Appeal.

The five new judges comprise three for the High Courts and two for Customary Court of Appeal, who were nominated by the State Judicial Council (SJC) and approved by the National Judicial Council (NJC).

The three new High Court judges are Ugbo Ononogbo (Mrs.), Collinton Uche Okoroafor and Amanze Chikwendu Chioma.

Those of the Customary Court of Appeal are Uche Nathan Wachukwu and Agbara Amaobi Laz. They took the oaths of office in the presence of Governor Theodore Orji and the Solicitor-General/Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Justice Enyinnaya Okezie.

Orji noted that the new judges were selected and screened on merit.

He said: “Therefore, they are not supposed to owe any allegiance to any groups of persons in the system or outside the system.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

57

NEWS Three held for ‘illegal’ possession of elephant tusks From Austine Tsenzughul, Bauchi

HREE persons have been arrested in Bauchi State for allegedly possessing illegal elephant tusks and other preserved species of wild animals believed to have been stolen from the Yankari Game Reserve Museum.

A statement by Caleb Yerima, the Information Officer of the Yankari Resort and Safari Limited, said the items include warthog, porcupine, civet cat, honey badger, genet, guinea fowls, monitor lizards and squirrels.

The suspects’ names were identified as Esther John, from Benue State; Aisha Magaji and Abdullahi Adamu of Dadda village.

Adamu allegedly harboured poachers in his home, which shares boundaries with the game reserve in Bauchi and Plateau states.

The statement added that the poachers were arrested by the Reserve Rangers on surveillance duty at Mainamaji village, Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

T

Falana files N5b suit against FCT minister over demolition of 372 houses

A

FRONTLINE lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has filed a N5billion suit against the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed, at an Abuja High Court for the demolition of 372 housing units belonging to a developer, Minannuel Investment Limited.

The plaintiff is praying the court to compel the minister to pay N5billion as

By Adebisi Onanuga

special and general damages for the “illegal” demolition of its housing estate.

Minnanuel Investment Limited had filed the suit against Mohammed and the FCT for the demolished property on Airport Road, Abuja.

The demolition allegedly occurred between September 29 and October 1.

In the writ of summons,

which Falana filed on behalf of the company, the plaintiff is asking the court to grant its declaration that the demolition was illegal, null and void.

It added that the minister’s action violates the provisions of sections 47,50,51,53,60,83 and 84 of the Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Act (N138), Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The plaintiff is also pray-

ing the court to declare that the demolition violates its right to fair hearing, the right to property and the right to housing, as guaranteed by sections 33, 43 and 44 of the 1999 Constitution and Articles 7 and 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (CAP A9), Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

No date has been fixed for hearing.

Igbo in Sokoto get Eze Sokoto

M

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

•Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu (middle) receiving a birthday present from the state’s Director-General, Media and Publicity, Danladi Ndayebo (right) during the governor’s 57th birthday at his home in Minna...yesterday

‘Al-Makura has no reason to complain’

A

N Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) stalwart in Nasarawa State, Nurudeen Omar, yesterday urged Governor Tanko Al-Makura to work for the people instead of complaining.

Omar, who spoke with The Nation in Abuja, noted that it was unbecoming of Al-Makura to openly complain about a lack of excitement.

He said it is wrong for the governor to hide under “enormous pressure” for his alleged non-performance.

Being a governor, Omar said, is a privilege entrusted to him by the people of the state.

Omar said: “How can a

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor

governor in Nigeria come out publicly to tell Nigerians that he is not excited being a governor and that there is too much pressure on him? If that is true, he should pack his load and go. He has no reason to continue to be governor of Nasarawa State. My understanding of the statement is that he is abusing the privilege of those who gave him their votes.

“Such a statement is not supposed to come from a sitting governor. To me, the governor is simply abusing the intelligence of the average voter in Nasarawa State. Being a governor is a privilege to him and he should be

proud that the electorate gave him their mandate to superintend over them.”

The ACN chieftain urged the governor not to hide under the guise that the past administration left N29billion debt, which hampers his performance.

He said: “Let us assume it is true that the former governor left a debt of N29billion. But has the governor told the people of the state what he has done with the money he collected from May 29, 2011 up to date? Has he told us what he collected and what he did with it? Transparency demands that he should tell the people how much he collected from Abuja and what he did with it. We don’t know

JTF parades five suspected fraudsters in Yobe

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HE Joint Task Force (JTF) on Yobe State security yesterday paraded five suspects for allegedly defrauding some residents with a promise to help them release their relaitions in JTF custody.

Addressing reporters in Damaturu, the state capital, JTF spokesman Lt. Eli Lazarus said the suspects, who formed a syndicate, collected money from unwary people with relatives in the task force’s custody and promised to get their

A HUGE crowd yesterday in Benin, the Edo State capital, witnessed the inauguration of Governor Adams Oshiomhole at the Dr. Sam Ogbemudia Stadium.

A former media aide to the governor, Prince John Mayaki, compared the ceremony to the crowd that witnessed the nation’s Independence 52 years ago.

Addressing reporters at the inauguration, Mayaki said: “The crowd you are seeing here today is to justify the popular mandate given to Oshiomhole at the poll. You can see the massive crowd, which is reminiscent of the crowd that witnessed the nation’s Independence 52 years ago.

This is a mandate for good governance.

“Oshiomhole understands the import of this mandate. It is a mandate in support of the continuation of the transformation he initiated in the last four years. It is a mandate for the continuation of the people-oriented policies that takes us daily towards a brighter and rewarding future.

Kwankwaso to train more youths overseas

From Adamu Suleiman,

EMBERS of the Sokoto State Igbo Council Community have elected Chief Ozor Tony Nweke the new Eze Igbo III. The council comprises members from the five Southeast states.

Nweke promised to ensure peaceful co-existence, harmony and inter-religious cooperation between the Igbo community and Sokoto residents.

The new Eze succeeds the late Eze Muhammad C. Nwike, who died on June 17.

The position of Eze Igbo is open to any Igbo from the five eastern states resident in a state.

Addressing reporters yesterday at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre in Sokoto, the Chairman of the council, Chief Elder Stephen Akoma, said Nweke beat two other contestants.

He was said to have polled 14 votes against the nine votes of Chief Alfa C. Umeh, a former Special Adviser to former Governor Attahiru Bafarawa on Residents’ Communities. The third candidate, Moses Eze, had three votes.

‘Oshiomhole’s second term for good governance’

•Govt imposes curfew on four towns From Duku JOEL, Damaturu

bail.

He said some people were convinced that the suspects facilitated the release of such suspects as many of them in custody were coincidentally released.

Lt. Lazarus said luck ran out on the suspects after one of their attempts failed and the family alerted the JTF. The military officer said

this led to the arrest of members of the syndicate.

Lt Lazarus urged the public to stop offering money for the release of suspects in JTF custody.

He added: “JTF does not grant bail to anybody. We normally release people unconditionally after screening.”

The Yobe State Government has re-imposed curfew on four major towns.

In a statement in

Damaturu, the state capital,

by Abdullahi Bego, the Special Adviser on Information and Press Affairs to Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, the government listed the towns as Damaturu, Gaidam, Gashua and Buni Yadi.

The statement said the curfew is from 6pm to 7am daily, beginning from November 11.

Lt Lazarus confirmed the imposition of the curfew, adding that it would enhance security.

what he collected. We don’t know what he did with what he collected.”

The politician said he was pained that no development is happening in Nasarawa State.

Omar said the governor should also tell the people what he did with the N400million the Federal Government gave the state’s flood victims.

KANO State Governor Musa Kwankwaso has said his administration would open up opportunities for the youths to realise their potential for the development of the state and Nigeria.

The governor spoke yesterday in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), when he visited Skyline University College, a private university.

He hinted of the possibility of his administration sponsoring Kano youths to study at the university.

Kwankwaso said his administration would collaborate with the institution to set up a campus in Kano or get the government’s support to attain its goals in education.

ADENIRAN OGUNSANYA COLLEGE OF EDUCATION Formerly Lagos State College of Education Km 30, Badagry Expressway, Otto-Ijanikin, Lagos Alumni Association

NOTICE OF DISCLAIMER With reference to the notice of Congress published in The Nation newspaper, Friday 9th November, 2012 for a Congress of the Association called by National Executive Council of 2007 till date. We need to say without any prejudice that such publication is not only misleading but mischievous. We need to state unequivocally that we dissociate ourselves from the publication and wish to place on record that a credible election was conducted on the 3rd November, 2012 at NOWA Senior Secondary School, Alakija, Navy Town which produced the current National Executive Council of the Association.

The election was followed immediately by a well attended swear-in ceremony and certificates of victory were presented to the winners by the Electoral and Caretaker Committees.

We therefore appeal to our members to disregard any information, memo from the dissolved Exco (2007- March, 2012) and henceforth honour and take instructions from the new National Exco being led by Com Adeyemi Adesanya.

Regrets any inconvenience, embarrassment that the notice of congress might have caused.

Signed: Oladele Abiodun - Public relation officer (2007 - March, 2012) Ogunmade Sunday - Social secretary (2007 - March, 2012) Dr (Mrs) Buraimoh Olawunmi - Assistant General Secretary (2007 - March, 2012) Quadry Rafiu Tunde - Financial Secretary (2007 - March, 2012) Shina Akintolure - General Secretary (2007 - March, 2012) Cc:

Provost, AOCOED Special Adviser on Education, Lagos State Chairman Governing Council and Members, AOCOED President, Alumni Association, AOCOED

58

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

NEWS Rivers jailbreak: Fleeing inmate held

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NE of the four inmates of the Federal Prisons in Ahoada, Rivers State, who escaped during the October 27 jailbreak, has been arrested.

The Deputy Comptroller of Ahoada Prisons, Mr. Aderibigbe Lawal, yesterday confirmed the arrest.

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

Lawal said security has been tightened at the prisons and was optimistic that the fleeing inmates would be apprehended soon.

During the jailbreak, two inmates were killed by secu-

rity operatives while attempting to escape through the ceiling and nine injured.

The inmates were protesting over crowding in the prison.

As at the time of the jailbreak, it was learnt that the 200-capacity prison was home to 502 inmates.

Rivers is not broke, says commissioner

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IVERS State is not broke, Commissioner for Finance Chamberlain Peterside said yesterday.

He was reacting to rumours that the state government was trying to enforce tax payment because it was broke.

Speaking with reporters in Port Harcourt, the state capital, alongside the Chairman of the Board of Internal Revenue, Mrs. Onene Obele-Oshoko,

From Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

Peterside said people must learn to pay their taxes voluntarily, so that the government can provide basic necessities for them.

He said monthly, the state spends N6.5 billion on salary; N750 million on pension and about N900 million on overhead, totaling N8 billion.

Peterside said improving the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) would reduce the state’s dependence on Federal Allocation.

He said Rivers has saved N34 billion through its monthly N1 billion compulsory savings.

The commissioner said since his appointment in 2011, he has rid the system of ghost workers.

Delta ACN suspends Ogbuagu, two officials

T

HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Delta State has indefinitely suspended three of its members for “unruly behaviour” and disloyalty to the party’s hierarchy.

They include a House of Representatives candidate in the 2011 election, Mrs. Ve-

From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

ronica Ogbuagu; Acting State Financial Secretary Mr. Joel Umokoro and the Publicity Secretary in Uvwie Local Government Area, Mr. Okorefe Mudiaga.

The suspended members were also accused of “persist-

ently dragging the party’s name onto the pages of newspaper” for the wrong reasons.

It was learnt that a sevenman committee, headed by Mr. Hero Omwirhiren, was set up to probe the allegations, but Mrs. Ogbuagu, Umokoro and Mudiaga failed to honour the panel’s invitations.

Man beheaded in Edo

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HE headless body of a man was yesterday found at Agip Junction on the Sapele Road in Benin, the Edo State capital.

The blood on the body was still fresh, suggesting that the killing must have occurred in the early hours

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

of the day.

The clothes on the victim indicated that he might be a commercial motorcyclist.

The body has been evacuated and deposited at an undisclosed mortuary.

Shop owners in the area

have refused to open for businesses and might have fled to avoid being arrested by the police.

Police spokesman Anthony Airhuoyo said they are working hard to establish the victim’s identity and apprehend his killers.

Stop spreading lies, Lagos ACN tells PDP

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HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Lagos State has described claims by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Governor Babatunde Fashola was threatening non-indigenes as false.

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, ACN said: “We view the present spreading of tendentious falsehood as one of the many desperate antics of Lagos PDP. “To twist the governor’s position that those who constitute threats to law and order in Lagos should either conform or leave as a threat to non-indigenes is yet another case of the falsehood that now serves as anchor to the miserable lot of Lagos PDP. “To engage in a do-or-die whipping of sentiments over the restriction of the movement of commercial motorcyclists on 475 of the 9,000 roads in Lagos has become the present pastime of a hollow party that continues to clutch at straws for survival.

“We are waiting for the reaction of Lagos PDP to the ban of commercial motorcyclists in over 10 PDP states and in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), since it is now hooked on okada politics for survival.

“Can Lagos PDP prove that only non-indigenes operate commercial motorcycle in Lagos? We dare say that if the PDP had not looted the coun-

try’s wealth since 1999, Nigeria would not be stuck in a situation where graduates and able-bodied youths are forced to make a living by riding rickety motorcycles on highways.

“If PDP did not misappropriate the trillions of Naira that accrued to Nigeria from oil since 1999, would Nigerians not be assured of a more decent life and means of transportation than the deadly motorcycle?”

“Fashola is accommodative of non-Lagosians and has many of them in high positions in his government. He therefore cannot be threatening non-Lagosians.

“ACN frowns at the puerile resort of Lagos PDP to always call on President Goodluck Jonathan to descend on Lagos, as if Lagos is a vassal territory to the PDP and the Federal Government.

“We see this ready penchant to run to Abuja with a plea to deal with Lagos as stupid and outlandish and warn Lagos PDP to stop the foolery of seeing Lagos as an annex of the PDP and the Federal Government, because such is not possible in a federal state.

“We want Lagos PDP to grow up to the fact that Lagos is an autonomous unit of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, whose powers are derived from the Federal Constitution of Nigeria, and not controlla-

•Fashola

ble by the selfish whims and caprices of the PDP, either at the national level or its lollipop hungry state chapter.

“We advise them to quit behaving like over-indulged delinquents and grow up to the reality that the Lagos State Government will always act in the best interest of Lagosians as is the case in the ban of motorcycles in some parts of Lagos.”

Vehicle owners warned THE Lagos State Police Command has warned owner of accident and abandoned vehicles parked Ajao Estate and Apapa Police Stations to remove them or lose them to members of the public through auction.

The vehicles are Mercedez Benz marked BB555 PHC, Toyota Corolla wagon BY851AGL and V/wagon vanagon bus XA472GBA.

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

59

NEWS

Ribadu task force report: ACN says Fed Govt acted in bad faith

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HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the Federal Government of acting in bad faith in the way and manner it has treated the report of the Petroleum Revenue Task Force.

In a statement issued in Benin yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also said the patently tactless action of a presidential aide, Dr. Doyin Okupe, in rubbishing the report and, by extension the members of the task force, will make credible Nigerians to be wary of serving in similar panels in future.

“The fact that the Federal Government has not come out to refute Dr. Okupe’s crude comments on the report is an indication that the position he enunciated publicly on the report represents that of the government. The task force did not complete its assignment and accusing its chairman of disinformation and politicisation amounts to preparing the

ground for the dumping of the report,” ACN said.

The party said the treatment meted out to the task force by a self-acclaimed ‘’attack lion’’ of the presidency is the worst blow any government has dealt its own panel, “and confirms ACN’s earlier statement that the Federal Government deliberately set a booby trap for the task force by the suspicious timing of the appointments it gave to two of its members, Steven Oronsaye and Bernard Otti, in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).”

It went on: “Unfortunately, despite its angry reaction to our earlier statement, the government is yet to convince us otherwise. If anything at all, it has gone ahead to make our statement look prescient.

“We are not even talking of the merits or demerits of the task force’s report, but of the way the chairman and members of the task force (minus the two dissenting ones) have

been savaged. This is a task force that has as members several Senior Advocates of Nigeria and a former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, among others.

“Even if the government feels the report is inconclusive, could it not have set up a panel to review the findings?

Is it not also the prerogative of the government to even leave the report to gather dust, if it does not agree with the findings, instead of publicly ridiculing its own task force?

“The unprecedented outpouring of public opprobrium on the task force by the same government that set it up makes a mockery of governance, and does no credit to the Jonathan administration, which is always quick to accuse the opposition of insulting its principal. A government earns respect by its actions. It is futile demanding it (respect).”

Cleric urges Nigerians to be patriotic

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HE Provost of St. Theresa’s Church, Cherubim & Seraphim (Imene El’Shaddai), Mushin, Lagos, Prophet Wole Alaba Shitta, has urged Nigerians to be patriotic.

Shitta, who spoke on Sunday at the closing ceremony

of a week-long annual thanksgiving service of the church, said Nigerians should think of what they could do for their country, not what their country could do for them, adding: “This is why the United States of America and other

advanced countries are great today.”

He said: “Our leaders should rule well so that they will be held in high esteem by the citizens as South Africans hold Dr. Nelson Mandela in high esteem.”

FOREIGN NEWS Ki-moon concerned over Syrian clashes with opposition in Golan

U

N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern over the clashes between Syrian security forces and armed opposition in the UN supervised area of the Golan Heights, which prompted a response from Israel.

Ban, in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, urged both countries to exercise restraint and halt fire.

“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by the potential for escalation.

“He calls for the utmost restraint and urges Syria and Israel to uphold the Disengagement Agreement, respect their mutual obligations, and halt

firing of any kind across the ceasefire line,’’ the statement quoted him as saying.

The Golan Heights is an area between Syria and Israel, where the peacekeeping mission - UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) - monitors the 1974 disengagement accord between the two countries after their 1973 war.

In July, the UN Security Council agreed to extend the mission’s mandate until December 31, this year.

According to media reports, Syrian small arms fire and one artillery round landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan on Sunday, prompting a response by Israel.

No injuries to civilians or UN personnel in either instance were reported.

More than 20,000 people, mostly civilians, are said to have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 20 months ago.

The violence has spawned more than 380,000 refugees, while more than 2.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to UN estimates.

On Tuesday the UN UnderSecretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, warned of signs of the violence spilling over to neighbouring countries.

Western Guatemala shaken by another earthquake

A

STRONG earthquake struck western Guatemala on Sunday only days after a quake with a magnitude of 7.2 caused severe damage and claimed dozens of lives.

People in San Marcos, which was badly affected by Thursday’s earthquake, ran into the streets in panic when the earth started shaking again on Sunday, the newspaper ‘Prensa Libre’ reported.

The earthquake was felt throughout the Central American country.

There were no reports of damage or casualties in Sunday’s earthquake, which had a magnitude of 6.2, according

to Guatemala’s seismological institute, Insuvimeh.

Eddy Sanchez, director of Insuvimeh, said the seismic activity could go on for weeks.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said that the earthquake struck at 4:15 p.m. and it also said its magnitude was 6.2 on the Richter scale.

The epicentre was under the Pacific Ocean about 180 Km south-west of Guatemala City, the USGS said.

Thursday’s earthquake, the worst to hit Guatemala in decades struck in the same area.

Emergency service officials initially put the death toll at 52, but the latest official report on Sunday placed the

death toll at 44. just as more than 2,000 houses were destroyed.

Sunday’s quake forced President Otto Perez Molina to interrupt a news conference in which he was reporting about assistance to the victims of Thursday’s quake, news reports said.

The Thursday quake hit hardest in the south-western areas of San Marcos and Quetzaltenango near the border with Mexico and was followed by about 30 aftershocks.

Molina said Thursday’s quake was the worst to hit his country since 1976, when an earthquake killed 23,000 people.

THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13 2012

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NEWS SWEARING-IN OF EDO STATE GOVERNOR ADAMS OSHIOMHOLE

Osun ACN to receive defectors

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•Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan (left) and President, Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.

•Edo State Deputy Governor, Dr Pius Egberamwen Odubu (middle) taking the oath of office before Justice Cromwell Idahosa...yesterday.

•Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon

•Former Ogun State Governor, Aremo Olusegun Osoba

•Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha (left) and former Ekiti State Governor, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo.

•ACN National Publicity Secretary Lai Mohammed

UNDREDS of thousand of members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other opposition political parties in Osun State will today defect to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Governor Rauf Aregbesola and the Acting Chairman of the party, Mr. Adelowo Adebiyi, will receive the defectors at a mega rally which will hold at the Government Technical College, Osogbo.

Leaders of the ACN from all the 30 Local Government Areas will welcome the defectors.

According to a statement by the party’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, the defectors who were prominent members of the PDP spread across all the 30 Local Government Areas.

Oyatomi, who called on all progressive politicians in the state to troupe out en mass to welcome the defectors, stressed that security arrangements have been perfected to ensure a hitchfree rally.

He said the defectors were convinced by the wonderful works of Aregbesola in the last two years, hence their decision to drop umbrella and embrace broom revolution, adding that the ACN in the state was more determined than ever before to set the pace for other political parties in the country.

Members of the State Executive Council and the lawmakers are also expected to grace the occasion which will also have in attendance Executive Secretaries of the 30 Local Governments.

Your Sexual Health & You: Novelty Tips, Questions & Answers

G

ood day sir. I value your column and I have gained a lot from your analysis. I am 24 years and still a virgin. But it is awful that anytime I romance or dance with a girl in parties, I ejaculate in no time. I don’t last at all. Although I am not ready for sex, I would really like to be able to keep my woman in the future and I understand that quality romance and good sex is necessary – Lekan Dear Lekan, you will be fine. Such early release when stimulated is common among young men who are not sexually active and is a bit similar to a wet dream. You see, whether or not you are having sex, your testes produces semen which carries the sperm cells. Once semen builds up inside the body with no sexual intercourse for long periods of time, it over flows with sexual stimulation, whether it be in your dreams or while dancing, kissing or touching a female. This is normal and will stop when you eventually become sexually active. It does not mean that you will experience premature ejaculation when you start having sex. But if you do, call us. There are lots of solutions for premature ejaculation – Uche As a woman, I understand that the vagina comes with an odour many times. It happens to all women. But it is still embarrassing. How do I deal with it? During intercourse, I hate it when the whole room smells of vaginal odour. My husband is not complaining, but I hate it – Rose Rose, the male and female genitals have a peculiar sexual scent.

In women, this scent gets stronger during perspiration or when they have worn underwear for hours. Women can reduce this odour by wearing lacy underwear or Crotchless underwear which allows greater air circulation. They can also reduce this odour by bathing or cleaning the genitals with wet wipes before intercourse. And finally, if you want to be able to have sex whenever you want and not perceive any kind of genital odour, your best bet is the use of a scented lubricant. 69 Blow Me

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My girlfriend was very proud and has nicknamed me Mr Reliable because I don’t disappoint in bed any more. I have used this Emperor Cream many many times and it is still working. So I believe you people now – Kabiru I never have energy for more than one round of sex. My erection is fine, but no energy – Paul Dear Paul, there are energy boosting supplements that can help you.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13 2012

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THE NATION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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NEWS Edo Governor Oshiomhole at inauguartion says, I’ll focus on people Continued from page 4

ly those leading to venue of the event and security was tight.

Former House of Representatives member Patrick Obahiagbon, who was a compere at the ceremony, held the audience spell bound with his high sounding words.

Oshiomhole came into the venue in a long convoy. He was accompanied by some governors, including The Delta’s Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and his Rivers counterpart Chibuike Ameachi.

Deputy Governor Pius Odubu was dressed in a white Benin traditional attire. Oshiomhole was decked in his trademark short-sleeve khaki.

The crowd was entertained by a special ceremonial parade by the police, led by Bassey Etim, a Superintendent. Traditional dancers from across the state performed.

Ambulances were on standby to attend to emergency cases.

Members of Nigerian Union Teachers who last week threatened to boycott the event over the sack of some of their members were present.

Professional Wood Workers Association members, who wanted Oshiomhole to fullfill his promise of establishing a furniture park, were there.

The secretary of the association, Lucky Nagbama, is sure that Oshiomhole would perform better.

Chairman of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, Osakpamwan Eriyo, said a central motor park, in line with the on-going construction of roads in Benin City,

was needed.

This, he said, would enable members of the association removed their vehicles from the streets.

After the oath of office was administered on him and his Deputy, Dr. Pius Odubu, by the Chief Judge, Justice Cromwell Idahosa.

Oshiomhole said tertiary education would get a big boost.

He also said he would ensure massive development of industries and attract direct foreign investments that would ensure that youths are gainfully employment.

The governor thanked the people for their massive support at the July 14 governorship election, saying that he would not renege on his electioneering promises.

“I salute all co-contestants during the election whose roles have helped to deepen and strengthen democracy in our state.

“We continue to count on your support to take Edo State to the next level. I use this opportunity to invite all of you to join me to transform and reposition our dear state,’’ he said, adding: “I believe that it is very critical that we take full advantage of our renewed mandate to build a solid future without forgetting the past.

“We must realise that at the end of the day, it is our responsibility to leave lasting legacies that will continue to promote the general good.

“Our people deserve the best and must, therefore, not be treated as objects of manipulation, but as citizens that participate robustly in the politics

of their communities to advance their interests.

“It is under such conditions that politics can throw up good leaders, democratic policies and programmes that would benefit our people.’’

Oshiomhole praised traditional rulers for their immeasurable goodwill, prayers and support before, during and after the July 14 elections.

He also paid tribute to his late wife, Clara, his assassinated principal private secretary, Olaitan Oyerinde, and four journalists who died during his campaign.

Among the dignitaries at the inauguration were former Head of State Gen. Yakubu Gowon and the leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Oshiomhole’s party, led by National Chairman Chief Bisi Akande and National Leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Governors Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Peter Obi (Anambra), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Babatunde Fashola (Lagos) and Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) attended the ceremony.

Business tycoon Alhaji Aliko Dangote represented the business community. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) team was led by its President Abdulwaheed Omar.

There were also former Minister of Defence Maj-Gen Godwin Abbe and Senators Chris Ngige and Daisy Danjuma. Exgovernors Aremo Olusegun Osoba and Otunba Niyi Adebayo also attended.

From the royalty came the

Oba of Benin, who was represented by palace chiefs and Benin crown Prince Eheneden Erediauwa. The Sultan of Sokoto was represented by the Magajjin Sokoto.

Oshiomhole said: “With the power of God on our side and our sheer determination to change a situation we began the journey of mobilising and inspiring the people to accept that if something is wrong, time cannot make it right.”

“With the support and guidance of God, we are here as free people to participate in the swearing in ceremony. Only God in his infinite powers could have helped us to defeat those forces of darkness so that its light can shine. So I ask you to join me to give thanks to Almighty God for all his mercies and for all he has done, not only for me, not only for Action Congress of Nigeria, but indeed for the good people of Edo State and Nigeria,” he said.

Outlining his blueprint for the second term, the governor said: “We are now determined to shift focus to industries. We are now determined to do all of those things we need to put in place, not only to retain the investors that are already here but also to attract new foreign direct investment.”

He expressed joy that with the positive and enabling environment that government is creating, private investors are responding positively.

On water supply, Oshiomhole said: “We are determined to rescue the water supply in Benin City and sustain our borehole projects in our rural communities.”

The Ekiti State Governor said he is convinced that Edo people would witness greater development in Governor Oshiomhole’s second term given Oshiomhole’s genuine concern for the development of the state and his people-oriented policies.

Fayemi who was among prominent national leaders that graced the inauguration ceremony Oshiomole occupies a special place in the hearts of Edo people through excellence performance.

Describing Oshiomhole as a performer and achiever in gov-

ernance, Fayemi said his second term in office would afford the people of Edo State to reap more dividends of democracy.

Fayemi said “ The Edo election has taught us some lessons and has set a precedence for us in Ekiti to follow. The Edo people have shown that good performance will always be rewarded. I have no doubt that Edo State will witness greater development during this second term and through good performance, ACN will win more states in next election.

Arewa seeks abolition of indigene-settler policy

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OR peace to return to the North, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has asked the 19 governors in the region to abolish indigene/ settler policy.

It canvassed compulsory education for all children of school age and return of mission schools to their former owners.

The Forum advised Northern state governments to end dependency on oil revenues because the nation’s oil might soon dry up.

These are some of the recommendations in the ACF’s “Roadmap for Peace, Unity and Development of Nigeria which was recently submitted to the Northern Governors Forum by the chairman of the group, Alhaji Aliko Mohammed.

The blueprint urged Northern states governors to take

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

“practical measures” to end the conflict between Fulani herdsmen and crop farmers in some parts of the region.

The document said: “Government should take steps to address the indigene/settler question. It is recommended that states/LGAs should adopt a common protocol making anyone born in a particular community an indigene of that community.

“Appropriate legislation must be put in place to address the problem.

“The capacities of local communities to take ownership of the peace building process through dialogue among all levels of leadership must be enhanced.

“Town-planning regulations should discourage the indiscriminate building of places of worship.”

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13-11-2012

TODAY IN THE NATION

TUESDAY,NOVEMBER 13, 2012 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL. 7

NO.2,308

‘So if Buhari says no, then Boko Haram should bring out their leaders and we’ll negotiate with them. We are tired of this bombings and killings. Let there be peace in the North.’

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

NE week after his run for the White House went up in a puff, Mitt Romney and company are still trying to figure out what went wrong.

Most of the polls that did not give him a slight lead had him in a statistical dead heat with President Barack Obama. Surging crowds filled the venues of his rallies, following his strong performance against a sedated Obama in their first “debate.” From rally to rally he rode on a wave of enthusiasm, whereas Obama’s supporters sulked in quiet resignation.

In that debate, Romney twisted himself into so many different shapes and sizes that if the contest had been for the contortionist-in-chief of the United States, he would have won it that night for all practical purposes. The one who had made a virtue of being “severely conservative” cut the middle ground from under Obama’s feet with a brazenness that left the usually unflappable Obama utterly confused.

And it worked, splendidly.

In another clime, Romney would have been undone by that debate. For he confirmed his public image as a person without a core, a person who would say anything if he thought it would help him win, inauthentic.

Not for nothing did one of his opponents in the race for the GOP ticket, Jon Huntsman, compare him to “a perfectly lubricated weather vane.”

But in America, where politics is a game like almost everything else, where appearance – they call it “optics” — counts far more than substance, Romney’s contortions catapulted him to front runner.

Nobody remembered anymore his comment about the 47 per cent of Americans who see themselves as victims and have settled for an easy life of dependency, nor the wealth he had salted away in off-shore tax havens, nor yet his sworn determination, in the face of established practice, to release no more than two years of his federal income tax filings.

Not even Obama’s superior performance in the two subsequent “debates” could arrest the Romney momentum. The race dragged on, oscillating within a minuscule window, leading commentators to project all kinds of possible outcomes.

One candidate (Romney) might win the popular ballot but lose the Electoral College vote to Obama, in which case Obama would have to contend with a fresh legitimacy issue that would provide fresh ammunition for the Tea Party crowd and its punditocracy that had spent the better part of the past four years trying to de-legitimise him.

A winner might not be known for several months, and it might fall again to the Supreme Court again, the Republican Party in judicial robes to determine the outcome, according to another scenario. They even conjured up one curious scenario under which Romney would be president, and Obama’s running mate and vice president, Joe Biden, would continue to serve in that capacity in the Romney Administration.

In these permutations, Obama figured only as a secondary actor.

One of the few pollsters who came to a different conclusion was Nate Silver, the computer geek and resident statistician for The New York Times. While others predicted an

O

RIPPLES SIX PHD HOLDERS APPLY AS DRIVERS IN DANGOTE GROUP- News

...Hmmmn COUNTRY HARD OOO

OLATUNJI DARE

AT HOME ABROAD olatunji.dare@thenationonlineng.net

Election USA: A post-mortem

•Obama

outright win for Romney or a squeaker at best for Obama, Silver gave Obama more than eight chances in ten to clinch the race outright. For this, he was denounced endlessly by Romney’s supporters.

Then, a deus ex machina that not even Sophocles could have devised supervened.

Hurricane Sandy struck across 15 states in the North-east, wreaking devastation on a scale America has not seen since Katrina.

Hurricane Sandy called to mind another deus ex machina that had supervened at a critical moment in the 2008 presidential election contest between Barack Obama and John McCain. The race was a ding-dong affair.

Obama had the crowds and the enthusiasm, but this did not translate into a significant

lead in the polls.

The collapse of the stock market changed all that.

McCain called off scheduled rallies and headed to Washington DC, saying he was going to help fix the economy. Obama kept his cool, consulted quickly with the experts, and staked a position that Americans found much more reassuring than McCain’s panicked and erratic conduct. The rest is history.

Hurricane Sandy concentrated national attention on the ruin it had loosed on a vast swathe of the United States and to the efforts to deal with its aftermath. It offered President Obama to do what he does best – uniting the nation at a time of grief, and playing comforter-in-chief. There, on splendid display, and unsullied by the bitterness that has been the hallmark of the campaign – there was the essential Obama.

But I am not persuaded that it slowed down or arrested Romney’s momentum, as his camp is now claiming. Right up to Election Day, they believed that they had the game in the bag, and their own internal polling and a good many of the independent polls appeared to back them.

Romney and his inner circle certainly believed it.

He had written and tucked in his vest the acceptance speech he would deliver moments after Obama would have called to concede.

Boats moored along Boston harbor, had been detailed to launch a spectacular eight-minute fireworks to herald Romney’s victory. This was, to be sure, an incongruous move in the major city of a state that had just rejected

HARDBALL

T

HE Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is urgently putting together an intervention force of about 4,000 soldiers to reclaim Northern Mali from Tuareg rebels who on April 6, under the banner of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), unilaterally declared the independent state of Azawad. According to rebel leaders, Azawad, which constitutes about 60 percent of Malian territory, comprises the regions of Timbuktu, Kidal, Gao, as well as a part of Mopti region. If the territory endures, it will share borders with Burkina Faso to the south, Mauritania to the west and Northwest, Algeria to the north and Northeast, and Niger to the east and Southeast, with southern Mali to its Southwest. After the Battle of Gao on 27 June, the Islamist groups Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa and Ansar Dine took control of northern Mali, pushing out the MNLA. Until a number of issues are resolved, however, it would be unwise for Nigeria to join forces with the intervention force in Mali. Some of these issues were thrown up by the March coup d’etat led by Captain Amadou Sanogo, which saw the deposition of President Amadou Toumani Traore. Shortly after, ECOWAS imposed a shortlived regime of sanctions to pressure Sanogo to relinquish power. But even before crippling sanctions brought the usurpers to heel, ECOWAS inexplicably accepted a disingenuous compromise that foolishly forced the resignation of the president a month to the end of his tenure. It also led to the appointment of the former Speaker of the National Assembly of Mali, Dioncounda

Before we move into Mali

Traore, as the interim president, former Foreign minister, Cheick Modibo Diarra, as prime minister, and the installation of a new cabinet.

While the coup leaders, unprincipled Malian politicians, and pusillanimous ECOWAS leaders engaged in horse-trading, the rebels in the northern parts of the country seized the opportunity to declare independence. This made the coup, which was in the first instance staged to force the deposed president to take the rebellion more seriously, quite absurd. In fact, Reuters described the coup as a “spectacular own-goal,” and Hardball in one of his many essays on Mali described the short-lived ECOWAS sanctions as snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

It is obvious the UN Security Council is eager to approve the ECOWAS force in Mali because of the fear that Azawad was already turning into a hotbed of Islamic militants affiliated to al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM). Not only have the rebels brought Azawad under strict Afghanistan-type Sharia law, with stoning of suspects and amputation of their limbs, they have also welcomed battle-hardened militants from Libya and adventurers from Algeria looking for a fight. Neither ECOWAS nor the Security Council is prepared to have another territory in Africa where hotheads are trained and exported.

Before Nigeria signs up for the Mali adventure, it must do its homework well, and the

WAHEED ODUSILE

him overwhelmingly at the polls. But then, nobody has ever accused Romney of subtlety.

A web site for President-elect Mitt Romney was already up and almost running. Offices had been acquired in Washington DC to house his transition team.

Romney was set to hit the ground running, as they say here, though he would have to wait until taking office on January 20, 2013, or Day One as he called it on the stump, to abolish “Obamacare,” the health care delivery law enacted by the Obama Administration and affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States. It did not matter in the least that it was modeled on the law Romney had enacted as governor of Massachusetts.

By the time they called Ohio some three hours after the poll closed, it was all over for Romney. Nate Silver, the resident statistician at The New York Times, had it right all along.

Hurricane Sandy undermined the Romney mantra that big government was an aberration, whereas the private sector is the answer to every problem under the sun. It exploded Ronald Reagan’s oft-cited dictum that there are no words in the English language more terrifying “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

But in the end, I think it was Romney’s phoniness that brought him to grief — his lack of a core, his inauthenticity, his cavalier treatment of politics as an amoral game in which winning is the only thing that counts, his belief that he could fool all the people all the time.

This was what Obama distilled into a powerful closing argument in the final days of the race. “You know me,” the drained and bone-weary candidate seeking re-election said at each stop. “You know what I stand for. You know that I say what I mean. You know that I mean what I say. . .”

Romney had no answer to that one.

Former President Clinton, who played a pivotal role in the Obama campaign, drove home the point to teeming admirers who remember his tenure as an era of prosperity.

The genius that has sustained the United States through the centuries prevailed. A bourgeoning progressive majority that cut across class and color and creed and tongue and gender and sexual orientation saw through the flakiness. It refused to submit to the fear-mongering, the race baiting, the xenophobia, the homophobia, and the demagoguery that constituted the pillars of Romney’s bid for the White House.

•For comments, send SMS to 08082036515

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above National Assembly must ensure it is satisfied before authorising the use of force. First is the fact that Algeria, which shares a 1,400km border with northern Mali, and which would be affected by a war next door, still thinks there is room for negotiations. Moreover, the US Secretary of State, Mrs Hillary Clinton, and the UN have been unable to persuade Algeria to agree to the use of force. Second, and more crucially, the underlying problems which predisposed groups to rebellion have not been addressed. The coup leaders foolishly played into the hands of the rebels by destroying democracy in Mali. If ECOWAS regains northern Mali, is it to hand it over to Captain Sanogo, who while not in power still wields enormous influence over the country and its weak interim leadership? In April, ECOWAS irresponsibly agreed to a 12-month transition to elected government. It is not clear how the defeat of rebels will serve as impetus to democracy, when it seems more paradoxically likely that it would serve as breathing space for Sanogo and his stooges.

Before going into Mali, Nigeria must insist on the coup leaders surrendering effective control, their retirement from the military, and a reconstitution of the country’s security system. It is no use risking the lives of our soldiers for a cause that is doubtful and whose ends are uncertain and helpful only to coup leaders. Nigeria must also examine how far the transitional government has gone in restoring civil rule, especially when the ECOWAS mandate given to the Interim President to organise presidential and legislative polls will expire in five months.

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