Why i chose Osinbajo as running mate - BUHARI

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 62301

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N150

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Court sentences 2 men to death for stealing fowls

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Why I chose Osinbajo as running mate — BUHARI

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor, Henry Umoru & Levinus Nwabughiogu

•Says former Lagos A-G is a man of unimpeachable integrity •Why I declined to be running mate, by Tinubu •Nigeria has no business with poverty, says Buhari •PDP slams APC, says delay was height of incompetence

•MUTINY: Court-martial sentences 54 soldiers to death

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BUJA—ALL Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, unveiled his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as a man of unimpeachable integrity who he said would join him in restoring hope to

Continues on Page 5

COLUMNISTS:

Dr. Adesina's Agric reforms: Food for •P.17 thought...

Threat of a parallel government •P.19

The true majority of the minorities •P.19

Mr & Mrs

BUHARI'S RUNNING MATE—APC Presidential Candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari presenting his running mate Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

BUDGET 2015: FG targets nullifies Reps' summons on N3.6trn revenue as decry high Alison-Madueke, NNPC 8 manufacturers 8 costs N10BN JET SCANDAL: Court

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POCKET CARTOON Oyinlola, Governors Adams Oshiomhole and Rotimi Amaechi of Edo and Rivers states were respectively ticked off.

Why I declined the offer — Tinubu

2015 BUDGET— Representative of the President and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala presenting the 2015 Budget at the National Assembly, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

Why I chose Osinbajo as running mate— BUHARI Continues from Page 1 the country’s citizenry.

He said Osinbajo was chosen after a rigorous process that involved the “establishment of objective criteria, broad consultations with party leaders and a few opinion leaders outside the party and interactions with a number of nominees.”

A national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who claimed to have been offered the position, however, said he declined not just as a sacrifice following insinuations on the dangers of a MuslimMuslim ticket, but as his own patriotic contribution to seeing the end of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in power.

Less than an hour after Buhari unveiled his running mate at the party ’s national secretariat in Abuja, the PDP blasted the APC, saying the delay in making the choice was reflective of lethargy in the opposition party. The PDP said the choice was reflective of Buhari’s determination to surrender his powers to Tinubu.

Osinbajo, a Professor of Law, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, former Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General during the Tinubu administration is also a senior pastor at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG and a confidant of the church’s leader, Pastor Enoch Adeboye.

Buhari unveils Osinbajo

Unveiling him at a brief ceremony in Abuja, Buhari said: “The challenging process of

rescuing our country and changing Nigeria for good has commenced.

One of the first decisions that I have to make is the choice of the VicePresidential candidate and my running mate.

“The method employed in this choice was quite meticulous but yet rigorous. It involved the establishment of objective criteria, broad consultations with party leaders and a few opinion leaders outside the party and interactions with a number of nominees.

“To assist me in this great task of securing Nigeria’s future, I have chosen a man of unimpeachable integrity, an excellent professional, a man of faith, a devoted family man and a role model to our fellow countrymen and women. He is a professor of law and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. An alumnus of the University of Lagos and the London School of Economics, he is a prodigious author who has to his credit several books on civil procedure in Nigerian superior courts.

“The Vice-Presidential candidate is a friend of the less privileged, compassionate and zealous in service. A man of uncommon humility, a loyal, dependable and selfless patriot.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I present Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who by the grace of God and the vote of Nigerians will be the next Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Buhari said.

In his acceptance speech as a running mate, Osinbajo

expressed gratitude to Buhari and the APC for finding him worthy to serve.

He pledged to work with Buhari and the party if elected into office to restore the hope of Nigerians.

I'm honoured — Osinbajo

He said: “I am deeply honoured and grateful to have been nominated as the Vice-Presidential candidate of our party, APC, and especially the Presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.

“I also thank the leaders and elders of our great party for the trust reposed in me.

“The task of rebuilding this nation is one to which I am fully committed. There can be no other President, Leader and commander that can lead that common sense revolution Nigeria urgently needs than General Muhammadu Buhari. I will proudly serve this country with him.

“General Buhari’s uprightness and fierce commitment to good governance is well known. It will be a privilege to work with him. I come to this assignment with lots of hope and a resolve to be a part of this movement to bring Nigeria back to its lost glory. With the support of all Nigerians and the help of God, we shall make Nigeria work again."

Osinbajo’s candidature was agreed by the party hierarchy in the early hours of yesterday after other possible names including Asiwaju Tinubu, BrigadierGeneral Olagunsoye

Giving reasons he declined the offer from Buhari, Tinubu said: “There came a time during the course of the events when our Presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari offered the Vice Presidential slot to me.

Being a normal human being, I was deeply moved and honoured that he would consider me for the position.

Being a patriot, I had to weigh my potential candidacy in all of its dimensions.

“I have concluded that the interest of the party, our campaign and of the nation are better served if I retain my position as the National Leader of the APC, allowing me to be a bridge-builder across all divides.

Although, I declined the position, I want to thank General Buhari for extending the honour to me. Despite all the noise and opposition around my possible selection, he stood firm and steadfast.

He showed the traits of a leader in holding to a decision he believed was right despite the errant plots against it.”

Flaying the action of those he described as political hatchet men who used religion as an issue, he said: “When my name was raised, the political hatchet men tried to chop it down with rumour and lies. Over the years, I have developed a thick skin.

The personal attacks did not bother me. I am used to them. While I have a thick skin, I don’t have a thick mind. There has been one form of attack that has troubled me.

That is the attack based on religion. The PDP and others have stoked fears of a MuslimMuslim ticket.”

The APC leader used the opportunity to task Nigerians to play down on religious differences saying “I ask you to remember that too many Christians and Muslims are poor. Most of all, I ask you to remember that the true religion of the PDP is poverty, APC comes to bring prosperity to the people. Please vote for that.”

Buhari, Osinbajo's rescue agenda

Tinubu continued: "This is a time for cohesion and an

overriding sense of mission. We must defeat the foe before us and resist all temptations intended to entice us to fight among ourselves.

"I sincerely commit myself to the rescue agenda of General Buhari and Professor Osinbajo.

"Some may call what I have done a sacrifice. I call it otherwise. It is my patriotic contribution and duty. I do so with a happy and uplifted heart and clear conscience because I have committed myself to seeking the best for this nation before seeking what is good for myself.

This is the creed of statesmanship I chose to follow.”

PDP slams APC

Minutes after the APC leader unveiled Osinbajo, the PDP flayed the APC for the time it took the party to come up with a vice-presidential candidate as the height of incompetence.

The party in a statement issued by its national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh also described the choice of Osinbajo as an indication of Buhari’s readiness to surrender the national patrimony to Tinubu.

“By the choice of Osinbajo, a well known acolyte of Tinubu, who served under him as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, the APC, General Buhari and Tinubu have boldly recreated their wellknown notoriety for sectional and personal interests.

“It is particularly worrisome that General Buhari has surrendered his first official responsibility of choosing a running mate, invariably his powers to Tinubu even before he goes to the field to ask for votes.

“This is not surprising of Buhari, who has consistently exhibited a track record of incompetence. This is the same man who as military head of state

surrendered all his powers to his second in command.

“Our citizens should indeed be concerned about this: That it took the APC, six days to produce its vice presidential candidate and that the founder and funder of the party, Tinubu, as always, had his way. No doubt, this is how Tinubu is going to impose his mercantilist interest on major decisions affecting the entire country.

“This is the problem with the APC, a political party built on the narrow interests of very few individuals.

Any political party that subjects its collective will to the whims of an individual, as it is with the APC, is indeed not ready for leadership."

Meanwhile, Buhari who incidentally clocked 72 years, yesterday, said that Nigeria had no business with poverty and unemployment.

Addressing a mixture of Nigerian youth groups who felicitated with him on his birthday in Abuja, yesterday, he said: “Let me tell you a short story: As a young army officer many years ago, I could afford to save and buy a brand new car from my earnings.

Fresh university graduates got jobs before they left school and opportunities were everywhere. Today, as a retired army general, former state governor, petroleum minister and head of state, I can hardly afford that luxury.

“Similarly, if I hadn’t built my house at the time I built it, I probably would not own a house today; indeed, if I were to graduate today I would most likely join the ranks of the 40 million Nigerian youths who have no jobs and very little prospects of finding any, under the current government.

“However, I believe that with prudent management, Nigeria has the resources to meet the needs of all citizens."

6—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Robber, car snatching kingpin killed in Enugu

By Francis Igata

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N U G U — OPERATIVES of the Awkunanaw Division of Enugu State Police Command have smashed a notorious armed robbery and car snatching syndicate, which had allegedly been terrorizing motorists and residents of Enugu metropolis and its environs.

The gang's kingpin, identified as one Onovo, had been on the wanted list of the command for heinous crimes perpetrated by his men in recent times.

According to Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, “the gang leader met his waterloo on December 16 at 8p.m., when the suspect in the company of his other gang members, having snatched an ash-coloured Passat car around Mount Street, off Agbani Road, Enugu, confronted the operatives who were already on their trail.

“On sighting the operatives, the gang opened fire on their vehicle and in the ensuing gun battle, one of them was gunned down while other members of the gang, believed to have sustained various degrees of gunshot injuries, escaped and abandoned the snatched car.

“The deceased kingpin, Onovo, had been terrorizing the lives of innocent citizens of Achara Layout of Uwani, One Day axis of Awkunanaw and Ikirike axis of the state and its environs.

“Recovered from the gang were two English cut-to-size pump action guns, a locally-made double-barrelled pistol and some phones.

“Meanwhile, full scale investigations have commenced with a view to arresting his gang members, just as the command is appealing to members of the public and hospital operators for useful and timely information on any one with suspected bullet wounds for necessary action.”

2 sentenced to death for stealing fowls in Osun

By Gbenga Olarinoye

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SOGBO—JUSTICE Jide Falola of an Osun State High Court sitting in Okuku has sentenced two robbers to death for stealing fowls.

The convicts, Olowookere Segun and Morakinyo Sunday, were found guilty of forcefully breaking into the house of one Mr. Balogun Tope, a police officer attached to Divisional Police headquarters, Okuku, in April 2010 and carting away some of his belongings.

The convicts were charged with conspiracy, robbery and

zAlso stole eggs, kegs of vegetable oil stealing contrary to Section 6(b) and 1(2)(a) of Robbery and Firearm (Special Provisions) Act, cap R 11 Laws of Federation of Nigeria 2004 and Section (390)(1) Criminal Code Law, Cap 34, Laws of Osun State, 2002.

The prosecution team, led by the state Solicitor-General, Mrs Abiola Adewemimo, called six witnesses and tendered several exhibits during the prosecution.

The prosecution told the court

that on November 13, 2010, men were sighted around Balogun’s home armed with cutlass and a dane gun, and that while two of them were arrested, others escaped.

The convicts were said to have confessed that they stole the complainant’s fowls, adding that they had been in his house before to steal.

Adewemimo said: “They also stated that they had earlier robbed Alhaja Umani Oyewo in

her house and stole broilers, eggs and kegs of vegetable oil from the house.”

In his judgment, Justice Falola convicted them on only three counts: to death for conspiracy; life sentence for robbery, and three years imprisonment for stealing.

Justice Falola recommended that the governor can decide to commute the death sentence to 10 years imprisonment, considering the convicts' ages.

LOADED: A truck with bags of gari on EkuAbraka Road, returning from Abavo Market.

P H O T O : A k p o k o n a Omafuaire.

Man jailed 3 years for defrauding 40 persons of N4.9m

By Bartholomew Madukwe

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suspect, Segun Bright, convicted for defrauding over 40 persons of N4.9 million through an investment scam, has been sentenced to three years imprisonment by a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja.

Trial judge, Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye, sentenced Bright after he pleaded guilty to a 21-count charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Bright was sentenced to three years imprisonment on each of the counts, and the sentences are to run concurrently beginning from December 16.

According to EFCC’s counsel, Mr. Emmanuel Jackson, the convict (Bright) swindled more than 40 persons through a fraudulent investment scheme.

Jackson informed the court that the convict, through his company, Wexford Global

Resources Ltd, committed the offences between 2008 and 2010 in Lagos.

He said the convict collected

various sums, ranging from N10,000 to N615,000 from different persons with the promise to re-invest the funds

for high returns.

Jackson said the convict was arrested following series of complaint sent to the EFCC.

Fashola, Army authorities petitioned over alleged threat to life

By Onozure Dania

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AGOS—A property consultant in Lagos, Mr. Femi Bakare, has urged the Nigerian Army and Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State to checkmate the activities of one Adesagba, who claimed to be an officer at Dodan Barracks and in charge of operations in Lekki area over an alleged threat to life.

He pleaded with the state governor to use his good offices to investigate the activities of the Army officer and the traditional rulers in Lagos, especially in Ibeju-Lekki axis.

Bakare, who is Chairman of

Otofem Limited, told newsmen that the said Army officer led more than six armed soldiers and about 20 civilians to cause mayhem in Okolomi, IbejuLekki Lagos, during which two of the soldiers and four civilians were apprehended and handed over to the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in Elemoro Police Station by the community.

He said most of the traditional rulers were using the Nigerian Army to terrorize innocent people in the area in order to take over their property.

He urged Fashola to look into the activities of the monarchs in the state.

According to Bakare, the two

soldiers and four civilians, who have been handed over to the DPO were later transferred to the Area Commander in Ajah, but were yet to be charged to court.

He alleged that the Army officer sent him a text message, adding that he had earlier called him several times and threatened to deal with him and fight the entire community.

Bakare said all matters in respect of the community were in court, advising any aggrieved person to go to court to seek redress so that innocent people in the community would not be harmed for no just cause.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 — 7

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Budget 2015: FG targets N3.6trn revenue on $65 per barrel oil benchmark zProjects GDP growth rate at 5.5%; zPegs exchange rate at N165/US dollar zManufacturers groan under high production costs

By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief; Emman Ovuakporie, Levinus Nwabughiogu & Emma Elebeke

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BUJA — THE Federal Government, yesterday, announced plans to reduce cost of governance next year as it targets N3.6 trillion as revenue.

Presenting the N4.3 trillion 2015 budget yesterday before the National Assembly, Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the 2015 budget had been predicated on an oil price benchmark of $65 per barrel and a production quantity of 2.2782 million barrels per day.

She noted that oil prices at the international market had fallen to about $58 per barrel but explained that her team decided to leave the benchmark at $65 upon a conviction from analysts that crude prices would eventually stabilise around $65 to $70 barrel.

Her words: “This budget is based on a few key indicators on $65 per barrel benchmark and we are going to stick to it for now despite the declining prices because we feel the average price next year would be around $65-70. We have a budget expenditure of about N 4.3 trillion, and revenues of N3.6 trillion. We have tried to make up for the drop from the $78 per barrel to $65 by raising non-oil revenues.

"This budget points to the fact that this country is a non-oil country and I think we want Nigerians to begin to think of the country in that way.

We have worked very hard with the guidance of Mr President to move on non-oil revenue.”

Dealing with low oil revenue Okonjo-Iweala said her team would pursue an aggressive nonoil sector growth, while cutting cost of governance through efficient and prudent resource management under which unnecessary spending would be eliminated.

Her words: “We should see these challenging times as times of opportunities to further move this economy on the right path. The non-oil sector, whose growth has averaged about eight per cent in the last few years is the primary driver of growth in the economy unlike the oil sector which is actually contracting.

“Other evidence of this diversification can be seen in the agriculture sector, where food imports declined from N1.1 trillion ($6.7 billion) in 2009 to N684 billion ($4.35 billion) in 2013 and continues to decline, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.”

Luxury items surcharge To boost non-oil revenue, the minister gave a list of luxury items to attract surcharges to include new jets, mansions, business and first class air tickets, luxury cars and yachts. A 10 per cent import surcharge would be imposed on new private jets which is estimated to yield about N3.7 billion in 2015;

39 per cent import surcharge on luxury yachts which is estimated to potentially raise N1.6 billion in 2015; and five per cent import surcharge on luxury cars which is estimated to yield about N2.6 billion of additional revenues.

“Others are imposition of three per cent luxury surcharge on champagnes, wines and spirits to generate about N2.3 billion in 2015; and a one per cent FCT Mansion Tax on residential properties with value of N300 million and above which should yield additional N360 million.

These surcharges would yield a total of about N10.56 billion in 2015”.

Reducing cost of governance The minister said that reducing the cost of governance would remain a mirage if recurrent expenditures continued to surpass capital budgetary allocations, a typical feature with the country’s budgets and that as such only statutory foreign trips would henceforth be approved.

“We propose cuts to international travels and training by 50 per cent for all MDAs, saving about N14 billion, while provisions for overhead expenditure have been dropped completely, saving about N4 billion.

“MDAs’ provisions for the procurement of administrative supplies and equipment will be cut, saving about N5 billion; procurement and upgrade of buildings were similarly curtailed, saving about N44 billion, while another N76 billion is proposed for reallocation to more impactful programmes of government in the security, health, and education sectors.”

She added that the Information and Communications Technology platforms being deployed in the operations of government

business would be pursued to conclusion in the year under consideration.

She said: “We intend to ramp up the work on these platforms in 2015 to improve on our transparency, efficiency and efficiency objectives while saving the much needed resources for reinvestment to benefit all Nigerians.”

Adjustment 'll not affect salaries, pension Okonjo-Iweala assured that there was no need for apprehension on the austerity measures being taken by the Federal Government, as according to her, it would not affect their salaries and pensions.

Federally collected revenue has been estimated to be about N9.904 trillion. The Federal Government N3.6 trillion revenue projection consists of N1.918 trillion oil revenue, N1.124 trillion from nonoil revenue and N110.46 billion from other sources. Recurrent

expenditure would take a whole N2.616 trillion, debt service N943 billion, while capital expenditure has been allocated only N633 billion, which represented only 14 per cent of total budget.

Manufacturers decry high cost of production On the heels of the budget presentation, the nation’s manufacturing sector cried out yesterday, lamenting severe strain, occasioned by the high cost of production.

The development which assumed ascendancy in the last six weeks, has been traced, among other factors, to the continuous fall in oil prices in the international spot market, and decline in the exchange rate of the naira against the dollar and other hard currencies.

Fears are being expressed by stakeholders in the Organised Private Sector (OPS), some of who spoke in confidence, that it is a matter of time before the unfolding development, snowballs into a major economic crisis, if no urgent steps are taken to stem the tide.

Besides falling oil prices on which the nation relies for over 85

per cent of its revenue, devaluation of the naira and the non-inclusion of raw material inputs in sourcing foreign exchange from the bi-weekly Royal Dutch Auction System (RDAS), according to a source in the OPS, have grave implications for those in manufacturing, who depend on essential inputs from overseas.

The official said what is playing out now, is reminiscent of the events of 1986 when the naira was devalued by the then Military government, which resulted in steep rise in prices and caused damage to manufacturers of consumer products, “the effects of which the nation has not recovered from.'

He said what is happening will lead to the lower purchasing power of the Naira, increase in cost of inputs, pointing out that the result would be that Nigerian goods will command higher prices against imported ones. This, he added, “ will sound a death knell to the indigenous manufacturers, or whatever is left of that sector.“

BRIEFING: President Goodluck Jonathan (middle); Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Minimah (right) and Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Badeh (left) after a breakfast briefing of the President on the security situation in the country ahead of the yuletide season at the Aso Villa, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida

N10BN JET: Court nullifies Reps' summon on Alison-Madueke, NNPC zSays Reps probe c'ttee failed to follow due process

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By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

BUJA — THE Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, yesterday, aborted moves by the House of Representatives to investigate the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, over the allegation that she spent N10 billion on chartered jet.

Delivering judgment on a joint suit filed before the court by the Petroleum Minister and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Justice Ahmed Mohammed voided two separate summons issued to the plaintiffs by the Public Accounts Committee of the House of

Reps, which requested them to appear to offer explanations regarding allegations of financial recklessness against them.

Justice Mohammed nullified the summons on the premise that no evidence was adduced before the court to show that the proposed investigation was contained in a resolution of the House, which he said ought to have been published in the journal of the National Assembly or the official gazette of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

He noted that the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, had confirmed that no such resolution was published in the official gazette, “implication of failure to provide the published resolution is that

there is no evidence before the court to show that the investigation followed the provisions of the constitution”.

He held that the House of Reps failed to fulfil the condition precedents for the commencement of such probe as stipulated in sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 constitution, as amended.

“I am, therefore, bound to set aside the letters of invitation issued to the plaintiffs, which were marked as exhibits KA-1 and KA-2”, the Judge added.

The judge, however, stressed that had the House produced or annexed a copy of its journal containing its resolution to probe the plaintiffs, “I would not have hesitated to dismiss this suit and

order them to submit themselves to the investigative panel.”

Besides, Justice Mohammed maintained that the House of Reps has the constitutional powers to summon any person in Nigeria, regardless of position or status, to appear before it, saying the House equally has the powers to compel the attendance of such person so far as it exercises such powers with due deterrence to the due process of the law.

“This should not send a wrong signal to the public that the House of Reps does not have powers to summon any public officer for the sake of accountability and transparency in the process of governance."

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014—9

NASS POLICE INVASION: DPO’s allegation

dubious, embarrassing —Mark zWarns Police against creating feud between Senate, Reps

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru & Joseph Erunke

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BUJA — SENATE President David Mark, yesterday, described as dubious and embarrassing, allegation by the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, attached to the National Assembly that his (David Mark) security details were the ones who threw teargas canister at the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Tambuwal when the police invaded the National Assembly last month.

The DPO had allegedly told the Senator Ahmed Makarfi AdHoc committee investigating the invasion of the National Assembly on November 20, that it was not Police officers from the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, that tear-gassed the Speaker and some other members of the House of Representatives, but rather the Senate President’s security details.

Mark in a statement signed by his Special Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, said: “The attention of the Office of the President of the Senate has been drawn to news reports alleging that security details attached to the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, were responsible for the use of teargas on the person of the Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tanbuwal, at the National Assembly premises on November 20, 2014 and credited to SP Idachaba James, the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, of National Assembly.

“We wish to state without equivocation that the security details attached to the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, did not and could not have attacked the person of Speaker Tambuwal with tear gas.

“We find the reports credited to SP. Idachaba that security details of Senator Mark attacked Speaker Tambuwal with tear gas as absolute falsehood, dubious, vexatious, horrible and embarrassing.

“The events of November 20, 2015 are very fresh and any attempt to re-write or misrepresent them will not stand. SP. Idachaba James, who claimed not to have been present at the scene of the incident but only relied on hearsay, must not be allowed to embark on a name calling exercise.

“It is also imperative to state that any attempt to create a needless feud between the two chambers of the National Assembly is mischievous and wicked

“For the avoidance of doubts, we hereby declare that the security aides of the President of the Senate did not attack Speaker Tambuwal with teargas.”

The DPO had in his testimony indicted security

details attached to the Senate President of being behind the canister of tear gas at the Speaker and his colleagues on that day.

But his testimony was debunked by other heads of

security and paramilitary agencies attached to the National Assembly, who vehemently disagreed with him, saying that they were not aware of any Mark’s security detail throwing tear gas at Tambuwal.

PRESENTATION: From left: Chief Olabode George, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain; Alhaji Tanko Yakassai; Chief Richard Akinjide, Chairman of the occasion and Dr Doyin Okupe, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs during the media presentation of the candidature of President Goodluck Jonathan in Lagos. Photo: Joe Akintola, Photo Editor

Court orders uniform cut-off mark for all Unity Schools

By Innocent Anaba

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AGOS — A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has granted an order mandating the Federal Government to apply a uniform cut-off mark to all candidates seeking admission into Federal Government Colleges, also known as Unity Schools, irrespective of their states of origin.

Trial judge, Justice John Tsoho, in the landmark decision, declared as unconstitutional, the statebased admission inequality in Federal Government colleges.

Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, in the suit against the Federal Government and the Minister of Education, had challenged the prescribed different cut-off marks for different states, based on candidates’ gender and their states of origin, arguing that same violates the candidates’ fundamental rights to freedom from discrimination guaranteed

by Section 42(1) of the 1999

Constitution.

He had argued that Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution prohibits administrative or executive actions by government that discriminate between Nigerians on grounds of ethnicity, gender, religion and place of origin.

He had asked the court to declare that the administrative act of the respondents, particularly the Minister of Education, which prescribes and applies different requirements including cut-off marks for candidates seeking admission into Federal Government colleges, based on gender, ethnicity, states of origin, etc., is discriminatory against applicant’s grandchildren and the group or class they represent, on grounds of ethnicity, states of origin, gender, etc. and therefore violates Section 42(1) of 1999 Constitution.

He also prayed for: *An order directing the respondents, particularly Minister of Education to apply uniform admission requirements, especially cutoff marks to all candidates seeking admission into Federal Government colleges,

notwithstanding their gender, states of origin, ethnicity, etc. *An order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents, particularly the Minister of Education, whether by itself, its agents, servants, privies or otherwise howsoever from further acts of discrimination in admission to Federal Government colleges.

Agbakoba in a 19-paragraph affidavit had averred that since the inception of the Unity Schools, the Federal Government had maintained great disparity in admission requirements for candidates wishing to be admitted into Federal Government colleges.

In particular, he had argued that the Federal Government prescribed different cut-off marks for different states, based on candidates’ gender and their states of origin.

After hearing arguments from counsel to parties, the court ordered that the Federal Government and Minister of Education should apply uniform cut-off mark to all candidates seeking admission into Federal Government Colleges, irrespective of their states of origin.

WAR ON TERROR:

Army introduces new operational method

By Evelyn Usman

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AGOS — DETERMINED to win the war against insurgency in the country, the Nigerian Army, yesterday, disclosed that it was introducing a new dimension in its counter-terror operations with a view to having a grip on the full spectrum of the operating exercise.

The new dimension in the war on terrorism focuses the psychological domain of operation, which has been noted as one of the areas utilised by terrorists.

Declaring open a seminar on Nigerian Army Psychological Operation Narratives, organised by the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, General Officer Commanding the division, Major General Dibi, said: “We have so far focused on the physical domain and have realised primarily physical effects on the Boko Haram terrorists while psychological effects in the cognitive domain remains underutilised.

Thus, our counter terrorist operations are not yet across the full spectrum of the operating space.

“Although the operating environment may be imprecisely defined, we need to seek to establish and maintain superiority and constrain the influence and freedom of Boko Haram terrorists across the entire spectrum of the operating space.

“Boko Haram terrorists are particularly agile in the physical and psychological domain. This demands our immediate attention as commanders.”

He explained that military psychological operations offered a potentially unique and powerful asset in military operations, both at peace time and in war.

Psychological operations, he stated, take place through the tactical, operational and strategic environments and had also proven to be effective in combat.

The seminar has as its theme: "Islam & violence and courage to fight by security forces."

10— Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

SHIPPING CHARGES:

Court orders status-quo

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By Godfreyy Bivbere

AGOS—A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos yesterday ruled that the Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria, STOAN, and Association of Shipping Lines Agency, ALSA, should return to statusquo over shipping and terminal storage charges.

The trial judge, Justice Ibrahim Buba, upheld the appointment of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NSC, as port economic regulator and therefore dismissed a case filed by members of the ALSA against the NSC over a directive to the agencies to reduce their shipping line agency charges, SLAC, and refund container deposits within 10 days.

It also ruled that STAON should revert to what they were charging before the increase in 2009.

BRITISH COUNCIL EXPO: Speakers

make case for collaborations

By Iyabo Aina

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AGOS— A N O T H E R well-attended and thought-provoking edition of the British Council Creative Industries Expo was concluded in Lagos yesterday with speakers and moderators from Nigeria, UK and South Africa sharing their experiences, expertise, vision and strategies for building collaborative work practices and gave examples of the diverse forms of collaboration taking place both in Nigeria and around the world.

The speakers included Ojoma Ochai, Director, Arts, British Council; Emma Clarence, National Endowment for Science Technology & the Arts, UK; Paul Nwulu, Ford Foundation among others.

CONDOLENCE VISIT: From left: Pastor Olu Oshobu, brother in-law, Mr Obafemi Adebiyi, daughter, Ms Boluwatife Adebiyi, daughter, Mrs Abiodun Adebiyi, wife, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, Ms Opeyemi Adebiyi, daughter, Ms Victoria Adebiyi,daughter and Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, President, Women Arise, during the governor's condlence visit to late Rev. Adebiyi's residence in Lagos.

PRIMARIES: Court

summons PDP, INEC over Obanikoro's suit

zBode George, Agbaje rigged my election, plaintiff insists

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

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BUJA—JUSTICE Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja, yesterday, directed the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to appear before him on December 23 to show cause why he should not issue an injunction stopping the party from presenting anyone as its governorship candidate in Lagos State.

PDP is further expected to on that date, adduce reasons why the INEC should not be restrained by the court from accepting any name as its gubernatorial flag-bearer in the state pending the determination of the suit that was filed by the former Minster of State for Defence, Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro.

The court gave the directive after it heard an ex-parte application that was moved by Obanikoro’s lawyer, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, who requested that an interim order of injunction be slammed against the PDP to prevent it from acting on the outcome of the governorship primary election it held in Lagos State on December 8.

Though the court declined to grant the ex-parte application, it ordered the service of the court processes on the defendants to enable them to appear to show cause why the reliefs sought by the plaintiff

Lagos Anglican Diocese gets c'ttee on 2015 election

By Anozie Egole

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AGOS—BISHOP of Lagos West Anglican Diocese, Bishop James Olusola Odedeji, has said that the church has set up a committee that would sensitize and monitor the conduct of the 2015 general elections in order to ensure that the exercise is credible.

Briefing newsmen yesterday

in Lagos, he called on the Federal Government to ensure that adequate security is provided during this festive period to ensure the safety of Nigerians.

His words: ‘’We have been doing this sensitization and mobilization of electorate for over 15 years now. It all started during the time of Tinubu."

should not be granted.

Meantime, Obanikoro has alleged before the court that a chieftain of the PDP in Lagos State, Chief Olabode George, and the governorship candidate of the party in the state, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, recruited armed thugs who he said helped them to rig the primary election.

The plaintiff, through an affidavit he deposed to in support of the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/ 994/2014, challenged the authenticity of the outcome of the election in which Agbaje was declared as the winner.

It will be recalled that whereas

Agbaje polled 432 votes to secure the party’s gubernatorial ticket, Obanikoro who resigned his ministerial position to join the contest was adjudged second having polled 343 votes.

However, in his affidavit, Obanikoro averred that he saw the police recover five guns and rounds of ammunition and live cartridges from the thugs he said were engage by Chief Olabode George and Agbaje.

“That the thugs earlier brought

by Chief Olabode George and Mr. Jimi Agbaje, a co-aspirant, at this point began to disrupt the venue by throwing bottles,

stones and firing gunshots in the direction of the delegates loyal to me and preventing other delegates loyal to me from entering the venue.

“That the gunshots attracted another detachment of policemen, who engaged the thugs in a gun and tear-gas battle during which many of the delegates loyal to me ran for their dear lives to avoid being caught in the crossfire between the police and the armed thugs.

“That I know as a fact that many of my delegates who ran for their dear lives in the ensuing violence and gun battle never returned and were consequently disenfranchised as it took the police several hours to restore some semblance of normalcy”, he added.

Why post blast investigation wasn't conducted— Police SYNAGOGUE:

By AbdulwahabAbdulah, Bartholomew Madukwe & Ebele Okafor

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AGOS—HEAD of the antibomb unit of the Nigeria Police in Lagos State, Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP, Olakunle Olanrewaju, yesterday, told the Coroner's Inquest investigating the circumstances which led to the collapse of a sixstorey guest house belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN, that heavy

rescue operation at the scene prevented him from conducting a Post Blast Investigation, PBI. He said: “I was not able to conduct a Post Blast Investigation, PBI, because of the very heavy rescue operation going on as at the time my team arrived at the site. The PBI investigation was imperative because it was suspected that a blast might have been used on the collapsed guest house.

“In fact, we searched for

explosives and power source to get a clue on the cause of the collapse. We will base our decision on the outcome of the laboratory test to ascertain if the speed with which the building collapsed is consistent with control of explosion.”

He further told the coroner judge, Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, that the report of the anti-bomb unit of the state’s police command was not ready.

APC picks Adebule, Lagos SSG as running mate

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By Olasunkanmi Akoni

AGOS—AFTER much deliberation, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Lagos chapter has chosen the present Secretary to the Lagos State Government, SSG, Dr Idiat Oluranti Adebule as the running mate to the party ’s governorship candidate in the state, Akinwunmi Ambode.

According to Lagos APC, Dr Adebule was the natural choice for the party when the leadership finally agreed to give the slot to a Muslim female.

The state Publicity Secretary of APC, Mr. Joe Igbokwe who confirmed the report said her choice was based on democratic principles of the party and the need for gender equality.

According to him, Adebule's political

activities gave her the edge with her high religious background and close affinity with the Muslim community in the state, having been a prominent member of the Muslim Students Society, MSS, high academic disposition, a doctorate degree holder who had lectured at the Lagos State University, LASU, before her appointment as the SSG.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 —11

MURDER: Court orders re-opening of Ekiti

APC chair, 4 others' trial zPDP planning mayhem at Yuletide, says APC

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By Gbenga Ariyibi

DO EKITI—AN Ado Ekiti Magistrate Court yesterday, vacated its order discharging and acquitting the state chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Jide Awe and four others over the murder of Mr Ayo Murphy Jeje and Madam Julianah Adewumi in Erijinyan Ekiti.

The ruling followed a motion exparte by counsel to Ekiti Government, Mr Bunmi Olugbade, seeking another order of the court to reverse its earlier decision discharging and acquitting the accused persons.

In the ruling, Chief Magistrate Adesoji Adegboye said having taken a second look at the extant laws, relevant authorities and facts of the case, he vacated the order earlier granted.

In the motion exparte, counsel to the Ekiti state govt, submitted that the magistrate erred in law to have granted the accused persons in the instance case.

Mr Olugbade argued that it was an established principle of Law that Magistrate Courts lack jurisdiction to try criminal cases with capital punishment such as murder, hence the court could not entertain the matter, let alone discharging accused persons.

The counsel also contended that by the provision of Section 71 sub 1 and 3 of the

OSUN TRIBUNAL:

Administration of criminal Justice law, Ekiti state, the state Attorney General is empowered to reopen such criminal case suspended through a notice of discontinuance.

The Chief Magistrate had on 12th of February this year discharged and acquitted the APC state chairman and four others consequent upon a motion of discontinuance filled by the then Attorney General, Wole Fapounda.

Jide Awe and four other members of the APC are wanted

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SOGBO—GOVERNOR Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State yesterday closed his defence against the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP governorship candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore challenging his August 9 reelection before Justice Elizabeth Ikpejime-led Election Petition Tribunal.

At the resumed hearing of the petition yesterday, counsel to Aregbesola, Kunle Adegoke said his client was satisfied with the defence put up before the panel.

The counsel, as at the time of closing the defence spent only eight out of the statutory 10 days the tribunal allowed him to defend the allegations of the petitioners.

During the period, 19 witnesses were called in defence of the allegations of the petitioners and their witnesses before the tribunal.

The second respondent, All Progressives Congress, APC, has been billed to open its defence tomorrow.

The APC counsel, Mr Ajibola

PDP planning mayhem at Yuletide – APC

Meantime, the All Progressives Congress, APC has said it has perceived signs that usually precede the ruling party ’s

PRESENTATION: From left: Chairman, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, Board of Trustees, Dr. Musa Babayo, Executive Secretary, TETFund, Prof Suleiman Elias Bogoro, members of the BoT, Prof. Patricia Donli, Richard Anetekhai, and Acting Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Alhaji Kabir Mashi, presenting Digital Library, during the TETFund 2014 Taxpayers Forum in Lagos, yesterday.

Aregbesola closes case, calls

19 witnesses

By Gbenga Olarinoye

by the police for their alleged involvement in the murder of Ayo Jeje and Juliana Adewumi in Erinjiyan-Ekiti, Ekiti State on March 31, 2013.

Apart from Awe, others wanted by the police are Faboro Ojo John, Aniramu Basiru, Falayi Busuyi and Owonifari Sefiu.

readiness to foment trouble in the state.

A statement by the party reads in part; ‘’ We draw the attention of Ekiti people to the antecedents of Governor Ayodele Fayose when he wants to cause trouble in the state.

The style of his government is to ask the governor’s aides to cry on the rooftops that some people in the opposition are planning to cause trouble and then later blame it on his government while in actual fact, the government is the author of the trouble. There are several instances, the most striking one being the assassination of Dr Ayo Daramola on August 14, 2006.

Basiru in his comment said the witnesses called by the first respondents were to further convince the court that the election was indeed free and fair, saying, the petitioners have not proved any case.

He said: “We are not under any obligation to even call a particular number of witnesses, because the petitioners have not called witnesses to cover areas pleaded in the petition and secondly their witnesses have been thoroughly

discredited under crossexamination.

“The petitioners have also not established the case of noncompliance. From experience, this is one of the useless election petitions I have ever seen in the history of this country.”

The petitioners’ counsel, Nathaniel Oke, SAN, in his own comment said it is for the tribunal to determine the veracity of the allegations of the petitioners and the defence of the respondents.

Earlier, Aregbesola’s counsel had called two witnesses, Aminulahi Rafiu, a voter from

Ward 4, Unit 9 of Ede North local government and Atanda Isaac, an APC party agent at Ward 1, Unit 1 of Irepodun local government, who told the tribunal that the election was free and fair.

They both told the tribunal that the INEC officials brought all the required election materials for the units and political party agents signed the result forms.

The witnesses also told the tribunal that neither voters nor party agents complained on the conduct of the election on the said day.

Jonathan, PDP ordained to win Oyo in 2015—Folarin

By Ola Ajayi

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B A D A N — T H E governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Oyo State, Senator Teslim Folarin said yesterday that he and President Goodluck Jonathan were “ordained to win the 2015 election in the state.”

He said this while addressing all the candidates of the party who emerged after the party’s controversial primaries in the state.

Folarin said: “We need not fear because it has been ordained that we shall win, this is our time. And by the grace of God, we will win. All our candidates for the state house of assembly, House of Representatives including our three senators will win and Mr. President will win.”

This came just as it was announced that one Mr. Ezekiel Oyedepo from Ogbomoso would be his deputy.

Oyedepo was a former Chair-

man of Oriire local government in Ogbomoso.

The former Senate Leader also appointed a former speaker of the state House of Assembly, Alhaji Asimiyu Alarape from Oyo Alaafin as the Director-General of his campaign team.

Those who were with him at the event include Senator Ayoade Adeseun, the party’s senatorial candidate for Oyo Central, Mrs. Adedeji Otiti for Oyo South and Hosea Ayoola Agboola for Oyo North.

Shekau, releases new video, vows to attack Emir Sanusi of Kano

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OKO Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has threatened to attack the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, in retaliation for the Emir’s call on Kano residents and other Nigerians to arm and defend themselves against the terror organization.

In a new video released weekend, Mr. Shekau said his group does not consider Mr. Sanusi a true Muslim, and will attack him whenever an opportunity presents itself.

The Emir had earlier issued a call to arms after a series of deadly attacks by suspected Boko Haram militants in Kano.

Speaking at Kano’s Central Mosque in October, the Emir charged the people of Kano to arm and defend themselves against the sect, which is responsible for more than 13,000 deaths.

In a 19-minute new video first released Saturday, Mr. Shekau said his group remains prepared to fight and kill anyone who challenges its ideology, and all non-Muslims and “fake” Muslims like the emir.

“Before I start talking to my brothers who believed in me and the religion of Allah not the religion of democracy, not that of western education, those who believed in the religion of the Quran not that of the constitution and not religion of the Emir of Kano Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Jonathan, Obasanjo, Atiku, Babangida, Obama, Bush, Clinton, but the religion of Allah,” he said.

“Now listen to me Emir of Kano. I am talking to you and only you because of your recent utterances.

“Let me inform you now that you are late, you should know that you are only but the King of Kano, King of Central Bank, King of money, you are only Sanusi Lamido,” he said.

Mr. Shekau denounced the Emir ’s religion as religion based on constitution, idol worship and homosexuality.

“Our own government is defined as government of the Allah by the Allah and for the Allah not as you define your own government as the government of the people by the people and for the people,” he said.

Mr. Shekau said his group will fight local vigilantes and hunters, who have successfully crushed the advances of its fighters in some parts of Nigeria’s northeast.

12—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Uduaghan presents N327.68bn budget for 2015 A

By Festus Ahon

SABA—GOVERNOR Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State has presented a budget proposal of N327.68 billion for the 2015 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly.

Uduaghan gave the breakdown of the budget to consist of N161.6 billion recurrent and N166.07 billion capital estimates, representing 49.32 and 50.68 per cent respectively.

The governor said that the 2015 estimate was lower than the 2014 fiscal estimate by N123.05 billion, explaining that the decrease was due to the fall in the price of crude oil at the international market.

He said: “I wish to announce a budget proposal of N327,682,982,917 for the services of Delta State in the 2015 fiscal year.

“This amount comprises N161,606,428,928 or 49.32 percent for recurrent expenditure and N166,076,553,989 or 50.68 percent for capital expenditure.”

Sectoral breakdown of the capital estimate revealed that a lion share of N50.32 billion, representing 30.3 per cent went to the economic sector, followed by the social, general administration and environmental sectors while the sum of N34 billion was voted for the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC. Uduaghan said that N68.53 billion of the recurrent estimate was allocated to personnel costs, N51.33 billion for overhead costs with N41.69 billion was set aside for consolidated revenue charges.

He gave the sources of funding for the budget as statutory allocation, including mineral revenue derivation, representing 63.74 per cent while internally generated revenue (IGR), is 18.6 per cent, Value Added Tax, VAT, and other capital receipts, representing 13.58 and 3.81 per cent respectively.

“The 2015 budget is driven by the successes recorded in various sectors of the state’s economy in the past seven years up to the 2014 Budget of Consolidation, Sustainable Economic Growth and Development as the 2015 budget is aimed at consolidating on the achievements of 2014 budget as well as completing all on-going projects and programmes that will facilitate the fulfillment of the administration’s goal of making Delta State one of the most industrialized and developed states in Nigeria by 2020.

“Priority is given to the completion of on-going projects in the areas of rural and urban road network and infrastructure, security of life and property (including logistics support for law enforcement), healthcare and education,” he said.

Reviewing the achievements of his administration since 2007, Governor Uduaghan, said: “When this administration took

over the mantle of leadership in 2007, I pledged to provide a more efficient government that will embody the vision of a politically united, socially integrated, stable, economically prosperous and well-organized state, with equal opportunity for all Deltans and in all modesty.

“I believe we have tried to actualise this pledge given the plethora of infrastructural development and other achievements we have recorded in the socio-economic transformation of our beloved Delta State.

“Indeed, Mr. Speaker, members, after a critical review of our performance, so far, it is refreshing to note that this administration has, with the cooperation and understanding

of all stakeholders, been able to meet some of the critical challenges of our shared vision for Delta State.

“We can, with a good measure of certainty, say that this administration has brought peace, tranquility and accelerated development to the state. As we prepare to exit office next year, it is the avowed resolve and determination of this administration to finish strong. In this regard, it is gladdening to underscore that Delta State provides viable investment environment given its comparative advantages as a leading producer of oil and gas.

“The state is also strategically located and accessible to other parts of Nigeria by any means of transportation and government

has invested heavily in security to create a safe and secure environment, we have a breed of young, educated and active population. Accordingly, we are committed to striving assiduously to deliver on the provision of critical infrastructures which this administration has set out to establish to support investors and improve business environment in our state in pursuit of our vision of Delta Beyond Oil.” The Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Basil Ganagana, assured Governor Uduaghan, on behalf of the legislature, that the budget proposal would be given speedy attention to ensure service delivery to Deltans.

BRIEFING: From left: Captain Warredi Enisuoh, Director, Shipping Development; Mr. Callistus Obi, Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services; Ziakede Akpobolokemi, Director-General; Captain Ezekiel Agaba, Executive Director, Maritime Safety and Shipping Development; and Commander Ebony Aneke, Commander, Maritime Guard Command, all of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, at the World Press Conference in Lagos, yesterday Photo: Joe Akintola, Photo Editor.

2015: Buhari no threat to Jonathan —Onuesoke

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Delta State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain, Chief Sunny Onuesoke, has said that All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate in 2015 general election, General Mohammadu Buhari was not a threat to President Goodluck Jonathan's reelection bid in 2015.

Reacting to Buhari’s election as APC presidential flag bearer,

Onuesoke noted that Nigeria was too complex to be governed by a person of Buhari’s caliber, alleging that it was public knowledge that “I think it would have been highly honourable if Buhari had stood by his words by not contesting presidential election again,” Onuesoke, Delta State PDP governorship aspirant in 2007 general election, said.

Edo PDP chieftain hails Oshiomhole on projects Congress, APC. I am a PDP man

By Simon Ebegbulem & Gabriel Enogholase

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ENIN—A chieftain of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State, Mr. Nathaniel Awala, has given kudos to the state governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, for the quality projects embarked on by his administration, which had put smiles on the faces of Edo people.

Awala, who met the governor during one of his inspection tours of ongoing projects in the state capital, said: “This is not about PDP or All Progressives

and I am congratulating you today because you have put smiles on the faces of the people of Edo State.

Many of the owners of submerged houses are coming back.”

Speaking after his chat with the governor during his inspection of the 6-lane Upper Siluko Road in Benin City, Awala said: “You will enjoy the good you are doing now. You are not doing this good for yourself, but for the children yet unborn. It is not the money, because you cannot keep money for them but you can keep a good environment for them and that is what you are doing."

Bayelsa council workers protest over LG autonomy

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By Samuel Oyadongha

E N A G O A — L O C A L Government council workers in Bayelsa State, yesterday, besieged the premises of the state House of Assembly, calling for a speedy passage of the Local Government Autonomy bill.

The protesting workers blocked the entrance to the Assembly complex and demanded an audience with principal officers of the House.

Security was reinforced around the Assembly complex to prevent a break down of law and order.

The protest also led to traffic gridlock in the Amarata area of the state capital, forcing motorists to make a detour at the Imgbi and Onopa Junction to get to their destinations.

The development forced the House to temporarily suspend its sitting to enable the Speaker, Kombowei Benson, address the protesters.

Benson told the protesters that the bill was already receiving the attention of the lawmakers.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014—13

Edo Assembly votes against LG autonomy zNULGE and civil society groups protest

By Gabriel Enogholase

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ENIN—THE decision by the Edo State House of Assembly, yesterday, to vote against the Local Government Autonomy Bill, sparked off protests by members of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE and civil society groups in the state.

The bill seeking autonomy for local government is part of a bill for a law to further alter the provisions of the 1999 constitution, the fourth alteration so far.

Thirteen lawmakers of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and two returning Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, lawmakers participated in the plenary at the old Exco Chambers inside the Edo State Government House, when the House resumed its plenary session.

The Assembly had, through a voice vote, voted against the section seeking full autonomy for local governments in the country.

Members of NULGE, shortly after the lawmakers rejected the bill, and their counterparts from the civil society groups, embarked on a protest in some

Delta 2015: Asagba calls for issues-based campaign

By Hugo Odiogor

T

HE Asagba of Asaba, Prof. Chike Edozien, has called on political actors in Delta State to focus on issues that will promote human and infrastructural development in their campaigns for the general elections.

Prof. Edozien, who is the Chairman of Anioma Congress, said: “No vote is worth human life,” and urged the candidates of the main political parties contesting in the general elections “to focus on educating the people on the programmes of their parties and what they intend to do to uplift the human conditions of indigenes of the state.”

Speaking at the end of the meeting of traditional rulers, political and business leaders in Delta North, in his palace in Asaba, he noted that “Delta State is one and the competition for power in the state should be pursued according to the rules of engagement."

parts of Benin City to express their displeasure over the action of the lawmakers.

President of Edo State chapter of NULGE, Mr. Edwards Ilenikhena, said that the lawmakers showed that they were against the interest of the people by rejecting the bill.

He said: “We want to remind

them that February is another election and that our voter cards are with us. They have said no to the wishes of the people. They have exercised their own influence. We shall also exercise our own influence in February.”

Leader of the protesters, Mr. Austin Osakwe, said that the lawmakers had acted against

the wishes of Edo people and that they would meet their waterloo at the polls in February.

“Our position is very clear.

This is an election matter. I can speak on behalf of the civil societies here present. We will mobilise the people, we will show them who their real enemies are,” he said.

AWARD: From left: Chairman, Odogwu Group of Companies, Chief Sunny Odogwu; President, Academy for Entrepreneurial Studies Nigeria, AES, Dr. Ausbeth Ajagu; Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen and Former Minister of Industries/ Chairman, AES Excellence Club, Mrs. Nike Akande, at the AES annual CEOs dinner and award night, in Photo: Joe Akintola, Photo Editor.

Lagos.

....As Rivers NULGE demands LG autonomy

By Jimitota Onoyume

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ORT HARCOURT— LOCAL government workers in Rivers State, have stormed the old auditorium of Government House, Port Harcourt, where the proGovernor Rotimi Amaechi lawmakers were sitting, to demand for local government autonomy.

Deputy Chairman of the state chapter of National Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Mr. Magigi Dickson, said they went there to appeal to the state legislators to ensure they voted in support of local government autonomy as moves were on to amend the 1999 constitution.

“We are here to request that, because we voted you into power, the law should be passed according to the wishes of all Rivers people,” he said.

The protesters who were about 70, had placards with inscriptions such as “Degema local government supports local government autonomy,”

“Okrika local government supports local government autonomy,” “Grant local government autonomy,” “Local government autonomy should be a right,” among others.

Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Leyii

Kwane, who received the protesting workers, said he was going to pass their demand to the House.

Meanwhile, the House during it sitting rejected autonomy for local government and independent candidacy for elections.

Rivers PDP primaries: Protesters block E-West Road over result

By Jimitota Onoyume

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ORT HARCOURT— TRAVELLERS were stranded for several hours yesterday on the East-West Road as loyalists of former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Chibudom Nwuche, took over the road protesting his defeat in the primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for Rivers West senatorial district.

The protesters caused a traffic gridlock on the road as they denounced the result of the primary election. Some of

the placards they carried bore inscriptions such “Rivers West says Chibudom Nwuche is our choice,” “Bonny says no to imposition,” “We say no to dumb representation,” “No Chibudom no election,” among others.

It will be recalled that the primary election was aborted by suspected party thugs in Ahoada East Local Government Area before they shifted the election to Port Harcourt.

And in Port Harcourt while the primaries were going on at the party secretariat, Nwuche stormed out of the hall, describing the exercise as a sham.

Edo Assembly lifts suspension on two PDP lawmakers

By Simon Ebegbulem

B

ENIN—EDO State House of Assembly, yesterday, lifted the suspension on two Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, lawmakers, saying that their action was in the spirit of Christmas.

The duo are the Minority Leader of the House, Emmanuel Okoduwa and the Minority Whip, Kingsley Ehigiamusoe. The two PDP lawmakers participated in the sitting of the House at the old Assembly Complex in GRA, presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Uyi Igbe.

After lifting their suspension, the House subsequently restored Ehigiamosoe as Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary while Okoduwa was restored as chairman House Committee on Arts and Culture.

It will be recalled that the duo boycotted sittings in solidarity with four of the PDP lawmakers, who were suspended by the House.

Ex-militants block E-West Road over non-payment of allowances

By Festus Ahon

U

G H E L L I — AGGRIEVED exmilitants in the Niger Delta region, yesterday, blocked the East-West Road in protest against alleged nonpayment of their allowances and vowed to continue the protest if the issue was not addressed within 24 hours.

The protesters, who blocked the busy East-West Road as early as 5:30a.m., caused serious traffic gridlock as travellers were stranded for over five hours until men of the Joint Task Force, JTF, cleared the road after appealing to the exmilitants.

Speaking to Vanguard, Lucky Ogi, who led the exmilitants on the protest, accused the Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty, Mr Kingsley Kuku of refusing to pay them their allowances.

14—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

FEC approves N57bn contracts for roads across Nigeria

By Ben Agande

A

BUJA — WITH less than two weeks to end of the year, the Federal Executive Council, yesterday, approved contracts worth N57.34billion for the construction, rehabilitation and review of different roads across the federation.

This is apart from other contracts worth over N5billion for other sundry projects including the construction of an inland port in Makurdi, the Benue state Capital.

Addressing state House correspondents at the end of the meeting which is the last for the year, the Supervising Minister of Information, Dr Nurudeen Mohammed listed the contracts as the rehabilitation of the outstanding section of Onitsha-Enugu Expressway: Amansea-Enugu in Enugu State in the sum of N24.243billion with a completion period of 36 months; the rehabilitation of Sokoto-Tambuwal-JegaBirni Yauri-Kontagora-Makera Road in Sokoto, Kebbi and Niger States and Vandeikya-Obudu Cattle Ranch in Benue and Cross River State.

According to him, there is a budgetary provision of N400million in the ministry’s 2014 appropriation and N11billion under SURE-P 2014 appropriation which is adequate for the takeoff of the project.

The Minister explained that the project is expected to generate employment for not less than 25 engineers, 100 skilled and 435 semi-skilled workers in the course of execution.

He said the sum of N1.8billion was provided for in the ministry of Works 2014 appropriation for the Vandeikya-Obudud road while the balance of funds for the project will be provided for in the ministry’s subsequent budgets.

Other contracts approved by the council include, the Rehabilitation of SokotoTambuwal-Jega-Birni Yauri Road: JegaBirni Yauri (186km) in Kebbi State in the sum of N19.8billion. The contract had earlier been awarded in the sum of N10.5billion but reviewed to N30.4billion with a completion period of 36 months.

Other roads contracts awarded were the Rehabilitation of Sokoto-Jega-KontagoraMakera Road: Kontagora-Makera (85km) in Niger State in the sum N10.6billion, a review from N8.9billion to N19.5billion with a completion period of 30 months; Rehabilitation of Vandeikya-Obudu Cattle Ranch (completion of outstanding 12.5km) in Benue/Cross River states in favour of Messrs CECC Nigeria Limited in the sum of N3.3billion thereby revising the contract sum from N3.29billion to N6.6billion with completion period of 18 months.

Other contracts awarded included the procurement of Insurance cover for assets of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria. (NCAT) in the sum of N350,833,484.84, ( Three hundred and fifty million, eight hundred and thirty-three thousand, four hindered and eighty four Naira, eighty four kobo) with a completion period of 12 months.

Alison-Madueke records another first as President of GECF

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ARELY THREE weeks after her election as the first female President of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has been appointed as the President of the Ministerial Meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, GECF, the first woman to be so appointed by the body.

The appointment was announced earlier yesterday in Doha, Qatar, at the ongoing 16th Ministerial Conference of the GECF. Mrs. Alison-Madueke, who could not attend the meeting because of her involvement in the ongoing negotiations to end the oil workers’ strike was represented at the meeting by the Nigerian Ambassador to Qatar, Shuaibu A. Ahmed.

The GECF is an inter-governmental organization established in Tehran, Iran,

Cleric kidnapped

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ASTOR FRANCIS Irabor, founder of a new generation church known as Great Calling Ministry, GCM, at Mabushi Area, in Abuja, was last Saturday, kidnapped by armed men on Lokoja-Abuja Road.

Irabor, who just came back from London to attend the burial ceremony of his mother in-law, was returning from the ceremony in Edo State when he was kidnapped.

A group of armed men in a Peugeot 405 car with number plate concealed, blocked the Pastor’s Prado Jeep with registration number RSH 799 AA, dragged him out without taking anything from the car apart from his mobile phones, dumped him inside the boot of their car, and drove to an unknown

destination.

The driver of the Prado Jeep, Pastor Mathew Obamhen, who was visibly shaken, according to the source, drove the jeep away from the scene of the incident and proceeded to Pastor Irabor’s residence in Utako, Abuja.

He reported the matter at Utako police Station, Abuja, but was referred to the nearest police station close to the incident.

The driver said efforts of the family of the abducted pastor to reach the pastor on his two mobile phones, proved abortive as the phones were switched off.

Pastor Francis Irabor was earlier this year attacked by a group of armed men (later suspected as Boko Haram) on his way from church after service at Mabushi Area in Abuja.

in 2001, to serve as a platform to promote the exchange of experience, views, information and coordination in global gas exploration and production trends; current and anticipated supplydemand balance for gas; worldwide gas exploration, production and transportation technologies; the structure and development of gas markets (regional and global), amongst other common issues that pertain to the exploration, production and trade in natural gas.

The Forum is made up of 12 of the world’s leading producers of natural gas. It controls over 70% of global natural gas reserves, 85% of global liquefied natural gas production, and 38% of global pipeline trade of the product.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 — 15

C M Y K

16—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Lagos CAN ends 15-year leadership tussle

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HE 15 year old leadership crisis rocking the Lagos Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, came to an end yesterday with the election of Apostle Alexander Bamgbola as chairman of the body.

The resolution of the leadership tussle followed an agreement by leaders of the five blocks in the Christian body to sheathe the swords and put the crisis behind them.

They consequently met at the Hoarse Memorial Cathedral Church, Sabo, where an election was held, witnessed by the National Secretary of CAN, Rev. Musa Asake, and national legal adviser of the body from Abuja.

Before the election, Asake urged the contestants to conduct themselves in the spirit of Christ and not consider the contest as a do-or-die but a call to service.

When he called for nominations for the post of chairmanship, Bamgbola, the consensus candidate of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, emerged unopposed.

Elder Israel Akinadewo of the Organisation of African Instituted Churches, OAIC, also emerged unopposed as the new general secretary.

Workers shut ports operations nationwide

By Victor Ahiumayoung & Godwin Oritse

…FG, operators lose over N10bn

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Lagos, Warri, Port Harcourt’s, Calabar and Onne, effectively crippling all operations nationwide.

Both Presidents of Dockworkers and Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA branches of MWUN, Mr. Adewale Adeyanju and Adeleke Sanni, respectively, addressed the workers at both Apapa and Tin Can Ports and assured them that the issues would be fought to a logical conclusion.

Lamenting the loss incurred as a result of the strike, President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents,

AGOS—MARITIME Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, yesterday made good its threat to shut the nation’s ports operations over lingering disputes with government.

Some of the grievances of the union are unpaid wages and other issues affecting the Tally Clerks/On-board Security, minimum standard for Dockworkers and NPA staff welfare matters among others.

Vanguard gathered that as early as 7 am, workers were withdrawn from their duty posts across the port formations in

ANLCA, Alhaji Shittu Olayiwola said when members of the MWUN were on strike, the agents would not be able to work.

According to Shittu, “agents cannot work because the Dockworkers are needed to do examination on containers just as stevedores are also needed for vessels to discharge.

Shittu called on the management of NPA to rise up to the occasion and resolve the matter for industrial peace of the industry, saying “for every day that the ports are shut, both the Federal Government and other

VANGUARD IS THE BEST: From left; Mr. Iyobosa Ojo; Mr. Eric Emonena; Mrs. Monica Ojo; Mrs. Chika Ojo at the award/fashion night organised by Colour Runway Naija Fashion in Benin City, where Vanguard newspaper was voted as the best newspaper of the year. Photo by Barnabas Uzosike.

54 soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny By kingsley Omonobi

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BUJA—THE General Court Martial sitting at the Army Headquarters Garrison in Abuja yesterday sentenced 54 soldiers to death after finding them guilty of mutiny. 59 soldiers were on trial on a two-count charge of criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny and mutiny.

Four of them were however acquitted.

While the judgment was going on, stern looking soldiers posted at the entry gate into the Mogadishu Barracks, turned back journalists saying they had instructions not to allow the media into the barracks.

An officer who was at the Court Martial however confirmed that 54 of the 59 soldiers were sentenced to death. The 59 soldiers who were serving in the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno state, allegedly refused lawful orders

by their commander to proceed on a mission to clear out terrorists and secure a town for subsequent military deployments.

All the soldiers had pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against them at the commencement of the trial last October. The soldiers are the second batch of Nigerian soldiers condemned to death by Nigerian Military courts for mutiny.

The soldiers, attached to the 7 Division, Nigerian Army in Maiduguri include two Corporals, Cpl, nine Lance Corporals, LCpl and 49 Private soldiers. According to the charge against them, they conspired to commit mutiny against the authorities of the 7 Division on August 4, at the Mulai Primary School camp, opposite AIT Maiduguri, Borno State.

The prosecutor, Captain J.E. Nwosu, told the military court that the accused soldiers had on August 4, in Maiduguri, refused

to join the 111 Special Forces Battalion troops, commanded by Timothy Opurum, a Lieutenant Colonel for an operation.

Mr. Nwosu said the operation was meant to recapture Delwa, Bulabulin and Damboa in Borno State from the Boko Haram terrorists.

According to him, the offence is punishable under Section 52(1) (a) of the Armed Forces Act Cap A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The prosecution called the commander of the 111 Special Forces, Lt.-Col. Opurum, as one of the witnesses. The statement of the commander was admitted by the court and marked Exhibit P1.

Mr. Opurum, in his testimony in October, said the Special Forces were tasked with advancing to recapture Delwa to clear the way for other battalions to pass through to recapture Babulin and Damboa from the

insurgents.

He said he took off for the operation with only four officers and 29 soldiers as “tasked” after majority of the 174 soldiers in the unit refused to join the operation.

The witness said after he took charge of the Special Forces, he addressed and assured them that they could achieve the task given to them.

He, however, said the soldiers were “hesitant to partake in the operation” in spite of the assurances.

Under cross examination by Femi Falana, who represented the accused soldiers, Mr. Opurum said 47 of the soldiers who initially refused, later rejoined the forces for another operation.

Mr. Opurum said the 47 soldiers joined, after he called for reinforcement, as they came under attack from terrorists, who out-numbered them and had superior weapons.

port operators lose not less than N10billion. It is not just members of the freight forwarding groups; everybody is affected whenever there is a strike of this magnitude.”

Similarly, the Officer in Charge of A. P Moller Terminal in Apapa Ports, Mrs. Nike OladunniOmoridion, a Deputy Comptroller of Customs told Vanguard that as a result of the strike, operators and others were not allowed to enter the ports. So, customs officers could not carry out examination of containers.

Another Customs officer at the Ports and Terminal Multi-Purposes Services, PTML, who spoke on the condition of anonymity at 4 pm, told Vanguard that he was about leaving the ports to go home because work was disrupted due to the strike.

However, in desperate efforts to ensure that the industrial action did not last beyond yesterday, the management of NPA engaged the leaders of MWUN and NPA Senior Staff Association, counterpart, in a marathon meeting.

At the end of the meeting, President of NPA branch of MWUN, Mr. Sanni, told Vanguard normal services would resume today as the union had suspended the action.

According to him, on the issue of the Tally Clerks/On-board Security, the management of NPA led by the Executive Director Finance and Administration, Mr. Olumide Oduntan, pleaded that the issues would be addressed from today (December 18), and blamed the problems on documentation.

On the NPA staff welfare matters, he equally pleaded that for the union to give the management up to the first quarters of next year because of the austerity measure declared by the government due to the falling prices of crude in the international market.

Recall that the union had weekend notified NPA Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, and the Terminal Operators on the looming industrial unrest at all ports formations nationwide.

The union had lamented that in spite several ultimatums and agreements, the government had failed to address the plight of the tally clerks/on-board security despite their importance to ports operations and national security.

In a letter to NPA by the union dated December 12 and signed

by Mr. Edwin Sambo, Deputy Secretary General (Admin), titled “notice to shut down the seaports”, the union wrote “Please be informed that the Union will be forced to close down the Nations’ Sea ports if the under listed issues which are affecting our members are not addressed before Monday, December 15, 2014- Tally Clerks/ On-board Security, minimum standard for Dockworkers and NPA staff welfare matters.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 — 17

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ET me honestly admit that the Nigerian Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, permanently leaves me breathless in my effort to understand the statistics he regularly churns out about the successes Nigeria’s agricultural sector has recorded under his watch, in the past three years. My friend, MD Abubakar, is one of the most successful Nigerian farmers today, and his Kanobased farm has become an example of modern agricultural production and management.

Early this week, I called him just to seek clarifications about agricultural policies today. MD Abubakar confirmed that Dr. Adesina has put in place incentives that are redounding to the benefit of people like him, who have turned agriculture into big time business. Dr. Adesina is one of the most visible ministers of the Jonathan administration,and he is regularly launching new agricultural initiatives. He is also a lover of media exposure, regularly winning awards at well-publicized media events at home and abroad.

Yet, it is looking like there are some people who don’t accept the way that Dr. Adesina seemed to have almost concluded that agricultural policies in Nigeria began to make sense only when he happened on the scene three years ago.

Claims of achievement Last week, Alhaji Adamu Bello, Minister of Agriculture, between 2001 and 2007, described as “uncharitable and misplaced” claims of achievement by Dr. Adesina. Adamu Bello said these claims were unjustified and could not be verified from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS). As a matter of fact, according to him, the performance of the agricultural sector “in terms of GDP growth has been on decline (SIC) since former President Olusegun Obasanjo left office”.

He said that according to the NBS, “the last time that growth was recorded in the sector was 2007 with a rate of 7. 20percent.

Between 2008 and 2011, the growth rate was 6.30percent, 5.90, 5.60 and 5.60. In 2012 and 2013, even though a target of 8percent was set, the growth rate was 3.97 and 4.50percent growth”. Adamu Bello said these indicate that agricultural growth rate had been declining since Obasanjo.

He was not done: “I have, however, noticed that the achievements being mentioned at various fora…have no basis except that they were stated by the Minister in charge of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina”. He disputed claims by Adesina on fertilizer subsidy:”claims that N870billion had been spent on fertilizer subsidy was (SIC) not true”.

Alhaji Adamu Bello went on that “it is only God the Almighty that will judge the unfair way that past administrations are being portrayed. To claim that there was subsidy of N870billion spent on fertilisers since the use of fertilisers was initially encouraged about 40years ago is

Dr. Adesina's agriculture reforms: Food for thought, food for the stomach most unfair…the subsidy between 1999 and 2007 was under N25billion…this can be verified from the Budget Office of the Federal Ministry of Finance.

However, according to Dr. Adesina, the subsidy which was abused and corruptly taken was claimed to be N26billion annually over a period of 40years”. Dr. Adesina’s spokesperson, Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye, in response said that Adamu Bello did not reflect reality: “Parading those year-on-year GDP changes by the former minister has neither explained nor proved any point, Rather, it raises questions about concrete achievements the minister had to show for his role as minister during the period he was at the helm”.

It is interesting that these adversarial disputations are between ministers from two PDP administrations. But the finger pointing was not about to be exhausted. Dr. Oyeleye boasted that: “the differences, in terms of concrete performance, between Adamu Bello and Akinwumi Adesina, are poles apart. The purpose of the minister is not to churn out flat figures, but to build verifiable sectoral statistics built

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina will have to do a lot more to demystify agriculture while helping us to get more food into our stomachs. In that endeavour, it will also ennoble policy if the peasant sector gets a most generous level of assistance too

on tangible performances…While the GDP figures of NBS is not in dispute, Bello needs to draw the nation’s attention to the size of the agricultural sector during his tenure compared to now. GDP figures don’t say much, especially if absolute figures are not available…Private sector investment into agriculture has risen to unprecedented level within the last three years…because of the current reforms in the agricultural sector”.But it is not only the former Agriculture Minister, Adamu Bello that has raised eyebrows about the ways of the present.

Important ministry The NATION newspaper’s HARDBALL column of Monday, December 15, 2014, had some reservations too. HARDBALL said of Dr. Adesina: “he is good looking, always well-turned out…a technocrat…he knows some buzz words and he can render them in British or American accent…he has been charged with what is perhaps the most important ministry in the land in nearly four years…(and) he has made a mess of it”! PHEW! HARDBALL said Adesina,”in his usual manner enthused that Nigeria’s food import bill has declined by N466billion from one trillion naira in the last three years that he has been in charge”. He added effusively that: “our national food production expanded by an additional 21million metric tonnes of food within three years. This is a record in our nation’s history”.

Adesina’s statistical tour-de-force was at the inauguration of Flour Mills of Nigeria’s first commercial 10percent composite flour product.

While these are just being brought on stream, HARDBALL said Adesina told his audience that all bread, cakes and confectioneries consumed in Nigeria today, contain cassava flour. Millers are said to be telling a different story; the cassava value chain is “riddled with challenges and difficulties like a dearth of large scale investment, power and transportation”. The miller quoted said “we have not been able to get cassava processing right. The only major company doing that now in Nigeria is Thai

Farms, a subsidiary of Flour Mills… (But) as far as Adesina is concerned, the whole Nigeria is eating cassava bread, while the millers tell us that we have not even planted cassava!” The late Chinua Achebe once analyzed the Green Revolution of the Shagari Administration, during

the Second Republic, 1979-1983 in a television programme.

Achebe said the programme gave us a lot of food for thought and not enough food for our stomachs!

As I confessed at the beginning of this piece, Dr. Adesina regularly leaves me dizzy under his spell-bounding performances, with all the statistics that he reels out about Nigeria’s agricultural sector under his watch. My friend, MD Abubakar in Kano, corroborates the work being done by the minister. While the interventions by the former Agriculture Minister, Alhaji Adamu Bello and the sideways kick from THE NATION’s HARDBALL column have helped to concentrate minds about about the real issues behind the often, mystifying statistics. In the final analysis, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina will have to do a lot more to demystify agriculture while helping us to get more food into our stomachs. In that endeavour, it will also ennoble policy if the peasant sector gets a most generous level of assistance too.

Tompolo's warships: New toys for the sacred cow

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HE story broke last week.

Former Niger Deltamilitant, Government Ekpemupolo, better known as Tompolo has acquired six new “toys”. These are decommissioned battleships from Norway.

A Norwegian newspaper, DAGBLADET, was quoted as saying that the fastspeed Hauk-class guided missile boats were re-armed with new weaponry. The report went further that the ships were first sold to a British security company, CAS Global which had a license to purchase such warships, before selling to Tompolo, who would have needed an export license from the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So through a roundabout manner, Tom Polo has become the “proud owner” of six new warships, ostensibly purchased to become part of the inventory of Global West Vessel Service. That is the company through which the government of Goodluck Jonathan, contracted maritime security duties to Tom Polo, via the Nigerian Maritime Safety Agency (NIMASA).

Transition to world of business Government Ekpemupolo is one of the sacred cows of the Nigeria of President Goodluck Jonathan. Tompolo spent many years militarily subverting the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

When an Amnesty Programme was instituted, he made a financial kill and did the transition into the world of business; the business of becoming the Czar of Nigeria’s waterways. The lumpen warlord has become one of the richest individuals of the Goodluck Jonathan era in Nigeria. The recent purchase of six warships by a man with Tom Polo’s record just underlines the sorry pass that our country has been taken in the past six years. The dangers to Nigeria seem so obvious to people watching from the

sidelines, but it seems the Jonathan presidency cannot “give a damn” about Tom Polo’s six new toys. Well a few days ago, a panItsekiri organization, the Warri Study Group (WSG), expressed fear that Tom Polo could turn his new warships against the “the Itsekiri and other ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta”, in a statement signed by Edward Ekpoko and Tony Ede, Chairman and Secretary respectively of the WSG. There has been no love lost between Tom Polo’s Ijaw and other groups in Delta state and it was testimony to Tom Polo’s larger than life presence in the Niger Delta, that he was able to stop President Jonathan from visiting the area to perform an official assignment!

But the WSG also pointed out more disturbing issues. For instance, it alleged that Tom Polo’s acquisition of warships violate Nigerian law; pointing out that Part II Section 17 of the Private Guard Companies Act forbids private security companies from procuring or carrying deadly weapons. But it seems that the provisions of the law are not to be obeyed by sacred cows like Tom polo!

It is instructive, according to the WSG, that “President Jonathan, Tom Polo and the DG NIMASA are all of Ijaw extraction and we therefore see a script being acted out. Nigeria is the only country in the world where individuals – a rehabilitated militant for that matter-is awarded a contract to oversee the security of the coastline of a nation and with powers to import warships and sophisticated arms. WSG added further that since Tom Polo’s company got the contract to protect pipelines in the region “oil theft and bunkering have been on the increase”. Under the Jonathan administration Nigeria has seen all kinds of incredible decisions and this one really beats the imagination.

18 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 EFFORTS to apply the 2011 Freedom of Information Act, FOIA and 2003 Child Rights Act, CRA, nationally, indicate that Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and All Peoples Congress, APC, - Nigeria’s major political parties - reject these laws primed on accountability and Nigeria’s future.

Cases across the country prove unwillingness of States to abide by a law they contested during the legislative process, which was why its passage took more than 10 years. CRA was passed 11 years ago.

According to Section 4 (5) of the Constitution, “If any law enacted by the House of Assembly of a State is inconsistent with any law validly made by the National Assembly, the law made by the National Assembly shall prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void ”.

States do not have CRA and FOIA laws, but they are un-making federal laws with abandon, calling it domestication.

Domestication, according to Section 12 (1) of the Constitution, applies to treaties between Nigeria and other countries.

Snippets of FOIA battles: * Justice S. O. Itodo of Makurdi High Court ruled that the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 is applicable to

While W e Pla We Playy PDP PDP,, APC all the States of the Federation. His decision was on objection Benue State Commissioner of Finance raised that the State (PDP) had not domesticated FOIA. Maj-Gen India Garba (rtd) sued after Benue refused to provide information on federal allocations to Vandekiya Local Gover nment Area Council. * Last February, Lagos State Attorney-General, Mr. Ade Ipaye, told a Federal High Court that FOIA was a federal law, not binding on the State (APC). The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, sued after Lagos refused to provide

information on a $90m World Bank facility the State procured to improve its schools. * A Federal High Court in Benin City awarded N20,000 against the National Assembly (PDP/APC) for “ unnecessary argument and delay of application ” in a suit between the National Assembly and Chief Patrick Osagie Eholor, who wanted information on allowances, salaries, emoluments and constituency allowances of two federal legislators from his constituency. It is ironic that the National Assembly is among parties diminishing FOIA it made.

Additionally, Section 22 of the Constitution states, “The press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this Chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people. ” States’ moves to stop implementation of FOIA and CRA are illegal and should stop.

Nigerians should press for legal resolution of breaches of these laws. Battles against constitutional breaches are more profound engagements than playing PDP or APC, parties that discard our laws.

OPINION

By Ekanpou Enewaridideke

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ROM the mysterious Amasuomo creek in Burutu Local Government I have canoed into the River Niger. This is prompted by two developments – the unceasing acidic verbal minimization of President Goodluck Jonathan

by Professor Wole Soyinka and the desecration of Soyinka’s personality by John Udumebraye.

My responses to both attacks are that of indignation, bewilderment, puzzlement and surprise (Soyinka’s article “under the sign of an iconoclast”) at a time such as this.

It would be a laughable intellectual sophistry to create a discourse devoted to castigation and denial of the achievements of President Jonathan at this time of Nigerian history. From education, road infrastructure, environmental management, power, industrial revolution policy, agriculture, airport, Railways revolution, transport, and the overall performance of the economy, President Jonathan has visibly demonstrated capability and commitment to the development of the Nigerian project. The facts of his unwavering pursuit of the transformation agenda are open to appropriation from TAM and other advocacy groups. Any healthy critic of the president would have journeyed to the parts of the country where the transformation projects are located either to prove or disprove the transformation claims. Criticism of President Jonathan devoid of this approach is better dismissed as a prejudicial, ego-boosting and self-serving agenda bound to harm Nigeria in her search towards a new Nigeria.

When unguarded, uncomplimentary comments are made against the visible transformation drive of President Jonathan , the Chibok girls saga and insurgency in

Soyinka, Jonathan and vilification general, the interventionist role of the police in the construction of security barricade against Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal saga based on the intelligence of impending invasion of the National Assembly by thugs, tendentious selfserving anti-progress agenda would be spotted as the likely inspirational source of such action.

Stuck to this destructive self-serving dance of distraction, to cast President Jonathan as a president worse than king Nebuchadnezzar betrays a failing mind perpetually conditioned and indoctrinated to demonise the President no matter the radius of developmental illumination daily beamed out by him. This is a sheer dramatization of personalized war of antagonism and hatred for Jonathan.

For Soyinka to claim the metaphorisation of President Jonathan using Nebuchadnezzar, he has fallen from the hallowed height hitherto occupied. The activities of Bola Tinubu, Governor Rotimi Amaechi who threatened to form a parallel government even before the conduct of the 2015 elections, and many other APC stalwarts notorious for verbal terrorism merit some degree of healthy critical commentary but on these Soyinka has been silence. This uncharacteristic silence has the hallmarks of degeneration and regression into a selective critic. Can Soyinka’s recent biblical metaphorisation of President Jonathan be viewed as a metamorphosis of Soyinka into an implacable selective critic of the President?

As a writer, I am sure, Soyinka is only interested in the ironic meaning of Nebuchadnezzar as metaphorically applied to President Jonathan.

It could be an uncanny case of the use of individualised Soyinkaised CONCEIT in appreciating Jonathan’s unusual

transformation records - because President Jonathan bears no resemblance to Nebuchadnezzar in any form. Then could this be penciled down sympathetically as Soyinka’s rare moment of being overpowered by invasion of superfluous lexemes and metaphors in their stray?

Yes, Soyinka misfired when he cast Jonathan as a president worse than Nebuchadnezzar.

John Udumebraye equally misfired when he described Soyinka’s Nobel prize for Literature as a product of his political activism rather than his literary prowess and versatility. This is a demeaning categorization of Soyinka obviously borne out of over-expectation of the man, forgetting that no matter the unfathomable height of Soyinka’s verbal sophistication and literary prowess, he is still essentially a mortal with limitation/ shortcomings.

In the life of a man, there are moments of luxuriant growth, surplus upward progression, perfection and excellence as are moments of deficit, verbal recklessness,decomposition, diminishing return, degeneration, recession and regression. No mortal is immune to these existential realities. One area we must unashamedly share collective guilt is overexpectation. We have made Soyinka an angeland expect too much from a mere mortal.

For those who are puzzled by Soyinka’s recent selective criticism, the latest in the series of which is the biblical metaphorisation of President Jonathan, see it from the perspective of the arrival of occasional moment of diminishing return in the life of every man.

Equally see it from the perspective of man’s

occasional predisposition to irrational theorization and irrational praxis.

Soyinka is a genius both as a literary and political activist whose prehensile tentacles are spread to all the genres of literature – poetry, drama, prose – so much so that critics no longer know in which genre he should be rated best.

For Udumebraye to verbally pedestrianize Soyinka’s scholarly achievements in trying to counter his recent selective outburst, he has desecrated the oracle of African literature.

Soyinka cannot be a scholar and be a scholar at the same time as Udumebraye angrily portrays in the grip of confusion and ambiguity.

He is a scholar of international repute and dignity. Soyinka is more sinned against by Udumebraye than President Jonathan by Soyinka.

I do not believe that the Pyrate Confraternity is a cult as nothing reprehensible has ever been associated with it since the beginning of the campaign of denigration and demonization mounted against it. I do not see anything wrong with Soyinka leaving University College, Ibadan for the University of Ife, neither do I see anything wrong with Soyinka’s pursuit of his academic dream at Leeds University, UK. It would appear that the target of Udumebraye is to demonize and desecrate Soyinka’s intellectual shrine just as Soyinka appears ideologically positioned to demonize Jonathan’s transformation philosophy. This is where both moves become irretrievably faulty.

President Jonathan’s development strides are unbeatable just as Soyinka’s intellectual achievements are unrivalled. Henceforth, Soyinka should endeavour to direct his feet down a healthy path. *Mr Enewaridideke, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Warri, Delta State.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014— 19

Threats of a parallel government

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ITH the emergence of the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), the stage is set for the February 2015 general elections. However, there are certain issues that give reason for grave concern as we get ready to embrace the polls. Of particular interest to me in today’s writeup is the series of threats by the main opposition APC to form a parallel government if the elections are “rigged”.

The first to issue this threat was the National Chairman of the Party, Chief John Oyegun, during the campaigns for the Osun State governorship election earlier in August of this passing year. According to him, APC will no longer recognise “stolen mandate” or any outcome of an election that is not free, fair and credible. Again, in Abuja on November 20th, Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, after a street rally and a barricade of the Police Force headquarters, reissued this warning. The Presidency chided him in a statement, and Oyegun

issued a reiteration, saying it is not merely an individual’s opinion but the official stand of the party.

Viewed on its face value, there is nothing wrong or strange in calling for a free and fair election.

It is perfectly in order to insist that the outcome of elections must cohere with the wishes of the people. It is very much okay to frown on any attempt to subvert the wishes of the people.

But this stance is much deeper than merely calling for a free and fair election. We have to answer these questions: what is a “rigged” election?

Who determines it under our laws?

And what is a parallel government? What are the consequences of forming a parallel government? By the time we ruminate through these questions it becomes clear that this issue is far more sinister than it appears on its face value.

What is a rigged election? It is a subversion of the wishes of the people and award of victory to those who do not deserve it. Who rigs elections? Is it the ruling party or the opposition that rigs elections? The answer is simple.

Those who shout “impunity” at the drop of a hat have not seen anything, until someone carries out the threat of forming a parallel government There are a million and one things that can lead to a rigged election.

If the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) comes late with voting materials to a polling station and this leads to disenfranchisement of voters, it is bound to affect the fortunes of one contestant or party more than the other, and the disadvantaged party will complain of rigging, even if their opponent had no hand in it.

Poor security can affect the outcome of an election. Too much presence of security men can also give room for agents of a contestant to foul the rules of the game to their advantage. It is a very widely acknowledged fact that politicians routinely foul the rules to gain undue advantage for themselves. No politician can claim innocence of this. It is also a widely acknowledged fact that politicians rig in areas where

The true majority of the minorities

N

IGERIAN politics is becoming more intriguing by the day. At last week’s national convention of the All Progressives Congress, APC, we thought, as usual, that money was going to make the essential difference.

Evidently, establishing a pattern of behaviour based on that convention is extremely difficult. At first, we saw an inverse relationship between the financial outlay by the individual aspirants and their scores at the primaries.

This hypothesis soon broke down when the final scores emerged – Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari (3,430 votes); Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso (974 votes); Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (954 votes); Governor Rochas Okorocha (624 votes); and Mr. Sam Nda Isaiah (10 votes). Our original hypothesis would have meant that Nda Isaiah who came first from the rear spent highest; while Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari, who won the contest, spent least.

Buhari might have spent the least but the information available to us does not support the fact that Nda Isaiah spent the highest. This leaves us with the impression that in-between the spectrum, there were money-bags who had a lot of Naira and Dollars to throw around.

This also means that in the process, some of the delegates who voted for Buhari might have enjoyed the flight tickets provided by other aspirants; they might have stayed in hotel rooms provided by other aspirants; and those sumptuous meals they enjoyed might have been provided by other aspirants.

There is hardly anyone, even the hardhearted, who would not have been moved by the honest confession made by Buhari, “I have no money to give to delegates. And even if I had the money, I would not have given. I would use such money to provide

C M Y K

services for the down-trodden masses of this nation”.

Buhari went down memory lane to push the fact that he remains in the category of the few leaders who did not steal while in public office. All he has always yearned for is an opportunity to serve the people.

This is a healthy development for our polity. So soon, we are heading towards an era where money can no longer purchase people’s conscience and their votes. They would take your money and still vote their conscience. This is largely reminiscent of the 2012 gubernatorial election in Edo State where the PDP outspent the defunct ACN perhaps on a ratio of 4:1 and the results that came were totally in a reverse order. This is the making of a silent revolution.

Sadly, the PDP has never faced the real issues. Their campaigns have never gone beyond the hollow level of attacking the motto and logo of their opponents. The other day, one of their spokesmen was on top of his elements when he struggled strenuously to destroy the APC motto of CHANGE. Hear him: “The APC has been busy making changes. They have changed from AC to ACN; from ANPP to CPC and now to an analgesic, APC”.

So soon, we are heading towards an era where money can no longer purchase people’s conscience and their votes

they already have dominance over their opponents. All the political parties have areas where they are strong and areas where they are weak. While helping themselves to impunities in areas where they are strong, they complain that their opponents are rigging in the (opponents’) stronghold. PDP, APC and others are guilty of this electoral sin.

If we are to apply the APC threat, does it mean that if PDP loses, say, in Lagos where APCrelated parties have dominated for sixteen years, PDP is free to accuse APC of “rigging” the election and form a PDP-led “parallel’ or alternative government? If that is allowed, then we are going to have parallel legislators at the state and federal levels, parallel governors and parallel presidents. And since we have more than 30 registered political parties, we are going to have over thirty parallel presidents, 980 parallel governors, do the math for parallel senators, members of the House Reps and the 36 state legislators multiplied by thirty each!

It was this absurdity that drove the framers of our constitution and the concomitant electoral laws to spell out the lawful ways of winning elections, getting certified as holders of the people’s mandates, and seeking redress in court when you have proof that you were cheated. Is it not instructive that the same Chibuike Amaechi, a prime beneficiary of justice through the courts of the land was the one vowing his party will not go to court if elections were rigged?

It is dangerous to allow politicians to determine by themselves that elections have

Truly, the process has not been easy but PDP fails to realise that this is the first time that we are seeing a true majority of the minorities.

Past efforts at mergers and consolidations always failed.

Certainly, every beginning is difficult. All the same, 2014 goes down in history as the year they got it right! Starting from the 2015 elections, it will no longer be business as usual. If an attack on opposition symbols is all the PDP is bringing to the campaigns, the ensuing wind of change will blow them out of Aso Rock before they know what is happening.

For a party, like the PDP, that has failed the nation, enough of pretensions! By now, they should be looking desperately for justifications for their failures. The party should know when silence is preferred.

Sadly, the entire atmosphere around the Federal Government is based on deceit.

Questions will be asked and answers will be demanded. For instance, what really happened to the kerosene fiasco where the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration came up with the alluring idea of importing kerosene for delivery to the masses at the control price of N50 per litre?

They co-opted the 36 States into the diabolical scheme and coerced each State Government to cough out N100 million into it. The exited Governors raced back home to inform their people that kerosene was coming. Alas, their gallant gamble ended in the dust! More than two years on, not many drops of kerosene have arrived!

Too soon, the same names associated with the kerosene “import”, emerged in the leadership of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, TAN, those noise makers on radio and television! That’s

been rigged and thus proceed to take the laws into their own hands. The courts remain the only legally recognised institutions to determine if an election has been rigged, and give justice to the injured. We are fortunate to have a president whose regime has never gone against the wishes of the electorate in any election or the wishes of any court of law, contrary to the situation that obtained during the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

There is no alternative to the rule of law. Supposed the INEC announces APC as the winner of the presidency, how will they like it if President Goodluck Jonathan and his PDP proceed to form a parallel government?

Foolishness is not a preserve of anybody. Majority of our people know how to break the law and yet choose to be law-abiding.

Besides, the wages of sin is death, says the Bible. If you form a parallel government, what happened to Chief Moshood Abiola when he made his Epetedo Declaration (in August 1994 before he was taken into custody from which he never came out alive) can happen to anyone. The state does not tolerate acts of treason or those who perpetrate them. Those who shout “impunity” at the drop of a hat have not seen anything, until someone carries out the threat of forming a parallel government.

The real government, with the full paraphernalia of the state, will make its presence known.

Where will the capital be, anyway?

money down the drains and we wonder when State Governments will start asking for the refund of their money. At least, if you refuse to shave a child, you should give him back his razor!

With this administration, it has been an endless reign of scandal and impunity.

Which other nation in the world would pride itself on the transformation of its transportation sector for merely repainting a few old coaches, without adding even an inch to the railway lines inherited from the colonialists at independence? Our transformation here has been left in the hands of spraypainters!

These are just a few of the areas where serious-minded people will demand for changes, fundamental changes – not changes in colours and logos of party symbols.

In all this, Buhari is a ready answer.

Foisting different names on him does not alter the equation, either. Call him an Islamic fundamentalist, if you wish. But fair-minded people should examine his antecedents and associates and decide for themselves; if he fits into the mould of an Islamic fundamentalist. After all, this was the same man who led the military push against the Maitasine in the 1980s. And last July, he narrowly survived a bomb attack carried out by the same extremists he is wrongly suspected of supporting.

Shall we return to Victor Hugo (18021885)? Nothing beats an idea whose time has come. This is the time for change and those unprepared for change must be prepared to be changed!

20 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Vanguard, THURSDAY DECEMBER 18, 2014 — 21

FG to privatise railways, inland waterways, 6 others in 2015

UBA Capital halts African expansion on Ebola concerns

By Franklin Alli & Providence Obuh

By Jonah Nwokpoku

U

T

he Federal Government has concluded plans to privatise eight new entities in some sectors of the economy by 2015.

These sectors include: Railway; Inland waterways; Road Authority; Roads Funds; National Transport Commission; Ports & Harbour reform; Federal Competition and Consumer Protection and Postal bill.

Mr. Benjamin Dikki, the Director General of the bureau, disclosed this during the end year workshop of the Commerce and Industry Correspondence Association of Nigeria (CICAN) in Lagos, saying “Government is riding on the success story of the previously privatised Public Enterprises, PEs, such as banking, power, telecom, marine, steel sectors of the economy, etc.

According to him “Today, the banking and finance sector is the most developed sector in Nigeria, efficiently and effectively responsible for implementing all government’s economic and financial policies under the regulation of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN ‘The reform of the telecom sector remains the most successful in terms of its impact on the economy. For example, Nigeria’s tele-density has been

From left: Mr Victor Banjo, DG IoD; Mr Yemi Akeju, Ist Vice President, IoD; Chief Eniola Fadayomi, President and Chairman in Council, IoD; Chief Lugard Aimiuwu, receiving his award for Director Development at the IoD’s Annual Directors Dinner as Rt. Hon. Chevalier Uduimo Itsueli, looks on. raised from 450,000 telephone lines in 2001 to over 134.5 million as at September, 2014; today, telecom contributions to the GDP is now 8.53 per cent , compared to less than 3 percent in 2001.”

Still stressing on the benefits of the reforms and privatisation, he said “Eleme Petrochemical Company has been revitalised and producing at over 99 percent capacity and has been consistently paying over N4, 000.00 as dividend per share.

Cement companies have been revived, expanded and made profitable, etc.”

Dikki, stated that to sustain the gains of past reforms and privatisation and enhance the enabling environment for private capital participation in the Nigerian economy, BPE has prepared eight critical bills targeted for passage into law.

The bills are roads authority bill, railway bill, port and habour bill, inland water ways bills; Roads fund bill; National transport commission bill, federal competition and consumer protection bill as well as postal bill.

Additionally, Dikki said that besides these bills, the bureau

is working with the relevant ministries to reform Sports, Tourism, Health and Housing sectors of the country by reviewing the policy, legal and regulatory frameworks for these sectors.

In her presentation, Dr. Gloria Elemo Director General, Federal Institute of Research Oshodi (FIIRO, said that research and development are a very potent benefit of research to economic development is the transformation substitution industrialization to export oriented industrialisation.

Appeal Court upholds FIRS’ N1.24bn tax assessment against Haliburton

By Innocent Anaba

T

he Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has upheld an additional $6,972,248 (about N1.24 billion) tax assessment against the Halliburton Energy Services Nigeria Limited, HESNL. The Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, had raised an additional tax assessment against HESNL for year 1996 to 1999. Displeased with the FIRS decision, Halliburton filed a complaint at the defunct Body of Appeal Commissioner.

The body upheld FIRS decision.

Dissatisfied with the outcome at the Body, HESNL approached the Federal High Court, which quashed the body’s decision and ordered FIRS to refund the said amount to Halliburton.

FIRS headed to the Court of Appeal to challenge the decision of the High Court, but the appellant court in its unanimous decision, held that the Service was empowered by the law to assess the income not disclosed earlier.

The additional assessment arose from contract transactions between Halliburton, West African Limited—a foreign/non-resident company incorporated in Cayman Islands- and its affiliate operating in Nigeria, under the entity called Halliburton Energy Services Nigeria Limited, HESNL. The two companies agreed that Halliburton would obtain contracts from third parties in Nigeria for execution by HESNL, with billing for contracts made in USA dollars.

FIRS taxed additional income-in US dollars- derived by Halliburton West African Limited, to the tune of $6, 972. 248 million, for the years 19961999.

Justice Joseph Ikyegh of the appellate court noted that a holistic construction of Section 26 of CITA entitles the appellant (FIRS) “to assess to tax, the income of the respondent (Haliburton West Africa), by way of additional assessment to tax of a taxpayer.

“By making additional assessment to tax of the declared income of the respondent, (Halliburton West Africa Limited), subsequently found out by the appellant ( FIRS), the appellant cannot be accused of revisiting or taxing over again, the initial income that was earlier taxed as to amount to double taxation.

“In other words, what the appellant assessed to tax was the income omitted to be submitted or declared to the appellant by the respondent in the original assessment occasioned by Halliburton’s non-disclosure at the material time of the original assessment to tax.

“Put in another way, it was the undeclared income subsequently discovered by FIRS through tax audit that was taxed which is covered by the supervening Section 26 (3) of CITA. It was not a case of taxing twice the same income or asset or a situation tax was levied on an income that had already been taxed.”

BA Capital Plc, an in vestment and asset management arm of United Bank for Africa, will halt its African expansion plan on concern about the spread of the outbreak of Ebola.

The company’s shareholders voted to stop its regional expansion and to transfer N402 million of proceeds from a rights offer into infrastructure projects in Nigeria and working capital instead. UBA Capital also changed its name to United Capital Plc. Chairman of UBA Capital, Chika Mordi told reporters that, “Events of the past one year in affected countries were not foreseen during expansion and fundraising plans.”

The outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease has led to serious consequences for business in the region.

Last month, Dangote Cement Plc, Nigeria’s biggest company, said it delayed a project in Sierra Leone until the crisis abates, while SIC Insurance Co., Ghana’s second-largest insurer, said the company probably won’t revive plans “anytime soon” to open offices in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

“Companies are moving away from the countries hit by Ebola, so we can’t be going there at this time,” said Boniface Okezie, the national coordinator of the Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, which holds a minority stake in the company.

$174.1 $2,914.00

$41.00

$14.76

-$0.2

$60.01

-$1.05

$56.28

+$0.37

CURRENCY BUYING DOLLAR STERLING EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYAL KRONA SDR

-$3.55

167 261.4552 207.5142 172.7348 1.4049 0.2979 243.7038 26.9737 44.4918 27.8938 244.4379

CENTRAL 167.5 262.238 208.1355 173.252 1.4091 0.3079 244.4334 27.055 44.625 27.9773 245.1698

SELLING 168 263.0208 208.7568 173.7691 1.4133 0.3179 245.1631 27.1362 44.7582 28.0608 245.9016

CBN Exchange Rate as 17/12/2014

22—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Early this year, Airtel in partnership with Google, sponsored the GoogleCloud Developer Challenge which provided opportunities for thousands of young Nigerians to improve their skills in Apps development

,

BUSINESS

,

Living Paycheck to Paycheck: 7 strategies for survival

BY Geoff Williams

I

F you live paycheck to pay check, and you often find yourself falling short on cash or unable to pay bills on time, you may wonder how everyone else who lives the same way manages to do it.

Odds are, they’re doing it about as well as you. More than 25 million middle-class American families live paycheck to paycheck, according to a study this year from the Brookings Institution.

So if you’re looking for ways to stretch your paycheck, here are some ideas.

Budget, daily. It makes sense to come up with a system that allows you to continually monitor your finances, especially if you’re in a two-income household. If two of you are independently making money decisions, you’ll double the odds that something will go wrong.

Micro-budget. It isn’t enough to simply say you’re going to spend $600 a month on groceries and $200 on gas. You need to follow up and see if you’re sticking to your budget, says Lindsey Burgess, spokeswoman for the budgeting app YouNeedaBudget.com.

“Give every dollar a job,” she advises. “If you have assigned $400 per month to groceries, when you go grocery shopping at the end of the month, you should reference your grocery balance, not your checking account balance, before you go to the store.”

It’s a smart idea. If you’re keeping track of whether reality is matching up with what you plan to spend, you’ll have a better chance of staying within your budget.

Plan for the worst. If your money situation tends to go from OK to bad and then back to OK again, consider creating a regular budget and a worst-casescenario budget, says Landon Vick, a financial advisor and planner in Cookeville, Tennessee. Then if your financial picture falls apart, you can switch to the latter budget, which eliminates the extras in your life.

“The buy-in from both spouses here is the most important part. We’ve used this approach, and it’s given us the relief I would have expected,” Vick says.

Trim the fat. If you haven’t done this in a while, set aside some time to look at your budget. See if there are any services you’re paying for that you no

longer use and can cancel, like a gym membership. Maybe it’s time to call your cable company and ask about cheaper subscription rates.

Unless you’ve done this in recent months, there’s probably something you can pare down.

Start a self-improvement program. Maybe quitting a vice will save you money.

“One of my clients was a smoker who took frequent cigarette breaks. She made a commitment to cutting back and eventually quit,” says Roy Cohen, a New York Citybased career coach and author of “The Wall Street Professional’s Survival Guide.”

He adds: “I encouraged her to keep the money she was no longer spending on cigarettes in a jar. By year end, she accumulated almost $3,000.”

Quitting also impressed her boss, he says. She got a great performance review at the year’s end, and with any luck, she’ll get a raise. This won’t be everyone’s luck, but then again, you never know what might happen.

Improve how you think about money. Maybe you have some bad habits you don’t think of as bad habits, such as never budgeting or adding expenses without considering how they will affect your cash flow. Or maybe you always pay bills late, never thinking about the collective damage late fees are doing to your budget.

Tim Halberg, a wedding photographer based in Napa, California, says he started putting money aside every month during the months his income spikes. “Seems simple enough, but we got caught up in the idea that whenever we had extra money, we could just spend it,” he says.

Try to save. You know this is a good idea, of course, and you know that it’s easier said than done. It may not be practical now to save for a retirement or your kids’ college education, or maybe you’re doing that but can’t save for anything else.

Regardless, as Vick says, “saving, even small amounts at a time, builds a buffer for when money gets tight.”

Even if you don’t have extra money to save every month because you’re constantly dipping into your savings to pay for unexpected bills, that may be something positive and new — that you have the money to pay off the unexpected bill.

NAIRA EXCHANGE RATES Date 17/12/14

Currency DOLLAR STERLING EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYAL KRONA SDR

Buying(N) 167 261.4552 207.5142 172.7348 1.4049 0.2979 243.7038 26.9737 44.4918 27.8938 244.4379

Central(N) 167.5 262.238 208.1355 173.252 1.4091 0.3079 244.4334 27.055 44.625 27.9773 245.1698

Selling(N) 168 263.0208 208.7568 173.7691 1.4133 0.3179 245.1631 27.1362 44.7582 28.0608 245.9016

Why public relations is important for business

BY Murray Newlands Most business executives dub PR as 'free advertising.' This could not be farther from the truth. It is neither advertising, nor is it free. As a matter of fact, it may be very costly, depending upon how it is used, because it's a time consuming and labour intensive process.

Still while it is almost a cliché; today, PR may make the claim that it'll give your business the best return for its marketing budget.

PR works through intermediaries Due to it being compared with advertising, PR is propbably the least understood of all marketing tools. The basis of PR

includes using intermediaries to communicate with your audience and influence them. Those intermediaries may be industry spokespersons, stock analysts, investors, trend setters, industry analysts, customers, employees, and even the electronic and print media. Typically, your business has very little control over those influencers, or intermediaries, which will make public relations so difficult.

PR is messy Advertising, on the other hand, provides you that control.

You won't just get to create your organization's messages, match them with a supporting graphic, then place them where you desire your audience to read them and as you desire them to read them. Plus, you'll pay for

that control. In order to get individuals to hear you, you must persuade many important influencers that your business, its services or products are worth their time to consider. You must have your act together. They do not have time to spend on incomplete ideas. Getting your act together for a key influencer will mean that you: Know competition well; Know industry well; Know context that your service or product is utilized in; Know customers; Know customer's interests; Understand why what you need to say is crucial to them.

PR is personal You might have demographics for your audience in advertising. You might even have performed focus groups and

Airtel unveils entrepreneurship initiative

A

IRTEL Nigeria has launched an entrepreneurial initiative tagged ‘Catapult-a-Startup,’ a platform which aims to inspire innovation and assist start-up mobile app developers towards actualising their business goals and dreams.

With this, Airtel is offering a platform for budding mobile app developers to receive advanced mentoring from industry veterans, funding, marketing, and also improve their skills to become successful using their creativity.

To participate in the programme, interested start-ups are to submit their ideas and presentations to the ‘Catapulta-Startup’ website www.cas.ng, for evaluation.

After the initial evaluation, selected start-ups will be in-

vited to pitch their ideas to a panel of esteemed judges who will do a thorough evaluation and select the best start up proposals.

The promoters of the selected start up proposals will be subsequently supported with a cash prize of N1m mentoring, funding, marketing and a chance to integrate their developed apps and services on the Airtel platform gaining direct access to the Telco’s large customer base.

Speaking during the launch in Lagos, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, Managing Director/ CEO, Airtel Nigeria, explained that the company initiated the programme in line with its vision to encourage innovation and empower young Nigerians by creating opportunities for them to bring

their business ideas to fruition.

“At Airtel, we are passionate about building a community for young talented Nigerians.

We are aware of the abundance of young people who are blessed with the skills to develop relevant apps with most of them not having the opportunity to showcase or develop their skills.

“Through the Catapult-aStartup programme, we aim not only to identify talent, but also to encourage local content. The apps and services developed by these start-ups will ride on Airtel’s superior 3.75G network in Nigeria and the large customer base.

Airtel will continue to go the extra mile at empowering them to succeed in their respective endeavours,” he stated.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014—23

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& YOU

Public relations boosts an organisation's credibility, because it operates through numerous trusted intermediaries

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COMMODITIES (17/12/2014) Commodity Light Crude

Last 54.52

Natural Gas

3.67

+0.05

+1.52

Sugar

14.72

+0.01

+0.07

Coffee

174.10

-3.55

-2.00

Cocoa

2,929.00

+15.00

+0.51

market research to pin down their necessities. However, as individuals the audience remains mainly anonymous to you. You'll communicate to them more as a circle that shares common interests, instead of as individuals. Advertising, by its nature, includes a mass communication.

PR builds up credibility Public relations boosts an organization's credibility, because it operates through numerous trusted intermediaries.

Plus, these intermediaries communicate to a certain audience

Change ($) -1.41

source for the influential.

However, this relationship is based on your organization's capability of providing these things: Thorough knowledge of the influencer's need; Timely response to an influencer's requests; Unique accessibility to important executives in your organization; Truthfully stating your case PR is opportunistic Your public relations communications with influencers do not always need to be about your business. Offering accessibility to your consumers in

With advertising, it's possible to calculate the responses and audience impact which you have

,

which looks to them to filter out all nonsense. If messages are chosen to be communicated, they'll gain credibility due to the intermediaries' credibility.

PR is precise With advertising, it's possible to calculate the responses and audience impact which you have. It is similar to a controlled experiment which is being done repeatedly. Public relations is less predictable due to you having to get the intermediary to comprehend your important message points and reiterate them in his/her messages. It means cautiously aligning them with an intermediary's messages. It'll mean knowing his needs and your audience's needs and where your business and its messages fit within that environment.

PR is based on relationships Great public relations means setting up ongoing relationships with many important influencers (and therefore their audiences) and knowing how your business may become an excellent data

% Change -2.52

,

order for the influencer to see how they're solving issues using your organisation's services and products is a vital method of offering more data.

Absolutely the influencer understands that you are not going to give him a consumer who is unhappy, yet without your assistance, he isn't likely to gain access. Plus, he'll have the chance to speak with your customer about your competitors and see what they're doing more broadly than only your business.

PR is not free advertising It is a time consuming and labour intensive effort. It's about opportunistically thinking and evaluating 'what is news worthy' concerning your business with a keen eye. If your business is able to do this, PR may help it look more influential, bigger, and more important than it may otherwise be. *Mr. Newlands is a startup adviser, investor, and entrepreneur.

Key attributes of a performing organisation BY ‘UJU ONWUZULIKE

"We run the company by questions, not by answers"... Eric Schmidt

times, when I ask Often people in organisations

to list their attributes or what classify them as a high performing organisation, the list is always long.

Organisations on their own also invest in so many things or areas they think will make them high performing at least by their own assessment.

However, one key attribute – that is critical to innovation, transformation, growth, new discoveries and new ways of doing things has been kept off the radar all these years. And that is •"creating a culture of questioning". Intentionally, ask yourself, in our organisation do we have a •gculture of questioning•h as part of our attributes?

In this era of competitiveness, a major advantage organisations will have over others is the ability of their employees (regardless of unit or department) to ask smart or thought provoking questions.

Every transformation, innovation or initiative stem from understanding or knowing the right questions to ask.

Conversely, most failures in organisations have occurred because someone was unwilling to ask questions about things going wrong, things he/she does not understand, things that show great concern (and if not resolved can cause serious problems). Yes, it is true that thought is what precedes

change, but what is more important is to know that all thinking is stimulated by questions.

Does your organisation have a corporate culture of questioning as opposed to depending only on answers?

Frankly and sometimes, it appears better and more respectful to always provide answers to customers, managers and even business owners. This also explains why salespeople are quick to provide impressive answers too often and eventually do not win the business. The business landscape of today requires people who will not just provide answers, but know how to ask smart questions (and problem revealing questions). Little wonder Robert Focazio, (former National Vice President of Sales, AT&T) once said, •gIf you improve your questions by 10 percent, you increase your sales and productivity by 20 percent...and that's being conservative. I understand, the urge to appear smart always drives us to seem to be providing answers where we ought to ask questions (or even listen) in order to be on the same page with our managers and customers alike. The CEO of Google (Eric Schmidt) knew the importance of having a corporate culture of questioning when he said: •"We run the company by questions, not by answers". My personal understanding of this is that great companies can only be built by asking questions that have not been asked before as opposed to

providing answers that have already existed.

But someone might say, making our organisation to have a culture of questioning is something we can just introduce in our organisation and that does not require serious effort or investment. I think any organisation that thinks in that manner has missed it, because asking smart question and asking it in the right way (to yield result) is an art that should be learnt by organisations.

Organisational activities like marketing, hiring the right staff, problem solving, improved performance, negotiation, and improving the corporate culture, etc, can be greatly enhanced when employees have mastered the art of right questioning.

Final Note: Organisations should develop a culture where asking questions is permissible, safe and desired. The old erroneous belief that leadership is all about knowing all the answers should no more apply in today's business world. Leadership in any facet should be viewed as knowing the right questions to ask, and carefully listening to those answers.

Every organisation possesses an array of knowledge, wisdom, creativity, and energy, and the surest way to harness those assets is to encourage questioning as part of the organisation's culture.

Uju Onwuzulike, Partner, Haines Centre for Strategic Management (USA) CEO, Mentoring Consult Limited.

Email: uju@hainescentre.com Mobile: 09091142093 www.hainescentre.com

24 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Fraud: AfDB imposes 3-yr ban, $18m fine on Chinese firm

A

From left: Mr Peter Bamikole, Director, Enterprise Development Centre; Mrs Uche BenUzoebo, Head, Business Sales, Transaction Banking Division, Diamond Bank Plc; Chima Nnadozie, Head, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Propositions, Diamond Bank Plc; and Adaeze Ume, Segment Head, Micro Emterprises, Diamond Bank Plc with Enterprise Development Centre’s National sponsor of Global Enterprise Week in Lagos.

FRICA Development Bank (AfDB) has imposed a three year debarment on China First Highway Engineering Co. Ltd. following its admission of fraudulent and collusive practices in an AfDB-financed project. The bank also levied a financial penalty of $18.86 million on the company to support anti-corruption projects on the continent.

A statement issued by the Bank Group said, “Ensuing from investigations conducted by the AfDB’s Integrity and Anti-Corruption Department (IACD), CFHEC admitted to fraudulent and collusive practices in tendering for an AfDB-financed contract in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

As part of the settlement agreement and in accordance

Disbursement of N212bn power fund to commence soon — CBN

By Babajide Komolafe

T

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said that it would commence disbursement of the N212 billion Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility (NEMSF).

The Facility is aimed at settling certain outstanding debts in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) amounting to 213 billion and guarantee the takeoff of the Transitional Electricity Market (TEM). In specific terms, the proposed facility will cover legacy gas debts and the shortfall in revenue during the Interim Rule period (IRP).

In a communiqué issued at the end of the annual Bankers Committee retreat, CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele said that, “Following the signing of agreements with relevant stakeholders, the CBN has agreed with the Bankers’ Committee to begin disbursements towards these legacy debts by early next year.”

Emefiele said that during the retreat the Bankers Committee decided to focus on three critical sectors namely power, agriculture and MSMEs. He said, “The Bankers’ Committee acknowledges that these three sectors are absolutely vital to the Nigerian economy. Therefore, we would like to emphasize our commitment to providing finance for these sectors with a view to promoting economic development. In order to address the challenges identified by the committee

during deliberations, we resolved as follows: “We are committed to expanding bank lending in agribusiness sectors that have natural competitive advantages versus imports e.g. wheat, rice, aquaculture, etc. We will explore large corporates as anchors to lend to participants across the value chain to improve the capacity of Nigeria’s agribusiness to create sustainable jobs and inclusive growth.

“The Bankers’ Committee will continue to collaborate to

provide the necessary finance for transformation of the Power sector value chain across generation, distribution, and transmission sub-sectors. We will explore opportunities for renewable energy and encourage sustainability, efficiency, and operations in line with global best practices in the development of the power sector.

We will also maintain our support for funding gas to power projects across the country.

“We will increase aggregate

bank lending to MSMEs and expand the number of micro, small and medium enterprises that have access to bank credit.

We will improve the rigour in credit analysis and encourage discipline in borrowing culture to achieve a reduction in credit defaults in the sector. In order to harness the entrepreneurial skills in our youths and young graduates, the CBN shall, through its Anchor-Lending Programme, provide grants and SME loans to NYSC graduates who develop interest in Agribusiness.

Sterling Bank targets 700 ATMs, 5,000 PoS terminals

S

terling Bank Plc said that it will increase its ATM points from 585 to 700 by year end. This is to ensure ease of transaction for its customers in the coming year and also cushion the effect of the perceived reintroduction of the ATM charge of N65 on Remoteon-Us Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transactions on its customers.

The bank in a statement, also said that it would start the 2015 financial year with 5,000 Point of Sales (POS) terminals.

In response to the request of its customers nationwide, Sterling Bank said that additional ATMs galleries would be put in place in strategic locations nationwide while a robust infrastructure to support the expansion has also been put in place.

Remote-on-Us transaction occurs when a cardholder goes to the ATM of a bank other than his or her own bank to make a

withdrawal. The cardholder will be charged N65 after making three withdrawals from such ATMs within a given month.

The bank where his or her account is domiciled will be responsible for the payment of the charge of N65 for the first three withdrawals from another bank’s ATM. Sterling Bank’s Group Head,

Strategy & Communications, Mr. Shina Atilola said that Sterling Bank has commenced aggressive roll out of ATMs nationwide. His words: “We have almost doubled our ATM count between December last year and September 2014. We started the year with 300 ATMs but aim to close the year with about 700.

with the Bank’s Sanctions Procedures, the AfDB debars CFHEC for a period of three years with conditional release.

“The debarment period may be reduced to 24 months if CFHEC complies with all conditions of the agreement.

Additionally, AfDB imposes on the company a financial penalty of USD 18.86 million which flows into the support of projects and initiatives preventing and combating corruption in the Bank’s Member Countries on the African continent. The AfDB also reprimands China Communications Construction Company Ltd. (CCCC), CFHEC’s parent, for one isolated incident of lack of oversight regarding a subsidiary’s bid for an AfDBfinanced project. CCCC, however, is taking necessary remedial actions to prevent a recurrence of any such type of mistake.

“Under the settlement agreement, CCCC commits to maintain an effective compliance program for it and its affiliates and to cooperate with IACD. “There is no such thing as ‘too big to sanction’.

Global companies involved in development projects need to ensure that their dealings with the African Development Group are clean. Beneficiaries of AfDB-financed contracts have to adhere to the highest ethical standards”, says Anna Bossman, Director of IACD. “Corruption and other sanctionable practices result in social pollution and we expect companies found to have engaged in wrongdoing to contribute financially to the clean-up”.

“In 2012, CFHEC submitted a bid for a contract in the context of the AfDB-financed Batshamba-Tshikapa Road Improvement Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In an effort to make CFHEC’s project performance experience appear more substantial, the company fraudulently represented that it had been awarded another Bank-financed contract in the past.

Entrepreneurship Support: Pan-Atlantic University commends Diamond Bank

P

an-Atlantic University’s Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) has commended Diamond Bank Plc, for its robust and unwavering support for young and upcoming entrepreneurs in the country.

Speaking at the Global Entrepreneurship Week in Lagos where the bank was recognized as a sponsor at a National Scale, Peter Bankole, Director, EDC, said that Diamond Bank, through its array of MSMEfriendly products and propositions, has contributed significantly to the development

of the sector in recent years, noting that the Bank’s robust initiative for MSMEs has aided a lot in stimulating employment in the country.

“Diamond Bank has done a lot in the development of the economy through her support for the Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs). The initiatives of the bank have positively impacted areas such as employment generation, advisory support services to MSMEs and access to finance for entrepreneurs,” he said.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 — 25

MTN Foundation Directors, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi and Mrs. Aishatu Sadauki holding the dummy cheque, flanked by Executive Secretary, MTNF, Ms. Nonny Ugboma; beneficiaries of the MTNF Visually Impaired Scholarship and other stakeholders during the presentation of MTNF scholarship for blind students in the South-Western axis at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.

WAEC Distinction/Merit Awards:

When'll public schools bridge the gap?

By Dayo Adesulu

T

HE West African Examinations Council, WAEC, in its bid to encourage brilliant students and bring healthy competition among West African students, yearly presents awards for outstanding performance in May/June WASSCE. The three WAEC awards jostled for by best candidates yearly include; Distinction/Merit Awards, Omo N’Oba Erediauwa Coronation Trophies and Augustus Bandele Oyediran Trophy.

In a document made available to Vanguard after WAEC's 52nd annual meeting of the Nigeria National

Govt take over of schools nosedived quality of education —Prof Muoboghare Pg. 28

Anyaoku, Okolie, others urge Nigerian youths to embrace entrepreneurial devt Pg. 30

Committee held in Minna, Master Ogunfolaji Oloruntoba, Miss Fasola Ifeoluwapo and Miss Anyanwu Maureen emerged first, second and third respectively in Distinction/Merit Award in the May/June 2013 WASSCE. Ogunfolaji had his pre-primary/primary school at Dt. Bernadette Nursery and Primary School, Onikolobo, Abeokuta, Ogun State. He had his secondary school education at Sacred Heart Catholic School, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

In the May/June 2013 WASSCE result, Ogunfolaji made A1 in eight subjects including English and Mathematics. His total score was 666.6525.

Fasola who emerged second best, had

her pre-primary/primary school education at Junior International School, Oluyole Estate, Ibadan, Oyo State.

Total score Also, she had her secondary school education at the International School, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State.

Fashola who is presently studying Medicine and Surgery at the University of Ibadan, made A1 in eight subjects including English and Mathematics during the May/June 2013 WASSCE. Her total score in the eight subjects was

664.0075.

The difference in the total score of Oloruntoba and Ifeoluwapo was 2.645 marks.

Miss Anyanwu Maureen Kelechi who came third had her pre-primary/primary school education at the Montessori International School, Port Harcourt, River State, just as she attended Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja. Similarly, she had A1 in eight subjects including English and Mathematics. Her total score was 656.5480. The difference between the second and third winner was 7.4595 marks.

Apparently examining past winners of

Continues on page 26

Never too early for ‘back to school’

By Amaka Abayomi

T

HOUGH the calendar still says December, with parents and children already in the Christmas and holiday mood, it is never too early for parents to start planing for the next school term as saving for back-to-school may take a back seat right now due to the festive season's preparations.

As a new term draws nearer so fast, a Benin based mother of four, Mrs Nkechi Marchie, advises many unprepared parents to avoid

scrambling to source for the funds to pay the fees of their ward(s) by setting aside the school fees before shopping for the christmas.

She said; "In order not to get cash trapped in January, there are two options to choose from for every prudent parent. They can pay the fees before school resumes. This implies that children's school fees should be top on your budget as soon as you receive the December salary. Secondly, one can set the school fees aside before shopping for the christmas."

In other to avoid being cash-trapped

when schools resume in January, Vanguard Learning sought the opinions of parents and school administrators on the importance of early planning for the next term so as to ensure a memorable christmas celebration and smooth return to schools.

Pointing out that getting a new school term off on a good start can influence children’s attitude, confidence and performance socially and academically, a Port Harcourt based mother of three, Mrs. Chidimma Egbe, said "my children's school fees Continues on page 26

26 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

When will public schools bridge the gap?

Continues from page 25

*Cross section of students of the Federal Nigeria Society for the Blind (FNSB) during the graduation ceremony of the school, in Lagos.

Never too early for ‘back to school’ Continues from page 25 are usually top priority as it is a handful. Festive period or not, we pay during the holiday because, apart from it being part of the school rules, we pay before the resumption date to avoid stories. So their fees will be paid sometime this week as they vacated last week."

Bearing in mind that impressing guests would be top priority for parents, the Principal, Caro Favour Schools, Ajegunle, Lagos State, Mr. Mark Okoh, urged parents to first consider the fees of their wards before other expenditure.

Financial constraints He said; "people tend to forget that the period between December and January is usually a long one and people, almost always, encounter financial constraints till the month of February.

"Planning ahead for the next term has been made easier with numerous banking products and savings. If the fees can't be paid till resumption, it can be kept save in a different bank account."

A school principal, who did not want his name nor that of the school in print, advised parents to plan ahead so that they do not end up cashstrapped when schools resume.

The principal said; “with the different financial products and information available, it has become easy for parents to set up a little investment for

children.

"Aside that, they should start saving for the next term as soon as the fees of the current term has been paid."

But for a father of two, Mr. Folusho Oyefodunrin, his children's next term's school fees has taken the back burner as all he is focused on is how to cater to his extended family that would be

spending the holiday with him.

"The truth is that I have not made plans for their fees as all the December groove would be taking place in my house and all I am thinking of is hustling for the funds to make it a blast.

"Though I intend to source for their fees after the festivities, but this question has given me ideas."

Etisalat shortlists for 2014 Etisalat Prize for Literature

By Amaka Abayomi

I

N furtherance of the search for Africa’s best début fiction writer for 2014, Etisalat Nigeria has announced a shortlist of three writers.

The shortlisted writers and their works are Nadia Davids, An Imperfect Blessing published by Random House Struik-Umuzi; Chinelo Okparanta's Happiness Like Water published by Granta Publication and Songeziwe Mahlangu, Penumbra published

by Kwela Books, Imprint of NB Publishers.

The winner of the Etisalat Prize for Literature 2014 will be presented with a cheque of £15,000, an engraved Montblanc Meisterstück and will attend the Etisalat Fellowship at the prestigious University of East Anglia, mentored by Professor Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland.

Delighted at the quality of entries that has brought to the fore a strong shortlist of three contenders, the Chair, Panel of Judges, Etisalat Prize for

Literature, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, said from a strong long list, the shortlist showcases untold stories from across the continent and beyond.

“The strength of the shortlist is exemplified in the panel of judges' belief that any of the shortlisted writers would make a worthy winner.

"Whether it is Davids’ multigenerational family story set in Cape Town’s Muslim community at the dawn of the new South Africa, or Okparanta’s bittersweet tales of loss and love in Nigeria and abroad, or Mahlangu’s unflinching exploration of mental illness set in contemporary South Africa, each of these books is uniquely compelling.

"This is a shortlist that delights in the newness of the topics being explored and in the diversity of narrative form. From short stories, to the short novel, to the epic novel – each is a gem in its own right,” Manyika said.

CEO, Etisalat Nigeria, Matthew Willsher, said; “The entries are a fulfillment of Etisalat’s goal of encouraging talents and improving literacy in the African continent.

the National Distinction and Merit Awards from 20052013, students from private schools have consistently maintained the lead in WASSCE results. Except in 2010 when Akinwale Oluwatola from Air force Comprehensive School, Iyana Offa, Oyo State came first on merit and not even a distinction.

Statistical breakdown reveals that in 2005 WASSCE May/June results, Master Omusi Odaro Anthony from Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja emerged first with a distinction.

In 2006, it was Majekodunmi Oluwabusola from All Saint’s College, Jericho, Ibadan. 2007, Yusufu John from Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja came first with a distinction. Similarly, in 2008, the first position went to Maduka David Immanuel from King’s High School, Satellite Town, Lagos.

The feat of private schools emerging first also continued in 2009 when Agbaje Simisola of Lagoon Secondary School, Lekki, Lagos came first with a distinction. First position in 2011 went to Adeloye Christianah from Charis International School, Abeokuta, Ogun State. In 2012, Oginni Folafoluwa Mary from Our Lady and St. Francis Catholic College, Osogbo, Osun State.

In the same vein, private schools have been clinching the Augustus Bandele Oyediran prize and trophy award to best students in the past eight years.

In 2005, Loyola Jesuit, Abuja won it. In 2006, it was Negbenebor International School, Benin. The trophy went to Lumen Christi International High School, Uromi, Edo State in 2007. Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja again in 2008. Similarly, Lumen Christi International High School, Edo State which won it in 2007 also bagged it in 2009. Dority International Secondary School, Abia, in 2010. Again, Lumen Christi International High School, Edo State won it in 2011. In 2012, it was Presentation National High School, Benin, Edo State that lifted the trophy.

To qualify for Oyediran prize, candidate must score Grade 1 in at least 8 subjects including English and Matthematics.

Public school stakeholders The analysis of this data should serve as a wake up call for public school stakeholders in the sector.

All hands should be on deck to restore the glory of public schools. Public school should strive to bridge the wide gap that exists between private and public schools, especially in academic performance.

Decades ago, the public school was the pride of many parent as many parents strived to place their children in public school, believing that was where children can get the best. Today, the story has changed, as people in helm of affairs who suppose to revamp the dawnward trends in public schools are themselves patronising private school and establishing more.

Little wonder, the Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekau last week at Federal Polytechnic, Auchi said: ”Government is worried about the poor results recorded in the last Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination conducted by the West Africa Examination Council.”

It is believed that the academic success story of many private schools is not unconnected to their conducive learning environment, well-equipped libraries and laboratories, and qualified dedicated trained teachers.

Besides, at the 22nd Convocation of Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Shekarau did say: ‘’Government has taken steps to improve on the capability of the quality of teaching and facilities available in our secondary schools. ‘’Government is working out modalities for the regular training and re-training of teachers through various short-term courses, workshops and seminars."

Stakeholders are waiting for the Education Minister, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau to expedite action in fulfilling the policy statement.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014—27

Why govt should hands off running of schools—Prof Muoboghare

Prof. Patrick Muoboghare

W

ORRIED by the perennial drop in the quality of education in the country, Prof.

Patrick Muoboghare, Delta State Commissioner for Education (Basic and Secondary Schools), has blamed the decline in standards on the taking over of all primary and secondary schools by government.

He said that the extinction of teachers’ training institutions, the proliferating number of subjects teachable in schools, as well as the free-education policy introduced by various governments are the causative agents.

In his keynote address at the 2014 National Dinner Party of Government College Ughelli Old Boys’ Association, GCUOBA, held in Benin-City the Edo State capital, Muoboghare who spoke on the theme Leapfrogging the Educational Performance of Delta State Secondary Schools, decried that there are indeed many gaps bedevilling the nation’s educational sector, which must be urgently arrested.

He said: “Leapfrogging presupposes that there is a gap between what is and what should be. Indeed, there are gaps between 40 percent performance in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination at credit level in five credits, including Mathematics and English, and 100 per cent; there is a gap between an ideal classroom sitting of 40 students and the 80 per class that obtains in some classrooms; there is a gap between the current quality of teachers and the expected quality of same.

“There is a gap between the attitude towards examinations and what it should be; there is a gap between the parental attitude towards the education of the child and what that attitude should be; there is a gap between the parents who pays school fees for his or her children and that whose children have free education;

there is a gap between the behaviour of the proprietor of a public school and the proprietor of a private one.

"There are many gaps. One big gap is that between government as a manager/proprietor of schools and the missionaries or private individuals as managers of schools,” he said.

Lamenting, the continuous face-off between staff unions of public tertiary institutions and their proprietors at the state and federal levels, which had severally crippled academic activities in the institutions, the Commissioner traced it in the 1970’s when governments nationwide, ill advisedly took over all primary and secondary schools and made them government schools.

Quality of education This action, according to him, exposed government as not just a bad manager of business but also a very bad manager of schools, as the quality of education back in the days was high especially in Midwest region, because the government of the Midwest had just two schools to manage which were the Government College, Ughelli and Edo College, Benin.

He said “These schools were fees paying. Reagents were thus never lacking in the laboratories and the microscopes were adequate and functional.

"Sports facilities and equipment were readily available while excursions were parts of school life. While Government College and Edo College were there as schools of first choice in the Midwest, there were other fantastic schools from among which parents could make a choice.

“We had such schools as James Welch Grammar School, Emevor; Notre Dame College, Ozoro; Immaculate Conception College, Benin; Anglican Girls Grammar

School, Ughelli; St. Theresa’s Grammar School, Ughelli; Anglican Girls Grammar School, Asaba; Anglican Girls Grammar School, Benin; Our Lady’s High School, Effurun; Urhobo College, Effurun among others.”

He further pointed that in those days, there were functional teacher training colleges and very good technical schools, owned and run by private individuals, stating today, these institutions are now extinct, in their throes of death, and have dragged down the quality of teachers and teaching.

“The role of government then was mostly the formulation and monitoring of education policy, which it did very well, but with the take-over of schools, by owning and managing them, government gave itself an additional responsibility and burden which it was ill-prepared for.

In the process, both policy making and schools management crashed and we are where we are today because of that misguided action taken in the 70’s.

"The worrisome effect of this action is what the GCUOBA wants reversed through a leapfrog and I agree with you."

On the way forward, Muoboghare urged government to hands off the running and management of schools and allow missionaries and private individuals own and run them, though government can still guarantee free education by paying the tuition fees of Deltans admitted into schools (a form of scholarship).

“A degree from a university or any such institution should not guarantee a teaching position in Delta State such a person passes through a recertification programme in a teachers’ institute to be established by the state government.

Mr Tope Ashiwaju, Public Relations Manager, Dufil Prima Foods Plc and the Coordinator, Indomie Fan Club, Mrs Faith Joshua with the Fan Club Children at the 2014 Indomie Fan Club Xmas Party in Lagos.

Dufil celebrates Xmas with 100,000 children, fêtes 3,000 teachers

By Dayo Adesulu

I

N its quest to give children a sense of belonging this Christmas, Dufil Prima Foods, in fun fair activities, has celebrated at the National Theatre, Lagos, with over 100,000 children and 3,000 teachers. They were hosted by Indomie Fan Club, the largest children’s fan club in Nigeria.

The event centres for the Christmas celebration were; Faith Plaza Bariga, Park Land MaryLand, Fun Factory Ikorodu, Villa Park Festac, Eysian Events Place Alagbado, Starjen Igbolorin, Exibition Hall 1 National Theatre Iganmu Lagos, Brainfield Igando.

It would remain a memorable event in the mind of the children forever as there were diverse attractions like face painting, Bouncing Castles, Train Rides and Races of all kinds readily available for the children to enjoy for the celebration.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Tope Ashiwaju, Public Relations Officer, Dufil Prima, said; “The event was staged

to celebrate Christmas with children and appreciate their teachers for molding them into great leaders.”

Going down memory lane, he said; “The fan club was launched July 2005 with the aim of creating fun, excitement, bonding and an enabling environment for children as well as a way of appreciating the children, and the reason is not farfetched, as it has remained a passion of the company to show appreciation and love to the children, who remain loyal to our brand as they are the brand’s core loyalists.”

He maintained that the company will continue to place premium on the well being and overall developmental growth of the Nigerian child, adding that they are the seeds of a greater future for our nation.

He averred that the company would not rest on its oars to continue to support causes that would contribute to both the mental and physical development of children in Nigeria through support for education and creating opportunities like this to amuse and excite them.

Adcote schools pledges support for education devt in Nigeria

By Kelechukwu Iruoma

I

N a bid to assist and complement the government and private sector in the development of girl child education in Nigeria, in the areas of learning, pastoral care, selfdevelopment, and emotional literacy, Adcote International Schools for Girls, an exclusive all girls boarding school based in Shrewsbury, United Kingdom, in partnership with NUBI Education, has opened a dedicated office in 300A Surulere Way, Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos, for those who would want to enrol their children in the school.

This was stated during a media briefing organized by Adcote International Schools at Southern Sun Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos.

According to the Director of International Operations, Adcote, Mark Fairbrother, “ we have a long tradition of educating Nigerian girls at Adcote and over the last two years, we have spent a lot of time in the country meeting with potential students and their families.

“We are very excited that we are opening an office which gives us a dedicated presence here and will enable us to administer our entrance

exams and admission processes in partnership with NUBI education.”

Fairbrother also noted that; “Among the things that makes Adcote a leading all girls school is the excellent teaching staff that ensure all pupils receive excellent, attentive education and the pastoral care system which provides the pupils with the utmost support to assist them with their studies.

“The school offers a vast programme of extra curricula acyivities which means that every pupil has the chance to participate in sports, music, performing and creative arts everyday of the term.

28 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Lagos school benefits from NB Education Trust Fund

By Dayo Adesulu

A

DISA Bashua Primary School, Surulere, Lagos has benefited from the Nigerian Breweries - Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund (ETF) as it renovated the school, making it a conducive place for learning.

Speaking at the commissioning and handover of the school to its authorities, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde said that the gesture was borne out of a request from the school’s head teacher.

He said: “In June 2013, we received a letter of request from the head teacher and Chairman of Adisa Bashua Street Association seeking our support and assistance for the repair of damaged facilities in the school. Our company granted this request and the result is what you are witnessing here today.”

Vervelde who was represented by Mrs Ethel Uche Emmanuel disclosed that the project was undertaken through the Nigerian Breweries - Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund.

He explained that the ETF which was established in 1994 started with a grant of N100m to take an active role in

funding of education and research facilities as well as encourage academic excellence in Nigeria.

According to him, through the ETF, NB had been able to support the development of educational infrastructure in Nigeria.

“We have constructed new classroom blocks and libraries, renovated existing classrooms, equipped the schools with furniture, books and computers to provide a suitable learning environment for students,” he said.

In 2014, he pointed out that similar projects were carried out in Oyo, Rivers, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Kaduna, Benue, Kano, Sokoto and Edo States.

Besides, Vervelde noted that NB also supports other youth empowerment and talent development programmes like National Competition, National Arts Competition, Creative Writing Workshop, and the Golden Pen Award initiative to encourage professionalism in practice of journalism.

He explained CSR is about understanding the positive impact an enterprise can have on its local environment. “We strive to champion causes that add value to the society because our belief is that businesses should be an integral part of the community where it operates,” he said.

Justin Ifeanyi Nwaoha, winner of PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge 2014 (with his trophy), surrounded by Jeremiah Onu, third runner-up (first left), Mr Tunde Oyelola, Vice-Chairman, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc; Azeez Balogun, second runner-up; Mrs. Yomi Ifaturoti, Corporate Affairs and Administrative Director of PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc; Prof. Oladele Osibanjo, Chairman of PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge Advisory Board; Jamiu Abayomi Animashaun, first runner-up; and Kamir Salau, show host; at the grand finale of PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge 2014 in Lagos

16-year-old wins PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge

By Amaka Abayomi

1

6 year- old Justin Ifeanyi Nwaoha, an SS3 student of ISOLOG College, Ojodu, Lagos State, has won the second edition of the PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge (PZCCC).

Justin, with a cumulative score of 72 per cent in both theory and practical sessions of the intensive final, was rewarded with N700,000 cash, a laptop, a trophy and gold medal. His Chemistry teacher, Mr. Mayowa Adeoti, went home with N100,000 and a plague, while Chemistry books worth N100,000 were also presented to his school.

In second place is Jamiu Abayomi Animashaun, an SS3 student of Federal Science and

Technical College, Yaba,. With a total score 62 per cent.

Animashaun was presented with a cheque of N500,000, a laptop and silver medal. His Chemistry teacher, Mrs. Ann Ajisafe, was given N80,000 cash and a plague, while his school got Chemistry books worth N80,0000.

With a cumulative score of 51 per cent, Azeez Balogun of Kingston High School finished as second runner-up and was rewarded with N400,000 cash prize, a laptop and bronze medal, his Chemistry teacher, Mr. Obiora Onyilagha, won N70,000, while his school received N70,000 worth of Chemistry books.

Third runner-up Jeremiah Onu of FESTAC Senior College pulled a total of 40 per cent and

had a cash prize of N300,000, a laptop and a consolation medal, his Chemistry teacher, Mr. Oluwaleke Animashaun, got N60,000 and a plague, while his school had N60,000 worth of Chemistry books.

Relieved at the end of the rigorous final stage, Justin expressed gratitude to God, his parents, teachers and the organisers, as well as other finalists who he said gave him stiff competition.

Admitting that the practical session was the most challenging, Justin said: “I was shivering during the practical and while mixing the chemicals, I did something that would have messed everything up but I quickly made up for it.”

15-yr-old girl wins UBA Foundation Essay contest

Berkley Academy holds pre-school exhibition

By Destiny Eseaga

I

N a bid to expose its students to public speaking skills, enhance learning and build their confidence, the management of Berkley Science Academy, Lagos,every term, organizes pre-school exhibitions for its pupils, inviting experts in various field home and abroad to teach the children.

The theme for this term is Money Matters and various exciting activities are lined up to spice the day to the admiration of children and parents present.

The reason for these exhibitions is to expose the children to learn about other countries; their languages, culture, and most importantly feel the currencies of different nations of the world.

According to the Pre-school coordinator, Mrs Eva Akanya;

"The School indulges in exciting activities that usually add to improving learning each term, hence we decided to expose our students to different continents, countries, currencies of nations around them and many more by bringing representatives of selected countries to engage them, thereby improving their speaking skills and confidence.”

Berkley Academy was established by a group of American Certified Educators led by Dr. Maria Onyia with on a mission to provide international standard, student centered and small learning communities for students, incorporating the Nigerian and international Elementary standards to equip children for global leadership.

By Dayo Adesulu WINNERS of the 2014 UBA Foundation National Essay Competition have emerged. This was disclose on Monday in a ceremony held at UBA House, Lagos.

Miss Fabelurin Fehintoluwa 15, of Maverick College, Ibadan, Oyo State clinches the N1 million education grant to attend any university of her choice in Africa.

The grant becomes effective immediately she gains admission to the university.

Besides, 16-year-old Master Obi Daniel Chukwudum of St. Thomas Secondary School, Kano and Master Sunday Kenneth Ikemsinachi 15, of Dority International Secondary School, Aba, Abia State emerged as first and second runner-up respectively carting away with N750,000 and N500,000 grants to study in any African University of their choice.

The three winners emerged after 12 finalists were invited from a total of nearly 2000 entries to write a final essay competition at the UBA Head Office in Lagos from which three emerged

overall winners. All 12 finalists were also given certificates and brand new laptops to help them in their studies.

Congratulating the finalists for their excellent performances, Deputy Managing Director and CEO of UBA Africa, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, pointed out that UBA takes pride in the national essay competition because it stimulates intellectual competition among African youths.

Explaining why the educational grants are tenable in only African universities, he said that it is because UBA is a proud panAfrican bank that sees the huge potentials offered by the continent. He charged the grantees to be good ambassadors of the bank as the “grant is subject to good behaviour” Meanwhile, Ijeoma Aso, the MD/CEO UBA Foundation while praising the quality of entries received for this year ’s competition congratulated all the 12 finalists of the competition.

She said “You should be happy you made it to this point because it shows that the quality of your entry was good. I will encourage all those who did not win this

year, to try again next year. It shows persistence when you do not give up.”

On his part, Mr Apollos Ikpobe, Deputy Managing Director Domestic Bank, UBA Plc, urged the students to set a vision for themselves on what they want to achieve in life.

Using examples of successful entrepreneurs like Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Mr. Tony Elumelu and a host of others, he tasked the students to see beyond the current challenges and set a vision for themselves and work towards that vision.

The UBA Foundation National Essay Competition, which is open to all students of Senior Secondary Schools in Nigeria, is a follow up on the Foundation’s Read Africa Initiative and aims at providing a competitive platform to develop the intellectual and writing abilities of senior secondary school students in Nigeria.

The competition has been held annually since 2011 with students being challenged to write on different engaging topics.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014—29

MTN Foundation celebrates academic excellence, gives scholarships to 1,372 students

By Tare Youdeowei

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HE joy of 1,372 students across the country knew no bounds as MTN Foundation presented scholarship awards to them. In the formal presentation of scholarship awardees to the world held at the National Theatre, Lagos, the MTN Foundation Chairman, Ambasssador Hamzat Ahmadu said: “Overall, the Foundation has awarded scholarships to 1,205 high performing science and technology students while 167 brilliant, visually impaired students have also received scholarships this year.”

He noted that apart from the previous presentation of scholarships made to students in the Eastern and Northern parts of Nigeria held in Imo and Abuja, South-West zone celebrates 367 scholars.

According to Ahmadu who was represented by Mrs Aishatu Pamela Sadauki, Director, MTNF, the breakdown comprise of 340 Science and Technology students and 27 visually impaired students.

He said: “Our impact goes beyond statistics and figures, it is to shape Nigeria’s future through education; to invest in the lives of tomorrow’s leaders, by providing them with anopportunity to pursue their dreams despite financial limitations.

Ahmadu who assured the

recipients of MTN Foundation contineuos support, charged them to maintain the required Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) scores every year.

“Today, the scholarships for beneficiaries from last year, and previous years are being renewed because they continued to meet the set criteria.”

He saluted their efforts, stating that the awardees are a special group of students who have to overcome daily challenges in their quest for success.

We are confident, he noted that the award will move recipients closer to their goal and wish them an enjoyable and truly successful journey in their careers.

Speaking in the same vein, the

Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Nonny Ugboma saidl; “7’500 applied for the MTN Foundation science and technology scholarship scheme.

1,500 students took the test and 500 students won the scholarship scheme.”

According to her, It is a scholarship won by merit adding; “ As you maintain your grade, you will continue to receive your annual grant of N200, 000.”

She, however, noted that the scholarship scheme is designed for students of Science and Technology and for visually impaired students. For the visually impaired, any of them could apply irrespective of their course of study.

From left: Ibadan Zonal C NC C, Mr. Banji Ojo, presenting the MTNF Science and Technology Scholarship Certificate to a beneficiary Mr. Oludayo Oluwatosin; Director, MTN Foundation, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi and Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Ms. Nonny Ugboma during MTNF Science and Technology Scholarship Award in Lagos.

King’s College to produce a Nobel laureate

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By Dayo Adesulu

ROFESSOR of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Professor Oladipo Akinkugbe has stated that King’s College, Lagos, will produce a Nobel Laureate on or before 2109.

He predicted this during King’s College's second century Book and Floreat Fund Launch where its alumni across the country gathered to plan for the future.

The professor of Medicine who based his prediction on the academic performance of the students and the Alumni's 100 years plans for the school, said he foresees the school will be in hands of the private sector by 2109.

He said: “It is also not improbable that by 2109 the running of all institutions in the country will be in the hands of the private sector but with effective monitoring of broad educational goals by federal state and local governments.”

He urged Alumni to endeavour to contribute their quota in the governance of the Schoool in order to improve

on its quality. “Old boys will then have a major say as to how the school evolve and are governed,” he added.

On his part, King’s College's, Otunba Oladele Olapeju said five years into its second century in existence the college still performs credibly in public examinations and competitions.

He said: “We have sustained the performance to an average of 80 per cent.

Whereas the national average for the 2014 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) was 30.6 per cent, at King’s College, it was 80.6 per cent.

In terms of performance, we have done well in competitions.

NECO declared us the best Unity School in the country.”

Meanwhile, the platform was used to launch a book on the school's history in the past 100 years. The book, Floreat Collegium: 100 Years of King’s College was launched at the King’s College Hall, Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos.

Speaking at the launch,

Chief Sunny Kuku said the book was initially billed for launch as part of the school’s centenary celebration in 2011 when he was the Kings College Old Boys Association, KCOBA, president, saying it took a longer time to be completed.

He, however praised former Federal Permanent Secretary, Chief Philip Asiodu and former Federal Commissioner for Works, Chief Femi Okunnu for providing many of the stories that made up the content of the book.

He lauded the Chief Editor, Prof Tajudeen Gbadamosi, for doing a good job alongside Prof Wale Osisanya and Mrs Gbolahan Alo and the incumbent KCOBA President, Mr Hakeem Belo-Osagie, for providing funds to complete the book.

In his remarks, the President KCOBA. Mr Belo-Osagie said that the significance of the book is to provide a history for the King’s College community which would guide its future endeavours.

“It is important that the history of any institution be documented.

Has NUC outlived Its usefulness?

“What does corrupting time not diminish? Our grandparents brought forth feebler heirs, we are further degenerate, and soon will beget progeny more wicked.” Horace 65-8 BC. (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS p 247).

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IGERIA'S first generation universities, University College, Ibadan, University of Ife, Ahmadu Bello University, University of Nigeria, University of Lagos and University of Benin, produced graduates with Bachelors degrees which were accepted everywhere in the world for those wanting to pursue advanced degree courses.

This was the common experience in the United States, where some, coming for their Master’s Degree programmes were given extra credits for work already done as undergraduates in Nigeria.

It is difficult to pinpoint when the change occurred, but, there is no dispute anymore that the products of our universities are increasingly being rejected for post-graduate education overseas – without first undertaking some remedial courses. Even here at home, employers of labour are finding it frustrating to engage Nigerian youth directly out of school. Two institutions, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, and National University Commission, NUC, which were introduced to help maintain high standards for admission and scholarship (after induction) had over the years let us down. For some of the same reasons, politicization of admission, under-funding, corruption in the citadels of learning and moral degeneracy in society at large, they have stopped being part of the solution to our educational problems, they are now part of the problem. This week, we look at the NUC and its role in the decline of Nigerian university education.

Among its cardinal functions, the NUC is supposed to ensure that out universities meet minimum standards in terms of resources and manpower, for each course offered, in order to be able to produce graduates considered fit to compete in a global village. Even its own staff from Professor Julius Okojie to the gatemen will readily admit that it has failed woefully to maintain standards everywhere. In fact, the Nigerian universities which are in full compliance with the guidelines established by NUC can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Let us take staffing as an example.

NUC, several years ago stipulated that all university lecturers must have doctorate degrees. At the time the announcement was made, less than fifty per cent of the teaching staff of universities possessed doctorate degrees. Since then, the number of universities in Nigeria, Federal, State and private, had more than doubled. That would ordinarily mean having twice as many lecturers today as ten years ago. Since less than half of Nigerian lecturers were qualified, at the time, it actually meant increasing the number of doctorate degree holders in our universities by four hundred per cent.

It is not clear if the NUC undertook any studies to determine the feasibility of its instructions to the universities, in this regard. But, the result today speaks volumes about the futility of giving an order which cannot be obeyed without virtually closing down all Nigerian universities – including the best private institutions. Furthermore, not only is the situation now hopeless, it threatens to get worse in the future. The question is: what went wrong?

The first mistake was inadvertent. The NUC could not have foreseen all the private universities springing up; neither could it have known that President Jonathan would open eleven universities within five years. Such unforeseen occurrences mess up the most meticulous plans. Today, there is none of the universities established by President Jonathan which can graduate people considered well-educated at the university level. Unfortunately, Federal universities, despite their inadequacies, are miles ahead of the typical state university – most of which cannot even be described as glorified secondary schools.

If predictable staffing inadequacy is a serious problem, the visitor to most of our universities, especially their science departments, should be ready for the shock of a life-time. By and large, Nigerian universities are simply not graduating scientists able to compete with their counterparts in the world. Increasingly, our supposed leaders of tomorrow are getting set to be losers of tomorrow. Our universities, in the main, are not equipping them to compete with anybody else in the world. Fifty years from now, Nigeria will still be importing toothpicks from India or China because there are no Nigerian technologists to search for wood which can be drilled into toothpicks and no engineers to develop the manufacturing plants to produce them.

Plateau State University, Bokkos, serves as a good example of how bad the situation has become. Nine years after it was started, and five years after admitting students, there is not a single graduate to show for the effort. Meanwhile, students and parents have seen their dreams turned to nightmares. If one of its missions is to develop global standard universities in Nigeria, the NUC has failed woefully and should either be scrapped or totally overhauled. At the moment all one sees is a lot of people well-paid and failing in their mission.

Visit: www.delesobowale.com or Visit: www.facebook.com/ biolasobowale or follow on twitter @DrDeleSobowale C M Y K

30—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Obiuwevbi inspects on-going DESOPADEC projects

From left: Principal and Chief International Development Officer, Weeks International Enterprises, Charles M. Weeks; President/Chief Executive Officer, Anabel Group, Nicholas Okoye; Chief Executive Officer, South South Economy Council, Ambassador Joe Keshi; and Managing Director, MDG Consulting, Benny Mistry at the 3rd Nigeria Leadership Summit 2014‘Entreprenuerial Nation’ in Lagos.

Anyaoku, Okolie, others urge Nigerian youths to embrace entrepreneurial devt

By Ikenna Asomba GIVING the country ’s alarming rate of unemployment, which have continued to force an army of Nigerian youths abroad in search of greener pasture, renowned industrialists and entrepreneurs who gathered, last Thursday, at the opening ceremony of Anabel Group 3rd Nigerian Leadership Summit 2014, held at Oriental Hotel, Lekki, Lagos, have advised the youths to embrace entrepreneurship development and stop waiting for government to do everything.

Against the backdrop of reported cases of Nigerian youths who lose their lives even after

investing huge amount of money, trying to illegally travel abroad through the desert and the waters, they tasked the youths to develop interest in the acquisition of entrepreneurial, vocational and business skills that will make them better citizens here in their father land.

Those who gave this charge at the event themed: ‘’Entrepreneurial Nation’’ are former Secretary of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku; President/Chief Executive Officer, Anabel Group, Nicholas Okoye; Chairman Chikason Group, Chief Chika Okafor; Chief Executive Officer, South South Economic Council, Ambassador Joe Keshi and

Group seeks to end crisis of standards and performance in Nigerian schools

By Esther Onyegbula

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N a conscious bid to put an end to the crisis of standard and performance in Nigeria secondary schools, as well as proffer solutions to the numerous challenges facing the educational system, Voluncercorps held a one day conference in Lagos.

Speaking to newsmen recently, Adeola Awogbemi, Executive Director, VolunteerCorps, said that the deplorable state of Nigeria’s education sector calls for serious concern; it becomes more so when you consider the place of education in nationbuilding. No serious nation seeking to progress will relegate to the background this all important sector. Education is the instrument for effecting national development, which must be taken seriously if a nation must progress and aims at achieving the goals of national development.

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Concerned about the decline in the educational sector, she added that the phenomenon of the twin challenges of unemployment and poverty must be tackled. As a civil rights group, VolunteerCorps is interested in the development of youth, and aims for youth to be the champion of their destinies. This is why we are organizing this Stakeholders’ forum titled: Deconstructing the continuing crises of standards and performances in the Nigerian secondary schools.

The conference which was held recently at the Eko hotel & suites, is aimed at changing the status quo.

The conference create more awareness on the challenges of education in Nigeria and proffer solutions to them; identify short and mid-term plan to tackle the challenges of standards and performance in the Nigerian Secondary Schools.

Managing Director, Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, Mustapha Obi. Others are the Chairman, MRS Group of Companies, Sayyu Dantata; Principal/Chief International Development Officer, Weeks International Enterprises, Charles Weeks and Managing Director, MDG Consulting, Benny Mistry.

In his welcome address, Nicholas Okoye, stated that the theme ‘’Entrepreneurial Nation’’ became imperative because entrepreneurship holds the key to job creation in Nigeria.

He said: ‘’We know that the unemployment situation in Nigeria can be solved by young people creating jobs for themselves. As youths, we all wish to become business people in big, small or micro scales. We are all aware that some renowned Nigerian entrepreneurs have developed big businesses with as little as N5, 000. ‘’So, the whole idea of this summit is to tell you that there are solutions to our problems. We do not agree with those who sit on the fence and complain that the government should do everything for them.

We believe we can take our destiny into our hands with the efforts we have decided for ourselves. I have a mantra that says if you are not part of the solution, then, you are part of the problem. Those of us who complain consistently of the problems and don’t do anything about it are part of the problems.

Speaking further, he said: ‘’In recent time, Nigerian youths have been losing their lives trying to move abroad illegally through the deserts and water ways.

If you critically examine the story of those who lose their lives while trying to go abroad through the desert into Morocco, and from Morocco through the boat to Spain, each of them spend closely $5, 000 to get on sail.

THE Commissioner incharge of Ughelli North and Ethiope East Local Government Areas at the board of Delta State Oil Producing Development Commission (DESOPADEC), Rt. Hon (Chief) Ominimini Chris Obiuwevbi, recently embarked on an inspection tour of DESOPADEC projects going-on in Ibru College, Agbarha-Otor in Ughelli North Council Area of Delta State.

According to him, the purpose of the inspection visit was to ensure that contractors carry out their projects to the letter of their contract to avoid shoddy execution of DESOPADEC projects in his domain.

Some of the on-going projects inspected included laboratory science equipment supplied to the school by DESOPADEC through a contractor, a nine room block building meant for the corpers’ lodge to easy accommodation problem for

the youth corpers serving in the school.

Others include a six classroom block building under full scale renovation and a modern science block building near completion.

Chief Obiuwevbi who distributed thousands of writing note books to the students and teachers also used the medium to award a scholarship to an SSS 2 science student, Master Prosper Edeguare for answering his scientific questions correctly.

Responding, the principal of the school, Mrs. M. K. O. Ajobo, thanked DESOPADEC and the commissioner specially for the projects, both old and new, the books and the scholarship awards, present and past, praying God to continue to favour him at all times and promised on behalf of both students and teachers to make good use of the project and protect them from the thieves.

Yabatech wins 18th NIPOGA

By Amaka Abayomi

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aba College of Technology, Yabatech, with a total of 17 gold, 8 silver and 9 bronze medals, has won the 18th Nigeria Polytechnic Games, NIPOGA, held in Bida, Niger State, bring it to seven, the number of times the school has won the title and giving them the most successful school in NIPOGA history They won gold in athletics, taekwando, scrabble and chess.

Second position went to The Polytechnic, Ibadan, who finished ahead of Abia State

Polytechnic, Aba, while defending champion, Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, came fourth.

Congratulating the contingent and students of the school, the Rector, Yabatech, Mrs. Margaret Kudi Ladipo, said “ winning the title has proven Yabatech to be great in both academic and sports.”

The school currently has the best sporting facilities among Nigerian higher institutions.

This includes an all covered mainbowl, eight lane tarta track tennis courts basketball courts, volleyball and handball courts, amongst others.

Certified Education Agents sensitizes on professionalism and fraudsters

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HE Nigerian Association of UK Certified Education Agents (NAUKCEA) is has stated that there is a need for students and parents to be aware of agents of extortion who do not have any existing structure and office.

The association also said that its major objective is to sanitize the industry and give guidance to parents who want their children to study in the UK. Speaking at a briefing, the President of NAUKCEA, Mrs Rose Omonubi, noted that the association is trained and certified the the British Council and also want parents to trust their integrity and professionalism.

Omonubi affirmed that the her education association is not the only education travel agent that assist students to study abroad but gives wider choice and advice to the students.

She added that NAUKCEA is planning of liaising with the Federal Ministry of Education, the federal government and other parastatals. “Our objective is to sanitize this industry. We want parents to trust our integrity and professionalism.

We want to reduce the emergence of fraud because there are some people defrauding parents. Their activities might affect our transparency and integrity, she said.

“The UK education is our major concern . It is a fact that Nigeria also does not have enough universities to cater for the millions of secondary school graduates and we all aware that Nigeria is a hunting ground for foreign education, so we need to put checks to the way these people come to the country.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014—31

SUCCESS RECIPE WITH UDEME ARCHIBONG successrecipe2009@gmail.com www.worldlightbearesint.com 08035095243

Let it go!

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VERY child conceived and birthed into the world is meant to bring happiness to both parents as they nurture and shower affection on the child.

However, this wasn’t the case of a baby who was delivered into a family in Benin in 1938.

Due to the baby’s sickly and fainting nature, his stern hardhearted father told his mother to dump him on a garbage heap and leave him there to die.

The mother pleaded and wept to her husband for their son’s life to be spared. But her pleading and tears infuriated him and hardened his heart all the more. Eventually, his wife, out of weariness and frustration, took the baby and literally dumped him on the garbage heap at night. Even so, the bowels of the woman yearned desperation for her son.

After about three hours, there was a downpour of rain; the mother could take it no longer

and rushed out of her home to snatch up her child from the piles of garbage. When she arrived at the scene, she was very excited to find that her son was yet alive, although soaked with water and passionately wailing; and she returned quickly to her home.

She fed her child but shook with fright as she thought about her husband’s reaction when he would arrive home.

Upon seeing the child, there was the expected outburst of anger.

Outburst of anger “Just as I thought!” her husband shouted. “You’ve brought that worthless baby back from the rubbish heapthat’s the crying I heard in the night!” With tears running down the wife’s cheeks, she responded, “He’s going to live! How can

you throw away your own son?”

But her husband’s mind was made up, and he said, “I am going away for a few days to visit my timber stations, and when I come back, I better not find the baby in the house.”

The wife sensing the finality in her husband’s words, left with the child to go to her grandparents’ home. The years went by, and the child grew stronger. The wife and husband reconciled, but the father’s hatred and rejection of his son remained. At the age of 11, the boy was sent by his father to live with an uncle in order to learn farming, while his siblings attended school.

At his uncle’s house, the boy was treated as a slave.

His childhood and adolescence were filled with rejection, torture, and poverty.

But despite the ill treatment that engulfed him daily, he never became bitter, upset or resentful. Instead, he grew up caring for his father and showering him with gifts.

The “ worthless child” as pronounced by his biological father, grew to become a great asset to his generation. But this would never have happened if Archbishop Benson Idahosa hadn’t let go of the memories of the hurtful past and approached the future with forgiveness and unconditional love.

When we cling to our hurts

our lives clinches to a halt.

When we contaminate the present with the poison of the past our future becomes pungent. When we harbor unforgiveness we lose our power and the person who offends us gains power to control our emotional lives and hurt us. When you hold onto hurt, you hold onto hate and when you hold onto hate you eventually become what you hate. Being bitter leaves our lives battered.

Whatever consumes your thoughts controls your life.

When you let your emotional bruise dominate the domain of your mind you become a brute and life becomes brutal to you.

Don’t let your past imprison your future. You can’t embrace the future when you hold on to the past. Release the past through forgiveness then you will be able to lay hold of an amazing future.

Don’t let your pain be the focal point of your life. Don’t let your grieve make you groan through life. Unless you can get beyond your past, you can’t grow above it. The exit of the old ushers the entrance of the new. Self-pity ends up in the pit of despair.

Let go of your hurtful memories, live from your creative imagination. If you want to be whole, let go of the old.

*From left: Member panel of judges, Tsitsi Dangarembga; Chair, panel of judges, Etisalat Prize for Literature, Sarah Ladipo Manyika and member panel of judges, Jamal Mahjoub at the judges retreat in Cape Town, South Africa to reveal the 2014 shortlist.

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32—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

ICAN exams: We strive to maintain standards — Ajaegbu •inducts over 500 AAT members

By Providence Obuh

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HE Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) has said that it strive to maintain standards as required, against believe that its qualifying examinations are deliberately made difficult by it.

Also, over 500 newly qualified members of the Association of Accounting Technicians West Africa (AATWA) were inducted into the profession.

“The qualifying examinations of the Institute which many wrongly believe are deliberately made difficult have continually

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posed a serious concern to the Council in terms of how this belief can be changed. Let me assure you all and those writing subsequent examinations that the Institute does not in any way subject its students to undue stress, but it strives to maintain standards as required by the Act and also by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), said President of ICAN, Mr. Chidi Ajaegbu.

Ajaegbu said this at the induction ceremony in Lagos, adding that accountancy is not a profession for lazy persons or people with doubtful character.

To the inductees, he said, “All persons who desire to be chartered accountants must brace up to the challenges of the profession which include dedication to work, discipline, honesty, integrity and technical competence, he or she must continually update himself or herself in line with the development in the economy in which he or she operates.

“As an Accounting Technician, you must strive to perform your duties in accordance with acceptable technical standards irrespective of the sector of the economy in which you are

employed or engaged as an entrepreneur. The Accounting Technician is trained to function effectively in both the public and private sectors of the economy and the competence you exhibit will convince the public and the organisations you serve, that you are truly a professional in your own right.

“You must continuously strive to add value to your employers’ legitimate activities and with profound ethical conduct. You must not collude with anyone either to cheat or defraud your employer. You are expected to be above board in all you do.

Fashola charges corps members on positive impact

By Dayo Adesulu

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OVERNOR of Lagos State, Mr Babatunde Fashola SAN, has urged corps members deployed to Lagos State to leave behind a positive impact at the expiration of their service year.

He gave this charge during the swearing-In ceremony held at the NYSC orientation camp, Iyana Ipaja, Lagos.

He said: “As agents of change and development, the state is looking up to you for physical transformation and technological ideas that will add to the socio-economic development in our education sector.” Also, he pointed out that attention of corps members are needed in poverty eradication, rural health and in combating the HIV/ AIDS pandemic as well as other ills and diseases bedeviling the society.

Speaking through the commissioner for special duty, Lagos State, Dr Ahmed, Fashola enjoined the corps members to seize the platform of the NYSC to cultivate a healthy relationship with one another.

He promised that the government will do everything possible to create a conducive environment for them to carry out their service.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State NYSC State Coordinator, Mrs Adenike Adeyemi disclosed that a total of ......... Corps members are deployed to Lagos State.

The Coordinator who lauded the NYSC scheme, noted that the developmental growth in critical sectors of the economy such as agriculture, education, health and rural development cannot be mentioned without the invaluable contributions of corps members.

Adeyemi reiterated: “The scheme has four cardinal programmes which are: the orientation course, primary assignment, community development service CDS, the windingup and passing out exercise.”

She told them that all the programmes are crafted to develop their capacity and widen their perception about life.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 — 33

34—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

fifteen percent are yet to be pay as well as bluntly refusing to grant us audience since he became the governor of the state.

We therefore have no other alternative than to go on a peaceful demonstration to register our grievances.”

In the same vein, Dighabo Sanne, said since 2009 when he retired, he had not been paid anything, saying “I retired since 2009, up till now I haven’t been paid. This has made my wife and children to desert me. They have all left me even though I have millions of naira being tied down by government.”

Mrs. Dora Inamamu and Osain Edmund, who also retired since 2009, complained of the same fate, stressing that they had been surviving on charity.

They claimed their lives had no more meaning, wondering why the government had been so insensitive to their plight.

PENSIONERS TO DICKSON:

No gratuity, no second tenure

By Samuel Oyadongha & Emem Idio

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ECENTLY, Bayelsa State pensioners made good their threats to embark on street on protest to press home their demand for the payment of gratuity and other benefits The aggrieved senior citizens completely for several hours, crippled activities on Melford Okilo-Mbiama road, OnopaOvom linking the Creek Haven, Government House and other public institutions and environs, leaving motorists and commuters including civil servants, stranded.

The obviously sad pensioners in their seventies and eighties, later laid siege to the Creek Haven, the seat of Bayelsa State state government not minding the intimidating security presence at the fortress, singing solidarity songs. They displayed placards with inscriptions depicting their plight.

Some of the placards read, “We are dying one by one, up to 50 deaths are recorded this year”, “Some of us were sick, but no money to pay our bills”, “Government has tied down our millions”, “Governor Dickson, where did you keep our N250million monthly payment for retirees?”, “Dickson, why denying your parents of their benefits” and “Dickson pay us our gratuity. No gratuity, no election, no second tenure for you.”

Payment of gratuities “Pensioners are dying every day, please pay us our gratuities”, “Dickson be good to pensioners if you want to live long”, “Dickson we are tired of your neglect”, “Dickson no second term”.

The protesters also alleged selective payment of gratuities to persons with connection in government, lamenting that many of them were now destitute because they could not pay their house rents while several others had died of frustration.

Our grouse: State Chairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, Chief Emmanuel Namatebe, who spoke on behalf of the pensioners, explained that they were forced to embark on the protest because the governor had not lived up to his promise to them.

According to him, the governor reneged on his promise to release about N300million every month to the pensioners, dismissing the governor’s complaint of reduction of state allocation, saying “reduction of allocation has nothing to do with pensioners.

Cut your coat according to your cloth. We appeal to the

Protesters (inset) Gov Seriaki Dickson of Bayelsa State government to release money on a monthly basis as it was done by previous governments for payment of pensioners. Nothing was reflected on the allowances of pensioners. Our money is being tied down by the government. Many of us have been dying of high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases.”

Collaborating, Chief Stephen Pori, an octogenarian and a retired civil servant who came for the protest from Ekeremor Local Government Area, said as people who served the state for 35years, they did not deserve such neglect and disrespect from the state government.

“I retired about 20 years ago, although I have received my gratuity, but most of our members

who retired some ten, seven, five years ago are yet to receive their gratuities. Besides, the N18,000 minimum wage arrears, the 33 per cent salary increment for pensioners has not been approved and paid. As fathers and grand fathers, we will advise our children and grand children not to vote for this government again,” he said.

Similarly, Mr. Ebilade Godbless, said he retired in 2010, but was yet to receive his gratuity and entitlements.

According to him, “I have three children in the university. Two have been forced to drop out because right now I cannot meet up my responsibilities as a father.

After serving this state, all I get after 35 years of service, is this shabby treatment from the

government. This government has no human face if they can subject us to this kind of inhuman treatment. This is man’s inhumanity to man.”

State Secretary of NUP, Edmond Thomas said: “Governor Dickson promised in one of his briefing that N250Million would be released as compulsory savings to offset payment of gratuities and pension arrears with effect from April, 2012, but this has not been done. Governor Seriake Dickson also promised that any civil servant going on retirement from service in 2012 from the inception of his administration would go home with his own retirement benefits. The governor has defaulted in this regard.

“All other entitlements such as minimum wage arrears and

Govt response Responding, Head of Service, Mr. Frazer Okworu, who sympathized with them, noted that it was not within his jurisdiction to release money for payment, but assured that they would be paid as soon as money was made available.

Okworu, promised to deliver the pensioners message to the governor and said, “there is nothing to fault in all you have said. However, the low allocation to the state has affected the payment. It is not within my powers. If it were within my powers you know I would have paid.

If government does not release money how do I pay? It is a message I will relay to his Excellency when he comes back.”

Okworu also dismissed as untrue claims that only retired Permanent Secretaries were usually selected for payment.

PTAD reviews outstanding pensioners’ benefits •Screens 3000 retired Policemen

By Victor Ahiuma-young & Peter Duru

P

ENSION Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, currently reviewing outstanding pension and gratuities owed Federal Pensioners in the country.

Director General of National Pension Commission, Mrs. Chinelo AnaohuAmazu, who gave the hint at a meeting with stakeholders on the Pension Reform Act, PRA 2014, in Lagos, said the review would be concluded before the end of the year.

According to her, the PTAD was doing this as part of efforts at finding solutions to the lingering problems of outstanding gratuities and pensions owed the federal pensioners.

Answering a question, she said, "as I speak the Executive Secretary of PTAD is currently doing a review of all the outstanding dues to the pensioners because they are the most sensitive stakeholders. I think before the year runs out, you will see

a significant improvement in the payment of the outstanding dues because what they PTAD is doing is proffering a solution. They need to understand the extent of the extent of the liability and they are working with us (PenCom) to ensure that every pensioner receives his or her benefit as when due.”

Meanwhile, No fewer than 3,000 retired Police officers are currently being screened and verified for biometric capture in Benue state, by PTAD on the Defined Benefit Scheme, DBS, of the Federal Government.

Director General of PTAD, Mrs. Nellie Mayshak, announced this in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, where police pensioners from Nasarawa, Plateau and Benue states gathered for proper documentation ahead of the commencement of the new scheme.

Mrs. Mayshak said, PTAD came into being in order to check the perennials problems that confronted the Police pension

scheme.

According to her, “we are taking a comprehensive data of all police retirees with the aim of ensuring that every retired police officer can easily get his pension without problems. Our challenge is that we do not have a comprehensive data base of the pensioners, hence the need for the verification exercises to have everyone on our data for easy identification and payment of their benefits.” The Director General noted that the new scheme would completely eliminate fraud in the system adding that only those who were genuine retired policemen or deceased police officers would be captured in to avoid the pitfalls of the past. While disclosing that the exercise would cover all the paramilitary services in the country, Mrs. Mayshak said the verification and data capturing would be done in phases across the country.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18 14 —35 18,, 20 2014

BITS Bits

Comrades celebrate Ajaero @ 50

F

RIENDS, colleagues and well wishers, will Saturday, gather in Abuja to hounor Comrade Joe Ajaero, a Deputy President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE. Comrade Ajaero, yesterday clocked 50 years.

The event will be used to unveil a Biography of Ajaero titled “On the valley of the struggle” Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, will be the Chairman of the occasion, while the Chairman of Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, will review the book.

The Chairman of Chrome, Sir Emeka Offor and former Minister of Internal Affairs, Capt.

Emmanuel Iheanacho, will be the Chief Launchers, President of NUEE, Comrade Mansur M. Musa, in a statement on behalf of the union, congratulated Ajaero on his birthday, saying “ we salute your courage and positive contributions towards the life of workers in the Power Sector and your doggedness in restoring the pride of labour movement.

You are indeed a pride to Nigerian workers and the energy Sector in particular.”

LP gets caretaker c'ttee in Lagos

I

N line with the directive of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, its Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, counterpart, and the National caretaker committee of the Labour Party, LP, a caretaker committee of LP has been set up in Lagos.

The constitution of the committee followed an emergency meeting of stakeholders in Lagos State of the party on December 4, 2014 at the state party secretariat on Acme Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.

Members of the committee are Femi Enofe, (Chairman), Ismail Bello (Secretary), John Odigie (Publicity Secretary), Kasim Akinrinde, (youth leader), Stephen Oshidipe, (Chairman Political Committee), Mrs J.Adeyemi (member), Bunmi Abikoye (women leader) and Dayo Jolayemi (member), According to a statement by the committee, it reaffirmed commitment to the ideals of the LP as enshrined in its constitution and the policy document.

My agenda for NLC, workers, labour movement

Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson

—Ozo-Eson NIGERIA Labour Congress, NLC’s new General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, was in Lagos where he had an interactive meeting with a cross section of journalists. In this piece, Labour Vanguard brings to you what the new scribe says is his mandate, among others.

By Victor AhiumaYoung

W

HAT is your agenda in NLC? The agenda that I have arose from the terms of reference which the National Executive Council, NEC, of the NLC gave to me on my appointment. The NEC gave me mandate to reposition, reorganize and revitalize the secretariat to play its proper role in NLC. These were included in my letter of appointment and that therefore sets for me the framework for my agenda. My agenda,first and foremost is to focus on the secretariat. You know the secretariat is the engine room of the congress because it is the executing organ of the congress.

Decisions taken by organs are translated into action by the secretariat and so, for me, it is to look at the secretariat and identify what I see as problems and how to overcome those problems.

One is that we want a secretariat that will work in unity because part of the problem we noticed that has bedeviled the functioning of the secretariat over the years is that there was lack of cohesion, there was lack of unity of purpose in the secretariat.

Partly because of either the way things were done by the leadership of secretariat or by the way departments were not allowed or empowered to function effectively.

Departments are charged with specific responsibilities and today you find that some functions of that department had been performed without even the knowledge of the

department's key officials or the head of the department. Those things undermine the way you work effectively. Part of my goal is to ensure that we have a structured secretariat where departments are allowed and empowered to perform their functions under the leadership of the general secretary and the collective decisions that are taken by meetings of the heads of the departments. Also, apart from just the administration and executing decisions that are taken, the secretariat of the NLC is the anchor point and the engagement point with the industrial unions. We need and we hope to be able to relate to the leaderships of industrial unions in such a way that when they have problems and they want our intervention or assistance that we are there and we work with them effectively.

Another challenge to me is the relationship between the

We need to relook at the content of our education programmes to see over the years where we lost the ideological touch that is weakening working class consciousness

secretariat and our state councils.

We have our state councils but whatever they do is regarded that the NLC did it.

Council's functions So, the image of the NLC is affected majorly by the way our state councils functions. We need to be able to work with our state council in a way that projects a positive image of congress. I don’t want to go into details but I do know that in some cases, there are problems, some of them intermingled with politics. We are hoping that we will find a way to work together to find a way to improve on those things.

The second is seeking to revitalize the labour movement and I take that very seriously.

When we see for instance, problems in the students movement, because of the very positive role the students movements had played in the labour movement over the years.

We want to reach out in advisory and other capacities to try to see if we can bring ideas and ideology back to the functioning of a contestation within the movement. In the same way, within the labour movement itself that we want to try and bring back some logic of ideology driven work in the unions so that we do not have unions that completely lack a working class consciousness. We know that the labour movement is not made up of socialist ideology only or people with socialist meaning, but we need to at least, be conscious of the fundamental role of the working class consciousness in defining the things that we do.

So, through education programmes, we have always had education programmes but

we need to relook at the content of our education programmes to see over the years where we lost the ideological touch that is then weakening this working class consciousness. So, for me if within my tenure I am able to achieve even 50 percent of these two broad platforms I will be happy that we started something, that’s for the first part of the question.

How does NLC see the austerity measures announced by the Federal Government recently?

We are convinced that the starting point for austerity should be a cut-back in the cost of governance. We’ve always argued that the cost of governance was excessive, there was a lot of waste and that government can efficiently function with a much leaner expenditure pattern. There are those who interpreted that to mean that in order to have a leaner expenditure pattern, it is to shed either institutions or to shed workers. We disagree with that position.

Our position is that with the employment position in the public sector today, most of the costs that are running and weighing heavily down on the finances of government, have nothing to do with the remuneration of the workers.

It is to do with the bloated prerequisites attached to the management people who are paid under the political officers’ scheme; both in the ministries like Permanent Secretaries, for instance, come under that, Directors Generals and that ; and of course, the National Assembly, itself. There is a lot of waste going on. So, this period of austerity, should avail us the opportunity to revisit and streamline the cost of governance.

zTO BE CONTINUED.

36—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

is still considered “highly corrupt.”

This shows that corruption is rife as it ever has been in the country, making this government one of the most corrupt on earth.

This is therefore no time to feel comfortable with Nigeria’s sheer mediocrity on the index.

But the government’s response says something about diminished expectations for a country that is endowed with enormous human and natural resources and should be doing much better in terms of socioeconomic and infrastructural development to see the 27% on the index as good news.

Anti-corruption obligations

How corrupt is Nigeria?

By Kolawole Olaniyan

H

OW corrupt is the government of President Goodluck Jonathan?

The answer may vary depending on who is interpreting the latest global corruption index from Transparency International.

According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2014, Nigeria is up eight places to 136 out of 175 countries ranked by the index.

The government has unsurprisingly interpreted this to mean that Nigeria is “winning the war on corruption under President Jonathan’s watch.”

The government has also said in a rather celebratory tone that, “It may not be immediately apparent to those who do not understand the dynamics of applying creative techniques in upturning an age-old habit that has cost this country a lot in terms of financial resources; but to those like the officials in

Transparency International knowledgeable in the nuances of fighting corruption, a lot of grounds have been covered.”

Two central observations become clear; firstly, the statement seems to take a dig at government’s critics for lacking “creative techniques” in the fight against corruption.

But creative techniques? I’m sorry; no serious observers of the government’s record will succumb to this cheap shot.

Political opportunism Secondly, the government also may be accused of inconsistency and political opportunism because having previously questioned the validity and credibility of the index, now seems to be its strongest ‘apostle’ by suddenly acknowledging the ‘knowledge’ of Transparency International “in the nuances of fighting corruption.”

The government’s response is

Extent of application, realities of section 38 of 1999 constitution

nothing more than a standard public relations tactic. But this triumphal tone needs to be

Under the President’s watch, no highranking public official has ever been brought to account for corruption, despite widespread and increasing allegations of corruption at the highest level of government

moderated; and the government’s real record in the fight against corruption has to be placed in proper perspective.

The country’s current ranking is clearly better than its scores for 2013 but it doesn’t really tell us something we don’t already know: that this government is still considered highly corrupt, as the country still ranks in the bottom half of the index. As a matter of fact, Nigeria shares 136th position with well-known corrupt countries like Cameroon, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, and Lebanon.

The CPI ranks countries on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean).

More than two-thirds of the 175 countries surveyed, including Nigeria, scored below 50.

Nigeria is clearly not the country with the lowest score on the index (its score was 27%), but according to Transparency International, any country that scores below 50% on the index

Millions of Nigerians who continue to live from hand to mouth, unsure of the next meal, while their ‘leaders’ enjoy the commonwealth with their families and friends certainly won’t celebrate this score. And they won’t celebrate a score that still shows a serious breach of the country ’s international anti-corruption obligations and commitments.

It would seem that the government doesn’t even understand the depth of disgust Nigerians feel for the increasing level of corruption among highranking government officials and the impunity of perpetrators.

For many years President Jonathan has devoted dozens of speeches to rooting out corruption. For example, the President once promised to “fight for justice, for all Nigerians to have access to power, for qualitative and competitive education, for healthcare reforms, to fight corruption, and to fight for your rights.” But it is now another election time and he has not even published his asset declaration (to show the way in the fight against corruption) let alone “fight for your rights”!

Under the President’s watch, no high-ranking public official has ever been brought to account for corruption, despite widespread and increasing allegations of corruption at the highest level of government.

By celebrating a marginal movement on the index, the government isn’t focusing on the job of fully and effectively combating corruption by highranking public officials.

Instead, it is downplaying the magnitude of the problems, and seems to be kidding itself and Continues on page 37

Saving the Nigeria Traffic Warden Service —PG.39

—PG.37

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 — 37

How corrupt is Nigeria?

Continues from page 36

kidding millions of Nigerians.

This is unwarranted, counterproductive, and on balance, does more harm than good.

This government has to come clean and be straight with the Nigerian people on its record in fighting corruption.

But Nigerians are not fooled, as they are very aware of the lack of integrity, trust and credibility of their political institutions and the lack of quality behaviour from their politicians generally. They know pretty well that corruption is still a major problem in Nigerian politics, with various government agencies becoming deeper and deeper involved with the widespread use of political appointments even at the highest level of government.

Self-serving favours The simple fact of the matter is that Nigeria’s corruption is now institutionalised into the political system and where democracy has been replaced by “Nairaraincracy” (or more accurately “Dollaraincracy”, as most of the country’s politicians consider US dollar as the legal tender) and where politicians are elected to provide selfserving favours to donors and “godfathers”.

It is clear that the government is still largely run for the benefit of the very rich and socially and politically connected. When people say, ‘it is not what you know but whom you know’, there is a problem.

Corrupt judiciary and weak anti-corruption mechanisms well illustrate the damaging lack of political will by this government to confront corruption and impunity of the corrupt. Serious human rights violations, including poverty, crimes against humanity and the environment are now considered normal.

Yet, lack of prosecution of high-ranking government

EDITORIAL TEAM Innocent Anaba ( Head) Wahab Abdulah Ikechukwu Nnochiri Dayo Benson (Supervising Editor) 08056180119 dayobenson@yahoo.com

officials for corruption has created an impression that they are above the law. No wonder, then, that corrupt officials are so unfazed in their wrong doings, they are all doing it openly and lavishly and don’t even bother to hide their misdeeds.

Unfortunately, the more corrupt the country becomes, the less motivated its leaders and politicians are to end it.

This doesn’t present much hope for the future.

But we can’t simply throw our hands up in the air in frustration. Progress is not only possible but necessary as it is simply unacceptable to

continue with ‘business as usual’. The government will need to get to work and move swiftly to improve the independence and freedom of action of the anti-corruption agencies to genuinely fight corruption.

Partisan interest These agencies should be free to investigate and prosecute any allegations of corruption, not just those the government has a partisan interest in seeing pursued.

It is time for the government to let the country ’s anti-

corruption agencies off the chain and allow them to prosecute those indicted by: the KPMG report, involving largescale corruption in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) audit report, which exposes 10 years of corruption in the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry; ‘pension funds corruption report’; ‘corruption report’ in the capital market, and of course the case of the missing $20 billion from the account of the NNPC. Some level of transparency and accountability won’t hurt the country. In fact, it will ensure better governance and

the returns for effective enjoyment of human rights by the citizens will be huge.

One can only hope that the government will wake up and genuinely begin to address corruption and associated human rights violations.

Nigerians deserve this. The success (and sustainability) of the country ’s democracy depends on this.

And this is the most important promise for the politicians to take to the February 2015 elections and subsequently keep if elected. * Olaniyan, author of ‘Corruption and Human Rights Law in Africa’, is Legal Adviser, International Secretariat of Amnesty International, London.

Saving the Nigeria Traffic Warden Service

By Emeka UmeagbalasI

superintendent (confirmed & unconfirmed), deputy superintendent, superintendent, chief superintendent, assistant commissioner of police, deputy commissioner of police, commissioner of police, assistant inspector general of police, deputy inspector general of police and inspector general of police.

U

NDER the leadership of former Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, age-long discriminatory practices were discovered in the Nigeria Police Force by our leadership in the course of our advocacy activities.

The discriminatory practices were administrative and structural in nature. They have existed since 1975 with a structural code name: the Nigeria Traffic Warden Service (TWS) Decree (Act) of 1975.

This was also incorporated into Sections 59 to 69 of the Nigeria Police Force Act of 2004 (NPF Ordinance of 1930).

By the provisions of these obnoxious legal creations, the TWS was created and put under the midwifery of the Nigeria Police Force. The TWS was created for the purpose of ensuring safety of persons and properties on all Nigerian roads and strict compliance to road use and safety rules by all Nigerian road users. Those wishing to join the TWS must possess same academic, mental and physical qualifications and qualities with those wishing to join the Nigeria Police Force. Both of them also undergo same field training and spend almost same number of period before being commissioned as officers of the NPF. Sadly, when it comes to rank-

Promotion stagnancy

Mr Suleiman Abba, Police IG ing, promotion, remuneration and manning of duty posts or offices; deep discrimination and discrepancies occur. By virtue of the provisions of the TWS Decree (Act) of 1975 and Sections 59 to 69 of the Nigeria Police Act of 2004, the highest rank to be attained by a member of the TWS is called Senior Traffic Warden (STW), which is equivalent to the rank of Inspector in the Nigeria Police Force. The major ranking grades available and traditionalized in the Nigeria Police Force are: constable, corporal (first & second), sergeant, inspector (confirmed & unconfirmed), assistant

This means that there are fourteen major ranking grades in the Nigeria Police Force; whereas only four ranking grades exist in the TWS. Administratively, there is agelong promotion stagnancy policy against members of the TWS whereby their promotions from one rank to the other are delayed up to five years and above. Key officers of the TWS are also denied office and departmental duties. For instance, key members or officers of the TWS are not allowed by the leadership of the NPF to take charge and full responsibility of the TWS designated duties and offices like Divisional Traffic Officer or Office usually located in every divisional police station; whereas in the same station, divisional crime officer or office is manned by officers from the NPF Criminal Inves-

tigation Department. Another discriminatory practice exists whereby a deputy superintendent of traffic (DST) or a senior traffic warden (STW) is made to take orders from a police sergeant or corporal. Deep discrimination and discrepancy exist too in handling the affairs of members of the TWS whereby while personnel of the NPF receive salaries and emoluments much fatter than members of the TWS who share equivalent ranks with their NPF counterparts.

It is view of these that several attempts were made by concerned and courageous members of the TWS to address the age-long structural and administrative anomalies leading to several court actions in the past.

During the Obasanjo’s presidency, a presidential proclamation was issued creating two extra ranking grades of assistant superintendent of traffic (AST) and deputy superintendent of traffic (DST), which are equivalent of the NPF’s assistant and deputy superintendents of the police (ASP & DSP), yet the TWS Decree (Act) of 1975 and its NPF Act incorporated Sections 59 to 69 were left un-amended or unrepealed till date.

These un-healed wounds were

To be continued

38—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Prof Akande Memorial Lecture holds at NIALS

Lawpavilion blazes trail in court management technology

T

HE foremost legal technologies company in Nigeria, Grace InfoTech Limited, publishers of the award winning LawPavilion Electronic Law Reports, (LPELR)and other suite of LawPavilion Products such as the LawPavilion Case Manager, LawPavilion Court Manager, Solicitors’ Tool Kit etc (LawPavilion) has achieved another remarkable milestone in its quest to facilitate delivery of justice through use and integration of technology into legal practice and adjudication in Nigeria.

Legal technologies LawPavilion was one of the exhibitors at the recently concluded ECourts Conference, held in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States of America.

The E-Courts Conference is an initiative of the National Centre for State Courts, a United States based organisation responsible for digitizing American courts.

The E-courts Conference brings together stakeholders in legal technologies as it relates to courts, court processes and records as well as court m a n a g e m e n t / administration. It is an opportunity for foremost companies to showcase and demonstrate their latest offerings in terms of legal technologies for courts, jury duty selection and profiling, prisoner records, criminal offences archival amongst others. Other exhibitors at the Conference included

Tyler Technologies, Thomson Reuters etc.

It was at this prestigious Conference, held at the classy Red Rock Resort, West Charlestown, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States of America, that LawPavilion officially unveiled its newest initiative in court technologies.

The enhanced LawPavilion Court Management Software is a first of its kind as it boasts of several innovative features which make its functionality sheer pleasure.

The LawPavilion Court Management Software boast of two unique features namely: The Judicial Performance Management Support Module and the Court Rules Compliance Management Module.

The Judicial P e r f o r m a n c e Management Support

The enhanced LawPavilion Court Management Software is a first of its kind as it boasts of several innovative features which make its functionality sheer pleasure

Module offers ease and convenience to individual judicial officers, Heads of Courts (such as Chief Judges) and the National Judicial Council in collating, analysing and evaluating performance of judicial officers/workers within a specified period.

According to Ope Olugasa, the Managing Director of Grace Info Tech Limited, research has shown all around the world that efficient performance review and evaluation of judicial officers is best done using available technology which can sift through thousands of records and generate a pictorial view by means of graphs to depict performance for reward and promotion.

He stated further that this enhanced module will assist judicial officers to quickly compile their periodic reports with minimal inconvenience.

This is because as judicial officers give their rulings or judgments, such rulings or judgments are automatically populating the judicial returns form which has been integrated into the module.

The Judicial P e r f o r m a n c e Management Support Module will also assist decision makers in the Judiciary to verify the volume of cases pending within the entire Court system at any point in time, whether at the State or Federal levels. This will greatly assist in appropriate manpower planning for the Judiciary and eventually speed up the process of adjudication and justice delivery in Nigeria.

The 2014 Prof Jedesola Akande Memorial Lecture was held at the University of Lagos campus of the Nigeria Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, NIALS in Lagos, recently.

L-R: Justice Kudirat Kekerekun of the Supreme Court; Director General of NILAS, Prof. Deji Adekunle and Representative of the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Gbola Odugbesan.

L-R: Keynote speaker, former Dean Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Prof. Oluyemisi Bamgbose, Chief Esan and Justice Adenike Coker.

L-R: Mrs L a i d e Sasegbon, Justice Bukunola Adebiyi and Justice S y b i l Nwaka.

L-R: Prof.

B o l a j i Owasanoye and Prof.

T a i w o Osipitan, SAN.

L-R: Dr. A Bisi Alabi, Prof. A. O. Obilade and Prof.

L a n r e Fagbohun.

Mr Olugasa with Jim McMillan, the chief court technology consultant for the National Centre for state courts, USA.

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 — 39

By Abiodun Owonikoko

I

N this piece, I have endeavoured to chart the legal and spatial perimeters of the fundamental rights entrenched in Section 38 of the Constitution( hereinafter referred to as “the Constitution”). The ‘extent’ element of the topic is addressed first. I have also addressed the ‘veracity ’ of application of the right. The latter is with a view to ascertaining whether indeed that right truly enjoys recognition in our legal jurisprudence; and lastly if it does, how is it applied in real life by relevant state actors?

I then concluded with some thoughts and recommendations on the way forward for enhancement of the guarantee with particular reference to religious freedom both in conviction and external manifestation by way of observance.

It is in the second and third contexts that two contrasting judicial pronouncements are revisited namely- Provost Kwara State Collegeof Education, Ilorin &Amp; 2ors V. Bashirat Saliu &Amp; 2 Ors And Miss Asiyat Abdulkareem (Minor) And 2 Ors. V. Lagos State Government & 2 Ors. These two cases are then contrasted with yet another decision of our courts where the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion and observance of its tenet were expounded but with reference to a sister religious faith- JENEBU OJONYEV ALEYI ADEGBUDU, Particularly the excerpt from the judgment quoted by the learned author Fred F. Odibei EXTENT OF FREEDOM GUARANTEED: The starting point is to identify the right protected by the Constitution.

Religious ceremony The relevant section provides –Section 38 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) provides as follows;1. “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought,conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.2. No person attending any place of education shall be required to receive instruction or to take part in or attend any religious ceremony or observance if such instruction, ceremony or observance relates to a religion other than his own, or a religion not approved by his parents or guardian.3. No religious community or denomination shall be prevented from providing religious instruction for pupils of that community nor denomination in

Extent of application, realities of section 38 of 1999 constitution

•Owonikoko, SAN any place of education maintained wholly by that

community or denomination.

Nothing in this section shall

entitle any person to form, take part in the activity or be a member of secret society.

Extent of freedom guaranteed: The starting point is to identify the right protected by the Constitution5.The relevant section provides –Section 38 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) provides as follows: 1.

“Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought,conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.2. No person attending any place of education shall be required to receive instruction or to take part in or attend any religious ceremony or observance if such instruction, ceremony or observance relates

to a religion other than his own, or a religion not approved by his parents or guardian.

3. No religious community or denomination shall be prevented from providing religious instruction for pupils of that community nor denomination in any place of education maintained wholly by that community or denomination.4.

Nothing in this section shall entitle any person to form, take part in the activity or be a member of secret society.

Interestingly, the same or analogous provisions can be found in the previous Constitutional provisions since the first republican Constitution was enacted in 1963. See Section 24 1963 Constitution; Section 35 of the 1979 Constitution, respectively.

To be continued

Landlord reclaims property from tenant after four-year legal battle

J

USTICE O. Femi-Adeniyi of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has entered judgment in favour of Dr. Osita Aduba, landlord and owner of 4A Ojora (formerly Hawksworth) Road, Ikoyi, after a four-year legal battle to repossess the said property from Mr. Sonnie Ayere, a Director of Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company and the Founder and CEO of Dunn Loren Merrifield Investment Ltd. Aduba had approached the court in May 2010, through his counsel D. J. Fadesere seeking a declaration that the tenancy agreement between him and the defendant on the said premises expired on February 28, 2010.

In his judgment, Justice FemiAdeniyi granted all the reliefs sought by Aduba except for the amount of Mesne profit on which he noted: “I find and hold therefore that the claimant is not entitled to Mesne profit in the

sum of N10 million. However, having held that the tenancy was properly determined by the effluxion of time by the incidence Exhibit C1 (Tenancy agreement).

I hold that the claimant is entitled to Mesne profits in the amount of N3, 800,000 per annum from the defendant until the defendant gives up possession. I assess the Mesne profit as at today at N18, 050,000. The claim succeeds and judgment is entered in favour of the claimant against the defendant.”

Aduba had sought an order directing that he and the defendant or their appointed representatives carry out a joint inspection of the semi-detached house in the said premises.

Aduba further sought a declaration that he was entitled in law to exercise a right of lien on the N3, 800,000 paid by the defendant for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the

defendant’s obligation to repair the demised premises as provided for in the tenancy agreement between the parties.

He further urged the court to declare that the defendant did not renew the expired tenancy agreement between him and the claimant in respect of the demised premises, and order for immediate possession of the premises.

He also urged the court to grant a Mesne profit at the rate of N10, 000,000 per annum from March 1, 2010 until vacant possession is yielded to him.

After several adjournment of the case for the defence to open its case to no avail, the court invoked Order 30 rule 11 (2) upon the application of Aduba’s counsel in June 2014 and directed parties inthe case to file and exchange written addresses.

In his written address, counsel to Aduba, Fadesere, argued that the tenancy agreement was the

From left: President, Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bukhachuwa; Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed; former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Alfa Belgore; former Vice President, Court of Appeal London, Sir Mavrice Kay and British High Commissioner Permanent Representative to ECOWAS, Dr Andrew Pocock during the 2014 Annual Conference of the Court of Appeal in Abuja.

contract which binds the claimant and the defendant and that the tenancy was for a fixed term and not a perpetually renewable lease since the right to renew the tenancy was reserved to the claimant. He submitted that the defendant cannot legally renew the tenancy without the approval and authorisation of the claimant and that even the court cannot impose renewal on the claimant.

Fadesere also submitted that the tenancy had ended on February 28, 2010 and had been rightfully and legally determined. He submitted that by the provisions of Section 13 (5) of the Tenancy Law of Lagos State (2011), the defendant was entitled to a notice to quit but only to the seven days notice which was duly served on him.

Fadesere further argued that his client was entitled to Mesne profits of N40, 000, 000 for the four years he had held over. He submitted that the claimant had exercised a right of lien over the N3,800, 000 as part of the Mesne profit, leaving a balance of N36, 200, 000. He argued that the claimant was entitled to Mesne profit until possession is given up by virtue of the provisions of Section 31 of the Tenancy Law 2011.

However, Ayere’s counsel, O. O. Oniyire and C. E. Aforgwu in a preliminary objection argued that the Tenancy Law 2011 of Lagos State did not apply to the action since by the provisions of Section 1 (3)(III) thereof, Ikoyi is exempted from its application.

They argued that the applicable law is the Recovery of Premises Law cap 118, Laws of Lagos State 1973 and the provisions of Order 5 rule 6 of the Magistrates Courts (Civil Procedure) Rules 2009.

40—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Veg Christmas

End crisis in health sector now, AMLSN urges FG

J

UST last weekend, I had an interesting conversation about vegetarian diet.

These conversations come up regularely because, or so I think, whenever I say at a lunch or dinner table that I do not eat meat (and fish etc) a whole (meat) world is at stake. It was lunch time and the usual parade of chicken and fish dishes was tabled – followed by my request for ‘food without eyes which can look at me’.

Not that I am too paranoid yet, I always say that to ease the tension and give practical guidelines for the meal that will now specially prepared for me. I got fantastic plantain and boiled yam with a pepper stew. It was all well but the conversation about why being a vegetarian went on.

There were two questions at the heart of the talk. Firstly, what about the culinary pleasures of a eating when switching to a veg diet? Secondly, as food is playing an essential role in bringing people together, what happens to that social aspect when going veg?

During Christmas time or other festive season, these two topics are becoming more essential than ever. We come together in these times to enjoy the company of family or friends or colleagues and food is always at centre stage.

What if that all is disrupted? Well, I can say that I did not bring that lunch gathering to an end last weekend – and I have never done so at any - neither the Christmas

Hakeem Jimo’s

Ve ggie Victory

veggienaija@gmail.com party I went afterwards. I always find some food – often the side dishes - get my plate and join the party. Everybody is still happy.

Only that I wish sometimes the variety for vegetarian and vegan options was a bit wider. And there are plenty of options. For any occasion. So I looked around the internet and found so many inspirations for a Veg Christmas.

By the way, I have observed that often the veg platters are the ones

•

Veg diet

first gone even though hardly anyone claimed to live the Veg life. Veg recipes are appealing to everyone who loves food. The internet is flowing over with Veg options for Christmas and each year it is becoming more.

Basically major food portals cannot afford anymore not to have put some thoughts in to the Veg lifestyle. Here just a few I came across: The famous British chef Jamie Oliver features dozens of Christmas meals, http:// deserts www.jamieoliver.com/ Equally BBC GoodFood presents 40 or so recipes for a Veg Christmas.

The Vegetarian Society (www.vegsoc.org) also has lots of Christmas meal and deserts suggestions. This should be more than you can eventually eat and it is enough to make any festive family, friend, colleague gettogether a very special one. I wish you a Merry Christmas!

T

By Chioma Obinna

HE Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, AMLSN, has expressed worry over the unending industrial actions in the health sector, urging the Federal Government to immediately resolve the crisis to ensure better healthcare services for Nigerians.

Speaking in Lagos, President of the Association, Alhaji Toyosi Raheem expressed displeasure on the manner in which the current crisis in the Health Sector is being handled by government at all levels in the country.

According to him, in any normal clime, crisis in health sector culminating in national industrial actions is handled with utmost urgency and attention.

“Regrettably, in our country, crisis and industrial actions in the Health Sector is given little or no attention at all.

This unfortunately leads to avoidable loss of lives and economic burden on the masses especially in terms of the cost of getting alternative access to health care locally or outside the country (for those who could afford it),” he stated.

Raheem recalled that early this year, the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, went on a national strike for days albeit with consequent loss of lives. He said the ongoing national strike by the Joint Health Sector Union,

JOHESU seemed not to attract any urgent attention from government and wondered the impact on the health of Nigerians as well as attainment of the health related Millennium Development Goals, MDGs. “Our Association hereby urges Federal Government and other stakeholders to show commitment and give urgency to resolution of the ongoing crisis. Government and patriotic Nigerians should appeal to government to urgently discuss with JOHESU members rather than leave the meeting till 15th of December, 2014. The current situation in the health sector deserves urgent national attention,” he said.

On the National Health Bill, he noted: “It is our belief that what was presented for assent, was the harmonised version of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

That is the version that will lead to achievement of the good intentions of the drafters of the bill.

It is hoped that no other version order than the harmonised version produced by the two National Assemblies was presented to Mr. President for assent. “The crisis in the health sector would even be aggravated if any other version was presented for assent order than the harmonized version. The health of the citizenry deserves urgent and sincere attentions by all stakeholders,” he stated.

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014—41

APC vice-presidential offer: Tinubu’s triumph and tussles IN withdrawing himself from consideration on the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu described it as a patriotic duty and personal contribution towards rescuing Nigeria from the clutches of poverty which he said the ruling administration had plunged the country

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

H

IS statement of withdrawal termed “I serve the nation,” followed the dithering procrastination of General Muhammadu Buhari in announcing his running mate. Ahead of yesterday’s formal proclamation of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as the running mate, the political landscape had been enraptured by the keen interests by the nation’s geopolitical interest groups in positioning themselves for the vicepresidential position. The interest followed the bounce received by Buhari after last Thursday’s convention of the APC when the opposition party for the first time became the first political party to be seen as really threatening the hold of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP on the presidency.

It was no surprise that presidential aides including Dr. Doyin Okupe and officials of the ruling party went on the offensive after the APC came out united behind Buhari after the convention.

Buhari is bringing to the fray a near universal reputation for personal integrity and a reputation of having reclaimed the country’s integrity from bandits – two issues that are presently dogging the PDP controlled Federal Government.

Normal obligation So, following his emergence, the matter of balancing the ticket became an issue of great consideration. It was especially so given the impression created by his political rivals in the past of Buhari as an Islamic extremist even if no one had faulted him beyond his normal obligation to his Islamic faith.

Following his victory and as acknowledged by Tinubu yesterday, Buhari gave the APC national leader, the right to bring a running mate. It was a tempting offer, Tinubu said.

“There came a time during the course of the events when our Presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari offered the Vice Presidential slot to me. Being a normal human being, I was deeply moved and honored that he would consider me for the position.

Being a patriot, I had to weigh my potential candidacy in all of its dimensions,” Tinubu said yesterday.

Associates of the APC leader disclosed that Tinubu was really tempted and sought to bring himself forward for consideration despite his Islamic faith, but many of the associates it was learnt dissuaded him. Even outside his inner political circle, there were many others who also stoutly resisted the suggestion of a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

It was such an offering many feared would be interpreted as the real Islamic agenda of the APC and capable of deflating the global agenda of defeating

*Tinubu: Stepping down was my patriotic contribution the PDP. A number of serving governors involved in the Buhari project were said to have confronted the idea headlong and thereby incurring the wrath of the political leader.

But Tinubu had his limitations on names to project from the Southwest.

Those who otherwise who could have fit into the religious permutation were

whispered as political associates who could not be trusted once in power. Prof.

Yemi Osibanjo who was third in the names proposed by the political leader was, however, said to have been initially dismissed by Buhari as not weighty enough to attract political sympathy.

However, that consideration was clearly ignorant of the importance of structure and the power of the influential

flock of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCH where Osibanjo is a senior pastor.

Tinubu was, however, able to press that Osibanjo with the backing of the Tinubu machinery could turn into an asset. Besides with tens of millions of congregants looking up to their senior pastor on the ballot, Buhari was undoubtedly able to look beyond the electoral weight to the religious weight.

But putting the country’s political options on the balance of religion is one idea that Tinubu ruffled at in his withdrawal statement yesterday.

“I ask you to remember that too many Christians and Muslims are poor. Most of all, I ask you to remember that the true religion of the PDP is poverty, APC come to bring prosperity to the people.

Please vote for that.”

Some critics of the APC leader were quick to allege that the choice of Osibanjo was proposed to weaken Buhari and allow the PDP to return to power. But such insinuations were bereft of rational reasoning and did not consider the words of Tinubu in his withdrawal statement.

Pledging his determination to ensure the success of the Buhari – Osibanjo ticket, Tinubu said: “This is a time for cohesion and an overriding sense of mission.

We must defeat the foe before us and resist all temptations intended to entice us to fight among ourselves.

“I sincerely commit myself to the rescue agenda of General Buhari and Professor Osinbajo.”

“I declare to you, I will work and dedicate myself so that our ticket succeeds and wins the 2015 election — not for his good, not for my good, not even for the party’s good but for the good of the nation we inhabit.”

Tinubu has since his secret political alliance with Buhari delivered almost faithfully. He has so far shown no reason to be doubted.

Osinbajo: Where Tinubu, Buhari meet Awo P ROFESSOR Yemi Osinbajo who was, yesterday, named as the running mate of the All Progressives Congress, APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari is a senior lawyer who earned a reputation for integrity and steadfastness in the country’s murky political terrain. He brings to the ticket another dose of integrity that is already known about Buhari.

Osinbajo came tops after several rounds of meetings, yesterday.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN,Osinbajo trudged the Lagos political landscape between 1999 and 2007 when he served as attorney general and commissioner of justice.

Before then, he had served as personal assistant to the country’s attorney general and minister of justice, Mr. Clement Akpamgbo, SAN. Though little known in the political world, Osinbajo has been a consistent

ally of erstwhile L a g o s S t a t e governor, Asiwaju B o l a Ahmed Tinubu in w h o s e cabinet he served for two terms.

He is *Osinbajo: Running mate highly respected for his knowledge of law, especially as an expert in the law of evidence.

He was formerly head of Department of Public Law in the University of Lagos. Osinbajo, who is an assistant provincial pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Olive Court branch is widely known

as a close associate of the general overseer of the RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye.

His standing in the church is expected to give some measure of confidence to especially northern Christians and others who may have viewed Buhari in the eyes of his critics as a religious extremist.

He is also said to be close to Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the RCCG—one of the leading pentecostal churches in Nigeria with large followership across the country.

Osinbajo, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Senior Partner in the Law firm of SimmonsCooper Partners, is also the Chairman of Board of Trustess of Redeemer’s University.

Osinbajo is married to Oludalapo, a grand-daughter of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He provides an interesting nexus for Tinubu, Buhari to meet the late sage, Awolowo.

42—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

By Marie-Therese Nanlong THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP primaries in Plateau State have been concluded with candidates emerging for all posts available for the 2015 general elections.

While some are happy with the outcome of the exercises, reactions are still trailing the governorship primaries, which saw Senator GNS Pwajok emerging as the winner.

1

4 aggrieved governorship aspirants kick Shortly after the exercise, some aspirants, who contested with Pwajok including Ambassador Fidelis Tapgun, Dr. Haruna Dabin, Professor Sonny Tyoden, Senator Victor Lar, Arc. John Alkali, Engineer Jimmy Cheto and Apostle Chris Bature on behalf of others described the exercise as a “show of shame.”

The aggrieved aspirants petitioned the National Headquarters of the party calling for the cancellation of the exercise and a new date for fresh primaries, insisting that the process was flawed and government “manipulated it to favour its chosen candidate.”

Apart from the aspirants, some citizens especially from the Central and Southern zones are still bitter about the outcome of the exercise and not even the choice of Yilji Gomwalk from the Central Zone as Pwajok’s running mate has placated them.

CYRA, PYV endorse primaries As the bickering continues with a reaction from the PDP National Secretariat being awaited, a proPwajok group, the Coalition of Young Redemption Advocates,

*Pwjok

*Tapgun

*Dabin

*Tyoden

Jang’s successor: Bickering over PDP primaries alter calculations in Plateau CYRA, has urged the PDP Governorship Appeal Panel to discountenance the aggrieved aspirants’ petition because Pwajok won the said election “ resoundingly and indisputably.”

Addressing journalists in Jos, Redzie Jugo and Abubakar Kanam, the group’s Convener and Media Relations Officer, respectively, added the Electoral Panel was fair and transparent in all its actions.

“We have heard that a few days after PDP gubernatorial primaries, 12 out of the 16 aspirants petitioned the PDP Gubernatorial Appeal Panel with

the view to discountenance the Plateau State PDP primaries.

We view this as a sad development because politics should be played without distortion of truth. We reject and collectively condemn the attempt by some politicians to score cheap political points.

“If the aggrieved aspirants did not believe in the process, why did they not leave the venue and declare it flawed? The electoral panel was fair and transparent in all their actions. We wish to urge the gubernatorial primaries appeal panel to discountenance the said petition in its totality as Senator GNS Pwajok won the

contest resoundingly and indisputably. This fact should be respected and embraced by all true lovers of Plateau State, peace and democracy,” they said.

Similarly, Plateau Youth Vanguard (PYV) described the said primaries as transparent, free, fair and credible.

The group called on the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu and the National Working Committee (NWC) to ignore the petition because ‘’the election was transparent, free, fair and credible devoid of violence and chaos.”

Chairman of the group, Joel

Demsak, in a press statement issued in Jos, described those calling for the cancellation of the primaries as crying foul because the process did not favour them.

MCSPS disagrees However, another group, Movement for the Creation of South Plateau State, MCSPS disagreed and kicked against the emergence of Pwajok and called on the citizens of the state, in the interest of “justice, equity and fairness” to vote for a governorship candidate from any other political party, as far as he/she is from the Southern Senatorial zone of the state.

How Imoke brought peace to PDP in Cross River — Senator Adede SENATOR Musa Adede businessman politician is the owner of Kings Airline and represented Cross River State North Senatorial District from 1999 to 2003 in the Senate.

In this interview he lauds Governor Liyel Imoke for his inclusive approach to governance and flays recent critics of the governor, cautioning them to tread carefully. Excerpts:

W

HY has Governor Imoke become the subject of much attacks by some stakeholders from your state?

I believe that politics should be played in line with moral principles at all times. I do not support the barrage of attacks on the governor. As a former governor, when you begin to come down so low like Donald Duke did and begin to call your friend, your partner and best friend as he told the whole world then, monkey and all that, it is quite ludicrous. I challenge the former governor, if he claims there are only two monkeys that

are eating to tell us who were the other monkeys that are now reduced to two? It predisposes that there had been other monkeys who were stealing and eating.

So he must tell us who were the other monkeys and what they have taken. For me, I will want to plead that in our tense moments, we guard against what we say, especially about our leaders. As an individual, I will not disrespect or go to the public and begin to insult our leaders because we owe them that respect and we never can tell, we ourselves may become leaders someday and so history has a

way of taking you back to what you said when you were not in position of authority.

There are those who appear to be uncomfortable with the caucus arrangement put in place, where the people are allowed to take ownership of the democratic process and would rather choose to describe the system as an imposition of candidates. From your own observation, is there any indication to that effect?

I would not say that the governor is imposing candidates, but I know as a matter of fact that for close to four years, we started what is called a consultative forum which the governor introduced. Those of us from the Northern Cross River met with him severally at the Ranch Resort, Obudu and Ogoja, to see how we could close ranks and work together for the betterment of our senatorial district and Cross River State at large.

So the governor has been consulting with stakeholders for over four years now constantly to forge unity among ourselves with a message that we must see ourselves as a family. He recognizes that even in the family, there is bound to be a disagreement but that at the end of it, we must sit down as one united family and resolve our differences.

That has been Liyel Imoke that I know. I’m not saying that from 1999 to 2011 there had been no imposition of candidates or selection of candidates, there has been and across the country in all the political parties Would you say the consultative or caucus arrangement has been successful so far?

Democracy is about the people and what affects them. So, it is also good to allow them, like you rightly put it, to participate in the democratic process.

They need to participate in the

*Adede decision making process to choose their leaders. So the governor, as a matter of fact, is already implementing what we started in 2007 by ensuring that there is participatory form of democracy in our party. When he started these caucuses, it gave opportunities to the candidates to interact first and foremost with their various wards, local governments, their leaders and to come and sell their respective

Continues on page 43

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014—43

Head or tail, it’s Yuguda in Bauchi THE governorship candidates of the All Progressives Congress, APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP who emerged from the recent primaries are alleged to be scions of the outgoing governor of the state, Alhaji Isa Yuguda. Whatever happens, Yuguda could have peace out of office

By Susan Edeh

T

HE results came as a shock to many political stakeholders as the two candidates who emerged from the recent governorship primaries easily beat more formidable aspirants in the results announced by the two parties.

Many of the aspirants were quick to dismiss the conduct of the primaries as lacking in fairness and deficient in electoral standards.

Barrister Mohammed Abubakar won the gubernatorial election conducted by APC with 936 votes , former Minister of Police Affairs, Dr Yakubu Lame scored 806 votes, Mai Tama Tuggar scored 526, Engr Sadiq 194, Ibrahim Zailani 161 and Nuhu Gidado 86.

In the PDP, Auwal Jutua a former speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly and member representing Zaki federal Constituency in the House of Representatives polled a total votes of 368 votes to beat former deputy governor Senator Garba Gamawa representing Bauchi North who scored 116 votes and former minister of State for Health Professor Ali Pate who scored 86 and Senator Adamu Gumba representing Bauchi South who got 3 votes.

Favourable candidates There is tension in both major political parties given the allegation that Governor Yuguda got himself involved in the process in the two parties to throw up favaourable candidates to succeed him.

An APC gubernatorial aspirant Dr Yakubu Lame called on the national headquarters of the party to cancel the primary election conducted in the state due what he alleged to be irregularities that marred the election.

Dr Lame, a former minister of police affairs, alleged that the election was marred with over voting, disorderly conduct, harassment of officials as well as electricity failure.

According to him “2,854 delegates were accredited during the election but at the end of the day 2,865 votes were cast which means there were excess of 41 votes”.

“The procedure of conducting the primary election was

*Yuguda discussed between all aspirants, the party leadership and the electoral committee but unfortunately all these issues were violated while some delegates were refused accreditation” “Some of the delegates that came were refused accreditation” he said as he cited the case of Ganjunwa Local government area where several delegates were not allowed to vote.

A chieftain of the APC, Buba Sarki alleged that the two governorship candidates of the PDP and APC are the anointed of Governor Isa Yuguda

“They was also selective implementation of court order during the House of Assembly primary election, concerning Bauchi LGA .” according to him, while the court order was complied with in that delegates

from Bauchi LGA were stopped from voting during the House of Assembly primaries, the same court order was partially violated during the gubernatorial primaries as some wards were allowed to vote and others were not.

The situation was not different in the PDP where the former speaker of the House of Assembly created a major upset in winning the primary against all expectations.

Another twist to the PDP governorship primaries was that most of the governorship aspirants either stepped down or refused to show up during the election.

Signs of problems emerged when one of the major contestants Yayale Ahmed, former Secretary to the Federal Government did not show up on the day of the election while another contestant Aliyu Hamayo, the immediate past SSG withdrew at the last minute.

Contenders like Yayale who were considered to be supported by PDP National Chairman Adamu Mu’azu had made it clear that they would not dance to the governor’s tune.

Indeed, Jutua’s emergence came as a surprise because many expected Pate, a more experienced technocrat to get the ticket.

According to a source who

pleaded anonymity said that Governor Yuguda perfected the moved to bring Jatua, considered a political neophyte in order to check mate more experienced politicians in order to gain control of the party.

“What played out in the governorship primary election is the hand work of the leader of the party, Governor Isa Yuguda who has already anointed who he wants to become the next governor of the state “ A political analyst, Kabiru Ibrahim expressed disappointment with the turn out of the governorship primaries, saying the result lacked justice and transparency.

This is even as the Campaign Organization of Dr. Pate, has called for the cancellation of the exercise pointing out that the party will not deliver the state in the February 2015 elections.

Returning officer for Pate at the gubernatorial primaries, Danlami Danfulani alleged that the PDP machinery in the state hijacked the primaries election and forced the Senator Stella Omu led panel saddled by the national headquarters of the party to officiate the exercise.

“Unfortunately, the lady that came to Bauchi to conduct the PDP gubernatorial primaries was over-powered by the PDP leader in the state and party executives such that one person could write ballot papers for 10 – 20 delegates and put them into the ballot box.

A chieftain of the APC, Buba Sarki alleged that the two governorship candidates of the PDP and APC are the anointed of Governor Isa Yuguda.

How Imoke brought peace to PDP in Cross River Continues from page 42 blueprints to the caucuses.

And I think for the first time, candidates campaigned in various caucuses, met their leaders and presented them with their programmes and manifestoes and their blueprints to the respective caucuses for evaluation.

And it gave people the opportunity to meet these candidates, know them closely and understand them better. So I don’t think it is a bad idea.

What is your assessment of the just concluded ad-hoc delegates’ election?

Well, for me, you know there was the first one that brought so much disagreement which in turn brought tension to the state.

Some persons went to court and the court made its pronouncement that it was purely

party affairs. Of course, the leadership of the party came up with new dates for the rescheduled congresses for the three affected states including our state which took place on Monday, November 24. By my assessment, I will say that the delegates’ election was peaceful at least from the northern senatorial district that I come from. So far, from what I gathered, everyone participated in the exercise and reports that I got from other senatorial districts confirm that it was free and fair.

Everybody was carried along and the result we got is one that all have accepted and the National Working Committee has endorsed.

What do you make of the reported protest at the party secretariat in Abuja, following the conduct of the last ward

congress in the state last week?

You see, there is bound to be disagreements. We were not the only state that had such disagreement, Oyo State also had a protest. This is normal in every democracy. I see it as a healthy way of addressing some of our grievances so long as we are not violent. At the end of the day, the governor said every member of the PDP is a family member and he went further to say he was ready to meet with all the aspirants one on one to discuss and resolve whatever differences arising from the process. So I will urge our brothers and our sisters in the party from the state that whatever their grievances are, we resolve them here rather than take them to Abuja because at the end of the day, even if Abuja rules one way or the other, we will all come back to the state.

44—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Redefining Nigeria – China Trade Relations in the national interest

By Bernard Okumagba

S

OME weeks ago, in the second week of October, an IMF report showed China overtaking the United States as the world’s largest economy. The UK Daily Mail stated in its October 9 edition, “America usurped: China becomes world’s largest economy – putting USA in second place for the first time in 142 years. The IMF figures showed the Chinese economy is worth $17.61 trillion compared with $17.4 trillion for the USA. China – whose wealth has accelerated in recent decades amid rapid industrialization – is expected to extend its lead, with the IMF estimating its economy will be worth just under $26.98 trillion in 2019. That would be 20 per cent bigger than the U.S. economy, which is forecast to be worth $22.3 trillion by then.” The new Chinese standing was helped by the fact that the IMF made the evaluation based on ‘Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)’, which adjusted for the cost of living in both countries. PPP measures the actual output as opposed to fluctuations in exchange rates.

Capitalist outlook The rise of China has been a source of interest everywhere, not just for the country’s ideological roots, which fairly contrasts with its global capitalist outlook but for other issues relating to its global trade practices and the haze over its ultimate global goal. These concerns have triggered talk over the real interest of China in developing countries, especially in Africa. China is providing low interest loans for infrastructure in Nigeria and other African countries. China is also a leading player in global trade today and Africa’s largest trading partner. As at 2012, China - Africa trade was $198.5 billion, compared with $99.8 billion for US - Africa trade.

Though this figure is less than five per cent of China’s global trade, over 80 per cent of its imports were primary products, comprising mineral resources, wood, metals and glass. On the other hand, African imports from China have been mainly machinery and electrical goods, textiles, transportation goods, rubber and plastics. Chinese

BERNARD OKUMAGBA

businesses have been on the continent for decades, many of them in extractive industries and light g o o d s manufacturing, with regular complaints of exploitation and labour-related issues.

A number of persons have posited that the relationship Map of Nigeria between China and Africa needs to be thoroughly roadmap for real examined so that it does not industrialization. It is already a become one between a master living vision, as many elements and the colony like it was in of its implementation have since colonial times. The position commenced. The goal is simple: essentially is that China is to add about NGN5 trillion to naturally in competition with any annual manufacturing revenues African country that is at the in the next three to five years. industrial take-off point because This will create jobs, generate China exports manufactured wealth, diversify our economy, goods for our primary exports. substitute imports, boost exports, These concerns, mixed with and broaden our tax base. The fears of competition in the recent NIRP has a limited time-frame years, have triggered the debate within which we will accelerate over the dangers of the nature of industrial capacity”. In Africa’s partnership with China. articulating the basis for the plan, Nigeria’s trade with China is not the NIRP posits, “in today’s world, much different from the general the fierce global African scenario. Nigeria was competition has China’s third largest trade reduced the partner in Africa as at 2013, likelihood of helped largely by new contracts spontaneous in transport infrastructure and oil development of concessions. Trade between both new Industry. nations which stood at $2 billion Countries must in 2002 rose to $13 billion in 2013. therefore have a The Chinese are working on d e l i b e r a t e , Nigerian rail projects and several precise, and road constructions. Increasingly, i n t e n s e China is exporting manufactured approach to goods to Nigeria, largely because nurture and they are cheaply produced and e x p a n d fill a gap for our economy, which I n d u s t r i a l has a higher cost structure on activities. This is account of infrastructure gaps. even more But there are growing fears that paramount for a the Chinese trade invasion may country like cause damage to our struggling Nigeria, starting nascent industrial sector. from a relatively In launching Nigeria Industrial l o w Revolution Plan in January this manufacturing year President Goodluck base.” One of Jonathan said, it “is our national the sub goals of the NIRP is to be “The preferred source for supplying low and mediumtechnology consumer and industrial goods domestically and regionally.”

M a n y analysts believe Many analysts that lessons believe that from China lessons from provide the best template for China provide the A f r i c a n best template for countries to develop their African countries industrial sector. to develop their David Dollar, an expert at The industrial sector Brookings

Institution, one of USA’s leading think tanks says, “African countries might want to consider China’s domestic experience with FDI, and how China placed high requirements for foreign companies to transfer their technologies as well as strict limitations on visas for foreign workers at joint ventures in China, forcing non-Chinese companies to train and invest in local employees.” In fact Chinese officials tout this as a potential benefit of the trade relations between China and Africa.

Yet, to achieve that China and Nigeria must work out and follow through a trade agreement that gives us space to grow. China’s exports are growing beyond infrastructure projects to lowtechnology manufactures and even though the volume may be a small portion of their exports, it is capable of squelching whatever efforts we make at industrialization. No bilateral trade relations should cost us the opportunity to grow and diversify our economy. The textile sector and several other low-technology industries, would have to be protected from cheap imports from China and elsewhere, else Nigeria would end up holding the short end of the stick in these trade relations.

In truth, part of the problem are our institutions, they are weak

and seem infirm in tackling the invasion of cheap, substandard goods from China. Even as the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan is implemented and trade deals are struck, retooling our trade and monitoring institutions to be more business-like and patriotic cannot be underemphasised. On the whole, it is the determined implementation of the laws that sets the tone for good conduct.

One lesson from China may help us as we seek to build capacity.

Sometime in late October 2008, adulterated baby formula in China killed six infants with several thousands more hospitalised. To deal with the problem, investigations were made, the culprits identified and expeditiously prosecuted. Daily, reports of adulterated products from China and elsewhere confront us without commensurate action.

In redefining Nigeria-China trade relations, the overall emphasis must be on advancing Nigeria’s national interest, especially as it relates to our social, industrial and economic goals. Here, we must learn lessons on China’s rise to the top of global commerce, which was enabled by emphasis on stable policies, aggressive investment drive, very aggressive defence of local industries and strict implementation of laws.

•Chief Okumagba is Chairman of Regents Consults Limited and a former Delta State Commissioner for Finance

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014—45

Probe Obasanjo now, Owie tells EFCC

By Simon Ebegbulem

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ENIN—FORMER Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Rowland Owie, has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to investigate the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He said the call became necessary following alleged recent revelations of fraudulent activities allegedly perpetrated during the tenure of the former president, whom he described as an antidemocrat.

Noting that President Goodluck Jonathan will emerge victorious despite the challenges being faced by his administration, Owie said that former President Obasanjo was the architect of the problems being suffered today

by Nigerians due to his alleged misrule and failure to create jobs for the youths of the North and other parts of the country.

He said: “That is why today, immediately he left, Boko Haram started killing Nigerians in the North because Obasanjo’s regime failed to create jobs for our youths.

“I read in the papers yesterday of shocking revelations of fraud perpetrated by Obasanjo’s

Okowa’s victory, vindication of true democracy —ASIAFA WARRI—A Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, stalwart in Delta State, Mr. Mike Asiafa, has said that Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa's victory in the just concluded PDP governorship primaries in the state was a vindication of true democracy where the voice of the majority is superior to individual aspiration.

Addressing newsmen in Warri, Asiafa said: "It is a victory that negates the wrong ideology of some persons in the PDP family who believed in doing the wrong thing against the wishes of the people. For the first time in Delta State, PDP affairs have become obvious to all and sundry that the voice of the majority counts, and democracy is the voice of the people."

administration. I urge the Police and the EFCC to start investigating these allegations immediately. Some of us have been saying it that Obasanjo’s regime has been the most corrupt regime that ever ruled this country.

“In the Benin Kingdom, before the arrival of the

whiteman who diluted our culture with regards to corrupt practices, a man like Obasanjo with such corrupt practices, ought to just take his bath and leave a note of apology for his well wishers and the Kingdom for diverting the common wealth of the people and go to Zegbele.

“Obasanjo is the worst thing that had happened to Nigeria.

He should be probed by EFCC publicly. Jonathan is working day and night to clean up the mess Obasanjo left behind, yet he cannot see anything good in the man and for some of us it is satanic,” he added.

BUDGET PRESENTATION: Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State (left) and Rt. Hon. Peter Onwusanya, Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, during the presentation of 2015 budget by the governor, in Asaba.

‘C-River PDP primaries, model for other states'

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OME prominent elders from Cross River State, under the aegis of Concerned Citizens of Cross River State, have applauded the just concluded Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, primaries in the state, describing them as free and fair.

The elders, in a statement in Abuja, yesterday, also advised those seeking to discredit the process to desist from such act.

“We the Concerned Citizens of Cross River State, hereby commend the just concluded rancour-free PDP primaries held in the state,” the statement said.

Commending the outcome of the entire process, the group observed that “Apart from the peaceful conduct of the primaries, which was in accordance with the party's guidelines, the entire exercise revealed that the primaries were characterised by calmness and civility, making them free and fair.”

The statement, by Prof.

Nicholas Damachi, Maurice Ekpang, Elder Lekam Okoi, Eyo Nsa Whiley and Elder I. Okim, urged those who lost out in the primaries to accept the outcome in the spirit of sportsmanship and allow peace to reign.

“We are aware of the

activities by certain persons with a view to upturning the outcome of the transparent, hitch-free primaries. However,

we are guided by the basic norms and values of democracy, premised on majority," they said.

Amori denies working against UPU’s directive

By Perez Brisibe

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APELE—THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Delta Central senatorial candidate for the 2015 general elections, Chief Ighoyota Amori, has denied allegations levelled against him by the Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, in a publication that he worked against the UPU’s candidate, Chief David Edevbie, in the Delta State PDP governorship primaries.

Chief Amori, who is the Senior Special Adviser to Delta State Governor, told Vanguard that the information on which the publication was anchored was mere hearsay.

He said: “I deny everything in that publication as it relates to me and I can swear to that.

The allegations are unfounded and based on hearsay without the principle of fair hearing from both sides. I have spoken with the leadership of the UPU and we will be meeting soon to resolve the matter.”

Rivers PDP recalls Ogbowu

By Jimitota Onoyume

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ORT HARCOURT—THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers State, has recalled its member, Elemchukwu Ogbowu, who was expelled from the party a few months ago.

State Chairman of the party, Mr Felix Obua, said the development was in line with the party’s constitution, noting that all the rights and

privileges of Ogbowu as a member of the party had also been restored.

Ogbowu was among some chieftains of the party expelled few months ago over alleged anti-party activities.

Obua, who spoke through his media aide, Mr Jerry Needam, said Ogbowu showed remorse which made the party lift the expulsion, adding that the others should emulate Ogbowu.

Akpabio blasts Eket LG boss over poor sanitary condition

By Tom Moses

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K E T — GOVERNOR Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, yesterday, lashed out at the Chairman of Eket Local Government Area of the state, Mr. Aniekan Akpan, over the poor sanitary condition of the area.

Akpabio carpeted the council chairman for neglecting the sanitary needs of Eket, which according to him, was one of the most popular metropolitan cities in the country.

The governor, who was in Eket for the official commissioning and dedication of His Eminence Mbang Methodist Cathedral located at 48, Liverpool Road, expressed displeasure with the chairman not only because of the filthy condition of the area but also the ill-planning of the area among others, which he said were not healthy for the residents of Eket.

Pa Agbejule for burial

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A Joseph Agbejule, 87, is dead. He died on November 14, 2014.

Funeral arrangements as announced by the family include service of songs at his residence, 297, Warri/Sapele Road, opposite Igbudu Primary School, Warri, Delta State, today.

Funeral Mass comes up tomorrow at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, off Olu Palace Road, EkuredeItsekiri, Warri, followed by interment at his residence.

He is survived by 12 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Late Pa Agbejule C M Y K

46 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Apologise to Urhobo, UPU leaders told

Abia, Anambra assemblies vote for council autonomy

By Anayo Okoli & Enyim Enyim

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MUAHIA—AHEAD of the nation’s constitution amendment, Abia and Anambra states’ Houses of Assembly, have voted in favour of local government autonomy recently proposed by the National Assembly.

By the development, the two states have joined Adamawa, Kogi, Benue, Oyo and Nasarawa states that have endorsed the National Assembly proposal for local government autonomy in the country.

Both Houses took the position while considering the amendment proposal sent to them by the National Assembly as part of requirements to amend the nation’s constitution.

Lawmakers in Abia also unanimously voted in favour of the financial and administrative autonomy of state houses of assembly, independence of the legislature, constitutional establishment of Houses of

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former member of the of House of Representatives, Mr. John Edijala, has called on the Chief Joe Omeneled leadership of Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, to apologise to Urhobo people and resign.

Mr. Edijala told newsmen in Ughelli, Delta State, that the group had been leading the Urhobo nation in the wrong direction, particularly in their choice of candidates during elections, which he said had impeded development.

He spoke against the background of the defeat suffered by Olorogun David Edevbie, the UPUendorsed candidate for Delta State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship primaries.

The PDP chieftain argued that of the numerous good and fresh hands that abound in Urhoboland, the Omene-led UPU allowed itself to be armtwisted, thereby alienating itself from mainstream politics in the state.

Edijala, a lawyer, said: “The Omene-led UPU must, within two weeks, render unreserved apology to Urhobo people for its self-serving partisanship, which was fashioned to embarrass our people.”

Assembly Commission and the separation of the offices of Ministry of Justice and that of the Attorney-General.

Speaking after the voting, the Speaker, Chief Ude Chukwu, expressed joy that the House had done its duty aimed at

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By Onozure Dania

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AGOS—CITIZENS Liberation Advocacy Initiative, CLAI, has said election rigging in the country is preventing Nigerians from getting quality representation and the dividends of democracy.

National President of CLAI, Adebola Adeniji-Adele, spoke at a National Electoral Summit in Lagos.

While speaking on the theme Ensuring Credible, Free and Fair Elections in Nigeria, Adeniji-Adele urged Nigerians to effect the so much desired change needed to transform the country through their votes.

He said: “We must all unite

They also commended President Jonathan, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, Dr. Steve Oru, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and Chief Fred Majemite, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Delta State for their steadfastness and success in piloting the affairs of the party.

The group urged those that lost out at the party’s primaries to support the winners in the interest of the party.

and protect the collective mandate given to politicians every four years. But positive change cannot be achieved by sitting at home during

EGA’S courage and positive mind is worthy of commendation, especially on the NorthEast situation. He is free to organize elections in these battle fronts as long as he will not use our National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, members. Thank God INEC has its own staff.

—Mr Chijioke Jannah, Self Employed.

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elections.”

To halt apathy during elections, the group said it had lined up programmes for grassroots mobilization of Nigerians.

Artistes laud Gov Chime

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cross section of Nigerian music legends, have extolled Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State for transforming Enugu into a city with the awesome facilities, scenery and security comparable to what obtains in other developed cities of the world.

The music icons made the assertion at the ongoing Enugu Culture and Tourism Fiesta. Code-named Old

School night, the event attracted stars of yesteryears, including Ras Kimono, Bright Chimezie, Victor Uwaifo, Paulson Kalu, Mike Ejeagha, Apostles, One World and Sir Warrior Jnr. Nollywood stars received awards on the night with Chiwetalu Agu saying “other governors say so much and have so little to show on ground.

“Chime says so little and achieves so much. We are happy to have him in Enugu.”

SCGN honours Obi, others

By Dotun Ibiwoye

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ORMER governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi; first female Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Chief Folake Solanke; renowned management consultant, Dr. Michael Omolayole, and First Bank of Nigeria Holdings Plc’s Company Secretary, Mr. Tijjani Borodo have been honoured with the Fellowship of the Society for Corporate Governance

Nigeria, SCGN. Mr. Obi, who was represented

by Dr. Okey Ikechukwu at the society’s 2014 President’s dinner and induction ceremony in Lagos, said the essence of the corporate governance fellowship was to encourage managers of business to give their best and be more innovative, while at the helms of affairs.

Forty five new individual members and six corporate members were inducted into the society’s membership.

By Bartholomew Madukwe (08102479985) nwamad@yahoo.com

PEOPLE SPEAK

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lawmakers were present.

She said being a constitutional matter, the position of the House was not final and would be decided after the 36 state Houses of Assembly’s report on the issue would have been collated by the National Assembly.

‘Rigging bane of quality representation’

Ughelli natives commend PDP on primaries ATIVES of Ughelli Kingdom, NUK, a socialpolitical pressure group, has commended the leadership of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan as the party ’s sole presidential candidate.

The commendation was contained in a statement by the national Chairman and Secretary-General of the NUK, Mr. Daniel Awisa and Mr. Felix Olokpa, respectively.

enhancing the development of the nation.

In Anambra State, at the committee of the whole House presided over by the Speaker, Mrs Chinwe Nwebili, where it was passed, 20 out of the 30

Should elections hold in North-East?

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LECTION must hold in all parts of the North-East, provided the leaders will be the Returning Officers in Gwoza, and their wives will take the position in Bama, while their daughters returns the votes in Kodunga.— Miss Udeaku Nwazota, Businesswoman.

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NLESS the insurgency ends before February 14, 2015, and we pray it does, sending anybody to Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states for election purposes may be tragic.

God help Nigeria. The country needs prayers.— Mr Vincent Chinedu, Worker.

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EGA has not given any good reason to justify the creation of more polling units in the North. Will the new polling units be shared equally between the zones? When these issues are settled, then we can move on.— Mrs Loveth Chekwube, Journalist.

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F INEC is yet to get it right in Lagos State, or in any other state for that matter, is it in Yobe, Adamawa and Maiduguri states that it will get it right? I have lost hope in this INEC to deliver a free and fair polls.—Miss Amanda Moses, Worker.

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IGHT now, we cannot say that elections should not hold in those parts of the country where Boko Haram is killing people and destroying property.

But I think the ideal thing to do is to put much more security operatives in those areas.

That way, elections could hold.— Miss Chika Dike, Graduate.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014— 47

Ahmed presents N119.8bn 2015 Budget

By Demola Akinyemi

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LORIN—GOVERNOR of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed yesterday presented a 2015 budget proposal of N119.8 billion to the state House Assembly for consideration.

The 2015 budget proposal is higher than this year’s budget by N4 billion or 3.7 percent.

Speaking on the occasion, Ahmed said that about N62. 1 billion out of the amount, representing 52 percent is for capital expenditure while N46 billion representing 39 percent was for recurrent expenses.

He said that the Budget of introspection and job creation, would ensure the creation of 5000 new jobs even as the state government would sustain the existing 5,200 youths engaged under its QuickWin programme.

Apart from the 5,200 youths, the governor said that additional 319 persons would be engaged under the scheme.

A breakdown of the budget showed that over N11billion was allocated to public debt, representing about nine per cent.

Ahmed said that the fragile global economic crisis and uncertain outlook, informed the

government’s determination ‘’to complete on-going projects and improve the quality of life of the people of Kwara State informed the increase.”

On the source of funds to finance the budget,the governor said the state government would embark on aggressive drive of increasing its Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, blocking leakages and ensuring

prudent management of resources, adding that there was however, “no intention to impose multiple taxes” on the people.

The governor said it would also source N23billion from the capital market which will be repaid in 2020.

Speaker of the house Mr. Rasag Atunwa who said with governor personally laying the

budget bill before the law makers, it had automatically passed through the first reading in accordance with Rule 66 (1b) of the House.

He then asked the Majority Leader, Abdulkareem Abdulganiyu to move a motion for the adjournment of the house till today for the second reading of the budget.

LAUNCHING: From left: Divisional Head, Human Resources, FCMB, Felicia Obozuwa, Iyaloja of Alade Market, Ikeja, Mrs Elizabeth Adenuga, Executive Director, Lagos and South West, FCMB, Olufemi Bakre, Iyaloja General of Lagos State, Mrs Folashade TinubuOjo, and Divisional Head, Retail Banking, FCMB, Mr Olu Akanmu, at the launch of FCMB Personal Business Account, at Alade Market, Ikeja, Lagos. Photo: Akeem Salau.

ALLEGED IRREGULARITIES:

Maku asks PDP to cancel Nasarawa gov primaries A BUJA—FORMER Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, has called on PDP leadership to cancel the governorship primary election in Nasarawa State due to alleged irregularities.

Maku’s call is contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by the Director of Publicity, Maku Campaign Organisation, Mr Zakari Edege.

The statement said Maku, a governorship aspirant in the state, had submitted his protest letter to the Chairman of the Governorship Primaries Appeal Panel.

“The PDP in Nasarawa state had written to the headquarters on Nov. 28, to protest against the sudden change of delegates’ lists from Keana, Obi, Lafia, Akwanga, and Nasarawa Eggon local governments.

“The Chairman of the Electoral Panel, Sen. Adolphus Wabara, following the protest, insisted that he had instructions from the national secretariat to use the altered delegates list for the primaries.

“Maku, therefore, wondered why there were separate delegates lists for the conduct of State and National Assembly primaries and the governorship primary”, said the statement.

The statement also alleged that the conduct of the primary election did not conform with the established guidelines as the number of ballot papers exceeded the number of delegates in

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Nasarawa state.

Maku complained that threat and coercion were used to prevent delegates from freely expressing their choice.

He said in the statement that voting commenced late and

went into the night thereby exposing delegates to danger.

“It is on this premise that I urge you most respectfully to use your good and exalted office to intervene by canceling the governorship primary election

held in Nasarawa State”, it said.

“I also urge you to conduct another primary election so as to ensure that a free and fair election is conducted in the state”, the statement said.

Ngilari presents list of commissionernominees to Adamawa Assembly

By Umar Yusuf

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OLA—BARELY three months after assuming office as governor of Adamawa State, Mr Bala Ngilari yesterday forwarded the names of 21 persons for approval as commissioner by the state House of Assembly. Only three women, Mrs Rejoice Calvin, Mrs Marylyn Babayi and Mrs

Patricia Yakubu.are in the list.

This is coming even as the governor is yet to nominate his deputy for the House to approve.

The Speaker of the House, Ahmadu Fintiri, who read the governor’s letter on the floor of the Assembly directed Clerk of the House to ask the nominees to submit their Curriculum Vitae for screening latest by

Monday. Fintiri, who was the acting governor before Ngillari was declared as the Governor had been fighting a political battle with the Governor over who controlled the politics of Madagali Local Government Council where both of them hail from. Madagali had been under the control of Boko Haram terrorists for close to five months now.

Bauchi Police assure on hitch-free 2015 elections

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AUCHI—THE Police in Bauch State said yesterday it was ready to ensure hitch-free elections in the state in 2015.

The Public Relations Officer, PPRO, of the command, DSP Haruna Mohammed, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Bauchi.

He said: “We have made all arrangements in order to ensure hitch-free elections.

“We have embarked on sensitisation campaign; we have also mapped out strategies of getting it to members of the public- both the electorate and the politicians by organising workshops, calling for stakeholders meetings between the politicians and the police, and other security agents, between the INEC personnel and the security personnel."

Presco honours staff, retirees

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ENIN—MANAGEMENT of Presco Plc, Benin, Edo State, has honoured some staff as well as retirees of the company, saying their loyalty and dedicated service has immensely contributed to the growth and development of the agro-company notably visible in it's "genuinely high quality products."

Managing Director of the company, Uday Pilani while appreciating the staff for their loyal and dedicated service to the company said: "The company decided to honour deserving staff by recognising their hardwork and diligence which are instrumental to the growth and development of Presco Plc." Pilani who presented cash rewards to over fifteen staff and six retirees at the 2014 end-ofyear party/long service award for deserving staff pledged to ensure that staff welfare remains a top priority.

2015: PDP group canvasses support for Jonathan, Okowa

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ARRI—PEOPLES Democratic Party, PDP, stalwarts, in Warri, Delta State, yesterday inaugurated a new political forum known as PDP Crusaders which seeks to inject new energy into the campaign project of Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, the party’s governorship candidate for next year’s election.

Speaking during the inauguration, President of the group, Prince Suru Diden, said

the new forum was out to actualize the governorship ambition of Sen. Okowa and re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan come 2015.

Diden said: “Today’s historic meeting of stakeholders and members of PDP Crusaders provided a platform to canvass support for Sen. Okowa who is the bridge that will connect the three senatorial districts in Delta State. Our key strategy is door-to-door campaign to

convince the electorate to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan and Sen. Okowa.

"Sen. Okowa would push forward Governor Uduaghan’s laudable projects in the state."

While inaugurating the new Exco, the representative of the Grand Patron of the forum, Mr. Vincent Uduaghan said the meeting was a significant step towards winning the general election in 2015.

He also commended Governor Uduaghan for the peaceful conduct of the primaries, which in turn, produced Sen. Okowa.

Those in attendance at the meeting included Mr. Vincent Uduaghan, a representing the Grand Patron, immediate past Chairman of Warri South local government, Mr. Austin Uroye, Mr. Eugene Ebisin, Chief Newyear Ifie, Mr. Scout Eyenuro, among others.

48—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

PRESENTATION: Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu (right), displaying his National ID Card, while the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission, Chris Onyemenam applauds, during the presentation of the ID card to the Senator, at the National Assembly, NASS, Abuja.

INDUCTION: From left, Mrs. Clementine Vervelde, wife of Nigerian Breweries boss; Mbosowo Ekpotu, Lady Valerie Ebe, Deputy Governor, Akwa Ibom State; Mr. Elisha Attai, President/Founder, African Women in Leadership Organisation, AWLO; Mrs. Matilda Kwashi, Nigerian Ambassador to Mozambique; Chief Opral Benson; Mrs. Waziri Farida, former EFCC boss, and Mr. Ini Akpabio, MD/CEO NANET Group, at the recently held AWLO membership induction/dinner, in Abuja.

PARTY: From left, Mr. Niyi Yussuf, Managing Director, Accenture Nigeria; Mrs. Abayomi Olarinmoye, Managing Director, Energy Utilities, Accenture Nigeria; Engr. Joseph Makoju, Honorary Adviser to the President/Chief Executive, Dangote Group; Mr. Usen Udoh, Group Chief Human Resources Officer, Dangote Limited, and Mrs. Onyeche Tifase, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Siemens Nigeria Limited, during Accenture Nigeria end of year cocktail party and celebration of its alumni, in Lagos.

PRESENTATION: From left, Mr. Andikan Ibanga, Best Graduate, 2013 NIMNYSC Proficiency Examination; Dr. Nelson Uwaga, President and Chairman of Council, Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered), and Engr.

Mohammed Sulaiman, Registrar/Chief Executive, NIM, at NIM-NYSC Graduate Induction Programme and Presentation of Certificate, at the Multi Purpose Hall, University of Lagos. Photo: Oscar Ochiogu.

AWARD: From left, Officer-in-charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja, SP Abba Kyari; Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, Zone 2, Onikan Lagos, Alhaji Umar Manko, and a SARS operative, Inspector Abayomi Ekundayo, at an award ceremony in Dubai, organised by Security Watch Africa, to honour serving policemen in Africa. SP Abba Kyari received an award as the Most Outstanding Anti Crime Fighting Officer in West Africa while AIG Manko received a Golden Star award on behalf of the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba.

PROGRAMME: From left, Belinda Nwosu, Head of Academics, Wavecrest College; Rosana Forsuelo, Provost, Wavecrest College; Karl Hala, Africa Regional General Manager, Intercontinental Hotel; Ese Ayinbuomwan, Training Manager, Intercontinental Hotel, at the signing of Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, between Wavecrest College of Hospitality and Intercontinental Hotel on training programme, in Lagos.

SCREENING: From left, Dr. Ngozi Akpokene, Fred Agbato, Olanrewaju Adeniyi, during the free eye screening by Society of AWARDS: From left, Creative Director, X3M Ideas, Mr. Oje Ojeaga; Chief Creativity Officer/ Occupational and Environmental Health Physicians of Nigeria, CEO, Mr. Steve Babaeko, and Head, Brand Management, Mr. Taiwo Agboola, displaying SOEHPON, at Lagos Ministry of Transport approved mechanic awards won by the company, at 2014 Lagos Advertising and Ideas Festival Awards, in Lagos. workshop, Ilubirin, Okesuna, Lagos.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 — 49

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50 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 — 51

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52—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Vanguard welcomes Pastor Adeboye today harsh business environment.

Several eminent clerics such as the National President of Christian Association THIS IS the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, national coordinator of National Praise, it.” (Psalm 118:24) THE day the Nigerian Media World, Rev. Moses Aransiola, South West especially the pacesetter, Vanguard Media chairman of Pentecostal Fellowship of Limited has been waiting for. One day Nigeria, PFN, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, when heaven is filled with His praises, is National Vice President of PFN, Pastor Paul Adefarasin, founder of Soul Winning here at last!

Today, from across the City of Lagos, Ministry, Rev. Moses Iloh, among others, media practitioners, friends, relations and had at different occasions, blessed the the general public will converge at the company through the programme.

The late evangelist Sonny Okosun was corporate headquarters of Vanguard also in Vanguard.

Media Limited in Kirikiri Industrial Estate, On November 30, 2010, General Apapa, for a spectacular annual end-ofOverseer of The Redeemed Christian year thanksgiving service.

Since its inception several years ago, Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adejare Vanguard Media Christian Fellowship has Adeboye, who was voted by Newsweek as set aside a day to give thanks to God for one of the world’s 50 most influential people His benefits in the outgoing year and pray in 2008 was the guest minister at that year’s for Him to be our refuge and strength; and thanksgiving service. The General a very present help in trouble in the coming Overseer thanked God for Vanguard Media Limited as he prayed for hundreds year.

Members also offer prayers during the of guests and members of staff of the programme for protection, asking God to Vanguard Newspapers in the premises of build a “hedge of protection” around the the company.

Pastor Adeboye used the occasion to company, its management and staff in a charge the nation’s Media to take responsibility of the re-orientation programme of government instead of the current efforts by government agencies, extolling the virtues of the and your team have Vanguard Group, saying it

By Levinus accomplished.

Nwabughiogu is one of the three Nigerian “The success of the newspapers that he reads convention has propelled regularly.

BUJA — the party. We are proponent This year’s thanksgiving N ATIONAL of change and if was service/prayers which has Chairman of All necessary that one of our grown steadily over the Progressives Congress, major activity should years and has attracted APC, Chief John Oyegun convey to the world what spiritual heavyweights yesterday revealed that he we mean by change. from across the nation, is resisted several external “So many efforts were scheduled for 11.00 a.m. efforts to truncate the just made to get me to call the today with a theme; 'Divine concluded presidential aspirants together and arm Success and Prophetic election of the party in twist them into stepping Breakthrough.'

Lagos. down for each other and I The inveterate soul According to him, his resisted it and said, no, we winner and General belief that the best aspirant are going to organise a Overseer of the Redeemed would emerge as the transparent convention so Christian Church of God, presidential candidate of that whoever win will have RCCG, Pastor Adeboye, the party through a no excuse in the world. who is making his second transparent process paid off “I entrusted that mission appearance at the having entrusted the task to you and your team. You programme, had on credible hands. have organised what will graciously accepted to Oyegun spoke during go into history in this minister in the Word, make the presentation of the nation, in our political an altar call and pray for report of the national space and beyond as the company and its convention committee clearly the freest and fairest workers before departing which was chaired by the presidential primary that the premises. immediate past governor of has ever been witnessed in The programme begins at Ekiti state, Dr. Kayode this nation. On behalf of the 11.00 a.m. and all attendees Fayemi. party, I congratulate you for are, therefore, advised to be He said: “I am not at all what you have done for the in the premises on or before surprised at the very party which is incalculable. 10.00 a.m. outstanding job that you

By Sam Eyoboka

“

How I resisted pressure to arm-twist APC presidential primaries — Oyegun

A

Book on Shonibare - '...LEGEND OF ALL TIMES' for presentation

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BOOK, S.O SHONIBARE – LEGEND OF ALL TIMES, is due for public presentation on Thursday, January 8, 2015. The biography project on the life and times of Samuel Olatunbosun Shonibare, international business man, technocrat, politician, statesman and founding member of the Action Group was written by award winning writers, Peju Akande and Toni Kan with a foreword by Otunba Subomi Balogun.

Commissioned by the Shonibare family to commemorate the 50th year anniversary of the death of their patriarch at 44 in 1964, the book is a comprehensive examination of Shonibare’s humble provenance, his ascent to the pinnacle of his career at UAC, his foray into politics as one of the seven founding members of the Action Group, alongside Obafemi Awolowo, his unique partnership with his wife and his emergence as the first international businessman Nigeria has ever seen.

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18 , 2014 — 53

54 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 — 55

Boko Haram kills 10, abducts two in Borno village

By Ndahi Marama

M

AIDUGURI— GUNMEN suspected to be members of the Boko Haram terrorists yesterday waylaid motorists in Madari village, Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State, killing 10 people, and kidnapping a young woman with her two- year old child.

A driver, Mallam Abor Modu, who narrowly escaped being killed said that he was returning from Cross Kawa at about 2.30 pm, Monday with his passengers when they met the terrorists who were in 10 vehicles including an

Lagos govt donates farm land to corps members

By Ikenna Asomba

A

s part of efforts to to enhance agro-allied training of corps members posted to the state, the Lagos State Government, has donated an agricultural land, at Itoikin, Epe to the National Youth Service Corps, Lagos State, under the scheme’s Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development, SAED programme.

This is even as the state government also donated a new Ultima Nissan Ultima vehicle to the scheme for monitoring and inspection of corps members by the State Secretariat.

The Lagos State Coordinator of the NYSC, Mrs. Adenike Adeyemi, who disclosed this at the Closing Ceremony and End of Orientation Course of the 2014 Batch ‘C’ Stream II corps members deployed to the state, pointed that the kind gesture is part of the exceptional assistance enjoyed by the scheme from the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola.

At the ceremony where no fewer than 3, 603 corps members were churned out to various places of primary assignment, Adeyemi said: “I wish to thank the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola for the exceptional assistance enjoyed by the scheme. ''Worthy of note is the recent release of a brand new vehicle for monitoring and inspection of corps members by the State Secretariat, allocation of agricultural land at Itoikin, Epe to enhance agro-allied training of corps members under the NYSC Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme and the constant support in ensuring the Orientation camp is very conducive for corps members’

LX 470 Jeep, killing other motorists plying the MaiduguriBaga road in Madari.

He said “I had to stop with five of my passengers when I saw a Chadian resembling a Boko Haram terrorist in a Toyota Hilux vehicle mounted with a Multi Purpose Machine gun. He said the Chadian was shooting sporadically at any vehicle that came across.

“One of the terrorists approached me and asked where I was coming from? I told him that I was coming form Cross Kauwa and he asked me again where I hail from? I told him that I come from Yusufari and he further asked me where my passengers came from and I told him they were going to Bindari. ‘’Then he left. After some time one of them came again and asked what I was doing? I told him I am supplicating he too left again. ‘’While I was still supplicating, I saw them killing a driver of a Peugeot Station Wagon vehicle and five of his passengers. They later abducted a young woman and her two- year old child. When a Mercedes Benz driver came with speed, they opened fire on them killing all the occupants of the vehicle. When the driver of a Hummer bus came with his passengers, he was lucky to have

escaped, as they were opening fire on him as he succeeded in making a U- turn but some of his passengers alighted from the bus and ran into the bush,” Mallam Abor said.

According to him, after sometimes another Chadian who was also terrorist and some Kanuri speaking ones said, ‘’we have got enough vehicles, let us

go. They then asked me to go with my passengers. They went towards Kukawa in convoy of about 15 vehicles.’’

Efforts to speak with the Borno State Police Public Relation Officer, PPRO, DSP Gideon Jibrin over the issue proved abortive, as his telephone lines were switched off as at the time of going to press.

AWARD: Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State presenting an award to Patience Ozokwor as the most relevant female Nollywood actress 2014 during the Enugu State Cultural fiesta.

Nasarawa Assembly okays LG autonomy, independent candidates, abolition of SIECs

By Abel Daniel

L

AFIA—THE Nasarawa State House of Assembly yesterday voted in support of independent candidates, local governments’ autonomy as well as the abolition of state Electoral Commission in the interest of

peace and national development.

The House took the decision in Lafia, the state capital, while considering the further Alteration of the 1999 Constitution Bill and for others matters connected therewith 2014 during plenary.

The Speaker of the House, Alhaji Musa Mohammed (PDP-

2015: Jonathan will stun Buhari—Dallaji

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HE leader of an organisation campaigning for the reelection of President Goodluck Jonathan, Noah Dallaji, has said that the incumbent president will beat the All Progressives Congress presidential standard bearer in the 2015 general elections, General Muhammadu Buhari hands down next year.

Dallaji, who leads the Jonathan Mandate for Justice 2015 (JMJ) said in a statement yesterday that next year’s election would be fought and won on merit because the president’s achievements will speak for him and Nigerians will accordingly vote in appreciation of Jonathan’s good works.

He stated that while General Buhari may have his strength as a former Nigerian leader, the effect of the policies and programmes of President

Goodluck Jonathan as carried out under the Transformation Agenda has had a relative impact to condition many minds to believe in continuity rather than change in leadership for now.

According to him, the “change”slogan of the APC remained suspect because not only Buhari but all the other key players in the opposition were in government at one point or the other and their leadership history did not suggest they meant what they preach, saying what the nation needs now is more of consolidation on the progress already made.

“With due respect to General Buhari, his best efforts will still not be good enough to defeat President Goodluck Jonathan.

Even with a sober analysis and understanding of the unfolding political developments, it is still safe to give it to the incumbent. al

Nasarawa Central) who presented the matter, urged members to consider the bill in the interest of the country.

Mr.Yahaya Usman (PDPUmaisha), the deputy majority leader, moved the motion in support of local governments’ autonomy and the abolition of states electoral commissions in the country.

He said “My colleagues, in the interest of peace and speedy development across the country, there is need for the autonomy of local governments in the country.

This is because local governments are closer to the people at the grass-roots.

“I also want us to support the abolition of the State Electoral Commissions in order to have a free, fair and violent free election at all levels in the country.”

Usman said that the bill was in the interest of all Nigerians and called on the people to support the move in the interest of peace and national development.

He was supported by the Minority Leader, Mr.Tanko Maikatako (APC-Lafia Central), who said that the bill was in the interest of peace and national development.

The House unanimously passed the motion for autonomy of local government councils with by twothirds majority of votes against the few that opposed same.

Police Pension Scheme: 3,000 retired cops screened in Makurdi

By Peter Duru

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AKURDI—AS part of efforts to eradicate fraud in the administration of the Police Pension Scheme, over 3,000 retired policemen have been screened in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, to ascertain their eligibility to benefit from the newly introduced Defined Benefit Scheme, by the Federal Government, for paramilitary services in the country.

The verification and screening exercises which also involved the capture of the biometric data of the retired officers were carried out by officials of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD. Director General of PTAD, Mrs. Nellie Mayshak who spoke to newsmen yesterday at the venue of the exercise, said that retired from Nasarawa, Plateau and Benue States were involved in the exercise ahead of the commencement of the new scheme.

2014 budget: Katsina records 86% success in implementation

K

AT S I N A— T H E Katsina State government said yesterday that it has recorded 86 per cent success in the implementation of its 2014 budget.

The Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Alhaji Muhammad Jari said this in Katsina while giving a breakdown of the state’s 2015 budget.

He said that out of the N113.3 billion budgeted for 2014, N32.2 billion was for recurrent expenditure and N81.1 billion for capital spendings.

The commissioner said that N70 billion, representing 82 per cent of the budget, was realised from the Federation Account to finance the budget and N15.4 billion, representing 18 per cent, from internal sources.

56 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

One of the works displayed by Asidere

Asidere interpretes female models in his Muse

By Japhet Alakam

S

INCE he graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1988 with a first class in painting, Duke Asidere has been a regular face in most exhibitions in Nigeria. In fact he is regarded as one of the best painters, and that was why the serene environment of Omenka gallery came alive again as art enthusiasts, collectors, artists, lovers and even students trooped to the gallery to witness the latest offering from him.

Critics and scholars Regarded as an integral part of a group of artists working in Nigeria today, leading a revival of painting—a medium several critics and scholars alike consider a dead form of artistic expression.

Asidere adores women and paints them out of a deep desire to identify with their strength of character.

The solo exhibition tagged The Artist and His Muse which is ongoing opened at Omenka Gallery on November 29 and will run till December 20, 2014.

As one enters the exhibition hall of the gallery, one will be greeted with different paintings and drawings that almost look the same, many of them in elongated figures that often appear headless or limbless. This can be described as the signature of Asidere, who confessed that the images express the title and character of the exhibition. The exhibition investigates in contemporary times, the once legendary and sexually intimate artists/muse relationship. It is as usual an examination of an aspect

of his broad oeuvre—a culmination of a long appreciation for women above all, his mother and chief muse.

She remains his most important influence; his obsession and idea of ideal beauty and love. He interprets and celebrates her virtues in these paintings of his several models.

Featuring about 25 paintings and drawings of traditional beauties and liberated women,

18 paintings and seven drawings where he comments on the everyday human drama that surrounds the political, social, psychological or cultural issues in the country. Many of the enigmatic forms appear regal and are engaged in mundane activities including neighborhood banter and preparations for a party, their masklike faces and haughty appearances lending weight to the artist’s ongoing

investigations into cultural perceptions of blackness; its physiognomies and behavior; his artistic journey advancing several questions regarding the meaning of contemporary beauty. Asidere paints his feelings intuitively, he then refines his instincts by continually adjusting his lines, colors, and planes to reflect his mental state, his sensitivity and artistic refinement evident in the soft pinks, blues, greens and yellows—a culmination of the simple shapes and textures inspired by his mother’s textiles while growing up.

The exhibition which was accompanied by an artist’s talk

Bayelsa set for Miss N/Delta Cultural Pageant

By Prisca Sam-Duru

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LL is now set for the 14th edition of Miss Niger Delta Peace Cultural Pageant being hosted by Bayelsa state.

The cultural pageant is scheduled to hold on Saturday the 20th of December 2014 at the Dr. Gabriel Okara Cultural Centre in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, south-south Nigeria.

22 contestants from the nine states in the Niger Delta ; Imo, Abia, Delta, Edo, Cross River, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ondo and Bayelsa State, are already in camp in preparation for the December 20th grand finale.

The Miss Niger Delta Peace Cultural Pageant started in 1999 and has produced 13 beauty queens who are using their positions and offices as role models of change and young ambassadors of peace and development in the Niger Delta to touch lives positively in the region.The event and post-event

The contestants

pet project activities are carried out centrally with the noble objective of promoting peace, socio-cultural integration, reorientation of values, skills development, empowerment and sustainable development. The event is not just about fanfare of crowning beauty queens but one event with a purpose that has brought about positive transformation, especially among the youths in the region

The 2014 edition of the show has been packaged to attract the cream de la cream in the society and will feature side attractions and appearances like Harrysong, Gordons, Jaywon, Lady IB, and indigenous cultural and music performances to project the region as one with a rich cultural heritage.

on the opening day, offered fans of Asiderethe the opportunity to hear from him on why he celebrates women in his paintings.

Some of the works include, Powdered Face; Missed the date; Light and Laughter; Lady in Red; Relative Peace, Joy; Celebrating Mood.etc. In Relative peace, the artists likened that to the Nigerian of his dream.

“We live in a country that is having issues, issues of insurgency, corruption, kidnapping etc so the piece is a desire in my heart of what I want Nigeria to be, where you can go about your business, anywhere with fear or molestation.”

While in Celebrating Mood, Asidere says it is part of African culture. “We Africans are happy people, that somebody died or is sick can not take that away from us. Celebration is just part of us, it is not just having party, its in the spirit so you know what makes you happy.”

According to the curator, Oliver Enwonwu, “A close observation of Duke Asidere’s canvases of female figures will reveal their representation as strangely hybrid beings. Furthermore, the faces appear the same, bearing the same strong features as his mother, and are captured in an angular and semi-Cubist technique drawn from a deep knowledge of classical African sculpture.”

Enwonwu asserts that Asidere’s paintings of limbless and headless women serve to challenge and displace classical ideals of ‘beauty’, heroism and perfection.

Art community fetes Tomoloju @ 60

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S veteran journalist and artist, Mr. Ben Tomoloju turns 60 this Thursday, Dec 16, the arts community in Lagos is set to fete the life and arts of the media exponent.

A statement from former Sunday Guardian Editor, Mr. Jahman Anikulapo request friends of Tomoloju to “celebrate a landmark in the life of one of the illustrious sons of the Arts Community...”

The celebration is scheduled to hold from December 19-21 at the University of Lagos and Freedom Park, Lagos, while the main Birthday Lecture and Reception would hold on Saturday 20, Dec at the Afe Babalola Hall, University of Lagos.

The lecture will be chaired by Prof. Niyi Osundare, while the Guest Lecturer, who will speak on the theme, Thoughts on the Nigerian Media in a Deadly Season will be given by Prof.

Tony Afejuku of the University of Benin. There will also be a Drama of presentation of Tomolojo’s books at the National Theatre under the chair of the playwright Fred Agbeyegbe.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 —57

Why APC 'll sweep 2015 polls in Ogun— ABIODUN

By Wale Akinola

C

HAIRMAN, Heyden Petroleum Limited and All Progressives Congress, APC,

candidate for Ogun East Senatorial District, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has said his party is poised to sweep all elective positions in the state

in 2015 general elections.

Abiodun, who spoke at a media parley yesterday at his Iperu country home, assured that he will go to the upper

CAROLS: From left— Mrs Olufunke Ajala, member of Board; Mrs Adenike Okudoh, Board Chairman, both of Archbishop Abiodun Adetiloye School, Festac Town, Lagos; Rt. Revd. Dr. James Olusola Adedeji, Diocese of Lagos West; Ven. Dr. A . G. Adeyeye, member of Board; Ven. Tunde Owoeye of Festac, and Rev. Yomi Ajayi, Head of Archbishop Abiodun Adetiloye School, during the carols and nine lessons and formal inauguration of the school in Lagos. PHOTO: Diran Oshe.

chamber of the National Assembly to promote commerce in the district, ensure power supply to every nook and cranny of the area and ensure that the full potentials of the district are activated for the benefits of the people.

The senatorial candidate observed that the socioeconomic and political situation in the country remains unpalatable because successful businessmen like him have stayed away from active politics for too long.

The APC chieftain noted with regret that successful businessmen and women should take the bold step to come into politics to apply their business acumen in turning the situation in the country round for the benefit of the people.

He was of the opinion that if businessmen and women, who had excelled in their various business sectors could come aboard the political ship, they would be able to draft and influence laudable policies that would help the nation identify and explore all available potentials.

Abiodun explained that his coming to contest for the senatorial seat was borne out of his desire to serve his people.

He added that as a successful businessman, he was willing to work with Governor Ibikunle Amosun of the state in transforming the district through attracting Federal Government presence to the state.

The investor disclosed that the Olokola Free Trade Zone in the district would be explored to the maximum by making it a destination for investors.

58 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 — 59

Enugwu Ukwu community showcases its culture, intellect and beauty

By Sam Ekpe

F

OR the indigenes of Enugwu UkwuCommunityinNjikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State living in Lagos, Sunday November 30, 2014 will for a long time be a day to remember.

It was the second in a 2 day event marking their 2014 convention.

According to their President Mr. Chinedu Abana, the Convention was conceived for the celebration of lives, unity and development of the historic town.

He observed that the progress made in the town in the past four years that His Royal Majesty Igwe Ralph Ekpeh, Eze Enugwu Ukwu na Igwe Umunri ascended the throne far exceeded that of the previous 25years. He noted that the humble achievements of the 7th unified executives of the town union, Enugwu Ukwu Community Development Union (ECDU) Lagos including building the Unity Centre in Lagos thereby increasing its viability and prosperity for future generations, constituting themselves unto five standing committees through which their positive impacts in human and physical developments was felt, prompt accountability and transparency by publishing periodic accounts and reports.

Rich culture and traditions Igwe Ralph Ekpeh had to travel to Lagos from his Enugwu Ukwu palace with his wife HRH Lady Dorothy Ekpeh, Ocheze to be part of the celebration. Soon after arrival in Lagos, Igwe Ekpeh paid a courtesy visit to His Highness Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu II. At the Oba’s palace in Iga Iduugaran, the Igwe paid glowing tribute to the rich culture and tradition of Lagosians. He observed that the Eyo masquerade festival was particularly unique as it involves Lagosians of all ages no matter their social standing. He called on historians to study the different cultures of the people of Lagos and the Nri Clan in Igboland with a view to extolling their virtues for the benefit of their generations yet unborn.

He stressed that Oba Akiolu, as a former police officer who rose to the rank of Assistant Inspector of Police is a true Nigerian having gone on tour of duty to different parts of Nigeria. He observed that similarly the Igbos are true Nigerians who regard every part of Nigeria as home and contribute their best endeavours to the development of these areas.

In his response Oba Akiolu praised the spirit of dynamism and

enterprise of the Igbos and appreciated their immense contributions to the development of Lagos. The Oba was of the view that traditional rulers should be involved in politics as they know the people in their community closely and will easily determine who will better serve the interests of the people of their domain. The Oba frowned at the multiplicity of Ezeigbos in all parts of Nigeria observing that the practice diminishes the high esteem in which Igbo traditional rulers are held. Food for thought for Ohaneze Ndi’Igbo: Shouldn’t these ‘Ezeigbos’ outside Igboland be addressed as Ochigbos as approved by Ohanaeze a few years ago?

Activities at the first day of the Convention included a Medical Outreach and Business Seminar.

The Medical Outreach involved medical consultations and laboratory tests both manned by Enugwu Ukwu indigenes.

Dr. Osita Ibenegbu, Consultant Cardiologist at the Lagos State Ministry of Health led the medical team while included Dr. Chigbo Nnebocha who runs a private clinic in Lagos and Dr. Sunday Onwujekwe a specialist public health physician with the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research. The team for laboratory investigations was led by Igwe Austin Ebisi, Ezeigbo Ojodu who came with two of his colleagues.

At the medical seminar Dr. Ibenegbu delivered a lecture titled “What kills our people”. He discussed the causes of the various killer diseases in Nigeria including malaria, hypertension, diabetes, stroke, kidney failure, heart attack, heart failure, sudden deaths

The Oba frowned at the multiplicity of Ezeigbos in all parts of Nigeria observing that the practice diminishes the high esteem in which Igbo traditional rulers are held

Enugwu Ukwu Community Development Union, ECDU , presidennt, Mr. Chinedu Abana giving a present to Oba of Lagos, Rilwanu Akiolu and various types of cancers, especially cervical and prostrate. He also mentioned organism and germs that eat the body from exposures and poor hygienic practices. These cause diseases like diarrhea, pneumonia, tuberculosis, veneral diseases like HIV, and typhoid fever.

He stated that these diseases and illnesses could be avoided or reduced to the barest minimum through good antenatal care, complete childhood and adult immunization, good personal hygiene, bed nets for malaria prevention especially for children, good hospital treatment when malaria occurs, avoidance of refined and junk foods, regular medical checks at least once yearly, good and regular treatment for diabetes and hypertension, avoidance of cervical and unprotected sex, and early detection of cancers through mammogram test for women and PSA test, for men yearly.

The business seminar was coordinated by Mr. Sopulu Nwakeze Chairman of the Investment and Development Committee, a staff of Fidelity Bank. Members of the committee including Mr. Azuka Mbuba of FCMB two attendees of the seminar through a series of lectures on Personal Financial Planning (PFP), Rules of Acquiring Money, Savings and Investment, becoming a Landlord, Employee/Employer’s other streams of Income, and many other very valuable topics.

Final activity Two memorable quotes from the seminar were ‘Either you make money work for you, or you will work for your money for the rest of your life’ by Marshall Sylver and ‘Empty pockets never held a man back, only empty heads and hearts can do that’ by Norman Vincent Pearle. Many attendees at the seminar asserted that they benefitted immensely from the lectures and called for more of such on frequent basis to enable them be uplifted economically.

The final activity at the Convention was the induction of some prominent indigenes of the town into the Hall of Fame, a memorable event held at the Enugwu Ukwu Unity Hall located at AmuwoOdofin Area of Lagos.

The inductees were recognized for their outstanding contributions to the development of the community especially the building of the Unity Hall. They include Senator I.G Abana Ochikota Enugwu Ukwu na Umunri and a member

of the Igwe’s Cabinet, Chief Sir Tony Okeke, Abataelie the Defence Minister, Justice Agatha Okeke of the Federal High Court and the late Chief James Emoka who was inducted post humously. The Enugwu Ukwu Forum Lagos was similarly inducted into the Hall of Fame. A member of the community Mr. I.G Eziamaka (World Bank) was also given an award at the ceremony.

Some cultural dance groups including the famous Dibugwu of the Enugwu Ukwu women in Lagos entertained guests at the occasion.

Igwe In his response Oba Akiolu praised the spirit of dynamism and enterprise of the Igbos and appreciated their immense contributions to the development of Lagos. The Oba was of the view that traditional rulers should be involved in politics as they know the people in their community closely and will easily determine who will better serve the interests of the people of their domain.

Medical consultations The Oba frowned at the multiplicity of Ezeigbos in all parts of Nigeria observing that the practice diminishes the high esteem in which Igbo traditional rulers are held. Food for thought for Ohaneze Ndi’Igbo: Shouldn’t these ‘Ezeigbos’ outside Igboland be addressed as Ochigbos as approved by Ohaneze a few years ago?

Activities at the first day of the Convention included a Medical Outreach and Business Seminar.

The Medical Outreach involved medical consultations and laboratory tests both manned by Enugwu Ukwu indigenes.

Dr. Osita Ibenegbu, Consultant Cardiologist at the Lagos State Ministry of Health led the medical t e a m while included D r .

Chigbo Nnebocha who runs a private clinic in Lagos and Dr. Sunday Onwujekwe a specialist public

health physician with the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research. The team for laboratory investigations was led by Igwe Austin Ebisi, Ezeigbo Ojodu who came with two of his colleagues.

At the medical seminar Dr. Ibenegbu delivered a lecture titled “What kills our people”. He discussed the causes of the various killer diseases in Nigeria including malaria, hypertension, diabetes, stroke, kidney failure, heart attack, heart failure, sudden deaths and various types of cancers, especially cervical and prostrate. He also mentioned organism and germs that eat the body from exposures and poor hygienic practices. These cause diseases like diarrhea, pneumonia, tuberculosis, veneral diseases like HIV, and typhoid fever.

He stated that these diseases and illnesses could be avoided or reduced to the barest minimum through good antenatal care, complete childhood and adult immunization, good personal hygiene, bed nets for malaria prevention especially for children, good hospital treatment when malarRalph Ekpeh was accompanied to the ceremony by some members of his cabinet including Chief Frank Nwokike, Ugogbuzuo, Cabinet Secretary, Chief Clem Nwafor, Odu, Dr. Okafor Owulu bu ego and Chief Tony Okeke, Abataelie, Defence Minister.

Indeed, every indigene of Enugwu Ukwu, the clan Head of Umunri clan has every cause to be proud of his great and ancient town.

The town indigenes at their outing on November 30, 2014 have shown that there are great expectations in the area of culture and tradition of the Igbos, giving honor to whom it is due and demonstration of the time honoured maxim Igwe bu ike “unity is strength”.

60—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

APGA adopts Jonathan for 2015, ratifies Obiano as BoT chairman

By Vincent Ujumadu

A

WKA — All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, yesterday adopted President Goodluck Jonathan, as its presidential candidate for the 2015 election and ratified Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State ,as the leader of the party and chairman of its Board of Trustees, BOT. At the party ’s special convention held in Awka, the party also ratified the amendment of some sections of its constitution to make it more functional.

The motion for the adoption of Jonathan was moved by the deputy governor of Anambra State, Dr. Nkem Okeke, and seconded by the Bauchi State chairman of the party, Alhaji

Adamu Musa.

National chairman of the party, Chief Victor Umeh, said the adoption of President Jonathan as its candidate was in line with its earlier decision not to field any presidential candidate for 2015, but to support the incumbent president for the second tenure.

Umeh said: “We are unapologetic about Jonathan for 2015. In 2011, we adopted him and directed our members and supporters to vote for him.

H is seeking the mandate of Nigerians for the second tenure and the National Executive Committee, NEC, of our party has considered the situation in the country and looking at the mood of the nation, we believe that what Nigerians need is a building force to advance the fortunes of the nation.

“His promise on October 1, 2014 that he will implement the report of the national conference is a welcome development because Nigeria’s future can be sustained on the basis of the outcome of the resolutions of that conference.

With the resolution of the party at various occasions, we want to put the weight of APGA behind Jonathan to continue the good work he is doing for the country.”

Other amendments ratified include the ratification of Governor Obiano as the leader and BOT chairman of APGA in view of what the delegates described as his proven desire to move the party to a greater height.

The convention also amended the constitution of the party to allow serving officers to remain

in office 120 days beyond their tenure to ensure smooth transition.

It also expunged part of the party’s constitution that made the founding chairman of APGA, Chief Chkwas Okorie, a permanent leader of the party, arguing that a national political party should not revolve around an individual.

There was however a mild drama when the wife of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu , opposed the extension of the tenure of the serving officers of the party, arguing that it was not proper for them to remain in office beyond the constitutionally stipulated period.

...as Gov Obiano presents artificial limbs to challenged persons

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NAMBRA STATE Government has flagged off the presentation of 1,000 Prosthetic Limbs Fittings to physically-challenged persons in the State.

The prosthetic limbs fittings with 270 initial beneficiaries, manufactured by Tolaram Foundation of India and sponsored by the Rotary Foundation of Victoria Garden City Lagos, was attracted by the wife of the state governor, Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano, through her pet project, Caring Family Enhancement Initiatives, CAFÉ, Speaking at the occasion, Anambra State governor Chief Willie Obiano, expressed delight with the tripartite partnership which according to him was “essentially to reach out in special ways to our brothers and sisters who need to be empowered.”

While thanking Tolaram Foundation and Rotary International for the sponsorship, he said CAFÉ was committed to making life worth living for the physically challenged and making them proud. He promised to increase the beneficiaries by making more prosthetic limbs available to others with such needs in the state.

The governor who wished his wife and founder of CAFÉ, who travelled on official assignment with the wife of the President was present, appreciated the fact that the CAFÉ projects had made his wife to toil day and night “to add value to the lives of special members of the

NUJ, RATTAWU begin warning strike

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By Kelechi Azubuike

IGERIA UNION of Journalists, NUJ, and Radio Television and Theatre Arts Workers Union, RATTAWU, yesterday, began a threeday warning strike to press home their demands including a media salary structure, and an enabling law to make broadcast organisations direct beneficiaries of radio and T.V licence rates being collected by local governments.

Other demands are the non implementation of Weigh-in for workers in some state owned broadcast stations, correction of anomalies in the calculation of pensions which led to the short payment of pensioners in the broadcast sector as well as postponement of the date for digitization of the broadcast media in the country because of the absence of an enabling law to guide the process.

PVC: Aka Ikenga laments 50% collection rate in the South

By Charles Kumolu

Anambra State governor , Chief Willie Obiano (2nd right), assisting one of the beneficiaries, during the presentation of Prosthetic Limbs Fittings, on Tuesday. human community,” as she had done before her present public life.

Governor Obiano stated that few months after the launch of CAFÉ, the pet project “underscores her passion, commitment and bold effort at giving meaning to the lives of the dispossessed and disadvantaged.”

Earlier, Commissioner for

Health, Dr. Joe Akabuike, said the government intervention in the health sector was benefitting from the programmes of CAFÉ which reached out to the less privileged and people in difficult areas.

In her remarks, Head of Tolaram Foundation, Ms. Meha Mehra, said they were committed to producing more quality prosthetic limbs to meet

the needs of the beneficiaries, sponsors, Reacting on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mr. Benson Igbokwe, from Nnewi expressed their happiness for the gesture and thanked the wife of the governor and CAFÉ for choosing them to benefit from what he described as a wonderful Christmas gift to the physically challenged persons in Anambra State.

PAN Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Aka Ikenga, has decried the low rate at which Permanent Voters Card, PVC, is being collected in the south, noting that it will not serve the interest of the zone in the 2015 general elections.

It lamented that the rate of PVC collection in the South was 50 percent against its 80 percent rate in the North.

A statement by the group’s President, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, called on the people to ensure that that "the zone participates actively in the polls."

According to him: ‘’We in Aka Ikenga, have noted with dismay the lethargy in Nigeria over the Permanent Voter ’s Card. We are shocked that our people have neglected to collect their PVC’s. We urge you to collect your PVC today.

Your PVC is your only instrument for voting for any candidate of your choice. It makes no difference if your support is only verbal without any action. Your active support is only through your PVC."

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18 , 2014 — 61

62—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Olympic team to tackle Junior Pharaohs T

HE Chief Coach of the national U-23 men’s football team, Dream Team VI, Samson Siasia has commended the board of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, for arranging top grade friendly games for the team as they prepare for the qualifiers in February 2015.

The U-23 coach disclosed that the NFF has secured for his team a four-legged international friendly game against the Egypt U-23 team with the first game coming up in Nigeria on the 15th of January, and the 2nd game on the 17th of January, while the Dream Team VI will take on their Egyptian counterparts in Egypt on the 20th and 22nd .

Coach Siasia added that the team will then depart for Turkey for another round of intensive training and playing tour, while he is proposing that they depart from Turkey to Dubai then Malta for more top grade friendly games before returning to Nigeria on the 7th of February 2015 to prepare for its first game against Gabon in an All Africa Games qualifier.

According to the media officer of the Dream Team, Timi Ebikagboro, the team which will be going on break on the 21st of December will reconvene on the 4th of January 2015 and training will commence on the 5th of January.

C

FAMILIAR FOES: Super Eagles goal keeper, Vincent Enyeama and Argentina star Lionel Messi at the Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup

F

OREIGN-based duo of Seun Ajetunmobi and Olaide Atinuke as well as Fatimo Bello and 50 year-old Taofeek Maya are in race for the titles at the end-of-the-year Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) organised tagged President’s Cup. Ajetunmobi did not had it easy before making it to the last eight as he was made to fight hard to win all his matches in the group. But Atinuke’s passage to the last eight was a smooth ride as she defeated most of her opponents easily.

2014 Asoju Oba Cup champion, Fatimo Bello was in superb form on

thanking the Akwa Ibomites for having such a magnificent edifice in their land.

Okocha Continues from B/P Okocha said.

The former PSG and Fenerbahce star has tipped Yaya Toure of Manchester City to clinch the African Footballer of the Year when the winner is announced next month.

“Musa has his own

HRISTOPHER Bulus from Lagos rebounded from a first round robin loss to Tochukwu Ezeh from Onitsha to beat Chris Itodo from Kaduna 9-8 .

Itodo will have to beat Ezeh and David Amusu from Lagos to finish first.

In the Girls 14 playoffs, Kasara Adegboyega from Ibadan beat Favour Moses from Kaduna to place herself in a winning position. She will have to contend with Marylove Edwards, the number one seed, for the first place in that category. Moses had earlier beaten Peace Udoh 9-3 in her first round robin match.

Ajetunmobi, Atinuke, others in race for titles at NTTF President’s Cup

Siasia’s U-23 Continues from B/P making Uyo home to the Dream Team was another way of

NNPC Tennis Masters: Bulus rebounds to beat No.1 seed

qualities, but in my opinion, Yaya Toure is the best African player, he is on course to win the title logically,” said Okocha.

Jay Jay is the head of the Nigeria Football Federation Technical Study Group.

Wednesday as he defeated Moji Ajibike and national junior champion, Tosin Oribamise on her way to the last eight of the championship.

The oldest player in the tournament, Maya, whose performance stunned national champion, Kazeem Makanjuola is also in the race for the top spot.

To top his group, Maya beat Makanjuola 3-1 to secure his place among the top eight players.

Despite not having it easy to make it to the last eight, Ajetunmobi still believes the title is for him to win.

•Ajetunmobi

Bet9ja to sustain rewarding passion B

UOYED by its success in the last two years where it has emerged as the top sports betting company in Nigeria, the management of Bet9ja has vowed to sustain the tempo with a promise to always reward its agents and pay bonus promptly.

Speaking during the end of year/award party in Lagos, the CEO of the company Ayo Ojuroye said: ‘’we are proud of what we have achieved with the support of our dedicated and loyal staff and committed agents. We feel

obliged to encourage our staff and agents with this end of the year party and awards to display our deep appreciation for a job well done. We are a company that stands for excellence and reward hard work, so we will sustain our core value of rewarding people’s passion. We would not relent in our efforts of making sports betting a very rewarding experience for our patrons and customers.”

Ojuroye further said some of their agents have been dedicated, loyal and hardworking. One of them Dave epitomizes what all

other agents ought to be . ‘’We recognize him as the most consistent agent of Bet9ja. Some of the agents

are very diligent and we are very proud of their achievements in the outgoing year.

Appiah Continues from B/P 1992.

Appiah left his job in charge of Ghana by mutual consent in September.

He had been in charge of the Black Stars since 2012 and saw them qualify for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations,

where they finished fourth after losing to Burkina Faso in the semi-finals.

The 54-year-old then lead Ghana to the World Cup in Brazil this year, but failed to make it past the group stages in a campaign beset with problems off the field.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 — 63

Eagles to play Elephants, Les Aiglons in Abu Dhabi I

N kick –starting its pledge to ensure that the Senior National Team, Super Eagles is engaged for all the FIFA –free days available next year, the Nigeria Football Federation has secured two international friendly matches for the team prior to the 30th Africa Cup of Nations finals.

NFF General Secretary, Barrister Musa Amadu, confirmed on Wednesday that the Eagles will confront two teams they battered on the way to a third African title in South Africa early last year, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in January 2015.

The Super Eagles will confront 1992 African champions Cote d’Ivoire, whom they edged 2-1 in the quarter finals in South Africa, on 9th January, and take on fellow Eagles of Mali, who were overhauled 4-1 by the Nigerians in the semi finals in South Africa, four days later.

“We are working round the clock to make sure that the Super Eagles will have opponents for all the FIFA windows available in year 2015, and we are happy that the two games with the Ivorians and the Malians are sealed.

“The Elephants and the Les Aiglons are on their way to the 30th Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea, so they are sure to give our team good games.”

Already, Assistant Coach Daniel Amokachi has drawn a list of 24 players who will do battle for shirts for the two matches.

Gombe United goalkeeper Chigozie Agbim leads the invitees, with Azubuike Egwuekwe, Kwambe Solomon, Umar Zango, Rabiu Ali, Emem Eduok, Kingsley Sokari, Mfon Udoh, Gbolahan Salami and Gambo Muhammad also called.

Players are expected to report at the Bolton White Apartments, Abuja on Sunday, 28th December with their international passports and four passport photographs.

Ivorian captain, Didier Drogba battles with Super Eagles midfielder, Nosa Igiebor at the 2013 AFCON. Nigeria won 2-1.

NFF congratulates MFM on World Cup triumph T

HE Nigeria Football Federation has congratulated the MFM Football Club on its victory at the inaugural Church World Cup which ended in Goa, India on Sunday.

In a letter of congratulations addressed to the General Overseer of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, Dr. Daniel Olukoya on Wednesday, and signed

by General Secretary, Barrister Musa Amadu, the NFF lauded the feat and affirmed that it was worthy of recognition and good mention.

“The new Executive Committee of Nigeria Football Federation is determined to celebrate excellence in all spheres of the Nigeria game, and the laudable achievement of your football

team, which has brought honour to our dear country, deserves recognition and good mention. “ We also want to express deep appreciation of the NFF and the Nigeria football family for

the keen interest of the General Overseer and the entire leadership of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries in football, and also commend your huge investment in the football sec-

tor, which has seen MFM Football Club become one of the strongest teams in the Nigeria National League – the second tier of our country’s domestic football.

“The NFF believes that the excellent feat of MFM FC in India will encourage the leadership of your church to invest even more in football for the benefit of the youth of our nation.”

Rufai celebrates STARUF academy T

•Rufai

HE Staruf Football Academy will on Friday celebrate five years of its existence. The celebration will hold at the Sharaton Hotels and Towers Ikeja Lagos tomorrow.

The Staruf Football Academy which is an initiative of former Super Eagles first choice Goal keeper Peter Rufai fondly called Dodo Mayana

started five years ago, and is aimed at improving the lives of Nigerian and African Youths through sports, particularly football.

Rufai said last night that the Academy with well-grounded professionals teach young stars basics of football skills as well as upgrade in capacity building for coaches and administration. He also said the

activities of the day will include: Red carpet, formal presentation of Staruf Academy, Recognition and awards of great supporters of football, American auction, cutting of cake and fund raising.

He has enjoined all stakeholders to be at the Lagos event to celebrate Staruf Academy at 5 Friday.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

Appiah shows Keshi the way •Takes over at SC Khartoum

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ORMER Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah has taken over at Sudanese club SC

Don’t cry for Nigeria — Okocha

Khartoum on a two-year contract.

Khartoum will play in the Confederation Cup next year after finishing fourth in the Sudan Premier League this year.

Domestically, Appiah’s challenge will be to break the dominance of Al Merreikh and Al Hilal, who between them have won every league title since 1970 except in

Continues on page 62

Appiah

Olympic team move to Uyo •Tips Toure over Enyeama, Musa for CAF awards T E HE Chief Coach of the national U-23 men’s football team, Dream Team VI, Samson Siasia has proposed that the team use the nest of champions, Uyo, as the home ground of the team in its pursuit of seeking qualification for the All Africa Games and Olympic Games football event.

“I think Uyo will be a good place for the team to concentrate and win both tickets for the games as the environment is friendly.

The people are hospitable and besides I was in Uyo when the

X-international Austin Okocha is still ruing the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the African Cup of Nations.

“Those that qualified for the finals have earned it. Concerning Nigeria, it is useless to lament.

“Nigeria was favored to be among the 16 qualifiers, but this is not the case. We must try to understand what went wrong and correct errors, so that they do not re-occure, “ Austin

Continues on page 62

•Enyeama

Super Eagles played it’s games and I was highly impressed with what I saw.

Besides the facility, the fans too came out in their numbers to cheer the Super Eagles even when things were not going their way. The total support from the fans is what I need to motivate my team against any opposition.

So, I have settled down for Uyo” Siasia added.

He described the State Governor, Godswill Akpabio as a great lover of football noting that

Continues on page 62

QUICK CROSSWORD

TODAY'S

PUZZLE

YESTER DAY'S YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS 1 Placard (6) 5 Jump (4) 8 Command (5) 9 Tear (3) 10 Cornet (4) 11 Soon (4) 12 Avoid (5) 13 Fated (6) 16 Daybreak (4) 18 Close (4) 20 Jewel (3) 22 Crib (3) 23 Breach (3) 24 Board-game (4) 25 Respect (4) 28 God-like (6) 30 Supple (5) 32 Surfeit (4) 33 Group (4) 34 Sheep (3) 35 Circular (5) 36 Caribou (4) 37 Shut (6)

DOWN 1 Procession (6) 2 Assumed (8) 3 Surpass (6) 4 Stopped (9) 5 Ahead (7) 6 Sea-eagle (4) 7 Long (4) 8 Individual (3) 14 Sausage-dog (9) 15 Beret (3) 17 Misery (3) 19 Simplicity (8) 20 Firearm (3) 21 Check on (7) 26 Purify (6) 27 Guard (6) 29 Elderly (4) 30 Entice (4) 31 Finish (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 3, Final 9, Carton 10, Pistol 11, Edged 12, Acne 15, Area 17, Pleased 20, Mat 21, Dated 23, Meet 25, Left 26, Roved 28, Bet 30, Distort 33, Oral 35, Hone 36, Dogma 38, Threat 39, Asleep 40, Baulk.

DOWN: 1, Scrap 2, Prone 3, Foe 4, Indeed 5, Aped 6, Lid 7, Storm 8, Pleat 13, Clamber 14, Eager 16, Eastern 18, Dazed 19, Gel 22, Death 24, Tor 27, Dismal 28, Booth 29, Tarry 31, Oozed 32, Tempt 34, Rota 36, Dab 37, Ask.

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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