Jonathan's campaign ground bombed

...towards a better life for the people

**

VOL. 25: NO. 62333

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N150

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Kerry’s insult, joke— Amb. Keshi 26&27

KWANKWASO:

Transforming Kano via open governance 37

Jonathan's campaign ground bombed

By Jimitota Onoyume, Caleb Ayansina & Ndahi Marama

•Two killed at Gombe Stadium 3 minutes after President left •Another explosion rocks court premises in Rivers •N6.87trn stolen yearly from Nigeria — AU Report 9

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BUJA— A BLAST, yesterday, ripped through a car park outside Gombe Stadium where President Goodluck Jonathan had addressed a campaign rally barely three minutes after he left. A

Continues on page 5

COLUMNIST: Jonathan is a superior presidential material to Buhari •P.17

Mr & Mrs Lagos socialite, Molade Okoya-Thomas dies @79 55

First Gate:

Details of employment on overseas internship on Page 4.

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JONATHAN IN GOMBE—Emir of Gombe, Alhaji Abubakar Shehu Abubakar III, welcoming President Goodluck Jonathan during the visit of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organization to the Emir's Palace in Gombe, yesterday. Behind the President are PDP Chairman, Adamu Mu'azu, and Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo. Photo: State House.

2 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

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Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 — 3

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4—Vanguard,TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

We’re ready for elections—Service Chiefs •As Abdulsalam warns against inciting utterances •Army has no business in polling booths — IGP •Amuka calls for self censorship

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru, Joseph Erunke & Caleb Ayansina

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BUJA — NIGERIAN Security Chiefs, yesterday, said the military was ready for the general elections expected to commence on February 14 with the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

The Service Chiefs who revealed this at the National Peace Committee for the 2015 elections meeting with representatives of different political parties in Abuja said that all the logistic problems that had affected the 2011 elections had been taken care of to ensure that the elections go as scheduled.

Specifically, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosun said; “We have commenced the airlift of the materials needed for the elections starting from Abuja, we will continue with the elections. The whole spectrum of the elections would be involved. It was logistics problems that made us to postpone the election four years ago, it is not going to happen again, we are already ahead of the game.

“We have a lot of unmanned

airports in Nigeria, we have already deployed our men, we are going to man those airports.

So, should we have saboteurs planning to use any of those airfields, it will be difficult for them. We are going to block all those unmanned airfields. We have already deployed and set up our soldiers to man those airfields. Those are the areas we may have linkages, the airport security, we are already ahead of the game to man the airfields to stop those that will want to bring in illegal materials into the country.''

The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, said that though the military was much occupied with the insurgency in the north-east, they had capacity to tame any act of violence before, during and after the election. He said, “We are not directly involved in elections and electioneering but before the elections, we deploy will our personnel across the nation to assist civil powers and authority. During the elections, as we have done in other states, we also ensure that people are not used to go and cause trouble or mayhem after the elections and

should there be any disturbances, we will assist the police.

“The military will deploy as much as we can across the nation.

Even though we are busy in the north east, we also have capability across the nation.”

Chief of Army Staff General Kenneth Minimah said, “We are aware of the need for security before, during and after the elections. We will deploy across the states of the federation, in areas we discover that have capacity for violence. We are prepared to ensure we have a peaceful election. I appeal to politicians to obey the rules of the game and advise their followers to respect the laws of the land. As stipulated in the Electoral Act and the Constitution, no individual or groups should take the laws into their hands. We want the nation to have peace after this election.”

The former Head of State, General Abdulsalam Abubakar who is the Chairman of National Peace Committee for the 2015 elections said that Nigeria could not afford to experience the kind of electoral carnage that followed election process in some parts of the world, urging politicians to

desist from making provocative statements that are capable of disrupting the nation’s peace.

“I have been involved in a lot of peace talks. It is sad when you go round Africa and see the kind of injuries inflicted on people as a result of electoral violence. We appeal to Nigerians to eschew violence. The contestants signed an accord to maintain peace; we demand that their followers maintain peace. The media has a herculean task to preach peace and avoid sensational reporting.

We are not taking these threats lightly; we have noted the various utterances.”

Support for civil authority The Inspector General of Police, IGP, Suleiman Abba said that the military will have no business to be at the polling booths as it was not its responsibility. He also noted that the support for the civil authority by the military is statutorily provided as it was constitutionally provided in Section 217, adding that the military has the responsibility to support the civil society in maintaining internal security.

Chairman, Vanguard Media Limited, who is a member of the committee, Mr. Sam Amuka, in an interview said it was the responsibility of the media to undertake certain amount of self

censorship, adding, “we should be wary of publishing some statements that can provoke anger and lead to violence.”

On the bashing of the media for allegedly heating up the polity, Mr. Amuka said, “there is no way you won’t bash the media. If you make a statement and the media does not give it attention, how many people will hear it. So the mass media have an important role, to preserve the peace of the country.”

Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu who was represented by the party’s Deputy National Legal Adviser said the leader of the PDP and President of the country, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan had in a number of occasions clearly said that his ambition did not worth the blood of any Nigerian, expressing that the president had showed enough commitment towards ensuring a credible and peaceful election.

Our Error OUR sister title, the Saturday Vanguard, weekend, reported on its front page that ‘PDP warns Clark, Tompolo and Dokubo over war threat’ with a kicker that Jonathan is not an Ijaw leader.

We have since noticed that Chief Edwin Clark was not mentioned in the story.

The error is regretted. —Editor

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015—5

POCKET CARTOON

BUHARI MEETS OPS—From left: Director-General, Buhari Campaign Organisation, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State; Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Ret), Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), during Buhari's meeting with the Organised Private Sector (OPS) at Lagos House, Marina, Lagos Island, yesterday. Photo: Bunmi Azeez.

Jonathan's campaign ground bombed Continues from page 1 suspected female bomber and another woman died in the blast while six other persons sustained various degrees of injury, according to the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, DSP Fwaje Atajiri.

Atajiri, however, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the blast occurred near a carpenter ’s shop in Kashere Street at the Water Board area in Gombe city and not at the campaign rally.

Coordinator of the National Information Centre, Mr. Mike Omeri, who confirmed the blast also disclosed that the African Union Peace and Security Council had approved the mobilization and immediate deployment of 7,500 troops to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram.

The blast occurred in Gombe on a day explosion rocked three court premises in Rivers State with one of the affected courts burnt down by fire.

An eyewitness to the blast in Gombe, Mohammed Bolari, who was at the rally, said the explosion happened at 3:10 pm, three minutes after President Jonathan’s departure.

According to him, “the President had just passed the parking lot and we were trailing behind his convoy when the explosion happened, just 100 metres from the bus we were driving in.”

Jonathan’s appearance in the city came just a day after two blasts in the city, including one that targeted a military checkpoint. At least five people were killed.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive — to breathe, to think, to enjoy, loving — then making that day count!—Steve Maraboli

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HEN times are really challenging, we need something to hold on to, some sort of anchor in the storm. We can find comfort in knowing that there is something bigger than us in all of this; that there is some meaning and purpose for it all- even if we don’t know what that might be.

A positive attitude helps you cope more easily with the daily affairs of life. It brings optimism into your life, and makes it easier to avoid worries and negative thinking.

If you adopt it as a way of life, it will bring constructive changes into your life, and makes them happier, brighter and more successful. With a positive attitude you see the bright side of life, become optimistic, and expect the best to happen. It is certainly a state of mind that is well worth developing.

There was no claim of responsibility for Sunday’s attacks but the city has been hit by suspected Boko Haram militants in the past.

Bolari said of the latest blast: “It is difficult to say how many people were affected because of the confused struggle by the huge crowd leaving the venue to escape for fear of another blast.”

He added that “the explosion led to unrest in the city, with crowds of angry youths attacking anyone seen with any PDP sign. They were shouting and denouncing the President’s visit which they blamed for the attack. We had a difficult time passing through these crowds. At one point a crowd threw stones at our vehicle.

Some reporters sustained cuts from smashed window screens.”

Also confirming the blast while updating newsmen on the security situation in the country in Abuja, Omeri said: “We got confirmation that there was actually a blast at the Water Board Junction in Gombe town.

The incident took place soon after the President and his entourage left the stadium in Gombe.

However, casualty figure is yet to be ascertained,”

he said.

Army gets 7,500 AU troops boost

Omeri also disclosed th at the African Union

Peace and Security Council had approved the mobilization and immediate deployment of 7,500 troops to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram.

According to him, the recent regional and

continental synergy and resolutions to establish a multinational military force by Nigeria’s neighbouring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroon as well as the AU decision on the matter is point of reference.

“The African Union Peace and Security Council, at the recently concluded 24th ordinary session approved the mobilization and deployment of 7,500 troops to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram.

“Consequently, the AU Peace and Security Council is billed to begin to meet in Cameroon on Monday to authorize and finalize the concept of the operation in the fight against “Boko Haram” a decision which has been welcomed by the UN SecretaryGeneral, Mr. Ban Ki Moon.”

Determination

Speaking on the recent b reakthrough recorded

by Nigerian Ar my, Omeri noted that there had been a commendable determination by various stakeholders to tackle the menace of Boko Haram.

“In the couple of days the effort of Nigerian military in checking insurgency in the north east has continued to yield result. On Sunday, Februar y, 1 2015, government troops from 7 Division of Nigerian Army stationed in and around Maduguri, the Borno State capital, successfully repelled a multi-pronged attack launched by Boko Haram from various fronts including Malwa Damboa, Mafa among others.”

He added that “the situation in Adamawa showed that Nigeria military are making remarkable success; many towns under Boko Haram presence have been liberated while towns like Madagali, Gulak, Wagga-mildo, Shelini Sambo-Gari and Gubia are still under Boko Haram presence.

Other areas such as Kirachinga, Pallam and Mayo -Wandu have remained calm and peaceful.”

Explosions rock 3 court premises in Rivers

M e a n w h i l e , explosions, yesterday, rocked three court premises in Rivers State.

One of the affected courts was burnt down by fire.

The courts are in Port Harcourt, Degema and Isiokpo. The explosions occurred barely 48 hours after the national leadership of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, announced suspension of the eightmonth old strike of the Rivers State chapter of the body in Port Harcourt

.

National Publicity secretary of JUSUN, Mr Kayode Igbarago had last weekend in Port Harcourt declared suspension of the strike by the state chapter, saying it was a decision taken by the National leadership of the body.

Confirming the explosions that rocked the three court premises yesterday, the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ahmad Muhammad said dynamite were hurled into the premises by unknown persons in the early hours of the day.

He said the explosives razed down the court in Degema, destroying valuables which included documents, adding that minimal damages were recorded at the court premises in Port Harcourt and Isiokpo.

According to the Police, the timely intervention of the Police reduced impact of the explosives in Port Harcourt and Degema.

DSP Muhammad said the Police had intensified effort to arrest those behind the attack on the properties.

“The Rivers State Police Command wishes to confirm that in the early hours of Monday 02/0/2015 coordinated attacks were launched on judiciary court premises at Degema, Isiokpo and Port Harcourt with explosive devices suspected to be dynamite by unidentified and unpatriotic assailants.

Minimal damages were recorded in Port Harcourt and Isiokpo scenes without affecting the court building and documents while at Degema the court building was razed down and documents burnt. No life was lost.

Areas are now under Police control while Police Bomb Disposal Unit has commenced discreet investigation in earnest."

Scores of insurgents killed in Borno Meanwhile, scores of suspected Boko Haram insurgents were again killed in Tungushe

village of Konduga local government area of Borno state, when the terrorists attempted to invade the village with the intention of sacking over 1,000 soldiers stationed in the area.

Vanguard gathered that the attack took place less than 12 hours after the insurgents attempted to take over Maiduguri and were successfully repelled by the combined efforts of military, youth vigilante and residents, leaving hundreds of the insurgents dead on Sunday morning.

A resident of the area Mallam Ishaku Yerima said the insurgents who tried to invade the town were successfully repelled by soldiers stationed in the village, resulting in the death of scores of the insurgents.

Another resident, Mallam Abubakar Usman in a telephone conversation told Vanguard that “the insurgents came at about 5:00pm on Sunday and engaged the military in a gun battle, throwing explosives and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), but were successfully repelled by the soldiers resulting in the death of hundreds of terrorists.

“A lot of corpses of the insurgents littered the streets and the in the village, as the military seriously dealt with them. The military has done a good job,” Abubakar Usman stated.

He said: “If the soldiers will maintain this tempo, I believe very soon the Boko Haram insurgency will end as they were all defeated in all the recent attacks, while Cameroonian and Chadian troops were also doing a good job worthy of commendation.

A military source who does not want his name in print confirmed the incident, saying that “our men seriously dealt with the insurgents as over 100 of them were killed”.

6—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2015

Gunmen abduct newspaper distributor in Ogun zDemand N40m ransom

By Daud Olatunji

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BEOKUTA—A fourman gang of kidnappers has abducted a major newspaper distributor, Mrs Funlayo Ajayi, in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State.

Vanguard gathered that the woman, who is in her late 50s, was reportedly travelling in her Nissan salon car to collect the day ’s consignment of newspapers at the distribution point along Ejinrin Road, in Ijebu Ode, when the four gunmen blocked her car and abducted her.

She operates her business under the name of Joke Agency in Lagos garage area and was popularly known as Mama Joke.

She was said to be in company of one her aides at the time of the incident.

The kidnappers were said to have reached out to Ajayi’s family members and demanded N40 million ransom.

The victim was said to have been allowed to speak with family members and associates.

It was learned that she told one of the associates: “I do not know where I am.

All they are telling is that they want something from me.”

It was gathered that the case had been reported to the police at Ijebu Ode Area Headquarters, Igbeba.

Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Muyiwa Adejobi, could not be reached at press time for comments.

... as Police kill 3 suspected kidnappers in Edo

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ENIN—THREE suspected kidnappers have been killed by Police in Edo State.

Among items recovered from the suspected kidnappers, who died on the way to the hospital, after a gun duel with police, were one AK-47 rifle magazine and 96 7.62mm live ammunition.

Cholera hits Enugu, many hospitalized

By Austin Ogwuda

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NUGU—AN outbreak of cholera has occurred in Enugu State, leaving several people hospitalized in Nsukka, Udenu and Igboeze South Local Government areas of the state.

Although no life had been reportedly lost, efforts had been intensified by the state government to ensure it does not escalate

Commissioner for Health, Dr. George Eze, visited the affected patients in the various hospitals on Saturday and donated drugs worth over N500,000 to be administered free of charge.

Eze led a team of health workers from his ministry and representatives of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF, and World Health Organisation, WHO, to assess the extent of the disease, to the

hospitals.

At Bishop Shenaham Specialist Hospital, Nsukka, Reverend Josephat Odoh, who represented the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, said: “We have as many as 12 cases admitted in a day, though the situation has improved.”

Dr. Eze said his visit to the three affected hospitals confirmed that Governor Sullivan Chime was passionate about healthcare

delivery in the state and had directed that the drugs should be administered free of charge to the patients.

He said: “As I donate these drugs on behalf of the governor, Sullivan Chime, I urge you to do more.

“I appreciate the way you have managed the disease; it shows that the state will be at peace whenever something similar occurs in these three councils.”

Four killed, as thugs clash in Lagos

By Esther Onyegbula

L RETIREES: Pensioners protest non-payment of their pension in Rivers State, yesterday.

PHOTO: Nwankpa Chijioke.

Man, 35, commits suicide for being impotent in Ondo zNURTW official slumps, dies

By Dayo Johnson

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KURE—A 35-year-oldman, Benson Akintoye, has allegedly committed suicide for being impotent.

The incident occurred at Okiya in Okitipupa Local Government Area, Ondo State.

Vanguard learned that the deceased recently accused one of his friends of causing his predicament, having accused him of touching his manhood with a strange object three months ago.

Vanguard was informed that the deceased did not regain his potency after the complaint and allegedly took his life out of frustration.

Contacted, the Police imagemaker, Mr. Wole Ogodo, said the matter had not been reported to his office.

Meanwhile, a 40-year-old National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, leader, Abayomi Akinfolarin, reportedly slumped and died before he could be rushed to the hospital for medical attention.

He was an executive member of the Bolorunduro/Oboto Unit of the NURTW in Ondo West Local Government Area of the state.

Popularly known as Onipele,

the deceased reportedly slumped and died on his way to the motor park in Ondo.

He reportedly left his residence, at 10, Famakinwa Street, Ondo town, around 5:30am, for the park.

Vanguard gathered that some sympathizers and passers-by rushed to the scene and helped him to the hospital, where he was confirmed dead on arrival.

Doctors were said to have

attributed the death of Akinfolarin to cardiac arrest, but his co-worker at the park said his death should be probed.

Some members said his death was mysterious and could have been caused by cardiac arrest.

It was learned that his family had since buried him at a cemetery in the community.

Police officers in Ondo and Okitipupa confirmed the two incidents to Vanguard.

Police nab 6 robbers in Lagos

By Ifeanyi Okolie

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IX members of a notorious robbery gang that had been terrorizing motorists and pedestrians on Lagos Badagry Expressway and residents of Ijanikin area of Lagos, have been arrested by the police.

The suspects, identified as Solomon Edoh, Gibson Edibi, Ibrahim Ismali, Funbi Aformide, Junior Ekonafe and Rasaq Popoola, were arrested when anti-robbery policemen attached to Ijanikin Police Station, accosted them at Ketu-Ijanikin axis of the expressway, dispossessing innocent motorists of their

valuables.

Vanguard gathered that the bandits, who were armed with locally-made guns and cutlasses, took advantages of bad spots on the expressway to rob motorists and pedestrians at nights.

They were also said to have raided some homes at Divine and Ketu areas of Ijanikin, recently.

Police sources disclosed that the new Ijanikin Divisional Police Officer, Superintendent Robinson Eregare, deployed anti-robbery police to the area in search of the robbers, when he received intelligence report on their activities.

AGOS— FIGHT broke out, weekend, in the densely-populated Ajegunle area of Lagos State among street urchins, popularly called area boys, leaving four persons dead and several others injured.

The fight for supremacy was said to have started during the campaign rally of a state House of Assembly candidate.

Vanguard gathered that politician arrived the abode of a prominent person in Apasa, in the company of his loyalists, majority of who were thugs from Campus.

Meanwhile, there had reportedly been a lingering war between thugs from both areas.

Vanguard gathered that to broker peace in the area, thugs from a particualr locality were barred from escorting politicians to another.

On sighting the thugs from Campus in their territory, those from Apasa challenged them, leading to a free-for-all during which dangerous weapons were used.

Four persons, two of them thugs from both sides, a passer-by and a Hausa trader, were said to have been hit by stray bullets.

The entire area was reprotedly thrown into pandemonium as residents fled their abodes.

The politicians, who could not bring their thugs to order, reportedly fled the scene, leaving everyone at the mercy of the warring factions.

When Vanguard arrived the area yesterday, Policemen were seen in strategic areas, apparently to foil reprisal attacks.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 — 7

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8—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Patience Jonathan denies receiving N3bn from NDDC

By Ben Agande

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BUJA — THE First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has denied reports that she was paid N3 billion by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, for “facilitating the NDDC 2015 budget.”

A statement issued by the Media Assistant to the First Lady, Ayo Adewuyi yesterday, said the first lady was not a member of the National Assembly and could not have facilitated the passage of the NDDC budget.

The media aide to the first lady, who was reacting to an unnamed media report, said the report was “nothing but a hoax, aimed at misleading unsuspecting members of the public, recruit them into their hate campaign against the first lady and to again portray Dame Patience Jonathan as an overbearing and intrusive woman against her well-known passion for peace and advancement of the course of women and children in Nigeria.”

Part of the statement read: “The report went on to say that the first lady collaborated with the former Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, in a number of schemes that enabled them loot the resources of the NDDC. “Nigerians are very conversant with the workings of the National Assembly regarding passage of budgets. Parliamentary process requires that the appropriation bill goes through First Reading, Second Reading and Third Reading and subsequent harmonisation by the two chambers.

“One then wonders at which level of this process the first lady influenced the passage of NDDC budget that warranted her being paid N3 billion for the alleged 'consultancy.'

“Therefore, it will be impossible for one single person to influence its passage or is the author trying to indict our law makers?

“The report is, therefore, to say the least, dubious, diversionary, unfair, unkind, and therefore totally unacceptable.

Dame Patience Jonathan did no such thing.”

PRESIDENTIAL POLL: Court okays fresh suit seeking to disqualify Buhari

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

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BUJA — A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday, fixed February 9 to hear a fresh suit seeking to disqualify the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), from contesting the forthcoming presidential election.

In a ruling yesterday, Justice Ademola Adeniyi directed that copies of the suit be served on Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, who were cited in the matter as 1st and 2nd defendants, respectively, to enable them appear in court on that date.

The court specifically directed that the APC presidential flagbearer should be served by substituted means, to wit: by publication of the originating summons against him in three national dailies.

The action was filed on behalf of a legal practitioner, Mr. Max Ozoaka, by a consortium of lawyers led by four Senior Advocates of Nigeria: Ade Okeaya-Inneh, Ken Njemanze, Prof. Tony Ijohor and Chief Godwin Obla.

Following an ex-parte application they moved in court yesterday, Justice Adeniyi also abridged the time within which the matter should be heard and determined.

The court said its decision to abridge the time within which the defendants could enter their appearances was due to the fact that the presidential poll is already in view.

Meantime, the plaintiff is among other things, praying the court for a declaration that the 1st defendant, Buhari, is not eligible to participate in the 2015 presidential election for failure to comply with the terms for submission of list of candidate and affidavit of personal particulars of persons seeking election to the office of President.

He is also seeking an order of court declaring as invalid the INEC Form C.F. 001 as filled and submitted by Buhari “as being inchoate and manifestly in contravention of the provisions of the Electoral Act.” The plaintiff is contending that Buhari’s failure/refusal to attach evidence of his birth certificate and educational qualifications, “which are conditions inherent/ precedent as prescribed in the form,” was in breach of relevant laws in Nigeria pertaining to presidential election.

Consequently, he prayed the court not to only declare the Form CF. 001 that was submitted to INEC by Buhari for the 2015 presidential election as incompetent, but to also declare that the voters card that was attached to the form was false on

zOrders service of suit on INEC, fixes Feb 9 for hearing the ground that as at when the voters card was issued, the 1st defendant was not a “public servant” as he allegedly stated.

“An order declaring the said voters card as void for containing false information about the identity/occupation of the 1st

defendant.

“An order disqualifying the 1st defendant from contesting and/or participating in the Presidential election fixed for February 14, 2015 or any date that the 2nd defendant may fix on the ground that the

information contained in the 1stbdefendant’s INEC Form CF. 001 is false.

“An order restraining the 2nd defendant from permitting the 1st defendant from participating in the Presidential election fixed for February 14, 2015 or any other date that the 2nd defendant may fix.”

INTERACTION: From left: Olufunke Lawal, representing the Managing Director, News Agency of Nigeria, NAN; Mr. Usman Shuaibu, representing National President, Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ; Professor Viola Onwuliri, Minister of State for Education; Mallam Ibrahim Shekerau, Minister of Education, and Dr. MacJohn Nwabiala, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, during the ministry's interaction with the media and public presentation of Facts and Figures, a booklet on the administration's achievement in education sector in Abuja, yesterday.

Crude export to rise by 150,00bpd as Shell reopens Nembe pipeline

By Michael Eboh, with agency reports

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BUJA — NIGERIA’S crude oil export is set to increase by about 150,000 barrels per day, as Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, yesterday, announced the reopening of the Nembe creek crude oil pipeline, which was shut down due to sabotage.

Using the current crude oil price of $55 per barrel, this will translate to an increase of $8.25 million, about N1.403 billion in Nigeria’s daily crude oil earnings.

The pipeline, according to a spokeswoman for Shell which carries the Bonny Light crude oil for export, was reopened, weekend.

The pipeline was closed January 17, 2015 due to a leak, with the SPDC removing five oil theft connections during the closure.

According to provisional loading programmes, Nigeria plans to export 188,700 barrels per day (bpd) of Bonny Light in March, up from the 171,000 bpd originally planned in

February.

The Trans Forcados oil pipeline, which was shut about the same time with the Nembe creek pipeline has been reopened.

The pipeline, the NNPC said, transports the Forcados crude oil grade in the Niger Delta region and was scheduled to export about 260,000 barrels per day in January and 210,000 bpd in February.

Executive Director, Gas and Power, NNPC, Mr. David Ige, disclosed that the pipeline, which had been shut for about a week due to sabotage, resumed operations a couple of days ago.

Ige explained that the closure of the pipeline network had led to the shutin of about 200,000 barrels per day of crude export, halved Nigeria’s gas production and deprived two key power plants of gas supply.

Ige said: “Forcados is a major artery. When this pipeline is out we lose gas production. It accounts for 40-50 per. cent of gas production in the country.

Professor Chinedu Nebo, Minister of Power, disclosed that the Forcados pipeline was closed after a leak occurred at the Oteghele axis in the southern state of Bayelsa, adding that there was no timeframe yet for the duration of the disruption.

He appealed for the understanding of electricity consumers, for the reduction in power supply which this development would cause.

Oil prices rally above $53 Meanwhile, crude oil prices rose yesterday as investors shrugged off a US refinery strike and focused on a falling U.S. rig count that signalled lower production down the line.

“There were a lot of people on the sidelines waiting for an opportunity to buy,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodity analyst at SEB. “Brent has struggled sideways for a long time but it closed above the 20-day moving average on Friday for the first time since July, and the rig count is falling sharply. So now they think, maybe this is the time to buy.”

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 —9

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BUJA — Nigeria, the world’s seventh largest producer of hydrocarbon, accounts for about 68.1 per cent of the total revenue Africa is losing annually as a result of illegal transfer of revenues abroad.

The report of the Thabo Mbeki High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa adopted on Sunday by African Union Heads of State and Government at their summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia said about $40.9 billion (about N6.87 trillion) of an estimated $60 billion (about N10.08 trillion) lost through such transfers from Africa are traced to Nigeria.

The funds are stolen through corruption, tax evasion and illegal transfer of profits by multinationals, the AU said.

Nigeria, which produces an average of 2.3 million barrels of oil daily as the leading hydrocarbon producer in Africa, is being ravaged by poverty and underdevelopment.

The report also identified Egypt and Morocco as the other countries with the largest estimates of illicit financial flows statistics of $28.2 billion and $20.3 billion respectively.

Nigeria, Egypt top list

Cumulatively, Nigeria and Egypt topped the list of 10 African countries by illicit financial transfers between 1970 and 2008, with $217.7 billion (about N36.57trillion), or 30.5 per cent, and $105.2 billion (about N17.67trillion), or 14.7 per cent respectively, while South Africa had $81.8billion (about N13.74 trillion), or 11.4 per cent.

Concerned by the high losses through these illegal transfers, which was identified in 2011 as one of the threats to the inability of most resource-rich countries in Africa to meet their millennium development goals, MDGs, the AU at its 4th Joint African Union Commission/United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, AUC/ECA, Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development constituted the Mbeki Panel to review the underlying issues stalling Africa’s accelerated and sustained development objective.

Recommendations

At the presentation of the report on Saturday, the panel gave a set of recommendations that would guide African leaders in checking the growing threats of the menace to the continent’s economy, including the activities of extremist groups, instability, and poverty.

Part of the recommendations included a system that would allow automatic exchange of tax information among African countries and globally to check

N6.87trn stolen from Nigeria yearly funds stolen through corruption, tax evasion — AU Report zzSays Nigeria, Egypt top list of 10 African countries

illegal profits shifting by multinational corporations to subsidiaries in tax haven or secrecy jurisdictions.

In its 15-point findings, the panel noted that ending illicit financial flows is a political decision by the various governments as it involved issues of abusive transfer pricing, trade mis-invoicing, tax evasion, aggressive tax avoidance, double taxation, tax incentives, unfair contracts, financial secrecy, money laundering, smuggling, trafficking and abuse of entrusted power.

The interrelationships of these issues, it stated, conferred a technical character requiring transparency across all aspects to ensure access to information and the right to obtain such information.

Illegal profits shifting by multinationals

The panel, which noted illegal profits shifting by multinational corporations as one of the biggest single source of illicit outflows in the continent, advised countries to ensure that the automatic exchange of tax information be subject to national capacity, to maintain the confidentiality of price-sensitive business information.

The dependence on natural resource extraction, it noted,

By Levinus Nwabughiogu, with agency reports

K

ADUNA— THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday said the commission had produced Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for all the registered voters in the country.

Deputy Director, Voter Education and Publicity, INEC, Mr Nick Dazang, disclosed this at a workshop organised for journalists in Kaduna.

INEC had in January announced that it registered 68.8 million voters in the country for this month's general elections.

Dazang said although the commission earlier had challenges in the production of the cards, it was able to overcome the challenges.

He said the commission had produced cards for those whose data were lost and those recently captured during its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

“At a point in time, the contractor producing the cards had machine failure, but after sometimes, he overcame the problem and was able to boost level of production from 350,000 to 600,000 per day.

“The one we sublet was able to produce 1.4 million daily and that explained why we keep telling people that we have confidence

EXTRAORDINARY SESSION: From left: President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Hon. Justice Maria Do Ceu Monteiro; Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu; and President of the ECOWAS Commission, Kadre Desire Ouedraogo at the opening of the Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja, yesterday makes African countries vulnerable to illicit financial flows, pointing out that there was need to pay attention to activities in the sector in an effort to check illicit financial flows in Africa.

“African countries need to acquire the capacities and

technology to monitor extraction of their natural resources better and to negotiate contracts more effectively,” the report said.

According to the report, tax incentives were not usually guided by cost-benefit analyses, as such African

countries grant a host of tax incentives, such as tax holidays, investment allowances, tax rate reductions and administrative discretion in order to attract foreign direct investment, FDI.

PVCs ready for collection — INEC

zAs ex-confab delegates seek polls' postponement

that we will produce the card and every one will get it.

“Now, as we speak, the cards for those whose bio-data were captured during the Continuous Voters Registration are available for collection.”

He said the cards had been distributed to respective states for collection and owners could collect theirs at the distribution centers.”

Dazang also said that no fewer than 65 per cent of the cards had been collected nationwide as at yesterday morning.

“As at last week when we had a meeting with our Public Affairs Officers in Abuja, the commission had distributed 63 per cent of the cards.”

He assured that those who registered would collect their cards before February 14.

Dazang said the commission had taken delivery of 152,000 card reader machines, which would be used at the 120,000 polling units during the polls, adding that each card reader was configured for use at specific polling units.

Dazang also said that nonsensitive materials had been

distributed, while the distribution of sensitive materials would begin soon.

Dansang, who commended the level of collaboration INEC had with the media, said the commission would continue to work with journalists to improve the nation’s election process.

“For any election to be successful, the electoral body must work with the media,” Dazang said.

As ex-confab delegates seek polls' postponement

Meanwhile, barely two weeks to the general election, some former members of the 2014 National Conference, yesterday, called for the postponement of the election, saying INECwas not ready for the polls.

The delegates, in their separate presentations on the issue at a symposium entitled “The National Conference and the 2015 Elections" organised by the HH Macaulay Centre for the Advancement of Democracy in Abuja said going ahead with the election when many Nigerians were yet to collect their PVCs would mean disenfranchising thousands of eligible voters.

Some of the delegates who were mainly discussants included Col. Tony Nyiam, Mr. Dan Nwanyanwu, Madam Anko Briggs, Chief Mike Ozekhome, Mr. Yinka Odumakin amongst others.

Senator Femi Okoromu, who was also a delegate to the defunct conference was the chairman of the occasion.

Though some of the panelists differed on the postponement of the elections for fear of prompting violence and protest in the country, some however were in favour of the call.

For instance, former National Chairman of Labour Party (LP), Chief Dan Nwanyanwu was one of those who supported the call. According to him, INEC had fallen short of the expectations of many Nigerians in the distribution of the PVCs. Also speaking, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Chief Mike Ozehkome also advised that it would amount to the disenfranchisement of many Nigerians should the elections be held as slated without considering the inadequacies of INEC.

10— Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

OJO APC RALLY:

Ambode L

Tinubu seeks support for

zAs Fashola faults Obanikoro's ministerial nomination

By Onozure Dania

AGOS—NATIONAL Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Sen. Bola Tinubu,yesterday described Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, the party’s governorship candidate in Lagos State, as one of the most brilliant minds in financial accountancy.

Tinubu spoke at the APC governorship campaign rally in Ojo area of the state, urging the people to give Ambode their votes in the February 28 governorship election.

He said that Ambode was a credible candidate who should be given the chance to continue with the excellence for which Lagos was noted.

“Today we present one of the most brilliant minds in financial accountancy; one of the most intelligent in financial management.

“He is tested, trusted, capable, visionary and an achiever,” he said.

Tinubu said that Ambode performed well when he was the state’s Accountant-General.

“Lagos State progressed when Ambode was the state’s Accountant-General.

“You need creative, great, visionary leaders and an intelligent government to manage the economy.

“That is why a disciplined Buhari and a visionary Ambode will want to create a better economy for Nigeria,” Tinubu said.

He said that Ambode would continue with the brand of excellence that had been created by the party in the state, if elected governor.

Tinubu appealed to residents to obtain their Permanent Voters' Cards, PVCs, to enable them to perform their civic rights.

Fashola faults Obanikoro’s ministerial nomination

Also at the rally, governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has faulted the nomination of Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, as minister by President Goodluck Jonathan, saying “his previous stint as minister caused crisis in the state.”

President Goodluck Jonathan had last Friday sent the list of seven ministerial nominees including the name of Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, to the National Assembly for approval.

The governor said “during his previous stint as minister, he said that we should stop building houses for the residents of Lagos.”

He lamented that Obanikoro failed to use the office in impacting positively on Lagos.

Earlier, Ambode appealed to the people of Ojo and residents in the state to vote for him, assuring them that he would take the state to the next level, if elected.

“I will build more hospitals in Ojo and will ensure that the road from Mile 2 to Badagry is completed;

the light rail from Okokomaiko to CMS will also be completed,” Ambode said.

Ambode’s rally in Agege

Also, Ambode’s campaign train has stormed Agege Local Government Area of Lagos recently.

The campaign train, kicked off at Mary land Bank Anthony Way in Lagos with over 5,000 supporters, walking and campaigning from house to house.

According to the Coordinator of the group, Ambo pith, Jimi Aina, there was need for the party to take the campaign to the grassroots where the masses, who will determines who leads them reside, as the masses are the ones to benefit from the dividend of democracy.

Spokesman of the group, Mr Ranti Thomas, said that they were still going to pay courtesy visits to about 35 to 40 local governments in the state, adding that there was need to carry the

campaign to the grassroots.

Thomas added most members of the group, including Kayode Adebola, John Ikbo, Oyekan Elegushi, Korede Alade, Idris Aregbe, Adams Oluwaseun among many others were present at the campaign.

“We are not only campaigning to them in English language but also in Youruba, Hausa, and Igbo and it is only the APC that has all the tribes in one position or the other in Lagos State,” he added.

CAMPAIGN: From left: Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate, Lagos State, his running mate, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, her husband, Mr. Shaeed Adebule, and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, National Leader, APC, during the party's governorship mega rally in Ojo Local Government Area, Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Bunmi Azeez.

Court rejects ex-NIMASA boss' no case submission

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By Onozure Dania

AGOS—A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday dismissed a no case submission filed by former NIMASA Director General, DG, Raymond Omatseye, over alleged contract scam.

Omatseye, a former DG of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA, is standing trial on an amended 27-count charge bordering on the offence preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC. Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia dismissed the application of a no case submission filed by the defendant and ordered him to answer to the charges levied against him.

It will be recalled that the defendant was re-arraigned on January 21, 2013 on amended charge.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted bail.

The prosecution led by Chief Godwin Obla, SAN, had opened its case on February 4, 2013, and called a total of three witnesses.

All the witnesses had given various testimonies before the

court, as to the nature and form of contract, awarded by the defendant, while serving as DG of NIMASA. Obla closed the case for the prosecution on October 13, 2014.

At the close of the prosecution’s case, the defendant had filed an application for no case submission, on the ground that the prosecution failed to prove its case against him.

In her ruling on the no case submission, Justice OfiliAjumogobia held that it was an abject misconception for the

L

By Dapo Akinrefon

AGOS—FORMER Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro yesterday lambasted the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, SAN, over the recently introduced N10,000 examination fees for Junior Secondary Students in the state.

Obanikoro said this at a campaign rally organised by the Lagos State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Lagos Island.

The Lagos State Government had recently announced that final year students of Junior Secondary School level, who are to write Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination, JSCE, in the state, will be paying the sum of N10,000 as examination fees.

Obanikoro, decriying the policy said it is very unfortunate that the State Governor, who was a beneficiary of free education is the one imposing on students and their parents financial hardship.

UNILAG holds workshop on housing

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defendant to contend that the offence is committed when the award is actually made.

She therefore, adjourned the case to Feb. 18 for continuation of trial.

In the charge, the defendant was said to have been involved in contract splitting and bid rigging estimated at over N1.5 billion.

The offence committed by the defendant is contrary to sections 58(4) (d) of the Public Procurement Act 2007 and sections 14(a) of the money laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004.

DEATH SENTENCE ON SOLDIERS:

Obanikoro chides Fashola over N10,000 exam fee

AGOS—DEPARTMENT of Building, University of Lagos, Akoka has finalised plans to organise a workshop on how to provide housing for all in the shortest possible time.

The seminar titled: National Vision on Housing and Infrastructure: The role of project management, which is the 10th edition of its annual project management lecture series, begins on Thursday, February 5, at the UNILAG multi-purpose hall.

The lecture will be delivered by the managing director and chief executive officer, Aso Savings and Loans Plc, Abuja, Mr. Hassan Usman.

Cleric appeals

to Jonathan

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By Evelyn Usman

AGOS—THE supreme head of the Cherubim and Seraphim Unification Church of Nigeria, Most Reverend Solomon Adegboyegba, yesterday appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to prevail on authorities of the Nigerian Army to exercise the prerogative of mercy on the 54 soldiers sentenced to death last December, for mutiny against authorities.

Speaking on the church’s 2015

annual general conference billed to hold from Thursday, February 5 to Sunday February 8, at Orimolade close, Agodo branch in Egbe , Ikokun, Lagos, Adegboyega reminded that posterity would remember the president if he intervened .

“I understand they (soldiers) are on appeal. I am appealing passionately to our father and leader of this country to exercise the prerogative of mercy in respect of these soldiers that were sentenced to death and spare

their lives regardless of the gravity of their offence. Whatever may be the outcome of the appeal, he should spare their lives and save their parents and immediate families of the pending tragedy .

If he does that, posterity will remember him” This year’s general conference with the theme; ‘Lord heal our land,‘ according to him , would not have come at a better time than now, when the country was preparing to witness another landmark in its polity.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 —11

Ekiti Afenifere disowns Akure meeting JONATHAN'S ENDORSEMENT:

zSays action was hasty and mindset of few leaders

A

By Gbenga Ariyibi

DO EKITI—THE Ekiti chapter of the panYoruba socio-political association, the Afenifere has dissociated itself from the purported endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate as its candidate for the February 14 election.

The association under its national leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti had hinged its support for President Jonathan on his commitment to the restructuring of the country through the convocation of the National Conference last year.

The chairman of the association in Ekiti State, Chief Ibidapo Awojolu, yesterday, said it was not part of the group’s decision to endorse Jonathan for the election.

According to Awojolu, the purported endorsement was hastily done and was merely the reflection of the mindset of a few leaders of the group that attended the Akure meeting with the President.

While admitting the fact that the state chapter of the association has a tremendous

respect for Chief Fasoranti’s leadership of the group, it however, differed with him on the issue of endorsement of the President.

He insisted that the Afenifere has yet to take a decision on the February 14 presidential election, stressing that it was embarrassing for a few leaders of the group to attempt to impose their personal views as the official position of the

pan-Yoruba group.

Awojolu said it was wrong for Afenifere leaders to admit that the Jonathan administration is committed to the restructuring of the polity simply because it convoked a National Conference when the generality of Nigerians are of the opinion that the confab was a mere window dressing.

The elder statesman, however, insisted that the

Ekiti State chapter of Afenifere and other state chapters of the group are not part of the decision.

Awojolu said the position of the generality of Afenifere as a body would be made known shortly before the election.

“For now, we are still studying the programmes of the various political parties and their candidates. Our position would be made known later,” Awojolu said.

ELECTION: From left: Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, Chairman of the Committee, former Head of State, General Abdusalam Abubakar (retd), Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, and His Grace, Most Rev. Joseph Job, Methodist Archbishop of Abuja, during the National Peace Meeting on the 2015 general election in Abuja. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan

Nigeria Police ready for elections —IGP A

By Daud Olatunji

B E O K U TA — T H E Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba has allayed the fears of the people in the country over the coming general elections, saying, the Nigeria Police was prepared to play its role as a law enforcement agent.

Abba who stated this while speaking at the passing-out parade of Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police and Inspectors of Police in IperuRemo in Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State, weekend, assured that policemen will demonstrate professionalism in the elections.

He said part of the commitments to show the readiness of Police for the coming general election was passing out of three hundred and six (306) Cadets comprising two hundred and eighteen (218) Assistant Superintendent of Police and eighty eight (88) Inspectors from the Police College of Information Technology, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Abba, however, noted that

the Nigeria Police is currently facing multi-faceted security challenges in its quest for effective policing service, adding that there is a need for multi-faceted approach to deal with the challenges.

The IGP who was represented by Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of operations, Hashimu Argungu said despite the challenges, Nigeria Police remain stronger, safer and

ELECTION:

A

more respected in the field of security.

The IGP told the officers that huge and herculean task is ahead of them in their various places of primary assignment, adding that crimes have been dynamic in the country and as such crime fighting must also be dynamic.

He warned that the Force will not tolerate officers that have the mindset of

corruption, noting that commensurate punishment awaits officers found indolent, especially ahead of the general elections.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Police Affairs, Abdul-Jelili Adesiyan noted that there has not been political killings and assassinations that characterised previous governments in the last five years.

Fayose urges students to shun violence

DO EKITI—Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose has urged Nigerian students to shun violence in the February general election.

Governor Fayose gave the advice at Oye Ekiti, Ilupeju Ekiti, Odo Oro Ekiti and Ikole Ekiti yesterday during a campaign tour to the area.

In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, Fayose urged the students not to vote for money but conscience, stressing that it would be

suicidal for the students to mortgage their future.

The governor further told the students not to allow the politicians to use them to execute violence, saying, “ if they give you gun to kill, don’t accept it, if they give you money as copers to falsify result for them, don’t do it.

“Remember that these politicians will not use their own children to execute violence. Therefore, if they cannot engage their own

children, I see no reason to surrender yourselves to them.”

Fayose urged Ekiti people to come out en mass to vote Pres ident Goodluck Jonathan and all the PDP state assembly and national assembly candidates in the state.

The governor also addressed local government workers at Oye, and Ikole local governments, urging them to vote for PDP.

SDP empowers 150 women, youths in Ogun West

A

By Daud Olatunji

B E O K U TA — T H E Social Democratic Party, SDP, in Ogun State yesterday took its campaign to Ogun West Senatorial District through empowerment of youth and women in the region.

The party also presented cash gifts to fourteen traders in Ilaro market whose stalls and wares were burnt down during a fire incident that occurred last week.

The party's senatorial candidate, Biyi Otegbeye while presenting the cash gift to the victims of the fire incident, disclosed that no fewer that 150 persons have been short-listed for empowerment.

Otegbeye who spoke at Yewa-Awori Youth Summit held at the multipurpose hall of the Empire Ground Ilaro, said he has perfected plans to empower one hundred youths in Ogun West from his private company’s micro credit scheme.

Dignitaries at the event include House of Representatives candidates, Adeniyi Hosu and Dr. Dada, Mr. Tetede, Dr. Banji Ogunbiyi, Chief Shina Adejobi among others.

Isiaka blames Amosun for falling education standards

A

B E O K U TA — T H E Ogun State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Gboyega Nasir Isiaka yesterday decried what he described as “the parlous state of education in the state” and promised to change its fortune if elected into office on February 28, election.

He specifically blamed the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration for allegedly destroying the enviable educational attainment the state was known for.

The PDP governorship candidate who spoke during the courtesy visit to the Ijebu council of Obas at the palace of Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona in Ijebu-Ode, however, promised to make education the bedrock of his human capital development programme if elected into office.

12—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Why Edo should vote Jonathan, by Onolemenmen

By Gabriel Enogholase

B

ENIN—WITH less than 48 hours to President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign rally in Edo State, Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolemenmen, has called on citizens of the state to support the President’s reelection bid in view of the numerous projects he has cited in the state since he came into office in 2011.

Speaking with newsmen in Benin, yesterday, the minister listed the dualisation of the Benin- Akure (Phase 1) of the Benin- Akure- Shagamu Road, the on-going dualisation of the Benin-Okene-Lokoja- Abuja highway, the location of the National Institute of Construction Technology, Uromi, which he said had taken off and the completion of the Ihovbo Power Plant Project in Benin City.

Others include the construction of the AuchiEkperi-Wepa-Wano Road with two bridges, the construction of a pedestrian bridge across the Auchi Polytechnic Gate to save the Polytechnic students from accidents, award of contract for the dualisation of Uromi-AgborAbraka-Sapele Road to four contracting firms, and the backing of the Azura Power Plant.

He said that the Federal Government has established a gas station in Edo State where

alternative source of energy for motor vehicles would be sourced, adding that under the Jonathan regime, long queues at petrol stations across the country have become a thing of the past.

Onolemenmen disclosed that before the inception of the Jonathan administration, only 4,500 kilometers of federal roads were motorable as against 25,000 kilometers now

motorable.

He said that the Federal Government has been tackling the flash points on the BeninAuchi-Okene-Lokoja Road, including the Ewu Hill, and the construction of an underground tunnel at Auchi- Fugar Junction to minimize accidents on the highway.

On education, the minister disclosed that President Jonathan has approved the

release of N3 billion counterpart marching Universal Basic Education, UBE, fund for primary and secondary schools in Edo State, including for the training of over 12,000 teachers.

He lamented that the Edo State Government had accessed only N1.7 billion of the amount and challenged the state to do so now to enable education to get to the door steps of the citizens of the state.

RALLY: Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate, Mr Udom Emmanuel, acknowledging cheers from party faithful during the governorship campaign rally in Etinan Local Government, weekend.

DELTA GOV POLL: Two UPU factions endorse Emerhor, Ogboru

By Egufe Yafugborhi

W

A R R I — A DEADLOCKED meeting of the Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, on Sunday night has factionalised the apex Urhobo leadership organ with each faction endorsing two different Urhobo sons as Urhobo sole candidate for the February 28, governorship election.

The Sunday executive meeting behind closed doors in Mosogar, Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State, drifted into conflict when dissenting members staged a walkout at the insistence by Chief Joe Omene, UPU, President General, PG, for members to vote who becomes Urhobo sole candidate between Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship flag bearer and Chief Great Ogboru of Labour Party, LP. Moments after the walk-out led by 1st Deputy PG, Chief Tuesday Onoge, Chief Omene addressed newsmen, disclosing that the consenting members who stayed behind had picked Chief Ogboru of LP as Urhobo (Delta Central) sole candidate for the governorship election.

He said that their decision was supported by president

C M Y K

generals, youth and women leaders in Urhoboland.

Responding in a statement, yesterday, the dissenting faction declared Chief Omene removed as PG and his second in command, Chief Onoge, appointed acting PG, accusing Omene of insisting on his will to undermine a collective Urhobo interest.

The statement by Chief Onoge

in his capacity as acting PG and Mumakai Unagha, Assistant Publicity Secretary, read: “After frequent visits to Aso Rock, which clearly have compromised him, Chief Omene was now determined to make mockery of the Urhobo nation by dumping the sacred and collective will of the people as expressed in the Uvwiamughe declaration.

“In spite of the directives by the forum of Ivies (kings) and Urhobo clergy to the contrary, he was determined to coerce and rush the Urhobo into a fatal decision to support the PDP/ Jonathan, Labour/Ogboru, a ticket alien to the Uvwiamughe declaration when PDP failed to give it’s governorship ticket to Urhobo and Labour is not a national party.”

Mayuku, NAIS partner on scholarships for indigent Itsekiri students Mayuku, represented by Speaking shortly after the

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By Daniel Gumm

ARRI—CHAIRMAN, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Delta State House of Assembly, Mr Daniel Mayuku, in partnership with the leadership of National Association of Itsekiri Students, NAIS, has awarded scholarships to 50 indigent students of tertiary institutions from Warri South- West Local Government Area.

The lawmaker, while presenting the scholarships to the students at Ugbuwangue, Warri, said that he decided on the scholarships to encourage the students to put in their best in their academic pursuits.

Mr. Jerry Onesan, enjoined the students to take their studies more seriously, promising that the scholarship scheme will be a continuous one.

presentation, National President of NAIS, Precious Otikpere thanked Mayuku for assisting the students of his constituency, Warri South-West council.

Jonathan'll transform Nigeria —OLEJEME them to support President

D

EPUTY Chairman, Finance Committee of the Presidential Campaign Organisation, Dr. Ngozi Olejeme, has described the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, as an epitome of sincerity.

She said that the only way the future of Nigerian youths could be guaranteed was for

Jonathan and the ruling party.

Olejeme at a gathering of Yoruba and Hausa youths and students from across the country in Abuja, expressed satisfaction with the Jonathan administration.

She said: “President Jonathan’s achievements in office show that if given another term, he will transform Nigeria beyond imagination.”

Make devt your priority, Imoke urges C-River LG

G

OVERNOR Liyel Imoke of Cross River State has charged the people of Biase Local Government Area of the state to make the development of the area their priority, as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, campaign train made its stopover at the Southern senatorial district.

Addressing a crowd of party supporters at the Biase council secretariat, Governor Imoke, who said that the train was in the area to thank them for the huge support his administration had enjoyed from them in the last eight years and also solicit their votes for his party. He enjoined them to ensure that they deliver all PDP candidates with their votes.

Urging Biase people to shun the politics of stomach infrastructure which he said lacks the potential to bring about tangible development in the area, the governor said: “You must take the collective interest of Biase as paramount, as any mistake you make today with your votes will prove very costly for the entire Biase people.”

POLLS: Ishiekwene urges support for PDP candidates

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FORMER Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chairmanship aspirant in Ukwuani Local Government Area, Delta State, Mr Basil Ishiekwene, has called on the people of Delta North to cast their votes en-masse for the PDP senatorial flag bearer, Chief Peter Nwaoboshi and other PDP candidates in this month’s general elections in the state.

Ishiekwene, who made the call in Obiaruku, said that the call became necessary because Chief Nwaoboshi was the most qualified candidate to represent Delta North in the Senate.

He described Chief Nwaoboshi as a political asset to the state.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 — 13

C M Y K

14—Vanguard,TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Bishops pour encomiums on 5-yr old Anglican diocese, bishop S EVERAL MEMBERS of the House of Bishops of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) have lauded the Diocese of Ijebu South/West for its developmental strides during the past five years of its inauguration.

The bishops also commended Rt. Rev. Dr. Babatunde Ogunbanwo, the Bishop of the five-year-old diocese, for his From left, Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Ephraim Ademowo; Lord Bishop of Ijebu South-West Diocese, visionary leadership which has Rt. Rev. Babatunde Ogunbawo; Dr. Olufunke Amosun, Ogun State governor's wife; and Mrs. Olatundun facilitated growth and Ogunbawo, Ijebu South-West Diocese bishop's wife, during the annuversary celebration. development in the diocese.

They made the commendations while speaking to newsmen during a special church thanksgiving service in commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the Diocese of Ijebu South/West, at the Cathedral Church From left, Oba Gabriel Abiodun, Oba Adebisi Okunbanjo, his Olori, Christiana, Oba Yinusa Adebayo, Rt. Rev. of St. Paul, Babatunde Ogunbanwo, his wife, Olatundun; Oba Adedeji Onagoruwa, and his Olori, Ekundayo.

Lagos, the Most Rev. Dr. of Remo, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Michael diocese Odogbolu, Ogun State. that started Those, who praised the Ephraim Ademowo; Bishop of Fape, and the Most Rev. Olatunji unassumingly is now reaching a leadership and members of the Ajayi Crowther Diocese, the Rt. Akinfenwa of the Diocese of very high peak. God is in control. diocese for their unity of purpose Rev. Olugbenga Oduntan; Ibadan, who was the guest He is moving in our midst.” in moving the diocese forward Bishop of the Diocese of Ijebu preacher at the church He described Bishop were the Dean Emeritus of the North, the Rt. Rev. Solomon thanksgiving service.

Ogunbanwo as a go-getter and Church of Nigeria and Bishop of Kuponu; Bishop of the Diocese Dr. Ademowo said: “The good example to the clergy and

other members of the diocese and advised them not to relent in the pursuit of Christian love, growth and maturity.

Bishop Oduntan said: “We can see co-operation, unity and willingness; people are willing to spend and to be spent. “It is awesome, it is glorious and encouraging..."

Bishop Kuponu said: “Cooperation is necessary in achieving results. It is obvious that all the sons and daughters of the diocese have been cooperating, for the diocese to have recorded the progress which we have all seen with our own eyes.”

In the same vein, Dr. Fape, the Bishop of Remo Diocese, under whose supervision the Ven. B.F.R Ogunbanwo had served for several years, said: “When we see the landmark achievements of Bishop Ogunbanwo, we can only say that it is the Lord’s doing.”

In his sermon, Archbishop Akinfenwa charged the congregation to continue as one family as they grow together in Christ.

The colourful event was attended by many distinguished citizens within and outside the diocese, including Mrs. Olufunke Amosun, (wife of Ogun State Governor), an ardent Moslem, who was among those decorated as “special fellows” of sthe diocese.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015—15

FEB POLLS: No cause for alarm, Ekweremadu

reassures foreigners

By Victoria Ojeme

A

BUJA — AHEAD of the 2015 general elections, Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has assured foreigners, especially members of the diplomatic community living in Nigeria not to exercise any fear over the elections, saying there is no cause for alarm.

He spoke yesterday during the presentation of a draft of the Supplementary Act on the Enhancement of the Power of ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja.

He said, “Elections in Nigeria will be free and fair there is no cause for alarm. We call on our diplomatic friends to be calm, we

also hope that by June activities of the elections will come to normal”.

Commenting on the draft, he said, if signed into law, ECOWAS Parliament would be able to carry out legislative functions like its counterparts in the European Union.

At the moment, the parliament only plays an advisory role.

Some of the provisions of the draft if signed include, “The parliament shall jointly with Council approve the Community Budget. The parliament shall also exercise parliamentary oversight functions over the activities of the institutions and organs of the Community, as laid down in this Supplementary Act, without

prejudice. The parliament shall confirm the appointment of Statutory officers of the Community with the exception of Statutory officers appointed directly by the Authority. The parliament may, in collaboration

with the council and the Commission propose model and uniform laws to Member States.

"Referral to the Parliament shall be Mandatory in the following areas; Measures relating to free movement, right of stay, residence

ENUGU CP TO POLITICIANS: Desist from

inflammatory campaigns

By Francis Igata

E

NUGU—AHEAD of this month’s general elections, the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State, Mr. Abubakar Adamu Mohammed, has charged politicians to abstain

from the use of inflammatory words during their electioneering campaigns.

The Police commissioner made the language during a meeting of political parties, civil societies and relevant stakeholders in the elections.

Don blames 95% of electoral violence on youths

A

WKA— UNIVERSITY Don, Dr. Frank Okafor, has blamed 95 per cent of electoral violence in Nigeria on youths.

Presenting a paper at a one day voter education in Awka, Dr Okafor of the Department of Political Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, contended that politicians who instigated the youths to indulge in the violence, should realise that

their action could truncate the country’s democracy.

The workshop was organized

by Women Aid Collective, WACOL, in collaboration with the Democratic Governance for Development, with funding from the European Union, EU. Okafor observed that electoral violence had been a recurring decimal in Nigeria, saying its frequency, character and

and establishment of Community citizens.

Community Measures on prevention of war against corruption, financial delinquency and cross border crimes."

dimension were frightening, even as the 2015 general elections drew near.

According to him: “It is now becoming a national character of the Nigerian state in such a way that the country and her citizens are held hostage by this smashing political reality.

"From independence to date, electoral violence, all the violence linked to elections are mostly

perpetrated by the youths, who are not only in the service of the politicians, but financed by them so long as they do their biddings.

"With the benefits of their vigour, seeming lawlessness and lackadaisical attitude to the Nigeria project, the youths are the willing ready-made weapons of politicians, who think more of their parochial interests than the development of the state and."

According to Adamu, “campaigns should be issuebased, devoid of personal attacks on candidates. As you can see, the country is already volatile.

Campaigns should not heighten the prevailing situation.

“Provocative statements that engender malaise and anger should be discarded. Advice your party faithful to always play by the rules and be law abiding during the exercise.

“A level playing field has been provided by all the security agencies in the state to ensure free and fair polls. The command has trained its personnel on the conduct of the election and will work with other sister security agencies to protect lives and property during and after the polls.”

16 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 — 17

B

ETWEEN 1983 and 1985, Peter Onu of Nigeria was Acting Secretary-General of the OAU. At the 1985 Summit in Addis Ababa, statesmen like Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania, lobbied for his election as substantive Secretary-General.

However, there was a major stumbling block to Peter Onu’s candidature: his Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, was campaigning against him.

Buhari claimed: “This generation of Nigerians and indeed future generations have no other country than Nigeria.”

But when the crunch came, his allegiance to Nigeria disappeared. In the election of the OAU Secretary-General in 1985, Buhari voted against Nigeria and for Niger instead. He secured the election of Ide Oumarou, a Fulani man from Niger; as opposed to an Igbo man from Nigeria. By so doing, Buhari became the first and only Head of State in the history of modern international relations to vote against his country in favour of his tribe.

Years later, General Buhari marched all the way from Daura to Ibadan to demand of Oyo State Governor, Lam Adeshina: “Why are your people killing my people?” Again, he was not referring to Nigerians as his people. Instead, he was an advocate for the rights of murderous Fulani herdsmen who killed Yoruba farmers that objected to their cattle grazing on their land and damaging their crops.

This same Buhari who voted against Nigeria in 1985, and said in 2003: “Muslims should only vote those who will promote Islam,” is now shopping for votes nationwide. He should be rejected outright.

Ignorance running riot If APC had wanted to be taken seriously, it would have come up with a better presidential material than Buhari. There is something anomalous about a party whose mantra is change, recycling a 73 year old man as its candidate for the president of modern Nigeria.

Buhari has little or no understanding of public policy.

That is why APC will always come up with some excuse or the other not to have him participate in a debate with Jonathan. Buhari fought corruption by imposing ridiculous 300-year sentences on offenders. He fought exam malpractices by imposing 24-year prison sentences on school children.

He dealt with indiscipline by flogging people to queue at busstops. He dealt with food shortages by sending soldiers to break into private warehouses and shops. He fought trade imbalances by taking Nigeria back to the stone age of trade by barter (counter-trade). He sought to extradite a Nigerian from Britain by drugging and crating him.

There is so much about Buhari ending the Boko Haram insurgency as he did the Maitatsine insurgency in the C M Y K

Jonathan is a superior presidential material to Buhari 1980s. But the General needs to be advised that Boko Haram is not Maitatsine. Maitatsine was in two towns: Boko Haram is in three states with spillover effects into others. Maitatsine fought with bows and arrows: Boko Haram fights with sophisticated weapons. Maitatsine was a local insurgency, Boko Haram is an international phenomenon.

Anti-corruption hypocrisy: Buhari does not know what corruption means and how to fight it. He became Nigeria’s Head of State through the corruption of a coup d’état and he then tried to fight corruption with corruption. Imposing retroactive decrees and killing Nigerians under them is corruption. Putting an Igbo vicepresident in Kirikiri, while placing the Fulani president under palatial house arrest, is corruption.

Detaining people like Michael Ajasin in jail, even after they were discharged and acquitted by kangaroo courts, is corruption.

Jailing journalists for telling the truth is corruption. Putting pressure on a judge in order to jail Fela Anikulapo-Kuti is corruption. Shepherding 53 suitcases of contraband unchecked through Customs during a currency change exercise is corruption. Swearing an affidavit that your schoolleaving certificate is with the military when it is not, is corruption.

Transforming Nigeria: Buhari’s shameful past is dwarfed by the achievements of Goodluck Jonathan. Under Jonathan, Nigeria has emerged as by far the largest economy in Africa with a GDP of $503 billion; nearly double the previous estimates. South

Buhari became the first and only Head of State in the history of modern international relations to vote against his country in favour of his tribe

Africa now comes a distant second with $350 billion. With the unbundling of PHCN after 52 years of gridlock, and with now the realizable target of 20,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020, Nigeria’s GDP will soon double that of South Africa.

CNN Money projects that the fastest growing economy in the world in 2015 will be China (7.3% growth rate); followed by Qatar (7.1%); and then followed by Nigeria (7%). This belies all the misinformation about the Nigerian economy dished out by the APC and attests to the astute management of the economy by the Jonathan administration. The seemingly ambitious Vision 20 2020, proclaimed under the Abacha regime to make Nigeria one of the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020 is now well in sight. Today, Nigeria is already the 23rd largest economy in the world. Kudos to Jonathan, we have overtaken such European countries as Austria and Belgium.

Life expectancy In 2010, when Jonathan became acting president, life expectancy in Nigeria was 47 years. Today, it is 54 years; an improvement of seven years. Adroit application of SURE-P funds has reduced the maternal mortality ratio in Nigeria by 26%. Under Jonathan, Nigeria has become Guinea Worm-free; a disease previously affecting 800,000 Nigerians yearly. In the last six months, there has been no new case of polio in Nigeria.

If this goes on for another two and a half years, Nigeria will be declared polio-free.

Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, hailed Nigeria’s fight against polio as one of the great world achievements of 2014. He said: “The infrastructure Nigeria has built to fight polio actually made it easier for them to swiftly contain Ebola. The fact that Nigeria is now Ebola-free is a great example of how doing the work to fight things like fighting polio also leaves countries better prepared to deal with outbreaks of other diseases.”

Investors’ haven: In the last three years, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has ranked Nigeria as the number one country for foreign

investments in Africa. We also receive more home-remittances than any other African country; a vote of confidence in our economy

by Nigerians living abroad. They remitted $23 billion in 2013, a figure far more than the $18 billion received by Egypt; the country with the second highest home remittance in Africa. It is a testament to Goodluck Jonathan’s adroit management of the Nigerian economy that the richest African is now a Nigerian. In 2010, when Jonathan came to power, Aliko Dangote was the 463rd richest man in the world, with a total fortune of $2.1 billion.

Today, he is the 23rd richest man in the world, with a total fortune of $25 billion. Dangote’s billions are “made in Nigeria.” Indeed, under Jonathan, Nigeria now has the fourth highest rate of returns on investments in the world, according to UNCTAD.

Crisis of unemployment The big challenge has to do with jobs. Every year, another 1.8 million people are offloaded into the job market. However, while the APC says Buhari will create 720,000 jobs a year if elected, Jonathan created 1.6 million jobs in 2013. He has established such innovative programmes as Nagropreneurs and YOUWIN that support young farmers and entrepreneurs with grants, training and mentorship. He has also instituted internship schemes to enhance the capacity of university graduates to secure gainful employment.

The unemployment problem is compounded by the more than doubling of the education budget under Jonathan. Every Nigerian child now has the opportunity to go to school. Indeed, there has been a 10 million increase in school enrolment in Nigeria under this government. There has also been a 75% increase in O' Level credit pass in Maths and English. Jonathan established 125 Almajiri schools in 13 northern states. He also established 14 new federal universities. There is now a federal university in every state.

Indeed, the kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls derives from the disenchantment of the Boko Haram that many Northern girls are now going to school.

Dealing with corruption: According to Transparency International, Nigeria has not become more corrupt under Goodluck Jonathan. Out of 178 countries ranked in 2010, Nigeria was the 134th most corrupt country. In 2014, Nigeria was ranked 136th. Unlike Buhari, Jonathan understands that corruption has to be attacked institutionally, from the roots.

Therefore, he proposed the abrogation of the petroleum subsidy; one of the biggest avenues for corruption in government. However, Nigerians refused. Jonathan has sanitized the corruption in fertilizer distribution. The Minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina, lamented that between 1980 and 2010, Nigeria lost 776 billion naira to corrupt fertilizer racketeering.

Fertiliser racketeering That effectively came to an end under Jonathan. Through the innovative e-wallet system, farmers are given cell-phones through which they now have direct and easy access to government-provided fertilizer, chemicals and seedlings.

Jonathan has also sanitised the banking system by removing dinosaur managing directors, recovering indigent loans and using AMCON to mop up bad loans. By instituting e-payment systems, he sanitized the civil service by removing 50,000 ghostworkers in one fell swoop. He has equally got rid of ghost voters from the electoral register; over 1 million ghost voters were removed from the Zamfara INEC register alone. Under Jonathan, we have had free and fair elections one after the other; in Edo, Anambra, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun.

Agriculture has been transformed under this administration. Thanks to Jonathan, agriculture now accounts for 22% of Nigeria’s GDP, more than oil and gas which only account for 15.9%. Under Jonathan, Nigeria has recorded a more than 50% reduction in food imports. Prior to his presidency, we had a food import bill of 1.4 trillion naira. But now, it is less than N700 billion. With the innovation of dry season ricefarming, Nigeria has reached 60% self-sufficiency in rice production.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Nigeria is now the largest producer of cassava in the world. The Jonathan government built six strategically-located perishable cargo airports in Ilorin, Jalingo, Jos, Lagos, Makurdi andYola; in close proximity to Nigeria’s food baskets.

It is remarkable that Northern farmers were able to donate five million tubers of yam in order to raise 5 billion naira for Buhari’s presidential election campaign.

If Jonathan's transformation agenda in agriculture was not working as planned, they would not have been able to do this.

18 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 ELECTIONS are the best opportunities for Nigerians to say the worst things about their opponents. Threats and counter threats appear are also making increasing appearances in the news. Are they the selling points of candidates in the elections? We heard similar threats in the governorship elections that passed peacefully in Ekiti and Osun States last year.

However, the stakes are higher this month.

The capacities for violence are higher in a general election than in the limited interest two States presented. Utterances of politicians and their associates, if they are unchecked, could set off a wave of violence that can escalate the security situation.

As the economy slows down, opportunities become less available elsewhere and the pervading influences of governments in our lives persist, desperation sets in, more so for those who have lived off governments for decades. They cannot imagine life without depending on public resources.

They are mortified by possibilities that they could be outside the power loop after the elections.

They are imposing personal stakes on decisions about who becomes what after

Violence Can Consume All the elections. They are unconcerned about the larger society. Memories of the 2011 post-election violence are fresh. The current primaries and campaigns have witnessed spates of violence.

Thugs are back. As businesses go, they are in their peak season. They have no reason to abandon a profitable venture.

We did not punish thugs who destroyed lives and property during the 2011 elections. Efforts were not even made to arrest them.

Government assumed responsibility for the losses by paying compensations to victims. It is instructive that nobody was

punished for riots that swept through many States. Some political leaders openly promised trouble if certain candidates did not win – and there was trouble.

Mobs act on behalf of their sponsors, who equip, feed and pay them. They lap up their principals’ violent utterances, assured the law would not inconvenience them. The law excuses murderers and arsonists when they act for politicians. Duplicity in treating electoral offences prospers violence.

Every Nigerian has rights to lawfully canvass his views. Every Nigerian has rights to legitimate alliances to access power under constitutional provisions on freedom of association. Politicians should avoid being so consumed about winning elections that they forget that the violence they preach could consume them.

Laws guide our country. Those who aspire to lead – and their supporters – must eschew threats from their ambitions.

Instead of threats, they should tell Nigerians how their leadership would improve Nigeria under a more trying economic situation.

There are enough worries about Nigeria’s future. Violence can only exacerbate them.

OPINION

By Biodun Gbadebo

T

HERE is an old saying that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That saying is very applicable to the plight of the All Progressive Congress,APC as it positions its candidate for power in the forthcoming Lagos state governorship election Akin Ambode against his opponent Jimi Agbaje of the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP. This is because for a long time, the APC has been the ruling party in Lagos state such that it won't be inappropriate at all for the party and its henchmen to adopt the nickname of the Fulani Mafia when it dominated Nigeria with the arrogant slogan and rationale – Born To Rule.

The botched June 12, 1993 presidential election won by Chief MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, put an end to the rule of the Northern Oligarchy under that infamous slogan when the nation conceded power to the South West and Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo was elected president in 1999.

It is apparent such loss of power after a long misuse of it stares the APC in the face in Lagos state in the forthcoming guber elections in the state. And the reasons for this is not far fetched. First and by no means the least is its style of C M Y K

Born to rule syndrome in Lagos governance and distribution of political largesse and influence. This have somehow created a powerful and wide network of relations, sons, daughters and hangers who have held important positions and wealth from being in government for so long that they think they have become a dynasty of Lagosians ‘ born to rule ‘, like the defunct Fulani or Kaduna Mafia .

In a democracy such as Lagos claims to be, such dynastic or crony governance must be thrown into the dust bin where it surely belongs given the calibre and pedigree of the electorate in the state . This coming guber elections is a grand and God given opportunity for the people of the state to bring to a halt to the personalised style of leadership of the leader of the APC who hand picks

Surely there can be no alternative to freedom of choice which Agbaje brings to the elections

political office holders for the three rungs of government in the state from his opulent palace in Bourdillon Street, Ikoyi, Lagos .

Party appointments and positions have become intertwined with government bureaucracy and positions such that a serving public servant was selected as running mate to the party’s candidate Akinwumi Ambode. How can a serving civil servant become a party No2 overnight if she had not compromised her work ethics as a non partisan civil servant who is to be seen and not heard?

To show how the APC has fused party and government, it was rumoured that civil servants in Alausa were not happy with the selection of Ambode initially, hence their placation with the selection of one of them as Ambode’s running mate . Where is transparency and political accountability in all of these ? The answer lies again in the way the people of Lagos state vote in the guber elections in Lagos in February .

If they vote for Ambode and his running mate again then they are voting for servitude from the Mafia which is drunk with power and believes it will rule Lagos forever. If they vote for Jimi Agbaje which is the sensible

thingto do, they will be voting for their freedom from the bondage of the Mafia which thinks , wrongly of course that it has Lagos in its pocket and Lagos resides and sleeps in Ikoyi .

Lagos is a very cosmopolitan and prosperous state and city is the commercial capital of Nigeria inspite of the existence of Abuja. Its governance should be based on the availability of the appropriate political human capital elected at the polls on merit not selected on the born to rule formula that has stunted growth for almost two decades. Clear vision and insight , earned political skills and capabilities are what PDP candidate Jimi Agbaje brings to the coming guber elections. These are talents that the ruling APC has shown it lacked for these long years it has ruled Lagos state and surely with the selection of Agbaje’s opponent , it has shown it has run out of ideas. The people of Lagos state should show the party the honourable way out by voting it out of office and electing Jimi Agbaje in next month’s elections . Surely there can be no alternative to freedom of choice which Agbaje brings to the elections . *Mr. Gbadebo, a public affairs commentator, wrote from Lagos.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015— —19

2015 elections: The devil's alternative

By Sunny Ikhioya

A

COUNTRY with a very vibrant opposition is a blessed one. Man has not been able to master power the way it was purposed. Societies that have therefore succeeded in putting checks and balances to power excesses are the ones moving their democracy ahead. 'Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely', we have seen it in our parties and in government, that is why the APC's current posture against the PDP in the coming election is a good development for Nigeria.

For once, nobody is sure of where the pendulum will swing, real canvassing is taking place and the activities of the incumbent government is being subjected to both intensive and extensive scrutiny. If the elections come, everything goes well and all parties accept the outcome, it will be a big step forward for the growth of our nation's democratic practices.

As one privileged to express my view in a public forum, I owe it to the Almighty God and my conscience to write the way I see things, without colouration and bleaching. The opposition has exposed the underbelly of the incumbent government and forced those in authority to sit up.

Because it offers a viable alternative, the so called untouchables have been forced to come down from their high horses to solicit for votes amongst ordinary citizens. With the intense and passionate

campaigns on the political turf, it is a field day for the citizenry who are now enjoying the role of the beautiful bride, Unfortunately, with each passing day, the electorate is becoming more confused; Jonathan has not performed to expectations and Buhari is not the right substitute, that is the dilemma we are faced with. It is a choice of whether to go with the devil or face the deep blue sea. There is no third option. It is simply the devil's alternative.

Both contestants have been privileged to govern this country before. We can objectively use their performance to judge them. In this instance, we must take into consideration, the circumstances under which they performed, whether military or civil rule and given other circumstances, would they have performed better?

If at the end of the February presidential election, the APC loses the presidency to the PDP, they should not look far for the cause of the failure but themselves. In a party where talents abound, it is a shame that they have chosen the recycled route.

The whole phantom the Gen Buhari has become is the creation of the APC's propaganda machinery- we must give it to them, they are good. We have seen Buhari and we know his antecedents; stubborn, pragmatic and fundamentalist.

I give you an example of what happened recently in the APC after Buhari won the primaries;

By Chuks Iloegbunam

D

ID I hear that APC promises a welfare system that will pay between N5,000 and N10,000 per month to the poorest 25 million Nigerians? Just this programme alone will cost between N1.5 and N3 trillion per annum. (Soludo wondered where the APC proposed to source the money from.)

I must confess that I expected APC as a party aspiring to take over from PDP to come up with a knock-out punch.

Evidently, from what we have read from the various versions of its manifesto as well as the depth of promises being made, it does not seem that it has a better offer.

I have not heard anything from the APC or Buhari regarding the national conference report or what kind of federalism they envisage for Nigeria. The APC promises to create 20,000 jobs per state in the first year, totaling a mere 720,000 jobs. This sounds like a quota system and for a country where the new entrants into the labour market per annum exceed two million. If it was intended as a joke, APC must please get serious.

Most people I have spoken to who have decided to vote for Buhari do not necessarily know the specifics of what he would offer or how Nigeria would be different under him. As a first point, Buhari and his team must realize that they do not yet have a coherent, credible agenda that is consistent with the fundamentals of the economy currently.

The APC manifesto contains some good principles and wish-lists, but as a blue print for Nigeria’s security and prosperity, it is largely hollow. The numbers do not add up.

The second key challenge for Buhari and his team will be to transit and transform from a group of what I largely refer to as

C M Y K

he made attempts - at least by his body language to make Tinubu his running mate but for the resistance of people in other camps of the APC. This is despite the protestation of a group in the party and media reports against this arrangement. In fact, some left the party because of the rumoured Buhari/Tinubu muslim-muslim ticket. He finally settled for a Tinubu nominee, that is a glimpse of the character trait of Buhari, only his type will attempt to take such risk in this 21st century era, old habits never die, not even at the age of seventy three.

The APC have run their campaigns as if it is a war. They do not mind if the whole country is brought down in the process.

The country is very fortunate to have a man with Jonathan's disposition at the helm of affairs

You need to read statements made by APC's strongmen such as El Rufai and Bola Tinubu on Buhari in the past.

How come that position has changed in just two years? It is only in this country that politicians change positions like chameleon

at this point in time. His intentions are honest. He has openly admitted that they have failed the nation. He wanted to satisfy everybody but ended up satisfying no one. If you look at the appointments profile, the north against the south, the north has been highly favoured.

Why should the north and south, muslim versus christian be an issue in the Nigerian election of 2015? Why must somebody say power must shift to the north as the only reason we should vote his candidate into power. Many of us in the south take this for granted. But in the north, it is a serious business, they are threatening the lives of those in support of Goodluck Jonathan.

Buhari has campaigned in Jonathan's home state and all PDP controlled states in the south without any form of intimidation or harassment but the President cannot campaign in the north freely and fairly, this is generating orgasm amongst the opposition APC and they will regard this as a fair campaign.

All those politicians, especially from northern extraction who advised Jonathan to thread softly with Boko Haram are the ones calling him weak now. All those who went abroad- US, UK to lobby against taking action are now singing a different tune.

If we bring in Buhari because of Boko Haram, we have, indirectly, succumbed to the Islamic militants intentions.

According to Sule Lamido, people are prodding Buhari because of their selfish intentions. Let nobody be deceived, Jonathan's government has been steadily sabotaged from beginning, although he knowingly and unknowingly fell into the holes dug for him.

The challenge of Nigeria goes beyond rhetorics. It requires a strong analytical and critical mind. It is not a trivial matter, that is why we should consider Buhari's certificate issue, he could have escaped that in a military dictatorship but not in a 21st century democratic set up.

In the January, 3rd 2015 issue of the Vanguard, Dr. Bode Olajumoke was quoted as saying: "the temperament and political antecedent of Buhari makes him unfit".

We must be very careful with the way we handle Jonathan; freedom is cheap and un appreciated until we lose it.

Jonathan has not done well and Buhari is not the alternative.

People say we should change and I say, change to what? You need to read statements made by APC strongmen such as like El Rufai and Bola Tinubu on Buhari in the past. How come that position has changed in just two years? It is only in this country that politicians change positions like chameleon, we must be very careful to put such people at the helm of our affairs.

Pa Ayo Adebanjo's interview in the Vanguard newspapers of Sunday January, 25th 2015 on Buhari and the so called progressives is an eye opener for those still in doubt. For me, Jonathan has performed better than Obasanjo and if Nigerians gave Obasanjo the opportunity of a second term, same should be extended to Jonathan.

Meanwhile, the search for the right candidate continues, maybe that will be achieved in 2019. *Mr. Ikhioya, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos.

Soludo, Fayemi and Buhari's ‘experts' aggrieved people’s congregation to build a true political party with a soul from the patchwork of political associations. It is surely easier to oppose than to govern.

Well, the seven Soludo points above mean two things. One, that Buhari’s presidential candidacy is a nonstarter and, two, that the APC is not a serious political party. In the face of this damnation, Buhari experts, who are in the legion, should have risen to the defence of their party and its presidential candidate. Instead, it was only Kayode Fayemi, the head of the Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign, who responded by curiously commending Soludo for his “insightful and incisive article”!

Put baldly, the APC officially lauded Professor Charles Soludo for eviscerating it and its presidential candidate. The other remarkable point in Dr. Fayemi’s response is the reproduction of Buhari’s promise to “assemble a competent team

Kayode’s disappointing intervention raises the whole question of the calibre of people surrounding and advising Buhari. The turbulent Olusegun Obasanjo is one of Buhari’s principal advisers

of Nigerians to efficiently manage this country.” To support this “promise”, Fayemi reminded his readers that, as a military dictator 35 years ago, Buhari had appointed the likes of Dr. Onaolapo Soleye, Professor Tam David-West and Professor Ibrahim Gambari into his junta’s cabinet.

But, it was under Gambari’s watch as Foreign Minister that Buhari voted against Nigerian candidate, Dr. Peter Onu, when he ran for the secretarygeneralship of the OAU against Niger Republic’s Ide Oumarou. If Fayemi wanted his recourse to the country’s distasteful past to have made any meaning, he would have gone beyond name- dropping to list the spellbinding achievements registered

by Nigeria as a result of the miraculous contributions of people like David-West and Soleye. But he did not.

Kayode’s disappointing intervention raises the whole question of the calibre of people surrounding and advising Buhari.

The turbulent Olusegun Obasanjo is one of Buhari’s principal advisers. Obasanjo was the dictatorial wolf in sheep’s democratic clothing who deployed expeditionary forces to wipe out the inhabitants of Odi and Zaki Biam. He was the one who created a penal island to which hapless Nigerians were dumped without trial. What kind of advice is this man giving to Buhari, a military dictator who not only toppled a democratically elected government but also executed a number of his fellow countrymen on the strength of a retroactive decree?

Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC leader and key Buhari adviser, has never said a word on CORRUPTION, one of the two planks on which Buhari claims to be gunning for the presidency. Giving the stories that have always made the rounds

regarding fake Chicago certificates and a United States’ indictment for drug pushing, what kind of advice is this man giving to Buhari? Indeed, what kind of advice is Buhari receiving from Nasir el Rufai, another of his key advisers? When people used their position to grasp at lands in Abuja and offer jobs to girlfriends at a million Naira a month when the minimum wage was N18,000, what thesis would they be writing on the theme of fighting corruption?

That leads us to Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the former Governor of Ekiti State, himself.

According to the records of the current Ekiti State Government, Fayemi took loans totaling N21.4 billion for various dubious reasons, including “lease of vehicles”! Fayemi’s administration took a loan of N1.5 billion from from Fidelity Bank for the purchase of laptops. The most ridiculous aspect of acts of financial recklessness is that it mortgaged the future of Ekiti people until 2017. Because of Fayemi’s loan-taking spree, lenders have each month first to deduct repayments from the state’s VAT account, its FAAC account, its Sure-P account and its IGR account before any talk on the payment of Ekiti workers’ salaries. Yet, these are the people screaming CHANGE and fighting corruption Buhari style.

What all this says, perhaps, is that those who claim that President Jonathan is soft on corruption may have a point.

Otherwise, a lot of the loudspeakers strutting about, claiming to be anticorruption champions in Buhari’s campaign would today be cooling their heels behind bars.

•Mr. Iloegbunam, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos.

20 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 — 21

Minister sets up committee to review concession agreement

By Godfrey Bivbere & Godwin Oritse

M

INISTER of Transport, Idris Umar, has constituted a committee to review the concession agreement between the Federal Government and private operators of the nation’s port terminals.

The constitution of the committee followed calls from stakeholders over deficiencies in the agreement as it is presently. Members of the committee include representatives of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NSC, and the concessionaires with the NSC to serve as Chairman.

Disclosing this in Lagos yesterday at an interactive session with journalists, Executive Secretary of the NSC, Hassan Bello, said that the committee is to look at the shortcoming and mistakes of the agreement with a view to making corrections.

According to him, “The concession agreement has been there for how many years now, eight years and eight years is too long a time for the agreement to be binding without review.

“There must be changes even the operators are clamouring for review of the concession agreement; even the agreement has provision

for review. The Federal Ministry of transport has set a committee made up of the NPA, NSC and the concessionaires to review the agreement.

“What is most important to us is that the agreement right from the time it was signed made provision for the appointment of an economic regulator. Why this was not

done maybe we were in a hurry to get things done.

“This is to take care of new development and changes after eight years of operations so that we can correct them, so that the obligations, the rights, the duties and every part of the agreement can be clearly stated,” he noted.

Similarly, Chairman of the Ports Constultation Committee, PCC, Kunle

Folarin, said that the lapses in the agreement today may not be unconnected with the fact that the NSC was not involved in the process leading to concessioning of the ports at the initial stage.

He explained that there is need to speed up the concession agreement review to ensure that all parties are in agreement and therefore benefit from the review.

Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr. Joseph Odumodu, receiving the World Customs Organisation Award for SON rendering exceptional Service to the International customs-community from Bar. Umaru Kawu while Alh. Isa Sulieman watches at World Customs Organisation Day in Abuja.

Africapitalism: Solution to African’s growth challenges – Adimmadu

By Ediri Ejoh & Hope Ofobike

A

Veteran Economist and Senior lecturer at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri Professor Emeka Adimmadu, has said that Africapitalism is the solution to Africa’s growth challenges.

He stated this in Abuja while launching his book titled ‘Economics and Africapitalism: The African perspective.

He said: “Africapitalism, a new platform for African development, is a synergy of the world economic forum, Africa’s campaign for a new Africa as well as a wake up call for Africa and Africans to realize that the world has gone beyond the spectre of redundancy and mere resilience.

“It is all about a model of social capital or culture that promotes egalitarianism C M Y K

through an inclusive institution. For the African nations to grow and prosper it must evolve economic trajectory by changing institutions. Africapitalism is Africa’s version of free market system differentiated by reliance of market mechanism driven by consumer interests and not driven by supplier or

For the African nations to grow and prosper it must evolve economic trajectory by changing institutions

producer overzealous and inordinate profit motive.”

According to him, the ills with the Africa’s economy are inexplicably premised on the continent’s inability to scale minimum global benchmark for acceptability as an important global partner.

Speaking on ways to revamp the Africa’s ailing economy, he said: “In order to avert future marginal affiliation or lopsided integration with the rest of the emerging global community or regional epicentres, African nations must develop strong all inclusive institutions that would create various circles of innovation, economic expansion and more widely held, wealth.”

“The challenge to develop new perspective in Africa’s Economic trajectory requires a regional or inter regional

long-term strategy involving first and foremost the revitalization and promotion of the erstwhile moribund micro, small and medium scale enterprises, a political process that encourages strong and virile private sector in partnership with cognate public sector institutions. Such a collective regional approach would result in shoring up the nearly extinguished middle-income group which will support the simultaneous development of SME’s and in the long run bolsters greater opportunities for rapid growth and development of the African region.”

Bird flu alert: Ghana to ban importation of Nigerian poultry products

By Godwin Oritse

F

OLLOWING a renewed outbreak of bird flu in Nigeria, the Ghanaian Government said it is taking steps to temporarily ban the importation of poultry products from Nigeria into Ghana.

This move, according to the Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture will help prevent a possible outbreak of the disease in Ghana.

An outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in Nigeria has spread to 21 commercial farms in seven different states, with more than 140,000 birds having been exposed to the virus, the agriculture minister; Akinwumi Adesina had confirmed recently.

He said the deadly virus had arrived in Lagos, in the southwest, and Kano, in the north, last week, even as he added that it had now spread to five other states across the country such as Ogun, Delta, Rivers, Edo and Plateau.

Around 100,000 of the birds exposed were in Kano, Adesina said.

“All the farms have been quarantined and decontaminated.

Other locations in Ikorodu, Ojo and Lagos Mainland have already been quarantined, while awaiting confirmation,” he said.

$161.90 $2,682.00 $14.79

1.90 -4.00 -0.06

$52.95

3.82

$47.85

3.71

CURRENCY

BUYING

DOLLAR POUNDS EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYAL KRONA SDR

167 251.9529 189.4448 180.4448 1.4192 0.2689 233.3106 26.6999 44.4338 25.4569 235.2863

CENTRAL 167.5 252.7073 190.012 181.1202 1.4235 0.2789 235.2951 26.7974 44.5668 25.5331 235.9908

168 253.4616 190.5792 181.6609 1.4277 0.2889 235.9975 26.8778 44.663 25.6094 236.6952

CBN Exchange Rate as at 02/2/15

22 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

More than five years after they bought the shares of the company, the company has not paid a dime as dividend, and the shares of the company, bought then at N5 per share, is now trading at 50 kobo.

,

TOP 10 PERFORMING STOCKS

BY NKIRUKA NNOROM On the top 10 performing stocks last week were the shares of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, P.Z Cusson Plc, Ikeja Hotels Plc, Okomu Oil Palm Co. Plc, Costain (West Africa) Plc, and Presco Plc. Others were Chemical and Allied Products, CAP Plc, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, ETI Plc, NPF Microfinance Bank Plc and UACN Property Development Co. Plc.

D

angote Sugar led the advancers with 23.33 percent or N1.29 price appreciation, closing at N6.82 from N5.53 it started the week at. DSR has commenced a Sugar Master Plan that will lead to production of 1.5 to 2 million metric tons of sugar per annum in the next five to 10 years in support of its quest to remain the leading sugar producing company ijn the country. In the light of this, the company has 200,000 hectares of land across Nigeria to meet the development plan.

The land, according to the company, would be used for the development of sugar cane plantations and construction of modern sugar processing factories. Latest financial highlights of the company for the half year to June, 2014 showed a declining fortune as its profit before tax for the period fell by 5.5 percent to N10.3 billion compared to N10.9 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2013.

The revenue also fell by 9.8 per cent from the N55 billion recorded in 2013 fueled by a twoweek plant upgrade which took place in May and gas supply disruptions for a couple of weeks in June. Low pour fuel oil (LPFO) provided an alternative energy source during that period. There was improvement in its operational efficiency as the cost of sale fell by 7.6 percent from N39.6 billion to N36.6 billion, while distribution expenses dipped by 55 percent from N6.57 billion to N2.925 billion. So far, the company has delivered 155.3 percent and 43 percent 52 week and year-to-date returns to investors respectively.

P

Z Cusson garnered 18.56 percent or N4.64 price increase to close as the second most active stock within the week. It opened the market at N25.00 and closed at N29.64 per share. Several rating agencies had in the last month weighed in on the shares of parent body of PZ Cusson Nigeria to reaffirm their positive ratings on the shares. Five equities research analysts rated the stock with a hold rating,

while two have assigned a buy rating to the company. For instance, PMorgan Chase & Co. reissued their neutral rating on shares of PZ Cussons plc. Analysts at Canaccord Genuity reiterated a buy rating; Investec raised their price target on shares; Shore Capital reiterated a hold rating on shares, while analysts at Panmure Gordon reiterated a hold rating on the shares. However, PZ Cusson Nigeria released its half year financial statement last week, which was badly deteriorated in both revenue and profits due to currency moves in key markets, according to an article by Seeking Alpha. The company ’s revenue for the period was down 2.5 percent to N31.66 billion from N32.46 billion in the same period in 2013, while the profit after tax decreased to N1.44 billion as against N2.32 billion in 2013, showing 37.9 percent decline.

Analysts believe that the trends are unlikely to abate and could, indeed, intensify.

I

keja Hotels Plc, which currently is mired in a Board room squabble, followed with 12.59 percent or N0.34 appreciation to close at N3.04 from N2.70 per share. The ownership tussle of one of Ikeja Hotels Plc subsidiaries, the Sheraton Lagos Hotel and Towers, deepened on January 7, as different members of the Ibru family moved to assert authority.

Surprisingly though, the crises has not affected the shares seriously as indicated by the positive disposition towards the stocks last week. It had however, experienced active selldown to shed 34.84 percent between December 5th 2014 and January 26th following the problem. Analysts at proshare noted that sub-sector/peer analysis is a revelation that the stock has been the top performing stock in the last one year, which further suggests that the sentiments within the sub-sector remained positive towards it.

Okomu Oil advanced by 12.22 percent or N2.99 to close at N27.45 from N24.46 per share; Costain went up by 10.77 percent or N0.07 to close at N0.72 ftom N0.65; Presco followed with 10.23 percent or N3.03 increase to close at N32.66 from N29.63 per share; CAP added 7.64 percent or N2.75 to close at N38.75 from N36.00; ETI advanced by 7.51 percent or N1.13 to close at N16.18 from N15.05; NPF Microfinance Bank appreciated by 7.41 percent or N0.06 to close at N0.87 from N0.81, while UACN Property advanced by 6.16 percent or N0.53 to close at N9.13 from N8.60 per share.

,

INVESTORS

‘I don’t want to lose money’ (2)

By Babajide Komolafe

I

T is possible to invest and not lose money.

Examples abound of people who invested and did not lose

money; hence the fear of losing money is not a justifiable reason for not investing. To avoid losing money in the quest to invest and make more money, all you need to do

is observe the last three laws of money, as taught in the book, “The Richest Man in Babylon”.

Money stays with those who entrust it to wise people: Before you give your

MARKET NEWS

SEC to empower SROs to settle complaints from stakeholders *NSE boss bags award

By Peter Egwuatu

T

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has stated that it would empower trade groups and Self Regulatory Organizations (SROs) in the Nigeria Capital Market to settle complaints in their various groups so that only unresolved issues can be reported to the commission Meanwhile, the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry weekend awarded the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oscar N. Onyema OON, most Innovative CEO of the year 2014 in recognition of his tremendous role in the development of the Nigerian capital market.

Commenting on the award, Onyema said, “I am honoured to receive the 2014 Abuja Chamber Award for Most Innovative CEO of the Year.

While this award is personal in nature, it would not have been possible without the great team at the Nigerian Stock

Exchange, who are making significant contributions to the development of the Nigerian capital market and Africa at large. This award is for my team, I am just receiving it in my name.”

Meanwhile, Acting Director General of the SEC, Mounir Gwarzo told the members of the Council of Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE led by Mr. Aigboje Aig, Imokhuede

during thier visit to his office in Abuja that the SROs would be given opportunities to settle issues with their members.

He expressed the current management readiness to collaborate with all stakeholders in the capital market as a means to taking the market to greater heights, noting that the NSE is very important in our quest to move the market to a new level and SEC is keen on exploring

The equities market in 2015 would be shaped by key global and domestic factors, ranging from interest rate hike in the US and UK, falling oil prices, exchange rate instability and possibility of further devaluation of the Naira

areas of collaboration with all stakeholders He also stated that in the light of this collaboration SEC Nigeria is set to launch a new complaints management system which will allow issues to be resolved from the bottom. This will empower SROs and trade groups to enable them handle some complaints and deal with them with dispatch and also exercise some measure of control on their members.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 — 23

money to anybody or organization to invest or manage for you, or even to invest in them, you must be sure they are wise, competent and trustworthy. There is a media company that sold shares in 2008.

Many people bought the shares of the company, not knowing that the owner of the company does not pay staff regularly. They were attracted by the domineering size of the company and its prominence in the media industry, but it has one of the worst reputations when it comes to staff welfare. But those who gave their money to the company and its owner did not know or they knew and decided to ignore this fact. Today, more than five years after they bought the shares of the company, the company has not paid a dime as dividend, and the shares of the company, bought then at N5 per share, is now trading at 50 kobo. Of course if the owner does not pay the staff, why should he pay dividend to investors?

There are also examples of people who gave their money to stock brokers, bankers or fund

managers, expecting that the money would be invested or managed profitably for them, only to discover that the so called professionals that they gave their money to were either fake, or lacked the competence to invest or manage the money, and hence the money was lost.

It is a simple but powerful law. This law in effect is saying credibility and competence matters. So before you give your money to anybody or organization, do some little findings, via the internet, via news publications, via people working in the company or doing business with it, as well as its neighbour, to be sure that that person, or the Chief Executive and the management of that organization are trustworthy, with history of proven competence and achievement. Doing this will spare you the agony of losing your hard earned money.

,

S FORUM

Before you give your money to anybody or organisation, do some little findings, via the internet, via news publications, via people working in the company or doing business with it, as well as its neighbour INVESTORS SPEAK

Shareholders divided over Seplat dollar dividend Shareholders of Seplat Petroleum Development Company (Seplat) are divided over the company’s decision to pay dividend in foreign currency (dollar) and demanding that they open a domiciliary account. In this interview, investors bear their minds on the issue Excerpt:

•Gbadebo

•Oderinde Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr. Taiwo Oderinde

By Providence Obuh

S

From left: Mrs. Oyinade Adegite, Senior Manager, Communications and External Affairs, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc; Mr. Bisi Osunneye, member, Technical Committee, Lagos State Sports Council; Mrs. Marion Babs-Akinyeye, Director, Co-Curricular Services, Ministry of Education, Lagos State and Mrs. Abimbola Meshinoye, Deputy Manager, Communications and External Affairs, GTBank, during the GTBank-Lagos State Principals Cup 2015 draws in Lagos.

He emphasized that the strategy of the commission is not to create committees but to focus on prescriptions of previous committees and ensuring that these prescriptions are executed within reasonable time frames.

On the issue of recapitalization, Gwarzo expressed delight that the Commission has had a good collaboration with all stakeholders stating that the commission will return to the exercise in the next five months.

Speaking earlier, Chairman of Council of the NSE, Aigboje Aig, Imokhuede said markets in other jurisdictions have benefited significantly from collaborations between the regulators and the regulated adding, that he was optimistic that the market in Nigeria would also benefit from the partnership.

He said “We feel that the market here will benefit from this type of partnership and we will be keen on that."

,

hareholders Activist, Alhaji Gbadebo Olatokunbo: The law does not say that payment of dividend in quoted-companies in Nigeria must be in another currency than Naira.

Therefore, shareholders couldn’t have passed any resolution at the Spelat-AGM that would change the rules and regulations on payment of dividend in Nigeria.

Some people might love to own dollars,but such should not deny others the right to receive their dividend in Naira and nobody has the power to change the rules inbetween the game.

Seplat is not the only company in Nigeria operating-internationally and since others have been observing the rules as N i g e r i a n Companies,therefore Seplat shouldn’t have allowed itself to be misled.

Because a dollar is N210, people are happy and want dividend to be paid in dollar that is absurd.

I did not buy my shares in dollar, even if shareholders said that the company should pay in dollar, the company should be law abiding and follow what the law says.

Shareholders cannot force the law on themselves. Any law that says dividend should be paid in dollars is endangering its currency, the law does not back companies paying dividend in foreign currency.

Shareholders can agitate for something, but the company should follow what the law says.

Base on my little experience in the capital market, there are companies which earn their income in foreign currency. Because there has been acquisition of some of them in the past, example, when you talk of the issue of conversion, people will say they did the conversion in official rate different from what they gain from the black market.

Black market is always higher than official r a t e , which is N155 to a dollar and there is a black market which sells for N190, by the time they do such and pay you in naira people begin to complain. Some of us attended their maiden AGM because the company got listed November 2013, they held their first AGM last year and some of the shareholders raised the issue about domiciliary account, so they said well, if that is how you want it, then open a domiciliary account so that we can be paying you the equivalent of the dividend in the dollar. They are into oil exploration, they earn their money in foreign currency that is why they ask shareholders to go and open a domiciliary account so that they can be paying them through that. When they are quoted in Nigeria you have to buy their shares in naira. That was the resolution that was passed at the AGM even it will pay the company to be paying us in naira but that is what shareholders wanted.

It was not the company that took that decision it was the shareholders of the company that took that decision. They said if Seplat is earning their money in dollars they too should be paid in dollar and not in naira and that was how they resolved that people should open a domiciliary account.

The company should not be blamed

Any law that says dividend should be paid in dollars is endangering its currency

National Coordinator, Proactive

24—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Negative impact of Economic Trade Liberation Scheme on Nigeria’s palm oil sector

By Nkiruka Nnorom

T

HE swift crash of crude oil per barrel in the international market to $43.5 should be a wake up call to the Nigerian government on the need to revamp the other sectors of the economy, especially the crude palm oil sector. This can be done by increasing the internal and local production which will help meet up with the internal demand of the product and subsequently boost the export of the commodity.

In 1990, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) launched an Economic Trade Liberation Scheme (ETLS) among its member states with the primary objective of establishing a Customs Union aimed at the total elimination of customs duties and taxes of equivalent effect and removal of non-tariff to protect goods produced in member states.

Crude Palm Oil (CPO) under ETLS is classified under processed goods hence enjoys certain concession upon entry into a different ECOWAS state.

The three groups of goods under the scheme enjoy the following concessions, which include: total exemption from import duties and taxes; zero quantitative restriction, and non-payment of compensation for loss of revenue for unprocessed goods and traditional handicraft product as a result of their importation.

2014, Nigeria alone was reported to have a deficit of over 900,000 metric tons which is about 60 percent of the total ECOWAS current imported volume.

Despite the glaring benefits of the ETLS, certain stakeholders in the industry have taken undue advantage of the scheme to indulge in sharp practices by importing CPO from member states through round tripping from other countries. These CPO round tripped into these member states are then imported into Nigeria under ETLS zero duty regime.

The Federal Government of Nigeria (This Day Newspaper, 3rd June 2013) confirmed the illegal flooding of the Nigerian market with large volumes of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) imported from neighboring West African nations, under the guise of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) According to the report, most of the palm oil imported from Malaysia, Indonesia and others actually end up in the Nigerian market duty-free; thereby displacing locally produced palm

Percentage of value addition To however qualify for these concessions, certain conditions must be fulfilled by member states, one of which being that the country of origin of such goods shall be from the community with specified percentage of value addition.

Although many of the member countries cultivate oil palms, there is a need to increase potential production of palm oil in order to meet both the domestic and the regional demand, particularly the needs of ECOWAS member countries with vulnerable economies and high rates of hunger. ECOWAS still experience a deficit of edible oil, which requires the importation of an estimate of1.5 million metric tons per annum and is foreseen to increase to some 2.0 million metric tons by 2020.

The ECOWAS region is a net importer of palm and palm kernel oils. However, in year

In as much as the objective of the ETLS is to promote industrialization within the subregion, the current practices are totally counterproductive

oil from the market and suffocating the Nigerian oil palm plantations.

The article continued to report that the aggregate of locally produced and imported palm oil in these neighboring West African nations by far surpasses what they require both for their domestic and industrial consumption, therefore making the massive Nigerian market the dumping ground for these cheap CPO, which also come into Nigeria dutyfree under ETLS, making it by far cheaper than the CPO produced within Nigeria.

“Nigeria”, it said, “should be producing and exporting into those countries. We should not be using those countries as transit areas.

Regional trade does not mean that we should import. Neighboring West African countries import crude palm oil far higher than their needs. For Benin Republic, between the period 2003 to 2013, their production was stagnant, but their export increased by 1,018 per cent. Their import increased by 1,084 per cent of crude palm oil.”

It is a known fact today that in every part of the world where agriculture is growing, it is because their governments are supporting them in various ways including the implementation of favorable agribusiness policies and practices.

Agribusiness policies In Nigeria for example, in the last one year, the government distributed 1.4 million sprouted nuts to farmers free. These hybrids sprouted nuts are high-yielding Tenera seedlings of greater yielding capacities that will benefit and improve production.

Howbeit, this requires that the farmers have to recapitalize their plantations which, is the responsibility of the government. As we today look at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, we are getting

excited because two of the best performing stocks are from the oil palm sector and we should encourage these companies to stay in that profile.

There is no doubt that Nigeria can become selfsufficient in palm oil production and consumption although we currently pay a higher price due to the weakened strength of the Naira each time we import CPO or any other agricultural produce.

It is therefore important that if government is to encourage and promote private sector participation in its current transformation efforts in palm oil plantation development, the current lapses in the ETLS where round tripping of CPO from other countries are dumped into the nearby country and subsequently the same into Nigeria under the guise of the ETLS must be checked and eradicated.

In as much as the objective of the ETLS is to promote industrialization within the sub-region, the current practices are totally counterproductive to this objective and there is need to have a review of the ETLS in its journey so far. Government should not ignore the cry of the industry especially with the continual falling value of the Naira against Dollar and the dire need to create jobs for our jobless teaming youths.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015—25

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the missing trillions (2) This is the concluding part of this piece which was first published in our Monday edition

By Chukwuma Soludo

C

AN you tell Nigerians which of the ‘conditionalities’ that you personally implemented? With the groundswell of political support and Nigeria meeting all the ‘conditionalities’, debt relief was assured.

Your major role as stated in your CV was to lead the team to negotiate the specific terms of the relief, having fulfilled the conditions. I still believe that Nigeria should have gotten far better terms than you negotiated.

Of course, with your eyes on returning to the World Bank after office, I did not expect you to boldly stand up to the donor community in defence of Nigeria.

Was there a conflict of interest on your part?

By the way, can you tell Nigerians why you were eased out as Finance Minister and you cried like a baby begging OBJ to still allow you remain in the Economic Management team— — barely few weeks after the debt relief? Why were you eventually also removed from the economic management team if you were so important? Ironically, President Jonathan has recycled you, with a bigger title and greater responsibilities. But the difference is that the team that did the actual work is no longer there, and the world has seen that the king is naked.

You are brilliant Madam, but you need serious help. Having spent all your life in the World Bank bureaucracy largely in administration/operations, no

to support his argument, while ignoring more recent figures”. At least you did not refute the NBS figure as valid. In the next sentence, Madam went ahead to note that “as stated in the Nigeria Economic Report 2014 by the World Bank, poverty in Nigeria has dropped from 35.2 percent of population in 2010/2011 to 33.1 percent in 2012/2013”. Did you notice that you have quoted two figures for poverty for the same year as being equally correct? So, for 2011, was poverty 71% (according to NBS) or 35% according to the World Bank? To the best of my knowledge, the last published household survey by NBS was in 2011. The World Bank does not conduct household surveys in member states to determine poverty incidence. So, when and by whom was the survey that gave the World Bank figures?

National statistics

What worries me is that this government is the first in our history to attempt to manipulate our national statistics under Okonjo-Iweala. When NBS published the poverty figures in 2011, she felt indicted and incensed. She called upon the World Bank to come and examine the ‘methodology’ and get NBS to ‘review’ its numbers. Oby Ezekwesili (as VP Africa Region rejected the call to try to tamper with a country’s statistics). Once Oby left, the ‘World Bank’ started talking about ‘new figures’, without conducting any new surveys. I was told about it by a World Bank economist, and I cautioned that it was a dangerous gamble that would damage the credibility of the NBS. If you want to ‘ review methodology ’, you conduct another survey but you can’t change ‘methodology’ because you don’t like the CHUKWUMA CHARLES SOLUDO published figures. No one will blame you if your government in our history has economics has become a bit rusty. tried it: even Sani Abacha There are firebrand Nigerians all allowed a poverty survey that put over the world to draft to service. poverty at 67% under his regime.

It is certainly embarrassing to At this rate, who will believe Nigeria for you to be bothering statistics coming from the World Bank economists to help Nigerian government again? Is you with most basic economic it now the World Bank that sits analysis. in Washington and allocates Your response on the poverty poverty numbers to Nigeria? issue is deeply troubling. You Something smells here! accuse me of using “2011 Madam alleges that the NBS— statistics on poverty by the NBS as a parastatal under the

Map of Nigeria National Planning Commission (under me) departed from the ‘international standard method of poverty measurement’. How and when, Madam? I was in office at National Planning for 11 months from July 2003 to May 2004. A poverty survey was conducted in 2004 and the results computed and published Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in 2005/2006— more than a year after I had gone to the under hardship. We can actually Central Bank. Or perhaps, it was ask Nigerians whether they are a clever way to divert attention getting better off now contrary to from your manipulation of your bogus figures. published economic statistics.

Many of Madam’s responses The NBS published its poverty were comical, but this one is data in 2006 when you were classic. According to her, the chief Minister of Finance, and you did economic adviser and NBS not question the ‘methodology’ “worked hard to determine how because the figures looked good. many jobs we need to create in a In 2011, the poverty numbers year”, and went on to ask, “why (using the same methodology as didn’t Soludo do this when he in 2005/2006) indicted the was CEA?” (Lol!). Madam, any government and suddenly, the good economist needs less than ‘methodology ’ is wrong. 10 minutes to compute this Interesting times! figure, not the (months? of) ‘hard Now that you decide which work’ by your team. economic statistics published by NBS to accept and which ones Reduction of to ‘change the methodology’ to unemployment give favourable figures, you can keep feeding your manipulated My calculation is that the figures to your international number of jobs Nigeria needs to media circus for the vain glorious create each year to significantly awards to sustain an empty reduce unemployment rate to hype, while Nigerians groan sustainable levels in the next few

What is at stake is the survival and prosperity of Nigeria.

Next elections are critical, and for me the key is the economy

years is at least 3 million, and not the 1.8 million by your team.

We are talking about the Nigerian economy, please.

Your magic wand for mass housing is the Mortgage Refinance Corporation with 23,000 mortgage offers—for a country with 17 million housing deficit! Then, there is the pedestrian proposal of a new development bank— financed with loans from the World Bank, etc? A World Bank loan to set up another ‘development bank’ where we already have Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, NEXIM, Federal Mortgage Bank, etc?

People have totally run out of ideas and can’t see anything for Nigeria without through the prism of the World Bank. I will offer you free consultancy on how to set up a development bank without a World Bank loan but we don’t need another one now.

I actually gave President Yar’adua a two page note for a N3 trillion development fund then, and if we plug your leaking pipes, it could actually be a N10 trillion Fund. I envisioned and set up the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC)—Africa’s premier infrastructure bank!

Frankly, I don’t understand why you seem highly troubled that the Soludo you thought had “disappeared from the political space” seems to be still around.

Well, let me assure you that I will only ‘disappear’ in God’s own time. I gave credit to two past presidents who laid the foundation of the market economy we operate today. You did not contest or contradict any of my points. Rather, what you see is that Soludo must be ‘looking for a position’. Pity! If I am looking for a position, I would be running around one of the candidates now just as you are busy dancing Atilogwu dance at TAN and PDP rallies, struggling to keep your job. How Yar’adua drafted me to contest for governor in Anambra and APGA leadership as well and how I was “stopped” on both occasions are in the public domain.

Increasing critical mass But I am not deterred for one minute. Chinua Achebe said that on leadership, Nigeria is a country that goes for a football match with its 10th Eleven. I am proud and happy to have offered to serve my people, and for the service of Nigeria, I will do it again and again. How many times did Abraham Lincoln, Obama, Reagan, etc contest before they got there? I actually encourage everyone who believes he/she has something to offer to get involved or stop complaining. I am happy seeing the increasing critical mass of professionals (like you) now getting involved. It is good for Nigeria!

What is at stake is the survival and prosperity of Nigeria. Next elections are critical, and for me the key is the ECONOMY. We must offer Nigerians clarity on the choices before them. Can I propose a three-way debate with you (representing PDP/Federal Government), nominee of APC (Utomi or Fayemi? or any other), and myself (as independent citizen— I don’t belong to any of the two).

Let us have two bouts of debate between now and 12th February, 2015 focusing on: CBN/AMCON and the financial system (if you want); our economy and its outlook, and agenda/alternative paths to sustainable prosperity post elections. Choose the dates and times, and for the sake of Nigeria, I will fly in. You can invite any of your international media friends as moderators.

I feel the pain of the 180 million Nigerians whose tomorrow you have rendered bleak, and when I think of what the missing trillions could do for them, it becomes extremely urgent that we all must deepen the debate.

Eagerly waiting for your response, please!

26—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Kerry’s insult, joke •He came with a wrong message – Amb. Keshi •It’s time to change our strategy, foreign policy against U.S double standard

By Clifford Ndujihe, Deputy Political Editor

F

ORMER Consul-General of Nigeria in Atlanta, United States of America and Charge d’Affaires, Embassy of Nigeria, The Hague, Netherlands, Ambassador Joe Keshi, has advised the Federal Government to change strategy and rejig its foreign policy in response to what he describes as the U.S’ double standards.

Peeved by the comments attributed to United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, during his visit to Nigeria, last week that US Governmeny would deny Nigerians who promote any form of violence during the 2015 elections U.S. Visa,” Keshi said it was a wrong message at a time the country is battling with the Boko Haram insurgency.

The erudite diplomat, who complained that the U.S has not lifted a finger to help Nigeria out of the Boko Haram war, said in an exclusive interview with Vanguard that Kerry’s visit is illtimed and his message out of sync.

On John Kerry’s visit to Nigeria This is the second time I am speaking on John Kerry’s visit to Nigeria. The first time I spoke about it I used pidgin English to say ‘Kerry come show face’ because for me, the timimg of the visit was wrong and above all the messsage was even worse.

In view of a recent article I wrote, I am not anti-America in any way. But I believe as a Nigerian that the Americans, if they claim as they often say that Nigeria is their strategic partner, then they must treat us as geniune partner and respond to our needs.

Critical period You cannot treat one partner differently and treat us differently, except they are fooling us. You cannot say you are interested in the future of Nigeria and at this most critical period of our history that we need help, we invited you to help us with the training of our military men and women and to rebuild our military but you have spent the better period of the training virtually insulting the military, disparaging the military, saying they are corrupt, ‘we cannot share intelligence with you because your military is not good,’ etc.

Let us break this to the simplest level for you to understand my

feelings. If I invite you as a lesson teacher for my son or daughter and everytime I ask how he is progressing, you keep telling me that my child is an idiot, he is a never do well, I will be annoyed with you. Why did I employ you? I employed you to help me bring up the child but instead you spend the better part of the time telling me how bad my child is. Of course I will fire you.

If we are strategic partners and you actually respect us, there are channels of communication.

Ambassador Joe Keshi...peeved by comments of US Secretary of State For exmple, if you are training the military they are not that the military is not doing what years, we have had problem doing well, there are so many you guys want them to do and with Boko Haram. You are our ways you can get your that is why they are having strategic partner. In comparison ambassador to take this matter up, problems. But when you go and with what you have done to other up to the level of the president publicise this things, who gains? regions where there is terrorism, so that the president will know You open the whole country and you stepped in, tried to distrupt its people to complete ridicule. I the flow of arms to the terrorists, am against that because when I you have revealed who their served in the United States, it financiers and sponsors are, you was during the debate on have revealed where they are whether or not they should go to getting arms from. But in the war in the Middle-East. There Nigerian case, nothing has been were many diplomats who were done to assist us in all these. not in favour of going to war but they did not go up to the level of Getting arms and CNN and ABC screaming amunition against the United States that they were going to destabilise the This is one hell of a crisis we Middle East region. do not know who the financiers I am sure that many countries and sponsors are. We dont’ know made their protest to caution how they get their arms and America and backed off. They did ammunition apart from the ones not take it and the consequenses abandoned by the Nigerian of that is what we are seeing Military. We do not know who is today, the whole of Middle East actually the brain behind this is destabilised. operation. And it is impossible to When Kerry came here, tell anybody that nobody is ostensibly he came to warn behind this. people against violence. That is Those who have the superthe most ridiculous thing I have intelligence and have helped If we are strategic heard. You are saying that people all over the world, anybody who causes violence suddenly, when it comes to partners and you will not be granted American Nigeria they just give us actually respect us, Visa. The people who are going lectures. Hundreds and there are channels of to cause this violence don’t apply thousands of people have died. for American visas. They are You have not threatened the communication unlikely to apply for visas. sponsors, you are threatening In the meantime, in the last four some Almajiris that if they do

anything against the election you will not give them visa. How many of them has applied for visa in the last four years? So the message is wrong.

When Kerry came what I expected him to deal with is, first of all, they announced that Nigeria has cancelled the training programme. I expected that security would be the main issue, not vacuous election issue which I believe we can handle very well.

His take on comments that America is not buying our crude oil as a form of purnishment Let’s not go into this conspiracy theory. Technology is improving in the way we do things all over the world. When it comes to oil, we must blame successive Nigeria leaders for investing our oil proceed in critical infrastructure that will enable us confront any oil glut or decline in oil production.

For many years we have been paying lip service to diverification, it is only now that some efforts are being made to diversify the economy even though the media is not giving the Jonathan Administration due credit for doing this, at least, they are doing something.

Driving the economy America is not buying our oil not because they want to purnish us. They now have a new technology to go into a new area of oil production and they have done it to their advantage. What we should do here is to build refineries, refine our oil, use it properly in this country and sell the rest. America has nothing to do with the fate of our oil at all.

Could you throw more light on Jonathan diversification of the economy?

According to the government itself in the last couple of days, it is the non-oil sector that has been driving the economy. It, interestingly, means that a lot has been happening in agriculture.

Now, they are trying to revive the auto industry, I think he last one died over 20 years ago. These are part of the efforts but they can accelerate it and do more.

I take a different view to a number of things we say in this country. The narrative that things are so bad in the country is not the correct narrative. I blame the media for the wrong narratives.

The media today in Nigeria will tell you there is no infrastructure; the same media will tell you of infrastructural gap, that nothing is happening in Nigeria.

However, the same media, every year give awards to the best governor in agriculture, health, education, security, good governance, etc. Most of the leading newspapers do the awards every year. And you have been doing it in the last 16 years.

Are you doing it because these governors have actually done something or for the fun of it?

If they have actually done something then there is a total aggregate improvement in the conditions of Nigeria. So why do the media present the Nigerian Continues on page 27

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015—27

Kerry’s insult, joke Continues from page 26 narrative as hopeless?

We have 36 states in the country, if every year, the media and NGOs honour governors on various issues and then the same people sit down and say nothing is happening, then something is wrong with all of us. The narrative of Nigeria is far better than what we read in the media.

That is why this election will probably not be decided by what Jonathan has done or failed to do but by that same clamour that nothing is happening, we need a change. The media should try to be accurate. There is a difference between there are no roads and the roads are bad. Let’s be specific on the things we want to say. When you present a better narrative of your country that is the way people look at you.

When we scream corruption, corruption and nobody can really nail it down, the rest of the world write about the same corruption and when you ask somebody they cannot give you an example.

Last November , I was at an event in the United States and an exofficer who had served at the military wing of the US embassy was delivering a lecture on Nigeria’s security.

Lecture on security He said of Nigeria military is corruption ridden throughout, that he visits some officers at home and the cars parked in front of their houses are ‘choicy cars I dream of riding,’ that in Nigeria, from Lagos to PortHarcourt or Abuja to PortHarcourt takes about eight hours but sometimes because of bad roads it takes about eight days.

I said to the colonel, ‘are you talking about Nigeria or where?

By the way how many officers have you visited in their homes to see their choicy cars? At least I have had occasions to go to the Ministry of Defence, I did not see those choicy cars at the Ministry of Defence in Abuja.’

I told him, tell everybody here how many officers you visisted their homes and how many choicy cars you saw in their homes.

He started murmuring ‘you know, there is corruption in the U.S...’ I said, ‘I am not interested, the one you said about Nigeria back it up with evidence.’

These are some of the things they read on the net and so on.

Or is it one clown, Peter Loius at John Hopkins University. These are the people the United States, State Departments and Ministries listen to and judge Nigeria. They read the newspapers in this country and judge Nigeria without knowing where the newspapers are coming from. They listen to the wrong people and then conclude about what is going on in

Nigeria.

I am not saying there is no corruption in the military, my position is in a period of war like we are now, it is difficult to probe the military and fight a war. In any case, the people you want to probe are no longer in the military so it will be a distraction for the current leadership of the military to be going to probe sessions and fighting a war. After the war, we can overhaul the whole military.

The point is, we must find a way of giving a proper narrative of this country. The media need to help people to understand these things and make informed decision.

When you say nothing is happening in Nigeria, it is wrong because a lot is happening in this country. Our roads are improving. There are still a number of roads that need to be rehabilitated but significantly, our roads are improving. When I lived in Ibadan as a young boy, we lived by the rail line and we knew how often the trains passed. By the time I became an adult, there were no more trains. Now, in my old age, the trains are back, through the same old rails but the trains are back.

The All Progressives Congress, APC Candidate, Major-General Mauhammadu Buhari (retd) challenged President Jonathan to produce evidence that the trains are working?

That is where I want to challenge the media. When any government says it has built roads, the media should go and

Ambassador Joe Keshi find out if it is true.

I will use the United States as an example. When the boys doing the Watergate scandal started, nobody believed them.

Their boss, the owner of the newspaper, who was a friend to the president listened to them and said ‘I would be damned if you guys are wrong.’ But he said, go and find out and the boys pursued the case to logical conclusion. So why do our editors sit down and write ‘where are the roads?’ Why not send your reporters to go and find out?

Still on Boko Haram, what is your take on U.S. refusal to sell weapons to us and blocking others from selling to us?

The argument of the US is that it is constrained by some laws against selling weapons to us because of the human rights violation of the military and so on. I don’t have a problem with the law but I know that the United States has sold arms and ammunitions to countries with worse human rights records than Nigeria, I don’t have to name them.

Strategic partner

If we all can focus, whether PDP or APC wins, we must all unite to defeat Boko Haram and send them out of this country

Again that goes back to what I said earlier. There comes a time when you have to look at it: this is a country you claim is your strategic partner, a country you have interest in, a country you do not want to break up, a country that is being threathened by terrorism. And when you trace the history of Islamic fundamentalism in Nigeria, you can actually trace it to the situation in the Middle East. Anytime our people watch television, particularly if they are moslems, if they felt moslems are been maltreated there, some of them will start their own wahala (trouble) here.

It is because of these extended influence. So, you (U.S.) have an obligation irrespective of your laws, since you have found a way to sell weapons to countries which have far worse human rights records than Nigeria, you should also use that same channel to sell arms to Nigeria.

For me, that is fundamental. I have always been against US double standard in dealing with

people.

Given their double standard, are you suggesting we call their bluff?

No! Why should we call their bluff? What we need to do is to be strategic. I am coming from that (U.S) background. When we execute our foreign policy, it must be from a position of confidence and assertiveness.

This country has every reason to be confident of itself, this country has the power to be assertive in the pursuit of its foreign policy.

When you do that and make it clear to your partners what you want, what you accept and what you cannot tolerate, they will respect you.

I was a youngman during the civil war. When we had the same situation with the British, we just did not waste our time. We went to Russia, bought the weapons, came back, fought the war and when it was over, it was the same British who started rushing back here to us.

So, they (U.S) are not the only ones selling weapons. You can go to any where in the world and buy what you need. You dont have to give anybody an impression that he is doing you a favour. So, we must project the image of a confident and assertive nation, that if Country A does not sell, no big deal, we can even go to North Korea, they will sell arms to us.

Democratic dispensation When you look at the military itself, I see where people are coming from when they blame the president. If you have been in government and know how the system works, sometime it is by accident that the president discovers how bad things are in the respective ministries. Again, that is where I quarrel with the media.

Before the current democratic dispensation, the media has always reported what former heads of states had done to the military to ensure that the military was not strong enough to stage a coup. Of course, that has a a ripple effect and has weakened the military. My gut feeling is that when Jonathan needed the military, he discovered they had

a weak military.

When you say that the president is incompetent, is he the one that is going to fight? If he has no military what is he going to fight with? If the military has no arms, the first thing is to repurchase weapons and they are doing that now. If we eventually go with the change we are looking for, I want to see how they are going to retool the military because anything you want to buy for the military is expensive. if you want to buy an helicopter, it is enormous.

If you want to buy a fighter is quite enormous. The worst is if you want to buy a ship. It is an expensive venture. You cannot retool the military with one budgetary allocation. It has to be over a period of five to six years.

So, what I believe they are doing now, which was what I knew they did during the Liberian and Sierra Leonian crises is to go and buy exactly what they need for the operation immediately. After the war, we can settle down and rebuild the military, but it is going to for a long period of time before you can really have a military you will be very proud of. We were lucky that during the civil war, we bought a lot which surrvived us with time until the same military people began to destroy the military.

Destroying the military For me, let us focus on the issue, let everybody speak with one voice, that is let’s do away with Boko Haram. I don’t think the president started it, I don’t think he has any reason to start it, we all know how it started.

When we speak with disturbing voices and cast headlines that ‘the president is killing northerners,’ he did not go there to kill anybody. The war was already there before he started to use the military. He has the constitutional right to use the military to sort out the problem.

If we all can focus, whether PDPor APC wins, we must all unite to defeat Boko Haram and send them out of this country.

His perspective on how Boko Haram started?

Before 1999, we have had incidents of Matatsine, etc. These are all part of the origins of this fundamentalism and extremism but the mistake that was made was nobody took it serious enough to nip it in the bud. If you allow a crisis to fester for a long time it becomes too difficult to handle.

When political leaders in the North in 1999, beginning from Zamfara and later 12 states came up that they wanted to impose sharia, what sort of sharia did they impose? In a way, they inadvertently aided the whole process. Some said that poverty has fuelled the whole thing. It is true but we have to ask a fundamental question. Every state gets allocation from the Federal Government, what have they done with the allocations?

28 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

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•Northpointe 1 Estate, Lekki

O stimulate and develop an efficient, viable and sustainable Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), aimed at attracting capital inflow into the asset class, Stanbic IBTC, in partnership with Actis, Persianas Group and Resilient Africa last week in Lagos organised a roundtable brainstorming session for key stakeholders and regulators in the Nigeria’s real estate development subsector.

The one-day forum with the theme “Creating Investment Grade Real Estate Assets in Nigeria”, had participants drawn from domestic and international investors, developers, pension fund administrators, real estate consultants as well as regulators from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the National Pension Commission (PENCOM).

Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited, Yewande Sadiku; Head, Real Estate joint venture with British-America Finance (West Africa), Stanbic Tobacco Company, located along IBTC, Adeniyi Adeleye; Director, Lafiaji Road, Lekki, is being Real Estate, Actis, Funke developed. Upon completion, Okubadejo; Asset Manager, the estate will provide 380 units Stanlib Africa Direct Property of different house types, Development Fund, Nnema including detached houses, Byrd; and Director, Java Capital, terraced bungalows and Andrew Brooking; who detached duplexes. For ease of facilitated the sessions, in turns execution, the project has been took participants through a wide divided into different zones with range of topics on asset valuation, plans on the way to deliver the land acquisition and zoning very first set of houses in a few considerations, REIT structures and characteristics, REIT regime months time. in Nigeria, among others.

Housing provision: Firm targets 1000 housing units in 2015 H

AVING successfully completed Northpointe 1 Estate with 100 per cent occupancy, and an array of other ongoing housing projects located at various sites in Lekki axis at various stages of completion, Gran Imperio Group, developers and promoters of EssentialHomes brand is hopeful that it will deliver 1000 houses this year to bridge Lagos housing need which has remained on the increase.

The Northpointe 1 Estate located within Northpointe 2 Estate and Mid-land Court Off Chevron Drive, Lekki, Lagos, comprises 24 units of semidetached duplexes while the Northpointe 2 consists of 20 units of semi-detached duplexes.

While the Northpointe 1 was delivered in June 2014, and fully occupied, the Northpointe2 was delivered last December with 30 per cent occupancy. The Midland Court which comprises 24 units of terraced town houses, is billed to be delivered this April Other ongoing housing projects of the group include Lakeview Park 1, Southpointe phase 1 and 2, Golden Leaf Estate and Y’hello Estate. These projects are simultaneously being executed by Gran Imperio Group.

Speaking after conducting journalists round the various housing schemes last week, the Managing Director of the Group, Mr. Adeyeye Ogunwusi said his company targets to deliver a minimum of 1000 upscale but pocket-friendly housing units this year, pointing out that last year, the real estate development company of repute delivered 300 housing units.

Ogunwusi who disclosed that

Y’hello Estate comprises 800 housing units while Golden Leaf Estate consists of 380 housing units which are expected to be delivered this year, said his firm is capable of delivering the targeted number of houses this year.

According to him, “Our objective at Gran Imperio Group is to start with starters’ houses which are affordable. We will work towards satisfying our subscribers by providing upscale but affordable houses for our subscribers. We like to distinguish between completed development and successfully completed development. For us, a project is successfully completed when it is fully occupied”.

The managing director who revealed his company has very strong and reliable mortgage banks and financiers, added that with what the federal government is doing in terms of mortgage refinancing, mortgage

We like to distinguish between completed development and successfully completed development, for us, a project is successfully completed when it is fully occupied

challenge which has been a major problem of housing provision in Nigeria, will be a thing of the past.

Explaining that Lakeview Park 1, which is site and service scheme, strategically located along Lekki-Epe Expressway adjacent Victoria Garden City (VGC), comprises 194 residential plots and over 30,000sqms commercial plots, Ogunwusi said the scheme has been completed, pointing out the phase 2 which is a gated residential community along Lafiaji Road, Lekki, designed with a natural lake, has 160 residential plots of different sizes and an area earmarked for commercial activities.

Commercial activities He noted that at the moment, 20 buildings at phase 2 are under construction.

Speaking further on other ongoing projects by his company, he said Mid-land Court located at Northern Foreshore Road, Off Chevron Drive, Lekki comprises 24 units of terraced town houses, adding that it is a premium gated residential community offering spectacular ambience, detailed finishing, security and recreational facilities in an appealing environment. The estate according to him, is expected to be delivered in April this year.

Ogunwusi noted that “Delivery date for SouthPointe II and Lakeview Park II, which comprise 79 units including 32, 30 and 17 units of three, four bedrooms and town houses respectively, is April 30, 2015.

Golden Leaf Estate which is a

Stakeholders brainstorm on how to develop viable REIT market

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 — 29

Dry construction, solution to mass housing — Nigerite boss

By Kingsley Adegboye

‘W

ITH Nigeria’s capital expenditure profile put at 24 per cent of recurrent expenditure in 20 14, falling price of crude oil and a high cost of funds for execution of capital projects, the construction industry in Nigeria is obviously under pressure to evolve more time and cost efficient system of construction.”

This was the submission of the Managing Director of Nigerite Limited, Mr. Frank LeBris last week at an interactive session with journalists to unfold plans towards official launch of an innovative building solution known as Kalsi performance cementboardssolutionordry construction system into Nigerian market.

The new construction technology being promoted bytheLagos-basedcompany that specialises in the manufacturing of roofing,

ceiling and flooring products is the latest addition to its range of building solutions.

Kalsi boards which are manufactured from cement, quartz sand, cellulose, natural calcium and water, are processed by autoclave (drying process under high pressure and temperature) for durability and dimensional stability. The boards which come in various sizes and thicknesses between 6mm and20mm,aremanufactured under strict quality control and international standards.

Describing the dry construction system as a modern building system which tends to translate the building process into an industrial process, Mr. Le Bris said the system is more versatile and faster construction method that allows up to 70 per cent construction time saving possible when compared with the traditional wet constructionusingbricksand

blocks. He added that whatever the design idea the Architect can conceive, Kalsi boards can achieve, pointing out that various reference building projects using the boards now abound in the country.

According to him, “This system, unlike the traditional

Dry construction using Kalsi board for eave solution has also proved to be a much viable solution with lower selfweight, faster and better technical finishes

brick and block method requires minimum use of water. The system generates minimumconstructionwaste and Kalsi buildings have much better preserve room temperature and they are energy efficient. The use of timber associated with the traditional construction is avoided with dry construction, and the system impacts positively on reducing deforestation. “”Lower dry construction load impacts on minimum excavation, less soil disturbance. The system complimentsbetterthegreen building idea for modern construction world over. In additional, the system is a lightweight construction. It is about 10 times less in weight compared to equivalent blocks and mortar construction, resulting to savings in foundation and structural costs.

Dry construction using Kalsi board for eave solution has also proved to be a much viable solution with lower self-weight, faster and better technical finishes. Kalsi building boards have a high fire resistance rating and good acoustic and thermal properties. It is also a moisture and pest resistance solution”, Nigerite boss stated.

Explaining that skill-gap is a major challenge for dry construction, Le Bris noted that Nigerite which has been operating in Nigeria for 55 years, is in partnership with other stakeholders with skills in dry construction technology to put in motion machinery for skill acquisition with regular trainings to ensure the technology is domicile with the Nigerian populace, adding that customers’ perception is another challenge to address, while efforts are in top gear towards continuous education about the modern system of building.

Modern system According to him, with the demand for housing in Nigeria growing at a geometric rate while housing provision is at arithmetic rate, there is obvious need to evolve a more practical method of achieving mass housing development in the country.

He said dry construction using Kalsi boards presents an excellent opportunity to government at all levels and the primary mortgage institutions to guarantee speedy provision of mass

housing housing in Nigeria.

Le Bris maintained that in the process of his company’s continuous consistent devotion to quality and innovation, the organisation has in the last two years been working on the development of an entirely novel and friendly solution in the building industry called dry construction system which Nigerite is now ready to show-case to the building professionals and contractors as a viable alternative to the traditional wet construction method with blocks and bricks and concrete.

“Dryconstructionhasbeen domiciledwithinEtexGroup in other countries across the world for over 50 years.

Nigerite is thus leveraging on the experience of her 120 sister companies of the group to offer dry solutions to the Nigerian construction industry for application for both internal and external ceiling solutions, partitions and wall solutions, overcladdingonexistingmasonry wall, facades applications, suspended floors and the integrated building solution which implies a complete building system."

“In the light of the unique features of Kalsi boards as mentioned above, Nigerite has therefore put all measuresfromrawmaterials, machinery,factory,personnel and training in place to fully introduce this unique avantgardebuildingsolutiontothe Nigerian market in the second quarter of 2015.

Developer woos subscribers with 5% discount on purchase of apartments

M

essrs Briscoe Properties Limited, a subsidiary of R. T. Briscoe (Nig) Plc and a front line real estate development company has announced 5 per cent discount on outright payment for apartments at its Orchid Court Apartments located at Michael Ogun Street, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos from now till February 12, 2015 when the new residential estate developed by the firm will be officially commissioned.

Also, a partnership arrangement has been sealed between the real estate development firm and the duo of Imperial Homes Mortgage Bank Limited and FBN Mortgages to provide mortgage facilities to prospective subscribers to Orchid Court.

This was disclosed by

the Managing Director of Briscoe Properties Limited, Mrs. Sade Hughes, an architect, during a guided tour of the highbrow estate last week by the management team of the company led by Mrs. Hughes. The guided tour was to enable prospective subscribers to the housing types at Orchid Court to view the houses before placing orders.

The tour also offered the built environment stakeholders a pivotal and first hand opportunity to appreciate the beauty, quality attention to details and enormous investment committed to the project by the company, according to a statement made available to Vanguard Homes & Property The statement further noted while announcing the grand opening

ceremony of the iconic property slated for February 12, 2015 to the visitors, Briscoe Property boss also informed the gathering of her company ’s decision to discount the houses by 5 per cent between now and the commissioning day as well as facilitation of mortgage loans for prospective home owners at Orchid Court.

In her words: ‘Orchid Court is a promised made and delivered. We are changing the landscape of property development in Nigeria since the environment is dynamic and market competition has gone beyond the territorial configuration of Nigeria.

"To remain competitive, your offering must meet with global demands in terms of design, quality and architectural relevance to the needs of consumers.”

30 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

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Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015—31

UK supports annual Offshore West Africa

By Vera Sam Anyagafu & Prisca Sam-Duru THE United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI) of the British High Commission in Lagos alongside the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) are partnering Pennwell Corporation to promote partnership opportunities during the 19th yearly edition of Offshore West Africa (OWA).

The Strategic Business Partner Manager, PennWell Corpo-

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ration, Nick Richardson, stated that under the auspices of the NNPC and endorsed by the DPR, the OWA event, which will be sponsored by French oil giant Total, once again, addressed key technology and development issues for the West African offshore oil and gas market, through a comprehensive educational conference programme and threeday exhibition, themed “Managing West Africa’s Major Projects”.

Chairman, Conference Committee of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) Ranti Omole; Head

Public Affairs Unit, DPR, Dorothy Bassey; Business Relations Manager SNEPco, Ijere Kanu; Manager Public Affairs at the NNPC, Dr Kenny Obateru; and Director of Operations Africa, PennWell Corporation, Dele Olaoye; at a conference that heralded the three-day exhibition in Lagos, pledged their unwavering support for PennWell Corportion.

“As a truly West African event, OWA promotes opportunities in the West African marketplace with numerous recent discoveries heightening the need for new intelligence, technology and investment. Off-

shore West Africa is well versed in providing highly specialised, market leading and thought provoking information, and we will continue this trend in 2015.”

Highlights of the 2015 include a three-day exhibition, comprising of both prominent local and international organisations, displaying their latest products, services, technologies and industry innovations.

Alongside the Exhibition is an impressive Conference program, which kick-started with the Opening Plenary Session on January 20 at 10am.

The organisers averred that

the event will help to promote opportunities in the West African marketplace with numerous recent discoveries heightening the need for new intelligence, technology and investment.

Canada launches Express Entry visa system

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A N A D A government has launched a new Express Entry visa system, aimed at improving the visa selection process for permanent residency as well as for speeding up decision times to six months or less. The new system was launched considering the backlog of Canadian immigration cases. It was also designed to prevent a future backlog of applications and improve the selection process. The Canada government is therefore hoped that with increased access to highly skilled overseas workers, the Canadian economy will benefit from this new system.

The Express Entry program was also designed for those wishing to move to Canada permanently under the Skilled Worker program, Skilled Trades program or the Canadian Experience Class. It is hoped that the system will make it easier for employers to find suitable job applicants from abroad.

According to Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister, Chris Alexander, “Successful Express Entry candidates will be able to hit the ground running and start contributing to our communities, labour market and economy more quickly than ever before.” The new system will allow Citizenship and Immigration Canada to identify and select those who are most likely to succeed in Canada, based on work experience, education, language and other factors.

Canada immigration hopes this will mean faster processing times, and will allow the government to respond better to changes in local labour markets in Canada.

Under the old system, employers complained that it took too long to bring in overseas workers to fill job vacancies; applicants also complained that the lengthy processing times meant that sometimes they had to wait for years waiting for a decision. This is because of a huge backlog under the old system.

32 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

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VOL. 1: NO. 35

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TUESD AY, FEBR U ARY 03, 20 15 TUESDA FEBRU 201

THIS IS A CAR: The first car in Adegbe community.

Carnival, as first car enters Bayelsa community

By Samuel Oyadongha

A

DEGBE—HISTORY was made at Adegbe, a riverine community in Ekeremor Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, last Wednesday, when a car, Toyota Camry, popularly known as Orobo, was driven to the community by road for the first time ever.

Instantly, the rural folks of Adegbe, a border town with Sagbama Local Government Area, went into joyful celebration.

It was learned that women and children trooped out in large number, singing in their local dialect, Aro wo ama lade, meaning car has reached our town.

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*Completion of Ogobiri-Toru-Ebeni Bridge made it possible Car owner relieves experience

Owner of the first car to reach the community since creation, Frank Olotu, turned a hero.

He told Niger Delta Voice that his gratitude goes to Governor Seriake Dickson, for completing the longabandoned Ebeni Bridge, which according to him made it possible for the first car to get to his community.

He said: “You can imagine the celebration that enveloped our community when a car was driven to our community for the first time. Some

of our folks have not seen a car before until last Wednesday.

“We are optimistic that with the completion of the bridge, government will expedite action in getting the Central Senatorial Road to link the Sagbama-Agge Road on the western flank of the state.

“I did not know when I parted with N20,000 to celebrate with my kinsmen for God making it possible for our generation to see this wonderful landmark event.

“We have never had it so good; we

thought that we will have no road to our community due to the abandonment of the bridge, which obviously is our gateway to the rest of the country.

“But thank God for Governor Dickson; better days have come for us.”

‘It’s marvellous in our eyes‘ Another indigene of the area, simply identified as Oyinkuro, said though using the road to the community for now would be seasonal, being an earth

Continues on Page 7

2—Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2015

Buhari’s visit sparks tension in Ogoni RIVERS… THE TREASURE BASE OF THE NATION

By Davies Iheamnachor

O

GONI—OGONI communities, comprising four local government areas in Rivers State, have been plunged into confusion following the visit of the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) to the area, last week.

Niger Delta Voice gathered that Buhari, who was on campaign in the state, had barely left oil-rich Ogoni, the homeland of executed environmental activist and writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa, after his endorsement by an Ogoni socio cultural group, KAGOTEL, when anxiety mounted in Ogoniland.

Ken Saro-Wiwa Associates, others kick

A dependable source hinted that on the eve of the visit, different groups and nongovernmental organizations, NGOs, in the area had raised protests against the visit.

Chief Gani Topba, National Coordinator of one of the groups, Ken Saro -Wiwa Associates, infuriated by the alleged Buhari endorsement, urged Ogoni people not to vote for the APC candidate in the presidential election, claiming that he did not help in solving the environmental issues in the area when he was in power.

A stream polluted by crude oil in Ogoni.

‘It’s an affront’

Describing the visit of Gen. Buhari to Ogoni as an insult to the people, Topba said as a former chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, and former Federal Commissioner of Petroleum, he did not do anything for the Ogoni people.

He said Ogoni people should not vote for the retired army general and all APC candidates in the elections.

Topba also disassociated the Ogoni from the endorsement of Buhari by KAGOTEL, which purported to have

Members of Ken Saro-Wiwa Associates spoken for the Ogoni people during his visit to Ogoni.

He wondered why the group should endorse him without consulting the people, adding that such endorsement was not binding and of no effect on the people of Ogoni.

‘We won’t vote Buhari’

In his words: “The Ogoni people did not endorse Buhari, any person who did that did not do it in the interest of the people of Ogoni.

“We lost so much in the death of our legend, Ken SaroWiwa and our eight other brothers.

“In 1983, Buhari did not do

anything to remedy the condition of the Ogonis; the environment issue in Ogoni started then.

“When late Gen. Sani Abacha appointed him executive chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, he did not lay any foundation to protect the Ogoni environment where they explore the oil.

“Why is he coming for our votes again? He cannot be the change the Ogoni people need.”

Saro-Wiwa’s death Saro-Wiwa and others were killed by the Abacha junta for allegedly killing four Ogoni chiefs, who were on the opposing side of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP. Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues were arrested,

Nembe oil communities lament abandoned projects BA YELS A ...

BAYELS YELSA

THE GLORY OF ALL LANDS

By Emem Idio

N

E M B E — O I L PRODUCING communities in Nembe Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, have noted with sadness the litany C M Y K

of abandoned government projects in the area, especially shore protection projects at different communities by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. Leaders and stakeholders from the respective communities, who held a one day retreat, organized by a non-governmental organization, Nengi James Foundation, called for

speedy completion of abandoned projects in Nembe.

Among the participants was the Amayanabo of Nembe kingdom, His Eminence, King Edmund Daukoru, Mingi XII, represented by the Alternate Chairman of Nembe Chiefs Council, Chief Awaki GamDede.

The retreat, which had has its theme Nembe Yesterday, Today

and Tomorrow: The Role of Community Leadership in Community Development, was declared open by the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Youth Development, Chief Collins Cocodia.

In an 18-point communique issued at the end of the summit, they stressed the need for

Continues on Page 3

accused of the killings and tried by a Special Military Tribunal.

Though they denied the charges against them, they were imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging.

They were hanged on November 10, 1995 by the Abacha regime for what many believe was largely because of Saro-Wiwa’s strong stance in pursuit of the rights of the Ogoni people.

Their execution led to Nigeria’s suspension from the the Commonwealth, which lasted for over three years.

THE TEAM Emma Amaize, Editor Jimitota Onoyume Samuel Oyadongha Simon Ebegbulem Gabriel Enogholase Festus Ahon Egufe Yafugborhi Emmanuel Una Akpokona Omafuaire Godwin Oghre Tom Moses Chioma Onuegbu Ike Uche Davies Iheamnachor Emem Idio Brisibe Perez Barnabas Uzosike Nath Onajoke Chijioke Nwankpa

Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2015—3

Power failure, hoodlums hit Anua nursing school AKWA IBOM...

LAND OF PROMISE

By Chioma Onuegbu

A

NUA OFFOT— STUDENTS of School of

Nursing and Midwifery, Anua Offot Nwaniba, Uyo Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, are living at the mercy of hoodlums, who took advantage of the persistent power cut in the school to continuously break into the institution.

They endangered students

have, therefore, appealed to Governor Godswill Akpabio to look into the problems of insecurity and electricity rocking the school.

Besides poor infrastructure and insecurity problems, students from the three Schools of Midwifery Anua, Ituk Mbang and Oron, last

Anua School of Nursing and Midwifery hostel.

Monday, embarked on a peaceful demonstration to the Ministry of Health to also appeal to the government to look into the extra charges imposed on them by the authorities.

According to them, “last year, we were issued a letter that developmental/accreditation fees were in the N87,000 fees we paid. But penultimate week, we were asked to pay accreditation fee of N14,000 and last Friday, “A circular was passed asking us to pay N15,000 for developmental fees; that is N29,000 for the month of January. It is too much.

“We are here on a peaceful demonstration to complain to the Commissioner and the Director of Nursing Services, DNS, so that they can do something about it.”

A female student of Anua Offot, who spoke to Niger Delta Voice, said: “This is 2015 and I am telling you in confidence that the security situation has not changed since the last time we raised the alarm about the robbery attacks.

“We are more concerned about the light issue because we believe the hoodlums are capitalizing on the blackout to carry out their attack on us.”

Nembe oil communities lament abandoned projects Continues from Page 2 government, multinational companies and other development partners to always embark on needs assessments and rural appraisal system to actualize government agenda in communities and ensure that the people choose projects that best suit their needs.

Call for molecular refineries The forum condemned in strong terms the illegal bunkering activities and its attendant negative impacts on the environment and advocated the siting of molecular refineries in the area to discourage illegal refineries.

They regretted the failure of the take-off of the Brass LNG and noted that in spite of the fact that the Nembe communities contribute over 200,000 barrels of crude oil daily, there were no industries to engage the teeming unemployed youths in the area and called for the siting of industries in the area.

The communities called on government to “enact enabling laws to convert the abandoned mangrove forest to a reserve area as eco-tourism centre for the purpose of tourist attracC M Y K

We live in fear

“We are all living in fear. In fact, I am just praying to finish my final year so that I can get out of here. Those boys always come to the hostels in group of four or five.

“And apart from taking our money, they will take our handsets, wristwatches and there was a time, they almost raped one of us. So everybody is afraid, and you know so many of us are married.

“We do not have security.

There is no fence. So everybody, including the villagers, have easy access into the school premises.

“I only see one security man around the compound in the day time, but we hardly see any during the night since I came to this school. It is God that has been protecting us all these years.”

Blackout for over a year

She added: “So our major problem is that of light. We have been living in blackout for over one year now.

“So we believe if there is light in the compound in the night at least we will be able to identify their faces because they operate as soon as it is dark, even sometimes around 7pm.

“So once it is getting dark, you will see us running back to the hostel out of fear.”

Another student said they were aware that the school authorities, sometime ago, informed the state government about their plight, but strangely, the issues were not addressed.

She, however, commended the governor for the new hostels built by government.

The student said: “We are again appealing to the state government to please come to our aid because we are suffering.

“We appreciate the effort of government for the twoclassroom blocks for the School of Midwifery and threeclassroom blocks for the School of Nursing.”

We reported to police—PRINCIPAL

Nembe retreat. tion and to protect and conserve the mangrove forest and sea foods therein.”

On the vanishing cultural values of the people, the communique urged that “the

younger generation should be encouraged to imbibe and cherish the positive moral and cultural ethics and maintain the integrity of Nembe values in its entire ramifications and

to promote Nembe norms and culture, dressing code, marriage rites and the dwindling interest in Nembe native language.”

The principal of the school, Mrs. Efiak Nyeneime, said that robbery incidences were immediately reported to the police, who had taken steps to ensure that the situation was brought under control.

Nyeneime said: “In fact, I took the students to the nearest Police Station in Ewet Housing, when the first robbery incident happened and since then the police have been on ground.

“Once in a while, they send their patrol team to the school.”

She, however, explained that Continues on Page 4

4—Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2015

Youths abduct, manhandle Ughelli legislature leader, others DELTA...

FINGER OF GOD

By Perez Brisibe

U

GHELLI—YOUTHS of Otor-Iwhereko community, Ughelli North Local Government Area, Delta State, allegedly abducted and pummelled the leader of the Legislative Assembly of Ughelli North Local Government, Chief Teddy Okperin, for interfering in a scuffle between a member of the House, Mr. Simeon Unuefepha, and a youth from the community, reportedly collecting levies from traders in the market.

I was kidnapped, beaten like a child—CHIEF OKPERIN Recounting his ordeal on the floor of the legislative chambers, Chief Okperin said he was taken hostage and beaten like a child by the youths even when they know there was a restraining order by the state Ministry of Justice on both Ekuigbo and Otor-Iwhereko, which are laying claim to the market.

His words: “While the fisticuffs ensued, youths from Otor-Iwhereko community stormed the scene, grabbed me, started beating me and took me to their community town hall, where I was made to sit on the ground for hours with punches from all angles being aimed at me.

“Imagine me, an Urhobo chief, made to sit on the ground and beaten like a child. While all these were going on, the councillor representing the area, Mr. Akunurien Pennyson tried to intervene for them to release me.

“He was also beaten and told to leave the scene else he would be made to join me on the ground.

“It was at this point that officers of the 222 Battalion stormed the scene and rescued me after they had fled on sighting the military men.”

*For challenging their powers to collect levies *They’re kidnappers—JTF SOURCE

Genesis of the crisis—UNUEFEPHA

Unuefepha, representing Ekuigbo community, told Niger Delta Voice that himself and the House Chairman on Com-

Continues on Page 7

Part of the disputed Ughelli market.

Power failure, hoodlums hit Anua nursing school new classroom blocks, commissioned by the governor.

“We had to buy a lot of computers and equipment to ensure the school's accreditation.

Dilapidated building within the school premises taken over by hoodlums Continues from Page 3 the management was partnering the state government to give the institution a facelift and raise the standard.

Community angry with Akpabio govt

The Village Head of Anua Offot, Etim Akpan, said besides the light problem, poor infrastructure was a major problem the school had been facing for a long time now, due to lack of maintenance.

He asserted: “The issue of lack of power supply is a problem that has affected the

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entire Anua community.

“The community has written series of letters, taken steps to draw government's attention to the issue, but nothing has been done about it. And I think the people are fed up.

“Maybe the incoming government will remember Anua. This present government is not for Anua. This government has not benefitted this area. Maybe the coming government may consider us.

“The School of Nursing was the next to Ibadan. Before, once you finish from here you move to England, but the standard has been rubbished. When it was under Ibadan, it was doing

The school's students in a peaceful demostration at the Ministry of Health last Monday. very well”

We’re addressing challenges—DR. BASSEY

Reacting to the complaints, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Ememabasi Bassey, said he was aware of the challenges in the school, which is basically the issue of light.

He said the state government had embarked on projects to give a facelift to school and tackle the infrastructural challenges bedevilling it.

His said: “I am aware of the challenges of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Anua.

“What happened was that the transformer they use, I think,

had problem. That has been reported. And also I have been hearing of the problem of lack of fencing.

“If you can recall, that school has had myriads of problems and one of them was the suspension of their accreditation. But very recently, we were able to resolve that.

“The Nigerian Nursing Council came and the school has been given provisional accreditation to admit new students. They admitted, so fresh students have come in.

“And to achieve that, we had to do a lot of work in that place.

One of the things that helped us is that they have about two

…assures on transformer “On the issue of light, I think we have made a representation to PHCN several times. I cannot say for certain now what was really wrong.

“If the problem is transformer, then I will say immediately, I am going to apply to one of the counterpart Ministries, Ministry of Rural Development, which can actually provide a new transformer.

“I am just appealing to them to have some more patience.

Good things are happening.

Erosion menace

“Now on the issue of the fencing; that fence actually posed a lot of challenge because when you look at that environment, it is not easy to fence. There is a ravine, so how do you fence? May be we just have to fence the hostels.

“Nevertheless, I would say that we are aware of it and the issue has been noted and handed over to the InterMinisterial Labour Coordinating Committee, which is the agency of government that handles such.

“I am hoping that that can be tackled this year.”

Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2015—5

CALABAR TEEN SEX WORKERS: We’re not

harlots, just trying to meet family needs

By Emmanuel Una

C

ALABAR—NIGHT life has become a sexually tantalizing affair in Calabar, capital of Cross River State, following the appearance of delectable teenage girls, aged between nine to 16 years, who have taken to the old trade to eke out a living.

Their presence became very pronounced not long after the 31day Christmas festival and its twin party session, the Calabar carnival at MCC Road, Marian Road/Atekong Drive, the University of Calabar Main Gate, Nelson Mandela Road, Calabar Road, Metropolitan Hotel Gate and the Flour Mills Gate/ Odukpani Road Junction.

The fresh-faced girls, with their succulent bodies and steady breasts, who compete with the horde of professional whores in and around Calabar, are mainly primary and secondary school girls.

They are distinguishable in the night by their sexy and eclectic outfits and are often free of the heavy mascara face paints of the typical prostitutes.

giving the girls the chance to strut into the clubs or mill around their precincts to seek for patrons.

‘I started when my father died’

Beautiful Anita, who gave her age as 14, said she sat for the West African School Certificate Examination in May 2014 in ‘Why men go for us’ A young girl, who gave her Government Secondary School, name as Anita, who is from Ikot Ishie, Opposite the Zone Six Akpabuyo council, told Niger Police Command, and that she Delta Voice: “Many men like was in the business to sustain the you when you look natural. That family.

She said: “My dad worked with is why I look this ordinary. I have had short time three times this the state Ministry of Agriculture but passed on in 2012, and up night.”

The night clubs and drinking till now, we are yet to be given joints, most of them operating all- his gratuity.

“In November last year, the day and all night, provide a ready pension people asked for market for the damsels.

They blare out music of all N30,000, which I paid from the genres and offer assorted mouth- proceeds of this business and watering delicacies such as once I get the money, I will quit.”

She is the eldest in the family roasted chicken, cow meat suya, pork meat barbeque, which and the one sustaining her patrons savour, while drinking mother and other siblings.

Anita asserted : “I live in the spirits and guzzling beer.

It provides the girls chances to Parliamentary Village with my mother and three other siblings. lookout for customers.

Along Marian Road, there are After the burial obsequies of my over a dozen night clubs and father were completed, his drinking spots that offer 24- hour friends and relatives forgot about services tous. gether with “ N o n i g h t one came to clubs like ask us how we Beverly are managing My dad Hills, Jasper to eat, rather and the ones worked in the than stay at in major home and cry Ministry of Agric hotels like with my but died in 2012...

Metropolitan mother as we in November last H o t e l , used to do year, the pension Channel before I people asked for View and the started this, I N30,000, which I Mirage now have paid from the Night Club. something proceeds of this The gates every day for business and of these clubs the family.” once I get the are always ‘I make open, thereby money, I will quit.

N10k some C M Y K

nights’

Asked if it is not better to engage in a dignified trade or find work that can earn her some income, Anita retorted, “which work can pay more than this? Do you know how much I make every night?

“I make an average of N10,000 and that sum is what most employers are ready to pay at the end of the month. ”If I had depended on being paid N10,000, how do my younger ones go to school and pay school fees? I told you the pension people in November demanded for N30,000. How would I have raised that? I am okay for now with this job.”

On how she operates to attract customers considering the high number of girls on the street every night, she said she parades places like the State Housing Estate, Atekong Drive and major hotel premises at night.

Her words: “I go out from 8pm and return home at about 1.00 am or thereabout. Sometimes, I go with the customer to spend the night in his home or hotel.

Married men pay better

“Most times, the married men who are the ones willing to pay reasonable sum you demand for do not even like you going home with them, rather we seek a lonely spot and do it at the back of the car, and I know many short time spots in this city.

“Some pay N2,000 for short time, while others pay N1,000 and every night, I have about four to six men before I return home.”

Parading lonely spots at that time of night, which is often swarmed with miscreants, she confessed, sometimes leaves her with very unsavoury experiences.

She said: “Between August and December, last year, I lost

over seven phones. That is why I use cheap phones and when I get home I write the numbers of my clients in a note book in case the phone is snatched by thieves.

“I have lost my money many times too. That is why I do not put the money in my purse. I hide it somewhere.”

Some clients, she said, would want to do it without paying.

She said: “Though I used to collect money before doing it, but if a person forces me and refuses to pay, I leave him alone. Next time, I can never go close to him.”

‘I'm supreme’

Another kid prostitute, who gave her name as Supreme, said she is from New Netim in Akampka Local Government Area of the state, though her accent suggests Ibibio.

Her story is not too different from that of Anita. According to her, she is a student of Netim Secondary School and her parents cannot afford the fee for NECO registration; that is why she is hawking her body on the streets.

She was in SSS II when parents could no longer sustain her and her younger ones in school.

Supreme said: ”I am not a prostitute; I am looking for money to register for NECO and once I get the money, baby, I am out of here.”

She said she visits night clubs situated in middle income settlements, where patrons are many.

She said: “I go to Crab, De Kings, Genny’s and Jasper and since I am fresh and young, I do not have any problem getting someone to hook on for a night.

How much I collect for a night?

N5,000.”

A

patron's

experience

A politician, who gave his name as Jones, seen in the company of two teenage prostitutes at Atekong Drive, said he stumbled on the girls by chance and had since taken to having regular sessions with them.

He said: “One night in September, I was returning from a meeting at about 12am, when I had a flat tyre opposite the Calabar Municipality gate and I decided to fix it.

“Soon after, I saw three young girls running towards me and asking for lift.”

Jones said when he asked them where they were coming back from at that time of the night, they said they went for “runs” and had closed for the day and were on their way home.

When he probed further, he got to know they were prostitutes.

He said: “So I bargained with them and we agreed at a fee of N3,000 each and I had to end up in a hotel that night with the three of them and it was wonderful.”

Men exploit innocent girls

Comfort Akan, a worker with a Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, called Girl Rights Initiative, told Niger Delta Voice many people take advantage of the girl’s ignorance to exploit them for peanuts.

She said: “Having carnal knowledge of an underage person is an offense, but most often, the police look the other way or when they apprehend the culprits, they collect money from them and set them free.”

She added that GHAINS, a USAID programme, supports them to work with prostitutes in brothels and on the streets.

6—Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2015

PODIUM… 20 YEARS AFTER: Delta community still awaits completion of cottage hospital

I

By Ochuko Akuopha

GBIDE—WHEN the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission, OMPADEC, commenced the construction of a Cottage Hospital at Igbide community, Isoko South Local Government Area, Delta State, about 20 years ago, the joy of the rural dwellers knew no bounds, as to them, their dream of having effective health care service delivery brought to their door steps had come to fruition.

With the vast land provided for the project along the Akugha Road area of the community, all hands were on deck as the interventionist agency established by the then military administration of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd) to address the developmental needs of oil-bearing communities, also embarked on the construction of several housing units to cater for the accommodation need of doctors, nurses and other health workers to be engaged by the hospital.

The different faces of the uncompleted cottage hospital and its link road (above).

Abandoned after roofing

However, few weeks after the roofing of the buildings was completed, the contractor handling the project demobilized from the site and never returned.

Since then, the structures have degenerated steadily and overtaken by weeds and serving as temporary accommodation to some displaced persons in the community.

Similarly, bedding and medical equipment worth hundreds of thousands of naira brought and kept at the community’s Primary Health Care Centre ahead of the take off of the hospital, were carted away by hoodlums after many years of abandonment.

Also, undeveloped portions of the land, set aside for the project, is now being used by some of the indigenes for farming.

Agonizing

When Niger Delta Voice visited the community, majority of the villagers had great difficulty in recollecting precisely the year the contractor mobilized to site.

A farmer, Mr. Henry Igoro, who resides in the uncompleted hospital, said: “I cannot remember exactly when the project started, but I think it should be about 20 years ago, if not more.

“This girl, standing here, is 21 years

old and she was not born at the time the contractor mobilized to site.”

Igoro, who had served as an unskilled worker at the construction site, described the abandonment of the project as painful, saying “we never expected that this hospital will be abandoned considering the speed with which the project got to this stage.”

He disclosed that the situation was compounded by the unexpected death of the contractor, who he simply referred to as ‘a Yoruba man’ few years after he moved out of the community.

Flood displaced me—MRS ORIOBO

Mrs. Gift Oriobo, who also lives in the abandoned structure, said she moved

Bedding and medical equipment worth hundreds of thousands of naira brought and kept at the community’s Primary Health Care Centre ahead of the take off of the hospital, were carted away by hoodlums C M Y K

in after the 2012 flood, wreaked havoc in the community.

She said: “I have been living here for the past two years with my children and husband because I have nowhere else to stay after the flood destroyed our house.

“Presently, we are here because the hospital has not been completed. When it is eventually completed, we will look for a place to stay.”

Monarch pleads for completion

The Ovie of Igbide kingdom, HRM Edward Obukeni I, lamented the non completion of the project, saying “it was OMPADEC that awarded the contract and the contractor working on it abandoned it and now OMPADEC is no more in existence.

“The community has been making a lot of efforts to see how the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, and the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, can come to our aid in completing the project.

“If they will complete it, we the people of Igbide kingdom will be very happy.

The health centre the community is using now is very small. It cannot accommodate many people and besides, people who are seriously ill cannot get medical attention there.

“So, if the cottage hospital is

completed, it will be of immense help to our people and the various neighbouring communities.”

Edegware laments long neglect

President General of the Igbide community, Chief David Edegware, decried the prolonged abandonment of the project.

He said: “I think that project was abandoned over 20 or more years ago.

It was intended to be a cottage hospital and facilities are on ground, but not completed.

“They just abandoned the project just like that; there are buildings for doctors’ residence all in place, but just abandoned.

“At the time they were coming, some medical equipment were brought and kept in the maternity but abandoned.

“The non-completion of the project is affecting the community badly, because our people either go to Oleh anytime they have need for medical attention, or even Olomoro, which is a baby hospital because enough facilities are not there.

“We have to go a long distance before we can get medical attention. If government can come in to rehabilitate that hospital and put doctors there, people from Umeh, Enwhe, Aruwa, Ovwodokpokor and other nearby villages will benefit from it.”

Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2015—7

Carnival, as first car enters Bayelsa community

Ogobiri-Toru-Ebeni Bridge Continues from Page 1 road, materials and farm produces could be easily transported to Yenagoa and other big markets in the state and neighbouring states.

He said: “For years, we have waited for the day we can drive to our community. We thank God for Governor Seriake Dickson, who has made this possible for us.

“We are a predominantly fishing and farming settlement and for long we have relied on middlemen from the city, who come here to buy our harvest at cheap price because of their perishable nature.

“Most of our people cannot afford the high cost of river transportation. My own parents never saw car in their life time because they never had the opportunity to travel to the city.”

Obviously satisfied, another indigene, Preye, asserted that his people could not easily forget that some years ago, a car could not reach their community as there was no track for that kind of luxury.

He said they could only access their community through the river and faced with the turbulent wave on a very bad day.

“You can now imagine our joy to see a vehicle driving to our community even though government is yet to construct roads linking the communities in this area,” he said, beaming with smile.

tration when he became governor of the state.

It suffered a setback during the administration of Timipre Sylva until it was revived and completed by the present administration.

The exploit thought unachievable 10 years ago, was made possible with the completion of the longabandoned Ogobiri-ToruEbeni Bridge by the Governor Seriake Dickson administration.

The bridge project, though started by a former governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, before his ouster from office, was sustained by the Goodluck Jonathan adminisC M Y K

The bridge, Niger Delta Voice investigation revealed, had become a game changer for several communities locked up on the vast stretch of the swampy Wilberforce Island, spanning

Kenebai, hired bulldozers to clear paths linking their communities to the designated Ebeni-Sagbama-Agge Road to enable the natives access their homes, pending government intervention.

We’re committed to do more—DICKSON

Governor Dickson in an interactive, weekend said: “Not many people knew that the bridge to ToruEbeni, which was abandoned almost 10 years ago had been completed.

“Not many people know that the construction of SagbamaEkeremor Road is progressing and they are sand filling very fast, and that actually with our intervention, people manage and get to Nembe now on Hilux or motorcycle.

“They do not also know what is going on in all the other communities of the state.”

Youths abduct, manhandle Ughelli legislature leader, others Continues from Page 4 munity and Security Matters, Mr. Ogbudu Bright, on sighting one of the youths in the market, accosted him, asking why he was still collecting revenue from the market when there was a restraining order.

The youth pulled a cutlass from a meat seller and threatened to attack them.

Chairman of Otor-Iwhereko community, Mr. Felix Okoro, however, debunked the claim, saying the youth was in the market to buy jerry cans when he was attacked.

He also alleged complicity on the part of soldiers, who destroyed the community’s town hall.

According to him: “The argument led to a fight only for us to hear the next day that Mr. Unuefepha in company of two pick-up load of soldiers from the 222 Battalion, AgbarhaOtor, stormed the community and destroyed the iron door, chairs and other properties in the Otor-Iwhreko community town hall.”

JTF's denial The bridge

Revolutionary

Sagbama and Ekeremor council areas.

These communities, including Toru-Ebeni, Okumbiri, Enimiebene, Ereama and Adegbe, rich in agricultural resources, have over the years, yearned to be linked by road to mainland Yenagoa, given the high cost of river transportation and its attendant social and economic implications to their wellbeing.

Although the Toru-Ebeni Bridge, which many had termed a jinxed project due to its long years of neglect, is today majestically towering across the Ebeni River, the communities cannot wait for work to be completed on the road projects linking their ancestral homes.

Niger Delta Voice learned that shortly after the completion of the bridge in the last quarter of 2014, some well-to-do individuals from the adjoining communities, including one Lord Ekiamene

Denying any form of complicity, a senior Joint Task Force, JTF, officer of the 222 Battalion, Agbarha-Otor, told Niger Delta Voice that the soldiers only interfered in the matter following the abduction of the House leader, stressing that when they got to the town hall where Chief Okperin was held, the youths on sighting them, fled the scene.

The officer said: “Prior to that day, we have had series of reports from transporters and

Vandalized Otor Iwhereko community town hall property. traders at the market on the criminal activities of the youths, who hide under the guise of youth activities in carrying out their kidnappings.

“The raiding of the town hall, which they used as their office was a follow up to the kidnapping of the Ughelli council leader.”

By-laws

According to the revenue bylaw of Ughelli North Local Government, revenues from various shops ranging from N1,500 to N1,700, are supposed to be paid annually by traders in the market.

But such funds meant for the council have been collected, over the years, by the youths under the guise of community

levy, without challenge.

This is despite the ban on all forms of community revenue committee by the council Chairman, Chief Kenneth Ibru.

Speaking on the community levy, a chief from one of the communities laying claim to the market, who does not want his name in print, said: “Such community levies were supposed to come to the community.

“But the youths just collect the monies and pocket it, thereby making the market their fishing spot.

“Any youth, who is hungry, goes to the market and grabs what he can from traders under guise of community levy.

Nobody can talk to them.”

House

makes

resolu-

tion

Meanwhile, the Ughelli council legislature has resolved that the council should set up a committee with immediate effect to collect all revenues from the market.

According to the resolution, members of the revenue committee would not be indigenes of Otor-Iwhereko and Ekuigbo communities and they would dress in uniforms, issued identity cards for easy identification by traders and all parties involved.

Speaking on the resolution, the House leader warned that any unauthorized person caught collecting revenue in the market should be arrested and prosecuted by the police to serve as a deterrent to others.

8—Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2015

AGENDA

Villagers fume, as C-River govt demolishes structures E

By Ike Uchechukwu

TAP AYIP—THE people of Etap Ayip Kasuk II Quo clan with a population of over 30,000 in Calabar municipality, Cross River State, have denounced the alleged unlawful demolition of their houses and property by the state government without proper notice and payment of compensation.

Speaking with Niger Delta Voice, the Village Head of Eta Ayip, Kasuk Qua Clan II, His Highness Chief Ededem Ayito, revealed that the villagers were not issued any valid warning before Town Planning officials, acting under the authority of the Ministry of Lands, came with a demolition squad and asked why government officials should act unlawfully.

In his words: “The only money that was ever paid to my community is N650,000 which is for the economic trees cut down during the inception of the construction of the new airport by pass.

“No other money has been given since and now they have started demolishing our houses.”

According to Chief Ayito, “they want to take over 150 metres of both sides of the road, which will in no small way affect more than 500 houses and render thousand more homeless.

“Many people are now living in anxiety because they can come anytime for mass demolition.”

*No lawful notice—MONARCH, VILLAGERS *They didn't touch a Navy officer's house—VICTIM

TOP: Marked.

TOP LEFT: Houses.

LEFT: The remains of a Church.

Retroactive notice

The Secretary of Etap Ayip Town Council, Prince Innocent Agbor Okon, told Niger Delta Voice that all the landlords in the community have lodgment certificates and have been living in the area for more than 20 years.

Prince Okon further explained that the houses were marked on last Monday and demolished by Thursday, while the notices they marked on the houses were backdated to December 19, 2014.

He said: “This is not favourable at all.

At least, they should have informed us much earlier so that we will know what

to do.”

Villagers marooned

“Many people in the community are now stranded and this is a huge threat to the very existence of the people of Etap Ayip Kasuk II Qua Clan.

“We need the ministry involved to follow due process in this matter and do what is right. As it stands, we do not even know our fate.”

A landlord in the area, Mr. James Effiong, told Niger Delta Voice it was like a movie when they came to his place

ANXIETY: Rival faction storms Isoko youths conference

By Ochuko Akuopha

O

LEH—PRESIDENT-GENERAL of the Isoko Development Union, IDU, Gen. Paul Omu (retd), has frowned at the disruption of the youth conference organized by the Isoko National Youth Assembly, INYA, by irate youths suspected to be members of the Isoko Progressive Youth Centre, IPYC. INYA and IPYC presidents, Mr. Victor Egbo and Mr. Anthony Ogbalor, respectively, have been embroiled in a leadership tussle over recognition and control of the youth wing of IDU, the apex socio-cultural organization of the Isoko nation.

It was gathered that the youths, on January 23, stormed the Oleh Civic Centre, Isoko South Local Government

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Area, Delta State, venue of the conference in four buses, vandalizing valuable items and chasing away those who were preparing the arena for the event.

IDU, it would be recalled, had in September last year, conducted an election into the executive committee of INYA with Victor Egbo emerging as President, a development which did not go down well with Ogbalor, who described the exercise as fraudulent.

Reacting to the incident on telephone, Omu held that the disruption of the conference was a serious matter.

He added that the Isoko nation had taken a position on the matter, saying, “it will soon be made public.”

On his part, INYA President, Victor

Egbo, described the incident as barbaric, saying the conference had not started at the time the intruders, led by Ogbalor, invaded the venue and vandalized things.

He said: “Before my arrival, I learned that he came with some hoodlums and destroyed chairs and lots of persons were dispossessed of their personal effects.”

Contacted, IPYC President, Anthony Ogbalor, said he did not mastermind the disruption of the conference.

He said: “I only heard that there was a fight between members of IPYC, the only existing body of Isoko youths, which IDU is trying to divide by bringing divide-and-rule tactics into youth activities in Isokoland.

“They had problem with themselves; everybody there was an IPYC member.”

and started punching the walls of his house.

Selective demolition!

He said: ”I had to move my wife and kids to my brother’s place for safety, although they only created holes on my building, which they only marked on Monday and backdated to December 19, 2014, without any notice.

“But they did not touch the house of my neighbour, who is a Naval officer. I just believe it is political because I do not see why they would skip some houses and break some.”

The villagers urged Governor Liyel Imoke to call his officials to order, saying it was wrong for government to render people homeless without making alternative provision for them.

Govt has paid compensation—COMMISSIONER

When Niger Delta Voice contacted the Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Mr. Ralph Uche, he hinted that all compensation had been taken care of, adding that Gersh Henshaw, a real estate company, was in charge of compensations.

Uche told Niger Delta Voice that the only challenge they had initially was funds and they swung into action as soon as funds were made available for the exercise.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 — 33

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Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 — 35

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36 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

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Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 —37

By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor North

N

OT many took him seriously when he plunged himself into the highly competitive presidential election under the All Progressives Congress, APC, which threw up Gen. MuhammaduBunariatthelastcount.

But he made a strong point even though he did not clinch the ticket: Kwankwanso, a first-timer in the presidential race, came second with 974 votes, beating former Vice president, Atiku Abubakar, to the third position with 954 votes. At once, the political feat shored up Kwankwaso’s image and perhaps, made many to begin to look at him as a serious politician, who knows his onions.

To many, the governor remains an unrepentant radical to the core but with a just cause to uplift the welfare of his people and to change the landscape of Kano, which has long been halted by infrastructural decay and age.

Apparently appalled by the decay and nuisance that had set into the once beautiful commercial nerve centre of the north and fixated on the need to carve a niche for himself and the administration, which he came to consolidate after losing it temporarily for eight years, Kwankwaso did not need any lesson in good governance having learned some during his first term from 1999 to 2003.

The second coming of the governor in 2011 paved the way for him to bring to bear the vital lessons he had learnt in his first term and really turned things around for the state and its people within a short span of time.

One of the major pillars of success instituted by Kwankwaso in Kano is the strict adherence to the doctrine of open government and a deliberate and sustained reduction in the cost of governance thereby freeing cash for the development of critical infrastructure, a virtue that is lacking in most states of the federation.

In essence, while opaqueness has been adopted as the style of governance in Nigeria, Kwankwaso opted for open system of administration, shaming even his colleagues who do not see any justification for opening government operations,costofprojectsandbidding processes to the public.

Bidding processes In place of hiding his operations in the dark as is the norm in the country despite the mantra of anti-corruption even at the federal level, Kwankwaso throws open his business of running the state, making it a point of duty to give a weekly account of every action taken by his government, how and why it is taken and who gets what contract and why by publishing same in national newspapers once the State Executive Council meets and approvesanydecision.Thatnovelstep has singled out Kano under Kwankwaso as one of the most transparentadministrationsinNigeria and given out as a role model in the nation’s recent history.

By adopting an open system of administration, and committing top government functionaries to key into it, the cost of running the government came down significantly freeing up to N500 million monthly and up to N6 billion annually, which he ploughed into the construction of a major flyover in the state capital.

Kwankwaso

Kwankwaso

Transforming Kano via open governance The governor did not end there.

Kwankwaso also did away with the proverbial Security Vote, which has become a ready source of unaccountablefundsfortoppoliticians in Nigeria and their cronies since the birth of the democratic dispensation in Nigeria. Rather than hide under the platform of the vote to siphon money, Kwankwaso subjects all requests for funds to normal due process and any request that fails the test is accordingly jettisoned no matter who makes it. Similarly, he eliminated the Office of the First Lady, another waste pipe in Government Houses, which provides a congenial atmosphere for pilfering government by persons close to the corridors of power under pseudo platforms but not

Kwankwaso has established three brand new cities known as Kwankwasiyya, Amana and Bandirawo in addition to constructing three monumental flyovers that have helped to remove the traffic snarl in the metropolis

recognised by law.

As the governor explains, “We also saved money by not allowing the Office of the First Lady in Kano. We know that a lot of money is being spent in that office elsewhere but we in Kano believe strongly that whatever the first lady should do, is what the Ministry of Women Affairs is doing and there is therefore no need to duplicate such functions in the state. We just need a good commissioner to do the job and get a good wife and keep her at home to manage the home front well. That is what we are doing here and everybody is happy”.

WithinfouryearsthatKwankwasohas presided over the affairs of the ancient city, the result of prudent management of funds and transparent leadership has manifestedintherebuildingofKanointo a 21st Century city and launching it out as a beautiful bride to behold at a time when most of the state with higher revenue base are running to the capital market for loans in order to be able to pay their staff salaries and meet other normative obligations. But in Kano, according to the governor, one month salaryforallstaffisalwayssetasidebefore the next month to ensure that the staff are paid before time.

He makes it a routine to visit project sites and meet with contractors at least twice a week to see things for himself instead of waiting in the comfort of his office for debriefing by his aides.

Today, many monuments of historical record now adorn the city of Kano, one of them a two-kilometre flyover that crisscrosses the high density business district of Sabon Gari completed at the cost of N10 billion and another one valued at N6 billion

by the administration of Kwankwaso. Within the same period, Kwankwaso has established three brand new cities known as Kwankwasiyya, Amana and Bandirawo in addition to constructing three monumental flyovers that have helped to remove the traffic snarl in the metropolis.

This is in addition to the provision of 220kms of dualised and electrified roads to all the 44 LGAs of the state translating to 5kms for each of the councils at the cost of N80 billion.

To get the city running without power failure, he recently signed an agreement for 35 Megawatts Independent Power Project at Challawa and Tiga dams at the cost of N14.2 billion solely from the state coffers.

Strategic areas of human behaviour Apart from making education free and compulsory in Kano, the governor has gone ahead to sponsor indigenes of the state in strategic areas of human endeavours abroad so that they can come back to help provide services to the people of the state and Nigeria at the cost of about N10 billion. These are in addition to establishing 37 micro finance firms and 44 educational institutions in the statetoenablethenativestoactualise their dreams in entrepreneurial sectors of the economy.

Overall, the open government policy has also enabled Kwankwaso to settle the N77 billion his administration inherited as debt, leaving behind a paltry N20 billion.

Under him, the state has proudly exited from the $200 million it inherited from the World and bank and other creditors.

It is therefore not surprising that Kwankwaso has a band of followers decked in white with a red cap to match under the banner of Kwankwansiya. While the membership is quite large, the relationship between him and his adherents is as sturdy as the one between a shepherd and his flock.

38—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

chasing him out of the Government House.

From what you have said of the present governor it appears he was not your good student in politics as he appears to have deviated from the foundation you said you laid for him?

If he followed my administration’s policy, today, no one can beat him but he abandoned all our policies that we started and started his own.

Can you believe now that I have uncompleted projects since I left office, roads, hospitals, schools, he abandoned the projects.

Becoming a senator

•Bafarawa:I left a legacy in the minds of Sokoto people

It’s an insult for a former gov to become a senator — Bafarawa •How I'll stop Wamakko, Tambuwal ALHAJI Attahiru Bafarawa was a two term governor of Sokoto State and the presidential candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP in the 2007 general election. Bafarawa a grassroots politician, has been in politics since 1976 when he won his first election as councillor. In this interview in Sokoto, the former governor responded to questions on the issues that will shape the votes in the forthcoming polls in the state asserting that it is a political battle between him and his former deputy and incumbent governor of the state, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko. Excerpts:

By Gbenga Oke

D

O you think the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) has what it takes to wrest power from All Progressives Congress, (APC) in Sokoto?

Of course yes and that is as simple as ABCD. I can tell you that the PDP is going to win Sokoto because the battle line is not between the parties but based on personalities. Our people don’t care about APC or PDP, our people are looking at who the leaders are between APC and PDP. They know who the leaders of APC are and they know who are the leaders of PDP. The struggle for power is between Bafarawa and Wamakko and Wamakko is my junior, he is my student in politics, so the secret of winning Sokoto is between Wamakko and I. Thank God that he was my deputy and I served eight years as a governor and now he has served eight years as a governor,

so the people are going to judge based on our performance.

The people will judge whose performance is better. We are bringing two candidates for this election, so the people are going to judge who was a better governor considering the amount of money I received for eight years and the money he received for eight years.

Without being immodest, I can say boldly that the legacy that I left is still in the minds of Sokoto State people. When you talk of APC governorship candidate, nobody knows him. You may say he is the Speaker, yes, he is in Abuja but here in Sokoto, he is only representing two local governments and 21 local governments don’t even know who he is.

But my own candidate, he was once a Senator, he contested in 1999 and won election with seven local governments put together and he contested in opposition party, the PDP while I was in ANPP. He was the only person who won senatorial seat

at that time. Then let us talk about the speaker. In 2003 I was the person that brought him to limelight, I gave him ticket under ANPP and he won election to the House of Representatives; so there is no way you can compare Wali’s CV with that of Tambuwal and there is no how you can compare my own CV with Wamakko’s. So virtually the battle is over.

What of having a deep war chest to match the resources of the incumbent Governor and party?

Do you know that this allocation you are talking about is history? Right now there is strike in the state, he cannot even pay teachers salaries in tertiary institutions in the state. For the past two months, there has been no work in all the tertiary institutions. Whatever he receives from federation account, if he puts it into this election, we are going to collect the money, we will chop the money, even if he gives me, I will collect but that is not going to stop us from

Today, you can count 30 kilometers of road which Wamakko did for Sokoto State. I constructed over 1,000 kilometers; I can mention my own but if you go and meet him, he cannot mention his own.

Why are you not following the track of many former governors in seeking election to the Senate?

We want to project young politicians to grow; we are not saying that we are going to take it all. Everything has its own limits.

There is no way I can be a governor for eight years and then come back so low and take one third of it to become a senator. I cannot be a governor for eight years and go back to the classroom. What I mean by classroom is raising my hand to speak until the Senate President recognises me, and when he says sit down, I will sit down. It is an insult.

Maybe they have a motive for going to the Senate thinking they have immunity, immediately they go there, they will start asking to be in the committee for EFCC so that the EFCC will not get them; otherwise why are they going to the Senate when thousands of young ones who can perform better than them are there?

These are the people killing the country, they don’t like the country and I am disappointed

The struggle for power is between Bafarawa and Wamakko and Wamakko is my junior, he is my student in politics, so the secret of winning Sokoto is between me and Wamakko

with Nigerians who are promoting and supporting these people. Whatever idea you have, why not push it to the younger ones to implement.

APC at the national level is putting up a serious challenge to the PDP. Don't you think the party could upset the PDP in the presidential election?

Well APC is like detergent; when you put it in a half bucket of water, stir it within one minute it will fill the bucket, after 10 to 15 minutes the water will go down and the foam is no more.

APC has no single state in Nigeria; the APC states are ACN, PDP or APGA states.

Look at all of them from Buhari down, he is not promoting the party, he is promoting his interest and his personal ambition. Look at all the governors who joined APC, every one of them wants to become senator, so all they want is their personal interest, not the interest of the people.

What is your opinion of President Jonathan?

The only thing is that if he had made mistakes, let us give him benefit of doubt; by the time we elect him in 2015, he has another four years. Where he made mistake in the past four years, he is going to correct it.

He made all the states in the federation to have federal universities, 10 universities, four in the South and six in the North, is that not performance?

Insecurity problem People are condemning this man that he is not doing this and that; even if you have a child who is not performing well are you going to expel him from the school and then he becomes a drop out? Let him repeat, when you give him a repeat, he may come out with first class.

Insecurity for example, it is for everybody and not a one man show, it is the duty of everybody to give his own contribution; it is not just the army to kill people, everybody has his own input concerning the insecurity problem. People also say he is too gentle, is he going to take a gun to Chibok? What we should do is to keep praying for our leaders. Nobody gives power but God and he doesn’t make mistake. God has his own reason for giving power to Jonathan and whoever is fighting God’s decision is fighting God. But many people believe that General Muhammadu Buhari has what it takes to fight corruption and will be a better president?

Not at all. You see this corruption people are talking about, when Buhari was head of state, he was a military dictator, not a democrat’ then, when he came you cannot even explain yourself, people were arrested, various people were sentenced to 200 and 300 years; it is madness.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015—39

Women on the move A group of Lagos women are determined to ensure women and indeed the electorate do not err in the forthcoming elections.

By Charles Kumolu

T

HE group of four ladies from different professions and backgrounds are united with the common bond of ensuring that women and the electorate are not misled in the ensuring electoral contests. All four women who visited the corporate headquarters of Vanguard Media Limited in their mobilisation drive are also driven by a passion to ensure that the elections are v iolence free.

The quartet of Ifeyinwa Osime, Amaka Okosieme, Oluchi Chibueze and Theresa Ijewere are the linchpins of the Coalition of Concerned Women For Good Governance, CCWGG spearheading town hall meetings to enable political office contestants showcase their stock for the electorate.

The initiative of the group is being sponsored by the Erelu Abiola Foundation, ERAF and is to start tomorrow with a debate by the governorship candidates in Lagos State.

Ijewere, vice-chairperson of the six person organising committee cited the need to elect leaders, who will have regard for accountability as the main motivation of the group.

“The CCWGG is a nongovernmental, non-profit, non partisan organisation set up for

the purpose of educating and informing the public and especially women on issues of good governance. CCWGG is committed to raising awareness among Nigerians about the importance of making an informed decision and voting with a clear conscience for the right candidate, knowing that whoever is elected to a political office is accountable to the electorate,’’ she noted.

Explaining further, Ijewere said: “We hope to have a lot of

We are involving women groups and other agencies that can also send male representatives. We hope to have a lot of women in attendance. That does not mean that we are gender biased

ERHITAKE IBORI:

S

HE has not painted the picture of many politicians who take to philanthropy just when an election is around the corner. Miss Erhitake Ibori’s inclination started years back even before the seeds of her present aspiration to the House of Assembly were known or even conceived. Take (pronounced as Taake) as she is more popularly known is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP for the Ethiope West State Constituency who has launched innovative steps in reaching out to constituents alas, potential voters.

Ibori’s outreach to the lesser privileged mobilises volunteer doctors from one side and resources from another platform to reach out to people in need.

The platform she is using is her Starlite Hope Initiative (SHI), an NGO, which last Sunday threw

women there. We are involving women groups and other agencies that can also send male representatives. We hope to have a lot of women in attendance.

That does not mean that we are gender biased. We want a situation whereby questions affecting women can be asked while suggestions would be made. We also want to ask the various candidates what their plans for women are. It is not going to be a one-off thing. ‘’There would be town hall meetings with the candidates. We want to hold them accountable and responsible. We want a situation whereby we will hold our political office holders accountable when they are elected.”

Lending her voice, Okosieme said: “The project is under Erelu Abiola Foundation. We will also remind participants of the need for voters sensitization. We assume that most of the candidates must have done that, but we have to remind the candidates that they have to be accountable to the people. It is going to be a two-pronged programme.

“There are a couple of other people, who wanted to be part of us but since we are not partisan, we did not allow them. We asked them to come and ask their questions on that day.

“We are concerned about the spate of violence. We will task the aspirants and ask them what they are doing about the spate of

violence. We will also sensitize the women groups by telling them that there is nothing to be gained from political violence.

But it has to come from our conversation with the aspirants.”

Continuing, she said: “Right now we are focusing on the candidates of the 26 political parties, if they cant come, they can send their representatives.

We want the candidates to recognise that they have to be accountable to the people. The point is to ask them questions and hold them accountable when they are elected. We are asking people to believe in this cause because this is the only contra we have."

Philanthropy in politics

Miss Take Ibori, scion of a former governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori emerges on the political scene carving an independent identity in a political landscape where her father even in spirit continues to dominate

By Emmanuel Aziken

•L-R;Mrs Oluchi Chibueze;Caterer; Mrs Ifeyinwa Osime,Legal Practitioner; Mrs Amaka Okosieme,Event Manager and Ms Theresa Ijewere, Educationist all of the Coalition of Concerned women for Good Governance[CCWGG] during their visit to Vangaurd Newspapers in Apapa Lagos. Photo;Akeem Salau

open its doors to alleviate the needs of the sick in Oghara.

Thousands of people from nearby villages according to reports came out to receive medical attention as facilitated by the SHI. The doctors provided general health care with drugs, dental care and eye care including the provision of medicated glasses to those in need.

In the team of 11 medical doctors, four dentists, five opticians, eight nurses were Doctors Ejiro Esiekpe, Lawrence Oghumu, Mudiaga Akponana and Chuks Olodu.

The outreach in Oghara was not the first. Indeed, SHI’s first outing was well outside Oghara in Agbor more than 100 kilometers from her place of origin where she has established as headquarters of the SHI. Asked for the reason for her devotion to the less privileged, Take a daughter of a former

an absolute concern for the poor and the under-privileged and where ethnicity does not matter as people are treated as, yes, God’s own children. Bigotry and hatred have no place in our home.

What matters is service to others, to the community, to the country.”

While noting the special emphasis of getting Nigerians to volunteer to aid the less privileged, she said of her NGO, “our aim is to get youths, yes, young people to come together to help others without expecting anything •Take Ibori (right) and Hon Lovette Ederin Adesiri (2nd right) watch as a in return.

Once such a belief Dentist treats a patient. of giving, freely and governor of the state, Chief James cheerfully, of one’s abilities and treasures spreads across the Ibori said: “I grew up in a family that has country, Nigeria would be a

better and more humane place.

You see, I believe with the late American President J. F. Kennedy that on this Earth, God’s work must truly be ours”.

A number of the volunteers last Sunday, remarkably came from established institutions near her including the University of Benin Teaching Hospital and Central Hospital Benin, and the nearby hospitals such as the University of Delta State Teaching Hospital.

Another dimension to Take’s initiative is what has been termed the Ämbubike” service which entails the provision of a motorcycle ambulance for those in real health emergency.

Any person with such emergency within the catchment area in Oghara calls a phone number and pronto, a motorbike is rushed to the person to provide first aid and following which the person is rushed to a nearby hospital.

Miss Ibori’s innovativeness in volunteerism is also still evolving as she said in answer to a question on what was her next aspiration.

40 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Some beggars in Lagos

Lagos evacuates 260 beggars in 100 days

By Monsuru Olowoopejo

I

N spite of Lagos state Government’s effort to end street begging, more beggars still troop into the state daily.

This compelled the government to intensify its raid, leading to the evacuation of 260 beggars from the streets in the last 100 days.

This was contained in a document made available by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba at the 2,800 days celebration of the Governor Babatunde Fashola’s administration held in Agidingbi, Ikeja.

In 2013, the state faced fierce public outrage over alleged forced expulsion of some Igbo indigenes from its territory.

Last year, not minding the consequence of its action, the government rescued 2, 217 C M Y K

beggars from the streets in the state. And it returned 458 destitutes to other states of the federation through their relations, who were residents in the state.

Vanguard gathered that the rescue operation was carried out through the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Youths and Social Development. Most of the affected people were sent to rehabilitation centres.

The document said the office evacuated 260 beggars/ destitute from the streets

during the 100 days under review. ” It added that 22 destitutes rescued earlier from the streets are currently undergoing training at the rehabilitation centre, in Majidun, Ikorodu while five children rescued from the streets have been sent to schools after completing their rehabilitation exercise.

After treatment, the government offered shelter to six students who were victims of sexual abuse even as those who abused them undergo prosecution.

The former Special Adviser to Governor on Youth & Social Development, Dr. Enitan Badru earlier disclosed that rescue of beggars from the streets of Lagos is “a continuous exercise.”

... As courts sentence 483 offenders to community service A

lso in the document, the State Government said no fewer than 483 offenders were sentenced to various terms of community service across the 12 magisterial districts in the state in the last 100 days.

It added that N66.6 million was paid as death benefits to families of civil servants who died in active service.

The statement stated that this was part of the non-custodial sentences introduced by the state government to decongest the prisons, as enshrined Administration of Criminal Justice Law, ACJL 2011.

It explained that through the community service, which requires offenders to do some community work, the state government has succeeded in de-congesting the prison system without compromising the justice administration system.

It added that other non-custodial sentences included in the ACJL 2011 were probation and restitution which were expected to ease prison congestion and minimize the effect of imprisonment on individuals and their families.

The government noted that free legal services were provided for indigent residents of Lagos, saying “10, 084 cases were treated free for Lagosians.”

Breakdown of the statistics revealed that

“Citizens Mediation Centre, CMC resolved 7, 766 cases for Lagosians at no cost to the litigants. The Office of Public Defender, OPD treated 1,426 cases and undertook 11 rescue missions during the period under review. Similarly, the Directorate for Citizen’s Right treated 892 human rights cases free.

“Also, these three agencies facilitated the recovery of N229.1 million debts and compensation for residents of Lagos in different matters. While CMC recovered N213.440 million, OPD; N11.062 million and Directorate for Citizen’s Right assisted Lagosians reclaim N4.6 million.”

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 — 41

Collection of PVCs in Lagos

Feb polls: Lagos residents lament shoddy distribution of PVCs

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

T

WELVE days to the conduct of February 14th, 2015, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has disclosed plans to release about 1.9 million Permanent Voter’s Cards, PVCs to Lagos State this week.

Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC in Lagos, Mr. Akin Orebiyi, disclosed this at the Governorship debate forum organised by Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Lagos chapter in collaboration with the Lagos State Television, LTV, Ikeja.

Orebiyi explained that of the 1.9 million, 1.3 million were for those who registered in 2014 and 600,000 are for those who registered in 2011.

He noted that the PVCs would arrive the state this week and would be available for collection in the 245 collection centres created by the electoral body.

Orebiyi added that 1.7 million PVCs were yet to be collected by residents of the state.

The REC however, lamented that larger percentage of the candidate’s supporters were yet to collect their PVCs. However, the Chairman, Community Development Advisory Council (CDAC), Alhaji Tajudeen Quadri, has appealed to INEC, to ensure that all eligible voters in the state are able to collect their PVC ahead of the forthcoming February elections in order to give every resident the opportunity to choose a leader of his/her choice.

According to the details of the voters’ register released by INEC, Lagos State showed the highest number of registered voters with 5,822,207 found eligible out of the 68,833,476 registered voters.

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The then Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in the state, Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola, had on October 29th, 2014, announced that the commission was to distribute a total of 4.8 million PVCs to residents of the state.

However, INEC has disclosed that the collection of PVCs which is going on in all the electoral wards in Nigeria will end on February 8, about one week before the start of the 2015 general elections.

Confusion, complaints, anger has however, continued to trail the distribution of the PVCs as residents accused INEC

officials of sabotaging the exercise by hoarding the cards.

Investigation carried out in Alimosho area which harbours the largest number of voters in the state, about 70 percent of respondents claimed they were yet to collect their PVCs. Kunle Tijani, a barber at Car Wash area of Egbeda expressed his anger thus: “ I registered at Isheri in Egbe Idimu Local Council Development Area, LCDA,. I was directed to go to Ikotun before I was later directed to Alimosho LGA in Akonwonjo.

At Alimosho, I was directed

to go to one Ebenezer School at Egbeda when I got there they could not find my card after several hours of waiting.

“As I made to leave the centre because I was told to check back the next day as INEC will deliver more PVCs, an official approached me and demanded for N2, 000 to help me locate it. I pleaded with him to help me because I only had N200 on me but he refused and went away.

“I am yet to go back because I know they will demand for bribe which I don’t have and not ready to part with. This process is corrupt. I wonder how am going to vote despite the fact that I have my Temporary Voter Card” Another resident who simply gave her name as Mrs. Alabi was however, lucky as she managed to get her PVC after much ado. “I collected my PVC last week, but not after I parted with N1000. Its terrible,” Also, Mr John, whose centre

I am confused, I don’t know what to do again, as you can see (pointing to the crowd) we have been coming here and on each occasion left disappointed, no thanks to absence of INEC officials

is at Local Government Primary School, Idimu, lamented that since two weeks he had been reporting at the centre without success as INEC officials were nowhere to be found.

“I am confused, I don’t know what to do again, as you can see (pointing to the crowd) we have been coming here and on each occasion left disappointed, no thanks to absence of INEC officials.”

Meantime, the Chairman, Community Development Advisory Council (CDAC), Alhaji Tajudeen Quadri, made the appeal at the end of a special meeting of the Council on the role of the Community Development Associations (CDAs) in ensuring a hitch free election in the communities.

Alhaji Quadri explained that his council members had been holding several meetings with the CDAs on the need for their members to obtain their PVCs in order not to be disenfranchised.

He however, noted that it was unfortunate that the response from members in various CDAs has always been that most of them are finding it difficult to collect their cards.

While noting that the distribution centres were inadequate to cater for the population of the state, he disclosed that INEC officials present at the few centres were inadequate to meet the demand of the people.

He therefore charged INEC to further decentralize the distribution centres and put additional staff to make the collection of PVC easier for the people.

Lagos gets law to simplify land related issues

By Dotun Ibiwoye

A

T last, Lagos has signed into law a bill to simplify procedures in land transactions.

While signing the bill last week, Governor Babatunde Fashola, noted that the initial Executive Order to reduce the cost of land transaction which produced the electronic Certificate of Occupancy, C of O, is part of the bulwark of the titles that comes with the new bill.

According to Fashola, developed countries thrive by the way they register and title land assets and the enabling law greatly enhanced the process of land registration such that a prospective land buyer would not need to see anybody but just go to the registry and know the status of the land.

Titled, “A Law to Consolidate All Laws Relating to Registration of Land in Lagos State”, the law seeks,

according to the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, “to enable Lagosians have easy access to register their proprietary interest in land seamlessly”, among others.

The governor, on his part, said that it is the responsibility of the government to maintain a registry of titles to land that has the highest level of integrity and land registration helps to create the divisions of land registry.

The law, he said, would also strengthen the hand of Government in the administration of the Land Use Act adding that

his administration has even started issuing certificate of title to farmers which, according to him, “ would form part of the bulwark of titles that would come under the scope of these harmonized laws”.

The governor affirmed that the law was also necessary for access to loans by farmers who would be assisted through the law, adding that one of the reasons why farmers could not get small loans “in spite of all the work that has been done” was that banks tell them that they don’t have collateral although the farmers are sitting on land which is not in the structured form that the bank would take it from them.

“So you don’t need somebody to come and tell you the history of how the land evolved from 20 families and one owner, once you go to the registry you will see all the transactions there and your lawyer would be able to advise you whether to go on or not to go on, he said “In our basic

economics, land is a very important asset to capital formation, you can’t start a bank, you can’t start a business, you can’t farm; you can’t even extract crude oil without identifying a particular piece of land or oil well.

So it’s the basics of capital formation, it’s the basics of prosperity; it’s the basics of economic well being and the basics for job.

“But once you have a reliable register and they say they have C of O, they can check and the banks can lend them money against that asset and anybody who wants to use that asset in a joint venture knows that it is a secure title”, the Governor said adding, “And this is again where the job of the registrar of titles is a very important job that must be done with the highest level and measure of integrity”.

“Automation and the use of technology are the defining issues here. Whereas in some other parts of the country the process produces only a dozen or so land permits or applications, we are doing thousands per day in Lagos.

So those methods of response clearly would not take us there”.

42 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

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Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 — 43

44 —Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

45—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Wike warns against ridiculing office of President R

IVERS State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate, Mr Nyesom Wike, has said that nobody will be allowed to ridicule the office of the President in the name of playing opposition politics.

Speaking, yesterday, at a special thanksgiving service at the Omega Power Ministries, OPM, in Port Harcourt to mark the successful hosting of President Jonathan’s campaign rally at Adokiye Amesiemaka Stadium, Wike said that President Goodluck Jonathan belongs to all political parties and therefore, cannot be stopped by outgoing Governor Rotimi Amaechi from using public facilities in the state.

He said that it was unchristianly for Governor Amaechi to have declared that over his dead body would President Jonathan use the Amesiemaka Stadium.

Wike noted that it was imperative that the outgoing governor was taught a lesson on decent politicking.

He said: “President Jonathan is a president of all Nigerians.

He is not the president of a political party and so he cannot be stopped from using a stadium built with public funds.

There is need to de-emphasise negative politicking. We are here to thank God for the successful hosting of President

Jonathan. We express gratitude for the crowd and the fact that we recorded no casualty.”

He urged Rivers people to vote President Jonathan and himself in the polls. Wike appealed to them to also vote for PDP candidates during the elections.

He promised to grant the church its building permit and certificate of occupancy allegedly denied it by Amaechi,

if voted into power.

He said that his incoming administration will also sign the certificate of occupancy of all non-indigenes and grant traders business grants.

Reiterating that he was a full time Christian with no occult relationship, he urged Rivers people to investigate and know the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate, who, he said was accused of alleged cult

activities at Rivers State University of Science of Technology on March 10, 1993.

In his address, the General Overseer of OPM, Apostle Chibuzor, called on all members of his church and their families to pray for Wike to emerge as the next governor of Rivers State.

He also asked the church to pray for Jonathan’s re-election.

RALLY: From left: Mr. Chaty Mogaji, Deputy State Chairman, All Progressives Congress, Edo State; Mr Damian Lawani, House of Assembly candidate, Etsako Central Local Government; Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State and Mr. Francis Alimikheba, APC senatorial candidate, Edo North, at a rally of the APC, at Udaba-Ekperi, Etsako Central Local Governmnet Area.

ODCPC blames Odi violence on squabbles over control of N9bn compensation fund

By Samuel Oyadongha

Y

E N A G O A — CHAIRMAN of Odi Destruction Case Prosecution Committee, ODCPC, Prof.

Kobina Imananagha, has blamed the recent orgy of violence that rocked Odi in Bayelsa State, which led to the hospitalization of nine persons, on desperate attempt by some persons to take control of the community's N9 billlion compensation fund.

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, had, last February, ordered the Federal Government to pay N37.6 billion to Odi community, which was invaded and destroyed in 1999 by the Nigerian Army.

But the government, rather than complying with the order, went to the Appeal Court six times, seeking to overturn the initial verdict, only to fail on each occasion.

However, it took the intervention of the United Kingdom for the Federal Government to settle for N15 billion as final payment to the community in which the consortium of lawyers, collected 40 per cent of the sum as agreed C M Y K

leaving the community with N9 billion.

Prof. Imananagha, who relieved the turn of events in the community at a briefing in Yenagoa, said it was painful to see Odi drifting into such avoidable chaos and confusion in the midst of plenty.

Recalling the struggle for justice which lasted about 10 years, he said that but for the

intervention of the United Kingdom, the Federal Government would not have negotiated and paid N15 billion compensation to the community.

The Federal Government, according to him, tried all delay tactics at its disposal, including litigations, to avoid paying the N37.6 billion compensation which the Federal High Court,

Port-Harcourt, ordered it to pay the community on February 19, 2014.

Imananagha said that the saving grace was a London court which the community approached and which issued an October 21, 2014 deadline to government to negotiate settlement and pay the agreed compensation to Odi people.

He dismissed as untrue claims that his committee tampered with the compensation fund.

Don't see yourself as Ika gov, Delta monarch the PDP primaries was divinely tasks Okowa ordained, Obi Efeizomor urged the

H

RM Emmanuel Efeizomor III, the Obi of Owa, has tasked Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Delta State governorship candidate, to be magnanimous, if elected governor of the state.

“Do not see yourself as governor of Ika people but as governor of Delta.

“Respond to the needs of the people and spread development across the state. We, the people of Ika, will not bring unnecessary pressure on you to make impossible demands,” the monarch said.

The Obi gave the charge in his palace at Owa-Oyibu, when the

party's campaign train visited for prayers ahead of the PDP rally in Ika North East Local Government Area of the state.

Noting that Okowa’s victory at

governorship candidate to respond to the needs of the people by spreading development across the state. when he becomes governor of the state.

Edoja tasks PDP candidates on contract with electorate

By Perez Brisibe

K

OKORI—A former House of Representatives member, representing Ethiope constituency, Delta State, Mr. Solomon Edoja, has urged Urhobo political class in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to establish a contract of service with the candidates vying for positions

on the platform of the party.

Speaking with Vanguard after at his Kokori residence in Ethiope East Local Government Area, Edoja said that the era when politicians were issued blank cheques was over, noting that candidates must itemize their programmes and how they intend driving the manifesto of the PDP to the electorate as it affects the masses.

Otobo flays endorsement of longserving politicians

By Onozure Dania

F

ORMER treasurer of Isoko Development Union, IDU, Chief Mathias Otobo, has flayed the adoption and endorsement of politicians who have served for years for re-election, describing the development as pouring old wine into new bottles.

He also warned Isoko politicians to stop mortagaging the future of Isoko youths.

Speaking with Vanguard in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at a meeting of Isoko Nation Renaissance Front Worldwide, the Chairman of Michel International Group of Companies noted that there had been a general belief that the Isoko were being marginalised, explaining that the people were the ones marginalising themselves, citing the case of a former female senator, who was elected in 1999 and within a period of 48 months, she rose to the position of Chief Whip.

He said that instead of supporting her for a second tenure, some disgruntled elements in Isokoland ganged up against her and she was pulled down.

“When next will the Isoko’s produce a senator?” he queried.

Otobo noted that some youths were in the past, paid to castigate the leadership of Isoko Development Union on the pages of newspapers, an act that was considered abomination in other surrounding ethnic nations.

He called on Isoko youths to take their destinies in their hands by carrying out a social revolution, and “Not allow anyone or group of persons to use them for divisive or selfish purposes in the coming general elections."

He said: “As we approach the critical general elections and with the current state of disconnect between the politicians and the people they claim to represent in Isokoland, the IDU leadership should strive to put an end to the parade of mediocre, self centred individuals and persons who do not have the training and moral standing to lead, but keep on manipulating the system for their selfish interests."

46—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Okorie blasts Nwabueze’s group on Jonathan’s endorsement

NUC okays School of Health, Health Tech for FUTA

By FRANCIS IGATA

E

NUGU—UNITED Progressives Party, UPP, has berated the Igbo Leaders of Thought, ILT, over its endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan, as the preferred candidate of Ndigbo ahead of the presidential elections.

ILT had on January 30, issued a communique, saying “ we believe that the best interest of Ndigbo would be better served by our people supporting the re-election of President Jonathan.”

However, National Chairman of UPP and presidential candidate of the party, Chief Chekwas Okorie, condemned the action of Professor Ben Nwabueze-led ILT, claiming that Nwabueze did not have the interest of Ndigbo at heart.

T

HE Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA, has been given the nod by the National Universities Commission, NUC, to establish a School of Health and Health Technology.

Speaking on the development the ViceChancellor, Professor Adebiyi Daramola said the new school, with courses such as Physiology, Anatomy, Dental Technology and Optometry, would eventually lead to the establishment of a medical school and teaching hospital.

He said: “We have received the nod to set up Departments of Anatomy and Physiology having previously established a Department of Biochemistry. So, we are starting with degrees in the basic medical sciences and ultimately end up with a teaching hospital.

“These two new departments are precursors of a Medical School, because we already have Biochemistry in the School of Sciences.

Besides, we cannot have health-related courses without having the core, which is medicine and you cannot have optometry and other ancillary courses without a teaching hospital, which is at the core.”

He alleged that Nwabueze made the utterance without consultation with Igbo compatriots in the presidential race.

Chekwas said: “It is unfortunate that Nwabueze, at his age, is pushing for a legacy that will portray him in bad

I'll make Enugu land for all— APC GOV CANDIDATE

By Austin Ogwuda

E

N U G U — GOVERNORSHIP candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Enugu State, Mr. Okechukwu Ezea, has promised to end all forms of discrimination against nonindigenes in the state if elected.

Igbo urged to vote wisely

T

HE Igbo have been urged to use their numerical strength to effect the choice of a favourable government in Lagos State and the country in general.

Speaking at a one-day election sensitization seminar organized by Igbo Consultative Network Organization, ICN, in Lagos, the National Coordinator of the group, Mr. Kevin Okeoma, also urged the Igbo community in Lagos to obtain their Permanent Voter’s Cards, PVCs. In a presentation entitled Your vote is your right, Archbishop Chukwuereka Iheanachor also spoke of the need for the Igbo to use their

light before Ndigbo. This has exposed the real Nwabueze.

“He was a leader of the group called Patriots, a Yoruba apologist group. He carefully timed it to suit the Jonathan’s endorsement from Afenifere. That is his

numbers wisely, as politics is a game of numbers and politicians are only interested in numbers.

Archbishop Iheanachor observed that the Igbo had made themselves irrelevant in the political calculation of Nigeria, which he said had been responsible for their nonrecognition in the scheme of things.

He said those who sit back and watch others would always take the back seat.

Also speaking, National Public Relations Officer of ICN, Mr. Kenneth Iwuchukwu called on all categories of Nigerians to join hands with ICN to promote the political development of Nigeria.

leaning.

“He endorsed Jonathan because his Yoruba allies have done so. If Jonathan loses the presidential election, where would Nwabueze have left Ndigbo in the political calculus of the country?

“When I founded All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Nwabueze worked assiduously for its extinction.

Today, APGA does not have a presidential candidate.”

‘Why Deltans must vote Okowa'

According to him, it was unjustifiable to discriminate against somebody who was born and grew up in Enugu because he was not an indigene.

Ezea, who spoke during an interaction with the Anambra indigenes living in Enugu State, said: “It was quite unfortunate that some people instead of learning from Anambra people, out of ignorance and jealousy are marginalizing them in Enugu State.

“About 80 percent of the houses in Enugu State is owned by Anambra people.

They did not acquire it by force but through hard work.

I will like every Anambra man and woman to bring his commercial instinct to Enugu State.”

He said if elected governor, every Igbo man and woman would have equal right to own houses in New Government Reserved Area, noting that “just as Enugu people are free to contest election in any part of Igboland, every Igbo man, irrespective of the state, could contest election in Enugu State.”

A member of the group set up to fashion out a development blueprint for Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate, Amaechi Okobah, has stressed the need to vote wisely with the interest of the state in mind.

Okobah, who spoke to journalists at OnichaUgbo, explained that a vote for Okowa would translate to sustainable economic growth, accelerated infrastructural development and political advancement of the rural populace.

Okobah, the National Leader of Equity and Justice, a PDP support group, said Okowa’s pedigree, political antecedents, public goodwill and his track record, stood out from the crowd.

By Bartholomew Madukwe (08102479985) nwamad@yahoo.com

PEOPLE SPEAK

Boko Haram's attack on President's team in Maiduguri

Y

OU do not expect President Jonathan to pick up a gun and go into the troubled areas and fight off Boko Haram himself. He has security advisers, who are actively doing their jobs to ensure that they eradicate the deadly virus called Boko Haram.—Mrs Loveth Chekwube, Businesswoman.

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T

HE first responsibili ty of a President is national security. Boko Haram is an issue of national security. Boko Haram even took over an Army base in Maiduguri.

The state governor does not have authority to send soldiers to war only the Federal Government does.—Mr. Masha Houston, Observer.

N

ATIONAL security is not the problem of one man. If Nigeria fails, it will not be Jonathan alone. I think that celebration of the perceived failure of a president should not be the preoccupation of those genuinely committed to defeating Boko Haram.— Mr. Adesoji Shiyanbola, Worker.

L

ACK of education or even too little of education is a dangerous thing. If all these is towards Islamizing Nigeria, then they have failed. Sadly, man will have to fight a war to keep the peace. The entire world is galvanized to confront this menace.— Miss Chinonye Chinny, Student.

M

Y view on the re cent Boko Haram attack in Maiduguri, trapping the President’s team is that it should be condemned by all well meaning Nigerians. It is uncalled for and I think Nigerians are more enlightened now than before. Let us fight this together.— Mr. Donald Nnaji, Worker.

I

think the Federal Gov ernment has been playing politics with security issues for years now. There are intelligence report on the sponsors of Boko Haram activities for years now and his government refused to make arrest and charge people involved to court.— Miss Cynthia Osuchukwu, Graduate.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015— 47

ACF asks JOHESU to call off strike ... to prevent further loss of lives

S

OKOTO—THE Arewa Consultattive Forum, ACF, has called on the Joint Health Sector Union, JOHESU, to call off its nationwide strike to prevent further loss of lives.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the Chairman of the Sokoto State chapter of the forum, Amb. Bala Sokoto, made the appeal in Sokoto yesterday.

“This unfortunate strike which had lingered on for so long should please be called off immediately by the national body of the union,” he urged.

Sokoto spoke at a mediation meeting between the state executives of the forum and those of the Union.

“We know that many of our people are suffering because of the strike just like other Nigerians.

“We are aware of the skeletal services being offered by the senior management staff and students of health institutions, but feel that this is nowhere near satisfactory services for the care of our teeming sick everyday,” he added.

Sokoto also said that the forum was aware with the concern shown

by the striking workers.

He expressed optimism that the consultative meeting would come out with a reasonable understanding with the union.

“ACF is a non-partisan organisation interested in the unity, general well-being and

development of the north and Nigeria at large.

“We invited JOHESU to discuss amicably with them so as to see how we can broker peace between them and the Sokoto State Government.

The former envoy said that the intervention was purely in the interest of the Nigerian masses and humanity at large.

The state Chairman of JOHESU, Mr Aminu Umar, commended the ACF for the intervention.

“Consultations are on to call off the strike but this timely intervention will help in exerting more pressure on the two parties to amicably resolve the impasse soon,” Umar said.

PRESENTATION: Presentation of T-shirts and caps to Hon. Osadolor Eribo, the APC House of Assembly candidate for Egor constituency of Edo State by 10 Councillors from Egor LGA, in support of Eribo's candidature.

Gov Yero pledges to raise salaries of district heads

K

ADUNA—GOVERNOR Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna State, yesterday, pledged to raise the salaries of district heads in the state to enhance their performance.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, learnt that the monthly salary of a district head is about N14,000 which is below the national minimum wage.

Yero made the pledge when he paid a courtesy visit on the Emir of Birnin Gwari, Malam Zubairu Jubril, in continuation of his election campaign ahead of the general election.

He said that as important pillars of leadership at the community level, the district heads deserved to have a living wage that would encourage them in their work.

The governor acknowledged the security problems the area was facing and assured that government would continue to protect the lives and properties of all people living in the state.

GHELLI—A group, Urhobo Youth Congress, UYC, has endorsed the All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate in Delta State, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor as its consensus candidate in the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

The President of UYC, Comrade Monday Oyeghe said the endorsement became necessary as a result of pressure from the people of the state.

He made the assertion in Ughelli during an emergency annual general meeting of the congress convened to deliberate on the collective synergy by

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the coming years if he was elected as governor in the February 28 election.

He thanked the Emirate Council for its invaluable support to the administration, and urged it to sensitise the people on the need for peaceful elections.

Corruption in party primaries undemocratic —Orji's former aide

O

WERRI—MR. Ben Onyechere, former Special Adviser to Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State, has said that it is undemocratic to allow and settle for corruption in party primaries without consideration to the survival of democracy in the larger society.

His words: “The hue and cry

Urhobo youths endorse Emerhor for gov

U

NAN reports that Birnin Gwari Local Government Area has for years contended with attacks by criminal gangs, which has led to daily loss of lives and properties.

Yero assured the residents that the security situation would be better in

youths of Urhobo ethnic nationality to produce a credible governor.

The group urged the good people of Delta State especially the youth, to enlighten the electorate on the needs to embrace the “change that APC is offering at this critical time of socio-economic retrogression.”

Oyeghe further asserted that Emerhor is a man of high pedigree, tested and trusted in corporate governance, adding that his wealth of experience as a first class boardroom expert would be utilized for the overall development of the state.

about internal democracy is only a sham because of the conspiratorial role of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Working Committee, NWC, in the last governorship primaries in Imo State as much as other levels of election. It is untoward and unacceptable that a party machinery meant to harmonize issues could turn round not only to monetize the party primaries but also refuse to probe legitimate petitions.

“It is indeed undemocratic to allow and settle for such level of corruption to manifest in the process of party primaries without consideration for the survival of democracy in the larger society. Up until now nobody has said any thing about the recent revelation of

corruptibility from a tangible quarter of this polity which goes to show that party officials had developed tick skins and turned their backs at dispossessed members of the party.

“The fore going is a demonstrable background of the hatchet in Imo governorship primary election where an aspirant’s votes were counted last to give room for the most sophisticated rigging in which case void votes were used in covering the deficiencies of a particilar aspirant, an exercise which has served as an eye opener to the incorruptible Imo electorate who have entrusted their franchise in the custody of the judiciary as the last hope of the common man.”

Don tasks electorate on credible candidates

By Marie-Therese

J

Nanlong

OS—THE Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Jos, Prof.

Dakas Dakas has urged the electorate in Plateau State to use their voting power and elect credible leaders who would pilot the affairs of the state and nation in the next four years.

Dakas observed that the Nigerian politicians had consistently failed to live up to expectations and urged them ‘’to realize that leadership come with responsibility hence the need for them to turn a new leaf.’’

In an interview with journalists weekend, during a Voter Education Mobilization Workshop organized by the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA in Jos, he said that the politicians had failed woefully and their supporters were not doing well as they tow the wrong path in their blind support for their candidates.

WIF throws weight behind Shinkafi's gov ambition

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By Salisu Maradun

USAU—WOMEN Initiative Forum, WIF, a non-governmental organization in Gusau, capital of Zamfara State, has vowed to support the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, in the state, Alhaji Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi.

WIF said it believed that Shinkafi was competent to tackle the myriads of problems plaguing the state.

The Coordinator of WIF, Hajiya Hadiza Imam, spoke in an interview with Vanguard in Gusau weekend.

She said the forum would also appeal to members from other political parties to see the wisdom behind supporting Shinkafi for the governorship.

She said:n “I am rest assured that they will see reason in what we are calling them to do, because Shinkafi cannot be compared with other candidates from other parties."

120,000 rice farmers to receive GES fertiliser in Kano

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ANO—NO fewer than 120, 000 rice farmers in Kano State are to receive subsidised fertiliser for irrigation from the Federal Government under the Growth Enhancement Scheme, GES. Alhaji Garba Bichi, the Secretary of All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN,

made this known yesterday in Kano in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN. Bichi said the distribution of the assorted fertilisers and seeds had commenced in 48 designated redemption centres across the 44 local government areas of the state.

According to him, each

farmer will have two bags of NPK and a bag of Urea fertilizer, as well as 25kg of rice seed at the subsidized rate of N9,000.

“The distribution will commence today (Monday) at all the redemption centres in the state on receipt of short message service alert on their handsets”, he said.

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2015 Election:

Why we won’t close schools —FG, States, NUC

By Laide Akinboade

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BUJA - THE Federal Government, State Governments, National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, the National Commission for Colleges of Education, NCCE, and National University Commission, NUC, yesterday agreed not to close schools during the February, 2015 general Elections.

Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, stated this at the end of the emergency meeting the ministry held with States Commissioners of Education and other stakeholders in education sector yesterday in Abuja.

He said the stakeholders took the decision because Nigeria had suffered school closure during Ebola crisis last year October while many schools are still trying to catch up.

According to the Minister, “The Federal Government, the States Commissioners of Education, NUC, NBTE, NCCE, and all other stakeholders in education sector, after due consultation and deliberation in respect of whether or not to close schools and all institutions during the period of election we resolved as follows: “All schools and institutions should remain in session while the elections take place over the weekend as specified in Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC timetable.

“We have had elections in the past in Nigeria and schools were in session and in view of the fact that this is almost half way in the second term in the school calendar and in view of the fact that we have suffered loss of time in our schools during the last Ebola crisis and many schools are still battling to catch up. There is also no reason before us that compels us to close our schools”.

The minister directed, “We also greed that all schools that are planning to go on midterm break to put it on hold and all midterm break in all schools should be suspended for this term.

Those on midterm break should please resume back immediately and continue their lessons”.

AWARD: From left; Mildred Bagshaw,Marketing Manager, Cussons Baby; Sandy Griffiths, Marketing Director Family care; The Parent of the winner;Mrs Funmi Davids and Mr Oluyinka Davids; the daughter name is Morireoluwa Modesire Davids; and Oluwaseun Ayeni,Brand Manager Cussons Baby at the Cussons Baby Competition Season 2 grand Finale and Award Presentation in lagos.Photo by Akeem Salau.

Defection of five govs affected us —Muazu

By Henry Umoru

A

BUJA—NATIONAL Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Adamu Muazu yesterday, relived the pains the party went through following the defection of five of its governors to the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, saying however, that the worst days were over.

The governors who defected to the APC included Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers; Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano; Aliyu Magatakada Wammako of Sokoto; Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara and ex- Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State respectively.

In a statement yesterday in Abuja, Muazu noted that party was now out of the shock it suffered as a result of the governors exit adding that the situation had been reversed as the PDP was now pummelling the APC to submission.

He said that with the PDP now

rounding off its campaign, it was certain that the party was coasting to victory.

Muazu said that the PDP was very much on course for a deserved victory at the February 14 presidential poll, adding, “We have put our best foot forward and in reviewing the campaign tour so far, I have no reason to doubt that victory will be the reward of our hard work, In sha Allah.”

The statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Chief Tony Amadi, read in part, “When the campaign started, it was clear that the opposition had gone far in distorting the achievements of our great party. When they shout change, they don’t tell Nigerians what they want to change. Do they want to change the sound educational policy of the PDP which has been hailed all around the country as the route to transformation of the country’s democratic institutions?

“In the North, the popularity of our Almajiri schools system has fi-

Leadership centre empowers youths

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S part of the Transforma tion Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to create wealth, the Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre (CLTC) has trained youths in diverse areas such as leadership, skills acquisition, modelling, hairdressing, barbing and creativity among others.

According to the centre, the training will enhance the capacity of Nigerian youths to participate in the economy of the nation. Organised in collaboration with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Office in the

Presidency, the training involved both mental impartation and rigorous physical exercise which drew participants from mainly students of universities and other tertiary institutions, unemployed graduates, Senior Secondary school leavers, artisans, apprentices, housewives as well as applicants. While presenting certificates and equipments to the participants, the Director General of CLTC Michael Fawole said the 2014 MDG programme focuses on both Value Reorientation and Empowerment for Nigerian Youths.

nally solved the educational backwardness in the three zones of the giant North. We shall follow this up with a revolution in the Nomadic Education system started by the Babangida regime in the 1980’s and we would have wiped out ignorance.

“On insurgency, positive results are emerging from the combined forces of our neighbours who have realized that Boko Haram is not

just a threat to Nigeria, but also a major regional threat and the need for a combined effort to wipe out this Al-Qaeda inspired menace should be dealt a fatal blow by a combined regional force. What will APC change in tackling insurgency as they have claimed every day of the campaign? Absolutely nothing! All that they will change is that they will apply their propaganda.''

Don't postpone polls, NLC warns

By Victor Ahiuma-Young

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IGERIA Labour Congress, NLC, yesterday warned that under no circumstances should the general elections be postponed, as being canvassed the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki and few others.

NLC in a statement argued that though the dangers in the land were unmistakably real, but insisted there were greater dangers in postponing the elections.

The statement by NLC’s General Secretary, Dr Peter Ozo-Eson, read “Recently, the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, citing security concerns, urged the government to postpone the general elections. Some organizations and individuals have since lent their voices in support of a shift in date of the polls amidst equally vociferously dissenting voices which accused the government of orchestrating the postponement campaign, with some going as far as saying that government would rely on litigation and or street protests to achieve its objective.

“While we at the Congress appreciate the security situation in the country, especially in the North East, we stand to be counted on the side of those who argue for holding of elections on their prescribed dates. Certainly, the dangers in the land are unmistakably real. Nonetheless, we do believe, there are greater dangers in a postponement. For instance, what assurance do we have that the security situation will improve in the next couple of months?

“Secondly, a postponement has the potential of lending credence to circulating allegations of manipulation by government. But beyond all this, the 1999 Constitution is clear and unambiguous about when and how elections are to be conducted and every effort should be made to meet with the provisions of the constitution.

It added that “In light of the foregoing, we urge the government to speedily create an enabling environment for holding of elections in every part of Nigeria to fulfill government’s promise to the citizenry of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015—55

Lagos socialite, Molade Okoya-Thomas dies at 79

By By Leke Adeseri, South West Regional Editor, Olasunkanmi Akoni, Franklin Alli & Monsuru Olowoopejo

LAGOS — The patron of Lagos socialites and sportsmen, Molade Alexander OkoyaThomas, has died of an undisclosed ailment, Vanguard has learnt. He died yesterday, aged 79 years.

In a condolence message, President Goodluck Jonathan said the late business mogul “lived a very worthy and fulfilled life, and left a legacy of great entrepreneurial achievements for his successors to build on.”

Okoya-Thomas was born in Lagos on 8 June 1935 to Late Hussam Okoya-Thomas (the first Baba Adinni of Furabay Mosque, Olowogbowo, Lagos and the first local staff of CFAO, who served the company for 52 years) and Late Alhaja Suwebat Okoya-Thomas (née Gbajabiamila, Otun Iya Adinni of Idita Mosque).

He studied at Princess School, Lagos, 1946; Balham and Tooting College of Commerce, London, 1956–1959; Columbia University, New York, US, 1981.

He was appointed Director, Transcap Nigeria Limited; Director, Niger Motors Industries Limited; Chairman, Studio Press Nigeria Limited and has been the Chairman of CFAO Nigeria Limited since 1987.

Until his death, he was the Chancellor of Lagos State University, chairman of many organisations including CICA (Nigeria) Ltd., Transcap Nigeria Ltd., Oktom Investment Ltd., Itochu Nigeria Ltd., Chiyoda Nigeria Ltd. and Anchoria Investment & Securities Ltd. He also served as Director of NFI Insurance Company Plc and erstwhile Gateway Bank Plc. He has also contributed to the development of Lagos State by serving in numerous committees including; member, Lagos City Council from 1971 to 1975, member Lagos State Development and Property Corporation, Chairman Board of Trustees Glover Memorial Hall and Tom Jones Hall.

He was a recipient of the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur, the highest national honour given by the French to a foreigner.

Molade Okoya-Thomas was an active sportsman in his youth; he was a Joint All Nigeria Record Holder of 4 X 220 yards relay race while at Baptist Academy Lagos.

He has been the sole sponsor of the annual Asoju-Oba Table Tennis Championships for over four decades, setting a record as the only Nigerian to have single-handedly and C M Y K

consistently sponsored a competition spanning over four decades.

As a philanthropist he similarly served as vicechairman, Lagos State Sports Council, President Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Chairman 3rd AllAfrica Games Appeal Fund Committee, Chairman National Appeal Fund for Sports Development and chairman Sports Trust Fund. Molade Alexandria Okoya-Thomas built and donated a Modern Sports Hall for students and staff of the Lagos State University (LASU) in 2009.

He was also a prominent member of the fund raising committee for the construction of Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.

He was a model for present generationLASG, LASU

The Lagos State Government and students of Lagos State University, LASU, yesterday joined others in the country to mourn the passing on of OkoyaThomas, describing him as a model for the present generation.

Speaking on behalf of the Lagos State Government, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba told Vanguard that the death of Okoya-Thomas is a great loss, not only to the Okoya-Thomas family but to the whole nation. According to him, “He left a virtue for the present generation. For instance, in spite of his status, he never arrived late to any event he was invited. This is one quality that this generation needs to emulate from him.

“He loves youths and until his death, he demonstrated his love for the youths through organizing and sponsoring the Asoju Oba Cup,” he added.

Also, President of the LASU Student Union Government, Mr. Nurudeen Yusuf, said “We will miss him for his contribution to education. And it would be rare to see someone of his quality.”

He was a visionary – Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar yesterday reacted to the demise of foremost industrialist, Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas, saying the death is a huge blow to the community of Nigeria’s businessmen.

Atiku, in a press statement by his media office in Abuja noted that the late Okoya-Thomas was a visionary and astute businessman whose contribution to Nigeria’s private sector economy will remain indelible.

“Although the late Molade Okoya-Thomas left the stage at a prime age of 79, his death

CONDOLENCE: Senator Oluremi Tinubu signing the condolence register at the home of the deceased yesterday. nonetheless is a huge blow to the community of businessmen in Nigeria.

“He was a pioneer and a visionary. Okoya-Thomas belonged to a generation of private sector investors who saw opportunities in making investments in the economy when it was risky to do so."

Ashafa mourns

Senator Gbenga Ashafa (APC, Lagos East) has expressed great shock at the demise of Chief OkoyaThomas, descriping him as a great man of valour. In his condolence message, Ashafa added: “Molade Alexandria Okoya-Thomas MFR, FCNA, OFR, KSS, was a rare gem that left us when we needed him most.

“Chief Okoya was an essential of benevolence, notable business man, sports lover and a philanthropist of great repute. I remember too well that he was the Chairman of the occasion during my first born’s wedding ceremony. He would surely be missed by all of us . I pray that Chief Okoya Thomas gentle Soul Rest In Perfect Peace.”

Jonathan sends condolences

Meanwhile President Goodluck Jonathan said he received with immense sadness, news of the death of the leading entrepreneur.

President Jonathan also extended sincere condolences to members of Chief OkoyaThomas’ family as well as his friends, associates, business partners within and outside Nigeria, and the people of Lagos where he held the traditional title of Asoju-Oba. The President said he shares their pain and sorrow as they

mourn the late Chief OkoyaThomas who was also honoured in his lifetime with the traditional titles of Odofin of IleIfe and Bobasuwa of IjebuRemo.

President Jonathan urged members of the Okoya-Thomas family and all others who mourn the very successful businessman to be comforted by the knowledge that he “lived a very worthy and fulfilled life, and left a legacy of great entrepreneurial achievements for his successors to build on.”

The statement signed by the President Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Dr. Reuben Abati recalled that Chief Okoya-Thomas will also be long remembered and honoured as a very generous philanthropist and sports enthusiast who established the popular Asoju-Oba Table Tennis Championships.

He was a bridgebuilder, s a y s LCC The Lag o s Chamber of Commerce and Ind u s t r y, LCCI, described the dead industrialist and philanthropist as one w h o “Contributed immensely to private sector develop-

ment through his various investments.”

In the words of Muda Yusuf, LCCI Director General, “Okoya Thomas was a bridge builder between the public and private sector s in Lagos state. His role in the development of sports is no less remarkable.”

He was in the league of Odumegu-Ojukwu , Odutola, Dantata NASME Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, NASME, described his demise as “Very shocking to the business community!”

Eke Ubiji, Executive Secretary, NASME, noted that Okoya Thomas’s business strides in life stand him out as an outstanding and accomplished entrepreneur/ industrialist. He was in the league of Lewis OdumegwuOjukwu; Chief Odutola and Alhaji Aminu Dantata just to mention a few.

56—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

• Doctors and nurses. Demand for them far outweighs their availability.

Shortage of medical personnel:

Tougher times ahead for Nigerians (2) •Accredited medical institutions are few; each trains 50 - 200 doctors yearly •Less than 30,000 actively practicing medical doctors nationwide •16,000 trainee doctors constitute backbone of medical practice IN 2014, when the Federal government ordered the sacking of 16,000 resident doctors across the Federation, there was a huge outcry not only from the medical community, but from the entire health sector. The decision was not only considered drastic, but ill advised and potentially catastrophic because resident doctors a.k.a. trainee doctors, constitute the main support force and backbone for medical practice in the public sector. Seasoned medical experts take a critical look at the challenges of training, employment and distribution of medical personnel, particularly doctors and recommend a multifactorial approach as solution. Excerpts:

By Sola Ogundipe, Chioma Obinna & Gabriel Olawale

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S an institution established to promote higher tandards for specialised medical and dental practice in Nigeria, the National Post Graduate Medical College of Nigeria has its work cut out.

Since it was established in 1979

by Law CAP N59 LFN 2004 for the conduct of medical examination after training in the various specialised branches of Medicine and Dentistry, the College has been constantly under pressure to accredit more institutions across the country for the purpose of residency training for the sole purpose of producing enough doctors for the country.

A former National President of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, and the current Registrar of the National Post Graduate Medical College, Prof. Oluwole Ayoola Atoyebi, laments the dearth of medical doctors in the country, but observes that in addition to the problem of shortage of medical

personnel, their distribution is an even bigger challenge.

Atoyebi, who was one time Provost, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, however accepts that the issue of inadequate personnel is global.

But even though very few countries in the world have met the minimum standard set by the World Health Organisation, WHO, the magnitude of the problem in Nigeria is in a class of its own.

“In America and Europe, they have not met the required standard of one doctor to 500 people. But in Nigeria, we have one doctor to almost 20,000 people. There are two categories of doctors, the general duty doctors who just qualified, finished their internship and can practice, and the specialists.

What we do here, in this College, is to produce specialists,” he says.

Too few specialists produced: Right from the beginning, the number of doctors in Nigeria, even at general level has been insufficient for the population because the number of doctors

produced in the entire Colleges of Medicine across the country is less than 3,000.

Atoyebi, who should know better, puts it succintly. “We are not producing enough specialists yearly. For instance during our convocation in September 2014, we produced only 247 specialists in different areas. Some specialties experience acute shortage than others.”

But what is probably more worrisome is the imbalance in distribution of doctors, insufficient as they are. When probed, the Registrar confessed: “Overall, there are just about 30,000 actively practicing doctors in Nigeria, out of which no less than 6,000 are in Lagos alone

The number of doctors produced yearly in the entire Colleges of Medicine across the country is less than 3,000; During our convocation in September 2014, we produced only 247 specialists in different areas

compared to a place like Taraba State where there are less than 50 doctors overall. The remaining doctors are distributed across the other 34 states plus the FCT, Abuja.”

Investigations reveal that a number of factors ranging from low turn out of trained doctors from the few accredited colleges of medicine in the country, to brain drain, amongst others are actually responsible for this shortage.

“Doctors are not commodities,” Atoyebi remarked. “You can just be producing doctors like you are in factory. For the fact that they are to be dealing with human beings warrants their proper drilling. Also, there is limited number of institutions to be accredited just as there is limited number they can train because the number is pegged by the Medical and Dental Council based on the facilities and number of teachers.

Essentially there is a limit to the numger of doctors that can be trained by a medical institution at a particular time.

According to Atoyebi: “It usually varies from 50 to 200. But quite a number of medical schools cannot graduate more than 50 at a time. Even the maximum allowable for any institution is at the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, being the first medical school.

The maximum the institution has been allowed to admit in a year is 200.”

Brain drain palaver: External and internal migration of doctors is a big issue. The big issue is that the nation is not retaining even the small number of doctors it produces because of brain drain.

“Not less than 10 per cent of doctors produced in this country over the last 10 years have migrated to other countries in the quest for greener pasture. The payment in Nigeria compared with standard of living is not encouraging. Also, many doctors migrate due to inadequate facilities, and the large numbers of doctors who migrate because of inadequate facilities are specialists,” Atoyebi explained.

On internal migration, he asserts that many doctors have moved from the north east to Abuja and its environs while others opt to go to Lagos.

Right facilities To improve the situation, the medic calls for committed political will to ensure teaching hospitals are built with the right facilities.

“If institutions are not equipped with the right facilities we can’t produce more because the number is pegged based on human resources and facilities.

The shortage is usually a facilities problem.

“We have been asking that government should make sure that each medical school is funded by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TET Fund, to have Clinical Skills Stimulation Laboratory, CSSL so that many people can practise on inanimate object, this way more numbers can be taught on stimulators so they would have become expert on stimulators before they come to see actual human being, because if you are going to teach them on human beings it will take a longer time because you can only teach one person at a time Continues on Page 57

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 20153—57

NAFDAC smashes fake Viagra, Alomo Bitters syndicate

By Chioma Obinna

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HE National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has smashed syndicates specialised in faking and distribution of Viagra and Kasapreko Alomo Bitters, two popular performance enhancing drugs registered in the Nigerian market.

Announcing the arrest in Lagos last week, the Director General of NAFDAC, Dr Paul Orhii disclosed that the Agency has confiscated the dangerous drug products, with an estimated street value running into several millions loaded in six containers.

The fake Viagra, the Director General noted, was labelled as Heragra and Ziagra, hinting that the counterfeiters who planned to flood the Nigerian market with the dangerous products also brought in unapproved dosage of Diclofenac, Tramadol and Tramadol.

“The unregistered Heragra and Ziagra brands of sildenafil citrate (Viagra) tablets are usually registered in 25 mg, 50mg and 100mg but the intercepted unregistered Heragra and Ziagra came in strength of 120mg.

“These products are known drugs of misuse and abuse which can result in very serious health problems such as increased blood pressure, stroke, and ulceration of the gastro-intestinal tract, tolerance and dependence. Also, the implications of overdose of these drugs are stroke, liver

diseases, kidney disease, swelling of the face, swelling of the tongue and skin diseases.”

He explained that the sildenafil citrate tablet is a prescription only medication (POM) for managing erectile dysfunction. Tramadol is also a POM for managing severe pain and under strict control in Nigeria.

“These products have not been tested and certified by NAFDAC. Therefore, their quality and safety are not guaranteed, but “for the timely intervention of NAFDAC, it would have found its way into circulation,” he added.

Tougher times ahead for Nigerians (2) Continues from page 56 as you have to guide him so that he will not injure the patient.

But if we have stimulators, practise on those is easy because simulators cannot die, they just stimulate humans. So the students will have perfected what they want to learn before moving to human beings. So when they now move to human beings the facilities should be upgraded to that capacity. That way, more doctors can be produced both at under graduate level and post graduate level.

“At post graduate level, we have made several moves to the Ministries of Health and Education for the TET Fund because we want a clinical skill and stimulation laboratory to be provided here so that more specialists can be produced.”

Poor job evaluation & payment Internal migration is just as big a problem. To prevent or minimise it, the Post Graduate Medical College once pushed for what was described as “rural posting allowance”, but the proposal was messed up by the time it was approved.

“The Salaries and Wages made nonsense of what we proposed. The amount given to motivate people to practise in rural areas must be reasonable and attractive enough to encourage people to opt for rural areas.

If you say because it is rural area you are just given him N5, 000 extra, that will not motivate anybody to move • L-R: Chief Medical Director, LASUTH, Prof. Adewale Oke; President, Union of there. There is need National African Paediatric Societies and Associations (UNAPSA), Dr. Dorothy for incentive for Esangbedo; and Head of Medical and Regulatory, Sanofi Nigeria/Ghana, Dr. doctors.”

Inoussa Fiffen at the official launch of a new Insulin product by Sanofi Aventis at Atoyebi urges that to prevent external Oriental Hotels, Victoria Island last week.

and internal migration, there should be good facilities and good pay. Reward and sanction system must be in place and also the admission process should be controlled.

“It is saddening that here in Nigeria we don’t use our data very well. For example if you go to Ministry of Health, probably they might not be able to tell you how many radiologists they think we need in the country. Nobody is working on that. If we determine such, we give incentive; those who want to move to areas where we are experiencing shortage will get special dispensation.

“It is gloomy that in this country we don’t do job evaluation and payment; in America, doctors don’t earn the same, what we are concerned about in Nigeria is the level. Payment should be based on evaluation. It is what you do for the system that ought to determine what you get. For instance, neurosurgeons that operate on the brain ought to get more money than someone who works on the breast.

“We should also be able to control the admission process, if we know that we have enough surgeons and fewer gynaecologists in teaching hospitals, when they want to take in people, they should correct that. But the leg work has to be done first. Evaluate what the needs in those areas are and make sure you admit more people.

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58—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

By Theodore Opara

GAC’s GS4 dazzles at North American auto show T

HE North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) 2015, which attracts global top auto motor brands, ended in Detroit recently with GAC as the only Chinese auto maker in attendance.

As the only Chinese carmaker exhibiting at the show, GAC Motor made its blockbuster appearance with three proprietary models, among which, was the ” GS4. The show was the vehicle’s world debut, drawing the attention of leading media organizations worldwide. GAC is represented in Nigeria by the Victoria Island based CIG Motors.

The fact that GAC Motor’s GS4 appeared at NAIAS - an event that has been a constant for more than a century -, and compete with global brands makes it clear that the pace of work and the strength of GAC Motor’s R&D in the field of SUVs cannot be underestimated.

Technology standards The GS4, a blend of GAC Motor ’s latest R&D achievements, technology standards and the strictest of quality specifications, goes far beyond what the general car buyer in China has expected in a compact SUV. GAC Motor chose to debut the GS4 at NAIAS, revealing the automaker’s ambition to usher in a new era for SUVs. “We are not just making good cars, we are building a world-class auto brand in the hope and expectation that consumers around the world will come to know and like GAC Motor’s products!”says GAC General Manager, Wu Song, who seized the opportunity to redefine the blueprint of the Chinese automobile and resolve to build GAC Motor into China’s No.1 auto brand – a brand that meets firstclass international standards in all respects.

The SUV market is where GAC Motor has chosen to prove itself to the C M Y K

world as the firm moves beyond the borders of its home market.

SUVs are witnessing robust growth in emerging markets and especially in China, hence, all the major automakers have jumped into the fray. With the GS5 and the GS5 SUPER having taken commanding positions within their respective segments, the three models (GS4, GS5 and GS5 SUPER) are each doing their bit to enrich GAC Motor’s SUV lineup.

The GS4 is built on GAC’s brand-new A-segment platform. The design of the vehicle’s exterior is a perfect interpretation of the firm’s world-leading molding and designing aesthetics and is based on a design program, Light and Shadow Sculpture 2.0, which highlights GS4’s streamlined body and high-end quality.

Differing from Japanese compact and lightweight cars, the GS4 exudes a feeling of gravitas and of power normally associated with European models.

Excited officials of GAC Motors, China pose with the new GAC GS4 SUV at the N/America Motor show This has been achieved through the flow of the lines and the alternation of light and shadow, highlighting the stature and perfect proportions of the entire vehicle. As light and shadow alternates, the GS4 becomes imbued with a feeling of vivaciousness, dynamism and modernity that further enhances its appearance.

GS4 retains the fine workmanship and humanized tradition of the GS family in interior design.

The choice of interior color defines its high-end status, elegance and understand-

ing of fashion sense. The dashboard and the interior trim of the doors are exquisite and smooth. The seats are designed to provide a perfect sense of comfort, neither too hard nor too soft, and the steering wheel is highly responsive. The vehicle comes equipped with a first ever deployed highly efficient small-displacement turbocharging serial engine, something in which GAC Motor has tremendous pride. The swift acceleration in no way compromises the vehicle’s fuel efficiency, with high attention

paid to manufacturing a car that produces little pollution while delivering excellent fuel economy. Of special note is the engine matched with a reliable and smooth 7-speed dualclutch gearboxÿratcheting up the driver-friendliness of the car.

Safety is in no way overlooked: each GS4 comes installed with the firm’s patented “GAC safe body structure” and the new generation Electronic Stability Program. As China’s new and only member of the five-star safety family, the GS4 will provide con-

sumers with comprehensive safety protection which is superior to that of other vehicles in the same class.

As for configuration, GAC Motor had limited its highest level of available configurations to its highend GAC MOTOR model, however, with the GS4, the carmaker has taken the multiplicity and richness of available configurations to an even higher level, throwing a real challenge to the country’s various Sino-foreign compact SUV joint ventures.

NAC trains 1002 technicians on auto mechatronics

I

N furtherance to the implementation of the National Automotive Industry Development plan, the National Automotive Council, NAC in collaboration with SUREP and SMEDAN has completed a three week training programme for automobile technicians across the country.

The three week training programme is aimed at equipping Nigerian auto technicians with the necessary skills to handle and repair new generation automobiles available in the country.

Presenting certificate and diagnostic equipment to the technicians at the end of the programme at the Lady Mechanic School of Automotive Engineering in Lagos, the Director Gen-

eral, National Automotive Council, Engr. Aminu Jalal explained that the programme was carried out in 40 centres across the country.

According to the Director General, the three weeks training on automotive mechatronic was attended by 1002 trainees

Technology in the auto sector advances continually and at a very fast pace

drawn from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory Abuja.

The technicians were presented with auto diagnostic tools (OBD II), digital multi-tester and battery tester) books and instructional manuals. He also noted that about 1004 technicians were also trained last year in similar exercise which aimed at equipping local technicians with the necessary skills to repair modern generation vehicles in order to retain their jobs.

Engr. Jalal further explained that some years ago, the National Automotive Council conducted a skill gap analysis of mechanics in Nigeria on the knowledge of Nigerian mechanics and the basic needs for vehicle re-

pairs. It was discovered, however, that a lot of them lack the skills and equipment to properly maintain modern vehicles.

“As a result of this, NAC began various training programmes for auto workers from 2006 to date and this training that is rounding up today is one of the numerous programmes embarked upon by the council,” he said.

The NAC boss explained that technology in the auto sector advances continually and at a very fast pace, adding that most cars on our roads today were built with a lot of electronically controlled systems.

According to him, the only way to meet up with this advancement is training and retraining wich is one of the main aims of the National Automotive

Industry Development Plan (NAIDP).

Also speaking at the occasion, the founder, Lady Mechanic Initiative, Sandra Aguebor commended the Federal Government for its support to training of technicians especially the lady mechanics.

According to her, the Lady Mechanic Initiative has trained over 700 ladies since it was founded and has the plan to train and empower more women to become better and quality technicians.

She believe that, when you train a woman, you have trained a nation, and therefore called for the federal government’s support to set up a permanent site to give more to the nation.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015—59

By Theodore Opara

Ford redefines fuel economy with new Expedition T

HE 2015 Expedition has a refreshed new look, a 3.5-litre EcoBoost® V6 engine, and a quieter cabin with more technology than previous-generation vehicles.

It will also offer Ford’s high-end Platinum series.

“Customers still have a need for a traditional fullsize utility vehicle and the new 2015 Expedition delivers what those customers are looking for,” said Keith Wilson, Expedition marketing manager.

“These are Ford’s more affluent customers who won’t compromise – they want space, performance, comfort and capability all in one impressive package.”

Expedition, which debuted in 1996, is Ford’s largest utility vehicle, with seating for eight. The standard 2015 Expedition, one of two versions available, has three rows of seats and up to 3 067 litres of cargo space. It sits on a 3m wheelbase, while the longer-wheelbase version – 3.3m – has three rows of seats and a maximum cargo space of 3 704 litres.

Expedition will continue to feature an independent rear suspension to deliver a more confident ride and great handling characteristics. The suspension also allows a more convenient fold-flat third-row bench seat and low load-floor height.

The new Expedition features the latest technologies, including SYNC® with MyFord Touch® and Blind Spot Information System. The new 3.5-litre V6 EcoBoost engine, using direct injection and twin turbochargers, provides the expected power, efficiency and

performance while, in response to customer demand, Ford will introduce a top-of-the-line Platinum series Expedition with unique, refined interior appointments.

The 2015 Expedition was engineered to be a technologically advanced vehicle that is easy to drive and offers refinement for all types of driv-

With the new engine, Expedition will be among the full-size SUV leaders for capability, generating 272kW and 569Nm of torque

ers.

“The EcoBoost engine will bring increased torque and horsepower that will excite our customers,” said David

dent rear suspension, the 2015 Expedition is not only more fun to drive, it’s also easier to own.”

The 3.5-litre EcoBoost

Hyundai joins fight against Ebola in W/Africa

H

YUNDAI Motor Group has announced that it will do-

Mr. Josiah Samuel, Group Managing Director, Coscharis Motors Ltd poses with the new Ford Mustang at Coscharis Motors Showroom recently.

C M Y K

Cantrell, Ford assistant chief programme engineer for Expedition.

“Thanks to improved efficiencies and an indepen-

V6 will be the only engine offered in Expedition. To maximise performance and control, the vehicle will be equipped with a s i x - s p e e d SelectShift® automatic transmission featuring a manual mode that allows the driver to use a shiftmounted rocker switch to select the desired gear, and a Non-Limited Slip 3.15 Rear Axle for maximum fuel efficiency.

With the new engine, Expedition will be among the full-size SUV leaders for capability, generating 272kW and 569Nm of torque. Add ample cargo space for the extendedlength version and towing capacity up to 4.1 ton when properly equipped, and customers will find a truly useful utility vehicle.

With the launch of the 2015 model, Expedition also becomes the first Ford nameplate to offer a continuously controlled damping suspension that allows drivers to select from three drive modes – comfort, normal and sport.

A suite of sensors detects 46 unique body, steering and braking inputs. By monitoring an Expedition’s body motion, the system can automatically adjust the damping in milliseconds.

Continuously controlled damping technology analyses the weight of the vehicle, steering feedback and road undulations and reacts accordingly to help control wheel and body motions so passengers experience an orderly, comfortable ride.

nate 21 Starex-based H1 ambulances to the United Nations (UN) in support of the Global Ebola Response activities in West Africa, particularly in Liberia. The vehicles, equipped with respirators, oxygen tanks and other medical kits, will be delivered to the Liberian government through the UN to support medical activities.

“We hope our efforts will contribute to the global fight against this deadly virus,” said Kwang Guk Lee, Senior Vice President of Hyundai Motor Company.

“Our hearts go out to the victims of Ebola and their families.”

The deadly Ebola virus, which broke out in

Guinea last year, is currently spreading over several West African countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali and Senegal, with some cases in the United States and Spain.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a total of 7,645 deaths occurred out of the 19,648 reported cases (as of Dec. 23).

Separately, Hyundai Motor Company, which leads the Hyundai Motor Group, has been active in creating jobs and providing educational opportunities in underdeveloped regions including Africa. Hyundai Motor opened in 2013 a ‘Hyundai-KOICA Dream Center,’ which is

part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, in Ghana. The Hyundai-KOICA Dream Center is a governmentapproved technical high school, which Hyundai established in collaboration with KOICA, a Korean government agency, and Plan Korea, a branch of one of the oldest and largest children’s development organizations, Plan International.

Hyundai Motor Company held a groundbreaking ceremony for its third ‘HyundaiKOICA Dream Center ’ in Cambodia April 2014, which follows openings in Ghana (Jan. 2013) and Indonesia (Jan. 2014).

60— Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

How I'll revive the economy — Buhari .Says missing $20bn can carry FG for 1 yr

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

A

LL PROGRESSIVES Congress, APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (ret), yesterday, unfolded his plans on how to revive the Nigerian economy before the Organised Private Sector, OPS, in Lagos, asserting that tackling corruption and insecurity were key elements to the plan.

At the meeting, entitled, 'GMB Means Business,” Buhari put privatisation of the transmission companies, construction of inter-state roads, revival of local refinery production, among other schemes, to boost job growth in the economy.

Buhari, nevertheless asserted that whatever plans aimed at reviving the economy could only yield fruit if corruption and the spate of insecurity in the country are frontally tackled. He said that an opinion poll conducted prior to the production of the manifesto of the APC showed that majority of Nigerians put insecurity, corruption and the economy as their major priorities.

Giving his plans on how roads reconstruction could revive jobs, he said: “We will concentrate on the roads and highways that link up Nigerian states, while state governments will be expected to connect their states to these highways by building the last mile connections.

“Road construction alone will unlock a value chain of opportunities in the building industry for construction companies, builders, engineers, architects, quarry operators, cement and iron rod production and supply.

“The successful opening up of Nigeria by the construction of new roads and highways will revive road transportation, truck manufacture, tyre manufacture, engine oil, brake pad productions on one hand.

“It will also create a demand for jobs for mechanics, drivers and those engaged in transport support business.

We expect a revival of all the interstate economies that used to thrive across Nigeria, providing support to travellers by way of canteens, restaurants, farm produce, etc.”

Noting the cost of corruption to the economy, the presidential candidate cited issues with the unresolved $20

billion allegedly missing funds from crude receipts.

He said: “Corruption affects our ability to secure ourselves, and it also undermines the performance of the economy.

“This current government is being challenged to account for an estimated $20 billion and the whole country is awaiting a report of a forensic audit. $20 Billion at N210 to $1.00 is equal to N4.2 trillion - nearly a year’s federal budget.

“If it is true that this sum cannot be accounted for, this is grossest form of corruption. Just think at N5 million per vehicle, this money would have bought 840,000 patrol vehicles; (this would have improved security in every town and village in the country) “At N13.5 million for a high capacity bus this money would have bought 311,000 buses; (this would have revolutionised the transport and production side of the economy) “From information at my disposal, Lekki Bridge in Lagos cost N29 billion to construct. N4.2 trillion would have built 145 Lekki bridges; (this would have revolutionised transport, infrastructure, construction, employment in the economy) “If the average cost of generating one mega watt of power is about US $1.5 million (excluding gas and distribution costs), $20 billion would have bought over 13,333 mega watts of power. What a difference that would make up and down the country!

“If you also factor the N2.2 trillion spent on subsidising fuel import which became a huge scandal, you may then understand why our manifesto focuses on the issues of security, corruption and the economy.

“We are too vulnerable as a nation at this moment if we have to import fuel to move our planes, our tanks and our men. We are too vulnerable as you can see that we also have to import arms.

We are vulnerable because our troops also depend on imported food.”

Buhari was escorted to the meeting

by Governor Babatunde Fashola, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, national chairman of the APC; Governor Rotimi Amaechi, director general of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation; Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, APC governorship candidate in Kaduna State, among others.

L-r: Director, Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria, Mrs. Ayo Otaigbe; Public Relations Manager, Dufil Prima Foods Plc. Mr. Tope Ashiwaju and Chairman, Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria, Professor Olu Akinyanju, at the presentation of cheque and products to the Foundation by Dufil Prima Foods, in Lagos

Power show in Washington D.C.

A

S I began to write this piece, Americans were feverishly expecting the giant clash of football titans in Arizona.

It was the 49th SuperBowl competition, the ultimate forum to determine the true champions of American football. Two teams, the Seattle Seahawks (my favourite and defending champions) were about to slug it out with the New England Patriots, a team that has been dogged with controversy over tampering with the footballs they used in the knockout match that earned them a place in the SuperBowl.

Unlike the SuperBowl, the frenzy over the political competition that flares up in Washington D.C. apparently has no end.

Each time you thought the tug-of-war between the White House and the U.S. Congress was losing traction, there comes something, some issue that would make the volcano of power show erupt once again. In the past week, the U.S. passed the controversial bill to legalize the Keystone XL (oil) Pipeline Project that President Obama has publicly pledged to veto if it landed on his table in the Oval Office at the White House. The bill passed, courtesy of the new majority enjoyed by the Republicans in the Senate. The House of Representatives had also used its Republican majority to pass the bill in 2014.

Controversial bill Even before the passage of the controversial bill by the Senate, House Speaker John Boehner literally poked his “power” finger into President Obama’s eyes by surreptitiously sending an invitation to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the U.S. and address the joint session of the U.S. Congress. Knowing that his invitation did not respect the normal protocols involved before such invitation was sent out, Prime Minister Netanyahu surprised everyone, and possibly himself, when he accepted to visit Washington D.C. His action has thus set the battleground ready for another round of power show between the Republican-controlled Congress and the White House where a Democrat is in charge as the president.

Disagreement over the construction of the Keystone XL (oil) Pipeline Project is more philosophical than a matter of economics, despite Republicans presenting it as something that will create jobs for thousands of American citizens. The fact is that it all boils down to the preservation of the environment. Republicans do not believe in the reality of climate change and the endangerment of our planet. Democrats do.

According to the Republican trump card on why the pipeline is needed, the construction of the 1,179-mile pipeline that will run from Canada to the U.S. will create 42,000 jobs in the United States. This figure is based on a report released by the U.S. State Department. But, what the Republicans do not talk about, which is also in the report by the same State Department, is that the so-called thousands of jobs will only extend for a two-year period, not even 42,000 at every point in this time frame.

Thereafter, the pipeline will only need

about 50 jobs for its maintenance.

Once the traditional reconciliation of differences in the versions of the bill passed by the House of Representatives and Senate is accomplished, the bill will be sent to President Obama to sign it into law. He has already said he will not append his signature on that bill. That will amount to a veto, and his action will signal the real beginning of the power show between the president and Congress.

The forthcoming visit by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is another explosive power issue. It is made complex by the well-known fact that not much love is lost between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu. On the other hand, the U.S. considers Israel as a sister-nation state.

Extending the invitation to the Israeli prime minister without the traditional courtesy of working with the White House on the matter, is outright political and public snub and disregard for the presidency by Speaker John Boehner.

While the Speaker is within his rights to extend such invitation, his office has conventionally worked with the White House on such matters. How do you invite the president of another country for an official visit without informing your president about it?

The issue is even more of an intentional public humiliation of President Obama mainly because the prime minister is coming specifically to talk about his opposition to any deal with Iran and its nuclear program. In his State of the Union address, President Obama had cautioned Congress not to pass any bill that will jeopardize the current multi-nation talk with Iran on its nuclear program. Obama has also promised to veto the Republican bill to impose more sanctions on Iran as the talks are still going on. He has also declined to meet with the Israeli prime when he comes in March. So, the battle line has also been drawn on that matter.

The Washington D.C. power show also promises to be extended to other matters, such as the Affordable Health Act (Obamacare) which How do Obama sees as his you invite signature programme.

There is no doubt that the this power rivalry has president of negative effects. But, they also show how a another real democracy should country for work. The president is an official not an omnipotent being, neither should visit without law-makers run wild informing with the powers granted them by the your constitution. Eventually, both president and president legislators will have to about it? jaw-jaw, not war-war to settle their differences.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 — 61

Awoniyi: I won't let Super 6 MVP award get into my head K •Siasia

ALMAR youth star Taiwo Awoniyi has refused to admit that he has a lot of weight on his shoulders going into the African Youth Championship next month.

Siasia salutes Flying Eagles ...says qualify talents abound in Nigeria

D

REAM Team coach Samson Siasia has saluted the Flying Eagles after they emerged champions of the 2015 Super 6 tournament in Abuja.

Siasia’s U23 team could only secure a 3-3 draw against the Flying Eagles in the final game of the mini-tournament on Sunday, coming second to their junior counterparts.

“They are good. They are a very good team and I

congratulate them. I see that Manu Garba and Nduka Ugbade have both done some tremendous work to have produced this team. “They gave us a very good fight and they were always attacking us and we almost paid the price, and I will say I am happy with what I have seen.

“When you look at our team and this Flying Eagles team, it tells you a lot about the quality of players we have in this country and it is something we should be proud of,” Siasia added.

Having been voted the most outstanding player at the Super 6 tournament, all eyes will be on the attacker in Senegal, as he is expected to lead the charge for goals for Manu Garba’s boys in the absence of K e l e c h i Iheanacho and Isaac Success. ‘’All thanks to God that I won the top player award, and great kudos to our coaches, who always bring out the best in us,’’ said Awoniyi ‘’I am very happy for this award. I am not under pressure to deliver at the African Youth Championship.

Every player here with the help of the wonderful and great (dads) we have here as coaches, we are capable of delivering in any match The aim of the team is to win all matches that come our way.’’

Atsu warns Black Stars of Equatorial Guinea m

G

HANA’s quarterfinal hero Christian Atsu says they can do even better than the 3-0 win over Guinea when they face Equatorial Guinea in Thursday ’s semi-final clash.

The on-loan Everton player grabbed the headlines with his two goals including a stunning curler from the edge of the box.

Atsu is expected to replicate that performance against the hosts.

The 23-year-old does not want the Black Stars to rest on their oars.

“I think we need to do much better than against Guinea,” Atsu said.

“Anything can happen in football but we are prepared for any difficulties.”

Atsu is Ghana’s leading scorer with at the tournament with three goals from four matches.

C M Y K

•Awoniyi

Best team are out — Ivorian coach

I

VORY Coast coach Herve Renard said the tournament’s best team are out after his Ivory Coast side beat Algeria to reach the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals.

New Manchester City striker Wilfried Bony scored twice as the Elephants won 3-1 to earn a tie against DR Congo.

“I think we have beaten the best team in the tournament,” said Renard.

“We needed to be very well-organised and try to counter a team who are very strong individually.”

•Renard

Ghana fear referee bias against Equatorial Guinea

F

•Atsu

EAR has gripped Ghanaian fans ahead of 2015 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final clash against host Equatorial Guinea over perceived referee bias decisions following Tunisia’s ordeal.

The Central African side, who parachuted into becoming emergency host of the tournament following the withdrawal of Morocco, secured their passage to the last four under controversial circumstances.

They beat Tunisia 2-1 on Saturday but the game ended in carnage with referee Rajindraparsad Seechurn taken centre stage for his perceived bias officiating against the North African side.

It was a scene of chaos and pandemonium after the referee inexplicably gave a penalty to the host nation which

proved crucial in the famous win.

The Mauritian referee was chased from the pitch by the Tunisian players after Javier Balboa had won the game for the home side, with one player aiming a kick at the official.

Tunisia coach Georges Leekens accused the referee of ‘forcing’ his side’s controversial defeat to the host and claimed they (referees) will win the crown for the side.

There are fears such poor refereeing decisions to favour the home side could befall the Black Stars on Thursday.

However, global eyes will be on the match official selected for the crucial tie in Malabo as another bias officiating to favour the host will cast a shadow on the competition.

62 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 — 63

Ezeh: Flying Eagles can cope without Iheanacho

Molade Okoya Thomas is dead

P

F

ORTO Under 19 striker Chidera Ezeh has opined that the Flying Eagles can cope with the absence of Kelechi Iheanacho and Isaac Success at the African Youth Championship.

Golden Ball winner at the last Fifa Under 17s Iheanacho is sidelined until March with an ankle injury while Granada chiefs looked the other way when contacted by the Nigeria Federation, as the date for the tournament is outside the Fifa calendar.

One of the players expected to step up in the absence of both players is Chidera Ezeh, and he showed a glimmer of his potential after scoring two goals at the recently concluded Super 6 tourney. ‘’Yes we will miss Iheanacho and Success but Nigeria has a lot of talents, so we will work very hard with the players we have now,’’ Chidera Ezeh. ‘’By His grace we will get there. Our aim is to win every match as it comes, that’s the tradition here.’’

THANK YOU ALL ••• Flying Eagles players acknowledging cheers from the fans.

four so as to qualify for the World Youth Championship (WYC) to be staged later in the year.

“A l o t o f f o o t b a l l education will be given to these lads and you know that it is the level of education that you have that will help you to excel in whatever you do,” he said, adding, “ we have used this tournament to discover some areas where we need to fine-tune and I am optimistic that by the time we go to Senegal; the team will be ready to take on anyone.

“The Chief Coach is doing everything to shape the team for the tournament and for him the team is about 40% prepared before coming into this

He was recognised as the Asoju Oba of Lagos, Babasuwa of Ijebu-Remo, Odofin of Ife. He was also the Chancellor of Lagos State University and chairman of CFAO Nigeria Limited.

•Late Okoya-Thomas

West Ham, Sakho face FIFA proceedings

Olukoya Athletics Championships attracts F over 1000 athletes O VER 1000 athletes from 26 states and athletics clubs across the country have entered for the 2015 Dr. D K Olukoya Athletics Championships slated for Teslim Balogun

Ugbade Continues from BP

OREMOST sports ambassador and sponsor of the longest privately organised sporting event, the annual Asoju Oba Table Tennis championship, Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas is dead.

He died yesterday February 2nd at 79.

Details of his death not known yet.

Billionaire businessman, philanthropist, accountant and industrialist, Okoya Tomas was chairman of the Main Organising Committee of the last National Sports Festival hosted by Lagos. He was born in Lagos on 8 June 1935. He obtained his formal education at Princess School Lagos, Baptist Academy Lagos.

Balham & Tooting College of Commerce London and Columbia University New York.

tournament and by the first week of March, we will arrive at 70% and we will be ready for the competition, we will not only be participating in the competition but we will be contending seriously for the trophy.”.

The former international assured that despite the fact that Nigeria’s first game at the championship will be against the host nation Senegal, the players will not allow themselves to be intimidated by the crowd which added will be partisan.

He however added that if the large Nigerian community in the country turns out in their numbers to support the Flying Eagles, the impact of the expected home advantage will not be much.

Stadium, Surulere, Lagos this weekend.

The 2015 edition of the Championships will serve as trial for the Africa Youth Athletics Championships in Mau-

ritius, April 23-26, 2015 and the IAAF World Youth Champions in Cali, Columbia from July 1519, 2015.

The Meet Manager of the 2015 Olukoya Athletics Championships Yussuf Alli said entry for the

Yakubu Continues from BP yesterday afternoon, the former Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Everton and Blackburn frontman was allocated squad number 20 at Reading.

Manager Steve Clarke said, “An experienced goalscorer, Yakubu brings a fantastic scoring record to this club and his addition will complement the strikers we’ve already got at Reading and help us to improve as a team in latter stages of the season.

“I know all about him as a player and I have heard very good reports about him as a personality in the dressing room. He is norisk signing for us and I look forward to him scoring goals for Reading Football Club.”

The 32-year-old Nigeria international undoubtedly brings a

wealth of top flight, European and international experience to the Royals’ ranks as well as a proven track record in front of goal at the very highest level.

The six foot striker stands behind only Didier Drogba in the list of all-time highest African goalscorers in Premier League history, level with Emmanuel Adebayor on 96 top flight goals, and he has represented Nigeria in no fewer than four Africa Cup of Nations competitions as well as a World Cup Finals tournament in 2010.

Yakubu will be eligible to make his Reading debut in this weekend’s Championship clash at Wolves, subject to international clearance and the normal ratification procedures from the relevant football authorities.

championships will closes at 12 noon February 3, 2015 (today).

“We shall not entertain any late entry and we will not allow any state or athletics club to submit entry at the venue”.

Alli a former captain of Team Nigeria who still holds the national record 8.37m in long jump set at Auckland 1990 Commonwealth Games expect tough competition from junior athletes from Kwara, Delta and Cross River, “These states has been consistent in producing young athletes in the last few years, I expect athletes from the states to dominate the sprints, jumps, quarter-mile and hurdles.

IFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against West Ham and Diafra Sakho after the Senegal striker missed the Africa Cup of Nations, but still turned out for his club.

Sakho withdrew from the tournament in Equatorial Guinea due to a back problem, but came on as a substitute to score the winner in West Ham’s FA Cup fourth round tie at Bristol City before his country were knocked out of the AFCON. The Senegal Football Federation lodged a complaint with FIFA after hearing of Sakho’s involvement in that match and coach Alain Giresse claimed West Ham had set a “dangerous precedent” by opting to select the 25-year-old.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

2015 AYC: We’re going to Senegal to win – Ugbade

BY JUDE OPARA, Abuja

A

CONTEST: Ivory Coast’s Eric Bailly (R) vies with Algeria’s Ishak Belfodil during the 2015 African Cup of Nations quarter final match in Malabo.

Ivory Coast won 3-1. PHOTO/AFP

P PA R E N T LY basking in the euphoria of the superlative performance of the national U-20 team, the Flying Eagles at the just ended Super 6 invitational tournament in Abuja, assistant coach of the team, Nduka Ugbade has boasted that the team will not be going to the forthcoming African Youth Championship (AYC) in Senegal just to complete the number, but to fight for the trophy.

Ugbade told journalists in Abuja that the Flying Eagles who won the Super 6 after defeating league champions, Kano Pillars, confederations cup holders, Enyimba International of Aba, Warri Wolves FC and Dolphins FC of Port Harcourt and pulling a draw against the national U-23 team; the Dream Team are

mentally prepared for the task ahead.

According to him, the team which is about 40% ready for the championship will be about 70% prepared before the AYC, a situation he said will be good enough for the team to be in contention for the trophy as well as finish among the best Continues on Page 63

•Ugbade

Yakubu returns to England R

EADING Football Club have announced the deadline day signing of experienced Super Eagles striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni, who joins Steve Clarke’s Royals until the end of the season.

Having put pen to paper down at the Royals’ Hogwood Park training ground

Continues on Page 63

•Yakubu

QUICK CROSSWORD

TODAY'S

PUZZLE

FRI DAY'S FRIDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS 2 Call (5) 7 Vehicle (4) 8 Revolutions (6) 9 Possibly (5) 11 Earth (3) 13 Cloth (3) 15 Plant (4) 16 Misery (3) 18 Inform (4) 19 Love (7) 20 Bucket (4) 22 Advice (4) 23 Main (7) 25 Require (4) 27 Utter (3) 28 Shed (4) 30 Fuel (3) 31 Loiter (3) 33 Vends (5) 36 Insect (6) 37 Successor (4) 38 Bird (5)

DOWN 1 Boat (5) 2 Energy (3) 3 Cunning (3) 4 Digit (3) 5 Decline (3) 6 Pilfer (5) 10 Jeers (4) 11 Slanting (7) 12 Contraptions (7) 13 Restoration (7) 14 Sticking (7) 16 Remains (5) 17 Try (5) 18 Hill (3) 21 Guided (3) 24 Uncommon (4) 26 Frame (5) 29 Swift (5) 32 Consumed (3) 33 Comprehend (3) 34 Limb (3) 35 Female (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Dance 5, Nickel 8, Arise 10, Penman 11, Wart 14, Tweaks 15, Parlour 18, Lap 19, Bed 21, Less 23, Tubes 24, Byre 27, Sea 29, Inn 31, Clients 32, Dictum 34, Hone 35, Nought 38, Aegis 39, Rubbed 40, Leash.

DOWN: 2, Awe 3, Camels 4, Era 5, Newt 6, Cereal 7, Losses 9, Incubus 12, Awl 13, Tape 16, Ally 17, Rebec 20, Dealing 22, Slot 24, Badger 25, Rich 26, Entomb 28, Refuse 30, Nun 33, Mead 36, Oil 37, Has.

How to Play Sudoku

P

lace a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

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