APC reps revolt, abort House sitting

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 62350

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N150

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26 , 2015

Buhari threatens to pull out of Abuja Accord

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USE OF SOLDIERS IN ELECTIONS:

APC reps revolt, abort House sitting

How you'll vote

•Stage walkout, accuse Deputy Speaker of carrying out PDP agenda •PDP reps invoke constitution, as House adjourns abruptly

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By Emman Ovuakporie & Levinus Nwabughiogu

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BUJA—THE sitting of the House of Representatives was, yesterday, disrupted after members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, rejected moves by the presiding officer of the House to stall a motion seeking to bar the military from playing a role in the Continues on Page 5

SHAGARI @ 90—From left: Former Head of defunct Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan; former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida (retd); the celebrator, former President Shehu Shagari; President Goodluck Jonathan; and former Heads of State, General Yakubu Gowon (retd) and General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd), cutting Shagari's 90th birthday cake in Sokoto, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN. MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE 16.

Aggrieved PDP Reps give Jonathan conditions for support COLUMNISTS:

Nigerians are Age of uncertainty: Please don't Resignation in united for catch Shekau •P.19 •P.19 protest democracy•P.17 alive!

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Abductors of US missionary reduce ransom 55 to N30m

OSHODI MAYHEM: 3 die, vehicles burnt as NURTW, hoodlums clash 10 Mr & Mrs

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POCKET CARTOON

SURE-P AT VILLA —From left, PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo, and farther right, Chief of Staff to the President, Brig-Gen. Jones Arogbofa (retd) during a courtesy visit by members of SURE-P at the State House Abuja, yesterday.

APC reps revolt, abort House sitting Continues from Page 1 conduct of the forthcoming elections.

The APC members, who now form the majority, were galled by the ruling of the deputy speaker of the House, Chief Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to derail the motion spearheaded by the APC minority leader.

After first walking out from the chambers, the APC members returned to put deliberations on a standstill, taunting the deputy speaker who they accused of foisting his will on majority of the members.

Faced with the unprecedented rebellion and unable to bring the House under control after repeated pleas, Chief Ihedioha was

forced to adjourn the proceedings.

Ihedioha was elected deputy speaker and Aminu Waziri Tambuwal speaker of the House in June 2011. Tambuwal has since defected to the APC and is running as the party’s governorship candidate in Sokoto State while Ihedioha is running as the PDP candidate in Imo State.

Trouble started when Ihedioha called on Rep Albert Sam-Tsokwa (PDP, Taraba), to present a report of the joint committee earlier assigned to study the aptness of deliberating on the motion. The motion was brought to the floor of the House last week by Femi Gbajabiamila, leader of the APC caucus.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world —Desmond Tutu

D

O you have any friends or colleagues who are constantly being negative? If so, you’ll know they aren’t the most enjoyable people to be around.

Negative people can be real downers in any conversation.

No matter what you say, they have a way of spinning things in a wrong direction. Some negative people can be so draining just being around them.

One way to help yourself around such people especially, if it is inevitable you have to be around them is by helping to bring them to a more positive state.

And whether the person is negative or not, ultimately you’re the one who is perceiving the person is negative. When you recognize that, actually the negativity is the product of your lens.

Take responsibility for your perceptions.

For every trait, you can interpret it in a positive manner. Learn to see the goodness of the person than the negative. It may be tough initially, but once you cultivate the skill, it becomes second nature.

Just as Sam-Tsokwa commenced the presentation of his fivepage report termed as an advisory, Gbajabiamila raised his hand for a point of order. Ihedioha, however, ignored him as he charged Tsokwa to proceed.

In his presentation, Sam-Tsokwa dismissed objections to the use of the military for the election, citing several constitutional provisions.

Sam-Tsokwa's citations He said that while the constitution does not define ‘operational use of the Armed Forces’, as outlined in Section 218 (1) of the Constitution regarding the Armed Forces Act, the Act does.

“By its Section 8 (3), the Act defines 'Operational Use of the Armed Forces', as 'including the operational use of the Armed Forces in Nigeria for the purpose of maintaining and securing public safety and public order'.”

The report also indicated that parties to the motion concurred that “the matter is before the courts” and that until it (the court) decides on it, the House cannot delve into it “by virtue of our Order 9, Rule 57 (5).”

It also noted that by virtue of the House resolution “that the INEC chairman may request Mr President to deploy the military for election duties, the

House may only reverse itself on this through a recision motion.”

Sam-Tsokwa, therefore, concluded that based on his submissions, “this motion by Gbajabiamila is effectively caught in the cobweb of both the Constitution and the House Standing Orders,” and thus called for the termination of “its legislative adventure.”

At this point, Ihedioha, as the presiding officer, opined: “I don’t want this matter to be politicised. But I believe Sam-Tsokwa’s decision captures the decision of the Joint Committee.”

This ruling was greeted with shouts of No! No!!

No!!! from APC members.

Thereafter, proceedings were disrupted as some members left their seats to meet at the front seat of Gbajabiamila. A number of PDP legislators in the front rows also hailed SamTsokwa, shaking his hands and exchanging banters.

After about 15 minutes of hushed discussions around the chamber, Ihedioha sustained a point of order raised by Rep. Sunday Karimi to the claim that the matter was pending in court and should as such not be raised for deliberation.

Once Ihedioha sustained that, Gbajabiamila stood up and cited Sections 88 and 89, which empowers the House to ask for a record of a court case.

“There is no evidence that the case is in court.

He who alleges must prove. This matter will

not die,” he pronounced.

But the deputy leader of the PDP caucus, Rep Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta) countered, invoking Order 57 (6), saying that the authority of the Speaker is unassailable and must be totally respected, thus “ no questions can be asked after his ruling.”

Ihedioha tried to affirm himself with the observation that members may not always get what they want from the chambers.

This, however, did not calm the angry APC legislators as attempts to continue with the proceedings by the Deputy Speaker was greeted with dissenting voices.

Chief Ihedioha sought Rep. Samson Osagie, the APC whip to confer with him privately but for some minutes, fellow APC members did not allow him proceed to the podium where Ihedioha sat.

The discussion between Ihedioha and Osagie apparently did not thaw the ice as Ihedioha’s bid to assert his authority was poohpoohed by the boisterous APC majority.

APC reps protest His verdict that the session should proceed was greeted by a deafening “ nay ” followed by a point of order by Gbajabiamila to the fact that SamTsokwa’s report cannot have an effect on his motion. The point of order was ruled out, a decision that immediately triggered a walk-out on Ihedioha.

Briefing reporters outside the chambers, Gbajabiamila said the actions of Ihedioha were reflective of the way the PDP intends to continue ruling the country.

Recalling events that happened earlier, he regretted that “a

partisan” Ihedioha tried to belittle “the majority”.

“When a principal officer will not respect members, he will not be respected too as respect begets respect.

“And this thing (his motion),” he repeated, “will not die!”

Osagie too told journalists that “SamTsokwa’s submission cannot stand. According to the APC whip, his anger was due to the Deputy Speaker’s refusal to acknowledge his desire to raise a point of order not only as a matter of right as a member of the House, but also as a matter of privilege as a principal officer.

“He abandoned his terms of reference,” he added.

After some time consulting with one another outside the chambers, the APC members trooped back into the chamber and persisted in shouting “ nay ” to further proceedings until Ihedioha asked for an adjournment.

Speaking to reporters, the PDP caucus leader Rep. Mulikat AkandeAdeola said that “in the parliament, decisions may not always go your way. But as legislators, we must learn to respect the rules at all times.

“The action was unparliamentary because it was uncalled for”.

She noted that lawmakers must always observe decorum in their conduct during proceedings on the floor of the House.

Her deputy, Ogor, at the briefing also stressed the need for members of the opposition to respect the office of the Deputy Speaker as a presiding officer.

“He is not sitting on the seat for the sake of it. He sits there as a symbol of authority of the House, and that authority must be respected. It is the lack of that respect shown by the Minority Leader by refusing to approach the chair as demanded by the presiding officer that got me upset”, he said.

6—Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Man, 58, charged for defiling 8-yr-old girl

By Bartholomew Madukwe

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AJUDEEN Shoneye, 58, has been charged before a Lagos High Court, Ikeja, for allegedly defiling an 8-year-old girl on June 15, 2013.

“Tajudeen Shoneye on June 15, 2013 at 21, Badejoko Street, Ketu, Lagos, did defile one (names witheld) by having unlawful carnal knowledge of her,” the charge sheet read.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the offence read to him before Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye.

The prosecutor, Mr. Akin George, informed the court that the offence was contrary to Section 137 of the Criminal Law, Laws of Lagos State, 2011.

It was gathered that the defendant had allegedly defiled the girl twice at different times.

Justice Ipaye adjourned to March 12 and 13.

45-yr-old driver accused of manslaughter

By Onozure Dania & Tayo Ogundipe

Man bolts after wife delivers armless baby ‘My husband, landlord say I shouldn't come home’

By Daud Olatunji

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BEOKUTA—A middleaged man, Mudashiru Sheriffdeen, has reportedly run away immediately he was told his wife, Taiwo, gave birth to a baby boy without arms.

Sherifdeen, who lives at Bosun Street, Ifo, Ifo Local Government area of Ogun State, was said to have taken to his heels on Tuesday when he heard that their new baby boy had no arms.

Vanguard gathered that the baby boy was born around 2pm at a private hospital, Majotal Medical Clinic, at Ilogbo area of Ado/Odo-Ota Local Government Area of the state.

He weighed 3.25kg at birth.

The mother of the baby said immediately she gave birth to the baby boy, her husband took to his heels on hearing that the baby was born without arms.

She said: “This is my first child and I do not know why I had to give birth to this kind of a baby.

Immediately my husband was informed that his son had deformity, he had not come to see me.

“He is a commercial bus driver, and we had been married now

for almost two years before God decided to answer our prayers.

“When I was pregnant, we took every step that the doctor directed us to take, but we did not know why we came about this calamity.”

While pleading for assistance

ARRESTED: Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, officer arrests a tricycle on a highway in Kaduna. PHOTO: Olu Ajayi.

Navy arrests 7 stowaways aboard Spain-bound ship

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AGOS—THE Police, yesterday, charged a 45 year old driver Kolawole Adeyemo to a Tinubu Magistrate’s Court, sitting on Lagos Island over alleged manslaughter.

The prosecutor Inspector Livinus Okeke, told the court that the defendant committed the alleged offence on January 30 in Lagos.

The prosecutor said the offence committed is punishable under Sections 19 and 20 of the road traffic act cap 27 vol 45 laws of Lagos state, 2012.

Section 19 of the road traffic act prescribes a fine of N100,000 or two years imprisonment or both for reckless driving, while section 20 prescribes seven years imprisonment for causing death by reckless driving.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Magistrate M. L. Owolabi granted the defendant N300,000 bail, with two responsible sureties in like sum, and adjourned the case to March 16 for mention.

from well meaning Nigerians, Mrs Sheriffdeen said: “I have been warned by both my husband and our landlord not to bring the child home.

“The hospital management has asked us to leave the hospital. Now this child and I

have nowhere to go. I do not need this baby. I want government to come and adopt him.”

It was further gathered that the man had vowed not to accept the baby and asked the government to claim ownership.

A source told our correspondent that Mudashiru has offered the government the baby.

Attempt to get government’s reaction to the incident was unsuccessful as the mobile line of the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Elisabeth Sonubi, was unreachable.

in Nigeria.

Another stowaway, Enugu state-born Maxwell Madu, blamed his foiled attempt on frustration, alleging that several efforts made to fend for his family were thwarted by officials of Lagos State task force.

The father of one said: “What have I not done to live a decent

By Evelyn Usman

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EVEN stowaways, including two Ghanaians, two Liberians and three Nigerians aboard an international maritime vessel, MT Electra Bari, which was heading for Spain, have been arrested by naval personnel off Fairway buoy, Lagos.

The stowaways, whose ages are between 17 and 25, reportedly sneaked into the tanker that came to discharge petroleum products at Apapa tank farms, last Saturday.

Before they were handed over to officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Apapa, Lagos, Rear Admiral Jonathan Ango, said: “Preliminary

investigation revealed that the stowaways boarded the vessel while she was discharging her products and their intention was to follow the vessel to Holland.

“On completion of its operations, MT Electra Bari with IMO number 941682 left for Lome, Togo. It was while in Togo she discovered some strange people on board and established communication with Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Ikot Abasi, which effected the arrest of seven stowaways.”

One of them, 23-year-old Kwekwu Asamoa, disclosed that the botched trip was his second attempt to go to Europe illegally.

His first attempt, according to him, was two years ago, after he boarded a ship from Ghana, which he thought was heading for Europe, only to find himself

life? I was selling clothes at Tinubu Square, but Lagos State task force officials seized my goods.

“I then bought motorcycle (Okada), but it was seized by the same task force. I was frustrated because I had no means of fending for my wife and child. That was when I decided to look for a way out.”

Bus driver jailed 35 years for gang raping of 17-yr-old girl

By Festus Ahon

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SABA—AN Asaba High Court, Tuesday sentenced a member of a six-man gang that specializes in raping girls, identified as Chukwu Ebuka Sunday, to 35 years in jail for gang-raping a 17-year-old secondary school girl (names withheld) with five others now at large.

The offence was committed on November 23, 2012, at Akwuebulu, within Asaba judicial division, Asaba.

The victim had narrated: “On November 23, 2012, at 11am, my mother sent me on an

errand to the market. On my way, along Arthur Richard Street, Akwuebulu, one boy called Ebuka seized me by my skirt, dragged me into their compound and locked the gate.

“He brought out a cutlass and threatened to cut me with it. He then used the cutlass to hit me on my stomach and also hit himself several times started boasting that he was a strong man and a cultist.

“He then pushed me into his room and raped me.

Afterwards, he called his friends on phone and five boys came and also raped me.”

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015—7

ABOVE: Comptroller, Nigeria Immigration Service, Rivers Command, Mr. Mike Longe (right), parading suspected illegal immigrants in Port Harcourt, yesterday. RIGHT : Arrested illegal immigrants awaiting repatriation in Birnin Kebbi, Tuesday. NAN PHOTOS.

Teachers strip contractor naked for impregnating student

By Austin Ogwuda

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NUGU—A middle-aged man narrowly escaped death in Enugu, yesterday, following an attack by angry

teachers of Metropolitan Girls Secondary School located at Ogui New Layout.

The man, an Enugu-based contractor (names withheld), was beaten to pulp and

stripped naked for allegedly impregnating a Senior Secondary, SS1, student of the school (names withheld).

Already, the randy contractor had been handed

Enugu waste mgt agency to pay woman N.5m compensation

By Austin Ogwuda

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NUGU—JUSTICE D. V. Agishi of Federal High Court, Enugu, has ordered the management of Enugu State Waste Management Authority, ESWAMA, to pay N500,000 to one Miss Nma Ukonu, as damages, following the torture she suffered in the hands of the officials.

Ukonu, a programme officer with Enugu-based nongovernmental organisation, South Saharan Social Development Organisation, had dragged the agency to court, seeking N50 million as damages and a declaration that her arrest and detention for eight hours on August 29, 2012, was illegal.

She told the court through her counsel, Mr. Olu Omotayo, that “having committed no offence known to law, thereby subjecting the applicant to physical and psychological torture, constitutes a flagrant violation of her fundamental rights, guaranteed under Section 34 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and Article 5, of the African Charter on Human & Peoples Rights, (Ratification and Enforcement Act) Cap A9, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.”

The suit was filed against Enugu State Waste Management Authority, ESWAMA, its Director, Mrs. Chinyere Ogaukwu, and her Assistant Mr. Nnamani.

Delivering judgment, the

judge stated that “the fact that ESWAMA officials are agents and workers of the Enugu State government did not justify their actions in slapping, kicking, dragging and further ordering the detention of the applicant, on the ground that the organization she works with

has not paid waste management fee.”

It said the argument of ESWAMA's lawyer that “the agency was acting under Section 28(1) of ESWAMA Law, Cap 75, of the Revised Law of Enugu State 2004, cannot justify the infringement.”

Corporal arrested over shooting of IYC leader

By Samuel Oyadongha

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ENAGOA—THE police in Bayelsa State have announced the arrest of a corporal involved in the shooting of an Ijaw youth leader, Bekikeme Oyinkuro, during a stop-and-search operation along IgbogeneOkolobiri Road in Yenagoa Local Government Area of the state.

The victim was shot at about 5pm, Monday, by men of an anti-crime patrol team.

Police, in a statement by the Public Relations Officer, ASP Asimin Buswat, said preliminary investigation showed that the victim was driving a Toyota Camry car, which plate number was covered with a black wrapper bearing the inscription of Ijaw Youth Council Kumbowei Clan Chairman, and refused to stop.

However, Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Worldwide, in a statement issued by its spokesman, Mr. Eric Omare, said: “Mr. Oyinkuro, was with his fiancée

when one of the police officers at the check point asked him to stop, which he did.

“While he was driving away, having been asked to do so by the said officer, another police officer asked him to stop and he said he had been asked to go.

The officer suddenly shot him.”

over to officials of National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC. Vanguard gathered that the cat was let out of the bag when the victim suddenly slumped during morning assembly, bleeding profusely from her private part.

She later named the contractor as being responsible for the pregnancy.

The contractor, who claimed to be a pastor, was lured to the school where he was mobbed.

Speaking with journalists over the issue yesterday in his office, the state Commissioner for Education, Professor Uche Okolo, confirmed the incident.

He said: “A man was apprehended. The man defiled a girl and she got pregnant. The child was bleeding and rushed to hospital.

“The school made a report to NAPTIP and the man came to the school to take the girl and he was arrested. The good thing is that he has been apprehended. He should go and face the law.”

Man docked over allegation of fraudulently obtaining goods

By Bartholomew Madukwe

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HE police in Lagos have charged a man, Chukwu Jekwu, 28, before an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court for fraudulently obtaining goods worth N394,400 from three persons at Computer Village, with the pretence of paying back.

Jekwu, whose address remains unknown, was arraigned by the police on a five-count charge of fraudulently obtaining goods and stealing.

The accused was said to have stolen N140,000 from one Nwuora Chieyi and fraudulently obtained goods from Chieyi, Onyezubelu Ugochukwu and Thankgod Ezehiwehe.

Magistrate Abimbola Komolafe granted him N500,000 bail, with two sureties that must blood relatives and should have paid tax for a period of three years.

The magistrate ordered that N50,000 be deposited in the Chief Registrar’s account and adjourned the case to April 2.

Immigration arrests 12 aliens in Ogun

By Daud Olatunji

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BEOKUTA—OGUN State command of Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, has begun moves to prevent illegal immigrants from participating in the coming election, with the arrest of 12 illegal immigrants.

The state Comptroller of NIS, Mrs Victoria Isang, disclosed this yesterday during an unscheduled inspection tour of NIS formations across the state.

She said 12 illegal immigrants were arrested and repatriated to their country during the visit.

The comptroller, who visited Ifoyintedo Control Post, Ajegunle Main Border, Idiroko Control Post, Ajanlekoko Control Post and AJilete Motorized Patrol Base, vowed to ensure that foreigners are not allowed to vote in the state.

Isang said the essence of the visit was to ensure officers' preparedness and duty consciousness in view of the forthcoming elections.

She said the command was prepared to partner INEC and other law enforcement agencies to ensure the sanctity of the elections and that foreigners did not take part in it.

Isang added that repatriation was a continuous process which would continue before, during and after elections.

She said: “In view of the fast-approaching elections, we want to ensure that officers are alert to their respective duties of ensuring that there are no influx of illegal immigrants in the country.”

8—Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

N1bn lost daily to rice importation —FG

By Godwin Oritse

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BUJA — THE F e d e r a l Government has said that the country loses about N1 billion everyday from importation of rice, even as it assured that Nigeria will soon stop importing the grains.

Special Adviser to the President on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, NEPAD, and African Peer Review Mechanism, APRM, Mrs. Fidelia Akuabata Njeze, disclosed this at a one-day stakeholders' forum on the establishment of the Nigeria/ECOWAS rice sector policy and regulation advocacy platform, in Abuja.

She added that due to the importation of rice, Nigeria had been exporting jobs and financial resources for the transformation of the domestic rice sector in the country.

Speaking in similar vein, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, also assured that “Nigeria is already at exit door from importation.”

The minister said this when he inspected the 420 hectares of rice farm and mill owned by Olam Nigeria Limited in Rubuki near Doma, Nasarawa State.

He said 2.9 million metric tonnes of high quality milled rice was expected to be produced from the farm starting from the next farming season.

The minister noted that with the importation of about two million metric tonnes of rice per annum, the issue of rice import will soon stop.

“We are going to be the Thailand of Africa in terms of rice production and export,” Adesina said The minister also said no fewer than 670 jobs were created in 2013 through rice production.

He disclosed that 1.9 million metric tonnes of rice was produced in the 2013 dry and wet seasons thereby contributing N320 billion to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP.

2015 BUDGET: Senate cuts recurrent vote, raises capital expenditure

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru & Joseph Erunke

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BUJA — THE Senate, yesterday, readjusted the 2015 Appropriation Bill as it slashed the Recurrent Expenditure from N2,616.01 trillion to N2,584.08 trillion and also jacked up the Capital Expenditure from the initial proposal of N633.53 billion to N700.78 billion.

The Senate also cut the allocation for the Subsidy Re-Investment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, by N81 billion in the 2015 fiscal year and recommended the scrap of N360.94 billion Service Wide Votes domiciled at the finance ministry.

The Red Chamber further considerably slashed the subsidy payment for Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol, from N200 billion to N100 billion and cut down the subsidy for kerosene from N91.08 billion to N45.52 billion.

These were contained in the report of the 2015-2017 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, and the Fiscal Strategy Paper, FSP, submitted by the Senate Joint Committee on Finance and National Planning, Economic Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, which was adopted and passed yesterday.

Reduces SURE-P allocation by N81bn

The Senate specifically reduced the total expenditure for SURE-P from N102.50 billion to N21.03 billion, saying it was due to the fall in the price of crude and advised that details of SURE-P projects to be executed should be attached to the annual budget estimates for approval by the National Assembly.

It said that the reduction of petrol subsidy from N971.14 billion in 2014 to N200 billion in 2015, was not an indication of plans to alter the Federal Government subsidy policy on petroleum products, rather it was based on what it called “the projected lower crude oil prices in the international market.”

It recommended for an increase in the non-oil revenue projection for 2015 budget from N3,539.07 trillion to N4,024.11 trillion, a reduction of the Total Statutory Transfers from N411.85 billion to N363.27 billion and also pegged the crude oil production at 2,278.2 million barrel per day with $52 as the oil benchmark.

Orders stoppage of Service Wide Votes

While calling on the executive to provide details of the N360.94 Service Wide Votes to enable the National Assembly to see areas to apply any necessary cuts, it recommended that “there is no reason to include N63 billion for Presidential Amnesty Programme under Service Wide Votes when we

Reduces SURE-P allocation by N81bn Reduces petrol subsidy from N200bn to N100bn Kerosene subsidy falls to N45.52bn

BRIEFING: Director-General, National Orientation Agency, NOA, Mr. Mike Omeri (left) briefing State House journalists after his visit to President Goodluck Jonathan at the State House Abuja. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida. have a Ministry for the Niger Delta.”

It further recommended that N22 billion provision for internal operations of the armed forces should be made under relevant ministry and that all sums provided as arrears of pension and gratuity should be reclassified from Service Wide Votes to relevant heads and warned that “Henceforth, this general provision should be discontinued.”

The Red Chamber said there was need for a drastic reduction in cost of governance and improved revenue collection be undertaken with a view to attaining a healthy recurrent/ capital expenditure ratio, adding that the relevant committees of the National Assembly should oversight the kerosene subsidy provision to ensure its full implementation, availability and accessibility and that if it was difficult to attain, the subsidy on Kerosene should be discontinued.

The Joint Committee in its recommendations said it was a herculean task to implement the 2015 proposed expenditure programme of the government in a challenging environment of serious constraints in the face of the dwindling revenues, pressure to fulfil campaign promises, the imperative of fighting insurgency and other security challenges.

“Prudence, pragmatism, cooperation, collaboration and consultations between the executive and the legislature will, therefore, be required by the political leadership while implementing the inevitable

austerity measures as well as protecting jobs, service delivery and implementing the capital budget as much as possible,” the Joint Committee had stated in its conclusion.

We have to tighten our belts —Mark

Senate President David Mark said that going by the letters in the budget and the prevailing circumstances, “what this clearly shows is that we all have to tighten our belts across the entire sectors of this government.

“We have for the last several years relied on oil as the main source of our revenue and I know that budget after budget we say we will diversify the economy.

Every time this budget comes, we are still repeating the same thing.

The impression I get from it is that, those who are responsible for producing the draft merely go there and reproduce what they have been bringing up.

“I think they need to do a little more; they may not be able to forecast accurately. There are a few things I think we must get right. The first thing is, let there be a cut across board, the executive, the judiciary and the legislature and we are prepared to lead in this.

“The areas of leakages, we must emphasize on them. The revenue generation and collection, we must make sure that we tighten them. What has impressed me in the entire discussion and the debate is the fact that this has been non-partisan, everybody has been very fair.”

It was alleged that the National Assembly has cut its budgetary

allocation from the initial N150 billion to N115 billion in view of the reality on ground.

The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu said that what the country was facing was as a result of her inability to save during the surplus period and advised that some expenditures should be cut down and that “we should begin to save money from oil for the sake of the generation unborn.”

Mono-product economy

Senator Ita Enang in his contribution lamented that the nation had remained a monoproduct economy.

Enang wondered why the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, who he described as a proponent of the fiscal responsibility act was allegedly not seeing to the implementation of that Act. He said: “Solid mineral sector should by today generate revenue for the country given the appropriation for the sector over the years” He indicted the three arms of government of being responsible for whatever negative effects the economy had, stressing that the legislature sometimes in its oversight functions allowed certain things that were not supposed to happen.

Senator Solomon Ewuga said that the only remedy was to have a productive economy that grows instead of depending on one product economy.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015—9

15m PVCs waiting collection—INEC

By Jude Opara

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BUJA —WITH barely 10 days to the end of the extension granted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for registered voters to pick their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), as much as 15 million PVCs are still lying at the various collection centres across the country.

The latest breakdown from INEC as at February 23 indicates that 53,466, 635 out of a total of 68,833,476 registered voters have

collected their PVCs, representing 77.68 per cent.

According to the information, Gombe, Zamfara, Jigawa, Katsina, Kaduna and Akwa Ibom States have the highest number of collected PVCs with 95.05 per cent, 93.42 per cent, 93.20 per cent, 92.68 per cent, 91.98 per cent and 91.28 per cent respectively.

However, the rate of collection is still low in some states like Ogun with 43.51 per cent, FCT has 61.42 per cent while Lagos has 63.30 per cent rate of collection. Others are Edo, 64.38per cent, Oyo,

65.78 per cent, Bayelsa, 66.21per cent, Ebonyi, 66.50 per cent and Borno, 68.28 per cent.

Most other states have recorded appreciable level of collection with over 70 per cent rate of collection of the PVCs which the electoral umpire insists would be used for the conduct of the March 28 and April 11 national and state elections.

Speaking on the drop in the rate of collection, Chief Press Secretary to INEC chairman, Kayode Idowu, said the drop may not be

unconnected with the attitude of most Nigerians to do things at the dying minute.

According to him, before the extension of the date, the rate of collection in the FCT was between 3,000 and 4,000 daily but as soon as the extension was announced, it dropped to about 400 each day.

He, however, appealed to those who are yet to collect their cards to do so to avoid the usual rush towards the grace period.

Buhari threatens to back out of Abuja Accord

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

Says he'll return insult, attacks on his person

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BUJA — PRESIDENTIAL candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, General Muhammadu Buhari (ret) has threatened to back out of the historic Abuja peace accord should the political allies of President Goodluck Jonathan continue with their insults and verbal attacks on his person.

He also warned that no one should regard his patriotic commitment to maintaining national peace for weakness, stressing that neither President Jonathan nor his aides have the monopoly for the “flagrant breaches to the Abuja Peace Accord.”

The APC presidential flagbearer also warned the authorities against interfering with the constitutional duties and operations of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, or surreptitiously hound its chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, out of office before the expiration of his tenure.

Buhari’s outburst followed the recent actions of Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State whom he said wished him dead in a paid advertorial and the DirectorGeneral of the People’s Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organization, PDPPCO, who he said had repeatedly thrown tantrums over his academic qualifications.

President Jonathan, Buhari and other 12 presidential candidates on January 10, 2014 signed a peace pact to resist violence before, during and after the general elections.

Speaking in a press conference in Abuja, yesterday, Buhari through the Director, Media, Information Management Directorate of his Support Organization, otherwise called, BSO, Dr. Chidi Maduekwe, said it was time the presidential allies stopped attacking his person.

Maduekwe recalled that upon the postponement of the general elections which ordinarily would have prompted aggressions, Buhari camp swiftly appealed to its supporters to be calm in the

MEETING: From left: Registrar, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON, Alhaji Garba Kankarofi; representative of Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, DirectorGeneral, Mr Sola Atere; Managing Director, Nagarta Radio Kaduna, Alhaji Lawal YusufSaulawa and former National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, Director-General, Dr Tom Adaba at the NBC meeting with broadcast chief executives in Abuja. Photo: NAN. interest of the nation and the peace accord, wondering why the political associates of President Jonathan had continued to flout the peace accord.

He said: “We are all witnesses to the recent postponement of 2015 elections by INEC on the grounds that security chiefs could not guarantee security at polls.

“While the postponement may have been within the constitutional window, the excuse on security seemed not quite germane. This sudden shift became acceptable to us for the sake of the overall interest for national peace. Our teeming supporters were urgently appealed to maintain calm with the assurances that six weeks will soon pass by as if it were just six days.

“Regrettably, following this postponement, PDP government, acting in cohort with the close aides and associates of Mr. President, have been falling head over hills among themselves as they compete on who delivers most acidic insult, abuse, incendiary words and inflammatory remarks on our

revered Presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.

“These actions are all in breach of the Abuja Peace Accord jointly signed by all the presidential candidates. This is totally unacceptable and consequently we cannot continue to guarantee the tolerance limit of our teeming supporters nationwide who are daily being inundated with death wish commentaries on the person of General Muhammadu Buhari.

“It has become imperative to ask Mr. President to rein in his aides if he must be seen to walk his talk that, his ambition is not worth any spill of human blood.

His aides and associates are disingenuously currently working at cross purposes to this his favourite cliché by daily fanning the ambers of hate, pursuance of death wish and even going as far as stalking of GMB outside shores of this country.

“The memories of a nearly successful assassination attempt on the life of GMB is still fresh in our mind. Our patience, our

meekness, our prayerfulness and our patriotic commitment to maintaining the national peace should not be misconstrued for weakness.

“Let it be stated clearly that Mr. President’s aides and political associates do not possess the monopoly for flagrant breaches to the Abuja Peace Accord. The hour has come to henceforth disallow these psychopathic sociopaths that have taken over the megaphone of Mr. President and tell them in very clear terms that enough is enough. We are ready to rise to the occasion to take down any unwarranted, baseless and inflammatory condemnation shot in our direction henceforth.

“We call on Mr. President to show full commitment to the terms and conditionality of the Abuja Peace Accord jointly entered into and rein in his aides and political associates from further infuriating commentaries ,hate speeches and to stop over heating the polity with their incendiary remarks.”

POLLS: PDP Reps give Jonathan conditions for support

By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North

A

BUJA — AS preparations for the Presidential polls slated for March 28 intensify, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, lawmakers in the House of Representatives have put forward a number of demands for President Goodluck Jonathan to meet as a condition for supporting him to win the March 28 election.

Top on the list of demands is the immediate refund of the campaign funds expended by the members who were denied tickets by their state governors, after paying for the party tickets and mobilising their supporters for the controversial primaries, which they claimed were manipulated by governors and top party leaders to favour their cronies.

The aggrieved lawmakers, many of who will be contesting their popularity at the polls on the same day with Jonathan, also demanded that the president should urgently intervene by directing the party under his leadership to take over their campaign sponsorship, having emerged as candidates of the party.

But in doing so, the lawmakers strongly advised the President not to channel such funding through the party’s National Working Committee, NWC, or their state governors but to make it directly to those contesting election on the same day with him.

The argument of the lawmakers is that their campaigns should have been taken over from the date they emerged victorious at the primaries instead of allowing them to suffer on their own in the name of the party.

The lawmakers, made up of those who managed to secure re-election ticket and those who lost out during the controversial primaries conducted by the ruling party last December, tabled their grievances before Jonathan at a no-holds-barred meeting called by the President at the Presidential Villa, weekend.

Vanguard learnt from numerous sources that no fewer than 104 PDP lawmakers attended the crucial meeting, which afforded them the opportunity for the first time to present misgivings against the party and its leaders at the state and national levels before Jonathan, who is the national leader of the party.

10— Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

OSHODI MAYHEM: 3 killed, vehicles

burnt as NURTW, hoodlums clash

By Evelyn Usman, Bose Adelaja & Esther Onyegbula

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AGOS—COMMERCIAL activities were grounded for the better part of yesterday at the densely populated Oshodi area of Lagos, following a renewed clash between factions of the National Union of Transport Workers, NURTW, which left three persons dead and several others injured.

Several vehicles were also burnt by the rampaging motor park touts, who freely engaged themselves with dangerous weapons. Police sources put the number of vehicles burnt at 11, while traders who partially witnessed the fracas, said over 30 vehicles were burnt.

Among those who lost their lives was a man said to have been hit by a stray bullet while on his way to work. His identity was given as Mr Amuche Ogbonna.

Although the Lagos State Police Command confirmed that only one person lost his life, Vanguard gathered that three persons were killed in the mayhem.

Yesterday’s clash was a spillover from last week’s supremacy fight over control of parks in the Oshodi area by NURTW members, which was allegedly hijacked by urchins, commonly called Area Boys. It reportedly started at Babalola area of Mushin last Thursday between members of the union and some loyalists of political parties, and later spread to other parts of Mushin and Oshodi, where scores of persons were injured and about nine vehicles burnt.

Trouble started, yesterday, when some law enforcement agents carried out a raid in Mosafejo area in the process of which 20 hoodlums who reside in motor parks were arrested.

By Abdulwahab Abdulah

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MAYHEM: Part of the burnt Mosafejo Motor Park/market as a result of a renewed clash between factions of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, which led to the death of three persons, while many vehicles were burnt at Oshodi in Lagos. Photo: Bunmi Azeez.

Raiding of Mosafejo area

The raid, Vanguard gathered, led to an argument between the factions. While a faction hailed the action, the rival faction whose members were arrested kicked against it, saying it was orchestrated by its rival faction. The argument degenerated into a fight where one of the factions was reportedly overpowered.

However, things got worse, yesterday, after the defeated faction reinforced and launched a counter attack. The counter attack was said to have started as early as 3.30 a.m., after one of the warring factions was said to have stormed Mosafejo market and set some commercial buses parked inside a park there ablaze. The burnt vehicles were said to belong to members of the rival faction.

In the process, two fire trucks said to be on their way to contain a fire incident involving a warehouse at Kayode Street, Onipanu area of the state, were prevented from continuing their journey. But for providence, the fire trucks would have also been set ablaze by the

SERAP seeks withdrawal of compulsory insurance for students

People raising their hands in compliance with Police order as they walked past the scene of the renewed clash between members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers at Oshodi in Lagos, yesterday. Photo: NAN. (Inset); Some of the burnt veicles. rampaging groups.

When news of the invasion reached the rival faction, they stormed the market and started burning all the commercial vehicles in the park.

Owners of some of the parked commercial buses, who got wind of the fracas reportedly rushed to the park with a view to salvaging their vehicles.

Unfortunately, some of them reportedly lost them to the fire.

A victim speaks

One of the victims; Okechukwu Emmanuel, told Vanguard, “I heard the report at 4a.m. When I rushed down, the whole place was on fire. I attempted rushing into the park to take my buses which I

bought on hire purchase. But I was almost choked by thick smoke. I had to leave when members of the warring faction were approaching where I was.”

The incident caused a gridlock on both ends of the busy expressway. Traders on their part could not open their shops for the better part of the day. Several motorists, who dared to drive through the war zone had their windscreens smashed while hoodlums cashed in on the crisis to dispossess innocent and helpless Lagosians of their valuables.

Text messages were sent to loved ones to avoid the route .

As at 4p.m., the gridlock caused by the crisis was still evident.

Quelling the situation

It reportedly took the joint effort of both conventional and Mobile policemen including soldiers from the 9 Brigade of the Ikeja Cantonment, to quell the situation.

At press time, pedestrians were asked to raise their hands and walk by soldiers, in order to filter innocent passersby from hoodlums, who might want to take advantage of the crowd to flee.

Spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, Kenneth Nwosu, disclosed that nine persons have been arrested in connection with the mayhem, saying that only one person died in the crisi.

AGOS—SOCIOEconomic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has called on the United Nations to prevail on the Federal Government of Nigeria to withdraw the compulsory insurance scheme imposed on students of the Federal Government Colleges under the pretence of protecting them against insurgency.

SERAP in a petition to four United Nations Special Rapporteurs and the Special Envoy on Global Education, urged them to use their “good offices and positions to urgently request the Nigerian government to immediately and unconditionally withdraw exploitative insurance scheme imposed on the students on the excuse of protecting them against attacks and violence by Boko Haram.”

In the letter addressed to Mr. Kishore Singh, Special Rapporteur on the right to education; Mr. Chaloka Beyani, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons; Mr. Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights; Mr. Ben Emmerson, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, and Mr Gordon Brown, Office of the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, SERAP said the move was an abuse of office.

SERAP’s Executive Director, Mr Adetokunbo Mumuni, said: “We consider this insurance scheme to constitute an abusive practice and renouncement of the obligation by the government to provide education as a public good. The insurance scheme also flies into face of prohibited grounds of discrimination and amounts to exploitation of the students and parents involved, and a shocking attack on the right of access to education.

“Rather than expanding public educational opportunities for all Nigerian children especially children from poor families, the government is restricting them, and commercialising education.InitsresponsetotheBoko Haram, the government has not prioritised the right of children to quality education. Many Nigerian children are driven to Cameroon as refugees and made to recite Cameroon national anthem as a precondition for attending school."

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 — 11

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12—Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

PDP's perfected plot to rig polls, alleges Oshiomhole It's an invention by the gov—PDP

By Simon Ebegbulem & Gabriel Enogholase

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ENIN—GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state has perfected plans to rig the forthcoming general elections on March 28 and April 11.

According to the governor, some PDP chieftains have allegedly made overtures to senior military officers to assist them in ensuring that PDP thugs were given easy passage during the polls to carry out their rigging plot.

Oshiomhole, said: “Politicians are already making contact with senior military officers under the 4 Brigade, asking them to assist their thugs in buying rubbers (arm bands) of various colours to distinguish PDP thugs from All Progressives Congress, APC, officials to have special stickers that would be used in identifying their people.”

But the PDP in the state, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Chris Nehikhare, denied the allegation and accused Edo State Government of raising political tension in the state in what it described as “unguarded, careless and reckless statements unbecoming of a government and a governor.”

Also, state PDP Chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, in his reaction, said: “If there is any person that has anything close to a uniform, it is the governor who is used to wearing khaki.

I want to say that the statements of the governor are the last desperate expression of a drowning political actor.

“Having realised that Edo teachers have now rejected him, Edo judicial workers have rejected him, local government workers are rejecting him; the teachers and market women have rejected him; victims of his demolition exercise are rejecting him at the next election and victims of those whose landed property he wants to forcefully acquire, are also crying out louder rejecting him. Even the tax payers who have been made to pay multiple taxes have come to a conclusion that this election, they will use their voting power to say no to APC and Adams Oshiomhole.

“Governor Oshiomhole has quickly invented a story line to explain his inevitable defeat at the polls by accusing and

giving reasons for his impending defeat, that PDP wants to use the army to rig the election. He should retract the statement. The statement is irresponsible and untrue.”

Oshiomhole appealed to the military to resist being used to subvert the will of the people, saying, “I plead with you in the name of God, let your officers resist the overture of politicians. I know that in this state and in this country, we have had good elections. They probably weren't perfect, but many believed that they were a substantial improvement on previous ones.”

He said the failure of the country to get her acts right on free and fair election had made

her the butt of jokes even on the African continent.

He said: “Recently, I was watching Channels Television and I had mixed feelings when some people in South Africa organised a protest to President Zuma’s office asking the South African Government to show interest in what was happening in the country. We ought to be their teacher because while they were being ruled on the basis of colour, we were regarded as a Frontline State. Young school children were asked to contribute money to get South Africa free.

Today, South Africa now lectures us about democracy.

So, we have stripped ourselves naked so that even children

are beginning to peep at our private parts.”

Speaking during a courtesy visit to his office, by MajorGeneral Sanusi Muazu, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2 Division, Ibadan, Oshiomhole, said: “We will do our best to continue with the armed forces as an integral part of the state and we trust that you will ensure that the vote counts and that no selfish officer allows himself to be used to intimidate electoral officers.”

In his remarks, the GOC commended the governor for his developmental strides and his support to the officers and men of the Nigerian Army in the state.

Delta APC gov candidate visits UPU exco

By Onoja Innocent

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ELTA State All Progressives Congress, APC, and its governorship candidate, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, have paid a courtesy visit to the executive of the faction of the Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, under the leadership of Chief Tuesday Onoge, promising to support and promote Urhobo interest.

Speaking during the visit, the APC state Chairman, Prophet Jones Erue, said the party decided to pay the courtesy call to the Chief Tuesday Onoge-led executive of the UPU because they believed he is fighting the course of Urhobo nation, adding that Chief Onoge is an upright man, who believes in the progress of the Urhobo nation.

Erue noted that the visit was also to thank UPU executive for standing for the truth despite all odds, saying that the acting President-General is a man of integrity who believes in justice and fairness.

A-Ibom CJ tasks journalists on fair reporting

By Chioma Onuegbu COMMISSIONING: First Lady, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan flanked by Cross River State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke and wife Obioma Liyel Imoke (l) and Mrs Ekaette Godswill Akpabio, wife of Akwa Ibom State governor(r), during the commissioning of the 6,000 capacity ultra-modern Ikom Township Stadium, prior to the PDP National Women Rally in Ikom, Cross River State, yesterday.

Why my husband should be re-elected, by Dame Jonathan

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HE First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, yesterday, gave reasons why President Goodluck Jonathan deserves to be reelected for a second term.

The First Lady, who was in Ikom, Cross River State, in continuation of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, nationwide women rally to solicit votes for her husband, said President Jonathan has performed well to earn a second term in office.

Speaking shortly after commissioning the 6,000 sitting capacity ultra- modern Ikom Township Stadium, Mrs Jonathan, said: “I came to

thank you for keeping your promise in 2011 to vote for my husband, and I want to use this opportunity to appeal to you to repeat the same thing in the March 28 presidential election.”

According to the First Lady, her husband, during his first tenure has performed tremendously well and impacted positively on the lives of the people especially women.

Mrs. Jonathan reminded the over crowd of female politicians that in 2011, her husband promised to give women 35 percent appointment in line with the

affirmative action which he did through political and elective offices, adding that “Now we are in 2015, and he will do more for the nation and women in particular.”

She listed the progress made by the PDP-led Federal Government to include improvement in health care delivery where infant mortality rate has dropped drastically, establishment of federal universities in all the 36 states of the federation, instituted developmental programmes to empower women and youth and the construction of 125 Amajiri schools to take kids off the street and give them hope for the future.

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YO—THE Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Justice Idongesit Ntem-Isua, has called on media practitioners in the state to ensure reponsible and fair reporting of ongoing political campaigns and elections coming up next month.

Chairing a two-day workshop for journalists and civil society organisations, organised by VIBRAM Nigeria Ltd., in collaboration with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Department of State Service, and the Nigeria Police, Justice Ntem-Isua said balanced and fair reportage of the 2015 elections would avert political violence.

She emphasised that the media must play very important role in informing and educating the masses on election issues without bias and favouritism.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015—13

GREAT OGBORU CAMPAIGN ORGANISATION VISITS VANGUARD NEWSPAPER'S HEAD OFFICE IN LAGOS

VISIT: From left: Mr. Peter Omaruaye, Director-General, Great Ogboru Campaign Organisation; Chief Great Ogboru, governorship candidate of Labour Party in Delta State and Chief Tony Ezeagu, Chairman of the party, during a visit by the governorship candidate and his campaign team to Vanguard Newspaper head office in Apapa, Lagos, yesterday. Photos: Bunmi Azeez

Chief Great Ogboru (left) and Chief Tony Ezeagu, Labour Party Chairman

Front row, from left: Mr. Bamieho Eyeoyibo, Delta State House of Assembly candidate, Warri North; Mrs. Miranda Moshaghe; Chief Ogboru; Chief Ezeagu, Chairman of the party and Chief Evance Ivwurie, House of Assembly candidate, representing Ethiope-East Local Goverment.

From left: Mr. Zik Zulu-Okafor; Mr. Charles Nwanei; Mr. Doyin Iyiola and Chief Ivwurie, Labour Party's Delta State House of Assembly candidate, representing Ethiope East.

How NPS foiled attempted jail break in Calabar Prison

By Kingsley Omonobi

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B U J A — A N attempted jail break in Calabar Prison, Cross River State, has been foiled by officers and men of the Nigerian Prisons Service, NPS, with the support of the Army and Police, with eight prisoners killed, and 17 wounded, while prison wardens were also injured.

NPS Public Relations Officer, Enobore Francis, in a statement, yesterday, in Abuja, explaining how the jail-break was foiled, said: “Trouble started when, on February 20, 2015 at 11a.m., two cells housing some awaiting trial prisoners were opened, as a normal routine, for the inmates to take their baths.

About four of them walked up to an escort staff to complain that they were tired of staying in the prison awaiting justice and wanted to be taken to court.

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“The staff on duty appealed to them to exercise patience for courts to resume sitting as they were currently on strike but this fell on deaf ears. Other prisoners soon joined in the agitation to be taken to court and in a spontaneous reaction, pounced on the staff, advanced through the Chief Warden's office, destroying all the adjoining doors before gaining access to the gate lodge.

“They eventually broke into the armoury situated in the gate lodge and collected three riffles, went to the yard and started firing sporadically.

“Warning shots fired by armed men on guard duty outside the perimeter fence did not deter them. The prisoners rather went to the rear of the perimeter fence and fired several shots at the wall to weaken the blocks. Thereafter, they

used a concrete slab to hit open the weakened wall, making a large hole through which they jumped out, still firing at anything in sight.

“They were, however, engaged in a gun battle with the armed squad personnel assisted by the Army and Policemen and at the end, eight of the prisoners died, 17 were injured, four staff were also injured with one of them having serious wounds."

Uduaghan decries abandonment of government in model school by church reconstructing it.

By Emma Amaize

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SHAKA—ONE of the model secondary schools in Delta State, reconstructed and handed over to the Catholic Church by the Delta State Government has been abandoned.

The state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, was livid when he saw the school, Saint Mary Magdalene Grammar

School, Ashaka, Ndokwa East Local Government Area, overgrown with weeds.

Uduaghan, who was in the area to commission the 14.7 kilometer Ashaka-Aboh Road, directed the Ministry of Basic and Primary Education to find out from the church, why the school was allowed to be overrun by weeds after the huge resources spent by

He indicated that government would take over the school if no cogent reason was given for the abandonment, adding that there were many Deltans who desire free education from government.

The governor urged missionaries who could not maintain the schools handed over to them to notify government, rather than allow them to rot away.

14 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 — 15

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY FIRE: PDP alleges plot by Elechi’s supporters to torch dep gov’s lodge, others

By Peter Okutu

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BAKALIKI—THE leadership of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ebonyi State yesterday alleged that desperate supporters of Governor Martin Elechi were those behind the fire which took place at the state House of Assembly complex in the early hours of Tuesday.

It further alleged that the group was equally plotting to burn down the deputy governor’s lodge, the campaign secretariat of the deputy governor, the state party secretariat and speaker’s lodge, in their desperation to create an atmosphere of insecurity and political unrest in the state.

According to the party, no amount of desperation by the leadership and members of Labour Party, LP will hinder President Goodluck Jonathan and the state PDP governorship candidate, Engr. Dave Umahi, from winning at the polls.

In a statement by the Acting state chairman, Acting state Secretary and state Publicity Secretary, Chief Joseph Onwe, Chief Simon

Anyigor and Apostle Benjamin Obaji respectively, the party pointed out that Governor Martin Elechi was no longer fit as a credible leader of the party in the state, following his anti-party activities.

“We, therefore, urge the President and the national leadership of PDP to stop inviting Governor Martin Elechi and his wife for strategic meetings.

“They should be regarded as

members of two opposition political parties, namely the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Labour Party as Martin Elechi is never and will never be what he claims to be. And if anyone is in doubt, he should ask any major stakeholder in Ebonyi State,” the party said.

Meanwhile, Ebonyi State Deputy Coordinator of PDP Presidential Campaign Organization, Ambassador

Frank Ogbuewu, has described as false the claim in some quarters that the governor was supporting President Goodluck Jonathan’s reelection bid.

According to the former Minister of Culture and Tourism, Governor Martin Elechi cannot be claiming to support President Jonathan when he (Elechi) never participated in any PDP rally, including its flag-off in Ikwo local government area of the state.

Enugu to recruit 5,000 primary schl teachers

By Francis Igata

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NUGU—WORRIED by the decline in the number of primary school teachers across the local government areas in the state, Enugu State government has announced its plan to recruit 5,000 teachers to fill existing vacancies.

Commissioner for Education, Professor Uchechukwu Okolo, made the revelation during the flag-off of Local Government Areas, LGA, Education

Management Information System,EMIS, rollout in the state, supported by Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria,ESSPIN. Okolo said: “The planing of the education sector will not be complete without a credible database. The database we will formulate, will be domiciled in the local government areas to enable us manage education properly.

“This database will afford government an opportunity to

know how many teachers are retiring in the sector. As it is now, over 5,000 teacher vacancies exist in the state. If we had an EMIS in place, we would know when to recruit teachers to replace these vacancies.

“The lack of EMIS over the years has not helped government run the education sector well.

Now, Enugu state government will recruit teachers to fill the vacancies. What we are battling now is the logistics associated with the recruitment.''

59th UN CWS: FG tasks women on sustainable post-2015 goals

By Funmi Olasupo

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BUJA—AHEAD of the 59th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women CSW, in New York, the Federal Government has tasked women and experts on the push for sustainable development Post-2015 agenda at the session.

The session is slated for March 9-20, 2015.

This, it said, involved the advocacy for stand-alonegoal for gender equality and mainstreaming of gender consideration across all aspects of the sustainable development goals which will form the post-2015 Agenda.

Speaking at a One-day National Stakeholders’ Consultative Preparatory Meeting on the 59th Session of The UN CSW in Abuja, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Zainab Maina, stated that the session would focus on the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 20 years after its adoption at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, in 1995.

She said the meeting was also expected to address current challenges affecting the implementation, achievement of gender equality as well as the empowerment of women in the last 20 years.

Obiano flags off work on Umueri Airport road

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OVERNOR of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, has flagged off the four-lane road that will lead to the proposed cargo airport at Umueri in Anambra East Local Government Area of the state.

Obiano, who stormed the venue for the flag off along Aguleri-Otuocha-Umueri expressway with the members of his cabinet and APGA chieftains declared that in flagging off construction work on the proposed road, his administration was symbolically opening up the entire area for accelerated development.

He said that about 300 people would be employed during the construction of Umueri Airport Road.

The governor disclosed that Anambra State government had signed on a South African gas exploration company, known as Lubcon, to work on its newly approved ANWell 1, the state’s first gas well that has been proven to host a large deposit of gas.

According to him, the South African firm will be “producing 100 megawatts of electricity from the gas that will be mined from the well. With this volume of electricity, the power supply needs of this zone and beyond will be met.

“This will also attract investors from other places who may want to set up their operations here and take advantage of the steady power supply.”

The governor also explained that his administration was expediting action on all uncompleted roads in the zone to ensure an effective link-up among the communities, adding that his administration had outlined programmes that would help stimulate domestic growth in the state.

‘Buhari’s diplomatic shuttle good for Nigeria'

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N U G U — SPOKESMAN of All Progressives Congress, APC, in the South East, Mr Osita Okechukwu, has called on Nigerians to see the present diplomatic shuttle overseas by the party ’s presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) as a good omen.

According to him, the

APC presidential hopeful is using the occasion to reassure the international community that Nigeria’s democracy is on course, contrary to the wrong impression already created.

Addressing a town hall meeting at Agbani, Nkanu local government area of Enugu State yesterday, Okechukwu said: “As

General Muhammadu Buhari steps out to address the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, London, we are sure that he will correct the foul impression of our fledgling democracy left

by Colonel Sambo Dasuki, the National Security Adviser, penultimate week.

16 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

FACES @ EX-PRESIDENT SHEHU SHAGARI'S 90TH BIRTHDAY IN SOKOTO, YESTERDAY.

L-r: Alhaji Shehu Shagari being assisted to cut the cake

by President Goodluck Jonathan.

From left: former Head of State, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar; former Head of Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan; former Military President Ibrahim Babangida; former President Shehu Shagari, (the celebrator); President Goodluck Jonathan and former Head of State, Gen Yakubu Gowon at the occassion. PHOTOS: NAN. (LEFT) Former President Olusegun Obasanjo exchanging pleasantries with Alhaji Shehu Shagari

(RIGHT)Chief Ernest Shonekan exchanging pleasantries with Gen Babangida on arrival at the occasion.

(RIGHT) Alhaji Shehu Shagari conferring with Speaker, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal.

Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal with President Jonathan.

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The General (Gowon) and the Celebrator (Shagari).

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 — 17

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AST weekend in Lagos, activist lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), announced the emergence of a new organization, dedicated to the protection of the democratic project in Nigeria. The new organization is called Nigerians United for Democracy (NUD).

The new body is a clear indication that Nigerian activists are prepared to go back to the trenches to defend the hard won space of democracy in our country.

This new initiative was triggered by anger at the decision taken by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to postpone by six weeks, the elections initially scheduled to commence on February 14th.

It was clear that INEC had been forced by the nation’s security apparatus to postpone the elections, despite public declaration by the election management body, that it was ready to conduct the elections from February 14th.

Postponed elections It was instructive that INEC had declared that it was better prepared for the postponed elections, than it was for the 2011 elections, which brought President Goodluck Jonathan to power. The president, his party and supporters had regularly boasted those elections as having been free and fair!

The context and reality in 2015 had changed considerably; and while a security excuse was dropped on INEC’s lap as blackmail, potent enough to force the hands of the commission; it was clear that something was gravely rotten in the state of Denmark, to paraphrase

Nigerians are united for democracy Shakespeare!

In the days since INEC was boxed into a security corner, leading to the subsequent elections postponement, a lot came to the fore, which underscore the extent of scheming by anti-democratic forces in the country.

There is the vulgar, orchestrated campaign against the National Chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega. The same man who presided over the 2011 elections which they laud to high heavens was suddenly turned to the straw man of a desperate group of reactionary individuals and groups, whose sole purpose was to engineer Professor Jega’s exit from INEC. His “crime” from their perspective, is his fierce independence and refusal to be influenced or bent in a direction to achieve a certainty that their candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, will be assured of a shoehorn into a new term into office. A group of reactionary old men, centred around the selfdeclared “Ijaw Leader”, Chief EK

Clarke, and including such individuals as Dr. Femi Okuronmu and Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, has been at the forefront of a scurrilous campaign attempting to turn Professor Attahiru Jega into the issue in the 2015 elections.

They issued a particularly irresponsible accusation that the INEC Chairman was coordinating activities with the Northern Elders’ Forum, to ensure that General Muhammadu Buhari emerged winner of the presidential election.

At the weekend, Ezeife expressed the minds of members of the reactionary clique when he told SUNDAY SUN newspaper that: “I don’t even want the elections to go ahead, if it must be conducted by Jega, as chairman of INEC”.

Without even any sense of shame, the former Anambra state governor openly stated their desire, demanding that Professor Attahiru Jega either resigns or be suspended.

If the coming elections leads to Nigeria’s “death” (Nigeria’s

The tragic killing of Prof. Ahmad Mustapha Falaki

O

N February 14, 2015, Prof. Ahmad Mustapha Falaki, Director of the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR), at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, was killed in still unexplained circumstances in a village called Fala, in the Kibiya local government area of Kano state.

The professor, his younger brother, Abbas and driver, were returning to Kano, from a visit to Bauchi state. It was Abbas, who narrated that they had stopped over to have lunch as well as change a tyre on their vehicle, when a group of armed men, suspected to be members of Boko Haram, approached on several motorcycles.

They stopped at the spot where the tyre was being changed and at gunpoint, seized Prof. Falaki’s SUV and drove away. The Boko Haram members had earlier attacked the police station in neighbouring Kibiya town.

Prof. Falaki and the two people with him entered the village and narrated their experience to sympathetic villagers who offered to help secure vehicles to take them to Kano.

Falaki made telephone calls to his family and colleagues in Zaria.

Not long after, policemen who had

been alerted by the village head arrived the village. They interviewed the travellers who verified their identity with official identity cards. But the police amazingly announced them to villagers as “Boko Haram members”.

That led to a mob attack on the three individuals. Professor Falaki died on the spot, while Abbas and driver sustained injuries. The policemen seemed to have triggered the orgy of violence with their incredible announcement; and that led to the tragic death of an outstanding intellectual, a decent family man and patriot, by the accounts of all those who knew the professor.

Collateral destruction The Boko Haram insurgency has claimed the lives of thousands of our compatriots in different parts of Northern Nigeria. The collateral destruction of lives have been constant and central to the barbarity of the insurgency and because most of those that have been involved, have often been poor people in poor communities, the tragic poignancy of the losses have not often been overlooked in narratives about the Boko

Haram killings.

But the killing of a leading Nigerian intellectual like Prof.

Ahmad Falaki, has brought to the fore the depth of the tragedy that our people have dealt with over the past six years. It has also brought into focus the activities of the Nigerian Police Force and the general behaviour of our various security forces.

If it is true that the police provoked the orgy of violence that led to Professor Falaki’s death, then those involved must be brought to book. Thankfully, the Inspector General of Police has given assurance this week, that the circumstances which led to Prof. Ahmad Falaki’s death, will be investigated.

We hope that will be followed through. We should also hope those who popularised the irresponsible narrative that the Boko haram insurgency was started by Northerners because President Goodluck Jonathan is in power will re-think their irresponsibility!

The poet, John Donne, once said: “Every man’s death diminishes me, because I’m involved in mankind; So never ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee”! Allah ya jikan Professor Ahmad Mustapha Falaki. Amin.

death for these old reactionaries means President Jonathan’s defeat!), then an Interim National Government (ING) should be set up with President Goodluck Jonathan at the helm!

An ING agenda: An Interim National Government (ING) agenda seemed to have taken a life of its own as the desperate last card of those determined to scuttle the democratic project. But it was one that could never fly!

Democratic project Even the Attorney General of the Federation, was forced by circumstance, to state clearly that there was nowhere in Nigerian law that justification can be found for the ING idea. The build up of national and international forces was also making it a dead on arrival idea.

The new pro-democracy body, Nigerians United for Democracy (NUD), also argued that there was no way that President Goodluck Jonathan can lead any so-called Interim National Government.

If it ever appeared tempting before, I think by the beginning of this week, having noticed the unpopularity of the idea, even President Goodluck Jonathan was forced to describe any such tilt towards an ING as illegal. But what remains foggy for Nigerians is the overall agenda of the security apparatus. Yes, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, has assured that the elections will hold at the end of April, but Nigerians are still very suspicious of the cloak-and-

Nigerians are defending democracy because a lot of sacrifice went into winning the democratic spaces that sections of the ruling class are attempting to subvert in 2015

dagger scenario that led to the postponement of the elections in the first place.

War against Boko Haram: The past two weeks have also been particularly interesting on the warfront against Boko haram. The rapid advances against the insurgents have been heart warming, with the Chadians Army taking a string of towns and villages. Similarly, the Nigerian Army also witnessed an arousal of martial pride, with our forces finally going on the offensive and rapidly retaking Monguno and Baga. All of a sudden, there is a concerted information onslaught that seemed targeted at showcasing progress of the war effort as well as to assist the flagging campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Nigerian Airforce jets and attack helicopters began pounding targets in Gwoza, Bama and the Sambisa forest. But most intriguing of all, was the open announcement by President Goodluck Jonathan, that the terrorist leader, Abubakar Shekau, will soon be arrested!

That was the same Shekau that the security forces announced his killing at least twice in the past year!

By the beginning of this week, a new twist emerged as the story went viral in social media, that the order to arrest Shekau, was part of a political dirty tricks campaign. The opposition APC raised an alarm that there was a plot to “frame up” General Muhammadu Buhari; and the proof was in the order to troops to “capture alive Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau”.

Relentless momentum The statement added that “a fake Shekau…will be made to state that he is working” for General Muhammadu Buhari.

The essence of this dastardly plan was to deal a fatal blow against the relentless momentum that the Buhari campaign gathered. The circles that have profited so much from the Jonathan administration in the past six years: from the lumpen warlords in the creeks turned billionaires; the oil subsidy beneficiaries; those privileged to get dubious waivers; through to sundry godfathers, like Chief EK Clarke, are looking at defeat in the face and they are scared stiff!

This is the reason they have been launching all types of antidemocratic agendas. And it is this frightening background that kindled the plan to launch Nigerians United for Democracy (NUD). A National Day of Action has been earmarked for Saturday, February 28th, 2015.

On that day, Nigerians are urged to stand hand-to-hand to send a strong message to government and the Nigerian political elite, that citizens will never tolerate any attempt to interfere with the elections or any step to truncate the democratic process.

Nigerians are defending democracy because a lot of sacrifice went into winning the democratic spaces that sections of the ruling class are attempting to subvert in 2015!

18 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 WHAT do we do when robbery suspects question society ’s morality? We dismiss them as justifying their crime. We found this incident and its knocks on our laws profound. Garba Sani, 24, a private guard accused of robbery, and Okwudili Godwin, 30, said to have received the stolen goods, gave reporters a treatise on commonness of crimes in Nigeria. “ We are not robbers. We have many criminals in Nigeria. Senators are stealing and nobody has ar rested them. We too, we need money. We are jobless, we have nothing. My salary is N12, 000 monthly ,” according to Sani.

Justifying crime is unacceptable, but do their claims nudge our conscience? We assume our society still has conscience.

Does our society care about its members’ wellbeing? Do governments still have responsibilities to the people?

The suspects insisted their crime was milder when weighed against what others did. “ I took the goods to my warehouse at Ikorodu area. Nothing was sold; they have all been recovered intact ,” Okwudili said before adding, “ Have you not committed a crime before? How much are

Robber s Ques tion obbers Question Our Morality they paying you a month that can sustain you and your family? Let me tell you, we are all criminals. We are Nigerians and we have the element of criminality in us ”.

Maybe exaggerated, but many would share the view.

Sani and Okwudili painted the Nigerian situation boldly. They held the grounds that what they did was common in Nigeria, even among the high and mighty.

They questioned the partiality of the law in seeming to target the poor, the weak and those without enough connections to avoid prosecution. Our law tends to be ferociously against ordinary people. Those who cannot afford legal services could be

locked up for decades, awaiting trial. It is hard to fault the position that our law is against them.

How do Nigerians survive without resorting to crimes? Can Nigerians survive without breaking laws or engaging in crimes? Are we so concerned with those who are caught that we forget that so much could be going on undetected? Would the law understand that a country that fails in its responsibilities to its citizens breeds criminals? Why are those who breach the Constitution, after swearing to uphold it, saints?

Section 16 (2d) of the Constitution states, “ The State shall direct its policy towards ensuring that suitable and adequate shelter, suitable and adequate food, reasonable national minimum living wage, old age care and pensions, and unemployment, sick benefits and welfare of the disabled are provided for all citizens .”

Which state policies were premised on the provisions of Section 16 (2d) since 1999?

Unfortunately, robbery suspects are drawing attention to the unconscionable neglect of Nigerians.

OPINION

By Oliver Okpala

T

HE recent happenings in the Ebonyi State House of Assembly needs to be examined critically because of its political and constitutional implication and the danger it poses to the principles of separation of power as contained in the 1999 constitution as amended under our nascent democratic dispensation.

Recently, the Ebonyi State House of Assembly declared vacant, the seat of four legislators of the State House of Assembly on the grounds that they defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to Labour Party in the State.

It is pertinent to mention here that under the 1999 constitution as amended, the House of Assembly of any State must be composed of a minimum of 20 members and maximum of 40 members.

The simple implication of what the Ebonyi State House of Assembly did by declaring the four seats vacant out of its total 24 members and reducing their number to 20 members is that the House now operates with 20 members which is far below the constitutional provision and requirement for the House to function.

In essence, anything done by the Ebonyi State House of Assembly now is illegal and unconstitutional.

In fact, it can be said that technically, the Ebonyi State House of Assembly has seized to exist in the eyes of the law, it has sut itself down. The Assembly has sang its “nunc dimities” it is like cutting the nose to spite the face.

Unless something is done and sanity C M Y K

Checking State Assembly legislative excesses returns, the place of the House in the State as a hollowed chambers has been put to rest.

It is however, debatable whether the Ebonyi State House of Assembly has the power to eclipse itself but it is beyond argument that with 20 members now piloting the affairs of the legislature against the constitutional provision of 20 members minimum, no valid, legal or constitutional action can emanate from the House because the House is improperly and illegally constituted.

The House cannot validly pass bills, resolutions or function as a Legislative House as in law “you cannot give what you don’t have”. For you cannot make laws when you are not a legislator; even any sitting of the House now is illegal.

The issue of declaration of the seats of legislators who have joined other political parties vacant has been in the front banner in recent times.

This issue is now in the domain of our courts and should not be discussed or acted upon as such an action is subjidice and triable.

When the speaker of the Federal House of

INEC will have to conduct fresh elections In the State to fill the vacant positions

Representatives left the PDP to join the APC his former party, the PDP took him to Court to declare his seat vacant and the Court has not handed down any verdict on the issue yet.

Allowing the matter to be decided by the Court first is the Legal procedure which one would have expected the Ebonyi State House of Assembly to follow.

Instead, the House proceeded to declare the seats of the four Legislators vacant when the matter is the subject of a litigation yet to be decided by the Court. This issue of defection is an issue which the judiciary should settle so as to guide against possible violence, anarchy and break-down of law and order in our Legislative Houses round the country.

The action of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly is a dangerous Legislative and political precedence which has the capability of truncating our democratic structure, the rule of law and separation of power.

It is very important to emphasize here that before the House can resume legislative functions, INEC will have to conduct fresh elections In the State to fill the vacant positions to bring the composition of the House to the minimum constitutional requirement of 24 members.

This is not the first time the House has shown total disregard to the constitution.

The assembly should realize that the constitution is a supreme document not a mere piece of paper.

It is this particular Assembly that recently

sat and sacked all the Chairmen of CareTaker Committees of Local Governments in the State duly appointed by the State Government. Whereas it has no power to take such an action.

The issue of appointment of Caretaker or transition Committee Chairmen rests squarely on the shoulders of the Executive arm of the government and not the Legislature.

The Ebonyi State House of Assembly has continued to pass resolutions of the House as if they are laws that must be obeyed by the Executive.

Resolutions of Parliaments all over the world have no force of law, truly they are merely advisory to the Executive and may be accepted or rejected by the Executive.

Our State House of Assembly should know and realize the limits of their powers and avoid the use of brute force in their legislative business.

For a Legislative House to contemplate impeaching a State Governor, on grounds of non-implementation of their resolutions is to descend from the sublime to the ridiculous. It is not an offence that a Governor refused to assent to any bill or resolution of the House. With these developments, it is now imperative that legislators in Eboniyi need some form of orientation for effective discahrge of their duties.

*Mr. Okpala, a political analyst, wrote from Abakalaki, Eboniyi State.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015— 19

Please don’t catch Shekau alive!

O

NE mid-morning early in December last year, I stood in the balcony of my house and watched as aircraft, as usual, lazily came in to land. I live along the very busy international plane route leading to the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos. But this morning, there was something unusual about the incoming flights. Within the space of 45 minutes, I was able to count thirteen Nigerian Air Force Hercules transporters.

I immediately knew Nigeria’s war against Boko Haram was going to take a turn for the better.

There was no other possible explanation. These military cargo hackneys were coming in to haul away an enormous armada of arms and ammunition to the theatre of war in the Nigerian Northeast. It was obvious to me that, at last, the Federal Government under President Goodluck Jonathan, had woken up to the need to act decisively. From day one when terrorists started exploding bombs in churches and government buildings in Abuja and environs, I called for total military action; a decisive burnout

of this threat, ensuring that their sponsors were made to pay the grim price prescribed by law.

The President chose, instead, to dance to the tune of politicians and blackmailers from the North and their collaborators in so-called civil society who are funded from Europe and America. Boko Haram was allowed to metamorphose from a band of rag-tag Islamist outlaws to a fierce multinational military force that abducted 219 girls from their boarding school and established a separatist enclave that consisted of no fewer than sixteen local government areas in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States.

Our once mighty military became a laughing stock, as Boko Haram, aided by saboteurs, staged deadly ambushes, killing our men and capturing our military equipment.

Our soldiers reportedly ran from their insolent bravado, and this midget called Nasir el Rufai jubilantly made fun of our president and armed forces on his Facebook and Twitter forums. Some Northern leaders seemed overjoyed at the bloody “exploits” of Boko Haram though

their own homeland and kinsmen were being decimated. There were fears in the North that it was only a matter of time before Boko Haram swept away the Sokoto Caliphate and took over.

But today, the story is different.

Everybody is now highly expectant that Boko Haram is on the verge of painful extermination. Our once mighty army has resumed its proper stature. The backbone of terror has effectively been broken. Yes, they are still exploding suicide bombs here and there. This is something we may have to live with for some time; something we can completely overcome only with collective vigilance. I am of the firm belief that come March 28th 2015, we will hold the presidential

I vehemently disagree with the President that “Abubakar Shekau”, the putative Boko Haram leader, should be captured alive. He must be terminated as the United States destroyed Osama Bin Laden, and hid away his body at sea

Age of uncertainty: Resignation in protest

W

ILLIAM Shakespeare was essential ly right when he asserted, “What the great ones do, the less we prattle off”. In Nigeria, people change at will from one political party to another. People are known to have belonged to Party ‘A’ in the morning; Party ‘B’ in the evening of the same day; and by sunrise the following day, they were back to Party ‘A’. The known record holders here have hit upwards of nine defections in two years; invariably citing the same vain excuse – “Lack of internal democracy” as the reason for their movements.

This past week, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo decided to make a difference by resigning his membership of the PDP and causing his membership card to be publicly reduced to unrecognizable pieces.

The theatrical around Obasanjo’s membership card is a non-issue. If as a condition for settling with the PDP, Obasanjo wants 1000 cards as replacements for the single one destroyed; the cards would be rushed to his Owu home before sunset. Yet, this is the aspect of his resignation that is receiving people’s attention, thus chasing the shadow and leaving the substance.

Certainly, today’s spate of defections provides a frightening glimpse to our future. The rate at which we are going, it will be possible sometime soon for a sitting President to dump the political party that sponsored his election and move to another one, unchallenged.

Nigerians are perpetually in a state of flux. If you await them in one direction, they will burst out in another. This explains why the numerous laws aimed at checking defections simply come to naught.

Ordinarily, there could be genuine grounds for defection. Members of even the best-run organizations cannot always

C M Y K

escape moments of profound crisis when they must break faith either with the team or with themselves. These crises occur when the leadership of an institution suddenly embarks on a course of action that is incompatible with a member’s private ethical standards or judgment.

Sometimes, the member tries to change the policy from within, using approved procedures, but fails. Should he quietly go along with the team or should he dissociate himself from it? The choice is his. After all, he has the rest of his life to live with himself.

When a man quits from his team, he is duty-bound to tell the people why. This is where many decampees have always failed the acid test of proper resignation. At the point of entry, they filled and signed application forms with their bio-data and other details about themselves properly entered into the membership register before being issued with membership cards. At the exit point, it is not enough to simply mount a public exhibition; tear their membership cards; and announce their resignation from the party.

From the legal viewpoint, these decampees are still members of multiple political parties. In just the same way that a divorce is not consummated until you go

Today’s spate of defections succeeds in cheapening the political process; lending credence to the aphorism that politics is a dirty game; and portraying politicians as crass opportunists

election in all polling units in Nigeria. That would be victory, not just for our president but also for all Nigerians.

In his recent interview with THISDAY Newspaper, President Jonathan admitted, in his usual candid manner, that he had under-estimated Boko Haram at first. Well, I did not. On this forum, I shouted myself hoarse that we should not be drawn to any dialogue with Boko Haram because you cannot dialogue with revolutionaries. You either overwhelm them or they overcome you and take over. I warned the federal government not to listen to those who wanted to make Boko Haram seem like the Northern version of the Niger Delta militants who accepted amnesty and post-amnesty packages in exchange for peace. I advised that those in the media, civil society and political platforms calling for “dialogue” wanted to buy time for the terrorists.

Rather than listen to people like us, President Jonathan chose to listen to them. Before long, the Chibok girls were abducted in April last year. He even fell for a fluke offer by Boko Haram to release the girls in August last year. The terrorists seized that opportunity to sweep out of Sambisa Forest into Southern Borno and Northern Adamawa. They dealt the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alex Badeh the ignominy of overrunning his hometown, Vimtim, and burning his country home.

I congratulate the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) and the generality

to the authorities that performed the marriage, membership of a political party cannot be terminated merely by rushed press conferences.

There are spices of goodness, even in things evil. In its negative form of today, defections offer escape routes from an oppressive regime.

What else could have removed us from the claws of an authoritarian group that vowed to continuously rule us for 60 years in the first instance?

And the ugly situation before us today is still an improvement over what we had at inception. At that time, a parliamentarian could be in one party in the morning and in the afternoon of the same day, he was in another party within the same parliament. It was that easy and cheap.

The cress-cross between parties was like a coup d’état.

The NCNC got its baptism in Western Nigeria in the 1951 elections. Although the Action Group, AG, won a plurality of the votes in the election, its prospects were dim as the NCNC was poised for an overwhelming majority with the support of an Ibadan Community Party, which was its ally.

On the day of inauguration, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe watched, to his chagrin, as some members of his NCNC carpet-crossed to the AG side and that was how Chief Obafemi Awolowo-led AG obtained the needed majority to form the government of then Western Nigeria.

This goes down in history as the beginning of ethnic politics in Nigeria. By 1954, Nnamdi Azikiwe returned to Enugu where he became the Premier of then Eastern Region in an apparent overthrow of Chief Eyo Ita who held sway before then.

of the people of Nigeria, in advance of our impending victory. The joy belongs to all of us, though many of us misbehaved terribly and even mortgaged our consciences to the devil and enemy of our nation at one point or the other.

Let the President and the rest of us learn the lessons. We should never shy away from confronting a challenge no matter how sensitive it appears. Niccolo Machiavelli says if you inflict pain on people and solve a problem, the injury, no matter how deep, is soon forgotten when the problem is solved. If Jonathan had swooped on Boko Haram and their collaborators way back in 2012, nobody would be talking about any egg broken in making that omelette by now. In fact, it would be counted as part of the president’s achievements.

Secondly, I agree with President Jonathan: we must rebuild the North East. The fact that Nigeria never rebuilt Igboland after it was flattened during the Biafra war will not make me to suggest we neglect the North East. But it must not be a precipitate action. It must be carefully worked out, ensuring that the youth that played roles on both sides are properly rehabilitated into civilised society.

I vehemently disagree with the President that “Abubakar Shekau”, the putative Boko Haram leader, should be captured alive. He must be terminated as the United States destroyed Osama Bin Laden, and hid away his body at sea. ‘Shekau” in detention, prison or identified grave will be a cancer on the body of Nigeria.

Jihadists from all over the world will have their eyes on him, and you know what that means!

Don’t play with fire. NEVER CAPTURE “SHEKAU” ALIVE!

The framers of our Republican Constitution frowned at the situation where it was easier for politicians to change political parties than changing their underwear. This was the genesis of the present Section 68(1)(g) and 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution, which stipulate that a legislator shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if he defects from the party that sponsored his election before the expiration of the period for which the House was elected.

Again, the cure for democracy is more democracy. The founding fathers were soon torn between flexibility and rigidity; and between freedom of association and denial of that freedom. They foresaw a situation where political parties could become so tyrannical to the extent of being overbearing on the elected official. They created a small window, which permitted the elected official to retain his seat if his defection was as a result of a division in his former party. This has since become an escape route for most decampees.

On balance, today’s spate of defections succeeds in cheapening the political process; lending credence to the aphorism that politics is a dirty game; and portraying politicians as crass opportunists. There must be an end to this embezzlement of public trust which reduces those involved to purchasable commodities and direct beneficiaries from their own crimes.

We must also stop celebrating decampees.

Whosoever wants to move from one party to another should do so quietly, possibly with a sense of loss and trepidation.

20 — Vanguard, THURSDAY THURSDAY,, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Expressions of joy, hope as IDPs return home

By Manzo Ezekiel

M

ALLAM Mohammed Muhammadu, a suya meat seller in Gombi town, is excited being back to his business after his displacement and forced sojourn as a result of attack by insurgents on the town. His experience is same as that of many other returnees who were similarly displaced and also suffered untold hardship following the unlawful invasion of their towns and communities by terrorists in North Eastern Nigeria.

The reigns of terror have since ended in many of the affected communities with the stepping up of military campaigns by the Nigerian armed forces which have succeeded in flushing out the insurgents and making the areas safe enough for the displaced people to return home.

While the military action continues, humanitarian measures, spearheaded by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, at the behest of President Goodluck Jonathan, have begun to be deployed to meet the needs of the returnees and the affected communities.

Assessment visits Beginning with Adamawa State, the President’s message of hope to the returnees was delivered by the Minister of Youth Development Mr Boni Haruna, a former governor of the state.

The assessment visits in Adamawa State have seen the Federal Government’s team, led by the Minister of Youth Development, and comprising representative of NEMA’s Director General, staff of the Agency and the state officials, touring all affected areas. The Red Cross also joined in the visits to about eight affected local government areas which are Gombi, Hong, Mubi North, Mubi South, Michika, Ganye, Madagali and Maiha.

*Minister of Youth Development, Boni Haruna with a returnee, Madam Ladi, in Mararaba, Mubi, Adamawa State

The relics of destruction in most of the communities remain a concrete evidence of the destructive frenzy of the blood-thirsty terrorists. Of course, this would have been worse but for the gallant intervention of the armed forces. But it will take some time before most of the communities will recover from the serious damages done to homes and public infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, bridges, police stations, banks, etc.

Places of public worship such as Churches and Mosques were also not spared.

For instance, the terror raid on Ganye town was carried out about two years ago but evidences of the accompanying destruction are still glaring. The initial supports from the Federal and Adamawa State

governments brought about the resettlement of some of the affected persons. The Gangwari of Ganye, while receiving the Federal Government, delegation requested for more supports towards the restoration of the town and rebuilding of public facilities destroyed.

The restoration of security in the reclaimed communities have paved way for the return of many displaced persons who now affirm that indeed “there is no place like home.” A returnee Mr. Bitrus T. Yohana who works in Federal Polytechnic Mubi and resides in the town said he could no longer remain an IDP in Yola since his home has been liberated and safe enough for his return. Same with Madam Ladi of Mararaban Mubi as well as many other returnees.

•Returnees... Mr Bitrus T. Yohana and his family members were met on their way from Yola to Mubi by the Minister of Youth Development and NEMA officers

With the restoration of security, law and order to the reclaimed communities, the immediate need would be the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure and supports for the people to return to their normal livelihoods. This underscore the steps taken by the Federal Government through the conduct of rapid assessment in the communities and visits to build confidence in the people. On its part, NEMA has commenced the collation of data on the damages which would soon be followed by the deployment of supports to the people to restart their lives again and rebuild their destroyed homes.

It is also argued that the involvement of traditional rulers and community leaders is very critical in the restoration of the communities.

Indeed, this has been fully ac-

The restoration of security in the reclaimed communities have paved way for the return of many displaced persons who now affirm that indeed “there is no place like home”

knowledged with the courtesy call on the Lamindon Adamawa, Dr Muhammadu Bakindo Aliyu Mustapha, at his palace in Yola before the commencement of the visits to the reclaimed local government areas. The State Deputy Governor Alhaji Saad Tahir accompanied the delegation to the palace where the royal father appreciated the moves by the Federal Government and gave his blessing.

Trading activities In Mubi, the Emir, Alhaji Abubakar Isa Ahmadu did not only endorsed the move but called on his subjects still living outside to return home. He commended the President for his support and the armed forces for their gallantry in flushing out the insurgents. The ever-busy Mubi market is now in full swing with trading activities.

The Minister of Youths Development took time to visit the market and even interacted with some of the traders.

The military task forces that reclaimed the areas and are still providing the much needed security have also assured that they would continue to secure the places for the residents. The Field Brigade Commander of the military base in Hong, Brigadier General V. Ezogwu, told the delegation that his officers and men were fully motivated and committed to security of the areas.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 — 21

ISPS Code compliance level up from 7% to 85% — NIMASA T

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-14.00

$14.27

By Godwin Oritse he Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, has said that the International Ships and Ports facility Security (ISPS) Code compliance level has risen from a mere 7 per cent to 83 per cent in the last two years.

According to NIMASA “ The ISPS Code has received an appreciable compliance level since the agency was made the Designated Authority (DA).

NIMASA’s Director General, Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi said that there is improved ISPS compliance level in Nigerian ports and terminals , adding that the success story of ISPS Code compliance has enhanced better environment for port operations.

“The improved International Ship and Port Facility Security Code compliance level in Nigerian ports and terminals has pitched those benefiting from the status quo against the agency.

“Since the Federal Government under President Goodluck Jonathan administration appointed the agency as the Designated Authority for the implementation of the ISPS Code in the country, the compliance level rose from 7 perc ent to 83 percent within two years”.

He noted that the compliance level has eliminated wharf rats, hawking and even touting within the ports’ vicinity, adding that unlike in the past; one can now import goods and be sure

$144.85

that the goods will arrive in tact without the usual dreadful experience.

The agency boss disclosed that the NIMASA’s satellite surveillance centre has also assisted in the quest to combating illicit activities in the Nigerian maritime domain , noting that the agency can respond to distress calls on Nigerian waters and beyond.

He said that the 24 hours satellite equipment has the capacity to detect boats, ships and objects predefined cross section floating on waters, which has helped to reduce incidence of piracy and oil theft to the barest minimum.

“We remain committed to the ideals setting up NIMASA and resolute in efforts at evolving a responsive and responsible safety administration in the belief that the future of our country can

NIMASA’s satellite surveillance centre has also assisted in the quest to combat illicit activities in the Nigerian maritime domain

only be guaranteed by focused leadership”.

Akpobolokemi added that the sponsors of oil theft and pirate attacks are against the agency, hence the numerous mudslinging on the agency and its leadership.

“It is on record that NIMASA in the preceding years demonstrated an uncommon sense of purpose which has resulted in the evolution of a bold maritime safety administration and a responsive and visionary agency committed to growing the potential of the sector through creation of capacities, jobs and various opportunities ultimately designed to propel Nigeria into that enviable status of a maritime nation” he said.

CURRENCY BUYING

-0.04

$59.47

0.57

$49.62

0.17

CENTRAL

DOLLAR 198 198.5 199 POUNDS 304.2468 305.0151 305.7834 EURO 224.1558 224.7119 225.879 FRANC 207.8958 2084208 2089458 YEN 1.6669 1.6712 1.6754 CFA 0.3255 0.3355 0.3455 WAUA 280.2334 280.941 281.6487 RENMINBI 31. 650 31.7311 31. 8115 RIYAL 52. 7775 52.9108 53. 044 KRONA 30.0862 30.1621 30.2381 SDR 280.2294 280.9371 281.6447

CBN Exchange Rate as at 24/2/15

Insurers seek relevance, call for creation of insurance organisation

By Rosemary Onuoha

W

orried by the low contribution of insurance to the economy as well as the refusal of government to take the sector serious, experts in the sector have called for the establishment of Nigerian Insurance Organisation that will serve as a link between the insurance industry and the government.

VISIT: From left: Ms. Megan Foster, Counsellor (Political), Canadian High Commissioner’s Office; Mr. Marcello DiFranco, Deputy Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria; Mr. Oscar Onyema, Chief Executive Officer, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Mr. Perry Calderwood, Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria; Mr. Ade Bajomo, Executive Director, Market Operations and Technology, NSE and Ms. Sarah Branco, Trade Commissioner, Canadian High Commissioner’s Office during the Canadian High Commissioner’s courtesy visit to the Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos.

Speaking on the issue, Group Managing Director of Industrial and General Insurance Plc, IGI, Mr. Rotimi Fashola said that time has come for all players in the industry to close ranks in order to take full advantage of the untapped potential demand for insurance in Nigeria.

Fashola said, “To actualize this goal, I suggest we form an umbrella body that will bring together all insurance sector groups — Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, NCRIB; Nigerian Insurers Association, NIA; Institute of Loss Adjusters of Nigeria, ILAN; Professional Insurance Ladies Association, PILA, etc. The forum, which will serve as a platform for deliberations on critical industry issues, should have its chairmanship rotated on a yearly basis.”

Fashola said that the Organisation will be a major step to engender the relevance of their business to the growth of the nation, adding, “Towards achieving this goal, I am advocating greater collaboration among all insurance practitioners. We should encourage healthy competition.

“All around us, we see challenges and opportunities that abound in our industry and the nation’s economy. But the Nigerian insurance market remains at an embryonic stage of development with the combined assets of the country’s insurers comprising only a tiny percentage of GDP and total premiums, lagging behind more developed markets such as South Africa.”

He however said that the past few years witnessed considerable expansion in the sector, as rapid economic/ population growth and rising prosperity boosted demand for life and non-life products, adding, “The sector has also benefited from the increased entry of foreign life insurance providers.

22—Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

,

Serious entrepreneurs think about saving some money before they start, or think of using their own savings to start a business

,

Creative ways to finance startups

E

very startup needs access to capital, whether for funding product development, for initial rollout efforts, acquiring inventory, or paying that first employee. Most entrepreneurs think first of bank loans as the primary source of money, only to find out that banks are really the least likely benefactors for startups. Thus being “creative” really means maximizing nonbank financing.

The alternatives are many, but they are not easy. The most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who think creatively, not only about their offering, but also about how to acquire cash, and never say never.

They have to sell themselves, more than their product, to close on every alternative source of funding. Here are some top sources of funding startups: Personal financing - You may not think this is very creative.

Serious entrepreneurs think about saving some money before they start, or think of using their own savings to start a business. No investor will put money into a deal if they see that you have no financial commitment.

Personal credit lines - You qualify for a secured personal credit line based on your personal credit efforts. Credit cards can usually be acquired with even less history. We all know startups that have been built on one or both of these.

The advantage is that you retain total ownership and control, as long as you make minimum payments.

Family and friends - These are people who should believe in you, without waiting to see if your idea works, or waiting until you have real customers, revenue, and hard assets. These commitments should always be positioned in writing as promissory notes, or so-called bridge-loans, which convert to equity at a rate determined by later investors.

Peer-to-peer lending - This is a process whereby a group of people come together to lend money to each other. It’s been around many years, such as small business groups or ethnic groups supporting similar efforts. In the startup context, look for a successful entrepreneur peer willing to fund similar new ideas.

Crowd funding - Here you use the power of the Internet to find a crowd of like-minded people, with small amounts

each, to back your efforts.

Microloans - There are many private companies and non-profits that offer small loans, to promote entrepreneurship, to individuals who would not normally qualify for bank financing. Examples include Microfinance Banks Vendor financing - If you need tangible products for inventory, many manufacturers and distributors can be convinced to defer your payment until the goods are sold by you. This really means an extension of the normal 30-day payment terms to a period of months or longer, depending on your credit worthiness and extra fees.

Purchase order financing - The most

Look for a successful entrepreneur peer willing to fund similar new ideas

common scaling problem faced by startups is the inability to accept a large new order, since they don’t have the cash to build and deliver the product.

PO financing companies will often advance the required funds directly to the supplier, allowing the transaction to complete and profit to flow to the startup.

Factoring accounts receivables - This is similar in concept to PO financing, but applies the advance to unpaid amounts not yet due or collected from customers. In high volume startups starting to scale up, this will provide cash on your sales immediately, rather than waiting for 30 to 60 days or longer for payment.

These aforementioned are different from the more conventional and less creative finance approaches of Angel and venture capital investors.

For new entrepreneurs, these sources usually have very little interest in early-stage or seed financing, preferring the lesser risk of a proven business model, with real revenue and customers, ready to scale.

BUSINESS NAIRA EXCHANGE RATES (25/02/15) Currency DOLLAR STERLING EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYAL KRONA SDR

Buying(N)

Central(N)

Selling(N)

197

197.5

198

319.7507 260.7295 216.8648 2.4393 0.3228 279.2976 31.2174 52.5263 35.0428 278.0852

320.5623 261.3913 217.4152 2.4455 0.3328

321.3738 262.053 217.9657 2.4517 0.3428

280.0065

280.7154

31.2971 52.6596 35.1317 278.791

31.3768

Commod Light Crud

Natural G Sugar

52.793

Coffee

35.2207 279.4968

Cocoa

How wise leaders effectively engage employees

By Yinka Kolawole, with agency reports

A

research recently conducted by the Gallup Poll in the US suggests that employers are having trouble finding ways to stimulate engagement with today's employees – a workforce that is much more diverse and younger than ever before.

Employees want to feel valued and challenged; they want to be trusted and given the freedom to explore and learn within the job.

Employees that stretch themselves to grow and take on more advanced assignments especially should be given the opportunity to further accelerate their advancement. The bottom line is that leaders must continuously create new opportunities for their employees – or their workforce will not be innovative enough.

Today's leaders must

constantly focus on the growth of their teams and strengthen the capabilities of individuals that can make the team more effective; this creates an environment of continuous innovation and initiative. Think of your employees as an innovation lab. As such, employee engagement should always be abundant.

To assure you don't create reputation as a leader that doesn't engage employees, here are a few things to consider to more effectively engage your employees. These are fundamental tips that employees desire from their leaders, and if implemented properly, will stimulate employee engagement that•fs been missing.

Stop unknowingly creating tension Leaders unknowingly create tension with their employees when they expect them to behave like they do, rather than encouraging them to be their authentic selves. When employees are encouraged to be themselves and not what

Employees respect leaders that allow them to use their most natural skills and characteristics

others want them to be, they will begin to embrace an entrepreneurial attitude that wasn•ft previously being leveraged – thus stimulating engagement. Tension is created by leaders who don't take the time to engage with their employees. Employees respect leaders that allow them to use their most natural skills and characteristics.

Employees are most engaged when they don't feel confined

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 — 23

,

The number one mistake to avoid in every organization is deciding and announcing a change without the input or involvement of those that will run with the change

& YOU

dity de

Gas

COMMODITIES (25/02/15) Last 49.12

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% Change -0.32

2.96

+0.05

+1.86

13.99

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141.75

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-2.48

3,070.00

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to an environment of limitations and constraints. Be more aware of what your employees need and stop unknowingly creating tension.

Detect positive capabilities in people Stop spending time being overly critical of what your employees are not doing right and identify what they are naturally gravitating towards – that which gets them excited. Throw their job description out the door and focus on those areas your employees enjoy contributing to the most and build a plan that utilizes their most positive capabilities to create the outcomes you desire.

Everyone wants to enjoy what they do at work, so allow employees to engage with the business in ways that generate the results that you require, while giving them the flexibility to navigate and explore how they can best contribute. Expand your leadership lens to detect what matters most to your employees and allow them to flourish.

Empower to discover potential You will never know what an employee is capable of accomplishing unless you stop micro-managing and start empowering them to discover their full potential.

Put them in situations that will build their confidence and strengthen their self-trust.

Empowering employees sounds simple, but it requires a leader to let go, step back and observe. It demands a confident leader that is willing to allow their employees to fail, then help them pick up the pieces and rebound. Employees engage when they are empowered to explore endless possibilities.

Put them in position of influence Beyond empowering employees, put them in a position of influence to see

how they react and engage in their new role. Stimulating engagement is a two-way street: it's not just how employees gravitate towards their leaders, but how others gravitate towards them. Allow your employees to discover their own potential and put them to the test. Witness how they lead and collaborate with others. If you micro-manage employees too much, they disengage. Employees want to feel trusted and valued for the independent decisions they can make and the impact they can create.

The most engaged employees are those whose leaders have confidence in them; who trust that they can always be depended on to deliver when called upon.

Employees are most engaged when they feel a sense of responsibility towards their leaders and the example their performance sets for others.

This is accelerated when they are placed in roles of influence and responsibility.

Share your success to build their momentum Rather than enjoy your leadership success alone, share it with your employees and allow them to experience it with you. The wise man forfeits his fortune when he does not trust himself. Sharing your success with your employees and making them feel an important part of your accomplishments is a sign of trust that organically creates engagement. Employees want to support their leaders – even more so when a leader is transparent enough to share not only their success, but also their vulnerabilities.

Employees don•ft need leaders that always have to be right (or perceived as perfect) – they want leaders that open themselves up enough to share their journey with them.

Genuine collaboration drives engagement and creates an environment of significance for everyone.

,

How leaders and managers work against organizational change By ‘Uju Onwuzulike

“Trust is a big part of successful change. The way you build trust is by practicing the politics of inclusion”… David Osborne

O

ften times, leaders and managers find it difficult to believe that they can work against any change effort they have shown absolute support for.

Naturally, these leaders might not want to sabotage their organizations’ change effort, but unknowingly to some, they fail to realize that leaders and managers alone cannot totally effect organizational change. They need majority of people in the organization.

A resonating question for leaders to ask is: how come all the process improvement, re-engineering, customers’ service improvement etc are not yielding the desired results? Despite the fact that enormous resources have been approved and management has shown their commitment. Is there anything managers and leaders are doing wrong as to work against the organizational change effort? I think my answer is yes! Again, to my surprise, whenever I lead strategic retreats for organizations, leaders and managers in attendance always speak as though they have had a previous conversation. They will always lament that their employees are not helping matters when it comes to running with the change being backed upon or implementing the desired change. So what is going on between leaders and employees?

O

ne major error that managers and leaders make and that will ultimately work against every organizational change

BY ‘UJU ONWUZULIKE

Once people have input into a plan, they are more likely to support it and implement it

initiative is to “make employees feel or think that something is being done to them”. Instead of making them feel or think that something is being done for them or by them or with them. This might look so simple from the surface but has caused many organizations’ downfall. The basic premise that “People Support What The Help Create” is true. The number one mistake to avoid in every organization is deciding and announcing a change without the input or involvement of those that will run with the change. Let us not be deceived by rhetoric, without including the people who are impacted by, or can impact the change, any change plan is only as

valuable as the paper it is written on.

Having worked with some CEOs of organizations, I have realized that the practice of inclusion is not comfortable for all leaders. It may be a new and unfamiliar way of managing. Moreso, coupled with the fact that some leaders might think they aren’t being a leader if they are asking people what to do or for their advice. But this should not be so. It is not that you are actually asking people what to do.

Instead, you are presenting a draft of the change plan for their feedback. This means you are saying to them that, you will seriously listen to their feedback and incorporate some of it into the change plan if it makes sense to you. This is because no one has all the answers in today ’s complex organization’s and environment. This simple act of inclusion can work wonders in organizations.

Final note: The truth is that (like my mentor Steve Haines will say); “people want input into decisions that affect them prior to the final decision being made”. Once people have input into a plan, they are more likely to support it and implement it than if you were a leader or manager that just expected people to follow their orders. By involving employees at all levels you release “magic”the magic of their ideas, their experience, their expertise, their wisdom, their energy, their excitement and ultimately their commitment. And believe me, this is the kind of magic that will make any organizational change effort to yield results.

Call or email us for your views or perspectives.

Email: uju@hainescentre.com Mobile: 09091142093 www.hainescentre.com C M Y K

24 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Interbank lending rates climb to 48% •External reserves fall to $31.6bn

By Babajide Komolafe

Decline of the reserve Investigation however revealed that the continued decline of the reserve is driven by increased dollar sale by the CBN in the interbank foreign exchange market, in a bid to keep the interbank foreign exchange rate from the crossing the N200 per dollar mark.

On Wednesday February 18 th the CBN closed the official foreign exchange market by the CBN on February 18 th , citing the need to preserve the nation’s external reserve.

In a statement issued by Ibrahim Muazu, Director Corporate Communication, the CBN stated, “In recent times, however, with the sharp decline in global oil prices and the resultant fall in the country’s foreign exchange earnings, the Bank has observed a widening margin between the rates in the interbank and the rDAS window, thus engendering undesirable practices including round-tripping, speculative demand, rent-seeking, spurious demand, and inefficient use of scarce foreign exchange resources by economic agents.

“This has continued to put

Tom Associates offers 130 trainings in 2015

By Bose Adelaja

A

L

ENDING rates in the interbank money market rose sharply to 48 percent yesterday following intense scarcity of funds.

According to data by FMDQ, lending rate for Overnight borrowing rose to 48.42 percent at the close of business yesterday from 23.75 percent on Tuesday. Similarly, lending rate for Secured borrowing rose to 45.83 percent from 22 percent.

The sharp increase in lending rates, according to Kunle Ezun, a currency analyst, was due to lower market liquidity. “Despite the opening balances of N81.6 billion on Tuesday, the funding requirements arising from inter- bank obligations and transactions weighed on market performance”, he said.

Meanwhile the nation’s external reserve on Tuesday fell to $31.68 billion, its lowest level in more than three years.

According to data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the external reserve fell by $489 million from $32.17 billion on February 20th to $31.68 billion on Tuesday, representing 1.5 percent decrease.

The external reserve has fallen by 10.9 percent this year, falling from $34.47 billion as at the end of 2014 to $31.68 billion.

BRIEF

MEETING: From left: Mr. Ashok Manghnani, Chief Operating Officer, Sona Group; Mr. Philip Ikeazor, Managing Director/CEO, Keystone Bank; Mr. A. K. Mirchandani, Chairman, Sona Group and Mrs. Yvonne Isichei, Executive Director Operations and Technology, Keystone Bank during a business meeting at the Keystone Bank Head Office.

pressure on the nation’s foreign exchange reserves with no visible economic benefits to the productive sector of the economy and the general public.

In view of the foregoing, it has become imperative that appropriate actions be taken to avert the emergence of a multiple exchange rate regime and preserve the country ’s foreign exchange reserves.

“Consequently, we wish to inform all authorized dealers and the general public that, with effect from the date of this press

The external reserve has fallen by 10.9 percent this year, falling from $34.47 billion as at the end of 2014 to $31.68 billion

release, the rDAS/wDAS foreign exchange window at the CBN is hereby closed.

Henceforth, all demands for foreign exchange should be channelled to the interbank foreign exchange market.

“For the avoidance of doubt, all authorized dealers and the general public should note that the CBN will continue to intervene in the interbank foreign exchange market to meet genuine/legitimate demands.”

FCMB Capital Markets emerges Best Local Investment Bank

F

CMB Capital Markets Limited, the investment banking arm of FCMB Group Plc, has been adjudged the “Best Local Investment Bank in Nigeria” at the 2014 African Banking Awards, organised by EMEA Finance magazine.

This award recognizes the outstanding achievements of FCMB Capital Markets over the past year, having supported the successful execution of landmark transactions of major corporate organisations across various sectors of the Nigerian economy through the provision of capital raising and advisory services.

Speaking at the awards ceremony held recently in London, United Kingdom, the Executive Director of FCMB Capital Markets, Mr. Tolu Osinibi, said that, ‘’This award further validates our strategic focus on consistently supporting our clients by providing objective, expert

advisory and execution services, thereby helping them to become market leaders and increase shareholder value.”

He added that, ‘’looking ahead in 2015, our client promise remains to deliver the highest quality advice with discretion, integrity and insight; we will therefore proactively engage our clients to better understand how the current economic headwinds impact them, and assist them with crafting solutions that will help them get through this challenging period.”

Financial institutions The EMEA Finance African Banking Awards annually recognize financial institutions that have demonstrated leadership in their sectors, within their country and across the EMEA region.

The Editor of EMEA Finance magazine, Mr. Tim Burke, stated that, ‘’we were greatly impressed with the indepth submission and the variety of high-profile deals handled by FCMB Capital Markets, including project financing, DCM deals and acquisition funding. It’s a fantastic performance in a competitive market, and we hope the award is a welcome recognition of the hard work entailed.”

FCMB Capital Markets is a leading adviser across diverse sectors including oil & gas, power, commercial real estate, financial services, consumer goods and telecommunications.

Its services include arranging debt and equity finance; project and structured finance; mergers, acquisitions and disposals; strategic advisory, including balance sheet and corporate restructuring.

prominent training firm in Nigeria, Tom Associates, has disclosed that it has packaged 130 training programmes for the year 2015.

This, according to the firm, will promote continuous learning for managers and executives both in the public and private sectors in their bid to proffer solution to human resources-related challenges.

The Chief Operating Officer, COO, of Tom Associates, Ms Oluwatoyin Osibogun, who made the disclosure, during the 2015 Trainers’ Clinic, which took place in the company’s corporate office in Lagos, also said all machineries are in motion to achieve the goal.

She said the trainings will assist human resources practitioners to develop skills and discover talents which will propel changes in their various organisations.

Osibogun tasked human resources practitioners to ensure employees have the right skills for their positions, as this will assist the organisations to achieve its goals and visions.

Amongst other topics, the COO said the trainings include Administrative functions and office management course, best practices in documents records management and archival administration, advanced office management and administrative skills, work ethics and attitude training for improved productivity and youth engagement and empowerment strategy training to mention but a few.

AfDB, Bloomberg launch African Bond Index

T

he African Development Bank (AfDB) and Bloomberg through the African Financial Markets Initiative (AFMI) have launched the AFMI Bloomberg African Bond Index (ABABI), a new family of African bond indices.

Calculated by Bloomberg Indexes. This composite index is comprised of the Bloomberg South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya local currency sovereign indices.

“The launch of the indices comes as a welcome development at a time when African countries are increasingly looking to domestic capital markets to source much-needed financing for economic development,” said Stefan Nalletamby, the Director of the Financial Sector Development Department of the AfDB.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 — 25

Malam Shekarau

President Jonathan

Prof . Oyesoji

Education stakeholders divided over minimum teaching qualification

By Amaka Abayomi & Dayo Adesulu

T

HE plans by the Federal Ministry of Education to make bachelor's degree the minimum teaching qualification in Nigeria has continued to generate mixed reactions from stakeholders in the sector, with some viewing the decision as a tall order, while some others say it will make Nigeria be at par with global best practices, as well as meet global challenges.

Recall that the Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, while receiving visiting Finland Ambassador to Nigeria, Pirjo Suomela-Chowdhury last week said the target of the Federal Government was to make first degree a minimum teaching qualification.

Responding when the Ambassador pointed out that in Finland all teachers have a minimum of Masters Degree, Shekarau vowed that the Federal Government would explore all measures to restore the respect, dignity and status of teachers in the country. He was optimistic that a time will come in Nigeria when all schools will be handled by university graduates.

Welcoming the decision, the Deputy Director Academic, Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan, Prof

Only students properly groomed in ICT can survive —Rector Pg. 26

Ten year old Nigerian in UK varsity Pg. 29 C M Y K

Oyesoji Aremu, said if Nigeria wants to be at par with global challenges, then the country should raise the bar of teaching qualification entry.

He said “I quite agree with the Honorable Minister that the minimum teaching qualification should be university degree given the increasing pedagogy and androgogy challenges.

Increasing challenges "This is not to say that the current National Certification is inferior. If Ni-

geria wants to be at par with global challenges, then the country should raise the bar of teaching qualification entry and it should be first degrees in education."

According to him, it is the legislative responsibility of the National Assembly members to so legislate first degree as minimum qualification for teaching, adding that education is on the concurrent list which any state can legislate on.

Aremu, who based his argument on the premise that in most private primary schools in Nigeria, university degree

holders are the ones teaching said, “Nigeria cannot pretend as if all is well with the education sector.”

Asked what the future holds for NCE holders, the Deputy Director, Academics, Distance Learning Centre, U.I said that this is not the first time we are migrating from one academic teaching qualification to another.

"What became of the holders of Teacher Grade III in the 1960s and Teacher Grade II Certificate in the 1970s?

He, therefore, posited that the NCE certificates should become feeding cerContinues on page 26

Lagos trains teachers on use of online database T

By Dayo Adesulu

HE Managing Director, Applied Services Limited, Mr Remi Erogbogbo has said that the Lagos State government education management system has been fully computerized to tackle school attendance, subjects attendance, examination records and report cards.

Speaking with journalists during a workshop organised for teachers to familiarize them with handling data of students and school operation online, Erogbogbo said the programme was to launch the upgraded version of the system.

He explained, “Years ago when we started, it was mainly admission and promotion, now we have added to it. It is now fully computerized. The school attendance, subject attendance, all these are now done online, schools can do away with their manual registers and the systems computes all the data and produces the reports automatically."

Erogbogbo who is the handler of the Lagos State Education Management System disclosed that with this development at the end of each term, report cards, school attendance issues etc, can easily be communicated to parents online by emails or text

Years ago when we started, it was mainly admission and promotion, now we have added to it.

It is now fully computerized. The school attendance, subject attendance, all these are now done online

messages.

He said: “We are giving them free training, this programme is totally free, it is to upgrade them with the new development. This particular session is schools from education district one that have been trained in the past, so they are here to get upgraded."

Pointing out its importance, he said, it is of high value to schools and also to parents, stressing that a report card might not be found if lost, but with this development, the school can always reproduce it. “It is a permanent life time record. All that is needed in a school for full operations is for it to be internet connected. Which is possible through your mobile phone data bundle or laptop,” he added.

Speaking on the impact of the training, Mrs Olaleye Olabisi, from Taquar private Schools, Ifako, Agege Lagos said "It is an excellent workshop. The government has tried, bringing teachers from various

Continues on page 26

26 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Lagos trains teachers on use of online database Continues from page 25

*From Left; Hon. Disu Holloway, Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-Governmental Affairs; Prof. Wole Soyinka, Festival Consultant and Mr Victor Ezenwoko, Executive Director, Lagos & West Businesses, Diamond Bank Plc at a press conference to announce finalists for the 2015 Vision of the Child competition sponsored by Diamond Bank Plc, at Freedom Park, Lagos.

Education stakeholders divided over minimum teaching qualification Continues from page 25 tificates for bachelor of education degrees, adding that it will make teaching profession to be truly professionalised.

"For us to raise the standard of education in Nigeria", he noted, "the bar of teaching qualification should be raised."

Viewing teachers as professionals, Aremu pointed that through university education, teachers are trained not only in the rudimentary knowledge of pedagogy, but also in the art of managing classroom and basic psychological knowledge in the handling of learners.

He said “While anybody can teach, it is only professional teachers who can truly educate for self-development and nation building. The art of teaching is scientific and if we want to get it right, we should do the needful.’’

ipo Adamolekun, an independent scholar and a professor of public administration is calling on the Federal Government to carry out an in-depth research and assessment of the Colleges of Education before such decision can be implemented.

He said that instead of making such announcement public, government should rather meet with the Provosts of Colleges of Education to know the challenges they face.

Adamolekun said “Even if it should be implemented, it

Teaching profession

Teaching qualification Also, finding nothing wrong with making bachelor’s degree the minimum teaching qualification in the country is the Zonal Coordinator, Lagos Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Professor Adesola Nasir, who said the quality of the end products is what matters.

Nasir said “There is nothing wrong with it if the interest is to improve the quality of the end products which are the graduates of these institutions but the larger implication however is that we can’t give what we don’t have.

“The emphasis should be to improve the quality of our graduates as there are better things our graduates can contribute to than teaching.

Though, it is understandable they are trying to create a critical mass of graduates for the teaching profession.”

Meanwhile, Professor Lad-

should be phased because I don’t think what your certificate reads matters. Even if these Colleges are allowed to award degrees, it would not change the situation on ground as there needs to be total upgrading of these institutions.

“Why are primary school pupils not taught by school certificate holders like we were in the sixties who were better educated than most university graduates of today. I remember I had to teach with my HSC certificate.

“The short answer is that this is a cheap statement that is not based on any study as I doubt if any study has been carried out to find out what is really wrong with the teaching profession.

Government should rather meet with the Provosts of Colleges of Education to know the challenges they face

"Also, the Federal Government needs to meet with the Provosts to know what their problems are, the quality of their entrants, the quality of facilities they have, among other issues.

Holding a contrary view, Provost, Michael Otedola College Of Primary Education, Epe, Lagos State, Professor Olu Akeusola, said government is deceiving itself as it makes statements without considering the implications.

“They made such statement in the nineties and it didn’t work.

They failed to realise that education is like a pyramid which is wider at the bottom. The idea of having bachelor’s degree holders as teachers would never work because we need to go back to the basics where students from the senior secondary are buffers and feeders for the universities, those from technical schools would feed polytechnics while those from Grade 2 would feed Colleges of Education” Akeusola said.

schools. The school I work in already has something similar to this but I have learnt some things today that we need to update on our own system. It is very nice and interesting.

One thing about It is that it is hands on training, and one thing about hands on training is that you do it the way the instructors are doing it.

"I advise private schools to also adopt it because it reduces the stress on teachers. Currently in the school i teach, we don’t write lesson notes. All we do is online. It will relieve teachers of this stress of constant writing that takes most of our time.

"All teachers must have a

personal computer, if you do not have, the school will get it for you and you can pay later. You must have something connected to the internet. It has been very effective.

We often communicate with parents, we have their email addresses."

Another participant, Mr Femi Aborishade of Adegoke High School, expressed mixed feelings thus; "It is a great relief to have the database of students. Manual is better to an extent because of the stress of assessing your files on the computer.

However, what I like about the system is getting reports and information to the parents through emails or text messages.

Only students properly groomed in ICT can survive — Rector

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By Dayo Adesulu

HE Rector, Delta State Polytechnic, Dr Clara Sogbaike has said that only students properly groomed in Information Technology can survive in a world that has become a “global village. She stated this during the institution’s 13th Matriculation ceremony held recently.

According to her, the school was given the mandate to excel in Computing and Information Technology stressing that the mandate is predicated on the fact that the world today is ICT –driven and only students properly groomed in Information Technology can survive in a world that has become a “global village".

Global village Dr Clara Sogbaike enjoined the students not to engage in unproductive and unwholesome activities such as cultism, examination malpractice, acts of hooliganism and scandalous acts inimical to their academic growth at the Polytechnic.

She was particularly grateful to the State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan for his immense contribution to the development of the Polytechnic.

She thanked the Governor for prompt payment of staff salaries and for the monthly subvention by State Government to the Polytecvhnic.

The highpoint of the ceremony was the administration of the

Matriculation oath on the students by the Registrar, Mr. Benson Omonode who advised the students to prove their mettle by being focused while exploring their latent creative abilities as students of the Polytechnic.

Meanwhile, in his goodwill message, the Commissioner for Higher Education, Hon. Charles Emetulu, represented

by Mrs. Bridget O. Odobor said that Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara, has witnessed an unprecedented tempo of development in infrastructural facilities and personnel over the years.

According to the Commissioner, the Delta State Government has gone all out in ensuring that the quality of teaching and learning is not compromised. He commended the efforts of the Rector and Management of the Polytechnic for undertaking developmental projects that are complementary to the efforts of the State Government.

Responding to questions from our correspondent, Mr. Wilberforce Ofotokun, the Public Relations Officer of the Polytechnic said that the Matriculation Ceremony will afford parents and first time visitors the opportunity to see for themselves the giant strides recorded by the Rector, Dr. Clara Sogbaike, through the provision of academic and sophisticated infrastructural amenities at the Polytechnic.

Mr. Ofotokun said he has been advocating for a female president for Nigeria most especially after experiencing the good works of the Rector.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 — 27

Research & Development

We bring ideas, innovations to reality —Julie Momah Dr. (Mrs) Julie Momah is the Centre Manager, Technology Incubation Centre, Lagos; Zonal Coordinator, South-West, Technology Incubation Centres in Nigeria and also the chairperson for Africa Incubation Network. She spoke with Vanguard Learning recently on the activities of the centre saying they encourage research and development results to be commercialised. Excerpts:

By Ebele Orakpo

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BOUT the programme: The incubation program is a Federal Government programme through the National Board for Technology Incubation.

The idea is to see how we can bring ideas, innovations and technology to reality. If you have an idea that can go to the market, we help you bring it to reality.

We encourage research and development to be commercialised instead of gathering dust on the shelves. We go beyond indigenous technology, to medium and high technology by encouraging students to make their final year projects something viable that they can turn into a business. I told a youth corps member that instead of going to look for work, he should look round our centre and see the various businesses on ground and see whether his entrepreneurial mind will come up with some ideas, because the jobs are really not there.

Instead of looking for job, he can be an employer of labour. That is what the incubation program stands for.

Lagos Centre: The Lagos centre was established in 1993 and we have produced about four generations of graduates with over 80 products from R&D that have been commercialised and already in the markets. The products might look very simple but they are products of innovation.

Products of innovation There is always a value addition to all our products which make them very unique. We keep to standard and certification is also important.

Admission criteria: You must have a registered company, a business plan and a feasibility of what you want to do. We use the business plan to guide you for the period you are here. We encourage you to have at least simple basic equipment to start the business. We want to know whether you are already an existing or new business.

Pre-incubation: We have a period called the pre-incubation period. After we have seen what you are doing and we have sent our request to our headquarters and they say you are to have six months pre-incubation, we

monitor you for that period at your centre. We identify your challenges so that by the time you come in, we know how to nurture you.

Incubation: We attach desk officers to each entrepreneur. They monitor your activities and we get weekly reports which we diagnose, look at the challenges of the entrepreneurs and see how we can help. At the end, we have monthly meetings with these entrepreneurs, we engage them in capacity-building, we train them in areas we feel they have challenges, we take them to trade fairs in and outside Nigeria, or go with their products if they cannot go.

Economic reconstruction We provide access to finance, we facilitate all those agencies that can fund them knowing their challenges. We give them access to information on YouWiN, NERFUND (National Economic Reconstruction Fund loan, Innovation grant from the Federal Government etc. We let them know the relevant agencies they need to network with and encourage them to plug in themselves to these agencies like National Association for the SelfEmployed, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) etc., all the relevant agencies that are into SMEs. We also link them to banks that are SME-friendly so that they have full knowledge of the art of doing business. You cannot do business in isolation. We encourage partnership, equity sharing, venture capitalists and angel investors to be part of your business; you cannot continue to call yourself a sole proprietorship

The beautiful thing about the programme is that we look at indigenous technology in the area of local content

•Dr. (Mrs) Julie Momah

•Some products from Lagos centre if you want the business to grow. incubation centre, they enjoy some Post-incubation: We look at how benefits like tax holiday but by the the business is faring after three, time they graduate, they pay tax five years. Sustainability of the to government. By the time they business is our success story. We leave the centre, they may leave have a tripartite arrangement with more workers than they had where the federal and state before they came to the centre. It governments and the private means they are already creating sector are involved. When we jobs so that is the effect of setting nurture you for three years, we up incubation centres in the states hand you over to the state to help them create jobs, nurture businesses so that wealth can be go` vernment.

At the graduation ceremony, the created and some other state government identifies these businesses will crop up where you entrepreneurs and try to relocate have incubation centres. That is them to a technology park where the vision of the Federal they form clusters. At the

Government; to use incubation program to create jobs and diversify the economy.

Local content: The beautiful thing about the program is that we look at indigenous technology in the area of local content. At least, 70 per cent of the raw materials must be locally-sourced.

Some of our products are made from locally-sourced materials and we look at not only the products, but the packaging, labeling and finishing so as to meet international standards. The ingredients, description on how to use it is there so that when you pick it up and you pick any imported product, they can stand at par.

We have over 30 technology incubation centres and some states are requesting for more because they have seen the advantage of the programme.

For those with ideas: For those who are not in business but have some viable ideas, we use the six months pre-incubation period to find out how ready they are and encourage them to register a company, have a business plan for the idea and work towards certification. We use the pre-incubation period to help such people get the basic things so that by the time they come into the centre, it is strictly for business.

NYSC takes health initiative to rural dwellers

By Dayo Adesulu

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S part of the measures by the government to improve accessibility to health care servicesin ruralcommunities,theNationalYouth Service Corps, NYSC, Lagos state, has collaborated with the Lagos state Ministry for Rural Development to initiate a rural health project.

The programme which was flagged-off at EseOfin, Oto-Awori Local Council Development Area, had Itogbesa, Ojota, Ishagira and Egan-Oromi communities in attendance Speaking during the inauguration of the Health Initiatives for Rural Dwellers,HIRD, programme at Ese-Ofin, NYSC Coordinator in Lagos state, Mr. Akhanemhe Cyril, while welcoming stake-holders and the people of the communities, said the scheme has deliberately set-out to maximally utilize the competence and skills of the dynamic and serving youths for national development.

National development According to Mr. Akhanemhe, the need to ensure theschemeincreases itsimpactandexpanditsvalues to critical stakeholders necessitated the deployment of over 50 corps medical personnel serving in the state for the exercise. This he said will be achieved through provision of free health care services and sensitization of rural dwellers in Lagos state on health and wellness. He appreciated the commissioner for rural development for his sincere commitment and unrelenting assistance towards the realization of the health programme. While acknowledging the community leaders’ efforts in mobilizing their people fortheprogramme,hecommendedthecorpsmedical personnel for their voluntary services, stating it will contributeimmenselytotheeffortsofthegovernment in changing the lives of Nigerians.

TheCommissionerforRuralDevelopmentinLagos state, Mr. Cornelius Ojelabi, while speaking during the occasion, said, the importance of the programme is to allow rural dwellers know the state of their health

which he said would stem high mortality rate. He therefore urged the community and all other communities to key in to the programme.

Mr. Ojelabi, while responding to some interview questions said, "Bringing a programme like this to the grassroots especially a riverine area where mobility is restricted has complimented the efforts of the government in ensuring quality health care for the people who may not be able to access health care services in a short-while and it will go a long way to enlighten the people about their health status and the need to consider it very important."

While commending the national youth service initiative,Mr.Ojelabi describedthescheme’scharacter as ground-breaking and resilient. He said bringing a programme of such importance to a Riverine area shows the scheme’s character in getting things done.

He commended the corps medical personnel for their sacrifices in the course of serving their fatherland and urged them to continue in the service. "If we have youths like these who can be volunteering for a service like this, we can be sure that the massive drifting of people from rural to urban areas would be reasonably stemmed." He said.

Reacting to the development, the spokesman of the communities present, Mr. Timothy Ojelabi commended the efforts of the organizers of the programme and the corps medical personnel for identifying with their health needs and finding a way to remedy it. "Many of these corps members are strangers and are not familiar with this terrain, leaving their comfort environment to embark on a journey on water is not an easy decision but they have gone against all odds to be here. I therefore urge them to continue in this path of sacrificial service which in a long time would yield good fruits." Mr. Ojelabi stressed. At the end of the exercise, over 200 people were given medical attention; 10(Ten) persons were tested positive for malaria,3(Three) had high Random Blood Sugar(RBS),47(Forty-seven) had high BP,5(Five) cataract patients were seen and 47(Forty-seven) persons were treated for malaria, as drugs were equally prescribed and administered for free too.

28—Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Provost commends TETFUND over intervention projects

By Ikenna Asomba

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HE Provost of the Federal College of Education, Yola, Professor Abdul-Mumin Sa’ad has commended the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, over its intervention in the upliftment of the nation’s education sector, even as he stated that the institution is embarking on massive upgrading of its facilities to get approval to run more degree programmes.

According to Prof Sa’ad, TETfund has been one of the major financiers of the College’s training programmes, as well as the construction of its Directorate of Undergraduate Studies, new School of Arts and Social Sciences, a 1000 capacity auditorium, a completed multimedia language laboratory, a proposed 500 capacity ICT examination hall among others.

He said; “Because of TETfund's intervention, we

have been able to send many of our staff on training at Masters and PhD abroad, we have been able to renovate our laboratories and classrooms, as well as address some of our critical problems.”

Speaking on the massive upgrading of its facilities to get approval to run more degree programmes, the don pointed that “the College originally intended to run degree

Enters Asaba State University programmes in about 20 courses, but got accreditation in nine programmes for the 2014/ 2015 session, thus, the need to redouble our effort to get more approvals.

“Our efforts are to ensure that we get approval to introduce four to five more degree programmes and admit more National Certificate Examination, NCE, students."

Teachers of some private schools in Lagos during a workshop organised by the Lagos State to equip them with skills needed in online database for students.

Education not limited to the classroom — Diamond school E DUCATING and training the child has been said to be holistic and not secluded to the classroom alone but also in outdoor sports.

This assertion was made by Diamond Private School’s Head teacher, Mr Duodu Elvis th Samuel, at the 13 annual Inter-House Sports at Campos Mini Stadium Ajele Street, Lagos.

According to Samuel, there need to be a cohesion with the parent and children in training the child and sports is also a vital part of the training.

Diamond’s Governess, Mrs Bisi Akin- Arogunmati, also stated that the school is poised to give the students the kind of education that is standard and breaking forth to higher level and is set to shine.

“We owe the child that duty to give them what their counterparts get in Europe and other industrialised nations.

We give our students what is internationally accepted, not only in Nigeria. This school will be 15 years old in September.

We will be taking our step for deserving parents for the child they love, she said.

“Our inter-house sport holds in every session mainly in the second term. This will be an avenue of showcasing to the parents all that their children have mastered. Since we see coordinate them every Wednesday and we know what sport the sport that is good for the development of

C M Y K

students.

“Diamond International School is a member of Association of International School Educators of Nigeria AISEN and we are poised to give our students the kind of education that is standard . We owe every child that duty to give them what their

counterpart gives them in Europe and other industrialised nation.

She added: “We give our students what is internationally accepted not only Nigerian.

This school will be 15 years old in September. We will be taking our step for deserving parents for the child they love”.

100 students get Peace scholarship awards

By Kelechukwu Iruoma & Patrick Egwu

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OT less than 100 students from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and other Nigerian universities have benefitted from the Peace Mass Transit Scholarship Scheme under the auspices of Samuel Maduka Onyishi African Entrepreneurship Foundation, SAMOAEF. The presentation of the awards which was held at Institute of African Studies, UNN was attended by the Director of the Institute of African Studies/SAMOAEF, Professor Emeka Nwabueze and some of the members of the board.

Before presenting the awards, Prof. Nwabueze who spoke on behalf of the donor and CEO Peace Mass Transit, Dr. Samuel Maduka Onyishi, said that there is power in giving, adding that the gesture was borne out of the passion to help the needy as a way of paying God back for his kind deeds.

He further enjoined the awardees to make use of the money judiciously and show some kindness to others in future, noting that the scholarship award was aimed at empowering students academically.

He stated also that the awardees should count themselves lucky as out of over 2000 students that applied for the scholarships, only 100 students benefitted.

In an interview, one of the beneficiaries who identified himself as Gideon Eze said. “I feel okay and appreciative being one of the beneficiaries.” He thanked the donor, encouraging him to do more, adding that other benefactors should emulate him.

He also enjoined all the beneficiaries to learn to be generous.

The more things change [especially in Nigeria] the more they remain the same —Anonymous.

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UST when I was developing a mental block about what next to write about, an advertisement in VANGUARD on Monday, February 16, 2015, caught my attention. It announced the opening of Asaba State University, at its temporary site along the Benin-Asaba expressway. Prospective students were asked to apply for admission to study courses on offer. Classes will start in March, that’s right, next month. Before going into my misgivings about the starting date, let me quickly bring to the attention of our readers that, at least two other universities are racing to fling open their gates for admission of students.

The two others are DOMINION UNIVERSITY situated on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway – but closer to Ibadan. The other is the PAN ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY situated along the Lagos-Epe expressway – but closer to Epe. Before you start wondering how I got to know about these universities, let me confess that Gay Talese, the author of THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER, a book written about the NEW YORK TIMES must have had people like me in mind when he described journalists as “restless voyeurs” and journalism as “the opiate of the restless”. I travel a lot and would go anywhere for information. I would love to visit the universities in the war zones of Nigeria — if there is a sponsor.

Lately universities have become my passion. So, I am on the lookout for them at all times. I pass by DOMINION and PAN ATLANTIC more often than ASABA STATE. But oddly enough, I found myself in front of the university just three weeks ago, on another restless trip to the East covering nine states. I was amazed by the rapid pace of physical development from the last time my trips took me in that direction. Granted, there was insufficient time to enter and see the entire premises; still, the little seen was impressive. Based on the physical infrastructure alone, the university is already one of the best in Nigeria and would be highly recommended to prospective students and their guardians or sponsors.

Unfortunately, there the endorsements end. The university is offering education to Nigeria youths from everywhere. The vital interests of those kids, defined by acquisition of sound university education, which will enable them to compete globally is paramount.

There is certainly more to a university than mere fine buildings and good landscaping. Three of those variables which need to be addressed before the kids are drawn into uncertainties will now be discussed.

Starting a university in March is very Starting a odd indeed, because it runs contrary to the global cycle. My fear is that the university in university was rushed to completion, March is at least physically, because the present state administration does not want its very odd successor to claim credit for it. While indeed, that might be acceptable in politics, it might end up creating several because it insurmountable problems if the runs university starts without absolute contrary to preparedness to provide the standard of education required of a university the global in modern times. Other universities cycle which had been opened before it have ended up “graduating” students who cannot be admitted for the National Youth Service nor gain employment with reputable organizations. For instance, the 40 million unemployed people in Nigeria today include medical doctors graduated from unaccredited medical schools. Two reasons account for this.

The first is staff strength and composition. The National University Commission, NUC, had mandated that lecturers in Nigerian universities must possess a minimum of Doctorate degree in a discipline. Most universities, if not all, flout this requirement for two reasons. One, even if all the Ph. D holders in Nigeria are compulsorily drafted into teaching at universities, there would still be huge gaps to fill. Unfortunately, not all such individuals want to lecture at universities – even as part-time lecturers. Two, given our national penchant fir impunity, the universities regard themselves as untouchables. The NUC, which is supposed to regulate the activities of universities, is one of the worst toothless dogs in the country today.

So, this new university will not start off with a lot of “qualified” lecturers.

And the NUC will allow it to operate, and the students will pay dearly later for the mess. Second, not only staff requirements but other facilities to teach certain courses, especially in the physical and environmental sciences might not be available yet.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015—29

SUCCESS RECIPE WITH UDEME ARCHIBONG successrecipe2009@gmail.com www.worldlightbearesint.com 08035095243

NGO takes art devt to schools

By Faith Olatide

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Lagos-based NGO, Youth Empowerment through Contemporary Art (YECA), has embarked on a training course for secondary school students in Lagos State.

The training programme is a mentorship program that targets youths in Lagos through art courses, mentorship, and exhibition opportunities with the aim to provide vocational training, the acquisition of livelihood skills, and a solid extracurricular outlet for youths in secondary schools and to position art as a viable career path.

The programme, which is in its second year, held its first joint session over the weekend at Isale Eko Grammar school,

Lagos Island, with two schools Isale Eko Grammar School and Girls Senior Academy, Lagos Island - in attendance.

The session saw the students learn about colours and how to apply them. There was also a practical session in which the

students practiced what they learnt.

The coordinator of the programme, Mr Olayinka Sangotoye emphasized the need for students to understand the beauty of art and embrace it.

10 year old Nigerian in UK varsity

By Amaka Abayomi, with agency reports

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en year old Esther Okade, one of UK’s youngest students from Nigeria, has been accepted to start her maths degree at the Open University. Esther, who enrolled three weeks ago, is already top of her class, scoring 100 per cent in a recent test.

Esther’s mother, Efe, said the process of applying to the university was ‘an interesting one because of her age. she said “We even had to talk to the VC and after they interviewed her, they realised that this has been her idea from the beginning. From the age of seven Esther has wanted to go to university.

“But I was afraid it was too soon. She would say, ‘mum, when am I starting?’, and go

Maths genius, Esther Okade on and on and on. Finally, after three years, she told me, ‘mum I think it is about time I started university now.”

Esther applied in August, and after a phone interview, an essay and a maths exam, she finally got the news in December that she had been

accepted onto the course.

Though she watches cartoons and plays with barbie dolls, Esther's aim is to get First Class honours degree in two years and start a PhD programme.

She also intends to run her own bank.

VC commissions nursery block for staff school

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HE Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Rahamon A. Bello, has commissioned an ultra modern block of 15 classrooms for the Nursery Unit of the UNILAG Staff School, Akoka.

Speaking at the Commissioning Ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor appreciated the Staff School Board and Management for successfully concluding the project and urged the school management to judiciously utilize the building.

He also commended the Messer Fast-link Limited, for the delivery of a befitting school structure on schedule.

The Vice-Chancellor urged the school management to install close circuit cameras in the classrooms so that parents

can monitor the performance of their children from different locations.

On hand to witness the commissioning ceremony were the Deputy ViceChancellor (Academic & Research), Prof. Babajide Alo; Deputy Vice-Chancellor

(Management Services) Professor Duro Oni; Registrar, Dr. Taiwo F. Ipaye; Bursar, Lateef Odekunle; University Librarian Dr. (Mrs.) Olukemi Fadehan; Director of Works Dr. A. E. Adeniran, among others.

Don wins L’Oreal-UNESCO fellowship award

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n academic staff of the Department of Zoology, University of Lagos, Mrs. Temitope Olawunmi Sogbamu has won the L’OrealUNESCO for Women in Science Sub-Saharan Africa 2014 Fellowship Award.

The Award valued at Five Thousand Euros is for the

completion of her Ph.D research work.

The Vice-Chancellor, on behalf of the University Community, congratulates and wishes Mrs. Temitope Olawunmi Sogbamu continued success in all her endeavours.

Living tto o Lo o L) Lovve! (L TTo

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few years ago a once highly successful man through a series of poor choices, lost his business, his family, his home and his entire life saving. He lost virtually everything and was deeply depressed. However, he went for counseling and was advised, “Listen, sir, you’ve got to get your mind off your problems,” He was further told, “Get your mind off the mistakes you’ve made and all the things you’ve lost. If you really want to be happy, if you really want to be restored, you’ve got to change your focus and go out and help somebody else in need. You’ve got to sow some seeds.”

“Do you know that no matter how big your problem is today, somebody else has a bigger problem, a tougher road, a more heartrending story than yours? You can help make a difference in somebody’s life. You can help ease somebody’s burden. You can cheer somebody up, and give somebody a fresh new hope.” The man was wise and he adhered to the advice. He connected with some group of people who help people overcome addictions.

Instead of languishing in his mess, he became a friend to many of the addicts, listening to their struggles, encouraging them, praying for them and challenging them to believe for a better life. A few weeks later, he met with the counselor and was so full of joy in so much that the counselor asked, “Hey, man, you look great. What’s going on?

The man gave a revealing response, “I’ve spent the last two weeks taking care of cocaine addicts, and I’ve never had so much joy in all my life.” He wiped a tear from his eye as he said, “I’ve never been so fulfilled.” He said, “I spent my whole life living for myself, building my career, doing what I wanted to do, whatever I thought would bring me happiness. But now I see what really matters.” And guess what? In just a matter of weeks that he made the choice to love unconditionally, he had a job and an apartment and great things started happening in his life.

The greatest plague of the human race is selfishness.

Society has imbibed us with the notion to ask, “What’s in it for me? I’ll help you, but what will Life will echo I get in return?” We’ve been emptiness when taught by our human nature to manipulate and use others for you are trying to our selfish desires. But as long figure out what as we remain self-centered, our world will be shallow and everybody will do blighted. Our families are torn for you instead of apart, relationships are marred, marriages split, business trying to figure crumble, careers are stunted, out what you can vision is abolished, leadership loses relevance, happiness is do for somebody lost because of the ideology of else being a taker rather than being a giver. We’ve lost sight of what really important in our lives, and much more, we’ve become wrapped up in a cocoon of self-conceited “success” that is fleeting. In the abundance of freedom, we live in bondage; in the abundance of harmony, we live in despair. We grope about in darkness, not seeing the light because we have closed our minds to the destinies of others. We become a miniature of what we were destined to be, and then we ask God, “Why?” Life will echo emptiness when you are trying to figure out what everybody can do for you instead of trying to figure out what you can do for somebody else. On the other hand, when you get your mind off your problems and needs and focus on being a blessing to others, you will be amazed that your problems will be dissolved and your needs met with accompanying peace and joy in your heart. John Wooden rightly states, “You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.”

Love is humane compassionate acts void of selfishness and consists of a pure motive shown or showered on others. Genuine love does not have a price-tag on it for it gives of itself unconditionally. It is ever so consistent and constant, regardless of whether the other person deserves it or not. Love is more than a feeling, it is an action word. Until we love and accept ourselves unconditionally we will never be able to love and accept other people unconditionally.

It is on the scale of love that success is weighed. Ponder on the immortal words of Emmet Fox, “Love casts out fear. It covers a multitude of sins. It is absolutely invincible. There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer; No disease that enough love will not heal; No door that enough love will not open; No gulf that enough love will not bridge; No wall that enough love will not throw down; No sin that enough will not redeem. It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble, How hopeless the outlook?

30— Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

4 teachers fly Nigerian flag at Microsoft global forum

By Emeka Aginam

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OUR teachers from Nigeria flew the country’s flag at the just concluded Microsoft in education global forum held in Grand Hyatt, Dubai.

The two day forum presented an opportunity for Education stakeholders from around the world to discuss how technology can address key challenges in education for the 21st century.

The forum was a clear testimony of Microsoft’s strong engagement and support to the Middle-East and Africa region, The Microsoft in Education Global Forum is a flagship event for Microsoft, providing an opportunity for education stakeholders to collaborate, and discuss needed change in their own countries, schools and communities, providing real impact for better learning outcomes, and prepare learners for work and life.

The four teachers that attended the forum from Nigeria were : Veranique Obiakor of Government Secondary School Kubwa, Abuja, Nwakaego

Justina Chukwu of Government Secondary School Tudun Wada, Abuja, Sanyaolu Stephen Oyelola of Government Secondary School Wuse, Abuja, and Olalekan Adeeko of Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta.

Accordingly, the forum had gathered Education stakeholders to discuss Education Transformations in relation to workforce and as an enabler for competitiveness and Economic growth.

The forum also focused on innovative practices using technologies that can help drive rich learning experiences and highlight the achievements of teachers and schools from around the Middle East and Africa, as well as India, who are successfully using technology to engage their students and prepare them for the future.

It also featured vibrant speaker program, including elites from UAE Ministry of Education, leading education figures and Microsoft executives.

Key discussions over the two days included the latest innovations in teaching and learning, and how technology

From left: Secretary International Moderation Foundation, Dr. Zaid Al-Muhaisue; Prof. John Obafunwa, Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University and Dr. Marean Awwad Al-Faouri, Chairman International Moderation Foundation on a collaboration visit to LASU.

can be used to solve education challenges around the world and in the MEA region.

Anthony Salcito, Vice President, Worldwide Education, Microsoft, who delivered the opening keynote said,” The Global Forum in Dubai is an opportunity for education professionals to discuss how technology can address key challenges in education for the

21st century. The forum will explore the transformation of education, considering the roles of industry trends such as mobility, cloud, access and learning analytics in solving key challenges.

“There has been a rise in youth unemployment globally and to tackle that problem head-on, Microsoft programs like YouthSpark work with

Enugu govt awards varsity scholarships to 38

By Chinenyeh Ozor

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OVERNOR Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, weekend announced scholarships for 38 pupils of Inland Primary School, Imilike in Udenu Local Government Area of the State.

The scholarships which will see the 38 pupils through university education was in recognition of their special performance at the Peoples Democratic Party’s rally in Udenu local government area of the state. The PDP held its grand finale rally at Udenu Local

Government Area, the home of its guber candidate, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

The Governor who could not hide his feelings at the performance of the primary school pupils immediately announced automatic scholarship from primary to their first degree levels in universities to the amazement of the mammoth crowd. He said, “I will like to say a special thank you to the pupils of Inland Primary School, Udenu for this great performance. The government of Enugu State has decided to give

scholarship to these school children that put up a wonderful performance here today. “What they did here today is wonderful; even as adults, most people can’t memorize the way they did; there are 38 of them and we have decided to give them scholarship.

“Already, we have free primary education in Enugu State; so, in addition to that, they shall enjoy scholarship up to first degree”.

The Governor equally announced a special package for a retired headmaster, who coordinated the presentation, as

well as automatic promotion for five teachers that equally joined the pupils in the presentation.

Chime while thanking the people of the council said PDP was not in Udenu Local Government to campaign but to tell them that their son, Ugwuanyi has been chosen and accepted by all the traditional rulers and people of the state to succeed him as next governor of the state. The governor praised the efforts of Udenu local government council chairman in various developmental projects executed in the area in the area.

governments and NGO’s globally to empower young people to do more and achieve more by expanding their access to Computer Science education.”

For Samer Abu Ltaif, Regional General Manager, Microsoft Gulf, “Microsoft continues to advocate for the integration of technology into the education system and has partnered with the UAE and other governments in the Middle East and Africa region to equip schools, teachers and students with smart learning solutions such as Microsoft Office 365 and Windows 8 devices equipped with education apps.

“The Microsoft in Education Global Forum in Dubai provides a platform for sharing ideas on how to make technology accessible for all students and teachers in the region. It is no doubt that technology has transformed learning experiences forever, and at Microsoft, we remain committed to helping educators leverage technology to equip students with the skills they need to prepare learners for work and life.”

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VANGUARD, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015—33

President, Govs should not appoint Attorneys-General ---Muiz Banire Dr. Muiz Banire is a doctorate degree holder in law. A practicing lawyer and a university law lecturer, he is also the national legal adviser of the All Progressives Congress APC. A three-time commissioner in Lagos State, Banire whose name featured prominently as a likely governorship aspirants prior to APC’s primaries in Lagos State spoke on the constitution amendments,consequences of further polls shift,threats by APC to form a parallel government,the judiciary and other related issues.Excerpts.

By Dayo Benson

O

NE of the major highlights of the latest constitution amendments is the separation of the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation from the office of the Minister of Justice. How do you react?

There have been agitations over the years for the separation of the office of the AttorneyGeneral from the office of the Minister or Commissioner for Justice at both Federal and State levels respectively. I believe it is proper for the two offices to be separated in order to guarantee a great measure of independence in the prosecutorial assignment of the Attorney-General.

Prosecutorial assignment We must realize that the current regime as provided for under Section 150 of the Constitution for the appointment of the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation and Minister for Justice and Section 174 of the Constitution for the appointment of the AttorneyGeneral and Commissioner for Justice for the State is an anomaly which does not guarantee independence when it comes to public prosecution in which case the incumbent President or Governor appoints the Attorney-General and determines the loyalty of such person.

What effect do you think

this will have on the independence of the AttorneyGeneral at the Federal and State levels since the president and governors are still the appointors?

The independence of the office of the Attorney-General is as important as the independence of the judiciary. A situation where public prosecution is determined by party affiliation or parochial or personal interest of the president or governor is very destructive to the justice system.

In fact, in many civilized countries, the two offices are clearly separated in order to guarantee the independence of public prosecution and the confidence of the populace in the justice system. Further, in order to make the office of the Attorney-General genuinely independent, I believe Attorneys-General should rather be elected and not appointed by the president or governor as he who pays the piper dictates the tune.

Political influence While the Minister for Justice may be appointed to run the Ministry for Justice, the Attorney-General should enjoy freedom from political influence and manipulation as the office bears greater responsibility when it comes to public confidence in the judicial system.

Another major feature in the amendments is the provision

•Dr. Muiz Banire for independent candidates for elections. To what extent do you think this will impact on the polity?

The present regime whereof

Constitutional duties and functions of Local Governments are brazenly usurped to the detriment of governmental closeness to the grassroots

Eligibility of President Goodluck Jonathan, for 2015 elections and the constitution — Page 37

it is the party that contests elections as held in Amaechi v.

INEC is not too healthy for our democracy. While party politics has its own merits, I believe a system in which a person cannot effectively participate in the government of his country except he belongs to a political party does not effectively operate in full implementation of Articles 13(1) and 20 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The members of the electorate have more robust opportunities to determine who governs them based on pedigree and integrity of personalities when right of individual candidature is allowed rather than when the rights of the public are quarantined within the straitjacket of party supremacy which may not necessarily produce the best candidate on one hand and good governance as a concomitant corollary.

Still on the constitution

amendments, most state assemblies opposed autonomy for local governments. Who is afraid of LGAs’ autonomy and is such fear founded?

I don’t think the fear or Local Government autonomy is in any way justified. It is more desirable to have autonomy for the Local Governments than to have them tied to the apron strings of the State Governments or State Houses of Assembly.

Closeness to the grassroots The Local Government has its own legislature at which level bye-laws are made. Why must they be subjected to the whims and caprices of another legislature at another level. The consequence we have seen is a situation whereby the constitutional duties and functions of Local Governments are brazenly usurped to the Continues on page 34

Why Thabo Mbeki’s illicit financial flows report will do little to stem the problem — Page 38

34—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Parallel government threat, tool to guarantee free, fair polls Continues from page 33 detriment of governmental closeness to the grassroots for which the Local Government system was originally introduced.

The only caveat is that Local Government executives and officials too must be up and doing in their constitutional and statutory responsibilities. It will be completely irresponsible where allocations meant for the development of their respective areas suddenly vanish only to make noveau richeof the Chairmen and their conniving officials. Anyway, at the level of autonomy, the council legislature can deal with that inclusive of the community they are meant to serve.

Without playing devil’s advocate, INEC Chairman, Prof. Jega said when he appeared before the Senate that further polls shift would be unconstitutional. Does this pronouncement not contradict the provisions of the constitution and the Electoral Act that allow the Commission to conduct elections not later than 30 days to May 29?

If what you mean is that Professor Jega said that further shift of the polls shall be unconstitutional, I perfectly agree with him as the election must be held at least and not later than 30 days to the end of the present tenures of the office holders.

Present tenures Any further shift beyond this constitutional stipulation shall be gross violation of the Constitution which must be resisted by all. There is no conflict in such statement with the Constitution but it rather affirms the position of the Constitution.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria Justice Mahmud Mohammed has warned election petition tribunal judges against being used by politicians to truncate

EDITORIAL TEAM Innocent Anaba ( Head) Wahab Abdulah Ikechukwu Nnochiri Dayo Benson (Supervising Editor) 08056180119 dayobenson@yahoo.com

the nations democracy. What is your take on this?

Answer: The warning of the Chief Justice of Nigeria is coming at the right and most auspicious time. We have read and experienced in the past several allegations and cases of compromise of judicial officers during hearing of election petitions.

While many of these allegations might be unfounded as an average Nigerian hardly accepts defeat in good faith, we must realize that on a few occasions, such allegations have exposed the judiciary to some unhealthy doubts.

Official brigandage Our judges should avoid all circumstances and scenarios that might smear the hallowed chambers with mud of indecency. The status is too elevated and highly coveted as our judges are the last hope, if not the only hope, left for the common man in this country where corruption and official brigandage have pervaded the spheres of governance.

Governor RotimiAmaechi recently said APC would form a parallel government if the coming elections are not free and fair. Is a parallel government constitutional when redress can be sought in the law courts and election tribunals.

It is true that formation of a parallel government is not constitutional. You, however, would also agree with me that rigging of election is also c o m p l e t e l y unconstitutional.The formation of parallel government becomes inevitable as a political tool to protect the right of Nigerians to elect their leaders and determine their socioeconomic and political future where election is flawed.

What is your assessment of the nation’s judiciary especially against the

backdrop of allegation of corruption in the system?

Answer: In all honesty, the judiciary has done fairly well in the past few years.

Considering the volume of work, the environment in which our judges work, the paucity in the resources and constraints imposed on them, I must honestly give the judiciary a pass mark. While it is indisputable that among every twelve disciples there must be at least one Judas, the situation cannot be less so in the judiciary if one takes the pulse of the nation with the suffocating practices that obtain in many circumstances. The presence of such few Judases cannot make one to condemn the judiciary in its entirety as in my few years of practice as a lawyer, I have appeared before many upright judges who do not only know the law, but are also committed to their revered and most honoured office in the temple of justice.

Do you agree with the assertion that there cannot be corrupt judges without

•Dr. Banre... judiciary has done fairly well in the past few years. corrupt lawyers?

Well, it takes two to tango but in many cases you would agree that many of our judges have dispensed their responsibilities fairly well. I do not think that corruption is as pervasive in the judiciary as it is loudly proclaimed.

Judge as whipping boy

Any further shift beyond this constitutional stipulation shall be gross violation of the Constitution

An average Nigerian blames his loss on the next fellow and the judge is the whipping boy once the outcome of a case turns against him even when his case from the beginning suffers from factual and legal kwashiorkor.

Anyway, that saying is not true as it is even possible for someone that wants to compromise the process to bye -pass the Counsel.

As a law teacher, are you satisfied with the standard of legal education in the country?

I strongly contend that there is much to be done in respect

of the need to improve the standard of legal education in this country. The syllabuses of both the university and the Law School require much to be desired and we need to improve on the contents of what we teach the new lawyers.

As a legal practitioner with quite a number of younger colleagues many of whom are fresh colleagues and based on my experience while interacting with law students on attachment from the Law School, I know that we need to make legal education more practice-oriented and dynamic to prepare young lawyers for the challenges of the profession.

In many cases we have come across lawyers and their processes that one would be compelled to query whether and how such fellows actually graduated from the university and the Law School. I believe we need to work more on how lawyers are produced.

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015—35

NBA visits CAC The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Section on Business Law, SBL, recently visited the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, in Abuja.

Eligibility of President Goodluck Jonathan, for 2015 elections and the constitution

From left: SBL Secretary, Mr. Seni Adio and M r .

Chuka Agbu

By Dr. Akpo Mudiaga Odje

T

HE issue of the second term bid of Mr. President has generated a lot of furore in the polity and perhaps has even eclipsed the current security challenges of our dear nation.

This discourse examines the eligibility or otherwise of Mr. President to ReContest in 2015 in juxtaposition with the germane provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended and Case Law. *Qualifications to Contest for Office of President.

Section 131 of the 1999 Constitution as amended provides that: “A person shall be qualified for election to the office of President if a. he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth; b. he has attained the age of forty years; c. he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party; and d. he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.” *Disqualification to Contest for Office of President Section 137 provides so far as material for our purpose that: “A person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if a. he has been elected to such office at any two previous elections”. The above provisions i.e. Sections 131 and 137 of the Constitution so far as material for our purpose, have lucidly set out the qualifications and disqualifications relating to the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

•Akpo Mudiaga

informed position as the case warrants. *Has President Jonathan Contested Twice for the Office of President?

In retrospect, Mr. President contested for the office of Vice President, under Alhaji Umaru Musa Ya’Adua of blessed memory and both were elected as President and Vice-President respectively in 2007. That was the First Office at the federal level President Jonathan contested for; i.e. office of Vice President.

However, in May 2010, our dear President Umaru Musa Ya’Adua passed away and by virtue of Section 146 of the Constitution, Dr. Jonathan was sworn in as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Indeed, the apex Court has declared in PDP V INEC (1999) II NWLR (pt626) 200 that a Governor and his Deputy both stand for elections as of right, though to different offices.

Thus, Wali JSC at page 249 paras D – F noted that: “Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr. Boni Haruna were simultaneously elected as Governor and Deputy Governor of Adamawa State by the electorate of that Literal and State. Each must have his own supporters ordinary meaning that had voted for him. Each has therefore acquired a right by being elected”.

Needless to add that these provisions Similarly in A.G. Federation V Atiku are clear as well as unambiguous and as (2007) 16 NWLR (Pt1041) 1 at page 156 such ought to be given their literal and paras E-H Mohammed JSC observed that: ordinary meaning.

“I share the same views The first question that arises with the Court below that here, is whether President the bond of companionship Goodluck Jonathan in the which compelled them light of Section 131 above, particularly the Vice qualified to occupy the office Presidential candidate to and/or contest for the office remain together during of the President of Nigeria in elections loosens, soon 2010 and/or 2011? and they would It by no means thereafter, It is not in dispute that he swim to certain extent qualified ex debito justitiae suggests that by separately”. to occupy that office in 2010 These judgments to my standing as a and as he did in 2011 after mind, duly affirm the winning the Presidential running mate to independent electoral elections. the Governor or standing of both a Governor The second and crucial and Deputy Governor on question that has now President as the the one hand and the apparently brought out the case maybe, for President and Vice brouhaha is, whether in view President on the other of Section 137(1)(b) above elections, the hand, during and after (i.e. regarding having been Deputy elections. elected twice to that office), It by no means suggests Mr. President is entitled to Governor or a that by standing as a Re-Contest for the office of Vice President running mate to the President of the Federal Governor or President as Republic of Nigeria in 2015? has also the case maybe, for This is the hub of the matter. contested for elections, the Deputy Before giving an emphatic Governor or a Vice President answer, to the second the office a has also contested for the question, some legal and Governor and office a Governor and constitutional issues need to President at the President at the same time! be pontificated upon to enable one take a more same time Continues next week

Council of the Section on Business Law with the Management of CAC.

SBL Council members with CAC management in session.

Justice Okocha moves to stop NJC, Rivers govt from appointing CJ

By Jimitota Onoyume

J

USTICE Daisy Okocha of the Rivers State Judiciary, has asked a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt to stop the National Judicial Council, NJC , Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and three others from appointing any other person as substantive Chief Judge for the state.

Justice Okocha, who urged the court to declare that the governor of Rivers State lacked powers under the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to appoint a Chief Judge for the state without recommendation of the NJC, also want the court to declare that the NJC which is the first defendant can only grant recommendations of a Rivers State Judicial Service Commission that is properly constituted in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.

Defendants in the suit are the NJC, Rivers State Judicial Service Commission, Governor Amaechi, Rivers State Attorney General, Chief Registrar of the state High Court and Chairman of the Rivers State judicial Service Commission.

Justice Okocha is contending in the suit that a properly constituted Rivers State Judicial Service Commission must have the Chief Judge of the state or an acting chief judge of the state as Chairman.

She is further praying the court to declare that the Attorney General and Chief Registrar of the High Court of Rivers State, have no constitutional powers to assume the duties and office of the

Chairman of the Rivers State Judicial Service Commission.

She further asked the court to declare that in the absence of a Chief Judge, the state governor was duty bound to declare that she (Justice Okocha) being the most senior judge of the High Court of Rivers State should perform the functions of a Chief Judge in acting capacity.

“A declaration that the plaintiff being the most senior judge in the hierarchy of the judges of the High Court of Rivers State is the person eligible and entitled to be appointed to perform for the time being the functions and exercise the powers of the office of Chief Judge of Rivers State.

Justice Okocha also sought an order of the court restraining the governor of the state from appointing another person other than herself as the acting Chief Judge of Rivers State.

She also want the court to restrain the defendants “or by their servants, agents or privies from selecting nominating, recommending or howsoever putting forward any person for appointment as Chief Judge of Rivers State based on the advice of the 2nd defendant as presently constituted or based on the advice of the Rivers State Judicial Service Commission except that under the headship of the acting Chief Judge as Chairman, who must be the most senior judge of the High Court of Rivers State as constitutionally stipulated, pending the determination of this suit

36—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Why Thabo Mbeki’s illicit financial flows report will do little to stem the problem of illicit financial outflows from Africa but the panel would appear to have perhaps somewhat disingenuously redefined its own terms of reference by choosing to focus on the responsibility of large commercial corporations and organized criminals rather than carefully assessing the responsibility of senior government officials in IFFs. It looks like an effort to push policy down one particular, limited track without a sufficient treatment of the leadership question.

This approach seems politically expedient but it has done a great disservice to the citizens of Africa.

The approach also buttresses the impression among African citizens that their governments and ‘leaders’ generally are soft on corruption and soft on the causes of corruption.

•Mbeki

By Kolawole Olaniyan

T

HE joint report by the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) on illicit financial flows from Africa has made good headlines. Some have described the report as “a turning-point”; others said its recommendations are “game changing,” and capable of addressing the problem both within Africa and globally.

The report, produced by the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa presided over by former South African president Thabo Mbeki was earlier this month overwhelmingly endorsed by the AU at its 24th Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa.

Continent-wide endorsement Mbeki deserves credit for obtaining continent-wide endorsement for the report, and the panel’s recommendation that efforts to combat illicit financial flows be included in the post-2015 Development Agenda is timely, given the expected expiration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the steps by the international community to adopt a fresh set of goals (Sustainable Development Goals), expected to be fulfilled over the next 15 years. The report also contains some useful recommendations on the importance of preventive measures and institutional and capacity building in combating illicit financial flows.

But the panel’s narrowed notion of what constitute ‘illicit financial flows’ (IFFs) combined with a disproportionate focus on the

responsibility of big corporations and ‘organized criminals,’ while seemingly minimising the primary responsibility of African governments and leaders, suggests that much more is still required to effectively combat IFFs in Africa.

I agree with the report’s finding that Africa has to address the wider systems that create IFFs in the first place. Yet, that is just one part of the story. The panel’s scanty treatment of fundamental questions about the nature of IFFs, especially grand corruption, and the impunity of high-ranking government officials that continues to provide the incentives for IFFs to flourish, is a wasted opportunity to rethink how Africa deals with the impunity dimension of IFFs. While the panel’s definition of IFFs as “money illegally earned, transferred or used” seems robust enough to cover a wide range of illicit activities in equal proportion, its quantification of corruption as amounting to just 5% of the $50 billion lost to IFFs each year is, to say the least, highly debatable.

Critical issues The panel’s recommendation that the mandate of the AU advisory board on corruption (established pursuant to article 22 of the AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption) be expanded to cover IFFs ignores the many problems currently besetting the board.

Yet, any potential role for the board with respect to IFFs must first resolve some critical issues such as allegations of mismanagement among its leadership, and the fact that its advice are routinely rejected by states. The board also doesn’t have a structure of its own, but is housed within a small department in the Secretariat of the AU Commission in Addis Ababa.

To be sure, grand corruption (a generic term used to describe large-scale embezzlement of public funds, illicit enrichment,

Responses to questionnaires The panel’s calculation suggests that just around $2.5 billion of the $50 billion of IFFs account for corrupt funds. In contrast, commercial activities account for 65% while other criminal activities take 30%. But the panel’s figure contradicts even the $18 billion that the AU once told us is stolen each year from Africa. The panel should have probed further the responses to its questionnaires that suggest that “corruption is the greatest source of IFFs from the continent.”

Further, the panel’s terms of reference broadly called for it to determine the nature and patterns

If Africa is to truly exercise its sovereignty – both political and economic – it must make getting rid of grand corruption its utmost priority

bribery, trading in influence and abuse of office, all at the highest level of government) poses a serious threat not only to African citizens and their communities, through for example, lives blighted by poverty, inequality and societies living in fear, but also a regional and global threat which can undermine the democratic and economic basis of societies, and thereby leading to a loss of confidence in the rule of law.

Mis-invoicing of trade transactions and organized crimes are terribly bad but these are just symptoms rather than primary causes of IFFs from Africa. We all see high-ranking government officials with no previous records of success in business, inheritance or a lottery win “wearing Rolex watches, driving Mercedes, owning houses in Paris and London, while sending their children for private education in Switzerland.”

The Ebola crisis in some parts of Africa in fact has exposed the level of grand corruption and its devastating effects on critical institutions of governance. For example, Sierra Leone’s AuditorGeneral’s recent report showed that the government could not account for nearly a third of the $20m earmarked for fighting Ebola in 2014.

Illicit outflows Related to the panel’s narrowed conceptualization of IFFs is the conclusion that “large commercial corporations are by far the biggest culprits of illicit outflows, followed by organized crime.” The panel’s conclusion is based on the assumption that “large corporations possess the means to perpetuate their aggressive and illegal activities,” while “drug dealers have the funds to corrupt many players, including and especially in governments, and even to capture weak states.”

But the panel’s conclusion seems to reinforce the narrative that ‘outsiders’ and ‘other interests’ are primarily responsible for IFFs. It’s easy for the panel to portray African governments and leaders as so powerless to address the problem. The panel seems to be saying to us: ‘it is fine to let fox guard the chicken house and everything will be normal’! But as one Yoruba proverb (owe) says “Bi ogiri ko la nu Alangba ko le r’aye wo be” (literally translated as: ‘If the wall does not open up the lizard will not be able to enter’).

The key words here are “the wall” and “the lizard.” Without cracks and openings in a wall a lizard can’t inhabit.

It’s true that globalisation has

been accompanied by a dramatic increase in illicit financial flows globally. However, much of the illicit financial flows from Africa can’t happen without the direct involvement and complicity of African governments and highranking officials or their families and business associates.

Clearly, big corporations and financial institutions are part of the problem but if African governments and leaders are docking responsibility for illicit financial flows, especially grand corruption, why should they expect ‘outsiders’ to play their role and be part of the solution?

Primary responsibility The sad reality is that African governments and leaders generally lack the requisite political will to tackle grand corruption.

High-ranking corrupt officials also seem to be getting more cunning but anticorruption agencies, the police and security services are not independent or working hard enough to catch them.

It is going to be very difficult to get the report’s recommendations implemented as long as African governments and leaders continue to dock their primary responsibility, and corrupt leaders are not hit where it most hurts— in their huge stolen public funds that they and their families and friends are sloshing around the world’s onshore and offshore financial centres that depend heavily on de jure or de facto bank secrecy.

If Africa is to truly exercise its sovereignty – both political and economic – it must make getting rid of grand corruption its utmost priority. Sovereignty implies “conducting an independent foreign and internal policy, building of schools, construction of roads, in brief, all types of activity directed towards the welfare of people.” Sovereignty cannot be conceived as a licence for African leaders to commit acts of corruption that imperil human dignity, and then to somehow attempt to shield themselves from responsibility.

By taking grand corruption seriously, African governments and leaders will be reducing the incentives that allow other illicit financial flows to flourish. But if corruption is to be satisfactorily addressed across Africa, it will take a determined push from the ‘woman and man on the street’ and not an elite that becomes ever wealthier as it becomes ever less accountable.

•Olaniyan, PhD is the author of ‘Corruption and Human Rights Law in Africa’.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015—37

Civil society groups fault life pension for National Assembly leadership •Call for mass action by labour, Nigerians Stories by Victor AhiumaYoung

A

T a time when thou sands of senior citi zens are battling for their pensions, when many have died, some are hospitalized and others bed-ridden without money to meet their medical and other needs, members of the National Assembly, in total disregard to the mood of the nation, on February 18, 2015, approved life pensions for their leaders.

Specifically, the Senate President, his deputy, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and his deputy, are to receive pensions for life besides the outrageous pay packages they presently enjoy.

Already, Nigerians are not taking this development lightly and civil society groups have called for a mass protest by organized labour and Nigerian masses against what they described as daylight robbery.

Socialist Party of Nigeria, SPN, and its Education Rights Campaign, ERC, counterpart, called for mass protest and total rejection of the life pension for National Assembly leaders.

SPN in a statement by its na-

tional chairperson, Segun Sango, said: “We see this as another attack on an average Nigerian who has been made to wallow in poverty in spite of the stupendous wealth of the country.

Action wicked, immoral: It is absolutely immoral and wicked of National Assembly whose members claim to be the elected representatives of the common people to defraud the nation by committing public resources to the already rich few. Currently, Nigerian politicians, and especially

Today, across the country, millions of pensioners, who have committed their adult lives to the service of the country, are suffering over unpaid pensions and gratuity

*David Mark, Senate President National Assembly members, are the highest paid in the world. It is clear that the insatiable desire of politicians to loot the nation’s wealth is not quenched by the humongous amount politicians award themselves at all levels, thus the new attempt to give politicians who occupied key positions permanent wages, even after they have left offices.

“We call on Nigerian labour movement to reject this latest fraud, and mobilize its members, civil society, oppressed and poor Nigerians out in mass movement against this fraud. This should be linked with building mass movements against all anti-poor capitalist policies.

While National Assembly members, comprising representatives from main capitalist parties like Peoples Democratic party, PDP, All Progressives Congress, APC, Labour Party, LP, All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, etc., were united in their aim to milk the country dry through this fraudulent life pension, hundreds of pensioners continue to die needlessly as a result of unpaid

wage for workers, found it easy to award several millions to bourgeois politicians as salaries and life pensions. Today, the education sector is in ruins as a result of chronic underfunding, but the National Assembly sees no reason to commit public resources to public education. Why should they, when they can easily send their children to the best schools around the world using public resources?

Is it then accidental that Nigeria is one of the most unequal countries in the world with just one percent of the population cornering up to 80 per cent of * Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker the nation’s wealth? According House of Representatives to statistics, more than 40 percent of the working population pensions and gratuities, which is jobless while poverty rate is in most cases are peanuts. To- more than 70 percent. day, across the country, milYet, every year, less than lions of pensioners, who have 18,000 politicians in power take committed their adult lives to as much as over N1.3 trillion as the service of the country, are salaries, allowances and perks suffering because of unpaid of office; an amount that is more pensions and gratuities, while than four times the total budpoliticians, already living gets for health." luxuriously at the expense of the public are giving them- ERC selves life pension after just a condemns action four-year stay in office. Just as the leading politicians at the On its part, ERC in a statefederal level are awarding ment by its national coordinathemselves life pensions, state tor, Hassan Taiwo Soweto, while officials started a this long time condemning the life pension, ago. said: “This is nothing but provocaState govts tive especially coming at a likewise period when inflation, low wages, unemployment and the States like Lagos, Akwa- general cheerless economic Ibom, Kwara, among several condition of the country has others have enshrined life pen- further impoverished majority sions for governors and their of Nigerians, forcing many onto deputies. the very margins of existence.

“It is worrisome that the same Public office holders in NigeNational Assembly members ria receive some of the highest that found it difficult to legis- pay and allowances in the late mere N30, 000 minimum world. Yet they are corrupt and daily loot the treasury.

The national minimum wage in the country is a measly N18,000 which is rarely paid in full by the federal and state governments. Retirees who deserve adequate pension are and other emoluments. “Workers dying daily. Many states are in the state-owned university, owing workers several months Osun State University, of salaries and allowances.

UNIOSUN, are at loggerheads By this, what the government with the state government over is trying to say is that politicians poor funding of the institution. who do nothing actually deserve Workers in the state radio and a better and luxurious life than television stations just called off the millions of hardworking their strike some few weeks ago, men and women working as low over failure of government to pay as 8 hours and as much as 13 their backlogs of arrears. Medi- hours a day just to earn a few cal workers in the state employ- kobo. ment, including doctors, have This decision further exposes not been paid for over three the Nigeria's capitalist ruling months, thus threatening the al- elite for what they really are: a ready fragile and chronically- band of blood-sucking underfunded health system in parasites. It is therefore the duty the state. Worse still, none of of every working class these issues have been ad- Nigerian, every Nigerian youth dressed or resolved by the and every poor person in this government. country to rise up to throw out "This clearly corroborates the this band of parasites and position of the SPN that the replace them with a socialist government has bankrupted the government that can ensure state finance." equitable distribution of collective wealth.”

Osun govt carpeted over three months’ unpaid pensions

S

OCIALIST Party of Nige ria, SPN, Osun State Chapter, has berated Osun State Government over alleged three months unpaid benefits to pensioners in the state.

The group claimed the same fate has befallen the state workers who are allegedly owed three months salaries.

SPN in a statement by its State Secretary, Mr. Kola Ibrahim, described the development as “callous and irresponsible, the denial of workers and pensioners of their salaries and entitlement, using very fraudulent excuse.

It called on the leadership of the labour movement in the state including Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, to take drastic and practical action to defend the rights of workers and pensioners.

The group called for immediate declaration of industrial actions including strikes, pickets, mass rallies and protests, to demand payment of workers’ salaries and pensions.

According to the statement, “It is highly shameful of the government to claim there is no money to pay workers and pensioners for over 90 days, yet the same government has millions to spend on campaign jamboree.

The same government that claimed there is no money to pay workers and pensioners spent several millions of naira on referendum on new local council creation, even when legitimate elections into the local government administrations have not been held for over four years. We ask: where is the N30 billion the government claimed to have saved some time ago? Is the government claiming it is not

getting any federal allocation or what?

“The government should be ashamed that after more than four years of the much-touted economic prudence, it still relies on dole-outs from Abuja to survive. Even at this, the government cannot meet its basic obligations and duties, one of which is payment of workers’ salaries and retirees’ pensions.

Instructional materials Recently, teachers in the state’s public schools embarked on a month-long strike to demand for provision of running grants to public schools for procurement of basic instructional materials like chalk. Currently, lecturers in the four state-owned polytechnics and colleges of education are on industrial dispute with the state government over backlog of allowances

38—Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26 15 26,, 20 2015

Four years after, 8 states fail to pay minimum wage

•Gov Sullivan Chime

By Victor Ahiuma-Young, Wole Mosadomi, Peter Okutu, Francis Igata, Marie-Therese Nanlong

N

ONE of the revelations of the inconclusive National Delegates Conference of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, is that four years after the N18,000 National Minimum Wage, NMW, was signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan in March 2011, some states have refused to implement same.

The question is, these governors, who have refused to obey the law of the country, why have the security agencies failed to prosecute them?

Nonetheless, a National Executive Council, NEC, report to the conference stated that “despite legislative backing to the minimum wage, the struggle to implement it has become one of the most difficult in the history of the labour movement. This was mainly due to the intransigence of most of the state governors, who had engaged in dodgy tactics to avoid payment of the new wages to workers. While some had hinged implementation on a new revenue allocation formula, some had tied payment to removal of the so-called oil subsidy and rationalisation of the work force, including bogus verification exercises ostensibly to fish out ‘ghost workers.’

Whereas in the past, minimum wage increases translated to general wage increases, the struggle to implement the 2011 minimum wage was met with numerous obstacles.

“These include the insistence by some state government to

•Gov Martin Elechi

implement the new wages only to grade levels 01-06. Some have implemented only in the core civil service, leaving out workers in local governments, teachers and public service workers in the parastatals and some have out rightly refused to pay, stopping the review of wages at the level of relativity adjustments in salaries. Also, despite agreement with the Governors Forum, commencement dates for some states varied from August 2011 to August 2012. Till date, some state governments have not fairly and fully implemented the minimum wage, yet time is ripe for a wage review after the mandatory four years.

“The minimum wage of N18, 000 even through backed by law, the Congress went through a lot of trouble renegotiating at the federal and state levels through the Governors' Forum in order to maintain a modicum of stability and harmony in our industrial relations system. However, it is apparent that this gesture was not being reciprocated and there was need to take their half-heartedly implemented new wages or have out rightly refused to do so” Today, Enugu, Ebony, Anambra States and five other states have either refused to implement it or implemented it partially.

The other states are Ekiti, Niger, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto and Taraba.

While Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi states have refused to implement at all, Ekiti, Niger, Plateau, Oyo, Ekiti, Taraba and Sokoto states only partially implemented.

•Gov Willie Obiano

In Anambra, it was gathered that besides N10,000 the governor added to all the workers’ salary during a threeweek strike to force implementation, the present government recently added 15 percent pay rise to workers.

This also fell short of the N18,000 national minimum wage.

For Ebonyi, while the minimum wage is not being implemented at all, it was gathered that what is on ground is a home -made table imposed on workers by the government.

Similarly, in Enugu State, nothing has been done to implement the wage, rather the state government dragged organized labour to court over the issue.

In the case of Ekiti State, while the core civil servants are being paid, workers in the local governments are yet to be paid.

On its part, Niger State government fully implemented

While Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi states have not commenced implementation at all, Ekiti, Niger, Plateau, Oyo, Ekiti, Taraba and Sokoto states only partially implemented the wage

the minimum wage for workers in level 1-6, those in level 7 and above, got something said to be substantial above their existing salary.

Similarly, in Oyo State, without the involvement of state chapter of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, the government approved the payment of the wage to level 16 without the consent of the Public Service Joint Negotiating Council, PSJNC, the government was dealing with.

When PSJNC resumed negotiation for workers on level 7-17, the government came up with N19,113.99, with a slight difference of between N1,000 and N2,000 increase without the consent of the negotiating team. It led to a three-week strike until the intervention of well-meaning citizens of the state. It was however gathered that up till now, this figure has not been implemented.

In Plateau State, implementation began in October 2011 for core public workers, but till date, local government employees are receiving half of what core civil servants get.

Also, in Sokoto, the wage has been implemented for core civil servants, but has not been implemented for local government workers and primary school teachers. It was gathered that the government is currently carrying out a verification exercise of this category of workers with a view to implementing the wage.

Equally in Taraba State, while the core civil servants have been paid, the council workers have not and the government is equally said to be undertaking

a screening exercise for council workers before implementing the wage for them.

Enugu workers lament: A cross section of the civil servants in the state expressed sadness over the turn of events and lamented that the support they gave to Governor Sullivan Chime's administration had not been reciprocated.

Labour Vanguard spoke to the Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Enugu State chapter, Chukwumaife Nze, over the intractable delay in the implementation of the national minimum wage, and he decried the situation.

According to him, "At the heat of the struggle for minimum wage in Enugu State and Nigeria in general, the government in Enugu, merely added N10,000 to the existing salary of workers. By the addition, those on grade level 01 receive N18,600 monthly.

That is what government termed Minimum Wage. Within the period of the struggle, government dragged Labour to the Industrial Court to prove that it is paying the Minimum Wage. The matter is still subsisting in court. For us as organised labour in Enugu State, there can be no minimum wage without an agreement between Government and Labour for the implementation.

Fear of victimisation "What it means is that no negotiation, agreement took place between government and labour. There must be an agreement for the implementation of minimum wage or the chart therein. Up till this moment, Labour in Enugu state is still clamouring for the increase in the salary of workers.

"We hope that the government will do the needful to give the workers of Enugu State who have been supportive of the programmes of the Governor Chime-led administration a living wage."

However, a civil servant in one of the ministries who spoke under the condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation said, "We had taught that the implementation of the minimum wage would have a smooth sail.

"Of what benefit would other infrastructural development be if the workforce is neglected?

Other states in the country have implemented the minimum wage. Now, this administration is packing its bags. Apparently, this matter will be carried over to the next administration.

While this tussle lasts, the harsh socio-economic situation in the country is taking its toll on our colleagues." *TO BE CONCLUDED

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 — 39

40—Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Glaucoma: Loss of vision is preventable —Solanki

By Chioma Obinna

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MAGINE waking up one day and found out that you can no longer identify colours? Imagine being hungry and alone with food stock in your kitchen you cannot help yourself but continue to yawn. This is the situation currently experienced by 52 years old Mr Ejiro. A father of three children can no longer use his sight no thanks to Glaucoma, the second most common cause of blindness.

Glaucoma is a condition that causes damage to your eye’s optic nerve and gets worse over time. It’s often associated with a build-up of pressure inside the eye.

Glaucoma tends to be inherited and may not show up until later in life.

The increased pressure, called intraocular pressure, can damage the optic nerve, which transmits images to the brain. If damage to the optic nerve from high eye pressure continues, glaucoma will cause permanent loss of vision. Without treatment, glaucoma can cause total permanent blindness within a few years.

However, a Senior Consultant Ophthalmology & Glaucoma Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals Bangalore.

India, Dr Bharath Kumar Solanki says because most people with glaucoma have no early symptoms or pain from this increased pressure, it is important for individuals to see their eye doctor regularly so that glaucoma can be diagnosed and treated before long-term visual loss occurs.

According Solanki, it is commonly seen in people above 50 years but can occur at any age group, ethnically it is more

prevalent in African region, and it is hereditary and associated with diabetes and hypertensive patients.

Contrary to believes that once you have Glaucoma there is no remedy, the Consultant Ophthalmologist said it can be treated by medicines, highly advanced laser surgeries and glaucoma implant (EXPRESS SHUNT) surgeries.

He advised that people aged above 40 years should have regular yearly complete eye examination with recording pressure of the eye, adding that patients with family history of glaucoma should undergo eye examination once in six months. “Patients having diabetes and blood pressure should undergo routine eye examination once in six months. Patients with diabetes and hypertension need to keep their sugar levels and pressure levels under control.

Early stage of glaucoma can be easily managed or treated by the medicines,” he stated.

Facts about breast cancer you should know

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REAST cancer is the most common cancer affecting women globally.

Incidence of breast cancer is increasing rapidly in developing countries to which otherwise second common next to cervical cancer. This could be due to adoption of urban life style in developing countries like Nigeria.

Who are the victims of breast cancer? No one knows exactly why some women get breast cancer but we need to know the risk factors, risk factors cannot be changed which are default in nature. Age - chances of

getting breast cancer as women gets older more than 40 years. Personal early onset of menses before 12 years, late menopause behind 50 years.

Family history: - when a mother or sister has breast cancer history.

Controllable risk factors are: overweight, alcohol, smoking, not having children and having your child after 35 years, OCP for long period.

Is there a way to prevent Brest cancer? Yes, we can by getting breast cancer screening which means checking breast for cancer before it develops. Self-breast examination

start from 20 years of age monthly Doctors examination every year by your family doctors after the age of 30 years.

Mammogram from the age of 45 years every year. When to get in touch with the doctor? When you notice the following: - Lump in the breast, change in size and shape of the breast Nipple discharge, nipple inversion, changes in the skin over the breast.

Dr. Pandu Dasappa is a Senior Consultant Surgical Oncology, Institute of Cancer, Apollo Hospital B a n g a l o r e , India.docpandu@gmail.com, abubakker.apollo@gmail.com.

COMMON SEXUAL PROBLEMS AND THEIR NOVELTY BASED SOLUTIONS (ADVERTORIAL)

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If it is below 15 million, it is low. So the quantity you see when you ejaculate has nothing to do with fertility.

Every once in a while, we get emails from couples who cannot have children and we suggest that they start taking Repro Aid or Fertil Aid supplement to aid fertility because they improve sperm count and motility. But for increase in semen volume, we recommend supplements such as Max Load and Explosion. So bear this in mind as you go to see your doctor. It always helps if a person has a little knowledge of what is happening to him or her – Uche I have tried some of the products that you talk about. I have used Optimale Penis Enlarger and I have also used X Again erection enhancer and I am satisfied with the results. What I don’t know is how often I should take it. Thanks – Mutiu I am glad you enjoy the products. Optimale Penis Enlarger is used daily or one hour before intercourse.

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015—41

job considerably in winning Edo because the truth is that if there is one man that Edo people do not want to see is the governor.

You will recall that in his first term he use to do road walks.

What has happened? Is it that he is no longer physically fit or he has become too comfortable.

He cannot do it because he knows that he will be alone. So Oshiomhole campaigning for Buhari is a minus.

This his second term has been a disaster, all the roads we were all singing about in the first term what happened to them in the second term? The University he promised the people of Edo South, what has happened to it?

Mother of all rallies

•Ize-Iyamu: People's eyes have now been opened to Jonathan and Oshiomhole

My running battle with Oshiomhole — Ize Iyamu PASTOR Osagie Ize-Iyamu is the Director-General of the Jonathan/Sambo presidential campaign in Edo State. In this interview with Vanguard, he insisted that President Goodluck Jonathan will win the presidential election despite the seeming popularity of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He also dismissed claims by Governor Adams Oshiomhole that the people of the state will not vote for President Jonathan asserting that the President has impacted positively on the lives of the people of the state and would therefore win the state. Excerpts:

By Simon Ebegbulem

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OW it been campaigning for President Jonathan in Edo State?

It has been very interesting, when you have a sellable product, you don’t labour too hard marketing the product.

But when the product is bad it becomes extremely difficult.

Edo people see the president as their own.

They appreciate the challenges, they appreciate his achievements and they believe he deserves a second term. In many of the places we have gone to, the reception has been very good. A lot of times they have spent much time praying for him and of course counselled him that in his second term there are issues he needs to tackle more, like the

issue of insecurity and ensuring that all the projects that are ongoing are completed so that before the end of his tenure, Nigerians will have uninterrupted light.

So I am very confident that when the election is done, the president will win overwhelmingly in Edo state.

Are you not worried with the seeming popularity if Gen. Buhari in the North?

Well, Buhari might be popular in the North but even then when we make the mistake thinking that the whole of the North is one, forgetting that the North is made up of different ethnic groups, people of different religions and even in terms of geo-political zones, we have three major zones in the North.

In the North Central for

example, Buhari will find it extremely difficult to win any state there.

Even in the North West where he comes from, he cannot boast of winning all the states there. And of course in the North East, there are people that will vote for him, there are people that will also vote for Mr President Don’t you think it will be difficult for him to win Edo state, since Governor Adams Oshiomhole has told the people of the state the direction to go?

If the Governor had distanced himself from Buhari’s campaign may be Buhari would have done better but by identifying with Buhari and by even saying that a vote for Buhari is a vote for Adams Oshiomhole, he has helped my

And when government resorts to lies people cannot be impressed. Look at the recent one, just because election is around the corner, he went to Okpella and he pretended to be flagging off a road job, he also did that during his election in 2011.

But it is claimed that youths in Edo State protested against you after the president’s campaign in Benin because of a N1.5 billion largesse?

I can tell you clearly that common sense will tell anybody that there is no way that you spend N1.5 billion for a state rally, even if it is mother of all rallies that will climax the entire exercise, such an amount is ridiculous. But we traced this story to the door steps of Edo state government and the boys were provoked to the extent that they demonstrated to the PDP secretariat. Later they realized that there was no truth in that information. The state chairman told them that they

I am the coordinator of the Goodluck campaigns and every day we are winning more converts, the moment he knows somebody in government wants to come and join us he quickly terminates his appointment

was no such money.

So Governor Oshiomhole recently confirmed his involvement when he mentioned in an interview that I was dragging him into it and that what happened was that we were supposed to give the youths N3,000 but we gave them N500, so where is the balance? The question is, when did Oshiomhole become a PDP member? Who are the PDP people that told him they got N3.000, where did he get the story from?

For the fact that the governor could tell the press that showed clearly that even the story N1.5billion is false. It will interest you to know that in their plan to frustrate the rally, he instructed the ECT buses not to ply the road that day thinking that it will deny those that want to go to the stadium the opportunity but he failed.

The same youths that went to protest have since come forward to say we are sorry.

In any event has PDP told anybody that money meant for PDP rally was mismanaged?

Why is Oshiomhole now crying more than the bereaved? I am the coordinator of the Goodluck campaigns and every day we are winning more converts, the moment he knows somebody in government wants to come and join us he quickly terminate his appointment.

Massive support I can tell you that there is no truth or controversy in the President’s visit. The visit only opened the eyes of those in government to the massive support the president enjoys here and that support cut across.

You see our people are very sophisticated, there was a time they voted PDP and when they thought that PDP was taking them for granted and based on our appeal to them they said they will vote another party and that party has been in power for six and a half years and Edo people are asking themselves if things are any better?

Bendel brewery is dead, but it was operating when he came in, Edo courier service is no more, Bendel Insurance football club is gone. I was in government before, you cannot commission projects without disclosing financial figure, government that pretend to commission projects and silent about the cost. You did a road how much did it cost? One of the things we will praise you for is financial prudence; the cost of executing projects has become the highest in the Country. I challenge him to make it public and not be making reckless statements.

42—Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2015

By Peter Okutu

T

HE crisis rocking Ebonyi state House of Assembly on tuesday climaxed following the strange fire that gutted the House around 1am of the penultimate day.

This development has raised lots of mind bogging questions as to why anybody could mastermind the destruction of the state House of Assembly at this critical moment in the history of the state.

Items gutted by the inferno include; financial records, furniture, computer sets, refrigerators, air conditioner, ceiling and standing fans and other valuable properties worth millions of naira.

Speaking with journalists immediately after plenary, the speaker, Rt. Hon Chukwuma Nwazunku blamed the fire on the state executive arm of government.

Recent proceedings in the House had shown that Governor Elechi was no longer in control of the activities of the House as the seats of the six House members loyal to him had recently been declared vacant by the House.

The Speaker who expressed shock and disappointment over the development at the House also accused prominent members of Governor Elechi’s cabinet of facilitating the arson.

When Vanguard visited the Assembly complex, smoke was still emitting from the debris of the items consumed by the fire as jerry cans filled with inflammable substances like diesel were seen in some offices yet to be gutted by the fire.

Proactive response The substance was equally poured on the floor of the House of Assembly complex but couldn’t ignite fire because of the proactive response of the men and officers of the police command.

Nwazunku, who further alleged that those responsible for the act where those individuals in Governor Elechi’s government that were invited over their alleged embezzlement of public funds, since the commencement of the present administration.

Recall that the House had during its last plenary summoned Governor Martin Elechi, his son, Elechi Elechi, the Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Dr. Ben Igwenyi, commissioner for local government and Chieftaincy Matters, Chief Celestine Nwali, the state Accountant-General to answer questions over their alleged role in misappropriation of

•Ebonyi State House of Assembly complex gutted by fire

EBONYI: Fiery meltdown!

TUESDAY morning’s fire incident in the House of Assembly is couched within the equally blistering crisis in the state that has disconnected Governor Martins Elechi from the power levers in the state. public funds.

According to the Speaker, “we were to begin hearing on this matter today only to be told that the account section, Media office of the state Assembly complex was gutted by fire.

Those responsible were those we invited to answer questions concerning their involvement in the embezzlement of public funds”.

During the plenary, the House also declared the seats of Hon. Oliver Nwachuwku representing Abakaliki North state constituency and embattled Deputy Speaker, representing Afikpo South East, Hom. Blaise Orji vacant, making it a total of 6 seats that had been declared vacant by the House.

Heating up the polity In a press statement by the state Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the Acting State Secretary and Publicity Secretary, Chief Joseph Onwe, Chief Simon Anyigor and Apostle Benjamin Obaji respectively, the party blamed the incident on Governor Elechi’s desperate supporters who are determined to heat up the polity against all odds.

“Just only today in a desperate move to thwart the sitting of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly and the House investigation panel on the looting of state treasury by the Governor, a section of the House of Assembly was burnt down “There are also plans by these desperate supporters of

•Elechi:

Nwazunku, who further alleged that those responsible for the act where those individuals in Governor Elechi’s government that were invited over their alleged embezzlement of public funds

Governor Martin Elechi to burn the Deputy Governor’s lodge, the campaign secretariat of the Deputy Governor, the state party secretariat and the Speaker’s lodge”.

Reacting, Governor Martin Elechi stated that it was wrong for the House to draw any conclusion over the incident adding that a thorough investigation would be carried out to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the outbreak.

The Governor who expressed delight that no life was lost in

the fire incident, called on the honourable members to restrain themselves from any action that might not promote peace and unity of the state.

Meanwhile, the State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO ASP Chris Anyanwu stated that the fire started at about 1:15am on Tuesday.

“We got a distress call from the police officer in charge of the House of Assembly complex that there was fire outbreak in the area.

We dispatched our men to this place and they were led by the commissioner of police Dikko Maigari.

“With the combined effort of men of the fire service and police force, the fire was put off.

As you can see the Accounts Section of the Assembly has been razed and it is the only wing that was affected by this inferno. The Department of Investigation of the police command has commenced their investigation and as soon as they unravel the cause of the inferno, we will update you.”

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015—43

EBONYI: My redemption plan — Nweze, gov candidate DR Austin Nweze, a social commentator and governorship candidate on the platform of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in Ebonyi State, in this interview explains why he wants to govern the state.

By Charles Kumolu

Y

OU are a known social commentator and critic, can we know what attracted you to politics?

As a public commentator, sometimes you just don’t watch, you need to participate in the process. God has programmed our lives and every experience we go through is for greater good that God is preparing you for.

Over the years, I was the last person to say that I wanted to join politics.

But I knew that I was going to contribute something to the society. I grew up in Canada, I went to school there, and thought I wasn’t going to come back to Nigeria. But all attempts I made to remain in Canada proved futile. A Cameroonian friend called me and told me that the decision to go back to Nigeria will be the best decision of my life.

When I got to London on my way back at the airport, I met a Nigerian being cheated, I had to fight for him. That desire to do something for Nigeria was there.

Again, while in Canada, I was the President of International Students Association and when Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe visited and I hosted him, he also advised me to come back to Africa after my education.

Education and exposure He visited in 1983, he encouraged us and with that with our education and exposure, we had something to offer Africa.

So I decided to come back to Nigeria after my education. So the burden to help this nation has always been there.

On leadership: Over the years I have been bothered when I see young men and women hawking on the streets. Seeing a 17 year old or 16 year old from Ebonyi hawking on the street is a common sight. In 2008, Ebonyi State had the highest percentage of hawkers on the streets. A recent study showed about 70 to 75% of hawkers in Lagos are from Ebonyi State. There is purportedly free education in Ebonyi State, yet our people don’t go to school.

On Ebonyi free education:

•Ballot boxes on display before voting in a past election

•Nweze: I will change Ebonyi During the 2011 electioneering period when I contested for governorship, I traversed the nooks and crannies of this state and I found out that rather than these children being in the classroom, they were in the farms helping their parents.

So I realized that there must be something wrong with this kind of free education that they have.

You are giving them free education when they are hungry.

That is why they are going back to the farms to help their parents.

By the time you make farming more lucrative that their parents can benefit from it, and then these children can afford to go to school.

On financial muscle: If you ask me if I have the financial strength, I will tell you that as I move on, funds will come. People have opened up websites, some are contributing money to this process. And you can never have all the money to run a campaign.

You can never say I have budgeted 10 billion to run a campaign because it will finish and you will still need more

From my experience, I have found out that politics is 80 per cent spiritual, 19 per cent money and 1 per cent personal effort in Nigeria and anywhere in the world

funds.

So, the thing is that keep the funds will keep flowing as at when needed. It is not how much you have because INEC stipulates how much you can spend. And we have to abide by that which is even good for us.

If we can spend less than INEC requirement and get the governorship, it is a plus. And we can boldly say that we spent N100 million or N200 million.

Money is important, but it is not the determinant of who wins the elections. It doesn’t go.

Level of killings It still remains that we might not have the kind of money others have but we are being strategic about it and you know because at the end of every election, everything that you do, God determines the outcome.

From my experience, I have found out that politics is 80 per cent spiritual, 19 per cent money and 1 per cent personal effort in Nigeria and anywhere in the world. Though the percentage might vary and that is why during political times there is a high level of killings. So my message to the people of Ebonyi State is that I will not steal their money.

I will use whatever resources, even if it is my personal resource to develop the state. If you understand what is going on today in Ebonyi today, you will discover that the stronghold of the PDP has a big crack at the moment. The governor and his deputy are at loggerheads.

When a house is divided against itself, it can’t stand. I am saying that the house of PDP in Ebonyi State has fallen. The same with APC, there is none of them that can say that they willl win Ebonyi this time.

How you'll vote H

OURS OF POLLING ·Polling units will open at 8a.m. for accreditation of voters and close at 1p.m. ·Voting will begin at 1:30p.m. when every accredited voter will be asked to form a queue, and voting will close when the last person on queue has voted.

No person will be allowed to vote at a polling unit other than the one where he/she registered and got accredited.

Voters who do not possess PVC will not be accredited and, consequently, will not be able to vote.

ACCREDITATION PROCEDURE The Presiding Officer (PO) at the polling unit will: ·Allow voters into the polling unit in an orderly queue. ·Where culture disallows men and women mingling on a queue, create separate queues for men and women. ·Introduce polling agents and poll officials present, including the Asst. Presiding Officer (APO) I who will: ·Request the voter to present his/her PVC, ·Read the PVC using the Card Reader, and ·Request the voter to place appropriate finger on the Card Reader for authentication. ·On being authenticated, the voter will present himself/herself to APO II who will request for his/her PVC, ·Check the Register for the records of the voter, ·Tick as appropriate on the Register and apply indelible ink on the specified finger of voter’s left hand, and ·Issue the voter an accreditation tag

VOTING PROCEDURE The Presiding Officer, after setting out the polling unit in the manner prescribed, will: ·Invite voters to form a single queue. · Where culture disallows men and women mingling on a queue, create separate queues for men and women. ·Request a security agent to stand behind the last person on queue. ·Show the empty ballot boxes to all present, lock up the ballot boxes with seals provided, and declare the poll open.

Upon a voter’s presentation of his/her PVC, one of the poll officials will: ·Issue him/her stampedand-signed ballot papers, folding the ballot papers vertically with the printed side inwards.

Appropriate finger ·Apply indelible ink on the appropriate finger of the voter and request him/her to go to the voting cubicle and thumbprint. (Only one voter is allowed at a time in the voting cubicle.) ·The voter will thumbprint a ballot paper in the space provided beside the party logo of his/her choice, and deposit the thumb printed ballot paper into the appropriate ballot box placed in open view. · After casting his/her ballot, the voter will exit the polling unit quietly.

A voter living with disability will be assisted to vote in the polling unit by a person chosen by him/her, other than a poll agent. Where available, visually impaired voters may use Assistive Tactile facilities.

44 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015—45

Military onslaught on B'Haram proves Jonathan’s critics wrong —EX-MILITANT LEADERS N

IGER Delta ex-militant leaders, yesterday, said that the remarkable achievements made by the Nigerian armed forces, the Joint Multi-national Task Forces in their present onslaught against Boko Haram in the North-East region, have proved President Goodluck Jonathan's critics wrong.

The ex-militant leaders added that the President has defeated his opponents who were carrying campaign of his ineffectiveness in tackling insecurity in parts of the North, as Mr. President had adopted a working strategy to end the Boko Haram menace.

Coordinator of the Phase Three Amnesty group in Delta State, Mr. Preye Ekpebide, who spoke with reporters after the group’s meeting in Warri, commended the Federal Government and the Armed Forces for the acquisition of modern warplanes, Helicopters, and personnel carriers that are assisting in

Delta community declares support for APC's running mate slot

By Festus Ahon

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SABA—THE people of Emu Kingdom, Delta State, have embraced the deputy governorship slot offered to Mr Vander-Puya Abanum, by the All Progressives Congress, APC. Commending APC for finding their son worthy of the offer, the people in a statement described Chief Godwin Iwegbue and the 23 others behind an earlier publication, wherein they distanced themselves from Abanum, as mischief makers.

They said: “These persons did not speak the minds of Emu people.

Whatever position they took in the said publication is their opinion and not the opinion of the generality of Emu people.”

Accusing Iwegbue of not giving Emu people good representation over the years as a politician, the people in the statement by Emu Development Association, EDA, said they would support their son, Mr Abanum and his party to achieve their political aspiration.

winning the war against the insurgents.

Ekpebide, who applauded the gallantry of Nigerian soldiers and the MultiNational Taskforce, noted that that the Nigerian Army which was highly rated in the world was gradually redeeming its image, adding that the deployment of Army Generals to the battle field was a great

morale booster to the rank and file.

The ex-militant leader said Nigerians wee happy with the recent onslaught in the NorthEast against Boko Haram and called on Nigerians to be patient with the military. He also called for prayers for the soldiers in the battle fields and urged everyone to assist security agencies in bringing

insurgency to an end in the country.

Expressing joy over the towns the military had retaken, he said this has further boosted Jonathan’s acceptance

by Nigerians because Mr. President has demonstrated that he is a man of his words, enjoining all and sundry to have faith in the current administration.

BURIAL: Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Lady Valerie Ebe (2nd right); Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State (2nd left); his wife, Rachael (left), and wife of former Governor of Bayelsa State, Margaret Alamieyeseigha (right), during a mass burial of Bayelsa State women leaders who died in an auto crash recently.

Uduaghan sends peace mission to feuding communities

By Onoja Innocent

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OMADI—GOVERNOR Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State has sent a peace delegation to Ezebiri community in Bomadi Local Government Area of the state, whose son was killed by suspected youths of Ufrukama, a neighbouring community in Ughelli South Local Government Area, over bailing of a fish pond.

The high-powered peace delegation which comprised the Chairman of Bomadi council, Chief Oluwole Karetimi and his team, his Ughelli counterpart, Paul Etega and his team, the Nigeria Police force led by Area Commander, Mr Pedro, the Joint Task Force, JTF, in both councils led by their commanders, Capt.

Robert (Bomadi) and Lt. Jatau (Ughelli South) as well as representatives of the media, arrived Ezebiri at 1.30p.m, and were led into the community hall where members of the community were gathered to hear from the government.

Sympathizing with the community for the loss, Chief Karetimi commended the people of Ezebiri for their maturity in handling the issue, as he

appealed to them to keep it up to enable government and the security agencies see the case to its logistic conclusion.

His Ughelli South counterpart, Etega, appealed for calm and urged the people to continue to maintain their peaceful disposition since it involves a case between sister communities

that had already lived over the years together through interethnic marriage.

In their response, the community elders and leaders thanked government for the concern and assured that they will continue to prevail on their young men to calm down as they await the conclusion of the case.

S-South students endorse Peterside as Rivers gov

By Gbenga Oke

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OUTH-SOUTH Youth Students Organisation, SSYSO, the umbrella body of all former and present Students Union Government presidents and students in the South-South, has thrown its weight behind Dr. Dakuku Peterside, governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State.

The organisation noted that with Peterside, the future of youths in Rivers State was assured.

Speaking when the organisation paid a solidarity visit to the Greater Together

Campaign office in Port Harcourt, Tonye Tom-George, called on South-South students at home and abroad to support the APC candidate, who, he said, has a clear-cut agenda for Rivers State and its youths.

He said: “Peterside is the candidate of hope and opportunity for young people in Rivers State and the entire South-South and we must take full advantage of the candidate’s emergence by voting massively for him.

“With Dr Peterside, our future as youths in Rivers State is assured. I can say this boldly because the APC candidate is competent and he fears God."

Ndokwa youths rally support for Okowa

By Simon Adewale

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DOKWA Peoples Forum, NPF, has appealed to the people of Ndokwa nation to come out en-mass and vote for Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate as the next governor of Delta State, come March 28.

A statement at the end of a two-day meeting in Obiaruku, Ukwuani Local Government Area of Delta State, by the leader of the group, Kenneth Ojimiwe, said that the forum has reaffirmed its support for Okowa as the next governor of the state.

The group added that it had endorsed Okowa for the governorship position based on his track record and promised to continue to support him, even as it urged the people of Ndokwa nation to come out en-mass and cast their votes for him.

Ojimiwe added that it was imperative for all the youths to collect their permanent voters cards, PVCs, so as to be able to exercise their franchise.

Pa Okereke dies at 88

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Tujeworo Okereke, aged 88, is dead. He died after a brief illness.

Late Pa Okereke, until his death, was a retired civil servant and worked as a foreman in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.

He was the oldest man in Ejiforma Compound in Afriki Quarters in Ekpan.

He is survived by a widow, children and other relations. He has since been buried.

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Late Pa Okereke

46—Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

No alternative to Jonathan —OLEJEME

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HE Chairman of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, Dr. Ngozi Olejeme, has described President Goodluck Jonathan, as the best presidential pilot to take the country safely to the next level of development.

“Dr. Jonathan is a man of character and competence,” said Olejeme, who is also Deputy Chairman, Finance Committee of PDP Presidential Campaign Organization.

She advised Nigerians to be more concerned with the vision, integrity, acumen and ability of the presidential candidate.

“There is no alternative to Jonathan in the March 28, presidential poll,” she said.

She urged Nigerians to reject those who viewed public life as a means to increase private wealth, explaining that the issue of Jonathan winning the March 28 election was a foregone conclusion.

Ibru identifies solution to economic woes

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By Naomi Uzor

HE Chairman of Ikeja Hotel Plc, Mr. Goodie Ibru, has identified wealth creation as the only means of rescuing the country from economic doldrums.

Ibru, who spoke at the conferment of Doctorate Degree of Entrepreneurship on him by Joseph Ayo Babalola University, IkejiArakeji in Osun State, Ibru said wealth creation starts with commitment.

He said: “Wealth creation is not necessarily synonymous with having huge investible funding.

“It starts with the commitment to grow a small business idea from infancy to viability, which requires discipline, hard work, networking and courage to take viable business risk.”

Chancellor of the university, Pastor Wemimo Odunaiya, said Ibru was the sole honorary awardee at the institution’s fifth convocation and that the award was based on Ibru’s achievement as a foremost achiever in the country’s hospitality industry.

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WEDDING: From left— Engr. William Ainabe, Jr; HRH, Abumere II, Onogie of Ekpoma; Sir Ezekiel Ainabe, Chief Rachael Ainabe, parents of the groom, and Esan traditional rulers, at the traditional wedding of Zeekson and Sommie at Isiala Mbano, Imo State.

‘Imo LGAs received N175bn from May 2011 to December 2014’

By Chidi Nkwopara & Chinonso Alozie

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WERRI—CONTRARY to speculations, federal allocations that accrued to the 27 local government areas of Imo State from May 2011 to December 2014 stood at N175.034 billion.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, who released the document in Owerri, also said the facts could be verified from the Office of the Director of Budget, Federal Ministry of Finance.

According to Chief Ihedioha, the total money that accrued to the state within the period under reference was N175,034,754,198.58.

A breakdown of the figures showed that Mbaitoli Local Government received the highest allocation of N7,911,605,236.16, followed

by Isiala Mbano council with an allocation of N7,264,718,173.64.

Conversely, Nkwerre council received the lowest allocation of N5,417,840,531.43, closely followed by Onuimo and Nwangele with N5,739,729262.70 and N5,930,969,442.39 respectively.

Ihedioha, who is Imo State governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, also disclosed that the essence of releasing the document to the citizenry was to enable the people get the facts of the matter.

He said: “All the 27 local government areas of the state are simply comatose. No visible activity is going on in any of them, while the state government has illegally coveted their funds for

inexplicable reasons.

“Since the document is now in public domain, no government official will dare to challenge me to show proof of misapplied local council funds.

“Despite the state government’s puerile claims, what is on ground in the councils are not commensurate with the huge funds that accrued to the council areas.

“All the 27 local governments are seriously starved of funds, except payment of salaries.

“Our people are, therefore, demanding for explanation on where the state government channelled the funds.”

DPO after my life, activist cries to Jonathan, IG

By Nwabueze Okonkwo

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NITSHA— HUMAN rights activist, Mr. Martin Obinani Eloka, has accused the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, of a Police Division in Delta State (names withheld) of threatening his life for exposing alleged corrupt practices in his earlier petition to the InspectorGeneral of Police, IG, and President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said he was, therefore, sending an appeal to the IG and President to protect him and launch investigation into the corrupt practices of the DPO and his men.

In a strongly-worded petition, Eloka noted that

consequent upon the threats to his life and family members by the DPO, he now lived in perpetual fear with his family members, particularly after the recent incident in which the police in the DPO’s jurisdiction stormed his house to effect his arrest in the middle of the night.

Eloka said: “On November 23, 2014, about six policemen in plain clothes, stormed my house at about 11pm.

Because the door was closed, one of them scaled the fence, forced the door open and others came in.

“When I escaped from them, my wife, son and daughter were beaten and taken to the police station.

My daughter sustained severe leg injury.”

Eloka said he was detained for two days in Asaba by the state Criminal Investigation Department, CID, over the petition he wrote to the IG and President.

He urged the IG, President Jonathan and the Police Services Commission, PSC, to come to his rescue and ensure justice to prevail, adding that he had gone into hiding to avoid his sudden death that might be masterminded by the police.

He said: “My offence was that I pleaded with them to release a man’s motorcycle because he could not afford N10,000 demanded by the police.

“Instead, they charged him to court when it was obvious that he could not afford the money.”

Lagos pays N1.4bn to 303 retirees under CPS

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

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HE Lagos State Pension Commission, LASPEC, yesterday, presented bond certificates worth N1,404,836,265.43 to 303 workers who retired from the state public service.

The amount is their past service benefits before the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, began in 2007.

Director-General, LASPEC, Mr. Rotimi Hussain, who

spoke during the 16th Retirement Bond Certificates presentation at NECA House Auditorium, Ikeja, said the ceremony was in fulfillment of the commitment of Governor Babatunde Fashola to make life worthy of living for workers, while still in service and after retirement.

He added that the administration had not relented in its resolve at ensuring that the retirement benefits of every retiree was paid as and when due.

The LASPEC boss recalled that at the 15th bond presentation, the state government had paid N30,479,043,146.76 to 5,773 retirees.

He said: “This amount has already been remitted into their respective Retirement Savings Accounts with the Pension Fund Administrators, PFAs, in addition to their monthly contributions.

“All that they need to do is to contact their respective PFAs for necessary documentations towards accessing and enjoying their retirement benefits.”

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 — 47

Urhobo group endorses Agoda for senate

Adeleke varsity gets N50m ICT centre

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By Emeka Aginam

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TUDENTS of Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State are set to join their counterparts in other private universities across the country to benefit from international certifications in information and communications technology and e-business following the commissioning of a N50 million ICT resource centre in the school by the New Horizons Institute, weekend.

The IT resource centre which has standard state-ofart equipment would help students escape the pervasive graduate unemployment in the country.

Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Oluwole Gideon Amusan, said that the centre would enable students irrespective of their academic disciplines had minimum of four international skills certifications at 90 per cent subsidized rate, before graduation from the university.

“It will position them in global software development industry, ebanking, e-medical/ t e l e m e d i c i n e , governmance, e-legal administration, oil and gas as well as telecoms sector with attendant employment and self employment opportunities “It will provide skills that make our students more marketable and relevant to the demands of the job market. Today, ICT has made scholars to redefine literacy. Man will return to the Stone Age if ICT is removed from learning. ‘’Adeleke University deems it fit that all our students should have certifications in CCNA, Oracle, Java, Microsoft and other globally acclaimed IT and e-business professional courses,” he said.

Also speaking, the Managing Director, New Horizons Nigeria, Mr. Tim Akano, said the company had extended globally recognised IT certifications which were sought after by employers across all sectors in the last 10 years.

He urged the students to avail themselves of the opportunity presented by the resource centre by taking their coursework serious to enable them get the certification.

RE-LAUNCH: From left: Ms. Funmi Onajide, GM, Corporate Affairs; Mr. Richard Iwaenoge, GM. Consumer Marketing; Mr. Bayo Adekanmbi, Chief Marketing Officer, and Mr. Usoro Usoro, GM, Mobile Money, all of MTN Nigeria, during the press conference for the formal relaunch of MTN TruTalk, at Westtown Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos. Photo by Joe Akintola, Photo Editor.

Jonathan can’t lose in Bauchi with me as gov — YUGUDA

By Soni Daniel

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BUJA—THE reelection of President Goodluck Jonathan got a boost in the North-East on Tuesday with the Bauchi State Governor, Mallam isa Yuguda, assuring that that the president could not lose election in the state with him in the saddle.

Yuguda, who spoke exclusively to Vanguard in Abuja, asked Jonathan not to lose sleep over Bauchi votes, as he was on the ground to deliver the state to him and the Peoples Democratic Party despite attempts by some politicians to cause distraction for personal aggrandisement.

The governor said despite attempts by some politicians to blackmail him before the president, he remains committed to ensuring his victory.

Yuguda said it would amount to a betrayal for him to remain in PDP and work against Jonathan and PDP, knowing that as a

Muslim, Islam forbids betrayal.

The governor said: “I am not one of those who say one thing and mean the opposite. That would amount to a betrayal and betrayal is forbidden by Islam. I will never be a party to that.

“I would rather have told President Jonathan face to face, just like the other governors who

left had done that they would not work with him and I would have walked away rather than remain in the party to work against him,” Yuguda explained. ''In 2011, Jonathan did not win in Bauchi but I am assuring him that this time around he is going to win in the state because we are solidly behind him.''

Rivers govt to empower SMEs

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ORT HARCOURT—THE Rivers State Government has introduced Business Clinic (BC), an aspect of its Business Capacity Building Initiatives, says it is to empower Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) for economic activities.

The state government in conjunction with SPROG Consultants has started a Business Clinic programme which they said is targeted towards improving and empowering the SMEs in their

business activities.

The Director of SMEs in the Rivers State Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Akara Joe Olakenso at the official inauguration of the scheme said the Business Clinic introduced by the ministry is to aid the SMEs improve in their activities.

Akara said “It is important that the SMEs which contribute a lot in the area of providing employment for the teaming youths to be encouraged in order to create more

POLLS: Igbo in North urged to eschew violence

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NUGU—THE Igbo Youth Movement has advised the Igbo living in the northern parts of the country to comport themselves peacefully before, during and after the general elections.

The founder of the movement, Mr Elliot Uko, said at a seminar for the returnees from the north in Enugu on Tuesday that the call had become imperative because of the vulnerability of the Igbo in the area.

He advised them to avoid political arguments in the run up and aftermath of the March 28 presidential election.

Uko, who is also the leader of the South East Self Determination Coalition, urged the Igbo resident in the north to do all in their power to avoid bloodshed

GHELLI—AN Urhobo group, Imuvie’r’Urhobo has endorsed, Hon. Halims Agoda as the next Senator of the Federal Republic from Delta Central.

The group, in a statement signed by Adogbeji Ohwofasa and Michael Afoke Oherenor, asserted that at the present point in time, Agoda represented just the right sort of change desperately needed in Delta Central for the Urhobo nation.

According to them “Agoda is undoubtedly the quintessential, Omuvie ‘ r ’Urhobo and having the interest of the entire Urhobo land at heart, is eminently qualified to represent us at the level of the Senate.”

Going down memory lane, the group recalled that Agoda had never in any way brought shame to Urhobo land or otherwise betrayed or disgraced the Urhobo nation for personal or selfish reasons.

It promised a Delta Central wide grassroots campaign that will ensure a landslide victory for Agoda.

during and after the polls.

He lamented the loss of revenue by businesses in the

north belonging to the Igbo due to the exodus of the people to the South East.

Hard times await peddlers of fake pesticides, insecticides

By Peter Duru

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AKURDI—THE Director General of the Consumers Protection Council, CPC, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, has said that the council would henceforth prosecute dealers and distributors of fake pesticides and insecticides in the country.

She spoke at a one day sensitization workshop organized by the council in collaboration with the West African Agricultural Productivity

Programme, WAAPP, in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.

Atoki attributed the increasing rate of cancer and other health related issues among the people to the use of such unwholesome products by ignorant and unsuspecting Nigerians.

She stated that the workshop was necessary in order to expose Nigerians to the avoidable medium and adverse health conditions that trail the misuse of pesticides and insecticide in the country.

employment opportunities; to reduce the problem of unemployment.”

Meantime, the state government through its Ministry of Commerce and Industry has promised to empower 3000 SMEs before the end of its tenure.

The state Commissioner of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Chuma Chinye who spoke said through the Business Clinic the state government will ensure it empowers over 3000 SMEs by providing capacity building programmes that will educates entrepreneurs before the end of their.

Chinye noting that the SMEs contribute over 75 percent of employment force in the state and the country at large said the ministry will provide effective programmes that will give basic knowledge to SMEs. “The scheme is to bridge the total disconnected between the ministry and the business community. SME segment drives the economy. It accounts for over 75% of employment and GDP, but most of the people who drive the economy do not know how to drive and that is the bases for this scheme.”

“They do business without knowing the basic principles that govern business. On this note, we decided to provide this scheme for actual training of the Business owners in the state.

We want to empower about 3000 people so that they can drive our economy properly.”

48—Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

BUDGET DEFENCE: From left: Member, Senate Committee on Housing, Sen. Aishat Al-Hassan, Chairman, Senate Committee on Housing, Sen. Bukar Abba, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Mrs Akon Eyakenyi, and Vice Chairman of the committee, Sen. Gbenga Ashafa, shortly after the ministry's budget defence at the National Assembly, Abuja, yesterday.

Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

VISIT: All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate in Delta State, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor (standing), Chief Frank Ovie Kokori, former NUPENG Secretary General and member of the APC Board of Trustees (right), APC Chairman, Delta State, Prophet Jones Erue (2nd right), UPU President General, Chief Tuesday Onoge (3rd left) and others during a visit to the UPU President in Sapele Delta State.

LAUNCHING: Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Vice-Pesidential candidate, All Progressive Congress, APC (Middle), Mr. Tola Johnson, national coordinator, I am ready Campaign group (right) and other members of the Buhari/Osinbajo I am ready Campaign Support Group, during the official launch of I am Ready for election/campaign rally in support of Buhari/ Osinbajo presidential ticket in Lagos. Photo: Bunmi Azeez.

PRESENTATION: From left: Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof.

Rahmon Bello, MD, LG Electronics West Africa operations, Mr. Seonghak Kim, and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics and Research), University of Lagos, Prof. Babajide Alo, during the UNILAG LG Air Conditioning Academy unveiling and LG scholarship award presentation to deserving engineering students in UNILAG, Akoka, Lagos.

TRAINING: From left: Senior Consultant, Tom Associates Training, Mrs. Lola Adewoyin, CEO, Tom Associates, Mr. Abiodun Toki, former MD, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc/guest lecturer, Mr. Olumide Onakoya, and COO, Tom Associates, Miss Olutoyin Osibogun, during the 21st annual trainers clinic of the ompany in Lagos.

VISIT: From right: Mr. Obodo Wisdom, Assistant Secretary, Mr. Ogaga Emalerede, Mr. Francis Onokpasa, President, Chief Tuesday Onoge, UPU President, Mr. Obodo Otes, Secretary, Mr Joseph O. Ovayebewho, Welfare Officer, Mr Odogu Igho, Provost, Mr Innocent Ohwojeheri, Publicity Secretary, Mr Charles Okodu, Vice President, and others, during Urhobo Unemployed Youths Movement led by Francis Onokpasa on a solidarity visit to the Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, leader, Chief Tuesday Onoge in Warri, Delta State.

SIGNING: Lagos central legislative candidates, representing various parties at the signing the peace accord, during a town hall meeting organised by Lagos State Civil Society Partnership, LASCOP in conjunction with State Accountability and Voice Initiatives, SAVI under the Department for International Development, DFID in Lagos.

From left: Ikechukwu Ijeh, Head, Trade Category Management, Augusta Ehighebolo, Field Sales Manager, Rotimi Oyesiji, Divisional Sales Manager, and Adebimpe Adio, Customer Marketing Manager, Oral Care and Skin Cleansing, Unilever Nigeria, at the trade listing of Pepsodent Triple Protection Toothpaste in Lagos

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 — 49

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PHCN ex-staff protest non payment of N400m allowance in Ibadan

By Ola Ajayi

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BADAN—ABOUT 2,000 former staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, yesterday, protested non payment of their housing allowance totalling N400 million.

They stormed the secretariat of the Oyo State Correspondent Chapel at Mokola Ibadan, bearing placards with various inscriptions such as “President Jonathan, please help us locate where our money is hanging!’’ ‘’Hey! There is God o o o, why delay payment of our housing allowances since 2013?”

Led by their spokespersons, Mrs. Edna Owesiri, Julius Taiwo and Adesina Olayinka, they wondered why their allowance is being delayed while their colleagues had been paid.

They clarified that the money had been paid to the former workers in batches and batches one to 10 had been paid leaving out batches 11 and 12.

The money, according to them, was the bulk rent for 2013.

The former workers of PHCN, while pleading with President Goodluck Jonathan, lamented that some of them had died waiting for the money.

They were disengaged during the privatisation of the power sector which informed changing the name from PHCN to Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company.

Those affected, they explained, spread across Ogun, Kwara, parts of Kogi, Osun, Oyo and others.

All these, they said were under Ibadan zone before the privatisation.

They specifically asked the

National Electricity Liability Management Company, NELMCO, a body set up by the Federal Government to see to all liabilities that the government incurred during the privatisation period to intervene.

“The arrangement was done during the era of Bolaji Oyesiku who was the Managing Director and Chief Executive. All we want the Federal Government to do for

us is to ensure immediate payment of the outstanding allowance. It is unfair to pay some of our colleagues and leave us in the cold. Why we are crying out is that we have done all the necessary things we should do all to no avail. We are law abiding citizens and we would not want to take laws into our hands. That is why we are embarking on this peaceful protest,’’ they said.

MEETING: Speaker, Ogun State House of Assembly, Suraj Adekunle, Mrs Yetunde Onanuga, Governor Ibikunle Amosun's running mate, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, and Mrs. Elizabeth Sonubi, Women Affairs Commissioner, during a meeting of women groups across the the state in Abeokuta, yesterday. Photo: Wunmi Akonola.

Osun Assembly passes N201.7bn budget

By Gbenga Olanirinoye

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SOGBO—OSUN State House of Assembly has passed the 2015 Appropriation Bill of N201 billion into law.

The bill was passed at the plenary, yesterday, following a motion by the Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Hon. Kamil Oyedele.

The budget estimate of N197,082,191,560, christened, “Budget of Renewed Hope” was presented to the house on December 23, 2014.

In the course of the review of the budget estimate, the House adjusted it upward to N201,740,360,700 to cater for the salaries of Middle School teachers to the tune of N4,428,591,350 which was

omitted.

The recurrent expenditure in the passed budget is N90,614,061,690, while the

capital expenditure stands at N111,126,299,010.

The Speaker, Hon. Najeem Salaam charged ministries and

agencies of government to ensure effective implementation of the budget for the benefit of the people of the state.

Fitch reaffirms Stanbic IBTC's ‘AAA' ratings

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By Nkiru Nnorom

AGOS—FITCH Ratings has reaffirmed the AAA (nga), national ratings of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc and Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, a testament to the financial institutions’ strong fundamentals and stability.

The two institutions were also assigned ‘F1+(nga)’National Short-term rating to reflect their ability to meet their financial commitments as they fall due. The national rating provides a relative measure of credit worthiness for

rated institutions in Nigeria and the AAA national rating is assigned to an institution(s) with the lowest relative risk.

In the ratings, Fitch also maintained a stable outlook for both Stanbic IBTC Bank and Stanbic IBTC Holdings.

In arriving at the rating for Stanbic IBTC Bank and Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Fitch took account of the strong parental support from Standard Bank Group, which has a majority 53.2 per cent stake in Stanbic IBTC Holdings.

Commenting on the ratings, Mrs. Sola David-Borha, Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, said the ratings reflect the financial institution’s strength, strong leadership and the continued support of its parent company, the Standard Bank Group.

“Stanbic IBTC will continue to leverage on the rich heritage and know-how of the Standard Bank Group to build a strong and reliable financial institution that will support the developmental goals of the economy,”David-Borhasaid.

Kowa Party committed to social welfare —Lagos gov candidate

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AGOS—LAGOS State governorship candidate of Kowa Party, Oloye Victor Adeniji, has said that his party will govern Lagos State on the principles of social welfarism, if voted into power in the April 11 governorship election.

While soliciting for support of the Lagos electorate, Adeniji stated that Kowa Party will run a transparent government

and the state resources would be hugely expended on human capital development and job creation for the youths.

Oloye Adeniji spoke at a forum in Lagos where the Lagos State Civil Society Partnership Coalition presented the peoples charter to governorship candidates for their commitment and endorsement, and to also present their manifesto to

the electorate.

He explained that the ruling party in Lagos State in the past 16 years has short-changed the people considering the huge resources at the disposal of the government within this period, adding that the Kowa Party if voted into power is determined to do things differently.

Falae, Adebanjo, others storm Ibadan for post-confab summit

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BADAN—THE capital city of Oyo State, Ibadan, will play host to prominent Yoruba leaders today as the second in the series of the post-confab summit holds in the ancient city.

It is billed for the Premier Hotel, Mokola, Ibadan.

Prominent Yoruba leaders expected to grace today’s event include Chief Olu Falae, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Olanihun Ajayi, Chief Supo Shonibare and Chief Korede Duyile.

Others expected at the event include Presidential Advisory Committee on the National Conference, Senator Femi Okurounmu, Dr. Kunle Olajide (Yoruba Unity Group), Dr. Frederick Fasehun (Chairman Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN), Otunba Gani Adams (Coordinator of Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC), Afenifere Secretary,Yinka Odumakin, Prof. Dupe Olatubosun and Yoruba delegates to the confab which held last year.

At the first edition of the summit in Akure last Thursday, President Goodluck Jonathan was endorsed for a second term in office for the primary reason of implementing the report of the confab.

Group reiterates support for Jonathan in Ogun

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B E O K U TA — MEMBERS of the Goodluck Jonathan Support Forum from the 20 local government areas of Ogun State, have reiterated their commitment to the re-election of the president in the March 28, presidential election.

Co-ordinator of the group, Dr. Moji Afolabi, speaking at Okun-Owa Village, Odogbolu Local Government Area of the state, when members converged, said they were impressed by the achievements of President Jonathan and called on “Nigerians to choose the right and better choice, especially at this critical juncture of our national history by supporting President Jonathan for the sustenance of our democracy.”

54—Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

SCRABBLE FOR MONEY: Shettima’s convoy crushes 2, injures scores

By Ndahi Marama

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AIDUGURI— GOVERNOR Kashim Shettima of Borno State's convoy crushed two people, including a supporter of All Progressives Congress, APC, while several others sustained various degrees of injuries as people struggled over bundles of N200 notes thrown at a crowd in Maiduguri.

Governor Shettima had been attacked by thugs while going round the streets in that last one week.

It was apparently to stave off the attack that prompted the governors’ handlers to throw bundles of cash to the people on the streets, a situation that caused many people to line up the streets waiting for him whenever he was scheduled to go round the city.

It was gathered that Shettima who had successfully launched the

VDT CERTIFICATION: From left— Mr. Chris Naskell, Director, United Kingdom Trade and Investment, British High Commission; Engr. Biodun Omoniyi, Managing Director, VDT Communications; and Mrs Adedoyin Odunfa, Managing Director, Digital Jewels, displaying the certificate at the public presentation of VDT's ISO 20000-1 certification in Lagos, yesterday.

IPDs 'll go back home, vote— COAS

By Ndahi Marama

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AIDUGURI—THE Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt. General Kenneth Minimah, yesterday, assured that all the Nigerian territories captured by the Boko Haram insurgents would be recaptured to enable the people of the area vote during the forthcoming general elections.

He also said that the troops fighting the insurgensts will be promoted by one step.

This was even as the Northern Elders Council, NEC, has commended President Goodluck Jonathan and the military over the level of progress being made to flush out the Boko Haram insurgents from the north east zone in the country.

A statement entitled ‘’Northern Elders Council, NEC, applauds President Goodluck Jonathan and the Military onslaught against Boko Haram’’ and signed by the Public Relations Officer, PRO, of NEC,

Ambassador Yusuf Mamman said that the council was happy that the military had stepped up the fight against the insurgents and condoled the families of victims of the insurgency.

However, Minimah who spoke when he visited Baga town in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State, which was recaptured from the insurgents by Nigerian troops, also assured all the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in the area that the ongoing onslaught against the insurgents in all the captured communities would be concluded for them to go back to their various homes and vote during the elections.

Minimah spoke in an interview with newsmen in Maiduguri, the state capital few minutes after coming back from Baga at about 3:20pm.

He said: “I was much impressed with the officers and men in their gallant effort of recapturing most of the

communities under the control of Boko Haram in the north east. I want to assure that very soon we will liberate all the captured communities to allow people go back to their houses and participate in the forthcoming general elections.”

“I am just coming from Baga and with what I saw, I am very impressed with the military. We have recovered a lot of arms and ammunitions from the terrorists. Presently, Baga is under the full control of our troops and fleeing residents are free to go back to the town and continue their normal live.

“We want to inform members of the public that there is no hiding place for terrorists in Nigeria; the troops morale is high and we are committed to flush them out of the land.

“Very soon all closed roads as a result of the insurgency will be reopened for motorists and passengers to continue their so-

free food distribution programme in Maduganari ward, had followed an escape route to avoid some desperate thugs.

Vanguard learnt that as the convoy approached the Damboa - Central Bank Quarters road in the metropolis, Shettima started spraying some Naira denominations, popularly now known as (Yirne in Kanuri) which caused scrambling among residents, leading to the killing of two people with the crushing of a leg of Civilian JTF member who was assisting the security agencies in fight against the Boko Haram menace at about 1pm.

The source who accompanied the governor to the venue said, “We just launched a free food programme in Madugnari ward, and when we were about reaching Government House, there was a huge crowd chanting ‘’APC,

APC; We want Buhari for Change. ‘’When the Governor started spraying cash on the streets, they started struggling, a situation that led to the crushing of two people including a member of vigilante youth who sustained fractures on his leg.

“Already, the civilian JTF member has been referred to the Orthopedic Hospital for treatment while those who lost their lives have not been officially reported to us.”

When contacted on phone for his comments, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Information and Communications, Mallam Isa Umar Gusau said, he was not in Maiduguri to comment on any issue regarding the Governor’s activities.

“Thank you for calling me on this issue, even though I am not in Maiduguri to actually know what happened, but I plead with you to give me one day to find out.”

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 — 55

By Boluwaji Obahopo

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O K O J A — T H E kidnappers of United States missionary working in Kogi State, Rev. Phyllis Sortor, have reduced the ransom being demanded for her release from N60 million to N30 million, even as The Nigerian Governors Forum led by Governor Jonah Jang has demanded her immediate release.

The kidnappers were said to have called the superintendent of the Free Methodist Missionary church, where the American citizen operate a school, Mr Mathius Emenike, on Tuesday Night demanding a ransom of N60 million before effecting her release.

Vanguard gathered that the kidnappers however called again yesterday and reduced the ransom to N30 million while the woman who was allowed to speak to the church Superintendent begged him to inform the parent school in American to see how the money can be raised to effect her release.

The principal of the school, Mrs Shaibu Roseline Ojone, who confirmed the ransom demand said, “The kidnappers spoke with the superintendent of the missionary church, Mr Mathius Emenike where the ransom was reduced to N30m. In the conversation, Mrs Sortor pleaded with Emenike to try by all means and raise the money to enable her regain her freedom.”

The principal however appealed to the security agents in the state to come to the aid of the school and ensure the timely rescue of the woman.

However, the State governor, Captain Idris Wada has condemned the kidnapping of the American missionary.

ABDUCTED AMERICAN MISSIONARY: Kidnappers reduce ransom from N60m to N30m ...Victim pleads with parent church in US to raise the fund, ensure her freedom The governor in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Mr. Jacob Edi described the act as barbaric and un-godly and “urged the security agencies in the state to do everything necessary to effect her release while those behind the dastardly act should be brought to book.”

Meanwhile, the Governor Jang-led Governors Forum in a statement signed by NGF Secretary and Administrator, Earl Osaro Onaiwu frowned at the abduction of Rev. Phyllis Sortor, describing it as “wicked and an embarrassment to the country that will not yield anything positive for the

kidnappers.

The governors affirmed their support for Gov. Wada of Kogi state in his effort to ensure peace and security in the state, just as they called on the security agents to leave no stone unturned at ensuring the safe return of the Reverend.

ABDUCTED: Rev. Sortor.

Clerics, others back Mrakpor for NASS seat

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BRUNCH: From Left; Mr John Ugbe, Managing Director, MultiChoice Nigeria; Mrs Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu, Regional Director, West Africa, Africa Magic and Mr Edem Vindah, Corporate Media & Brand PR Manager, Nigerian Breweries Plc during the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards Nominee Brunch held at Intercontinental Hotel, Lagos , yesterday. Photo by Kehinde Gbadamosi.

MISSING $20BN: Reps give Okonjo-Iweala one-week ultimatum to submit forensic audit

By Emma Ovuakporie & Levinus Nwabughiogu

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BUJA—THE House of Representatives has

yesterday issued a one week ultimatum to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the economy Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to submit the

Airtel launches new shop in Apapa Mall

By Providence Obuh

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ELECOMMUNICATIONS giant, Airtel Nigeria, yesterday, launched a new Shop inside the Apapa Mall Showroom to further serve its customers better and enhance customer service delivery experience.

The store with inscription “Airtel th Smart Phone Network” is the 38 in the Lagos region.

Regional Operations Director Airtel, Lagos, Mr. Femi Oshilaja, said the shop will provide customers access to products and services they need to stay connected including phones, SIM cards, SIM Porting, SIM Swap, bill payment, airtime top-up cards, query

resolution, other accessories and general enquiries.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony in Apapa, Lagos, he said that the Shop underscore Airtel’s commitment to providing first class service experience to customers, even as he disclosed that it is targeting five more locations to debut soon at Festival Mall Festac Town, Tejuosho Mall, Expo Centre and others.

According to him, “the commissioning of the shop is part of a drive to ensure that customers get the same first class experience in all Airtel outlets across the country both in company run outlets as well as those run by Channel Partners.

report of the forensic audit on the alleged missing $20bn The mandate followed a resolution, passed last week by the House at plenary which directed its Committee on Public Accounts, to investigate the matter.

Chairman of the committee, Hon. Solomon Adeola Olamilekan (APC, Lagos) while briefing Journalists on the matter stated that the report “must include the Initial Draft Report, the Executive Summary and Management/Internal Control Letters.”

Olamilekan noted that the “condensed version” of the report released to the public through a press conference addressed by the AuditorGeneral of the Federation with the highlight that Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) should remit a minimum of $1.48 billion to the Federation Account had rather prompted the demand for complete report.

He said: “Given the weighty allegation of possible loss of $20 billion to the Federation Account arising from alleged nonremittance by NNPC through the ministry of finance, it is curious that the forensic audit was commissioned and appointment of auditors was made by the minister of finance, an indictable official, if allegation is proven, without the involvement or at least input of the Auditor- General, whose office is eminently and exclusively empowered for the duty by the 1999 Constitution.”

He noted that “the report has been unduly delayed and its submission also sidestepped the Auditor-General.

It is a professional best practice that such reports first come in draft, discussed, finetuned before the release of the final report, usually accompanied by the more detailed Management Letter.”

SABA—OVER five thousand clergy men, Christian faithful as well as members of the Christian Association in Nigeria, CAN, and that of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, drawn from all the communities of Aniocha/ Oshimili Federal Constituency of Delta State have endorsed the People Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for Aniocha/ Oshimili Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Onyemaechi Mrakpor as their candidate in the forthcoming election.

The event took place in Asaba with an intercessory prayer led by the Anglican Bishop of Asaba Diocese, Rt. Rev. Justus Mogekwu.

Bishop Mogekwu who commended the organizers of the programme described Hon. Mrakpor as not only a proud daughter of the area but one that has used her daily evangelization to uplift the work of God and humanity.

Speaking, Evang. Mrakpor expressed appreciation with the large turn-out of Christian faithful and assured that she would not cause embarrassment to them if elected.

Mrakpor also used the occasion to call on church leaders to be mindful of those they relate with especially such politicians without the fear of God. She stated that she has provided job opportunities, created scholarship schemes, while school children of the area are in daily basis, being evangelized and provided with school bags and other educational needs.

56—Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Jegede's New Horizons relishes real essence of classical music

people have no water to drink?, Why do people suffer and die, they cry their tears into the river... have you ever heard that the river cried into the sea?”, all readily elicited responses from the already charged audience.

Cef, a unique singer/songwriter who showed much talent with the guitar and percussions, joined Jegede in the performance of Moving On, Angeli and Power which also attracted deafening applause from the audience. Power was more like a folksong that demanded change and restoration of the things that once made the country tick.

By Prisca Sam-Duru

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HE New Horizons, a concert series put together by world-renowned composer, celist and Kora virtuoso, Tunde Jegede which opened on Sunday at the Agip Recital Hall of the Muson Centre, Lagos, was as electrifying and thrilling as it was inspiring.

It held as part of one of the Musical Society of Nigeria’s (MUSON)core mission of developing talents and offering them a unique platform to express their musical creativity to the whole world.

With stunning performances, the musicians in no small way, awed a mixed audience comprising the old, young, Caucasians and lovers of jazz, at the opening of what any mature mind would term the best of African classical music.

The first concert, which is an exploration of jazz and its African connections featured premiere Nigerian spoken word artist, Dike Chukwumerije, singer/multi percussionist, Venus Bushfires, Age Beeka, Imoleayo Balogun and the Art Ensemble of Lagos.

All the acts in the highly rated show which was piloted by Nollywood act, Wale Ojo. captivated the interest of the audience through beautiful performances in a way that it became difficult to adjudge a better performer than the other.

Better performer A performance of three tunes – Timeless Wariors, Life Circles and Last Winter’s Sparrow by The Venus Bushfires( voice and Hang) and her team, Imoleayo Balogun (Saxophone), Tunde Jegede (Kora)and Cef (Bass), was something out of this world.

It succeeded some lovely tunes from Etuk Ubong et al. The voice of The Venus Bushfires’ (Helen Parker-Jayne Isibor), a UK-based Nigerian singer/songwriter, composer and performance artist, was simply amazing.

Helen first captured the people’s attention with a rare hairdo that reminded one of the photographs of late Nigeria’s foremost photographers, Pa Ojeikere. In short, everything about Helen appeared pleasantly different, especially her strange instrument known as the hang.

She started off with “We’re moving to higher ground, we’re rising as the morning sun...”, before delving into the main aspect of her performance.

Award winning performance poet and Nigeria’s spoken word artist Dike Chukwumerije who stormed the stage during the part two of the evening show, earned

Original tunes

•Artistic Director of MUSON, Tunde Jegede (l) and others performing at the concert.(Inset ) A scene from the last MUSON festival

for himself, a standing ovation with his outstanding renditions.

Everything about Helen appeared pleasantly different, especially her strange instrument known as the hang

The ovation first came at the beginning of his performance and would have continued all through if not that the audience was persuaded to hang on. They ended up appreciating Dike’s prowess by renting the air with snaps of the fingers while he spoke.

He performed So Where is Jos, You and Me, The Wall and The Bridge, and I promise. Dike’s inspiring presentations so much emphasised on the need to restore the glory of Nigeria and indeed Africa by bringing back the good old days, morals, values, discipline and much more. Also, he touched on issues ranging from Boko Haram, unemployment, violence, to the

abducted Chibok girls.

Another stunning performance which was most thrilling, came from Age Beeka, a prolific musician who plays the Guitar, Keyboard, Drums and Percussions. During the concert, his voice, moves, dance steps and hands on the Guitar echoed the good old days when music had not lost its flavour due to infiltration of Hip hop into the industry.

Age’s voice in Breaking Barriers, Always in Love and Age Medley, got into the souls of all who watched him perform. He began in a way that got everyone in attendance, very emotive. His questions; “Why does the river pass through the city but the

Opening the second part of the show, was Etuk Ubong who played the Trumpet. He was joined by Timothy Ogunbiyi (Piano), Ita Samson (Bass) and Tombratade Roberts (Drums) while they performed Ubong’s original tunes, with titles, Miracle and Genesis as well as Cantaloupe Island by Herbie Hancock.

Against the wish of the enthused fans, the curtain came down on the concert with performance by Art Ensemble of Lagos, featuring Age Beeka, (voice), Etuk Ubong (Trumpet), Tunde Jegede (Kora & Pizz Cello), Ajayi Joseph (Piano), Cef (Percussion) and Oluwaseun Adeshina (Double Bass) The tunes they rendered were titled, How many Prophets, Behold and Jairaby. Jairaby which rapped up the evening, got members of audience on their feet, doing the salsa dance while displaying the highest form of excitement. “That’s how music should be”, exclaimed a guest.

Former Vanguard's Art Editor, Helon Habila, 8 others win Windham Campbell Prize

By Japhet Alakam, with agency reports

F

ORMER Vanguard's Art Editor, Helon Habila was among nine writers announced as winners of the $150,000 prize money in the third riound of The Windham Campbell Prizes.

This was announced last Tuesday by the organisers. The third round of prizewinners, chosen confidentially in three categories ––fiction, nonfiction, and drama ––to honor and support writers anywhere in the world writing in English. The awards, which come with a $150,000 cheque, can be given for a body of work or extraordinary promise. The 2015 winners are, in fiction: Teju Cole, Helon Habila, and Ivan Vladislavi; in nonfiction: Edmund de Waal, Geoff Dyer, and John Jeremiah Sullivan; and, in drama: Jackie Sibblies Drury, Helen Edmundson, and Debbie Tucker Green.

The Windham Campbell Prizes were established by Donald Windham and Sandy M. Campbell to call attention to literary achievement and provide writers with the opportunity to focus on their work independent of financial concerns. The Prizes debuted in 2013. There is no submission process and winners are determined by a global group of invited nominators, a jury in each category, and a selection committee.

In September, the winners will gather from around the world at Yale (where the Prizes are based), for an international literary festival celebrating their work. All events are free and open to the

public.

“The Windham Campbell Prizes were created by a writer to support other writers, said Michael Kelleher, director of the program. “Donald Windham recognized that the most significant gift he could give to another writer was time to write. In addition to the recognition prestige it confers, the prize gives them just that — with no strings •Helon Habila attached".

Helon Habila is the author of three novels. He was Arts Editor of Nigeria’s Vanguard Newspaper when his short story “Love Poems” won the 2001 Caine Prize, garnering him international attention as one of the most exciting new voices in contemporary fiction. The story was excerpted from his first novel, Waiting for an Angel (2002), itself about a Nigerian journalist’s literary ambitions threatened by a repressive military regime. Waiting was awarded the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Novel (Africa Region). In 2011, he published his latest novel Oil on Water and edited The Granta Book of the African Short Story. He is currently Associate Professor of Creative Writing at George Mason University and returns to Nigeria each summer to teach a writing workshop.”

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 — 57

•A scene from a previous performance during the festival

Jos festival of Theatre: Unveiling untold stories through drama

By Japhet Alakam

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HE war ravaged theatre lovers in and around the city of Jos, the Plateau State capital will heave a sigh of relief as the 9th edition of the annual Jos Festival of Theatre opens with its theatrical performance. The 2015 festival which will feature five plays alongside a pre-festival play a few days to the opening is scheduled to open from March 10th and last to March 14th 2015.

The 2015 festival with the theme ‘Telling Untold Stories...making a difference through the arts’ according to the organisers, Repertory Theatre is packaged to take the people’s attention away from the killings, electioneering problems and others to the real theatre of entertainment.

The festival opens 5pm daily, and apart from the plays, the festival will also include arts management workshops that will focus on proposal writing this year alongside directing and acting classes. The workshops will be facilitated by theatre professionals based in the city of Jos. The plays outlined will include Barclays Ay a ko r o m a ’ s Castles In The Air, Adinoyi Ojo Onukaba’s Body Parts, Sefi Atta’s Last Stand, J a c i n t o Benaventure’s The Bonds of Interest and August Wilson’s King Hedley II. Barclays Ayakoroma’s Castles in the Air e x p o s e s traditional The 2015 prejudices on mixed marriages festival is between diverse packaged to ethnic groups in take people's Nigeria. Aminu and Stella are attention promised the away from sum of N10m if they get married the killings, within a year and electioneering give birth to a son.

The race is on but problems are the two of and other them ready to join vices to the the race?

Body Parts is real theatre the story of a group of young of men who out of entertainment

being unemployed create jobs for themselves by hawking their vital organs to the highest bidder. There is a strong demand for kidneys and they have very healthy ones to sell. But there is a snag as they sell to someone who has a history with their family dating back thirty years.

Last Stand, premiered at the Terra Kulture, Lagos last November is the story of a family torn apart by the will of their dying patriarch, a retired military General.

Who does he leave his estate to? The designated heir is not interested in the wealth and that leaves the estate open to a fight between two wives, a dead wife and their children.

The Bonds of Interest is the story of two young men who live their lives duping people. They extend this by getting a lot of services on credit. They then plan the ultimate scheme – one of them is to marry the daughter of the wealthiest man in the city in the hope that when he dies they will inherit his wealth, pay off their debts and live happily as respected men of the society. The plan backfires as the one pretending to fall in love actually falls in love. Being chased by the law and their creditors, they decide to split up but these further compounds their woes as the daughter in question decides not to let go.

Gambling debts King Hedley II depicts life in Pittsburgh in 1985. King Hedley II is out of jail. He comes back home, gets married and tries to live making his own rules. He lives with his mother and his wife whom he would very much love to see get pregnant. She eventually gets pregnant but decides to have an abortion as she would not want to have a child who would not know his father. His mother’s lover of thirty years appears and decides to formally marry his mother but before this happens, he asks her to tell King Hedley II who his real father is. Unfortunately, he had killed his father during a row over some gambling debts. On the day, they decide to get their marriage license; all the secrets which she had taught she will take to her grave come tumbling out with disastrous consequences.

The 9th Jos Festival of Theatre 2015 will open at 5pm daily with workshops and exhibitions featuring during the day. The festival which is at its 9th edition is receiving support from the US Mission, Nigeria, Grand Cereals Limited and a host of corporate and individual supporters.

58— VANGUARD, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26 , 2015

BRIEFS

Islamic State: Fears grow over abducted Syrian Christians I

SIS is holding many Assyrian Christians hostage than previously thought and it is reportedly planning to release a message yesterday threatening to kill them.

Osama Edward, founder of the Assyrian Human Rights Network, told CNN that the extremist group is now believed to have 150 hostages, citing the latest information from the network’s team on the ground.

Initial estimates put the number seized at between 70 and 100 people, among them women, children and the elderly.

The video message will be directed to President Barack Obama and other members of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, Edward said from Stockholm, Sweden.

The Assyrians were kidnapped early Monday

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah

Top Obama adviser calls Netanyahu visit ‘destructive’ IS has forced Christians living in its territory to either convert to Islam, pay a religious levy or face death from villages near Tal Tamer in northeastern Syria.

Edward, who has family in the area attacked by the terror group, said the latest information from the ground indicated the hos-

tages had been moved to an ISIS-controlled location.

The last message received from the hostages was a text from a kidnapped woman to her

husband, Edward said.

She said the kidnappers were interrogating the hostages about whether the women were members of local militias.

Ukraine under pressure over currency fall, gas supply threat U KRAINE came under increasing economic pressure from a collapsing currency and a threat to its gas supplies from the Kremlin yesterday , just as a long-awaited ceasefire

took hold in the east.

As the truce appeared to be coming into force, the Ukrainian army reported no combat fatalities in the past 24 hours, but the news did nothing to halt a

currency collapse that forced the central bank to ban most trading.

In rebel-held eastern Ukraine, pro-Russian separatists were withdrawing heavy guns from the front.

Kiev said it was too early

Ukrainian servicemen check the engine of their military truck during a stop on the roadside in Donetsk region, February 24, 2015

to do likewise, but its acknowledgement that most of the front was quiet suggested it too could implement a truce that had appeared stillborn when the rebels launched a major offensive last week.

The cautious good news from the front has come amid dire economic consequences for a country teetering on bankruptcy.

With the hryvnia currency in free fall as investors flee, the central bank called a halt by banning nearly all commercial currency trading until the end of the week.

Gontareva said there was no fundamental reason for the panic in the currency market. She said Kiev expects to receive $8 billion from the International Monetary Fund this year.

Austria passes controversial reforms to 1912 Islam law

T

HE Austrian parlia ment has passed controversial reforms to the country ’s century-old law on Islam.

The bill, which is partly aimed at tackling Islamist radicalism, gives Muslims more legal security but bans foreign funding for mosques and

imams.

Austria’s Integration Minister, Sebastian Kurz, defended the reforms but Muslim leaders say they fail to treat them equally.

The 1912 law made Islam an official religion in Austria.

It has been widely held

up as a model for Europe in dealing with Islam.

The new measures, first proposed three years ago, include the protection of religious holidays and training for imams.

But Muslim groups say the ban on foreign fund-

ing is unfair as international support is still permitted for the Christian and Jewish faiths.

They say the legalisation reflects a widespread mistrust of Muslims and some are planning to contest it in the constitutional court.

A

top adviser to US President Barack Obama has warned that the Israeli Prime Minister ’s decision to address Congress next week is “destructive” to US-Israel relations.

National Security Adviser Susan Rice’s comments are the White House’s strongest criticism of the visit.

Benjamin Netanyahu was invited by House Speaker John Boehner in what is seen as a rebuke to Mr Obama’s Iran policy.

Mr Netanyahu responded to Ms Rice with a robust defence of his actions.

“I respect the White House and the president of the United States but on such a fateful matter, that can determine

whether or not we survive, I must do everything to prevent such a great danger for Israel,” he said in a speech.

But his visit, according to Ms Rice’s comments on Tuesday night, has injected partisanship into bilateral relations.

“It’s destructive to the fabric of the relationship,” she told the Charlie Rose show on PBS. Rice said she would not “ascribe motives to the prime minister ” when asked if she thought Mr Netanyahu was using the visit to gain political clout in US. “We want the relationship between the United States and Israel to be unquestionably strong, immutable ... regardless of which party may be in charge in either country.”

Paris night drone mystery deepens

D

RONES have ap peared over landmarks in central Paris for the second night running and police are no closer to knowing who is operating them. here were five sightings between 23:00 on Tuesday and 02:00 (01:00 GMT) yesterday , French media had reported.

Up to three drones were seen near the Invalides military museum, Place de la Concorde and two of the old city gates.

Flying drones over Paris at night is illegal and daytime flights require authorisation from the city.

Five drones were seen

the previous night in similar areas, including the Eiffel Tower and above the US embassy, close to Place de la Concorde.

However, some of the latest drone flights have been captured on film and will be analysed by a 10strong team of investigators set up after the first incidents.

The new sightings were also on the fringes of central Paris, at the key transport gates of Porte de Clignancourt in the north and Porte de Saint-Cloud in the south-west.

Small drones are inexpensive and easy to buy but their appearance in recent months over sensitive locations has worried French authorities.

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26 , 2015 — 59

Food aid resumes for refugees in Niger after Boko Haram scare

F

OOD aid is again flowing to thousands of refugees on the border between Niger and Nigeria, the World Food Programme (WFP) said yesterday , ending a suspension of deliveries by humanitarian groups because they feared attacks

by Boko Haram.

More than 100,000 people have fled violence in northern Nigeria in recent months for refugee camps or informal settlements in neighboring Niger, following a wave of attacks by the Islamist militant group.

Some 3,000 people are expected to receive food aid from the WFP on Wednesday, following the suspension of humanitarian work earlier this month along some stretches of the border between the two west African nations.

“In the camps, there is a lack of access to basic services, a lack of food and clean water,” WFP official Adel Sarkozi told

the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“We are very concerned about the status of the newly arrived women and children.”

Many of the refugees are scattered in remote areas.

Niger was facing a hunger crisis even before the latest influx of refugees, with an acute malnutrition rate of 23.5 percent of its 17 million pop-

ulation, above the emergency threshold of 15 percent, according to a November assessment.

The WFP said it aims to provide food aid to 37,000 newly displaced people in Niger, a Sahel state, by the end of February.

A U.S. soldier trains a Chadian soldier in a mock ambush during Flintlock 2015, an American-led military exercise, in Mao February 22, 2015.

DR Congo launches strikes against FDLR Hutu rebels

T

HE Democratic Re public of the Congo has launched its first

strikes as part of a longawaited offensive against Rwandan Hutu

Eastern DR Congo has been plagued by violence for years

rebels.

Ministers had previously pledged to target the FDLR militants after they failed to meet a deadline to disarm last month.

Some FDLR leaders have been linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Their presence in DR Congo has been a key factor behind two decades of conflict in the region.

Rwanda, led by a Tutsi-dominated government, has twice invaded its neighbour demanding that the FDLR be disarmed.y’ The UN mission in DR Congo recently withdrew

its support for the offensive because it involved two government generals accused of human rights abuses.

Tuesday’s attack took place in the South Kivu province, about 10km (six miles) from the border with Burundi, the military said.

However, a source with the rebels told the BBC they had been informed of the attack in advance and had already withdrawn.

DR Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende confirmed that troops had not met any resistance when they captured an FDLR position.

60 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 YOUR LUCK TODAY

LEISURE

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139

TAURUS; Venus moves into a positive angle and boost your sparkling personality to the betterment of your cause. Could be a nice day for the-youngat-heart.

GEMINI; It is important you don’t allow your mind to wander unnecessarily so that minor but costly mistakes would be averted. Avoid late evening confusion.

CANCER; Recent tension generated by controversy over money will start to ease off. Be more vigilant if you are working late in the evening.

LEO;. Other people will continue to have their says and if you try to indoctrinate them tensed atmosphere will be aggravated. Be patient.

VIRGO; Entrance of romantic Venus into a positive angle will enhance your prospects. Both financial and love related success are possible.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Richard Eromosele

I

N auditing there is no sentiment attached. It is a very serious business. It is aimed at diagnosing and detecting the

This Is Your Year shortcomings of a business. Ditto with your life. It is even much more serious with your life. Now there is something you have been

TERROR MUDA

holding on to though you know is not working, you have stubbornly refused to let go, there is something

in “Never say goodbye”

in your life who is a drain pipe and you won’t jettison such a person, there is something you have been doing though not yielding positive result you have kept doing it over the year.

By Lanre Kehinde

LIBRA; This is not the right time to rely on promises made by others. Continue to take matters-of-theheart seriously. Reason with your reliable associates.

SCORPIO; Tension within the domestic scene will start to ease off. Yet you will need to watch what you do within your base till after 10.15pm tonight.

SAGITTARIUS; Both yourself and other important personalities to you are beginning to see things from same point of view making it easy for you to eliminate unnecessary rift.

CAPRICORN; Venus moves into a positive angle to your Star and encourages peaceful settlement.

Exhibition of maturity on your part will favour you better.

AQUARIUS; Gradually you are dropping aggressive approach you have adopted in the last few days to the betterment of your cause. Remain practical till after 10.15pm.

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in

“Pretty Lunatic’

By Andy Akman

PISCES; Better than yesterday; however that is not to say you should throw caution to the wind.

Improvement on your love life indicated. Try to comport yourself.

ARIES; After a few days of fun you may need to settle down to serious business. Those of you working till very late evening will need to be more careful till after 10.15pm. Reason with your tried and trusted old hands(friends).

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

Tell me my financial standing?

VIRGINIA

dadadekola@yahoo.com

Dear Joshua, I want to know about my future, especially what I should expect from my love life both in the immediate and far future. However that is not to say I am not interested in good financial standing.

Dele, Jos Dear Dele, YOUR FINANCE The challenge here is inability to hold on to your gains (profits) partially, by the contact made between your natal Saturn and Venus as stated under your career and some other times by your love of easy life. Although the Saturn influence can be mitigated as I said under your career, the love of luxury comes from your stallion Taurus which must not be totally discouraged but should not be allowed to go beyond your control. Yes envy and jealousy can creep in as indicated by the oppositions between your natal Venus/Saturn in Taurus and Jupiter in Scorpio, but that is not enough excuse for either failure or manipulation of occult powers against you. Whatever anybody says and/or does GREAT FINANCIAL SUCCESS is your portion.

YOUR LOVE LIFE The most influential planet during your birth hour is Venus-the planet of MONEY and LOVE. You are the romantic type whose magnetic personality and open handedness are sources of big trap to his members of opposite sex. As handsome as you are you truly crave stability in your love life/home. The happiness you desired will be yours.

HOME & ABROAD

By Lawrence Akapa

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 — 61

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62 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Suarez: Man City fans boos spurred me on L

UNSTOPPABLE . . . Barcelona’s forward Luis Suarez (front) is challenged by Manchester City’s midfielder Fernando (back) during their UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg football match at the Etihad Stadium. Photo: AFP

UIS Suarez has revealed how Manchester City’s boo boys spurred him on to his two-goal display in Barcelona’s Champions League win at the Etihad Stadium.

The former Liverpool ace was booed and jeered whenever he touched the ball, but answered the abuse with the goals that gave his team a 2-1 victory to take to the second leg on March 18.

Said the Uruguayan: “Obviously it is pleasing, first of all to be able to help the team, they were important goals in a Champions League knockout game.

“Of course, though, to come back to England and against a team you’re always motivated to play

against… there are certain types of players like me who get more inspired, more motivated when fans boo them, it helps motivate you a bit more.”

But Suarez warned his team that the tie is not over

yet: “The important thing was the team managed to win and with the result it means we can feel a little more confident about the second leg but against a team like City with the quality they have you can never be sure what might happen in the second leg.

Kompany: We have to get better

M

•Kompany

Juventus take narrow advantage into second leg C ARLOS Tevez and Al varo Morata scored as Juventus defeat Dortmund 2-1 in the first leg of their Champions League tie.

This was the first meet-

ing between the teams since the 1997 final, which Dortmund won 3-1 to snatch the trophy from then defending champions Juve, but it was the Serie A outfit who dictat-

ed play for the most part last Tuesday.

Carlos Tevez pounced on some clumsy goalkeeping from Roman Weidenfeller to give Juve a deserved lead in the

13th minute, and it was another defensive mishap that led to Dortmund’s equaliser five minutes later.

Marco Reus stole in to penalise a Giorgio Chiel-

lini stumble with a composed finish, but Alvaro Morata struck two minutes from the break to earn Juve a narrow advantage heading into the return leg in three weeks’ time.

ANCHESTER City should not fear their Champions League challenge in Barcelona despite losing the first leg at the Etihad last Tuesday night, says captain Vincent Kompany. City may have lost 2-1 after Luis Suarez did much of the damage in the first half with a double strike, but many of the City players have all expressed their hope of a surprise victory on Spanish soil, particularly after Joe Hart saved Lionel Messi’s injurytime penalty.

Kompany said: “It was a bad first half but definitely we were very hopeful at the start of the second half.

Sisters Red House rules Dominican Group REVEREND Caroline Igwe(OP) and Clementina of Schools Inter-house sports Otih(OP) and Reverend Father Vincent Ubili(OP)

Simeone:

Leverkusen dangerous CONGRATS ... Rev Sister Carol Igwe (OP) congratulates one of the outstanding athletes

ALL SMILES ... Reverend Sisters Clementina Otih (OP) and Carol Igwe (OP) are all smiles for the pupils

Lagos to host Heineken ‘Champion the Match’ series

By Solomon Nwoke

A

S the UEFA Cham pions League season enters the crucial knockout phase, Heineken is kicking off its new campaign - “Champion the Match” - encouraging fans to create a truly great match night for themselves and their

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friends. It wants the fans not only to watch the match, they should champion it! A brand new Heineken TV commercial, entitled “The Match”, is being launched to show how far one fan will go to watch the big match.

Now in its ninth consecutive year of UEFA Champions League sponsor-

ship, Heineken has consistently provided Nigerians with premium match viewing experiences. In addition to sponsoring live television broadcast of the matches, the world-class Heineken House Lagos also remains open on every UEFA Champions League match night. This

grand landmark which has hosted thousands of Heineken fans as well as global celebrities, has gained popularity as the perfect way to enjoy the world’s foremost club football tournament.

This year’s edition will see fans carting home 90 prizes for 90 minutes for every bottle of the drink opened for every match

night till the final. It begins from 17th March, 2015.

According to the Corporate Affairs Adviser, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Kufre Ekanem: “We are proud to announce that Lagos is one of the nine exotic global locations that have been selected to host the Champions The Match series.

could not hold back their joy when Red House won the Inter-house Sports of Dominican Group of Schools at the weekend.

St. Rose of Lima’s House(Red House) were outstanding and became the over-all winners of the Sports meet with a staggering 595 points dusting St T h o m a s Aquinas’House(Blue House) and St Catherine of Sienna’s House(Green House) which finished second and third places respectively. Rev Fr Ubili who described the outstanding athletes as potentials for Nigeria in international competitions said that a lot of talents abound in the school that need to be tapped. ‘’These are raw talents that can be transformed into world beaters. The pupils have demonstrated their love for sports as we mould them into future leaders’’.

Rev. Sister Caroline Igwe(OP) who is head teacher of the Primary section said that the school was aware of the importance of sports as it ‘’instils a sound mind in a sound body’’.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015—63

Dream Team defence worries Siasia D

REAM Team VI coach, Samson Siasia has said he still has a lot of work to do on his defense if they are to get better as a team.

The Nigerian U23 team will host the Gabon U23’s next weekend in Abuja, in a return leg of the 2015 All Africa Games qualifier, having already won 4-1 in Libreville last weekend.

But Siasia says he and his assistants are not being carried away, saying they understand they must put in more effort to improve the team, especially the defense.

“We know we still have a lot of work to do on the team especially in the defense,” Siasia said.

“We have showed very

good signs in all the games we have played but we the coaches know we are not at our best yet.

“We need to improve the team as a whole, but we have to pay more attention to the defense because that is the

Edo FA elections: Ilaboya cries foul A

•Ilaboya

Falcons Continues from BP Championship (AWC), adding that they should extend their dominance to the world stage.

“You must work hard by your actions, conduct and utterances. It is not impossible to go beyond the group stages; it is football we are talking about. You can go to Canada and become an upstart and scatter all earlier permutations and make a statement to the whole world.”

“It is not a question of coach inviting you to camp and you just come here and struggle to make the team to the

World Cup and them you go there and just relax.”

“You girls must go beyond the group stage at the World Cup . It’s not a question of playing friendly matches where you win by big margins, your ultimate goal is to go to Canada and exceed all expectations.”

“You must come out of that group D. I want you guys to tell Nigerians that you are not only champions of Africa, but can conquer the world.

Your ultimate goal is to go to Canada, qualify from your group and ultimately surpass any earlier record,” he said.

Eaglets Continues from BP defence. Five minuted later Osimhen was knocking on the doors of the Amajimbos, but keeper Mondli Mpoto proved difficult to beat.

Eric Mayo punished the Eaglets in the 26th minute after he was put through. In the final five minutes of the first half, Kelechi Nwakali and Osimhen weren’t able to beat Mpoto with their efforts After the break, Nigeria applied more urgency but Mpoto again denied them with his sharp reflex.

department that I think needs more work on.”

The 47-year old managed the Nigerian U23’s to a silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympics and after their impressive 4-1 win over Gabon, comparisons are already being made but Siasia says it isn’t the right time to compare.

With the Golden Eaglets needing inspiration, head coach of the team, Emmanuel Amunike decided to introduce Christian Charles to add bite to the blunt attack.

Thirteen minutes to the end of the match in Niamey, Chukwueze Samuel who was through on goal missed a sitter.

Chukwueze had another chance to equalize but decided to hit his shot against a South African defender after beating three players.

top government official in Edo State has been making moves to manipulate the electoral process of the Edo State Football Association elections fixed for today in Benin City.

The elections which was earlier fixed for last Saturday was shifted to today by the order of the said official.

Our investigation revealed that the highly ranked government official was not comfortable with one of the top chairmanship aspirants, whom he accused of working against him in the last A PC primaries.

Only yesterday, the Sports Commissioner invited the voting delegates to his office to press home the message of the influential official who

From Left: Shina Philips of the Matchmakers Consult; Pastor Ituah Ighodalo of SLAO partners during the release of shortlist of names for the Nigeria Pitch Awards in Lagos insisted they must vote for the preferred candidate.

Our findings revealed that the meeting with the Commissioner and the involvement of the said official who vowed that “over his dead body” will one of the candidates get the post, has put fears into the system and the possibility of free and fair elections will not be guaranteed.

Briefing the press yesterday in Benin, Frank Ilaboya, the out- going vice chairman of the FA, who is widely tipped to win, said the involvement of the government official in the electoral system is regrettable.

Burkina Faso Continues from BP Gordon Ingesund’s contract was not extended. In a twist of fate, Keshi was ignored and Shakes Mashaba was appointed.

Mashaba has since taken the Bafana Bafana to the Nations Cup. He led the team to stop Keshi and the Eagles from going to the Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea.

Keshi has again lost out in his bid to replace Paul Put as Coach of the Burkina Faso National team, following the appointment of Genort Rohr.

52 year-old Keshi was rumored to be the front runner for the job due to his age, but it was the same case as when he was linked to the managerial role in South Africa and Burkina Faso, the country FA opted against naming him coach.

He was the preferred choice of the president of Burkina Faso FA colonel Sita Sangare, but it has now been confirmed that former coach of Niger and Gabon, Genort Rohr, was named coach instead of Keshi.

However, the news comes as a relief to the president of the Nigeria Football Federation Amaju Pinnick, who said a few days ago, that he prays Keshi turns down Burkina Faso and commits himself to a new deal, with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

According to Pinnick the AFCON 2013 winner will be given new terms tomorrow, to continue in his role as coach of the Super Eagles, after working without a contract during Nigeria’s failed attempt to qualify for the Cup of Nations.

NFF

Continues from BP trophy in Niger after the boys reached the semi finals. They lost by a lone goal but we cannot accuse the players of lack of effort.

“The present NFF administration has continued to harp on the fact that it is not only concerned with winning trophies. We want to win trophies but more than that, we want to build a sustainable football culture.”

Pinnick assured that the boys will not be treated like outcasts following the failure to

reach the Championship final.

“The NFF will send a jet to pick the players after the third place match on Sunday. The technical crew remains intact and the NFF will give support to them to plug the necessary holes in the team so that we will have a squad capable of doing the nation proud in Chile.”

The NFF President also noted that Cup holders Cote d’Ivoire were eliminated in the group phase of the championship in Niger.

Keshi Continues from BP football there is no other place to coach. This is a very wrong assumption,” fired Keshi.

“I love to coach Nigeria, but they think they are doing us a favour because that is the message - that they are doing us a favour to appoint a Nigeria coach.

But that is not true, if they don’t want us, we would go somewhere else and coach.”

This week, Pinnick disclosed Keshi could resume as Nigeria coach should he agree on a new deal, which will pay him far less than what he received when he first headed the Super Eagles.

Keshi also said the NFF are yet to pay him salaries for two months as well as the win bonus for the 3-1 home win over Sudan in a 2015 AFCON qualifier.

“I heard also Amaju

said he has paid us everything, that he is not owing us. It is a lie, bigtime lie. He is owing us two months plus our winning bonus for the game against Sudan,” said the coach.

“What is he talking about? Because I am keeping quiet, I don’t want to talk? Now if they want me to talk, I will start talking and let Nigerians know what is happening.

“I will let Nigerians know what is happening. I don’t understand, how can Amaju, who says he is the president of Nigerian football, be lying to Nigerians? Is that how he wants to run Nigeria Football?

“They are owing us money they have not paid and instead of him to say okay there is no money yet or something, he is telling everyone he has paid everything.”

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

CAF U-17: Eaglets fall to S/Africa N IGERIA’s Golden E a g l e t s stumbled and fell to a 10 loss in the hands of South Africa’s Amajimbos in the semifinal of the CAF Under17 championship in

Burkina Faso dumps Keshi, appoints Rohr F

OR the second time in as many attempts by out-ofcontract Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi to land a coaching job after leading Nigeria to the World Cup in Brazil, the coach has failed in his bid to become coach of Burkina Faso.

Keshi first indicated interest in the South Africa job after coach Continues on Page 63

•Keshi

NFF sets World Cup target for Falcons IRECTOR of Technical at the Nigeria Football Federation, Emmanuel Ikpeme, has charged the Super Falcons to make

sure they qualify for the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup in Canada.

Speaking during his official welcome of the

Continues on Page 63

team to camp for their upcoming qualifiers, Ikpeme congratulated them for winning the Africa Women Continues on Page 63

C

OACH Stephen Keshi has fired at NFF boss Amaju Pinnick, insisting the federation believe they are doing him a favour by appointing him to lead Nigeria again but he is ready to walk away.

•Amuneke

NFF praises Eaglets, says technical crew intact

•Pinnick

•As Keshi blasts NFF

•Rohr

D

Niamey, Niger yesterday.

The Eaglets did not th recover from a 26 minute strike in the game they clearly dominated on a day, they clearly ran out of luck.

The Emmanuel Amuneke coached lads had the opportunity to th take the lead in the 11 minuted by a hesitant Victor Osimhen. He had the ball taken off his feet by the South African

There is no love lost between Keshi and NFF boss Pinnick and this was further underlined by the latest statements by the coach.

“The NFF thinks without Nigerian Continues on Page 63

THE Nigeria Football Federation has commended the U-17 National Team, Golden Eaglets, for earning a place at the FIFA U-17 World Cup finals taking place in Chile later in the year.

NFF President, Amaju Melvin Pinnick declared on Wednesday that semi final defeat to South Africa at the African U-17 Championship in Niger Republic has not diminished the value of the Eaglets’ accomplishment.

“Certainly, every Nigerian yearned for the Eaglets to win the African championship Continues on Page 63

QUICK CROSSWORD

TODAY'S

PUZZLE

FRI DAY'S FRIDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS 1 Cab (4) 4 Chart (3) 6 Genuine (4) 8 Cutlery (6) 9 Passionate (6) 10 Moose (3) 12 Sprite (5) 14 Lax (5) 15 Waterway (5) 18 Erase (6) 20 Trial (6) 24 Irrigate (5) 26 Stop (5) 28 Celebration (5) 30 Pig-pen (3) 32 Useless (6) 33 Shrewd (6) 34 Shout (4) 35 Frantic (3)

36 Gang (4) DOWN 2 Living (5) 3 Bill (7) 4 Additional (4) 5 Summit (4) 6 Wireless (5) 7 Memory-loss (7) 11 Meadow (3) 12 Deity (3) 13 Consume (3) 16 Novel (3) 17 Fate (3) 19 Perform (7) 21 Material (3) 22 Severe (7) 23 Ballad (3) 25 Astern (3) 27 Motionless (5) 29 Caption (5) 30 Appear (4) 31 Length (4)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 2, Giant 7, Begun 8, Extra Educe 12, Awe 13, Erase 15, Explode Letter 19, Cat 20, Derided 23, Emir Dish 26, Covered 30, Bed 31, Demean Grabbed 37, Verge 38, Die 39, Debit Merry 41, Sever 42, Alter.

10, 17, 25, 34, 40,

DOWN: 1, Genre 2, Guest 3, Indeed 4, Nice 5, Exalted 6, Credo 9, Two 11, Excited 13, Elver 14, Att.0 ic 16, Pad 18, Receded 21, Diver 22, Shone 24, Robbery 27, Web 28, Devise 29, Order 32, Meter 33, Agree 35, Air 36, Deal.

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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