MISSING OIL MONEY: Sanusi's claims, cheap blackmail — FG

...towards a better life for the people

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VOL. 25: NO. 62099

FESTAC BOAT MISHAP:

Bodies of 3 siblings, boat boy, 9 others 6 recovered

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N150

THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

APAPA GRIDLOCK:

PTD regulates movement of tankers to Lagos 14

Don't split Nigeria along religious, ethnic lines, Buhari warns 8

MISSING OIL MONEY:

Sanusi's claims, cheap blackmail — FG

BY EMMA UJAH, ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF & BEN AGANDE

•Urges him to respond to FRC's charges •Orders forensic audit of NNPC's remittances •Judge's absence stalls hearing in Sanusi's suit •N24bn Police Pension money not missing — Okonjo-Iweala

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BUJA — THE Presidency, yesterday, asked suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to provide a clear Continues on page 5

COLUMNISTS:

FESTAC BOAT MISHAP SURVIVORS

•P.17

•P.19

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Mr & Mrs

•Survivors of the Festac Town, Lagos boat mishap after discharge from hospital, yesterday.

Gusau has not resigned — Presidency

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2 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 — 3

4—Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

FG demands action from South Africa over assaulted Nigerian

BY VICTORIA OJEME

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BUJA—THE F e d e r a l Government has demanded appropriate administrative and legal action from the South African government against two of its officers from the Police Service in Cape-Town over an assault on one Nigerian, Mr Clement Emekeneh.

The two officers were, last Friday reported by a local television (ETV) in the country, to have beaten an unidentified individual who was later confirmed to be a Nigerian.

In his reaction, the Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, Ambassador S.S. Yusuf, in a statement yesterday said the action which has caused public outrage, has “further highlighted the lawlessness of the South African Police Service, which has become notorious for extrajudicial actions.”

The envoy noted that though the South African Police Service immediately issued a public statement condemning the action of its members while the Independent Police Investigation Department (IPID) also arrested the two officers captured in the television report and were placed on suspension, Yusuf assured that the mission would not relent on its effort to see that justice is done.

“In addition, the High Commissioner, through the effort of the Nigerian Community Leader in Cape Town, was able to speak with the victim, Mr. Clement Emekeneh, to sympathise with him, assuring him of the mission’s support and the necessary steps taken to protest to the host authorities to ensure that justice is done,” he said.

According to the statement, the two officer were charged to court on Monday, March 11, 2014, while the accused officers were granted bail in the sum of Rand 1, 500 each while the case was adjourned till May 9, 2014.

Gusau has not resigned — Presidency

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE, BEN AGANDE & ABDULSALAM MUHAMMAD

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HERE was a gale of anxiety in the polity yesterday over a media report that Defence Minister, General Aliyu Gusau, had quit his less than eight days job.

Quoting several sources, an online media, said Gusau’s sudden decision to quit President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet arose from what he considered an act of insubordination and indiscipline from Nigeria’s top military brass.

According to the report, Nigeria’s top military henchmen kept the Defence minister waiting for two days after he summoned them to a meeting, with different military service chiefs making excuses for their inability to meet with him and the Minister of State (Defence), Senator Musiliu Obanikoro. Finally, the situation turned testy yesterday when, after keeping Gusau and Obanikoro waiting for several hours, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, reportedly showed up alone for the meeting.

When Gusau told Badeh that he was expecting all the chiefs of staff, the latter reportedly told him there was no need and that as CDS alone would be meeting with the minister and added that the arrangement was the collective decision of military officers in the country.

The report further claimed Badeh rudely brushed aside Obanikoro’s attempt to intervene by asking the junior minister to ‘shut up.’ "Air Marshal Badeh is said to have called Senator Obanikoro a ‘small boy’ and warned him that the military was not going to be taking orders anymore from bloody civilians like him."

After the altercation, General Gusau reportedly ended the meeting and asked the Permanent Secretary in the ministry to transmit his letter of resignation to President Goodluck

Jonathan, who was said to have immediately charged Senate President David Mark to prevail on Gusau to rescind his resignation.

The report tied Gusau’s absence at yesterday Federal Executive Council (FEC) weekly meeting of all ministers with the president to his resignation and resolve not serve in a situation where military officers would show open disdain for their civilian leaders and him an experienced retired military man.

The report spread like a wild harmattan fire yesterday, raising anxiety in the polity, which was calmed by the denial of the move by the Presidency, General Gusau and the Defence Ministry.

I’ve not resigned – Gusau Reacting to the report, General Gusau, who was sworn-in as Defence Minister on March 5, said he has not resigned from the cabinet of the President Jonathan’s administration.

A BBC Hausa service report monitored in Kano, quoted Gusau to have personally called the foreign media House to intimate the world that he is still in charge of the Defence ministry.

However, the influential retired

General failed to shed more light on his rumoured exit exacerbated by his absence at the weekly FEC meeting yesterday.

Gusau remains Defence minister – Presidency Dismissing the report of Gusau’s resignation as false, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, said that the General’s absence at yesterday’s meeting was with the permission of President Jonathan.

He said: “There was a report by an online medium alleging that the Minister of Defence, General Gusau, has resigned his appointment. This is to let you know that, that report is untrue.

General Gusau remains in office as Minister of Defence . He was absent from the today’s Federal Executive Council meeting with the permission of the President.

“The story is not true, he remains in office. He himself has issued a statement on it but I think this further clarification is necessary before we are confronted with a situation whereby all kinds wild speculations begin to come up and the story begins to develop

undesirable branches.” ...Defence Ministry concurs In like manner, the Ministry of Defence also dismissed the reports as untrue.

In a statement by its Director of Press, Shehu Maikai, the ministry said: “Our attention have (sic) been drawn to a media posting on the social network to the effect that the Honourable Minister of Defence, Lt General Aliyu Gusau has resigned; and wish to state, categorically, that the minister has not resign (sic) his appointment. We thank all those that have called to verify the rumour and reassure you all that Lt General Aliyu Gusau remains the minister of Defence.”

The former top spy was among 11 new cabinet members sworn in last week by President Jonathan in an elaborate ceremony in Abuja to rejuvenate the federal cabinet.

Gusau, an influential retired General of the Nigerian Army had in the last 14 years of democracy in the country served two administrations as National Security Adviser (NSA) before seeking and missing the number one job in the country in 2011.

CLOSING BELL RINGING: From left — Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Stock Exchange, Mr. Oscar Onyema; Group Managing Director, Dangote Sugar, Mr. Graham Clark; the Company’s Secretary, Chioma Madubuko and Deputy Group Managing Director, Dangote Sugar, Mr. Abdullahi Sule during the closing bell ringing at the Nigerian Stock Exchange Lagos, yesterday.

Human rights abuses: 250 groups drag FG to UN

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

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BUJA—A coalition of over 250 civil societies organisations, yesterday, dragged the Nigerian government before the United Nations, over what they termed "deteriorating situations of human rights and the rule of law in Nigeria in the last three years".

In a report the group submitted to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, yesterday, under the aegis of Human Rights Agenda Network, HRAN, maintained that the Nigerian government, lacks the commitment to prosecute politically exposed persons who were ac-

cused of corruption and abuse of office.

According to them, "None of the former governors charged to court since 2007 has been effectively prosecuted."

Urging the UN to call the federal government to order, HRAN, in the report which was tendered

by Mr. Chino Obiagwu, said: "Our 2013 report demonstrated that the situation of human rights in Nigeria remains deteriorating, in the following patterns: "Increased cases of extra judicial executions and summary killings; continued use of torture as state-condoned tool of law enforcement; widespread gender-

based violence and sex crimes.

"Forced eviction of poor urban communities; denial of educational rights with students of public universities at home for more than a half of the year; increased cases of corruption and apparent lack of commitment of government to punish corrupt public officials.

"Violations of rights of children and the failure of federal and state governments to fully implement the Child Rights Laws; repressive counter-terrorism administration resulting in increased gun violence and insecurity.

"Continued use of death pen-

alty with the recent execution of 4 prisoners in Edo State despite their appeals pending in court.

"Poor investment in infrastructure such as power, roads, rail and health delivery, despite open profligacy in government. E.g. in 2013, the government procured new presidential planes and top aviation officials spent over $220m to purchase two cars, yet primary to tertiary education are severely underfunded".

More so, the group, said its findings showed that over 3600 persons were direct victims of human rights violations in 2013 in Nigeria covered in 687 reported incidents.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014—5

POCKET CARTOON

From left: Member, Senate Committee on Lands, Housing & Urban Development, Senator Kabiru Gaya; Vice Chairman, Senator Gbenga Ashafa; Minister of Lands & Housing, Mrs. Akon Etim Eyakenyi; Senator Simeon Ajibola and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Lands, Housing & Urban Development, Dr. Ezekiel Oyemomi, after the 2014 budget defence session at the National Assembly, yesterday.

Sanusi's claims, cheap blackmail — FG Continues from page 1 response to allegations of financial recklessness levelled against him and stop misleading Nigerians and the international community that his suspension was because he alleged that monies were unremitted to national coffers by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. Addressing State House correspondents, yesterday, Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, reiterated that Sanusi’s suspension had nothing to do with his disclosure of alleged shortfalls in remittances by NNPC. Abati said as a demonstration of government’s transparency, it has ordered a forensic audit of the NNPC to unravel the truth about its remittances.

While condemning Sanusi’s “resort to playing politics with serious national issues,” Abati said Sanusi’s suggestion that the “phantom missing funds may have been diverted to fund campaigns for next year’s general elections is mischievous, irresponsible and designed to incite other political parties and members of the public against the Federal Government.”

However, the absence of Justice Gabriel Kolawole stalled further hearing in the suit filed by the embattled CBN governor against the Federal Government challenging his suspension from office by President Goodluck Jonathan.

At the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, Justice Kolawole was not in court, while parties to the suit were asked to come back to court, March 19, as

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. Friedrich Nietzsche.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

Centre yourself within the heart of gratitude, gratitude for the gift of life, gratitude for your journey of soul. In the heart of gratitude you will find the love you seek— Rodney Jones Three steps you can take now to shift your destiny. First, know that Divine Love is behind everything. Secondly, learn to do one small deed for someone else each day, without any expectation of reward. Thirdly, love God with all your heart and you will then find love and become the master of your fate.

Do all things for God, and do not distinguish between the most grand service or smallest action in giving service. Let go of your thoughts and feelings that are not uplifting. Let your emptiness be filled with the Divine Love. Don’t give up feelings and thoughts, just let them go. Let go your hold upon them. They will fly away like wild birds and reveal spaces within the heart that will be filled with God’s love.

Serve and love those God loves. Let the light of each soul fill your vision, in this way, you will become more God-like. You will see God in everything and everyone, and know God within yourself.

the judge was attending a seminar.

The statement: Abati's statement said: “We have noted with disappointment, the unrelenting attempt by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to falsely portray his recent suspension from office as an attempt by the Presidency to bury his allegation that huge sums of money due to the Federation Account are unaccounted for by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. “The Presidency wishes to reaffirm that Mallam Sanusi’s suspension has absolutely nothing to do with his unproven and inconsistent claims that $49.8 billion, $12 billion or $20 billion is missing from the national treasury.

“As was clearly stated in the letter suspending him from office and confirmed

by President Goodluck Jonathan in his last Presidential Media Chat, Malam Sanusi’s suspension was wholly based on the need for him to step aside while the weighty charges of financial recklessness, gross misconduct and persistent disregard for laid-down rules and regulations in the management of the Central Bank made against him by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and others are properly investigated.

“It is most unfortunate that instead of trying to provide some reasonable response to the clear and unambiguous query of his official conduct as Governor of the Central Bank, Mallam Sanusi has cynically chosen to whip up public sympathy for himself and anger against the Federal Government by deliberately misleading unwary Nigerians and the international community into believing the falsehood that he is being punished for exposing

corruption.

“In recent days, the suspended CBN Governor has, following in the footsteps of others who have an axe to grind with the government, taken to spreading his false claims and allegations through gullible foreign media correspondents, telling them, among other things, that his threat to force commercial banks to open up their books to unravel the whereabouts of the 'missing' funds whether $49.8 billion, $12 billion or $20 billion, ultimately led to his suspension.

“He also continues to make the mischievous claim that the government is somehow involved in a scam to divert huge sums of money from the Federation Account through the misappropriation of kerosene subsidy funds.

“Mallam Sanusi’s allegations are patently untrue.

But Government is making no effort to bury them as he falsely claims. Relevant committees of the National Assembly are still investigating the claims and the suspended CBN Governor remains free to give evidence before them in support of his allegations.

FG orders forensic audit of NNPC accounts

sine subsidy was a big scam being operated by a cabal in government and that the money was being used to finance election.

In an interview with the New York Times, Mallam Sanusi claimed that he was sacked because he threatened to conduct special examination on the banks to ascertain their involvement in the missing $20 billion fuel money. He explained that many of the bankers panicked at his threat to open their books and two of them reported to the government, saying that at that moment he knew his days at the CBN were numbered.

Absence of judge “Furthermore, in keeping stalls hearing in with its avowed commit- Sanusi's suit ment to full transparency, openness and accountability in governmental affairs, the Federal Government has authorised the engagement of reputable international firms for the recommended forensic audit of NNPC accounts.

“The Presidency condemns Mallam Sanusi’s resort to playing politics with serious national issues. His suggestion that the phantom missing funds may have been diverted to fund campaigns for next year’s general elections is mischievous, irresponsible and designed to incite other political parties and members of the public against the Federal Government.

Cheap blackmail “The claim which amounts to cheap blackmail against the government and was clearly made in furtherance of a selfish personal agenda is most unbecoming of someone who still holds the high office of Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“The Presidency would not ordinarily have wished to join issues with Mallam Sanusi who, as CBN Governor, remains an appointee of the President, but the very unacceptable manner in which Sanusi has been misinforming the public made it imperative that this statement be issued.”

Malam Sanusi only last Monday alleged that kero-

The absence of Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday stalled hearing in the suit filed by suspended CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi.

Malam Sanusi had, through his counsel, Mr Kola Awodein (SAN), challenged his suspension by President Goodluck Jonathan and prayed for an order to re-instate him as CBN Governor.

At the resumed hearing yesterday, Justice Kolawole was not in court and an official informed the parties and counsel that the judge was attending a seminar.

All parties and counsel were asked to come back to court on March 19.

Justice Kolawole had earlier declined to grant an order reversing the president’s decision.

“I feel hesitant and constrained to grant the plaintiff ’s application because it would be unfair to grant such an application without affording the respondents a hearing,’’ he said.

Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had, February 24, approached the court with a motion ex-parte seeking to restrain the defendants from “obstructing, disturbing, stopping or preventing him in any manner whatsoever, from performing the functions as Governor of the Central Bank,’.

Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had also sought to be allowed to fully enjoy the statutory powers and privileges attached to the office, arguing that any delay might cause him irreparable and serious damages.

N24bn Police pension money not missing, says Okonjo-Iweala Meanwhile, Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said the N24 billion allegedly unaccounted for from the Police Pension Fund was not missing.

She also said the issue of 45,000 names on the payroll of the government that were discovered to be ghost workers had been referred to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, for further investigation.

She clarified in Abuja, yesterday, that the alleged missing Police pension money was returned to the Federal Government treasury on her orders.

Director-General of Pension Transitional Arrangement Department, PTAD, Mrs Nellie Mayshak, had shocked the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts at a hearing, Tuesday, that the money could not be traced.

According to her, there was no evidence to show how the N24 billion released from Service Wide Vote in 2010 for Police Pension Fund was expended.

“We have no evidence, we have no record. It just looks bad on our part,” the D-G told the committee, claiming that she was new in office and that the internal auditor whom she asked to brief her had no documents to show how the money was spent.

Internal Auditor of the Pension office, Mr Adeyemo Julius Adebolu, who was around when the N24 billion was received by the Pension office, told the committee that it was true that N24 billion was received from the Service Wide Vote for payment of pensioners in 2010.

6—Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Gunmen invade communities in Ogun

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

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BEOKUTA— NO fewer than 20 armed men allegedly invaded Kajola Estate and Alarugbo communities area of Bode Olude in Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State, sacking the residents.

The hoodlums were reportedly welding dangerous weapons, shooting sporadically, tormenting passersby, snatching handbags and other valuables.

Narrating how the gunmen invaded the community, the Chairman of the community, Amos Ojekalu, said yesterday that the residents were thrown into panic and confusion.

The residents, through a petition signed by the Chairman and Secretary of the Community, Elder Amos Ojekalu and Abiodun Taiwo, respectively, said: “A professional land grabber from Adalemo Sango was hired to unleash mayhem on the area.

“Some of the armed men were seen loitering around, while building sites were being destroyed. The thugs said they only came to paste a court order at the two communities, but while doing it, they were destroying property, sacking people from their homes and worship centers.”

The petition was also sent to the Commissioner of Police, the Department of State Services, Ogun State House of Assembly and Public Complaint Commission.

FESTAC BOAT MISHAP: Bodies of 3 siblings, boat boy, 9 others recovered

BY EVELYN USMAN, BOSE ADELAJA & MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

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AGOS—TRAGEDY struck Tuesday night in Festac Town, Lagos, when a boat mishap killed 18 persons in a canal. 13 bodies have been recovered. Five persons were rescued by local divers.

Among those that lost their lives were three siblings, identified as Timothy, a student of Festac Junior Grammar School; Joshua and Paul, both primary school pupils.

Others include the 10-yearold boat handler and a local diver whose bid to rescue the helpless passengers failed.

The incident occurred Tuesday at 8pm, following apparent overloading.

The wooden boat, which usually conveyed passengers between the 4th and 6th avenue, was built to carry 12 passengers. But it reportedly was conveying 24

passengers when the accident occurred.

Eyewitnesses told Vanguard that the number of casualties would have been minimal had help come on time.

It was learnt that football lovers at a viewing centre, who were going to take the boat to their respective homes, discovered those who managed to swim to the shore and raised alarm.

I warned them — SURVIVOR

One of the survivors, a woman who does not want her name in print said she warned the boat boy and passengers about overloading.

She said: “When I saw that the number of persons was more than the boat could ordinarily take, I warned the paddler and passengers about it.

“I even asked them to get down that the boat would come again to take them. When they refused I told them I would have nothing to lose if any

disaster happened because I could swim.

“I was shouting at the top of my voice that those who could not swim should get down when I noticed the boat was sort of wobbling.

“We had barely taken off when the first sign occurred.

Before we knew what was happening, the boat capsized.

I was the first person to swim out of the canal to the sixth avenue end. I could not save anyone because it was dark.”

It was gathered that two other men swarm to the 4th avenue end and passed out from exhaustion.

How boat boy died

The 10-year-old boat boy, as gathered, attempted to also swim to safety. But two of the drowning passengers reportedly held unto him in a bid to save themselves. This led to his death. His body was also among those recovered yesterday.

When Vanguard visited late Timothy ’s school, Festac

Junior Grammar School, the school was having its annual inter-house sports.

Contacted, the South West Information Officer of the National Emergency Management Authority NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, confirmed that 13 bodies, comprising those of 11 men, a woman and a baby had so far been recovered.

Rescued

He gave the identities of those rescued alive as Samuel Ochina, Joseph Essien, Mane Temisan, Etukow Godfrey and Davis Peter.

He attributed the mishap to absence of a link bridge, adding that tragedy would have been avoided if there was a link bridge. He added that none of the passengers was wearing a life jacket.

Farinloye and the General Manager Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Femi OkeOsanyintolu, said they got a distress call around 11pm.

SCARCITY: Kerosene scarcity hits Benin, Edo State, yesterday. PHOTO: Barnabas Uzos.

Gateman bags 6 years jail term for theft

BY ONOZURE DANIA

L ACCIDENT: A Trailer, with number plate FKJ764XB, loaded with flour crashes at Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos, yesterday.

PHOTO: Akeem Salau.

AGOS— A 23 year-old gate man, Tony Ibezinako, who allegedly burgled and stole some items from his boss, one Mrs Alamutu Dada on December 25, 2013, has been sentenced to six years jail term by an Igbosere Magistrate’s Court.

Magistrate O. Ope Agbe sentenced the convict to six

years imprisonment after he changed his plea from not guilty to guilty.

The convict and the house help Kehinde Tosiyhew, 24, had been arraigned on January 6, 2014, for allegedly breaking in to the house of the complaint and stealing 720 pounds, N34,000, one iPad, one ipod, one iphone and three Nokia phones valued at N1.7

million.

The convict and the second defendant were facing a threecount charge of conspiracy, burglary and stealing, preferred against them by the police.

The prosecutor had told the court that the convict and the second defendant committed the offence on December 25, 2013, at 9:3am at 8A, Oroke Avenue, Ikoyi.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 —7

BY ESTHER ONYEGBULA

Water tanker crushes cyclist, student in Anambra

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AGOS— THE Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, FEDSARS, yesterday, paraded 24 suspects said to be involved in different crimes ranging from robbery, goods diversion and receiving of stolen goods in Lagos, Oyo, Ondo and Ogun states.

Parading the suspects, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike, yesterday, said some of them were members of notorious robbery gangs that have been terrorising Lagos and other parts of the country.

He said on January 26, the squad received a tip-off and one Tobi Dosunmu and Shile Ganiyu, who specialised in robbing vehicles across South Western states, were arrested in their hideout at Attan-Ota area of Ogun State with a locally-made pistol and two live cartridges.

They confessed to several armed robbery escapades and led detectives to arrest other members of the gang namely Lukman Adenekan, Moses Ozowe and Jide Ishola.

Recovered from the gang is a blue coloured Toyota Camry with number plate ABC-551JR. The gang confessed to having taken stolen vehicles to Ghana and other West African countries.

According to Ezike, “on February 24, while checking information from a good spirited Nigerian, detectives from the squad engaged a gang of notorious armed robbers at a suburb of Ibadan in Oyo State.

“One Mukaila Adeniji and Musa Adelakin were arrested and a black Toyota Matrix Wagon without registration number, but engine number 2311 was recovered from the gang.”

He said that on February 20 a 40-foot container of power generating plants valued at N13.63 million on a trailer driven by one Abbas Mustapha

BY NWABUEZE OKONKWO

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ACCUSED: Suspects accused of diverting a 40-foot container. INSET: Also paraded were suspected buyers of stolen goods.

Catalogue of crimes as police parade 24 robbery suspects, others en-route Alaba International Market, Lagos, disappeared.

Ezike said: “The emptied container and truck were later found abandoned along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

Detectives trailed the driver to a hideout and apprehended him.

“He confessed to having connived with others to divert the goods and led officers to the arrest of some members of his syndicate consequent upon which a total of 1,501 out of 1,530 generating sets were recovered.

“Abba Mustapha, Abdullai Mustapha, Michael Oloruntele and Ibrahim Aga were arrested in connection with the theft.

Receivers

“On March 1, another syndicate of stolen goods receivers were trailed to the Ebute-Metta area of Lagos and arrested.

“They include Kuburant Ayinde, Fatimoh Abolakale, Alhaja Muyinat Ogattan, Yetunde Adekule and Lekan Ibrahim.

“They all confessed to working in connivance with one Uche who is notorious for hijacking goods from unsuspecting traders and truck owners on the Carter and Eko bridges of Lagos.

“Items recovered from the syndicate include cartons of kiddies shoes, cartoons of

toys, cartons of bales of readymade clothes, cartoons of school bags, cartons of slippers, ladies knitted tops, cartons of boots, female foot wears, sacks of children’s wears, cartons of towels, cartoons of food flasks, glass cups, among others.”

He added that one Akibu Oke and Sunday Akanbi were arrested in connection with another theft incident.

He also said that one Emmanuel Ambrose and Audu Akeem were arrested over the robbery of a Toyota Camry, registration number EKY-621-BH belonging to Professor Benjamin Nwaneri, in the Egbeda area of Lagos.

Night fire razes Lagos shopping complex

BY EVELYN USMAN, BOSE ADELAJA & MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

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AGOS— PROPERTY worth millions of Naira were destroyed, yesterday, during a fire outbreak which affected 17 lock up shops at Iponri Shopping Complex in Surulere area of Lagos State.

According to eyewitnesses account, the inferno which started in one of the shops around 11.18pm of Tuesday, consumed 16 other shops before the arrival of men of state fire services officials who put the situation under control.

Although no casualty was recorded in the inferno, the Tuesday incident was the

second in the complex within a space of one week.

Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Mr. Rasak Fadipe, told Vanguard that three fire trucks from Sari Iganmu, Ilupeju and Onikan were mobilised to the scene to combat the inferno.

He said: “Because of the magnitude of the inferno, the fire service stations at Ilupeju and Onikan were quickly mobilised with each of the station coming with 10,000 litres of water which was used in putting out the fire.”

Fadipe explained that most of the burnt items were power generating sets, textile and plastic materials.

He blamed the development on improper wiring method of

the shops and that there were no fire extinguishers in the complex which consists of over 1,300 lock-up shops and each of the shops has a power generating set.

Fadipe recommended a central power set and installation of fire extinguishers.

He said: “There should be total re-wiring and industrial borehole to be put in place to serve fire services in case of fire.

"The inferno was caused by electrical upsurge due to the method of wiring in the market.”

General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Authority, LASEMA, Dr.

Femi Oke-Osanyintolu lamented that owners of the shops lost property worth Millions of Naira.

N I T S H A — TRAGEDY struck in the early hours of yesterday along the Nkpor-Umuoji Road, Nkpor, Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, when two persons, a motorcyclist and a student were crushed to death by a somersaulting water tanker.

The incident, according to the source, occured when the driver of the tanker with number plate JJT401XG, which was heading to Umuoji, from Nkpor direction, allegedly lost control of the vehicle while descending a hill.

It was gathered that the female student victim, whose identity was yet to be ascertained at press time, was on her way to school when she met her untimely death.

The motorcyclist, believed to be a relation to the girl, was on a school run when the incident occured.

Sympathisers told newsmen at the scene that the motorcyclist had, on noticing that the vehicle had a brake problem, stopped and parked but was hit by the somersaulting tanker.

Their corpses were said to have been deposited at a yet to be disclosed morgue.

Confirming the incident, the Divisional Police Officer, in charge of Ogidi Police Station, Mr. Isa Abubakar, said that investigation was ongoing.

FIRE: Iponri Shoping Complex, Lagos, gutted by fire, Tuesday night. PHOTO: Biodun Ogunleye.

8—Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

FG initiates 4 bills on transport sector

BY BEN AGANDE

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BUJA—THE Federal Government has initiated four bills; the National Transport Commission Bill (2014); Nigeria Railway Bill (2014); Nigerian Ports and Harbour Authority Bill (2014); and National Inland Waterways Authority Bill (2014) as part of its plan to privatise the transport sector.

Minister of Information, Labaran Maku told State House correspondents after yesterday's Federal Executive Council meeting that the move is aimed at opening up the transport sector to the public for private participation.

According to him, government was interested in removing the legal bottlenecks that hamper private sector participation in transport and provision of infrastructures He explained that government cannot continue to fund all the sectors of the economy, saying that the proper thing to do was to lead the way by deepening reforms in the transport sector and other sector of the economy.

The minister said a Committee headed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Muhammed Adoke (SAN) has been set up to finalise the preparation of the Bills.

The committee, he said would also include officials from the the ministries of Works, Aviation, Transport and relevant stakeholders in the transport sector.

He stated that the passage of the bills would open up lots of opportunities for Nigerians to enjoy more and better road, rail, sea and air travel infrastructure.

The Minister explained that the idea is to get the private sector into construction, maintenance and ownership of seaports, harbours and airports across the country, with possible privatisation of existing facilities.

He stated that privatisation would encourage competition productivity and efficiency in the transport sector.

For instance, well maintained private roads and terminals will be a big boost to easier public transportation while providing jobs for more Nigerians, he stated.

He assured that in the process, Nigerians' interest would be protected to avoid exploitation, saying that the citizens have a lot to gain in the area of job creation and business opportunities.

Don’t divide Nigeria along religious, ethnic lines, Buhari warns BYEMMANUELAZIKEN, Ploitical Editor

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ORMER military Head of State and All Progressives Congress, APC chieftain, General Muhammadu Buhari has cautioned Nigerians to be wary of those he claimed are desperate to divide the country along ethnic and religious lines for their selfish purposes.

Affirming that Nigerians were generally united by common issues and challenges, Buhari in a statement said he was on his part determined not to surrender to the manipulations of those he claimed were mostly in the ruling class.

The statement posted on his facebook page on Tuesday night had as at press time yesterday attracted 626 likes and 263 comments, mostly supportive from friends. While supportive, there were some, however, which said support for his comment did not mean backing a presidential bid by the former head of state.

Vowing not to surrender to zealots, Buhari said: “As Nigerians, we must work together and support each other because the challenges we face are similar: rampant corruption,

VISIT: Members of the Voice of the South South with the First Lady, Patience Jonathan (4th left) during a courtesy visit on her at the presidential Villa, Abuja. incompetent leadership, and the threat of insecurity.”

“We therefore share common goals, hopes and aspirations - for a new Nigeria that is free, secure and prosperous. As a result, we also share a common enemy; the predatory class of vested interests who want to sustain the status quo and perpetuate their monumental misrule.”

“It is for this reason that they create an artificial North-South,

Christian-Muslim divide, chanting jingoistic slogans with the hope that we would goose-step in formation, ready to tear each other apart while they busy themselves plundering our commonwealth and betraying our collective destiny.”

“It is therefore left to us to decide whether we will allow them perfect this betrayal by acting as mercenary-collaborators in the destruction of our country, or or-

ganize collectively to rescue our fatherland from their murderous grip.”

“Do not be deceived, dear friends; there is only one Nigeria, and one single struggle; which is to reclaim the destiny of this country and shape it to suit our present realities and future aspirations. And on this, there is no quitting, no giving up and no surrendering! Keep up the hope, Nigeria shall be great again!”

Corruption affects administration in Nigeria — ex-British foreign scribe ...As APC Senators say Nigeria is under siege

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU

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BUJA—FORMER Brit ish Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw has said that corruption and lack of transparency among the political class have become a great problem that have permeated all cadre of administration in Nigeria.

Straw said that for the war against corruption in the country to be decisively fought and won by government and the people, there must be transparency in governance at all levels as well as incorruptible judiciary to give appropriate penalties to apprehended corrupt officials.

The former British Secretary who stated this yesterday in an interaction with Senators on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, stated that though opposition may not be in government, they can use their voice in a democracy to bring about good governance.

He urged Nigeria to copy the British model by meting out stiffer penalties to corrupt officials, adding that allowing for transparency in governance

and having clean courts to handle corruption related cases in the land, would go a long way in reducing corruption in the country He said, “There's need to raise the penalty for corruption in Nigeria. You have anti-corruption laws, you have great laws and you jail people on corruption and you ensure proper transparency; then, it's safe to say that people would stop being corrupt. You've got to change the quality of your public administration.

“One of the encouraging signs about Nigeria is the fact that you have effective and viable opposition because democracy requires that there's change. In democracy, there are alternatives.

“What message can I give you about opposition? Well, first of all, you can change the weather in opposition. Although you've not got the votes, you've got the voice. As you make the better use of the voice, you get public support, then you start to unnerve the government” Straw however, challenged the opposition lawmakers to get quality manifestos and should not mistake the quantity of pol-

icies for quality of policies just as he described the 2011 elections as better than the rest but that it didn't meet international standards.

He further stated, “The second thing is that you cannot just wait for the government to be unpopular...you have to fight crime, tackle health problems, deal with immigration and ensure transparency in government.

“Leadership is about character, but if you don't have the right leaders, who have the right characters, the right backbone, then, it won't work. He won't have the qualities to bring out the best in people who would work with him.

“Of course, elections are fought through the prisms of leaders...don't mistake quantity of policies for quality of policies”, he added.

Present at the interactive meeting were about five out of the 11 Peoples Democratic Party Senators, Senators Bukola Saraki, Danjuma Goje, Ali Ndume, Abdullahi Adamu and Umaru Dahiru, who had written to the senate to announce their defection to the APC. They have maintained that

they are already in the APC as they participated actively in the registration exercise of the APC and they proved this yesterday by openly aligning with the opposition lawmakers.

Speaking on behalf of the opposition Senators, the Senate minority leader, Senator George Akume said the country was under siege due to the rising wave of insecurity in the North East and some parts of the country.

Akume stated that lack of transparency was one of the major causes of insecurity and corruption in the country adding that the government had failed in its primary duty of protecting the citizens of the country He told the former foreign secretary that as the nation was preparing for the 2015 elections, it was pertinent that the elections must be free and fair The Senate Minority Leader said, “You are coming at a time when there are many problems in the country. On a positive note, you are coming when the country is celebrating its centenary, every country has its history, you are also visiting at difficult circumstances in our dear country.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 — 9

10—Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Poisonous fumes: Another student hospitalised, as school reopens L

BY MONSURU OLOWOOPEJO

AGOS—ANOTHER student of Ogba Junior Grammar School, Ogba, Ojodu Local Council Development Area, LCDA, was yesterday hospitalised after inhaling what may have been left of the poisonous fumes in the school.

This came as the state government reopened the school for academic activities after last Thursday’s incident that sent 13 students of the school to the hospital Also, 25 of the students of the same school collapsed four months ago after inhaling an unidentified chemical waste said to have been discharged into drainage by a Photo Laboratory, situated in the adjourning shopping arcade.

The student hospitalised yesterday is one Miss Adijat Ogunshola, in Junior Secondary School, JSS 11.

Sources said that Adijat’s parents were contacted immediately she collapsed in

school after inhaling the poisonous fumes again.

When our correspondent visited the school, the management and staff wondered where the poisonous fume was

emanating from.

When Vanguard visited the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja, the student was sighted receiving medical attention at the Medical Emergency

Centre.

Her father, Mr. Ogunshola on how he received the information said: “I was in the office when her mother called that Adijat has inhaled the poisonous fumes.”

COMMISSIONING: From left: Janet Owolabi, Marketing Manager, Ecobank Plc, Edero DaroIdollo, Head, Retail Shops and Franchise, Airtel Lagos Central Region, Akinloye Adebisi, Zonal Business Manager, Airtel Lagos Central, Banji Fatuade, Area Business Manager, Airtel Lagos Central, Airtel Channel Partners and owners of Marknord Communications, Patience and Okechukwu Okoye, during the commissioning of a new Airtel Express Shop, located at Green Plaza, Olowora Junction, Isheri, Magodo, Lagos.

Cleric supports Nigeria’s anti-gay marriage stance

BY IYABO AINA

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AGOS—PRESIDING Bishop of Christ Peculiar Church, Bishop John Odiete, has warned the church in the country against same sex marriage, saying that the act was against Christianity and unscriptural.

Bishop Odiete said that partaking in the act will only make Christians to go back from the commandment of Jesus Christ.

The cleric in a chat with newsmen in Lagos, said: “I must not fail to commend the president of the country for the bold step taken so far to position the country on the part of development . Worthy of note is the ban on same sex marriage in Nigeria notwithstanding the external pressure."

Lagos Assembly to re-order budget over revenue shortfall MONSURU OLOWOOPEJO

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The hospitalised student, Miss Adijat Ogunshola.

Muslim students tag northern insurgency madness

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDUAH

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AGOS—THE Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, MSSN, yesterday, described as madness the insurgency, going on in the North-East of the country, saying the MSSN condemned it in its entirety.

This was coming as the society challenged Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural group on the criteria used in selecting Yoruba delegates to the forthcoming National Conference.

Speaking through its National President, Mallam Abdulazeez Folayemi, MSSN said: “Our society detests killing of fellow human beings

in the name of religion.

“We are not in support of this, and it must be condemned by right thinking person.”

National President of MSSN, Malam Abdulazeez Folayemi, stated this at the 60th Anniversary Lecture held at University of Ibadan, with the theme; “Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria: Impact, Prospect and Problems.”

Challenging Afenifere on the criteria used in selecting Yoruba delegates to the forthcoming National Conference, MSSN called on the government to reject the list, while promising that they will soon come out with their own list.

AGOS—CHAIRMAN, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Mudashiru Obasa, yesterday, disclosed that there is possibility of the state to re-order the 2014 budget estimate to cater for the shortfall in revenue.

The chairman gave this hint during a special interview programme tagged: “Time out with the press” with members of the Lagos Assembly correspondents in Alausa, Ikeja.

Obasa was making this observation on the heels of the address by the state Governor, Babatunde Fashola on March 3, at a special sitting where he (Fashola) told the lawmakers on the decline in the revenue of the Federal Government.

According to him: “We cannot rule out the possibility of reordering if the revenue is not coming as expected from the Federal Government. If the Governor sees re-ordering as an option, we don’t have any other way round.”

The lawmaker explained that the “large chunk of the state’s revenue comes from oil. The international market where the price of oil is determined will also affect the local plan.

He added that the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, may also suffer some setbacks, saying that the state government would rise to the occasion by re-

ordering budget.

Obasa pointed out that whenever budget is re-ordered it is done in the interest of the general public and not to undermine anyone.

While commenting on the

transparency in handling the budget defence, the lawmaker stated that the defense is done in the open and the report of the committee is always laid on the floor of the House for final ratification.

Don tasks journalists on balanced reporting of social issues

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SOGBO—THE dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Lead City University, Ibadan, Professor Ayo Olukotun, has advised media professionals in the country to be conscious of the social responsibility of the press by not getting themselves entangled with propaganda, exaggerations and falsehood, which could mislead members of the public as elections draw near in the country.

He also tasked journalists on balanced political reporting and urged them not to allow themselves to be tossed around by politicians or used as a battle ground by “competing political machines” as governorship election in Osun State draws nearer.

Prof. Olukotun stated this in Osogbo, yesterday, at a symposium, entitled, “Osun Education Policy in Perspective: Issues, Challenges and Imperatives,” organised by Osun Movement for Peace, OMP, a non-governmental

organisation.

Speaking on the topic, “Media Social Responsibility and the Non- Partisan Communication of Government Policies (in Special Reference to Osun State Educational Policy),” he disclosed that it was important for media practitioners to be wary of politicians who may want to use them to publish falsehoods and propaganda with a view to causing disaffection in the society.

He said: “Newspapers and electronic media are free to take positions; what is crucial is that in doing so, they should be scrupulously fair as well as ensure that whatever position they take is based on verifiable facts.”

While speaking earlier, the Deputy Governor of the state, Mrs. Grace Titilayo LaoyeTomori, explained that the major thrust of the current education policy in Osun State was to make pupils and students in public schools roundly relevant and become useful to the society.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 — 11

2015: US supports Nigeria with $15m

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE SOGBO—THE United States of America has said it would support Nigerian government with $15 million to enable it organise credible elections in 2015.

The US consular in Nigeria, Mr. Jeffry Hawkins who disclosed this during an interaction with journalists in Osogbo yesterday, after he held meetings with stakeholders in the state said the American government was committed to the course of democracy in Nigeria and would support Nigeria's democracy with necessary inputs.

According to him, the money was meant to assist political parties, supports for INEC and civil societies for the conduct of credible elections.

He also stated that the American government would supervise the forthcoming general elections in the country to ensure that it was free and credible.

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Adeyeye alleges plans to manipulate voters’ registration

BY GBENGAARIYIBI

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DO EKITI—A governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ekiti State, Prince Adedayo Adeyeye, has raised the alarm that the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress have finalised arrangements to bring in people from the neighboring states of Ondo, Osun Kwara ,Ogun and Lagos for the ongoing continuous registration of voters in the state.

He, therefore, charged the leadership of the PDP to be alert and vigilant,urging them to query the presence of strange people in their midst Adeyeye equally cautioned against picking any of the 16 gubernatorial aspirants who according to him do not have high support base in the state as the party’s flag bearer.

SYMPOSIUM: From left: Dr. Anthony Onipede, Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Osun State chapter; Mr. Temidayo Bankole, Coordinator, Osun Movement for Peace, Osun State Deputy Governor and Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori, Pastor Segun Babatope, Professor Ayo Olukotun, Lead Speaker at the One-day stakeholders symposium with the theme, Osun Education Policy in Perspective: Issues, Challenges and Imperatives, organised by Osun Movement for Peace in Osogbo, yesterday.

LP denies handing over Ogun structure to Daniel A

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

BEOKUTA—THE national Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Chief Ikpe Etokudo, yesterday, said that the national leadership has not handed over the party structure in Ogun State to former governor of the state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

Etokudo who stated this at the party secretariat in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital during the general meeting of the state chapter of the party, denied that the party executive members in the state led by the state chairman, Olabode Simeon have been suspended.

The LP has been enmeshed in crisis of leadership in the state as both Daniel and the embattled chairman of the party in the state, Olabode Simeon fight over the party structure in the state.

Speaking on the controversy trailing the alleged handing over of the party structure to Daniel, Etomudo said: “We asked people to join our party, anybody can join the party, but, what we don’t agree is that somebody should not join the party and dissolve the executive without the due process.

“If you want to join the party, go to your wards and collect the party registration card. We have not handed over the party structure in the state to anybody.

“All the proposed congresses are illegal. The court said the status quo should remain and what it means is that, the executive continues with their activities.

“As far as the party is concerned, the status quo should remain and

if Daniel wants to be a party member he should go to his ward and register, we have not handed the party to anybody."

However, the national publicity secretary who read a speech on behalf of some members of the National Working Committee

included the national vicechairman, South-South, Lawson Osagie, national vice- chairman, North-West, Umoru Muhammed and national treasurer, Maria Lebeke among others, warned the national chairman, Chief Dan

Nwanyanwu against unilateral decision.

In the statement, he condemned the endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term, describing it as fraudulent, unauthorised and self-serving.

Ekiti guber: PDP makes U-turn, withdraws Obafemi’s clearance

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BY HENRY UMORU

BUJA—BARELY 24 hours after the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, cleared Obafemi Peter as one of the aspirants to participate in the forthcoming primary election to get a standard bearer ahead of the June 21, Ekiti State gubernatorial election, the party yesterday made a U- turn, withdrawing his provisional clearance.

A statement yesterday, by PDP national Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, read: “ The National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party has withdrawn the provisional clearance given to Peter Obafemi by the Ekiti Screening Appeal

Committee..

“By this, Peter Obafemi is not eligible to participate in the primary to elect the candidate of the PDP for the Ekiti governorship election.”

It will be recalled the Chairman, Screening Committee and Senate Leader, Senator Ndoma-Egba, while submitting the report of his Committee to the Deputy National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, at Legacy House, PDP Campaign Office, Abuja on Monday, said that Obafemi Peter was disqualified alongside Senator Bode Olowoporoku and Bosede Cecilia Dada because of no Tax Clearance certificate to show that

he paid as at when due.

Peter Obafemi, the committee said, was disqualified for his inability to present his National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, discharge certificate.

But on Tuesday, both Olowoporoku and Peter appeared before the Senator Mohammed Magoro-led Appeal Committee, while Bosede Cecilia Dada did not appear before the Committee. The committee at the end of its sitting, again disqualified Senator Bode Olowoporoku following his failure to produce his tax clearance, but cleared Peter to join the earlier cleared 13 aspirants by Ndoma-Egba.

Ogun issues guidelines for property inspection

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BEOKUTA—THE Ogun state government has issued guidelines for property inspections which have commenced under its ongoing Homeowners’ Charter Programme to minimise inconvenience for residents and maximise efficiency in the process.

Under the guideline, the state will work through Community Development Associations,

CDAs, Residents Associations and other groups to organise group inspections of property.

The government, according to a statement issued by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu in Abeokuta, yesterday, explained that it would utilise its network of over 6,740 registered CDAs which represent no fewer than 600,000 individual members, to schedule

the inspection of property in groups within specific areas.

The system, he said: “Will work by appointment and representatives of the CDA will support the process by providing directions to property and other necessary information.

“As a result of this strategy, individual applicants may not need to be excused from their places of employment or business to await the inspection on an individual basis."

12—Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Edo House sale: State govt challenges court's jurisdiction

BY BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE & OSAYEMI IBUKUNOLUWA

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DO State Government has challenged the jurisdiction of a Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere to adjudicate on a suit by an estate surveyor, Mr. Albert Elaiho, over the planned sale of Edo House located in Lagos.

The trial judge, Justice Samuel Candide-Johnson, had, in a ruling, restrained the Edo State Government and its agents from the sale of Edo House in Lagos, pending the hearing and determination of the suit.

The claimant, through his lawyer, had prayed the court to stop the state government from carrying out the sale of Edo House.

Edo State governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, it will be recalled, had announced plans to sell the house located on 1225, Ahmadu Bello Way and 1225 Bishop Oluwole Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, promising to use the proceeds to develop Edo State, following which the claimant headed to court.

Defendants in the suit are, Governor Oshiomhole, Edo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Henry Idahagbon, and an estate agent, Mr. Segun Asaju.

However, in its preliminary objection, Edo State, through its lawyer, Dr. Fabian Ajogwu, SAN, challenged the jurisdiction of the court to interpret Edo State Procurement Law 2012.

Ajogwu argued that the claimant has no right or interest whatsoever in or over the said property.

The claimant, in his statement of claim, is contending that Se-

gun Asaju, was hand-picked

by Edo State Government for the sale of Edo House and that his selection did not follow laid down procedure.

According to the claimant, under Edo State Public Procurement Law 2012, all sales of government property and procurement of any item for the government of Edo State were expected to be handled

by the Edo State Public Procurement Agency.

He argued that the Procurement Law enjoined the state government to set out precise criteria upon which it seeks to give consideration to the expression of interest by interested consultants who applied, which, he argued, the defence failed to do.

BRAKING OF FAST: President Goodluck Jonathan (left), with the Archbishop of Lokoja, Bishop Emmanuel Egbunu and other Anglican bishops, at the breaking of fast with the President on the Christian lent period, at the State House, Abuja, yesterday. STATE HOUSE PHOTO.

Edo govt, teachers at loggerheads over competency test

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

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Education, CIE, Education Secretaries, Principals and Heads of randomly selected secondary and primary schools and paying on the spot assessment visits to schools in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the education system."

However, the teachers, through their counsel, Olayiwola Afolabi, in a petition to the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Edo State, Mr. Henry Idahagbon, informed

ENIN—THE controversy over the conduct of competency test for teachers in Edo State has taken a new turn as the state government has fixed March 22, 2014 for the test. Meanwhile, the teachers have warned that it would amount to contempt of court if the test was held, as the matter was already before a court of competent jurisdiction.

Chairman of the Assessment Committee, Professor Dennis AgbonARRI—CHAIRlahor, in a statement, MAN of Itsekiri said: “Pursuant to the desire by the govern- Regional Development ment and people of the Committee, IRDC, Chief state to urgently halt the Ayirimi Emami, has unacceptable state of de- warned contractors that cay in its education sec- his leadership will not tor, the committee has tolerate any case of commenced its assign- abandonment of project.

Emami gave the warnment by adopting a special approach that would ing, in Warri, Delta be beneficial to all con- State, during the bid opening ceremony for cerned.

“The committee start- the IRDC 2011-2013 ed by holding interactive project cycle.

He explained that sessions with all relevant government stakehold- IRDC leadership had to ers, Chief Inspectors of extend the initial dead-

that the teachers have a pending suit at the National Industrial Court sitting in Akure, Ondo State, and all the court processes had been served on him as the chief law officer of the state, on March 10, 2014.

He added, “We know that you are a senior member of the Bar and a chief law officer who knows the details of the locus classicus case in Ojukwu vs Governor of La-

gos State (1985) NWRL (Pt.16) 806, where the Supreme Court stated clearly that when the party sought to be restrained deliberately proceeds with the action intended to be restrained by an order of injunction after becoming aware of the pendency of an application before a competent court for his restraint, such a party will be acting in disrespect to the rule of law.”

We won't tolerate project abandonment, IRDC boss warns contractors

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line for bid submission to accommodate all bidders, who could not meet the initial deadline.

Noting that his executive members’ companies were not part of the bid process, he promised to complete and commission some of the new projects by August this year.

Imploring eventual winners of the bid to abide by the project guidelines, Chief Emami noted that his leadership shall be forced to revoke

and subsequently reaward the contract of any non-performing contractor that wants to frustrate the goals of IRDC, which he said were targeted at providing quality infrastructural projects for the 23 Itsekiri oil and gas producing/impacted communities.

Chairman of IRDC Projects Review Committee, Mr. Joseph Owolo, on his part, noted that the committee has its criteria for judging bids.

We’ll defeat unemployment with Delta Beyond Oil —Uduaghan

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BY CHARLES KUMOLU

ELTA State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has said that hunger, diseases and joblessness, would be eradicated in the state through the Delta State Beyond Oil project.

Uduaghan, yesterday in Effurun, at the exhibition and certificate award ceremony of Delta State Economic Reintegration Programme, DESERP, said that every Deltan needs to be integrated into the economy of the state in pursuit of creating a Delta State Beyond Oil. Uduaghan was represented by the deputy governor, Prof. Amos Utuama, SAN. He said: “We are making efforts to give hope to the hopeless, skill to the unskilled and employment to the unemployed in Delta State, by providing technical support for this great programme.

“Once you are self-employed, you become an employer of labour, you decide how many people you want to employ. How much you want to develop then depends on your power to develop your business. So, what we are doing is to achieve one goal, the goal of Delta Beyond Oil, which means all hands in Delta State must be preoccupied with doing one thing or the other.” He said that Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, as sponsors of the programme, receives 60 per cent of the revenue to develop oil producing communities.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014—13

IYC to Bugaje: N-Delta oil belongs to N-Delta people

Seplat Petroleum to float shares on NSE, LSE

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BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

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ENAGOA—THE Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, worldwide, yesterday, described as reckless, provocative and misleading, the claim by former National Secretary of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Alhaji Usman Bugaje, that the country’s oil belongs to the North.

Bugaje, one of the lead speakers at the Northern Leaders’ Conference, had, Tuesday, in Kano, in a live television programme, raised the issue of the ownership of Nigeria’s crude oil domiciled majorly in the Niger Delta region.

The former ACN chieftain said it was wrong for any state to claim that it wass oil producing because 72 per cent of the total land mass of the country belongs to the North and that by the United Nation’s law, it was only the North that actually has the right to claim ownership of the oil.

But the IYC, in a statement by its spokesman, Eric Omare, said that Bugaje’s comment was a deliberate ploy to mislead his northern brothers to prepare the ground to oppose the legitimate demand of the Niger Delta people to control their resources at the forthcoming national conference.

Expressing disappointment over what it described as the misleading statement, Omare said: “Contrary to Bugaje’s assertion, the IYC insists that there is no United Nations Law which states that the maritime boundary of a country is determined by the land mass of the country.

“For the record, there is nowhere in Articles 3, 5, 57 and 76 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, UNCLOS, where it is stated that the landmass of a coastal state determines its mileage into the sea or its maritime boundary."

SENSITISATION WORKSHOP: From left: Compt. E. D Chikan, ICT Unit, Headquarters; Zonal Co-ordinator, Nigeria Customs Service Zone ‘C’ Port Harcourt, Assistant ComptGeneral, Dan Ugo and Comptroller Enforcement and Revenue, Nigeria Customs Service Zone ‘C’, Compt. Umar Yusuf, during a sensitisation workshop in Port Harcourt.

Court orders arrest of Edo Deputy Police Commissioner

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

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ENIN—AN Edo State High Court sitting in Benin, has ordered the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Funsho Adebanjo to arrest the state Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Criminal Investigation Department, CID, Mr. Joshua Ibine, for allegedly releasing accused persons on bail, while their application for bail was pending before the court.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police was also alleged to have flouted the order of the court to produce the accused persons in court when the matter came up for hearing, yesterday.

The accused persons, Osas Osawe, Peter Aruyinmwen, Stephen Osabuohien, Godwin Igbinijesu, Ogbegie Michael, Osaigbovo Ehigiamusoe, Joseph Igbinijesu and others at large, were alleged to have con-

spired among themselves to demolish buildings of the traditional ruler of Evboewedo (Enogie Osarenogowu Onaghise), and other houses through rioting on November 19, 2012.

They are facing an 18count charge of conspiracy to commit felony, contrary to and punishable under section 516 A of the Criminal Code Act Cap. C38 of the Laws of the Federation 2004, as applicable in Edo State.

Trial judge, Justice J. Oyomire, who gave the order after hearing prosecuting counsel, said: “In view of the refusal, failure and or neglect of the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of State Criminal Investigation Department, Benin City, who released the accused persons on bail while their bail pending trial by the defence counsel is still pend-

ing and yet to be argued in this court to produce the accused persons in court as ordered on 7/2/2014.

“It is ordered and I hereby order the Commissioner of Police, Edo State, to arrest the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of State Investigation Department.”

The judge ordered that upon arrest, the Deputy Commissioner of Police should be brought to his court to explain to the court's satisfaction, why contempt proceedings should not be brought against him.

“He is to explain where he derived the authority to release the accused persons, whose case is still pending before this court without any consent or authorisation of this court and for his failure to produce the accused persons in court as ordered,” the judge said.

Ugborodo: Navy arrests suspect with AK-47 in renewed factional clash

BY EGUFE YAFUGBORHI

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ARRI—THE Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Delta, yesterday, confirmed the arrest of a yet to be identified man with an AK47 rifle in Ogidigben, Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, as renewed hostilities broke out between youths loyal to the two factions in the current Ugborodo leadership crisis.

It will be recalled that in the February 9, hostility in Ogidigben, armed youths reportedly loyal to the David Tonwe faction and the adherents of Tho-

mas Eriyitomi, engaged in fierce fighting which lasted two days.

Capt. Musa Gemu, Commander, NNS Delta, who confirmed the arrest, said the Navy, and soldiers of the Joint Task, JTF, received reports that youths in the area were fighting and that they had to move in to calm the situation.

Capt. Musa said in course of keeping the peace in the community, one of the warring youths was found with an AK47 and was immediately arrested. He, however, could not establish whose

faction the arrested person was loyal to, at press time.

EPLAT Petroleum Development Company Plc, yesterday, said it intends to float its shares on both the London Stock Exchange, LSE and the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE. The company said it intends to apply for admission of its ordinary shares to the standard listing segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority and to trade on the LSE’s main market and to the Official Trading List of NSE. A successful listing will make Seplat the first Nigerian oil and gas company to have its ordinary shares dually listed on both the LSE and the NSE. Seplat was founded in 2009 by Shebah Petroleum Development Company Limited and Platform Petroleum (Joint Ventures) Limited for the purpose of investing in Nigerian oil and gas opportunities. Maurel & Prom, a French independent oil company, subsequently acquired a 45 per cent equity interest in Seplat. This interest was later spun-off to form Maurel & Prom Nigeria S.A (now Maurel& Prom International).

In July 2010, Seplat acquired a 45 per cent participating interest in, and was appointed operator of, a portfolio of three onshore producing oil mining leases (OMLs 4, 38 and 41) located in the Niger Delta.

14—Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Apapa shutdown: PTD regulates influx of tankers into Lagos It will be recalled that, Lagos State Government and PTD, had ETERMINED TO reduce set up a special taskforce to manthe traumatic traffic gridlock age traffic in knotty spots along in Apapa axis of Lagos, the lead- the road to allow free flow of trafership of Petroleum Tanker Driv- fic. ers, PTD, said yesterday, that it Aboyeji, explained that the had commenced move to check union had met with the state transmovement of tankers, especially port ministry to fashion out ways from northern parts into Lagos. of easing the traffic gridlock Comrade Tayo Aboyeji, South through special taskforce which West, Public Relations Officer of had commenced work immediatePTD, disclosed this while react- ly. ing to the chaotic traffic situation He absolved his members of on Apapa axis, following the causing the gridlock on the road, VISIT: From left, President, South East South South Professionals of Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Ugwu-Oju; Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha; Chairman, House Committee on launch of special taskforce set up but put the blame on Julius BergWorks, Hon. Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, and Hon. Warman Ogoriba, during a visit by the professionals to to manage the situation as a re- er, the contractor constructing the sult of the activities of tankers and road for slowing down the job the Deputy Speaker, at National Assembly, Abuja, yesterday. other articulated vehicles. which he said had compounded the gridlock.

He also blamed the influx of tankers in the area to the large concentration of oil depots which made it mandatory for tankers from other states to head for Apapa According to him, members of the retreated because we didn’t the invasion, which he said was

BY TONY EDIKE group took control of Enugu State primarily to reclaim the old head- have any weapons in our to load the product after the seat of power for about four hours quarters of the former Biafra Re- hand, to avoid any loss of initial scarcity.

On the measure taken to NUGU — LEADER of the after they successfully hoisted the public. life. pro-Biafra group, Biafra Zi- flag of the Republic of Biafra and “The reason we did it was further check the menace of Onwuka dismissed speculations onist Movement, BZM, Barrister some banners at the main gate. that the group was sponsored by to show the Biafra people tankers in Apapa, Aboyeji, Benjamin Onwuka, has claimed reHe briefed some newsmen at the politicians in Enugu State, ex- that the hope for Biafra is said that APTD has set masponsibility for last Saturday’s inNigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, plaining that the major target of still alive and that nothing chinery in place to regulate vasion of Enugu State Government Press Centre, Enugu, yesterday, the BZM members was to hoist the shall quench the aspiration the movement and influx of House. where he claimed responsibility for Biafran flag as a symbol of rebirth of the Biafra people to be tanker drivers into Lagos in the interim. of the defunct Biafra Re- independent. That indeHe said: "We are also worpendence has been resurpublic. ried that both vehicular and rected.

So the Biafran flag He said members of the human movements have group, who were not was raised at the Govern- been greatly affected by the th armed and had no charms ment House on the 8 of high presence of tankers as whatsoever, were at Gov- March, 2014 and I, Ben- well as other articulated veernment House from 3 jamin Igwe Onwuka led hicles, but we are doing our a.m. to 7a.m. before sol- the operation.

“It wasn’t an armed attack best possible to solve the diers dislodged them, inproblem." sisting that they accom- on the Government House, it wasn’t kidnappers as the plished their mission.

He, however, warned police have said. It was Bithat Nigeria should va- afran people and the Biafra cate the Biafran territory Zionist Federation led it before March 31, 2014, or and I, Benjamin Onwuka risk a bloodbath , disclos- was the man that pioneered — Benue Catholics ing that his group had it. It wasn’t an attack on anyconcluded plans to take one, but for the restoration

BY LEVINUS NWABUGHIOGU over total control of Biafra of the independence of the Republic of Biafra. land from April 1.

BUJA — THE "As I said, the raising of Said the BZM leader: Catholic community “I want to let you know the flag at the Government what happened on March House is a symbol of the in Benue State has asked Goodluck 8 at the Government resurrection of the Repub- President House Enugu. This is to lic of Biafra which we did Jonathan and Governor th confirm the true report on the 8 of March 2014. “ Gabriel Suswan to find soContinuing, Onwuka lutions to the on-going killabout what happened. said: “I want the Biafra peo- ings of innocent people by You know very well that since January 12, 1970, ple to know and the entire suspected Fulani herdsthe flag of Biafra has never world that the Biafra has men in the state to prevent rested on the Government been resurrected and no further loss of lives and House in Enugu which is force of arm could hinder property.

Catholic Bishops of Gbothe centre power of the Bi- this aspiration for Biafra.

“Let me make it clear. the ko, Otukpo, Makurdi and afra people.

“What we did on the 8th states that will make up Bi- Katsina- Ala Dioceses, is to reconfirm the inde- afra now are Benue, Kogi, Most Reverends Williams pendence of the Repub- Delta, Edo, Bayelsa, Riv- Avenya, Michael Apochi, lic of Biafra which we suc- ers, Cross Rivers, Akwa Athanasius Usuh, and PeIbom, Ebonyi, Anambra, ter Adoboh respectively cessfully did.

“We didn’t attack the Enugu, Imo and Abia and made the call at joint news conference, yesterday, in Government House, but Southern Ondo.

“I thank God for this press Abuja. we captured it back for the ”We call on both the PresBiafra people. We cap- conference to set the record ident and Governor of Bestraight that the Biafra is tured it for four hours and there was a battle between independent now, because nue State as Chief Security the Biafrans and the Ni- that flag that has been Officers, CSOs, to take regerians and by 7a.m., we raised at the Government sponsibility of security in Benue State,” they said.

House, Enugu."

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

D

We seized Enugu Govt House for 4 hours, says Onwuka, BZM leader E

Stop killings

by Fulani herdsmen

A

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014—15

Mark calls for uprising against Boko Haram ....As Ekweremadu solicits regional cooperation to end terrorism

BY JOSEPH ERUNKE & JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU

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BUJA — SENATE President, David Mark, has called on Nigerians to rise against the terrorist attacks perpetrated by the Boko Haram sect, saying there was an orchestrated plot by the insurgents to destabilise the country.

His call came on a day Deputy Senate President and Speaker of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS Parliament, Ike Ekweremadu, solicited greater sub-regional synergy to tame the menace of insurgency in West Africa.

Senator Mark, who bemoaned the gruesome murder and destruction by Boko Haram, said now the group had refused to follow that the part of dialogue in expressing its grievances; there was no other option left with the government than to deploy its might to face the problem headon.

According to the Senate President, “if the perpetrators of these violent crimes would not come to the negotiating table to dialogue with authorities in order to address whatever grievances they may have, government would be left with no option than to deploy its might to deal with the situation.”

Mark, who spoke while decorating the newly promoted police officers attached to his office with their new ranks, stated that government would no longer tolerate a situation where insurgents and terrorists continued to hold it and the citizens hostage.

He said: “No matter how disgruntled or angry they may be, they cannot continue to kill our citizens and destroy property at will as way of life.

"It is a high time wise counsel prevailed among these insurgents to drop their arms and em-

brace peace.”

While expressing worry over the high rate of attacks by the insurgents, he said, “Nigeria is passing through very difficult times and challenges and certainly does not need these wars and destructions .

“We need to live and work together as free people. We need a country where all citizens have equal opportunities, where no one is oppressed or molested.”

The newly promoted officers that were decorated in their new ranks as Assistant Superintendents of Police, ASP, were Odufu Boniface , Ibrahim Omaga and Oni John, while Ndamshe Nanzing was decorated as Police Inspector.

The Senate President also in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh, sympathised with Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam, who was allegedly attacked by gunmen at Tse Kenyi village while inspecting the destroyed community.

He said the situation called for vigilance on the part of every citizen and asked for support and cooperation for the security operatives to succeed in the onerous task of protecting lives and property Meanwhile, Deputy Senate President and Speaker of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS Parliament, Ike Ekweremadu, has solicited greater subregional synergy to tame the menace of insurgency in West Africa.

Senator Ekweremadu said terrorism was a transnational crime that could only be overcome through intensive transnational efforts and cooperation.

A statement from his Special Adviser, Media, Uche Anichukwu, said the Deputy Senate President spoke, yesterday, during separate working visits to the President of Cape Verde, Jorge Carlos Fonseca and the Prime Minister, Hon. Jose Maria

HANDING-OVER: Mr. George Uriesi, former Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN (right), and Engr. Saleh Dunoma, new Managing Director, during the handing-over ceremony by the former MD to the new, during his assumptio of office, at FAAN Headquaters, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi

LEDAP asks court to stop national confab

BY INNOCENT ANABA

W

ITH LESS than a week to the inaugural sitting of the national conference, a civil society group has asked a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, to stop the planned confab, arguing that the Federal Government had no constitutional powers to convene such a gathering.

Defendants in the suit are the Attorney General of the Federation and Clerk of the National Assembly.

The plaintiff, Legal Defence and Assistance Project, LEDAP, is asking the court to declare that the proposed national conference was usurpation of the powers of the National Assembly under Section 4 of the Constitution.

Neves.

The statement added that Senator Ekweremadu, had earlier, while addressing participants at a sub-regional workshop on the Enhancement of the Powers of the ECOWAS Parliament in the island nation, insisted that for terrorism currently ravaging the African sub-region to be defeated, all countries in the region must cooperate.

“We are here to share our vision for the enhancement of the powers of the ECOWAS Parliament and what the sub-region stands to benefit from it with the President and the Prime Minister.

“We also looked at other critical issues concerning the sub-region such as terrorism, piracy, human trafficking and agreed on the need for the regional parliament and our respective national parliaments and governments to work harder on these concerns to achieve greater regional integration and prosperity,” he said.

Relying on the 2003 decision of the Supreme Court in Gani Fawehinmi vs Ibrahim Babangida SC.360/2001 in respect of the faulted Oputa Panel, the group argued that the Federal Government could not legally set up a national conference in a federation as Nigeria to deliberate on issues outside the exclusive legislative list of the constitution, as it could only do so through the National Assembly.

LEDAP is also asking the court to declare that the proposed National Conference by the Government of Nigeria was unconstitutional and violated the provisions of Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution, being an illegal usurpation of the constitutional powers of the National Assembly and state

Houses of Assembly.

It also wanted the court to declare that the allocation of N7 billion Appropriation Bill 2014 presented to the National Assembly by the Federal Government for the purpose of undertaking, carrying out, instituting and managing a National Conference was unconstitutional, illegal, wasteful, ultra vires, and contrary to the constitutional obligation of government to ensure optimal utilisation of national resources under Chapter 2 of the Constitution.

It also wanted the court to restrain the National Assembly from appropriating any funds for the purpose of holding a National Conference as proposed by the Federal Government.

2015: APC's survey of being ahead of PDP, highest political fraud — Group

A

SOCIO-ECONOMIC and political advocacy group, Green White Green Vanguard, has described the widely publicised survey by All Progressives Congress, APC, that the party was ahead of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, at the forthcoming general elections as the highest political fraud in the history of Nigerian politics.

The group also said the survey was a calculated attempt to mislead the electorate ahead of the 2015 elections.

National President of the group, Dr. Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe, in a statement, said what the APC had done was to reveal ahead that come 2015, they would do everything possible to cause confusion and insecurity for this nation.

His words: ‘’The Boko Haram insurgency we are having in this country is political and a calculated ploy by some self-serving political individuals and groups to discredit and destabilise the Jonathan administration.

"And we have since realised that tension in some parts of the North is largely sponsored by some moneybag politicians, who have brain-washed innocent jobless Northern youths to unleash mayhem and engage in massive killings of their own people and other innocent citizens."

US-based group wants $30m compensation for Boko Haram victims from UN

BY CALEB AYANSINA

A

BUJA — U.S-based Ju bilee Campaign Human Rights Group, yesterday, requested the United Nations to refund the $30 million used by the Federal Government to renovate its building in Abuja, for payment of compensation to victims of Boko Haram.

The group said it felt it would be unfair to the victims of Boko Haram in Nigeria for government to renovate UN building when they had been abandoned.

Representative of the group, Emmanuel Ogebe, while interacting with newsmen on the plight of the victims in Abuja, said

the group had written a letter to the United Nations, through its Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon.

According to him, the letter dated March 6, 2014, seeks, among other things, the refund of the money to be used for compensation of Boko Haram victims in the country.

Ogebe, who decried the inability of the Federal Government to design a clear cut road map or humanitarian strategies to take care of the victims of the attacks, disclosed that about six million people had been affected since the killings started in 2009.

According to him, it is so unfortunate that Nigeria has now become a net exporter of refugees to other African countries.

16 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 — 17

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EXT Monday, the National Conference will be inaugurated in Abuja.

From that date, at least 490 Nigerians (looks like the opposition APC is determined to push a boycott of the process) will begin what will certainly be one of the most controversial gatherings in recent Nigerian history. Not many ideas have divided Nigeria, stoking conflicting passions as much as the call for such a conference since the days of military dictatorship. I have written about the idea severally in the past, vehemently opposing the effort by sections of the community to impose on us, an ethnic based conference (some even demanded a conclave of “tribes” in a Twenty-First Century world, with its demands, challenges and opportunities. I have always argued that Nigeria is not a sum total of ethnicities or “tribes”; and that we have a multiplicity of identities, which have kept shifting.

Nevertheless, there are influential elite circles who have remained fixated in the swampy time warp of “ethnicities”, as preferred category of appreciation of Nigeria’s challenges in the contemporary world. That is a platform which we have vigorously challenged and

The National Confab locomotive arrives the station is to win the right to secession or even an outright dismemberment of our country, just as they are perched at the edges of their graves and are confronting mortality!

It is these eclectic collection of reactionary and backwards ideas, that have conspired along with several other choices in the political economy; in the inability to create a pan-Nigerian elite consensus for development; and the monumental processes of corrupt, neo-colonial capitalist processes of primitive accumulation, that

,

Our country has always possessed the capacity for change and development; but the class forces of its parasitic elite groups have conspired to hold it down. We have to create the ambience for freedom to spread its wings like a bird in the struggle for national liberation

mercilessly interrogated over the past couple of years in the public space.

But many of these influential circles have successfully boxed the country into the corner of acceptance of the need to have a conference. It is indicative of the Nigerian condition today, that some of the most gung-ho advocates of a National Conference are Nigerians in their late 70s and 80s, who took a lot from Nigeria in its hey days of service to the Nigerian people.

They are close to the end of their lives, but have remained locked into a ‘tribal warfare’ mode in the types of demands they make on Nigeria, at a time when the overwhelming majority of the Nigerian people today, about seventyfive percent really, are under the age of thirty. They do not share the excessive obsession with “tribal or ethnic” frames of understanding the fastpaced world they are living through today. On the one hand, their main demands are education, skills and jobs, in a national economy that is touted as rapidly growing and is soon expected to outstrip South Africa, as Africa’s largest economy, but which has stubbornly been unable to create the jobs that its teeming millions of young people need. On the other hand, there are some of those old people of yesterday, whose obsession

,

have stunted Nigeria’s development. Yet, it is the

generation of elite who somehow made good for themselves, within the processes we are discussing, that remained the arrowheads of demand for conference, which they had insisted for a long time, must be a Sovereign National Conference. It has been the platform they had hoped to use to achieve a “restructuring” of Nigeria in tune with concantenations of their minds; but in the long run, a stepping stone to that ultimate ambition of secessionist circles of national dismemberment.

Rejection of ethnicist platform

M

y personal rejection of the ‘ethnicist’ platform and the category of appreciation of the contradictions of our national life, did not mean that I did not see the usefulness of a platform for Nigerians to have a grand gathering of discourse. No. But I have felt that there are many more social platforms which are more representative of what makes us Nigerians today: class; gender; demography;

professional; along with those of ethnicities and religion, which have also been the most manipulated for reactionary purposes! It is the fact that these categories have now been brought into reckoning, which has made me more receptive of the National Conference idea. Let me illustrate. I am a Muslim and Fullo, but these are only two of my identities. Over the past four decades, I have grown within a professional ambience of learning, training, performance and development, as a journalist and broadcaster, which allowed me to build relationships with colleagues from all over Nigeria, and from around the world. Similarly, I made conscious choices, to be part of a national political project as a cadre of the Nigerian Marxist-Leninist Movement, during some of the most productive years of my growth as a young Nigerian, organising with comrades of various backgrounds, from every corner of Nigeria, and because we had internationalist understanding of the nature of the struggles of the working people, we were also part of an

internationalist consciousness.

So it is unacceptable that what will be prioritised for me, is my “ethnicity ”, in the Nigerian scheme of things and within the world of the Twenty-First Century. Those are issues that we must still find ways to challenge and the National Conference offers the opportunity to face off with the forces of “ethnic” and “tribal” perspective to the problems of nation building.

The Nigerian Guild of Editors named me one of its two delegates to the conference. It is that type of pan-Nigerian professional platform, which I feel very obliged to. It is a platform of labour and it organises my professional peers, who come from various ethnicities and religious backgrounds. We have been united by our professional dedication as media practitioners, who carry a unique obligation to the Nigerian society. Section 22 of Nigeria’s Constitution stated clearly, that: “The press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free…and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people”.

That is a very unique obligation and as a delegate to the National Conference, I will be dedicated to the best interest of the Nigerian people, collaborating with patriots of all backgrounds, to make a serious endeavour for change. Our country has always possessed the capacity for change and development; but the class forces of its parasitic elite groups have conspired to hold it down. We have to create the ambience for freedom to spread its wings like a bird in the struggle for national liberation.

Indeed, the locomotive of the National Conference has arrived at the station! The next three months will be super charged in our country. Let’s get it on!

Thought of home away from home

I

AM writing these lines in a hotel room in Dubai. It is past midnight here, but still nighttime back home. I am part of a delegation of consultants working on the actualisation of Jigawa State Television.

We are attending the 20th edition of CABSAT, the Middle East and Africa’s largest broadcast, content, digital media and satellite event. It is truly an event that allows the sharing of knowledge of the cutting edge developments which impact the modern world of broadcasting, a field to which I have dedicated the best part of my professional life, since I was sixteen years old. Today, I run a multimedia company which works to assist clients solve problems which media posits in the world of the TwentyFirst Century. So attendance of CABSAT is an important platform of education for my work too. And every time I visit this city, I marvel at how much success has been built here as a result of the incredible vision and determination of its people and leadership. The Dubai World Trade Centre is the venue of CABSAT and it is not only an architectural masterpiece, but also a reflection of the vision for Dubai to be a destination the world is obliged to visit and do business in. Such a dedicated pursuit of vision and a dogged pursuit of its actualisation is the hallmark of leadership and those are missing ingredients of the Nigerian political landscape. It marvels me all the time, that one hundred years down the line,

sections of the Nigerian political elite are still scheming plans to dismember their country, instead of building the elite consensus to construct one of the most important countries of the 21Century.

Ruling class inability The inability of the ruling class to assume a historical responsibility for the modernity that can lift the mass of the Nigerian people out of stupor and a dehumanising poverty, goes hand in hand, with the perverse “creativeness”, which that ruling class exhibits, in the gradual evolution of Nigeria into one of the most unjust and most unequal societies on earth today! A conspiratorial and incestuous alliance of the political and business elite has built a country of extreme wealth for a tiny minority of elite today. First, they sold the country to themselves; and are now drinking more champagne than the Russians; they have conspired to spend over $6billion to purchase private jets and those who hold the reigns of political power are not only looting the country to stupor but have perfected the manipulation of the fault lines of ethno-religious differences to keep the oppressed divided and increasingly unable to organise collectively, to put an end to the mess that the nation has been turned into.

Those whose remit it is to provide leadership for national development do not appreciate the urgency of action,

clarity of vision and the commitment which the challenges we face today demand of them. They prefer to walk with a leisurely stride, finding a sense of urgency only in the scheming to corner opportunities for themselves. The state itself has become “privatised” as organs of personal advantage and is completely sapped by corruption to the point of crippling incompetence. Even a modicum of self-interest to keep state survival central to society’s health seems to have been lost on the Nigerian ruling elite. They endanger the society in their reckless irresponsibility and as the military response to the Boko Haram insurgency has shown in recent weeks, there is no institution of state that they have not maximally ruined. It is clear that what goes on in the Nigerian national scene, politically, economically and even socially, is not sustainable. Something just has to give. The Nigerian people face uneasy choices as we move forward. The talk shop of a National Conference was presented by a section of the elite as the panacea to exorcise the pains of Nigerian nation building. That is where we have now arrived. It will be most interesting to see how the cacophony of voices; the disparate agendas and the different, often viciously conflicting mindsets will find the consensus to rebuild our country.

Patriots have to work a way through the thickset, because there is no other way.

18 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 THE increasing cruelties our society harbours have moved to insistent assaults on children by guardians, who descend on their wards with themost puerile excuses.

Gory media images of children dismembered, beaten to death, with shrivelled fingers, or reduced them to skeletons are becoming common.

In all these instances, the criminals find excuses for abusing the children, perhaps in the knowledge that they would get away with their dastardly acts.

Why would a society be so wicked to its young ones, the most vulnerable, and expect to make progress? Why are these acts continuing? How would these acts, which portray us as primitive, stop?

The foundation of these perfidies is the social dynamics of a society that seeks solutions to mere economic and social challenges in spiritualists and shrines. Without lifting a finger, most people expect they would find the riches that would catapult them out of their economic woes. Others want to attain political power or improved social standing through cultic powers.

Cruelty Defining Our Society

Many of the assaults on children and women cannot be explained by the presumed anger of the culprits or the frequent excuse of not knowing “what came over me”. Whatever the reasons, our society must stand up firmly against the cruelties that are defining it.

The stories are endless, and the extent of the injuries inflicted on children, sometimes resulting in deaths, paints a picture of utter madness. Men and women are killing the young and getting away with it.

Sometimes there are debates whether their excuses for murder should be accepted. We have to enforce the law.

Unfortunately, some churches prescribe these punishments for children who they

identify as witches. Some parents have no qualms punishing their children to death in line with prophecies. Some of the dead are children recruited as house helps, or whose parents sent to relations to assist with their upbringing.

We think that these incidents are continuing because law enforcement is weak. Offenders are getting away with murder under spurious explanations. The few cases that make it to court are at the instance of civil society groups, which have the heart, but hardly the war chest for the lengthy legal tangles these matters involve.

Society’s insensitivity to the plight of the victims, some of whose minds have been shattered from their tortures, is gradually defining our lives. These stories no longer shock.

Is our society exalting brutality to one of its ethos? Section 34 (1 a) of the Constitution states: “Every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, and accordingly, no person shall be subject to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment”.

We cannot build a society on cruelty - it is illegal.

OPINION

BY GOGI SERIKOROMO

A

RIVER usually becomes calm, absolutely calm only after a perilous turbulence.

With phenomenal confidence and pride voyagers ply the river because the calmness is their constant supplicatory obsession. Niger Delta was once turbulent because the Federal Government of Nigeria was insensitive to its rhythm of underdevelopment. High Chief Government Ekpemupolo emerged as the masterminder of the turbulence and the clanging demand for development attention.

It was purely an inspiration to redeem Niger Deltans from the underdevelopment abyss.

Apparently, youth restiveness and other vices in the Niger Delta have been buried. Peace has virtually swallowed the entire terrain.

Even the mangrove trees can testify to this peace in any court of law.

To redeem the Niger Delta, Tompolo lived in the forest like Robinson Crusoe for many years and fought all the juggernauts of exploitation until the oppressors demonstrated a vision to re-visit the Niger Delta question. A simple demand for beatification of this young man called Tompolo has no element of shrillness.

Nigerians should applaud this simple demand. In the heat of the liberation war, didn’t some Nigerians irrationally pray for the death of Tompolo? Why won’t the same Nigerians applaud the beatification now that we have become beneficiaries of Tompolo’s liberation war?

Nothing, absolutely nothing, can be more nonsensical than the nonsense that Tompolo be beatified. He does not merit beatification in any form. Why should we beatify a man who has strangely become insensitive to the needs of the Niger Deltans? A man whose mind we no longer understand to be beatified?

Boko Haram, Tompolo and JP Clark Tompolo no longer appears to be attuned to the realities of the time. Probably because of his so-called ‘mystical inclinations’, he seems not to be interested in militant and violent approach to events. Predictably, violence has deserted Tompolo as he now appears more attuned to his world of mysticism where violence is an anathema. Beatification does not belong to a man gripped by dangerous transformation from violence to peace/ pacifism.

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is the President of Nigeria. Since he became the President of Nigeria, some quite commendable development strides have been recorded.

There is clearly a revolution in the railway, aviation, oil industry, transport, agriculture, human capital development, peace and security, and other sectors of the economy. No Nigerian president has ever achieved this within this short space of time. What about the emergence of Boko Haram against which the government has waged a meaningful war?

Despite all these achievements, a dangerous cult of critics has constantly waged war against President Jonathan, using all resources within reach. For this cultist critics of President Jonathan they will not stop until he is eventually hounded out of power. Thousands have threatened to hurl lethal stones at President Jonathan. Now that criticism against President Jonathan has become unprincipled, immoral, irrational, fatal and destructive, Niger Deltans would have been comfortable with a militant contribution from Tompolo. An old soldier is always an old soldier. Time to watch the revolutionary sash skillfully tied round determined waists is now.

Alas, Tompolo’s head is irredeemably buried in mysticism. Does he merit beatification?

The war waged against Boko Haram by the Dr Jonathan-led government is commendable. Tompolo’s MEND can beg the security agencies to have a moment of rest and give him a space to have military dialogue with Boko Haram. This is the time for Tompolo to reawaken MEND and crush Boko Haram.

Boko Haram does not use conventional war strategies: they are avant-garde in their war tactics. I think MEND is the professor of unconventional war strategies and so can engage Boko Haram and produce desired results. Have we forgotten Professor Wole Soyinka’s constant reminder that ‘violence breeds violence and counter-violence breeds counter-violence?’. Tompolo has recently grown too insensitive and toothless to merit beatification. Boko Haram has hegemonised the violence space and is dishing out lectures to Nigerians on even apparently forgotten components of violence. Tompolo has the resources to confront Boko Haram and make Nigerians smile forever but he does not consider it a sacred task to engage at this time of Nigerian history. Maybe Tompolo is waiting for Boko Haram to take over Nigeria before he swings into action. That would be too late.

It is the likes of Tompolo who can match President Jonathan’s tebebirisei critics word for word, violence for violence, action for action, gun for gun. Is it this unfeeling man Tompolo we should now beatify - this man on the run like the Biblical Jonah on the ship?

Even mystics go to war when it becomes unavoidable - especially when it becomes the only weapon required to normalise anomalies.

The so-called mystical fever which has gripped Tompolo, making him insensitive and toothless in the face of the violenceconsolidated arrogance of Boko Haram is condemnable. After all Tompolo is not the only mystic. History is replete with examples of mystics who went to war and saved their people. Tompolo should wake up to the reality that meaninglessness is sometimes the solution to meaninglessness and so meaningfulness can only emerge from meaninglessness sometimes - which is the central point of avantgardism.

Tompolo does not merit beatification.

Professor Soyinka feels a strong repulsion against the beatification of the criminal in his Beatification of an Area Boy but I feel a stronger repulsion against the beatification of an insensitive and toothless mystic. Rather than recognise and beatify him for his liberation struggles, we should fight him.

Let us collectively make Tompolo uncomfortable with different strategies until he sees the need to confront Boko Haram. Too many people have been sadistically swallowed

by Boko Haram. We must constantly disturb Tompolo until he ties his Egbesu war sash round his waist and goes to meet Boko Haram like JP clark’s Ozidi waging fierce revenge war against his father’s killers. Tompolo could have beatification thrust on nobly after he had willingly claimed JP Clark’s Ozidi in Ozidi Saga and paralyse the enemies of Nigeria who hide behind the mask of Boko Haram to waste innocent precious lives. *Mr. Serikoromo, a public affairs commenator , wrote from Warri, Delta State.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 —19

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N 1992, (then) Rev Father Matthew Hassan Kukah wrote an interesting book entitled: Religion, Politics and Power in Northern Nigeria. Though the focus was on the North, it ended up a great eye opener to understand the mentality of the Northern establishment that inherited power from the British colonialists. That book shot (now) Monsignor Kukah to national and international limelight as an intellectual titan.

I have just finished reading an interesting 355-page book with the title: Zik, Ndi-Igbo and Their Southern Neighbours, Charting a New Political Direction for Nigeria.

Written by Uchenna Nwankwo, who also has written six other books, it is a rich and intelligent inquest into the major junctures of Nigeria’s history, from about ten years before independence till date. Nwankwo tooth-combed already existing texts and conducted his own investigations to provide new insights into Nigeria’s history, portraying facts and information about the making of Nigeria without the usual ethnoreligious and sectional biases that

have come to bedevil similar works, sometimes even by otherwise respected historians and academics.

It is a brave effort to examine the role the great Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, doyen of Nigerian nationalism and visionary Chief Obafemi Awolowo played in it, thus defining relationships between the two largest ethnic and political forces in Southern Nigeria, the Igbo and the Yoruba, and of course their respective Minority neighbours.

The author dwelt at length on the pulsating junctures of Nigeria’s history that often get the Igbos and Yorubas at daggers-drawn, with each side blaming the other for betrayals, subterfuges, backstabbing, and acts of malfeasance, all with the objective of grabbing plum advantages over the other. These were believed to have given the North the express opportunity to take over Nigeria from the colonial masters in spite of their reluctant contributions to the fight for independence.

Nwankwo delved into such matters as the 1952 “crosscarpeting” at the Western Regional

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House of Assembly. He was able to prove that the leader of the National Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons, NCNC, Dr Azikiwe, lost to Awolowo not because the Yoruba members of the Party were tribalistic but more because Zik failed to play real politics. Awo went round and made offers, but Zik was busy on the pages of newspapers “blowing grammar ” as we say in street parlance. The situation could have been startlingly different had Zik, for instance, positioned Chief Adisa Akinloye, leader of the Ibadan People’s Party, IPP, a great ally of the NCNC, to emerge as the Leader of Government Business and later, Premier of the Western Region. Awo later offered Akinloye Agriculture Minister, and turned the table.

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e are also made to see that the presidential constitution we now operate had already been defined by the Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa federal government through the revision of the Independence Constitution and its replacement with the 1963

ABACHA LOOT: Unborn tomorrow, dead yesterday TRONG man, Sani Abacha, had no destination. Similarly, the coordinator of a reason to begin to provide for failure warped economy coordinates nothing. Her S since he was sure that nothing was going to position is akin to that of the proverbial man prevent him from transforming himself to the life president of Nigeria. Such a man had no cause to begin to disguise his loots.

He was, therefore, an archetype of a Nigerian thief who could steal with impunity.

In local parlance, it is held: “Na dead man sell him wife”. When Abacha was alive, no one would have dared go near his property, talk less steal it. His was akin to the case of the cloth that the witch is drying in the sun; no one would dare go and remove it. But now that Abacha is dead, people are looting and re-looting his loots with impunity. This should serve as a good notice to grabbers without borders that after they die, all the stupendous accumulations are useless.

Our Finance Minister and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, so called, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, should have known that there is no way of easily wishing away the Abacha loot; at least not in this life time. The mention of the infamous Abacha loot brings bitter memories and the more Madam struggles to extricate herself from culpability, the more she gets deeply immersed in it.

The issue resonated on Wednesday, February 26, 2014, in Sonala Olumhese’s open letter titled “Dear Mrs. OkonjoIweala”. Perhaps unwittingly, Madam has promoted the Abacha loot above all other issues, to the extent that even where Olumhese handed down the most damning verdict on the economy, which Madam coordinates, she was only perturbed by his passing mention of the Abacha loot.

It is clear to us that the treasurer of a political party treasures nothing. Every money that comes already has a given

who is put in-charge of counting the Oba’s money.

If government is such that virtually every department has become a cesspool of corruption, then some shadow of doubt must be cast on whosoever is charged with the coordination of that economy. Yet, one cannot easily admit that this erudite scholar, a real PhD in Economics, a former President of the World Bank who has behind her many years of cognate experience, and one who has helped in shaping the economies of many other third world countries, has been promoted above her competence.

All the same, no organisation ever grows much higher than the environment in which it exists. In her posturing as the counter of the Oba’s money, she could be undermined by more powerful colleagues and Ogas who are above questioning, however perfunctorily they may be performing in their equally powerful ministries.

In a coordinated economy, there should be no argument whatsoever on the country’s bank account vis-à-vis how much the NNPC generated and how much was remitted to the federation account. These are figures that should be available at the touch of a computer button, even at midnight.

Sadly, virtually every funding initiative of this administration has been reduced to an avenue for fraud: Just about when you are looking at the volume of the fuel subsidy scam, the multi-billion Naira pension rackets are staring you on the face; as you are looking at those, the NNPC and CBN scams are bursting loose; meanwhile, authorities of the National Teachers Institute, Kaduna, are raising an alarm that

Republican Constitution. The 1963 Constitution, which is often blindly lionised by Southern agitators for “true federalism”, was, according Nwankwo, a bastardisation of the true spirit of the Parliamentary system by the Abubakar regime, who stripped the President of the country and the Governor of Regions of their power to sack the Prime Minister or Premier when they lost support in the legislature.

That regime orchestrated the rape of the constitution in the West in its quest to crush Awolowo and his followers. It was always aided by Zik’s Party until the latter found out that his own powers had been stripped down to ceremonial president.

Another item of interest was the circumstances that led to the ouster of Prof Eyo Ita as Leader of Government Business in the Eastern Region when he was poised to emerge as the Region’s first Premier. Nwankwo proved beyond reasonable doubt that there was nothing ethnic about the situation. Some Igbo political leaders went with Prof Ita into his new United National Independence Party, UNIP, while some Minority leaders remained with Zik. At the end, Ita came back to the NCNC in 1959, in line with the wishes of his Calabar people and the dictates of his conscience.

This episode has always been either ignorantly or politically exploited to divide the Eastern political front, thus making the Region the weakest and the net loser in a nation it has contributed about 80 per cent of its economic fortunes. No other Region allowed its Minorities the leverage to produce Leader of Government Business.

The book also touches on the crises that led to the coups of 1966, pogroms in the North, the civil war, and post-war politics in Nigeria,

they have just got a bank alert over N791 million unsolicited payment; while the Budget Office is claiming that N5 billion has been paid to NAFDAC, the same NAFDAC is saying it only received a paltry sum of N365 million; and the NDLEA

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Zik, Ndi-Igbo and their Southern neighbours

One is left with the empty feeling that history has been victimised by Nigerians; trampled underfoot, with people telling history to suit their short-termist pecuniary political goals

The Abacha loot provides a pyrrhic victory; it would have been better to leave the loot where it belongs – in the Abacha family – rather than taking the trouble of repatriating it

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says it has not received even one kobo of the N65 million said to have been paid to it.

What a rumble in the jungle! Who is still talking about this economy and its coordination?

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e have long passed the level of talking of the amount involved in the Abacha loot because even Abacha himself might not have known how much he stole. Nigerians were elated on hearing that part of the loot was being repatriated. Theorists went to work. Some reasoned that since the loot was part of the common wealth, it might be equitable to plough it back into the federation account where it would be redistributed; while others thought that it should be spent on clearly separated projects that would be of historical significance to all, given the symbolism it

debasement of the Igbo psyche and society; and at each juncture, opening new vistas and defying age-old wrongly-held conventional wisdoms, which were responsible for breeding undue illwill between the Igbos and their neighbours, thus making the South easy pickings for the political leadership of the North.

After reading this book, one is left with the empty feeling that history has been victimised by Nigerians.

History, which is regarded as the “best teacher ” in other more serious countries and civilisations has been trampled underfoot, with people telling history to suit their short-termist pecuniary political goals, only to lose the grand prize in the long run. Alas! History has even been altogether removed from the school curriculum in Nigeria, and the current crop of Nigeria youth, when they become leaders, will be left to grope in the dark. They will be condemned to continue the blunders that ruined their fathers’ generation.

Uchenna, who was born in the North, grew up in the East and received his higher education in the West where he currently resides, has demonstrated abiding interest in pointing out the peculiar flaws of the Igbo people to their faces, letting them understand that some of the ways they carry on with their lives will always make them difficult to understand, if not get along with.

But at the end, he quotes profusely from the works of many indigenous and international observers of the Igbo positive traits, and concludes that Nigeria will not achieve greatness until the Igbo people are allowed their place of pride in a nation that is free, equitable and secured for all citizens.

could connote in ending corruption.

Then came the breaking news that the money had been spent posthaste, in a manner similar to the retirement of a touring advance. “When eventually the money was repatriated in 2005, the Finance Minister told them that the money had been spent in the 2004 National budget and that N65 billion bond was raised to pre-finance projects in anticipation of the repatriated loot” – Unborn tomorrow, dead yesterday!

Listen further to Rev. David Ugolor: “Most of the projects verified began before 2004 and some were completed in that same year… In a particular case, the local government where a project was said to have been carried out did not exist… Contracting firms mismanaged the funds and projects were simply abandoned… Only 28 of the 51 projects were completed…”.

Yet, Iweala has the temerity to continue to maintain that the money was spent in developing the rural areas. Hear this very height of absurdity: “The World Bank had written about this in a 2007/2008 Handbook on Stolen Asset Recovery where the case was cited as a best practice example…".

In essence, Madam waited to return to Washington, DC, to personally issue her own testimonial – an exercise in the exportation of Nigerian dishonesty! To Nigeria, the Abacha loot provides a Pyrrhic victory. It would have been better to leave the loot where it belongs – in the Abacha family – rather than taking the trouble of repatriating it only to be re-looted by new looters.

20 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 — 21

BY GODFREY BIVBERE & OLAITAN AYOOLA

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has said that the Federal Government will soon forward four maritime bills to the National Assembly for consideration and passage into law.

The four bills include: National Transport Commission, NTC, bill, the Railway bill, the Ports and Harbours bill and the Inland Waterways bill.

Jonathan, who spoke at the opening ceremony of Nigeria Maritime Expo (NIMAREX) in Lagos, said the bills are part of the Federal Government’s efforts to ensure that the benefits of the industry are maximised.

The President who was represented at the occasion by the Minister of Transport, Idris Umar “Let me use this opportunity to state that government have granted approval for the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to act as Economic Regulator at the ports, with the effective administrative backing of the Federal Ministry of Transport pending the passage into law of the National Transport Commission bill which seeks to establish a National Transport Commission which shall among other function serve as the economic regulator in the transport

FG to forward four maritime bills to N/A— JONATHAN sector.

“It is also pertinent to highlight that three more transport sector reform bills namely: the Railway bill, the Ports and Harbours bill and

the Inland Waterways bill will soon be considered by the Federal Executive Council before transmittal to the National Assembly.”

He further noted that

giving the importance of the industry to the economy and the desire of government to continuously harness its potentials, a phased implementation of the

From left: Mrs Felicia Obozuwa, Divisional Head, Human Resources & Change Management, First City Monument Bank, FCMB, Limited; Mrs Mariam Shonubi; Mr. Felix Okechukwu, winner of FCMB promo, and Mr. Olufemi Bakre, Executive Director, Lagos and South-West of FCMB, at the grand finale of the bank’s 30th anniversary promo at Idimu-Egbeda Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: Akeem Salau.

recommendations of the outcome of the presidential retreat on the maritime sector was considered with the re-introduction of bunkering service.

Other recommendations of the blue print will be considered and approved for implementation on a case by case basis as considered expedient by government, he concluded.

Chairman at the occasion, Gen. Ibrahim Babagida (Rtd.), commended that organizers of NIMAREX for using it to x-ray the industry from where it is presently with a view of moving it forward in line with Nigeria’s dream for vision 20:20:20.

While calling on the private sector to work closely with the government in developing the industry, Babagida who was represented by Gen. Raji Rasaki (Rtd.), listed some of the potential investment areas as port sector, ship/cargo services, ship brokerage, warehousing/banded terminal, chandelling, ship building/repairs etc.

Microfinance must target women to drive economic devt— MOGHALU

BY JONAH NWOKPOKU

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he Deputy Governor, Operations, Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Kingsley Moghalu has said that microfinance institutions cannot achieve its purpose of accelerating economic growth unless its contextual basis is restructured and made to target women.

He stated this at the sideline of an international sustainable banking forum organized by CBN in conjunction with International Finance Corporation, IFC in Lagos recently.

Moghalu decried the challenges being faced by women in accessing capital in modern economy and said, “the problems with microfinance banks in Nigeria is that it was not started on the best contextual basis which is to target it at women.

And so microfinance became corrupted. It became a mini commercial bank.”

“In Bangladesh, India and other parts of Asia where it began, Microfinance targeted women,” he added.

He further identified capital as a critical requirement for capitalism to thrive and

advocated more access to finance by sectors that have been excluded before now.

“One of the basic requirements of capitalism is capital. You cannot have capitalism without capital and that means access by finance

to sectors that have been traditionally excluded from finance in the modern economy. One of the reasons that women have been excluded is because traditionally women have been restricted to owning

lands in many societies and cultures. And so setting up a N220 billion MSME fund is a very concrete way of setting aside fund to make sure that this fund goes to women.

That is the beginning and then we will begin to look at

why women have problems accessing these kinds of fund. Of course this will require collateral repayment plans.

“We are also working to create what I call movable collateral.

NESG ttasks asks Nigerian engineer engineerss on NIIMP

BY JOSEPHINE IGBINOVIA

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he Chairman of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, Mr. Foluso Phillips, has called on consulting engineers in the country to take physical ownership of the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan, NIIMP, assuring that NIIMP provides a huge opportunity for their emergence.

He made the call during a public event organised by the Association for Consulting Engineering in Nigeria, ACEN. He tasked the consulting engineers on global competitiveness, stressing: “The first task is to understand the huge document and principles driving the NIIMP. “The second task is to seek to partner with the National Planning Commission and the Ministry. The third is to ensure the legislation of the NIIMP by the Upper and Lower Houses. The fourth is to master the roll out and execution of the plan, knowing that the funding and

financing is now by law. If you are 5.95 202.0 successful in taking ownership and working with government on the execution of 2,968.00 +2.00 NIIMP, then you would have done Nigeria a great service, but your profession a much greater one.

18.19 0.18 “Also, see to the creation of the law, which challenges the operation of foreign engineers in Nigeria by modifying it to 107.92 -1.08 encourage the compulsory and realistic partnering of local and foreign engineers.”

100.96 1.62 The new President of the Association, Engr. Temilola Kehinde, condemned what CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL SELLING he described as deliberate exclusion of 155.25 155.75 indigenous engineers from national scheme DOLLAR 154.75 257.5195 258.3515 259.1836 of things and undue delay of service fees STERLING EURO 214.8085 215.5025 216.1966 whenever patronised.

FRANC 176.2328 176.8022 177.3716 He said: “Members of ACEN cannot be CFA 0.3088 0.3188 0.3288 239.3639 240.1373 240.9107 involved in or with issues such as collapsed WAUA 25.2895 25.3714 buildings. Our mantra is quality and cost RENMINBI 25.2076 RIYAL 41.2612 41.3945 41.5278 effectiveness.”

KRONA 28.7778 28.8708 28.9638 He added that projects which engage SDR 239.6304 240.4046 241.1789 1.497 1.5022 1.507 competent consultants from the on-set are YEN more than likely to be completed on time and within budget.

CBN Exchange rate as at 12/03/2014

22 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Skye Bank, Intercontinental group partner to reward customers

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Mr. Fatai Amoo, Group Head, E-Business, Sterling Bank Plc; Mr. Devendra Puri, Executive Director, Lagos, Sterling Bank Plc and Mr. Richard Oshungboye, Unit Head, Financial Inclusion, E-Business Group, Sterling Bank at the media launch of Sterling Bank Agent Banking Scheme, in Lagos.

kye Bank Plc has entered into partnership with Intercontinental Hotel, Lagos along with other financial and non-financial institutions to power the hotel’s reward club programme.

Reward Club is a loyalty programme meant to reward bookers and customers of the hotel. The bank is leading the team of Master card debit card issuers in the scheme to reward bookers of rooms, meetings, banquets in the reward

CBN imposes N10m fine for use of unlicensed e-payment solutions

By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

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he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that banks that use unlicensed third party electronic payment solution will pay a fine of N10 million.

This was part of the regime of sanctions contained in the guidelines on electronic payment of salaries, pensions, suppliers and taxes in Nigeria.

The guidelines spell out the roles and responsibilities, of all stakeholders in the end-toend electronic payment of salaries, pensions, suppliers and taxes. It also spells out sanctions and fines for sundry contraventions of the guidelines. For example, when a bank uses an unlicensed 3rd party epayment solution for end-toend e-payment of salaries etc., the CBN would suspend its epayment operations with the bank, issue a warning letter to the managing Director and impose a fine of N10 million for every repeated occurrence Also, Non-availability of help desk/contact centre to receive enquiries, complaints and provide feedback on epayment issues, will lead to suspension of the bank’s endto-end e-payment operations until conditions are satisfied.

Non-Provision of monthly report on reported complaints & resolution status to the Bank attracts N25,000 penalty for each day for which report is not provided to the Bank, while submission of false or inaccurate reports will attract penalty of N250, 000 and a warning letter to the Managing Director.

The guidelines explained that, “to-End Electronic

Payment is the seamless electronic processing and payment of all forms of salaries, pensions, suppliers and taxes with the electronic delivery of associated schedules alongside the payment transactions where applicable on a Bank approved electronic platform which transmits the instruction to debit a payer’s account and credit a beneficiary’s bank account, mobile account, electronic wallet or any other electronic channels; and shall include the ability of a payer to independently monitor and obtain electronic feedback on the status of any payment, at any time without depending on any third party, manual or semi-manual means.

“This means payment instructions and associated schedules are no longer to be transmitted to deposit money banks (DMBs) by all public and private sector organisations through unsecured channels, such as paper- based mandates, flash drives, compact discs (CD), email attachments , etc. While nationwide commencement date of end-to-end e-payment

of salaries, pensions, suppliers and taxes is January 9, 2014, compliance monitoring and enforcement will be in stages.

This is to give enough time to all stakeholders to make necessary adjustments as may be required. Compliance monitoring and enforcement by CBN shall be according to the schedule below.

According to the apex bank all salaries, pensions, suppliers and taxes should be through end-to-end electronic payment.

The guidelines stated that banks are expected to: promote the adoption of end-to-end electronic payments by all stakeholders covered by the guidelines; provide paying organisations and beneficiaries

with e-payment enabled bank accounts or any other approved electronic channel that promotes financial inclusion; process electronic payment instructions in accordance with subsisting payments system and clearing house rules; publish customer service contact details and maintain customer service desks in all branches, to promptly attend to all electronic payment enquiries and challenges within stipulated timelines; and maintain and make available to the Bank, on a periodic basis, report of all electronic payment transactions processed and report of customer complaints, indicating resolution status.

Bankers’ Committee marks 2014 Global Money Week

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n recognition of the role financial literacy plays in the economy, and in furtherance of its 2014 priorities, the Bankers’ Committee through its Financial Literacy and Public Enlightenment SubCommittee (FLSC) has mapped out activities targeted at primary and secondary

school students to mark the 2014 edition of Global Money Week which started from Monday 10th to Monday 17th March, 2014.

To commemorate the weeklong event, Thursday 13th March 2014, has been designated ‘Financial Literacy Day’, by the Bankers’ Committee. The aim of both

GTBank commences promo for undergraduates customers

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scheme.

Explaining the features of the Mastercard debit card at a media briefing in Lagos, the Group Head, E-Channels, Skye Bank, Mr. Chuks Iku, said the card could be used through electronic channels such as Point of-Sale (PoS) terminals and on the web.

“This is promoting Loyalty.

You can also use this card to make payment anywhere in the world. It is a universal card,” he said.

He explained that it is the bank’s way of promoting cashless economy which seeks to de-emphasise the use of cash in daily financial transactions.

He noted that the card would promote flexibility in payment as well as enhance the bank’s brand equity. Iku further explained that the Mastercard issued by Skye Bank has similar features with the bank’s Skye Priority Pass which also offers patron membership of the world’s largest independent airport lounge access programme with the use of the Priority Pass cards.

“This offers great value for money and allows you to use any of 600 airport lounges whenever you travel. Other benefits of the programme are: access to over 600 airport VIP lounges, in over 100 countries and over 300 cities, guaranteed use regardless of class of travel, or airline flown, access to over 100 lounges in the US (even on domestic flights) and peace and quiet - the chance to relax before a flight,” he said.

uaranty Trust Bank plc has announced the start of its 2014 annual GTCrea8 Promo campaign for Nigerian undergraduates, an initiative aimed at rewarding the Bank’s customers studying in tertiary institutions across the nation.

While explaining the details of the campaign, the Managing Director/CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank plc told journalists that the 9 month initiative provides a unique avenue for the Bank to stay in touch and reward its GTCRea8 eSavers customers,

who have a unique role to play in the continent’s future development.

According to Mr. Agbaje, the initiative involves awareness storms in 27 major tertiary institutions in Nigeria to promote values such as professionalism, Integrity and the benefits of hard work. Alongside these events are monthly raffle draws during which account holders win Monthly Scholarships. One undergraduate will emerge the winner of the campaign grand prize: a mini cooper convertible car during the December 2014 final raffle draw.

Global Money Week and Financial Literacy Day is to inculcate sound financial knowledge and fiscal planning skills in children and the youth.

Planned activities to mark the week include visits by officials of the various financial institutions to schools adopted by their institutions.

The financial institution CEOs will during their visit, teach selected students from the schools a module of a Financial Literacy curriculum specially designed by Junior Achievement Nigeria - a nongovernmental organisation focused on educating children about their economic environment. Other activities include visits by students to banks to observe bank activities.

The Central Bank of Nigeria will also be organising a Child and Youth Finance Fair/Exhibition in Abuja to mark the week.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 — 23

Distributors working against backward integration in rice sector — RIMIDAN

By FRANKLIN ALLI

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From left: Charles Oputa (Alias Charlie Boy), Chairman, Governing Board (CPC), Air Commodore Ishaku Mwadkoh (rtd); Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson; Director General (CPC), Mrs. Dupe Atoki and Chairman Senate Committee on Commerce, Senator Odion Ugbesia at the launch of a Compendium of the Rights of Telecom Subscribers in Nigeria by Consumer Protection Council (CPC), in Abuja.

ICE Millers, Importers and Distributors Association of Nigeria (RIMIDAN) have accused rice distributors in the country for working against the implementation of backward integration policy in the sector.

Tunji Owoeye, the President of the Association, said the distributors are patronising smuggled rice from neighbouring countries instead of buying from the local millers.

“We are seeking the cooperation of rice distributors in Nigeria in ensuring that we

Why we are investing in Nigeria — Buday

By DOTUN IBIWOYE

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R. Randy Buday is the Managing Director DHL International Nigeria Ltd. He spoke with VANGUARD on how the advent of email and the tablet phones are affecting the courier industry in the country, among other issues. Excerpt: How long have you been operating in Nigeria; what are your contributions to the development of the courier industry in the country?

Over the past 34 years, DHL Express Nigeria has invested significantly into equipment, vehicles, aircraft and facilities as well as into the training and development of our Nigerian staff.

More specifically, in addition to our fleet of vans and motorcycles we have a “state of the art” DHL Gateway and DHL Hub located on the airside of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport

(MMIA) in Lagos which is the logistic home to our aircraft operations and distribution model for West Africa. Within the Nigerian Gateway, we have dedicated customs officers as well as other regulatory aviation authorities to ensure the rapid clearance of our inbound shipments coming into the country. We have recently added a DHL boat to our fleet to ferry our parcels and document from Victoria Island/ Ikoyi to the mainland which connects to our international and domestic aircraft which are based at MMIA. How do you develop the capacity of your workforce?

At DHL, we introduced a training programme called the Certified International Specialists programme.

The programme is a global initiative which has reached over 100,000 DHL Express employees in 220 countries and territories; it has been a principal factor in the company’s impressive global performance. As a change management initiative, the award winning programme has been instrumental in instituting a cultural transformation within DHL Express and reinforcing the company’s international market leadership. All DHL Express employees in Nigeria have been trained on CIS as well as many other specialized programs which fall under the umbrella of Certified International Specialists.

What is your status in the industry- is DHL a monopolist?

DHL has been in Nigeria for

Buday

well over 30 years; I wouldn’t say we have monopoly, we are just doing our best to offer a superior express service to our customers, and nobody in Nigeria can match the quality or speed of our ability to move documents and parcels in and out of Nigeria. The operating environment is challenging compared to other countries in Sub Sahara Africa which is why we need to continue to invest in Nigeria, we also cannot ignore the large and growing population as well as the growth in business opportunities that this country has to offer.

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ow is the courier market in Nigeria compared to other climes?

Nigeria is very unique to other countries in Sub Sahara Africa, traditionally, we have relied on the growth of the oil and gas industry but as previously mentioned there is a growing consumer population which requires the country’s needs for fast moving consumer goods, life science products as well as the need for retail, food, telecommunications and other related services.

combat the menace of rice smuggling in Nigeria. You will recall that government in her wisdom has reeled out backward integration policy for the sector. This has actually not taken off efficiently because of the menace of smuggled rice that has been coming into Nigeria and now we feel this is the best time to address the issue especially for those receivers who happen to be in the distribution segment of the value chain,” he said. According to him, 2-3 million tonnes of parboiled rice was discharged in Benin republic last year and they all found their way into Nigeria.

“If we resist smuggled rice coming into the market there will be no way for smugglers to remain in business. Patronising them affects everybody.

“Distributors are a strong factor along the value chain and if they make use of the power that they have it will help to checkmate the influx of smuggled Cotonou rice.

“Let us have confidence in our leaders especially in their efforts to create jobs for the teeming unemployed. “This is a nationwide campaign against all those trying to frustrate the well meant intention of government in fostering self-sufficiency in rice.

“Some companies including Elephant Group, Olam and Flour Mills have already gone into mechanized rice farming because we are beginning to see the seriousness of government in ensuring that we protect the backward integration but there must be a resolution by government in ensuring that the investments we have is protected and that is by ensuring that the issue of smuggling is curtailed.

Nigerian Breweries to reward distributors

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IGERIAN Breweries Plc will be re warding its key distributors for their outstanding performance last year.

The event will hold on Friday at the Intercontinental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

In a statement, the company said the yearly event is an interactive medium for the company’s management to socialise and engage with distributors and other partners while reinforcing the company’s position as a leader in the brewed products market.

Commenting on the importance of this event, Sales Director of the company, Mr. Hubert Eze, said, “As a business, one of our core values is Respect and this is demonstrated by the consistent interaction with our partners, besides creating unique reward and loyalty programmes and innovative ideas. This continues to bring out the best from our trade partners.

“Besides, considering the present security challenges in some parts of the country, political tension in many states and the challenge of high costs of borrowed funds, we believe it is imperative for us to effectively

target the needs and expectations of our trade partners. This has helped us in developing a service design that has effectively and delightfully managed our customers’ expectations.”

Analysts feel this has contributed immensely to Nigerian Breweries’ business growth, increasing revenue and outstanding market performance. Others believe this has equally helped Nigerian Breweries to outplay competition in terms of reach and acceptance in the market.

A total of 180 Distributors,Customers and Transporters would be rewarded at this Friday’s event with the overall best distributor going home with a MAN Diesel Truck.

Other categories of trade partners would be rewarded with cash gifts ranging from one to three million naira. Other prizes to be given out at the Distributor’s Award include Mitsubishi Double Cabin, Mitsubishi Canter and thousands of crates of NB products.

Evergreen music maestro, Sir Victor Uwaifo and Tiwa Savage would be on ground to add spice to the occasion.

24 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Exhibitors score NIMAREX low, records low turn out STORIES BY GODWIN ORITSE

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XHIBITORS at the just concluded Nigerian Maritime Exposition (NIMAREX) have scored the 2014 edition of the event low, saying that “this is the least attended since the exposition started four years ago”.

Speaking with Vanguard on the reason for the low turn out, Barrister Osuala Nwagbara, a maritime lawyer, said that this year’s event fell short of people’s expectation and that the organisers seem to have missed the purpose of NIMAREX. Nwagbara told Vanguard that the purpose of the exposition is to expose the potentials of the Nigerian maritime industry and encourage investors from within and outside the country to invest in the maritime sub-sector of the economy.

He explained that this kind of event is expected to be wholly bankrolled by maritime agencies like the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and other top maritime undertakings like shipyards and terminal operating firms.

He said that such sponsorships will be to the benefit of less successful and upcoming maritime ventures and businesses.

“Such gains will include

lower participation fees for individuals, I want to come and see ‘Bosuns’ on board vessel caterers and other smaller businesses that make up the vessel.

Different types of businesses should be able to come and network at the opening ceremony, they

reduced the participation across board so that both small and big time operators and businesses can participate. It should not be designed to be a profit making event”, he stated.

Speaking in a similar vein, Captain Niyi Labinjo, a local shipping operator, said that this year’s edition

was beautiful, noting that the absence of manufacturers of maritime products and providers of maritime services was not good enough. He opined that the need to exhibit the bits and pieces that form the vessel cannot be overemphasized as they were also needed to be part of the

FLAG-OFF: Managing Director, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Hajia Maryam Inna

Ciroma (2nd left); General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr Tayo Fadile (left) and indigenes of Malale in Niger State during the flag-off of the safety awareness campaign in the community following a boat mishap that claimed over a 100 lives.

We’ll enforce water safety code —Ciroma, NIWA boss T

HE Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Hajia Maryam Inna Ciroma, has said that the proposed Safety Code on the waterways will

be fully enforced to safeguard the lives of Nigerians.

Speaking at the flag off of a safety campaign on waterways in Nupeko and Malale in Niger State, Ciroma said that the agency has observed that Nigerians living in riv-

erine areas do not like wearing life jacket.

Ciroma said that the campaign is meant to sensitize Nigerians in the coastal areas on the need to observe safety measures that will preserve their lives in the event

NIMASA’s seafarers’ e-verification will provide Nigerians employment — Stakeholders

BY GODFREY BIVBERE

S

TAKEHOLDERS in the maritime industry have said that the introduction of seafarers’ electronic verification by the management of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, will improve employment opportunity for the nation’s seafarers.

The stakeholders pointed out that the agency’s seafarers’ e-verification scheme would also enable the international community that wants to employ any Nigerian seafarer to simply log on to the portal to ascertain the authenticity of such seafarer’s claim.

They charged NIMASA management to ensure that all seafarers whose contacts

event.

An exhibitor, Mr Opena Anobili of Bonny Channel Management Company Limited noted that exhibition stands were still being constructed on the day of the event.

He, however, advised the organisers to be more aggressive in their marketing drive.

are in the portal are well trained and have the necessary competence to do the job for which they are certified.

National Secretary of Nigeria Ship-owners Association, NISA, Capt, Niyi Labinjo, described the innovation by the NIMASA management as a step in the right direction.

Labinjo noted that the new scheme, which he has personally tested, will eliminate time wasted by operators going to the agency’s office personally for verification.

According to Labinjo, “Is a good thing, it is very good. I like what I saw, I have tested it and I am happy with it. This means you do not have to go to them before you can check a particular seafarer. It is a

good thing and it is long over-due. It is also important to note that the international maritime community can also take advantage of it.”

He further noted that the portal should help curb the recruitment of fake seafarers both in the country and outside the country.

Similarly, the Chief Executive Officer, CEO of Maritime Media Limited, Asu Beks, praised the new scheme, saying that it has opened the door for Nigerian seafarers in the international scene.

According to him, “I think what the Director General and management of NIMASA have done is to bring sanity to whole seafarers verification process in the country. I think it is a step in the right di-

rection but again, I think this may have been prompted by the President General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, Tony Nted.

Recall that the Akopolokemi had said that the initiative is part of the agency’s effort to ensure that operations of NIMASA are in line with acceptable international best practice.

The DG had explained that the online verification system is more effective and much more reliable.

In his word: “Our commitment to ensure professionalism in the Nigeria maritime sector is unflinching and our goal is to attain maximum efficiency in the process of certificate verification, which can now be done in any part of the world at any time.”

of any accident on the waters.

She also observed that the two recent boat mishaps in Nupeko and Malale could have been avoided if safety measures were observed.

She explained that when the accidents occurred, the authority moved in quickly to cushion the effect by donating relief materials like life jackets to the people.

Explaining further, the NIWA boss said that it is not enough to donate life jackets, adding that the need to teach and tell them how and why they should use life jackets cannot be overemphasised.

She said, “We realised that it is not enough to just donate these life jackets. We have to explain to the boats owners and operators how to make use of these jackets effectively, so as to help save lives incase of future accidents that may occur.

“We are visiting these two communities not only to enlighten them on all the necessary guidelines but to also make additional life jackets available for the use of these communities.”

BRIEFS

NPA harps on safety in port operations

T

HE Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has harped on the need for port operators to embrace safety measures in its environment.

The authority through the Lagos Ports Complex (LPC) at a two day programme, organised to sensitise tank farm operators, terminal operators and other maritime operators was aimed at solving some of the challenges faced in port operations in terms of safety.

The landlord of the port also gave awards to three organisations within its jurisdictions, as part of effort to encourage safety compliance in line with international best practices.

The three companies awarded include: Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company, (NIPCO)for best safety tank farm; NAVGAS for best safety; LPG firm and Greenview Development Nigeria Limited (GDNL) as best safety terminal operator under the Lagos Port Complex.

Tin Can Island Customs Command generates N21.6bn revenue

T

HE Tin Can Island Port Command of the Nigeria Customs service (NCS) said that it generated N21. 6 billion revenue in February.

This was contained in a release signed by Jubrin Zakari, Customs Area Comptroller, TinCan Island Port, and made available to newsmen on Friday in Lagos.

The Command said that the revenue was after the exemption of N53 million, which was the cost of cargoes cleared under waiver.

It said that the Command realised N316 million from Negotiable Duty Credit Certificate (NDCC) or paper cash.

The breakdown showed that the bulk of the revenue was from import duties paid on vehicles and levies paid on common external tariff, sugar, rice, wheat flour, wheat grain, iron, cigarette and cement.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 — 25

•RUFAI

•SAM EGWU

•NYESOM-WIKE

What we expect from would-be Education Minister

— Stakeholders

S

IX months after the sack of Professor Ruqayyatu Rufai as Minister of Education, stakeholders in the sector anticipate the appointment of a new minister of education considering the recent cabinet reshuffle by President Goodluck Jonathan. Some of them, who spoke to Vanguard Learning, suggested the essential qualities that would be required in a Minister who can rescue the sector from its present` turmoil.

While some are clamouring for a minister with a wealth of experience in education, others believe that such a person’s background would not matter as much as his passion for change in the sector. It would be recalled that President Goodluck Jonathan while swearing in some new ministers last week, said: “Ministers are assigned to

Embezzlement allegations: Vice-Chancellor breaks silence, says his works speak for him Pg. 26

any responsibility not necessarily based on qualifications or what you know best, but is mainly administrative. If you are posted to an area that you are good in, then you’re lucky but wherever you’re posted, it is expected that you bring your experience to bear.”

Educational planning What then are the responsibilities required of a minister of education? The minister is at the helm of affairs of the Federal Ministry of Education whose duties include: Formulating a national policy on education, collecting and collating data for purposes of educational planning and financing, maintaining uniform standards of education throughout the country, controlling the quality of

education in the country through the supervisory role of the Inspectorate Services Department within the ministry, harmonizing educational policies and procedures of all the states of the federation through the instrumentality of the National Council on Education, effecting co-operation in educational matters on an international scale as well as developing curricula and syllabuses at the national level in conjunction with other bodies.

Currently acting in the capacity of the education minister is the Minister of State for Education, Barr. Nyesom Wike with a background in law, who until his appointment three years ago, had not been directly involved in teaching or school administration. Could Wike be the right man for the job?

Former National Secretary of

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Your smartphone can be your eye doctor Pg. 27

SSANU South West faults Prof. Yakubu NEEDS reports Pg. 28

the Nigerian Universities Commission, NUC, Prof.

Munzali Jibril, who is also the President of the Nigeria Academy of Letters, NAL, in an interview with our reporter, said: “Government, in its wisdom could have confirmed Sen. Wike as the minister of education, but that has not been done yet. And I believe Mr. President has his reasons.

It helps if the person selected knows the sector, and I think that with three years of

,

BY DAYO ADESULU & LAJU ARENYEKA

the education sector, but who is also quite exposed to the political environment.

Whatever the case, politicians have a way of learning fast, so I believe that whoever is put there will find a way of learning the ropes.”

The Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Lagos State University chapter, Dr. Adekunle Idris, believes that the ministry of education will be in much better shape if there is an

,

Perhaps a long time teacher, lecturer or an administrator in the sector would be much more ideal

experience as minister of state for education, Senator Wike knows the sector well enough to handle it. If the person has spent time in the education sector, then the learning process will be easier and shorter for him, than for someone coming from outside the sector. But even if one has been a vice-chancellor before, running the entire sector is a totally different ball game altogether. It involves the primary, secondary, tertiary subsectors and that is much more complex than handling one institution. I believe that the ideal candidate would be someone with experience in

educationist at the helm of its affairs. “Someone who has experience in the sector would be the best for the position of the education minister,” he said, “perhaps a long time teacher, lecturer or an administrator in the sector would be much more ideal. I think it would be illogical to put someone who did not go through the ranks in the school system as minister of education.

I don’t think experience in politics has anything to do with it. Politics is not a field of calling; neither does it require special training. We have to define the issues properly.

Continues on page 26

26 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Stakeholders' expectations...

EMBEZZLEMENT ALLEGATIONS:

Vice-Chancellor breaks silence, says his works speak for him

Common enemy This did not sit well with those who have been nursing grudges against him for hindering their illegal means of making money over the years. They, therefore, saw it as an opportunity to join forces together to fight their common enemy, the vice-chancellor.

On the other hand, there are some power brokers within and outside the institution who believe it is high time their kinsman assumed the office of vice-chancellor of UNN which the incumbent objected to, insisting on due process.

Further, some members of the institution who would not want their names in print, explained that in order to actualise the goal, an Nsukka indigene must be planted as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), so that in case the incumbent VC is removed from office, the next person for that position will be an indigene of Nsukka. A source added that from all accounts, if the

Nsukka candidate was allowed to contest on a level-playing ground, there is no way he or she can assume the DVC Admin position because there are other qualified hands for the position.

To get this done, they had to form a clique and woo some Nsukka students, lecturers and other powers close to the presidency to support the agenda.

Therefore, the game plan was to level an allegation of embezzlement against the present VC whose tenure will elapse May, 2014, so that if he is eventually removed from office, the next person in rank will be the DVC Admin, an Nsukka indigene. The permutation was that if he or she is there in acting capacity, in due time, with some internal and external influences, will be confirmed the substantive VC of University of Nigeria, Nsukka. By so doing, the jinx that an Nsukka man has never been vice-chancellor of UNN would have been broken.

More so, because of the actions taken by the current vice- chancellor to block all illegal avenues through which some lecturers, professors and staff of the institution make money, the clique de-

,

T

By DAYO ADESULU

HE Vice-Chancellor, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Professor Bartho Okolo, has eventually broken the silence on the embezzlement allegations leveled against him, stating that the volume of infrastructure investment in the institution has vindicated him.

Professor Okolo who has been unwilling to grant interviews to journalists, however, decided to speak when he was convinced that the press were out to find out the truth behind the saga. Due to his unwillingness to speak to the press initially,Vanguard Learning was prompted to carry out investigations. Students, lecturers and professors were interviewed separately. At the end of the investigations, we discovered that all their submissions revolved around two things - inordinate quest for power and revenge for denying racketeers free hand to operate.

The aforementioned major factors triggered the phantom embezzlement allegations against the vice-chancellor. On one hand, there were some people in the institution feeding fat on students through sales of illegal handouts, substandard textbooks and other sharp practices which he decisively blocked.

•Professor Bartho Okolo idence of what these robbers have done. Even some of those wearing collars are thieves. When we came on board, we stopped the financial leakages and engaged in comprehensive rehabilitation of this university. The problem is that we saw the people who are trying to defraud UNN and we stopped them. The reason some of them are unhappy with me is that if I catch a lecturer, be it a professor engaging in any sharp practices, I sack him. Some of the lecturers who sold hand-outs and rubbish books were also dealt with.

I have about 11 professors who are on suspension today for various unethical reasons. Some of them were completely sacked.‘’ In his philosophy, he asserted

,

I would have loved to show you evidence of what these robbers have done; even some of those wearing collars, are thieves

cided to form an alliance with the already aggrieved people to remove the VC from office.

However, after two days of investigations among students and lecturers, coupled with the rate of infrastructure development which we saw on campus, we returned to the Vice- Chancellor to ask him what was wrong.

He bared his mind on the issue: “I have a policy of not fighting anybody on the pages of newspapers because I want to focus on translating the vision I had from inception into reality. If I had engaged in those distractions, we would not be able to achieve this much."

Professor Okolo stated that “before assuming the office of the Vice-Chancellor, people were just stealing with impunity without anyone to check them. I know this because I have been in their midst for 28 years.” This, according to him, made him vow that such decadence will not continue when he became the vice-chancellor. “I would have loved to show you ev-

that for you to perfect change in any environment, for you to move from the status quo, some people must also fall.

He said: “Their primary objective was to put their kinsman from Nsukka as vice-chancellor of UNN. To actualise the plan, they have to remove me from office, claiming that I am stubborn. That was the reason for those lies they told against me. I don’t fight on the pages of newspapers, my works and the law fight for me. I have taken all of them to court one by one to substantiate their allegations against me. For me, I have evidence of their sharp practices and have reported same to the government. You can see why I don’t go to the press. “ On infrastructure developments, Okolo pointed out that from inception, he gave a lot of attention to infrastructure development because at that time, there was virtually no physical structure you could be proud of at UNN. It was a complete shadow of the past. “This campus was like a

slum, without any beauty of a university to behold.

Level of decadence When the transformation started, it was glaring to people, especially people who knew the level of decadence. Even Chief Olusegun Obasanjo attested to this when he came here two years ago to deliver our convocation speech.

He said: “Bartho Bartho, I hope what you are doing in infrastructure, you are doing the same in scholarships and not just infrastructure” Professor Okolo disclosed that the N1.3b post-graduate school building construction money was generated from the post-graduate school. He added that "the UNN property in Lagos which was bought for N480m when we assumed office is to fetch the school N2 billion every year. The value of the property as at today is about N800 million." Interestingly, he noted that the money was generated from the post-graduate school.

He said, “There are 19 hostels on the campus. If you came five years ago or you had a child here years ago, you would have wept for this university.

"We executed these projects from our internally-generated revenue and money generated from our friends when we told them to come and help." Before we came on board, four years after student graduations, students were still coming to look for their results.

Can you imagine it? Now, we run three semester system. At the end of every semester, all students results must be ready. If lecturers do not get students results ready three weeks after examinations, I will seize their salary. That is why for the past four semesters, all their results are ready. Nobody can force me to do what some of them are doing."

Continues from page 25 Education is a very sensitive area. This is why the Government must choose someone who knows his onions, who has a wealth of experience in the sector, and can properly advise those in power on the appropriate steps to take.”

The President of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, Dr. Chibuzor Asomugha, is of a contrary view. He believes that even a professor who does not have the best interests of the sector at heart will fail if put in that capacity: “There is a widespread assumption that the minister has to come from within the sector; that someone who has an affinity with the sector would do a better job than someone from outside, but I do not believe that such an assumption is entirely accurate. What is most important is for whoever is put in that position to be passionate about education, and focused on building a future for the sector.”

With incessant strikes, the highest number of out-ofschool children in the world, mass failures in qualifying exams, inadequate infrastructure and meager admission spaces, the future seems bleak for the sector, but whether the swearing in of an education minister as many anticipate would bring hope to Nigerian education, remains to be seen.

Matter of urgency

On his part, former National Union of Teachers chairman, Lagos State, Comrade Idowu Samson, charged the would-be Education Minister to as a matter of urgency solve the issues relating to ASUU, ASUP and Colleges of Education and seek for the educational development in Nigeria. He said: “We are expecting that the minister should be able to solve some of the problems with university polytechnics and Colleges of Education lecturers so as to have stability in our education sector. We cannot continue in the same manner it has been since 30 years ago.

"We are expecting from the minister, a transformation agenda that will transform our universities to first class in the world. Nigeria has what it takes to transform this country if properly harnessed. This is possible if we have the political will and are focussed." Also, the Minister's agenda should be able to affect the grassroots.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 — 27

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Your smartphone can be your eye doctor na is harder because you need to focus light through the pupil to reach inside the eye,” he said.

By EBELE ORAKPO with Agency report

F

OR most people, the cel-

lular phone was mainly for making/receiving calls and sending text messages but as technology improved, smartphones joined the fray. A smartphone is so called because of its ability to perform many of the functions of a computer and an operating system capable of running general-purpose applications apart from the digital voice service.

Ophthalmologists now have the opportunity to increase access to eye-care services as well as improve the ability to advise on patient care remotely, thanks to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California who developed the pocket-sized adaptor.

Led by Ophthalmology resident, David Myung, MD, PhD, the team developed two inexpensive adapters that could enable a smartphone to capture high-quality images of the front and back of the eye. "The adapters make it easy for anyone with minimal training to take a picture of the eye and share it securely with

Optics theory: Using optics theory, Myung was able to determine the perfect working distance and lighting conditions for a simple adapter that connects a conventional examina*Smartphone with adapter being used to take tion lens to a phone. With the photo of the eye help of Lisa He, MD (chief ophbetween," he stated, adding: thalmology resident), Myung “a picture is truly worth a went on to shoot hundreds of photos with various iterations thousand words. Imagine a car accident victim arriving in the emergency department with an eye injury resulting in a hyphaema (blood inside the front of her eye). Normally the physician would have to describe this finding in her electronic record with words alone. Smartphones today not only have the camera resolution to supplement those words with a high-resolution photo, but also the data-trans-

,

It took some time to figure out how to mount the lens and lighting elements to the phone in an efficient yet effective way

other health practitioners or store it in the patient’s electronic record," according to Robert Chang, an assistant professor of ophthalmology, and one of the developers.

According to the report in the Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine, unlike the standard equipment used to photograph the eye which costs tens of thousands of dollars and requires extensive training for users, this new technology is cheaper and requires little training.

“Adapting smartphones for the eye has the potential to revolutionize the delivery of eye care—in particular, to provide it in places where it is less accessible,” said Myung.

“Whether it is in the emergency department where patients often have to wait a long time for a specialist, or during a primary-care physician visit, this new workflow will improve the quality of care for our patients, especially in the developing world where ophthalmologists are few and far

,

fer capability to upload that photo securely to the medical record in a matter of seconds."

For Chang, senior author of the papers, with this device, the barrier to tele-ophthalmology will be greatly reduced.

How they did it: Myung decided to bypass the slit lamp, the equipment used to capture images of the front of the eye.

“I started entertaining the idea of a pocket-sized adapter that makes the phone do most of the heavy lifting. It took some time to figure out how to mount the lens and lighting elements to the phone in an efficient yet effective way,” said Myung. He went on to build the prototypes with inexpensive parts including plastic caps, plastic spacers, LEDs, switches, universal mounts, macrolenses and some legos.

On successfully imaging the front of the eye, Myung went on to focus on visualizing the retina.

“Taking a photo of the reti-

of the adapter, consulting with Chang and Dr. Mark Blumenkranz, retina specialist and chair of the ophthalmology department, until they got it right.

Division of labour: Alexandre Jais, a Stanford mechanical engineering graduate student constructed computerized models of the prototypes to produce 3-Dprinted versions.

Dr. Lisa He is leading a clinical study grading the quality of images taken using the adapters in the Stanford emergency department. Dr. Brian Toy, resident, will test the ability of the adapters to track eye disease in patients with diabetes.

“We have gotten the production cost of each type of adapter to under $90 but the goal is to make it even lower in the future,” Chang said.

Already, reports say that a team from the University of Melbourne, Australia used the two adapters on a medical mission trip to Ethiopia and told Chang they were excited about the results.

*Slit lamp eye exam .... more tedious, time-consuming and quite expensive. Photo: Commons. wikimedia.org

Parents blamed for crimes against children

BY CHARLES MGBOLU

W

ITH the increasing cases of rape, paedophilia and other crimes against children in society, Mrs Ezinne Elendu, Headmistress, Primary section, Loral International School, Festac ,says parents have failed in their roles leading to the growth of this menace. This becomes even more worrisome as rising statistics show that some of the violent crimes like rape, are committed by children themselves. She spoke as Loral pupils in Festac visited God’s Own Motherless Babies home, Tedi village. Elendu said: “If children were taught to show love right from this stage, we know the society will be a better place to live in. The anger and britality in our society is because some people don’t have love in them, their parents did not show them love and so they are unable to give love in return.”

Mrs Patricia Obiechie, Headmistress, Nursery section of the school said: “Our parents today are so busy. They are looking for what the family will eat, they are out there in search of money and neglect the children at home. The love these children should get from their parents is lost and so when they find anyone who wants to show them love, whether positively or negatively, they succumb. That’s why you see that the violence in children today is growing at an alarming rate. Mr Uzoukwu Benjamin, Principal, Loral Secondary School Festac, ascribed the problem to indiscipline. “Children must imbibe the culture of hard work and discipline. If a child is hard working and that child is disciplined, the child’s problem has been solved by more than eighty per cent.," he said.

Memories of Oliver Twist, Merchant of Venice as Avi-Cenna holds literary week

F

OR a whole week, it was celebration of literature in Avi-Cenna International School, Ikeja, Lagos recently during which the students brought to the fore the lasting artistic merit of written works and demonstrated their intellect in other areas of the subject.

The school’s Literary Week began with pomp with the students dressed in different colourful and creative costumes that reflected different characters from the novels the school recommended for them to read. Selected students provided insights into, not only the characters whose appearance they had borrowed, but the novel, authors and other interesting aspects of the novel.

Junior students’ proficiency in the use of English and their ability to think on their feet, were put to test as they participated in the discussion forum that served the extra purpose of facilitating strong teamwork. The performance was nothing short of impressive.

As part of the activities, there was re-enactments of scenes from literary texts being studied which were educative and entertaining. They were essentially dramatisation of scenes from Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist to the creative display of some aspects of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, that the students will remember with relish for a long time to come.

Besides, the students had the opportunity to present poems they wrote themselves. “Avi-Cenna intends to celebrate these budding poets by publishing their works in the school’s forthcoming anthology,” the Principal, Mr. David Ogburn said. “I was bowled over by the sheer enthusiasm of the students during the Literary Week and I eagerly await next year’s event. Literature broadens the mind of our students and helps them to link emotional and intellectual ideas in a very potent way.

Literature is, after all, about reality,” Ogburn added.

28 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

UNESCO, Always launch literacy programme for Nigeria

SUCCESS RECIPE WITH UDEME ARCHIBONG successrecipe2009@gmail.com 08035095243

BY AMAKA ABAYOMI

UNESCO and Always, a brand of Procter & Gamble, have launched a new literacy project for girls and young women in Nigeria, starting from March 10, 2014.

Tagged: Empowerment of girls and women through the use of ICTs in Literacy and skills Development, it aims to provide 60,000 Nigerian illiterate or very poorly educated girls and young women in Rivers State and Abuja with basic literacy and life skills over the next three years.

More than 850 facilitators will be trained to provide literacy classes in a traditional classroom environment which would be broadcasted to the public via TV and radio lessons.

This programme not only marks the successful continuation of the UNESCO and Always partnership of providing literacy classes for girls in Africa but also strategically complements government’s efforts to revitalize literacy in the country through a selfbenefitting Funds-inTrust project with UNESCO Revitalizing Adult and Youth Literacy in Nigeria.

Opportunity to succeed According to the Director, UNESCO Regional Office, Abuja, Professor Hassana Alidou, “the partnership between UNESCO and Always on this project will go a long way in ensuring that girls are given every opportunity to succeed in life.

“Education is the investment for any nation especially to encourage girls to go to school as staying in school is a fundamental factor for success.”

In agreement is the Managing Director, P&G Nigeria, Mr. George Nassar, who says “being part of supporting education of Nigerian girls and young women makes us very proud.

Always brand purpose is to advocate for and empower women to live life to its full potential. We are committed to support

Thoughts rule the world

H

*From left: Proprietress, Builders Intl School, Lagos, Oluwamodupe Lawrence, presenting the overall winner trophy to Red House captain, Fiyinfuoluwa Olajuwon.

Nigerian girls and women to thrive.”

Recall that in 2011, UNESCO and Procter & Gamble’s Always, the leader in feminine care

protection, teamed up to provide literacy classes for girls and young women in Africa, starting in Senegal. The pro-

gramme provided 40,000 Senegalese girls with literacy and numeracy classes through traditional and technologybased teaching.

SSANU South West faults Prof. Yakubu's NEEDS reports

By DAUD OLATUNJI

T

HE Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities, South-Western Zone, has faulted the recommendations of Prof.

Mahmood Yakubu’s Needs Assessment Report, describing it as biased against members of the association and an attempt to reduce the number of members of the association in Nigerian universities and consequently paralyse the entire system.

The leaders of the association who spoke in Abeokuta during a sensitisation lecture on the implication of the recommendations of the report, held at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, stated that the exercise was against best practices.

Recall that the Federal Government had set up a committee on NEEDS Assessment led by Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, following the incessant industrial actions in the Nigerian varsities with a view to proffering solutions to the myriad problems confronting varsity education in the country.

The committee had submitted its report but their recommendations have been faulted and rejected by SSANU. The Chairman of SSANU, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Comrade Adul-Subour Salam, appealed to the Federal Government not to align itself with the recommendations of the committee.

Salam said the committee was wrongly constituted as no member of the association was included.

He added that the association dissociates itself from the recommendations of Yakubuled NEEDS Assessment Committee.

He, however, appealed to members of the association to remain resolute on the issue saying they should not sacrifice their job for mediocrity.

Also speaking, the VicePresident and Chairman, Western Zone of the association, Comrade Alfred Jimoh, stated that the report of the committee has become a major threat to the continued existence of non-teaching staff of Nigerian public varsities.

He maintained that the recommendations of the committee was full of mischief, falsehood and lies adding that, as the committee was calling for massive sack of non-teaching staff in the Nigerian varsities, members of the association would not sacrifice their jobs for any lies and mischief.

The leaders of the union while admitting the relevance of the NEEDS analysis in addressing the level of decadence and total collapse of infrastructural facilities in government-owned universities added that the non- teaching staff should not be seen as sacrificial lambs.

OW could a mere kid from a poor single parent household residing in a slum with his mother engaged in menial jobs scraping by just to survive, become a millionaire at the age of 14? How could a poor kid starting out in life with no human connection, rise from poverty and mediocrity by changing his circumstances growing to dine with influential leaders in the world and also becoming one who is changing the world one day at a time?

How could a needy kid grow into a teenager and a young adult living out his dreams by touching lives and inspiring people all over the world? How could a kid who grew up in an environment where his friends succumbed to the streets; selling drugs, joining gangs and dropping out of school, choose a radically different path and has become a role model to his generation? Here’s the secret of his extraordinary life in spite of an ordinary background.

Ordinary background In his words, “I was a kid who was all about possibilities. I’d sit by the window in our tiny apartment, dreaming of the day when I’d look outofmyofficeontothemanic streets of Manhattan. I dreamed of igniting audiences of thousands, even millions of people, with speeches that rivaled Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s. I dreamed of making enough money so that my mother could stop working her two, sometimes three jobs to take care of us. I didn’t allow any thoughts of lack and negativity to enter my brain.

I knew that no matter what my current circumstances, it was possible for me to dream outside of what anyone I knew personally had ever achieved.” Therefore, he attracted people, circumstances and events that were vibrating in harmony with his own dominant thoughts and emotions. The ordinary kid but with an extraordinary mindset called Farrah Gray has grown to become an entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, motivational speaker and of course, a multi-millionaire.

Farrah Gray maximized the law of attraction to work

for him rather than against him. Bob Doyle reveals, “Basically put, the law of attraction says that like attracts like. But we’re really talking at a level of thought.”

Everything visible in this universe began as a thought in the mind of someone; the invisible births the visible. Throughout the pages of history, men and women who have shaped and changed the course of history or the world have applied this all important law; thoughts are things.

Lisa Nicholas observes, “You can see the law of attraction everywhere. You draw everything to yourself; the people, the job, the circumstances, the health, the wealth, the debt, the joy, the car that you drive, the community that you’re in. And you’ve drawn them all to you, like a magnet. What you think about, you bring about.

Your whole life is a manifestation of the thoughts that goes on in your head.” The law of attraction could be likened to a mirror which reflects back into our lives our dominant thought. All the time you are thinking, you are creating. Every time your mind is at work, creation is at work. Whatever you mentally picture, you out-picture in your experience. The state of your mind becomes the state of your life.

Whatever controls your mind controls your destiny.

Whatever thoughts you get rid of in your mind repels off from your life. Whatever is evident in the sphere of your life had already existed in the circle of your thoughts. The world within you is shaping the world around you. Meditation is the key to thought control.

A quiet mind is a focused mind. Our feelings expose the quality of our thoughts.

Thoughts and feelings are the creative forces of destiny.

To make the law of Attraction work for you, you begin by being clear about what you want in life; be definite.

You must believe, imagine and act as if you’ve already received what you asked for.

You must think, speak only what you want; feel good about receiving your desires. Follow your intuition.

Life will deliver to you the order of your dominant thoughts.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 — 29

New Horizons opens N100m IT centre at Landmark University

BY EMEKA AGINAM

N

EW Horizons Nigeria, the leading private owned information technology (IT) training institute, at the weekend, opened an international IT resource centre valued at over N100 million at Landmark University, Omu-Aran, near Ilorin in Kwara State. The centre will empower students of the institution with the most sought after IT skills and professional certifications.

New Horizons, a leading IT training institution globally with 300 world-class IT training and education centres in 80 countries on six continents, has IT technologies tailored to position graduates for global competitiveness.

The IT resource centre which comprise two lecture halls at the varsity contains 150 stateof-the-art compact desktop computers, projectors, software for labs practice , over 5 000 textbooks covering several IT and e- businesses courses, etc.

The Pro Chancellor of Landmark University, Professor Yemi Nathaniel who commissioned the IT resource centre alongside the vice chancellor, Professor Mathew Ajayi; the acting registrar, Dr. Mrs. Rachael Adebayo and many other prefessors, academic and nonacademic staff and students enjoined the students to avail themselves of the opportunities that new Horizons brings to their future.

The vice chancellor who welcomed the New Horizons team led by Mr. Tim Akano, its managing director said the journey to actualise the project began four years ago. “I want to specially commend the New Horizons team for their tenacity and for not giving up even when things seems not to be going the way they were expecting. I know the impact New Horizons is making Covenant University has been wonderful. “That is why when I resumed here I stated that certified IT professional courses must be part of our curriculum.

“I want our students to take

Oando Foundation launches 1st ICT Centre

maximum advantage of the opportunities available at the IT resource centre. I believe even if you are studying History with the skills and certification programmes offered by the New Horizons/Landmark University you can work anywhere in the world including the oil industry.” He said the role IT plays higher institutions like Landmark University cannot be overemphasized.

An officialand andaastudent studentduring duringone oneof ofthe thedramatisations dramatisations An official

Educationist advises parents on mentorship

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BY ETOP EKANEM

ARENTS and guardians have been called upon to allow their children to be mentored properly to enable them become better citizens.

This call was made by Mrs. Abimbola Okoro, a director of the Dayspring Pouvour at the launch of the company which is involved in career counselling, university placement assistance, educational tours, leadership training and mentorship.

She noted that due to African culture, most children are not given opportunity to express themselves or talk to their

parents.

She noted that Dayspring Pourvoir is a youth-oriented organisation that focuses on the ability and capacity in young people to develop them to be positive agents of change, adding: “If we can get the young people right, we can get Nigeria right,” Mrs. Okoro noted.

She also revealed that Dayspring Pourvoir will soon embark on a new innovation for young people by organising a multi-activity sleep over camp for those between the ages of 11 and 21.

Rotary awards scholarship

By JOSEPHINE IGBINOVIA

E

IGHT indigent undergraduate students from public institutions across the country are likely to have a change of fortune soon, courtesy of the Rotary District 9110 Educational and Welfare Endowment Fund, DEWEF. Rotarian Olugbemiga Olowu, Chairman, D9110, who briefed newsmen in Lagos on the 2014 edition of the award, said the incentive was to assist bright but impecunious students go through school with less hassle.

"We have noticed there are very intelligent

students who do not continue beyond their second year in our public tertiary institutions due to financial constraints.

With this scholarship scheme, they are entitled to N100,000 each for each academic year, to support their basic needs".

Former Minister of Health and Chairman, Board of Trustees, DEWEF, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, disclosed that the procedure for entry would be advertised in national dailies and Rotary clubs ahead of April 2014 when the scholarships would be awarded.

BY AMAKA ABAYOMI

O

ANDO Foundation, an independent non-profit organisation, has launched a new Information Communication Technology (ICT) Centre at Archbishop Taylor Primary School in Victoria Island, Lagos, and is partnering with the U.S. State Department’s Global Partnership Initiative, LIONS@FRICA, CoderDojo and the Hello World Foundation to introduce coding to Oando adopted schools.

Established to support government in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, in particular the second goal - achievement of universal primary education by 2015, the thrust of Oando Foundation’s intervention involves identifying, adopting and renovating dilapidated public schools and improving the quality of learning nationwide; thereby creating model institutions for children.

One of its key components is ensuring each school is equipped with an ICT class to enhance the learning capabilities of pupils.

The pilot centre, which boasts of desktop computers, laptop, projector, printer, TV and DVD player and is powered by solar energy, will enhance the learning capabilities of pupils while facilitating their exposure to computer education and other

technology as they connect with the rest of the world via the use of the internet.

In her welcome address, the Director, Oando Foundation, Ms Tokunboh Durosaro, said “technology is set to be the preferred way of learning in the future and it is estimated that 95 per cent of the workforce in coming years will require ICT skills. "At Oando Foundation, we realise the importance of technology being introduced at a very early age and how it can be used to improve education.

Therefore, we plan to equip all our adopted schools with ICT facilities, enrich the ICT curriculum in schools by introducing coding and training the teachers on the use of ICT.” To further boost the impact of the ICT Centre, Oando Foundation with her partners have launched a new initiative called AfriCoderDojo to teach 21st Century computer coding skills to students between seven and 17 years old.

The partnership is based on the global CoderDojo scheme and relies on a volunteer network of implementers and mentors to teach youth the basics of coding.

“What’s so exciting about this partnership is that it promotes hands-on, worldclass coding skills to Africa’s next generation of innovators,” said Andrew O’Brien, Special Representative of the Global Partnership Initiative at the U.S. Department of State.

L5LAB partners with Harvard for Africa Business Conference

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BY LAJU ARENYEKA

T was a meeting of academics, students, professionals and business leaders from around the world at the Africa Business Conference held in Cambridge, Massachusetts recently. The event was held in partnership with L5LAB, the venture firm behind several of West-Africa’s top startups including Jobberman and Cheki.

The conference, organised by the Africa Business Club of HBS, is the world’s largest student-run event focusing on businesses in Africa. This year ’s conference also included a new venture competition which gave aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to win up to $10,000 for submitting the best business plan.

The Managing Director of L5Lab, Chika Nwobi said ‘’we are excited to be part of this year’s conference because it presents an opportunity to invest in the future of Africa. L5Lab is committed to building a new generation of business

leaders in Africa by providing a platform for emerging professionals and entrepreneurs to harness their competencies and bring their ideas to fruition. This conference helps us connect with such people."

Harvard Business School MBA Class of 2014 and Co-Chair of Conference, Amaka Ogeah, said in a press release: “This year’s theme, Africa Accelerates: Equipping a Vibrant African Economy, focuses on human capital development as a key growth driver. It is the 16th in the series and we are very excited about it.”

“It is a privilege to welcome leading members of the African Business community and fellow students to campus”, said Moses Esema, Harvard Business School MBA Class of 2014 and Co-Chair. “This year, our event has a greater focus on entrepreneurship and our goal is to help each attendee have a positive impact on the continent.”

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Attitude paramount in achieving personal fulfillment — Administrator DAYO ADESULU

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HE administrator, Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School, Yaba, Lagos, Sister Patricia Oguejiofor, has stated that for anyone to achieve personal fulfillment in his aspirations, attitude must be brought to the fore. Speaking at the 46th prize-giving day, Oguejiofor said the theme of this year's speech and prizegiving day titled: Attitude: Paramount in Achieving Personal Fulfilment, is apt because of the present situation in the country, warning that people should be mindful of their words, actions and deeds. Oguejiofor said, “going by the contemporary pronouncements, actions and deeds, 2015 looks bleak, dark, fearful and with thick web of uncertainty.”

The administrator who said Nigerians are sitting on a keg of gunpowder which she said

could explode anytime, warned that positive attitude towards national issues can help arrest the situation. She, therefore, asked that all hands be on deck in order to salvage the country from imminent collapse, saying it is a sacrifice worth paying for our motherland.

Speaking in the same vein, chairman of the event, Mr Laolu Oguntuyi, a director at the Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board(LASTVEB) described attitude as a mental position relative to a way of thinking, a leaning towards that which one believes.

According to him, attitude shapes one’s life and it is paramount in achieving personal fulfillment, adding that positive attitude is more than thinking good thoughts as well as the ability to access behavioural state of mind regard-

less of one’s situation.

Oguntuyi explained that attitude is a mental position relative to a way of thinking, leaning toward that which you believe. To him, attitude shapes your life and is everything that happens to you, around you or within you. Positive attitude is more than thinking good thoughts. ‘’It is the ability to access behavioural state of mind regardless of your situation.’’

He, however, stated that good attitude will help someone achieve goals, attain success and inspire others. Besides, he said that it will help the recipient earn people’s respect, make a pleasing personality and help you become an asset to your country.

On his part, Dr Feyi Ademoye of the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Lagos pointed out that anyone who wants to achieve personal fulfilment must act. She said, “What propels one to fulfillment is the vision, it helps one to complete the process in one’s mind and an effective vision will help in achieving a lot. “For you to achieve personal fulfillment, you need a fertile ground and remember that your attitude determines your altitude in life.“

Meadow Hall Foundation adopts Ilasan Primary School

BY TARE YOUDEOWEI

A

S part of its commitment to complement government efforts in raising the standard of public schools in Lagos State, Meadow Hall, Lekki through its Foundation Meadow Hall Foundation, has adopted Ilasan Primary School, Lekki through the School Adoption Programme (SAP).

Speaking at the official adoption of the school, Meadow Hall Director, Mrs. Kehinde Nwani said that SAP is an initiative aimed at supporting government efforts to improve the standard of education in public schools.

According to Mrs Nwani, Meadow Hall Foundation would assist the teachinglearning process of the adopted school. The first phase of the programme began with the distribution of exercise books, stationery, teaching aids, instructional resources, training of Ilasan Primary School teachers by Meadow Hall education consultants and posting of teachers who will explore 21st Century learning strategies in the classroom.

The Director, therefore,

Excited pupils of the adopted Ilasan Primary School. called on the private sector to join hands with the government to enhance the education of children in public schools.

According to her, “We must remember that all our children whether in private or public schools, are expected to meet up with the demands of the 21st Century market place and be equipped with the relevant skills to do so effectively. It is important to focus on the Nigerian child who is the future of the nation whether they are in private or public schools,”

she added.

Expressing delight, Head Teacher of Ilasan Primary School, Mrs Agnes Ifeyemi, said the School Adoption Programme by Meadow Hall is a welcome development and that staff and students are excited to work with Meadow Hall. Mr Lukman Taiwo, the Education Secretary of the LGEA, also expressed gratitude to the foundation and encouraged other organisations to take a cue from Meadow Hall.

Universities convocation addresses series

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NAUGURAL lectures are seldom worth the paper on which they are printed. But, last year at Leads University, Ibadan, one lecture caught my attention which was worth more than the weight of the paper on which it was printed in gold. It was the 3rd Inaugural Lecture,delivered by Professor Chibuzo N Nwoke, who I have never had the privilege of meeting. However, you can see into a man’s soul through what he writes. Professor Nwoke writes with passion about a subject dear to all of us in Nigeria today. Please read on.

This is the first in the series; it won’t be the last.

Rest assured.

P.S. The address has been heavily edited on account of space. Those wanting the full text should get in touch.

Rich Land; Poor People: The Political Economy of Mineral Resource Endowment in a Peripheral Capitalist State Professor Chibuzo Nnate Nwoke, Dept. of Politics and International Relations, Faculty of Social Sciences and Entrepreneurial Studies, Lead City University, Ibadan I. Introduction I stand before you this afternoon, in all humility and with deep gratitude to God Almighty, to deliver the 3rd Inaugural Lecture of Lead City University.

Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Sir, for most of my mature academic life, I have been concerned with, and interested in the possibility for a poor, underdeveloped country to be transformed to a rich and advanced industrialised state using its God-given endowments of natural resources. Indeed, in the early 1950s, most mainstream development economists had suggested that resource abundance would help the 'backward states', which were thought to suffer from imbalances in the factors of production, because, while most of them had surpluses of labour, they experienced shortages of investible capital. In other words, according to mainstream economists, it would be easy for states with abundant natural resources to overcome their capital short-falls by exporting primary commodities and by attracting foreign investors. According to this scenario, the governments of 'backwar' states would also find it easier to collect revenues and hence provide public goods.

In the field of International Relations, the ownership and control of natural resources has, for long also been recognised as a very important asset of power and influence in the international system.

My own thinking on the natural resource issue is radically different from, and opposed to the mainstream capital shortage, or Resource Curse thesis.

I confess that my thinking has been influenced by several radical/progressive scholarship on the Third World’s raw materials issue, which exposed me to, and shaped my understanding of the peripheralised role of Third World raw materials suppliers in the international capitalist division of labour.

In that respect, I need to recall here some of the great scholarship which influenced me, including works by Michael Tanzer, Norman Girvan, Pierre Jalee, Zukhayr Mikdashi, Kwame Nkrumah, V. I. Lenin, Samir Amin, Immanuel Wallerstern, Gregg Lanning and Marti Mueller, Walter Rodney, Harry Magdoff, Bade Onimode, Claude Ake, Paul Baran, Samuel Ochola, Andre Gunder-Frank etc. As a graduate student in the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver, the works of those scholars were part of my daily companion.

Ladies and gentlemen, from Kwame Nkrumah’s work on Neo-colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism, I have a favourite quotation for understanding Africa’s resource endowments problems, not as a curse, but properly, in the context of the organisation and functioning of the world capitalist economic system and the specific role forcefully assigned to Africa in that system as a supplier of raw materials.

Visit: www.delesobowale.com

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014—31

Information on right to UK healthcare N

IGERIANS resident or visiting United Kingdom are to ensure they familiarise themselves with key information regarding immigrants’ rights to certain healthcare provisions in the country.

The UK Border Agency constantly makes available to intending applicants to the UK,

a wide range of consequential pieces of information relating to applicants’ rights and responsibilities in the UK be it as a temporary or permanent resident in the country.

As much as both temporary and permanent immigrants have the right to be treated fairly and lawfully in the UK regardless of race, gender, age, religion, and sexual orientation, it is important that they stay out

of practice which may be contradictory to the country’s legislation. In practising one’s religion, Nigerians resident in the UK as well as those who are on temporary visit, should endeavour to show respect to people of other faiths, by avoiding unwarranted display of public condemnation of their religious beliefs.

Right to healthcare Visitors or those already living

in the UK are entitled to healthcare from the UK National Health Service (NHS).

Some or all of the healthcare provisions may be administered free of charge, but services depend on a person’s residency status and length of time he or she has been living in the U.K. Permanent residents do not have to pay for healthcare provided by the general practitioner (GP) or treatment at a hospital.

They are also qualified for extra free healthcare provision, such as NHS prescriptions, dental care, and sight test and

,

BY VERA SAMUEL ANYAGAFU

Free healthcare services: Interestingly, the UK government, has a majority of health services provided free of charge to both foreign immigrants and citizens.

The free medical services include treatment given in an accident and emergency (A&E) department or treatment administered in an NHS walkin centre, and treatment to individuals with certain infectious diseases.

In the case of HIV/AIDS patients, only the first diagnosis and counseling are conducted free of charge. Government also extends compulsory psychiatric treatment and family planning services to immigrants, but certain categories of immigrants are entitled to a complete range of hospital treatment, such as asylum applicants whose application is still under

The GP has the right to decide if or not to register you, and in this case, you would not be entitled to a full range of hospital treatment

voucher to help them buy glasses, in a situation whereby they are low income earners. Visitors and or those who have temporary permission, equally known as ‘limited leave to remain’ in the UK, they can register with a GP in the area of domicile for free healthcare.

It is also important to note that the GP has the right to decide if or not to register the person, and in this case, the person would not be entitled to a full range of hospital treatment. It is worthy of note that one must be a permanent resident or have lived in the UK for a year or more to qualify for the free healthcare service.

Same situation applies to immigrants who are British citizens or have lived or worked in the UK in the past.

,

consideration.

In addition, individuals who have lived in the UK legally for the previous 12 months, and diplomatic staff, may also receive complete range of hospital treatment.

Considerably, a few categories of visitors are entitled to treatment for conditions which occurred after they arrived in the UK. The consideration is given to residents of the European Economic Area, or persons of countries with which the UK shares bilateral healthcare agreements with. Still, if persons are not in one of the categories accorded free healthcare treatment in the UK, they may be asked to pay for hospital treatment received, and may therefore wish to ensure they have health insurance to cover their stay in the UK. In the case of an emergency, persons are advised to go to the nearest hospital that has an A&E department. If patients are unable to get there, it is imperative herein, to dial up emergency line for an ambulance. Note that such distressed phone calls are free and must only be used in an emergency situation.

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Pay packet boost for NIPOST workers soon

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MPLOYEES of the Nige ria Postal Service, NIPOST, may soon have a boost in their take home pay with the payment of 2006 productivity incentive which would be paid latest by the end of this month.

This followed the intervention of the Minister of Labour and Prodcutivity, Chief Emeka Wogu in the trade dispute between the National Union of Postal Telecommunication Employees, NUPTE, and NIPOST. Both parties also agreed that a committee to be headed by the the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communication and Technology, Dr. Tunji Olaopa, is to start deliberations and provide lasting solutions to the issues in the dispute. It was also agreed that a machinery for collective bargaining agreement should be put in motion immediately.

NUPTE has issued a strike threat over the failure of NIPOST management to pay productivity incentives and rent enhancement to its members.

Onecard appoints Kajubi COO

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NECARD TopUp Ser vices Ltd, a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company has announced the appointment of Engr. Ali Kajubi as Chief Operations Officer (C00).

Until his appointment as COO of OneCard, Engr. Ali Kajubi worked with MTN Uganda in various capacities such as Services Manager, Senior IS Specialist, and Business Process Administrator. His competences include IT Service management, Service level Management, Aligning IT to business strategy and accounts management.

TUC holds marks int'l women day tomorrow THE Trade Union Con gress of Nigeria's Women Commission will on Friday, March 14 , mark this year's International Women's Day .

The event which has the theme, "Inspiring Change" will hold at Adeyemi- Bero Auditorium, Lagos state secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja. The International Women's Day is usually marked world wide on March 8.

How we're improving workers condition in House of Reps — Akpatason COMRADE Peter Akpatason is a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Labour, among others in the National Assembly. A former Trustee of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, as well as immediate past President of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, in this interview with Labour Vanguard, he spoke on how the House of Representatives is striving to improve the wellbeing of workers among others. Excerpts

Y

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

OU are one of the labour leaders in the National Assembly, how have you and others impacted positively on workers?

Well, I know that we have pursued the legislative agenda in such a way that will promote good working conditions. There are a lot of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, of governments who have come to us with proposals for welfare related issues and I can assure you that at no point in time did we ever touch or reduce any proposal about any MDA for either over head or in particular welfare related issues employment, promotions, training, transfers, medical, housing and things like that we have always given to them 100% of all they request for. We can do beyond that but we can’t make higher proposals for them. Basically, we give nod to whatever they request for.

Management issues Beside, we have had situations where we had to intervene in workers management issues in several industries. Like in the oil and gas industry, where we intervened in the crisis in Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, in Delta and Edo States through the House of Representatives Committee in Petroleum downstream. We also had situation where individual workers were wrongfully terminated and we had to intervene based on petitions from their representatives.

Apart from termination, different types of unethical or inhuman measures were meted out to workers in different companies and we had to intervene to protect workers' rights and also to ensure that justice is done. We have had situations in the Power industry for instance, in the telecommunications industry among other sec-

tors.

In addition, I recall that there was a time that the entire Nigeria workers were on strike called

by Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the House of Representatives against all odds had to convene on a Sunday and we passed appropriate resolutions to apprehend the situation. Even though we were ignored by the executive, we still pushed ahead to ensure that the hostility ceased.

They were able to come back to negotiations and pushed for resolution which we actually midwife, and at the end it was resolved.

Direct relationship ]We have had several of such situations, so we make laws to promote healthy work environment and relationship at work place. We also have supported occupational health and safety measures in different areas.

Basically, I think we are doing our best for Labour. An aspect where I have not seen much result is direct relationship with the labour movement where we can interface with them and identify what their challenges are and come up with how to address them. We have reviewed a lot of Labour policies; we have worked on Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, bill to make it more users’ friendly and more protective of workers' interest. Employee Compensation Act, ECA, is in force and we are doing everything humanly possible to ensure that it is properly implemented by way of giving the necessary tonic to the agencies that are charged with the responsibility. So, we have promoted everything that could possibly support employment, especially appropriating for organizations for that purpose.

The House of Repsesentatives unlike the Senate, in the ongoing review of the nation’s constitution, voted for the retention of national minimum wage in the exclusive legislative list. What

informed such decision?

Well, it was not a competition between the Senate and the House of Representatives. We looked at issues separately on our own and they looked at the issues from different perspective.

On our own, we saw that removing Labour from exclusive to concurrent list will create more challenges than it could solve. It is not as if there are no merits in doing so at all. But the demerits outweigh the merits. We know for instance that having minimum wage below which no organisation is allowed to go is capable of insuring that all workers in the entire country irrespective of who their employers are whether private or public sector, whether state or federal, whether local government or whatever, are not paid miserable wage. Now it helps to check the excesses of multinational organizations which ordinari-

,

BITS Bits

Akpatason workers and deprive workers of the barest minimum that is supposed to afford them the minimum standard of living. We think that will be very dangerous. So we support the idea of creating that minimum threshold at national level below which nobody can operate but every employer is free to go above that. The argument of some governors is that a lot of them were willing to pay more than the N18,000. For me it does not hold water because the minimum wage being pegged at N18,000 at national level does not mean that state cannot pay N50,000. Any state that can afford it can pay more than that, it is a matter of affordability. We cannot allow workers to be enslaved by any tier or organ of government.

As a member of the House committee of Labour, issues of unfair labour practices by em-

We make laws to promote healthy work environment and relationship at work place.

We also have supported occupational health and safety measures in different areas

ly will not want to pay reasonable wage to their workers. Also even governors on their own parts, local governments if they are allowed to make laws and determine how much they pay, I can assure you that workers wages will take the back seat and in that case, a whole lot of state will go to the extent of paying very paltry wages to workers. But if you have it on the exclusive list it does not mean that everybody must pay the same amount but it only declares a minimum, the lowest threshold that nobody should go below. N18,000 for instance, if anybody claims that he cannot pay, I will like to ask that person whether he can survive on N18,000. If governors could claim that they cannot pay N18,000 while labour is on exclusive list what do you think is going to happen if you now move it to concurrent list, you give them the liberty to enslave

,

ployers including government itself, in terms of over sight functions, how are you addressing them especially casualization, out sourcing non refusal to allow union among others?

Oversight function does not cover everything. Our oversight is to look at how much money is given to organisation, how they spend the money. We vie into some other things when people write petitions or people raise issues we can then invite parties and mediate. It is not our responsibility to go and ask employers how much they are paying their workers, if we do that we are just doing it because as individuals we are concerned about the working condition of workers, but statutorily that is not our responsibility. So oversight might not necessary cover that, but it covers the areas that have to do with what is appropriated.

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Help! Goodness needs N3.4m for an anus

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

I

MAGINE a life without an anus.

Imagine your baby excreting faeces from her mouth. Imagine having to be abandoned by your spouse when you needed him or her most. Imagine accessing care and you were told that your hospital file is no where to be found? These aptly described the present challenges confronting Mrs. Florence Nkemachor Edokpayi and her four year-old child, Goodness Edokpayi.

Goodness, according to a medical report from Lagos State University Teaching Hospital,LASUTH and signed by a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon, Dr. O. Faboya requires urgent assistance for further medical attention after undergone three operations already.

Goodness is said to have been born with Down syndrome with delayed passage of meconium and further medical investigation revealed that she has Hirschsprungs disease.

Unfortunately, the defective intestine had made it impossible such that he could not pass faeces normally through the anus.

However, after due consultation with two hospitals abroad, BLK Super Specialty Hospital, India and Great Ormond Street Hospital, London had both reviewed the case and said they were capable of carrying out the operations. Now, Goodness needs a total of N3.4 million ($20,000) for the life – saving operations and the associated expenses. Unfortunately, Florence is now running from pillar to post as she cannot afford the sum.

Narrating her ordeal to Vanguard, Florence said few days after Goodness was born, his tummy was swelling as he could not excrete like normal babies. And it got to a point that faeces was coming out of his mouth.

Then, her mother Florence rushed him to LASUTH where it was discovered that he has a defective intestine that could not allow him pass faeces through the anus.

Medical doctors at the hospital in the battle to save his life carried out what they called, “A Martin-

•Master Goodness

Duhamel pull over” through surgery when he was one year old. Later, there was post operative complication which required re-operation.

At age three and half, he had coloanal astomosis done. Since then, the baby has undergone three operations without the doctors being able to correct the abnormality.

To add salt to injury, the last time they went to the hospital in October, the mother was told that the baby’s medical file and records has gone missing and as such they could not do anything and were sent home without any hope or help.

As if these were not enough, Mr. Kingsley Edokpayi the supposed father of Goodness, upon discovery of these abnormalities in his boy abandoned his wife and child to their fate. Since then, he never cared or asked after their welfare.

Right now, Florence has been catering for herself and the baby by selling telephone recharge cards and from little financial assistance she gets from relatives.

Florence who said all the efforts of the doctors have not solve her child’s problem, appealed to well meaning Nigerians to help her child.

If you are touched by Goodness story, send your donation to First Bank account. No 3053986992 with the name Ihagbor C. Doris or call 08186086444, Also, a website, http://www.gofundme.com/ 4kwpm0, has been set up for him.

World Kidney Day: FG urged to regulate dialysis centres

A

S Nigerians join the rest of the world to mark this year’s World Kidney Day, today, the Fed eral Government has been urged to regulate the activities of dialysis centres across the nation to prevent avoidable deaths in renal clinics.

The Nigerian Association of Nephrology, NAN, who gave the charge in Lagos, argued that nonregulatory activities of newer dialysis centres in the country pose great risks to kidney patients.

The medical experts called on governments at all levels to check the menace to prevent avoidable deaths.

In a joint press statement signed by the President of NAN, Dr. Ebun Bamgboye and the Secretary; Dr Samuel Ajayi, the duo, disclosed that doctors at St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos, will organise public medical checks, health talk at Freedom Park for Nigerians amongst others, lamented the various activities that go on in some of the newer dialysis centres across the country.

The duo, criticised ‘non-regulation of the activities of newer dialysis centres in the country,’ while stressing the need for ‘partnership with relevant agencies concerned in streamlining the activities of such centres.’

According to them, “There is need to have trained nephrology and dialysis personnel to man such centres.”

They also flayed what they described as ‘increasing rate of organ trafficking and medical tourism in the country,’ and called for ‘an effective legislation against the practice.’

The group urged ‘government to encourage local centres in the delivery of transplantation services by funding and enhancing capacity development in order to reduce capital flight as a result of the medical tourism. The theme for this year’s World Kidney Day is “Kidneys age, Just like you.”

COMMON SEXUAL PROBLEMS AND THEIR NOVELTY BASED SOLUTIONS (ADVERTORIAL)

I

use a condom each time I have sex so I always feel protected. But I also indulge in oral sex every now and then and mostly, it is women that give me oral sex. Do I have anything to worry about? Murayo Yes Murayo you have many things to worry about.

The dangers of oral sex are not as publicized as the dangers of vaginal and anal sex, but oral sex is just as dangerous because you are equally exposed.

Contaminated body fluids (semen, saliva, blood and vaginal fluids) are all capable of infecting another person when they come in contact with the mouth, especially when there are tiny sores in the mouth. I am sure you have observed that sometimes when you are licking orange or when you spit out first thing in the morning or brush your mouth, you see a bit of blood. That shows you that the mouth is an easy passage for bacterial and viral infections because you never know when you have sores or cuts in your mouth. The list of diseases that can be transmitted during oral sex include Chlamydia, HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) , Herpes , Gonorrhea , HIV , Syphilis, and Hepatitis B. As scary as all of this is, you can still give and receive oral sex but you must protect yourself and partner with latex condoms and dental dams during intercourse. If a woman of questionable status is giving you oral sex, make sure you are wearing a condom. If you are giving a woman oral sex, ensure you are using a dental dam. A dental dam is a flat, transparent sheet of latex that you place over the vagina during oral sex to ensure there is no direct contact between the genital and the mouth. So now you know better, go to the hospital and do a comprehensive test for all sexually transmitted diseases – Uche Once I am in the mood, I get erection but once I penetrate, I don’t last up to one minute and getting a second erection again may take up to 24 hours.

What will you recommend for me that won’t have side effects? Chukwudi An aphrodisiac is what you need. They are

commonly referred to as erection enhancers and there are quite a few potent ones in the market. If you want a product that will stop your premature ejaculation and enable you get a second erection within minutes of ejaculating, then go for Red Lips Premium or Rhino 5.

Both products handle all manner of erectile dysfunction in addition to curbing quick ejaculation and enlarging the penis. Alternatively, you can get a delay cream like the Forever Yours Delay Cream (to stop the premature ejaculation) and combine it with Exploding Thunder supplement to enable you get a second erection within minutes – Uche I get dry during intercourse and this makes it painful – Joy Get the Colt Slick Lubricant or Swiss Navy Water Based Lubricant. Apply it on the genitals during intercourse and you will be alright – Uche I am 32 years of age and I have a history of staphylococcus which took three years to cure. Recently, I did a fertility test and was told that I had low testosterone and sperm count. I don’t have a child yet but I am afraid I will not be able to have any when the time comes – Sule If you are unable to father a child when the time comes, there are treatments that can help you. Fertility supplements such as Repro Aid and Fertil Aid are both good and have helped many people. So don’t worry – Uche I took your advice and bought the Exploding Thunder.

I get strong erections now and I am no longer tired during sex. I never thought I could solve this problem.

Bless you - Abbas The names of the people featured here have been changed for their privacy. Adults in need of these treatments/novelties can call 08191978308 or 08027901621 or any other number here to order or they can order online at www.zeevirtualmedia.com. Zee Virtual Media delivers to you wherever you are in Nigeria. For enquiries, send your emails to custserv@zeevirtualmedia.com - Uche Edochie, MD, Zee Virtual Media.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 — 41 YOUR LUCK TODAY

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139

AQUARIUS; Full-Moon in Aries warns you to watch what you sign and verbally agreed to do. If you fail to respect the law, it’ll back-fire very soon.

PISCES; Today’s full-Moon in Aries does not encourage carelessness with money as such can actually lead to avoidable but serious troubles. Avoid jealous approach ARIES; Full-Moon in your Star sign will encourage you to under-rate many to their resentment the way you too’ll be negatively affected.

Don’t ignore your spouse TAURUS; Full-Moon in Aries warns you to do away with whatever can not be placed above board.

Take your health seriously today more than before GEMINI; Today’s full-Moon in Aries can tempt you to expose your love life unnecessarily. Separate your private/personal affairs and open friendship

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Richard Eromosele

H

OW many seconds do you think you have in a day?

How many minutes do you have in a day? And how many hours do you have in a

All You Have... year?

You see, the way some of us act is like; we have eternity to execute our plans. But the reality is that you

and I do not have more than twenty four hours in a day and three hundred and sixty five days in a year to think, to

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye”

plan and to execute our plans. If this is so, then, why do we delay unnecessarily?

All you have is now. So whatever you can do today, do it now.

By Lanre Kehinde

CANCER; Full-Moon will certainly affect your mood and make you aggressive but, encouragement of tension along your career line and/or within your business circle can not help your cause now.

Protection of your image is important however.

LEO; Full-Moon may bring you what you’re likely to see as an insult but in reality it is not one.

You only need to be on the right side of the law so that you’ll have the last laugh to the detriment of your opponents. Discourage of jealousy within you.

VIRGO; Full-Moon across Aries/Libra axis may generate tension around you but, the best way for you not to be the loser is to make sure your finances are well protected. Then green eyed monster called jealousy may make things a little bit difficult.

LIBRA; Full-Moon across Aries/Libra axis may bring you personality clashes base on envy from the other party. Slow down and give peace a chance at least for now.

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in

“Princess Shii’

By Andy Akman

SCORPIO; Full-Moon in Aries points to possible misunderstanding (probably) within your working arena. This is the wrong time to fan the embers of discord.

SAGITTARIUS; Although the full-Moon is generating tension, your wish is to have your good time. It’s wrong to under-rate the havoc jealousy can wreck CAPRICORN; Full-Moon across Aries/Libra axis will bring pressure from many fronts, the more noticeable ones are career/business and domestic related types.

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

Basic characteristics of Pisces Pisces is 12th of the twelve Zodiac signs ruled by mysterious Neptune. It quality is mutable while it element is water. Mutable aspect of Pisces indicates that people born under it are changeable, by this I mean they change their minds often times.

Being a water sign, naives of this Star have very strong intuition and can flow into anybody heart and/or mind.

Neptune as the ruler of Pisces brings compassion and ARTISTIC talent into Pisces born people’s creativity quotient. Neptune rules psychic related thing and many of things that cannot be placed above board; Neptune makes most natives of this star sign secretive, hard to understand and dreaming.

Two opposing fishes as joint symbol of Pisces oftentimes responsible for occasional confusion suffer by all natives of Pisces one time or the other.

It is truly important for them to learn how to control both their emotion and mind.

Because it is easy for Pisces people to become pessimistic unnecessarily The reasons are while one of the fishes may head for optimism and day dreaming, the other ’s inclination may be of fear, despondency and timidity. Thus, confusion can creep in and that will be to the detriment of their confidence.

Cultivation of practical nature and adoption of realistic method in all you do will be of great importance. It is equally important for Pisces born people like you to take psychic related things more seriously because they can make use of psychic and/or spiritual related things.

VIRGINIA

HOME & ABROAD

dadadekola@yahoo.com

By Lawrence Akapa

42—Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

EKITI 2014:

Why Fayemi turned me into a villain— Bamidele OPEYEMI Bamidele, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Legislative Budgets and Research, is a governorship aspirant in Ekiti State on the plank of the Labour Party (LP). In this interview, he bears his mind on issues relating to his gubernatorial ambition and legislative activities among others OW true is it that you are in the race purposely to scuttle the chances of the All Progressives Congress, APC? My answer to that is no. The issues involved are much more fundamental than such mundane and poor reasoning. To the glory of God, I see and hold myself as a change agent. The record will show that in the last 11 months that I’ve been actively involved in the governorship race in Ekiti State, a lot has changed in the style of governance.

Go round and see party elders, they will tell you that the same governor who did not know they were in existence for two years and would not contact them on any issue concerning governance in this state, is today going round their homes and offices; sometimes quietly driving himself to visit party leaders and stakeholders to apologise. And in an unusual manner, offering different kinds of largesse.

The same governor, following my criticism, is also going to Labour unions and Student unions and their leaders. That was the same governor who proscribed students unionism in virtually all the campuses in Ekiti. The only institution in Ekiti that didn’t have its students union proscribed was the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, which is a Federal government owned institution.

Criticisms of the state Today, because Opeyemi Bamidele is in this race and because of my criticisms of the state of the state, the governor has been going round trying to do all sorts of damage control. As a change agent, I even see this as an achievement on my part.

And beyond this is also the fact that this race is not about any individual, pecuniary interest or personal interest of any kind. It is about Ekiti people. Yes, we may have a personal relationship.

We may have our political or ideological differences but it is about Ekiti first.

Governor Fayemi recently said that God used him to facilitate your election into the House...

That is the difference between the governor and I. Some reporters asked him a few months ago that they knew two of us as friends and that they knew the roles that God used me

•Bamidele: My criticisms have kept Fayemi's administration on its toes to play in encouraging Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to support him to contest the governorship election in 2007. Rather than say yes or no the governor simply said he believed I needed psychiatric help.

Who took him to Asiwaju? If today Governor Fayemi is saying that God used him to put me where I am today, it means it is for a purpose because he did everything in his capacity to frustrate the purpose of God for my life. I was running for election to go to the Senate. I won the primary election but Fayemi took my mandate and gave it to Babafemi Ojudu to go to the Senate. And Governor Fayemi went round to get other party leaders to appeal to me to go to the House of Representatives. I ended up in the House of Representatives because I did not want to rock the boat of the party.

So if Governor Fayemi said God used him to put me where I’m today in the House of Representatives, he will still need to explain to God why I ended up in the House of Representatives instead of the Senate.

The House of Representatives became a charitable environment for me and a very viable platform for me to create more time for my politics and devote more time to

issues in Ekiti.

How do you intend to go about your agenda for the state?

I never did anything as a politician because my party was popular. When the Alliance for Democracy, AD, which I belonged to, was in control of only one state and one governorship position in this country, I was not discouraged from being an active member of the party. That did not take away my faith or hope for a better future for this party and for this country. We rose again from being in control of one state to taking control of five additional states.

Characters in the party And the party was in control of six states, because of our tenacity, our belief and what we stood for.

It was not about how many people who were in the party. It was more about the kind of characters in the party.

The events of the last three months have shown that the Labour Party is the party to beat.

We went into the Labour Party as a coalition. Coalition of well meaning Ekiti people, at home and in The Diaspora. Coalition of members of the political class drawn from different political

parties. They include; the ACN, CPC, ANPP and the PDP. And let it be known to everyone that we are on ground and a party to beat. On talks about two formidable parties being already in place and our party being the third one, you must realise that it is not about party but the people. All the members of the three parties put together are not

,

H

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

opponents. What else would my opponents say? But remember that this same opponents some months ago would tell reporters that I was a blessing to the party and Ekiti State, and that I was a blessing to the nation and one of the best representatives Ekiti had ever sent to the National Assembly. The governor also said on tape and published in the newspaper at some point that Ekiti had never sent a team like this to the National Assembly, and personally commended me as the Ekiti Caucus Leader.

Then I was not his opponent because I had not said I was running for governorship. Today that I am his opponent he would not say the same thing. It shows the level of our insincerity.

In other words, it means you can say wonderful guy today as long as your interest is not at stake. That means if a person is doing certain things consistently today and you are commending him, the moment that thing he is doing consistently conflicts with your interest the hero will suddenly become a villain. I was their hero yesterday but Fayemi is trying to make me a villain today just because I insisted on internal democracy. Just because I insisted the party should conduct a primary election for me and Dr Kayode Fayemi and he was afraid that I would defeat him at the primary he started using divide and rule method to instigate some of the party leaders against me. Because I insisted on internal democracy,

If today Governor Fayemi is saying that God used him to put me where I am, it means it is for a purpose because he did everything in his capacity to frustrate the purpose of God for my life

up to 10 per cent of the people of Ekiti State. This is a state of about 2.5milllion people.

So if the voting public are saying this is the direction they want to go, all you need as a popular candidate is just to have a credible political platform. And if you have a party that within three months has not less than 500 members in any ward in Ekiti State and there are 177 wards, that is very interesting. That is definitely a party to beat.

Your opponents in the APC said you did not perform to their expectations as a federal lawmaker?

I’ am glad you said my

,

Fayemi decided to turn me to a villain.

He calls himself a democrat but doesn’t want internal democracy within his party. How can you continue to deny people access to genuine democracy at the local government level for over three years and continue to parade yourself as a democrat? How can I allow the governor to continue to instigate the party members against me because I want internal democracy and he doesn’t want it. The sky is broad enough for birds to fly freely without having any collusion.

How can anyone who is not being mischievous say I did not perform well?

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014—43

Day Jonathan visited Kwara

BY DAPO AKINREFON

P

RESIDENT Goodluck Ebele Jonathan continued his tour of state chapters of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP and penultimate Monday, his train berthed in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, which is controlled by the All Progressives Congress, APC. As early as 8 am, PDP members and supporters of the returnees thronged the state owned Metropolitan Square, Ilorin which was filled to capacity

by PDP faithful from all parts of the state. The rally was organized by the Solomon Edojah-led state caretaker committee of the party, which also had media guru, Mr Lanre Isa-Onilu on the team.

Defectors: Those who defected to the PDP, include a former governorship candidate on the plank of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Mr Mohammed Dele Belgore; Senator Gbemi Saraki; the Interim State Chairman of the APC, Rev Bunmi Olusanya, Mr Akeem Lawal, Mrs Bilikisu Gambari and Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazak and their teeming supporters.

Bbefore now, PDP electoral fortunes were dwindling as a result of the division among the stakeholders of the party.

The unity rally, according to pundits, has shown that the stakeholders are prepared to sheathe their swords in order to wrest power from the Bukola Saraki power bloc.

Saraki power bloc Already, the outcome of the unity rally has led to the removal of the Chairman of the National Sports Commission and Minister of Sports, Alhaji Bolaji Abdullahi, who was said not to have identified with the Kwara PDP. PDP is alive in Kwara — Gbemi Saraki Speaking on behalf of the defectors, Senator Saraki said though there was acrimony among stakeholders, all hands are now on deck to ensure the PDP forms the next government in Kwara State.

Senator Saraki, who is also the younger sister to Senator Bukola Sarakiassured President Jonathan and the PDP hierarchy that the stakeholders are ready to deliver Kwara to the PDP. “I am sure you came with lots of question. One of the questions is, is PDP dead in Kwara state?

You can see for yourself that PDP is very much alive. It is clear that the reason for defection by a loud few is because of their personal and selfish interest. It is not about Kwarans, majority of whom remain committed,” she said.

On the acrimony in the state chapter of the party, she said,

•President Jonathan raising Senator Gbemi Saraki's hand at the PDP rally at Metropolitian Square, Ilorin, last week.

”so much has been said about the acrimony among the stakeholders, they have said they cannot work together. This is far from the truth. In order not to disappoint our people that are ready for change, our individual desires have taken a back seat in the scheme of things."

Roll call Aside President Jonathan, other notable chieftains of the PDP at the rally include Vice President Namadi Sambo, Senate President David Mark, National Chairman of the PDP, Dr Adamu Mu’azu, Governors Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Lyel Imoke (Cross River), Babangida Aliyu (Niger) and

Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa).

Others are Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Mr Yemi Awoniyi, PDP BoT Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, Dr Ahmadu Ali, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Senator Ben Obi, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, Mrs Stella Omu, Senator Saminu Turaki and Chief Barnabas Gemade.

We’re ready to reclaim Kwara — Akpabio Welcoming the decampees and returnees to the PDP, Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Governor Godswill Akpabio boasted that the party was ready to set the state free.

Akpabio said: “Kwara has always belonged to the centre.

You have encouraged us with your numbers that you are ready to give us another PDP governor in Kwara State.”

He enjoined people of the state to “take every legal measure and take every spiritual measure to go to God almighty to cry that nobody can donate our mandate in Kwara State and give to people who do not work for it.

We are owned by the people— Mark On his part, Senate President, David Mark said he was overwhelmed by the crowd present at the rally noting that the PDP remains the party that has internal democracy saying “this is the only party where

there is democracy. We are not owned by an individual. We are own by any group.

We are owned by the people.

Going round I was moved because I have not seen this kind of enthusiastic crowd anywhere in this country.”

We’ll retake Kwara— Mu'azu PDP National Chairman, Dr Mu’azu appealed to Kwarans to cast vote for PDP in the 2015 general elections, just as he urged those willing to return to the fold to join the train, saying: “I want you repeat what you did in 2011 in 2015. The only truly democratic party is PDP, because it is the party of the rich poor, men, women and ordinary people.”

No more imposition or godfatherism in PDP--Jonathan On his part, President Jonathan thanked supporters of the PDP who turned up for the event. He was, however, quick to state that PDP is not owned by any individual or group of persons. There is no more imposition or godfathers in the PDP. It is only in PDP that the people of Kwara can have the freedom they desire and its in the party that any Nigerian can come from nowhere and become somebody.

Noting that the era of imposition of candidates in the party was over, he said: "Members of the PDP are not dictators but those who have the interest of their people at heart.

It is only in our party that we encourage everyone irrespective of where he comes from," he said.

2015: Obasanjo'll deliver Jonathan — Otobo CHIEF Mathias Otobo is the Chairman of Michel International group of companies and a leader in Isokoland in Delta State. In this interview he speaks on issues ranging from perceived marginalisation of Isoko land, the beef between President Goodluck Jonathan and former President Olusegun Obasanjo among other issues. Excerpts:

BY JACKSON OTUSESO

W

HAT is your view on the recent Isoko Development Union,IDU elections?

It is the best election the Isoko people have ever had. The emergence of General Paul Omu [rtd], a former military governor of Cross River State and member of the Supreme Military Council as President General of the IDU and AIG Felix Ogbadu [RTD], a well trained Police Officer with an excellent tract record as vice President, can best be described as putting round pegs in round holes.

I strongly advice them to swing into action immediately. They should see to it that the Isoko house be completed before 2015 general elections. They should discuss with Kingsley Kuku and fashion a way to bring into the Amnesty Program, Isoko youths who out of distrust initially refused to join the Amnesty

Programme.

As the mother body of the Isoko people, the IDU should as a matter of urgency mediate between warring parties in the Isoko Youth National Movement.

This is a crucial time in Isoko land and our people should be speaking with one voice.

What is your take on the PDP crisis?

It is Unfortunate. But as the biggest party in Africa it is to be expected. The exit of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur came very late and at an odd hour when serious damages and pains had been inflicted on the party. It is also unfortunate that the misunderstanding between the President and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo became a matter of public debate.

Their relationship is like that of a husband and wife, it should never have become something to be thrown out to the public The South-South people owe a debt of gratitude to our former

•Otobo

President for the fatherly role he played despite all odds in the emergence of Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as president. Where were those people who are now spitting fire against Obasanjo when he was campaigning for Jonathan? Where were they when Obasanjo quarrelled and fought with Atiku and IBB over Jonathan? Issues between President Jonathan and Obasanjo should be resolved by the President without a mediator.

We in the South-South respect

our elders and the age difference between them is like that of a son and his father. So I advice the President to go to Ota farm to resolve the issues with Obasanjo.

What is your opinion on the wave of defections in the polity?

The issue of defection whether from PDP to APC or LP to APGA or LP to PDP or APC to PDP is part of the ingredients of politics.

Change is constant and when you say it’s democracy its democracy you don’t infringe on people’s right and the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP does not have anything to worry or panic about because what we are seeing is turning an old wine into a new bottle. For instance Atiku defected because he knows Obasanjo is silent about Goodluck Jonathan’s second tenure. And so, his silence is being misconstrued as disapproval.

Obasanjo is going to deliver Jonathan again come 2015. He is a father and a father does not disgrace his son in public. There is no way Obasanjo can take the President to the stream and leave him at the river bank.

44—Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

2015: Akwa Ibom stakeholders plan roundtable on sharing of key political offices

Navy set to end maritime crimes

U

YO—ELDERS and stakeholders in the 10 federal constituencies of Akwa Ibom State are to hold a roundtable on the sharing of key political offices among the three senatorial districts in the 2015 general elections to ensure justice, harmony and equity among the people in the state.

The state governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, at a town hall meeting and constituency briefing in Etinan federal constituency, made the disclosure, while responding to Senator Effiong Bob’s question on the actual political position zoned to Uyo senatorial district in 2015 political dispensation, given the fact that the governorship position was zoned to Eket senatorial district.

Akpabio said the sharing of key positions would be done at the end of the 10 federal constituencies tour, adding “Just as my administration has carried all the constituencies along, all constituencies would be carried along by the next administration through the sharing of political positions at the state and national levels.

BY EMMA UNA

C

ALABAR—THE Nigerian Navy has restated its readiness to sustain the fight against maritime criminality, especially oil theft and piracy, which have become frequent on the country’s waterways.

The Flag Officer Commanding, FOC, the Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral Obiora Medani, made the disclosure, in Calabar, Cross River State, yesterday, while addressing officers and ratings of the Command during activities to mark the end of the FOC Bi-annual Inspection.

He said that the Nigerian Navy will fight criminality in the waters to a stand-still.

“The Nigerian Navy under the current leadership will fight maritime crimes to a standstill, especially the shameful practice of stealing of the nation’s crude oil by organised syndicates and piracy on the high sea,” Admiral Medani said.

Aguariavwodo will empower Urhobos — Adjagbara

A

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate in the forthcoming councillorship election, representing Ward 1, Uvwie Local Government Area in Delta State, Mr David Adjagbara, has assured the Urhobos of Delta Central senatorial district that, contrary to opinions in certain quarters, Senator Emmanuel Aguariavwodo will empower the Urhobos.

He urged the youths to be patient and to understand that the Senator was yet to stabilise and

bring the necessary dividends of democracy.

He pledged to empower youths of Uvwie Urhobo and contribute to the peace and development of Uvwie by working closely with the council’s chairman if he emerges victorious at the poll.

Adjagbara, who is the president of Senator Aguariavwodo Youth Empowerment Scheme, urged Urhobos to be united, steadfast and stand by Aguariavwodo as true Urhobo son and patriot that means well for them.

“There must be a buy-in time for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP governorship candidate to abide by the agreement reached by the stakeholders. I am from Ikot Ekpene senatorial district and will be interested in the position zoned to us. By then, I won’t be governor again, but will represent them in another capacity.

“Uyo and Ikot Ekpene federal

constituencies have tasted the governorship seat. It is only Eket federal constituency that is left. So, after the consultation with the 10 federal constituencies, the party will then decide on who occupies the governorship seat come 2015.

“Nobody can buy the governorship seat come 2015 elections, the 2015 elections will be an open contest, where

Tidi, Neburagho condemn exclusion of Itsekiri from confab

C

ONVENER of the Niger Delta Patriotic Initiative, NPDI, Mr Michael Tidi, has described the non-inclusion of Itsekiri ethnic nationality in the list of delegates for the national conference as unjust.

Meanwhile, an Ugborodo youth activist, Mr. Vincent Neburagho, has called on the Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, Chief Pius Anyim to tender an unreserved apology for failing to include the name of Delta State nominated Itsekiri representative, Chief Isaac Jemide in the delegates’ list to the national conference.

Neburagho, in a statement in Warri, noted that the Itsekiri nation accounts for more than 33 per cent of the total oil and gas production in the country, wondering why the Itsekiri would be excluded from taking part in discussing the sharing formula of the revenue accruing from oil and gas resources on which the Nigerian economy depended.

Tidi on his part, called on President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State to use their good offices to ensure the participation of the Itsekiris in the confab.

Briefing newsmen in Warri, Tidi argued that every ethnic group in the state except the Itsekiris

was nominated to take part in the conference.

He said “I am calling for a timely inclusion of the Itsekiri ethnic nationality in the confab, soon to be held in Abuja. Against the background of the contributions of the Itsekiri ethnic

nationality to the purse of the nation over the years, it will be inequitable, unjust and unfair to exclude the Itsekiris from the conference, thereby, denying them their entitlement and opportunity of contributing their quota to national development.”

Conference: Urhobo decries single delegate slot ...Faults exclusion from S-South delegates' list

BY OMAFURE AKPOKONA

W

A R R I — N O T impressed by the single ethnic representation for Urhobo in the national conference, the Urhobo People Forum, UPF, has condemned the total exclusion of the Urhobo people from the SouthSouth's delegates' list.

UPF Coordinator, Omiregua Nathaniel Dortie, in a statement in Warri, Delta State, yesterday, wondered why Urhobo people with substantial contribution to national wealth and vast human and natural resources were being overlooked in the scheme of things in the country.

He said “The marginalisation of Urhobo in the forced

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nobody shall be anointed and where nobody shall buy the governorship seat, for it is the choice of the people to choose their next governor,” he said.

Akpabio urged politicians in the state to come out en masse to contest the 2015 general elections, and enjoined in-coming political office holders not to site projects at places unaccessible to the people due to their selfish interest, but rather to emulate his administration by locating projects in every parts of the state for the benefit of the people.

marriage called Nigeria in very offensive. By every measure, Urhobo deserves a good number of representations in the South-South delegates' list.

We call on the President to immediately correct this injustice. What sins have the Urhobo people committed that cannot be forgiven? Urhobo population is higher than that of seven states in Nigeria. As one of the majority ethnic groups in the South-South, we cannot be denied representation in the delegates list.

“We call on the Urhobo Progress Union, Urhobo kings, politicians, religious leaders, youth groups, market women and artisans to join in fighting the injustice being orchestrated by the powers that be against the Urhobos.”

By Bartholomew Madukwe (nwamad@yahoo.com)

On the invasion of Enugu Govt House by 50 armed men

I wonder if I'm the only one that noticed, but do machetes and cutlasses release bullets? The news said there was exchange of gunfire. Maybe they are ‘Machete’ as in an American movie. Wonders, they say, shall never cease. Mr. Obia Chiameka- Teacher

Those who reported the news should as a matter of urgency remove this cooked story from the internet with apology. How can group of youths invade a Govt House with ordinary cutlass? Are they butchers? Mr. Chijioke Frank - Worker

50 gunmen attack Government House, Enugu, after a long shoot-out they were dislodged. The weapons recovered from them were displayed (machetes) Mmmm, machetes have suddenly turned to guns. What a miracle! Ms. Tina Ben Student

They must be Ninjas.

Who on earth will invade a Government House with machetes and cutlasses? Lies of the worst order. Maybe they might have killed some innocent civilians and probably want to use such story as a cover-up. Mr. Alex Ferdinand- Businessman

It is very good that the culprits were caught. Let the police check them well.

This news of machete wielding assilants by Enugu State Government is absurd. Soon, they will frame them up as Boko Haram in order to request for more security money. Mr. Gabdo Mustapha - Student

The crises that have been going on in Enugu Government House, honestly, is becoming more of a political matter, but I do not want to agree that it is PDP that is at the bottom of it all.

Property have been destroyed and lives are at stake. Mr. Michail Yusuf Mangle - Trucker

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 — 45

Wayas to Agagha: Stop parading yourself as IYC spokesman

Confab: Lawmaker faults omission of Itsekiri from delegates' list

BY FESTUS AHON

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GHELLI—PRESIDENT of National Association of Izon- Ebe Law Students, NAILS, Ebi Wayas, yesterday, warned Dr. Clarkson Agagha to stop parading himself as spokesman of Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, insisting that "Mr. Eric Omare remains the spokesman of IYC.” Speaking with newsmen, Ebi said: “Dr. Agagha should stop parading himself as national spokesman of IYC. The only authentic, substantive and recognised spokesman of the 6th National Executive Council of IYC, worldwide is Omare.

“We do not have two spokesmen in IYC, therefore, any other person parading himself as spokesman of IYC is an impostor and such a person should be arrested for impersonation. I urge the public to disregard the publication made by Agagha.”

Court adjourns hearing in suit against Nigerian Army

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DELTA State High Court sitting in Effurun, has adjourned till March 31, 2014, hearing in a suit by the Ohore people against the Nigerian Army over the alleged invasion of Ohore and demolition of the community's property by the Army.

Trial judge in the matter, Justice Onajite Kuejubola, had earlier granted an order of interim injunction restraining the Nigerian Army, represented by Lt. Col. Ifeanyi Otu, Commanding Officer, 3 Battalion, Effurun Barracks and others, from further invading and/or mark for demolition, property in Ohorie community in Uvwie Kingdom.

The judge, before adjourning the case, advised parties involved in the suit to maintain the status quo in the interest of peace.

BID OPENING: Chief Ayirimi Emami, Chairman, Itsekiri Regional Development Committee, IRDC, making a remark; Amos Okoro, Chevron GMoU Team Leader (left); Canaan Ajabgawa (2nd left) Assistant Secretary, IRDC, Austin Oniyesan (2nd right) Vice Chairman, IRDC and others at the Bid Opening Ceremony for IRDC 2011-2013 Project Cycle, at the IRDC Secretariat in Warri, Delta State.

2015: Riverine communities in Rivers demand guber slot

BY GBENGA OKE

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IVERINE communities of Rivers State, under the auspices of Eastern Delta People’s Association, EDPA, have demanded to produce the successor to the incumbent governor of the state, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, at the expiration of his tenure.

The communities said they had long been denied access to the number one seat of the state despite their huge economic contributions to the state since 1999.

Speaking at a symposium, attended by representatives of Andoni, Opobo-Nkoro, Bonny, Okrika, Ogu-Bolo, Port Harcourt (South), Asari-Tor u, Degema, Akuku-Toru and Abua-Odual, the people vowed to discard all parochial interests to pursue their common destiny and demanded to be

treated fairly in the political space.

Speaking, Chairman of the Steering Committee of EDPA, Deacon Lawrence Jumbo, said the group seeks to promote unity, peace and progress among all the Ijaw speaking communities in Rivers State as well as promote harmony and cooperation between the Ijaw speaking communities and their neighbours.

He said: “We are trying to set the agenda for human and infrastructural development of the Ijaw speaking communities of Rivers State and the state in general and we intend to pursue the protection and preservation of the ideals of equity, fairness and justice as they relate to the Ijaw speaking people of the Eastern Delta.

“In the light of the fast approaching political dispensation, there is urgent need for

the people of Eastern Delta to have a platform on which to articulate their interests and raise the bar of agitation for the people of the area to be seriously considered for the position of governor in 2015.”

He pointed out that nature has so made it that Upland/ Riverine dichotomy in Rivers State was undeniable and it would only be fair and just for both to produce the governor of the state successively.

"This symposium provides a veritable and non-aligned platform for Rivers Ijaws to articulate and pursue their common interest irrespective of their political affiliations as there is an urgent need after a long wait of 16 years to lay serious claim to the top seat of governance in Rivers State.”

Demolition: 91-yr-old Benin chief rendered homeless

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

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ENIN—A 91 years old Benin Palace chief, Solomon Adagbonyin, has appealed to the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, to look into the circumstances that led to the demolition of his building situated at 300, Upper Sakponba Road in the state capital, by the Edo State office of the commission.

Chief Adagbonyin, who is the Obo Nuneru of Benin Kingdom, made the appeal shortly after a media briefing by the Edo Coalition for Good Democracy

and Good Governance on the incident.

The palace chief, who was close to tears, said that he was now a refugee in his country as he had nowhere else to lay his head following the demotion of his only building.

He said that sometime in January 2014, bulldozers from the NDDC Benin office demolish his house without any prior notice, excavating the grave of his late wife and destroying property worth millions of naira belonging to him and his tenants, under the guise that the house was obstructing the right of way to the new BeninAbraka Road.

He said that the house was built in 1965 after obtaining all necessary documents from the Benin Traditional Council and the defunct Mid- West Region, adding that it was renovated 11 years later to face the new Benin- Abraka Road, which the government of Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia reconstructed in 1975.

Meanwhile, the Edo Coalition for Good Democracy and Good Governance has appealed to the Benin monarch, Oba Erediauwa to step into the matter with a view of making the NDDC to live up to its responsibility to the citizens.

HE member representing Warri North constituency in Delta State House of Assembly, Mrs. Irene Imilar, has faulted the exclusion of Itsekiri as delegates to the national conference.

Imilar, in a telephone chat, expressed surprise that Chief Isaac Jemide's name was omitted from the state's list duly forwarded by the Delta State Government to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Puis Anyim.

She said: “Chief Jemide was duly nominated after painstaking consultations with our leaders and we promptly forwarded his name to the governor, who was pleased with the choice.

Chief ’s name, alongside other delegates of the state, was forwarded to Abuja. I must say here that I am as surprised as the people out there, who could least imagine that the Itsekiri, despite their economic relevance to the Nigerian nation, could be neglected and excluded from a national dialogue of this nature.”

She called for calm among Itsekiri youths, assuring that the government was doing everything within its powers to address the anomaly.

Olori OlateruOlagbegi passes on at 108

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LORI Comfort Olateru-Olagbegi, mother of a Lagos High Court judge, Justice Adesuyi OlateruOlagbegi, is dead, aged 108.

Apart from Justice Olateru-Olagbegi, she is survived by Chief Florence Adegborioye, several grandchildren, great and great great grand children.

A statement by the family said the late Olori Olateru will be buried on March 29, 2014, after a funeral service at the Methodist Church Nigeria Cathedral, Okeogun, Owo, Ondo State.

46—Vanguard, THURSSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Book dealers step up fight against piracy

BY CHINYERE ABIAZIEM

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AGOS — THE Moti vational and Christian Books Dealers’ Association of Nigeria, MCBDAN, has vowed to step up the fight against piracy in the country.

The body spoke during its post -incorporation meeting at its Lagos Head Office, where new members were formally admitted.

In his address, the Association’s Board of Trustees chairman , Mr. Nicodemus Nnamezie, said the group was formed to assist governments at various levels in the fight against piracy, promote non- infringement of copy right, enhance social order and create more legitimate business opportunities for its members.

NGO offers free health screening for widows, distributes mosquito nets to aged

BY MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

A Non-Governmental Organisation, Hydra Edge Foundation, HEF, has offered free medical screening for widows and aged residents of Agege in Orile-Agege Local Council Development Area, LCDA, of Lagos State.

The NGO, which recently distributed mosquito nets to patients in OrileAgege General Hospitals, however, urged women in the community to undergo breast and cervical cancer screening regularly in their own interest.

Ours magazine launched

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URS, a Genevabased bi-monthly magazine of artistic and social expression, which promises an inventive and sophisticated delivery to its enlightened and critical audience, was launched in Lagos recently, and earlier in the city of London.

Its arrival in Nigeria via an exclusive cocktail, at Lagoon Restaurant, Victoria Island, was attended by captains of industry, power players in politics and arts cognoscenti.

COSEG links appointment of Police Affairs Minister to election rigging tion and will protect the sanctity of the electoral process. ”We shall resist attempt by the minister of police from using the AGOS — THE Coalition of police to rig the election of August Oodua Self-determination 9, 2014, in Osun State.

Group, COSEG, has expressed dis“The people of Osun should be appointment over the recent apallowed to choose freely their govpointment of Jelili Adeshiyan by ernor come August 9, anything short President Goodluck Jonathan as of that is an invitation to anarchy,” he said.

He also described the appointment as an insult on Yoruba people, and an attempt to prevent the cause of justice.

“We have noted the hatred President Jonathan has for our people, that’s why Jelili Adesiyan could be appointed as police affairs minister,” he said.

He blamed the Senate for the hasty manner he was confirmed, even with stiff opposition from the three senators from Osun State.

He said: “We are conVISIT: Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu (middle); fused how he scaled the President of the Republic of Cape Verde, Jorge Carlos Fonseca, and leader of screening of the security as the Cape Verde National Group to the ECOWAS Parliament, Hon. Ribeiro well as that of the Senate Viera Filomena, during a working visit to the President, in Praia, Cape Verde, of the Federal Republic, if yesterday. not that himself and his

BY ONOZURE DANIA

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police affairs minister, describing it as a ploy to rig the forthcoming governorship election in Osun State.

Chairman of the group, Ifedayo Ogunlana, who spoke at a press briefing on the appointment, in Lagos, however, said his group would resist any attempt by the President to use the minister to rig the elec-

2015: Ebonyi youths condemn call for House of Reps member’s resignation

BY PETER OKUTU

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BAKALIKI — THE National Association of Ikwo Noyo Youths in Ebonyi State has condemned in its entirety a communiqué published in national dailies (excluding Vanguard) by a group Concerned Ikwo/Ezza South Forum- calling for the resignation of a member of the House of Representatives, Tobias Okwuru, for non-performance.

Okwuru represents Ezza South/ Ikwo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.

had done so much to alleviate the suffering of his people through empowerment schemes and award of scholarships to students in his constituency.

The statement read in part: “The ghost group which called itself Concerned Ikwo/Ezza South Forum, fabricated a communiqué which was ostensibly designed by apprentices of the bourgeoning blackmail industry in the state to denigrate the person and integrity of Hon. Tobias Okwuru.

"I am neither aware of the existence of the said faceless forum which parades the names of dead men and women. ”I recall the AzuiyiokwuIyiudele flood control project attracted by the lawwho was properly appointed as the Pro- maker, the 29 water boreChancellor, according to the UNN Act. holes he sank in our conThey also prayed the court to stop Mr. stituency and the Hon. OkUkala from parading himself as the new wuru ‘s 2013 groundPro-Chancellor on the grounds that his breaking empowerment appointment by the Supervisory Minis- ceremony involving the free ter of Education, Wike, did not conform distribution of 38 units of with the law regulating the university. 300KVA transformers, 40 According to the plaintiffs, only the tricycles, 150 motor-cycles, President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, as the 10 units of 5KVA power Visitor to the University, had the power generations, 120 sewing to appoint the Pro-Chancellor and Chair- machines, among others. man of the Governing Council.

In a statement issued in Abakaliki, National President of the youth group, Friday Ilang, who described the publication as an attempt by the faceless forum to denigrate the person and integrity of the House of Reps member, called on the State Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to sanction those responsible for the malicious publication.

He noted that it was unreasonable for anybody or group to call for the resignation of the House of Representative member, who

Battle to recall suspended UNN pro-chancellor now in high court

BY EMEKA MAMAH

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HE BATTLE for the recall of the suspended Pro-Chancellor of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, Dr. Emeka Enejere, has shifted to the Federal High Court, Abuja, today, following a suit filed by the Alumni Association of the university.

Joined in the court action are the Supervising Minister of Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Ajoke, SAN, the Governing Council of the University, and Mr. Emmanuel Ukala, who was named as new Pro-Chancellor.

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA Others are the National Universities WERRI — IMO State Police ComCommission, NUC, UNN’s Registrar, mand has arrested a civil servant and Mr. Anthony Okonta, and the suspendtwo others for allegedly abducting a man at ed Pro-Chancellor, Dr. Enejere.

The plaintiffs are praying the court to Uli in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anamset aside the suspension of Dr. Ene- bra State.

Parading the suspects in Owerri, the Comjere, whom they claim was the person

god-father are up to a game.

“It is also very worrisome how our security system works; if a man that has a case in court could scale through security screening.

“That’s why we have been unable to stop the carnage of Boko Haram in the North East of the country. ”The appointment of Adeshiyan is not only mischievous, but also reckless, immoral, ant-people and a dangerous trend in the political development and appointments in Nigeria.

FGGC, Owerri PTA appeals to govts to stop mindless killings in N/E

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

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WERRI — THE Parents Teachers Association, PTA, of Federal Government Girls’ College, FGGC, Owerri, has appealed to the federal, Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states’ governments to urgently stem the mindless killings going on in the North East.

The group made the call against the backdrop of recent killing of students of Federal Government’s College, Bunu Yadi, Yobe State,

by Boko Haram insurgents.

The PTA, which spoke through its Public Relations Officer, Cyril Nwokeke, described the massacre of the innocent students in their sleep as “heinous and reprehensible.

“The young lads who were killed in their prime were not known to have committed any crime that earned them summary execution by Boko Haram,” the group said.

Noting that the slain students could not be said to be responsible for any of the perceived ills of the nation, Mr. Nwokeke also wondered what had become of the fate of the over 20 girls abducted from the school.

Civil servant, 2 others arrested for abducting man

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missioner of Police, Imo State Command, Mr. Abdulmajid Ali, said the gang was intercepted while in transit to Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The suspects, who gave their names as Cyprian Sylvester, Chimaobi Omelo and Endurance Happy, also said they were residents of Ahoada in Rivers State.

Vanguard , THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 - 47

FORUM: Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State/guest speaker, (middle), Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Mr. Ekpo Nta (left) and Commandant, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp, Dr. Ade Abolurin, during the First 2014 ICPC Good Governance Forum in Abuja.

RALLY: From left: President Goodluck Jonathan, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Chairman, Dr. Adamu Mua'zu and Governor of Akwa Ibom State and Chairman, PDP Governors' Forum, Chief Godswill Akpabio, at the PDP North West rally in Kaduna.

UNVEILING: From left: Mr. Laoye Jaiyeola, FCIB, immediate past President/ MD, Kakawa Discount House Ltd, Dr. Uju Ogubunka, Registrar/CEO, CIBN and Mrs. Yvonne Isichei, ED, Keystone Bank Ltd/Chairman, Screening & Selection Sub-Committee of CIBN Board of Mentors, during the unveiling of the mentoring programme at the Bankers House in Lagos, yesterday.

From left: Ace Nollywood Producer, Zeb Ejiro, Brand Manager, Veleta Fruit Wine, IDL, Chioma Alonge and Veteran Acto,r Emeka Ossai, at the premiere of IDL sponsored movie ‘When Dreams Fall Apart' in Lagos.

COMMISSIONING: From left: A student, Dauda Ilya, National Ex-Officio, Peter Ilya, National Financial Secretary, Mr. Abiodun Fabiyi, School Principal, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, National President, Mr. Paul Edemu, National Secretary, at the commissioning of the renovated Dining Hall by the Federal Government College Warri Old Students Association in the school, at Warri, Delta State.

Mr. Nicodemus Nnamezie, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Bible Society of Nigeria (2nd left), Dr. Fredrick Odutola, former CEO/Patron, BSN (2nd right), and other members, during the post incorporation meeting in Lagos.

From left: Lagos State Commissioner for Rural Development, Cornelius Ojelabi, Elejinrin of Ejinrinland, HRH, Oba Rafiu Ishola Balogun, cutting the tape to commemorate the hand-over of Ejinrin Micro Water Scheme, donated to the community by the Lagos State Government, while the Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Rural Development, Mr Babatunde Hunpe looks on.

Mr. George Uriesi, former MD, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN (left) and Mr. Saleh Dunoma, the new MD of FAAN, during the hand-over ceremony at FAAN Headquaters, Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos.

From left: Hon. Funmi Tejuosho, Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Finance, Pamela Schwoll, wife of the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Obiageli Ezekwesili, Bayo Omoboriowo, Waje and others, popular Mama Makoko of the Makoko community in Lagos, at the 100 Unsung Heroines Project launch in Lagos.

48 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Community lauds Jonathan on Centenary celebration

Wada flags off construction of GanajaOtokiti dual carriageway

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BY BOLUWAJI OBAHOPO

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OKOJA — GOVER NOR Idris Wada of Kogi State, yesterday, flagged off the construction of the N2.9 billion 16-kilometre GanajaOtokiti dual carriageway in Lokoja, the state capital.

Speaking during the ceremony, Wada said the project would be completed in 18 months.

He said the high influx of vehicular movement through the state capital to Abuja had caused high traffic congestion, necessitating the construction of the dual carriage by-pass.

He, however, warned the contractors handling the project to adhere strictly to the contract terms and avoid colluding with public officers to do some shoddy jobs.

He said: ”There is alarming increase of traffic and influx of new residents to Lokoja in view of its strategic location as the gateway to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, hence the need for the by-pass to de-congest the township roads.

"I urged the contractors handling the project to execute the work according to the contract specifications as government would not compromise quality."

Wada, who promised to pay compensations to land owners along the road, however warned that individual property owners who have no valid legal titles would not be paid.

President Goodluck Jonathan (left) welcoming Anglican Bishops to the Breaking of Fast with the President at the State House, Abuja. Tuesday. Photo: STATE HOUSE.

Kaduna Assembly declares Mace missing ...directs ethics c'ttee to investigate

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ADUNA — THE official mace of the Kaduna State House of Assembly has been stolen.

The mace which is the symbol of authority of the House, "disappeared" last September 24 and has not been found since then.

However, the House of Assembly, yesterday, directed its Committee on Ethics and Privileges to investigate the whereabouts of the official mace.

The directive was sequel to a motion moved by Alhaji Aliyu Jigo, member representing Kakangi constituency in Birnin-Gwari Local Government, of the state.

He said the reason for moving the motion was to protect the integrity of the House.

He said: ”It has been noticed that the mace usually used for conducting the business of the House is not there, the House has been using the back-up mace to conduct its business.”

According to him, the mace is the symbol of authority in the house which is generally respected by members, adding: “I feel it is very wrong for any member to remove it from the house”.

Jigo said the House should investigate the whereabouts of the

Police nab 3 cross-border robbery suspects in Yobe

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BY BALA AJIYA

AMATURU — THREE sub-Sahara robbery suspects have been arrested by the Yobe State Police command at the Nigeria/Niger border.

The state Police Commissioner, Mallam Sanusi Rufai, who made this known at Damaturu, the state capital, said the suspects were arrested between Karasuwa and Jaji-maji in the state.

Rufai who spoke at a news conference, yesterday, said

the suspects were "sub-Sahara robbers who specialised in terrorising the neighbouring villages in Yobe using camels.

“They were apprehended by local hunters after a fierce battle between them and the robbers where one AK-47 riffle was recovered along with the three camels they stole from the villagers.”

He, however, stressed that the identities of the suspects were yet to be established even as investigations were still going on.

mace to maintain its tradition, adding that the mace had become a part of the House norms and values.

The mace was removed from the floor of the Assembly during the leadership crisis that rocked the House in 2013.

The crisis led to the removal of the then Speaker, Alhaji Mu’azu Gangara and other principal of-

ficers.

Since then, the Assembly had been using the mace used by the previous legislature to conduct its businesses.

However, after contributions from other members, the Speaker, Alhaji Usman Tahir, gave the ethics committee three weeks to investigate the matter and report back to the House.

NTI pensioners commend DG over improved welfare

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ADUNA — RETIREES of the National Teachers’ Institute, NTI, have honoured Dr. Aminu Ladan Sharehu, the Director-General and Chief Executive of organisation, for improving their welfare package.

The commendation came when Mallam Musa Umar, who is the Vice Chairman of the retirees’ union, led a delegation of members to Sharehu’s office in Kaduna where he told him that the lives of the institute’s retirees had improved significantly as a result of the administration’s commitment to their welfare.

While congratulating Sharehu on his re-appointment and his conferment with the National Productivity Order of Merit Award by President Goodluck Jonathan, Umar said it was obvious that the director general deserved the recognition as he had brought about improved teacher training across the states of the federation.

Responding, Sharehu said he was determined from the day he was appointed to leave a mark in teachers' training in Nigeria.

He said: “Since we came on board, we tried to come up with a strategy on how to tackle one of the challenges, that is the is-

sue of staff welfare. This was included as a component in our Five-Point Target, which has been yielding results.”

Sharehu said his administration had cleared pensioners’ backlog from 2004 and now regularly pays monthly pension to all retirees and expressed optimism that such practice would be sustained even after his administration.

LEME — Okori com munity in Eleme, Rivers State has lauded President Goodluck Jonathan for organising the just concluded Centenary celebration.

Speaking on behalf of the Okori community recently in Eleme, Rivers State, the Egbere Emere Okori of Eleme, HRH Appolus Chu, commended President Jonathan for what he described as an auspicious event.

Chu, who was particularly impressed by the Centenary award, said: “We congratulate you for organising the Centenary award for Nigeria by bringing all the past and present leaders of country together especially at this moment of political unfaithfulness, distrust and differences.”

The Egbere Emere Okori, who said the occasion was a landmark worthy of emulation, said Jonathan should be applauded “as you bestow numerous inter vivo and post humus awards and recognition of personalities past and present, who had at various times contributed their selfless quota to the development of our dear country.

“The award is a testament to your love and care for the people of Nigeria and geared towards the upliftment of spirits of the beloved departed and members of the their families alive.

“This noble role of recognizing industry is path finding, pioneering and inspiring the spirit of many Nigerian to contribute towards the development of this country.”

Group urges leaders to emulate Gov Obi

By LAWANI MIKAIRU

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AGOS — The Rights Moni toring Group, a coalition of 45 civil society organisations, has commended the outgoing governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, for his initiatives in the areas of infrastructure development in education, health sectors and human development.

According to the National Coordinator of the group, Olufemi Aduwo, Governor Obi has set a standard for the state that would be difficult for any other administration to deviate from as a legacy for the state.

He noted that Obi had prudently used public resources to achieve the objectives of governance in cost effective ways and urged other governors to emulate him.

He said: “We have always said the other name for democracy is development. Without democracy there is no development. The people of Anambra State can proudly say that there is democracy in the state going by the level of developments achieved. The roads, health and education systems have been transformed.

“We want other state governments to emulate the MDGs 8Goals Obi adopted as government programmes for transformation.”

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 — 49

50 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

take their money immediately. But as I always advice, when they take it immediately, they spend it, when they are out of job they do not have the money anymore.

So, my advice will be, leave it with the employer, iron out what inLAST week, Pension and You, commenced an interview with Deputy Group terest this money will earn. For a Managing Director of Kewalran Chanrai Group and renowned Human Refew I have consulted for, I say it should be the normal bank intersource Practitioner, Mr. Victor Eburajolo, on the difficulties faced by claimants est rate. in accessing claims of deceased relations. This is the concluding part of the Because if employers go to the interview bank to get such money, that is what they will pay. As a matter of you think should be done in this fact, they are getting it from the

BY VICTOR AHIUMAregard? employees and it will be a beneYOUNG What I suggested might not be fit to them because all those hidPEAKING on the difficul part of the law, but the procedure den charges you pay to the bank, ties encountered by retirees for accessing these claims that they are not going to pay. to access their penion, Mr. Vic- come under the law also. Like I But if the workers are magnantor Eburajolo said, said, it will be to simplify the procimous, they can decide to step "I am talking about the Office ess and make the people who down a little from the normal bank of Head of Service, the Pension want to make a claim know the interest because it is their orgaDivision. Over a year, they procedures that they have to folnization. But to pay gratuity and agreed everything was ready, but low. the pension is not doable. It is a said there is no money. When Again, let those who are workbig burden on any employer. my cousin spoke to me last he ing on these claims know how to What will you tell those that arsaid, I hope I will live to see this make the procedures simple and gue that gratuity is an appreciamoney before I die. not just throw forms back on the tion for the long and This is somebody who worked claimants, telling them you have meritorious service to and retired from the civil service. not done this, you have not done the employer?

The man has completed every- that and so on. Let us take into I usually dismiss that thing they asked him to do, letter consideration the level of educabecause for this long peof administration, affidavit and tion and awareness in this counriod that you worked for every other thing, one year after try of this issue. the employer, were you they are saying no money to pay.

What is necessary is to simplify not paid? Did you not get So, compare this to those who the procedure for everybody to promotion and adjusthave nothing to do with the civil understand the requirements of ments in salary against service. the law and how to get these reinflation? Look, there is Those who are processing could quirements to process the claims. a contract between the not be bothered and those who I tell you, most people do not employer and the emare waiting for the claims are in know anything about these ployee, you work for me, pains. I think in this country, we claims, until they are told that these are the conditions. have gotten use to seeing our fel- they are next of kin and there is If you are not comfortlow human beings in pains and money available for claim, that is able with it, you can just taking it as right and do what- when they start. leave. Let the workers ever we want to do.

In your organization, have know that if you put too How should it be addressed? you been confronted with issue much pressure on the I will link it with those that are of not able to access relation’s employer, the employer supposed to help the workers. I claims? has a way of paying and Victor Eburajolo...to pay gratuity and the pension is not do-able am talking of the unions. This is O yes, they have complained getting it back that the something the unions should take about this and others arising from worker will not know.

Part of the contention on the ployers will say they will not go up because this is part of the rights this new pension system. What I above what is in the law.

Employamendment is the ratio of conof the workers. Today, what are have done on my own is to make tribution. While workers argue ers will say they are quoting the Abrogation of the unions really doing on behalf myself a private consultant for that 50, 50 contributions between law. But go and read it, it just stat- agreement of these workers? them and help them process these them and employers is unfair ed the minimum that both parI am sure they are aware of the claims for no fee. I have a file here When we were running factory and are demanding higher con- ties should contribute. The worktribution from employers, the ers have the right to demand for here and these workers start agiBut if the workers are magnanimous, they employers are on the other higher contribution from employ- tating that they wanted increase, hand, insisting the ratio is fair ers, but how are they going to I was usually very frank to them. can decide to step down a little from the norWhat is your position? push it with the unions today that I would tell them, look at our paymal bank interest because it is their organiza- enough.

I have always expected that the are so weak. You do not even feel roll, if you forced me to go up, I would find away to get this montion. But to pay gratuity and the pension is not workers will agitate for the em- their presence.

Did the contributory pension ey back, I might have to go into ployers to contribute more and doable. It is a big burden on any employer they have a good basis for it. scheme wipe away gratuity pay- automation and I would discharge some workers. That is it. pains and everything that is go- in this office, I have been han- Employers were running contrib- ment?

Yes. In the past, very few comThere are companies that have ing on. Unless a body like the dling a lot of them. Some people utory pension before the PRA and union raises this issue with the have gotten to know too that if I employers were paying more panies had gratuity and pension. pension and gratuity as part of The gratuity there was just a lump their collective bargaining agreeNational Pension Commission know I will help and that is what than the employees. sum that was paid to workers and ment, what happens? and the various Pension Fund Ad- I am doing. I am just doing that they were not contributing. Now If it is in the collective bargainministrators, PFAs, they will not as part of my social service and Minimum that it is fixed, to be fair to the ing agreement, there is nothing bother to find a solution to this contributions. A lot of them have contribution employers, they can know that the employer can do until the problem. gotten their claims, but a lot of Obviously, individuals cannot them are also stocked. We have But if look at the law, it is not they cannot pay both pension and employer is able to get it abrogatdo it on their own. They need the processed up to a point and the fixed. It just says, you cannot pay gratuity because gratuity is not ed. In abrogating such agreepressure group. What I think we next thing they receive from their below this. It just fixed the mini- contributory. What they should do ment, if I were the employer I should do as a country is to go PFAs is a text message; we will mum that you cannot go below. If which must companies have done would say, look, this contributory within the law and simplify these pay you shortly. And shortly the unions were strong, I had ex- is to analyze it, defreeze it at a pension, I will increase my own processes and let those who are sometimes can be six months, a pected that some four, five years point, have a fixed amount, the contribution as employer for you living know what next of kin is year or even more. However, for ago they would have taken this workers can leave it for the com- to give up this gratuity. It must supposed to be. This is my solu- our employees that subscribe to up with employers. Now that pany, but it should earn interest be a win, win situation but for me as it goes on. For the company, as an industrial relation practitiotion to the problem. the PFAs that we are using now, they have begun to talk about it, I The National Assembly is at the we use our position to ensure that see it as a right direction. But they there is a benefit of having this ner, paying gratuity with this contributory pension is not doable. verge of amending the Pension the PFA pays, we speed the pro- should know too that employers huge money as cash flow.

Or the workers can decide to Reform Act, PRA, 2004. What do cess for them. are going to resist it because em-

Workers should demand higher pension contribution by employers — EBURAJOLO

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014—51

How to make Nigeria’s democracy work – Straw, Burton, others

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

N

IGERIA must make con scious efforts to deepen its democracy to ensure good governance that in turn will improve on the welfare of her citizenry.

This strand of thought ran through contributions of speakers at the International Conference on Democracy and Good Governance organized by the Rivers State Government in Port Harcourt, Tuesday.

Among those who shared this view were former British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Jack Straw; former Prime Minister of Ireland, Mr. John Burton; former Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Adolphus Karibi Whyte; Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State; Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), Prof Joyce Akaniwho, Professors Ben Nanen and Okowa.

Indeed, Straw and Burton stressed the need for rule of law

saying its absence will constitute an impediment to the development of a healthy democracy in any system.

Specifically, Mr. Straw, who condoled families of those murdered by the Boko Haram sect in the country, lauded the resolve of Nigerians to remain united in spite of some critical challenges the nation had gone through, saying that the welfare of a people and the security of lives should top the agenda of any good government.

He said,“Nigeria has many achievements to its credit. It has survived as a nation. The determination of Nigerians to remain together is remarkable.”

Straw also cautioned against having the wealth of a nation concentrated in the hands of a few, stressing that government should take practical steps to abort all forms of corruption and abuse of power. Noting that Nigeria shared a lot in common with Indonesia

including huge petroleum resources. He, however, noted that Indonesia had created alternative sources of national income and had used its resources to advance the course of the country.

Political history Describing the 2011 general election conducted by the Attahiru Jega-led National Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, as a milestone in the nation’s electoral political history, Straw said it was significantly more transparent, adding that the country should make effort to improve on the success of its last general elections. “Trust in the ballot box is a step for genuine democracy. If people believe in their votes, turn out for elections will be impressive”, he said.

While noting that the turn out

for the 2011 election was 28 percent of the voting population of the country, Straw stressed that this could be improved upon by securing the confidence of the electorate in elections. He hailed the emergence of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the nation’s political space describing it as a strong opposition needed for a healthy democracy.

Straw also advised government to tolerate the views of the opposition, stressing that such was part of the pillars of a strong democracy, noting, "A strong government and a strong democracy listen to opponents. Strong opponents keep you on your toes, help government not to make mistakes. There is an effective opposition in Nigeria with the creation of APC. A strong opposition is good for the country. Those guilty of corruption must be held to account and the government must be accountable to the people.”

On his part, Mr. John Burton

called for a stronger democratic system that would attract more foreign direct investment to the country. He said that every country in the world is still searching for good governance but Nigeria should create conditions to make its democracy work. Bruton, who said he was in the country for the first time also advocated for disciplined political parties and strong judicial system, stressing that the rule of law is fundamental to any democracy.

He said, “the rule of law, strong and disciplined political parties, good economic conditions and strong stand against corruption are needed and the rule of law is fundamental to democracy. Without independent judiciary you cannot have a strong democracy."

While calling for an independent public prosecution process that was devoid of politics to help effectively fight corruption in the country, Bruton said politicians in Nigeria should be ready to accept defeat after losing elections in any general contest.

Political challenges Governor Chibuike Amaechi said citizen action was a solution to the myriads of political challenges confronting the nation. According to him, the country seemed helpless and hopeless so it was time the citizens drove the process for a healthy nation.

He said, “I talk about citizens’ action because the country is helpless and slightly hopeless. A weak man can establish strong institutions. You can be weak and have ideas to get the Police do its work effectively.

If the system is strong it will fish out corrupt persons.”

The governor also warned people of the Niger delta region that if they failed to ask for genuine developments in the region when their son was President they might not be able to demand for resource control in the future. “Do we have roads, water, have we changed the constitution to make us control our resources. What Nigeria has done to the South-South people is that at the end of a SouthSouth Presidency, you can never talk about resource control “, he warned.

Justice Adolphus Karibi Whyte, who chaired the conference, said the nation had been in search of good governance, a situation that had led the government to organise about three constitutional conferences in the past. “We have had many constitutional conferences I think three or four. Every military administration punctuated its departure with a conference. Now there is another one, all in search for good governance”, he said.

52— VANGUARD, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

BY AWA KALU, SAN

O

UR President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, recently approved a list comprising eminent and illustrious Nigerians who will sit down (or stand up even in fisticuff) to determine the future of our very great country.

The realization of the list is a major triumph having regard to the level of dispute concerning modalities for the conference. The first point of disagreement arose from what name to attach to the conference. Would it be a National Conference or a sovereign National Conference?

Would it be referred to as a National Dialogue; or a Constitutional Conference?

What is in a name, you may ask. Of course, experience has shown that there is a lot in a name. For instance, had this conference been styled a sovereign National Conference, the implication would be a capitulation to the idea that the conference would without more, metamorphose into a legislature wielding extra-constitutional powers of legislation which perhaps, would include the powers of supplanting the constitution itself.

At least, our dear President has avoided that deeply controversial word, ‘sovereign’ and has chosen a name that will not prove divisive.

The National Conference is a simple name, easy to understand and uncomplicated in its intent as

•A National Conference in session

THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE:

The last bus stop?

Justice of Nigeria, a Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, Hon. Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi, a man whose

At least, our dear President has avoided that deeply controversial word, ‘sovereign’ and has chosen a name that will not prove divisive

,

a vehicle for generating discussion and to encourage a healthy dialogue on matters that will create a visionary path for a new Nation, a nation where no man is oppressed.

The reader must also be familiar with the helmsman of the conference and his able Lieutenants. The conference is to be chaired by a former Chief

,

appointment has not stired the hornet’s nest.

His deputy, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi is another man of distinction, experienced in the management of the affairs of the larger world and a PanNigerian.

The conference secretariat will be manned (or is it ‘ womanned’) by a lady of

Adherence to rule of law essential in economic development – Awah

substance, well trained at home and abroad and definitely suited to the navigation of the borders of gender sensibilities.

It has already been hinted in some quarters that the President’s choice of a Chairman, the Deputy Chairman and Secretary of the National Conference is a gentle master stroke designed to douse the usual anxieties generated by our primordial sentiments on ethnicity and gender.

Thus, while the Chairman and his Deputy will warm the heart of the larger North and the West respectively, the Secretary will equally warm the heart of the South-East and

South-South respectively. For the avoidance of doubt, the secretary as a woman will of course stand in for the teaming female population in Nigeria.

Potent factor As an Igbo lady by birth, Nigerians of Igbo extraction cannot grumble about being left out in the higher echelon of the conference and of course, being married in the South-South gives her the standing to make the zone ‘comfortable’ in the management of the affairs of the of the conference.

Even at that level, those who see not only ethnicity but

George Etomi & Partners mark 30 years anniversary P/54

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religion as a potent factor in the management of our affairs will feel confident that the two major religions have been accommodated at the conference. Of importance is the technical skill that was deployed in the choice of conferees. Accordingly, apart from choosing the managers of the conference, the President has cleverly allowed different groups to assemble those who will represent them.

There are delegates from the States, from Professional Associations, Civil Society Organizations, the Labour Unions and even the political parties especially those that Continues on page 53

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

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Continues from page 52

have presence in the national Assembly. As would be expected, not all are satisfied with the manner of representation at the conference. A recent survey by the Ishekiris of the Niger Delta alleges that they have been excluded from the conference.

What about the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the deaf and dumb, autistics, those suffering from Down’s syndrome, the national association of masquerade owners and association of the unemployed? A friend of mine who is diabetic lamented that those living with that disability have ominously been left out.

Significantly, another friend of mine whose blood pressure is perennially high on account of the fluctuating fortunes of our country is angry that the association of high blood pressure sufferers is not represented at the conference, at least officially. I only calmed him down by assuring him that of the nearly five hundred members of the conference, at least a hundred members must bear the traits of that ailment.

Farmers have also remonstrated with our President for not reaching out to that group as conferees.

This is only a hilarious way of

THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE:

The Last Bus Stop?

•President Goodluck Jonathan •Justice Idris Kutigi (retd) platform for capturing the problems of one-eyed people or of those living with innumerable disabilities at the conference?

Will the conference focus on the

,

...for fashioning a new direction for Nigerians and it ought to be seen as the last Bus Stop to enable Nigerians dismount from years of uncertainty and marching into a new dawn

noting that Nigeria has a massive population and that so many not so significant segments may have been omitted or over-looked in constituting the conference.

A question which may arise from the lamentations of those who feel that they would be cheated on account of not being accommodated in the conference is whether the conference will only be successful if it is populated by all the identifiable interest groups in Nigeria. Put in another way, is there a realistic

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problems of individual Nigerians or will it dwell on those indices that will emphasize ‘the greatest good of the greater number’?

If the good of the greater number is the mantra of the conference, it follows irresistibly that there will be no political gymnastics, no ethnic posturing, no gerrymandering and no grandstanding. This conference is timely and coincides with an incisive examination of “What’s gone wrong with Democracy and how to revive it” by The

Economist (March 1st-7th 2014). In the sub theme, ‘Getting democracy right’, The Economist, (page 51) posits that the “the most striking thing about the founders of modern democracy such as James Madison and John Stuart Mill is how hard headed they were.

They regarded democracy as a powerful but imperfect mechanism: something that needed to be designed carefully, in order to harness human creativity but also to check human perversity, and then kept in good working order, constantly oiled, adjusted and worked upon”. In addition, it is argued that “Even those lucky to live in mature democracies need to pay close attention to the architecture of their political systems. The combination of globalization and the digital revolution has made some of democracy’s most cherished institutions look outdated”.

“Established democracies”, it is said, “ want to update their

own political systems both to address the problem they face at home, and to revitalize democracy’s image abroad.

Some countries have already embarked upon the process”.

The Economist advises those who are anxious to reform their democracies that “… the best way to constrain the power of special interests is to limit the number of goodies that the state can hand out.

Popular dissilution And the best way to address popular disillusion towards politicians is to reduce the number of promises they can make. The key to a healthier democracy, in short, is a narrower state- an idea that dates back to the American Revolution”.

It is our view that what has been said above is sufficient to set an agenda for the conference. For the avoidance

of doubt, the conference will be confronted with so many issues including what opinion leaders call ‘true federalism’.

Pray, what does the chiché, ‘true federalism’ require? Will it require the collapse of our thirty six state structure to six regions (coinciding with the six geo-political zones)? Will it require a revision of the revenue allocation formula which is the source of so much discord?

Will true federalism require fresh devolution of powers in such a way as to downsize the legislative powers of the government of the federation in the exclusive legislative list and even the concurrent list in favour of strengthening the federating states?

Resource control Will it also coincide with resource control or fiscal federalism? The conference will discuss the human rights regime and so many other issues that are on the front burner. But the bottom line is that the conference ought to “limit the number of goodies that the state can hand out”.

The problem with Nigerian is that since Independence the number of goodies have not been adequately limited. What Nigerians expect is that the National Conference is a great opportunity for the repositioning of our democracy, for the restructuring of our nascent constitution, for fashioning a new direction for Nigerians and it ought to be seen as the last Bus Stop to enable Nigerians dismount from years of uncertainty and marching into a new dawn.

54 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

NIALS Director General Prof Epiphany Azinge SAN and Prof Bolaji Owasanoye

Adherence to rule of law essential in economic development – Awah

BY DAYO BENSON

F

AILURE to adhere to the rule of law and its principles have been attributed to the disconnect between the banking system and economic development in Nigeria.

A professor of development law, Prof.

Animi Awah, stated this in her inaugural lecture delivered at the University of Lagos campus of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies NIALS. Prof. Awah whose lecture was titled “Harnessing Nigeria’s Banking System Potential for Sustainable Development” made history as the first female professor of the institute to deliver an inaugural lecture.

The event had in attendance NIALS Director General, Prof. Epiphany Azinge SAN who gave an opening remark and Mr. Dele Dodo SAN as well as other professors of the institute.

According to Prof. Awah “If the banking system is to affect development positively and give a clear signal to investors and other stakeholders it needs to show a clear commitment to abide by rules and regulations and not seek to circumvent rules that seem to make demands on them. Establishing the rule of law or the “rules of the game” is a vital contribution that government makes to an efficient economy. Private property rights, intellectual property rights, contract law etc. are all fundamental to a prosperous and growing economy. The World Bank has drawn a connection between rule of law and sustained economic development.”

Economic development “For instance there are moves to amend the AMCON Act to among other things circumvent the clear provisions of section 228 of the ISA 2007. Section 118 of the 2007 Act provides: Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other enactment, every merger, acquisition or business combination between or among companies shall be subject to the prior review and approval of the Commission.

Any transaction consummated pursuant to authority given by any Federal Government owned agency under any statutory provisions vesting such power in the Agency shall in

addition be subject to the Commission’s approval” she stated.

Speaking further, she added “It needs be recalled that this provision was specifically added following the decision of the Investment and Securities Tribunal in Beta Consortium Limited V. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Tribunal declared that pursuant to section 99(4) the transaction involving the acquisition of Ikoyi Hotel by the Applicant under the authority of the National Council on Privatisation, a Federal Government agency, is exempt from the prior review and approval of the Respondent which exemption is an exception to the Respondent’s general power as contained in section 99(2) of the Investment and Securities Act 1999.”

Continuing she said “This decision necessitated the provision now section 118 of the 2007 Act which specifically requires all government bodies carrying out dealings in shares to be bound by relevant provisions of the ISA. Despite this the scenario appears to be playing out again by the proposed amendment of the AMCON Act which seeks to exempt AMCON from the provisions of the ISA. The CBN and the NDIC support this amendment holding that the amendments would secure the capacity of AMCON to secure ailing banks; while the SEC expectedly has reservations over the exemption proposed in the amendment bill. The SEC says the proposed amendment contravenes the Constitution. But it appears the real issue is the loss of revenue to SEC that would result from such exemption. It is estimated that it would cost AMCON about 20 million naira to comply with the demands of SEC.” “Be that as it may it is our view that there is a need for a central depository of security transactions and dealings in the country and the SEC is thus positioned. Thus a wholesale refusal to keep records with the SEC may not be healthy for the economy. There should rather be a half way meeting where the appropriate information is made available to SEC without the corresponding payments being made given the peculiar position of AMCON” Professor Awah added.

George Etomi & Partners mark 30 years anniversary

Gov Fashola in handshake with Mr. George Etomi, Pioneer Chair of the NBA Section on Business Law & Principal Partner GEP, organisers of the Speaker Series.

George Etomi's book, Commercial Law in Nigeria unveiled.

L-R, Chief Bayo Ojo , SAN, Wole Olanikpekun, SAN and Chief Serena Dokubo of Serenity Chambers.

NBA President, Okey Wali, SAN unveils the book, 'Commercial Law in Nigeria written by Pioneer Chair of the SBL, George Etomi.

V anguard Vanguard anguard,, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 — 55

NEWS BRIEF

Russia secures bases as referendum nears

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Day Six: Malaysians employ spiritualists, to locate plane M

ALAYSIANS re sorted to the services of spiritualists yesterday as the sixth day search and rescue effort for the missing Boeing 777 has failed to provide tangible evidence to unravel the mystery surrounding whwereabout of the flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing This came as Malaysian authorities defended their role in the internal search effort. Even as they said they asked India to join in the search near the Andaman Sea, suggesting they think the jetliner and the 239 people on board might have reached those waters after crossing into the Strait of Malacca, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the flight’s last known coordinates.

Native spiritualists were mobilised yesterday to pray for the end to the mystery over the plane’s whereabouts which has been a source of confusion and occasional conflicting statements by Malaysian officials.

Officials of Malaysia have been faced with the same accusation of incompetence or

cover up which is usually heaped on developing countries by their Western counterparts in the event of such massive emergency.

Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein described the multinational search as unprec-

edented. Some 43 ships and 39 aircraft from at least eight nations were scouring an area of 92,600 square kilometers (35,800 square miles) to the east and west of Peninsular Malaysia.

“It’s not something that is easy. We are looking at so

KRAINE’s acting president said the country would not use its army to stop Crimea from seceding, the latest sign that a Russian annexation of the strategic peninsula may be imminent.

Oleksandr Turchynov’s comments came after the Crimean parliament voted for independence ahead of a Sunday referendum on joining Russia, while Washington and Moscow locked horns in one of their fiercest clashes since the Cold War. The interim leader said intervening on the southeastern Black Sea peninsula, where Kremlin-backed forces have seized de facto control, would leave Ukraine exposed on its eastern border, close to Russia.

Merkel hints Russia of new sanctions

2 dead, 60 hurt, others missing as gas explosion, rocks US

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WO women were killed, more than 60 people hurt and others missing after two buildings collapsed following a gas

GYPT’s military said yesterday it has destroyed 1,370 smuggling tunnels under its border with the Gaza Strip, as Cairo’s ties remain sour with the Hamas movement that rules the Palestinian enclave.

Ties took a turn for the worse after the military’s July ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, with which Hamas is affiliated.

The statement did not say when the tunnels were destroyed, but the military has poured troops into the adjacent Sinai Peninsula to counter militancy that has grown since July. The tunnels, under the town of Rafah, are used to transfer food, fuel and consumer products into the densely populated Palestinian enclave.

But Hamas and other militant groups reportedly use their own more secret tunnels to bring in arms and money. Gaza has been under blockade since 2006, after militants captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid.

Egypt accuses Hamas of having colluded with the

Brotherhood in carrying out “terror attacks” on its territory in the past few years.

Dozens of alleged Hamas militants have been named among scores of defend-

leak explosion that rattled upper Manhattan, New York, and shattered windows with a blast that could be felt blocks away.

ants, including Morsi, in trials for organising jailbreaks and attacking police stations during the 2011 revolt that toppled strongman Hosni Mubarak.

The two five-story buildings at the northwest corner of 116th Street and Park Avenue in Harlem collapsed at about 9:30 a.m., yesterday, authorities said. Smoke billowed into Central Park and could be seen from miles away in midtown, and New Yorkers said they felt rumbles as far away as 150th Street.

Closer to the collapse, groceries were knocked from store shelves and debris floated through the air.

Israel suspends consular ser vices in services Nigeria cording to the recog-

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HE Embassy of the State of Israel in Nigeria has announced the suspension of all Protocol, Diplomatic and Consular services in the country until further notice following the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by the Workers of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to press home for improved conditions of service for the entire Foreign Service personnel worldwide. According to a statement from the Foreign Workers’ Association in Jerusalem, the action became necessary “because of the procrastination on the part of the Finance Ministry and its failure

Ukraine rules out use of force in Crimea

U

New York City Fire Department firefighters at the scene of an explosion and building collapse at Park Avenue and East 116th Street March 12, 2014 in the Harlem section of New York, yesterday.

Egyptian military destroys Gaza’s smuggling tunnels

E

many vessels and aircraft, so many countries to coordinate, and a vast area for us to search,” he told a news conference. “But we will never give up. This we owe to the families of those on board.”

ECURITY is tightening around Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula ahead of Sunday’s referendum on whether to join Russia or become an independent state.

All flights to and from Crimea’s main airport – except for those from Moscow – are suspended, reports Agence France-Presse, which says that pro-Kremlin militants took over air traffic control yesterday. CNN reports that flights from Kiev, Istanbul, and a few other unnamed cities have been suspended for the rest of the week.. The Crimean deputy prime minister confirmed the flight limitations today, telling Voice of Russia that the decision was made “bearing in mind the possible influx of provocateurs,” and that “all limitations will be lifted after March 17.”

•Amb. Uriel Palti to make any progress in resolving the labor dispute”.

The measures are being implemented by all Israel Missions abroad and are the result of a full year of fruitless negotiations between the Israel Foreign Ministry’s Workers’ Union and the Israel Ministry of Finance.

This is a last resort ac-

nized rights of workers under Israeli law. The Foreign Service Workers’ Association wishes to inform you that all Protocol and Consular services and treatment provided to the foreign diplomatic corps – missions and international organizations, diplomatic staff, and foreign domestic employees working for the missions and residences would be suspended with effect from Wednesday 5 March, until further notice.

As part of the suspension, the Israel Missions will not be able to deal with matters pertaining to official visits to Israel and no visas to Israel will be issued.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday Europe will impose tougher sanctions on Russia next week if there is no sign in the next few days that Moscow is willing to engage in a “contact group” to seek a diplomatic solution for Ukraine.

“Almost a week ago we said if that wasn’t successful within a few says we’d have to consider a second stage of sanctions,” she said on a visit to Warsaw. “Six days have gone by since then and we have to recognize, even though we’ll continue our efforts to form a contact group, that we haven’t made any progress.”

If no progress is made by Monday, EU foreign ministers will impose sanctions such as visa bans and asset freezes on those responsible for Russia’s actions against Ukraine and EU leaders will discuss this at their summit next Thursday, Merkel said.

Clinton Global Initiative holds summit for youth leaders

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ETAILS have emerged for the seventh annual summit of the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U), where more than 1,000 student leaders from around the world will gather at Arizona.

The convener of the summit and Vice Chair of Clinton Foundation, Chelsea Clinton will spearhead deliberations at this meeting which begins from March 21 to 23 at Arizona University. These undergraduate and graduate students will engage in developing solutions to some of the most pressing concerns of the Millennial generation, including human rights, women’s social and economic empowerment, and combatting HIV/AIDS in the United States. Chelsea Clinton said.

Former Libyan PM flees

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HE former Libyan prime minister, Ali Zeidan, has defied a travel ban and fled the country hours after parliament removed him from office in a no-confidence vote.

Zeidan was in Malta for two hours late on Tuesday on a refuelling stop before going to “another European country”, the island’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, said.

The Muscat told state-owned television channel, TVM, that he spoke briefly to Zeidan, who was banned from travelling abroad because of his suspected involvement in the embezzlement of public funds.

56 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014—57

Literary titans battle at Ipadeola's presentation

Professor Ayo Banjo described Tade’s presentation as “special because it is the 10th anniversary of the prize and it is gratifying to see how it has grown.” He thanked NLNG for choosing the best out of this crucial area of creativity adding that “with the level of satisfaction, response from the reading public as well as the interest media have shown, which is encouraging, it means that literature prize has fulfilled the purpose for which it was instituted.”

According to Prof Banjo, 2013 Literature prize which focused on poetry, had no less than 201 entries and the panel of judges set to work, at last, “Tade’s “The Sahara Testaments” was selected.

The same book was also picked by the independent judge, professor Kofi Anyidoho,the international assessor of the entries who was contracted for the first time in the history of the prize.

They all praised Tade’s work.”

In his goodwill remarks, Prof J P Clarke congratulated Tade for his collection and thanked NLNG for instituting the Prize adding that “Poetry, drama, novels are my areas as well as teaching.

When I read works coming out of Nigeria instead of getting goose pimples like Tade, I get worse especially by reading works from universities and teachers. When I saw Tade’s poetry, I told my friend that at last, poetry has come out of this exercise. Not just the imagination but also, the discipline of practicing the quatrain form of words in a sustained manner. I hope more of this will come, not untill 8 years as he said."

By PRISCA SAM DURU

IN a rather sophisticated cer emony that attracted dons, public intellectuals and other eminent Nigerians, the winner of the 2013 Nigeria Prize for Literature, sponsored by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, (NLNG), Tade Ipadeola was presented to the public, last Friday, at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos.

The Fiditi, Oyo State born lawyer and poet laurette's journey to fame began 8 years ago when he set out to write a collection of poetry that encapsulates the sufferings of Africans as well as people all over the world. The result of that excercise was "The Sahara Testaments", the winning entry in the 2013 Nigeria Prize For Literature, a collection in which Tade uses the Sahara as a metaphor for problems of Africa and humanity. Having won a whooping $100 Prize Money from the treasury of NLNG, Ipadeola's life changed and at the moment of ecstacy during his presentation,

•L-R, Mr Tade Ipadeola , author of The Sahara Testament, Prof Emeritus JP Clark, Pro Ayo Banjo, Chairman Advisory Board for Literature and Mr Baba Omotowa, Managing Director/ CEO of NLNG at presentation. Photo by Akeem Salua di’s Through the window of the Odia Ofeimun, and Captain Ele- and that is why there is no Sand Castle, I get goose pimples and while we waited for the anchi Amadi joining the duo later, change.” in the battle for and against the Taking sides with Odia, the nouncement of winner of the role of literature in nation build- third icon, Captain Elechi Ama- Prize, I prayed that the judges ing. di said, “JP is wrong!, JP is abso- wouldn’t feel the same when lutely wrong!.one line of poetry screening.” The poet laureate can change a leader.” According expressed his gratitude to NLNG Our leaders are not well read, that is the to the author of The Concubine, for the Award noting that “In retruth of the matter, we are where we are “Our leaders are not well read ceiving the 2013 Nigeria Prize today because our leaders are not reading that is the truth of the matter. We For Literature, my gratitude goes are where we are today because to everyone who made The Sahe reiterated his plans to build a our leaders are not reading” he hara Testament, a reality. I am The dissagreement began library in memory of one of his said, stressing that “The coun- appreciative of the poets whose mentors, the late Ghanaian poet when Odia in his goodwill re- try will be a better place if lead- works constituted the long list of Kofi Awonoor who was murdered marks, said that “I am happy that ers begin to read books other than 11 out of the initial 201 entries during the 2013 Kenyan Mall one of Nigeria’s greatest elders, just newspapers.” received. The sponsors have attack by terrorists. His words, "I J P Clark is here and I used to Receiving the Award for his come a long way in making the will build a library in memory of enjoy having a lot of arguments winning entry poetry, “The Sa- Prize a formidable one indeed.

Kofi Awonoor. Fifty percent of the with him and I’m happy that we hara Testaments” Tade Ipadeola It is my hope that in the years to content of that library will totally are going to resolve our differ- said “Each time I read Amu Nna- come, it will get better.” be African and the other 50 will ences because we have agreed be literature. It will be a library that Literature does make things for young Africans who want to happen.” His speech elicited a experience the world through prompt response from Prof Clarpoetry. I am glad to say the ke who stormed out while Odia to be delivered by the Director-General of

BY JAPHETALAKAM dream is gathering substance was still on the podium, and vethe Nigeria Broadcasting Commission daily and becoming a reality with hemently refused to tag along (NBC) Mr. Emeka Mba at 10am prompt. the help of an architect, Tiwa with Odia as he maintained his he 2014 iREP International Docu According to a release by the organisers, earlier position that poetry or litFadeyibi. mentary Film Festival, an innitiative iREP 2014 will feature highly respected filmerature cannot make things hapconceptualized to create platform of awaremakers from different parts of the World. It pen. Prof Clarke added that his Tade's day of Honour ness and expression for aspiring and will also feature a rich collection of awardreason was because politicians practicing filmmakers is scheduled to hold winning Documentary films from across the And his feeling on his day of who have the political strenght from March 20th and Sunday March 23rd world, complemented by works of young and honour? Tade said he "feels like to change the country, do not 2014, at the Freedom Park, Broad Street, old filmmakers in Nigeria. This year, we also the same way he felt when he read or care about whatever mesLagos, Nigeria between 10am and 10pm introduce a special room; which is entirely first got the news about winning sage writers are trying to pass daily. dedicated to films screenings all day - Surreal." According to him, it is across.

The 2014 iREPRESENT International Docuthroughout the period of the festival. This is After Prof J P ended his speech, like experiencing dawn somementary Film Festival is conceived on the trato cater for participants who are wholly where on the peak of the Atlas Odia stood his ground, stating ditional framework of Africa in Self-conversainterested in films screening, and also allow that “Any performance in symbols mountains." tion and will explore the theme ‘Rhythms of other participants see a film they might have Apart from the ambiance of the that can make people change the Identity’. Everything is about representation. missed. entire NIIA hall which smelt so way they look at the world, makes Images are important, they are political; they The festival will also feature the Producers’ much of books as well as the cal- a lot of impact. Anything that can form the rhythm of our identity and are present Roundtable, an international co-production ibre of Nigerians and foreigners make you change the way you in all the elements that define who we are – and co-operation forum for documentary in attendance adding radiance to look at the world, can make music, dance, language, religion, governance, filmmakers, established during the 2011 the event, one spectacle the au- things happen... J P is wrong by dressing, etc. festival. It will hold on Friday 21 st & dience couldn’t ignore was saying that Poetry cannot make The festival will open on March, 20 with a Saturday 22nd , and will explore innovative watching three literary titans, things happen, Im surprised bekeynote address titled “Rhythms of Amaloptions and opportunities in international Emeritus Professor J P Clark, case he just won an Award... our gamation- Fashioning a Nigerian Identity.” co-productions and distributions. leaders only read Newspapers

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2014 iREP film festival opens March 20

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Nigerian boxers shine in Cameroun T

HE Nigerian box ing team to the just concluded African women Boxing Championship won two gold and one bronze medal to emerge tops at the tournament.

Nigeria went with three boxers and three officials. The boxers are Kehinde Obareh (lightweight), Edith Ogoke Agu (middleweight) and Oluwatoyin Oladeji (flyweight) while the officials include Osondu Ogbu (leader of delegation), Tony konyegwachie (Coach) and the Secretary General of the Nigeria boxing Federation,NBF, Olushola Luke.

Kehinde Obareh who fought in the 69-75kg weight class started the victory song when she outpunched Lachghar from Morocco 3-0 in the final while Agu Edith stopped Camerounian boxer, Azangwe Aubige Yonnicke with another 30 win in the final of the 57kg- 60kg weight category to win the second gold for Nigeria. The only bronze medal was accounted for by Oluwatoyin Oladeji who lost in the semi-final of the 48kg -58kg weight class.

The leader of delegation, Ogbu, an executive board member of the

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ANTI Lajide, Sec retary, Nigeria Table Tennis Umpires Association (NTTRA), on Tuesday said that he received the news of the death of Demola Alli, a former sports administrator with shock.

Lajide told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the deceased was his mentor.

Alli, a former ViceChairman of the Nigeria table Tennis Federation (NTTF) was popularly known in table tennis circle as “Fireman” because of his exploits in the sport.

interest of the team to allow such a player time to conform to the acceptable conducts, you do so to help the team.

I’m aware of the comments people have made on some of our players. All good players deserve to be in the national team but there are also team spirit considerations. There are tactical considerations. If you have a concept and a player does not and refuses to conform to that concept what do you do? What I want people to know is that I want to go to Brazil and do well. And I will not leave out any person who I feel will help us do well. No reasonable coach will do that. If I

He died on March 9 in Lagos, aged 83.

“Alli was always there to motivate players and many sought his advice before getting to the table to play.

“The NTTRA and the entire table tennis family will really miss him.

We will also remember him for his unique strokes in his playing days,” he said.

The secretary said Alli headed the Media Committee of the annual Asoju- Oba Table Tennis Championships for 45 years and ensured that the championships got the needed publicity.

*Ogoke Nigeria Boxing Federation gave Kudos to the three boxers for doing the country proud at the tournament as he commended the president of the NBF, General Kenneth Minimah who is also the Chief of Army Staff for sponsoring the team to the African championship.

A total of six countries participated in the championship. These include Botswana, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria and host country Cameroun. Nigeria topped the med-

Keshi Continued from BP

Table tennis officials mourn Alli

leave out any player, it simply means that I feel that such a player may not help the general interest of the team in Brazil. It is a serious matter and it will not be nice to trivialize World Cup selection matters. It is a serious matter and I wouldn’t want sentiments to sway us.”

Keshi was reported by MTN Soccer to have said that the lack of tactical discipline influenced his decision to leave out Ike Uche from the World Cup team.

He recently admitted that the final selection of 23 players would be tough but that he would go for the best that Nigeria can constitute a good team for Nigeria in Brazil.

als table with two gold and one bronze. Morocco came second with one gold and

one silver while Cameroun took the third with one silver and one bronze.

2014 FIFA World Cup tickets for 60 matches go on sale today

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ICKETS for 60 of the 64 matches at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil this June and July will be up for sale to the general public on Wednesday.

The sale will be in the second window of the second sales phase which starts on Wednesday, March 12 at 1200 hours CET and 0800 hours Brazilian time.

According to a statement by FIFA Media, no tickets are however available for the Opening Match of June 12 in Sao Paulo.

U-17 Women World Cup Continued from BP tain the squad as Nigeria searches for a first-ever triumph in the cadet competition that was inaugurated in New Zealand in 2008, scored six goals at the last tournament in Azerbaijan to finish second top-scorer, behind North Korea’s Ri Un-Sim. Just as happened in Trinidad and Tobago in 2010, when Korea Republic, which eliminated Nigeria after a pulsating quarter final match that went into extra time, went ahead to lift the trophy, France won the trophy in Azerbaijan two years ago after defeating Nigeria on penalties in the quarter finals.

However, Coach Nikyu is confident his girls

have prepared well enough to go all the way, after a 19-day final training camp in Faro, Portugal that saw the team win all friendly matches bar one - the 00 draw with Belgium’s U-17 Women National Team in Brussels on March 4.

Ihezuo scored five goals when the Flamingoes humiliated hosts Azerbaijan 11-0 in a group phase match in 2012.

The Nigerian girls flew out of Frankfurt, Germany on Wednesday to arrive in San Jose, capital city of Costa Rica, on Thursday morning.

They play their first match against China on Sunday, with other group phase games against Colombia and Mexico to follow on March 19 and 23 respectively.

Okpekpe grabs Linkage Assurance plc’s sponsorship

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IRECTOR of Organisation for the annual Okpekpe 5 kilometre road race, Zak Amodu has revealed that the body has secured the sponsorship of Linkage Assurance plc as the Official Insurer of the second edition slated to hold on May 3.

Disclosing this at a world press conference in Lagos on Wednesday, Amodu said: “In our determination to meet the requirement of the IAAF label condition, we have this afternoon secured the sponsorship of Linkage Assurance plc as the Official Insurer of the 2nd edition of the OKPEKPE road road.

They will provide insurance cover for the entire 3000 runners expected this year on a value in kind basis with some cash to support the overall race organisation. ”The total financial commitment of 10m Naira will be envisaged to cover the following: 1.Death benefit for each athlete and official; 2. Permanent Disablement; 3. Medical Expenses. Linkage will be the joining the following broadcast partners: Supersports - they will broadcast on Pay TV and support with a pre-event Lets Play activity for 2000 kids on the 2nd May 2014.

AIT will be broadcasting terrestrial as a broadcast partner.

Robben Continued from BP when the Dutchman went down under pressure from Laurent Koscielny in the box to win a spot-kick which Thomas Muller missed at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday evening.

After the match, which ended in a 1-1 draw with Bayern triumphing 3-1 on aggregate, Wenger labelled Robben “a great player and a very good diver ” - a comment the Bayern winger feels was classless.

“I always say if you’re a big manager, take your loss,” he told ITV. “If you

win, be happy, enjoy.

But if you lose, don’t start complaining about silly things.

“It was two penalties but I don’t want to defend myself. From a big manager you expect a little bit more if you lose.”

Wenger also claimed that the decision to send off Szczesny was the difference between the two teams, but Bayern boss Pep Guardiola insisted otherwise.

“We won and we were better than Arsenal in both games, that is the reality,” he concluded.

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Bayern will be unwatchable like Barcelona’ — Beckenbauer

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AYERN Munich legend Franz Beckenbauer has slammed coach Pep Guardiola’s tactics, saying the team will end up becoming “unwatchable like Bacelona.”

The Bavarians remain unbeaten in the Bundesliga under the Spaniard and have a place in the last eight of the Champions League and the semifinal of the DFB-Pokal to look forward to.

However, the former West Germany international believes their style of play has gone backwards since the former Barca coach took over.

“In the end, we’ll be unwatchable like Barca.

They ’ll be passing it backwards on the goalline,” he told Sky. “[My vision] is different. If I have the chance to shoot from distance, especially in front of a crowded defence, I’d take it. It’s the most efficient way.”

•Weah

Bayern Munich players celebrate a goal.

Weah knocks AC Milan players sorry but I would change

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ORMER AC Milan striker George Weah has revealed his disdain for the current crop of players at AC Milan following their Champions League exit against Atletico Madrid.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg the Rossoneri were comprehensively outplayed during the second leg, losing 4-1 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate and Weah believes Milan are in a state of crisis.

“I’m sad, very sad, this crisis is so great that you cannot follow this path.

If you don’t know how to play, what are you doing there!” Wrote Weah on Twitter in a series of tweets.

“This has to end now.

This Milan crisis is scandalous, I am really

the whole squad and start afresh.

“Of course the Press will speak badly of [Clarence] Seedorf though he is not to blame.

“It is not tactical or in the formations, the players have their heads in their feet and their feet in their heads!

“I understand the words of [Zvonomir] Boban, players today are nothing like us.

“Now they think to have nice cars, a nice salary and to be in the papers everyday and not proving their qualities.

“I remember my early years in Africa, despite being a professional player scoring many goals, I did not receive a salary and I did not care.''

Belgium FA won’t sanction Imoh Ezekiel

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TANDARD Liege defeated Mechelen 2 - 0 on Saturday to cement their hold on first position in the Jupiler League standings. Nigeria international Imoh Ezekiel registered his 10th goal of the season in the 84th minute but was subsequently booked by the referee for pulling off his shirt, his fifth caution this term.

There are speculations that the attacker deliberately picked up the yellow card on purpose in order to get suspended for the final game of the regular season against Waasland-Beveren next weekend so he enters the play - off round with all his cards wiped off.

But the Belgian Football Union in its ruling on Tuesday decided not to suspend the Nigerian for a match, meaning the Federation is not recognizing the yellow card he picked up last weekend.

Imoh Ezekiel has been cautioned 8 times in all competitions this season compared to the 3 yellow cards he received in the 2012 - 2013 campaign.

•Ezekiel

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FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup:

Nikyu picks Ihezuo, 20 others to challenge for glory

Brazil World Cup

Keshi clears air on Osaze, Ike Uche, others

BY ONOCHIE ANIBEZE

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MIDST calls for the recall of the likes of Osaze Odewengie and Ike Uche to the Eagles, Stephen Keshi, Nigeria’s head coach, has maintained that he has never shut the door against any player in the Eagles.

But he insists that there are times some players are better left out for the good of the team. Such players, he said, could be recalled at the appropriate time. Keshi spoke on phone: “It is wrong for any coach to shut the door against any player and ban such a player from playing for the National team. But time matters in all things including football. There are times good players may lose form and you allow them time to be fit again and there are times a player may not contribute to the success of a team due to behavioral problems and if you, as a coach, feel that it will be for the best Continues on Page 60

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EAD Coach of the U-17 Women National Team, Bala Nikyu has picked Azerbaijan 2012 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup silver boot winner, Chiwendu Ihezuo and 20 other players to represent Nigeria at this

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RJEN Robben has responded to Arsene Wenger ’s accusations that he is a diver by suggesting that the Arsenal boss is acting like a small-time manager.

The two men had a

HOT SHOT—Ike Uche

Sudoku PUZZLE

year ’s finals starting in Costa Rica on Saturday.

There are also Joy Bokiri, Aminat Yakubu, Uchenna Kanu, Ugochi Emenayo, Mary Ologbosere, Patience Dike and Tessy Biahwo.

Ihezuo, who will cap

Continues on Page 60

Robben slams Wenger over ‘dive’ accusations

•Osaze

TODAY'S

•Ihezuo

YESTER DAY'S YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

heated exchange on the touchline after Robben won the penalty which saw Wojciech Szczesny sent off in the first leg at the Emirates Stadium last month, and Wenger was further enraged Continues on Page 60

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS 3 Originate (5) 9 Penetrate (6) 10 Frightened (6) 11 Happening (5) 12 Cheese (4) 15 Pain (4) 17 Postponed (7) 20 Girl’s (3) 21 Females (5) 23 Finished (4) 25 Couple (4) 26 Wanderer (5) 28 Spout (3) 30 Denied (7) 33 Paradise (4) 35 Ancestry (4) 36 Confusion (5) 38 Firearm (6) 39 Collect (6) 40 Emulsion (5)

DOWN 1 Rate (5) 2 Foot-lever (5) 3 Expert (3) 4 Notice (6) 5 Sensible (4) 6 Newt (3) 7 Tally (5) 8 Viper (5) 13 Dedicated (7) 14 Manufacturer (5) 16 Encourage (7) 18 Twelve (5) 19 Material (3) 22 Nautical (5) 24 Decay (3) 27 Abdicate (6) 28 Crowbar (5) 29 Torment (5) 31 Taut (5) 32 Disparage (5) 34 Facts (4) 36 Vitality (3) 37 Feline (3

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Stress 5, Strain 9, Lithe 10, Repair 12, Tenet 14, Erne 17, Nut 18, Rare 20, Titan 22, Ailed 23, Selling 24, Fleet 26, Tired 29, Rend 30, Sat 32, Dire 33, Sprig 35, Chaste 36, Troupe 37, Uncle 38, Silent 39, Eyelet.

DOWN: 1, Street 2, Repent 3, Slit 4, Siren 5, Sheet 6, Tent 7, Animal 8, Needed 13, Nuclear 15, Rifle 16, Eased 18, Rigid 19, Refer 21, Net 22, Ant 24, Fracas 25, Entail 27, Ritual 28, Deceit 30, Spent 31, Title 33, Stun 34, Grey.

How to Play Sudoku

P

lace a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

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