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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2012
NEWS Lawmaker raises alarm over phone hacking •Says I am not stranded in the UK . From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation
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HE Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Senator representing Kogi West, Senator Smart Adeyemi has raised the alarm that his MTN telephone number 08033193502 has been hacked into by unauthorised elements. He said the hackers had been soliciting N7.5million assistance because he is stranded in the United Kingdom . He said that hackers have also been making outlandish claims of how he could help them acquire choice plots of land within the FCT upon payment of a particular sum. In a statement last night, Adeyemi said he is not stranded in the UK and claimed that he had discarded the phone number many months ago owing to undue pressure. He expressed regrets that the same number has been “ hacked into by unknown persons who used it to send messages to many of his contacts seeking financial assistance from them as well as promising them some kinds of favour. The statement said: “The message by the hackers to Senator Adeyemi’s contacts was: ‘Sorry I didn’t tell you about my trip to UK for a short vacation, kindly assist me by sending someone to credit the account of one of my younger brothers who is billed to join me in the UK next week with about N7.5m. I really need the money urgently. Please, let me know if you can help me out. I’m looking forward to hearing from you’. “Senator Adeyemi described the hackers as unscrupulous, conscienceless, evil and ungodly, emphasising that he neither sent nor authorized anyone to send out such messages on his behalf. “He therefore asked all those who have received the ludicrous, antic, burlesque, risible, silly and zany solicitation to ignore it, while thanking well-meaning Nigerians who brought the issue to his attention.
NUC cautions Kano, Osun over sponsoring of students to Ukraine
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HE National Universities Commission (NUC) yesterday cautioned Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwakwanso and his Osun State counterpart Rauf Aregbesola over the sponsorship of too many students to one country for higher studies.It said the trend would not promote diversity of knowledge. Speaking in Abuja yesterday at a roundtable on Cross Boarder Higher Education Strategic Partnership organised by the Commission and the British Council, NUC Executive Secretary Prof Julius Okojie noted that sending about 500 students to one country on scholarship would not encourage the spread of knowledge. He lamented that recent Needs Assessment of Nigerian varsities has revealed that they have more than 60 per cent lecturers without PhD, a development, he said, that must be checked. His words: “There is nothing wrong in Nigerian students going for higher degrees abroad, but we can’t send all of them in one direction. If all students go to University of Ibadan (UI) now, we won’t have a spread of knowledge. Some universities have special capacities and prospects; Ibadan is known for medicine and agriculture. It is also wrong to
From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja
send all the students to the United Kingdom (UK) or United States(US). “Spread them so that when they are coming, they will bring their wealth of experience from different countries. There would be that diversity; you need that diversity among the teaching staff; you can’t stay in the same university, with the same people who graduated from the same university, you won’t learn anything from each other. Diversity is very important. When all of them about 500 or 70 per cent of them go in the same direction, we are going to have problem when they come back.” Urging wealthy individuals to send their wards to the right places for higher qualifications, Okojie specifically identified Kano State government, which he alleged recently awarded scholarship to 500 deserving students. It noted that about 70 per cent of such students are going to Ukraine while the rest are to go to Turkey , Jordan and other countries. He suggested that the Federal Government should collaborate with the British Council to coordinate and regulate cross boarder higher education so that de-
serving students can be directed to the right places. Okojie said: “We are talking of facilities. When I was a lecturer at UI, British Council gave me some funds to go and complete my thesis at Edinburgh . We have a problem of what I call competence staff that is going to supervise PhD students. With our regulations, you can’t take more than the given number of students if you are a supervisor and you must be senior lecturer with a PhD. Look at the system where you already have more than 60 per cent who don’t have PhD. “How are they going to supervise? We are looking at the possibility of our people going out which is good for us and still retaining their jobs here because we call it split side training system. “With the Tetfund fund of N3 billion for research and the recent launch of professional journals, you will find out that we are going to stimulate the system for better researches and publications. We also encourage managers of the research fund to include post-graduate students in their programme. It makes room for multi-disciplinary approach to research endeavour.” Okojie expressed optimism that the situation
would change in the next five to six years when academic staff sponsored for overseas training by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Tetfund) return home. The Deputy Director of the British Council, Amir Ramzan, also corroborated the fact that there are Nigerian lecturers without higher qualifications. He noted, however, that cross-boarder tertiary education strategic partnership can help solve the problem. He added that crossboarder tertiary education would also help to address the problem of time and resources militating against acquisition of higher qualification by bringing education opportunities to the country. The British Council deputy director said the roundtable would afford Nigeria and United Kingdom the opportunity of regulating and coordinating cross boarder tertiary education through sharing international experience and learning from other countries. Five universities from the UK which include: Nothingham University , University of Birmingham , University of Huddersfield and 35 Nigerian universities were represented at the roundtable.
Brazilian Navy ship in today
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•Ekiti State Deputy Governor Mrs Funmi Olayinka flanked by Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Ganiyu Owolabi and renowned Oncologist and member, United States National Cancer Advisory Board, Prof Funmi Olopade when the professor visited the Deputy Governor in Ado-Ekiti... at the weekend.
Nigerians should stop this professinal miscalculation, financial suicide
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WO persons have been arrested in London over the disappearance of two Nigerian teenage girls from care in West Sussex. A 34-year-old British man and a 25-year-old Nigerian woman were held in Enfield on suspicion of trafficking. The man was also arrested on suspicion of abduction in an operation involving UK Border Agency officers, Sussex Police and the Metropolitan Police. The pair were held over the alleged trafficking of women from West Africa into Europe for sexual exploitation. The Home Office said the arrests were linked to the disappearance of two teenage girls from care in Worthing in March. Chief immigration officer Jonathan Bush, from the UK Border Agency, said: “We believe we have disrupted a significant organised crime group suspected of being involved in the trafficking of young women into Europe through London. “Today’s arrests were part of a six-month investigation.” The pair are being questioned at police stations in London.
By Precious Igbonwelundu
Senator recommends sack of CBN Governor Sanusi ENATOR Femi Ojudu representing Ekiti Central District has recommended the sack of Central Bank Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi on the grounds that his planned introduction of N5000 note amounted to a misconduct. The Senator, in a statement yesterday said the CBN’s plan to restructure the nation’s currency will cause more harm than good to the nation’s economy and the people’s well-being. Ojudu, who expressed dismay at the proposal, wondered how CBN could, in all sense of professionalism and progress, be thinking of such when the country’s inflationary rate currently
Two held over missing Nigerian girls
By Eric Ikhilae
stands at 12.9 per cent. He urged President Goodluck Jonathan to invoke the provision of Section 11 of the CBN Act to remove Sanusi and his deputies “as their present act of trying to worsen the living conditions of Nigerians constitutes a serious gross misconduct.” He argued that in a country like Nigeria where prices hardly come down, the CBN Governor and his team are literally pronouncing death sentence on Nigerians. In the statement by his media aide, Mr Dimeji Daniels, Ojudu said: “As opposed to its tag ‘Project
C.U.R.E’ (Currency Restructuring Exercise), the socalled project will bring cancer rather than cure to the Nigerian economy. He urged all well-meaning Nigerians to support the opposition to the CBN plan. The Senator said although he was not opposed to a limited autonomy for the apex bank, he believes the current development necessitates an urgent amendment of CBN Act. Ojudu claimed that it has become imperative for all Nigerians to halt what he terms professional miscalculation and financial suicide on the part of the CBN. The lawmaker added that incidents like this only serve to accentuate the need to
overhaul the CBN Act that confers too much powers on the CBN Governor. Relying on Sections 6 subsection 2 (a) and 7 subsection 1 of the CBN Act, Ojudu said it was appalling that the same Governor, who is in charge of the day-to-day management of the CBN, is also the Chairman of the CBN Board to which the management is answerable, meaning that the CBN Governor is answerable to himself. Ojudu said the most unacceptable part of the CBN Act is Section 8 subsection 3 which states that the board stipulates the salaries of the Governor, Deputy Governors and staff of the CBN, which, in other words,
•Senator Ojudu
means that the CBN Governor also stipulates his own salary. He noted that while he believes that the CBN autonomy is very important, there must be checks on such autonomy to ensure that the CBN does not embark on fruitless jamborees like it is currently doing.
ARELY a week after a United States Naval ship, HSV 2 SWIFT visited its Nigerian counterpart for a joint training, the Brazilian Navy offshore patrol vessel AMAZONS P120 is billed to arrive in the country on a four-day port call to the Nigerian Navy. A statement by the Information Officer, Western Naval Command, Lt. Commander, Jerry Omodara, said the ship will berth at the Apapa Port by noon. It will leave on September 7. He said in the course of the visit, the ship’s company will be involved in professional training with the Nigerian Navy. “The Brazilian ship while transiting to Lagos from Cotonou, Benin Republic, Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Nwamba and Shaldag boat of the Nigerian Navy will join her at the seas and conduct a joint maritime exercise today. “The Commanding Officer will pay a courtesy call on the Flag Officer Commanding, Western Naval Command, tomorrow, while an anti-piracy training demonstration for selected Nigerian Navy personnel will take place onboard the visiting ship on Thursday,” he said. Omodara noted that there will be other ceremonial activities on September 7, to mark the Brazilian National Day.