EPZ:Ijaw youths attack Ogidigben

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 62362

Suspected Fulani 60 herdsmen kill 90 in Benue

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APC also guilty —PDP

EPZ: Ijaw youths attack Ogidigben

•See P.12

•It was a warning attack —Okotete COLUMNISTS: OWEI LAKEMFA

•P.55

You can't trust elections

Join the troops, say: ‘never again!’ (1) •P.49

Will PDP or APC rescue the economy? •P.48 INEC WAREHOUSE ON FIRE: Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Electoral Institute's warehouse along Airport Road, Abuja gutted by fire, yesterday. Photos: Gbemiga Olamikan.

Interim Govt: We've evidence against Jonathan — FAYEMI

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LEKKI BANK ROBBERY: Election fever drags 8 We know the robbers down foreign investment inflow 9 —Police

Mr & Mrs

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POCKET CARTOON

canvassing postponement of elections and non-usage of card readers. The big question still remains: why are they afraid of election?”

Flays Fayose

SHOWBIZ INTERACTIVE: From right: Tony Elumelu, Chairman, Heirs Holdings; President on Buhari's

Goodluck Jonathan; Mr Jim Ovia, Chairman, Zenith Bank; Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State (2nd row) and others on arrival at the Showbiz Interactive with GEJ, at Eko Hotel, Lagos, yesterday.

Photo: Lamidi Bamidele.

Interim Govt: We've evidence against Jonathan •Says Tinubu was invited to be part of it •North should beware of Tinubu —Fayose

By Gbenga Ariyibi

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DO-EKITI — FORMER Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, yesterday, stoked the controversy over the alleged interim government arrangement when he declared that he had evidence that national leader of All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was wooed to be part of the ING by President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Fayemi, currently the Director of Policy in the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation who, yesterday, disclosed the existence of verifiable proof of the plot, also reassured the President and his aides that a future APC

national government would not witch-hunt them through a probe.

Fayemi, who spoke in Ado-Ekiti, nevertheless, cautioned the PDP-led administration against allowing any harm to the person of Tinubu, warning that any such harm would mean crossing the red line as he said that Tinubu’s assertion of a threat to his life was true.

Fayemi spoke at Aramoko Ekiti, yesterday, during the 40-day Fidau for the late Pa Jejelola Akingbolu and Mrs Raliat Akingbolu.

Tinubu had last week alleged that the Presidency had made a gesture for him to be part of an interim government to be constituted in the event the scheduled elections were truncated.

His assertion was despite

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings— William Arthur Ward

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T is in our best interest to be reminded that everything we have is a gift from life. The attitude of giving thanks disallow arrogance and selfcentredness which makes a person believe that we have achieved everything on our own without divine intervention. Thankfulness keeps our hearts balanced in the spirit of gratitude for life’s blessings.

Giving thanks also reminds us of how much we do have. Human beings are prone to covetousness.

We tend to focus on what we don’t have. By giving thanks continually we are reminded of how much we do have. When we focus on blessings rather than wants, we are happier. When we start thanking God for the things we usually take for granted, our perspective changes more positively.

prior dismissals of the plot for an interim government

by President Jonathan, who described assertions towards an interim government as constitutionally untenable.

Jonathan is becoming desperate Pressing the claim of the existence of a plot yesterday, Fayemi said Tinubu’s allegation was not meant to malign the personality of the president.

Fayemi said: “President Jonathan is becoming desperate by the day and he would stop at nothing to return to government. You know what they did in Ekiti.

So, there was nothing Tinubu said that was not verifiable.

“I have evidence that he was invited to be part of Interim Government as a way of dividing us as a prominent member of our party. There is absolutely nothing they cannot do to distract us because they could see that the Presidency is gradually slipping off their hands.

“It was good that these alarms were being raised and put on the front burner that there was a sinister intention to subvert the will of the people.

“What Nigerians are looking for now is for the elections to be held on March 28 as scheduled by Independent National

Electoral Commission, INEC, and for the victor who is overwhelmingly elected by the popular votes to be announced.

“We as party leaders and members of the opposition are ready to congratulate the winner, but if they go ahead and subvert the will of the people, they will surely go to jail.”

Buhari won't probe past govts Fayemi assured that Buhari will keep to his promise not to dig into the financial corruption of the past, including those that may have been perpetrated by the present administration.

"Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari has said he won’t look into the past. He said he would draw the line on the very day he takes over, and I don’t know why President Jonathan who has the paraphernalia of office is afraid of election.

“There is nothing the PDP, even as a ruling party, has not done to ensure that these elections are not held.

We have heard about the sowing of fake army uniform. We have heard about how they want to use the army to rig the election.

"We have seen attempts to sack Prof. Attahiru Jega. We have heard about how they have been preaching about religion, talking about the health of Gen. Buhari and the way they had been

health

Flaying Fayose for allegedly lying about Gen. Buhari’s health status, Fayemi urged the governor to stop ridiculing and debasing the virtue of respect the state is known for.

He said: “We have heard somebody whose own definition of politics is about lying, saying Gen Buhari was taken to a hospital in London. Buhari never went to the hospital throughout the 10 days he was in London because I was with him throughout.

“Fayose even used his mother as an example of how people who are old used to behave just because he wanted to drive home a point that Gen Buhari was sick. This is like disgracing his own mother in public and it is against the value Ekiti is known for.

“If Jonathan loses this election, he can still get whatever he wants. It is a matter of negotiation with Buhari, who has promised not to probe the past governments.

“But I want to say that we will hold Jonathan’s government responsible if even a little thing happens to Tinubu.”

North should beware of Tinubu —Fayose Meanwhile, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has warned the north to beware of the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Tinubu, describing him as a politician who can sell out anyone to achieve political gains.

Fayose, who maintained that Tinubu was not honest in his support for the APC

presidential candidate, Major-General Buhari (rtd), said “knowing Buhari’s age, state of health and mental capability, Tinubu is only using him to hijack power from the North."

Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said: “A man who could sell out his party candidates can sell out anyone given the right prize and political gains.

“Tinubu said with his mouth at Onikan Stadium, Lagos on Sunday that he was instrumental to the victory of President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 general elections.

“He said: ‘In 2011, I helped Jonathan become President because he made us believe he was a breath of fresh air.’

“The implication of this is that Tinubu sold out the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) presidential candidate, Malam Nuhu Ribadu in 2011 just the way he sold out the Action Congress (AC) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in 2007.

“That, to me, is treachery and on this issue of Buhari and the March 28 presidential election, I am saying again that the North should beware.

“The North should know that Tinubu’s support for Buhari is a Greek gift.

Tinubu only wants to corner the economy of Nigeria, using Buhari because he knows that he (Buhari) is weak and even at 41, his military government was run by his deputy, Tunde Idiagbon.

“Therefore, now that the Almighty Allah has made Tinubu to confess that he traded off Ribadu in 2011, I am calling on our brothers and sisters from the North to beware of this political merchant, who is only out to shortchange the north for his own gains.”

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We'll soon dislodge terrorists from their hideouts — DHQ

By Kingsley Omonobi

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BUJA—THE D e f e n c e headquarters disclosed yesterday that Air Force has intensified its assault of identified terrorists’ hideouts in some locations in Yobe and Borno States as part of ongoing campaign against terror.

Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade in a statement said “Several sorties are being flown in conjunction with ground troops to dislodge a concentration of terrorists as follow up to intelligence reports.

“Simultaneous mopping up operations are also ongoing in the areas already operated upon by Nigerian Air Force. ‘’Also, Nigerian troops are currently battling Boko Haram terrorists in a determined bid to retake Damasak, a border town between Nigeria and Niger Republic.

The battle for the retake of the town is being waged by Nigerian troops in conjunction with the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF).

Damasak is one of the boisterous border towns of Borno State where farm produce like beans, pepper and tomatoes are produced in commercial quantities.

It is close to Diffa in Niger Republic and was seized by the terrorists in November last year as part of Boko Haram campaign to create an illusory caliphate’’.

It will be recalled that Boko Haram terrorists attacked Damasak and Ashigarchi towns in Mobbar local government area of Borno in their hundreds killing over 50 persons in Damasak alone on November 15, 2014.

The sect members according to military sources, drove in Hillux vans and motor bikes into the town burning vehicles, houses and forcing hundreds of residents to flee to the Cameroonian borders.

Election fever drags down foreign investment inflow

By Emeka Anaeto, Economy Editor

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OTAL foreign capital imported into Nigeria in 2014 summed to USD20.8 billion, lower by USD576.6 million or 2.7 per cent from the USD21.3 billion imported in 2013. The capital import figure represents value of foreign investments in Nigeria’s economy in the period under review.

The year ’s decline was primarily due to the reduction in the value of capital imported in the fourth quarter of 2014, which was USD4.5 billion, a sharp decline of USD2.04 million or 31.2 per cent from the value of USD6.5 billion recorded in the preceding quarter (Q3. 2014).

In the just released Capital Importation Report 2014 by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 2014 had recorded steady upbeat in capital inflow until Q4 and the Bureau said the decline during the quarter was expected, as investor confidence declined during the build up to the presidential election which was scheduled to hold in the first quarter of 2015.

However despite this, the closing quarter of the year 2014 was still greater than the USD3.9 billion of capital imported in the first quarter, 2014 by USD595.2 million or 15.2 per cent.

Foreign investments are usually divided into three main investment types: Foreign

Direct Investment (FDI), Portfolio Investment and Other Investments with each comprising various subsectors.

Despite still making up the largest portion of total capital imported in Q4, 2014 Portfolio Investment, at a value of USD2.003 billion declined by USD3.1billion or 60.9 per cent from its Q3 value of USD5.2 billion. Its subsequent share of total capital imported therefore declined from 78.4 per cent in Q3, 2014, to just 44.5 per cent in Q4.

Year-on-year, this represented a decline of USD1.4 billion or 41.01 per cent, from the Q4, 2013 total of USD3.4 billion, which was 72.54 per cent of

total capital imported.

The decline in portfolio investment was mainly driven by declines in the value of equity, which at USD1.5 billion in Q4 of 2014, had declined by USD2.2 billion or 59.1 per cent from the preceding quarter and

by USD1.2 billion or 43.3 per cent year-on-year.

However, of the three categories of foreign investment types it was only Portfolio Investment that recorded a decline. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increased from a value of USD544.5 million in Q3, 2014, by USD224.35 million or 41.2 per cent to reach USD768.86 million in Q4. This rise in FDI continued steadily throughout 2014, representing year-onyear growth of USD647.04 million or USD531.14 per cent..

Other Investments also saw a sharp rise in the value of capital imported; from the USD865.24 million recorded in Q3 of 2014, it increased by USD861.7 million or 99.6 per cent to its Q4 value of USD1.7 billion. Year-onyear, this was an increase of USD563.1 million or 48.38 per cent. The main driver of this growth was a rise in the subcategory of other claims, which increased by USD820.6 million or 159.24 per cent, from USD515.31 million in Q3 of 2014 to USD1.3 billion in Q4.

Within the FDI category, the increase was driven by equity, under which USD767.8 million was recorded in the Q4, up by USD223.6 million or 41.1 per cent from the USD544.2 million recorded in the preceding quarter, and growing by USD653.9 million or 573.9 per cent year-on-year.

VISIT: From right; National Leader of All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State and Mr Ladipo Johnson during Kwankwaso's visit to the Arewa Community in Lagos State on the 2015 General Election, yesterday.

POLLS: Social media tearing Nigeria apart — FG

By Michael Eboh

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BUJA—THE Federal Government weekend, lamented that the social media is being used as a tool by unscrupulous individuals to tear the country apart, especially in the build up to the elections.

Speaking at the send-forth ceremony organised by Galaxy Backbone Limited for Mr. Gerald Ilukwe, pioneer Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Mr. Anyim Pius Anyim, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, stated that instead of using the social media and Information Communication Technology, ICT, to drive the growth and development of the country, it is instead being used to create animosity and rancour.

Anyim, who was represented

by Mr. Ferdinand Agu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Research & Documentation , said, “ It is

unfortunate that ICT is being abused. If you go to the social media, you do not see love anymore, you do not see learning anymore, what you see is so much hate and violence.”

“We seem not to be aware that the purpose of ICT is one and simple; it improves the human capacity of our nation by giving people the tool and weapons to understand and acquire knowledge and also unite us, for us to build a better country.

“If ICT does not serve these purposes, it will not liberate our country from ignorance. We have to use the tools provided by ICT to bring our country together,” he added.

Anyim commended Ilukwe and the management of Galaxy Backbone for their efforts at using ICT as a tool to contribute to Nigeria’s growth and development.

He maintained that when the objective of the organisation is fully achieved, Nigeria will be wired and poised for greatness.

“I am calling on everyone to use the opportunity we have with ICT to make this country a bigger and stronger nation,” he added.

Also speaking, Mr. Yusuf Kazaure, the current Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Galaxy Backbone, stated that Ilukwe has during his tenure at the helm of affairs of the company, been able to grow the company to enviable heights.

According to him, the company has been able to maintain standards that are comparable with standards anywhere in the world.

He said, “Today, Gerald is leaving a vibrant company , with over 4,500 locations connected.

He has left an organisation that will continue to grow.

“Gerald was able to create a Galaxy Backbone with a culture that strives in a very ambivalent environment. We are a public company that strives like a private company.”

Kazaure said since 2007 , Galaxy Backbone has leveraged

its mandate to build a common services platform consisting of incountry and offshore VSAT hubs.

“From this platform, Galaxy is growing its coverage of public institutions nationwide and currently connects about 4,000 locations spread across various parts of Nigeria representing over 350 Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDA,” he added.

Gerald Ilukwe was Managing Director/Chief Executive officer of Galaxy Backbone between September 2006 and September 2014.

Ilukwe, according to a brochure

by Galaxy Backbone, oversaw the operations of over $180 million, about N36 billion of ICT infrastructure for the delivery of networks, data hosting and application services to customers primarily in the public sector.

Continuing the company said, “Ilukwe had the responsibility for the negotiation and execution of ICT projects worth over $145 million through vendor financing and bi-national loan agreements.”

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LEKKI BANK ROBBERY: We know the robbers — POLICE

By Evelyn Usman

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AGOS—THE Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Kayode Aderanti, weekend, said that the command had clue of who the robbers that stormed a second generation bank last Thursday, killing three policemen and a teenager, were, assuring that it would soon round them up.

This is just as the InspectorGeneral of Police, Suleiman Abbah, has given matching orders to the Police in Lagos to restrategise, in order to ensure that armed robbers do not unleash terror again in the state.

Investigation as gathered had begun by joint crack detectives from the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS and those from the newly instituted Tactical Operation Unit.

The operatives as gathered would also spread their dragnet to neighbouring Benin Republic where the fleeing armed men were suspected to have taken refuge.

Impeccable police sources hinted that part of the on going investigation included the monitoring of the video footage of the robbery operation recorded by an onlooker.

Aderanti who was at the scene of the robbery incident, described the death of his men as unfortunate, adding that they (policemen ) were not even attached to the bank where the gunmen stormed but acted gallantly to prevent the

hoodlums from carrying out their devilish act.

Also reacting to the development, Force Public Relations Officer, Ag. Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel Ojukwu told Vanguard; ‘’It’s a terrible development. We will see to the end of it. We must get them. You should know that for a long time we have not had that kind of bank robbery in Lagos State.

That is why the InspectorGeneral of Police, Suleiman Abbah, has given the command matching orders to re-strategise in order to ensure that it does not occur again.’’

Kidnap resurfaces in Lekki However , investigation revealed that the robbery incident was not the first time hoodlums would be terrorising residents of the high brow area.

Before their invasion last Thursday, it was revealed that kidnappers had been on the prowl in Lekki metropolis, with bank staff and construction firm workers as their targets.

The kidnappers as gathered, usually struck when unsuspecting bank staff would be leaving for their places of work.

Recently, a female bank staff was reportedly abducted while on her way to work but was released after payment of an unspecified amount as ransom.

Another female of same bank was said to have been at the verge of being abducted last week

in same metropolis but for the intervention of his colleagues.

The female bank staff(names withheld ) was reportedly waiting for the staff bus when the abductors sprang out from nowhere to forcefully drag her into their waiting van. But just at the same time, the staff bus arrived and her colleagues reportedly raised an alarm which forced the kidnappers to abandon her and zoomed off in their operational vehicle.

But such testimony could not be said of Mr Emmanuel Nduka, a civil engineer whose

whereabouts is yet unknown, following his disappearance since February 2, 2015.

His wife , Evelyn who is yet to come to terms with the reality of her husband’s disappearance, explained how he left their Happyland estate in Olokunla area of Lekki, home penultimate Monday , to see an unknown caller who reportedly invited him over .

According to the mother of five : “We were together in my shop where I sell provisions and food stuffs; when he had a call and told me that he was going to Abijo to see someone. Not suspecting anything sinister, I didn’t ask who he was going to

meet at Abijo.

“He drove himself in his Honda Odyssey car with Registration number: QZ 143 EKY about 8pm.

About 20 minutes later, he called me to say that he has bought the kerosene I asked him to buy and has gotten to the place adding that he would be coming in no distant time. Having waited for a long while and he wasn’t forthcoming, I had to call him only to discover that his phone was switched off and has remained so till now.

“I couldn’t just fathom exactly what was wrong! I became worried what might have happened to him and immediately informed the young brother while I waited till the following morning. Not seeing

WAR AGAINST BOKO HARAM: Nigerian troops crossing Kafin Hausa Bridge constructed by military engineers to facilitate pursuit of the Boko Haram insurgents.

NLC CRISIS: How election was manipulated, by 23 aggrieved unions

By Victor AhiumaYoung

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HE 23 aggrieved unions which Saturday rejected the outcome of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC election, have given more reasons why they are rejecting the results of the election, insisting they are planning for a special delegates conference this Saturday to reflect the true wishes of the Nigerian workers.

In a joint statement by Joe Ajaero, who contested for the President, Achese Igwe and Issa Aremu who both contested for Deputy President, on behalf of the 23 aggrieved unions, they dissociated themselves from the March 12 election, arguing that like the botched election of February, the election was also fundamentally flawed both in the process and outcome.

The statement signed by Ajaero who is also the General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, Igwe, the President of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG and Aremu, the General Secretary of National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, NUTGTWN, said “like the previous failed election, there was an unacceptable disregard for rules and regulations in the latest election. Rules were changed midway into the elections. The credential committee wrongly validated the Ballot papers found in boxes not meant for the position being contested for contrary to the rules. These ballot papers ought to have been invalidated. There was a scandalous deficit of basic electoral materials such as tallies. As a result,

counting of votes was stopped for 3 hours to allegedly enable the General Secretary of NLC and his team to go to the market to buy some electoral materials. In the process there was a crisis of confidence and legitimate suspicion of manipulation.

“It took two working days for an election fixed for only one day to count the votes of 3,119 delegates from the 43 industrial unions affiliated to the Congress.

Due to poor electoral arrangement, sorting of ballot papers turned to be cumbersome and opened to manipulations and distortions with nonmembers of the Credential Committee dictating the patterns of counting. For instance, there was an unacceptable direct involvement of former NLC President, Abdulwaheed Omar in the election process particularly in the

sorting and counting of votes well after the dissolution of the former National Administrative Council (NAC) he headed against the best practices of the past. The Former President also ordered the delay of counting of votes for over 12 hours after the ballot papers were sorted out in order to manipulate the process to suit his candidates.”

According to the statement “Indeed the polling agent to Joe Ajaero, Benson Okorodudu protested to no avail, the long delay in the counting of ballot papers after sorting. When counting eventually took place, there was an intermittent light outage during which the polling agent to Comrade Joe Ajaero inexplicably fainted and rushed to the hospital apparently was paving the way for manipulation.

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Lagos commissions 1st cardiac, renal centre in Nigeria

By Chioma Obinna

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AGOS—IN its bid to encourage local management of cadio-vascular diseases like coronary heart disease as well as chronic kidney diseases, the Lagos State Government will this week commission first ever ultra modern cardiac and renal centre in the country.

Addressing journalists weekend, the Commissioner for

Health, Dr. Jide Idris explained the 67- bed facility Centre which will be commissioned by the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola is designed to handle heart and kidney related diseases and also offers out-patient services and diagnostic services.

Other services to be rendered by the facility include; ultrasound, CT scan, Echo cardiography, Stress

Electrocardiography, laboratory services, fluoroscopy, ocular investigation for complications from hypertension, diabetes and renal conditions, haemodialysis for acute and chronic kidney diseases with 24 dialysis machine, admission for all cardiac conditions that requires hospital stay, critical care in intensive care unit (ICU) and high dependency wards, cardiac catherization, non invasive cardiology, open

MEETING: From right; Vice presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, Prof Yemi Osinbajo; National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Senator Ganiyu Solomon; Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babatunde Fashola; Lagos State governorship candidate of APC, Mr Akin Ambode and former APC governorship aspirants in Lagos State; during APC meeting in Lagos.

Fashola hands over re-built Oyingbo market

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AGOS—24 years after its demolition, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, yesterday commissioned and handed over the rebuilt Oyingbo market urging Lagosians to vote for a party that has a record of keeping its promises, like the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the coming general elections.

The highly modernized Oyingbo market, rebuilt on its original site in Ebute Metta, is now a four-floor structure with 270 lock up shops, 632 open shops, 48 open offices, three cold rooms, one fire service station, 66 parking spaces and 134 toilets.

Efforts to rebuild the market which has been in existence since 1938, has moved from one administration to the other.

In 1991, it was demolished with plans to turn it into an ultra-modern market.

The then Chairman of the Mainland Local Government, Dr. Babatunde Larinde tried to rebuild it through partnership with the private sector inviting the late business mogul, Chief MKO Abiola to lay the foundation of the new market, who also promised to help them get the attention of the C M Y K

Nigerian Stock Exchange in raising needed funds for the project.

However, during his governorship campaigns around the state, the then Action Congress of Nigeria governorship

candidate Mr. Babatunde Fashola in response to an appeal by the leader of the market, Alhaja Bushirat Balogun, appealed to assist in rebuilding the age-old market when voted into power.

SERAP tasks Jonathan, Buhari on anti-corruption document

By Abdulwahab Abdulah

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AGOS—THE presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, President Goodluck Jonathan and Gen Muhamadu Buhari respectively have been implored to demonstrate their commitment for the eradication of corruption and impunity if voted to power.

In a statement issued in Lagos by the executive director of Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Tokunbo Mumuni, he urged them to publicly endorse the global initiative for an I n t e r n a t i o n a l Anticorruption Court (IACC) to demonstrate that they are ready to

address corruption and impunity of perpetrators if voted into power.

With the development according to SERAP, the multilateral body will be empowered to probe allegations of corruption in the spending on the fight against Boko Haram, the billions of naira raised under the Victims of Terror Support Fund, and to also try other cases of political corruption such as those involving former governors that have remained unresolved for many years.

SERAP’s call became necessary after the global campaign for an IACC raised by a senior US Judge, Mark L. Wolf, who has made presentations before the US Congress, the UN and other bodies on the need for the court.

heart surgery, renal surgery, nursing and diabetic services, rehabilitation services and corporate wellness programme.

Idris explained that the idea of the facility situated within the premises of the Gbagada General Hospital was to reduce the spate of medical trips abroad as well as build local capacity especially for ailments that should be treated locally but where expertise and facilities are not available to manage them.

The Commissioner noted that State government through the Ministry of Health considers it appropriate and timely to have a befitting cardiac and renal Centre due to the increasing number of patients presenting with end stage renal failure and coronary heart diseases .

He added that the lack of a purpose built renal specialist centre, the periodic nature of the cardiac and renal missions which has limited the number of beneficiaries and the need to conserve the financial resources currently being expended in the management of patients with renal and cardiac diseases in foreign countries are key reasons for building the facility.

Idris noted that the cardiac and renal disease constitute a growing health burden globally stressing that the total number of cardiovascular and chronic kidney diseases deaths had increased globally to a worrisome state in the health sector especially in Lagos and Nigeria which require efforts of stakeholders in State health system to address.

The Commissioner added that the non-communicable disease burden prompted the State government to embark on the screening of people for hypertension and diabetes which are major contributor to the cardiac and renal ailment burden as part of the of its preventive and health promotion strategy.

He also noted that state government has over the years always earmark as part of its free health policy quite a huge chunk of its budget to sponsor people abroad on various medical problem that could not be treated in the country where the needed expertise and facilities are not available stressing that it is the copulation of these factors that prompted the state government to build the cardiac and renal centre.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16 , 2015—11

Suspected thugs attack Aregbesola’s campaign team

By Gbenga Olarinoye

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the state has warned the PDP that it will not profit from impunity in its resort to violence in the runup to the March 28 and April 11, presidential and general

elections, because, “there will be consequences locally and internationally.”

In a statement made available to the media in Osogbo, yesterday, the APC said: “The murderous nature of PDP

violence in several APC states of the federation is clear evidence of desperation borne out of the frustration that, in spite of everything the PDP has done to douse people’s support for APC, its popularity continues to soar.”

SOGBO—HOODLUMS suspected to be hired political thugs, weekend, in Ilase, Obokun Local Government Area of Osun State, attacked the convoy of Governor Rauf Aregbesola while on campaign tour of the area.

Aregbesola had gone to Ibokun and Ilase to campaign for candidates on the platform of All Progressives Congress, APC, when his campaign train was attacked.

During the pandemonium that ensued, several APC members were said to have received various degrees of injuries, while posters of the party's contestants, its flags and the podium on which the governor was to address the gathering were also damaged.

The hoodlums also fired gun shots into the air to scare the waiting APC crowd before destroying flags, posters and the STAKEHOLDERS’ FORUM: From left: Engineers Lanre Ajayi, President, Association of campaign podium. It was further Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON; Ubale Maska, Commissioner at Nigerian gathered that a female member Communications Commission, NCC; Austine Nwaulune, Director at NCC and Mohammed of APC had her ear slashed off Bintube, Commissioner, NCC, representing the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, and she was rushed to an Dr. Eugene Juwah, at a telecoms stakeholders’ forum in Lagos, weekend. undisclosed hospital.

It was learnt that when Governor Aregbesola returned to the campaign ground, he was shocked by •Commission assures on 2015 pools what he saw, describing it as callous and •Says only materials used for 2011 were affected condemnable.

He, therefore, called on

By Jude Opaa, on Saturday gutted the security agencies to Abuja warehouse of the investigate what he Independent National described as unprovoked ITH less than two Electoral Commission attack and called on the weeks to the March (INEC) located at its Peoples Democratic Party, Electoral Institute on Abuja PDP, “to desist from the 28 presidential and Airport road.

National Assembly ignoble act.”

Meanwhile, INEC has Meanwhile, the APC in elections, an overnight fire reassured that the fire

Boko Haram set homes on fire in Bama

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OKO Haram Islamists have set fire to homes in Borno town of Bama that was under their control, forcing residents to flee as troops advanced to recapture it, witnesses said yesterday.

The Islamists on Saturday told residents of Bama, 70 kilometres (37.5 miles) southeast of Maiduguri, to evacuate before setting fire to many homes as Nigerian troops inched closer in a bid to retake the town, residents told AFP. The blaze forced hundreds of residents to flee towards Maiduguri, capital of Borno state.

“They came into the town around 12:00 pm (1100 GMT) warning that anyone who wanted to leave should leave the town and soon after they began torching homes,” resident Umar Kaka said.

According to Kaka who arrived Maiduguri on foot yesterday, “not all residents could leave because some are too sick or old to leave and we are afraid they were burnt in the homes.

Fire guts INEC office

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Oyo APC accuses INEC of diverting PVCs zWe've nothing to hide —INEC

By Ola Ajayi

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BADAN—ALL Progressives Congress, APC, in Oyo State, has accused some influential opposition party members of allegedly compromising some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to divert permanent voter cards, PVCs, belonging to some registered voters in the state.

The ruling party in the state, in a statement by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, queried INEC’s claim on the attainment of over 60 per cent distribution of PVCs in Oyo State when available facts indicate that many eligible and willing

voters in the state were yet to obtain the cards.

He said: “The office of INEC in Ibadan appears to be comfortable with the conviction that a good number of PVCs have found their way out of the place but this also raises questions as to the veracity of the claims of over 60 per cent distribution; geographical spread of distribution and certainty that the PVCs purportedly distributed got to their rightful owners.

“In recent times, we have been inundated with reports of illegal meetings between some Electoral Officers (EOs) in certain local government areas and some opposition party figures in the state."

incident will not affect the forthcoming 2015 general elections, even as it insisted that only the electoral materials used in the 2011 elections were destroyed by the inferno.

The INEC Director Security Directorate, Shettima Ngiladar and his counterpart, the Fire Commander, Fidelis Iroegbu, who addressed journalists at the scene of the incident said that no single sensitive or nonsensitive materials meant for the 2015 elections was kept at the Electoral Institute that was consumed.

On how the inferno that lasted more than three hours started, Iroegbu said; “it was actually an electrical spark resulting from electricity power surge when the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) restored light. A thick smoke was noticed from the warehouse but there was no way to gain access into the place."

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12—Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

EPZ: Ijaw youths attack Ogidigben

By Emma Amaize

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ARRI—YOUTHS of Yokri, Sokebolou and other Ijaw communities in Ogulagha Kingdom, Burutu Local Government Area in Delta State, weekend, attacked Ogidigben, the Itsekiri community in Warri South-West Local Government Area of the state, where the $16 billion Export Processing Zone, EPZ, is located.

A source told Vanguard: “The Ijaw youths shot into the air near the EPZ site to scare the Itsekiri, but nobody was injured."

Itsekiri leader, Chief Ayiri Emami, confirmed that there was indiscriminate shooting by Ijaw youths when contacted.

He also condemned the action, saying it was clear that those involved wanted to use the shooting to attract the attention of Mr. President.

He said work on the EPZ project site was advancing towards Madangho and Ajudaibo, both Itsekiri

communities and there was no need for the Ijaw of Ogulagha to threaten the project.

Chairman, Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Ogulagha Kingdom, Doubra Okotete, confirmed on phone that

Ogulagha youths attacked Ogidigben because they were inching into their land.

He said the attack was a warning strike to tell the Ogidigben people that Ogulagha youths have the

capacity to defend their land and would strike a big blow if justice was not done.

Okotete said: “Nobody was injured as the plan was not to injure anybody. They only carried out a warning attack.”

FUNDRAISING DINNER: From left: Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and wife, Ekaete; Akwa Ibom PDP governorship candidate, Udom Emmanuel; former governors of the state, Joseph Adeusi, Idongesit Nkanga and John Ebiye, at the PDP fundraising dinner at Uyo, weekend

AIG re-organizes C4I operations in Rivers ...Head to take orders from CP

By Jimitota Onoyume

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ORT HARCOURT— ASSISTANT InspectorGeneral of Police, AIG, Zone 6, Mr Tunde Ogunsakin, has ordered that members of a special unit of the Police in Rivers State, code named C4I, should no longer be deployed to provide security at political rallies in the state.

Ogunsakin, in a statement, yesterday, also said no officer of the unit should be assigned to provide security for top politicians and other senior citizens otherwise referred to as Very Important Persons, VIPs in the state.

“The C4I Unit should henceforth stop featuring in political campaigns. The C4I Unit of the Department of Operations should, on no account, post their officers to any political appointee or VIP,” he said.

It will be recalled that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, recently alleged that it had uncovered plans by the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state to use the C4I to rope in the governorship candidate of the PDP, Mr Nyesom Wike, and President Goodluck Jonathan in a phoney crime.

Ogunsakin, who noted that the C4I dismissed the allegation as untrue, also ordered the Head of the Special Police unit in the state to brief the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Dan Bature, about the operations of the unit daily.

He said: “The zonal command C M Y K

has received serious reports of allegations made against the C4I Unit of the Department of Operations of the Rivers State Police Command. The allegations were hinged on the supposition that the C4I Unit was being used by a political party against members of another political party.

The allegations further hold that there were plans to frame some

individuals with the connivance of the C4I Unit.

“In response to these, I had a meeting with the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Police Command and some other senior police officers at the state Police Headquarters, Rivers State. Also at the meeting was the expatriate supervisor of the C4I Unit who denied all the allegations against

the outfit.

“It is important to state that the directive that the C4I Unit should not post their officers to any political appointee or guard duty is because of the need to make them concentrate on their conventional roles of crime prevention and detection in the metropolis and other parts of the state."

Experts blame Nigeria’s economic woes on non-oil sector neglect emphasis on “movement of

By Daniel Gumm

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ARRI—EXPERTS in Metallurgical, Materials and other fields of engineering have blamed Nigeria’s economic woes on the neglect of non-oil sectors such as steel, solid minerals, renewable energy and agriculture, insisting that vibrant economies such as the United States, China, Japan, Canada, Germany, Malaysia and Singapore, do not belong to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, but are investing in steel and indigenous technology.

Speaking, weekend, at the Petroleum Training Institute in Effurun, Delta State, when the Nigerian Society of Engineers, NSE, Warri branch, organised a public lecture, a former Chairman of NSE, Warri branch and current Deputy Director (Training) in the Department of Welding Engineering and Offshore

Technology, PTI, Nigeria, Dr. Michael Adegbite, said that for Nigeria to experience technoeconomic development in its quest at achieving vision 2020, there must be sustainable development, improved construction and manufacturing capabilities as well as robust transportation system that will lay

people rather than vehicles,” which causes vehicular traffic and loss of man hours.

President of NSE, Engr.

Ademola Olorunfemi in his remarks, noted that any national economic development that is sustainable must depend on human and material development.

Uduaghan approves N300m compensation for Ughelli/Asaba road project

By Samuel Oyadongha

A

SABA—GOVERNOR Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State has approved over N300 million for payment of compensation on property affected on the Sector ‘A’ of the ongoing Ughelli-Asaba dualisation road project.

The state Commissioner, for Lands, Survey and Urban Development, Mr Misan Ukubeyinje, when he accompanied the Commissioner

in charge of Ughelli-Asaba Dualization, Mr David Anuku, on inspection of the road project, said that the state government had involved a renowned valuer for the affected property, adding that the valuer had since submitted his report and recommendations.

He said money for the payment of the compensation had been approved and authority in charge had been directed to effect the payment, adding that that sectors ‘B’ and ‘C’ have been paid.

Emerhor outlines programmes for Delta

By Onoja Innocent

A

LL Progressives Congress, APC, Delta State governorship candidate, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, has said that his government will focus on education, health, housing, transportation, commerce, entertainment industry, sports and environment, as key channels of growth, progress and development, if elected on April 11 as the fourth governor of the state.

Emerhor added that his government will establish a social security scheme for the elderly, (70yrs and above), make local government areas the focal points and development hubs for economic growth; create an enabling environment that ensures peace and security of lives and property, get a majority of Deltans back to work and able to earn a decent living.

Speaking through his Director of Meida and Political Communication, Dr. Fred Oghenesivbe, Emerhor said that he will upgrade and renew all critical infrastructures in order to hasten the state’s economic activity and development as well as ensure state-wide industrialization.

Dickson denies hijack of NNPC’s oil pipeline surveillance contract

By Samuel Oyadongha

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E N A G O A — GOVERNOR Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has denied claims by some ex-militant leaders in the state that he hijacked the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, crude oil pipeline surveillance contract for oil bearing communities in the state.

He said though the state government had established a firm, Izon-Ibe Security Company, to supervise the implementation of the terms of the surveillance contract among the benefiting communities, the outfit was part of efforts to address the challenges of youth unemployment in the state.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015—13

Rivers APC alleges plan to frame members for arrest

By Jimitota Onoyume

at Abonnema were alerted of ongoing shooting involving cultists. On arrival at the scene they found one dead and took another who was injured to hospital but he later died.

Investigation is ongoing.”

On APC’s allegation, Obuah said: “The attention of Rivers State, PDP has been drawn to a false and misleading statement by the APC alleging that the PDP in the state was planning to arrest Dakuku Peterside and some of its members.

The story is completely unfounded and misleading. There is no truth in it. The story existed only in the minds of Mr Davies Ikanya and Mr Eze Chukwuemeka.”

APC, in a statement by its state Chairman, Mr Davies Ikanya, alleged that the plan by the PDP and the security body was to plant guns in the homes of top APC members after which they would be arrested.

Ikanya, in a statement by his media aide, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka, said the second plan was to frame the governorship candidate and his deputy, Mr Honorable Asita, so

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ORT HARCOURT—ALL Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State, yesterday, alleged that it had uncovered plans by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to conspire with a unit in the Police, Special Armed Robbery Squad, SARS to frame some leaders of the party for arrest before the general elections.

Meantime, the PDP has denied the allegation. State Chairman of the party, Mr Felix Obuah, who spoke through his media aide said the party had no such plans, stressing that its focus was on winning the general elections.

Obuah, in turn, said that two of its chieftains were shot dead. He gave their names as Mr Ibima Olunta, PDP Chairman Ward 2, Abonnema, and Mr Goodfellow Bobmanuel, a PDP councillorship aspirant, Ward 2, Abonnema, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area.

The state Police spokesman, Mr Ahmad Muhammad, who confirmed the death, said it happened in Abonnema, Akuku Toru council. He said: “Our men

that they would be whisked away by the Police before the elections.

The party also alleged that some of its members had been unjustly arrested by the Police.

“Our attention has been drawn to a sinister plot by the Rivers State PDP in conjunction with SARS of the state Police Command to launch what they

B

ENIN—AHEAD of the March 28 presidential election, Dame Patience Jonathan has promised that if President Goodluck Jonathan is re-elected, he will increase the 35 percent Women Affirmative Action to 45 percent to enable women contribute their quota to national development.

Mrs. Jonathan, who addressed a rally organised by Women for Change Development Initiative in Benin, Edo State, said that President Jonathan gave out 16 positions to women as a result of the faith he had in them and appealed to them to reciprocate the president’s gesture by voting for him in the presidential election.

Meanwhile, three members of the Benin Royal family, Prince Ekpen Erediauwa (a former Oredo Local Government Transition Chairman), Prince Ada Erediauwa and Prince Osama Erediauwa, formerly defected from the All Progressives Congress, APC, to the PDP and were received C M Y K

by Dame Jonathan.

Advancing reasons for their defection from the APC to the PDP and their support for Jonathan, Prince Ekpen Erediauwa said that the Binis were

for President Jonathan as Otuoke, Jonathan’s people, were Binis who migrated from the ancient Bini kingdom to their present place centuries ago.

Rivers CJ tussle'll be resolved before May 29 —DAKUKU

By Davies Iheamnachor

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H A R C O U R T — GOVERNORSHIP candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has assured lawyers that the issue of who becomes the substantive Chief Judge of the state will be resolved before May 29.

Dakuku, weekend, at a Town Hall meeting with lawyers in the state under the aegis of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, assured that the issue which had grounded legal activities in the state will be resolved

to be arrested are cultists, kidnappers or armed robbers. The plot is to keep at bay all the strong men behind the election of APC candidates until after the elections of Marchf 28 and April 11. Should this ploy fail, both Peterside and Asita shall be arrested and kept incommunicado until after the

UNVEILING: From left; MrJohn Momoh, Chairman, Channels Television Group Limited; Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, Special Adviser to Governor of Lagos State; Mr Yomi BadejoOkusanya, Chief Executive Officer, CMC Connects-Burson Martseller; Mrs Robyn de Villiers, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Burson-Marsteller, Africa, and Mr Akin Opodu, Chairman, Board of Directors, CMC Connect Limited, during the Unveiling of Flagship business CMC Connect Burson Marsteller Public Relations Consultancies, in Lagos, weekend. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi.

Dame Jonathan promises increase in women’s participation to 45%

By Gabriel Enogholase

call the mother of all operations code-named ‘Operation Total Crippling of Rivers APC’ aimed at ensuring that none of our leaders walks the streets freely during the forthcoming elections.

“The strategy to be adopted is for the PDP leadership to come up with fabricated petition alleging that the 300 APC leaders

before May 29, adding that the state and all the parties involved in the case were working toward ensuring that the courts in the state resume effectively.

Faulting a development where litigants are facing frustration, and most people subjected to unlawful detention, Dakuku said a positive decision was about to be taken on the issue.

He promised to refer the case to the Supreme Court if elected governor, for a better interpretation of the section of the law which deals with the appointment of the Chief Judge of a state, if the issue was not resolved before May 29.

14 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Federal neuropsychiatric hospital workers protest in Enugu, give ultimatum

By Austin Ogwuda

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NUGU — WORKERS of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, FNH, Enugu have staged a peaceful protest and handed down a 21day ultimatum to the management within which to address what they described as poor welfare package or be ready for a showdown.

The protesting workers under the aegis of Joint Health Sector Union, JOHESU, marched round the premises of the hospital with several placards as a board meeting was going on.

The aggrieved workers sang solidarity songs and displayed placards, some read: “Pay our nurses their uniform allowance,” “Pay us our teaching allowance” and “A cry for help from Ministry of Health and Presidency.”

Presenting a written demands of the workers to the chairman of the Board of the hospital, Chief Acho Nwakamma, Chairman of JOHESU, FNH chapter, Comrade Ejimadu Alozie, warned that if the demands were not met at the expiration of the ultimatum, the workers “will embark on major industrial action.”

He listed the demands to

include payment of the 2014 and 2015 yearly increment arrears, payment of arrears of teaching allowances with effect from May 2014 till date, payment of 2011, 2012 and 2013 promotion arrears and release of 2014 promotion exercise and payment of arrears.

Others are payment of union check-off dues, payment of 2014 and 2015 uniform allowance to nurses, refund of over-deduction in 2014 December salary, conversion of qualified staff, wrong placement of staff, immediate conduct of 2015 promotion

exercise, among others.

Responding, the Chairman of the Board, Chief Acho Nwakamma, promised to wade into the matter, saying, “we are going to meet and all these issues will be looked into and we will collectively work out ways of getting them solved.”

DONATION: Sir Emeka Offor, with some of the students, after his foundation -Sir Emeka Offor Foundation- donated books worth millions of US dollars to some primary, secondary schools and a university in Tanzania, weekend.

CLO decries FG's alleged favouritism to MASSOB

By Austin Ogwuda

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NUGU — ZONAL Director of the Civil Liberties Organisation South East, Mr. Olu Omotayo, has raised an alarm over alleged selected justice as it concerns the advancement of Biafra activism in the county.

The group noted that while members of Movement for the Actualisation for the Soverign State of Biafra, MASSOB, that protested the removal of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, chairman, Mr. Attahiru Jega, were left untouched, some of their colleagues in the same struggle, led by Mr. Benjamin Onwuka, are currently facing a treason offence.

Omotayo stated this, weekend, in Enugu, following a demonstration carried out simultaneously in Enugu, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi and Imo states

by MASSOB, calling for the exit of INEC national chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, on the ground that he was not capable of conducting free and fair polls.

That protest, though peaceful, attracted a large turn-out of MASSOB members who disrupted vehicular movements in Enugu, especially on the major roads.

Reacting to the development,

Omotayo, in a statement, yesterday, said: “It is no news that Benjamin Onwuka and 10 other Biafra activists are standing trial for treason before an Enugu Federal High Court presided over by Hon. Justice D.V. Agishi.

“It should be noted that part of the offences leveled against the activists was riasing of the Biafran flag at the Enugu State Broadcasting Corporation and the state Government House.

“The Attorney-General of the

Federation had maintained before the court that the Biafra activists belong to an outlawed violent group and also maintained that Biafra flags and other emblems depicting the state of Biafra are outlawed.

“The most surprising thing in Enugu city today was the full police protection accorded a faction of Biafra activists campaigning for the removal of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,

chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega.

The protesters in Biafra Army uniforms, carrying Biafra flags and other Biafra emblems protested round Enugu city.

“What happened today at Enugu shows that the country has actually jettisoned the rule of law which is the cardinal principle in any civilised democracy and we are now operating the Rule of the Jungle.”

APC blasts PDP over abandoned Enugu Int'l Trade Fair

By Francis Igata

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NUGU — THE All Progressives Congress, APC, weekend, took a swipe at the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,over Federal Government’s failure to construct the permanent site of Enugu International Trade Fair complex six years on.

The federal government had designated Lagos,Kaduna and Enugu,International Trade Fair complexes but had completely constructed that of Lagos and Kaduna, leaving Enugu untouched.

Spokesperson of APC in the South-East geopolitical zone,Mr. Osita Okechukwu, wondered

why President Goodluck Jonathan should treat Ndigbo with levity.

He said: “The 26th Enugu International Trade Fair is ongoing now. Every year,the organisers of the fair keep appealing to Jonathan, to construct the permanent site as was done in Lagos and Kaduna.

“In this country,we have three major ethnic nationalities,Igbo,Hausa and Yoruba. The citing of the three international trade fair complexes to Lagos, Kaduna and Enugu represents the regional structure of the country and is meant to engender even economic growth of the regions.

“For the PDP-led government

to have abandoned the Enugu Trade Fair in ruins is a testament to the marginalisation Ndigbo has suffered in the past 16 years.

“I was at the opening ceremony of the fair last Friday,a typical Ogbete Main Market here in Enugu is far better than the fair.

The efficacy and objective for which the fair was construed has been lost because all the stands are makeshift or shanties.

“Is that the kind of fair that will attract foreign participation? It is sheer wickedness for Jonathan to abandon the construction of the site. Its time for our people to rout this PDP government that has not shown any sign of love to our people.”

UTME: Two

arrested for malpractices

By Gbenga Olarinoye

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SOGBO — TWO candidates who sat, weekend, for the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, computer based test have been arrested by security agents for alleged malpractices.

The candidates were arrested at Esa-Oke in Obokun Local Government Area of Osun State and were alleged to have conspired with one Mr. Adebayo, a.k.a Awolowo, owner of Awolism Educational Consultant, to perpetrate the unlawful act.

It was learned that the candidates committed the offence during the test in Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke. Speaking with journalists on the incident, the Coordinator of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board in Osun State, Mr. Johnson Adebiyi, decried the attitude of the candidates.

Enugu faults report on concession of Enugu water supply

By Francis Igata

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NUGU — ENUGU State government has described as false and misleading reports that it had concessioned water supply in the state to a private firm for a period of 25 years.

Speaking on the issue, state Commissioner for Water Resources, Dr. Michael Nwachukwu said that contrary to the report, the state government had merely executed a concession agreement under a Public Private Partnership, PPP, for the improvement of water supply to Enugu, the capital city, with a private concern, Goldtrust Limited.

He stressed that the company, an internationally recognised consortium in the various segments of potable water supply infrastructure value chain, would under the agreement, reinstate existing water treatment plants at Ajalli, Oji and Iva Valley waterworks.

It would also build five new water treatment plants in the state.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2014 —15

16 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

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HUGS understand the business of violence. The boldness that has grown from not punishing them is evident in the havoc they are causing. They are appropriating space, the law watches, they are becoming the law.

From humble beginnings that saw thugs on the fringes of elections, they have assumed commanding positions in our politics. The growth and importance of thugs are sustained by willingness of most candidates to use them, protect them, and reward them.

Thugs are in business because violence is profitable. Thugs are growing in numbers and in the intensity of their actions. They adorn an air of invincibility because society permits them, dreads them, and sometimes adores them.

Elections used to be the season of thugs. However, profits from the enterprise have seen ambitious thugs extending their business to pre-

By Daniel Iworiso-Markson

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N March 6, the Supreme Court put paid to the ambition of Timepre Silva to upturn the democratic process which saw Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson succeed him as governor in 2012. Sylva had sought to set aside an earlier judgement by the same apex court on his quest to be recognised as the candidate of the PDP vide the primary election of 2012.

This long-winding case will continue to generate interest because of the associated issues in the legal realm and indeed its reflection on the local politics of the state.

It will be recalled that sequel to the tenure elongation suit filed by five governors including Timipre Sylva in 2012 which was won at the High Court but lost at the Supreme Court as a result of an appeal by the then governorship candidate of the CPC in Adamawa State, Brig-General Buba Marwa (rtd), Silva still went ahead to press for the same objective at the same highest court.

How can we reasonably situate this kind of behaviour other than as an act of desperation? Of course, this much was reflected in the judgement which came hard on the plaintiff describing him as “an interloper, busy body” whose action was nothing but an abuse of the judicial process. To underscore the court’s displeasure on the matter, Sylva was asked to pay a cost of N500, 000.

Even as the case has come to an end several issues continue to elicit our interrogation. One obvious is the

Thugs – Well, Alive election matters. Their choices of where to strike extend as the political campaigns are in their apogee. As the stakes increase, the use of force is taking over the sphere – all parties are involved. In the full glare of the nation, they attack their master ’s opponents, journalists, or whosoever catches their fancy.

A consistent attribute of the imposition of thugs is that the police concede space to them. They watched as contending thugs took over the PDP secretariat in Abuja last year and have had the same attitude elsewhere.

These days, thugs are armed enough

to bomb their opponents out of existence.

Port Harcourt is becoming a flashpoint that consistently represents what happens in other parts of the South South. Territories appear to have been apportioned and the quests to extend control lead to conflicts.

Thugs are not concerned that the programmes are being covered by live television. Claims and counter-claims compete for acceptance in the brutality thugs visit on their opponents, the law watches askance.

Thugs have seized authority. Nobody would be punished for these

OPINION Despiration: The Bayelsa example penchant by some members of the political class to engage in endless litigations even when their cause or case is hopeless thereby tying up valuable time and resources. It is as if they seek to rig through the courts what the democratic processes have declined to award to them. Why indeed is this unrelenting disposition of throwing huge amounts of money at wasteful litigations? Or is it the popular pull him down (PhD) syndrome to which Bayelsa state has not proved immune? Or shall we now see it as part of our political DNA playing up frivolity over substance?

These questions bear correlation to politics in Bayelsa State where the incumbent governor is assailed by the activities of those dark forces who are opposed to the government’s singular focus on socio-economic development to boost the living standards of the generality of the people rather than servicing the greed of a few. These few are in blind pursuit of political power meant for their own selfish ends and which can only return Bayelsa State to the status quo. For those

Governor Dickson had made it known to all from the outset that his administration would be different

unfamiliar with the Bayelsa story of great restoration, the last three years have been quite remarkable in terms of solid achievements particularly in education, health, infrastructure, economic diversification, manpower development and a sundry other empowerment programmes touching on the welfare of the people. These are lasting legacies of the Restoration Government not ephemeral or transient accomplishments.

Essentially, there is a consensus among Bayelsans and outsiders alike that Governor Dickson has so far recorded a performance unequalled in the annals of the state. Ironically there are some who, misguided by a tiny fraction of the greedy elite formation, are not happy with the achievements of the government. Imagine such pronouncements like “Na road we go chop?” or “”Na bridge we go chop?” These are regrettable comments you hear from even among the educated. And when you ask them why they are not happy seeing so much development everywhere and you’re told the governor is not distributing money as they used to have it.

Indeed there is this sense of entitlement euphemistically called ‘stomach infrastructure’ and it is being seen as the right thing to do because that was the practice in the past. But how can the state develop when state resources are distributed rather than invested in durable initiatives that have real value for the overall development of the people

infractions as was the case with the 2011 election riots that swept through many States.

Thugs act for people. Someone controls, equips, feeds, pays and owns them. They are drunk on their principals’ violent utterances, and most importantly, they are assured the law would not inconvenience them. The law should not excuse murderers and arsonists because they act for politicians. Duplicity in punishing electoral offenders belittles the law.

Every Nigerian has a right to lawful contention for power. We must avoid being so consumed about winning elections that we set the country on fire.

Those who aspire to lead Nigerians should not use violence to achieve their ambitions. They should tell Nigerians how their leadership would improve Nigeria, instead of promoting violence.

Immunity for thugs and their sponsors approves unprecedented violence. Thugs are overdue for punishment.

and society at large? How long can any administration even with the best will in the world sustain ‘stomach infrastructure’ even for the minuscule few who are driving this stunted view of governance?

While physical infrastructure will drive development and ensure everyone is enabled to provide their own ‘stomach infrastructure’, the primitive sharing of state resources in the manner of apostles of ‘stomach infrastructure’ only ends in waste deposited in the toilet! And it is only a matter of time before they come back for more. Who can sustain that?

To be sure, Governor Dickson had made it known to all from the outset that his administration would be different.

Evidently, the governor saw the current ugly developments coming because he knew how much critical values had nosedived. A reformation and a re-ordering would be inescapable to have a sane society which can only be the basis for development. From carrying out the reforms he promised in government, building institutions and making them work by enforcing compliance, the quest for re-orientation has been a major success and a clear departure from the anythinggoes situation the government inherited.

Just as the policies and programmes of the Restoration Agenda were being put in place for implantation, government was also cleaning up the Augean stable, enthroning due diligence and accountability in expenditure.

•Mr. Iworiso-Markson, is CPS to the Bayelsa State governor.

MARCH 16, 2015

Bank customers use payment cards to bypass forex laws

By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

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ank customers have resorted to using electronic payment cards such as MasterCard and Visa card to circumvent foreign exchange regulations.

Banks can issue Naira or Dollar denominated debit or credit cards to customers and such cards could be linked to the current or savings account of the customer with the bank. The purpose of these cards is to allow the customers spend from their Naira account whenever they travel abroad. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) however, stipulates a maximum limit of $150,000 per year for each card holder.

Financial Vanguard investigations, however, revealed that bank customers are now using multiple accounts either in the same bank or in different banks to circumvent this limit.

Investigations reveal that bank customers now obtain a naira MasterCard or Visa card linked to different accounts so as to be able to access dollars above the $150,000 limit. Further investigations also revealed that banks are not only aware of this practice but encourage it. A top foreign exchange dealer who spoke to Financial Vanguard on condition of anonymity said the banks encourage it because it enables them make more money through the charges deducted when customers use such cards for dollar-denominated transactions or withdraw dollars while outside the country. The dealer also told Financial Vanguard that the practice is prevalent among banks in the country.

Though the CBN Director of Corporate Communications, Ibrahim Mu'azu did not respond to enquiries on the response of the apex bank to this malpractice, a top management staff of the bank, however, confirmed C M Y K

CLOSING - President Goodluck Jonathan closing market at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), flanked by Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda; NSE Chairman, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede (r); Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Pascal Onyema (l) and; Minister of Trade & Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, at the NSE trading floor. to Vanguard that the apex bank was indeed aware of this malpractice.

Speaking under condition of strict anonymity, he said: “We are aware of

it and I can tell you it is a breach of regulation.

But we are not doing anything about it for now because of the challenge of

tracing individuals with multiple bank accounts in the industry. But I can Continues on page 22

How Nigeria lost 10m tonnes of transit cargo

By GODWIN ORITSE

A

S Nigeria makes move to reclaim over 10 million metric tonnes of lost transit cargoes, the factors that initially led to the loss of this category of the country’s trade to neighbouring countries are still very much present in the Nigerian ports.

The 10 million metric tonnes of transit cargoes are from Niger alone and have been distributed amongst four neighbouring countries namely: Ghana, Togo, Republic of Benin, and Ivory Coast.

The issue of port has also been given as the major factor militating against the return of these cargoes to Nigerian ports.

In an exclusive interview with Vanguard, the country representative of the Niger Council of Public Transport Users, NCPTU, Alhaji Idi Homissou told Vanguard that high duty rate and other associated port costs actually drove Nigerien importers to port of neighbouring countries.

Homissou said that while 4.3 million metric tonnes of the 10 million metric tonnes of transit cargo has Continues on page 23

18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Cover Story

Vocation and technical education – A key to improving Nigeria’s development

*COLLOQUIUM - From left: Emeka Oparah, Director, Corporate Communications & CSR, Airtel Nigeria; celebrant, Dr Wole Adamolekun and his wife, Mrs Bisi Adamolekun with VC, Elizade University, Prof. Valentine Aletor at the colloquium themed: 'Africa Trending: Contemporary Challenges, Opportunities in Reputation and Crisis Management' held at the Elizade University, Ondo State.

Bank customers use payment cards to bypass forex laws Continues from page 21 assure you this is one of the problems that would be addressed with the Biometric Verification Number (BVN).

Once we complete the project and every bank customer has a BVN, it would be easy to trace those who have multiple accounts and also monitor what they are using the accounts to do.”

The driving factors

Vanguard investigation revealed that this malpractice is being fuelled by a number of factors chiefly the increasing difficulty to access dollars due to increased restrictions on foreign exchange by the CBN as well as dearth of supply of dollars in the interbank and parallel market.

For example, it is easier to access dollars from your naira debit card - be it MasterCard or Visa while outside the country, than to source the dollars from banks or the parallel market for the purposes of travelling with physical cash. Furthermore, some of the bank customers engaged in the malpractice do so because the dollar requirement for their business is well above the maximum prescribed by the apex bank, or because their business does not qualify or cannot meet the documentation required to access foreign exchange from the interbank market.

Investigations, however, also revealed that some customers that engage in this C M Y K

malpractice do so for the purpose of round tripping i.e. withdrawing dollars abroad, and bringing it into Nigeria to sell in the parallel market.

Given that the exchange rate applied for dollar withdrawal through the cards is usually lower than what obtains in the local parallel market, the customers enjoy a margin of N15 to N20 on each dollar imported into the country through this malpractice.

What the law says

The CBN guidelines for card issuance and usage in Nigeria states that, “Cards may be issued in Nigerian Naira or in any other convertible currency.

The international usage

Once we complete the project and every bank customer has a BVN, it would be easy to trace those who have multiple accounts

limits and frequencies for Naira denominated cards shall be defined by each participating bank.

However, these limits shall not exceed the total combined amount of foreign currency that each individual can access via Business Travel Allowance (BTA) and Personal Travel Allowance (PTA) per annum - which is currently $150,000 per annum.

Issuers shall give customers the opportunity to request for cards within the range of the bank’s card products. For instance, if an issuer offers brand of cards such as Verve, Visa, MasterCard, Union Pay, etc, customers shall be free to choose any brand of cards issued. The available cards provided by the issuer must be explicitly stated on the card request form (physical or electronic) so that the customer can make an informed choice.

Issuers shall also provide customers with a choice to specify limits for the volume and value of transactions that they would perform; such limits cannot be higher than the maximum limits, as specified in this Guideline.

Issuers shall provide customers with the ability to specify when their cards should work abroad, and when it should not, as well as which countries they would like their cards to work in, at any particular time.

It is the responsibility of the issuing bank to work with the card schemes in providing the settlement and clearing facility for cards used outside Nigeria.”

As the Roman Historian, Plutarch (AD 46-120?) had noted “The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.” Given their corrupt and greedy lifestyles Nigeria’s leaders do not seem to care about integrity or moral values.

They are good at predicting the future without creating it. As Peter Drucker has observed “If you want to predict the future, create it.”

In Nigeria, the growing problem of unemployment in the country has contributed largely to the worsening problem of poverty among the populace.

Unemployment according to Olaitan (1996) leads to frustration and disillusionment which may result in crime or drug abuse in a futile attempt to escape from and forget the pains and humiliation of poverty and lack. The problem of unemployment, he further stated, has worsened as millions of school leavers and graduates of tertiary institutions have not secured gainful employment over the years. Unemployment has posed a serious problem not only to the welfare of individuals but also to that of their families.

It cannot be overemphasized that technical education is the engine for economic growth Many able bodied and highly qualified persons who could not secure gainful employment have remained economically dependent on their parents.

This is because they lack the necessary occupational skills to be self employed and to effectively function in today’s world of work. These occupational skills can be provided by technical and vocational education.

According to Abdulahi (1994) technical education is that aspect of education that involves the acquisition of techniques and application of the knowledge of the science for the improvement of man’s surrounding.

Technical and vocational education prepares one for the world of work with which the individual become reliant and can make contributions to the development of the society. As employers look for new talents

every year from new graduates, it is important to not only have a solid education but graduates that have features that stand out from the rest of the graduating students. With the economy being more globalized than ever, it is important to have a background and a skill set that allows graduates to become immersed in the global economy right from graduation (Cote, 2007). It is important for these students or graduates to have skills in innovation in technology education and entrepreneurship to be ready to fit into the global market place on which today’s economy depends on.

Entrepreneurial Skills Needed

by Technical and Vocational Education.

Leadership is not a major cause of Nigeria’s under-developed status. Nigeria can become an economic power-house (and realize its visions) only if proper attention is given to education and technological development and promotes and rewards creativity, and channel its material and human resources to productive use. The leaders must recognize the relevance of technical and vocational education in national development and adopt and adapt what works in developed nations. The resources being wasted in the on-going false rebranding campaign should have been used to re-brand the nation’s education sector. No amount of rhetoric (or fanciful slogan) would solve Nigeria’s socio-political and economic problems. The leaders could salvage Nigeria’s image by rebranding their mentality and doing the right thing: tackle corruption, reform the electoral system and fix the dilapidated institutions. Thus, without a fundamental shift in values, beliefs and thinking, and without technological capability, Nigeria will continue to dream of becoming a ‘Great Nation’.

It cannot be overemphasized that technical education is the engine for economic growth. No nation can fight a war without an army. In the same token Nigeria cannot develop without well-equipped technical and vocational institutions. In fact, it is the missing link in Nigeria’s development policies. Because of poor training and ineffective institutions Nigeria suffers from low productivity. But the progress of any society lies in the productivity of its citizens.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 — 19

D

uring the student union election in 1979/80 at the University of Benin, Mr. S.A. Tella, now a professor of Economic and Statistics department taught the university community how sacred facts and effective statistics can be used for electioneering campaign.

Tella entered the race for the student union election to the office of Student welfare two weeks to the election. When he announced his candidacy to the class, he was taken as a joker. He neither printed posters nor e m b a r k ed o n e l a b o r a t e campaign like others.

He simply went to the library and took stock of the seats available in the library.

He did the same for Hostel a c c o m m o d a t i o n a n d t h e politicians are not making p o l i t i c a l p a r t i e s d o n o t cafeteria. What he did next any measurable promise to understand the depth of the w a s t o a s k f r o m t h e the electorate. They are just economic problem facing the authorities the number of dancing naked to amuse the country. They both have no students in the school and electorate. credible agenda to deal with what was the ideal facilities Each time they mount the the issues, especially within the students were supposed rostrum, they speak vague the context of the evolving to have in the various places and foul language devoid of g l o b a l economy and named above. He got the facts and figures. There is no N i g e r i a ’ s b r o k e n p u b l i c data and was armed for the new idea of how to deal with finance. manifesto night. the economic and social A look at what happens in When it was his turn to problems that have plagued other parts of democratic speak, Tella just told the the nation. "I will deal with world, party and leaders who student body the number of corruption." What is the level do their home work usually seats in the library and how of corruption you plan to c o m e u p w i t h p o l i c y many were supposed to be deal with? In what sector or f r a m e w o r k where there, he said the same of the arm of government do you programmes and policies hostel accommodation, the h a v e t h i s h i g h l e v e l o f they intend to pursue ie c a f e t e r i a a n d w h a t t h e corruption? How much is students were missing by the Nigeria losing per year due university not providing to corruption? The parties adequate facilities for them have not conducted any to study without tears. Before study, they have no idea how he finished, the man who much is being lost and how nobody gave a chance, was to block the loopholes. What endorsed by all the students are the new plans to deal with the chant, "Tella, you with corruption? Nigerians have won, Tella you have are not being told; yet we won." clap our hands for vague I decided to reflect on this speeches made on soap box. experience in my student Nigerians know that the days based on the hollow m a j o r development nature of the electioneering c h a l l e n g e s f a c i n g t h e campaigns going on in the c o u n t r y today are 2015 bid for the various corruption, insecurity, the elective posts. Nigeria n economy - unemployment/ politicians have left the p o v e r t y, p o w e r, substance and are chasing infrastructure, health and shadows while our country education etc. The ongoing men watch helplessly. These campaign shows that the two

PDP, APC: Your promises are vague

These politicians should stop lying to Nigerians and tell the nation how both parties would fund their programmes

Party manifesto, are fully costed and strategies to finance and implement them are spelt out. Neither APC nor PDP can make such claim.

To any economist, any plan without the cost outlay is nothing but a wish-list. They are not telling us how much each of their promises will cost and where they will get the money to run them. None talks about the broken or near bankrupt public finance and the strategy to fix it.

Each talks about agricultural revolution, what type of agriculture are we planning to implement? What are the value chains the agric policy will pursue? What light industries are coming on stream and where are they to be located? How are they to be financed? What is the cost estimate for such projects? How many jobs are to be created from the sector per annum? These are questions that they are not ready to answer. What is the export strategy for the surplus that will be created from investment in agriculture? Which market is Nigeria targeting for export?

And what plans are in their manifesto to free Nigeria from dependence on import especially petroleum imports

in order to save the naira from continued devaluation?

In response to the question of where the money will come from, some Nigerians, journalists inclusive, are quick to say that the problem of Nigeria is not money but the management of resources. This is far from t h e t r u t h . To d e l i v e r a n efficient national transport infrastructure alone a c c o r d i n g to a v a i l a b l e estimate, will cost $3.05 trillion in the next 30 years, about $25 billion per annum even by corruption-free, cost-effective means estimated by National Economic Council.

These politicians should stop lying to Nigerians and tell the nation how both parties would fund their programmes. This crop of politicians should learn a lesson from Chief Obafemi Awolowo who was asked in 1 9 7 8 /7 9 e l e c t i o n e e r i n g campaign about his promises of free education and free medical services. He, Awolowo reeled out figures about the amounts he would save from various ‘ waste’ including the tea/coffee served in government offices. The issue here is that he would always do his homework before making any pronouncement.

Evidently, from what the two major political parties are offering, it does not seem that they are offering Nigerians any serious deal.

Cover Continues from page 21 been taken to Togo, Nigerien importers have also moved 2.5 mliion metric tonnes of their transit cargo to Togo.

For Ghana and Ivory Coast,1.8 million metric tonnes and 400,000 metric tonnes were taken over respectively, while Nigeria is left with a paltry 200,000 metric tonnes of transit cargoes from Niger.

“The issue of port cost is the major challenge importers from Niger are facing in Nigeria, even though we see some level of efficiency," he said "The high duty rate is still an issue that must be looked into,” he added.

He explained that Nigeria and Niger used to be a single country until the Europeans

How Nigeria lost 10m tonnes of transit cargoes came and separated them and carved Niger out of Nigeria.

The Nigerien representative in Nigeria said that Nigerian ports are nearer to Jibiya (a border town between both countries) than Togo or Ghana.

He further said that Ghana to Niger is about 3,400 kilometers as against 1,300 kilometers from Lagos to Jibiya in Niger.

He disclosed that transit cargo from Niger was lost to other countries long before the ports were concessioned adding that the seeming efficient services currently being experienced at the port is what is attracting importers

from Niger.

Homissou also said that the issue of safe passage of their goods has been a source of concern until the leadership of

While other countries collect payment per convoy, in Nigeria, we pay per container

the Nigeria Customs Service assured them of safe passage of transit cargoes.

“Naturally, Nigeria is the nearest country to Niger and it makes sense for us to move our cargoes through Nigeria but if the Customs duty is as high as it is now, then we may have to look elsewhere for us to transit our cargoes.

Even what we pay to Nigerian Customs officials to escort our goods to the border is very exorbitant when compared to what other countries collect from us.

“While other countries collect payment per convoy, in Nigeria, we pay per

container,” he said.

He also disclosed that there have been situations where the Nigerian Shippers’ Council has to come to the rescue of a vessel that almost got stranded with Nigerien transit cargoes on board.

He commended the effort of the management of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council for trying to woo Nigerien importers back to Nigeria.

Homissou also told Vanguard that the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service has visited importers in Niger and assured them of quick passage of their cargoes through the Nigerian port system.

C M Y K

20 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 — 21

Business & Economy

Increase Nigeria’s capacity to generate employment, NIM tells FG

BY MICHAEL EBOH

T

he Nigerian Institute of Management, NIM, has emphasised the need for the Federal Government, as well as other policy makers to focus on increasing the capacity of the Nigerian economy in generating employment while also repositioning the country’s educational system in line with the demands of growth and development.

In his presentation at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, Senior Executive Course, Mr. Nelson Uwaga, President and Chairman of Council, NIM, said, “The world around us is changing, changing fast. The fundamental shifts in business and the workplace, and skill requirements for personal excellence, all demand that we change the way the students of tomorrow are trained and educated.”

Uwaga was speaking on a paper titled, ‘Fundamental Principles of Management on Repositioning Nigeria’s Educational System for Global Competitiveness.”

He said the country must ensure that its educational system raise a generation of men and women that think critically, solve complex multidisciplinary and open-ended problems, create and innovate, and communicate and collaborate.

“The challenge before

Nigeria’s policy makers is how to increase the employment generation capacity of the economy, while repositioning the educational system to produce graduates worthy enough to chart the nation’s course into the future,” he added. Uwaga further stated that a real search has commenced for a new mindset in both education and management, adding that the challenge is how to develop forward-looking options for all students, with a view to raising individuals who can work collaboratively with others, think critically and

creatively, and solve complex problems.

He maintained that it is not enough to spot the talent, or induct him into the organization, adding that there may be a need to fasttrack deserving talent, offer challenging career paths, provide cross-functional exposure, and arrange secondments that may draw out the best in them.

According to him, in addition to a transformed educational system, there is also a need for a redefinition of management — attracting talented people, nurturing

them, developing them and giving them space.

He said, “In other words, the key emphasis is on empowerment, rather than micro-managing.

Empowerment is the devolution of authority to individuals to decide and act, and effect, thereby a measure of self management.

“Empowerment is a tool for talent development — improving productivity and enhancing customer service. It frees people to innovate in the marketplace and to find more efficient ways of performing their work.

O

T

he Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced the renewal and extension of the pipeline protection contract to some of its host communities.

This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Department, NNPC, Mr Ohi Alegbe.

The statement said the measure was to effectively combat the growing scourge of pipeline sabotage that had impacted negatively on the corporation’s operations.

It stated that the contracts did not in any way undermine the responsibility of the police and other security agencies to protect the pipelines but rather to complement it.

It explained that the first community-based contract which was awarded in 2011 expired in 2012.

The statement stated that there had, however, been a noticeable increase in the spate of attacks on crude oil, products, and gas pipelines since the expiration of the contract.

13 ships laden with petrol, rice arrive Lagos PRESENTATION - Deputy President, Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Chief Mrs. Nike Akande Presenting an award to Mr Taofio Ajibade Tijani, Lagos State Commissioner of Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources at the major distribution of Eko Gas Cylinder held at LTV Blue Roof

IEA sees renewed pressure on oil prices as glut worsens

il prices might have stabilized only temporarily because the global oil glut is worsening and U.S. production shows no sign of slowing, the International Energy Agency said on Friday. The West’s energy watchdog said the United States may soon run out of spare capacity to store crude, which would put additional downward pressure on prices.

That process would last at least until the second half of 2015, when growth in U.S. oil production is expected to start abating.

Combined with an increase in global demand, the expected U.S. production slowdown would give some support to oil prices and respite to oil producers’ group OPEC, the IEA said. “On the face of it, the oil price appears to be stabilizing. What a precarious

NNPC renews, extends pipeline protection contract to communities

balance it is, however,” the Paris-based IEA said in its monthly report. Behind the façade of stability, the rebalancing triggered by the price collapse has yet to run its course, and it might be overly optimistic to expect it to proceed smoothly.”

The IEA said steep drops in the U.S. rig count have been a key driver of the recent price rebound, which saw Brent crude rising to $60 per barrel after falling as low as $46 in January from last year’s peaks of $115. “Yet U.S. supply so far shows precious little sign of slowing down. Quite to the contrary, it continues to defy expectations,” the IEA said.

In February, non-OPEC production is estimated to have risen by about 270,000 barrels per day (bpd) on a month-onmonth basis to 57.3 million bpd, led by higher output in North America.

Global supply rose by 1.3 million bpd year-on-year to an estimated 94 million bpd in February, led by a 1.4-millionbpd gain for non-OPEC producers.

U.S. crude inventories soared due to output growth and plunging crude refinery throughput, with seasonal and unplanned refinery outages, weak margins and high gasoline stock builds.

At last count, U.S. crude stocks stood at a record 468 million barrels, the IEA said.

“U.S. stocks may soon test storage capacity limits. That would inevitably lead to renewed price weakness, which in turn could trigger the supply cuts that have so far remained elusive,” the IEA said. While the U.S. supply response to lower prices might take longer to kick in than expected, it might also prove more abrupt,” it said, adding

that growth would abate in the second half of 2015.

The IEA’s conclusions will disappoint OPEC, which kept its output steady at the group’s last meeting in November to protect market share and stifle U.S. oil output growth.

In the second quarter of 2015, when demand is at its weakest due to global refinery maintenance, the need for OPEC crude will be 28.5 million bpd, the IEA said - compared to the group’s current output of 30.22 million bpd in February.

The IEA raised its demand forecast for the second half of 2015, which in turn led to a higher call on OPEC crude of 30.3 million bpd in the same period - closer to the group’s real production levels and the official target of 30 million bpd.

T

hirteen ships laden with petroleum products and bulk rice have sailed into Lagos ports, waiting to berth. The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) stated this in its daily publication – ‘Shipping Position’- made available to newsmen on Thursday in Lagos. NPA indicated in the publication that seven of the ships contained petrol while two others had diesel and base oil.

The document noted that the remaining four ships, waiting to berth, were laden with bulk rice.

It further indicated that 38 other ships were expected in the ports from March 12 to March 25, same as 38 ships expected as at Wednesday. The document also stated that 16 of the expected ships would sail in with containers, 22 others with bulk rice, tug boat, buck wheat, fresh fish, bulk malt, used vehicles, steel products and bulk fertiliser.

The rest of the commodities to be brought in by the ships are: soya beans, buckwheat, bulk sugar, bulk salt, base oil and general cargo, crude palm oil and petroleum products. 22 ships are pesently in the ports, discharging, buckwheat, containers, fresh fish, bulk rice, general cargo, bulk fertiliser, bulk gypsum, palm oil, kerosene, aviation fuel and petrol.

22 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Business & Economy

Quality infrastructure critical to economic diversification — UNIDO

T

he United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) on Thursday in Abuja said the National Quality Infrastructure Project (NQIP) would assist Nigeria to diversify its economy to non-oil sector. Mr Charles Malata, the Project Coordinator with UNIDO, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the project would be useful to Nigeria as it had several commodities across the country.

He said the four years NQIP signed in 2013 had begun operation in May 2014 and was being sponsored by EU with 12 million Euros committed to cover its five components.

Malata said the components included development of functional and internationally recognised National Accreditation Body (NAB).

Others are National Metrological Institute (NMI), National Quality Policy (NQP), consumer protection and creating linkages for private sector. He said once the avenue for the products to get to international market opened up with all the resources in the country, it would enable it to compete and become economically viable, compared

BOA grants collateralfree loans to youths

M

anager, Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Afolabi Lagos Branch, Mrs Tokunbo has urged the youths to take advantage of the collateral-free funding opportunities provided by the bank, to empower themselves.

She made the call while speaking at the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) 2015 General Meeting in Lagos. According to her, youths between the ages of 18 and 35 years, who engage in agribusiness, can access up to N1 million loans, without collateral.

“The loan is dedicated solely to the youths, in partnership with the Federal Government’s ‘You Win’ programme. “The loan is granted to youths for start-ups or expansion of agribusiness,” Afolabi said.

She, however, added that youths applying for the loan must provide two acceptable guarantors, one of which must be a civil servant.

Afolabi also said that micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) could access up to N250,000 by opening and running a Micro Enterprises

PRESENTATION - Group Head, Strategy & Communications, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Shina Atilola; Principal, Methodist Girls’ High School, Mrs. Elizabeth Nkanta and Head, Retail & Consumer Banking, South South, Sterling Bank Plc, Mrs. Nneka Enang at the presentation of books on Financial Literacy published by the Bank to the School over the weekend

Contributor y pension fund hits N4.7 trillion

BY EMMA UJAH, ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

T

he

nation’s Contributory Pension fund has hit a N4.7 trillion mark which have now provided Money Deposit banks with stable deposits with which they can to lend on long-term basis.

Currently, over 6.5 million people are contributors from 180,586 employers that have registered with the scheme, the Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki has revealed. He told a delegation led by the Ambassador of the European Union, EU, to Nigeria and Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, Mr. Michel Arrion in his office in Abuja that the pension reform was one of the bureau’s success stories.

A statement by the BPE spokesman, Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, quoted Mr. Dikki as saying, “the Pension Reform initiated and implemented by the BPE has impacted positively on the Nigerian economy”. Under the scheme, he noted, 20 Pension Fund Administrators, PFAs, seven Closed Pension Fund Administrators, CPFAs and four Pension Fund Custodians, PFCs, were established, in the last 11 years.

He said the various reforms carried out by the Bureau had impacted positively on the Nigerian economy and that the over-riding objective of

the reforms was to create an enabling environment for private sector investments though: institution of sound sector policies; Liberalization of the sectors by abrogating monopoly laws; Delineation of the roles of policy formulation

from regulation and operations; Establishment of appropriate legal and regulatory framework; Setting up of independent regulators; and mitigation of risks to encourage private sector investments.

The DG told the delegation that to sustain the gains of reforms; the Bureau had initiated eight more Bills which were recently transmitted to the National Assembly by the Federal Executive Council for enactment. They included: Railway Bill, Inland Waterways Bill, Ports and Harbour Bill, Federal Roads Authority Bill, National Roads Fund Bill, National Transport Commission Bill, Competition and Consumer Protection Bill and Postal Sector Reform Bill.

Dikki listed Housing, National Parks, Partial Privatization/Restructuring of the two Nigeria’s Development Finance Institutions (DFIs)-Bank of Industry and Bank of Agriculture, Privatization of the Nigerian Commodity Exchange and Restructuring/ Commercialization of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria as some of the other initiatives the Bureau is currently prosecuting.

In his remarks, Amb. Arrion pledged to partner with the BPE in its reform programme with a view to facilitating regional integration. He pledged that his office would adequately sensitise European investors that Nigeria is safe for business and indeed Africa’s investment destination.

Afreximbank supports factoring activities in African firms with $48 million

T

he African Export-Import Bank (Afrex imbank) says it has provided lines of credit amounting to $48 million to African factoring companies in the last two years. This is contained in a statement credited to Dr Benedict Oramah, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President in charge of Business Development and Corporate Banking, in Lagos.

Factoring is not a loan but a cash-management tool of choice for many companies, and is one of the oldest forms of business financing. Oramah, who spoke at a symposium on Factoring in Africa in Cairo, was quoted as saying that the support was to give liquidity and payment risk protection in the companies' factoring activities. The two-day symposium was organised by the Egyptian Factoring Association, the Financial Services Institute and the International Factors Group.

According to him, the amount comprised $23 million granted to factors located in Mauritania and $25 million to several others based in Senegal. He announced that Afreximbank currently had factoring lines totalling $50 million under assessment for institutions in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Egypt, Botswana, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe.

Oramah said that Afreximbank had supported the development of factoring in Africa through educational events and fostering the

creation of facilitative infrastructure.

He said that Afreximbank would soon introduce a co-branded factoring development product called AfriFactor, to reduce costs incurred

by African factors in setting up factoring business platforms. "Besides, AfriFactor will address challenges around the lack of expertise in backoffice and receivables management. It will provide advisory services to African financial institutions seeking to commence or enhance their factoring businesses, and provide support in such areas as establishing factoring businesses, information technology and operations platforms,” he said. Oramah added that Afreximbank was also working with the African Development Bank’s Thematic Fund for Private Sector Assistance (FAPA) to support factoring companies in Africa.

According to him, the partnership uses FAPA grants that target innovative programmes for small and micro-scale enterprises. He said that a grant has been pre-approved for technical capacity building, drafting of a model law, and for advocacy, including training, workshops and conferences. Oramah reiterated that Afreximbank had organised seminars, trainings and workshops across Africa, targeting bank officials, lawmakers and regulators, to encourage interest in factoring as an alternative trade finance instrument for companies.

Afreximbank is a foremost Pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra-and extraAfrican trade.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 — 23

Banking & Finance

NDIC NDIC:: An amendment in the int erest of bank interest deposit or depositor orss

By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

J

ohn Bull had to wait for six years before he could get N50, 000 of his money trapped in the defunct Fortune International Bank. He had over N300, 000 in his current account with the bank before the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revoked its operating license, with that of 13 other banks that could not meet the December 31 st 2005 recapitalisation deadline.

As the organisation established to insure bank deposits, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) should have immediately paid John Bull and other customers of Fortune Bank N50,000 of their money trapped in the banks being the maximum insured deposit as at then, or transferred their deposits to other banks as was the case for the individual customers of the defunct Allstates Trust Bank, Assurance Bank, Lead Bank and Trade Bank.

But this could not happen, as the owners of Fortune Bank as well as two other banks instituted court actions to challenge the revocation of their operating license. As a result, John Bull and other customers had to wait and suffer the agony of not having access to their money.

The NDIC however wants to ensure that customers of closed banks are not subjected to such suffering again. To achieve this, the Corporation is seeking a series of amendment to its enabling Act, which among other things would allowed it to minimise the risk of bank failure, and also to be able to pay customers of failed banks promptly, without legal hindrance.

Learning from the past Speaking at the Senate Hearing on the proposed NDIC Act 2014, which is an amendment of the NDIC Act 2006, Managing Director/ Chief Executive of the Corporation, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, stated that the proposed amendments are based on lessons learnt from past and recent experiences of the Corporation in the supervision of banks and protection of bank deposits. “If

FCMB advocates savings culture among students

F

passed into law, the amendments would address the constraints and challenges facing the Corporation, given the observed inadequacies in the existing law. It would also enable the Corporation to be more effective and efficient in carrying out its mandate of promoting safe and sound banking practices, protecting depositors through effective supervision of insured financial institutions, prompt payment of guaranteed sums and orderly resolution of failed institutions and thus engender public confidence in the banking system”, he said.

Minimise occurrences of bank failures As part of the mandate of insuring bank deposits, the NDIC has the responsibility to reduce the risk of bank failures. This is in deference to the adage that says, “Prevention is better than cure”. It is better to prevent bank failures than allow banks to fail and subject depositors to untold hardship, and the system to huge expenses needed to settle the depositors. Thus from inception, the NDIC had been empowered through its enabling laws to supervise the activities of banks and make recommendations to address observed lapses that could lead to distress. While the Corporation has been doing this effectively in collaboration with the CBN, it is however seeking amendments to strengthen its supervision of banks.

For example, the Corporation among other things is seeking an amendment that would

Inability to refund depositors' funds was not because there was no money to pay but because owners of closed banks had instituted endless litigations

Umaru Ibrahim, NDIC MD empower it to supervise related entities (holding company or subsidiary) of insured institutions namely commercial banks, mortgage banks and microfinance banks. This is to prevent businesses related to insured institutions from being used as vehicles through which depositors funds are dissipated. It would be recalled that this practice led to the distress of some of the banks affected by the recent global financial crises, and which also resulted to the introduction of a new banking model by the CBN. The amendments also introduces additional measures for ensuring that board of insured institutions implements the C o r p o r a t i o n ’ s recommendations in Examination’s Report. This is to prevent such institutions from becoming distressed as a result of the findings of the examination exercise.

In this regard, the Corporation is seeking amendment to empower it, in consultation with the CBN, to stop insuring the deposit of any institution, when found to have grievously violated its obligations under the NDIC Act Prompt Payment of insured deposits It is the responsibility of NDIC to ensure that depositors of failed banks have prompt access to their money (the insured deposit).

However the Corporation has

been severally frustrated from performing this responsibility.

“The greatest significance is the experience from recent bank closures where the Corporation was unable to refund depositors fund trapped in some closed banks.

The inability to refund depositors funds was not because there was no money to pay but because the owners of the closed banks had instituted endless litigations against regulatory authorities”, lamented Ibrahim at the Senate Hearing.

To address this frustration, the Corporation is seeking amendments that would empower it to pay insured depositors of failed insured institutions even in the face of litigation challenging the revocation of the operating license of the institutions.

This is to ensure depositors do not suffer due to inability to access their money trapped in such institutions.

In addition, NDIC is also seeking powers to be able to pay insured depositors whenever an institution becomes insolvent and has suspended payment to depositors. This means that when an insured institution becomes distressed and cannot pay depositors their money, but its license is yet to be revoked by the CBN, the NDIC can step in and pay the depositors their insured deposit, thus minimising their suffering as a result of the insolvency of the insured institution.

irst City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited has again demonstrated its commitment towards youth empowerment and development by organising a fully interactive session on Financial Literacy for students of Government Girls College, Dala and the unbanked in Kano state. This, according to the Bank, is part of its contributions towards securing the future of youths, through the adoption of savings and investment culture, by expanding their knowledge base on financial literacy and its principles.

The mentoring session, which was anchored by the Executive Director, Abuja/North of the Bank, Mr. Adam Nuru, took place at the school on March 12, 2015 as part of activities to commemorate the 2015 Global Money Week and Financial Literacy Day celebration. An initiative of the Bankers Committee in collaboration with the CBN, the financial literacy programme is focused on educating the Nigeria’s youth on the economic environment, impressing upon them the importance of saving, entrepreneurship and financial creation with a view to empowering the next generation to be self-reliant and money savvy global citizens.

Global Money Week: FirstBank promotes financial literacy

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irst Bank of Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of FBN Holdings Plc, is collaborating with the rest of the world in celebrating the Global Money Week to engage children in the rudiments of financial literacy. The Bank under its Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability scheme initiated the Future First Programme to impart financial independence into young people through the acquisition of the right financial knowledge. The Future First programme is designed to empower secondary school students between 12 to 17 years to build fulfilling careers and be better equipped with tools and knowledge for long term financial independence. The Bank has to date covered over 40 secondary schools across the country, impacting over 20,000 students.

In commemoration of the CBN Financial Literacy Day, and in continuation of the Bank’s drive for financial literacy,

24 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Banking & Finance

BY JONAH NWOKPOKU

Union Bank adopts school to mark Global Money Week

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nion Bank of Nigeria Plc has adopted Uyo High School, Oron Road, Uyo as part of activities marking this year ’s Global Money Week and Financial Literacy Day. The adoption is in furtherance of a wider Bankers’ Committee initiative to promote Financial Inclusion in Nigeria by providing financial education to schools across the country.

“Union Bank remains firmly committed to the achievement of Financial Inclusion in Nigeria and we recognize that Financial Literacy is a key step in achieving this,” said Emeka Emuwa, Group Managing Director of Union Bank and Chairman of the Financial Literacy and Public Enlightenment SubCommittee of the Bankers’ Committee. “In addition, we believe in making investments that empower, build and support the development of Nigeria’s large youth population.

Providing our young ones with a proper financial education will enable them to make sound financial decisions and become good stewards of resources in the future”.

During the visit, Mr. Emuwa taught a number of the students a lesson on “Growing Your Money “.

The lesson was taken from a special Financial Literacy Curriculum developed by Junior Achievement Nigeria – a non-profit organization focused on educating children about their economic environment – and covered topics on savings, investments and protecting one’s money.

Global Money Week is a worldwide money awareness celebration from Monday, March 9, to Tuesday, March 17, 2015.

The initiative is aimed at globally engaging children on aspects of financial education. The Bankers’ Committee in Nigeria designated Thursday 12th March as Financial Literacy Day 2015. The day is being marked to focus attention on children and youth in primary and secondary schools nationwide and to empower them by enhancing their financial knowledge and planning skills.

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igerian banks lost a total of N199 billion to electronic related fraud between 2000 and 2014, mostly due to inappropriate and reckless management of customers’ data.

Executive Director Operations, First City Monument Bank, FCMB, Mr. Nath Ude, disclosed this while presenting a keynote address at the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum in Lagos.

Ude said incidence of fraud has become very rampant and presents serious consequences for the financial industry in Nigeria.

Speaking on ‘e-fraud and insider abuse’ Ude noted that these frauds result most times from inappropriate or reckless handling of customers’ data.

According to him, “Banking is built on trust. Customers’ data is an asset to banks and to retain the customers’ trust, banks need to protect these assets. Fraudsters are succeeding because banks have not paid enough attention to strategies that could minimise these incidents.”

He added that most electronic fraud is from insiders even from unexpected sources

LECTURE - Chief Compliance Officer, Fidelity Bank Plc, Boye Ogunmolade (r) delivering a lecture at the Day Waterman College, Abeokuta to mark this year’s Financial Literacy Day

How banks lost N199bn to e-fraud in 13yrs including dedicated employees.

He said banks could curb insider abuse by watching out for warning signs like employees living above their means, frequent manipulation of data by

employees and continuous, excessive use and abuse of privileged and systems account. In this way, he explained, “banks will be able to combat electronic fraud by filtering out predatory employees,

Ho wB VN enr olment will help How BVN enrolment you access bank loans

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he ongoing bank verification number (BVN) enrolment will help customers to have access to bank loans by enhancing their credit score, said the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo.

The BVN is a number that enables a bank customer to have a single identity in the banking system. It basically ensures that a customer’s identity is not stolen.

A credit score is primarily based on credit report information typically sourced from credit bureaus. Lenders use credit scores to determine who qualifies for a loan, among others.

Okonkwo, while speaking to journalists recently, also said the BVN would enhance access to credit to small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs).

There are about 17 million registered SMEs in Nigeria today. In most countries, SMEs account for up to 70 per cent or more of businesses, yet in developing economies like Nigeria, SMEs suffer from lack of access to finance.

Thus, the Fidelity Bank boss explained: “In more developed parts of the world, they have credit rating systems and social identification system. For example, if I am Nnamdi Okonkwo, there might be other 1,000 Nnamdi Okonkwos, but each Nnamdi Okonkwo has a unique number assigned by his country such that whenever you put that number in, everything about that person comes out. We are gradually getting to that.

“Until we get there, credit scoring system is

still a challenge. Therefore, it is possible that this same Nnamdi Okonkwo can go to a bank, take a loan and default, move to another bank, still take a loan and default and nobody sees that his credit history is bad. But with what the CBN has done with the BVN, that will be taken care of. That is why I am advising everybody to go and register and get your BVN. “When each of us have our BVN, which is tied to our thumb, if I need to lend money to you, I can check. If the person is a notorious debtor in other banks, then he doesn’t get a loan from me and that protects all of us because the bank does not own all the money. Most of the monies that banks use to do business belong to depositors. So, whatever initiative the CBN is taking, is to protect depositors and the larger economy.

“The BVN is a unique number that every account holder in Nigeria should have, going forward. So, with your thumb registered, wherever you go, you can confirm that it is you. It is for security, it is for KYC. Like you know, for you to borrow from any bank now, you must have your BVN. It helps our credit scoring system.

“The compliance level has been growing.

At Fidelity Bank, we first made sure every staff member was registered because you can’t sell what you don’t understand. So that when you are explaining to your customer, you can as well show him or her the BVN.”

reviewing upwards, the required reliability status for all staff who need privileged roles to work as well as deploying appropriate prevention and detection technologies like CCTV monitoring and access cards with authorisations.”

In his own presentation, Head, Information Systems Security, Nigeria Interbank Settlement Scheme, NIBSS, Olufemi Fadairo presented a statistics revealing the prevalent of electronic related fraud in Nigeria’s financial system.

Fadairo said financial fraudsters are increasingly adopting sophisticated techniques in the approach and that stakeholders in the industry have to collaborate more and think ahead and creatively if e-fraud must be successfully tackled.

He said that a total of 1,461 cases of fraud were reported in 2014. Out of these, attempted fraud estimated at N7 billion was recorded which led to actual loss value of over N6 billion.

He also disclosed that internet and ATMs remain the most popular channels for e-fraud while Point of Sales, PoS ter minals has been discovered to be the preferred channel of cash out for fraudsters.

Fadairo also disclosed that out of the reported cases, only 41 perpetrators were apprehended while 1, 420 perpetrators eluded the authorities.

In all, he said, the fraud rate rose to 80 per cent in 2014 from 3 per cent in 2013.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 — 25

Corporate Finance

Quoted companies pay N1trn in taxes —Aig-Imoukhuede

By PETER EGWUATU

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he President of Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE , Mr. Aigboje AigImoukhuede, has disclosed that quoted companies on the Exchange pay not less than N1 trillion as taxes to the government.

He stated this when President Goodluck Ebele Janathan visited the Lagos floor of the NSE to commission the NSE X- Gen Trading Platform, saying “As you know capital market is the heartbeat of the economy, quoted companies pay N1 trillion in taxes.

Aig-Imoukhuede, commended the President for visiting the Exchange and

assured that the market will continue to play its role of enhancing transparency of market transactions and providing liquidity to both private and public sectors.

Meanwhile, Jonathan had said that the federal government will come up with guidelines and incentives that will encourage major companies in the oil/gas, telecommunications and power sectors to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange(NSE), adding that a substantive Director General , DG of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC will be named next month Speaking at a meeting with

the NSE in Lagos, President Jonathan said the federal government attaches much importance to the capital market as it reflects significant performance of the nation’s economy and would do everything economically possible to make the market attractive to investors and issuers.

According to the President “As the biggest economy in Africa, the nation’s capital market ought to equally be the largest, so the only thing to do to achieve this is to ensure that big companies operating in the economy and are benefiting make their shares available for Nigerians to invest in and benefit.”

He said before now he has had discussions with MTN during one of his visits to

PROMO - From Left:Mr Dapo Akinola, Country Manager Eddington; Mr Abayomi Ajao, Marketing Manager, Brian Munro Ltd; Mr Ifeanyi Ijeotor, Promo winner; Mr Suraj, Floor Manager SPAR Mall; and Mr Olugbemi Olajide, Brand Manager, Famous Grouse Whisky, during the presentation of a car to the winner of the Famous Grouse2014 Famous Shoppers Promo in Port Harcourt, On Friday 13-3-2015.

South Africa on the need to list their shares. “When I met with MTN in South Africa, we discussed the need for them to list. We are working hard to make sure that companies that are supposed to list do so. That is the only way the Nigerian capital market and economy can grow so that Nigerians can participate.

Definitely if you take the power companies, as they grow bigger they will list” Jonathan said The President added that after a proper study of the situation, the government would come up with the guidelines for the listing, disclosing that listing of companies would be one of the incentives.

“We will certainly come up with guidelines in that regard. It is only proper we study the situation and meet with technical experts before coming out with the final pronouncement on it . But we will definitely encourage most of these companies to list and make it a condition for them to benefit from government in some areas.

You must do certain things properly. So I believe we will give you what you want” he said. Jonathan assured the stockbrokers and executives of listed companies that the government would continue to partner the private sector and hands off the management of business in order to solely face the provision of an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.”We will continue to partner the private sector. We are moving away from where government used to be the best manager of companies, best investors, to area where the government will create the enabling environment for the private sector to manage the economy” he said.

Sterling Bank rewards customers with UK trip T

he six winners of the Sterling Bank Gunners Promo who emerged at the fourth Gunners Promo held at the weekend will have the opportunity of an all-expense paid trip to watch the home match involving Arsenal Football Club and Chelsea on April 26, 2015. Disclosing this to newsmen after the fourth draw of the promo held over the weekend at the Bank’s corporate head office, Sterling Towers, the Bank’s Group Head, Strategy & Communications, Mr. Shina Atilola said this was in line with the promise made by the Bank at the commencement of the Promo last year.

According to Mr. Atilola, this brings to 24, the number of lucky winners that have emerged in the four draws held. The next draw holding in April will produce another set of six winners bringing the total number of winners to 30 adding that the Bank came up with the promo to reward customers for their loyalty, and encourage other football lovers to share the one-customer experience.

The Bank’s spokesperson explained that the promo, which kicked off in September 2014 would run till May 2015, and winners would emerge based on monthly draws to be held during the duration of the promo. The promo, he said, is

designed to reward customers for their patronage and loyalty to the brand over the years in keeping with the Brand’s promise of putting customers first The six lucky winners are Kehinde Abdullahi Ademola, Sakariyau Adeleke Mustapha, Ignatius Peace Nnah and Adeleke Zainab Idowu. Others are Chinyere Okechukwu and Eludinni Taiwo Kemi.

An elated Kehinde who spoke with the “Femi & The Gang” crew that covered the event live for Nigerian Info commended the Bank for keeping to its promise.

Her words: “I’ve heard that Sterling Bank has been taking the winners of the promo to the Emirates Stadium to watch live matches between Arsenal and other teams, but I had never seen myself being a winner because l know the Bank has a data base of customers running into millions to pick from. But when l was called on phone by a staff of the Bank that l was picked, l was a little bit worried until the caller mentioned my branch and advised that l go to my branch and confirm on Monday. This was the longest weekend l have ever had in my life and l thank God that it was eventually confirmed when l visited the branch today (on Monday)”.

US stocks nosedives as dollar threatens to erode multinationals profits

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.S. stocks slumped on Friday, putting the S&P 500 on track for its third straight weekly decline, as a robust dollar threatened to erode the profits of multinationals and tumbling crude oil prices pressured energy shares.

Crude oil CLc1 fell 4 percent to $45.15 a barrel, extending its losses throughout the morning, after the International Energy Agency said a global oil glut continued to build and U.S. oil production showed no signs of slowing.

The commodity has fallen in six of the past seven sessions and is down almost 60 percent from a peak reached in June. The S&P energy index .SPNY fell 1.4 percent, among the biggest decliners of the 10 primary S&P 500 sectors. Chevron Corp (CVX.N) fell 1.4 percent to $101.03 while Noble Corp (NE.N) sank 5.3 percent to $13.46.

“It’s a bit of a surprise that the U.S. continues to produce at such a high level, and that amount of oil surplus continues to push the commodity lower,” said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist for State Street Global Advisors’ U.S. Intermediary Business in Boston.

Weak profit margins dampen U.S. producer inflation

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.S. producer prices fell in February for a fourth straight month, pointing to tame inflation that could argue against an anticipated June interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve.

Other data on Friday showed a decline in consumer sentiment in early March, as harsh winter weather left households with high utility bills and disrupted shopping and general business activity.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand declined 0.5 percent as profit margins in the services sector, especially gasoline stations, were squeezed, and transportation and warehousing costs fell.

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26 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

People in Business

Government is punishing employers with taxes EURIEL CHUKWUDUM

By EBELE ORAKPO

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hief Euriel Chukwuka Chukwudum is the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Denis Hotel, Ltd., Abuja. The native of Azia, Anambra State, speaks to Financial Vanguard on why he got into the hospitality industr y, the challenges of doing business in Nigeria and appeals to government to look into the issue of multiple taxation.

Excerpts: Early Y ears: Years: According to Chukwudum who shares the same birthday with Nigeria, he attended Santa Maria Primary School in Port Harcourt and Aba and had his secondary education at St. Anthony Secondary School, Azia. Thereafter, due to circumstances beyond his control, he could not further his education and so veered into business. He did not allow this situation to stop him from being his best.

Going into business: “On October 1, 1979, I went into business. The grace of God was with me and I was able to achieve so much first as a trader and then in the hospitality industry.

That was April 1, 2005. I chose the hospitality business because I wanted to create jobs for people. As a trader, I discovered that my capital could only give me an employment capacity of not more than 10 but the same amount created jobs for almost 200 people in the hospitality industry. I can now see the difference. I found out that the hospitality business has a better future than trading. But what interested me most was not the money but my ability to create jobs for humanity, not just for Nigerians alone.

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Expansion and Challenges: “We started with 84 rooms and very soon, we are going to have additional 300 rooms and that will create jobs for about 500 people or more and with that, we are helping to grow the economy.

"In any business, there are drawbacks.

Definitely, Nigeria is a virgin country for anybody to come and do business; at the same time, it has the capacity for patronage due to our population, but like I said, the drawbacks are enormous because government is not helping matters. The hospitality industry is service based and it is all about functionality.

You need certain things to be in place to be able to do the business.

Electricity: "Electricity is essential.

You need to be serviced with electricity 24 hours, seven days a week, pipe-borne water and access roads, communications etc.

Unfortunately, we suffer most with electricity because most of the money we make is ploughed back into the system for power generation. We generate power ourselves and it costs a lot.

In fact, if you don’t do your calculation very well, you will lose because to burn diesel for 12 or 24 hours every day is a lot and before you know it, depending on the capacity of the generator, you will be spending nothing less than N4 million - N5 million monthly on diesel. But if government has done its duty of providing power, at least we will be spending less than N2 million if we have regular power supply, even though we are worse off with privatisation of power

•Chief Euriel Chukwuka Chukwudum where we pay almost thrice as before with less power.

Exploitation: "In fact, my understanding of the privatisation of the power sector is not what we are getting; they are exploiting us and giving us less. The exploitation is so much that people are complaining, especially those of us in the hospitality industry.

I have not seen any positive difference since the privatisation. So government should look into it and see if they should review the policy.

Ours is a service industry and you have no excuse to give to your guests for not providing

It seems it is a crime for employers of labour to create jobs for people because it really exposes them to government’s exploitation

those services.

Also, we generate our water from boreholes and installed treatment plants so with all these, there is no way you will get the best out of the business. But with the transformation going on, we believe that sooner or later, things will be okay and it will create a very good platform for Nigerians to do better business.

Multiple T axation: Taxation: "I don’t know if it is a crime for some entrepreneurs to create jobs. Government is punishing employers of labour with lots of taxes, rent charges and fees. A lot of exploitation is going on in the system.

We are not saying we will not pay tax as good citizens but government should provide us with the services the taxes are meant for. If any Nigerian refuses to pay tax, he can be justified because what the money is meant for, government is not giving to us so government is as guilty as tax defaulters.

The multiple taxation such as local government levies, the municipal, Environment charges, educational tax, industrial training fund, VAT, income tax, over 15 direct and indirect taxes imposed

on businesses, should stop and be streamlined to one or two.

"It seems it is a crime for employers of labour to create jobs for people because it really exposes them to government’s exploitation. With all these taxes, how do you survive? And knowing the Nigerian environment, each of them must have its own complications.

So in a situation in which you find yourself being hammered with uncoordinated taxation, what do you do?

"Government should do something to ensure they coordinate taxation in Nigeria especially as it affects businesses so that we will not fall prey to tax agencies. They should make policies that would encourage people to be in business and create jobs. When you look at it, you find out that you either bend or break. The way it is now, we are being taxed for everything, even those things that government is supposed to provide are not done.

Unique Selling Point: I was a trader for almost 30 years, and for you to be a successful trader, you must be a tactician and strategist, otherwise, you will not be able to thrive in that sector. I know there were many hotels in Abuja before our entrance. As a trader, it is the difference that you create that gives you the edge. So when we came in, I looked round to see where I could make a difference. I felt we could make a difference in the area of security which we did because security is very paramount to guests. The security agents were very impressed with us and ICT was very rare then and we were the first hotel to introduce ICT in Abuja in 2005 for our guests’ premium comfort.

Again, the one that gave us an award from Akwaaba is our initiative of having a 24bed drivers’ lodge for our premium guests’ drivers and aides. We found out that when most car owners travel, they go with their drivers.

Unfortunately, they check into comfortable

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 — 27

Micro-Finance Youth entrepreneurship key to our policy — Honeywell Stories by PROVIDENCE OBUH

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oneywell Flour i l l s Plc has said that youth entrepreneurship is a key to its policy, reiterating readiness to continue inspiring youth by engaging them in activities that will explore and expose their inert and creative talents.

Speaking at a meeting to flag off the Child Live Painting and Literary Arts Competition, titled "The Road to Sambisa" Executive Director, Marketing, Mr. Benson Evbuomwan, said that the company will continue to support initiatives and programmes that will impact positively in the lives of the youth.

Evbuomwan said: "We got the proposal to sponsor the competition and we were excited about it. So, every opportunity to interact with little children, any opportunity we also have to also encourage children to express the gift that is inside of them we always like to take advantage of such M

opportunities, because as a company that is what we stand for.

"People have talents which they don’t even know about until you give them the opportunity to showcase those talents. Some people need to be helped, some need to be given the opportunity to showcase their talents, so we believe that we all are provided the opportunity to really express our talents so that we can make our world better,” he said.

He explained that the company has rewards for the children who will come tops in individuals categories, saying, "So we believe that these children need to be supported, they need to be encouraged so as to serve as a motivation for many other children.

He described the children as future leaders, saying "they are going to change our future so we need to begin to develop them today, we need to give them the opportunity to be able to change the future that we desire and the future we also want them to have".

Capacity building: Accenture engages women

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n order to build capacity, Accenture Nigeria, engaged its female employees and client executives to help women explore their full potential at workplace and their personal lives as part of International Women Day celebration.

Speaking at a sermina titled: "Listen, Learn, Lead" Managing Director Energy and Utilities, Mrs. Abayomi Olarinmoye said that learning and leading are complementary skills which are vital for women interested in having successful careers.

“If you listen well, chances are that you will be a good learner and when you listen and learn, you have the right capabilities to be a good leader.

Serminars as this will add value to every participant and improve on the way work is done at Accenture.

In her keynote address, Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Closed Pension Fund, Mrs. Yemisi Ayeni, said •glistening is an acquired habit which provides learning opportunities for individuals. The modus operandi for any effective leader should be; listen, learn, so you can lead well." A participant at the event who identified herself as Ms. Bolade, said "I have learnt a lot from this seminar and am now better equipped to take on a management role."

She added that the theme is a global topic for accenture as a leading management consulting firm.

"Surveys show that the most critical skills needed to succeed in the workplace are listening and learning, as well as the ability to lead,"she added.

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28 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

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Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 — 29

Homes & Housing Stories by YINKA KOLAWOLE, with agency report

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agos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, said home ownership through mortgage was the only effective way to bridge housing deficit in the country.

Fashola spoke at the inauguration of Chois Estate, a housing estate in Lekki area of the state. The 420-unit estate of bungalows and duplexes was delivered by the state government in partnership with a property development company, First Communities Limited.

The governor said that the major barrier to home ownership was affordability, saying it would extremely be difficult for people to own homes if they were asked to pay outright for it. He said the state government was building homes and allocating them on mortgage to residents, to ensure convenient home ownership.

“Mortgages remain the only way to reduce housing deficit and ensure convenient home ownership. That is how it is done all over the world. That is what we are doing with our homes. We allocate them to our people and ask them to

Resort Savings begins housing project in Ogun

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•Low-cost housing development

“Only mortgages can bridge housing deficit” pay the equity contributions and spread the remaining payments over a minimum of 10 years,” he asserted.

Fashola said the delivery of the estate was in fulfilment of his electoral promise to deliver democratic dividends to residents of the state. He said

a similar estate had been delivered in Agbowa area of the state and10, 000 homes would be delivered at the conclusion of the project phase under the government’s partnership with First Communities.

Also speaking at the

occasion, Mr Bosun Jeje, Lagos State Commissioner for Housing, said the government was irrevocably committed to delivery of quality housing. He said a number of projects were on-going and their eventual delivery would reduce the housing deficit in the state.

What to do when dealing with estate agents

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gent fraud has become a major concern in the real estate industry.

With the level of reported fraudulent practices, it is important that potential tenants are educated about such situations.

Lamudi.com.ng has put together a couple of do’s and don’ts for you to consider while dealing with a real estate agent.

Background check Background checks are essential before doing business with a real estate agent. Apart from checking online or asking for references, Lamudi.com.ng, a real estate portal, has gone an

extra mile to provide property seekers with over 309 trusted sellers on its platform. This will ensure that you are dealing with credible, reputable, and honest agents.

Avoid upfront payment - You are advised not to deposit, transfer or pay any money upfront to an agent before confirming that the agent is genuine and before seeing the property that you are interested in. Top agents do not usually request for an inspection fees before viewing a property.

Do an interview - Interview the agent whom you have chosen before making any final decisions. Make sure that

Background checks are essential before doing business with a real estate agent the agent is a licensed agent with a good amount of experience that caters to what

you need. Before you meet the agent, list down a few questions to find out if they match your preferences. This helps give you a clearer picture of who you are dealing with.

Meet in a public place When meeting with an agent, make sure that you are meeting in a safe and public place or with a companion. Never meet an agent that you have not been acquainted with in a quiet or secluded area. Make sure that a family member or friend knows about your appointment.

FG reiterates commitment to affordable housing

By NKIRUKA NNOROM

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inister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Akon Eyakenyi, has reiterated the commitment of the federal government to the provision of affordable housing in the country.

She gave the commendation at the commissioning of the 102 units ministerial pilot housing scheme in Suleja Niger State, which was fully funded by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).

Eyakenyi said the commissioning of the housing is a demonstration of government’s efforts to bring affordable houses to the doorsteps of the citizens, particularly low income earners. “This pilot ministerial housing scheme which is being carried out in all six geo political zones of the country C M Y K

is expected to deliver about 2600 houses when completed and this effort also demonstrates that with prudent management, a great deal can be achieved within the shortest possible time. This is one way of achieving affordability for the low income people,” she said.

In his speech, Managing Director, FMBN, Gimba Ya’u Kumo, said the collaboration has been successfully implemented in the six geo political zones of the country for the benefit of Nigerians, especially contributors to the National Housing Scheme. He said under the arrangement, government provides construction financing and in most cases, unencumbered land for housing development. He said the 102 housing units is made up of 32 units of one bedroom bungalow, 40 units of two bedroom bungalows, and 30 units of three bedroom bungalows all delivered at affordable prices for off-takers.

esort Savings and Loans Plc has commenced a building project in Ogun State as part of plans to help meet the housing needs of its customers.

The project is located a l o n g Pa p a l a n t o – Sagamu Road, OmuPe n p e , Ofada, and consists of of 300 units of 3 bedroom semi-detached bungalows and 150 units of 2 bedroom terrace bungalows. According to a statement by Head of Treasury Department, Victory Olumuyiwa, the project lies on 100 acres of land. According to her, the land is to be developed into site and services plots with provision of infrastructures such as road network, drainage, central for water supply system.

She said the project will also take into consideration provision of transformers and electric poles for power distribution, waste management and other needs of a modern community. “The approved layout for the project has been obtained while the beaconing and erection of pillars have been completed. The provision of infrastructural services and construction of prototype housing units are to commence as soon as possible,” the statement said.

Olumuyiwa added that the project is within the proposed Gateway Mega City project by the Ogun State government and is about 30 minutes drive from Ikeja, the capital of Lagos State. According to her, a two bedroom bungalow will go for about N4.5 million while three bedroom bungalows will be sold for about N6.5 million each. She said the primary beneficiaries will be those who maintain account with the bank, noting that the property for whoever subscribes to it would also be used as collateral for those who collect loans from the bank to purchase it. “It is our top priority to drive the mortgage sub-sector to new heights and make a mark in the delivery of quality and affordable housing to Nigerians,” she added.

30 —Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Trade & Investment

BY OMOH GABRIEL, BUSINESS EDITOR

T

he perennial crash of crude oil prices and the exposure of the Nigerian economy to financial crisis has pushed stakeholders and policy makers attention to non oil revenue generation.

One sustainable source of foreign exchange generation is export of manufactures, solid minerals, and agricultural output with value addition.

The Nigerian Export Import Bank is fast becoming the center of attraction to government and exporters to push the non oil foreign exchange earning drive through trade financing and productive efforts of exportable products from Nigeria According to government official documents, in no other sector is the role of NEXIM in driving the foreign exchange revenue drive of the present administration more pronounced than in encouraging the manufacturing, mining and the agric sectors in producing non-oil goods for export. This way, the government reasons that the volume of external trade is being gradually shifted away from crude oil on which the nation largely depends, to non-oil items that are abundant and widespread in the country, but which have largely suffered neglect due to a multiplicity of factors, chief of which is funding.

The new focus is intended to permeate a wide spectrum of the nation’s everyday life, ranging from housing, industry, energy, entertainment and the whole gamut of every facet of our social life with the simple message: 'export and earn foreign exchange for Nigeria.'

The Managing Director/ CEO, Nigerian ExportImport Bank, Robert Orya, explaining the success so far recorded in the new government export drive, of which NEXIM Bank has played a pivotal role said, “It is evident that the important story of Nigeria’s advancement from where we are would not be told by earnings from our hydrocarbon reserves (although we have one of the world’s largest). Our success would be driven by a robust manufacturing industry; selfsufficiency in agriculture for food and processing so that excess yields could tap export markets; world-class service sector to serve domestic industries, global outsourcing and export markets, and commercial access to wider range of mineral deposits that dot every nook and cranny of our country.”

C M Y K

How NEXIM is helping to diversify Nigerian economy from oil

*A manufacturing facility financed by NEXIM Since the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme SAP in 1986, Nigeria has been trying to diversify the economy away from oil with little success. So it is not for lack of ideas that the export of non-oil goods has remained at infancy, the problem, amongst others, has to do largely with the will and commitment to focus and redirect resources to the nonoil sectors and take cognitive action to actualise what is largely recognised as a cash cow.

Although NEXIM was established to play this role, the current administration’s determination to focus on these sectors in the bid to improve on the nation’s revenue profile outside crude oil sales and create employment, played a key role.

“What the Administration of President

Goodluck Jonathan has done, perhaps more than any previous regime, is combine commitment with practical actions in diversifying the Nigerian economy away from sole reliance on crude oil for external revenue,” Orya said.

The inhibition standing in the way of operators in the identified sectors from accessing finance has to be addressed. NEXIM Bank, having identified the drawbacks, intervened to set the ball rolling in a manner that ensured the delivery of the intended benefits.

As the NEXIM Bank boss puts it: “Development Finance Institutions are bearers of risks which commercial lenders would term excessive, and therefore avoid. “ New industries, new initiatives, people without financial collaterals, projects

which cannot pay commercial cost of finance, etc have been beneficiaries of funding by DFIs. This way, business formation can continue, people can continue to innovate, bias against social and reputational collaterals are reduced, and projects can be incubated and nurtured to when they can attract lending from commercial banks,” he said, adding that NEXIM Bank has assumed this critical role in Nigeria where banking penetration is less than 15 per cent of the population, commercial lending rates are prohibitive, land titles are not even available to owner occupiers, but where innovators are born daily, and where we have to eradicate poverty.

He said as a DFI, NEXIM Bank has to assume its natural function in driving the Transformation Agenda of the government, by supporting the export-prone sectors, increase foreign exchange earnings and create employment, so as to free government to focus on the provision and delivery of n e c e s s a r y infrastructural projects to aid implementation of programmes under the plan of structural transformation of the Nigerian economy that cannot be delivered by commercial lending.

Orya, explained that NEXIM Bank is the official and sole Trade Policy Bank of the Federal Government.

In this regard, providing financing, risk-bearing facilities, market information and value-added advisory services to businesses towards deepening export-oriented investments in the country’s non-oil sectors of manufacturing, agroprocessing, solid minerals and services, for job creation and economic growth.

He said the bank has provided N12 billion in lending to Nigerian export manufacturers over the fouryear period from August 2009 to April 2013, adding that it has funded agro-processing export businesses, to the tune of N6.6 billion over the same period.

Onya speaking to journalist said “ From the institutional viewpoint of Nexim Bank, I am excited at the prospects of playing a role in diversifying the Nigerian economy and harnessing the immense potentials of the sectors which had, hitherto, been neglected.

Indeed, the role Nexim Bank is playing is unique as a development finance institution (DFI)”.

Accordingly, in the solid mineral sector, NEXIM Bank is working in partnership with industry stakeholders to take formal mining off the ground again, Orya said, adding that Nexim Bank has so far provided over N2 billion in early funding to help some commercial miners to develop their site in order to start operation and invite further funding from other sources apart from the long-term commitment of Nexim Bank to the nascent industry.

In pursuit of its drive to impact on other segments of the economy as part of the Transformation Agenda, the bank has taken on the management of the Nigerian Creative and Entertainment Industry Stimulation Loan Scheme (NCEILS). The fund which is lent at below commercial rate is meant to fund businesses across the entertainment value-chain, including filming production, cinema operation, music recording, and intellectual property development and recording studios, as a revolving fund with repayment terms.

He said to date; Nexim Bank has disbursed over N1.4 billion for the Fund, adding that Entertainment industry project proposals under review exceed N5 billion in value. Overall, disbursements to the creative and entertainment industry, including the services sector is about N8.5 billion, covering support to transportation and hospitality industries.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 — 31

Tax Matters

A

s a follow up to last week’s publication, below is a continuation of the article that highlights the requirements for filing returns, due dates and penalties for late filing of returns as it pertains to various tax types. Last week’s edition focused on Company Income Tax (CIT), Education Tax (EDT), National Information and Technology Development Levy (NITDL), Estimated Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Final PPT, Personal Income Tax (PIT).

This week’s edition wraps up the article as it centres on Annual Pay as You Earn (PAYE), Monthly Pay as You Earn (PAYE), Withholding Tax (WHT) and Transfer Pricing (TP).

7. Requirements for filing annual returns of Pay-As-YouEarn (PAYE) (by employers) Section 81 (2) of PITA (as amended) and Regulation 10 of the Operation of PAYE Regulations provide that an employer shall render to the relevant tax authority a return on each employee showing total emoluments of each employee during the year, the tax relief, if any, and the total tax deducted from the employee. This is to be done on a Form H1 or such other form as may be approved or prescribed by the relevant tax authority.

Due Date Annual PAYE returns should be filed not later than 31st of January in respect of all employees of the employer in the preceding year.

Penalties for late filing of annual returns of PAYE (by employers) Section 81 (3) of PITA stipulates a penalty of N500,000.00 for corporate bodies and N50,000.00 for individuals upon conviction.

8. Requirements for filing monthly PAYE returns (by employers) The schedule to be attached to the payment and evidence of remittance should contain the following information: a) Taxpayer information (employer): Taxpayer/agent name and address Taxpayer/agent TIN Transaction amount Transaction date b) Employees’ information: Staff TIN Staff name Basic salary Allowances Transaction date (DD/MM/ YY) Tax amount Period covered Due Date Evidence of remittance should be filed not later than 10th of every month Penalties for late filing of C M Y K

Penalties for late filers, ABC of tax returns (2)

monthly PAYE returns (by employers) Penalty for non-deduction and failure/late remittance under Section 40 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2007 applies.

Upon conviction, the penalty is at 10% per annum of the tax not remitted and interest at the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria rediscount rate and imprisonment for period of not more than three (3) years.

9. Requirements for filing Withholding Tax (WHT) returns Regulation 4 of the Companies Income Tax (rates, etc. of tax deducted at source (WHT)) regulations as well as Regulation 3 of PIT (rates, etc. of tax deducted at source (WHT)) regulations provide that a person who deducts tax from a payment shall, when the payment is credited or paid, whichever is earlier, submit, to the relevant office of FIRS, the evidence of remittance made to the designated bank of the tax deducted. The submission shall be accompanied with a statement containing the following information: The name and address as well as the TIN of the person from whom the tax was deducted.

The nature of activity or service in respect of which the payment was made.

The gross amount paid or payable.

The amount of tax deducted.

The period to which the payment relates.

Similar provisions can be

found in Sections 78, 79 & 80 of CITA as well as Sections 69, 70, 71 & 73 of PITA. Due Date Evidence of remittance should be filed not later than thirty (30) days from the date the tax was deducted or the time the duty to deduct the tax arose.

Penalty for late filing of Withholding Tax (WHT) returns WHT only has penalties for non-deduction and failure/ late remittance of deduction.

Upon conviction, the

Global insured losses from flooding over the last ten years average approximately $9 billion per year

penalty is 10% per annum of the tax not remitted and interest at the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria rediscount rate and imprisonment for period of not more than three (3) years (Section 40 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2007).

10. Requirements for filing Value Added Tax (VAT)

returns Section 15 of the VAT Act (VATA) Cap. V1 LFN 2004 (as amended) requires taxable persons to render returns of all taxable goods and services purchased or supplied by him during the preceding month to FIRS. The Service has prescribed the use of VAT Form 002 for filing the monthly VAT returns.

Due Date Returns should be filed not later than 21 st day of the month following that in which the purchase or supply was made.

Penalty for late filing of Value Added Tax (VAT) returns Section 35 of VATA stipulates a penalty of N5,000.00 for every month in which the failure to make returns continues.

11. Requirements for filing Transfer Pricing returns Regulation 6 of the Income Tax (Transfer Pricing) Regulations No.1, 2012 provide for the filing of Transfer Pricing returns and the documents required to be filed. The provisions under the regulations refer to companies which have relationship with any other company (i.e.) through control, management or ownership.

The following are the content of Transfer Pricing returns: TP Declaration Form (required only in the first year but must be updated should there be material changes in the information provided)

Economic cost of flooding could hit $500b by 2030

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esearch suggests that flooding poses a threat to roughly 21 million people across the world every year, costing the global economy roughly $90.65 billion, with the potential for an estimated six-fold increase over the next 15 years.

Data provided in connection with the launch of a new flood mitigation platform, the Aqueduct Global Flood Analyzer tool, co-developed by the World Resource Institute (WRI), Deltares, the Institute for Environmental Studies of the VU University Amsterdam, Utrecht University and PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, highlights the economic severity of global flooding and its potential rise.

The research, conducted by the co-developers of the tool found that by the year 2030 a startling 54 million people will be exposed to flooding, causing the annual global economic cost to hike significantly, from the $90 billion seen today to around $513 billion per-year.

With this in mind, Aon Benfield’s catastrophe modelling division, Impact Forecasting states that global insured losses from flooding over the last ten years average approximately $9 billion peryear. So a near six-fold increase could take average annual global insured losses from flooding to a staggering $54 billion, or greater, by 2030.

Hessel Winsemius, a researcher at Deltares and Philip Ward, a senior researcher at the Institute for Environmental Studies of the VU University Amsterdam, discussed the new tool and global flood resilience in a recent blog.

Part of which read; “It will take decades and many billions of dollars to protect the tens of millions of people at risk from river floods and coastal storm surges. But starting now and following the direction of tools like the Global Flood Analyzer will help decision makers in international relief organisations, reinsurance companies, multinational company and many others build advanced protection systems to protect people and infrastructure.”

The WRI describes the new tool as aiming to “raise the awareness of flood risks and climate change impacts by providing open access to global flood risk data free of charge.”

C M Y

32 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

E-Commerce

Shoptomydoor brings free international shipping to Nigeria Stories by JONAH NWOKPOKU

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igeria’s online shopping mall, Shotpomydoor has announced free ingternational shipping services for customers shopping from the United States of America.

The free shipping promo, according to Shoptomydoor, will apply to customers who purchase virtually anything from the USA with the exclusion of cars, heavy industrial machineries and a few other items, and will run for purchases made from the 12th to 30th of March, 2015.

The promo is open to both individuals and companies who make purchases online using their Visa, MasterCard or PayPal on any US store and delivers it straight to their free USA warehouse.

Speaking on what motivated the promo, the President/CEO, Nduka Udeh said: “The recent economic trends that has resulted in a close to 30 per cent loss in the value of the Naira has seriously hit the average hard working Nigerian with people now finding it hard to meet daily needs. Some Nigerians are now resulting to the use of poor and substandard products in meeting everyday needs."

Etisalat begins hunt for 20 millionaires

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tisalat Nigeria has launched the second edition of its Easybusiness millionaire hunt targeted at empowering Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs in Nigeria.

Recall that in the first edition of the millionaire challenge held in 2014, ten entrepreneurs with the best business ideas were given N20 million grant, N2 million each, to grow their businesses. At the unveiling in Lagos, Thursday, Head of Business Segment, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Lucas Dada told journalists that “the scheme is the flagship product for SMEs in the country,” adding that “it’s about encouraging entrepreneurs and empowering SMEs.” Speaking on the criteria for participating in the challenge, Head of Marketing, Etisalat Nigeria, Bidemi Oladipo, said, to participate: “Subscribers must be on an easybusiness line package.

C M Y K

Fast, timely deliveries are backbone of e-commerce Wiles E

vangeline Wiles is the Managing Director of Nigeria’s pioneer online marketplace, Kaymu.com.ng.

By January, 2015, the marketplace marked two years anniversary in Nigeria, celebrating their successes in pulling over 20, 000 SMEs to their platform and expanding to five other cities across the country. In this Interview with JONAH NWOKPOKU, she argues that efficient delivery system remains the backbone of e-commerce. She also speaks on how the marketplace navigated successfully Nigeria’s SME sector and how small businesses can explore the fledgling e-commerce sector and become more successful. Excerpts Kaymu has just marked two years anniversary, how have you fared in your quest to bring SMEs in Nigeria online?

Since inception in January 2013, Kaymu has been at the forefront of driving entrepreneurship in Nigeria by providing a safe platform for SMEs to conduct business online. The growth in our seller base didn’t happen overnight, it’s been a journey that has seen us grow from 50, to 1,000 and now over 20,000 sellers all over Nigeria. Our goal is to make it simple and easy for anyone to have an online store and join in the e-commerce revolution.

Most SME operators in Nigeria are people, whose businesses belong to the informal sector, what strategy has helped you navigate successfully in this sector?

Across Nigeria, we have field agents that go to major informal markets as well as major malls to tell sellers about the benefits of selling online.

We believe this is an incredible opportunity to move these markets online and provide sellers with a platform to market their goods to anyone across Nigeria. Our success is based on the simple fact – all business people are looking for ways to grow their business and an online shop is an easy, convenient and cost effective way to do that.

Over the past two years, you have expanded to various cities, from your experience, what has been the rate of uptake?

Our expansion has been driven by demand from our sellers. We had sellers in Abuja, Port Harcourt and several other cities before we opened offices there. For us, this was an indication of the significant opportunity across Nigeria, which resulted in the expansion of Kaymu to Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Benin and Warri in the past six months. The uptake and reception to online shopping has been very encouraging, especially since we haven’t done a lot of above-the-line advertising efforts in these states yet.

What can you say have been the major challenges facing SMEs and how can platform like yours help address these challenges?

Research has shown that most SMEs fail within their first five years of existence with only a few surviving to grow into maturity in developing countries like Nigeria. Some of the factors responsible are; inadequate market research, irregular power supply, infrastructure inadequacies, and limited capital, amongst others. E-commerce can address some of these challenges for SMEs. The beauty of a platform like Kaymu is that sellers can open and operate a business with minimal upfront investment – all you need is a smartphone and small amount of capital to buy or make your products.

The importance of sellers migrating from brick-and-mortar retail to clickand-mortar cannot be overemphasized

Evangeline Wiles What makes Kaymu stand out from other e-commerce platforms is our dedication to SMEs. We have a dedicated team to help our sellers manage and grow their businesses.

Logistics is one of the challenges impeding the growth of e-commerce in Nigeria, what ideal logistics strategy can help SMEs integrate successfully into ecommerce?

Logistics is a field that still requires improvement in Nigeria and it is interesting to see that with the advent of ecommerce, more logistics companies are expanding their capacities to adequately attend to the enormous demand. Fast and timely delivery is one of the most important aspects of e-commerce. Unfortunately, many SMEs do not have the capabilities to achieve this on their own. To help our sellers with logistics, Kaymu has relationships with top logistics companies, such as Fedex and AIG Express.

Over the last two years, Kaymu introduced some initiatives, like Kaymu Varsity, SME Saturdays, aimed at encouraging SME growth in Nigeria, what is your assessment of the response so far? And how can such initiatives help drive SME growth in Nigeria?

Initiatives like KaymuVarsity and Kaymu Entrepreneurial Workshop are focused on training SMEs how to maximise their sales online through excellent product placement, efficient customer relations and new media marketing strategies. SME Saturdays is an initiative to integrate both the online and offline experience for buyers and sellers. Here, buyers can shop from the Kaymu platform and get their products immediately. All these initiatives are important because they help

entrepreneurs develop the skills and capabilities that are needed to succeed. We’ve gotten great feedback on these programs and we intend to continue to help Nigerian entrepreneurs reach their potential.

Listing on Kaymu has remained free over the last two years, what has informed this decision and what direction do you intend to take in terms of monetisation in the future?

Our focus in the past two years has been on building a good foundation. We have a commission structure in place and we intend to start applying it once a seller reaches a volume threshold. At the moment, our focus is on growing the community.

How imperative is it for SMEs to migrate online visa-vis your vision to be the leading marketplace in Africa?

Our vision is to be the foremost online shopping community for buyers and sellers in Africa. The reason is simple, gone are the days where you had to spend hours going to the market, haggle with sellers for the best price before getting a product. Now customers want to be able to shop from the comfort of their homes, at the most competitive prices and have it delivered to them when they need it. All this can be achieved through e-commerce. The importance of sellers migrating from brickand-mortar retail to click-andmortar cannot be overemphasized. They save money which would have been used for rent, staff salary and running of their store and thus can afford to fix competitive prices on their products. With offline stores, sellers only make sales when a buyer walks into their shops, but with online shopping, buyers all over Africa can make purchases at the click of a button.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 — 33

Aviation

WMO okays Nigeria’s SRP success for adoption

Stakeholders commend Chidoka, welcome new aviation order

By FAVOUR NNABUGWU

T

he World Meteorological Organization, ,WMO, has okayed the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET)’s Seasonal Rainfall Predictions (SRP) as a successful product that could be adopted by countries around the world This is also as NiMET predicted late rainfall and early cessation for this year’s weather forecast while it foretold that most part of the country will experience warmer-than-normal temperature.

WMO’s representative for North and West Africa, Mr Benard Gomez at 2015 SRP in Abuja on Thursday, acknowledged that countries in the world are adopting the success product put forth by NiMET which has recorded huge success.

Gomez said that it has always been accepted in most countries of the world that whatever product that succeeds in Nigeria will definitely succeed in any other countries of the world.

According to him, “Anything that works in Nigeria always work anywhere in the world and SRP is one product that has been very successful in Nigeria which other countries trust and develop because of its success”.

In his speech, the Minister of Aviation, Mr Osita Chidoka said that the importance of NiMet’s predictions can be seen from the damage caused by the 2012 floods that hit most parts of Nigeria.

Chidoka represented by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Mohammed Abbas, disclosed that the 2012 SRP flood prediction which happened six months after, affected 33 out of the 36 states which caused the federal government to release N17.6 billion to those states while the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) released N1.34billion for material relief.

He said government took farreaching steps to mitigate the plight of those affected by the 2012 floods including setting up of national Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation and also constitute a Technical Committee to assess the impact and proffer immediate, medium and long-term solutions.

RECEPTION - From right: Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka receiving the report of Automation of Revenue Generation from the Committee Chairperson, Mrs. Janet Adepegba with them is Secretary of the Committee, Dr. Ibrahimm Idris held at Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Annex, Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos. Photo by Lamidi Bamidele

By LAWANI MIKAIRU

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viation stakeholders who many feared will not be prepared to embrace the technological change and passengercentred policies the new Aviation Minister, Chief Osita Chidoka introduced to the aviation sector since assuming office last year, have surprised everybody.

Stakeholders, especially passengers and airline operators have keyed into the Aviation Passenger’s Service Portal for improved information between passengers, agencies and airlines.

Passengers have been able to keep the airlines on their toes by promptly reporting any erring airline to the aviation agencies for appropriate sanctions. It will be recalled that at the launching of the Aviation Passenger Services Portal, APS, on December 6, 2014 and the Aviation Commits Initiative (ACI) on 3 rd February 2015, the minister emphasized the need for automation in the operations of all the Aviation Agencies.

The establishment of the APS portal for booking flights, monitoring airline flight performances, obtaining information on local destinations, etc, has in small way assisted passengers to be the “centre” of the concern of all aviation stakeholders. On Monday, last week, at

Nnnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, passengers aboard Lagos bound Arik Air flight had their flight delayed for hours.

Passengers were able to get across to the management of the airline and relevant aviation authorities and they were immediately compensated and served a light meal while they were waiting. One of the passengers affected, Alhaji Isa Shehu who spoke with Vanguard commended the Aviation Minister for the new aviation policies introduced by him which have made passengers “king” in the new era. Passengers are protected under the new Advocacy and enforcement of Customers Bill of Rights Policy initiatives.

This Customers Bill of Rights Policy has further been strengthen by Chidoka with his introduction of performance management systems for monitoring and improving performance of aviation workers. He also launched a sector- wide initiative Aviation Commits where all stakeholders in the industry commit to improve service delivery to the public.

At the launch, Chief Executives of all the aviation parastatals and agencies were made to publicly commit to render prompt and reliable services to the public.

Speaking about the Aviation Commit initiative, a licensed maintenance engineer with the default Nigeria Airways

Engineer Tunde Ojo said this initiative is one of the best polices so far formulated in the Nigerian aviation sector. He added that if Nigeria Airways management and government had been forced to commit to this kind of policy, the airline would not have been default today.

Only last week, the Minister warned that any aviation agency chief executive who fails to comply with the implementation of the Aviation Revenue Automation Project (ARAP) project within 60 days would be sanctioned.

This is coming after the minister approved the report.

The report is aimed at automating all aviation related activities at the nation’s airports. The minister approved the report and

The automation project is structured and empowered to bring to reality the vision and mission of the aviation industry, which is to make the industry a world Class provider of safe, secure and comfortable transport industry

recommendations of the committee after the submission of the report by the committee chairperson, Mrs. Janet Adepegba, last Monday in Lagos.

Chidoka had inaugurated the ARAP committee to “ decide, recommend and conduct analysis meant to make the aviation sector more competitive by reversing the current negative trends in the industry in order to put it in a favourable light in the global world.”

The minister said that the ministry has also approved a review in the cost and charges of the automation system. And he has given all agencies one week for the implementation of the project cost and their targets.

He said “The project is structured and empowered to bring to reality the vision and mission of the aviation industry, which is to make the industry a world Class provider of safe, secured and comfortable transport industry.”

The minister expressed optimism that the implementation of the project will increase the efficiency of Nigerians and other workers in the aviation industry.

He added that it will enable agencies in the sector deliver higher quality services to Nigerians “that is selfsustaining and pivotal to social economic growth, and to transform the sector into an efficient, profitable and preferred mode of transportation”.

On how far some of these polices have helped in making the aviation sector more efficient, the minister said : “I looked at the performance of Arik on the aviation service passengers portal and found that in January, they only have 20 per cent on-time departures.

By February, they have inched up to 42 per cent. I also saw that First Nation Airline is number one in February with 56 per cent coming up from 37per cent in January.

“So it gives me some hope that what we are talking about as regards commitment, performance measurement and monitoring is beginning to provide dividends.”

To check the high level corruption in the aviation industry, especially the airports across the country, the minister directed the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, to partner the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, to check malpractices in FAAN and enhance the delivery of efficient services.

Chief Osita Chidoka gave the directives during his address at the EFCC anti-corruption interactive session, organised for management staff of FAAN at Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja .

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 —A1

• Towards ending the pain of Endometriosis among women in Nigeria and the world at large, a walk tagged EndoMarch 2015, held in Lagos weekend.

Lagos marches to end ‘Endo’ pain

By Sola Ogundipe

‘S

TOP ‘Endo’ Pain. Take a stand for your wives, sisters, daughters, because it matters!”; “Ask Me About Endo Pain”; “You are not alone.”

These were some of the slogans on Saturday March 14, 2015, as enthusiastic men, women and children united to take a stand against the pain and trauma of endometriosis - an incurable gynaecological disorder that occurs when the endometrium (cells lining the uterus) grow in other areas of the body.

Women with the disorder

readily feel pain, irregular bleeding and have problems getting pregnant. The Endomarch is a platform to educate, empower, and effect change to the debilitating disorder.

The crowd of marchers, were participants in the “Million Woman March for Endometriosis Worldwide”, tagged EndoMarch 2015 which kicked off at 9am from City Mall Onikan, Lagos through Awolowo Road, Ikoyi and terminated at The Lagoon Restaurant, Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria, Island.

Clad in bright yellow as well as

black T-shirts, the participants stormed the streets distributing leaflets, rendering songs and slogans designed to educate and inform the general public about the campaign against the debilitating disorder.

The event, facilitated by the Endometriosis Support Group Nigeria (ESGN) a not-for-profit organisation (NGO) in conjunction with Nordica Fertility Centre, and Diamond Bank Plc., also marked a decade of endometriosis advocacy and support.

At the terminus, series of free consultations, exhibitions, interactive sessions and counseling

were offered by the Endo medical teams while representatives of the Diamond Bank “Diamond

I experienced the disorder at an early age, but didn’t know what it was. I had very painful periods and didnt know why.

Nobody knew why

Woman” initiative, Nollywood stars, as a well as a host of others, added colour to the event.

Speaking, Medical Director, Nordica Fertility Clinic, Lagos, Asaba and Abuja, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, noted that diagnosis of endometriosis can be delayed or missed, leaving the problem unrecognosed. “Endo sufferers must know they are not alone.

They can encourage each other and share ideas on how to cope.

The activity is to educate, empower and and effect change while improving the living standard for females, young and old as well as society at large, said Ajayi, who is the Endomarch Country Affiliate Partner, worried that endometriosis can be debilitating and frustrating for the woman and her doctor.

“There is no cure for now, but it can be effectively managed. Early diagnosis and management is essential, but the message of hope must be spread.

An endometriosis patient, Olamide Oluwatuyi, who gave an account of her experience with the disorder, said it all began at the age 12 for her when she attained menarche.

“I experienced the disorder at an early age, but didn’t know what it was. I had very painful periods and didn’t know why.

Nobody knew why.

“This went on for several years and I did not find solution until last year when I met Dr. Ajayi. I almost diagnosed myself. The doctor was kind enough to talk to me and my greatest fear was confirmed. He gave me the awareness, and the hope for lasting treatment.

“I went through surgery (laparoscopic surgery) that is really not a s bad as people think.

So when you experience this kind of pain from endometriosis, you need to get it investigated.

It is not the end of the world.”

Polio immunisation: 4m children targeted in Lagos

By Chioma Obinna

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ITH less than seven months for Nigeria to be declared polio free by the World Health Organisation, WHO, the Lagos State government is targeting over four million children for vaccination against polio and other childhood killer diseases as part of efforts to consolidate the progress on polio eradication.

Announcing the commencement of the March 2015 National Immunnisation Plus Days, NIPDs, in Lagos, Special Adviser to the State Governor on Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina, said the campaign holds March 14 through 17, 2015, and is aimed at total eradication of polio and the incidence of all vaccine preventable diseases and attendant morbidity/mortality.

Yewande who noted that since 2009 Lagos has not recorded any case of polio said the NIPDs is specifically targeted at children between the ages of 0 to 5 years at home, markets, churches, mosques major car parks and social event venues C M Y K

and would involve house-to-house, transit and fixed post teams.

“The house-to-house and transit components of these teams will administer only OPV to children aged 0-59 months irrespective of their immunisation status.

They will encourage the eligible children in the houses to visit the immunization posts for other antigens. In Lagos, we will mount 752 fixed posts, 2,189 house-tohouse and 1,712 transit teams”, she explained.

Adeshina, therefore, appealed to parents and caregivers to take their children and wards to nearby primary health care clinics to receive the trivalent oral polio vaccine, OPV, vaccine and other scheduled immunisation.

For parents with concerns about the vaccine, she assured that it is free, safe and effective and is to be administered to the children irrespective of their previous immunisation status.

Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only three countries still under the threat of polio.

• Nigeria is on the last lap towards polio eradication with tremendous progress over the past two years but the battle is not yet over. Photo: Courtesy UNICEF. On the strike threat by doctors in the state, she noted: ‘We don’t support doctors’ strike and we have used every opportunity to establish that at this conventionally, highly educated and intellectual level, dialogue

communication is the key. No threat or holding hostages in the way of not treating patients will make government do things that it is not prepared to do by way of imposition.”

A2 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

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A4—Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

I'm a brand going to change the Senate — Kalu CHIEF Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State and well heeled international businessman is making his second attempt for a Senate seat. The first attempt turned into a no contest when according to him he was stopped from stepping out to vote on Election Day by four armoured tanks positioned outside his gate.

Kalu who is vying on the ticket of the Progressives Peoples Alliance, PPA in this interview reviews that state of affairs in the country, his native Abia State among other issues. Excerpts:

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

G

IVEN your flourishing business interests and your regular trips out of the country, how do you think you can give the people adequate representation?

I was governor here for eight years and I sat here to do the job.

I am going to do this job for the best interest of the people of our senatorial district and indeed Nigerians. I am going to be among the foremost senators Nigeria will ever have because I will like us to do the right things, be in the right places, enact laws to enhance commerce. Like I am disappointed that the National Assembly has not been able to do anything on PIB. The politics of today requires the input of global businessmen.

So, what are you going to do in the Senate?

It is going to be a tug of war because people like me will be in the minority.

Support of good policies But I thank God that I have capacity to lobby and move things around. So, I believe that I will be able to do a lot in support of good policies that will be able to enhance the development of Nigeria.

You are going on the platform of PPA, what of your pledge to the PDP? There is no difference between PDP and PPA because PDP is the senior brother of PPA. They have a great alliance and that alliance has always been there.

That may be at the national level because at the state level...

Forget about what the state is going to do. We are here to promote the ideas of the Federal Government and it is going to work.

In your first contest for the Senate you lost and here you go again...

Did I really lose?

Did you vote?

I did not vote. So, I didn’t lose.

Why did you not vote?

They caged me into my house with four Armoured Personnel Carriers, APCs. You know what happened.

How are you sure that will not happen again?

It will not! Our people will burn down the state. We are ready for them, we are not going to take it from anybody. The governor cannot try it. If he tries it, it would be the end of his administration because I have left him for too long and this is the last opportunity I am giving him. I kept quiet because of President Jonathan because I don’t want crisis here for him. The governor is very incompetent, he is unreasonable and he is a liar.

He was there as your chief of staff for eight years.

Yes, he was hiding his true colours from me. Everybody warned me because what they were seeing, I wasn’t seeing. You saw me eating with several people last night, but he is one staff I had who never ate on the same table with me. For eight years. Something was wrong. He was not sincere. All my commissioners, all my SAs, all the people I worked with, speaker of the House, members of the House of Assembly, all of them ate on my table.

What was his excuse?

He was pretending to be a good man. But I told this man that your face looks like the face of a betrayer, that you will betray me one day. So, you see I am not

The president has a chance but the winning is not going to be a landslide. It is going to be a very tight victory

•Kalu: The president has a chance but the winning is not going to be a landslide

surprised. I don’t lose any sleep.

You see, he tried to deceive people that he was humble. If there is a problem, that Jonathan needs to be defended tomorrow, he will be the first to run away and I will stand by Jonathan.

What I stand for, I stand for. If there is a little problem, he will do 180 degrees turn and I will stand.

Supports Jonathan Buhari is very close to me. He has slept in this house many times but I support Jonathan. If Buhari wins tomorrow that is his business, life continues because I will not have any regrets but people like Orji will be the first to somersault. All this loyalty he pledges to Jonathan will be zero and if we leave this state for him he would lose it. Jonathan is very lucky that the three leading political parties here are all supporting him. He will lose this election if he is banking on Orji.

He, Orji is also contesting for Senate?

I wish him well, I can never go and campaign against him. He is competent to represent his people in the Senate as an exgovernor and I will like to see him in the Senate as it will be more robust for our state and our people.

What is your view about the coming presidential election?

My view is very straight, it is going to be very tight and that is why we here must work very hard. Remember in September 2014 when Channels Television interviewed me, I said then that it would be balance of terror and

many people in PDP wanted to kill me. When I came back to Abuja many of them were bashing me and saying that we have already won with 70%, but I told them that you people are not reading the handwriting. It was then I told Nigerians that Jonathan has done a lot for Nigeria but that nobody was publicising it. That statement almost cost me the Senate seat because they believed that I was too vocal in telling them the truth. That was loyalty.

may win one chamber and the APC the other and that is the balance of terror which I said. The president will win with two or three percent.

Why is there much hate in the campaigns?

The stakes are not supposed to be that high. A country should not suffer economically because they want to do election or vote for a president. It is because people have been rigging.

Loyalty to Obsanjo

This is the first time that people are sweating. Before, people thought it was a joke, but now they are realising that with the PVC, card reader and everything that they are putting up that people will queue to vote.

Before when you had the PDP ticket you could just go and sew a new babariga or a new sokoto to say that I have won already. But now, you need to tell the people what you will do for them.

I praise President Jonathan who even approved this money because this thing could have been done ten years back but all of our presidents did not have the courage to do it. He could have said no to card reader, go to hell and nothing will happen! So, Jonathan is a very courageous man and I give it to him.

All these things were proposed

by Prof. Iwu but politicians said no, that they would lose election.

Nigerians should sympathise with him and vote for him because of his courage.

The hate campaigns?

The campaigns they are doing is not good. I don’t support anyone abusing President Buhari or Continues on page A6

I was very loyal to President Obasanjo, very loyal. Ask him.

Forget about what you see in the papers. In every corner of President Obasanjo’s life he will remember all my discussions with him. They were for Nigeria. My discussions were on Nigeria, not Orji Kalu. It was the people, the people and the people. It wasn’t about me. I was very loyal to him because I was the odd man telling him what he never wanted to hear and today, Mr. President in Ogun State when he wakes up will remember Orji Uzor Kalu.

That’s me! I am a brand that nobody can take away what is in my mind because I speak the truth. Even with gun and knife, I speak the truth.

Do you think the president has a chance of winning the election?

The president has a chance but the winning is not going to be a landslide. It is going to be a very tight victory. But I doubt what will happen in the National Assembly as the PDP

Queueing to vote

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015—A5

do the same thing. This is our initiative to bring people together. This association has been in existence for seven months now. It will continue to grow after the election and even when we the founding fathers must have died. This association is going to register members, with their dues and whatever they contribute will be used to build the initiative.

What about southerners living in the North?

I am also thinking about what the southerners are facing in the North.

The problem we have in this country is that most Nigerian politicians are not professional politicians.

Professional politicians

•Bafarawa: We must give President Jonathan a passmark

Why I'm mobilising 10m northerners in South for Jonathan — Bafarawa •Says APC is more in the papers than on ground FORMER Governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa penultimate Saturday mobilised about 10,000 northerners who represented about 10 million northerners living in the 17 states of Southern Nigeria on the banner of the Arewa Initiative for Peaceful Co-existence in Southern Nigeria (AIPCN) to Asaba, the Delta State Capital to endorse President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election. In this interview, he spoke on why he initiated the move, why non-indigenes must be accommodated and why northerners will back Jonathan’s re-election.

By Clifford Ndujihe

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HY did you initiate the Arewa Initiative for Peaceful Co-existence in Southern Nigeria (AIPCN)?

It is a registered foundation. It is important because of the way our people in the South found themselves. Also southerners in the North find themselves in the same problem.

We have almost 10 million northerners residing in the17 southern states. Some of them were born here and even their parents were born here. They were brought up here. They cannot go back to the North because this is their home base.

Unfortunately, they have no place they can call their own.

They are always non-indigenes.

They are not benefiting anything from their indigenous state and here people see them as nonindigenes. As far as these people are concerned, they don’t have anywhere in the North to stay.

Some of them who were born in the South-West speak Yoruba language such that you cannot

differentiate them from the Yoruba. So also some who were born in the South-East speak Igbo.

Unfortunately, getting admission into government schools is difficult. They are not getting any patronage from the states they are residing and they are Nigerians.

Development and sensitation If they come together, at least if there is any problem you can talk to the leadership. During election period you see people being killed in the North and in the South because there is no leadership. That was the reason we decided to come up with this initiative for peace, development and sensitisation of our people so that they can fight and get their rights.

Now, we are going for election, everybody is trying to become governor, senator, member of the House of representatives or state assembly. You were born here but there is no how you can vie for elective positions because they see us as non-indigenes. This

motivated me to form the association so that we can integrate them where they were born.

Is AIPCN’s endorsement of Jonathan part of the moves to integrate them in the South?

We are using the organisation to support President Jonathan, and we also use it to support the people, so it’s give and take.

There is nothing wrong for me to ask the people to support President Jonathan so that when he is voted into power in 2015, he can start solving the people’s grievances.

On how to sustain the initiative and the relationship between him and people in the South After this election, we will start going from one local government to the other across the states where our people are so that we can sit down with the leaders who are going to contest in this election. Not only Jonathan, anybody who is contesting election on the PDP platform in a state where our people are residing will be given support. So, it is not a question of doing an endorsement or launching and dispersing tomorrow.

This is the beginning of bringing Nigeria together. Since independence, this initiative has never arisen. It’s just now we said, in order to keep this country as one, everybody should be given an opportunity anywhere they find themselves.

So, it’s not a matter of party affiliation. We also expect the All Progressives Congress (APC) to

Politicians are meant to work for the people, but nowadays, Nigerian politicians just occupy political offices for the sake of it.

They are just there to seek for political offices. But we who are professional politicians, who take politics as our profession don’t think of positions, we care about the people.

That is why you have not seen me fighting to be a governor or a senator. I try to make sure I work for the people, and that is why we created this movement.

Nothing will stop us from forming this association in the North but we need your collaboration to merge and give every Nigerian equal rights.

On chances of the PDP at the presidential polls given the APC challenge

By God’s grace we are expecting victory in the March 28 presidential election.

I see APC as a situation where you mix a bucket of water and detergent. There will be a bubble but after some minutes, the bubble goes down. That is how I see the APC when compared to the PDP. On why the northern association endorsed Jonathan For whatever reason, we must give President Jonathan a passmark these four years he has

Therefore, our reason to support Jonathan is not to give him support in person, but to give the nation a support.

He has started, so, let us encourage him

been in-charge. He inherited a broken country enmeshed in insecurity and he is has been able to manage the country to be united. We have to give him the necessary support to ensure he continues to bring sanity to the system.

Therefore, our reason to support Jonathan is not to give him support in person, but to give the nation a support. He has started, so, let us encourage him.

By the time you disengage him and you bring a new comer, he starts all over again. Continuity is very important here. Let us not be carried away by this change mantra. There is a very big difference between digital and analogue. There is no way you can say someone who has been absent from governance in the last 26 years will do magic.

Jonathan’s experience as a deputy governor, governor, vice president and president is huge.

If given another four years, there is no doubt that he will perform better and make a lot of difference.

Do you think Jonathan will make it in the North?

All the people saying Jonathan doesn’t have support in the North are not been fair to northerners. The APC are more in the papers than on ground.

Go to the North and meet the average northerner on the street to know their pulse about Jonathan.

Personal assessment If you want to know whether Jonathan is actually on ground, go to the different northern states to do some personal assessments. In every northern state, there is no where he hasn’t contributed to the development of the state. So, what is the reason to say northerners don’t like Jonathan? We like Jonathan and we are promising him total support during the elections. Jonathan is not a southern candidate, he is a national candidate. So, we have to put our house together to support him.

When APC is talking about fighting corruption, I just wonder and laugh. The party itself is corrupt. I want to ask, where do they get the money to fund their party? It seems they are getting their money from the contributions of the state governors controlled by APC states.

Using state governments’ money for hiring jets for their candidate who claim not be be corrupt, raises a lot of questions.

But for the postponement President Jonathan would have lost the election. What is view on this comment?

The PDP is a ruling party.

Therefore, it is a party that won’t be talking about party interest but the interest of the nation. One, the interest will be keeping the party and keeping the government at the same time.

A6—Vanguard, MONDAY,

MARCH 16, 2015

I was warned about Orji — Kalu Continues from page A4 President Jonathan. After 28th of March, we will have another day to live. You see in my support for President Jonathan I never mention Buhari’s name. I am not saying whether he will govern well or he will not govern well, I am only saying, vote for this man because he is capable of doing the job. Even where he failed, he will repeat. People repeat exam and with people like us around, we will dust him to do well.

What is your opinion on the card reader?

Card reader is a very excellent idea. I appeal to some of the PDP people, - not the president, the president is very happy with card reader, after all he signed the budget and if he didn’t believe in it, he would not sign the budget.

Card reader Card reader is a perfect thing, it gives us semblance of fulfilling our mission. That I have voted and my vote counts.

Who of the major candidates do you think is in best position to succeed Governor Orji in Abia State?

We have not reached that stage. We were supposed to have had a meeting on January 20th but we postponed that meeting and we have decided that after President Jonathan’s election and Gen Buhari’s election, on 30th we will sit down as genuine elders of this state and decide among the three leading candidates and they are PPA, APGA and PDP. Is it in that order?

No, not in that order. We should be able to decide among the three on who will work, we don’t want to see this shameless thing we are seeing in our state any longer. It is apprehensive to have given somebody governance and he put it on the floor. It is not right because governance is a collegiate thing. Our state is now like a laughing stock among people, so we don’t want to make that mistake again.

Of the three candidates, how many of them have approached you?

All of them. I am in touch with all three of them.

If the elders endorse the governor’s candidate what will you do?

I will support it, it is the opinion of the people.

Some would be surprised seeing the portrait of the governor in your house given the bad relations between the two of you?

He is the governor of Abia State, there is nothing petty about it.

You people should advice the governor to stop being petty. This is why our state is like this. If you

•Kalu: I don’t support anyone abusing Buhari or Jonathan

have political disagreement with people call them and discuss it.

When I was governor, there were people I disagreed with, but I still call them and discuss. I went to their houses and we ate. It brings down tension. When Ojo’s (Chief Ojo Maduekwe) daughter wedded, it was at the height of my disagreement with President Obasanjo. He didn’t even invite me, one or two of my colleagues that came I provided transport for them and when they all left, I left Umuahia for Ohafia and strolled to the place and the mood changed. I told him, ‘I am not quarrelling with your daughter, I didn’t come for you.’

They said that Obasanjo cancelled the Ohafia road project, but I can tell you that Obasanjo didn’t cancel any project since he

He is the governor of Abia State, there is nothing petty about it. You people should advice the governor to stop being petty. This is why our state is like this

never awarded the project.

Obasanjo is not petty in most things he does, I can tell you that.

He loves this country only that he is vindictive, he can’t forgive anybody! Which I don’t do. Like Orji now, I have forgiven him, it is him and his God that are fighting.

The value of constitutional democracy is term limit and in the next two months he would not be a governor again just like me and then he would see the value of what he has done.

PVC: How you can vote if you have relocated

Constitutional democracy

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You see, my problem with him is what is happening today, that he did not work.

Why were you charged to court?

That I spent security vote.

So, what is the stage of the case?

I cannot talk about those court matters because they are in the court of competent jurisdiction.

Assessment of tenure Go and match what we did against what we collected. Is Obasanjo a stupid man to have called me action governor? He is not stupid. Forget about the fact that I opposed his third term and temporarily opposed his reelection in 2003.

In 2003 when he wanted to contest, we told him ‘no that you didn’t do well’. I was the one who told him in a meeting that he didn’t do well and I was supported by some of our colleagues and some of our colleagues shouted us down.

We told him ‘allow it go to the north that you are not sellable,’ and that was our problem with him till today. He is a statesman, he should learn how to forgive those who have offended him.

•Ballot box

By Gbenga Oke

ANY Nigerians would not vote in the forthcoming gen eral elections simply because they have relocated from where they were originally registered. That, however, needs not be the case as the Electoral Act and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC have instituted regulations to guide the transfer of voters from one constituency to the other.

The essence of such transfer is to ensure that no Nigerian loses his right to decide on who should govern him under the nation’s democratic culture and it is because of this that the commission advises voters to register at the polling station nearest to them so that the polling station would be easily accessible on Election Day. Whether you have relocated from one state to another or within the same state, the same regulations guide the transfer of a voter from one constituency to another.

Section 13 of the Electoral Act as amended provides the regulations to guide voters on transferring their voter’s cards from one polling station to the other.

First, the person must write a letter to INEC stating where he/she currently resides and the applicant should attach the present voter’s card to prove the claim.

The application should be addressed to the nearest INEC office at the local government or state level.

Upon receipt of the application, the Resident Electoral Commissioner will direct the Electoral Officer of the applicant’s local government area to enter his/her name in the transferred voters list.

Afterwards, the Electoral officer will assign the applicant to a polling unit in his constituency and the applicant will be issued with a new voters card. The previous voters card will be retrieved by the Electoral Officer However, all applications for transfer must be submitted at least 30 days before the date of election. It thus means that anyone that has not commenced the process now is ineligible to vote.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 — A7

A8 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 YOUR LUCK TODAY

LEISURE

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139

VIRGO; As Saturn enters your Star Sign today it is important you are more practical and seek all important supports of the influential people around you. Be more loving.

LIBRA; The more ambitious you are today the better for your cause. And here is a good day to plan for the future but you must do away with whatever can not be placed above board. Yong-at-heart among you may be in for a romantic day.

SCORPIO; Even if you are tempted to gamble by whoever and/or whatsoever reason you must resist it or else you would be the loser. Being aggressive may help SAGITTARIUS; Provided you are willing to cooperate with other poople things will not go out of hands but exhibition of inordinate ambition can earn you avoidable trouble.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Richard Eromosele

Do you believe in success?

I

guess you will be wondering and asking: Is there anyone that does not believe in success? You see, you may not believe, there are people that do not

believe in success.

There are people who don’t want to be successful because they believe that when they are successful

TERROR MUDA

people will become envious and jealous of them.

I have also seen some rich individuals who

in “Never say goodbye”

wouldn’t buy a fine car just because they don’t want robbers or thieves to go after them.

Believe in success and go for it. There is nothing in this life without a risk.

Even at that, go for success.

By Lanre Kehinde

CAPRICORN; Element of luck will assist you. Those of you who are more hard working will have more positive things to show for your efforts. Take care of your health.

AQUARIUS; Many natives of this Zodiac sign will be excited either because of romantic interest within your working arena or practical advancement at work.

PISCES; Reason with those you can take as veterans within your base of operation because if you want to force your way without carrying necessary and more experienced people along it would back-fire now or soonest ARIES; The more creative you are the better for your cause. However is typical day when too much expectation can bring disappointment. Be more family minded.

TAURUS; If your priority is financial success you may not be disappointed provided you prepare for a few challenges. For now both your mental energy and physical attributes are enough to win you love not MONEY. Be more receptive.

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in

“Pretty Lunatic’

By Andy Akman

GEMINI; This is your day when both good luck and your personal efforts will bring you success. Try to be as caring as possible to those within your base.

CANCER; Although there will be challenges at the end of it all you will have genuine cause to smile. The more secretive you are the better for your cause. This is not the right time to ignore your sex life. Do away with unnecessary argument.

LEO; This is not the right time for you to either gamble with money or take friends for granted. Secret lovers may be in for an exciting day.

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,

VIRGINIA

dadadekola@yahoo.com

Should I remain hopeful?

Dear Joshua, I want your in-depth analysis and tell me about my social life, and the time I am likely to have my much desired break-through in life.

I am hopeful though Anonymous Nigeria.

Dear Anonymous, Yes be very hopeful. And what you will find here-under will answer your questions.

YOUR SOCIAL LIFE Social life will always bring you attention good luck envy opposition and possibly fame.

The best way for you not to be constant loser in the social world is to always study situation practically and know that your finance will not suffer (if it can not be beneficiary) from the setting before taking responsibility.

As for influential friends you will have them but never always take them for granted.

Sudden SUCCESS will come your way during your 42th year on earth and will serve as a break-through year you can build great foundation of endless success on. But the same 46th year will bring love related challenges you must manage with all maturity or else it will linger till after your 48th year on earth.

HOME & ABROAD

By Lawrence Akapa

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Advertising & Promotions

Beer brewers divide market with new tactics Stories by PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU

B

eer brewers in Nigeria have deployed new marketing tactics that have delineated consumers along brand line as a way of edging out competing brand (s).

A report by the brewery companies indicated that the industry recorded a marked decline in growth in the third quarter of 2014, this was attributed to pressures on household income and heightened security concerns which affected consumption pattern.

Invariably, the new marketing tactics according to one of the brewers is the recruitment of new consumers due to decline in the number of adult consumers as a result of the current economic realities which has saddled them with additional responsibilities.

Another was the decline in beer market consumption which was attributed to the influx of spirit and brandy products into the Nigerian market.

In a recent investigation by Vanguard, it was discovered that adult consumers only drink when they feel it is necessary, after settling major family responsibilities, and that been the reason brewers have shifted attention to younger at heart consumers who have no or lesser responsibilities to attend to. That was why also a major player in the industry relied on what it called ‘value products’ to record a marginal market share in 2014.

Interestingly, all these have come together to thicken competition in the sector, which thus has led to the partitioning of the market by the three major market leaders; SAB Miller, Guinness Nigeria and Nigerian Breweries, NB Plc. The trio have deployed new

CELEBRATION - From left: Mr. Tam Tamunokonbia,Head Lagos Office Consumer Protection Council; Steve Nwosu,Executive Director,Corporate Service, The Sun Newspaper; Mrs. Bunmi Oke, Chief Executive Officer , 141 Worldwide; Mr. Lanre Adisa, Managing Director, NOAH’S ARK and; Mr. Kayode Olagesin, President, EXMAN at the 2015 Brand Journalist Association of Nigeria World Consumer Day celebration held in Ikeja Lagos. Photo by AKEEM SALAU. strategies to maintain a healthy balance sheet to satisfy their shareholders. For example, “SABMiller, before its entrant into the market, competition was limited to NB and Guinness Nigeria, its entry has not reduced the rivalry between both; rather it has heightened it. Today NB is no longer seeing Guinness as its rival, but SABMiller.

Before now the competition

appeared to be restricted to above the table tactics. Aside committing huge resources to advertising spend, NB and Guinness Nigeria have also taken to sponsorship of headline properties in some of the consumers’ identified passion points including sports, entertainment and sponsorship of festivals.

Today new dimension has been introduced. Guinness

Frytol hits market, engages consumers via activation

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ilmar Africa, producers of Frytol vegetable oil has entered the Nigerian market with a fully integrated consumer activation. The campaign was to further establish the Frytol product to resonate amongst consumers.

The last quarter of 2014 saw producers of the product deliver

an unforgettable experience to market women, with their world class Edwomhemaa activation.

To further build on this success additional experiential concepts have been introduced to reach a wider audience.

Wilmar’s first activation shall commence this week with a 10 week - 3 part Dumsor campaign.

PEP store, MTN in strategic partnership on airtime sale

P

EP Stores Nigeria, a retail company specialized in clothing, footwear, as well as other fast moving consumer goods has entered into a strategic business partnership with MTN Nigeria that will see it providing customers opportunity to buy airtime from its store. According to PEP Stores Nigeria, the strategic business partnership deal will add value to the in-store shopping experience of PEP esteemed customers by offering them the unique opportunity to buy MTN Airtime with ease and convenience.

Speaking at the official launch of the partnership which was held at the Allen Avenue branch of PEP Stores Nigeria on Thursday March 5, 2015, the General C M Y K

Nigeria is seen in every hotel, relaxation spot in Nigeeria, giving out raffle tickets to consumers, courtesy of its “Guinness Refree promo,” to dish out raffle tickets.

However, in 2014 Guinness full year revenue dropped 11 percent, and profit by 19 percent. This it attributed to a couple of things; pricing disadvantage. A mistake that depleted market share.

Manager, PEP Stores Nigeria, Mr. Deon Conradie described the partnership between PEP and MTN as a symbiotic relationship that will create new exciting experience for the customers of the two brands in Nigeria.

“We are very proud to sign this very unique partnership with MTN and we are very excited at the value added that this partnership will offer our valued customers by enabling them to buy MTN Airtime at all our existing 27 outlets” he said. Also speaking at the event, the Finance Manager, PEP Stores Nigeria, Mrs. Kofo Awonuga disclosed that the PEP/ MTN relationship started in July 2014 when MTN Airtime was sold at PEP Stores using standalone devices and now with deal,

The first activation within this campaign shall be Tales from Ananse where a branded Frytol truck will drive through local communities engaging citizens with folktales whilst they enjoy kelewele around a fire.

The second phase is titled Anopa, Awia ne Enyumre (Morning, Afternoon and Evening) where we shall entertain members of the public via engaging them in an Oware tournament and viewing of one of their favourite Ghanaian movies.

Finally, Wilmar Africa shall host ‘Dinner in the Dark’ where 50 members of the public and press shall have the chance to win tickets to dine in the dark at Ghana’s premier 5 star Labadi Beach hotel. ‘Frytol is a brand that is intertwined with our heritage.

It reminds us of where we came from and the values that were and continue to be instilled in us to take us forward to the future.

CHINI names Judges for Young Lions competition

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HINI Productions, organizers of the Young Lions Competition have announced the jurors for the various categories of the competition.

Speaking on his role as 2015 Young Lions Creative Jury President, Babatunde Sule said: “New kids on the block!

Our industry has always belonged to the young at heart.

Therefore my expectation as jury chief at this year’s Young Lions Competition is to find a breadth of daring, exciting but relevant ideas that would jolt and perhaps even scare some veteran ad men off their cushy chairs. The revolution starts here – young lions, you can do it!”

The Young Lions Competition is part of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and is open to professionals under 28 years.

The first leg of the competition is the national event which takes place in the home countries of the competitors.

Winners of the national competitions in each category compete internationally as their countries’ flag bearers in June during the Festival.

Nnamdi Ndu, managing director or CHINI Productions said: “we are quite confident that this is going to be a landmark event, more teams

Servair Nigeria wins international catering award

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an African Catering Services FZE- Servair Nigeria has been named one of the winners of the Quality & Safety Alliance Inflight Services Programme, QSAI award of Excellence in Catering Quality. The company was named the 2014 Bronze Winner for Europe, Middle East and Africa EMEA region, in the award designed to recognise the world’s best airline caterers.

This will be the first time a West African company will be winning the award. And also the first time any unit of Servair International, the third largest airline catering company in the world, will win the award.

Speaking on the development, Patrice Larapidie, General Manager, Servair Nigeria said: “We are thrilled to have won this award. It’s a real boost to Servair Nigeria at a time when we’ve re-focussed our efforts to put the customer at the heart of every meal and cuisine.”

48 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 Email:lesleba@lesleba.com, lesleba@gmail.com Blog page:www.lesleba.com/blog2 Website: www.lesleba.com Tel:0805 220 1997

Will PDP or APC rescue the economy?

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he 2015 election is barely two weeks away and yet, not even close followers of events in the political space can satisfactorily articulate distinctive differences in the ideology of the two major contestants.

Instead, Nigerians have been fêted to a reality edition of an otherwise Nollywood dramatization of a “rofo rofo fight” between two wives in a polygamous setting.

Ironically, the protagonists expect the favoured husband to make the louder and less civil combatant his favorite!

However, since both wives also carry the same excess baggage of an uncomplimentary heritage, the choice of a favorite wife, who would judiciously manage the family resources for the next 4 years, for the greater good, has become a monumental challenge for the poor electorate.

Similarly, judicious management of resources positively transforms economies, whenever such nations adopt economic and political systems, which induce competitive entrepreneurial spirit and also encourage selfreliance. For example, the imposition of ‘unitary federalism’ which predicates our association as a nation, has obviously failed to serve as an engine of inclusive economic growth; sadly, despite the available lean resources before the advent of dictatorship in 1966, the strident economic progress and keenly competitive enterprise of existing Regional Governments, has clearly become unachievable despite the huge leap in revenue under the present arrangement of ‘unitary federalism’.

Our stunted federalism will

ultimately sink the liberally patched ship of state to bring untold anguish to millions of our countrymen. Nonetheless, any movement towards the political equity in traditional federalism would clearly reduce the fatal attraction to control the resource rich centre and will ultimately also enthrone an enduring political structure that would bring out the best in us, as in the glorious years of Regional autonomy. However, such positive transformation will not serve the interest of the political class who derive stupendous benefits from the prevailing skewed social contract.

Furthermore, the 36/7-state political structure is clearly a great disservice to Nigerians.

This selfish contraption has supported incredible duplication of functions and wastage of scarce resources, such that there is a need to borrow to supplement, even consumption expenses, that now account for over 80% of projected total federal spending in 2015.

Regrettably, none of the major parties is in any hurry to tell us how they intend to redress expenditure in favor of infrastructure and human capacity building, and no one is demanding to know those specific areas which would suffer revenue cuts from any such fiscal discipline; sadly, in spite of over 100 million Nigerians living in abject poverty, the salaries of our lawmakers is reported to probably be the highest anywhere in the world and over 100 times the national minimum wage. Nonetheless, politicians of all hues whether PDP or APC will certainly reject any attempt to realign their gross emoluments with

reality, even if such alignment will provide economic succour to those impoverished electorates who voted them into office.

Furthermore, the accumulated debts politicians incurred during the extended campaign trail have to be repaid, with a handsome profit while successful political officeholders have barely 4 years to acquire enough wealth to last a lifetime.

Clearly, neither the ruling

a faltering economy after global oil prices plunged, weakening the naira. Nigeria raised 91 billion naira ($455 million) in bonds this week, with maturities ranging between 5-year and 20-year at higher returns across the board.

“Trading is expected to be mixed next week but the market would likely stay above the 16 percent resistance level,” one dealer said. Yields on the 2016 debt closed flat at 16.15 percent compared with 16.16 percent last week, while the 2022 debt note dropped to 16.03 percent

from 16.07 percent previously.

The benchmark 2024 debt note however rose sharply to 16.63 percent from 16.13 percent last week.

The yields on Kenyan Treasury bills are expected to continue edging lower next week on the back of increased shilling liquidity, traders said.

The central bank will auction 91-day, 182-day and 364-day Treasury bills worth a total 8 billion shillings ($87 million).

“The general trend downwards should persist ... but not as aggressively,” Mathangani Kariuki, a bond trader at Kestrel Capital, said.

It is foolhardy to continue to accumulate national debt in the belief that the current debt to GDP ratio is within tolerable limits nor the main opposition party has a clear grasp of how an economy works; consequently, they do not quite understand the critical significance of the impact of excessive money supply in an economy. Indeed, with the existing systemic bloated disequilibrium in money supply, any hope or talk of industrial growth, increasing employment opportunities, increasing consumer demand, reduced debt burden, fuel subsidy abolition and new refineries or indeed any promise to diversify the economy would remain just hot air, as already faithfully demonstrated by failed serial attempts by successive administrations to bring about socially and economically

Business & Economy Nigeria bonds to rise on election jitters

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he yields on Nigerian bonds are seen rising next week on uncertainty over a delayed presidential election, while Kenyan Treasury bill yields will ease further on increased liquidity.

Nigerian bonds yields will rise as Africa’s biggest economy prepares to hold presidential elections on March 28, while a planned Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting to set rates on March 24 would also unnerve investors, traders added. The continent’s largest oil producer is facing C M Y K

supportive outcomes.

Invariably, the success or failure of any economy clearly rests on the best practice management of money supply, such that inflation would remain below 3% to protect mass social welfare and consumer demand which drives industrial growth.

Similarly, discipline in the management of money supply will modulate interest rates in line with the aspirations of the needs of an economy, but, clearly no economy can achieve distinctive growth or economic diversification if, in addition to the burden of oppressive energy costs as an abiding albatross against their survival, industrialists, commercialists and other stakeholders in the small and medium Enterprise subsector have to borrow at over 20% to fund their operations.

So it is necessary that the APC and PDP should educate the electorate on how, in the face of, systemic excess money supply, they would bring down inflation to below 3% or how, they expect interest rates to fall below 7% across the board to liberalize cheap funding (as opposed to selective preferential sectorial packages) for serious business people to increase production and create more jobs.

It is foolhardy to continue to accumulate national debt in the belief that the current debt to GDP ratio is within tolerable limits. Inexplicably, the high cost of funds instigated by CBN’s 13% MPR (in place of less than 2% in successful economies) makes it inevitable that government’s domestic borrowings will also attract abnormally high interest rates, which are clearly inappropriate for such sovereign risk free loans.

Omoh Gabriel Babajide Komolafe Clara Nwachukwu Peter Egwuatu Yinka Kolawole Favour Nnabugwu Godwin Oritse Godfrey Bivbere Michael Eboh Franklin Alli Ifeyinwa Obi Rosemary Onuoha Nkiruka Nnorom CONTRIBUTORS Princewill Ekwujuru Jonah Nwokpoku Naomi Uzor Providence Obuh LAYOUT

Total domestic debts are currently reported to be about $40bn, while external debts is about $10bn; ‘it is not clear if PDP or APC leaders actually understand how these escalating debts come about, nonetheless, future generations will continue to bear the burden of debt service with over 20% of current annual budget (about $5bn) for several decades to come.

Conversely, if government reduces the cost of its debts and the rate of debt accumulation, it would most likely work against the interest of the cabal and oligarchs that currently control the commanding heights of our economy. Both the PDP and APC certainly enjoy support from the beneficiaries of such government profligacy and it may be self-destructive, therefore, to promote any transformation that would ultimately jeopardize the interest of major financiers of any ruling party.

Similarly, political party finances are handsomely supplemented from the substantial fiscal leakages that fund corruption from the deliberate mismanagement of public funds with slap on the wrist sanctions on discovery.

The fraudulent opportunities for corrupt enrichment in the fuel/kerosene subsidy scheme currently cost the federal treasury about N1000bn annually and also falls into the category of leakages that reinforce party strength and solidarity, and so any attempt at fiscal discipline maybe akin to the parties’ cutting their nose to spite their face.

Similarly, despite the distortion caused by Naira depreciation, the attendant opportunity for rent seeking will prevent any serious attempt to save the Naira.

SAVE THE NAIRA, SAVE NIGERIANS

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Group Business Editor Deputy Business Editor Energy Editor Asst. Business Editor Snr Bus. Correspondent Insurance Correspondent Maritime Correspondent Maritime Correspondent Energy Reporter Industry/Agric. Reporter Maritime Reporter Insurance Reporter Capital Market Reporter

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Media/Marketing E-Commerce Industry Micro Finance Graphics Department

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Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015—49

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HEARD it first when President Goodluck Jonathan visited our heroic and patriotic troops in the liberated communities in Nigeria’s northeast. “Never Again” appears to be the rallying battle cry in this second Nigerian civil war. Compare it with “One Nigeria” which the troops forced people to sing whenever they captured communities in the former Biafra enclave.

“To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done”, was another powerful slogan which Mike Enahoro popularised before he read the news on Radio Nigeria.

Meanwhile, his elder brother, Chief Anthony Enahoro, was the Federal Commissioner for Information and Culture and in charge of the propaganda effort of the Federal side, which was struggling under the withering firepower of Radio Biafra’s penetrating propaganda.

Why don’t we ask the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and other radio and television stations, newspapers, social media and internet platforms to adopt “Never Again”, this new, inspiring anti-terror slogan coined by our military? We need to scold ourselves for indulging in expensive follies which nearly cost us our beloved country over the past couple of years.Why are we still pretending that what we are fighting is not another civil war? Why are we not behaving like a country on the brink of victory in her second civil war? Why are we still so detached?

Embattled communities I concede that the mood of the nation at large is MUCH better now when compared to the situation, especially in the past one year when our army and embattled communities fled from Boko Haram. Some of us were beginning to unconsciously give up Northern Nigeria to the terrorists. We were already considering our own independent options to defend and secure our respective communities from savage Islamisation, since the military appeared no longer capable of doing so.

Nigeria was losing the war on terror due to two self-imposed acts of omission and commission as Chief Obafemi Awolowo would say: (a) saboteurs and blackmailers were allowed a free rein rather than being cracked down on which is the right attitude to fifth columnists when a nation is at war; (b) we abandoned our army and nearly paid dearly for it.

When President Jonathan won the election in 2011, even though it was adjudged to be the best election this

Join the troops, say: ‘never again!'(1) country ever had after the annulled June 12 1993 poll, Boko Haram, which late President Umaru Yar ’ Adua had deftly knocked out of contention in 2009, made a sudden resurgence in 2012. They hit churches, barracks, government buildings and crowded places in Abuja, Suleija, Kano, Kaduna, Jos, Maiduguri and other parts of the North in a manner that baffled everyone, including the federal government. It seemed that the threat by some disgruntled Northern leaders to ensure that Nigeria was rendered ungovernable after Jonathan’s victory was in full swing. It became obvious that these disgruntled politicians and their supporters outside the North were determined that Boko Haram was a handy instrument to clear the path for them to ride President Jonathan out of his quest for a second term in office.

This much was evident in the reactions of these elements when Jonathan declared a state of emergency several times and adopted the “stick-and-carrot” approach to arrest the situation. He yielded to pressure by a section of our

Right now, almost everybody is happy and relieved that the troops are on the verge of defeating Boko Haram.

Even the Northern newspapers that tended to lionise Boko Haram’s savagery have now started giving due attention to the exploits of our troops

community to “dialogue” with Boko Haram, while also heeding the call by another section (to which I belonged) to hit the terrorists hard and exterminate them to restore the power and authority of Nigeria as demanded by the constitution. While the so-called dialogue efforts were going on, General Azubuike Ihejirika, the then Chief of Army Staff, flushed Boko Haram out of the various towns in the North, including their so-called “spiritual headquarters”, Maiduguri. The terrorists took refuge in Sambisa Forest.

The saboteurs and blackmailers grew hydra-headed and attacked from all fronts. General Muhammadu Buhari and the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) with people like Professor Ango Abdullahi and Dr. Junaidu Mohammed grumbled aloud that the Federal Government had declared war on Northern Nigeria and Muslims. The criticism of Federal Government’s proscription of Boko Haram by the spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Alhaji Lai Mohammed was portrayed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a sign that the Party was a “sympathiser”, if not “sponsor”, of the terrorists, a charge that the opposition party hotly denied.

Impeached former Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, added to the confusion in his letter to Northern leaders and governors accusing Jonathan and the military of severe human rights abuses against the Northern population and Northern elements in the army. Borno Elders became very active in condemning efforts to muscle out Boko Haram, and many newspapers and writers who purported to defend “Northern interests” became couriers of fabricated lies about the activities of the armed forces. They eagerly reached out to foreign media outlets such as BBC and Al Jazeera to mount a campaign of calumny against the Army and the federal government.

The saboteurs also became very energetic inside the armed forces. They leaked operational plans to Boko Haram,

gave them easy passage to attack our military installations and stage deadly ambushes against our troops. They handed over our military equipment to the terrorists and orchestrated sudden bolt-and-flee withdrawals during planned offensives. Mutinies took place, and a series of court martials followed.

It became obvious that the armed forces needed more modern equipment to confront the terrorists. But attempts by the Presidency to secure appropriation for one billion dollars in the National Assembly to re-equip the army were met initially with fierce opposition, but this overridden by the patriotic majority.

Gradually, some of our supposed foreign allies became stumbling blocks in the effort to upgrade the army. The Presidency discarded its strategic engagement with a foot-dragging United States and went to Russia to procure the equipment which we are using to turn the tide.

Political differences Never again should we allow our political differences and quest for power to blind us to the need to stand by our government and the army in times of war and national tribulations. Right now, almost everybody is happy and relieved that the troops are on the verge of defeating Boko Haram. Even the Northern newspapers that tended to lionise Boko Haram’s savagery have now started giving due attention to the exploits of our troops. Even though some elements in the opposition party who were very fond of deriding the army and the federal government are now mute at their victorious forays, the federal lawmakers of the APC boldly broke bounds and patriotically issued a wholesome plaudit in salute to their valour.

There is a bold dividing line between politics and our common destiny as a nation. Whenever our common destiny is threatened, we must forget our political differences and come together to confront the threat. When we overcome we may go and continue our squabbling. Never again should we believe that the only way we can achieve our political objectives is to sabotage, undermine and blackmail those in power. Power is nobody’s monopoly.

Tomorrow we may find ourselves there.

But that will only be possible if there is Nigeria for us. I am overjoyed that the evil antics of blackmailers, saboteurs and two-timers have failed. I am very optimistic that Nigerians will never reward them by giving power to them.

They will never benefit from their crimes against their motherland.

THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES ON THURSDAY.

OPINION

By Kenneth Aigbegbele

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HE issue of the Almajiri has remained worrisome to Nigerians; it has been a source of embarrassment since independence. The Almajiri, as it is, has no place in modern society. Reports show that they are about 10 million children roaming the streets of Northern Nigeria.

Mr. President sees these children as Nigeria’s responsibility and feels sincerely obligated to the lessprivileged young Nigerians.

Jonathan sees education as a vehicle for the socioeconomic change and a means to uplift the standard of living of these people. This explains his administration's innovative means of youth empowerment.

The Almajiri education is essentially designed by Jonathan’s administration to integrate the Islamic school calendar to provide quality education for thise target group. In order to achieve these objectives, the administration put in place a policy framework which focuses on two critical levels.

First is the engagement with existing traditional system of Islamic education with a view to addressing the existing lacuna and challenges, consolidating achievement and expanding of opportunities for growth and the development of the system.

Second, the mainstreaming and promotion of the dynamic Almajiri education model, which seeks to

Jonathan and Almajiri’s empowerment integrate effectively Islamic disciplines and conventional school subjects, instil values and moral, provide dual language competency in English and Arabic and cultivate a culture of educational excellence as part of the policy framework to achieve its set purposes.

At the inception of the President Jonathan administration, he insisted that the Almajiri syndrome was responsible for the high level of insecurity and other social menace not only in the North but Nigeria in general. In fulfilment of his campaign pledge, he approved the construction of 400 Almajiri schools across the 18 Northern states which includes boarding school, Mallam’s Quarters, hostels, libraries, technical workshop, The initiative ICT centres and language laboratories, among others, was meant to while the present provide the administration is also designing the curriculum, Almajiri with provides textbooks and capacity building for teachers. conventional The pupils are expected to modern skills graduate into normal

conventional secondary school and move to acquire tertiary education later on. However, those who may not wish to acquire tertiary education will be able to fend for themselves and become useful to the society based on the vocational skills acquired in the school.

There is no gainsaying, that President Jonathan’s avowed determination to rid the Northern states of Almajiri is unprecedented.

Speaking at one of the inauguration ceremony at Gagi area of Sokoto metropolis then, the President said that “no nation can attain greatness if its youths, who are assets of future development are neglected. “ He said the initiative was meant to provide the Almajiri with conventional modern skills that will make them productive members of the society.

Nevertheless, the Sultan of Sokoto, who was also present at the auspicious occasion, drove home the point: “The way the Almajiri model school project was conceived and executed by the present administration, provides succour and relief to millions who had been left out of the conventional school system. In 2013, 125 Almajiri schools were built for removing these stranded kids from streets to classrooms. *Mr. Aigbegbele, is Media Adviser to Dame Jonathan.

50 —

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015— 51

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52—Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Ogun Students endorse Isiaka for governor •It cannot save you from looming defeat — Govt.

By Daud Olatunji

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NION leaders in 13 tertiary institutions in Ogun State have endorsed the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Prince Gboyega Isiaka as the next governor of the state in the coming election.

The students union leaders led by the Chairman of National Association of Nigerian Students, Ogun State chapter, Comrade Ahmed Falola lamented that the state-owned tertiary institutions have been abandoned by the present government in the state.

But, in a swift reaction, the state government said the purported endorsement would not safe the PDP from being defeated at the poll.

The commissioner for Information, Yusuph Olaniyonu said, the governor was still being loved by students in all the tertiary institutions in the state because if his achievements.

Isiaka was endorsed by the students at a ceremony organised by Goodluck and Gboyega Youth Network ,held in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital, featuring leaders of students Union governments both in the state-owned tertiary institutions and others such as Olabisi Onabanjo University, Tai Solarin University of Education, Abraham Adesanya Polytechnic, Ijebu-Igbo, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Cooperative College Ijeja, D.S Adegbenro Polytechnic, ICT Polytechnic, Saapade, Ogun State Institute of Technology, Igbesa, Federal College of Education, Osiele and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

Speaking in the presence of all the Students leaders in the state ,Falola , said “the Nigerian students all over the thirteen tertiary institutions together with their student union presidents, student union speakers and general secretary are here to endorse prince Gboyega Nasir Isiaka as the students gubernatorial candidate for the year 2015.

“We believe that the state government has failed in its responsibility and we believe the state government has enacted lots of callous policies which are very unbearable to the students. “ And thirdly, the nonpayment of bursary by the state government is something that is sympathetic and the situation we found ourselves is that we need to change the person in power to give a trial to someone who is a fresh breath of air in the state."

Former Vice President of NLC President , Comrade Isa Aremu (left) , Comrade Ajero Ajose (right) and others addressing journalists.

Children rescued from Boko Haram so traumatised they forgot their names

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HILDREN rescued from Boko Haram are so traumatized that they forgot native language and their names After years in a Boko Haram camp, the children had forgotten their native language.

They couldn’t even remember their names.

They just stared past Christopher Fomunyoh when he tried to engage them. It was a rare glimpse at the human toll left by the extremists who have been fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria and surrounding areas.

Fomunyoh, regional director at the Wa s h i n g t o n - b a s e d National Democratic Institute, visited the children recently at an orphanage in the city of Maroua in northern Cameroon. They had been rescued by the country ’s military in November from a squalid Boko Haram encampment near the border with Nigeria.

This is what he saw: One hundred children, aged 5 to 17, without shoes in an orphanage built for 20. Hard benches for sleeping. A shortage of rice. Boys who appeared to be speaking broken Arabic, rather than one of the many languages native to Cameroon.

“There was a blankness in their eyes,” he said.

Boko Haram is now

under siege by Nigerian and other African troops.

If the insurgents are pushed back, hundreds more children like these could soon be found. But what condition will they be in?

Fomunyoh and others working with the newly rescued children were left to unravel the mystery of what

happened to them. Were they fighters or merely students? How long had they been captive? How had they forgotten their names? Where were their parents?

No one knew. Last week, the small number of employees at the I n s t i t u t i o n Camerounaise de

L’enfance was focusing on teaching them how to count to 10 in French.

“Right now, there’s not full comprehension of the damage of this crisis,” said Fomunyoh, who is now trying to provide assistance to the children. “Even if kinetic operations were to end soon and Boko Haram was taken off the

battlefield, it would take years to really address consequences in humanitarian terms.”

In April 2014, Boko Haram grabbed the world’s attention when fighters abducted 200 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria. But it wasn’t the first time the group conducted a mass kidnapping.

Beware of Tinubu, Fayose warns North A

DO EKITI—EKITI State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has warned Northern Nigeria to beware of All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Bola Tinubu.

Fayose, who maintained that Tinubu was not honest in his support for the APC presidential candidate, Major General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd), added: “Knowing Buhari’s age, state of

health and mental capability, Tinubu is only using him to achieve his target of hi-jacking power from the North.

Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications

and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said: “A man who could sell out his own party candidates can sell out anyone given the right price and political gains.”

Boko Haram can't take a town in Niger —Minister

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OKO Haram are no longer in a position to seize a single town in Niger, a Niger government minister said on Saturday, following a regional effort to boost the fight against the Islamist group.

Thousands of troops from Niger and Chad, which had gathered in southeastern Niger, launched a major ground and air offensive against the Islamist group last Sunday and succeeded in retaking the northeastern Nigerian town of Damasak.

“The situation is totally under control. There is no

longer any chance that Boko Haram will take a city... The risks of attacks occurring are very much reduced by the elimination of all the potential actors,” Mohamed Bazoum, Niger’s Minister of State at the Presidency, said during a visit to Ivory Coast.

“It’s a feeling of total calmness that prevails with the idea that Boko Haram is rather a thing of the past,” he said.

He said the situation was a far cry from the “real, totally irrational panic” that had gripped Niger after the first attack by the Nigeria-based

Boko Haram on its neighbour in early February.

More than 13,000 people have been killed and some 1.5 million made homeless in the Boko Haram conflict since 2009, while recent crossborder attacks launched from Boko Haram strongholds in Nigeria on neighbouring countries have increased security fears.

A regional coalition has claimed a series of successes in rebel-held territory in recent weeks, as part of an operation to clear and control northeast Nigeria in time for Nigeria’s general elec-

tions set for March 28.

There has not been a Boko Haram attack reported in Niger for nearly two weeks.

Regional forces have been particularly active in the Gamboru area of Nigeria on the border with Cameroon. The borders of Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon converge in the region around Lake Chad.

Last week’s joint NigerChad offensive that retook Damasak came the day after the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS).

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015—53

Media, politics and nation building Being a paper presented by Prof. Pat Utomi at the lecture marking the establishment of Anambra Staqte Broadcasting Service

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By Pat Utomi

EDIA, politics and nation building: I am honoured and quite pleased to be asked to give the lecture marking the establishment of Anambra Broadcasting Service.

I am quite sure why Uche Nworah and his team targeted me for this role. I wonder if it is because I am an in-law, having been gifted with a very dear wife from Anambra, or because I was, as they say, the first nonAnambra person by birth to become a ‘member’ indeed a ‘founding member ’ of the League of Anambra Professionals.

One rumour about why I was invited is that Anambra is attempting continuous extracting of bride price. I must admit it is a demand I am pleased to meet given that the wife Anambra people were gracious to allow me take has been a great blessing.

If after 30 years of marriage, you look 30 years old, and lift the spirit like a bunch of 300 roses, paying additional bride price should be welcome.

But further rumours suggest it may be related to my multidisciplinary back-ground that includes a mass communication degree and discipline implicated in Nigeria’s current troubles, policy Economics, Political Science and

PAT UT OMI UTOMI Business Administration.

I do hope that whatever the reason, those antecedents bring some value to the conversation.

Surely one thing that background brings, from the fact that my very first publication in an international academic journal of some prestige, the Dutch Journal Gazette, in 1981, was titled “HistoricalPhilosophical Foundation of Government Ownership of Newspapers in Nigeria'' is familiarity with the turf . No one doubts that ownership is a critical part of the role media has played in the evolution of media impact on politics and Nation building.

I have chosen, in reflecting on the times, to speak to the role of the media in Nation Building

and the effect of how it reports politics with consequence for nation-building. It is fortuitous that as I was about to start putting down my thought on this subject, Dr. Tom Adaba, pioneer DirectorGeneral of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission published a scathing critique of how the media has handled the uncivil campaigning that has marked the 2015 elections campaigns: He was evidently quite upset that the media betrayed lack of social responsibility and poor gate keeping. The lambast came as the postponement of the elections were announced, simultaneously triggering higher levels of tension and capping the pressure in a great paradox of Nigeria on the brink.

Great paradox For me though the damage is significantly done, effort can be made to reduce the extent of damage. The amount of hate messaging in the air is enough to poison ethnic, regional and faith relations in a way that will make living together and governing difficult for generations. Why politicians who claim to lead, do such damage, puzzles me. But how media do not know some of these politicians are either too ignorant to truly realize the damage they are doing or too desperate to know better, should bend themselves to be so used calls for indictment even more damning than Tom Adaba’s trashing critic.

I wish again to point to Rwanda and the call on radio to cut down the tall tree in the expectation that leadership would better appreciate the impact of hate speech. It is frightening, therefore, that incumbents seem to have done more to stoke divisive politics that can stoke hate that lasts generations and that the NBC could not act because incumbents were deeply involved. If opposition acts foolishly, incumbents should know better because the real burden of leading imposed certain responsibility, which is why incumbent US Presidents, besides the self-interest of ‘acting Presidential’ tend to deploy the so called Rose Garden Strategy.

The media has additional accountability as the fourth estate of the realm, that may surpass that of a wayfarer who stumbles into public office as a result of rigging. Besides, serious

journalists are typically better informed than politicians and it should be easier for them to tell the people what similar conduct as we are currently having did to Kenya. It has taken Kenya a good six years to begin to recover from that election. Is anybody’s personal claim to power worth that much damage to the soul of a nation? Could the media have prevented us from getting to this edge. That surely depends on what you think of media influence, what it takes to build a harmonious and prosperous nation, and how the media is oriented to playing its role in Nation Building. So how does the media exert influence?

Media influence: Understanding how media influences society is an enterprise that is generations old, beginning largely around elections behaviour surveys early in the 20th century. Back then ideas around media influence suggested a powerful media that literally determined society’s orientation. The underpinning theory, the Hypodermic Needle thesis, hypothesized that like injection delivered medicine to a receptive blood system, the media administered reality to audience. But this thesis was shown the ‘lie’ card when powerful newspapers like the New York Times would endorse candidates who went on to lose the elections.

The media influence paradigm of that moment yielded ground, in the face of evidence, to a new one which saw media influence from the perspective of opinion leaders mediating media influence, the so called two step flow of communication. This paradigm which asserted the superior place of opinion leaders produced the hypothesis of two step flow of communication and then the multiple step mediation from media to social action. This view of media influence would increasingly give way to views that suggest media influence

If the media feature crooks, celebrate corrupt people or promote 419 people, the failure of the gatekeeping function there makes such people role models

Anambra State came from its agenda setting function.

Since so much happens in the world, and only a few of these occurrences enter our consciousness, and a fewer still dominate our consideration, the gate keeping function of the media allow it to set the agenda.

In the sense, therefore that the media help us, or decide for us what is important, media has great influence. So if media have influence, what suggests the direction in which they deploy this influence regarding politics and nation building.

Economics of media survival As many have found economics of media survival, the nature of ownership of media, and the organizational challenges of the media enterprise including the human capital element are critical for media influence. Also valuable thesis in the evolution of media theory from which our media like Anambra Broadcasting has an accounting is the status conferral function of the media, the thesis suggests, confer status.

People seen in media get a bit of hallo. The prestige, best noted in the fact of the public assuming newscasters on TV to be well-of celebrities being shocked to see them in those days when they could be level nine civil servants scratching out an existence, means that those seen in media quickly became role models.

So if the media feature crooks, celebrate corrupt people or promote 419 people, the failure of the gatekeeping function there makes such people role models.

The current collapse of culture in the country, especially noted in some of the values in today’s southeast can be significantly traced to media access to people who should not make it into media for their ways without editorial commentary on what they represent.

That failure of the media has affected what the young value.

Part of it is heard in the clichéd saying that the gorgeousness of the man flows from his pocket (nma nwoke di na akpa ya).

For us to fully appreciate the direction of media choice and how these affect the direction of human progress in Nigeria, it should be profitable to interrogate

a framework for understanding economic growth which was first offered in my 2006 book, Why Nations Are Poor. The Growth D r i v e r s Framework crystallized from a desire to develop a more h o l i s t i c framework for understanding why some countries thrive and others incline towards misery.

The growth d r i v e r ’ s framework was the core tool of my 2006 book, Why Nations are Poor.

It grew out of two challenges. In 1998 I had published a book, Managing Uncertainty: Competition and Strategy in Emerging Economies, which essentially looked at how competitive strategies of firms were shaped by uncertainty in the environment and how institutions reduce uncertainty.

Its focus was mainly on the micro levels response to choices at the macro terrain. In 2006 I sought to show how factors shape that macro arena that firms respond to.

The second influencing source was trying to better explain the frustration African leaders face in following prescriptions by multilaterals. I had gone to the Southern African summit of the World Economic Forum as contribution to the Africa Competitiveness Report. The team, led by Jeffrey Sachs wanted to make the leaders sensitive to factors affecting the Competitiveness of their Economies.

Sustainable human progress One of the questions asked by one of the Southern African leaders showed me clearly how important it was to move away from analysis of change for progress that was unicausal. The outcome was a framework of interdependent sets of variables that I thought resulted in sustainable human progress.

These are policy choices, institutions, human capital, Entrepreneurship, culture and leadership. I doubt that progress is possible where we fail on most of these counts, but quite central is culture, because values shape human progress, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s Two Truths’ emphasize and the Harvard colloquium on it, illustrates. The pervasive impact of culture and institutions on progress are ultimately affected by how leaders set the tone of culture.

Leadership failure, compounded by the problem of citizenship can be very easily seen as the reason the promise of Nigeria has dropped to the level of paradise deferred. Until people in power recognize that leadership is other – centered behaviour and think less of self, beyond a place in Continues on page 55

54—Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Lamido pressured to grant hate interview against Buhari

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

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The Concerned professionals on the forthcoming election Being text of a statement at a world press conference organised by concerned Nigerian Professionals and Entrepreneurs Forum for the 2015 general elections in Lagos

By Emeka Ugwu-Oju Introduction: It is pertinent to reiterate that, the Concerned Nigerian Professionals and Entrepreneurs Forum on the 2015 Presidential Election is a group of Nigerian professionals and entrepreneurs in diverse fields totally concerned about a successful and violence-free election that must advance the interest of the teeming population of Nigerians especially as the relevant issues are concerned.

Violence free election We need to reiterate that we are a non-partisan group. However, we see ourselves not only as a civil society group but also as a critical stakeholder group with an interest in and a right to intervene in matters that concern the life, well being and development of our fatherland, Nigeria. In that wise, we have a stake in the rescheduled March 2015 elections. And the stakes remain very high indeed.

As a way of futhering our mission, we have planned seven town-hall meetings in the six geopolitical zones and a national town-hall meeting in Abuja. The zonal town hall meetings will hold simultaneously on March 15, 2015 at various locations whilst the national town hall meeting will hold on March 19, 20, 2015. Representatives of the two major political parties, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other stakeholders are expected at the zonal town hall meetings whilst the two major presidential candidates of the two major political parties, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) are expected at the national town hall meeting.

At both the zonal town hall meetings and the national town hall meeting, critical issues will be distilled first from the manifestoes of the two political parties and from the proceedings of the zonal town hall meetings (contributions from stakeholders) and later presented to the larger Nigerian public. The presidential candidates will address those issues at the national town hall meeting either together or separately.

The issues: The following issues have been distilled as the critical issues that matter most to the electorate and we shall make bold to address them point by point.

We believe that the campaigns of the two major political parties

and their presidential candidates have not sufficiently addressed the issues to guide or enable the electorate to make the right choices. Therefore, our intervention is crucial at this juncture as a means to redirect the electioneering campaigns to focus on the relevant issues. It is amazing that the campaigns have centred on personal attacks without improving even with the best of exhortations from different concerned groups. We have been in the vanguard of advocating for issue-based campaigns and we will continue to drum up this because it is the best way to go.

•The fundamental change in the dynamics of the global oil market (guaranteed average low oil price for the foreseeable future ) and the negative implication for a mono product economy: It is necessary that we remind the political parties and their candidates that the shift in the dynamics of the global oil market resulting in the volatility in the foreign exchange market and consequent down-turn in the economy will be here with us for some time to come.

Comprehensive report We would like the candidates to address how they intend to tackle this issue.

•Restructuring/creation of a fair, just and equitable federation: We have had a national conference which, over a period of five months, deliberated on various sticky issues that bother on the Nigerian question. The conference came up with a comprehensive report, including a set of distilled issues that form the basis for a brand new constitution. What remains to be done is the implementation of the conference recommendations. How the candidates intend to implement the report or whether they will muster the political will to implement the report is important to the electorate.

Representatives of the two major political parties, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other stakeholders are expected at the zonal town hall meetings

President Goodluck Jonathan

Gen. Muhammadu Buhari •Reduction in cost of governance at the federal, state and local government level: Recently, there was a mini conference online amongst our members focusing on the cost of governance and the consensus reached was the urgent need for drastic reduction in the cost of governnace to free up resources for capital investment reqiured to provide enabling enviroment for faster economic growth.

•Transiting from an oil income sharing to a wealth creating economy: The situation as of today is that there are little or no incentives to professionals and entrepreneurs for wealth creation. What has happened is that there is almost absolute dependence on revenues from oil and gas which account for about 90% of the country’s revenue and these revenues are controlled by the government, which also allocates or shares same. This is what accounts for the struggle to get into government by Nigerians because it is in government that people can attain sudden and unmerited wealth. Even professionals and entrepreneurs scramble for the largesse from government. So, how the candidates intend to stem this trend is also important for the electorate.

•Security of lives and property: Many Nigerians may have forgotten that there was a time the South South and South East geopolitical zones were ravaged by kidnappings and abductions that almost ruined the economy of both zones. This was the equivalent of what we call insurgency today in the North East. Kidnapping has not been tamed totally given the recent experience of the kidnapping of an octogenarian foreign missionary in Kogi Sate.

•Unemployment: The issue of unemployment of youths in particular is a tinder box waiting to explode. With all the best efforts so far to tame this monster, the question of unemployment remains a critical issue that requires a drastic solution, which has remained more of a mirage.

BUJA—ALL Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation, APCPCO, Sunday, said that Jigawa State Governor, Mr. Sule Lamido, has been pressured by the Federal Government to grant a hate interview against its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.

APCPCO said the interview was the only requirement needed from Governor Lamido to ease off the pressure of arrest and prosecution of his son by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, the Director, Media and Publicity Unit of the campaign organisation, Mallam Shehu Garba told Journalists that Lamido’s interview was aired on Federal Radio Cooperation of Nigeria, FRCN. Garba said that Lamido’s message was to tell the North that Buhari when elected president, his running mate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo will be in charge, adding, “We just got information that all FRCN stations have been directed to link up for a live interview to be granted by Gov Sule Lamido of Jigawa State. The contents of the interview as agreed with VP Namadi Sambo and President Jonathan are to essentially damage GMB along the following lines: “GMB will be a figurehead while Osinbajo will be the de facto president. He will give examples of GMB’s leadership style mentioning Idiagbon (COS-SHQ) and Salihijo (PTF).

“This situation he will claim is

unfair to the North as the South-West will be indirectly getting another term of office as president in addition to the Obasanjo years, so Northerners should not be deceived into voting APC.” Garba reminded the public especially Lamido’s audience that the Governor has never worked with Buhari to know his leadership styles, querying when Lamido became the spokesman of Northern Nigeria. “A few things we will like to point to Governor Lamido’s audience members include: Lamido had been pressured to do the interview because of the EFCC pressure on his sons’ corruption charges. Lamido has never worked near or with GMB to know his leadership style.

Those working closely with him in the APC know otherwise.

“When did Lamido become a spokesman for the North?

What did he and other Jonathan apologists negotiate for the North as the South West has been doing with Jonathan in the last two weeks? Of the millions of the US Dollars that Jonathan has allegedly been sharing to traditional and religious leaders in the SouthWest, how much of it did Lamido negotiate and obtain on behalf of the Northern traditional and religious leaders? As a self appointed Northern interest spokesman, what is his response to the pejorative references made by Mrs. Patience Jonathan about Northerners?” Garba queried.

Na‘abba resigns from PDP •Says PDP is headed for self-destruction

By Abdulsalam Muhammad

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ANO— Accusing President Goodluck Jonathan of leading a wobbling and tumbling government populated by characters of easy virtue, former speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Na‘abba, yesterday, resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. While accusing the president of reducing governance to an abysmal level that has in turn made Nigeria a laughing stock in the comity of nations, Na’abba affirmed that the ruling party is irredeemable and headed for selfdestruction. He particularly took offence at the party’s measurement of loyalty which according to him has put unprincipled members as moulders of party and government policy.

Na‘abba was speaker of the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2003 during which time he had a testy relations with President Olusegun Obasanjo. His bid for re-election to the House failed in 2003 and an attempt to contest the

governorship ticket of the party in Kano State in 2011 failed. He was, however, still regarded as an associate of President Jonathan upon which he became a subject of attack during the post-election violence in 2011.

His letter dated March 15, 2015 and copied to the chairman of the PDP Sharada ward in Kano Municipal local government was titled “Notification of Resignation from PDP, each organs and committees” was copied to the chairman PDP Kano State, chairman PDP North West Zone, chairman PDP national headquarters, and chairman PDP Board of Trustees.

Na’aba’s letter reads “You are no doubt aware of the abysmal level to which the leadership of our great Country under President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party have reduced governance to, as a result of which our great Party has been losing its sons and daughters including so many of its founding fathers and members by the day.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015—55

You can’t trust elections Boko Haram: Convicted soldiers should be released

By Femi Falana, SAN WITH the support of the multinational force drawn from neighbouring countries the Nigerian armed forces have carried out successful operations against the satanic Boko Haram sect in the last couple of weeks. In the process, the terrorists have been dislodged from many of the towns and villages in the north east region illegally seized and occupied by them since last year. Although the war on terror has not been fully won, the armed forces and the Federal Government deserve commendation for the success recorded so far in the task of restoring the territorial integrity of the country. With the recent acquisition of vital weapons for the armed forces by the Federal Government it is undoubtedly clear that the troops have been mobilized and motivated to discharge the constitutional duty of defending Nigeria from the forces of internal insurrection and external aggression.

In view of the disclosure by the Federal Government that it has just acquired FEMI FALANA, SAN adequate equipment for the armed forces and invited foreign instructors to train the soldiers on the use of the equipment the officers and soldiers who had consistently demanded for weapons to fight the war have been vindicated. Therefore, the military authorities ought to discontinue the ongoing trial of officers and soldiers and set free the 70 soldiers who were convicted and sentenced to death for mutiny by two courts-martial which sat in Abuja last year. Since the alleged offence of mutiny arose from the legitimate demand of the convicted soldiers for adequate weapons to fight the rag

tag army of the Boko Haram sect the basis of their conviction and sentence can no longer be justified. In the alternative, the army authorities should conclude the case of the convicted soldiers without ant further delay.

It would be recalled that 12 of the soldiers were convicted in September while the 58 others were convicted in December last year. Since then, the army authorities have neither allowed the convicts any access to their family members and lawyers nor compiled and transmitted the record of proceedings of the courts-martial to the Chief of Army Staff for the purpose of confirming or varying the conviction and death sentences imposed on the soldiers. This has delayed the promulgation of the findings and denied the convicts the opportunity to challenge the verdicts of the courts-martial at the Court of Appeal.

As if that is not enough, the army authorities have detained the convicts incommunicado in underground cells in a military guardroom in Apapa, in Lagos State instead of committing them to prison as required by the Armed Forces Act. In the light of the foregoing we call on the Chief of Army Staff as the confirming authority to confirm or vary the conviction and sentences passed on the soldiers by the courts-martial. Owing to the inexplicable delay in the confirmation or variation of the conviction and sentences the soldiers involved have not been able to file their appeal at the Court of Appeal in line with section 183 of the Armed Forces Act (Cap 20) a Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 which stipulates that :"Subject to the provisions of this Part, an appeal shall lie from decisions of a court-martial to the Court of Appeal with the leave of the Court of Appeal: Provided that, an appeal as aforesaid shall lie as of right without the leave of the Court of Appeal from any decision of a court-martial involving sentence of death."

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By Owei Lakemfa

OU cannot trust elections. At least not entirely. My first awareness about elections was when as a kid, I was told the story of how Jews were asked to vote between setting free Jesus Christ or Barabbas, a robber and murderer. Barabbas won that election by a landslide! Adolf Hitler who is portrayed in many books as evil, did not seize power; his Nazi Party won the German elections of 1932. He was democratically elected. Belarus President, Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko is portrayed as another Hitler, but he wins all elections by an average 80 percent with about 90 percent electoral turn out.

Al Gore won the popular votes in the 2000 American elections, and in all probability, the electoral votes. This was before Florida was awarded to George W. Bush. I have often wondered if the world would not have been a safer place with a Gore Presidency which might not have invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. Nicolai Ceausescu won all the elections in Rumania before he was seized in 1989 and summarily executed with his wife. Hosni Mubarak of Egypt often won over 80 percent of the vote before a 2011 uprising unseated him. The same was the case of Ferdinand Marcus of the Philippines in 1986. Blaise Campore was Bourkina Fasso President for twenty seven years. He and his Congress for Democracy And Progress party won an average two thirds of votes. The people, realizing that the ballot paper was not strong enough to remove him, did so with sticks and stones.

The reality is that democracy, which elections are supposed to produce, is like a soup dish; it depends on the OWEI LAKEMFA ingredients used.

While for many, winning majority votes and term limits are essential, the British do without them. All the Prime Minister needs, is to win a seat and be appointed by the Monarch; so long as he enjoys the confidence of the House of Commons, he can remain in office for as long as Queen Elizabeth has remained on the throne.

In fact, elections in most cases, is not about ‘democracy’ but the tyranny of the majority groups. That is why after over three

Media, politics and nation building Continues from page 53 history, we may continue to be challenged. Stephen R Covey does well to remind us of two dimensions that must be present for effectiveness in leadership, knowledge and a sense of service. If you look in Nigeria you generally find both knowledge and a sense of service severely in short supply in the class of typical power welders in Nigeria. Poor performance is therefore understandable. This is actually compounded by a progressively anti – intellectual disposition of the political actors.

Media and nation building: The Growth Drivers framework shows us that in advancing the quality of policy choice, moderating contending voices in a manner that result in boundaries that become institutions, the media advance the possibilities of progress because institutions, as Hernando De Soto persuasively argues in the mystery of capital, advance the material possibilities for man. But where the narrative is one of impunity, as has been that of our recent history, our institution atrophy, and society’s progress remains putative, just potential.

Indeed the framework suggests to us

the importance of human capital for growth and development yet if you look at how the media sets the agenda, Nigeria politics is decidedly antiintellectual, often the extant narrative points Nigeria in a direction of uncompetitiveness.

With Entrepreneurship, you can see an increasing understanding of its importance. Yet the kinds of institutional frameworks that Rhagiram Rajan and Luigi Zingales promote in the book, Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists, have not received concerted push from the media.

Entitlement mentality The big Gorilla in the room here is culture. Values shape human progress.

But we have witnessed a collapse of culture in Nigeria. The dominant ethos are of an entitlement mentality and instant gratification.

Also rife in the culture is corruption and abuse of position of authority for vendetta, ethnic and nepotistic motives and cronyism. All of these shoot progress in the foot. While media remains vibrant in Nigeria it has not systematically

campaigned to end such elements of the collapse of culture. In my experience the media is handicapped in this regard by low levels of professionalism, poor economics of its business model and the nature of its ownership.

The matter of professionalism, affected by the training of journalists, the ethics of practice and quality of the people that enter the profession as well as their sense of self worth and mission. The street wisdom, with all the talk of Brown envelopes, exaggerated as they may sometimes be, indicate low levels of professionalism.

Equally challenging is the economics of media. Many newspapers and Television stations run on models that do not allow for enough income for the right levels of investment to get the job done well. Late salaries, and limitation in resourcing tools of the trade, invariably result in poor performance. I tell the story of how a major American newspaper was following up on the Halliburton scandal in Nigeria and a reporter told me he was given a budget of $100,000.00 to nail Dick Cheney, the then VicePresident. I can only imagine of who could receive such a budget to close a story here.

centuries, Scotland held a failed referendum to take a walk out of the United Kingdom. In Africa, Tanzania is one country that consistently votes for candidates more on merit than where they come from. In contemporary history, the defunct Soviet Union was the main country where Joseph Stalin, a candidate from a tiny part of the country, Georgia, was consistently voted into power.

In most cases where candidates from minority groups have won elections, it had often been accidents of history; what might be called accidental discharge. These were the cases in Nigeria where President Musa Yar’Adua died and was replaced by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, and Ethiopia where Prime Minister Meles Zenawi passed on and Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalgn took over. Both men went on to consolidate their hold on power.

There is a myth that elections can fix national problems; if it can, Belgium would not continue to be on the brink of a break up nor Ukraine in a civil war. Elections cannot today ensure reconciliation in Libya, Syria or Yemen. The fact is that elections are about vested interests and access to power.

In many climes, elections are actually wars fought on the streets and polling stations. In such countries, there are mass movement of people migrating to where they consider safer areas. Even political parties and candidates who agree theoretically, that elections are about campaigns and free choice, sometimes, sign peace agreements to shun violence and maintain the peace. This is however, no guarantee that they will not engage in violence the next moment.

Engaging in violence There is the question; in elections what primarily do you vote for; the individual, party or principle? In countries like Kenya and Nigeria where politicians flow easily amongst parties, it will be difficult to keep tab of the parties they belong.

In many elections, the first casualty is the truth. The national coffers is another casualty, with large chunks of resources voted for the conduct of elections. The cost of holding elections are often so high that some countries seek loans or external funding. In some cases, affluent countries assist poor countries to fund elections. The ultimate outcome of such elections, would be in favour of the investing countries.

There is often the talk about “free and fair’ elections. But in a general sense, is this possible in a world where the rich has all the advantages, and the poor, all the disadvantages? You cannot hold a reasonable discussion with a hungry person or expect him to make a rational choice in elections. The presence of hunger in an electoral process cannot lead to democracy.

Again, I have often wondered what court or tribunal you can drag a politician who reneges on his electoral promises. Somebody can argue that there is a right to recall. The question is, at what cost, and who bares such cost?

In many countries, this right is a myth embedded in the constitution or some electoral law. Elections are a means, not an end in themselves; they are supposed to be for life, and not what citizens should kill or die for. The ‘Wetie’ crisis in Western Nigeria which led to the declaration of a state of emergency from 1962-63, flowed from elections.

Eventually, the Western Region crisis engulfed the country leading to the 1966 coup, a civil war and decades of military rule. Elections are like rain; even if they are accompanied by lightening and thunder storms, they will come and go. But our country must remain.

56 — VANGUARD, MONDAY, MARCH 16 , 2015

Jeffrey Williams arrested over Ferguson police shooting

Iraqi offensive on Tikrit stalled for third day

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SLAMIC State fighters traded sniper fire and mortar rounds with Iraqi troops and allied Shi’ite militia forces yesterday in the city of Tikrit amid reports the militants had used chlorine as a chemical weapon elsewhere in the country earlier this year.

A military official returned from the front in Tikrit said no major advances were made by either side nearly two weeks into an operation to win back the city IS fighters seized last June.

Iraqi Kurdish authorities said on Saturday they had proof the radical Islamist militants occupying large parts of the country’s north and west used chlorine against Kurdish peshmerga fighters in January in a car bombing attempt west of the city of Mosul.

The Baghdad government has not issued a statement on the semiautonomous Kurdish region’s announcement. An official reached by Reuters on Sunday declined to comment.

But the mayor of a town on the northern edge of Tikrit told Reuters that

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Members of Iraqi security forces ride on a vehicle as they make their way from Samarra to the outskirts of Tikrit, north of Baghdad recently. storage containers filled with chlorine were found by troops and mainly Shi’ite militiamen when they entered al-Alam last week,

the day before they fought their way into Tikrit.

“We found a number of storage units containing chlorine that we think were seized by Daesh from water

purification stations in different parts of Tikrit,” Laith al-Jubouri said, using the Arabic acronym for the group.

Ukraine’s president says truce not working, urges more sanctions on Russia

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K R A I N E ’ s president accused Russian-backed separatists in the east of failing to respect a ceasefire with Ukrainian troops and

called for further sanctions on Russia in comments to a German newspaper to be published today.

Attacks have become less frequent since the latest ceasefire came into force in

on Syria’s regime to hold new peace talks, saying “ we have to negotiate in the end” with Mr Assad.

More than 215,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the conflict.

“We are working very hard with other interested parties to see if we can re-ignite a diplomatic outcome,” Mr

view in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

He told CBS News the US was working with the moderate opposition in Syria as well as pursuing a diplomatic track with “a number of different critical players in this tragedy”.

“Everybody agrees there is no military solution; there’s only a political solution,” he said."

mid-February, but both sides accuse each other of violations. Ukraine’s military said last week that pro-Russian rebels were using the truce to amass heavy weapons.

An agreement signed in Minsk in September called with the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line.

“Ukraine has fulfilled every single point of the Minsk agreement. The ceasefire has been implemented immediately on our part, but the Russian fighters have done the exact opposite,” Petro Poroshenko told the Bild newspaper.

“Every day, there is shooting from the Russian side, often more than 60 times a day."

Protesters demand President Rousseff’s impeachment

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From right: US Secretary of State, John Kerry and President Bashar al-Assad

British teens face terror charges

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HREE teenagers, at least two of them British, are in custody at a central London police station after being stopped

by Turkish authorities as they attempted to travel to Syria, London police yesterday.

man has been arrested in connection with the shooting of two policemen in the troubled city of Ferguson.

Jeffrey Williams, 20, has been charged with two counts of assault and gun violations.

The police officers were wounded when shots were fired at them during a protest on Thursday night.

Ferguson has been a flashpoint for race relations following the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in August 2014.

Giving details of the arrest, County Prosecutor Robert McCulloh said Mr Williams had admitted to his “participation in firing the shots”, but added, “it was not certain if he had been targeting police.”

The prosecutor said that Mr Williams claimed he fired the shots from a car in a dispute with other unidentified individuals.

Deadly blasts hit Pakistan churches in Lahore

Syria conflict: Kerry pushes for new community Kerry said in an internegotiations international was mounting pressure

S Secretary of State John Kerry says he wants to “ re-ignite” negotiations with President Bashar alAssad to end the conflict in Syria.

Speaking as the war enters its fifth year, Mr Kerry said it was “one of the worst tragedies any of us have seen”.

He said the

A

Two were 17-year-old boys from northwest London who had gone missing, a Metropolitan Police news release said.

They were traveling with a 19-year-old, the release said, without providing additional information on the man.

ORE than a million Brazilians have joined demonstrations demanding President Dilma Rousseff ’s impeachment.

The protesters say the president must have known about a corruption scandal which has engulfed Brazil’s stateowned oil company, Petrobras.

The political opposition says much of the alleged bribery took place when she was head of the company.

But Ms Rousseff has been exonerated in an investigation by the

attorney general and denies involvement.

Most of the politicians accused of taking bribes in a kickback scheme come from the governing coalition.

Protests have taken place across 22 Brazilian states and the federal capital, Brasilia.

The largest demonstration went ahead in Sao Paulo, attracting more than 500,000 people.

Many of the protesters waved Brazilian flags and wore the yellow shirts of the national football team.

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WO bomb blasts have killed at least 14 people near two churches in a Christian neighbourhood of the Pakistani city of Lahore, local officials say.

More than 70 people were hurt in the explosions, which targeted worshippers attending Sunday mass at the churches in the Youhanabad area.

Violent protests erupted after the blasts, with a mob killing two men accused of involvement in the attacks.

Pakistan’s Christian community has often been targeted by militants.

An offshoot of the Pakistan Taliban, calling itself Jamatul Ahrar, has said it carried out the attack.

Witnesses say suicide bombers were responsible for the explosions but police have not confirmed this.

Ebola: 11 Americans return from Sierra Leone

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LEVEN Americans are being flown back to the United States as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigates the possibility they might have been exposed to Ebola in Sierra Leone.

The number could change as the investigation continues, Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the CDC, told CNN at the weekend.

The news comes one day after an American health care worker who came down with Ebola while volunteering in West Africa arrived at a National Institutes of Health hospital for treatment, the NIH said. “(The) CDC and the State Department are facilitating the return of additional American citizens who had potential exposure to the index patient or exposures similar to those that resulted in the infection of the index patient,” the CDC said in a written statement.

Stunt planes crash in Malaysia amidst upcoming show

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pair of Indonesian military jets crashed yesterday in Langkawi, Malaysia, after they collided during a practice session for an upcoming airshow, Malaysia’s official Bernama news service reported.

The report did not mention deaths or injuries.

The two jets, part of Indonesia’s military aerobatic team, clipped each other head-on while passing the airport at high speed. At least three videos purportedly of the crash appeared on social media.

One plane could be seen bursting into flames, and it appeared two parachutes opened behind that plane, as it plummeted to the ground.

One witness told Bernama that at least one of the pilots’ was able to eject from the crashing plane with a parachute, while another witness said that a plane crashed into a nearby home, setting it on fire.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 — 57

Vanguard CLASSIFIED O N W U Z O — I , formerly known and addressed as Miss Onwuzo Ifeyinwa Veronica, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Owalla Ifeyinwa Veronica. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

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Court decision's deepens Ivory Coast opposition rift T

HE conviction of expresident Laurent Gbagbo’s allies for their role in the violence that followed the 2011 election in Ivory Coast has deepened a rift in his party that risks canonicalizing hardliners ahead of polls this year in the world’s top cocoa grower, analysts say.

The widening divisions between moderate and hardline factions of Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) — Ivory Coast’s only major opposition party — are likely Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagto bolster incumbent bo President Alassane Ouatcal landscape, so the only Ouattara in a run-off in tara’s chances of reelecoption we have is violence late 2010. tion in the ballot expectto make ourselves Former first lady Simoed in October. heard,’” said Lori-Anne ne Gbagbo and two seHowever, the rift could Theroux-Benoni, director nior military officers were also contribute to reof the Institute for Secu- jailed for 20 years for their newed instability in Ivority Studies’ West Africa role in the violence, in ry Coast, which, despite office. which around 3,000 peoits recent history of politVerdicts were an- ple were killed. ical turmoil, is seen by nounced on Tuesday in Among others receivinvestors as one of Afrithe trial of 83 Gbagbo al- ing lesser sentences were ca’s rising stars. lies accused of offences Pascal Affi N’Guessan “If the hardliners are committed during the and Aboudramane Sansidelined, they are just brief civil war sparked by gare, the leaders of the going to say ‘There’s no the ex-president’s refus- two rival factions fighting place for us on the politial to accept his defeat to for control of the FPI and Gbagbo’s

Sierra Leone vice president seeks asylum in U.S

S

Sierra Leone’s Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana

IERRA Leone’s Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana said he had requested asylum at the U.S. embassy in Freetown after soldiers surrounded his residence on Saturday following his expulsion from the ruling party last week.

Sam-Sumana was expelled from President Ernest Bai Koroma’s All People’s Congress (APC)

S/African minister Chabane killed in car crash IKEJA OFFICE: TRINITY MALL, 79/81 OBAFEMI AWOLOWO WAY, BETWEEN ZENITH & DIAMOND BANKS, IKEJA. CALL 08035449960, 07031322957

S

OUTH African cabinet minister Collins Chabane and two security personnel were killed in a car crash yesterday, President Jacob Zuma said.

Chabane, 54, was minister of Public Service and Administration and a member of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee.

“We are deeply shocked and saddened by this untimely death of an outstanding cadre of our liberation struggle and a competent, accomplished and depend-

able member of my cabinet,” Zuma said in a statement.

The three were killed when their car collided with a truck in Polokwane, 350 km (220 miles) north of Johannesburg, the president’s office said.

party after an investigation accused him of creating his own rival political movement and fomenting violence in his home region of Kono, in diamond-rich eastern Sierra Leone.

He has denied the allegations - which also included charges of lying about his academic credentials and his Muslim faith - and rejected calls for him to resign.

His expulsion from the party has stirred confusion as Sierra Leone’s 1991 constitution only allows the dismissal of the vice president with the vote of two-thirds of parliament, but it does require the office holder to belong to a political party.

Zambia’s president recovering after surgery in S/Africa

Z

AMBIA’s new President Edgar Lungu has undergone surgery in a South African hospital to correct a narrowing of the oesophagus which caused him to fall ill a week ago, his

spokesman said.

Lungu underwent “a medical procedure” on Friday and he was expected to be discharged from the Pretoria hospital later on Saturday, spokesman Amos Chanda said in a statement.

58—Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

DOLLARS FOR MONARCHS: APC also guilty — PDP

By Dapo Akinrefon, Gbenga Oke & Monsuru Olowoopejo

M

IXED REEACTIONS yesterday trailed the allegations that some traditional rulers from the South-West were financially induced with foreign currencies by President Goodluck Jonathan during recent visits to the zone.

While some leaders traced the allegation to the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, with the claim that the APC was equally involved in inducing leading monarchs, Governor Babatunde Fashola on his part affirmed that the money allegedly received by the monarchs could change the face of infrastructure in any state.

Leaders from the South-West, who vented their anger over the allegation included Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue, Senator Femi Okurounmu, National Publicity secretary of the Pan-Yoruba sociocultural group, Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin; National Coordinator of Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Otunba Gani Adams and the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. It is a cheap propaganda — Ayo Adebanjo Reacting, Adebanjo described the allegation as cheap propaganda, saying the accused monarchs cannot be easily bought over.

The Afenifere chieftain said: “I believe those that have been accused should refute the allegations because I do not want to allow anyone to use me.

"However, I think the story is cheap propaganda because this is not the first time such stories will be flying around.

"I want to believe the Yoruba traditional rulers are not that

cheap. But if the traditional rulers are that saleable, that is their own problems and not mine. All I can say is that the man who brought me into politics can vouch for me that I won’t get involved in such things.”

APC is worried over Jonathan’s popularity in S/West — Femi Okurounmu On his part, Senator Okurounmu, who was a delegate to the National Conference accused the APC of being behind the publication.

According to him: “Bola Tinubu has stretched his tentacles but they are seriously worried that President Jonathan is reaching out to Yoruba leaders in the SouthWest. Tinubu had concluded he has the control of the South-West; he has seen the South-West as his birthright.

I believe strongly that nothing is wrong with President Jonathan reaching out to Afenifere, the traditional rulers and other sections of the Yoruba.”

Our traditional institutions are sacred —Afenifere Afenifere spokesperson, Mr. Odumakin said traditional institutions should not be dragged into the murky mud of politics.

He said: “I think there is a deliberate attempt to desecrate and undermine our traditional institutions, but it should not be allowed. They can go on laying claims that Obas collected money without pictorial facts, I don’t think that is good journalism, it is not good.

"Our traditional institutions are sacred and no one should be allowed to disparage our monarchs all in the name of politics.”

Opposition should stop misleading Nigerians —Gani Adams National Coordinator of the OPC, Otunba Adams said the opposition should stop misleading Nigerians by presenting falsehood.

He said: “I think the APC should be careful in their attempt

to rubbish our traditional institutions. Politicians visiting monarchs is not new in Nigeria’s history, it dates back to the First Republic.

Politicians visiting monarchs, go there to solicit their blessings and support. Now they are going round peddling false claims that some of our traditional rulers were given money. How much is $250,000 compared to the wealth of the Ooni of Ife, the Alafin of Oyo, the Awujale of Ijebuland or the Soun of Ogbomosho?

These Obas are billionaires in their right. It is very wrong for them to spread information without concrete facts. Also, they are spreading wrong information that ethnic militias in the South West have been financially induced with N9 billion to destabilise the zone.

"I do not think that is fair. These spin doctors have gone ahead to say that Afenifere, OPC and the Yoruba Council of Elders have been induced to support President Jonathan.”

For me, the APC is fond of

AWARDS: From left, Chairman of First Bank Holding Company Plc, Dr. Oba Otudeko; Chairman, United Bank for Africa, UBA, Plc. Mr. Tony Elumelu; President of Institute of Directors, Chief Eniola Fadayomi, and Group Managing Director /CEO, Mr. Phillips Oduoza, during the Annual UBA CEO Awards, organised to reward star performers across the Group, in Lagos, weekend.

castigating anyone that is not supporting their cause. For the fact that some of us have adopted Jonathan, the APC has tagged us as their enemies.”

Allegation is frivolous —Lagos PDP On its part, the Lagos PDP described the allegations as frivolous, saying, “the fact that the President visited the South West cannot affect the chances of the PDP rather, it will boost it.”

The state publicity secretary of the party, Mr. Taofik Gani said: “The allegation that some traditional rulers were given money by President Jonathan is frivolous and unfounded.

"Also, the allegation is in continuous attempt of the penchant by the opposition against the President. What is threatening to the APC is that one of their leaders had once disparaged traditional rulers in the South-West and that is why they are jittery.

The APC is quick to conclude that President Jonathan distributed dollars because it is their habit to bribe voters.”

What PDP spent on campaign will build state —Fashola Meanwhile, Governor Babatunde Fashola has said that the huge fund spent by the PDP led-Federal Government on campaign in the last few weeks could build insfrastructure in any state.

Fashola made the allegation while commissioning the N1 billion Oyingbo Ultra Modern Market, Yaba Local Government, 24 years after it was demolished for reconstruction.

According to him: “If you switch on your television today, you will see different campaigns.

And if you check how much they (PDP-led Federal Government) had spent campaigning for the forthcoming election, it is big enough to build infrastructure in a state.”

Fayose, an embarrassment — Kwankwaso .Says the North will reply Jonathan on March 28

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

G

OVERNOR MUSA Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State, yesterday, took a swipe on his Ekiti State counterpart, Ayodele Fayose on what he called the “”use of despicable language and verbal assaults” on individuals and Northern region, saying he has become a national embarrassment Kwankwaso, was in Lagos to counter effects of alleged ‘dollar rain’ in Lagos State, South- West zone and to reunite the divided Arewa Community in the zone over alleged unequal sharing formula of the President largesse.

He also visited the national leader of the All Progressives

Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu with representatives of Hausa leaders to reaffirm their loyalty to the party despite the financial inducements to some members.

The governor, who lamented the insults and virulent language being used to deride Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) and the Northern region in general by President Goodluck Jonathan and his campaign group, said,” The North will reply them on March 28 in presidential polls.”

“When I had the opportunity to serve my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), I was sent to Ogun State to serve as a member of NYSC and has always had this belief that this part of the country

parades array of people who are well cultured, respectful people ranging from, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Earnest Shonekan, Chief Obasanjo, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, MKO Abiola among others.

“But anytime I listen to this young man, the governor of Ekiti State, I feel terribly embarrassed as a governor and I feel bad for Yoruba people. I don’t know what went wrong with this young man “He became governor after I left government house in 2003 but these days when I look at him I think many things are wrong with his words and even his mouth.

“So when you see Fayose tell him he should learn how to

respect elders. Even those of us who are governor with him are his seniors. In this business of politics and all other businesses I think seniority should be respected.

In his comment, Tinubu, said he was surprised that the ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is afraid of election, blaming technology and processes that will make it credible.

Tinubu who said Kwankwaso is a trusted man, stressed that the Arewa people are part and parcel of the Lagos government.

According to him: “Jonathan is afraid of conducting election.

Arewa has come to reality that we must work for the peace of this country, we are one. We must work

together for the peace of this country. No Dollar can break us, no Euro can divide us. We have had enough of 16 years of lies; they packed our children in stadium, no food, you make them buy the uniform and yet unemployment, extorting from them, taking from the poor, we cannot continue that way.

“We are ready, at this time, we need change in leadership, we need change in vision. There is no permanent tenant in Aso rock.

A villa is a house and any president is a tenant. God has blessed and granted him six years, we have bought him plenty shoes, many jackets, he has plenty and he has changed. So we cannot give him our votes.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015— 59

C M Y K

60—Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

90 killed, many injured as suspected Fulani herdsmen sack Benue village

By Peter Duru

M

AKURDI — It was a bloody Sunday in Benue State after suspected Fulani herdsmen allegedly slaughtered over 90 persons, including women and children, at Egba village in Agatu Local Government Area of the state.

Vanguard gathered from a resident of the community that the number might well exceed the current figure since many were still missing and unaccounted for.

He said: “The search for victims and survivors is still ongoing, but there is no doubt that the figure may rise because the entire village is like a killing field with blood stench everywhere and many are still missing.”

It was learnt that the attackers, who stormed the village at about 4 a.m., killed their victims, most of whom were fast asleep, in their homes after which they razed the community, destroying economic trees, food barns and farmland.

The source said: “They came from Loko in neighbouring Nasarawa State, and started shooting and breaking into people’s houses and who ever they met, including women and children, they hacked or shot.

“At the moment, we have been able to recover about 90 corpses and many injured.

The search is continuing but we are facing a major challenge.

“Many survivors with injuries are being evacuated to hospitals, but the problem is that we do not have a hospital in this area that is big enough to cater for the situation we have at hand.”

Reacting to the development, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, deputy governorship candidate and an indigene of the area, Mr. John Ngbede, described the attack and killings as barbaric and heart rending.

He said 60 bodies had been recovered from the village at the time he spoke to his people.

Confirming the killing,

Benue State Police Commissioner, Mr. Hyacinth Dagala, said his men had arrived the village to restore peace.

Dagala, who confirmed the recovery of 30 bodies from the scene, said he would rely more on the report from his men, adding, however, that the search to recover more bodies was on-going.

TOUR: Some women and children praising troops who provided security to journalists who visited the community during a tour of recaptured territories in Borno State. Photo: NAN.

Kogi APC gov aspirant, brother die in auto crash

By Abdulsalam Muhammad

K

ANO— KANO-BASED politician and All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship aspirant in Kogi State, AbdulAziz Omeiza Aliyu, his younger brother, Salmanu Adeiza Aliyu, have lost their lives in a road crash at Jere town, along KadunaAbuja federal highway.

Family spokesman, Abubakar Aliyu, told reporters in Kano that the accident occurred on Saturday afternoon while the governorship candidate and his younger brother were from Abuja in a chartered vehicle.

He said the 36-year-old APC stalwart was in Lagos for official engagement last Friday, adding that he made a stop-over in Abuja same day due to bad weather in Kano that culminated in cancellation of flight.

He explained that the candidate’s younger brother, Salmanu Aliyu, who was also in Abuja for a private

engagement, linked up with his elder brother for a return journey to Kano by road.

The family spokesman said: “Omeiza spoke with his father around 1.30p.m., Saturday, few minutes to the ill-fated journey and barely half an hour, we received the shocking sad news of his demise from a Samaritans at the scene of the accident.

“From the report we received, none of the

passengers on the Sharon car survived and they have been given mass burial at location at Jere town.”

Commenting on the tragic incident, father of the deceased, Alhaji Momoh Jimoh Aliyu, said the accident was a “fulfilment of destiny. I have accepted it as an act of God." Aliyu,who is an ex-staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN,

explained that “they are from God and they have returned to Him at appointed time and on our part, we have accepted it as an act of God.” He appealed to thousands of his late son’s supporters, who thronged his Gama quarters residence in Kano, to move on with their lives.

He stressed: “Allah has done what’s best and suitable for us and we should be grateful to Him.”

... 3 die in Enugu auto crash

By Austin Ogwuda

E

NUGU — NO fewer than three lives were lost, while four others are lying critically ill in hospitals following a ghastly mother accident which occurred in Enugu, weekend.

Similarly, at least five vehicles were gutted by fire in a mechanic workshop while a nearby restaurant was also razed.

State police command’s spokesman, Mr. Ebere

Amaraizu, who confirmed the two occurrences, said the accident occurred when a trailer from Abakiliki heading toward Enugu allegedly hit the car with number plate, EKY 38 CE, also from Abakiliki to Enugu, resulting in the death of three persons and injured four.

“The injured persons have been taken to Annunciation Hospital at Emene while the body of the deceased were also deposited at the same hospital mortuary,” Amaraizu

said.

On the fire, it was gathered that it took place at a panel beater's workshop located at a mechanic village in Nsukka axis of the state.

He said: “No fewer than five vehicles of various types and a shop being used as a restaurant got burnt in the inferno that enveloped a panel beater's workshop at mechanic village located in Nsukka axis of the state on Friday."

ABIA 2015: Gunmen attack APGA candidate in Abia

By Eric Ugbor & Felix Ogbonna

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NIDENTIFIED gunmen, yesterday, attacked the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, senatorial candidate for Abia South, Chief Chris Nkwonta, as he arrived the premises of a church in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State.

Nkwonta, who was billed to be the special guest at the Mothering Sunday ceremony of Apostolic Christian Church Mission, Abayi Ohanze, in Obingwa Local Government Area, was attacked by the gunmen who first hauled stones at his convoy before firing gunshots.

Before leaving the church premises, the gunmen destroyed two Toyota Sienna campaign vehicles and injured two of his supporters, including a woman.

The situation caused confusion in the area as the congregation abandoned church service and fled for their lives, while the security details attached to the APGA candidate later whisked him away.

Speaking to our correspondent on the incident, Nkwonta said: “I can’t understand why anybody would plan to attack my convoy. I was not even there for campaign."

2 docked for setting vehicles ablaze

By Bartholomew Madukwe & Jane Echewodo

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AGOS — Two persons, Wasiu Adebayo, 41, and Rasheed Alamu, 40, have been charged before an Ikeja magistrate's court in Lagos for allegedly setting on fire cars valued at N14.4m, property of one Alhaji Aliu Sulaimon.

Adebayo and Alamu were said to have also unlawfully damaged three commercial buses, with Reg. No. GGE 295 XF, AKD 633 XM, SMK 765 XC and AKD 238 XM).

The accused persons were arraigned on a six-count charge of breach of peace, display of arms in public and unlawful damage of property.

According to the prosecutor, ASP Samson Ekikere, the offence is punishable under Section 338 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2011.

However, when the charge was read to the accused persons before Magistrate Aye Afunwa, they pleaded not guilty.

61 —Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Flying Eagles skipper: They begged me to miss penalty F

LYING Eagles skip per Musa Muhammed said Cote d’Ivoire players begged him to throw away his second-half penalty in Saturday ’s final AYC Group A match in Mbour.

The penalty goal, the third by the right fullback at Senegal 2015, drew the Flying Eagles level at 2-2 and eventually eliminated the Ivorians from the tournament.

“The players including the goalkeeper begged me to miss the penalty, saying we are all champions and we should play for each other,” Musa revealed.

“But I remained focused and professional to score the penalty and earn us a draw, which was a sweet revenge for the two losses we suffered at the hands of the Ivorian U-17 team two years ago in Morocco.

Most of the players from that tournament were also here in Senegal.”

He added: “In morocco, we were against both Cote d’Ivoire and the referee. They kicked us so much that at a time (Isaac) Success wanted to be replaced.”

Nigeria await the runners-up in Group B, which could either be Mali or Ghana, for Wednesday’s semifinal in Dakar.

S

•Salami

A

SABA, the Delta State capital is agog as the Governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan will host the first Delta State Reverend Fathers Tennis tournament beginning 4 pm today at the

Government House Tennis Courts, Asaba.

It’s going to be a weeklong tournament which will culminate in a cocktail party to be hosted at the new Government House, Asaba.

Enyimba pip Smouha

E

Muhammed

We’ll beat Wolves, progress to next stage — Sanumi Dedebit FC Nigerian born striker, Samuel Sanumi is confident Warri Wolves cannot survive in this year’s CAF Confederations Cup competition beyond their second leg encounter in Ethiopia, in a fortnight.

“The second leg is not going to be easy for Wolves.

The size of our fans alone will intimidate them,” Sanumi started. “We will defi-

nitely defeat them 3-0 and progress.”

He said Warri Wolves were good but Dedebit players were capable of cancelling the two-goal deficit in the second leg. “Wolves are strong in the air and their defence too. But we will deny them of the ball and work hard on our finishing. They can’t withstand our fire power at home,” he concluded.

come out victorious.

Although he admitted there was still a lot of work to put into their preparation, Salami insisted, “we have a team.

I believe we have a team that can punish them in

their home.

“We need to move, we need to play.”

On why Wolves laboured to a 2-0 victory in the first leg, he said the players stayed back too deep in the first half. “In the first half our players stayed back and were not aggressive. But in the second half we tried to correct that and as a result we made them commit the penalty,” which he converted with aplomb. “I believe in myself. I knew I could do it when I volunteered to take it.”

Salami who just returned from Serbia after a failed attempt to sign a professional contract abroad said, “very soon, I will return to Europe but to which country, I do not know.”

NYIMBA defeated Smouha 1-0 in Aba on Sunday in the CAF Champions league first round first leg match.

The Egyptian team came with a plan to pick a draw, but Enyimba got the victory they deserved.

Enyimba mounted continuous pressure which yielded result in the 55th minute when substitute Rapahel Boumsong headed in Nonso Okonkwo’s cross.

Enyimba set the ball rolling as early as fourth minute when Kingsley Sokari powers in a 25

•Sanumi

yards shot off Peter Onyekachi’s pass but Smouha goalkeeper Mahdy Soluman punched it away.

The Egyptian team, Smouha played mostly defensive but Enyimba have been doing all the attack.

Daniel Etor’s effort in the 20th minute comes off the goal post.

On the half hour mark, Daniel Etor took out three Smouha players in front of the box but could not get a return pass from Aloma who was waiting for the ball.

It's Nigeria Vs Ghana Continues on back page

I believe in our team — Salami CORER of Warri Wolves second goal against Dedebit FC, Gbolahan Salami has restated his belief in the ability of his teammates to go to Ethiopia and

Uduaghan hosts tennis tourney

still the ultimate to play for at the 19th edition of the biennial championship.

The first semi-final will pit the winner of Group A, Nigeria against the runner-up of Group B, Ghana on Wednesday, 18 March 2015 at the Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium in Dakar.

The other semis clash between the winner of

Group B, Mali and the runner-up of Group A, Senegal, will take place on Thursday, 19 March 2015 also at the Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium in Dakar.

The winners of the semis will face-off in the final on Sunday, 22 March 2015 at the Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium to be preceded by the third-place match between the losers of the semis.

Bale willing to leave Real

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ORLD-record buy is being booed and criticised over his performances and an Old Trafford approach at the end of the season would be hugely tempting Gareth Bale is torn over how much longer he will remain in Spain.

Former Tottenham star Bale’s Real Madrid dream is turning sour and has been on the receiving end of heavy criticism over his performances this year. He has scored just once in nine games.

Sunday Mirror Sport understands Bale, 25, is prepared to spend another year at the Bernabeu to try to win over the doubters - but would be willing to come back to the Premier League if the right offer arrives.

He has always been open to the prospect of joining Manchester United and if they come calling this summer - as expected - it will prove hugely tempting.

This is a testing time for Bale, who moved to Madrid in 2013 for world record £85.3million.

•Bale

62 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

A

S you are reading this, I am seated in the expansive and tastely furnished Aida Conference Hall of the Cairo Marriot Hotel. A quick glance around the hall that sits 101 other “African football students” I can see General Dominic Oneya, Dr Bolaji Oj-Oba, Mazi Amanze Uchegbulam and Samson Adamu.

As Instructors, we have been invited by CAF to a five day seminar on Implementation of Club Licensing System.

Four days ago in Abuja, gone to lecture during the Match Commissioners Seminar organized by the Nigeria Football Federation, I had mentioned my Cairo trip while emphasizing the benefits of capacity building and accumulation of intellectual properties.

This came about as I commended the NFF for deciding to ask Resource persons to conduct aptitude tests at the end of their papers. From experience, it was customary for participants to arrive the venue, pay their fees, collect conference bags and disappear.

Others did not even turn up at all as their friends paid for them. And I was told repeatedly in Abuja, “…….these were the ones that got multiple matches”.

This year was different. Not only did the Commissioners come in person, they listened to the lectures with rapt attention, conscious of the test that was coming at the end of the delivery.

The result of the test cannot be discussed on this page, but as I informed the committee, more than half of the over 700 commissioners that turned up for the seminar have no business as match commissioners! Specifically, we touched on the CAF Competitions Management System (CMS) a facility that insists you must be computer literate to be a match commissioner.

Back to Cairo where we are sweating under the tutelage of UEFA and FIFA Resource persons with topics such as CAF Interclub Competitions, Overview on Major Issues and FIFA Vision and Support Worldwide, handled by Thomas Grimm FIFA development Consultant.

The emphasis here is at Developing Management skills in African Clubs, Youth Development and planning in Clubs, Financial Perspective, Ownership and legal status of clubs.

The Club Licensing System is aimed at but not limited to Promoting and improving the quality and the level of football aspects in Africa; Ensuring that the clubs have the appropriate infrastructure, knowledge and application in respect of

Going back to school The delight of the kids was palpable, so thick that you could cut it with a knife management and organization; Adapting and improving club infrastructure; Improving the economic and financial capacity of clubs through proper corporate governance and control; Allowing the parallel development and comparison amongst clubs by ensuring the necessary compliance in terms of financial, legal, infrastructure and administrative criteria….

What a coincidence.

At the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Friday Afternoon, I met the Dolphins team. Their match was on Saturday and according to coach Eguma, they had missed their flight on the day before due to one reason or the other, so here they were, still in Lagos by 1pm, for a match in Tunisia next day and they were transiting in Dubai!

Have you informed CAF? They said they had etc.

Of course I arrived Cairo to discover that no information whatsoever had been received by CAF and that even the Tunisians had complained to CAF that there was no word from their Nigerian opponents as to date and time of arrival, composition of the team etc.

It is no more news that they arrived late for the match after they had been walked over, with three points, three goals advantage the host.

When I consulted for Sunshine Stars in Africa, I remember encountering a similar scenario and I told

the players that: yes, you had a case, but you should be careful with the timing of protest, less you do yourself more harm.

Africa is a stage the players need to showcase their talent and most of them have progressed through continental exposure. If you now cut your nose to spite your face, you, and not the Rivers state government will be the greater loser. Tell me, how will they overturn such a big deficit? The players messed up, big time. In search for naira and kobo, they missed dollars and pounds, millions ……

The CAF Club Licensing seminar will by this week end, throw instructors into the system that will go into Africa to spread the gospel of proper football management and administration. Starting this year, clubs in Africa will need to fulfill the minimum required criteria to be able to be accredited for continental competitions and I fear for Nigerian clubs, if the NFF does not react, fast.

Nigerian clubs are so amateurish, so terribly run that you cease to wonder why they do not do well in Africa!

Thanks Gov Akpabio….Thanks NNPC/ MPN joint venture

Saturday, March 7 the grand finale of the 14th NNPC/AKS/MPN Schools Athletics Championship was held inside the main bowl of the impressive Akwa Ibom International Stadium in Uyo. This was quite a challenge given the fact that it was the first time a track and field competition was held in the stadium and by 500 students very green in the sport, introduced to infrastructure of such a high quality.

The stress was to disappear when Governor Akpabio appeared to support the youth and encourage them to greater heights. The delight of the kids was palpable, so thick that you could cut it with a knife. They sang and danced with their popular governor, apostle of Uncommon Transformation and at the end of the day presented him with an award, grateful for the provision of such a world class edifice, smack in their “back yard” For some of them, it was the first time they had seen him in flesh and the memory is to linger a life time.

The amiable Governor it was who while making his speech appreciated the sponsors MPN, Operator of the NNPC/MPN Joint Venture for a job well done.

Sponsoring the competition for fourteen unbroken years, he said was worth emulating.

Nesiama give kudos to Okpekpe organisers

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HE Technical Director of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria, Navy Commodore Omatseye Nesiama, has poured encomium on the organisers of the annual Okpekpe 10km Road Race.

Speaking with our correspondent recently, Nesiama said for the organisers to have been consistent for the past three years, it shows that they knew what they were doing.

“We need to encourage our marathoners and that was the reason why we have been involving them in our programs,” Nesiama said.

“I am using this opportunity to give kudos to the organisers of the Okpekpe Road Race. They have been giving their all to organise a befitting meet for the

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past three years and I am happy for their efforts.”

Speaking further, he said so many organisations have been coming to the federation to organise such international meet like the Okpekpe Road Race, but

they have failed to meet up with the requirements.

The Naval officer said: “Lot of organisers want to come around and have competitions, but most of them cannot meet up with

the requirements needed.

“We have had issues in the past where promoters held meets and they were unable to pay the athletes even the foreign athletes and the federation was sanctioned for it."

Sportsmen endorse Jonathan for second term

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RESIDENT Good luck Jonathan’s bid for a second term in office got a big boost on Saturday when sportsmen and women from various disciplines threw their support behind him in Lagos.

The event, which took place at the National Stadium, Surulere, had Olympic gold medalists Chioma Ajunwa and Enefiok Udo-Obong

and Commonwealth bronze medalist Otonye Iworima in attendance.

Other top Nigerian stars at the event include ex-boxers Obisia Nwankpa and Jerry Okorodudu; national powerlifting coach, Are Feyisetan and others.

Olympian Henry Amike, national coordinator, Sports People for Jonathan, said Jonathan had demonstrated a

unique understanding for sports development in Nigeria, thus transforming the sector in his first tenure as President.

“We are confident that a second term for the President will guarantee even greater transformation and progress in Nigerian sports,” the sprinter, who represented Nigeria at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games, said.

•President Goodluck Jonathan

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 — 63

Rooney stars as United sink Spurs

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ayne Rooney wrote his own headlines as Manchester United turned in a punchperfect performance to defeat Tottenham 3-0 and strengthen the club’s pursuit of a top-four Premier League finish.

England and United captain Rooney headed into Sunday ’s match amid an unusual media furore after footage emerged of him being supposedly floored in a mock boxing bout with Stoke City full-back Phil Bardsley at his home.

Rooney ensured he had the last laugh with a boxing-themed celebration when he put United 3-0 ahead in the 34th minute, completing a first half where nothing went right for the visitors at Old Trafford.

Having won six and lost two of their previous nine Premier League matches in 2015, Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham team headed north with hopes of drawing level on points with their fourthplaced opponents.

But they were faced with a relentless United side as goals from Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick inside the first 20 minutes set Louis van Gaal’s men on the way to a victory that leaves them just two points behind misfiring neighbours Manchester City, who are second.

The excellent Carrick was one of three players to come into the United line-up following Monday night’s dispiriting FA Cup quarter-final loss to Arsenal, alongside Juan Mata and Phil Jones, while Danny Rose was preferred to Ben Davies at left-back in Tottenham’s only change.

There was an initially nervy start from United as David de Gea spared Jones from an embarrassing own goal in the third minute following a rash backpass.

E

verton capitalised on crucial mistakes from 10-man Newcastle United to earn themselves a desperately needed 3-0 Premier League win at Goodison Park.

Rooney(r) celebrates a goal with Fellani during the match Man U won 3-0

Mourinho takes positives from six-point lead

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helsea’s 1-1 draw with Southampton may have taken Jose Mourinho’s side six points clear at the Premier League summit, but the Portuguese was not completely pleased.

Diego Costa’s header was cancelled out by Dusan Tadic’s penalty as Chelsea were unable to take full advantage of Manches-

Ferguson meets Ronaldo to woo him back to United

D

ing ding! Step into the ring for Sunday’s transfer gossip round-up.

The transfer window does not open until the summer when managers and agents will be sparring with each other to get deals done, with each boss desperate to land the knockout punch on his rivals to snap up that key player.

But until then, there C M Y K

Coloccini sees red as Everton ease relegation fears

will be plenty of dancing around and feints and moves as the preparation hots up for June.

Sir Alex Ferguson is trying to convince Cristiano Ronaldo to come back to Manchester United. Fergie had dinner with the Real Madrid superstar after watching their embarrassing 4-3 Champions League home loss to Schalke last Tuesday.

ter City’s defeat to Burnley on Saturday despite starting well.

With Chelsea six points clear and having a game in hand on City, Mourinho told reporters: “I’m not happy with the result but I’m happy with the situation, the sixpoint lead.

“Even knowing a point would give us a six-point lead we played to win in the last 15 minutes of the game.”

Mourinho saw Eden Hazard, Willian and Loic Remy all go close late on only to be denied by an impressive Fraser Forster performance at Stamford Bridge.

“We started well but the penalty changed the rest of the first half. We stopped playing and made some mistakes,” the Chelsea boss added.

“When Ramires came on we killed their counter-attack and had complete control of the game.

“We had a lead of five points and now we have a lead of six points with one less game to play.”

Roberto Martinez’s men came into Sunday’s meeting with just one victory in 12 in the league but errors from Tim Krul and Yoan Gouffran handed them the first two goals, before Newcastle captain Fabricio Coloccini was sent off and substitute Ross Barkley added a late third.

Everton took the lead midway through the first half when Newcastle goalkeeper Krul - who gifted Manchester United’s winner toAshley Young last time out - let James McCarthy’s weak shot from 20 yards into the net.

Then, with 10 minutes of the second half gone, Gouffran was dispossessed inside his own penalty area and his subsequent foul onAaron Lennon allowed Romelu Lukaku - scorer of a late penalty in Thursday’s UEFAEuropa League win over Dynamo Kiev - to once again convert from 12 yards.

Shortly afterwards,

Southampton’s Mane crashes to the ground to win a penalty after being brought down by Chelsea midfielder Matic

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 TOP 10 ATHLETES ON FACEBOOK Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

•Ronaldo

Everton 3

Nawcastle

0

Man U 3

Tottenham

0

Athlete Ronaldo Messi Beckham Neymar Kaka Ronaldinho Ozil Jordan Iniesta Bryant

Chelsea 1

Southampton 1

AYC: It's Nigeria Vs Ghana The semi-final pairings of the Orange Africa U-20 Championship Senegal 2015 is complete after the final round of matches of the group phase yesterday.

In Group A, Nigeria finished top and hosts Senegal as runners-up whereas Mali topped the pack in Group B with Ghana joining them through to the last four.

The quartet has qualified to represent

the continent at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand in June. However, there is

Continues on pg 61

Uduaghan hosts tennis tourney Continues on pg 61

Number of likes 107m 78m 52m 52m 33m 31m 28m 28m 24m 21m

CHEERS! . . . Flying Eagles players acknowledging cheers from fans after playing 2-2 draw with Cote d’Ivoire at the ongoing AYC in Senegal

RESULTS 3SC Heartland Kano Pillars Bayelsa Utd Nasarawa Wikki Rangers Sharks Akwa Utd Taraba

1 2 2 0 2 0 2 1 0 1

EPL Chelsea Southampton Everton Newcastle Man U Tottenham

1 1 3 0 3 0

La Liga Almeria Villarreal Malaga Cordoba

0 0 2 0

QUICK CROSSWORD

TODAY'S

PUZZLE

FRI DAY'S FRIDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS 4 Untrue (5) 7 Felt (6) 9 Friend (3) 10 Seed-case (3) 12 Decoration (5) 13 Cupid (4) 15 Skinflint (5) 17 Flail (6) 19 Argument (4) 20 Cheque-holder (5) 22 Whelp (3) 24 Erased (7) 27 Because (3) 28 Prompt (5) 31 Game (4) 33 Enquiring (6) 35 Packed (5) 37 Lean (4) 38 Note (5) 39 Fellow (3) 41 Novel (3) 42 Struggle (6) 43 Condescend (5)

DOWN 1 Slumbering (6) 2 Snobbish (6) 3 Vitality (3) 4 Renown (4) 5 Vigilant (5) 6 Framework (8) 8 Cupola (4) 11 Scattered (9) 14 Hut (4) 16 Closed (4) 18 Shoal (4) 21 Apt (8) 23 fairy (4) 25 Burden (4) 26 Notch (4) 29 Astounded (6) 30 Pulled (6) 32 Throw (5) 34 Tangle (4) 36 So be it (4) 40 Gist (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Tall 4, Cad 6, Coal 9, Rag 10, Convince 11, Oral 14, Air 16, Using 19, Defended 21, Topid 23, Resident 24, Torch 27, Led 31, Sage 33, Instance 34, Tea 35, Help 36, Lad 37, Tank.

DOWN: 2, Anan 3, Love 4, Consider 5, Deep 6, Cross 7, Oar 8, Again 12, Admit 13, Offer 14, Ant 15, Repel 17, hiter 18, Cirth 20, Diseased 22, Did 25, Ovate 26, Cheap 28, Kill 29, Part 30, Scan 32, Gel.

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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