07122017 - Why I'll win again in 2019— BUHARI

Fuel Scarcity: FG orders Kachikwu, Baru to clear 9 queues

Man, pregnant wife, 2 children die in Lagos fire 6

270 Libyan returnees brought to Edo, recount horrible experience

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VOL. 25: NO. 63437

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

Why I'll win again in 2019— BUHARI •Visits Kano, releases 500 prisoners, pays their transport fares •Kano crowd not reflection of what will happen in 2019—PDP

‘By what I see today, if elections are contested, I have no doubt I will win it’

BUHARI IN KANO

By Emmanuel Aziken, Abdulsalam Muhammad & Dirisu Yakubu

K

ANO—MOVED by the outpouring of affection from the people of Kano State at the beginning of a two-day official visit, President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, vowed to overwhelm any opposition to his undeclared 2019 reContinues on page 5

BUHARI IN KANO The crowd welcoming President Muhammadu Buhari to Kano State, yesterday. Inset: President Buhari (2nd r) presenting Transport fare to one of the 500 inmates of Kurmawa Prisons he released during his 2-Day State Visit to Kano, yesterday. With him are Gov Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State (r); Minister of Interior, retired Lt.Gen Abdullahi Dambazzau (3rd r); Kano State Comptroller of Prisons, Mr Aliyu Achu (l) and the Minister of Defence, retired Brig Gen Mansur Dan-Ali. Photo: NAN.

Ministry of Happiness: Ihedioha, Ohakim, others blast Okorocha •Fault appointment of governor's sister as commissioner 44 ICPC arrests former Court of Appeal Justice over alleged 6 N200m bribe COLUMNISTS C M Y K

PDP alleges plans to disrupt convention; we’re not interested in your affairs – APC 8

AMAECHI

36

$500m debt undermines investments in gas industry

OCHEREOME

31

ADAMU

19 17

Naira depreciates to N360.93 5 in I&E

Mr & Mrs

2 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 — 3

4 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017—5

POCKET CARTOON

S-WEST GOVS—From left: Governors Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos); Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo); Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo); Ayo Fayose (Ekiti); Ogun State deputy Governor, Mrs Yetunde Onanuga and Gov. Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, during the South- West Governor’s forum in Ibadan, yesterday.

Why I'll win again in 2019 —BUHARI Continues from page 1

election prospects.

The President’s assertion, coming a week after he hinted in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, of the possibility of seeking re-election, has put the camp of possible presidential hopefuls in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in palpable confusion.

Among the prospective APC chieftains believed to be waiting in the wings on Buhari’s intentions are Senate President, Bukola Saraki; Senator Rabiu Kwankwanso and Governor Aminu Tambuwal, all of who have denied any presidential aspiration in the meantime.

Senator Kwankwaso, the immediate past governor of Kano State, who came second in the contest for the 2015 presidential ticket of the APC, was not in town for the first presidential visit

to his home state, yesterday.

Kwankwaso, who is enmeshed in an increasingly ugly political conflict with his hand-picked successor, Umaru Ganduje, was said to have travelled to Egypt, purportedly to settle the fees of some Kano State-sponsored students in that country.

Comrade Aminu Abdulsalam, who served as Kwankwanso’s commissioner for intergovernmental affairs, told Vanguard, last night, that the former governor and his associates were not invited for the functions relating to the President's visit.

Senator Saraki on his part, had last week, affirmed on the sidelines of the launch of a book written by his political disciple, Bolaji Abdullahi, that his political outlook on 2019 would not be made known before next February.

Governor Aminu Tambuwal, who had contemplated a

TAKE HEART - ELLA RANDLE With creative people, truly new horizon opens up— Dietrich F Dieskua

T

HE persistent voice inside of you is always talking and if one is paying attention, it is a constant reminder to go for your dreams, you can do it, so take the necessary action needed to make your dreams a reality because that inner fire is the voice from within giving you an open invitation to step on the pedestal and broaden your horizon.

SAYINGS OF OUR PEOPLE

A fairy that fed well and a hungry one do not sing the same tune.

presidential run in 2014 before settling for the governorship of his home state, said in an interview published in Vanguard last Monday that 2019 was still a long way off.

President Buhari first gave an indication that he would contest the 2019 presidential election when he met with the Nigerian community in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, last week.

I'm overwhelmed — Buhari

Eight days after that hint, Buhari who had run four presidential campaigns, again let slip the possibility of another campaign when emotion came over him at the sights and sounds of the enthusiastic Kano crowd that welcomed him to the Emir’s Palace.

“I’m overwhelmed by the sea of heads I see, and by what I see today, if elections are contested, I have no doubt I will win it,” he said at the palace which was the first port of call as soon as he arrived Kano.

Kano crowd not reflection of 2019 — PDP Reacting, yesterday, to the president’s seeming inclination, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye said: “The crowd that supposedly welcomed President Muhammadu Buhari is not a reflection of what will happen in 2019.

Make no mistake about it.

“Governments come and go all over the world.

For the President to continue to blame the PDP for his failure to perform almost three years into his mandate, shows how illprepared he is for the leadership of this great country.

“They were not elected to blame but to serve the people. What project have they commissioned since they came into power? Nigerians are aware of what the PDP was able to do but can we say the same thing of the APC?" The president, who was received by Emir Muhammad Sanusi II, said he was determined to do the needful, even as he called for patience on the fact that there is a difference between a military regime and a d e m o c r a t i c administration.

He was accompanied by his host, Governor Ganduje, Governor Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State and the deputy governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Ibrahim Wakala.

Buhari said: “When I was military head of state, I arrested many people and jailed them for alleged corruption and in the end, I also ended in jail.

“Since I joined politics in 2003, I contested for president three times but I could not get it right until the fourth attempt in 2015.

"I was in court for 30 months challenging the 2007 election and in 2011, I also spent 16 months in court."

He lamented that from 1999 to 2014, Nigeria earned so much money which, according to him, was frittered by preceding administrations.

“The country’s wealth was squandered by those that ruled the nation at that period of time due to

corruption and when we came, we said things must change for the better," the President said.

Buhari, however, assured that his administration will not relent in its peopleoriented projects.

“We are determined to better the life of our people,” he stated, as he commended the Kano Emirate which he said consistently supported him in all the public offices he occupied.

“I am commending this royal house, for there was nothing I became without consulting the royal house.

"I was a governor, a Minister, Head of State and now the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But in all that I did, I was making consultations with this Emirate Council. I must, therefore, acknowledge and commend the house,” he said.

Buhari pardons 500 prisoners Following the courtesy call, President Buhari visited the Central Prison, Kurmawa, where he pardoned 500 inmates and made provisions for transport fares to take them back to their places of abode.

Buhari urged the exconvicts to be of sound character, and live a healthy life devoid of crime and criminality.

He subsequently commissioned the multibillion naira Specialist Hospital, Giginyu, named after him.

On that occasion, the President enjoined other governors to emulate Dr. Ganduje’s efforts in the health sector.

He said: “Other governors should emulate the good work of Governor Ganduje for fulfilling his campaign promises. We must be happy that he is making bold steps to bring development to his people.

"I am also calling on the workers to make good use of the facilities in accordance with best practices.

“I must commend the administration of Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje for taking development and healthcare to the grassroots.”

Muhammadu Buhari Specialist Hospital and Paediatric Hospital, Zoo Road were projects first initiated by Ibrahim S h e k a r a u ’ s administration who governed the state between 2003 and 2011.

NAIRA WATCH

Naira depreciates to N360.93 in I&E

By Adaeze Okechukwu The naira, yesterday, depreciated to N360.93 per dollar in the Investor and Exporter (I&E) window while the volume of dollars traded rose by 62 per cent.

Data from the Financial Market Dealers Quote (FMDQ) showed that indicative exchange rate for the I & E window, known as Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange, NAFEX, dropped to N360.93 per dollar, yesterday, from N360.50 per dollar on Wednesday, translating to a 43 depreciation of the naira.

But the volume of dollars traded rose sharply by 62 percent to $329.97 million yesterday from $203.89 million traded on Tuesday.

The naira however remained stable at N363 per dollar in the parallel market for the third consecutive day.

6—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 :Vanguard News

ICPC arrests former Court of Appeal justice over alleged N200m bribe

He allegedly promised to influence court judgment —ICPC

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HE Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, has arrested a retired Justice of the Court of Appeal, Mohammed Tsamiya, for allegedly demanding N200 million bribe.

Spokesperson of the commission, Mrs Rasheedat Okoduwa, who disclosed this in a statement yesterday, alleged that the suspect demanded the bribe from one Mr. Nnamdi Orji in exchange for a favourable judgment in a National Assembly election case at the Imo Division of the court.

According to her, the offence, which violates Section 10 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, was committed in 2015.

She said: “The retired Justice asked Orji, who was the candidate for All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, for Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency, to give him N200 million to influence the court’s decision in his favour.

“Orji had approached the court to seek redress in a case involving alleged inflation of the result of the election in Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia State, which he had earlier lost to his opponent, Mr. Nkole Ndukwe, at the National Assembly Election Tribunal.

“Tsamiya was alleged to have convinced the appellant of getting a favourable judgment from the court upon the payment of the money.”

Okoduwa said Tsamiya had since been granted bail by the commission after fulfilling the conditions, adding that investigation into the case continues.

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Queues for fuel ground Birnin Kebbi, as litre s

By Kabir Dankatsina

B

IRNIN KEBBI— COMMERCIAL activities came to a standstill, yesterday, in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State capital, and its environs, following the shortage of fuel commodity in most of the fuel stations in the state.

When Vanguard visited some of the filling stations in the state capital yesterday, there were long queues of motorists and motorcyclists waiting to buy the product, which was sold between 170 and 180 per litre.

It was learned that the scarcity started since Monday,

when people woke up to discover long queues at some filling stations.

A commercial driver, Malam Buhari Gwadangwaji told Vanguard: “Why this shortage in Birnin Kebbi, when, as we were told, the product is available in neighbouring states?”

Also, a motorcyclist told Vanguard that “there is no reason whatsoever for the shortage of the product since the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, made it clear that there was fuel available for distribution.”

Asked why the price increased, a fuel attendant at a

Woman attempts to sell twins for N350,000 in Katsina

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HE Police in Katsina State have arrested one Salima Lawal, 30, of MarabarKankara, Malumfashi Local Government Area, for allegedly attempting to sell her twin babies for N350,000.

It was gathered that the twins are baby girls and less than two months old.

The Commissioner of Police,

Mr. Besen Gwana, who disclosed yesterday in Katsina, said the woman had approached a person (name withheld) in Faskari Local Government Area of the state and negotiated to sell the twins to him at the cost of N350,000.

He said after negotiations to buy them at the price, the

person went to bring the money.

Nabbed

However, according to the Police boss, “instead of him to bring the money to her, he reported the case to the police. The next thing she saw were policemen, who arrested her.”

The commissioner urged people to continue to assist Police with information that will assist in curbing criminal acts in the state.

He said the woman will be charged to court.

The suspect told newsmen that she committed the act without the consent of her husband and father of the twins.

Man, pregnant wife, 2 children die in Lagos fire

The scene.

By Evelyn Usman

T

RAGEDY struck yesterday in Bariga area of Lagos after an owner of a pharmaceutical shop, Mr. Kenneth Eze, his pregnant wife and two children were burnt to death in a fire that engulfed their bungalow building.

The exact cause of the inferno, which occurred at about 2a.m. could not be ascertained. But some residents of Buriamoh street stated that it was caused by power upsurge while others claimed that it was by candlelight.

The Ezes, according to residents ,were last seen at about 10.30p.m. Monday.

A woman, who gave her name as Mama Ibeji, told Vanguard that she was the last person to patronise the family that night.

According to her: “ When I got to the shop to get some pain relief

medicine for my ailing son, they were already closing for the day.

I saw their two children sleeping.

“I gave them N500 but they suggested that I should either bring the money tomorrow (today) or leave it with them and come for my balance the next day.

I took the money with a promise to bring the N220 to them today.

But to my shock, the unthinkable occurred .”

The fire was said to have started from their pharmaceutical shop located on number 13 of the street while Eze, his pregnant wife, Sarah and their two children of ages five and eight were sleeping.

Another resident, Mr. Ezenwa Uche, told Vanguard: “Perhaps, they all would not have died had there been other tenants in the compound with them. From all indications, it was obvious that they all slept inside the shop where the fire

started from.

“We were alerted by the shout of fire at about 3a.m.

Though we tried there was nothing anyone could do to salvage the situation because the fire had extended to the main building.”

Father's love

“From the positions of the charred remains, it was obvious that Kenneth carried one of the children and attempted to escape, as the bodies were seen in that posture,” Uche added.

The spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Chike Oti, a Superintendent of Police confirmed the incident. He said: “The family lived alone in the building.

The fire consumed the bungalow and the shop.

“Policemen, firefighters and other rescue operators, who

were mobilised to the scene, prevented the fire from spreading to other buildings.”

On his part, the Lagos State Director, Fire Service, Rasaq Fadipe, said that the incident occurred at about 2.48a.m., adding that the double burglary irons on the door and windows of the apartment prevented personnel of the Fire Service from reaching out to rescue the victims on time.

Speaking through the Service’s spokesman, Amodu Shakiru, he said: “ The apartment is a chemist store. The father, mother, and two children of ages five and eight were found dead inside the store.

“We advise that although one needs security in his or her house or business place, it should not be to the detriment of the people.

“Family members should always know the exit points in their apartments whenever there is an emergency.”

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017—7 :Vanguard News

sells for 180

filling station in Birnin Kebbi said: “We increased the price because of the distance from where we are getting the product.”

All efforts by Vanguard to speak with the Chairman of Task Force on Supply of Fuel in Kebbi State, Alhaji Babangida Mai’ahu, over the development failed.

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How I discovered I’m an adopted child— Joke Silva

By Rotimi Agbana

V

ETERAN actress, Joke Silva, has revealed that she’s not the biological daughter of late lawyer, Chief E. A. Silva, and his late wife, Dr. Abimbola Silva, acclaimed first Nigerian female medical doctor.

Joke made the shocking revelation at the annual conference of Heritage Adoption Support and

Advocacy Group, HASAAG, in Lagos.

Speaking at the event, the actress revealed that her family had kept the news of her adoption from her until she accidentally unravelled the truth one day.

Her words: “I got to know years later when I wanted to travel and was looking for my

passport where my mum kept it. Since she was not around, I opened her box in her absence and I saw my adoption papers.

“I never discussed it with my mum because I felt it was something that would hurt her, which was why it was kept secret from me.”

However, prior to her discovery, a cousin of hers had

tried to tell her she was adopted.

She added: “I remembered going out with my cousin and we met a bigger cousin; she introduced me as Dr. Silva’s daughter.The older cousin was like, Se Doctor Silva bimo ni?

(Does Dr. Silva have a child?)

“I got home and I told my mum. She froze, but told me not to mind them.”

1,070 Nigerians die in road accidents — NBS

N Some of the luxury cars seized by the Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service, yesterday.

PHOTO: Godfrey Bivbere.

270 Libyan returnees brought to Edo; victim recalls horrible experience

By Gabriel Enogholase

B

ENIN—ONE of the Libyan returnees that arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Tuesday, Cynthia Alfred, yesterday, revealed how she and others were fed on a loaf of bread per day, while in detention.

She is one of the 270 Libya returnees that were taken to Benin, the Edo State capital, from Lagos, taking the number of returnees from Libya in the state to about 1,100.

The returnees are being accommodated at the Benin Motel Plaza on the bill of the Edo State government.

Cynthia Alfred, speaking with journalists yesterday, said she left Nigeria for Libya on her way to Germany in August, after paying about N1 million to a Nigerian agent, who promised to take her to Germany via Libya.

She said that she was imprisoned along with many others for weeks and fed on a loaf of bread per day.

Edo State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Professior Yinka Omoregbe, said Edo State was not unmindful of the fact that majority of the Libya returnees were from Edo State and that the state government will ensure that the returnees were fully assimilated into the society.

She said “With this batch, we are now have 1,100 returnees.

The rehabilitation process has already started. We are talking to them, counselling them and providing them with medicare.

“We have commenced appropriate training

programmes that are patterned after what they were doing before.

“We will also give them stipend

for three months during which they would have started their training.

“We have a system of

monitoring and evaluation.

There is a lot of mindset changing that needs to be done.”

Police release BudgIT officer, as group vows to press charges

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

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HE Police have released Mr. Moses Motoni, a project tracking officer of the civil rights group BudgIT, saying he was arrested for allegedly instigating the public against a senator.

The Police release of Motoni followed a social media storm instigated by civil society groups, including Socio Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP. “Moses Motoni is alive, healthy and in good condition. He was not arrested by SARS Operatives and he’s being granted bail,” the Police said in a statement yesterday.

“Mr. Moses Motoni was not arrested by SARS Operatives but by a Police team on the case of Inciting Public Disturbance reported against him which occurred on the 1st and 2nd of December, 2017 at Gbako, Tandzun and Bida Villages on Federal Constituency Project.”

Meanwhile, BudgIT in a statement last night vowed to press legal charges for his unlawful arrest, saying that he was arrested on the instigation of Senator Sani Mohammed by policemen, who posed as operatives of a popular courier company.

Senator Mohammed could not

Moses Motoni be reached yesterday.

In a statement issued by Abiola Afolabi-Sosami, Communications Lead, BudgIT, the group claimed that Motoni was picked up by the Police on the nod of Senator Sani Mohammed following his (Motoni’s) encouragement to Mohammed’s constituents to track the senator ’s constituency’s projects.

The statement read in part: “On December 2, 2017, Moses Motoni visited Bida, Niger South Senatorial District to sensitise the community members on the zonal

intervention projects awarded to their constituency in the 2017 Budget.

“The exact project was the installation of transformers and electrification of the following communities: Nowanya-Tawadzuru TiffinEmitswachi-Tawadzuru Tako in Gbako LGA, Niger South Senatorial District, Niger State-N25m)” as stated in the 2017 Appropriation Act. “Moses encouraged the community members to engage their representatives at the National Assembly and ensure the budgeted projects are implemented.”

O fewer than 1,070 Nigerians died in road accidents in the third quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

The NBS Road Transport Data for Third Quarter, 2017 posted on its website on Wednesday showed that 89 out of the number were children.

The report stated that 981 of the 1,070 Nigerians that died, representing 91.7 per cent of the figure were adults while the remaining 89 Nigerians, representing 8.3 per cent of the figure were children.

The breakdown of the figure showed that 815 of the number were males, representing 76.2 per cent while 255 were females, representing 23.8 per cent.

According to the report, 2,478 road accidents occurred in the third quarter.

It, however, attributed the major cause of accidents to speed violation, which it said accounted for 44.51 per cent of the total accidents reported in the quarter.

It stated that loss of control and dangerous driving followed closely as they both accounted for 10.41 per cent and 9.52 per cent of the total accident recorded respectively.

Meanwhile, the report stated that a total of 6,803 Nigerians got injured in the accidents.

It stated that 6,419 of the 6,803 Nigerians that got injured, representing 94.4 per cent of the figure were adults while the remaining 384 Nigerians, representing 5.7 per cent of the figure were children.

It further stated that 5,110 male Nigerians, representing 75 per cent, got injured in road accidents in the quarter while 1,693 female Nigerians, representing 25 per cent got injured.

8—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 :Vanguard News

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PDP alleges plans to disrupt convention

Makarfi denies presidential ambition We’re not interested in PDP’s Convention —APC

By Emeka Mamah

E

NUGU—THE l n t e r i m National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and former governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, has denied media reports that he had interest in contesting the 2019 presidential elections.

Makarfi, who disclosed this in a statement signed by his spokesman, Mukhtar Zubairu Sirajo, said his interest now was how to reposition the party for the tasks ahead.

The statement read: “The attention of Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi has been drawn to reports in some sections of the media, which seem to suggest that he has confirmed an interest in seeking to fly the flag of PDP in 2019. ‘’This is not a very true reflection of what the senator gave out in a chat with some newsmen a couple of days ago.

“The fact is the senator was asked what threat the return of Atiku Abubakar to the party portended to the aspirations of others who had either made their intentions known or those, who, like him were rumoured to be nursing such ambition."

By Dirisu Yakubu & Omeiza Ajayi

A

BUJA—BARELY 48 hours to the Peoples Democratic Party’s, PDP elective convention, the party said it had uncovered plans to disrupt the exercise by agents of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

In a press conference at the national secretariat of the party yesterday,

addressed by the National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, the party called on President Buhari to call the elements bent on meddling in its affairs to order.

Adeyeye said: “We have credible information that some overzealous elements in the government are trying by any means to disrupt the convention of the PDP; to make sure this convention does not hold successfully.

“They have been trying every effort but we are happy that we have no information that it is coming from the very top. It is a very credible information and they are doing everything possible to make sure that this convention is disrupted. “ They are afraid that if the PDP should hold a successful convention, that their days in government are numbered.

“By the time we hold this

From left—Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola,Governor of Osun State; Dr Joice Teurai, former Vice President, Republic of Zimbabwe, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, Governor of Oyo State; his wife and Chairman, Oyo State Official's Wives Association, OYSOWA, Florence; Dr Seriake Dickson, Governor of Bayelsa State; Mr Akinwunmi Ambode,Governor of Lagos State; his wife ,Bolanle; Mrs Kemi Nelson; and Mrs Batsy Obaseki, First Lady of Edo State, during the opening ceremony of OYSOWA’s National Women’s Summit, at Int'l Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday.

Supreme Court fixes March 2, to rule on Dasuki’s detention

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BUJA—THE Supreme Court on Monday fixed March 2, for judgment on an appeal by former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki, challenging his alleged indefinite detention.

The panel of five Justices, led by Dattijo Mohammed, gave the date after counsels to the parties in the case adopted their addresses.

The ex-NSA had on June 15, 2016 at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, lost his bid to enforce his freedom after securing bails on all the charges against him.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN recalls that Dasuki is standing trial for allegedly mismanaging 2.1 billion dollars meant for purchase of arms to fight the Boko Haram insurgents.

Dasuki’s counsel, Mr Joe Daudu, argued that the decision of the Court of Appeal was erroneous, adding that it was incumbent on the Supreme Court to restore the integrity of all courts.

convention and our officers are elected and they take office next year; there will be a floodgate of people, even from APC to the PDP. “This is a credible information and that is why we are appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to please rein in his aides. We have evidence that the President is aware of this. ‘’It is happening and we are calling on him to do his own investigation and call those who are trying to cause this problem to desist

Daudu submitted that it was out of place for the court of appeal to scuttle the fundamental rights of a citizen after wellconsidered decisions of four courts that admitted the applicant to bail.

He said that his client needed the bail to prepare his defence, adding that he could not have access to security documents while in

detention.

“My Lords, Dasuki is already being treated as a convict, even when none of the charges brought against him has been concluded.

“We sincerely pray this esteemed court to do the needful by setting aside the decision of the lower court.

“We also pray the court to momentarily halt the applicant’s trial until the

Federal Government obeys the bail order of court,” Daudu said.

Mr Rotimi Jacobs, counsel to EFCC, opposed the appeal, saying that it lacked merit and should be dismissed.

He said the bail condition granted Dasuki was perfected on December 29, 2015.

My reforms targeted at more vibrant will come to apJudiciary—CJN administration in the Nigeria preciate the role of the

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

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BUJA——The Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, on Wednesday, said Nigerians would soon appreciate reform measures he has put in place with a view to making the Judiciary more efficient and vibrant.

The CJN who spoke during a valedictory session organized for retired staff of the National Judicial Council, NJC, in Abuja, said he was determined to sanitize and enhance the system of justice

country.

This was even as the retired Secretary of the NJC, Mr. Danladi Halilu, while commending the CJN, however urged him to beam his reform lens on lower courts in Nigeria so as to achieve meaningful success in the entire justice delivery sector.

Speaking at the event, the CJN said: “This event is designed to honour retired staff of the NJC to give them hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I hereby commend them for creating positive perception of judiciary.

“In no distant time,

NJC. The nation’s judiciary will soon be better with all the ongoing reforms that have been put in place.

“The Judiciary and all the agencies under it should adhere strictly to the code of conduct, as the judiciary under my watch will not condone any act of deviance”.

Responding on behalf of retirees, the immediate past scribe of the NJC, Mr. Halilu said there was need for the lower courts to turn in their returns of cases to their various State Judicial Service Commissions and the Judicial Service Committee of the Federal Capital Territory.

because it is capable not only of destroying this democracy but also destroying the country.”

Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives Congress APC has asked the opposition, PDP to leave it out of the misfortunes that have continued to dog its affairs.

APC specifically said it had no interest in Saturday’s National Convention of the PDP, challenging the opposition party to name those in APC trying to scuttle the convention.

“We are not interested in their convention. They should mention the socalled forces. We wonder why PDP is desperate to make their convention about APC. ‘’Yesterday, they said we are afraid. Today, they say we want to do something to them. Why can’t they just do their thing and leave us alone?”, queried Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, APC’s National Publicity Secretary.

On whether returnee former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, would cast his ballot on Saturday, Adeyeye was evasive, saying all that was needed was to “pick up the constitution of the party and see whether Atiku is qualified to vote or not.”

Waivers: Reps invite Customs CG, AGF, CBN, importers, others

By Emman Ovuakporie

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B U J A — APPARENTLY disturbed by the abuse of waivers and bond on import duties, the House of Representatives Committee on Customs has invited the ComptrollerGeneral of Customs, Hammed Ali, Accountant to the Federation, Ahmed Idris,Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, bank executives, importers, Inspection agents and other critical stakeholders over their alleged roles in the sector from 2010 till date.

Other stakeholders invited by the committee include: SGS, Cotecna, Global Scan and Web Fountain Nig Ltd. All the critical stakeholders that were sent letters over three weeks ago, are expected to appear before the committee next Wednesday.

The committee in a letter, dated 13 November and signed by the chairman, Abiodun Faleke, APC,

Lagos, advised the stakeholders to appear to make their presentations.

Faleke in the letter said: “ In view of the timeline set for the assignment, kindly ensure that the information and documents required of you are sent to the committee’s secretariat before November 29.’’

The letter stated further that ‘’schedules of all beneficiaries with respect to all duty waivers, exemptions, concessions, processed by you in the fiscal year 2010 till date should be presented.’’

It also stated that “schedules of all beneficiaries with respect to all bonds of indemnity upon which imports were processed by the Nigeria Customs Service in the fiscal year 2010 to date should be presented before committee.’’

Vanguard findings, however, revealed that only bank executives had so far responded to the requirements of the investigative panel.

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 — 9 :Vanguard News

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FG summons Nigeria’s Charge D’Affaire in Libya Says some Nigerians refuse to leave Libya

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

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BUJA—THE Federal Government, yesterday summoned Nigeria’s Charge D’Affaire in Tripoli, Libya to Abuja to give details of the situation in the Maghreb country with respect to the inhuman treatment Nigerians were subjected there.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama, who gave the order while addressing State House correspondents on the outcome of yesterday’s Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said: “On the issue of Libya, of course, it has been in the news in the last two weeks on trading in slaves; also, the imprisonment in various detention centres of Nigerians.

“What we have done is that first, we have got our Charge D’ Affairs in Tripoli to come to Abuja to give us the full details of what is actually going on there and how many Nigerians are in detention and are trying to come home.

“So, once we establish that and we are given all those facts, we are now meeting with various

agencies such as the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, and National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, to now arrange the evacuation process and this will be done in collaboration with International Organisation for Migration, IOM, on how we can very quickly repatriate all Nigerians who want to return home.

“The Charge D’Affairs said a number of Nigerians (and not all of them) do not want to come home.

Certainly, it has to be those who want to come back home.”

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has approved the establishment of six new private universities in the country.

Also briefing journalists, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, said the memo from his ministry on the establishment of new private universities was approved by FEC which was presided over by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo.

He said: “Today, the Ministry of Education presented a memo for the approval of six new private universities and they were approved.

Monetisation: Fraudulent officials converted 7960 FG property to themselves

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor

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HE —WHISTLE blowing policy of the Federal Government is paying off, with some patriotic Nigerians coming forward with intelligence that no fewer than 7960 Federal Government property were converted by top government functionaries to personal use.

The scam was allegedly perpetuated by key officials of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration saddled with the responsibility of selling off the Federal Government houses in different parts of the country with the aim of reducing the cost of governance.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, said yesterday, that it discovered that the corrupt officials deceived the Federal Government, creating the impression that

all the 32,305 houses, which were captured by the Committee on the Sale of Federal Government Properties were actually sold at approved rates to qualified civil servants, whereas only 24,345 were eventually sold to beneficiaries.

This left a balance of 7960 property taken over by the said officials.

But in a bid to bring the culprits to book, the ICPC, said yesterday that it had recovered 10 houses, including blocks of flats in Abuja and N18 million from civil servants working in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation for breaching the monetisation policy.

The commission said in a statement by its spokesperson, Mrs. Rasheedat A. Okoduwa, that its preliminary investigation revealed that a number of civil servants in OHCSF who benefited from the policy, had not paid for the houses since 2005.

VISIT: Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Ibrahim Babangida (middle); Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa (2nd right); Senator Ahmed Makarfi(3rd right); Governor of Taraba State, Arc. Darius Ishaku (3rd left); Senator Ben Obi (left); Senator Abdul Ningi (2nd left) and Prof. Sam Oyovbaire, during a courtesy visit to the former President in Minna.

Fuel scarcity: FG orders Kachikwu, Baru to clear queues Says no plans to increase fuel pump price Fuel scarcity worsens as NUPENG blames cabal

By Victor AhiumaYoung, Sebastine Obasi & Johnbosco Agbakwuru

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BUJA—THE Federal Government yesterday gave the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, and the Group Managing Director, GMD of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, the matching order to clear the queues in filling stations in the country before weekend.

The government also said there was no plan to increase the pump price of petroleum products as speculated.

Government’s marching order came as the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, blamed those it called downstream sector’s cabal for the scarcity, arguing that its members in the Petroleum Tanker Drivers, PTD, branch, were working and lifting products to the nooks and crannies of the country.

This is even as the scarcity worsened yesterday, with petrol stations witnessing very long vehicular queues that compounded traffic in Lagos.

Briefing State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai

Mohammed, said the rumour that there was plan to increase fuel pump price was not correct.

He said: “The government has no intention at all to increase the pump price of PMS. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources assured the council that we have enough products till the next one month, even till the end of January.

“This is winter period, there is always more demand for refined petroleum products during

winter period in the colder countries. This is what we are experiencing now.

“It has been the NNPC that has been importing but he (GMD) has assured.

The council gave him a matching order that this fuel scarcity should not last beyond this weekend and they are going to work very hard to ensure that it is curtailed. He assured council that there is actually no cause for alarm.”

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers,

NUPENG, yesterday blamed those it described as downstream sector cabal for the current scarcity,.

According to the union, its members in the Petroleum Tanker Drivers, PTD, branch are working and lifting products to the nooks and crannies of the country.

In a statement signed by its president, Igwe Achese, the union said: “NUPENG is not responsible for the present shortage of petroleum products being experienced nationwide.

"Our members in the Petroleum Tanker Drivers, PTD, branch of NUPENG are working and lifting products to the nooks and crannies of the country."

$16bn Egina probe: Senate invites NAPIMS GM to appear before it in 24 hours Asks NCDMB to suspend issuance of Local Content Compliance Certificate

By Henry Umoru

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BUJA—THE Senate has summoned the Group General Manager of National Petroleum Investment and Management Service, NAPIMS, to appear before its Committee on Local Content in the next 24 hours or risk unpleasant consequences.

Disclosing this yesterday at the sitting of the committee currently looking into the huge variations associated with the $16 billion Egina Deep Sea Oil Project and two related Bonga South-West and ZabZaba projects.

Total Upstream Nigeria Limited, TUNL is the major contractor.

Chairman of the

Committee, Senator Solomon Adeola, APC, Lagos West, said it was becoming a tradition in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and its associated subsidiaries to treat National Assembly ’s invitations with levity under flimsy excuses.

According to him, the Senate Committee will henceforth, not deal with ‘lieutenants of these agencies without their heads or cogent reasons in advance.

He noted that NAPIMS had sent three general managers as representatives to the committee after it received an invitation three weeks ago for the appearance of the Group General

Manager to throw light on submissions made by Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd handling the Egina project.

Earlier, the Senate Minority leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio and vice chairman of the probe Committee, said the importance attached to the information likely to be provided led members to turn out in large numbers, saying it was insulting not only to the Nigerian Constitution, but also to the office of the GGM for him to disregard the Senate’s invitation on issues relating to how Nigerians were being shortchanged by foreign companies and their local collaborators.

10 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 :Vanguard News

DAME AWARD: ‘Media going through most critical time’ Vanguard emerges runner-up for News Photography

By Charles Kumolu

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AGOS—THE organisers of the Dame Award for media excellence have said the economic hardship in Nigeria is affecting the media, lamenting that the industry is going through the most critical time of its life.

This was the consensus yesterday at the 26th Dame Award in Lagos.

At the event attended by prominent members of the journalism profession, some journalists won awards for stories they wrote in 2016.

14 categories of awards were given to deserving print journalists from different media houses.

Vanguard’s Photo Journalist, Mr. Bumi Azeez emerged the runner-up in the News Photography category with his entry entitled: Free Train Ride.

The event saw the New Telegraph Newspaper, The Nation Newspapers, Punch Newspaper, and The Guardian, picking various categories of award.

The Publisher of Premium Times, Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi bagged the Life Time Achievement Award, while Punch Newspapers emerged the

newspaper of the year.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of Diamonds Publication, Mr. Lanre Idowu said: “Those who are familiar with the DAME award know that it is never held during the week. This is the first time in 26 outings. It is a reflection of the times. I must confess that up to two weeks ago, I did not know there would be DAME this year. For the first time since 1992, there is no award in the broadcasting category, rather, we will give honourable mentions to two journalists in the radio and television categories.”

On his part, Olorunyomi said: “I think the debate is settled about the value and importance of the media in Nigeria. It is a great shame that an event as the DAME awards does not receive the industry support it deserves. The biggest lie we’ll be telling ourselves is that all is well with the media, the Nigerian media is going through the most critical time of its life. It’s going to be a major crisis, it needs to be surfaced and discussed. There is no problem that cannot be solved but you have to start by admitting there’s a problem.”

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honoured him as Odozi Obodo I of Enugu state, that is, the reformer of society, Governor Ugwuanyi declared “I will continue to cherish your gesture for the rest of my life” and directed that the promotion of teachers for the 2016 and 2017 be implemented forthwith.

Stating that “from the bottom of my heart I will continue to appreciate this gesture”, Governor Ugwuanyi also directed that a bus be provided for the NUT in the state.

They gave eight main reasons for rallying in support of the governor, enumerating them as “some of the notable

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POWER: Nigeria needs $6bn investment to generate 10,000mw, 2bscf of gas

By Mike Eboh

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BUJA—NIGERIA needs an investment of $6 billion to produce about two billion standard cubic feet (SCF) of gas per day to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity, according to stakeholders in the gas sector.

Briefing at the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria’s, GACN, Gas Buyers’ Forum in Abuja, yesterday, Senior Commercial Adviser, Upstream Gas of Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, Mr. Emmanuel Anyaeto, however, stated that investors were willing to bring in the needed investment but were hindered by a number of factors.

He said, “The amount of investments needed to get two billion SCF is about $6 billion —both plant, pipeline network and infrastructure. What people do not understand is that the way the gas business works, the problem is not with the investment.

There are producers to do the investment. The challenges is if they produce, are there

Over 21,000 Enugu teachers rally for Ugwuanyi achievements, including N appreciation of what they described as the present reign of unprecedented good governance in Enugu State, over 21,000 teachers in the state yesterday held a solidarity rally for Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

The teachers who came from their primary and post-primary schools respectively converged on Michael Okpara Square, Enugu led by the chairman of the state chapter of Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, Paul Nnaji and other leaders of the union.

Overwhelmed by the show of solidarity by the teachers, who also

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but not limited to regular payment of Salaries/ allowances to teachers, regular promotion of teachers since he assumed office and recruitment of teachers”.

According to the teachers whose collective message was delivered by the NUT chairman, the other reasons for throwing their weight behind Governor Ugwuanyi included “ regularization of the appointment of all Volunteer Teachers, resumption of payment of gratuity to primary school teachers and the renovation and construction of new classroom blocks as well as construction of new office complex.”

Gas companies owed $500m consumers that would pay?

If the power sector can work in a way where the consumer pays, and from what it pays, every other person in the value change is paid, and then these things would work.

According to him, gas producers in the country were currently being owed about $500 million, mainly by power companies, majorly owned by the Federal Government.

He noted that the high debt owed the producers was another major disincentive to gas production and exploration.

Anyaeto noted that this was one of the reasons

while power plants were starved of gas, irrespective of the fact that the country flared 800 million SCF of gas per day.

He added that the N701 billion power intervention fund, which was earmarked to pay for electricity generation, was inadequate, as the duration of two years stipulated by the World Bank, was too short to allow the loan make any meaningful impact in the growth of the power sector.

Also speaking, Chief Executive Officer of GACN, Mr. Morgan Okwoche, called on the Federal Government and

the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to include GACN in the disbursement of the N701 billion intervention fund, due to its strategic role in the sector.

Okwoche noted that GACN had developed synergy and was in a position to satisfy any invoice, prevent disputes in payment, and advise the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Company, NBET on companies to be paid.

He said, “Another thing with Nigerian gas is that they are scattered in different isolated fields, difficult to harness. It would never make economic benefits where there are allocated in small volumes.''

VISIT: From left: Mrs. Bolaji Gambari, Vice Chairman, Abuja Chapter, Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria, ICSAN; Mr. Gbenga Owokalade, Council Member, ICSAN; Mrs. Nkechi Onyenso, Registrar/CE, ICSAN; Mr. Samuel Kolawole, President, ICSAN; Lady Azuka Azinge, Ag. Registrar-General/CEO, Corporate Affairs Commission CAC; Hajia Saratu Shafi’i, Director, Incorporated Trustees, CAC and Mrs. Ifeoma Isaac, Director/Commission Secretary, CAC, during a visit by ICSAN to CAC office in Abuja.

SHILOH 2017: Oyedepo urges Christians to be more spiritual hearing the Word of God

By Sam Eyoboka

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A G O S — PRESIDENT, Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo, yesterday urged Christians to invest more in the words of God, the unequalled guarantee for the security of the saints, to enable them

overcome evil.

Speaking at the opening service of the church’s annual Shiloh convention tagged: “New Dawn,” at the church’s international headquarters, Faith Tabernacle Canaan Land, Ota in Ogun State, Oyedepo argued that ignorance was part of the reasons many Christians were oppressed, noting that salvation was a guarantee to a life that was free from all oppressions.

He said: “Many have seen the good hand of God at some time but they are no more seeing it, the reason is because they have disconnected. When you settle with God, He will settle your issues. It is time to settle with God, no more hit and run Christianity. It is not the hearing of the Word of God that gives light, it is the entrance, when you are illuminated by the word of God, you dominate your circumstances without stress.”

The cleric who posited that

was not enough, insisted that the Word had to be received and believed, before it could deliver in the lives of the hearers.

Quoting John 1:5, Oyedepo stated that the moment light of the Word came in, darkness would disappear, charging Christians to engage in violent declaration for the delivery of their redemptive blessings.

“The dominion of light over darkness is instant and unquestionable. The enemy has no power, he was just a trickster. Deliver yourself by engaging in the Word of God,” he advised.

Speaking on the theme of the convention, the cleric said it was a celebration of a new dawn for participants, noting that by new birth, every believer was engrafted into the household of God and seated far above the wickedness of the enemy.

“God has new things agenda all the time and we are entitled to new things every day, month and year.''

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 — 11 :Vanguard News

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Covenant varsity DVC tasks Nigerians on nation building

PDP CHAIR: Wike, govs backing Secondus for selfish reasons — Oyelese

By Prince Okafor

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ORMER Minister for Mines and Steel and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Elder Wole Oyelese, has warned party leaders and delegates to prevent disaster by avoiding the traps set by governors through the imposition of Uche Secondus as national chairman.

In a chat with journalists in Abuja, Oyelese said Secondus’ leadership of the party was a disaster waiting to happen, urging the delegates to help the party avoid the disaster.

He said Rivers State governor, Mr Nyesom Wike, and some PDP governors backing Secondus to emerge as PDP national chairman were doing so for selfish reasons.

Oyelese said: “I will not expect anybody that loves PDP to support Secondus because of his antecedents but there is a difference between loving the party and being selfish.

“Wike wants to build a political empire using the PDP as a platform, hence his support for Secondus.

“Some governors who are also afraid of their shadows believe that they cannot manipulate Chief Bode George and believe Secondus could easily be manipulated.

“Wike and the other governors are unnecessarily anxious, they are not thinking about the future of the party; they should know that there is no room for experimentation."

From left; Dele Adeyole, Sales Director, Reckitt Benckiser; Oba Lukman Agunbiade, The Alagbara of Agbara; Chief Olu Falomo, Chairman, Reckitt Benckiser; Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State; Aliza Leferink, Marketing Director, West Africa, RB and Abimbola Ashiru, Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Ogun State during the official commissioning of Reckitt Benckiser Warehouse in Agbara on Tuesday.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: S-West govs agree on common position

By Ola Ajayi & Adeola Badru

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BADAN—SOUTH WEST governors except Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State yesterday agreed to present a common position on the proposed constitutional amendment.

The governors including Governors Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State were present at a meeting which was held at the Government House, Ibadan.

Speaking on behalf of the governors, Mr Akeredolu said: “We are from Oduduwa. All of us being brothers are finding

solutions to matters that are of common interest to all of us and we are doing it together.

“One of the issues we tried to look at is this; there are many things affecting us as you all know. It is so clear to us. There is a move for the issue of amendment of the constitution. And as expected, we believe we know as a group what should be our interest. We want to present a common position and have our Houses of Assemblies and

other stakeholders who believe in us to come along with us on issues we believe are fundamental to our interest”, Akeredolu said.

The meeting of the governors has been consistent in the last four months.

Irrespective of political affiliations, the governors resolved to always maintain a common position when it concerns matters affecting the zone.

Afenifere tackles FG over new minimum wage

By Dayo Johnson

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KURE — AFENIFERE, the Yoruba Pan-Socio-Political Group, yesterday kicked against plan by the Federal Government to negotiate a new minimum wage for the three tiers of government in the country.

It, however, advised that government should “let every tier of government negotiate their wages with their workers in the true spirit of federalism.”

Rising from its monthly meeting, held in Akure, the country home of its leader Pa Reuben Fasoranti, the group said it foresees problems ahead of the government's plan regarding the minimum wage.

Afenifere’s National Publicity, Yinka Odumakin who read the communiqué said “it is right that the federal government has put up a committee to negotiate a minimum wage

for the workers.

“But we see a problem in the plan by Federal government to negotiate a minimum wage for Nigerian workers whose take home pay has become inconsequential in the face of inflation and economic hardship.”

The statement further reads: “The unitary system that we are maintaining by putting wages in the exclusive lists that only the federal government can negotiate on it will create its own problems.

“This is because the federal government will negotiate for the Federal workers as well as state and local government workers whereas it is different tiers that will pay their wages, there will be different problems.

“We are saying in order to avoid this; the federal government should negotiate for its own workers and let the state and the Local government do same with their own

OTA — THE Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Covenant University, Ota, Prof Shalom Chinedu, has urged Nigerians to build a strong nation out of the present geographical expression called Nigeria.

In his keynote address at the University of Nigeria Alumni Association 96th National Executive Council Meeting and 24th Biennial Convention in Ota, Ogun, titled: ‘Restoring the Dignity of the Nigerian Man in a Recessed Economy’, Chinedu said the task of blending the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria into a united nation was not vigorously pursed after independence.

He said: “Is Nigeria a nation or mere geographical expression?

This, I believe, is where our founding fathers got it wrong.

“They mistook

independence to mean an end rather than beginning of nationhood. This left the nation vulnerable to the divisive tendencies of ethnicity resulting in the collapse of the first republic.

“Today, militancy in the Niger Delta region, Boko Haram, Arewa youths, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) continue to disrupt economic activities in different regions of Nigeria,” he said.

As part of the convention, awards were given to 10 members of the public who performed exemplary services in their field of work, which include the General Manager of Vanguard Media, Mr Gbenga Adefaye.

Mrs Linda AguaOnyekwelu, the newly elected National ex-officio, UNAA, said the awardees were chosen out of over 100 people that were screened for the award.

IYC seeks security collaboration with Gani Adams

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HE Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, has said it would collaborate with the Aare Ona Kakanfo designate of Yorubaland, Dr Gani Adams to secure the land and waterways in the South West.

Comrade Henry Oyobolo, who spoke on behalf of the Ijaw youths while congratulating Adams over his recent proclamation, said they were not surprised Gani Adams emerged the choice for the 15th Aare Ona Kakanfo.

They commended Adams for the role he played during the last security hitch in Arepo, Lagos,

noting that “we want to collaborate with you in the area of security be it on the water or on land.”

Further pledging their support for the Aare Ona Kakanfo, the Ijaw youths said they want to be carried along in the scheme of things, especially in the area of security of lives and properties.

Oyobolo said: “You are a leader of vision; we want to partner with you and also key into your restructuring agenda.”

In his remarks, Adams said the people of Ijaw had always been partners in progress, adding that their promise could not have come at a better time.

Gowon, Sam Amuka, Okiro, others for CrimeWorld newspaper award, launch

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AGOS — FORMER Head ofState, Gen Yakubu Gowon (retd); P u b l i s h e r of Vanguard newspapers, Uncle Sam Amuka and Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Sir Mike Okiro have been pencilled down to be honoured at the launch of CrimeWorld newspapers.

The event, which is to take place today, will also have other prominent Nigerians like former Inspector General of the Nigeria Police, Dr. Solomon Arase; IGP Ibrahim Idris and Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State

honoured.

Other recipients of the maiden crime newspaper awards, include Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and Dr. Emmanuel Akwa-Ibom States respectively.

A statement by the Publisher and Editor-inChief, Prince Albert Uba said honouring these notable Nigerians was in recognition of their immense contributions to the development of society and mankind; adding that the award was going to an annual event.

12—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 :Vanguard News

FG discovers 178 gas flare sites across Nigeria

By Michael Eboh

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HE Federal Government, yesterday, disclosed that it has commenced the verification of gas flare sites across the country, stating that already, it has discovered that there are at least 178 sites where gas is flared, as opposed to 140 sites listed in the past.

Speaking in Abuja, at the Gas Buyers’ Forum, organized by the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria, Programme Coordinator of the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Justice Derefaka, stated that the verification exercise was conducted in conjunction with the World Bank, United States Agency for International Development, USAID, and the Canadian government.

He noted that the verification is still ongoing, as only 60 per cent of the expected data had been received, while the rest are being awaited.

Derefaka lamented that the country had burnt money that would have been used to generate wealth, create employment and also

generate electricity for the people.

He explained that the essence of embarking on the verification exercise was to address issues of bankability and the need to attract investors and financiers to the gas flare commercialisation initiative.

According to him, the overall idea is that the country must have a credible, measurable, attainable data that is bankable, so that it would be an investment-grade data for investors and lenders to put their money.

He said: “We have bankability issues, because data is very key to us. Without accurate data, gas flare data, then this programme is dead on arrival. What we are doing beyond the data that we have at the National Depository in DPR, is that we are going beyond what they have, and we have sent a special template we designed with the World Bank and the USAID, asking for unique data sets from the producers, and it would amaze you what we found out.

“What we know in this country is that we have 139, 140 gas flare sites, but by our verification with our partners, we found out that we have 178."

Abe dares Amaechi, says he’ll not leave APC

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HE senator representing Rivers South-East senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Abe, has vowed that despite ‘’needless provocation and unwarranted bitterness against him,’’ he will not to leave the All Progressives Congress, APC, for another political party.

Tracing the current crisis rocking the APC in Rivers State to the March 4, 2017 meeting convened by the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, in Port Harcourt, Abe, in a statement by his spokesperson, Parry Saroh Benson, said: “I will not leave the APC even in the face of needless provocation and unwarranted bitterness.

As I told the state Chairman of the party, last Sunday, every member of the party knows the cause and the reason for the present crisis in the APC in Rivers State and I will also state it here.”

The senator, who is the Chairman, Senate

Committee on FERMA, alleged that during the March 4, 2017 meeting, which attracted prominent leaders of the party in the state, Amaechi made certain pronouncements that led to the current crisis in the state.

He said: “The Minister of Transportation made several shocking pronouncements that heralded the root of our present crisis. He publicly declared that Senator Magnus Abe and Dr. Dakuku Peterside were both running for governor, and that he had ordered both of them to stop. He said Dr. Peterside had stopped and Senator Abe had not, and that anyone supporting Senator Abe should leave the party immediately. He went on to name party leaders sympathetic to Abe and declared that they must leave the party.

“The Minister declared at that meeting that anyone who failed to show absolute loyalty to him personally should receive no benefit or recognition from the party whatsoever, including contracts and patronage."

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FIRS challenges suit seeking tax relief for oil firms

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

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HE Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, yesterday, asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss a suit by two oil companies, Midwestern Oil and Gas Company Limited and Suntrust Oil Company Nigeria Limited, seeking to be allowed to enjoy 5-year tax relief.

Cited as respondents in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/ CS/364/2015 and filed pursuant to Order 33 rules 1(1) and (2); and 3(1) and 5 of the Federal High Court, (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2009, are the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council, NIPC, and FIRS. Specifically, the two oil firms are seeking a declaration by way of judicial review, that the decision of the 1st respondent to vary the 5year tax relief granted to them was “illegal, capricious, irregular, unfair, and oppressive.

The applicants are praying for an order setting aside the decision of the 1st respondent to vary the tax relief regime from five years to three years as well as an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents by themselves, their officers, agents, servants, privies or otherwise howsoever, from taking any step or further steps or actions to enforce or give effect to the decision of the its respondent communicated in its two separate letters to them on January 26, 2015.

Both FIRS and NIPC had on January 26, 2015, written to the two oil firms, adjusting the pioneer status conferred on them in respect of the firms’ joint mineral oil exploration and production activities in the Umusadege Field covered

by Oil Mining Lease (OML) 56 from 5 years to 3 years.

When the case came up for hearing, yesterday, FIRS, through its lawyer, Mr. Collins Aimuan, said the FG agency was opposed to the suit, insisting that the oil firms must pay tax to the Nigerian government.

The FIRS predicated its objection on the fact that the suit was filed out of time as required under the law and urged the court to dismiss the suit for being incompetent, grossly lacking in merit and for constituting an abuse of the

judicial process.

Besides, FIRS contended that the high court was bereft of the requisite jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

The FIRS told the court that the five years tax relief granted to the oil

companies by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, was in error, a reason the duration was reduced to three years.

It maintained that it would amount to defrauding government of huge sums

of money from tax if the companies are allowed to continue to enjoy tax relief while they are making huge profits.

Meantime, Justice Ahmed Mohammed has adjourned the matter till February 28 for mention.

FESTIVAL: From left; Mr. Collins Oforgu, Head of Media Sales, ToLet.com.ng; Mr. Oladapo Eludire, Chief Operating Officer; Mrs. Abiejuwa, winner; Mr. Sulaiman Balogun, Chief Business Officer; Mr. Fikayo Ogundipe, Chief Executive Officer of Lagos Home and Property Festival, during the Home and Property Festival.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 — 13

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14 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI’S 2-DAY OFFICIAL VISIT TO KANO

President Muhammadu Buhari (right) exchanging pleasantries with Emir of Kano, Muham- The President being assisted by Governors Ganduje and Abubakar madu Sanusi II; Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (2nd right) and Jigawa as he commissions a project.

State governor, Muhammad Badaru Abubakar (2nd left) as he arrives the ancient town.

The President with Governor Ganduje and Emir Sanusi, acknowledging cheers from the people (right.)

SOUTH WEST GOVERNORS MEETING IN IBADAN

The governors (Top and below left) briefing the media after the meeting.

From left; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode; Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Chief Yetunde Onanuga; Oyo State Governor, Sen. Abiola Ajimobi; Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State; Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State and Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State during the SouthWest Governor’s meeting at the Government House, Ibadan, yesterday. Photos by Dare Fasube.

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Utomi woos Vietnam to invest in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector trial clusters that can be set

renowned economist, Prof.

Pat Utomi has called on the Republic of Vietnam to invest in manufacturing in Nigeria to bridge the trade imbalance with Nigeria, noting that most exports from Nigeria are primarily unprocessed products.

The All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftain stated this yesterday at a conference with the theme: ‘Investing in Nigeria’ in Hanoi, Vietnam, an event jointly organized by Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nigeria - Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Vietnam Trade Office in Nigeria.

Utomi urged world leaders to use real-time information available C M Y K

online in bridging the information gap and building the confidence of their investors to stimulate international trade and investment flows to and out of Nigeria.

He assured many prospective investors of finding reliable partners to produce manufactured goods for export from Nigeria which will reduce the existing trade imbalance.

Utomi encouraged Vietnamese businesses to invest in the processing of timber and cashew nuts that Vietnam imports in very large quantities from Nigeria into semifinished and finished products that can be exported directly to European and United States of America markets from indus-

up close to the sources of the raw materials in Delta State.

He also commended the Nigeria Ambassador to Vietnam, Chief Francis Efeduma for his focus on trade and investments, noting that his recent facilitation of a working visit of the Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Chief Audu Ogbeh to Vietnam is worthy of commendation.

“Every effort should be made to boost job creation in Nigeria, and Delta State in particular, to enable the country earn a demographic dividend from the country’s youthful population bulge, and to stimulate peace and progress in the Niger Delta region” he added.

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 — 15 :Vanguard News

:@vanguardnews

:@vanguardnews

NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058

2019: Declare now or vacate political space, Udeogaranya Over creation of Happiness Ministry, sister's appointment as commissioner tells presidential hopefuls

Ihedioha, Ohakim, others blast Okorocha

By Chidi Nkwopara & Chinonso Alozie

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NGRY reactions have continued to trail the creation of Ministry of Happiness and Couples Fulfilment by Governor Rochas Okorocha and the subsequent appointment of his sister, Mrs. Ogechi Ololo to superintend over the Ministry.

When contacted for his comment, the former Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, said he was completely tired of talking about Governor Okorocha.

“Honestly, I am completely tired of talking about this man and his style of administration. You can be sure that before we finish talking about the creation of Ministry of Happiness, he will come with a more XMAS PARTY: From left; Country Director, Development Africa, Joshua bizarre thing”, Ihedioha Kempeneer; Director, Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development, said.

Mrs. Laide Latinwo; Representative of the First Lady of Lagos, Engineer, When pressed further, he Mosunmola Olulade, Senior Partner, KPMG Consulting, Kunle Elebute, during said that the feelings being the 17th edition of the DA Christmas Party for special children drawn from orphanages expressed by not just and Care Homes in Lagos, held in Ikoyi, Lagos yesterday. Photo by Kehinde Gbadamosi Imolites, goes to show the level of displeasure that has United States of America, myself to make excuses for.

“What is the true position engulfed the land. whose democratic system “The recent appointment of the law on this matter? we copied. It is not in of the Imo Governor ’s Can the Governor It's an abomination — Canada. It is nowhere in sister, Mrs. Ogechi Ololo, nominate someone and as Ohakim West Africa. who as his housekeeper, well confirm the same Reacting also, the “I have searched through was designated Deputy person as a Commissioner? immediate past Governor of the internet and I am still Chief of Staff and now Can Mrs. Ololo be rightly Imo State, Chief Ikedi searching to see where it branded Minister or addressed as a Ohakim, described the was practised and couldn’t Commissioner for Commissioner? Has the creation as an abomination.” find any. Honestly, this is a Happiness, is an indirect Governor breached the His words: bizarre creation and I won’t way of re-enacting the Law and the Constitution “This is a sort of be surprised to see the Governor ’s aborted of Federal Republic of abomination. How can this Governor’s aides struggling Abortion Law. This shows Nigeria? If yes, what are the man continue to insult the to defend this indefensible to what level governance implications and sensibilities of Imo citizens? act.” has been reduced in Imo remedies?”

Whose happiness are they Speaking to Vanguard State. This act borders on looking for when salaries also, a social critic and one moonlight jokes and The gov noticed people and pensions are not paid? time supporter of the folklore. are sad — ex-aide Are we looking for the Governor, Prince Bob “The most uncommon In his own reaction, the happiness of the Okorocha Njemanze said: “As I make thing is sense and that can former Commissioner of family and friends? serious effort to convince be seen from the Information, under “I have not heard about myself that Imo has not been uncommon wisdom being Okorocha’s government, such a ministry anywhere in trapped by a exhibited by the numerous Mr Vitalis Ajumbe said the world, before. It is not in megalomaniac, the more I actions and activities of that the governor has Britain that gave us am proved wrong by Governor Rochas noticed Imo people are not independence. It is not in the someone I am belabouring Okorocha. happy.

Ajumbe said: “The ''He needs deliverance'' governor has a right to do “Deliverance is what anything he likes in the Okorocha needs for his process of governance, for rescue mission. Someone him to have appointed a somewhere is mentally commissioner in charge of challenged. We pray for Happiness, that means help before more than one Imo people are not happy. runs amok.”

Somebody should be there Apparently irked by the to make Imo people happy. development, a former “May be, he has noticed gubernatorial candidate of that Imo people are not Democratic Peoples Party, happy, so he now decided DPP, Dr. Fabian Ihekweme, to put a commissioner that raised some critical will make Imo people questions in the social happy.” media.

In his view, the State “I need all the legal Organizing Secretary of minds and opinion Labour Party, LP, M r. moulders to digest this Igboayaka. O. Igboayaka trending fact of breach of said, “Let me start with law and reckless impunity this, the person the and tell us if Mrs. Ogechi governor appointed as Ololo could rightly be commissioner for addressed as a Happiness is his sister. She Commissioner in Imo is also the Deputy Chief of State.

Staff, Domestic.

“The fact remains that she was never subjected to It's nepotism — LP the scrutiny of the House “This is the high level of members, as her name was mediocrity and nepotism. never forwarded for Continue on Page 44 screening.

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By Providence Emmanuel

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EMBERS of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who are seeking to contest 2019 presidential election have been urged to declare their interest now or vacate the political space.

Chieftain of the party and 2019 presidential aspirant, Chief Charles Udeogaranya made the assertion in Lagos during a chat with Vanguard.

According to him, “It a noble idea for one to seek to serve his or her nation in the office of Mr. President but unfortunately, my cocompetitors are in the valley of hides and seek. I, therefore, call on all Nigerians who nurse the ambition to contest 2019 presidential election to publicly declare now or vacate the political space permanently.”

Chief Udeogaranya expressed dismay that one year and five months to the swearing in of a

new president on 29th May 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari and all other serious Nigerians with presidential ambition have neither declared nor declined intention.

He said: “I declared presidential interest publicly since May 30th.

In the US presidential election, it takes almost two years from the time the candidates announce they are running to the day that one of them will be sworn into office.

“It is not only necessary but politically healthy for the aspirants or candidates to tell the nation what they stand to benefit from his or her presidency and for the electorate to make up their minds on these candidates based on merits and demerits of their ideas.

“In these trial moments of our nation , Nigerians need enough time to know who may be their messiah or the demon that may add to their troubles.”

APC destroying Nigeria, Dokpesi cries out

By Anayo Okoli

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MUAHIA—THE ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is systematically destroying the foundation laid by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP for the economic and political growth of Nigeria, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, a candidate for the office of national chairman of the PDP has said.

Dokpesi who spoke during a campaign visit to the Abia State chapter of the party late Tuesday maintained that contrary to what he described as the vicious propaganda of the APC, a solid foundation for growth was laid by PDP in its 16 years in power.

According to him, rather than building on the foundation laid by the PDP, the ruling APC has been busy destroying what it met on ground.

The APC administration, Dokpesi alleged, has been destroying the fabrics of national growth, unity and cohesion and •"everybody is now weeping•because they were deceived into accepting the deceptive change mantra."

He also faulted APC•'s war on corruption, insisting that it was fraught with insincerity, double standard and pretence, and cited the controversy surrounding former

Pension Task Force boss, Abdulrasheed Maina to support his position.

According to him, "senior government officials including ministers and presidency officials were involved in the cover-up."

Dokpesi said that things have become so bad in the nation that APC controlled states •"are experiencing retardation• while states run by PDP are doing far better, " pointing that it shows that APC could never perform better than PDP. The chairmanship aspirant said there was need to rebuild, rejuvenate, reconstruct and rebrand the PDP and said that he remained the best qualified to reposition the party.

•"Any mistake we make in 2019 not to take PDP back to power will be a total disaster. We have to collectively come together to solve the problems of our party", Dokpesi declared.

According to him, "the South West zone which has seven out of the nine chairmanship aspirants was not best suited for the office". He dismissed his only challenger from the South-South zone, Prince Uche Secondus as not capable of leading a rebranded PDP. He said that electing Secondus was "like putting old an wine in a new bottle as he was part of the old leadership of the party."

16—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 :Vanguard @ : vanguad rnews

@ : vanguardnewsN

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PDP Convention: Okowa, Makarfi, others visit IBB

By Festus Ahon

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POS INNOVATION SUMMIT: From left— Deputy Director, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Francis Wasa; MD, Global Accelerex, Mr. Tunde Ogungbade; Ex-Chairman, Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum, CBN, Mr. Emmanuel Obaigbona; MD, Digital Encode, Mr. Peter Obadare, and Chief Operating Officer, Global Accelerex, Mr. Kayode Ariyo, at the PoS Innovation Summit in Ikoyi, Lagos.

SABA—FORMER Nigeria's MIlitary President, General Ibrahim Babangida, yesterday, expressed confidence in the Governor Ifeanyi Okowaled convention organising committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. While expressing optimism that they would conduct a rancour free, acceptable convention, Babangida said; "PDP will see one of the best convention like never before."

The former military President spoke when Governor Okowa, accompanied by the Chairman of the caretaker committee of the PDP, Senator Ahmed Makarfi and top officials of the party met him at his country home at Minna, Niger State.

Onthe return of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar's return to the PDP, Babangida said; "he is a Nigerian, he is allowed to go to any party and

our constitution allows it, so, it is not new and there is nothing wrongforpoliticianstomovefrom one party to another."

He said; "I have here, the chairman of the caretaker committee, former chairman of Kaduna State, the Chairman of conventionplanningcommittee, the Governor of Delta State with the officials for the convention, I am glad they are working hard and I have seen that they want to make sure that the convention of the PDP is rancour free, transparent and everybody will be given a level playing ground".

Alhaji Makarfi who also spoke disclosed that the visit was in line with the tradition of the PDP where elders and leaders of the party are consulted for the right decisions to be taken.

Governor Okowa on his part assured that the convention will be successful stating, "a lot has been put on ground for a successfulConventiontobeheld, we thank the Caretaker Committee of our party because they have done a lot ahead of the inauguration on Monday and since then, we have held several meetings."

FG appoints Onuegbu as Acting DG of NCMM

By Emmanuel Elebeke

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BLUE BAND FACTORY IN AGBARA: From left— Marketing Director, Foods, Unilever, Ghana-Nigeria, Ogedi-Alakwe Nsima; Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State; Executive Vice President, Unilever, Ghana-Nigeria, Yaw Nsarkoh, and Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Ogun State, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, at the launch of the Blue Band factory in Agbara, Ogun State.

BUJA—THE Federal Government has approved the appointment of Barr. Emeka Obiora Onuegbu as the Acting Director General of National Commission for Museums and Monuments.

The Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who announced this yesterday said the appointment follows the retirement of the former Director-General Mallam Yusuf Abdallah Usman after a successful tenure.

Prior to his appointment, he was the Director of administration and

Suppliers at national Commission for Museums and Monuments.

Emeka Onuegbu, graduated with B.Sc. in Political and Administrative Studies from University of Maiduguri, Nigeria and in 1993, obtained a Bachelor of Laws, LLB, degree from University of Lagos, and was calledtotheNigerianBarin1995.

A one time Special Assistant to the Special Adviser to the President on Relations with the Civil Society, Onuegbu is also a certified Advanced Personal and HumanResourcesManagerand member, NigerianInstitute of Management (Chartered).

According to a statement from the Commission and signed by Mr.DapoSijuadeonbehalfofthe Acting Director General, the appointment takes immediate effect.

EDUCATION: Lagos Dep Gov promises more schools

By Fredrick Okopie

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NEURO PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL'S 110TH ANNIVERSARY: From left— Representative of the Minister of Health, Professor Biodun Ilesanmi; Medical Director, Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Mrs Oluwayemi Ogun; Chairman, Lekki Free Trade Zone, Mr. Biodun Dabiri, and his wife, during the presentation of award to Mr. Dabiri at a dinner marking the hospital's 110th anniversary in Lagos.

AGOS—DEPUTY Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule, yesterday, said, that Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode administration is committed to the goal of providing education for all, saying, our education policy direction is that of an inclusive education delivery for all children and youths.

She spoke at this year's Education District IV Christmas Carol/Musical concert and send forth held at Bishop Adelakun Howells Memorial, Surulere, which comprises

of Apapa, Mainland and Surulere.

Adebule who was represented by the Director of Education Resource Centre in the Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mr Hazoume Kehinde, said government has a lot of plans for schools in the entire state.

Tutor General/Permanent Secretary Education District IV, in her address said the entire District IV has worked diligently and have moved from place to place. She thanked the teaching and non teaching staff for not violating and running contrary to the lay down rules and regulations, and didn’t drag the name of the district to mud.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 —17 Prologue

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FTER setting up poor Macbeth on the murderous wings of a bloody prophecy that he will be King of Scotland against every odd, the ‘three witches’ in Shakespeare’s tragic play, Macbeth are generous enough also to set three strong guarantees for Macbeth’s security as he bloodies the Kingdom to ascend the throne, not of his forefathers. One of such guarantees is that ‘no man born of a woman shall kill Macbeth’. And who will not take that assurance even to the field of battle? Who will not mock ‘death’ itself in the face with such potent amulet? And so, emboldened by such prophecy, Macbeth does in fact bloody his way to become Scotland’s King. But thereafter, a man truly born, not of a woman, but out of the Caesarian section of a woman, does also become Macbeth’s nemesis, -driving home the saying that ‘those that the gods will hang, they first make mad’.

And like every man in the pantheon of the Igbo tradition is fated or doomed to the whim and caprice of his own ‘chi’ (personal god), ambitious politicians too are entitled to the favours, or condemned to the yoke, of their political superstition or their belief in the supernatural forces that animate or afflict the spheres of their political ambitions. And so whatever Atiku’s political gods may have promised him; whatever potent guarantees the proverbial ‘ witches’ of his presidential ambition must have given for his security, the recent statement by Goodluck Jonathan, in which the former President naively suggested that Atiku’s presidential ambition would not fly unless he secured an unconditional reconciliation with, and endorsement by, Obasanjo sounds a little ill-omened to the metaphysical and to the superstitious minds. It is to be hoped that these are not the requirements of Atiku’s political gods or even of his own personal ‘chi’.

If Jonathan was a political prophet he would be one of doom and not of bloom.

Because his suggestion to Atiku is evocative only of the poet, Rudyard Kipling’s “prophet of the utterly absurd, of the patently impossible and vain”.

Which is exactly what asking Obasanjo to forgive Atiku and to endorse his candidature amounts to. Jonathan, unlike Macbeth’s ‘witches’, provides neither immediate prophecies for Atiku’s electoral success nor any future guarantees for his immunities. Rather by making Obasanjo’s forgiveness and endorsement of Atiku a condition-precedent to his progress, he has succeeded only in casting an ominous spell on the project, which rather than swiftly move to exorcise Atiku appears equally naïve to romanticise. He too has pledged to secure Obasanjo’s forgiveness and endorsement.

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Still on Atiku's 'ambition' Two of a kind In a previous title I wrote ‘OBJ: Tribute to a Fighter’ (02/ 24/15), I relieved a funny story –rather more fabulous than factual- which was told during the in-fighting days of the Obasanjo-Atiku Presidency. It was a political joke crafted more to underscore the intensity of their mutual assured animosity than it was an altruistic revelation of the facts of an isolated incident that may have truly occurred. They said that one cool Saturday morning,

What Jonathan and the rest of them should do is to prepare Atiku to get ready to debunk this myth and not waste their time angling to profit from it.

By Obasanjo’s rules of war, Atiku is not entitled to his forgiveness.

Let alone his open endorsement

after Obasanjo had ended a rigorous racquet game at the Villa Squash Court and was about to rest to catch some breath, just then, the blurry image of a distant man afoot, escorted by an entourage of Aides, suddenly approached the Court. It was the Vice President, Atiku Abubakar who, even from that distance, apparently seemed possessed by the urgency of some State matter that probably could not wait till Monday.

Almost immediately they said, the mischievous side of Obasanjo got the better of him, as he quickly turned to his Aides with his peculiar facial chuckle and a gesture pretending to reach for the racquet, as he whispered to them: “Thief, thief! See thief de come!” A quick-witted Atiku also, sighting Obasanjo’s conspiratorial body language, and knowing too well what ‘malevolent mischief’ his boss

was capable of, turned also to his Aides and whispered “See! See! That useless old man must be insulting me!”

‘Kar ta san kar!’ is the Hausas phrase for this kind of ‘mutually assured destruction’. And ‘Man know man’ is the closest pidgenised version of it that I can think of. Nowadays it takes an Atiku seeking to rule Nigeria, to bring out Obasanjo’s malevolent best; just as it takes an Obasanjo to evoke the murkiest fear of the unknown in an Atiku seeking the Presidency. And like I said before, whether the Villa Squash Court incident did truly happen or that it was entirely made up, is not as significant as the reality of the deep-seated mutual hate which the joke may have been contrived to caricature, -namely a ‘Tom-andJerry ’ kind of Tarka-me-IDaboh-you relationship between Obasanjo and Atiku especially during, but even long after, their eight-year tenure. By the way, like the German poet Hans Enzensberger wrote, “Hatred too is a precious habit”. At least it has produced a suspensepacked, adrenalin-raising cartoon series ‘Tom-and-Jerry’ that is now an apt allegory of the existential ‘cat-and-mouse’ relationship between Atiku and Obasanjo.

The Hatchet war As I once wrote, of the many temperaments of this continuously re-invent-able and continually re-emerging character, Obasanjo, is the stubborn fact that although a cease fire with him is achievable –usually at the instance of the opponent’s request- the ‘hatchet’ of any war begun with him may not ever be completely buried. Obasanjo may be your quintessential muckraking, political ‘hatchet-man’ yes, but he is not also your conventional, ‘politically correct’ peace-maker of necessity, ready always to ‘bury the hatchet’ of every war.

Once an enemy, always an enemy. There are no ‘permanent friends’ yes, but with Obasanjo there are ‘permanent enemies’. And Atiku is the most ‘offending Adam’ of them all.

Every Obasanjo war is Armageddon. It is fought to end all wars. The army of God and the soldiers of the devil must come out one and all. It is like the fight of the dung-eating ‘scarabs’ beetles: one dungjealous beetle must be pushed down the hill, so that the other can proudly say: ‘sand to sand, I spit on your grave, the dung

is all mine, now you can rest in p-i-e-c-e-s! More than ‘a bit’ of the hatchet-handle from the sixteen-year old war of attrition between Obasanjo and Atiku, still remains un-interred. And that is notwithstanding a contrite Atiku had paid several tributes to Otta Farm in the hope of consolidating a lasting reconciliation with his former boss. If you wonder how many times Atiku must apologise to, or reconcile with, Obasanjo before he can bring an end to this unending mutual antipathy, I should say as many times as Atiku prepares to contest for President.

Over the years Obasanjo has managed to shape up to be a portent augury for or against those who aspire to be presidents of Nigeria. If you cannot get his open endorsement, or his subtle nod;

or maybe even his tacit approval, at the very least you should endeavour to negotiate the charity of his silence. So that a divining Obasanjo does not pronounce his potent augury against your candidature. The charity of Obasanjo’s silence alone on the candidature of any politician is electorally mojo enough in itself to take to battle.

You cannot aspire to be Nigeria’s President and afford the ruthlessness of Obasanjo’s open denunciation. What Jonathan and the rest of them should do is to prepare Atiku to get ready to debunk this myth and not waste their time angling to profit from it. By Obasanjo’s rules of war, Atiku is not entitled to his forgiveness. Let alone his open endorsement. For crying out loud, Atiku may not even be entitled to the charity of Obasanjo’s silence.

Postscript Postscript this week is an excerpt from a previous piece titled ‘All Hues, All Flavors’ (14/09/17). It was an augury, not of the ‘three witches’, but of a Columnist.

The Battle within T did not take long, the Obasanjo-Atiku ticket that we had helped to win the 1999 election, proved itself –electorally- a mere marriage-de-convenance. Because in the build up to the 2003 primaries, Atiku the Vice President was now dubbing his mane in a show of strength as he prepared to challenge the Principal, Obasanjo, that he had helped to make President before.

Needless to add that the odds were heavily stacked against Obasanjo. And if memory serves right, on the eve of Atiku’s purported possible resignation, my Foreign Affairs Minister-friend, Sule Lamido –who I probably would’ve been working for instead of Aminu Wali- invited me to his Minister’s Hill residence in Maitama. I guessed rightly that it was either out of excitement or anxiety about the political space, heavily pregnant then with the rumour that Atiku was submitting his letter of resignation that night. Mallam Sule may have thought that a journalist and a Special Assistant (me) to Aminu Wali (who was close both to Obasanjo and Atiku) might know a little something extra that he did not. In truth I told him I knew nothing –then.

But at least I knew this one thing –and do not say I told youthat Sule Lamido and Atiku never liked each other's guts. And I will hazard anything to vouchsafe that -like many in Obasanjo’s cabinet had said four years after- Sule too would rather that an Obasanjo had a Third Term than an Atiku allowed a chance to have a shot at the presidency. How much worse that animosity between this Jigawa-born and this Adamawa-red will be today, especially now that they both want the same thing, your guess will be as good as mine. Suffice it to say that after Obasanjo allegedly genuflected to beg Atiku, the ticket was sewn back and Obasanjo was saved again by Atiku’s grace. Had that not happened in 2003, we would not have been united (the proObasanjo and pro-Atiku media) at the Yar'Ádua Center to play that game of dart on the effigy of a Daura-born. Obasanjo survived the battle of ‘Khrugar’ in 2003 to wait for his pound of flesh from Atiku’s under-rib, in 2007 –in an encounter I will title the battle of ‘Katanga’. And we all knew what happened. Atiku lost.

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Ideological warfare Not to waste an opportunity to take a shot -as he always did- at his ideological arch enemy, namely my Principal Aminu Wali, Sule Lamido had asked what in the name of the lord I was doing with a ‘reactionary’ –suggesting that a journalist with radical views like me, should not be working for such a Principal. I simply laughed it off, knowing that no matter what it was that made Wali a ‘reactionary’ or Sule a ‘progressive’, they both were now appointees of a former military ‘dictator’ (Obasanjo) who had known nothing about politics until a ‘conservative’ aristocrat (Atiku) defeated both the ‘reactionary’ forces of a patrician (Wali) and the progressive armies of a radical (Sule), to make him President over us all.

And now as the ‘radical’ Lamidos contend with the ‘reactionary’ Walis of PDP, to pick its ticket, they have to worry also about the ‘aristocratic’ Atikus of APC possibly carpet crossing to trade tackles with them; -even as all of them have to contend with the incumbent might of an ‘autocratic’ Buhari seeking a second term; and the veteran clout of a meddlesome Obasanjo asserting his ‘right’ to anoint and to thwart.

18 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

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N recent times, Nigeria has experienced worsening maternal, newborn and child mortality and morbidity rates.

Statistics on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, MNCH, remain worrisome despite tremendous efforts to stem the tide.

Data from the World Health Organization, WHO, show that Nigeria has the second largest burden of maternal, newborn and under-five mortality and morbidity in the world. For millions of Nigerian women of child-bearing age, pregnancy is akin to a death sentence and childbirth is almost like a sure ticket to the grave.

Every day, 145 women of child bearing age lose their lives while performing the biological function of childbirth. Daily, an estimated 2,300 under-five year-olds die, mostly from the six preventable childhood diseases: diphtheria, polio, tetanus, tuberculosis, measles

By Larry Ettah

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N the last 11 years, its always been a great pleasure to send out a message at this time of the year to you all. Writing this year’s message is a tad emotional for me, for understandable reasons.

The allure of Christmas has endured because the birth of Jesus not only brought divine intervention to mankind, but the subsequent sojourn of Christ on earth affected mankind in a way that no other birth had. His life was marked by love, compassion, sacrifice, grace and mercy.

A grateful world has continued to show remarkable remembrance and deep appreciation of a life of intense focus and commitment; a life that shunned the brazen quest for power and materialism and demonstrated a virtue that was genuinely divine and inspirational.

As we join the world to herald the season, we should be advised of the need to live by the dictates of the moment. As a Company, we have continued to undertake the tough but necessary decisions to reposition the business for improved and sustainable performance.

The offer of rights for some of our subsidiaries have progressed according to plan in the same manner that we are progressing with the current exercise by UAC. These actions have been necessitated by the punitive capital cost our Group has borne of recent, which has negatively impacted our results.

Addressing abysmal status of maternal, child healthcare and whooping cough. For too many newborns, the day of their birth is also the day of their death.

Worse still, Nigeria has one of the world’s highest populations of infants who do not live to witness their fifth birthday. According to UNICEF, one in five Nigerian children never reaches the age of five. The death of newborns in Nigeria represents a quarter of the one million deaths of children less than five years old recorded annually in the world.

Child mortality remains a serious public health concern because the rate in Nigeria is among the highest in the world, with 109 deaths for

every 1,000 live births, as estimated by the World Bank. Chronic malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are enduring challenges. Only one third of Nigerian children aged 6-23 months receive a minimum acceptable diet.

Nigeria failed to achieve the 2015 Millennium Development Goal, MDGS, of reducing infant mortality rates by one third and therefore must quickly be on track to meet Target One of the Sustainable Development Goal, SDGs, by 2030.

Nigeria must begin to make progress quickly to achieve the expected goals of maternal, newborn and child survival, through utilising

OPINION Christmas is here but it’s time to go So far, our focus on consolidating our strategic initiatives to support growth and working capital through equity calls, unlock value through the realisation of under-performing asset, create value through consumer resonating innovation

As we are often reminded, “you may leave UAC but UAC never leaves you”. That will certainly be so in my case as I have spent more than half of my life at this great institution and immersed deeply in its values, ethos, culture and nuances and restructure the route to market architecture across the group remains in sight.

We recently marked 10 years of UAC'S Goodness League, the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative of the Company to build on the rich legacies and achievements especially in the educational sector. The Goodness League's intervention programmes especially the Schools Support Programme have led to resounding

success and positive impacts on Legacy schools in the South West, North West, South South, North Central and South East geo-political zones. The Goodness League's Free Weekend Classes for students in Lagos State have witnessed impressive turn-outs and testimonies of its positive impacts on the participating schools and the students. As a Company, we have demonstrated that few things pay greater dividends than goodness and that the initiative is a worthy social investment.

As you are well aware, following my announced impending retirement from the Company with effect from 1st January 2018, Mr. Abdul Akhor Bello will succeed me as the Group Managing Director/CEO. Abdul’s choice revalidates not only the robustness of our Company's succession planning but also the depth of the leadership cadre within the business. I urge one and all to extend the same hand of fellowship to Abdul to enable him drive our strategic agenda and our quest for sustainable competitiveness.

I will like to use this opportunity to convey my personal thanks in addition to that of my family to all of you for the support during my tenure as the Group MD/CEO. I am pleased and proud of the work we have done. I am confident that the Company is in able hands for what lies ahead. My optimism is further buoyed by the rich culture, talent, assets,

simple, high-impact and low cost interventions.

As the 2017 Maternal Newborn and Child Health Week, MNCHW, takes off, government at all levels must prioritise appropriate awareness creation to improve the healthcareseeking behaviour of mothers and families as a whole.

It is unacceptable that the grassroots awareness programmes which used to be the order of the day in the past have been abandoned in almost every part of the country due to the increasing unwillingness of governments to perform their duties to the public. Meanwhile, the grim MNCHW statistics continue to mount against us.

The MNCHW was introduced in 2010, as a bi-annual programme following recommendation of the National Council on Health, NCH. Its goal to reduce morbidity and mortality in mothers and children below five years of age in Nigeria is a task that must be achieved.

strong platform and resilience that will engender sustainable growth.

As things stand, UAC is well positioned for further advance in its growth and shareholders return agenda. Our businesses are at scale, multiple capital allocation opportunities exist and new growth engines/platform are being created.

Since 1879, UAC has been a long running story, in the last 11 years as your GMD/CEO, we wrote our chapter. As we are often reminded, “you may leave UAC but UAC never leaves you”. That will certainly be so in my case as I have spent more than half of my life at this great institution and immersed deeply in its values, ethos, culture and nuances. I have also been very fortunate in my career and grateful for how far I have come since October 3rd 1988.

But I am reminded of Tennessee William’s word “There is a time for departure even when there’s no certain place to go”.

So my friends, as we celebrate Christmas, I look forward to living a more quiet life, and being a better husband and parent. I will of course be watching and following the evolution and progress of UAC as a young pensioner, a shareholder and its ambassador. I sincerely hope in my leadership role I did not look down on any of you who looked up to me. God bless you all as I go in peace.

Merry Christmas and Happy New year. *Mr. Ettah, is Group Managing Director /CEO UAC.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

CBN begins implementation of N26.8bn AgriSME fund

By Babajide Komolafe

From left, Mr. Alex A. Okoh, Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE); Senator Ben Murray- Bruce, Chairman, Senate Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation; Senator Abdullahi Yahaya, Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation; and Senator Shaaba Lafiagi, member of the Committee, when the Privatisation Committee paid a working visit to the privatization agency on Tuesday.

(ICT) and any other activities as may be determined by the Bankers’ Committee from time to time.

By Michael Eboh

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HE debt web crippling Nigeria’s energy sector ap peared compounded as gas producers in the country have alleged that they are currently being owed about $500 million, mainly by power companies.

But the producers admitted that the power companies are also owed huge sums mainly by the Federal Government, adding, however, that the high debt owed the producers was a major disincentive to gas production and exploration in Nigeria.

Addressing newsmen at the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria’s, GACN, Gas Buyers’ Forum in Abuja, yesterday, Senior Commercial Adviser, Upstream Gas of Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, Mr. Emmanuel Anyaeto, stated that investors are willing to bring in the needed investments but are hindered by a number of factors, including the industry debt web.

He identified the other factors hindering investments in the gas sector as regulatory issues and tariff, noting that these have created a disconnect in the country’s gas value chain.

He stated: “The amount of investments needed to get two

-0.17

$62. 02 -0. 84

CURRENCY BUYING

-0.91 SELLING

US DOLLAR POUNDS EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYAL SDR

305.5 408. 423 360.8261 308. 8354 2. 7102 0.5331 431. 6232 46. 2157 81. 5913 433. 4184

306 306.5 409. 0914 409. 7599 361. 4166 362.0072 309. 3409 309.8463 2.7146 2.719 0.5431 0.5531 432. 3284 433. 0337 46. 2917 46. 3676 81.7246 81. 8579 434. 1266 434. 8348

RAND

22. 3529

22. 3894

22. 4259

CBN Exchange rate as at 06/12/2017

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CBN further stated: “This new initiative targeted at Start-ups and expansion of established companies or reviving of ailing com-

panies is expected to further enhance job creation and agribusiness towards sustainable economy.”

$500m debt undermines investments in billion standard cubit feet, SCF, is about $6 bilgas industry lion —both plant, pipeline network and infrastructure. What people do not understand is

$1,914.00-15.00

56.71

*Africa 6.4%

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$125.60 -0. 35 $14. 73

World industrial output grew by 4.5% in Q3’ 2017 –UNIDO

By Franklin Alli

T

HE Central Bank of Nige ria (CBN) yesterday released the modalities for the operation of the N26.87 billion Agri-Business Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).

Among other things, the scheme, approved at the Bankers Committee meeting held in February 2017, would be managed by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) named Banker’s Fund Managers Limited, while the Board of Directors (BoD) monitors the implementation of the scheme.

In a statement announcing the modalities the CBN said: “The initiative is to support the Federal Government’s efforts and policy measures for the promotion of agricultural business and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as vehicle for sustainable economic development and employment generation.

“The mode of operation of the initiative released by the CBN indicates that the scheme requires all banks in Nigeria to set aside 5% of their profit after tax annually for equity investment in Agri-business and SMEs, which has so far garnered the sum of N26.87billion from twenty-one (21) banks to be invested in projects approved by the Board of Directors of the scheme.”

CBN listed, the activities to benefit from the scheme as agricultural investments such as production, storage, processing, logistics and marketing.

Also SMEs in the real and services sectors which are backward integrated into manufacturing, agriculture, mining and modular refineries would benefit from the scheme.

Also included are technological endeavours such as local initiatives in information and communication technology

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that the way the gas business works, the problem is not with the investment. There are producers to do the investment. The challenges is if they produce, are they consumers that would pay?

“If the power sector can work in a way where the consumer pays, and from what it pays, every other person in the value change is paid, and then these things would work.”

Anyaeto noted that this was one of the reasons while power plants are starved of gas, irrespective of the fact that the country flares 800 million SCF of gas per day.

He added that the N701 billion power intervention fund, which was earmarked to pay for electricity generation, was inadequate, as the duration of two years stipulated by the World Bank, was too short to allow the loan make any meaningful impact in the growth of the power sector.

He added that Nigeria needs an investment of $6 billion to produce about two billion standard cubic feet (SCF) of gas per day to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity.

HE United Nations Indus trial Development Organization (UNIDO) yesterday released world manufacturing production for the third quarter of 2017, stating that manufacturing growth accelerated worldwide by 4.5 percent.

In the report, ‘World Manufacturing Production Statistics for Quarter III, 2017”, Shyam Upadhyaya, UNIDO Chief Statistician, said: “Thereport, which is based on figures obtained for the third quarter of 2017, states that global manufacturing output rose by 4.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2017, compared to the same period of the previous year, thus suggesting that the upward trend observed in world industrial production since the beginning of 2016 has gained further strength.”

According to the report, Africa’s manufacturing output rose by 6.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2017. South Africa, the region’s most industrialized economy, reversed the declining trend observed in previous quarters and achieved a positive growth in the thirst quarter. In North Africa, positive growth of manufacturing output was observed in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.

The report added that manufacturing output rose in all major industrialized economies and in developing and emerging industrial economies.

“This is the first time for several years that no negative trend in manufacturing production is being reported in any major world economies or regions.

“Industrialized economies have achieved the highest growth of manufacturing output in the post-crisis period. The manufacturing output of industrialized economies rose by 3.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2017, compared to the same period of the previous year.’

Managing reputational risk key to corporate gov in banks – RMB Merchant Bank

E

XECUTIVE Director and Chief Risk Of ficer Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) Nigeria Limited, Peter Blenkinsop has said that, “effective management of both organizational and personal reputational risk is key to sound compliance and corporate governance in the banking sector”.

Peter Blenkinsop made this know in his keynote speech at the November 2017 Monthly Meeting of the Association of Chief Compliance Officers of Banks in Nigeria (ACCOBIN).

He noted that FirstRand Group’s informal take on reputational risk defines it as “the risk of reading what you don’t want to read about yourself in the newspaper. ” According to him, a bank’s approach to managing reputational risk should be no different from managing any other risk faced by banks in the operations of their banking business.

He further mentioned that banks should pay special attention to what he called “values/character-based reputational risk”.

According to him if this materializes, it leads to perceptual organisational loss or destruction of shareholder value, which ultimately leads to financial loss.

He added that this loss is much more difficult to recover than financial losses as it is that “silent killer” that is difficult to fully manage.

Blenkinsop said that executives of banks need to look hard at themselves and ask, “If my staff listen with their eyes, what do they see? Am I a living example of how I want my staff to portray to manage my brand both at work and in my private life?”.

Blenkinsop stated that management of reputational damage needs to be ad-

dressed at both internal and external perceptual levels. For sound corporate governance, all banks should work to vest an organisational culture where the board, executive management and employees align with the bank’s stated values and ethical risk appetite to achieve long term business success. He further tasked all banks to be honest in the evaluation of their Board’s and executive management’s performance insofar as reputation and ethics management is concerned, and also tasked all bank staff to be honest about their own contribution to the organizational health in this regard.

20 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

FG is right on sale of ‘wasteful national assets’—Ernest Ojukwu, SAN Ernest Ojukwu, a senior advocate, has been in practice of law for over three decades. Ojukwu, as a law teacher for 32 years, professional instructor on continuing legal education for the bar and a legal practitioner has impacted greatly on the development of law and justice delivery system. In this interview, he spoke on legal education in Nigeria, roles of the senior members of the Bar in sanitizing the legal system and the planned sale of public assets. Excerpts:

By Innocent Anaba

Y

OU were a Deputy Director-General of the Nigerian Law School and head of the Augustine Nnamani Campus, Enugu for some years. What was the experience like?

I was head of the Law School Campus for 12 years. And I was the pioneer head. So I started working at the Law School without a single chair or table on 12th February 2001. The first meeting with my staff was held on the balcony of a building without a single chair or table. My first desk top computer for the Campus was a donation by Chief O.C.J. Okocha, SAN, the then President Nigerian Bar Association, NBA. The Campus was over grown with weeds and snakes and scorpions were in charge. The school was not fenced round.

We didn’t have culverts for channeling water. The roofs of most buildings leaked water. We had little or nothing to run a law school. It was a very difficult and challenging time but my first set of students treated me as a brother and partner and we all went through difficult times together. They were quite understanding and cooperative. When we stabilized many years later, my focus shifted to my original single missionchange, what and how we taught at the Nigerian Law School. The then DirectorGeneral, Prof Tahir Mamman, SAN gave me the free hand and support to lead the academic change at the Nigerian Law School from 2006. It was very exciting for me to witness the adoption of the first ever Nigerian Law School Curriculum in 2008 and the beginning of outcomes based on interactive and experiential learning.

With your experiences at the Law School, do you share the belief and argument that the standard among lawyers has gone down?

My view here is based on my combined experience as a law teacher for 32 yearsUniversity, Law School and Professional Continuing Legal Education for the bar and as a legal practitioner.

There is a major challenge to the educational standard, professionalism, competence and values at the Bar today.

Law students of Open University of Nigeria have been denied enrollment into the Nigerian Law School by the Council of Legal Education. Is the denial justified?

A couple of years ago the Council of Legal Education decided that it will not admit graduates of Open Universities, part time and online programmes. So the Nigerian Law School must be acting under the authority of the decision of the Council of Legal Education. The Council is made up of the Heads of Law Faculties, Attorneys-General of States, representatives of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Representatives of the Nigerian Bar Association including the President and Secretary.

The reasons notwithstanding, in England where we copied our legal system and jurisprudence from, people still read law part-time and most of those trying to shut Open University law graduates out of the Law School today benefited from such liberal Law School policies of other developed countries. Why does it appear we like making things difficult for our people?

I do not think that the Council set out to make things difficult for anybody. Check the history of legal education in the United Kingdom; it did not start accepting everything in one swoop. Things evolved as they developed and understood how to maintain their standards. There is a major challenge with our fulltime legal education programmes on adequate staffing, quality staffing, ethical issues and malpractices, teaching meth-

Prof.Ernest-Ojukwu odology including the use of students-centered learning and experiential education. If these foundational problems are what we are still grappling with in our full-time programmes, what do you think will be happening with distant education? Law is not under subscribed. It is actually over-subscribed in Nigeria. So we do not need any affirmative lower quality programmes of action to make up. There are 55 approved full-time law faculties that will soon be producing a total of about 10,000 lawyers per annum. Why don’t they have

There are 55 approved full-time law faculties that will soon be producing a total of about 10,000 lawyers per annum.

Why don’t they have Medicine, Civil Engineering, and airplane flying in the Open University?

Medicine, Civil Engineering, and airplane flying in the Open University?

Law studies in England and other developed societies are between two and four years, though in the United States, it’s a post graduate study, but in Nigeria, it was increased to five years. What is the rationale considering the delay in our university system due to incessant strikes?

The five year-programme was introduced in 1990 to prepare our students more adequately for the rigors of the profession. It was also a decision to marry the demand for law to be a post graduate programme and the demand that our law graduates get

more matured within the training period. Right now the average age of first year law students in Nigeria is 15-17 years.

The only problem I have with the length of the LLB is that at present we are wasting that time. The LLB programme is not generally being delivered in a way to effectively build skilled and competent lawyers who are conscious of social justice and ethical values. The curriculum and teaching methodology is still in the main traditional and hollow. So the five years is not achieving its purpose. Our lawyers called to the bar on day one can hardly stand and walk.

As a senior member of the Bar, how do you think the Nigerian judiciary can be truly made independent?

Allow the Judiciary manage its own funds at all levels. But to do this, we need to agree with the Judiciary on our definition of independent management of finances. We must agree on ground rules and application of open and transparent accountability and fiscal responsibility. We must agree on what should or should not be financial frivolities like the many frivolous retreats and training programmes some of our Judiciaries embark on abroad. We need to find a way to deal with the malpractice of appointing the wrong persons as judges. We need to pay Judges very well not the peanuts they presently receive. We need to change the present massive corrupt culture pervading the entire segments of the judiciary support staff and personnel.

Will you say the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee, LPDC, is doing enough to sanitise the Bar, considering the numbers of senior advocates answering criminal charges in court?

It must surely be doing enough within its capacity. It is not the job of the LPDC to bring offenders before it. The LPDC by the traditions we have established just have to

wait until a petition is brought before it. It does not investigate or charge. So its work is limited to cases brought by the Bar before it.

And the LPDC is only one panel that sits at Abuja for the whole country. So it cannot do much. This is why some of us proposed many years ago an amendment to the Legal Practitioners Act to make it possible for many LPDC’s to be set up at the same time and for the establishment of a Legal Services Commission. If nobody sends a petition to the LPDC and if the leadership of the Bar does not frame a charge before the LPDC, the LPDC cannot do anything against any lawyer no matter how grave his conduct may be.

With a Legal Services Commission, the Commission is empowered to investigate/ report/prosecute disciplinary cases whether or not a formal petition or complaint has been made. This is how other jurisdictions have been able to stem the tide of indiscipline, corruption and unethical conduct by the legal profession. If you pick up the Nigerian Law Reports for example, you will see litany of cases where lawyers were indicted by courts and because no person formally took those matters up in petitions to the Disciplinary Committee, those cases have remained un-investigated till date.

The Federal government hinted of its plan to sell some national assets to fund the 2018 budget. What is your reaction to this and what does it portend for the country?

I have no problem with the sale of some national assets as long as the process is open and transparent. There are many so-called national assets that actually need to be sold like, the National Stadium at Lagos, and the National Theater at Iganmu.

These are wasteful and shameful national assets.

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, December 7, 2017 — 21

ACJA as key to modern criminal justice (2)

By Chino Obiagwu

T

HE time frames for this remand protocol differ from one ACJ to another.

Under ACJA, it is a total period of 28 days and under ACJL Lagos, a total of 90 days.

The innovative implication of this provision is to separate the interlocutory remand proceeding from the proceeding for the substantive trial of the charge.

While the magistrate does not have the jurisdiction to try the substantive charge and therefore cannot make any order therein, the ACJ laws have given the magistrate the personal jurisdiction over the pre-trial remand proceedings. irrespective of the substantive offence for which the person is arrested and detained.

The ACJ laws require the police to make ex parte application to the magistrate court for remand of the suspect ‘within a reasonable time’ after his arrest.

The term ‘reasonable time’ must be read together with section 35(2) of the 1999 Constitution, which defines ‘reasonable time’ in the context of bringing an arrested person before a court, to mean one day or two days if the nearest court is more than a 40 kilometre radius from the place of detention. However, the provisions of sub-section (7) thereof, which exempts capital offences from the constitutional timeframe, should be taken into account when the alleged offence is a capital offence.

In other words, where the alleged offence is not a capital offence, the person arrested must be brought to court for remand within 24 hours of arrest or within 48 hours if there is no magistrate court within 40 kilometres radius of the place of detention. For capital offences, ‘ reasonable time’ should be read in line with the legislative intentions of the ACJA provisions for remand proceedings, which is to curb undue delay and reduce prolonged pre-trail detention of criminal suspects.

EDITORIAL Innocent Anaba ( Head) Wahab Abdulah Ikechukwu Nnochiri Dayo Benson (Supervising Editor)

08056180119 dayobenson@yahoo.com

•A cross-section of the award recipients at the recently concluded Law Digest Africa Awards The combined reading of the entire provisions for remand shows that the magistrate may make an inquiry into the facts of the case to determine whether or not the alleged facts actually disclose a capital offence. As the appellate courts have repeatedly said in several judgments, there is nothing magical about an allegation of a capital offence.

Where the facts in the sworn statements in support of the application or request for remand do not disclose the alleged capital offence, the magistrate may make the appropriate order of remand

As the appellate courts have repeatedly said in several judgments, there is nothing magical about an allegation of a capital offence

Lagos State AG, Kazeem bags legal award

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agos State AttorneyGeneral and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adeniji Kazeem has been honoured with the award of Attorney-General of the year by the prestigious Esq Legal Magazine at a ceremony held recently.

Public Affairs Officer of the ministry,Mr. Kayode Oyekanmi, said Mr. Kazeem dedicated the award to the governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode for his support for justice delivery in the state.

Quoting the AG, Oyekanmi said: “The modest achievements so far recorded in administration of justice in Lagos State is a pointer to the

Law

fact that our pragmatic governor is a firm believer in the

rule of law and passionate about providing easy access to justice for all, especially the indigent in our dear state.

“This can be seen in the rapid reform going on in the justice system and resources being expended by this administration."

towards strengthening the gains already made.

It is noteworthy to mention that in the past ten months the State Government has commissioned: Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre, Sikiru Adagun Courthouse, Ajegunle and Olusola Thomas Courthouse, Badagry.”

While thanking Esq Legal Magazine for the recognition.

page

of the person or may make such appropriate order as he considers necessary in the circumstances, including assuming jurisdiction to try the person for the offence disclosed in the application if he has jurisdiction to try such an offence.

Under the ACJA, the magistrate has the power to order the reformulation of the charge and the trial of the person may commence thereat, if the disclosed offence is within the jurisdiction of the magistrate court. It is only when the magistrate has no jurisdiction to try the offence

that a remand order is necessary to give the police and prosecution time to conclude investigations and charge the person before the appropriate court.

The magistrate may also refuse the application for remand and release the arrested person forthwith if ‘probable cause’ is not shown for the remand of the person.

It follows from the above that the powers of the magistrate under the remand proceedings is not merely administrative (as obtainable under the remand proceedings under erstwhile CPL) but also judicial.

To be continued

The Templars win legal awards

By Onozure Dania

A

legal firm, Templars has won the best law firm of the year 2017, out of over 175 entries from more than 15 countries across Africa and Europe.

The firm carted away the awards for Power, Energy & Natural Resources Team 2017, which is the third consecutive award, Property, Infrastructure & Construction Team 2017, Managing Partner of the Year 2017 (Twice in a row), Oghogho Akpata, Managing Partner, Templars and the grand award, Law Firm of the Year 2017.

The Templars team clinched the grand award over other top law firms in Africa which were shortlisted.

They were CGA – Couto, Graca & Associados (Mozambique), Banwo & Ighodalo (Nigeria), Kenna Partners (Nigeria), Kaplan & Stratton (Kenya), Aluko & Oyebode (Nigeria) and Bowman (South Africa) which was the recipient of the award in 2016.

The award was sponsored

by Stephenson Harwood and had about 15 categories to reward excellence including a lifetime achievement award which went to Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN, CON, FClArb for his overwhelming

contribution to the legal space over the years.

The Law Firm of the Year award was organised by The Law Digest Africa Awards which was held at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island on Friday, November 24, 2017.

This came shortly after the firm also won a similar award at the ESQ Nigerian Legal Awards, 2017.

The Law Digest Africa Awards is aimed at recognising and honouring excellence in the African legal services market, by recognising the contributions of individual lawyers, law firms and in-house teams, large and small equally.

The awards are based on the opinions of peers and the indepth research conducted.

The law firms that were shortlisted for this year ’s awards included candidates from Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Mozambique.

Also, the Judges for this year were selected legal professionals across Africa and the International community which include: MickaelLaurans, Head of International – Law Society of England and Wales, Noor Kapdi, Managing Partner, Dentons South Africa, Pieter Steyn, Director – Werksman & Chairman – LEX AFRICA, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN, CON – Partner, Bayo Ojo & Co and a host of other reputed legal minds.

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22 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

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Choosing to open your home to a child is life changing — Lady Bethy Obieri L

ady Bethy Obieri is a consummate family woman; and it is just as well she has two. The first is her immediate family, consisting of her husband of decades Dr. Raymond Obieri, founder and former chairman of Intercontinental Bank PLC , and their biological children ; and the second is the orphanage she founded ten years ago .

So passionate and exceptional has the Educationist been about this project that the state government has been known to send people to understudy her administrative style. Clearly, she is one of those people naturally determined to leave the world better than they found it.

As Living Fountain Orphanage celebrates the landmark and a major expansion , Lady Bethy emerges from her very private life to reminisce about the journey so far . Excerpts :-

•Lady Bethy Obieri

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ow was Living Fountain Founded?

Living Fountain is a result of a vow that was made in an hour of deep pain. I was on the verge of losing my first child who was then just 16 years old.

During that trial, medically speaking, all hopes were lost but I had to turn completely to God whom I have always believed is able to heal. I made a vow to God that if He would spare her life, I will spend the rest of my life helping to restore hope to vulnerable children.

That night marked an unbelievable turn in the recovery of my daughter! It was a profound experience that nudged me into a higher phase of faith in Gods ability to heal and to answer prayers! Years later, I began to seek for ways to fulfil my vow -

practical ways to help the hopeless and vulnerable. I was looking for a way to impact lives meaningfully, to encourage and to minister. This led me to establish Living Fountain Orphanage ten years ago (November, 2007). The mission of Living Fountain Orphanage is to serve as a home for homeless, abandoned and vulnerable children. Although my daughter’s health eventually deteriorated and she passed several years after the home was established, I refused to waiver, and my resolve to continue with the vision of Living Fountain in fulfilment of my vow remained steadfast.

expensive to run such a home creditably and because we don’t get any form of support from the government, we have had to rely on donations from the general public. The issue of medical aid is also a great challenge, as many children experience health challenges due to the conditions in which they were born or raised before they were brought to our home. We encounter diverse challenges daily but I have come to realize that these challenges have enabled me to learn valuable lessons and have drawn me closer to God as I have to wait upon Him daily for all supplies.

I have experienced in these ten years the unchanging faithfulness of our Father to supply our needs. Also, I have become aware of the working of God upon the mind, hearts, and conscience of our supporters. Men and Women who knew nothing of the pressure of the moment but have been led to aid us with the exact need in question.

•Lady Bethy Obieri

Going down memory lane, did you have any challenges?

There have been numerous challenges from inception. The greatest challenge has been human resources in terms of finding suitable caregivers, social workers and all other categories of personnel required for a home like ours. Finding sincere personnel to key into the vision and the mission of our home has been a recurring challenge.

Finance and power is a constant challenge. It is extremely

What were the happenings that gave you joy?

Seeing extremely sick children nursed back to health and restored! Sickness can be physical and emotional! Our children are received bearing the burden of both physical and emotional trauma. We have to deal with both ailments because 99% of the children have experienced neglect, abuse and abandonment.

In our daily work with these children, one needs a good ability to discern!

Joy comes when I see an HIV positive child turning negative

after so much effort put into prayers for healing and constant visits to the relevant hospital for treatment! There is joy when you witness an abused child turn around, start attending school and start believing in the possibility of a better and brighter future!

How do you decide who will work with you?

One of the foremost needs of a home for the vulnerable is to have dedicated workers. Workers who are given to caring, workers who are loving, truthful and Godfearing. Workers who will key into the vision and mission of the home. Such workers are rare and are extremely difficult to find so again I have to depend on God to locate and bring them to us!

What do you do when they are sick?

About 99% of the children are received in various degrees of health challenges. Often there is an immediate battle to save a child from passing on! Some present the highest level of malnutrition, acute pneumonia, serious bacterial/viral infection and various skin infections as well as HIV and hepatitis. A whole lot of painstaking attention and prayers is expended in an effort to nurse the child back to normalcy.

Who was your first child in the orphanage?

Our first child was received on the 22nd of November, 2007 - A male child of about 4months old.

He was taken to the hospital straight from the Juvenile Welfare Center and was placed on admission immediately because he was terribly dehydrated and critically ill. I named him Joshua!

He survived and was adopted by a Priest and his wife about a year later.

Do you subscribe to adoption?

Adoption is the legal process whereby all parental rights and responsibilities for a child are transferred from the birth family to the adoptive family, making the adopted child a full member of the new family. But much more than that, it is a way of giving a child the love and security of a family life when they can no longer live with the family they were born into.

I believe that adoption is a beautiful thing both for the child that is in need of a family and also for the couple in need of forming or growing their family. Choosing to open your home to a child is a life changing experience for everyone involved.

Is every member of your family in support?

I consider myself so blessed with every member of my family. Each of them is hugely in support of what providence has nudged me into doing! My husband is the major financier of the home! He is an advocate of the poor and vulnerable. My children and their spouses are amazingly supportive! They support both financially, physically and spiritually. I have enjoyed 100% support from them for the past ten years of operation.

26 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

Character is the basis of good leadership — Lady Maiden Ibru •...as HID Awolowo Foundation’s maiden annual lecture holds

By Sinmisola Sode ady Maiden Ibru, a major discussant at The maiden edition of the HID AWOLOWO F O U N DAT I O N ANNUAL LECTURE which centered on the importance of women’s leadership held recently at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) in Lagos, has said the woman’s first responsibility is to mould the character of the nation which starts from the training they give to the children.

She said due to traditional reasons and values, the society has decided that the women should not be emancipated but it’s time for women to come to the fore and say enough is enough. “And this starts with moulding characters that produce good leaders. From being a baby till a child gets to the stage of getting married, the woman is the nurturer she explains.

Going further she encourages women not to shy away from this all because they are busy running their private businesses. Explaining the attribute of a character to be accountability, transparency, honesty, kindness and integrity, she states that women are multi-taskers by nature and so must make use of this advantage to make the world a better place.

Other discussants, represented by different generations, also contributed their quota to the discourse.

Sa’ndatu Audu Adamu representing Hajiya Naja’atu Bala Muhammad claims that the mistake the government makes is bringing nonresourceful people to occupy positions of prominence thereby limiting efficiency.

Likewise, Mrs Yemi Adamolekun said, “Let the younger ones know that there used to be times of development instead of letting them get used to the dysfunctional state of the country ”. Bolanle Olukanni representing the younger generation bluntly stated that the older generation has failed them and asked how they, still in power, can fix the failure they have caused. She also asked who in the society can the younger generation look up to as role models of change in

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•Daisy Danjuma

•Ibru

the political world.

The keynote speaker, Dr Oby Ezekwesili speaking on the theme -Ethical politics, peace, development and security in Nigeria: the critical importance of women’s leadership-started her speech by stating that

leadership. Going further, she talked about the people and the society. “Society has people and people have problems. These people also have opportunities as well as they face risks and threats” she said. Explaining this, she outlines two types of problems.

•Mimiko with Hid Awolowo

there is famine in leadership of today’s world. She said in line with the topic given,

She said due to traditional reasons and values, society has decided that the women should not be emancipated... public leadership should be more focused on as it is central to other forms of

First, problems that can be solved or maximized privately and secondly public problems that require public effort and collective solution. More on the latter she said, “And it is because of the public and monumental scale of this kind of problem that we must find public solution to the risks and threats, and maximize the opportunity and strength that the collective can bring. It is for this also that the government exists, therefore the basic role of the government, no matter how advanced or developed the society may be, is to improve

is inclusive, so people have a stake in the society, she explains. Giving three keys to development -sound policies, strong dynamic institutions and public investments that are effective and efficient – she assures that there’d be development when those are put in good use. Stating features of a fragile state such as the weakness of central government that it has little practical control over much of its territories, non provision of public services, wide-spread of corruption and criminality, refugee issues, involuntary movement of population, huge continent of internally displaced people and sharp economic decline, she confirms that Nigeria is the 13th most fragile state in the world in the year 2017.

Concluding her speech she says research has found that when women partake in government there are remarkable achievements. Shereading the report on the participation of the women in the African society with Nigeria in the lead5% CEOs, 22% cabinet members, 2 5 % parliamentarians, 29% managers, 36% promoted at their places of workconcluded that •Awolowo African women have Dosunmu been marginalized.

She emphasized the need for women at the center of decision making as research as shown that in this, there is less corruption. She says it is time for women to disrupt the existing paradigm in the Nigerian politics of holding women out and limiting them.

Women have incredible human resource that we must put to use she says. “In this era of the 2nd machine age and 4thindustrial revolution, what would matter most is the character of an individual.

Character is the underlining •Hid Awolowo factor that will determine how and Jonathan far nations will go in this era.

We need to be more deliberate and intentional in the making of leaders,male or female”.

The lecture which started with the welcome address by the welfare and state of life of Ambassador Awolowo the citizens as a collective.”

Dosumu, followed by the Speaking on how politics can opening remarks by the be ethical seeing that it’s chairman of the occasion, commonly defined as a dirty Senator Daisy Danjuma and game, Ezekwesili explained Dr Femi Ogunsanya that it could be moral because representing Dr Insa Nolte politics is much more than the reviewing the book: ’In the struggle for power thereby Radiance of the Sage’ which advising that moral principles was mama HID’s biography; should be the wheel on which ended with some remarks power thrives. She describes from former governor of Ondo good governance as state, Olusegun Mimiko: the accountable and so decisions best way to empower a must be made in line with community and by extension existing legislation. Good a country, is to empower a governance leads to woman, starting from the development and development domestic and grassroots level.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 — 27

50 yrs after, doctor honour’s mom with free medical services to curb maternal mortality

By Prisca Sam-Duru

”W

OMEN should not die because they are pregnant and people should get enough information necessary to stop the unnecessary deaths.” Those were the words of Dr Adegboyega Akenroye, during a free medical outreach in Ondo State.

Ilutitun community in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State is still enjoying the benefits of a two-day health awareness and free medical services program held recently in the state.

Organised by BalmGilead Life Support, thefreemedicalserviceswas in honour of Madam Victoria Aderemilekun Akenroye who lost her life at a very young age due to complications during childbirth.

The initiator of the outreach, Dr. Adegboyega Akenroye, said the outreach was in honour of his late mother, explaining that, “My mother lost her life 50 years ago as a result of complications from childbirth and it was challenging growing up

without a mother, though my father was supportive.

My mother was in labour for three days and three nights because the baby was breached and there was no available medical facilities and personnel on time that could have saved both mother and child.”

Akenroye, who heads BalmGilead Hospital in Lagos, regrets that “50 years after, maternal mortality rates still remain high. “Women should not die because they are pregnant and people should get enough information necessary to stop the unnecessary deaths. That is why we are raising a foundation in remembrance of my mother.

It is wrong that many women still die out of ignorance to access the available medical facilities and to utilize them, he said.”

Participants trooped out in their hundreds to the Comprehensive High School, Ilutitun venue of the health outreach as early as 7am to take advantage of the services. About one thousand people came for the free treatment that included check-ups for blood pressure, blood sugar level, BMI, and treatment

of various diseases. There were free surgical operations while free medicated eye glasses were handed out as well.

There were also counseling services.

Women should not die because they are pregnant and people should get enough information necessary to stop the unnecessary deaths On the various ailments treated, Akenroye said the “medical team encountered different cases. “There are cases needing surgical intervention. We had cases of hernia, infertility, fibroids, dental cases among others. Many malaria and bacteria infection cases were also treated. Some have chronic diseases, like arthritis,

diabetes, hypertension, insomnia and geriatric diseases and were assisted.

A lot of people with high blood pressure, and other chronic diseases were screened, counseled and treated for the first time.

This program has helped them to know their health status,” he stated.

He also lamented the ignorance the people live with regarding their health.

“There is a major problem while the people are not aware of what the hospitals have in stock. We had to educate them about medical facilities we have brought. Many in the community had problem with going to hospitals to get information about their health and available health provisions.”

Dr Akenroye recalled how his mother died young because of delay in accessing medical facilities.

“She was in labour for three days and three nights because they could not even transport her to where to get medical assistance. Even when she was eventually transported to the general hospital, the only doctor had travelled.

She had to wait for another 24 hours to get

•Beneficiaries undergoing screening at the event in Ondo State recently. the emergency treatment she needed. However, despite a surgical intervention, she lost her life due to post-operative complications.”

“Unfortunately, even 50 years after, according to the statistics available there are about 5,000 mothers that still died after child

birth last year and those were the ones reported.”

Also helping out at the health outreach was a retired Chief Medical Consultant at the Ondo State Specialist Hospital Akure, Dr. Manuwa Idowu Akenroye and Dr Ilesami Ogunsuyi, the director of Medical services at the Federal Prisons in Ondo State.

The Consultant and uncle to the initiator of the project added that, “Dr. Akenroye’s mother died during child birth when he was a little boy. Fortunately I was with him I know the story and when he turned around and told me he wants to do this I said that is a good thought and I wish him well.

“The program is about preventing mothers and children from dying. To me if we can dedicate a day every year to remember this woman with this kind of event, it is worth it.”

Mrs. Monisola Akenroye, an accountant and wife of the initiator of the project who was deeply involved in the planning, expressed satisfaction and fulfillment at the success of the outreach. “”I feel fulfilled I know that what we are doing now is exactly what God really wants us to do. This is not the first outreach but this is the first major one because we have had series of outreaches in America where we raised funds for children living with cancer.

We have also raised funds for St. Joseph’s home, a motherless babies home, and for abandoned mothers’ homes. We have been doing it in our small ways but this is the first major outing and we are thrilled about the outcome’.

She promised that it would henceforth be a regular event.

28 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

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30—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

Labour seeks special intervention on job security in oil industry

Why we oppose single regulator for up, downstream sectors---NECA, others

T

IGERIA Employers' Consultative Association, NECA, and other members of the Organised Private Sector, OPS, have given reasons why they are opposed to a single regulatory body for the Petroleum industry as recommended in the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, PIGB, pending before the National Assembly.

Other members of the OPS with this stance are Manufacturers Association of Nigeria MAN, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agriculture NACCIMA, National Association of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, NASME, and National Association of Small Scale Industries, NASSI. At a briefing in Lagos, on the imperative for reform in the oil and gas sector, the OPS said there was the need to avoid what it termed "costly mistakes" that could work against truly reforming the sector which is still the main stay of the Nigerian economy. One of such mistakes, OPS argued, is the provision in the PIGB seeking to create a single regulator for the industry.

Segun Ajayi-Kadiri, the Director General of MAN,

Stories by Victor Ahiuma-Young

HE increasing loss of jobs and high level of depletion in membership were parts of the focal issues that dominated the National Executive Council, NEC, meeting of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

In fact, for members of the union's NEC, the spate of redundancies and closures of oil firms in the country at the moment is unprecedented, insisting that the government needs to do something fast to arrest the situation.

NUPENG in a communique issued by its President and General Secretary, Igwe Achese and Joseph Ogbebor respectively, called for a special intervention machinery to address the causes of the closures and redundancies with a view to saving jobs in the industry.

According to the communique, "The increasing loss of jobs and high level of union membership depletion in the industry was one of the major issues discussed and deliberated upon at the meeting, with the NEC-insession attributing the worrisome situation to unprecedented spate of redundancies and closures of oil firms in the country.

The house finds the situation baffling and confounding bearing in mind the increases in the prices of crude oil and relative peace in the oil producing communities which ought to translate to increasing oil production activities in the industry.

"It was noted, that the causes of these company closures and redundancies with its attendant job losses are much more than poor global oil market. We therefore call on the federal government to quickly set up intervention machinery to address the ugly and undesirable trend with a view of saving jobs and reduce poverty in the land."

Similarly, the communique noted that members of NEC also "deliberated extensively on the increasing and continuing usage of skilled and competent Nigerians as modern day slaves in their

N

R-L: Joseph Ogbebor, General Secretary, Nigeria Union of Pretroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG; Igwe Achese, President, NUPENG; Asuquo Okon Deputy President, NUPENG and Bala Mohammed National Auditor of NUPENG, briefing after the Union's NEC meeting in Port Harcourt, Photo: Nwankpa Chijioke country under the unscrupulous guise of contract staffing. The meeting noted with serious concern, that the adoption of contract staffing as a method of employment engagement with its attendant abuses without any apparent institutional guidelines and control has generally entrenched workers' rights abuses and inhumane treatment of Nigerian workers by both Multinational oil corporations and indigenous oil companies.

"The NEC-in- Session calls on the National Assembly, the Executive arm of Government and

other relevant bodies to urgently intervene and rescue oil and gas workers from the exploitative and abuses of the employers in the industry."

The protracted unresolved labour issues in the sector, the communique said, were also looked into, saying "The NEC-in-session examined long list of unresolved labour issues involving Seawolf Drilling Company, Chevron and their labour Contractors, Tecon Oil Services, Universal Energy Limited, Agip, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Specialty Drilling and Fugro Nigeria, Nigeria

Agip Oil Company, Forte oil, Oando, MRS, Conoil, NIPCO and other private depots.

"These issues range from non-payment of terminal benefits, short payment of terminal benefits, implementation/ refusal to renew CBA, arbitrary declaration of redundancies, refusal to unionization, victimization of workers due to union activities etc. The Council in-session called on the Federal Government and all relevant agencies to urgently intervene in order to avoid the brewing industrial relations crisis in the oil and gas industry."

Electricity workers mocks Power sector privatization

F

OUR years after the sale of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, has declared that the privatization has brought more harm than good, to Nigerians.

Addressing leaders of the union at National Executive Council, NEC, meeting in Lagos, NUEE's President, Martin Uzoegwu, told organized labour to continue to fight against privatization because of its negative consequences.

He contended that privatisation was "capitalism" which leads to exploitation of workers.

"This is why we must continue to fight against privatisation of our public institutions."

While explaining NEC meeting offered members

the opportunity to brainstorm and evolve strategies on how to deal with the fallout and other issues arisen from the privatization and post privatization of power sector.

According to him: It is disheartened that after four years of privatization of electricity sector, some of our disengaged colleagues and members who had put in so many years in service to their father land are yet to receive their severance and benefits up till this moment from the federal government, for me, that is corruption, wickedness and man inhumanity to man.

Privatisation in capitalism, it leads to exploitation of privatized workers. It leads to causualisation of workers. This is why we must continue to fight against privatisation of our public institutions.

This undeniably calls for the overhauls of our strategies to strengthen us for an integrative perspective in the industrial revolution. We note the need for genuine focus in the direction of the promotion and the effective utilization of our capacity in the entire idea of ensuring a sustainable development of our union model.

The right to strike is fundamental human right enshrined in international labour organisation.

Therefore, we need to strategize on how to influence and deal with government and investors in the power sector. We need to organize a strong collective bargaining and social dialogue with our employers in the power sector. We need to reorganise to expand our membership for sustainable growth. We

need to improve in our finance and transparency.

We need to fight for our economic security and social justice.

In a solidarity message, Mr Didi Adodo, General Secretary, United Labour Congress of Nigeria, ULC, said it was regrettable that even workers still in service were not paid their salaries.

Adodo advised workers in the states that had not been paid salaries to review their schedule and ensure that if after 30 or 31st of each month their salaries are not paid, they should stop going to work.

He urged workers to vote for genuine leaders in the 2019 election and ensure that those who have refused to pay workers are voted out.

alongside Olusegun Oshinowo, the Director General of NECA, at the briefing, contended that two regulatory bodies - one for the upstream, and another for the downstream, would better serve the sector and Nigerian economy better.

"A cursory look at some of the provisions of the PIGB revealed the likely emergence of the Petroleum Regulatory Commission, PRC, - an omnibus or humongous commission that will be empowered to regulate the entire petroleum sector. We do not share the views of the National Assembly on creation of a behemoth regulator for a sector that is not necessarily homogenous in its activities and deliverables. Our reasons are, as follows: The idea of a single regulator for the whole sector runs contrary to industry standards which by default already provide for an Upstream and Downstream Regulator.

"The responsibilities expected to be handled by the proposed commission is too wide. It cuts-across various value chains in a key sector of the economy. For instance, the weight and measures functions is expected to be solely vested in the commission and all government agencies exercising powers and functions in relation to the petroleum industry would be required to consult with the commission. The bureaucratic bottlenecks that will arise would clearly negate the ease of doing business policy vision being pursued by the present Administration. We believe that an omnibus regulator will further result in cumbersome and constant delays in securing the necessary approvals to conduct business."

Members of OPS explained that a single regulator would "create complexities and challenges for operators in the petroleum value chain because the structure, operation and nature of the downstream are totally different from that of the upstream sector."

The OPS advocated for the creation of two regulatory bodies each focusing on the downstream and upstream sectors of the industry and on the entire gamut of technical and commercial issues in each of the sub-sectors.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017— 31 Send Opinions & Letters to: opinions1234@yahoo.com he holds the national record.

Another national record Atiku is on the verge of achieving is the longest aspiration for president.

His presidential aspiration started in April 1993 at the defunct Social Democratic Party, SDP, presidential convention in Jos, though he was

Musings on Atiku’s latest defection

F

ORMER Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is the national record holder on defections from one political party to the other. He was one of the founding leaders of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in 1998. He later in December 1998 contested and won the governorship of Adamawa State. But after helping General Olusegun Obasanjo to win the presidential ticket of a party which he (Obasanjo) knew nothing about how it was formed, Atiku was offered the Vice President slot. He took it and left the governorship seat to his Deputy Governor designate, Mr. Boni Haruna.

But due to his burning ambition to become president, he put pressure on Obasanjo to do only one term as South African President, Nelson Mandela, had recently at that time done. That infuriated the Ota chicken farmer, who virtually forced Atiku to stay as his running mate (remember that occasion when he held Atiku’s hand, dragging him as he walked round the campaign podium in 2003). Atiku was that important –

beside Obasanjo – rather than far away. But soon after securing his second term, Obasanjo sought to run the Adamawa political warlord off the ruling party, while at the same time, Atiku fought to prevent Obasanjo from extending his tenure after 2007.

Eventually, Atiku had to leave the PDP in 2006 to take the presidential ticket of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, to run against PDP’s Alhaji Umaru Yar ’Adua. In 2011, Atiku also rallied Northern political leaders to grab the PDP presidential ticket from President Goodluck Jonathan who had just completed the late Yar ’ Adua’s tenure.

Jonathan trumped him massively at the presidential primaries. An embittered Atiku, again, flocked with the rest of the PDP renegades to the new foundling All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2014. Again, he contested for the party’s presidential ticket along with Muhammadu Buhari, Rabiu Kwankwaso and others, and lost.

His return to the PDP on Sunday, rd 3 December 2017 is his fourth carpet-crossing venture. I told you:

The word: “carpet crossing” is a term in the British political lexicology which describes the change of political platform, especially by elected Members of Parliament. It is also called “ratting” merely a pawn in the late Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua political chessboard. It is on record that he came third after Moshood Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe. If he succeeds in obtaining the presidential ticket of the PDP in 2018, he would have also become the national record holder in the number of times and years spent by any Nigeria living or dead in presidential aspiration. The former holders were Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who started vying for the Chief Executive of the Federal post in 1959 but were forcefully retired by the military and, perhaps age,

We saw a Billion Naira and didn’t know it

T

HE Budget is such an important document in the life of an organisation that we cannot stop talking about it, at least, during the budget season.

Today, we shall be discussing matters arising from the budget.

In Nigeria, our governments at all levels are still budgeting largely to fulfill all righteousness. There is still the belief that even without any budget, some governments would not be any worse than they already are.

The story is told of a past State Governor who went to the House of Assembly to present his annual Appropriation Bill. The Assemblymen wanted to know what was in the budget for them. They were told that a bullion van was stationed at the members’ car park. Some members were dispatched to go and verify if the content was right. As soon as the question was resolved in the affirmative, the Appropriation Bill was received. Before the Governor got back to his office, the news was already on radio that the Bill had received its first, second and third readings and passed. That’s rapid result!

As crude as this sounds, the truth remains that we may not have gone much higher than that level. There is the mistaken impression that the legislature is merely a rubber-stamp on issues of the budget. In reality, though, none of the two branches of government – the Executive and the Legislature – is any less important than the other.

All those calling on the National Assembly to pass the 2018 Appropriation Bill recently presented to the National Assembly, before the end of the year are, indeed, calling on the National Assembly to rubber-stamp the document. This is a wrong call. They are actually asking the National Assembly to pass the Bill as presented; and they could as well proceed from there to insist that the budget must also be implemented as passed.

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Indeed, they are saying that there should be no role for the National Assembly.

Apparently, no one appears to be telling our functionaries the real truth. We keep dancing around the truth; but year after year, we keep getting the wrong results. An Executive that wants an early budget must

Why is the Budget today shrouded in secrecy?

Time was when the citizen could walk into the PAPER OFFICE and a copy of the budget was his for the asking. Not anymore. We demand greater accountability and more transparency on the Budget learn to return to early presentation to the Legislature. It can’t be done otherwise.

At the risk of repetition, let everyone insist that the National Assembly should quickly give us an Act for a Budget Cycle as sketched out in this column a fortnight, ago, which will compel certain actions on the budget by specific dates. Otherwise, by this time next year, and subsequent years, we shall still be dancing in this same awkward circle.

Essentially, every budget is incremental – for better and for worse. As population increases and technology advances, budget continues to rise. As the increased population and enhanced technology begin to tamper with Nature’s purpose for the earth’s surface, the propensity for natural disasters – earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, hurricanes, etc.,

in 1983.

Before I continue, let me note that changing political platforms is not new in Western liberal democracies. The word: “carpet crossing” is a term in the British political lexicology which describes the change of political platform, especially by elected Members of Parliament. It is also called “ratting”. Countless British politicians have changed parties.

The legendary Prime Minister Winston Churchill, a prominent “ rat”, had moved from the Conservatives to the Liberals and back to the Conservatives. But most historians agree that his moves were based on ideological principles. So, it is possible to be a “principled rat”.

The same thing applied to prominent American politicians, such as Ronald Reagan (who moved from the Democrats to the Republicans where he was later elected President) and Hillary Clinton (who moved from the Republicans to the Democrats where she was nearly elected President) to mention but a few.

Hillary changed to work for a politician she admired. When Reagan left the Democrats in 1962 over JF Kennedy’s alleged drift towards socialism, he later wrote: “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The Party left me”. So, principle and ideological shifts are valid grounds to shift base.

But really, can we say Atiku has been serially ratting due to principle? I do not think so. In Nigeria, people rarely change political camps over ideological principles. Two main factors guide Nigerian rats: the first is stomach infrastructure. The other is ambition. Both come under the

also increase in intensity, thus requiring bigger budgets to checkmate them.

T h e incremental nature of the budget must be gradual. In the First Republic, the budget of the F e d e r a l Government of Nigeria hovered around the lower millions. The increases kept trickling in and had a major boost in 1973 when the OPEC intervention drastically moved up the price of our crude oil, which astronomically moved accruable revenue upwards.

Nigeria is today in a race towards the Zillion Naira mark for its budget. In 1981, when this writer was the Secretary to the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, we hit the Billion Naira mark; without recognising it. By the time we summed up the returns from the various Committees of the House, we had ten digits.

To us, this was one Thousand Million Naira.

It took the intervention of Hon. Ralph Obioha (NPP/Imo State), a profound CPA who, prior to his election, was a major player in the American Financial System, to educate us that we had hit the Billion Naira mark.

And so soon, we have been talking of Trillions since the past four Financial Years.

Quite frankly, this has been largely in the abstract – we budget in Trillions and perform barely above the Billion Naira mark.

All eyes are today on the Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade, over his Budget Estimates of N1.3 Trillion, christened Budget of kinetic crystallization. There is nothing serious, but everything unserious, about this Appropriation Bill. First, like most Nigerian budgets, the Ayade measure is loud on the Expenditure side but stoically silent on the Revenue side, which runs against the time-honoured accounting principle that for

umbrella of opportunism.

A lot of people, like former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, achieved great heights in the PDP but as soon as the Party lost power at the centre they switched over to the new ruling Party, APC, and started badmouthing the party that gave them so much. I have noticed that once people taste public office, they never want to pass up any opportunity that would return them there. Many politicians find it difficult to survive or stay in political parties that have no public office or its attached benefits to offer them.

Under Buhari some politicians, like Orji Uzor Kalu, switched to APC for political relevance and protection from their past actions as politically-exposed persons.

But in Atiku’s case, ambition is definitely the driving force. Atiku and America’s Donald Trump have achieved every other thing their countries have to offer. All they want is power. They want to be president. Atiku’s ambition for the presidency verges on desperation and impatience. If he had been a little more patient in the PDP no one could have stopped him from eventually ruling Nigeria when the Party was still unassailable.

Political inconsistency and vaulting ambition, however, should not detract from the quality of leadership someone like Atiku is capable of providing if he becomes president. I certainly rate him far higher than President Buhari in executive capacity, organised and focused leadership and ability to unite the country and govern with social justice.

I look forward to the thrills of the 2018/2019 transitional politics.

every debit, there must be a corresponding credit.

Secondly, Ayade had a N300 Billion Budget in 2017 and that budget is still limping below the 50% performance level in a State that is defaulting heavily on the payment of staff salaries and pension arrears! Prof should have been liberal enough to tell his audience where he has suddenly hit some uranium mines that will bridge the humongous difference. Certainly, such a man must be hiding somewhere. So, we must credit him with some sense of responsibility and wait to see what happens in the next few months. For all we know, no other State, even Lagos, is attempting this apparently vainglorious move!

You must take a holistic view of the budget.

How else do you discover multiple entries in the budget? For example, in the Second Republic, President Shehu Shagari’s, Administration was in a hurry to develop Abuja. It had robust budget for the Federal Capital Development Authority; and still went ahead to make humongous provisions in every Ministry “For the development of Abuja” – leading one opposition member to exclaim at a point, “Abuja, Abuja, Abuja. We don’t want to be Abujalised”. Every budget has its own tricks.

Why is the Budget today shrouded in secrecy? Time was when the citizen could walk into the PAPER OFFICE and a copy of the budget was his for the asking. Not anymore.

We demand greater accountability and more transparency on the Budget. After all, it is a public document.

32 –Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

LEISURE

YOUR LUCK TODAY

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139

AQUARIUS; Early part of the day may bring you good opportunity along your business/business lines.

Work and your health must be taken very seriously.

PISCES; Like yesterday the Moon will operate from your Star sign again to the betterment of your cause.

Think of both your immediate and far future now.

ARIES You can still count on the supports of your tried and trusted friends. But it’s imperative you keep secrets as much as you can positively do.

“When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity.” Dale Carnegie Motivation

TAURUS; The more receptive and willing you are to give and take co-operation the better for you today.

It’s wrong of you to neglect your friends in need now.

We have learned that “more” is not necessarily “better,” that even our great nation has its recognized limits, and that we can neither answer all questions nor solve all problems . . . we must simply do our best.

GEMINI; You’ll have the needed opportunity to consolidate on progress you have recorded yesterday along your career/business lines. Try to work harder.

TERROR MUDA

in “Never say goodbye”

By Kola Fayemi

CANCER; Element of luck will work favourably for you. Therefore you’re advised to expand the scope of your tentacle for better results. It’s another fairly favourable day for lovers who are more enterprising today.

LEO; Joining forces with other people is not a sin but it’s important everybody knows the clear term of the venture , be it of short or longer duration. Be very practical.

VIRGO; Many of you’ll travel either physically or within your mind; whichever one you’re involved with the out come will be favourable. Be more receptive, especially if your priority is commercial success. Take your new ideas more seriously today.

LIBRA; Similar to yesterday but, today more emphasis’ll be on money. Thus those of you who are more financially ambitious’ll have better and rewarding day than others. However that is not to say you should neglect your health.

SCORPIO; Positive things are happening from (and around) you. The more enterprising you are the better for you today. And some of you will be mixing business & pleasure without harm. Lovers can have their way moderately.

DUDU

in Rolling Hot

By A.O.Olaide

SAGITTARIUS; This is your day when things’ll go according to your plans. And you’re advised to hit very hard not minding minor pressure from your base.

CAPRICORN; Once again success would come if you experiment with good ideas rightly at the right time. Those of you travelling are in for an exciting day.

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING Send yyour our dat tr ological datee and place of bir th ttoo the As Astr trological Counselling, PP.M.B .M.B 1100 00 7, Apapa, Lagos 007,

Basic characteristics of VIRGINIA Aquarius Aquarius is ruled by freedom loving Uranus-the planet of unpredictability, eccentricity and genius.

Aquarius is friendly, loving, hopeful and very altruistic in nature. That is why they are nice persons who truly care for others, especially the less fortunate ones.

They are loyal friend willing to belong to powerful social clubs or reasonable community.

The quality of Aquarius is fixed. That means it is important for them to watch the way they change their minds on important issues; Uranus factor makes all Aquarius natives freedom loving and whoever tries to impose any idea on you will be resented The element of Aquarius is the air. That makes you an intelligent person with fair share of sense of humour. Aquarius is the star sign that rules considerable social influence, and the natives of this star have better chances to have at least some influential friends.

Then, Aquarians are truly good friends and bad enemies; it is not in the best interest of anybody to frustrate an Aquarian..

Aquarius being a scientific sign. Aquarians can be inventive. Any Aquarian who falls to take his sudden flashes of ideas seriously is doom (to fail eventually) because, Uranus the ruler of Aquarius, usually bring success to Aquarians unexpectedly through ideas that come suddenly, and unexpected luck usually accompany their sudden inspiration and/or ideas.

The most dangerous weak points of Aquarian are the tendencies to procrastinate things and willingness to take opponents or enemies for granted I mean you must not believe that some body you might have had heated argument with will not try to undermine your progress after what will look like intervention of peace makers.

HOME & ABROAD

dadadekola@yahoo.com

By Lawrence Akapa

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 — 33

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34—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 :Vanguard News

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Kebbi stands with the majority on LG autonomy—Bagudu

By Kabir Dankatsina

B

IRNIN KEBBI—AS the controversy over local government autonomy continues, Governor Abubakar Bagudu has said Kebbi State will stand by the majority on whether to accept it or not.

He stated this in Birnin Kebbi when the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employee, NULGE, led by its National President, Mr. Ibrahim Khalid, paid him a visit.

Bagudu told them that if they need autonomy, there must be an amendment of the Nigerian Constitution.

The governor said: “To my understanding, what this means is financial and administrative autonomy and each of these has its value.

“When I assumed office in 2015, we undertook a verification of all the 21 local government areas only to discover that 13 of them could not pay

salaries.

“So if the autonomy was in place, what would happen?”

Speaking earlier, NULGE National President, Mr. Khalid, told Governor Bagudu that they came to Kebbi to present their case for onward submission to the National Assembly.

Tiv accuse Rep, ex-Commissioner of aborting INEC’s registration of IDPs

By John Mkom

J

ALINGO—THE Tiv Cultural and Social Association has called on the relevant security agencies to immediately arrest Garba Chede, the member representing Gasol/Bali federal constituency, and the former Taraba State’s Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Saidu Ajuji, for disenfranchising internally-displaced persons, IDPs, in Gasol Local Government Area of the state.

President-General of the group, Goodman Dahida, who made the call at a briefing in Jalingo, the state capital, said Tiv people were worried over what he said was a grand plan by highly-placed politicians in the state to disenfranchise them, particularly in Gasol Local Government.

He said their findings proved that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was in Sobon-Gida in Gasol council last week to register IDPs with permanent voters’ cards, PVCs, but that Alhaji Chede called on the state office of the commission to withdraw its workers from

Not true; my lawyer 'll act —Lawmaker the IDPs camp.

He added that Chede mobilised some youths to go to the camp and dislodge the INEC workers.

Dahida noted that the same exercise was successfully conducted in IDPs camp in Mutum-Biu of the same local government, wondering why top politicians stopped that of Sabon-Gida.

Dahida also alleged that some politicians collected over 15,000 PVCs

belonging to the displaced Tiv persons in the area, and expressed fears that the move must be because if the IDPs displaced in 2012 and 2014 were re-registered by INEC, the PVCs in the politicians’ possession would be rendered useless.

Lawmaker reacts

However, in a swift reaction, Chede, the lawmaker, denied stopping registration of IPDs at Sabon-Gida camp and challenged the Tiv

leadership to produce the document he used to stop INEC from registering the IDPs His words: “I can’t stop registration of the people that voted me into office.

This is a campaign of calumny and I have told my lawyer to act accordingly.”

Efforts to reach the former Commissioner of Finance, yesterday, proved abortive as he neither picked calls nor replied the text message sent to his mobile phone.

K

ANO State University of Science and Technology, KUST, Wudil, has announced its readiness to begin computer-based examination.

This is even as Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has inaugurated a seven-man visitation panel to Benue State University to probe staff strength and actual wage bill of the institution.

The Vice Chancellor of Kano State University,

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Bishop warns of militarised society

By Ben Agande

K

ADUNA—THE Archbishop of Kaduna Catholic Diocese, His Grace, Man-oso Ndagoso, has warned that unless government at all levels take steps to curtail the incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers across the country, the nation risked being militarised.

Addressing the press in Kaduna yesterday, as part of preparations for the commissioning of the Catholic secretariat, Bishop Ndagoso said the

failure of government to protect citizens has increasingly made people to resort to self-help.

He said: “When citizens feel unprotected by government, they resort to a self-help. This is not good for us. People run away and abandon their homes when they see militants carrying arms.

We cannot survive a militarised society.”

On the recent killings in Numan, Adamawa State, the Bishop said if government had taken proactive measures, the situation would not have degenerated.

Gaidam faulted on 2018 budget

By Bala Ajiya

D

A M AT U R U — REACTIONS have continued to trail the over N92 billion budget presented by Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State to the state House of Assembly last Tuesday.

Alhaji Ibrahim Mustapha, a retired civil servant, said: “With only N7 billion allocated to education in 2018, government is just paying lip service to education.

“The bulk of the budget will go to capital and re-

current expenditure that have no direct bearing on the masses.”

A youth leader, who refused to disclosed his identity, said: “If Governor Gaidam can budget about N17 billion for works and construction of cargo airport, government is misplacing its priorities.

“There are no businessmen engaged in importation in Yobe. We have airport in Maiduguri, Jigawa, Gombe states. So I don’t think Yobe needs an airport.”

Kwara Assembly tackles corpse exhumation

By Demola Akinyemi

DEDICATION: From left— Proprietress' husband, Professor Dan Adebiyi; the Proprietress, KIA Lakeside Academy (Nursery, Primary and Secondary), Abuja, Mrs Titilayo Adebiyi; Primate of the Church of Nigeria, His Grace, Archbishop, Nicholas Okoh, and Chairman of the Governing Council, Professor Oladapo Afolabi, during the dedication of the Academy.

Kano varsity set for e-examination, as Ortom probes four years to 15,738, Idyorough, Timothy Dim, Benue Varsity's wage bill last with 5,000 admission quota Raphael Ogah, Kukase

By AbdulSalam Muhammad & Peter Duru

Herdsmen, farmers' clash:

Professor Shehu Musa, told reporters during a valedictory speech that the new innovation was in tandem with his vision to integrate the university into an academic centre of excellence with mutual linkages and collaboration with foreign and national institutions.

He said with over 2,800 new computers at the ICT centre constructed by the Nigerian Communications Commission, the university was ICT compliant.

He said the university, under his leadership, has expanded students’ enrolment from 8,000 in the

from the previous 1,000.

on Benue Varsity probe On the Benue State University probe, Governor Ortom, who was represented at the inauguration by his Deputy and Chairman, Salaries Verification Committee, Mr. Benson Abounu, said government had been working to establish the true wage bill, to enable it pay salaries as and when due.

The panel, which has three weeks to submit its report, has Professor Emmanuel Apedzan, Professor Alamveabee

Garuba as members, while Mr. Bem Amenger serves as Secretary.

Governor Ortom said: “We are making progress in that direction, which will ensure that the issue of backlog of unpaid salaries is put to rest in no distant time.”

The governor directed the panel to carry out an audit of the university’s payroll in the last three years, to ascertain the actual burden, the current expenditure liabilities and suggest any sustainable measure to ensure timely payment of salaries.

I

LORIN—DISTURBED by the high rate of ritual killings and exhumation of corpses in Ilorin, Kwara State House of Assembly has said it will work to restore the sanctity of the ancient city.

Speaker of the House, Dr. Ali Ahmed, who lamented that the issues were becoming a daily occurrence and increasingly embarrassing to every responsible indigenes and residents of Ilorin,

pledged to rally his colleagues towards ensuring that the act was stamped out of Ilorin and Kwara State in general.

Ahmad made the pledge when he played host to Concerned Muslims of Kwara State.

Earlier, leader of the delegation, Professor Lanre Badmus of the University of Ilorin, said the group was working on presenting a bill to the House to ensure that the city was rid of social ills and urged the legislators to assist.

LOAN holds conference

L

AW Officers Association of Nigeria, LOAN, National Executive Council, NEC, has said the association’s next two-day delegate conference will hold in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on March 8 and 9, 2018.

LOAN made the assertion in a communiqué issued at the end of its NEC meeting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

The communiqué called on the Electoral

Committee of the Association to put all machineries in place to ensure that the delegate conference, which will ensure the election of new executive members, would hold without hindrance.

The communiqué added that it is mandatory for all state chapters of LOAN to attend the conference, noting that “Akwa Ibom State chapter of LOAN has volunteered to host the delegate conference.”

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 — 35

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36—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

Okorocha and the limits of clowning

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

I

ACCENTURE TECH DEMO: From left— Joshua McDonald of Virtual Reality & Blockchain, Accenture South Africa; Managing Director, Technology Accenture Nigeria, Niyi Tayo; Karia Clinniah of Augumented Intelligence Robotics, Analyst, Accenture South Africa, and Marketing & Communications Lead, Accenture Nigeria, Segun Olalandu, during the demo of Accenture Technology Vision 2017 in Lagos. PHOTO: Akeem Salau.

PRESENTATION: From left— Mrs Modupe Omolu; Founder, Olise Omolu Foundation, Chief Sunday Omolu; Baale of Sogunro, Johnson Agbojete, and the representative of MD, Lagos Water Ways Authority, Ibrahim Famuyiwa, during the presentation of life jackets to Sogunro community by the Foundation, a non-governmental organisation in partnership with the Authority.

was about leaving my office on Thursday, November 30, when a friend and former colleague called to ask if I was watching the Lagos-based Television Continental (TVC).

I was not! Why did he ask? Rather than answering, he riposted, "What is wrong with your state governor for God's sake?" My friend, who is Yoruba, knows I am from Imo State and Owelle Rochas Okorocha is my governor.

I asked him what the governor had done again, whether he had erected another statue.

He said there was a live broadcast of the 50th birthday anniversary of the governor’s wife, Nneoma Nkechi Okorocha, and wondered why in this very austere economic environment, a governor would waste a people’s patrimony on such vainglorious celebration.

I had no answer partly because the question, what is wrong with your governor, has become a daily burden for Imo indigenes. He sympathized with me and hung up.

The grandiose celebration of Nneoma’s birthday came just three months after the governor used almost the whole of September to lavishly celebrate his own 55th birthday with 27 giant cakes.

The question of what is wrong with Governor Okorocha reverberated again on Monday, December 4, when he swore in 28 new commissioners 10 months after the dissolution of the Imo State Executive Council and 27 Transition Committee Chairmen for the local government councils in the state.

Curiously, Okorocha, the man who claims his vision drives him crazy, created a brand new “Ministry for Happiness and Purpose Fulfillment,” to be manned by his younger sister, Mrs. Ogechi Ololo.

Many Nigerians are scratching their heads searching for reasons to explain Okorocha’s bizarre disposition to governance.

Besides, why is he reducing governance in Imo State to a family affair? Before this latest appointment, Mrs. Ololo had served as his Deputy Chief of Staff and Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs. Okorocha’s Chief of Staff, Mr. Uche Nwosu, who is his son-in-law, is the state’s de facto deputy governor. When the

Curiously, Okorocha, the man who claims his vision drives him crazy, created a brand new “Ministry for Happiness and Couples’ Fulfillment,” to be manned by his younger sister, Mrs. Ogechi Ololo

ANGLICAN COMMUNION: From left— Chief

Host, Founder/ General Overseer of Divine Evangelical Church, Bishop Oluwademilade Akpata; Dr. Olugbenga Olusoga; MD, Willy Group of Companies, Sir (Olunba) Kunle Ogundipe; Chairman of the occasion, Chief Omotayo Omotosho; former Director-General, Tourism Board, Mrs Ngozi Are; Oloi Dupe Onafawa; Mrs Betty Balogun and others, posing with the harvest fish, during Divine Ewulomi Evangelical Church of Christ, Cherubim and Seraphim's 2017 Adult Harvest, tagged Total Joy, at its premises on Arowojobe Estate, Mende, Maryland, Lagos. PHOTO: Shola Oyelese.

WEDDED:

Plateau State.

Mr. & Mrs Goodluck Chikezie at their wedding in Jos,

current deputy governor, Prince Eze Madumere, was the Chief of Staff, Nwosu was the commissioner for Lands. The worst kept secret in the state is that the governor will stop at nothing in ensuring that Nwosu, his daughter’s husband, succeeds him in 2019.

The only minister from Imo State, Professor Anthony Anwuka (Minister of State for Education) is father-in-law to Okorocha’s second daughter, Uju. It was this same Mrs. Uju Anwuka that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government appointed a member of the Board of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Omoku, an appointment Okorocha said he rejected because he was “never consulted or briefed.

In December 2016, the governor, through his Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. George Etche, disclosed that his wife supervises four ministries – women affairs, works, health, as well as office of the SSG. And the question is, in what capacity? Nobody knows? Okorocha thinks he owes Imolites no explanation for his actions. He takes the people for granted because in his subconscious, he believes he is doing them a huge favour as their governor when the entire country is yearning for an Okorocha presidency.

Lets us be clear here. There is nothing wrong in a governor appointing a relation into his government as long as the appointee is qualified and primed to add value to governance. But to think that in a state blessed with pristine human resource as Imo is, only members of the Okorocha family can play

such roles is the height of self-delusion. To say the least, such contemplation is surreal.

Back to the extant issue! What does happiness and purpose fulfillment mean? In real terms, what will be Mrs. Ololo’s job description? What will be her key duties and responsibilities? In what way(s) will the commissioner guarantee that Imo couples find fulfillment? What will be the yardstick for measuring success? Which committee of the Imo State House of Assembly would have oversight responsibility over this ministry?

Beyond all these, what does a state in a country struggling to extricate itself from the asphyxiating grip of self-inflicted recession do with 28 commissioners? How can a governor that is delinquent in the payment of salaries and pensions assemble such an unwieldy cabinet at this 11th hour?

In over six years as governor, Okorocha has refused to conduct local government election.

It is only in an unserious country like Nigeria that this impunity can go on unchallenged.

What manner of democracy makes an elected official a god whose actions, no matter how spurious and injurious to the wellbeing of the people, cannot be challenged?

To say that Okorocha is clowning with governance is to be charitable because even clowning has its limits. What is going on in Imo State in the name of governance is beyond clowning. It is a tragedy.

To add insult to injury, he takes himself serious, thinking he is the best thing to happen to the state since its creation as he alluded to when he claimed that his administration had exceeded the achievements of all the previous administrations in the state, both civilian and military, put together.

Am I surprised at this sheer delusion of the grandeur?

No! Many people have forgotten that this absurd theatrics didn’t start today. In July 2011, Okorocha stunned Nigerians when he appointed 70 advisers that included the position of Special Assistant on Comedy/Chief Comedian of the State.

How did we get to this sorry pass? Of course, many people have latched on the hackneyed refrain that people get the leadership they deserve. After all, this is a democracy and Okorocha is the governor only because the people voted for him.

Maybe!

But I just wonder how Archbishop Anthony Obinna of the Owerri Archdiocese feels now.

Obinna, it was, who literally made Okorocha governor in 2011 by leading the assault of the Imo Catholics against the then governor, Ikedi Ohakim.

When all else seemed to have failed in the orchestrated campaign of calumny against Ohakim, the church pulled the joker from its bag of intrigues alleging that he physically assaulted a Catholic priest. The noise the allegation generated was so deafening that Ohakim’s feeble voice of protest was completely lost.

Ironically, nobody saw or heard from the Reverend Father who was assaulted. When Imo Catholics, wearing black, demonstrated in the state capital, Ohakim’s re-election bid was doomed irreversibly. The popular refrain then was that the man who beat a Reverend Father will never govern the state again.

But does that explain the lack of moral outrage in the state against the shenanigans of their governor? Or is it that the people are so ashamed of the role they played individually and collectively in enthroning Okorocha with his bizarre tendencies in office that they would rather keep quiet? Is Imo State now Okorocha’s conquered fiefdom?

What are the members of the state House of Assembly doing? Is the legislature no longer constitutionally obligated to act as a check and balance on the executive arm of government and to rein in executive lawlessness such as the one presently in full display? Aren’t the shenanigans in Imo in the name of quixotic governance already beyond the pale? When will the people say enough is enough?

It is really a tragedy that Imo, a state once governed by Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe, the Igbo heartland, has become the butt of all national jokes courtesy of a man who claims to have come on a rescue mission.

Ikechukwu Amaechi is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, TheNiche on Sunday newspaper, Ikeja, Lagos.

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 — 37

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40 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

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Delta govt committed to compliance with FOI Act —Ukah

By Festus Ahon & Ochuko Akuopha

D

ELTA State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Patrick Ukah, has reiterated the commitment of the state government to comply with the Freedom of Information, FOI, Act. Ukah, who stated this in Asaba during a workshop organized by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ,

Federal Information chapel, on the popularization of the FOI Act, said the state government would continue to ensure that journalists and other stakeholders have unhindered access to information on its policies and programmes.

Represented by the Chief Information Officer and Editor of the Ministry’s Bulletin, Mr.

Churchill Oyowe, Ukah said the state government had opened its activities and encouraged journalists to access information on the state's website on the SMART agenda of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

“Everything about the state budget is on the website and there is no need for people to say they don’t have information and start

speculating,” he said.

Chairman of the state council of NUJ, Mr. Michael Ikeogwu, while presenting a paper, said the FOI Act would “remain a beautiful work of art and good for the shelves like every other g o v e r n m e n t unimplemented policies if no deliberate effort is made to domicile the Act in the minds of Nigerians.”

Herdsmen sack 200 families in Cross River An indigene, Effiong

By Ike Uchechukwu

N

O fewer than 200 families have fled their homes at Mbiabong Ito community, in Ito South clan, Odukpani Local Government Area, Cross River State, following the invasion of the community by herdsmen.

Vanguard learned that the herdsmen, who drove a large herd of cows into the community’s farmlands, were believed to have forcefully resisted attempts by the villagers to deny them access to land for grazing.

Asuquo, told Vanguard that as gunshots rent the air, late Tuesday evening, the villagers had to run into the bush when it became apparent that the herdsmen had more sophisticated weapons.

“We had to hide inside the bush because the kind of guns the herdsmen were carrying were too sophisticated. To stay alive we had to scamper for safety and the best place was the bush,” he said.

A police source, who confirmed the incident, said it was quite unfortunate because a lot of people were injured in the process of running to safety.

Edo Assembly dissolves EDSOGPADEC Board

By Gabriel Enogholase

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COMMISSIONING: From left: Mrs Adebunmi Adekanye, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Lagos State; Mr Adeniyi Saliu Chairman, LCDA Eredo Epe, Lagos State; Mrs Adedoja Otedola, wife of former governor of Lagos State, Chief Otedola; presenting a gift to Mrs Zodwa Velleman, Corporate Affairs Director For Heinskins, South Africa; Mr Kufre Ekanem, Corporate Affairs Adivser, NB PLc and Chief Kamorudeen Tiamiyu, the Olisa of Odonragunsin, Epe, Lagos, during the commissioning of a block of classrooms at St. Patrick's Grammar School, Epe, Lagos State, donated by Nigerian Breweries Plc, in Lagos.

EDO NUT kicks against bill transferring teachers’ salaries to LGs

By Gabriel Enogholase

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DO State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, has appealed to the Edo State House of Assembly to reject the bill seeking to transfer the payment of primary school teachers’ salaries to local government councils.

The call is coming on the heels of the House of Assembly’s deliberation on the bill on local government autonomy.

The NUT made the appeal in Benin, yesterday, during a protest march to the Edo State House of Assembly.

The protesters carried placards with the inscriptions, “Save primary education from imminent collapse”; “Funding of primary education is the joint responsibility of state and federal government"; “We are not against local

government autonomy,” and “Primary education is the bedrock for e d u c a t i o n a l development.”

Edo State chairman of the NUT, Mr. Iyalomhe Akhagbeme, insisted that transferring payment of teachers’ salaries from states to local governments would jeopardize smooth payment of teachers'

salaries.

He said that teachers were not opposed to autonomy for local governments, but stressed that the funding of education should remain the primary responsibility of both state and federal governments.

Receiving the protesters on behalf of the leadership of the state House of Assembly, the

Public Relations Officer of the Assembly, Mr. Dayo Erimiakhena, told the protesters that none of the lawmakers was around to receive them as the house had adjourned sitting a day before their visit.

He said that the teachers’ message was clearly understood and promised to convey same to the leadership of the house.

Delta LG polls: Ughwanogho drums support for APGA candidates

By Perez Brizibe

A

chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in Delta State, Dr. Ovie Ughwanogho, has appealed to Deltans to queue behind the party’s candidates in the forthcoming local council polls in the state if they truly want to enjoy good governance and the true change they have been

clamouring for.

The APGA chieftain, while addressing newsmen, yesterday, at Eku, Ethiope East Local Government Area of the state, also stated that APGA’s objectives of restructuring and true federalism as being clamoured for across the country, are the only panacea for the problems facing the country today.

He also attributed the re-

election of Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State to the people’s belief and trust in the party saying: “The emergence of Dr. Victor Oye as the national chairman of the party is the best thing that has happened to the country in recent times, going by the party’s objectives of restructuring and true federalism as the panacea for the lingering Nigeria problem."

OARD of the Edo State Oil and Gas Producing Area Development C o m m i s s i o n , EDSOGPADEC, was, yesterday, dissolved by the State House of Assembly over alleged gross misconduct.

The dissolution of the board was sequel to a letter signed by the State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, to the House requesting it to dissolve the EDSOGPADEC board.

Majority Leader, Roland Asoro, representing (APC Orihionmwon South) constituency who led the

debate for the dissolution of the board, said its dissolution was long overdue.

Mr. Nosayaba Okunbor representing (APC Orihionmwon East) constituency, also supported the dissolution of the board, saying: ‘’The board was supposed to compensate the oil producing communities but nothing has been received since the board was constituted.”

Mr. Chris Okaeben and Crosby Eribo, members representing (APC Oredo West and Egor) constituencies respectively, however, appealed to the House to handle the issue with caution to avoid making mistakes.

Delta LG polls: PDP ‘ll have a smooth sail —Party chieftain

By Festus Ahon

A

S A B A — A chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State, Chief S a m u e l Oboramrohwoyere, has expressed optimism that

St Ambrose’s Old students meet Dec 9

S

AINT Ambrose’s C o l l e g e Usiefrun, Old Students’ Association, SACOSA, will hold its National General Meeting, December 9, at St Ambrose’s College premises, Usiefrun, Delta State.

the party will have a smooth sail in the forthcoming local government election in the state.

Speaking with newsmen at Otu-Jeremi, Oboramrohwoyere reiterated the preparedness of the party to deliver Dr Richard Kofi as Chairman of Ughelli South Local Government Council during the polls.

Oboramrohwoyere, who is the Chairman of the Kofi Campaign Committee, said the coast was very clear for Kofi to win.

Disclosing that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa will flag off Kofi’s campaign on December 19, he said that Kofi would run an open door and listening administration, if elected.

42 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

By Dayo Adesulu

I

t is yet to dawn on students and parents what they stand to suffer as the strike embarked upon by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), NonAcademic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT)enters its fourth day today. Many stakeholders believe that the only industrial action that attracts urgent attention of the government is the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), forgetting that ASUU, NASU, SANU and NAAT work in tandem to keep both academic and nonacademic activities alive on campus.

Thus in the past few days, academic activities have been placed on hold in many federal and state universities across the country.

This was just as the ongoing UTME screening in many universities have been suspended indefinitely. For example, owing to the industrial action, the University of Lagos, UNILAG, was on Tuesday forced to suspend its admission screening exercise that started on Monday.

UNILAG’s authorities also admitted that it suspended academic activities due to disruption of normal academic and administrative activities by the on-going industrial action.

Speaking with Vanguard in this regards, the General Secretary, NASU and the Deputy President, NLC, Prince Peters Adeyemi agreed that all the unions on campus work together, adding that one union's services complement the other.

He explained that though ASUU is not on strike, the effect of the strike by the nonacademic staff will definitely affect others on campus including lecturing, as students will be left with the option of going home if their nonacademic needs are not met.

Adeyemi who vowed that the ongoing strike that has paralysed academic and nonacademic activities for four days, will continue indefinitely until the Federal Government accedes to their demands. He said the unions proceeded on strike when it was clear that the Federal Government has refused to honour the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it willingly signed with them.

Trouble started when the nonteaching staff unions in the universities under the umbrella of Joint Action Committee, JAC,

had on Friday last week rejected the sum of N4.6 billion given to them from the N23 billion the Federal Government recently released to the four unions in the universities.

The three unions under JAC comprising SSANU, NASU and NAAT, described the N4.6 billion allocated to them as pittance and have directed all their members nationwide to resume strike on Monday.

Meanwhile, the three unions resumed indefinite strike since Monday, as the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige who mediated between government and the unions during the strike period appeared to be mum without commenting on the letters to them on the contentious sharing formula.

Chairman of JAC and National President of SSANU, Comrade Samson Chijioke Ugwoke said that the allocation as presently done, is laced with motive of destabilizing the university system and causing disaffection among members

Though ASUU is not on strike, the effect of non-academic staff will definitely affect others on c a m p u s including lecturing, as students will be left with the option of going home if their non-academic needs are not met

of the university community.

He said: “We make bold to say that the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Architect Sonny Echono is complicit in this regard.

“We see the recent development as a deliberate attempt to destabilize the Muhammadu Buhari administration and we call on the Federal Government to investigate this anomalous action by the Federal Ministry of Education, under Echono’s

*Cross section of members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) during one of their protests.

NASU, SSANU, NAAT ongoing strike: What students stand to suffer watch.

“If not, why did the Federal Ministry of Education decide to calculate the payments for each university and union in the university? Why didn’t they go through the governing councils of the universities in allocating the monies instead of a vague and blanket directive to vice-chancellors, sharing the money into two parts - teaching and nonteaching? We see corruption written in bold and capital letters and we demand for an investigation.”

Comrade Ugwoke explained that there was an understanding reached between the unions and the Federal Government during the conciliatory meeting that N23 billion earmarked from Earned Allowances was for the payment of the second tranche of arrears of Earned Allowances for both teaching and non-teaching staff in the university system.

He said: “As people of honour and considering that a document was signed to that effect, we had no reason to doubt the authenticity of their written commitment.

“Unfortunately, however, events have proven that we over-assumed the sense of honour of these government officials, particularly, Architect Sonny Echono, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, as the outcome proved contrary to the understanding that was reached with the government through them.

“To our consternation and utter dismay, the N23 billion has clearly been shown to be a payment for the Academic

Staff Union of Universities for their so called ‘Earned Academic Allowances,’ while the three non-teaching staff unions were allocated a paltry N4.6 billion (11%).

“On sighting the allocation table, the obvious anomaly and lopsidedness was observed and a demand for explanation or justification of how the allocations came about was made via a letter to the Honourable Minister of Education dated 14th November, 2017.

“In the letter, we drew the attention of the Honourable Minister to the disproportionate and skewed allocation of the Earned Allowances and demanded explanation. We went further to immediately reject the allocations as made, except we got a convincing and satisfactory explanation and justification for what we consider to be a n irrational a n d subjective ‘sharing o f booty.

“It is indeed s a d a n d heartrending t o inform y o u that over t w o weeks after

the said letter was delivered, there was not so much of an acknowledgement, not to talk of appropriate action to address the issues raised in the letter.

“The allocation as presently done, has many fundamental flaws. Firstly, it is unheard of, that allocations from the Federal Government to institutions would be split from the Ministry, according to unions and universities. The standard procedure has been to send funds to universities and not unions within the universities. Extremely strange!

“If the monies are indeed earned, how did the Federal Ministry of Education arrive at the calculation of what accrues to each university without input of the Bursary Department of the universities?’’

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 — 43

UBA Essay Contest: 3 winners get N2.3m scholarship grant

By Dayo Adesulu

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*From left: Director, Technical and Vocational Services, Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board(ASTVEB), Mr Laolu Oguntuyi, Training Manager, Dangote Academy, Mrs Adesumbo Williams and Executive Secretary, LASTVEB, Mrs Lara Erogbogbo, during the recruitment examination conducted by Dangote Group for the graduates of the government technical colleges held at Government Technical College, Agidingbi.

Experts task students on talents, career devt

By Happy Ekeyede

S

tudents across the country have been charged to focus more on their abilities and talents in order to take advantage of opportunities in their chosen career.

Speaking in Lagos at this year’s edition of Beyond the School, an initiative of the Nigerian Breweries/Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, Emilia Asim-Ita, a Senior Consultant with Thistle Praxis Consulting, instructed participants on how to make a success of their career choices.

Asim-Ita who spoke on Personal Development and Career Facts, maintained that career choice should be hinged on passion, adding that students should read wide, cultivate mentors and ignore distractions.

While encouraging the students to dream big, she urged them to develop their passions and interests to guarantee a bright future.

She said: “The knowledge you now have will help you find disciplines that you are passionate about.”

According to her, students need to develop the skills needed to succeed in their various disciplines.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Nimi Akinkugbe, Managing Director of Bestman Games during her presentation exposed the students to personal finance tips on saving, investing and spending.

She urged the students to be diligent, prudent and keep good company.

On his part, Mr. Gbubemi Fregene aka Chef Fregz, inspired the students with his success story. He implored them to get education so as to be on a higher pedestal in their career and passion paths.

He disclosed that as far back as his days in secondary school, he developed interest in cooking.

He said: “Life is about your passion, but education is important. The relationship is

symbiotic because it is actually your education that will determine how far you go with your passion. Don’t be upset that you don’t have anything now, but focus on what you are going to do in your own circle,” Gbubemi said, while urging the students to write their own story.

Earlier in his welcome address, Mr. Kufre Ekanem, Corporate Affairs Adviser, Nigerian Breweries Plc, explained that the initiative was introduced to complement other initiatives of the company targeted at the education sector.

According to him: “Beyond the School is designed for senior secondary school students in public schools to expose them to career options and factors they need to consider before making a career choice.”

Ekanem equally called on the students to take advantage of the career guidance information they were provided which is in line with best practices, to achieve their full potential.

Firm train teachers on BBC Micro: bit

A

firm, Almond Careers has formally introduced in the country, BBC Micro:bits with teachers' training at the weekend.

The Micro:bit according to the firm, is a pocket-sized codeable computer, designed to encourage young students to get creative with technology.

Speaking at the training, the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Mr. Henry Mbadiwe said Micro:bit will bring coding to life and help students see how codes can be applied to everyday life practically.

He explained that with the introduction of the device in the UK of which he was a part, his

company is set to bring the same technology into Nigeria which strategic goals is greatly aligned with the clarion call by the state and federal governments to get technology into schools in Nigeria.

“As part of the project team that worked on the Micro:bit in the UK and saw its successes, Almond Careers is on a mission to replicate that same success in the country by starting with teachers training who will in turn teach the students.

“Nowadays, computing and digital technology can be found almost everywhere, but the emphasis seems to have shifted from creation of technology to the consumption of it. The Micro:bits

is designed to reposition the emphasis to technology creation.

“It is something the BBC and micro:bits don’t want to do because it has not come to Africa but I insisted because I am part of the team and my company is doing it alone.

“We have been paying for it ourselves and we are not complaining because I believe there is real chance that Nigeria can actually step up in terms of technology.”

He explained further that the aim is to make children fall in love with coding and technology. It is not coding in theory anymore, it is now a practical application to life.”

HE trio, Samuella Sam-Orlu from British Nigerian Academy, Abuja; Deborah Chinwendu Innocent of Enal International Schools, Abuja and Ya-Hofon Ettah Essien from Nigerian Christian Institute, Akwa Ibom have emerged first, second and third respectively at the UBA Foundation National Essay Competition 2017.

Just as it was in 2011, 2012 and 2013, out of over 1,000 entries for the contest, nine females were shortlisted among the 12 finalists.

This year’s winners were all females.

While Sam-Orlu was rewarded with educational grant of N1,000,000 and laptop to study in any African university of her choice, Innocent and Essien got N750,000 and N500,000 and a laptop respectively.

Also, for making it to the final stage, the other nine finalists were rewarded each with a laptop, just as the 12 finalists also went home with certificates.

In his remark, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of UBA Plc, Mr. Kennedy

Uzoka said that UBA as a bank was happy to touch lives through this competition and the grant it gives out to those who emerge winners.

He said: “Seeing past winners tell their stories on the impact the grants have made on their education and particularly how the financial burden was lifted off their parents, gives us joy that our foundation is unique and stands out from others in touching lives.’’

He explained that the essay competition had produced over 100 winners since its inception in 2011 in Nigeria, with winners studying varied courses in universities in Nigeria and within the African continent.

His words: “I must also state here that we want to make sure the grants are given to those who really need them. That is why we restrict the grant to schools within Africa alone. If by chance the parents of any winner sends his or her ward to an elite school outside Africa, we would not go ahead with that support, because what we are really after are those who need the grant as we contribute to the development of Africa."

Lagos trains officers in education info mgt

By Amaka Abayomi

I

n a quest to implement the Lagos State governor, AkinwunmiAmbode’s,policythrust on Information Technology in the state's public service, the Ministry of Education, Office of Education Quality Assurance, OEQA, has organised a two-day training on Education Management Information System, EMIS, for education districts coordinating directors, heads of department and zonaldirectorsonelectronicmethod of data collection and information management.

At the training, the DirectorGeneral, OEQA, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo, tasked the officers to further improve on the quality of technologybased d a t a collection, information gathering, storage, dissemination, analysis, security a n d utilisation to raise t h e standard o f teaching, learning outcomes,

school self-evaluation and modules for intervention.

She stressed that OEQA's drive is to develop a durable and reliable database and statistical records of its activities which will help to simplify the activities of the quality assurance office.

She said: “EMIS is a computerbased human process used to gather needed information. This could be used to grow the activities of the education system which includes management, planning and decision-making useful to planners and administrators to make the education system more efficient and effective.”

44 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 :Vanguard News

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Electricity consumers protest 9 months power outage in Anambra As rights group drags Fashola, EEDC, NERC to court

By Vincent Ujumadu & Dennis Agbo

A

W K A — ELECTRICITY consumers in Odeagba and Arthur Eze Avenue areas in Awka yesterday took to the streets to protest power outage in the area for the past nine months.

They also frowned at the alleged release of two members of staff of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, EEDC, allegedly involved in vandalization of a transformer in the area by the police.

This is as the Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network, CRRAN, dragged the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatude Fashola, the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC and the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, EEDC, to court for violation of consumers rights in the South East geopolitical zone.

However, the Enugu region of Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has apologized to residents of communities in Enugu and Ebonyi states whose power supplies were cut off since Saturday December 2, 2017.

The company said the communities hit by the power failure were those taking supplies from the 30MVA, 132/33KV power Transformer located in Nkalagu, Ebonyi state.

Consumers protest outage Led by the chairman of Arthur Eze Business Association, Mr. Amaechi Okeke, the protesters in Awka said, since October 2016 when the Arthur Eze sub-station/transformer was vandalized, the area had been without power supply, expressing surprise that two EEDC workers allegedly caught vandalizing a transformer in the area were later freed by the police.

Their protest disrupted commercial activities at the EEDC office in Awka for several hours and caused traffic gridlock in the state capital.

Okeke said: “Two officials of EEDC were arrested for allegedly vandalizing the transformer in the area and they were promptly handed over to the police.

We were surprised that the police later released the suspects on grounds that they were not criminals.

Reacting to the protest, the EEDC Network Manager, Mr. Samuel Onuoha said about 200

transformers were vandalized by hoodlums between January and November this year in Anambra State, adding that the development was impacting negatively on the operations of the company.

Rights group drags Fashola EEDC, NERC to court Meanwhile, human Rights group, Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network, CRRAN, has dragged the Minister for Power, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company to court for violation of consumers rights in the South East geopolitical

zone.

The Rights group which filed its suit at the Federal High Court in Enugu is seeking for revocation of the operating license of the EEDC, for alleged flagrant disregard to the provisions of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005, which provides adequate protection to consumers but which CRRAN said the reverse had been the case in Southeast Nigeria.

Joined in the suit are the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, and the Minister of Power, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.

President of CRRAN, Mr. Olu Omotayo said that the EEDC operates in the Southeast as if there is no enabling law

regulating its’ activities in the Power sector, recalling that the “monstrous activities of EEDC without regard to all enabling laws regulating the grant of license to it, led the Enugu State House of Assembly to pass a vote of no confidence on 7th April 2017.”

Omotayo said that the 3rd and 4th Defendants, Fashola and the NERC, were joined because they have powers to caution and stop the lawlessness of EEDC but they chose to look the other way, thereby encouraging EEDC to continue its’ lawlessness.

He said: “The act of the 3rd defendant (Hon. Babatunde Fashola) in encouraging the disregard of consumers’ rights is a ploy to keep the southeast behind other regions as electricity distribution company in other regions are not lawless as the 1st Defendant.”

LAUNCHING: From Left—Ismail Olalekan, National Head of Sales, MultiChoice Nigeria; Ekom Esang, Project and Field Service Manager; and Caroline Oghuma, Acting Head of Corporate Communications, during the DStv Installer App Launch Press Conference in Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi

Libya Slavery: Nigeria immigration partners RARDUJA to stop illegal movement

By Chinonso Alozie

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WERRI—Following a story of Nigerian migrants to Libya, being sold and bought as slaves and tortured to death, the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, has partnered with a non-governmental organisation, RARDUJA International, to end the illegal movement.

The representative of Imo State, Immigration controller, Mrs Blessing Nwosu, confirmed this yesterday to Vanguard in Owerri, during a sensitization visit to Ikenegbu Girl’s Secondary School, without providing details or scope of the partnership.

She said: “The rising

level of human trafficking and unplanned journey to outside this country is worrisome and the time has come to address this issue holistically.

“To achieve this, we are partnering strongly with RARDUJA to end human trafficking.

“As a result of this development, it is good to get them at this early stage. So this seminar is very important to our youths because some of them travel abroad only to end up being used for prostitution and we cannot allow this to continue.”

Also speaking, President of RARDUJA, Mr. Eddy Dur u, said more Nigerian youths were wasted in the

desert while trying to travel outside the shores of Nigeria.

Duru said: “According to statistics, more Nigerian youths have died in the desert, while others died in the sea, during their unplanned travel to Europe. This fight has been on in the past twenty years and we will continue to sensitize our people on the dangers of unplanned journey.

“Our mission is reeducating Africans on the risk and dangers of unplanned journey abroad.

“RARDUJA is partnering with German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Nigerian Immigration Service to fight the menace.”

Ihedioha, Ohakim, others blast Okorocha

Over creation of Happiness Ministry, sister's appointment as commissioner Continued from Page 15

Okorocha’s government does not consider expertise in governance. If you look at his commissioners, they are the same. What Imo people are currently facing is the inability of the government to pay workers and pensioners. This is what we call administrative prodigality.

“The governor and his family members are turning the economy of Imo state into their personal business. However, it is unfortunate, where we have found ourselves. Take note, this is called political familiocracy. We do not need this kind of ministry."

Speaking also, the Director General, New Media, Imo State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Arc Akwarandu, made this as his submission: “I have said it all the time that nothing about Okorocha interests me. I wish I can stop talking about him but it is not possible.

“This is just to say that whoever the gods want to kill, they first make him mad. He will continue to make mistake to the detriment of the people who are at the receiving end, the Imolites.

“How can a governor create 27 ministries and a ministry of Happiness and Couples Fulfilment, in a state pensioners are being owed in this time of recession. This is the height of ridicule. This is just, my family, my family governance in Imo State.

Also, you can see that the key ministries are not given to any other person if not people around him.”

This is the highest ridicule of governance — INC In his contribution, the national president of Igbo National Council, INC, Chilos Godsent, said: “We have observed the creation of a new ministry called ministry of Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment. This is the highest ridicule of governance.

“A ministry he created without due process, without due consideration of the economic hardships of the state, he arbitrarily created a ministry called the ministry of Happiness and appointed his younger sister to head the ministry.

“This is just to rape the economy of Imo people, in addition to the monumental recklessness and sheer tendencies to loot the treasure of the state.".

“What do we see as happiness, what type of happiness are we talking about, does that imply Imo people are not happy ?

What is the economic

contribution of that ministry of happiness, and we want to know the budget allocation of the ministry.”

Commenting on Vanguard’s online version, a commentator wrote: “Sam Mbakwe will be weeping seriously in his grave. If Imo people had checked Okorocha's background, he could not have won the election.

What a sad miscalculations.”

Another called Goddy wrote: “Okorocha, stop this your acrobatic display. Few days ago, you failed to present a budget to the House, your excuse was error in printing spotted by the House on the budget which has not be presented to them . Today, it's error from the print which changed purposeful to couple, what a metamorphosis? Imo under your watch has fallen. Bro, stop this insult, recklessness, unguided approach, ineffective and bad governance.”

Another commentor called Matthews said: “Choosing to correct just one out of the couple of errors itself is an error itself.

To one, the printer’s devil may have been the MINOR out of both errors. Yet Okorocha, in his wisdom, has chosen to effect correction on the MINOR while retaining the MAJOR error, his sister.”

Trouble wrote: “Okorocha has confirmed that all the ministries & his efforts in Imo state have not brought any joy or happiness to the people of Imo state. Is it this new Ministry of Happiness headed by his empty headed sister that will give the citizens of Imo state happiness. A special place in hell will be created for Okorocha so he will find happiness there.”

Gbenga Adeosun Esq said: “There was a time I had huge respect for Owelle Rochas Okorocha, during his non political days when he was an altruistic philanthropist.

"However, these days, especially since the start of his 2nd term, he has been embarrassing and ridiculing himself shamelessly all about.”

Bangalee wrote: “Why not ministry of family planning and counselling? It sounds better than happiness.

Nigeria is in serious trouble when people placed in authorities have a mindset like this. Enough research and consultation was not put into this decision.

Nigerians must stop fire brigade approaches in solving issues.''

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017—45 :Vanguard News

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Rivers PDP endorses Secondus for national chairmanship

By Jimitota Onoyume

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IVERS State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has endorsed Prince Uche Secondus as its choice for the national chairmanship position of

the party.

The State Chairman, Mr Felix Obuah disclosed this, yesterday, in Port Harcourt, stressing that Secondus, as a founding member of the party, has the capacity to take the party to greater heights.

Appealing to party members in other states to also vote for Secondus because he could be trusted to take the party to victory in 2019, he added: “He is a pioneer member of the PDP, has served in different

capacities including as one-time state chairman, national organising secretary, deputy national chairman, acting national chairman and a member of the Board of Trustees of the party.”

Ambrose Alli varsity ASUU tasks BEDC on power supply

By Gabriel Enogholase

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CADEMIC Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Ambrose Alli University, AAU, chapter, Ekpoma, has appealed to the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC, to restore electricity to the university town to avert crisis.

It would be called that BEDC disconnected the town from the national grid following a misunderstanding between it and some stakeholders in the town, leading to months of power outage in the university town and its environs.

A statement jointly signed by the Chairman and Secretary of AAU-

ASUU chapter, Dr. Monday Igbafen and Dr. Anthony Aizebioje-Coker, expressed concern over the development and called on BEDC to quickly resolve the crisis and restore electricity to the town.

The union expressed worries over the hardline position of BEDC, despite series of peaceful intervention by some prominent persons in Ekpoma, including the Onojie of Ekpoma HRH A. Abumere II. It urged BEDC to use the opportunity of the intervention of Edo State House Assembly Standing Committee on Energy and Water Resources to resolve the crisis and re-establish a cordial social and business relationship with consumers in Ekpoma.

500 elderly Bayelsans benefit from NYSC's medical outreach

By Samuel

Oyadongha

AWARD: From left: Seyi Iwayemi, Group Head, Channels Management, Maximedia Global Ltd;

Serge Noujaim, Chief Operating Officer, Wazobia FM and Femi Obong-Daniels, Head of Station, Wazobia FM, during the presentation of an award to Maximedia Global Limited at the Wazobia FM 10th anniversary awards in Lagos.

PDP Convention: Govs won't force National Chairman on party —Okowa

By Festus Ahon

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HAIRMAN of the PDP National Elective Convention Committee and governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has said the party’s governors are not supporting one chairmanship candidate, dismissing rumours that the governors were forcing a national chairman on the party as false.

Okowa who made the clarification in a television chat, said: “In most of the states, the convention delegates are already known and the party will ensure it gives a level playing ground to all the aspirants, expressing hope that “the party will be more united, following its upcoming convention on December 9.”

Holding that the PDP would be a much stronger force to contend with in the 2019 presidential election, he said: “The party is doing everything possible to ensure a hitch-free convention. I believe that the National caretaker committee of the party is doing a lot to ensure that things are put in place.

“As for the national planning committee that I lead, we were inaugurated

this afternoon and we have held our inaugural meeting. We do know that in any elective convention, all kinds of views come into play but ours as a planning committee is to ensure that we deliver a convention that is credible and in which all the processes are such that will be blameless. We will deliver on a free, fair and transparent primary.

That is our aim.

“For the reconciliatory process, we will be looking up to the party leadership to deal with that but our

major task is to deliver a convention that is truly credible and that all can attest to. That will enable us to heal faster, and unite faster after the convention.”

On reports that the Chairman of the electoral panel and former governor of Benue State, Mr Gabriel Suswan, had declared support for a candidate, Okowa said: “I am not aware that he has declared support for any particular candidate but even if he has any sentiments for anyone, he will not be in a position

at all, on the convention day to do anything that is unjust. We are going to adopt the open secret ballot system of voting.

“We have also put in place a credible team to ensure reconciliation of party members who may feel aggrieved going forward after the convention.”

On the defection of a former vice President Atiku Abubakar, to the PDP, he said that “there is strength in numbers; the party will always welcome as many persons as possible."

Human trafficking, our worst security challenge —Obaseki Even before the invasion,

By Simon Ebegbulem

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O V E R N O R Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has described human trafficking as the greatest security challenge facing his administration and vowed to fight the cartel perpetrating the illicit trade in the state.

The governor stated this when he received a delegation of the management and members of Edo Forum of Patriots, led by its Chairman,

Aiyamenkhue Edokpolor, who paid a courtesy visit to the governor at Government House, Benin City.

Obaseki said: “Human trafficking has become a security threat in the state as over 10,000 young men and women were trafficked in a space of 12 months and more than 30 per cent of them lost their lives in the process.

“Human trafficking is one disaster that has befallen us as a people since the European invasion of 1897.

Edo people were never sold into slavery because we had a very powerful army.

“For us to start selling ourselves into slavery means something fundamental has happened and much has gone wrong. We cannot fold our hands and keep mute as if nothing is happening.

As a government we took actions and some persons on social media are condemning our actions. I think those people should be arrested for aiding the crime.”

N

O fewer than 500 elderly Bayelsans from Kaiama community in KolokumaOpokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have benefited from the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, medical outreach programme.

Tagged: Health Initiative for Rural Dwellers, the programme is an initiative of the Director-General of the Corps, BrigadierGeneral SZ Kazaure and is aimed at enhancing accessibility to health care services by rural

dwellers.

Members of the corps, made up of medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists and laboratory scientists were on ground to conduct free medical screening, examination, test and sensitization campaign, sharing of drugs and mosquito nets to the elderly indigenes of the area.

Speaking during the flag-off ceremony at Kaiama, the Bayelsa State coordinator of the NYSC, Mrs. Loto Bolade, said the programme is aimed at utilizing the skills of corps medical personnel towards reaching out to the less privileged in the society.

We'll implement GMoU with host community —SEEPCO

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HE management of Sterling Energy Exploration Petroleum Company Limited, SEEPCO, has assured the people of Beneku community in Ndokwa East council area of Delta State that it would continue to work in harmony with them in the implementation of the GMoU with the community.

Giving the assurance during the launch of a 5-classroom block project being constructed by the company as part of projects contained in the GMoU, the company explained that the project is part of the community relations

efforts it is embarking on in its host community.

Speaking on behalf of the company SEEPCO Community Relations Manager, Emeka Nwachukwu, said that the project which is sited at the Ndam Primary School, goes a long way to show that the GMoU entered into with the community has not been abandoned and assured that the company is committed to its implementation.

He said: "I would like to use this opportunity to assure the people of Beneku that we are with them and would continue to maintain a harmonious working relationship with them."

46—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017—47 :Vanguard News

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Thousands healed at Holy Ghost Congress

By Sam Eyoboka & Olayinka Latona

L

AGOS—IT was ecstasy on the second night of the ongoing 20th Holy Ghost Congress of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, when Evangelist Solo Urete reenacted the rich culture of the Niger Delta people when he sang his popular traditional gospel song, Jehovah Overdo catapulting the RCCG Mass Choir into frenzy.

It was a familiar captivating and energetic dance steps peculiar to the Niger Delta geo-political zone of the Federation.

As part of the Choir Ministration to herald the General Overseer, G.O of the Church, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, for the second talk of the night, “Victory Over Sickness and Diseases”, the Niger Delta Evangelist virtually turned on the magic that gingered the daily growing crowd of worshippers at the Old Auditorium to very scintillating dance steps as if to shake off all body pains.

Taking a cue from that energetic bodily

exercise, the 74-year old G.O. led the crowd into singing: “My Head, My Shoulder, My Knee, My Toes. They all belong to Jesus”, an old Yoga-like round of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines, to demonstrate that God is not only interested in man’s soul and spirit but also the physical body.

“There are some people who will teach you that God is only interested in your soul and spirit, that is a lie of the Devil. God is keenly interested in your body,” he emphasized, stressing that those who actively participated in that exercise would discover that a sizable part of their medical condition would have been taken care of.

According to him, “the reason why many people are sick today is because they have not realized that their body belongs to God. The realization that our bodies belong to Jesus brings a responsibility on us which is invariably linked to how we handle our physical bodies,” the 74-year old cleric who maintained that the

previous night after his Ministration, he was compelled by God to walk round the sprawling Camp praying.

“God wants you to present your body holy, the devil rejoices when he hears that you can do whatever you like with your body, that God is only interested in your soul and spirit,” he stated.

Dressed in a stripped short sleeve shirt with a bow tie, Adeboye urged the participants to be mindful of what went into their body systems stressing that “it is the temple of Holy Ghost.”

Enumerating 10 reasons why participants would be healed during the healing service and made whole, the G.O explained that God created man in His image and that He had the power to handle even genetical problems because He made the parents.

“God is the one that created you, He is the porter, you are the clay, if anything goes wrong in your body, God can repair or replace it. He can handle cases that are

beyond medicine. He will heal because He has something that doctors did not have,” he said.

He then led the congregation to pray several prayer points, and at the end of the service, Pastor Adeboye asked those with clear evidence of healing to come out. A sizable number of the worshippers trouped out rejoicing for what the Lord had done for them.

The unprecedented number of those healed was so large that there was no way anybody could take their

Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God and his wife, Pastor Folu at the event. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele. testimonies but the sound of tremendous rejoicing rented the atmosphere as the cleric restricted

himself to just praying for their healings to be permanent.

Adeboye's welcome address Let's sing songs of victory

I

T is another December! Another Holy Ghost Congress!

Halleluyah! Glory Be to the Almighty God who has preserved us over the past 12 months to see another Congress, a special Congress to sing Songs of Victory. I thank God for every reader of this address and for everyone at this Congress. The Lord who has kept you will give you songs of victory in Jesus’ name, Amen!

From the Theme-Songs of Victory-you can be sure that God is about to do something in your life that will make you sing for joy all through this Congress and beyond.

Based on our past experiences at the Congress, we know that whenever God gives the theme for the Congress, the matter is settled. It does not matter what you may have gone through or going through right now. God is about to give

you songs of victory.

Are you ready to sing?

Fine! All you need to do is to give God your complete attention at this Congress. Praise and worship God like never before, listen to all the messages, follow all the instructions, pray and apply the word to yourself.

I am most delighted to welcome you to the Congress of Songs of Victory. It is your time to sing. You shall not miss your blessings in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Trump recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital *Palestinians say it's kiss of death

P

RESIDENT Donald Tru m p recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on Wednesday and announced plans to relocate the US Embassy there, a move expected to inflame tensions in the region and unsettle the prospects for peace.

“I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” Trump said from White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room. “After more than two decades of waivers, we are no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.”

The move signaled a willingness on Trump’s part to prioritize fulfilling a campaign promise over the consensus among US allies in the region and beyond that the decision could stymie the peace process and increase security risks in a region that is already on edge.

“Today, I am delivering,” Trump said, referencing his campaign promise.

Trump said Wednesday he is ordering the State Department “to begin

preparations to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.”

But senior officials said he will again sign a waiver to keep the US embassy in Tel Aviv for the time being as they estimate it will take years before a new embassy can open in Jerusalem.

Trump said his order to the State Department will begin the process of hiring architects and building contractors to build an embassy that will be a “a magnificent tribute to peace.”

Jerusalem’s status has been a stumbling block in decades of on-off IsraeliPalestinian peace efforts.

Israel considers the city its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there. Palestinians want the capital of an independent Palestinian state to be in the city ’s easter n sector, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move never recognised internationally.

A Palestinian envoy said the decision was a declaration of war in the Middle East. Pope Francis called for Jerusalem’s “status quo” to be re-

spected, saying new tension would further inflame world conflicts.

China and Russia expressed concern the plans could aggravate Middle East hostilities.

Washington’s allies in the region have all warned of dangerous repercussions from Trump’s decision.

Turkey said it could go as far as breaking off diplomatic ties with Israel if the U.S. move went ahead. A government spokesman said it would plunge the region into “a fire with no end in sight”.

Trump will sign a national security waiver delaying a physical move since the United States does not have an embassy structure in Jerusalem to move into.

A senior administration official said it could take three to four years to build one.

But Trump’s decision, a core pledge of his election campaign last year, will upend decades of American policy that has seen the status of Jerusalem as part of a “twostate solution” for Israelis and Palestinians.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 — 47

Aguero downplays Super Eagles threat A

rgentina and Manchester City striker, Sergio Aguero said he was more concerned about the dangers Iceland and Croatia pose in the group D draw of the FIFA 2018 World Cup tournament.

Aguero, who was speaking on the World Cup parings, stated that group D will not be a bad sign for Argentina, even as they will not want to underrate the other teams.

“The group parings are not bad, but let’s not say it’s very good for us, Iceland is one of the debutants, they do not play badly, they are a very organized team and they have (Gylfi) Sigurðsson.

“Croatia have a great midfield, they have Modric, Rakitic, you have Perisic who plays outside and he’s very fast, Croatia is a bit more complete.” “They are the first two games, they are the most important, they will not be easy.

Speaking on the 4-2 loss to the Super Eagles in a friendly in Russia, Aguero said that it was probably his team-mates lost concentration as they thought of his health condition. “The second half against Nigeria I could not see, because I was in the

ngland are set to play Nigeria in a World Cup warm-up game in June, according to the general secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Mohammed Sanusi.

Both nations will feature at next year’s World Cup in Russia, with Nigeria drawn in Group D along with Argentina, Croatia and Iceland, while Gareth Southgate’s side will play Belgium, Panama and Tunisia in Group G. England are scheduled to play the Netherlands in a friendly on

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TRIPPING... John Obi Mikel and John Ogu sandwich Sergio Aguero.

Hospital, but when they told me how it panned out, I asked, ‘what happened?”

“That happens sometimes, it was because they thought of me, they were scared, I do not know.”

March 23 before hosting Italy four days later. They will meet Tunisia in their World Cup opener at the Volgograd Arena on June 18.

“We plan to play a friendly against England in June, before the World Cup,” Sanusi said, adding that the venue and other details of the match were still to be worked out.

There has been no confirmation from the Football Association on pre-World Cup friendlies. The two countries met in a friendly in November 1994, which England won 1-0 at Wembley courtesy of a David Platt goal.

he stage is set for the kickoff of the 2017 edition of the most exciting beach soccer competition in Africa, Copa Lagos. The championship which will feature four national beach soccer teams and four clubs begins tomorrow at the Eko Atlantic,Victoria Island Lagos.

Speaking at the pretournament press conference yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer of Kinetic Sports, Samson

Adamu said this edition had something special to offer the numerous spectators expected at the venue.

“For the first time in the sevenyear history of the tournament, we are going to have Arsenal Beach Soccer team feature in the event,”he said, adding, “we are also going to see the Spanish national beach soccer team for the first time. Nigeria Super Sand Eagles and Lebanon national team are regular features in the tournament.”

Apart from the exciting football

IKE have hinted Cristiano Ronaldo is set to equal Lionel Messi’s Ballon d’Or record. The sportswear giants have released two new sets of CR7 boots ahead of today’s big announcement.

NFF gives Rohr pay rise

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igeria Football Federation has given Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr a pay rise in the new contract offer made to the coach who guided Nigeria through a seamless World Cup qualification campaign.

The German-born Rohr has already signed the contract that will see him in charge of the Super Eagles beyond 2019.

“We offered him a new contract which he has accepted,” NFF president Amaju Pinnick said.

“They are going about the documentation now. His contract expires after the World Cup but we have offered him another two years with a slight pay increase.

“He has radiated being that father figure for the team and has made the players understand that if “I lead well, you guys will follow well”.

The team spirit is what has been

Copa Lagos: Organisers hail Gov Ambode

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Iceland will first challenge Indonesia Selection on 11 January and three days later, they will play Indonesia’s senior national team at the same venue.

“2018 is a pretty aggressive year for PSSI, there are plenty of Asian and Asean level events that we will carry out. We will start on January 11 and 14 against Iceland,” said deputy general secretary of PSSI Business Development and Marketing, Marsal Masita.

Ballon d’Or: Ronaldo hotly tipped to pick up his fifth gong

All set for Copa Lagos 2017

By Jacob Ajom

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celand will face Indonesia in an international friendly in Gelora Bung Karno Stadium on January14 2018.

The Europeans who will become the smallest country ever to take part in the Fifa World Cup have been zoned in Group D alongside Argentina, Croatia and Nigeria.

And in their bid to ensure a successful debut in Russia, they will face the Asian nation in the friendly organised by PSSI and Mediapro Asia.

Three Lions to clash with Eagles — NFF scribe

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Iceland plays Indonesia for Eagles

action expected from the participating teams, Adamu said there will be plenty of music, dance and fashion. “There is so much to look forward to,” he pointed out. He also spoke on the partnership between Lagos state government and his organisation, adding that the partnership would make the tournament bigger and better this year.

Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde said the state government aligned with Kinetic

counting for us on the field and off the field.

“He has been able to instil in the boys a sense of patriotism, a sense of discipline, and he’s been able to show them that if you are not disciplined then you cannot make an impact.

“Gernot has been exceptional as a coach.” Pinnick also paid tribute to Nigeria captain John Mikel Obi. “Mikel Obi has been super,” added Pinnick. “He has carried the team so well and they believe in him.”

“We are very happy with what we have been able to mould together because it is very rare in Nigeria. In the past, you’ve had several leaders in the Super Eagles but now we have just one Super Eagles. “The team spirit is what has been counting for us on the field and off the field.”

One set of boots - the Mercurial Superfly V Quinto Triunfo CR7 - even reads “fifth triumph” when translated from Portuguese.

They are white and gold have the four years in which Ronaldo has won the Ballon d’Or - 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 - as well as 2017, inscribed inside of them.

Ronaldo himself announced the release of his own Air Force 1 CR7 trainers - following the same white/gold colour scheme.

French publication France Football will name the winner of the coveted award this year.

Ronaldo, 32, is hotly tipped to take home his fifth gong and draw level with Barcelona rival Lionel Messi.

He will reportedly receive it atop the Eiffel Tower.

Pa Okpalla goes home

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he remains of Pa Raymond Ezeibekwe Okpalla will be laid to rest tomorrow at his family compound at Nkpologwu in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State.

Pa Okpalla was a community leader who is survived by sons, daughters and grand children.

SA Modern Pentathlon boss: We are here to win

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resident of the South African Modern Pentathlon Association, Peter Oosthuizen has high hopes on the chances of his country’s contingent to qualify for the 2018 Youth Olympics holding in Argentina.

Oosthuizen who is leading a contingent of four male and two female athletes for the first Senior African Championship and Youth Olympic qualifier holding in Lagos has said that they have prepared well for the tournament and don’t see any country in Nigeria that can truncate his country’ s progress to the Youth Olympics.

“We are anticipating our athletes will do well to qualify for Buenos Aires. He added, “for now we don’t feel threatened by any country as we have prepared well for the events.”

Oosthuizen said he had no complaint with either the weather or facilities put in place for the tournament.

“We are used to warm weather,” he said, and the facilities on ground conform with international standard. I am pleased with what I have seen. The people of Nigeria too are very hospitable.”

Oosthuizen said.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017

Sudoku TODAY’S PUZZLE

QUICK CROSSWORD YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

YESTERDAY’SOLUTION

TODAY’S CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 Cut off (7) 5 Rope fibre (5) 8 Drug obtained from poppies (5) 9 Shoe material (7) 10 European language (7) 11 One of the Great Lakes (5) 12 Football (6) 14 Poland’s capital (6) 18 Gesture of indifference (5)

20 Teacher (anag.) (7) 22 Refrain from voting (7) 23 Entertain (5) 24 Backbone (5) 25 Worked up (7) DOWN 1 Husbands and wives (7) 2 Put into words (5) 3 Type of lettuce (7) 4 Oracle site (6)

5 Secret store (5) 6 Globes (7) 7 Sophia ——, film actress (5) 13 Corpus ——, Cambridge college (7) 15 Antiquated (7) 16 Saturday and Sunday (7) 17 Opportunity (6) 18 Cobs and pens (5) 19 “Amazing ——,” popular hymn (5) 21 Grown-up (5)

How to Play Sudoku Place 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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